Latest / The On Purpose Podcast / Ep. 366 – Matt Wemple: Finding Yourself in Wild Places
Transcript
- speaker-0: You are listening to the On Purpose Podcast. What's up, everybody? Welcome to this week's edition of the show, where it's our job to bring you people to get you thinking, maybe get you moving. Get you wondering, man, am I getting the most out of my days, the most out of my moments? And today I'm excited to talk with one of my friends, Matt Wemple, a lifelong outdoorsman and author of five books capturing the people, traditions, and wild spaces of southwest Montana. Born in the woods and swamps of Louisiana, now rooted in Montana for the last twenty-five years, he spent his life hunting, fishing, trapping, backpacking, and riding about the outdoors. Through it all, he and his wife Lisa have built a life centered on nature, faith, and what I love he's that he describes the restorative power of wild places. So Matt, my friend, welcome to the show. speaker-1: Thank you, Jared. Honor to be here. speaker-0: How you doing today, buddy? speaker-1: I'm doing pretty good. I've already gone out for a short hike today and ⁓ yeah, it's a beautiful day in ⁓ August. So which is ⁓ sometimes not the case in Montana in August, so it's nice. speaker-0: Yeah, that's good. I I'm just glad to have you here. I wanna thank you for for your writing, man, for your your writing and your courage to share those stories and and bringing life to everyday people that sometimes it's easy to overlook or or forget about. And I just I commend you for that, for seeing the value in their story and being willing to share ⁓ speaker-1: Thank you so much. I do appreciate that. speaker-0: Yeah, I've ⁓ I I I read your book right after my father in law just passed away and it was a really good just a really good reminder, man, that life is short and there's special people all around you and that there's some value in taking a moment to learn their stories. speaker-1: Absolutely. speaker-0: And just not being caught up in getting through things so fast that we pass people for that are our neighbors or our grocery clerk or our barista for twenty years and we don't know anything about speaker-1: There's extraordinary people that we talk to every single day. And they're just doing ordinary stuff, living life like the rest of us. But they're usually there's something pretty cool about everybody you talk to. speaker-0: Yeah, no, I agree. Alright, let's get you warmed up before we jump into your writing and stuff, my friend. You ready for this? What's something you've learned about yourself lately, Matt? speaker-1: Yes, sir. ⁓ I think, you know, I was doing a little self-assessment recently just about, you know, work performance, things like that. And ⁓ and it's just something that's a it helped kind of keep me grounded, you know, my personal and and ⁓ professional life. But you're not necessarily the best at what you do, but you're not the worst either. And ⁓ so you know you're you're doing okay, but you can always do better. ⁓ the other thing too is that at any one moment. on any given day, you can be the best or the worst at what you're doing, depending on the decisions you make. ⁓ and so y and that's that goes for your your job, your marriage, whatever it is. You you have to always be asking, okay, we want to be the best or the worst today. And I don't think anyone wants to be the worst. So it's you always kind of try to make sure you keep that in the back of your mind. speaker-0: Yeah, I think that's good perspective, right? 'Cause then it puts the value on the moments and the small decisions, which would be what decide how that day goes. What's a favorite book of yours, Matt? speaker-1: ⁓ gosh. I like to read a lot, Jared. ⁓ and and I I'm always got three or four going at one time, which is probably too many. ⁓ I've I'll tell you what what I s I guess it's kinda funny. I know I never necessarily thought of it as my favorite book, but I read it every day and that's the Bible. You know, faith is an important part of my life and the first thing I do every morning when I get up is I you know, do some prayer and I read some scripture. And ⁓ that's kinda how I s that's how my day begins, every single day. You know, and so that's it's a daily practice and I'm reading that book continuously every day of my life. ⁓ so it's pretty important I I would say in that way. And then ⁓ this summer I ⁓ read ⁓ Lonesome Dove, which ⁓ by Larry McMurtry, which is a it's an epic western novel, ⁓ written by a guy who's his family is ⁓ lineage goes back to, you know, the days of driving cattle from Texas up to Montana where I live now. And ⁓ just that book just captures that experience an era of history just perfectly and it's just the characters are so much fun and just a joy to read every single minute. You're almost you hate to finish the book as long it's a long book. It's about n over nine hundred pages, but you you feel like you accomplished something when you finish it, but you also hate to finish it 'cause it's so good. speaker-0: Yeah, just just a tat shorter than the Bible, but still pretty long. speaker-1: Yeah. speaker-0: All right, who's someone in your life that's been influencing your thinking or inspiring you lately? speaker-1: Well, ⁓ I'd have to say my father, you know, dad, ⁓ he's you know, he's ⁓ been passed away now almost ⁓ sixteen years and ⁓ you know he was form influent instrumental in how I, you know, was raised and and grew up and and formed, you know, who I was and ⁓ the paths I chose in life. And ⁓ but ⁓ he continues to do that for me ⁓ because I always think about how would he handle a given situation. Or I you know, if I'm s struggling in, you know, some aspect of my marriage or some aspect of my job, I think back to, you know, the how he was with those things and how he handled them. And ⁓ he was he was a you know, just a solid husband, father, ⁓ professional in the work that he did. You know, he was highly ethical and and ⁓ dealt with some difficult things that way and and just gave me a r you know it's always you always remember, okay, what would dad do in this situation? You know, s and ⁓ he's always ⁓ there with me every moment of the day when I'm thinking about how I'm gonna handle something and what would he think of how I did it. So speaker-0: Is there a particular event or circumstance that reminds you of him more than others? Like like for us when we get visited by hummingbirds, both of our grandmas loved hummingbirds. So in our minds we're like, ⁓ the grandmas are coming to check on us. Is there something like that to remind you of like, ⁓ my dad's out here watching me? speaker-1: ⁓ yeah. Well, so anytime I get on a horse. Dad was a very avid horseman. ⁓ and ⁓ you know, I'm I'm very fortunate in my job ⁓ as a game board and I get to work off of a horse ⁓ and at times and ⁓ and ⁓ one of the things he left me was his saddle that he used. And so I bring his saddle to work whenever I go get on a horse and ⁓ just ⁓ as soon as I get that thing on a horse and get in it, it's like we're there together. speaker-0: ⁓ dude, that's so awesome. What about a favorite quote or something you or mantra that you go back to that guides you through your days? It's your show, brother. You give me all this speaker-1: Can I give you a couple? Right. Okay. Well, first one's kind of more about, you know, just day-to-day life and how to keep how to keep doing things good. ⁓ and that's is a one of my ⁓ earliest military mentors, my drill sergeant, drill sergeant Scott Schroeder, ⁓ who retired as a command sergeant major at a pretty high level. He wrote a book about NCO leadership. But ⁓ the quote that stuck with me from that book he wrote was ⁓ what do I need to be doing to be better at the job I have right now? And that just underscores the importance of being present, whether it's at work or in your family life or wherever it is with your friends, being present, being where your feet are and and not being distracted by all the myriad things that are swirling around in your head all day long. ⁓ that's one. And another one kind of relates back to nature and the healing restorative powers of it. And ⁓ it's by my favorite fishing author, John Girock, who passed away a couple of years ago, but just wrote a ton of books and ⁓ wrote for magazines, newspapers and he just had a very good dry wit and and sense of humor. But anyway, his his quote is ⁓ fishing is always the answer, even if it isn't clear what the question was. And it's just like, you know, if you're having a bad day, you pr and you got some time, you probably probably wouldn't hurt you if you went fishing for a little bit. You you won't be not everything, it won't fix everything, but it might help you sort some things out, you know. speaker-0: No, that's a good one. Yeah, that's that's funny too. Yeah, I I could see ⁓ I could see many a man applying that lesson. If you think about the season in life you're in right now, Matt, what word or phrase best describes it? speaker-1: ⁓ man. ⁓ Make sure you're getting it right. ⁓ because I'm I just turned fifty this year and ⁓ you know, ⁓ I've been reading of inadvertently, wasn't looking for it, but came across some some reading by a guy named Charlie Munger, who I don't know if you ever heard of him or not. He was Warren Buffett's counterpart. And I'm not into, you know, reading what those guys do a lot, but ⁓ he has a lot of really good practical advice about how to handle money, how to handle relationships, life, that kind of thing. And ⁓ he talked about your fifties being that that last decade in your life, all other things being equal for you to, you know, get things right, so to speak. ⁓ whether it's financially, whether, you know, you know, depend if you're a parent, you know, your kids are probably on their way out of the house, if they're not out already, you know, s making sure you've rounded things out good with them because they're gonna be, you know, going into the world and doing doing the things you raised them to do, you know, or you know, w being the kind of person you hopefully raise them to be be a good person. Those kinds of things. ⁓ you know, and ⁓ just the in the impact you have on people around you. ⁓ because, you know, it's just the way life goes. By the time you're you're out of your fifties, you know, number one, you know, it it's unfortunate it's this way in a lot of our society. You know, most people kinda look past a lot of older people. ⁓ I don't subscribe to that, but I think basically once once you're past your fifties, you know, people kind of kinda tune out, they're not really interested in what you're going to do. And that's going to happen to all of us. And so, you know, you want to do the best you can and make make the best impact you can in that time. Not that the life is over when you're 60. I don't believe that at all. You know, as long as God's going to let you live on this earth, you got to be doing the best you can every day. But point being, ⁓ you know, just realizing life is short and you got to, you know, it's not here for just for your own amusement. You got to make the world a better place around you while you can. speaker-0: Yeah, I think that's the big thing, Matt. And I'm only a couple of years older than you, but I think that's one of the things I prescribe too, is if you still wanna have influence on younger people, you still wanna be seen as a a ⁓ leader, 'cause you really should be seen as more of an elder and a wiser person 'cause you have a lot of experience. You gotta stay involved. And I think that's where too many people they hit that retirement mode and they just isolate or they only spend time with other retired people and yeah, that's that can be a slippery slope pretty quick. speaker-1: For sure. speaker-0: So I don't know, I think the other thing too, man, is you just gotta keep challenging yourself. I I had a quote ⁓ a mentor of mine told me a long time ago, it always stuck with me, and that is you don't ⁓ quit playing when you get old. You get old when you quit playing. speaker-1: Right? Absolutely. No, you're so right, Jared. And you know, it's funny, I I remember listening to people talk about I remember being a, you know, teenager in my twenties, people hitting fifty and talking about like life is over at that point, you know, or whatever. And I'm like, you know, ten, you know, and I'm I'm a pretty avid outdoorsman. I like being out in the backcountry. I like, you know, backpacking, I like doing all these things that require you to be physically fit and mentally fit too. And ⁓ big thing is you just you don't stop doing those things just because you turn fifty unless you know your body might tell you you're gonna slow down or something, but I haven't happened yet. And ⁓ you you know people ask, you know, a good old a old friend of mine in his seventies, you know, he's still pretty lean and fit for his age. And ⁓ he talks about going into the gym. He lives up in Alaska so, you know, he's pretty outdoorsy guy and talks about going in the gym and he's, you know, just going doing his strength training, whatever and some guy who's you know in his thirties all you know ripped out and fit just looks at it one day goes, Why do you come in and do this? And goes, So I can keep doing it. And that's the point. You just you have to keep going. ⁓ So I I think that's the main thing is, you know, life's not over till it's over. So you know you're amazing what the human body can do if you take care of it. So speaker-0: No. You know, the other thing too, Matt, that I've always I draw strengths from is not waiting for a magical moment to start something. Right? Like I can't wait and say, like I'll get in shape next week. No, it starts today. Like what can I do? Kinda like what you were talking about from your drill sergeant, right? Is like what can I do today to be better at what I'm doing today, which in turn will make me better in a week. But sitting around and waiting for a magic time to start getting better, you're just wasting time. speaker-1: ⁓ yeah. There's a there's a writer I love reading, he's an environmental writer most. His name's John McPhee. And ⁓ what I love getting nugget being a writer myself is you know, people who are very accomplished writers is listening to what they did that, you know, made them successful and people are always asking, you know, how how do you write a book or whatever? And it's like doing it every day for a little bit at a time. And he said, you know, his quote was is like, you know, if you put a little bit, you know, in the bucket every day, pretty soon you got a bucket full of water. Yeah. And and holy crap they know, you wrote you wrote a book after doing it every day for a year and that's what it takes. It's no magical moment where you take a day and write the whole thing. That'll take forever. You might never get it done. speaker-0: Yes, it's funny you mentioned that having just done my first hundred mile ultra marathon, that's the question, I guess, man, how did you run a hundred miles? And I'm like, 'Cause you started running that first quarter mile. And then a half. And then three quarters of a mile. And then you hit a mile and you're like, Wow, I gotta do that ninety nine more times. speaker-1: Yeah. Yep. That's awful. That's impressive. speaker-0: But it Yeah. It just showed like I I just kinda like we're talking about age and stuff, man. Just find new things to do to challenge you that get your heart going, get your body going, get your mind working and I'll be honest, when people ask me how old I am I have to stop and do math 'cause it's not something I consciously think about every day. ⁓ sh speaker-1: Sure. I mean people ask me what w w how was your fiftieth birthday? I'm like, ⁓ pretty much like any other day. You know, I thank not much different than the day before when I was forty nine. I woke up, went to the that was good, went to the gym, got that done, went to work and carried you know, it wasn't very different than any other day and it you know. speaker-0: That's a that's the value, like what you just described to though as habits. Right? Like those small little habits that it's easy to skip or it's easy to neglect actually shape our future. Right. Yeah, dude, that's so good. I wanna talk ⁓ start Matt. I wanna hear about growing up in the woods and swamps of Louisiana and how that shaped young Matt into who he is today. speaker-1: Sure. Well, I I've always been ⁓ an adventurous person when it comes to the outdoors, you know. I mean I ⁓ I grew up at a time and in a place, luckily, where I had things in my doorstep. I grew up in suburban Baton Rouge, you know, right right on the edge of ⁓ a fair a a midsized city at the time, but I had, you know, small lakes in the neighborhood I grew up in that had wild country around them, had swamps, had woods, and I could I could walk to all of them. as a young kid or riding my bike to And ⁓ my parents were just awesome people. You know, that was back when, all right, get out of the house, go play, go do something. And you know, and there really were no rules or about or or or super structured, you know, playtime or anything like that you hear see today, where I just I took off of my fishing pole, ⁓ my net, you know, and I had had my knife. Sometimes I had a machete even. In Louisiana, machete's a pretty common garden variety item in a hardware store. You know, and they're handy when you got snakes around and things like that. But ⁓ you know, take off with my stuff and and I'd be gone all day, you know, and and then as long as I was home, you know, for dinner time, that was good to go. And then of course, you know, that's how I made my friends, my friends that that I grew up with. We were all into fishing, w hunting, whatever. ⁓ and so yeah, I just and a big part of what I loved to do as a young kid was catch animals alive, bring ⁓ home and keep ⁓ for pets. And ⁓ you know. I had very tolerant parents in that department. You know, my dad had a real sensitive sense of smell and he just always talked about your room smells like a swamp. 'Cause there was a lot of tanks with water and reptiles, amphibians and fish in ⁓ And ⁓ you know, and my mom too, 'cause moms, you know, they worry about their their their kids, you know, getting hurt, whatever. She was a very ⁓ gracious mom who who put up with a lot of ⁓ silly stuff, you know, from me. speaker-0: Was there any animal you caught that you brought home that they're like, Absolutely not, Matt, this can speaker-1: There's a there's a couple of occasions ⁓ that that that I've think been thinking about and one of them ⁓ most people have never heard of this animal before, but it's an amphibian, it's called an amphiuma, and it looks like an eel that that it's it's su it's very prehistoric looking. It looks like a long black eel. It's got these little vestigial legs on it that don't do anything. They're just they're a remnant of its previous evolution that are still with it. But it mostly swims around and it has these milky blue eyes that almost makes it look like it's dead or something. It's a very creepy thing, especially the bigger it gets. And I caught small ones when I was young, and and they are not not too dangerous to be around with. But these things eat fish, they eat other snakes, they eat, you know, whatever they can catch. And they have these rows, successive rows of sharp teeth in their in their moth. And so, you know, they're they can put a hurting on you if you're not careful. Well, one day I finally caught a big one. And ⁓ you know, I scooped it up in my net and threw it in my bucket. I bring it home. And my mom wasn't home at the time. Dad was out working in the yard and I come home and and dad's ⁓ he's he sees me with the bucket, like probably thinking, ⁓ boy, what's he brought home now? Probably another turtle. And I'm like, Dad, check this out. I reached down in the bucket and I picked this thing up and I'm holding it in my hands. Well, they're slimy as all get out. And the thing starts slithering around in my hands, and my dad's looking at this thing, not sure what it is. And he's like, ⁓ you might want to put that down. As soon as down came out of his mouth, that thing got its head reared back and swallowed my thumb in its mouth. And of course at that point I'm like, crap, it's trying to bite me. And you know, it was, and I basically r you know, reflexed, shake my hand and this thing comes off my thumb. Well, about the same time it comes off my thumb, my thumb is gushing blood 'cause that all that thing's teeth had just tore into me. And this thing came out of a probably the dirtiest looking bayou you could imagine, you know. Yeah, you know, muddy, dirty water, all that kind of stuff. And my dad's just standing there looking at me like, ⁓ yeah, you got control of that, huh? You know, and so first things first, we get first aid taken care of. And then ⁓ after things have calmed down a little bit, Dad looks at me and goes, Okay, here's what you're gonna do. You're gonna bring that thing right back to where you caught it from, dump it out, don't ever touch one again, and I won't tell your mom. I'm like, Yes, sir, you know, and that was all I needed to hear. And that actually later on of course mom we did tell mom about it and it's probably one of her favorite stories every time we tell it. But that was that was the the one that, you know, really underscored, yeah, you you don't, you know, gotta respect the wild things you're playing around with. speaker-0: Yeah, the swamp and the bayou's no joke, man. You got all kinds of stuff down there. speaker-1: Yeah, the other the other one they told me to turn around and bring home right away, ⁓ was ⁓ j ⁓ the biggest alligator snapping turtle I've ever caught, which ⁓ I I crawled up into a culvert. I was out frogging one day on the same little creek where I by you where I caught the amphiuma. And ⁓ and I spotted this thing up inside the culvert 'cause daylight was coming through the other end and there were some frogs hopping up in there. And I actually caught a frog near this turtle that had was missing a leg. So I'd interrupted this turtle having dinner, it looked like and then I caught the turtle, got it and you know, and it was probably I'd say maybe like a foot in diameter or something like that. Not the big not as big as they do get, but big enough for me. And ⁓ I you know, at the time I would bring a lot of my fishing gear down there in in a wheelbarrow. So I had something big enough to tote it back in and ⁓ kind of keep it in there and I bring it into the house. Folks are out having morning coffee when I'm coming in and ⁓ And they're ⁓ boy, he's got something in the wheelbarrow. And I dump that thing out and my dad sees it and he's la and our little Dachshund's running around in the yard, you know. And he's like, Yeah, that needs to go back right now. Cause he's just visualizing, you know, me losing fingers, the dog's leg getting button off, you know. These things they they can do that. They're that they're that they have that kind of equipment on ⁓ So anyway, yeah. There was a couple of occasions where they were like, All right, that's a that's a little too far. speaker-0: Did have to take ⁓ back? Was that did you end up taking him back? speaker-1: ⁓ I did, yes. Yeah, no, I did. Yeah, I didn't mess around. I I yeah. My par I had a pretty good relationship with my parents and ⁓ I wanted to maintain that privilege of being able to go go in and go looking for fish or whatever else I w I did, so, you know, I was like, All right, if that's that's the line then that's cool, I'll bring ⁓ back. speaker-0: That's funny. Hey Matt, when did you realize that the outdoors weren't just a hobby for you but a but a lifestyle and and a way you were going to create your adult life? speaker-1: Yeah, you know, I think so, you know, childhood it was just automatic. ⁓ right. I mean, I just gravitated towards being outside, doing those things. ⁓ you know, of course I read I read a lot of hunting magazines, fishing magazines growing up and realized there was this world outside of the things that I did, you know, around in Louisiana that that, you know, the outdoors was just this limitless space and possibilities, you know, and all these different environments that you could go explore. And so, It's one of those things that gr each each iteration in life grew upon itself. So, you know, once I you know, like in high school, ⁓ you know, we had a an outdoor camping club. I was in Boy Scouts ⁓ throughout, you know, my my teens. ⁓ and and those those activities kinda kept me engaged with it ⁓ throughout ⁓ you know, my young life. And then ⁓ you know, somewhere I I think probably towards the end of high school, early college, you know And then of course I had grown up, my folks took us on trips out west growing up. And and that exposed me to the West, you know, the Rocky Mountains, ⁓ what that environment was like, what the wildlife there was like and and the things you could do in those places. ⁓ I had a pretty formative experience in Boy Scouts, going to Philmont Scout Ranch when I was ⁓ fourteen. That exposed me to, you know, just being in the mountains for days on end and and experiencing what that was like. And I just the hook was in me at that point. I knew I I wanted to be in that in that in some place like that, you know, once I was once I was grown. And ⁓ and I've just always been drawn to it. It just it just one thing led to another, you know, and there was, you know, and my friends who I hunted and fished with, we were always talking with each other, well, what's the next what's something cool we could go do, you know. For my senior trip at graduating high school, my buddies and I went backpacking the Appalachian Trail. You whereas a lot of people we might want to go to the beach or something like that and party. We were like, No, we're going in the mountains, man. And you know, and speaker-0: Did you do the whole trail? speaker-1: Say again? No, no, no, no, no. We did like we only had like a week we could go. So we we hike we started at the in North Carolina at the Fontana Dam and we hiked down to Gatlinburg through the park. speaker-0: Okay. speaker-1: Yep. Yeah. Yeah. But it was just me and and my friends from high school, no adults, nobody. It w on our own, you know, all the rope in the world to hang ourselves with, right? And and ⁓ it was a great experience. speaker-0: You ever want to go back and do it again? speaker-1: I it would be fun to go back and do it, ⁓ you know, just to see how it's probably changed. I mean, that was, gosh, over thirty years ago, right? So, I mean, I'm sure there's been some changes. That's where I saw my first black bears in the wild though. ⁓ you know, my first long backpacking trip I'd ever ⁓ other than film on, you know, my first backpack trip, but d where I was on on my own and we had to, you know, figure things out on our own and good to go. speaker-0: Yeah. Yeah, how does that how does how does hunting and fishing and trapping and backpacking what does that do for you that connects you to something deeper in that spiritual side of nature? speaker-1: Yeah, so I mean it's it's just ⁓ it's it's what I've always been drawn to and it's it's always made me just feel it's made me feel it's this those things in life that feel basic and right to me. You know, it's it's like when you're out there when when I'm out there fishing or or hunting, whatever it is, I'm and I'm just taking in the place that I'm in. Nothing nothing about it feels wrong. You know what I mean? It's it's just it's it's clean, it's doing something good for you that you maybe don't even fully understand at the time. You probably do a little bit later. ⁓ you know, and it's God's creation. That's the way I look at it. I mean, he he made these things that on the one hand can be dangerous and can hurt you, but at the same time they can also inspire you, they can restore you, they can, you know. they can they can help you sort some things out. You know, it won't solve all your problems, but it'll help you maybe come up with some good ideas about how to fix them, you know? ⁓ and I that's that's for me what what nature's about. speaker-0: What do you think it is about? our need, our basic human need to be in a place that is actually physically dangerous for us, that helps us mentally reset from all the problems we put in in our lives in places that we're never physically threatened. speaker-1: Sure. And I think we were talking earlier about, you know, being where your feet are. ⁓ once you step into nature, especially like especially if you go in a situation where you're in the backcountry, you know, and you're either a day's walk from the trailhead or maybe you can't even walk out of there in a day 'cause you got dropped off by a plane, you know, ⁓ you've gotta be aware it you gotta be very aware of your environment, your surroundings. This littlest thing can cause you a big problem. You know, something as stupid as dumping boiling water from your camp stove onto your leg, you know, things like that. And just so you just you know and it's not that you're in in fear or on high alert all the time, but you just you you you're more aware of what you're doing and I think you just feel more alive when you're in a place like that. Whereas, you know, the urban environments we live in, so many of us today, ⁓ the the traffic we have to put up with, I'm fortunately I don't have to deal with that like a lot of people do that I know. But I mean it's it's all of this crime, whatever it is, it's all dehumanizing in my opinion. You know, it it doesn't allow us to fully discover who we are and be ourselves because we're spending so much time b just organizing our life around that, you know. And so that's for me, it's just about really being in touch with your surroundings and and who you are. And there's no nature doesn't care who you are. You know? It's very indifferent in a lot of ways. And and it will if you don't respect it, it will cause you some problems if you're not careful, you know. But that's a good thing to me too. speaker-0: Yeah, it's so so fascinating when I think about just how disconnected from nature so much of our life is. That it creates just that value of just getting out there and being. Being amongst the birds and the squirrels and all the sounds that you don't hear anywhere else. And not with a podcast going, not with your earbuds in playing music. But just being in nature and what that does for your soul and your spirit, right? And your mind. speaker-1: Absolutely. Yeah, I mean I would say, you know, ⁓ the just the it was like that quote I said, you know, even if it cle isn't clear what the question was, I mean you can it it just it really can help you reset. I think we have so much noise in our heads ⁓ these days just because whether it's the media we consume or the you know the the stuff that we listen to or we just and I think we always feel this need to be ⁓ entertained or or distracted, you know, and and that that just takes away so much of of what how we're our original design, what we're what we're here for. You know, we're here to to help each other and to be to you know, to work together to do things as human beings. And I think so much of that cuts into our ability to be truly human. speaker-0: Yeah, you hit on something there, Matt, that I think's super important, and that is we're tribal people, right? We're a tribal species, which means we're supposed to be interdependent and people are supposed to be able to rely on us to help ⁓ But I think so much of our urban life is put up behind our fences in isolation that you know, you get out like you're you you guys are high schoolers hiking Appalachia Trail. I bet it was re f fairly reassuring when you saw that other through hike or even if you didn't stop and need ⁓ just be like, ⁓ there's another human out here. speaker-1: Sure. ⁓ yeah. And I and the interesting you know, and on that trip I can remember, you know, we'd be in those shelters at the end of the day that you had to book shelters and when you were going through the park and you know, and there was five of us in our group and then there'd be these other random people on the trail. And so there was always some you know, you're crossing paths with people out there hiking and you're learning about this person's background and this their the why they're on the trail and and what they're doing. And when we you we're all an eighteen. years old and then there's guys in their forties, you know, sorting out midlife, you know, on that trail. ⁓ there's there's people in their twenti I mean, it's just y so many different walks of life and they're trying to really experience that that out you know, what nature can do for ⁓ and it just you know, ⁓ it was it was yeah. speaker-0: think you can actually take that quote you used, Matt, earlier and substitute fishing for just being in the outdoors. speaker-1: Absolutely. Right. Absolutely. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. You know, and one of the things I was thinking too, yeah, I'm talking about backpacking doing all these trips. And I mean, I've been fortunate to do some amazing things in the in some amazing places, but it doesn't have to be complicated. I mean, just being able to go to a place by your house where you like you said, you can hear birds, you know, it's quiet. There's there's not a lot of noise. ⁓ that that can help you just sort out, even if it's for a short period of time. You know, I mean just the I act just going walking in a park, you know, where there's some some natural setting, you know, it doesn't have to be complicated. speaker-0: Yeah. No, that that's so good. And that that that's so true and and I feel blessed to be able to do the same. I get a ton of my day as in nature every day and ⁓ it definitely helps me think different through problems and and solve things that I probably wouldn't see as clear if I was rushing through things. speaker-1: ⁓ a hundred percent. speaker-0: Yeah. So Matt, I wanna talk about your storytelling. You've written five books now. What originally pulled you towards writing and choosing the kind of stories you were gonna share? speaker-1: Yes, sir. Sure. So I've been writing my whole life. The funny that's the funny thing about it. I've only been I've been a published author since two thousand five. But I mean I when I look back on my life and my parents, you know, or or my wife, my my friends, they're like, Well, you've been doing this your whole life, you know, like I mean I you know, when I was a kid I used to write stories and I'd give ⁓ I'd, you know, write ⁓ on loosely paper and hand ⁓ my parents, you know, and some of it was imitations of things I'd either read or watched on T V or whatever, but it was just the act of doing that. And then You know, when I was a young adult, I you know, one of the one of my favorite books is Fred Bear's Field Notes. And Fred Bear was for those that don't know, he was a pretty famous bow hunter and traveled the world, you know, hunting everything from, you know, elk to elephant with a bow and arrow, a traditional bow and arrow. And ⁓ you know, but he kept his field notes and and he he wasn't, you know, the most eloquent writer out there, but he just would describe everything he was seeing and he wrote it in a journal. And and so it it that book inspired me to start keeping a hunting and fishing journal, which I've been doing consistently since I think nineteen ninety-eight and I've never missed a day. And and before you know it, you know, you've I've got, you know, just piled I wrote ⁓ in notebooks for years. Now I do ⁓ on a computer. But ⁓ anyway, when you're doing that, it's just the repetition of writing. And I'm basically everything I I enjoyed describing the places I was in. I think that's where it really started for me was just capturing, you know, like an artist might do with a with painting. I'm doing that with words. And I just I love to describe the the environment that I was experiencing, whatever I was doing in. ⁓ and and it just kind of developed into, you know, publishing my first magazine article, you know, over twenty years ago. ⁓ and ⁓ I love starting off a story with just describing some aspect of the environment, you know, what what it's like and what it's doing. And just capturing those fine details, you know. I I call my I call myself an accidental burder, you know, and and What I why I say that is is you know, I I mean I my focus was always like, you know, I'm trying to hunt deer. But as you're sitting in a deer stand all day long, you know, you're watching birds all day long. And I'm like, you know, and I wanted to be able to I wanna be able to describe, okay, well what's that okay, there's that little brown bird I'm seeing over there, but what is it? Okay. All right, it's a cliffs you know, it's a ⁓ a cliff swallow or whatever the thing is that I'm looking at and ⁓ You know, so that things like that and what knowing what your plants and flowers are and and the time of year that these things come up and ⁓ all those little details because that's what makes nature so cool is just so diverse and so complex. ⁓ so that's that's kind of where, you know, the whole outdoor writing thing started for me. ⁓ I love telling a good story too, so that you know, with hunting or fishing or trapping, there's always something that goes wrong. something that scares the crap out of you or or whatever it or somebody else and or something funny happens. I mean, anytime you start engaging with nature like that, those kinds of things are gonna happen. And so that's where why my writing generally generally exists in the outdoor space. speaker-0: Yeah, I was it was funny 'cause I had that that was my next note for you and you hit it. So I was gonna ask you like How important storytelling is to the act of hunting and fishing and just being outdoors, right? Like, you know, and I'm just thinking back to, you know, when you first caught a fish, it was only a foot. And then, you know, two years later it was fourteen inches and then ten years later that some bitch was like three feet big. It was the biggest one ever taken out of the lake, you know, and like storytelling is part of the culture. It's what you do. speaker-1: Yep. ⁓ yeah. And and the thing is, is there's so many times I mean, you know, a lot of times what you see in either magazine, well, not so much magazines anymore, but online or whatever, or in books. I mean, the everybody and you see the bull elk hanging on the wall behind me, you know, that's one of several bull elk I've I've killed in my life in in over a twenty year period, right? And but the work it takes to get one of those things and then how many times that went wrong and I didn't get one. There's a lot more of those to talk about than than the thing hanging on the wall. You know, it's what that represents. It's like you're going you're gonna go through a lot of goose eggs before you get get something on the ground. So ⁓ you know, it's there's you know, you look at that that bull elk or that duck behind me on the wall, there's a lot of story behind both of those things, you know. And and just it's just represented it's a little tiny snippet of of a whole bigger picture in life that's that's speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: But it's not ⁓ my point being the dead animal isn't the story. It's what took place to get there. You know. And there's so much more of that, which is so much the good stuff, you know. speaker-0: Yeah, and I I wanted to one of the things I I loved about your the most recent book I read of yours is how you share the stories and the details of the settings you're in when you're meeting everyday people in southwest Montana and I specifically mention that because in a day and age where we're looking to celebrities and politicians and influencers around the world, we're missing the super awesome people that we're pass crossing paths with every day. So I love that you took the time to let the people and the life in Southwest Montana be the focal point of your writing. When did you decide that you were gonna focus in that direction and what have what have you learned about the community by doing speaker-1: Mm-hmm. Sure. So, you know, I ⁓ I got the fortunate opportunity to start writing for the Lewis and Clark Journal, ⁓ I think in twenty fifteen, at the urging of my wife. ⁓ you know, 'cause I was writing for magazines at the time and that's that's great and all that was great experience. ⁓ you know, it got got me out there a little bit. But ⁓ the thing about the magazine business is and it's not really there as much as it used to be, is you know, you write that article, people people across the country might read it, and then that's that's it. You know, it's it's they're on to the next thing. Writing for a local paper allows you to connect with your community on a regular basis and and learn learn from them as well. And and that's what I I have enjoyed so much about it. It's been probably the most valuable writing experience I've ever had because I'm constantly thinking about what not just what's important to me, and there's a fair amount of that that's important to me, but but What what might be important to them or what questions might they have, or what's maybe bothering them, or what are the issues we're all struggling with that maybe we should talk about. You know, and I mean, you know, the cool thing is is when you write in a local publication like that, you're walking down the street and people are pulling you aside, hey, you know, ⁓ I love what that piece you wrote about. That that's what that was great. Or they're saying, you know what you should be writing about is this. And I and and and I'm like, and I'll be and I have written quite a few articles where it was like, I would have never thought about. talking about that had someone not said something to me. And so that's the thing I love about my community I'm in is it's a it's a we built a relationship, right? And and I get as much I mean it's it's as much from me, I the feedback I get from them is is what kind of keeps me going and helps me improve my writing. And I'm you know and I I know I'm not I'm not writing for national publications or anything like that on a regular basis. It's three forks Montana, you know, and but those people you know, ⁓ that's some of the best people you ever meet and I mean what they think of my writing matters much more to me than what some editor in New York might say. So I mean 'cause I see ⁓ every day, right? Yeah. speaker-0: Well, and they know bullshit, right? Like yeah, I was ⁓ dude, Montanans are so good at sniffing bullshit. I was having this conversation. I recently taught a class over in Glendive at the community college there. And I was talking to a new professor who is new to Montana and he went out and he was meeting with some local boosters and stuff, and he had taken over a program that had some history and He started telling ⁓ you know, if they donated again, what he's gonna use all their money for. And he said they just sat there and looked at him. And ⁓ I'm like, Yeah, they're looking at you. He's like, Yeah, they told me come back in a year and they would listen to it again. And I was like, Dude, that's so like Montanans will give you the shirt off their back. If you're in an emergency on a side road, they're gonna stop and help you. But if you're trying to sell them something or pitch them on something from the big city, show me in a year and then I'll believe you. speaker-1: Yes they will. ⁓ yeah, and you know, it's when I first moved here, you know, I picked Montana as a place to live like a lot of people pick a a career path. You know, I mean I and I mean I was looking at, you know, what are the benefits of moving to this place to live rather than what are the job benefits of the job I'm gonna get. You it's like I looked at the outdoor recreation opportunity, you know, where it was, all these things, and and then when I got here, you know, it's like everybody's it's almost like I remember the statistic getting thrown out of me at me that one To three people will leave ⁓ it I think it's one out of five will leave in three years, three out of five will leave in five years. Yeah. Or something like that. I you know, I I don't think that's the case anymore. ⁓ but but back then it was kinda like they were waiting to see, ⁓ you just got here. Yeah, we're gonna give you a year to see if you even make it. Yeah. Living here, you know. Just 'cause, you know, you came from the south, man. You know where you're at, you know? And and all those things. And and I mean it was funny too, because people just didn't know about Montana what they know now. with social media and internet and everything. They were you know, that was there then too. But my my family, they thought I was going to the Arctic circle. You know, I mean they they they were like, ⁓ no, polar bears live up there. I'm like, I'm not quite that far north. You know, but anyway, the bottom line was is, you know, th it was kind of like, yeah, you just got here, why don't you kind of listen, learn, see see what's going on in this place. And then, you know, and a lot of it I had to figure out on my own. And I definitely tripped and fell and but it was the relationships I've built over time here are some of the best people you can imagine, you know. But they don't suffer fools and they and they just they're they're ⁓ they're very genuine people. speaker-0: They're not falling for the get rich quick schemes either. You know, one ⁓ and speaking of Montana traditions and just rural life in general, one of my favorite chapters in in the book I just f read of yours was the wave. And the importance of just nodding and giving a little wave as you pass somebody on a country road. Kind of like you said in the book, to let them know you see ⁓ Hey, I see you. We're both out here. If you need something, I'm around. And I and I hope if anybody that's moving to Montana. speaker-1: No. speaker-0: needs a lesson on what it what it means to be there. They just read that chapter, if nothing else from your book and understand it's about just seeing the other people and not blindly passing. speaker-1: Yeah, well it's funny too, because you know, it's anytime you go to a new place or a foreign country, whatever it is, there are all these nuances of culture there that you just have no idea about. You just can't because you don't you're not from there, you don't live there. And and you know, ⁓ and if you and and you can offend somebody pretty quickly if you, you know, get that wrong. And so ⁓ you know, and it's not that people, you know, get all butthurt if you don't wave to them necessarily, but it's kinda like tells you something about ⁓ you know, and and ⁓ so you just you always make I always make a point to make sure I'm waving at everybody, you know, and ⁓ but it was people were doing that when I got here, ⁓ you know, and I mean especially in the rural areas, the agricultural areas, you know, everybody knows everybody. Yeah. And so it's like it's qu it's just rude not to wave if somebody waves at you. speaker-0: What's the first thing that comes to mind if you drive by another pickup on a dirt road and they don't wave at you? speaker-1: ⁓ new person. speaker-0: Not from here. I was gonna say they're not from here. You know it. There's no way they're from here. speaker-1: Yep. Especially yeah, and I like in a town like Bozeman, for instance, that wouldn't surprise me at all. I mean that that place has gotten pretty urbanized for Montana. But you get out of areas like where I live in Three Forks and other rural communities across the state. And that's what I love about Three Forks. It's much more or was a lot more like a lot of your small farming communities throughout the state. I mean, just completely isolated from urban urban influence. But ⁓ you know, yeah, it's it's like, ⁓ man, it you know, it's kinda like and you know having deployed to the Middle East with you know in the army. I mean it's like you show up in in that part of the world, you know, it don't take long for the locals to figure out who you are, even if you're trying to be sneaky. You know, because you're just not gonna fool you know. ⁓ so yeah, same thing. I mean, you know, you're just kind of you're yeah, it's important to just kind of take things in, learn about where you're living and ⁓ how you can contribute to it, how you can help make it a better place and not not be a burden. speaker-0: Yeah, that's so good. Matt, what values, ideas, thoughts do you hope your books communicate to the readers? speaker-1: ⁓ I think, you know, what s with respect to Montana, you know, what a special place this is. ⁓ you know, and and why it's that way. ⁓ you know, I've lived here ⁓ twenty-five years, you know, and I've been friends with many good people who've lived there their entire lives, some of them in their nineties. ⁓ and Montana's gonna give you way more than you could ever do for it. But you still gotta think about you're living in this place, you're having an impact on it. How are you gonna make it better around you? You know, and how do you do that in a in a way that's that's not, you know, intrusive upon others, you know? ⁓ it's ⁓ How do you how what are you gonna positively contribute in your own unique way that make that maintains the the you know the tradition, so to speak, of being a personable, ⁓ connected community? Because the the truth is we all need each other. You know, I mean in America, you know, we're we're very much put a lot of premium on being a rugged individual, and I can respect that in a lot of ways. At the same time, you know, we're not designed to be ⁓ you know, live in isolation. ⁓ you know we're designed to help each other out. That's how you survived it at our earliest beginnings. We survived because we helped each other out. You know, we were a community. So I think that's ⁓ you know the importance of community, how are you going to contribute to that? And ⁓ don't don't rush in figuring out what's this place going to do for me. Because I think there's a lot of that, especially as Montana's changed. You know, people come in and you know and and that's always been a challenge in the West. What's it going to do for me? Well f Learn what it can do for you and then how do you help maintain that? speaker-0: Yeah. That's good. Matt, it's been awesome having you on the show, my friend. Where can our audience connect with you to to get your book books, learn more about your story and just follow along on your journey? speaker-1: Yeah, so ⁓ you can go to my website, mattwimpeloutdoors.com. All my books are for sale there. and if you buy ⁓ from there, you'll you'll get a personally signed copy. ⁓ I always enjoy ⁓ talking to people from all over the country who are either on vacation or they've just come from there and listen to their stories and how it's impacted them positive way. ⁓ you can ⁓ also buy them locally at some of our businesses like the pharmacy, the cowboy trading post and legacy gifts, and that's right down on Main Street, Three Forks. And then of course ⁓ online book retailers as well have ⁓ speaker-0: Awesome. Matt, thank you so much for what you're doing. I got one more question to wrap up with you. And that is this. At this stage of your life, what does a life well lived mean to you? speaker-1: ⁓ gosh. ⁓ that you made life better for those around you. ⁓ that you ⁓ through whatever it is you do, ⁓ your life helped other people live life well and that you made a difference for them and then and they and let and you allowed them to shape you as well. ⁓ you know, I th I think that, you know We all like to give and it feels good to give, but you also have to be willing to to accept help and accept ⁓ gifts from others as well. And I think just ⁓ that you you made things better around you. speaker-0: Well Matt, I wanna thank you for what you're doing. You're definitely making people around you better. Your inspiring thought and what I love is you're sharing perspective and stories of people that might easily be forgotten into the the books of history if we don't remember their names and we don't share their stories. So I wanna I wanna thank you for doing that. I wanna thank you for taking time to join us and just let you know how much we appreciate all that you're doing, my friend. speaker-1: Thank you very much, Jared. I've enjoyed it. It's been my pleasure. speaker-0: Hey everybody, it's Jared Hardy here. If the On Purpose podcast has sparked something in you, maybe a shift, a question, or a deeper dive, my excellence and leadership course is built to help you act upon it. This isn't just about leading others. It's about leading yourself with intention, resilience, and clarity. Whether you're an individual chasing growth or a team ready to level up, I offer custom coaching and speaking engagements to meet you where you are. Visit TeamHarty.net and let's grow with purpose. And remember team, life is far too short to live any other way than on purpose. We will see you all again next week.