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Speaker 1: You're listening to the Sportsman's Nation podcast network, brought to

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Speaker 1: you by Outdoor Edge in their complete lineup of knives

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Speaker 1: and game processing. Kids. These guys right now are doing

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Speaker 1: an absolutely huge giveaway where you could win an elk hunt.

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Speaker 1: And not just any elk hunt. We're talking about a

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Speaker 1: seven or eight mile horseback ride into the back country.

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Speaker 1: We're talking a one on one and guided hunt. You're

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Speaker 1: gonna be sleeping in a wall tent, and you're going

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Speaker 1: to be doing that for five days with the founder

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Speaker 1: and CEO of Outdoor Edge, David Block. Now, if you've

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Speaker 1: never been on an elk hunt before, I'm telling you

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Speaker 1: right now go sign up for this because if you

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Speaker 1: ever hear a elk bugle, whether it's at four hundred

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Speaker 1: yards or it's at forty yards, it is a life

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Speaker 1: changing experience. So here's how you enter. Go to outdoor

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Speaker 1: do is click on that, go fill out some information

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Speaker 1: I think your name, your email address, maybe some other stuff,

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Speaker 1: and that's all you have to do. That's how you

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Speaker 1: are entered. They're gonna be picking a winner. Oh always

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Speaker 1: from now so you have plenty of time to enter.

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Speaker 1: Go visit outdoor edge dot com. Sign up today and

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Speaker 1: if you decide to purchase any products from the website,

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Speaker 1: enter the discount code Nation thirty. That's the word nation

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Speaker 1: with the number thirty. After that, no spaces Nation thirty

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Speaker 1: and you will receive thirty off your purchase. My name

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Speaker 1: is Clay Nukeolman. I'm the host of the Bear Hunting

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Speaker 1: Magazine podcast. I'll also be your host into the world

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Speaker 1: of hunting the icon of the North American wilderness. Prepare.

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Speaker 1: We'll talk about tactics, gear conservation. We will also bring

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Speaker 1: you into some of the wildest country on the planet

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Speaker 1: chasing bear. For those of you that have been paying attention,

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Speaker 1: you've heard us talk about the sheep hunt of the South,

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Speaker 1: which is our way. It's our metaphor, our analogy of

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Speaker 1: talking about hunting black bears in the eastern deciduous forest

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Speaker 1: without the use of bait or hounds, but just hunting

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Speaker 1: them out in the mountains based upon sign. One of

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Speaker 1: the original people that I spoke with about this was

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Speaker 1: James Brandenburg. Well, James, since that time has been planning

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Speaker 1: a bear hunt here in Arkansas, a sheep hunt of

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Speaker 1: the South bear hunt in Arkansas and amazingly well, I

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Speaker 1: don't want to give it away, but James Brandenburg is

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Speaker 1: on this podcast and he tells the story of an

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Speaker 1: incredible hunt that took place just a few weeks of

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Speaker 1: go right here in Arkansas, from his planning, what happened

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Speaker 1: during the hunt, the execution of the hunt, and details

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Speaker 1: the whole story. So you're gonna enjoy this podcast with

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Speaker 1: our good buddy James Brandenburg. This week, I am sighting

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Speaker 1: in a c V a muzzloader. What I've got is

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Speaker 1: their Accura Mountain rifle and it's got a Sarah Coat

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Speaker 1: finish and it's in maxiwe camouflage. It's got a twenty

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Speaker 1: four and a half inch barrel. It's a breakover gun,

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Speaker 1: so it's it's kind of like one of these single

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Speaker 1: barrel shotguns. You know, it just breaks over. You know

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Speaker 1: that you release, you press the lever the bottom of

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Speaker 1: the gun, the gun breaks over. It has a breech

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Speaker 1: plug that you can undo by hand, you don't need

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Speaker 1: a tool. And I'm getting a scope end this week

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Speaker 1: and I'm gonna be sighting that gun in and hunting

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Speaker 1: with it next week in Arkansas for deer. Muzzloader hunting

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Speaker 1: is some of the most liberal and best times to

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Speaker 1: be in the woods for white tails, especially. C v

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Speaker 1: A makes an incredible line of muzzloaders. This muzzleloader is light,

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Speaker 1: it looks sharp, it feels good. You're gonna want to

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Speaker 1: check out the c v A line of muzzloaders and

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Speaker 1: their incredible guarantee that they have on everything that they

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Speaker 1: send out. Check it out at c v A dot Com,

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Speaker 1: d you Hunting Supply, w Hunting Supply. Our friends Buddy

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Speaker 1: Woodberry and his team, they they've had a big week.

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Speaker 1: Garment came out with their two hundred Eye, which is

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Speaker 1: their first big jump in handheld dog tracking technology in many,

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Speaker 1: many years. So Garment just released this two hundred Alpha

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Speaker 1: and it's uh Buddy Woodberry and in du these are

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Speaker 1: the guys you need to buy these from. If you're

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Speaker 1: looking to upgrade your tracking unit, do it. And just

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Speaker 1: to give a quick, very quick um intro to what

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Speaker 1: this is. This single track your dogs. You can tone

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Speaker 1: and stimulate your dogs, but it also has built into

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Speaker 1: it and in reach device which is a satellite text

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Speaker 1: messaging and a satellite emergency service request platform from Garment,

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Speaker 1: So go check it out. W has some great videos

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Speaker 1: that describe what the two is that you can find

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Speaker 1: on social media. Check it out. James Brandenburg, Man, you

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Speaker 1: are this This really wasn't planning to start out this way,

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Speaker 1: but we've got a trade squirrel dog back here behind

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Speaker 1: the Global Headquarters. James, you're wearing a shirt. What's your

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Speaker 1: what's your shirt? Say? She hunted the South, she Hunt

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Speaker 1: of the South. Can you uh, can you describe what

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Speaker 1: that means? Yeah? Yeah, I feel like I've got a

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Speaker 1: pretty good basis on that now. Man. That's a you know,

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Speaker 1: down here in the South, we've got we don't have sheep.

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Speaker 1: We got some places to go, some real wild, rugged

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Speaker 1: places to go around and and chase black bears. And

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Speaker 1: you want to go out and and a big block

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Speaker 1: of a national forest or something and spotting stock a

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Speaker 1: black bear. Man, that's elusive animal, that is it is

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Speaker 1: very elusive. I have determined, and that is the sheep

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Speaker 1: hunt of the South. Yeah. So the the metaphor was

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Speaker 1: originally um developed here at the Global Headquarters because you know,

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Speaker 1: sheep hunting has this this allure, this this stigma, this

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Speaker 1: this idea around it that it's super difficult, and I'm

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Speaker 1: certain that it is. You know, sheep are sheep are

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Speaker 1: they live in why out really wild places. They're an

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Speaker 1: elusive animal, and it has this you know this this this,

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Speaker 1: it's been marketed to us as like this elite hunt,

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Speaker 1: you know, sheep shape and all this. Well, we got

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Speaker 1: a little, uh, we got a little jealous down here

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Speaker 1: and uh and thought some of our escapades and adventures

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Speaker 1: were being overlooked. So this is you know, what we

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Speaker 1: termed black bear hunting and national forest without bait or hounds.

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Speaker 1: We caught up the sheep hunt of the South because

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Speaker 1: it is extremely difficult. You know, there's no data really

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Speaker 1: on the odds of success, honestly because so few people

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Speaker 1: have actually dedicated they're hunting specifically to bear what you've done,

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Speaker 1: and that's what we're gonna talk about on this podcast.

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Speaker 1: But you know, most of the bears harvested in the

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Speaker 1: southeastern United States and even in the Appalachians, not over

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Speaker 1: bay or hounds, would be opportunistic deer hunters because the

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Speaker 1: way that things work well, the way things work out

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Speaker 1: west is typically people have specific tags for specific animals.

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Speaker 1: So like if you hunt in Montana, like maybe you

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Speaker 1: bought a bear tag, maybe you didn't. Uh, if you

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Speaker 1: hunt in Colorado, it's the same way. You know, like

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Speaker 1: there's these like species specific tags. Most of the Southeast

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Speaker 1: we have like the sportsman's license. So for thirty five

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Speaker 1: dollars in Arkansas, resident gets six deer tags, two turkey tags,

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Speaker 1: a bear tag, all the squirrels you want, all the

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Speaker 1: small game you want. And so basically every licensed hunter

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Speaker 1: in Arkansas that has a sportsman's license, which I would

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Speaker 1: guests would be the vast majority of Arkansas hunters are

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Speaker 1: gonna have a bear tag. So if they're in a

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Speaker 1: bear zone and it's legal, and a bear ambles by

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Speaker 1: them while they are intentionally deer hunting and they harvest

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Speaker 1: this are wow, God love them awesome. We're gonna celebrate

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Speaker 1: with you. But that is not what we're talking about.

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Speaker 1: We're talking about a specific and very targeted hunt with

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Speaker 1: an animal that is highly elusive. Bears are very patternable,

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Speaker 1: but they're very hard to find. You have to find

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Speaker 1: it first before you can figure out what it's pattern

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Speaker 1: is exactly exactly. And uh so we're gonna talk about

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Speaker 1: the challenges of this kind of hunt. And uh, but

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Speaker 1: I just wanted to define what it is. First of all, Um,

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Speaker 1: so this was your first year bear hunting? Yeah, tell

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Speaker 1: me why you wanted to get into this. I mean

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Speaker 1: we and we've talked about like you could go back

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Speaker 1: and I think it's episode forty four You, Me and

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Speaker 1: you You. We called it the Beginner's Guide to Bear

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Speaker 1: Hunting up and basically it turned into a conversation about

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Speaker 1: how to hunt National Forest and uh, and that has

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Speaker 1: been been one of our most listen to podcasts of

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Speaker 1: all time. People really listen to it. We've also I

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Speaker 1: probably have a couple of notches. I've listened to that

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Speaker 1: one more than once. Okay, so you're bumping the analytics

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Speaker 1: on that. I'm sorry about that. Well, So, so we

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Speaker 1: have history, me, me and you have history in this conversation,

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Speaker 1: which is why it's so stink and cool that you're

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Speaker 1: here and you're gonna tell us the story that you're

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Speaker 1: gonna tell us. But so tell me what drew you

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Speaker 1: to that kind of hunt? Yeah, Well, as we've talked about,

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Speaker 1: you know, I'm a uh, I mean, I don't like

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Speaker 1: the term adult on set hunter, but nobody's come up

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Speaker 1: with a better one. I just didn't start hunting until

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Speaker 1: I was an adult. And um, I have just gone

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Speaker 1: through various stages of that last year, um, between hunting

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Speaker 1: multiple species starting September for with dove, and and just

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Speaker 1: going through all the different things, my son and I

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Speaker 1: hitting all these different seasons, um and and I didn't

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Speaker 1: really see a lot of deer last year, but I

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Speaker 1: was working hard to get out there when I could,

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Speaker 1: and I got to the end of the of the season. Uh,

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Speaker 1: probably the end of deer season is when I started

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Speaker 1: thinking about this. And then went through December and January

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Speaker 1: waterfowl seasons before I really solidified it. But I kind

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Speaker 1: of got to the point where I was asking myself,

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Speaker 1: like what was I what what did I want from hunting.

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Speaker 1: You know, obviously we want to have success in the field.

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Speaker 1: We want to bring meat home. Um some people want

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Speaker 1: to bring home a big trophy deer. You know, they

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Speaker 1: spend a lot of time trying to trying to bring

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Speaker 1: home a trophy. And and so I was asking myself,

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Speaker 1: like why am I doing this? Like I enjoy it,

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Speaker 1: like I look forward to it all the time. But

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Speaker 1: I was going out in these little tiny blocks of time,

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Speaker 1: you know, I'd have an afternoon on a Saturday, and

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Speaker 1: so I'd hustle around and get everything done on Saturday morning,

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Speaker 1: and I could go out in the afternoon on Saturday.

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Speaker 1: And or I'd get up super early and and and

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Speaker 1: go out for a day. Or I remember one weekend,

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Speaker 1: I drove to Tulsa to watch my son play soccer.

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Speaker 1: Then I drove back and my intention was to hunt. Um,

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Speaker 1: I was gonna deer hunt Sunday all day. And my

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Speaker 1: youngest son had gone with my oldest son and youth

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Speaker 1: waterfowl hunted in Missouri. And it was fantastic. Dad, you

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Speaker 1: gotta take me back, You gotta take me back. We

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Speaker 1: gotta go back. It was so good. So I got

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Speaker 1: up at like three thirty in the morning and I

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Speaker 1: took him up to go duck hunt. And then I

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Speaker 1: came home and then I went out and deer hunted.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I was killing myself, well, long story short,

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Speaker 1: was killing himself. What am I trying to get out

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Speaker 1: of this? And I realized what I haven't had that

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Speaker 1: I think a lot of people who grew up hunting

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Speaker 1: have had. I hadn't had a hunting camp experience, and

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Speaker 1: I hadn't really dedicated an extended period of time to

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Speaker 1: a particular hunt. I'm gonna go, I'm gonna scout. I'm

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Speaker 1: going to hunt if I need to keep hunting until

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Speaker 1: I'm successful, or I'm going to give myself an extended

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Speaker 1: block of time to hunt day in, day out and

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Speaker 1: and take what I'm learning in the moment and apply

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Speaker 1: that to the next day's hunt. And so, um, something

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Speaker 1: else that you had said, you know at some point

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Speaker 1: in the Gary Newcom school of hunting was you know,

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Speaker 1: be be good hunting where you live first, you don't

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Speaker 1: need to travel. Um, I mean coronavirus happened, but my

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Speaker 1: decisions were made before coronavirus, you know, so I wasn't

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Speaker 1: gonna travel this year. That I just said, let me

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Speaker 1: give this a try and and block out the time.

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Speaker 1: You know. I think it's I want to stop you

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Speaker 1: before you answer your question, because I thought it was

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Speaker 1: a great question to ask. I mean that that has

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Speaker 1: me thinking about your question, asking myself the question, which

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Speaker 1: I think if you don't do it very intentionally, you

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Speaker 1: kind of skip over it. But it's like, I like

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Speaker 1: that question, what do you want to get out of hunting?

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Speaker 1: Because sometimes for those for for people that UM hunt

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Speaker 1: a lot and and that have done it a long time.

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Speaker 1: Sometimes you forget why you're doing what you're doing, just

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Speaker 1: because it's just it's just what you do, you know,

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Speaker 1: And not that that doesn't take away the enjoyment of it.

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Speaker 1: But I think that's a good place to be self aware,

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Speaker 1: to be analytical. And it was like, what what's your goal?

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Speaker 1: Like what why are you do and what you're doing

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Speaker 1: and are you getting out of it what you need

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Speaker 1: to be getting out of it? Yeah, it's just a

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Speaker 1: point to slow down and think about. Yeah, And and

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Speaker 1: that's my approach to a lot of things in life.

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Speaker 1: You know, some people can some people don't have that,

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Speaker 1: and and that's fine, Like not everybody needs to be

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Speaker 1: self critical the way that that I probably am about myself,

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Speaker 1: but it's just my nature, Like I'm gonna I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: ask myself, do I need to be spending time doing that?

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Speaker 1: You know? Is it is spending time on Facebook? Like

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Speaker 1: what I need to be doing to to to to

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Speaker 1: sharpen my sauce, so to speak, and just to be

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Speaker 1: the kind of personal I think it's okay to say

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Speaker 1: that everybody needs to be doing that. I mean, I

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Speaker 1: mean there's some people that have a natural default systems

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Speaker 1: built inside of them for self reflection and awareness. That's

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Speaker 1: maybe stronger than someone else. But I'd say that that

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Speaker 1: is a skill of being human that has made us

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Speaker 1: successful as a species and as people, and is is

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Speaker 1: something that needs to be sharpened inside of all of us. Now,

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Speaker 1: you can do it too much so that you over

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Speaker 1: analytical and super critical of yourself and stuff like that,

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Speaker 1: which some people might tend to be that way, But

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Speaker 1: then there's other groups of people that just have no

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Speaker 1: self awareness, no self evaluation, and I would say that's

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Speaker 1: not good either, you know what I mean. You like

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Speaker 1: what you're saying, So I don't think it's just like, well,

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Speaker 1: I'm that way and maybe some people aren't. I think

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Speaker 1: you've spotted a reality that yes you are that way,

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Speaker 1: and there are some people that are not, but and

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Speaker 1: it's their choice. But it's good to be aware, analytical,

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Speaker 1: self reflective, critical to a degree. I mean, if you

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Speaker 1: want to be successful in anything, you've got to do that.

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Speaker 1: I like what you're saying. Yeah, So, so in thinking

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Speaker 1: about all that, what do I want to get out

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Speaker 1: of my hunt this year or out of my time

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Speaker 1: in the field. You know, I really wanted to have

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Speaker 1: that time. Um. You know what I explained to you earlier. Um,

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Speaker 1: And I think most hunters would would understand this. You know,

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Speaker 1: when you walk into the woods, you kind of walk

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Speaker 1: in with a with a bubble around you, and that

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Speaker 1: you push that bubble out into the woods and and

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Speaker 1: the game, the birds and the squirrels and whatever's around

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Speaker 1: you unless you're you know, the faster you move, the

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Speaker 1: bigger the bubble is around you. Let me put it

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Speaker 1: that way. And when you get out into the woods

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Speaker 1: and you and you see, like, um, you sit down

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Speaker 1: and you sit still, and then you see the woods

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Speaker 1: come back and you see you can see that bubble

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Speaker 1: shrink around you when the birds start to get closer

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Speaker 1: to you, the squirrels start to get active around you.

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Speaker 1: And and that's the best way that I can describe

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Speaker 1: what I wanted to have in a total hunting experience

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Speaker 1: this year. Rather than having a I gotta rush out

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Speaker 1: for a weekend here, rush out for a weekend there,

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Speaker 1: or a day or whatever. I wanted to go out

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Speaker 1: into the woods, plant my flag and then have the

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Speaker 1: woods kind of shrink back in around me and then

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Speaker 1: exist where where the other parts of life that are

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Speaker 1: all important and they have to be balanced in order

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Speaker 1: for free to do this. But those parts of life

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Speaker 1: I could very purposely set aside and ignore and just

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Speaker 1: be immersed in the hunt. Now, whether I was successful

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Speaker 1: or not, this year, for me, my definition of success

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Speaker 1: was I'm going to the woods as long as I don't,

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Speaker 1: you know, injure myself, uh badly run you know, I

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Speaker 1: have to run out of the woods because I, you know,

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Speaker 1: terrify myself or something like that. Like if I can

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Speaker 1: go out there and sit there and do that and

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Speaker 1: kind of be happy being with myself, that was success.

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Speaker 1: That was how I defined it this year. I want

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Speaker 1: to go in the woods. I want to I want

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Speaker 1: to learn more about the environment around me. So I

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Speaker 1: spent the year Clay. I spent all summer, I mean

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Speaker 1: last spring into the summer kind of practicing those skills

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Speaker 1: like go out in the woods, camp for a night

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Speaker 1: in the woods, go look around, Ask myself, what is

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Speaker 1: that tree? What is that plant? Um? What uses that?

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Speaker 1: Where are the trails? How do I get around? What

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Speaker 1: happens to me when I put on twenty pounds of

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Speaker 1: weight in my pack and carry it around? I mean

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Speaker 1: I did all that stuff and um, but with the

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Speaker 1: intention that when I got to the end of September,

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Speaker 1: I was gonna be I was gonna know what I

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Speaker 1: was getting myself off into. Man, I really like, uh,

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Speaker 1: I like the way that you describe the bubble, because

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Speaker 1: the bubble you're talking about is actually real. I mean,

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Speaker 1: like when you walk into the woods, Like that's a

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Speaker 1: great description, but it's also internal. And then you know,

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Speaker 1: you kind of used it as a as an analogy

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Speaker 1: for even your space as a human for somebody that

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Speaker 1: there is a lot of value inside of a hunt

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Speaker 1: that is a longer period of time where you can

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Speaker 1: go and get away from and not to escape. I

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Speaker 1: don't like an escapism mentality, like people like act like

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Speaker 1: their world is just on fire, and then when they

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Speaker 1: get out in the woods, it's like I can just

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Speaker 1: get a reprieve from the world, like it's gonna be

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Speaker 1: waiting for you when you come back. So I like

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Speaker 1: this holistic idea that that we could build our lives

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Speaker 1: in such a way and this is what I've seen

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Speaker 1: you do, that we can plan and we can go

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Speaker 1: to a wild place and immerse ourselves in it and

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Speaker 1: our world not fall apart at home, And that gives

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Speaker 1: you the ability to actually be successful when you hunt

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Speaker 1: is that you know, and and but it's a pretty

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Speaker 1: we actually talked about this a few podcasts ago when

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Speaker 1: we were in Montana. It's a pretty rare human experience

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Speaker 1: these days to be in a wild place for like

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Speaker 1: seven days. Even though that's not to say that there

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Speaker 1: aren't other people other than hunters using wild places for

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Speaker 1: extended periods of time, but hunters are doing that probably

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Speaker 1: more than anybody I can't think of. I mean, some

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Speaker 1: of these guys would be like mountaineering and going back

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Speaker 1: country camping for like ten days at a time. That's

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Speaker 1: a pretty elite group of people. Most most people that

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Speaker 1: are just campers, recreational campers are going out for two

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Speaker 1: or three days, Max, I mean, do you agree with

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Speaker 1: that statement? Yeah? I think so. I mean it's hard

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Speaker 1: to I mean, maybe it's just because they're not taking

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Speaker 1: pictures and putting them on Instagram that maybe I'm not

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Speaker 1: following the right Instagram accounts. I don't know, but it

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Speaker 1: seems like you're right. Well, and I'm not saying that

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Speaker 1: there's not people that don't. But what I am saying

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Speaker 1: is is that when you're hunting, you have a reason

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Speaker 1: to be in the woods for seven days, ten days,

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Speaker 1: and it's I mean and not to me. Like that's

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Speaker 1: another part of it too, Like I I enjoy being

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Speaker 1: out in the woods, but I really enjoy having a

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Speaker 1: reason to be out in the woods. Absolutely. I have

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Speaker 1: no qualms with saying that I am not a hiker.

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Speaker 1: I mean, you like, say, hey, Clay, let's go on

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Speaker 1: a seven day backpacking trip in Colorado in June, and

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Speaker 1: I'm like, man, I think I'll stay here. I mean, granted,

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Speaker 1: maybe there were be a time when I would do

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Speaker 1: that and love it, but I mean, like when you

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Speaker 1: become a hunter and you you it's like a lot

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Speaker 1: of your mental space and recreational space and the outdoors

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Speaker 1: just becomes focused on a goal, which you spent a

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Speaker 1: lot of time in the woods during the summer scouting,

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Speaker 1: but it was mission oriented. It was driven towards this

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Speaker 1: thing it's coming. You know. What Ben said on that

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Speaker 1: podcast is sharpening the life knife. That's the term that

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Speaker 1: he used, and I really liked that and that was, um,

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Speaker 1: that's what I felt like I was doing every time

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Speaker 1: I went out scouting. You know, Yeah, I was a

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Speaker 1: hike and it was degrees sometimes, but I was I

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Speaker 1: was sharpening that knife and figuring out um a different

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Speaker 1: I was learning the landscape. I was learning a different skill.

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Speaker 1: I was understanding how I was going to be able

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Speaker 1: to perform physically in that environment. So, um, yeah, like

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Speaker 1: if I can't, if I can't, I feel like at

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Speaker 1: this point of my hunting career, if I can't be

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Speaker 1: outside and adding something to my capability or testing something like,

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Speaker 1: it just drives my wife nuts because she'd be like

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Speaker 1: on Mother's Day, like we always go for Mother's Day hike,

390
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Speaker 1: And in my mind it's a it's an opportunity to

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Speaker 1: test something out, something a piece of gear or some skill,

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Speaker 1: you know, So I'll build a little fire or I'm

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Speaker 1: trekking polls whatever it is. You know. Uh, drives her nuts,

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Speaker 1: But that's what I gotta do, Sosi. That's right, that's right. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Well so what did the bring me along on the

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Speaker 1: on the So you've you've said aside this time to

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Speaker 1: go on and go on a big hunt. Yep. Yeah,

398
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Speaker 1: So I set the goal. Um, I was going to

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Speaker 1: go out, and you know, I I wanted to bring

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Speaker 1: some bodies along with me. So I I have one

401
00:25:05,440 --> 00:25:08,680
Speaker 1: guy who I hunt with my buddy Darren from Texas

402
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Speaker 1: and we usually hunt together once a year. Well we've

403
00:25:12,720 --> 00:25:18,000
Speaker 1: done different things and then, um, I've wanted to get

404
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Speaker 1: another buddy Rick to go along with us and uh

405
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Speaker 1: experience some of these same adventures because because he's he's

406
00:25:26,200 --> 00:25:28,920
Speaker 1: very similar mindset, like he really enjoys the experience of

407
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Speaker 1: being outside and just for various reasons, he's not been

408
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Speaker 1: able to join us. But I thought this might be

409
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Speaker 1: something that I could talk him into. So I started early.

410
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Speaker 1: I got those guys involved and they were cool with that.

411
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Speaker 1: They're like, okay, yeah, we'll do that. We thought maybe

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Speaker 1: we'll backpack in somewhere and set it up. Um ultimately

413
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Speaker 1: decided I took my camper down and set that up. Uh,

414
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Speaker 1: just trying to trying to reduce some of those kind

415
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Speaker 1: of hurdles. And then it was really about figuring out

416
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Speaker 1: where did I want to go in and then learning

417
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Speaker 1: that area. Uh. So I had to pick a spot.

418
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Speaker 1: I mean we've talked about this before, like Okay, I've

419
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Speaker 1: got one point eight million acres, which fifty or hundred

420
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Speaker 1: or five hundred or whatever am I gonna pick? So

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Speaker 1: I just had to pick something. And then and then

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Speaker 1: you're talking about acres makes me think of something that's interesting.

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Speaker 1: So one of the places that I spent quite a

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Speaker 1: bit of time hunting in national forest, Like I often

425
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Speaker 1: evaluate the size of it based upon like how far

426
00:26:36,000 --> 00:26:38,439
Speaker 1: I travel inside of that, you know, and so like

427
00:26:38,480 --> 00:26:41,760
Speaker 1: I might turn on my on x you know tracker,

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Speaker 1: and you know, on the average johnt up in there.

429
00:26:46,920 --> 00:26:49,120
Speaker 1: If I'm moving quite a bit, maybe not just going

430
00:26:49,160 --> 00:26:51,720
Speaker 1: to one place, but maybe I'm scouting and hunting. I

431
00:26:51,800 --> 00:26:54,359
Speaker 1: might go four miles or something in a day. Like

432
00:26:54,520 --> 00:26:58,520
Speaker 1: that's pretty common. So one day I was like, I

433
00:26:58,560 --> 00:27:02,720
Speaker 1: wonder how big the area is that I hunt, because

434
00:27:03,080 --> 00:27:06,080
Speaker 1: you know, I we all if you go to a

435
00:27:06,119 --> 00:27:08,000
Speaker 1: place over and over, you kind of begin to learn

436
00:27:08,080 --> 00:27:10,359
Speaker 1: the boundaries of kind of just where you go. You know,

437
00:27:10,440 --> 00:27:13,280
Speaker 1: I go to that ridge that way, I go as

438
00:27:13,320 --> 00:27:15,280
Speaker 1: far as over there, I go as far as over

439
00:27:15,280 --> 00:27:17,600
Speaker 1: there to the east, and then I start back at

440
00:27:17,600 --> 00:27:21,040
Speaker 1: the truck, you know, down in the south. I did

441
00:27:21,080 --> 00:27:24,520
Speaker 1: the feature on x Box, Yeah we can box it in.

442
00:27:24,920 --> 00:27:31,680
Speaker 1: It was four hundred acres. Blew my mind because well,

443
00:27:31,760 --> 00:27:36,560
Speaker 1: because the furthest point that I go one direction and

444
00:27:36,600 --> 00:27:38,600
Speaker 1: the furthest point that I go to the other direction

445
00:27:38,760 --> 00:27:42,439
Speaker 1: was like two and a half miles mhm. But the

446
00:27:42,480 --> 00:27:47,040
Speaker 1: little square was narrow, so it had a real long edge,

447
00:27:47,840 --> 00:27:50,800
Speaker 1: but then it had a narrow and it was just

448
00:27:50,840 --> 00:27:53,919
Speaker 1: the layout of this particular area, and you could you know,

449
00:27:54,520 --> 00:27:57,040
Speaker 1: and uh, and I was just like, holy cow, I

450
00:27:57,080 --> 00:28:03,760
Speaker 1: would have thought I was hunting twenty five acres. Yeah,

451
00:28:03,800 --> 00:28:07,439
Speaker 1: I was hunting like four hundred and change. Well, and

452
00:28:07,480 --> 00:28:10,560
Speaker 1: think about that from the standpoint of the density of

453
00:28:10,600 --> 00:28:14,760
Speaker 1: the animal that you're pursuing landscape, Like, how lucky is

454
00:28:14,800 --> 00:28:18,320
Speaker 1: it that you find an animal in that small amount

455
00:28:18,359 --> 00:28:22,399
Speaker 1: of space exactly, especially with these bears. Man, And we

456
00:28:22,440 --> 00:28:25,760
Speaker 1: could nerd out about densities, which that's part of what

457
00:28:25,840 --> 00:28:29,280
Speaker 1: makes the sheep hunt of the South so intriguing, is

458
00:28:29,320 --> 00:28:34,040
Speaker 1: that the animal densities in the Ozarks, in the in

459
00:28:34,119 --> 00:28:38,400
Speaker 1: the western Arkansas Mountains that we are hunting are less

460
00:28:38,400 --> 00:28:41,000
Speaker 1: than a bear per square mile. So you know, if

461
00:28:41,000 --> 00:28:42,800
Speaker 1: you think about that in terms of acres, you know,

462
00:28:42,920 --> 00:28:48,720
Speaker 1: square mile would be acres essentially, and so at any

463
00:28:48,800 --> 00:28:52,880
Speaker 1: given time, there is a better chance that there's not

464
00:28:53,080 --> 00:28:56,000
Speaker 1: a bear in the square mile that you're standing in

465
00:28:56,120 --> 00:28:58,400
Speaker 1: than there is because it's like it ends up being

466
00:28:58,400 --> 00:29:00,680
Speaker 1: a little bit well there's this is where they're just

467
00:29:00,720 --> 00:29:04,120
Speaker 1: more dense, and there's places where they're absolutely there's there's place.

468
00:29:04,200 --> 00:29:07,200
Speaker 1: And that's what it boils down to is that these

469
00:29:07,200 --> 00:29:10,760
Speaker 1: spatial the spatial data that they used to gather bear

470
00:29:10,880 --> 00:29:15,320
Speaker 1: densities and kind of understand like how bears spread across

471
00:29:15,360 --> 00:29:18,120
Speaker 1: the landscape is just a way for us to try

472
00:29:18,160 --> 00:29:23,280
Speaker 1: to get some descriptor but it's not accurate really at all,

473
00:29:23,320 --> 00:29:27,840
Speaker 1: because we've all seen pictures of multiple bears in the

474
00:29:27,920 --> 00:29:31,080
Speaker 1: same frame. I mean, even if it's not overbade or

475
00:29:31,160 --> 00:29:35,040
Speaker 1: something like, I've got pictures of multiple bears in the

476
00:29:35,120 --> 00:29:37,880
Speaker 1: same frame just out in the mountains, just for whatever reason,

477
00:29:37,920 --> 00:29:39,680
Speaker 1: they were there together. And it's like, well, this is

478
00:29:40,040 --> 00:29:45,600
Speaker 1: a statistical anomaly. Um, But these bears have these massive ranges.

479
00:29:45,680 --> 00:29:47,560
Speaker 1: And I tell you what I've learned from talking with

480
00:29:47,680 --> 00:29:52,120
Speaker 1: Laura Conley up from Missouri, Sarah Lida over in Oklahoma

481
00:29:52,680 --> 00:29:55,640
Speaker 1: and Myron means here in Arkansas, is that some of

482
00:29:55,680 --> 00:29:59,640
Speaker 1: these males have incredibly large home ranges and females as well.

483
00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:02,000
Speaker 1: I mean, Sarah a lot of was telling me about

484
00:30:02,040 --> 00:30:04,200
Speaker 1: one that was crossing over in Arkansas in Oklahoma that

485
00:30:04,280 --> 00:30:08,160
Speaker 1: was traveling I want to say thirty miles. But for

486
00:30:08,200 --> 00:30:11,320
Speaker 1: a female, I would have told you before, Nah, they

487
00:30:11,360 --> 00:30:14,280
Speaker 1: don't travel that far. The males do. But these males,

488
00:30:14,720 --> 00:30:17,480
Speaker 1: I mean, they're travel up in Missouri. They're traveling, like,

489
00:30:17,760 --> 00:30:21,640
Speaker 1: traveling hundred seventy five miles in a single direction. And

490
00:30:21,720 --> 00:30:24,040
Speaker 1: so so it's crazy to think. I mean, and that's

491
00:30:24,040 --> 00:30:27,640
Speaker 1: what makes it so hard to do this hunt. You

492
00:30:27,720 --> 00:30:30,520
Speaker 1: might have a picture of a bear that was on

493
00:30:30,560 --> 00:30:33,320
Speaker 1: a walk about. They may have just been coming through

494
00:30:33,440 --> 00:30:37,400
Speaker 1: and going from you know, somewhere down by the Arkansas River.

495
00:30:37,520 --> 00:30:39,760
Speaker 1: He may be going up to He's probably not going

496
00:30:39,800 --> 00:30:43,480
Speaker 1: to Missouri. That's a that's a pretty long walk. But

497
00:30:43,360 --> 00:30:48,720
Speaker 1: but but that's just that's just what makes it that

498
00:30:48,800 --> 00:30:51,720
Speaker 1: much harder. Like I mean, as I sit here and

499
00:30:51,720 --> 00:30:53,560
Speaker 1: think about it, I go back and forth on I

500
00:30:53,560 --> 00:30:56,160
Speaker 1: haven't ever done a sheep hunt. I probably won't ever

501
00:30:56,200 --> 00:30:59,600
Speaker 1: do a sheep hunt. I think, you know, you can

502
00:30:59,680 --> 00:31:01,720
Speaker 1: sit in one place and you do a lot of

503
00:31:01,720 --> 00:31:05,080
Speaker 1: glass and looking for sheep, and then it's a then

504
00:31:05,120 --> 00:31:09,160
Speaker 1: it's a physical test. I think, you know, you've got

505
00:31:09,200 --> 00:31:11,760
Speaker 1: to get from here to the top of that mountain

506
00:31:12,080 --> 00:31:16,040
Speaker 1: or the top of the next mountain or whatever it is. Well, here.

507
00:31:16,880 --> 00:31:20,520
Speaker 1: It's a mental test and a physical I mean they

508
00:31:20,640 --> 00:31:22,200
Speaker 1: both have all of this stuff. So I don't want

509
00:31:22,200 --> 00:31:26,520
Speaker 1: to denigrate, you know, sheep hunters. But point being the

510
00:31:26,560 --> 00:31:30,160
Speaker 1: mental part of it here is you can't see. You can,

511
00:31:30,280 --> 00:31:33,080
Speaker 1: I mean you can use I used my binoculars, but

512
00:31:33,160 --> 00:31:35,120
Speaker 1: it's for me to be able to see through the trees.

513
00:31:36,200 --> 00:31:40,160
Speaker 1: You know. Oh, if you could see a hundred yards

514
00:31:40,240 --> 00:31:42,200
Speaker 1: in the places that I hunt, that would be like

515
00:31:42,240 --> 00:31:46,480
Speaker 1: a broad vista. Oh yeah, I would feel like Daniel Boone,

516
00:31:46,560 --> 00:31:49,640
Speaker 1: like coming over the Cumberland Gap, like looking across Kentucky.

517
00:31:49,840 --> 00:31:52,400
Speaker 1: If I could see a hundred yards. Yeah. No. And

518
00:31:52,440 --> 00:31:55,000
Speaker 1: the only reason, I mean, that's a mental challenge. But

519
00:31:55,120 --> 00:31:57,040
Speaker 1: that's the mental challenge. And then and you know the

520
00:31:57,040 --> 00:32:00,520
Speaker 1: physical side of it is still you got to get

521
00:32:00,520 --> 00:32:02,840
Speaker 1: out there, whatever the weather throws at you, whatever the

522
00:32:02,920 --> 00:32:06,520
Speaker 1: hills throw at you, whatever, and get it done. Man Ay.

523
00:32:06,680 --> 00:32:10,440
Speaker 1: I've hunted a lot of places in North America and

524
00:32:11,160 --> 00:32:14,600
Speaker 1: these mountains are they're not as big. I mean the

525
00:32:14,680 --> 00:32:17,400
Speaker 1: highest elevations we have here in the three thousand foot range.

526
00:32:18,200 --> 00:32:22,400
Speaker 1: And and to that, some people would go ops small

527
00:32:22,400 --> 00:32:24,600
Speaker 1: mountains because you know, out in different places of you're

528
00:32:24,640 --> 00:32:30,200
Speaker 1: hunting mountains much bigger. But what people don't realize is

529
00:32:30,240 --> 00:32:35,640
Speaker 1: that most so the actual relief that we're dealing with

530
00:32:35,640 --> 00:32:38,120
Speaker 1: with these mountains, which would be the actual amount that

531
00:32:38,160 --> 00:32:43,520
Speaker 1: you're climbing, you know, might be in the thousand foot range.

532
00:32:43,600 --> 00:32:45,040
Speaker 1: Like that's what you would be classed. So you would

533
00:32:45,120 --> 00:32:47,920
Speaker 1: start at like fift feet above sea level and then

534
00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:51,080
Speaker 1: go to you know, above two thousand or something, you

535
00:32:51,120 --> 00:32:57,120
Speaker 1: know whatever. That's not my point. My point is these

536
00:32:57,240 --> 00:33:01,200
Speaker 1: these hills are rugged and filled with auction. The obstruction

537
00:33:01,280 --> 00:33:04,200
Speaker 1: is the hard part, and obstruction could be a log

538
00:33:04,360 --> 00:33:06,840
Speaker 1: I've heard it said that when you're walking and you

539
00:33:06,840 --> 00:33:09,040
Speaker 1: actually have to pick your foot up to step over

540
00:33:09,080 --> 00:33:12,600
Speaker 1: a branch or a log, you're exerting like twice the

541
00:33:12,640 --> 00:33:16,480
Speaker 1: amount of caloric energy to that step as if you

542
00:33:16,520 --> 00:33:20,000
Speaker 1: were just walking on unimpeded ground. We just spend a

543
00:33:20,000 --> 00:33:24,360
Speaker 1: bunch of time out in Washington and man, hiking down

544
00:33:24,360 --> 00:33:29,360
Speaker 1: a trail going back into where you're hunting is way easier,

545
00:33:29,560 --> 00:33:33,600
Speaker 1: even if it's pretty far, even if it's going uphill.

546
00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:37,320
Speaker 1: It's not apples to apples what I'm saying. You can't

547
00:33:37,400 --> 00:33:40,200
Speaker 1: just say, ah, those little hills down there aren't that hard.

548
00:33:40,800 --> 00:33:42,760
Speaker 1: Come down here and walk in them and you'll see

549
00:33:42,840 --> 00:33:47,200
Speaker 1: and I've just spent a week and uh the Missouri

550
00:33:47,240 --> 00:33:51,640
Speaker 1: breaks and now the Missouri breaks are all in themselves

551
00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:54,320
Speaker 1: kind of the same story because they're not high elevation,

552
00:33:54,960 --> 00:33:56,200
Speaker 1: and so you think, oh, I don't need to be

553
00:33:56,240 --> 00:33:58,800
Speaker 1: in that great shape. It's not big mountains, man, it's

554
00:33:58,840 --> 00:34:03,440
Speaker 1: just a pile, you know. And uh so it's yeah,

555
00:34:03,480 --> 00:34:06,479
Speaker 1: I think anytime that you have to clear those those hurdles,

556
00:34:06,520 --> 00:34:10,120
Speaker 1: it's not just like walking on a path that's gonna

557
00:34:10,320 --> 00:34:13,120
Speaker 1: and and I there's a lot of hunting that's like that,

558
00:34:13,160 --> 00:34:15,279
Speaker 1: for sure. You know, there's not just a path to

559
00:34:15,360 --> 00:34:20,080
Speaker 1: every great hunting spot. But when you throw that onto

560
00:34:20,239 --> 00:34:23,719
Speaker 1: into the mix of what you're doing, you you are.

561
00:34:24,600 --> 00:34:27,480
Speaker 1: Any hunter that that chooses to hunt that way should

562
00:34:27,520 --> 00:34:30,359
Speaker 1: be commended for the effort, the extra effort that has

563
00:34:30,400 --> 00:34:32,720
Speaker 1: to be expended to do that, because it it adds

564
00:34:32,719 --> 00:34:35,080
Speaker 1: a big dimension to it that has to be overcome.

565
00:34:35,120 --> 00:34:37,360
Speaker 1: I mean, it's so that is a mental and physical

566
00:34:37,400 --> 00:34:39,480
Speaker 1: part of it, because you have to break some of

567
00:34:39,480 --> 00:34:42,799
Speaker 1: those barriers. You have to physically choose I'm going to

568
00:34:42,920 --> 00:34:47,440
Speaker 1: go through that rock garden, that briar patch that you know,

569
00:34:47,960 --> 00:34:51,400
Speaker 1: that those blowdowns whatever it is, and you and you

570
00:34:51,480 --> 00:34:53,640
Speaker 1: go do it. You don't even think about that while

571
00:34:53,719 --> 00:34:55,360
Speaker 1: you're doing. And that's another thing that I wanted to

572
00:34:55,400 --> 00:34:57,880
Speaker 1: get out of. It was just to challenge myself physically.

573
00:34:58,840 --> 00:35:02,440
Speaker 1: And what I learned in that clay is that I

574
00:35:02,520 --> 00:35:04,400
Speaker 1: can do that stuff. You know, we were I was

575
00:35:04,440 --> 00:35:07,120
Speaker 1: talking to Jonathan about this, you know, our good friend um,

576
00:35:07,200 --> 00:35:11,400
Speaker 1: Jonathan Wilkins, and I was talking to him about this

577
00:35:11,440 --> 00:35:14,440
Speaker 1: last year in January. He's like, man, we can do

578
00:35:14,520 --> 00:35:16,760
Speaker 1: so much more as humans and what we give ourselves

579
00:35:16,800 --> 00:35:20,640
Speaker 1: credit for. And through hunting, I have learned that. And

580
00:35:20,680 --> 00:35:24,160
Speaker 1: I figured that out again. I had that reinforced for

581
00:35:24,239 --> 00:35:27,440
Speaker 1: me on this hunt where man it I need to

582
00:35:27,440 --> 00:35:29,960
Speaker 1: go over there. So I went over there. It's just

583
00:35:30,000 --> 00:35:32,520
Speaker 1: like okay, you know, just get there, you know, and

584
00:35:32,560 --> 00:35:36,560
Speaker 1: there's no substitution for that, like for that in the

585
00:35:36,640 --> 00:35:43,719
Speaker 1: field combination of physical aptitude but also mental grit. I

586
00:35:43,880 --> 00:35:46,960
Speaker 1: was following Devin Jewel up in British Columbia, who is

587
00:35:47,000 --> 00:35:51,520
Speaker 1: probably ten years younger than me, super shape, got legs

588
00:35:51,600 --> 00:35:55,120
Speaker 1: like a gazelle. Uh, And I was following him through

589
00:35:55,120 --> 00:35:58,640
Speaker 1: the mountains. This is a few years ago and Devon

590
00:35:58,719 --> 00:36:00,560
Speaker 1: is a good friend of mine. It was one of

591
00:36:00,560 --> 00:36:02,799
Speaker 1: our first times hunting together. I felt like he was

592
00:36:02,840 --> 00:36:07,200
Speaker 1: trying to lose me, and I just sat in my

593
00:36:07,239 --> 00:36:09,239
Speaker 1: mind that he wasn't gonna lose me, you know, and

594
00:36:09,320 --> 00:36:11,600
Speaker 1: I just stayed right on his tail as we were

595
00:36:11,640 --> 00:36:14,000
Speaker 1: going up this hill trying to get to this class

596
00:36:14,000 --> 00:36:17,279
Speaker 1: and spot, and uh, when when we got done, it

597
00:36:17,360 --> 00:36:19,760
Speaker 1: was to the point that I just laughed when we stopped,

598
00:36:19,760 --> 00:36:23,479
Speaker 1: and I said, that was fun. And I said, I said,

599
00:36:23,560 --> 00:36:27,319
Speaker 1: what do you find with your clients like, because I don't.

600
00:36:27,560 --> 00:36:28,840
Speaker 1: I was like, I don't think a lot of your

601
00:36:28,840 --> 00:36:30,840
Speaker 1: clients probably would have done what we just did the

602
00:36:30,880 --> 00:36:33,439
Speaker 1: way we just did it. And he said, man, he said,

603
00:36:33,480 --> 00:36:37,840
Speaker 1: it's all about attitude. He said, you might get a chubby,

604
00:36:37,880 --> 00:36:40,719
Speaker 1: fifty year old guy in here that just pounds the

605
00:36:40,760 --> 00:36:44,160
Speaker 1: mountain because he's got the desire. And you know, obviously

606
00:36:44,160 --> 00:36:46,480
Speaker 1: I have to have some foundation of physical fitness. You're

607
00:36:46,480 --> 00:36:48,879
Speaker 1: not just gonna go from couch to that. But he

608
00:36:48,920 --> 00:36:53,880
Speaker 1: said most of it, he felt like, was not actually physical,

609
00:36:53,920 --> 00:36:56,400
Speaker 1: but was mental. And he's he said, he's seen these

610
00:36:56,440 --> 00:36:59,839
Speaker 1: like ripped guys just be really mentally weak. And I'm

611
00:36:59,840 --> 00:37:03,600
Speaker 1: not taking anything away from people that focus on physical fitness,

612
00:37:03,640 --> 00:37:06,480
Speaker 1: like because we know that there's some incredible guys that

613
00:37:06,719 --> 00:37:09,200
Speaker 1: just do some incredible stuff. But at the same time,

614
00:37:09,280 --> 00:37:12,280
Speaker 1: it's not everything, but the combination of mental and physical

615
00:37:12,960 --> 00:37:16,239
Speaker 1: can be a really powerful combination. Yeah, and so and

616
00:37:16,280 --> 00:37:19,200
Speaker 1: so I wanted to test myself in that way. That's

617
00:37:19,200 --> 00:37:20,920
Speaker 1: another thing I wanted to get out of the hunt

618
00:37:21,080 --> 00:37:25,919
Speaker 1: was um and I had done some of that last year,

619
00:37:26,200 --> 00:37:30,320
Speaker 1: you know, hike back in somewhere, you know, walk in water,

620
00:37:30,360 --> 00:37:33,359
Speaker 1: fowling area, things like that, and and those things are

621
00:37:33,400 --> 00:37:38,000
Speaker 1: physically taxing as well. I wanted to bundle that all

622
00:37:38,040 --> 00:37:43,239
Speaker 1: together into one cohesive, comprehensive hunt that I would go

623
00:37:43,360 --> 00:37:47,120
Speaker 1: out there, I would hit it hard for multiple days

624
00:37:47,880 --> 00:37:55,160
Speaker 1: and be My success was entirely wrapped up in completing

625
00:37:55,200 --> 00:37:59,160
Speaker 1: the experience, not not punching my tag, but just completing

626
00:37:59,200 --> 00:38:03,400
Speaker 1: the experience. Yeah and uh yeah, bringing home meat was

627
00:38:03,440 --> 00:38:05,120
Speaker 1: going to be the bonus if I got to do it.

628
00:38:05,280 --> 00:38:09,920
Speaker 1: So we started this by talking about where you know,

629
00:38:10,000 --> 00:38:12,880
Speaker 1: like you said, you were talking about your stages of planning,

630
00:38:12,920 --> 00:38:15,319
Speaker 1: and you were like, I had to pick up yeah

631
00:38:15,360 --> 00:38:18,920
Speaker 1: a spot. Um, I can't. I don't want you to

632
00:38:18,920 --> 00:38:21,640
Speaker 1: tell it where you were obviously, but like, how did you?

633
00:38:21,719 --> 00:38:26,000
Speaker 1: How did you do that? Well? And while you're at it,

634
00:38:26,040 --> 00:38:29,520
Speaker 1: don't give them any tips that's gonna help them, right, Yeah,

635
00:38:29,520 --> 00:38:32,400
Speaker 1: because we've we've shared too much already. You know what

636
00:38:32,480 --> 00:38:36,120
Speaker 1: this podcast is done. Guys, go to Georgia, go to

637
00:38:36,520 --> 00:38:40,480
Speaker 1: East Tennessee. Don't ever come here to bear hunt. It's terrible.

638
00:38:41,320 --> 00:38:45,839
Speaker 1: Go ahead, Actually, I'm serious. Georgia is way better than

639
00:38:45,920 --> 00:38:51,040
Speaker 1: Arkansas tas to bear tags. And I gay ron t

640
00:38:51,239 --> 00:38:53,200
Speaker 1: you that you got more bear than we have. Well

641
00:38:53,680 --> 00:38:56,879
Speaker 1: here's a fun little fact for you. So I had

642
00:38:57,120 --> 00:38:59,120
Speaker 1: been talking with some of the guys that I used

643
00:38:59,120 --> 00:39:01,520
Speaker 1: to be on the Southeast Chapter board with and one

644
00:39:01,560 --> 00:39:03,439
Speaker 1: of them is like, I've been hunting for ten years

645
00:39:03,440 --> 00:39:05,200
Speaker 1: and I've only ever killed one bear. I don't know

646
00:39:05,239 --> 00:39:07,120
Speaker 1: how you went out there and did it in one year.

647
00:39:07,680 --> 00:39:11,600
Speaker 1: Like I don't know how I did it either, And

648
00:39:11,719 --> 00:39:17,719
Speaker 1: he hunts in Georgia. So yeah, so, um, so how

649
00:39:17,760 --> 00:39:20,840
Speaker 1: did I like? What? What? What? I? What I was

650
00:39:20,880 --> 00:39:23,279
Speaker 1: looking for, Clay is because I knew that what I

651
00:39:23,320 --> 00:39:27,200
Speaker 1: was going to fight was um because we can bait

652
00:39:27,280 --> 00:39:30,879
Speaker 1: on private land in Arkansas, and so I wanted to

653
00:39:30,960 --> 00:39:34,239
Speaker 1: get as try to find as big a block of

654
00:39:34,400 --> 00:39:37,719
Speaker 1: public land as I could find, it still had good

655
00:39:37,760 --> 00:39:39,799
Speaker 1: access for me to be able to get into. Like

656
00:39:39,840 --> 00:39:41,680
Speaker 1: I knew, I wasn't gonna be able to hike ten

657
00:39:41,760 --> 00:39:46,200
Speaker 1: miles in with everything I needed on my back. That's

658
00:39:46,200 --> 00:39:48,760
Speaker 1: just I don't have that skill set. So I needed

659
00:39:48,880 --> 00:39:52,160
Speaker 1: roads and and I needed some of that. So I've

660
00:39:52,200 --> 00:39:55,960
Speaker 1: just looked at different places. UM. We have several federally

661
00:39:55,960 --> 00:40:00,160
Speaker 1: designated wilderness areas here in Arkansas. UM, you can pull

662
00:40:00,200 --> 00:40:02,359
Speaker 1: out any map and look at any one of them

663
00:40:02,719 --> 00:40:04,120
Speaker 1: kind of see the same kind of thing and what

664
00:40:04,160 --> 00:40:07,640
Speaker 1: I'm talking about. Um, I just wanted to find someplace

665
00:40:07,719 --> 00:40:12,359
Speaker 1: like that where I could get away from. There's also

666
00:40:12,400 --> 00:40:16,000
Speaker 1: a lot of walk in hunting areas that are essentially

667
00:40:16,760 --> 00:40:21,600
Speaker 1: like wilderness in Arkansas. Yeah that that they have no roads,

668
00:40:21,920 --> 00:40:25,960
Speaker 1: but they don't have that specific designation. So for people

669
00:40:25,960 --> 00:40:29,960
Speaker 1: looking like that, it's not just those wildernesses. There's big

670
00:40:30,040 --> 00:40:34,480
Speaker 1: junks of national forests specifically some of these walk in areas.

671
00:40:34,480 --> 00:40:37,520
Speaker 1: But go ahead, Yeah, So that I mean that answers

672
00:40:37,560 --> 00:40:39,839
Speaker 1: the question, like that's how I picked where I went.

673
00:40:40,320 --> 00:40:43,480
Speaker 1: What about the county? Were you looking at harvest numbers

674
00:40:43,640 --> 00:40:48,560
Speaker 1: or anything? I checked? I checked that um and yeah,

675
00:40:48,560 --> 00:40:51,880
Speaker 1: I mean it had it probably played a little bit

676
00:40:51,920 --> 00:40:56,360
Speaker 1: of a role, but any anywhere that would fit the

677
00:40:56,400 --> 00:40:58,839
Speaker 1: first requirement was going to be fine for me as

678
00:40:58,840 --> 00:41:01,160
Speaker 1: far as harvest numbers. I mean, and that's just the

679
00:41:01,160 --> 00:41:03,480
Speaker 1: way about your what about how far from where you

680
00:41:03,560 --> 00:41:07,919
Speaker 1: lived where you interested in? Uh in that didn't bother

681
00:41:08,040 --> 00:41:11,000
Speaker 1: me too much or you were willing to drive? Yeah? Yeah,

682
00:41:11,040 --> 00:41:12,719
Speaker 1: and it was. I mean it's two and a half

683
00:41:12,760 --> 00:41:15,880
Speaker 1: hours from where I lived to get there. So you know,

684
00:41:15,920 --> 00:41:19,120
Speaker 1: a scouting trip was a day, you know, that was

685
00:41:19,160 --> 00:41:23,720
Speaker 1: a day that I was going to spend gone from home. Yeah. Yeah,

686
00:41:23,840 --> 00:41:27,200
Speaker 1: you know, that's the biggest question that like people have

687
00:41:27,280 --> 00:41:30,319
Speaker 1: on a traveling hunt is where to start? And I

688
00:41:30,360 --> 00:41:34,919
Speaker 1: know with me elk hunting and Colorado and and uh

689
00:41:35,000 --> 00:41:37,799
Speaker 1: and and many of the other traveling hunts I've done,

690
00:41:37,840 --> 00:41:43,239
Speaker 1: it's just like where to start? And U sometimes you

691
00:41:43,280 --> 00:41:45,799
Speaker 1: just gotta go. I mean you just gotta you just

692
00:41:45,840 --> 00:41:47,759
Speaker 1: gotta pick a spot with the best data that you

693
00:41:47,840 --> 00:41:51,520
Speaker 1: have and just just go. You got to learn it well,

694
00:41:51,560 --> 00:41:53,360
Speaker 1: and you know, I think having the time and the

695
00:41:53,360 --> 00:41:56,440
Speaker 1: ability to go scout whatever that's gonna look like for you,

696
00:41:56,480 --> 00:41:58,880
Speaker 1: that certainly helped, Like I didn't make my final decision

697
00:41:58,880 --> 00:42:00,279
Speaker 1: on where I was going to go and tell went

698
00:42:00,360 --> 00:42:05,040
Speaker 1: over there probably some time in May, I think, and

699
00:42:05,120 --> 00:42:08,239
Speaker 1: drove around um, knowing by that time that I was

700
00:42:08,239 --> 00:42:11,799
Speaker 1: gonna I wanted to bring the camper, and so I

701
00:42:11,840 --> 00:42:13,800
Speaker 1: wanted to find a place where I could put the camper.

702
00:42:13,920 --> 00:42:15,719
Speaker 1: So I had to be able to at least pull

703
00:42:15,719 --> 00:42:17,960
Speaker 1: a camper into it. You know, there are some places

704
00:42:17,960 --> 00:42:20,880
Speaker 1: that I I scouted out that would have been pretty

705
00:42:20,880 --> 00:42:23,560
Speaker 1: sketchy for me. It was tough to get to with

706
00:42:23,719 --> 00:42:25,879
Speaker 1: just a truck, so I knew I wouldn't be able

707
00:42:25,880 --> 00:42:28,480
Speaker 1: to get in there with a camper. So I did

708
00:42:28,520 --> 00:42:32,759
Speaker 1: one loop, looked at found several places so that if

709
00:42:32,800 --> 00:42:34,880
Speaker 1: I got over there and that spot was taken, I

710
00:42:34,960 --> 00:42:39,520
Speaker 1: could go somewhere else Um And then I then once

711
00:42:39,560 --> 00:42:41,560
Speaker 1: I had settled on that, then I just spent the

712
00:42:41,600 --> 00:42:45,279
Speaker 1: summer map scouting coming up with places I wanted to

713
00:42:45,320 --> 00:42:47,279
Speaker 1: go look at that I'd go over for a day

714
00:42:47,360 --> 00:42:50,960
Speaker 1: and look at it and do that. So tell me

715
00:42:51,040 --> 00:42:54,719
Speaker 1: about like what you what you found in your scouting,

716
00:42:54,920 --> 00:42:58,520
Speaker 1: what you or or maybe jump right into the couple

717
00:42:58,520 --> 00:42:59,960
Speaker 1: of days you got over there a couple of days

718
00:43:00,080 --> 00:43:03,759
Speaker 1: before season. Yeah, and let's let's talk about like this year,

719
00:43:04,000 --> 00:43:08,080
Speaker 1: like what what did you find? My early scouting that

720
00:43:08,120 --> 00:43:10,480
Speaker 1: I did over the summer and leading up to it

721
00:43:10,520 --> 00:43:13,560
Speaker 1: was just about understanding the terrain. You know, when I

722
00:43:13,640 --> 00:43:17,560
Speaker 1: look at this map, what does this mean? Like? Like

723
00:43:18,400 --> 00:43:20,520
Speaker 1: you know, getting it. You can look at a map,

724
00:43:20,560 --> 00:43:26,240
Speaker 1: but if you don't really comprehend the scale, you don't know. Okay,

725
00:43:26,360 --> 00:43:28,759
Speaker 1: you know a thousand feet from that creek to the

726
00:43:28,800 --> 00:43:32,000
Speaker 1: top of that mountain, what does that look like? How

727
00:43:32,000 --> 00:43:33,800
Speaker 1: hard is that going to be? What does that trail

728
00:43:33,880 --> 00:43:38,320
Speaker 1: look like? And so I did a couple of different hikes.

729
00:43:38,360 --> 00:43:39,920
Speaker 1: I just went over there and hiked four or five

730
00:43:40,000 --> 00:43:42,719
Speaker 1: miles and see what it was like. Then I was

731
00:43:42,760 --> 00:43:47,600
Speaker 1: looking for um. I was looking for just basic train features.

732
00:43:47,640 --> 00:43:53,040
Speaker 1: I looked for water, I looked for um oak flats,

733
00:43:53,080 --> 00:43:54,640
Speaker 1: you know, in the summertime. I was just trying to

734
00:43:54,680 --> 00:43:56,880
Speaker 1: look and see what kind of trees were there, stuff

735
00:43:56,920 --> 00:44:00,920
Speaker 1: like that. UM. I was pretty otisfied with what I

736
00:44:00,920 --> 00:44:03,400
Speaker 1: found on my scouting trips. You know a lot of

737
00:44:03,440 --> 00:44:07,880
Speaker 1: people ask if they see a bear in a certain

738
00:44:07,920 --> 00:44:09,880
Speaker 1: place or getting pictures of a bear, will it be

739
00:44:09,920 --> 00:44:12,840
Speaker 1: there during the bear season. I get that pretty often.

740
00:44:13,000 --> 00:44:16,759
Speaker 1: Somebody will send me a picture in July and they'll go, hey,

741
00:44:16,800 --> 00:44:18,480
Speaker 1: I got this bear over here. Do you think he'll

742
00:44:18,480 --> 00:44:23,440
Speaker 1: be here in October? And um, and I always say

743
00:44:23,480 --> 00:44:27,080
Speaker 1: probably not. But that doesn't mean another bear is not

744
00:44:27,080 --> 00:44:31,319
Speaker 1: going to be there. That specific bear, I mean, I'd

745
00:44:31,360 --> 00:44:35,359
Speaker 1: be surprised if you ever see it again. But you're

746
00:44:35,400 --> 00:44:37,759
Speaker 1: in a bear area, which is good, and it's all

747
00:44:37,800 --> 00:44:40,200
Speaker 1: about food source. You know, they have these huge home

748
00:44:40,280 --> 00:44:42,680
Speaker 1: ranges and that you lose different parts of that home

749
00:44:42,760 --> 00:44:45,239
Speaker 1: range at different times of the year. So it's not

750
00:44:45,320 --> 00:44:48,840
Speaker 1: a bad sign to find bear signed during the summer,

751
00:44:49,080 --> 00:44:53,799
Speaker 1: but it's not necessarily going to be highly relevant come

752
00:44:54,320 --> 00:44:57,360
Speaker 1: the end of September when season starts. It's good intel,

753
00:44:57,440 --> 00:44:59,759
Speaker 1: but it's not super relevant. Well, and that's what I

754
00:44:59,840 --> 00:45:02,279
Speaker 1: was I was kind of I mean, I was hoping

755
00:45:02,320 --> 00:45:07,160
Speaker 1: to find sign at least, you know, ye make sure

756
00:45:07,200 --> 00:45:11,400
Speaker 1: I wasn't going someplace where there weren't so um. So

757
00:45:11,480 --> 00:45:13,840
Speaker 1: my goal with the trip was to go set everything

758
00:45:13,920 --> 00:45:16,640
Speaker 1: up a few days before the season opened. I spent

759
00:45:17,360 --> 00:45:20,880
Speaker 1: um the Thursday all day and then the next and

760
00:45:20,880 --> 00:45:24,400
Speaker 1: then the Friday morning. Um, and we did some scouting

761
00:45:24,440 --> 00:45:28,000
Speaker 1: on Friday afternoon too, But um, went just walked in

762
00:45:28,040 --> 00:45:31,400
Speaker 1: different areas, just went for a walk, um, just to

763
00:45:31,600 --> 00:45:35,080
Speaker 1: look and see. Can I find the hot sign? Do

764
00:45:35,200 --> 00:45:39,000
Speaker 1: I find the you know the white oaks dropping up

765
00:45:39,040 --> 00:45:44,680
Speaker 1: high versus down low? What do the water holes look like? Um?

766
00:45:44,760 --> 00:45:48,560
Speaker 1: You know I ended up finding hogs where I hadn't

767
00:45:48,560 --> 00:45:51,560
Speaker 1: seen any hogs before, So you know I had to

768
00:45:51,760 --> 00:45:53,799
Speaker 1: I had to process that like that's going to have

769
00:45:53,840 --> 00:45:59,439
Speaker 1: some impact on what you know, what's like, what's using

770
00:45:59,480 --> 00:46:02,440
Speaker 1: the water ole um? You know, I was looking for

771
00:46:02,480 --> 00:46:06,359
Speaker 1: bear tracks. I was looking for bear scat um some

772
00:46:06,400 --> 00:46:08,600
Speaker 1: places I hadn't been before. So I was even looking

773
00:46:08,600 --> 00:46:11,680
Speaker 1: for access. Just can I get to I want to

774
00:46:11,719 --> 00:46:13,840
Speaker 1: get over to that certain place over there? Can I

775
00:46:13,840 --> 00:46:20,080
Speaker 1: actually even physically get to it? How rugged is it? Um? So,

776
00:46:20,080 --> 00:46:24,160
Speaker 1: So that's what my scouting involved on Thursday and Friday,

777
00:46:24,400 --> 00:46:29,920
Speaker 1: and I found it. Yes, I did want to kill

778
00:46:29,960 --> 00:46:32,799
Speaker 1: those hogs, but it is illegal in Arkansas to kill

779
00:46:32,880 --> 00:46:37,440
Speaker 1: hogs on public land before November one. Wait a minute,

780
00:46:37,480 --> 00:46:39,920
Speaker 1: are you seriously? Yeah? I double checked on it, so

781
00:46:40,160 --> 00:46:41,879
Speaker 1: I thought it was just on w m as where

782
00:46:41,880 --> 00:46:46,640
Speaker 1: they were managing for that. My understanding reading the regulations

783
00:46:46,840 --> 00:46:53,120
Speaker 1: was well, you're not allowed to hunt specifically for hogs

784
00:46:53,160 --> 00:46:57,680
Speaker 1: on public land in Arkansas. UM, you can incidentally take

785
00:46:57,719 --> 00:47:00,759
Speaker 1: them with the method of take that's legal for the

786
00:47:00,800 --> 00:47:03,120
Speaker 1: season you're in. So if it's archery season, you can

787
00:47:03,239 --> 00:47:07,920
Speaker 1: shoot him with a bow, et cetera. But that doesn't

788
00:47:07,920 --> 00:47:11,719
Speaker 1: start till November one. I'll be done. Yeah, okay. See,

789
00:47:11,760 --> 00:47:13,880
Speaker 1: because when you told me, you texted me and you

790
00:47:13,920 --> 00:47:16,480
Speaker 1: said found hogs, and I said, shoot them, I was

791
00:47:16,520 --> 00:47:19,759
Speaker 1: going to man, I had my pistol out, and I

792
00:47:19,800 --> 00:47:22,120
Speaker 1: was I was a little bit too far away for

793
00:47:22,160 --> 00:47:24,560
Speaker 1: a pistol shot. And this was before like I wasn't

794
00:47:24,560 --> 00:47:26,680
Speaker 1: carrying my bow because it wasn't because both season wasn't

795
00:47:26,680 --> 00:47:29,239
Speaker 1: open yet. But I had my pistol with me just

796
00:47:29,280 --> 00:47:34,600
Speaker 1: in case, and I didn't get a shot, which UM

797
00:47:34,640 --> 00:47:38,080
Speaker 1: probably probably a good thing, you know. I see, it

798
00:47:38,080 --> 00:47:39,640
Speaker 1: would have been my if you would have said that,

799
00:47:39,800 --> 00:47:42,319
Speaker 1: I would have I would have checked the regulations, which

800
00:47:42,320 --> 00:47:45,520
Speaker 1: I haven't. Almost every place that hunt doesn't have hogs

801
00:47:45,760 --> 00:47:48,320
Speaker 1: right now, so I just hadn't paid that much attention.

802
00:47:48,360 --> 00:47:51,920
Speaker 1: But I did know that on the wildlife management areas

803
00:47:52,160 --> 00:47:54,839
Speaker 1: you could not shoot hogs. I did not know that

804
00:47:54,840 --> 00:47:58,040
Speaker 1: that applied to National Force. What they say is just

805
00:47:58,280 --> 00:48:03,319
Speaker 1: public land. Okay, well that's okay. So you so I

806
00:48:03,320 --> 00:48:05,879
Speaker 1: scouted Thursday and Friday, my buddy got my buddy Rick

807
00:48:05,880 --> 00:48:08,080
Speaker 1: got in town. Um, Darren ended up not being able

808
00:48:08,120 --> 00:48:11,120
Speaker 1: to come. A dog got sick and had to have surgery.

809
00:48:11,239 --> 00:48:18,480
Speaker 1: So I know it was we all got sick. Darren. Well,

810
00:48:18,840 --> 00:48:21,360
Speaker 1: you know, a hunter gathered. I don't even know what Darren.

811
00:48:21,440 --> 00:48:24,759
Speaker 1: I'm sure Darren's listened to this. Darren. Yeah, now he

812
00:48:24,920 --> 00:48:29,239
Speaker 1: good dog ownership. Yeah, it was good. Yeah, this year

813
00:48:29,320 --> 00:48:31,759
Speaker 1: he missed out. He missed out. But Rick got there

814
00:48:31,880 --> 00:48:34,319
Speaker 1: and so took him around and show him a few

815
00:48:34,360 --> 00:48:39,080
Speaker 1: things and made a plan and uh woke up. You know,

816
00:48:39,120 --> 00:48:41,680
Speaker 1: we made a plan. I hadn't really seen anybody. I

817
00:48:41,760 --> 00:48:45,719
Speaker 1: had seen people in the area, but I mean, aside

818
00:48:45,760 --> 00:48:48,279
Speaker 1: from a little bit of flagging tape here and there,

819
00:48:48,320 --> 00:48:50,919
Speaker 1: I hadn't really didn't have any indication of how many

820
00:48:50,920 --> 00:48:55,839
Speaker 1: people we have hunting in our area. Five and we're

821
00:48:55,880 --> 00:49:00,840
Speaker 1: parked our campers right off the road. Five in the

822
00:49:00,880 --> 00:49:04,040
Speaker 1: morning morning opening morning, guy rolls up in a truck.

823
00:49:04,600 --> 00:49:07,920
Speaker 1: It's kind of slow, rolls past our campsite, goes down

824
00:49:07,960 --> 00:49:13,200
Speaker 1: the road a little ways in parks. Somebody else's could

825
00:49:13,440 --> 00:49:17,160
Speaker 1: see lights parking. Oh yeah, yeah, I mean, well, we

826
00:49:17,320 --> 00:49:19,200
Speaker 1: go out from camp and his truck was right there,

827
00:49:19,680 --> 00:49:24,719
Speaker 1: so you know, um and uh, and he knows he

828
00:49:24,760 --> 00:49:27,400
Speaker 1: may listen to the podcast and he ended up talking

829
00:49:27,400 --> 00:49:31,680
Speaker 1: to Rick later on UM and yeah, he was hunting

830
00:49:31,719 --> 00:49:35,320
Speaker 1: exactly the same place I was hunting on Saturday, deer hunting.

831
00:49:35,840 --> 00:49:38,319
Speaker 1: He was deer hunting. Most of the people that were

832
00:49:38,320 --> 00:49:42,319
Speaker 1: over there were deer hunting. And um, he had no

833
00:49:42,400 --> 00:49:45,439
Speaker 1: idea I was there. The only indication that I had

834
00:49:45,520 --> 00:49:49,040
Speaker 1: he was there is I found half a bootprint somewhere

835
00:49:49,080 --> 00:49:52,319
Speaker 1: on the trail on my way in. Um. Just and

836
00:49:52,400 --> 00:49:55,880
Speaker 1: I man, I was real slow getting in there, but

837
00:49:56,000 --> 00:49:59,160
Speaker 1: we decided so here's something, um that we decided that

838
00:49:59,200 --> 00:50:01,400
Speaker 1: it wasn't worth it to us to get up early

839
00:50:01,440 --> 00:50:04,960
Speaker 1: to try to get somewhere because we couldn't see and

840
00:50:05,000 --> 00:50:07,560
Speaker 1: we didn't probably know the area well enough to go

841
00:50:07,920 --> 00:50:12,200
Speaker 1: bumbling around in the dark. Figured we might as well

842
00:50:13,080 --> 00:50:17,640
Speaker 1: still hunt our way in, set up and sit and watch.

843
00:50:17,760 --> 00:50:19,759
Speaker 1: So we so he went in. That guy was there

844
00:50:19,760 --> 00:50:22,360
Speaker 1: at five. We didn't go out and it was super

845
00:50:22,400 --> 00:50:26,560
Speaker 1: foggy that morning. We didn't go out until it might

846
00:50:26,600 --> 00:50:34,000
Speaker 1: have been seven o'clock. Six thirty at the earliest. UM

847
00:50:34,200 --> 00:50:37,440
Speaker 1: hunted all day Saturday. I hiked, you know, I hiked

848
00:50:37,440 --> 00:50:39,719
Speaker 1: in different places that I hadn't been before. I saw

849
00:50:39,760 --> 00:50:43,359
Speaker 1: some cool stuff that I hadn't seen. UM spooked some deer.

850
00:50:44,080 --> 00:50:48,759
Speaker 1: I actually found some torn up logs that day. In retrospect,

851
00:50:49,000 --> 00:50:52,840
Speaker 1: I think I put myself in a pretty good spot. Um.

852
00:50:53,560 --> 00:50:56,200
Speaker 1: But it was in the middle of the day and

853
00:50:57,160 --> 00:51:01,319
Speaker 1: by early afternoon I and taking enough food with me

854
00:51:01,400 --> 00:51:05,000
Speaker 1: to stay out all day. So I just um hiked

855
00:51:05,000 --> 00:51:08,600
Speaker 1: out of there. And uh, which I just wrecked myself

856
00:51:08,680 --> 00:51:12,440
Speaker 1: hiking out like I picked away to go that climbing

857
00:51:12,480 --> 00:51:15,200
Speaker 1: through all the obstacles. I mean, I had a little

858
00:51:15,760 --> 00:51:18,120
Speaker 1: not how bluff. It wasn't a cliff as a small

859
00:51:18,160 --> 00:51:20,640
Speaker 1: bluff line I had to navigate. I got into a

860
00:51:20,719 --> 00:51:25,360
Speaker 1: briar patch that I couldn't hardly get through. UM. Probably

861
00:51:25,400 --> 00:51:29,279
Speaker 1: still have the scabs from it. But um, So I

862
00:51:29,320 --> 00:51:31,480
Speaker 1: didn't go back out Saturday. I got back probably to

863
00:51:31,680 --> 00:51:34,040
Speaker 1: thirty or so Saturday afternoon. I didn't go back out

864
00:51:34,080 --> 00:51:38,680
Speaker 1: Saturday night. Sunday I get up. Rick had seen a

865
00:51:38,800 --> 00:51:43,440
Speaker 1: nice buck that morning on Saturday morning, UM, I couldn't

866
00:51:43,480 --> 00:51:44,919
Speaker 1: get a shot at it. So we were like, well,

867
00:51:45,000 --> 00:51:48,120
Speaker 1: maybe maybe we'll be incidental deer hunters. So we went

868
00:51:48,200 --> 00:51:50,880
Speaker 1: back in kind of the same area, and plan was

869
00:51:50,920 --> 00:51:52,880
Speaker 1: that we were gonna hunt just a few hundred yards apart.

870
00:51:54,080 --> 00:51:55,799
Speaker 1: I could never find a place where I wanted to

871
00:51:55,840 --> 00:51:58,160
Speaker 1: sit and hunt, so I just kept going farther and

872
00:51:58,200 --> 00:52:00,200
Speaker 1: farther and farther and farther, and I made an other

873
00:52:00,280 --> 00:52:04,239
Speaker 1: two and a half Yeah, I mean, I ended up

874
00:52:04,320 --> 00:52:08,839
Speaker 1: hiking another probably two and a half three miles, made

875
00:52:08,840 --> 00:52:10,880
Speaker 1: a big loop. Got back in the afternoon. I was

876
00:52:10,920 --> 00:52:13,920
Speaker 1: wrecked again. You know, it was hot too. That was

877
00:52:13,960 --> 00:52:17,040
Speaker 1: the other thing. It's pretty warm. I had some lunch,

878
00:52:17,160 --> 00:52:21,479
Speaker 1: drank some water, got myself charged up, made a plan

879
00:52:21,600 --> 00:52:24,360
Speaker 1: for Sunday night. I went out and thought I was

880
00:52:24,360 --> 00:52:28,399
Speaker 1: gonna make just a really small loop Sunday night. Got

881
00:52:28,440 --> 00:52:30,520
Speaker 1: into it. I was on the I felt like I

882
00:52:30,520 --> 00:52:32,319
Speaker 1: was hanging on by my tone nails on the side

883
00:52:32,360 --> 00:52:36,799
Speaker 1: of a hill that I couldn't hardly navigate. But I

884
00:52:36,840 --> 00:52:40,600
Speaker 1: found bear scats Sunday night, first scat that I had

885
00:52:40,640 --> 00:52:45,400
Speaker 1: found check yep. So that was one of my measures

886
00:52:45,400 --> 00:52:47,759
Speaker 1: of success. I had told several people, if I see

887
00:52:47,840 --> 00:52:51,680
Speaker 1: bear scat, I'm successful. So I checked that box. It

888
00:52:51,800 --> 00:52:54,960
Speaker 1: was old, but I was glad to see it. But

889
00:52:55,080 --> 00:52:57,319
Speaker 1: got back on Sunday night and both Rick and I

890
00:52:57,400 --> 00:53:00,960
Speaker 1: were like this, these two days are not working. Like

891
00:53:01,040 --> 00:53:03,839
Speaker 1: what we've been doing is not working, just hiking up

892
00:53:03,880 --> 00:53:09,200
Speaker 1: and down, change in elevation. So made a plan for Monday.

893
00:53:09,239 --> 00:53:13,799
Speaker 1: I personally my plan was take more food, stay out

894
00:53:13,840 --> 00:53:19,600
Speaker 1: all day, do more sitting and less hiking. And so

895
00:53:21,280 --> 00:53:24,040
Speaker 1: UM and Rick UM decided to go into a different

896
00:53:24,040 --> 00:53:26,879
Speaker 1: spot that we had scouted we had seen. I put

897
00:53:26,880 --> 00:53:29,720
Speaker 1: a camera up on Thursday and we checked it on Friday,

898
00:53:29,840 --> 00:53:32,600
Speaker 1: had a deer had walked through there, had seen some

899
00:53:32,640 --> 00:53:35,239
Speaker 1: scrapes and stuff. He was gonna go hunt that see

900
00:53:35,280 --> 00:53:40,279
Speaker 1: if he could get a deer. So Monday morning, we

901
00:53:40,400 --> 00:53:45,560
Speaker 1: go different directions and I get to the trailhead get

902
00:53:45,600 --> 00:53:50,319
Speaker 1: started walking in and I walked in probably half three

903
00:53:50,400 --> 00:53:56,200
Speaker 1: quarters of a mile, and I get to this drainage. Um,

904
00:53:56,760 --> 00:54:00,560
Speaker 1: there's a quasi trail in there, so you know people

905
00:54:00,560 --> 00:54:04,359
Speaker 1: have been back in there. And I kind of walk

906
00:54:04,480 --> 00:54:07,279
Speaker 1: up this little dry creek bed a little bit and

907
00:54:07,280 --> 00:54:10,400
Speaker 1: I get to looking around and I'm like, man, it

908
00:54:10,440 --> 00:54:15,439
Speaker 1: really looks like something has been around here, like living here,

909
00:54:16,800 --> 00:54:18,479
Speaker 1: you know, it's just what did what did you see

910
00:54:18,520 --> 00:54:22,759
Speaker 1: that that? The first thing was just you know when

911
00:54:22,760 --> 00:54:25,680
Speaker 1: you're in the woods or whatever, and and the leaves

912
00:54:25,719 --> 00:54:30,800
Speaker 1: are fluffy, you know, there's like they've just fallen. Um.

913
00:54:30,840 --> 00:54:32,680
Speaker 1: But then when there's been a lot of activity, like

914
00:54:32,719 --> 00:54:36,239
Speaker 1: the leaves are smashed, where they're pushed away, you see

915
00:54:36,400 --> 00:54:40,320
Speaker 1: clear spots in the ground. Um, there's just some places

916
00:54:40,320 --> 00:54:42,320
Speaker 1: where it looked like something had been coming and going.

917
00:54:42,360 --> 00:54:46,320
Speaker 1: A whole bunch activity activity the leaves, is what you're saying.

918
00:54:46,640 --> 00:54:48,880
Speaker 1: And then I started kind of looking around and I

919
00:54:48,920 --> 00:54:54,279
Speaker 1: saw a bunch of torn up logs, um and and

920
00:54:54,400 --> 00:54:59,279
Speaker 1: so and and they looked I mean, they looked like

921
00:54:59,400 --> 00:55:02,799
Speaker 1: newer activity in that regard. You know, some logs are

922
00:55:02,880 --> 00:55:05,360
Speaker 1: just blown apart and it's like no big deal. But

923
00:55:05,400 --> 00:55:08,560
Speaker 1: I had seen so many torn up logs and all

924
00:55:08,560 --> 00:55:11,120
Speaker 1: the hiking around that I had done, they had started

925
00:55:11,160 --> 00:55:12,640
Speaker 1: to be able to look at it and say, Okay,

926
00:55:12,680 --> 00:55:17,120
Speaker 1: that's newer, that's older stuff like that. So I kind

927
00:55:17,120 --> 00:55:19,879
Speaker 1: of filed that spot away. I kept on. I had

928
00:55:19,920 --> 00:55:21,840
Speaker 1: some goals for the day of where I wanted to

929
00:55:21,840 --> 00:55:24,839
Speaker 1: get to. I did a couple of different sits through

930
00:55:24,880 --> 00:55:29,279
Speaker 1: the day, and ultimately I got myself on this little

931
00:55:29,560 --> 00:55:31,839
Speaker 1: point and I was sitting there, I found another pile

932
00:55:31,880 --> 00:55:36,280
Speaker 1: of little pile of bear scat out there. It was older.

933
00:55:38,960 --> 00:55:44,200
Speaker 1: And ultimately, um, I realized about four o'clock in the

934
00:55:44,239 --> 00:55:48,560
Speaker 1: afternoon that I had set myself up under a widowmaker,

935
00:55:50,080 --> 00:55:52,239
Speaker 1: under a big tree that was gonna fall, had a

936
00:55:52,280 --> 00:55:53,960
Speaker 1: bunch of had a bunch of dead limbs up in

937
00:55:54,000 --> 00:55:57,440
Speaker 1: the top of it. And and something I struggled with

938
00:55:57,480 --> 00:56:00,440
Speaker 1: that was really the whole time that would bothered me

939
00:56:00,560 --> 00:56:03,280
Speaker 1: was wind is supposed to be out of this direction,

940
00:56:04,000 --> 00:56:06,400
Speaker 1: a man down in these hollers and everything. It was

941
00:56:06,440 --> 00:56:10,480
Speaker 1: just going every which way, supposed to be generally prevailing

942
00:56:10,480 --> 00:56:13,200
Speaker 1: out of the north that day, and it was constantly

943
00:56:13,239 --> 00:56:18,040
Speaker 1: coming at me from the southwest. And so the wind

944
00:56:18,080 --> 00:56:20,440
Speaker 1: is blowing and you know, I hear the tree, to

945
00:56:20,480 --> 00:56:23,680
Speaker 1: hear the branches knocking together. I'm like, this is not

946
00:56:23,800 --> 00:56:26,120
Speaker 1: the place I'm gonna make my last stand. Like I'm

947
00:56:26,160 --> 00:56:30,840
Speaker 1: just gonna go somewhere else. So hey, that's the story

948
00:56:30,920 --> 00:56:37,239
Speaker 1: of hunting these Any kind of small cut up terrain features,

949
00:56:37,239 --> 00:56:40,120
Speaker 1: whether you're in the Missouri breaks or in the Ozarks,

950
00:56:41,760 --> 00:56:46,919
Speaker 1: cut up terrain is just highly unpredictable, especially when you're

951
00:56:47,000 --> 00:56:49,880
Speaker 1: off the side of the mountain. Sometimes on top of

952
00:56:49,920 --> 00:56:53,799
Speaker 1: the mountains, because the wind is not obstructed, is going

953
00:56:53,880 --> 00:56:59,480
Speaker 1: to be fairly, fairly congruent with what you would look

954
00:56:59,480 --> 00:57:03,440
Speaker 1: on a weather forecast and see, Yeah, sides of mountains,

955
00:57:03,480 --> 00:57:07,839
Speaker 1: hollows are is just gonna be chaos. Yeah, And and

956
00:57:07,920 --> 00:57:11,200
Speaker 1: that's exactly what I was finding. I mean, I was

957
00:57:11,560 --> 00:57:17,080
Speaker 1: hunting around feet elevation and the mountaintops to the north

958
00:57:17,120 --> 00:57:20,320
Speaker 1: of me where two thousand feet. So man, the wind

959
00:57:20,360 --> 00:57:22,120
Speaker 1: was just coming over the top and then it was

960
00:57:22,200 --> 00:57:25,200
Speaker 1: just rolling and swirling and coming down and doing all

961
00:57:25,280 --> 00:57:29,800
Speaker 1: kinds of crazy stuff. So I had seen a pretty

962
00:57:29,800 --> 00:57:32,440
Speaker 1: good rub line I had scouted in that area on Friday.

963
00:57:32,480 --> 00:57:35,760
Speaker 1: I had seen a pretty good rub line and it

964
00:57:35,800 --> 00:57:39,920
Speaker 1: was pretty close to that activity area that I had seen,

965
00:57:40,960 --> 00:57:43,120
Speaker 1: And so I decided, I'm gonna go back over to

966
00:57:43,200 --> 00:57:46,240
Speaker 1: that spot. I'm gonna sit kind of back up away

967
00:57:46,280 --> 00:57:48,640
Speaker 1: from that where I can watch the trail, I can

968
00:57:48,720 --> 00:57:54,320
Speaker 1: watch this little drainage area, and just that's where I'm

969
00:57:54,320 --> 00:57:57,800
Speaker 1: gonna That's where I'm gonna finish the day. Probably gonna

970
00:57:57,840 --> 00:58:01,360
Speaker 1: finish the hunt there because I had to come back

971
00:58:01,440 --> 00:58:03,640
Speaker 1: for meetings. So I was like, well, and and Rick

972
00:58:03,680 --> 00:58:06,439
Speaker 1: had to leave. So I thought i'd i'd at least

973
00:58:06,440 --> 00:58:09,600
Speaker 1: come back and resupply, and maybe if I had to,

974
00:58:09,680 --> 00:58:12,920
Speaker 1: I'd go back and and um on the weekend. What

975
00:58:12,960 --> 00:58:17,200
Speaker 1: did Rick have that was so important? Family? Rick had

976
00:58:17,240 --> 00:58:23,280
Speaker 1: family obligations? Okay, Rick, Rick lives his life in balance,

977
00:58:23,360 --> 00:58:27,040
Speaker 1: Clay good. Has he been listening to our pod? I think, so, Rick,

978
00:58:27,160 --> 00:58:33,040
Speaker 1: you should have stayed. Yeah. No, he's gonna get his

979
00:58:33,120 --> 00:58:39,400
Speaker 1: kudos later on here. So so so I figured, you know,

980
00:58:39,440 --> 00:58:41,760
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna go back and sit there. So I

981
00:58:41,840 --> 00:58:44,160
Speaker 1: go back, and you and I were trading messages a

982
00:58:44,160 --> 00:58:46,720
Speaker 1: little bit, and um, I think I told you at

983
00:58:46,720 --> 00:58:49,960
Speaker 1: that point, I figured I had hiked about fourteen miles

984
00:58:49,960 --> 00:58:55,640
Speaker 1: over the over the five days, I guess. And so

985
00:58:55,680 --> 00:58:57,680
Speaker 1: I get in there and I sit down. I'm sitting

986
00:58:57,680 --> 00:59:02,640
Speaker 1: on a log. Um. You know, I think the way

987
00:59:02,680 --> 00:59:08,880
Speaker 1: to envision this mentally for people is if it and

988
00:59:09,160 --> 00:59:10,880
Speaker 1: I think I told you this, like if you put

989
00:59:10,880 --> 00:59:12,960
Speaker 1: your left hand out in front of you and you

990
00:59:13,040 --> 00:59:16,720
Speaker 1: make the make the sign for four, every one of

991
00:59:16,760 --> 00:59:21,000
Speaker 1: your fingers is a ridgeline running running downhill towards your hand,

992
00:59:22,360 --> 00:59:25,400
Speaker 1: your fingertips are high up on the mountain and your

993
00:59:25,440 --> 00:59:29,800
Speaker 1: hand is low towards the creek drainage, and then each

994
00:59:29,840 --> 00:59:33,760
Speaker 1: one of those spots in between your fingers is is

995
00:59:33,800 --> 00:59:38,200
Speaker 1: a holla that where the water is coming down when

996
00:59:38,240 --> 00:59:42,080
Speaker 1: it rains and whatever. There's a trail that runs across

997
00:59:42,120 --> 00:59:44,880
Speaker 1: the knuckles at the base of your hand, okay, And

998
00:59:44,960 --> 00:59:48,960
Speaker 1: that's the trail that I came in on. And I

999
00:59:49,000 --> 00:59:55,040
Speaker 1: was sitting essentially at pretty close to that knuckle on

1000
00:59:55,120 --> 00:59:57,600
Speaker 1: your pinky finger, and I was watching the drainage that

1001
00:59:57,680 --> 01:00:00,960
Speaker 1: runs between your pinky finger in your ring finger, and

1002
01:00:01,000 --> 01:00:06,400
Speaker 1: I'm watching the trail that runs across your knuckles. So

1003
01:00:07,160 --> 01:00:09,400
Speaker 1: off to my right on the trail is where the

1004
01:00:09,480 --> 01:00:11,480
Speaker 1: rub line is, and off to the left up the

1005
01:00:11,560 --> 01:00:20,320
Speaker 1: drainage is where this uh my yes, um six thirty.

1006
01:00:20,360 --> 01:00:22,640
Speaker 1: I'm looking out and I can see the hillside across

1007
01:00:22,720 --> 01:00:25,120
Speaker 1: from me and this and the sun and shadow, the

1008
01:00:25,160 --> 01:00:28,800
Speaker 1: shadows just creeping up the mountain. But it's getting pretty still,

1009
01:00:29,360 --> 01:00:33,560
Speaker 1: you know, like it does around dusk. And I'm like, okay,

1010
01:00:33,640 --> 01:00:36,680
Speaker 1: I can make it thirty more minutes. That's when sunset was.

1011
01:00:37,200 --> 01:00:40,280
Speaker 1: I was only about a half a mile, maybe a

1012
01:00:40,280 --> 01:00:42,200
Speaker 1: little bit more than a half mile from the truck.

1013
01:00:43,240 --> 01:00:47,320
Speaker 1: The trail was a quasi trail, so it's really easy

1014
01:00:47,360 --> 01:00:49,600
Speaker 1: to get turned around, and I wanted to get out

1015
01:00:49,600 --> 01:00:53,280
Speaker 1: before it was totally dark. I'll make it untill seven

1016
01:00:53,280 --> 01:00:56,360
Speaker 1: o'clock and then I'm going out. Put my phone back

1017
01:00:56,360 --> 01:01:00,400
Speaker 1: in my pocket and do that. Slow head turned to

1018
01:01:00,440 --> 01:01:03,920
Speaker 1: the right. Slow head turned to the left, just in

1019
01:01:03,960 --> 01:01:06,600
Speaker 1: case anything snuck up on me. While I was looking

1020
01:01:06,640 --> 01:01:09,360
Speaker 1: at my phone and I turned my head to the left,

1021
01:01:10,400 --> 01:01:16,800
Speaker 1: I see this black fur. I'm like, oh, that's a bear.

1022
01:01:18,000 --> 01:01:21,080
Speaker 1: So I got my bowe in my left hand. I

1023
01:01:21,120 --> 01:01:25,760
Speaker 1: clipped my release on and it and as it's coming up,

1024
01:01:26,560 --> 01:01:31,680
Speaker 1: it goes behind a pine tree. And when it goes

1025
01:01:31,720 --> 01:01:34,800
Speaker 1: behind that pine tree, I come to full draw. This

1026
01:01:34,960 --> 01:01:38,800
Speaker 1: just happens just like bam. It's it's how close is

1027
01:01:38,800 --> 01:01:42,680
Speaker 1: the bear? Uh? At that point, I don't know how

1028
01:01:42,720 --> 01:01:45,800
Speaker 1: close it is. I think it's pretty far away. M h.

1029
01:01:46,360 --> 01:01:48,600
Speaker 1: I mean I mean you tell me, I mean, was

1030
01:01:48,640 --> 01:01:51,680
Speaker 1: it like forty yards away or like, no, no, it's

1031
01:01:51,760 --> 01:01:57,320
Speaker 1: like ten yards away. Oh that's very close. Yeah okay, yeah,

1032
01:01:58,160 --> 01:02:04,000
Speaker 1: so so we um so, so I come to full

1033
01:02:04,080 --> 01:02:07,520
Speaker 1: draw and when that bear comes around that pine tree,

1034
01:02:08,160 --> 01:02:14,800
Speaker 1: it's face fills my sight picture like looking through your

1035
01:02:14,800 --> 01:02:19,040
Speaker 1: peep looking through my peep Oh this suckers close. Yeah wow,

1036
01:02:20,000 --> 01:02:22,200
Speaker 1: And um of course I'm thinking, okay, well I can't

1037
01:02:22,200 --> 01:02:27,080
Speaker 1: shoot in the face. I had, you know, look at yeah.

1038
01:02:27,360 --> 01:02:32,080
Speaker 1: So so it sees me and stops and then he

1039
01:02:32,080 --> 01:02:39,360
Speaker 1: goes m hm huff yeah yeah, yeah yeah, and it

1040
01:02:39,440 --> 01:02:44,680
Speaker 1: jumps up on the base of that pine tree and

1041
01:02:44,680 --> 01:02:47,240
Speaker 1: and it's just sitting there looking at me. And that

1042
01:02:47,240 --> 01:02:50,320
Speaker 1: would be a pretty typical response of a spooked bear,

1043
01:02:50,680 --> 01:02:53,800
Speaker 1: like he's trying to make a decision should I run

1044
01:02:53,920 --> 01:02:57,120
Speaker 1: up this tree to get away from this thing? Like

1045
01:02:57,160 --> 01:02:59,240
Speaker 1: a lot of times when the bear spooked, it'll put

1046
01:02:59,280 --> 01:03:01,920
Speaker 1: its front paul up on a tree, you know, because

1047
01:03:01,920 --> 01:03:03,920
Speaker 1: they can climb a tree like a squirrel. Oh man.

1048
01:03:03,960 --> 01:03:05,960
Speaker 1: And it was just like it was like on the

1049
01:03:06,000 --> 01:03:07,920
Speaker 1: ground and then it was on the tree. It was like,

1050
01:03:08,920 --> 01:03:11,160
Speaker 1: didn't totally latch onto the tree or where its back

1051
01:03:11,160 --> 01:03:12,800
Speaker 1: feet on the ground. Now it was totally on the tree.

1052
01:03:12,800 --> 01:03:17,400
Speaker 1: So it's just like just jumped spider man. Oh man,

1053
01:03:18,320 --> 01:03:21,120
Speaker 1: you're at full draw, looking at through full draw, looking

1054
01:03:21,120 --> 01:03:26,720
Speaker 1: at through my peep site. And I've been I mean,

1055
01:03:26,720 --> 01:03:30,520
Speaker 1: I've been practicing for this trying to get that automatic

1056
01:03:30,520 --> 01:03:33,200
Speaker 1: because archree is not my thing either. I mean, I've

1057
01:03:33,240 --> 01:03:36,560
Speaker 1: been working at it all summer long. I pushed that

1058
01:03:36,600 --> 01:03:40,280
Speaker 1: bow away and I pulled back, you know, get that

1059
01:03:40,320 --> 01:03:44,880
Speaker 1: back tension, that top pin right in the middle, the

1060
01:03:44,960 --> 01:03:46,680
Speaker 1: middle of the middle, and I let the areas you're

1061
01:03:46,800 --> 01:03:50,080
Speaker 1: you're you're looking at like this broadside bear, but it's vertical,

1062
01:03:50,200 --> 01:03:54,560
Speaker 1: but it's vertical. The Barony Magazine podcast never trained you

1063
01:03:54,640 --> 01:03:57,680
Speaker 1: for that. It didn't didn't And I felt let down

1064
01:03:57,680 --> 01:04:00,760
Speaker 1: in the moment. It's through my head. I it dot

1065
01:04:00,800 --> 01:04:03,440
Speaker 1: gun it, Clay. We're gonna have a whole episode on

1066
01:04:03,520 --> 01:04:08,240
Speaker 1: shooting bears on the side of trees. You did good, though,

1067
01:04:08,440 --> 01:04:11,400
Speaker 1: aimed for the sort of the middle, and then of

1068
01:04:11,400 --> 01:04:15,040
Speaker 1: course now at this point the bears later figure out

1069
01:04:15,120 --> 01:04:19,440
Speaker 1: six yards man he was, I mean, he wanted to

1070
01:04:19,440 --> 01:04:22,320
Speaker 1: get in my lap. I feel like because that's where

1071
01:04:22,320 --> 01:04:23,840
Speaker 1: he was going, Because he was coming around, he was

1072
01:04:23,840 --> 01:04:26,040
Speaker 1: going right down that tree, that that log that I

1073
01:04:26,080 --> 01:04:27,960
Speaker 1: was sitting on. He would have come right down the

1074
01:04:28,040 --> 01:04:34,280
Speaker 1: uphill side of that log. So errow flies, it hits him,

1075
01:04:34,280 --> 01:04:37,520
Speaker 1: he runs off with he runs off with the arrow

1076
01:04:37,520 --> 01:04:40,680
Speaker 1: in him, and I hear and I hear it hit yep.

1077
01:04:42,040 --> 01:04:49,000
Speaker 1: Um looking back, you know it hit him. You know,

1078
01:04:49,400 --> 01:04:54,640
Speaker 1: spoiler alert, we get the bear. Um hit him in

1079
01:04:54,680 --> 01:04:57,480
Speaker 1: the shoulder right, not in the shoulder, just behind the shoulder,

1080
01:04:57,520 --> 01:05:01,800
Speaker 1: basically in the armpit. Um, I got one lung. And

1081
01:05:01,840 --> 01:05:05,720
Speaker 1: then there was a small hole right at the stern um,

1082
01:05:05,920 --> 01:05:07,880
Speaker 1: so it came kind of so either the bear was

1083
01:05:07,960 --> 01:05:13,080
Speaker 1: kind of turned towards me, was right behind the left

1084
01:05:13,200 --> 01:05:16,000
Speaker 1: front shoulder, right front shoulder, right front shoulder, and then

1085
01:05:16,040 --> 01:05:18,520
Speaker 1: the eric came out in the chest. So it just

1086
01:05:19,080 --> 01:05:23,200
Speaker 1: it actually hit I mean, it didn't pass through a

1087
01:05:23,200 --> 01:05:26,240
Speaker 1: lot of the bear, right. It probably hit the tree.

1088
01:05:27,120 --> 01:05:28,800
Speaker 1: Could be my guest that kept it from going through

1089
01:05:28,800 --> 01:05:30,720
Speaker 1: because he was sucked on the side of that tree.

1090
01:05:31,160 --> 01:05:34,919
Speaker 1: So it probably hit the tree. But I did come

1091
01:05:34,920 --> 01:05:39,439
Speaker 1: to find out I got one lung. So, UM, if

1092
01:05:39,480 --> 01:05:42,880
Speaker 1: I had hit much farther what we would typically say

1093
01:05:43,000 --> 01:05:49,360
Speaker 1: farther back in this case with him vertical farther down, UM,

1094
01:05:49,560 --> 01:05:52,320
Speaker 1: I don't know if we would have gotten that bear,

1095
01:05:52,400 --> 01:05:57,080
Speaker 1: because you might not have got the bottles. Yeah. So man,

1096
01:05:57,120 --> 01:05:59,320
Speaker 1: so he runs off and then you kind of see

1097
01:05:59,400 --> 01:06:02,400
Speaker 1: him start to slow down out there. Yeah, yeah, he

1098
01:06:02,520 --> 01:06:04,919
Speaker 1: runs off, and I do you know I'm sitting there.

1099
01:06:04,960 --> 01:06:07,240
Speaker 1: I go through everything, try to make sure I know

1100
01:06:07,280 --> 01:06:10,800
Speaker 1: where I am. Where does he go? You have no idea?

1101
01:06:10,960 --> 01:06:14,760
Speaker 1: Like in the moment, I know my memory could be

1102
01:06:14,800 --> 01:06:17,560
Speaker 1: really bad. So I try to pause and get my

1103
01:06:17,560 --> 01:06:21,200
Speaker 1: wits about me. And then I go and I check.

1104
01:06:21,280 --> 01:06:23,240
Speaker 1: And this is pretty quick. After I go and I check,

1105
01:06:24,120 --> 01:06:26,760
Speaker 1: like what what kind of blood do I have? I

1106
01:06:26,800 --> 01:06:30,520
Speaker 1: find blood. I start to follow it very tentatively. I

1107
01:06:30,640 --> 01:06:35,200
Speaker 1: find pretty healthy amounts of blood, so I'm happy about that.

1108
01:06:36,240 --> 01:06:38,320
Speaker 1: Then I find my arrow. I've probably gone twenty or

1109
01:06:38,360 --> 01:06:40,280
Speaker 1: thirty yards. I find my arrow. By the time I

1110
01:06:40,280 --> 01:06:43,560
Speaker 1: find my arrow, and I figure out how much penetration

1111
01:06:43,560 --> 01:06:46,880
Speaker 1: did I get. Then I see the bear up ahead

1112
01:06:46,920 --> 01:06:50,800
Speaker 1: of me, probably another fort your fifty yards I'm not

1113
01:06:51,040 --> 01:06:54,160
Speaker 1: quite sure on this point. Get the buydos out. I'm

1114
01:06:54,160 --> 01:06:56,400
Speaker 1: watching him. I see him try to climb, try to

1115
01:06:56,440 --> 01:07:01,320
Speaker 1: go up the hill. Um, he of falls backwards and

1116
01:07:01,320 --> 01:07:03,640
Speaker 1: then and then kind of works his way down the hill.

1117
01:07:04,360 --> 01:07:07,520
Speaker 1: So I think, Okay, this bears hit pretty good. I

1118
01:07:07,640 --> 01:07:09,240
Speaker 1: want to just sit here and watch. And I watched

1119
01:07:09,320 --> 01:07:12,120
Speaker 1: and watched, and that as a really good sign. I did.

1120
01:07:12,480 --> 01:07:16,240
Speaker 1: I really, I mean, I was very very confident. I

1121
01:07:16,320 --> 01:07:17,920
Speaker 1: just sat there and watched. I was like, I'm not

1122
01:07:17,960 --> 01:07:20,480
Speaker 1: going to go any closer, I'm just gonna watch. But

1123
01:07:20,560 --> 01:07:24,560
Speaker 1: it seemed like he was not um. It seemed like

1124
01:07:24,640 --> 01:07:29,520
Speaker 1: he was not just laying down and staying put. And

1125
01:07:29,680 --> 01:07:31,280
Speaker 1: so this had me a little bit concerned. This is

1126
01:07:31,480 --> 01:07:34,640
Speaker 1: this is how long after the shot? Ten minutes? Okay,

1127
01:07:34,720 --> 01:07:39,120
Speaker 1: So if you shoot an animal and he's still alive

1128
01:07:39,200 --> 01:07:42,920
Speaker 1: ten minutes later on his feet, that is a sign

1129
01:07:43,000 --> 01:07:47,200
Speaker 1: that everything isn't as it should be, right, It's not

1130
01:07:47,280 --> 01:07:51,360
Speaker 1: necessarily a terrible sign. The good sign is is that

1131
01:07:51,400 --> 01:07:52,920
Speaker 1: he hadn't run out of the country and that you

1132
01:07:52,960 --> 01:07:57,200
Speaker 1: saw him. I mean, when you shoot an animal, if

1133
01:07:57,240 --> 01:08:01,360
Speaker 1: you can keep eyes on it, which rarely can. I mean,

1134
01:08:01,600 --> 01:08:04,479
Speaker 1: an animal that is just non mortally wounded is gonna

1135
01:08:04,560 --> 01:08:09,600
Speaker 1: be a long ways away after ten minutes. To the

1136
01:08:09,640 --> 01:08:12,640
Speaker 1: fact that he was still he hadn't gone very far.

1137
01:08:13,200 --> 01:08:16,160
Speaker 1: He was showing signs of struggle. That's a positive thing.

1138
01:08:16,800 --> 01:08:19,160
Speaker 1: It would be a red flag that he was still alive.

1139
01:08:20,120 --> 01:08:24,160
Speaker 1: I mean, like a double lung hit animal will usually

1140
01:08:24,240 --> 01:08:29,400
Speaker 1: live I mean for sure less than a minute. I mean,

1141
01:08:29,520 --> 01:08:32,679
Speaker 1: and they can even be dead quicker than that. So

1142
01:08:33,040 --> 01:08:36,160
Speaker 1: that's just kind of ye, and that's what I was

1143
01:08:36,280 --> 01:08:39,840
Speaker 1: what I was going through in my head was watch

1144
01:08:39,920 --> 01:08:43,640
Speaker 1: him as long as I can, but also recognize that

1145
01:08:43,680 --> 01:08:45,840
Speaker 1: I still need to get out of there. If I'm

1146
01:08:45,880 --> 01:08:47,720
Speaker 1: if I'm gonna leave him, I've got to get out

1147
01:08:47,720 --> 01:08:51,400
Speaker 1: of there without spooking him too much. Because did everything

1148
01:08:51,439 --> 01:08:54,000
Speaker 1: about trying to get another I thought about it, but

1149
01:08:54,040 --> 01:08:57,040
Speaker 1: there was no way, Like he was just thick. It

1150
01:08:57,120 --> 01:08:59,639
Speaker 1: was thick, it was far. You know, it was too

1151
01:08:59,640 --> 01:09:04,519
Speaker 1: far way for me to take an ethical shot. I mean, yeah,

1152
01:09:04,520 --> 01:09:07,679
Speaker 1: I could have thrown an arrow, but let me stop

1153
01:09:07,720 --> 01:09:11,080
Speaker 1: you there. In my mind, there's no unethical shot after

1154
01:09:11,400 --> 01:09:15,320
Speaker 1: the fall. Yeah, that's true. Really, Like if you could

1155
01:09:16,200 --> 01:09:19,760
Speaker 1: have seen the bears hind quarters and you could have

1156
01:09:19,800 --> 01:09:24,000
Speaker 1: put an Arab straight in the hind quarter, that's ethical

1157
01:09:24,479 --> 01:09:29,200
Speaker 1: because you've already initiated anything. He's gonna slow him down.

1158
01:09:29,280 --> 01:09:31,240
Speaker 1: So anyway, that's just a thought to think about. Yeah,

1159
01:09:31,720 --> 01:09:34,960
Speaker 1: it was pretty thick up ahead, and eventually I did

1160
01:09:35,000 --> 01:09:37,559
Speaker 1: have I did get another arrow out, and I had

1161
01:09:37,600 --> 01:09:44,280
Speaker 1: another arrow knocked um, but he moved in a way

1162
01:09:44,320 --> 01:09:48,840
Speaker 1: that just I could see. He was just in wide

1163
01:09:48,840 --> 01:09:51,120
Speaker 1: open woods and you could have just shot an arrow. Yeah,

1164
01:09:51,240 --> 01:09:54,639
Speaker 1: I understand that. So when he kind of got where

1165
01:09:54,640 --> 01:09:56,439
Speaker 1: I couldn't tell where he was. It was getting too

1166
01:09:56,479 --> 01:10:00,320
Speaker 1: dark and everything. I tried to back out and then

1167
01:10:00,360 --> 01:10:07,400
Speaker 1: just get away, and I probably didn't get far enough away. Um,

1168
01:10:07,479 --> 01:10:10,000
Speaker 1: so he probably kind of felt my presence a little bit.

1169
01:10:11,200 --> 01:10:16,280
Speaker 1: But because I thought I heard some scrambling around, who knows,

1170
01:10:16,320 --> 01:10:18,479
Speaker 1: it could have been a dealer. I want to stay

1171
01:10:18,479 --> 01:10:20,320
Speaker 1: on this point because I think this is something that

1172
01:10:20,400 --> 01:10:24,080
Speaker 1: people are gonna encounter, have encountered, will encounter, and maybe

1173
01:10:24,160 --> 01:10:27,080
Speaker 1: some dialogue around it would be good. There's there's this

1174
01:10:27,680 --> 01:10:30,840
Speaker 1: when you're retrieving an animal and when you see it

1175
01:10:31,479 --> 01:10:35,920
Speaker 1: after you've shot it, there's this momentary decision that has

1176
01:10:35,960 --> 01:10:40,400
Speaker 1: to be made. Do you move in real aggressively or

1177
01:10:40,439 --> 01:10:45,439
Speaker 1: do you back out real conservatively? And there's never an

1178
01:10:45,479 --> 01:10:48,439
Speaker 1: exact answer. And you did the right thing because you

1179
01:10:48,479 --> 01:10:51,000
Speaker 1: found the bear. So I'm not saying you did the

1180
01:10:51,040 --> 01:10:53,719
Speaker 1: wrong thing, but I'm saying there would be a time

1181
01:10:53,760 --> 01:10:56,280
Speaker 1: and you and you just gotta follow your instincts, yep.

1182
01:10:56,360 --> 01:10:59,320
Speaker 1: I mean, you just have to follow what you think

1183
01:10:59,479 --> 01:11:02,000
Speaker 1: is the best thing to do without being rash. Without

1184
01:11:02,160 --> 01:11:04,400
Speaker 1: But you know, there's been times when I've followed up

1185
01:11:04,400 --> 01:11:07,439
Speaker 1: on animal where I got real aggressive, where I was

1186
01:11:07,479 --> 01:11:10,240
Speaker 1: just like that sucker's not going anywhere. I'm not letting

1187
01:11:10,320 --> 01:11:13,439
Speaker 1: him get up, getting up and walking off. I'm gonna

1188
01:11:13,760 --> 01:11:16,759
Speaker 1: And I was. I was really close at that point.

1189
01:11:17,040 --> 01:11:19,920
Speaker 1: I was really close to doing that, just going in

1190
01:11:21,080 --> 01:11:27,400
Speaker 1: um aggressively. Had he stayed where I could see him

1191
01:11:29,200 --> 01:11:34,439
Speaker 1: pretty well, if he'd gone down right there, I probably

1192
01:11:34,479 --> 01:11:38,679
Speaker 1: would have. But he as he kind of went fell

1193
01:11:38,720 --> 01:11:41,240
Speaker 1: backwards and then went down the hill back into the

1194
01:11:41,720 --> 01:11:46,280
Speaker 1: little drainage, I pretty much lost sight of him, and

1195
01:11:46,320 --> 01:11:52,200
Speaker 1: I was worried about two things, running him needlessly or

1196
01:11:53,040 --> 01:11:58,120
Speaker 1: having him attack me mad. You know well that that

1197
01:11:58,240 --> 01:12:01,720
Speaker 1: is a legit consideration with A and I and I'm

1198
01:12:01,760 --> 01:12:06,920
Speaker 1: I am not suggesting that you know, anybody charge up

1199
01:12:06,920 --> 01:12:10,840
Speaker 1: on a wounded bear, but there could be a time

1200
01:12:11,560 --> 01:12:13,920
Speaker 1: when you would do that, and you made the right decision.

1201
01:12:13,960 --> 01:12:16,240
Speaker 1: So don't hear me telling you you did something? Yeah no,

1202
01:12:16,240 --> 01:12:22,160
Speaker 1: no no. So UM got out of there, high tailed

1203
01:12:22,160 --> 01:12:27,599
Speaker 1: it back to camp. UM celebrated with Rick like that's

1204
01:12:28,520 --> 01:12:31,240
Speaker 1: probably the best part of the whole hunt. I mean,

1205
01:12:31,280 --> 01:12:33,960
Speaker 1: I come tearing into camp, I hunked and Rick was

1206
01:12:33,960 --> 01:12:38,200
Speaker 1: already back then, and I just I jumped out of

1207
01:12:38,200 --> 01:12:40,599
Speaker 1: the truck and and Rick opens a camp or door.

1208
01:12:40,680 --> 01:12:47,160
Speaker 1: I'm like, Rick, I shot at barries like you did? What? Oh?

1209
01:12:48,120 --> 01:12:54,760
Speaker 1: So um ate something real quick and made a plan. Decided, look,

1210
01:12:54,800 --> 01:12:57,040
Speaker 1: I think this bears mortally wounded. I think I know

1211
01:12:57,040 --> 01:12:59,200
Speaker 1: where it is. Let's go get him, Let's go give

1212
01:12:59,280 --> 01:13:01,280
Speaker 1: him a look, let's go look for him. So we

1213
01:13:01,280 --> 01:13:05,200
Speaker 1: went went back in about nine o'clock that night. We

1214
01:13:05,280 --> 01:13:07,400
Speaker 1: had followed the whole trail because he wasn't where I

1215
01:13:07,400 --> 01:13:12,880
Speaker 1: thought he was, and ended up calling off the search

1216
01:13:12,920 --> 01:13:18,000
Speaker 1: at midnight. We he there were places where we were

1217
01:13:18,040 --> 01:13:22,920
Speaker 1: following like pin felt like pen pricks of blood, and

1218
01:13:23,000 --> 01:13:25,120
Speaker 1: eventually he got to a spot where he got up

1219
01:13:25,120 --> 01:13:28,120
Speaker 1: out of that drainage that's between your pinky and ring finger,

1220
01:13:28,280 --> 01:13:34,240
Speaker 1: started up onto the ring finger hillside and had we

1221
01:13:34,280 --> 01:13:38,599
Speaker 1: found blood, small amounts of it all around a tree

1222
01:13:38,640 --> 01:13:40,840
Speaker 1: and a rock that had a big depression looked like

1223
01:13:40,880 --> 01:13:45,759
Speaker 1: a maybe a denning spot or something like that, and

1224
01:13:46,400 --> 01:13:49,400
Speaker 1: lost it just there was no more. There was no

1225
01:13:49,439 --> 01:13:54,320
Speaker 1: more trail, and so we called it at midnight, went

1226
01:13:54,360 --> 01:13:57,479
Speaker 1: back to the camper. How far was that from the

1227
01:13:57,520 --> 01:14:06,360
Speaker 1: initial place you shot the bear? That was probably uh,

1228
01:14:06,560 --> 01:14:13,200
Speaker 1: the trail itself was probably hundred and that was probably

1229
01:14:15,600 --> 01:14:18,160
Speaker 1: a hundred yards. I don't know. It's kind of just like,

1230
01:14:18,240 --> 01:14:20,599
Speaker 1: so the bear went a hundred yards and he lost blood.

1231
01:14:20,600 --> 01:14:23,599
Speaker 1: That's what I'm trying to get. Yeah, yeah, yeah, see

1232
01:14:23,640 --> 01:14:25,599
Speaker 1: I would have I would have been really discouraged when

1233
01:14:25,640 --> 01:14:28,680
Speaker 1: I saw it starting to go uphill. We were. We

1234
01:14:28,680 --> 01:14:31,760
Speaker 1: were absolutely discouraged, you know. When he went down in,

1235
01:14:31,880 --> 01:14:34,880
Speaker 1: I was like, Okay, he's gonna go down. And I

1236
01:14:34,920 --> 01:14:36,760
Speaker 1: walked up that thing and I was like, man, he

1237
01:14:36,880 --> 01:14:39,400
Speaker 1: is not here. And I didn't find blood either. That

1238
01:14:39,439 --> 01:14:43,160
Speaker 1: was the other thing. So um So then so it's

1239
01:14:43,160 --> 01:14:45,000
Speaker 1: the next morning. So it's the next morning. We get

1240
01:14:45,080 --> 01:14:47,400
Speaker 1: up first light where they're at seven o'clock. We hike in.

1241
01:14:48,040 --> 01:14:49,880
Speaker 1: I go back. We both go back to where we

1242
01:14:49,960 --> 01:14:53,360
Speaker 1: lost the blood. Rick walks up that drainage between the

1243
01:14:53,400 --> 01:14:55,920
Speaker 1: pinky and the ring finger just to look and see

1244
01:14:56,000 --> 01:15:00,759
Speaker 1: maybe went up and then came back down. Nothing comes

1245
01:15:00,800 --> 01:15:03,360
Speaker 1: up on top of the next ridge, works his way down,

1246
01:15:04,680 --> 01:15:08,320
Speaker 1: and um we get together and chat for a little bit,

1247
01:15:09,320 --> 01:15:14,760
Speaker 1: and um, it's like, man, he's got a Rick's gotta

1248
01:15:14,800 --> 01:15:19,360
Speaker 1: go here. Pretty soon I go back. I'm still trying

1249
01:15:19,400 --> 01:15:22,400
Speaker 1: to find the next blood. He goes down into the

1250
01:15:22,479 --> 01:15:25,679
Speaker 1: drainage between the ring finger and middle finger, so over

1251
01:15:27,120 --> 01:15:30,720
Speaker 1: completely over a hill, down into the next hollow, and

1252
01:15:30,720 --> 01:15:33,960
Speaker 1: that's where he found him, just brand, you know, just

1253
01:15:34,040 --> 01:15:39,920
Speaker 1: he was just essentially just body cavity, certain body certain Yeah, yeah,

1254
01:15:40,439 --> 01:15:45,360
Speaker 1: just just looking for black fur and he he I

1255
01:15:45,439 --> 01:15:47,600
Speaker 1: forgot to say, on my way out, I thought I

1256
01:15:47,680 --> 01:15:53,400
Speaker 1: heard the death moans he moaned three times. Yeah, on

1257
01:15:53,439 --> 01:15:59,040
Speaker 1: my way out that night I heard. But he moved

1258
01:15:59,120 --> 01:16:01,719
Speaker 1: from that spot. Well, I don't know, I mean, maybe

1259
01:16:01,760 --> 01:16:05,840
Speaker 1: he had already been Man, Okay, you just threw in

1260
01:16:05,840 --> 01:16:09,080
Speaker 1: the whole thing. You didn't tell me. Yeah, you heard

1261
01:16:09,120 --> 01:16:13,160
Speaker 1: the death moone? I think. I mean, I don't know, James,

1262
01:16:13,160 --> 01:16:15,519
Speaker 1: you can't think you hear the death moone. Well, I

1263
01:16:15,520 --> 01:16:17,559
Speaker 1: didn't see him die whenever I heard it, So how

1264
01:16:17,560 --> 01:16:19,280
Speaker 1: do I know? I mean, maybe he was just growning

1265
01:16:19,320 --> 01:16:23,439
Speaker 1: and being mad about something. Would have been possible from

1266
01:16:23,439 --> 01:16:27,080
Speaker 1: where you heard it that it was where he died.

1267
01:16:27,880 --> 01:16:31,639
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, okay, we'll see. This is valuable intail because

1268
01:16:32,600 --> 01:16:37,680
Speaker 1: m the podcast that kind came out today, Uh that

1269
01:16:37,680 --> 01:16:41,880
Speaker 1: that hadn't hit my phone before. It was delayed getting

1270
01:16:41,960 --> 01:16:46,880
Speaker 1: up for technical reasons. Me and Dad talked a ton

1271
01:16:46,920 --> 01:16:50,640
Speaker 1: about the death moan, yeah, and about well, you'll have

1272
01:16:50,720 --> 01:16:53,200
Speaker 1: to hear it. But if you hear, if you hear

1273
01:16:53,280 --> 01:16:57,559
Speaker 1: anything after a shot like like that, it means he's dead.

1274
01:16:57,640 --> 01:17:00,599
Speaker 1: I mean when they death moaned, they don't get up. Well,

1275
01:17:01,920 --> 01:17:04,080
Speaker 1: that's what made me even more confident that we could

1276
01:17:04,120 --> 01:17:06,439
Speaker 1: go back in there that night and find him. But

1277
01:17:06,479 --> 01:17:08,479
Speaker 1: he was in the other hollow. He was, but that

1278
01:17:08,560 --> 01:17:11,599
Speaker 1: was you were down low, so you might could have well.

1279
01:17:11,640 --> 01:17:16,560
Speaker 1: And so so I didn't remember by this point it's dark.

1280
01:17:17,240 --> 01:17:20,280
Speaker 1: Um it's seven it's about seven sons down. I mean

1281
01:17:20,320 --> 01:17:22,479
Speaker 1: I can see to get out without my head lamp,

1282
01:17:22,560 --> 01:17:30,599
Speaker 1: but um, barely. And I am not quite sure where

1283
01:17:30,600 --> 01:17:33,519
Speaker 1: I was on the trail when I heard that. But

1284
01:17:33,680 --> 01:17:39,120
Speaker 1: these these four fingers that kind of run down together,

1285
01:17:39,200 --> 01:17:42,960
Speaker 1: so you just heard yep, And I didn't know. I

1286
01:17:43,000 --> 01:17:45,559
Speaker 1: thought he would. I thought he was still in that

1287
01:17:45,680 --> 01:17:48,040
Speaker 1: first drainage, Like I wasn't that far away from it,

1288
01:17:48,600 --> 01:17:50,280
Speaker 1: So I thought he was probably still there. And that's

1289
01:17:50,280 --> 01:17:52,200
Speaker 1: why I was really confident that I could we could

1290
01:17:52,240 --> 01:17:55,680
Speaker 1: go back and he'd be in So how far from

1291
01:17:55,680 --> 01:17:58,879
Speaker 1: where you shot him to where you found him? About

1292
01:17:58,880 --> 01:18:02,439
Speaker 1: a hundred and six the yards straight line, but the

1293
01:18:02,479 --> 01:18:06,240
Speaker 1: way he traveled was probably more like two to two fifty.

1294
01:18:06,280 --> 01:18:09,800
Speaker 1: Well that's encouraging because you know, what you learned is

1295
01:18:09,800 --> 01:18:13,439
Speaker 1: that the bear was had a one lung hit. So

1296
01:18:13,479 --> 01:18:18,080
Speaker 1: the bear only traveled let's say three yards, like if

1297
01:18:18,120 --> 01:18:23,439
Speaker 1: it was actually walking before it expired. There's a couple

1298
01:18:23,479 --> 01:18:27,040
Speaker 1: of things to factor into. Um. I mean, you know

1299
01:18:27,400 --> 01:18:30,280
Speaker 1: it was it was a younger male that you took, yep.

1300
01:18:30,360 --> 01:18:33,680
Speaker 1: So I have seen I mean, like a four pounder

1301
01:18:34,439 --> 01:18:37,680
Speaker 1: is gonna just have more you gotta do more to

1302
01:18:37,720 --> 01:18:41,719
Speaker 1: extinguish that life than you do as a smaller animal.

1303
01:18:42,560 --> 01:18:46,880
Speaker 1: So I think that factored into it, that one long

1304
01:18:46,920 --> 01:18:51,320
Speaker 1: on a smaller animal is going to be lesser because

1305
01:18:51,880 --> 01:18:56,120
Speaker 1: I've seen some bad hit big bears that just act

1306
01:18:56,160 --> 01:18:59,840
Speaker 1: like nothing ever happened to him, you know, and that

1307
01:19:00,080 --> 01:19:05,519
Speaker 1: would have Yeah, so I think that's a factor. Um.

1308
01:19:05,560 --> 01:19:08,920
Speaker 1: But it's really good intail that he he died quickly

1309
01:19:09,080 --> 01:19:13,000
Speaker 1: with a one long hit, right you know, Pretto. Yeah,

1310
01:19:13,040 --> 01:19:15,840
Speaker 1: so I mean he passed, I would say, I mean

1311
01:19:15,840 --> 01:19:18,599
Speaker 1: because it was about seven o'clock or thereabouts. I mean

1312
01:19:18,600 --> 01:19:21,759
Speaker 1: I shot him right up six thirty six five something

1313
01:19:21,800 --> 01:19:25,280
Speaker 1: like that, and I backed out of there by seven

1314
01:19:25,320 --> 01:19:29,600
Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure. And um, if I if that was

1315
01:19:29,800 --> 01:19:34,480
Speaker 1: if those were the moans you know that I heard. Um,

1316
01:19:34,520 --> 01:19:37,160
Speaker 1: I mean he died pretty quickly. He was cold when

1317
01:19:37,240 --> 01:19:40,920
Speaker 1: we found him. That was the other thing. The next day. Yeah,

1318
01:19:41,200 --> 01:19:47,280
Speaker 1: so well man, that is like I like the the

1319
01:19:47,320 --> 01:19:49,880
Speaker 1: strategy that went into it, the work that went into it,

1320
01:19:50,880 --> 01:19:53,760
Speaker 1: and that you executed the plan. I mean we communicated

1321
01:19:53,800 --> 01:19:56,840
Speaker 1: some that weekend. I was hunting too, and you were

1322
01:19:56,880 --> 01:19:59,479
Speaker 1: like not finding much sign and I was finding the

1323
01:19:59,520 --> 01:20:03,439
Speaker 1: same thing. You are similar, not much sign. And then

1324
01:20:03,439 --> 01:20:05,600
Speaker 1: the next text I get from you, you go, I

1325
01:20:05,640 --> 01:20:09,120
Speaker 1: shot a bear. I mean, it just didn't even make sense.

1326
01:20:09,560 --> 01:20:12,760
Speaker 1: And let me let me well, first of all, I

1327
01:20:12,880 --> 01:20:16,960
Speaker 1: don't know the full story of the sheep hunter of

1328
01:20:17,000 --> 01:20:20,519
Speaker 1: the South. I mean, like we started talking about this.

1329
01:20:21,080 --> 01:20:26,000
Speaker 1: I've been successful hunting this way, but like there's there's

1330
01:20:26,920 --> 01:20:29,519
Speaker 1: there's a lot to be learned, and so I'm learning

1331
01:20:29,520 --> 01:20:34,519
Speaker 1: from your story. Um, the Here's what I know is

1332
01:20:34,560 --> 01:20:36,559
Speaker 1: that this is a super tough year to kill bear

1333
01:20:36,720 --> 01:20:40,080
Speaker 1: in national forest. That's been my observation. It seems like

1334
01:20:40,200 --> 01:20:43,920
Speaker 1: it just because the signs not concentrated, games not concentrated,

1335
01:20:44,320 --> 01:20:48,400
Speaker 1: acorns aren't concentrated on years when things are really concentrated,

1336
01:20:48,520 --> 01:20:51,559
Speaker 1: it's much easier. So I think you pulled a needle

1337
01:20:51,760 --> 01:20:55,320
Speaker 1: out of the haystack for your third day hunting. I mean,

1338
01:20:55,360 --> 01:20:57,439
Speaker 1: as a matter of fact, I was a little bit upset.

1339
01:20:57,600 --> 01:21:00,320
Speaker 1: I was like, we're trying to build this us up.

1340
01:21:00,320 --> 01:21:02,120
Speaker 1: It's like, this is a tough hunt, and then you

1341
01:21:02,200 --> 01:21:05,320
Speaker 1: go out and just like kill one right away a

1342
01:21:05,720 --> 01:21:08,160
Speaker 1: podcast and just go out and this is hurting my

1343
01:21:08,479 --> 01:21:12,960
Speaker 1: narrative of the sheep Hunt of the South. So no,

1344
01:21:13,200 --> 01:21:16,479
Speaker 1: I think you did something extraordinary and uh, and I

1345
01:21:16,560 --> 01:21:18,680
Speaker 1: love it that it was intentional. I mean, you hear

1346
01:21:18,680 --> 01:21:21,280
Speaker 1: about guys getting lucky. I mean there's always a guy

1347
01:21:21,320 --> 01:21:24,200
Speaker 1: that just gets lucky, which more power to him. I mean,

1348
01:21:24,280 --> 01:21:26,240
Speaker 1: half the time I'm in the woods, I'm just hoping

1349
01:21:26,280 --> 01:21:28,559
Speaker 1: to get lucky. Yeah. Uh, you know the guy that

1350
01:21:28,640 --> 01:21:30,439
Speaker 1: just was like, man, I was just deer hunting and

1351
01:21:30,439 --> 01:21:32,559
Speaker 1: found some side and killed it on the first day.

1352
01:21:32,680 --> 01:21:35,280
Speaker 1: You know. But how intentionally you were about it, That's

1353
01:21:35,280 --> 01:21:37,679
Speaker 1: what's cool is that you set out to do this,

1354
01:21:37,800 --> 01:21:42,800
Speaker 1: you learned this, you learned a totally new area. You

1355
01:21:42,800 --> 01:21:48,160
Speaker 1: you executed your plan, you brought in your friends. Um,

1356
01:21:48,200 --> 01:21:50,400
Speaker 1: you know, I mean, like so much of this is

1357
01:21:50,439 --> 01:21:53,720
Speaker 1: so cool. Yeah, it's It's been a great experience. I've

1358
01:21:53,840 --> 01:21:58,880
Speaker 1: learned so much about myself, about where I live. Um,

1359
01:21:58,920 --> 01:22:01,240
Speaker 1: and the things that I feel like I didn't do

1360
01:22:01,600 --> 01:22:03,640
Speaker 1: as well as I wanted to just makes me that

1361
01:22:03,720 --> 01:22:08,200
Speaker 1: much hungry. Hungry, you're more hungry. Let's let's end the

1362
01:22:08,240 --> 01:22:12,720
Speaker 1: podcast talking about what you learned, Like, what what did

1363
01:22:12,760 --> 01:22:16,720
Speaker 1: you learn about this type of honey? Well, the first thing,

1364
01:22:16,800 --> 01:22:20,360
Speaker 1: of course, is you can't be validated by seeing game

1365
01:22:20,960 --> 01:22:26,600
Speaker 1: rule number one. You you have to like the process.

1366
01:22:27,479 --> 01:22:30,200
Speaker 1: And I really did enjoy the process, just being in

1367
01:22:30,240 --> 01:22:34,160
Speaker 1: the woods, letting that bubble shrink around me. I mean, yes,

1368
01:22:34,200 --> 01:22:39,799
Speaker 1: I hyped fourteen fifteen miles. Golly, my pace was really slow,

1369
01:22:39,880 --> 01:22:45,680
Speaker 1: like I was sneaking everywhere. Um. So just you have

1370
01:22:45,800 --> 01:22:49,280
Speaker 1: to love the process, and and that was fun and

1371
01:22:49,680 --> 01:22:53,160
Speaker 1: I liked getting out and seeing how I mean, I

1372
01:22:53,240 --> 01:22:55,479
Speaker 1: learned a lot about the terrain and how animals use

1373
01:22:55,560 --> 01:22:58,519
Speaker 1: the terrain, Like I never thought about this until probably

1374
01:22:58,560 --> 01:23:00,800
Speaker 1: on Monday, And I'm like, why in the world when

1375
01:23:00,840 --> 01:23:05,639
Speaker 1: an animal go from the creek bottom, which was at

1376
01:23:05,800 --> 01:23:09,960
Speaker 1: roughly a thousand feet where I was eleven hundreds something

1377
01:23:10,040 --> 01:23:13,280
Speaker 1: like that, why would they go why would they run

1378
01:23:13,400 --> 01:23:16,200
Speaker 1: up and down the mountain a whole bunch. They wouldn't

1379
01:23:16,200 --> 01:23:19,559
Speaker 1: do that. That's they're wasting their energy. They might run

1380
01:23:19,600 --> 01:23:24,320
Speaker 1: across the face of the mountain. So just got me

1381
01:23:24,360 --> 01:23:31,120
Speaker 1: thinking about different ways of hunting. UM. I learned, you know,

1382
01:23:31,640 --> 01:23:35,320
Speaker 1: learned a ton about my gear. UM What can I carry?

1383
01:23:35,400 --> 01:23:39,439
Speaker 1: What's extra? What do I not need to carry? UM?

1384
01:23:39,479 --> 01:23:41,840
Speaker 1: I realized when I looked at it on the map

1385
01:23:41,880 --> 01:23:46,240
Speaker 1: when I was all done, how little of the area

1386
01:23:46,280 --> 01:23:48,960
Speaker 1: that I intended to hunt, How little of it had

1387
01:23:49,000 --> 01:23:57,320
Speaker 1: I actually hunted, So much more area to be explored. UM.

1388
01:23:59,000 --> 01:24:03,639
Speaker 1: And the other thing that I learned was to trust

1389
01:24:03,760 --> 01:24:09,479
Speaker 1: what I was seeing. M hm. I after after seeing

1390
01:24:09,479 --> 01:24:13,760
Speaker 1: this suspicious spot, going back to it and seeing a

1391
01:24:13,840 --> 01:24:16,800
Speaker 1: bear there, you're starting to put the pieces together. But

1392
01:24:16,920 --> 01:24:19,720
Speaker 1: in the pieces together, it's like, look, I mean, if

1393
01:24:19,760 --> 01:24:22,080
Speaker 1: you have some gut instincts about it, doesn't mean you're

1394
01:24:22,080 --> 01:24:26,360
Speaker 1: gonna sit there today and see something today. But it's

1395
01:24:26,800 --> 01:24:33,200
Speaker 1: I think I saw a lot more relatively fresh sign.

1396
01:24:34,120 --> 01:24:36,880
Speaker 1: Then I gave myself credit for it because I wasn't

1397
01:24:36,920 --> 01:24:42,880
Speaker 1: finding scat see. And that's man. That is essentially the

1398
01:24:43,040 --> 01:24:47,960
Speaker 1: story of becoming a good hunter is that you see sign,

1399
01:24:48,200 --> 01:24:52,040
Speaker 1: you interpret it, you understand what it's going to take

1400
01:24:52,120 --> 01:24:55,759
Speaker 1: to kill, to take an animal over that amount of sign,

1401
01:24:56,280 --> 01:24:59,439
Speaker 1: and it's always nuanced like in the in the best

1402
01:24:59,479 --> 01:25:02,679
Speaker 1: example would be like me talking about just my ultra

1403
01:25:02,840 --> 01:25:06,160
Speaker 1: hot spot bear hunt that I would describe as going

1404
01:25:06,200 --> 01:25:11,360
Speaker 1: into a white oak flat finding twelve piles of fresh

1405
01:25:12,240 --> 01:25:17,320
Speaker 1: bear scat in within sight and beat out bear pads,

1406
01:25:17,400 --> 01:25:20,120
Speaker 1: and that's what I was looking for. I never find

1407
01:25:21,400 --> 01:25:23,880
Speaker 1: the I mean, the reason that's so special is because

1408
01:25:23,920 --> 01:25:27,519
Speaker 1: that's so rare. But like if you find that, man,

1409
01:25:27,560 --> 01:25:29,680
Speaker 1: you better you're gonna kill a bear the first time

1410
01:25:29,800 --> 01:25:32,760
Speaker 1: you're you're gonna encounter a bear probably the first time

1411
01:25:32,800 --> 01:25:34,760
Speaker 1: you sit in there, if you do do some stuff right.

1412
01:25:35,360 --> 01:25:38,679
Speaker 1: There's also the caliber of sign, like the really nuanced

1413
01:25:38,720 --> 01:25:41,960
Speaker 1: sign like you're talking about, which I think you need

1414
01:25:42,000 --> 01:25:46,160
Speaker 1: more data points to really draw super strong conclusions exactly.

1415
01:25:46,200 --> 01:25:50,280
Speaker 1: So not discrediting what happened, because I think you sit

1416
01:25:50,360 --> 01:25:53,679
Speaker 1: on that kind of sign a lot and not sea

1417
01:25:53,720 --> 01:25:57,479
Speaker 1: bears exactly know what I'm saying. What you're what I

1418
01:25:57,560 --> 01:25:59,400
Speaker 1: was worried about is that I was just there was

1419
01:25:59,439 --> 01:26:04,080
Speaker 1: no bears, Like there's no bears, bears, bears well there's bears,

1420
01:26:04,720 --> 01:26:08,519
Speaker 1: they just might not they're not quite as concentrated. Well,

1421
01:26:08,560 --> 01:26:11,760
Speaker 1: and I think what I saw because while you were

1422
01:26:11,800 --> 01:26:13,960
Speaker 1: doing this hunt, I as well was hunting in the

1423
01:26:13,960 --> 01:26:18,080
Speaker 1: mountains and I hiked I don't know how many miles,

1424
01:26:18,120 --> 01:26:20,040
Speaker 1: but I went through all my little traps, you know,

1425
01:26:20,640 --> 01:26:25,720
Speaker 1: and found very little bear sign. Um. I think when

1426
01:26:25,760 --> 01:26:29,639
Speaker 1: you see that concentrated sign, you're seeing multiple bears using

1427
01:26:29,680 --> 01:26:33,559
Speaker 1: the same area. Uh. I don't know the research of

1428
01:26:33,560 --> 01:26:37,439
Speaker 1: how many times a bear defecates during the day, but

1429
01:26:37,560 --> 01:26:41,240
Speaker 1: that would be interesting intel because they are just calorie

1430
01:26:41,240 --> 01:26:43,920
Speaker 1: eating machines. I would imagine it would be multiple times

1431
01:26:43,960 --> 01:26:46,280
Speaker 1: per day if they would defecate. So, you know, if

1432
01:26:46,280 --> 01:26:48,880
Speaker 1: you see ten piles of scout, you're like, well, how

1433
01:26:49,640 --> 01:26:52,840
Speaker 1: does a bear you know, take a you know, take

1434
01:26:52,840 --> 01:26:55,439
Speaker 1: a dump once a day or three times a day?

1435
01:26:55,520 --> 01:26:58,479
Speaker 1: I don't Yeah, I think it's multiple times when they're

1436
01:26:58,520 --> 01:27:02,720
Speaker 1: eating a lot. But you know, you the bears are

1437
01:27:02,720 --> 01:27:04,880
Speaker 1: when the bears are spread out and maybe there's only

1438
01:27:04,960 --> 01:27:08,000
Speaker 1: one bear using that area, like you're talking about, like,

1439
01:27:08,200 --> 01:27:11,200
Speaker 1: the chances of you finding his scat or seeing his

1440
01:27:11,280 --> 01:27:14,679
Speaker 1: actual print in the tiny little mud hole are less

1441
01:27:14,840 --> 01:27:18,040
Speaker 1: yep yep. So I think that's what you encountered was

1442
01:27:18,080 --> 01:27:22,360
Speaker 1: maybe a place where yeah, there was one bear, as

1443
01:27:22,400 --> 01:27:26,240
Speaker 1: opposed to this is a hot spot where there's multiple

1444
01:27:26,280 --> 01:27:29,360
Speaker 1: animals coming in here. Yep. Do you think that's right?

1445
01:27:29,680 --> 01:27:33,439
Speaker 1: I think so. I mean, I'm pretty pretty certain that

1446
01:27:33,560 --> 01:27:36,920
Speaker 1: where I was, there would be multiple bears in that

1447
01:27:36,960 --> 01:27:40,720
Speaker 1: area and and talking at a given time. Yeah. Yeah,

1448
01:27:41,080 --> 01:27:44,240
Speaker 1: and Rick was talking to some people, and I mean

1449
01:27:44,280 --> 01:27:47,280
Speaker 1: there were several people over in that area who had

1450
01:27:48,000 --> 01:27:50,439
Speaker 1: yeah yeah, so and so killed a bear over on bait,

1451
01:27:50,720 --> 01:27:54,840
Speaker 1: you know, a few days ago, or I've killed one

1452
01:27:54,880 --> 01:27:58,719
Speaker 1: in here before, blah blah blah, you know, and um,

1453
01:27:58,760 --> 01:28:01,960
Speaker 1: so I know, yeah, that was in a good spot.

1454
01:28:03,120 --> 01:28:07,479
Speaker 1: It was just getting those paths to cross, you know.

1455
01:28:08,439 --> 01:28:12,839
Speaker 1: The what I what I would say, the the biggest

1456
01:28:12,920 --> 01:28:19,080
Speaker 1: thing that I learned was more of a personal lesson

1457
01:28:20,080 --> 01:28:26,360
Speaker 1: of how good it was to share that experience with

1458
01:28:26,360 --> 01:28:29,720
Speaker 1: with a close friend. Um. You know, I've known Rick

1459
01:28:29,840 --> 01:28:33,519
Speaker 1: for twenty five years, I mean since we were in college,

1460
01:28:34,520 --> 01:28:42,600
Speaker 1: and and to have him be there to share that with, um,

1461
01:28:42,640 --> 01:28:45,560
Speaker 1: you know that that's something I've never had before. It

1462
01:28:45,600 --> 01:28:47,680
Speaker 1: was something that I did want to get out of this,

1463
01:28:47,880 --> 01:28:49,920
Speaker 1: out of this experience, you know, Darren and I had

1464
01:28:49,960 --> 01:28:53,280
Speaker 1: hunted before together several times and we have had successful

1465
01:28:53,360 --> 01:28:56,720
Speaker 1: hunts and that's been very enjoyable for sure. This was

1466
01:28:56,760 --> 01:28:58,320
Speaker 1: one of those things where I put in so much

1467
01:28:58,360 --> 01:29:01,879
Speaker 1: effort leading up to it that even if I hadn't

1468
01:29:01,960 --> 01:29:05,599
Speaker 1: killed a bear, it was a great experience. Is good

1469
01:29:05,640 --> 01:29:09,439
Speaker 1: time in the woods, just catching up. But then to

1470
01:29:09,640 --> 01:29:12,800
Speaker 1: have that success after both of us had hunted so hard,

1471
01:29:13,400 --> 01:29:15,479
Speaker 1: we all kind of figured like, if one of us

1472
01:29:15,560 --> 01:29:20,720
Speaker 1: even sees a bear, that's that that would be a win. Um.

1473
01:29:20,840 --> 01:29:24,160
Speaker 1: I'm still a little bit upset with Darren, but go on, well,

1474
01:29:24,200 --> 01:29:26,280
Speaker 1: the good news is it sounds like his dog's gonna

1475
01:29:26,280 --> 01:29:35,040
Speaker 1: be okay. So so I I just that's a lesson,

1476
01:29:35,640 --> 01:29:37,360
Speaker 1: I guess. I mean, I don't know that you need

1477
01:29:37,360 --> 01:29:40,080
Speaker 1: to learn that lesson, but that's my take one of

1478
01:29:40,080 --> 01:29:46,559
Speaker 1: my table. I think it is a lesson because you

1479
01:29:46,640 --> 01:29:51,479
Speaker 1: started out this quest by asking yourself, what what do

1480
01:29:51,520 --> 01:29:55,160
Speaker 1: I want to get from hunting? Like in part of

1481
01:29:55,200 --> 01:29:59,639
Speaker 1: that was something a little bit deeper from a human

1482
01:29:59,680 --> 01:30:02,120
Speaker 1: relation ship standpoint, And that brings it back to something

1483
01:30:02,160 --> 01:30:04,120
Speaker 1: that I like to talk about and I'm exploring for

1484
01:30:04,160 --> 01:30:08,800
Speaker 1: myself because much of my hunting is solo. Like that's

1485
01:30:08,840 --> 01:30:11,920
Speaker 1: just been the way I've been successful. Now, my local hunting,

1486
01:30:11,960 --> 01:30:14,160
Speaker 1: like with the kids and stuff is anything but solo.

1487
01:30:14,479 --> 01:30:16,719
Speaker 1: But a lot of my other stuff has has been solo.

1488
01:30:17,120 --> 01:30:19,920
Speaker 1: That's kind of my default, that's my m O. Is

1489
01:30:19,960 --> 01:30:22,479
Speaker 1: just like I'm gonna go do this. And I I

1490
01:30:22,640 --> 01:30:24,160
Speaker 1: learned that when I was hunting with the guys in

1491
01:30:24,240 --> 01:30:26,439
Speaker 1: Elk Camp a few weeks ago. I actually learned kind

1492
01:30:26,439 --> 01:30:29,479
Speaker 1: of about myself and kind of compared myself to these

1493
01:30:29,479 --> 01:30:32,000
Speaker 1: other guys I was hunting with, and I realized I

1494
01:30:32,080 --> 01:30:35,160
Speaker 1: was a lot more like solo oriented than some of them.

1495
01:30:35,160 --> 01:30:37,559
Speaker 1: And it was a negative thing. Yeah, in that case,

1496
01:30:37,600 --> 01:30:40,719
Speaker 1: you needed like well buddies and stuff. And and if

1497
01:30:40,800 --> 01:30:44,040
Speaker 1: everybody had been like me, it we would have it

1498
01:30:44,040 --> 01:30:45,439
Speaker 1: wouldn't have been good. So you know, I kind of

1499
01:30:45,520 --> 01:30:49,160
Speaker 1: was like, Okay, you can't be like this. You can't

1500
01:30:49,160 --> 01:30:51,639
Speaker 1: be like this all the time. And and my dad

1501
01:30:51,680 --> 01:30:53,920
Speaker 1: would be the first one to tell you he he

1502
01:30:54,080 --> 01:30:57,120
Speaker 1: hunts pretty much by himself to this day, seventy two

1503
01:30:57,200 --> 01:30:59,760
Speaker 1: years old. He goes and sets up a camp for

1504
01:30:59,840 --> 01:31:02,120
Speaker 1: my hunth and I mean pretty much hunts by himself.

1505
01:31:03,479 --> 01:31:07,120
Speaker 1: In some ways that's cool. In other ways, there's probably

1506
01:31:08,080 --> 01:31:10,280
Speaker 1: he's missing out. He could be missing out on some things.

1507
01:31:10,400 --> 01:31:14,000
Speaker 1: It could be and and and so I want to

1508
01:31:14,040 --> 01:31:18,040
Speaker 1: make sure, well, man, these stories mean nothing unless we

1509
01:31:18,080 --> 01:31:21,080
Speaker 1: have somebody to share them with. And nobody can deny

1510
01:31:21,240 --> 01:31:23,800
Speaker 1: like some big tough hunter and be like, I do

1511
01:31:23,920 --> 01:31:26,240
Speaker 1: this for me, I do this for all these different reasons.

1512
01:31:26,560 --> 01:31:28,920
Speaker 1: You do it because you want to share a story

1513
01:31:28,960 --> 01:31:31,880
Speaker 1: with another human. I I just I don't care who

1514
01:31:31,920 --> 01:31:35,679
Speaker 1: you are. That's what gives it value. If you didn't

1515
01:31:35,720 --> 01:31:38,000
Speaker 1: have I mean, and even like this, I mean, like

1516
01:31:38,600 --> 01:31:40,720
Speaker 1: like if I killed a bear, I would have been

1517
01:31:40,720 --> 01:31:42,720
Speaker 1: excited to share it with you because I know you

1518
01:31:42,760 --> 01:31:45,679
Speaker 1: would be interested in because you're doing It's like you're

1519
01:31:46,280 --> 01:31:51,240
Speaker 1: pursuit of this. That's value to what I'm doing. And

1520
01:31:51,320 --> 01:31:53,200
Speaker 1: I know you wanted to share it with me. I mean,

1521
01:31:53,200 --> 01:31:56,759
Speaker 1: we're you know, it's like my engagement with the style

1522
01:31:56,760 --> 01:32:01,080
Speaker 1: of hunting brought value to you, And so it wasn't

1523
01:32:01,880 --> 01:32:04,479
Speaker 1: it was a wider experience, you know. And and man,

1524
01:32:04,560 --> 01:32:06,600
Speaker 1: that goes back and people have heard me say it,

1525
01:32:06,640 --> 01:32:09,760
Speaker 1: and I'll probably keep pounding this drum because I think

1526
01:32:09,760 --> 01:32:13,080
Speaker 1: we've we miss it sometimes in the outdoor world, is

1527
01:32:13,120 --> 01:32:17,880
Speaker 1: that the hunting experience, though it is done in isolation,

1528
01:32:18,080 --> 01:32:20,880
Speaker 1: is actually a very communal thing. The very essence of

1529
01:32:20,960 --> 01:32:26,439
Speaker 1: hunting was to provide for family, friends, community. That's why

1530
01:32:26,479 --> 01:32:29,520
Speaker 1: we did it. That's why great hunters were revered inside

1531
01:32:29,520 --> 01:32:35,480
Speaker 1: of indigenous tribes. These guys were the keys to success

1532
01:32:35,479 --> 01:32:39,640
Speaker 1: of the lodger larger hole. And obviously we're not dependent

1533
01:32:39,720 --> 01:32:42,799
Speaker 1: upon this meat to survive at this stage. We maybe

1534
01:32:42,840 --> 01:32:48,559
Speaker 1: after the elections in three weeks, but like provision, you know,

1535
01:32:48,800 --> 01:32:51,880
Speaker 1: and I think I think the way that we draw

1536
01:32:51,960 --> 01:32:55,080
Speaker 1: that into relevance in today's world is what happened to

1537
01:32:55,200 --> 01:32:59,879
Speaker 1: you through this process of personal development of you testing yourself,

1538
01:33:00,000 --> 01:33:04,240
Speaker 1: if you planning, you strategizing, You drawn in other people

1539
01:33:04,320 --> 01:33:09,040
Speaker 1: that may not have been interested in this is is Ultimately,

1540
01:33:10,080 --> 01:33:13,280
Speaker 1: I think you provided a template for your kids and

1541
01:33:13,320 --> 01:33:15,240
Speaker 1: for others to be able to set a goal and

1542
01:33:15,320 --> 01:33:19,200
Speaker 1: accomplish it. Yeah, that's a powerful human thing. So anyway,

1543
01:33:19,280 --> 01:33:23,680
Speaker 1: I'm I'm drawing this all into like, um, there was

1544
01:33:23,720 --> 01:33:25,760
Speaker 1: a lot more than a bear killed inside of this,

1545
01:33:25,960 --> 01:33:28,680
Speaker 1: but there was value drawn from it that can be

1546
01:33:28,760 --> 01:33:31,600
Speaker 1: used in other parts of life, right, yeah, And it

1547
01:33:31,760 --> 01:33:33,960
Speaker 1: and the and the value in it and and something

1548
01:33:33,960 --> 01:33:38,320
Speaker 1: that people who don't hunt. Sometimes don't understand is is

1549
01:33:38,360 --> 01:33:42,600
Speaker 1: that holistic value of what you get from the hunting experience,

1550
01:33:42,680 --> 01:33:45,479
Speaker 1: and and the not to say that the animal that

1551
01:33:45,600 --> 01:33:49,959
Speaker 1: you take is secondary or inferior to the human experience

1552
01:33:49,960 --> 01:33:54,280
Speaker 1: that you get from it. But where we are today

1553
01:33:54,400 --> 01:33:59,519
Speaker 1: as a society, the animal is not required for me

1554
01:33:59,600 --> 01:34:05,439
Speaker 1: to sur vive, but it allows me to experience a

1555
01:34:05,479 --> 01:34:11,320
Speaker 1: more a richer human experience, connecting me directly to my food,

1556
01:34:11,360 --> 01:34:17,920
Speaker 1: connecting me to the brotherhood, the camaraderie of a successful hunt, UM,

1557
01:34:17,960 --> 01:34:21,519
Speaker 1: sharing that with UM, with others, sharing it with my

1558
01:34:21,640 --> 01:34:28,160
Speaker 1: family and my friends. There's such an intangible amount of

1559
01:34:28,240 --> 01:34:31,599
Speaker 1: benefit that has come out of this. For me certainly

1560
01:34:31,640 --> 01:34:34,200
Speaker 1: would have had a lot of that stuff had I

1561
01:34:34,280 --> 01:34:37,719
Speaker 1: not killed a bear. But killing the bear then ties

1562
01:34:37,800 --> 01:34:41,200
Speaker 1: that all up. UM. And And like I said, if

1563
01:34:41,439 --> 01:34:44,479
Speaker 1: I do so many things that I want to go

1564
01:34:44,560 --> 01:34:50,000
Speaker 1: back and do better next time. Um Man, I wish

1565
01:34:50,000 --> 01:34:53,840
Speaker 1: I had another tag in my pocket. That's why you

1566
01:34:53,840 --> 01:34:59,080
Speaker 1: should go hunt Georgia, I guess not Arkansas. And I

1567
01:34:59,160 --> 01:35:01,200
Speaker 1: really enclosing here. What are you gonna do with this bear?

1568
01:35:01,760 --> 01:35:03,599
Speaker 1: You've already eaten some I've already eaten some of it.

1569
01:35:03,600 --> 01:35:08,200
Speaker 1: It's fantastic. It's all cut up family. Yes, yep, they'd

1570
01:35:08,240 --> 01:35:10,320
Speaker 1: had some bear meat before, they had had a little

1571
01:35:10,320 --> 01:35:12,479
Speaker 1: bit of it, but yeah, I mean they liked it.

1572
01:35:13,000 --> 01:35:16,200
Speaker 1: Um the hide and the skull went um. I was

1573
01:35:16,240 --> 01:35:18,439
Speaker 1: gonna do the skull myself, and I was like, man,

1574
01:35:18,520 --> 01:35:21,559
Speaker 1: that's I'm gonna delegate that. So I took that to

1575
01:35:21,600 --> 01:35:24,080
Speaker 1: a taxidermist and took the hide. I'm just gonna tan

1576
01:35:24,200 --> 01:35:28,280
Speaker 1: the hide. Nothing fancy with make some bear chaps. I

1577
01:35:28,320 --> 01:35:33,360
Speaker 1: don't think I have. Um, I don't have any animals

1578
01:35:33,360 --> 01:35:37,240
Speaker 1: to ride, and that's not a it's not a high

1579
01:35:37,240 --> 01:35:42,040
Speaker 1: priority in the Brandenburg household right now. But you know,

1580
01:35:42,320 --> 01:35:44,240
Speaker 1: I will say that after hiking around a whole bunch,

1581
01:35:44,240 --> 01:35:45,960
Speaker 1: I could see we're having a mule to ride over.

1582
01:35:45,960 --> 01:35:50,840
Speaker 1: There would be real handy. So yeah, I mean everything

1583
01:35:51,520 --> 01:35:57,400
Speaker 1: everything we put a shoulder in. UM just did a

1584
01:35:57,439 --> 01:36:00,640
Speaker 1: basic stew, you know, potatoes and carrots and what a

1585
01:36:00,680 --> 01:36:03,040
Speaker 1: little bit of rosemary, a little bit of time and

1586
01:36:05,160 --> 01:36:08,600
Speaker 1: in in the stew, you browned the meat brown. The

1587
01:36:08,640 --> 01:36:13,439
Speaker 1: meat first left it on the shoulder. Okay, left it

1588
01:36:13,479 --> 01:36:16,160
Speaker 1: on the shoulder and just put all of that in

1589
01:36:16,240 --> 01:36:18,280
Speaker 1: the pot together. But you left it on the bone.

1590
01:36:18,320 --> 01:36:20,360
Speaker 1: I left it on the bone. And you put this whole,

1591
01:36:20,520 --> 01:36:22,880
Speaker 1: this part of the bare shoulder, whole bare shoulder in

1592
01:36:23,120 --> 01:36:26,080
Speaker 1: a big pot yep, with all this stuff cooking around it. Yep.

1593
01:36:26,760 --> 01:36:30,400
Speaker 1: Okay at and um, and then you cut it up afterwards,

1594
01:36:30,520 --> 01:36:34,280
Speaker 1: shredded it, shredded it. Once it tendered up. We just

1595
01:36:34,280 --> 01:36:36,080
Speaker 1: just shredded it with a fork and put it back

1596
01:36:36,120 --> 01:36:39,720
Speaker 1: in the stew out and shredded it up. And you

1597
01:36:39,760 --> 01:36:43,679
Speaker 1: get all that flavor. Yeah, when it when I would

1598
01:36:43,680 --> 01:36:46,080
Speaker 1: have thought, I would have thought you would have trimmed

1599
01:36:46,080 --> 01:36:48,160
Speaker 1: all the meat off the bone, chopped it and then

1600
01:36:48,200 --> 01:36:50,280
Speaker 1: put it in this made it into stew meat. First.

1601
01:36:50,880 --> 01:36:52,360
Speaker 1: We just did it, just put it in there, just

1602
01:36:52,400 --> 01:36:54,760
Speaker 1: like you got all the bone, all the you get

1603
01:36:54,760 --> 01:36:58,200
Speaker 1: that broth out of the bone. You get um. How

1604
01:36:58,200 --> 01:37:01,400
Speaker 1: long as you cook it about six seven hours it

1605
01:37:01,520 --> 01:37:04,880
Speaker 1: got super tender though. Wow. Good. We put that in

1606
01:37:04,920 --> 01:37:06,519
Speaker 1: the fridge and then the next day I went out

1607
01:37:06,560 --> 01:37:09,639
Speaker 1: to get leftovers, and you know, you get the all

1608
01:37:09,640 --> 01:37:12,759
Speaker 1: the fat rose to the top. There's a healthy layer

1609
01:37:12,800 --> 01:37:14,479
Speaker 1: of it in there. And then I just mixed that

1610
01:37:14,520 --> 01:37:19,240
Speaker 1: all back up in there. So good as good. You know.

1611
01:37:19,280 --> 01:37:23,800
Speaker 1: They say that bear meat has uh higher level of

1612
01:37:23,840 --> 01:37:26,040
Speaker 1: protein than dear meat. Did you know that? I didn't

1613
01:37:26,080 --> 01:37:28,640
Speaker 1: know that. I've been feeling pretty strong this week. So

1614
01:37:28,760 --> 01:37:32,840
Speaker 1: you're looking good man, Thank you. No, I'm serious like

1615
01:37:32,920 --> 01:37:35,240
Speaker 1: you look at You can look it up about the

1616
01:37:35,360 --> 01:37:39,400
Speaker 1: charts for wild game protein and there's multiple charts and

1617
01:37:39,439 --> 01:37:43,760
Speaker 1: some of them say totally different things, which it's hard

1618
01:37:43,800 --> 01:37:46,800
Speaker 1: to get a good read on it. Probably the guy

1619
01:37:46,880 --> 01:37:51,360
Speaker 1: that I trust. Actually he listened to our podcast, guy

1620
01:37:51,400 --> 01:37:53,800
Speaker 1: named Mark Hall. He's got his own podcast up and

1621
01:37:53,880 --> 01:37:59,960
Speaker 1: from British Columbia. Um, he I'd read something that he wrote,

1622
01:38:01,160 --> 01:38:05,160
Speaker 1: and anyway, I trust his research on it. And the

1623
01:38:06,160 --> 01:38:10,400
Speaker 1: uh black bear meat has more protein than almost any

1624
01:38:10,439 --> 01:38:14,000
Speaker 1: other big game we hunt. Wow, that just makes me

1625
01:38:14,040 --> 01:38:18,120
Speaker 1: want to go back out and next man, man, I

1626
01:38:18,160 --> 01:38:20,920
Speaker 1: gotta uh yep, I wanted to say something about Mark

1627
01:38:21,240 --> 01:38:26,600
Speaker 1: the conservation Uh talk for a minute. Yeah. So, um,

1628
01:38:26,640 --> 01:38:30,599
Speaker 1: you know, I skinned it all out myself. UM, just

1629
01:38:30,960 --> 01:38:33,280
Speaker 1: took the morning when I got back and I skinned

1630
01:38:33,280 --> 01:38:35,840
Speaker 1: out the skull. It wasn't terribly difficult. Watched a couple

1631
01:38:35,840 --> 01:38:40,040
Speaker 1: of videos and um did that skin out the pause

1632
01:38:40,160 --> 01:38:43,360
Speaker 1: down to the down to the clause, and um that

1633
01:38:43,479 --> 01:38:45,639
Speaker 1: probably you know the taxi dermist told me. That probably

1634
01:38:45,680 --> 01:38:47,800
Speaker 1: saved me a little bit of money because he didn't

1635
01:38:48,439 --> 01:38:51,840
Speaker 1: you skinned it all, uh, all the way down you

1636
01:38:51,960 --> 01:38:54,840
Speaker 1: skinned out the pause. Yeah, I was gonna talk about that.

1637
01:38:54,840 --> 01:38:58,240
Speaker 1: That's one thing that in the Bears. I've skinned four

1638
01:38:58,360 --> 01:39:03,880
Speaker 1: bears in the last two weeks, um, and every time

1639
01:39:03,920 --> 01:39:07,799
Speaker 1: with a new bear hunter, and a lot of times

1640
01:39:07,800 --> 01:39:12,400
Speaker 1: on the feet. I'd never slowed down enough to really

1641
01:39:12,800 --> 01:39:17,400
Speaker 1: script out exactly how to even just cut the paws

1642
01:39:17,479 --> 01:39:21,000
Speaker 1: off like joint out, and I really slowed down. And actually,

1643
01:39:21,000 --> 01:39:23,520
Speaker 1: there's gonna be an article and Barony Magazine, the pictorial

1644
01:39:23,600 --> 01:39:29,920
Speaker 1: article not not about the whole um, just about how

1645
01:39:29,920 --> 01:39:33,320
Speaker 1: to get the feet off of the bone, and like

1646
01:39:33,439 --> 01:39:36,040
Speaker 1: if you're gonna do a mound or something. Yeah, and

1647
01:39:36,080 --> 01:39:38,599
Speaker 1: there's different ways to skin the paw based on what

1648
01:39:38,600 --> 01:39:41,000
Speaker 1: you're gonna do with it, So people kind of need

1649
01:39:41,040 --> 01:39:43,160
Speaker 1: to know what they want to do with it before

1650
01:39:43,160 --> 01:39:45,759
Speaker 1: they get started on that. That's something that I learned.

1651
01:39:45,880 --> 01:39:47,800
Speaker 1: And I just watched a couple of videos and then

1652
01:39:48,560 --> 01:39:51,160
Speaker 1: I mean my intention because it was as a younger male,

1653
01:39:51,280 --> 01:39:53,439
Speaker 1: so it's not gonna be a huge trophy or anything.

1654
01:39:53,479 --> 01:39:56,160
Speaker 1: I just wanted to tan the hide, so I just

1655
01:39:56,240 --> 01:39:59,559
Speaker 1: cut straight down the pad and then just worked it

1656
01:39:59,600 --> 01:40:02,400
Speaker 1: out of the picked it out. Yeah. Mark Hall with

1657
01:40:02,760 --> 01:40:09,920
Speaker 1: the Hunter Conservationist podcasts, he's a he's a knowledgeable guy.

1658
01:40:10,320 --> 01:40:14,160
Speaker 1: So so yeah, I did all that took didn't take

1659
01:40:14,160 --> 01:40:16,680
Speaker 1: me that long. You know, people might ask, how do

1660
01:40:16,720 --> 01:40:20,000
Speaker 1: we get it out of there? Um, it's a smaller bear.

1661
01:40:20,040 --> 01:40:22,479
Speaker 1: So we just found a pole and the two of

1662
01:40:22,560 --> 01:40:25,240
Speaker 1: us tied him by his wrists to the pole and

1663
01:40:25,680 --> 01:40:28,880
Speaker 1: carried him out that way. Didn pictures of that. It's

1664
01:40:28,960 --> 01:40:30,880
Speaker 1: just the two of us, man, And we weren't we

1665
01:40:30,880 --> 01:40:35,120
Speaker 1: weren't selfie mode. So we just carried him out like

1666
01:40:35,160 --> 01:40:36,920
Speaker 1: that and got him in the back of the truck.

1667
01:40:37,000 --> 01:40:39,760
Speaker 1: I took him back to camp then, and and did

1668
01:40:39,800 --> 01:40:42,400
Speaker 1: all the rough cutting back at camp. And Rick had

1669
01:40:42,439 --> 01:40:44,759
Speaker 1: to take off, so he left me with all that work.

1670
01:40:45,760 --> 01:40:48,559
Speaker 1: You know, he found the bear, so well he got

1671
01:40:48,680 --> 01:40:54,320
Speaker 1: a pass. He does, he gets past. Well, that's that's

1672
01:40:54,320 --> 01:40:58,559
Speaker 1: awesome man. Well I'm really happy for you. Um yeah,

1673
01:40:58,600 --> 01:41:01,040
Speaker 1: and I know this is probably just the start of

1674
01:41:01,160 --> 01:41:05,640
Speaker 1: your of your bear hunting world. Man. One thing that

1675
01:41:05,680 --> 01:41:08,799
Speaker 1: I just want to say, it's you know, it's hard,

1676
01:41:09,320 --> 01:41:12,920
Speaker 1: and you know, for somebody who wants to do this,

1677
01:41:13,920 --> 01:41:16,720
Speaker 1: don't listen to other people that tell you, oh, it's

1678
01:41:16,720 --> 01:41:18,719
Speaker 1: not worth it, you might as well not even bother

1679
01:41:18,840 --> 01:41:22,719
Speaker 1: with it. If you have to be validated by killing

1680
01:41:22,720 --> 01:41:28,280
Speaker 1: an animal, this is not for you. But if you

1681
01:41:28,600 --> 01:41:32,080
Speaker 1: want the experience and you and you want to try

1682
01:41:32,120 --> 01:41:34,840
Speaker 1: to test yourself against it, go out and do it.

1683
01:41:35,160 --> 01:41:39,080
Speaker 1: I saw some Facebook comments here recently somebody else was

1684
01:41:39,120 --> 01:41:42,920
Speaker 1: asking about hunting hunting bears in the in the National Forest,

1685
01:41:43,040 --> 01:41:45,080
Speaker 1: and some some people had said it, you don't even

1686
01:41:45,080 --> 01:41:50,200
Speaker 1: waste your time with it, and man, not, just like,

1687
01:41:50,280 --> 01:41:55,760
Speaker 1: let's let's celebrate the success, let's celebrate the effort. And um,

1688
01:41:57,240 --> 01:42:00,759
Speaker 1: I just feel like people need to know that it's hard,

1689
01:42:00,880 --> 01:42:04,679
Speaker 1: but it's fun. Like I had a really good time

1690
01:42:04,720 --> 01:42:06,640
Speaker 1: doing this. I don't think i'd have the same kind

1691
01:42:06,680 --> 01:42:10,719
Speaker 1: of fun. Um, just just deer hunting, and partially because

1692
01:42:10,760 --> 01:42:14,640
Speaker 1: there's more deer out there. Like if I hunted this

1693
01:42:14,720 --> 01:42:17,240
Speaker 1: hard and didn't see any deer, I'd be like, man,

1694
01:42:17,360 --> 01:42:19,559
Speaker 1: I must be just a terrible hunter. But there's hardly

1695
01:42:19,600 --> 01:42:23,759
Speaker 1: any bears out there, so to speak, or there's fewer

1696
01:42:23,880 --> 01:42:27,720
Speaker 1: of them. Let's put it that way. Let's just go

1697
01:42:27,800 --> 01:42:31,240
Speaker 1: out there and hang out and see what you see. Yeah,

1698
01:42:31,280 --> 01:42:34,240
Speaker 1: it's a different style hunt, different pace hunt. It takes

1699
01:42:34,240 --> 01:42:38,800
Speaker 1: a different mentality. Yep. Well awesome man, Well, uh yeah,

1700
01:42:38,800 --> 01:42:42,160
Speaker 1: I really appreciate it. Congratulations and yeah let us know,

1701
01:42:42,479 --> 01:42:45,720
Speaker 1: let me know how you keep using that bear? Mean

1702
01:42:45,920 --> 01:42:52,240
Speaker 1: will we? Uh? Kolbe just did an awsobuco recipe that's

1703
01:42:52,240 --> 01:42:55,080
Speaker 1: gonna be in uh the next issue Barnie magazine. I'll

1704
01:42:55,080 --> 01:42:56,920
Speaker 1: be looking forward to that. I've got four shanks in

1705
01:42:56,960 --> 01:43:01,559
Speaker 1: the freezer. Yes, it's it's in edible. I I cooked

1706
01:43:01,600 --> 01:43:06,160
Speaker 1: it a month ago, um and um. But he cooked

1707
01:43:06,160 --> 01:43:08,639
Speaker 1: it and photographed it just a few nights ago, and

1708
01:43:08,640 --> 01:43:12,240
Speaker 1: he was thrilled. That was that with with his bear

1709
01:43:12,560 --> 01:43:16,759
Speaker 1: from this year yep, yep, yep, cutting the shank, leaving

1710
01:43:16,760 --> 01:43:19,400
Speaker 1: the bone in. He did it in an instant pot.

1711
01:43:19,840 --> 01:43:22,599
Speaker 1: Yeah so just like an hour long. Yeah, I've done

1712
01:43:22,640 --> 01:43:24,320
Speaker 1: in a crock pot when I left it for a

1713
01:43:24,360 --> 01:43:27,000
Speaker 1: long time. And he did an instant party set up,

1714
01:43:27,120 --> 01:43:32,120
Speaker 1: super tender, super good, so sweet. All right? Well, uh,

1715
01:43:32,800 --> 01:43:34,840
Speaker 1: hey man, keep the wild places as well, because that's

1716
01:43:34,840 --> 01:43:36,200
Speaker 1: where the bears live. Yep.