Latest / Conservation Stories / On the Road for Conservation: Dusty’s Field Notes from the Lodge

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On the Road for Conservation: Dusty’s Field Notes from the Lodge · Conservation Stories

• 0:08
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• 0:56
  Speaker B: That's s a l t y s
• 0:58
  Speaker A: to 979-232-2528 hello, friends, and welcome back
• 1:03
  Speaker C: again to Conservation Stories Podcast, brought to you by the Sand Hill Area Research Association. I'm your host, Tillery Timmons. Sims. And this is Dusty Timmons, who, yes, may be related to me a little bit. Just a little bit. His. My baby brother. Not the babiest baby, but my younger brother. Yeah. So I asked Dusty to come because he, he made a big sacrifice for me recently.
• 1:29
  Speaker B: I got to go on a free trip.
• 1:31
  Speaker C: He had to go on a free trip to a hunting and fishing lodge so that he could interview all of these amazing people in conservation. Now I sent him. I was, like, preoccupied. Did not. Already made previous commitments. And so Dusty, not only did he do that, though, you went down there fully equipped with equipment you barely knew how to use.
• 1:58
  Speaker B: Yes. Yeah. Yep. Got it. Four days before I left.
• 2:01
  Speaker C: Exactly. Exactly. So we're kind of flying by the seat of our pants. But we are going to introduce his series and over. Over the next few weeks, and we wanted to do one podcast to kind of introduce what he did and the folks kind of, that he'll be talking to in that series. So 11 podcasts you recorded over the weekend.
• 2:26
  Speaker B: Is that how many it went to? Ben?
• 2:28
  Speaker C: I think that's what you've told me.
• 2:29
  Speaker B: Yes, that's what I told you. That's near as I could remember. I know it was a whole bunch one day and quite a few the next day. And then I think I finished off at midnight Sunday night. Sunday morning. So just after midnight. It started at 11. 11:30 was when I started my last. Last one. So. But it was really, I mean, it was an amazing experience. I mean, meeting the people that were down there and interviewing the people. Did you happen to know that There are great white sharks in the Gulf of Mexico.
• 2:57
  Speaker C: No.
• 2:57
  Speaker B: Yes. There are great white sharks in the Gulf of Mexico. I interviewed the founder of the. Was it Gulf great white society and talked about it. There was one that was actually tagged off the coast of like Maine or something like that. And then like. Or maybe that it was somewhere on the east coast.
• 3:15
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 3:16
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 3:17
  Speaker B: And then like a couple weeks later it was, it was bit pinged I think just right, right off the, off of South Padre Island.
• 3:25
  Speaker C: No way.
• 3:25
  Speaker B: Like ridiculously close stuff. I'm not going.
• 3:29
  Speaker C: I guess, I guess I never thought about it.
• 3:31
  Speaker B: Well there, I mean we've always been told there's nod.
• 3:34
  Speaker C: Okay.
• 3:34
  Speaker B: I mean that's the thing is it's always been, you know, if somebody said hey there, I saw a great white shark in the Gulf of Mexico, they'd be like, no, you didn't. You just thought you did. It was something, it was a big tiger or something like that.
• 3:43
  Speaker C: Okay.
• 3:44
  Speaker B: Yeah, but it's pretty interesting and you know, his whole deal is just hey, I'm, you know, he's, he's, he's a well versed and well traveled. He does a lot of different things. Yeah, very interesting guy. He's got a really, he's got a really interesting, what you call it, documentary on the great bike shark that you can get off of Netflix and no YouTube I guess is where it is.
• 4:07
  Speaker C: How cool.
• 4:09
  Speaker B: Talk about that in the, in there.
• 4:10
  Speaker C: Okay.
• 4:10
  Speaker B: I would tell you what the name of it was, except I have slept since then.
• 4:14
  Speaker C: Well, what we'll do is we'll, I'll, we'll help collect all that information and we'll put it in the show notes. So like after you visited with somebody, you know, all that stuff will be.
• 4:23
  Speaker B: But it's really cool. It's. That was really interesting. I met with the, the head of the Wild Sheep foundation and, and we got talk about desert bighorns in Texas and Mexico and dog sheep and stone sheep and bighorn sheep and how they grow and how they doing all that kind of stuff. And in that conversation we talked a lot about invasive species like Texas has. We're down to. Or we're back up to 475ish. Bighorn sheep and desert bighorn sheep in Texas.
• 4:53
  Speaker C: And they're 475.
• 4:56
  Speaker B: Yeah, we were up to almost 2,000.
• 4:58
  Speaker C: That doesn't seem.
• 4:58
  Speaker B: And then they had a disease blow through the herd and just smacked it down and it's growing again, you know,
• 5:06
  Speaker C: but it's, but where are they mostly located?
• 5:09
  Speaker B: Big men.
• 5:10
  Speaker C: Okay.
• 5:10
  Speaker B: That Area, the Guadalupe Mountains. It's their, their desert. So it's in that, that desert area out over there, the Chihuahuan Desert and in through there. And you know, they range extends through New Mexico and Arizona, you know, and I believe some. Maybe in Nevada there's. Okay, that's where the desert bighorn is. But it's, you know, they're a. An animal that lives in very limited carrying capacity areas. Well, that's the biggest problem. One of the biggest problems I've got is Texas has a hundred thousand audeads in the same area.
• 5:41
  Speaker C: Oh yeah. And I get those. Sometimes I get those two confused.
• 5:44
  Speaker B: Yeah. Well, odd. I'd come from the other side of
• 5:46
  Speaker C: the globe and they're. Yeah. That. Because I like. They're pretty much not supposed to be here kind of.
• 5:51
  Speaker B: Well, they were in. They were introduced back in, I don't know, like the 30s or something like that.
• 5:55
  Speaker C: Oh really?
• 5:56
  Speaker B: To increase game.
• 5:58
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 5:58
  Speaker B: Hunting opportunities. And have adapted very well. I mean oddly enough they get their rates of predation and I don't want to go too far into the weeds because I cover all this in the deal. But their rates of predation from like mountain lions and bears and stuff like that is actually lower than desert bighorn. And so not only they, they interesting. They're, you know, they're tough animals.
• 6:18
  Speaker C: Yeah. Well, they've been here several generations so they probably have had time to adapt. So let tell us a little bit about Derek York who is the hero.
• 6:28
  Speaker B: He is the hero. Put it all together.
• 6:30
  Speaker C: Wow.
• 6:31
  Speaker B: Works with Texas Parks and Wildlife as a day job.
• 6:33
  Speaker C: Okay.
• 6:33
  Speaker B: He is. He drives a boat for the.
• 6:36
  Speaker C: Okay.
• 6:37
  Speaker B: Texas Parks and Wildlife out in the, in the Gulf doing research and wow.
• 6:41
  Speaker C: Now what a job.
• 6:43
  Speaker B: It's a pretty cool job. He's a tech 3, I believe. And ironically he is the only one that I really, really, really wanted to interview this. He was not in Norma. Of. Of who you. Who would you interview? Because he was a podcast.
• 6:56
  Speaker C: Okay. So we'll have to just get him. We'll have to do it.
• 6:59
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 6:59
  Speaker C: Yes, we sure will.
• 7:01
  Speaker B: Because what he's done is. I mean the breadth that he's gone to, the energy he's put into facilitating the growth of. Of conservation organizations. And not just conservation, but charitable organizations.
• 7:13
  Speaker C: This. It's like an exponential. Like what he's done for this. This weekend.
• 7:18
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 7:19
  Speaker C: Is unbelievable because we now. You know, you were able to interview all these people.
• 7:23
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 7:24
  Speaker C: That we may have never even heard of before.
• 7:26
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 7:26
  Speaker C: I mean I hadn't heard of any of them.
• 7:29
  Speaker B: I had heard Of. Well, I heard of the Wild Sheep Foundation.
• 7:32
  Speaker C: Okay.
• 7:32
  Speaker B: Being a hunter, I was familiar with that, you know, but I did not know who was who. I did not know Gray Thornhill Thornton or his wife either. And his wife is a really cool lady, too. I got to interview both of them separately for two separate things.
• 7:46
  Speaker C: Oh, nice.
• 7:47
  Speaker B: Because she heads up. Well, we'll go into what she has up later. I could chase rabbits a lot.
• 7:52
  Speaker C: That's okay.
• 7:53
  Speaker B: But, so, but, But Derek did he put together a deal where you go in and. I mean, we said the first morning when you're eating this phenomenal breakfast, they. He sends everybody a text message. Everybody's got a. Got a. Basically a Excel spreadsheet deal with the times on it and who you're going to interview. And you get six. You got nine to 12. You break for lunch, and you have an incredible meal at lunch, and then you go from one to four. So you do six of them on Friday. And then so you. You'll have. And so you don't have to worry about coordinate. Because I asked him about, you know, of course, just discussing how did this do this, you know, and man, I love this. He said, yeah, with first couple times we did. We did this, we kind of just let everybody trying to figure it out, and it was just a clown show. I mean, it was just. He said, you know, it was. You have some people that were great and really aggressive and just going and just lining everything out and other people that were just like, didn't want to really, you know, inconvenience anybody. And so he said. I just said, doing it this way, he said, removes the guesswork. And he said, you still can. There's time after that you can get. If you want some more.
• 9:02
  Speaker C: Right.
• 9:02
  Speaker B: You can do some more and, and, and interview other podcasters and stuff like that. And I did interview one. The last one of the ones I did was a. A podcaster, and she's from Vancouver, British Columbia, and interesting. She was the. She was the. Well, Gray Thornton's wife is also originally from Canada, but they live in Montana. Okay. Okay. And her husband live in Montana.
• 9:26
  Speaker C: Okay.
• 9:27
  Speaker B: And. But she was. She has a podcast up there. I think it's. Her podcast is called Women Hunt.
• 9:35
  Speaker C: Women Hunt.
• 9:36
  Speaker B: And it is a really cool. It's in conjunction with the Women Hunt program that Grace and I'm gonna have. That is driving me nuts that I cannot remember her name.
• 9:44
  Speaker C: So you go right ahead. Go ahead and look it up.
• 9:46
  Speaker B: Well, I figured hurt.
• 9:47
  Speaker C: Well, I had.
• 9:48
  Speaker B: I. I had Renee Thornton and I. I'm Sorry, Renee, if you see this, I apologize. I forgot your name, but just know I'm terrible with names. But Renee found a saw, a need, and started a program through the Wild Sheep foundation to get more women into hunting. And the. What they put together is amazing. And then in the course of it, she was like, you know, this needs to grow a little bit. And then she kind of ran across Dana and had been kind of just started following her on social media and then like following like, hey, would you be interested in doing a podcast for us? And so she's just started. As of the. When I was coming back, she only had nine. Nine episodes up, so she's just getting started on it. But really cool lady. I mean, both of them are amazing.
• 10:34
  Speaker C: That's great.
• 10:35
  Speaker B: Renee is. I mean, what Renee has accomplished is really impressive, but they, I mean, and what she's done with the Wild Sheep foundation, what they've done, I mean, they basically will. If they have a. It's basically a competitive program. You have to like, buy essays and do stuff to get selected to this thing. And they only take like 12 women a year. And they take them to this ranch, a really nice place in the hill country, during. During deer season, okay. And they go down there and they go in one day and they have ex military and ex Special forces, snipers, stuff like that, teaching them how to shoot.
• 11:07
  Speaker C: Holy cow.
• 11:08
  Speaker B: And so I spend a day learning how to shoot, and then they. And you know, getting familiarizing themselves with fire because some of these people have never touched a gun, right? And so they'll go over safety. They teach them how to. The basics of it, how to pull it, you know, how to make it go bang. And then the next day, they dial it in, find their comfortable range. And that afternoon, that. The next. That evening, they're sitting on a stand and then they'll take them out and then, you know, they shoot. They try to shoot.
• 11:34
  Speaker A: Wow.
• 11:34
  Speaker B: The management deer, the branch there, shoot that anybody shoots it. Then they all come, they bring it all back in and teach them how to completely field dress it, scan it, quarter it, break it down into. All the way from there into a meal. They take it all the way from. They take it all the way from. They literally take these women and they go from. And I've been hunting for 40 years, would take it in a heartbeat. I'd pay the. Pay the bill to take this class because, you know. Yeah, amazing. Yeah, I've done all this stuff, but just, you know, because all the stuff that I, you know, you know, whatever your Grandpa told you may not be the actually easiest way to do things.
• 12:14
  Speaker C: Right.
• 12:15
  Speaker B: And they go in. I mean it's, but it's, it's amazing what they do and what they put together, the program they put together.
• 12:21
  Speaker C: Wow.
• 12:21
  Speaker B: And then I got to, you know, so anyway, you go through and you do the interviews. That's a nice little rabbit trouble there. So you go through and you do the interviews and then you go out and from four to six you've got pretty much got free time. But you can go out and you can shoot five sandwiches, clay pigeons, where you sit there and you say pull and the guy pushes a button and clay pigeons fly. This is the best way to shoot clay pigeons. I mean, it's like playing golf without actually having to swing. It's great. And so you can do that or you can go on one of their five ponds that they've got there that are stocked with bass and go fishing. And I bizarrely enough, only made like 30 cast and on 29 of them I was dragging the weeds and I just hung up in the, in the weeds. And on the 30th, when I had caught a fish. So I mean it was, it's almost like it's, I mean it was, it was a lot of fun. We had.
• 13:14
  Speaker C: Wow.
• 13:15
  Speaker B: We had. One of the podcasters there is from Hemphill, Texas, and he is a fly fishing guide on Toledo Bend. But he also makes handcrafted bespoke fly rods that are amazing. I mean, incredible. He like the rod blanks he had. Had him design, helped design all the rod blanks.
• 13:37
  Speaker C: Oh, wow.
• 13:37
  Speaker B: I mean, it's incredible. And the, the odd thing about it is for a fly rod, they're, they're inexpensive and for a custom fly rod, they're downright cheap. Wow. I mean, they're still.
• 13:49
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 13:51
  Speaker B: But for what they look like and how beautiful they are, I mean, he'll match it. He had, he said he was at a show one time and had a little Asian. Little, little Asian lady. She was like from, I think she was from Japan.
• 14:03
  Speaker C: Okay.
• 14:03
  Speaker B: And he's like, oh. She's like, he. When he, of course, he's a, you know, 70ish year old.
• 14:10
  Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah.
• 14:11
  Speaker B: Fella. And you know, and as, as hillbilly. I mean, I'm hillbilly. And he and I were just like this. He's like, she comes all you rod's too, too big. And he's like, what? And he's like, she. And of course he's got her real stick accent. He's like, I couldn't understand her accent. I couldn't understand her accent for nothing. Like, I know that works. You got two really big accent. But anyway, the handles were too big for him. She's a little bitty tiny. So she was like four foot something, you know.
• 14:43
  Speaker C: Oh, sure.
• 14:43
  Speaker B: And so he's like, let me measure you your hand. So he said, I measured her hand. And then when I got back to my shop, I. On this really nice wood.
• 14:51
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 14:52
  Speaker B: He said, I turned three different handles for her with these exotic woods. And I sent them to her, and she picked the one that she wanted, sent them back, and I built her a rod around it perfectly fits her hand. And she said, that's neat. It's. I mean, it's really cool. I mean, that's.
• 15:06
  Speaker C: That's something I've always wanted to try is fly fishing.
• 15:08
  Speaker B: It's wicked fun.
• 15:10
  Speaker C: You know, I have a phobia about fishing, and that is being next to anyone who is, like, slinging around a hook. I. I am, like, so paranoid about getting hooked by one of those hooks. So I feel like if I was fly fishing and I had to be like, stay a long ways away from me.
• 15:33
  Speaker B: Well, you know what's funny is I actually wanted. I mean, everybody there was like, I can kind of cast a fly rod. I'm one of the people that. I'm out there. And if you don't know what you're looking at, I know what I'm doing. But if you have a clue of
• 15:46
  Speaker C: what's going on, that's kind of how I'm on this podcast. I sound knowledgeable for the first five minutes.
• 15:52
  Speaker B: But I was not. Like, I would. I was like, I want to watch you cast. And he's like, okay, well, just stand right here. And I was literally standing in his left hip pocket, and he was like, okay, you just do it this way.
• 16:04
  Speaker C: See, I think my fear comes from fishing as a child with two younger brothers.
• 16:10
  Speaker B: Hey, I'll never remember fishing with you.
• 16:12
  Speaker C: Oh, yeah. Down at Lake lbj.
• 16:15
  Speaker B: I remember Lake lbj.
• 16:17
  Speaker C: Oh, yeah. Well, that is because the first. The first time I got hooked, I never was like, I'm.
• 16:22
  Speaker B: No, no, I know. I was fishing with a guy one time that got hooked, but. Well, good thing about fly fishing is the hooks are typically. Well, if you're trout fishing with a flat rod, the hooks are typically really, really small. And they're mostly barbless, so they come out.
• 16:40
  Speaker C: Oh, nice.
• 16:41
  Speaker B: It makes life easy. It's not any more painful than having your ear pierced.
• 16:46
  Speaker C: Right? Sure. Okay. So. Okay.
• 16:50
  Speaker B: Remember that Easter. I had my ear.
• 16:52
  Speaker C: I remember. That was pretty funny. Yes, I know.
• 16:56
  Speaker B: Links. I'll go to. To get a laugh out.
• 16:57
  Speaker C: I know, exactly. Exactly. So. So it was Friday, Saturday, and then y' all left on Sunday.
• 17:05
  Speaker B: On Sunday, yeah.
• 17:06
  Speaker C: Wow.
• 17:06
  Speaker B: And so we did Friday. And then after you get the two hours off, you have. They have what's called movie not moving out. What is it called when you have a film festival?
• 17:15
  Speaker C: Film festival.
• 17:16
  Speaker B: And they had all the podcasts that put together. Had to put together videos. National Wild Sheep foundation had one they'd put together.
• 17:24
  Speaker C: Oh, how cool is that? Okay.
• 17:26
  Speaker B: Great White Society.
• 17:28
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 17:28
  Speaker B: Great White Society had one they put together on the Gulf that. When there was another one that was put together by another guy that had a he start. He worked with what is now the cca, which used to be the Gulf Coast Conservation Association. Coastal conservation, something like that. Anyway, he started working with them in the 70s when they were using gill nets on. On redfish in the Gulf in. In the bays and trying to get that stopped. And now he's working to protect oyster beds.
• 18:00
  Speaker C: Oh, yes.
• 18:02
  Speaker B: They had one that he put together called the Tipping Point, I think is what it's called on the oyster beds in. In Texas. And it. That is. That is a grave situation.
• 18:13
  Speaker C: I mean, no, it's. It's a. And it is a bad deal to lose them. Horrifically bad deal. Yes.
• 18:19
  Speaker B: You know, and it's another one of those things that there's just been kind of a mess.
• 18:24
  Speaker C: Yeah. When I was in Tall, we went to a place where they're doing that and on Long. Long island, where they're using it. They're using them to filter.
• 18:32
  Speaker B: Yes.
• 18:33
  Speaker C: You know, and. And so they were like. It was a nursery.
• 18:37
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 18:37
  Speaker C: Oyster nursery.
• 18:38
  Speaker B: Well, one of the things that. That they're doing with that, that they got them to do is the. What are they called? Coils, I think, is what they're called. Anyway, you can. You can go out and you can basically rent a part of the bay and you can make an artificial.
• 18:54
  Speaker C: I've heard of this. Yes. That's really cool.
• 18:56
  Speaker B: There's now 2,000 acres of that, and it supplies 30%.
• 19:00
  Speaker C: It's kind of like. It's kind of like how we here rent a highway and clean up the beer cans kind of. Yeah. But there, it's like you can rent and you get to, like, grow oysters and sell oysters. Yes.
• 19:10
  Speaker B: Yeah. And being in it, I mean, you know, when you look at the oyster boats out there, I mean, they show. And you see the satellite, you see the, the images that were taken, I don't know if they're aerial photos of some sort. They're either satellite images, like on a Google map. Google image. And you see what they're doing to the oyster reefs. And you know, those things are not something that. It's not like running a combine through a cotton, through a wheat field and then going back planting wheat and combine the wheat again. When they do that, they destroy that. They can destroy the substrate that the oysters attach to. Oh. So that reef can be gone. And they cut down something like 96 or so percent of, of soil erosion behind those reefs. Like you compare where an oyster reef is behind it, what's not there, and the erosion.
• 19:56
  Speaker C: Wow. So that is. What's so crazy to me about, as I learned about conservation is the ripple effects are insane.
• 20:05
  Speaker B: Then, you know, some things have bigger butterfly effects than others. But to me, this one has one of the biggest ripple effects I've seen in anything that we do. I mean, I mean, it's, it's, you can't, I mean, even with, you know, the destruction of the tall grass prairies and how much that's shrinking in and how much the, you know, you've got the, what they call it the green glacier, you know, with trees growing in and encroaching in the prairies, and then you got the plows busting it out. I mean, even with that, it's less dramatic than what the oysters do to that and can.
• 20:41
  Speaker C: People don't know. I mean, the tall grass prairies are the most endangered ecosystem in the world.
• 20:46
  Speaker B: Yeah. And it's ironic.
• 20:47
  Speaker C: It's like Oklahoma.
• 20:48
  Speaker B: I mean, it's, it's not far from us, right? Yeah. And it's, you know, then, and that's a combat, you know, that's a combination of things. It's endangered. It's not just farmers plowing it out. I mean, it's people saying, you know, hey, let's, it's Arbor Day, let's plant a thousand trees today. You know, you don't, don't plant a thousand trees in western Kansas.
• 21:06
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 21:06
  Speaker B: I mean, it's not what it's designed for. It's not what it's there for. I mean, it's great, you know, in a shelter belt or something like that. But you plant, you know, the, you got a lot of juniper.
• 21:15
  Speaker C: Right. Especially things that aren't. Yeah, yeah. Invasive. Exactly. Yeah.
• 21:20
  Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, it's, it's kind of funny, you know, Bradford pears are no big deal out here because they don't you know, we don't get enough rain for them to spread like they do.
• 21:27
  Speaker C: But people hate. I mean. Oh, my goodness. People hate them so much. And I'm like, they're the only thing that even looks running around here in the spring and fall.
• 21:38
  Speaker B: Chinese.
• 21:38
  Speaker C: I know. I don't know. The, Those, the. The. What are those called? Japanese. Japanese redbud or something. I don't know.
• 21:48
  Speaker B: Chinese ale is what I'm thinking.
• 21:49
  Speaker C: Oh, yeah. Elm trees. Yes. And those do spread, too. But, like. Yeah, but I don't think people hate elm trees as much as they. Harry Repairs.
• 21:58
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 21:58
  Speaker C: Because they say they smell bad.
• 22:00
  Speaker B: Well, I don't.
• 22:01
  Speaker C: I don't know. The ones across the street, for me, I've never smelled them, but I'm like.
• 22:04
  Speaker B: I mean, out here it's not a big deal because they don't. They're. They're an invasive. They're. They're an introduced species out here.
• 22:10
  Speaker C: Right.
• 22:10
  Speaker B: And so they're not native to here.
• 22:12
  Speaker C: Right.
• 22:12
  Speaker B: But there are areas in the southeast where they plan. Where they're actually invasive. Yeah. And they actually grow and they actually spread.
• 22:18
  Speaker C: Right.
• 22:18
  Speaker B: Whereas here they. I mean, here you're lucky to keep the one in your yard alive for 20 years.
• 22:23
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 22:23
  Speaker B: You know, which is.
• 22:24
  Speaker C: I think one of the reasons why people don't like them is they're like, the branches are weak and they will, you know.
• 22:29
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 22:29
  Speaker C: Anyway, but I will tell you, like, sometimes I wonder about, like, who gives advice about things? Because I know that I've seen, like, the most beautiful, enormous live oaks cut down when pears were kept.
• 22:50
  Speaker B: Yes.
• 22:50
  Speaker C: We're going to keep these pears, but we're going to cut down. And I was like, okay. But I mean, you know, it's not. It's. People get. They're getting advice.
• 23:00
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 23:00
  Speaker C: From people.
• 23:01
  Speaker B: And I'm like, take it down because it might get oak wilt. Let it get oak wilt. And before you take it down. But, But I mean, there's, you know, that can go on.
• 23:10
  Speaker C: It'll get in your plumbing. I'm like, what do people do where they live, where they have trees? They also have plumbing. Somehow they are able to. Anyway, so we were totally off the topic. But anyway.
• 23:18
  Speaker B: Just a little bit.
• 23:19
  Speaker C: Yes.
• 23:19
  Speaker B: But I mean, you know, we're nothing if not, you know, random.
• 23:24
  Speaker C: So true. So true.
• 23:25
  Speaker B: I mean, we went. But. And so, you know, then you come back in. I mean, you've got this. Another. I mean, it was not a hardship because I had another incredible male. And then that. And then you go. And you. And you get up the next morning and you roll through and do it all again. And just incredible. I mean, they. I spoke with a lady, Camille Null is her name, and she's from Port o', Connor, and she works with the hero. I think it's heroes on the water program where she takes. They take the vets and first responders, get them in kayaks and get them. Let them get. Get them back into fishing.
• 24:02
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 24:03
  Speaker B: And she told a story that I won't repeat here. You'll just have to listen podcast when it comes out and listen to. But I. I mean, I'm just sitting there, like, I'm going to have to pause this thing because I'm not sure anybody can hear me because I'm crying and it's like. But I mean, it's really.
• 24:17
  Speaker C: She.
• 24:18
  Speaker B: I mean, her husband is a retired Houston homicide detective, and they got out, moved to move to Port o', Connor, and he. Now he's a fishing guide. And he was supposed to be there, but he got sick. And so we didn't get to get there, too. But she was incredible. And that, you know, what she does in getting people that have, you know, with a lot of them have disabilities, she said, wait, they. We can basically, if, you know, you're breathing, we can handle it.
• 24:46
  Speaker C: Wow.
• 24:47
  Speaker B: Almost. It's almost to that level.
• 24:49
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 24:50
  Speaker B: Not quite, because it's a kite.
• 24:51
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 24:52
  Speaker B: But I mean, it's amazing what they can do to get people back into it.
• 24:56
  Speaker C: That's awesome.
• 24:57
  Speaker B: Interviewed. And I'll have to look up, pull
• 24:59
  Speaker C: up your notes because, I mean, I don't know how you can remember 11 people's name. I mean, I can. I can't remember. You know, somebody will say, who did you interview last week? And I'm like, let me look. Yeah. It's just my. You can only hold so much in your mind, is what our grandmother used to say. We got to take something out of our brains before we put anything else in there.
• 25:19
  Speaker B: Yeah. Let's see.
• 25:21
  Speaker C: And you might have to put your glasses on. I see you straining.
• 25:24
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 25:25
  Speaker C: Hold the phone for you.
• 25:26
  Speaker B: You might need to. I'm trying. One that I did not get to interview was Chad Balague. And he was. And I hate that. And. But, you know, people just need to find the links of some of the people.
• 25:45
  Speaker C: I think a nice thing to do would be to maybe in the show notes to share. Even the other podcast.
• 25:51
  Speaker B: Yes. Because somebody interviewed him. He is an incredible story. He broke his neck diving into a pool when he was a teenager. I think, well, maybe he may have been college. I don't. I didn't get to interview him. I just got to kind of answer to meet him. And he still has. He has. He duck hunts, he fishes, he. He gets out. He's got labs he trains and works with. He had two of them with him down here. And he is. And just, you know, gets around. And he shot clay pigeons with it. I mean, five stand with us, you know, Incredible guy. And so.
• 26:28
  Speaker C: Wow.
• 26:28
  Speaker B: That's one of the ones that I hate. I missed. I just.
• 26:30
  Speaker C: Yeah, because it would be fun to have, like, maybe even on the website somewhere. Like, you know, we could suggest, like, different. Different podcasts for people to listen to. That. That.
• 26:41
  Speaker B: And then I'm trying to. I think I went other.
• 26:43
  Speaker C: Your other podcasters that were there because Derek. Derek has his own podcast.
• 26:48
  Speaker B: His own podcast is.
• 26:53
  Speaker C: Is it called Hunt Fish. Sorry.
• 26:55
  Speaker B: Impact Outdoors.
• 26:57
  Speaker C: Impact Outdoors. That's right. Impact Outdoors.
• 26:59
  Speaker B: He is.
• 27:00
  Speaker C: Right.
• 27:00
  Speaker B: The lead fish and wildlife technician with the Texas Parks and Wildlife.
• 27:04
  Speaker C: Okay.
• 27:04
  Speaker B: And so he's this high up. He's. He told me, wow, He's. I'm a tech 3. That's as high as I can go. I said, wow. He said, I don't have an advanced degree, so I'm trying to find the fella that takes. He basically. He takes kids fishing. That's what he does. Well, this is. This is. This is maybe.
• 27:32
  Speaker C: Let's. Let's. Let's stop and let him find that. How about that? We're back.
• 27:43
  Speaker B: Those.
• 27:43
  Speaker C: So, yeah, I'll need to get.
• 27:47
  Speaker B: I need to just send for you. I just need to send you this thing that you sent me.
• 27:50
  Speaker C: That's a good idea. Yeah. Y' all share that with me, and then I'll. I'll make you a list so you don't have to go through all of them.
• 27:59
  Speaker B: So you're in. Pause. When you were talking about the getting
• 28:02
  Speaker C: hooked, it reminded me of Timmons Union at PA Kingdom. We're one of the other cousins who. We saw him hook his own back,
• 28:10
  Speaker B: and it was like.
• 28:11
  Speaker C: That brought a new light to the family reunion.
• 28:15
  Speaker B: Yeah. Oh, my gosh. Well, at least they didn't bring a line.
• 28:18
  Speaker C: Yeah, it was, like, stuck right here. Oh, see, that's what I'm saying right there.
• 28:25
  Speaker B: I found it.
• 28:26
  Speaker C: Yeah, I do. I've tried to get him on my podcast, like, multiple times. I'm gonna have to go and knock on his. My nephew even knows him. Yeah.
• 28:39
  Speaker B: Who we got?
• 28:39
  Speaker C: Who. He's. He's a plant Prof. On Instagram. Oh. He's got a great following. Great podcast. He's so fun. Social media guy.
• 28:49
  Speaker B: He also. I think it was him.
• 28:52
  Speaker C: Oh, he hates bread for pears.
• 28:53
  Speaker B: Yes.
• 28:54
  Speaker C: That's how I found out people hated Bradford Pears.
• 28:56
  Speaker B: Is he not the one that talks about it being bread repair training season?
• 29:00
  Speaker C: He's got this.
• 29:01
  Speaker B: The proper way to prune it is to put it. Put yourself parallel to the ground. Yeah, yeah. One inch from the ground. Horizontal cut.
• 29:12
  Speaker C: Yes, that's exactly right. Exactly right. Okay. All right.
• 29:16
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 29:17
  Speaker C: And we're back.
• 29:17
  Speaker B: We're back. Now that I had to sort through my notes and see what. But Chuck Naylor.
• 29:22
  Speaker C: Chuck Naylor.
• 29:25
  Speaker B: Okay, let me make sure I get it right. Michael. I wasn't even close.
• 29:28
  Speaker C: You were not even.
• 29:29
  Speaker B: Not even close.
• 29:32
  Speaker C: Well, well, the problem was you looked at your notes and we talked for a second.
• 29:35
  Speaker B: For a second.
• 29:35
  Speaker C: And then got distracted. Yes, Michael, sure. Michael, sure.
• 29:39
  Speaker B: And he's not. Not much. He takes. He takes me basically takes people fishing. He has a. A tank to help set up and.
• 29:50
  Speaker C: And what a great knife.
• 29:51
  Speaker B: You know, teach him how to fish and stuff like that. And. And. But he takes. He works with families. You know, most people are like, take a kid fishing. But he's like, no, I want to take the family fishing. I want to get the family into it.
• 30:03
  Speaker C: Yeah. So the family will go together.
• 30:06
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 30:06
  Speaker C: Oh, what a great idea.
• 30:08
  Speaker B: It's. I mean, it's. It's incredible. I mean, the, the breadth of people that were there is mind numbing and what they cover, you know, and it was amazing that, you know, you'd go in and you'd get talking to them about something and they're like, well, this is really what I want to talk about on this. On. On the thing.
• 30:24
  Speaker C: Yes.
• 30:26
  Speaker B: Okay, that's interesting too. But that's. Whatever. What about that?
• 30:29
  Speaker C: Yes. So. Yes.
• 30:30
  Speaker B: You know, so my. I was like going, okay, I'm sitting here. This needs to probably be like 30, 45 minutes long. And the only reason they were that I shut them off at like around an hour is because that was the time slot and they had somebody else to go do.
• 30:42
  Speaker C: Yes. Yeah.
• 30:43
  Speaker B: And so.
• 30:43
  Speaker C: Well, I will tell you mean, that happens so often here. In fact, even today, like everybody I've had in front of you, I'm like, we need to do a podcast on that next. And that. Yeah.
• 30:53
  Speaker B: And it's. I mean, it's just amazing that you. What? You what? The. Not in. In. Not just in environmental conservation or the conservation of the wildlife and that kind of stuff, but in how they've worked with. Working with other peoples with charities and conserving the human spirit, for lack of a better term, you know, just getting people out, involved and doing other things. And you know, it's. It's not, it's not so it's not just, you know, the environment that takes care of. It's. It's also, it's the community. You know, it's instilling, you know, they're doing things to instill in the community and it's to grow certain segments of the community. The.
• 31:32
  Speaker C: Exactly. You know, and that's what I think we've, I've told you this before, but like, we look at like all of these ecosystems are overlapping. They're all connected. And you impact one, you impact another. And, and then looking at each of those ecosystems, our economics and our health and our environment through people, planet and profit, you know, that those things. I think it's so true, which I think is the point for the butterfly effect. It's like you just don't realize the positive impacts. And I think especially here, because there's not so much stuff to do outside as in other places. You have to be a little more creative here.
• 32:11
  Speaker B: You do. And I mean, a lot of that has to do with just the, the limited public space we have.
• 32:16
  Speaker C: Yes. Oh, my goodness.
• 32:17
  Speaker B: You know.
• 32:18
  Speaker C: Yes, exactly. We have limited public space. In case you had not known this, in Lubbock, we have very limited public space. We need more green spaces.
• 32:26
  Speaker B: We do. I mean, and, but I mean, it's, you know, you look at the time frame and where the grew and when it grew and it fell outside the niche ever. All of, all of Lubbock's growth has always fallen outside that niche. You know, you look at other towns, you're like, okay, when did you grow? Well, how do you have all these parks? Oh, well, you were rapidly growing in a place where in a time when people came out. That's the thing.
• 32:50
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 32:50
  Speaker B: You know, and then, you know, we just came out. We pretty much just kind of came out of one just as Lubbock started building again. And so what do we have? We have a bunch of, you know, road track houses that are just, you know, there's not a park there, is there?
• 33:03
  Speaker C: I mean, I am so floored at how few. There's. There's like almost nothing in southwest Lubbock.
• 33:12
  Speaker B: Yeah, it. Yeah, it's. It's pretty mind numbing.
• 33:15
  Speaker C: It really is. Unless you're in a really nice neighborhood there. You're not. There's not a park accessible to you in your neighborhood.
• 33:21
  Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, but you know, one of the things I found when I started when I got Cooper, my dog and was looking for places to walk a bird dog so that on a Saturday so I didn't have to go to Brownfield is that there are actually. It's not as bad as I thought it was. Oh, okay. Well, that's good. I'm not saying it's good on that
• 33:40
  Speaker C: side of town on.
• 33:41
  Speaker B: Well, in town in general.
• 33:42
  Speaker C: In general. No, no, there's.
• 33:43
  Speaker B: I mean, like, listen, I'm telling you right now, the best. The best place to walk your dog is at a place I want in an undisclosed location. They have a level grand in here. I don't want anybody else taking the dog spot.
• 33:53
  Speaker C: That is hilarious.
• 33:55
  Speaker B: But love it does have some good. Have. They have some pretty good dog parks now.
• 33:58
  Speaker C: Yes, we do.
• 33:59
  Speaker B: So that's. That's helped a little bit. Kudos to.
• 34:03
  Speaker C: Exactly.
• 34:04
  Speaker B: You know, we've spent. But a lot of levels our infrastructure budget has gone to building sports fields. I mean we got an amazing sports
• 34:13
  Speaker C: field because that's what people generally see.
• 34:15
  Speaker B: I mean you look at it and that. That was when. When the town was growing, when it was building. That was the biggest demand, right. That you had.
• 34:23
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 34:24
  Speaker B: And I mean, I can understand it. I mean there's, you know, as much grief as I on the side give, you know, the members of the city council of doing things for their own betterment.
• 34:34
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 34:35
  Speaker B: You know, some of it they actually listened to what was the demand at the time.
• 34:39
  Speaker C: Right. Yeah.
• 34:40
  Speaker B: And it's just that. It's just that the underlying demand of. And set up of how a city should be planned is different here than it is.
• 34:48
  Speaker C: Oh my gosh. It is really interesting and my friend Nick Bergfield is like a genius on that and I wish more people would listen to him shout out to Nick Burfield. But that doesn't have anything to do about this. But however.
• 35:01
  Speaker B: But going back in to getting people outdoors and. And what they've done.
• 35:06
  Speaker C: And if you haven't gone out to the lake system like you should go out to the canyon lake system if you haven't been out there lately. It is a great place to go. It is a great place. And also the arboretum, where the arboretum is. That's another fun place to go. Love a landmark. Another place to go. So I mean there are places. It's just there you just have to
• 35:30
  Speaker B: be a little bit more creative.
• 35:31
  Speaker C: You're just. There's not right in your face.
• 35:32
  Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. I mean it's some places they're right. But I mean, you know, we're also in a Samara Desert.
• 35:39
  Speaker C: We are.
• 35:40
  Speaker B: You know, it's. It's, you know, the climate is different, you know, and it just is. And so there's a lot of things that go into. Into how things are done. But this is the thing about. I like about the people I talk to is that they. Is that, you know, is they recognize a need and they pursue the need.
• 35:57
  Speaker C: Yes. I love that. And they do something about it.
• 36:00
  Speaker B: It's like people that do that and allow me to sit on my fat handcuffs.
• 36:06
  Speaker C: The most annoying thing to me is like to have like a plan and it never be implemented. I'm like, oh, yeah, let's do stuff. Let's do stuff. I want to do stuff.
• 36:17
  Speaker B: That annoys me too. That's why I don't plan.
• 36:21
  Speaker C: Oh, my gosh.
• 36:22
  Speaker B: Some people call it lazy. I call it strategic thinking.
• 36:24
  Speaker C: Okay, okay, okay. Well, I. Whatever it is, I'm glad that you were strategically available to go.
• 36:31
  Speaker B: But I mean, it was. I mean, those interviews and sadly I did them, so.
• 36:37
  Speaker C: Oh, they'll be great.
• 36:38
  Speaker B: I have a voice for radio. I mean, what is it? I have a face for face for radio and a voice for silent films. So, you know.
• 36:45
  Speaker C: Well, I am sure you did a good job or I wouldn't have sent you if I didn't think you would know how to ask the questions.
• 36:49
  Speaker B: But the people were so interesting. It didn't matter.
• 36:53
  Speaker C: No, did it? I know podcasting is the best to me. Like, it's like the best thing ever because you just get the best of so many people.
• 37:02
  Speaker B: I mean, it's incredible. The very last. The very last one I last podcast interview I did was with Dana Dakima, and she is the one that was from Vancouver, British Columbia.
• 37:13
  Speaker C: Okay.
• 37:13
  Speaker B: Really, really interesting young lady. And I can call her a young lady because I'm substantially older than her.
• 37:18
  Speaker C: So. And she's the one that they tasked to start the new podcast.
• 37:22
  Speaker B: It's. It's called. Hers is called Ignite podcast. Ignite and really cool lady. Okay. And what she.
• 37:29
  Speaker C: Well, we will share not just the information for the people that. On them on the. On the show notes, but we'll. We'll also let people know who those other podcasters that were there and that was and how beneficial.
• 37:41
  Speaker B: One of the most interesting things about the thing was talking to the other podcast people that had done that, you know, and they would be like, what are you doing? I was like, well, I'm filling in for the professional that does.
• 37:52
  Speaker C: That is not the professionals are behind the camera in this. On this black house thing. It's not nobody in front of the camera, but.
• 37:59
  Speaker B: But I mean, it was just. Just talking to them and hearing their stories, you know, because invariably, you know, almost all of them got their start because they were interested.
• 38:09
  Speaker C: Yeah. That's how I'm like, I just. There's just so many things I'm interested about. I'm. Surely there's other people out there that want to know these same things.
• 38:15
  Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, there's my Say, like, why did you start a podcast? Well, I was interested in learning some stuff and I figured this is the way people would talk to me, you know.
• 38:25
  Speaker C: That's awesome. That's awesome.
• 38:26
  Speaker B: So you're like, okay, that makes sense. But I mean, just, they did a lot of different. I mean, they come from all different bands walks of life, you know, all different socioeconomic strategies in there. Yeah. You know, the. Dana has got, you know, she's got three teenagers. She's like, you know her story. She's like, I got married at 19, had my first kid at, I think 21. Her first. Her oldest son is getting ready to go and play baseball at a juco in Kansas. And she. And just. Yeah, you know, she's got a lot of. A lot on her plate, just like everybody else. You know, she's got a lot on her plate and stuff. And she has raised, you know, is raising kids and dealing with kids amazing. You know, she's. I was like, well, you know, how did your kids. And she's like, well, I did all this jump through all the hoops to get. And starting to get, you know, because she was a. What we call an adult onset hunter.
• 39:17
  Speaker C: Okay.
• 39:18
  Speaker B: So she did. She was not raised hunting with any. Any, you know, really in any stretch of imagination. And just decided one day she was very focused on where her food came from. And she started off, basically, started off as a. Basically she was a go between. Between the growers and the consumer. And so she would box it up and then meet people and sell it that way. And she. And she was like, I'm interested in this, but, you know, it ends at protein. And she's like, I want to get started. And when you're in Canada, it is not the easy. You don't just walk into Walmart, pick a bound license.
• 39:55
  Speaker C: No.
• 39:55
  Speaker B: Which I'm not sure why anymore, but now you have been doing. You can, you know, you can't just pick up your phone and.
• 40:00
  Speaker C: No. Yeah. It's a big deal. Yeah. You don't just carry your gun with you. Right.
• 40:03
  Speaker B: She had to go through all the training, all the licensing to be able to buy firearm. Buy a firearm.
• 40:08
  Speaker C: Right.
• 40:09
  Speaker B: And then, you know, then she went hunting and.
• 40:11
  Speaker C: Wow.
• 40:11
  Speaker B: And got to hunt.
• 40:12
  Speaker C: That's really cool.
• 40:12
  Speaker B: It's really cool. But I mean, everyone. Every person that I interview, every person that was there with the exclusion of myself was really, really interesting.
• 40:22
  Speaker C: I mean, oh, my gosh.
• 40:23
  Speaker B: I'm like, hey, I just, you know, I'm just here for, you know, to make everybody else look good. But I mean, they're really interesting people. I mean, and it was. It was a lot of fun. And I can't wait to do it again next year.
• 40:33
  Speaker C: I know. Next year I'm going with you.
• 40:35
  Speaker B: As long as it's not during Pheasant Fest.
• 40:38
  Speaker C: As long as it fest. Okay. Okay. So. Well, thanks for. Thanks for making the sacrifice for us. We really appreciate it.
• 40:46
  Speaker B: It was a hard one.
• 40:47
  Speaker C: And so Dusty and I and my brother Andy. Our brother Andy are also. Every Friday on KRFE, we're doing an hour and 20ish minutes of conversation and things that are happening on the western dry side. It's the Dry side Dispatch. So the Dry side Dispatch Fridays, Kara Fee. But we're also live streaming to YouTube. So it'll be coming up on the Sarah channel pretty quickly and people will be able to see it there as well. And so I'm sure these conversations will come up.
• 41:23
  Speaker B: Yeah, well, in the future, I'm looking forward to it. Yeah, I mean, I'm looking forward to all your. Everybody get to listen to these. To the people. I mean, they're wickedly interesting people.
• 41:33
  Speaker C: That's great. That's great. Well, thank you and thanks for listening, folks. And look, be watching out for the upcoming episodes that we will release that Dusty has so graciously given his time to record.
• 41:49
  Speaker B: My pleasure.
• 41:50
  Speaker C: See you next time.