Latest / Wired To Hunt Podcast / Ep. 1002: Mark Kenyon AMA: Big Buck Hysteria, Conservation Politics, Wired to Hunt's Future, and More

Transcript

Ep. 1002: Mark Kenyon AMA: Big Buck Hysteria, Conservation Politics, Wired to Hunt's Future, and More · Wired To Hunt Podcast

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast, your guide to
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: the White Tail Woods, presented by first Light, creating proven
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: versatile hunting apparel for the stand, saddle or blind. First Light,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Go Farther, Stay Longer, and now your host, Mark Kenyon.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast. This week on
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: the show, I'm doing a solo Ask Me Anything episode
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: which I'm going to be answering your questions about my
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: new role medi eater conservation issues, and deer hunting tactics,
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: strategies and regulations. All right, welcome back to the Wired
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: to Hunt podcast, brought to you by First Light, and
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: today it is an Ask Me Anything episode. I put
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: out the call for questions last week and today I'm
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: going to answer them about all sorts of different topics
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: and the three major buckets that I would say those
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: questions fall into are questions about my new role at
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: METAT and what that's going to mean for Wired to Hunt,
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: which I kind of introduced to you guys that this
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: is happening last week. And then number two, a lot
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: of questions about deer hunting tactics, trail cameras, deer hunting regulations,
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: various strategy related things, lots of stuff to cover on
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: that front, and then finally a bunch of questions related
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: to conservation, public lands, wildlife, and a lot more that's
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: relevant to this new side of my life at Meetator
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: as the director of Conservation and so today I'm going
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: to answer those questions, and I'm going to do it
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: in a way that hopefully can keep this relevant to
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: you no matter which part of those questions you're interested in.
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: I know there's some of you who come to Wired
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: to hunt specifically for that deer hunting stuff. So we're
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: gonna have a chunk that is just deer hunting questions,
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: and then there will also be a chunk of questions
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: in which I put all that conservation stuff together. So
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: if you're into that side of things, if you're curious
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: about that world, you can listen to that part or
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: hopefully you'll listen to the whole thing and get a
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: little bit of both. But before we get to that,
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: I do want to just say thank you so much
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: to everyone for the messages and the comments and the
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: text messages and all the support with this new step
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: for me that Meetator taking on this new role really
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: appreciate that. I'm just super excited about this opportunity to
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: do something that I care about a lot and that
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: hopefully will lead to good things to come for the
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: future of deer hunting and hunting and fishing of all
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: types in America moving forward. So with that said, I'm
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: going to keep this intro very short and sweet. We're
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: going to get right to these questions. We're going to
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: split it up, like I mentioned, so you can fast
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: forward if you're not into one of these, but we'll
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: start with a couple quick questions related to the new role,
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: and then we're going to go into conservation related things,
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: and then finally we're going to jump into the hunting side.
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: So that's the plan, that's what we're going to do here.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: So first question is from Brendan. I'm just going to
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: share the first name for folks here as they submitted
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: their questions. Brendan asks, what do you imagine will change
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: with your podcast and anything else given your new role.
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: So a lot of that's up in the air still,
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: but the basic plan is that, you know, my role
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: will continue to have a big content side of things.
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: So I'm going to continue doing podcasts, I'm going to
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: continue doing shows and films on the Mediator YouTube channel.
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: I'm continue doing all of that hunting kind of front
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: of camera stuff that is part of my role as
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: a member of the crew at Metator, So you're still
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: going to see me doing those shows. There'll still be
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: some deer hunting shows there might likely or not likely,
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: there will be more films and shows that are also
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: related to just general wildlife and conservation and nature. I've
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: got some really cool new projects in the works that
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: will be released sometime this year. On that there will
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: still be uh, you know, I'll still have a role
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: with the Wired Hunt podcast. At a minimum, you're gonna
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: be hearing from me, you know, probably something like every
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: other week or maybe more than that. But but you'll
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: be hearing me as a host of the Wired Hunt
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: podcast still for many episodes. But there will also be
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: new folks showing up on Wired to Hunt. You're probably
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: going to be hearing more from Tony. You will likely
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: be hearing more from some other folks too. But we're
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: going to continue having Wired Hunt podcasts on the same frequency,
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: the same quality, getting you the best possible deer hunting
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: information and resource that you need to become a better
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: deer hunter. So that's going to keep happening, and I
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: will still be a part of that, but I just
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: won't be on there quite as much. That will allow
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: me to open up more time to do more of
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: this Director of Conservation type work, which you know is
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: going to include a lot of different things. I'll be
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: spearheading the bigger picture strategy for Meetator on how we
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: engage on conservation issues, how we think about our conservation
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: related content, education and news, how we can be better
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: advocates for issues that are important hunters and anglers and
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: wildlife and wild places. So how do we engage, how
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: do we influence, how do we make sure that our
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: audience in the hunting and fishing community is taking action
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: when it's needed. So we're going to be thinking about
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: that a lot, going to be thinking about how we
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: do all of this a little bit more strategically, how
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: we use Metator's resources and you know, the megaphone that
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: we have with our platform for good as you know,
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: in the best possible way. So there's a lot that
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: needs to happen on that front that's going to require time.
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: There's also going to be some new content from me
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: related to that on the podcast side that's still being
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: figured out, but you might be seeing I'm not sure
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: if it's going to be a new podcast or new
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: miniseries or what exactly that is. I'm not sure, but
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: you will be hearing from me in some new podcast
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: capacity talking about you know, these larger nature wildlife conservation
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: related issues too, So stay tuned for that to come.
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: And I think that's, you know, at a high level
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: where things are at right now. I'll be still doing
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: deer stuff, but a little bit less, which will open
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: me to do more of this conservation, bigger picture wildlife
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: and wild place related things, and also just some different
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: hunting related things too. I'm excited to be doing some
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: different big game hunts this year that I guess I'll
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: save for the moment, but you will be seeing some
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: of that in the coming months. That'll be really outside
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: of my wheelhouse that I'm that I'm excited about, So
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: stay tuned for that. I think that covers it. Another
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: question Ryan asks when the next book is coming, and
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: so that is definitely tied to kind of this intersection
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: of my hunting and my conservation passions. So the new
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: book should be published sometime in early twenty twenty seven.
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: I'm putting kind of the very final finishing touches on
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: it right now. I've been working on it for years now, gosh,
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: maybe back in like twenty twenty two or twenty twenty
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: three that started really really happening, and it's been going
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: on ever since, kind of working, you know, all my
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: little extra spare time on slowly but surely putting this
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: thing together. So, if you haven't heard already, I've mentioned
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: in the past, but the new book is going to
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: be similar in format to my first book, which was
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: called That Wild Country. And that book explored the past, present,
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: and future of America's public lands, and it did that
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: through a series of my own adventures on public lands.
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  Speaker 2: So I told these stories while then teaching about the
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: history and the current threats and all that. The new
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: book takes that same format, so a bunch of adventures
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: out there in the wild world, but this time instead
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  Speaker 2: of exploring, you know, the issues directly applicable to public lands,
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: this time it's all about exploring the past and future
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: of fish and wildlife in America. So, what's going on
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: with our animals and fish? Why are so many of
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: them in decline? What's going on? And how do we
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: stop that? How do we change that. And it's told
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: through a series of my own hunting and fishing adventures
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  Speaker 2: across the nation. So, like I said, that's coming in
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  Speaker 2: early twenty twenty seven. I will definitely be sharing a
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: lot more details as we get closer, but stay tuned
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: and thank you in advance for checking that one out. So,
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: continuing on a similar vein conservation questions. If this is
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: not your jam, you can fast forward to the deer
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: hunting side of things, which is about you know, fifty
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: percent of this podcast. But I'd urge you to tune
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: into some of this because if you love deer hunting,
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: then we have to be thinking about how we make
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: sure we have you know, open space for deer to
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: exist on. We need to make sure that there are
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: landscapes that we can hunt on. We need to make
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: sure there are healthy deer pop populations and healthy populations
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: of all the other wildlife out there that are connected
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  Speaker 2: to the places that deer live. So conservation matters for
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: the future of deer hunting and much much more, obviously,
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  Speaker 2: So a couple different questions, many different questions here, and
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  Speaker 2: I'll try to tackle these relatively quickly. Casey asks a
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  Speaker 2: long one. So I'm going to read this one verbatim
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: from my computer. Casey asks, with midterm elections coming up,
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  Speaker 2: public lands feel like they're becoming collateral damage of straight
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: party line voting. A lot of people care deeply about
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: conservation but feel trapped because voting across the aisle can
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: mean sacrificing other core values. We also see candidates talk
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: publicly about supporting public lands, but when you dig into
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: their voting records, there's carve outs, backdoor compromises, or missed
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: votes on things like the Roless rule. As someone deeply
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: invested in conservation, how do you recommend voters actually evaluate
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: candidates on public lands? Where should we be digging on
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  Speaker 2: the sound bites and do you see any realistic path
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: towards compromise or accountability that protects public lands without further
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: deepening division? All right, Casey, great question. Thanks to that one.
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  Speaker 2: There's lots to tackle there, and this is a tough one.
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  Speaker 2: And this is one that I think all of us
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  Speaker 2: face every election cycle, which is when you're placing your votes.
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  Speaker 2: How do you think about you know, public lands within
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: that and conservation more broadly within those voting decisions, you know,
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  Speaker 2: for every one of us. How we vote is obviously
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: a personal decision, and each one of us has a
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: different set of issues that matter, and we prioritize those
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: different those those different things in different ways. And of course,
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: you know, I'm not going to be one to tell
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: anyone how they should rank those things and how they
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: should prioritize different issues. I know that public lands and
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: conservation isn't going to be number one for most people,
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: but if it's somewhere in the top, I certainly think
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: it should be part of your voting and maybe just
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: as important as where it falls or how it influences
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: your votes. It definitely, no matter which side of the
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: alle you're going to vote, it definitely can be a
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: huge part of your communication with these candidates. Because here's
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: the thing. We can vote for a candidate based on
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: this big mixed pot of issues we care about, and
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: they're probably going to be good on some things and
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: less good or bad on other things. That's true, no
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: matter if you're voting for a Republican or a Democrat.
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: Neither side is perfect in my view on the issues
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: related to honey and fishing, that's for sure. So what
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: we can do is, of course, look at your priorities.
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: But then also, and I think this is the most
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: important thing here in the near term future. I think
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: we should be communicating to all candidates leading up to
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: elections and then also after elections about why this stuff
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: is important. So before elections, you know, as you're trying
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: to make that decision for yourself who best represents your interests,
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: we should be calling these offices and saying, hey, you know,
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: Republican candidate for my Senate seat, I really care about
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: hunting and fishing or public lands or this particular issue.
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: Let's say, maybe protecting the boundary waters in Minnesota, or
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: if you live in Montana, maybe you really care about
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: the roadless rule or whatever it is, not having public
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: lands sold off. We should be calling these candidates ahead
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: of time as they are running for election and being
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: very clear about the fact that, hey, if you want
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: my vote, this is an issue that really matters to
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: me and hunters and anglers across your state and across
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: the country. If you want our vote, you've got to
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: be right on this. So we can be influencing them
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: leading up to the election. No matter if you're going
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: to vote for them or not. Maybe you've already made
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: the decision. Even if you know for sure, hey, I'm
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: not going to vote for this Democrat or I'm not
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: going to vote for this Republican. Still we should be
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: calling them and saying, hey, this matters. If you want
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: the vote of my community, you better get right on
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: this one. So that's the first thing that each and
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: everybody can do. Each and every one of us can
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: do that. Number two, after that person is elected, whoever
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: it is, whether it's the person you wanted or the
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: person you didn't want, we can still be calling that
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: person's office and emailing that person's office and saying, hey,
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: you are now representing me and the rest of the
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: hunting and fishing community in this state or in this nation.
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: This is a set of issues that's very important. Again,
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: pick your issue, pick your public land policy, whatever it is,
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: or have a whole list of them, and explain, hey,
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: if you want to represent our interests, if you want
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: my support during your term and into the future or
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: for your reelection, here's what you need to be doing.
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: Here's what you need to understand. Let me be a
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: resource to help you understand why this is important, why
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: this is good for your state, or for this country,
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: or for the economy, whatever it is. So having that
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: communication and trying to exert that influence for the election
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: and then with your vote and then after the election,
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: that is something we can all do and that's really
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: really important, and that's the only way we change this
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: thing right now. Like you said, Casey, it's tough because
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: no one party represents hunting and fishing and conservation and
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: public lands across the board in a good way. One
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: party is good at certain parts of that, the other
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: party is good at other parts of that. So there's
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: no easy answers here if we're talking about this set
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: of issues specifically. So what we need to do is
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: continue to press both sides until both sides are good
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: on these issues. They can argue over you know, specific solutions,
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: but we are only going to get out of this
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: if we can just continuously, consistently just just bang on
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: the door and tell people this matters, this matters, this matters.
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: If you're gonna be bad on public lands, it's going
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: to be a poison pill career for your career. If
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: you're going to be bad on you know, basic sound
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: scientific management of wildlife, if you're going to be bad
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: on that, it's going to be a poison pill for
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: your political career. If we can continue to hammer that home,
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: eventually we'll get to a point where we don't need
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: to say, well, if I vote for this guy, it's
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: going to be horrible for public lands, but is good
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: for me on you know, firearm rights or whatever. Or
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: if I vote for this gale, it's going to be
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: good on the environmental side, but it's gonna be a
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: nightmare on this other thing. I don't want that to
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: be the case anymore. I want everyone to recognize that
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: conservation and public lands is a must. Maybe there's gonna
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: be other things we can have, you know, partisan divides on,
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: but conservation and public lands is something we can make nonpartisan.
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: But that only happens if we force the issue, and
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: we do that with this communication, these emails, with these
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: phone calls over and over and over again. That's, I guess,
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: a long answer to your long question, Casey. You did
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: also ask, though, you know, where should we be digging
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: beyond the sound bites to actually understand, you know, how
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: these candidates are voting and how they actually how their
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: track record stacks up to what they say. I've got
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: two ideas for you. One is you know, of course,
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: try to pay attention to this stuff throughout the long run,
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: read the news over the course of the election cycle,
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: pay attention to this you know, as much as you
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: possibly can in your daily life. But obviously most folks
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: don't have time to do that on a consistent basis.
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: So two things that were helpful for me. One thing
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: that I've done that gets pretty good results is actually,
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: you know, and I hate to use AI kind of
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: I've got all sorts of questions and thoughts on AI
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: in general. But I did a little experiment here to
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: see how it would work with Google Gemini. I think
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: you do something similar with chat GPT to get a
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: little bit of a review of a candidate's conservation or
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: public lands related voting record and an analysis of sorts
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: on that. So what I did as I went into
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: Google Gemini and I asked, I'll read you my prompt.
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: I said, provide an analysis for me on how Congressman
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: Tim Wahlberg, who's my congressman, has voted on issues related
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: to public lands conservation, and provided grade on that voting record,
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: and a plus would be awarded if he's voted in
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: such a way that ensures the long term sustainability of
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: our nation's public lands and wildlife, and f would be
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: awarded if his vote instead would lead to the sale, transfer,
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: or serious degradation of public lands and wildlife. Please provide
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: links to sources that can confirm your points. So that
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: was the prompt that I put in, and it spit
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: out a pretty good review, a pretty you know, thorough
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: and simple to understand explanation of key things that my
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: congressman has voted on that are relevant to public lands
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: and wildlife, and in a simple but pretty good analysis
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: of how good or bad he was on those things
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: related to the interests of someone who cares about that. Now,
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: the key thing is that you can't trust one hundred
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: percent anything that these ai you know, models provide, so
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: you need to go and fact check that stuff. And
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: so that's why I ask for links, because I always
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: want to be able to go and fact check those
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: sources and double check. But I did a couple that,
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: you know, I have a pretty clear understanding of from
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: firsthand knowledge to fact check. So I asked for an
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: analysis like this for my congressman, and then asked for
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: an analysis of this for Congressman Ryan Zinki out of
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: Montana and what it provided for both of those people
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: was a pretty darn sound analysis, a pretty non partisan
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: but honest analysis of how these two guys, you know,
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: stack up when it comes to their conservation voting record.
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: So you can go ahead and do something like that
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: for your congress people, for your senators, for any elected
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: official that you're looking for, you know, in the twenty
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: twenty six voting cycle, and you know, use that as
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: a starting point. Again, don't trust it outright, but use
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: that to then say, okay, this thing told me that
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: my congressman voted for XYZ legislation which was bad for conservation. Okay,
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: let me double check that. Let me let me click
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: the link and read the article to fully understand that.
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: That's a pretty good first step in understanding this. Another
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: tool that can be useful is an organization called the
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: League of Conservation Voters. And what they do is they
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: put together a scorecard for various elected officials that basically
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: go and they look at every different vote that these
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: people have related to environmental issues and then rank, you know,
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: basically mark whether they voted for the anti environment option
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: or the pro environment option, and then you can see
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: every one of those different things and then read more
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: about that specific policy. Now, I will say that this
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: is not an end all, be all. I would go
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: through here and look at every specific you know, vote
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: with some detail, because you know, I would call the
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: land and you know, the League of Conservation Voters as
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: definitely a left of center organization. And so there's some
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: stuff in here that's a little farther center than maybe
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: what I would call uh or than what I would
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: like to see. Some of this stuff's a little bit
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: more on the you know, environmental justice stuff. There's some
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: DEI stuff, There's some and and you know, not saying
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: anything about that, but that might be a little bit
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: outside of what I would put in my bucket of
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: conservation or public lands issues. So go in here and
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: look at it for yourself. But there's a lot in
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: here that's very useful. For example, I went in here
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: looked at the scorecard for my congressman, and I can see,
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: you know, how he voted on the rollback of clean
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: water safeguards, and then I can drill into that and
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: read more about this. Oh, yes, that is something that
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: does impact clean water and he voted against it. How
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: about this he voted to rescind protections for the boundary waters. Okay,
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: he voted to roll back protections for the Arctic. Okay.
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: And I can go and continue to fact check this stuff,
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: but it's again a place that aggregates a bunch of
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: that information. For an elected official. It's a starting point,
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: but it's a place where you can start to understand, Okay,
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: what has this person actually done that's influencing these things
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: I care about. I think the big takeaway for a
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: lot of this is that I don't trust any single
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: headline or social media post or TikTok or anything, because
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: everyone has a little bit of a spin. Everyone comes
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: from a different perspective, everyone has a bias, and sometimes
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: that's not an intentional, malevolent thing. That's simply we all
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: look at this thing differently. So I try to get
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: a bunch of different sources. I try to fact check
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: as much of this as I possibly can. I try
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: to pass it through the common sense test and only
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: make decisions once I've done that. I don't try to
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: make a decision based on just a one off. All right,
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: That was a long answer there to the first one.
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: I'll try to move a little bit quicker through some
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: of these other ones. Nick asked, what advice would you
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: give someone trying to break into the conservation space. So
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: I'm not sure Nick, if you mean, you know, trying
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: to get into conservation as a career, or if you
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: just mean trying to, you know, start tackling some kind
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: of conservation effort as an individual citizen. I guess I'll
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: give you a little bit of an answer for both
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: fronts there. When it comes to just trying to make
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: a difference on this stuff, the simple answers, just get
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: started doing something today, Just take individual action. I think
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: there's so many ways that in our daily lives there are,
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: you know, simple but meaningful ways that we can make
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: things better. So that can be like doing something in
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: your backyard or in your hunting property that make things
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: better for wildlife, that make things better for you know,
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: not just the deer that live there, but also the
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: small mammals or the birds, or the pollinators or the
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: fish in the creek. Make a difference with your own
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: two hands when you can on the land that you
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: influence or volunteer in public lands or in public waters.
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: That's a simple way. I've talked about this a lot
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: with the Working for wildlife tour. But volunteering to do
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: something make things better today with your own hands, with
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: your own blood, sweat and tears. A that makes things
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: better in a tangible way today, and b it fills
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: you with a sense of ability and energy that leads
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: to a lot more happening when you can make something better,
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: when you can change something today. I think it helps
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: in snowballs. It leads to you feeling like, hey, I
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: could do more tomorrow, and I can do more next
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: month and next year. So that's the first thing. Number one.
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: Finds something you can do now in your own neck
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: of the woods, and then you know number two, then
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: just start connecting and engaging with this stuff. So find
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: out where the needs are. Connect with local conservation groups.
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: Connect with the conservation group for the critter that you
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: care the most about, or the place that you care
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: the most about. Sign up, ask them, Hey, where do
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: you need help? How can I jump in? What do
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: you need? Where can I be of service? Those types
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: of questions inevitably are going to lead to opportunities, opportunities
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: to make a difference, and then maybe to you know,
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: to the other potential part of your question. It could
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: lead to career opportunities because there is no shortage of
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: needs out there in the conservation world. There are nonprofits,
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: and there are folks you know at the state agencies,
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: and there are folks that are federal agencies and public
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: land managers and wildlife managers who are doing the best
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: that they can with limited resources, limited staffing, limited time,
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: and they need people who are willing to step up
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: and help out. Volunteering time, volunteering money, volunteering, you know,
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: a skill set, there's places to do that. And the
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: more you do that, the more you put yourself out
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: there to help, the more likely it is that you
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: might find that opportunity that hey, here's this entry level job,
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: or here's this job opportunity, or here's this internship opportunity,
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: or here's this class you can sign up to be
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: a part of that maybe leads to that down the road.
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: So that's what I would recommend doing. Just get started,
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: find those close to home things where you can make
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: a difference today, and then start just putting it out
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: there for these different, bigger picture things that can lead
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: to a difference down the road. And then finally, you know,
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: do what I talked about ten minutes ago, which is
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: making those phone calls, talking to those candidates, talking to
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: your elected officials, and you know, trying to do on
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: a consistent and basis. You know, my buddy Randy Neuberg
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: a couple of weeks ago, I guess last week on
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: the show, said we should be reaching out to our
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: elected officials once a month, consistently reminding them of the
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: stuff that we care about and what's happening right now.
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: My buddy Cale has said that he tries to do
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: this once a week. It's not that big of a
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: time suck. You can do this in a three minute
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: phone call once a week or once a month or
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: whatever it is, and that is a huge, huge thing.
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: We can make a big difference if there are thousands
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: of us doing that, that's the power we have. We
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: can make a difference with that. So I hope that helps.
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: Noah asks, what are your thoughts on the push in
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: Michigan to add massive amounts of solar farms. Man, That
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: is a big one, because this is not just a
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: Michigan thing. This is something we're seeing, you know, with
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: solar and with wind, and we're seeing that not just
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: a Michigan but we're seeing it all across the country.
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: And you know, this isn't just related to those renewable
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: energy sources. It's also just energy of any kind. Anytime
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: you have energy infrastructure going in, it makes an impact.
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: So you see that obviously with solar farms, you see
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: that with wind farms. We've seen it for decades and decades.
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: When it comes to gas and oil, of course, that
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: infrastructure has had a significant impact on the environment in
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: public lands over the years. So whatever it is, I
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: think that the very most important thing is that it
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: comes down to the sighting of those you know, energy projects.
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: Where are they placed, What are the actual you know,
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: kind of guardrails around them, so that they are done
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: in as environmentally friendly of a way as possible, as
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: wildlife friendly a way as possible. You know, we need energy,
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: that's obvious. Every single one of us uses energy, uses electricity,
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: uses gas and oil and increasingly solar and wind energy
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: to power our homes, our phones, our cars, whatever we
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: need it. It is what it is. How do we
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: do that in a way that makes less of a
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: negative impact. I think that clean energy is obviously something
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: that is is a good thing. I'm not gonna sit
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: here and say that I don't want cleaner energy. I do,
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: but I don't want to throw the baby with throw
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: the baby out with the bathwater. I don't want clean energy,
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: but then ruin all of our wildlife habitat in an
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: attempt to do that. So I've got really conflicted feelings
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: on solar and wind because it certainly seems like solar
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: and wind energy does not have as many of the
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: you know, negative environmental byproducts as maybe burning fossil fuels
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: does on some fronts, but the on the ground impact
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: is huge, especially those solar farms, like I'm sure you're
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: talking about Noah, where you see you know, one thousand acres,
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: fifteen hundred acres completely fenced in, fencing out wildlife, completely
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: covered with solar panels. I mean, this is this is
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: intense wildlife habitat destruction. And it just makes no sense
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: to me. Why are we doing that? Why are we
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: just destroying wildlife habitat when there's all of these rooftops
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: all over the nation, all of these concrete parking lots
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: all over the nation that have already been destroyed. The
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: wildlife habitat has already been destroyed there that we could
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: be putting these panels that would not make the negative
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: difference there. I know there's cost issues, I know there's
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: all these things, but I really think that when it
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: comes to these renewable projects, we can still be supportive
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: generally of the idea if that's something that you're into.
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: But I think we have to really be pushing for
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: responsible sighting of those and making sure this stuff's not
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: being put in important wildlife habitats, not you know, breaking
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: up and fragmenting wildlife migrations. It's not destroying wildlife habitat.
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: This stuff should be put in smart places, not taking
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: special places and making them worse. I know that the
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership did some work putting together. I
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: think there were some documents kind of outlining their proposals
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: on how to be thinking about this, how to make
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: sure we're doing this in the smart, sponsible, environmentally friendly way.
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: That'd be something to take a look at and probably
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: share with some of our lawmakers now. But yeah, I
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: don't like seeing habitat destroyed. I think we have to
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: be just as cautious about this renewable energy as we
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: are about you know, traditional forms of energy both make
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: an impact, so both need to be done carefully, with
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: a lot of thought and guardrails around them to make
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: sure that we are mitigating the negative effects and making
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: sure that yes, we get our energy, but we do
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: so in such a way that does not negatively influence
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: the environment or wildlife or public lands any more than
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: it absolutely has to. That's my take. Justin asks currently,
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: which species do you feel is under the greatest threat
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: due to the potential selling off of public lands and
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: what can we do to help? So I think when
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: it comes to the threats of the sale or transfer
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: of public lands, while you know, last summer there was
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: the possibility that this could happen across a lot of
• 30:03
  Speaker 2: different states, a lot of different areas forest service bl
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: and lands, et cetera. I think most of the pressures
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: to date, and the biggest risks have probably been on
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: Bureau of Land Management parcels, which are you know, out west,
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: those are our you know, desert landscapes typically or where
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: you see BLM grasslands, desert. You know, this is stuff
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: that you see a lot in those major Western states.
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: So you know, I could see this happening in a
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: Nevada or a Utah in those places. Most of those
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: Western BLM type landscapes have habitat that are critically important
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: to two or only three species that are you know,
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: in relatively significant decline. Sage grouds have been in massive
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: decline in recent decades. I feel like it's something more
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: like eighty percent drop in population in the recent handful
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: of decades. I don't remember the exact numbers there, but
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: serious serious issues on the sage grouse side, And if
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: we were to actually see a sale of public lands
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: happen on BLM ground, that would definitely be something that
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: would be impacting sage grouse and then mule deer. Mule
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: deer numbers have been dropping across many states across many
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: parts of their landscape, and a big part of that
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: is because of habitat loss. So if we were to
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: see public lands soul they're transferred, I feel like mule
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: deer would really be feeling it. Pronghorn are another one
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: in many places they've been trending down. Again. There are
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: another important sage brush and grassland species that could be
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: hurting if public lands and if those like sage brush
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: stepped type ecosystems started being developed and sold off. So
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: those three would be big ones. Those ones stand out
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: to me, you're at the top. Justin asks, I guess
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: I'll jump back he did ask. Justin did ask what
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: can we do to help? And I would just jump
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: back to what I've reiterated over and over, which is like,
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: we've got to talk to our elected officials about these
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: things while they're in office, when they're up for election,
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: and after they're elected, just consistently, over and over and
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: over again, making sure they know that, hey, selling off
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: for public lands, it's not going to fly all right.
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: Pickle asks, when you retire and look back on what
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: you accomplished, what will success look like when it comes
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: to fighting for public lands? I think two things. I
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: think one, there's with any of this, there's a lot
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: that is outside of any one of our hands. Right
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: for any of us who care about these things, we
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: can make an impact, but we can't control it all.
• 32:32
  Speaker 2: We don't have the ultimate say on so much of this.
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: So I think one, I would look back on my
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: career and say, did I do everything I could? Did
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: I go for it? Did I put my best foot
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: forward and keep trying over and over and over in
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: different ways to make a positive difference? If I could
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: sit there after I retire and look back and say, man,
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: you really did. You tried your damnedest, I would feel
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: pretty good about that. I would feel well satisfied that
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: I gave my best Part one. Part two, and this
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: is the one where it's much more outside of my control.
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: But if I could say that what I've been able
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: to enjoy growing up and now as an adult on
• 33:15
  Speaker 2: public lands, that the incredible experience of the amazing hunting trips,
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: seeing just the wild, incredible fishing trips and experiences, the
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: backpacking trips, the hikes, the camping. If what I have
• 33:26
  Speaker 2: been able to enjoy, this unbelievable set of public land
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: adventures that I've been able to enjoy, if that's still
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: available for my kids and their children, so my grandchildren
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: when I retire, If my grandchildren still have those same
• 33:38
  Speaker 2: opportunities and those same places, that's a success. That's what
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: for me would be a win. How much of that's possible,
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: I do not know. I think that we are going
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: to have to work our tails off to keep these
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: places around, to keep these opportunities around, to keep these
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: wildlife healthy and thriving. We have got our work cut
• 33:58
  Speaker 2: out for us. There are so many pressures from so
• 34:00
  Speaker 2: many different sides coming in on these things. If we
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: sit back and think that somebody else is going to
• 34:05
  Speaker 2: do it for us, it's not going to happen. That
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: will not be the case. Fifty years from now, I
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: will not be able to be retired and look back
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: and say, Yep, my grandkids have the same opportunities. If
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: I want that to be the case. If you want
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: that to be case, it's going to take it's going
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: to take us taking ownership of it and saying, hey,
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: I'm not going to wait for somebody else to do it.
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: I'm not going to assume that this other group will
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: do it. I'm going to take action as an individual,
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: and I'm going to be a part of collective action
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: to make sure that our leaders, our businesses, our government,
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: our managing agencies are doing the right things too. So
• 34:42
  Speaker 2: that's on me, that's on you, that's on all of us,
• 34:45
  Speaker 2: and that's what I think success looks like for me,
• 34:47
  Speaker 2: and I'm going to work really hard to try to
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: make sure that's the case. Pickle, I appreciate your question.
• 34:56
  Speaker 2: All right, I'm going to move on to the second
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: phase of this conversation. For the sake of time, We've
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: got some hunting related questions, and I want to make sure
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: we tackle those two Neil asks, what region or state
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: that you would love to whitetail hunt have you not
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: yet gotten to Okay, right off the bat, Kansas jumps
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: out to me, I still haven't hunted Kansas. That's an
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: obvious one. I definitely still want to do that. It's,
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: you know, one of those states that's got two things
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: going for it in my book. Obviously, it's one of
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: those states that has a really great age structure, so
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: there's lots of mature bucks, lots of big bucks, lots
• 35:35
  Speaker 2: of that exciting kind of stuff that you get to
• 35:37
  Speaker 2: see in a state like that. But then number two,
• 35:39
  Speaker 2: it's got the terrain that I really like. I love
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: the grasslands, I love that open space, I love that
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: rolling topography. That's just like something I personally enjoy and
• 35:49
  Speaker 2: Kansas has that. So it combines those two things. I'm sure,
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: I'm sure I would love that. So that's one. I'd
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: also love to get up into the far North and
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: hunt somewhere, you know in Canada. Uh, I've seen those
• 36:01
  Speaker 2: hunts up in Alberta or Manitoba, even Ontario that look
• 36:06
  Speaker 2: pretty cool to experience. I would like to do that
• 36:09
  Speaker 2: someday too. Tim asks, do you see the big buck
• 36:13
  Speaker 2: craze fading off and turning more into the wild unknown?
• 36:16
  Speaker 2: So I think what he's getting at here is, like,
• 36:18
  Speaker 2: you know, the obsession over antlers and big and big bucks,
• 36:21
  Speaker 2: you know, is that fading away? Is there more of
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: an interest now an adventure? And I do think that
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: that is that's happening to a degree. I think there's
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: always gonna be people that you know, love big Bucks
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: and chase big bucks and antler score and inches and
• 36:34
  Speaker 2: all that, and you know, I'm always gonna like that
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: stuff to a degree, I think a lot of folks will.
• 36:41
  Speaker 2: It's it's pretty human to be impressed by big critters.
• 36:44
  Speaker 2: That is a natural thing that's been happening since the
• 36:47
  Speaker 2: you know, since Cave art was being drawn and you
• 36:50
  Speaker 2: were seeing these big antler moose and elk and deer
• 36:53
  Speaker 2: on those you know, on those pictographs. That's a pretty
• 36:55
  Speaker 2: natural thing for us to be fascinated and excited by.
• 36:58
  Speaker 2: At the same time, though, I do think that, you know,
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: my own personal journey mirrors that of a lot of folks,
• 37:03
  Speaker 2: which is that at a certain point you realize that
• 37:06
  Speaker 2: it doesn't matter that much. Yeah, it's pretty darn cool,
• 37:09
  Speaker 2: but it doesn't make you special. If you kill the
• 37:11
  Speaker 2: big buck doesn't make you better than anybody else. If
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: you kill the hiding scoring buck certainly is not going
• 37:16
  Speaker 2: to make you a better dad or you know, person
• 37:19
  Speaker 2: at your career, or leader in your community or anything
• 37:22
  Speaker 2: like that. So it doesn't matter that much. And if
• 37:25
  Speaker 2: we are worshiping at that altar, it might be a
• 37:28
  Speaker 2: mistake at least That's what I've found in my own life.
• 37:31
  Speaker 2: And so yeah, for me, experiences and adventure have become
• 37:36
  Speaker 2: a bigger part of my criteria for what success and
• 37:40
  Speaker 2: enjoyment as a deer hunter looks like, and also like
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: sharing those experiences with people you love and people you
• 37:45
  Speaker 2: care about. So I think that's happening. I think more
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: and more people are getting turned off by the obsession
• 37:51
  Speaker 2: with antlers and that trophy hunting hysteria, and they're realizing, hey,
• 37:55
  Speaker 2: you know what, that's not all that matters either, and
• 37:57
  Speaker 2: they're returning to you know stuff like I just mentioned,
• 38:01
  Speaker 2: or like you mentioned, how do you do this in
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: a new way, How do you do this in a
• 38:05
  Speaker 2: new place, How do you challenge yourself in new ways.
• 38:07
  Speaker 2: How do you go deeper? How do you stretch the
• 38:11
  Speaker 2: bounds of what you define a deer hunt? You know,
• 38:15
  Speaker 2: maybe it's going on a float hunt. Maybe it's going
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: out and canoeing around a lake. Maybe it's traveling to
• 38:20
  Speaker 2: a new state and doing it with a traditional bow.
• 38:22
  Speaker 2: Maybe it's you know, just focusing on managing your property
• 38:25
  Speaker 2: to make sure there's not so many dos and you've
• 38:27
  Speaker 2: got a better age structure. Maybe it's just going out
• 38:29
  Speaker 2: there with their kids a lot. Maybe it's you know,
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: being a mentor to other new hunters. I don't know
• 38:34
  Speaker 2: what it is, but I do think that more and
• 38:35
  Speaker 2: more people are realizing that deer hunting success doesn't have
• 38:39
  Speaker 2: to mean one hundred and seventy inch bucks or whatever,
• 38:42
  Speaker 2: because that's a not realistic for ninety nine percent of us.
• 38:47
  Speaker 2: And b it really is a narrow view of what
• 38:50
  Speaker 2: deer hunting can be and really should be. It's such
• 38:54
  Speaker 2: a rich, amazing experience if we don't let ourselves get
• 38:58
  Speaker 2: obsessed and kind of pulled into this comparison culture of
• 39:02
  Speaker 2: trying to one up the next guy with antlers. For me,
• 39:06
  Speaker 2: it's been a really really good thing to step out
• 39:08
  Speaker 2: of that, and I think there's a lot of other
• 39:10
  Speaker 2: people that would probably benefit from that too. So that's
• 39:13
  Speaker 2: my take. Tom A. Bell asks after the TSI work
• 39:21
  Speaker 2: and putting in food plots at ken Roven, that's my
• 39:24
  Speaker 2: family deer camp. Have you seen an increase in deer
• 39:27
  Speaker 2: numbers this year and is there anything you would do
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: different or that you have plans for in the future. So, yeah,
• 39:34
  Speaker 2: many of you probably have seen over the last handful
• 39:36
  Speaker 2: of years that my family and I have been doing
• 39:38
  Speaker 2: work at our family deer camp. We carved out some opening,
• 39:42
  Speaker 2: some for food plots, some for just kind of like
• 39:44
  Speaker 2: betting areas and little wildlife openings to get some sunlight
• 39:47
  Speaker 2: on the floor. And we have seen positive benefits for sure.
• 39:53
  Speaker 2: Maybe not as much or as consistently as I like
• 39:57
  Speaker 2: as far as how that's impacted our hunting, but definitely
• 40:01
  Speaker 2: we've seen positive benefits. So we're talking pretty small scale
• 40:04
  Speaker 2: here still, right, there's only a there's really just a
• 40:08
  Speaker 2: ten acre chunk of our property that we can access
• 40:10
  Speaker 2: to make improvements. To this point, twenty acres of the
• 40:13
  Speaker 2: forty is just like untouchable swamp, and then the other
• 40:18
  Speaker 2: twenty sorry, the other ten is where the cabin is
• 40:22
  Speaker 2: and like right around there. So that's you know, we
• 40:24
  Speaker 2: haven't done anything there yet because it's so close to
• 40:26
  Speaker 2: where all of our human activity is and the worry
• 40:29
  Speaker 2: there is like if we improve that, well, then you're
• 40:31
  Speaker 2: just going to scare a deer away every time you
• 40:32
  Speaker 2: come outside the door, pull into the house or anything
• 40:35
  Speaker 2: like that. So we haven't touched that ten So there's
• 40:37
  Speaker 2: the one dry ten acres barles from the cabin where
• 40:41
  Speaker 2: we have done our efforts and there, you know, total,
• 40:44
  Speaker 2: there's there's two food plots. One is like an eighth acre,
• 40:47
  Speaker 2: one is maybe a half acre. And what they have
• 40:51
  Speaker 2: done for us is attractively a consistent dough family group
• 40:56
  Speaker 2: or two, probably one, but maybe sometimes there's two dough
• 40:59
  Speaker 2: family groups in the area now on a pretty consistent basis.
• 41:03
  Speaker 2: That's happening throughout the year. So you have that. You you know,
• 41:07
  Speaker 2: day after day after day there will be a group
• 41:09
  Speaker 2: of doughs probably somewhere in the area on these food sources.
• 41:12
  Speaker 2: And that was not the case in the past. We
• 41:14
  Speaker 2: would see deer very and frequently in the past. Now
• 41:16
  Speaker 2: like hey, there was a pretty good chance there's gonna
• 41:18
  Speaker 2: be some deer in the zone. We're just not seeing
• 41:20
  Speaker 2: consistent buck activity yet they're spending time somewhere else for
• 41:24
  Speaker 2: some other reason. There's better food, there's better habitats somewhere else.
• 41:28
  Speaker 2: We're like seeing zero buck activity until the rut till
• 41:31
  Speaker 2: like you know, late October, and then you'll start getting
• 41:34
  Speaker 2: those cruisers coming through checking those that dough family group
• 41:37
  Speaker 2: or two. So it's a start. It's been awesome. We've
• 41:42
  Speaker 2: seen more deer than we have in the past. We've
• 41:45
  Speaker 2: had you know, some mature bucks and encounters and opportunities
• 41:49
  Speaker 2: that are better than the past. So without a doubt
• 41:51
  Speaker 2: it has improved. I just think that if we want
• 41:53
  Speaker 2: to continue to see that reach the next level where
• 41:55
  Speaker 2: maybe we're seeing bucks on a consistent basis, that we're
• 41:58
  Speaker 2: gonna have to increase the scale of those improvements. So
• 42:01
  Speaker 2: increasing the size of those openings, increasing the size of
• 42:04
  Speaker 2: those food plots, maybe adding in more diversity to the
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: other chunk. Maybe that ten acres around the cabin we
• 42:11
  Speaker 2: could improve in some other way that can help without
• 42:14
  Speaker 2: you know, spooking deer with our activity. So that's stuff
• 42:16
  Speaker 2: that we're still thinking about, but it's been fun to
• 42:18
  Speaker 2: see that progress come into play. If any of you
• 42:21
  Speaker 2: saw my film that we put out last year that really,
• 42:25
  Speaker 2: you know, highlighted this progress. My dad and I you know,
• 42:28
  Speaker 2: saw multiple bucks when hunting together, including two of the
• 42:32
  Speaker 2: biggest deer we've ever seen there. One of them was
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: an unbelievable I mean, you know, for you know, I
• 42:39
  Speaker 2: just talked about how antler sized and everything, and it's
• 42:41
  Speaker 2: not everything, but it is something. And we saw a
• 42:44
  Speaker 2: true one hundred and seventy inch buck in northern Michigan.
• 42:48
  Speaker 2: It was killed by a neighbor a few weeks later,
• 42:50
  Speaker 2: but unbelievable. Deer is incredible and that just never would
• 42:54
  Speaker 2: have been possible in the past, if you know, we
• 42:56
  Speaker 2: hadn't made these improvements. And also other neighbors have made
• 42:59
  Speaker 2: habitat improvements and I think that has helped the whole neighborhood.
• 43:02
  Speaker 2: So that's been really cool to see, fun to see
• 43:04
  Speaker 2: that progress and excited to see what happens next. Okay,
• 43:10
  Speaker 2: Andrew ask how much effort and how serious do you
• 43:13
  Speaker 2: take sen control? And what is your routine? And another
• 43:16
  Speaker 2: person asked a related question. They asked, do I spray
• 43:19
  Speaker 2: and hang my clothes? Another person asked about this when
• 43:23
  Speaker 2: it comes to their boots. They spray their boots and
• 43:24
  Speaker 2: it doesn't seem to be helping. Are they doing it wrong?
• 43:27
  Speaker 2: I will say that my take on scent control has
• 43:30
  Speaker 2: changed a bit over the years. I for a long
• 43:33
  Speaker 2: time was very much in the camp of do every
• 43:35
  Speaker 2: single possible thing you can to minimize your scent. Do
• 43:38
  Speaker 2: it all. Why not? You know, you might as well
• 43:41
  Speaker 2: try your best. You might as well check every single
• 43:45
  Speaker 2: box and do every little one percent thing because all
• 43:47
  Speaker 2: those little one percent stack up and they can help.
• 43:50
  Speaker 2: And that is true. If you want to make sure
• 43:53
  Speaker 2: there's no chance, or at least as little chance as possible,
• 43:56
  Speaker 2: of being winded, then that can help a little bit.
• 44:00
  Speaker 2: But I do also see, you know, my buddy Klay
• 44:01
  Speaker 2: Newcomb has always made the case to me that you're
• 44:04
  Speaker 2: never going to win it. You're never going to fully
• 44:06
  Speaker 2: eliminate your scent. And that's true too. Even when I've
• 44:10
  Speaker 2: done everything, and I've used noxonics unit, and I've used
• 44:13
  Speaker 2: nose jammer, and I've sprayed stuff, and I've kept stuff
• 44:16
  Speaker 2: in a scent free tote and I've kept it outside.
• 44:18
  Speaker 2: I've done the scent free showers and the scent free
• 44:20
  Speaker 2: laundry and all of that. Even when you do all
• 44:23
  Speaker 2: of that, you're still getting winded a lot of the time,
• 44:26
  Speaker 2: you know, with that one hundred percent protocol, I would
• 44:29
  Speaker 2: say that maybe fifty percent of the time I get
• 44:34
  Speaker 2: away with not being winded, and then twenty five percent
• 44:38
  Speaker 2: of the time I get winded. But they're kind of like, eh,
• 44:41
  Speaker 2: I don't know what this is. I don't like it,
• 44:43
  Speaker 2: and they just turn and walk away, but it's not
• 44:46
  Speaker 2: a full blown freak out. And then the other twenty
• 44:48
  Speaker 2: five percent, it's a full blown freak out, just like
• 44:51
  Speaker 2: any other time, as if I were doing nothing. So
• 44:54
  Speaker 2: one part of me says, hey, that's that's pretty good.
• 44:57
  Speaker 2: That's better than nothing. So for that reason, you to
• 45:00
  Speaker 2: do ith. I do understand though, why some people say,
• 45:04
  Speaker 2: you know what, I'm not gonna win it no matter what.
• 45:06
  Speaker 2: So I'm going to just not stress out so much
• 45:09
  Speaker 2: about all these things. I'm going to enjoy the hunt.
• 45:12
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna wear my long John's in the cabin and
• 45:14
  Speaker 2: not feel bad about it, and gonna go out there
• 45:17
  Speaker 2: and have a good time. And I'm gonna play the
• 45:18
  Speaker 2: wind smart and probably get away with just as much,
• 45:21
  Speaker 2: but without all the headaches and stress and anxiety that
• 45:25
  Speaker 2: you know, old Mark would have about that, and I'm
• 45:28
  Speaker 2: kind of on the fence right now. I've done a
• 45:30
  Speaker 2: little bit of both in recent years, as I've tried
• 45:32
  Speaker 2: to you know, get back to you know, maybe not
• 45:36
  Speaker 2: being so obsessed with fill in tags and more, you know,
• 45:41
  Speaker 2: interested in the larger experience. As I've gone through that
• 45:44
  Speaker 2: personal transformation, I've also eased up a little bit on
• 45:47
  Speaker 2: some of this kind of OCD ness around send control.
• 45:51
  Speaker 2: I actually stopped using an ozonics unit this year, and
• 45:54
  Speaker 2: I did that not because I don't think it helps.
• 45:56
  Speaker 2: I do think it helps, but it's a you know,
• 45:59
  Speaker 2: for me, it became kind of pain in the butt
• 46:01
  Speaker 2: toting around this extra thing, having to screw it into
• 46:03
  Speaker 2: the tree. And then most of all, it's so darn noisy. Now.
• 46:07
  Speaker 2: I know there's newer models than I have that are
• 46:09
  Speaker 2: supposedly quieter, so maybe the new ones are better, but
• 46:11
  Speaker 2: the model that I have makes this loud, obnoxious, you know,
• 46:14
  Speaker 2: wind noise, blowing noise, fan noise up above your head,
• 46:18
  Speaker 2: and you can't actually hear the world around you. I
• 46:20
  Speaker 2: wanted to hear the birds. I want to hear the squirrels.
• 46:23
  Speaker 2: I want to hear the footsteps. One hundred yards away
• 46:25
  Speaker 2: as they slowly come my way. So this duy, I said,
• 46:27
  Speaker 2: screw it. I'm turning off the Ozonis. I'm leaving it
• 46:29
  Speaker 2: at home, and I'm just going to get out there
• 46:31
  Speaker 2: and hear again. And that's been really, really nice. And
• 46:34
  Speaker 2: I still kill the nice buck. I still killed some dose.
• 46:36
  Speaker 2: I still had a great time. So it's a personal
• 46:39
  Speaker 2: decision for everyone. I do think these things can help.
• 46:43
  Speaker 2: I do still spray nosejammer on my boots and on
• 46:46
  Speaker 2: the tree when I hunt. I think that gives me
• 46:48
  Speaker 2: a little boost that helps me out. A handful of
• 46:51
  Speaker 2: times a year I'll do that. It's not a huge inconvenience,
• 46:54
  Speaker 2: and I think it helps some I still keep my
• 46:56
  Speaker 2: stuff in scent free toast, i still do the scent
• 46:58
  Speaker 2: free showers, but I'm just not quite as obsessive about
• 47:01
  Speaker 2: it as I used to be. And as with a
• 47:04
  Speaker 2: lot in this hunting thing, I think it comes down
• 47:06
  Speaker 2: to balance and figuring out what you want out of it.
• 47:09
  Speaker 2: And if you don't want to be you know, this
• 47:12
  Speaker 2: stress and anxiety ridden O C D hunter, who's you know,
• 47:17
  Speaker 2: over the top about everything, that's okay. I think whatever
• 47:22
  Speaker 2: does it for you is just okay. On a related hunt,
• 47:27
  Speaker 2: I guess. JW says, you are a thoughtful and introspective type. Thanks.
• 47:33
  Speaker 2: Do you think you would still be advocating for hunt
• 47:36
  Speaker 2: your own hunt at this stage in your life if
• 47:38
  Speaker 2: you had never killed Frank? Okay? So okay, So that's
• 47:43
  Speaker 2: question number one. And question number two, this from another person,
• 47:45
  Speaker 2: but it's related, is from k C or ka CJ.
• 47:49
  Speaker 2: He says, what advice would you give to a new
• 47:51
  Speaker 2: hunter to help them avoid comparing their success with what
• 47:53
  Speaker 2: they see on social media and focusing on enjoying the
• 47:56
  Speaker 2: process instead. So these are related because my of advice
• 48:00
  Speaker 2: of hunter own hunt is pretty much what Casey just
• 48:02
  Speaker 2: said there, which is, you know, trying to enjoy your
• 48:05
  Speaker 2: own version of success rather than worrying about what everybody
• 48:08
  Speaker 2: else is doing. And so JW's question was, what I
• 48:12
  Speaker 2: still be pitching this hunter r own hunt thing at
• 48:14
  Speaker 2: this stage of my life if I had not killed Frank?
• 48:17
  Speaker 2: And Frank was, you know, the biggest deer I've ever killed.
• 48:19
  Speaker 2: I killed. He's like a Boon and Crockett class buck
• 48:22
  Speaker 2: that I killed in Michigan, I don't know, seven years
• 48:25
  Speaker 2: ago or something. And I think that, yeah, absolutely, I
• 48:28
  Speaker 2: don't think that that buck has changed my trajectory at all.
• 48:33
  Speaker 2: You know, I've killed the other big deer and those
• 48:35
  Speaker 2: are great, and I certainly have appreciated those hunts and
• 48:38
  Speaker 2: those experiences and those memories. They are amazing. But you know,
• 48:44
  Speaker 2: as I just mentioned, I've also realized that there's so
• 48:46
  Speaker 2: much more to it. And what I've realized is that, yeah,
• 48:50
  Speaker 2: I love chasing big deer, and I'm going to be
• 48:52
  Speaker 2: excited about them in the future, but there's all these
• 48:54
  Speaker 2: other things like my kids and my family and my
• 48:57
  Speaker 2: friends and those memories and going out and having lunch
• 49:00
  Speaker 2: with your buddies in the middle of the day and
• 49:03
  Speaker 2: you know, being able to hear the squirrels in the
• 49:05
  Speaker 2: distance and doing you know, going on in wild adventures
• 49:08
  Speaker 2: and hunting in new places or trying out new methods.
• 49:11
  Speaker 2: All that stuff really matters too. And so yeah, I
• 49:14
  Speaker 2: think each and every one of us has a different definition,
• 49:17
  Speaker 2: and that definition will change throughout your life too. You know.
• 49:20
  Speaker 2: For me, when I was you know, you know, early twenties,
• 49:23
  Speaker 2: it was like, man, I want to kill a lot
• 49:24
  Speaker 2: of deer, and then it was how do I kill
• 49:25
  Speaker 2: the biggest deer? So I had to go through that
• 49:27
  Speaker 2: set of stages to where I am now, where I've realized, Okay,
• 49:31
  Speaker 2: I've kind of done it. I've proven to myself that
• 49:33
  Speaker 2: I can do it. I've learned how to do it.
• 49:35
  Speaker 2: You know, there's certainly ways I can do it better.
• 49:37
  Speaker 2: There's certainly growth I still have. But at the same time,
• 49:40
  Speaker 2: there's other ways to explore new edges of this. And
• 49:43
  Speaker 2: so that's how it's changed for me. Everyone's going to
• 49:47
  Speaker 2: have a different version. So yeah, I have two thousand percent.
• 49:50
  Speaker 2: Will continue to advocate to hunt your own hunt and
• 49:54
  Speaker 2: be okay with what that definition of success is for you.
• 50:08
  Speaker 2: If you are new to this, or if you are
• 50:10
  Speaker 2: you know, getting into this and you've been into it
• 50:12
  Speaker 2: for a while, but you're starting to wonder, Man, is
• 50:14
  Speaker 2: this really what it's all cracked up to be? Or
• 50:17
  Speaker 2: is this vision of hunting that I see on social
• 50:20
  Speaker 2: media or YouTube? Is that what it's all chocked up
• 50:22
  Speaker 2: to be? Do I have to chase that? Or if
• 50:24
  Speaker 2: I want to be a deer hunter, do I have
• 50:26
  Speaker 2: to kill a big giant buck every year? I would
• 50:29
  Speaker 2: say no, Like, we gotta we gotta step away from this.
• 50:32
  Speaker 2: We've got to step away from what social media and
• 50:35
  Speaker 2: YouTube and TV shows all of it. What are what
• 50:38
  Speaker 2: they're feeding us? We need to my view, at least,
• 50:42
  Speaker 2: the way I've looked at this is try to, you know,
• 50:46
  Speaker 2: consume some of that if it's fun as entertainment, but
• 50:50
  Speaker 2: to not let that influence my experience, my goals, because
• 50:55
  Speaker 2: ultimately none of this matters. Nobody else cares really what
• 50:58
  Speaker 2: you kill or what you do. Maybe you'll get a
• 51:00
  Speaker 2: few more likes on social media, but that is so fleeting,
• 51:03
  Speaker 2: that is so trivial. In the end, we should be
• 51:06
  Speaker 2: doing this for ourselves, for our families, or our own
• 51:10
  Speaker 2: enjoyment and satisfaction and our freezers. All the rest is
• 51:13
  Speaker 2: outside noise. And if that outside noise is making you
• 51:17
  Speaker 2: feel bad about what you're doing, is stressing you out
• 51:20
  Speaker 2: about what you're doing, is making you feel shameful about
• 51:24
  Speaker 2: what you're doing, is in any way a negative on
• 51:28
  Speaker 2: your life, well then we've got it wrong because this
• 51:31
  Speaker 2: stuff does not matter. Like we are not saving the
• 51:34
  Speaker 2: world by killing big deer. So if it's not bringing
• 51:38
  Speaker 2: you enjoyment and satisfaction, it's a waste of time, and
• 51:41
  Speaker 2: it's probably dragging you down or your family down, and
• 51:44
  Speaker 2: keeping you from doing more important things. So I think
• 51:46
  Speaker 2: we've got to focus on doing this in the right
• 51:48
  Speaker 2: way for each of us as individuals and for our families,
• 51:51
  Speaker 2: and for whatever our personal values are. That's at least
• 51:54
  Speaker 2: the way I'm looking at it now, and how I
• 51:57
  Speaker 2: suppose I would recommend other folks who are kind of
• 51:59
  Speaker 2: wrestling with us right now too. And all that said,
• 52:03
  Speaker 2: there will be people out there who the right thing
• 52:06
  Speaker 2: for them at this stage of life is to chase big,
• 52:09
  Speaker 2: mature bucks, to try to challenge themselves, to do something hard,
• 52:13
  Speaker 2: to get that deer that's bigger or older than anything
• 52:16
  Speaker 2: they've gotten. And if that fills them with energy and
• 52:18
  Speaker 2: excitement and drive, man, more power to you. I don't
• 52:22
  Speaker 2: think there's anything wrong with that. The only thing I
• 52:24
  Speaker 2: would say there's something wrong with this is trying to
• 52:26
  Speaker 2: push that on somebody else or make somebody else feel bad.
• 52:29
  Speaker 2: If that's not what they are interested in. That would
• 52:32
  Speaker 2: be my take. Noah asked, if I had to give
• 52:36
  Speaker 2: up servid hunting for the next five years, what would
• 52:39
  Speaker 2: fill up your time besides scouting? What are you hunting instead?
• 52:42
  Speaker 2: In the fall? So servids would be like any kind
• 52:45
  Speaker 2: of deer family animals, So white tails, mule deer, elk, moose, etc.
• 52:49
  Speaker 2: So if I couldn't hunt any of that stuff for
• 52:51
  Speaker 2: the next five years, how would I fill my time? Well,
• 52:57
  Speaker 2: Number one, I would do a pile of fission would
• 53:00
  Speaker 2: be fishing all fall. That's one thing I miss out
• 53:02
  Speaker 2: on the fall is because I'm hunting so much, I
• 53:04
  Speaker 2: don't go do the fall fishing thing. I would do
• 53:06
  Speaker 2: a lot of that, and then I would probably get
• 53:08
  Speaker 2: an upland bird hunting and waterfall hunting. That's something that
• 53:11
  Speaker 2: I've always said, Oh, I'd love to do that some more.
• 53:14
  Speaker 2: I've done it handful times, but really very very little experience.
• 53:18
  Speaker 2: So that's something that I would get into. I'm sure
• 53:20
  Speaker 2: I would enjoy that. So that would be the big
• 53:22
  Speaker 2: thing I'd get into. A bird hunting, I would fish
• 53:25
  Speaker 2: a ton, and I would go do some fall bear hunting.
• 53:29
  Speaker 2: That would be a thing probably. I think I'd be
• 53:31
  Speaker 2: interested in doing some more black bear hunting where we're relevant,
• 53:34
  Speaker 2: So I think there would be no shortage of fun things.
• 53:38
  Speaker 2: And you know, to this whole thing of you know,
• 53:39
  Speaker 2: hunt your own hunt, diversity and experience is something that
• 53:43
  Speaker 2: I'm all of a sudden realizing has more and more
• 53:46
  Speaker 2: value to me right now. So I'm excited to be
• 53:49
  Speaker 2: chasing some new things. And so this is a question
• 53:52
  Speaker 2: that's quite relevant to where I'm at personally. To Tanner
• 53:56
  Speaker 2: asks what outdoor books do you recommend for young kids?
• 54:00
  Speaker 2: So a really fun set of books that we recently
• 54:03
  Speaker 2: discovered in my family are those by a guy named
• 54:06
  Speaker 2: Kevin Lovegreen. He's got a bunch of short, relatively simple
• 54:10
  Speaker 2: chapter books for kids that cover hunting and fishing stories
• 54:14
  Speaker 2: and adventures. My son is seven, he's gonna turn eight,
• 54:19
  Speaker 2: so seven eight years old here, and he is just
• 54:22
  Speaker 2: eating these up. He's read each of he has five
• 54:24
  Speaker 2: of them so far. He's got one about two different
• 54:27
  Speaker 2: white tail hunting chapter books. One's a mule deer hunting book,
• 54:30
  Speaker 2: ones a moose hunt. There might be one other one
• 54:34
  Speaker 2: that I'm forgetting, but he's loving these stories. They're fun,
• 54:39
  Speaker 2: they seem pretty wholesome, but they're out there doing hunting adventures,
• 54:42
  Speaker 2: going on cool trips, doing cool stuff, and it's written
• 54:45
  Speaker 2: in a way that seems, you know, pretty engaging to
• 54:47
  Speaker 2: a seven or eight year old. I've heard that you know,
• 54:50
  Speaker 2: these these are good for you know, I don't know, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven,
• 54:53
  Speaker 2: twelve year old something like that, and he's also got
• 54:56
  Speaker 2: a bunch of fishing ones which we've just ordered and
• 54:59
  Speaker 2: will be those here soon too. So so far really
• 55:03
  Speaker 2: enjoying Kevin Lovegreen would recommend those, And I don't know,
• 55:08
  Speaker 2: maybe I've got to write some books like that in
• 55:10
  Speaker 2: the future too, because I think there's a market there,
• 55:11
  Speaker 2: there's a need for more books like that, And my
• 55:14
  Speaker 2: wife keeps telling me that I should try that, So
• 55:16
  Speaker 2: we'll see. Maybe in a decade or so, I'll try
• 55:19
  Speaker 2: kids book two. Jake asked, when do you start shed hunting?
• 55:24
  Speaker 2: I'm in Isla and on private and do you use
• 55:27
  Speaker 2: shed hunting more as important info to find sheds? Well,
• 55:31
  Speaker 2: what's he saying? Is this more of a scouting mission
• 55:35
  Speaker 2: or is it just to find sheds? So all right,
• 55:38
  Speaker 2: so I typically start shed hunting. I view like February
• 55:41
  Speaker 2: fifteenth as my start date. It's going to depend on
• 55:43
  Speaker 2: where you are because snow cover is such a huge,
• 55:46
  Speaker 2: you know, driver of this. If you've got tons of snow,
• 55:49
  Speaker 2: then of course snowpack influences when you can start, because
• 55:52
  Speaker 2: you're just not going to find them if they're all
• 55:54
  Speaker 2: covered with snow. But all things being equal, I think
• 55:58
  Speaker 2: a decent number of antlers at the ground by mid February,
• 56:01
  Speaker 2: and then I usually go until about mid March. That's
• 56:04
  Speaker 2: like my main month of shed hunting, where you've got
• 56:08
  Speaker 2: enough antlers on the ground. The key thing is you
• 56:09
  Speaker 2: don't want to start so soon and cover a bunch
• 56:12
  Speaker 2: of ground and spook all the deer off your private
• 56:14
  Speaker 2: land before the antlers on the ground. So if you go
• 56:16
  Speaker 2: out there mid January and start pounding these places pretty quickly,
• 56:21
  Speaker 2: you will push those deer away and they still have
• 56:24
  Speaker 2: antlers on their heads, So you don't want to do that.
• 56:27
  Speaker 2: You don't want to cover that ground until most of
• 56:29
  Speaker 2: those antlers are down. Then it makes sense to get
• 56:31
  Speaker 2: out there and start looking because even if you do
• 56:33
  Speaker 2: spook some deer, the antlers are in the ground. There
• 56:36
  Speaker 2: on the ground, you can search, and you've got an
• 56:38
  Speaker 2: opportunity to find them now. On the flip side, you
• 56:40
  Speaker 2: also don't want to wait too long because if you
• 56:42
  Speaker 2: wait too long, well, those deer might shed their antlers
• 56:44
  Speaker 2: and have them on the ground for weeks and weeks
• 56:46
  Speaker 2: and then squirrels to them all up. Or maybe you've
• 56:49
  Speaker 2: got shared permission and other guys have been out there
• 56:51
  Speaker 2: and they've found all the antlers first, so you've got
• 56:53
  Speaker 2: to find that middle ground. So, like I said, depending
• 56:56
  Speaker 2: on snow melt, that mid February ish time period is
• 56:59
  Speaker 2: usually when I get pretty serious about it. I'm very
• 57:02
  Speaker 2: serious like that, you know, last few days of February
• 57:05
  Speaker 2: through the first ten days of March, or still. If
• 57:07
  Speaker 2: I had to pick one week, I'm going to pick,
• 57:09
  Speaker 2: you know, March one through seven. That's my super bowl.
• 57:12
  Speaker 2: But of course it's different region to region and based
• 57:16
  Speaker 2: on snowfall, and as far as what it's doing for me,
• 57:19
  Speaker 2: it's both. I definitely look at it as some scouting intel.
• 57:23
  Speaker 2: But if you are trying to do both of them
• 57:26
  Speaker 2: at a really high level, you'll do neither one of them.
• 57:30
  Speaker 2: At a high level, you'll do kind of a credit
• 57:32
  Speaker 2: job at both. So when I'm shed hunting, i am
• 57:35
  Speaker 2: in one thousand percent shed mode. I'm really focusing on
• 57:39
  Speaker 2: looking for antlers from different angles and directions, and I'm
• 57:42
  Speaker 2: scanning on the ground, always very very focused on that.
• 57:45
  Speaker 2: Any scouting information, it's it's incidental, excuse me, incidental. It's
• 57:50
  Speaker 2: a little bit of help here and there, but it's
• 57:52
  Speaker 2: not my major thing. I will plan later trips back
• 57:55
  Speaker 2: to these same places specifically to scout and then do
• 57:59
  Speaker 2: that very well one thousand percent. That said, when you're
• 58:02
  Speaker 2: out there, you do stumble on things that help from
• 58:05
  Speaker 2: a scouting perspective. So the more time you're in the
• 58:07
  Speaker 2: woods usually the better it's going to help you learn stuff. Okay,
• 58:12
  Speaker 2: Steven asks, all right, hot topic here in Michigan, do
• 58:21
  Speaker 2: you have any evidence based opinions on how we can
• 58:24
  Speaker 2: fix our tag limits and issues such as one buck
• 58:28
  Speaker 2: rules and such. There's several other questions from people related
• 58:32
  Speaker 2: to things we could change with regulations in Michigan around
• 58:35
  Speaker 2: you know, should we have baitings, should we have a
• 58:37
  Speaker 2: one buck thing, should we have two bucks, should we
• 58:39
  Speaker 2: have earn a buck? Should we do all those different things?
• 58:43
  Speaker 2: And then Jesse asks with well, I'll answer this one first.
• 58:47
  Speaker 2: My suggestion for the state of Michigan would be too.
• 58:52
  Speaker 2: I guess I will just say my personal opinion, like
• 58:55
  Speaker 2: what I wish was the case was that we had
• 58:58
  Speaker 2: a one buck lee in our state. And I've said
• 59:03
  Speaker 2: this in the past and I'll say it again now.
• 59:05
  Speaker 2: I think that this represents a win win for you.
• 59:07
  Speaker 2: No matter who you are, there are some people who
• 59:11
  Speaker 2: would like to be able to shoot whatever buck they see.
• 59:14
  Speaker 2: There's folks to go out there. I want to shoot
• 59:15
  Speaker 2: the first buck they see, or they say, hey, I'm
• 59:18
  Speaker 2: just hunting for me. Why do I have to wait
• 59:19
  Speaker 2: for a big buck. I want to shoot that spike
• 59:21
  Speaker 2: or that forecorn or whatever, and nobody should tell me otherwise.
• 59:24
  Speaker 2: My god given right to shoot whatever buck I want.
• 59:27
  Speaker 2: And to that person, I say, yes it should be.
• 59:30
  Speaker 2: If that's what you want to shoot, more power to you.
• 59:32
  Speaker 2: I've got nothing wrong with that. If we had a
• 59:35
  Speaker 2: one buck any buck situation in Michigan, this would allow
• 59:38
  Speaker 2: them to do that. But there are also some people
• 59:42
  Speaker 2: that say, hey, I wish we had better aide structure
• 59:45
  Speaker 2: of bucks in Michigan. I wish we had older bucks.
• 59:47
  Speaker 2: I wish we had a better balanced herd. I wish
• 59:49
  Speaker 2: we were in a situation where I could see, you know,
• 59:52
  Speaker 2: a big mature deer more frequently in Michigan. I wish
• 59:55
  Speaker 2: it was more like Iowa or Ohio or Indiana. And
• 59:59
  Speaker 2: to that person, I would say, well, guess what a
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 2: one buck limit. While there's not an Antler point restriction
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 2: on there or anything, this would help you do that
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 2: because inherently, if we have only one buck tag instead
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 2: of two buck tags in Michigan. This would force some
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 2: people to make a decision, well, do I really want
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 2: to shoot that little buck right now, because that would
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 2: be the end of my buck hunting season. There's a
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 2: lot of guys would say, I'm going to wait. I
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 2: want to be out here a little longer. I want
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 2: to see what else is out there. Currently, there's some
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 2: people that will shoot the first buck they see and
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 2: then get picky for the second one. This would force
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 2: people to get a little bit more picky right out
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 2: the gate, and so inevitably more young bucks will make
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 2: it to older age classes. More bucks and older age
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 2: classes will equal bigger deer for feed people, and so
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 2: the people that care about that thing will have that opportunity,
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 2: while the people that want the freedom to shoot any
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 2: buck will still have that opportunity as well. Finally, I
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 2: do think that a very important thing across the board,
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 2: regardless of which camp you're in there, is that we
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 2: need a better balanced What am I trying to say here,
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 2: sex structure? I'm really struggling here to say the right thing.
• 1:01:01
  Speaker 2: But basically, there's so many dos in Lower Michigan. In
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 2: some parts of the state, there are way too many deer.
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 2: Our managing agency has been preaching that we need to
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 2: kill more. Does we need to kill more? Does we
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 2: need to kill more? Does it's getting out of control?
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 2: Hunter numbers are declining, deer populations are skyrocketing, and hunter
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 2: impacts have not been able to keep pace. If we
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 2: move to a one buck tag limit, now you have
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 2: fewer people killing two bucks because you can't do that anymore.
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 2: And instead, if you want to kill two deer, one
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 2: of them has to be an ant list deer. So
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 2: this should hypothetically increase our antler list harvest as well,
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 2: which is the key thing to managing deer populations is
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 2: we need to increase our antler list harvest, our dough harvest.
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 2: So I'm no expert, I'm not a deer manager, I'm
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 2: not a biologist. I could be completely off base on this.
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 2: I trust our managing agencies and the biologists out there.
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 2: I put my faith in them. But this one sure
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 2: makes a lot of sense to me, and that would
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 2: be my citizens take on how to do this now.
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 2: Jesse has a follow up question, which is, with the
• 1:02:07
  Speaker 2: right regulations in place in Michigan, how much better could
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 2: it be compared to Iowa based off how much better
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 2: habitat Michigan has for deer to thrive compared to Iowa.
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 2: So I don't know if we would ever be better
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 2: quote unquote better than Iowa. Iowa's got a lot of
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 2: unique things going for it as far as like the
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 2: culture of passing young deer there, the tradition of that,
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 2: they have you know, season structures in place with very
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 2: short gun seasons. They of course have you know, nutrient
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 2: differences and the soil there that impact antler size and quality.
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 2: There's genetics that could be influencing the size of deer
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 2: there that have been in place for a long time.
• 1:02:44
  Speaker 2: So all of those things have made Iowa very special.
• 1:02:47
  Speaker 2: But you're right that Michigan does have a ton of
• 1:02:50
  Speaker 2: quality deer habitat, probably more quality deer habitat than Iowa does.
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 2: Iowa has food, but they lack cover. Michigan has a
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 2: pretty good balance of both. So yeah, I think that
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 2: if we had something like the one buck limit, like
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 2: I mentioned, something like that, I do think we would see,
• 1:03:08
  Speaker 2: you know, what folks would generally call the quality of
• 1:03:10
  Speaker 2: deer improve dramatically. I think you saw that in Kentucky
• 1:03:14
  Speaker 2: when they moved to a buck one buck limit. You
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 2: saw that in Indiana when they moved to a one
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 2: buck limit, and I think that could happen in Michigan too.
• 1:03:21
  Speaker 2: So I think the key thing though, is that we've
• 1:03:23
  Speaker 2: got to figure out a way that will work for
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 2: Michigan's deer hunters and the political process in place that
• 1:03:30
  Speaker 2: you know, is kind of surrounding how regulations change in
• 1:03:34
  Speaker 2: the state today. I don't know if that'll ever happen.
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 2: I don't know what that looks like, but but yeah,
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 2: I think Michigan has room to go. We've got to
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 2: manage the doors better. We need to tackle that issue.
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 2: But if we can do that and maybe find a
• 1:03:46
  Speaker 2: way to balance freedom of choice with what you shoot,
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 2: but also improve the aide structure, maybe we can get
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 2: to a win win that gives people that mature buck
• 1:03:56
  Speaker 2: experience that Iowa uniquely has while still making this a
• 1:04:00
  Speaker 2: great opportunity state too. So that's my Michigan take. Let
• 1:04:06
  Speaker 2: me see, is there any more that I should tackle
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 2: or should we wrap this one up? You know, Ron's
• 1:04:15
  Speaker 2: got a question here about the boundary wires. I'm gonna
• 1:04:17
  Speaker 2: circle back on public lands and conservation really quick and
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 2: mentioned this just in case this is still relevant, Ron
• 1:04:24
  Speaker 2: asks how can Representative Stobbers recent moves in Minnesota to
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 2: use rules to overturn public land use restrictions be thwarted.
• 1:04:35
  Speaker 2: So what he's talking about here is what's going on
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 2: in the Boundary Waters, and he asked, basically, what can
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 2: we do as citizens to stop this? And you know,
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 2: how might this riple out to other parts of the country.
• 1:04:45
  Speaker 2: So very quickly, if you have not been following media
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 2: or myself on social media, if you haven't read the
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 2: op ed that Steve Ranella and Callahan Ryan Callahan recently
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 2: published talking about this, I want to give you a
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 2: very quick cliff notes on a current event right now
• 1:05:01
  Speaker 2: related to public lands, waters and wildlife that will influence
• 1:05:05
  Speaker 2: a particular place in the short term, but could influence
• 1:05:08
  Speaker 2: many other places across the nation in the long term.
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 2: And this is the latest kind of addition of the
• 1:05:13
  Speaker 2: Boundary Water's threat. You guys have heard me talk about
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 2: this on the podcast over the years, I've traveled there
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 2: from multiple hunting and fishing trips, I've detailed this current threat.
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 2: So hopefully you know what's going on. I'm gonna give
• 1:05:25
  Speaker 2: you the shortest cliff notes version of this that I
• 1:05:27
  Speaker 2: possibly can. Here's the deal. There is a mine that
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 2: has been proposed. This is a foreign owned mine that
• 1:05:33
  Speaker 2: has been proposed right on the edge of the Boundary
• 1:05:35
  Speaker 2: Waters Canoe Area wilderness. The Boundary Waters. Is this unbelievable
• 1:05:40
  Speaker 2: wild place, more than a million acres, all these lakes
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 2: and rivers and forests, untouched by roads and development. It
• 1:05:47
  Speaker 2: is an epic place. There are moose and wolves and
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 2: bears and deer and grouse, and tons and tons and
• 1:05:52
  Speaker 2: tons of tons of fish. Amazing place, one of our
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 2: greatest treasures, the greatest treasure probably of the Upper Great
• 1:05:58
  Speaker 2: Lakes in the Midwest. It's the most visited wilderness area
• 1:06:02
  Speaker 2: in the United States, and it's so accessible for a
• 1:06:05
  Speaker 2: lot of us. So this is a special special place.
• 1:06:08
  Speaker 2: This proposed mind would be right on the border of it,
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 2: in upstream. So this kind of mind is a sulfide
• 1:06:14
  Speaker 2: or copper mine is notoriously polluting. But this pollutant, if
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 2: it were to get out, would get into that water
• 1:06:22
  Speaker 2: system and it would flow up. It would flow up
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 2: into the Boundary Waters and throughout it, polluting many waterways
• 1:06:28
  Speaker 2: that are currently clean and intact and super important to fish.
• 1:06:32
  Speaker 2: And wildlife. So that's why this mine has been opposed
• 1:06:36
  Speaker 2: by the hunting and fishing community for a long long time. Now,
• 1:06:39
  Speaker 2: that's why we've talked about in the past, and what
• 1:06:42
  Speaker 2: happened in twenty twenty three was that the government agreed
• 1:06:44
  Speaker 2: with this opposition and put in place a twenty year
• 1:06:48
  Speaker 2: mineral withdrawal that basically said, you can't put a mine
• 1:06:52
  Speaker 2: in this watershed that's so careful or that's so pristine
• 1:06:55
  Speaker 2: and fragile for the next twenty years. Can't do it. Well.
• 1:07:00
  Speaker 2: Right now, there's something taking place. Representative stobb Or out
• 1:07:03
  Speaker 2: of Minnesota is proposing using something called the Congressional Review
• 1:07:08
  Speaker 2: Act that would essentially remove that protection. It would remove
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 2: that mineral withdrawal, rescind that and open this place back
• 1:07:17
  Speaker 2: up to mining, and then it would allow for you know,
• 1:07:20
  Speaker 2: the Twin Metals mind to go in. That's a bad
• 1:07:24
  Speaker 2: thing in the short term of curse, of course, if
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 2: you care about the boundary waters. But the national implication
• 1:07:30
  Speaker 2: here is that if the Congressional Review Act were to
• 1:07:33
  Speaker 2: be used in this way, it would be the first
• 1:07:35
  Speaker 2: time that's ever been done, the first time that the
• 1:07:37
  Speaker 2: CIRA has been used to overturn a rule like this,
• 1:07:42
  Speaker 2: and if that were to be done, if that precedent
• 1:07:44
  Speaker 2: were you know, put in place, if all of a sudden,
• 1:07:47
  Speaker 2: Congress sees like, oh okay, we could do this. We
• 1:07:49
  Speaker 2: we use the CRA. We are able to vote on
• 1:07:52
  Speaker 2: this thing. It's a simple majority vote. There's no you know,
• 1:07:56
  Speaker 2: there's no ability for public input. There's you know, none
• 1:08:00
  Speaker 2: of the typical things that would happen with your usual
• 1:08:04
  Speaker 2: change in public land regulations or protections. If we can
• 1:08:07
  Speaker 2: do that with the CRA, we could do this not
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 2: just in the boundary wars, but we can do it
• 1:08:10
  Speaker 2: in Montana, we could do it in Michigan. We could
• 1:08:12
  Speaker 2: do it in anywhere else. And so this could be
• 1:08:16
  Speaker 2: replicated elsewhere if it works. And for that reason we
• 1:08:20
  Speaker 2: at meet her and many other people across the nation.
• 1:08:22
  Speaker 2: Other conservation groups are saying, hey, this one is when
• 1:08:25
  Speaker 2: we've got to stop. This is similar to how the
• 1:08:28
  Speaker 2: public lands sale last summer that would have set a
• 1:08:31
  Speaker 2: precedent for a new way to sell off public lands
• 1:08:34
  Speaker 2: and to you know, divest us of our public land inheritance. Well,
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 2: here's another one where this could be a precedent setting
• 1:08:41
  Speaker 2: public land issue that could impact us in many other ways.
• 1:08:44
  Speaker 2: So for that reason, we've been asking folks to reach
• 1:08:47
  Speaker 2: out to their representatives. This is a House resolution, so
• 1:08:50
  Speaker 2: this is going to vote on the House floor, and
• 1:08:53
  Speaker 2: supposedly it's going to vote this week. Now, if you're
• 1:08:57
  Speaker 2: listening to this, when it comes out, it will be,
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 2: you know, Thursday, January twenty second, twenty twenty six. I've
• 1:09:05
  Speaker 2: heard the vote might be on Wednesday, So the vote
• 1:09:07
  Speaker 2: maybe has already happened before you're listening to this, but
• 1:09:10
  Speaker 2: maybe not. Maybe it's happening today on Thursday, the twenty second,
• 1:09:12
  Speaker 2: or maybe it's Friday, or maybe next week. So if
• 1:09:14
  Speaker 2: it's already happened, I'm sorry, I'm a day late. Let's
• 1:09:17
  Speaker 2: make sure that we stop this, you know, at the
• 1:09:21
  Speaker 2: next stage. Let's stay on this. Let's make sure this
• 1:09:24
  Speaker 2: doesn't make it through any further. If it has not
• 1:09:27
  Speaker 2: happened on the House floor yet, then we need to
• 1:09:29
  Speaker 2: get a hold of our representatives still and sound the
• 1:09:31
  Speaker 2: alarm on this. This is not good public land policy.
• 1:09:34
  Speaker 2: This is not how decisions should be made. This is
• 1:09:36
  Speaker 2: not how protections or regulations or management should be adjusted.
• 1:09:42
  Speaker 2: So high level goes back to what I said at
• 1:09:45
  Speaker 2: the very beginning, comes down to making our voices heard
• 1:09:47
  Speaker 2: with our elected officials, making those phone calls, making those emails.
• 1:09:52
  Speaker 2: Both backcountry hunters and anglers and sportsmen for the Boundary
• 1:09:55
  Speaker 2: Waters have calls to action right now on this. They've
• 1:09:58
  Speaker 2: got action emails that you can sign up onto that
• 1:10:00
  Speaker 2: automatically send them to your representative, so you can easily
• 1:10:04
  Speaker 2: do that by visiting either one of their websites. And
• 1:10:07
  Speaker 2: then I think again, it just comes down to doing
• 1:10:09
  Speaker 2: this consistently, talking to these folks over and over again,
• 1:10:13
  Speaker 2: taking the five minutes every couple weeks or every month,
• 1:10:15
  Speaker 2: whatever it is for you, and just saying, hey, this
• 1:10:18
  Speaker 2: bounder ward's thing, that's an issue, or Hey, this whole
• 1:10:20
  Speaker 2: public land sale thing, I'm not behind it, or hey,
• 1:10:23
  Speaker 2: when it comes to the management of our wildlife, let's
• 1:10:25
  Speaker 2: make sure we're listening to our biologists. Let's make sure
• 1:10:28
  Speaker 2: we're listening to the wildlife experts, and not you know,
• 1:10:31
  Speaker 2: having this as a vote by random people or politicians
• 1:10:34
  Speaker 2: influencing these things. Whatever the thing is that you care
• 1:10:37
  Speaker 2: about that you're concerned about, whatever that conservation issue or
• 1:10:41
  Speaker 2: cause or place is, you've got to let your folks
• 1:10:44
  Speaker 2: know that this matters to you. Help them understand the issue.
• 1:10:47
  Speaker 2: In many cases, these elected officials don't know this stuff
• 1:10:50
  Speaker 2: as well as you do. We typically, many cases know
• 1:10:53
  Speaker 2: the specific issues or cause is better than some of
• 1:10:56
  Speaker 2: these elected officials, and they're just voting because that's you know,
• 1:11:00
  Speaker 2: some think tank is telling them to do that, or
• 1:11:02
  Speaker 2: their donors are telling them to do that. We can
• 1:11:04
  Speaker 2: be that other voice that helps bring some common sense
• 1:11:07
  Speaker 2: to the conversation. That's our opportunity, that's our obligation. That's
• 1:11:12
  Speaker 2: what I'm hoping we can continue to do more and
• 1:11:15
  Speaker 2: more going forward. So well, that said, that's going to
• 1:11:18
  Speaker 2: be it here for the Asking Me Anything episode. I
• 1:11:21
  Speaker 2: appreciate you guys joining me. Thank you again for being
• 1:11:24
  Speaker 2: a part of the Wired to Hunt community. It's been
• 1:11:28
  Speaker 2: such an amazing ride over all these years. And as
• 1:11:30
  Speaker 2: I mentioned at the top, that ride's going to continue.
• 1:11:33
  Speaker 2: It's going to change a little bit. We're gonna have
• 1:11:34
  Speaker 2: some new voices, but it's only going to get better.
• 1:11:36
  Speaker 2: I feel really confident in that. I do think that
• 1:11:39
  Speaker 2: with this change and with some of these new projects
• 1:11:41
  Speaker 2: that we're going to be putting out, there's going to
• 1:11:43
  Speaker 2: be an emphasis even more here on Wired to Hunt.
• 1:11:46
  Speaker 2: On great whitetail content. So if you are here for
• 1:11:49
  Speaker 2: that whitetail stuff, Wired to Hunt is going to have
• 1:11:51
  Speaker 2: more and more and more of that, and then there'll
• 1:11:53
  Speaker 2: be these new places where you can continue to hear
• 1:11:56
  Speaker 2: me talk about some of these different things, like the conservation,
• 1:11:58
  Speaker 2: like the public lands issues, like other wildlife issues. So
• 1:12:02
  Speaker 2: if you're into both, you'll get to go to two
• 1:12:04
  Speaker 2: different places to do that. If you're into just one
• 1:12:06
  Speaker 2: or the other, we're going to have separate appropriate homes
• 1:12:09
  Speaker 2: for that content. So hopefully you can get more of
• 1:12:12
  Speaker 2: what you really care about, get the information and the
• 1:12:15
  Speaker 2: education that's going to make you a better hunter or
• 1:12:18
  Speaker 2: a better advocate, or hopefully a little bit of both.
• 1:12:21
  Speaker 2: So without any any more beating around the bush, and
• 1:12:24
  Speaker 2: we'll let you get after the rest of your day.
• 1:12:26
  Speaker 2: Thanks for being a part of this, Thanks for doing
• 1:12:28
  Speaker 2: that good work and calling your elected officials and getting
• 1:12:32
  Speaker 2: out there sharing the hunting and fishing lifestyle with your
• 1:12:35
  Speaker 2: friends and family. And until next time, stay Wired to Hunt.