Southeastern Bowhunter - Out-of-State Bowhunting & Getting Youth Involved

0:00This episode of the Sportsman's Empire is brought to you by Interstate Batteries. Since 1952, Interstate Batteries has been evoking compassion and a trustworthy spirit into the surrounding communities. Interstate Batteries is a mission driven company fueled by purpose and guided by their values. If you need help locating a specific battery, stop into your local Interstate Batteries retail store and speak with a battery specialist. They even offer cell phone repairs. Interstate Batteries outrageously dependable. All right. What is going on, guys? Welcome to another episode of Southeastern Bowhunter podcast. In this episode, we're going to have a new guest, one that's never been on before. I'm going to struggle with his name. I'm pretty sure it's Adam Bonowitz. He is from Blue River Bowhunting. So my buddy Brett over at Blue River Bowhunting hooked us up and got me in contact with him. I'm looking to make sure that I sent his name, right? But yeah, it's going to be a really good episode.

1:01We're going to talk turkeys. We're going to talk about how he's getting involved in the hunting community and actually changing some stuff up for a lot of people, a lot of youth stuff. It's going to be really good, really, really good, oh, it's Bonwitz. Okay. Sorry, Adam. Adam Bonwitz. Anyway, we're going to be talking about stuff that concerns, you know, his influence in the hunting industry and the, I'm sorry, my throat is all sorts of messed up. Basically, just what he's up to and we're going to get to know Adam better. That is what this podcast episode is going to be. So thank you guys for tuning in. Before we get into it with Adam, obviously, we got to run the partners. I'm going to go through a couple of these kind of quick and then I've got some stuff to say about some other things. Actually, before we do that, so I want to tell you guys for everybody listening. If you're in the market for a new bow, Ace Hardware and Social Circle is running a deal on seven, okay, seven prime RVX, um, 32s and 34s that they have. If you go up there and you tell them that we sent you, okay, you will get that bow to

2:04this kind of price. They've got seven that they need to move. I'm going to make a, or by the time this drops, you guys already see it. However, I made a post about it on, uh, social media, I'm going to tag them in it, all that stuff. If you go up there and tell them that you heard about the deal that they're offering, um, through this podcast or through Facebook, or if basically tell them that I'm the one that sends you, uh, you will get that bow for a discounted price, all right. So they've got, I think if I remember right, Mark told me when I was up there today, they've got two prime RVX 32s, um, that are available, sorry, they've got those bows that are available and then they also have five prime RVX 34s that are also available and they are trying to, they're trying to move those bows, um, you know, those are both from two years ago. So they're definitely, uh, discounted, but you get a better discount if you go up there and tell them that I sent you, but we're just trying to help those guys out. You know, they, um, they helped me out a lot. They actually set up my new bow. If you're watching the video, you can see my new prime divide 31 with the unbound strings

3:07on there, the dial proof site and, uh, the, uh, the catalyst archery, um, stabilizers. And I've actually got the tri-light sticks on there. I've got the Sherpa quiver from prime on there. It's a, dude, it's a sick bow. I shot it today and it is by far the best bow I've ever shot. So, uh, that's probably going to be my, a little bit of my prime deal when it comes down to the, uh, the ad read, but anyway, I wanted to tell you guys about what Ace is doing and how, you know, you can get hooked up with a pretty solid bow. Those RVX both are really nice. I've shot a few of them. I really like them. That's what I would be shooting if I didn't have this, um, the divide in the form. So running into the partners, uh, this podcast is brought to you by sportsman's empire. If you don't know what that is, it is a podcast network that, um, we are now a part of, been a part of them for almost three months and it's going great. And they have a ton of different, um, shows that you can, you can listen to, uh, they got my show. They've got antler up. They've got how to hunt turkeys, how to hunt deer, um, western rookie.

4:10I mean, do there's so many different shows on there that are just really good dudes. My plan for the summers to actually get a few of them on here so we can talk and I can actually get to know them better and see what their experiences, um, you know, with working with Dan and, and just where they're at, man, you know, I want to get people on here that not only from the southeast, but also from around the country and, um, definitely plan on getting those guys on. So please go support them. You're helping me. You're helping Dan. Um, next up is going to be Ocio gear. Um, look, man, Ocio came out that turkey vest and that thing is solid. It is super sick. I don't have it, however, I've seen it. And it's also my buddy, Jay Maxwell's design and collaboration with them. So, you know, I'm a little bit biased here, but, um, yeah, dude, Ocio makes in my opinion, the best cameo that is out there. There's a reason why I have a full Ocio cameo bow. If you're watching the video, you can kind of see it back there. Um, they've got the Raptor pattern, the rap X pattern, new turkey vest. I know there's tons of new, um, what is it, uh, clothes, you know, apparel and stuff

5:11that they've got hats, shirts, whatever. To go support them, uh, let's see. Next up, bow teak. So, uh, I said it last week, Michael's been on a tear. Mike's been absolutely killing it. Um, the new march drop for the, um, wraps has dropped. And they're awesome. I personally like the one with Jesus in the scripture on it, probably going to be ordering something. So that's two new arrow builds that I'll be doing. I actually finished one and then I texted him, was like, bro, why you got to come out with this type of heat, man? Like this stuff's so good. You're, you're going to make me go broke, but, um, all joking aside, Mike makes the best error apps in the game. So head over to the bow teak. Go get yours. He has a ton that you can choose from and he also does custom builds as well. Uh, let's see. Next up, G five out door. So G five dirty bird, um, haven't gotten any yet, but I do plan on getting some before turkey season starts because I, you know, as you guys know, I am going to be hitting the turkey woods this year. Turkey season actually opens on my birthday this year. So I might go see if I can get a birthday bird, which would absolutely be insane. Um, however, they've also got the mega meat, um, which is my preferred broad head.

6:14I've got the dead meat, V2, the T2, the Montek for you, fixed blade guys and then, uh, uh, the striker X and the striker V2, which is a three blade and also a four blade. So, uh, G five has a cover on everything you need. That new dirty bird head is amazing. Um, go watch the Chris B video that they did that is just nothing but decapitations and the entire thing. It's crazy. Um, yeah. And look, G five, in my opinion, makes the best broad heads out there. So, uh, I trust them. I think you should too. Next up is going to be prime archery. I kind of already gave a little bit of a ad read. Um, I'm just excited about this bow, but yeah, do this bow is fantastic. The divide 31 is by far the nicest bow I have ever shot, super comfortable, super smooth draw and it's just dead in the hand. I mean, it really, really is. Um, so if you guys are in the market for a new bow and you don't want to go to ACE or you don't feel like doing that or maybe your local shop isn't, you know, maybe you're not close to ACE and that's perfectly fine.

7:16I still recommend you go shoot the new divide series. Um, they have eight different builds. You can, um, pretty sure get your shop to get one. That way you can shoot it. And if not, then they have it and somebody else can get it. However, listen, I've been shooting prime now for over a year. And I've shot them against the competitors and I do have to say that as far as the flagship bows and all that other stuff, all of these top level, you know, high end tier bow companies, my preference is definitely prime. Um, look, nothing aims like a prime. Okay. That's my argument. Uh, let's see next up dial archery. So I'm going to actually, I'm going to tell you guys what I got. So, um, I got a new proof and you can see it in the, in the, um, if you're watching this on YouTube and I decided to go with a different style, I guess there was a small batch series that I really like. I'm a huge fan of lone wolf custom gear and they still had those available.

8:16So I went ahead and got one and I'm running the Mac 3BA and dude, this thing looks so sick. It was so easy to set up. I'm telling you, um, to dialed absolutely knocked it out of the park, uh, with this proof and they also have the strike series like, dude, they're, they're absolutely killing it. So tack is not that far, that not that far away. It's pretty close. It's like two months away, I think. Um, so if you guys are looking at a new site, go to dial archery and go get your new site. Uh, let's see next up mulchry dude, the camera's been working great. Um, I'll make this rest of it kind of quick, but the mulchry's got, um, the edge three the edge three pro and the edge solar, which is a, obviously a solar cell camera. I love them. They've got great prices. Everything is fair. The cameras work fantastic and they sell them pretty much everywhere. So go pick up a mulchry or if you want to order a bundle in or if you want to just check out what they have, go to mulchry.com and look at all of that, um, let's see next up bow hunting league. So the shirt should be here soon. I, that's what I'm understanding is the shirts from bow hunting league for all of us that

9:17killed bucks that were entered. They should be getting here pretty soon, however, I don't really know. So hopefully by the time this comes out, they're going to be here and I'll be rocking it next week. Um, but bow hunting league is changing the game when it comes down to the, um, bow hunting industry, uh, bow hunting community. It's where a bunch of guys can get together and just, you know, talk and get to know each other and then you can sort of not, I don't want to say compare bucks, but you can, there's camaraderie in that, right? And that's very important when it comes down to the archery and the bow hunting and just hunting in general. Um, so if you guys want to be a state sponsor and you want to get all the perks that I'm, uh, blessed to get and a bunch of my other friends are blessed to get that are also, um, state sponsors, head to bow hunting league, sign up, tell me, sent you and they'll lay everything out for you. It's only $100 a year. So it's really not that bad. Uh, let's see. Next up, boning archery, still running the alphas, nothing's changed there. Uh, victory archery, I'm still running the HLRs. I got to look at the, uh, what is it, the VLRs and the rivals today and they're pretty

10:21sick. They are pretty sick. I'm still wondering, you know, I don't, I don't think anyone's ever going to be able to beat the rib TK or the HLRs to be completely honest, but, um, yeah, man, victory makes a great product. So if you guys are looking at arrows, check out victory, go to your local bow shop, go try out, go, I mean, you can try them out if they have some, I guess that, you know, as test arrows or whatever, but I highly recommend if you're new to victory and you're shooting a five mil, go with the rib TKO just to get a feel for it and then decide whether you want the HLR. If you don't want those, um, but you're shooting like a standard size or whatever, check out the rival. It's a little bit smaller, but it's very similar. And then if that doesn't work, just check out the V force. Everything victory makes us great. So, um, yeah, absolutely love victory. Very thankfully we work with them. Uh, next up is catalyst archery. So I actually have been talking with Brian quite a bit lately. And one of the cool things is that, um, he is now offering a two arrow side quiver for

11:24your bow that you can use, just shooting in the yard. I actually have one in the mail that he's sending me to put on the, uh, prime form because, you know, it's, it's a backup bow, but I still plan on using it. And dude, he's coming up with some really cool stuff. I know he's got a new design for the, um, stabilizers. I've seen the design. I absolutely love it. I'm definitely going to be running some before deer season. I would, I would hope, um, as long as they get done in time. And he's also working on, you know what? I can't talk about it. I can't talk about it, but it's going to be a universal thing and you guys are going to love it. So, um, please go support catalyst archery, um, makes amazing stabilizers at a great price. And last but not least, unbound archer, my buddy, Nick, um, dude, I'm so hyped that Nick jumped on the podcast and wanted to be a, and agreed to be a partner, um, dude, these strings, I'll tell you what unbound archery strings are absolutely hands down the best strings on the market. I don't care what anyone says, um, I'm going to do a video here soon in the next coming

12:28weeks of the entire bow build, probably going to do it in conjunction with when I go to the range next week, um, which is this coming Saturday at the time of dropping us. Uh, we're going to be going to the DNR range, you know, if you guys want to come by all means, hit me up, ask me where it's at. I'll tell you, um, come see me make a fool of myself because I really have not been shooting my bow much today. It was the first day of shot a bow and like a month and a half, um, but those strings, dude, are fantastic. I mean, just I, I really, the quality is amazing. So if you guys need new strings, which I know a lot of y'all do, um, head over to unbound archery, use the code that's given and he can literally make you any type of, uh, string color that you want. So let's see, that is all the partners. Obviously, I have to every single episode I've got to talk about this and, and try my best to bring as many people to him as I can, but look, man, Jesus is awesome.

13:30Uh, I know that sounds like one of those things you hear at like summer camp. Look, oh, Jesus, it's great. It, he is though. All right. I mean, I struggle with stuff every single day. I've been going through so much on the personal side of things that, I mean, I'll be honest with you guys this past Monday. I had, I'm not going to say like a mental breakdown that's not what happened, but, um, I just shut down, you know, and it, it was weird. It, we've had a lot going on with like looking at moving and just changes coming from that. And things about myself that I genuinely want to change, but I just don't seem to, it, it almost feels like God's allowing that stuff to still happen because after every single time I make a mistake or whatever, um, with something that I'm trying to combat, I instantly run to him. And the sense of peace and I guess love and just security that I feel from that, knowing that even in my darkest times, the Lord is still there for me. I want you guys to feel that too. Um, I really do, I, I, I don't know.

14:36It's, there are really no words to really express how, express how much he loves us. I, I liken it to how I feel by my daughter, you know, there's nothing I would ever let come between us. I, I would not, you know, if I had the opportunity to say, Hey, you know, do you want to spend eternity with me like, you know, forever? If she said yes, dude, just like that. And even if there were times that she said, no, if she, I would still not hold it against it, right? Like I wouldn't, um, I'd be like, Oh, okay, well, hopefully you come back. And I think that's the closest way that I can relate, at least how I understand, I'm sure that people have different opinions, but how I understand how God looks at us, right? Like a lot of us turn our backs on him. I unfortunately do it a lot. And that is, I'm being really raw with you guys right now that I make mistakes. I fall. I still fall. But the most important thing is, or really there's two important things.

15:38You're trying by faith, trusting that the Lord is going to take you out of whatever it is that's got you chained. You have to have faith in that. If you just think that you go to church and you say, Oh, I give my life to Jesus and everything's going to be better. It's not how it works. The Christian path is a struggle, man, and it's a war every single day. And then the other important thing is that, you know, you just don't give up. It's about where you turn when you fall and you go to get up or maybe, maybe you don't want to get up. But the point is, if you fall, you get back up and who are you turning to? Are you turning to the reason why you felt or you're turning to the one that can cleanse you from all of that? I choose God. And I really hope that you guys do that too. Jesus changed my life and I know he can do it for you too. So I started to get a little heavy there. It's just, you know, things have really been kind of rough lately. And, you know, I appreciate all the people reaching out and, you know, telling me about some episodes that we've done recently, Jordan was a great episode, you know, Nick was

16:43a good one. I mean, we've had so many good episodes lately and I know this one was, was really good too. But yeah, I just, you know, men's mental health, it's a thing people don't talk about a lot and sometimes we struggle. So enough of the darkness stuff because obviously I want to turn to the light, which is the Lord. So let's, you know what? That's the intro. All right. Enough me rambling on all this other stuff. I'm not going to sit here and just make you guys listen to this crap. However, I'll, I'll cap it over this. If you don't know who Jesus is, give him a chance. Please. And with that, let's get started with Adam Bonwitz from Blue River Bow honing. All right, so we got a new guest on here and I said that in the intro.

17:47I'm going to say it again. And I messed up your name, even though Brett told me how to say it, which is crazy because my last name is, is like half the alphabet. And so we got Mr. Adam Bonwitz, right? That's good stuff. You have Bonwitz. But yeah. Oh, so I got to write the first time. Yeah. Listen, tell Brett that he doesn't know what he's talking about, because I have a text right here. Listen, I'm, I'm going to go back to it because I went through it beforehand or actually during the intro. So he said, it's, oh, okay, well, you know what, never mind. I was wrong. Well, no, I wasn't because he said it's pronounced Bonwitz. Yeah. He spoke Bonwitz. Yep. You got to write. And I played, I played about every sport there was in every away game. All my buddies were like, well, they don't say here. So I was known for kind of everything. Sorry. I go with whatever you say or how you pronounce it. You and I are in the same boat then, because that's what Brett said. He's like, Eric, and I didn't go try to tell him his last name.

18:48Oh, yeah, dude. It's, I forget who I was talking to. Oh, it was the bow tech you yesterday. He was asking what my last name was and I, he's kind of new. Like I know the guy, I just, I had dropped my bell off yesterday, getting new strings and everything. And he was like, what's your last name? And I said it. And it's chakowsky, right? And so I have it tattooed on my arm, not for that reason, but I was 18 and stupid. And I was like, you know what? I want to tattoo. So I'm going to give my last name. And he was like, is that why you got it? I'm like, no, I literally, what I just told you is what I told him. And he was like, dude, that's not even that hard to say. Well, he was in the Marine Corps and so he met a bunch of Polish people. So he knew how to say it, the typical American doesn't know what it says. It's like my whole life, dude, I was getting, you know, chazowsky was outskied from fricking monster zinc. Dude, it was nuts. So I feel kind of bad that I was right, but I was wrong, but then I was actually right, you know? So anyway, my literacy aside.

19:50Why don't you, so before we dive into some of the stuff that I want to talk about, why don't you tell everybody who you are? Just so I can know a little bit more and so they can know a little bit more, because you're involved with blue river bow hunting. Yeah. And I love y'all's videos. The content you guys make is fantastic. It's right up there with like, seek one, hush in like all of those guys. And so it's always really fun for me to watch. So why don't you kind of tell everybody who you are and how you got into blue river bow hunting? Okay, well, first off, thanks for the high praise on our videos. We'd appreciate that. But no, I kind of been bow hunting since I was 12 years old, got into blue river bow hunting when I noticed this hillbilly moan as your next to me and some suspenders at a beard in his hand. That sounds alright. That'd be Brett. That sounds alright. Never knew him to move in next to us. And then I seen bringing deer heads in the house and then I came over that night and me and him's been hunting together since then pretty much. And it's tough. He had a video camera I didn't, but I used to back she probably early 2000s.

20:54I started videoing a lot of my own hunts, then kind of got away from it. Then Brett kind of got the fire going again and we've been able to lay down some killer videos, some self film, some's been challenging, but it's a blast. It's another challenge to hunt and that's why we enjoy it. Yeah, that. I'm actually going to be diving into filming for the first time this year because I got the, I always say it wrong, the painted arrow, I always think fourth arrow. I don't know why it's just, but I got the painted arrow like phone mount that goes on your bow. Yeah. And that by no means is going to be high level at all, but I also want to do it just so I can sort of look at shots and maybe post some stuff, you know, and it'll make you want to do more after one year of it. Oh, I'm sure. The scary thing is like, I got a buddy over it created outdoors that hit me up like late, late last summer, I think, and he was like, yeah, man, when are you going to join the created outdoors family? I was like, what do you mean? Like I don't, I don't film anything. I mean, I might take a video or do an edit here and there of me shooting the bow, but

21:57that's about it. And he was like, oh, you're not going to get into filming. I'm like, dude, listen, I already have severe ADD. I can't stay still in a tree stand for longer than 10 minutes. Like I have to do something. The last thing I need is that I have a camera arm next to me that I'm fidgeting with and I don't really like to angle that much. And then so I move that. Well, then the deer season, like I just, yeah, you know, so, but then I saw this phone out and I'm like, you know, I might as well do it. So I like, what is, what was it like? Because you said you started filming in the early 2000s. Yeah. Yeah. What was that like compared to now? I mean, I remember I was born in 95. So early 2000s for me, I would have been almost eight, nine, 10 years old. But I remember the camcorder days. Oh, yeah. Is that what you're using or it was actually, I think they're a little disc. That's what they were. It's kind of like a DVD. It's kind of how they were. I go a little, I don't know, it was different, but you would take it out. You could run out of film on them. You know, you'd switch it out, not film, but I don't know what you'd call it back then.

23:00But you'd have to switch it out. Then we'd end up losing the ones we'd have because the camera was actually sharing we bought a can and shoot back then. I think we paid like 1200 between the three of us. We split it. So we were all sharing the same camera, try to lay down a video and it was hectic. But we lost some good videos, a video, a good buddy of mine killed a 181. And it was, it was pretty cool, huh? They'd all started by seeing a doe running across the field with a leg about to fall off. So we went and got a muscle or license and we was always on try putting her down. And she was, you know, we seen that she was in pain and end up coming up up on him and probably about 10 other doe's and we, at that point, we wasn't shooting a doe. He ended up shooting that. We had a long camera. It was pretty cool. But that, that video ended up getting lost and one of them in it, it hurt. Dude, I would be in tears. I mean, he's still has the deer. Oh, yeah, still still. Well, maybe I wouldn't be that upset. Yeah. Like that. If you would have said you lost the video and the deer, like the mount was gone or something,

24:01then I'd be like, well, just, you know, put me in a psychiatric ward because I would have lost my mind. Oh, yeah. Dude, that's, that's crazy. Because I mean, you know, we're used to these days, everybody having like, and I don't know the camera names, but there's really expensive like $4,000 cameras and, you know, I watch y'all stuff. I watch Seek One a lot and like, I'll see them move the arm and it's this tiny little camera, but it takes such good video quality. Oh, yeah. And it's like, dude, how far we've come. Because I know shoot, man, I don't know how long ago it was, but I know they used to have full rigs like cameras on their shoulders. Giant. So I remember it. Yeah. And it's like, we didn't have nothing that big, but I don't remember having camera arms back then. I don't think we ever had a camera arm. I don't know when they started coming out, but in early 2000, when we were a video, we didn't have cameras that we had to have a buddy with us to like, you know, film you. Yeah. Could you self film in any way or was it just I wouldn't have thought so back then. Now, now you got go pros and everything else. You can run three different camera angles. Yeah. And you're only carrying in extra four pounds.

25:02What's that one camera? My buddy Kurt uses it a lot. It's, it's like, it's got, it looks like it's got like a fish eye lens. And you can see over on top of him. This is the other 360. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Brett's got one. It's pretty wicked. Does he really? Yeah. See, and that's the thing is like the filming side of stuff. I, I honestly could have used that this year because, or this past season, because I did shoot a doe that I, I knew it was kind of high, but I couldn't remember whether it was like backstrap or high long or whatever I lost her. Right. So that's two deer in a row, one deer last year, one deer this year. And it was heartbreaking. It's tough. Do what? So that's tough. Oh, dude. Yeah. And to end the season like that and then start the season like that, it's just, but thankfully was able to get a buck and redeem myself, whatever. But what, what had been cool is, you know, looking back at the video, I'm been like, okay, she ducked. So it's backstrap. Or it's a high lung or maybe I hit too far forward or something. You know, like that, that really is the reason why I want to do it.

26:04Yeah. Just because I'm sick and tired of losing deer, like, I, so, you know, this has nothing to do with, with this at all, but I do have a question. Really an opinion of yours that I'd like to hear. So obviously filming is good for, you know, seeing shop placement and stuff, but if somebody hypothetically, if somebody came along and said, Hey, I've got this GPS tracker idea that is going to be beneficial for hunters that you're going to say you shoot a deer, right? And the arrow stuck in it. Or maybe the design is so that the GPS tracker stays on the deer or in the deer or whatever. And you get a full pass there. How do you think that would be received by the hunting community? Like what, I guess what would your opinion of that be? I mean, if it helps recover a deer, that's like drones. Like if it helps recover a deer, I'm for it. But there'll be, I mean, ones that come a point where technology's too much as well, though. Yeah. So if you shoot one, yeah, if you shoot one and then you can recover it, that's fine.

27:08But if you shoot one and it stays in it and the deer survives, yeah. Now is it, are you using the GPS for a different reason? Yep. Okay. So we're both on the same page with that. I can tell you off here, like why I asked that, but it's just been kind of going around in my brain for a little bit. So all right, back to you. I want to know, I want to know more about Adam. What got you in the hunting? So we moved out in the country when I was five, I actually lived downtown Indy, then moved to the country when I was five and all set in my uncle. My dad started getting into hunting and then it took over for me. I remember going out and couldn't stay an hour before my feet were frozen, had to go back in. But my dad and my uncle hung it up after a few years and I was going on by myself. I remember my first, my first boat kill when I was 12. I shot a doe. I was used to having my uncle. My dad helped me when I did kill deer. They wasn't there.

28:10And the DNR came walking through the corn and back then he had a night vision on. And it was like goggles about a foot and a half sticking off his face because you know back then the old school and he scared the crap out of me. But that DNR actually helped me load it up on a fuller, take it back to the pasture. And then he looked at me and said, you don't know how to get this day. And I said, I'm going to try. Well, he ended up rolling up his sleeves and helping me. I mean, it was a great encounter with DNR and I've been worked with DNR since then. I mean, just build a good relationship with them because they are so much beneficial for anything I've ever needed. Yeah. Dude, so I'm so glad you said that because you know, in the hunting community, the typical idea of a DNR officer is that, oh, Mr. Greengreens, I hear the Gitchin is like, dude, I've met so many of them. Like I work with them every year to do our annual boat shoot and they are the best. I'll ask them questions, regulation questions, I'll throw hypotheticals at them like, hey,

29:10you know, if a deer, I'm hunting public and a deer dies on public land or on private land. I shoot it on public. What do I do? And they'll help me through that whole process. Yep. Yeah. I've been, for four years doing this podcast, I've been saying I want to get a DNR officer on here. I just don't, I don't know who to ask. I don't know like, which, because I got a good buddy that runs like the archery range at our public land, but he's not an officer, right? Like he can come on here and we can talk about the range, we can talk about him and all it. And I'll probably do that. But I want to get a guy on here that's seen some stuff, right? Like I had a conversation with, um, this is totally left field, but I had a conversation with the DNR, um, God, what was he? I think he was like a director or something like that for the public land by my house. And just ran into him at one of my daughter's school events. So we get to talking and me being me, I'll ask the dumb questions, right? I'll, I'll be like, hey, so well, bigfoot.

30:11What do you think? And, and he, dude, I'll tell you what, he was so cool and scared living crap out of me because he was like, no, I've never seen nothing, but we got a guy. He said that he's been out there and he's heard some stuff that's scared the living day lots out of him. He knows every animal that's in them woods, but out, out where he was, there was something. I don't know what it was, but he's seen some stuff and I just look at him like, really? You had to, you had to tell me that. Dude, I don't want to go, don't do that, but it's, I say all of that because they're real, like the people at the DNR are really, really cool and we're like more people need to know that. So I'm glad that you said that. I'm glad that you brought that up and that, that type of story, like the fact that he helped you with everything and stuff, that's freaking awesome. Which leads me into another thing I want to talk to you about. We can touch on it now or touch on it later, that doesn't matter, but Brett had told me that you get very involved with youth hunts.

31:11Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's been a new thing for me. Yeah, what's the story with that, dude, because that is amazing. So, so for the last three years, I've taken, I mean, I've taken multiple different kids. I have three boys that I've taken and just seeing them kill their first deer is just another adrenaline rush. It's, it's a blast to see a youth get hooked as well on top of that, but it's, anything it's a different challenge. I've killed quite a few deer, you know, my, I'm 45. I've killed a lot of deer, but it don't, it don't equal up to a kid killing his first deer. They really don't. And then just seeing how they chase that high the rest of their life, you know, like, it's a adrenaline dump and they don't know what happens to you. They don't get it. They're like, why am I shaking it and it makes it so much fun. But it's a challenge, man, because you want, it's like taking a kid fishing the first time. You don't want to take him to a warrior. You may not catch anything. Try taking him to where he will see deer so he gets hooked. If he ain't seen deer, he really is not interested.

32:12So you put all your eggs in the basket and try and make it at work the first few times that you have with him. So how does that work? Like do you go out and you pre scout, are you taking them on private land, public land? Are you all in tree stand? Is it ground blind? Like what's, say, all right, so say this, you got a kid that's lined up, what's, what's the plan? Like what's the, you know, mode of operation? Like what are you? Yeah. Are you doing stuff now to prepare for that? Or are you kind of just, I know Turkey season's coming up. So like obviously, yeah, fairies, right? But yeah, yeah. Um, yeah, what, what's the steps? Like what would be the first step if some kid was like, hey, I really want to go hunting? You're like, all right, man, I'll take you. What do you, now what? So let's next. Yeah. So last year we took a kid that I can't ever pronounce it, but he was basically born with a spine outside of a skin. Brett can tell you the name of it. I always look at him. Yeah. And so I knew his restrictions before we took him. So I, I found a, an old stand that was a ladder stand that was probably six foot, seven

33:15foot tall. And I got that out. Then I knew I had a hut that I brought him before season came in and got him in to see if he'd be all right with it. Um, then I had talked to a buddy that had a lot of deer in his hay pasture and had some roundbells. So I set that up. So you just got to learn what the restrictions are of the kid. If you take a younger kid, you really don't scare him by getting 20 feet up in a tree. Learn, learn the kid and learn that's where you want to take him hunt and then you adapt to who the kid is to setting him up to not have fear, to enjoy it the entire time. So this year I got, uh, I'm going to take the same kid hunting. So we got same planes with him. Then I got another kid that is, I think Wayland's going to be seven, maybe I think it's close to what it is. And he's been stoked. I took him last year with me to set with me. He didn't take a gun for the first time down. But he's on it. I just want to see how he did. And he's a wiring kid, but it's amazing. The kids that you think would not stay still and I stand are the ones that stay still the longest. Dude, that would, that would be because my daughter wants to go.

34:16So I'm, I'm going to get like another ground blind, um, sad story. My grandparents hired a guy to cut some trees down over on the property of hunting. He destroyed it after I asked them to make sure he didn't. Oh boy. Yeah, that was a lot of fun. But, uh, hopefully I don't listen to this. But, uh, anyway, yeah, my daughter's been asking and I'm like, all right, I'll get a ground blind. But listen, you know, because I took her one time when she was like five. Yeah. And she was on the iPad the whole time and then I started raining and then I got cold and she was like, I want to go. So we left. Yeah. And we didn't see anything. And, uh, so I've been telling her here lately, I'm like, listen, I'll buy a ground blind. I'm going to need one for turkey season anyway. So I will, I will get one. You can come with me, but the phones got to either stay in the truck or it's got to stay on silent and you're not going to be on it the whole time. Like, pay attention, right? Because, you know, I don't want, I don't want it to be one of those things where it's like she's bored, but I also wanted to get the full experience, you know? And that's why like Brett told me what you, you know, what you were doing with this and

35:18I'm like, dude, that's, that's interesting to me because I want to know how to go about it. I'm pretty sure he told me about the spine a bit or the kid to spine a bifida and I told him, I don't know if he told you, uh, but I used to have a joke that I don't say anymore, but when my in-laws or somebody would ask me to help move something or get up and do something, I didn't feel like it. I'd be like, oh, yeah, my spine a bifida is acting up. I can't. And then he told me that and I didn't even know what spine a bifida was. Oh, dude, it's, it's crazy. I don't know if he told you all the details or anything, but it's, it's crazy and to meet this kid, he don't slow down. He don't, you wouldn't think something wrong with him. Yeah. He's 100%, uh, no feeling from his knees down. So he has to swing his feet when he walks that was the part that did suck. He did kill a doe, um, but he couldn't really blood trail. He kind of went into woods, but he couldn't get over trees unless he was crawling over him basically, but we're, you know, down trees and stuff. So I had to stay out and that's, that's the fun part is blood trail is young kids and stuff. So I had to go do it for him. I had to drag the deer out for him.

36:19So he didn't get a really encounter blood trail that part kind of was rough, but the challenges that he has with that stuff, man, it's, uh, it's crazy. Um, I picked him up on a Friday. He actually stayed with me for the weekend. And his mom did tell me like, Hey, every night you need to check his feet, um, because he don't know if he steps on a nail, don't know if he brings his ankle, he won't know. So I had to check, I had to check it in this, but this kid, man, he inspired me. That was the cool part. For sure, something about like people in general that when they've got something like that and they continue just to push forward and like get through it, but I think like when a kid has it, it hits you differently, you know, because we take stuff for granted all the time, right? I know I do. Oh, yeah. And I, I get frustrated when I, you know, I'm laying down too long watching TV or being lazy or doing whatever. I fall asleep in my legs asleep. I go to stand up. There was one time. I remember where I was, but I fell asleep some type of way, got up because I had to go to the bathroom. Dude, I face planted on the floor because both my legs were numb.

37:20Oh, shit. And it was hilarious. But I'm like, what just happened? And to think that some, some kids got to go through that every single day. Yeah. It really made, I feel like it makes you take a step back and just be so thankful for, you know, the position that you're in that I'm in that we don't have that problem. Yeah. And push through it like what? So I'm trying to fully understand, I guess, maybe put myself in his shoes like he can't feel anything from the knees down. Nope. Power sprays is basically from his, from his knee down and he has to swing, kind of swing his legs to swing his feet in front of him. I mean, um, the kids aren't real. Like the first time I met him, I really didn't know that he had this issue. I sat down with him at a dinner table. He was next to me. Yeah. And I was like, oh, I'm wrestle, yeah, yeah. And he's 11 and he was strongest, he was like, what in the world, you know, that's pretty impressive. Yeah. Then he told me he played sled hockey and I'm like sled hockey and it's actually where he sets in like a chair on ice and they strap him to it and he's got two hockey sticks

38:24that are probably, you know, a foot and a half to, and he has to use the hockey sticks to go with it. And that's why he was so strong, but I didn't understand it to why he played that to me. So he stood up and walked because you would have never known. Just talking to him. No, when I see him walk, I was like, oh, I'm taking this kid hunt. That's awesome. Yeah. That is so awesome. So what do you think so he can blood trail this year if he shoots one? Would you be able to throw him over your shoulder? Oh, that's definitely happening. Okay. I was going to say because like you said that and I'm like, okay, you could have thrown him over your shoulder and then he could have done that. And I get it. Yeah. Yeah. I probably wouldn't have done that the first time either. But the second time that boy needs a blood trail. So we'll figure something out. We'll get to you. Yeah. We can call up T-bone, get one of those off road, cover round things or whatever, a wheelchair that's got mud grips on it. Like we could get him. So the crazy story is me and Brett just worked the deer and turkey expo at the state fairgrounds in Indiana. And a guy was talking to us, he started to work out details. We don't know anything if it's all happened or not, but doing a dove hunt with him and

39:26getting him in one of those with a dog and you know, and having the dog said on him. So I was like, man, just the people have reached out and tried to help his kid just from our little video that we put together. I mean, it's pretty impressive. Yeah, I'm doing the Lord's work. He really are. You really, really are. I mean, that, that's so sick, man. I, yeah, it's proud of y'all. I'm almost like, I almost don't have words, you know, because it's, we need to have more youth coming into the hunting community, right? I know that the typical range is probably 20 to 40, maybe, of people that hunt. And I mean, by the time I'm 70 years old, what's it going to look like, you know? And if we want it to keep going, if we still want to have like the, the freedoms that we do so our kids can do it, we got to get them into it, you know, and for sure, I mean, you guys are, you guys are adding to that. You guys are making it happen. So congrats to y'all. That's freaking awesome.

40:27So when, um, when's all the supposed to go down? So so we're doing youth turkey season. We're taking him for a youth turkey hunt, um, northern Indiana. Yeah. Um, so that, about his first turkey hunt as well. Um, so that, that's going to be a pretty cool adventure for him there because I know how he acted when he seen it here. I can't wait for him to hear Tom blow up, you know, 30 yards away from me. That's thunder and off over there. Oh my god. Oh yeah. Yeah. Then we'll do the same thing as we did last year with him. We'll bring him out, um, you know, and let him shoot a few guns again and see what he feels comfortable with. He shot a youth 243 and he felt good with it. I brought a crossbow, let him shoot it. He really didn't want no interest in it and look to 43. So I, I let the kids, just like you're, you're talking about taking your daughter, let them hunt their hunt because if you're like just a little bit longer, just a little bit longer, then like they won't want to go again, yeah, because I froze. You kept me out there longer.

41:27I don't want to go. Yeah. I remember taking my kids and I didn't bring a weapon. I took the ground blind. We took hot wheels. We took a blanket. They lay in the blanket of the hot wheels. They pointed a squirrel with their hand out the, the blind, but that's, you got to let them hunt their hunt and when they're saying they're ready to go, then don't, don't burn them out. This time to go. Even though you want to get it done for them so bad or kill something with them so bad, it'll happen. It'll happen when it's ready to happen. Well, the thing is to like, you know, with taking kids and all that stuff, some of them just don't care. Yeah. I mean, it's funny because like I've seen my daughter sort of change, like she's very artistic. I mean, she is like an artist, right? This kid, I had to yell her to the other night because she got on this thing. I guess people are making paper dragons or something now and she's obsessed with it. It was like 9.30 at night. I went to go put something up and I see her bedroom lights on. I was like, yeah, what? And she heard me. So then she runs and turns the light off and I'm like, oh no. I wait a minute because I'm like, okay, you're either watching TV, though, with why would

42:28you have your TV or your bedroom light on? That doesn't make sense or you're making dragons. And so I gave her like a couple minutes and I could hear like the scissors going and the paper. Yeah. And so I just busted in there and I was like, hey, what do you do? It is 9.30 and she's got paper dragons in her hands and I could, I was laughing inside but I couldn't let her see that because I'm like, you're so stubborn, dude. Like, and I respected and you're so into this. And I would love it if she got like that with hunting, but she, I have told her before I was like, you know, because she wants to kill a deer and I've got a crossbow that it may or may not be safe to shoot. I haven't shot it in like five years. But I told her I was like, if you want to do that, that's fine. But you're going to have to do this, this, and this is like, shoot one. You're going to have to blood trail it. If we find it, you're going to have to gut it. And when I said that, she kind of backed off a little bit and was like, wait, what? I'm like, yeah, yeah, you got to gut it, man. And I don't even really got my deer like that, right? Like I got my processor. He'll do it for me. I'll pay that extra fee.

43:29Oh, yeah. I am spoiled. I'm not going to lie. That's like, yeah. Yeah, yeah. But I'll do it if I have to. Like on public land, I would do it. When I'm up the road, I don't, because I'm not really good at it. Like, most of my, yeah, most of my buddies don't, they don't pay nobody. They usually just have me do it because I'm impatient and most of the time I can do it, well, you know, under five minutes and be done with it. And let's go on and I get tired. I'm like, just give me the knife. That's, I think they play it off to I get top board of them and then they just let me do it. I would probably do the same thing. If I ever come up there to Indiana home with you guys, I probably come on with it. I'll admit it. I'll probably do it. Um, but yeah, dude. And so she's, you know, she's got the interest like she likes the animals. I don't think she's still fully grasps the idea of killing them. Has she been with you? The blood trail. Why don't you do? So she's only been with me one time. The problem is she's like a lot of kids and I've done this to where you think you want to do something, you know, you say, oh, that'd be so much fun.

44:32You get the opportunity to do it and you get in your head and you're like, I don't know if I'd really want to do that, you know, and so I think that's partially what it is that she doesn't want to get up early in the morning when it's cold. Yep. If she's home from school on a Friday and it's deer season and I say, hey, let's go to the woods. She wants to stay and play with her friends or play on her phone or do something else and I'm not going to force her. No, I told you, I got three teenagers and all three of them killed their first deer when they were eight. But my youngest, he's now 13 and he's killed on a three or four deer and he started being that way where I don't feel like getting up and going. I'm not going to hunt in the mornings and then he quit hunting mornings then all certain that he's pretty much done with it. And I'm fine with that. Yeah. But you never know. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So it, that is the one thing with her. I don't see her getting into it. But I also wouldn't be upset if she was like, hey, for Christmas, can I get a bow and a tree stand and brought it and like, dude, I'm going to call it prime right now.

45:35I'm calling jeep. But we're calling everybody. We're going to get this. And she did, though, ask me the other day if we could go back to the archery range. That's a star. Yeah, because they have a, I don't know if they still have it. I haven't been out there since last year, but they had it dinosaur. She's heavy on dinosaurs, loves dinosaurs. Yeah. And they had this little stegosaurus that when she was four, I took her out there and got I got her like one of those little bear, you know, kids bows or whatever. And she, um, she shot it. That was the only thing she shot in the end. Nothing else. You didn't want to shoot anything else? Yeah. She was like, I just want to shoot that. She's like two feet in front of it shoots it. And then we just never went back because she just never asked to go again. Yeah. She asked me last week, I was like, oh, you want to go back to the, to the range? She's like, yeah, yeah, I want to shoot the dinosaurs. And you know, I want to see all this and that was like, okay, dude, I'll get you a, a youth bow. I don't mind. And she's like, well, you don't have to spend that. I have my own. I'm like, no. You're, you're 10 going on 11. You don't, yeah. You don't shoot a bear apprentice. Well, we'll get you, we'll get you something else.

46:37So do that. So cool, man. I'm, God, I love the fact that you guys are doing that. That is, we need more of that. I encourage people to get there and try it, man. It's, I'm telling you, it's a new love for the hunting and just, just getting involved of youth changes how you see it and totally different. Yeah. Well, they give you a different perspective. It's almost like you get to see your first time again, you know, which I knew nothing when I first went. I was, I got it. Oh, yeah. It was rough. Um, all right. I want to change gears a little bit. Okay. You, and this is going off of what Brett sent me, right? I typically don't do this, but he sent me some pretty good stuff that I want to know. Um, so he, he mentioned something about how you travel to hunt. Yeah. Yeah. So, so sometimes I get impatient and that's when I started traveling to, uh, uh, our season don't come in October 1st and this started out, man, probably 20 years ago, roughly. Um, I found out Missouri came in like September 15th and I was like, oh, they come in before

47:41we do. Oh, yeah. We'll like it down here. Yeah. Our second weekend in September down here every single year. Yeah. So that, that, that started and, uh, I went down there and I killed a little buck. I didn't care. It was, you know, it paid whatever it was back then for license. I was coming back with some kind of meat and, and so kill a little buck came back and I talked to my buddies and now they're all wanting to go like, really, let's go. So we ended up going the next weekend and then, uh, been doing it every year. Since, uh, we found a Kentucky, Missouri, those are the two main states that we like traveling to. They're close to us and both of them come in before us. So Kentucky was always, uh, the first weekend of September. It's tough because it's usually like 90 degrees, but we have a blast. It's, it's a guy's trip. We take a camper, sometimes we rough at tents, you name it, but we've been doing it for, I mean, years and, and just enjoy it. And it's a close friends of us, there's folks like five, they usually go. So we have a blast dude. That's awesome. Yeah. I, uh, what's the, like what is the difference? So do you see, because I'm going to Wisconsin this year, right?

48:43I actually need to call the landowner this week of a meeting to do that and forgot, but, um, I had Dan in fall down the podcast two weeks ago, I think. And he gave me like a whole rundown of Wisconsin, right? Yeah. And it got me thinking about like the difference in terrain and the difference in styles of hunting when it goes from what you're used to to like out of state. So I mean, have you noticed any, any major differences between Indiana to, oh, yeah, Zuri, a ton, what, what would you say is the biggest difference you see? So just the terrain, I mean, we, we're, we're central Indiana. It's pretty much flatland around here. Um, you may laugh at me, me and Brett know that we're getting ready to go to Tennessee for turkey hunting. And we've been hitting the treadmill. We've been at the gym, trying to get ready for, I'm telling you, we've never done it before, but it about kills us in those that we hunt with people that we've done podcast with and they welcome us down there. It's great time, but they go up those hills like in fifth gear and me and Brett can't get it out of first gear. And so we're trying to get a little better shape for it.

49:44But the terrain is way different than we used to, but you can, I mean, I don't know. I've watched so many dang hunting videos and everything podcast and all that that you can still, even though if you don't really hunt the big hills, the mountains, you can figure it out pretty quickly. Yeah. I see that's the thing is like being originally from Illinois, I'm used to, like when I think it's still to this day, when I think of hunting, I don't think of Georgia, right? I think of what I know up in the Midwest. And then I come out here and it's been kind of a, it's been hard the past few years, like sort of taking everything out here because most podcasts are Midwestern podcasts when it comes to hunting, right? And so everyone's like, oh, you got to set up on the bean fields and you got to go on this little creek bottom. And I'm like, you don't have that, you have hills and big woods and creeks and like it's totally different. And I just, it's so interesting when I get to talk to someone that travels a lot for hunting

50:44because now I can sort of hear like what the differences are. I know Tennessee, but yeah, I've been to Tennessee. Yeah. Yeah. It is, man. It's beautiful, but it is rough. Well, and the funny thing is like, I'm supposed to go to Colorado next year and yeah. And I've looked at the terrain. It doesn't look terrible, but it is also 8,000 foot, which is about 7,000 more than what we have here. Yeah. And I've been, you know, plenty of time seeing family and stuff. I've never hunted it, but I know that like altitude change, what it feels like. And then comparing Tennessee to Colorado, as far as like mountains go, it ain't the safe. It's not. And it's so crazy because Tennessee is rough. Like when we go to tack, I found out I haven't told my wife this yet. And I hope she can't hear me because I might get interrupted. Well, no, it's not that she may not go is the problem. I was talking to my buddies at the shop yesterday and they were asking me like, are you going to tack? You know, obviously, you know, I've tried to go every year and they're like, oh, cool.

51:47Of course, you hit and I said Jack links. And they started laughing. And I was like, what? What? I did it in Georgia. It was a little rough. But it wasn't that bad. Yeah. He was like, well, about halfway through, you're going to hit a spot where they have a rope from the top of the hill to the bottom of the hill. And you better pray it doesn't rain because if it does, oh, boy, yeah, he was like, you're going to need a bow sling and both hands. So you don't fall. And I immediately was like, my wife is going to kill me. It's never been. And if that's what we're in for, dude, Tennessee mountains, when it's raining, good luck. Yeah. So it's, I don't know, it's going to be, it's going to be interesting. So all right. Well, what would you say then out of state? What would you say is like one of the crazier, I guess, situations or stories you've got from an out of state hunt? Oh, I could tell you quite a few different crazy stories that time. You still got life. 30 minutes. We're good. So the first, the first big buck I killed still with the biggest buck today was a 152 inch

52:54in September and 90 degrees. That hunt was pretty crazy. We hiked framing, you know, everyone says, go deep. So that's what we pretty much did. We got into a bunch of turkey mites. I mean, we recovered in them and I'm sitting there and we're texting back and forth between the five of us. Somebody of mine said he had to get down and strip his clothes off and take all, he could get these ticks off of him. He's like, I'm smacking my clothes. And as deep as we were about that time, he was doing that some two other hunters walked by and I was like, could you imagine the thought that they had in their head when they've seen some guy stripping down because he's got chicks or ticks all over him? But yeah. So that was a crazy story. But as he's doing that, that's when I end up in the counter and my buck and kill him on that same hunt. We were, oh man, I forget how deep we were, but pretty much time we got that deer drug out because back then we didn't have a deer card or nothing. We were not really prepared for hunting that kind of stuff. And the height of that thing didn't have a hair on one side, like we drug it for that

53:54far. And when we came up out of the ditch, we couldn't pull it up the ditch. We had a little one of the hitches on the back of his truck where you can crank up a deer and skin him there on fit. We had to run that itch all the way down to the deer and pull him out of it. So that was pretty tough, but that was a fun hunt. But we were so exhausted, I was going to come back and party, I just killed the biggest buck of my life. And then we got back and we were so exhausted, I think I had one beard and I was like, I'm going to bed. Yep. And we admittedly physically killed us. That's crazy. Yeah, I do ticks down here are terrible. Yeah. I've had that seat and that was one thing I had against turkey hunting for the longest time because I don't like heat. Like right now, we turned off our air because it was really cold, so we had the heat on. Well, then it warmed up and it felt nice. So I was like, it's hot in the house. Let's just turn it off, right? Yep. Then Georgia was like, oh, you think it's nice. Okay. We'll crank it up a bit. So now it's just been stupid hot in this house.

54:55And like I still get that same feeling around turkey season because, you know, Georgia gets warm pretty quick and the ticks then come out. And I've had one of my biggest fears is getting bit by a lone star tick because I don't want that allergy and my grandfather has it. Got it off of a property that I hunt off the property that I'm planning to go and turkey hunt. Oh boy. Yeah. So I was like, all right. Gonna go to Walmart, get five bottles of soyares, take baths in it, spray everything down and maybe I'll be okay. But even then, like, have you, so have you used that stuff before? That's so yes. It does work, but my buddy, that same guy, he sprayed all this stuff. I mean, I couldn't imagine how many cans he used, but it does work. It works great. But he would still duct tape his pants to his boots so they wouldn't even get in them. And I was like, you, but it worked. I mean, he, we don't get him, but that stuff does work. I sprayed all my stuff down the last few years before I go, but it does stink, but you're going to stink when you're hunting 90 degrees anyway, so it don't really matter.

55:58So, yeah. So we just try hunting the win when it does, but I'd rather be tick-free and go hunt than have ticks all over me miserable. Yeah. And not have to give up eating deer, which is one of the best things on the planet. Yeah. Yeah. Do Georgia down here early season. I, I say it every year. I love early season, but then it starts and I'm like, you know, I could go for some cool October mornings because if you go out, there's been times I've gone to hunt and it's 70 degrees in the morning and that's, it just is what it is, you know, and yeah, I'd, so there's so many things I'm thinking about right now, like traveling and all this stuff. I don't even know where to go with it. We started off with a wing in it. We took an explorer down there. We went to Missouri's the first time we ever went. They had record lows at that time when we went down there and this was September record lows. And we had a tent. We ended up starting to explore, sleeping in it. I mean, that's just part of the rough, then, then we moved up to, it's a crazy story.

57:01I wish I could show you pictures on here, but we had bought a camper for like $500. We stripped it inside of it out. We got some old wood fits post and made bunk beds in it. We hung it with that for a couple of years. Then my buddy butcher, he decided to buy a bus. And then we had this bus with bunk beds, a deep freezer in it. We had flat screen TVs and, I mean, it was a beater. It didn't make it up half the hills when we took it to Kentucky, but it was fun. He actually, I mean, we definitely could have gotten trouble, but he took the seat out of the driver seat out of it and put a recliner in it. And that's what he would drive all the way from maybe out of Kentucky. We made some memories. I mean, that's for sure. We'd bring a deer back a camp and throw it up in a tree and skin it right there in the campground. We didn't know how people would take it, but it was amazing how many people came and drank beer with us and had a good time with us when we did do it. We never really ran into anybody. I mean, it is Kentucky, but no one really complained. They were, they were all coming to congratulate us. And then they sat there and hung out with us and heck, we, we skinned a deer

58:02and we were in out of state. We're, as we're cutting it up, we're total on the grill right there. And as they're still cutting up, and it's so much fun, man. It really is another, another good story is you don't have to go deep on state property. I promise you that. I'm glad you said that because I was going to touch on that, that I completely agree. Yeah. Oh, another buddy of mine, we were down there and he probably hiked three miles back and couldn't find a spot, circled all the way around, came all the way back, just mad. I mean, it's 90 degrees. You got a climber on your back. He gets to where he can see his truck and he says, screw it, I'm climbing a tree right here. He killed a 163. I think it is. One way. God. He'd see his truck after hiking three miles deep and came all the way back and he could see the parking lot where his truck wasn't in the shooting. Dude. That, I feel like I've told the story so many times lately, but literally I saw, had to be 150, 160 inch 10 point, about 200 yards from the truck like five years ago. And it, that showed me right there that it's like, yeah, you can go deep and sometimes

59:06it works. But I mean, Dan Infall even mentioned it when he goes the hunt public land that like, basically you don't have to these days. You know, you got so many people that, you know, because Onyx is like, oh, well, I can take you as far as we need to to and I love Onyx, don't get me wrong. But that, then you hear people on podcasts and you hear people on, you know, like the hunting public and stuff, which those guys are great at what they do. But you don't always have to go two, three, four, five miles in there, you know? And I mean, think about the dragout. Like, if I did that, if I went five miles in, I'm quartering that deer. Yeah. I'm not carrying that. We, I think it's maybe three or four years ago, me and Brett had a put on a little humpback up public tent laying challenge. And we had guys come from, you know, a little bit of everywhere to it. And I think the guy was from Texas, if I remember right, shot like a, I mean, there's a good solid buck. Yeah. And we got to witness him quarter one out. I mean, there's four or five of us at Madden where he found it. And we helped him carry it all out, but that's the way to go.

1:00:07I was like, dang, why haven't we been doing this? Yeah. Yeah, if it's, if I ever land a spot or hunt public and I'm deep in there, 100%, if I land a spot that's big enough and I have to do it, I'll do it because I found out, I mean, you got to think, man, like, I've gone every season since 2021, being able to get a deer on the ground, right? And I don't know if it's I'm getting older. I don't know what the deal is. But when I killed this spike behind me this past season, I was struggling. And he wasn't even really that big. He was only two and a half years old. Yeah. And I was struggling just to take him to my truck. That was only 30 yards away. And I started thinking I'm like, damn, like, dude, where did all this, where's my youth, you know? So thankfully, I ended up getting a deer cart. So I'm not going to worry about it now, but that's the game changer, man. There's so many good cards out there. We had one, it was, it was four wheels. You can go up and over a tree with it. It was, I mean, it's, it's the, oh, wow. I think we killed one in Missouri last year.

1:01:09I think, yeah, it was Missouri last year and I would say we're probably my own halfback. And I put it on the cart. I didn't even kill it. It was a buddy killed a doe. And I put it on the cart. And I wheeled it all the way by myself pretty much with one A. And I mean, it's so easy with some of those good, good cards. Well, it's nice too, because you can throw your stand on there like, yeah, you can honestly maybe throw your bow. I probably wouldn't do that. But the, I knew the second that I got it and I put it together and I was playing with it, wheeling it around. I'm like, oh, good. And this is a Christmas. I'm like, yo, I want to put this thing to work. And unfortunately didn't get a chance to, you know, because these deer here are psychic. I don't know if Brett told you that or Georgia deer are psychic. But now I'm in and I, I'm really looking forward to using it. Like, it's going to come with me everywhere I go, you know, and I'm not getting any younger. I don't have back problems yet, yet, I'm sure I will. But yeah, it's, I mean, so like what up there, or let me ask you this. What would you say is the biggest body size deer that you have killed?

1:02:13Okay. So I did kill one that we called the baseball bad. He didn't have much time linked. He was just massive. It looked like baseball battle and I said, um, actually shot him with a crossbow because of my bow tech actually was in the shop. So I had got the boys crossbow out and I was like, I'll take it like, I'm at least hunting. Hey, no judgment. Yeah. And I was, but uh, yeah, I still get crap for that one, but uh, I shot him right at last light and I was a supervisor on third shift and I was the, you know, the only one that could cover. So I had to go to work and I didn't have time to find him or look for him so I had to leave him overnight and work all night. So that was a fun one. But I found him the next day and threw him on the back of the four wheeler and I had to have a buddy sit on the front of it to get up a hill because he was so big and I didn't know what he weighed. Where we take him, the processor doesn't weigh him and the good people we've been going to him for years.

1:03:13They've always helped the nice town out and uh, he actually told me to come back here and I went back here and he had him on the scale and I was like, dang, he's weighing. And he weighed 252 and he said that was one of the top five he's ever weighed there and he's been in business for a long time. 252 gutted. Yeah, gutted. Oh my God. Yeah. And I never got that deer aged. I wish I would have, but I was guessing six, maybe six and a half, you know, so I don't know if he was seven and a half, but he was, he was definitely an older deer, but it was the biggest body deer that I've ever killed. No, we, a good solid deer named Indiana is around 200 to 220. Yeah. And I feel like that's how kind of how Georgia is too, you know, our, I mean, our deer definitely smaller than y'all's like, yeah, smaller, but typically I'll see, you know, every, every year, a couple of bucks that are killed and they, they weigh them out and they're too dressed or too 10. Yeah. Then everyone's like, oh, man, that's a slab. I know Lee killed one that was like 300 pounds before he gutted it in Atlanta.

1:04:18Yeah. That's unreal. Atlanta's been, I mean, there's been a lot of big deer been killed in Atlanta just the last four or five years. Yeah. The problem with that. I was talking, I forget who I was talking to about this. But the thing is like, they're still there, right? I mean, Lee kills them every year. Other guys kill them every year. I've seen them. My brother-in-law lives north of Atlanta and I've seen two 130, 140s, which by Atlanta standards are pretty small. But to me, those are like giants, you know, and I mean, dude, they're so big and it's so well known now that the street signs, the deer street signs are a non-typical like no. 220 inch deer. I'll send you a picture of it. I mean, it's awesome. That's awesome. But I say that it's, I said it kind of negatively in the beginning because it's like everybody knows. Yeah. And I know there's a lot of people coming and traveling. I know a lot of people are paying, even Lee and the boys at Seek One and one of my buddies

1:05:23Jay has told me that like, the two worst things about what they did is the fact that you cannot get permission there anymore. Yep. A lot of the deer have been getting killed or poached or, I mean, so it's a good thing. The genetics are definitely there. But it's, I feel like it's slowly kind of dying out because everyone just, they see Lee kill a 200. He's killed what two or three 200s here. And then they're like, oh, I want to go do that. So then they drive up, right? And I've talked to people that live in Atlanta, like my job, I go through Atlanta all the time. But I mean, literally they, they will tell me that they get door knocks all the time. Yeah. So. And that's how me hunting, you know, public land and all these different states for years. I'm telling you, I used to, I walked up probably my third year hunting in Missouri. I walked up on a father and son and they had me worried at first because he's like, what are you doing here? I was like, I'm just hunting. He's like, this is our property. And I was like, oh, I'm sorry.

1:06:23So it was public. And he's like, oh, I'm just kidding with you. We never run into anybody out here. And that's how it was and it was for years. And I love watching their videos, the hunting public guys. I love watching them. But I'm telling you, they've inspired so many people that the public land and different states now is just, it's good. Good luck. I mean, they've put, they inspired so many people now. It's tough to really hunt public land now. Yeah. I mean, I ran into a guy a couple of years ago from Florida. Next to the honey hole that I always hunted, which this year was more like a death hole because there was nothing there. Except the pig. I saw a pig. But yeah, I mean, I pull into the parking lot, no one ever parks there. Yeah. Right? I'm always the first one there. If I come out and I see trucks, they were there well after me. I can see them come in so like, I know, or I can at least hear them. And I pull in and this kid pulls up next to me and he was like, hey, what's up, man? Where are you? Where are you headed to? And I'm like, I'm going over here. He was like, all right. I'm going over there. He's like, I'm so and so. I'm from Florida. And I'm like, wait, Florida?

1:07:24Yeah. How the hell did you find out about this place? Because middle of nowhere, you'd never know. And I think he said something about hearing it on some podcast and I was like, oh, I hope that wasn't me because I used to name drop it all the time. Oh, yeah. And I just, I just get my mouth shut. But yeah, it's crazy, dude. Like I had one time three years ago, I was hunting, opening day at this place. And went about a mile deep, you know, it really wasn't that bad of a walk. And like, I had one of my buddies on the other side of the field. And he, he got all set up. I got all set up. I saw a doe, but I was facing the wrong way. So long story short, it didn't kill her. And I get down because I'm frustrated, right? And it's getting dark. So I'm like, look, I don't mind walking in the woods in the dark. I don't mind walking out, but I'm public land. I still, if I don't see anything like 10 minutes before sun or sundown, I'm probably getting down because by the time I get to the truck, it's going to be pitch black, right?

1:08:27So, you know, call me what you will, but I get down and I hear this noise. And I'm like, you got to be kidding me, right? And I already had everything loaded up. I have my bow in my hand, take an arrow off and I can hear the brush about a hundred yards moving. And I'm like, oh, dude, no, there's going to be a crazy story, right? And so I get an arrow on clip on the bow and I'm watching. And I'm just waiting and I'm kind of tucked behind the tree. This old man and I guess his son or grandson comes walking out and what they didn't know, because I had done a bunch of scouting beforehand, you know, early season, right after deer skis in the year before, but they didn't know as they were walking through betting areas. And they were walking through where these deer were coming out of, right? Or typically coming out of and so I'm like, dude, dang it. And whatever, you know, I wasn't mad at him. I was leaving anyway. And so I'd take the arrow off, put it back in the quiver, you know, do the whole thing. And I'm just walking out and I see them and they continue to keep going. It's to do the old man and his son, grandson, whatever, both head crossbows and it,

1:09:31they're like spot and stocking, which in Georgia, you can't really do. And so I waved to him and they did not acknowledge the fact they saw me, but they did not acknowledge the fact I was there. There was no wave or nothing. So I got a little weirded out and I'm like, right, I'm going to keep going and they kept coming my way. And I'm like, what? Who doesn't wave? I've never had someone not wave. Well, I'm a glint. So I was like, maybe they didn't see me. So I wave again, nothing. So I was like, you know what? I don't think I'm going to come over in this spot anymore. Not not early season. Not if these guys are going to be walking through. Yeah, I don't, I don't even know, you know, because I've heard horror stories of people getting shot at and I'm like, that ain't worth it, you know? Um, that I would say is probably like the, maybe the one public land story we did walk up on a guy that was hog hunting, um, during the winter. When season was already well, well done. And we were just looking for, you know, sign and stuff, just to sort of pre scout for the

1:10:32coming season and, uh, we're in this pine thicket and I get this like glimpse of movement. So I stopped my buddy Josh and I'm like, yeah, what was that? Do we like squatted down and looking through this, this pine thicket? There's a guy on a fold out chair, got a six pack next to him. AR 15 in his hand. No, I'm like, what the hell in the terms of heat is what is going on? And so we keep going and he sees us and we're like, sorry, man, we didn't know. And he just was like, and that was it. I was like, this is crazy. Holy smokes. Yeah, public lands. It's getting, it's getting full. It's getting a lot of pressure. I will tell you one more crazy story. It's a sad story, but, uh, in Indiana during both season, uh, you can, you can rabbit season comes in too. So when you're hunting public land, you can see some rabbit hunters and I had a, uh, a body of mine that was actually bow hunting and was up, you know, 20 feet in the tree.

1:11:32And he's seen three guys coming and he could tell they're rabbit hunting. They had an orange and everything on and one guy stayed outside the woods and, and two of them went kind of through the woods and, and to push them rabbits out to the outside. Well, they get about 60 yards from them. They haven't seen him. Don't know he's there. And the, the father and son are going to a thicket and he hears boom. And the tree, the branch got hit the boys trigger and he shot his dad in the back. And my body is 20 feet up and season witnesses at all. You know, from 40, 60 yards away, the here, then he hears the other guy come running and yelling at the kid like, what did you do? Oh, yeah. So he stayed in the stand the entire time because they don't know he's there. He don't know if this kid did it on purpose. He don't know. He's like, I ain't getting down risking this. But yeah. So filing when the paramedics and everything came, please, Dean R, he climbed down. Then he had to, they set him down on a railroad tie next to the kid and said, he said him there. Then, you know, he'd listen to this kid just, you know, I mean, he lost his dad. I mean, it was, so he had to sit there in the question him and all that.

1:12:36But that was a less learn, for me, I guess less than learn from me is cover trigger when you walk through a thick it because I never really thought of it. I grabbed 100 for years. I just hold the gun upwards and say, you know, say shame. But now I cover it. I mean, it can happen to anybody. But that's a scary story I've ever heard of. That's terrible. I mean, I could always just bow hunting and hang the gun up, gun up. Yeah. I mean, not everyone. That's not for everybody. No, I'm kidding. Like that, yeah, dude, that's just wild. Some of the stories you hear. I mean, I've heard of people getting attacked by bears. My buddy, Jordan got to talk to my mama bear and stuff. And he's in North Carolina. So it's, you know, they got tons of bears up there. Yeah. And it's wild, dude. I mean, I, and I feel like I haven't really personally gotten to experience any of the real crazy stuff. Not saying I want to, right? Like I don't want to have some hillbilly chasing memes. I guess I'm lying and it's like I'm on public. Yeah, but it, it happens, you know, and like I've heard stories of people

1:13:36disappearing and nobody knows where they're at. And I'm just like, dude, what is going on? You know, it's just crazy. So thank God for, you know, on X and then all the technology that we do have just because, yeah, I can't imagine it was like back in the day, you know? Oh, I've experienced that as well when I was in Kentucky. I realized I left my flashlight for the morning hunt left it at the camp and then when it got dark, I didn't have it. I had my phone, then I was all turned around how it was already. Yeah. And I couldn't get enough signal to download a compass and then I'm freaking out. All right. Really was taking, I'm sleeping in the woods tonight. Like, till I get to daylight, so I can see. So technology, I mean, you, you need to be prepared for anything. I mean, I thought I was fine. I have a cell phone and let with no signal. And then it searched for a signal trying to download a compass the entire time. So I ran my phone dead. And the crazy part is I stumbled upon a little velvet buck that was dead. And I was like, someone shot this and I could tell it was just recent. So I stood there and it ended up being one of my buddies I was hunting with.

1:14:38And I've never been so excited to see his ugly face before. But I mean, that's, you got to be prepared for anything when you have public for sure. Yeah. Well, I, you know, I guess in closing that, like people take it for granted, you know, I mean, I, all my spots, except for the public land are less than 10 acres, one of which is right behind a church, right? The other ones on my grandparents' property. So like, I know where everything's at. Yeah, but I have a hundred places before, like buddies, properties or whatever that. Dude, walking out, if I didn't have that headlamp, I wouldn't know where the hell I'm at. And it's crazy because it's not even that big. But like the woods and everything, you know, you get, you get turned around. I've got, I've gotten turned around on my grandparents' property in the middle of the day because I'm just not paying attention. I'm looking for signer, I'm looking for sheds or I'm looking for a spot to put a camera or whatever, right? And then I look up and I'm like, where in the hell am I? I thought I came from that way, but I'm hearing like it's just, it's crazy. So yeah, to everybody listening, please be careful.

1:15:39We don't want any listeners to, you know, get lost or be on the list of disappeared people and properties. Um, well, cool. Look, before we wrap this up, there was one more thing and I need to look at the list. He sent me because I'm just, I'm bad at this apparently. Um, okay. So he mentioned something about setups. I don't know if that meant tree stand setups or camera setups, but I'm going to assume that's camera setups. So like, all right, I'll frame it this way. For someone like myself, never filmed themselves hunt. Yeah. What would you say? Like what is the process of getting the equipment? And figuring out a way to get it all up in the tree without making a ton of noise and scaring everything into the next county. The key, the key is having the correct backpack, man. I mean, if you got the right backpack, you, you have, you know, where everything's at. It's easy to get in and out. Um, I have one of the smallest backpacks you can have, but it's fine for me.

1:16:41It works for me. Yeah. Um, cause I, I can't stay in a big backpack. I can't just, I carry very minimum because of the camera, the camera arm, go pros, are you going to enough weight in there? For everything. So I, I pack like, uh, then it's easier to get out without dragging other stuff out. Cause the camera arm will want to grab a hold of anything you got in there with it. But I, I like sitting down to where I can put them out or the camera arm to where I can film everything sitting down if needed. Got it. A lot of people put that camera arm a little higher, uh, for standing up shots, but you don't know, you may come into where you can't stand up. And you don't have to shoot from sitting down. And a lot of the stands we hunt out of are just local. I love local ones. I don't know why they're easy to move whenever you want to. Um, they're not as fun to hang up. Oh, yeah, they're saying about. Yeah, they're just not as fun to hang up as they used to be on a lot older now. So I've been trying to get bred up there instead of me, but, but now in the corner, just laughing. Oh, yeah, oh, I knew it. I knew it.

1:17:42Yeah. But no, so, yeah, so I don't know. I just tried to sit in your set up to where if you need to, you can film from sitting down for sure. Guys, but that's good for me to know because I'm making a huge switch. Like I used to hunt strictly out of a climber. And then I've kind of last season, I changed it up and started doing more of like, I call it the Cody to Quistow route. It's really, I look at it like the lone wolf route where you're low in thick stuff and you're like right on them. Yeah. And that having been the case, you know, it's like, if I'm filming, granted, it's just going to be on my bow, but that may evolve into something else. Well, I don't want to have, you know, a million different things to carry up or like super heavy stuff to carry up while I'm trying to hang sticks and hang a stand. And oh, I need to get my bow up. Well, now I need to put the bow arm up or the, what is the bow hanger up? And then you know what I'm saying? Like, I know there's other ways, like there's good ways to do it. It's just, like I said, I don't know anything about it. So I'm glad to explain it that way.

1:18:44It's, I mean, I guess it's a challenge, but I love having people on my bodies to tell you how heck you don't shoot something now that I love finding the trees. I have a lot of cover like a, that's the key. There's clear shooting lane. So I'm like, we'll find a shooting lane. Yeah. You'll make it happen that that I did learn from talking with Zach a bunch over at lone wolf that that is truly, in my opinion, especially when you look like so Georgia's super thick. Yeah. In everybody that I know down here, pretty much hunts either out of a hang on that they preset five months early. And then they have, you know, it's there. Like they don't move it. Yeah. And then when all the leaves fall, they have no cover and like, well, I haven't seen a deer and I'm like, yeah, because you're 30 foot up or 20 foot up and there's nothing around you. You stick out like a sore thumb or they use a climber and they're like, well, I couldn't find a pine tree. So it took me 45 minutes and it's like, dude, I couldn't, I did that. And I did not like it. So I feel like being where I'm at, you know, low and thick, that would, in my opinion, be the key.

1:19:48Because if you hunt one place, say you're running two sticks in the stand, right, which is probably, I think I'll be running like two or three. You find a spot, you hunt it, you see what it produces. Maybe you hunt it one more time. And then if it doesn't show anything, okay, cool, tear it down, move on to the next, you know, and you don't have to worry what the tree looks like. As long as it's wide enough, you're good to go. Yeah. And that I think is why I've really started gravitating towards like hang-ons and don't get me wrong. I like a climber. You get a car. Yeah, I love them. I love all day sets in a climber. I use a summit. I've used it. I don't know how old that thing is, but it's so comfortable. I love taking it for all day sets now. If I'm not doing all day set, I lock on it's the way to go. I mean, it's, it's more open. You don't have those little arms. Does your family schedule look like an endless list of appointments, games, and practices? Does keeping everyone on schedule feel impossible? The skylight calendar is here to put an end to your scheduling stress with its all-in-one shared display,

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1:21:49Her running upstairs with a dog earlier. But before we get off of here, why don't you tell everybody where they can find you and where they can find Blue River Bow hunting? So yeah, Blue River Bow hunting, mostly YouTube. Brett does run the podcast as well a lot of times. Sometimes I get on there, the old neighbor gets on there, it's what he says. But yeah, then Facebook, we have Facebook pages as well, so check us out. All right, well you heard it here first, guys. Go check out Blue River Bow hunting, if I can say it. But now, man, Adam, seriously, thank you for coming on, dude. I definitely want to get you back on and maybe dive a little bit more deeper into your style of hunting and, you know, just get in the weeds of things, maybe talk about some stuff that pisses people off. I don't know. We do that a lot here. So anyway, I appreciate you coming out, man. Thank you. All right. Thank you.