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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast, your home for

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Speaker 1: deer hunting news, stories and strategies, and now your host,

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Speaker 1: Mark Kenyon. Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast. I'm

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Speaker 1: your host, Mark Kenyan, and this is episode number four

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Speaker 1: oh one and today's show, I'm joined by a new

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Speaker 1: hunter you've heard on this podcast several times now, Dan

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Speaker 1: Ja Joe, who just recently took the huge step of

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Speaker 1: killing his first dear ever. Alright, welcome to the Wired

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Speaker 1: to Hunt podcast. We have got a really cool episode

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Speaker 1: for you today. It's a store that I'm so glad

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Speaker 1: that we can share. It is the story of how

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Speaker 1: Dan Ja Joe has killed his first dear. We had

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Speaker 1: Dan on the show for the first time last fall,

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Speaker 1: so two thousand nineteen, after I met him at a

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Speaker 1: q d M a Field to Fork Mentors hunt event.

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Speaker 1: This is an event that that paired something like a

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Speaker 1: dozen new hunters with a dozen mentors, had him spend

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Speaker 1: the weekend together and teach him everything they know. So

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Speaker 1: I was a mentor on that hunt. Dan was a

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Speaker 1: guy I met there and and since then we've stayed

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Speaker 1: in touch and I invited him out to the Back

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Speaker 1: forty this year. UM and hopefully you've heard the stories

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Speaker 1: about how that went. He came out in the summer.

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Speaker 1: He helped us work on the farm, planning food plots,

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Speaker 1: planting trees, um. He then came out in the fall

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Speaker 1: for a hunt. That hunt was featured on the Back

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Speaker 1: forty TV show, which you can see on the Meat

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Speaker 1: Eater YouTube channel. So if you were to watch episode

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Speaker 1: two of that show, you would see Dan out there

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Speaker 1: in the summer working with us. If you watch episode

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Speaker 1: six of the show, you'd get to see his hunt.

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Speaker 1: We had a really fun hunt that you know, I

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Speaker 1: had a bunch of ups and downs and ultimately though

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Speaker 1: we were not able to get him his first deer.

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Speaker 1: So that was disappointing, but but you know, that's hunting.

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Speaker 1: And over these subsequent weeks, though Dan kept after it

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Speaker 1: and just recently on his own, the guy's h a

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Speaker 1: tremendous example of persistence. He kept after it. He he

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Speaker 1: wrote out a couple more storms and was able to

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Speaker 1: get the job done. Dan killed his first dear. He's

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Speaker 1: a tremendous example of of you know, what's possible for

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Speaker 1: new hunters, and his story I think is a great

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Speaker 1: example for experienced hunters like myself so I think you know,

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Speaker 1: even if you're a new hunter, I think this is

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Speaker 1: a story to listen to, Beads. I think you will

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Speaker 1: be really encouraged by it. I think you'll be inspired

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Speaker 1: by the journey that Dan has been on that has

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Speaker 1: ultimately led him to now becoming you know, you know,

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Speaker 1: he's been a hunter, but now he's he's successfully filled

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Speaker 1: his first tag. So I think if you're new, they've

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Speaker 1: got to listen to this story. It's gonna give you

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Speaker 1: some some wisdom and some encouragement that I think will help.

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Speaker 1: If you are an experienced hunter though already, I think

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Speaker 1: you need to listen to the story because it's gonna

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Speaker 1: help you see the fruits of your labor in mentoring.

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Speaker 1: This is something I'm trying to do more of this year,

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Speaker 1: taking the time to help other people show them what

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Speaker 1: this thing is all about that we love so much.

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Speaker 1: Let's let's help other people experience that too. I think

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Speaker 1: you're gonna even be inspired by what Dan has to

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Speaker 1: share about his experience and how important mentorship was for him.

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Speaker 1: The impact that mentors had on his trajectory is huge,

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Speaker 1: and and I think this is evidence of the kind

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Speaker 1: of impact that that YouTube could make. So give this

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Speaker 1: one to listen. I hope that it will maybe maybe

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Speaker 1: cue some thinking, Maybe it will trigger you to think

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Speaker 1: about you know, who is there in your life that

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Speaker 1: maybe has expressed some kind of interest in hunting, but

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Speaker 1: you know you never followed up with, Or who do

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Speaker 1: you know out there that that could use some new

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Speaker 1: access so they could get their first year, or or

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Speaker 1: maybe you don't know anyone like that, but how could

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Speaker 1: you seek out and find people who do want help,

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Speaker 1: Because there's a lot of them. Guys, more than a

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Speaker 1: lot of us have realized there are people out there

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Speaker 1: in the world who have never hunted, but in the

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Speaker 1: back of their minds are thinking, you know what if

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Speaker 1: I you know, if I, if I ever had the chance,

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Speaker 1: I might do that. I'd like to get some meat

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Speaker 1: in the freezer and know exactly how it got there.

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Speaker 1: I might be willing to give that a try. But

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Speaker 1: they don't know anybody in their family or their circle

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Speaker 1: of friends who can show them how to do those things,

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Speaker 1: so they never do, and they go through the rest

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Speaker 1: of their lives never having hunted, never having experienced this

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Speaker 1: thing that's so transformational that that we're so lucky to

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Speaker 1: get to do every year. So listen to the story.

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Speaker 1: It's a quick one, it's a fun one, it's it's

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Speaker 1: at least for me, really damn inspirational. So let's get

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Speaker 1: to the story of how Dan killed his first dear

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Speaker 1: and let's just enjoy. This is a great way to

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Speaker 1: start the new year and as a a really important

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Speaker 1: bedrock for me at least when it comes to what

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Speaker 1: I want to achieve this year, which is making these

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Speaker 1: stories happen more often. So, without further ado, here's Dan

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Speaker 1: Jo Joe and the story of his first dear. All

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Speaker 1: right with me on the show today. On the other

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Speaker 1: line is the wise and powerful Dan jo Jo. Dan,

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Speaker 1: welcome back to the show any mark. I wouldn't say why.

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Speaker 1: It's been powerful, but thank you, thank you, thanks for

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Speaker 1: having me back on. Well, hey man, you've got a

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Speaker 1: lot to be excited about lately. You you got engaged.

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Speaker 1: Congratulations on that, Thank you. You killed your first deer,

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Speaker 1: congratulations on that, Thank you man. And most importantly, you

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Speaker 1: finished up your year of pies? Right did you finish

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Speaker 1: up the year pies? You gotta leave at all plumb.

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Speaker 1: I'm throwing it to the bus here. But when for

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Speaker 1: everyone listening, when Dan and I hunted together this November.

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Speaker 1: He mistakenly, Uh admitted the fact that his his girlfriend

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Speaker 1: now fiance was doing this Year of Pies where every

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Speaker 1: month she made a different pie and she made Dan

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Speaker 1: taste test it, and then she instagrammed every time he

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Speaker 1: tasted the pies, and and I forced him to let

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Speaker 1: us watch all these Instagram videos. So please tell me

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Speaker 1: that's done right. She's not gonna do it to again.

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Speaker 1: She was. She was conspiring for another year's resolution, of

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Speaker 1: another year of something, but I had to put the

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Speaker 1: brakes on it. I couldn't handle it. Though it was

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Speaker 1: she did a nice shot. Oh man, Well, I'm glad

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Speaker 1: we get to talk because we actually haven't talked on

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Speaker 1: the phone about the hunt itself. We first off, you

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Speaker 1: texted me and said that you got it done, you

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Speaker 1: killed your first deer. And then I said, can we

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Speaker 1: can you tell me the story? And you said, no,

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Speaker 1: I gotta get this dear. Gutted, I was talking about it,

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Speaker 1: so so then I realized, that's a good idea. Let's

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Speaker 1: not hear the full story until now till we're on

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Speaker 1: the air, and Uh and I can enjoy it for

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Speaker 1: the first time with everybody else. I'm so excited for you.

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Speaker 1: It's been a hell of a journey. I know, it's

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Speaker 1: been really cool to be able to follow along with

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Speaker 1: it the last two seasons now. And what I wanted

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Speaker 1: to do today, man, was is is kind of recap it.

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Speaker 1: So start at the beginning again and kind of briefly

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Speaker 1: get everybody up to speed on on what led you

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Speaker 1: down this path, what got you here and then and

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Speaker 1: then dive deep into the the final weeks of your

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Speaker 1: season and what ultimately led to this very exciting conclusion. So, um,

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Speaker 1: you feeling good about that? That sound good? Yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: that sounds great. I'm happy to share the story. Cool.

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Speaker 1: Are you as excited about this as I am? That

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Speaker 1: this happened? Dude? I was pumped, man. I mean when

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Speaker 1: when it all went down, I was just so so

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Speaker 1: happy and just so like, I don't know, I don't

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Speaker 1: know if relieved is the right word, but just the

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Speaker 1: fact that I got it done and I was just like,

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Speaker 1: you know, all this work, all this time, so that

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Speaker 1: it was just like came down to that moment. I

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Speaker 1: was just pumped. So so yes, I can I can

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Speaker 1: only imagine. Man. Well let's let's let's rewind the tape

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Speaker 1: a little bit and just get everybody caught up if

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Speaker 1: they hadn't heard. You know you you joined me last year,

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Speaker 1: I guess for a podcast after we met at one

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Speaker 1: of these mentor hunts that the quti May puts on

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Speaker 1: through their Field of Fork program. So that's how we met, um,

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Speaker 1: and since then we've been in touch. And then we

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Speaker 1: hunted together this fall, did some work together this summer.

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Speaker 1: But but real quick, can you just re how how

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Speaker 1: this whole crazy journey started for you? What? What was

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Speaker 1: the center down this path? Yeah? Man, so I mean

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Speaker 1: growing up, I I I did a lot of fishing

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Speaker 1: with my older brothers, and I've always had an interest

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Speaker 1: in the outdoors, um, but never had really much involvement

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Speaker 1: in hunting. Um. As I started to get older, I

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Speaker 1: started doing other things outside, you know, snowboarding, mountain biking, etcetera. Um,

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Speaker 1: but hunting still really never never came into the picture. Um,

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Speaker 1: you know, fast forward, I don't know, A couple of

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Speaker 1: years later, I got my hands on a compound bow

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Speaker 1: and I started shooting that and having a lot of

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Speaker 1: fun with it, and um, you know, I saw it

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Speaker 1: as an avenue to get into hunting. But just didn't

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Speaker 1: really know how to actually you know, put it to work,

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Speaker 1: or or where to go or you know, have other

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Speaker 1: people in my my friend group or peer group that

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Speaker 1: could show me the ropes. Um So, so that kind

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Speaker 1: of led me into getting you know, starting to try

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Speaker 1: to figure it out myself. Um. Obviously started doing research

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Speaker 1: on my own. I caught window meat Eater, started watching

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Speaker 1: episodes on on that you know, caught your podcast, started

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Speaker 1: listening to to what you had to say, and it

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Speaker 1: was all great information, but just found that I just

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Speaker 1: kind of didn't have the real, i don't know, motivation

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Speaker 1: or encouragement to really just start doing it on my own.

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Speaker 1: And I had had a friend at the time that

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Speaker 1: had some property up north, and they took me on

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Speaker 1: a uh, you know, my first couple of hunts up there.

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Speaker 1: Um and that kind of um just got me just

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Speaker 1: my my my fingers kind of in there. And I

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Speaker 1: don't know, it was just a start to what I

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Speaker 1: thought could be a lot of fun and a new

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Speaker 1: activity that I could I could pursue. Um So, so yeah,

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Speaker 1: I you know, as I started to get more interested,

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Speaker 1: I found the field of fork program and um, I

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Speaker 1: met yourself and I met Josh and Jason and you

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Speaker 1: guys were all all, you know, like minded guys that

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Speaker 1: had a lot of experience in hunting, and I kind

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Speaker 1: of took the leap of faith to to get get

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Speaker 1: with you guys, and we did a couple of hunts

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Speaker 1: at the program and they all went really well. Um,

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Speaker 1: and then from there it was just kind of like,

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Speaker 1: all right, well, now I gotta start, you know, figuring

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Speaker 1: this out on my own and doing more research and

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Speaker 1: and you know, keep going and um yeah, and you

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Speaker 1: know that's that's that was last year, right, So fast

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Speaker 1: forward to this year. I started to you know, really yeah,

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Speaker 1: before before you go too much further to two questions

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Speaker 1: about that first year and those those years or months

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Speaker 1: leading up to it. Number One, you got the bow,

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Speaker 1: you liked fishing when you started thinking about hunting. Was

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Speaker 1: it the activity itself that you thought like, hey, this

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Speaker 1: would be a one thing to go do, Like I

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Speaker 1: like the fish, I like to pursue fish, I probably

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Speaker 1: like to pursue animals, or was it I really want

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Speaker 1: to get a bunch of meat. Like which side of

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Speaker 1: hunting was what really drew you in or was it

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Speaker 1: the whole package? Were you thinking the whole picture at

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Speaker 1: that point already. Yeah, it was definitely the whole picture.

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Speaker 1: I mean I'd like, I like the whole kind of

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Speaker 1: adventure aspect of it of you know, going out in

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Speaker 1: the woods and trying to figure out how I can

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Speaker 1: put myself in position to get a to get a deer.

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Speaker 1: But then also on the flip side of things, I

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Speaker 1: also was very excited to get a bunch of meat obviously, Um,

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Speaker 1: you know, obviously through fishing and just growing up fishing

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Speaker 1: my brothers and I would I would love to get

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Speaker 1: a good haul of while I or perch and have

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Speaker 1: a you know, a fish for with family and friends. Um.

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Speaker 1: I just saw this as another way to get you know,

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Speaker 1: some some food on the table as well, and and

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Speaker 1: and enjoy it with family and friends like like I

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Speaker 1: do with you know, with the fish that I get

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Speaker 1: with my brothers. So it was definitely the whole, the

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Speaker 1: whole package there. Okay, what about the flip side then?

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Speaker 1: Was there anything early on that you were worried about?

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Speaker 1: I know in past conversations you told me that some

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Speaker 1: things that have have worried you have been like just

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Speaker 1: being able to get the final act done properly, getting

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Speaker 1: a good cling kill that kind of thing. Um, but

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Speaker 1: were you ever apprehensive about, I don't know, could you

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Speaker 1: kill an animal? Were you ever apprehensive about what would

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Speaker 1: your friends or family think did Was there anybody who thought, oh,

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Speaker 1: hunting's something you shouldn't do, anything like that, or something

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Speaker 1: else that gave you worry as you started going down

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Speaker 1: this path um a little bit. I mean, you know, I,

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Speaker 1: like I said, I don't really have many friends or

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Speaker 1: any friends really in my immediate friend group that that hunted.

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Speaker 1: So when when I kind of started getting into it,

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Speaker 1: they you know, naturally as friends do you you just start

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Speaker 1: ripping on you for stuff that you're doing. So you

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Speaker 1: know that that was always kind of in the back

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Speaker 1: of my mind, you know, just I didn't let it

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Speaker 1: bother me too much. I was going to keep doing

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Speaker 1: what I was doing because I liked it. Right. Um,

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Speaker 1: My family was pretty supportive of it. I mean, any

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Speaker 1: time that I was telling them that, you know, we

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Speaker 1: could have a bunch of meat here, they're they're all

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Speaker 1: about it. So so they were they were gung ho

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Speaker 1: um for me to kill an animal. You know that

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Speaker 1: that lingered in the back of my mind. I knew

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Speaker 1: it was just part of hunting, so I wasn't gonna

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Speaker 1: let it bother me too much. And the fact that

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Speaker 1: you know, like I feel like it's it's it's the

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Speaker 1: best way you can connect to your actual food versus

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Speaker 1: going to the grocery store and and and just completely

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Speaker 1: removing yourself from from that from that kill or or

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Speaker 1: or the harvest of that animal. I just thought it

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Speaker 1: was it was if I was going to do it,

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Speaker 1: this is the best way I could have food for

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Speaker 1: myself and potentially for my family and friends. So so yeah,

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Speaker 1: that that was kind of what was going through my mind. Okay,

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Speaker 1: did you ever end up having um, you know, you

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Speaker 1: you weren't. You weren't worried about any negativity. It sounds

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Speaker 1: like you never you ever got any of it your friends,

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Speaker 1: other than giving you as a good natured hard time,

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Speaker 1: you haven't experienced any any negativity around it. No, not much.

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Speaker 1: I mean, for the most part, you know, it was

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Speaker 1: it was pretty supportive. Um. I never really had any like, oh,

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Speaker 1: you shouldn't be doing that, or you shouldn't go out

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Speaker 1: and kill an animal. Um, you know, and and if

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Speaker 1: and if I ever did, you know, I would kind

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Speaker 1: of explain the whole sustainability aspect of it, of how

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Speaker 1: you know this this is really kind of like the

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Speaker 1: best way you can go out and get your meat.

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Speaker 1: You know that that deer lived its best life in

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Speaker 1: and its natural habitat. Um. I found that it was

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Speaker 1: it was, you know, quite okay to go out and

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Speaker 1: take take an animal from from from their habitat and

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Speaker 1: a sustainable way where that population is being managed, and

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Speaker 1: you know it was okay to do so. So, I mean,

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Speaker 1: I I did my research. It was of what I'm

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Speaker 1: trying to say, and just made sure that if I

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Speaker 1: ever did come across that I was I was prepared

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Speaker 1: to have that conversation. Yeah. Well, you certainly seem that

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Speaker 1: you've given us some thought, which which I love. UM.

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Speaker 1: And and this is just another example of of what

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Speaker 1: I saw this year and that I can just see

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Speaker 1: that you've This wasn't something that you're like, oh, I'm

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Speaker 1: just gonna give it a shot and just gonna go

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Speaker 1: out there and kind of walk around like you've really

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Speaker 1: dove into it, You thought about it, You've done a

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Speaker 1: lot of preparation, You've you've worked hard. Um. And then

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Speaker 1: that first year, you know, at least last year where

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Speaker 1: you you start taking those next steps and you reached

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Speaker 1: out and you you met up with us. Uh, what

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Speaker 1: was it last year that maybe there wasn't Maybe I'm

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Speaker 1: just making assumptions here, but was there something last year

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Speaker 1: that was that like tipping point for you where this

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Speaker 1: went from this thing like you're kind of curious about

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Speaker 1: til like, all right, I'm going into this and I'm

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Speaker 1: really diving into it, um because it seems like you're

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Speaker 1: in a totally different place than you were a year ago.

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Speaker 1: Is it was there something like that? Yeah? Well, I

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Speaker 1: think the first thing was my hunt with Jason last year,

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Speaker 1: where I think we were about a step away from

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Speaker 1: launching an arrow at a box. And I think that

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Speaker 1: moment was just like holy cow, that that actually almost happened.

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Speaker 1: And I, you know, I had that small taste of

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Speaker 1: you know, I quote unquote success and and I think

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Speaker 1: that just kind of launched me down this this black

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Speaker 1: hole of Okay, I I have to figure this out.

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Speaker 1: I was almost there, and you know, it's it's going

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Speaker 1: to happen eventually. I just got to figure out, you know,

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Speaker 1: that last bit of whatever I need to do to

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Speaker 1: really get it done. Um. So that was the immediate thing,

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Speaker 1: and then part of it is I'm I don't know, man,

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Speaker 1: I'm kind of a head case, and when when I

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Speaker 1: can't figure something out, I just kind of go crazy

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Speaker 1: and just try to do my research and do my

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Speaker 1: work to to figure it out eventually. Um. I just

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Speaker 1: I just like, I like challenging things, and I mean

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Speaker 1: hunting is is by no means easy, And I just

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Speaker 1: thought it was just something that I really wanted to

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Speaker 1: pursue and you know, figure out and and you know,

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Speaker 1: add it to my list of bobbies that you know,

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Speaker 1: it seems to be growing every day. Um So, so yeah,

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Speaker 1: that was kind of what I was thinking. What about

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Speaker 1: that you mentioned that experience that Jason Um and I'm

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Speaker 1: just curious and we talked about this a little bit

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Speaker 1: last year. People should go back and listen to this

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Speaker 1: full conversation just after that mentor hunt. But what and

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Speaker 1: you've also experienced it this year to what aspect of

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Speaker 1: spending time with a mentor like that did you find

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Speaker 1: most helpful because you finally had someone to sit with

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Speaker 1: you and and talk through some things and show you things. Um,

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Speaker 1: was there anything that you can point to that was like, oh, yeah,

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Speaker 1: this really made a difference, or this this is where

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00:19:25,680 --> 00:19:27,560
Speaker 1: I needed help or or maybe it didn't get it,

348
00:19:27,640 --> 00:19:30,760
Speaker 1: and and and you found yourself still having questions. But

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Speaker 1: anything like that stand out. Oh yeah, definitely. I think

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Speaker 1: just having somebody out there with me showing me kind

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Speaker 1: of what to look for and and and you know

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Speaker 1: what what's good sign versus bad sign? Um? You know

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Speaker 1: what hunting pressure looks like? Um, what where the deer

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00:19:53,000 --> 00:19:56,879
Speaker 1: might travel through? Pulling up maps, shown me you know,

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Speaker 1: different terrain features on on X or whatever. Um. You know.

356
00:20:01,760 --> 00:20:04,760
Speaker 1: Jason also showed me this different resource, this other resource

357
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Speaker 1: through the Michigan DNR where it shows all the different

358
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Speaker 1: um I guess trees in a given public plan area

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Speaker 1: and where you can point out oaks which are good

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Speaker 1: food sources for the deer. I mean it was just

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Speaker 1: uh a breath of knowledge that Jason was able to

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Speaker 1: provide that you know, had I been trying to figure

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Speaker 1: it out on my own, could have taken me, like

364
00:20:28,440 --> 00:20:32,040
Speaker 1: you know, weeks or months or or even years to

365
00:20:32,040 --> 00:20:36,359
Speaker 1: try to nail down. So the the intel and the

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00:20:36,440 --> 00:20:38,560
Speaker 1: knowledge that he had and he was able to give

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00:20:38,600 --> 00:20:43,000
Speaker 1: to me, it was just so valuable. Um in that one,

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Speaker 1: I think it was it was two hunts that we

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Speaker 1: did together. And then you know, the hunt that I

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Speaker 1: did with you this year was I mean, you know,

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Speaker 1: I had had kind of got the foundation like Okay,

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Speaker 1: this is what betting area looks like, and this is

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Speaker 1: what you know sign looks like. But from from the

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Speaker 1: hunt we did together, now it's like, okay, now we

375
00:21:01,119 --> 00:21:04,960
Speaker 1: we have a legitimate chance of seeing some deer. What

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00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:08,040
Speaker 1: do we do now? Um? And and you kind of

377
00:21:08,040 --> 00:21:10,280
Speaker 1: guided me through the whole process of Okay, you know,

378
00:21:10,960 --> 00:21:15,000
Speaker 1: take a deep breath. We don't need to rush a shot. Um.

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Speaker 1: You know, we want to make sure that the deer

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Speaker 1: is is in a good spot to take a shot.

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Speaker 1: And I mean that alone, you know, you can, you

382
00:21:23,080 --> 00:21:27,080
Speaker 1: can coach yourself to do it, but you know, um,

383
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Speaker 1: it's it kind of takes that that that other guy

384
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Speaker 1: right next to kind of help you and give you

385
00:21:33,240 --> 00:21:36,600
Speaker 1: those mental cues to really to really help you do

386
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Speaker 1: do something well. And unfortunately we didn't get it done

387
00:21:39,040 --> 00:21:41,480
Speaker 1: in that hunt. But like I mean, you know in

388
00:21:41,520 --> 00:21:44,239
Speaker 1: my other hunts that that's that's like ingrained in my

389
00:21:44,600 --> 00:21:46,879
Speaker 1: in my mind. Now it's like, don't rush a shot,

390
00:21:47,280 --> 00:21:49,920
Speaker 1: you know, calm down, just breathe, you know, it's it's

391
00:21:50,040 --> 00:21:52,960
Speaker 1: it's those things that that have really helped me. Yeah.

392
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Speaker 1: So so between year season one or last year and

393
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Speaker 1: this year, um, heading into this season, well, I guess

394
00:22:02,359 --> 00:22:05,239
Speaker 1: would be last season now for us technically, but um,

395
00:22:05,880 --> 00:22:08,120
Speaker 1: what what kind of things were you wanting to work

396
00:22:08,160 --> 00:22:10,120
Speaker 1: on or did you come into the year with I'm

397
00:22:10,160 --> 00:22:12,560
Speaker 1: doing this different and this different and I'm gonna do

398
00:22:12,600 --> 00:22:15,800
Speaker 1: this better or was there anything that you brought into

399
00:22:15,840 --> 00:22:19,040
Speaker 1: two thousand twenty as as a to do or goal

400
00:22:19,440 --> 00:22:23,720
Speaker 1: or or something you were going to focus on. Yeah. Yeah,

401
00:22:23,760 --> 00:22:28,480
Speaker 1: I had a list of things, and um, I kind

402
00:22:28,480 --> 00:22:33,640
Speaker 1: of started. I started pretty early in the springtime, and

403
00:22:33,680 --> 00:22:36,280
Speaker 1: my first thing was, Okay, I gotta find I gotta

404
00:22:36,320 --> 00:22:40,600
Speaker 1: find other places to hunt. Um because last I guess,

405
00:22:40,840 --> 00:22:43,119
Speaker 1: you know, the season it was just kind of me

406
00:22:43,280 --> 00:22:46,560
Speaker 1: like kicking public land spots and me just kind of

407
00:22:46,600 --> 00:22:49,520
Speaker 1: walking out and just trying to figure out what looks

408
00:22:49,560 --> 00:22:51,919
Speaker 1: good and you know, setting up shop right there and

409
00:22:51,960 --> 00:22:55,439
Speaker 1: then um with not much, with not much you know,

410
00:22:55,600 --> 00:22:59,720
Speaker 1: rhyme or reason this this upcoming season or I guess

411
00:22:59,760 --> 00:23:02,560
Speaker 1: this as season. Um, I wanted to be a little

412
00:23:02,600 --> 00:23:06,240
Speaker 1: more methodical about where I went and you know, have

413
00:23:06,240 --> 00:23:09,400
Speaker 1: have a purpose as to where I was setting up. So, um,

414
00:23:09,440 --> 00:23:12,919
Speaker 1: I started, you know, doing some research on ONYX and

415
00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:16,160
Speaker 1: just trying to find public land spots that just looked

416
00:23:16,200 --> 00:23:18,639
Speaker 1: good to me, just you know, different terrain features that

417
00:23:18,680 --> 00:23:21,560
Speaker 1: I thought would hold deer, um you know, where I

418
00:23:21,600 --> 00:23:25,120
Speaker 1: could find different food sources that they liked. Um, where

419
00:23:25,119 --> 00:23:30,240
Speaker 1: I where I thought, you know, pressure wouldn't be. So

420
00:23:30,320 --> 00:23:34,200
Speaker 1: that was my kind of early season start. And then

421
00:23:34,280 --> 00:23:36,920
Speaker 1: once the weather started getting good, I did a couple

422
00:23:36,920 --> 00:23:38,960
Speaker 1: of boots on the ground trips just to check out

423
00:23:38,960 --> 00:23:41,240
Speaker 1: the spots to make sure that what I was seeing

424
00:23:41,240 --> 00:23:45,520
Speaker 1: online was really legitimate and if I thought, uh, you

425
00:23:45,560 --> 00:23:48,800
Speaker 1: know the spots that I found, we're worth my while.

426
00:23:49,600 --> 00:23:51,960
Speaker 1: Um So I did that, and you know, some of

427
00:23:51,960 --> 00:23:53,960
Speaker 1: the spots that I found online ended up turning out

428
00:23:54,119 --> 00:23:56,320
Speaker 1: you know good, and I ended up hunting them, and

429
00:23:56,320 --> 00:23:57,919
Speaker 1: then other spots I was just like, all right, this

430
00:23:58,000 --> 00:24:01,359
Speaker 1: isn't what I thought it was. So from that aspect,

431
00:24:01,400 --> 00:24:04,600
Speaker 1: I definitely have some some work to do in terms

432
00:24:04,600 --> 00:24:07,520
Speaker 1: of like e scouting and what I think would be

433
00:24:07,920 --> 00:24:11,399
Speaker 1: worth my time actually scoping out. Um So that was

434
00:24:11,440 --> 00:24:13,840
Speaker 1: the scouting aspect of it, and then I wanted to

435
00:24:13,840 --> 00:24:16,520
Speaker 1: get a lot better with my bowl. So I shot

436
00:24:16,600 --> 00:24:20,720
Speaker 1: my bow probably I don't know I started. I think

437
00:24:20,760 --> 00:24:22,879
Speaker 1: I got a little late start. So I started in

438
00:24:22,920 --> 00:24:28,080
Speaker 1: this I don't know, midsummer UM leading up to leading

439
00:24:28,160 --> 00:24:31,000
Speaker 1: up to the fall, and I tried to shoot, you know,

440
00:24:31,160 --> 00:24:34,640
Speaker 1: three to four times a week. It wouldn't happen every week,

441
00:24:34,680 --> 00:24:36,200
Speaker 1: but I tried to get it in even if it

442
00:24:36,400 --> 00:24:39,520
Speaker 1: was only like, you know, five or six arrows. But

443
00:24:39,600 --> 00:24:43,720
Speaker 1: I tried to shoot my bowl regularly, regularly, regularly, you know.

444
00:24:43,760 --> 00:24:45,840
Speaker 1: And that that was just all part of like, Okay,

445
00:24:45,840 --> 00:24:48,000
Speaker 1: if I if I am presented an opportunity, I want

446
00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:50,560
Speaker 1: to make sure I'm I'm making a good shot. I'm

447
00:24:50,600 --> 00:24:55,040
Speaker 1: not you know, wounding the deer, hurting an animal. So

448
00:24:55,119 --> 00:24:58,040
Speaker 1: that was that was the second big thing. And then

449
00:24:58,280 --> 00:25:03,080
Speaker 1: lastly I wanted to get my gear situation figured out. UM.

450
00:25:03,119 --> 00:25:05,760
Speaker 1: And when I say gear situations, since I am hunting

451
00:25:05,920 --> 00:25:11,320
Speaker 1: mostly public land, UM, I didn't really have like a

452
00:25:11,560 --> 00:25:14,320
Speaker 1: set stand that I would go up and and and

453
00:25:14,440 --> 00:25:18,640
Speaker 1: hunt UM. And I had bought late in that first season.

454
00:25:18,800 --> 00:25:21,879
Speaker 1: I bought like a kind of a mobile stand that

455
00:25:21,920 --> 00:25:25,879
Speaker 1: I would you know, towed around um different my different

456
00:25:25,920 --> 00:25:30,000
Speaker 1: hunting spots. And I just found that I wasn't really

457
00:25:30,040 --> 00:25:32,040
Speaker 1: good at setting it up. It would take me a

458
00:25:32,119 --> 00:25:34,000
Speaker 1: really long time to get up and down the tree.

459
00:25:34,720 --> 00:25:38,000
Speaker 1: I was really uncomfortable with it, you know, I was

460
00:25:38,040 --> 00:25:40,720
Speaker 1: really clumsy with it. So I wanted to figure something

461
00:25:40,720 --> 00:25:44,720
Speaker 1: else out. So I ended up looking up different saddles

462
00:25:44,800 --> 00:25:47,800
Speaker 1: that I could made me try out, and I finally

463
00:25:47,840 --> 00:25:52,200
Speaker 1: settled on getting a saddle, and UM practiced a few

464
00:25:52,240 --> 00:25:54,840
Speaker 1: times in the summer, just getting up and down trees,

465
00:25:55,560 --> 00:25:58,320
Speaker 1: but I really didn't get super good at it until,

466
00:25:58,760 --> 00:26:01,160
Speaker 1: you know, until I was doing it in the season

467
00:26:01,200 --> 00:26:05,359
Speaker 1: and you know, UM, really figuring out my process to

468
00:26:05,400 --> 00:26:07,720
Speaker 1: get up and down a tree and my process to

469
00:26:07,840 --> 00:26:10,840
Speaker 1: set up. But no means my super smooth. And I

470
00:26:10,840 --> 00:26:14,520
Speaker 1: mean I still drop stuff and you know it happens

471
00:26:14,560 --> 00:26:18,000
Speaker 1: to Yeah, man, I'm still clumsy with it, but I

472
00:26:18,119 --> 00:26:21,440
Speaker 1: just I'm I'm way more comfortable than that than I

473
00:26:21,520 --> 00:26:25,479
Speaker 1: was um last year with with with my my tree stands.

474
00:26:25,560 --> 00:26:28,639
Speaker 1: So I know, those were my three or four things

475
00:26:28,680 --> 00:26:32,400
Speaker 1: that I wanted to work on over the summer, and um,

476
00:26:32,480 --> 00:26:34,719
Speaker 1: you know, I think there's still work to do, but

477
00:26:34,960 --> 00:26:37,880
Speaker 1: I think that was a good start to my season,

478
00:26:38,040 --> 00:26:40,680
Speaker 1: my season leading up to this year. Yeah, so did

479
00:26:40,720 --> 00:26:47,800
Speaker 1: those did those things? Did those areas of focus end up? Um?

480
00:26:47,840 --> 00:26:50,639
Speaker 1: Helping you once the season once a year two began,

481
00:26:50,800 --> 00:26:53,440
Speaker 1: I mean, how did that all come into play? And

482
00:26:53,800 --> 00:26:58,520
Speaker 1: what did you two look like as you get started? Yeah,

483
00:26:58,640 --> 00:27:03,280
Speaker 1: I mean year two was was great. I mean, I'm

484
00:27:03,280 --> 00:27:06,840
Speaker 1: not going to downplay it. Um. The early part of

485
00:27:06,840 --> 00:27:12,120
Speaker 1: the season, when I started hunting all my public plan spots, um,

486
00:27:12,160 --> 00:27:14,600
Speaker 1: I mean it was pretty rough. I didn't really seem

487
00:27:14,600 --> 00:27:17,520
Speaker 1: many dear, to be honest with you. Um, I think

488
00:27:17,760 --> 00:27:21,760
Speaker 1: I saw a total of maybe two dear that whole time,

489
00:27:21,960 --> 00:27:25,439
Speaker 1: amongst you know, a handful of hunts. So it was

490
00:27:25,520 --> 00:27:28,880
Speaker 1: pretty challenging. My my spot didn't pan out like I'd

491
00:27:28,880 --> 00:27:34,119
Speaker 1: like them to, unfortunately. M A memorable moment was I

492
00:27:34,200 --> 00:27:37,439
Speaker 1: was hunting one more morning and one of my public

493
00:27:37,520 --> 00:27:41,520
Speaker 1: land spots and I had a group of like forty

494
00:27:41,800 --> 00:27:45,560
Speaker 1: people on horseback just tropped through the field I was hunting,

495
00:27:45,880 --> 00:27:48,880
Speaker 1: and I was just so rattled by what was going on.

496
00:27:50,600 --> 00:27:57,080
Speaker 1: So um, so that was interesting. Um and uh yeah,

497
00:27:57,560 --> 00:27:59,919
Speaker 1: like I said, I mean, the public plan spots then

498
00:28:00,200 --> 00:28:02,280
Speaker 1: pan out like I'd like them to. I mean, just

499
00:28:02,359 --> 00:28:06,399
Speaker 1: dealing with with hunting pressure and just really you know,

500
00:28:06,640 --> 00:28:09,720
Speaker 1: deer that are really on edge. I just I didn't

501
00:28:09,760 --> 00:28:13,440
Speaker 1: really think it was a a success, but I mean

502
00:28:13,520 --> 00:28:15,320
Speaker 1: I did learn a lot that. I mean, I gotta

503
00:28:15,359 --> 00:28:18,000
Speaker 1: take that away, you know, I gotta do things differently

504
00:28:18,040 --> 00:28:20,040
Speaker 1: for next year if I'm going to keep hunting public land,

505
00:28:20,080 --> 00:28:22,920
Speaker 1: which I probably will. Yeah. So then that that took

506
00:28:22,920 --> 00:28:26,320
Speaker 1: you to the back forty hunt, right, Yeah. And so

507
00:28:26,359 --> 00:28:28,560
Speaker 1: the back forty hunt. We talked about it, you know,

508
00:28:28,720 --> 00:28:30,400
Speaker 1: a month and a half ago or two months ago,

509
00:28:30,480 --> 00:28:35,680
Speaker 1: whenever we did that last podcast. Um, we had three

510
00:28:35,800 --> 00:28:38,920
Speaker 1: days out there. We saw, you know, a handful of

511
00:28:38,920 --> 00:28:43,160
Speaker 1: deer every hunt usually um, and I remember in my head,

512
00:28:43,440 --> 00:28:46,000
Speaker 1: I was thinking, ah, man, this sucks. We're not seeing

513
00:28:46,040 --> 00:28:49,280
Speaker 1: more dear. Dan's probably really bummed. And then I remember

514
00:28:49,280 --> 00:28:51,520
Speaker 1: at one point, You're like shaking with excitement, and we

515
00:28:51,520 --> 00:28:52,920
Speaker 1: saw a couple of dolls, and you know, this is

516
00:28:52,960 --> 00:28:55,640
Speaker 1: more dear than I've seen all year. And it was

517
00:28:55,680 --> 00:28:58,840
Speaker 1: such a great reminder for me that I can sometimes

518
00:28:58,840 --> 00:29:01,840
Speaker 1: get jaded because as because I've been able to do

519
00:29:01,920 --> 00:29:04,479
Speaker 1: this for so long, and I have been super blessed

520
00:29:04,480 --> 00:29:06,720
Speaker 1: to be in some really great situations. I've got to

521
00:29:06,760 --> 00:29:09,360
Speaker 1: see the tippy top of the mountain um in a

522
00:29:09,440 --> 00:29:12,360
Speaker 1: lot of cases, and it's easy to forget and and

523
00:29:12,440 --> 00:29:16,320
Speaker 1: shame on me for not remembering to take joy in

524
00:29:16,320 --> 00:29:19,520
Speaker 1: in seeing a couple of deer. Uh. You know, that's

525
00:29:19,560 --> 00:29:21,160
Speaker 1: a lot of fun. That's a great thing, and for

526
00:29:21,160 --> 00:29:24,240
Speaker 1: a new hunter especially, that's not an easy thing. Uh.

527
00:29:24,240 --> 00:29:26,560
Speaker 1: So that was a huge takeaway from me from our

528
00:29:26,600 --> 00:29:31,400
Speaker 1: shared hunt together. Um that not only is that something

529
00:29:31,440 --> 00:29:35,320
Speaker 1: to be enjoyed, but that's also something that so many

530
00:29:35,360 --> 00:29:38,600
Speaker 1: people don't necessarily get to do every day. And and

531
00:29:38,640 --> 00:29:41,080
Speaker 1: that's another reason why I want to try to do

532
00:29:41,160 --> 00:29:44,040
Speaker 1: more of what we did, which is bring new folks

533
00:29:44,040 --> 00:29:46,920
Speaker 1: out there to places where they can see those deer. Um.

534
00:29:46,960 --> 00:29:50,400
Speaker 1: Because tell me if I'm wrong. But getting to go

535
00:29:50,440 --> 00:29:51,840
Speaker 1: out and spend a couple of days in the back

536
00:29:51,960 --> 00:29:54,480
Speaker 1: forty as a new hunter who hadn't been able to

537
00:29:54,520 --> 00:29:56,000
Speaker 1: see a lot of deer, who hadn't been able to

538
00:29:56,000 --> 00:29:58,600
Speaker 1: be in many positions like that, was that a pretty

539
00:29:59,320 --> 00:30:01,560
Speaker 1: special thing? And was that a great opportunity just to

540
00:30:01,560 --> 00:30:04,120
Speaker 1: be able to live through those moments? And you know

541
00:30:04,200 --> 00:30:06,160
Speaker 1: you kind of alluded to it, like learn what to

542
00:30:06,160 --> 00:30:08,120
Speaker 1: do when you're seeing dear, learn how to spot dear,

543
00:30:08,240 --> 00:30:10,160
Speaker 1: learn how to get ready for a shot. Those are

544
00:30:10,200 --> 00:30:12,640
Speaker 1: things that you hadn't really been able to do much before,

545
00:30:13,320 --> 00:30:15,120
Speaker 1: and then over the course three days we had a

546
00:30:15,120 --> 00:30:19,360
Speaker 1: bunch of it. Um am I right on that. Yeah, absolutely, man.

547
00:30:19,520 --> 00:30:23,600
Speaker 1: I mean just just the property alone is such a

548
00:30:23,680 --> 00:30:27,120
Speaker 1: cool thing to see for somebody that just doesn't have

549
00:30:27,240 --> 00:30:30,840
Speaker 1: much experience with with deer or or or just property

550
00:30:30,920 --> 00:30:34,480
Speaker 1: management in general. I you know, everything is done, you know,

551
00:30:34,600 --> 00:30:38,120
Speaker 1: all your food plots, all your all your different you

552
00:30:38,160 --> 00:30:42,880
Speaker 1: know cover screens that you guys planted, everything is done

553
00:30:42,880 --> 00:30:45,960
Speaker 1: with reason. And I just thought that was so cool

554
00:30:46,080 --> 00:30:49,600
Speaker 1: to see something like that, you know, be worked on

555
00:30:49,760 --> 00:30:52,360
Speaker 1: over the summer and then come to fruition in the fall,

556
00:30:52,480 --> 00:30:55,200
Speaker 1: and then have somebody out you know, hunting it and

557
00:30:55,320 --> 00:30:58,360
Speaker 1: you know, had those things all come together. Just from

558
00:30:58,400 --> 00:31:00,560
Speaker 1: that aspect, just to see a piece of property like

559
00:31:00,640 --> 00:31:04,640
Speaker 1: that was was really was really fascinating to me. And then,

560
00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:07,520
Speaker 1: like I said, having all those things come together and

561
00:31:07,560 --> 00:31:09,840
Speaker 1: work and you know, you guys are seeing deer now

562
00:31:09,880 --> 00:31:14,680
Speaker 1: and we're getting actual you know, opportunities at deer. I

563
00:31:14,720 --> 00:31:18,280
Speaker 1: think that that's just such a neat thing to see

564
00:31:18,360 --> 00:31:20,920
Speaker 1: as a new hunt hunter, just to see what's what's

565
00:31:20,960 --> 00:31:23,720
Speaker 1: possible out there, right, Like you out and hunt public plan.

566
00:31:23,840 --> 00:31:26,640
Speaker 1: But this is a whole another realm of what you

567
00:31:26,680 --> 00:31:29,440
Speaker 1: can do with a piece of property. That's that's uh.

568
00:31:30,080 --> 00:31:32,640
Speaker 1: I just thought that was that was pretty cool. Yeah.

569
00:31:32,760 --> 00:31:35,120
Speaker 1: So so we had their hunt. We saw some deer,

570
00:31:35,240 --> 00:31:37,080
Speaker 1: We got a shot at one. You got a shot

571
00:31:37,080 --> 00:31:39,880
Speaker 1: at one. We were counted that whole thing last time,

572
00:31:39,880 --> 00:31:43,560
Speaker 1: so folks know, uh, you know, I made the mistake

573
00:31:43,600 --> 00:31:45,680
Speaker 1: of thinking it was a hit based off of what

574
00:31:45,760 --> 00:31:48,640
Speaker 1: I saw through my binoculars. And then we you know,

575
00:31:48,680 --> 00:31:51,640
Speaker 1: went through this whole roller coaster of emotions where we're

576
00:31:51,640 --> 00:31:54,600
Speaker 1: excited we thought you got him, and then we started tracking,

577
00:31:55,160 --> 00:31:58,880
Speaker 1: couldn't find any blood, couldn't find anything, got a tracking dog,

578
00:31:59,120 --> 00:32:02,760
Speaker 1: spent all night trying figure something out. And long story short, uh,

579
00:32:03,080 --> 00:32:05,000
Speaker 1: we believe it was a clean miss now and and

580
00:32:05,080 --> 00:32:08,160
Speaker 1: that whole thing happened. That was a tough deal. But

581
00:32:08,440 --> 00:32:11,480
Speaker 1: the next day you kind of dusted yourself off, grabbed

582
00:32:11,480 --> 00:32:14,959
Speaker 1: the gun again. We shot um, got you, you know,

583
00:32:15,080 --> 00:32:17,240
Speaker 1: just making sure everything felt good with a gun again,

584
00:32:17,680 --> 00:32:20,800
Speaker 1: went out for one more hunt, ended up almost getting

585
00:32:20,800 --> 00:32:23,000
Speaker 1: a shot at a dobe, but she had another deer

586
00:32:23,080 --> 00:32:26,080
Speaker 1: right behind her um and it didn't end up panning

587
00:32:26,080 --> 00:32:29,880
Speaker 1: out but we we didn't. I didn't get to hear

588
00:32:29,920 --> 00:32:32,360
Speaker 1: from you after that hunt on the podcast because we

589
00:32:32,360 --> 00:32:36,440
Speaker 1: recorded that podcast the morning or no, the day, No,

590
00:32:37,160 --> 00:32:38,520
Speaker 1: I don't know what it was. It would have been

591
00:32:38,560 --> 00:32:44,080
Speaker 1: the afternoon before that last hunt, I guess. So with

592
00:32:44,120 --> 00:32:46,560
Speaker 1: the whole hunt behind you now, and and like that

593
00:32:46,640 --> 00:32:49,360
Speaker 1: week after the hunt, when you looked back on the

594
00:32:49,360 --> 00:32:53,320
Speaker 1: back ford the experience. UM, I know you've already mentioned

595
00:32:53,320 --> 00:32:55,440
Speaker 1: a couple of things that that you learned that you

596
00:32:55,560 --> 00:32:58,600
Speaker 1: enjoyed experiencing. But did you learn anything about yourself coming

597
00:32:58,600 --> 00:33:01,000
Speaker 1: out of that experience, having the man us, dealing with that,

598
00:33:01,400 --> 00:33:06,120
Speaker 1: everything that went on. Um, what was your big takeaway

599
00:33:06,160 --> 00:33:12,720
Speaker 1: from that experience? Yeah? Yeah, I mean the just so

600
00:33:12,800 --> 00:33:16,479
Speaker 1: the experience overall was was incredible, man. I mean, you

601
00:33:16,480 --> 00:33:18,720
Speaker 1: guys did a great job. You and Justin did a

602
00:33:18,720 --> 00:33:21,720
Speaker 1: great job of just kind of coaching me through everything

603
00:33:21,840 --> 00:33:25,320
Speaker 1: and and helping me out. And you know, I'm gonna

604
00:33:25,360 --> 00:33:29,920
Speaker 1: remember that, you know, for the rest of my life obviously. Um,

605
00:33:30,120 --> 00:33:33,560
Speaker 1: the big takeaways from that from that was, you know,

606
00:33:34,800 --> 00:33:39,440
Speaker 1: ship happens, right, so so I can't I can't let

607
00:33:39,480 --> 00:33:43,720
Speaker 1: myself or you know, a mistake or a miss or

608
00:33:44,120 --> 00:33:48,520
Speaker 1: even a bad hit really really get to me. Um.

609
00:33:48,680 --> 00:33:51,240
Speaker 1: And obviously just being you know, I like to wear

610
00:33:51,320 --> 00:33:53,920
Speaker 1: my emotions on my shoulder every now and then, and

611
00:33:53,920 --> 00:33:56,920
Speaker 1: and you know, I really can't let that get to

612
00:33:57,000 --> 00:34:00,800
Speaker 1: me too much, right like when when something bad happens,

613
00:34:00,880 --> 00:34:02,720
Speaker 1: you know what's good? You know, how are you going

614
00:34:02,760 --> 00:34:05,720
Speaker 1: to get better from it? Um? I think that was

615
00:34:05,760 --> 00:34:08,680
Speaker 1: a huge takeaway of what I learned. And and you know,

616
00:34:08,760 --> 00:34:11,400
Speaker 1: those those things happened, and I'm sure you know, like

617
00:34:11,440 --> 00:34:15,480
Speaker 1: you guys said, happened to to every single person that

618
00:34:15,560 --> 00:34:19,400
Speaker 1: hunts out there, whether it's dear or something else. Um,

619
00:34:19,440 --> 00:34:21,520
Speaker 1: you know, and you know, it's just it's just all

620
00:34:21,600 --> 00:34:23,799
Speaker 1: part of all part of the hunt and all part

621
00:34:23,800 --> 00:34:27,040
Speaker 1: of the pursuit. So you know, you really can't let

622
00:34:27,120 --> 00:34:30,319
Speaker 1: that beat you up too much and let that deter

623
00:34:30,440 --> 00:34:33,239
Speaker 1: you from what you're trying to accomplish eventually, is you know,

624
00:34:33,280 --> 00:34:36,279
Speaker 1: make a make a clean shot and get put some

625
00:34:36,280 --> 00:34:42,960
Speaker 1: meat on the table. So what happened from there? Yeah, yeah,

626
00:34:43,040 --> 00:34:45,480
Speaker 1: we sent you on your way off in your own again.

627
00:34:46,120 --> 00:34:48,120
Speaker 1: And uh, and I didn't know, I didn't know if

628
00:34:48,120 --> 00:34:49,960
Speaker 1: you were gonna be done hunting for the year or

629
00:34:50,000 --> 00:34:53,400
Speaker 1: if you're gonna still keep after it or what um,

630
00:34:53,440 --> 00:34:56,960
Speaker 1: But but what did you do? No? Man? I mean

631
00:34:57,040 --> 00:35:00,440
Speaker 1: I think after that hunt, after that last hunt, and

632
00:35:00,440 --> 00:35:03,000
Speaker 1: how close we were to to to get in one

633
00:35:03,040 --> 00:35:06,400
Speaker 1: of those dose um, that kind of like lit a

634
00:35:06,480 --> 00:35:09,920
Speaker 1: fire inside of me on you know, into Okay, I

635
00:35:09,960 --> 00:35:13,359
Speaker 1: got I gotta, I gotta keep going. I gotta, I

636
00:35:13,360 --> 00:35:15,880
Speaker 1: gotta get this done this season. I you know, I

637
00:35:15,920 --> 00:35:19,040
Speaker 1: feel like I feel like this is this is going

638
00:35:19,160 --> 00:35:23,680
Speaker 1: to happen. Um. So so I think in one of

639
00:35:23,719 --> 00:35:27,040
Speaker 1: our hunts, you know, we were talking, you know, just

640
00:35:27,040 --> 00:35:30,120
Speaker 1: just different strategy, and I was asking you questions you

641
00:35:30,160 --> 00:35:32,640
Speaker 1: were going to be some some good feedback, and you

642
00:35:32,680 --> 00:35:36,440
Speaker 1: had mentioned, you know, um, because I was hunting a

643
00:35:36,440 --> 00:35:38,319
Speaker 1: lot of public land, and you had mentioned, you know,

644
00:35:38,400 --> 00:35:41,200
Speaker 1: you should you should think about tapping your network and

645
00:35:41,239 --> 00:35:46,640
Speaker 1: just seeing if you possibly can get access to whatever

646
00:35:47,480 --> 00:35:50,040
Speaker 1: private land properties, if you know a family friend, if

647
00:35:50,080 --> 00:35:53,760
Speaker 1: you know, um, you know somebody that might have some

648
00:35:53,760 --> 00:35:59,120
Speaker 1: some some property you can hunt. And I took that

649
00:35:59,200 --> 00:36:03,640
Speaker 1: as kind of like my my takeaway and just started asking,

650
00:36:04,120 --> 00:36:06,520
Speaker 1: you know, asking around. Well I didn't really ask too

651
00:36:06,560 --> 00:36:11,600
Speaker 1: many people. I asked my immediate family and m yeah,

652
00:36:11,640 --> 00:36:15,000
Speaker 1: and you know my dad had actually mentioned this. You

653
00:36:15,040 --> 00:36:17,600
Speaker 1: know earlier in the season to me, but I brushed

654
00:36:17,640 --> 00:36:22,440
Speaker 1: it off. He has a friend that owns this small,

655
00:36:22,600 --> 00:36:27,720
Speaker 1: like ten acre property, um, just north where I'm living now. Um,

656
00:36:27,719 --> 00:36:30,239
Speaker 1: it's probably like a fifty minute drive from from where

657
00:36:30,239 --> 00:36:33,680
Speaker 1: I live. Um. He you know, they had bought the property,

658
00:36:33,960 --> 00:36:36,600
Speaker 1: like you know, a year ago. None of them hunt.

659
00:36:36,760 --> 00:36:38,719
Speaker 1: And he said, hey, like if you want, if you want,

660
00:36:38,760 --> 00:36:40,440
Speaker 1: I can give you their number and you can you

661
00:36:40,440 --> 00:36:42,160
Speaker 1: can reach out and see if you can if you

662
00:36:42,200 --> 00:36:45,680
Speaker 1: can hunt that property. And I had dismissed it, and honestly,

663
00:36:45,719 --> 00:36:48,480
Speaker 1: I kind of forgot about it, just thinking, Oh, it's

664
00:36:48,560 --> 00:36:51,840
Speaker 1: it's ten acres like whatever, Like I'm not going to

665
00:36:51,960 --> 00:36:54,360
Speaker 1: see anything on a ten acre piece of property or

666
00:36:54,800 --> 00:36:57,200
Speaker 1: you know, I'd rather go out and hunt public land

667
00:36:57,200 --> 00:36:59,480
Speaker 1: where it's like I'm working with like hundreds, if not

668
00:36:59,560 --> 00:37:04,120
Speaker 1: thousands of acres of land. UM. And I just kind

669
00:37:04,120 --> 00:37:08,280
Speaker 1: of said, whatever, maybe maybe this property has something something

670
00:37:08,320 --> 00:37:12,480
Speaker 1: that I'm not really you know, seeing here. So I

671
00:37:12,600 --> 00:37:17,920
Speaker 1: reached out. Um. This was actually the Sunday after our hunt,

672
00:37:18,120 --> 00:37:21,680
Speaker 1: so I think, Um, we wrapped up our hunt on

673
00:37:21,719 --> 00:37:25,400
Speaker 1: the back forty I don't know, it was like Tuesday

674
00:37:25,480 --> 00:37:29,600
Speaker 1: that that week, and then the following weekend. UM, I had,

675
00:37:29,680 --> 00:37:31,920
Speaker 1: you know, reached out and just said, hey, I'm gonna

676
00:37:32,040 --> 00:37:35,200
Speaker 1: you know, you know, my name is Dan, I'm Um,

677
00:37:35,520 --> 00:37:38,880
Speaker 1: I'm Frank's son. I'm gonna swing by and and you know,

678
00:37:39,200 --> 00:37:42,040
Speaker 1: maybe I can you know, hunt your property. I went,

679
00:37:42,120 --> 00:37:44,600
Speaker 1: They're kind of explained to them, like the whole hunting

680
00:37:44,680 --> 00:37:46,560
Speaker 1: thing and why I'm out here and what I'm trying

681
00:37:46,560 --> 00:37:48,799
Speaker 1: to do, because they really just didn't have much of

682
00:37:48,800 --> 00:37:54,720
Speaker 1: an idea. And UM, the the owner and my dad's

683
00:37:54,760 --> 00:37:58,719
Speaker 1: friend UM and her son, UM walked me around like

684
00:37:58,760 --> 00:38:01,279
Speaker 1: the whole property and would be the property line. And

685
00:38:01,320 --> 00:38:03,840
Speaker 1: I said, oh great, this is this is awesome, like,

686
00:38:03,960 --> 00:38:08,640
Speaker 1: thank you so much. And UM, I just figured i'd

687
00:38:08,719 --> 00:38:10,719
Speaker 1: hunt that day. So I had all my gear in

688
00:38:10,760 --> 00:38:15,400
Speaker 1: the truck, got it out, you know, suited up. UM.

689
00:38:15,480 --> 00:38:17,640
Speaker 1: And then just by the looks of what, you know,

690
00:38:17,719 --> 00:38:20,240
Speaker 1: where they took me around and what kind of onyx

691
00:38:20,400 --> 00:38:23,880
Speaker 1: was showing, there was one real spot that I was

692
00:38:24,320 --> 00:38:27,520
Speaker 1: just super interested in hunting on that that ten acre

693
00:38:27,800 --> 00:38:30,880
Speaker 1: piece of property. UM. Obviously my first idea was I

694
00:38:30,920 --> 00:38:32,680
Speaker 1: want to get away, you know, as far away from

695
00:38:32,680 --> 00:38:36,359
Speaker 1: the house as I can. UM. And then I end

696
00:38:36,480 --> 00:38:39,160
Speaker 1: up found finding this little corner of the property where

697
00:38:39,760 --> 00:38:43,360
Speaker 1: some terrain features kind of all met on this little

698
00:38:43,440 --> 00:38:47,359
Speaker 1: Uh I don't a low section. There was a few

699
00:38:47,400 --> 00:38:50,560
Speaker 1: trails that intersected, and there was this really big oak

700
00:38:50,600 --> 00:38:54,880
Speaker 1: tree that I thought was, you know, a good food

701
00:38:54,880 --> 00:38:57,360
Speaker 1: source for the deer, at least where the deer felt.

702
00:38:57,400 --> 00:38:59,239
Speaker 1: I felt like the deer were coming back and forth

703
00:38:59,280 --> 00:39:02,919
Speaker 1: from UM. And then you know, I went out there.

704
00:39:03,080 --> 00:39:06,239
Speaker 1: I got in my in my saddle and as I'm

705
00:39:06,360 --> 00:39:08,759
Speaker 1: up in the tree and just kind of scoping out

706
00:39:08,840 --> 00:39:15,000
Speaker 1: the surrounding surrounding areas. UM and uh. I think within

707
00:39:15,080 --> 00:39:18,680
Speaker 1: an hour of my sit I see, you know, three

708
00:39:18,680 --> 00:39:23,440
Speaker 1: deer pass to my right, and UM, I'm like, okay,

709
00:39:23,520 --> 00:39:26,120
Speaker 1: well that's that's a that's a great start, you know,

710
00:39:26,320 --> 00:39:28,359
Speaker 1: not thinking I was going to see anything right off

711
00:39:28,400 --> 00:39:30,880
Speaker 1: the bat, I'm seeing I'm seeing three deer kind of

712
00:39:30,880 --> 00:39:36,480
Speaker 1: trot trot right next to me. Um. From there, you know,

713
00:39:36,719 --> 00:39:39,720
Speaker 1: I saw some turkey. It was. It was really fun hunt.

714
00:39:40,560 --> 00:39:43,680
Speaker 1: And then UM, I think probably thinking to yourself, dang,

715
00:39:43,680 --> 00:39:49,240
Speaker 1: why didn't I do this two months ago? Yeah, yeah, definitely, definitely.

716
00:39:49,280 --> 00:39:52,520
Speaker 1: I was definitely thinking that, um, just because it was

717
00:39:52,560 --> 00:39:55,000
Speaker 1: a cool area. It was it was easy to get to.

718
00:39:55,200 --> 00:39:58,279
Speaker 1: And you know, I saw three deer right off the

719
00:39:58,280 --> 00:39:59,960
Speaker 1: bat that was that was more than I had seen

720
00:40:00,000 --> 00:40:05,239
Speaker 1: all season just hunting the public land. Um. So, I

721
00:40:05,320 --> 00:40:08,719
Speaker 1: don't know, it got to about five o'clock and I

722
00:40:08,800 --> 00:40:14,680
Speaker 1: see this dough by herself, just kind of coming my way,

723
00:40:15,600 --> 00:40:17,919
Speaker 1: and she's coming my way. She's coming my way, and

724
00:40:18,160 --> 00:40:21,360
Speaker 1: she's she's by herself, and she's looking behind her, and

725
00:40:21,360 --> 00:40:24,120
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh my god, like this is this is

726
00:40:24,120 --> 00:40:28,000
Speaker 1: going to happen. Um. And she's kind of quartering right

727
00:40:28,000 --> 00:40:32,920
Speaker 1: towards my shooting lane and I'm getting ready, getting ready.

728
00:40:33,000 --> 00:40:35,759
Speaker 1: She's probably like, you know, five yards from where I

729
00:40:35,800 --> 00:40:40,000
Speaker 1: need her to be. And then as she takes a

730
00:40:40,040 --> 00:40:42,720
Speaker 1: couple more steps, right behind her as a as a buck,

731
00:40:43,280 --> 00:40:46,440
Speaker 1: and I'm like, oh my god, you know that, you

732
00:40:46,480 --> 00:40:48,560
Speaker 1: know there's a buck right there. He's doing this thing

733
00:40:48,600 --> 00:40:51,120
Speaker 1: with a dough. This is like obviously some good rut

734
00:40:51,160 --> 00:40:55,680
Speaker 1: activity happening right in front of me. Um. And right away,

735
00:40:55,680 --> 00:40:58,200
Speaker 1: I'm just kind of like, Okay, what what do I

736
00:40:58,280 --> 00:41:01,799
Speaker 1: do in this situation? Um? I'm thinking in my mind,

737
00:41:01,840 --> 00:41:04,040
Speaker 1: like I just want to shoot a deer, you know,

738
00:41:04,680 --> 00:41:07,480
Speaker 1: I know this this this buck is right there. But

739
00:41:07,560 --> 00:41:12,800
Speaker 1: like I would be happy to take this dough. So um,

740
00:41:13,560 --> 00:41:16,560
Speaker 1: they keep working my way, and finally the dope gets

741
00:41:16,560 --> 00:41:19,640
Speaker 1: in my shooting lane and I'm like, okay, I'm I'm gonna,

742
00:41:20,400 --> 00:41:23,680
Speaker 1: I'm gonna, you know, pull back and take a shot.

743
00:41:24,520 --> 00:41:29,040
Speaker 1: So um, that day, I was getting some snow coming down,

744
00:41:29,360 --> 00:41:34,400
Speaker 1: and um, my bow was all wet. So as I

745
00:41:34,440 --> 00:41:38,319
Speaker 1: started to draw back my there was there's this little

746
00:41:38,400 --> 00:41:41,680
Speaker 1: rubber piece on my wrist and it made this loud

747
00:41:41,840 --> 00:41:48,000
Speaker 1: squeak and it was like, so as I did, it

748
00:41:48,080 --> 00:41:51,040
Speaker 1: made that squeak. Dude, it was like I lit a

749
00:41:51,080 --> 00:41:54,200
Speaker 1: firecracker and and let it off right in front of

750
00:41:54,239 --> 00:41:58,759
Speaker 1: the deer. She spooped so hard and I was just like,

751
00:41:59,040 --> 00:42:02,560
Speaker 1: no freaking way, Like, no way did that just happen.

752
00:42:04,320 --> 00:42:07,080
Speaker 1: So she spooked and I thought she was going to dart,

753
00:42:07,719 --> 00:42:11,319
Speaker 1: but she didn't. She spooked around my the oak tree

754
00:42:11,360 --> 00:42:13,080
Speaker 1: that I was kind of sitting right in front of,

755
00:42:13,800 --> 00:42:17,560
Speaker 1: and um, she ended up going to the trails that

756
00:42:17,680 --> 00:42:20,840
Speaker 1: kind of intersected right behind the oak tree, and the

757
00:42:20,880 --> 00:42:24,360
Speaker 1: buck just followed her. The buck just followed her. So

758
00:42:24,400 --> 00:42:26,360
Speaker 1: at this point I'm like, Okay, I don't think I

759
00:42:26,480 --> 00:42:31,120
Speaker 1: completely blew it. I think I might still have a chance. Um,

760
00:42:31,160 --> 00:42:33,200
Speaker 1: this is a little further of a shot that I'd

761
00:42:33,280 --> 00:42:35,120
Speaker 1: like to take, but I'm just gonna kind of wait

762
00:42:35,200 --> 00:42:39,239
Speaker 1: it out now. So, um, you know, she kind of

763
00:42:39,239 --> 00:42:41,399
Speaker 1: did her thing behind this oak tree, and they kind

764
00:42:41,400 --> 00:42:45,719
Speaker 1: of started working my way. However, the way that, you know,

765
00:42:45,760 --> 00:42:48,239
Speaker 1: the direction that they were coming was just directly down

766
00:42:48,320 --> 00:42:51,120
Speaker 1: wind of where I where, you know, where my scent was.

767
00:42:51,200 --> 00:42:54,200
Speaker 1: So I just knew like at any point, like I'm

768
00:42:54,200 --> 00:42:57,919
Speaker 1: going to get winded. So anyways, they kept doing their thing,

769
00:42:58,000 --> 00:43:02,680
Speaker 1: and eventually the do went into this kind of brushy area.

770
00:43:02,960 --> 00:43:06,239
Speaker 1: But the buck was right in my white right in

771
00:43:06,280 --> 00:43:09,640
Speaker 1: my range, um, and he was right behind this tree,

772
00:43:10,400 --> 00:43:12,840
Speaker 1: and I thought, okay, well I don't really have a

773
00:43:12,840 --> 00:43:14,520
Speaker 1: shot at this dough, but I have a shot at

774
00:43:14,520 --> 00:43:18,960
Speaker 1: this puck, so I'm gonna try to get ready here. Um.

775
00:43:19,000 --> 00:43:21,719
Speaker 1: So I just kind of got myself prepared, and I

776
00:43:21,840 --> 00:43:24,920
Speaker 1: got myself, you know, mentally worked up to try to

777
00:43:24,960 --> 00:43:31,360
Speaker 1: make a shot. And he he was kind of lingering

778
00:43:31,400 --> 00:43:35,040
Speaker 1: there for a couple of minutes, um, but but I

779
00:43:35,120 --> 00:43:38,600
Speaker 1: just wanted to be patient. And then he took another step.

780
00:43:39,239 --> 00:43:42,319
Speaker 1: He's in my shooting wane. Now now I'm ready to

781
00:43:42,440 --> 00:43:45,360
Speaker 1: take a shot. All of a sudden, right under me

782
00:43:45,680 --> 00:43:51,080
Speaker 1: comes this like uh, this this spike, and he's freaking out.

783
00:43:51,400 --> 00:43:53,640
Speaker 1: You know, he knows, he knows there's a doe over there,

784
00:43:54,360 --> 00:43:56,560
Speaker 1: and um, but he's right under my tree and I'm like,

785
00:43:56,600 --> 00:44:00,520
Speaker 1: oh my god, what do I do? Like so it's

786
00:44:00,560 --> 00:44:04,520
Speaker 1: just like pandemonium in this this one hunt that I

787
00:44:04,600 --> 00:44:06,560
Speaker 1: just you know, it was my first hunt there. I

788
00:44:06,560 --> 00:44:08,719
Speaker 1: had no idea it was gonna go down like this.

789
00:44:09,600 --> 00:44:12,160
Speaker 1: So I said whatever, I'm just gonna ignore the spike.

790
00:44:12,440 --> 00:44:15,680
Speaker 1: I'm gonna draw back. And as I draw back, the

791
00:44:15,760 --> 00:44:21,000
Speaker 1: spike under me spoops, the dose spooks what the buck stays.

792
00:44:23,000 --> 00:44:25,960
Speaker 1: So the buck stays and I'm like, okay, he's looking

793
00:44:26,040 --> 00:44:29,160
Speaker 1: right at me. He's stomping his feet, but I'm just

794
00:44:29,200 --> 00:44:31,719
Speaker 1: gonna try to stay as calm as I can. He's

795
00:44:31,760 --> 00:44:34,520
Speaker 1: twenty five yards, this is this is in my range.

796
00:44:35,400 --> 00:44:38,560
Speaker 1: I put I put my sight on him, and I

797
00:44:38,680 --> 00:44:46,520
Speaker 1: let it rip. I let it rip, and I shot him. Um.

798
00:44:46,880 --> 00:44:49,360
Speaker 1: You know, I I kind of heard this like thump

799
00:44:49,600 --> 00:44:53,239
Speaker 1: that went into went into his body and right there

800
00:44:53,239 --> 00:44:57,200
Speaker 1: and then I just knew I hit him. Um, And

801
00:44:57,719 --> 00:45:00,120
Speaker 1: I was just kind of completely out of my mind

802
00:45:00,160 --> 00:45:02,839
Speaker 1: at that very moment. After I shot him, I tried

803
00:45:02,880 --> 00:45:06,520
Speaker 1: to see where he went. Um. I think he darted

804
00:45:06,520 --> 00:45:09,600
Speaker 1: out into the neighbor's property and I saw him like

805
00:45:10,000 --> 00:45:13,920
Speaker 1: fall um. But then he just kept going and I

806
00:45:14,000 --> 00:45:16,759
Speaker 1: was just you know, my my first reaction was, you know,

807
00:45:16,800 --> 00:45:19,880
Speaker 1: I gotta get down out of this tree, um, you know.

808
00:45:20,360 --> 00:45:22,840
Speaker 1: And I started trying to tear down my set. I'm like,

809
00:45:22,920 --> 00:45:24,719
Speaker 1: hold on, wait, wait, wait, I don't want to fall

810
00:45:24,760 --> 00:45:27,080
Speaker 1: out of this tree. I gotta take until of minutes

811
00:45:27,120 --> 00:45:35,960
Speaker 1: and just relax. Um. So I gathered myself and got down. Um.

812
00:45:36,000 --> 00:45:38,359
Speaker 1: I went to the side of impact and I didn't

813
00:45:38,360 --> 00:45:41,720
Speaker 1: see any blood, and I immediately just got super worried.

814
00:45:42,880 --> 00:45:45,560
Speaker 1: So I kind of walked. I didn't I didn't want

815
00:45:45,560 --> 00:45:48,720
Speaker 1: to completely ruin my track job, but I walked probably

816
00:45:48,760 --> 00:45:51,439
Speaker 1: like I don't know, twenty yards from where I thought

817
00:45:51,480 --> 00:45:54,439
Speaker 1: I shot him, just following his tracks. We had snow

818
00:45:54,480 --> 00:45:57,000
Speaker 1: on the ground so it was easy to follow. And

819
00:45:57,040 --> 00:46:00,800
Speaker 1: I found my my arrow and my air had been

820
00:46:00,920 --> 00:46:04,920
Speaker 1: it looked like it had been broken off. So um.

821
00:46:05,040 --> 00:46:06,799
Speaker 1: There was a little blood on my arrow and it

822
00:46:06,840 --> 00:46:09,560
Speaker 1: looked like it got broken off, and there was probably

823
00:46:10,360 --> 00:46:14,239
Speaker 1: like five inches or so gone from my arrow. So

824
00:46:14,840 --> 00:46:18,320
Speaker 1: I had immediately just kind of like thought like, what

825
00:46:18,320 --> 00:46:22,600
Speaker 1: what happened? Like did it pass through? Did it not? Um?

826
00:46:22,680 --> 00:46:24,759
Speaker 1: You know, my fletchings weren't bloody, So I was like,

827
00:46:24,840 --> 00:46:28,560
Speaker 1: I don't think it passed through. Maybe it got broken off. Um,

828
00:46:28,760 --> 00:46:33,000
Speaker 1: maybe I maybe I hit his arm or something. Um,

829
00:46:33,040 --> 00:46:36,360
Speaker 1: I'm not sure. So I just got I got really

830
00:46:36,440 --> 00:46:38,919
Speaker 1: kind of down on myself on that moment, like, God,

831
00:46:38,960 --> 00:46:41,560
Speaker 1: I didn't make a clean shot. I didn't. I didn't

832
00:46:41,560 --> 00:46:45,320
Speaker 1: do the right thing here. Um. But like in the moment,

833
00:46:45,360 --> 00:46:48,320
Speaker 1: I thought like I did everything that you know, I

834
00:46:48,400 --> 00:46:51,239
Speaker 1: had practiced over the summer. I thought I made I

835
00:46:51,320 --> 00:46:53,600
Speaker 1: thought I made a really good shot. So I just

836
00:46:53,680 --> 00:46:58,000
Speaker 1: kind of kept telling myself that, and I pulled out

837
00:46:58,640 --> 00:47:01,080
Speaker 1: my My first thing to do with just get permission

838
00:47:01,120 --> 00:47:04,680
Speaker 1: on the neighbor's property to go track the deer. Um.

839
00:47:04,800 --> 00:47:08,400
Speaker 1: So that was my my first my first step got permission,

840
00:47:08,600 --> 00:47:11,480
Speaker 1: that was golden um. And then I called my brother.

841
00:47:11,520 --> 00:47:13,480
Speaker 1: I was like, hey, man, like I might need some help,

842
00:47:14,120 --> 00:47:16,239
Speaker 1: like can you come out. Luckily he was only like

843
00:47:16,320 --> 00:47:20,240
Speaker 1: twenty minutes away. Um, So he came out. And then

844
00:47:20,560 --> 00:47:23,319
Speaker 1: my third thing was like, Okay, I don't know if

845
00:47:23,360 --> 00:47:28,800
Speaker 1: I made this clean shot, excuse me, I should probably

846
00:47:28,840 --> 00:47:31,799
Speaker 1: try to get get ahold of a tracker and just

847
00:47:31,920 --> 00:47:34,759
Speaker 1: see if they could maybe come out and help out

848
00:47:34,800 --> 00:47:38,920
Speaker 1: with the track job. Just trying to be safe, and

849
00:47:39,080 --> 00:47:42,080
Speaker 1: you know, rather than myself and my brother who don't

850
00:47:42,120 --> 00:47:45,720
Speaker 1: really know much about tracking animals, maybe they could give

851
00:47:45,800 --> 00:47:50,160
Speaker 1: me some help. So I took some pictures of the

852
00:47:50,320 --> 00:47:53,439
Speaker 1: arrow and kind of what had happened, and I got

853
00:47:53,440 --> 00:47:58,359
Speaker 1: ahold of a tracker and um, kind of explained the situation,

854
00:47:58,680 --> 00:48:02,239
Speaker 1: sent him the picture. Um it was like a Sunday night,

855
00:48:02,320 --> 00:48:05,839
Speaker 1: and I felt really bad bothering this guy. But you know,

856
00:48:06,000 --> 00:48:08,839
Speaker 1: he said, you know, just from what I had told him,

857
00:48:08,840 --> 00:48:12,480
Speaker 1: he said, well, I'm thinking this is probably a shoulder shot.

858
00:48:12,560 --> 00:48:15,280
Speaker 1: And if you only got four or five inches of penetration,

859
00:48:16,000 --> 00:48:18,560
Speaker 1: you know, I don't think you really hit a longer

860
00:48:18,760 --> 00:48:21,640
Speaker 1: major artery. So I'm not really sure if you have

861
00:48:21,719 --> 00:48:26,040
Speaker 1: a dead deer on your hands here. Um, so I'm

862
00:48:26,040 --> 00:48:28,080
Speaker 1: not really sure if it would really be worth it

863
00:48:28,120 --> 00:48:30,000
Speaker 1: for me to you know, come out and do the

864
00:48:30,200 --> 00:48:32,520
Speaker 1: do the do a track job for you. You know,

865
00:48:32,560 --> 00:48:34,360
Speaker 1: it was snowing and it was kind of like it

866
00:48:34,440 --> 00:48:37,080
Speaker 1: was dark at that point. I felt bad. So I

867
00:48:37,120 --> 00:48:38,600
Speaker 1: kind of was just like, you know what, no problem,

868
00:48:38,600 --> 00:48:40,279
Speaker 1: and he's like, well, you should definitely give it a

869
00:48:40,280 --> 00:48:44,080
Speaker 1: shot yourself. And UM, you know, if you think that

870
00:48:44,239 --> 00:48:46,239
Speaker 1: it's really worth it for me to come out, then

871
00:48:46,360 --> 00:48:48,200
Speaker 1: you know, give me a call and I'll see what

872
00:48:48,239 --> 00:48:51,640
Speaker 1: I can do for you. So at that point, it

873
00:48:51,680 --> 00:48:54,880
Speaker 1: had been like two hours from the shot, and we,

874
00:48:55,360 --> 00:48:57,200
Speaker 1: you know, my brother and I kind of set set

875
00:48:57,239 --> 00:49:00,960
Speaker 1: off and just try to track it ourselves some Being

876
00:49:01,000 --> 00:49:02,440
Speaker 1: that there was snow on the ground, we could we

877
00:49:02,480 --> 00:49:08,960
Speaker 1: could you know, you know, clearly identify some blood. So we, um,

878
00:49:09,080 --> 00:49:12,400
Speaker 1: we picked up on a blood trail pretty quickly. And

879
00:49:12,560 --> 00:49:16,920
Speaker 1: the blood trail I thought was pretty good. Um, you know,

880
00:49:17,000 --> 00:49:19,920
Speaker 1: we were seeing drops of blood here and there. But

881
00:49:20,000 --> 00:49:22,920
Speaker 1: then we would, you know, every fifteen twenty yards or so,

882
00:49:22,960 --> 00:49:25,120
Speaker 1: we would kind of find this like almost like a

883
00:49:25,120 --> 00:49:28,240
Speaker 1: little pool of blood where you know, we thought that

884
00:49:28,600 --> 00:49:32,279
Speaker 1: we had maybe gotten a lung or something. I wasn't sure,

885
00:49:32,360 --> 00:49:35,560
Speaker 1: so I now, I kept taking pictures of everything and

886
00:49:35,640 --> 00:49:38,680
Speaker 1: just try to keep track of what we were seeing.

887
00:49:39,239 --> 00:49:43,960
Speaker 1: And we kept following this blood trail man for probably

888
00:49:44,000 --> 00:49:48,440
Speaker 1: like three hundred yards three or yeah, three or four

889
00:49:48,480 --> 00:49:52,600
Speaker 1: hundred yards and finally I found where where the buck

890
00:49:52,640 --> 00:49:55,640
Speaker 1: had bedded down, and he had bedded down right next

891
00:49:55,680 --> 00:49:58,879
Speaker 1: to the swamp, and and it is bad. I could

892
00:49:58,920 --> 00:50:01,600
Speaker 1: see like or blood just kind of like pulling up

893
00:50:01,680 --> 00:50:05,359
Speaker 1: right there. And I just I just didn't know what

894
00:50:05,400 --> 00:50:07,440
Speaker 1: to do at that point, Like did I bump the

895
00:50:07,480 --> 00:50:10,040
Speaker 1: buck out of his bed? Is this thing gone now?

896
00:50:10,080 --> 00:50:13,080
Speaker 1: And you know, just completely in the next county or something,

897
00:50:13,280 --> 00:50:16,840
Speaker 1: I don't know. And then I saw tracks across the stamp.

898
00:50:17,840 --> 00:50:21,200
Speaker 1: So I called the tracker again and I you know,

899
00:50:21,320 --> 00:50:23,960
Speaker 1: sent him the pictures and sent him everything that I had,

900
00:50:24,000 --> 00:50:26,200
Speaker 1: and I just I just said, hey, man, like this

901
00:50:26,280 --> 00:50:28,640
Speaker 1: is the situation. I've tracked this thing now for like

902
00:50:28,680 --> 00:50:31,600
Speaker 1: three or four yards. I think we bumped him out

903
00:50:31,600 --> 00:50:35,520
Speaker 1: of his bed. We saw these tracks across the swamp. Um,

904
00:50:35,560 --> 00:50:37,759
Speaker 1: you know, do you feel like it's worth it to

905
00:50:37,800 --> 00:50:40,040
Speaker 1: come out? What are you thinking at this point? And

906
00:50:40,560 --> 00:50:43,000
Speaker 1: his feedback to me was like, just by the looks

907
00:50:43,040 --> 00:50:45,799
Speaker 1: of blood and what you're seeing the fact that you've

908
00:50:45,840 --> 00:50:48,560
Speaker 1: tracked him now for four hundred yards, I really don't

909
00:50:48,600 --> 00:50:52,719
Speaker 1: think he made a lethal shot on him. And you know,

910
00:50:52,880 --> 00:50:55,080
Speaker 1: I probably would have pulled out on the track job,

911
00:50:55,239 --> 00:51:00,319
Speaker 1: you know, you know, a while ago, so um, just

912
00:51:00,440 --> 00:51:03,399
Speaker 1: me not having that experience, I was just kind of like, oh, man,

913
00:51:03,560 --> 00:51:08,080
Speaker 1: like this is terrible, Man Like, this is just such

914
00:51:08,120 --> 00:51:13,920
Speaker 1: a bummer. So um my brother and I just kind

915
00:51:13,920 --> 00:51:16,279
Speaker 1: of called it, and you just said, like, you know,

916
00:51:16,640 --> 00:51:21,240
Speaker 1: hopefully the bucks survived and he's out chasing does somewhere

917
00:51:21,320 --> 00:51:24,239
Speaker 1: and we can kinda let him do his thing and

918
00:51:24,640 --> 00:51:27,759
Speaker 1: not disturb the areas, you know, any any more than

919
00:51:27,800 --> 00:51:33,280
Speaker 1: we did. So that was that was a really really

920
00:51:33,320 --> 00:51:36,840
Speaker 1: big low point for me at you know, just just

921
00:51:37,000 --> 00:51:40,960
Speaker 1: having that shot wounding the animal and just the fact

922
00:51:41,000 --> 00:51:44,319
Speaker 1: that I didn't didn't kill him was just like, you know,

923
00:51:44,520 --> 00:51:48,040
Speaker 1: at that moment, just just awful. You know, it was

924
00:51:48,120 --> 00:51:53,279
Speaker 1: really bad. Yeah, man, I you went through a rough

925
00:51:53,320 --> 00:51:56,200
Speaker 1: spell there between that and the back forty hunt, and

926
00:51:56,200 --> 00:51:59,200
Speaker 1: and you had some some high highs and some low lows.

927
00:51:59,360 --> 00:52:02,680
Speaker 1: But I gotta give credit you then reached out to

928
00:52:02,719 --> 00:52:06,360
Speaker 1: me after that and explained what happened. And and I

929
00:52:06,840 --> 00:52:09,560
Speaker 1: I think that Tracker was a little too negative on

930
00:52:09,640 --> 00:52:13,960
Speaker 1: you and that um, you know, with that kind of

931
00:52:13,960 --> 00:52:17,240
Speaker 1: blood trail, Yes, it definitely sounded like a potential shoulder

932
00:52:17,280 --> 00:52:20,480
Speaker 1: blade hit. And and yes, uh, there certainly was a

933
00:52:20,480 --> 00:52:22,520
Speaker 1: good chance he was going to make it. But at

934
00:52:22,560 --> 00:52:25,360
Speaker 1: the same time, you you had blood for a long time,

935
00:52:25,680 --> 00:52:29,279
Speaker 1: you had tracks. Um. Him telling you that he would

936
00:52:29,280 --> 00:52:31,640
Speaker 1: have pulled out before the end of the blood trail

937
00:52:31,800 --> 00:52:36,600
Speaker 1: is insanity to me. So I you know what I

938
00:52:36,640 --> 00:52:40,560
Speaker 1: told you was, hey, man, you might want to keep looking. Um. Yeah,

939
00:52:40,560 --> 00:52:43,080
Speaker 1: there's there's certainly a good chance that the deer's out

940
00:52:43,080 --> 00:52:46,719
Speaker 1: there fine, but you gotta check that swamp. You gotta

941
00:52:46,880 --> 00:52:49,399
Speaker 1: check the larger area because there's There's also been many

942
00:52:49,440 --> 00:52:52,120
Speaker 1: times that I know people had thought a deer, you know,

943
00:52:52,239 --> 00:52:53,880
Speaker 1: kept going and kept going and kept going like, oh,

944
00:52:53,920 --> 00:52:56,400
Speaker 1: we'll never find this thing, and then you do. So

945
00:52:56,640 --> 00:52:58,520
Speaker 1: to your credit, you went back out there. I don't

946
00:52:58,520 --> 00:52:59,839
Speaker 1: know if it was the next day or two days

947
00:52:59,880 --> 00:53:01,840
Speaker 1: or whatever it was, and you went out there and

948
00:53:01,880 --> 00:53:03,920
Speaker 1: you grid searched and you kept following it after we

949
00:53:03,960 --> 00:53:06,920
Speaker 1: talked about some things, and you gave it a serious,

950
00:53:06,920 --> 00:53:09,799
Speaker 1: serious effort, um in the middle of the night. I

951
00:53:09,840 --> 00:53:12,359
Speaker 1: know you were out there late after work or whatever

952
00:53:12,400 --> 00:53:14,279
Speaker 1: it was. So you kept after it and and I

953
00:53:14,320 --> 00:53:16,680
Speaker 1: really commend you for that. And you didn't find the deer,

954
00:53:17,239 --> 00:53:20,520
Speaker 1: and that deer probably is just fine. But these deer

955
00:53:20,600 --> 00:53:24,040
Speaker 1: always deserve, you know, our very very best shot to

956
00:53:24,040 --> 00:53:26,520
Speaker 1: recover that. And if we're gonna, you know, if we're

957
00:53:26,520 --> 00:53:29,960
Speaker 1: gonna take that shot, if we're going to do that,

958
00:53:30,080 --> 00:53:33,319
Speaker 1: we we deserve those animals, deserve our respect to take

959
00:53:33,360 --> 00:53:35,200
Speaker 1: it through the end and give it everything. And you

960
00:53:35,280 --> 00:53:39,040
Speaker 1: did that. Um, for the sake of time. I've got

961
00:53:39,080 --> 00:53:41,080
Speaker 1: so many questions. But for the sake of times, I

962
00:53:41,120 --> 00:53:43,480
Speaker 1: know you've got a hard stop in fifteen minutes. We

963
00:53:43,600 --> 00:53:46,440
Speaker 1: gotta now move on to the final piece of this

964
00:53:46,640 --> 00:53:49,240
Speaker 1: of the season. I know that happened. We talked about

965
00:53:49,239 --> 00:53:51,479
Speaker 1: things you mentioned like I need to take a little

966
00:53:51,520 --> 00:53:53,520
Speaker 1: time off. I gotta kind of process all this. So

967
00:53:53,560 --> 00:53:55,719
Speaker 1: you took a week or two or whatever it was off,

968
00:53:56,200 --> 00:53:59,799
Speaker 1: and then you finally got back out there. UM, give

969
00:53:59,800 --> 00:54:05,520
Speaker 1: me the epic finale. Yeah. Yeah, So so that all happened.

970
00:54:05,560 --> 00:54:07,480
Speaker 1: Like you said, I took some time off just to

971
00:54:07,560 --> 00:54:10,680
Speaker 1: kind of regather and just you know, I was super

972
00:54:10,680 --> 00:54:13,840
Speaker 1: bummed out about it, and you know, I took my

973
00:54:13,960 --> 00:54:18,360
Speaker 1: time to to you know, do my thing, and I

974
00:54:18,440 --> 00:54:20,319
Speaker 1: was just like, you know what, maybe maybe I'll give

975
00:54:20,320 --> 00:54:25,799
Speaker 1: it another shot. Um. I decided to get so we

976
00:54:26,440 --> 00:54:28,600
Speaker 1: my brothers and I will share the shotgun that we've

977
00:54:28,640 --> 00:54:32,000
Speaker 1: had for for ages, and we have a slug barrel

978
00:54:32,280 --> 00:54:35,640
Speaker 1: that you know, nobody's ever used. And I got it

979
00:54:35,640 --> 00:54:38,839
Speaker 1: out last year and I you know, I shot it,

980
00:54:39,040 --> 00:54:42,600
Speaker 1: you know once last year, and then I just figured, okay,

981
00:54:42,640 --> 00:54:44,479
Speaker 1: let me let me get it out again this year

982
00:54:44,560 --> 00:54:46,560
Speaker 1: and let me just put the bow down and then

983
00:54:46,640 --> 00:54:50,200
Speaker 1: maybe do a late antler less hunt, um and see

984
00:54:50,239 --> 00:54:53,200
Speaker 1: if I can, if I can get into something. UM

985
00:54:53,880 --> 00:54:56,680
Speaker 1: took it out shot at a few times. I thought

986
00:54:56,680 --> 00:54:58,799
Speaker 1: I was good with it. By the way, there's no

987
00:54:58,840 --> 00:55:00,879
Speaker 1: scope on this thing. It's it's got an iron sight

988
00:55:01,000 --> 00:55:03,759
Speaker 1: on it. I just figured I'm just gonna roll with it.

989
00:55:03,840 --> 00:55:06,200
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna I'm not gonna take too far a shot.

990
00:55:06,320 --> 00:55:08,719
Speaker 1: Something comes in with like forty yards, that's gonna be

991
00:55:08,800 --> 00:55:13,279
Speaker 1: my max. Um. So yeah, man, it was gosh, it

992
00:55:13,400 --> 00:55:16,600
Speaker 1: was what was it? It was the day after Christmas

993
00:55:17,560 --> 00:55:19,960
Speaker 1: and I was just like, all right, I'm just gonna

994
00:55:19,960 --> 00:55:23,040
Speaker 1: try to get this hunt in real quick. Saturday night.

995
00:55:23,480 --> 00:55:26,239
Speaker 1: Beyonce wants to hang out, but I'm just gonna, you know,

996
00:55:26,440 --> 00:55:29,040
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna do this real quick. Just you know,

997
00:55:29,080 --> 00:55:33,680
Speaker 1: it's all good. Um. So yeah, so, um, I had

998
00:55:33,719 --> 00:55:36,160
Speaker 1: a head a couple, you know, at one more hunt

999
00:55:36,239 --> 00:55:38,080
Speaker 1: before that, where I was in that same tree where

1000
00:55:38,120 --> 00:55:41,000
Speaker 1: I shot that book, I just got blown up by

1001
00:55:41,040 --> 00:55:44,520
Speaker 1: a few doughs and I just knew, I gotta, you know,

1002
00:55:44,600 --> 00:55:46,640
Speaker 1: they're onto me at this point, I gotta figure out

1003
00:55:46,680 --> 00:55:50,400
Speaker 1: a different setup. So UM ended up setting up like

1004
00:55:50,920 --> 00:55:55,040
Speaker 1: in a different tree fifteen yards where I was, you know,

1005
00:55:55,080 --> 00:55:59,000
Speaker 1: I was originally was Um this tree had a little

1006
00:55:59,000 --> 00:56:01,680
Speaker 1: more cover for me, had a few trees behind me,

1007
00:56:01,760 --> 00:56:03,480
Speaker 1: so it kind of like broke up my silhouette a

1008
00:56:03,480 --> 00:56:05,400
Speaker 1: little bit, and I just felt I felt like, Okay,

1009
00:56:05,400 --> 00:56:07,560
Speaker 1: I'm gonna have a way better chance than this tree

1010
00:56:07,640 --> 00:56:13,200
Speaker 1: just being a little more stealthy. UM. So gotten the

1011
00:56:13,280 --> 00:56:18,919
Speaker 1: tree probably like two o'clock. UM, I think I was.

1012
00:56:19,120 --> 00:56:21,839
Speaker 1: I was ready to go by like two fifteen, and

1013
00:56:22,360 --> 00:56:26,759
Speaker 1: man like not fifteen minutes later, I saw four dough

1014
00:56:27,480 --> 00:56:31,680
Speaker 1: cruising the neighbor's property to my left, and I was

1015
00:56:31,719 --> 00:56:34,720
Speaker 1: just like, oh my god, this is this is happening

1016
00:56:34,760 --> 00:56:37,360
Speaker 1: way too early. I'm not ready for this to be over,

1017
00:56:38,200 --> 00:56:42,200
Speaker 1: Like what is going on? Um? So these four dough

1018
00:56:42,440 --> 00:56:45,680
Speaker 1: are cruising this, you know, the neighbor's property, and there's

1019
00:56:45,719 --> 00:56:48,960
Speaker 1: this little betting area that butts up right against the

1020
00:56:48,960 --> 00:56:52,520
Speaker 1: property I hunt, and but it's in the neighbor's property.

1021
00:56:52,680 --> 00:56:55,800
Speaker 1: And they go straight to that betting area and um,

1022
00:56:55,840 --> 00:57:00,440
Speaker 1: all four dough just they just sit down and they're there.

1023
00:57:00,480 --> 00:57:02,879
Speaker 1: They end up betting in this little this little thick,

1024
00:57:03,000 --> 00:57:06,760
Speaker 1: nasty stuff and all of this is in my range,

1025
00:57:06,920 --> 00:57:09,840
Speaker 1: Like I can see everything with my buyos, and I

1026
00:57:09,920 --> 00:57:12,840
Speaker 1: see them just kind of all sitting down and just

1027
00:57:12,840 --> 00:57:15,439
Speaker 1: just hanging out, and I'm like, okay, like holy cow,

1028
00:57:15,560 --> 00:57:18,480
Speaker 1: Like you know, if they if they you know, end

1029
00:57:18,560 --> 00:57:20,480
Speaker 1: up getting up and work my way, I'm going to

1030
00:57:20,600 --> 00:57:24,680
Speaker 1: have a legit shot at one of these deer. So

1031
00:57:24,840 --> 00:57:28,800
Speaker 1: it's like two fifteen, and man, they were betted down

1032
00:57:28,880 --> 00:57:32,880
Speaker 1: for what I thought was like eternity. Um, I think

1033
00:57:33,400 --> 00:57:37,800
Speaker 1: it finally got to like four thirty and they started

1034
00:57:37,840 --> 00:57:44,600
Speaker 1: to move around and two dough started working my way. Um,

1035
00:57:44,640 --> 00:57:46,680
Speaker 1: they were still in the neighbor's property. So I didn't

1036
00:57:46,680 --> 00:57:48,560
Speaker 1: want to take a shot just yet. I wanted them

1037
00:57:48,560 --> 00:57:50,600
Speaker 1: to wait, wait over till you know the property that

1038
00:57:50,640 --> 00:57:53,840
Speaker 1: I was on. They start working my way, start working

1039
00:57:53,840 --> 00:57:56,800
Speaker 1: my way very slowly, and then finally like they're in

1040
00:57:57,080 --> 00:57:59,480
Speaker 1: the shooting lane that I knew I could take a

1041
00:57:59,480 --> 00:58:03,040
Speaker 1: shot through. Um. But there was two dough. There was

1042
00:58:03,200 --> 00:58:06,920
Speaker 1: a big dough and there was a little dough, and I, obviously,

1043
00:58:07,080 --> 00:58:09,640
Speaker 1: you know, just of the two, I wanted to take

1044
00:58:09,640 --> 00:58:13,240
Speaker 1: a shot at the big dough. Um. So I got

1045
00:58:13,280 --> 00:58:16,960
Speaker 1: set up, I got my my gun ready, and I

1046
00:58:17,080 --> 00:58:20,600
Speaker 1: have my my sight on, you know, in the general

1047
00:58:20,640 --> 00:58:23,640
Speaker 1: direction of where the deer are. However, the big dough

1048
00:58:24,080 --> 00:58:27,000
Speaker 1: is locked off by a patch of these little trees

1049
00:58:27,000 --> 00:58:29,960
Speaker 1: that didn't want to take a shot through. Um. But

1050
00:58:30,000 --> 00:58:33,880
Speaker 1: the the little dough was kind of like in my sight. UM.

1051
00:58:34,040 --> 00:58:36,680
Speaker 1: So I'm just kind of getting ready and get ready.

1052
00:58:37,000 --> 00:58:40,880
Speaker 1: She's kind of just doing her thing, not moving. All

1053
00:58:40,880 --> 00:58:44,600
Speaker 1: of a sudden, behind me, I hear a blow and

1054
00:58:44,680 --> 00:58:47,520
Speaker 1: I'm like what, like, where did that come from? Like

1055
00:58:48,640 --> 00:58:50,840
Speaker 1: there must have been deer behind me, or deer over

1056
00:58:50,880 --> 00:58:52,520
Speaker 1: to my right that I didn't see that may have

1057
00:58:52,840 --> 00:58:55,640
Speaker 1: picked me off with, you know, the way that the

1058
00:58:55,680 --> 00:59:00,080
Speaker 1: wind was blowing. And I hear blow, and immediately I

1059
00:59:00,120 --> 00:59:03,560
Speaker 1: get nervous and I'm like, okay, like I'm busted. Like

1060
00:59:03,720 --> 00:59:08,120
Speaker 1: I could just completely blow this thing right here. Um,

1061
00:59:08,160 --> 00:59:10,840
Speaker 1: but the deer didn't spook, and I'm just like waiting

1062
00:59:10,880 --> 00:59:14,320
Speaker 1: for this The big dough to step out, and then

1063
00:59:14,320 --> 00:59:17,720
Speaker 1: I hear another blow, and that one got the deer's attention,

1064
00:59:17,960 --> 00:59:20,480
Speaker 1: and I'm like, Okay, now I have to make a decision.

1065
00:59:20,560 --> 00:59:22,840
Speaker 1: Do I wait for this big dough to step out,

1066
00:59:23,160 --> 00:59:25,680
Speaker 1: or do I just take a shot at the little

1067
00:59:25,720 --> 00:59:28,800
Speaker 1: dough just for the sake of getting a deer and

1068
00:59:28,840 --> 00:59:32,000
Speaker 1: just you know, getting some meat on the table. And

1069
00:59:32,040 --> 00:59:34,960
Speaker 1: then I heard another blow and I was like, all right,

1070
00:59:35,000 --> 00:59:37,360
Speaker 1: you know what, I'm not going to take another risk here.

1071
00:59:37,720 --> 00:59:40,040
Speaker 1: I'm just going to take this shot at the little dough.

1072
00:59:41,760 --> 00:59:44,720
Speaker 1: And I did. I let it rip. You know, I

1073
00:59:45,280 --> 00:59:49,600
Speaker 1: felt good right off the bat um took the shot,

1074
00:59:50,680 --> 00:59:54,080
Speaker 1: the deer ran off. Um, she ran off into the

1075
00:59:54,120 --> 00:59:59,440
Speaker 1: neighbor's property, and UM, you know, I just knew right

1076
00:59:59,480 --> 01:00:01,320
Speaker 1: from the start. I was like, I think that was

1077
01:00:01,360 --> 01:00:04,280
Speaker 1: a really good shot. Just by the way the deer reacted,

1078
01:00:05,080 --> 01:00:09,600
Speaker 1: it looked like I had gotten a decent hit, and UM,

1079
01:00:10,120 --> 01:00:12,800
Speaker 1: I was just kind of like it's just overcome. Was

1080
01:00:12,960 --> 01:00:15,440
Speaker 1: just like, oh my God, a sense of relief and

1081
01:00:15,640 --> 01:00:19,120
Speaker 1: just like thank you, Like I think I think this

1082
01:00:19,200 --> 01:00:23,760
Speaker 1: is this is happening. So UM, I gave it some time.

1083
01:00:23,800 --> 01:00:26,040
Speaker 1: I think it gave it, like you know, half hour

1084
01:00:26,120 --> 01:00:29,080
Speaker 1: or whatever. I just took my time, tearing down my

1085
01:00:29,080 --> 01:00:34,200
Speaker 1: my saddle and um, I went down and um. At

1086
01:00:34,200 --> 01:00:36,840
Speaker 1: this point, I had already gotten the neighbor's permission to

1087
01:00:37,040 --> 01:00:39,560
Speaker 1: you know, um, you know track a deer if I

1088
01:00:39,560 --> 01:00:41,360
Speaker 1: if I had, you know, if they had gone over

1089
01:00:41,400 --> 01:00:44,560
Speaker 1: to the property. And man, it was snowing that day,

1090
01:00:44,760 --> 01:00:48,400
Speaker 1: and the blood trail was great, and you know, it

1091
01:00:48,520 --> 01:00:51,840
Speaker 1: was just not twenty yards later. Man, I saw I

1092
01:00:51,880 --> 01:00:55,800
Speaker 1: saw it laying down, and I just, um, I just

1093
01:00:55,840 --> 01:00:58,320
Speaker 1: got so happy. Man. I think I went over to it,

1094
01:00:58,400 --> 01:01:01,920
Speaker 1: and quite honestly, I did feel a little remorseful just

1095
01:01:02,040 --> 01:01:05,720
Speaker 1: seeing it there and just seeing it kind of you know,

1096
01:01:05,800 --> 01:01:07,680
Speaker 1: I had just taken a shot at an animal and

1097
01:01:07,720 --> 01:01:09,720
Speaker 1: it and then it expired right there in front of me.

1098
01:01:09,800 --> 01:01:12,280
Speaker 1: It's just like, you know, I feel like it's it's

1099
01:01:12,360 --> 01:01:14,760
Speaker 1: kind of a natural thing for for you to feel

1100
01:01:14,800 --> 01:01:17,520
Speaker 1: a little remorseful there. And I did get you know,

1101
01:01:17,640 --> 01:01:20,720
Speaker 1: I did get a little sad whatever, but it was

1102
01:01:20,800 --> 01:01:26,640
Speaker 1: just quickly overcome with with happiness and uh excitement, and

1103
01:01:26,680 --> 01:01:29,320
Speaker 1: I was just I was just pumped, man, I was

1104
01:01:29,360 --> 01:01:32,960
Speaker 1: just pumped. It was a good day. It was it

1105
01:01:33,040 --> 01:01:37,920
Speaker 1: was a great time. What I mean so many, so

1106
01:01:37,960 --> 01:01:42,520
Speaker 1: many questions and did it so? So from there you

1107
01:01:42,520 --> 01:01:46,640
Speaker 1: you you enjoyed the moment, you gott of the deer,

1108
01:01:46,920 --> 01:01:50,600
Speaker 1: you brought it home. Yeah, you eventually butchered the deer,

1109
01:01:50,680 --> 01:01:54,880
Speaker 1: I think, right. Yeah, So looking back on all that,

1110
01:01:56,320 --> 01:01:59,680
Speaker 1: what is the A? Was it what you expected? Or

1111
01:01:59,720 --> 01:02:01,440
Speaker 1: did you get out of this what you're hoping you're

1112
01:02:01,440 --> 01:02:05,840
Speaker 1: going to get and be? How do you sum up

1113
01:02:05,880 --> 01:02:11,760
Speaker 1: your feelings about everything? Now? Oh? Man? Um? Was it

1114
01:02:11,880 --> 01:02:15,080
Speaker 1: what I expected? In the moment? It was not what

1115
01:02:15,160 --> 01:02:19,560
Speaker 1: I expected? I I don't know. I feel like I

1116
01:02:19,560 --> 01:02:22,840
Speaker 1: feel like it all happened so fast. Um, but really

1117
01:02:22,840 --> 01:02:25,160
Speaker 1: looking back at it, I you know, I think it

1118
01:02:25,280 --> 01:02:27,520
Speaker 1: was like over like five or ten minutes that I

1119
01:02:27,600 --> 01:02:30,800
Speaker 1: was kind of been the standoff of those two dear. Um,

1120
01:02:32,000 --> 01:02:35,640
Speaker 1: it just I think it just happened so quickly, and um,

1121
01:02:35,760 --> 01:02:39,160
Speaker 1: you know, I really wasn't expecting to feel remorseful, like

1122
01:02:39,200 --> 01:02:41,400
Speaker 1: I said, I just thought I was it was going

1123
01:02:41,440 --> 01:02:44,160
Speaker 1: to be all kind of like happy and like, oh

1124
01:02:44,240 --> 01:02:46,600
Speaker 1: my god, like I did it like but no, it

1125
01:02:46,720 --> 01:02:48,920
Speaker 1: was just kind of like whoa Like I just took

1126
01:02:48,960 --> 01:02:50,920
Speaker 1: I just took a you know, I just took an

1127
01:02:50,920 --> 01:02:54,080
Speaker 1: animal's life here and and you know, naturally I just

1128
01:02:54,160 --> 01:02:57,200
Speaker 1: kind of felt felt weird. Um, but no, I mean

1129
01:02:57,480 --> 01:03:01,680
Speaker 1: eventually that the happiness did come. Um, I mean just

1130
01:03:01,720 --> 01:03:04,440
Speaker 1: the whole season in general, man, was such a grind.

1131
01:03:04,800 --> 01:03:07,760
Speaker 1: I think I told you earlier in the season where

1132
01:03:08,120 --> 01:03:10,000
Speaker 1: after I shot that buck, it was like, you know,

1133
01:03:10,680 --> 01:03:13,360
Speaker 1: right now, it seems like the worst season ever, but

1134
01:03:13,600 --> 01:03:16,480
Speaker 1: probably gonna look back at this and and think like

1135
01:03:16,600 --> 01:03:18,560
Speaker 1: this is probably gonna be one of the best seasons

1136
01:03:18,600 --> 01:03:24,360
Speaker 1: I've ever had, so um, So from that aspect, yeah, man,

1137
01:03:24,360 --> 01:03:28,040
Speaker 1: it was. It was just kind of like so many

1138
01:03:28,120 --> 01:03:33,040
Speaker 1: different things happened and none of which I had any

1139
01:03:33,080 --> 01:03:35,160
Speaker 1: idea We're going to happen, and I just kind of

1140
01:03:35,160 --> 01:03:38,800
Speaker 1: had to roll with the punches throughout those months, and

1141
01:03:38,880 --> 01:03:41,600
Speaker 1: I did and ended up all coming together and I

1142
01:03:41,680 --> 01:03:46,720
Speaker 1: was just so so happy. So has this several year

1143
01:03:46,800 --> 01:03:49,840
Speaker 1: journey of ups and downs and work and challenges and

1144
01:03:49,960 --> 01:03:53,800
Speaker 1: learning and frustration and excitement. Has Has it all been

1145
01:03:53,840 --> 01:03:58,840
Speaker 1: worth it? Oh? Man? Absolutely? Man, I think, you know,

1146
01:03:58,960 --> 01:04:01,880
Speaker 1: just like the taste of success was just so great,

1147
01:04:02,040 --> 01:04:04,760
Speaker 1: and then just the excitement that I've gotten from you know,

1148
01:04:04,840 --> 01:04:07,920
Speaker 1: my family and you know just you know, obviously you

1149
01:04:07,960 --> 01:04:11,600
Speaker 1: guys and you know Jason and everybody else have been

1150
01:04:11,680 --> 01:04:14,200
Speaker 1: so pumped for me. I think that was that that's

1151
01:04:14,240 --> 01:04:18,400
Speaker 1: been really cool. Um. And then you know, we got

1152
01:04:18,680 --> 01:04:21,240
Speaker 1: we got the whole family involved in butchering the deer

1153
01:04:21,320 --> 01:04:23,400
Speaker 1: and that was a lot of fun. Like my brothers

1154
01:04:23,400 --> 01:04:25,400
Speaker 1: and their kids and my dad came out and he

1155
01:04:25,400 --> 01:04:28,680
Speaker 1: showed us a finger too, because he used to do

1156
01:04:28,800 --> 01:04:33,320
Speaker 1: his own butchering, um, you know, back when he was younger.

1157
01:04:33,920 --> 01:04:37,320
Speaker 1: So he showed us a bunch of stuff, and um,

1158
01:04:37,760 --> 01:04:42,440
Speaker 1: the meat is incredible. Um. You know, I've I've had

1159
01:04:42,480 --> 01:04:45,200
Speaker 1: a few meals now from from the deer and it's

1160
01:04:45,240 --> 01:04:48,720
Speaker 1: it's just been awesome. And then um, just being able

1161
01:04:48,760 --> 01:04:51,040
Speaker 1: to share it with with my brothers and my family

1162
01:04:51,080 --> 01:04:54,040
Speaker 1: and I've I've given them meat and they've been so

1163
01:04:54,120 --> 01:04:56,040
Speaker 1: happy with it and just saying like thank you, like

1164
01:04:56,080 --> 01:04:59,000
Speaker 1: this is great, Like you gotta go get another deer

1165
01:04:59,240 --> 01:05:02,000
Speaker 1: right now. No, it's not a season. I gotta wait

1166
01:05:02,080 --> 01:05:06,760
Speaker 1: til next season. So so it's been it's been awesome. Man,

1167
01:05:06,880 --> 01:05:10,400
Speaker 1: it's been great. That's that's so cool. I I couldn't

1168
01:05:10,440 --> 01:05:14,240
Speaker 1: be more excited for you. Uh So it sounds like

1169
01:05:14,800 --> 01:05:16,360
Speaker 1: I already know the answer to this question, but I

1170
01:05:16,400 --> 01:05:18,840
Speaker 1: have to ask it. Uh, is there gonna be a

1171
01:05:18,920 --> 01:05:23,920
Speaker 1: year three? Oh? Yeah, definitely, man, definitely going to be

1172
01:05:23,920 --> 01:05:26,800
Speaker 1: a year three or three for sure. I'm very I'm

1173
01:05:26,880 --> 01:05:28,880
Speaker 1: very happy to hear that. Okay, I know you've got

1174
01:05:28,880 --> 01:05:31,360
Speaker 1: to leave here, probably some important stuff to do with

1175
01:05:31,400 --> 01:05:34,080
Speaker 1: work or life or something more important than this. But

1176
01:05:34,080 --> 01:05:38,560
Speaker 1: but two really quick questions. Number one for other new

1177
01:05:38,640 --> 01:05:41,840
Speaker 1: hunters out there listening, who haven't killed their first dear yet,

1178
01:05:41,880 --> 01:05:43,720
Speaker 1: who are where you were a year or two ago,

1179
01:05:44,200 --> 01:05:47,240
Speaker 1: what would be your piece of advice for someone who

1180
01:05:47,400 --> 01:05:49,800
Speaker 1: who was in the shoes or who isn't the shoes

1181
01:05:49,800 --> 01:05:53,520
Speaker 1: that you were in not that long ago. Yeah, a

1182
01:05:53,560 --> 01:05:56,800
Speaker 1: piece of advice would be, Um, you know, don't be

1183
01:05:56,840 --> 01:05:59,800
Speaker 1: afraid to get out of your comfort zone. Um. You know,

1184
01:06:01,120 --> 01:06:04,560
Speaker 1: I feel like, you know, I take this with anything

1185
01:06:04,560 --> 01:06:06,840
Speaker 1: I do. If I'm not if i'm if I'm feeling

1186
01:06:06,840 --> 01:06:09,760
Speaker 1: too comfortable with something I'm not, I'm not really learning anything.

1187
01:06:09,840 --> 01:06:14,080
Speaker 1: So don't be afraid to get uncomfortable and reach out

1188
01:06:14,160 --> 01:06:16,280
Speaker 1: to like your local q d m A or I

1189
01:06:16,320 --> 01:06:20,080
Speaker 1: guess now it's the d n d A, right, Um,

1190
01:06:20,400 --> 01:06:23,760
Speaker 1: your local NBA chapter and just try to tap some

1191
01:06:23,880 --> 01:06:28,800
Speaker 1: resources that you wouldn't normally tap um and see if

1192
01:06:28,880 --> 01:06:31,520
Speaker 1: you can, if you can find a mentor that would

1193
01:06:31,560 --> 01:06:35,720
Speaker 1: be willing to guide you through the hunting process, even

1194
01:06:35,720 --> 01:06:38,080
Speaker 1: if it if it is something that you wouldn't normally do.

1195
01:06:38,360 --> 01:06:42,160
Speaker 1: I think that that knowledge and the things you learn

1196
01:06:42,400 --> 01:06:47,520
Speaker 1: just hunting with some someone is is invaluable, right, Like

1197
01:06:47,800 --> 01:06:51,400
Speaker 1: it's just you can learn so much um in in

1198
01:06:51,480 --> 01:06:55,080
Speaker 1: such a small amount of time, UM, And I really

1199
01:06:55,080 --> 01:06:59,160
Speaker 1: feel like that that can really help you out in

1200
01:06:59,520 --> 01:07:02,600
Speaker 1: your journey me to have some success. I think that's

1201
01:07:02,640 --> 01:07:05,080
Speaker 1: kind of like the biggest thing for me, right. It's

1202
01:07:05,080 --> 01:07:07,520
Speaker 1: like if you're if you want something you've never had,

1203
01:07:07,880 --> 01:07:10,880
Speaker 1: you've got to do something you've never done before. So

1204
01:07:10,880 --> 01:07:12,880
Speaker 1: so don't be afraid to get out of your comfort

1205
01:07:12,960 --> 01:07:15,240
Speaker 1: zone and take a take a leap of faith and

1206
01:07:15,880 --> 01:07:18,360
Speaker 1: you know, do something like that. So that would be

1207
01:07:18,440 --> 01:07:21,000
Speaker 1: kind of my my big lesson or you know, my

1208
01:07:21,080 --> 01:07:23,400
Speaker 1: big my big thing for a new hunter that's just

1209
01:07:23,400 --> 01:07:25,919
Speaker 1: trying to get into it. It's great advice and any

1210
01:07:26,000 --> 01:07:28,640
Speaker 1: I can you imagine how different your life would have

1211
01:07:28,640 --> 01:07:32,640
Speaker 1: been if you hadn't you know, emailed qtum after listening

1212
01:07:32,680 --> 01:07:36,280
Speaker 1: to that podcast, UM. A whole bunch of things came

1213
01:07:36,280 --> 01:07:38,760
Speaker 1: out from that because you reached out to Josh right

1214
01:07:38,840 --> 01:07:42,520
Speaker 1: after listening to the Mediator podcast and sent you down

1215
01:07:42,520 --> 01:07:46,360
Speaker 1: a crazy road. Huh yeah, man, it's been a it's

1216
01:07:46,360 --> 01:07:48,840
Speaker 1: been a journey, and you know, I gotta thank you.

1217
01:07:48,960 --> 01:07:51,760
Speaker 1: I gotta think, Josh, I gotta think. You know, Jason,

1218
01:07:52,480 --> 01:07:54,680
Speaker 1: you know, you guys are just such, you know, good

1219
01:07:54,680 --> 01:07:58,960
Speaker 1: examples for I guess this up and coming generation of hunters,

1220
01:07:58,960 --> 01:08:01,120
Speaker 1: and you guys are doing the right things. You guys

1221
01:08:01,120 --> 01:08:04,080
Speaker 1: are saying the right stuff, and you know, you guys

1222
01:08:04,280 --> 01:08:07,480
Speaker 1: help more than you really know. So I gotta really

1223
01:08:07,520 --> 01:08:11,280
Speaker 1: thank you guys for everything that you guys are doing. Um,

1224
01:08:11,320 --> 01:08:13,800
Speaker 1: Like I said, setting that good example is just so

1225
01:08:13,880 --> 01:08:16,880
Speaker 1: important for the guys and girls that are coming up

1226
01:08:17,200 --> 01:08:21,640
Speaker 1: and really protecting the future of our you know, of

1227
01:08:21,800 --> 01:08:26,720
Speaker 1: hunting and our habitats and our dear population all these

1228
01:08:26,720 --> 01:08:30,360
Speaker 1: other things. Man, it's just big things to you guys, right,

1229
01:08:30,520 --> 01:08:33,439
Speaker 1: you guys, I feel like deserve the credit and don't

1230
01:08:33,479 --> 01:08:36,800
Speaker 1: get it enough. So big thanks. Thank you for saying that. Dan,

1231
01:08:37,400 --> 01:08:39,400
Speaker 1: And uh, I know we gotta let you go. So

1232
01:08:39,880 --> 01:08:43,240
Speaker 1: just congratulations again, my friend. It's been an honor to

1233
01:08:43,280 --> 01:08:45,240
Speaker 1: get to be a part of it and to see

1234
01:08:45,240 --> 01:08:48,240
Speaker 1: it and watch it and and see your your progress.

1235
01:08:48,720 --> 01:08:53,080
Speaker 1: I'm very excited for you, and uh great, great work

1236
01:08:53,120 --> 01:08:55,240
Speaker 1: pushing through all the ups and downs and coming out

1237
01:08:55,280 --> 01:08:58,639
Speaker 1: the other side. You are You've been a hunter all

1238
01:08:58,640 --> 01:09:01,599
Speaker 1: this time, but but now you are a hunter with

1239
01:09:01,920 --> 01:09:04,679
Speaker 1: with meeting the freezer and that's an important step. So

1240
01:09:05,640 --> 01:09:09,040
Speaker 1: well done in Congrats, Thank you so much, man, I

1241
01:09:09,080 --> 01:09:11,479
Speaker 1: really appreciate it. And you know, thank you for having

1242
01:09:11,520 --> 01:09:14,200
Speaker 1: me on again. It's awesome, man, Thank you so much.

1243
01:09:15,200 --> 01:09:17,960
Speaker 1: All Right, and there you go. Congrats again to Dan.

1244
01:09:18,280 --> 01:09:20,840
Speaker 1: What what a story. I wish we had a little

1245
01:09:20,880 --> 01:09:23,559
Speaker 1: more time he had he had to run off and

1246
01:09:23,560 --> 01:09:27,000
Speaker 1: do some things, but gosh, there's so much that I

1247
01:09:27,040 --> 01:09:29,880
Speaker 1: would love to dive in further too, about how he

1248
01:09:30,200 --> 01:09:34,000
Speaker 1: experienced and and dealt with all these moments after the hunt.

1249
01:09:34,360 --> 01:09:36,760
Speaker 1: You know where his head is at now. It's just

1250
01:09:37,720 --> 01:09:41,120
Speaker 1: it's a lot. And maybe maybe I'm just really excited

1251
01:09:41,680 --> 01:09:45,920
Speaker 1: because I've seen what Dan has has worked through and

1252
01:09:45,920 --> 01:09:50,920
Speaker 1: and the struggles he overcame in the experience he had,

1253
01:09:51,720 --> 01:09:54,120
Speaker 1: and gosh, it's just it's really cool to see a

1254
01:09:54,160 --> 01:09:57,080
Speaker 1: story like this kind of get wrapped up with a

1255
01:09:57,120 --> 01:10:02,200
Speaker 1: happy ending. So I'll say this to all the listening um.

1256
01:10:02,240 --> 01:10:05,320
Speaker 1: If you're a new hunter, take Dan's advice. Reach out

1257
01:10:05,400 --> 01:10:07,800
Speaker 1: to someone, reach out to an organization, reach out to

1258
01:10:07,840 --> 01:10:10,920
Speaker 1: a friend or family member that you know hunts, and

1259
01:10:10,920 --> 01:10:12,639
Speaker 1: and put yourself out there a little bit. It can

1260
01:10:12,720 --> 01:10:16,120
Speaker 1: really pay off. And then number two, to those of

1261
01:10:16,160 --> 01:10:19,320
Speaker 1: you who are already hunters and you want to try

1262
01:10:19,360 --> 01:10:21,160
Speaker 1: to help some people like this out if you'd like

1263
01:10:21,280 --> 01:10:24,600
Speaker 1: to take that next step and you're hunting journey and

1264
01:10:24,680 --> 01:10:28,640
Speaker 1: become a hunting mentor. Number one, the most simple thing

1265
01:10:28,720 --> 01:10:30,360
Speaker 1: you can do, but something that a lot of us

1266
01:10:30,360 --> 01:10:34,520
Speaker 1: don't think about, myself included, is simply offer an invitation.

1267
01:10:34,840 --> 01:10:38,080
Speaker 1: If you know someone who maybe is into some other

1268
01:10:38,200 --> 01:10:41,800
Speaker 1: kind of adjacent outdoor endeavors. Just in conversations, say hey

1269
01:10:42,280 --> 01:10:44,000
Speaker 1: you like to fish, or hey you like to camp,

1270
01:10:44,400 --> 01:10:47,160
Speaker 1: or hey you like to I don't know, you like

1271
01:10:47,280 --> 01:10:49,880
Speaker 1: to shoot guns. Would you ever be interest in hunting?

1272
01:10:49,920 --> 01:10:51,320
Speaker 1: Because I'd love to take you out and show you

1273
01:10:51,360 --> 01:10:53,640
Speaker 1: around sometime. Just do it. Just put it on your

1274
01:10:53,680 --> 01:10:56,360
Speaker 1: list this year, you're gonna ask someone, You're gonna invite someone.

1275
01:10:56,439 --> 01:10:59,840
Speaker 1: It's it's a really simple thing to do, and yes,

1276
01:11:00,040 --> 01:11:02,280
Speaker 1: takes a little bit of sacrifice once you go out there,

1277
01:11:02,320 --> 01:11:05,160
Speaker 1: and spend a day or two with somebody. But it's man,

1278
01:11:05,200 --> 01:11:07,080
Speaker 1: it's not just a good thing to do. It's also

1279
01:11:07,160 --> 01:11:09,080
Speaker 1: a lot of fun and I can attest to that

1280
01:11:09,120 --> 01:11:12,920
Speaker 1: over the last couple of years. It is so fulfilling

1281
01:11:13,280 --> 01:11:15,639
Speaker 1: to share this thing that we love with other people.

1282
01:11:16,840 --> 01:11:19,439
Speaker 1: Number Two. Another great way you could do this is

1283
01:11:19,520 --> 01:11:22,800
Speaker 1: reach out to an organization like the National Deer Association

1284
01:11:23,160 --> 01:11:27,120
Speaker 1: which runs these field to fork mentorship programs. Reach out

1285
01:11:27,120 --> 01:11:29,479
Speaker 1: to them and say, hey, I'm interested in being a mentor.

1286
01:11:29,600 --> 01:11:32,760
Speaker 1: They need more mentors. I'm talking to these guys frequently.

1287
01:11:33,040 --> 01:11:35,800
Speaker 1: They've they want to scale this program to other parts

1288
01:11:35,840 --> 01:11:38,240
Speaker 1: all around the country where you can help educate new

1289
01:11:38,320 --> 01:11:40,519
Speaker 1: hunters and spend a little time with him out there

1290
01:11:40,520 --> 01:11:43,519
Speaker 1: in the woods. They need people, they need you, So

1291
01:11:43,960 --> 01:11:46,880
Speaker 1: go to the National Deer Association website. You're gonna find

1292
01:11:46,880 --> 01:11:50,920
Speaker 1: contact information there to get ahold of folks. Hank Forrester

1293
01:11:51,360 --> 01:11:53,960
Speaker 1: is the guy who who's running these programs. So get

1294
01:11:53,960 --> 01:11:56,240
Speaker 1: ahold of Hank Forrester. He's going to help point you

1295
01:11:56,280 --> 01:11:59,800
Speaker 1: in the right direction or touch base with your regional contacts.

1296
01:12:00,360 --> 01:12:03,120
Speaker 1: Someone like Josh Hilliard, who was on the podcast last week.

1297
01:12:03,200 --> 01:12:06,000
Speaker 1: He's one of the regional directors for the National Deer Association.

1298
01:12:06,560 --> 01:12:09,200
Speaker 1: If he manages your area, reach out to him and

1299
01:12:09,240 --> 01:12:11,920
Speaker 1: he can help connect you with people that are running

1300
01:12:11,960 --> 01:12:14,639
Speaker 1: these programs. It's it's a great way to get involved,

1301
01:12:14,640 --> 01:12:16,280
Speaker 1: it's a great way to make a difference, and it's

1302
01:12:16,320 --> 01:12:18,519
Speaker 1: a great way to make sure that this thing we

1303
01:12:18,560 --> 01:12:21,920
Speaker 1: love continues far into the future so that our kids

1304
01:12:22,240 --> 01:12:26,560
Speaker 1: and their kids and future generations can enjoy wild places

1305
01:12:26,600 --> 01:12:30,720
Speaker 1: and wild animals and the privilege to hunt them and

1306
01:12:30,760 --> 01:12:33,519
Speaker 1: to fill our freezers with the best damn meat that

1307
01:12:34,080 --> 01:12:38,120
Speaker 1: money can't buy. So that's all for me. Thanks all

1308
01:12:38,200 --> 01:12:40,640
Speaker 1: for listening, thanks for your time and your support. Is

1309
01:12:40,680 --> 01:12:43,320
Speaker 1: gonna be a good year. This is gonna be a

1310
01:12:43,320 --> 01:12:46,160
Speaker 1: great year, guys, and I'm excited to share it with

1311
01:12:46,200 --> 01:12:48,200
Speaker 1: you and to be a part of this community. So

1312
01:12:48,800 --> 01:12:53,960
Speaker 1: until next time, thank you, and stay wired to hunt.