Latest / Wired To Hunt Podcast / Ep. 903: Mark Kenyon Q&A - Hunting with Kids, Turkeys, Whitetail Access, Public Land Advocacy, and More

Transcript

Ep. 903: Mark Kenyon Q&A - Hunting with Kids, Turkeys, Whitetail Access, Public Land Advocacy, and More · Wired To Hunt Podcast

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast, your guide to
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: the Whitetail Woods, presented by first Light, creating proven versatile
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: hunting apparel for the stand, saddle or blind. First Light
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Go Farther, Stay Longer, and now your host, Mark Kenyon.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Welcome to the wire to Hunt podcast. This week, in
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: the show, we're doing some listener Q and a yep.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: I am answering a whole pile of questions from you,
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: covering topics such as turkey hunting, introducing kids to the outdoors,
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: deer hunting tactics, the sale of public lands, fly fishing,
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: my new book Whitetails in Alaska, and a whole lot more.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: All right, welcome back to the Wired to Hunt podcast,
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: brought to you by First Light and their camera for
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: Conservation Initial and today it's just you and I and
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: we're doing one of our Q and A episodes. I
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: do a couple of these a year, it seems like,
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: in which I try to tackle some of the many
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: questions that I get from you guys throughout the year,
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: whether that's through email or direct messages or comments on
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: social media. It's hard to get to all those, so
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: I like doing one of these. Ever once in a
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: while to talk about different topics, to talk a little
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: bit about what's going on in my life and with
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: my hunting and fishing in outdoor pursuits, and to see,
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: you know, what things you guys are curious to learn
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: more about. So that's the plan here today. I have
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: a very wide array of questions from you guys. I've
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: got everything from questions around turkey hunting tactics and deer
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: hunting tactics, to you know, ideas and questions around bringing
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: kids into the outdoors or your spouse how to introduce
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: new folks to these activities that we love so much.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: We're going to talk about my new book. We're going
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: to talk a little bit more about my latest film
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: on Meat Eater, about white tails possibly making it to Alaska.
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: We're going to talk about some questions around threats to
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: our public lands, the culture of deer hunting, fly fishing,
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: a little bit and a bunch more, a bunch more
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: along those lines and everywhere in between. So that's the
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: game plan today. I don't want to spend too much
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: time here on the front end, but I will give
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: you two updates from my world about what I just
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: did and about what I'm just about to do. I
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: just finished up my annual turkey camp here in Michigan,
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: where a handful of my longtime hunting buddies get together.
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: There's like five or six of us from Michigan, another
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: couple out in Iowa. Some of the guys that longtime
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: listeners right might remember from the very early days of
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: Wired to Hunt back when we were doing are very
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: rougher on the edges, YouTube episodes and whatnot. But that
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: crew got back together at my buddies farm here and
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: so other Michigan and we had two and a half days.
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: I have a lot of fun, And I think that's
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: something uniquely special about turkey hunting is that it's so
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: much fun because of the social aspect of it. You know,
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: when deer hunting, there's so much that can go wrong.
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: There's so many different variables that you need to try
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: to control. If you ever want to get within the
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: shooting range of a deer, that you just have to
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: you know, usually do it as a single person pursuit,
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: maybe one other person, but it's tough to get away
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: with anything. When turkey hunting. Number one, for some reason
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: the stakes feel a little bit lower. And then number two,
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: you just seemingly can get away with a little bit
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: more at least until the very end, and so lots
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: of times at least. The way we turkey hunt is
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: we'll go out as a big group, you know, three people,
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: four people, five people, sometimes more, just because we're just
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: there to have a good time and be there for
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: the story with each other. And so there'll be a
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: couple different people calling, a couple people might sit way
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: back and watch, a couple people might be up in
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: different shit shooting positions, and you know, we're we're moving
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: around running a gun and exploring new areas, glass and fields,
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: driving around a different regions, checking this spot, checking this spot.
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: And then when you find a turkey somewhere, then we
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: make a game plan, figure out how we're gonna kind
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: of stalk in on it or make a move or
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: get ahead of it and try to call it in
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: and all the while doing this as a group, and
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: it is an absolute blast. We laugh a ton. We
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: all camp out together at my buddy's house. He's got
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: a pole bar in there that we kind of use
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: as a base of operations, and man, it's great. We
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: had eight guys this year and six got birds. Another
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: guy got a shot, I guess one shot, and then
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: another one that came really close, So we certainly had
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: opportunities and it was it was another one for the
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: record books. Just just a terrific time and a great
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: reminder to me that as much as you know, filling
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: tags is what we want to do, right, we want
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: to put meat in the freezer or you know, antler
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: on the wall or whatever the thing is that you're hunting.
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: But you know, as we've talked a lot over the years,
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: if you focus too much on that end outcome, you're
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: going to miss out on so much in between. And
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: these turkey camps are a terrific reminder to me of
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: how important that camaraderie and fellowship is as a part
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: of the hunting experience. And you know, I'm just so
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: glad that we got to do this. And then I
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: get to share this with my kids, and you know,
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: I get to bring them to a little bit of
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: this and let them see what the camp atmosphere is
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: all about. And same thing with up our Northern Michigan
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: deer camp. That time together with your friends and family,
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: that's that's where the best stories are made. That's where
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: those greatest memories come from, so you never want to
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: get so busy hunting or achieving some hunting goal that
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: you don't end up having time for your hunting buddies
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: and your friends and family that are part of those things.
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: So once again, great reminder of that this past weekend,
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: and glad I've got some fresh turkey breasts and legs
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: in the freezer. Two. Now the next thing to do
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: is try to help my son get one, which I'll
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: talk about a little bit later as we answer some questions.
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: But my oldest son ever is turkey hunting for the
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: first time this year, so very exciting. We've had some
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: close calls already, a lot of fun already, and hoping
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: we can get it done. Now that said, that's what
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: I just did, what I'm about to do just here
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: in a matter of hours, I'm gonna be heading to
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: the airport, hopping on an airplane and heading to Washington, DC.
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: And I'm going there to do a handful of different things,
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: but all of them revolving around advocating for our public
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: lands and wildlife and smart conservation measures and practices and priorities.
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: We've talked quite a bit over the last handful of
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: months and really over the years, but more recently here
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: about recent events related to threats to our public lands,
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: threats to wildlife, threats to a healthy environment. And you
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: know what I'm doing in a number of different hunters
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: and anglers this week, we are heading to the nation's
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: capital to talk with some of our elected officials, to
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: talk with some of our lawmakers and their offices and staffs,
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: to make sure people know that we as a hunting
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: and fishing community really care about these things. That these things,
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: these animals, these places, these environmental protections, these smart wildlife
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: management practices, these guardrails are there for a reason because
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: our wildlife and wild places and public lands support our lifestyle,
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: our traditions, our families. For some of us, it's our
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: how we make a living. These activities, pursuits, landscapes, animals,
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: they support important economic economies. You know, the outdoor recreation
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: economy is now value that one point I think it's
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: one point two trillion dollars annually that are driven by
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: outdoor recreation, which is largely supported by our public LANs.
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: So I'm heading to go do that, to go hopefully
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: at least get in the ear and be a bug
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: in a squeaky wheel to anyone who will listen about
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: these issues. So we've got a handful of different meetings
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: with the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. I'm gonna be talking
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: to folks about many of the things we just discussed.
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: We're going to talk about some different upcoming legislation that
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: will help with resiliency, that will help with habitat conservation,
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: that will you know, look at natural climate solutions, that
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: will look at different ways to protect our public lands.
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: We're going to talk about, you know, making sure we
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: are not in any way supporting the transfer or sale
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: of public LANs. That's going to be a discussion piece
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: in some of these meetings. We'll be meeting with a
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: number of different representatives and senators offices and staffs, and
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: maybe hopefully some of the actual folks themselves. I'll be
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: doing some of this with Like I said TRCP, I
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: think I'll be doing some of this with the backcountry
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: hunters and anglers. My buddy mister Callahan will be there
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: with me for some of these things. I'll be doing
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: some stuff with sportsmen for the Boundary Waters. I believe
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: there's gonna be a lot going on, So we will
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: report back after this next three days, hopefully we'll be
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: doing a podcast with Kale to talk about, you know,
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: what we experienced, what we saw, what we heard, what
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: we learned, and hopefully maybe some progress on some of
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: these fronts. So stay tuned. We will be working hard
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: to try to make sure that the future of our
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: public lands and wildlife and wild places and all these opportunities,
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: hopefully we can keep that future looking good. And I'm
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: going to do my very damnedest to make sure that's
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: the case. So that's what I've done, That's what I'm doing.
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: Now let's get to these questions that you guys sent,
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: and there's a lot of good ones here. Let's see, Well,
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: this is a conveniently placed question here Shots by Shops
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: asks when does the new book come out? If you
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: were not following me on Instagram, you maybe didn't see this,
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: but I announced last week that I am working on
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: a new book. I've got a brand new book that
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: is going to be kind of in a similar vein
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: to my first book, That Wild Country, which you can
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: see on the shelf behind me. That first book was
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: exploring the past, present, and future of America's public lands.
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: It's called that wild country, And like I just said,
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: it explored our public land story, how we got here,
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: what the threats are now today, and where are we headed?
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: And I explored that set of information through a series
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: of my own adventures out there on public lands. So
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: that was book number one. Book number two, which I
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: am working on right now, is going to use a
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: similar format, but it will be exploring the past, present
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: in future of America's and wildlife. So how did we
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: get to where we are now with our wildlife and
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: fish populations here in America? What are the threats right now?
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: Why is it the fact that many scientists now are
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: calling this current moment in time the sixth mass extinction.
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: Why is this time period becoming known as a biodiversity crisis?
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: What's happening? Why is it happening? And what does it
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: mean for the future of fish and wildlife and all
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: the people whose lives revolve around these things. That's what
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: the new book's about. And the unique thing I'm trying
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: to bring to this conversation about wildlife is my perspective,
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: our perspective as hunters and anglers. What can hunters and
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: anglers bring to this conversation and this issue. What can
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: the larger environmental movement learn from hunters and anglers and
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: how we have been conservationists and advocates, and how we
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: engage with wildlife and fish, and why are kind of deep,
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: radical engagement with fish and game maybe fosters such a
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: deep and abiding love and care for these critters. All
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: of that will be covered in this new book, and
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: the plan is for that book to be released early
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: in twenty twenty six. So I'm wrapping up the first
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: manuscript right now. And I made this mention on Instagram
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: last week because I did want to give people an
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: opportunity to submit their questions or kind of areas of
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: concern or interest. What am I trying to say here?
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: I want to get thoughts from you, the listeners and followers,
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: on what topics related to fish and wildlife you want
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: answers on or would like more insight into. I want
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: to make sure that your feedback and that your concerns
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: and that your curiosities are included in this larger story.
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: So I'm going to send a newsletter out next week.
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: It will be the end of this week, I guess,
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: so if you were listening when this podcast drops on
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: May first, or second, whatever that'll be. Yeah, if you
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: were listening to this on May first or May second,
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: I'm going to send out a newsletter with a survey
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: that's going to ask for your opinions and ideas around
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: this book and if there's any specific topics that you
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: would love me to address if possible. So, if you
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: want to possibly send in some feedback on this book,
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: you can't do that by signing up for my personal newsletter,
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: my author's newsletter at Mark Kenyon dot net. That's Mark
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: Kenyon dot net. You go there, you'll see a box.
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: Right you scroll dow this a little bit, you'll see
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: where to enter your email address to join my newsletter.
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: You'll get all the updates on the book as that
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: publishing process begins later this year, and it'll give you
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: that opportunity to share your feedback and maybe your ideas
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: or questions could be a part of the final version
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: of this book. So hopefully that's something you're interested in doing.
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: I certainly appreciate your ideas, your feedback and input. So
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: that said, ranger Rick Outdoors has a question. He says
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: would love to hear more on getting kids, how you
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: get kids to love hunting and fishing or the outdoors
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: in general. Do you have any tips or tricks for
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: fostering that passion early in the field and at home.
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: My first child is doing may and I want to
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: start the process as early as I can. All right,
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: So that's super exciting. Congrats that you've got a kid
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: on the way. It's going to change your life in
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: many ways and mostly for the better, although there are
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: some challenges too, but it's incredible. And my biggest piece
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: of advice when it comes to getting your kids into
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: the outdoors is literally get them outdoors. That is the
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: single greatest thing I think my wife and I have
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: done is that we have gotten our children outdoors early
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: and often and in many different ways, and we have
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: not coddled them. We have not you know, we've not
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: done the thing that I hear many people do, which is, well,
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: you know, maybe we'll do stuff like when they're ready
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: for it, when they're eight, or when they're ten, or
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: when they're six, or whatever it is. Everyone has some
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: different age for when they think their kid will be
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: ready for a hunting trip or a fishing trip, or
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: an outdoor adventure or a camping trip or a backpacking trip,
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: and Oftentimes they're very conservative about that. They assume that
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: these kids can't handle an outdoor adventure or being out
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: in the elements or whatever it is. And what I
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: have found is that kids are incredibly resilient and they
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: adapt to whatever circumstances you put them in. If you
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: give them an opportunity to succeed and have a good experience,
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: they will work through and adjust and become used to
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: whatever is you throw them into. So what we have
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: done is we have taken our kids with us to
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: do everything we used to do prior to kids. We
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: do it now with our kids from the moment they
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: were born. We lived in a camper for five weeks.
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: I think it was when my first son was four
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: months old, so for the first, you know, and fifth
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: month of his life, he camped out every single day
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: next to the Yellowstone River and our old renovated camper.
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: When he was a year and a half old, we
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: did two months camping. Every one of those days, we
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: were hiking, we were fishing, we were playing in the dirt,
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: we were playing in the river, all of those things
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: as a baby, And when he was four months old,
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: he was strapped to my chest and we were going
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: on turkey hunts and he was with me. Now, I
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: wasn't going to shoot a gun next to his ear.
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: We're going to go on fake turkey hunts. But he
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: was getting introduced to those things. At four months old,
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: he was going out there and walking in the woods
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: with me looking for sheds. When I was scouting in
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: the summer or working on food plots, he was out
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: there sitting in the grass. When he was a year
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: and a half old, he was out there with me
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: calling turkeys. And he you know, when his brother was born,
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: when he was two, same thing with him, And we
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: continued to every year take them out hunting with turkeys,
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: with deer, taking him out to the river, taking them
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: out to the lakes, taking him hiking, having him play
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: in the rocks, having them go camping. Every single year
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: of their lives. They have been doing this. Now, of course,
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: you know the specifics of how we do it, or
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: how long we do it, or how extreme we do
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: any one of these things. That's adjusted to make sure
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: it's safe for the kids, to make sure you know,
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: they still have a positive experience. Uh, to make sure
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: you know, my expectations are in line with what is
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: actually possible with the kids. So you know, when whenever
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: my oldest was five months old, we were still going
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: hiking in the mountains, but I realized, like, okay, it
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: might be, you know, a four mile hike when prior
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: to kids, we've been doing a ten or twelve mile hike.
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: Now we're going to go on a four mile hike,
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: and we've got contingency plans so if you know, if
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: something goes wrong, we can get out of their fast
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: or the weather really bad, we got to make sure
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: we've got a way to keep them dry and warm
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: and et cetera. And then when the kids got older
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: and they got to that age where I couldn't carry
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: them around is easily on my back or on my
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: chest and they were going to walk. Now it actually
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: slows things down a little bit because now you're going
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: at their pace and as far as their little legs
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: can carry them. Same thing with hunting, like everything has
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: to be adjusted to their pace and their abilities. But
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: you still do it and you make the best of
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: whatever it is. And I think because of that, because
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: I've been doing that from the very beginning with both
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: of my boys, they have grown up knowing nothing different.
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: They see and understand the outdoors hunting, fishing, hiking, camping, boating, climbing,
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: all that kind of stuff. It's just normal life. And
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: so because of that they have fallen in love with it.
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: They have developed their own sets of passions around that,
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: each of the boys kind of gravitating to different things
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: based on their own interests. But we have given this,
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: I guess we've provided a canvas for them to paint
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: their own picture on when whichever ways and whichever you know,
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: lanes of the outdoor pursuits that they end up enjoying
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: the most, we give them those opportunities. But it all
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: started with simply having them out there and not cop them,
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: not you know, waiting for some future thing. I always
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: hear people like, oh, yeah, well we'll go out there
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: and do those trips, you know, when they can do
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: it right. Well, you know, I understand that, you know,
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: not everyone has the opportunity to do all these things
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: all the time, so you got to make choices and
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: stuff like that. But I would say, to whatever degree
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: you can get them out and doing this stuff as
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: early as you possibly can, even if it's little tiny
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: snippets here and there, because that sets the foundation and
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: I always you know, I remember early on some people
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: ask me, you, you know, why are you doing all
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: this stuff with your kids? Now? They're not going to
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: remember any of this. You're doing all this really cool stuff,
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: and they're not going to remember anything because they're one
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: or two or three, and when they're adults are not
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: they're not going to have any memory. But I got
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: to thinking that that might be the case. But you know,
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: when they're three, they'll remember what they did when they're two,
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: And when they're four, they will remember what they do
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: when they are three, and when they're five, they'll remember
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: what they did when they're four. And this is slowly
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: building up a foundation that builds year after year after year,
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: leading them to being kids that remember a whole lot
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: of great things, that have developed a love for a
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: whole bunch of great outdoor pursuits and a set of abilities,
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: and a level of confidence and comfort with not just
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: outdoor pursuits in the natural world and all these great
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: things we like to do. Not only a level of
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: confidence that they can handle all those things, but then
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: also a comfort level with being uncomfortable, which is something
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: we've talked about in the past that I think is
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: so important. One of the greatest things that hunting and
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: fishing and the outdoors can help us understand and get
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: better it is simply dealing with discomfort and challenges and adversity,
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: And so I think they've benefited from that as well,
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: because sometimes stuff does go wrong when you're out there
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: on a hunting trip or a camping trip or a
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: float trip, and I would, you know, I think it's
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: a great place for kids to learn those lessons now,
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: rather than being coddled and babied until they're teenagers and
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: then they go through some kind of crazy adversity in
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: the adult world in school or whatever, and they've never
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: learned how to deal with shitty situations. Well, they're going
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: to deal with some tough situations early on in the
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: outdoors in the setting that I think is very beneficial
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: for personal growth and a lot of fun and shared
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: family experiences. And I think it's going to make them
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: into capable, confident, outdoor loving young men. So that's what
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: I've been doing. Colin asks more specifically about tips for
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: taking kids turkey hunting. He wants to get his girls
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: out and make sure they see some birds or hear gobbling,
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: but they have a hard time waking up for school,
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: so I'm not sure if the morning is the best
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: time for them. So, as I just mentioned, I've been
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: trying to take my kids turkey hunting since the day
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: they were born. And what I've done a lot is
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: pretend turkey hunts. So either before turkey season opens or
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: even during turkey season, I'll just go out whenever I
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: can with them without a firearm. Obviously, if it's not
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: the season, I'll just go out to try to call birds.
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: And you do this whenever it's convenient for your schedule.
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: So if there's a nice spring day and it seems
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: like good conditions, or you've got time off work or
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: free time in the afternoon, or the kids don't have
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: school and you can go out and do it. Just
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: go out there with your calls and see if you
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: can find turkeys, call turkeys, go through that whole experience
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: of getting birds gobbling, coming in all that excitement. That
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: is so much fun in and of itself. So that
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: is what has been what I've done since day one.
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: We've gone out for a lot of fake turkey hunts together,
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: me and the boys, even with my wife, and that's
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: been a blast. We've called birds in the kids got excited.
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: They'll have their pretend gun and pretend to take a shot.
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: And you know, doing that when it's convenient, when it
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: works for schedules and not letting, you know, a short
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: turkey season time for or a kid's school schedule or
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: anything get in the way. That's been nice now for
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: actual turkey hunting itself. We have done some hunts before
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: before school. You know, it gets daylight really early compared
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: to when school starts now in the spring, So there
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: have been some times I've taken my son out with
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: me before school. We actually killed a bird together last
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: year before he had to go to school. You just
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: have got to do it again. You know, you're going
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: into it with knowing you have a very short time
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: for him, like this is a thirty minute hunt, or
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: this is a forty five minute hunt, and we'll get
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: the most out of it. We can have fun and
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: then get him to school. I don't think afternoon hunts
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: are impossible, though, if it's legal in your state. I've
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: had a lot of good luck in the afternoons. But
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: we oftentimes look at it more as like a nature walk.
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: We'll go on a walk we'll kind of I'll call
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: it walk and squawk. You'll walk around, do some calls,
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: walk around, do some calls, walk around, do some calls,
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: and glass as you're going along. And it's fun just
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: to be out there exploring nature with your kids. Sometimes
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: to get lucky and you'll strike one up and then
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: all of a sudden you've got this fun, exciting hunt
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: that takes place. But worst case scenario, even if you
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: don't get one to show up, or you don't get
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: anything gobbling, you still are out there doing something fun.
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: So I think that's a great way to keep your
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: kids interested, and you know, get out there more often
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: for these evening hunts after school. Lower risk, but there's
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: some upside and we've certainly enjoyed that. We just went
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: out last week, me and the boys, and this exact
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: scenario is what happened. We went out, we were going
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: to go for a walk, and if it happened to
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: come together, it happened to come together. Like I mentioned,
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: my youngest son now is is with a license and hunting.
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: So we went out, we struck up a bird. We
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: actually came over hill, saw some birds down to kind
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: of a low spot in a cut cornfield, snuck back,
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: made an ender out on them, set up closer to
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: them in the timber, did some calling, got them to
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: gobble back. But then I looked behind me and in
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: a field there was a separate gobbler like racing, and
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: he ended up running right in on a on a
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: line right to us. Got both the boys on either
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: side of me on the tree. My youngest is five,
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: my oldest is seven. Everyone's very excited. We're talking through
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: the scenarios and what to do and how we're going
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: to do this, and that turkey got to about fifty
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: yards and then kind of got like a little bit
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: wigged out. Maybe he just couldn't see the hen he
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: was looking for, or maybe one of the boys moved
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: a little bit, but he didn't really spook spook, but
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: he just circled us at fifty yards and went around
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: us and just would never come any closer. And you know,
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: for my son, it's it's gonna have to be a
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: really close, really great shot for his first bird. So
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: super fun experience, though, And you know that that way
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: we've gone about it has seemed to work very well
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: because both the boys are really excited about it and
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: continue to want to get out there and you just
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: enjoy the spring woods and have some turkey fun hopefully
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: along the way too. Let's see Tipper Outdoors asks if
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: there's a tark buck in the air, should I still
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: do prep for the season, like using a chainsaw and
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: stuff like that, And I would say absolutely, especially if
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: you're talking about doing that right now in April or
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: May or June. Really for a lot of months now,
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: any activity you do in the woods should not negatively
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: impact you come hunting season. I am not afraid to
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: do food plot work, chainsaw work, tree stand where, trail
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: camera work, anything like that up until about a month
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: before my hunts start. Now, I will say that if
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: you're trying to get you know, summer inventory, excuse me,
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: if you're trying to get inventory on your trail cameras,
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: a bunch of activity in the farm will definitely not
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: help you when it comes to those summer pictures. So
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: if you are, you know, really wanting to get that
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: kind of data now, you might want to do less
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: of that prep work once your trail cameras are out.
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: Once I put my summer cameras out, I largely try
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: to keep my prep activities to chunks of time. So
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: instead of like doing something every day of every weekend,
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: I would rather like spend three days all day, get
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: a bunch done, and then leave the farm alone for
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: as much as I possibly can. So I kind of
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: do this like batch work, where you get a bunch
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: done in a short period of time instead of a
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: little bit on a bunch of different days. That said,
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: for me, I like to make sure that from the
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: end of August until opening Day in Michigan, which is
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: October first, that I leave any properties that can hunt
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: as alone as I possibly can. So I try to
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: have everything done by August thirtieth, so that for a
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: full month they can be untouched, and then when I
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: start hunting, I can be you know, hunting a pretty
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: comfortably deer, a pretty comfortable deer population. And then I
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: keep my hunting and access very low impact, very minimal
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: from there on out for the rest of the hunting season.
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: But the rest of the year, I'm out on these
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: properties a lot, scouting, doing work, walking around with the kids,
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: turkey hunting, having a good time. I think you're going
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: to be fine in that case. Even if there's a
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: specific target buck, you know, they get pretty used to
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: some level of human activity, and they might not move
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: in the daylight hours as much, but give them that
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: safety come hunting season and they'll start doing it. Uh.
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: Carson Decker asks for ideas about how to create good
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: access to a stand that does not have good access currently. Well,
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: there can be many different scenarios and many different kind
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: of examples of what this bad access could look like.
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: So you know, I can't give you a incredibly helpful
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: answer without knowing exactly what your specific situation is. But
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: that said, a few high level ideas. Number One, there
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: might just be some spots that are going to be
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: tough to access no matter what, and nothing you do
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: can change that. And in those kinds of spots, it
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: comes down to hunting decisions. So how often will you
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: hunt that spot and when will you hunt that spot?
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: If it is a hard to access place, you just
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: got to know that if you're gonna hunt it, you're
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: going to make an impact. So every single time you
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: go in there, it's gonna make things worse for the
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: next time around. So first off, you need to take
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: those swings at the right times. So make sure you
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: know that, Okay, the day I'm going to go in
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: there has got to be one of those absolute highest
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: odds for that location. So maybe this specific location is
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: only good at a certain time of year. If that's
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: the case, make sure that at that certain time of
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: the year that's when you take your swings. Maybe it's
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: just a great rut spot, or maybe it's a great
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: spot all times of the year, but there'll be a
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: certain time of the year where it's the very very best.
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: Save it for that very best moment. And then, secondly,
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: know that you can't hunt over and over and over
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: and over again. So realize that, Okay, I'm gonna save
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: this for the best time, and then I recognize that
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: I might only have a couple shots, and then it's
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: probably gonna burn out. And so hunt it with an
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: understanding that you better hunt it just right that first
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: or second time. You better not only get the timing right,
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: but you better do everything right. Make sure that you
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: know when you go in there, do it the best
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: possible way you can, even if it's not perfect. Stay
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: all day, if you can stay as long as you
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: possibly can, do you know, cross every teed dot, every eye.
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: Make sure that you have used this high risk, high
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: reward moment appropriately. Get the best possible outcome out of
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: that high risk that you possibly can. Now. That said,
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: there might be other ways to improve that access. Maybe
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: it's just cutting in a trail by you know, clearing
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: brush and tree limbs, or raking out a pathway so
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: you can be at least a little quieter when you
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: get in there. Maybe there's open fields that you need
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: to traverse to get to this spot. If you own
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: this land or manage this land and are allowed to
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: do you know, land improvements, you could plant a screen
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: that might visually block you, like trees or switch grass
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: or or some kind of tall vegetation that will block
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: visibility so you can come in and out of a
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: spot without critter seeing you. You can make screens by
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: hinge cutting trees down and laying treetops into a wall
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: to block your site. You can use creeks, streams, lakes,
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: anything like that, ponds for access anytime, you can use
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: water to access, or being down low beneath the siteline
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: of most other wildlife that can make for great access
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: and exits. All of those things could help. I also
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: will use vehicles if possible, so if I know there's
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: a location that is hard to get into, or out
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: of if I can, I will always use a bike
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: or an e bike or you know, if you can't
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: get in there yourself or sorry, if you have someone
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: who can get in there with you to help with
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: a UTV or a truck to pick you up or
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: drop you off, that's then another great option. So anytime
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: I know I've got a high impact location that I
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: can get into by myself without messing things up, if
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: I've got a friend or family member nearby, I will
• 32:04
  Speaker 2: plead and beg and barter with them to try to
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: get a pick up or drop off, Because a wheeled
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: vehicle pushing you in there and spooking off the deer
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: is a lot better than you on foot walking in
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: there and spooking off the deer. So keep all those
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: ideas in mind. Access and exit can really educate a
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: deer herd and quickly change you know, what kind of
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: activity you see. So this is an important conversation to
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: be having. Let's see Nick Marking asked if I have
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: plans to do another ultra some more trail running, and
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: the answer is yes, I do. And I say that
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: because another answer to another question, M Buckley asked me,
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: has running made you a better deer hunter. And if so,
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: how and why so The answer is yes to that
• 32:56
  Speaker 2: as well, and that's why I plan to continue some
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: of these trail marathons and hopefully some bigger, real ultras
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: in the future. And I think that this has benefited
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: me for a number of different reasons. One thing, I
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: think running and training for races helps you build discipline,
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: and it forces you to become regimented with, you know,
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: doing hard things even when you don't want to do them,
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: and that's important for hunting, that's important for success on
• 33:25
  Speaker 2: a lot of different fields. And you know, by doing races,
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: it forces me to stick to my plan, It forces
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: me to stick to my goals, It forces me to
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: be accountable. When I didn't have the races and I
• 33:38
  Speaker 2: was just saying, well, I want to run every week
• 33:40
  Speaker 2: a handful of times to stay healthy, it was just
• 33:43
  Speaker 2: too easy to say, well, I'm too busy today, or
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: I've got this other thing going on, or the excuses
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: were very easy to come by. But when you know
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: that you've got a twenty mile race, or a thirteen
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: mile race or something like that, or thirty five mile race,
• 33:57
  Speaker 2: if that is coming down the line, then you know
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: that it's on the schedule for a month from now
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: or six months from now, and you know that you
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: were going to get your tail absolutely kicked if you
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: are not physically ready for it. That keeps you honest,
• 34:11
  Speaker 2: That keeps you sticking to your plan and your training regimen.
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: And so I just realized that I need that stick
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: in the future. I need to have that little extra
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: something to keep me at it. And so by doing that,
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: by signing up for these races, it keeps me running,
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: It keeps me training, and those things a build discipline,
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: like I said, which is one of those kind of
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: mental muscles that is so important as a deer hunter.
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: And then it also keeps me physically fit, which again
• 34:37
  Speaker 2: also very important as a deer hunter, especially a deer
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: hunter like many of us are, who you know, try
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: to be pretty mobile. We're hiking in deep into public
• 34:47
  Speaker 2: land or you know, doing the long way, or into
• 34:50
  Speaker 2: our hunting spots. Even on private land, we're climbing up
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: and down trees. You want to be comfortable doing that.
• 34:56
  Speaker 2: You want to be not huffing and puffing and sweating
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: to death and dying out there. You want to be
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: able to do it with a level of ease and comfort,
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: so that you can be focused mentally on the stuff
• 35:06
  Speaker 2: that you know you should be doing in the moment,
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: which is making decisions about how to hunt or where
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: to hunt, or how to adjust to whatever you're seeing.
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: If you're out there miserable because you can't physically handle it,
• 35:17
  Speaker 2: you're just not going to be able to be as
• 35:20
  Speaker 2: effective as you possibly could. So the running has been
• 35:23
  Speaker 2: something that has kept me honest, has kept me disciplined,
• 35:25
  Speaker 2: has made me more physically fit, and it's fun for me.
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: I'm honestly not a gym guy. I don't like being
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: in the gym. I like being outside, and running has
• 35:35
  Speaker 2: been that thing for me personally that has been that
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: sweet spot of good for you physically, good for you mentally,
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: and then also something that you just enjoy doing, and
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: if you enjoy doing it, you're more likely to stick
• 35:46
  Speaker 2: to it as well. So trail running specifically, I've really
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: come to like because I like being, you know, outside
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: in a beautiful place away from people and cars and
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: noise and road running. You know, you've got the noise
• 35:59
  Speaker 2: and the roads and all that kind of stuff. It's
• 36:00
  Speaker 2: just not as nice of an experience. So when you
• 36:03
  Speaker 2: add in the trails and the hills and just a
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: natural landscape to look at, and the fact that you
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: have to focus on every step, you're just you're very
• 36:09
  Speaker 2: engaged surrounded by nature, and that's been a win win
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: for me. So I've definitely, I've definitely enjoyed that all
• 36:18
  Speaker 2: that stuff. Let's see what's next here. Someone asked, let
• 36:25
  Speaker 2: me find this question. I want to make sure to
• 36:27
  Speaker 2: cover this one. If I had any updates on the
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: target bucks in my region? Where is that? Well? Oh yeah, okay,
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: So s Church asked if I had any updates for
• 36:42
  Speaker 2: the target bucks on my main farms in Michigan, and
• 36:46
  Speaker 2: I sort of do. If you guys were following me.
• 36:50
  Speaker 2: Last fall, I had a doozy of a hunting season.
• 36:53
  Speaker 2: I had two main target bucks that I was after,
• 36:56
  Speaker 2: and one of them disappeared at the beginning of September.
• 37:00
  Speaker 2: He had been a buck I'd been fouling for three years.
• 37:02
  Speaker 2: We called, oh my gosh, what was that buck? Wow,
• 37:10
  Speaker 2: I'm having like a total brain fart right now that
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: I've blacked out on my bucks. Anyways, target buck number
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: one was a five year old and he disappeared in
• 37:21
  Speaker 2: early September and very disappointed. He was my most mature buck.
• 37:27
  Speaker 2: I'd found his Bulldozer, thank you, finally can't it. His
• 37:31
  Speaker 2: name was Bulldozer, and my son and I found his
• 37:35
  Speaker 2: match Chet Antler's earlier in the year, so I was
• 37:37
  Speaker 2: really excited to get after him. Was seeing him in
• 37:39
  Speaker 2: the summer when I was out scouting, YadA, YadA, YadA.
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: He disappears first week of September. I don't see him
• 37:45
  Speaker 2: again until late October, and then I start getting a
• 37:47
  Speaker 2: few pictures of him, and I got a handful of
• 37:49
  Speaker 2: pictures of him in like the last couple of weeks,
• 37:53
  Speaker 2: last couple of days of October, and the first couple
• 37:55
  Speaker 2: days of November, and then he disappeared again and I've
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: not seen of him. I've not heard of him. I've
• 38:01
  Speaker 2: not found a shed or gotten a picture of him once.
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: So that was the number one buck pretty much Mia completely.
• 38:08
  Speaker 2: The second buck I was after. He was another great deer,
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: a year younger I believed in before last year, but
• 38:17
  Speaker 2: he grew had a huge year of growth last summer
• 38:21
  Speaker 2: blew up. My youngest son named him Bear Deer, and
• 38:26
  Speaker 2: I saw him all summer with pictures scouting, and he
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: was very daily active. It was looking great, and then
• 38:34
  Speaker 2: October third, I think it was, he disappeared. Didn't get pictures,
• 38:37
  Speaker 2: didn't get sightings, didn't get word of him, nothing all
• 38:40
  Speaker 2: the rest of the season. And that, unfortunately, I do
• 38:46
  Speaker 2: have some closure on because I got word from another
• 38:49
  Speaker 2: neighbor that someone on the other side of our square
• 38:52
  Speaker 2: mile killed a deer that was pushing one sixty, had
• 38:56
  Speaker 2: to split off of a G two, you know, basically
• 38:58
  Speaker 2: everything that this deer was. He described it and killed
• 39:01
  Speaker 2: them the first week of October, which is exactly when
• 39:04
  Speaker 2: this year disappeared off my map. So yeah, my two
• 39:07
  Speaker 2: target bucks last year both disappeared. I have not had
• 39:11
  Speaker 2: a single other shooter buck on camera the rest of
• 39:14
  Speaker 2: the year. I didn't have a single mature buck on
• 39:17
  Speaker 2: camera or sighted from the first week of November last
• 39:21
  Speaker 2: year all the way until now. So just it was
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: a brutal year, brutal hunting. I don't know what happened.
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: I don't know, I don't know. I've got a lot
• 39:32
  Speaker 2: of questions still, So coming into this year, it's one
• 39:36
  Speaker 2: of my more bizarre hunting seasons, at least on these
• 39:38
  Speaker 2: local spots, in that I don't have any dear that
• 39:41
  Speaker 2: I've got history with I don't know what's out there.
• 39:43
  Speaker 2: I don't know what's possible. I don't know what's going
• 39:44
  Speaker 2: to happen. So in some ways that's very disappointing. In
• 39:48
  Speaker 2: other ways, I guess there's a little bit of I
• 39:51
  Speaker 2: guess intrigue there because anything's possible. There's no expectations, so
• 39:56
  Speaker 2: there's also no stress or worry about trying to, you know,
• 39:59
  Speaker 2: finish story on a specific buck. It's just going to
• 40:01
  Speaker 2: be a new year and we'll see what happens. So
• 40:07
  Speaker 2: five will be different. Got some fishing questions in here.
• 40:13
  Speaker 2: Caleb asks if I fly fish in Michigan or the
• 40:15
  Speaker 2: Midwest at all, or if I keep my fly fishing
• 40:17
  Speaker 2: adventures just to Western states. And the answer is that
• 40:22
  Speaker 2: most of my fly fishing is in the Western States.
• 40:25
  Speaker 2: You know, we spend our summers at our cabinet Idaho,
• 40:27
  Speaker 2: and so we're right there on the Idaho Wyoming Montana
• 40:31
  Speaker 2: kind of border region where they all come together, and
• 40:33
  Speaker 2: so that means I'm doing a ton of fly fishing
• 40:35
  Speaker 2: out there all summer. But when I am home, I
• 40:38
  Speaker 2: try to get some in I live in a part
• 40:40
  Speaker 2: of Michigan that doesn't have trout fishing opportunities. I've got
• 40:43
  Speaker 2: to drive, you know, three four hours to get up
• 40:45
  Speaker 2: north to where we can do that. So I just
• 40:48
  Speaker 2: don't have the time to do that as much, but
• 40:50
  Speaker 2: I try to when I can. A time or two
• 40:52
  Speaker 2: a year we do that. I've been fly fishing for
• 40:55
  Speaker 2: bluegill and bass down here on the ponds and lakes
• 40:58
  Speaker 2: around here with the kids. One to do more and
• 41:00
  Speaker 2: more of that kind of fishing. We're doing some of that.
• 41:03
  Speaker 2: I've small mouth fished a few times out here on
• 41:05
  Speaker 2: the rivers. That's a lot of fun. And then, you know,
• 41:08
  Speaker 2: as some folks are price and as social every year,
• 41:11
  Speaker 2: trying to do some saltwater fishing down in the southeast
• 41:14
  Speaker 2: as well around Florida, and that's been a ton of fun.
• 41:19
  Speaker 2: Don't think I talked about on the podcast yet, but
• 41:22
  Speaker 2: caught my first tarpain on a fly, my first really
• 41:25
  Speaker 2: big tarpa it on a fly too, a couple of
• 41:27
  Speaker 2: weeks ago, which was unbelievable. So yes, love love my
• 41:32
  Speaker 2: fly fishing wherever I can do it. It's really the
• 41:35
  Speaker 2: kind of yin to my hunting yang, and I do
• 41:39
  Speaker 2: feel like it's really oh, I don't know, helped build
• 41:44
  Speaker 2: a lot of things for me as a deer hunter
• 41:46
  Speaker 2: through fishing, which I guess this is a perfect segue
• 41:49
  Speaker 2: to another question. Andrew asked what skills or traits have
• 41:53
  Speaker 2: you gained from other activities unrelated to deer hunting that
• 41:56
  Speaker 2: you believe have made you a more successful hunter? And
• 41:59
  Speaker 2: I think fly fishing is one of those things. I
• 42:01
  Speaker 2: think fly fishing in general, but fly fishing in particular,
• 42:04
  Speaker 2: forces you to solve a puzzle every time you head
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: to the water. Every time you go out, you are
• 42:11
  Speaker 2: having to assess the situation, kind of read the water,
• 42:15
  Speaker 2: read the weather, read the terrain, think about the time
• 42:19
  Speaker 2: of the year, think about what's happening right now with
• 42:22
  Speaker 2: are there any bugs hatching or what are the atmosphere conditions,
• 42:26
  Speaker 2: what are the weather conditions, what are the water conditions?
• 42:28
  Speaker 2: What might all that mean for where fish would be
• 42:30
  Speaker 2: living right now? What does that mean for where fishing
• 42:33
  Speaker 2: might where fish might be feeding right now, what does
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: that mean for when the fish will be feeding? And
• 42:37
  Speaker 2: then you start testing things. So given all of that
• 42:40
  Speaker 2: stuff I just mentioned, I'm going to try this fly,
• 42:42
  Speaker 2: or I'm going to trade this depth, or I'm going
• 42:44
  Speaker 2: to try these spots, and then you're testing and then assessing, Okay,
• 42:48
  Speaker 2: how do they react to that? What was the feedback
• 42:50
  Speaker 2: I got? Now I'm going to change up again, and
• 42:52
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna test this new theory, and then I'm gonna
• 42:54
  Speaker 2: test this new theory. And so you're just solving this
• 42:56
  Speaker 2: puzzle every single time you go out there. And that
• 43:01
  Speaker 2: is I think exactly what you need to do as
• 43:02
  Speaker 2: a deer hunter. You are, you know, on any given
• 43:05
  Speaker 2: day or any given week, when you're gonna go hunting,
• 43:07
  Speaker 2: you have to assess the situation, assess what does this
• 43:11
  Speaker 2: wind direction or these weather conditions or this time of
• 43:13
  Speaker 2: the year or this you know, trail camera data or
• 43:16
  Speaker 2: observation data. What does this tell me about what the
• 43:19
  Speaker 2: deer are doing now and where they're going to do
• 43:20
  Speaker 2: it and when they're gonna do it and how they're
• 43:22
  Speaker 2: going to do it. And then you've got to go test.
• 43:23
  Speaker 2: I'm going to try this spot because I think A, B,
• 43:26
  Speaker 2: and C, and then you're gonna hunt there and then
• 43:28
  Speaker 2: you're cee, what do I learn? And then adjust and
• 43:30
  Speaker 2: then test and then adjust and then test. So those
• 43:33
  Speaker 2: two things. The more you do anything like that, and
• 43:36
  Speaker 2: the better you get at making decisions around those things
• 43:39
  Speaker 2: about how to run those tests, about how to try
• 43:41
  Speaker 2: these new things and learn from wildlife and understand how
• 43:45
  Speaker 2: animals use habitat it all kind of works those same muscles.
• 43:50
  Speaker 2: I think that another activity that's helped me with both
• 43:53
  Speaker 2: of those pursuits was chess. As a kid, my grandpa
• 43:57
  Speaker 2: will my grandpa, taught me to play chess, and then
• 43:59
  Speaker 2: my dad and grandpa would both play chess with me.
• 44:02
  Speaker 2: I remember from an early age I would be sitting
• 44:04
  Speaker 2: down there and thinking about the next move and if
• 44:07
  Speaker 2: I make this move, what will my grandpa do? How
• 44:10
  Speaker 2: will he react to that move? And if he does that,
• 44:13
  Speaker 2: then what would I do to take advantage of that?
• 44:15
  Speaker 2: And I think chess has helped me build the ability
• 44:19
  Speaker 2: to think forward, to anticipate reactions, to anticipate future outcomes,
• 44:25
  Speaker 2: and then learn how to adjust from those two. So again,
• 44:27
  Speaker 2: it's the same thing with fly fishing and hunting. You're
• 44:31
  Speaker 2: trying to analyze a situation. You're trying to predict what
• 44:36
  Speaker 2: might happen, and then thinking about what decisions you can
• 44:39
  Speaker 2: make in reaction to those, or what decisions you can
• 44:42
  Speaker 2: make then maybe forces an outcome that you want. Chess
• 44:45
  Speaker 2: helps with that. Fly fishing helps with that. Another thing
• 44:50
  Speaker 2: that's helped me we already talked about running. The running thing,
• 44:53
  Speaker 2: as I discussed, you know, in detail earlier, has helped
• 44:56
  Speaker 2: me build discipline. It's helped me build my fitness and
• 45:00
  Speaker 2: just ability to kind of be mentally tough and physically
• 45:02
  Speaker 2: tougher in situations that I might otherwise. I think finally,
• 45:07
  Speaker 2: one other activity which we talked about at the top,
• 45:09
  Speaker 2: that's been very important to my deer hunting is parenting.
• 45:12
  Speaker 2: And I think parenting has really built for me the
• 45:16
  Speaker 2: ability to maintain perspective. Earlier, in my hardcore deer hunting years,
• 45:22
  Speaker 2: when I didn't have kids, you know, it seemed like
• 45:24
  Speaker 2: deer hunting was the most important thing in my world.
• 45:27
  Speaker 2: It was I was obsessed. It was so important whether
• 45:30
  Speaker 2: or not I killed a deer. It felt like life
• 45:32
  Speaker 2: or death in the moment. If I missed a buck,
• 45:33
  Speaker 2: it was like the end of the world. If I
• 45:35
  Speaker 2: wasn't seeing the deer I wanted to see, it was
• 45:36
  Speaker 2: the end of the world. If a hunt wasn't going well,
• 45:38
  Speaker 2: it was the end of the world. And once I
• 45:41
  Speaker 2: had kids, you very quickly learn that there's something you know,
• 45:47
  Speaker 2: you feel this it's not you learn it. You just
• 45:48
  Speaker 2: all of a sudden, your flip gets switched, and all
• 45:51
  Speaker 2: of a sudden, there's something much, much, much more important
• 45:54
  Speaker 2: in your life. It's these it's these children. It's just
• 45:56
  Speaker 2: this other life. And so now if something goes wrong
• 46:00
  Speaker 2: in my hunting, or if my season is not going
• 46:01
  Speaker 2: well or trip's not going well, it's a lot easier
• 46:04
  Speaker 2: for me to be like, Okay, it is what it is.
• 46:07
  Speaker 2: At least, you know, I've got my kids. At least
• 46:09
  Speaker 2: my kids are healthy, at least my family life is good,
• 46:13
  Speaker 2: and I have these incredible things in my life. And
• 46:15
  Speaker 2: you're just able to appreciate this other part of your
• 46:18
  Speaker 2: world that's so much more important than the grand scheme
• 46:21
  Speaker 2: of things. And so it puts deer hunting in its
• 46:23
  Speaker 2: appropriate place. It gives you a level of perspective. I
• 46:26
  Speaker 2: think it really helps you reorient your priorities, and at
• 46:31
  Speaker 2: least for me, has helped me remember that deer hunting
• 46:33
  Speaker 2: is just supposed to be a fun thing. It's a pastime.
• 46:37
  Speaker 2: It's a way to get out there and engage with
• 46:40
  Speaker 2: nature and have fun and hopefully feeds your family and
• 46:43
  Speaker 2: put meat in the freezer. But certainly should not be
• 46:45
  Speaker 2: something that you're getting all worked up about and stressed
• 46:47
  Speaker 2: out about or worried about as some ego thing. I
• 46:51
  Speaker 2: think deer hunting is getting way too much like that,
• 46:55
  Speaker 2: and I certainly was a part of that for a
• 46:57
  Speaker 2: lot of years, and I've actively been wanting to kind
• 47:00
  Speaker 2: of shift, you know, what my relationship with deer hunting
• 47:05
  Speaker 2: is and how I talk about deer hunting and how
• 47:07
  Speaker 2: we discuss it even here on Wired to Hunt, because
• 47:10
  Speaker 2: I think for too many people now it's becoming this
• 47:15
  Speaker 2: dragon slaying mission that you know, we have to do
• 47:19
  Speaker 2: no matter what the cost is, and we have to
• 47:22
  Speaker 2: show the rest of the world that we're the best
• 47:23
  Speaker 2: deer hunter in the world and that I killed my
• 47:25
  Speaker 2: big buck. And there's a lot of ego in that.
• 47:28
  Speaker 2: There's a lot of weird stuff in that that not
• 47:31
  Speaker 2: only do I think is not healthy for us as
• 47:33
  Speaker 2: a hunting culture, but I don't think it's healthy for
• 47:35
  Speaker 2: us as hunting individuals. And so that's that's where I
• 47:39
  Speaker 2: think parenting has really changed.
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: Things for me.
• 47:53
  Speaker 2: Scott asks, do you think that human scent and wind
• 47:57
  Speaker 2: matters slightly less in urban deer hunting situations? And I
• 48:01
  Speaker 2: would say, yeah, I think it does matter a little
• 48:03
  Speaker 2: bit less. You know, I've hunted in some relatively suburban
• 48:08
  Speaker 2: or urban situations, both in kind of where I grew
• 48:11
  Speaker 2: up in Michigan and then definitely in Washington, d C.
• 48:15
  Speaker 2: On a hunt I did there a few years ago. Deer,
• 48:18
  Speaker 2: no matter where they are, they adapt to what the
• 48:20
  Speaker 2: normal is. They adapt to their surroundings. They can very
• 48:23
  Speaker 2: quickly kind of establish a baseline of what should be happening,
• 48:27
  Speaker 2: what usually happens here, and then they can exist within
• 48:31
  Speaker 2: that framework. If the normal is people all over the place,
• 48:35
  Speaker 2: they can get used to living around people all over
• 48:37
  Speaker 2: the place. They can get used to someone being fifty
• 48:40
  Speaker 2: yards away taking their trash out, if that's the thing
• 48:43
  Speaker 2: they get used to. They can get used to smelling
• 48:45
  Speaker 2: people if there's always people, and so in these suburban
• 48:48
  Speaker 2: or urban places, you know, you can use that to
• 48:52
  Speaker 2: your advantage. If there's a location where deer are used
• 48:55
  Speaker 2: to being downwind of a house or people playing the
• 48:57
  Speaker 2: yard or whatever, you can hunt there and they will
• 49:00
  Speaker 2: probably think that you are just like the other people
• 49:03
  Speaker 2: that are there now. Of course, if you set up
• 49:06
  Speaker 2: in a place that they're not used to their being
• 49:08
  Speaker 2: human sent they probably like we'll be able to tell
• 49:10
  Speaker 2: that too, So you can probably get away with a
• 49:13
  Speaker 2: little more if you're smart about it. But don't expect
• 49:16
  Speaker 2: to be invincible, because just as deer in urban situations
• 49:21
  Speaker 2: can very quickly become used to what's normal, they also
• 49:24
  Speaker 2: have a very fine ability to determine what's not normal
• 49:28
  Speaker 2: and still react to that. So keep that in mind.
• 49:33
  Speaker 2: Joshua Billings asks, I want to hear more about how
• 49:36
  Speaker 2: you started your book reading habit. Has it ever been
• 49:38
  Speaker 2: hard to afford the books? Are there sites you use
• 49:40
  Speaker 2: to find new books? How do you pick what books
• 49:42
  Speaker 2: to read? Fun question. I love talking about books in
• 49:46
  Speaker 2: my reading habit on Instagram. I share my books I
• 49:49
  Speaker 2: read every month on newsletter I mentioned earlier at Mark
• 49:52
  Speaker 2: Kenyan dot net. I try to share some of my
• 49:55
  Speaker 2: reading recommendations on there as well. And for me it
• 49:58
  Speaker 2: started an early age. My fa family was just a
• 50:00
  Speaker 2: family of readers. Every Friday night we would go to
• 50:04
  Speaker 2: Outback Steakhouse and Barnes and Noble. That was our big
• 50:07
  Speaker 2: family outing every Friday. And so I just grew up
• 50:11
  Speaker 2: learning to love reading and love learning about new things.
• 50:15
  Speaker 2: And so that's how it started for me. I just
• 50:18
  Speaker 2: enjoyed diving into topics, whether it be fiction or something
• 50:22
  Speaker 2: new I could learn, and learning about it through the
• 50:24
  Speaker 2: written word. I continued that ever since, I think a
• 50:28
  Speaker 2: big part of my reading habit has been that I
• 50:30
  Speaker 2: have allowed myself to chase any curiosity. So if I'm
• 50:34
  Speaker 2: interested in something, I give my self permission to grab
• 50:38
  Speaker 2: that book and give it a try. And you know,
• 50:41
  Speaker 2: also give myself permission to not need to finish a book.
• 50:43
  Speaker 2: If you read something and you're like, yeah, this isn't
• 50:45
  Speaker 2: for me, I don't feel obligated anymore to finish a
• 50:48
  Speaker 2: book if it's a you know, if it's a slog,
• 50:51
  Speaker 2: that's not bringing me value or joy or entertainment or
• 50:55
  Speaker 2: new information. So you know, when it comes to you know,
• 51:01
  Speaker 2: staying excited about reading and doing it consistently, that helps
• 51:04
  Speaker 2: a lot. I also read every single night. That's the
• 51:08
  Speaker 2: way I go to sleep every night. I've got a
• 51:10
  Speaker 2: book by my bed. I read that with a headlamp.
• 51:12
  Speaker 2: I use a red headlamp at night, so that it's
• 51:15
  Speaker 2: you know, it's a little weird maybe, but with the
• 51:17
  Speaker 2: red light, it you know, does not I'm blinking right now,
• 51:22
  Speaker 2: having a brain fart on the oh the chemical that
• 51:29
  Speaker 2: does this. But white light or blue light will keep
• 51:33
  Speaker 2: you awake longer. Red light does not do that, and
• 51:36
  Speaker 2: so I'm able to slowly get tired and fall asleep,
• 51:40
  Speaker 2: but I can read up until that point with my
• 51:43
  Speaker 2: red light headlamp. I also don't watch a lot of TV.
• 51:48
  Speaker 2: Usually if I have a little bit of free time,
• 51:50
  Speaker 2: it's reading. I just have found that I believe that
• 51:52
  Speaker 2: reading books is more valuable use of my time than
• 51:55
  Speaker 2: watching some show or scrolling Instagram or whatever. I would
• 52:01
  Speaker 2: just rather learn about something new, or even if it's
• 52:03
  Speaker 2: just a book for entertainment. I think that the reading
• 52:06
  Speaker 2: process is like a higher nutrition, like a higher nutrient
• 52:11
  Speaker 2: punch for your book, buck bang for your book if
• 52:14
  Speaker 2: you're going to read it, versus kind of passively consume
• 52:16
  Speaker 2: it on TV. So personally, that's why I do it,
• 52:19
  Speaker 2: that's how I've continued to do it. I've given myself
• 52:22
  Speaker 2: permission to buy a book anytime I'm interested, knowing full
• 52:26
  Speaker 2: well that that's going to cost some money and that's
• 52:27
  Speaker 2: an investment. But I do really believe that, you know,
• 52:30
  Speaker 2: a book is one of the very best investments you
• 52:33
  Speaker 2: can make, especially if it's a book that you're learning
• 52:35
  Speaker 2: something new, whether it's through fiction and you're just kind
• 52:38
  Speaker 2: of learning about human the human experience, or if it's
• 52:41
  Speaker 2: a book where you're learning about, you know, some nonfiction topic.
• 52:45
  Speaker 2: You know, learning and expanding your mind and growing is
• 52:49
  Speaker 2: you know, that is a time investment that will pay
• 52:53
  Speaker 2: back dividends exponentially over time. There's nothing I think that's
• 52:58
  Speaker 2: more important for your growth as hunter or an angler's
• 53:01
  Speaker 2: a husband or wife, or mother or father, anything of that.
• 53:05
  Speaker 2: There's nothing more important than growing and learning and continuing
• 53:08
  Speaker 2: to never stop that personal growth. And books are about
• 53:12
  Speaker 2: as good of a way to do that as you
• 53:13
  Speaker 2: can possibly find. You have to deeply engage with the material.
• 53:16
  Speaker 2: You engage with it for a long time, you get
• 53:19
  Speaker 2: a comprehensive understanding, You get context. You know, we live
• 53:22
  Speaker 2: in this world today with social media and TikTok and
• 53:25
  Speaker 2: all this crap that is so short and sensationalist, and
• 53:29
  Speaker 2: it has no context and has no background, and it's
• 53:32
  Speaker 2: not comprehensive. And people are getting their understanding of the
• 53:36
  Speaker 2: world from thirty second or three minute snippets. There's very
• 53:39
  Speaker 2: little you can actually learn in thirty seconds or one
• 53:42
  Speaker 2: minute or a minute and a half and today's very complicated, controversial,
• 53:47
  Speaker 2: polarized world. We need more nuance, we need more context,
• 53:51
  Speaker 2: we need more comprehensive understanding, and books are one of
• 53:55
  Speaker 2: the very best ways to do that. So I would
• 53:58
  Speaker 2: rather sacrifice by in I don't know, a new TV
• 54:01
  Speaker 2: or going out to dinner. I'd rather not do that
• 54:03
  Speaker 2: and instead invest my dollars in books than vice versa.
• 54:08
  Speaker 2: How do I pick the books I read? You know,
• 54:10
  Speaker 2: I just follow whatever I'm curious about. I like to
• 54:13
  Speaker 2: go to bookstores and just prouse the shelves. I go
• 54:16
  Speaker 2: on Amazon, and I will like find a book that
• 54:18
  Speaker 2: I want to read, and then I will look at
• 54:20
  Speaker 2: the suggested books for people that also bought, you know,
• 54:24
  Speaker 2: for people that bought this book, they also bought this,
• 54:25
  Speaker 2: this or this. I try to buy most of my
• 54:29
  Speaker 2: books not through Amazon. I prefer to support like an
• 54:31
  Speaker 2: actual bookstore, like an indie bookstore, which you can do
• 54:35
  Speaker 2: through bookshop dot org or even Barnes and Noble. I'd
• 54:38
  Speaker 2: rather buy from them, just because I like physical bookstores
• 54:42
  Speaker 2: and I want to make sure they're still around. So
• 54:44
  Speaker 2: I personally do that. But I do keep a book
• 54:46
  Speaker 2: list on Amazon because that's just an easy place to
• 54:50
  Speaker 2: keep your list, and so every time I see a
• 54:51
  Speaker 2: book that I'm interested in, I just add it to
• 54:53
  Speaker 2: that list. And then I can keep this long running list
• 54:56
  Speaker 2: of things I'm intrigued by, and then you know, when
• 54:59
  Speaker 2: the time's a writer and I'm at an actual bookstore,
• 55:01
  Speaker 2: I can look at that list again and be like, oh, yeah,
• 55:03
  Speaker 2: I remember there's this book about such and such. Let's
• 55:05
  Speaker 2: see if this store has it. And that's how I
• 55:07
  Speaker 2: go about those things. Alaska, Lund asked in twenty years
• 55:13
  Speaker 2: will Alaska have white tails? With c WD? So this
• 55:18
  Speaker 2: is a question related to my film that came out
• 55:21
  Speaker 2: a couple of weeks ago on the mediat Or YouTube
• 55:23
  Speaker 2: channel in which I and we just did a full
• 55:25
  Speaker 2: episode on this last week, So hopefully you heard that
• 55:27
  Speaker 2: one with Colin and Bjorn. But this is a great question.
• 55:33
  Speaker 2: It's one of the big concerns that folks have about
• 55:35
  Speaker 2: this trend of white tails and mule deer showing up
• 55:38
  Speaker 2: to a state that has not historically had them, and
• 55:41
  Speaker 2: the questions will they bring their diseases with them? And
• 55:45
  Speaker 2: I think, unfortunately, it's very likely that twenty years from
• 55:48
  Speaker 2: now there will be white tails in Alaska, and there's
• 55:52
  Speaker 2: a very real chance that CWD could be there, because
• 55:55
  Speaker 2: right now, white tails are right on the doorstep of Alaska.
• 55:59
  Speaker 2: They're probably already in the state. As Roy Churchwell was
• 56:03
  Speaker 2: telling me in that film, you know, there's been sightings,
• 56:05
  Speaker 2: people have said they've seen them there in this area,
• 56:08
  Speaker 2: but they don't have one confirmed photographic evidence yet. But
• 56:13
  Speaker 2: they do have confirmed evidence of white tails like just
• 56:15
  Speaker 2: over the border right there, So it's probably happening. They've
• 56:19
  Speaker 2: been moving farther and farther north over the last handful
• 56:21
  Speaker 2: of years and decades. So this is a trend that's
• 56:24
  Speaker 2: been happening. It's been confirmed, it's likely to continue as
• 56:28
  Speaker 2: the climate becomes more mild up they're in, winters are
• 56:31
  Speaker 2: less severe. White tails can survive in these conditions more
• 56:34
  Speaker 2: and more. And there is also CWD right next door
• 56:39
  Speaker 2: in British Columbia and Alberta, And it's not that far away.
• 56:44
  Speaker 2: Excuse me. The CWD is in Alberta and about on
• 56:49
  Speaker 2: the same north south level though as southeast Alaska. So
• 56:54
  Speaker 2: as white tails continue moving across British Columbia up through
• 56:58
  Speaker 2: some of these river weys into south east Alaska, it
• 57:01
  Speaker 2: seems like it's only a matter of time before one
• 57:04
  Speaker 2: of these deer with CWD and Alberta ends up making
• 57:07
  Speaker 2: that trip or that not an actual individual deer doing that,
• 57:10
  Speaker 2: but the disease slowly spreading from deer to deer to
• 57:13
  Speaker 2: deer over the years until finally something does end up there.
• 57:17
  Speaker 2: I hope that's not the case. I'm not saying it
• 57:19
  Speaker 2: absolutely will happen, but twenty thirty years from now, would
• 57:22
  Speaker 2: it shock me if it had. It would not shock me.
• 57:25
  Speaker 2: Given how we've seen it spread across the lower forty eight,
• 57:28
  Speaker 2: Given how far it's traveled just in the last twenty
• 57:31
  Speaker 2: years down here, it certainly seems possible that could could
• 57:35
  Speaker 2: continue up north. I hate to say it, but I
• 57:38
  Speaker 2: don't think it's outside of the realm of possibility. A
• 57:41
  Speaker 2: couple other questions about the film. G v and Miller
• 57:44
  Speaker 2: asked about how the reception has been to the discussion
• 57:47
  Speaker 2: in that episode about the changing climate, and yeah, you know,
• 57:51
  Speaker 2: I'd say the reception has been largely how you might think.
• 57:55
  Speaker 2: I would say there have been a handful of loud detractors,
• 57:58
  Speaker 2: people who when they hear Climb Change, they think politics
• 58:02
  Speaker 2: and they think about you know, the crazy, far extreme
• 58:06
  Speaker 2: kind of radical take on climate change and folks, you know,
• 58:08
  Speaker 2: throwing paint on pictures and doing crazy stuff like that,
• 58:12
  Speaker 2: and you know, all of the liberal kind of taking
• 58:17
  Speaker 2: of that issue. So some people think that anyone who
• 58:20
  Speaker 2: mentions climate change is some crazy person like that. So
• 58:23
  Speaker 2: there's going to be that kind of troll like common.
• 58:26
  Speaker 2: So we had some of those, But then there's also
• 58:27
  Speaker 2: a whole lot of people. I think it's the it's
• 58:29
  Speaker 2: the quiet majority in the middle, who are people who
• 58:33
  Speaker 2: are hunters and anglers just like you and I who
• 58:35
  Speaker 2: go out there and we've been hunting and fishing all
• 58:37
  Speaker 2: of our lives, and we travel to wild places, and
• 58:39
  Speaker 2: we have seen with our own eyes how stuff has changed.
• 58:43
  Speaker 2: How we hardly ever get to ice fish anymore in
• 58:47
  Speaker 2: southern Michigan because we hardly ever have cold enough days.
• 58:50
  Speaker 2: How wildfires are getting crazy and crazier out west. How
• 58:54
  Speaker 2: more and more days you can't troutfish in Montana because
• 58:57
  Speaker 2: the rivers are continuously more and more shut down because
• 59:01
  Speaker 2: river temperatures are dangerously high for trout. We're seeing news
• 59:06
  Speaker 2: in Alaska about how salmon populations that have historically been
• 59:09
  Speaker 2: the best in the world are all of a sudden
• 59:11
  Speaker 2: crashing and one of the only reasons they can pin
• 59:13
  Speaker 2: it to is the fact that ocean temperatures are warmer
• 59:16
  Speaker 2: than ever before in certain places, or the rivers that
• 59:18
  Speaker 2: they're going up are now dangerously warm. There's just it's
• 59:23
  Speaker 2: becoming increasingly hard to ignore this stuff, regardless of if
• 59:26
  Speaker 2: you're a Republican, Democrat or whatever in between. And you know,
• 59:31
  Speaker 2: I've at least found for myself that it's not a
• 59:34
  Speaker 2: political thing anymore. It's just my eyes are open. I'm
• 59:37
  Speaker 2: seeing this stuff, and I care about the natural world
• 59:41
  Speaker 2: and wildlife and wild places. So I think more and
• 59:44
  Speaker 2: more people are getting to that point. Now there's I
• 59:47
  Speaker 2: think movement towards it's becoming not such a political issue,
• 59:51
  Speaker 2: but more so, like the solutions to it will become political,
• 59:56
  Speaker 2: so left and right can debate what we should do
• 59:59
  Speaker 2: about it, how we should do things about it. And
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 2: I think that's healthy. I think we should be having,
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 2: you know, different perspectives on that. But it's getting really
• 1:00:07
  Speaker 2: hard for a lot of folks in the middle to
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 2: just pretend it doesn't exist. And so I think with
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 2: this film, that's what we've seen a lot. There's a
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 2: lot of people that were appreciative of the fact that
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 2: we talked about it, appreciative of the fact that we
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 2: talked about in a way that was not radical or
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 2: extreme or demonizing anyone, but just said, hey, this is
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 2: a thing that's happening. You can't be denied anymore. It's
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 2: actually impacting wildlife in ways that we as hunters need
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 2: to be aware of. And it keep tabs on and
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 2: this stuff does impact fishing wildlife and hunting and fishing,
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 2: and I think that's an important reality to acknowledge now,
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 2: and a lot of people are pretty open to that
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 2: these days, and I was glad to see that, and
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 2: it's the kind of thing that I think we're going
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 2: to see, you know, discussed more and more as this
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 2: goes from being kind of a backwater, far left issue
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 2: to being something that's that's simply being addressed by everyone
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 2: in the middle and hopefully figure out some ways to
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 2: live with this new normal, or adapt to this new normal,
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 2: or changed in some kind of way if we can
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 2: towards a better future. And that's all yet to be
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 2: seen exactly what that will look like. So that was
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 2: kind of the take that we got, and that's my answer.
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 2: Cameron asks, did you notice the change in elevation where
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 2: you were hunting any you know, shortness of breath or
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 2: physical issues, and then do you have any training tips
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 2: for preparing for a black tail hunt like that? I
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 2: would say I did not really experience any elevation issues.
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 2: You know, we weren't really at a very high actual elevation.
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 2: We went up something like three thousand feet, but that
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 2: was you know, only up to gosh, I don't know,
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 2: four thousand feet or thirty five hundred feet or something
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 2: like that. Like the actual sea level elevation was not
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 2: very high. These mountains just kind of jump r out of
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 2: the ocean and go straight up. So you know, there
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 2: was not your typical high elevation issues that you might have,
• 1:01:57
  Speaker 2: you know, mule deer hunting in Colorado at fourteen thousand feet.
• 1:02:01
  Speaker 2: That said, when you're gaining three thousand feet or thirty
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 2: five hundred feet or four thousand feet of elevation, that's
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 2: still a lot of up, which means strain on your
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 2: legs and your muscles and your body. And so in
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 2: that case, you know, definitely the trail running that I've
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 2: been doing, the mountain trail running I've been doing all
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 2: last year, it really helped me with that. So training.
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 2: You know, gaining and losing elevation is the biggest thing.
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 2: Whether you're black tail hunting in Alaska or elk hunting
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 2: in Montana or whatever. Being able to handle that up
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 2: and down is just so dramatically different on your body.
• 1:02:32
  Speaker 2: You need to practice doing that a lot, and for
• 1:02:34
  Speaker 2: long periods of time, and probably with weight on your
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 2: back too. So that was one thing that I trained
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 2: a lot handling the elevation. I didn't train as much
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 2: with weight on my back, and that's something I want to,
• 1:02:45
  Speaker 2: you know, do more of for future hunts. But yeah,
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 2: be moving cover a lot of ground, cover elevation, if
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 2: you can use inclined treadmill, if you can't do stairs
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 2: in the stadium, whatever you gotta do. That's such an
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 2: important part of just being comfortable and capable out there
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 2: on really any kind of mountain hunt. All right, let's
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 2: see if we've got a last question or two here.
• 1:03:10
  Speaker 2: Uh Nick Fruscie asks what kinds of contingencies are you
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 2: considering for when they start selling public land? Public pressure
• 1:03:21
  Speaker 2: seems not to be making an impact. So what Nick's
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 2: referring to here are the threats to public land that
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 2: we're seeing across the nation, as more and more folks
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 2: are looking at, you know, removing protections on our public
• 1:03:34
  Speaker 2: land or transferring them to states, or even now we
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 2: have folks in the Senate debating whether or not we
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 2: should sell off hundreds of thousands of public land acres
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 2: to you know, deal with budgetary issues in the federal government.
• 1:03:50
  Speaker 2: That's actually being publicly discussed right now, which is pretty wild.
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 2: There's also proposals by the Interior Department to sell or
• 1:03:58
  Speaker 2: transfer public lands to be used for housing around urban areas,
• 1:04:03
  Speaker 2: which again is a super slippery slope that could lead
• 1:04:06
  Speaker 2: to tens of thousands or maybe more acres of public
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 2: land being taken out of the public estate and being developed.
• 1:04:15
  Speaker 2: And all of this is very real. It's more concerning,
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 2: probably than it's ever been. I've talked to folks who've
• 1:04:21
  Speaker 2: worked in this line of business for decades and decades,
• 1:04:23
  Speaker 2: much longer than I have. I've been doing this for
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 2: fifteen twenty years, but some of these guys have been
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 2: watching this for fifty years. And this is about as
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 2: concerning as we've ever seen. And so contingencies. I don't
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 2: think we can have contingencies. I think we simply have
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 2: to make sure this doesn't happen. We have to not
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 2: stop making noise. We have to not stop being squeaky wheels.
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 2: We have to continue to talk to our lawmakers. We
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 2: need to continue to show our support. We need to
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 2: continue to show that hunters and anglers in the outdoor
• 1:04:54
  Speaker 2: community demands that we protect our public lands, demands that
• 1:04:59
  Speaker 2: we keep these plays is intact and healthy and public.
• 1:05:02
  Speaker 2: Demands that our politicians represent our viewpoints on this, and
• 1:05:06
  Speaker 2: if they don't, we'll vote them out office. We'll make
• 1:05:09
  Speaker 2: their lives hell, We'll make it very uncomfortable. We need
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 2: to make these kinds of ideas a political poison pill.
• 1:05:15
  Speaker 2: And we can do that with phone calls. We can
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 2: do this by showing up at the state capitol at rallies.
• 1:05:20
  Speaker 2: We can do this by social media posts and calling
• 1:05:22
  Speaker 2: out our elected leaders, by emailing them, messaging them, using
• 1:05:28
  Speaker 2: every single possible lever, we have to get the point across.
• 1:05:33
  Speaker 2: And then, like I said, if none of that works,
• 1:05:35
  Speaker 2: we need to make change with our votes. And that's
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 2: something that we'll have an opportunity to do in a
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 2: year and a half or so. So I hope it
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 2: doesn't get to that. I hope that our efforts over
• 1:05:46
  Speaker 2: these coming weeks and months changes the direction that we're
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 2: headed with some of these public land issues, but it's
• 1:05:52
  Speaker 2: going to require more from us. Each and every one
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 2: of us is going to have to step up to
• 1:05:56
  Speaker 2: a different level than we probably ever have. It's not
• 1:05:59
  Speaker 2: going to cut to just be a hunter anymore. It's
• 1:06:02
  Speaker 2: not going to cut it to just be a fisherman anymore.
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 2: You also have to be an advocate and an active
• 1:06:08
  Speaker 2: conservationist if we want to keep these things around, if
• 1:06:10
  Speaker 2: you want to have public places to deer hunt, or
• 1:06:12
  Speaker 2: to go backpacking or hiking or camping with your kids
• 1:06:15
  Speaker 2: or your friends. You can't just sit and watch this stuff.
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 2: You can't just ignore the news. You can't just put
• 1:06:22
  Speaker 2: your head in the sand. We have to be active
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 2: participants now. If we don't, we will not have these opportunities.
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 2: We won't have these things, we won't have these podcasts
• 1:06:32
  Speaker 2: because there just won't be wild resources and wild places
• 1:06:35
  Speaker 2: and public lands to do this stuff anymore unless we
• 1:06:38
  Speaker 2: stand up and do something about it. Because there's a
• 1:06:40
  Speaker 2: lot of people out there that care about other things.
• 1:06:43
  Speaker 2: There's a lot of people out there that are happy
• 1:06:45
  Speaker 2: just living, playing golf and making lots of money or
• 1:06:47
  Speaker 2: playing video games or whatever. They don't know anything about
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 2: this stuff. They don't care about this stuff. They'd have
• 1:06:51
  Speaker 2: believe sell them off or cut them down or whatever
• 1:06:55
  Speaker 2: the thing is to make some money from it or
• 1:06:57
  Speaker 2: let other people do that, because it's not going to
• 1:06:58
  Speaker 2: impact their lives, but it does impact our lives, and
• 1:07:01
  Speaker 2: so we have to be the ones to speak up
• 1:07:04
  Speaker 2: for the stuff. So well, that said, that's what I'm
• 1:07:07
  Speaker 2: going to go do right now. I am going to
• 1:07:10
  Speaker 2: take a shower, get just dressed, and head off to Washington, DC,
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 2: heading to do stuff that's not really all that much fun,
• 1:07:19
  Speaker 2: but I hope it's worth it, and I hope we
• 1:07:21
  Speaker 2: can make a difference, and I hope we can keep
• 1:07:24
  Speaker 2: wildlife and wild places around for a very long time,
• 1:07:27
  Speaker 2: because man, they've been the world for me, and I
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 2: think that's been the case for a whole lot of
• 1:07:33
  Speaker 2: you too, So I appreciate you being a part of
• 1:07:36
  Speaker 2: that solution as well. Thanks for joining me for this podcast,
• 1:07:38
  Speaker 2: Thanks for joining me and being an advocate and a
• 1:07:41
  Speaker 2: conservationist and the support of our public lands and wildlife.
• 1:07:45
  Speaker 2: And until next time, stay Wired to Hunt.