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FFOD343 : What an Outfitter Knows with Kevin Burleson · Fist Full of Dirt

0:04
SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Fiscal Dirt, the official podcast of Modfield Properties.
0:09
SPEAKER_01: Whether you have a small farm, or just hang it in your backyard.
0:14
SPEAKER_01: We're all about the outdoor lifestyle and how to get the most from your time in God's great outdoors.
0:20
SPEAKER_01: Now here's your host.
0:22
SPEAKER_01: Right, God's great left.
0:28
SPEAKER_04: It's still hot.
0:30
SPEAKER_05: Well, I feel like that's every show opening now.
0:33
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it is.
0:34
SPEAKER_04: It's uh I I am going to talk about the weather.
0:37
SPEAKER_04: It just is what it is.
0:38
SPEAKER_05: Yep, that's what it is.
0:40
SPEAKER_04: It's hard to go watching football games when they start and it's 97 degrees.
0:44
SPEAKER_05: That uh Mississippi State opening season opener, they said was the hottest one they had had in that stadium.
0:53
SPEAKER_04: I told you last week, I think whenever that he's playing on the JV team and the high school team.
0:58
SPEAKER_04: He doesn't get a lot of playing time on the high school team, but he got moved up.
1:02
SPEAKER_04: I and sometimes I try to pick him up at practice.
1:06
SPEAKER_04: And uh he got in with and the other day I pulled up air and parked that was 101 degrees and it was uh 455.
1:13
SPEAKER_04: And when he got in the truck, we didn't make it out of the parking lot and turn left up there, which is maybe a mile and a half.
1:21
SPEAKER_04: He was pounds asleep.
1:24
SPEAKER_04: He's doing too much.
1:26
SPEAKER_05: It'll take it out of you because he he gets up early.
1:29
SPEAKER_05: He actually gets up earlier than he has to to do his homework.
1:33
SPEAKER_05: It's too tired to work my brain.
1:35
SPEAKER_05: I can't do homework in the it's just tired of thing.
1:38
SPEAKER_05: I'm just ready for everything to be called.
1:41
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I'm ready for a cold front and beer hunt and all that stuff.
1:45
SPEAKER_04: I'm thinking, yeah, even at my age, I'm still fired up about it.
1:50
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that's why I'm fixing we're fixing to call one of my buddies.
1:53
SPEAKER_04: And again, I'm gonna uh give you a trigger warning here.
1:56
SPEAKER_04: I don't have anything to do with heart of Texas.
1:59
SPEAKER_04: With Kevin Burrow's.
2:00
SPEAKER_05: I don't know.
2:00
SPEAKER_05: That's one of your favorite places.
2:05
SPEAKER_04: I don't have any any dog in that fight.
2:08
SPEAKER_04: But I love checking with Kevin before the season because you hear me and I'm talking about places.
2:14
SPEAKER_04: I don't talk about many places, Big Creek and Heart of Texas Roots because I've been there too many times and I see how they act when nobody's watching.
2:23
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
2:24
SPEAKER_04: And how many repeat people come in and Kevin's whole world revolves around bow hunting, and that's fixing to be here.
2:31
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
2:32
SPEAKER_05: I mean, I'm very happy.
2:35
SPEAKER_04: My stuff's dialed in, I'm pretty much ready to go.
2:37
SPEAKER_04: I am still experimenting with a couple of different broad heads, but I tinker.
2:42
SPEAKER_04: I love to tinker, and uh I ain't gonna post about it.
2:45
SPEAKER_04: Every time I post a picture of something, they'll I'll get that question what broad head you choose.
2:51
SPEAKER_04: I ain't touching that with a 10-foot pole.
2:54
SPEAKER_04: But Warren Strickland, if you listen, if you hadn't heard his podcast, you got to go back and listen to that.
2:59
SPEAKER_04: He had some definite opinions, not on brands, but types.
3:04
SPEAKER_04: It was.
3:05
SPEAKER_04: And he said, because you look around this room, his trophy room was just staggering.
3:10
SPEAKER_04: He said every critter in here, including that bison, was killed with a mechanical broad head.
3:15
SPEAKER_04: And this guy's a cardiologist, he's smarter than you.
3:18
SPEAKER_06: Right.
3:19
SPEAKER_04: So everybody's got their opinion, and that's why I'm I'm about to call Kevin Barlow tonight at heart of Texas.
3:25
SPEAKER_04: And uh I I hadn't had a a replay.
3:28
SPEAKER_04: Now we were out there during the spring, and man, the turkey hunting was so good, and there were deer running everywhere.
3:35
SPEAKER_04: But I hadn't talked to him about last year's deer season, and he's probably all the way booked up he normally is.
3:41
SPEAKER_04: And the way he books his hunt is the day after deer season closes, you start calling this first come, first serve.
3:47
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
3:48
SPEAKER_04: And he's probably booked up.
3:49
SPEAKER_04: But anyway, I love checking in with him, talking about Jacoby's where you can go and eat down there in Mexico.
3:56
SPEAKER_04: It's the coolest trip ever.
3:59
SPEAKER_04: And I'm gonna talk to him about the Texas heat wave and deer and what he's saying, because he's been doing this a long time.
4:06
SPEAKER_04: And I'm gonna ask him, are they better bow hunters now than it was in the day?
4:10
SPEAKER_04: But again, one of my favorite places on the planet.
4:13
SPEAKER_04: It's like to me, going to that part of Texas, like going to Africa.
4:18
SPEAKER_04: And I just love going out there with people you can trust and depend on.
4:22
SPEAKER_04: And it's like going to hunt camp, it's like Bent Creek.
4:25
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
4:25
SPEAKER_04: You feel like you went to hunt camp and been able to do it in Texas at a price that don't break the bank.
4:32
SPEAKER_04: It's just cool.
4:33
SPEAKER_04: So I don't mind talking about it.
4:35
SPEAKER_04: So with that said, let's go visit with my buddy out there in the heart of Texas, Kevin Burris.
5:19
SPEAKER_02: You got the man.
5:20
SPEAKER_04: How you doing, brother?
5:21
SPEAKER_04: Is it hot out there in Texas?
5:24
SPEAKER_02: Oh my god.
5:26
SPEAKER_02: You know, I don't know if it keeps getting hotter every year or if that's something my body is just taking harder every year.
5:32
SPEAKER_04: Well, take it from somebody older than you, your body will start playing tricks on you.
5:36
SPEAKER_04: You you ain't got no answers for.
5:38
SPEAKER_04: So it could be a little the personally, me, the cold hurts me worse than the heat does, but I'm ready for a cold front.
5:45
SPEAKER_02: So we we pray for summertime when it's 20 degrees, and pray for winter when it's 120.
5:51
SPEAKER_04: We are never satisfied.
5:54
SPEAKER_02: No, no, exactly.
5:56
SPEAKER_04: All right, well, look, you know we do this every year, and I talked in the opening about y'all gotta understand I don't have a I don't have any piece of this pie out there at the Ford Ranch or hard at Texas, nothing.
6:08
SPEAKER_04: It still fires me up that people can go on this kind of adventure at a uh at a a reasonable price.
6:17
SPEAKER_04: And so I I'm gonna I'm gonna check in every year.
6:20
SPEAKER_04: So fur hey, first off, tell me what kind of year did you have on the Ford Ranch last year?
6:27
SPEAKER_04: I kinda already know because I keep up with you on Facebook, but talk about last deer season.
6:34
SPEAKER_02: It um man, it's a Ford Ranch.
6:37
SPEAKER_02: It's incredible.
6:38
SPEAKER_02: No, um we um we had a really good year.
6:42
SPEAKER_02: Um I wouldn't say it was a banner year only because there was so much feed, so much cover, uh, so much of everything that's good for the deer out there that it sometimes makes it a little tough for the deer hunters.
6:58
SPEAKER_02: So um, but um, you know, we still had an amazing year and you know, we um um every time we w we don't start booking for next year until the day after season ends this year, most people know that.
7:11
SPEAKER_02: And on that one day we book an incredible amount of hunters simply because people know what they're gonna get into next year and they're trying to get their spot.
7:20
SPEAKER_02: And uh so, you know, all the people that booked last year know what's coming this year.
7:26
SPEAKER_02: So um the uh the extra horn growth and the deer that they missed because of the cover and the extra feed that they see out there that just you know wouldn't come to their feed um is gonna be just spectacular this year.
7:40
SPEAKER_02: And so um, and we've had that actually for the last three years in a row.
7:44
SPEAKER_02: So it's just gonna be another banner year.
7:47
SPEAKER_02: But like I said, it was it was incredible last year, and it'll be incredible this year.
7:51
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's kind of like me out there seeing all them jakes.
7:56
SPEAKER_04: It's like how me the opening weekend next year.
8:00
SPEAKER_04: And you know, the acorn the acorn deal was a an issue everywhere last year.
8:05
SPEAKER_04: I've never seen I've never seen that many.
8:08
SPEAKER_04: And to me, it looks like it's gonna be like that.
8:11
SPEAKER_04: Some of the trees on my farm are loaded again, and that does make that does make it hard for people.
8:18
SPEAKER_04: But you gotta stop and think.
8:20
SPEAKER_04: It's good for the critters, and I know that's I know that's hard, but I I I keep up pretty close on Facebook, and you're you're not the most active guy, especially during deer season on social media, and I get that.
8:33
SPEAKER_04: But uh man, y'all took some nice deer.
8:36
SPEAKER_04: And I tried to come up with some questions I haven't ever asked you before because uh you're uh first off, you're a bow hunter at heart, but did the bow hunters who took bigger bucks last year, were they doing anything different than all the other hunters, or was it just they got lucky?
8:54
SPEAKER_02: Well, luck is always a big factor on some of those.
8:57
SPEAKER_02: Uh well and we know and they know the lucky ones.
9:02
SPEAKER_02: Uh you know.
9:04
SPEAKER_02: But listen, um, the the biggest thing out here is uh people can get complacent simply because there's so many deer everywhere.
9:13
SPEAKER_02: And no matter what you do, I I like to say the biggest village idiot can come out here and see a ton of deer.
9:20
SPEAKER_02: You still gotta do it right.
9:21
SPEAKER_02: Oh, um the um um the bigger deer are still smart here just like they're smart there and everywhere on this planet.
9:30
SPEAKER_02: Oh, um even the the low pressure deer.
9:34
SPEAKER_02: Um once they get past a certain age, some clicks in that brain of theirs that um, you know, they uh they're just not as gullible as they um you know once were.
9:43
SPEAKER_02: So um yes, um the people that are consistently killing really good deer do it well.
9:52
SPEAKER_02: Oh, um they do all the right things out here.
9:54
SPEAKER_02: You can't just come out here and pop up a line and throw a bunch of corn out there at 10, 15 yards and oh um uh you know, expect to kill a 160.
10:02
SPEAKER_02: Oh um, you you really need to um you know, uh do your stuff right.
10:08
SPEAKER_02: Set your blinds right, still make it absolutely invisible.
10:12
SPEAKER_02: You don't have time for them to get used to something that they see out there and wonder if that's trouble or not.
10:18
SPEAKER_02: So you make it absolutely invisible, which is easy to do here.
10:22
SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, we have so many scrub oak and live oak and everything else that you you can tuck into and just absolutely make it invisible.
10:29
SPEAKER_02: But uh you also have to do the the simping right.
10:32
SPEAKER_02: Oh um, you know, bury the bottom of your blind so no air gets out underneath, close all of your windows except the one you're shooting out of.
10:40
SPEAKER_02: And yes, I said one you're shooting out of.
10:43
SPEAKER_02: Oh uh tight, you know, uh make it all tight, and you can get away with it, you know, a wrong wind direction.
10:50
SPEAKER_02: Keep in mind a a good big mature deer is gonna circle out there three or four times when he sees a congregation of other deer out there.
10:58
SPEAKER_02: He's gonna make sure everything's right in his mind before he starts coming in there.
11:03
SPEAKER_02: So uh um, you know, do all that stuff right, and uh man, you're gonna have a great haunt.
11:10
SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, like I said, so many people get out here and they have deer follow them up to where they're, you know, wanting to uh you know, set up a spot.
11:20
SPEAKER_02: And deer here have known that when you park at your parking area and come out with a sack of feed over your shoulder, it's eventually gonna be on the ground, and so there's gonna be several of them that'll actually follow you out there.
11:31
SPEAKER_02: We've had people talk about two bucks trying to pull apart a corn bag while they're setting up their blind when that corn bag's sitting out of there on the ground.
11:38
SPEAKER_02: Lord.
11:39
SPEAKER_02: And uh anyway, so when you get that, it has a tendency to you know make you not do as good thinking that you know, this is gonna be a cakewalk.
11:48
SPEAKER_02: Um but uh uh man, my advice is still do it like you were hunting the hardest deer on the planet.
11:55
SPEAKER_02: And uh you know, you're gonna you're gonna have uh a great hunt.
12:00
SPEAKER_04: You know, Kev, a couple of weeks ago I had Dr.
12:02
SPEAKER_04: Warren Strickland on the podcast.
12:04
SPEAKER_04: I don't know if you listen to that.
12:05
SPEAKER_04: He's I mean, he's got the super slam with a bow, all in shape.
12:11
SPEAKER_04: It's crazy, but he made a statement in there and I pe I'm sure people just blew right by, but he was talking about how tough those uh big rams were, I mean those big bears were, and he said, if they catch your scent and he said, Yeah, that don't even if they walk across where you went down through that big valley, he said, they're out.
12:34
SPEAKER_04: And then he said, I think big old mature bucks are the same.
12:38
SPEAKER_04: I don't think anybody ever gives them enough credit when they get five, six years old, how smart they are with that wind and everything.
12:46
SPEAKER_04: And hiding hiding that vine like you do is uh is incredibly effective out there.
12:54
SPEAKER_02: You know, again, the the people that come out here consistently and let the hundred and thirty and forty inch to your walk are the ones that you know know what is you know will inevitably come in if you do things right.
13:08
SPEAKER_02: And uh they're the guys that'll come in and get in an hour before daylight and leave well after dark and you know um, you know, just uh uh man they they just do it all right and take it seriously to to really kill a good deer.
13:22
SPEAKER_02: And uh well um that's what it takes here, just like almost every place you hunting in um you know the United States.
13:29
SPEAKER_04: So dying them I's and crossing them T's.
13:32
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
13:33
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely.
13:34
SPEAKER_04: Well, I've been blessed to be out there a bunch.
13:35
SPEAKER_04: I hadn't I you know technically I've never been deer hunting out there other than filming somebody else, but I know how many deer are out there.
13:43
SPEAKER_04: And and you and Mark do such a good job.
13:45
SPEAKER_04: Y'all are on top of a lot of stuff people don't get to see and all that, but do you think the the bow hunting only is is still sufficient to manage that herd?
13:55
SPEAKER_04: You think you've taken enough off there because it is man is a lot of deer.
14:00
SPEAKER_02: Well, the the whole deal is that we you know can kind of dictate that on a week to week basis.
14:08
SPEAKER_02: There's um there's a lot of hunters that come out there that just want to come home with meat.
14:12
SPEAKER_02: And um, you know, they set up that way.
14:14
SPEAKER_02: Now the the does are so easily taken out here.
14:20
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I kill people that you can kill a doe with a hatchet if you really wanted to out here, but now that's tongue in cheek.
14:28
SPEAKER_02: But oh um, like I said, um so we're gonna have a lot of those and and I let anybody at any time.
14:35
SPEAKER_02: Our normal um quota, you know, per hunter is you know, one buck, two doughs, all the hogs and all the varmints that happen to give you away, you can take.
14:45
SPEAKER_02: Um we'll let any of them uh take um a dough for their buck if they want to.
14:52
SPEAKER_02: If they got two doughs and haven't taken their buck yet, they can trade that buck tag for another dough tag.
14:57
SPEAKER_02: And uh so like I said, because of the number of hunters that we have out here and and the way we run on a week-to-week basis, um, you would be amazed at at how we can follow our um management goals out here and and uh we think we're doing a you know a great job with it out here.
15:15
SPEAKER_02: Um also on our um management box, so um, you know, we tell people that when they come out, if they see something freaky and and old that looks like it needs to be gone out here, send us a picture of it.
15:28
SPEAKER_02: And uh, you know, it may not be the trophy there won, uh and it may not meet the minimum requirements that we have out here, but if it's a a management buck that we don't need out here that's not beneficial for the herd, we will let them go ahead and take it.
15:43
SPEAKER_02: And so, like I said, even though most of those deer we don't have on can uh game cameras.
15:49
SPEAKER_02: You know, we've only got we've got no forty something cameras around the ranch, but you know, that's nothing on a 25,000 acre ranch, you know.
15:58
SPEAKER_02: And uh so anyway, we um we rely a lot on the people sending us pictures every day.
16:06
SPEAKER_02: You know, we start our day out before daylight together, Mark and I do, and and um, you know, just uh watching our phones and and uh you know looking at deer that people are sending us pictures of, and that's uh constant pretty much all day long.
16:22
SPEAKER_02: So it's um it's kind of neat because we're seeing a lot of deer that we've never seen before.
16:27
SPEAKER_02: And uh so management comes um fairly easily.
16:31
SPEAKER_02: Um and uh you know I learned this a long, long time ago that uh um people get scared of the total number of hunters that we have out here.
16:42
SPEAKER_02: So uh but when you really look at um um the areas that we have, I have over fifty plus areas out here, and we put two hunters per area only three days a week.
16:54
SPEAKER_02: So um, you know, the nature of the the the thing out here is you come in on Thursday, you set up on Thursday afternoon, you hot Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and then leave.
17:03
SPEAKER_02: And so on Thursday is the only day that they actually get to move around and walk around and and check out their stuff.
17:09
SPEAKER_02: And uh if they're smart, you know, they'll set up their blind and then get in there before they find leave at the dark.
17:15
SPEAKER_02: And so there's no movement around there.
17:17
SPEAKER_02: Two people on you know, four hundred or five hundred acres uh walking in and walking out, there's no pressure there, period.
17:25
SPEAKER_02: And uh but um you know I only have uh we only take about thirty to thirty-six hunters a weekend.
17:34
SPEAKER_02: So, you know, that's oh 15 or 16 areas that you know we're hunting, maybe 17, uh that we're hunting out of 50, so we rotate weekends.
17:44
SPEAKER_02: The areas that we hunt this weekend won't be hunted next weekend.
17:47
SPEAKER_02: And so, you know, there's 15 weekends in a year that we actually hunt, and so if you divide that by two, you know, each area is only getting hunted, you know, seven or eight times a year by people that walk in before daylight and walk out after dark, you know.
18:03
SPEAKER_02: So it's um um, you know, our uh management scheme out there works very, very well, and that's why the the deer are so visible, and uh, you know, that's why we do so well out here.
18:16
SPEAKER_04: Clearly.
18:17
SPEAKER_04: I don't know if you listen to I did a podcast a few weeks ago with Derek, the drone guy from Whitetail Research.
18:23
SPEAKER_04: And man, it is uh it has opened my eyes when he and he st and he was talking about what a difference it makes by somebody coming in in a vehicle.
18:34
SPEAKER_04: That vehicle noise which y'all have pretty much eliminated.
18:38
SPEAKER_04: That's a that's a big deal, and I'm not uh you know, promoting uh how good you do it, because I've been there, I know how good you do it.
18:44
SPEAKER_04: But the one thing I asked him at the end of that podcast, you were talking about trail cameras.
18:49
SPEAKER_04: I said, What's the one mistake in your eyes now after doing all this drone research?
18:55
SPEAKER_04: I think hunters make more than anything, and he said trusting trail cameras.
19:00
SPEAKER_04: And he he just went down the list about all the deer he sees, and he's got cameras out, they never walked by them, they may went by at one time.
19:07
SPEAKER_04: So having people shoot you pictures that's a that's a big deal.
19:12
SPEAKER_04: Let me ask you this.
19:13
SPEAKER_04: It's been a long time since I rolled out there in that you go, and you pull your sunglasses down on your nose and look to me.
19:20
SPEAKER_04: Are you delivering flowers?
19:22
SPEAKER_04: Anyway, it's been decades.
19:24
SPEAKER_04: And back then the equipment was way different and everything was different.
19:28
SPEAKER_04: Uh the bowls are so efficient now.
19:29
SPEAKER_04: Do you think your hunters, the ones that come through heart of Texas, have gotten better at harvesting the a little bowl in air through the years?
19:38
SPEAKER_04: Or the is it better now than it was all those years ago, in your opinion?
19:43
SPEAKER_02: Oh, it's yeah, absolutely much better.
19:45
SPEAKER_02: Um and not only the equipment, but the the um heart of Texas has become so visible on YouTube.
19:54
SPEAKER_02: Everybody comes out here makes their own YouTube video of everything they do out here and stuff.
19:59
SPEAKER_02: And so it's not hard to do a lot of research on us out here and see how the people do it and everything else.
20:06
SPEAKER_02: And the people that do their homework and stuff, uh um, you know, really, really have a lot of success and a lot of fun out here.
20:13
SPEAKER_02: But um, yeah, the people that come out here year after year know that um, you know, there's a there's a plan uh um and it starts with A.
20:24
SPEAKER_02: When you go out there and you go to B, C, D, you know, and it's a checklist that you do when you do it all right, everything happens you know, in your favor.
20:34
SPEAKER_02: And sometimes it doesn't, you know, quite come together like you want it to, but you know you're doing everything right, and that's how it happens.
20:43
SPEAKER_02: Now, uh again, we don't know what the biggest deer is on the ranch.
20:47
SPEAKER_02: Uh um I I don't think anybody does, and I I know what the biggest deer ever harvested was on that ranch, and uh so um you know everybody should open their eyeballs up to to that anyway.
21:00
SPEAKER_02: Um the the possibilities are endless if you do everything right, and so that's what uh most people that come out here uh um are really expecting to uh you know do some good and and uh they put a lot of effort and everything into it.
21:16
SPEAKER_02: So Yeah, I I I really think again, because we have such a high return mm clientele that uh they're much, much better at doing this, you know, DIY.
21:27
SPEAKER_02: But uh anyway, it uh uh is is just one of those things that um man, we see it year after year after year.
21:35
SPEAKER_02: The the bugs keep getting bigger, the oh uh people just keep getting happier and happier about it.
21:41
SPEAKER_02: So man, we're gonna roll with this thing as long as we can.
21:44
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
21:44
SPEAKER_04: If you don't think that's true, try to book you a hunt out there the day after the hunting season closes.
21:50
SPEAKER_04: Anyway, I you know what what it's a lot of cool things about that place for me.
21:54
SPEAKER_04: I was out there and I like I say, I haven't physically deer hunted there, I've turkey hunted there and hung out with you forever.
22:00
SPEAKER_04: When I was out there filming old Heavy D, I I felt like I was in hunting camp.
22:05
SPEAKER_04: It was just it w it's a hunting camp and we're gonna talk about the lodging and all that down the road, but do you you think uh you got such a large amount of r you know, returned clients now, has every y you think everybody's kinda bought into the program?
22:21
SPEAKER_04: And th they realize you're not trying to sell them a bill of goods like hold out, wait for this, wait.
22:27
SPEAKER_04: You think everybody's kinda on the same page now?
22:30
SPEAKER_02: You know, we have some skeptics that come in, the new people all um will be skeptical about everything.
22:37
SPEAKER_02: They're like, Yeah, right, you know, the deer are gonna be five yards away and you're gonna see twenty or twenty-five ever hunting, and this is uh it doesn't take long to convert 'em, oh, um, with everything they see out there.
22:50
SPEAKER_02: And the when they get back to camp, like I said, it's like deer hunting camp.
22:55
SPEAKER_02: They talk to everybody else out there.
22:57
SPEAKER_02: If they're doing something wrong, they usually get told about it uh in camp when they ask what the other guys are doing and seeing and so um uh like I said, the um the whole nature of everything we do out there, um it it sells itself and and uh you know uh again we've been doing it so long and uh there's so much uh visible stuff on us out there that um you know, this day and age you can find out anything bad on anybody because bad news gets posted, you know, way before good news does.
23:36
SPEAKER_02: And and so there's just not a lot of of bad on us out there, and you know, that's one of the things I really take pride in.
23:43
SPEAKER_02: I can't stand to have somebody feel like they've had a bad trip in any way, case uh you know, shape or form.
23:50
SPEAKER_02: And um, you know, that's one thing that I I just when I would I started this thing a long time ago simply because I felt like I got cheated everywhere I went.
24:00
SPEAKER_02: I felt like I didn't get what I paid for.
24:03
SPEAKER_02: And uh so every time that we have a group of hunters come in, if I see somebody struggling, we're gonna try to get them on the right track and and um you know find out what is going on and why are they not seeing what they should be seeing.
24:18
SPEAKER_02: Um when we tell people that look, just put corn out, don't put a lot of that gimmick stuff out here.
24:24
SPEAKER_02: Um the deer have been conditioned to know that um uh especially the bigger deer, that any of that that new fangled gimmick stuff uh out there is a red flag.
24:35
SPEAKER_02: And uh but what isn't a red flag is corn.
24:40
SPEAKER_02: I mean just straight corn.
24:42
SPEAKER_02: And uh so if you just listen to us and what we say and and you know what we tell you to do, you're gonna have a great trip out there.
24:50
SPEAKER_02: And if you're not having a a very good trip, you know, come talk to us and we'll uh we'll figure out what it takes to get you to have a good trip.
24:59
SPEAKER_02: But all in all, like I said, um people realize we're not out there trying to just get in your pocketbook and you know get to the next hunters next week.
25:09
SPEAKER_02: Um you know, we really want everybody to be successful out here.
25:12
SPEAKER_02: For one thing, um marketing is so much easier when you don't have to lie to anybody, you know, um and uh anybody takes care of itself.
25:21
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's been working for a long time.
25:24
SPEAKER_04: You you made uh reference earlier about you know what the biggest buck was off the ranch, the Brady buck.
25:32
SPEAKER_04: If y'all never seen the Brady buck, all you need to do is Google it.
25:35
SPEAKER_04: You you were born and raised Texan.
25:37
SPEAKER_04: Why is that and I you know uh I still call it the Hill Country.
25:42
SPEAKER_04: I know some people get annoyed because it's West Tex whatever it is, that Brady, I don't even know what all the counties are.
25:49
SPEAKER_04: Why is that five, six, four county region why is it so good, especially for white-tailed deer and turkeys.
25:58
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
25:58
SPEAKER_02: Um well, for one thing, it's the upper hill country of Texas.
26:03
SPEAKER_06: Okay.
26:03
SPEAKER_02: So um when you do it right, and it's it's actually called the Edwards Plateau is the official name for this area that we're in, but it's still the upper hill country.
26:14
SPEAKER_02: Oh, um, but um it we we are just blessed to be in an area that's very, very fertile for white-tailed deer.
26:22
SPEAKER_02: And um it it always has been.
26:25
SPEAKER_02: Um now you can hunt it out, you can do all the wrong things in this area too where you don't have deer.
26:33
SPEAKER_02: Um but it doesn't take much of doing good to have incredible numbers of deer here.
26:39
SPEAKER_02: So um so like I said, it's just this area has been blessed.
26:45
SPEAKER_02: I mean, these like you said, the several counties around here, uh Mason Menart, McCall, Sconcho, all of this stuff right around this area, the middle of the state, the heart of Texas, has just been absolutely incredible.
26:59
SPEAKER_02: Now, um, in saying that, you know, this isn't the golden triangle um down south of San Antonio where the soil content down there is you know um raises some incredible, you know, uh size fear in anthropology.
27:16
SPEAKER_02: Um but we still have some brag and rights up here.
27:19
SPEAKER_02: Uh uh one very good brag and rights that uh will always be here with us.
27:24
SPEAKER_02: Um but uh like I said, the the numbers thing, very few people can beat us anywhere, oh um, as far as the the total number count and and what you see.
27:35
SPEAKER_02: Um this is you know so fun to bring new hunters out here, kids out here.
27:42
SPEAKER_04: There's no place better for somebody who is not a seasoned pro to go sit in that line and be still and be quiet, and it's just so many deer out there.
27:54
SPEAKER_04: It's just it's crazy.
27:56
SPEAKER_02: Oh, it's just so much fun.
27:57
SPEAKER_04: It is so much fun, and you and Mark make it fun.
28:01
SPEAKER_04: The people at Jacoby's Mexican, I mean that's my you know, I don't I don't talk but about two or three places, and that's one of them.
28:10
SPEAKER_04: Hi, me and Ken.
28:12
SPEAKER_04: Heavy D.
28:15
SPEAKER_03: This is a celebration, ain't like we ain't been here before.
28:19
SPEAKER_03: Tell them about this place.
28:20
SPEAKER_03: Oh, hey, Jacoby's.
28:22
SPEAKER_03: I tell you what, it's still a turn breakfast, but then I never had a bad meal, dude.
28:28
SPEAKER_03: Never had a if you ever come home with Kevin Bowser at the artifact.
28:33
SPEAKER_04: This is like five minutes.
28:36
SPEAKER_04: Operation it's Kobe, Coby, stay stage.
28:39
SPEAKER_04: They gotta run in an airbag on air.
28:47
SPEAKER_04: Yo, old timer builds nines with durability nines.
28:50
SPEAKER_04: They also want it to be a tool that is comfortable enough to work with day after day.
28:56
SPEAKER_04: Old timers make nines for those who don't rely on others to get to die.
29:03
SPEAKER_04: Old timers, we've got to be able to do that.
30:50
SPEAKER_04: And I know y'all are used to the heat.
30:52
SPEAKER_04: We're used to the heat.
30:53
SPEAKER_04: We live in the south.
30:54
SPEAKER_04: But when it gets that bad, does it does it affect those deer or are they just used to it?
30:59
SPEAKER_04: And there's enough water.
31:00
SPEAKER_02: They're used to it, but the you know, there's places that they may leave um because of the heat and get closer to water, but we're uh very fortunate to um have uh the landowner out here is also also a big cattle guy, and so he has piped water all over the ranch and there's water trough everywhere.
31:22
SPEAKER_02: And oh um plus the um the live oak cover uh and the scrub oak cover is uh um a lot of shade.
31:31
SPEAKER_02: Uh this isn't just flat mesquite land that you don't have uh you know a lot of shade and and uh comfortable areas, but we got some contour out here, we got plenty of water and plenty of shade.
31:42
SPEAKER_02: So um, yeah, they're they're used to it.
31:44
SPEAKER_02: This isn't anything unusual.
31:46
SPEAKER_02: We had in the twenty five or six years that I've been doing this here, we had one year that it was uh it was just a drought year that really affected our numbers.
31:58
SPEAKER_02: Oh, um, and I mean everything was dry.
32:02
SPEAKER_02: Um that um you know there was no cover on the ground and uh just very little food for them.
32:08
SPEAKER_02: They were eating only cactus and mesquite beans.
32:12
SPEAKER_02: And uh, but other than that, we've never seen a year where it's affected our numbers in any way, shape, or form.
32:19
SPEAKER_02: And uh certainly not this one.
32:21
SPEAKER_02: So uh man, we've had a great spring and a great summertime here.
32:26
SPEAKER_02: So it's it's gonna be another great year.
32:28
SPEAKER_04: This two shall pass.
32:30
SPEAKER_04: My dad would say that anytime you complain about something, he would say this two shall pass.
32:34
SPEAKER_04: I've been around this game a long time, Kevin.
32:36
SPEAKER_04: You have too many and always kind of I it's not rocket science.
32:41
SPEAKER_04: The people that have been doing the hunting business outfitting for decades and decades.
32:46
SPEAKER_04: They uh they have a lot of repeat business.
32:50
SPEAKER_04: Uh I mean a lot.
32:52
SPEAKER_04: Big creek, you the roots, places like that.
32:55
SPEAKER_04: And it's because they feel like they're coming in a hunting.
32:58
SPEAKER_04: Well, they got a good chance.
33:00
SPEAKER_04: To me, going to that part of Texas, I've always said it's like going to Africa.
33:04
SPEAKER_04: I've it's so different.
33:05
SPEAKER_04: But what if you just had to pull a a number out of there, how what percentage of your hunters are repeat hunters, you think?
33:13
SPEAKER_02: Half or a little more or oh way over half.
33:18
SPEAKER_02: Um you know, some years it's over 90 percent.
33:21
SPEAKER_04: Wow.
33:22
SPEAKER_02: Oh, um, yeah, but I've got hunters that have been with me for you know well over 20 years.
33:26
SPEAKER_02: It comes back every year religiously and and whatnot.
33:30
SPEAKER_02: But uh um uh every um every hunting camp you come to pretty much every weekend, you're gonna have a you know a lot of repeat hunters in there that'll you know talk to the newbies out there and stuff.
33:45
SPEAKER_02: So like I said, it's just something that that we really take pride in.
33:49
SPEAKER_02: Oh, um is our repeat business.
33:51
SPEAKER_02: Repeat business tells you if you're doing it right or not.
33:54
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
33:54
SPEAKER_02: And uh anyway, we um we really take pride in our repeat business.
33:59
SPEAKER_04: That's such a big, big, big, big place.
34:02
SPEAKER_04: And I I hadn't been out there in all season.
34:04
SPEAKER_04: I I've been out there during deer season a couple times, mostly during the spring and all that.
34:09
SPEAKER_04: And I know how big it is.
34:11
SPEAKER_04: I've looked at the maps and drop ins and all that stuff.
34:14
SPEAKER_04: How how much better do you and Mark know the ranch now that you've been out there for that long?
34:19
SPEAKER_04: Have you have you found all the creases and honey holes and dive that you all know if you know it way better now?
34:28
SPEAKER_02: We know it way better, but you can live a lifetime and not find all the little honey holes out there.
34:36
SPEAKER_02: What we have found that um um really makes us grin out here is the fact that there is no dead areas on the ranch.
34:46
SPEAKER_02: There's no places that we try to avoid because it just doesn't have you know the numbers that the other places have.
34:53
SPEAKER_02: And uh I'm telling you, it it um is so nice to know that you can put any hunter at any given time on any area out there, and they have the the same potential of of really striking it good that anybody else does on any other place on it.
35:11
SPEAKER_02: And that's what we've learned over the last five years is is that it's just so good everywhere.
35:16
SPEAKER_02: We feed you know in the off season as well.
35:19
SPEAKER_02: There's um uh we feed corn year round and we feed protein from the time they start growing horns till the time they uh uh you know stop and lose their velvet.
35:29
SPEAKER_02: And uh so like I said, we um we have a real good feeling for you know most of the areas out there.
35:36
SPEAKER_02: And like I said, it just makes us you know uh feel that much better about the whole place out there that it's just all good.
35:44
SPEAKER_02: Just really incredible.
35:46
SPEAKER_04: All right, I'm gonna ask you some hardcore archery questions.
35:48
SPEAKER_04: I enjoyed uh visiting with Dr.
35:51
SPEAKER_04: Warren Strickland Man.
35:53
SPEAKER_04: One of these days you've got to come where I'm gonna take you to his trophy room.
35:56
SPEAKER_04: It's crazy.
35:57
SPEAKER_04: It's unbelievable.
35:58
SPEAKER_04: I'm gonna ask you some because both of these fictions open here, and I still get excited now.
36:03
SPEAKER_04: Am I as mad at them as I used to be?
36:05
SPEAKER_04: No, but I still love this stuff.
36:08
SPEAKER_04: And there's not many people get to look at as many different rigs and styles and equipment as you do.
36:16
SPEAKER_04: So I'm gonna I'm just gonna pick your brain a little bit.
36:19
SPEAKER_04: What do you think is the and not everybody talks about their stuff.
36:23
SPEAKER_04: What do you think is the average poundage of a bow from people coming out there?
36:27
SPEAKER_04: I know there's grown men shooting eighty and all that, but what do you think is the average poundage these days?
36:34
SPEAKER_02: You know, there's still a good many people that that will shoot 70 pounds because that's you know just what they've always been taught.
36:40
SPEAKER_02: But I think the majority are are, you know, right around the 60 pound range.
36:44
SPEAKER_02: Oh uh 60 to 65.
36:47
SPEAKER_02: Listen, you know as well as I do, way back in the day, uh the speed was it, and the way to achieve speed was poundage.
36:55
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
36:56
SPEAKER_02: And um, you know, and so you know, way back before I had my hair color change, 250 feet per second was the the speed that everybody was, you know, trying to shoot for.
37:10
SPEAKER_02: You can do that with a goddamn less than 40 pound bow these days.
37:14
SPEAKER_02: Uh um and we couldn't reach it with 85 pound bows back then, you know.
37:19
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, correct.
37:20
SPEAKER_02: And uh so like I said, the efficiency of the the new equipment is just incredible.
37:25
SPEAKER_02: And oh you know, I talk to a lot of people and have a lot of you know different archery dealers come out and hide here, and you know, it um what everything boils down to, there's so many great bows out there.
37:37
SPEAKER_02: But it's just the grip, how it feels in your hand, and the draw cycle.
37:42
SPEAKER_02: You know, some people, you know, like a tight draw cycle where it's you know tight up front and and uh loose in the back, or some people like it, you know, maxing out and way back in the back.
37:52
SPEAKER_02: And like I said, it's just whatever they feel comfortable drawing.
37:56
SPEAKER_02: And you know, but as far as the you know, uh quality of the stinking bows out there, there's so many good ones.
38:05
SPEAKER_02: And they're all so efficient these days that it's just incredible.
38:09
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
38:09
SPEAKER_04: I'm uh I may be a couple of pounds under 60.
38:13
SPEAKER_04: I didn't text my I check I checked it last year, it was at 58 pounds and I shot three does and shot through all of them, so I ain't I ain't worried about it.
38:21
SPEAKER_04: Do uh it's whatever hey, confidence, that's what bow hunting's all about.
38:25
SPEAKER_04: And what you're them people that come out there ain't gonna be shooting 60 yards anyway.
38:30
SPEAKER_04: So do you do you uh do you recommend or do you see most people use a head net, paint their face, the hands, do is that a big deal in the blinds?
38:41
SPEAKER_04: Is it depend on where the sun's coming in through their one hole?
38:45
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
38:46
SPEAKER_02: And again, that's exactly what it depends on.
38:49
SPEAKER_02: When you do it right, you you kind of like a tunnel effect uh with your hole out there, so it it softens that, you know, hard line of a hole.
38:58
SPEAKER_02: Oh, um, and um, you know, there's very few straight lines in nature, especially in god dang Texas, there's no straight trees out here anywhere.
39:07
SPEAKER_02: But uh so as far as a hard line, uh, you know, they see a dark hole out there, and the the harder that line is on that hole, the the more they're curious about it.
39:17
SPEAKER_02: But if you if you tuck it back in and give you a bunch of shades on top of that hole before you get out it to the open, uh then it um you know it makes that almost invisible.
39:29
SPEAKER_02: But in in that case, it doesn't matter if you're wearing you know, pink and white and purple, um they're not gonna see you in there at all.
39:38
SPEAKER_02: But if you've got something where, you know, the the sun can have a beam coming in now and then, um, most of the people will will throw some paint on their face.
39:48
SPEAKER_02: Oh um the masks and everything, you know, especially early season, get so hot and bothersome.
39:56
SPEAKER_02: So um but it can be effective when you find them little gnats flying around out there too that can be so bothersome too.
40:05
SPEAKER_02: But I find that most people are using the the face paint more than anything.
40:09
SPEAKER_04: Yep.
40:09
SPEAKER_04: I'm a big face paint guy, still do.
40:12
SPEAKER_04: My problem is my head's so big I have to buy that stuff by the gallon.
40:16
SPEAKER_04: I can't go in and get me a little tube of it.
40:18
SPEAKER_04: Anyway, do you do you still have the occasional person that wants to use a tree stand, or is it like 100% ground blinds because I know how effective those are?
40:29
SPEAKER_02: We still have people that you know just want to be in the air.
40:33
SPEAKER_02: Um and if we really put the numbers to it and uh came down and found out how many um, you know, big bucks, I'm talking about anything over 140 inches are killed out of the ground or you know, up in the air, I think that would be so one-sided it it wouldn't even be funny.
40:52
SPEAKER_02: And I'm talking about better than 90% off the ground.
40:56
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
40:56
SPEAKER_02: Uh so you know, there's just so many eyeballs that can see you up in the air.
41:02
SPEAKER_02: And um, you know, when you do have that buck of a lifetime coming in and kind of get drawn back when you've got you know, twenty-five or thirty-six eyeballs down there.
41:13
SPEAKER_02: Uh, not to mention the fact that they're coming in and out from all directions.
41:17
SPEAKER_02: That wind swirls a little bit you know, the wrong way, and if it does go down to the ground instead of stay up in the air.
41:25
SPEAKER_02: Oh uh you know, there's so many other factors involved that um you know, with a a tree stand that uh um you know put you in the the wrong column there.
41:37
SPEAKER_02: But there's still a lot of people that are very effective out there with um you know, with the tree stands.
41:43
SPEAKER_02: And some people just cannot stand to be in a ground black.
41:46
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I know.
41:47
SPEAKER_04: It's a l it's it's it's it's a little conforming and but you know, golly, you kind of gotta go with odds.
41:54
SPEAKER_04: Uh I watched I was watching a YouTube thing the other day, I don't even remember who the guy was, big time deer hunter.
42:01
SPEAKER_04: And they asked him uh question at the end I found fascinating.
42:05
SPEAKER_04: And they asked him the three times of the year, the three best times of the year to kill a deer.
42:12
SPEAKER_04: My question is, is it easier for you out there to kill one during the rut?
42:16
SPEAKER_04: But he said they broke it down to early season, rut, and late season.
42:21
SPEAKER_04: And he said, I'm gonna put them in order.
42:23
SPEAKER_04: He said, number one to kill a big deer for me, where he hunted in the southeast early season and then late season after the rut, and then the rut was his third choice, and he went on to explain that, and I was like very interesting.
42:38
SPEAKER_04: And after watching some of that drone stuff, I get it.
42:40
SPEAKER_04: But what's your thoughts?
42:42
SPEAKER_04: Is it easier to kill a or see a big buck during the rut out there or just anything goes anytime?
42:49
SPEAKER_02: Well, it's probably easier to see one peak rud.
42:54
SPEAKER_02: Um easier to kill one pre-rud.
42:57
SPEAKER_02: Oh um the the big bucks will come out and finally start send checking the you know, congregation areas of the the dough and stuff.
43:06
SPEAKER_02: I try to tell people out here when you're putting your corn and everything else out and trying to get your your hunting spot ready, um, what you're doing is trying to make a big area that the deer congregate on.
43:18
SPEAKER_02: You're not putting corn out for that big buck.
43:21
SPEAKER_02: You're putting corn out for all the other deer that attract that big buck to come in.
43:26
SPEAKER_02: And uh the more different smells out there, bucks and those that you have on the ground, uh the peeing and poking that they do, oh, um, is gonna attract the the big buck more than the corn will.
43:39
SPEAKER_02: And so, like I said, we um we try to get a big footprint established uh with a lot of corn in a great big area first and then start confining it down.
43:48
SPEAKER_02: But um um the the pre rut they will come out and scent check and and uh actually put their nose down and eat while they're there a little bit.
43:58
SPEAKER_02: Um a little More willing to go go go.
44:12
SPEAKER_02: And they don't want to be around the body.
44:17
SPEAKER_02: If they're looking for a dough, they can prove the next one.
44:23
SPEAKER_02: If they do find a hot though in there, they push around.
44:32
SPEAKER_02: Because they're moving all over the place.
44:34
SPEAKER_02: But I think pre-run is the time.
44:36
SPEAKER_02: And then late season.
44:38
SPEAKER_02: Um you know, they're about recovery.
44:41
SPEAKER_02: So um they spend a lot of uh you know, muscle and you know body function, uh chasing deer, and now they're about food source, and so they're all about recovery.
44:54
SPEAKER_02: So I would have to do the same as he did, you know, in that order.
44:59
SPEAKER_02: Pre-rut, uh late season, and then peak rut.
45:02
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
45:03
SPEAKER_04: Texas a different place.
45:05
SPEAKER_04: That temperature affects them out there.
45:06
SPEAKER_04: You get a cold front in October, bam, you better be in your tell me about your uh every time I come out there, you're adding on.
45:16
SPEAKER_04: Tell me about lodging facilities and what what you're capable of right now if somebody's interested, if somebody hadn't come out there yet, what's going on at the lodge?
45:24
SPEAKER_02: Right.
45:25
SPEAKER_02: We have uh our main lodge, uh they're in the city limits of Melbourne.
45:30
SPEAKER_02: Um there's um there it's all under one roof.
45:33
SPEAKER_02: We call it a lodge.
45:34
SPEAKER_02: It's just really four individual cabins that are kind of hooked together with a meeting room in the front of it.
45:40
SPEAKER_02: And and again, you know, uh there's nobody on the planet gonna call this a five-star place, but um I uh uh uh am still proud of what we got because it feels like hunting.
45:53
SPEAKER_02: Oh and so you know, sixteen people there and you know, the rooms are actually big enough to throw a cotton, and if you've got you know, some other keys coming in and you can sleep four to six in each uh each one of those cabins that are under there.
46:07
SPEAKER_02: So sixteen to twenty people there.
46:10
SPEAKER_02: And then we've got uh two container cabins on the um ranch itself that um uh four people at each.
46:18
SPEAKER_02: So there's another eight people that we uh can have on the ranch.
46:23
SPEAKER_02: Now we have overflow every weekend, obviously.
46:27
SPEAKER_02: Some people have to, you know, stay at uh uh Airbnb or um uh hotel, you know, in Brady or something.
46:37
SPEAKER_02: Um but um Brady is only twelve miles from the uh gate of the ranch.
46:43
SPEAKER_02: Uh so it's not like you're having to go a very, very long way, you know.
46:47
SPEAKER_04: The uh yeah, I'm still I'm still absolutely confused and disappointed that Brady don't have a water burger.
46:54
SPEAKER_04: That still blows my mind every time I come out there.
46:57
SPEAKER_04: I got two or three two or three more questions.
47:00
SPEAKER_04: And uh one of 'em I did a seminar at the NWTF a couple years ago called The Secret Sauce.
47:08
SPEAKER_04: And every and I told them it and it was a good seminar, and I kind of gave my attention.
47:14
SPEAKER_04: And you and you've been doing this for a long time, and the reason I I try to get you on every year is like I tell people like, Man, here's your chance.
47:20
SPEAKER_04: If if you ain't got a banker's budget, go on an adventure, you can do it right there.
47:26
SPEAKER_04: And yours is just continue to grow and grow.
47:29
SPEAKER_04: And Lauren asked me one time, she said, What what is Kevin's secret sauce?
47:32
SPEAKER_04: And I said, Well, I I think it's like a bowl of chili, it's a bunch of stuff.
47:37
SPEAKER_04: Why why has heart of Texas been so so successful for a what is uh your Mark's secret sauce right now, if you had to put it in just a couple of words, what do you think?
47:50
SPEAKER_02: Well, um, like I mentioned before, um being the hunter that most of my hunters are, um, which means you know, uh working man's budget.
48:01
SPEAKER_02: Oh uh very limited time to you know come out and do things or vacation time and whatnot.
48:07
SPEAKER_02: Um like I said we're working class, but um I do that simply because I was looking for that.
48:15
SPEAKER_02: And um that I really felt fair about the kill uh winner.
48:24
SPEAKER_02: I wanted to at least feel like I was going to the place uh worth looking for.
48:31
SPEAKER_04: Give me in the game.
48:33
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely, absolutely.
48:42
SPEAKER_02: I'm thinking of an area that easier.
48:50
SPEAKER_02: And uh you know people that have the future that we offer.
48:56
SPEAKER_02: Um as much of the dollar as I can.
49:03
SPEAKER_02: Um simply because there's a there's a number of runners out there that reverse that anywhere one time, you know, and and uh work for another because I don't want you know, I really care about um you know everybody that comes out and and I think it's hard when somebody um uh just being fair and honest with um everybody that that comes out and you know realizing that they're the working guy trying to get everybody as much as they can on a working guy's budget um is what I feel like we owe to the people that come out.
49:59
SPEAKER_02: I've always uh um you know kind of ran things that way.
50:03
SPEAKER_02: And uh so it it it works itself out, just being fair on it.
50:08
SPEAKER_02: So um everything else kind of comes together.
50:11
SPEAKER_04: It's a good way to go through life, my brother.
50:13
SPEAKER_04: I appreciate you.
50:15
SPEAKER_04: Stupid, stupid question coming up here, and I I hadn't asked.
50:18
SPEAKER_04: Any openings this fall?
50:20
SPEAKER_04: Because I've I've seen the what happens today after hunting seasons.
50:24
SPEAKER_04: Is there any openings?
50:25
SPEAKER_04: I'm I'm I'm pretty sure you ain't got many, if any, but is there any openings out there?
50:31
SPEAKER_02: We do.
50:32
SPEAKER_02: Um we have um as a matter of fact, we can we can still handle a couple of decent sized groups in October, uh early October to mid-October.
50:43
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
50:44
SPEAKER_02: So uh and then late season, uh very you know, end of season we can uh uh put quite a few people on.
50:52
SPEAKER_02: But we have the ones and twos uh open uh throughout season, you know, scattered around.
50:58
SPEAKER_02: But like I said, we um now listen, let me think about you know the October month.
51:03
SPEAKER_02: Um I still got openings on opening days.
51:06
SPEAKER_02: And now opening days they hadn't done nothing like it said by us, you know, and so uh they're not seeing any trouble coming around there at all.
51:17
SPEAKER_02: And opening days, as a matter of fact, the first two weekends is just usually incredible.
51:22
SPEAKER_02: Oh, uh because of that.
51:23
SPEAKER_02: They hadn't been chased or harassed or don't know nothing about nothing.
51:27
SPEAKER_02: And so like I said, I've still got some spots on opening day and the next weekend.
51:31
SPEAKER_04: When is the opening day?
51:32
SPEAKER_04: October.
51:34
SPEAKER_04: Is it October the first?
51:35
SPEAKER_04: October third.
51:36
SPEAKER_04: October the third.
51:37
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, October 3rd is uh the first day to hunt.
51:41
SPEAKER_02: You'd actually come in on October 2nd.
51:43
SPEAKER_04: So October the third, I'm writing that down.
51:46
SPEAKER_04: Could you would you have room for me if I can get my old self to draw my bow back and get dialed in to 20 yards?
51:53
SPEAKER_04: I can't believe you have openings on opening day.
51:55
SPEAKER_04: That's crazy.
51:56
SPEAKER_02: I know that is crazy, but because uh you've always got a spot here.
52:02
SPEAKER_02: I'll put you in my living room.
52:05
SPEAKER_02: I hear you.
52:06
SPEAKER_04: The main reason I come out there is hang out with you and Mark and go to Jacoby.
52:11
SPEAKER_04: So my last question is Jacoby's open for business.
52:14
SPEAKER_04: Are they running?
52:16
SPEAKER_02: They are running, bigger and better than ever.
52:19
SPEAKER_02: And uh anyway, it's just one of the perks that we have to brag about around there when somebody comes.
52:26
SPEAKER_02: Well, that's so uh absolutely that's a perk with a capital P.
52:30
SPEAKER_04: Well, Kevin, I'm glad we got to visit.
52:32
SPEAKER_04: I'm really glad we got to do it.
52:34
SPEAKER_04: I had no idea you had some openings for the opening weekend.
52:37
SPEAKER_04: That's that's pretty encouraging.
52:38
SPEAKER_04: You got to keep me in the loop and uh and keep an eye on them turkeys, make sure nobody harasses them turkeys while while the deer hunters are in camp.
52:49
SPEAKER_02: You you would not believe you can't walk 15 steps without busting up a bunch of birds out there, colts everywhere of all different sizes.
52:58
SPEAKER_02: There's been so many hatches.
52:59
SPEAKER_04: You ain't supposed to be you ain't supposed to be talking about that.
53:02
SPEAKER_04: I ain't gonna talk about that.
53:04
SPEAKER_04: All right, brother.
53:05
SPEAKER_04: I know what's fixing to happen with you and your crew and Mark and everybody out there.
53:09
SPEAKER_04: It's gonna be uh extremely fun yeah.
53:12
SPEAKER_04: It's gonna be a fun year.
53:13
SPEAKER_04: So I'll be don't be surprised if I call you one day and say, Kevin, I'm packing up and headed that way.
53:20
SPEAKER_04: So God bless you.
53:21
SPEAKER_04: Tell Mark I said hello, and uh God bless Texas.
53:25
SPEAKER_02: Thank you, sir.
53:26
SPEAKER_02: Appreciate you forever, Cuz.
53:28
SPEAKER_02: See you, brother.
53:29
SPEAKER_02: Be safe.
53:30
SPEAKER_02: Bye-bye.
53:31
SPEAKER_00: I'm in my tree stand every afternoon.
53:35
SPEAKER_00: I escape the stupid world with my Mossy Oak camo, which by the way I'm getting on the Mossy Oak Podcast, is called Fistful of Dirt, which pretty much summarizes my life.
53:48
SPEAKER_00: You know, in Braveheart and the Gladiator, when the gladiator went to fight the evil forces, he'd kneel down and get a fistful of dirt and fondle the essence, the physics of spirituality of the earth, and that we all must remain grounded down to earth.
54:08
SPEAKER_00: So I fondle earth every day.
54:11
SPEAKER_01: You're listening to Fistful of Dirt, presented by Monsey Oak Properties.
54:17
SPEAKER_01: Talk about the secret sauce.
54:18
SPEAKER_01: He's got it.
54:19
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, you almost made it the whole podcast without talking about turkeys.
54:23
SPEAKER_05: You almost did it.
54:25
SPEAKER_04: Ain't gonna happen.
54:26
SPEAKER_04: Somebody I I was scrolling last night and there was just a picture of a turkey.
54:31
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
54:32
SPEAKER_04: Somebody posted only six and a half months till turkey season.
54:36
SPEAKER_04: But look, I've been busy, busy, busy.
54:38
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
54:39
SPEAKER_04: Getting turkey my my calendar for turkey season 2027 is already stupid.
54:44
SPEAKER_05: I know it is.
54:45
SPEAKER_04: You know, we auctioned off the hunt down there for the University of Florida Game Lab, Dr.
54:50
SPEAKER_04: Marcus Lashley, a hunt with me and Dave Owens.
54:55
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it went it.
54:56
SPEAKER_04: They got a lot of money for that.
54:58
SPEAKER_04: And I kind of felt like they would.
55:00
SPEAKER_04: And uh I got to looking at the poster they put up for it, and I was like looking at old Dave Owens, and he's been on our podcast four or five times.
55:07
SPEAKER_04: I like I'd like to.
55:08
SPEAKER_05: Some of our most downloaded episodes.
55:10
SPEAKER_04: I'd pay to go hunt with him.
55:11
SPEAKER_04: I made that to Lawrence.
55:13
SPEAKER_04: Say, well, you are going with him.
55:14
SPEAKER_04: I was like, and I told him, I was talking to him on the phone, I said, There's two rules.
55:19
SPEAKER_04: Because he, you know, he's busy.
55:21
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
55:21
SPEAKER_04: We found a window farm and I said, Now look, there's two rules.
55:24
SPEAKER_05: Oh, I bet I could guess them.
55:26
SPEAKER_04: All right.
55:27
SPEAKER_05: I bet it's something about you're in charge of the food, and he's in charge of something else, the calling or something.
55:34
SPEAKER_04: You got one of them right.
55:35
SPEAKER_04: I said, here's the thing.
55:36
SPEAKER_05: Okay.
55:36
SPEAKER_04: You doing all the calling.
55:38
SPEAKER_05: Okay.
55:39
SPEAKER_04: And number two, you can't feel me getting up out of my turkey carrier.
55:43
SPEAKER_04: Because that's an Olympic event.
55:45
SPEAKER_04: And he just laughed and howled at that.
55:47
SPEAKER_04: But you're talking about something to look forward to.
55:50
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
55:50
SPEAKER_04: And the plan is we uh we're gonna, you know, I got I I posted that and said, here's, you know, you can call getting bid online and and certainly an online caller got the hunt.
56:03
SPEAKER_04: But I and I got so many, oh, that's too much money, that's a rich man's game by bond.
56:07
SPEAKER_04: So we're gonna give away a hunt on that same date at the NWTF.
56:12
SPEAKER_04: Don't know how we're gonna do it yet.
56:13
SPEAKER_04: That's a marketing thing, but somebody's gonna win uh a spot at that hunt with me and Dave Owens.
56:20
SPEAKER_05: That is crazy.
56:21
SPEAKER_05: Isn't that fun?
56:22
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
56:23
SPEAKER_04: He uh I'm sure he'll be disappointed hunting with me, but I will not be disappointed hunting with him.
56:28
SPEAKER_04: But that's fun, and it's n that subject is never far from my brain.
56:32
SPEAKER_04: But I can tell you this after talking to Kevin Burrison, I'm gonna get my stuff dialed in, and I may just turn around and point my truck west in October and just go hang out.
56:42
SPEAKER_04: You know, I've never deer hunted out there.
56:45
SPEAKER_05: You filmed them.
56:46
SPEAKER_04: I filmed a bunch of hunters.
56:48
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, but I have never personally deer hunted out there.
56:50
SPEAKER_05: You've sent a bunch of folks.
56:51
SPEAKER_05: We've had listeners, oh uh, Shane Bramlett and his son.
56:55
SPEAKER_04: He made a great video.
56:56
SPEAKER_05: He's got a video going out there.
56:57
SPEAKER_05: He loved it.
56:58
SPEAKER_05: I think he's I think he put that on his repeat list.
57:01
SPEAKER_05: He's gonna go back now.
57:02
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, lots of repeat customers, and that that doesn't happen by accident.
57:06
SPEAKER_04: So if you're thinking about an adventure and uh you want to bow hunt and before you get too old, that clock's ticking, uh, give old Kevin a call.
57:16
SPEAKER_04: He's got a great Facebook page and a website and all that stuff.
57:19
SPEAKER_04: So yeah, now he's got my brain spinning.
57:24
SPEAKER_05: You're gonna go home and shoot your bow.
57:26
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I'm gonna go home and get my bow dialed in.
57:28
SPEAKER_04: So well that said, hope you're ready for whatever it is.
57:31
SPEAKER_04: Maybe you've done been dove hunting, getting that bow ready to go.
57:34
SPEAKER_04: That's all a good thing.
57:36
SPEAKER_04: It's all about watching football on Saturday and getting in a tree stand or a ground blind.
57:40
SPEAKER_04: That the time is here, Laura.
57:42
SPEAKER_04: The Burr month.
57:43
SPEAKER_04: That's it.
57:43
SPEAKER_04: September.
57:44
SPEAKER_04: So for me and Laurreen up in the Camo Cave from Mossy Oak and Mossy Oak Properties, God bless each and every one of you.
57:51
SPEAKER_05: We'll see you in seven days.
57:59
SPEAKER_01: Find your favorite place.
58:01
SPEAKER_01: Visit Mossy Oak Properties.com.