1
00:00:02,880 --> 00:00:06,440
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast, your home for

2
00:00:06,519 --> 00:00:11,479
Speaker 1: deer hunting news, stories and strategies, and now your host,

3
00:00:11,880 --> 00:00:17,160
Speaker 1: Mark Kenyon. Welcome to the Wired to Hunt Podcast. I'm

4
00:00:17,160 --> 00:00:20,279
Speaker 1: your host Mark Kenyan. In this episode number one d

5
00:00:20,440 --> 00:00:24,040
Speaker 1: fourteen Tan the show, we're joined by the President CEO

6
00:00:24,280 --> 00:00:27,600
Speaker 1: of the National Deer Lines, Nick Penzoto, and we're talking

7
00:00:27,680 --> 00:00:31,920
Speaker 1: deer hunting, dear policy, deer management, and much much more.

8
00:00:49,120 --> 00:00:52,920
Speaker 1: All Right, welcome to another episode of the Wired to

9
00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:56,440
Speaker 1: Hunt podcast, brought to you by Sick of Gear. And

10
00:00:56,560 --> 00:00:58,680
Speaker 1: today in the show, we're going to be joined by

11
00:00:58,680 --> 00:01:03,480
Speaker 1: the President and CEO of the National Deer Alliance, Nick Penzota,

12
00:01:03,560 --> 00:01:06,160
Speaker 1: and we're going to discuss a lot of different topics

13
00:01:06,200 --> 00:01:08,440
Speaker 1: that I think any and all deer hunters should be

14
00:01:08,480 --> 00:01:10,880
Speaker 1: interested in. The NBA is a group that started a

15
00:01:10,880 --> 00:01:13,240
Speaker 1: couple of years back, and you've likely heard me and

16
00:01:13,319 --> 00:01:15,119
Speaker 1: Dan talk about it a few times in the past,

17
00:01:15,400 --> 00:01:18,160
Speaker 1: and since Nick took the helm last fall, some pretty

18
00:01:18,160 --> 00:01:21,759
Speaker 1: exciting things have been going on over there. So once

19
00:01:21,800 --> 00:01:23,240
Speaker 1: we get Nick on the line, we're going to be

20
00:01:23,240 --> 00:01:26,520
Speaker 1: asking him all about what the NDA is, what it's

21
00:01:26,600 --> 00:01:28,600
Speaker 1: up to, and then we're gonna dive into some of

22
00:01:28,600 --> 00:01:31,959
Speaker 1: the most important issues related to deer across the country

23
00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:34,200
Speaker 1: and what we as hunters can do now to make

24
00:01:34,240 --> 00:01:37,800
Speaker 1: sure that there are plenty of healthy deer, great habitat

25
00:01:37,880 --> 00:01:41,959
Speaker 1: and hunting habitat or excuse me, hunting opportunities available for

26
00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:45,400
Speaker 1: all of us in the generations to come. But before

27
00:01:45,480 --> 00:01:48,600
Speaker 1: Nick joins us, stand and I have a few updates

28
00:01:48,600 --> 00:01:51,200
Speaker 1: that we need to share from our own hunting world. So, Dan,

29
00:01:51,320 --> 00:01:55,560
Speaker 1: what's new with you? I was hoping you would go first,

30
00:01:55,680 --> 00:01:59,279
Speaker 1: because since the last time we talk, other than shoot

31
00:01:59,320 --> 00:02:02,840
Speaker 1: my bow, I have not done anything like This past

32
00:02:02,880 --> 00:02:04,960
Speaker 1: weekend was a family weekend, so we went to a

33
00:02:05,040 --> 00:02:09,120
Speaker 1: parade and just basically played and you know, hung out

34
00:02:09,160 --> 00:02:13,920
Speaker 1: with the fame kind of weekend while I shot my

35
00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:17,720
Speaker 1: bow maybe three or four times over the past five

36
00:02:17,840 --> 00:02:22,680
Speaker 1: or six days. So that's not bad. But uh but yeah,

37
00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:25,239
Speaker 1: so I didn't set any tree stands this weekend. I

38
00:02:25,240 --> 00:02:27,519
Speaker 1: didn't do any food plot stuff this weekend, so I

39
00:02:27,600 --> 00:02:30,160
Speaker 1: kind of slacked on that end. Well, okay, at least

40
00:02:30,160 --> 00:02:32,639
Speaker 1: you shot your bow better than nothing, that's right. I've

41
00:02:32,639 --> 00:02:35,240
Speaker 1: picked up the slack for you, okay, because I have

42
00:02:35,360 --> 00:02:37,640
Speaker 1: had like a gauntlet of a past couple of days

43
00:02:38,240 --> 00:02:42,040
Speaker 1: and like everything has gone wrong. It's been like a

44
00:02:42,080 --> 00:02:44,839
Speaker 1: debacle of a three day of the past three days.

45
00:02:45,400 --> 00:02:49,000
Speaker 1: Long story short. The big things I've been doing is

46
00:02:49,240 --> 00:02:52,840
Speaker 1: um We've talked about a few times, but not a

47
00:02:52,880 --> 00:02:56,240
Speaker 1: whole ton. My family has a small property up in

48
00:02:56,280 --> 00:02:59,120
Speaker 1: northern Michigan, right where you know, we've got our deer

49
00:02:59,160 --> 00:03:01,480
Speaker 1: camp up there. That's where I, you know, grew up

50
00:03:01,520 --> 00:03:03,400
Speaker 1: deer hunt, learning a deer hunt and all that kind

51
00:03:03,400 --> 00:03:05,799
Speaker 1: of stuff. But the last I don't know, fifteen years,

52
00:03:06,120 --> 00:03:08,359
Speaker 1: maybe a little longer than that, the deer population has

53
00:03:08,480 --> 00:03:11,840
Speaker 1: really really struggled up there. The habitat has changed a lot,

54
00:03:11,880 --> 00:03:14,600
Speaker 1: There's not as much food available, the deer population has

55
00:03:14,600 --> 00:03:17,920
Speaker 1: gone way down, and because of that, we've hardly seen

56
00:03:17,960 --> 00:03:20,760
Speaker 1: any deer, let alone kill anything for almost two decades now.

57
00:03:20,919 --> 00:03:23,360
Speaker 1: So over the past few years I've been talking about

58
00:03:23,400 --> 00:03:25,520
Speaker 1: trying to do some habitat improvements up there, trying to

59
00:03:25,520 --> 00:03:28,800
Speaker 1: do some work, and finally we started doing something last year.

60
00:03:28,880 --> 00:03:30,880
Speaker 1: Last year we started clearing out an area for our

61
00:03:30,919 --> 00:03:34,520
Speaker 1: first for our first food plot, and then this spring

62
00:03:35,120 --> 00:03:36,840
Speaker 1: we have decided what we've been able to kind of

63
00:03:36,840 --> 00:03:38,920
Speaker 1: take it to the next step and finished clearing it out,

64
00:03:39,200 --> 00:03:41,520
Speaker 1: and then this past weekend we went up there to

65
00:03:41,560 --> 00:03:43,400
Speaker 1: try to actually get it planned and ready to go.

66
00:03:43,600 --> 00:03:48,080
Speaker 1: So the bad news was that, just like tell you what,

67
00:03:48,120 --> 00:03:51,080
Speaker 1: weeds have just been like the biggest pain in my

68
00:03:51,160 --> 00:03:54,280
Speaker 1: butt this year. So not only is my food plot

69
00:03:54,320 --> 00:03:56,240
Speaker 1: down here in Michigan all weeded up and grown over,

70
00:03:56,280 --> 00:03:58,000
Speaker 1: but when we got to our northern Michigan place we

71
00:03:58,040 --> 00:04:01,000
Speaker 1: sprayed it earlier this summer. We went back up there

72
00:04:01,800 --> 00:04:05,360
Speaker 1: Sunday and it's grown up all to hack again, way

73
00:04:05,480 --> 00:04:08,440
Speaker 1: way way high. And I was hoping my dad was

74
00:04:08,480 --> 00:04:10,280
Speaker 1: gonna be a go and spray a second time over

75
00:04:10,280 --> 00:04:13,680
Speaker 1: the summer, but he couldn't. So unfortunately, between us maybe

76
00:04:13,680 --> 00:04:15,520
Speaker 1: not killing off everything as well as we could have

77
00:04:15,560 --> 00:04:17,080
Speaker 1: the first time and then not getting to do a

78
00:04:17,120 --> 00:04:20,680
Speaker 1: second run, super weedy and we just don't have big equipment,

79
00:04:20,680 --> 00:04:23,159
Speaker 1: like I'm operating with a little tiny twelve inch disc

80
00:04:23,200 --> 00:04:26,080
Speaker 1: on the back of my fore brothers. So we tried

81
00:04:26,120 --> 00:04:29,200
Speaker 1: to spray everything down Sunday, and we were doing that

82
00:04:29,240 --> 00:04:31,800
Speaker 1: with little hand sprayers because that's all we had up there.

83
00:04:31,800 --> 00:04:34,360
Speaker 1: So that was horrible. And then we thought, okay, if

84
00:04:34,360 --> 00:04:38,479
Speaker 1: we can spray everything, hopefully that chemical absorb into the

85
00:04:38,600 --> 00:04:42,120
Speaker 1: roots system so that when we cut everything twenty four

86
00:04:42,160 --> 00:04:44,920
Speaker 1: hours later, hopefully, if even if we don't kill everything

87
00:04:44,920 --> 00:04:46,919
Speaker 1: when we cut it and disk it, some of that

88
00:04:46,960 --> 00:04:49,320
Speaker 1: we kill wilf continue to kill it in the long

89
00:04:49,440 --> 00:04:54,240
Speaker 1: r And so we sprayed on Sunday Monday. Then we

90
00:04:54,279 --> 00:04:56,400
Speaker 1: came in and luckily we had a neighbor who had

91
00:04:56,440 --> 00:04:58,600
Speaker 1: a brush hog. He was able to mow this area down.

92
00:04:58,680 --> 00:05:00,479
Speaker 1: That was a huge help because other as our plane

93
00:05:00,520 --> 00:05:02,800
Speaker 1: was literate to go up there with like sickles and

94
00:05:02,880 --> 00:05:05,400
Speaker 1: just sickle down all the weeds over like a half agre,

95
00:05:05,400 --> 00:05:08,720
Speaker 1: which would have been a nightmare. Um, And you know

96
00:05:08,920 --> 00:05:10,560
Speaker 1: this isn't that exciting the story. I guess we just

97
00:05:10,600 --> 00:05:13,520
Speaker 1: spent like ten hours trying to get rid of weeds

98
00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:16,720
Speaker 1: and trying to disc up this area with my little

99
00:05:16,760 --> 00:05:19,640
Speaker 1: four wheler disc and I bent the receiver on my

100
00:05:19,720 --> 00:05:22,640
Speaker 1: dad's new four wheeler because this disc is a piece

101
00:05:22,640 --> 00:05:24,479
Speaker 1: of I don't know it works, but it's kind of

102
00:05:24,480 --> 00:05:27,160
Speaker 1: a piece of crap too, And the thing kept popping

103
00:05:27,200 --> 00:05:29,159
Speaker 1: off because I was trying not to mount the disc

104
00:05:29,240 --> 00:05:30,920
Speaker 1: on there. It's kind of a complicated way that this

105
00:05:30,960 --> 00:05:33,520
Speaker 1: thing mounts to a four wheeler. But I didn't want

106
00:05:33,560 --> 00:05:35,200
Speaker 1: to bend this thing anymore, so I was trying to

107
00:05:35,200 --> 00:05:37,200
Speaker 1: have it tight enough that the disc would stay on,

108
00:05:37,279 --> 00:05:39,799
Speaker 1: but not so tight that it would crank this receiver

109
00:05:39,839 --> 00:05:44,080
Speaker 1: anymore and break it. Well, because of that, like ten times,

110
00:05:44,160 --> 00:05:45,800
Speaker 1: the disc popped off, so I had to put the

111
00:05:45,839 --> 00:05:47,960
Speaker 1: four wheeler on ramps do the whole thing over again.

112
00:05:48,640 --> 00:05:51,360
Speaker 1: So it was just a long, long, hot, miserable day.

113
00:05:51,440 --> 00:05:53,560
Speaker 1: We finally got all and we got lined it, we

114
00:05:53,600 --> 00:05:57,600
Speaker 1: got fertilizer, we got planted. But I just don't know

115
00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:00,800
Speaker 1: it's gonna be. If there's anything green coming out of

116
00:06:00,800 --> 00:06:02,839
Speaker 1: there this fall when I come back, I'll be I'll

117
00:06:02,839 --> 00:06:06,480
Speaker 1: be happy. I don't have I have not I don't

118
00:06:06,520 --> 00:06:09,520
Speaker 1: have the high expectations I suppose we Ell said, right.

119
00:06:10,120 --> 00:06:12,600
Speaker 1: So that was yesterday, and then today I come back

120
00:06:12,800 --> 00:06:14,640
Speaker 1: and I'm like, I guess start working on these stupid

121
00:06:14,680 --> 00:06:16,960
Speaker 1: food plots down here, because you know, like you, like

122
00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:19,720
Speaker 1: I told you last time that one section didn't get

123
00:06:19,760 --> 00:06:22,800
Speaker 1: sprayed over the summer. So I thought, Okay, I better

124
00:06:22,839 --> 00:06:24,560
Speaker 1: spray it now. I gotta try to hire someone to

125
00:06:24,600 --> 00:06:27,080
Speaker 1: come out of the brush hoog. And I went in

126
00:06:27,080 --> 00:06:29,279
Speaker 1: there to try spray it today and it's even worse

127
00:06:29,320 --> 00:06:31,240
Speaker 1: than I thought it was gonna be. Like, it's like,

128
00:06:31,600 --> 00:06:33,679
Speaker 1: it's not six ft tall weeds, it's like ten ft

129
00:06:33,720 --> 00:06:37,480
Speaker 1: tall weeds. Literally, it's like a rainforest. Yeah, it's insane.

130
00:06:37,640 --> 00:06:40,240
Speaker 1: So I decided just to abandon half of it. I'm

131
00:06:40,240 --> 00:06:42,040
Speaker 1: just gonna let it stay up in that thick cover,

132
00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:46,599
Speaker 1: and I'm just gonna put my energy into the one

133
00:06:46,680 --> 00:06:49,720
Speaker 1: section and try to get it cleared out. But it's

134
00:06:49,760 --> 00:06:53,440
Speaker 1: a debacle. And how big of an area is the

135
00:06:53,520 --> 00:06:57,719
Speaker 1: really tall weeds, I would say it's probably an acre

136
00:06:57,800 --> 00:07:03,680
Speaker 1: to acre and a half. Okay, So so I had

137
00:07:03,720 --> 00:07:07,920
Speaker 1: one of my best hunting years once where the farmer

138
00:07:08,200 --> 00:07:13,680
Speaker 1: planted the seed, then he came through with his fertilizer,

139
00:07:13,800 --> 00:07:15,640
Speaker 1: or he did one of the two things for you know,

140
00:07:15,800 --> 00:07:20,160
Speaker 1: he planted and then he did fertilizer. I'm not sure

141
00:07:20,240 --> 00:07:25,480
Speaker 1: what goes first. But then the water came up high

142
00:07:25,560 --> 00:07:30,120
Speaker 1: over this entire field and it it uh, I guess,

143
00:07:30,200 --> 00:07:32,440
Speaker 1: killed the seed, the soybeans or the corn that was

144
00:07:32,480 --> 00:07:36,040
Speaker 1: in there. And then the water receded. The fertilizer was

145
00:07:36,080 --> 00:07:39,960
Speaker 1: still there, and it made the weeds grow ten twelve

146
00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:43,120
Speaker 1: foot tall, right, just like you said, a giant rainforest

147
00:07:43,320 --> 00:07:46,600
Speaker 1: and that was some of the best hunting I have

148
00:07:46,880 --> 00:07:49,520
Speaker 1: ever had. Just sitting on the edge of this um,

149
00:07:49,920 --> 00:07:54,280
Speaker 1: me and my buddy Ryan watched, uh watched a booner

150
00:07:54,600 --> 00:07:59,360
Speaker 1: true one seventy class deer fight off satellite bucks all

151
00:07:59,480 --> 00:08:03,080
Speaker 1: day long on this opposite end of this field. That's awesome.

152
00:08:03,200 --> 00:08:06,560
Speaker 1: It was pretty cool. So it might, you know, who knows,

153
00:08:06,560 --> 00:08:08,840
Speaker 1: it might turn into a mini betting area or staging

154
00:08:08,880 --> 00:08:10,920
Speaker 1: area for you. Yeah, that that's kind of what I'm

155
00:08:10,960 --> 00:08:13,080
Speaker 1: looking at it as now, like maybe there's a silver

156
00:08:13,160 --> 00:08:16,200
Speaker 1: lining here, like because you know, before I ever started

157
00:08:16,200 --> 00:08:18,000
Speaker 1: working on this areas of food plot at all, it

158
00:08:18,080 --> 00:08:20,680
Speaker 1: was just grass, like I don't know what kind of

159
00:08:20,680 --> 00:08:23,680
Speaker 1: grass it was, but just short grass that grew up

160
00:08:23,720 --> 00:08:26,920
Speaker 1: maybe three four ft tall in the summer and it

161
00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:29,080
Speaker 1: was all the same, you know, just some kind of

162
00:08:29,120 --> 00:08:32,320
Speaker 1: basic I don't know what it is, but it was

163
00:08:32,440 --> 00:08:35,760
Speaker 1: not providing a lot of cover. Deer never used it. Nothing. Well,

164
00:08:35,760 --> 00:08:37,720
Speaker 1: then I started putting these food plots and that was great,

165
00:08:37,720 --> 00:08:39,840
Speaker 1: and I've added some cover some of the things. But

166
00:08:39,880 --> 00:08:41,680
Speaker 1: now what happened, you know, like I mentioned, is that

167
00:08:42,920 --> 00:08:44,560
Speaker 1: because of the fact that I spread it all this

168
00:08:44,640 --> 00:08:47,960
Speaker 1: summer and now all these new weeds have taken you know,

169
00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:51,439
Speaker 1: taking seed and grown in there. It is like a

170
00:08:51,440 --> 00:08:55,080
Speaker 1: a really incredible diversity of plant growth in there. I

171
00:08:55,080 --> 00:08:56,800
Speaker 1: mean tons of stuff. And I gotta believe, you know,

172
00:08:56,800 --> 00:08:59,240
Speaker 1: we've talked to a lot of habitat guys that talk

173
00:08:59,280 --> 00:09:03,079
Speaker 1: about the import some natural forage. Um, I gotta believe

174
00:09:03,080 --> 00:09:06,079
Speaker 1: there are some serious food in all of these forbes

175
00:09:06,120 --> 00:09:09,120
Speaker 1: and bushes and weeds and whatever the heck all this

176
00:09:09,120 --> 00:09:11,200
Speaker 1: stuff is. I don't know what it is, but there's

177
00:09:11,200 --> 00:09:13,520
Speaker 1: a ton of stuff out there, and it's thick, and

178
00:09:13,640 --> 00:09:16,400
Speaker 1: there's lots of greenery, and like you said, I think

179
00:09:16,520 --> 00:09:18,640
Speaker 1: there will probably be dear betting in it. I'm actually

180
00:09:18,800 --> 00:09:20,600
Speaker 1: funny you mentioned it. I actually bumped a dough that

181
00:09:20,679 --> 00:09:24,240
Speaker 1: was better than it when I was driving my forwarther through. Um, So,

182
00:09:24,280 --> 00:09:26,560
Speaker 1: who knows, maybe it'll actually help this area. I'll still

183
00:09:26,559 --> 00:09:29,520
Speaker 1: have a pretty nice sized food plot. Um, and now

184
00:09:29,520 --> 00:09:32,040
Speaker 1: there'll be some really great cover on my property, which

185
00:09:32,080 --> 00:09:34,080
Speaker 1: before are usually the great covers on the neighbors. So

186
00:09:34,120 --> 00:09:36,000
Speaker 1: now I'm going to have like an acre section that's

187
00:09:36,480 --> 00:09:39,280
Speaker 1: really nice and thick right adjacent to my food plus

188
00:09:39,400 --> 00:09:41,360
Speaker 1: really on either side of my food plot, one side

189
00:09:41,400 --> 00:09:43,240
Speaker 1: my neighbors, which has a great cover now, and have

190
00:09:43,280 --> 00:09:45,280
Speaker 1: another chunk on my side on the other side of

191
00:09:45,280 --> 00:09:47,840
Speaker 1: the food plot, great betting on either side. And now

192
00:09:47,880 --> 00:09:49,400
Speaker 1: my little food plus and we tucked right in the

193
00:09:49,400 --> 00:09:52,480
Speaker 1: middle and completely secluded now because of how thick all

194
00:09:52,520 --> 00:09:54,319
Speaker 1: this growth is, you can't see the road at all.

195
00:09:54,600 --> 00:09:56,800
Speaker 1: So now it's even better than my food plots green.

196
00:09:56,840 --> 00:09:59,400
Speaker 1: I've got like a food plot were or a food

197
00:09:59,400 --> 00:10:02,880
Speaker 1: plot screen in the world. It's just like acres and

198
00:10:02,920 --> 00:10:07,440
Speaker 1: acres of um isolation. So I don't know, who knows,

199
00:10:07,480 --> 00:10:10,400
Speaker 1: Maybe it'll all work out. Okay, Well, good luck with

200
00:10:10,400 --> 00:10:12,920
Speaker 1: that mark, thank you. But man, I just I spent

201
00:10:12,960 --> 00:10:15,719
Speaker 1: the last hour, literally just before I got in here

202
00:10:15,760 --> 00:10:18,360
Speaker 1: to record this, driving around my foreward on the one

203
00:10:18,360 --> 00:10:21,400
Speaker 1: section I'm trying to reclaim, and like I said, ten

204
00:10:21,400 --> 00:10:24,160
Speaker 1: ft tall weeds and I'm driving my foreward through it,

205
00:10:24,280 --> 00:10:27,480
Speaker 1: spraying behind me, and then all the pollen and bugs

206
00:10:27,480 --> 00:10:29,640
Speaker 1: and grasshoppers and everything. I'm flying off the weeds in

207
00:10:29,640 --> 00:10:31,360
Speaker 1: front of me, and my hair and my eyes and

208
00:10:31,720 --> 00:10:34,040
Speaker 1: I've got so many like pricks all over my arms,

209
00:10:34,040 --> 00:10:38,360
Speaker 1: and I'm snotting and sneezing and sweating and sounds like

210
00:10:38,440 --> 00:10:43,720
Speaker 1: it sounds to me like you're complaining. I guess, I

211
00:10:43,760 --> 00:10:46,240
Speaker 1: guess if that was my work day, it's probably better

212
00:10:46,280 --> 00:10:49,680
Speaker 1: than your work day. I just had to give you

213
00:10:49,720 --> 00:10:55,439
Speaker 1: ship well deserved probably, so who knows, maybe I'll shoot

214
00:10:55,440 --> 00:10:58,800
Speaker 1: a booner over it. I saw a shooter in on

215
00:10:58,880 --> 00:11:01,240
Speaker 1: my mission farm. I know, I saw the pics. Man,

216
00:11:01,559 --> 00:11:03,800
Speaker 1: Well that one. That's that's I got a whole bunch

217
00:11:03,840 --> 00:11:07,480
Speaker 1: of stories that haven't told. Different one. Yeah, so really

218
00:11:07,559 --> 00:11:10,839
Speaker 1: fast because we're running that time here. But um, last

219
00:11:10,840 --> 00:11:13,760
Speaker 1: week I was doing, you know, drive around the surrounding area,

220
00:11:14,360 --> 00:11:17,599
Speaker 1: and I saw two giants, including the one that I

221
00:11:17,679 --> 00:11:21,040
Speaker 1: posted a video on Facebook and Instagram, I think, and that,

222
00:11:21,200 --> 00:11:23,040
Speaker 1: I mean, that's a really nice Michigan buck. And as

223
00:11:23,080 --> 00:11:25,160
Speaker 1: I'm sitting there watching these deer from the side of

224
00:11:25,160 --> 00:11:28,440
Speaker 1: the road, the landowner drives over starting and I'm like,

225
00:11:28,480 --> 00:11:30,240
Speaker 1: oh jeez, he's not gonna be happy with me. But

226
00:11:30,240 --> 00:11:31,719
Speaker 1: I said, I'll just stick around and talk to him.

227
00:11:31,720 --> 00:11:34,640
Speaker 1: And long story short, I have tentative hunting permission there.

228
00:11:35,480 --> 00:11:37,800
Speaker 1: So that was awesome. You see how that works? Yes,

229
00:11:37,880 --> 00:11:39,680
Speaker 1: it worked out really well. Just you know, it's gotta

230
00:11:39,720 --> 00:11:42,200
Speaker 1: chat people up and be a decent human being. And

231
00:11:42,240 --> 00:11:48,560
Speaker 1: sometimes things work out and sometimes that's tough. Yeah, so

232
00:11:48,840 --> 00:11:51,400
Speaker 1: I think I got hunting permission there. Sounded like he

233
00:11:51,480 --> 00:11:53,560
Speaker 1: wanted me to check back in, but it sounds like

234
00:11:53,600 --> 00:11:57,000
Speaker 1: I could hunt there. And then like three days ago,

235
00:11:57,640 --> 00:11:59,920
Speaker 1: I saw the buck that I got on trail cam

236
00:12:00,160 --> 00:12:02,640
Speaker 1: here on my main Michigan property. He came out in

237
00:12:02,679 --> 00:12:06,319
Speaker 1: the soybean field like before eight o'clock. Um so, I

238
00:12:06,360 --> 00:12:07,760
Speaker 1: got a little bit of video of him way off

239
00:12:07,760 --> 00:12:10,840
Speaker 1: in the distance. Um So, that was cool. He's not

240
00:12:10,920 --> 00:12:12,600
Speaker 1: as big as I think he is. I thought he

241
00:12:12,640 --> 00:12:16,080
Speaker 1: was going to be. Um but he's probably one thirties.

242
00:12:16,120 --> 00:12:18,160
Speaker 1: Somewhere on there's a three year old I'm guessing maybe

243
00:12:18,160 --> 00:12:20,600
Speaker 1: a four year I'm not sure yet, but nice dear,

244
00:12:20,720 --> 00:12:23,640
Speaker 1: So that's cool. What are you using just your binoculars

245
00:12:23,720 --> 00:12:25,600
Speaker 1: or do you got a spotting scope too? Just been

246
00:12:25,720 --> 00:12:28,920
Speaker 1: using my buyoses I can. I can just see this

247
00:12:29,040 --> 00:12:30,960
Speaker 1: field and where my food plot is from a little

248
00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:33,440
Speaker 1: hill I can sit up on and I check it

249
00:12:33,440 --> 00:12:37,280
Speaker 1: out all the time. And uh yeah, hopefully, hopefully we'll

250
00:12:37,320 --> 00:12:40,440
Speaker 1: get some more footage here leading into this final couple

251
00:12:40,480 --> 00:12:43,120
Speaker 1: of weeks before September and get the stupid food plot

252
00:12:43,160 --> 00:12:44,880
Speaker 1: in and What's cool is that I can watch that

253
00:12:44,920 --> 00:12:47,760
Speaker 1: food plot and that's you know, I've seen holy Field

254
00:12:47,880 --> 00:12:50,080
Speaker 1: number of times back there. I've seen all sorts of

255
00:12:50,080 --> 00:12:53,320
Speaker 1: deer back number turd ferguson the bucket kill last year.

256
00:12:53,600 --> 00:12:55,800
Speaker 1: I watched him a couple of times before getting in there, hunts.

257
00:12:55,840 --> 00:12:57,720
Speaker 1: It's a great situation where I can scout it from

258
00:12:57,720 --> 00:12:59,800
Speaker 1: afar and then you know, make the move at the

259
00:12:59,880 --> 00:13:03,800
Speaker 1: right time. Hey, I got a question for you. Um

260
00:13:03,800 --> 00:13:07,880
Speaker 1: any any update on that buck that uh we kind

261
00:13:07,880 --> 00:13:13,160
Speaker 1: of named Boner City. You know, I tried to call

262
00:13:13,240 --> 00:13:16,840
Speaker 1: him b C. Okay, this is you know, this is

263
00:13:16,840 --> 00:13:22,800
Speaker 1: a PG podcast. Yeah, it really does air that way sometimes. No,

264
00:13:23,000 --> 00:13:25,160
Speaker 1: he disappeared. Man, that was like a one time deal.

265
00:13:25,880 --> 00:13:28,720
Speaker 1: I got pictures of him twice. He was a stud though.

266
00:13:29,480 --> 00:13:32,520
Speaker 1: I would love to kill a buck like that, super

267
00:13:32,600 --> 00:13:36,760
Speaker 1: tight and tall. That was awesome. Now can I have

268
00:13:36,840 --> 00:13:41,400
Speaker 1: permission to steal that name and name a buck? Name

269
00:13:41,440 --> 00:13:43,640
Speaker 1: a buck that it has to be a buck deserving

270
00:13:43,679 --> 00:13:45,760
Speaker 1: of it though, Okay, so I have to. Okay, I'll

271
00:13:45,800 --> 00:13:47,920
Speaker 1: show you a picture and I'll say, hey, Mark, can

272
00:13:47,960 --> 00:13:51,360
Speaker 1: I name this buck Bonner City? And then you'll say,

273
00:13:52,200 --> 00:13:55,720
Speaker 1: uh no, it doesn't meet the you know the characteristics

274
00:13:55,880 --> 00:13:58,480
Speaker 1: or yes it does meet the characteristics. Yeah, I think

275
00:13:58,520 --> 00:14:02,440
Speaker 1: that's okay. Alright, cool, cool, right, all right, keep me

276
00:14:02,720 --> 00:14:05,040
Speaker 1: keep me update on truck camera photos and whatnot so

277
00:14:05,080 --> 00:14:11,240
Speaker 1: we can audience. I'm sure they were gonna love it.

278
00:14:11,320 --> 00:14:14,600
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, So with that said, I guess we better

279
00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:17,400
Speaker 1: we better move on to uh, to the real stuff

280
00:14:17,440 --> 00:14:20,640
Speaker 1: here and take a quick break to thank our partners

281
00:14:20,760 --> 00:14:23,400
Speaker 1: at Sick of Gear and then we'll give Nicko coole.

282
00:14:24,720 --> 00:14:27,360
Speaker 1: So this week for a Sick of Store, we're joined

283
00:14:27,360 --> 00:14:30,440
Speaker 1: by David Brinker, one of Sick Gears marketing team members,

284
00:14:30,480 --> 00:14:32,560
Speaker 1: and his story took place a few years back when

285
00:14:32,560 --> 00:14:36,040
Speaker 1: he was invited on an absolute dream hunt chasing white

286
00:14:36,040 --> 00:14:39,560
Speaker 1: tails on Will Primost his property. Now, after a few

287
00:14:39,600 --> 00:14:42,000
Speaker 1: days of tough hunting, Will recommended that David tried a

288
00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:44,920
Speaker 1: different spot. But to do so, he told David that

289
00:14:44,960 --> 00:14:47,640
Speaker 1: he needed to leave his traditional archer equipment behind and

290
00:14:47,720 --> 00:14:50,840
Speaker 1: instead take a gun. Now, this was tough for David,

291
00:14:50,840 --> 00:14:53,840
Speaker 1: as he loves using his bow, but he agreed. So

292
00:14:53,920 --> 00:14:56,840
Speaker 1: we'll drop David off at the tree stand with his

293
00:14:56,880 --> 00:14:59,600
Speaker 1: gun in hand, and David will take the story from here.

294
00:15:00,880 --> 00:15:04,120
Speaker 1: Just about the time Will gets around the corner and

295
00:15:04,200 --> 00:15:05,880
Speaker 1: his his gator. I can just start to hear the

296
00:15:05,920 --> 00:15:08,120
Speaker 1: sound fade off and I get settled in there and

297
00:15:08,160 --> 00:15:11,320
Speaker 1: I got this Henry seventy that he loaned me out

298
00:15:11,320 --> 00:15:13,960
Speaker 1: of his gun cabinet. Beautiful gun. I've never shot it

299
00:15:13,960 --> 00:15:16,880
Speaker 1: in my life. Um, it looks like you could kill

300
00:15:16,880 --> 00:15:19,600
Speaker 1: an elephant with the cartridge. I'm not a gun guy,

301
00:15:19,640 --> 00:15:24,320
Speaker 1: but don't know much about him. And he uh, he

302
00:15:24,360 --> 00:15:26,160
Speaker 1: gets around the corner there and I'm sitting there and

303
00:15:27,040 --> 00:15:30,080
Speaker 1: literally not within seconds, I heard right, right right, I

304
00:15:30,120 --> 00:15:31,920
Speaker 1: heard a buck runting, and I'm like, oh, where's that

305
00:15:31,920 --> 00:15:34,160
Speaker 1: coming from? And I look over at the first trail

306
00:15:34,200 --> 00:15:35,920
Speaker 1: he told me they may come from and my left

307
00:15:36,680 --> 00:15:39,320
Speaker 1: and I see these white times pop out and I

308
00:15:39,320 --> 00:15:41,840
Speaker 1: could immediately tell it was a mature buck that was

309
00:15:41,960 --> 00:15:47,760
Speaker 1: a shooter buck chasing this dough. Well, the buck pushes

310
00:15:47,800 --> 00:15:52,120
Speaker 1: the dough by me at eight yards and the whole

311
00:15:52,120 --> 00:15:54,040
Speaker 1: time thing to myself is why didn't I bring my bow?

312
00:15:54,080 --> 00:15:55,680
Speaker 1: Why didn't I bring my bow? Why didn't I bring

313
00:15:55,720 --> 00:15:59,800
Speaker 1: my boat? And he comes into my shooting Laney's so close.

314
00:15:59,840 --> 00:16:03,200
Speaker 1: I put this it's a lever action. And when I

315
00:16:03,240 --> 00:16:05,080
Speaker 1: saw hikind of trees. I had already. I had already

316
00:16:05,200 --> 00:16:09,320
Speaker 1: put around the chamber and pulled back the hammer. And

317
00:16:09,760 --> 00:16:11,480
Speaker 1: when he came in the shooting lane eight yards, he

318
00:16:11,520 --> 00:16:13,400
Speaker 1: was so close. I put the scope, but all I

319
00:16:13,400 --> 00:16:15,600
Speaker 1: could see was brown hair, So all I could do

320
00:16:15,680 --> 00:16:17,680
Speaker 1: was try to acquire. I could see where his shoulder

321
00:16:17,760 --> 00:16:19,440
Speaker 1: was moving, like at the crease of his shoulder was

322
00:16:19,480 --> 00:16:22,520
Speaker 1: moving back and forth, and I just I'm like, that

323
00:16:22,560 --> 00:16:26,200
Speaker 1: looks about right boom. And this is all literally like

324
00:16:26,280 --> 00:16:28,880
Speaker 1: within I mean, under five minutes Will. When Will left me,

325
00:16:30,360 --> 00:16:32,800
Speaker 1: so Will had heard me shoot, he shoot, He barely

326
00:16:32,800 --> 00:16:37,200
Speaker 1: probably even got back to the place. And so here

327
00:16:37,240 --> 00:16:39,080
Speaker 1: he comes firing up the road in this gator with

328
00:16:39,160 --> 00:16:42,640
Speaker 1: the cast. You know, he goes, you get one? I said, yeah,

329
00:16:42,680 --> 00:16:46,960
Speaker 1: I got one, and uh we walk over there and

330
00:16:46,960 --> 00:16:50,160
Speaker 1: and had a good time talking about you know, I

331
00:16:50,160 --> 00:16:53,760
Speaker 1: grew up watching watching all Will's videos on it, you know,

332
00:16:53,920 --> 00:16:55,560
Speaker 1: in the West Is. I watched a lot of all

333
00:16:55,600 --> 00:16:58,200
Speaker 1: of his films, and so he was a hero of

334
00:16:58,240 --> 00:17:00,000
Speaker 1: mine growing up. So it was it was a very

335
00:17:00,040 --> 00:17:03,200
Speaker 1: surreal moment um spent with somebody I grew up watching,

336
00:17:03,680 --> 00:17:07,000
Speaker 1: but also a pretty pretty good lesson learned in terms

337
00:17:07,000 --> 00:17:08,920
Speaker 1: of if you feel like you should bring your boat,

338
00:17:08,920 --> 00:17:14,879
Speaker 1: just bring both. But no, it was great. It was

339
00:17:14,960 --> 00:17:17,520
Speaker 1: it was an awesome experience and and something I'll never

340
00:17:17,560 --> 00:17:22,560
Speaker 1: forget that, my friends, was a sick story. If you'd

341
00:17:22,600 --> 00:17:26,080
Speaker 1: like to learn more about Gear, you can visit sitka

342
00:17:26,160 --> 00:17:28,639
Speaker 1: gear dot com. And now let's get back to the

343
00:17:28,680 --> 00:17:32,920
Speaker 1: show and get Nick on the line. All right now

344
00:17:32,960 --> 00:17:35,720
Speaker 1: with us on the line is Nick Penzotta. Welcome to

345
00:17:35,760 --> 00:17:39,040
Speaker 1: the show. Nick, Thanks for having me. Guys, great to

346
00:17:39,040 --> 00:17:41,800
Speaker 1: be here. Yeah, we uh you. You and I get

347
00:17:41,840 --> 00:17:43,480
Speaker 1: to chat quite a bit, but it's nice to be

348
00:17:43,520 --> 00:17:47,240
Speaker 1: able to chat publicly here on the podcast. Nick, Um,

349
00:17:47,440 --> 00:17:49,320
Speaker 1: We're excited to talk about a lot of different things.

350
00:17:49,320 --> 00:17:51,639
Speaker 1: There's some cool things going on right now with what

351
00:17:51,680 --> 00:17:54,040
Speaker 1: you're working on over at the National Deer Alliance. But

352
00:17:54,359 --> 00:17:57,040
Speaker 1: before I guess we get into all of that, could

353
00:17:57,080 --> 00:17:59,200
Speaker 1: you share with our audience a little bit about who

354
00:17:59,240 --> 00:18:01,800
Speaker 1: you are, what's your background is, and what you're doing now?

355
00:18:02,840 --> 00:18:06,280
Speaker 1: Care Absolutely so, boy, who I am? That's kind of

356
00:18:06,280 --> 00:18:09,199
Speaker 1: a that's a tough question we'll probably all struggle with.

357
00:18:09,320 --> 00:18:12,840
Speaker 1: But you know, I've always identified myself first and foremost

358
00:18:12,840 --> 00:18:16,240
Speaker 1: as an outdoorsman, and even deeper than that, a deer hunter.

359
00:18:16,359 --> 00:18:20,000
Speaker 1: So I grew up in western Pennsylvania, where deer hunting

360
00:18:20,119 --> 00:18:24,280
Speaker 1: is even more than a passion, it's almost a religion there. It's, uh,

361
00:18:25,200 --> 00:18:27,359
Speaker 1: you know, one of the craziest states in many ways

362
00:18:27,359 --> 00:18:29,840
Speaker 1: when it comes to deer hunting, from everything from passion

363
00:18:29,920 --> 00:18:33,199
Speaker 1: to struggles with deer management. So I grew up around it,

364
00:18:33,320 --> 00:18:37,520
Speaker 1: so you know, it became natural to me to gravitate

365
00:18:37,560 --> 00:18:40,480
Speaker 1: in that direction. I grew up in a small house

366
00:18:40,560 --> 00:18:42,560
Speaker 1: with the brother and a sister, my mom and dad,

367
00:18:42,640 --> 00:18:44,639
Speaker 1: and you know, being in a small house, you just

368
00:18:44,680 --> 00:18:47,080
Speaker 1: want to be outside, and for me, it was out

369
00:18:47,119 --> 00:18:49,480
Speaker 1: there learning about deer and getting excited about him. So

370
00:18:50,720 --> 00:18:53,359
Speaker 1: with a little bit of luck in a long career

371
00:18:53,359 --> 00:18:56,560
Speaker 1: and conservation and outdoors, I was lucky enough to find

372
00:18:56,560 --> 00:19:00,639
Speaker 1: myself and now in the position to get this National

373
00:19:00,680 --> 00:19:04,119
Speaker 1: Deer Alliance off the ground and running, and as a

374
00:19:04,160 --> 00:19:07,440
Speaker 1: lifelong deer hunter, someone that's been passionate about it, it's

375
00:19:07,600 --> 00:19:11,480
Speaker 1: um really a cool opportunity and something that I hope

376
00:19:11,960 --> 00:19:16,240
Speaker 1: deer hunters across the country will also get excited about. Now,

377
00:19:16,240 --> 00:19:18,560
Speaker 1: before you were with the National Deer Alliance, you were

378
00:19:18,600 --> 00:19:22,800
Speaker 1: with the Sportsman's Alliances that right, Yeah, so I'll just

379
00:19:22,800 --> 00:19:27,560
Speaker 1: back it up a little bit. When I lived in Pennsylvania,

380
00:19:27,560 --> 00:19:30,119
Speaker 1: Western Pennsylvania for actually most of my life, and I

381
00:19:30,160 --> 00:19:34,600
Speaker 1: worked for eleven years for a conservation organization known as

382
00:19:34,640 --> 00:19:37,560
Speaker 1: the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, So I've been in conservation and

383
00:19:37,600 --> 00:19:40,280
Speaker 1: outdoors work for a long time. I left there, though,

384
00:19:40,359 --> 00:19:43,879
Speaker 1: to go to North Dakota Business North Dakota, where I

385
00:19:43,960 --> 00:19:47,800
Speaker 1: was the CEO of Delta Waterfall Foundation for a time,

386
00:19:47,840 --> 00:19:50,639
Speaker 1: and then from there to the Sportsman's Alliance where I

387
00:19:50,720 --> 00:19:56,679
Speaker 1: was working primarily on anti hunting related issues and you know,

388
00:19:56,720 --> 00:19:59,399
Speaker 1: all things that threatened our our outdoor sports hunting, fishing,

389
00:19:59,440 --> 00:20:03,920
Speaker 1: and trapping. And it was after being there for a

390
00:20:04,000 --> 00:20:07,480
Speaker 1: little more than two three years that the National Deer

391
00:20:07,520 --> 00:20:11,359
Speaker 1: Lines opportunity came available. So that's kind of my career

392
00:20:11,359 --> 00:20:15,480
Speaker 1: path to this point. Why why have you spent your

393
00:20:15,520 --> 00:20:18,080
Speaker 1: lifetime working in conservation like this? You know, from what

394
00:20:18,119 --> 00:20:21,160
Speaker 1: I've seen, it's a relatively thankless job at times, it's

395
00:20:21,200 --> 00:20:23,800
Speaker 1: a tough job. What's drawn you to this and kept

396
00:20:23,880 --> 00:20:27,000
Speaker 1: you there so long? Yeah? Yeah, I mean, you know,

397
00:20:27,080 --> 00:20:29,600
Speaker 1: it's I wouldn't say it's thankless because you're thanking in

398
00:20:29,640 --> 00:20:32,720
Speaker 1: so many different ways. You know, it's definitely hard work,

399
00:20:32,920 --> 00:20:35,480
Speaker 1: it's it's really passion for me. A lot I tell

400
00:20:35,520 --> 00:20:37,520
Speaker 1: people that the deer lines for me is really a

401
00:20:37,520 --> 00:20:42,040
Speaker 1: passion project. I went from running you know, organizations in

402
00:20:42,040 --> 00:20:45,400
Speaker 1: the past with you know, lots of employees and lots

403
00:20:45,400 --> 00:20:48,960
Speaker 1: of responsibility and having personal assistance and all these things too,

404
00:20:49,600 --> 00:20:52,200
Speaker 1: being the one person to get deer lines off the grounds.

405
00:20:52,240 --> 00:20:53,840
Speaker 1: And some people look at that and they said, well,

406
00:20:54,320 --> 00:20:56,040
Speaker 1: that's kind of crazy, you know, why would you do that?

407
00:20:56,119 --> 00:20:59,399
Speaker 1: And I just would describe my whole career and conservation

408
00:20:59,480 --> 00:21:02,760
Speaker 1: the same way I knew. First of all, I was

409
00:21:02,800 --> 00:21:04,240
Speaker 1: never a big fan of school. I was a fan

410
00:21:04,280 --> 00:21:05,960
Speaker 1: of the outdoors. But I knew that school was a

411
00:21:06,080 --> 00:21:09,760
Speaker 1: necessary the process that I had to go through, you know,

412
00:21:10,000 --> 00:21:12,680
Speaker 1: to go to college and to eventually get a master's

413
00:21:12,720 --> 00:21:14,520
Speaker 1: degree if if I wanted to do the types of

414
00:21:14,560 --> 00:21:17,520
Speaker 1: things I wanted to do. But even though knowing that

415
00:21:17,600 --> 00:21:20,359
Speaker 1: conservation wasn't going to be a big, high profile money

416
00:21:20,359 --> 00:21:23,520
Speaker 1: career like you know, accounting or being an attorney or

417
00:21:23,520 --> 00:21:26,040
Speaker 1: a doctor these types of things, it's just where my

418
00:21:26,080 --> 00:21:27,760
Speaker 1: passion was and it's what I wanted to do. And

419
00:21:27,800 --> 00:21:30,760
Speaker 1: I always dreamed about the idea of getting back to

420
00:21:31,040 --> 00:21:34,880
Speaker 1: the sports that really defined my childhood and growing up,

421
00:21:34,920 --> 00:21:37,159
Speaker 1: becoming a young adult and so on and so forth.

422
00:21:38,040 --> 00:21:40,919
Speaker 1: So you know, that's I thought, I think drove me

423
00:21:41,000 --> 00:21:44,120
Speaker 1: from the very beginning, and I I think with having

424
00:21:44,119 --> 00:21:46,280
Speaker 1: a little bit of success in my career combined with

425
00:21:46,359 --> 00:21:50,320
Speaker 1: I think a lot of luck developing relationships eventually led

426
00:21:50,359 --> 00:21:54,639
Speaker 1: to this really cool and unique opportunity. So um, as

427
00:21:54,720 --> 00:21:56,960
Speaker 1: I said, you get rewarded in a lot of different

428
00:21:56,960 --> 00:21:59,400
Speaker 1: ways when you get to work in these environments, and

429
00:21:59,720 --> 00:22:03,040
Speaker 1: I've I've really enjoyed really every step of the way

430
00:22:03,080 --> 00:22:07,880
Speaker 1: to this point. Yeah, well, I think, um, I'm very

431
00:22:07,920 --> 00:22:10,800
Speaker 1: thankful that there are people like you and many others

432
00:22:10,800 --> 00:22:13,119
Speaker 1: out there who are willing to you know, to devote

433
00:22:13,160 --> 00:22:17,320
Speaker 1: their lives to these types of causes so important. Um. Now,

434
00:22:17,359 --> 00:22:20,560
Speaker 1: before we dive more into what the National Deer Lines

435
00:22:20,640 --> 00:22:21,960
Speaker 1: is doing now in a whole bunch of stuff like

436
00:22:21,960 --> 00:22:24,119
Speaker 1: that that we're interested in talking about, you meant you

437
00:22:24,160 --> 00:22:26,760
Speaker 1: started off when you talked about who you are, you

438
00:22:26,760 --> 00:22:28,520
Speaker 1: know other than just being an outdoors when you are

439
00:22:28,560 --> 00:22:32,280
Speaker 1: a deer hunter first and foremost, And from what I

440
00:22:32,320 --> 00:22:35,160
Speaker 1: understand and what I heard and su your two thousand

441
00:22:35,200 --> 00:22:38,320
Speaker 1: fifteen deer hunting season was a pretty I almost call

442
00:22:38,320 --> 00:22:40,560
Speaker 1: it an epic one given the ending. Can you tell

443
00:22:40,600 --> 00:22:43,920
Speaker 1: us about your season last year? Sure, Yeah, it was

444
00:22:43,960 --> 00:22:46,840
Speaker 1: a great season, and you know, you define greatness and

445
00:22:46,880 --> 00:22:49,280
Speaker 1: in a lot of different ways, but in terms of

446
00:22:49,960 --> 00:22:52,280
Speaker 1: hanging tags on good animals last year was it was

447
00:22:52,320 --> 00:22:55,040
Speaker 1: pretty good for me. Um. Of course, I grew up

448
00:22:55,119 --> 00:22:58,920
Speaker 1: hunting white tailed deer and that's always been my main passion,

449
00:22:58,960 --> 00:23:03,920
Speaker 1: particularly archery unning, and I started off my season really

450
00:23:03,920 --> 00:23:06,359
Speaker 1: early by going down to Kentucky for the first time

451
00:23:06,800 --> 00:23:10,639
Speaker 1: and hunting their early season with the outside chance and

452
00:23:10,680 --> 00:23:12,800
Speaker 1: maybe seeing a good deer in velvet, which is something

453
00:23:12,800 --> 00:23:16,879
Speaker 1: I always wanted to do and really did, called a

454
00:23:16,920 --> 00:23:19,040
Speaker 1: little bit of luck and good fortune with just two

455
00:23:19,119 --> 00:23:21,040
Speaker 1: days into their season down there, I'm sitting in the

456
00:23:21,080 --> 00:23:24,680
Speaker 1: tree stand. It's ninety degrees and I took a really

457
00:23:25,320 --> 00:23:29,760
Speaker 1: nice fourteen point velvet buck down there, which was just

458
00:23:29,960 --> 00:23:31,920
Speaker 1: a real thrill for me. It was a great hunt,

459
00:23:31,960 --> 00:23:35,360
Speaker 1: and it's interesting the day before I got chased out

460
00:23:35,359 --> 00:23:37,240
Speaker 1: of the tree stand by a thunder and lightning storm.

461
00:23:37,240 --> 00:23:39,720
Speaker 1: As I mentioned, ninety degrees, so it felt like summer

462
00:23:39,800 --> 00:23:42,560
Speaker 1: felt odd being out there. So that's how I started

463
00:23:42,560 --> 00:23:46,320
Speaker 1: the season just two days in and from there it

464
00:23:46,320 --> 00:23:48,960
Speaker 1: would became I should have mentioned I live in Central

465
00:23:48,960 --> 00:23:53,359
Speaker 1: Ohio now, which is really whitetail Central, big Bucks just

466
00:23:53,440 --> 00:23:57,040
Speaker 1: about every corner. You run around every corner here, So

467
00:23:57,119 --> 00:24:00,040
Speaker 1: I do definitely try to stretch out my season and

468
00:24:00,200 --> 00:24:02,919
Speaker 1: focus on the older deer, not necessarily the biggest scoring

469
00:24:02,960 --> 00:24:04,720
Speaker 1: deer it's kind of a pet peeve of mine, but

470
00:24:05,520 --> 00:24:08,560
Speaker 1: definitely the oldest, most challenging deer. So the season was

471
00:24:08,600 --> 00:24:11,240
Speaker 1: dragging up, dragging along in Ohio had seen some good deer,

472
00:24:12,160 --> 00:24:13,920
Speaker 1: but luckily we've got a little break, and my dad

473
00:24:13,920 --> 00:24:17,600
Speaker 1: and I got together and went out to South Dakota

474
00:24:17,640 --> 00:24:20,320
Speaker 1: to chase mule deer. Now I grew up with white tails,

475
00:24:20,359 --> 00:24:22,640
Speaker 1: but as soon as my my first ever mule deer hunt,

476
00:24:22,640 --> 00:24:24,840
Speaker 1: when I moved to North Dakota, I was immediately hooked.

477
00:24:24,840 --> 00:24:28,320
Speaker 1: I mean, there just beautiful, beautiful animals and they almost

478
00:24:28,359 --> 00:24:30,280
Speaker 1: just stare right through you when you're hunting them, and

479
00:24:30,640 --> 00:24:32,240
Speaker 1: there are a great challenge as well. So I was

480
00:24:32,280 --> 00:24:35,159
Speaker 1: really excited to take a break from white tails and

481
00:24:35,200 --> 00:24:37,120
Speaker 1: get out there and chase mule deer, and my dad

482
00:24:37,119 --> 00:24:39,000
Speaker 1: and I both took really nice mule deer in South

483
00:24:39,080 --> 00:24:43,840
Speaker 1: Dakota and just just had a great time for me too.

484
00:24:43,880 --> 00:24:46,520
Speaker 1: It was very exciting because I took him out west.

485
00:24:46,560 --> 00:24:48,760
Speaker 1: That was his first Western hunting experience that he got

486
00:24:48,800 --> 00:24:50,600
Speaker 1: a chance to experience it as well, and I think

487
00:24:50,880 --> 00:24:54,880
Speaker 1: I've probably got him hooked now. But then coming back

488
00:24:54,880 --> 00:24:57,879
Speaker 1: to Ohio, I still had that that ANTLERD tag in

489
00:24:57,960 --> 00:25:00,200
Speaker 1: my pocket, and one of the things that I high

490
00:25:00,280 --> 00:25:02,679
Speaker 1: we're really blessed to have a long season. So we

491
00:25:02,760 --> 00:25:05,199
Speaker 1: start the last week of September and we go all

492
00:25:05,240 --> 00:25:07,120
Speaker 1: the way to the second week of February, so there's

493
00:25:07,160 --> 00:25:11,200
Speaker 1: plenty of opportunity. And I had been chasing this older

494
00:25:11,240 --> 00:25:14,120
Speaker 1: deer that I had known about since the previous season

495
00:25:14,160 --> 00:25:17,399
Speaker 1: and many many encounters with them, and his winners started

496
00:25:17,440 --> 00:25:19,399
Speaker 1: to set in. I spent a lot of time just

497
00:25:19,520 --> 00:25:22,399
Speaker 1: patterning him and narrowing down where I thought he was

498
00:25:22,440 --> 00:25:26,600
Speaker 1: spending a lot of his winning time and went out

499
00:25:26,680 --> 00:25:29,480
Speaker 1: and hung two stands on January four. Now, again, a

500
00:25:29,480 --> 00:25:31,879
Speaker 1: lot of people's seasons are over already at that point,

501
00:25:32,359 --> 00:25:34,520
Speaker 1: but I hung one for each stand was for a

502
00:25:34,520 --> 00:25:36,959
Speaker 1: different win direction because I never knew exactly which way

503
00:25:37,000 --> 00:25:40,000
Speaker 1: to be blown. When I showed up to the farm,

504
00:25:40,080 --> 00:25:42,040
Speaker 1: and I showed up to the farm the following morning

505
00:25:42,080 --> 00:25:45,040
Speaker 1: that would be January, selected the right one based on

506
00:25:45,080 --> 00:25:47,359
Speaker 1: the wind and low and behold, I finally had the

507
00:25:47,440 --> 00:25:50,560
Speaker 1: ultimate encounter with that deer. So, you know, to me,

508
00:25:50,680 --> 00:25:54,119
Speaker 1: to take a really mature, older deer like that in

509
00:25:54,160 --> 00:25:56,720
Speaker 1: the winter where there's almost no cover for you because

510
00:25:56,760 --> 00:25:58,639
Speaker 1: the hunter they've seen it all at this point, and

511
00:25:58,680 --> 00:26:01,159
Speaker 1: to do that with a bow, I was really one

512
00:26:01,160 --> 00:26:04,640
Speaker 1: of my proudest moments as an archery hunter. And uh

513
00:26:05,359 --> 00:26:08,560
Speaker 1: also worked out that I shot a deer all the

514
00:26:08,560 --> 00:26:11,480
Speaker 1: way back in early September, the first one and the last,

515
00:26:11,520 --> 00:26:13,240
Speaker 1: and all the way in late January. So I would

516
00:26:13,240 --> 00:26:16,320
Speaker 1: say that I certainly got my money's worth chasing deer

517
00:26:16,800 --> 00:26:19,920
Speaker 1: all across the country last year. Yeah, that's for sure, Dan,

518
00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:21,960
Speaker 1: that that's how are you're supposed to do it? That's

519
00:26:21,960 --> 00:26:25,919
Speaker 1: how Yeah. Yep, knock on wood, that's what That's what

520
00:26:25,920 --> 00:26:29,639
Speaker 1: we're getting wrong. He had a heck of the season there. Uh,

521
00:26:30,760 --> 00:26:33,439
Speaker 1: I'm curious. I always tell people. I always tell people

522
00:26:33,720 --> 00:26:35,840
Speaker 1: that I'm not I mean, I've had a lot of

523
00:26:35,920 --> 00:26:38,440
Speaker 1: the fortune of taking a lot of really nice deer

524
00:26:38,480 --> 00:26:40,920
Speaker 1: over the years, but I always tell people that have

525
00:26:41,040 --> 00:26:42,760
Speaker 1: nothing to do with my skill. It's just that I'm

526
00:26:42,800 --> 00:26:45,199
Speaker 1: not very good at giving up, so I will slug

527
00:26:45,640 --> 00:26:47,680
Speaker 1: plug it out out there and put in more time

528
00:26:47,720 --> 00:26:50,720
Speaker 1: than most people. So I certainly earned them in the end. Yeah,

529
00:26:50,920 --> 00:26:53,320
Speaker 1: I can definitely. I feel like that's my one skill

530
00:26:53,359 --> 00:26:55,040
Speaker 1: set that when it comes to deer hunting too, is

531
00:26:55,119 --> 00:26:57,359
Speaker 1: I'm just I'm just too stubborn to give up, for sure.

532
00:26:58,640 --> 00:27:00,479
Speaker 1: So I kind of want to drill little bit more

533
00:27:00,480 --> 00:27:02,720
Speaker 1: into this late season buck. You you said you you

534
00:27:02,760 --> 00:27:05,840
Speaker 1: had known him the year before and you started patterning

535
00:27:05,920 --> 00:27:07,800
Speaker 1: him throughout the year head encownards. Can you just tell

536
00:27:07,840 --> 00:27:10,720
Speaker 1: us how you were able to to some degree pattern

537
00:27:10,800 --> 00:27:13,879
Speaker 1: him and finally eventually get it down to two stands.

538
00:27:14,200 --> 00:27:18,320
Speaker 1: Can you go in more detail? Yeah? Absolutely, ill preferences

539
00:27:18,400 --> 00:27:20,439
Speaker 1: by saying that I was chasing a different deer to

540
00:27:20,440 --> 00:27:23,320
Speaker 1: start the season, a really good deer that I've known

541
00:27:23,480 --> 00:27:26,240
Speaker 1: for four years now, and I believe he's still running

542
00:27:26,240 --> 00:27:30,000
Speaker 1: out there. But that deer disappeared on me in mid November.

543
00:27:30,040 --> 00:27:32,560
Speaker 1: I had a really close encounter with him. He was

544
00:27:32,640 --> 00:27:34,720
Speaker 1: betted with a dough. You know, we're in the peak

545
00:27:34,800 --> 00:27:37,560
Speaker 1: right now, this is mid November, and I think I

546
00:27:37,640 --> 00:27:39,320
Speaker 1: just got a little too close to his home and

547
00:27:39,359 --> 00:27:41,159
Speaker 1: he bailed out of there and went somewhere else for

548
00:27:41,200 --> 00:27:44,360
Speaker 1: the rest of the year. But the deer I ended

549
00:27:44,400 --> 00:27:46,840
Speaker 1: up shooting is a deer that I nicknamed Curfew. And

550
00:27:46,880 --> 00:27:49,159
Speaker 1: then it's not everybody's fond of naming deer, but it

551
00:27:49,160 --> 00:27:53,080
Speaker 1: helps me keep track of him. And he showed up again.

552
00:27:53,080 --> 00:27:55,520
Speaker 1: I had pictures of him the previous winner, which would

553
00:27:55,520 --> 00:28:00,320
Speaker 1: have been and he showed up again in mid October Ober.

554
00:28:01,320 --> 00:28:03,960
Speaker 1: Just a horse and he's a clean eight point, but

555
00:28:04,040 --> 00:28:07,040
Speaker 1: he's got really long brow times about nine inches long,

556
00:28:07,119 --> 00:28:10,919
Speaker 1: and just real, real massive rack. But he was very recognizable,

557
00:28:11,960 --> 00:28:13,800
Speaker 1: and like I said, I had a lot of encounters

558
00:28:13,840 --> 00:28:16,760
Speaker 1: with him during the regular archery season and then even

559
00:28:16,760 --> 00:28:20,800
Speaker 1: in the late muzzleloader season had some encounters. But is

560
00:28:21,119 --> 00:28:25,680
Speaker 1: one I always tell people, you know, the rut gets

561
00:28:25,680 --> 00:28:28,800
Speaker 1: all the gets all the news people always book their

562
00:28:28,840 --> 00:28:30,919
Speaker 1: hunts around the rut. You know, that's the time to

563
00:28:30,920 --> 00:28:32,359
Speaker 1: be in the woods. And I think it's just because

564
00:28:32,400 --> 00:28:35,879
Speaker 1: they see so many deer and they have sightings a

565
00:28:35,920 --> 00:28:39,200
Speaker 1: big deer. But I always tell people that if you

566
00:28:39,280 --> 00:28:41,720
Speaker 1: have not hunted that winter season, you're really missing out

567
00:28:41,760 --> 00:28:44,880
Speaker 1: because to me that is other than the very early

568
00:28:44,920 --> 00:28:47,440
Speaker 1: season that you can you can do in places like Kentucky.

569
00:28:47,480 --> 00:28:50,960
Speaker 1: I believe late season winter season is your best opportunity

570
00:28:51,000 --> 00:28:54,440
Speaker 1: to really pattern an older deer. And the reason you

571
00:28:54,480 --> 00:28:56,840
Speaker 1: can do that is because food is so is so

572
00:28:56,960 --> 00:29:02,280
Speaker 1: important to them. So in this case with kerr few Um,

573
00:29:02,520 --> 00:29:04,800
Speaker 1: the late muzzleload season gave me a chance to sort

574
00:29:04,800 --> 00:29:07,120
Speaker 1: of scout him from a distance because I was just

575
00:29:07,160 --> 00:29:09,200
Speaker 1: sitting in a blind and I had these encounters, but

576
00:29:09,240 --> 00:29:12,760
Speaker 1: I watched all his movements. I used that information and

577
00:29:12,800 --> 00:29:15,680
Speaker 1: combination with my trail cameras that I had out there,

578
00:29:16,280 --> 00:29:18,720
Speaker 1: to really start narrowing down where I thought he was living.

579
00:29:18,720 --> 00:29:22,600
Speaker 1: And those areas provided good cover and good betting. And

580
00:29:22,640 --> 00:29:26,320
Speaker 1: also there were soybeans in in those fields in the

581
00:29:26,360 --> 00:29:29,200
Speaker 1: area I was hunting, so there was plenty, you know,

582
00:29:29,320 --> 00:29:31,080
Speaker 1: food for the deer to get to. Was actually drawn

583
00:29:31,080 --> 00:29:33,600
Speaker 1: in several deer from outside the area because I'm not

584
00:29:33,640 --> 00:29:36,640
Speaker 1: sure if the farmers equipment just wasn't very good at

585
00:29:36,640 --> 00:29:38,320
Speaker 1: what But there was an awful lot of beans left

586
00:29:38,320 --> 00:29:40,200
Speaker 1: in that field, and the deer were not only hitting

587
00:29:40,200 --> 00:29:42,080
Speaker 1: the beans, but they were also pulling up some of

588
00:29:42,080 --> 00:29:45,720
Speaker 1: the decaying plant matter. As well, so it just sort

589
00:29:45,720 --> 00:29:49,000
Speaker 1: of became a hot spot. So I knew that eventually

590
00:29:49,040 --> 00:29:51,040
Speaker 1: if I if I could keep getting into that area

591
00:29:51,080 --> 00:29:54,360
Speaker 1: where I thought he was betting and feeding, that I'd

592
00:29:54,360 --> 00:29:57,840
Speaker 1: have a real good shot. So really it really wasn't

593
00:29:57,920 --> 00:30:00,440
Speaker 1: rocket science. The trick was just being able to get

594
00:30:00,480 --> 00:30:04,640
Speaker 1: in there without spooking the deer, so that whenever he

595
00:30:04,680 --> 00:30:06,320
Speaker 1: did get up and move, he'd come my way. And

596
00:30:06,760 --> 00:30:08,640
Speaker 1: you know, I would do other things that people might

597
00:30:08,680 --> 00:30:10,640
Speaker 1: find a little unusual too, and that is not go

598
00:30:11,560 --> 00:30:13,640
Speaker 1: running in there while it's still dark in the morning.

599
00:30:13,800 --> 00:30:15,640
Speaker 1: You know, you can't see anything. You have no idea

600
00:30:15,680 --> 00:30:20,040
Speaker 1: where these deer betting. If you have open country like

601
00:30:20,120 --> 00:30:22,960
Speaker 1: you do in the wintertime, typically you can see a

602
00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:24,760
Speaker 1: long way. So I could just work my way up

603
00:30:24,800 --> 00:30:27,800
Speaker 1: to my stand, slowly, glass all the areas ahead, and

604
00:30:27,840 --> 00:30:30,040
Speaker 1: make sure he wasn't bedded nearby, and then just get

605
00:30:30,080 --> 00:30:33,200
Speaker 1: into my stand. So if that was another tactic, I

606
00:30:33,240 --> 00:30:35,600
Speaker 1: think it would probably be a little different for what

607
00:30:36,320 --> 00:30:39,280
Speaker 1: most people would do. So anyway, just honed in on

608
00:30:39,360 --> 00:30:43,240
Speaker 1: him and eventually got my opportunity. And I'm probably making

609
00:30:43,240 --> 00:30:46,320
Speaker 1: it sound more simple than it was, but at the end,

610
00:30:46,360 --> 00:30:49,040
Speaker 1: it just comes down to drive and determination, and like

611
00:30:49,160 --> 00:30:51,800
Speaker 1: I it told some buddies, I said, I don't think

612
00:30:51,800 --> 00:30:54,760
Speaker 1: there's anyone else out in Ohio hanging tree stands on January.

613
00:30:55,440 --> 00:30:59,160
Speaker 1: So you know, you have to be willing to go

614
00:30:59,320 --> 00:31:02,239
Speaker 1: that extra mile if you want to shoot. Dear of

615
00:31:02,280 --> 00:31:05,120
Speaker 1: that age class, in that quality, and I'm just I'm

616
00:31:05,120 --> 00:31:07,959
Speaker 1: glad that have paid off. Yeah, yeah, I remember when

617
00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:09,640
Speaker 1: I when I saw that you killed that buck, I

618
00:31:09,720 --> 00:31:12,040
Speaker 1: was kind of shocked, as I can't believe that he

619
00:31:12,120 --> 00:31:15,040
Speaker 1: was still hunting. I was. I was already in postseason mode.

620
00:31:15,320 --> 00:31:17,200
Speaker 1: You know, we were done here January one, and I

621
00:31:17,240 --> 00:31:20,200
Speaker 1: completely forgot that you guys are still going down there. Um,

622
00:31:20,240 --> 00:31:22,720
Speaker 1: and I'd filled my Ohio tag earlier, so I wasn't

623
00:31:22,720 --> 00:31:25,920
Speaker 1: thinking about Ohio. So that was That was pretty cool

624
00:31:25,920 --> 00:31:28,160
Speaker 1: to see, great Dear too, And it's cool to see

625
00:31:28,200 --> 00:31:31,000
Speaker 1: it all come together like that when you one of

626
00:31:31,000 --> 00:31:32,520
Speaker 1: my favorite things. You know, it's fun when you get

627
00:31:32,560 --> 00:31:34,200
Speaker 1: a bonus buck, you know, when you're hunting and a

628
00:31:34,360 --> 00:31:37,360
Speaker 1: buck shows up and it just happens. But I love

629
00:31:37,960 --> 00:31:40,640
Speaker 1: when you can actually put a specific plan in place

630
00:31:41,240 --> 00:31:43,320
Speaker 1: and actually have it come you know, turn out the

631
00:31:43,320 --> 00:31:45,920
Speaker 1: way you wanted to. That's doesn't happen all time, but

632
00:31:45,920 --> 00:31:49,760
Speaker 1: it's pretty awesomehen it does. Yeah, it rarely happens, frankly,

633
00:31:49,800 --> 00:31:52,600
Speaker 1: you know something. Usually there's a twister turn in there

634
00:31:52,600 --> 00:31:55,440
Speaker 1: that you weren't expecting. Typically, But like you said, when

635
00:31:55,440 --> 00:31:58,640
Speaker 1: it does happen, it's incredibly satisfying. And it's hard enough

636
00:31:58,680 --> 00:32:02,520
Speaker 1: to be satisfied early with the year I had last year. Yeah,

637
00:32:02,600 --> 00:32:06,960
Speaker 1: for sure. So do you have a dream buck this

638
00:32:07,040 --> 00:32:08,920
Speaker 1: year in Ohio? Is that one from the past couple

639
00:32:08,920 --> 00:32:12,800
Speaker 1: of years still around? You think? I hope. So, you know,

640
00:32:12,880 --> 00:32:16,360
Speaker 1: that's an interesting deer as well that I actually passed

641
00:32:16,360 --> 00:32:18,040
Speaker 1: on that deer when he was a three year old

642
00:32:18,800 --> 00:32:22,160
Speaker 1: and he's a six year old now, assuming he's still

643
00:32:22,160 --> 00:32:24,440
Speaker 1: out there. But this is a deer that doesn't show

644
00:32:24,520 --> 00:32:26,360
Speaker 1: up on the property. And I should say I'm not

645
00:32:26,480 --> 00:32:29,680
Speaker 1: hunting any kind of a special management property or anything

646
00:32:29,680 --> 00:32:34,680
Speaker 1: like that. These are just essentially central central Ohio farmland bucks.

647
00:32:35,640 --> 00:32:40,000
Speaker 1: And this deer seems to summer somewhere else on a

648
00:32:40,000 --> 00:32:42,960
Speaker 1: neighboring property and doesn't send a show up in my

649
00:32:43,080 --> 00:32:47,760
Speaker 1: area until late September early October. So if he's around,

650
00:32:47,840 --> 00:32:50,600
Speaker 1: this is going to be a real monstrous type deer.

651
00:32:50,640 --> 00:32:52,760
Speaker 1: I mean, this is a deer that has he already

652
00:32:52,800 --> 00:32:55,840
Speaker 1: has one eye gone from fighting and one of his

653
00:32:56,000 --> 00:32:58,000
Speaker 1: years are split and it just hangs there. So he's

654
00:32:58,000 --> 00:33:01,160
Speaker 1: a he's an old warrior. And I actually saw him

655
00:33:01,160 --> 00:33:02,800
Speaker 1: and got a little bit of film on him last

656
00:33:02,880 --> 00:33:06,200
Speaker 1: year early in the season, and to me that was

657
00:33:06,240 --> 00:33:09,440
Speaker 1: even just such a great privilege. So, uh, if he's

658
00:33:09,480 --> 00:33:11,280
Speaker 1: out there, I'd I'd love to chase him again. But

659
00:33:11,320 --> 00:33:14,160
Speaker 1: if not, I know that there are several others older

660
00:33:14,160 --> 00:33:16,040
Speaker 1: deer out there that would be more than happy to

661
00:33:16,280 --> 00:33:18,280
Speaker 1: hang it, hang a tag on. But this is the

662
00:33:18,320 --> 00:33:20,680
Speaker 1: exciting time of year. You're starting to get the pictures

663
00:33:20,680 --> 00:33:23,000
Speaker 1: and you're getting your gear ready, and so I'm getting

664
00:33:23,000 --> 00:33:25,840
Speaker 1: I'm definitely getting fired up. It's almost the best time

665
00:33:25,920 --> 00:33:28,880
Speaker 1: here because the anticipation. Right now, anything's possible, you know,

666
00:33:29,280 --> 00:33:31,640
Speaker 1: like all the hopes and dreams are still ahead of us.

667
00:33:32,160 --> 00:33:35,920
Speaker 1: And as the season progresses, I become a slightly more

668
00:33:35,920 --> 00:33:38,160
Speaker 1: and more depressed with the fact that's not going to

669
00:33:38,240 --> 00:33:41,440
Speaker 1: go the way I wanted to do. But this, right now,

670
00:33:41,440 --> 00:33:48,360
Speaker 1: it's all good. So I guess when you're not chasing

671
00:33:48,400 --> 00:33:52,880
Speaker 1: these big bucks, Nick, you're working with the National Deer Lions.

672
00:33:52,960 --> 00:33:55,560
Speaker 1: Can you tell us, you know, we've talked a number

673
00:33:55,560 --> 00:33:57,880
Speaker 1: of times on this podcast about the National Deer Lions.

674
00:33:57,920 --> 00:34:01,360
Speaker 1: You know, it launched. I think it was two thousand four, team, Um,

675
00:34:01,360 --> 00:34:03,280
Speaker 1: but can you tell us a little bit about what

676
00:34:03,320 --> 00:34:05,720
Speaker 1: the National Deer Alliance is now? You know, if it's

677
00:34:05,800 --> 00:34:08,680
Speaker 1: changed at all since the beginning? Um, what that looks

678
00:34:08,680 --> 00:34:11,919
Speaker 1: like today? Sure? And I think it has changed quite

679
00:34:11,920 --> 00:34:15,040
Speaker 1: a bit since the beginning. I remember, much like you Mark,

680
00:34:15,200 --> 00:34:17,200
Speaker 1: being at some of the early you know, the dear

681
00:34:17,280 --> 00:34:20,080
Speaker 1: summits and sitting there and listening to the folks talk

682
00:34:20,120 --> 00:34:22,279
Speaker 1: about what they thought the National Deer Alliance was going

683
00:34:22,320 --> 00:34:25,279
Speaker 1: to be. And even sitting there, I had questions in

684
00:34:25,360 --> 00:34:27,279
Speaker 1: my own mind, well, what is this group going to do?

685
00:34:27,320 --> 00:34:30,360
Speaker 1: Who are they? Um? What will they do that the

686
00:34:30,360 --> 00:34:32,880
Speaker 1: other deer groups don't do? So at that time I

687
00:34:32,960 --> 00:34:35,960
Speaker 1: never saw myself eas and even as a candidate, you know,

688
00:34:36,000 --> 00:34:38,839
Speaker 1: for the CEO job running running the organization. So it's

689
00:34:38,880 --> 00:34:40,560
Speaker 1: kind of funny that we ended up here now. But

690
00:34:42,200 --> 00:34:44,600
Speaker 1: I think a really important thing happened back in May

691
00:34:44,680 --> 00:34:48,520
Speaker 1: of last year May, and that was they put together

692
00:34:48,560 --> 00:34:52,080
Speaker 1: a solid board of directors, people from within the outdoor industry,

693
00:34:52,080 --> 00:34:54,840
Speaker 1: with a lot of experience who could really get the

694
00:34:54,960 --> 00:34:59,600
Speaker 1: organization on the right track. That was key, and they

695
00:34:59,640 --> 00:35:01,160
Speaker 1: said that, you know, one of the things we're gonna

696
00:35:01,160 --> 00:35:02,759
Speaker 1: set out to do right off the bads, we're gonna

697
00:35:02,800 --> 00:35:05,120
Speaker 1: hire a CEO because we need somebody to own this

698
00:35:05,239 --> 00:35:07,640
Speaker 1: thing to actually do it, and we have to put

699
00:35:07,640 --> 00:35:09,880
Speaker 1: our plan in place. We can't just keep talking about

700
00:35:09,880 --> 00:35:11,799
Speaker 1: all the things we might do. We have to get

701
00:35:11,840 --> 00:35:15,200
Speaker 1: really strategic about this and do everything we can to

702
00:35:15,280 --> 00:35:18,480
Speaker 1: make this a successful organization to help deer and to

703
00:35:18,520 --> 00:35:21,239
Speaker 1: help deer hunters. Frankly, and that's when I started to

704
00:35:21,280 --> 00:35:25,360
Speaker 1: become more interested in what was going on. And it

705
00:35:25,440 --> 00:35:28,399
Speaker 1: also was very important to me that this organization would

706
00:35:28,400 --> 00:35:31,359
Speaker 1: not be set up to compete with the existing deer organizations,

707
00:35:31,360 --> 00:35:34,920
Speaker 1: and it's in fact, Mule Deer Foundation, White Tails Unlimited,

708
00:35:34,920 --> 00:35:37,319
Speaker 1: and q d m A all have seats on the

709
00:35:37,360 --> 00:35:39,920
Speaker 1: board of directors. So in a lot of ways, the

710
00:35:39,920 --> 00:35:45,520
Speaker 1: existing deer groups really grew nd A out of their

711
00:35:45,560 --> 00:35:48,680
Speaker 1: own roots. So to me that was very important because

712
00:35:48,680 --> 00:35:50,640
Speaker 1: the last thing we need is more competition and a

713
00:35:50,760 --> 00:35:53,200
Speaker 1: than a group to another group to just exists out

714
00:35:53,200 --> 00:35:56,000
Speaker 1: there for the sake of being around. So I think

715
00:35:56,040 --> 00:35:59,000
Speaker 1: that really set forth a lot of change with n

716
00:35:59,080 --> 00:36:01,960
Speaker 1: d A. And then very shortly after I came on board,

717
00:36:02,000 --> 00:36:04,880
Speaker 1: we got together not just with our board of directors,

718
00:36:04,880 --> 00:36:08,040
Speaker 1: but we brought in folks from around the country, different

719
00:36:08,080 --> 00:36:11,839
Speaker 1: level of expertise and experience to put together the first

720
00:36:11,840 --> 00:36:15,760
Speaker 1: strategic plan for NDA. And that was a really critical

721
00:36:15,800 --> 00:36:19,239
Speaker 1: moment for us because now it wasn't just conjecture and

722
00:36:19,280 --> 00:36:21,279
Speaker 1: talking about all the things we could do. Now we're

723
00:36:21,280 --> 00:36:24,799
Speaker 1: listing out the five or six key things that we're

724
00:36:24,800 --> 00:36:28,640
Speaker 1: going to focus on and work on. Again. The most

725
00:36:28,680 --> 00:36:32,800
Speaker 1: important thing on behalf of deer and deer Hunters, and

726
00:36:33,560 --> 00:36:35,320
Speaker 1: that was a great moment I think in the history

727
00:36:35,320 --> 00:36:37,799
Speaker 1: of the organization. I think we put together a really

728
00:36:37,880 --> 00:36:41,640
Speaker 1: good document and that set in motion really where we're

729
00:36:41,640 --> 00:36:44,479
Speaker 1: at today with with the organization, and that is we're

730
00:36:45,480 --> 00:36:48,360
Speaker 1: just about ready to start trying to drive up membership

731
00:36:48,440 --> 00:36:50,560
Speaker 1: numbers and get people excited about what we're doing. We

732
00:36:50,640 --> 00:36:54,319
Speaker 1: purposely haven't been doing that, so Mark, you haven't. You know,

733
00:36:54,360 --> 00:36:56,080
Speaker 1: you and I worked together on this quite a bit,

734
00:36:56,120 --> 00:36:59,160
Speaker 1: so you understand the frustrations of we want to yell

735
00:36:59,200 --> 00:37:01,279
Speaker 1: from the mountain about all the things going on with

736
00:37:01,360 --> 00:37:04,359
Speaker 1: the NBA, but we've purposely not been doing that, and

737
00:37:05,160 --> 00:37:07,960
Speaker 1: I'm sure we'll talk a little bit about things we're

738
00:37:07,960 --> 00:37:09,640
Speaker 1: gonna be doing here in the future with the new

739
00:37:09,640 --> 00:37:12,040
Speaker 1: website launched go on. So that's that's kind of the

740
00:37:12,120 --> 00:37:14,200
Speaker 1: history of where we are, how we got to where

741
00:37:14,200 --> 00:37:18,919
Speaker 1: we are today. So so Dan, you know, use most

742
00:37:18,920 --> 00:37:21,080
Speaker 1: people listening and as you know, and obviously Nick, you know,

743
00:37:21,239 --> 00:37:23,919
Speaker 1: like I work with the National Deer National Deer Lines

744
00:37:23,960 --> 00:37:26,160
Speaker 1: quite a bit, so I'm pretty familiar with what's going on.

745
00:37:26,640 --> 00:37:29,600
Speaker 1: But I'm curious from an outside perspective, Dan, if you

746
00:37:29,640 --> 00:37:31,839
Speaker 1: can kind of sit in for our audience right now,

747
00:37:32,760 --> 00:37:35,480
Speaker 1: what is like the big thing you what's your big

748
00:37:35,560 --> 00:37:38,920
Speaker 1: question mark around the National Deer Alliance. What are you

749
00:37:38,920 --> 00:37:41,200
Speaker 1: still confused about, if anything, about what they're doing or

750
00:37:41,200 --> 00:37:45,200
Speaker 1: where they're going. Well, not necessarily confusion, but what I

751
00:37:45,320 --> 00:37:48,440
Speaker 1: noticed is, you know, there's you know, the National Deer

752
00:37:48,480 --> 00:37:51,960
Speaker 1: Alliance was pretty active for a while and social media

753
00:37:52,000 --> 00:37:55,360
Speaker 1: and then fell off, and I didn't notice it on

754
00:37:55,400 --> 00:37:59,200
Speaker 1: any social media platforms. I didn't notice it and really

755
00:37:59,239 --> 00:38:02,000
Speaker 1: any type of mega zines or any other media that

756
00:38:02,120 --> 00:38:04,600
Speaker 1: I was consuming, and I was just kind of curious,

757
00:38:04,640 --> 00:38:07,759
Speaker 1: you know, like what's happening right now? You know, what

758
00:38:08,040 --> 00:38:11,439
Speaker 1: is this transition period that you guys are going through. Yeah,

759
00:38:11,440 --> 00:38:13,360
Speaker 1: and that's a great question, and I'm I'm glad you

760
00:38:13,400 --> 00:38:16,839
Speaker 1: asked it because I'm going to talk about I think

761
00:38:16,840 --> 00:38:20,799
Speaker 1: one of the frustrations I've had is the leader of

762
00:38:20,840 --> 00:38:23,319
Speaker 1: this group, and you know Mark has shared this and

763
00:38:23,360 --> 00:38:28,319
Speaker 1: that is it's not a frustration with any person. It's

764
00:38:28,360 --> 00:38:31,680
Speaker 1: just a frustration that we knew we had to purposely

765
00:38:31,760 --> 00:38:33,840
Speaker 1: kind of lay back a little bit until we got

766
00:38:34,120 --> 00:38:37,600
Speaker 1: our priorities in line, and also to try to help

767
00:38:38,160 --> 00:38:39,960
Speaker 1: clean up some of the things that happened at the

768
00:38:40,040 --> 00:38:41,799
Speaker 1: very beginning. And what I what I mean by that

769
00:38:41,960 --> 00:38:45,040
Speaker 1: is when you're launching a new organization and you really

770
00:38:45,040 --> 00:38:47,240
Speaker 1: don't know exactly what you're going to be, the tendency

771
00:38:47,320 --> 00:38:49,879
Speaker 1: is for people to say a whole bunch of things

772
00:38:49,920 --> 00:38:53,080
Speaker 1: about what you might do, and people remember that. So

773
00:38:54,000 --> 00:38:56,360
Speaker 1: some of the early press and information you were seeing

774
00:38:56,400 --> 00:38:59,960
Speaker 1: in our earlier website had a lot of incorrect information.

775
00:39:00,400 --> 00:39:04,640
Speaker 1: So I'm a person likes to run ahead and you know,

776
00:39:04,719 --> 00:39:06,560
Speaker 1: make some noise and get things done right away and

777
00:39:06,840 --> 00:39:09,840
Speaker 1: make things happen. But I knew the wrong thing to

778
00:39:09,880 --> 00:39:11,719
Speaker 1: do would be to try to drag a whole bunch

779
00:39:11,760 --> 00:39:14,400
Speaker 1: of people and have a whole bunch more media out

780
00:39:14,440 --> 00:39:16,840
Speaker 1: there about what we're doing. Before we really knew would

781
00:39:16,840 --> 00:39:20,200
Speaker 1: be detrimental in the long term, so we purposely laid

782
00:39:20,200 --> 00:39:23,399
Speaker 1: back a little bit until we got those priorities in order.

783
00:39:24,080 --> 00:39:25,719
Speaker 1: Now that we have them in order, we issued a

784
00:39:25,760 --> 00:39:28,680
Speaker 1: press release a little bit earlier this year that talked

785
00:39:28,719 --> 00:39:33,080
Speaker 1: about the priority areas, and those areas are wild deer conservation,

786
00:39:33,160 --> 00:39:36,400
Speaker 1: so very clearly we're drawing the definition between wild deer

787
00:39:36,400 --> 00:39:40,040
Speaker 1: and not wild deer, so we're focused on wild deer conservation.

788
00:39:40,080 --> 00:39:43,320
Speaker 1: We're gonna be focused on diseases. The big headliner there's

789
00:39:43,920 --> 00:39:46,920
Speaker 1: two headliners, really chronic wasting disease and e h D.

790
00:39:47,960 --> 00:39:50,080
Speaker 1: Especially this time you're the h D, so we're gonna

791
00:39:50,120 --> 00:39:53,880
Speaker 1: do a lot of work on those. Hunter access continues

792
00:39:53,920 --> 00:39:56,680
Speaker 1: to be a problem out there. We have shrinking opportunities

793
00:39:56,719 --> 00:39:58,279
Speaker 1: for people to go out and hunt deer, so we're

794
00:39:58,280 --> 00:40:01,719
Speaker 1: gonna work on that in the state and federal state

795
00:40:01,760 --> 00:40:05,000
Speaker 1: and federal land management. So the existing public land it's

796
00:40:05,000 --> 00:40:06,759
Speaker 1: out there, we want to make sure that that's the

797
00:40:06,800 --> 00:40:09,600
Speaker 1: deer aren't forgotten in the management aspects of those properties.

798
00:40:09,600 --> 00:40:11,200
Speaker 1: So we want to have good places for people to

799
00:40:11,280 --> 00:40:17,680
Speaker 1: hunt and um not remember all the ones already told you.

800
00:40:17,760 --> 00:40:21,160
Speaker 1: So those are the really before the key ones, I'm sorry.

801
00:40:21,200 --> 00:40:26,160
Speaker 1: The other one's predators and competitors. So increasing problems with

802
00:40:26,280 --> 00:40:29,239
Speaker 1: being able to control predators, which, as we all know,

803
00:40:29,440 --> 00:40:33,399
Speaker 1: especially during fawning season, have a profound impact on deer um.

804
00:40:33,480 --> 00:40:35,560
Speaker 1: That's a That's an area also where we run into

805
00:40:35,600 --> 00:40:38,440
Speaker 1: a lot of anti hunting issues. So people will say, well,

806
00:40:38,480 --> 00:40:41,120
Speaker 1: nobody really comes out and tries to stop deer hunting. Well,

807
00:40:41,520 --> 00:40:43,520
Speaker 1: if you really look at what they do is they

808
00:40:43,560 --> 00:40:45,839
Speaker 1: battle us around the fringes and they do things like

809
00:40:46,320 --> 00:40:49,480
Speaker 1: eliminate the opportunity for us to hunt coyotes or wolves,

810
00:40:50,480 --> 00:40:53,359
Speaker 1: Bob Cat's mountain lines, these types of things. So we're

811
00:40:53,360 --> 00:40:55,400
Speaker 1: gonna be working very hard on those issues to make

812
00:40:55,400 --> 00:40:58,200
Speaker 1: sure that we can manage predators and keep everything in

813
00:40:58,239 --> 00:41:00,680
Speaker 1: line out there for the betterment of deer and hunters.

814
00:41:00,719 --> 00:41:03,440
Speaker 1: So those are the priority areas that we came out with.

815
00:41:04,160 --> 00:41:07,000
Speaker 1: And then the next big step for us was to

816
00:41:07,200 --> 00:41:10,480
Speaker 1: launch a brand new website. And you know this is

817
00:41:10,480 --> 00:41:12,279
Speaker 1: one of I think one of the first conversations that

818
00:41:12,360 --> 00:41:15,120
Speaker 1: Mark and I had over a year ago. Now was

819
00:41:15,360 --> 00:41:18,719
Speaker 1: the importance to get in this website launched, And I'm

820
00:41:18,760 --> 00:41:22,600
Speaker 1: happy to report that very soon we're about to launch

821
00:41:22,760 --> 00:41:26,520
Speaker 1: National Deerlines dot Com, the brand new version of that website.

822
00:41:26,719 --> 00:41:28,640
Speaker 1: The old one has been taken down, the new one.

823
00:41:28,680 --> 00:41:31,600
Speaker 1: I've been actually today working on it pretty much every

824
00:41:31,600 --> 00:41:33,239
Speaker 1: minute of the day, trying to get it in line

825
00:41:33,280 --> 00:41:36,120
Speaker 1: with what we need. But that's an exciting time for

826
00:41:36,200 --> 00:41:39,440
Speaker 1: us because now we have our house in order, we

827
00:41:39,520 --> 00:41:42,480
Speaker 1: have a plan, We've already been working on some key things,

828
00:41:43,040 --> 00:41:44,560
Speaker 1: and now we have a place to put all this

829
00:41:44,680 --> 00:41:48,040
Speaker 1: information and to invite people to come see it and

830
00:41:48,080 --> 00:41:51,759
Speaker 1: to hopefully join us, because membership is free, and ultimately,

831
00:41:51,800 --> 00:41:53,719
Speaker 1: we can only be effective if we built up a

832
00:41:53,800 --> 00:41:57,640
Speaker 1: huge membership of people who are really interested in working

833
00:41:57,680 --> 00:42:00,600
Speaker 1: for deer and working for deer hunters. And that is

834
00:42:00,640 --> 00:42:03,120
Speaker 1: really the spirit of what NDA is all about. To

835
00:42:03,200 --> 00:42:07,560
Speaker 1: help us get this these important policy issues taken care

836
00:42:07,600 --> 00:42:10,319
Speaker 1: of on behalf of deer and hunters, and the only

837
00:42:10,320 --> 00:42:13,040
Speaker 1: way to do that effectively is this through grassroots and

838
00:42:13,480 --> 00:42:16,200
Speaker 1: by getting the voices of hunters and other deer enthusiasts

839
00:42:16,760 --> 00:42:19,200
Speaker 1: into the mix. So that's what we're all about and

840
00:42:19,239 --> 00:42:21,360
Speaker 1: we I really want to have a big sigh of

841
00:42:21,400 --> 00:42:24,200
Speaker 1: relief because we finally reached this point and it's and

842
00:42:24,239 --> 00:42:28,439
Speaker 1: it's an exciting time for us. How hard is it

843
00:42:28,600 --> 00:42:34,160
Speaker 1: to have a a nationwide organization and have kind of

844
00:42:34,200 --> 00:42:39,880
Speaker 1: a nationwide platform with maybe different parts of the country

845
00:42:40,840 --> 00:42:44,960
Speaker 1: finding different topics higher on a priority list than other

846
00:42:45,040 --> 00:42:48,680
Speaker 1: parts of the country. Yeah, and it's very challenging. You know,

847
00:42:48,800 --> 00:42:50,840
Speaker 1: I should have mentioned, you know, we work on behalf

848
00:42:50,840 --> 00:42:54,759
Speaker 1: of all deers, so we're talking white tails, mule deer, blacktail,

849
00:42:55,080 --> 00:42:57,920
Speaker 1: choose deer, even key deer. So there are very different

850
00:42:57,960 --> 00:43:01,239
Speaker 1: issues all across the country, and even in the white

851
00:43:01,280 --> 00:43:06,600
Speaker 1: tail range state the state, you have different issues, different concerns.

852
00:43:06,640 --> 00:43:09,480
Speaker 1: And I've said one of the big challenges was that

853
00:43:09,800 --> 00:43:12,560
Speaker 1: every deer hunter has in their own mind a definition

854
00:43:12,600 --> 00:43:14,799
Speaker 1: of what they consider the perfect deer hunt or the

855
00:43:14,800 --> 00:43:19,000
Speaker 1: perfect deer hunting properties or situations. So it's very challenging,

856
00:43:19,120 --> 00:43:22,279
Speaker 1: very different priorities across the country. I think the key

857
00:43:22,320 --> 00:43:25,000
Speaker 1: for us will be to make sure we understand where

858
00:43:25,080 --> 00:43:29,440
Speaker 1: we can be effective. Um a lot of different issues

859
00:43:29,440 --> 00:43:31,120
Speaker 1: going on, it would be very easy for us to

860
00:43:31,200 --> 00:43:34,840
Speaker 1: chase after everybody's personal deer issue. But we just can't

861
00:43:34,840 --> 00:43:37,440
Speaker 1: do that. We have to stand very close to our

862
00:43:37,520 --> 00:43:41,040
Speaker 1: key priority areas and be effective in those areas without

863
00:43:41,040 --> 00:43:44,480
Speaker 1: getting so broad that I'm constantly answering the phone for

864
00:43:44,520 --> 00:43:47,439
Speaker 1: example of you know, hey, can you come to our

865
00:43:47,480 --> 00:43:50,320
Speaker 1: community because we have this deer problem or that dear problem.

866
00:43:50,320 --> 00:43:52,840
Speaker 1: It's not that we don't care about those, it's just

867
00:43:53,000 --> 00:43:55,640
Speaker 1: we have to be realistic in what we can accomplish.

868
00:43:55,800 --> 00:43:57,960
Speaker 1: And that's the big reason why we did the strategic

869
00:43:58,000 --> 00:44:01,440
Speaker 1: plan to help us prioritize where those issues are. So

870
00:44:01,520 --> 00:44:04,600
Speaker 1: you know, of course a mule deer issue in Arizona

871
00:44:04,680 --> 00:44:07,920
Speaker 1: is very different than a white tail issue in New Hampshire,

872
00:44:08,040 --> 00:44:11,760
Speaker 1: so big landscape out there. We just have to remain focused,

873
00:44:11,760 --> 00:44:14,279
Speaker 1: rely on our partners, and hopefully grow a little bit

874
00:44:14,320 --> 00:44:16,399
Speaker 1: to be able to address as much as we can.

875
00:44:17,680 --> 00:44:19,400
Speaker 1: Still kind of related to that, I think one of

876
00:44:19,440 --> 00:44:21,839
Speaker 1: the big questions that a lot of people have both

877
00:44:21,880 --> 00:44:24,359
Speaker 1: when the NDA first launched and now I think as

878
00:44:24,360 --> 00:44:27,000
Speaker 1: we're in kind of our our second our relaunched, maybe

879
00:44:27,000 --> 00:44:30,120
Speaker 1: you might call it um why is there a need

880
00:44:30,160 --> 00:44:32,840
Speaker 1: for this organization? You know, because there's already you know,

881
00:44:32,840 --> 00:44:34,680
Speaker 1: there's already qum A, I'm already a member of that.

882
00:44:34,760 --> 00:44:37,439
Speaker 1: I'm already a member of Muliar Federation maybe or maybe

883
00:44:37,480 --> 00:44:40,319
Speaker 1: some already a member of White Tails Unlimited. Why is

884
00:44:40,320 --> 00:44:42,520
Speaker 1: there an NDA? What do you what are we doing

885
00:44:42,520 --> 00:44:46,120
Speaker 1: above and beyond these other groups? And that's a great question,

886
00:44:46,160 --> 00:44:49,280
Speaker 1: and that's the question that I asked myself back whenever

887
00:44:49,400 --> 00:44:53,080
Speaker 1: NDA was first announced. And I think the biggest thing,

888
00:44:54,600 --> 00:44:57,359
Speaker 1: the biggest way we differentiate ourselves is that we are

889
00:44:58,080 --> 00:45:04,680
Speaker 1: really almost policy focused. So while the other organizations do

890
00:45:04,840 --> 00:45:07,680
Speaker 1: work on policy, the reality is their missions are much

891
00:45:07,760 --> 00:45:12,719
Speaker 1: more focused on conservation. They're a little more specific and

892
00:45:13,080 --> 00:45:16,440
Speaker 1: specific than we are. Meaning of course Mule Deer Foundation

893
00:45:16,520 --> 00:45:18,320
Speaker 1: is only focused on mule deer and they're doing a

894
00:45:18,360 --> 00:45:21,680
Speaker 1: lot of conservation work and raising money for habitat work

895
00:45:21,719 --> 00:45:25,080
Speaker 1: and these types of things, but they're not working full

896
00:45:25,080 --> 00:45:27,840
Speaker 1: time on policy. Same thing with q d m A,

897
00:45:27,920 --> 00:45:31,640
Speaker 1: you know, helping people manage their land better, healthier deer,

898
00:45:31,680 --> 00:45:35,160
Speaker 1: healthier habitat, but not as much time as they would

899
00:45:35,200 --> 00:45:38,840
Speaker 1: like working on policy. White Tails Unlimited very much the

900
00:45:38,880 --> 00:45:41,879
Speaker 1: same way. We're gonna be focused on policy to help

901
00:45:41,920 --> 00:45:44,440
Speaker 1: those groups have the time that they need to be

902
00:45:44,480 --> 00:45:48,040
Speaker 1: focused on their conservation missions. You need both because, as

903
00:45:48,080 --> 00:45:53,279
Speaker 1: I've said many many times, we've reached the time in

904
00:45:53,360 --> 00:45:57,760
Speaker 1: the country where the political science is more important now

905
00:45:58,520 --> 00:46:02,920
Speaker 1: than the actual biological science. So we can literally go

906
00:46:03,000 --> 00:46:05,000
Speaker 1: and sit in front of legislators and give them the

907
00:46:05,040 --> 00:46:07,319
Speaker 1: best science and say here's why we have to do this,

908
00:46:08,320 --> 00:46:11,320
Speaker 1: but they may go another direction simply because public opinion

909
00:46:11,440 --> 00:46:15,399
Speaker 1: or political science drives them in that direction. So it's

910
00:46:15,440 --> 00:46:18,960
Speaker 1: a very very interesting time in wildlife management period, whether

911
00:46:19,000 --> 00:46:21,520
Speaker 1: we're talking deer or any other species for that matter,

912
00:46:22,040 --> 00:46:25,120
Speaker 1: but deer being the most hunted species by far across

913
00:46:25,160 --> 00:46:28,560
Speaker 1: the country of all hunters. So we're talking about twelve

914
00:46:28,920 --> 00:46:31,320
Speaker 1: out of the fourteen million hunters, about twelve million or

915
00:46:31,440 --> 00:46:35,959
Speaker 1: fourteen million identify themselves as deer hunters. You can bet

916
00:46:35,960 --> 00:46:41,880
Speaker 1: that politics and policy is woven into the fabric of

917
00:46:41,960 --> 00:46:44,480
Speaker 1: everything deer hunting. Everything from how to manage them in

918
00:46:44,600 --> 00:46:49,040
Speaker 1: rural landscapes too, having a answer to people who don't

919
00:46:49,040 --> 00:46:51,239
Speaker 1: want you hunting deer, period. All of these things going

920
00:46:51,280 --> 00:46:54,240
Speaker 1: to the political science of this, and that's where NDA

921
00:46:54,320 --> 00:46:56,799
Speaker 1: is going to focus. So we're not going to try

922
00:46:56,840 --> 00:46:58,960
Speaker 1: to grow some large organization. We're not going to have

923
00:46:59,040 --> 00:47:02,680
Speaker 1: banquets and do those types of traditional fundraisers. We're going

924
00:47:02,719 --> 00:47:05,399
Speaker 1: to be small, but we're gonna be effective, and we're

925
00:47:05,400 --> 00:47:08,239
Speaker 1: gonna work directly on these issues, these policy issues, and

926
00:47:08,280 --> 00:47:12,320
Speaker 1: hopefully get the grassroots community, the deer hunter, the average

927
00:47:12,320 --> 00:47:14,799
Speaker 1: deer hunter out there, to jump in with us and

928
00:47:14,960 --> 00:47:19,960
Speaker 1: help us be effective. When you mean small, do you

929
00:47:20,000 --> 00:47:26,879
Speaker 1: mean a small organization or small in numbers, Well, that's

930
00:47:26,920 --> 00:47:29,719
Speaker 1: a great question because I think what well, definitely, what

931
00:47:29,760 --> 00:47:31,799
Speaker 1: I mean by that is we we need to We

932
00:47:31,840 --> 00:47:34,960
Speaker 1: need huge numbers of deer hunters to join us. You know,

933
00:47:35,120 --> 00:47:37,400
Speaker 1: history has shown that deer hunters about one percent of

934
00:47:37,400 --> 00:47:40,480
Speaker 1: them actually join an organization. That's very frustrating because I

935
00:47:40,520 --> 00:47:44,080
Speaker 1: said earlier about there's twelve million of them out there,

936
00:47:44,120 --> 00:47:46,799
Speaker 1: but only one percenter joining. We need a whole heck

937
00:47:46,840 --> 00:47:49,080
Speaker 1: of a lot more of them than that to join us.

938
00:47:49,080 --> 00:47:51,200
Speaker 1: And as I mentioned, the membership is free, so there's

939
00:47:51,200 --> 00:47:55,319
Speaker 1: really no barrier to joining. But organizationally, the last thing

940
00:47:55,360 --> 00:47:59,040
Speaker 1: I want to do is grow some gigantic organization that

941
00:47:59,160 --> 00:48:02,360
Speaker 1: costs the industry millions and millions of dollars just to

942
00:48:02,440 --> 00:48:05,520
Speaker 1: keep it around. I would much rather have a small

943
00:48:05,600 --> 00:48:07,600
Speaker 1: staff of just a few people that can be very

944
00:48:07,640 --> 00:48:12,279
Speaker 1: effective at rallying the grassroots roots, understanding policy, and being

945
00:48:12,280 --> 00:48:14,680
Speaker 1: effective on issues. So I just think that's a responsible

946
00:48:14,719 --> 00:48:17,200
Speaker 1: way to do this. I'm not saying that someday we

947
00:48:17,320 --> 00:48:19,719
Speaker 1: might not have you know, eight or ten employees. I

948
00:48:19,719 --> 00:48:22,560
Speaker 1: don't know that, we'll see where what the future holds.

949
00:48:22,600 --> 00:48:24,239
Speaker 1: But in the near future, I think we can be

950
00:48:24,239 --> 00:48:27,080
Speaker 1: really effective for not a lot of money. And that's

951
00:48:27,440 --> 00:48:30,680
Speaker 1: in my mind, how I really prefer to operate. So

952
00:48:30,840 --> 00:48:33,920
Speaker 1: then here's here's my next question then that I'm assuming

953
00:48:33,920 --> 00:48:37,160
Speaker 1: a lot of people are asking, is what does that

954
00:48:37,280 --> 00:48:39,080
Speaker 1: look like? You know, you talked about the types of

955
00:48:39,120 --> 00:48:42,359
Speaker 1: action that the NDA, you're hoping the NBA is able

956
00:48:42,400 --> 00:48:45,279
Speaker 1: to take, the type of impact you're hoping it can have.

957
00:48:45,880 --> 00:48:48,400
Speaker 1: How do you actually see that happening? You know, what

958
00:48:49,239 --> 00:48:53,719
Speaker 1: specifically will you and whoever is on the team going

959
00:48:53,760 --> 00:48:57,160
Speaker 1: to be doing and or whether or without the membership

960
00:48:57,560 --> 00:49:01,080
Speaker 1: to actually change policies. Sure, and I think there are

961
00:49:01,120 --> 00:49:04,320
Speaker 1: there are a few different arms of that. So clearly

962
00:49:04,400 --> 00:49:07,800
Speaker 1: I'm gonna need another person or two that can focus

963
00:49:07,840 --> 00:49:11,160
Speaker 1: on the actual policy, that can be expert in policy,

964
00:49:11,200 --> 00:49:13,279
Speaker 1: that can understand what's going on in d C and

965
00:49:13,320 --> 00:49:15,840
Speaker 1: also understand what's going on the state house in Nebraska,

966
00:49:15,920 --> 00:49:19,680
Speaker 1: for example. So we need help in that element of

967
00:49:19,680 --> 00:49:22,120
Speaker 1: the organization for sure. But another key part of it

968
00:49:22,160 --> 00:49:26,920
Speaker 1: is going to be marketing and communications. So having somebody

969
00:49:26,920 --> 00:49:30,239
Speaker 1: that can be continually working on getting the word out

970
00:49:30,280 --> 00:49:32,960
Speaker 1: to the membership, who will be active on the grassroots

971
00:49:33,080 --> 00:49:36,000
Speaker 1: ends of things, so putting out good information. We we do.

972
00:49:36,080 --> 00:49:38,400
Speaker 1: Actually I have to say not the pat us on

973
00:49:38,440 --> 00:49:40,000
Speaker 1: the back mark too much, but I think we do

974
00:49:40,040 --> 00:49:43,680
Speaker 1: a remarkable job of getting really good information out and

975
00:49:43,719 --> 00:49:45,960
Speaker 1: I think people would be shocked to know how small

976
00:49:46,000 --> 00:49:48,839
Speaker 1: of a team it is that does that. I think

977
00:49:48,840 --> 00:49:50,279
Speaker 1: we do a really good job, but I think that

978
00:49:50,280 --> 00:49:52,680
Speaker 1: we're only scratching the surface. So we need someone that

979
00:49:52,960 --> 00:49:55,839
Speaker 1: can really focus on getting the word out about an

980
00:49:55,880 --> 00:49:59,239
Speaker 1: issue that people need to participate in, um rolling their

981
00:49:59,239 --> 00:50:02,920
Speaker 1: sleeves up, and you know, helping us promote the organization frankly,

982
00:50:02,960 --> 00:50:06,400
Speaker 1: to keep us healthy, to keep industry excited about investing

983
00:50:06,440 --> 00:50:09,440
Speaker 1: in US. So we constantly we have to prove ourselves

984
00:50:09,640 --> 00:50:12,360
Speaker 1: in terms of being an effective organization. We also have

985
00:50:12,400 --> 00:50:16,440
Speaker 1: to prove ourselves to legislators and decision makers because if

986
00:50:16,840 --> 00:50:18,279
Speaker 1: you know, I walk in the in the door to

987
00:50:18,360 --> 00:50:20,200
Speaker 1: a state house and say well, on behalf of my

988
00:50:20,280 --> 00:50:23,239
Speaker 1: ten thousand members across the country. They're gonna look at

989
00:50:23,239 --> 00:50:25,680
Speaker 1: me and laugh because that's not big enough. But if

990
00:50:25,680 --> 00:50:27,480
Speaker 1: we can go in and say on, behalf of our

991
00:50:27,840 --> 00:50:31,239
Speaker 1: two thousand members or even our million members, now all

992
00:50:31,280 --> 00:50:33,040
Speaker 1: of a sudden, we're gonna start having some heft on

993
00:50:33,120 --> 00:50:35,239
Speaker 1: some issues, and I think we're gonna get a little

994
00:50:35,280 --> 00:50:38,279
Speaker 1: better audience. So those are the two key areas. And

995
00:50:38,400 --> 00:50:40,560
Speaker 1: definitely we need more help on policy, and we're gonna

996
00:50:40,560 --> 00:50:45,080
Speaker 1: need help with marketing and communications. And I also just

997
00:50:45,160 --> 00:50:48,160
Speaker 1: I'm a big fan of growing. I've been an opportunity

998
00:50:48,239 --> 00:50:50,600
Speaker 1: to grow organizations and programs in the past, and I'm

999
00:50:50,640 --> 00:50:54,239
Speaker 1: a big fan of organic growth, where you just look

1000
00:50:54,280 --> 00:50:56,920
Speaker 1: for opportunities as they come and you respond to those

1001
00:50:56,960 --> 00:51:00,840
Speaker 1: opportunities and not always try to project what you're going

1002
00:51:00,920 --> 00:51:02,840
Speaker 1: to be. So I don't want to necessarily build the

1003
00:51:02,840 --> 00:51:05,319
Speaker 1: framework out and try to fill it. I'd rather let

1004
00:51:05,360 --> 00:51:09,480
Speaker 1: that happen more organically. Makes sense. I gotta I got

1005
00:51:09,560 --> 00:51:14,239
Speaker 1: a question about that, and and this is from the

1006
00:51:15,160 --> 00:51:18,520
Speaker 1: you Know you You mentioned only one percent of individuals

1007
00:51:18,600 --> 00:51:21,359
Speaker 1: of the you know twelve million hunters are involved in

1008
00:51:21,480 --> 00:51:24,680
Speaker 1: some kind of an organization similar to you know, the

1009
00:51:25,239 --> 00:51:30,920
Speaker 1: National Deer Alliance. But we have you know, millions of

1010
00:51:31,000 --> 00:51:35,880
Speaker 1: people on social media supporting UH a hunting television show

1011
00:51:36,160 --> 00:51:39,600
Speaker 1: or or something like that. How important is it for

1012
00:51:39,719 --> 00:51:45,520
Speaker 1: the leaders of the hunting community or the hunting industry too,

1013
00:51:46,480 --> 00:51:51,719
Speaker 1: you know, support UH, you know, an organization like this.

1014
00:51:53,080 --> 00:51:57,920
Speaker 1: I think it's everything. I had opportunities to get shot

1015
00:51:58,000 --> 00:52:01,960
Speaker 1: show and a t A show, several other shows this

1016
00:52:02,080 --> 00:52:04,400
Speaker 1: year to stand up in front of industry and say, listen,

1017
00:52:06,440 --> 00:52:09,360
Speaker 1: you owe it to deer to stand up and be

1018
00:52:09,440 --> 00:52:12,440
Speaker 1: part of this, meaning that you know, their bread is

1019
00:52:12,480 --> 00:52:16,680
Speaker 1: buttered by deer. Like I said, of all hunters identified

1020
00:52:16,760 --> 00:52:20,319
Speaker 1: deer hunters first. Now, they're definitely hardcore water fowlers and

1021
00:52:20,360 --> 00:52:23,239
Speaker 1: bird hunters and even some predator hunters that type of thing.

1022
00:52:24,160 --> 00:52:27,680
Speaker 1: But really the industry is driven by deer and deer hunting.

1023
00:52:28,600 --> 00:52:30,759
Speaker 1: So if we begin to take for granted deer hunting

1024
00:52:30,840 --> 00:52:32,320
Speaker 1: is always going to be out there and it's always

1025
00:52:32,320 --> 00:52:35,640
Speaker 1: going to be wonderful, I think that's a fool's game

1026
00:52:35,680 --> 00:52:38,080
Speaker 1: to play. And I've been very open and honest with

1027
00:52:38,080 --> 00:52:40,480
Speaker 1: the industry about that, and you know what's been interesting

1028
00:52:40,520 --> 00:52:44,600
Speaker 1: and has been really I think exciting for me is

1029
00:52:44,640 --> 00:52:47,719
Speaker 1: that they get it. I've never heard a single person say,

1030
00:52:47,760 --> 00:52:50,120
Speaker 1: you know, this really isn't that important. I don't see

1031
00:52:50,120 --> 00:52:52,640
Speaker 1: why I need to get involved in it. So I

1032
00:52:52,680 --> 00:52:54,560
Speaker 1: think we have the support out there. I think that

1033
00:52:54,680 --> 00:52:57,239
Speaker 1: some are sitting back just to see who we're going

1034
00:52:57,320 --> 00:52:59,840
Speaker 1: to be ultimately and and see some of our successes,

1035
00:52:59,880 --> 00:53:03,000
Speaker 1: and that's fine, I understand that, But in terms of

1036
00:53:03,040 --> 00:53:06,360
Speaker 1: why and why it's important, that's pretty clear, and in

1037
00:53:06,400 --> 00:53:09,279
Speaker 1: groups to get it. And I think that ultimately we're

1038
00:53:09,280 --> 00:53:11,920
Speaker 1: gonna be able to put the people in place because

1039
00:53:11,920 --> 00:53:14,080
Speaker 1: we're gonna grow, you know a little bit, with help

1040
00:53:14,080 --> 00:53:19,040
Speaker 1: of industry. So really, the whole, the entire hunting industry

1041
00:53:19,080 --> 00:53:23,040
Speaker 1: really is driven by deer and every percentage point you

1042
00:53:23,080 --> 00:53:25,000
Speaker 1: take away in terms of the number of deer hunters

1043
00:53:25,000 --> 00:53:27,680
Speaker 1: that are that are out there takes away a percentage

1044
00:53:27,680 --> 00:53:30,319
Speaker 1: point from the industry. And I don't think industry, for

1045
00:53:30,400 --> 00:53:34,480
Speaker 1: sure is very interested in having that happen. Now. Just

1046
00:53:34,520 --> 00:53:36,200
Speaker 1: to elaborate on that a little bit, and I don't

1047
00:53:36,239 --> 00:53:40,319
Speaker 1: want to sound like an asshole, but I do so

1048
00:53:40,360 --> 00:53:43,440
Speaker 1: often though, Dan, I know, but what I'm getting at

1049
00:53:43,560 --> 00:53:47,520
Speaker 1: is some of these you know, you say you have

1050
00:53:47,640 --> 00:53:49,879
Speaker 1: the ear, and some of these guys are really interested

1051
00:53:50,000 --> 00:53:56,120
Speaker 1: in supporting the you know, supporting a cause, but their

1052
00:53:56,160 --> 00:54:01,719
Speaker 1: social media, their programming, whatever it is, does not that

1053
00:54:01,760 --> 00:54:04,600
Speaker 1: does not translate to what I'm seeing. I don't see

1054
00:54:04,640 --> 00:54:08,800
Speaker 1: a lot of television shows support a conservation cause or

1055
00:54:09,480 --> 00:54:13,960
Speaker 1: uh or any type of media really other than you know,

1056
00:54:14,040 --> 00:54:19,400
Speaker 1: some print support a conservation cause because it's not giving

1057
00:54:19,480 --> 00:54:23,040
Speaker 1: them a dollar amount on the on the back end.

1058
00:54:23,400 --> 00:54:25,759
Speaker 1: And you know when you say, yeah, we think we

1059
00:54:25,800 --> 00:54:27,759
Speaker 1: have their ear, do you think that is just to

1060
00:54:27,880 --> 00:54:31,680
Speaker 1: humor you or it's is it something that they're really

1061
00:54:31,680 --> 00:54:35,680
Speaker 1: concerned about. Well, I should have probably separated it into

1062
00:54:35,680 --> 00:54:37,960
Speaker 1: two baskets. But because I think what you're talking about

1063
00:54:38,000 --> 00:54:41,000
Speaker 1: now is more or less the the celebrity hunting group

1064
00:54:41,040 --> 00:54:43,600
Speaker 1: out there, the folks that have TV shows and you know,

1065
00:54:43,680 --> 00:54:46,600
Speaker 1: these types of people. I was more talking about people

1066
00:54:46,640 --> 00:54:48,600
Speaker 1: that owned businesses to support the end of that are

1067
00:54:48,600 --> 00:54:51,359
Speaker 1: supported by deer hunters. Yeah, and you can you can

1068
00:54:51,400 --> 00:54:54,920
Speaker 1: loop that in as well. You don't see like when

1069
00:54:54,920 --> 00:54:57,600
Speaker 1: I go to a hunting website or I'm in a

1070
00:54:57,680 --> 00:55:01,719
Speaker 1: catalog or or any place that a company may advertise,

1071
00:55:01,800 --> 00:55:07,279
Speaker 1: I don't see that company saying we support X conservation costs. Yeah,

1072
00:55:07,400 --> 00:55:09,080
Speaker 1: you know, I understand what you're saying, and a lot

1073
00:55:09,080 --> 00:55:11,680
Speaker 1: of a lot of those folks will only do that

1074
00:55:11,719 --> 00:55:14,720
Speaker 1: if they're compensated directly in some way. But I'm pretty

1075
00:55:14,719 --> 00:55:18,080
Speaker 1: excited to say and people will see this when they

1076
00:55:18,080 --> 00:55:20,520
Speaker 1: go to the website. We've got a page on the

1077
00:55:20,520 --> 00:55:25,200
Speaker 1: website that is just dedicated to supporters. I think people

1078
00:55:25,239 --> 00:55:27,960
Speaker 1: are going to be pretty surprised by the long list

1079
00:55:28,000 --> 00:55:31,640
Speaker 1: of pretty high profile people and companies that are supporting this.

1080
00:55:32,480 --> 00:55:34,799
Speaker 1: And to be honest, we have not given anybody a

1081
00:55:34,880 --> 00:55:37,719
Speaker 1: dime to say we support the NBA and what it's

1082
00:55:37,760 --> 00:55:42,440
Speaker 1: all about. So yeah, and my experience with other organizations

1083
00:55:42,480 --> 00:55:44,200
Speaker 1: and having to try to raise money and this type

1084
00:55:44,239 --> 00:55:47,120
Speaker 1: of thing is that usually they'll say it if you

1085
00:55:47,160 --> 00:55:49,719
Speaker 1: pay them to say it. And we you know, we

1086
00:55:49,760 --> 00:55:51,759
Speaker 1: may get into that at some point down the road,

1087
00:55:52,120 --> 00:55:54,960
Speaker 1: but the reality is that we've gotten kicked off here.

1088
00:55:55,000 --> 00:55:58,080
Speaker 1: We've got a really really impressive group of people, and

1089
00:55:58,120 --> 00:55:59,600
Speaker 1: some of them that I haven't even had a chance

1090
00:55:59,640 --> 00:56:02,280
Speaker 1: to get on a website yet, that are excited about

1091
00:56:02,320 --> 00:56:07,919
Speaker 1: this and understand the importance. So I actually am was

1092
00:56:07,920 --> 00:56:10,160
Speaker 1: was impressed and continue to be impressed with the level

1093
00:56:10,239 --> 00:56:12,800
Speaker 1: of excitement that there is out there for the NBA.

1094
00:56:13,480 --> 00:56:17,719
Speaker 1: I think though, to your point, Dan, there's definitely a

1095
00:56:17,760 --> 00:56:21,759
Speaker 1: difference between talking the talk and walking the walk. And

1096
00:56:21,840 --> 00:56:26,120
Speaker 1: and I think, you know, you do see a whole

1097
00:56:26,200 --> 00:56:30,720
Speaker 1: lot of people, um that are like, yeah, I support

1098
00:56:30,880 --> 00:56:35,719
Speaker 1: ex Conservation Organization whatever, join now, but that's about it,

1099
00:56:36,040 --> 00:56:39,840
Speaker 1: Like they aren't actually doing anything. They're not really talking

1100
00:56:39,880 --> 00:56:42,359
Speaker 1: about a lot or trying to learn more or trying

1101
00:56:42,400 --> 00:56:45,759
Speaker 1: to educate their audience and stuff. Um, Because like you said,

1102
00:56:45,800 --> 00:56:49,160
Speaker 1: maybe that's not you know, that doesn't drive viewership, that

1103
00:56:49,200 --> 00:56:51,400
Speaker 1: doesn't drive numbers and all that kind of stuff. Now

1104
00:56:51,440 --> 00:56:54,680
Speaker 1: that certainly there's I don't want to generalize those exceptions

1105
00:56:54,680 --> 00:56:56,640
Speaker 1: to that rule. There's tons of people that are doing

1106
00:56:56,640 --> 00:56:58,440
Speaker 1: a great job. And I think to to your point, Nick,

1107
00:56:58,760 --> 00:57:00,800
Speaker 1: I think there's there's some great examples of people that

1108
00:57:00,840 --> 00:57:03,640
Speaker 1: are supporting or will be supporting the National Deer Lines.

1109
00:57:03,680 --> 00:57:06,640
Speaker 1: But I think, um, I think there's a lot of

1110
00:57:06,719 --> 00:57:10,280
Speaker 1: room for more of it, um. And I've been trying,

1111
00:57:10,320 --> 00:57:12,120
Speaker 1: you know, recently to try to do an even better

1112
00:57:12,200 --> 00:57:13,600
Speaker 1: job here with Wired to Hunt, and I hope a

1113
00:57:13,640 --> 00:57:16,680
Speaker 1: lot of other people are whatever platform you have to

1114
00:57:16,760 --> 00:57:21,520
Speaker 1: try to use it for a positive, positive makeup, positive difference.

1115
00:57:21,720 --> 00:57:24,760
Speaker 1: And you know, like Nick said, we all depend on

1116
00:57:24,880 --> 00:57:29,880
Speaker 1: deer and habitat and all these tremendous resources for what

1117
00:57:29,920 --> 00:57:32,720
Speaker 1: we love to do, and if we don't do something

1118
00:57:32,760 --> 00:57:35,680
Speaker 1: about it, if we're not taking care of it, we're

1119
00:57:36,080 --> 00:57:38,600
Speaker 1: all out of luck. So, um, I think the responsibi

1120
00:57:40,000 --> 00:57:43,880
Speaker 1: I just see the numbers right from a you know,

1121
00:57:44,000 --> 00:57:46,880
Speaker 1: from a pure number standpoint. I see the numbers on

1122
00:57:46,960 --> 00:57:49,640
Speaker 1: social media. I see the numbers on you know, some

1123
00:57:49,720 --> 00:57:53,360
Speaker 1: of these web shows and whatnot, and it just takes

1124
00:57:53,400 --> 00:57:57,000
Speaker 1: a little bit of redirection over to let's say, a

1125
00:57:57,120 --> 00:58:00,320
Speaker 1: National Deer Alliance saying, hey, it's very easy to do

1126
00:58:00,760 --> 00:58:03,800
Speaker 1: and just sign up and you can help save deer hunting,

1127
00:58:03,920 --> 00:58:06,880
Speaker 1: right you can help, you know, keep tradition alive. And

1128
00:58:07,080 --> 00:58:10,200
Speaker 1: I guess I'm not seeing that, Yeah, And I think

1129
00:58:10,440 --> 00:58:13,160
Speaker 1: part of it. I'm gonna put part of that responsibility

1130
00:58:13,200 --> 00:58:17,760
Speaker 1: on my shoulders too, because I I have to continually

1131
00:58:17,800 --> 00:58:20,920
Speaker 1: develop relationships with these folks and they have to have

1132
00:58:20,960 --> 00:58:24,160
Speaker 1: a comfort level that number one, that I'm steering the

1133
00:58:24,200 --> 00:58:26,360
Speaker 1: ship appropriately, but number two that this is a group

1134
00:58:26,400 --> 00:58:28,080
Speaker 1: they want to get behind because there is a little

1135
00:58:28,160 --> 00:58:30,520
Speaker 1: risk on their part as well to get tied up with,

1136
00:58:30,680 --> 00:58:32,560
Speaker 1: you know, with the wrong things. So I understand some

1137
00:58:32,600 --> 00:58:35,200
Speaker 1: of the trepidation. But I'll just share a couple of

1138
00:58:35,360 --> 00:58:39,400
Speaker 1: examples that were just fresh today of where I needed

1139
00:58:39,600 --> 00:58:41,400
Speaker 1: a little bit of help from from a couple of

1140
00:58:41,400 --> 00:58:45,320
Speaker 1: these folks and got it immediately. So earlier today is

1141
00:58:45,600 --> 00:58:49,240
Speaker 1: we're putting the finishing touches on this website. Uh, you know,

1142
00:58:49,280 --> 00:58:52,440
Speaker 1: I was able to call up Mike hunt Sucker of

1143
00:58:52,520 --> 00:58:54,840
Speaker 1: Heartland bow Hunter and say, Mike, can I get a

1144
00:58:54,920 --> 00:58:58,080
Speaker 1: quote from you? You know on y Nda? Is important

1145
00:58:58,080 --> 00:58:59,920
Speaker 1: why you support in the photo because I'd like to

1146
00:59:00,040 --> 00:59:03,439
Speaker 1: highlight that on the website. I mean, absolutely anything you need.

1147
00:59:03,480 --> 00:59:05,520
Speaker 1: And immediately I got a quote I had had a

1148
00:59:05,560 --> 00:59:08,640
Speaker 1: picture sitting there. Did the same thing today with with

1149
00:59:08,760 --> 00:59:11,520
Speaker 1: Dr Grant Woods, who has Growing Deer dot Com and

1150
00:59:11,640 --> 00:59:14,680
Speaker 1: you know, Dr Woods certainly very well respected in our

1151
00:59:14,680 --> 00:59:18,200
Speaker 1: community and absolutely happy to thank you. He actually said

1152
00:59:19,160 --> 00:59:23,480
Speaker 1: thank you for allowing me to help support n d A.

1153
00:59:24,320 --> 00:59:27,600
Speaker 1: So part of that comes back to relationships that I

1154
00:59:27,640 --> 00:59:29,520
Speaker 1: have with these individuals. But I think part of it

1155
00:59:29,560 --> 00:59:32,040
Speaker 1: too is that they believe in what we're doing and

1156
00:59:32,040 --> 00:59:35,160
Speaker 1: can personally get excited about it. But those are just

1157
00:59:35,200 --> 00:59:38,479
Speaker 1: two very recent examples, and I can count many many

1158
00:59:38,560 --> 00:59:41,600
Speaker 1: others over the last several months where I've had very

1159
00:59:41,600 --> 00:59:45,520
Speaker 1: similar interactions. So, um, I think there's hope. I mean,

1160
00:59:45,520 --> 00:59:49,040
Speaker 1: they could always do more. But but maybe we from

1161
00:59:49,040 --> 00:59:55,040
Speaker 1: the conservation or organization conservation organization community didn't ask you.

1162
00:59:55,120 --> 00:59:58,880
Speaker 1: Maybe we just assumed we wouldn't get help. So so far,

1163
00:59:59,040 --> 01:00:02,600
Speaker 1: my experience has been d percent positive, and I'm hoping

1164
01:00:02,640 --> 01:00:05,760
Speaker 1: that we can continue in that direction. Yeah, that's awesome.

1165
01:00:05,800 --> 01:00:08,800
Speaker 1: And those are two previous Wired Hunt podcast guests too,

1166
01:00:08,920 --> 01:00:14,000
Speaker 1: so job on their part. Um. So I want to

1167
01:00:14,040 --> 01:00:16,960
Speaker 1: talk issues, you know, I actually want to talk about

1168
01:00:16,960 --> 01:00:20,200
Speaker 1: some of the things that are that you they're keeping

1169
01:00:20,200 --> 01:00:22,120
Speaker 1: you awake maybe at night, that you're thinking about that

1170
01:00:22,200 --> 01:00:24,760
Speaker 1: you see as something that a that you need to

1171
01:00:24,800 --> 01:00:27,680
Speaker 1: be thinking about and concerned about as the leader of

1172
01:00:27,720 --> 01:00:30,520
Speaker 1: the National Deer Lines. But also is us just everyday

1173
01:00:30,560 --> 01:00:33,160
Speaker 1: deer hunters that we need to be aware of? Um,

1174
01:00:33,280 --> 01:00:36,240
Speaker 1: is there anything in particular that that's really top of

1175
01:00:36,280 --> 01:00:38,760
Speaker 1: mind for you right now? Yeah? I mean I think

1176
01:00:38,760 --> 01:00:41,480
Speaker 1: there're a couple of apathy in general, is one that

1177
01:00:41,560 --> 01:00:44,720
Speaker 1: keeps me up at night because I worry that not

1178
01:00:44,840 --> 01:00:47,760
Speaker 1: enough people keep up with the issues or even for

1179
01:00:47,840 --> 01:00:52,400
Speaker 1: that matter, understand how so many different issues impact deers.

1180
01:00:52,440 --> 01:00:54,840
Speaker 1: So that's a big part of why NDA was formed

1181
01:00:54,840 --> 01:00:57,880
Speaker 1: to try to improve the apathy situation among hunters. But

1182
01:00:59,200 --> 01:01:01,560
Speaker 1: you know, there are a tag x on our on

1183
01:01:01,600 --> 01:01:04,760
Speaker 1: our hunting sports every day that people don't even realize

1184
01:01:04,800 --> 01:01:08,800
Speaker 1: everything from you know, you may, for example, you may

1185
01:01:08,840 --> 01:01:12,480
Speaker 1: look at a situation where an airline doesn't allow certain

1186
01:01:12,800 --> 01:01:15,360
Speaker 1: African trophies to be brought back into the country, and

1187
01:01:15,360 --> 01:01:17,480
Speaker 1: you may say, well, how does that impact a deer hunter?

1188
01:01:17,600 --> 01:01:20,400
Speaker 1: Has nothing to do with me. Maybe I even oppose

1189
01:01:20,600 --> 01:01:24,640
Speaker 1: African safari hunting, for example. But people need to realize

1190
01:01:24,680 --> 01:01:27,240
Speaker 1: that there's the very next step, The very easy step

1191
01:01:27,280 --> 01:01:29,760
Speaker 1: would be to say, well, you know, we're actually not

1192
01:01:29,800 --> 01:01:32,840
Speaker 1: going to allow you to fly any animal parts around

1193
01:01:32,880 --> 01:01:34,360
Speaker 1: the country. You're not gonna be able to bring your

1194
01:01:34,920 --> 01:01:37,440
Speaker 1: antlers back from a Western hunt if you go Western

1195
01:01:38,200 --> 01:01:41,160
Speaker 1: or vice versa um or you know, we're not going

1196
01:01:41,240 --> 01:01:43,920
Speaker 1: to allow you to fly with with your firearms or

1197
01:01:43,920 --> 01:01:45,919
Speaker 1: your bows and your you know, your bows and arrows

1198
01:01:45,920 --> 01:01:48,880
Speaker 1: and your hunting equipment. It is not a very far

1199
01:01:49,040 --> 01:01:51,400
Speaker 1: stretch to get to that point next. So people need

1200
01:01:51,440 --> 01:01:53,200
Speaker 1: to really be aware of these things going on that

1201
01:01:53,360 --> 01:01:57,240
Speaker 1: constantly is I'm talking about lobbying legislators about promoting our

1202
01:01:57,280 --> 01:02:01,120
Speaker 1: sports and promoting good conservation, there's another group of people

1203
01:02:01,120 --> 01:02:03,600
Speaker 1: out there that are doing the act opposite against us,

1204
01:02:03,640 --> 01:02:06,200
Speaker 1: and it's all the time, and frankly they've been quite

1205
01:02:06,200 --> 01:02:08,680
Speaker 1: effective at it. So I think just apathy and understanding

1206
01:02:08,720 --> 01:02:12,680
Speaker 1: that our sports are always in danger from that type

1207
01:02:12,680 --> 01:02:15,200
Speaker 1: of thing, especially now in the political environment that we're in.

1208
01:02:15,880 --> 01:02:19,160
Speaker 1: Disease is another big issue. Chronic wasting disease continues to

1209
01:02:19,200 --> 01:02:22,000
Speaker 1: pop up in different places across the country. And if

1210
01:02:22,040 --> 01:02:24,360
Speaker 1: you look at Arkansas this year, there's a state where

1211
01:02:25,360 --> 01:02:27,560
Speaker 1: going into the year they thought they didn't have c

1212
01:02:27,840 --> 01:02:32,160
Speaker 1: w D. A few months later, dozens and dozens of

1213
01:02:32,200 --> 01:02:34,360
Speaker 1: cases of it and everywhere they test their finding it.

1214
01:02:35,080 --> 01:02:39,320
Speaker 1: That's scary. That's very scary. We need to understand that

1215
01:02:39,360 --> 01:02:41,640
Speaker 1: disease better. I'm not going to say we know, we

1216
01:02:41,680 --> 01:02:43,800
Speaker 1: have all the answers, but I will say that people

1217
01:02:43,840 --> 01:02:47,120
Speaker 1: need to be concerned about it. It's very very disappointing

1218
01:02:47,160 --> 01:02:50,800
Speaker 1: to me when I see, uh, you know, some people

1219
01:02:50,840 --> 01:02:53,000
Speaker 1: come up, people that there's that that I think are

1220
01:02:53,040 --> 01:02:57,000
Speaker 1: smart people, but have some financial stake in the game,

1221
01:02:57,080 --> 01:02:59,440
Speaker 1: so they'll come out and say, Oh, chronic wasting disease,

1222
01:02:59,440 --> 01:03:01,360
Speaker 1: that's not something and we should worry about. It's not

1223
01:03:01,760 --> 01:03:04,400
Speaker 1: it's not rarely hurting our dear populations. Well, you know what,

1224
01:03:04,600 --> 01:03:06,920
Speaker 1: I hope that's the case. I hope that's the case,

1225
01:03:07,680 --> 01:03:09,720
Speaker 1: but the science does not tell us that Right now.

1226
01:03:10,160 --> 01:03:12,160
Speaker 1: What I would rather have people saying is, you know what,

1227
01:03:12,320 --> 01:03:14,160
Speaker 1: is a community we need to come together and figure

1228
01:03:14,200 --> 01:03:17,520
Speaker 1: this disease out, because if we are talking about something

1229
01:03:17,560 --> 01:03:19,560
Speaker 1: that has the potential to start wiping out herds and

1230
01:03:19,640 --> 01:03:23,640
Speaker 1: dramatically decreasing herds, then that's something we all need to

1231
01:03:23,680 --> 01:03:25,959
Speaker 1: be concerned about, all the way up from industry down

1232
01:03:25,960 --> 01:03:28,240
Speaker 1: to the person that just likes to go out and

1233
01:03:28,480 --> 01:03:30,040
Speaker 1: set on a stump once a year and wait for

1234
01:03:30,040 --> 01:03:32,680
Speaker 1: a deer to walk by. So the disease issue is

1235
01:03:32,720 --> 01:03:35,200
Speaker 1: one for me that we're gonna spend a lot of

1236
01:03:35,200 --> 01:03:38,160
Speaker 1: time on it. We're gonna understand it better, and that's

1237
01:03:38,160 --> 01:03:40,520
Speaker 1: a hopefully we'll be able to attract the types of

1238
01:03:40,560 --> 01:03:43,240
Speaker 1: dollars we need to do more research that we understand

1239
01:03:43,680 --> 01:03:45,600
Speaker 1: just what we need to do to keep our herds

1240
01:03:45,600 --> 01:03:48,560
Speaker 1: safe out there. So those those two keep me up

1241
01:03:48,600 --> 01:03:51,560
Speaker 1: at night. And I just I think all of that

1242
01:03:51,600 --> 01:03:54,360
Speaker 1: gets tied back to apathy and a big reason why

1243
01:03:54,440 --> 01:03:57,880
Speaker 1: NDA was formed. So there's a lot on our plate

1244
01:03:58,000 --> 01:03:59,960
Speaker 1: for like I said, a very what is a very

1245
01:04:00,080 --> 01:04:03,520
Speaker 1: small organization you know at this very moment. Yeah, So

1246
01:04:03,560 --> 01:04:06,760
Speaker 1: on that disease front, um, you know, I know that

1247
01:04:06,800 --> 01:04:09,880
Speaker 1: you've been quite busy traveling to a lot of different

1248
01:04:09,920 --> 01:04:14,040
Speaker 1: gatherings of of great minds and conservation and biology and

1249
01:04:14,240 --> 01:04:16,360
Speaker 1: in the dear world and everything that, whether it be

1250
01:04:16,440 --> 01:04:18,160
Speaker 1: related to disease or a whole bunch of different things

1251
01:04:18,200 --> 01:04:20,400
Speaker 1: in general. But I'm just curious on the disease front,

1252
01:04:20,840 --> 01:04:23,160
Speaker 1: are there any updates or news or is there anything

1253
01:04:23,160 --> 01:04:25,920
Speaker 1: going on behind the scenes that you can share us

1254
01:04:25,960 --> 01:04:29,320
Speaker 1: in regards to progress and research on CWD or we

1255
01:04:29,360 --> 01:04:32,400
Speaker 1: are we coming to understand anything better, whether it be

1256
01:04:32,520 --> 01:04:35,680
Speaker 1: about the disease or how to handle it. Yeah, yeah,

1257
01:04:35,680 --> 01:04:38,000
Speaker 1: I think we are. I think it's it's top of

1258
01:04:38,040 --> 01:04:41,880
Speaker 1: mind of more organizations now than it ever was. Certainly

1259
01:04:41,920 --> 01:04:44,479
Speaker 1: more state agencies are becoming aware of it and worried

1260
01:04:44,480 --> 01:04:47,080
Speaker 1: about things like transferring deer in and out of their states,

1261
01:04:48,480 --> 01:04:50,600
Speaker 1: certain deer parts, and all these things that could spread

1262
01:04:50,600 --> 01:04:53,720
Speaker 1: the disease, so it's definitely part of just about every

1263
01:04:53,880 --> 01:04:57,360
Speaker 1: deer conversation. I was just at the Mule Deer Working

1264
01:04:57,400 --> 01:05:01,000
Speaker 1: Group meeting out in Cody, Wyoming. We spend an awful

1265
01:05:01,040 --> 01:05:04,160
Speaker 1: lot of time talking about chronic wasting disease in particular.

1266
01:05:04,800 --> 01:05:07,560
Speaker 1: Um As you know, there are a lot of different

1267
01:05:08,120 --> 01:05:11,240
Speaker 1: places where mule deer, for example, are trapped in one

1268
01:05:11,280 --> 01:05:15,200
Speaker 1: area where they're abundant to areas where there aren't so many,

1269
01:05:15,320 --> 01:05:18,040
Speaker 1: and there are risks associated with that. So it's no

1270
01:05:18,160 --> 01:05:23,720
Speaker 1: longer that we just we just do that without without

1271
01:05:23,760 --> 01:05:25,960
Speaker 1: second thought. Now we try to put all the best

1272
01:05:25,960 --> 01:05:28,360
Speaker 1: practices in place before we do those types of things.

1273
01:05:28,400 --> 01:05:30,800
Speaker 1: There's also a lot of work being done to try

1274
01:05:30,800 --> 01:05:33,360
Speaker 1: to develop a live test for for c w D.

1275
01:05:33,440 --> 01:05:37,040
Speaker 1: One of the problems is the most effective test by

1276
01:05:37,080 --> 01:05:40,560
Speaker 1: far is the one that happens post mortem, so unfortunately

1277
01:05:40,560 --> 01:05:42,920
Speaker 1: then you end up having to kill a deer or

1278
01:05:42,920 --> 01:05:45,040
Speaker 1: come across a dead deer before you can test it.

1279
01:05:45,760 --> 01:05:49,040
Speaker 1: So hopefully we can generate more dollars to come up

1280
01:05:49,080 --> 01:05:51,360
Speaker 1: with a live test, which I think would certainly be

1281
01:05:51,480 --> 01:05:55,680
Speaker 1: very helpful to the cause as well. So yeah, I

1282
01:05:55,720 --> 01:05:57,760
Speaker 1: think it's the top of mind and more places across

1283
01:05:57,840 --> 01:06:02,080
Speaker 1: the country. It's generating a lot headlines. There's a group

1284
01:06:02,080 --> 01:06:04,000
Speaker 1: that we work very closely with called the c w

1285
01:06:04,200 --> 01:06:07,280
Speaker 1: D Alliance that you can go to their website. It's

1286
01:06:07,320 --> 01:06:09,640
Speaker 1: a cw D Alliance dot com, I believe, and there's

1287
01:06:09,680 --> 01:06:12,640
Speaker 1: all kinds of information about what we know about c

1288
01:06:12,880 --> 01:06:17,040
Speaker 1: w D and also recent outbreaks. So, um, yeah, I

1289
01:06:17,080 --> 01:06:20,480
Speaker 1: think we're talking about at at appropriate levels now and

1290
01:06:20,560 --> 01:06:22,680
Speaker 1: we have to continue until we can figure it out.

1291
01:06:23,640 --> 01:06:27,640
Speaker 1: How close are we to an event? And I know

1292
01:06:28,320 --> 01:06:31,120
Speaker 1: this would be hard to prove, you know, there's no

1293
01:06:31,640 --> 01:06:37,120
Speaker 1: scientific information to back this statement, but how how close

1294
01:06:37,160 --> 01:06:40,760
Speaker 1: are we to a catastrophic event where all of a

1295
01:06:40,760 --> 01:06:44,160
Speaker 1: sudden all the deer die because of a c w

1296
01:06:44,400 --> 01:06:49,560
Speaker 1: D Well. I think a catastrophic event with c w

1297
01:06:49,760 --> 01:06:53,160
Speaker 1: D is that's not a realistic thing because that's not

1298
01:06:53,200 --> 01:06:56,800
Speaker 1: how the disease works. It's more of a marathon, you know,

1299
01:06:56,880 --> 01:07:00,880
Speaker 1: certainly than a sprint, you know. So for example, a

1300
01:07:00,920 --> 01:07:03,160
Speaker 1: deer could carry c w D for several years and

1301
01:07:03,200 --> 01:07:05,320
Speaker 1: not die. It could it's like most likely going to

1302
01:07:05,400 --> 01:07:07,240
Speaker 1: die from a hunter's bullet before it dies of c

1303
01:07:07,480 --> 01:07:11,280
Speaker 1: w D. But all the while this deer, this infected

1304
01:07:11,320 --> 01:07:14,160
Speaker 1: deer is out there walking around. It's depositing prions and

1305
01:07:14,160 --> 01:07:18,120
Speaker 1: the soil interactions with other deer, and spreading that disease

1306
01:07:18,280 --> 01:07:21,320
Speaker 1: onto other deer that that may die quickly. You were

1307
01:07:21,320 --> 01:07:23,640
Speaker 1: really trying to learn more now about what's happening in

1308
01:07:23,680 --> 01:07:26,320
Speaker 1: certain populations where cw D has been prevalent for a

1309
01:07:26,320 --> 01:07:30,200
Speaker 1: long time. Are we seeing large percentage drops in populations

1310
01:07:30,200 --> 01:07:32,760
Speaker 1: in those areas? So you know, c w D isn't

1311
01:07:32,800 --> 01:07:34,560
Speaker 1: something that you wake up in the morning and say, oh,

1312
01:07:34,560 --> 01:07:36,440
Speaker 1: we found out a hundred and fifty deer were found

1313
01:07:36,440 --> 01:07:40,000
Speaker 1: out of c w D. But it happens over time.

1314
01:07:40,040 --> 01:07:42,439
Speaker 1: And I think that's one of the challenges for those

1315
01:07:42,440 --> 01:07:44,400
Speaker 1: of us that work on the diseases that we don't

1316
01:07:44,440 --> 01:07:48,400
Speaker 1: have the one big event, you know, the smoking gun,

1317
01:07:48,440 --> 01:07:51,320
Speaker 1: if you will, and that's hard to get Unfortunately in

1318
01:07:51,360 --> 01:07:54,640
Speaker 1: this day and age where a headline reading society, it's

1319
01:07:54,640 --> 01:07:58,600
Speaker 1: hard to get headlines and get people motivated, you know,

1320
01:07:58,640 --> 01:08:02,080
Speaker 1: because of the just the nature or the disease. Now

1321
01:08:02,600 --> 01:08:05,640
Speaker 1: on on top of that, though, how much you know

1322
01:08:05,680 --> 01:08:08,680
Speaker 1: the research that is being done, and you you mentioned

1323
01:08:08,720 --> 01:08:12,200
Speaker 1: that at times it can be hard to grab the

1324
01:08:12,280 --> 01:08:15,680
Speaker 1: ear of somebody, you know, to let them know, hey,

1325
01:08:15,720 --> 01:08:19,720
Speaker 1: this is a big deal, this is very important. Um,

1326
01:08:19,840 --> 01:08:24,280
Speaker 1: how much information out there, maybe I don't want to say,

1327
01:08:24,479 --> 01:08:28,960
Speaker 1: is being ignored but just not important at this time.

1328
01:08:32,360 --> 01:08:35,880
Speaker 1: I think because of in some ways a lack of information,

1329
01:08:36,000 --> 01:08:42,559
Speaker 1: it's very easy for for some people to say things like, well,

1330
01:08:42,600 --> 01:08:45,760
Speaker 1: you know, c w d's kind of everywhere, and eventually

1331
01:08:46,560 --> 01:08:49,960
Speaker 1: it will you know, stronger strains of deer will come along,

1332
01:08:50,000 --> 01:08:53,679
Speaker 1: and it will eventually just disappear. Okay, So if somebody

1333
01:08:53,720 --> 01:08:56,000
Speaker 1: says something to that effect, and I'm just I'm just

1334
01:08:56,120 --> 01:08:58,200
Speaker 1: the guy that likes to go out and hunt a

1335
01:08:58,280 --> 01:09:01,640
Speaker 1: handful of times a year, it becomes very easy for

1336
01:09:01,680 --> 01:09:03,640
Speaker 1: me to want to believe that line of thinking. So

1337
01:09:03,760 --> 01:09:06,360
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna say, well, eventually it's probably gonna go away.

1338
01:09:06,400 --> 01:09:08,680
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna have to worry about it, because none

1339
01:09:08,680 --> 01:09:11,200
Speaker 1: of us want to have to worry about crisis or

1340
01:09:11,560 --> 01:09:15,080
Speaker 1: problems like that. So those people that have sort of

1341
01:09:15,120 --> 01:09:18,160
Speaker 1: taken that platform tend to be very effective in getting

1342
01:09:18,240 --> 01:09:20,599
Speaker 1: people on their side, if you will, if they're our sides,

1343
01:09:20,640 --> 01:09:22,080
Speaker 1: you know, I hate to say they are sides, but

1344
01:09:22,960 --> 01:09:25,080
Speaker 1: that way of thinking that, oh, it's not really a problem,

1345
01:09:25,080 --> 01:09:29,160
Speaker 1: that deer hunters need to worry about. Um, that's a challenge.

1346
01:09:30,360 --> 01:09:32,000
Speaker 1: It is a problem that we need to worry about.

1347
01:09:32,080 --> 01:09:35,320
Speaker 1: It's a problem we need to understand more. And when

1348
01:09:35,439 --> 01:09:37,880
Speaker 1: when people it's just general nature we all want to

1349
01:09:37,920 --> 01:09:40,040
Speaker 1: follow the good news, right that all this is something

1350
01:09:40,080 --> 01:09:44,479
Speaker 1: that will eventually go away. UM with c w D,

1351
01:09:44,520 --> 01:09:47,360
Speaker 1: that's unfortunate because it is something we should be concerned

1352
01:09:47,360 --> 01:09:50,840
Speaker 1: about and want to learn more about. And I just

1353
01:09:50,920 --> 01:09:53,680
Speaker 1: I really worry about the mixed messages out there that

1354
01:09:53,840 --> 01:09:55,920
Speaker 1: the people are getting. I think that's one place that

1355
01:09:56,040 --> 01:09:59,120
Speaker 1: NDA can be very helpful, and that is getting the

1356
01:09:59,160 --> 01:10:01,840
Speaker 1: best science of lable in putting that information out to

1357
01:10:01,880 --> 01:10:04,719
Speaker 1: the public so that they understand it and hopefully allowed

1358
01:10:04,800 --> 01:10:08,559
Speaker 1: them to make, you know, a good decision in terms

1359
01:10:08,560 --> 01:10:10,559
Speaker 1: of their own feelings on the disease and why they

1360
01:10:10,560 --> 01:10:13,880
Speaker 1: should be concerned about it. Yeah, it's a tough one

1361
01:10:13,920 --> 01:10:16,680
Speaker 1: because too you know, as you mentioned, it's it's not

1362
01:10:16,760 --> 01:10:20,120
Speaker 1: the type of disease that's going to result in big

1363
01:10:20,200 --> 01:10:24,519
Speaker 1: headlines of some catastrophic event that gets everyone's attention. It

1364
01:10:24,640 --> 01:10:26,559
Speaker 1: is a very like you said of Marathon's a very

1365
01:10:26,600 --> 01:10:29,160
Speaker 1: slow moving disease and that you know, it can take

1366
01:10:29,240 --> 01:10:32,360
Speaker 1: you know, we had Russ Mason, the director over the

1367
01:10:32,360 --> 01:10:35,639
Speaker 1: the head of the Michigan DNR, and he was talking about,

1368
01:10:35,680 --> 01:10:38,160
Speaker 1: you know the long term nature of the disease, but

1369
01:10:38,439 --> 01:10:41,320
Speaker 1: how the impacts are very significant when you get out,

1370
01:10:41,800 --> 01:10:45,240
Speaker 1: you know, many years out from that initial outbreak. UM.

1371
01:10:45,320 --> 01:10:46,639
Speaker 1: You know, when you look at some of these states

1372
01:10:46,640 --> 01:10:49,040
Speaker 1: out west where they've been aware of c dB D

1373
01:10:49,200 --> 01:10:50,760
Speaker 1: for a number of decades now, and you have some

1374
01:10:50,800 --> 01:10:54,000
Speaker 1: areas in Wyoming I think where the majority of deer

1375
01:10:54,360 --> 01:10:56,920
Speaker 1: in certain areas are infected with the c w D

1376
01:10:57,280 --> 01:10:58,840
Speaker 1: and a result of that is that you don't have

1377
01:10:58,880 --> 01:11:01,360
Speaker 1: old deer. You have deer that are dying after two

1378
01:11:01,439 --> 01:11:04,120
Speaker 1: or three years. And you're gonna start seeing issues where

1379
01:11:04,160 --> 01:11:09,439
Speaker 1: populations do reduce, where age structure is impacted significantly, and

1380
01:11:09,479 --> 01:11:11,720
Speaker 1: who knows, you know, sixty years from now, maybe we

1381
01:11:11,720 --> 01:11:15,080
Speaker 1: will be seeing what is a catastrophe when you look

1382
01:11:15,120 --> 01:11:18,639
Speaker 1: at it from two thousand sixteen two, when our kids

1383
01:11:18,680 --> 01:11:20,599
Speaker 1: are growing up and trying to teach their kids to hunt.

1384
01:11:21,000 --> 01:11:23,080
Speaker 1: I think this is one of those things that, UM,

1385
01:11:23,720 --> 01:11:26,800
Speaker 1: while we might not see massive short term impacts, we

1386
01:11:26,840 --> 01:11:29,920
Speaker 1: need to be thinking about our children and grandchildren and UM,

1387
01:11:29,960 --> 01:11:31,360
Speaker 1: what we can do to make sure that we leave

1388
01:11:31,400 --> 01:11:34,320
Speaker 1: things better for them. Yeah, and I think he did

1389
01:11:34,320 --> 01:11:36,360
Speaker 1: a great job of some some of that up. I mean,

1390
01:11:37,120 --> 01:11:39,519
Speaker 1: as I said earlier, if you even just start having

1391
01:11:39,920 --> 01:11:46,320
Speaker 1: small percentage declines in population, there is a rippling effect

1392
01:11:46,360 --> 01:11:50,760
Speaker 1: that that has. So again i'll put my but I'll

1393
01:11:50,760 --> 01:11:53,800
Speaker 1: say just a not a hunting enthusiast. I'm just I'm

1394
01:11:53,840 --> 01:11:55,080
Speaker 1: just sort of a guy that likes to get out

1395
01:11:55,120 --> 01:11:57,120
Speaker 1: in hunt every once in a while, Okay, maybe four

1396
01:11:57,200 --> 01:12:00,160
Speaker 1: or five days a year. Now instead when I go

1397
01:12:00,240 --> 01:12:03,200
Speaker 1: out there and I'm used to seeing six or eight

1398
01:12:03,240 --> 01:12:05,599
Speaker 1: deer on average, when I'm out there now, I'm seeing

1399
01:12:06,320 --> 01:12:12,000
Speaker 1: maybe zero or maybe one or two deer. All of

1400
01:12:12,040 --> 01:12:15,120
Speaker 1: a sudden, my interest level maybe starts to wane a

1401
01:12:15,120 --> 01:12:18,400
Speaker 1: little bit. Other things become priority, and it doesn't take

1402
01:12:18,479 --> 01:12:20,800
Speaker 1: very long before you say, yeah, you know, I don't

1403
01:12:20,840 --> 01:12:23,240
Speaker 1: really need a hunting license this year. And now all

1404
01:12:23,240 --> 01:12:26,840
Speaker 1: of a sudden, you're not hunting, your children probably aren't hunting.

1405
01:12:27,200 --> 01:12:29,800
Speaker 1: And it's just that rippling effect that you were talking about, Mark,

1406
01:12:29,880 --> 01:12:32,320
Speaker 1: and that is that's something we need to be concerned about.

1407
01:12:32,360 --> 01:12:34,599
Speaker 1: So it's not even about losing all of the deer.

1408
01:12:35,240 --> 01:12:39,800
Speaker 1: It's having populations that are so low that even the

1409
01:12:39,840 --> 01:12:42,960
Speaker 1: idea of of hunting them and the whole uh, you know,

1410
01:12:43,240 --> 01:12:45,280
Speaker 1: the spirit of the chase, if you will, starts to

1411
01:12:45,320 --> 01:12:47,880
Speaker 1: decline in the minds of the American hunter. That has

1412
01:12:47,920 --> 01:12:51,519
Speaker 1: profound impacts on the hunting economy and all the all

1413
01:12:51,520 --> 01:12:54,160
Speaker 1: the related you know economy out there with you know,

1414
01:12:54,200 --> 01:12:56,519
Speaker 1: this just relates to people going on hunting trips and

1415
01:12:56,520 --> 01:13:01,599
Speaker 1: buying equipment, and so it's it's a much scarier issue,

1416
01:13:01,640 --> 01:13:05,120
Speaker 1: I think than than somewhat have you believe. So it's

1417
01:13:05,160 --> 01:13:08,679
Speaker 1: hard to have a conversation about c w D without

1418
01:13:08,760 --> 01:13:14,840
Speaker 1: talking about the commercial captive deer and deer breeding industry.

1419
01:13:15,479 --> 01:13:18,920
Speaker 1: What is your take on what's going on in that

1420
01:13:18,960 --> 01:13:22,400
Speaker 1: world today is do we need to be concerned about

1421
01:13:22,400 --> 01:13:25,640
Speaker 1: some things? In your opinion, yeah, I mean I think

1422
01:13:25,680 --> 01:13:27,439
Speaker 1: there's things to be concerned, But I mean, if the

1423
01:13:27,439 --> 01:13:29,680
Speaker 1: first thing for me is and I think a lot

1424
01:13:29,760 --> 01:13:34,960
Speaker 1: of people initially, especially in the deer breeding industry, thought

1425
01:13:34,960 --> 01:13:37,960
Speaker 1: that NDA was being created to be the anti deer

1426
01:13:38,000 --> 01:13:41,320
Speaker 1: farming organization, and that's not true. We're focused on wild

1427
01:13:41,320 --> 01:13:45,559
Speaker 1: deer period, but there are certainly things that happened, you know,

1428
01:13:45,600 --> 01:13:48,360
Speaker 1: on some of these operations that do impact wild deer

1429
01:13:48,360 --> 01:13:52,120
Speaker 1: and wild deer conservation. We need to learn more about

1430
01:13:52,160 --> 01:13:55,320
Speaker 1: disease and why does it pop up, Why why does

1431
01:13:55,360 --> 01:13:58,360
Speaker 1: it tend to pop up on these captives in these

1432
01:13:58,360 --> 01:14:01,800
Speaker 1: captive situations. We need to understand that better so that

1433
01:14:01,840 --> 01:14:03,800
Speaker 1: they can do their business better and so that we

1434
01:14:03,840 --> 01:14:07,120
Speaker 1: can understand how to protect our wild deer Number one,

1435
01:14:07,120 --> 01:14:10,280
Speaker 1: I mean there are other things too. There are you know,

1436
01:14:10,360 --> 01:14:15,360
Speaker 1: the general we have the luxury or privilege I guess

1437
01:14:15,360 --> 01:14:18,439
Speaker 1: of knowing that about seventy plus percent of the people

1438
01:14:18,439 --> 01:14:23,080
Speaker 1: out there respect or accept the idea that deer hunting

1439
01:14:23,479 --> 01:14:27,439
Speaker 1: is an deer hunting is an acceptable way to manage populations.

1440
01:14:27,479 --> 01:14:29,439
Speaker 1: But that same group of people, if you pull them

1441
01:14:29,439 --> 01:14:31,000
Speaker 1: and say, well, what do you how do you feel

1442
01:14:31,000 --> 01:14:36,840
Speaker 1: about essentially walking into a small enclosure and shooting an animal? Now,

1443
01:14:37,040 --> 01:14:39,959
Speaker 1: you're not going to get a lot of favorable reviews

1444
01:14:40,000 --> 01:14:41,559
Speaker 1: on that type of thing. I think that type of

1445
01:14:41,600 --> 01:14:45,559
Speaker 1: practice impacts impacts wild deer and wild deer hunting. It

1446
01:14:45,640 --> 01:14:48,040
Speaker 1: impacts it in the eyes of people who are watching us.

1447
01:14:48,040 --> 01:14:49,680
Speaker 1: It impacts us in the in the eyes of the

1448
01:14:49,680 --> 01:14:52,840
Speaker 1: people that vote and really control our sport. Being the

1449
01:14:52,840 --> 01:14:55,200
Speaker 1: deer hunters don't control. I mean, we control our sport

1450
01:14:55,240 --> 01:14:58,439
Speaker 1: to an extent, but we're only you know, in terms

1451
01:14:58,479 --> 01:15:02,519
Speaker 1: of total population, we're like five percent maybe, where all

1452
01:15:02,560 --> 01:15:04,240
Speaker 1: these other people are the ones that have the votes

1453
01:15:04,280 --> 01:15:07,839
Speaker 1: and will make the decisions. So uh, you know, growing

1454
01:15:08,600 --> 01:15:11,599
Speaker 1: far beyond what would be natural antlers on these deer,

1455
01:15:12,240 --> 01:15:15,880
Speaker 1: you know, genetically engineering them, uh you know to me,

1456
01:15:16,280 --> 01:15:20,280
Speaker 1: for me, that's that's a problem for for you know,

1457
01:15:20,320 --> 01:15:22,880
Speaker 1: because this is a wild animal. This is a wild

1458
01:15:22,920 --> 01:15:26,800
Speaker 1: animal that we all see and interact with every day,

1459
01:15:27,000 --> 01:15:29,479
Speaker 1: and I think some of those things could could certainly

1460
01:15:29,600 --> 01:15:33,839
Speaker 1: shed a negative light on on on our wild deer herds,

1461
01:15:33,840 --> 01:15:37,120
Speaker 1: on hunting those of us who are excited about deer.

1462
01:15:37,240 --> 01:15:39,800
Speaker 1: So you know, it's it's an industry that we need

1463
01:15:39,800 --> 01:15:41,320
Speaker 1: to we need to find a way to work with,

1464
01:15:42,479 --> 01:15:45,400
Speaker 1: but in a way that most importantly, the most important

1465
01:15:45,400 --> 01:15:48,760
Speaker 1: thing is that we do accomplish wild deer conservation. And

1466
01:15:49,439 --> 01:15:53,480
Speaker 1: whether it's a captive deer industry or some other industry

1467
01:15:53,520 --> 01:15:55,360
Speaker 1: that impacts that, we have to be aware of it,

1468
01:15:55,400 --> 01:15:57,720
Speaker 1: and we have to be willing to step forward and

1469
01:15:57,760 --> 01:16:00,880
Speaker 1: force our opinion. For sure. Yeah, I was. I was

1470
01:16:00,920 --> 01:16:05,639
Speaker 1: really glad to see um that the National Deer Lines

1471
01:16:05,920 --> 01:16:09,439
Speaker 1: is making a clear articulation and that our goal is

1472
01:16:09,439 --> 01:16:12,960
Speaker 1: to focus on wild deer and wild deer conservation. UM.

1473
01:16:13,000 --> 01:16:16,000
Speaker 1: And to your point, you know, we're not you know,

1474
01:16:16,120 --> 01:16:18,640
Speaker 1: the ENDIA is not necessarily anti anything else. It's just

1475
01:16:18,840 --> 01:16:22,879
Speaker 1: very pro wild deer conservation and making sure that decisions

1476
01:16:22,920 --> 01:16:25,600
Speaker 1: are made and UM the information is being looked at

1477
01:16:25,720 --> 01:16:28,120
Speaker 1: that keeps that top priority in mind and and for

1478
01:16:28,160 --> 01:16:31,080
Speaker 1: me personally, that's very important. UM. I've got strong opinions

1479
01:16:31,080 --> 01:16:34,040
Speaker 1: about some of these things, and UM, I just you know,

1480
01:16:34,479 --> 01:16:36,559
Speaker 1: to the point of everything we've been talking about here, right,

1481
01:16:36,920 --> 01:16:40,000
Speaker 1: this is such a tremendous animal and privilege we have

1482
01:16:40,120 --> 01:16:41,880
Speaker 1: to be able to hunt it and to be around

1483
01:16:41,960 --> 01:16:46,439
Speaker 1: these these populations of animals and chase them and do

1484
01:16:46,520 --> 01:16:48,320
Speaker 1: all the crazy things we do. There's so much fun

1485
01:16:48,360 --> 01:16:51,000
Speaker 1: and so impactful on us and help us feed our families.

1486
01:16:51,160 --> 01:16:54,920
Speaker 1: And it's something that's so easy to take for granted,

1487
01:16:54,960 --> 01:16:56,759
Speaker 1: but we just can't and we have to be careful

1488
01:16:56,760 --> 01:16:58,960
Speaker 1: about some of these other things going on that could

1489
01:16:59,520 --> 01:17:03,639
Speaker 1: impact that. UM. It's kind of thing I definitely think about.

1490
01:17:03,680 --> 01:17:06,439
Speaker 1: It's nice to see that you know that there are

1491
01:17:06,439 --> 01:17:08,439
Speaker 1: people taking a stand there and keep an eye in

1492
01:17:08,479 --> 01:17:11,160
Speaker 1: the price yeah, And I think what we're taking a

1493
01:17:11,200 --> 01:17:13,559
Speaker 1: stand for is we're taking a stand for doing everything

1494
01:17:13,600 --> 01:17:16,200
Speaker 1: we can to protect wild deer. And I, you know,

1495
01:17:16,280 --> 01:17:18,240
Speaker 1: I know people that have deer farms. I've been on

1496
01:17:18,320 --> 01:17:21,519
Speaker 1: deer farms, and they are what I when I look

1497
01:17:21,560 --> 01:17:23,680
Speaker 1: at and say, man, these people are doing everything they

1498
01:17:23,720 --> 01:17:26,439
Speaker 1: possibly can to do this the right way. And I

1499
01:17:26,479 --> 01:17:30,320
Speaker 1: think that probably speaks for a high percentage of that group.

1500
01:17:31,000 --> 01:17:32,599
Speaker 1: But there are a lot of bad actors as well,

1501
01:17:32,640 --> 01:17:34,439
Speaker 1: and I think even I think the people that are

1502
01:17:34,560 --> 01:17:37,400
Speaker 1: doing it right are doing it the best way that

1503
01:17:37,439 --> 01:17:40,680
Speaker 1: they can possibly do it also when we as bad

1504
01:17:40,720 --> 01:17:43,559
Speaker 1: actors out as well, because they understand what the impact

1505
01:17:43,600 --> 01:17:46,120
Speaker 1: could be. So I certainly don't want to say, you know,

1506
01:17:46,160 --> 01:17:49,040
Speaker 1: we're you know, against against all of this and the

1507
01:17:49,040 --> 01:17:51,160
Speaker 1: people they are all bad actors and not doing it right.

1508
01:17:51,479 --> 01:17:54,880
Speaker 1: But it's something that we need to continually be concerned about,

1509
01:17:55,040 --> 01:17:57,120
Speaker 1: learn more about, and try to work with that group

1510
01:17:57,160 --> 01:18:01,400
Speaker 1: the best we can to protect our wild deer. Yeah. Absolute, uh, Dan,

1511
01:18:02,160 --> 01:18:04,720
Speaker 1: are there any issues? What's keeping you up at night?

1512
01:18:04,760 --> 01:18:06,280
Speaker 1: What else? Any of these things are these are things

1513
01:18:06,360 --> 01:18:08,599
Speaker 1: you've been thinking about as a you know, as our

1514
01:18:08,640 --> 01:18:12,720
Speaker 1: as our every man hunter or what else, you know,

1515
01:18:13,240 --> 01:18:18,559
Speaker 1: when it comes to I can understand, you know. For

1516
01:18:18,560 --> 01:18:21,519
Speaker 1: for me, I'm I'm passionate about deer hunting. I want

1517
01:18:21,560 --> 01:18:25,320
Speaker 1: to see it be passed on a generations. But I

1518
01:18:25,360 --> 01:18:28,120
Speaker 1: can understand from where I sit on a daily basis

1519
01:18:28,240 --> 01:18:30,800
Speaker 1: how it's not the first thing on your mind every

1520
01:18:30,880 --> 01:18:37,040
Speaker 1: day because it's you know, it's you got family, family,

1521
01:18:37,520 --> 01:18:40,280
Speaker 1: you got jobs, you got you know, oh shit, I

1522
01:18:40,280 --> 01:18:42,160
Speaker 1: gottam ow my yard tonight. I mean so even the

1523
01:18:42,200 --> 01:18:46,040
Speaker 1: simple things like that have to be can at times

1524
01:18:46,080 --> 01:18:49,320
Speaker 1: come before the last thought of the day is Okay,

1525
01:18:49,439 --> 01:18:52,599
Speaker 1: what's the National Deer Alliance? Should do I take time

1526
01:18:52,640 --> 01:18:55,920
Speaker 1: to do that? Or do I take time to uh,

1527
01:18:55,960 --> 01:18:58,479
Speaker 1: you know, go do something else with my family, or

1528
01:18:58,520 --> 01:19:00,600
Speaker 1: you know, read a magazine or you know whatever it

1529
01:19:00,680 --> 01:19:03,200
Speaker 1: is that that you do. So I think that there

1530
01:19:03,240 --> 01:19:07,800
Speaker 1: has to be some kind of change out there for

1531
01:19:08,120 --> 01:19:11,519
Speaker 1: guys like I guess I would say, like me too,

1532
01:19:12,640 --> 01:19:18,080
Speaker 1: absorb this this information and really get the grasp that, hey,

1533
01:19:18,360 --> 01:19:20,800
Speaker 1: you need to be a part of this. There's no

1534
01:19:21,360 --> 01:19:24,839
Speaker 1: you know, there's no there's no half acid it anymore.

1535
01:19:24,880 --> 01:19:27,280
Speaker 1: You're either in or you're out, because if you're out,

1536
01:19:27,479 --> 01:19:30,880
Speaker 1: you're not helping anybody you're not helping yourself, because there's

1537
01:19:30,880 --> 01:19:33,600
Speaker 1: a time and it could be closer than what we

1538
01:19:33,680 --> 01:19:38,439
Speaker 1: think where all this goes bye bye. Yeah, you know,

1539
01:19:38,439 --> 01:19:40,120
Speaker 1: and I and I hate to look at it as

1540
01:19:40,439 --> 01:19:42,639
Speaker 1: you know, you're in and you're out. I understand that

1541
01:19:42,720 --> 01:19:45,880
Speaker 1: sentiment for sure, But we I think what we're asking

1542
01:19:45,920 --> 01:19:47,320
Speaker 1: for is we need to we need at least a

1543
01:19:47,360 --> 01:19:49,080
Speaker 1: little bit of your time some of the time, and

1544
01:19:49,120 --> 01:19:52,000
Speaker 1: that even that will make a huge difference. So I

1545
01:19:52,000 --> 01:19:54,360
Speaker 1: don't expect that every time we send out our weekly

1546
01:19:54,560 --> 01:19:58,240
Speaker 1: on Watch newsletter that everybody's going to read it. But

1547
01:19:58,400 --> 01:20:00,600
Speaker 1: I do expect to a certain percent as will read it,

1548
01:20:00,720 --> 01:20:03,960
Speaker 1: and maybe you'll read three out of five or even

1549
01:20:03,960 --> 01:20:08,080
Speaker 1: two out of four, and you may get an issue

1550
01:20:08,200 --> 01:20:11,240
Speaker 1: sent to your right to your email from NDA because

1551
01:20:11,280 --> 01:20:14,640
Speaker 1: there's something happening in your area. I do expect that

1552
01:20:14,720 --> 01:20:16,880
Speaker 1: when that does hit your inbox, that you're willing to

1553
01:20:17,360 --> 01:20:19,280
Speaker 1: at least click a few buttons and send a letter

1554
01:20:19,320 --> 01:20:21,960
Speaker 1: off to your legislator saying how you feel about an issue.

1555
01:20:22,720 --> 01:20:24,840
Speaker 1: And I think that's part of our responsibility to n

1556
01:20:24,880 --> 01:20:27,800
Speaker 1: d A and not I'm not I'm not trying to

1557
01:20:27,800 --> 01:20:31,400
Speaker 1: give you Generally, people aren't lazy. They're just busy doing

1558
01:20:31,439 --> 01:20:33,559
Speaker 1: all kinds of things that you mentioned. I don't want

1559
01:20:33,560 --> 01:20:36,000
Speaker 1: to give them a pass, but the reality is we

1560
01:20:36,000 --> 01:20:38,160
Speaker 1: need to make it as easy as possible as we

1561
01:20:38,200 --> 01:20:41,400
Speaker 1: can for them to do to participate at the grassroots level.

1562
01:20:41,439 --> 01:20:43,200
Speaker 1: And that is and that's one of the reasons why

1563
01:20:43,280 --> 01:20:46,240
Speaker 1: we're virtual. By the way that we're we exist online

1564
01:20:46,280 --> 01:20:49,160
Speaker 1: and communicate in that in that manner, is because we

1565
01:20:49,200 --> 01:20:51,360
Speaker 1: want to be able to just send you, hey, here's

1566
01:20:51,400 --> 01:20:55,000
Speaker 1: the issue. If if you're interested in weighing in and

1567
01:20:55,080 --> 01:20:58,040
Speaker 1: contacting your legislator, you just simply click here. It will

1568
01:20:58,040 --> 01:21:00,280
Speaker 1: give you who your legislator is. If you want to

1569
01:21:00,280 --> 01:21:02,160
Speaker 1: adjust the letter a little bit, you can and then

1570
01:21:02,200 --> 01:21:05,360
Speaker 1: you click send, and now you've participated in the process,

1571
01:21:05,360 --> 01:21:07,519
Speaker 1: and you've probably done that in less than ten minutes.

1572
01:21:08,080 --> 01:21:10,360
Speaker 1: So we need to make it as easy as possible

1573
01:21:10,400 --> 01:21:14,040
Speaker 1: for very busy people who don't necessarily have deer at

1574
01:21:14,040 --> 01:21:18,280
Speaker 1: the top of their mind, especially throughout the entire year,

1575
01:21:18,840 --> 01:21:20,160
Speaker 1: and we need to make it easy for him to

1576
01:21:20,160 --> 01:21:22,360
Speaker 1: participate in that. And that's I look at that as

1577
01:21:22,439 --> 01:21:25,120
Speaker 1: a lot of the responsibility of not just n DA,

1578
01:21:25,240 --> 01:21:28,280
Speaker 1: but the other deer organizations that we work with I

1579
01:21:28,360 --> 01:21:31,280
Speaker 1: just you know, there's obviously there's people out there who

1580
01:21:31,280 --> 01:21:37,360
Speaker 1: are have different levels of UM involvement in any type

1581
01:21:37,360 --> 01:21:40,680
Speaker 1: of topic. But I just I just feel that, you

1582
01:21:40,680 --> 01:21:43,800
Speaker 1: know how if someone says, hey, we want to take

1583
01:21:43,840 --> 01:21:48,280
Speaker 1: your guns away, there's a gigantic uproar about you know,

1584
01:21:48,400 --> 01:21:51,320
Speaker 1: a certain group of people that they get fired up

1585
01:21:51,400 --> 01:21:54,679
Speaker 1: about wanting to take guns away. I just feel that

1586
01:21:55,000 --> 01:21:58,959
Speaker 1: as of right now. You know, if someone told me, hey,

1587
01:21:59,400 --> 01:22:02,640
Speaker 1: we're gonna take away the right to uh hunt or

1588
01:22:02,800 --> 01:22:05,920
Speaker 1: reduce the right to hunt, or you're you're not going

1589
01:22:05,960 --> 01:22:07,680
Speaker 1: to be able to hunt on all the lands that

1590
01:22:07,720 --> 01:22:10,519
Speaker 1: you used to be able to hunt on, that fires

1591
01:22:10,560 --> 01:22:15,240
Speaker 1: me up. And that's for me why I wanna like

1592
01:22:15,280 --> 01:22:16,720
Speaker 1: I like you said, I want to screw it from

1593
01:22:16,760 --> 01:22:20,360
Speaker 1: the mountaintops telling people to get their asking gear. Yeah. Yeah,

1594
01:22:20,400 --> 01:22:23,120
Speaker 1: well I think that's the that's the biggest difference I

1595
01:22:23,160 --> 01:22:26,160
Speaker 1: think between deer and hunting issues and Second Amendment issues.

1596
01:22:26,240 --> 01:22:29,080
Speaker 1: So Second Amendment issues, you hear it talked about on

1597
01:22:29,200 --> 01:22:34,080
Speaker 1: national television every day, you know, both parties at every election. Uh,

1598
01:22:34,200 --> 01:22:37,080
Speaker 1: you know, people do believe that there that they may

1599
01:22:37,120 --> 01:22:40,439
Speaker 1: have it may lose that right where deer hunting they're

1600
01:22:40,479 --> 01:22:43,200
Speaker 1: not talking about it, you know, in presidential debates, or

1601
01:22:43,600 --> 01:22:46,000
Speaker 1: it rarely would come up with, especially in the national

1602
01:22:46,040 --> 01:22:49,240
Speaker 1: news or anything like that, so people don't have that

1603
01:22:49,280 --> 01:22:51,439
Speaker 1: sense of something being taken away, and that's where the

1604
01:22:51,439 --> 01:22:54,439
Speaker 1: apathy comes in again. I think most people think that

1605
01:22:54,520 --> 01:22:56,720
Speaker 1: deer hunting in general is well, it's pretty safe. We

1606
01:22:56,720 --> 01:22:59,680
Speaker 1: don't have to worry about it. So I don't want

1607
01:22:59,680 --> 01:23:01,760
Speaker 1: to say that to challenge. But that's one of the

1608
01:23:01,800 --> 01:23:04,880
Speaker 1: reasons why you see groups like the n r A,

1609
01:23:05,000 --> 01:23:08,439
Speaker 1: for example, generates so many members and so many really

1610
01:23:08,479 --> 01:23:12,519
Speaker 1: passionate members, is they really feel that pressure that this

1611
01:23:12,560 --> 01:23:15,559
Speaker 1: could happen to me, and it could happen really quickly.

1612
01:23:16,439 --> 01:23:19,960
Speaker 1: Not so much with the dear hunting world. There are

1613
01:23:20,000 --> 01:23:22,400
Speaker 1: issues and it's frustrating that people don't pay more attention

1614
01:23:22,439 --> 01:23:24,840
Speaker 1: to it. But I think that if tomorrow one of

1615
01:23:24,880 --> 01:23:27,160
Speaker 1: the you know, one of the presidential candidates come out

1616
01:23:27,160 --> 01:23:28,600
Speaker 1: and said, one of the first things I want to

1617
01:23:28,600 --> 01:23:31,400
Speaker 1: do is make sure dear seasons are cut back to

1618
01:23:31,479 --> 01:23:33,919
Speaker 1: three days a year, then I think you would probably see,

1619
01:23:34,680 --> 01:23:36,720
Speaker 1: you know, that type of outcry from people people that

1620
01:23:36,760 --> 01:23:39,599
Speaker 1: don't even hunt deer, by the way, because deer impact

1621
01:23:39,760 --> 01:23:41,800
Speaker 1: so many people just like guns do. I mean, n

1622
01:23:41,880 --> 01:23:44,320
Speaker 1: r A has a nice percentage of members of people

1623
01:23:44,320 --> 01:23:47,160
Speaker 1: who don't even own guns just because they're passionate about

1624
01:23:47,280 --> 01:23:50,360
Speaker 1: not having a right taken away. So a little bit

1625
01:23:50,439 --> 01:23:53,640
Speaker 1: of a different situation. But you know that's that's not

1626
01:23:53,680 --> 01:23:55,479
Speaker 1: an excuse for deer hunters. We just we need to

1627
01:23:55,520 --> 01:23:57,280
Speaker 1: know more and you need to do better. And the

1628
01:23:57,439 --> 01:24:00,559
Speaker 1: certainly are issues that could impact us. It might not

1629
01:24:00,680 --> 01:24:03,120
Speaker 1: be someone cutting our seasons down to three days, but

1630
01:24:03,200 --> 01:24:05,640
Speaker 1: it could be, you know, like we talked about, it

1631
01:24:05,640 --> 01:24:08,680
Speaker 1: could be populations declining. It could be disease issues. It

1632
01:24:08,720 --> 01:24:12,240
Speaker 1: could be uh, you know, losing access. It could be

1633
01:24:12,760 --> 01:24:14,760
Speaker 1: you know, not having the ability to bow hunt within

1634
01:24:14,840 --> 01:24:17,120
Speaker 1: city limits in some areas, like there's a there's a

1635
01:24:17,120 --> 01:24:20,160
Speaker 1: lot of different things, UM that you know, we as

1636
01:24:20,200 --> 01:24:24,160
Speaker 1: hunters can and should be paying attention to UM. And

1637
01:24:25,479 --> 01:24:29,200
Speaker 1: I don't know, you know, without us stand here preaching UM.

1638
01:24:29,240 --> 01:24:31,320
Speaker 1: I just I feel like if you are passionate enough

1639
01:24:31,320 --> 01:24:34,559
Speaker 1: about deer hunting to be listening to a podcast about

1640
01:24:34,560 --> 01:24:36,720
Speaker 1: deer hunting, like you like it so much that you're

1641
01:24:36,800 --> 01:24:39,479
Speaker 1: driving home right now, or you're on the treadmill listening

1642
01:24:39,520 --> 01:24:41,800
Speaker 1: to a couple of googers like us talk about deer.

1643
01:24:42,560 --> 01:24:44,599
Speaker 1: If you're that passionate about deer hunting, you should also

1644
01:24:44,680 --> 01:24:47,559
Speaker 1: be passionate about trying to protect deer and deer hunting

1645
01:24:47,640 --> 01:24:50,800
Speaker 1: and you know, help improve the situation. And whether it

1646
01:24:50,840 --> 01:24:53,599
Speaker 1: be with the National Deer alliones or with a local group,

1647
01:24:53,760 --> 01:24:56,600
Speaker 1: or with just going up behind the house and planning

1648
01:24:56,880 --> 01:25:00,479
Speaker 1: some trees or talking to your neighbor about know why

1649
01:25:00,560 --> 01:25:02,920
Speaker 1: deer hunting is a positive thing or whatever it might be.

1650
01:25:02,960 --> 01:25:05,560
Speaker 1: I think we all owe it back to the resource

1651
01:25:05,720 --> 01:25:09,719
Speaker 1: into you know, the generations to come to to try

1652
01:25:09,760 --> 01:25:12,720
Speaker 1: to do more than just take you know, don't just

1653
01:25:13,200 --> 01:25:16,479
Speaker 1: enjoy hunting and eat deer and have a great time

1654
01:25:16,520 --> 01:25:18,120
Speaker 1: with it, but give back a little, you know. And

1655
01:25:18,120 --> 01:25:20,440
Speaker 1: there's a lot of ways to do that. But I think, um,

1656
01:25:20,479 --> 01:25:22,760
Speaker 1: we should all, at least on my opinion is we

1657
01:25:22,760 --> 01:25:24,599
Speaker 1: should all try to do a little like that. Something

1658
01:25:24,600 --> 01:25:28,720
Speaker 1: like that. Yeah. Absolutely, And I you know, we're not

1659
01:25:28,760 --> 01:25:31,280
Speaker 1: asking for a lot here. But whenever we started our

1660
01:25:31,760 --> 01:25:34,240
Speaker 1: strategic planning session and I had all these people sitting

1661
01:25:34,240 --> 01:25:36,720
Speaker 1: in front of me, the first thing I did was

1662
01:25:36,720 --> 01:25:40,040
Speaker 1: I put up a picture of whenever I was young,

1663
01:25:40,520 --> 01:25:42,600
Speaker 1: and it was a picture of my dad and my

1664
01:25:42,680 --> 01:25:44,600
Speaker 1: uncle in the back of my dad's pickup truck and

1665
01:25:44,640 --> 01:25:48,280
Speaker 1: the beach had shot back on opening day in Pennsylvania.

1666
01:25:48,320 --> 01:25:53,080
Speaker 1: This is probably back in or something like that. I said,

1667
01:25:53,120 --> 01:25:56,640
Speaker 1: every one of us has this picture. It's burned in

1668
01:25:56,680 --> 01:26:02,640
Speaker 1: our mind. It represents who we are in terms of

1669
01:26:02,680 --> 01:26:07,080
Speaker 1: deer hunters, in that passion, and I asked them, as

1670
01:26:07,120 --> 01:26:08,920
Speaker 1: we go through this process, I want you to keep

1671
01:26:08,960 --> 01:26:12,439
Speaker 1: your personal picture in your mind and remind yourself what

1672
01:26:12,560 --> 01:26:14,200
Speaker 1: has this sport done for me? What have deer done

1673
01:26:14,240 --> 01:26:16,759
Speaker 1: for me personally? How have they helped shape my life?

1674
01:26:17,240 --> 01:26:18,840
Speaker 1: And even if you're just sort of a weekend warrior,

1675
01:26:18,880 --> 01:26:20,599
Speaker 1: because out a few times a year, they have impacted

1676
01:26:20,600 --> 01:26:23,479
Speaker 1: your life and you've had experiences in the outdoors that

1677
01:26:23,520 --> 01:26:27,519
Speaker 1: are you just can't get anywhere else. And I think

1678
01:26:27,560 --> 01:26:30,240
Speaker 1: that's just what I would ask all deer hunters to do,

1679
01:26:30,360 --> 01:26:32,920
Speaker 1: is put that picture in your mind. You know what

1680
01:26:32,960 --> 01:26:35,080
Speaker 1: was that feeling? You know what were you feeling? And

1681
01:26:35,120 --> 01:26:40,519
Speaker 1: could you imagine yourself not having that opportunity, or your

1682
01:26:40,600 --> 01:26:43,320
Speaker 1: children not having that opportunity and their children not having

1683
01:26:43,320 --> 01:26:47,640
Speaker 1: that opportunity. And you know that little exercise tends to

1684
01:26:47,680 --> 01:26:51,439
Speaker 1: get get people's juices flowing a little bit, the emotions flowing,

1685
01:26:52,160 --> 01:26:54,120
Speaker 1: and that's what we're talking about here. It's not a

1686
01:26:54,120 --> 01:26:57,840
Speaker 1: scare tactic and we're not trying to generate controversy. We're

1687
01:26:57,840 --> 01:27:00,800
Speaker 1: talking about protecting an animal and protecting sport that has

1688
01:27:00,840 --> 01:27:03,640
Speaker 1: done so much for so many people. It's just a

1689
01:27:03,680 --> 01:27:06,760
Speaker 1: real responsibility that we all share and I'm hoping that

1690
01:27:06,880 --> 01:27:10,160
Speaker 1: NDA can be the conduit to making that happen. Yeah,

1691
01:27:10,280 --> 01:27:14,080
Speaker 1: absolutely so. So for those listening, what can they do

1692
01:27:14,280 --> 01:27:17,400
Speaker 1: to uh, to engage with the n d A or

1693
01:27:17,479 --> 01:27:19,599
Speaker 1: two to be a part of this positive change that

1694
01:27:19,600 --> 01:27:23,000
Speaker 1: that you and the team are trying to create. The

1695
01:27:23,120 --> 01:27:25,160
Speaker 1: very easy, easiest thing you can do is sign up

1696
01:27:25,160 --> 01:27:28,759
Speaker 1: and become a member good our brand new website, National

1697
01:27:28,800 --> 01:27:33,920
Speaker 1: Tier Alliance dot com and barring some catastrophe between now

1698
01:27:33,960 --> 01:27:36,360
Speaker 1: and the time you hear this, the website will be

1699
01:27:36,400 --> 01:27:39,320
Speaker 1: there and all you do is you you provide us

1700
01:27:39,360 --> 01:27:41,920
Speaker 1: your email address and at a minimum your zip code,

1701
01:27:42,400 --> 01:27:43,880
Speaker 1: and we'll be able to alert you to all the

1702
01:27:43,920 --> 01:27:45,639
Speaker 1: issues that are going on out there. But also you'll

1703
01:27:45,640 --> 01:27:48,639
Speaker 1: get our newsletter every week that I know Mark especially

1704
01:27:48,640 --> 01:27:52,920
Speaker 1: works so hard on and and then read it. Most

1705
01:27:52,920 --> 01:27:54,120
Speaker 1: of the time, you don't have to read it all

1706
01:27:54,160 --> 01:27:56,800
Speaker 1: the time, but read it occasionally, share with your friends,

1707
01:27:56,840 --> 01:27:59,040
Speaker 1: get them to sign up. I think that's the first thing.

1708
01:27:59,080 --> 01:28:01,320
Speaker 1: Be aware of the issues. Sign up. It's free, doesn't

1709
01:28:01,360 --> 01:28:04,920
Speaker 1: cost you a thing, And I think just educate yourself

1710
01:28:04,960 --> 01:28:07,760
Speaker 1: and be more willing to give yourself even just a

1711
01:28:07,800 --> 01:28:09,920
Speaker 1: few more minutes time to think about during a day

1712
01:28:09,920 --> 01:28:14,479
Speaker 1: than what you normally would. And that alone, I think

1713
01:28:14,520 --> 01:28:17,160
Speaker 1: will be a huge step for not only the NBA,

1714
01:28:17,320 --> 01:28:21,040
Speaker 1: but for deer and for hunting, and anybody can do that.

1715
01:28:21,080 --> 01:28:22,600
Speaker 1: And it's it's easy to sign it. And if and

1716
01:28:22,600 --> 01:28:24,360
Speaker 1: if you don't even want the newsletter anymore, you can

1717
01:28:24,360 --> 01:28:26,880
Speaker 1: still become a member and you can always opt out

1718
01:28:26,880 --> 01:28:28,680
Speaker 1: of the newsletter if you just get tired of seeing it,

1719
01:28:28,720 --> 01:28:30,479
Speaker 1: although I don't know why you would because so much

1720
01:28:30,520 --> 01:28:32,960
Speaker 1: good stuff in there. You can still be a member

1721
01:28:32,960 --> 01:28:35,120
Speaker 1: and we can still alert you whenever there's an issue

1722
01:28:35,120 --> 01:28:37,840
Speaker 1: that need to be concerned about. So we need a

1723
01:28:37,840 --> 01:28:40,720
Speaker 1: million members to sign up for that thing. And that's

1724
01:28:40,760 --> 01:28:43,599
Speaker 1: that's what I want to really drive towards. Well. I

1725
01:28:43,640 --> 01:28:46,280
Speaker 1: think I think there'll be a lot of people that

1726
01:28:46,320 --> 01:28:48,840
Speaker 1: would benefit from, just like you said, just being a

1727
01:28:48,880 --> 01:28:51,120
Speaker 1: little more aware of some of the issues and the

1728
01:28:51,160 --> 01:28:53,839
Speaker 1: resources that the NDA is putting out there you know already,

1729
01:28:53,880 --> 01:28:55,200
Speaker 1: and there's so much more to come, I think, with

1730
01:28:55,240 --> 01:28:57,200
Speaker 1: a new website and the tools that would be available,

1731
01:28:57,240 --> 01:29:00,799
Speaker 1: but already just you know, putting out you know, updates

1732
01:29:00,800 --> 01:29:02,160
Speaker 1: and all these things that have been going on. I mean,

1733
01:29:02,200 --> 01:29:04,519
Speaker 1: it's it's interesting, you know, given the fact that you know,

1734
01:29:04,520 --> 01:29:08,160
Speaker 1: I work on this stuff, I had no idea before

1735
01:29:08,280 --> 01:29:11,200
Speaker 1: how much is going on related to deer across the

1736
01:29:11,240 --> 01:29:13,559
Speaker 1: country year in and year out. I mean all through

1737
01:29:13,600 --> 01:29:17,280
Speaker 1: the year. In April, in January, in June, there are

1738
01:29:17,320 --> 01:29:20,320
Speaker 1: things being decided on in city council meetings or in

1739
01:29:21,000 --> 01:29:25,320
Speaker 1: state you know, legislators or everywhere there are things going on.

1740
01:29:25,360 --> 01:29:28,280
Speaker 1: The impact dear, the impact deer hunters, and uh, I

1741
01:29:28,320 --> 01:29:29,800
Speaker 1: think a lot of the times we as hunters, we

1742
01:29:29,880 --> 01:29:32,599
Speaker 1: have no idea that stuff is going on, um and

1743
01:29:32,640 --> 01:29:35,080
Speaker 1: then since we don't know, we can't ever raise our

1744
01:29:35,160 --> 01:29:37,760
Speaker 1: voices to to say something about it. So that's a

1745
01:29:37,760 --> 01:29:41,920
Speaker 1: great first step. But just to be in the game, yes, right,

1746
01:29:41,920 --> 01:29:43,760
Speaker 1: be in the game. At any one time, I could

1747
01:29:44,280 --> 01:29:46,640
Speaker 1: find you a hundred bills that across the country that

1748
01:29:46,680 --> 01:29:49,160
Speaker 1: in one way or another impact deer hunting. I don't

1749
01:29:49,160 --> 01:29:51,760
Speaker 1: expect people to do that same thing and understand all

1750
01:29:51,760 --> 01:29:54,120
Speaker 1: that that's our job at the n d A. So

1751
01:29:54,439 --> 01:29:57,280
Speaker 1: read the newsletter, occasionally jump in when we ask you

1752
01:29:57,320 --> 01:30:00,120
Speaker 1: to to send letters or contact the right people. I

1753
01:30:00,160 --> 01:30:03,679
Speaker 1: think that alone will make a big difference. Agreed, Well, Nick,

1754
01:30:03,840 --> 01:30:06,240
Speaker 1: I think this is uh, this is exciting stuff. I'm

1755
01:30:06,280 --> 01:30:08,880
Speaker 1: excited personally too to see where things are going to

1756
01:30:08,960 --> 01:30:11,000
Speaker 1: go in the future. I think we're at a great trajectory.

1757
01:30:11,120 --> 01:30:13,519
Speaker 1: I'm excited to check out the new website here very

1758
01:30:13,560 --> 01:30:19,280
Speaker 1: shortly and uh, good stuff ahead, right, Absolutely, I appreciate

1759
01:30:19,280 --> 01:30:21,360
Speaker 1: the opportunity, love what you guys are doing, and keep

1760
01:30:21,400 --> 01:30:24,639
Speaker 1: spreading the word. Thank you, absolutely well, good luck this season, Nick,

1761
01:30:24,680 --> 01:30:27,200
Speaker 1: I hope we have some some more exciting Dear stories

1762
01:30:27,240 --> 01:30:30,519
Speaker 1: from you in the coming months. Same here. Good luck

1763
01:30:30,520 --> 01:30:34,200
Speaker 1: to you guys as well. All right, and with that,

1764
01:30:34,280 --> 01:30:37,600
Speaker 1: we're going to wrap this episode up now. Like we discussed,

1765
01:30:38,080 --> 01:30:41,360
Speaker 1: be sure to check out the new National Dear Lions

1766
01:30:41,439 --> 01:30:44,880
Speaker 1: dot Com which is now live online and become a member.

1767
01:30:45,080 --> 01:30:47,760
Speaker 1: It's free and you'll be updated on all sorts of

1768
01:30:47,800 --> 01:30:50,760
Speaker 1: great stuff. Moving on, we do need to thank our

1769
01:30:50,800 --> 01:30:53,519
Speaker 1: partners who helped make this podcast possible, and if you

1770
01:30:53,560 --> 01:30:55,720
Speaker 1: have a few free seconds, maybe you could send them

1771
01:30:55,720 --> 01:30:58,679
Speaker 1: a thank you too on Facebook or Twitter or something

1772
01:30:58,720 --> 01:31:01,799
Speaker 1: like that. So big inks to sick A Gear Trophy,

1773
01:31:01,880 --> 01:31:07,599
Speaker 1: Ridge Bear Archery, Redneck Blinds, Hunter a, maps, Ozonics, Carbon Express, Arrows,

1774
01:31:07,720 --> 01:31:11,720
Speaker 1: Maven Optics, and the White Tail Institute of North America.

1775
01:31:11,960 --> 01:31:14,960
Speaker 1: And finally, thank you all for joining us today and

1776
01:31:15,000 --> 01:31:18,880
Speaker 1: for tuning in every week. I really sincerely appreciate it,

1777
01:31:18,920 --> 01:31:20,960
Speaker 1: and I hope this episode gave you some new insight

1778
01:31:21,000 --> 01:31:23,479
Speaker 1: to consider in regards to a role as deer hunters

1779
01:31:23,520 --> 01:31:28,439
Speaker 1: and conservationists. And finally, I hope you'll stay wired to

1780
01:31:28,600 --> 01:31:28,880
Speaker 1: hunt