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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 general country living.

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Speaker 1: I want you to stay a.

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Speaker 2: While as I share my experiences in life lessons. This

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Speaker 2: country life is presented by Case Knives from the Store

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

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Speaker 2: best outdoor podcast the airways have to offer. All right, friends,

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Speaker 2: grab a chair or drop that tailgate. I've got some

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Speaker 2: stores to share. Knives, shotguns, and bears.

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Speaker 1: Oh my.

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Speaker 2: Man, am I excited to tell you about what's been

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Speaker 2: going on in this country life of mine. I'm going

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Speaker 2: to talk about my first almost encounter with a black

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Speaker 2: bear that happened with my dad a long time ago,

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Speaker 2: and since then I've had the fortune of hunting them

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Speaker 2: in two different countries. I've also attended every black bear

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Speaker 2: bonanza there's ever been, and my association with that most

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Speaker 2: iconic creature has been nothing short of spectaculing.

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Speaker 1: But as amazing as that's been, the best part, by

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Speaker 1: far is the people that.

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Speaker 2: I've met along the way, and I'm going to tell

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Speaker 2: you about one of them in particular today.

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Speaker 1: So let's get to it.

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Speaker 2: The black bear bonanza has been a homecoming of sorts

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Speaker 2: for me. Since the first one five years ago. What

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Speaker 2: began as a modest event recognizing the return of an

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Speaker 2: original Arkansas icon to the landscape, has grown into a

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Speaker 2: conservation celebration's success story like no other. Arkansas now boasts

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Speaker 2: a reported population of over five thousand bears, a conservative

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Speaker 2: figure by all accounts, with bears being seen where they've

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Speaker 2: never been seen in generations. My family's history goes back

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Speaker 2: nine generations in Southeast Arkansas, and there are zero stories

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Speaker 2: of bears to my knowledge in the catalog of tales

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Speaker 2: that have been passed down through my family's history, except

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Speaker 2: for this one. I was in elementary school and cold

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Speaker 2: hunt was my dad. One night for the new folks

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Speaker 2: following this weekly amalgamation of stories and memories, Cold hunting

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Speaker 2: consisted of turning a pack of hounds loose at night

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Speaker 2: to listen to them bark on the scent trail of

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Speaker 2: where Cody had been, and that's it. We just sat

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Speaker 2: on the tailgater and lawn chairs on the Timber company roads,

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Speaker 2: or laid down on the top of the Dog Creek,

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Speaker 2: passing the time looking at the stars while the dogs

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Speaker 2: barked in what sounded like complete calamity to the uninitiated,

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Speaker 2: but to my father, his friends, and me, it was

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Speaker 2: a symphony of orchestrated music that sang the virtues of

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Speaker 2: a good hounds while exposing the faults of the lesser.

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Speaker 2: The dog that was in front of the pact, that

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Speaker 2: barked and bald, was the lead, telling the rest of

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Speaker 2: the world that they were fastest when they set the

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Speaker 2: standard for the rest of fault. Not only did they

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Speaker 2: need them to be fast, they needed them to have

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Speaker 2: a recognizable voice and rhythm to their barking that would

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Speaker 2: allow the listener to tell whose dog was who's it

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Speaker 2: was and is still a primal connection between man and

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Speaker 2: dog that has been manufactured over the.

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Speaker 1: Past fifteen thousand years.

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Speaker 2: But in nineteen seventy seven, all I knew was it's

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Speaker 2: where my dad wanted to be, and I wanted to

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Speaker 2: be with it.

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Speaker 1: Plus there were hound dogs. What more could a boy want.

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Speaker 2: Mister Billy Bryant, a man who'd recently become my brother

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Speaker 2: Tim's father in law and would become my turkey hunting mentor,

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Speaker 2: had joined my dad and me, and we were all

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Speaker 2: listening to the hounds scaled on the track south of

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Speaker 2: the county road that wound its way through the country,

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Speaker 2: eventually ending at the Calford Boat Ramp on the Saline River.

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Speaker 2: We were parked at the Old Robbie Salm's Place, a

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Speaker 2: house place that had only the remnants of a structure there,

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Speaker 2: but had been known locally as the family's property and

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Speaker 2: served as a landmark before the advent of GPS systems.

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Speaker 2: Anyone could have bought it and built a house there,

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Speaker 2: but regardless of the tenants, it would always be known

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Speaker 2: by that name, at least to us it would be.

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Speaker 2: As the dogs made their way into a thicket one

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Speaker 2: hundred yards off the road, they started baying. That's a

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Speaker 2: totally different sound in bark than they give while they're running,

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Speaker 2: and they were in one spot, not moving regardless of

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Speaker 2: the different tones of barking anyone that could hear. I

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Speaker 2: realized the dogs were no longer chasing, but acting as

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Speaker 2: if they'd caught whatever they were after, in this case

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Speaker 2: a coo.

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Speaker 1: My dad and mister Brian decided.

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Speaker 2: Theyn't needed to go get the dogs out of that

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Speaker 2: briar patch, and as I bailed off the dog box

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Speaker 2: in the back of the truck to go with them, Dad.

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Speaker 1: Said, you can't go on this one. That is a

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Speaker 1: bad thicket, son. We're just gonna go get the dogs

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Speaker 1: and come right back. Now.

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Speaker 2: I get it now why he didn't want me to go.

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Speaker 2: Then It was a briar thicket that a rabbit would

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Speaker 2: have to tow the hatchet to get through. It was

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Speaker 2: gonna be hard enough for two grown men to fight

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Speaker 2: their way into much less. Little boy, I didn't see

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Speaker 2: it that way, and I was mad as a mashed cat.

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Speaker 2: After he told me to stay at the truck, I

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Speaker 2: watched him and mister Brian button up the jackets and

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Speaker 2: put on thick leather gloves and grab flashlights and wade

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Speaker 2: off into the darkness. They disappeared after only a few

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Speaker 2: steps into that BlackBerry and green briar jungle, with the

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Speaker 2: sound of breaking limbs and briars scratching across the cotton

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Speaker 2: duck of their jackets fading into the chaotic roar of

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Speaker 2: the baying hounds.

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Speaker 1: As they got further and further away.

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Speaker 2: From the rope, I waited anxiously for them to return,

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Speaker 2: as the barking slowly decreased and dogs started to emerge

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Speaker 2: one by one from that unforgiven tangle. Of nearly impenetrable undergrowth.

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Speaker 2: Eventually all the dogs fell silent. Two flashlights appeared creeping

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Speaker 2: towards where I sat, waiting to hear what was going

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Speaker 2: on with the coat the dogs had bathed. The rest

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Speaker 2: is according to Dad and mister Brian, But as they

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Speaker 2: got close to where the dogs had the coyotes surrounded.

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Speaker 2: The noises they heard coming from where that coyote was

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Speaker 2: didn't sound like a cowt They both knew the sound

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Speaker 2: to be that of a bear. Pretty recognize eyes bell

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Speaker 2: even to two fellows that had never seen a bear

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Speaker 2: in the wild. The dogs started passing them through the

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Speaker 2: path that they'd struggled to open up. Mister Brown looked

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Speaker 2: at Dad and said, I think that's a bear. Dad

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Speaker 2: responded with I think you're right, And they stood within

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Speaker 2: a few feet of it. Even though they never had

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Speaker 2: a one hundred percent clear view, they saw enough of

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Speaker 2: it and heard way more than they'd bargained for to

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Speaker 2: confirm their suspicions as to exactly what it was. A

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Speaker 2: bear in Cleveland County, Arkansas, less than five miles as

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Speaker 2: the crow flies from the ancestral home of my family,

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Speaker 2: in less than one hundred yards from where I was sitting,

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Speaker 2: and I didn't get to see it.

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Speaker 1: The forty nine years that have passed since.

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Speaker 2: That night haven't lessened my aggravation for not being allowed

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Speaker 2: to follow them into that thicket. But the full scope

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Speaker 2: of my destiny was black bears wouldn't start and stop

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Speaker 2: at the edge of briar patch.

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Speaker 1: The year Elvistide.

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Speaker 2: Five years ago, we gathered at a smaller venue than

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Speaker 2: where we've been for the last three years, a testament

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Speaker 2: to the event put on by the tireless volunteer work

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Speaker 2: of the Arkansas Chapter of the Backcountry Hunters and Anglers.

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Speaker 2: And it's through that organization's efforts that they bring an

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Speaker 2: ever expanding group of people and families to the northwest

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Speaker 2: corner of the state, and there they gather and support

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Speaker 2: the stewardship, the regulatory and legislative mission of the wildlife

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Speaker 2: professionals who are on the front lines for the betterment

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Speaker 2: of the black bear, their habitat, and the entire ecosystem

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Speaker 2: in which they thrive. It's also where I have met

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Speaker 2: some truly incredible families and individuals, people that I look

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Speaker 2: forward to seeing every year. It's on average, nine plus

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Speaker 2: hours of non stop talking and visiting with people who

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Speaker 2: like me, like to be around others with similar interests

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Speaker 2: and passions. Chance meetings at first that have been nurtured

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Speaker 2: by time into a true kinship. Some names I know

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Speaker 2: by heart, and some I have to be reminded of,

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Speaker 2: but all the faces, the smiles, and stories are as

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Speaker 2: easily recognizable as folks I've.

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Speaker 1: Known all my life.

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Speaker 2: I've watched their kids grow, been introduced to fiances, met husbands, wives, grandkids,

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Speaker 2: and held more babies than a hospital nursery. And I

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Speaker 2: look forward to that event where, for a single day,

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Speaker 2: my extended family shows up to appreciate all the things

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Speaker 2: wild and share some of their time with me, at

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Speaker 2: least long enough to allow me to thank them for

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Speaker 2: supporting the event, all the spot to donate so much,

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Speaker 2: and the.

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Speaker 1: Ones who support this podcast.

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Speaker 2: One fellow I met and became friends with because he

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Speaker 2: happened to be the person who drove the.

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Speaker 1: Farthest to be there.

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Speaker 2: Three years ago, I was seeing the Alhuton contest, and

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Speaker 2: after the final contestant had performed and the judges were

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Speaker 2: counting up all the scores to see who would win,

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Speaker 2: I had some time to fill, so I decided i'd

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Speaker 2: give a prize to the person of the family that

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Speaker 2: had driven the farthest, and I posed that question and

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Speaker 2: several raised their hands, and folks from all over the

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Speaker 2: country started shouting out where they driven from. One guy

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Speaker 2: said Canada, and I thought, well, there's a winner. Then

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Speaker 2: a guy in the back of the room said Idaho.

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Speaker 2: I asked the towns they were from, and a quick

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Speaker 2: Google search of the distances revealed that William Robertson, Idaho,

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Speaker 2: had driven several hundred miles further. I asked Weedham to

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Speaker 2: come up on the stage to get his prize. In

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Speaker 2: what followed was a touching moment for everyone who witnessed.

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Speaker 2: William told me that he had drove down a day

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Speaker 2: early and showed up at the events center to make

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Speaker 2: sure he could find it the following day, and he

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Speaker 2: saw all the BHA folks working to get it set up.

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Speaker 2: He just walked up and volunteered went to work alongside

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Speaker 2: the chapter members without hesitation. Several members had told me

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Speaker 2: about what he'd done before I met him, but I

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Speaker 2: didn't have a clue he was the guy who did

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Speaker 2: it until he stepped up on that stage and someone

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Speaker 2: pointed it out. I told the crowd what he'd done.

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Speaker 2: They gave him quite an ovation. I asked what he

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Speaker 2: did for a living, and when he said he'd just

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Speaker 2: gotten out of the service, the crowd went completely wild.

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Speaker 2: The other thing I've noticed that we all share it

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Speaker 2: that gathering, besides the love for wildlife, is a love

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Speaker 2: for this country and the men and women who serve it.

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Speaker 2: I was moved, and though it was a small gesture

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Speaker 2: on my part, on top of whatever the prize was

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Speaker 2: that William was for driving the furthest I reached into

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Speaker 2: my pocket and I gave him a case mini trapper

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Speaker 2: that Bailey and Alexis had given me for Christmas. Now,

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Speaker 2: I've never sold a knife in my life, but I've

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Speaker 2: given away.

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Speaker 1: A fortune in them.

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Speaker 2: And while that knife was special to me because of

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Speaker 2: who it was from and how it represented my family's

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Speaker 2: generational love for that particular model, I felt like I

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Speaker 2: should give him something that meant a lot to me

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Speaker 2: to show how much I appreciated what he'd done for

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Speaker 2: all of us. He graciously accepted it and walked off

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Speaker 2: the stage to a thunderous applause, and we finished the contest.

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Speaker 2: Later on, he came back up to me after I

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Speaker 2: had left the stage and said, hey, I had to

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Speaker 2: go out to my truck and get something for you.

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Speaker 2: And I told him, you don't have to give me anything,

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Speaker 2: and he said, no, we're trading knives and I want

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Speaker 2: you to have this one. I held out my hand

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Speaker 2: and he placed a bit which you made tactical knife

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Speaker 2: in my palm. It had been taken well care of,

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Speaker 2: but it obviously had been used a lot. I looked

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Speaker 2: at that knife, and then looked up at him, and

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Speaker 2: he said, I carried that on all five of my

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Speaker 2: combat deployments, and for the first time all day at

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Speaker 2: an event where all I do is talk, I couldn't

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Speaker 2: think of anything to say. To this day, I have

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Speaker 2: no recollection to what I said to him. That memory

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Speaker 2: is an absolute blur of emotion and pride, and having

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Speaker 2: been given something that stood for the duty and sacrifice

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Speaker 2: of one man, for me and all those with me

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Speaker 2: and the rest of this nation. It still holds the

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Speaker 2: edge right now that Will Roberts put on there. I

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Speaker 2: have never used it to cut anything. It remains the

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Speaker 2: only knife in my possession not made by my case

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Speaker 2: family in Bradford, Pennsylvania, or handmade by an individual craftsman.

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Speaker 2: It is one of my most prized possessions, not because

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Speaker 2: of what it is, but for what and who it represents.

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Speaker 2: I could end this story right here on my friend

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Speaker 2: William Roberts, who I and most folks call Will, but

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Speaker 2: his story is far from done. Before we parted ways

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Speaker 2: three years ago, Will mentioned that he was a goudsmith

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Speaker 2: and that would be his trade now that he was

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Speaker 2: retiring from the service. He said, I'm going to build

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Speaker 2: a rifle and I'm going to bring it back next

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Speaker 2: year and donate it to the event as a fundraiser.

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Speaker 2: Building a rifle it's hard, and the next event was

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Speaker 2: twelve months away. A lot can happen in that length

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Speaker 2: of time. Plans change, priority shifting through no fault of anyone.

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Speaker 2: Plans don't always go as they'd hoped. But a year later,

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Speaker 2: when I walked into the building at the Benton County Fairgrounds,

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Speaker 2: there sat will Robert with one of the most beautiful

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Speaker 2: bolt action rifles I've ever seen. I remember standing there

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Speaker 2: looking at it with my friend John Pantuso, and both

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Speaker 2: of us all struck by the beauty and the functionality

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Speaker 2: of a true craftsman's work. I was busy all day

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Speaker 2: and didn't get to visit long with Will as he

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Speaker 2: was busy himself with the fund racher he was working

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Speaker 2: for that rifle. Towards the end of the day, after

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Speaker 2: we'd set our goodbyes, and almost as an afterthoughts I

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Speaker 2: was leaving, Will said, Hey, if I give you a

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Speaker 2: shotgun to hunt with that we could auction and raffle

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Speaker 2: off next year, what would you want? Well, I kept

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Speaker 2: walking toward the door and more or less answered him

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Speaker 2: over my shoulder, A sixteen gage brown in a five

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Speaker 2: and make sure it was made in Belgium. That was

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Speaker 2: in March of twenty twenty five. Five months later, in August,

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Speaker 2: I got an email from Will. It was the first

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Speaker 2: communication we'd had since our abbreviated conversation as I left

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Speaker 2: the fairgrounds back in March. Will like service folks do

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Speaker 2: don't really need a lot of extra talk and encouragement

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Speaker 2: once they know the assignment that is going to work.

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Speaker 2: The email contained pictures of a Brown and Auto five

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Speaker 2: sixteen gage receiver and barrel that had some outstanding scroll work,

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Speaker 2: engraving and gold inlay. Best Research puts the manufacturer date

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Speaker 2: of nineteen twenty five.

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Speaker 1: And here's what was shaken.

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Speaker 2: In nineteen twenty five, Mount Rushmore was dedicated f Scott

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Speaker 2: Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby was published, and folks that had

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Speaker 2: a radio gathered around it to hear Calvin Coolidge get

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Speaker 2: sworn in at the first presidential inauguration to be broadcast

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Speaker 2: and that shotgun. It cost seventy nine dollars. Months later,

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Speaker 2: I got another photo from Will that was a piece

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Speaker 2: of walnut that the stocking form would be carved out of.

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Speaker 1: It was unfinished, unstained.

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Speaker 2: The grain was exquisite, and in my head I thought

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Speaker 2: I had it mapped out how it was going to

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Speaker 2: look when it was finished, but I missed.

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Speaker 1: It by a mile. Will wouldn't send me a picture

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Speaker 1: of it completed.

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Speaker 2: He wanted to do the big reveal when I saw

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Speaker 2: it for the first time at the twenty twenty six

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Speaker 2: Black Bear Bonanzer we just attended three weeks ago. During

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Speaker 2: this time, I had to pitch several film ideas to

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Speaker 2: meet either as my projects for this year, and that

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Speaker 2: shotgun was one of them. My idea was to use

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Speaker 2: it this Turkey season and next Duck season filming and

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Speaker 2: tell the story with that browning being the central.

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Speaker 1: Character of the story.

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Speaker 2: My producer and bosses liked the idea, and a few

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Speaker 2: days ago the Browning sixteen project became official. My friend

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Speaker 2: David McDaniels loaded his camera full of picture taking bullets

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Speaker 2: and we headed off to Bentonville, Arkansas for the twenty

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Speaker 2: six offering of the Old Triple B. He was there

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Speaker 2: for two purposes, one to take video of the event

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Speaker 2: that will play on the med Either YouTube channel while

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Speaker 2: this and all my future podcasts air. In addition to

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Speaker 2: just being regular podcasts, they won't all be of the bonanza,

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Speaker 2: just relative video of the things I'm talking about, shot

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Speaker 2: in direct support of the episode, or something of similar nature.

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Speaker 2: They call it fireside TV. It's different, for sure, but

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Speaker 2: I did find last week's episode enjoyable as various but

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Speaker 2: relative scenarios played out in the background while I talked

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Speaker 2: about whatever the subject matter it was. Anyway, David had

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Speaker 2: his camera roll and when I incorked that Browning from

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Speaker 2: the case, Will brought it to Arkansas in Ryan Callahan

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Speaker 2: and I took turns ooh in an awe over the

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Speaker 2: tremendous piece of historical art. Will and some of his

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Speaker 2: professional firearm artisans created from one hundred and one year

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Speaker 2: old piece of neglected metal that had been destined for

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Speaker 2: the scrap pile. The entire piece had been gone through

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Speaker 2: inside and out, tested and retested, clean, blued, finished and fitted,

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Speaker 2: determined to be safe and in perfect work in order.

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Speaker 2: In nineteen twenty five, the sixteen gage was made for

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Speaker 2: shells measuring two and nine sixteenths of an inch, not

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Speaker 2: two and three quarters like they are now three sixteenths

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Speaker 2: of an inch. The thickness of a standard pencil was

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Speaker 2: removed from inside the chamber to allow modern two and

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Speaker 2: three quarter shells to fit. Process that became standard in

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Speaker 2: nineteen forty seven. Now, I didn't know Will had done that,

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Speaker 2: but Tim, y'all know my brother Tim. He's also a

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Speaker 2: gunsmith and fellow brown and a five connoisseur as most

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Speaker 2: of the folks. I know, the spell reeves correctly with

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Speaker 2: an ar. He told me to check and see if

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Speaker 2: it had been done, and then I may have to

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Speaker 2: get some AMMO special made to fit it.

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Speaker 1: Well.

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Speaker 2: Got kind of nervous and I contacted my friend Austin Forrester,

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Speaker 2: Rocky Ridge, AMMO and Bird of Arkansas, and he said

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Speaker 2: they could handle whatever I needed. And I was relieved

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Speaker 2: and ready to run some shells through a shotgun that

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Speaker 2: was only eighty nine years younger than the state of Arkansas.

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Speaker 2: Good Night, Nurse, How did I get here? This Turkey

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Speaker 2: season and next duck season, me and John Moses Browning's

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Speaker 2: masterful creation and marriage of wood and metal will be

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Speaker 2: all over the country hunting and femily adventures with the

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Speaker 2: shotgun that will be offered up in some way to

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Speaker 2: benefit the Arkansas Chapter of Backcountry Hunter's Nighbors. Those details

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Speaker 2: will be worked out and announced later, but that's assured.

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Speaker 2: When it gets nailed down, I'll be telling you all

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Speaker 2: about it, and so will.

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Speaker 1: The great folks over at BHA.

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Speaker 2: Someone is going to get you on a true piece

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Speaker 2: of American craftsmanship while helping a true American icon the wilderness.

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Speaker 2: Thank y'all so much for listening and watching along. I

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Speaker 2: hope you enjoy this new video format that will kind

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Speaker 2: of give you a glimpse into the places and the people.

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Speaker 1: I get to share this country life of mine with.

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Speaker 2: Clay Bow's got a twelve and twenty six FIM that'll

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Speaker 2: be dropping about Utah Mountain Lions. That's going to be good,

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Speaker 2: And the next week it's Turkey week, So until we

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Speaker 2: meet next week, that's going to do it for me.

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Speaker 2: This is Brent Reeves, sign it off. Y'all be careful

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Speaker 2: and