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Speaker 1: I'm really excited about today because one of my good

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Speaker 1: friends inside joke, his name's Jeff Barnes. He's actually gonna

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Speaker 1: join me Onlines and Times this morning. Jeff is a

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Speaker 1: lifelong hunter, somebody who's always been passionate about the outdoors,

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Speaker 1: and he's allowed that passion to not only carry through

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Speaker 1: his life, but now the life of his children, his family,

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Speaker 1: and every friend that he has. He was a Georgia

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Speaker 1: state chairman for Ducks Unlimited for years. He's still an

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Speaker 1: active volunteer with them. He's been an area and district

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Speaker 1: chairman of the National Advisory Committee for Youth and Education.

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Speaker 2: I just see Jeff as the type of.

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Speaker 1: Guy where I really want to dive in and kind

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Speaker 1: of dissect where you came from and why you got

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Speaker 1: into hunting, Because everybody that meets you, I don't think

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Speaker 1: they sit there and go, oh, that guy's been a

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Speaker 1: lifelong hunter.

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Speaker 2: That's fair, that's very fair.

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Speaker 1: I think they look at you and they're like, oh,

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Speaker 1: this guy is he's a businessman.

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Speaker 2: They know you go to Old Miss.

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Speaker 1: I mean, guy, you just told everybody that you go

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Speaker 1: to Old Miss like every time you meet him. But

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Speaker 1: where did the journey start for you with hunting.

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Speaker 2: Well, I was going to tell you about that too.

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Speaker 2: Is my dad refers to me as a prep neck.

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Speaker 2: He says, I'm a preppery. He says, I'm a preppery

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Speaker 2: that thinks he's a red neck. That's what my dad.

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Speaker 2: There's a lot on there. Well, what actually got you

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Speaker 2: into hunting? Well, so as a kid, I grew up Middleton,

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Speaker 2: See and deer hunting was king and uh that was

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Speaker 2: to me, that was all that you could hunt. And

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Speaker 2: about fifteen years old, I was up in a deer

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Speaker 2: stand reading a bass Master's Fishing magazine and I fell asleep.

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Speaker 2: And I got down now that deer stand and said,

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Speaker 2: I'm never doing this again, I said, I said, I'm

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Speaker 2: sitting here with a high power rifle, sound asleep, reading

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Speaker 2: a magazine. It's like, this is not for me. So

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Speaker 2: I did not hunt for twenty years after that, because

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Speaker 2: hunting to me was only deer and it wasn't until

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Speaker 2: I got involved in shot gunning and clay shooting that

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Speaker 2: I got the next level to go bird shooting. All right,

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Speaker 2: Well shooting, let's not fast forward it too. You were

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Speaker 2: fifteen years old for deer hunting. Yep, you fell asleep

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Speaker 2: after reading a bast magazine in a deer stand.

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Speaker 1: Right, you obviously still had a passion for shooting, hunting

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Speaker 1: the outdoors. You just didn't know kind of where to

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Speaker 1: focus that.

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Speaker 2: That's true. And so like, I'm an eagle scout, my

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Speaker 2: son's an eagle scout, my other son is a star scout,

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Speaker 2: sumble Bragg. I got it. Yeah, yeah, you got Our

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Speaker 2: family is something anyway, Yeah, no, no, no, no, I'm saying

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Speaker 2: scouting is a big part of our life. We know

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Speaker 2: how to tie, okay, tie some knots, but scouting is

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Speaker 2: a big part of my life. So outdoors conservation really big.

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Speaker 2: And that's really kind of where I got to Ducks Unlimited,

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Speaker 2: which is a weird story because you just joking about

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Speaker 2: tie knots. I taught myself how to tie a pair

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Speaker 2: of cord lanyard and I randomly sent it perfect for calls. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: and I randomly sent it to one of my dad's

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Speaker 2: friends that I knew duck hunted and said, hey, I

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Speaker 2: made this. I don't need it. I just was making

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Speaker 2: it for something to do and said, if you ever

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Speaker 2: have a spot in a blind, I'd love to go

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Speaker 2: with you. And that's how I got duck hunting is

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Speaker 2: it really started through boy scouts, So I learned these

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Speaker 2: not I made him a lanyard for something to do,

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Speaker 2: and he took me to my first duck hunt.

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Speaker 1: It's so interesting that you bring that up, because every

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Speaker 1: duck hunter knows their lanyard for their calls is just

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Speaker 1: as important. Some guys would say in a blind, it's

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Speaker 1: more important than a rifle itself, for a shotgun itself.

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Speaker 2: Right.

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Speaker 1: I have a friend of mine where when I lived

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Speaker 1: in Saint Louis, that's where I really got into duck hunting.

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Speaker 1: I mean, why wouldn't you Mississippi Flyway, Central Flyaway like

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Speaker 1: you're on top.

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Speaker 2: Oh yeah, that's it.

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Speaker 1: And all my buddies up there were into duck hunting.

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Speaker 1: In fact, I probably didn't even share this story with you.

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Speaker 1: I got into duck hunting because on my radio show,

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Speaker 1: I went on and I said, look, I want to

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Speaker 1: go on a broad date. I'm looking for a boyfriend,

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Speaker 1: you know what I mean, Like, I'm looking for dudes

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Speaker 1: that want to be friends. And women called the show

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Speaker 1: and they were like, oh my god, you're a total

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Speaker 1: man's man.

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Speaker 2: You're just like my husband. They like to drink beer.

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Speaker 1: They like to go hunt, and I was like, me up,

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Speaker 1: it's right. So I got set up with a group

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Speaker 1: of guys, Andy, Mike Bow and a handful of other

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Speaker 1: guys Robbie and we all went out dove hunting, and

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Speaker 1: it was right before the Duck season. Teal was going

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Speaker 1: to open up first, so we went out for dove

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Speaker 1: and they were like, let's.

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Speaker 2: Just see if this guy is worth the salt. And

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Speaker 2: I'm walking around with a shotgun in the middle of

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Speaker 2: the woods with these guys that I don't know. We

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Speaker 2: had a blast.

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Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I mean I think we shot three doves

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Speaker 1: all day, right like public land hunting, the whole wheel.

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Speaker 1: But then they were like, hey, we're going to go

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Speaker 1: out for Teal season in the next couple of weeks.

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Speaker 2: Why don't you come?

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Speaker 1: So I was like all right, cool, And then opening

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Speaker 1: day of duck they were like, why don't you come

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Speaker 1: with us that? So it just kind of got in.

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Speaker 1: The reason I bring up the lanyards was Robbie sat

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Speaker 1: down and got a bunch of para cord and just

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Speaker 1: started making them. Yeah, and he made one for me

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Speaker 1: and it's still the one that.

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Speaker 2: I used to this very day.

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Speaker 1: Because you just can't beat somebody's craftsmanship. You know, you

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Speaker 1: can go to a store and you can buy all

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Speaker 1: these things and it's great, but when you have somebody

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Speaker 1: who hand makes something for you, like the detail and

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Speaker 1: the time and I hate to say love, but like

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Speaker 1: the respect that they give that piece of craft that

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Speaker 1: they're doing is amazing.

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Speaker 2: And I've found that in a lot of the hunting

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Speaker 2: world is you know, it's not a cheap sport, right

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Speaker 2: and there's a lot of people that can buy anything

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Speaker 2: they want, and what they most want are things that personalized,

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Speaker 2: things that you can give it. And so I've done it.

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Speaker 2: You can't buy that you can't buy. And I have

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Speaker 2: done several of lanyards for gifts to like say hey,

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Speaker 2: thank you for taking me on this hunt, thank you

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Speaker 2: for taking me shooting today, thank you for whatever. And

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Speaker 2: I've done several those, and I've done them in custom colors,

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Speaker 2: you know. I did them and all the SEC school

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Speaker 2: colors and gave them to people that went to different

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Speaker 2: you know, with their alma maters or their fan bases.

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Speaker 1: What was the one SEC school that you were like,

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Speaker 1: I don't really want to touch.

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Speaker 2: I knew you were going to say, that because it's

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Speaker 2: you know, again it's Mississippi city. But you don't have

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Speaker 2: to say that's right. As an old miss guy. You know,

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Speaker 2: we hate everybody, you know. So I was like, well,

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Speaker 2: everybody looks forward to you on the scout. Everybody, somebody

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Speaker 2: wants to come to Oxford. But I'm like, yeah, I

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Speaker 2: hate l SU, I hate State, I hate all about

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Speaker 2: you know. But but no, it's it's all good because

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Speaker 2: I think everybody. I like making someone happy there and

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Speaker 2: I like giving them that product, and I wanted to

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Speaker 2: come back to So that's where I got with Ducks Unlimited.

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Speaker 2: Is that invitation that first duck hunt. I didn't know

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Speaker 2: anything about duck hunting, so I literally went out on

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Speaker 2: DU's website and found a local banquet near me and

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Speaker 2: just went. I didn't know soul, I didn't know anything,

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Speaker 2: but I was like, I want to hear the linuit

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Speaker 2: over at the general admission, the Friends of the Ducks table,

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Speaker 2: you know, and I wanted I wanted to hear the lingo.

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Speaker 2: I want to hear what are people talking about?

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Speaker 1: What?

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Speaker 2: Because I didn't know anything about it. And that's how

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Speaker 2: I got involved in Ducks Unlimited. Is I met some

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Speaker 2: really cool guys at that first banquet, and I'm still

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Speaker 2: still hunting fish with them to this day. Yeah, you're

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Speaker 2: a super approachable guy.

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Speaker 1: I mean you and I met through an organization called

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Speaker 1: SCI known as Safari Club Internet National, and we had

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Speaker 1: a couple mutual friends and that's all.

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Speaker 2: It kind of came together. And I remember the first time.

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Speaker 1: I was going to meet you, one of my buddies goes, oh, hey,

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Speaker 1: we're going to meet up with Jeff Barnes and I went, Okay,

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Speaker 1: who's that. He goes, oh, he's the former president of

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Speaker 1: Duck's Unlimited. I was like, WHOA big deal. This guy

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Speaker 1: is somebody. And then I meet you and you're like

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Speaker 1: of the Georgia chapter.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, let's let's not get crazy now, let's let's let'sten.

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Speaker 1: Not everybody pumps you up like crazy, but it's it's

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Speaker 1: all deserving because you are such a friend of the

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Speaker 1: outdoors and the things that you do. But I want

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Speaker 1: to get back to your past because I feel like

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Speaker 1: the most exciting part of talking about hunting are the

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Speaker 1: stories that men to all of us together. You know,

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Speaker 1: like your first experience of hunting was sitting in that

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Speaker 1: deer stand reading a bass Master magazine, which you fell asleep, right,

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Speaker 1: you didn't see an animal, or you probably would have

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Speaker 1: if your eyes weren't closed. But my first deer hunt,

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Speaker 1: I didn't see it with anybody. It was just me

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Speaker 1: on an old piece of plywood in a tree with

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Speaker 1: two by fours nailed to it as the steps. And

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Speaker 1: I remember I was sitting out there. This is muzzleloader season.

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Speaker 1: I'd never shot a muzzle loader. I just took hunter

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Speaker 1: safety in school. And the guy who's property I was hunting,

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Speaker 1: he was like, hey, look, you're gonna have to use this.

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Speaker 2: So he cocked it halfway.

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Speaker 1: Holy and he said, when you get out there and

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Speaker 1: you have one, cock it the rest of the way.

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Speaker 1: And I said, okay, So I did just that, and

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Speaker 1: I remember this eight point came out, and to me

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Speaker 1: it was an absolute stud s right, like this is

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Speaker 1: a boone and crocket put it on the wall. My

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Speaker 1: name's in lights. This is insane. He was probably two

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Speaker 1: hundred yards away. I shot a mile and a half

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Speaker 1: over his head, and of course, once the smoke cleared

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Speaker 1: and I look and I'm waiting to see that brown

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Speaker 1: body down, I'm like.

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Speaker 2: He didn't even look. Where is where'd he go.

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Speaker 1: So, of course, forty five minutes later, because I learned

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Speaker 1: this like there, give them time. So I was like, all,

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Speaker 1: r forty five minutes later, I walk over to where

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Speaker 1: he was. There ain't a sign of blood anyway.

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Speaker 2: It's probably just a big hole in the side of

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Speaker 2: the pond or something. I look up in the canopy

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Speaker 2: of the trees and now there's a giant hole in

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Speaker 2: the camp.

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Speaker 1: I had to have shot, because I remember I came

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Speaker 1: back and I was then telling them the story and

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Speaker 1: they were like, well, what happened. I said, he came

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Speaker 1: walking out of the trees right here, and they were like, oh,

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Speaker 1: that's a good place where they normally walk out. They

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Speaker 1: said he had to be, you know, two hundred yards away,

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Speaker 1: and they go, oh, so he didn't shoot, And I was.

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Speaker 2: Like, well, actually I did.

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Speaker 1: Joke's on you, and I said, I shot a mile

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Speaker 1: and a half over this thing. Said I had to

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Speaker 1: have because the way that the sights were on that

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Speaker 1: gun is not what I learned in hunter safety. It

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Speaker 1: was a drop ball site, so you had to take

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Speaker 1: the circle and put it down in the bottom of

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Speaker 1: the v not notch instead of putting it on you know,

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Speaker 1: the pumpkin on the fence post thing.

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Speaker 2: Right.

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Speaker 1: So when I told them the story, they were just like, well,

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Speaker 1: that's all right.

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Speaker 2: Hey, you know, try tomorrow. It's all my experiences, you know.

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Speaker 2: And I'm the same way, like I realized that get

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Speaker 2: the other parts of that story is I'm afraid of heights.

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Speaker 2: And so here I am climbing up this two by

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Speaker 2: four nail to the tree right, sitting up in this

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Speaker 2: windy thing. I'm like, what am I doing? I don't

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Speaker 2: like any part of this, Like I so I joke

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Speaker 2: as like I'm a duck hunter and a turkey hunter,

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Speaker 2: and I was like, we either dig a hole and

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Speaker 2: get it in a duck blind or I'm sitting at

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Speaker 2: the bottom of a tree. I was like, I don't

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Speaker 2: do heights. I get as low as I.

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Speaker 1: Can for you don't want to be like, put me

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Speaker 1: in a pit line, I'm good, put me in a pit.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. So that's another tree, you know.

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Speaker 1: After you went on that duck hunt, though, explain that

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Speaker 1: first experience of going on a duck hunt. So you've

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Speaker 1: gone to du you've heard some of the lingo, you've

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Speaker 1: met some people, but now you actually get to go

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Speaker 1: out into a blind and actually get to hunt.

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Speaker 2: So I went with. Like I said, it was one

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Speaker 2: of my dad's friends. So my dad went, and my brother.

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Speaker 2: My little brother went, and my little brother and I

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Speaker 2: we joked that we're My mom says, we're not only

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Speaker 2: different as night and day, we're like separate weeks. I

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Speaker 2: mean we look nothing like, we act nothing alike. It's

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Speaker 2: it's crazy, but the four of us went. Man, I

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Speaker 2: couldn't have told you if I was shooting at a

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Speaker 2: tweety bird or a bald eagle. Everything that was in

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Speaker 2: the sky, I was like, is that it is that one?

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Speaker 2: I mean I didn't shoot at them, of course, but

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Speaker 2: you know, I'm just in here going Anything that's flying

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Speaker 2: I thought was a duck, and it's it's really I

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Speaker 2: look back on that and think about how I've matured

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Speaker 2: in the duck hunting to realize, Hey, those are pentails,

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Speaker 2: those are gadwalls, those are mallards to where you can

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Speaker 2: see that that first day, man, I couldn't have told

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Speaker 2: you if it was a duck or an airplane.

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Speaker 1: Oh, the blackbirds are the worst, you know, And so

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Speaker 1: it's they come buzzing over you. You think it's a group

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Speaker 1: of teal Yeah, you're set off the shoulder.

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Speaker 2: It's real interesting to see that maturation and to see

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Speaker 2: where it came from from. I didn't know what it

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Speaker 2: all was going on, just complete excitement to trying to

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Speaker 2: figure this out and try to take to the next

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Speaker 2: level and try to plan my own hunts and try

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Speaker 2: to plan my own trips and do that kind of stuff.

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Speaker 1: Share with me out the person that you hunted with,

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Speaker 1: you sent them a lanyard, yep, and you said, hey,

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Speaker 1: I made this. If you want to use it or

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Speaker 1: if you want to invite me on a hunt, both

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Speaker 1: are fine.

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Speaker 2: Well, the funny thing is is I sent to him

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Speaker 2: and didn't hear a word from him. And his name

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Speaker 2: is Jim, And I was like that, come Jim. I mean,

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Speaker 2: I was spending a lot of time on this. Why

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Speaker 2: did at least maybe call say things, yeah, you know something.

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Speaker 2: Well later I found out the reason he hadn't said

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Speaker 2: anything is because he was trying to put this trip

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Speaker 2: together and he wanted to be able to call me

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Speaker 2: when he called to say thanks, to say hey, I've

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Speaker 2: got us a trip. This is what we're doing. So

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Speaker 2: I just had to be patient, had to sit there,

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Speaker 2: and Jim called and said Hey, I'm going to take

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Speaker 2: you a stutguard, which if anybody knows anything about duck hunting,

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Speaker 2: my very first duck hunt was a Stuttgart, Arkansas, which

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Speaker 2: is like driving in the Daytona five hundred. Who is

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Speaker 2: Jim though, Yeah, Jim Jim Finn. He's a friend of

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Speaker 2: a family, been around for a long time. He teaches

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Speaker 2: hunter safety in Tennessee. Say's very knowledgeable, long term hunter,

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Speaker 2: and he and my dad are good friends.

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Speaker 1: Does he luck out to have any sort of the

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Speaker 1: lease or a trail or did he just go with

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Speaker 1: a guide?

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Speaker 2: So we actually hunted public land in Arkansas. He had

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Speaker 2: been hunting there for years and he loved He was

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Speaker 2: the kind of guy that loved to just drive around

304
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Speaker 2: a scout, I mean, And so I learned from day

305
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Speaker 2: one how to scout for birds, how to go look

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Speaker 2: for him. And we hunted public land for a while.

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Speaker 1: And so let's talk about that, because there's a lot

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Speaker 1: of people that they're fortunate to be able to get

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Speaker 1: with an outfitter and go.

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Speaker 2: You and I went with an outfitter.

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Speaker 1: And it wasn't the greatest time to duck hunt because

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Speaker 1: the weather wasn't right. But there's a lot of guys

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Speaker 1: where they just go to public land and they're just

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Speaker 1: trying to figure it out. How do you find the

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Speaker 1: birds in that kind of situation.

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Speaker 2: It was interesting, and I'll be honest with you. I

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Speaker 2: got to a point where I'd hunted with Jim for

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Speaker 2: a couple of years and said, Jim, I got to

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Speaker 2: get an outfitter because I was coming from Atlanta, Georgia.

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Speaker 2: He was coming from Nashville, so he's four hours closer

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Speaker 2: than I was. And I was like, Jim, this is great,

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Speaker 2: and I'm having an awesome time. This is fun. But

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Speaker 2: two things. I don't consider it my vacation to drive

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Speaker 2: over here and be ready to fight somebody at four

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Speaker 2: o'clock in the morning every morning. Dude, would I get

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Speaker 2: somewhere at four o'clock in the morning. I want to

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Speaker 2: know that it's mine and that I'm not having to

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Speaker 2: find somebody else. Could we find the birds? Yeah, but

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Speaker 2: so could everybody else, right, you know? And so I've

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Speaker 2: paid my dues. I did the public land, but I

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Speaker 2: pretty much hunt private and with outfitters.

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Speaker 1: Now let's talk about the outfitter game. Yeah, because I'm

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Speaker 1: kind of in that weird spot right now. I just

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Speaker 1: had a good conversation with him. But Buddy and my

335
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Speaker 1: Mark Knight. He's an outfitter for deer in Turkey. He's

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Speaker 1: been really successful in Illinois, Kansas, and now he's got

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Speaker 1: a place in Kentucky. And he and I have gone

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Speaker 1: on other hunts with other outfitters, you know. We've chased

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Speaker 1: Rocky Mountain elk, and we've gone on different deer hunts

340
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Speaker 1: and we fished together, so we spend a lot of

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Speaker 1: time in the outdoors. And he and I were having

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Speaker 1: a conversation after our most recent outfitter Hume where I

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Speaker 1: was just like, I'm kind of over it. I'm kind

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Speaker 1: of over the outfitter thing.

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Speaker 2: I hear you, man, And it's a tough spot, you know.

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Speaker 2: And I've felt kind of a man without a country

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Speaker 2: a couple of times, you know. And I've got a

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Speaker 2: really good outfitter that I've gone with a couple of times.

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Speaker 2: But again, it's all a timing game, right, and so,

350
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Speaker 2: and it's no fault of the outfitters, of any outfitters

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Speaker 2: that you know, when you're trying to fill up and

352
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Speaker 2: you're booking your hunt in February for something that's not

353
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Speaker 2: going to be till November and December, and if you

354
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Speaker 2: don't book in February, all the dates are gone. But

355
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Speaker 2: you're really you're taking a one and sixty chance at

356
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Speaker 2: will the dux be there that day.

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Speaker 1: You're going completely off a history, you know, like this

358
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Speaker 1: time last year, we had a hell of a hunt, right,

359
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Speaker 1: so we had an opportunity.

360
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Speaker 2: I mean, even with deer. This is what I try

361
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Speaker 2: to share with the women that I've dated and that

362
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Speaker 2: I've gone out with.

363
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Speaker 1: When you're getting ready to go on a hunt or

364
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Speaker 1: you have a free weekend, we are locked to our

365
00:16:01,520 --> 00:16:04,040
Speaker 1: phones trying to figure out what the temperature and what

366
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Speaker 1: the weather is gonna do. Because if you see that

367
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Speaker 1: ten degree drop in temperature and you see the wind

368
00:16:10,360 --> 00:16:12,720
Speaker 1: is going to be up fifteen twenty miles an hour,

369
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Speaker 1: you pack your shit and you go, yeah, you don't

370
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Speaker 1: have you don't have a choice because yeah, sure your

371
00:16:19,520 --> 00:16:21,520
Speaker 1: vacation will be X, Y and Z and you can

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Speaker 1: go have a good time when that condition is right.

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Speaker 2: You gotta be you gotta do it. And I've really

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Speaker 2: kind of moved into it. And I think all hunters

375
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Speaker 2: go through different phases, you know, you go through the

376
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Speaker 2: I want to kill everything phase to the I want

377
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Speaker 2: to experience, make the experienced face, and I'm really in

378
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Speaker 2: the I want my kids to enjoy it phase. And

379
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Speaker 2: so now that's what's important to me is Yeah, I like,

380
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Speaker 2: I like shooting ducks, but I also like taking a

381
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Speaker 2: week in and going with my son who's going to

382
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Speaker 2: be graduating from high school next year. Insane and you know,

383
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Speaker 2: and I'm not gonna have as much time with them.

384
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Speaker 2: And so that's that's what the trip to me is now,

385
00:16:59,520 --> 00:17:02,440
Speaker 2: not about killing the ducks. But I don't consider it

386
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Speaker 2: a complete bust because I got to drive out there

387
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Speaker 2: with my son. I got to talk to him, I

388
00:17:06,760 --> 00:17:08,960
Speaker 2: got to have those conversations. I got to see him

389
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Speaker 2: shoot a duck. I got to see him do those things.

390
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Speaker 2: And that's what makes a difference for me right now.

391
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Speaker 1: And I witness at firsthand because we were lucky to

392
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Speaker 1: go to the boot heel of Missouri on a duck hunt,

393
00:17:18,800 --> 00:17:20,399
Speaker 1: and you would called me and asked me if I

394
00:17:20,440 --> 00:17:22,600
Speaker 1: wanted to go, and I was like sure, and we

395
00:17:22,720 --> 00:17:24,840
Speaker 1: worked out another spot where a buddy of mine who's

396
00:17:24,880 --> 00:17:26,919
Speaker 1: never been duck hunting, you know, I was like, Hey,

397
00:17:26,960 --> 00:17:28,439
Speaker 1: if you want to go to this, let's go to this.

398
00:17:28,520 --> 00:17:30,480
Speaker 1: He broke a cardinal rule on that. We'll talk about

399
00:17:30,480 --> 00:17:31,119
Speaker 1: that in a second.

400
00:17:31,119 --> 00:17:31,320
Speaker 2: Play.

401
00:17:32,240 --> 00:17:34,479
Speaker 1: We go out and you and I had already had

402
00:17:34,480 --> 00:17:37,000
Speaker 1: the conversation, like we were looking at the weather, we

403
00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:38,120
Speaker 1: were looking at the trends.

404
00:17:38,200 --> 00:17:39,120
Speaker 2: We were talking to the.

405
00:17:39,080 --> 00:17:42,520
Speaker 1: Outfitter, and the outfitter was like, look, the expectations are low.

406
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Speaker 1: We're just not seeing the push that we thought we would.

407
00:17:45,880 --> 00:17:48,080
Speaker 1: I want to talk a little bit more about, you know,

408
00:17:48,640 --> 00:17:51,920
Speaker 1: kind of the duck transitions. You know, they used to

409
00:17:51,920 --> 00:17:53,840
Speaker 1: get all the way down to the Gulf of America,

410
00:17:53,880 --> 00:17:57,080
Speaker 1: and now it seems like now it seems like they're

411
00:17:57,080 --> 00:17:59,400
Speaker 1: getting kind of hung up around Memphis. We'll talk about

412
00:17:59,400 --> 00:18:01,920
Speaker 1: that in a second. But what I witnessed on that

413
00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:05,719
Speaker 1: trip was exactly what you're talking about. You brought your son, Davis,

414
00:18:05,760 --> 00:18:08,120
Speaker 1: who I think the world of, and I took him

415
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Speaker 1: on his very first.

416
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Speaker 2: I wanted to talk about how you took him on

417
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Speaker 2: deer Hunt.

418
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Speaker 1: He's just such a good kid, and you just watch

419
00:18:16,680 --> 00:18:20,320
Speaker 1: how you can see how you've been as a parent

420
00:18:20,400 --> 00:18:24,520
Speaker 1: has really impacted and influenced him. Thanks, and when you

421
00:18:24,560 --> 00:18:26,920
Speaker 1: get to watch that firsthand and you get to see

422
00:18:27,000 --> 00:18:31,280
Speaker 1: him have an experience it's incredible. It's it's good to

423
00:18:31,320 --> 00:18:35,719
Speaker 1: see the hunting world and family come full circle. Now,

424
00:18:35,760 --> 00:18:37,160
Speaker 1: I will say he's got to be a little faster

425
00:18:37,240 --> 00:18:39,399
Speaker 1: on the trigger because that one duck that came through

426
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Speaker 1: that passed all y'all.

427
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Speaker 2: Let me tell you you don't have to worry about

428
00:18:43,080 --> 00:18:44,320
Speaker 2: that anymore. He's grown.

429
00:18:45,320 --> 00:18:47,800
Speaker 1: He is uh, he's a quick drama gral. Let me

430
00:18:47,840 --> 00:18:49,840
Speaker 1: tell you, I loved I loved the duck hunt that

431
00:18:49,840 --> 00:18:51,639
Speaker 1: we went on. We didn't see many birds and we

432
00:18:51,680 --> 00:18:54,560
Speaker 1: had this one green had come through a mallard and

433
00:18:55,480 --> 00:18:57,719
Speaker 1: it came left to right and I was almost all

434
00:18:57,760 --> 00:19:00,600
Speaker 1: the way at the end of the pit, and everybody

435
00:19:00,680 --> 00:19:04,200
Speaker 1: was waiting, waiting, waiting. I mean, the guy, I appreciate

436
00:19:04,200 --> 00:19:06,760
Speaker 1: the outfitter, but he never said pull like he was

437
00:19:06,800 --> 00:19:09,520
Speaker 1: waiting yeah, And I'm like, I'm not waiting, Like we've

438
00:19:09,560 --> 00:19:12,760
Speaker 1: been sitting here for three days. We haven't seen anything.

439
00:19:12,800 --> 00:19:14,800
Speaker 1: So this one's going down and boom, pull the trigger.

440
00:19:14,800 --> 00:19:17,000
Speaker 1: And of course the conversation is like, hey, let's all

441
00:19:17,040 --> 00:19:18,280
Speaker 1: wait for somebody to say.

442
00:19:18,119 --> 00:19:20,640
Speaker 2: Shooting, and we're not waiting.

443
00:19:21,040 --> 00:19:23,840
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, boys, But the cardinal rule of that, my

444
00:19:23,840 --> 00:19:27,360
Speaker 1: buddy Broke Grant, was that he took that duck home

445
00:19:27,600 --> 00:19:30,879
Speaker 1: and then he got him mounted. Oh wow, and you know,

446
00:19:31,400 --> 00:19:33,800
Speaker 1: like he didn't shoot it. And we had that conversation

447
00:19:33,920 --> 00:19:35,879
Speaker 1: at the bit. I was like, look, you can do this.

448
00:19:36,080 --> 00:19:38,359
Speaker 1: Just know that this is an unspoken rule, like it

449
00:19:38,400 --> 00:19:40,160
Speaker 1: could be it could be bad juju.

450
00:19:40,400 --> 00:19:42,760
Speaker 2: Well, and you don't want that. And I've only got

451
00:19:42,960 --> 00:19:45,240
Speaker 2: I'm not a big mountain the ducks kind of guy

452
00:19:45,440 --> 00:19:47,840
Speaker 2: or anything. I'm not against it. It's just not my thing.

453
00:19:47,920 --> 00:19:49,840
Speaker 1: I like having a couple of species, Like I've got

454
00:19:49,920 --> 00:19:52,240
Speaker 1: one of the most beautiful pintail mounts that I've ever seen.

455
00:19:52,320 --> 00:19:54,680
Speaker 2: I've got one mallard because it's got a purple head,

456
00:19:54,680 --> 00:19:58,359
Speaker 2: which is really cool. Cool. Look, it's cool. And Davis

457
00:19:58,400 --> 00:20:01,720
Speaker 2: shot a widgeon this year a couple of weeks ago. Americans,

458
00:20:01,840 --> 00:20:04,400
Speaker 2: Oh my goodness, it was beautiful. I wish I wish

459
00:20:04,480 --> 00:20:06,480
Speaker 2: in retrospect now we kept it and mounted.

460
00:20:06,480 --> 00:20:09,280
Speaker 1: It's so funny though, because I knew you were gonna say, like,

461
00:20:09,359 --> 00:20:11,959
Speaker 1: I wish I held onto it. You'll shoot a wigeon

462
00:20:12,160 --> 00:20:14,520
Speaker 1: and people will be like, oh, that's that's cool.

463
00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:16,760
Speaker 2: This was this was really good.

464
00:20:16,800 --> 00:20:18,640
Speaker 1: But then what happens is you go to places where

465
00:20:18,640 --> 00:20:21,280
Speaker 1: wigeons are really popular, and they're like, yeah, all.

466
00:20:21,240 --> 00:20:23,840
Speaker 2: Right, that's the same thing. You know. I've been fortunate

467
00:20:23,840 --> 00:20:26,159
Speaker 2: to travel around different places and everybody's like, man, I

468
00:20:26,160 --> 00:20:27,679
Speaker 2: really want to get a wood duck. I was like, uh,

469
00:20:27,880 --> 00:20:30,720
Speaker 2: come to Georgia's come on, that's all we got, you know,

470
00:20:30,720 --> 00:20:33,200
Speaker 2: we'll do is go down the creek bottoms, lay them out.

471
00:20:33,240 --> 00:20:34,679
Speaker 2: You know. They're like, what are you see in Georgia.

472
00:20:34,720 --> 00:20:37,280
Speaker 2: I was like, wood ducks and boat dock ducks is

473
00:20:37,280 --> 00:20:40,919
Speaker 2: what we call them. A love for brand and just

474
00:20:40,960 --> 00:20:42,879
Speaker 2: sit the boat dock. Those about the you know, the

475
00:20:42,960 --> 00:20:45,880
Speaker 2: ducks that you're gonna see. But like an American black duck,

476
00:20:46,320 --> 00:20:47,119
Speaker 2: I've killed one.

477
00:20:47,480 --> 00:20:49,840
Speaker 1: That's one that has always been a pinnacle on my

478
00:20:50,000 --> 00:20:52,320
Speaker 1: list and I've always tried to find one.

479
00:20:52,600 --> 00:20:52,800
Speaker 2: Yeah.

480
00:20:52,960 --> 00:20:55,160
Speaker 1: And I was in a hunt in Missouri and one

481
00:20:55,160 --> 00:20:57,040
Speaker 1: of my buddies who got me into this duck club

482
00:20:57,080 --> 00:20:57,720
Speaker 1: that we were in.

483
00:20:58,200 --> 00:20:59,960
Speaker 2: This is such a great duck hunting day.

484
00:21:00,119 --> 00:21:03,119
Speaker 1: I had to do a speech for the Alzheimer's Association

485
00:21:03,200 --> 00:21:07,280
Speaker 1: at Edward Jones where the Saint Louis Blues play hockey.

486
00:21:07,400 --> 00:21:09,560
Speaker 2: Okay, so my dad was in town.

487
00:21:09,640 --> 00:21:11,320
Speaker 1: He was getting ready to hear me speak well, I

488
00:21:11,359 --> 00:21:12,960
Speaker 1: woke up in the morning and I looked out. I

489
00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:14,800
Speaker 1: looked at the weather. It's the middle of duck season.

490
00:21:14,880 --> 00:21:16,600
Speaker 1: I was like, today's going to be a light them

491
00:21:16,640 --> 00:21:19,240
Speaker 1: up day. It's going to be awesome. So I went,

492
00:21:19,320 --> 00:21:21,399
Speaker 1: I gave my speech. I immediately jump back in the

493
00:21:21,400 --> 00:21:22,720
Speaker 1: truck and I go, Dad, I'm going to bring it

494
00:21:22,760 --> 00:21:24,200
Speaker 1: back to the house. I'm gonna go spend a couple

495
00:21:24,280 --> 00:21:25,880
Speaker 1: hours in the duck blind, and then I'll come back.

496
00:21:25,960 --> 00:21:27,240
Speaker 1: We'll go have dinner or whatever.

497
00:21:27,280 --> 00:21:28,160
Speaker 2: He's like, okay, great.

498
00:21:29,359 --> 00:21:32,480
Speaker 1: The wind starts swirling and I mean, it looks like

499
00:21:32,480 --> 00:21:35,880
Speaker 1: a tornado's about to pop off. Temperature drop fifteen degrees.

500
00:21:36,119 --> 00:21:39,720
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, buddy, my friend is blowing me up.

501
00:21:39,760 --> 00:21:40,959
Speaker 1: He's like, you gotta get out here.

502
00:21:40,960 --> 00:21:42,920
Speaker 2: He's better hurry up. We've already shot a limit.

503
00:21:43,040 --> 00:21:44,960
Speaker 1: You need to get here. I said, fine, So I

504
00:21:45,000 --> 00:21:47,800
Speaker 1: get out there. My buddy is beaming ear to ear.

505
00:21:47,840 --> 00:21:49,280
Speaker 1: When I get into the blind, I said, why are

506
00:21:49,280 --> 00:21:52,320
Speaker 1: you smiling so big? He goes shot a black done.

507
00:21:52,240 --> 00:21:55,240
Speaker 2: Oh man, and I said, what, let me see that thing,

508
00:21:55,600 --> 00:21:56,440
Speaker 2: and he pulls it out.

509
00:21:56,480 --> 00:21:56,680
Speaker 1: Dude.

510
00:21:56,680 --> 00:21:57,960
Speaker 2: I didn't have the heart to tell him it was

511
00:21:57,960 --> 00:22:03,840
Speaker 2: a speckle belly. That's a big difference. He's like, dude,

512
00:22:04,320 --> 00:22:07,840
Speaker 2: it's such a beautiful bird. And I'm just saying quiet.

513
00:22:07,840 --> 00:22:09,959
Speaker 1: Other guys in the blind like they're not really you know,

514
00:22:10,040 --> 00:22:12,400
Speaker 1: focused on or whatever. I said, I can't wait until

515
00:22:12,400 --> 00:22:13,919
Speaker 1: we get back to the lodge and you share that

516
00:22:13,960 --> 00:22:17,800
Speaker 1: with every body. You're cold, and he goes. He goes, man,

517
00:22:18,240 --> 00:22:20,080
Speaker 1: I'm just so pumped. So we get back and this

518
00:22:20,119 --> 00:22:22,159
Speaker 1: is where you mark down how many mallads pintails?

519
00:22:22,200 --> 00:22:22,640
Speaker 2: The whole deal.

520
00:22:23,119 --> 00:22:27,160
Speaker 1: He gets over, he marks on the board one black duck,

521
00:22:27,680 --> 00:22:28,640
Speaker 1: and everybody was like.

522
00:22:28,640 --> 00:22:30,959
Speaker 2: No way, you shot a black duck. Let me see it.

523
00:22:31,080 --> 00:22:33,639
Speaker 1: He pulls this thing out and the one dude who

524
00:22:33,720 --> 00:22:35,440
Speaker 1: I knew was going to say it shouts from the back.

525
00:22:35,520 --> 00:22:41,919
Speaker 2: He goes, you idiot, have a speckled mailing goose. He

526
00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:43,480
Speaker 2: looks at me and I was like, Ryan, and I

527
00:22:43,560 --> 00:22:45,639
Speaker 2: have the heart to tell you, man, I got a

528
00:22:45,680 --> 00:22:47,240
Speaker 2: great one. I don't know if I told you this

529
00:22:47,400 --> 00:22:50,320
Speaker 2: or not about marking ducks down and keeping ledgers. It's

530
00:22:51,040 --> 00:22:54,200
Speaker 2: last year. I was very fortunate to be invited out

531
00:22:54,200 --> 00:22:57,120
Speaker 2: to the Dallas Hunting Fish Club, which is I've come

532
00:22:57,119 --> 00:23:00,359
Speaker 2: to learn the fourth oldest Duck club in America.

533
00:23:00,640 --> 00:23:04,000
Speaker 1: And it's what makes it so unique though, Well what

534
00:23:04,160 --> 00:23:06,560
Speaker 1: we're saying it's the location or the location is what's

535
00:23:06,600 --> 00:23:10,000
Speaker 1: cool is think about it. In the eighteen hundreds, ten

536
00:23:10,040 --> 00:23:13,280
Speaker 1: miles outside of downtown Dallas was a long way away,

537
00:23:13,720 --> 00:23:16,040
Speaker 1: which was not I mean, when I talked to my

538
00:23:16,080 --> 00:23:19,240
Speaker 1: host Joe crafton Thank You Joe, I was like, Joe,

539
00:23:19,280 --> 00:23:19,800
Speaker 1: how do I do?

540
00:23:19,840 --> 00:23:22,000
Speaker 2: I just run a card whatever? He goes, take an Uber.

541
00:23:22,920 --> 00:23:25,680
Speaker 2: He's like, he's like, when you land at the airport,

542
00:23:25,760 --> 00:23:27,119
Speaker 2: just take an Uber. And I was like, to the

543
00:23:27,240 --> 00:23:31,000
Speaker 2: Duck Club, He's like, yeah, because when you drive out

544
00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:33,080
Speaker 2: of the dust shop in an economy uber.

545
00:23:33,240 --> 00:23:34,840
Speaker 1: Yeah, the guy's like, I don't want to go down

546
00:23:34,840 --> 00:23:38,320
Speaker 1: that road with all those files when you literally.

547
00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:41,120
Speaker 2: Can see the skyline of downtown Dallas in the background.

548
00:23:41,720 --> 00:23:45,280
Speaker 2: Well when you leave the club and so like it's amazing.

549
00:23:45,640 --> 00:23:47,679
Speaker 2: We're looking at some of the records like from the

550
00:23:47,720 --> 00:23:50,119
Speaker 2: Turn of the like from the eighteen hundred nineteen hundred

551
00:23:50,119 --> 00:23:52,520
Speaker 2: Turn of the Century that and it was really funny

552
00:23:52,520 --> 00:23:54,520
Speaker 2: because there's like the ledger like you talk about is

553
00:23:54,560 --> 00:23:56,920
Speaker 2: like put on the board, how many mallard you got?

554
00:23:56,960 --> 00:23:59,439
Speaker 2: How many this you got, and so I said, this

555
00:23:59,560 --> 00:24:02,880
Speaker 2: just shows Tom stands still. Everybody's the same, no matther

556
00:24:02,920 --> 00:24:04,680
Speaker 2: it was now or one hundred and fifty years ago.

557
00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:07,199
Speaker 2: But there was one let's just say it was Jeff Barnes, right.

558
00:24:07,200 --> 00:24:09,080
Speaker 2: I don't remember the guy's name, but it said Jeff Barnes.

559
00:24:09,400 --> 00:24:12,040
Speaker 2: Four and one eighth Mallards. I said, Man, there was

560
00:24:12,080 --> 00:24:15,440
Speaker 2: a fight in the bla in that day. Who shut

561
00:24:15,520 --> 00:24:19,320
Speaker 2: that duck? Who shot that duck? So seven other gods

562
00:24:19,359 --> 00:24:21,520
Speaker 2: claimed the eighth of it, I guess, but four and

563
00:24:21,600 --> 00:24:22,520
Speaker 2: one eighth Mallards.

564
00:24:22,560 --> 00:24:24,720
Speaker 1: It's it's incredible to look back at some of those

565
00:24:24,800 --> 00:24:27,600
Speaker 1: ledgers because most people are like, why ain't keeping records

566
00:24:27,600 --> 00:24:28,080
Speaker 1: all this stuff?

567
00:24:28,119 --> 00:24:28,720
Speaker 2: But that's why.

568
00:24:28,880 --> 00:24:31,080
Speaker 1: But man, it tells you how much good Old Cyrus

569
00:24:31,160 --> 00:24:34,919
Speaker 1: shot in nineteen thirty four. And you know, when the

570
00:24:35,160 --> 00:24:39,639
Speaker 1: turn of the nineteen hundreds came around and Teddy Roosevelt

571
00:24:39,680 --> 00:24:42,159
Speaker 1: was really big, I'm like wanting to make sure that

572
00:24:42,200 --> 00:24:44,240
Speaker 1: we were taking care of the animals and taking care

573
00:24:44,280 --> 00:24:47,560
Speaker 1: of the conservation side. That's when everything started to change,

574
00:24:47,600 --> 00:24:50,000
Speaker 1: like the farming of animals and the hunting of animals, right,

575
00:24:50,040 --> 00:24:52,800
Speaker 1: and the business of it was terrible.

576
00:24:52,960 --> 00:24:56,959
Speaker 2: I nearly wiped away a lot of species. Yeah, I mean,

577
00:24:57,000 --> 00:24:59,639
Speaker 2: and that's and that's the start of ducks on Lemos

578
00:25:00,119 --> 00:25:04,080
Speaker 2: thirty seven, coming out of the dust Bowl era. And

579
00:25:04,160 --> 00:25:06,199
Speaker 2: so there was you know, the market hunting and all that,

580
00:25:06,240 --> 00:25:09,320
Speaker 2: but also there was ducks and loon was started by

581
00:25:09,440 --> 00:25:11,760
Speaker 2: duck hunters who said, we've got to do something. This

582
00:25:12,320 --> 00:25:15,399
Speaker 2: can't be sustained what we're doing here. And so to

583
00:25:15,440 --> 00:25:18,800
Speaker 2: your point, you know, there it was wild West out

584
00:25:18,800 --> 00:25:21,600
Speaker 2: there for a while, and we self imposed, Hey, this

585
00:25:21,640 --> 00:25:23,399
Speaker 2: is what we need to do. This is how we

586
00:25:23,440 --> 00:25:25,360
Speaker 2: need to get a control on it. And that's duck

587
00:25:25,440 --> 00:25:28,240
Speaker 2: hunters are the only group whoever started their own federal

588
00:25:28,280 --> 00:25:32,359
Speaker 2: waterfowl stamp. I mean, we tax ourselves to benefit the

589
00:25:32,359 --> 00:25:33,080
Speaker 2: sport we love.

590
00:25:33,400 --> 00:25:36,200
Speaker 1: Has it gotten better the conservation side because the groups

591
00:25:36,240 --> 00:25:36,840
Speaker 1: like Ducks.

592
00:25:36,640 --> 00:25:39,520
Speaker 2: Unlimited, Oh yeah, I mean, and not just ducks on loaned,

593
00:25:39,560 --> 00:25:42,640
Speaker 2: but look look at the wild turkey man. I love

594
00:25:42,680 --> 00:25:45,199
Speaker 2: turkey hunting. That's probably my favorite thing. And their dar

595
00:25:45,320 --> 00:25:48,679
Speaker 2: near gone and now they've come back. Deer hunting.

596
00:25:48,720 --> 00:25:53,480
Speaker 1: Look at I mean, deer hunting is probably the wildest

597
00:25:53,560 --> 00:25:55,320
Speaker 1: number that you can see. I think the last time

598
00:25:55,320 --> 00:25:59,480
Speaker 1: they did a nationwide survey of the North American white tail,

599
00:25:59,800 --> 00:26:02,199
Speaker 1: and that discounts like mule deer and you know, the

600
00:26:02,240 --> 00:26:06,119
Speaker 1: different species. It was somewhere like thirty seven million. I

601
00:26:06,119 --> 00:26:07,760
Speaker 1: mean the population is wild.

602
00:26:07,800 --> 00:26:11,840
Speaker 2: They've got to be like borderline pests, you know, I

603
00:26:11,840 --> 00:26:15,280
Speaker 2: mean some places. Yeah, I mean it's it's that prolific.

604
00:26:15,600 --> 00:26:19,919
Speaker 2: They're numbers now. And so I think conservation has a

605
00:26:19,920 --> 00:26:21,160
Speaker 2: great story to tell right now.

606
00:26:21,440 --> 00:26:24,639
Speaker 1: What do you think the biggest impact was with Ducks

607
00:26:24,680 --> 00:26:28,760
Speaker 1: Unlimited and with conservation groups on the animals at the time.

608
00:26:29,520 --> 00:26:32,160
Speaker 2: Well, and I think everybody has their own place, right

609
00:26:32,200 --> 00:26:35,840
Speaker 2: And I'm a big believer in just because you're in

610
00:26:35,960 --> 00:26:37,960
Speaker 2: Ducks on Lona doesn't mean you can't be an SCI.

611
00:26:38,080 --> 00:26:40,240
Speaker 2: Doesn't mean you can't be an NTF mean, can't be

612
00:26:40,280 --> 00:26:42,359
Speaker 2: in Turkey's for tomorrow. You know. I think they all

613
00:26:42,560 --> 00:26:45,600
Speaker 2: benefit in their own specific niche and we're not. I

614
00:26:45,640 --> 00:26:48,919
Speaker 2: don't consider ourselves competing. I mean we're technically competing for

615
00:26:48,960 --> 00:26:51,960
Speaker 2: that dollar. Everybody's only got so much money. But I'm

616
00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:54,879
Speaker 2: a member of all of them, and because I believe

617
00:26:54,960 --> 00:26:58,280
Speaker 2: in what SCI is doing to be first for hunters' rights,

618
00:26:58,320 --> 00:27:00,480
Speaker 2: because if they don't have those hunters rights, I can't

619
00:27:00,480 --> 00:27:02,399
Speaker 2: go out. But I also believe in what Ducks on

620
00:27:02,480 --> 00:27:07,520
Speaker 2: Limita is doing is we're the nation's leader in wetlands conservation.

621
00:27:07,920 --> 00:27:10,040
Speaker 2: So it's not just ducks. It's like, do you like

622
00:27:10,119 --> 00:27:13,399
Speaker 2: clean water? You know? Do you? The US Fish and

623
00:27:13,440 --> 00:27:16,119
Speaker 2: Wildlife Service says that that every acre the Ducks on

624
00:27:16,160 --> 00:27:21,399
Speaker 2: Limited conserves helps nine hundred species. That's amazing, And so

625
00:27:21,560 --> 00:27:23,800
Speaker 2: that's a lot more than just ducks. And when we're

626
00:27:23,800 --> 00:27:27,520
Speaker 2: talking about the little you know, parasite or amibas that

627
00:27:27,560 --> 00:27:30,080
Speaker 2: are floating in the water, now your salamanders. Yeah, we're

628
00:27:30,080 --> 00:27:32,240
Speaker 2: talking about the stuff that's floating in the water all

629
00:27:32,240 --> 00:27:34,440
Speaker 2: the way up to the moose that walks across that wetland,

630
00:27:34,760 --> 00:27:35,760
Speaker 2: everything in between.

631
00:27:36,920 --> 00:27:40,520
Speaker 1: Why do you think that there's such a battle with

632
00:27:41,280 --> 00:27:44,560
Speaker 1: people and memberships of different groups. Like you said, people

633
00:27:44,600 --> 00:27:47,760
Speaker 1: will claim sci people will claim Ducks Unlimited or Delta

634
00:27:47,800 --> 00:27:49,000
Speaker 1: waterfowl or anything like that.

635
00:27:49,240 --> 00:27:51,679
Speaker 2: It's just money. I mean, there's only so much that

636
00:27:51,760 --> 00:27:54,119
Speaker 2: it is as status thing. I don't know. I mean

637
00:27:54,119 --> 00:27:56,840
Speaker 2: there's you know, we talk about wallet share, right, there's

638
00:27:56,880 --> 00:27:59,200
Speaker 2: only so and if you open up your wallet, your

639
00:27:59,200 --> 00:28:01,679
Speaker 2: imaginary wallet, but there's an x number of dollars in

640
00:28:01,720 --> 00:28:04,960
Speaker 2: there and x number that you're going to do towards conservation,

641
00:28:05,080 --> 00:28:08,680
Speaker 2: Well you can't, or any charity for that matter, you

642
00:28:09,160 --> 00:28:11,639
Speaker 2: you just can't support everything in the world. And so

643
00:28:12,720 --> 00:28:15,760
Speaker 2: these groups, these NGOs are competing for that wallet share,

644
00:28:16,440 --> 00:28:18,920
Speaker 2: you know. So, and I do think there is some status.

645
00:28:18,960 --> 00:28:23,879
Speaker 2: I think there is some some groups that are that

646
00:28:22,680 --> 00:28:26,159
Speaker 2: are that go bigger than their group, that go bigger

647
00:28:26,160 --> 00:28:28,919
Speaker 2: than their their mission or the organization. It's some of

648
00:28:28,960 --> 00:28:30,920
Speaker 2: them have a very social aspect of them, some of

649
00:28:30,920 --> 00:28:34,320
Speaker 2: them have a very rural aspect to them, some of

650
00:28:34,320 --> 00:28:36,960
Speaker 2: them have a very local aspect, whereas others have a

651
00:28:37,040 --> 00:28:40,760
Speaker 2: very national aspect or international. And so I think it's

652
00:28:40,840 --> 00:28:43,200
Speaker 2: it's finding your right group and your right group of people.

653
00:28:43,280 --> 00:28:45,360
Speaker 1: I'm glad that you said some have this and some

654
00:28:45,480 --> 00:28:47,840
Speaker 1: have that, because I've had a lot of conversations with

655
00:28:47,880 --> 00:28:50,840
Speaker 1: people as a proud member life member of Safari Club

656
00:28:50,880 --> 00:28:54,560
Speaker 1: International and SCI just that alone tells a lot of

657
00:28:54,560 --> 00:28:57,040
Speaker 1: people a lot of different things. When you hear Safari

658
00:28:57,080 --> 00:28:59,880
Speaker 1: Club International, you immediately think, oh, this has got to

659
00:28:59,920 --> 00:29:02,720
Speaker 1: be Safaris in Africa, and they only care about the

660
00:29:02,760 --> 00:29:06,040
Speaker 1: international side. And in my conversations that I've had with

661
00:29:06,120 --> 00:29:10,600
Speaker 1: people in the organization and also members. Their primary focus

662
00:29:10,760 --> 00:29:14,320
Speaker 1: has shifted a little bit to the everyday domestic North

663
00:29:14,360 --> 00:29:20,840
Speaker 1: American hunter because we have the most robust amount of animals,

664
00:29:20,960 --> 00:29:24,640
Speaker 1: we have the most amount of hunting license sold in

665
00:29:24,760 --> 00:29:25,400
Speaker 1: the world.

666
00:29:25,600 --> 00:29:28,880
Speaker 2: Well, and we have our own model that the world interact. Yeah,

667
00:29:28,920 --> 00:29:31,520
Speaker 2: the Western model, you know, the whole North American model

668
00:29:31,600 --> 00:29:34,640
Speaker 2: of conservation is the envy of the world, you know.

669
00:29:34,760 --> 00:29:37,480
Speaker 2: I mean it's we're proving that this stuff works. We're

670
00:29:37,520 --> 00:29:39,360
Speaker 2: proving that when you put limits on there, I mean,

671
00:29:39,400 --> 00:29:44,280
Speaker 2: you do smart, ethical, legal hunting, it benefits the organization,

672
00:29:44,480 --> 00:29:47,640
Speaker 2: that benefits the life, It benefits these herds. And it's

673
00:29:47,720 --> 00:29:52,440
Speaker 2: not everybody thinks there's a big difference between conservation and preservation. Right,

674
00:29:52,800 --> 00:29:55,920
Speaker 2: might actually have worked too well, right, Yeah, we're probably

675
00:29:55,960 --> 00:29:57,520
Speaker 2: a victim of our own success here.

676
00:29:57,560 --> 00:30:00,600
Speaker 1: Because how many videos do you see on social media

677
00:30:00,640 --> 00:30:03,000
Speaker 1: where you see a freaking wild turkey on the top

678
00:30:03,040 --> 00:30:06,520
Speaker 1: of somebody's car in a Walmart parking lot. You're like, hey,

679
00:30:07,480 --> 00:30:10,120
Speaker 1: we probably need to really talk about some of the

680
00:30:10,200 --> 00:30:13,200
Speaker 1: numbers here. But that's been the biggest problem that I

681
00:30:13,280 --> 00:30:15,680
Speaker 1: think all of us have seen. The conservation has worked

682
00:30:15,680 --> 00:30:18,600
Speaker 1: so well, We've conserved a lot of these animal populations,

683
00:30:18,840 --> 00:30:23,320
Speaker 1: we've kept them healthy. You know, obviously CWD and different

684
00:30:23,680 --> 00:30:27,080
Speaker 1: diseases have run rampant in the deer population. Is that

685
00:30:27,160 --> 00:30:31,280
Speaker 1: because a lack of hunters? Is that because we're not

686
00:30:31,360 --> 00:30:34,600
Speaker 1: selling nearly as many licenses as we did twenty five

687
00:30:34,720 --> 00:30:37,760
Speaker 1: thirty years ago. That's obviously been on the decline. We

688
00:30:37,800 --> 00:30:40,520
Speaker 1: saw a slight boost in twenty twenty. Yeah, but we

689
00:30:40,600 --> 00:30:43,080
Speaker 1: went from like four percent to five percent.

690
00:30:43,400 --> 00:30:46,720
Speaker 2: You know. I was at a hunt with Tennessee Wildlife

691
00:30:46,720 --> 00:30:50,040
Speaker 2: Federation at the first part of February, which I want

692
00:30:50,080 --> 00:30:51,720
Speaker 2: to give a shout to them. Those guys are amazing.

693
00:30:51,800 --> 00:30:54,320
Speaker 2: I love what they're doing, and they're all about getting

694
00:30:54,360 --> 00:30:57,040
Speaker 2: that next generation in there. Say all that to back

695
00:30:57,080 --> 00:30:58,880
Speaker 2: it up to say, this was their quote. This is

696
00:30:58,920 --> 00:31:01,040
Speaker 2: their number. I don't I don't know, but they said

697
00:31:01,040 --> 00:31:03,560
Speaker 2: for every ten hunters they're out there today, there's only

698
00:31:03,640 --> 00:31:07,800
Speaker 2: seven to fill their shoes. So I actually thought that

699
00:31:07,840 --> 00:31:10,720
Speaker 2: was a pretty high number. I would have not thought

700
00:31:10,720 --> 00:31:12,400
Speaker 2: it was as high as seven. Yeah, but if ten

701
00:31:12,520 --> 00:31:16,120
Speaker 2: is five percent, yeah, And so it's on the decline,

702
00:31:16,160 --> 00:31:18,400
Speaker 2: there's no doubt about. It's on the clon and I

703
00:31:18,400 --> 00:31:22,560
Speaker 2: think we're spoiled to living in the South, where it's

704
00:31:23,040 --> 00:31:26,320
Speaker 2: so much part of our culture. It's accepted that we

705
00:31:26,480 --> 00:31:30,640
Speaker 2: don't see the decline in numbers that are really there.

706
00:31:31,120 --> 00:31:34,360
Speaker 1: I think we see it, but I think most people

707
00:31:34,480 --> 00:31:37,120
Speaker 1: they hunt with their group, right, Like you and I

708
00:31:37,160 --> 00:31:41,240
Speaker 1: have hunted together. We're friends, and I've hunted with your son,

709
00:31:42,240 --> 00:31:45,000
Speaker 1: so it's kind of like an extended family thing.

710
00:31:45,360 --> 00:31:46,080
Speaker 2: But the majority of.

711
00:31:46,040 --> 00:31:48,560
Speaker 1: People that hunt in the Southeast, they hunt with their

712
00:31:48,600 --> 00:31:51,040
Speaker 1: family and it goes out with his boys or his

713
00:31:51,160 --> 00:31:52,480
Speaker 1: daughter and they hunt.

714
00:31:52,240 --> 00:31:54,960
Speaker 2: And it's a very normal part of conversation, a normal

715
00:31:54,960 --> 00:31:58,600
Speaker 2: part of culture. You just accept it. You just know

716
00:31:58,600 --> 00:32:01,520
Speaker 2: people are gonna hunt. Well, well, I think that's becoming

717
00:32:01,600 --> 00:32:03,479
Speaker 2: less and less in other parts of the country. And

718
00:32:03,520 --> 00:32:04,480
Speaker 2: what have we done.

719
00:32:04,600 --> 00:32:08,000
Speaker 1: We've kind of outpriced ourselves too, you know, like you

720
00:32:08,040 --> 00:32:11,280
Speaker 1: don't have for the family that goes out and hunts,

721
00:32:11,320 --> 00:32:13,960
Speaker 1: they have family land. Let's say they've got eighty acres

722
00:32:14,000 --> 00:32:15,640
Speaker 1: and they can go and they can hunt deer in

723
00:32:15,680 --> 00:32:18,000
Speaker 1: Turkey whenever they want. Maybe they have a small pond

724
00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:20,360
Speaker 1: where they get some puddle ducks and stuff like that.

725
00:32:20,480 --> 00:32:24,160
Speaker 1: But it's almost like going to some outfitters because you

726
00:32:24,200 --> 00:32:28,760
Speaker 1: don't have access to land. Has gotten so outrageously expensive

727
00:32:28,840 --> 00:32:33,440
Speaker 1: leases for deer land have gotten so outrageously expensive it has.

728
00:32:33,520 --> 00:32:36,760
Speaker 2: And that's really why I love people I just talked

729
00:32:36,800 --> 00:32:40,360
Speaker 2: about Tennessee Wildlife Federation. I love groups like them because

730
00:32:40,400 --> 00:32:45,000
Speaker 2: they are all about taking the next generation. Whether when

731
00:32:45,040 --> 00:32:47,760
Speaker 2: I say next generation, I don't necessarily mean age wise,

732
00:32:47,840 --> 00:32:50,760
Speaker 2: I mean just the next group. So they take adults,

733
00:32:51,000 --> 00:32:53,160
Speaker 2: they do education for groats. But one of the things

734
00:32:53,160 --> 00:32:56,200
Speaker 2: they do is they leverage both private land and public land.

735
00:32:56,240 --> 00:32:58,680
Speaker 2: They show you I've been on two rabbit hunts with

736
00:32:58,720 --> 00:33:02,080
Speaker 2: them with my son and and they take us to

737
00:33:02,280 --> 00:33:07,520
Speaker 2: a wa and so they show you, hey, there's it's

738
00:33:07,600 --> 00:33:09,640
Speaker 2: there's access, it's out there. And because I think that's

739
00:33:09,680 --> 00:33:12,160
Speaker 2: a lot of the learning curve too, is the education

740
00:33:12,240 --> 00:33:15,040
Speaker 2: of knowing where can I even go? Because if you

741
00:33:15,160 --> 00:33:18,720
Speaker 2: just take somebody who's a typical non hunter today right

742
00:33:18,960 --> 00:33:20,960
Speaker 2: and said do you want to go hunting? Man, that's

743
00:33:20,960 --> 00:33:24,720
Speaker 2: an expensive bite to you to say. So you go

744
00:33:24,800 --> 00:33:26,640
Speaker 2: through these groups like that where they can take you

745
00:33:26,680 --> 00:33:29,200
Speaker 2: on and give you an opportunity to go out to

746
00:33:29,600 --> 00:33:32,440
Speaker 2: show you where to go, as opposed to well go

747
00:33:32,880 --> 00:33:35,520
Speaker 2: spend a couple thousand dollars go to drive nine hours

748
00:33:35,520 --> 00:33:38,680
Speaker 2: to an outfitter and hope for the best. That's why

749
00:33:38,720 --> 00:33:39,760
Speaker 2: I love groups like them.

750
00:33:40,080 --> 00:33:42,400
Speaker 1: I'm glad that you brought up the age thing because

751
00:33:42,400 --> 00:33:46,040
Speaker 1: with Georgia Sci which is the organization the chapter that

752
00:33:46,080 --> 00:33:48,880
Speaker 1: I got involved with right off the bat, they did

753
00:33:48,880 --> 00:33:52,200
Speaker 1: a first time hunters where it didn't matter. I mean,

754
00:33:52,200 --> 00:33:54,520
Speaker 1: we had a guy that was sixty seven years old

755
00:33:54,560 --> 00:33:56,760
Speaker 1: and we had a woman who was twenty eight years old,

756
00:33:57,120 --> 00:33:59,000
Speaker 1: and they wanted to hunt for the very first time.

757
00:33:59,600 --> 00:34:03,000
Speaker 1: And success in the field is a big deal. That's

758
00:34:03,040 --> 00:34:06,640
Speaker 1: a big way to hook somebody back, and deer hunting

759
00:34:06,960 --> 00:34:09,200
Speaker 1: it can be a little difficult. You know, not everybody

760
00:34:09,280 --> 00:34:11,839
Speaker 1: is going to see that giant one point fifty eight

761
00:34:11,880 --> 00:34:15,000
Speaker 1: pointer come walking out of the woods and have the success.

762
00:34:15,880 --> 00:34:19,040
Speaker 1: But that's also a fallacy that we've kind of put

763
00:34:19,040 --> 00:34:21,520
Speaker 1: in the hunting world. Sometimes you just need to knock

764
00:34:21,560 --> 00:34:24,319
Speaker 1: a dough down, yoh man. Sometimes you just need the

765
00:34:24,360 --> 00:34:26,920
Speaker 1: opportunity to know what it's like and then have that

766
00:34:26,960 --> 00:34:29,919
Speaker 1: connection with an animal that you just took that would

767
00:34:29,960 --> 00:34:35,800
Speaker 1: give you a chance to then see hunting in a

768
00:34:35,880 --> 00:34:38,880
Speaker 1: much different way. You know, when I took Davis hunting,

769
00:34:39,480 --> 00:34:42,799
Speaker 1: he had an opportunity at two domes and the first

770
00:34:42,840 --> 00:34:43,759
Speaker 1: one he rushed his shot.

771
00:34:43,800 --> 00:34:45,080
Speaker 2: He was nervous, shot over top.

772
00:34:45,640 --> 00:34:48,400
Speaker 1: Second one he said he was comfortable and he squeezed

773
00:34:48,400 --> 00:34:51,680
Speaker 1: the trigger and he missed. And when we had a conversation,

774
00:34:52,320 --> 00:34:54,319
Speaker 1: part of me I never explained this to him, but

775
00:34:54,960 --> 00:34:57,560
Speaker 1: part of me felt terrible because I'm like, did I

776
00:34:57,640 --> 00:35:00,840
Speaker 1: not get him in a right situation to pull that trigger?

777
00:35:01,080 --> 00:35:02,759
Speaker 1: And as much as you can do as a parent,

778
00:35:02,800 --> 00:35:04,160
Speaker 1: as much as you can do as a friend or

779
00:35:04,160 --> 00:35:07,160
Speaker 1: a mentor or somebody that you're hunt with, you can

780
00:35:07,239 --> 00:35:09,040
Speaker 1: only do so much when they pull the trigger.

781
00:35:09,120 --> 00:35:09,720
Speaker 2: It's different.

782
00:35:09,840 --> 00:35:11,920
Speaker 1: But he and I had a conversation where I just

783
00:35:12,120 --> 00:35:14,200
Speaker 1: shared with him, like what happened?

784
00:35:14,280 --> 00:35:15,160
Speaker 2: Are you? Are you good?

785
00:35:15,760 --> 00:35:19,560
Speaker 1: And he told me straight up, I was nervous, but

786
00:35:19,680 --> 00:35:22,080
Speaker 1: he had the excitement to want to go back out

787
00:35:22,120 --> 00:35:24,600
Speaker 1: the next time. And then once the season was over,

788
00:35:25,560 --> 00:35:27,560
Speaker 1: you know, you called me the next year and you're like, hey,

789
00:35:27,560 --> 00:35:28,960
Speaker 1: I'm going to send you a picture, and you send

790
00:35:28,960 --> 00:35:31,160
Speaker 1: me a picture of Davis with a dode out And

791
00:35:31,680 --> 00:35:35,200
Speaker 1: I was so ecstatic for him because I know that

792
00:35:35,280 --> 00:35:38,200
Speaker 1: he's stuck with something, even though he faced some adversity

793
00:35:38,280 --> 00:35:39,600
Speaker 1: the first couple times out.

794
00:35:39,520 --> 00:35:41,520
Speaker 2: And that's good. I mean, and that's what I tell

795
00:35:41,560 --> 00:35:44,439
Speaker 2: people when I take him hunting, it's it's missing. It's

796
00:35:44,480 --> 00:35:46,719
Speaker 2: all part of it, not seeing, and he's all part

797
00:35:46,719 --> 00:35:50,759
Speaker 2: of it. It's like that, you know, sword sharpening. You

798
00:35:50,880 --> 00:35:53,439
Speaker 2: gotta keep doing it. You've got to understand that it's

799
00:35:53,480 --> 00:35:56,000
Speaker 2: not just going out. You know. The joke is it's

800
00:35:56,000 --> 00:35:58,839
Speaker 2: not called shooting, just called hunting, you know. So I mean,

801
00:35:58,840 --> 00:36:02,719
Speaker 2: it's it's one of those things where he could he

802
00:36:02,960 --> 00:36:04,480
Speaker 2: may not have hit that though that I sent you

803
00:36:04,520 --> 00:36:06,480
Speaker 2: the picture of had he not gone out with you

804
00:36:06,560 --> 00:36:09,480
Speaker 2: before and gotten those nerves out and gotten to see

805
00:36:09,480 --> 00:36:12,319
Speaker 2: what it's like. And so don't lose any sleep over it.

806
00:36:12,320 --> 00:36:14,800
Speaker 2: He's a if it had a mother, he wants to

807
00:36:14,840 --> 00:36:16,160
Speaker 2: hunt it now. So let me tell you.

808
00:36:16,160 --> 00:36:18,359
Speaker 1: I know that he's going to be a lifelong runner,

809
00:36:18,480 --> 00:36:21,600
Speaker 1: and he's exactly who people need. I just wish that

810
00:36:21,680 --> 00:36:24,919
Speaker 1: we were, you know, organizations and people were a little

811
00:36:24,920 --> 00:36:26,640
Speaker 1: more focused on we just need to get people out

812
00:36:26,640 --> 00:36:29,719
Speaker 1: in the woods, right because access is a big deal.

813
00:36:29,840 --> 00:36:32,480
Speaker 2: Access is a huge deal, and I've kind of adopted

814
00:36:32,520 --> 00:36:34,280
Speaker 2: a thing where I like to take as many people

815
00:36:34,280 --> 00:36:37,960
Speaker 2: as I can. However, I've you know, I know you

816
00:36:38,000 --> 00:36:40,319
Speaker 2: and I objeked about this several times and talked about it.

817
00:36:40,360 --> 00:36:42,759
Speaker 2: But I mean, turkey is my thing, that's what I love.

818
00:36:43,280 --> 00:36:45,839
Speaker 2: But I don't I don't ask people to go turkey

819
00:36:45,920 --> 00:36:51,480
Speaker 2: hunt with me because I know, well, because well, I

820
00:36:51,719 --> 00:36:54,680
Speaker 2: take people if they ask me, but I don't take.

821
00:36:54,800 --> 00:36:57,160
Speaker 2: I don't say, hey, let's go turkey hunting because turkey

822
00:36:57,200 --> 00:36:59,040
Speaker 2: hunt is special? Can we go turkey hunt? I knew,

823
00:36:59,040 --> 00:37:00,880
Speaker 2: I knew it was gonna come up. I told my

824
00:37:00,920 --> 00:37:03,879
Speaker 2: wife coming over, He's like, he's gonna, he's gonna, he's

825
00:37:03,920 --> 00:37:05,719
Speaker 2: gonna corner me. He's gonna put me on the air

826
00:37:06,320 --> 00:37:09,399
Speaker 2: and say you gotta take me. But but that's the thing.

827
00:37:09,840 --> 00:37:12,480
Speaker 2: It's my point to that is I want people to

828
00:37:12,560 --> 00:37:15,120
Speaker 2: have success, and turkeyn is not successful all the time.

829
00:37:15,200 --> 00:37:17,400
Speaker 2: And turkey ning is sitting under a tree and hoping

830
00:37:17,480 --> 00:37:20,080
Speaker 2: to hear a sound and and you don't always hear it.

831
00:37:20,120 --> 00:37:23,000
Speaker 2: And that's what I could see how people if that's

832
00:37:23,040 --> 00:37:25,840
Speaker 2: the first opportunity they have out in the woods, I

833
00:37:25,920 --> 00:37:27,399
Speaker 2: may not want to do it. But don't you think

834
00:37:27,400 --> 00:37:32,920
Speaker 2: your definition of success is off? Okay harvest? Yeah I

835
00:37:32,960 --> 00:37:34,920
Speaker 2: would say that, Yeah, I used to.

836
00:37:35,360 --> 00:37:37,399
Speaker 1: I think there's so much I think there's so much

837
00:37:37,440 --> 00:37:40,240
Speaker 1: success that you get from just being out in the woods.

838
00:37:40,600 --> 00:37:44,080
Speaker 1: Like if you increase a friendship with somebody and you

839
00:37:44,160 --> 00:37:47,120
Speaker 1: really start to understand their patterns when they hunt. If

840
00:37:47,160 --> 00:37:50,200
Speaker 1: you were blowing a duck call and you were practicing

841
00:37:50,200 --> 00:37:51,840
Speaker 1: the whole way out to the lodge and you couldn't

842
00:37:51,840 --> 00:37:53,560
Speaker 1: get it, and then all of a sudden one has like, hey,

843
00:37:54,040 --> 00:37:56,920
Speaker 1: do tukatuka and look like you're spinning into a bottle,

844
00:37:57,160 --> 00:37:58,560
Speaker 1: and then all of a sudden you start to get it.

845
00:37:58,600 --> 00:38:01,600
Speaker 1: Like there is a level of success that everybody obtains,

846
00:38:01,640 --> 00:38:04,520
Speaker 1: but you're right harvest and being able to take something.

847
00:38:06,040 --> 00:38:09,200
Speaker 2: It's not easy even in close shots right right. You know.

848
00:38:09,239 --> 00:38:11,759
Speaker 2: I had a turkey hunt last year where.

849
00:38:13,080 --> 00:38:16,280
Speaker 1: We got out in the woods forty five minutes before

850
00:38:17,120 --> 00:38:20,720
Speaker 1: and we're sitting there and we're waiting to hear these birds,

851
00:38:20,760 --> 00:38:24,600
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden, a torrential downpour comes and

852
00:38:24,640 --> 00:38:27,160
Speaker 1: we're getting soaked, and I looked at my buddy that

853
00:38:27,200 --> 00:38:28,400
Speaker 1: I was hunting with, and I go, look, we.

854
00:38:28,440 --> 00:38:29,240
Speaker 2: Got two choices.

855
00:38:29,640 --> 00:38:32,480
Speaker 1: We can either sit here and get soaked and hope

856
00:38:32,480 --> 00:38:35,520
Speaker 1: that this rain lets up, or we can walk back

857
00:38:35,520 --> 00:38:37,200
Speaker 1: to the truck. We can sit in the truck and

858
00:38:37,200 --> 00:38:38,719
Speaker 1: we can try to wait out the rain and then

859
00:38:38,800 --> 00:38:41,360
Speaker 1: come back in. And he was like, what do you

860
00:38:41,440 --> 00:38:43,040
Speaker 1: want to do? And I said, I think it's going

861
00:38:43,120 --> 00:38:44,640
Speaker 1: to let up, and I don't want to walk all

862
00:38:44,680 --> 00:38:46,680
Speaker 1: the way back to the truck. And then we get

863
00:38:46,680 --> 00:38:49,319
Speaker 1: there and the sun peeks out and it's beautiful. I said,

864
00:38:49,360 --> 00:38:52,080
Speaker 1: so I'd rather stay and get soaked. Literally, I was

865
00:38:52,080 --> 00:38:55,160
Speaker 1: happy I made that choice. Five minutes later, the rain stops.

866
00:38:54,840 --> 00:38:57,320
Speaker 1: It's almost like God turned off the faucet, you know

867
00:38:57,360 --> 00:38:59,560
Speaker 1: what I mean. Yeah, sun comes out, and then I

868
00:38:59,640 --> 00:39:04,479
Speaker 1: hear just and I'm like, oh, one's coming. I call,

869
00:39:04,719 --> 00:39:07,320
Speaker 1: but I don't hear anything. A couple of minutes later,

870
00:39:08,040 --> 00:39:10,520
Speaker 1: out of the corner of my eye, I see the decoys.

871
00:39:11,040 --> 00:39:15,240
Speaker 1: I see this tom come rushing in and I'm looking

872
00:39:15,360 --> 00:39:18,040
Speaker 1: kind of the other way. So I swing my gun

873
00:39:18,080 --> 00:39:19,839
Speaker 1: over and I put it up. I'm using a red

874
00:39:19,880 --> 00:39:22,839
Speaker 1: dot for the very first time. I'm shooting TSS out

875
00:39:22,840 --> 00:39:27,279
Speaker 1: of a short barrel Mossberg. I'm like, hm, I'm not

876
00:39:27,480 --> 00:39:30,400
Speaker 1: one hundred percent confident because it's not it's gonna be

877
00:39:30,440 --> 00:39:33,520
Speaker 1: my first trigger pull on any animal with this new gun.

878
00:39:33,840 --> 00:39:36,760
Speaker 1: I pulled the trigger. I shot over his head fifteen yards,

879
00:39:36,920 --> 00:39:39,839
Speaker 1: he goes up in the air, it automatically reloads. I

880
00:39:39,880 --> 00:39:43,400
Speaker 1: pull again, miss pull again. I mean it was a disaster,

881
00:39:43,920 --> 00:39:47,200
Speaker 1: but I learned in that minute. The success for me

882
00:39:47,680 --> 00:39:53,040
Speaker 1: was don't second guess yourself. Yeah, stay put, wait to

883
00:39:53,080 --> 00:39:54,680
Speaker 1: see what develops.

884
00:39:54,200 --> 00:39:56,640
Speaker 2: And then go from there. I think you know the

885
00:39:56,640 --> 00:39:59,040
Speaker 2: guy that I turkey hunt with at my mentor, and

886
00:39:59,080 --> 00:40:02,120
Speaker 2: we've hund together every year for the last eleven years

887
00:40:02,200 --> 00:40:06,560
Speaker 2: open the weekend, Gary, and I've learned a lot from him,

888
00:40:06,600 --> 00:40:09,319
Speaker 2: And probably the biggest thing I've learned from him is

889
00:40:09,360 --> 00:40:12,640
Speaker 2: to just sit five more minutes. Is whenever you think

890
00:40:12,680 --> 00:40:15,479
Speaker 2: you've said as long as you possibly can sit five

891
00:40:15,480 --> 00:40:18,960
Speaker 2: more minutes, sit fifteen more minutes. And you'll be amazed

892
00:40:18,960 --> 00:40:22,160
Speaker 2: at what happens in those fifteen minutes, because I've had

893
00:40:22,200 --> 00:40:24,960
Speaker 2: several stories like that where you know, if I'd gotten

894
00:40:25,000 --> 00:40:27,799
Speaker 2: up and left, they were probably just right around the corner.

895
00:40:27,840 --> 00:40:30,920
Speaker 2: And now, just because you just can't be dependent on

896
00:40:31,320 --> 00:40:34,360
Speaker 2: your senses, You've got to be dependent on your scouting

897
00:40:34,600 --> 00:40:37,200
Speaker 2: and your knowledge and your experiences, not just what you

898
00:40:37,280 --> 00:40:37,879
Speaker 2: see or hear.

899
00:40:38,040 --> 00:40:41,000
Speaker 1: That's such a valid thing to say about life in general. Anyway,

900
00:40:41,239 --> 00:40:43,839
Speaker 1: you know less about hunting, and it's more about, hey,

901
00:40:44,680 --> 00:40:47,760
Speaker 1: just give it some time. You know, people are always

902
00:40:47,800 --> 00:40:50,279
Speaker 1: trying to rush to success as fast as they can,

903
00:40:50,320 --> 00:40:53,160
Speaker 1: and sometimes the best thing that you learn and the

904
00:40:53,160 --> 00:40:56,560
Speaker 1: most success that you learn is through the actual story

905
00:40:56,600 --> 00:40:57,160
Speaker 1: of waiting.

906
00:40:57,280 --> 00:40:59,279
Speaker 2: Well, and what's the point. That's what you're there for?

907
00:40:59,480 --> 00:41:01,319
Speaker 2: Where you go? Where are you going to rush to leave?

908
00:41:01,680 --> 00:41:03,879
Speaker 2: Like you built this up. You spent the whole time

909
00:41:04,400 --> 00:41:08,640
Speaker 2: to block off your morning to go, well, be there,

910
00:41:08,760 --> 00:41:11,839
Speaker 2: be present, take part of that hunt, Be in that moment.

911
00:41:11,880 --> 00:41:13,359
Speaker 2: Don't be thinking well I should get up and go

912
00:41:13,400 --> 00:41:15,880
Speaker 2: and go somewhere else. Why where are you gonna go?

913
00:41:16,040 --> 00:41:17,920
Speaker 1: One of my favorite things whenever you and I get

914
00:41:17,960 --> 00:41:19,759
Speaker 1: to talk is we get to relive some of these

915
00:41:19,760 --> 00:41:22,799
Speaker 1: incredible stories, and you know, they're the fabric that kind

916
00:41:22,800 --> 00:41:26,720
Speaker 1: of binds us all together. But you've been a lifelong conservationist,

917
00:41:26,920 --> 00:41:29,719
Speaker 1: definitely a friend of the outdoors, and I just I

918
00:41:29,800 --> 00:41:32,400
Speaker 1: love your vantage point on what hunting is like and

919
00:41:33,000 --> 00:41:35,200
Speaker 1: how that always kind of ties back to life. But

920
00:41:35,719 --> 00:41:38,720
Speaker 1: Jeff Barnes, who's a part of Ducks Unlimited numerous other groups,

921
00:41:38,719 --> 00:41:39,799
Speaker 1: thanks so much for being here.