WEBVTT - Ep. 254: Render - "Akern Rain" at Bear Camp 0:00:14.680 --> 0:00:17.239 My name is Clay Neukleman. This is a production of 0:00:17.280 --> 0:00:21.400 the Bear Grease podcast called The Bear Grease Render, where 0:00:21.440 --> 0:00:25.760 we render down, dive deeper, and look behind the scenes 0:00:26.079 --> 0:00:30.600 of the actual bear Grease podcast, presented by f h 0:00:30.800 --> 0:00:35.360 F Gear, American Maid, purpose built hunting and fishing gear 0:00:35.600 --> 0:00:38.559 that's designed to be as rugged as the place as 0:00:38.600 --> 0:00:46.680 we explore. Welcome to the Bear Grease Render. We are 0:00:47.080 --> 0:00:52.800 we're on assignment on assignment from really the Good Lord, 0:00:53.159 --> 0:01:00.440 but also a Gary Gerald Brewer. We're on assignment. We're 0:01:00.440 --> 0:01:05.320 at uh, we're at our bear camp and we've we've 0:01:05.360 --> 0:01:07.760 completed the bear camp for this year. Bear season is 0:01:07.760 --> 0:01:10.959 still going. They should close the bear season after our 0:01:11.000 --> 0:01:13.800 bear camp is done. Yeah, it should just be like, hey, 0:01:13.920 --> 0:01:18.399 y'all done, Yeah, Okay, season's over. Shut down that that's 0:01:18.440 --> 0:01:20.959 not a good idea. But did it before we started? 0:01:21.920 --> 0:01:23.800 What's that? So they kind of shut it down before 0:01:23.800 --> 0:01:29.600 we start? Mother Nature We're gonna So it's great, great 0:01:29.600 --> 0:01:31.440 to be out in the wild today. We're at our 0:01:31.680 --> 0:01:34.680 We're at our camp here in Arkansas. I have a 0:01:35.880 --> 0:01:38.600 great guest, a great group of people here with me. 0:01:38.760 --> 0:01:43.919 Josh Lambridge Spilmmaker. Hello, Brent reeves bear, John Newcomb here, 0:01:44.360 --> 0:01:47.720 and we've got you've been on the podcast before, but 0:01:47.800 --> 0:01:51.080 this is Anthony Ballard from Mississippi. 0:01:50.920 --> 0:01:52.360 In a in a different capacity. 0:01:53.120 --> 0:01:56.120 Yeah, well, but you're still the bear biologist from Mississippi. 0:01:56.200 --> 0:02:00.280 Well it's not Spencer. We gotta get y'all mixed up 0:02:00.520 --> 0:02:01.960 that well, expert. 0:02:01.960 --> 0:02:05.880 There's there's some I wonder about the intentionality of that. Yeah, 0:02:06.760 --> 0:02:09.880 there's some stories. I'm just intern anyway. Yeah, well most 0:02:09.919 --> 0:02:12.520 of your mom Yeah, that's true, added to some confusion. 0:02:12.800 --> 0:02:15.200 Oh, we gotta tell that story. Okay, So this is 0:02:15.240 --> 0:02:19.880 Anthony Ballard. He does work for the Mississippi Department of 0:02:20.760 --> 0:02:21.799 How did they say, what's. 0:02:21.680 --> 0:02:25.600 Their md WFP Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks. 0:02:25.680 --> 0:02:26.280 It's a bad one. 0:02:26.320 --> 0:02:27.720 That acronym is too much to. 0:02:27.680 --> 0:02:29.720 Say, it is. Yeah, when I'm on the phone, I 0:02:29.760 --> 0:02:32.760 just say Wildlife and Fisheries because it's just that's what 0:02:32.919 --> 0:02:34.520 your maleean. It's cumbersome. 0:02:34.639 --> 0:02:40.840 Yeah. And then we have uh, Spencer Daniels, the intern. 0:02:41.040 --> 0:02:41.840 Yep, the intern. 0:02:42.800 --> 0:02:45.079 I'm a graduate student of Mississippi State on the bear 0:02:45.160 --> 0:02:48.760 project and Anthony worked together a lot and uh yeah, 0:02:49.160 --> 0:02:51.080 just get my master's there and kind of working on 0:02:51.120 --> 0:02:51.560 bear stuff. 0:02:51.680 --> 0:02:52.600 I do my thesis. 0:02:52.800 --> 0:02:56.280 Yeah. So the other morning, we were up real early, 0:02:56.360 --> 0:02:58.680 and Spencer wasn't up as early as us. He didn't 0:02:58.720 --> 0:03:00.880 have to go as far as they were sleeping in 0:03:00.919 --> 0:03:04.079 an extra hour and we were like creeping around downstairs 0:03:04.440 --> 0:03:07.079 making you know, like making sandwiches in the dark and 0:03:07.280 --> 0:03:11.240 being real quiet. And I said, Anthony, I said, is 0:03:11.280 --> 0:03:14.480 Spencer the only one a sleep up there? And he 0:03:14.560 --> 0:03:17.120 was like yeah, And I was like, he's just an intern. 0:03:17.240 --> 0:03:21.720 I flipped on the lights. About ten minutes later, he 0:03:21.760 --> 0:03:25.240 comes walking down and he goes, yeah, I was just it. 0:03:25.320 --> 0:03:25.800 He heard me. 0:03:27.360 --> 0:03:29.919 You apologized if you woke me up, and I said, 0:03:29.960 --> 0:03:30.560 don't worry about it. 0:03:30.560 --> 0:03:31.200 I'm just an intern. 0:03:34.720 --> 0:03:38.600 Okay, So tell the story about your mother meeting someone 0:03:38.640 --> 0:03:39.240 in the airport. 0:03:39.480 --> 0:03:43.400 Yeah, a little background first. Brent put out a video 0:03:43.400 --> 0:03:45.520 when y'all came down to do din checks with us, 0:03:45.600 --> 0:03:47.960 and he kind of introduced the video saying, y'all are 0:03:48.000 --> 0:03:51.440 down here with bear biologists Spencer Daniels and Anthony Ballard, 0:03:51.880 --> 0:03:54.360 and we joked about it for a while because technically 0:03:54.360 --> 0:03:56.760 I'm not a bar biologist. I'm a wildlife biologist that 0:03:56.920 --> 0:03:59.640 researches bears for my graduate stuff right now. You know, 0:04:00.200 --> 0:04:02.280 then i'd say something and say trust me, I'm a 0:04:02.280 --> 0:04:05.480 bar bolog just that kind of thing. But uh, that's 0:04:05.560 --> 0:04:08.480 kind of the setup for it. My parents went on 0:04:08.640 --> 0:04:13.240 their anniversary trip up to Mackinaw Island and they stopped 0:04:13.280 --> 0:04:14.200 over in Michigan. 0:04:14.280 --> 0:04:16.480 I forget the name of the airport, but they. 0:04:16.360 --> 0:04:19.240 Stopped over there and my mom's at the counter and 0:04:19.279 --> 0:04:22.799 she hears this voice that she recognized and she turns 0:04:22.839 --> 0:04:26.400 around and there's Steve Vanilla standing there talking on the phone, 0:04:26.960 --> 0:04:29.160 and she like freaks out and goes, call. 0:04:29.200 --> 0:04:30.880 Your mom would have recognized Stephennilli. 0:04:31.040 --> 0:04:34.560 Yeah, yeah, yeah, we watched Meat Eater and you know 0:04:34.680 --> 0:04:36.480 all that stuff at the house, y'all. Yeah, pretty much 0:04:36.480 --> 0:04:39.240 household names. But yeah, anyway, she goes and grabs my 0:04:39.279 --> 0:04:40.920 dad and it's like there's Steveniller right over there. 0:04:41.640 --> 0:04:41.760 You know. 0:04:41.920 --> 0:04:43.599 They waited around, wait around for him to get off 0:04:43.640 --> 0:04:45.440 the phone, and he starts to pack up like they're 0:04:45.440 --> 0:04:47.640 about to walk out, and hangs up the phone about 0:04:47.640 --> 0:04:50.159 at the same time, and so she's just she just 0:04:50.160 --> 0:04:53.239 stops him and says Steve, and he kind of turns 0:04:53.240 --> 0:04:56.000 and looks at her and it's like, excuse me, Like 0:04:56.000 --> 0:04:58.800 there's some strange lady just trying to stop Steve Rnell 0:04:58.839 --> 0:04:59.400 at the airport. 0:04:59.440 --> 0:05:01.120 But so he's just think, I'm sorry. 0:05:01.880 --> 0:05:04.480 Uh, you know, she does the proud mom thing, talks 0:05:04.480 --> 0:05:07.360 about me, and eventually she gets around to saying he's 0:05:07.400 --> 0:05:14.080 the the bear bologist in Mississippi. So Steve Vernell apparently 0:05:14.080 --> 0:05:16.320 thinks some of the bear bologists Mississippi but. 0:05:16.720 --> 0:05:17.599 And your mom does. 0:05:17.839 --> 0:05:21.360 Yeah, apparently, then did she tell didn't she tell him 0:05:21.400 --> 0:05:22.920 that you were coming hunting with us? 0:05:23.200 --> 0:05:23.560 Yeah? 0:05:23.760 --> 0:05:26.360 They kind of mentioned that, and that's when he kind of, 0:05:26.600 --> 0:05:28.360 you know, he was he was cool with him, hung 0:05:28.360 --> 0:05:29.839 out and took some pictures and stuff. 0:05:30.000 --> 0:05:32.800 Oh cool, yeah, x U s see, Steve, he'll be 0:05:32.880 --> 0:05:35.640 like I asked all you were with that bear biologist 0:05:35.800 --> 0:05:39.400 that main bearp will be like Anthony and he's. 0:05:40.960 --> 0:05:43.599 Well, my mom swears that his follow up question was 0:05:43.600 --> 0:05:44.840 how long has he been in that position? 0:05:47.040 --> 0:05:48.800 But my dad said he never did, so I don't know. 0:05:48.920 --> 0:05:49.960 I can't get that straight. 0:05:50.560 --> 0:05:54.520 That's funny, that's funny. Well, you guys have been bear 0:05:54.600 --> 0:05:59.320 hunting with us, and this was your Well, okay, we're 0:05:59.320 --> 0:06:02.120 gonna on the bear Grease Render if you're if you're new, 0:06:02.880 --> 0:06:07.280 we we talk about the past week's podcast. Every two 0:06:07.360 --> 0:06:09.680 weeks we come out with what we really call the 0:06:09.680 --> 0:06:14.920 Bear Grease Podcast, which is a documentary style podcast. Then 0:06:14.960 --> 0:06:17.040 the Renders and we just gather up a bunch of 0:06:17.080 --> 0:06:19.080 folks and we talk about that this is gonna be 0:06:19.080 --> 0:06:23.000 a little bit different. We're gonna end this week's episode 0:06:23.040 --> 0:06:25.520 with talking about bear Camp. Is that okay with y'all? 0:06:26.000 --> 0:06:28.359 It makes sense because I think I think if we 0:06:28.400 --> 0:06:30.240 get to talk about bear Camp, we're not gonna want 0:06:30.240 --> 0:06:34.280 to come back to Deer Stories. So this last week 0:06:35.120 --> 0:06:38.919 we we did our annual Deer Stories episodes, which is 0:06:38.920 --> 0:06:41.800 one of my favorites. I hear a lot of people 0:06:41.920 --> 0:06:44.360 say that it's some of their favorite podcasts of the 0:06:44.440 --> 0:06:48.600 year because it's it's a collection of stories. This this episode, 0:06:48.640 --> 0:06:51.839 I think had five stories. Usually we have six or seven. 0:06:51.960 --> 0:06:56.440 All of them were kind of longer this time. And 0:06:56.440 --> 0:07:02.240 and we're doing another interesting thing is hu a week 0:07:02.279 --> 0:07:05.000 from now will be meat Eater's White Tail Week YEP, 0:07:05.120 --> 0:07:07.479 which is gonna there's gonna be a ton of sales 0:07:07.480 --> 0:07:11.440 on First Light all the deer hunting gear, Phelps game calls, 0:07:11.480 --> 0:07:14.920 you can get your Acorn Pro two grunner. So there's 0:07:15.000 --> 0:07:18.280 a lot of sales and stuff that's connected to Whitetail Week, 0:07:18.360 --> 0:07:22.520 but that's not what we're really talking about. We're talking 0:07:22.520 --> 0:07:27.560 about deer stories. There were multiple really good ones. What 0:07:27.680 --> 0:07:33.840 was what was y'all's favorite story? Favorite? 0:07:34.520 --> 0:07:35.960 Yeah, it's like the elephant in the room. 0:07:36.000 --> 0:07:39.720 Everybody's got everybody's got the gonna have the same favorite, 0:07:40.280 --> 0:07:42.000 and I think we should talk about that one last 0:07:42.160 --> 0:07:42.600 before week. 0:07:42.720 --> 0:07:45.920 Okay, what was your second favorite story? I like Lake's 0:07:46.160 --> 0:07:48.560 Lake Pickle story. Yep, really yeah. 0:07:49.040 --> 0:07:52.160 The you know, I'm crazy about nostalgia and history and 0:07:52.240 --> 0:07:55.920 family legacy and all that kind of stuff, and story 0:07:56.000 --> 0:07:58.800 him taking that deer on his grandfather's land. 0:07:58.840 --> 0:08:01.960 I think it was his grandfather other daddy Dole. 0:08:02.480 --> 0:08:05.520 Yeah, I think that that that really resonated with me 0:08:05.600 --> 0:08:09.880 because everything you know, from pocket knives to shotguns to 0:08:10.480 --> 0:08:13.760 even lineage of dogs in my family has always been 0:08:13.800 --> 0:08:14.400 so important. 0:08:14.400 --> 0:08:14.920 And I really. 0:08:14.800 --> 0:08:18.080 Identified with with how Lake felt and the way he 0:08:18.160 --> 0:08:20.760 described the feeling of taking that deer, and how proud 0:08:20.840 --> 0:08:23.120 his grandfather and grandmother would have been of him. 0:08:23.360 --> 0:08:26.840 It was I really liked it. He did a good 0:08:26.880 --> 0:08:28.560 job telling the story too. Yeah, very good. 0:08:29.320 --> 0:08:33.280 Yeah, like, okay, I really I really like Lakes two. 0:08:33.480 --> 0:08:35.679 I think I think first of all, likes a great storytelling. 0:08:35.720 --> 0:08:37.600 Don't give you don't get late too much credit. 0:08:37.720 --> 0:08:40.199 Sorry, like we don't even like it. 0:08:40.600 --> 0:08:44.280 I mean you like Pickle loucked into a decent story. 0:08:45.120 --> 0:08:48.680 Okay, looked into a decent buck. Andy. 0:08:50.960 --> 0:08:53.920 Did you know Anthony lives within walking distance like Pickle up. 0:08:54.200 --> 0:08:56.640 Right around the corner yep, rough neighborhood. 0:08:56.760 --> 0:08:58.520 I like that. 0:08:58.920 --> 0:09:02.160 I love the unusual thing of him walking through the 0:09:02.200 --> 0:09:03.200 grass and crinting. 0:09:04.679 --> 0:09:04.839 Good. 0:09:05.000 --> 0:09:07.280 I never never thought to even try that if I 0:09:07.320 --> 0:09:08.120 was in that situation. 0:09:08.360 --> 0:09:14.480 It worked. Yep, A good calling sequence. What I hear? 0:09:15.120 --> 0:09:15.600 That's a crow? 0:09:15.800 --> 0:09:16.120 A crow? 0:09:17.400 --> 0:09:21.560 No, it's like coming in and out. Oh it's all right? 0:09:22.240 --> 0:09:22.400 Uh? 0:09:22.880 --> 0:09:26.680 What well? What was your favorite story? The second favorite story? 0:09:26.800 --> 0:09:27.000 Was it? 0:09:27.040 --> 0:09:27.319 Like? 0:09:27.640 --> 0:09:28.040 For real? 0:09:28.160 --> 0:09:28.360 Yeah? 0:09:28.600 --> 0:09:31.040 I like you guys didn't like the bear story? 0:09:31.120 --> 0:09:33.760 That's what that was my favorite just because they had 0:09:33.760 --> 0:09:35.520 a bear in it. I mean, here's what. 0:09:35.559 --> 0:09:36.320 I here's what. 0:09:36.559 --> 0:09:39.960 Every time every time you ask somebody what their favorite 0:09:39.960 --> 0:09:42.959 story is or second favorite story, and if they. 0:09:42.880 --> 0:09:46.960 Don't say the one, you think they're crazy. Yeah, so 0:09:47.080 --> 0:09:49.800 you either tell us what you want us to say, 0:09:50.640 --> 0:09:55.679 asking you could just have a little bit of thick 0:09:55.720 --> 0:09:57.160 skin defend yourself. 0:09:58.400 --> 0:10:01.880 That's not an option. What's your second favorite story? 0:10:02.120 --> 0:10:06.360 My second favorite story by far would have been Mitch 0:10:06.400 --> 0:10:12.680 Syke's story him shooting the bear. Mitch. It's pretty interesting 0:10:12.760 --> 0:10:18.480 because I would have known Mitch pretty much my whole life. 0:10:18.520 --> 0:10:20.040 We just grew up together in a small town. But 0:10:20.080 --> 0:10:21.720 he was six years older than me, so it's not 0:10:21.840 --> 0:10:25.800 like I really even knew him, knew him, just knew 0:10:25.840 --> 0:10:27.719 of him and his family, went to school with his 0:10:27.760 --> 0:10:33.160 little brother. And I actually hunted with Mitch one time, 0:10:33.320 --> 0:10:37.280 like one hunt up in northwest Arkansas, and he killed 0:10:37.280 --> 0:10:41.320 a buck and we drug it out together. But Mitch's 0:10:41.360 --> 0:10:43.240 friends with a lot of people that I'm friends with 0:10:43.280 --> 0:10:45.560 in our world's just kind of overlapped. But I haven't 0:10:45.559 --> 0:10:48.640 talked to Mitch in twenty years. Oh really? Yeah? And 0:10:48.960 --> 0:10:52.720 I heard about his bear story years ago from my 0:10:52.840 --> 0:10:56.560 friend Scott Brown. And Scott Brown is he told me 0:10:56.880 --> 0:10:59.920 just like he just told the story, was just like 0:11:00.160 --> 0:11:03.840 precision about what happened to Mitch. He told me that 0:11:03.880 --> 0:11:10.199 story years ago. I have since told Mitch's story many times, 0:11:10.240 --> 0:11:15.400 even publicly about Mitch getting charged by that bear. And 0:11:15.440 --> 0:11:18.199 so when I actually sat down with Mitch is from 0:11:18.240 --> 0:11:20.360 this well. When I actually sat down with Mitch and 0:11:20.480 --> 0:11:23.160 was like, hey, tell me that story about that bear, 0:11:23.640 --> 0:11:27.040 I thought that. I was like, there's no way that 0:11:27.800 --> 0:11:31.640 I got this story right. So did you? Well, I 0:11:31.720 --> 0:11:34.440 was a little nervous because I just was like, I've 0:11:34.480 --> 0:11:37.520 told this story with such confidence for so many years, 0:11:38.200 --> 0:11:40.960 and I'm telling you I could have told that story. 0:11:41.000 --> 0:11:43.280 He was like mouth on the words as Mitch was. 0:11:43.360 --> 0:11:45.880 Scott Brown, if it was if it was a story 0:11:45.880 --> 0:11:48.440 of tell you know it game a telephone, yeah, you 0:11:48.440 --> 0:11:50.680 would have been surprised at how accurate it was. Because 0:11:50.679 --> 0:11:54.360 Scott told me he was like, Mitch came down a 0:11:54.360 --> 0:11:56.959 little holler and did a ninety degree turn and come 0:11:57.040 --> 0:11:59.320 up to his stand, and that bear walked every step 0:11:59.520 --> 0:12:02.080 the way he That's the story. That's the story I told. 0:12:02.679 --> 0:12:05.840 Bear comes up, bear runs up the tree, one time, 0:12:06.280 --> 0:12:08.800 comes back down, and the second time he comes up. 0:12:09.679 --> 0:12:12.520 He was coming around the platform of the tree stand 0:12:12.520 --> 0:12:14.920 when Mitch shot it in the face with his bow. 0:12:16.080 --> 0:12:18.400 I mean, that's the story I told him. That's exactly 0:12:18.400 --> 0:12:21.240 what Mitch said happened. And Mitch is such a credible guy. 0:12:21.760 --> 0:12:26.240 He works for Farm Bureau. He's a Farm Bureau insurance agent. 0:12:26.520 --> 0:12:30.600 And I mean a really good hunter. I mean just 0:12:30.640 --> 0:12:33.920 a good hunter. And yeah, he said in that story 0:12:34.000 --> 0:12:37.080 he was afraid to even tell people what happened because 0:12:37.120 --> 0:12:39.520 he didn't think they would believe him because it was 0:12:39.720 --> 0:12:42.439 highly unusual. What do you think that bear was doing? 0:12:42.600 --> 0:12:44.319 I mean, like, was it just straight up trying to 0:12:44.760 --> 0:12:50.440 get him? I mean it was it. Predatory attacks on 0:12:50.679 --> 0:12:56.559 humans in North America is increasing, like period, this happened 0:12:56.600 --> 0:13:01.280 fifteen years ago. I don't that bear acted like what 0:13:01.440 --> 0:13:05.400 happens when a bear attacks someone and eats them, like stalk, 0:13:05.520 --> 0:13:09.800 like trailing them up and like purposely trying to fight 0:13:09.840 --> 0:13:12.120 a big bear. No, he said it was like a 0:13:12.240 --> 0:13:14.040 one hundred and fifty to two hundred pound bear. 0:13:15.120 --> 0:13:17.920 And still wouldn't want to fight one on a tree stand. 0:13:18.559 --> 0:13:23.920 Especially in a tree stand. Yeah, and no, I mean 0:13:23.960 --> 0:13:26.840 the chance, the likelihood of that bear like climbing up 0:13:26.880 --> 0:13:28.720 in that tree and pulling him out, I mean it's 0:13:28.720 --> 0:13:31.280 so low, but I mean it had to happen once 0:13:31.320 --> 0:13:34.160 it was four feet from him. It was four feet 0:13:34.200 --> 0:13:39.920 from him when he shot it, and yeah, so, I mean, 0:13:40.000 --> 0:13:43.840 you know, I don't know, it was uh, it was wild. 0:13:44.160 --> 0:13:48.079 The thing about uh, you know, black bears are extremely 0:13:49.240 --> 0:13:52.160 docile and like not wanting to hurt you in general. 0:13:52.800 --> 0:13:56.440 But the black bear range is so widespread, there's so 0:13:56.480 --> 0:13:59.800 many bears, there's so much human overlap that you just 0:13:59.840 --> 0:14:03.040 get at that anomaly bear that for whatever reason, is 0:14:03.280 --> 0:14:07.640 aggressive towards people. And there's more and more people across 0:14:07.679 --> 0:14:12.320 the country getting messed up by black bears. But it's 0:14:12.320 --> 0:14:14.800 still you'd still have a better chance of getting struck 0:14:14.800 --> 0:14:18.560 by lightning. But anyway, and then he kills the buck, 0:14:18.600 --> 0:14:20.400 which I thought was calling was a real nice buck. 0:14:20.400 --> 0:14:22.680 I'm going to post a picture of the of the 0:14:22.800 --> 0:14:25.240 of the buck the target book. Yeah, and there the 0:14:25.240 --> 0:14:28.000 one that he killed. But so that was my That 0:14:28.080 --> 0:14:29.200 was my second favorite. 0:14:29.440 --> 0:14:31.160 That's ridiculous. 0:14:32.040 --> 0:14:36.480 That Lake Pickles story wasn't your second favorite. That really 0:14:36.560 --> 0:14:37.280 hurts my feelings. 0:14:37.400 --> 0:14:39.120 At least is at least your third favorite. 0:14:39.720 --> 0:14:43.960 Pick Let me think about that, Miles Malone. 0:14:44.080 --> 0:14:45.720 Miles Malone story is pretty good too. 0:14:46.360 --> 0:14:50.440 What stories were there? There was a Jude, the story 0:14:50.480 --> 0:14:54.040 of Juju in the Bar and the Mule Lake Pickle. 0:14:54.960 --> 0:15:01.800 Miles Malone Mitch and and Mad Palmers. Yeah, so there 0:15:01.880 --> 0:15:05.120 was five. Yeah, Lakes would have been. I like my 0:15:05.400 --> 0:15:09.000 story too, though, You've got to give some credit. He's 0:15:09.000 --> 0:15:11.040 a limb following in front of a camera. 0:15:11.360 --> 0:15:13.560 He's a hard he's a hard deer hunter, that guy. 0:15:13.920 --> 0:15:16.480 Yeah, what was your favorite, Anthony? 0:15:17.800 --> 0:15:27.040 I probably like Lakes too because sorry, gonna be sorry, Sorry, 0:15:27.600 --> 0:15:27.920 dang it. 0:15:29.320 --> 0:15:31.920 Lake is my good friend. I'm giving Lake a hard time. 0:15:32.080 --> 0:15:35.200 It was a great story, Lake, So it's just the reason, 0:15:35.560 --> 0:15:38.640 I guess, the reason that that it resonates with me 0:15:39.160 --> 0:15:41.800 was a lot of you know, I was like cussing 0:15:41.840 --> 0:15:44.200 you in my mind, Brent, because you were taking all 0:15:44.200 --> 0:15:48.960 my answer. But you know, like those stories that resonate 0:15:49.520 --> 0:15:53.480 that tell stories about your grandparents or you know, historic 0:15:53.600 --> 0:15:56.160 land that you've always hunted and have that you know, 0:15:56.360 --> 0:15:59.560 history established where the woods are literally just full of 0:15:59.640 --> 0:16:04.560 memory and stories of particularly your formative years coming through. 0:16:05.240 --> 0:16:08.320 I mean, that's that kind of stuff is what roots people, 0:16:08.600 --> 0:16:11.520 you know, and it's when somebody tells a story like 0:16:11.560 --> 0:16:14.520 that and you can have so many parallels to your 0:16:14.520 --> 0:16:17.320 own upbringing, and you know, like you said, Lake and 0:16:17.360 --> 0:16:20.800 I grew up in similar areas. You know, hundred similar areas, 0:16:20.800 --> 0:16:24.240 probably had a fairly similar childhood and and that sort 0:16:24.240 --> 0:16:26.760 of thing. It's a it's something that just kind of 0:16:27.720 --> 0:16:29.480 you just kind of fall right into it and follow it, 0:16:29.560 --> 0:16:29.840 you know. 0:16:29.840 --> 0:16:31.920 But doesn't you pipe and smoke it? About that? 0:16:32.840 --> 0:16:43.040 Cheers the Lake Pickle Lakes We're story Sham and Spencer all. 0:16:44.880 --> 0:16:48.440 That was great? That was great? Yeah, which was your favorite? Spencer? 0:16:49.160 --> 0:16:51.400 That's probably the one with the bear. I forget what 0:16:51.480 --> 0:16:54.560 was the guy's name, Mitch, Mitch? Yeah, like that's that. 0:16:55.320 --> 0:16:59.480 That's pretty intense story. Yeah, and that bear stalking basically, yeah, 0:16:59.600 --> 0:17:02.400 which is not common at all, like you said, so, yeah, 0:17:02.480 --> 0:17:03.160 that's pretty cool. 0:17:03.440 --> 0:17:06.520 Yeah, as you know, you guys study bears. We've probably 0:17:06.560 --> 0:17:09.440 talked about this in in the bear camps. But how 0:17:09.520 --> 0:17:12.800 long do y'all get any reports of that through the 0:17:12.880 --> 0:17:14.320 through the year that are credible? 0:17:14.400 --> 0:17:17.960 Any any documented attacks in modern times of bears in Mississippi. 0:17:18.040 --> 0:17:21.960 No documented attacks. There have been a couple of incidents 0:17:22.000 --> 0:17:26.440 where it was a self defense type situation and as 0:17:26.440 --> 0:17:28.920 far as we know, they were found to have been credible. 0:17:29.760 --> 0:17:32.960 But you know, most of the kills that we've had, 0:17:33.119 --> 0:17:36.280 they've been pretty low amount and they've all you know, 0:17:36.760 --> 0:17:40.080 buy and large been illegal kills that somebody just saw 0:17:40.119 --> 0:17:41.280 bear and shot it for some reason. 0:17:41.320 --> 0:17:41.800 But wow. 0:17:41.920 --> 0:17:44.879 Yeah, But there there was one particularly in the in 0:17:44.920 --> 0:17:48.320 the in the Delta north of Vicksburg, that was deemed 0:17:48.359 --> 0:17:52.439 to be a pretty credible self defense situation. Yeah, and 0:17:52.480 --> 0:17:54.679 it was. It was kind of the same version of 0:17:55.560 --> 0:17:57.480 the bear charge and in the tree stand, except the 0:17:57.480 --> 0:17:59.480 gal was on the ground and he was making his 0:17:59.480 --> 0:18:02.440 way to his state. And as the story goes, the 0:18:02.760 --> 0:18:05.400 first was a warning shot kind of over the bear's head, 0:18:06.080 --> 0:18:09.359 and rather than turning and going away, the bear just 0:18:10.800 --> 0:18:13.600 hit another gear towards him, and he racked another round 0:18:13.640 --> 0:18:16.440 and killed it like as it was coming towards him. 0:18:16.440 --> 0:18:16.640 Wow. 0:18:16.680 --> 0:18:20.840 Wow, interesting you shoot him right head on? 0:18:21.840 --> 0:18:24.760 Yeah, wow yeah. And that's I mean, like, you know, 0:18:24.760 --> 0:18:27.640 our law enforcement guys are great, and those things are 0:18:27.920 --> 0:18:30.800 investigated just like a murder scene would be. And so 0:18:30.840 --> 0:18:33.960 you're bringing into account every single thing, you know, how 0:18:33.960 --> 0:18:37.320 the projectile traveled, where were the tracks, where was the bear, 0:18:37.480 --> 0:18:40.320 like all that stuff is put together and so, like 0:18:40.359 --> 0:18:42.159 I said, as far as we know it was, you know, 0:18:42.280 --> 0:18:45.760 it was legit, like you said, it happened m you. 0:18:45.720 --> 0:18:49.000 Know in the community I grew up in there's a 0:18:49.119 --> 0:18:56.880 handful of legitimate stories of people being really spooked by bears. 0:18:57.480 --> 0:19:00.679 You know. Dad always talks about a guy named Truman 0:19:00.760 --> 0:19:06.760 Richmond who was he was out in the mountains and 0:19:06.960 --> 0:19:10.240 uh and and and and got a real good woodsman, 0:19:10.840 --> 0:19:15.920 real good woodsman. Is it is it legal to dig Jensen? Yeah? 0:19:16.480 --> 0:19:17.360 Can you dig Jensen? 0:19:17.600 --> 0:19:17.800 Yeah? 0:19:18.119 --> 0:19:20.000 You sure check him before he tells us. 0:19:21.840 --> 0:19:23.720 This happened like forty years ago. 0:19:23.880 --> 0:19:24.560 So anyway, he was. 0:19:30.200 --> 0:19:32.640 Charged by a bear and this was like a real woodsman, 0:19:32.680 --> 0:19:34.280 and he thought the bear was gonna get him. I 0:19:34.520 --> 0:19:37.399 don't know the whole story all these Anywhere there's bears, 0:19:37.400 --> 0:19:39.919 there's going to be stories of like close encounters, you know. 0:19:40.560 --> 0:19:45.040 But uh, let's talk about let's talk about Med Palmer story. 0:19:45.160 --> 0:19:50.560 So this was Miles Malone is the one who connected 0:19:50.560 --> 0:19:54.120 this to Med Palmer. M E. D. Palmer. 0:19:54.800 --> 0:19:57.640 And he's a surgeon. 0:19:58.520 --> 0:19:59.760 Yeah, just kidding. 0:20:00.200 --> 0:20:02.159 He meds a lot of things, surgeon. 0:20:02.200 --> 0:20:03.440 He'll tell us about Mad. 0:20:05.119 --> 0:20:09.920 That was, I mean, obviously that's the favorite. And talking 0:20:09.920 --> 0:20:12.040 about having connections, I mean since I came to work 0:20:12.080 --> 0:20:14.480 with wildlife and Fisheries in twenty fifteen, I've known Med 0:20:15.240 --> 0:20:18.360 and he's on Capai County Wildlife Management Area, which is 0:20:18.440 --> 0:20:20.960 only an hour from where I usually work most of 0:20:21.000 --> 0:20:25.920 the time. And you know, I knew Gunner, I knew 0:20:26.160 --> 0:20:31.040 Med hadn't hunted much with him, but I mean, just 0:20:31.080 --> 0:20:33.479 one of those guys where you know, if you if 0:20:33.520 --> 0:20:35.320 you run into him on the w ma A, you 0:20:35.400 --> 0:20:38.200 better carve out twenty or thirty minutes because you're gonna 0:20:38.200 --> 0:20:41.159 be talking for a little while. And just the most personable, 0:20:41.359 --> 0:20:43.679 down to earth guy you'd ever want to know. And 0:20:43.800 --> 0:20:47.879 so you know that that whole story. I watched it 0:20:47.960 --> 0:20:52.960 unfold firsthand, you know, and was one of the ones 0:20:53.000 --> 0:20:57.320 that were, you know, helping with the process, sending text messages. 0:20:57.640 --> 0:21:01.760 You know, the whole thing was like navigating that. I mean, 0:21:01.800 --> 0:21:04.760 it was it was almost a family thing, what it 0:21:04.800 --> 0:21:07.840 felt like in in Wildlife and Fisheries. It's not a 0:21:07.920 --> 0:21:11.600 huge agency compared to a lot of other state organizations, 0:21:11.720 --> 0:21:14.960 and so you know, when something like that happens, it 0:21:14.960 --> 0:21:17.400 it hit everybody. Man like there was there was nobody 0:21:17.480 --> 0:21:20.399 in the agency that was not affected by that story. 0:21:20.720 --> 0:21:23.639 And so it was to hear him tell it, you know, 0:21:23.640 --> 0:21:25.800 in somewhere like this and that would actually do it 0:21:25.960 --> 0:21:29.159 justice and more people could hear. It's just it's a 0:21:29.200 --> 0:21:31.280 really cool thing, really personal. 0:21:31.800 --> 0:21:35.280 And that a lot of people told me that they 0:21:35.400 --> 0:21:40.440 remembered that, even on like national news when it happened. Yeah, 0:21:40.520 --> 0:21:44.399 and uh and and I didn't realize it, but I 0:21:44.520 --> 0:21:49.080