Speaker 1: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast, home of the
Speaker 1: modern white tail hunter, and now your host, Mark Kenyon.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast. I'm your host,
Speaker 1: Mark Kenyan, and this week on the show, I'm joined
Speaker 1: by two new hunters that I had the privilege to
Speaker 1: mentor this year on the Back forty, and we're talking
Speaker 1: first dear stories, learning to hunt and more. All Right,
Speaker 1: welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast, brought to you
Speaker 1: by First Life, and today, folks, we're talking new hunter mentorship.
Speaker 1: We're gonna get you updated on what's happened with the
Speaker 1: Back forty, and then we're gonna dive into a couple
Speaker 1: of great stories about two new hunters that I had
Speaker 1: the privilege of helping mentor on their first successful deer hunts.
Speaker 1: So joining me today, we've got those two aforementioned new hunters,
Speaker 1: Forrest Wagner and Evan Barrett. And then we also have
Speaker 1: Hank Forrester, the director of Hunting at the National Deer Association,
Speaker 1: who's the mastermind behind this field to fork mentorship program
Speaker 1: that I was doing all this through. So why should
Speaker 1: you listen to this? Well, if you're a new hunter,
Speaker 1: I'm thinking this one's going to inspire you. You're gonna
Speaker 1: hear from two folks who likely went through the exact
Speaker 1: same things that you are, who struggle to figure things out,
Speaker 1: who sought out help, and who ultimately had a pretty
Speaker 1: life changing experience. I think this conversation is gonna give
Speaker 1: you some hope. I think it's gonna excite you. I
Speaker 1: think it's I think it's going to motivate you. So
Speaker 1: if that's you, this is absolutely an episode you want
Speaker 1: to listen to. But on the flip side, if you're
Speaker 1: an experienced deer hunter, I think this is still going
Speaker 1: to be one. Maybe it's even more important for you,
Speaker 1: because at least for me, hearing Evan and Forrest stories,
Speaker 1: it was it was a breath of fresh air. It
Speaker 1: was it was exactly what I needed after a long
Speaker 1: season of worrying about all the minutia of deer hunting,
Speaker 1: you know, obsessing over specific deer or strategies or my
Speaker 1: goals or what's going well, what's not going well, all
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff that you get wrapped up when
Speaker 1: you're so so into this thing. These guys helped kind
Speaker 1: of lift me out of that fog. And remember, I
Speaker 1: don't know remember why we do this stuff in the
Speaker 1: first place. There their stories were just um god, they
Speaker 1: were just really really cool. It was it was, it
Speaker 1: just kind of filled me with good feelings, I guess,
Speaker 1: for lack of a better word, And you know what,
Speaker 1: these days, uh, we need that kind of stuff sometimes.
Speaker 1: So that's that's my pitch and short, I think, uh,
Speaker 1: I think at least what I felt was a sense
Speaker 1: of new energy after this conversation, new excitement to get
Speaker 1: out hunting myself and help other people. And if that
Speaker 1: sounds good to you, I think you'll enjoy this one.
Speaker 1: So without further ado, why don't get into it, here's
Speaker 1: my chat with Evan, Forrest and Hank. All right, so
Speaker 1: now hear me on the show is Hank Forrest, or
Speaker 1: Forrest Wagner, and Evan Barrett. We've got the Field to
Speaker 1: Fork crew back together again, and uh, I'm very excited
Speaker 1: to get to kind of wax nostalgic on a couple
Speaker 1: of really fun weekends we had over the course of
Speaker 1: the past I don't know, six seven months, I guess
Speaker 1: has been so thank you each and every one of
Speaker 1: you for for making time here to jump back on. Um.
Speaker 1: I want to jump right into stuff though, rather than
Speaker 1: the pleasantries. I'm just gonna jump into the story if
Speaker 1: you don't mind, And Hank, you are the one I
Speaker 1: want to jump into this with. First, we'll get to
Speaker 1: Evan and Forrest and you guys stories about what led
Speaker 1: you to wanting to learn to hunt and what led
Speaker 1: you to the field of fork program. But Hank, you
Speaker 1: and me kicked off well, heck, I don't know when
Speaker 1: this was. I think it was late December twenty twenty.
Speaker 1: We hunted together on the Back forty and we did
Speaker 1: a podcast Asked afterwards with Nick CEO over at the NBA,
Speaker 1: and we talked about the plan for the Back forty,
Speaker 1: how we were donating it to the National Deer Association,
Speaker 1: the hopes and dreams for what would happen on the
Speaker 1: property in the months and years to come, you know,
Speaker 1: the plan to try to use this place as a
Speaker 1: you know, as a as a training ground for new hunters,
Speaker 1: as a place to help teach people about hunting, to
Speaker 1: demonstrate different things about hunting and land management and all
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff. And we kind of left that
Speaker 1: conversation that day. I think we talked in January one
Speaker 1: then at that point about you know, this is what
Speaker 1: we hope is going to happen. This is what we
Speaker 1: dream will happen someday. Now stuff has actually happened. So
Speaker 1: I'm hoping you can help us, you know, filling the
Speaker 1: gas between then and now, at least up until one
Speaker 1: hunt started. And tell me from your perspective, coming off
Speaker 1: of that conversation with the three of us and then
Speaker 1: you going out on your own, like what happened in
Speaker 1: the intervening months leading up to anybody stepping foot on
Speaker 1: the property. What kind of things had to be organized?
Speaker 1: What was the story internally for you guys at the
Speaker 1: NBA to figure out, you know, how are we going
Speaker 1: to manage this place? What are we gonna do with
Speaker 1: this place? What were those next steps? Absolutely thanks for
Speaker 1: having me Mark. Um. You know, I wish I would
Speaker 1: have listened to that podcast before we got on here
Speaker 1: today so I can remember exactly what we had said.
Speaker 1: But I think we followed the the battle plan fairly closely. Um.
Speaker 1: We of course said that we were going to reach
Speaker 1: out and form a committee, a volunteer committee, um, to
Speaker 1: oversee the property. You know, some local some state representatives
Speaker 1: for India from Michigan, and of course a few of
Speaker 1: our staff members. But we we did form a habitat
Speaker 1: committee and kind of a property management committee made up
Speaker 1: of a diverse group of guys UM in the area.
Speaker 1: And UM they've really taken the lead on UM, you know,
Speaker 1: day to day oversight of the property, property improvements and
Speaker 1: really prepping it for the hunt. UM. You know, of
Speaker 1: course there were some logistic things to figure out, but
Speaker 1: we did in fact write a full management plan for
Speaker 1: the property. UM. My colleague Matt Ross helped a lot
Speaker 1: with that from the Conservation Department. But of course a
Speaker 1: lot of our volunteers on the committee UM, either UM
Speaker 1: you know, professionally or UM just as a passion do
Speaker 1: a lot of land management, habitat management in the local area,
Speaker 1: many long time India members and many from the Southeast
Speaker 1: Michigan branch was which is kind of local to that area.
Speaker 1: So UM we came out in March and you were
Speaker 1: gracious to join us again and give them a kind
Speaker 1: of a personal tour of the back forty, which I
Speaker 1: know really jezz them up, and they really appreciated that,
Speaker 1: and that's kind of how they formulated the plan. They
Speaker 1: they wanted to you know, maximize the potential to back
Speaker 1: forty four wildlife and and diverse wildlife, but also maximize
Speaker 1: the opportunity for new hunters to harvest their first year
Speaker 1: and of course carry on the legacy that both you
Speaker 1: and meat either you know, began. And so that was
Speaker 1: a lot of what went into our our zoom discussions
Speaker 1: to kind of create this management plan. But a quick highlight, UM,
Speaker 1: I mean, I guess I should just go, you know,
Speaker 1: through their names real quick, just to thank them for
Speaker 1: their service. But we had two India interns that actually
Speaker 1: stayed on and uh they were interns the semester that
Speaker 1: we kind of took over management that March, and they
Speaker 1: stayed on full year. And and you know, people have
Speaker 1: seen them in the photos from the back forty and
Speaker 1: and they helped the mentor the new hunters. I'm sure
Speaker 1: they'll come up. But Sam Hog and Xavier Austin really
Speaker 1: helped us out um in an intern capassing later as
Speaker 1: a volunteer, but kind of the leads with the Southeastern
Speaker 1: Michigan branch of Corey Francis and John Neville, Drew Gilby
Speaker 1: UM and from kind of a state level UM Chad
Speaker 1: Feeling and Eric Schnell helped out a lot and so
Speaker 1: just briefly, I'll just say that, you know, we planted
Speaker 1: acres of switch glut grass. They maintained the nine acres
Speaker 1: of food plots and added line and fertilize their seed. Um.
Speaker 1: They added four acres of native prairie seed with forbes
Speaker 1: and wildflowers, two acres of short grass. They planted an
Speaker 1: American chestnut orchard. Um that we're hoping we will get
Speaker 1: FDA approval for like a genetically modified American chestnut that
Speaker 1: will not be susceptible to the blight and actually create
Speaker 1: kind of a um, you know, a foster area for
Speaker 1: you know, chestnuts to come back in that part of Michigan. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, we're working on some water, added great a
Speaker 1: gait and stuff like that. We added birdhouses to the property.
Speaker 1: U five multrily cell cameras, just um, you name it.
Speaker 1: They put in a lot of work. They checked on
Speaker 1: the bees for you a lot of spraying and planning
Speaker 1: and even in and I think April or May, um
Speaker 1: Xavier our interns that never killed a turkey and they
Speaker 1: took him out there and he got the first game
Speaker 1: animal off the back party under our management of turkey. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, it's really Uh, it's you read through that
Speaker 1: so quickly, it's easy to overlook. Oh yeah, they did
Speaker 1: a bunch of stuff like it. It sounds like, oh
Speaker 1: so easy. They planted nine acres of this, they planted
Speaker 1: twenty acres of that, They planned an acre of this.
Speaker 1: That is a ton of work. I mean, those folks
Speaker 1: put in a lot of time and they weren't getting
Speaker 1: paid for it. I mean, these are people just volunteering.
Speaker 1: So I want to second what you said as far
Speaker 1: as giving those volunteers kudos to to really really make
Speaker 1: a point that that was a tremendous gift of their
Speaker 1: time and energy and their tools and their equipment and
Speaker 1: all that stuff. Um, it was. It was really cool
Speaker 1: to get to watch that from a far and get
Speaker 1: updates and see what was happening, and just to see what,
Speaker 1: you know, what we began really take an awesome step forward. Um.
Speaker 1: So it's it's a citing from my perspective to see
Speaker 1: that property continue to flourish and continue to see it. Uh,
Speaker 1: I mean, it really is morphing into what we dreamed
Speaker 1: it would be someday. You know, it started out it's
Speaker 1: just this kind of raw piece of dirt and the
Speaker 1: hope was like, man, someday this might be a wildlife
Speaker 1: paradise and it's sure trending that direction. Um, I mean
Speaker 1: it really is. So it's a great work to you
Speaker 1: and all the guys there that were doing all that. Um,
Speaker 1: that was that was exciting to see. So from there, Hank,
Speaker 1: Habitat work was done in the spring and in the summer,
Speaker 1: and then in late August we had our first educational
Speaker 1: event for the Field to Fork program. Um, can you
Speaker 1: quickly set the stage for what you know, the what
Speaker 1: was the game plan for that? And then I want
Speaker 1: to get Evan and Forced to kind of introduce themselves
Speaker 1: and tell us a little bit more about them. But
Speaker 1: but real quick, Hank, from your perspective, what was in
Speaker 1: your mind? What was your hopes for this thing we're
Speaker 1: going to put on in August? Sure? So, um, you know,
Speaker 1: we kind of discussed it with the group of both
Speaker 1: the Habitat and you know, people interested in helping us
Speaker 1: with the programmatic aspect of the field the forts on
Speaker 1: the back forty Um, So we decided that we wanted
Speaker 1: to do what we kind of term a community based events,
Speaker 1: so like a long time you know, a filled the
Speaker 1: Fort program that happened over the course of a season,
Speaker 1: and most of ours do. But sometimes, you know, the
Speaker 1: actual organized event will be condensed into like a four
Speaker 1: day weekend or something, and then you know they're hopefully
Speaker 1: be uh you know, follow up opportunities to get honey,
Speaker 1: but it's it's kind of not in a package deal.
Speaker 1: But we wanted because of the opportunity, you know, a
Speaker 1: branch and volunteers and and and Michigan has always been
Speaker 1: a strong state for the National Beer Association, but we
Speaker 1: wanted to incorporate the local community, recruit local new hunters,
Speaker 1: and really try to just build on that kind of
Speaker 1: community and local field. So we went out and we um,
Speaker 1: you know, we recruited hunters via a Google survey. We
Speaker 1: survey potential new hunters. We also had to recruit more mentors, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, to facilitate these hunts, and also hosts properties
Speaker 1: because uh, you know, the back forty is a great
Speaker 1: piece of property, but we we really can only hunt
Speaker 1: about four people at a time on the property, so
Speaker 1: we wanted to um, you know, be able to take
Speaker 1: a few more hunters and that in the program. And
Speaker 1: we ended up selecting ten hunters for our first year. Um,
Speaker 1: and we set about kind of training them and giving
Speaker 1: them the background they need to be successful. So we
Speaker 1: offer all of our field to fort participants free online
Speaker 1: hunter education and free access to our deer hunting one
Speaker 1: on one course with hunter ad dot com. And so
Speaker 1: they kind of do the initial you know, prerequisite at
Speaker 1: home education. And then we brought them in in September
Speaker 1: for a training day before the season started. Excuse me,
Speaker 1: august Um, I guess it was before the season started
Speaker 1: late August Um. We utilized a local Michigan d in
Speaker 1: our range for the shooting portion, uh cook some venison mills.
Speaker 1: You know, they had gotten a lot of the dear
Speaker 1: biology and and that kind of stuff from the online courses.
Speaker 1: They even got, you know, the hunter education courses. But
Speaker 1: we like to reiterate safety and a few other things.
Speaker 1: But I'd say the highlight of the event was the
Speaker 1: property tour that you you helped us lead. Yes, So
Speaker 1: we brought everybody out to the property and then I
Speaker 1: kind of walked everyone through to see all the most
Speaker 1: important locations in the farm. And throughout that time I
Speaker 1: tried to share as much as I thought might be
Speaker 1: relevant about you know, how dear use the property, how
Speaker 1: different things in the property might be representative of stuff
Speaker 1: that you could see out on your own hunting on
Speaker 1: public land or somewhere else. Kind of talk through hunt
Speaker 1: setups and mindset and things I'm thinking about when I'm
Speaker 1: out there and I don't know, try to try to
Speaker 1: be as helpful and and use this landscape as as
Speaker 1: a sort of a template for a whole bunch of
Speaker 1: different deer hunting discussions. So that that's that's what that
Speaker 1: looked like from my perspective. Let's hear from the guys though,
Speaker 1: that were actually learning so Forced, Evan, Let's let's get
Speaker 1: a little bit of what led you to this point, um, Forced,
Speaker 1: Can you kick me off here with a little bit
Speaker 1: about what led you to want to win a deer
Speaker 1: hunt and how you ended up making your way to
Speaker 1: get involved here with the Field of Port program. Yeah,
Speaker 1: absolutely so. Um. It pretty much started out with growing
Speaker 1: up fishing all the time and seeing some friends as
Speaker 1: I was a kid, going hunting with their family and
Speaker 1: friends and being curious about that. And as years went on, UM,
Speaker 1: I was never really invited or or had enough interest
Speaker 1: to move forward, um to really pursue it. Um, mostly
Speaker 1: because you know, when you're young, you're looking for an
Speaker 1: adults day. Hey let's go hunting, you know, but that
Speaker 1: just never worked. Doubt and for fishing for many years
Speaker 1: and getting more and more into other types of fishing,
Speaker 1: starting to get surrounded by people who, um can now
Speaker 1: say hey, have you ever killed his ear? It's like, well, no, like,
Speaker 1: well you should do that. Sometimes it's like okay, how
Speaker 1: do I do that? And I say, well, you've got
Speaker 1: to find a mentor, and well, like okay, and then
Speaker 1: I just kind of sit there and wait for an
Speaker 1: invitation and nothing happens, and I'm like okay. And UM.
Speaker 1: Then about five years ago, I UM, when I discovered
Speaker 1: the Meat Eater podcasts and the Meat Eater episodes and seeing, um,
Speaker 1: the the culture of cooking and conservation and everything that
Speaker 1: was lining right up with my main interests at the
Speaker 1: time was was you know, fly fishing and fishing and rivers,
Speaker 1: and um, when that became a huge passion of my life.
Speaker 1: Conservation is natural, like this is so beautiful. I want
Speaker 1: to take care of this forever for generations to come.
Speaker 1: And then um, seeing the meat Eater platform being exposed
Speaker 1: to that and seeing oh there's this isn't just about
Speaker 1: harvesting deer or getting large antlers. There is a giant
Speaker 1: conservation effort behind it, and that was was a big
Speaker 1: part of it to me. And then the top or
Speaker 1: was you can make wild game taste good, and you
Speaker 1: know you can. You can have you know, at the
Speaker 1: most complete lifestyle surrounding it if you want to, and
Speaker 1: if not, that's okay too. There's plenty of options to
Speaker 1: get outside and experience your your state or your you know,
Speaker 1: local natural resources UM without having the need to. I
Speaker 1: feel like you have to go on a vacation every
Speaker 1: six months somewhere UM in order to enjoy yourself and
Speaker 1: reconnect and that type of thing. So at that point,
Speaker 1: after doing some networking over the past few years, asking
Speaker 1: you know, start with friends, then I started with friends
Speaker 1: of friends, co workers, co workers friends, and I did.
Speaker 1: I did get a few people interested to talk to
Speaker 1: me and would answer my questions about equipment and places
Speaker 1: to go, our resources to check out, but UM just
Speaker 1: had a few closed doors where I could tell that
Speaker 1: there's still no invitation and you know, after all the
Speaker 1: reading and resources online, it's it's like, Okay, I get it.
Speaker 1: They want that time for themselves and you know I
Speaker 1: could respect that, and UM, I just did not could
Speaker 1: not find an avenue to get out in the field.
Speaker 1: So it was it was very tempting to go afield myself.
Speaker 1: But um, the field dressing, I think is is where, Um,
Speaker 1: you know, as many videos as you watch, or books
Speaker 1: as you read, or diagrams that you study, there's still
Speaker 1: if there's a worst case scenario, I don't want to
Speaker 1: be in that worst case scenario and feel so So
Speaker 1: from there, how did you discover the field of fork program?
Speaker 1: How did that eventually fall in your lap? Um? I
Speaker 1: was just on my phone on Instagram looking through things,
Speaker 1: and UM memory serves correct. I believe it was spring
Speaker 1: last year or maybe early summer. Um, I believe it
Speaker 1: was the first light add in my in my Instagram
Speaker 1: feed with just I believe it was field of fork
Speaker 1: or backboarding too fork or there's something along that line.
Speaker 1: And I'm like, oh wow, this is okay, this is
Speaker 1: something where oh adult lead or for adults to learn
Speaker 1: how to harvest deer for their own consumption. Okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's exactly what I want. I'm not looking for somebody
Speaker 1: to teach me how to shoot a big buck or
Speaker 1: anything like that. I just want to get out there
Speaker 1: and get food clicked on that UM and that began
Speaker 1: the whole process with engaging with the n p A
Speaker 1: and the forms, filling up the forms, and the application process,
Speaker 1: and you know, Hank just kind of took it from
Speaker 1: there with us, and I was like, oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: this is happening. And um, I have four small kids
Speaker 1: at home and I know that hunting takes a lot
Speaker 1: of time. And I'm like, oh no, did I just
Speaker 1: do something I'm I can't handle with when the time
Speaker 1: and I told my wife says She's like okay, and
Speaker 1: I said, are you all right? I think she said, yes,
Speaker 1: I know you've been wanting to do this for years.
Speaker 1: Go for it. I'm like, oh, And then just you know,
Speaker 1: I've been on cloud nine ever since that that UM,
Speaker 1: that invitation to have the opportunity. Yeah, that's that's so cool.
Speaker 1: Uh Well, I want I want to dive into a
Speaker 1: bunch more of that, but but first let's get evans
Speaker 1: Oudt of the story. Evan, can you can you give
Speaker 1: us your version? Yeah? Oh great? UM, A lot of
Speaker 1: it follows you know what what forests described, but I
Speaker 1: think the you know what sort of drew me in
Speaker 1: initially was my passion for food. I've I've spent most
Speaker 1: of my life cooking UM for a good portion of
Speaker 1: it professionally, but you know, now more more as a hobby.
Speaker 1: And you know, I got used to and and almost
Speaker 1: you know, tired of the same chicken, pork and beet right,
Speaker 1: And so I felt I could come very far with
Speaker 1: with the typical meats that you can you can get
Speaker 1: at a supermarket, and then you know, push that further
Speaker 1: and start you know, sourcing those better and and doing better.
Speaker 1: But you know, at the same time, like there was
Speaker 1: this just wide variety out there that was different and
Speaker 1: exotic and was going to be much more challenging. And
Speaker 1: and so that is what sort of drew me in
Speaker 1: initially UM and and I had this this sort of
Speaker 1: feeling or calling or what what happened. But well before
Speaker 1: I knew about UM meat eater and and that there
Speaker 1: was a community out there that that was hunting and
Speaker 1: fishing for food. And and what shocked me was the caliber,
Speaker 1: the caliber of of cuisine and the caliber of cooking
Speaker 1: and thoughtfulness that went into the harvest, and that went
Speaker 1: into the execution of the raw product. And I was
Speaker 1: hooked immediately. I mean that was it. Like I don't
Speaker 1: think I'd ever fit into a mold so perfectly. And
Speaker 1: and and finding a community out there that that was
Speaker 1: inspired and and was was into taking wild game and
Speaker 1: and you know, harvesting your own proteins and and doing
Speaker 1: that thing. And then and also foraging and all these
Speaker 1: other you know, all these other ingredients sourcing methods and
Speaker 1: then applying like really really excellent, really really um high technique.
Speaker 1: I mean it was just it was fascinating. Um and
Speaker 1: so that was a huge, huge draw. And then and
Speaker 1: then as it went further, they started with birds. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, I did what I what I feel is
Speaker 1: a very typical Michigan thing where you get a shotgun,
Speaker 1: you get a pump, you get a pump acts and
Speaker 1: shotgun because you can change the barrels, you can use
Speaker 1: it for her own and you can use it for
Speaker 1: you know, it's just it holds a lot of purpose
Speaker 1: and uh And and so I started I started by
Speaker 1: by hunting birds and doing upland I just fell in
Speaker 1: love with upland and uh and it just kept kind
Speaker 1: of growing from there. You know, I wanted to after
Speaker 1: hunting peasants. I wanted to hunt grouse, and after grouse,
Speaker 1: you know, I wanted to move on to the to
Speaker 1: the next thing. And eventually it was you know, turkeys,
Speaker 1: and then it was deer, and and uh, I had
Speaker 1: been successful. I had been successful, um, through reading and
Speaker 1: watching videos and doing a lot of research on my
Speaker 1: own and and in some cases getting guys and and
Speaker 1: and you know, different methods. But I was unsuccessful and
Speaker 1: put in a lot of effort, more effort into deer
Speaker 1: hunting and than than really any other type of hunting
Speaker 1: that I had tried up until that point. And and
Speaker 1: it was very uh, it's very disheartening at a certain
Speaker 1: point where it was it was you know, it was
Speaker 1: very challenging, and I was just I was started to,
Speaker 1: you know, feel conflicted about it, and and uh um.
Speaker 1: And it was when my sister had, like, you know,
Speaker 1: but she hadn't even you know, heard of the back
Speaker 1: four Tell you know TV show at the time YouTube
Speaker 1: show at the time. Um. Of course by this point,
Speaker 1: I'm you know, deep in it. I'm listening to the
Speaker 1: podcasts and and uh and watching the shows, and so
Speaker 1: she sends over this, like I think it was she
Speaker 1: got an email from the Michigan Department Natural Resources, and
Speaker 1: and it was just like, Hey, does this looks like
Speaker 1: something to be interested in doing. It looks like a
Speaker 1: mentorship for adult hunters for deer. And I was like,
Speaker 1: do you have any idea what this is? Like? Do
Speaker 1: you have any any clue? Just fine, we need to
Speaker 1: sign up for this. And and lucky for us, we
Speaker 1: we both we were both accepted. Um and it just
Speaker 1: turned up to be just just an unbelievable parparence. So
Speaker 1: from there then okay, that's that's that's it's great to
Speaker 1: get both of your stories and hear what lads you there,
Speaker 1: and and it's it's it's encouraging to hear just how
Speaker 1: spot on this whole program sounded like. Once you discovered it,
Speaker 1: you were like, Oh, this is the thing I've been
Speaker 1: waiting for forever. Uh what I'm what I'm curious about.
Speaker 1: The next is that first experience, so that you know,
Speaker 1: the day you went out and went on the range
Speaker 1: and you got to eat some venison with folks and
Speaker 1: you met the mentors and we came out to the
Speaker 1: back forward and I watched you guys around. What was
Speaker 1: your take after that? So that was your first real
Speaker 1: experience with the program. UM, now you kind of have
Speaker 1: an idea of what you're in for. UM, I guess
Speaker 1: maybe Evan will keep going. U. Since we're just heard
Speaker 1: from me, what was your thoughts on how that went?
Speaker 1: You know, was that a helpful day? Was the whole
Speaker 1: process up to that point what you're hoping? UM? Curious
Speaker 1: about that? Yeah? No, So there was great communication leading
Speaker 1: up to it. Uh as at Tank pointed out, they
Speaker 1: they gave us a ton of resources so that we
Speaker 1: can do a bunch of homework because you had a
Speaker 1: excure of people that were coming to this program. I
Speaker 1: had some hunting experience, I had hunting license. I was
Speaker 1: familiar with firearms and crossbows at the time, and others,
Speaker 1: you know, we're not. So it was it was. It
Speaker 1: was well managed for sort of like all of the
Speaker 1: range of people that were that we're going to be coming,
Speaker 1: and I thought that there was a good level of
Speaker 1: communicating sort of prapping people and knowing what expectations were coming. Net.
Speaker 1: So it was it was. Although it was, you know,
Speaker 1: it was a bit intimidating, it was not in any
Speaker 1: way it was handled well enough that it was not intimidating.
Speaker 1: At all to such that you wouldn't want to show up.
Speaker 1: You were excited when you got there. You know, I
Speaker 1: think that I think that there was any intimidation there.
Speaker 1: It's just that you you you know, you wanted to
Speaker 1: be president of Mind and you know, and uh and
Speaker 1: you didn't want to you know, um screw anything type
Speaker 1: of thing. And so but the way that they handled
Speaker 1: you from the time you arrived, there wasn't an opportunity
Speaker 1: to screw anything up. It was very very very well
Speaker 1: managed um introductions all around. It was great to see
Speaker 1: a lot of different people from a lot of different
Speaker 1: backgrounds who were there for a lot of different reasons,
Speaker 1: and I think that really started to bring down the
Speaker 1: level of, you know, of any sort of caution that
Speaker 1: anybody may have had, because people come to this program
Speaker 1: and come to hunting in different ways and from different backgrounds,
Speaker 1: and so to hear the stories and was was really
Speaker 1: great and to get to know each other. And then
Speaker 1: it was orchestrated in a very safe manner, so you know,
Speaker 1: people who may have never handled a firearm or across
Speaker 1: or anything like that, we're we're treated very very well.
Speaker 1: And again, so the longer you were there, the more
Speaker 1: that it became more comfortable. And then from there, Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, Hank will not brag about how good his
Speaker 1: cooking is, but his cooking and his thoughts is unbelievable,
Speaker 1: and so don't listen to him when when he does. Um,
Speaker 1: that was really fun because then it was like it
Speaker 1: was like a sneak peek into into the future. Uh.
Speaker 1: And then the of course the the tour. Uh. And
Speaker 1: and you're showing up for that, um, Forrest and I
Speaker 1: almost famous, And that was cool. Uh. We we held
Speaker 1: each other up. And no, I mean just the fact
Speaker 1: that that you know that everyone was was was like
Speaker 1: there to put their time in. I mean, the mentors
Speaker 1: were there to put the time into. The NBA was there,
Speaker 1: and then you were there. I mean it just kept
Speaker 1: on like reinforcing just how special this was and and
Speaker 1: and what it meant and what kind of commitment it meant. Uh.
Speaker 1: And so then as a mentee, and I think I
Speaker 1: can speak for the mentees, it was like, wow, this
Speaker 1: is this is amazing and and and we um, you know,
Speaker 1: we're we're gonna we're gonna be handled well, like this
Speaker 1: is this is gonna go well because you're you know
Speaker 1: again you're you're you're in a new circumstance around new people,
Speaker 1: and you're you're ultimately out there, uh to do something
Speaker 1: that a lot of people have learned over many years,
Speaker 1: and we're trying to shore that up into a very
Speaker 1: small period of time. But it just kept feeling better
Speaker 1: every single minute with with how well it was was
Speaker 1: put together. That's awesome. What's your what was your take force? Yeah,
Speaker 1: same same thing along the organization of the whole event
Speaker 1: myself and I was too amazed by the other mentees
Speaker 1: in the backgrounds of all of us have different reasons
Speaker 1: and it was really neat to see the broad spectrum
Speaker 1: um And yeah, there was that same amount of apprehension
Speaker 1: about is this you know, am I in the right area?
Speaker 1: And my way out of my lane here? And and
Speaker 1: that kind of thing. But once the introductions and hearing
Speaker 1: everybody's um story, which takes a little bit of courage
Speaker 1: because you just meet all of these strangers and you
Speaker 1: you're standing around and it's Okay, why do you want
Speaker 1: to do this? And so it's I think that's kind
Speaker 1: of the beginning of the journey, is everybody kind of
Speaker 1: kind of announcing out loud, you know, what there, what
Speaker 1: with their hopes and dreams are for this and UM yeah,
Speaker 1: that was that was the big part to kind of
Speaker 1: instantly kind of break the ice in a way and
Speaker 1: understand that we all have a common a common goal
Speaker 1: and and you know, the conversations and and everything just
Speaker 1: started to flow so well after that. But for for me,
Speaker 1: I think, UM, you know, just the time UM spent
Speaker 1: to take the mentees, to coordinate with the UM with
Speaker 1: the mentors and UM with with the rain in UM
Speaker 1: was was way beyond my expectations. UM. The amount of
Speaker 1: the number of mentor mentors that were available to help
Speaker 1: people like me who are not as familiar with rifles
Speaker 1: and crossbows, UM was was more than expected as well.
Speaker 1: It was you know, I felt like it was one
Speaker 1: on one and if there was any any question, anything needed,
Speaker 1: any apprehension, it was it was very well addressed. And
Speaker 1: because for me it is UM, you know, if you're
Speaker 1: gonna take the shot, you wanted to be the ethical
Speaker 1: kills you don't want to you know, you want to
Speaker 1: be as best as you as you can be. And
Speaker 1: there's a little bit of for me, I feel like,
Speaker 1: can I really learn to shoot a rifle and a
Speaker 1: crossbow and in one day and then you know, actually
Speaker 1: ethically kill a deer, you know, the next time we
Speaker 1: meet up. That was the big thing. And like I said,
Speaker 1: with one on one instruction with the rifles and crossbow,
Speaker 1: the mentors really where helped you affirm that no, this
Speaker 1: is good. You know. You you take a few shots
Speaker 1: and you're like, oh, that's not on. We're exactly where
Speaker 1: I was Amy like, that's a dead deer. I was like, okay,
Speaker 1: all right, that's a dead deer. That's all I used
Speaker 1: to hear. You know, because you could I suppose you
Speaker 1: could go out, you could join a gun range, you
Speaker 1: could buy a rifle. You could you know, take all
Speaker 1: your safety courses and everything and show up at a
Speaker 1: rifle by or I'm sorry I had arranged by yourself
Speaker 1: and do that. But how long would somebody spend trying
Speaker 1: to hit a bullseye from fifty yards out and not
Speaker 1: accomplish that and feel like they can't go afield? So
Speaker 1: that was a big confidence boost, a big primer um
Speaker 1: that was that was really well executed. Yeah, it was
Speaker 1: you know in mind too, just just getting too yeah,
Speaker 1: getting to the point when we were there on the
Speaker 1: property and getting to meet all you guys and here
Speaker 1: a little bit about each of your stories, and and
Speaker 1: then walking around answering questions, sharing all those things. I
Speaker 1: remember having a moment we were standing on I think
Speaker 1: it would have been like in the back five back
Speaker 1: field five, maybe somewhere back there, and remember looking back
Speaker 1: and you know, when you're on those pills, you can
Speaker 1: look back down towards the swamp and it's kind of
Speaker 1: a pretty good wide view because of the topography there.
Speaker 1: Remember kind of looking over and I saw these ten
Speaker 1: new hunters are aspiring hunters and ten mentors, and this
Speaker 1: property with all these habitat improvements that we've been doing
Speaker 1: over the years, and the blinds we put up, and
Speaker 1: I had this kind of flash where you kind of see,
Speaker 1: like the movie montage reel of all the things that
Speaker 1: led up to this, and it was like one of
Speaker 1: those one of those weird times in life where you
Speaker 1: step out of yourself just a little bit and can
Speaker 1: see it for what it is. And I had that's
Speaker 1: just like just wow that it actually happened. We actually
Speaker 1: have done something that maybe matters, Like maybe this is
Speaker 1: a really cool thing that actually came to the others
Speaker 1: and gonna help people. And here's exhibit A of it
Speaker 1: actually coming to fruition. And uh, that was. That was
Speaker 1: exciting to see, an encouraging um to see that you know,
Speaker 1: what began as a inkling of an idea sitting in
Speaker 1: my office and then led to a whole bunch of
Speaker 1: debating and talking and uh arguing and brainstorming, you know,
Speaker 1: in conference rooms four years ago, which then led to
Speaker 1: you know, just a whole lot of crazy things happening.
Speaker 1: So um, so it was it was wild to see
Speaker 1: this next step all coming to life. And then it
Speaker 1: even got wilder when we fast forward another month or
Speaker 1: so to the first hunt on the property, and interestingly,
Speaker 1: Forrest was paired to hunt with me that weekend. And
Speaker 1: then I think your kids got sick something like that. Yeah, yep, yep, yeah,
Speaker 1: so sick kids kept forced from getting to go. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I decided, you know, well that was that was one
Speaker 1: of the toughest things, one of the toughest choices I
Speaker 1: ever had to had to come to come to peace with.
Speaker 1: And uh, you know, maybe it's a lot of fisherman
Speaker 1: and hunters and hunters I don't know what agree with
Speaker 1: me or not, but I'm a big fan of having
Speaker 1: really good what I called good juju, like good harma.
Speaker 1: And so you know, if if I'm if I'm skipping
Speaker 1: out of work to go fishing, I'm probably not going
Speaker 1: to kids in fist, you know. Um, But this opportunity
Speaker 1: was huge, but it took me. It took me about
Speaker 1: twenty four hours to really come to that right decision.
Speaker 1: And that was could call in calling the sick the
Speaker 1: sickness and be like you, I can't do it. I
Speaker 1: got it. And and that's a good thing, right because
Speaker 1: if I probably would have went, I probably been driving.
Speaker 1: They're probably not going to shoot be because I leave
Speaker 1: my family at home. Yeah, it all worked out in
Speaker 1: the end. And uh, and since Forest couldn't go, Evan
Speaker 1: you got to join me, and uh we had a
Speaker 1: pretty darn cool first hunt on the back Ford, do
Speaker 1: you want to tell the story we have? I guess
Speaker 1: quickly before you do that. The first hunt we're gonna
Speaker 1: have was gonna be an early Antler Lists season hunt.
Speaker 1: So we're gonna bring all these folks out, some folks
Speaker 1: will each each mentee was paired with a mentor and
Speaker 1: then we split up from there as far as where
Speaker 1: we would go I think there was three or four
Speaker 1: pairs of us that we're gonna hunt in the back
Speaker 1: forty different corners of the farm, and then other groups
Speaker 1: of folks went to some other properties that we had
Speaker 1: access to in the general region. Um so you and me,
Speaker 1: Evan were paired together for that trip. Talk to me
Speaker 1: about how you're feeling leading me into it and everything
Speaker 1: that happened. Let's let's let's hear this uh wild story. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: so it was. It was. It was pretty uh it
Speaker 1: was it was a lot uh to to put it,
Speaker 1: you know, to put it in those terms. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, you show up and again, you know, it's
Speaker 1: just being a part of this is is already a big,
Speaker 1: big deal in itself, and then you know, about ten
Speaker 1: minutes after arriving, you know, it was like, oh hey,
Speaker 1: uh you're you're cool, You're with Mark, You're good with that, right,
Speaker 1: we're gonna film you and it's your first time and yeah,
Speaker 1: so it was kind of like oh okay, cool, um
Speaker 1: but a little maybe a little bit take along. It
Speaker 1: really didn't. I mean, everyone was you know, again, it
Speaker 1: was very well organized. Uh So it just you know,
Speaker 1: it took a little time and then uh, and that
Speaker 1: was really our first time like meeting and you know,
Speaker 1: and and you know, you were great and and just
Speaker 1: really down to earth and Mark, our camera guy, was
Speaker 1: just terrific and and he you know, he was just
Speaker 1: just a blast of be with and so the three
Speaker 1: of us really sort of hit it off well, I
Speaker 1: think early, and that that made a big difference and
Speaker 1: really brought down that it went from you know, feeling
Speaker 1: uh so large and intense and and it kind of
Speaker 1: boiled down to like, hey, let's go hunt like this.
Speaker 1: This feels like this feels like a hunt, you know,
Speaker 1: and so um, it was cool to have that experience
Speaker 1: where we got the tour with you the property before
Speaker 1: because we we sort of had an idea the layout
Speaker 1: of the layout of land and the layout and and
Speaker 1: where we'd be and what we'd be doing. Um and
Speaker 1: uh and I picked up a few tricks from you
Speaker 1: even just that you know, even that that day I
Speaker 1: carry nose jammer with me now everywhere a goo and
Speaker 1: so so that was cool and um, and then you know,
Speaker 1: the thought process of between how we enter uh to
Speaker 1: not you know, interfere we had to be careful because
Speaker 1: we had so many hunters going out to different parts
Speaker 1: of the property that we had to be very strategic there.
Speaker 1: So there were lessons picked up and um and and
Speaker 1: also like the you know, I I think that part
Speaker 1: of what I struggled with was truly understanding the impact
Speaker 1: of sense and you know, a lot of what you
Speaker 1: read and listen to and watch is you know, focus
Speaker 1: around like very intelligent, very you know, knowledgeable, mature, fear
Speaker 1: um And and that's not exactly what I'm going for. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm I'm looking to to fill freezers. And
Speaker 1: so there's a there's a margin there that that we
Speaker 1: could get away with. And I thought that was kind
Speaker 1: of an interesting thing to learn as well. Um, I
Speaker 1: don't think it's a great margin, but but it wasn't. Uh,
Speaker 1: it wasn't so you didn't have to drop out of
Speaker 1: a helicopter basically, is what I'm getting at, um and
Speaker 1: to get back there. And so those were lessons learned
Speaker 1: and we but we still took a long way to
Speaker 1: get to the blind. It was an elevated blind. Um
Speaker 1: when we got in it, we realized there was no
Speaker 1: carpet in it. So we we were doing a quick
Speaker 1: check in and and and figuring out how we can
Speaker 1: position ourselves so we wouldn't make a lot of noise
Speaker 1: if we had to turn um and then we got
Speaker 1: right into it. We got right into you know, running
Speaker 1: through the scenarios and which which ended up being you know,
Speaker 1: the most critical part and and and and what you know,
Speaker 1: what made that so critical and elevated the level, uh
Speaker 1: was the fact that we could easily make noise if
Speaker 1: we turned a certain way or um drop something. So
Speaker 1: it was a total uh check and balance of Okay,
Speaker 1: this is the scenario, this is the way the DearS something,
Speaker 1: What are we gonna do? Where's where's mark going to go?
Speaker 1: Where's the other marking to go? Where are you gonna go?
Speaker 1: How you know? Can you see? Can you turned? Can
Speaker 1: you even shoulder the firearms? Um? And So there were
Speaker 1: several angles. I think there was really three angles in
Speaker 1: which we could you know, have a pretty decent chance
Speaker 1: of not only seeing dear but get a shot at
Speaker 1: them and uh and and we had just kind of
Speaker 1: walked through that and I think we figured out really
Speaker 1: good positions for each one. And how long were we talking?
Speaker 1: Like fifteen minutes after that? Yeah, I feel like I
Speaker 1: feel like it was a ten or fifteen minute kind
Speaker 1: of thing and then bam, yes, we just started, uh
Speaker 1: the kind of okay, you know, the business part of
Speaker 1: the stunt, like let's have a conversation, let's chat and
Speaker 1: and and then your face just turned like I my
Speaker 1: back was to this part of the blind. You're facing
Speaker 1: out that window, um, looking onto this this trail that
Speaker 1: butts up to some woods about forty five fifty yards out,
Speaker 1: and you're it just stopped in your and you raise
Speaker 1: your hand and you just point, You're like, that's here,
Speaker 1: that's and I was like, I was kind of like, well,
Speaker 1: you know, because it's like five o'clock in the afternoon
Speaker 1: at this point, and earlier than that, right exactly, it
Speaker 1: was super early in the afternoon, and uh so we figured,
Speaker 1: you know, we had a couple of hours to just
Speaker 1: sit around and and and chit chat. And so all
Speaker 1: of the sudden it was this game on and this dough,
Speaker 1: this nice mature dough, was cruising down this trail. And
Speaker 1: the trail, uh was a warrant trail that led right
Speaker 1: in front of our blind and then cut through this
Speaker 1: little um you know this this this basically, if for
Speaker 1: lack of a better term of funnel between you know,
Speaker 1: so the wood line where we were kind of butted
Speaker 1: up to, and then a woodline on the other side
Speaker 1: near the honey of bowl, and there was this there
Speaker 1: was a food source right there, and that's that's where
Speaker 1: she was headed. She was cruising fat and so the
Speaker 1: first move was to just like you know, turn without
Speaker 1: spooking her, without too much movement, without too much sound. Um.
Speaker 1: But you know, her head was up. She was krugan,
Speaker 1: So you know, we had to be very cautious and
Speaker 1: careful about not making two sudden of a movement. And
Speaker 1: she came right up to the blind I mean, we're
Speaker 1: in an elevative line. She came up within five yards
Speaker 1: of it. And that's when she decided to okay, sums up,
Speaker 1: kind of spooked, turned and and and ran up the
Speaker 1: ran back up the trail. And at this point I'm thinking,
Speaker 1: all right, that was cool. Like, man, there's tons of
Speaker 1: deer out here, like we're done for you know, for
Speaker 1: a minute, and you're like, get your gun up, you know,
Speaker 1: get in position. She's gonna stop. She's gonna get right
Speaker 1: to the top of that hill and stop. And as
Speaker 1: if like you could like see that in the future,
Speaker 1: that's exactly what she did. She she went in forty
Speaker 1: yards back up the trail, broadside stop and she stopped
Speaker 1: for so long that I got the gun mounted, I
Speaker 1: got set up, I got my sticks on, I mean everything,
Speaker 1: and and it seemed like an eternity, although I'm sure
Speaker 1: in hindsight it wasn't that long. But um, it was
Speaker 1: just picture perfect. And you said, you said, if you're comfortable,
Speaker 1: take the shot, and uh, I said, I'm gonna take
Speaker 1: the shot. And the shot rang, and that parts kind
Speaker 1: of a blur for me. I really relied on you
Speaker 1: and Mark to tell me like like did it look good?
Speaker 1: Like did it look like you know it? And um,
Speaker 1: and it was, I mean, and after that it was
Speaker 1: just just shitters and shakes and emotions and I mean
Speaker 1: just just utter disbelief, Like I don't know that I've
Speaker 1: ever had that much disbelief all at once. It was
Speaker 1: pretty It was pretty crazy, even for me. I remember
Speaker 1: just being I was shaking. I was shaking. I was
Speaker 1: so excited it was. That was awesome and uh, and
Speaker 1: so well fast forward, you know, I don't know, I
Speaker 1: can't remember how long we waited. We didn't wait too
Speaker 1: terribly long, because um, we felt good about the hit.
Speaker 1: And we went back there and she ran I don't know,
Speaker 1: fifty some something like that, fifty yards something on those lines,
Speaker 1: and we found it right there in the honey hole.
Speaker 1: What was that like walking up to that deer and
Speaker 1: seeing that you'd actually did this thing? It was, it
Speaker 1: was It was a huge relief in so many ways.
Speaker 1: I mean, there was so much pressure built up to
Speaker 1: this point by prior hunt and you know, um, the
Speaker 1: hours in the in the dollars that were invested, um,
Speaker 1: and the time that was put in you know, selfishly
Speaker 1: my own, but then by others as well. I mean
Speaker 1: there was you know, it just felt it all of
Speaker 1: a sudden felt like it was doable. It all of
Speaker 1: a sudden felt like this this happens, and this can happen,
Speaker 1: and this is a real thing, and and and it's
Speaker 1: and and it's right there and and and there was
Speaker 1: this very um she was she was pretty, I mean,
Speaker 1: she was very she was a very like regal and
Speaker 1: majestic animal and and uh and it didn't feel um
Speaker 1: as as sad. I don't know, like you know, there's
Speaker 1: there's a there's a part of it that's you know
Speaker 1: the part that there's it's the harvest. Can you know,
Speaker 1: I didn't know how I feel about that, um, because
Speaker 1: I hadn't done it, and I'm an animal lover and
Speaker 1: and I know we all are, and and we get
Speaker 1: into the sport. But I didn't know how exactly how
Speaker 1: that would feel. But it it didn't feel. Um. It
Speaker 1: was more grateful than any sort of sadness than it was. Um.
Speaker 1: It was just an overwhelming experience and and I was
Speaker 1: basically speechless. And I think back to it often and fondly.
Speaker 1: Um and and it was just it was inspiring and
Speaker 1: it was just and and honestly, it was fun. It
Speaker 1: was it was a lot. It was fun. It was
Speaker 1: so much. It was so much fun. It was it
Speaker 1: was energetic. It was real energy there. That's that's ah,
Speaker 1: that's really well said. I mean it was it was
Speaker 1: all those things, even for me, which is what's kind
Speaker 1: of crazy and pretty darn cool about this pursuit, is
Speaker 1: that I've been doing this for thirty years and getting
Speaker 1: to just be with someone experiencing those things for the
Speaker 1: first time was was so incredibly rewarding. And it just
Speaker 1: feels it's so yeah, for lack of a better term,
Speaker 1: cool to to see someone getting to step into this
Speaker 1: world and and get to experience these things that I
Speaker 1: found so rewarding and profound and you know, uh so satisfied.
Speaker 1: So it was just it was an awesome, awesome day.
Speaker 1: It was so cool to see it work out for you.
Speaker 1: And you know, even though that hunt specifically went really
Speaker 1: really fast. You know, he said, you had been trying
Speaker 1: for a long time, You've been working hard to try
Speaker 1: to figure these things out yourself, and so it felt
Speaker 1: like this really great, ah, moment of a fruition where
Speaker 1: all that work finally did pay off. And uh, and
Speaker 1: I was just very happy for you, Evan, and uh
Speaker 1: and great shooting too. Oh yeah, no, I mean it
Speaker 1: was it was awesome. I mean all three of us
Speaker 1: were freaking out. I mean it was it was truly
Speaker 1: like you know, you're feeling Mark dealing to Miami. They
Speaker 1: were all super genuine. I mean it was we had
Speaker 1: set out to do something and and and I mean
Speaker 1: it must have been a great feeling to uh, to
Speaker 1: to to see the back forty do what the back
Speaker 1: forty you know, was meant to do as well, and
Speaker 1: and so quickly, yeah, crazy, and then and then you
Speaker 1: were able to go back out the next morning with
Speaker 1: a different set of men tours and reinvent the wheel
Speaker 1: all over again. You did it two days in a row. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that was nuts. Yeah, we we I got to go
Speaker 1: out with the xavier Um the next morning and and
Speaker 1: uh and of course at this point, like you know,
Speaker 1: pressures off, like you know, the feelings is, you know, like, hey,
Speaker 1: I'm here, let's do it. Let's go see what we see.
Speaker 1: And we we get out there well before first light.
Speaker 1: We get up in a different elevated box line and nothing.
Speaker 1: I mean, we were overlooking the field and and uh,
Speaker 1: we're having a good time. We're you know, we're we're
Speaker 1: chatting it up and and we're looking around. But you know,
Speaker 1: we didn't have a great line of sight where we were.
Speaker 1: We were looking over some really tall grass and he says,
Speaker 1: he goes, you know, I really think that if they come,
Speaker 1: they're gonna come down this. They're gonna come down this
Speaker 1: area over here, which was a trail that was cut
Speaker 1: there for for power you know, foam holes and power
Speaker 1: lines and things like that. And so he kind of
Speaker 1: knew it well enough to know that if anything was
Speaker 1: gonna happen, it's gonna happen over that way, and it
Speaker 1: was about sixty five yards so uh, once it got
Speaker 1: you know, you know, light enough that you could kind
Speaker 1: of see what you were doing in there, we ran.
Speaker 1: We did the same thing. We ran through the motions like, okay,
Speaker 1: you know, unlikely scenario, they come here, but still it's
Speaker 1: still a lane. Let's try it, let's try it, let's
Speaker 1: try it. And thank god we did, because you know,
Speaker 1: a little bit of fatigue were setting in about nine thirty.
Speaker 1: You know, we're kind of like you know, people are,
Speaker 1: you know, we're starting to communicate with others and talking
Speaker 1: about when we're gonna wrap it up. And all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, right down that trip, just like he thought,
Speaker 1: you know, right down that trailer, we see a head
Speaker 1: pop out and it's a it's a line of dough
Speaker 1: and another mature dough really pretty much equal in size
Speaker 1: to the one the day before. And he threw out
Speaker 1: a call, you know, he he gave her a you know,
Speaker 1: a map to to stop her. She stopped roadside, and
Speaker 1: while he was doing that, I was getting set up.
Speaker 1: And because we we had the plan and played it
Speaker 1: went quickly, even faster than the day prior, and got
Speaker 1: a shot on her and she went. You know, I
Speaker 1: went to probably twenty thirty yards. Hank came out, Um,
Speaker 1: Pink came out to help with that one, and uh
Speaker 1: and it was just I just couldn't, I mean again,
Speaker 1: just just under utter disbelief. Two deer in two days.
Speaker 1: Not bad, my friend, not that at all. So so
Speaker 1: let's let's jump over to you force and fast. For
Speaker 1: a couple of months. You had to put your aspirations
Speaker 1: on hold because of the because of family obligations, which
Speaker 1: is a good call and a good man move, so
Speaker 1: kudos to you. Um. But we get to December and
Speaker 1: we hosted another hunt for anyone who wanted to come
Speaker 1: out and try again, or anyone like in your case,
Speaker 1: where you hadn't mail to hunt or hadn't maimal to
Speaker 1: get a deer yet. Um, same kind of thing. Everyone
Speaker 1: came came out, a bunch of mentors came out. We
Speaker 1: all split up to hunt in different places. Group of
Speaker 1: us went to different locations on the back forty Um,
Speaker 1: because I guess I got first DIBs on locations. I
Speaker 1: picked the honey hoole again for us, And that's what
Speaker 1: we're gonna do. So Forest, can you can you do
Speaker 1: for us what Evan just did, kind of fill us
Speaker 1: in on how you're feeling leading up to the hunt.
Speaker 1: Can you walk us through what happened and in your
Speaker 1: perspective on on that whole experience. Yeah, So, leading up
Speaker 1: to the hunts, it was um, uh typical mid December
Speaker 1: Michigan day, super overcast, some snow on the ground, kind
Speaker 1: of melting. Um, you know in between that thirty two
Speaker 1: and thirty three mark where I would like to see
Speaker 1: some snow rather than some freezing rain. And you know
Speaker 1: the weather alone was um a little bit of already
Speaker 1: a mental challenge for me thinking, um about going through
Speaker 1: in my mind about am I gonna get super cold?
Speaker 1: Is this? Um? You know, am I going to be
Speaker 1: shivering when I try and take the shot? And and
Speaker 1: that kind of thing, and running through scenarios in my head,
Speaker 1: Um what questions should I ask? And that type of thing.
Speaker 1: And once we once we all met up, and uh, Mark,
Speaker 1: you and I when we just started walking, you just
Speaker 1: started pressing me for everything and giving the heads up
Speaker 1: this is what we're gonna do, just like Evan was
Speaker 1: talking about before, and getting the you know, starting to
Speaker 1: walk to the blind and the heart rate just started
Speaker 1: to kind of elevate hair with excitement, and um, you know,
Speaker 1: I kind of felt like it was like when you
Speaker 1: stood on a roller coaster and you're just when you
Speaker 1: when you get in the seat, and then all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, you're just start climbing like up. I mean
Speaker 1: like you're at cedar point or something and you're like, okay,
Speaker 1: I'm not turning back now, I'm not walking away, and
Speaker 1: here we go. So um, yeah I got into the blind.
Speaker 1: It was still kind of missing. Um you know, there
Speaker 1: was ice on the on the on the ladder steps. Uh,
Speaker 1: yeah it was. And um, you know, it wasn't really
Speaker 1: bright out, real low clouds. Um. And I'm thinking, oh man,
Speaker 1: it might get dark before before our shooting hours or
Speaker 1: even are approached, you know. And um, but from there
Speaker 1: once he started talking us through the if the deer
Speaker 1: comes from this direction and that direction, that's what we're
Speaker 1: gonna do. Okay, now let's practice and do you feel
Speaker 1: comfortable and you know that kind of thing, and and
Speaker 1: then um, just the initials sit down and holding the
Speaker 1: rifle and looking out. Um was a pretty surreal experience.
Speaker 1: Like here I am, I'm you know, officially doing it
Speaker 1: in my mind, and um, yeah, that was that was
Speaker 1: a huge it's so of it sounds it was a
Speaker 1: very big experience because there's a reflection of everything that
Speaker 1: had come up to that point. And um, so we
Speaker 1: sat there and talked about where there could be showing
Speaker 1: up from. And I don't know, I think an hour
Speaker 1: went by and nothing happened, and I think another hour
Speaker 1: went by and nothing happened, and we entered the our
Speaker 1: prime time and I think, um, shooting hours ended. I
Speaker 1: think around five thirty one, I believe, and um, I
Speaker 1: think right around uh five, right right around five o'clock.
Speaker 1: I start thinking to myself, okay, all right. I started
Speaker 1: talking through thoughts and had like this, probably I could
Speaker 1: that happens. That's okay. I would like to say that's okay.
Speaker 1: That kind of thay and and just and hearing from
Speaker 1: Mark and the other guys in general, like it can
Speaker 1: happen back, it can happen with snap of the things.
Speaker 1: And you know that that was the optimism, you know,
Speaker 1: my mind I was combating the negative thoughts with and
Speaker 1: so we were just sitting there and it was it
Speaker 1: was just I think five tennis and then Mark, I
Speaker 1: believe you yeah, you spotted the first yeer. Oh there's
Speaker 1: a deer way asked over the first hill, and I
Speaker 1: believe it was. Yeah, it was out of range. There
Speaker 1: were two of them, and we moved into position right
Speaker 1: and put a scope. I believe it was. I know
Speaker 1: it was at least one dough. I don't know if
Speaker 1: it was you If you remember there was a spike
Speaker 1: in a dell and they were they were like one
Speaker 1: hard to get to position that we'd had to practice,
Speaker 1: like I would have to get out of my chair,
Speaker 1: moved to the other side of the blind, you'd have
Speaker 1: to move forward. But like you said, we'd practice like, okay,
Speaker 1: if this scenario happens, we've got to do this whole thing,
Speaker 1: and we figured it out. M hmm. Yeah, that was
Speaker 1: That was crucial because you were sitting to the right
Speaker 1: of me and that was the window I needed to
Speaker 1: shoot out of. And without practicing that, I mean, something
Speaker 1: kind of dropped or a scuffle or some kind of
Speaker 1: noise potentially ruined it. But so yeah, get the scope
Speaker 1: on the dough and you ranged ranged her, and I
Speaker 1: believe it was just out a hundred yards a little
Speaker 1: bit out of my comfort zone for you know, pretty
Speaker 1: much being a novice marksman, if you will, And and um,
Speaker 1: I believe they just kind of started quartering away and
Speaker 1: just kind of fading, walking back further and further in
Speaker 1: the opposite direction, you know. And from there it was like, okay, well,
Speaker 1: all right, there there was the opportunity. That's that's cool.
Speaker 1: I'm happy, I'm good, you know. And um, I believe
Speaker 1: Mark cameraman brought his camera back in and Mark, I
Speaker 1: think you were just I don't know, I just think
Speaker 1: something or but not looking out and I was just
Speaker 1: on the scope and all of a sudden, from the right, Um,
Speaker 1: it's just it was like Christmas morning I saw. It's
Speaker 1: like that first image of presence. It was like ten
Speaker 1: those just started walking very very gracefully right right from
Speaker 1: the other side of the field, and um, I was
Speaker 1: just like, oh now this is the first sure And
Speaker 1: it was I feel like it was half the distance.
Speaker 1: It was twice as close as the as the first
Speaker 1: year I saw. And I'm like, okay, here we go.
Speaker 1: And now it was when I talked about the Mither coasters,
Speaker 1: like now I'm just like I feel like I could
Speaker 1: just scream, but I can't. You gotta focus now, you know,
Speaker 1: and um that was that was the image that I
Speaker 1: play almost every day since. Um in my mind that
Speaker 1: and um seeing those you're walking so slowly and with
Speaker 1: I don't know, five seven ten minutes left of shooting time,
Speaker 1: and um key. Then on the first I think there
Speaker 1: are two or three that first rolled in and then uh,
Speaker 1: Wanda Kian on the largest dough, and I think it
Speaker 1: was like the second or third one, and then they
Speaker 1: started to overlap after getting the scope, Um, the bigger
Speaker 1: of the two or three, and then it's like, okay,
Speaker 1: we're just waiting, and then I think there's another five
Speaker 1: six seven more. Uh. What appeared to me was very
Speaker 1: like larger mature dough. And I'm like, oh man, I
Speaker 1: just gotta wait for this to break up and and
Speaker 1: go from there. And Mark, you are talking me through it,
Speaker 1: and you know all the minor details like hey, do you
Speaker 1: you like talk to hammer? No? Not yet, okay, and
Speaker 1: then what's confirming that we were both on the same
Speaker 1: page with the range and the exact dere Um I
Speaker 1: was gonna take a shot at you know, it was
Speaker 1: I just remember, you know, taking the breath, and I
Speaker 1: remember still being nervous but not shaking. Nervous and I
Speaker 1: was surprised by that and and took the shot and
Speaker 1: I remember actually seeing seeing the dope get hit and
Speaker 1: I thought it was too high. Um, it looked like
Speaker 1: it's the shot hit the spines potentially. UM. But luckily
Speaker 1: having market cameraman there to kind of replay and see,
Speaker 1: you know, possibly upper upper long shot, you know, we
Speaker 1: should be okay and that kind of thing. And UM.
Speaker 1: From there it was yeah, all the pure adrenaline rush
Speaker 1: and and shaking and not being able to stop smiling
Speaker 1: and yeah, that was that was you know, just you
Speaker 1: see on all the TV shows and whatnot and hear
Speaker 1: about UM. I was unsure about how I would feel,
Speaker 1: um taking the shot UM on an animal that I,
Speaker 1: you know, I love and like I haven't mentioned being
Speaker 1: animal lover and that kind of thing, but taking the
Speaker 1: lifetile different thing. I'm going to feel about that? And
Speaker 1: amazingly enough I did not. I did not have those
Speaker 1: kinds of thoughts for feelings, UM. And I kind of
Speaker 1: attribute that maybe to just human nature, I don't know,
Speaker 1: for for survival or whatnot. But yeah, so that was
Speaker 1: that was the shot and UM decide what we waited
Speaker 1: there for. I don't know. I cannot remember how long
Speaker 1: we would feel like it was about forty five minutes
Speaker 1: or so an hour, and I know I remember it
Speaker 1: was it was definitely dark, like the headlamps throughout everything
Speaker 1: like that. Um, other mentors came over to our field
Speaker 1: and began the tracking process, and UM, that was something
Speaker 1: that I didn't I didn't um really think through previous
Speaker 1: that that would be actually kind of a challenge And
Speaker 1: another thing later in retrospect I'm really grateful for because, UM,
Speaker 1: when I when I read or try and educate myself
Speaker 1: about checking deer, it's like, oh, yeah, it's fall the blood, okay,
Speaker 1: you know, just mark reeve then and just follow it.
Speaker 1: But then when we started to track the deer and
Speaker 1: finding the blood and then finding the next drop and
Speaker 1: finding the next drop, and then we hit kind of
Speaker 1: a wall there and even though it was only like
Speaker 1: ten minutes, it was that feeling was not fun. That
Speaker 1: was that was yeah, that's so that that's when that's when, UM,
Speaker 1: I started to feel concerned, but not like oh I
Speaker 1: might not find the deer, but almost a concern like uh,
Speaker 1: a responsibility almost like you you let somebody down almost,
Speaker 1: And from there I'm like, oh my gosh, there's there's
Speaker 1: the I think that was the first time to me
Speaker 1: of the connection was formed with the animal. And then
Speaker 1: walking up and finding the blood trail again and then
Speaker 1: um uh seeing seeing the deer, seeing the dough and
Speaker 1: discovering it was was just absolutely amazing. I felt attached
Speaker 1: to the deer. I felt like it was almost like
Speaker 1: my pet. And then there I had that melancholy thought
Speaker 1: of but I just I just took it to life.
Speaker 1: But the beauty of the deer and um and just
Speaker 1: the whole the whole process of the finding. It was
Speaker 1: a sense of relief and now I felt like, um,
Speaker 1: kind of I've completed the process and now I want
Speaker 1: to do whatever it takes to take the ultimate care
Speaker 1: of this of this self. Right. So yeah, from there, um,
Speaker 1: that was that was when I think a switch was flipped,
Speaker 1: you know, kind of like having a kid or getting
Speaker 1: married or any any major accomplishment or just something that
Speaker 1: triggers you to change your mindset. What did you think
Speaker 1: about the field dressing process You mentioned that is one
Speaker 1: of the things before getting to go on the mentor
Speaker 1: experience that was you know, was concerning to you. You
Speaker 1: wondered if you'd be able to do it, if you
Speaker 1: know how to you can figure it out. How difficult
Speaker 1: it would be. Um, you know we we walked through
Speaker 1: that together. Um, and you completed the job. How did
Speaker 1: that go? Anyway? So I was right, that was the
Speaker 1: part of the whole process that really kind of waunched me.
Speaker 1: I'm the whole you know, seeking mentors and whatnot. And
Speaker 1: I was I'm the kind of person that gets kind
Speaker 1: of queasy around um, animals being dissected. And I didn't
Speaker 1: do well in biology class. I had to stand in
Speaker 1: the hall because I could handle it. And so and
Speaker 1: that was like my big, my big, Okay, this is
Speaker 1: where I'm I'm confronting. I'm going I'm leaving my comfort
Speaker 1: zone and I'm gonna start cutting into this animal. And
Speaker 1: I just hope I don't throw up or make make
Speaker 1: a fool out of itself. And um, you know when
Speaker 1: people would say it's not as bad as you think,
Speaker 1: it was not as bad as I thought. You know,
Speaker 1: the initial cut into the skin mark, you shown me
Speaker 1: exactly where to start and um, and just start making
Speaker 1: the incision and whatnot. Um. I was I was amazed
Speaker 1: at how how clean and um simple of a process
Speaker 1: that it was. And um, but I saw that here
Speaker 1: in my mind like when I get to the stomach
Speaker 1: part and stuff starts falling out everywhere, am I going
Speaker 1: to lose it? And um, I don't know if it
Speaker 1: was the adrenaline or not, but I kind of feel
Speaker 1: like it was just that connection, Like I'm it didn't
Speaker 1: even cross my mind cutting across the belly, going through
Speaker 1: getting everything out, making cuts you know, um in certain
Speaker 1: areas that you're pointing to do. Um was a lot
Speaker 1: lot easier than I thought. I think I was expecting
Speaker 1: like blood to be gushing out everywhere, or you know,
Speaker 1: arteries with blood like flattering everywhere and things. But it's
Speaker 1: not that at all. And that was a big That
Speaker 1: was a big relief for me, and um it went
Speaker 1: quick as than I thought, and um it was. It
Speaker 1: was a big sense of accomplishment and a big confidence
Speaker 1: booster for Okay I I I definitely feel like I
Speaker 1: can do this on my own now, And that was
Speaker 1: the big thing, like can I do this on my own?
Speaker 1: And I felt like I had that after leaving that
Speaker 1: even though Markie helped me with so much on where
Speaker 1: and how it was getting my hands in there and
Speaker 1: physically doing it. That said that, that gave me the
Speaker 1: confidence to say that, yeah, I can do something own.
Speaker 1: To do it, well, I need to refer to some
Speaker 1: things and how like what cuts and where to make
Speaker 1: it again. Yeah, but I can. I can look that
Speaker 1: up and they say, oh, yeah, okay, that's what I
Speaker 1: have to do. But I'm not apprehensive about going to
Speaker 1: field and harvesting a deer because I might get i
Speaker 1: don't know, gross out or screw up something, um with
Speaker 1: the dressing. That would make for a really bad experience. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm glad to hear you feel that way now after
Speaker 1: having done it, and I think your experience and your
Speaker 1: apprehensiveness leading into it was Yeah, that's not uncommon. And
Speaker 1: so to your point, it's you just got to get
Speaker 1: in there and do it once and then once you've
Speaker 1: crossed that bridge, it's a whole lot easier to to
Speaker 1: walk it again in the future. Um. So, so what
Speaker 1: I want to know next is about what happens next
Speaker 1: for both of you guys. But before we get to that,
Speaker 1: I want to kind of hit pause on your personal
Speaker 1: stories and and and put a little call to action
Speaker 1: here for anyone listening, who has found themselves in your shoes,
Speaker 1: Anyone who's listening, who has been intrigued by hunting, who's
Speaker 1: hunting curious, who who maybe has tried it and been
Speaker 1: getting started but it is struggling. Or maybe this is
Speaker 1: someone who's never done it ever before but kind of
Speaker 1: has this little voice in the back of their mind
Speaker 1: that makes them think, man, I should try it. And
Speaker 1: somehow they stumbled on this podcast and they would love
Speaker 1: to get a chance to go through what you guys did.
Speaker 1: If there's anyone listening who's in the those shoes, Hank,
Speaker 1: my friend, can you drop in from your expert perspective
Speaker 1: where people can find these opportunities, how they can find
Speaker 1: these opportunities? Can you can you give us that right
Speaker 1: now rather than at the very end of the show.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about that right now. Also, because I know, Hank,
Speaker 1: you might need to leave, and I want to make
Speaker 1: sure you get to say this before you do. Where
Speaker 1: can people just find this? Yeah, just Dear Association dot
Speaker 1: com slash ft um. You'll find my email on their
Speaker 1: Hank and Deer Association dot com. We also have Dear
Speaker 1: Association dot com slash new Hunter. And if they're a
Speaker 1: new hunter, it will um, you know, we asked it
Speaker 1: for their personal information, we can plot them on a map.
Speaker 1: It'll send them some resources, most of them free, and
Speaker 1: advertise a couple paid ones, but it will put us
Speaker 1: on the map. And that's how we notify individuals of
Speaker 1: a new programs coming online or other opportunities around them.
Speaker 1: We really try to keep these programs states specific because
Speaker 1: of licensing and that kind of thing. UM, and we
Speaker 1: want to teach people how to hunt where they come from.
Speaker 1: So UM, if you'll go to any of those contact us,
Speaker 1: fill out that New Hunter survey. UM. It just lets
Speaker 1: us figure out where you are and will will contact
Speaker 1: you with opportunities. We also have a mentor sign up
Speaker 1: for potential mentors out there if they're willing to mentor
Speaker 1: for us, and and it's built to do the same
Speaker 1: thing from the opposite side to connect those mentors with
Speaker 1: new hunters and programs we have. So I appreciate that,
Speaker 1: mark UM, if you, if you'll allow me, I'd like
Speaker 1: to roll back a couple things before we move on
Speaker 1: to what's next for these guys, Just a few comments
Speaker 1: and stuff. UM. Well, first off, for us said something
Speaker 1: just a minute ago about having the confidence to continue.
Speaker 1: And really that's what it comes down to here. That's
Speaker 1: all we're doing is we're given these new hunters the
Speaker 1: confidence to realize that this is attainable and something that
Speaker 1: they can bite off and chow. And that's really what's
Speaker 1: happened here. They've they've managed to be successful, which is great.
Speaker 1: They got their hands dirty, um, but it's really about
Speaker 1: just building that confidence. And and yes, the gutting is
Speaker 1: often a very daunting, monumental things that they need to
Speaker 1: figure out because you know, just like forests, a responsible
Speaker 1: person isn't gonna go out there and take that shot
Speaker 1: if they can't take care of it. But lastly, just
Speaker 1: you know, answering the question that I am a hunter
Speaker 1: is just a confidence level. It's just saying that's something
Speaker 1: I can do and I'm gonna do it. And so
Speaker 1: coo to those guys, I hope, I hope we got
Speaker 1: you there. But there's there's a lot more to it.
Speaker 1: And and they told their stories, and they told about
Speaker 1: how they found the program and that stuff and the
Speaker 1: and their stories are not unique. I mean we I
Speaker 1: see hundreds of these every year and and and their
Speaker 1: stories are very common. Um, you know, what you guys
Speaker 1: have done at Meat Either. There's been a lot of
Speaker 1: negative press about our three programs and sharing on social
Speaker 1: media recently, UM, and it's it's really sad, but you
Speaker 1: know what you've done at Meat Eater and the responsible
Speaker 1: approachable you know, just awesome view of hunting and that
Speaker 1: lifestyle just what both of them attested to, um, you know,
Speaker 1: just a little while ago. And and that being on
Speaker 1: Netflix has offered entirely new generations and people who have
Speaker 1: never run into hunting in such a responsible and beautiful light,
Speaker 1: but they're seeing it on their TVs that, you know.
Speaker 1: And so it really is this Netflix effect that I
Speaker 1: think as we're seeing a little bit of growth and
Speaker 1: hunting right now, not enough to celebrate. We've seen a
Speaker 1: lot of societal trends that are helping, but um, we've
Speaker 1: been able to find these new potential hunters through um,
Speaker 1: non traditional avenues and really break out of our traditional
Speaker 1: hunting spheres and circles and culture and that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: So that's a lot of what has happened here. I
Speaker 1: also want to say that you know, we've learned a
Speaker 1: lot from these new hunters, and that's something we didn't
Speaker 1: talk about I mean the first uh, the first evening
Speaker 1: on the back forty Um, I was sitting in my
Speaker 1: truck when you all shot you. That was the first
Speaker 1: year of this field the Ford program, but also the
Speaker 1: first year on the back for you and very fitting
Speaker 1: the year were the mentor. So it was exciting for
Speaker 1: me just sitting in my truck in the parking lot. Um.
Speaker 1: But but you showed him how to clean the deer
Speaker 1: that night. We've got great photography we had. It was
Speaker 1: a lot of fun. Uh. You know, we had that
Speaker 1: camaraderie of deer camp, even just as a group out
Speaker 1: there in the field and meeting up after the hunt. Um.
Speaker 1: And you know, we can learn stuff from these new hunters. Evans.
Speaker 1: Evan led the butchering demonstration the Sunday morning after he
Speaker 1: shot his second hear And believe me, I tried to
Speaker 1: put him somewhere that I didn't think even harvest the
Speaker 1: deer on Sunday. But he must just have good luck.
Speaker 1: But um, you know I helped him. But he's he's
Speaker 1: a chef. He knows how to break down the animals,
Speaker 1: and he he has skills that I don't have. So
Speaker 1: we can learn a lot and we can gain from
Speaker 1: him taking these new hunters afield. And then lastly, I'll
Speaker 1: say that we had a culinary social after the December
Speaker 1: hunt and Evan cooked for the group. Um, so he's
Speaker 1: a better chef than I am. I appreciate the nice comments,
Speaker 1: but at the end of the day, we didn't bring
Speaker 1: somebody who didn't have something to offer back to us.
Speaker 1: And so, UM, we selected these candidates based off a
Speaker 1: lot of different reasons. And we we have a selection panel,
Speaker 1: a group. I don't select them personally, UM, but we
Speaker 1: we we read through their profiles, their survey, UM answers,
Speaker 1: and we selected these candidates based on you know, a
Speaker 1: panel and voting. But UM, you know, we we debated
Speaker 1: this um Forest was like the prototypical candidate he founded
Speaker 1: on first flight social media. I mean, um showed up
Speaker 1: in a first light hat for our training day. I
Speaker 1: mean just you know, it's just an amazing candidate. And
Speaker 1: and then Edvan and his sister both appla it as
Speaker 1: he alluded to. And you know, we're sitting there thinking,
Speaker 1: you know, one of them could mentor the other if
Speaker 1: we took one of them. And you know, we take
Speaker 1: adults because they can mentor for us. The next weekend.
Speaker 1: They can you can advocate and become better advocates for
Speaker 1: hunting than we ever can in their in their own
Speaker 1: circles and peer groups. So it just really there's a
Speaker 1: reason we do this, and it's the efficiency of the model.
Speaker 1: But we decided to take both Evan and his sister
Speaker 1: because we decided, you know, Evan might not be able
Speaker 1: to teach us sister it's wrong too, or vice versa.
Speaker 1: If we if we took Emily, she might not be
Speaker 1: a good teacher. You know, like we've run into this
Speaker 1: with husband and wife pairs where like, god, can you
Speaker 1: imagine if you had to learn from your significant other,
Speaker 1: they might not be the best one. But we ended
Speaker 1: up you know, selecting these people for very different reasons.
Speaker 1: But we get all that information on the front end,
Speaker 1: and uh, and we we try to make our best
Speaker 1: educated decision. But you know, um, Evan's gonna mentor for
Speaker 1: us next year. I hope for us will will still
Speaker 1: be a part of the program. But I mean, we
Speaker 1: we can take new hunters, take them a field. They
Speaker 1: can they can cook medicine better than we can. They
Speaker 1: can advocate for hunting better we can, and honestly, they
Speaker 1: can mentor the next weekend, or take their friends or
Speaker 1: their uh you know, family kids whatever. I mean, Forest
Speaker 1: has four kids. I expect he'll take them a field
Speaker 1: in the future. And then, um, you know. Lastly, I'll
Speaker 1: just say that there was also follow up hunting opportunities
Speaker 1: and that's why we trained everyone on guns and crossbos
Speaker 1: as We've really encourage people to get back out on
Speaker 1: the property during the duration of the season outside of
Speaker 1: our kind of organized events, and I note a number
Speaker 1: of hunters took advantage of that. Yeah, it was really
Speaker 1: cool to see all those different opportunities arise and see
Speaker 1: the group of people out there have this experience. And
Speaker 1: tell me this, Hank, I think of our hunters, all
Speaker 1: but one ended up killing, you know, having success killing
Speaker 1: their first year over the course of these two hunts.
Speaker 1: Am I right on that, that's correct. We finished the
Speaker 1: season nine for ten. Um, just we didn't get a
Speaker 1: success well, but I don't think that's how we judge success.
Speaker 1: But but we did have nine out of ten hunters
Speaker 1: harvest their first year this fall. Yeah, that's that's pretty incredible.
Speaker 1: And the back forty, I think we we took four
Speaker 1: off the back forty. Does that sound right. I sat
Speaker 1: just three three to the first organized hunt won the second. Evan,
Speaker 1: you were out there as much as I was coming
Speaker 1: up from North Carolina. But I think just three off
Speaker 1: the Back forty this fall, and then I think there
Speaker 1: was a couple of opportunities misses. There's things like that,
Speaker 1: So there was there was opportunities. I guess, Um, so
Speaker 1: point being, I might be biased, but you tell me
Speaker 1: if I'm wrong here. I feel like the Back forty provided.
Speaker 1: I feel like the Back forty was a great hosting
Speaker 1: around and training ground for these new hunters. Absolutely, I
Speaker 1: think that's been our tagline. Yeah. Sure, So so let's
Speaker 1: get back to YouTube that Evan and Forced. I'm curious
Speaker 1: to hear about your thoughts moving forward. Evan, where's your
Speaker 1: head been at since that experience? Um? Are you gonna
Speaker 1: keep hunting? Have you kept hunting? What do you think
Speaker 1: the future holds for you when it comes to this
Speaker 1: this pursuit? Yeah, I will keep hunting. I have kept hunting. Um.
Speaker 1: And and on top of that, I'm I'm going to
Speaker 1: you know, develop more. Anybody who is interested in in
Speaker 1: my circles wants to hunt. Um, I'm gonna I'm gonna
Speaker 1: carry the carry the torch. So after after the September hunt, Um,
Speaker 1: Corey was kind enough to get my sister and I
Speaker 1: back out on the backboard. E uh several times. Um,
Speaker 1: there was There's not been a point where I've been
Speaker 1: on the backboard counting that I haven't seen. Dear, I'm
Speaker 1: not getting like, you know, maybe not an opportunity for
Speaker 1: a shot every time, but we I've never not. You
Speaker 1: know what, It's unbelievable. You're you see deer every time
Speaker 1: and so um so they you know, he gave up
Speaker 1: some prime hunting time, I mean real prime hunting time
Speaker 1: to take us back out. Um, tain't kept following up
Speaker 1: like got again Emily on a deer. Uh you know
Speaker 1: you've got too many, you know, we gotta get I'm
Speaker 1: your sister one, you know, just choking around and having
Speaker 1: a good time with it. And um so there you know,
Speaker 1: that was a lot of fun and I got a
Speaker 1: little bit of a taste of of what it was
Speaker 1: like that sort of be a mentor. It was much
Speaker 1: more about her hunts than my hunt, you know in
Speaker 1: those times. Um. And then another trip out there. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, Corey and I we went on a hunt,
Speaker 1: but but it ended up just being a training session
Speaker 1: on saddle, and I am I'm so comfortable and confident
Speaker 1: in a saddle that during the rut, I uh, I
Speaker 1: got up in a tree and I went out on
Speaker 1: my own a public land and private land. UM had
Speaker 1: some I got on deer the first time, like first time, huh,
Speaker 1: on my own, completely on my own, and without even
Speaker 1: scouting other than just the scouting UM and using on X.
Speaker 1: I mean, I got out there. And the first very
Speaker 1: first hunt I saw, I saw deer, and I mean
Speaker 1: as all of these things, Oh my gosh, it was unbelievable.
Speaker 1: And and the and then the crescendo of of that
Speaker 1: trip was the final day I was deer hunting. Uh.
Speaker 1: I actually had uh an eight point buck come within
Speaker 1: fifteen yards of me. I never got a shot at him.
Speaker 1: He never showed me anything about his eyes and his antlers.
Speaker 1: But we had this really unbelievable, like hour and a
Speaker 1: half exchange where there was a field full of dos
Speaker 1: in front of me. I was grunting, he was paring
Speaker 1: the woods to the ground. He was so angry that
Speaker 1: some other buck was out there with his dose. But
Speaker 1: he would not step out. He would not step out
Speaker 1: he just wouldn't do it. But it was. But I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, all of those things that we were taught
Speaker 1: and and we were told, I mean, you know, to
Speaker 1: be applied and and put into practice, and went from
Speaker 1: years of not seeing deer and putting in the same
Speaker 1: amount of time in the same amount efforts. Um. So
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, you know, using sticks and being
Speaker 1: in the saddle, and being in a tree, and and
Speaker 1: and seeing deer on on most fits, and or even
Speaker 1: having an encounter with it with a true um, you know,
Speaker 1: with a true buck. And and so uh um, I'm hooked.
Speaker 1: I'm totally hucked. They're definitely turning back for me. Um
Speaker 1: and uh and and so I'm taking my sister and
Speaker 1: a buddy out turkey hunting. It'll be their first time
Speaker 1: really going out on a turkey hunt. We're gonna do that.
Speaker 1: And and uh I've started dabbling in duck hunting last
Speaker 1: season and uh so you know we're figuring that out
Speaker 1: and and we're just gonna We're gonna continue to do
Speaker 1: I want to I want to look at get my
Speaker 1: niece and nephew out there. Um. And then just I've
Speaker 1: got a bunch of buddies that come from the hospitality
Speaker 1: and culinary side of things, all of us fish. But
Speaker 1: they've they've expressed you know, uh, they've expressed interest. Um.
Speaker 1: But again, you know, like myself grouping the suburbs and
Speaker 1: and maybe didn't have the you know, the experience growing up.
Speaker 1: And and so now I feel confident enough that that
Speaker 1: you know, we can get out and we can we
Speaker 1: can do some stuff and and be talking to friends
Speaker 1: and at works and colleagues and and people have been
Speaker 1: just so gracious about opening up their their land to
Speaker 1: to let me hunt and to let others and it's
Speaker 1: just it's, I don't know, it's like it really. I
Speaker 1: think it goes back to what Hank said about the
Speaker 1: confidence and once you have the competence, um, doors really
Speaker 1: start to open. So the biggest hurdle is certainly just
Speaker 1: getting started. But once once you're through that, it gets
Speaker 1: a lot easier. It does, and in some ways it
Speaker 1: gets harder. But I think that the the initial I
Speaker 1: think the initial step is the hardest, you know, And
Speaker 1: and once you get through that, um, the confidence starts
Speaker 1: to set in and people people see that, and so
Speaker 1: uh um for to night, we're actually talking about this
Speaker 1: last night and we've coined ourselves the mentees of Mark.
Speaker 1: We're we're still we're still working out what the matching
Speaker 1: tattoos are gonna look like, but we're heading down the road.
Speaker 1: It's like something like, you know, your face like a
Speaker 1: Joe Rogan type thing. We'll figure it out. We're looking
Speaker 1: up probably, but but yeah, we were we're playing in
Speaker 1: a hunt, you know, we're we're we're already uh playing
Speaker 1: on putting, putting our skills together and seeing what we
Speaker 1: can do. That is, uh, that is so cool, so
Speaker 1: cool to hear. Except for the tatoo part, I think
Speaker 1: that would be that sounds terrifying. Get my face on
Speaker 1: your shoulder. But outside of that, I'm excited to hear
Speaker 1: all that. Uh so for sort of about what about
Speaker 1: from your perspective, what have your thoughts been in the
Speaker 1: days and weeks after that? In where do you think
Speaker 1: things are going to go from here? Yeah? So you know,
Speaker 1: immediately the next day after the hunt, it was, um,
Speaker 1: it was about two and a half hour drive from
Speaker 1: where I live from where Backboard he is and in
Speaker 1: West Michigan, and from there it was how do how
Speaker 1: do I get this thing processed? There's a processor in
Speaker 1: the nearby town. But I don't want to some half
Speaker 1: hours back, you know too, But in have to to
Speaker 1: pick up a my process, dear, and UM, you know,
Speaker 1: that was another thing that I wasn't really expecting to
Speaker 1: have to kind of work through. UM was okay, I'm
Speaker 1: at I just I just harvested the deer. It's in
Speaker 1: the back of my car. I'm in a hotel room
Speaker 1: by myself. UM, it's late. What do I do tomorrow
Speaker 1: morning with this deer? You know? Um? Luckily Xavier Austin
Speaker 1: gave me a recommendation to a processor. Back I'm in
Speaker 1: West Michigan, closer to where I live, and UM, bringing
Speaker 1: that deer to the processor, meeting the processor, UM, telling
Speaker 1: him about the experience, and it was just it was
Speaker 1: a feeling of elation still and almost like I don't
Speaker 1: I don't know how to describe it. It was just
Speaker 1: it was lingering, UM joy and um. You know. Immediately
Speaker 1: after that, it was it was how do I what's
Speaker 1: the best way to cook this? UM? Wonder how much
Speaker 1: what my yield is gonna be? How much meat I'm
Speaker 1: gonna get? Um, is my wife's gonna like to eat venison?
Speaker 1: Or my kid's gonna like the venison, and so my
Speaker 1: mind shifted to kind of like the consuming part of it.
Speaker 1: And um, after getting the deer back um and bringing
Speaker 1: it home and um, I have the I had the
Speaker 1: processor keep the hide for me because I said, I
Speaker 1: you know, I know it's type flies, like the typ
Speaker 1: of splies. Is this to commemorate you know the events?
Speaker 1: And like oh yeah. And I walked in with the
Speaker 1: with the boxes meat and my wife was there in
Speaker 1: the kitchen and I had the hide wrapped up in
Speaker 1: the back and she she had this big smile on
Speaker 1: her face and she went up and touched the high
Speaker 1: um on um on my shoulder and she's like, oh,
Speaker 1: that's such a great blanket. Did you get that for me?
Speaker 1: You know? This is the deer's Like okay, I'm good
Speaker 1: with this. And I told her all about it, but
Speaker 1: it was it was a really neat feeling to have
Speaker 1: the kids come around and you're like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: dad shot it here there it is and have them
Speaker 1: see that and have have that um that additional like
Speaker 1: joy kind of come into life that this is a
Speaker 1: really cool thing, not just for me that you know,
Speaker 1: other people are are into it too, and so you
Speaker 1: know moving forward has ha cooked some things. Evan has
Speaker 1: helped me great that he knows so much about culinary thing.
Speaker 1: So when I'm like, hey, they quick question on what's
Speaker 1: the port, what's the fat to meat ratio? If I
Speaker 1: want to do that, that kind of thing. And so
Speaker 1: we've been keeping in touch Evan and I through a
Speaker 1: bunch of text messages and then this last night, I
Speaker 1: think I had another cooking question for him as I'm
Speaker 1: getting ready to do the attended line meal, and um,
Speaker 1: I said, hey, can we just talk. Last night we
Speaker 1: thought for over an hour about what we're gonna do next.
Speaker 1: So really really excited already again you know, for for um,
Speaker 1: for the next the next thing, and looking forward to
Speaker 1: giving back as working with the with the program again
Speaker 1: next fall and helping out we're needed and that kind
Speaker 1: of thing. So um, pretty much immediate next actions are
Speaker 1: kind of like buy the book, like, hey, let's start scouting,
Speaker 1: let's figure out what tools we need, let's start putting
Speaker 1: some dates out there, let's you know, and that kind
Speaker 1: of thing. So I think I think you guys kicked
Speaker 1: this off. We're we're off and running. Yeah, I'm like
Speaker 1: a proud dad sitting over here just smiling from ear
Speaker 1: to ear. I gotta tell you, I mean it's you
Speaker 1: talked about that joy that's lingering. You know that you
Speaker 1: mentioned force, and I'm feeling the same thing over here.
Speaker 1: And I can't emphasize enough for anybody listening that is
Speaker 1: a current hunt. Two just how much fun it is
Speaker 1: to help other people in this kind of way. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's it's just as satisfying and exciting and um fulfilling
Speaker 1: as being on the other side. So I thank you
Speaker 1: both for for taking a shot and taking a chance
Speaker 1: to pursue this thing. Thanks for the courage to explore
Speaker 1: this new pursuit, and and then for following through with
Speaker 1: it and sharing your experience now and for committing to
Speaker 1: to helping other people in the future. I just think
Speaker 1: it's it's incredible, and you have both helped re energize
Speaker 1: me and help remind me of why I do what
Speaker 1: I do. So thank you, Thank you, Thank you and
Speaker 1: uh as as mentees of Mark as I as I
Speaker 1: mentioned back in December, and that it didn't pan out
Speaker 1: this year, but I do this and I will do this.
Speaker 1: As mentees of Mark, you are an exclusive club that
Speaker 1: does have invitations to future hunts on my properties I
Speaker 1: hunt here in Michigan. I'm gonna get a mentee group
Speaker 1: hunt together. I think we should try to make it
Speaker 1: happen this year where we can all get out and
Speaker 1: hunt one of my spots that I still hunt, and
Speaker 1: uh see if we can all get back, get nostalgic
Speaker 1: about all of our early hunts together and uh and
Speaker 1: do it all over again. So let's make that happen.
Speaker 1: All right. That's awesome, awesome, thank you, thank you. Unbelievable.
Speaker 1: I'll do the food it it sounds good. Hank, do
Speaker 1: you have any final words you want to leave us with.
Speaker 1: I really don't. I think I think they've said it.
Speaker 1: I mean, um, their testimonials are a lot more than
Speaker 1: um I could ever convey to anybody. But I appreciate
Speaker 1: you guys. I appreciate you being a part of the program.
Speaker 1: I'm glad we found you and and I appreciate you
Speaker 1: taking your time to tell your stories here. Absolutely. Thank you, Hank,
Speaker 1: all right, and of course Mark and the rest of
Speaker 1: the crew. We can't thank you enough. This wouldn't have
Speaker 1: happened without your generosity, So thank you. Well. You are
Speaker 1: all very very welcome. It's been it's been my pleasure.
Speaker 1: It has been our pleasure. It's been a cliche to say,
Speaker 1: but it's been uh, it's been our privilege. It's been
Speaker 1: very very, very very cool. So with that, one thing
Speaker 1: I should say is we did film these hunts, as
Speaker 1: we alluded to, and we will be releasing this content
Speaker 1: in the coming months. I kind of forgot about that
Speaker 1: what's the game what's the game plan? Is this gonna
Speaker 1: be like what do you what are you putting together?
Speaker 1: Can give you guys to be uh just you know,
Speaker 1: hit and mark the other mark you know, um no, no,
Speaker 1: But we wanted to uh, you know, kind of show
Speaker 1: the process. You know, we've we've done it before, but
Speaker 1: it was a unique opportunity and opportunity to kind of
Speaker 1: highlight a community based filled the fork and and so
Speaker 1: we wanted to document the program and tell and show
Speaker 1: what we've done and hopefully inspire others just like this,
Speaker 1: uh this podcast, we hope though. So we're just gonna
Speaker 1: put out some summary content and uh and use some
Speaker 1: of the educational bits that we recorded in the in
Speaker 1: the you know, in betweens of the hunts. But we're
Speaker 1: looking forward to getting that content out and let in
Speaker 1: the world. See it very cool. I look forward to
Speaker 1: that as well. Forest and Hank appreciate you taking the
Speaker 1: time of your today. Let's all get together and chat
Speaker 1: again sometime soon, right, okay, yeah, thanks guys. All right,
Speaker 1: and that is a rap. Thank you for tuning in.
Speaker 1: I'll just reiterate what Hank said. Please go to the
Speaker 1: National Deer Association website and find out more. If you
Speaker 1: want to become a participant in the field of fork program,
Speaker 1: you can be mentored by folks like we talked about
Speaker 1: today or on the flip side. If you want to
Speaker 1: be a mentor and there is the need for more
Speaker 1: people like you and I to help out, please do.
Speaker 1: I tell you from my perspective as a mentor, it's
Speaker 1: one of the absolute best things I did last year
Speaker 1: and the year prior and the year prior to that.
Speaker 1: It's it's just as rewarding, if not more rewarding for
Speaker 1: us as the mentor. I'm telling you, I'm not both
Speaker 1: shitting you. You're gonna enjoy it, So go ahead and
Speaker 1: give a little time, give a day or two. I
Speaker 1: think you will absolutely not regret it. So check it out.
Speaker 1: Go to the National Deer Association website to learn more.
Speaker 1: Thank you all for listening. I appreciate you, enjoy yourself,
Speaker 1: Stay safe out there, and until next time, stay wired
Speaker 1: to