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Speaker 1: Welcome to this Country Life. I'm your host, Brent Reeves.

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Speaker 1: From coon hunting to trot lining and just general country living.

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Speaker 1: I want you to stay a while as I share

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Speaker 1: my stories and the country skills that will help you

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Speaker 1: beat the system. This Country Life is proudly presented as

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Speaker 1: part of Meat Eaters Podcast Network, bringing you the best

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Speaker 1: outdoor podcast the airways have to offer. All right, friends,

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Speaker 1: pull you up a chair or drop that tailgate. I

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Speaker 1: think I got a thing or two. The teacher, kids

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Speaker 1: and outdoors. Summer's coming to an end and just about

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Speaker 1: all the kids are back in school. I know it's

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Speaker 1: a relief for some, but with my eleven year old

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Speaker 1: Bailey back in the schoolhouse, I am fresh out of

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Speaker 1: folks to play with during the day. It got me

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Speaker 1: to thinking about all the stuff we've done over the summer,

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Speaker 1: and that brought memories of what I used to do

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Speaker 1: with my family. We're gonna be talking about the kids

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Speaker 1: in the outdoors, but first I'm gonna tell you a story.

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Speaker 1: My son Hunter was six years old and it was

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Speaker 1: gun deer season in Arkansas. We've been practicing his shooting

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Speaker 1: with a youth model single barrel two forty three and

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Speaker 1: He'd become very proficient and safe using the scope, holding

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Speaker 1: steady aim, thumb, cocking the hammer back, and keeping his

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Speaker 1: finger off the trigger until he was ready to shoot. Safety. Safety, safety.

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Speaker 1: It was our constant mantra, and he'd dry fired that

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Speaker 1: rifle one hundred times before he ever squeezed the trigger

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Speaker 1: on a live round with hearing protection in place. He

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Speaker 1: watched me shoot several rounds, and I'd explained to him

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Speaker 1: beforehand that it was going to be loud, and he

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Speaker 1: knew what to expect when it came his turn, and

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Speaker 1: he never missed a beat. I was confident in his

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Speaker 1: abilities out to about eighty yards, but we drawn the

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Speaker 1: line it somewhere around fifty, just to be on the

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Speaker 1: safe side. The night before the season opened, we'd all

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Speaker 1: gathered at the b and our deer camp for our

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Speaker 1: ritual supper. We had a fire going outside and everyone

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Speaker 1: gathered in a circle, laughing and talking and anticipating the

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Speaker 1: hunt that was kicking off in the morning. Big folks

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Speaker 1: and little folks alike, hunting season was here and we

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Speaker 1: were all excited, and none more so than the kids,

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Speaker 1: and Hunter was one of them. It was his first

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Speaker 1: time staying at the camp, and it was his first

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Speaker 1: time being a trigger man, and he couldn't wait or

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Speaker 1: stop talking about it or anything else. That boy has

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Speaker 1: never been shy about talking. He loved to talk, and

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Speaker 1: I've said it a hundred times. When he was little

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Speaker 1: and couldn't think of anything to say, he'd just pick

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Speaker 1: up a stick and whooping on something and hollered to

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Speaker 1: make some racket. We liked to have never got him

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Speaker 1: to be quiet when it came bedtime. But he wasn't

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Speaker 1: the only one talking when we cut the lanterns out.

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Speaker 1: My brother Tim, his brother in law Joe, who we

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Speaker 1: all counted as a bonus brother. Tim's boys Matthew and Will,

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Speaker 1: and Joe's son Daniel were all making their share of racket.

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Speaker 1: When it seemed like we'd never get to sleep, Joe's

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Speaker 1: alarm clock was going off and waking us all up.

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Speaker 1: Opening day, somebody stoked that fire is freezing in here.

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Speaker 1: I'll tell you all about the deer camp we built

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Speaker 1: out of rough olk lumber, a hammer, a square, and

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Speaker 1: a chainsaw, but that's a story for another day. There

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Speaker 1: was no electricity and we heated it with a barrel

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Speaker 1: stove and cooked on an old gas stove. Joe had

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Speaker 1: a couple of lanterns going, and he was making breakfast,

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Speaker 1: and Tim was putting wood on the fire while the

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Speaker 1: rest of us got ready. Hunter couldn't get rest fast enough.

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Speaker 1: He was excited and talking up a storm already. I

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Speaker 1: did not see a change in that coming anytime soon.

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Speaker 1: I had already figured that we were more or less

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Speaker 1: going deer looking instead of deer hunting, and that was

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Speaker 1: okay with me. However long he wanted to be there

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Speaker 1: was how long we were going to stay. And I

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Speaker 1: might coax him into staying a little past the golden

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Speaker 1: hour of the morning if he wanted to leave early.

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Speaker 1: But I decided that I wasn't gonna make him stay

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Speaker 1: any longer. That was fun for him, after all. When

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Speaker 1: it stopped being fun for him, it wasn't gonna be

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Speaker 1: fun for me neither. We parked my truck at Tim's

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Speaker 1: house and walked by flashlight in not silence to the

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Speaker 1: window maker, a big plywood box stand that sat on

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Speaker 1: four cross ties overlooking an old patch that we planted

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Speaker 1: for deer. About three quarters of an acre in size.

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Speaker 1: The stand had a short tin roof and cam o'

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Speaker 1: neett and draped over the open airs above the four

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Speaker 1: foot wall. Joe or ten one had put an old

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Speaker 1: easy chair in there that was perfect for sitting and

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Speaker 1: resting your rifle on top of that wall, unless you

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Speaker 1: were about the height a hundred at age six, His

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Speaker 1: legs barely reached from his butt to the ground, so

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Speaker 1: he was sitting in my lap, talking up a storm

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Speaker 1: and waiting on daylight, which wasn't that far away. It

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Speaker 1: was cold, but I had Hunter bundled up and looking

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Speaker 1: like the Michelin man. His rifle was broke open and

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Speaker 1: propped up in the corner. I had the shells in

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Speaker 1: my pocket, and my job was to help him look

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Speaker 1: for deer, loading, handing the rifle when it came time.

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Speaker 1: If it came time, I remember the sun coming up

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Speaker 1: in a decent frost on the ground, and the camel

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Speaker 1: curtains that hung over the windows. We talked about how

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Speaker 1: you could see our breath when we talked, and we

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Speaker 1: smoked imaginary cigars, taking puffs from limbs. I broke off

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Speaker 1: the tree behind us and blowing imaginary smoking the air

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Speaker 1: like a freight train. Time had passed quickly and we

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Speaker 1: were laughing, giggling and talking and making more racket than

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Speaker 1: the chicken house. When Hunter whispered, Daddy, there's a spike, well,

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Speaker 1: i'll be a dang Sure was, and he was standing

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Speaker 1: broadside right in front of the stand, closer than we'd practiced.

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Speaker 1: How that joker got there without me knowing, or more importantly,

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Speaker 1: without us scaring him off, It's still a mystery to me.

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Speaker 1: But there he stood, and Hunter had gone from bumping

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Speaker 1: his gums to a laser focus watching that dear. I'm

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Speaker 1: not sure he ever blinked. I used forward and grabbed

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Speaker 1: his rifle, loaded it, placed it on top of the wall.

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Speaker 1: The barrel was poking out far enough that it wouldn't

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Speaker 1: be loud in the stand, but I had his ear

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Speaker 1: muffs on his head anyway, just like we'd practiced. He

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Speaker 1: had a tough time finding him in the scope at first,

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Speaker 1: due to his excitement and because he was so close.

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Speaker 1: Finally he said, I see I told him whenever he

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Speaker 1: felt comfortable, cocked the hammer, wait for his crosshairs to

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Speaker 1: settle like we'd practiced, then put his finger on the trigger,

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Speaker 1: remembered to breathe and give it a squeeze. It was

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Speaker 1: like waiting on water to boil. That spike was slowly

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Speaker 1: feeding along the middle of the food plotting, and he

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Speaker 1: wasn't in a hurry to go anywhere, and Hunter wasn't

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Speaker 1: in a hurry to pull the trigger. It was a

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Speaker 1: beautiful morning. It was cold, crisp, zero wind, the birds

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Speaker 1: were singing, and that deer was so close. I could

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Speaker 1: hear him biting off the green oats he was bunching on.

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Speaker 1: I could also feel Hunter's heart beating in his chest

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Speaker 1: with the rhythm of a singer sewing machine. And when

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Speaker 1: I thought I was going to pass out with anticipation, bam,

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Speaker 1: he pulled the trigger. That deer dropped in his tracks

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Speaker 1: and never flinched. All the hugging and high five and started,

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Speaker 1: and we got our plunder together and more or less

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Speaker 1: bailed out of that widow maker to go look at

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Speaker 1: his deer. He'd practiced and practiced, he'd learned everything he

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Speaker 1: could about safe, proper shot placement, and then demonstrated it

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Speaker 1: when it came time to do so. I was proud

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Speaker 1: of him, and he was proud too. We looked at

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Speaker 1: that deer and we said a little prayer of thanks.

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Speaker 1: That was something that we'd started that day and continue now.

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Speaker 1: It was the end of an incredible morning of first

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Speaker 1: or so we thought. We walked back to TAM's house

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Speaker 1: and got his fore wheel and went and got the deer.

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Speaker 1: He grabbed a leg and helped me as much as

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Speaker 1: a six year old boy can load his prize on

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Speaker 1: the rack. We got back to TAM's house. He was

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Speaker 1: waiting for us, and so was my dad. Tim heard

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Speaker 1: Hunter shoot and had come off the stand to see

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Speaker 1: what he did. My Dad wasn't nothing. He was just

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Speaker 1: there waiting on everybody to come out of the woods

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Speaker 1: to see what they got, especially the kids. Tim went

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Speaker 1: back in the house and brought out his video camera,

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Speaker 1: and if he hadn't, I'm not sure I could even

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Speaker 1: tell the rest of this story. But Tim starts recording

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Speaker 1: and Hunter starts telling the story, beginning pretty much from

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Speaker 1: the dawn of time and leading up to where we

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Speaker 1: all found ourselves. At that moment, Tim, me and Dad

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Speaker 1: standing shoulder to shoulder, watching and listening to the longest

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Speaker 1: story that has ever been told on camera. It was

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Speaker 1: like the script reading for the Ten Commandments. There was

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Speaker 1: a lot to get through. At one point, during Hunter's

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Speaker 1: defense of his doctoral presentation, I heard my brother say,

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Speaker 1: come on, man, like that gun. Breakfast is getting cold.

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Speaker 1: And then my dad said, look at that deer. Hunter

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Speaker 1: looked over at the one he was standing beside, but

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Speaker 1: we were looking at a yearling door that was behind Hunter,

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Speaker 1: bounding about sixty yards away at the edge of Tim's yard,

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Speaker 1: next to the woods. Tim raised the camera and followed

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Speaker 1: that day as she made a big loop around the

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Speaker 1: yard and circled back toward the house and where we

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Speaker 1: were standing, and then turned and headed right toward us.

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Speaker 1: Nobody moved, nobody said a word. There was three feet

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Speaker 1: between where we stood looking at Hunter and where he

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Speaker 1: stood beside the four wheeler with his dead deer facing us.

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Speaker 1: That dough split the difference between us and jumped higher

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Speaker 1: than Hunter stood, kicked like a bucking horse, hit the ground,

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Speaker 1: and loped back into the woods. From whence it came.

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Speaker 1: Nobody but a Hunter said a word when it happened.

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Speaker 1: But you can hear him on the tape, as that

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Speaker 1: deer was in midair say WHOA about as nonchalant as

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Speaker 1: I just did. It was absolutely hilarious. One of the

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Speaker 1: most outrageous things I've ever witnessed, and I've seen some

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Speaker 1: crazy stuff. I have no explanation for it, but it

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Speaker 1: remains a special memory, nonetheless, one I shared with my

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Speaker 1: late father, my brother, and my son, all because we

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Speaker 1: were outdoors, and that's just how that happened. Kids and outdoors.

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Speaker 1: Kids and outdoors is like biscuits and gravy. It's hard

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Speaker 1: for me to think about one without thinking about the other.

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Speaker 1: And growing up, if you had time to hang around

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Speaker 1: the house, somebody, namely my mama, would find something for

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Speaker 1: me to do that wasn't nearly as fun or treacherous

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Speaker 1: as the things I could come up with on my own.

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Speaker 1: So when the opportunity arose, either by finishing my chores

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Speaker 1: or climbing out the window, I was gone. Deuces. I'll

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Speaker 1: see all as supper time and deal with whatever fate

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Speaker 1: awaits me then. But right now I got to go. Now.

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Speaker 1: Where I was escaping to wasn't town, or most times

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Speaker 1: not even to any of my friends. I didn't have

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Speaker 1: any that lived very close. Besides, I had a dog,

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Speaker 1: a horse, a bicycle, a hairshoes that are wore sometimes,

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Speaker 1: and my playground was only limited by how far I

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Speaker 1: felt like walking or riding that day. But times have changed,

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Speaker 1: and a childhood like mine, for the most part, has

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Speaker 1: faded away. I couldn't imagine not knowing where my kids

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Speaker 1: or grandkids were. Like when I was a kid, my

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Speaker 1: parents weren't neglecting me. They knew I was safe wherever

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Speaker 1: I was. The times they were just simply different then.

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Speaker 1: So guess why it's up to us to get those

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Speaker 1: little tax deductions of hours off the couch, out from

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Speaker 1: in front of whatever hypnotizing screen that they're staring at,

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Speaker 1: and into nature. All these grown ups that fight against

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Speaker 1: everything we all hold so deer were once impressionable children.

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Speaker 1: And I wonder if those folks had grown up like

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Speaker 1: I had, and like those I grew up with, But

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Speaker 1: they still have the same thoughts and ideas. Now, let

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Speaker 1: me say this, I'm a steadfast beloe and choosing your

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Speaker 1: own path and doing what trips your trigger. But it's

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Speaker 1: hard for me to understand the way some folks think

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Speaker 1: about how we should interact with nature. My wife, alexis

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Speaker 1: the quintessential city girl who before we'd met, had no

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Speaker 1: preconceived ideas or beliefs about hunting and fishing. She didn't

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Speaker 1: grow up around it and had no exposure. It's a

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Speaker 1: testament to her parents, my mother and father in law

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Speaker 1: both of whom I love is my own, each had

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Speaker 1: minimal exposure to those pastimes in their lives as well,

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Speaker 1: but through common sense, they know that we are stewards

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Speaker 1: of nature, and while they each choose to abstain from

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Speaker 1: participating in the legal taking of any type of game,

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Speaker 1: they understand that it's necessary for the overall good of

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Speaker 1: the nature and fully support my efforts. Alexis is the

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Speaker 1: same way. She doesn't care one thing about doing it,

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Speaker 1: but loves to see the joy I get from it,

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Speaker 1: and fully supports our daughter's participation because Bailey she likes

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Speaker 1: it too. That's fine with me and Bailey. That's three

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Speaker 1: less folks we have to beat to our favorite hunting spots.

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Speaker 1: The first thing you need to remember when taking the

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Speaker 1: little folks is to try and see what they're seeing

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Speaker 1: and how they see it. Darkness is especially concerning to

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Speaker 1: most kids and a few adults I know, but reassuring

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Speaker 1: them if your activities occur at night is a big plus.

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Speaker 1: I remember Kyou hunting with my dad, and we weren't

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Speaker 1: hunting them to shoot as much as we were letting

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Speaker 1: the dogs run them. And if you're unfamiliar with this practice,

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Speaker 1: allow me to give you a brief description. My dad

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Speaker 1: had a pack of running walker foxhounds. They look just

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Speaker 1: like their cousins, the tree and walker, which is what

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Speaker 1: my dog wailing is. Anyway, They usually have a leaner

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Speaker 1: bill because speed is their game, and they don't have

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Speaker 1: the tree and instinct, which is to bark along while

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Speaker 1: trailing the scent of a coon, unto the hound finds

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Speaker 1: which trees climbed and sets into tree in and it's

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Speaker 1: usually a totally different kind of barking. We'll get to

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Speaker 1: that in the future when the weather cools off and

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Speaker 1: we start talking about tree and walkers. But running walkers

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Speaker 1: would rather run the sin of a game, trailing it

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Speaker 1: over the countryside or through the woods, barking as they went,

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Speaker 1: which sounds exactly like a bunch of dogs barking to

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Speaker 1: folks that don't get the allure, but to those that do,

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Speaker 1: it's a literal symphony of sound, and my dad was

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Speaker 1: considered a maestro of the sport. Kylets are most active

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Speaker 1: at night, so when the weather allowed, we'd be down

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Speaker 1: on the potlatch timber company roads looking for sign where

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Speaker 1: they'd either crossed or left their calling cart in the

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Speaker 1: middle of the road in the form of a well

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Speaker 1: digested sample from last night's supper with fresh sign we'd

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Speaker 1: cut the dogs loose and the race would be on.

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Speaker 1: Then it could go on for a few hours, and

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Speaker 1: my dad would name each hound as it barked and

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Speaker 1: his position in the race while we sat or laid

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Speaker 1: down on top of the dog box. Sometimes it was

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Speaker 1: cold and we'd build a fire. Sometimes other folks would

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Speaker 1: hunt with us and bring their dogs, and that was it.

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Speaker 1: That is cold hunting. Now. What filled the gaps when

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Speaker 1: the dogs went out of here and or they lost

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Speaker 1: the trail of the colt was conversations about everything in

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Speaker 1: the world. He'd let me have a flashlight to keep

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Speaker 1: the buggers away, and we'd lay back and look at

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Speaker 1: the stars. We'd walk up and down the gravel road

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Speaker 1: with me running the light and looking at tracks and bugs,

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Speaker 1: and he'd hand me a rock and bet I couldn't

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Speaker 1: chunk and hit something. What he was doing was keeping

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Speaker 1: me entertained and allowing me to participate in a fun

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Speaker 1: way while spending time with him and doing something that

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Speaker 1: he liked to do too. Those times are burned into

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Speaker 1: my memory, and not just hunting fishing memories, cutting firewood,

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Speaker 1: having the horse shod, and taking me to work and

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Speaker 1: letting me help him. It was all about the time

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Speaker 1: spent together and not the activity. I can say with

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Speaker 1: one hundred percent certainty that my endearment towards showing youngins

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Speaker 1: how much fun can be had without electricity just by

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Speaker 1: looking at the natural stuff around him is because he

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Speaker 1: took the time to show me, and so did my

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Speaker 1: brother Tim. A lot of hunting requires stealth and quiet,

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Speaker 1: two things most kids ain't real good at, So when

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Speaker 1: we include them, we need to think about an activity

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Speaker 1: that they can do well. Sometimes they're just like that

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Speaker 1: old coon down pup your training. You need to find

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Speaker 1: them an easy coon to tree. So you stack the

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Speaker 1: deck in your pup's favor and catch a coon in

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Speaker 1: a live trap and release it for him to see,

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Speaker 1: and then put him on the scent and watch him

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Speaker 1: do his thing. Gives him confidence and with praise, he'll

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Speaker 1: want to do it again. Same way with kids, picking

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Speaker 1: activity they can win at, digging for fishing, bait, how

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Speaker 1: to build a fire and cook a hot dog, and

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Speaker 1: if they're responsible enough, how to care for and sharpen

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Speaker 1: a good pocket knife. Now you know what kind. But

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Speaker 1: in case you don't remember, you should go back to

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Speaker 1: episode one and review. I figure, if you're still listening,

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Speaker 1: you might as well give them a good knife to

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Speaker 1: start with. Now, squirrel hunting with dogs was what I

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Speaker 1: cut my teeth on, and that was an activity numero

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Speaker 1: uno at Casa Day reeves well, Brenn, I ain't got

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Speaker 1: a dog. I ain't got a dog. Ain't no problem.

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Speaker 1: Take them with you on a sight seeing journey looking

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Speaker 1: for squirrels. You don't even need a gun for that.

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Speaker 1: Make a list of birds to go look for, and

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Speaker 1: then check them off the list as you walk around

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Speaker 1: your neighborhood looking or just sitting in the backyard or

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Speaker 1: just looking out the window. The information available to us

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Speaker 1: to the creatures that inhabit where we live, regardless of

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Speaker 1: where we live, it's tremendous, and there is no excuse

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Speaker 1: for saying you don't know. I don't know about other states,

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Speaker 1: but I would assume they have similar programs like our

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Speaker 1: Arkansas Game and Fish Commission does. We have free admission

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Speaker 1: to nature centers located all over the state with programs

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Speaker 1: and staff, with employees whose job is to educate folks

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Speaker 1: of all ages. The displays and activities they host are outstanding,

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Speaker 1: and if your state doesn't have them, I'm inviting you

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Speaker 1: to ours. We'll be glad to have you. I've got

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Speaker 1: a lot more to talk about on this kids and

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Speaker 1: outdoor subject, so let's make this part one. In part two,

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Speaker 1: I'm going to share some more stories, but I'm also

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Speaker 1: going to give you some information that you can share

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Speaker 1: with your schools that have a host of great programs

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Speaker 1: to get the kids out of the house and into

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Speaker 1: the outdoors. There's facts and figures in there that are

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Speaker 1: eye opening, at least they were for me. You ain't

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Speaker 1: gonna want to miss it. And until next week, I'm

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Speaker 1: gonna leave you with this. I was taking the Bailey

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Speaker 1: at to school this morning and I asked her about

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Speaker 1: why she liked to go out in the woods with me,

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Speaker 1: whether we were hunting, fishing, or just knocking around just

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Speaker 1: getting some info for this podcast. She said, I like

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Speaker 1: it when we get a deer and we skin it

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Speaker 1: and cut the meat up to eat. I like to

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Speaker 1: help with that. I like when we go coon hunting

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Speaker 1: with Whaling and I get to drive the side by

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Speaker 1: side and look for the coon that Whaling's barking at.

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Speaker 1: I like it when we fish. I like to help

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Speaker 1: you cook them and then we get to eat them. Well,

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Speaker 1: I asked her about the times that we were just

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Speaker 1: messing around the woods what she liked about that, and

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Speaker 1: she said, I just like being with you, Daddy and

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Speaker 1: learning stuff. So then I asked her one last question

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Speaker 1: before she hopped out of the truck, and that big

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Speaker 1: old sc swallowed my baby like a grape. I said,

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Speaker 1: have you got any advice for grown ups or kids

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Speaker 1: that might like to start trying to do the things

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Speaker 1: that we do all the time? And she put some

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Speaker 1: thought into it, and she looked at me and said,

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Speaker 1: it doesn't have to be perfect. You don't have to

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Speaker 1: get a deer or catch a fish. Just make memories.

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Speaker 1: And with that she gave me some sugar and hopped

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Speaker 1: out the door. That's pretty good. Thank y'all so much

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Speaker 1: for listening. I sincerely appreciate all the wonderful feedback we've

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Speaker 1: been receiving and hope you folks will continue to review

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Speaker 1: and share this country life with others you think might

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Speaker 1: enjoy it. This is Brent Reeves, sign it off, y'all,

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Speaker 1: be careful the tru