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Speaker 1: Welcome to this country Life.

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Speaker 2: I'm your host, Brent Reeves from coon hunting to trotlining

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Speaker 2: and just in general country living. I want you to

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Speaker 2: stay a while as I share my experiences in life lessons.

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Speaker 2: This country Life is presented by Case Knives from the

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Speaker 2: store More Studio on Meat Eaters Podcast Network, bringing you

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Speaker 2: the best outdoor podcast that airways have to offer.

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Speaker 1: All right, friends, grab a chair or drop that tailgate.

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Speaker 1: I've got some stores to share here. Have an elk.

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Speaker 2: Archery season is kicking off in a few days and

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Speaker 2: is already begun in some places. In my seemingly unending

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Speaker 2: desire and habits of most things outdoors, both hunting is

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Speaker 2: close to the top for me. Now I'm gonna share

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Speaker 2: the story my first bull elk. It's my only elk actually,

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Speaker 2: but it's also the only one I ever drew my

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Speaker 2: bow on. Every trip before since that hunt was to

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Speaker 2: film someone else. I'm one for one on six or

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Speaker 2: six bull elk, and I should stop right there.

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Speaker 1: If I want to keep my elk.

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Speaker 2: Harvest to hunt average above average. But I can't in

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Speaker 2: theory anyway. I just need to get drawn in the state.

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Speaker 1: That allows it.

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Speaker 2: But that's that's another story, and I'm fixing to tell

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Speaker 2: you this one. I was on patrol with my phone

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Speaker 2: ring caller, ID said, Leon Boyd. It was July twenty eleven.

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Speaker 2: Leon is a friend of mine from Virginia. I'd met

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Speaker 2: him a couple of years before when I was hired

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Speaker 2: to film him and some of his friends and employees

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Speaker 2: on a deer and elk hunt in Colorado. They put

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Speaker 2: on a big hunt nearly every year and were some

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Speaker 2: of the absolute best folks I ever had the pleasure

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Speaker 2: to meet. Humble to a fault, and their generosity was

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Speaker 2: beyond measure. I like these people, and Leon was a

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Speaker 2: shining example for all of them. His accent and tonal

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Speaker 2: voice would fool you if you'd only talk to him

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Speaker 2: on the phone. Seeing him in person was a little

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Speaker 2: more intimidating. He is a big rascal, but his equally

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Speaker 2: big smile and polite nature put me at ease from

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Speaker 2: the moment I met him. Two years before that conversation,

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Speaker 2: I asked the phone, and in his easily identifiable accent,

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Speaker 2: he said, Brent, you're gonna be able to make it

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Speaker 2: out to elk kin this year.

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Speaker 1: Now.

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Speaker 2: I had to smile and said, of course, Leon I'll

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Speaker 2: have my camera ready. He told me that was what

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Speaker 2: he wanted to hear. But I didn't need to bring

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Speaker 2: my camera this year. Well, I assumed he was renting

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Speaker 2: some better equipment for me to use. That's when he said,

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Speaker 2: I want you to bring your boat and kill you

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Speaker 2: a bull. I sat there in the parking lot where

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Speaker 2: I'd pulled over to talk to him, eyes unblinking and

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Speaker 2: staring at the phone like a cow stairs at a

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Speaker 2: new gate. You're kidding, now, oh, my friend, I want

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Speaker 2: you to kill a bull. You worked your tail all

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Speaker 2: feeling for us, and now we want you to hunt

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Speaker 2: with us. You know where we're going, so get your license,

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Speaker 2: get practice at we your boat, and we'll pick you

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Speaker 2: up in a little rock on our way to Colorado

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Speaker 2: in septem Now, what do you say to that think

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Speaker 2: he doesn't seem like enough? He still doesn't, and that's

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Speaker 2: been fourteen years years ago. Leon is the kind of

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Speaker 2: friend that you can have and not speak to for weeks, months,

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Speaker 2: or even years, and when you do, you're right where.

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Speaker 1: You left off, as if you'd spoken to him the

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Speaker 1: day before. A true friend. I'm blessed. We called him might.

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Speaker 2: The days, weeks and months passed like cold molasses pores,

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Speaker 2: and finally September, the drive out seemed even longer. I'd

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Speaker 2: practiced and practiced shooting my bow in the backyard religiously

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Speaker 2: every day, rain or shine. I was ready for anything

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Speaker 2: out to sixty yards, even though I'd drawn the line

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Speaker 2: myself at fifty. That was the mark I'd set, the

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Speaker 2: limit I'd put on myself to keep from doing the

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Speaker 2: thing I feared most, and that was to make a

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Speaker 2: bad shot. Everything else would be acceptable. No opportunity. That's

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Speaker 2: called hunting. He keeps you from hunting.

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Speaker 1: It happens.

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Speaker 2: Wildfires closed down the area where we're going. That happens too. No,

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Speaker 2: the one thing that I had total control over was

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Speaker 2: to shoot or not to shoot. That was all up

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Speaker 2: to me, and no one else could or would be responsible.

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Speaker 2: But now practice was over. It was time to climb

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Speaker 2: the mountain. The bugles in the distance hadn't faded in

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Speaker 2: beauty or frequency from the last six days, and the

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Speaker 2: mountain I found myself on resonated with those echoes that

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Speaker 2: will forever haunt my memory of that September afternoon in Colorado.

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Speaker 2: All during the week, as I stumbled along behind my

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Speaker 2: guide I felt as if I may have been trespassing,

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Speaker 2: not in the sense of being somewhere I shouldn't, and

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Speaker 2: maybe trespassing isn't the word I'm looking for, but I

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Speaker 2: felt as though this ritual that I was witnessing wasn't

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Speaker 2: me for me to see. The dynamic of what I

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Speaker 2: was seeing and hearing was so overwhelming that the majority

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Speaker 2: of time that I was staggering through the woods, my

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Speaker 2: mind raced to record all of what was happening. I

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Speaker 2: would replay in my head what I had just seen

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Speaker 2: and heard. As I was logging that memory, it would

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Speaker 2: quickly be replaced by yet another amazing display of nature.

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Speaker 2: We hunted hard all week. One morning, the light rain

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Speaker 2: fell as I raced from place to place at the

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Speaker 2: direction of my guide to intercept the bulls that were

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Speaker 2: responding to his calls. Young bulls slipped into where we stood,

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Speaker 2: and at twenty yards, I let him walk. He had

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Speaker 2: some growing to do, but I'll never forget how he

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Speaker 2: looked as he stood close enough for me to hear

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Speaker 2: him breathe. Another bugle and we were off again. I

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Speaker 2: could hear limbs breaking in the bulls bugle sounded like

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Speaker 2: a roar. It was loud than what I'd expected. I

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Speaker 2: stared into the trees and strained to see the elk

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Speaker 2: that was making all that racket. How could something be

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Speaker 2: so loud, so big, and so close and me not

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Speaker 2: be able to see him. My heart was beating fast,

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Speaker 2: and I was trying not to hyperventilate when he was

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Speaker 2: getting closer. And I didn't know how this was going

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Speaker 2: to play out. But I knew right then, right there

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Speaker 2: in that vast wilderness I had dreamed of all my life.

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Speaker 1: That I was right where I was supposed to be.

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Speaker 2: I imagined every scenario I could think of, trying to

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Speaker 2: anticipate what was going to happen next. I arranged every

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Speaker 2: possible place the bull would emerge from, and tried to

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Speaker 2: remember each point, calculating which pen I would use and

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Speaker 2: when to draw my bow. Cal trotted out from behind

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Speaker 2: the brush, stopped and stared at me. The bull I

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Speaker 2: could hear getting closer and closer as he broke limbs

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Speaker 2: and racked his antlers on what sounded like every tree

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Speaker 2: between where he and I stood. I saw the city

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Speaker 2: limb shaking, and from less than twenty five yards he

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Speaker 2: walked out until the opening he faced me and bugle

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Speaker 2: so loud.

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Speaker 1: It hurt my ears.

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Speaker 2: He was a heavy five by five, and I could

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Speaker 2: draw my bow now without him ever knowing I was

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Speaker 2: there two more steps. He's two steps away from giving

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Speaker 2: me the opportunity I've dreamed of since I was a kid.

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Speaker 2: The cow that I'd forgotten about had stood at all

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Speaker 2: she could, and with one swift motion, she wheeled and

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Speaker 2: ran into the woods. He followed on instinct and stopped

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Speaker 2: at fifty five yards, offering a marginal quartering shot. I

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Speaker 2: wasn't steady enough or confident enough in the angle to

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Speaker 2: wrist trying to slip that broadhead into the narrow kill zone.

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Speaker 2: I just I wouldn't do it, and he walked away.

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Speaker 2: Now I didn't regret not shooting. I tried to breathe again.

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Speaker 2: I tried to realize all that I had just seen

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Speaker 2: and felt, and couldn't keep from shaking all over this

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Speaker 2: thing that was happening to me, The transformation that was

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Speaker 2: taking place inside me, and the insignificant role I was

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Speaker 2: playing in the grand production occurring all around me was

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Speaker 2: changing how I thought, felt and saw the world. All

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Speaker 2: of the events that led up to this September afternoon

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Speaker 2: hadn't prepared me for what was about to happen. Walking

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Speaker 2: around a mountain trail and standing face to face with

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Speaker 2: a black bear, listening to the literally countless beautiles day

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Speaker 2: in and day out, and standing on a small portion

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Speaker 2: of this magnificent place on Earth aching to share with

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Speaker 2: what I was seeing with my loved ones didn't offer

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Speaker 2: a clue what I was about to experience. We settled

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Speaker 2: into the blind above the pond. Bulls had been bugling

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Speaker 2: above us since we left the truck as we snaked

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Speaker 2: our way up the mountain to the watering hole we

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Speaker 2: hoped would give us a shot at a decent bull.

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Speaker 2: By the time I got my gear stowed and caught

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Speaker 2: my breath, it was time to put on the rest

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Speaker 2: of my camera and try to find a comfortable place

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Speaker 2: to sit on what had to be a forty five

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Speaker 2: degree grade. I had never shot a boat sitting on

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Speaker 2: my behind, but I had no choice in this spot

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Speaker 2: unless I moved further away, and that wasn't an option.

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Speaker 2: I referenced this place as a blind, but there was

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Speaker 2: nothing man made or manufactured about it. It was just

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Speaker 2: a couple of bushes that offered a place for me

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Speaker 2: to sit down behind. I wanted every advantage in my favor,

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Speaker 2: and I would have to deal with the uncomfortable conditions

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Speaker 2: and just make the best of it. I wadged my

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Speaker 2: left foot against the stump of a long gone sapling

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Speaker 2: and sat on my right leg I had tucked underneath me,

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Speaker 2: and it was actually somewhat comfortable.

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Speaker 1: The minute to minute and a half it took before the.

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Speaker 2: Circulation was cut off to my leg didn't take long,

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Speaker 2: and my leg was killing me. I tried to ignore

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Speaker 2: the stinging that plagued my lower extremities. I ranged every

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Speaker 2: large rock and bush I could find, trying to determine

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Speaker 2: the lay of the land. Bugles were inching closer and

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Speaker 2: becoming more frequent. I practiced drawing my boat from this

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Speaker 2: terribly uncomfortable position. It had been a long week. My

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Speaker 2: muscles ached, I was hot, I was nervous. I was

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Speaker 2: ecstatic to be there, and the beauty of this rugged

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Speaker 2: land was surpassed only by its lack of oxygen. The

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Speaker 2: guy that taught me how to film was serving as

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Speaker 2: my cameraman on this hunt, and he said it best

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Speaker 2: when we first arrived at our hunting area earlier in

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Speaker 2: the week, as I looked up the mountain at the

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Speaker 2: awe inspiring scenery. He said, don't let them pretty woods

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Speaker 2: fool you. Bub There ain't no air up there. He

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Speaker 2: wasn't kidding. The movement caught my eye and I focused

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Speaker 2: into a gap in the timber across the water hole,

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Speaker 2: and I sat motionless as a bull elk walked out

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Speaker 2: into the opening and announced his presence to the world,

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Speaker 2: as only those majestic creatures can. Other bulls answered him

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Speaker 2: in the distance. The spike bull walked to the opposite

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Speaker 2: side of the pond and drank. And yet this one

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Speaker 2: he strode confidently to the water's edge, ignoring the challenges

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Speaker 2: that were being thrown in his direction. He drank loudly.

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Speaker 2: I could hear him slurping down what seemed like gallons

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Speaker 2: of water. Is a mere thirty yards away, well within

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Speaker 2: my range. When I started breathing so hard and trembling

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Speaker 2: that I closed my eyes and I said a prayer

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Speaker 2: to calm my nerves, steady my aim, and for my

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Speaker 2: arrow to fly true. Immediately I calmed down, relaxed, and

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Speaker 2: I concentrated from a mission at hand. He drank as

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Speaker 2: he waited closer and farther into the water hole, stopping

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Speaker 2: twenty yards in front of him. Then he turned broadside.

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Speaker 2: He looked away in the distance and started the bugle.

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Speaker 2: This was my chance. The dream was about to become

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Speaker 2: a reality. He was a half second into his bugle

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Speaker 2: when I decided to draw my bow, And with all

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Speaker 2: the adrenaline that was coursing through my veins, the excruciating

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Speaker 2: pain that had rendered my right leg useless, and the

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Speaker 2: excitement of what was about to happen, I failed to

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Speaker 2: take my left index finger off the arrow that lay

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Speaker 2: in wait on the arrow rest, and I drew my

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Speaker 2: bow back so hard and so fast, I pulled the

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Speaker 2: string right out of the knock. Then, like an axe

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Speaker 2: handle Postuman, who just had what a little sense he

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Speaker 2: had left knocked out of him, I released the pressure

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Speaker 2: of my left indexed finger, and gravity took control.

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Speaker 1: My arrow dropped and clattered.

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Speaker 2: Against the bottom lemb of my compound, and held short

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Speaker 2: from falling completely off only by the broadhead that caught

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Speaker 2: on my arrest. The bull stopped just short of finishing

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Speaker 2: his bugle. He turned his head and he looked dead

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Speaker 2: at me, and I felt my dream slipping away as

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Speaker 2: I held an empty string with a perfect sight picture

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Speaker 2: focused on the twenty yard pen and decreased behind the

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Speaker 2: shoulder of the bull elk I'd been waiting on all

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Speaker 2: my life. A bull bugled in the distance, and he

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Speaker 2: looked in his direction and slowly started moving away. I

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Speaker 2: whispered to my cameraman, I can't shoot. My arrow fell off,

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Speaker 2: he said, put it back on. I said, I can't.

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Speaker 2: He pleaded, why not fix my arrow? He turned and

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Speaker 2: saw my predicament, and in one smooth, subtle move, he

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Speaker 2: gingerly picked up my arrow, placed it back on my string,

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Speaker 2: and resumed his duties on the camera. I remained calm,

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Speaker 2: more calm than I had been on the whole trip,

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Speaker 2: and at a point in the hunt when the worst

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Speaker 2: thing possible could have happened actually happened. I followed him

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Speaker 2: with the top pen and transitioned to the middle pin.

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Speaker 2: When he reached the forty yard mark, he stopped to

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Speaker 2: grab a few bites of grass, and my camera man whispered,

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Speaker 2: he's about forty five yards, three more steps, and I

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Speaker 2: fixed my bottom pin on his right front leg that

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Speaker 2: I could see as he quartered away, exposing the left

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Speaker 2: side peep site settled perfectly around the pin and I

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Speaker 2: remember out loud, he's fifty yards, and without realizing a

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Speaker 2: conscious effort, the string left my release and I tracked

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Speaker 2: the orange knock of my arrow and watched it as

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Speaker 2: it buried up in the fletching, right where I had

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Speaker 2: envisioned it going only a split second before they helped

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Speaker 2: charge into the timber, kicking rocks and breaking limbs as

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Speaker 2: he disappeared. Now, I looked at my friend, who was

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Speaker 2: running the camera, and ask about the shot placement. I

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Speaker 2: replaced it in my mind and felt confident it was good.

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Speaker 2: Thirty seconds later I heard him crash. Calm that I

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Speaker 2: felt during that near calamity of my air coming off

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Speaker 2: the string was replaced by the realization of what had

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Speaker 2: just happened. A flood of emotion rushed from within, and

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Speaker 2: I struggled to think of something to say. I tried

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Speaker 2: to compose myself, but was overcome by the fact that

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Speaker 2: I had just seen a lifelong dream come to fruition.

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Speaker 2: All I could think of was how proud my dad

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Speaker 2: was going to be of me, and that's when I

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Speaker 2: started crying. My family is so supportive of me and

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Speaker 2: what I do, and to have experienced that moment knowing

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Speaker 2: they were going to be just as proud as I was,

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Speaker 2: seemed to be a little more than I could deal with.

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Speaker 2: I was a wreck, and when the tears started, it

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Speaker 2: didn't stop. Waiting to prescribe thirty minutes from shot to track,

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Speaker 2: it may have been tougher than they sent up the mountain,

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Speaker 2: but eighty yards later we were kneeling beside my trophy

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Speaker 2: and thanking the Good Lord for giving us the opportunity.

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Speaker 2: What a release of emotion. Outside of events involved in

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Speaker 2: my family, this was the most moving experience I'd ever encountered,

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Speaker 2: and one.

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Speaker 1: That has changed my life.

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Speaker 2: The people that don't do what we do, that don't

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Speaker 2: challenge themselves to seek out their dreams and struggle through

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Speaker 2: the hardships and obstacles that separate just getting by from

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Speaker 2: getting it done. We'll probably find humor in the fact

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Speaker 2: that a grown man cried on the side of a

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Speaker 2: mountain after shooting an elk, But it was a pivotal

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Speaker 2: moment in my maturity as a person of faith who

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Speaker 2: needed help and asked for it, and in an instant

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Speaker 2: was granted to reprieve from losing my mind when a small,

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Speaker 2: seemingly inconsequential mistake nearly cost me the opportunity of a lifetime.

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Speaker 2: It's funny now that always seems to work out. Good night, Nurse,

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Speaker 2: what a hunt. I'm thankful for that day, my friend

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Speaker 2: Leon and all of you who give all of us

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Speaker 2: here on the Beargreas Channel some of your attention each week.

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Speaker 2: If you're close to eleven and Missouri, come see me

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Speaker 2: tomorrow September the sixth at the celebration of the Ozarks

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Speaker 2: Case Knife event put over by my friends at Shepherd

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Speaker 2: Hills Cutlery. It's gonna be so much fun. And Alexis

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Speaker 2: and Bailey they're gonna be there too. Then on next Saturday,

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Speaker 2: September the thirteenth, we'll all be at the World Championship

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Speaker 2: Squirrel Cookoff in Springdale, Arkansas, where the love of humanity

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Speaker 2: the fund never stops until next week.

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Speaker 1: This is Brent Reeves signing off. Y'all be careful