Latest / Wired To Hunt Podcast / Wired To Hunt Podcast #108: Land Tawney Talks Public Lands and Backcountry Hunters & Anglers

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Wired To Hunt Podcast #108: Land Tawney Talks Public Lands and Backcountry Hunters & Anglers · Wired To Hunt Podcast

0:02
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast, your home for
0:06
Speaker 1: deer hunting news, stories and strategies, and now your host,
0:11
Speaker 1: Mark Kenyon. Welcome to the Wired to Hunt Podcast. I'm
0:16
Speaker 1: your host, Mark Kenyan. This episode number one eight Taylor Show.
0:21
Speaker 1: We're joined by Land Tawny, the CEO and president of
0:24
Speaker 1: back Country Hunters and Anglers, to discuss public lands conservation
0:27
Speaker 1: in what h is doing that we deer hunters might
0:30
Speaker 1: care about. All right, welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast,
0:51
Speaker 1: brought to you by Sitka Gear and today, as I mentioned,
0:54
Speaker 1: we've got Land Tawny of back Country Hunters and Anglers
0:58
Speaker 1: with us, and we're going to be discussing what back
1:00
Speaker 1: country Hunters and Anglers is, why it's relevant to us
1:03
Speaker 1: deer hunters across the country, probably more so than many
1:06
Speaker 1: of us might think, and what's going on with public
1:08
Speaker 1: lands conservation and policy across the country. So again, this
1:12
Speaker 1: is going to be a very interesting conversation. I'm looking
1:15
Speaker 1: forward to it. Unfortunately, again this week, because of some
1:18
Speaker 1: scheduling issues, my co host Dan Johnson isn't able to
1:22
Speaker 1: join us, but he told me to say hi and
1:24
Speaker 1: let you all know he'll be back soon. So with
1:26
Speaker 1: that said, we are not going to beat around the bush.
1:29
Speaker 1: But before we get land on the show, we need
1:31
Speaker 1: to briefly pause to thank our sponsors of this podcast,
1:34
Speaker 1: Sick to Gear, for stepping up and making this show possible.
1:37
Speaker 1: Now we'll be continuing with our Sickest Stories series soon,
1:41
Speaker 1: but today I wanted to mention something that I've been
1:43
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1:45
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1:48
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1:50
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1:54
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1:58
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2:00
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2:05
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2:08
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2:11
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2:13
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2:17
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2:20
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2:23
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2:26
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2:29
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2:33
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2:36
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2:39
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2:43
Speaker 1: sick gear dot com. And now let's get to the
2:47
Speaker 1: meat and potatoes of our episode today and welcome Lantani
2:50
Speaker 1: onto the podcast. All right with us on the line
2:54
Speaker 1: now is Land Tawny. Welcome the show. Land. Hey, thanks
2:58
Speaker 1: for having me. I'm excited to chat. And I realized
3:02
Speaker 1: we just talked a second ago offline that we just
3:04
Speaker 1: crossed passed you were you were right here where I'm at,
3:07
Speaker 1: weren't you? Yeah? Down in uh one of the most
3:11
Speaker 1: beautiful places in the world, Drigs, Idaho, which is just
3:14
Speaker 1: outside of like the Titon Mountains, which is you know,
3:18
Speaker 1: gorgeous peaks and river runs through it. It's almost as
3:22
Speaker 1: good as Montana. It's pretty spectacular country. I I'm bummed
3:27
Speaker 1: I missed you. We were we were probably driving past
3:29
Speaker 1: each other at some point. So did you have a
3:31
Speaker 1: good time? Win her. I did. I did. I had
3:35
Speaker 1: some events in Jackson Hole. They have the Western Governors
3:38
Speaker 1: Association meeting was going on, so I had some things
3:41
Speaker 1: I had to do along with that, and I was
3:43
Speaker 1: able to our antadaptor at the camp out that weekend
3:47
Speaker 1: before so I went from Headwater State Park, which is
3:50
Speaker 1: outside of Bozeman, and drove downs for the park and
3:54
Speaker 1: actually got to fish and fish um on the Fire
3:58
Speaker 1: River in the given river, and then I did events.
4:01
Speaker 1: So it was a nice little tour. Nice. Yeah, I
4:05
Speaker 1: I've been testing the waters up in the Firehole too.
4:08
Speaker 1: I've had a little bit of success. But you probably
4:11
Speaker 1: know what you're doing better than I do, so glad
4:13
Speaker 1: you do. I don't know about that. I think they
4:15
Speaker 1: were just maybe I got lucky and they were hungry
4:17
Speaker 1: that day. One thing I will tell you is that
4:20
Speaker 1: that river is so warm, you know, with all the
4:22
Speaker 1: um the jew you know, the geo kind of activity
4:25
Speaker 1: that's going on there and geo thermally get activity, and
4:29
Speaker 1: I just wonder what happens to them later in the summer,
4:31
Speaker 1: you know, and and and fishing. At this time of year,
4:33
Speaker 1: it was still cold enough probably for those trout, but um,
4:36
Speaker 1: you gotta wonder what happens later in the year. I
4:38
Speaker 1: wondered the same thing, because you know, it fishes so
4:41
Speaker 1: well early. But I gotta believe it's either they either
4:44
Speaker 1: they shut maybe they shut it down, I don't know,
4:46
Speaker 1: but either shut it down or the fishing the fish
4:49
Speaker 1: themselves just can't be too active when it gets so warm.
4:51
Speaker 1: Like you said, it's already pretty warm. So yep, yep,
4:55
Speaker 1: it's interesting. So you've been on this big trip. Your
4:58
Speaker 1: back at work now, how I guess speaking of your
5:01
Speaker 1: work for those that aren't familiar, you know, I briefly
5:04
Speaker 1: introduced you as a CEO of that country Hunters and Anglers,
5:07
Speaker 1: But can you tell us a little bit more about
5:09
Speaker 1: how you got to that point, what your background is? Yeah? Sure,
5:13
Speaker 1: So I'm a fifth generation Montana very lucky to grow
5:18
Speaker 1: up here in Montana, and um my my father and
5:21
Speaker 1: mother really drove kind of kids getting outside, and my
5:26
Speaker 1: dad ended up being the lewars of the foundation, um
5:30
Speaker 1: for the first ten years until he passed away. And
5:32
Speaker 1: so you know, I from a young age, you know,
5:35
Speaker 1: I was on my dad's back fishing, um, you know,
5:38
Speaker 1: hiking up steep mountains where I literally had the step
5:41
Speaker 1: in his footsteps, Um, because the snow was so deep
5:44
Speaker 1: and if I went off, if I did not do that,
5:46
Speaker 1: I wouldn't be able to make it. And and so
5:48
Speaker 1: I think I'm trying to do the same thing with
5:50
Speaker 1: my kids. And because that background gave me just kind
5:54
Speaker 1: of appreciation, um for the great outdoors and the kind
5:56
Speaker 1: of the heritage that we have, but then also the
5:59
Speaker 1: drive at how to you know, protect it and make
6:01
Speaker 1: sure that you know, our future generations have it. So
6:04
Speaker 1: I feel real lucky that way. And UM, I'll tell
6:07
Speaker 1: you that, you know, I was I was out in
6:11
Speaker 1: Seattle going to schools, kind of screwing around, getting a
6:13
Speaker 1: business degree, and um, my father got real sick and
6:17
Speaker 1: then he ended up passing away. And so that that
6:19
Speaker 1: brought me back to Montana. And while that is the
6:22
Speaker 1: most significant, kind of tragic event in my life, UM
6:26
Speaker 1: and still think about him every single day, is that,
6:29
Speaker 1: you know, it kind of brought me back to Montana
6:31
Speaker 1: and grounded me and and and really that's when I,
6:33
Speaker 1: you know, engaged and kind of decided this is kind
6:36
Speaker 1: of what I wanted to do. And I got a
6:38
Speaker 1: wildlife valoties agree here at the University of Montana and
6:42
Speaker 1: you know, kind of my senior year there, I kind
6:44
Speaker 1: of figured out that I want to be more involved
6:46
Speaker 1: in policy than kind of on the ground. I love
6:48
Speaker 1: being in the field, but I wanted to be able
6:50
Speaker 1: to like to impact, you know, large kind of policies.
6:53
Speaker 1: And so I got done with my degree, and then
6:56
Speaker 1: I started volunteering for the Theodore Roosevelt Servation Alliance, which
7:01
Speaker 1: was the precursor to the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. It
7:05
Speaker 1: was brand new at that point. The same guy that
7:07
Speaker 1: had started the OUT Foundation, or one of the guys
7:10
Speaker 1: that started the OUT Foundation, Bob Munson, he was heading
7:13
Speaker 1: it up, and so I started volunteering for him. I
7:16
Speaker 1: think I worked as a volunteer for six months and
7:19
Speaker 1: like data entry and not real fun stuff, but at
7:22
Speaker 1: least got my foot in the door, and I got
7:24
Speaker 1: a part time job and then eventually got up a
7:26
Speaker 1: full time job with them, and and that was really,
7:29
Speaker 1: I think, such a great opportunity for me because I
7:32
Speaker 1: was it was such a small organization and I was
7:35
Speaker 1: able to one meet a lot of people within the
7:38
Speaker 1: conservation field, but also be involved um and I ended
7:42
Speaker 1: up being their national grass roots coordinator before I left,
7:45
Speaker 1: and I really appreciate my time with them and a
7:49
Speaker 1: lot of the leaders that I had there, and one
7:51
Speaker 1: of them was Jim Range. And Jim used to work
7:54
Speaker 1: for Howard Baker, who was the he was a majority
7:57
Speaker 1: leader in the Senate and he was just you know,
8:01
Speaker 1: he helped him write the Clean Air Act between the
8:03
Speaker 1: Water Act um and that was back when you know,
8:05
Speaker 1: Republicans and Democrats um alike really work together to you know,
8:09
Speaker 1: work on our kind of conservation heritage. So it's great
8:13
Speaker 1: to learn kind of somethings from him, and that set
8:16
Speaker 1: me up. Then two I went to work for the
8:18
Speaker 1: National wild By Federation. After about three and a half
8:21
Speaker 1: years working with them, and uh, you know, became their
8:25
Speaker 1: national kind of sportsman's outreach Coordinator and so I was
8:30
Speaker 1: in charge of all the sports's campaigns within National wild
8:32
Speaker 1: By Federation and then specifically ran a couple um uh
8:37
Speaker 1: one around the eighteen seventy two mining low and another
8:39
Speaker 1: one around the restoration of the Mississippi River Delta. And
8:43
Speaker 1: so I was able to work with They have chapters
8:45
Speaker 1: all of the country, or as they called them, affiliates.
8:48
Speaker 1: Grassroots kind of hunters and anglers have been in the
8:50
Speaker 1: game for a long time. So I got to work
8:52
Speaker 1: with those volunteers and mobilize them and and really I
8:56
Speaker 1: was happy there. And um, you know, I've become a
8:58
Speaker 1: member of b h A right when they started back
9:01
Speaker 1: in two thousand four, and I was always kind of
9:04
Speaker 1: attracted to their mission and UH and then I started,
9:08
Speaker 1: you know, the they had a search committee for this
9:11
Speaker 1: this new job that they were hiring, and I really,
9:14
Speaker 1: you know, I didn't take a real serious look at it.
9:16
Speaker 1: And until one night, you know, I really looked at
9:18
Speaker 1: at b h A and the car had been built
9:21
Speaker 1: and this nobody had, you know, really knew how to
9:23
Speaker 1: drive it yet. And so I was able to take
9:25
Speaker 1: the skills that I've learned over the last decade and
9:28
Speaker 1: a half from those other two organizations and then bring
9:31
Speaker 1: them to you know, a new organization that UH really
9:34
Speaker 1: was in its infancy while it was started in two
9:36
Speaker 1: thousand four. It had all been volunteer driven in great volunteers.
9:41
Speaker 1: I know that when I worked for National wildlif Federation
9:43
Speaker 1: and we do a flying out to d C on
9:45
Speaker 1: one issue or another, but I always looked folks from
9:49
Speaker 1: back country hunters and anglers because they not only did
9:52
Speaker 1: they know their place because they're out there, you know,
9:55
Speaker 1: not just a couple of days a year, but you know,
9:58
Speaker 1: as much as they can in some case is you know,
10:00
Speaker 1: two hundred or so days a year, and um, they
10:03
Speaker 1: knew their place. But they're also like they knew the
10:05
Speaker 1: policies and we're very passionate about and protecting these places.
10:08
Speaker 1: And so you get them up there and they just
10:10
Speaker 1: be so effective in front of our elected officials. And
10:14
Speaker 1: so I've had a kind of reverence to them. And
10:15
Speaker 1: and you know when I came here, I was the
10:18
Speaker 1: first kind of full time employee, um that we had
10:21
Speaker 1: at that point. And you know, now we've we've grown
10:24
Speaker 1: to this large organization and you know, we're still small,
10:27
Speaker 1: I think within the within the sportsman kind of conservation community.
10:31
Speaker 1: But you know, where we were three years ago is
10:34
Speaker 1: really pale in comparison to where we are now. And
10:37
Speaker 1: I think that, you know, besides kind of having a
10:40
Speaker 1: good idea, which you know, where the sportsman's voice for
10:42
Speaker 1: our wild public lands, waters and wildlife is that you
10:46
Speaker 1: know that that that's resonated even more I think with
10:48
Speaker 1: people because um, you know, the idea of adventure and challenge,
10:55
Speaker 1: you know, it shows up in spartan races and um,
10:58
Speaker 1: you know, tough mutters, cetera. And you know, people are
11:02
Speaker 1: looking for that challenge. And the only places that you
11:04
Speaker 1: can actually experience that are on public lands and these
11:08
Speaker 1: wild public lands, and we're not making any more of them,
11:11
Speaker 1: you know, I mean, nobody's gonna you know, nobody. There's
11:14
Speaker 1: not a um, you know, a Concrete Association of America
11:19
Speaker 1: that is like protecting concrete to make sure that nobody like,
11:22
Speaker 1: you know, right, these public yeah right, you know, but
11:26
Speaker 1: they can make that stuff anytime, and you know it's
11:28
Speaker 1: it's something, um that you don't have to worry about losing.
11:31
Speaker 1: But these public lands that we have, especially the wild
11:33
Speaker 1: pieces of them, you know, we're not making any more
11:36
Speaker 1: of that. And that's what makes us unique is kind
11:38
Speaker 1: of Americans compared to the rest of the world. And
11:41
Speaker 1: it's where you and I and every American I can
11:44
Speaker 1: experience the same things that really have been going on
11:47
Speaker 1: for our for centuries. That's a pretty cool thing. So, um,
11:51
Speaker 1: you know, I'm I'm having fun, more fun than I
11:53
Speaker 1: have in my entire career. And I get to work
11:55
Speaker 1: with a lot of great people, both volunteers and staff.
11:58
Speaker 1: So it's it's a good thing, so credible. Now, our
12:01
Speaker 1: audience is you know, serious deer hunters comprise the majority
12:05
Speaker 1: of our audience, and they're all across the country, but
12:07
Speaker 1: probably the majority or in the Midwest, East, and the
12:10
Speaker 1: southern part of the United States. Now, I know that
12:12
Speaker 1: that country hunters and anglers started in the West, and
12:15
Speaker 1: I think you've got slightly larger contingent in that part
12:17
Speaker 1: of the country. So I'm curious if there might be
12:19
Speaker 1: a large portion of our audience that doesn't really know
12:22
Speaker 1: who you guys are and what you do. Can you
12:24
Speaker 1: just lay out the groundwork? What is b h A,
12:27
Speaker 1: What do you guys do? What do you stand for? Yeah?
12:30
Speaker 1: For sure, So gave you the tagline kind of first,
12:33
Speaker 1: you know that the Sportsman's voice for a wild public lands,
12:36
Speaker 1: waters in the wild by and so what that really
12:38
Speaker 1: means is in shorthand, is that is that we want
12:40
Speaker 1: to make sure we keep public lands in public hands,
12:44
Speaker 1: so that's access and and make sure that you know
12:47
Speaker 1: you have a place to go. And then once you
12:49
Speaker 1: get there, we want to make sure that there's you know,
12:51
Speaker 1: the good fish in wild the habitat, so that um,
12:55
Speaker 1: so that you know, we we don't, and so we
12:59
Speaker 1: have the opportunities that we all care about. And and
13:01
Speaker 1: so you know, within that, there's really a bunch of
13:04
Speaker 1: things that we worked on. And so the first one
13:06
Speaker 1: UM kind of that access and opportunity and access and opportunity.
13:11
Speaker 1: Right now, there's this movement you know that that seems
13:14
Speaker 1: to be growing every day on the sale or transfer
13:17
Speaker 1: of public lands. And you know, once you lose these
13:19
Speaker 1: public lands, you don't get them back, and so we
13:22
Speaker 1: think that's a really dumb idea. UM. And and so
13:25
Speaker 1: there's that piece UM within the access kind of bucket,
13:29
Speaker 1: I will call it. UH. An addition, there's a thing
13:32
Speaker 1: called the Land and Water Conservation Funds and that was
13:34
Speaker 1: established back in the nineteen sixty four and uh UM,
13:39
Speaker 1: you know, we we advocate for that because it's the
13:41
Speaker 1: number one access tool in this country and so that
13:43
Speaker 1: access UM, you know, like like to either isolated public lands. UM,
13:49
Speaker 1: we're just getting better access to public lands that we
13:50
Speaker 1: have now, like that's the tool to do it, and
13:52
Speaker 1: so we want to make sure that you know, that
13:54
Speaker 1: is carried into the future. UM. Next piece is probably
13:57
Speaker 1: our biggest budget, our biggest biggest bucket, excuse me, and
14:00
Speaker 1: that's kind of just fishing and wilife habitat, and so
14:03
Speaker 1: we want to make sure that, um, you know that
14:07
Speaker 1: once you get to these public lands that you have
14:08
Speaker 1: the opticities behind fish and so you know, there's things
14:11
Speaker 1: like the Clean Water Act, you know, this overarching piece
14:14
Speaker 1: that makes sure that our waters stay healthy. And you know,
14:17
Speaker 1: like just recently, administration came out with some new rules
14:21
Speaker 1: that that restored protections uh to temporary wetlands. And so
14:26
Speaker 1: these are you know, wetlands that ducks are using right
14:28
Speaker 1: now vitally important. They're only kind of wet this time
14:31
Speaker 1: of year, especially in the prayer pothole regions, so North Dakota,
14:35
Speaker 1: South Dakota, a little bit of Minnesota, and a little
14:38
Speaker 1: bit of Montana. And this is where the duck factory
14:41
Speaker 1: basically is is want to make sure that those places
14:43
Speaker 1: are protected, uh. And it also protects temporary streams, so
14:48
Speaker 1: the places where there are again wet right now that
14:50
Speaker 1: are being used for spawning habitsat and vital to kind
14:52
Speaker 1: of fish populations. So we worked real hard on making
14:55
Speaker 1: sure that those uh, those I guess protections were restored.
14:59
Speaker 1: H Um. Other pieces you know within that would be
15:02
Speaker 1: like funding um, you know, funding right now has been
15:05
Speaker 1: has been going down for our fishing game agencies, and
15:08
Speaker 1: so they can't do the things that they want to
15:09
Speaker 1: do and whether that's restoration stuff, that's you know, making
15:13
Speaker 1: sure you have happening on the grounds through studies, they
15:17
Speaker 1: can't do that. And one of the main reasons they
15:19
Speaker 1: can't do that as much anymore is because you know,
15:22
Speaker 1: one of their budget has been going down. But too,
15:25
Speaker 1: we're every single year and these fires ah um, you know,
15:32
Speaker 1: they take up let's say of the four service budget
15:35
Speaker 1: right now, and so that's why they cannot do everything
15:37
Speaker 1: else is because you know, these fires happen every single
15:40
Speaker 1: year and they just don't have the appropriate money. So
15:42
Speaker 1: we're working to get that, um, that fire off of
15:45
Speaker 1: kind of normal for service budget and treat it just
15:47
Speaker 1: like um and just like any other natural disasters, so floods, hurricanes, tornadoes.
15:53
Speaker 1: We feel like that fits there. And so there's a
15:55
Speaker 1: host of things I think that we work on there.
15:57
Speaker 1: I mean, one I would say that I haven't brought
15:58
Speaker 1: up yet is that you know, we really how to
16:00
Speaker 1: work at a collaborative effort and look at you know,
16:02
Speaker 1: national forests and as as a kind of a watershed
16:06
Speaker 1: and and and instead of you know, we looking at
16:09
Speaker 1: trying to protect these wild public lands and like, how
16:11
Speaker 1: would how would how would this all look of it
16:14
Speaker 1: was managed for everyone? And so the cample of that
16:18
Speaker 1: is something we're doing out of it's called the clear
16:20
Speaker 1: Water based and collaborative And really there we've worked with
16:24
Speaker 1: timber folks, we work at a TV folks, local county commissioners,
16:27
Speaker 1: other kind of conservation organizations and U and timber folks
16:32
Speaker 1: and and really said, here's this whole forest, like, let's
16:37
Speaker 1: figure out what is best for all of us. And
16:39
Speaker 1: so within that there's five hundred acres of new wilderness,
16:43
Speaker 1: there's two hundred miles of wild and scenic river, two
16:46
Speaker 1: hundred miles of the longest continuous a TV route in
16:49
Speaker 1: the West, and then increased timber harvests in the front country.
16:52
Speaker 1: And so it's a path forward for everybody. You know,
16:56
Speaker 1: is it Is it perfect for everyone? Probably not? You know,
16:59
Speaker 1: as these conversations have happened over the kaide, UH folks
17:03
Speaker 1: really have come to the idea that we'd rather have
17:05
Speaker 1: a pass forward than nothing at all. And so um,
17:08
Speaker 1: everybody can live with it. And uh and and so
17:10
Speaker 1: now hopefully we're going to move forward with it. So
17:13
Speaker 1: that's that kind of land protection piece, um that we
17:16
Speaker 1: engage in. And the final piece I haven't really talked
17:18
Speaker 1: about the kind of the final bucket is fair chase.
17:21
Speaker 1: And you know, as you know, we as hunters think
17:25
Speaker 1: about you know what that means to us, especially in
17:27
Speaker 1: the growing technology world. We want to be a leading
17:30
Speaker 1: voice on that. And you know that was stuff that
17:32
Speaker 1: was started probably you know in the eighteen seventies, I
17:35
Speaker 1: think is when Forests and Stream, which was the precursor
17:38
Speaker 1: to Field and Stream first came out, and really that
17:40
Speaker 1: talked about kind of the sportsman's code and you know,
17:44
Speaker 1: how you act out there and as a steward and
17:47
Speaker 1: um and how you pursue game. And so you fast
17:50
Speaker 1: forward to today and two of the issues that we're
17:53
Speaker 1: working on there I think really flying the face of
17:55
Speaker 1: that kind of that sportsman ethic. And the first one
17:58
Speaker 1: is is with drones, and drones of you know, I've
18:02
Speaker 1: been used for them by the military now becoming more
18:05
Speaker 1: and more popular I'm a civilian bad and becoming more
18:09
Speaker 1: and more sophisticated, uh and and affordable, and so we're
18:13
Speaker 1: starting to use drones, uh, for scouting and you know,
18:17
Speaker 1: during the hunting season, and um, you know, it's like
18:21
Speaker 1: you could call me up from Michigan and say, hey,
18:24
Speaker 1: I want to come hunt, you know, an elk out
18:26
Speaker 1: in Montana and make sure you can find one before
18:29
Speaker 1: I get there, and I could send up my drones
18:30
Speaker 1: and by the time you got here, I could give
18:32
Speaker 1: you a GPS coordinate and I could you know, put
18:34
Speaker 1: you right on that bowl and you can go shoot it.
18:36
Speaker 1: And to us, that has nothing to do the fair chase. Really, um,
18:40
Speaker 1: it's not fair to hunt. So we've helped bands of
18:46
Speaker 1: drones for for hunting and scouting, um like can thirteen
18:50
Speaker 1: states now and and that's we're working on more. Um
18:53
Speaker 1: some states that feel like they have that coverage, so
18:56
Speaker 1: their their aviation and a rule, we're making sure that
19:01
Speaker 1: they've insert drones to those rules. And then also, I
19:06
Speaker 1: mean the thing with the drone versus an airplane. You
19:08
Speaker 1: can hear an airplane you know for miles, and that
19:10
Speaker 1: drone is really gotta be right above you for you
19:12
Speaker 1: to to hear it and then see it. And so
19:14
Speaker 1: they're much more there, much less invasive, I would say,
19:17
Speaker 1: and so there's much more propensity that you know, people
19:19
Speaker 1: be doing things. And so instead of like the twenty
19:21
Speaker 1: four hour rule that's in place in a lot of
19:22
Speaker 1: states on airplanes, we went for the whole season and
19:25
Speaker 1: that just seems to work. And you know, the wardens
19:28
Speaker 1: like that a lot better. The second one in there
19:30
Speaker 1: is um one that's near and deared my heart is
19:33
Speaker 1: really uh this idea of hunting animals behind a fence
19:37
Speaker 1: and um, you know, I think I've talked earlier in
19:40
Speaker 1: this conversation about how people are kind of thirsting for
19:43
Speaker 1: that adventure and challenge and there that could you know
19:46
Speaker 1: this this is the antithesis of that, you know, And
19:49
Speaker 1: it's Uh, folks shooting animals in a pen like I
19:53
Speaker 1: they don't tell that story, right, but when they shoot
19:55
Speaker 1: that animal in the pen, they put that head up
19:57
Speaker 1: on the wall and brag about Like they're not bragging
20:00
Speaker 1: that they were, you know, in a in an enclosure
20:03
Speaker 1: shooting that animal. Um, they're telling some story about they
20:05
Speaker 1: were on the peak in Montana and Idaho or wherever.
20:08
Speaker 1: And Um, to me, it's it's you know, it's it's one.
20:11
Speaker 1: It's the fair chase aspect. It's also there's a disease factor.
20:14
Speaker 1: There are these things are kind of vectors for disease.
20:16
Speaker 1: And then the last pieces is that you know, these
20:18
Speaker 1: animals get out, um kind of that what that does
20:21
Speaker 1: to the um kind of the populations, genes um as
20:26
Speaker 1: these things infiltrate. So that's just like a short snapshot
20:30
Speaker 1: marked of kind of what we work on in those
20:32
Speaker 1: three buckets. But um, you know what separates us, I
20:35
Speaker 1: think from every other sports organization out there is that
20:39
Speaker 1: we really work on public policy on public lands basically strictly.
20:43
Speaker 1: And so you know, we're not like the old foundation
20:46
Speaker 1: out you know, buying wintering habitat um for elk or
20:50
Speaker 1: you know, duck habitat for ducks like Ducks Unlimited, which
20:53
Speaker 1: is all great work. We're really focused on public lands
20:56
Speaker 1: and you know, and with that, you know, we have
20:58
Speaker 1: a you know, a growing grassroots constituency all across the country.
21:02
Speaker 1: And um. You know you mentioned we started the West,
21:04
Speaker 1: which we did we started around a campfire and Oregon,
21:08
Speaker 1: which you know, all good things start at a campfire,
21:11
Speaker 1: um um. And you know, we we have all western
21:15
Speaker 1: states covered with chapters now, but now we're moving into
21:17
Speaker 1: the Midwest and you know, we've had one for a
21:19
Speaker 1: while in Minnesota, but just picked up one in your
21:21
Speaker 1: home state of Michigan and in Wisconsin, and we've got
21:24
Speaker 1: chapters in Pennsylvania and New York and then all the
21:28
Speaker 1: New England states. So you know, I think, you know,
21:33
Speaker 1: you think and we think about public lands. A lot
21:35
Speaker 1: of people think that, you know, they're only located in
21:37
Speaker 1: the West. And I look at like the Huron Manistee
21:40
Speaker 1: kind of National forest in Michigan, like there's public land.
21:44
Speaker 1: I mean that's like that's those are large different swas
21:46
Speaker 1: I in North Carolina, South Carolina, there's a national force
21:49
Speaker 1: there that's like over a million acres. So there's still
21:52
Speaker 1: those places. Yes, the West has more, um, but for
21:55
Speaker 1: for you all one, you know, I mean we were
21:58
Speaker 1: talking earlier about how you're gonna come out here in
22:00
Speaker 1: Hunt and I'm guessing that's going to be on public lands.
22:02
Speaker 1: So it's important that way. Um. And then you know
22:05
Speaker 1: those public lands back home there might not be as
22:08
Speaker 1: many of them, which I think makes them even that
22:09
Speaker 1: much more important. And so um, you know, well, we
22:14
Speaker 1: started in the West, Uh, we're definitely we're resonating across
22:17
Speaker 1: the country because people are starting to understand of the
22:20
Speaker 1: importance of public lands and that all of us, like
22:23
Speaker 1: every single person on this that's listening to this, is
22:25
Speaker 1: a public landowner, like we we own that land. Federal
22:28
Speaker 1: government manages it for us, but all of us have
22:31
Speaker 1: ownership in that. And to me, I think there could
22:34
Speaker 1: be nothing more American than that. And the more people
22:37
Speaker 1: find out that, you know, they own this large I
22:40
Speaker 1: think it's like sixty six million acre estate where you know,
22:45
Speaker 1: we can all live like kings. I think they want
22:47
Speaker 1: to step up and make sure it's there for future generations. Absolutely,
22:50
Speaker 1: and I think it's it's such an important point to
22:52
Speaker 1: bring up for those of us that you know, as
22:55
Speaker 1: you mentioned, maybe we don't have as much public land
22:57
Speaker 1: here in the Midwest or on the East Coast, and
22:58
Speaker 1: I think sometimes we forget that all that is available
23:01
Speaker 1: to us and that it is, you know, like you said,
23:04
Speaker 1: we can live like kings other it's ours, it's ours
23:06
Speaker 1: to use, but it's also ours to protect and that
23:08
Speaker 1: we are also responsible for it. So I think to
23:11
Speaker 1: your points, there is so much relevance two people where
23:17
Speaker 1: I live or in the South or on the East
23:19
Speaker 1: Coast in what you guys are doing. I mean, like
23:21
Speaker 1: you said, you're protecting public lands, not just out west,
23:24
Speaker 1: but all across the country. You're working for fair chase.
23:27
Speaker 1: You're working to promote fair chase. That's very, um, very
23:31
Speaker 1: impactful on a lot of what we do as deer hunters.
23:34
Speaker 1: The high fence thing is a major issue, the drone
23:36
Speaker 1: thing is a major issue. UM. I think that really
23:40
Speaker 1: there's there's a universal countrywide relevance to your mission and
23:44
Speaker 1: what you're trying to do. And I think one of
23:46
Speaker 1: the big things that I am trying to do is
23:48
Speaker 1: I want to make sure as many people know about
23:50
Speaker 1: it as possible because it is relatively unique what you
23:52
Speaker 1: guys are doing. There aren't any organizations that are focused
23:55
Speaker 1: really primarily on public land policy, public and public land issues,
23:59
Speaker 1: and species specific You guys are working across the board
24:03
Speaker 1: for wildlife for habitat and that's what has really drawn
24:06
Speaker 1: me to your mission, to your organization. So I became
24:09
Speaker 1: a member, I don't know, maybe four or five years ago,
24:11
Speaker 1: and now I'm actually on the board of directors for
24:14
Speaker 1: the Michigan Chapter, and I'm really excited about what we're
24:16
Speaker 1: doing here in my home state. And I just you know,
24:19
Speaker 1: call to action for everybody listening. I mean, what you
24:22
Speaker 1: guys are doing impacts all of us, and I think
24:24
Speaker 1: we can all you know, help that cause too by
24:27
Speaker 1: becoming a part of it. So I guess my first
24:29
Speaker 1: or next question then, is for those that are interested
24:32
Speaker 1: in this mission, who like what you're saying, who who
24:34
Speaker 1: that resonates with? You know, what's what's entailed when they joined?
24:38
Speaker 1: How do you join? What's the cost? What's in it
24:41
Speaker 1: for them? How can they help? Great? And by the way,
24:46
Speaker 1: thank you for stepping up. I think there's a Roosevelt
24:48
Speaker 1: quote I just absolutely love. There's many of um, but
24:53
Speaker 1: it's it's it goes like this. I admired man who
24:56
Speaker 1: takes the next step, not those that ariz about the
25:00
Speaker 1: and like you becoming a member you uh, stepping up
25:03
Speaker 1: and being on the board in Michigan and help you know,
25:05
Speaker 1: start that chapter. I got stepped up doing something right,
25:10
Speaker 1: like we're in the arena, and I just you know,
25:12
Speaker 1: I think I hope more people you know, do that,
25:15
Speaker 1: And so big thank you for me, Mark, no problem,
25:18
Speaker 1: thank you. Um. You know, our membership is is you know,
25:22
Speaker 1: our single membership is super cheap. It's twenty five dollars,
25:25
Speaker 1: you know, I mean, that's uh, that's going out with
25:27
Speaker 1: a couple of friends and have a couple of beers.
25:29
Speaker 1: It's not that much money. UM. And so what that
25:32
Speaker 1: gets to you, that gets connected UM who are kind
25:35
Speaker 1: of at work and so you know something's happening, UM,
25:38
Speaker 1: we send you an action alert and provide it, you know,
25:40
Speaker 1: an opportunity for you to get involved really quickly. So
25:43
Speaker 1: there's that piece. If you have a local chapter in
25:47
Speaker 1: your state, this automatically connects to you to that local
25:49
Speaker 1: chapter and so you can get involved, come with what
25:51
Speaker 1: they're doing at a local level. UM. And then it
25:54
Speaker 1: gets you our magazine that comes out four times a year.
25:56
Speaker 1: And this magazine, I think, and I'm biased obviously, but
26:00
Speaker 1: I think it's one of the best magazines it's out
26:02
Speaker 1: there right now. Is that it's this UM insta this
26:05
Speaker 1: mix of kind of conservation policy as well as kind
26:10
Speaker 1: of the back country experience and UM. And it's getting
26:14
Speaker 1: better and better with each issue. And I got a
26:16
Speaker 1: it's a big asset that you get. UM. That's our
26:19
Speaker 1: at our our level. There there's a family membership at
26:22
Speaker 1: thirty five that you know we have. We definitely we're
26:25
Speaker 1: family oriented and would love to have more families involved. UM.
26:29
Speaker 1: There's a hundred dollar supporting member. That's that's yearly that
26:32
Speaker 1: I think if you want to step up a little
26:34
Speaker 1: bit more. And then there's the final piece with our
26:37
Speaker 1: life membership. And I think our life membership right now,
26:40
Speaker 1: like you can almost have not a you can't afford
26:43
Speaker 1: not to bekome a life member right now. I'm not
26:45
Speaker 1: sure how long we'll have these premiums that are so awesome,
26:47
Speaker 1: but you know you gotta right now, you become a
26:51
Speaker 1: life member a thousand dollars, you get opportunity to have
26:54
Speaker 1: either a seek outside tent. It was one of our
26:56
Speaker 1: great corporate partners based out a call Rattle. They're actually
26:59
Speaker 1: making or tents in Colorado, UM, and so you get
27:02
Speaker 1: a little t P tent there with the titanium stove,
27:06
Speaker 1: or you can you know, choose a micro carry three
27:10
Speaker 1: eight at Kimber micro Carry three eight and each one
27:14
Speaker 1: of those like it's there's not much difference between their
27:17
Speaker 1: retail value and the actual thousand dollars UM. And so
27:20
Speaker 1: again I don't think you can. I mean, if you
27:23
Speaker 1: hear what if you like what you're hearing and you
27:25
Speaker 1: think that either one of those is an attractive kind
27:27
Speaker 1: of piece, um, you can't afford not to do it
27:30
Speaker 1: right now. And then you know, we move into the
27:31
Speaker 1: fift hundred, which is a larger TP with the pantanium
27:34
Speaker 1: stove UM, and then a forty five and then the
27:38
Speaker 1: Kimber forty five a CP they're customed to, real nice
27:42
Speaker 1: pistol um. And then we move into the level and
27:46
Speaker 1: I think that's their seac outside's largest TV, which is
27:48
Speaker 1: a twelve man stove again there um. And then if
27:52
Speaker 1: you want, you can get the instead you can get
27:54
Speaker 1: the mountainous scent rifles from Kimber, which is the what's
27:59
Speaker 1: theist production rifle on the market, And it's just phenomenal
28:04
Speaker 1: on the artwork that's kind of gone into this, like
28:07
Speaker 1: the fluting of the bolt and everything. I was absolutely gorgeous.
28:11
Speaker 1: And it's a gun that performs to paying retails for
28:14
Speaker 1: about um. It's getting a good deal any one of those,
28:17
Speaker 1: and I encourage I'll take a look at it. And
28:20
Speaker 1: again I'm not sure how long it will last, the
28:21
Speaker 1: last about for the rest of the year, um, but
28:24
Speaker 1: they've been really generous to us, and who knows how
28:27
Speaker 1: long that last. So if you can't get it in now,
28:30
Speaker 1: I've seen that and I was very very tempted. It's
28:32
Speaker 1: it's on my to do list here soon to just
28:34
Speaker 1: make it happen, because I was like, wow, I want
28:36
Speaker 1: another handgun. I think this is a good way to
28:38
Speaker 1: go right and support that cause. So I like that.
28:43
Speaker 1: Now you had talked a little bit about some of
28:45
Speaker 1: the things going on farther east here in the Midwest
28:48
Speaker 1: and your new chapters and everything. Are there any actual
28:51
Speaker 1: current events or issues happening in those parts of the
28:54
Speaker 1: country that you guys are working on. I know, like,
28:56
Speaker 1: for example, there's some stuff going on in the Boundary Waters,
28:59
Speaker 1: I think, But is there any you can you tell
29:00
Speaker 1: us more about that or anything else that you guys
29:02
Speaker 1: are keeping your eye on in this part of the country. Yeah,
29:05
Speaker 1: I mean, I'll talk to I mean, I think the
29:07
Speaker 1: Boundary Waters is a good example. Um, you know, very
29:10
Speaker 1: special place. Uh you know, one of the most visited
29:14
Speaker 1: wilderness the entire country, and that's because it's so dawn accessible.
29:17
Speaker 1: You know, you can take young kids in there, and
29:19
Speaker 1: you can take grandparents in there, and um, but at
29:22
Speaker 1: the same time still get lost because it's just the
29:24
Speaker 1: nature of you know, I think of all the different
29:26
Speaker 1: kind of lakes that are connected there and UM, so
29:29
Speaker 1: it's it's been around for a long time and it's
29:31
Speaker 1: a it's highly valued for for hunting and fishing and
29:35
Speaker 1: also this kind of the clean water that it provides
29:37
Speaker 1: those local communities. And UM, there's a couple of minds
29:41
Speaker 1: that are proposed on the southern end that I think
29:44
Speaker 1: one of them is only that like a quarter mile
29:45
Speaker 1: from the edge and all the water flows north there
29:48
Speaker 1: and so you know, any kind of spillage would go
29:50
Speaker 1: into um the boundary waters and taint that forever. And UM.
29:55
Speaker 1: You know, there's there's not a mine that hasn't waked,
29:57
Speaker 1: and so it's not about about if that's going to happen.
29:59
Speaker 1: It's a matter of when. And so it's something we're
30:02
Speaker 1: really engaged in. And what's awesome is that we've been
30:05
Speaker 1: working on this, you know, with our members for a
30:07
Speaker 1: while now and then a greater kind of coalition and
30:10
Speaker 1: just here in the last week the chief of the
30:14
Speaker 1: four Service announced that they're going to look at those
30:17
Speaker 1: two minds, um their permits and uh and see if
30:21
Speaker 1: if it's not a place that they should be permitted.
30:23
Speaker 1: And so there'll be a public comment period kind of
30:26
Speaker 1: on that. I'm not like I am exactly rather structuring that,
30:30
Speaker 1: but I'll start June twenty and kind of go through
30:33
Speaker 1: uh July nineteenth, I think is so it's like about
30:36
Speaker 1: thirty day comment period, and so there's an opportunity to
30:39
Speaker 1: get involved in that right now. And even if you don't,
30:41
Speaker 1: you know, go to the boundary water has never been there,
30:43
Speaker 1: maybe never will go there. Like it's one of those
30:46
Speaker 1: places that you just love knowing that's out there and
30:49
Speaker 1: knowing that, um, you know, if you if you did
30:51
Speaker 1: want to go, you could. So that's one thing. Um.
30:53
Speaker 1: I think one thing I call out is what you
30:55
Speaker 1: guys did in Michigan that I'm I'm watching but kind
30:58
Speaker 1: of letting you guys take the lead on because you're
31:00
Speaker 1: there and you know it. And that's this idea of
31:03
Speaker 1: you know, we talked about the sale and transfer of
31:05
Speaker 1: public lands um at a federal level, but one of
31:09
Speaker 1: the reasons, you know, we are worried about them being
31:11
Speaker 1: transferred to the states is because the states have divested
31:14
Speaker 1: allows of the lands that was originally granted to them.
31:16
Speaker 1: And that's happening right in your state right now. I mean,
31:18
Speaker 1: there's there you know more about this than me, but
31:21
Speaker 1: there's you know, state land that's being put on the
31:24
Speaker 1: auction block. And while that makes sense sometimes because of
31:27
Speaker 1: the I guess the quality of land that that is
31:30
Speaker 1: and that might not be the greatest fish And while
31:32
Speaker 1: that habitat like there's stuff on the on the topping
31:34
Speaker 1: block that is there and to me, UM, you know,
31:38
Speaker 1: you guys are at the kind of tip of the spear.
31:39
Speaker 1: They've already gone to the state legislature, which I think
31:41
Speaker 1: is awesome. UM, And I've kind of hit the ground running.
31:44
Speaker 1: So I think, you know, those two um would be
31:47
Speaker 1: stuff I call out. I mean I think the um
31:50
Speaker 1: you know, some of the stuff we've talked about, whether
31:52
Speaker 1: that owns are like game farms are kind of universal. Um,
31:57
Speaker 1: definitely our stuff that's happening. UM. You know, we've got
32:00
Speaker 1: some stuff we're looking at over in Maine right now.
32:02
Speaker 1: They're looking at designating either a national park or national
32:06
Speaker 1: money up there in the main Woods. And it's a
32:09
Speaker 1: private entity. UM. A woman that was part of the
32:13
Speaker 1: um the bees kind of lip bom kind of like
32:17
Speaker 1: Coomer Bird's bees. Yeah, thank you, Sorry, I lost that
32:21
Speaker 1: for a second about birds bees. And so she has
32:23
Speaker 1: this this property up there that she wants to get
32:25
Speaker 1: to the United States, and so we're trying to make
32:27
Speaker 1: sure that you know there's opportunities and the fish up there, um,
32:30
Speaker 1: and that you know that that landscape is maintained and
32:33
Speaker 1: um it's conserved. So um, those are a couple. I mean,
32:36
Speaker 1: I think you know, the what's what's what's unique about
32:39
Speaker 1: this country and and and we're a cute geography. But
32:45
Speaker 1: you know, when stuff goes on out in d C.
32:49
Speaker 1: There's stuff that you know that that that we need
32:52
Speaker 1: elected officials in Wisconsin and Michigan and Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania,
32:57
Speaker 1: these places that gislation may only impact the West, but
33:02
Speaker 1: they still vote on it, right, And so like being
33:03
Speaker 1: want to educate those folks on all sorts of different issues,
33:07
Speaker 1: you've got to have those people in place. And so, um,
33:10
Speaker 1: you know, expanning our reach with the chapters and the
33:13
Speaker 1: kind of the Upper Midwest I call it like the
33:14
Speaker 1: Great Lakes region, um, and then kind of the the
33:21
Speaker 1: in New England and kind of like New York and Pennsylvania.
33:24
Speaker 1: Not only can they help us work on more and
33:26
Speaker 1: stuff in those local areas, but they can also help
33:29
Speaker 1: us at the federal levels. So um, you know, again
33:32
Speaker 1: it may a little different. You know that public lands
33:34
Speaker 1: may be a little bit different, but you know, man,
33:35
Speaker 1: we want to take care of them. And then you know,
33:37
Speaker 1: there's a lot of private property, especially like with timber
33:40
Speaker 1: companies that are in the in the East, that um,
33:43
Speaker 1: you know, aren't necessarily open to the public, and so
33:45
Speaker 1: you know, you know, getting some public access to those
33:47
Speaker 1: pieces um is something that you know, I think some
33:50
Speaker 1: of our local chapters are working on east of the
33:52
Speaker 1: Mississippi well, and I think that's a you know, it's
33:54
Speaker 1: a great thing for them to be doing. Yeah, so
33:57
Speaker 1: what's something I kind of I think some people maybe
33:59
Speaker 1: one or about when they hear about all these different
34:01
Speaker 1: tens of issues that you guys are working on or
34:04
Speaker 1: these topics of concern, they might wonder, you know, what
34:07
Speaker 1: are you actually doing? Like how do you work on that?
34:10
Speaker 1: I mean, is it you and your team going and
34:13
Speaker 1: talking to legislators or is it just mobilizing members to
34:18
Speaker 1: call and write letters, or how is it that b
34:20
Speaker 1: h A actually makes an impact on these issues that
34:23
Speaker 1: are you know, of importance to you not us. That's great. UM,
34:27
Speaker 1: So let's take the bounty water since that's just something
34:30
Speaker 1: that's like real topical right now. So, um, like that's
34:35
Speaker 1: something proactive that we're trying to do and then I'll
34:36
Speaker 1: talk about after that. So this is the place you know,
34:40
Speaker 1: that we've described already and that you know, we really
34:42
Speaker 1: care about. And so his mind's kind of like the
34:46
Speaker 1: pro point. Well, we're like we've been out to d
34:49
Speaker 1: C talking to people and within the administration saying it
34:52
Speaker 1: is not a good idea, do this, don't do this,
34:55
Speaker 1: don't do this, and and so you know we've been
34:58
Speaker 1: doing that for a while now and then just for
35:00
Speaker 1: that so those are kind of you know, intense kind
35:02
Speaker 1: of one on one meetings and so that now has
35:06
Speaker 1: precipitated kind of this process where they're going to look
35:09
Speaker 1: at these like the permits of these minds. And so
35:11
Speaker 1: now once that process starts, like we really want to
35:14
Speaker 1: turn on the grassroots. You know, it's not so much
35:16
Speaker 1: anymore about like these one on one meetings, but it's
35:19
Speaker 1: about mobilizing the masses. And so we're gonna be driving
35:22
Speaker 1: a petition that gets folks to um, you know, to
35:26
Speaker 1: to voice their opinion to the administration about why they
35:29
Speaker 1: think it's a bad idea. And uh, and so that
35:32
Speaker 1: you know, they have a way to engage and then
35:34
Speaker 1: that we just overwhelmed them with numbers and then they
35:36
Speaker 1: hopefully make the right decisions. So um, you know, really
35:39
Speaker 1: that's that's that's how we work things, is you know,
35:42
Speaker 1: is really globalizing grassroots. And you know sometimes um, that's
35:46
Speaker 1: not you know, saying a petition or writing a letter
35:48
Speaker 1: or making a phone call. That's you know, writing an
35:50
Speaker 1: opinion editorial that gets placed in a paper. Um, that's
35:54
Speaker 1: uh you know, um, you know, showing up at a
35:59
Speaker 1: meeting like the gonna be a meeting on the Bounty Waters.
36:01
Speaker 1: I think it's July thirteenth and Dulose and so we
36:04
Speaker 1: know we're gonna mobilize a bunch of people to go
36:06
Speaker 1: to that. So there's many ways for grassroot folks to
36:08
Speaker 1: get involved. And then you know, once in a while
36:11
Speaker 1: we take people out to d C. And I will
36:12
Speaker 1: tell you that's my most fun is I've I've been
36:15
Speaker 1: out there enough where it doesn't overwhelm me anymore. And
36:19
Speaker 1: it's fun to watch somebody kind of let their eyes
36:21
Speaker 1: get big when they're out in d C. Um. And
36:23
Speaker 1: then for them to make an impact, you know, I mean,
36:26
Speaker 1: they really do make an impact. So um, for me,
36:30
Speaker 1: it's it's a pretty cool thing. And um, that's kind
36:32
Speaker 1: of the way we work, I would say, I mean,
36:34
Speaker 1: the some of the stuff that's you know, like I
36:37
Speaker 1: guess pens all um have kind of management regimes if
36:42
Speaker 1: they go under and and some of that's like they
36:44
Speaker 1: go over travel management that's about every fifteen years, and
36:47
Speaker 1: then resource management plans which are about every fifteen years.
36:50
Speaker 1: And so that's like on the ground specific to that
36:52
Speaker 1: specific forest and or you know, piece of bill and property.
36:56
Speaker 1: And so then we engage people there where we you know,
36:58
Speaker 1: look at kind of how forces being managed, and then
37:01
Speaker 1: we comment on things that we think they should continue
37:04
Speaker 1: to do, and then we comment on things on that
37:06
Speaker 1: we think that they should do differently. And that's a
37:08
Speaker 1: way for us to engage in that process as well. Um,
37:11
Speaker 1: you know. And then and then you know, with the
37:13
Speaker 1: with drones, the majority of that happened through phishing game
37:17
Speaker 1: commissions and so you know, we were actively going to
37:20
Speaker 1: meetings there and mobilizing people to write letters and stuff
37:23
Speaker 1: to fishing game commissioners and then openly they made great
37:26
Speaker 1: decisions on drones. A couple of those had to happen
37:29
Speaker 1: at the state legislature and So that's you know, informing
37:32
Speaker 1: people and then getting them to like committee meetings and
37:36
Speaker 1: and and having them call their local elected officials. So um,
37:40
Speaker 1: really like we're a mobilizer and then to one on
37:44
Speaker 1: one kind of higher level meetings as well. So what's
37:48
Speaker 1: that like when you go to d C or you
37:51
Speaker 1: go and meet with these different agencies or commissions or whatnot?
37:56
Speaker 1: I mean, do our are these people humoring us and
38:00
Speaker 1: listening to you know, you guys, or what are the
38:02
Speaker 1: other organizations out there? Or are they really taking what
38:05
Speaker 1: we're saying to heart? Because one of the things that
38:07
Speaker 1: worry about is, you know, as the number of hunters
38:10
Speaker 1: and anglers decreased to some degree, is our influence waning?
38:15
Speaker 1: Is that something you're seeing? It's a great question. So
38:18
Speaker 1: I would say it's both. Right. There's some folks that
38:21
Speaker 1: are just kind of humor in us and nod on
38:22
Speaker 1: their head and then uh, you know, they don't listen
38:24
Speaker 1: and they go to something else. Um, I think there's
38:27
Speaker 1: folks that are are listening and our true champions and
38:30
Speaker 1: I call out Senator staff now from your home state.
38:34
Speaker 1: I mean, she has been nothing but a champion for
38:35
Speaker 1: SPORTSS issues and especially as that relates to her position
38:39
Speaker 1: on the Agriculture Committee, and you know the farm bill.
38:42
Speaker 1: She's just been amazing. Senator Heinrich out into Mexico as
38:46
Speaker 1: another Um, that's just amazing. UM. And I I think
38:50
Speaker 1: you're you know, like honey numbers and fishing hunters, hunter
38:54
Speaker 1: angler numbers been going down for the last few decades
38:56
Speaker 1: and this last kind of you guys sial Life Service
38:59
Speaker 1: study that they did, the numbers actually went up again.
39:02
Speaker 1: But percentage wise, yeah, we're doing one And so does
39:05
Speaker 1: that make me nervous for sure? Um? But you know,
39:08
Speaker 1: we're we're a constituency that not only are we passionate about, um,
39:16
Speaker 1: you know, our outdoor heritage and kind of the pursuits
39:18
Speaker 1: that we all love, we're also a huge economic driver.
39:22
Speaker 1: You know. It's we're part of a sixty six billion
39:25
Speaker 1: dollar outdoor economy is generated every year and you know,
39:30
Speaker 1: if we take care of that, that's not only sustainable,
39:32
Speaker 1: but I think that can grow. And so you know,
39:34
Speaker 1: while percentage wise we might not be as big as
39:38
Speaker 1: maybe we once were, UM, we still you know, we
39:41
Speaker 1: still definitely have a seat at the table. And and
39:44
Speaker 1: I think for those that are ignoring us, UM, you know,
39:48
Speaker 1: we are h we're holding them accountable. And you know,
39:53
Speaker 1: I like to say it like we're calling spades spades.
39:56
Speaker 1: So you know, where folks are doing good things, Um,
39:59
Speaker 1: you know, we really you know call them out and
40:01
Speaker 1: say thank you a lot of times. Look never here
40:04
Speaker 1: thank you. They beat up all the time. And so
40:07
Speaker 1: can we make a real conscious effort to say thank
40:09
Speaker 1: you when they're doing the right thing and then on
40:11
Speaker 1: the flip side of that, when they do the wrong thing? Uh,
40:13
Speaker 1: you know, we come out and we make sure that
40:15
Speaker 1: they can understand that and what you hope you do
40:18
Speaker 1: in that there's a little bit of pain and so
40:20
Speaker 1: that pain, you know, just like when you're training a dog,
40:25
Speaker 1: they don't want that pain. They want to they want
40:27
Speaker 1: you know, they want to get that treat. And so
40:30
Speaker 1: you helped change their behavior through some of that pain.
40:32
Speaker 1: And that's not something we really do lightly. And I
40:34
Speaker 1: think you know, there's there's certain organizations that that's all
40:38
Speaker 1: they do is cry wolf and beat b beat, beat beat,
40:41
Speaker 1: And I don't think that they have as much influence
40:43
Speaker 1: because everybody knows kind of where they are. Um from
40:46
Speaker 1: our side, you know, I think people should know where
40:48
Speaker 1: we are as public band advocates, but you know, we're
40:51
Speaker 1: we're in this game to again thank you for doing
40:54
Speaker 1: the right thing and then spank you we're doing the
40:56
Speaker 1: wrong thing. And so um, you know, I We're not
41:00
Speaker 1: one way or the other really um. And I think
41:03
Speaker 1: people appreciate that about us, but also can hopefully learn
41:06
Speaker 1: from that as well. Yeah, so kind of in relation
41:09
Speaker 1: to to all that, one of the things that drives
41:12
Speaker 1: me nuts almost more than anything else melts and me
41:15
Speaker 1: and Randy Newberg have commiserated about this, and I imagine
41:18
Speaker 1: it probably frustrates you to is this fact that conservation
41:25
Speaker 1: and wildlife has become so partisan and you've got one
41:28
Speaker 1: party that says they support sportsmen and they help us
41:31
Speaker 1: with certain things, and then you've got another party that
41:34
Speaker 1: helps us with certain things but then might not necessarily
41:37
Speaker 1: be pro sportsman's rights or firearm rights or different things
41:40
Speaker 1: like that. How do you how do you deal with that?
41:43
Speaker 1: How do we deal with that in a way in
41:45
Speaker 1: a world? Right now, I don't I don't know what
41:46
Speaker 1: to do anymore because I feel like I'm splitting down
41:48
Speaker 1: the middle of the Yeah I want this, but I
41:50
Speaker 1: want that. Yeah, you know, I you know, we're five
41:54
Speaker 1: and one C. Three and so you know, we don't
41:56
Speaker 1: get involved in political campaigns. In fact, we're barred from
41:59
Speaker 1: doing that and um. And so we're you know, straight
42:02
Speaker 1: education and kind of influence. UM after somebody gets elected.
42:07
Speaker 1: That said, I think that that your listeners and every
42:11
Speaker 1: hunter and angler needs to know and needs to ask
42:14
Speaker 1: questions of their elected officials on where they stand on issues.
42:18
Speaker 1: And I think kind of you know, the n r
42:21
Speaker 1: A has the Second Amendment, UM, and I've heard public
42:26
Speaker 1: lands almost described as a second second amendment. Right, I
42:28
Speaker 1: gets it that important and you know it's a litmus test.
42:31
Speaker 1: And if you ask a you know, an elected official
42:34
Speaker 1: or somebody that's running, do you support public lands? Uh,
42:39
Speaker 1: you know, and like their answer is very telling. And
42:42
Speaker 1: I think we need that we need to educate ourselves
42:44
Speaker 1: that way, and then folks need to get out there
42:47
Speaker 1: and they need to vote, um, you know on those issues.
42:50
Speaker 1: And I think you know, if we if we do that, UM,
42:55
Speaker 1: I think that both parties come back more to the
42:58
Speaker 1: center because that's where conservation is, that's where our history
43:02
Speaker 1: comes from. I mean again, like you think about clean air,
43:05
Speaker 1: clean water, that was Nixon and e s the Conendangered
43:09
Speaker 1: Species Act, and that was done, you know, in a
43:12
Speaker 1: Republican administration, but it was was overwhelming support from both
43:15
Speaker 1: sides of the aisle. And and that's where we need
43:17
Speaker 1: to get back to. And that's really where the country is.
43:20
Speaker 1: And I think, um, you know, I wish that our
43:22
Speaker 1: elected officials were too, and I think you know that
43:25
Speaker 1: things have become more partisan and I'm not exactly sure why,
43:28
Speaker 1: but they seem to be getting worse. And hopefully kind
43:31
Speaker 1: of conservation and kind of our hunting and fishing heritage
43:34
Speaker 1: is a place where we can work together. And we've
43:36
Speaker 1: proven that on some on some cases, and I hope
43:40
Speaker 1: that that becomes less of the exception of more of
43:42
Speaker 1: the rule. Yeah. So speaking of the well speaking a
43:47
Speaker 1: little bit, what you mentioned that you guys can't participate
43:50
Speaker 1: in the politics and that type of issue, but education
43:53
Speaker 1: is something that sounds like you can do. Do you
43:56
Speaker 1: guys have plans to or can you at all speak
43:59
Speaker 1: to what the public land policies the stated public land
44:03
Speaker 1: policies are of the two major candidates right now for president,
44:07
Speaker 1: Because I feel like it's like, what's real, you know
44:10
Speaker 1: what some some one person says such and such one
44:12
Speaker 1: person says such and such. I mean, can you speak
44:15
Speaker 1: to what what do these two people stand for when
44:17
Speaker 1: it comes to public laim? Is that something you can
44:19
Speaker 1: speak to? Yeah, I mean I think that you know
44:22
Speaker 1: the what we did something back when the primary was
44:27
Speaker 1: in the Vada, the Reno Journal, which is a newspaper
44:30
Speaker 1: out of Reno, UM asked the candidates some questions and um,
44:35
Speaker 1: and so you know, both Hillary and uh Donald answered
44:39
Speaker 1: those questions and we published those And so it's not
44:42
Speaker 1: us you know, necessarily saying, um, we we're definitely not
44:46
Speaker 1: saying hey, this one's better, this one's worse. We're just fighting.
44:50
Speaker 1: And so we've done that, um, and we'll continue to
44:52
Speaker 1: kind of play that piece. UM. One thing I'd love
44:56
Speaker 1: for us to do, but we're just not kind of
44:59
Speaker 1: we're not big enough right now, I think to do
45:02
Speaker 1: just because it takes a pretty pure acculing and effort.
45:05
Speaker 1: But we'll do will be to do like a scorecard. Yeah,
45:08
Speaker 1: and so you know, solve this person vote on you
45:11
Speaker 1: know these issues. Um, and you need to know that,
45:14
Speaker 1: right and again not saying hey go vote for this person,
45:18
Speaker 1: not vote for that person. People can make their own
45:20
Speaker 1: kind of conclusion. But they're providing the information and I
45:24
Speaker 1: definitely want to do. We just weren't set up do um,
45:27
Speaker 1: you know, this year, and I maybe that's something we
45:29
Speaker 1: can engage in next year. You have to be we
45:31
Speaker 1: have to be careful and how you do that and
45:32
Speaker 1: as ever questions because you know, it can be seen
45:35
Speaker 1: as looting and that's not something we want to do.
45:37
Speaker 1: We would really want to be you know, more educational.
45:39
Speaker 1: So UM for for us, you know, I think I
45:43
Speaker 1: mean on the public lands of peace and in particular
45:46
Speaker 1: uh um that you know, Trump kind of set himself aside,
45:51
Speaker 1: you know, apart from the other Republican candidates by saying
45:54
Speaker 1: that you know, he wanted to make sure that you know,
45:56
Speaker 1: public lands stay in public hands. UM. I will say
46:00
Speaker 1: it that there was some folks involved in the campaign
46:02
Speaker 1: UM that either misspoke, um or there was some confusion
46:06
Speaker 1: within what that actually meant. But said that, man, we
46:09
Speaker 1: owned too many public lands or too you know, too
46:11
Speaker 1: many U. We have too many public lands and we
46:13
Speaker 1: need to sell some of that and that would be
46:15
Speaker 1: a good way for us to like, you know, work
46:16
Speaker 1: on the national debt. So you know, I look forward
46:20
Speaker 1: to kind of hearing more about his stance. I haven't
46:22
Speaker 1: seen anything, um, about kind of of his uh platform,
46:29
Speaker 1: but you know, on that specifically, so i'd love to
46:31
Speaker 1: I guess I don't think it's out yet. UM. And
46:34
Speaker 1: and then on on the Clinton side, UM, you know,
46:38
Speaker 1: she came out really, you know, really strongly in supportive
46:42
Speaker 1: of keeping the public lands and public hands. And then
46:45
Speaker 1: I mentioned earlier the kind of sixty six billion dollars
46:49
Speaker 1: UM you know I was generated from outdoor recreation every year. Um,
46:53
Speaker 1: Hillary came out and said that she wants to double
46:55
Speaker 1: that if she was elected. And I think that might
46:58
Speaker 1: be political speak because I thing, you don't one, I
47:01
Speaker 1: don't know if I want another six or forty six
47:03
Speaker 1: billion dollars out on the ground recording where you and
47:05
Speaker 1: I are. UM. But and I just don't think it's
47:08
Speaker 1: like I don't I just don't think it's achievable. But
47:11
Speaker 1: you know, it does show you that I think she
47:12
Speaker 1: she's committed to that to you know, that economy and
47:15
Speaker 1: helping grow that economy which is sustainable. So UM, you know,
47:19
Speaker 1: those two issues. I think that's good. I think you know,
47:21
Speaker 1: we're looking at UM, we're looking at you know, other
47:27
Speaker 1: issues as well, like clean water and and UM and
47:30
Speaker 1: how federal agencies are managed and and and the money
47:33
Speaker 1: that goes into that and so um, you know, and
47:36
Speaker 1: I can I can't. I mean, we're i'd say we're
47:38
Speaker 1: looking into that piece. I'm just a week kind of
47:40
Speaker 1: know where the candidates are and then you know, depending
47:43
Speaker 1: on whoever wins, you know, we're gonna work with no
47:45
Speaker 1: matter who wins, and so um, trying to figure out, uh,
47:49
Speaker 1: you know what kind of uh we would present to
47:52
Speaker 1: them after the election and so what you know, giving
47:55
Speaker 1: them our priorities and saying hey, you know, this is
47:57
Speaker 1: what we would love for you to do, and then
48:00
Speaker 1: working with them to do that, or you know, saying
48:02
Speaker 1: that they're doing the opposite at that point. Yeah, So
48:05
Speaker 1: to this kind of point when we're looking at the
48:07
Speaker 1: two parties and this whole issue. Um. One of the
48:12
Speaker 1: things that sometimes happens when a sportsman's organization or when
48:17
Speaker 1: you when someone's an individual starts saying, hey, we should
48:20
Speaker 1: be concerned about that mind that might impact honey effishing,
48:23
Speaker 1: or I'm concerned about this, you know drill going in
48:26
Speaker 1: or this timber harvest. Maybe you start hearing from some
48:29
Speaker 1: people calling you a tree hugger and saying you're some
48:32
Speaker 1: crazy green liberal something or other something or other, and
48:36
Speaker 1: these things start getting thrown. I don't understand when it
48:38
Speaker 1: became a bad thing for a hunter and angler to
48:40
Speaker 1: care about our environment and the habit at where these
48:43
Speaker 1: animals live, But somehow that's happening. And there's one specific
48:47
Speaker 1: example of this I've seen in relation to what you
48:50
Speaker 1: guys are doing. B h A. There's this. I can't
48:52
Speaker 1: remember when this happened, but I don't know. A couple
48:54
Speaker 1: of years ago I posted something that you guys had mentioned,
48:56
Speaker 1: a website link or something like that, and someone started
49:00
Speaker 1: commenting on my posts with links to this website for
49:03
Speaker 1: green decoys, saying back country hunters, anglers and all these guys,
49:06
Speaker 1: they're not really for hunters and anglers their green decoys.
49:09
Speaker 1: Can you speak to that a little bit? Yeah, um,
49:14
Speaker 1: and I appreciate your statement, Like you know that why
49:18
Speaker 1: is carrying about the places we go hunting fish the
49:21
Speaker 1: environment and like how they managed? How is that in
49:24
Speaker 1: any way, shape or form like anti hunting? That's that's
49:27
Speaker 1: that's what hunters and anglers have been doing in this
49:29
Speaker 1: country really since this conservation ethics started in the lighteen
49:33
Speaker 1: eighteen hundreds, and you know, without hunters and anglers stepping
49:37
Speaker 1: up for clean water, for clean air, for the Wilderness Act,
49:42
Speaker 1: like this country is nowhere and and so this is
49:45
Speaker 1: nothing new. I mean, like hunters have been stepping up.
49:47
Speaker 1: And I think where this is coming from is this
49:50
Speaker 1: really like a political kind of wedged tool, right, and
49:53
Speaker 1: that as as we become much more effective than what
49:57
Speaker 1: we do. And you know, we're not saying no September harvest,
50:00
Speaker 1: We're not saying no to oil and gas development. We're
50:03
Speaker 1: just talking about in a sustainable kind of responsible fashion.
50:06
Speaker 1: And um, I think some folks see the success that
50:10
Speaker 1: we're having in that space and they're worried and so
50:13
Speaker 1: they're you know, they they are using you know, campaign
50:17
Speaker 1: political campaign tactics for you know, you trash somebody, um
50:21
Speaker 1: and try to hurt their credibility, um, in order to
50:24
Speaker 1: undermine what they're doing. And I think that's exactly what
50:27
Speaker 1: they're doing. I mean, the folks that are behind its
50:30
Speaker 1: green decoy site particular not to a K Street kind
50:34
Speaker 1: of lobbyist PR firm. I have a guy that's the
50:38
Speaker 1: head of it. His name is Richard Berman. He's been
50:40
Speaker 1: you know, called Dr Evil by sixty minutes he um.
50:45
Speaker 1: He advocated against mothers against droung driving. He told pregnant
50:48
Speaker 1: mothers it was okay to eat mercury latent fish. Um,
50:53
Speaker 1: he's a bad dude. And he got caught on tape.
50:57
Speaker 1: I believe it was like a year and a half ago.
50:59
Speaker 1: He was at a meeting of oil executives in Colorado
51:03
Speaker 1: and he was there and he said, you know, you
51:05
Speaker 1: guys want to hire me because you know you're gonna
51:08
Speaker 1: you can either play nice and potentially lose, or you
51:11
Speaker 1: can play dirty with me. And in every single time
51:15
Speaker 1: and was bragging about like these just dirty kind of
51:18
Speaker 1: lying tactics. And there was a oil and gas ceo
51:22
Speaker 1: in the room. Um that didn't like what he was hearing.
51:25
Speaker 1: So he got out of the cell phone, he pushed record,
51:27
Speaker 1: and he sent out to the New York Times. And
51:30
Speaker 1: so you know, there was a big exposure that was
51:32
Speaker 1: done there. Now, Richard Berman and his kind of minions,
51:36
Speaker 1: they revel in that, you know, that's how they do
51:38
Speaker 1: their business, and so that's no press is bad press
51:40
Speaker 1: for them, and and so you know, I think it's
51:43
Speaker 1: pretty laughable to be honest, Like, Um, when I first
51:47
Speaker 1: heard it, I was driving down the road and the
51:49
Speaker 1: front of mine called me from Louisiana, and uh, I
51:53
Speaker 1: took up the phone. He's like, have you seen the
51:54
Speaker 1: green decoy stuff? And I was all excited. I thought
51:56
Speaker 1: there was like a new you know line of decoys
51:58
Speaker 1: that I hadn't heard about, you know, waterfowl hunter. And
52:02
Speaker 1: they start telling me what it's about. I will tell
52:04
Speaker 1: you. You You know, they've gone a personally. Um, and you're
52:07
Speaker 1: not hurt. And I was pissed and I started thinking
52:10
Speaker 1: about it, and you know, really, we should wear this
52:13
Speaker 1: as a badge of honor. And we should wear this
52:15
Speaker 1: badge of honor because the only reason they're attacking us
52:17
Speaker 1: is because we are being successful in this space. And
52:20
Speaker 1: to be quite honest, you know, we're a young organization
52:23
Speaker 1: that not a lot of people know about and then
52:25
Speaker 1: gots changing every single day. But getting our name out there, um,
52:29
Speaker 1: you know, helps people like start to look at who
52:32
Speaker 1: we are. And for those that don't, you know, that
52:34
Speaker 1: are so dogmatic that they can't really look at us
52:38
Speaker 1: for what we do. Uh, it's gonna add more fuel
52:40
Speaker 1: of their fire and they're gonna say, see, you guys
52:42
Speaker 1: are green. Um. But uh, you know, for the people
52:46
Speaker 1: that look at us, go to our website. I mean,
52:48
Speaker 1: I challenge anybody, um that that thinks that we're quote
52:53
Speaker 1: unquote green Deco is look at any of the policies
52:55
Speaker 1: that we're engaged in and tell me that that's anti
52:57
Speaker 1: hunting or anti fishing, and you just can't do it.
53:00
Speaker 1: Um and and so um there's that piece. And then
53:03
Speaker 1: you know, I think the part that was most laughable
53:06
Speaker 1: to me is that Colina was kind of like fake hunters.
53:08
Speaker 1: And you know, I used this the day when I
53:11
Speaker 1: was talking to somebody. Somebody's asked me about it. And
53:14
Speaker 1: I just got back from fishing with my daughter, and
53:17
Speaker 1: I think she had caught three brown trout and and
53:20
Speaker 1: and so we had kept them. And and she she
53:23
Speaker 1: turns eight this uh this summer, and she really wants
53:26
Speaker 1: a knife, uh, you know, for for her birthday so
53:29
Speaker 1: that she can help gut fish and and and uh
53:34
Speaker 1: and and breast like out ducks. And and to me,
53:38
Speaker 1: like she's had more blood on her hands. And those
53:40
Speaker 1: guys over in d C will ever have you know,
53:42
Speaker 1: and they're pale white lobbyists from inside K Street. So
53:46
Speaker 1: you know, to me, like that's laughable. And so now
53:48
Speaker 1: they're starting to change their tactics like, oh, I guess
53:50
Speaker 1: they are real hunters, but you know they care about
53:52
Speaker 1: the environment. I'm like, well, just like you said, like,
53:55
Speaker 1: because we care about the environment, we want to make
53:57
Speaker 1: sure we have places that have you know, elk and
54:01
Speaker 1: deer and and uh fish and ducks like shame on us,
54:05
Speaker 1: Like sorry about that, but that's what we do. And
54:08
Speaker 1: and I hope that you know, and they don't probably
54:10
Speaker 1: understand the history of hunters. I mean, like, you know,
54:13
Speaker 1: we tax ourselves, we pay licenses that all go back
54:16
Speaker 1: to habitat and conservation and so, um, we have a
54:20
Speaker 1: long history of stepping up and we're not going to
54:22
Speaker 1: shot away from that and so um, you know it's
54:25
Speaker 1: a it's an advance for sure. Um, but you know
54:28
Speaker 1: we're gonna keep our head down and keep doing what
54:30
Speaker 1: we do and not really pay attention to those guys. Yeah,
54:32
Speaker 1: absolutely into your point when you read that kind of stuff.
54:35
Speaker 1: Just like you said, like, if I think of any
54:36
Speaker 1: single person I know who is a member of b
54:39
Speaker 1: h A, these are the most hardcore guys and girls
54:42
Speaker 1: when it comes to hunting and fishing. I mean I
54:44
Speaker 1: don't know anyone at all who who who would fall
54:47
Speaker 1: underneath that fake hunter or anti hunter, anti fishermen um
54:50
Speaker 1: by any means at all. So, like you said, it's
54:52
Speaker 1: pretty laughable, but it does have to be a little
54:54
Speaker 1: bit frustrating when you see that kind of stuff popping up.
54:56
Speaker 1: And for those who are uninformed when they see that, um,
55:00
Speaker 1: you know, that's that's a bummer that that's out there.
55:02
Speaker 1: But to your point, badge of honor, you guys are
55:03
Speaker 1: doing a good enough job you get noticed. So yeah,
55:07
Speaker 1: and you know, I think getting back to your point,
55:09
Speaker 1: like I told you that when I used to work
55:10
Speaker 1: for National Wealth Deafitation, I bring in people from b
55:14
Speaker 1: h A because they're badasses, and then they're out there
55:17
Speaker 1: all the time, you know, And and you know, this
55:20
Speaker 1: isn't like that they do once a year to talk
55:21
Speaker 1: about the cocktail party. It's like a way of life
55:24
Speaker 1: for them, and and so yeah, I mean it's we're
55:27
Speaker 1: we're we're are blessed with a really awesome membership, and
55:32
Speaker 1: you know, we're gonna keep doing what we do. Absolutely,
55:34
Speaker 1: So we've kind of touched on a little bit as
55:37
Speaker 1: we've gone through, and I want to talk about a
55:38
Speaker 1: number of the different issues you brought up at the beginning,
55:41
Speaker 1: but I think increct me if I'm wrong, but I
55:43
Speaker 1: think probably the number one issue on most people's minds
55:46
Speaker 1: right now is this whole topic of the transfer or
55:48
Speaker 1: sale of public lands. Um. And we've we've talked about
55:51
Speaker 1: it several times in the podcast before we had Randy
55:54
Speaker 1: on the show to talk about it. We we've talked
55:55
Speaker 1: with Fostburg about it. UM. But can you give us
55:59
Speaker 1: an update it on where things stand now in regards
56:02
Speaker 1: to this whole movement. You know, we haven't talked about
56:04
Speaker 1: since the whole Bundy deal. We haven't talked about since
56:06
Speaker 1: some recent votes have happened here just a couple of
56:08
Speaker 1: days ago. Can you tell us where things stand now
56:11
Speaker 1: in what what that means for us? Yeah, I mean
56:14
Speaker 1: I think, uh, I mean, I think the Bundy deal,
56:16
Speaker 1: as tragic as that was, UM, I think it awakened
56:20
Speaker 1: people that you know, we all are public landowners, and
56:24
Speaker 1: you know they think one of the things that they
56:25
Speaker 1: said is you know we're gonna return this land of
56:27
Speaker 1: the people. Well, who does that mean it belongs to
56:30
Speaker 1: all of us? Right now? What that means? That goes
56:32
Speaker 1: to you know a certain group of people and and
56:35
Speaker 1: that you know they want to extract the resources from
56:38
Speaker 1: that refuge, at least at that point. So I think
56:40
Speaker 1: that really showed some you know, of the hands of
56:44
Speaker 1: that movement and you know, well you have the kind
56:47
Speaker 1: of extremists, you know with the Bundy bunch. Um, you know,
56:51
Speaker 1: the folks that are behind them are big money people.
56:54
Speaker 1: And that's what I think is so ridiculous about this
56:56
Speaker 1: whole thing is that you know, it's being sold as
57:00
Speaker 1: you know, local control and um, you know, more opportunities
57:03
Speaker 1: for people. But the people that are behind this, that's
57:06
Speaker 1: not what they're thinking. Like they're either licking their chops
57:08
Speaker 1: to have their own piece of property for themselves. We're
57:10
Speaker 1: looking to exploit it. And after that's done, you know,
57:12
Speaker 1: the fish and wild life aren't there. So um, I
57:15
Speaker 1: think that helps to be totally honest. Um, it's really
57:17
Speaker 1: tragic that somebody had to lose their life and that
57:19
Speaker 1: you know, we had to spend millions of dollars on
57:22
Speaker 1: the standoff. But I also think that it brought more
57:24
Speaker 1: attention to the issue. Um. You know, one of the
57:29
Speaker 1: things that people do talk about is that this is
57:31
Speaker 1: such an extreme kind of thing, that this would never happen,
57:35
Speaker 1: and that you know, this is just kind of some
57:36
Speaker 1: crazy people that are talking about it. And two things
57:39
Speaker 1: I would say about that is that, you know, when
57:40
Speaker 1: Theodore Roosevelt set aside the greatest state that we have, UM,
57:44
Speaker 1: he didn't do that without detractors. In fact, there was
57:47
Speaker 1: senators from my home state of Montana and Idaho that
57:50
Speaker 1: fought him vietnamly about it, um and openly made it
57:53
Speaker 1: so he couldn't you know, set aside any more national
57:55
Speaker 1: force because they wanted to, you know, exploit these resources.
57:58
Speaker 1: And you know, again like we've have plenty of timber
58:01
Speaker 1: that gets taken off of public lands. UM, but it's
58:03
Speaker 1: done sustainably. And UM. So those people were around when
58:08
Speaker 1: you set that that land aside, and then about every
58:10
Speaker 1: ten and fifteen years it seemed like they raised their
58:12
Speaker 1: head again. And that's where we're at right now. And um,
58:15
Speaker 1: you know, for those who don't think it's real, we
58:18
Speaker 1: had two votes in the Natural Resources Committee yesterday in
58:21
Speaker 1: the House, and there was one bill that would let
58:26
Speaker 1: any single state that had federally managed public in their state, Uh,
58:30
Speaker 1: just take those take two million of those over like
58:33
Speaker 1: whatever they want. And um that that passed out of the
58:38
Speaker 1: the Natural Resources Committee, Uh, mostly on party line votes.
58:41
Speaker 1: There was one Republican in particular the cross party lines
58:46
Speaker 1: represented Zinkie here from Montana, which we definitely appreciate. Um.
58:51
Speaker 1: But you know that has an opportunity now to to
58:54
Speaker 1: go to the House floor and or be attached to
58:57
Speaker 1: some you know, must pass piece of legislation um when
59:00
Speaker 1: you know is a real thing. Um. The other bill,
59:04
Speaker 1: it didn't give outright transfer of title of the land.
59:08
Speaker 1: But what it did is it gave the ability for
59:10
Speaker 1: states to take over two nine thousand acres in their
59:14
Speaker 1: states of public land and then manage them. Not for
59:17
Speaker 1: multiple use, which is what are you know, federally managed
59:20
Speaker 1: public lands are for you know, for service and BLM lands,
59:24
Speaker 1: but for the sole purpose of of of raising money.
59:29
Speaker 1: And and so when I hear the sole purpose of
59:31
Speaker 1: raising money, read the flights go off on my head
59:33
Speaker 1: right away. And that's either extracted industry, which means you know,
59:38
Speaker 1: rape in the pillage um potentially um to where that
59:41
Speaker 1: you know habitats not there anymore. Uh. And or that
59:44
Speaker 1: could mean you know, if they want to if if
59:47
Speaker 1: they want effishing to go on there, that means they're
59:48
Speaker 1: probably gonna lease it out to somebody. And you and
59:51
Speaker 1: I don't have access, but you know, the people with means,
59:54
Speaker 1: you know, the the billionaires of the world, like that
59:57
Speaker 1: would be their own private kind of place. And so um,
1:00:00
Speaker 1: that bill passed out of the Mental Resources Committee as well.
1:00:03
Speaker 1: Unfortunately that same um Montana senator voted for that one.
1:00:08
Speaker 1: And so both of these now are pieces that you know,
1:00:11
Speaker 1: can move to the floor, can be attached, and they're
1:00:13
Speaker 1: scarier real things. UM I do. I will say that
1:00:18
Speaker 1: there's not many legislative days left. I think it's like
1:00:21
Speaker 1: fifteen or less um before the election, and so they'd
1:00:26
Speaker 1: be hard pressed to get something done. Um. That said,
1:00:29
Speaker 1: you know, there's gonna be mos pass pieces of legislation
1:00:31
Speaker 1: that they can. They could potentially attach this stuff too,
1:00:34
Speaker 1: and there will be a lame duck session you know
1:00:36
Speaker 1: after the election, you know, before the new Congress takes place,
1:00:40
Speaker 1: which you know lots of times, there's a lot of
1:00:42
Speaker 1: movement there. So these are real things. And you know
1:00:47
Speaker 1: when when when I when I hear people say, oh,
1:00:49
Speaker 1: this is just some extremists, I'm like, here's an example,
1:00:52
Speaker 1: here's an example. Here's an example where this is happening
1:00:54
Speaker 1: right now, and uh, and hopefully you change their mind. Um,
1:00:57
Speaker 1: and so you know, I think for folks right now
1:01:00
Speaker 1: out that are listening and want you know, are pissed
1:01:03
Speaker 1: about these two bills going making a true committee, like
1:01:05
Speaker 1: you can call up your congressman right now and ask them, uh,
1:01:09
Speaker 1: you know, to make sure that these things don't see
1:01:12
Speaker 1: the light of day on the on the House floor. Um,
1:01:14
Speaker 1: and you know, become reality. So that's something you can
1:01:16
Speaker 1: do right now. And I think, I like, um, like
1:01:20
Speaker 1: the there's a switchboard number, and I know this is
1:01:24
Speaker 1: like a like that that folks might not be able
1:01:27
Speaker 1: to get this number down or whatever, but it's it's
1:01:31
Speaker 1: two o two two two four three one two one
1:01:35
Speaker 1: and and that number will get you to the switchboard.
1:01:38
Speaker 1: Then you ask for your local representative and now I'll
1:01:40
Speaker 1: get you right to them and you can make that
1:01:41
Speaker 1: call today. And um, I mean I would encourage people
1:01:45
Speaker 1: to do that. And and really the messages is that, um,
1:01:48
Speaker 1: we don't we want to keep public lands in public
1:01:50
Speaker 1: hands and say no to both of those bills. Yeah,
1:01:53
Speaker 1: this is this is like you said, it's kind of scary.
1:01:56
Speaker 1: Like I've you know, had heard about this for a
1:01:59
Speaker 1: long time. I have been advocating for the fact that
1:02:01
Speaker 1: we need to make sure this movement doesn't build up
1:02:03
Speaker 1: too much steam. But in the back of my mind,
1:02:05
Speaker 1: I always thought, you know, they're gonna hear us, They're
1:02:07
Speaker 1: gonna hear the sportsman and all the other outdoor recreators.
1:02:10
Speaker 1: I mean, there's a lot of people making a fuss
1:02:12
Speaker 1: about this on our side of this issue, and I'm
1:02:14
Speaker 1: kind of shocked that these things are still moving forward
1:02:17
Speaker 1: given all of that. UM concerned that we're raising because
1:02:21
Speaker 1: I feel like there is a strong movement on the Sportsman,
1:02:25
Speaker 1: on the outdoor recreational lists, all of us. I feel
1:02:28
Speaker 1: like there's a strong movement building there. I'm kind of
1:02:30
Speaker 1: shocked and concerned that this type of thing is still
1:02:33
Speaker 1: moving forward in a fashion like that. Is that? I mean,
1:02:36
Speaker 1: that's kind of concerning, isn't it. Oh, it's super concerned.
1:02:40
Speaker 1: And the reason and that's happening is because the amount
1:02:44
Speaker 1: of money is behind this effort. Right Like when you
1:02:46
Speaker 1: think about like the billionaires, they're looking their chops right
1:02:50
Speaker 1: now and either on how to make more money, you know,
1:02:52
Speaker 1: through exploitation or to have their own you know, honey,
1:02:56
Speaker 1: holl Like, no joke, they're out there. I mean there's
1:03:00
Speaker 1: there's a couple of brothers that are fracking billionaire kind
1:03:04
Speaker 1: of tycoons from Texas that here in the last decade
1:03:07
Speaker 1: have now become the number one man owner in Montana.
1:03:10
Speaker 1: And they're buying private land and that's you know, that's
1:03:13
Speaker 1: great for them, um and you know, and they have
1:03:15
Speaker 1: every right to do that. But if public land was
1:03:19
Speaker 1: put on the chopping block, who do you think is
1:03:22
Speaker 1: gonna buy that? You know? And and it's them, um
1:03:25
Speaker 1: or it's like these big companies and and to me,
1:03:28
Speaker 1: that's why this is this is going on, and you know,
1:03:30
Speaker 1: we need to continue to step up as a community.
1:03:32
Speaker 1: I'm really glad that you mentioned kind of the outdoor
1:03:35
Speaker 1: wreck um. I feel like there a voice and it's
1:03:38
Speaker 1: just kind of starting to come into their own. So
1:03:40
Speaker 1: the kayakers, the mountain bikers, the um hikers, and you know,
1:03:44
Speaker 1: they have a have a kind of a t RCP
1:03:47
Speaker 1: like organization out in DC called the Outdoor Alliance, and
1:03:51
Speaker 1: so I think, you know, they're becoming more and more
1:03:52
Speaker 1: active and we're working with them closely. Then there's an
1:03:55
Speaker 1: organization called the Outdoor Industry Alliance that that's all the
1:03:59
Speaker 1: kind manufacturers in the business side of the outdoor economy.
1:04:03
Speaker 1: Our outdoor kind of community, and so you know, they're
1:04:06
Speaker 1: starting to step up and and I, you know, I
1:04:08
Speaker 1: gotta think that we will win, but we can't let
1:04:14
Speaker 1: off the gas. And you know, and I you know,
1:04:16
Speaker 1: I talked about how Roosevelt had his own detractors, and
1:04:19
Speaker 1: since then, you know, we've had stewards that have stepped
1:04:22
Speaker 1: up for you know, over a hundred years. And I
1:04:24
Speaker 1: feel like, right now, at this time, like it's our
1:04:28
Speaker 1: jobs to do our parts to make sure that, you know,
1:04:30
Speaker 1: we keep these public lands in public hands and so
1:04:33
Speaker 1: that you know, my daughter and her you know, kids
1:04:36
Speaker 1: that she ever had kids have something to fight for it,
1:04:39
Speaker 1: because this is not going to go away. Like I mean,
1:04:41
Speaker 1: these guys there's so much money at stake and there's
1:04:43
Speaker 1: so much money behind it that they're not going to
1:04:46
Speaker 1: go away. And so it's you know, it's our part
1:04:48
Speaker 1: to kind of do our best job being stewarts right now.
1:04:50
Speaker 1: But you know, we've got to make sure that those
1:04:52
Speaker 1: next generations care about this stuff too. You know, one
1:04:56
Speaker 1: thing I just kind of popped in my head as
1:04:58
Speaker 1: we're talking about this is the that one of the
1:05:02
Speaker 1: kind of speaking points that some that are in favor
1:05:04
Speaker 1: of this have raised continuously is the fact that, oh,
1:05:07
Speaker 1: we just want to transfer the land to the states
1:05:09
Speaker 1: because the states know the land better, they can better manage, etcetera, etcetera.
1:05:14
Speaker 1: And um, we've talked about this before, but I know,
1:05:16
Speaker 1: I think some recent studies or articles have come out
1:05:20
Speaker 1: talking about some examples of states that have maybe not
1:05:24
Speaker 1: done that with their land, and there is examples of
1:05:27
Speaker 1: how the states have been selling off their land. Can
1:05:29
Speaker 1: you speak to any of that? I mean, what are
1:05:30
Speaker 1: there any examples of this type of thing going the
1:05:33
Speaker 1: way that we would not want it to go, where
1:05:35
Speaker 1: state has public land and either is not managing it
1:05:37
Speaker 1: well or start selling it off. I think Idaho was
1:05:39
Speaker 1: the example i'd seen, So Idaho. Um, I mean so
1:05:45
Speaker 1: that Idah originally was granted like three point six million acres.
1:05:49
Speaker 1: They's sold out a million of that, so that's a third. Um.
1:05:52
Speaker 1: Let's see. A good one would be Nevada. Right. People
1:05:55
Speaker 1: talk about how there's a lot of uh, there's not
1:05:58
Speaker 1: much private land and that, well they were when they
1:06:01
Speaker 1: became a state. They got two point seven million acres.
1:06:05
Speaker 1: They got three thousand acres left like so again like
1:06:08
Speaker 1: three thousand um. New Mexico is another great example, like
1:06:12
Speaker 1: thirteen million acres and now they have nine million left.
1:06:16
Speaker 1: And so there is tons of precedent where they're selling
1:06:19
Speaker 1: public land. And you know what happens is that these states, um,
1:06:24
Speaker 1: they don't they don't have the resources to manage them.
1:06:27
Speaker 1: And and so what they do, they're faced with a
1:06:29
Speaker 1: couple of options. They can raise taxes, and you know
1:06:32
Speaker 1: the last politician that did that is not a politician anymore, right,
1:06:36
Speaker 1: Like nobody goes out and said I'm gonna go raise
1:06:38
Speaker 1: taxes and and so I don't think that's really an option. Um.
1:06:42
Speaker 1: The next one is that they can exploit them, which
1:06:43
Speaker 1: they're doing already. Um, and you know they don't necessarily
1:06:46
Speaker 1: aren't places that that we will all want to go
1:06:48
Speaker 1: hunt and fish. And the third one is that they
1:06:51
Speaker 1: that they sell them and and they've proven that they
1:06:53
Speaker 1: they're doing that, and they're trying to do that in
1:06:55
Speaker 1: your home state right now. And um, you know, for me,
1:07:00
Speaker 1: I mean there's there's state land, and I mean and
1:07:03
Speaker 1: for your listeners that do hunt and fish on state land.
1:07:06
Speaker 1: A lot of the times those are wildlife management areas
1:07:09
Speaker 1: and you know, and and the are specifically to protect
1:07:12
Speaker 1: the habitat and then provide opportunities for you and I.
1:07:15
Speaker 1: And those are a small portion of the lands of
1:07:18
Speaker 1: the state's actually manage And when you think about this piece,
1:07:21
Speaker 1: the only way the states could afford these new lands
1:07:24
Speaker 1: and the management of them, UM would be not to
1:07:27
Speaker 1: have them as wild that management areas, but really have
1:07:28
Speaker 1: them as you know, money generators and um. And that's
1:07:32
Speaker 1: where we lose every time. And and you know, I
1:07:34
Speaker 1: think you know, they don't consider road maintenance, they don't
1:07:38
Speaker 1: consider I mean, we talked about fire a little bit earlier,
1:07:41
Speaker 1: like what's your what's your you know, your path forward
1:07:45
Speaker 1: on a dressing the fire, and and really they don't
1:07:47
Speaker 1: have a path forward um or they say, oh, the
1:07:50
Speaker 1: federal government will just they'll pay for it and then
1:07:52
Speaker 1: we'll do other stuff. And that, man, to me, it
1:07:55
Speaker 1: just doesn't make sense. So um, you know they want
1:07:59
Speaker 1: local control, you know, quote unquote local control because they
1:08:02
Speaker 1: want to exploit it. And that's just really where it's happen.
1:08:05
Speaker 1: That's what it seems like. So in the future, I'm
1:08:09
Speaker 1: kind of curious what I guess two things. First, what
1:08:13
Speaker 1: is your vision for where b h A is going
1:08:16
Speaker 1: to be maybe five years from now ten years from now,
1:08:20
Speaker 1: I guess let's go with that first. What's the future
1:08:22
Speaker 1: look like for h um? So I think the future
1:08:27
Speaker 1: for me, you know, we're we already talked about how
1:08:30
Speaker 1: we brought in chapters this this last year and in
1:08:33
Speaker 1: Michigan and Wisconsin, we're about ready to bring one on
1:08:37
Speaker 1: in Texas, which is super excised about in a place
1:08:41
Speaker 1: of only two public land and you know, they're fired
1:08:45
Speaker 1: up because they know what they don't have, and they
1:08:47
Speaker 1: know that that they want to kind of you know,
1:08:50
Speaker 1: change the the dialogue that's happening in Texas. You know
1:08:54
Speaker 1: that that the majority of that is like let's let's
1:08:57
Speaker 1: let's get it and you know, sell it to the
1:08:58
Speaker 1: highest bid. Or so where we want to be, I'd
1:09:01
Speaker 1: say chapters you know, in all fifties states, because that
1:09:05
Speaker 1: provides us an opportunity to be more effective at a
1:09:08
Speaker 1: federal level and more effective at a state level. So
1:09:10
Speaker 1: that would be the first one. Um, I think, uh,
1:09:14
Speaker 1: Like like for me, it's like really diversifying our money. Um,
1:09:18
Speaker 1: you know, we have many different sources of money right now,
1:09:20
Speaker 1: but I'd love for our membership to grow. And so
1:09:22
Speaker 1: that's like, you know, it's a it's a major contributor
1:09:25
Speaker 1: right now. UM, but I'd like that to be like
1:09:28
Speaker 1: the major contributor um not only for just the money
1:09:32
Speaker 1: for the organization and consistent money, but also um that
1:09:37
Speaker 1: you have more cloud when you have more members and
1:09:40
Speaker 1: and you know and and so um growing that you know,
1:09:42
Speaker 1: it's nothing but good for us and and so that's
1:09:45
Speaker 1: I think that's where I'd like to be at. You know,
1:09:46
Speaker 1: I think, uh, I think we talked about this for
1:09:50
Speaker 1: a minute, but like I think having a h A
1:09:54
Speaker 1: be a leader within a sportsman space, which we're you know,
1:09:57
Speaker 1: getting there, but even more of a leader, but then
1:09:59
Speaker 1: also being able to work with kind of some nontraditional
1:10:02
Speaker 1: partners like the outdoor right community. I think that's um
1:10:05
Speaker 1: something that I'd like to see even more solidified partnerships there. UM.
1:10:10
Speaker 1: And then i'd really you know, I wanna I want
1:10:13
Speaker 1: us to be like represent kind of what America looks like.
1:10:18
Speaker 1: And so that means uh, more women involved organizations. I
1:10:22
Speaker 1: think we're doing a you know, an old kay job
1:10:24
Speaker 1: at that right now. I mean we're obviously we're very
1:10:26
Speaker 1: welcoming to women, UM, but we could have more in
1:10:29
Speaker 1: our ranks. And so I think that's something where I'd
1:10:31
Speaker 1: like us to be. UM. And then you know, we
1:10:33
Speaker 1: the Latino community, UM, the Black community, like like all
1:10:37
Speaker 1: those are kind of other, kind of different minority communities
1:10:41
Speaker 1: that are in the United States and make us who
1:10:43
Speaker 1: we are as as a country. I'd like to have
1:10:46
Speaker 1: them involved in our organization too, and UM, and so
1:10:48
Speaker 1: I think I'd probably stopped there, But those are the
1:10:51
Speaker 1: things that I would call out and kind of where
1:10:53
Speaker 1: I'd like us to be in the five or ten years.
1:10:55
Speaker 1: That's awesome. So for for my for our listeners, got
1:10:59
Speaker 1: to be I gotta measures a lot of people now
1:11:01
Speaker 1: listening to this that this resonates with because when I
1:11:03
Speaker 1: first heard about what you guys are doing, it really
1:11:05
Speaker 1: resonated with me. So for those people that want to
1:11:08
Speaker 1: get involved, sure they can become a member. But what
1:11:10
Speaker 1: if in some of these other states, I've got people
1:11:12
Speaker 1: that want to be part of a chapter, they want
1:11:14
Speaker 1: to have a local presence. How does someone go about
1:11:17
Speaker 1: helping a chapter become formed in their state if you
1:11:20
Speaker 1: guys don't already have one, I mean, do they just
1:11:21
Speaker 1: need to become members or can they become members and
1:11:24
Speaker 1: call you guys or shoot your emails? Say hey, I
1:11:26
Speaker 1: want to help start chapter in South Carolina or whatever.
1:11:29
Speaker 1: How does that work? Yeah? So, um, you know like
1:11:33
Speaker 1: they're UM for like we kind of there's two main
1:11:38
Speaker 1: main factors I think was starting in chapters. So the
1:11:40
Speaker 1: first one is it's just like a good membership base
1:11:43
Speaker 1: and and so making sure that you know that it's
1:11:47
Speaker 1: not just a couple of people you know, in that state,
1:11:49
Speaker 1: and we have members in all fifty states. UM. I
1:11:52
Speaker 1: think that Texas chapter there that the Texas folks, I
1:11:55
Speaker 1: think they have like seventy eight or so members down
1:11:58
Speaker 1: in Texas right now. So we feel like that's you know,
1:12:01
Speaker 1: enough people to UM to draw kind of a leadership
1:12:05
Speaker 1: team out of. And and so that would be the
1:12:07
Speaker 1: second piece is like really good leadership. So membership numbers
1:12:11
Speaker 1: are important, but leadership is even more important than that.
1:12:14
Speaker 1: And and so I think I can't remember the number
1:12:17
Speaker 1: of volunteers that you guys have on the board. We're
1:12:21
Speaker 1: north we're north of ten, is that right? I mean,
1:12:23
Speaker 1: how many people on the boarding in Michigan. I think
1:12:25
Speaker 1: we've got twelve board members? Okay, so twelve people. They're
1:12:29
Speaker 1: geographically distributed UM in some way and bring a lot
1:12:32
Speaker 1: of different talents, but are all like from what I
1:12:34
Speaker 1: can tell, and I'm you know, I'm looking forward to
1:12:37
Speaker 1: what I can travel there and will bet all you
1:12:38
Speaker 1: guys face to face, but like from what I can
1:12:40
Speaker 1: tell different phone calls and just your engagement, UM, either
1:12:43
Speaker 1: through social media where you've done the state legislature like
1:12:46
Speaker 1: I knew it when it happened, but you guys are
1:12:48
Speaker 1: proving that you are leaders and so. UM. You know,
1:12:51
Speaker 1: if you want to help start a state chapter, UM,
1:12:54
Speaker 1: Partly that's like picking up the phone and saying, Hey,
1:12:57
Speaker 1: I'm a member and I want to start take state
1:12:59
Speaker 1: chapter and then we can talk to you kind of
1:13:00
Speaker 1: how we get that done. And UM, you know it's
1:13:02
Speaker 1: increasing membership and then you know, finding leadership and by
1:13:06
Speaker 1: picking up that phone and wanting to do more. UM,
1:13:10
Speaker 1: that's that that's that goes back to that Roosevelt quote,
1:13:12
Speaker 1: like you're taking that next step and that's a leadership
1:13:15
Speaker 1: to me every single time. UM and so, and I
1:13:18
Speaker 1: think folks looking to this you don't have a chapter
1:13:21
Speaker 1: in your state, we'd love to talk to you kind
1:13:23
Speaker 1: of about that piece. And you know I've mentioned a
1:13:25
Speaker 1: couple of Texas of Carolina's um are are talking about
1:13:29
Speaker 1: it right now? Are folks in Carolinas. Um, these conversations
1:13:33
Speaker 1: are happening. And the more that we have people reaching
1:13:35
Speaker 1: out to us saying that they want to become part
1:13:37
Speaker 1: of a chapter leadership and we know that we have
1:13:40
Speaker 1: you know, leaders in that state and that we can
1:13:42
Speaker 1: kind of have critical mass and go from there. So um,
1:13:45
Speaker 1: kind of a long wait a way of saying about it,
1:13:47
Speaker 1: but I think, you know, if you want to get engaged, like,
1:13:49
Speaker 1: give us a call and we'll figure out how we
1:13:50
Speaker 1: get that done. I might be a little bit biased,
1:13:53
Speaker 1: but I feel like this audience, the wire dot nation,
1:13:56
Speaker 1: like these are a lot of serious hunters and anglers
1:14:01
Speaker 1: and outdoorsmen who appreciate what we have and who I
1:14:04
Speaker 1: know can step up and will step up. So I
1:14:06
Speaker 1: have confidence in all of you guys and girls out
1:14:08
Speaker 1: there right now that some of you will do this
1:14:10
Speaker 1: because I think there's there's such an opportunity and I
1:14:12
Speaker 1: think a lot of you guys are probably just as
1:14:14
Speaker 1: passionate as me and Land and so many other hunters
1:14:17
Speaker 1: and anglers out there about what we can do, and
1:14:19
Speaker 1: we you know, work to preserve these public lands and
1:14:22
Speaker 1: fair chase and access to hunting fish. Um, it's you know,
1:14:26
Speaker 1: it's it's central to who we are. So I don't
1:14:27
Speaker 1: know why we won't try to do everything we can
1:14:29
Speaker 1: to make sure it's around in the future for our
1:14:32
Speaker 1: children and grandchildren and that kind of thing. So here's
1:14:36
Speaker 1: my next Yeah, so here's my next question. Land. Other
1:14:41
Speaker 1: than you know, getting involved with b h A, We've
1:14:43
Speaker 1: talked a couple of times about that, taking that next step,
1:14:46
Speaker 1: As Teddy said, what would be a couple examples of
1:14:50
Speaker 1: things that people can do if they want to take
1:14:52
Speaker 1: that next step other than just you know, becoming a
1:14:54
Speaker 1: member or maybe leading in a chapter or something like that.
1:14:57
Speaker 1: What can we do in our daily lives in this
1:14:59
Speaker 1: in this world, I think one of the biggest things
1:15:04
Speaker 1: that that folks can do is start talking to other people.
1:15:08
Speaker 1: And you know, right now, I think the biggest threat
1:15:13
Speaker 1: I'm hunting and angling is this complacency. And folks, we're
1:15:18
Speaker 1: living in pretty darn good times, you know. I mean
1:15:22
Speaker 1: National Wild Turkey Federation has been highly successful, um and
1:15:26
Speaker 1: has brought turkeys. You know, they're everywhere now in this
1:15:29
Speaker 1: country that that's amazing. There's places you know that I
1:15:32
Speaker 1: grew up that never had a Turkey that now we're
1:15:34
Speaker 1: chock full and so we have you know, the same
1:15:37
Speaker 1: thing can be said about white tailed deer elk populations
1:15:40
Speaker 1: that are at all time hive. You know, the list
1:15:42
Speaker 1: kind of goes on and on and on, and so
1:15:44
Speaker 1: with that kind of success that we have or that
1:15:47
Speaker 1: we're enjoying right now, like that we're in the you know,
1:15:49
Speaker 1: those good old days, I feel like right now like
1:15:53
Speaker 1: people are complacent and they don't understand that, like, really,
1:15:56
Speaker 1: we could lose that in the generation, and so I
1:15:58
Speaker 1: think people need to talk, Like I think one of
1:16:00
Speaker 1: the biggest things that people can talk about is the
1:16:02
Speaker 1: people about the heritage that we have, how awesome it is.
1:16:07
Speaker 1: But the only reason it is awesome is because people
1:16:09
Speaker 1: have been stepping up. So I think that'd be, you know,
1:16:11
Speaker 1: part of that conversation. The next conversation, I think is
1:16:14
Speaker 1: that you know, this public landowner of piece is that
1:16:17
Speaker 1: you know, we are all public landowners, and every single
1:16:20
Speaker 1: person has a stake in these public lands. And you know,
1:16:22
Speaker 1: if you're from New York City and don't ever feel
1:16:25
Speaker 1: like you're ever going to get out of the city, um,
1:16:27
Speaker 1: but want to some day and go recreate on public lands,
1:16:29
Speaker 1: you own a piece of America and so you should
1:16:32
Speaker 1: really care about that. And so I think that the
1:16:34
Speaker 1: conversation is the first one. Um. And then you know
1:16:37
Speaker 1: it's this, uh, get informed, you know, I mean, I
1:16:41
Speaker 1: think we can provide we'll give you information um and
1:16:45
Speaker 1: uh and and really um, you know, help you make
1:16:48
Speaker 1: informed decisions. But I'd be you know, i'd be real
1:16:53
Speaker 1: shortsighted to say that we're the only source of information,
1:16:55
Speaker 1: like get out there, like the internet. You know, it's
1:16:58
Speaker 1: a crazy place and you can learn a lot of
1:16:59
Speaker 1: things and um, and I would say, get out there
1:17:02
Speaker 1: and uh and learn that. Um. And then when you're
1:17:06
Speaker 1: doing this learning, don't just learn about what's going on
1:17:08
Speaker 1: right now, learn a little bit about our history and
1:17:11
Speaker 1: we get anger. It could be much better served if
1:17:16
Speaker 1: we knew more about our history because then you kind
1:17:19
Speaker 1: of know where we came from, you know, kind of
1:17:21
Speaker 1: what we've done, which one is really inspiring, but also
1:17:26
Speaker 1: it shows that that you know that we can do it.
1:17:31
Speaker 1: And and and so I think you know that piece
1:17:34
Speaker 1: on education, and the last piece that I would say
1:17:37
Speaker 1: that people can do is is really that civic engagement.
1:17:40
Speaker 1: And so you know, you know, don't just become a member.
1:17:43
Speaker 1: Don't just tell your friends about us, but really make
1:17:46
Speaker 1: a phone call to an elected official, you know, show
1:17:48
Speaker 1: up at a meeting, you know, and talk about how
1:17:50
Speaker 1: your local refuge is going to be managed. Um. Like
1:17:53
Speaker 1: those kind of individual efforts, they go a long way.
1:17:57
Speaker 1: And something I haven't said tonight that want to say
1:18:00
Speaker 1: now is that you know a lot of people feel
1:18:02
Speaker 1: like their voice doesn't count and so why should I,
1:18:05
Speaker 1: you know, why should I do anything? And you know,
1:18:08
Speaker 1: why should I step up? And you know, I talked
1:18:11
Speaker 1: to elected officials a lot and some of ie, no more,
1:18:13
Speaker 1: you are better than than others. Once you can have
1:18:16
Speaker 1: these conversations like that that they'll be really kind of
1:18:18
Speaker 1: honest with you and you ask them about this kind
1:18:19
Speaker 1: of grassroots piece. And so one of the things that
1:18:22
Speaker 1: asked me is like, when you guys get a phone call,
1:18:24
Speaker 1: was that me? And they're like, well, you know, we
1:18:25
Speaker 1: think that represents a hundred other people, And so you
1:18:30
Speaker 1: think about you know, making you know, let's say now
1:18:34
Speaker 1: you made that call and that's you're representing a hundred people. Well,
1:18:37
Speaker 1: you got your buddy and another buddy in the call,
1:18:38
Speaker 1: so now you're you know, like a numbers are jumping
1:18:41
Speaker 1: up right away. And um, and so your voice does count,
1:18:44
Speaker 1: and you know, your accounts that elected official level, and
1:18:47
Speaker 1: it definitely accounts at the kind of administrative level where
1:18:49
Speaker 1: you're making comments on plans and um. So at the
1:18:53
Speaker 1: last piece I would say is step up and engage.
1:18:55
Speaker 1: And um. You know, I think sometimes at the process
1:18:58
Speaker 1: for people, sometimes people don't want to know jump in
1:19:01
Speaker 1: with both feet, and I totally understand that. Um. But
1:19:04
Speaker 1: as you learn more about kind of our heritage, what
1:19:08
Speaker 1: we have now and what's at stake, I almost guarantee
1:19:11
Speaker 1: you that you want to get involved because you know,
1:19:13
Speaker 1: like you say that the folks on your that are
1:19:17
Speaker 1: listening right now, they're you know, very passionate and very committed. Um,
1:19:22
Speaker 1: you know, hunters and anglers and and and I just
1:19:25
Speaker 1: I just can't I know that that that folks are
1:19:27
Speaker 1: gonna want to get involved because they care so much
1:19:29
Speaker 1: about this stuff. Yeah. Absolutely, So, speaking of making phone calls,
1:19:34
Speaker 1: can you share that number again, that switchboard number, because
1:19:36
Speaker 1: that's great. There's a simple number. You call that number
1:19:38
Speaker 1: and you it sounds like you just mentioned which representative
1:19:40
Speaker 1: you're trying to get ahold of, and your patched through
1:19:42
Speaker 1: the right. Yeah, it's a US capital switchboard. So it's
1:19:46
Speaker 1: two oh two two to four three one two one.
1:19:53
Speaker 1: And I think the simple message of you know, like
1:19:56
Speaker 1: make sure that anything you anything you vote on that
1:19:59
Speaker 1: you're keeping look lands in public hands. Yeah, that seems
1:20:02
Speaker 1: like a pretty simple, quick little thing each one of
1:20:05
Speaker 1: us could do right now to to probably make a
1:20:07
Speaker 1: really positive difference, because, like you said, if one phone
1:20:10
Speaker 1: call represents probably about a hundred people in their eyes,
1:20:13
Speaker 1: holy smokes, can you imagine if a hundred of us
1:20:15
Speaker 1: did that right now or a thousand of us. That's dude,
1:20:18
Speaker 1: that's powerful, It's huge, you know. And I mean, at
1:20:21
Speaker 1: the end of the day we all need to remember
1:20:24
Speaker 1: is that these are politicians and they want to be
1:20:26
Speaker 1: elected for another term. And so the more that they
1:20:29
Speaker 1: hear on a certain issue, the more they're going to
1:20:31
Speaker 1: pay attention to that issue because it has to do
1:20:33
Speaker 1: with their reelection. And so when you step up and
1:20:35
Speaker 1: you make that phone call, um, they will listen. That's awesome.
1:20:40
Speaker 1: So one of the thing you mentioned a few minutes
1:20:42
Speaker 1: ago was the importance of understanding our history as hunters
1:20:45
Speaker 1: and conservationists, and I agree. I've been doing a lot
1:20:49
Speaker 1: of reading and trying to better understand the history myself.
1:20:52
Speaker 1: But I'm curious, do you have any resources you'd recommend
1:20:54
Speaker 1: our books or anything to help someone learn more about
1:20:57
Speaker 1: that history? Great, great, um questions. So we actually have um,
1:21:04
Speaker 1: some interns in our office right now, and so they've
1:21:06
Speaker 1: been thirsty for that stuff too. UM. I'd say like
1:21:10
Speaker 1: almost any biography on Theodore Roosevelt was a good way,
1:21:12
Speaker 1: a good place to start, um. And just you know,
1:21:16
Speaker 1: he's kind of the godfather a conservation, made it a
1:21:19
Speaker 1: kind of a national priority, and so just kind of
1:21:22
Speaker 1: learning how he came to that, and he came to
1:21:23
Speaker 1: that pretty honestly, he came to that as a hunter. Um.
1:21:26
Speaker 1: You know, he's he spent a lot of time out
1:21:28
Speaker 1: here in the West and Upper Midwest chasing critters around,
1:21:32
Speaker 1: and that's where he kind of got this passion. So
1:21:33
Speaker 1: I think reading, you know, just kind of about the
1:21:36
Speaker 1: way he came to conservation and then what he did
1:21:38
Speaker 1: as a president, I think is is is pretty grounding. Um.
1:21:42
Speaker 1: There's a book by reader R. E. I G. E. R.
1:21:46
Speaker 1: And it's like Origin. I think it's what's it? The
1:21:48
Speaker 1: title is like the Origin of the Origins of like
1:21:52
Speaker 1: sportsman conservation. And I might get that wrong, but the
1:21:55
Speaker 1: author's name is Reager R E I G. E. R.
1:21:58
Speaker 1: And he goes through the history of kind of um,
1:22:01
Speaker 1: you know, the Earth, like the late eighteen hundreds into
1:22:04
Speaker 1: kind of like the dirty thirties where Ducks and Limited
1:22:07
Speaker 1: was formed and National wild the Federation was formed then
1:22:10
Speaker 1: through like kind of like the clean air and clean
1:22:12
Speaker 1: water rac stuff in nineteen seventies, and so it gives
1:22:15
Speaker 1: you a great kind of history piece there. Um. I
1:22:18
Speaker 1: think Sand County Almanac by Elbow Leopold, who they call
1:22:23
Speaker 1: like the godfather, you know of game management, I think
1:22:27
Speaker 1: is an unbelievable read. And I will say that I
1:22:30
Speaker 1: think he wrote that in the forties. Uh Um. What
1:22:35
Speaker 1: he wrote about in the forties is still pertnant today.
1:22:38
Speaker 1: And and you know a lot of the things he
1:22:40
Speaker 1: talked about in their you know fair chase or even
1:22:44
Speaker 1: uh um, kind of just conservation practices and how all
1:22:47
Speaker 1: parts matter, not just you know the megafun that you
1:22:50
Speaker 1: and I chase, um, it's all important to that kind
1:22:52
Speaker 1: of ecosystem. I think it's a great read, and it's
1:22:55
Speaker 1: not that long, and so I think that would be
1:22:57
Speaker 1: one I would read. Um and then you know, I
1:23:00
Speaker 1: think you know, Field and Stream has a conservation blog
1:23:04
Speaker 1: and they called the conservationists and so hal Herring Rights
1:23:08
Speaker 1: for that and Baub Marshall Rights for that, and I
1:23:10
Speaker 1: think both those guys are UM one smart as hell,
1:23:13
Speaker 1: but to UM great at kind of like talking about
1:23:16
Speaker 1: the issue. So I think those are those are one
1:23:19
Speaker 1: of the resources I would go to UM. And you know,
1:23:22
Speaker 1: if folks want more, UM, that's quite a bit to
1:23:24
Speaker 1: start with. If they want more, they could go free
1:23:27
Speaker 1: to to contact me and really or you know, somebody
1:23:30
Speaker 1: on our staff and we can we can think about
1:23:31
Speaker 1: other resources. Yeah, that's awesome. Those are I've read or
1:23:34
Speaker 1: checked out most of those and agree really good suggestions.
1:23:38
Speaker 1: Another one that's an interesting one as a book called
1:23:41
Speaker 1: The Last Stand. I think it's by Michael Punk or
1:23:44
Speaker 1: something like that, and that book was about specifically the
1:23:48
Speaker 1: history of the Buffalo, but then the story of George
1:23:51
Speaker 1: George Bird Grenelle and then eventually what he did through
1:23:54
Speaker 1: Force and Stream, you know, the precursor Field and Stream,
1:23:57
Speaker 1: and then eventually how we worked with Teddy and the
1:23:59
Speaker 1: rest of the group to form the Boone and Crockett
1:24:01
Speaker 1: Club and all the impact that they had Um. That's
1:24:03
Speaker 1: another really interesting one to add to that list. You know,
1:24:07
Speaker 1: I've heard about that book mark, but I've I've not
1:24:10
Speaker 1: read it, So thank you for the reminder, and that
1:24:12
Speaker 1: is now on the list. Yeah, yeah, I think you'll
1:24:15
Speaker 1: enjoy it. I read it while stuck in a tent
1:24:18
Speaker 1: in the middle of it basically a monsoon, while hunting
1:24:21
Speaker 1: elk last year in Idaho, up in the back country.
1:24:24
Speaker 1: So I was up there trying to weather the storm
1:24:26
Speaker 1: and read read some good hunting conservation literature, and thank
1:24:30
Speaker 1: goodness you had that book right, Like, you might have
1:24:33
Speaker 1: gotten crazy in that tent with that rain for hours
1:24:35
Speaker 1: upon hours, right, I really probably would have, So it
1:24:38
Speaker 1: was a lifesaver. Yeah. So so here's probably my final question, Land,
1:24:44
Speaker 1: I think for all of us, you know, when we
1:24:46
Speaker 1: think about these types of issues, you know, protecting our
1:24:49
Speaker 1: hunting heritage, these different landscapes, these animals, for many of us,
1:24:53
Speaker 1: I think there is a certain place maybe that we
1:24:56
Speaker 1: think about or that connects with us in some kind
1:24:58
Speaker 1: of special way, that initially brought that passion or helps
1:25:02
Speaker 1: has helped us kind of realized, Wow, I want to
1:25:05
Speaker 1: do something to protect this place or these animals or
1:25:07
Speaker 1: this experience. Do you have a place or an experience
1:25:11
Speaker 1: or is there something special within the hunting and fishing
1:25:14
Speaker 1: world that really resonates with you deep down more than
1:25:17
Speaker 1: anything else. So if it's all right, I answered that
1:25:21
Speaker 1: in two ways. Um. The first one is is I
1:25:25
Speaker 1: think I mentioned, you know, my father passed away and
1:25:27
Speaker 1: I was twenty years old. I've been out in Seattle,
1:25:30
Speaker 1: was kind of messing around, and so I came home
1:25:32
Speaker 1: to be with my family when he passed away, and
1:25:35
Speaker 1: I still really kind of hadn't found my way. In
1:25:37
Speaker 1: one night, I was going home after a late night
1:25:40
Speaker 1: kind of crousing with friends, and about two o'clock in
1:25:42
Speaker 1: the morning, and I lived about three miles out of
1:25:45
Speaker 1: towns where I grew up, and a mountain I ran
1:25:48
Speaker 1: across my path in front of me and then stopped
1:25:51
Speaker 1: on the side of the road, and then I kind
1:25:53
Speaker 1: of looked at me and then ran again across in
1:25:55
Speaker 1: front of the road, and like to see that apex
1:25:58
Speaker 1: predator and that close, for one, was just amazing to
1:26:02
Speaker 1: watch that it's back never really moved, it just kind
1:26:05
Speaker 1: of glided, you know, that it ran across like that.
1:26:07
Speaker 1: To me, it was like this I had a point
1:26:09
Speaker 1: to like a moment. Um was really that piece that
1:26:12
Speaker 1: you know, i'd kind of been lost after my father
1:26:14
Speaker 1: passed away, and like it was like it kind of
1:26:15
Speaker 1: struck me then and um, and so you know, I'm
1:26:19
Speaker 1: very fortunate to have that experience. UM. I say, the
1:26:23
Speaker 1: special place for me is the Bob Marshall Wilderness. Uh.
1:26:27
Speaker 1: And then a couple of places that I won't tell
1:26:28
Speaker 1: you about there in the wilderness, UM that I visit. Uh.
1:26:33
Speaker 1: One is a place that I go fish. Um it's
1:26:36
Speaker 1: pretty hard to get into when in their last year
1:26:38
Speaker 1: with my wife or an anniversary cut throat or hungry
1:26:42
Speaker 1: on every single cast uh and in your alone. And
1:26:45
Speaker 1: then the other places a place where we would go
1:26:47
Speaker 1: elk on all the time up there and I go
1:26:50
Speaker 1: in there with my family every year. And UM, you
1:26:53
Speaker 1: know those two places are just they're so special to me.
1:26:56
Speaker 1: And I think, you know, I don't know how you
1:26:59
Speaker 1: are with this, but you know, I live in this
1:27:01
Speaker 1: crazy world where you know, I'm I'm going you know,
1:27:04
Speaker 1: kind of balls of the wall all the time. I'm
1:27:06
Speaker 1: connected through my cell phone. I'm on the you know,
1:27:08
Speaker 1: on my phone or on my computer, you know, almost
1:27:11
Speaker 1: all day. Um. And it's really hard for me to
1:27:13
Speaker 1: turn that off. And when I go into the Bob Marshall,
1:27:17
Speaker 1: I'm forced to do that. And I don't have cell
1:27:19
Speaker 1: phone access up there, and you know, I bring my
1:27:22
Speaker 1: cell phone. That's the only reason I bring my cellphone,
1:27:24
Speaker 1: and so that I can um use as an alarm
1:27:26
Speaker 1: and also take pictures with it because it's pretty light,
1:27:28
Speaker 1: you know, and and they take great pictures nowadays, and
1:27:31
Speaker 1: so like. But it's that place that I can escape
1:27:34
Speaker 1: and and and you know, the revitalization I get from
1:27:38
Speaker 1: going to the Bob Um is just spectacular. And and
1:27:43
Speaker 1: you know, I hope that that's there for everybody for
1:27:46
Speaker 1: a few generations, and that you know, I want everybody
1:27:49
Speaker 1: that's listening to this to think about that place. You know,
1:27:51
Speaker 1: think about the last time that you were there, and
1:27:54
Speaker 1: you know, maybe not the trigger that you pulled, or
1:27:56
Speaker 1: the arrow that you let fly or the fish that
1:27:58
Speaker 1: you caught, but like you know what the briefs are
1:28:01
Speaker 1: like on the back of the neck, you know, in
1:28:02
Speaker 1: that afternoon nap that you took there, and we're at
1:28:05
Speaker 1: total peace. Like that's where I find my slace and
1:28:07
Speaker 1: I think everybody else that's one of the reasons why
1:28:09
Speaker 1: we do what we do is to have those experiences,
1:28:11
Speaker 1: and so, um, the Bob Marshall is that place for me,
1:28:14
Speaker 1: and um, you know I'll veemulate, you know, help protect
1:28:17
Speaker 1: that place for the rest of my life. Yeah. Absolutely,
1:28:20
Speaker 1: I think a lot of us can relate to those
1:28:23
Speaker 1: two experiences and feelings and the importance of having somewhere
1:28:26
Speaker 1: you can just get away from it all. And whether
1:28:28
Speaker 1: that's you know, hundreds of thousands of acres and the Bob,
1:28:31
Speaker 1: or whether that's a hundred acres of public land down
1:28:34
Speaker 1: the road or just your back for it that maybe
1:28:36
Speaker 1: you own. Whatever it is, having wild places, undeveloped places
1:28:41
Speaker 1: to some degree where we can reconnect with with nature
1:28:44
Speaker 1: and wildlife. I mean, that's so important, and unfortunately it's
1:28:48
Speaker 1: becoming an increasingly rare opportunity for people in this country.
1:28:51
Speaker 1: So I think, you know, like you said that we're
1:28:54
Speaker 1: not making any more of it, we've got to do
1:28:55
Speaker 1: something to make sure we have that's left stays that way.
1:28:58
Speaker 1: So total totally. Also, I mean I think that's and
1:29:02
Speaker 1: I'm glad you mentioned that. I mean, like the kind
1:29:04
Speaker 1: of difference. I mean sometimes people think, you know, that's
1:29:07
Speaker 1: a bad country all we care about is like these big, huge,
1:29:10
Speaker 1: million acre wildernesses, and that couldn't be farther from the
1:29:13
Speaker 1: truth the way you describe that, like those places where
1:29:15
Speaker 1: you go find that escape or that connection to nature.
1:29:18
Speaker 1: We all know what that feels like, and we all
1:29:20
Speaker 1: that's what we want to protect because we want to
1:29:21
Speaker 1: protect kind of like it's not like a definition of
1:29:25
Speaker 1: how big back country is, but it's that it's more
1:29:27
Speaker 1: of like the experience and that feeling you get when
1:29:29
Speaker 1: you're there. Um, and you know we do that on
1:29:31
Speaker 1: public land. So um yeah, think about your place and
1:29:35
Speaker 1: think about what what what what that would be like
1:29:38
Speaker 1: if if you couldn't go there anymore or the vastly changed.
1:29:41
Speaker 1: And I think that's definitely motivating for me, and I
1:29:43
Speaker 1: think it's motivated to a lot of people absolutely. So
1:29:46
Speaker 1: if anyone out there wants to learn more about that
1:29:48
Speaker 1: country hunters and anglers, where can they go online to
1:29:51
Speaker 1: do that? So with our website is just you know,
1:29:55
Speaker 1: back country hunters dot org, so very easy and you
1:29:59
Speaker 1: can just google what are named too and it will
1:30:00
Speaker 1: come right up. Um just got a new website, so
1:30:04
Speaker 1: I'm pretty excited about the look and feel of that.
1:30:06
Speaker 1: Our Facebook page is is very robust. We had Randy
1:30:10
Speaker 1: do a Randy Newberg do a thing last night on
1:30:13
Speaker 1: Facebook Live. I think he was on there for like
1:30:15
Speaker 1: an hour and forty minutes or something like that. And so, um,
1:30:18
Speaker 1: it's the Facebook, you know, something we're posting onto or
1:30:20
Speaker 1: three times a day, very a great way to learn
1:30:23
Speaker 1: more about us, and that on Instagram and Twitter as
1:30:26
Speaker 1: well as more about pictures and Twitter is more about
1:30:30
Speaker 1: kind of um really interactive with the Electric officials, but
1:30:34
Speaker 1: all those platforms. What I guess I would say is
1:30:36
Speaker 1: that we have a YouTube channel and within that YouTube
1:30:39
Speaker 1: channel and we have a thing called Backcountry College UM
1:30:41
Speaker 1: so all Skills UM, which is pretty awesome. We've got
1:30:44
Speaker 1: a guy out of Idaho named Clay Hayes that we
1:30:47
Speaker 1: call our professor because he's just he's one of the
1:30:49
Speaker 1: most woodsy guys I've ever been around. UM and I've
1:30:51
Speaker 1: learned something watched one of those. So um, those are
1:30:55
Speaker 1: the platforms, and you know, find out more about us,
1:30:57
Speaker 1: and then once you do, I'll become a member. Know
1:31:00
Speaker 1: and and if you got questions, you know, I think
1:31:02
Speaker 1: one thing that's also unique about our organization is that
1:31:05
Speaker 1: I'm very accessible. You know, our our entire staff is
1:31:08
Speaker 1: very accessible, so if you have questions, you know, give
1:31:10
Speaker 1: us a call and if we don't get you right
1:31:12
Speaker 1: then we'll get back to you and um we'll shoot
1:31:14
Speaker 1: us an email and uh and we'll definitely, um, we'll
1:31:18
Speaker 1: definitely uh at least try to answer your questions as
1:31:21
Speaker 1: we can. We'll try to find something they can awesome.
1:31:23
Speaker 1: I'll make sure to link to all that stuff, so
1:31:25
Speaker 1: if anyone listening wants to do that, you can just
1:31:27
Speaker 1: head over the blog posts, click those links or go
1:31:29
Speaker 1: right to like Land said, back country hunters dot org
1:31:33
Speaker 1: and uh, I go your sentiment. Land, I just highly
1:31:37
Speaker 1: recommend everyone listening to go out and become a member.
1:31:39
Speaker 1: And uh selfishly, I'm on the membership committee for the
1:31:43
Speaker 1: board in Michigan, so it's my job to try to
1:31:46
Speaker 1: add new members. So come on, guys, help me out.
1:31:48
Speaker 1: Become a member in Michigan if you're in my home state,
1:31:51
Speaker 1: joined the team, and uh we'll hopefully get to uh
1:31:53
Speaker 1: meet up this in the upcoming functions too. So that's awesome.
1:31:58
Speaker 1: If everybody that was a membership cherich Country had your platform,
1:32:02
Speaker 1: we've been doing even better. Right, thank you for that. Yeah,
1:32:04
Speaker 1: absolutely so this has been a lot of fun. I
1:32:07
Speaker 1: appreciate taking the time to chat. Oh for sure, for
1:32:10
Speaker 1: sure anytime. Absolutely, well, uh, let's hopefully stay in touch
1:32:14
Speaker 1: and maybe we'll do this again and maybe while I'm
1:32:16
Speaker 1: out west here we can we can bump into each
1:32:18
Speaker 1: other and grab a drink or coffee or something. I
1:32:21
Speaker 1: love that, dude, I love that anytime. Um that you know,
1:32:24
Speaker 1: if those stars a line, I'd love to do that.
1:32:26
Speaker 1: And like I said, but you know, I'm also I
1:32:28
Speaker 1: want to make sure that in this next year. But
1:32:31
Speaker 1: I figure out a way to get out and see
1:32:32
Speaker 1: you guys in Michigan too. My parents my parents went
1:32:35
Speaker 1: to the University of Michigan, and uh, I have pictures
1:32:38
Speaker 1: of me when I was two years old in the
1:32:39
Speaker 1: big house. So I don't know if you're MS guy
1:32:42
Speaker 1: or UF guy, but like, I'm definitely a Wolverine and
1:32:45
Speaker 1: no land that's a horrible way and it's like this
1:32:49
Speaker 1: great conversation until it right then, right am, I'm a
1:32:53
Speaker 1: Michigan state alume. Oh man, it's it's in your blood.
1:32:58
Speaker 1: Oh it's it runs green and white, very thick. But
1:33:01
Speaker 1: I won't hold it against you, all right, all right,
1:33:05
Speaker 1: we can have a friendly kind of bet around that
1:33:06
Speaker 1: thing too. Absolutely, we'll we'll talk to again. So alright,
1:33:10
Speaker 1: sounds good about to hold bye. Alright, So there you
1:33:15
Speaker 1: have it, another episode in the books. But before we go,
1:33:18
Speaker 1: we need to thank our partners who helped keep this
1:33:21
Speaker 1: podcast on the air, so big thank you too, sick
1:33:24
Speaker 1: A Gear Trophy, Ridge Bear Archery, Redneck Blinds, Hunter r Maps, Ozonics,
1:33:29
Speaker 1: Carbon Express, Maven Optics, and the White Tail Institute of
1:33:32
Speaker 1: North America. And finally, thank you all for tuning in today.
1:33:36
Speaker 1: I hope you enjoy getting to learn a little bit
1:33:38
Speaker 1: more about b h A, and I hope you'll all
1:33:41
Speaker 1: join me in getting involved, and of course I hope
1:33:44
Speaker 1: you'll stay Wired to Hunt