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Speaker 1: Welcome to This Country Life. I'm your host, Brent Rieves

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

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

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

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

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

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Speaker 1: outdoor podcast.

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Speaker 2: The airways have to offer.

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Speaker 1: All right, friends, pull you up a chair or drop

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Speaker 1: that tailgate. I think I got a thing or two

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Speaker 1: and teach you the Black Bear Bonanza. I just got

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Speaker 1: home from the third annual Black Bear Bonanza, hosted by

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Speaker 1: the Arkansas Chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers. I had

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Speaker 1: the pleasure of visiting with old friends and making new ones.

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Speaker 2: I want to tell you.

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Speaker 1: All about it, but first I'm.

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Speaker 2: Going to tell you a story.

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Speaker 1: The long and widened road that brought me in front

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Speaker 1: of this microphone was a couple decades old from my

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Speaker 1: old pal, Clay bow Nukman. I traveled to Saskatchewan in

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Speaker 1: twenty and seventeen.

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Speaker 2: He needed a.

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Speaker 1: Cameraman, and his luck would have it, I needed a

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Speaker 1: free trip to Canada. What a coincidence. That trip seven

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Speaker 1: years ago was one of the things that got a

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Speaker 1: lot of industry eyes looking at my old padna. Now,

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Speaker 1: that and his incredible foundation of work in printing broadcast media.

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Speaker 1: But a viral video never hurts unless you're robbing a

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Speaker 1: liquor store or filling fish full of trot line weights.

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Speaker 1: But that video, you know, the video, the one where

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Speaker 1: the bear pokes his nose in our makeshift blind and

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Speaker 1: his nose touches Clay's arrow. That one, if you hadn't

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Speaker 1: seen it, I applaud your ability to fly under the

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Speaker 1: radar because people send it to me all the time.

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Speaker 1: Apparently they think it's a pretty cool bit of footage

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Speaker 1: and are unaware I'm the guy that filmed it. Anyway,

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Speaker 1: there we sat, after riding in a boat for a

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Speaker 1: couple hours in the Canadian wilderness, waiting on a bear

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Speaker 1: that had been in and out of that area that

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Speaker 1: was described as being the bear. They said, that's the

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Speaker 1: bear you're looking for. They didn't have a picture to

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Speaker 1: show us, but they said you'll know it when he

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Speaker 1: see Okay, boys, if you say so. Ah Now, even

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Speaker 1: though it was an afternoon hunt, we were in no

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Speaker 1: hurry to get set up after we got there. The

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Speaker 1: sun never sets up there that late in June, and

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Speaker 1: there was never a time that I couldn't have found

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Speaker 1: my way around outside without the aid of a light

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Speaker 1: at the darkest time of night, unless it was cloudy,

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Speaker 1: but even then that didn't last long. We settled into

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Speaker 1: blind that was made from small jackpine and limbs that

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Speaker 1: had been tied together by waist tie against a back

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Speaker 1: drop up was standing trees. There was just big enough

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Speaker 1: for us to get in with all my camera gear,

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Speaker 1: and we sat facing the bait barrel. I set the

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Speaker 1: camera up and we were finishing up shooting our introductory

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Speaker 1: video when the first bear of the afternoon walked into

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Speaker 1: the frame just as I was stopping recording. Now quickly

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Speaker 1: I started recording again, and you can see the brief

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Speaker 1: split in the final production. Now, normally I'd have kept

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Speaker 1: running footage once the interview stopped, to have plenty to

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Speaker 1: edit with later, but this was the first day of

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Speaker 1: a seven day hunt in the land of the Living Skies,

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Speaker 1: and I was hoarding digital space on my hard drives

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Speaker 1: like those folks on A and E stored newspapers and

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Speaker 1: dirty clothes. I didn't want to run out. Turned out

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Speaker 1: I wasn't gonna need near about all the space had

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Speaker 1: brought anyway, well after that initial bear came in, and

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Speaker 1: there was a steady stream of bears coming to the bait.

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Speaker 1: One after another.

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Speaker 2: They came.

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Speaker 1: There was never a time when there was only one,

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Speaker 1: and never a time when there weren't multiple bears behind us.

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Speaker 1: And when I say behind us, I mean right behind us.

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Speaker 1: Like when you're driving and someone is tailgating you. They

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Speaker 1: are following too close the person riding with you in

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Speaker 1: the back seat. That's how close they were. And what

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Speaker 1: I mean when I say they were right behind us,

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Speaker 1: there was so much going on in front of us.

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Speaker 1: I never had a chance to turn around to film

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Speaker 1: the back seat bear. You believe that was taking place

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Speaker 1: at our six o'clock They were standing behind us, within

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Speaker 1: arm's reach of where we sat, watching the bears in

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Speaker 1: front of us as the bait, jocking for position and

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Speaker 1: deciding on where everyone was going to get some child

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Speaker 1: without starting a hockey game or a fight. Now, Clay

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Speaker 1: was there to shoot a bear, and I was there

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Speaker 1: to film him doing it. For me to do my job,

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Speaker 1: I have to operate the camera and watch the viewscreen

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Speaker 1: to keep everything framed up properly. I glanced behind us,

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Speaker 1: and I saw three bears close. Now, let's review. They

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Speaker 1: were right behind us.

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Speaker 2: Close. I could hear them breathing.

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Speaker 1: I could hear him shuffling back and forth as they

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Speaker 1: looked through the back of our blind, which, if you'll recall,

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Speaker 1: was only a handful of standing jackpines. Now that could

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Speaker 1: have no more kept a bear out than it could

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Speaker 1: have kept out the wind.

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Speaker 2: And I wasn't watching them.

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Speaker 1: I whispered to Clay, there's some bears behind us. He

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Speaker 1: didn't seem too concerned, and understandably so. There were bears

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Speaker 1: all around us, but the ones behind us were closer

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Speaker 1: to us than the ones in front of us, and

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Speaker 1: the ones in front of us were from twenty five

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Speaker 1: to five yards away. I probably should mention about now

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Speaker 1: that the only thing we had for self defense was

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Speaker 1: clay stick bow that had a maximum killing range of

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Speaker 1: twenty five yards, some bear spray that's useful out to

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Speaker 1: about ten yards, and anything beyond that was about as

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Speaker 1: effective as talking about about the bear's mama. Now, I

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Speaker 1: glanced back and momentarily took my eyes off the view

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Speaker 1: finder to see that two of the three bears had

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Speaker 1: walked up to the very edge of where we were sitting.

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Speaker 1: They couldn't get any closer.

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Speaker 2: Without getting into blind with us.

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Speaker 1: It's no exaggeration to say, from where I was sitting

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Speaker 1: that I could have grabbed one of them by the ear. Also,

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Speaker 1: had they wanted to, they could have grabbed a hold

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Speaker 1: of mine. They appeared to pay no attention to us.

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Speaker 1: Their immense focus was on the bears at the bait,

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Speaker 1: and it made me feel even less significant. They were

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Speaker 1: moving and bobbing their heads and looking around and over

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Speaker 1: us at the at the other bears. I knew they

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Speaker 1: had no concern or fear for us, and if the

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Speaker 1: mood struck them that they just walk in and monkey

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Speaker 1: stomp us on the way to the bait barrel. It

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Speaker 1: was like being betwixt the biggest hog in the trough.

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Speaker 1: When someone hollered, Suey, you didn't want to be there, Clay,

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Speaker 1: the bears are right behind us.

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Speaker 2: He didn't respond. Clay.

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Speaker 1: He half turned around towards me and nodded without looking

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Speaker 1: back behind me, acknowledging what I was saying, but obviously unconcerned.

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Speaker 1: He was focused on the bears in front too, rightfully,

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Speaker 1: so they were laying at the bait, they were walking

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Speaker 1: around off within twenty five yards of us, and one

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Speaker 1: of them came to within a few yards, none of

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Speaker 1: which were as close as the bears behind us, who

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Speaker 1: at that time were more or less sitting in the

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Speaker 1: same row as me watching the show Clay these bears.

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Speaker 1: He turned around, I guess, realizing that I needed his

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Speaker 1: attention finally, and his eyes got big. He didn't say

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Speaker 1: a word, and I didn't either. He paused for a second,

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Speaker 1: and he turned his head back around to the bears

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Speaker 1: out front. Now I didn't need him to say or

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Speaker 1: do anything. There wasn't anything to be said or done.

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Speaker 1: I just didn't want it to be a shock to him.

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Speaker 1: When the donnybrook broke out behind him, I focused back

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Speaker 1: on the view finder and I never looked back the

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Speaker 1: two that were so close I could see out of

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Speaker 1: the corner of my right eye the whole time they

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Speaker 1: stood there. They eventually walked on around to the right

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Speaker 1: of us and made their way toward the others. The

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Speaker 1: third bear I lost track of. I didn't know where

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Speaker 1: he went. Then the target bear appeared, and we knew

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Speaker 1: immediately that it was him. He was a biggot jet

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Speaker 1: black dark muzzle on a big old punkin head. It

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Speaker 1: was him, no doubt. He eventually moved around and Clay

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Speaker 1: took his shot and he missed. It was it was

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Speaker 1: a sad moment. He was sick and upset with himself

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Speaker 1: for missing. I let him stew on it for about

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Speaker 1: twenty seve ack and said, I told him knock another

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Speaker 1: air and get back in the game. We were working

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Speaker 1: and it was time to get back to it. A

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Speaker 1: small boar and a young blond sal came in. We

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Speaker 1: watched them, as Clay so eloquently said in the film,

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Speaker 1: frolic around in front of us until their courtship was

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Speaker 1: rudely interrupted by a big color phase bear that no

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Speaker 1: one had ever seen before. He came in like a

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Speaker 1: boss and chased him away from the area out of sight.

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Speaker 1: Less than a minute later, he returned and sewed the

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Speaker 1: couple bears behind us. I just happened to look back

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Speaker 1: when he ran the happy couple off to see the

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Speaker 1: two bears within ten feet that had watched the whole

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Speaker 1: ordeal just as we had. I had no idea how

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Speaker 1: long they'd been there, and I'm still amazed at how

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Speaker 1: quiet they can be when they want to. My only

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Speaker 1: defense at this point in this whole struggle was trying

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Speaker 1: to look like I didn't taste good, or at least

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Speaker 1: not as good as Clay. They paid no attention to us.

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Speaker 1: The big board that erected the at party was making

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Speaker 1: his way toward the bait now, and he paused to

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Speaker 1: stand on his hind legs and sniff up a tree.

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Speaker 1: It was then I fully realized how big he was.

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Speaker 1: He then continued his path, walking directly toward us, past

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Speaker 1: the bait, getting closer with each step and offering no

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Speaker 1: shot for Clay to take. I kept filming, he kept

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Speaker 1: getting bigger. I knew what I was filming was good,

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Speaker 1: and I was determined to keep it rolling and framed

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Speaker 1: up well, if for nothing else, so the mountagers could

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Speaker 1: fill out the report.

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Speaker 2: On what had happened to us.

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Speaker 1: I could hear that bear breathing as he walked closer,

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Speaker 1: and I concentrated with all I had on what my

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Speaker 1: job was, and that was to watch the viewfinder to

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Speaker 1: make sure I captured as good as possible what was happening.

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Speaker 1: Camera focus, framing, remaining calm, working to keep claying the

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Speaker 1: bear and the shot kept me from being distracted from

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Speaker 1: the fact that the bear was now as close as

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Speaker 1: he could be without getting inside with us. Then the

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Speaker 1: bear half stood up and poked his head into blind,

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Speaker 1: touching the tip of Clay's arrow in the process. Now,

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Speaker 1: I'm not sure that little poke is in what stopped

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Speaker 1: him from coming on in and beating us both up.

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Speaker 1: I wasn't scared, and I didn't think I was about

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Speaker 1: to die, But I'll be honest with you, I didn't

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Speaker 1: know that we weren't going to get chewed on a

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Speaker 1: little bit. The bear turned to walk away, and Clay

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Speaker 1: drilled him with a lethal hit. That was a fatal

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Speaker 1: wound as you could ask for. That shot might as

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Speaker 1: well have been a hand grenade, because that bear stopped

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Speaker 1: at twenty five yards to fall over. Then Clay made

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Speaker 1: the best shot I have ever seen with a stick

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Speaker 1: boat and twelve ring that bear, who jumped out of

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Speaker 1: the frame and died right out of sight, right then

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Speaker 1: and right there. I looked away from the camera long

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Speaker 1: enough to see the bears behind us had gone. Satisfied

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Speaker 1: we were both going to live through this, I went

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Speaker 1: back to work filming my brother have his come up part.

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Speaker 1: While reflecting on what had happened, neither one of us

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Speaker 1: fully understanding the gravity of what each of us had

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Speaker 1: just done. We released that film on the Bear Hunting

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Speaker 1: Magazine YouTube channel and survived the death threats to us

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Speaker 1: and our families from the commenters who said the bear

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Speaker 1: spared us, so we should have spared him. I guess

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Speaker 1: they overlooked the fact that we were there legally, ethically

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Speaker 1: and the primary goal to shoot a bear, all of

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Speaker 1: which we did. Anyway, that fourteen minutes and eight seconds

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Speaker 1: of footage bolstered clays bona fides and helped him on

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Speaker 1: his way to where he is now. And I'll tell

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Speaker 1: you this, it didn't hurt my resume either. It's easy

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Speaker 1: to forget sometimes that all the stuff you're seeing folks

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Speaker 1: do on the screen and hear it on your speakers,

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Speaker 1: that there's another person there seeing it from the other

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Speaker 1: side of the lens with a microphone. Clay's fond of

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Speaker 1: saying a right and tide raises all ships. I'd say,

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Speaker 1: I am proof of that. And that's just how that happened.

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Speaker 1: Last Saturday, me and over a thousand of my closest

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Speaker 1: friends gathered in Bentonville, Arkansas, to celebrate Ursus americanas the

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Speaker 1: American Black Bear.

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Speaker 2: I absolutely love these curious creatures.

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Speaker 1: I love how they hunt, how they live, how they

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Speaker 1: spend the winters, and how they taste. I was there

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Speaker 1: for the third annual Black Bear Bananza, hosted by my

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Speaker 1: friends in the Arkansas chapter of the back Country Hunters

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Speaker 1: and Anglers. Now I've been to every one of them,

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Speaker 1: good Lord will, and I'll be at a bunch before

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Speaker 1: my tenures over. The event grew out of ideas from

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Speaker 1: a group of black minded souls who wanted to celebrate

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Speaker 1: the resurgence of the black bear in the ozarks of Arkansas,

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Speaker 1: Missouri in Oklahoma back around twenty nineteen. Now, those initial

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Speaker 1: ideas got the ball rolling and it hasn't slowed down.

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Speaker 1: The first was scheduled from March or twenty twenty. I

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Speaker 1: was scheduled to tell a story at that one, but

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Speaker 1: it was canceled due to the pandemic. Then in twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty two we had the first one, and for the

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Speaker 1: last three years the black Bear Bonanza has been growing

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Speaker 1: every year. They moved to a bigger location this year,

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Speaker 1: and it's a good thing. We couldn't have gotten all

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Speaker 1: those folks at the old place. But don't let that

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Speaker 1: keep you from planning to come visit next March. The

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Speaker 1: crowd was big, but the feeling was as much of

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Speaker 1: a small town as you could get. The BHA volunteer

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Speaker 1: gals and guys put untold numbers of volunteer hours to

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Speaker 1: put this event on and never get enough credit or recognition.

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Speaker 1: Now some had their family members they're helping out as well.

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Speaker 1: It truly is a community run operation, and the some

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Speaker 1: people who attend there are as much of that community

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Speaker 1: as those working. Clayton Newcomb and I rolled up a

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Speaker 1: little after nine that morning and there was a line

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Speaker 1: of folks waiting to get in. I talked to so

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Speaker 1: many people that like meat eater, that listened to bear

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Speaker 1: grease in this country life and sharing affinity for bears

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Speaker 1: and all the other outdoor pursuits that were represented. There

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Speaker 1: so many activities for kids to participate in, and there

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Speaker 1: were whole families represented with kids from infants, teens to

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Speaker 1: adults with their parents. James Brandenburg is the Arkansas BHA

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Speaker 1: Chapter president and is quick to give the credit of

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Speaker 1: the success of the whole event to all the volunteers

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Speaker 1: and the folks working behind the scenes. Now, I was

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Speaker 1: talking to James this morning and I asked him how

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Speaker 1: it all went on his end, man, let me tell

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Speaker 1: you that Cat was fired up about how it all

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Speaker 1: came together. And while they don't have the specific numbers

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Speaker 1: talied up yet, he said he could testified that there

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Speaker 1: was well over a thousand people in attendance and hundreds

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Speaker 1: more kids than last year's. It's free admission for twelve

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Speaker 1: and under, and it was an absolute wonderful sight seeing

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Speaker 1: all the kids that were there. A young man named

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Speaker 1: Gunner drew and colored me a picture after listening to

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Speaker 1: a recent podcast I did, and I have it hanging

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Speaker 1: in my office now. It's besides the one that Owen

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Speaker 1: drew me last November when I got sneak attacked by

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Speaker 1: that kidney stone. The bonanza was where I met Owen.

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Speaker 1: Last year, Owen returned with his dad John and messed

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Speaker 1: around and won the title of the Black Bear Bonanza

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Speaker 1: al Hooton Junior Championship of the Civilized World. I saw

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Speaker 1: him visited with a man that I met at the

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Speaker 1: first Black Bear Bonanza. I met him and his wife,

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Speaker 1: and I remembered him because he was wearing a stetson

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Speaker 1: hat like the one President Johnson made famous. Well from

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Speaker 1: Dallas I also saw their toddler playing and pushing a

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Speaker 1: buggy around that they pushed her around in when she

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Speaker 1: was an infant the first.

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Speaker 2: Time I met him.

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Speaker 1: I have literally seen that child grow up in the

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Speaker 1: Black Bear neighborhood. I met new folks from Michigan that

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Speaker 1: gave me a recipe for biscuits and making butter that

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Speaker 1: I can't wait to try. The Tucker family, the Ramsays,

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Speaker 1: the Walkers. I could go on and own about the

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Speaker 1: people that were there and how that singular event but

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Speaker 1: so many different people from different points of the compass

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Speaker 1: in one spot to celebrate more than just Black Bears.

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Speaker 2: I met a fellow from Ontario.

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Speaker 1: That drove down that's overseas in Canada for goodness sakes, California, Florida,

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Speaker 1: New York, and I'm pretty sure half of the population

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Speaker 1: of Oklahoma. Probably be easier to list the states that

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Speaker 1: weren't represented there than it was to list the ones

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Speaker 1: that were. I looked forward to seeing the little folks

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Speaker 1: more than anything.

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Speaker 2: Every year.

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Speaker 1: Like James said, this year there was way more than

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Speaker 1: any year before. It was fantastic. My brothers in Blue

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Speaker 1: always show up. Thanks for the coins. Don I talked

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Speaker 1: to several folks that were in the military, but there

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Speaker 1: was one fellow that stood out to me and I

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Speaker 1: met him backstage right before the al Hooton Contest started.

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Speaker 1: He was talking with some of the other volunteers who

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Speaker 1: were keeping the event wheels greased and rolling smooth, and

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Speaker 1: I first assumed Will was one of the Arkansas BHA volunteers.

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Speaker 1: Turns out I was only half right. He was a volunteer,

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Speaker 1: but he'd driven down the day before from Idaho, and

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Speaker 1: since he was a day early and with nothing else

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Speaker 1: to do, he decided to do a little recon. Will

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Speaker 1: drove to the fairgrounds and walked in the building where

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Speaker 1: all the volunteers were busy as cats in a sandbox.

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Speaker 1: Will asked if they needed any help. They put that

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Speaker 1: joker to work, and he jumped round in working alongside

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Speaker 1: everyone else. Now I've hosted the Al Hooton Contest for

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Speaker 1: the last two years, and between the rounds, the event

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Speaker 1: gives away a ton of door prizes that are donated

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Speaker 1: by area businesses and corporations. I snatched up an FHF

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Speaker 1: gear chest pack from the Meat Eater South headquarters before

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Speaker 1: we left Clay's house that morning and decided I'd give

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Speaker 1: it away to whomever had driven the farthest.

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Speaker 2: Well.

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Speaker 1: After some lively debate, Will from Idaho won with eighteen

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Speaker 1: hundred plus miles driven. It was close, but everyone agreed

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Speaker 1: that he was the winner. I brought him on stage.

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Speaker 1: I gave him his prize that I'd robbed from Clay's house,

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Speaker 1: and James Brandenburgh thanked him for volunteering, and then I

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Speaker 1: asked him what he did for a living. Will said

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Speaker 1: he'd just retired after twenty one years in the military,

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Speaker 1: and that place went crazy, erupted with cheering. That's why

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Speaker 1: I know there's more than just hope for this country.

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Speaker 1: There's promise to It. Moved me a lot, it does

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Speaker 1: still just thinking about it. I handed him a case

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Speaker 1: knife from my pocket and I thanked him first service

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Speaker 1: to our nation, and I shook his hand. He went

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Speaker 1: on his way and we continued the contest and Cameron

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Speaker 1: Tidwell took home the Grown Folks Division championship of Alhudrie.

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Speaker 2: Now.

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Speaker 1: Later on, as the event was closing down around five o'clock,

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Speaker 1: I was standing in the back visited with some friends.

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Speaker 1: When I saw Will walking up. I assumed he was

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Speaker 1: going to say goodbye. He said, I got something for you,

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Speaker 1: and he handed me a bench made tactical knife that

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Speaker 1: he carried on five combat deployments.

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Speaker 2: Ooh, man.

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Speaker 1: I didn't know what to say, but I understood the gift.

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Speaker 1: It wasn't just a gift. It wasn't just a knife.

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Speaker 1: He was entrusted me with something I know that was

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Speaker 1: special to him, just like the one that I'd given

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Speaker 1: him was special to me, along with my family's legacy

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Speaker 1: with case. That knife I gave him was a Christmas

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Speaker 1: present of last December from Alexis and Bailey, a replacement

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Speaker 1: knife for the one I donated to the mide Eater

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Speaker 1: auction last fall. Now that auction was for a great cause,

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Speaker 1: but I whined so much about it being gone that

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Speaker 1: they bought me another one just like it, so i'd

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Speaker 1: shut up. I say all of that to say this.

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Speaker 1: I can't think of a better thing to single out

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Speaker 1: and pay homage to you than people from all over

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Speaker 1: this continent gathering under one roof, singularly focused on one thing.

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Speaker 1: And I don't think it was black bears. I wouldn't

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Speaker 1: risk losing a dollar bet that there was more than

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Speaker 1: one percent of the crowd there that had ever bear hunted.

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Speaker 1: It was a celebration of bears, true enough. But of

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Speaker 1: all the literal hundreds of conversations I had with people,

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Speaker 1: not one of them that I can remember was about

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Speaker 1: bear hunting.

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Speaker 2: There's good folks.

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Speaker 1: Out there everywhere, and if you set a date and

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Speaker 1: a time and invite them over, they'll come. Some of

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Speaker 1: them will bring their youngest too, and you'll always find

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Speaker 1: something to talk about, some common ground if you just

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Speaker 1: listen and take turns. Don't forget the dates and times

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Speaker 1: are set for the Meat Eater Live tour that's heading west.

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Speaker 1: Tickets are available now and you can find out all

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Speaker 1: the info at meadeater dot com. I did one last

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Speaker 1: December in Kansas City, A man, it was a lot

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Speaker 1: of fun. These will be too, y'all. Be sure and

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00:22:50,520 --> 00:22:52,840
Speaker 1: check out the meti Eater YouTube channel for a turkey

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00:22:52,920 --> 00:22:55,400
Speaker 1: hunting catfish and trip to me and o'clay Bow did

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00:22:55,920 --> 00:23:00,760
Speaker 1: in Missouri last spring. You look for our Mississippi expedition

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00:23:00,840 --> 00:23:04,120
Speaker 1: for them from January that's dropping very soon. I think

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Speaker 1: you'll like them both. And hey, before I get out

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Speaker 1: of here, remember when I said at the close of

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Speaker 1: this week's story about the people that work behind the

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Speaker 1: scenes of the cool stuff you see and hear. Well,

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Speaker 1: there's a farm girl from Iowa that works as hard

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Speaker 1: as anyone on this show and a.

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Speaker 2: Lot of others. She's the best.

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Speaker 1: Thanks Dan. Until next week. This is Brent Reeves signing off.

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Speaker 1: Y'all be careful.