1 00:00:05,240 --> 00:00:09,559 Speaker 1: Today's podcast is notably different from a typical documentary style 2 00:00:09,600 --> 00:00:12,400 Speaker 1: bear Grease that we usually put out every other Wednesday. 3 00:00:13,200 --> 00:00:15,640 Speaker 1: I was recently asked to be the keynote speaker at 4 00:00:15,680 --> 00:00:20,440 Speaker 1: the pheasant Fest banquet where we celebrated Quel Forever's twentieth anniversary. 5 00:00:20,920 --> 00:00:22,759 Speaker 1: And it might seem odd that they'd ask me to 6 00:00:22,800 --> 00:00:26,159 Speaker 1: speak because I don't own bird dogs or travel the 7 00:00:26,160 --> 00:00:31,120 Speaker 1: country wingshooting. But I'd like to share with you bear 8 00:00:31,200 --> 00:00:35,600 Speaker 1: Grease folks, a slightly elongated version, so it's not the 9 00:00:35,680 --> 00:00:36,440 Speaker 1: actual speech. 10 00:00:36,680 --> 00:00:39,520 Speaker 2: It's a little bit longer, but I want to share. 11 00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:43,120 Speaker 1: That speech with you, and I think that you'll understand 12 00:00:43,720 --> 00:00:46,800 Speaker 1: after you hear it why they asked me to speak. 13 00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:52,040 Speaker 1: I'd say this story is deeply personal, and I titled 14 00:00:52,040 --> 00:00:53,760 Speaker 1: it The Bird Hunter. 15 00:01:03,640 --> 00:01:05,840 Speaker 2: My name is Clay Nukem, and this. 16 00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:09,800 Speaker 1: Is the bear Grease podcast where we'll explore things forgotten 17 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:14,200 Speaker 1: but relevant, search for insight and unlikely places, and where 18 00:01:14,319 --> 00:01:18,160 Speaker 1: we'll tell the story of Americans who lived their lives 19 00:01:18,200 --> 00:01:23,840 Speaker 1: close to the land. Presented by FHF Gear, American made 20 00:01:24,120 --> 00:01:27,840 Speaker 1: purpose built hunting and fishing gear that's designed to be 21 00:01:27,920 --> 00:01:39,200 Speaker 1: as rugged as the place as we explore. I'd like 22 00:01:39,240 --> 00:01:43,279 Speaker 1: to tell you a story. On the morning of September fifth, 23 00:01:43,360 --> 00:01:47,080 Speaker 1: twenty twenty four, I awoke from a dream so vivid 24 00:01:47,319 --> 00:01:50,560 Speaker 1: I felt like that I'd actually been with him. When 25 00:01:50,560 --> 00:01:53,280 Speaker 1: I got up, I wrote down what I experienced. I 26 00:01:53,440 --> 00:01:56,960 Speaker 1: dated it, I told Misty about it, and actually called 27 00:01:57,000 --> 00:02:00,760 Speaker 1: my mom and dad. He had died on Christmas night 28 00:02:00,880 --> 00:02:05,760 Speaker 1: twenty thirteen, but on that September morning, over ten years later, 29 00:02:06,400 --> 00:02:09,800 Speaker 1: I felt like that I had actually seen him. The 30 00:02:09,840 --> 00:02:13,320 Speaker 1: man in the dream was a school teacher, a pastor, 31 00:02:13,800 --> 00:02:17,160 Speaker 1: and a bird hunter that I knew very well, and 32 00:02:17,200 --> 00:02:20,120 Speaker 1: the shadow and echo of his life has never left me. 33 00:02:21,320 --> 00:02:31,880 Speaker 1: And right now I'd like to tell you his story. 34 00:02:34,480 --> 00:02:36,680 Speaker 1: His name is one you've never heard of. Nothing was 35 00:02:36,720 --> 00:02:39,240 Speaker 1: ever written about him. There's no existing film of his 36 00:02:39,320 --> 00:02:42,360 Speaker 1: dog training, but the ripples of his life are still 37 00:02:42,400 --> 00:02:45,560 Speaker 1: in motion today in the eyes of his peers. 38 00:02:45,680 --> 00:02:47,680 Speaker 2: Perhaps his life was mundane. 39 00:02:47,320 --> 00:02:50,120 Speaker 1: And normal, but it would never be disputed that his 40 00:02:50,160 --> 00:02:54,239 Speaker 1: life was nothing if not noble, disciplined, and others focused. 41 00:02:55,080 --> 00:02:57,960 Speaker 1: The man in my dream was Lewin Nukeom, known to 42 00:02:58,040 --> 00:03:02,240 Speaker 1: me as perhaps he was my grandfather, and he was 43 00:03:02,280 --> 00:03:06,399 Speaker 1: a bird hunter and a dog trainer deluxe. He lived 44 00:03:06,400 --> 00:03:09,320 Speaker 1: the life of dedication and passion for quell hunting until 45 00:03:09,360 --> 00:03:12,120 Speaker 1: the day he died, and his story is foundational to 46 00:03:12,240 --> 00:03:15,880 Speaker 1: my story because before I ever hunted a bear, deer, 47 00:03:16,120 --> 00:03:19,320 Speaker 1: or turkey or road of mule, I was, by default 48 00:03:19,320 --> 00:03:23,480 Speaker 1: of quell hunter, simply by blood. Some of my first 49 00:03:23,480 --> 00:03:27,040 Speaker 1: memories of engagement with wild places were overgrown fields with 50 00:03:27,120 --> 00:03:31,079 Speaker 1: long legged pointers leaving tracks in the frost. Bird dogs 51 00:03:31,080 --> 00:03:34,760 Speaker 1: and quall hunting would be the relational conduit that transferred 52 00:03:34,800 --> 00:03:37,120 Speaker 1: to me a value system that went far beyond the 53 00:03:37,160 --> 00:03:40,480 Speaker 1: boundaries of being a bird hunter. However, to think about 54 00:03:40,520 --> 00:03:43,560 Speaker 1: Lewin's life, that stood out to me that would come 55 00:03:43,560 --> 00:03:46,840 Speaker 1: to almost haunt me and inform the way that I 56 00:03:46,880 --> 00:03:49,640 Speaker 1: lived my life was how he spent the last thirty 57 00:03:49,640 --> 00:03:53,120 Speaker 1: five years of his life in silent grief as Bob 58 00:03:53,160 --> 00:03:56,280 Speaker 1: White quell populations near his home were. 59 00:03:56,120 --> 00:03:57,520 Speaker 2: Reduced to almost nothing. 60 00:03:58,960 --> 00:04:01,320 Speaker 1: I think this story will be familiar to a lot 61 00:04:01,320 --> 00:04:05,960 Speaker 1: of people in America. Perhaps even into his late eighties, 62 00:04:06,160 --> 00:04:09,040 Speaker 1: he trained bird dogs and often hunted five days a 63 00:04:09,080 --> 00:04:18,640 Speaker 1: week with no intention of finding birds. I remember as 64 00:04:18,640 --> 00:04:22,680 Speaker 1: a kid being so impacted by watching paps that I 65 00:04:22,680 --> 00:04:26,479 Speaker 1: would pray for the quail populations, just even as a kid. 66 00:04:27,240 --> 00:04:30,160 Speaker 1: I wouldn't realize how much this impacted me until I 67 00:04:30,200 --> 00:04:32,560 Speaker 1: was an adult, and I didn't want the same thing 68 00:04:32,560 --> 00:04:35,520 Speaker 1: to happen to me with the wild beast that I loved. 69 00:04:36,680 --> 00:04:39,800 Speaker 1: But this story isn't a story of loss. It's one 70 00:04:39,800 --> 00:04:43,920 Speaker 1: of incredible gain. And to understand his story and my story, 71 00:04:44,360 --> 00:04:47,680 Speaker 1: I'd like to take you way back, probably even back 72 00:04:47,720 --> 00:04:52,760 Speaker 1: a little further than you might think. My great great 73 00:04:52,960 --> 00:04:57,200 Speaker 1: great great great grandfather, Thomas Nukeomb came out of Kentucky 74 00:04:57,200 --> 00:05:00,000 Speaker 1: in the eighteen thirties and settled in the east west 75 00:05:00,120 --> 00:05:04,039 Speaker 1: running ridges of the Washington Mountains of Arkansas. They'd settled 76 00:05:04,040 --> 00:05:08,040 Speaker 1: in Montgomery County in the community of Bumblebee, and Thomas 77 00:05:08,080 --> 00:05:12,400 Speaker 1: begat Thomas Joseph who begat Robert who begat, Oscar who 78 00:05:12,440 --> 00:05:18,040 Speaker 1: in nineteen nineteen begat, Lewin Anderson Nukomb who begat Gary 79 00:05:18,160 --> 00:05:22,520 Speaker 1: Believer Nukom in nineteen forty eight. My dad, who begat 80 00:05:22,560 --> 00:05:26,320 Speaker 1: me and I was born approximately twenty three miles east 81 00:05:26,320 --> 00:05:30,039 Speaker 1: of Bumblebee in nineteen seventy nine, just barely in time 82 00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:33,160 Speaker 1: to overlap the fleeting glory days of the Southern Bob 83 00:05:33,200 --> 00:05:36,960 Speaker 1: White quail and the grand hunting culture that surrounded it. 84 00:05:37,640 --> 00:05:40,240 Speaker 1: I wouldn't have recognized it at the time, but there 85 00:05:40,240 --> 00:05:43,200 Speaker 1: have been few wild beasts that have defined an era 86 00:05:43,400 --> 00:05:47,600 Speaker 1: of the American sportsman more than that little whistling bird. 87 00:05:48,680 --> 00:05:50,760 Speaker 1: But I for God to admit my relationship with mister 88 00:05:50,760 --> 00:05:55,200 Speaker 1: Bob White as complicated from me flow's massive respect even 89 00:05:55,360 --> 00:05:58,080 Speaker 1: all of the birds, but I found their presence on 90 00:05:58,120 --> 00:06:03,960 Speaker 1: the landscape irreplaceable. In their absence life altering, the flutter 91 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:06,919 Speaker 1: of queill wings brings to me an uneasy feeling of 92 00:06:06,920 --> 00:06:10,400 Speaker 1: an eden lost. No other wild beast in my lifetime 93 00:06:10,440 --> 00:06:14,240 Speaker 1: has caused such heartache, which created in me a foundational 94 00:06:14,320 --> 00:06:18,599 Speaker 1: hegemon of the fragility of wild game, causing a gunshinness 95 00:06:18,640 --> 00:06:21,360 Speaker 1: to give my heart to any wild beast, especially a 96 00:06:21,440 --> 00:06:25,280 Speaker 1: dad gum ground nesting bird. But it sure didn't keep 97 00:06:25,360 --> 00:06:30,279 Speaker 1: Lewin from loving them or me. Lewin wouldn't have known it, 98 00:06:30,320 --> 00:06:32,640 Speaker 1: but the date of his birth would be consequential in 99 00:06:32,680 --> 00:06:35,880 Speaker 1: many ways. He spent his teenage years living through the 100 00:06:35,880 --> 00:06:41,040 Speaker 1: Great Depression, building an attitude of resilience, simplicity, and contentment 101 00:06:41,160 --> 00:06:44,120 Speaker 1: that would brand his life. He would turn twenty two 102 00:06:44,200 --> 00:06:47,640 Speaker 1: years old in nineteen forty one, precisely the time when 103 00:06:47,680 --> 00:06:50,760 Speaker 1: our country called for brave young men to arise, and 104 00:06:50,839 --> 00:06:54,000 Speaker 1: he responded to that call, joining the Navy, where he 105 00:06:54,080 --> 00:06:57,160 Speaker 1: led a team of seven men who operated a single 106 00:06:57,200 --> 00:07:02,279 Speaker 1: gun on an American battleship fighting in Okinawa and the Philippines. 107 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:07,120 Speaker 1: We wouldn't know it until after Perhaps's death in twenty thirteen, 108 00:07:07,720 --> 00:07:11,320 Speaker 1: but he won a Bronze Star for heroism in action. 109 00:07:12,320 --> 00:07:14,960 Speaker 1: No one knows exactly what he did, but he once 110 00:07:15,080 --> 00:07:18,960 Speaker 1: told me with his own mouth that he was credited 111 00:07:19,320 --> 00:07:23,200 Speaker 1: with shooting down an enemy aircraft, but he completely left 112 00:07:23,240 --> 00:07:26,160 Speaker 1: the war medal out of the story. We found that 113 00:07:26,320 --> 00:07:29,680 Speaker 1: out after someone gave us a news clipping at his funeral. 114 00:07:30,960 --> 00:07:33,360 Speaker 1: But in a display of humility to a nine year 115 00:07:33,360 --> 00:07:36,480 Speaker 1: old boy, he confided in me that he wasn't sure 116 00:07:36,840 --> 00:07:40,720 Speaker 1: if he and his team actually had shot down the plane. 117 00:07:40,760 --> 00:07:44,400 Speaker 1: He wasn't interested in stolen valor. He was mainly interested 118 00:07:44,400 --> 00:07:48,400 Speaker 1: in people and bird dogs. After the war, he moved 119 00:07:48,400 --> 00:07:51,760 Speaker 1: to Hot Springs, Arkansas, east of Bumblebee, and in nineteen 120 00:07:51,840 --> 00:07:56,160 Speaker 1: forty three married my grandmother, Emmaline, known to me decades 121 00:07:56,240 --> 00:07:59,760 Speaker 1: later as Mimi. As many people did in these poor 122 00:07:59,760 --> 00:08:03,600 Speaker 1: soul othern states, they chose to leave to make a living, So, 123 00:08:03,760 --> 00:08:06,920 Speaker 1: like the Beverly Hillbillies, they loaded up and moved to 124 00:08:06,920 --> 00:08:10,480 Speaker 1: Port Chicago, California, in nineteen forty seven to find work. 125 00:08:11,240 --> 00:08:14,160 Speaker 1: It was in California in nineteen forty eight that my 126 00:08:14,280 --> 00:08:17,760 Speaker 1: father Gary was born. But it was also here that 127 00:08:17,800 --> 00:08:20,440 Speaker 1: something happened that would define Lewin's life more than the 128 00:08:20,440 --> 00:08:24,160 Speaker 1: Great Depression, the accolades of war or ground nests and birds. 129 00:08:24,920 --> 00:08:28,080 Speaker 1: In a revival meeting in the late nineteen forties, he 130 00:08:28,160 --> 00:08:31,800 Speaker 1: got saved and his life was radically transformed. 131 00:08:32,600 --> 00:08:33,480 Speaker 2: He looked and. 132 00:08:33,520 --> 00:08:36,760 Speaker 1: Acted different, and words spread about his experience to the 133 00:08:36,760 --> 00:08:40,520 Speaker 1: point that people literally just wanted to come meet paps 134 00:08:40,880 --> 00:08:42,239 Speaker 1: and look in his eyes. 135 00:08:42,120 --> 00:08:43,679 Speaker 2: After they heard his story. 136 00:08:44,520 --> 00:08:47,360 Speaker 1: And I don't know the details, but shortly after this 137 00:08:47,840 --> 00:08:51,040 Speaker 1: he believed that God communicated to him that he and 138 00:08:51,080 --> 00:08:54,520 Speaker 1: his family should move back to Arkansas, which he did, 139 00:08:55,200 --> 00:08:59,960 Speaker 1: and that's a decision I'm forever grateful for nothing against California. 140 00:09:00,040 --> 00:09:00,600 Speaker 2: It would be in. 141 00:09:00,679 --> 00:09:03,520 Speaker 1: Arkansas that he would raise his family, be the first 142 00:09:03,559 --> 00:09:05,920 Speaker 1: in his lineage to go to college, and he'd become 143 00:09:05,960 --> 00:09:08,640 Speaker 1: a biology teacher at a public school, and in the 144 00:09:08,640 --> 00:09:12,720 Speaker 1: early nineteen fifties he became a Pastor Paps would be 145 00:09:12,800 --> 00:09:15,880 Speaker 1: known in his community as a man of impeccable integrity 146 00:09:16,160 --> 00:09:19,960 Speaker 1: who studied the Bible with passion and discipline. He spent 147 00:09:20,040 --> 00:09:23,400 Speaker 1: multiple nights per week for decades visiting the sick at 148 00:09:23,440 --> 00:09:26,600 Speaker 1: the local hospital, which he viewed as a core tenant 149 00:09:26,640 --> 00:09:28,839 Speaker 1: of his faith. And it would also be in the 150 00:09:28,880 --> 00:09:32,240 Speaker 1: early nineteen fifties, when he was in his early thirties, 151 00:09:32,559 --> 00:09:35,360 Speaker 1: that he got his first bird dogs in the beginning 152 00:09:35,520 --> 00:09:39,040 Speaker 1: of the American glory days of quail. One of his 153 00:09:39,080 --> 00:09:42,720 Speaker 1: first dogs was named Elvis. I bet if you track back, 154 00:09:42,760 --> 00:09:46,280 Speaker 1: you'd find somebody in your bird hunting lineage that had 155 00:09:46,280 --> 00:09:49,720 Speaker 1: a dog named Elvis. It would still be thirty five 156 00:09:49,840 --> 00:09:53,320 Speaker 1: years before I'd ever hunt with Paps. But during this 157 00:09:53,440 --> 00:09:56,360 Speaker 1: time he went to a training seminar in Oklahoma put 158 00:09:56,400 --> 00:09:59,720 Speaker 1: on by Delmer Smith and perhaps became a master bird 159 00:09:59,760 --> 00:10:04,840 Speaker 1: dog trainer, training small numbers of dogs, always registered pointers 160 00:10:04,840 --> 00:10:08,600 Speaker 1: in English setters, always having dogs and training, rarely selling 161 00:10:08,640 --> 00:10:11,440 Speaker 1: a dog, but giving them away to the right people. 162 00:10:12,760 --> 00:10:15,160 Speaker 1: To say that bird hunting and dog training was his 163 00:10:15,240 --> 00:10:19,600 Speaker 1: hobby would be a slap in the face of his discipline, seriousness, 164 00:10:19,600 --> 00:10:22,800 Speaker 1: and passion. It was a lifestyle it was part of 165 00:10:22,800 --> 00:10:27,040 Speaker 1: who he was. My first memories of hunting with Paps 166 00:10:27,040 --> 00:10:29,760 Speaker 1: were in the late nineteen eighties. I was under ten 167 00:10:29,840 --> 00:10:32,800 Speaker 1: years old and he was in his late sixties. To 168 00:10:32,880 --> 00:10:34,920 Speaker 1: go with him was a big deal, maybe even a 169 00:10:34,960 --> 00:10:38,880 Speaker 1: little bit risky, not because he was unsafe, but because 170 00:10:38,920 --> 00:10:41,240 Speaker 1: he was known to walk grown men to death in 171 00:10:41,240 --> 00:10:44,200 Speaker 1: his daylight till dark death marches in search of birds, 172 00:10:44,800 --> 00:10:48,040 Speaker 1: and many well meaning hunting companions were lost to the cold, 173 00:10:48,440 --> 00:10:51,960 Speaker 1: to the heat, or just playing weariness of heart, following 174 00:10:52,080 --> 00:10:53,760 Speaker 1: who many of them called Brother Nukele. 175 00:10:54,440 --> 00:10:55,640 Speaker 2: Few people could hang. 176 00:10:55,480 --> 00:10:57,920 Speaker 1: With Paths, and you knew it was cold when he 177 00:10:57,960 --> 00:11:00,720 Speaker 1: broke out his long underwear. It was like he was 178 00:11:00,760 --> 00:11:04,800 Speaker 1: made of tempered steel and rawhide. As a young boy 179 00:11:04,880 --> 00:11:08,120 Speaker 1: on that first hunt, rising what seemed like weeks before daylight, 180 00:11:08,640 --> 00:11:12,400 Speaker 1: my grandmother would make us sausage, biscuits, gravy, and eggs, 181 00:11:12,400 --> 00:11:14,480 Speaker 1: and it was here that Paps tutored me and the 182 00:11:14,559 --> 00:11:18,400 Speaker 1: finer things. If a man raised in depression era Arkansas, 183 00:11:19,160 --> 00:11:21,959 Speaker 1: sorgum molasses mixed with butter and put on a biscuit 184 00:11:22,040 --> 00:11:25,280 Speaker 1: with a tall glass of buttermilk was his filet mignon. 185 00:11:26,280 --> 00:11:30,520 Speaker 1: The molasses I loved the buttermilk I could not tolerate. 186 00:11:32,040 --> 00:11:35,440 Speaker 1: My grandmother would make us blowney sandwiches on whitebread wrapped 187 00:11:35,440 --> 00:11:38,760 Speaker 1: in aluminum foil for our lunch. She even wrapped our 188 00:11:38,880 --> 00:11:42,640 Speaker 1: cokes and foil too, which I never quite understood, but 189 00:11:42,760 --> 00:11:46,120 Speaker 1: somehow I knew it meant that she loved us. He 190 00:11:46,200 --> 00:11:48,640 Speaker 1: took me Honting, near the home place of Robert Nukem, 191 00:11:48,920 --> 00:11:52,160 Speaker 1: his grandfather, which the house then was nothing more than 192 00:11:52,160 --> 00:11:56,199 Speaker 1: a falling down oakombe built on rock pillars. I wish 193 00:11:56,240 --> 00:11:59,240 Speaker 1: I could remember what Paps told me about Robert. He 194 00:11:59,320 --> 00:12:02,840 Speaker 1: said something about him. It was minimal, but it summed 195 00:12:02,920 --> 00:12:06,000 Speaker 1: up the man's life in a sentence. I don't remember 196 00:12:06,040 --> 00:12:09,520 Speaker 1: what he said, but it planted in me in awareness 197 00:12:09,679 --> 00:12:12,800 Speaker 1: the brevity of man's existence. Who lives at the mercy 198 00:12:12,880 --> 00:12:17,319 Speaker 1: of the voracious appetite of time, rolling over men, reducing 199 00:12:17,360 --> 00:12:21,680 Speaker 1: them to dust in their life into a sentence. To 200 00:12:21,720 --> 00:12:24,200 Speaker 1: this day, I rarely passed an old, falling down home 201 00:12:24,240 --> 00:12:27,559 Speaker 1: without thinking about the people that lived there, often wondering 202 00:12:27,760 --> 00:12:32,440 Speaker 1: if anyone even remembers their names. Perhaps remembered Roberts though. 203 00:12:33,600 --> 00:12:37,120 Speaker 1: As we hunted, we walked sage grass covered cattle fields 204 00:12:37,520 --> 00:12:40,240 Speaker 1: and I followed Paps in his army green briar briches 205 00:12:40,679 --> 00:12:43,400 Speaker 1: while he shouted commands to a long legged liver spot 206 00:12:43,440 --> 00:12:46,240 Speaker 1: porter that would have curled the hair of a lesser dog. 207 00:12:47,160 --> 00:12:50,960 Speaker 1: Later in my life, at Paaps's funeral, a family friend 208 00:12:51,240 --> 00:12:53,480 Speaker 1: told me that he never knew how a man so 209 00:12:53,679 --> 00:12:58,319 Speaker 1: kind could scold a bird dog so harshly. He demanded performance. 210 00:12:59,200 --> 00:13:01,520 Speaker 1: Perhaps told me that a dog's name should be one 211 00:13:01,559 --> 00:13:06,040 Speaker 1: syllable and project from the chest, not the mouth. Acceptable 212 00:13:06,120 --> 00:13:11,440 Speaker 1: names were like Buck, or Goldie or Elvis. I never 213 00:13:11,480 --> 00:13:15,520 Speaker 1: fully understood what an unacceptable name would be, and sometimes 214 00:13:15,559 --> 00:13:18,319 Speaker 1: I felt like some of his names had two syllables, 215 00:13:18,520 --> 00:13:21,520 Speaker 1: at least one and a half. At lunch, we sat 216 00:13:21,559 --> 00:13:23,640 Speaker 1: on the tailgate of his red two wheel drive S 217 00:13:23,679 --> 00:13:25,599 Speaker 1: ten with the wooden dog box in the back, and 218 00:13:25,760 --> 00:13:28,160 Speaker 1: ate our lunch. I never saw the man eat a 219 00:13:28,160 --> 00:13:30,840 Speaker 1: blowney sandwich without laughing out loud as he called it 220 00:13:30,880 --> 00:13:33,840 Speaker 1: preacher's ham. It was a hat tip to the life 221 00:13:33,840 --> 00:13:37,480 Speaker 1: of poverty of a poor country preacher. The humor of 222 00:13:37,520 --> 00:13:40,160 Speaker 1: the joke never lost its luster to him, and he 223 00:13:40,240 --> 00:13:43,560 Speaker 1: said it to me each time, laughing out loud, as 224 00:13:43,600 --> 00:13:46,400 Speaker 1: if he nor I had ever heard the joke before. 225 00:13:47,240 --> 00:13:50,400 Speaker 1: On that first hunt, we didn't find any quail, but 226 00:13:50,480 --> 00:13:52,920 Speaker 1: I'll never forget picking up out of the dirt of 227 00:13:52,960 --> 00:13:58,320 Speaker 1: a cattle trail a beautiful, white, fully intact stone point 228 00:13:58,880 --> 00:14:03,040 Speaker 1: an arrahead. The images frozen in my mind in perpetuity. 229 00:14:03,760 --> 00:14:05,959 Speaker 1: I wouldn't have realized it, but this would be the 230 00:14:05,960 --> 00:14:09,280 Speaker 1: moment that my fascination with the deep antiquity of human 231 00:14:09,400 --> 00:14:12,680 Speaker 1: hunting in North America started, which carries on in my 232 00:14:12,840 --> 00:14:30,920 Speaker 1: work today on the Bear Grease podcast. We lived about 233 00:14:30,920 --> 00:14:32,840 Speaker 1: an hour and a half from Paps, but he would 234 00:14:32,840 --> 00:14:35,160 Speaker 1: come to Mina to hunt with Dad and I and 235 00:14:35,240 --> 00:14:37,920 Speaker 1: of all the grandkids. He noticed in me in interest 236 00:14:37,960 --> 00:14:40,320 Speaker 1: in bird hunting, and when I was in the sixth 237 00:14:40,320 --> 00:14:43,600 Speaker 1: grade in nineteen ninety two, he gave me something that 238 00:14:43,720 --> 00:14:46,720 Speaker 1: impacts my life to this day. There was a dog 239 00:14:46,800 --> 00:14:50,600 Speaker 1: named Lucy. She was a fully trained registered English center. 240 00:14:50,920 --> 00:14:53,520 Speaker 1: She was three years old, white with a black head, 241 00:14:53,920 --> 00:14:56,760 Speaker 1: and had been through the lew And Neukom training Academy. 242 00:14:57,480 --> 00:14:59,560 Speaker 1: The beauty of where we lived was that we had 243 00:14:59,600 --> 00:15:02,360 Speaker 1: access twenty seven acres behind our house that was a 244 00:15:02,400 --> 00:15:06,120 Speaker 1: grown up field dissected by multiple grown up fence lines 245 00:15:06,400 --> 00:15:10,000 Speaker 1: that oddly held multiple covees of quail. It was kind 246 00:15:10,000 --> 00:15:13,400 Speaker 1: of an anomaly, maybe even a microcosm of the glory 247 00:15:13,520 --> 00:15:14,440 Speaker 1: days of quail. 248 00:15:14,840 --> 00:15:16,840 Speaker 2: But I couldn't hunt it. I just had permission to 249 00:15:16,920 --> 00:15:17,240 Speaker 2: roam it. 250 00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:21,880 Speaker 1: Roam it we did between nineteen ninety two and nineteen 251 00:15:21,960 --> 00:15:25,560 Speaker 1: ninety six. They're telling how many different times we pointed 252 00:15:25,600 --> 00:15:29,080 Speaker 1: and flushed those covees, and then we'd go after the singles. 253 00:15:29,560 --> 00:15:32,480 Speaker 1: Those quail had nightmares about Lucy and I. We kept 254 00:15:32,480 --> 00:15:35,520 Speaker 1: them on the run, but never killed a single one. 255 00:15:35,640 --> 00:15:37,720 Speaker 1: It was during this time that Paps gave me a 256 00:15:37,720 --> 00:15:40,760 Speaker 1: book on the Delmer Smith method of training, which I 257 00:15:40,840 --> 00:15:43,640 Speaker 1: read cover to cover. I got a long check cord 258 00:15:43,680 --> 00:15:46,880 Speaker 1: with a brass buckle, and I still used this foundational 259 00:15:46,960 --> 00:15:50,680 Speaker 1: knowledge of animal training on my mules, squirrel dogs, and 260 00:15:50,800 --> 00:15:59,960 Speaker 1: coon dogs today. Soon, perhaps this confidence in me grew, 261 00:16:00,400 --> 00:16:03,240 Speaker 1: and he gave me another dog, a black handed pointer 262 00:16:03,360 --> 00:16:06,240 Speaker 1: puppy named Nick, from the bloodlines of a dog called 263 00:16:06,280 --> 00:16:09,400 Speaker 1: Fiddler's Ace. I didn't know anything about the dog, but 264 00:16:09,480 --> 00:16:12,760 Speaker 1: he sounded really good. The goal was for me to 265 00:16:12,920 --> 00:16:17,720 Speaker 1: train Nick myself, and I tried, but like so many 266 00:16:17,800 --> 00:16:22,640 Speaker 1: things in life, moments are fleeting and dreams died easier 267 00:16:22,680 --> 00:16:25,840 Speaker 1: than they realized, and after four years of bird hunting, 268 00:16:26,120 --> 00:16:30,400 Speaker 1: I gave Lucy and Nick back to Paps. Always felt 269 00:16:30,400 --> 00:16:32,760 Speaker 1: like I failed the old man and my efforts with 270 00:16:32,840 --> 00:16:35,560 Speaker 1: the bird dogs, and I felt bad about it, but 271 00:16:35,600 --> 00:16:38,640 Speaker 1: I never picked up that it bothered him. He knew 272 00:16:38,640 --> 00:16:42,200 Speaker 1: it was like fighting an incoming tide. There just weren't 273 00:16:42,240 --> 00:16:47,800 Speaker 1: any birds. Without birds, people didn't need bird dogs. I 274 00:16:47,840 --> 00:16:50,480 Speaker 1: wish so badly Paps could see what's happening today in 275 00:16:50,560 --> 00:16:53,680 Speaker 1: quail conservation, and how in many parts of the country 276 00:16:54,120 --> 00:16:57,640 Speaker 1: wild quail are coming back due to the efforts of 277 00:16:58,240 --> 00:17:04,080 Speaker 1: many people in organications like twel Forever. After I gave 278 00:17:04,119 --> 00:17:07,280 Speaker 1: back the dogs to Paps, we still had a yearly hunt. 279 00:17:08,080 --> 00:17:12,919 Speaker 1: I only remember actually finding birds one time. It was 280 00:17:13,000 --> 00:17:17,520 Speaker 1: February nineteen ninety six or nineteen ninety seven. I was 281 00:17:17,560 --> 00:17:21,160 Speaker 1: around seventeen and perhaps was seventy seven, and we turned 282 00:17:21,160 --> 00:17:24,919 Speaker 1: Loose's dog Goldie, out on a small logging road that 283 00:17:25,040 --> 00:17:28,600 Speaker 1: divided a clear cut on public land in southwest Arkansas, 284 00:17:28,720 --> 00:17:30,800 Speaker 1: where my dad had flushed a big covey of quail. 285 00:17:31,760 --> 00:17:34,240 Speaker 1: The little butterscotch setter had hunted in front of the 286 00:17:34,240 --> 00:17:37,440 Speaker 1: truck for less than a quarter mile before her run 287 00:17:37,520 --> 00:17:41,320 Speaker 1: turned to a catwalk and her nose lowered. Her tail 288 00:17:41,400 --> 00:17:45,800 Speaker 1: went from making big circles to small circles to a 289 00:17:45,960 --> 00:17:48,919 Speaker 1: staunch as an O Sage fence post as she'd locked 290 00:17:48,960 --> 00:17:52,439 Speaker 1: down on point, like her body had been suddenly filled 291 00:17:52,440 --> 00:17:55,919 Speaker 1: with concrete. I'm not sure who was more surprised, me, 292 00:17:56,480 --> 00:18:00,560 Speaker 1: Paps or Goldie. We jumped from the truck and scrambled 293 00:18:00,560 --> 00:18:04,560 Speaker 1: to load our guns. Paps's voice changed octaves and he 294 00:18:04,760 --> 00:18:08,480 Speaker 1: whispered as he gave me precise instructions on how to 295 00:18:08,520 --> 00:18:12,359 Speaker 1: approach the pointed dog. I wished his instructions from my 296 00:18:12,520 --> 00:18:15,960 Speaker 1: life had been a straightforward I used to ask him 297 00:18:16,040 --> 00:18:19,119 Speaker 1: questions I was afraid to ask my dad, like is 298 00:18:19,160 --> 00:18:22,800 Speaker 1: it okay to chew tobacco? I dabbled with that dirty 299 00:18:22,880 --> 00:18:26,960 Speaker 1: voodoo for a few years, but his non confrontational wisdom 300 00:18:27,080 --> 00:18:32,439 Speaker 1: to quote stay away from it eventually took lifelong route. 301 00:18:32,480 --> 00:18:35,000 Speaker 1: He always used to tell me that God will lead 302 00:18:35,080 --> 00:18:38,280 Speaker 1: you step by step, Clay, just like he did me. 303 00:18:39,480 --> 00:18:42,520 Speaker 1: To this day, I still take comfort in those words, 304 00:18:43,200 --> 00:18:46,959 Speaker 1: and I say the same thing to my kids. And 305 00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:49,760 Speaker 1: I haven't forgotten that Goldie is on point. But I 306 00:18:49,840 --> 00:18:52,080 Speaker 1: just want to tell you one more story that showed 307 00:18:52,200 --> 00:18:56,440 Speaker 1: Paps's input into my life. He told me the same 308 00:18:56,480 --> 00:18:59,920 Speaker 1: story on multiple occasions that was such a high octane 309 00:19:00,200 --> 00:19:03,880 Speaker 1: Solomon like parable that as an adult, I've wondered if 310 00:19:03,920 --> 00:19:06,800 Speaker 1: he actually did this or if this was an old 311 00:19:06,840 --> 00:19:08,919 Speaker 1: story told by a lot of different people that he 312 00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:12,000 Speaker 1: just repeated to me. But I've never heard this story 313 00:19:12,040 --> 00:19:15,240 Speaker 1: anywhere else, and I've come to the conclusion that he 314 00:19:15,480 --> 00:19:18,399 Speaker 1: was the one that actually did this. The story is 315 00:19:18,440 --> 00:19:21,919 Speaker 1: about two roosters, one old and one young, that he 316 00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:23,840 Speaker 1: had on the farm when he was a kid. The 317 00:19:23,920 --> 00:19:27,439 Speaker 1: older white rooster was the top dog and literally ruled 318 00:19:27,480 --> 00:19:31,480 Speaker 1: the roost, dominating the younger but bigger rooster that was 319 00:19:31,560 --> 00:19:34,560 Speaker 1: daily put in his place by coming in runner up 320 00:19:34,760 --> 00:19:39,880 Speaker 1: during the pair's daily spur and contest. Young Lewin always 321 00:19:39,880 --> 00:19:42,440 Speaker 1: thought that the young rooster could probably whip the old one, 322 00:19:42,640 --> 00:19:45,040 Speaker 1: but he just didn't know that he could. One day, 323 00:19:45,080 --> 00:19:48,360 Speaker 1: perhaps decided to put his theory to the test, so 324 00:19:48,400 --> 00:19:51,840 Speaker 1: he caught the old white rooster and covered him in 325 00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:57,040 Speaker 1: black soot, changing his color temporarily to charcoal gray, making 326 00:19:57,080 --> 00:20:01,720 Speaker 1: him unrecognizable to the young rooster. Perhaps then pitched the 327 00:20:01,800 --> 00:20:05,080 Speaker 1: old rooster back into the chicken yard, and a young rooster, 328 00:20:05,480 --> 00:20:08,520 Speaker 1: not recognizing him and believing it was a new rooster, 329 00:20:09,080 --> 00:20:12,640 Speaker 1: promptly came over and in a whizbang tussle of feathers, 330 00:20:12,720 --> 00:20:16,359 Speaker 1: spurs and clucks, the young one whipped the old one 331 00:20:16,600 --> 00:20:20,320 Speaker 1: with ease. The old rooster must have been in shock 332 00:20:20,359 --> 00:20:24,120 Speaker 1: at the youngster's confidence, and as the soot slowly faded 333 00:20:24,200 --> 00:20:28,280 Speaker 1: back to white, the young rooster remained dominant the pair's 334 00:20:28,680 --> 00:20:34,000 Speaker 1: entire life. Like Solomon passing the sluggard's field and noting 335 00:20:34,040 --> 00:20:37,760 Speaker 1: the work ethic of the ants, perhaps his parable almost 336 00:20:37,800 --> 00:20:42,159 Speaker 1: didn't need explanation. It's clear that our biggest enemy is 337 00:20:42,200 --> 00:20:45,560 Speaker 1: often our own self confidence, and much of life is 338 00:20:45,600 --> 00:20:53,639 Speaker 1: simply an exercise in renewing our minds. This I have 339 00:20:53,800 --> 00:20:57,520 Speaker 1: never forgotten, and I've also not forgotten that I'm telling 340 00:20:57,560 --> 00:21:00,399 Speaker 1: you a story about us walking up on a covey 341 00:21:00,400 --> 00:21:04,680 Speaker 1: of birds. He always told me, on the covey rise 342 00:21:04,800 --> 00:21:08,040 Speaker 1: to pick out one single bird and block it out 343 00:21:08,080 --> 00:21:11,040 Speaker 1: with the end of the gun barrel and flow through it. 344 00:21:11,080 --> 00:21:14,880 Speaker 1: Don't stop as you squeeze the trigger, and when it falls, 345 00:21:15,240 --> 00:21:18,280 Speaker 1: just move on to the next one. I think that's 346 00:21:18,280 --> 00:21:21,400 Speaker 1: what he learned on that gunship in World War Two. 347 00:21:23,320 --> 00:21:26,760 Speaker 1: We eased forward, Paps with his bret of twelve gauge 348 00:21:26,760 --> 00:21:29,040 Speaker 1: and me with the Remington eleven hundred and twenty gauge, 349 00:21:29,640 --> 00:21:34,840 Speaker 1: ready for the explosion. Just as I passed Goldie on 350 00:21:34,920 --> 00:21:37,200 Speaker 1: my left, and perhaps was just on the other side 351 00:21:37,200 --> 00:21:40,760 Speaker 1: of Goldie, a sound like someone opening a bottle with 352 00:21:40,800 --> 00:21:44,000 Speaker 1: the hoof beats of one hundred horses erupted. As the 353 00:21:44,080 --> 00:21:47,960 Speaker 1: covey rose. At least twelve birds got up before us. 354 00:21:48,560 --> 00:21:53,840 Speaker 1: Pap shot twice. I shot three times, so five shots 355 00:21:53,880 --> 00:21:59,520 Speaker 1: total were fired and three birds fell. In all these years. 356 00:22:00,080 --> 00:22:04,640 Speaker 1: It was the only covey we'd ever found while hunting together. 357 00:22:05,760 --> 00:22:10,480 Speaker 1: But Paps didn't take credit for hitting any of the birds, 358 00:22:10,520 --> 00:22:13,679 Speaker 1: Just like the enemy planes in World War Two, he 359 00:22:13,800 --> 00:22:17,840 Speaker 1: insisted that I'd killed all three, which I'm pretty sure 360 00:22:18,440 --> 00:22:19,840 Speaker 1: to this day that I didn't. 361 00:22:19,960 --> 00:22:20,959 Speaker 2: I honestly don't know. 362 00:22:22,200 --> 00:22:24,240 Speaker 1: I don't know if he just wanted to believe that 363 00:22:24,359 --> 00:22:29,000 Speaker 1: his grandson had knocked down a triple on wild birds 364 00:22:29,560 --> 00:22:33,280 Speaker 1: really on one of his only covey rises. Five or 365 00:22:33,320 --> 00:22:36,359 Speaker 1: six years later, in two thousand and two, when Perhaps 366 00:22:36,480 --> 00:22:39,080 Speaker 1: was eighty three years old, we went back to the 367 00:22:39,119 --> 00:22:43,280 Speaker 1: same block of public land. Perhaps was still hunting Goldie, 368 00:22:43,600 --> 00:22:46,879 Speaker 1: now in the final leg of her life, but we 369 00:22:46,920 --> 00:22:49,520 Speaker 1: all kind of knew it was Perhaps's final leg. 370 00:22:49,600 --> 00:22:50,159 Speaker 2: Two. 371 00:22:50,840 --> 00:22:53,840 Speaker 1: We didn't find any birds that day. As we walked 372 00:22:53,840 --> 00:22:56,480 Speaker 1: through a clearing, I noticed the shed of a white 373 00:22:56,520 --> 00:22:59,520 Speaker 1: tailed deer lying on the ground and kind of like 374 00:22:59,560 --> 00:23:03,320 Speaker 1: that stone point. I picked it up, showed it to Paps, 375 00:23:03,800 --> 00:23:07,439 Speaker 1: and I took the horn home. Using the sharping marker, 376 00:23:07,520 --> 00:23:11,200 Speaker 1: I wrote on it Clay and Paps Nucomb Bird Hunt 377 00:23:11,680 --> 00:23:14,560 Speaker 1: two thousand and two. I wouldn't have known it at 378 00:23:14,600 --> 00:23:17,560 Speaker 1: the time, but that would be the last time that 379 00:23:17,640 --> 00:23:20,320 Speaker 1: I hunted with him, and it would be the beginning 380 00:23:20,560 --> 00:23:25,880 Speaker 1: of the end of Paps's hunting. My first cousin, Greg Sheets, 381 00:23:25,920 --> 00:23:28,640 Speaker 1: lived close to Paps, and not long after I found 382 00:23:28,720 --> 00:23:33,040 Speaker 1: that shed horn. While driving to work, Greg noticed Paps's 383 00:23:33,200 --> 00:23:35,840 Speaker 1: s ten pulled off the side of the road near 384 00:23:35,880 --> 00:23:39,000 Speaker 1: an overgrown field that he often hunted, and Greg passed 385 00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:42,000 Speaker 1: all the time. Seeing passed his truck there was normal, 386 00:23:42,280 --> 00:23:45,320 Speaker 1: but what caught his eye was that Goldie was by 387 00:23:45,359 --> 00:23:47,359 Speaker 1: the truck with no Paps. 388 00:23:47,960 --> 00:23:49,320 Speaker 2: It was a hot day. 389 00:23:49,480 --> 00:23:53,880 Speaker 1: And Greg, slightly alarmed, turned his truck around and got out, 390 00:23:54,520 --> 00:23:58,480 Speaker 1: called for Paps, and he said that Goldie took off 391 00:23:58,640 --> 00:24:02,920 Speaker 1: out into the brush. Greg followed Goldie, who led him 392 00:24:03,000 --> 00:24:06,800 Speaker 1: straight to a briar thicket where Perhaps was tangled to 393 00:24:06,880 --> 00:24:10,880 Speaker 1: the point that he couldn't move. The day was heating up, 394 00:24:11,440 --> 00:24:14,639 Speaker 1: and Greg said that Perhaps was coherent, but it looked 395 00:24:14,680 --> 00:24:18,240 Speaker 1: like he'd been there for several hours of fighting briars, 396 00:24:19,119 --> 00:24:20,400 Speaker 1: and he just sat down. 397 00:24:21,080 --> 00:24:23,959 Speaker 2: He just couldn't fight him anymore and he was just 398 00:24:24,240 --> 00:24:25,240 Speaker 2: awaiting his fate. 399 00:24:26,520 --> 00:24:29,960 Speaker 1: Greg went in and cut him out, got Perhaps home 400 00:24:30,000 --> 00:24:33,920 Speaker 1: and safe. I'm grateful that Greg turned around that day, 401 00:24:34,800 --> 00:24:38,119 Speaker 1: but not long after that Perhaps couldn't drive anymore. 402 00:24:38,680 --> 00:24:41,040 Speaker 2: And I think you can predict the rest of the story. 403 00:24:47,320 --> 00:24:49,800 Speaker 1: That shed Horn from our last hunt hangs in my 404 00:24:49,920 --> 00:24:54,280 Speaker 1: office today, but it's right beside a watercolor painting that 405 00:24:54,359 --> 00:24:56,560 Speaker 1: I did for Perhaps when I was a senior in 406 00:24:56,640 --> 00:24:59,760 Speaker 1: high school and I'd painted one of his best dogs 407 00:24:59,760 --> 00:25:02,919 Speaker 1: that he ever had that was on point. It was 408 00:25:03,280 --> 00:25:06,840 Speaker 1: from a beautiful photograph that someone took. It was an 409 00:25:06,840 --> 00:25:11,000 Speaker 1: English setter named Snipper, just on full point. When I 410 00:25:11,080 --> 00:25:13,360 Speaker 1: painted it. I gave it to Paps, and that painting 411 00:25:13,480 --> 00:25:17,000 Speaker 1: hung in his office from nineteen ninety eight until they 412 00:25:17,040 --> 00:25:21,240 Speaker 1: moved Paps out of his home into assisted living around 413 00:25:21,280 --> 00:25:26,480 Speaker 1: twenty ten. Mimi had passed away in two thousand and seven, 414 00:25:26,760 --> 00:25:31,320 Speaker 1: and I'll never forget seeing Paps cry as he walked 415 00:25:31,359 --> 00:25:34,879 Speaker 1: down the aisle to say his final goodbye to the 416 00:25:34,920 --> 00:25:37,240 Speaker 1: love of his life and a woman who was so 417 00:25:37,400 --> 00:25:42,040 Speaker 1: influential in mine. Having a grandparent in your life is 418 00:25:42,080 --> 00:25:45,639 Speaker 1: so powerful because you get to see played before you 419 00:25:46,160 --> 00:25:49,440 Speaker 1: the stages of your life that you know will someday 420 00:25:49,600 --> 00:25:54,199 Speaker 1: happen to you. I'd like to close by telling you 421 00:25:54,520 --> 00:25:58,040 Speaker 1: about the last two conversations that I had with Paps. 422 00:25:58,920 --> 00:26:02,359 Speaker 1: The first happened in the all of twenty thirteen, just 423 00:26:02,400 --> 00:26:05,920 Speaker 1: before he died. At the time, he could hardly hear, 424 00:26:06,359 --> 00:26:08,080 Speaker 1: so you had to yell at him to get him 425 00:26:08,080 --> 00:26:11,200 Speaker 1: to understand. And I'd recently been on some public land, 426 00:26:11,320 --> 00:26:14,560 Speaker 1: that same public land where we found those birds, and 427 00:26:14,600 --> 00:26:17,919 Speaker 1: I'd found some more birds, and I came in and 428 00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:21,520 Speaker 1: I set close to Paps and I said to him, Paps, 429 00:26:22,320 --> 00:26:23,840 Speaker 1: I saw a big covey. 430 00:26:23,560 --> 00:26:24,720 Speaker 2: Of birds the other day. 431 00:26:25,760 --> 00:26:28,080 Speaker 1: And his eyes lit up, and he said, you did. 432 00:26:29,080 --> 00:26:31,440 Speaker 1: And this teed him up to tell an anecdote. I've 433 00:26:31,480 --> 00:26:33,880 Speaker 1: heard my whole life. When he talked about his dogs, 434 00:26:34,320 --> 00:26:38,639 Speaker 1: and without segue, he said, my old dog Goldie, I 435 00:26:38,720 --> 00:26:40,960 Speaker 1: believe if you'd cracked her head open, a covey of 436 00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:44,600 Speaker 1: birds would have flown out. Every time he'd say this, 437 00:26:44,680 --> 00:26:47,520 Speaker 1: he'd do his he haul laugh, which I wish I 438 00:26:47,560 --> 00:26:50,440 Speaker 1: had a recording of. That laugh was one of a kind. 439 00:26:50,880 --> 00:26:53,240 Speaker 1: He kind of had a he haw and donkey vibe 440 00:26:53,480 --> 00:26:56,120 Speaker 1: that was guaranteed to draw a smile from anyone within 441 00:26:56,160 --> 00:27:01,040 Speaker 1: the earshot. The last conversation I had with him is 442 00:27:01,160 --> 00:27:05,000 Speaker 1: kind of complicated. I do not understand the mechanics of 443 00:27:05,040 --> 00:27:08,160 Speaker 1: the spirit realm or the depths to which the dreams 444 00:27:08,160 --> 00:27:12,520 Speaker 1: of men create reality. But if I lay unconscious and 445 00:27:12,600 --> 00:27:15,240 Speaker 1: a doctor could peer into my mind and heart and 446 00:27:15,359 --> 00:27:18,639 Speaker 1: ascertain the last time I actually saw Paps, the last 447 00:27:18,680 --> 00:27:22,640 Speaker 1: time my spirit registered that I had engaged with him, 448 00:27:23,240 --> 00:27:26,000 Speaker 1: I'm confident that they would say it was on the 449 00:27:26,040 --> 00:27:32,000 Speaker 1: morning of September fifth, twenty twenty four. Do you remember 450 00:27:32,040 --> 00:27:36,040 Speaker 1: the dream that we started this story with. I approached 451 00:27:36,080 --> 00:27:39,320 Speaker 1: Paps and he was strong and vibrant. He wore a 452 00:27:39,320 --> 00:27:42,280 Speaker 1: bright blue shirt, and he had some type of treatment 453 00:27:42,320 --> 00:27:45,560 Speaker 1: to his ears, and he could hear really well. He 454 00:27:45,640 --> 00:27:48,679 Speaker 1: swayed slightly as he stood, and I walked up to 455 00:27:48,800 --> 00:27:51,920 Speaker 1: him and I shook his hand, and in the climax 456 00:27:52,040 --> 00:27:56,480 Speaker 1: moment of this short interaction, I said one thing to him. 457 00:27:57,040 --> 00:28:02,520 Speaker 1: I said, Paps, I've been burned hunting, That's all I said. 458 00:28:03,440 --> 00:28:06,240 Speaker 1: And I saw that excitement and passion in his eyes 459 00:28:06,280 --> 00:28:09,960 Speaker 1: that branded me as a child, and the dream was over. 460 00:28:11,480 --> 00:28:15,399 Speaker 1: True story. It happened just like that. It's like I 461 00:28:15,480 --> 00:28:19,479 Speaker 1: just wanted to engage with him one more time. Surely 462 00:28:19,520 --> 00:28:23,480 Speaker 1: there's something powerful, even supernatural, in the fluttering wings of 463 00:28:23,520 --> 00:28:26,360 Speaker 1: a Covey rise that connects the hearts of men who 464 00:28:26,440 --> 00:28:30,240 Speaker 1: witness it together. It has the power to link generations 465 00:28:30,280 --> 00:28:33,720 Speaker 1: and an unbreakable bond that no man made thing can do. 466 00:28:34,960 --> 00:28:36,720 Speaker 2: It did that with Paps and Eye. 467 00:28:38,280 --> 00:28:40,840 Speaker 1: In two thousand and eight, the youngest of my wife 468 00:28:40,880 --> 00:28:44,600 Speaker 1: Misting Eye's four children was born. We felt like that 469 00:28:44,680 --> 00:28:47,560 Speaker 1: he should be named in honor of Paps, so we 470 00:28:47,680 --> 00:28:52,520 Speaker 1: named him Shepherd Covey Nukem. The name shepherd essentially means 471 00:28:52,600 --> 00:28:57,120 Speaker 1: pastor someone who cares for people, like Paps did, and 472 00:28:57,160 --> 00:29:00,280 Speaker 1: the name Covey is a direct reference to Paps's love 473 00:29:00,320 --> 00:29:03,960 Speaker 1: of quail, but equally an admonition to our son to 474 00:29:04,080 --> 00:29:07,640 Speaker 1: not live in isolation, but to integrate himself deeply into 475 00:29:07,680 --> 00:29:14,040 Speaker 1: the lives of family, friends, and his church community for life. Today, 476 00:29:14,520 --> 00:29:18,280 Speaker 1: Shepherd is seventeen and is growing into a fine young man. 477 00:29:19,160 --> 00:29:24,280 Speaker 1: His life just barely overlapped with paps. But I have 478 00:29:24,360 --> 00:29:30,520 Speaker 1: no doubt that the legacy of integrity, spiritual pursuit and 479 00:29:30,640 --> 00:29:34,600 Speaker 1: love of wild places is going to carry on through 480 00:29:34,680 --> 00:29:40,680 Speaker 1: him and all my kids. That's the same passion that 481 00:29:40,720 --> 00:29:44,120 Speaker 1: perhaps had for wild places, quail and bird dogs is 482 00:29:44,160 --> 00:29:47,160 Speaker 1: the same energy that fuels my life and career today. 483 00:29:48,200 --> 00:29:51,440 Speaker 1: He died on Christmas night twenty thirteen at the age 484 00:29:51,440 --> 00:29:55,080 Speaker 1: of ninety four, would have little understanding of what I 485 00:29:55,080 --> 00:29:58,320 Speaker 1: would do with my life, but I know this conservation 486 00:29:58,520 --> 00:30:02,160 Speaker 1: movement in the research urgence of Quail would have made 487 00:30:02,200 --> 00:30:07,120 Speaker 1: him proud and probably would evoke his passionate he hauled laugh. 488 00:30:17,680 --> 00:30:20,160 Speaker 1: I can't thank you enough for listening to Bear Grease 489 00:30:20,560 --> 00:30:22,760 Speaker 1: and Brent's This Country Life podcast. 490 00:30:23,520 --> 00:30:24,640 Speaker 2: I hope you enjoyed this. 491 00:30:24,640 --> 00:30:29,360 Speaker 1: This was something unique and really personal to me, and 492 00:30:29,800 --> 00:30:33,040 Speaker 1: I know a lot of you probably have similar stories 493 00:30:33,080 --> 00:30:37,560 Speaker 1: about your grandparents. But really, in this context, the point 494 00:30:37,560 --> 00:30:41,800 Speaker 1: of this story is that watching Pahaps grieve about the 495 00:30:41,920 --> 00:30:44,480 Speaker 1: loss of quail the last thirty five years in his 496 00:30:44,600 --> 00:30:46,880 Speaker 1: life really fueled my. 497 00:30:47,040 --> 00:30:50,520 Speaker 2: Interest in conservation. Even as a kid. I was like, man, 498 00:30:50,560 --> 00:30:51,920 Speaker 2: I hope this doesn't happen to me. 499 00:30:53,680 --> 00:30:57,320 Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening, for supporting what Brent 500 00:30:57,400 --> 00:31:00,440 Speaker 1: and I are doing down here. Keep the wild places 501 00:31:00,480 --> 00:31:03,240 Speaker 1: wild because that's where the quail live too.