Ep. 13: Bear Grease [Render] - Cobras, Bulldozers, and Immortal Roosters

to the bar Grease Surrender. Really, welcome to the Burger Surrender. Yeah, Dan Rupe doesn't have doors on this truck. Doors. Yeah. It's really hot here in Arkansas, over a hundred hundred degrees today, That's what I hear. Hey, did you guys know speaking of air conditioning, no doors on the truck. Did you boys know that I've been driving a D five caterpillar dozer for the last two days. I've spent like ten hours one day, two hours one day, eight

hours to the store and back. It's like an everyday driver for me. Now, yes, drive it into town. Did y'all see did y'all know that I was doing that. Man, I'll tell you what you appreciation. This outdoor media stuff does not work out. I know exactly what I'm gonna be doing with my life. Like bulldoz are driver. Yeah we uh it's a little hard on the intestines though not not this one. Man. Air conditioning so cold it would absolutely freeze you out. Very comfortable seat. Yeah, this

is like a really nice posure. Uh. And my dad's friend is the one who let us use it, like just like let us you know, I guess man, yeah, and so man. So over where we're doing this work in the it's actually in the wash Tols. Wink wink, Yeah, I'm getting a wink from the land bridge for those of us, for those for those people who aren't from this part of the world. Like it's super thick regrowth on this property, very thick, Like you couldn't shoot a

bow twenty yards in most places. And the topography is up and down, you know, there's a big drawl that comes through our property and some hills and valleys anyway, but it's so thick there's no view. I deeply value views like and basically, long story short, I'm not gonna get in all the details. Me and Dad are building a cabin. Me and Dad are building a cabin over there at some point, and Dad wanted the cabin down on the creek, okay, which is not much of a creek.

It's a small creek. Dry, it didn't even I wanted the cabin up on top of the ridge. But to do that, we had to build a pretty long road, about a quarter mile probably road. And I wanted a view, and I did not know how good the view was going to be until I borrowed a Cat five. Yeah, that would be awesome, give caterpillar. I jumped in that thing. And now I have driven big equipment for I'm good on the track ho and a back hoe, and I've never driven a doze and man, I got I picked

it up quick, and I'm like a professional does are operator? Now? And we cleared about probably close to an acre of stuff so thick you couldn't walk through it. And that doz are will knock flatten, knock over a tree that's about fourteen fifteen inches in diameter, just drive over it. I mean we I was pushing over pine trees that

you could have built a dose. Are operators out there saying you shouldn't be doing that, they're saying, it's probably they're pushing over big Anyway, that was a lot of fun. But what I appreciate about that story is how brazen you are congratulating yourself for being a fantastic bulldozer driving. If I mean exactly. It's just a ton of fun and I'm I'm steps ahead of everyone. Here we go again, share, share knowledge and whizz. I don't know we can this man,

I said to say. That is why Gary Nucomb is not here to say, because we've been working over there and he had to go back down there today for some other stuff that was going on. So Gary Nucomb is not here. So now I would get into introductions, I won't. I won't tell who this voice is. That is right, Brent Man. Brent home Run appearance on The Bar Gerys podcast this week. What do you think we're

here about? Brands? Say hi to everybody? Hello everybody? Yeah right, Daniel Rupe, Dr d Rupe, good to see you man, good to be here. The land Bridge Josh Spillmaker still that straight up shout out on the bar. Yeah, you didn't like coach him to say that, did you know? Yeah, the actual land Bridge does come up in conversation with a lot of people I run with, and they're not talking about pretty pretty dang fast. One day I'll do an entire Burger's podcast on the lent brilliant man, Get ready,

that is that going to be my moment? Is that going to be my moment? Probably? Probably don't count on it. Hey, listen, if you live in North America and you do not know about the Baring land Bridge, then basically there's a massive hole in your understanding of why you are here, the animals that are on this continitor here, and basically you are sort of irresponsible. That's my take. Lots of lots of generalized statements being thrown around. Really yeah, all

positive direction that does. That's what happened to the land Bridge yesterday. I felt intoxicated with power. I think it may have shaped me like in an unhealthy way. Man. Okay, people have complained that we're talking over each other. This has been like one NonStop no no, we gotta keep it up. Forget those people. We're gonna talk about reviews here in a minute. Land Bridge, Josh, good to see you back from wherever he was. Malachi Nichols, Dr Nichols.

Good to see you, man, Good to see you. When Malachi walked in the day, I was like, you've been playing golf, got Brent? Will you describe what he's wearing. He's got some socks from they probably should have. I don't know how you described it. Looks like a d N A pattern or something. I'd say they come from school. Looks like I think Dolly Parton's mama made those like that to go. Mali guy is known for his socks and has been for years. Strong man carry on the

reason I'm not okay. He goes out, he goes up from his decorative socks to a pair of non pleated slacks comfortable anywhere from a night out on the town to accompanying that. Finishing off his attire would be a white polo literally obviously been pressed sometime in the last five years. It looks good, but he's actually got a polo poo. That's what that is. Yeah, I thought that was self explainator. It can be generic, like you could

buy polo from Walmart. That's the style that is. Not only is it a polo shirt, it is a polo exactly. Is that better? Yeah? Bulldozer Man Malo. Great to have you back. We told we told everybody last time why you weren't here. I wasn't not here Africa. It was because you got asked it out by by the land Bridge. Yeah yeah, okay. And then our guest of honor, Miss num my wife, Hello, Misty, how nice? So sorry, He's so sorry for everybody else who did not get that introduction.

Nod you guys, You guys should start to queue in on non verbal things that are happening in this room. If you'll notice, Miss Nukem has a banjo in her lap always. Well, I was just gonna say, just if I I I got invited to play at my first non Bear Grease gig. Pretty big deal. Don't tell them it's true. Yeah, I'll be We're not invited. I'll keep watching for the release of those tickets for the Arkansas Music Pavilion. Right, she's playing with Willie Nelson. No, no,

not true. Hey. iTunes and reviews on iTunes are big in the podcast world. None of us podcasters know why, but we just all know that it is because podcasters like continually beg people for ratings and reviews. None of us know why. It's kind of like being a North American and not knowing that, you know, humans first came

across a barren land bridge. You know, it's kind of irresponsible that I don't really understand why iTunes ratings are important, but they really are, and people have really come through big time for us. We've we've got it. Well, I was going to bring up that one reviews this is the greatest podcast in history two stars. Yeah, so that's why I wanted to bring this up. It's literally I think it's aid instant hit love this like it's like just glowed. Yeah, it was just like, this is awesome.

Two stars. I would like to hear what a good podcast was for that guy got a five star, Yeah, I mean because I mean, I'd like to hear what he would say about it, you know, but it was it was pretty impressive. Hey, did you guys know that the Beargrease podcast has a new official title sponsor? Did y'all catch it? Y'all didn't catch it? Caterpillar? Caterpillar? No f h F gear? Oh yeah, I did y'all hear that? In the intro it was f h F gear. Yeah,

y'all know what f HF stands for? No Fish Hunt Fight oh, fish Hunt fight Yeah, so fish Hunt Fight gear. I've got some some f H stuff right here. No, this is this is one of the meteor companies. This is one a pretty cool bad this is a this is uh yeah, this is there like accessories pouch. So

I used this basically f HFY. They became known probably originally with their binocular harnesses, so it's a chest harness but they're making all kinds of other stuff now and so this is their their their pouch, like this is my turkey pouch. That would be a great fly fishing pack right there. Just they've got them. It looks perfect for the very comfortable, like you quit if you wear one of these. I mean, you know, you you might need more storage if you really were trying to carry

a backpack. But man, everything's right here on your chest. But yeah, this is just there. Okay, housekeeping items here okay. Um. First Light is having their season opener sale, which is their biggest sale of the whole year, and it it goes from August three August five. A bunch of stuff is on sale. It's their best sell the year. So if you're looking to get stuck out in some First Light stuff and I'll tell you what I'm gonna talk about.

So on on social media, they just said, hey, we want you all to tell your top three pieces of gear, like your must have pieces, because sometimes it's confusing just with a clothing company that has all these different kind of complex systems and different things. It's just like, what do you get sawbuck pants? Man? I wear a sawbuck It's to wonder I'm not wearing them today. I literally almost wear them every day. Uh sawbuck pants that basically have it's a synthetic material on the back but a

brush pant front. And uh so they're kind of tough that that you know you can you can, You're kind of tough, but they're they're also breathable, lightweight. Absolutely love them. Brush guard in the front, breathable in the back. It's the first. It's the Union Suit of Hunting paints pant right there. You really like. Number two is the brooks Down sweater, which is they call it a sweater, but I mean it's a Jacket's jealous of since you walked in with it, I'm gonna be getting one of those. Well,

it's a man. Once it gets October, I will wear it every day from October through March. You're gonna wash it? No, No, I'm not joking. No, I don't wash it. It's a jacket, Daniel, It's it's so it's a I can see why this question would have been relevant. It's not really a sweater that you wear that like touches your skin. It's a jacket. But they called the Brookstown sweater. Ever since Clay has been on the dozer, he doesn't listen to any questions,

writes us Off. Brooks Down sweater. Okay. And then the third one is the core Get God pants. So you'll hear me talking about that core Get God Pant's basically there weather synthetic material pant, but it's it's awesome stretch yeah, like yoga, Yeah yeah, I like them. Um. Hey, so we usually kind of have like story time on the podcast, and uh, Missy and I have a story. Yeah, and it's it's a timely story. Will you be telling it together? No,

he's gonna cut me off. Let me tell this part. Um, Misty will help me because Misty is a big part of the story. So Missy please feel free, feel free to chime in, but feel free to do your story. We've had chickens for probably fifteen years, and we've had an assortment, an assortment of roosters, and so all our kids will have rooster stories, and people's kids that have come over here. You know, for those of you wouldn't know, roosters are honree and they will attack you. Some there's

a there's a variation. Some roosters are really bad about wanting to attack people. Some roosters aren't that bad at all exactly. And we've had a rooster that thought he was human and kind of imprinted on clay and would follow him around on the phone and crow behind. I guess we gotta tell that story. I had a buddy that gave me a rooster, like a single rooster, when we had no chickens. They had to get rid of this rooster because they had it in town and it

was crowing and the city made him. So you can't have that rooster. It's making a racket. Your neighbors are calling us. He brings it here, turns loose this barred rock rooster in my house. And the rooster has no other chickens, and so like I'm the one that's here, like walking around the closest to the chicken. He's gone.

He follows me around every day and in this office, I'm trying to make a living for Bare Hunting Magazine and scrapping away as an entrepreneur, and I'm in here by myself, and that rooster would stalk me, watching me

through the windows. And as soon as I would get a phone call, and that rooster would hear me talking in this building would look at me and literally I would I would take myself if I if I was on an important call, like someone I'm trying to like do business with that doesn't know much about me, Like I would like run out to try to get as far away as I could from that rooster. But he wouldn't crow until he heard me talk. So like people, people have memories of being clay the first time I

called Baring a magazine. We would eat dinner with that rooster and he would come up to that would be eating dinner, and the rooster would be out all right, we took him on a date. Now we just sit there as a family, and you'd come and look and stare, and you'd kind of feel bad that you didn't invite him in because he's kind of like, hey, guys, am, I not part of the family. I mean, he really was part of the family. The most recent rooster has been a terrorist for the last three years, and he

is he's he's attacked me publicly. He has attacked pretty much every one of our kids. He has a particular thing with people in shorts, so if you go running, if you go, he'll come and run after you wear shorts, and you're a white guy, so you don't have any spurs. So, okay, we have this rooster and he's he's bad news. Okay, he's been alive for three or four years, and he's old. He's an old rooster because we got stories that rooster

years pretty far back. Well, there came a point. There came a point when we decided years ago that this rooster was a liability to our place. Now he needed to go, you know, the door, defeat it and it just come out and attack you. Okay. And so, being the good dad that I am, I delegated off the task of disposing of this rooster to shepherd my youngest son, who at the time would have been under ten years old, pretty good shot. And so, being also a responsible father,

I didn't give him a gun. What did I give him to go dispatch. The rooster was bo gave shepherd nook and my bow. He's pretty good with a bow. And we just said, shepherd, dispatch, take care of the rooster. Okay, the rooster wink. Shepherd goes out, but he shoots this rooster and he he comes back in and he's all excited and he's like, I got him, Dad, And I was like, really good, and I said, I mean he's dead, huh, And he said, well, he ran off into the woods.

And before I go any further, let me say that anybody who's ever eaten a chicken nugget or any kind of chicken that was raised in confinement agriculture has zero position to be able to judge the caretaking of our rooster. Okay about it? Yeah, yeah, I want somebody being like, oh, you abused a rooster. No, shepherd shoots the rooster with a bowl. The rooster runs off, and I just think it's gone out in the woods and died. To be honest, that was your first mistake. And I just thought, okay,

never underestimate a rooster. Well man ride it dark. When all the chickens start coming into the coupe from way across the pasture. I look out there and I see the captain. That was his name, General Custer, his name is the captain. I see him limping across the limping across the and I go, dad, Gum, that sucker still alive. And he limps all the way back into the coupe. And we had so much respect for him. After this

humbled him. He was a little bit easier to handle, Like he would open the door and he'd just be like, I'm just gonna walk, I'm gonna lit by him. A pattern began to establish itself. Is this a way that Clay could be humbled? Everything him? So we kind of had empathy for him after this. We're like, well we maybe shot him, Well, maybe we'll let him lift. Because the next day he was nicer, and for months he didn't attack anyone. Years okay, and he kind of dialed back.

So the rooster gradually builds up whatever he lost and he starts getting real honree again. Okay. One day, Missy and I are going somewhere and it was hot. I remember I was dressed up in like the nicest clothes eye own. I remember that I needed something way out by the mule pasture, I go dog on it and I run. I jump out of the truck and run over to the mule pasture running and they're all the chickens and bisect the chicken flock and they just go

The chickens just go flying and eat a direction. You know, I'm running right through the middle of this flock of chickens. Chickens going right, chickens going left. The captain does not like that at all, and he absolutely just goes full tilt, spurring, flying, kicking, I mean on me. And if you've never had that happen to you, I've been pretty darn there charged by black bears, and this is scarier. Okay. I mean he's spurring me, and I mean I've holler and I get

out of here. Yeah, And I kick him just as hard as I am kicking. He goes across the yard, hits the ground, comes back at me again about roosters. Relentless. He is attacking me like if it had been a small kid, I'd been afraid to kill them. While I was standing in our orchard and then our orchard, I trimmed some limbs, and there was a limb that was about five inches long and about as big around as a coke can that was laying on the ground. I pick it up and just sling it sideways, just like

that at him. I mean, I'm not trying to kill him. M and I mean it just hits him right in the head. That sucker goes down on his back, wings start flopping, feet are sticking straight up in the air, and I mean in his feet kick kick kick limp. Mrs Captain, there's been an accident. The rooster is dead as a hammer, and I God gone it. I was like, I wasn't trying to kill him. What please don't try to kill me as a hammer. And so I walk

over there and I'm up, I'm upset. I know what it looks like when something dies, and this rooster just died right here, and I know Misty is gonna be upset. I go back to the truck and I'm actually nervous about telling Misty. I get in the truck and I go, Misty, something's really sad. Just I said, I just killed the captain. If I lost my brother into tears, I'm not kidding. He always, I think, exaggerates his part of a little, but I mean there were sniffles breaking into tears. Sounds

like I'm wailing and dashing of teeth. I mean, I mean like tears came out of your eyes and you said, oh my gosh, what happened? And I tell her and she says, where's the at And I say, he's laying right out there in the mule pasture dead. Misty says, I want to see him. Misty said, I want to see him. And we're dressed up in like the best clothes we've got, like I said, and I go, you want to see him? I said, I don't think. I don't thank you, I don't want the mule. A lot

of unanswered questions. So finally she convinces me she wants to go see the dead cap. She just wants this, you know, part of So I go, okay, well let's go over there. And so we walk over there, and we come around the chicken coop. I'll never forget it. I'll never forge get it. Misty comes around the chicken coop and gains vista of the mule pasture and she goes there is well, he is running through the mule pasture going after his girl. He's ever been in history.

That's number two. That's twice. It humbled him though. Okay, we have a squirrel dog named Tim. Tim is one of the smartest animals we've ever interacted with. Incredibly smart. He's a feist, He's a squirrel dog. Anywhere there's drama, Tim is involved in. He loves drama. When the mules fight, like, he'll go out and start baying him sure for real. When when the pigs get out, like he's the one telling us that the pigs are out, like he's running

Tim and the captain. The captain attacks Tim. Tim will be eating his dog food. The captain will come over and run Tim off his dog food and eat Tim's dog food. So Tim likes drama, but he's a little bit well, so Tim has gotten where he where. He runs after the captain and they'll kind of get in a little fight, but Tim will ever touch him, won't ever hurt him, and captain runs Tim off. Well, one day, Misty is out in the garden, Tim and the captain

getting a fight and the captain is winning. So they're fighting, and captain keeps coming after Tim and scared him off, and and Tim will go over just to harass him. Well, Tim's gone through puberty now, and he's a little stronger, a little faster, and he, I think unintentionally fights Captain in the head. I mean, captain goes down and there's no there's no flip in, there's no and I go film it because I'm I'm sending to Clay because I

think he's dead. Clays tim the Captain's dead, and he's he I think there might be a chance because Captain's died and come back a couple of times, and so I want Clay to be there for it. I also don't want to go mess with him too much because he's a mean rooster and he'll come after me. So I'm trying, yes, exactly, And so Clay comes home. I call him and I said, I think happens dead. But the way she said, she said, I think he's dead for real. And so I walk out in the field.

This is a long time after it's happened. Captain is laid out flat like I mean, he's not even act like chalkoutine. And I walk over there and look at him and I see him breathing. I pick him up and I set him up on his feet like this, and he just kind of goes on and he kind of he kind of comes up, kind of comes to and he just sits there on the ground and we just watch him and I'm like, he's alive, but I'm telling Mr Him he's very woozy this time. I'm like,

he's he's gonna die. Man. We move him to the pen. We kind of help him along. He gets in the pen, he stays in the coupe for two days, doesn't come He stayed in the coup for three days. Okay, finally comes out and just sits outside of it, stay in the coop for three days. We brought him food and did he when he would when he finally came out, he would see his girls like straight I'm pointing straight in front of me, and he would be trying to go after him and he would walk over. He would

walk side something going on out. On Easter morning, he got lost his crow. Crow went from like full volume to like for a while, and then it came back one day about so a lot. I mean, he was really humble after that and pretty mellow, and then it just gradually built back up and that crow made back and his meanness came back three times. Captain literally, is he still around? Well, that's why we're telling this the

captain is. We need to tell him one more brief thing, and that is, Captain one time got his foot stuck in some some wire and we had to amputate his toe. Yeah, swoll up one time, real bad. And I went in there in the dark and grabbed him up. And just because he got where he's limping real bad. He had this big club nothing, something was wrapped around his toe. I just cut his toe off and within two days

he didn't have a limp. Did the toe grow back, Nope, he just had a big old club foot with You know, chicken has four toes, one off the back, through off the front, and he had the middle one gone rock. Yeah, so his toe. Okay, we're when we were a few weeks ago, we were gone and we get a text from our daughter and she says, it sounds like a news headline. The captain is dot I told her, I said, I won't believe it till I see it with my

own us. And sure enough, the captain is dead from natural cause you are quite certain that Tim well Tim, again, Tim doesn't we have chickens run around all the place. He doesn't attack. We think it was where we feed tim So we think there was a skirmish around the food. So the captain is dead, and that is why Mr Nucomla wrote a song about it. Story. Hey, the song goes a little something like this, Old Captain, no captain, your fearful trip is done, Old captain, no captain, No,

where have you gone? We'll miss your money crows more than you'll ever know, but we won't miss jus fer. That's right. Once shepherd shot you with the bow. Once we had to amputate your toe. When that lamb hit you on the head, lying in the field, we watched you raise from the dead, Old captain, Old captain, your fearful trip has done everybody. Oh captain, oh captain, and a where have you gone? Will miss your mighty crow more than you'll ever know, But we won't miss jo spurs.

We never thought your life would come to an end. We thought you were immortal, my friend. We found your feathers by where we beat him your careful I will finally god him aware never captain, captain, your fare trip is done, Old captain, old captain, Oh where have you gone? We'll miss your mighty grow more than you'll ever know, but we won miss those close who finished appropriate appropriate tribute? Hey snake bit great podcast? Would you like about it? Josh? Well,

you know, I was talking to somebody today. I don't walk around on with with too much of a fear of of too many things. Like I don't get scared about like venomous spiders. I mean, we got brown recluses in our house, and I mean the people that come and visit. It's not like they run around, but they're everywhere around here. Uh. You know, black widows, you see them all the time. You know, dogs, Like I don't get scared around dogs. But there is something about snakes.

And I remember reading a story when I was a kid, and the reader's digest about this this boy that was running through the woods and he jumps over this little creek and steps on this stick and the stick ends up being a big rattlesnake and bites him, and he, you know, just barely escapes with his life. And I remember, like, even as a grown man, like I've spent a lot of time in the woods, I won't walk through a field. I'll choose not to walk through a fields sometimes because

I'm leery of snakes. So but it it there is there's definitely like an emotional response you have so hearing people talk about that is is it was? It was good, It was very it was very emotion evoking. What was your favorite section? So? To me, what I liked about this podcast was the diversity of the interviews because it was like lighthearted and kind of funny with Brandon, with my dad, and then straight up crazy with Mr Fred It was like my new best friend, and then it

went to like super serious at the end. What was your Honestly, I have to say probably the most impacting part to me was the story at the end and I and and I'm always I'm always a like a student of I don't know if a student is the right word, but I love to observe people and the way they respond to things. And to hear this woman

who this on the outside, this tragic situation horrific. You know, the thing you would never wish on your enemy to happen to her, but to her to talk about it and the way that she processed through it, and then to to to say, you know, there were days when I didn't want to get out of bed because it was scared about snakes on the or to coming to this point of resolution inside of herself to say, this tragic thing happened to me, but I'm not going to allow it to define the way that I lived my

life from this point on. That was very impacted to me. Yeah, yeah, I agree. That was my favorite part. To you. I thought she was inspirational. Yeah, just her story, how she processed it and just how she moved forward with her life and no sense anybody or unusual. Yeah. Like I

listened to that interview just like you guys did. Like I didn't do that interview, Chris, Dr Chris Jenkins did, which I owe him a big thank you, and and I told him that many times he interviewed he knew that woman or it didn't know her well, but you know, he knew of her story and he was like, man, Clay, if we could get this lady to tell her story and be really good, And he worked with her and got the story. So when I listened to the story, I was like shocked at just her demeanor, Like and yeah,

he came into the house and talked about it. He was like, do you know what I did today? And he told me about here, and like it was impacting. Yeah, it's not not normal, but what do you think man, Like, you know, the part that stuck out to me was when you were talking to one of the experts and he was talking about how how we respond to snakes is a learned trait um, And I think that's that's

kind of really impactful. That's something that just if you think about, there's many things that we do inside of life that I learned, right this, it's not right or wrong, but it's a learned traite, and so how how we are how we respond to snakes is something that's learned. And then to see like that crazy guy, it's like he's a learned trait that he can get bit and it's not gonna not gonna happen, and nothing's gonna happen

to him. And then you hear that woman like she learned to get over her fear of snakes and be able to sit next to one in that interview. So I think that that's the part that I like. Now you don't have much background, Yeah, that's what that was. As I was listening to the podcast, it was almost like less relevant to me because I didn't grow up walking through fields, I didn't grow up hunting, I didn't grow up with a lot of exposure to snakes, so

I don't really have this extreme emotion. I don't would say to snakes. And if I see a rattlesnake, I'm not stupid. But uh, we put three snakes in this room for you today. Exactly what was the first venomous snake you ever saw? Oh? And how I can't? I can't remember the first one. I mean just ever since I was born. Remember vividly. I was nine years old and it was a coral snake. Coral snake in Texas. Vividly remember it. Mr Fred Lalley has been dry it

by coral snake. I heard about that. Yeah, now I don't remember the first one. The um so your mama, Mali, I didn't grow up telling you to watch out for snakes in Midland, Texas. You know what? What's interesting so that I wanted a nerd out on it, but there was just too much. I actually cut out a ton of stuff out of the podcast, like there's twice as

much um with Fred Lalley and with Chris Jenkins. Um, there is a the dominant feature And Chris said this, but when you understand the research projects, it's pretty interesting. The dominant reason we're afraid of snakes is learned behavior from parents, like a toddler is not afraid of a snake, like, so it's there. There is some genetic coating like, for instance, like chimpanzees do show slight fear, too long, slithery type shapes.

They did. They do a lot of stuff with chimpanzees and primates in general to try to see and a but like a toddler. That's why if a toddler sees a snake on the ground, they might just walk over and grab it. How do you explain the cats and the cucumbers come again, I honestly probably has. The entire half of the servers on this planet are full of videos of cats and cucumber on the floor. Cucumber behind

the house. Cat was unaware. It turns around and sees it, and it will shoot as much as you tarize your rooster. I'm surprised you haven't laid a cucumber on a cat before him and they think it's a snake, and they jumped to heaven. You know they think it's a snake. Okay, I made that part of the don't land bridge you land bridge trap ship. I gotta tell one one story. I one time one of my good friends was petrified

of snakes. It was when we were in high school, and we knew he was just like I mean, he'd like punch in the face, you know, kind of scared if you messed with him with a snake. And we were working together on a peach orchard and on the way to the peach orchard, I saw a big black rat snake on the road and I got out and

caught it, and it was just the perfect setup. I had a new toolbox in the back of the truck, you know, the kind of straddles over the back of your bed, and it was brand new, and so I was going to his house and it was the kind of thing where I'd be like, Adam, I got a brand new toolbox. I put that big snake in that toolbox. Pull up to the peach orchard. He comes over and it's just like so natural. I was just like, look

at my toolbox. I picked that up yesterday. And he was like, oh man, he jumps in the back of my truck. I probably got it. I was like, get in there and I feel how that thing opens. And he gets in there and opens it, and that snake is there and he comes on glued. It was great. He absolutely came out, Um, Dan, what do you think. I could not believe fred. I just couldn't believe his story.

And when when he was one of the first things he said was, well, I was ten years old and I was forced feeding a pigmy rattles, and you were sitting there like okay. I turned to get the other leg and I was like, what in the world. It

was just his whole experience. And then another thing that I've just found super fascinating was when he was describing driving down to Florida and stopping at those bridges and you know, some guy on the phone, I'm sorry new ones, and hey, I could use some you know, I could use some cotton mouse. And he was like, every other bridge I could pick up six seven cotton mouse, and

I'm like, sorry what it was just nuts. But so on the growing up on a farm, my grandpa would regularly kill a copper head and bring it out and show it to us, or we'd see a rat snake or a big kings you know, king snake, and it's like those are good snakes, those are bad snakes. And so we just had we were interacting with snakes all the time. It wasn't a big thing. But never once would you catch now a grass snake or something like that.

We would catch and and have fun with, but you knew the bad ones at cotton Mouth would see him in the creek. It was like you get out the creek when you see cotton Yeah, yeah, you know, I don't like this swimming creeks. And there's there's certain there's certain like characteristics that you know about certain snakes, like, oh, the cotton moules are aggressive, they'll come after you. You know,

everybody has heard that. Anybody knows anything about cotton moles if they will jump out of the water and bite your eyes. You know, never seen one do that, No, no one ever has. Yeah, so Fred Lally was kind of a highlight. Yeah, it's really hearing his whole take on everything. I did. It hour and forty five minute interview with him. We talked for that long. I mean there was so much that I had to take out. Does they have like snak paraphernali and stuff around this house? Yeah? Yeah, yeah,

he still probably has snakes, doesn't he know? He doesn't have snakes? Right? Why? I mean, he just kind of just done with it. But he's got like he's got are they dried? Well, he's got lots of taxidermy snakes. Yeah. But he I told people on the render that I was gonna tell what happened when he got bit by banded Egyptian cobra. He he just kind of threw that one on. Do you remember in the render on the podcast, I said, I'll tell you what happened. It was pretty standard.

I mean he uh, he was feeding it and his snake. There's a new snake. And that's what the problem was. They had acquainted with each other. He never gotten the flute out yet. If with a banded Egyptian and you just knew you just bumped into him. Yeah, that's how they get you. Well okay. And the other thing was is that I'm pretty sure he told me there were two of them in the same cage, so he was he's he may have been. Yeah, Maliki's got a banded

Egyptian cobra pulled up. Hey, okays, when Mr when Mr Fred was telling me this story, this is what I imagined. Have you ever do you know the unbeatable trick where you do like this to somebody and then you slap him in the face. You wiggle your fingers up in your right hand, and then when they look at your hand, you slap him in the face with your left hand. And then if they catch onto it and they go to block because they know you're gonna come up with

the left, you hit him with the right. You can't beat it. Try to just try to beat it. Brent to Mr Fred with abandoned Egyptian Cobra's okay, he was feeding one and this other one he just he said, he just thought it was as I understood the story to be told. He just thought because he was messing with this one, that this one would be okay. And I mean, you're talking about a guy that is just handled. There was a time when he had he was this is totally legal. This is in other states and other places.

Is full, It's totally legal. He had liked rattlesnakes one time, by them by the ton, what are you kidding me? Real normal, And there's a ton of rattlesnakes, and um, that's actually how he got into snakes as he was he was a rattlesnake dealer. Do you you don't get into snakes. I'm just started, I've never no, no, he started dealing in rattlesnakes, and I mean people eat rattlesnakes. There's rattlesnake skin business for making boots, for making belts.

It's like totally legal. There's ways that they extract them. It's like hunting seasons. And basically he was dealing in rattlesnakes and he would keep the real cool ones. So he get like he would he would keep the cool ones. And he started realizing that people like to see the neat rattlesnakes, like the two headed rattlesnakes. The white rattlesnakes is a common thing. For a two headed snakes, It's a very uncommon. And that's why he he would like

travel across the country to go buy two headed rattlesnakes. Yeah, and he's had several. But so anyway, this cobra bad him on the finger and hit him on the finger and he goes to the hospital and like he always does, well, he doesn't always go to the hospital, but when he went to the hospital, he said, I would like to come sit in your waiting room and just be I just want so I'm not checking myself in, but I want to let you guys know why I'm sitting in

your waiting room holding my hand. He said, I don't want an venom. But yeah, yeah, they just have banded cobra. Any venom laying around, well, I don't know. He so he goes into the e er and they so he basically says, I'm gonna deny the treatment, but I'd like to stay here, and they tell him no, and so he gets up and leaves and they call the police. They called the police, and uh and he said the police were looking for him in the town because like as if he had done something like it was a

welfare concerns with that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So anyway, that's how he got by a bandoned Egyptian cobra. What what a story. Yeah, he's he's he's a very nice guy, very very very knowledgeable just about he's fun to talk to a lot of these people that you meet somehow you met them on the road. That's like, I'm how much time do you just spend wondering the streets? Uh?

You right, it's a good question. Yeah, Clay says he's going for a run and where he was like, okay, so here's some good stories tonight, see Brett, what was your favorite part? I learned a lot of stuff in there. Who would have thought a rattlesnake would live to be fifty years old? Oh? Man? Yeah, didn't that make you not want to kill that? I listened. I listened to it probably three times. I've heard myself tell that story a million times, but I could only listen to the

end once I got through that one time. That was that was very that lady. It's something she is to be applauded for being strong enough to tell that story. I don't know if I could. Yeah, yeah, I was so. I was so surprised that she was. I kept waiting for that. I start to get better, the story to get better, and it got worse the longer it win. But I learned a lot of stuff from from listening to Chris and I listened. You know, I've listened to the snake talk before. Yeah, and uh, but uh, a

fifty year old snake? That is that's unreal. But you know, I grew up catching snakes. You know that me getting bit was that was probably easily over a hundred snakes I'd ever caught, and nothing ever happened. And then one time you know it, and the one time to me. But I never, you know, I never. I was telling somebody earlier that I don't. I don't never look for snakes. When I worked in the woods before I got old enough to be a police officer and and do go

that route. Um, I worked in the woods managing timber, and you know, we'd find rattlesnakes. My friends, we find rattlesnakes, but it was never you know, like riding up on them on the Cowboy movie and they're cold up over there, just waiting to strike somebody. Now, they were all stretched out like what Chris was talking about. Except there was one occasion. We were working in the woods painting some land lines and there was a mound, a little mound

of dirt, probably thirty ft away from this line. It was four of us, two of us that were chopping the trees and two of us that were painting and marking the different um or the border between two property owners. And there was a rousnake over there that was striking it every time that we would move, and he was, like I said, or thirty ft away. It was the most aggressive thing I've ever seen striking When you were thirty ft away. Absolutely was the he was something man.

It was, it was, and he was big. It was a big ratutlesnake. Biggs and I were seen was probably almost six ft. You ever seen the diamondback in Arkansas? I have not known. H Okay, I got jet so James Lawrence, Um, James Lawrence one time on I want to say November in the sixties killed a six I'm gonna say it was five ft plus, but I'm pretty sure he says it was six ft diamondback rattlesnake uh in Arkansas, which is rare. Look at that. That's a dandy. That's a dandy. Brent shown me a picture of a

big old rattlesnake timp. So I've never seen a diving back rattlesnake in Arkansas, but there's reports of them, and I often if you tell me you've seen a divonback rattlesnake in Arkansas, be be prepared to feel my my feel the dozer dozer, because I'll be like, you know you didn't So James Lawrence told me this. And for those of you who wouldn't, you know, James Lawrence is

one of my heroes. I mean, I believed him. But he just told me that one day and I was just kind of okay, We're looking through a photo album two months ago, and I'll be dad gum, there's a six ft diamondback rattlesnake laid across the hood of like his you know, nineteen sixty five bronch, you know, sure enough. But the cool thing was is that he maybe not cool. The unique thing was that he killed it on late November.

He said it was there was a frost on the ground and he set on the ground deer hunting and the thing was coiled up, I mean within he could have reached out and touched it, setting on a rock sun and he said there was like a beam of sun coming hit in this rock. And anyway, he killed it. Uh, kind of about it. The first time I ever saw

someone handle of enomous snake was Mr Clay Nicol. Oh really yeah, Oh, driving driving out and seeing a big, big old copper head going across the road and I remember lying locking up the charging out of the jeep and grabbing the stick and pinning its head down and I'm like, what are you doing? He's like, I want to check the snake out, man, And yeah. Yeah, that's how at all starts. The next time. You know, he looks like you got a baseball mid on your left hand.

You know. My family, that was the one thing that gave them pause about me about that was it, can you believe that they really like to play a bare handed snake snatcher down where I came from. I mean, I'm serious, I thought they. I thought you're gonna say that once once my pastor from the pulpit called me out. I mean, like not, he wasn't giving me in trouble. He was he wasn't. He wasn't. I wasn't in trouble.

He just was in his sermon and he said, there's some people in this church that like the catch snakes with their hands. And everybody looked at me. Did they call you Tatana Boa on the phone two ft loud? There's not too many snakes that could eat a person. Well there was. I was like, that's the podcast I want to hear. Wait, I'm going Malika is like our fact checker. Malik. I was sitting over there, like wondering if anything we've said. He's like, I'm from Texas. I

don't believe this. I find out when that thing was a lot like the the last one Arkansas and County to sixty million years ago. Oh wow, came over on the land bridge. It was it had a tail on camp chat his head in Alaska. Um, let's see, Missy, what was your general impression of the podcast? I thought it was good. I wasn't really sure how you were going to pull off a snake podcast and make it interesting and and you know, meaningful. I really wasn't sure how interest think it would be to me, But I

thought it was interesting. I thought, um, like everybody said, the lady story at the end had a human component. Dude, that was almost that was tough to handle, but really admirable in terms of how she how she handled it. And in that sense, I thought it was really really valuable. And and I'm kind of like Maliki. I was interested in them the human elements of it. But also I thought it was interesting when he went through the list of things not to do with snakes. Yeah, with snake bites,

I for sure would have died. Yeah, cutting and sing when I got bit Like when I got to the emergency room, the doctor, my family doctor happened to be there and we had they we had stopped a deputy sheriff and informed on what was going on, you know, and to call the hospital and let him know we were coming. So when we got there, it's just like Chris was saying, you know, call ahead. We got there, they were standing at the door waite first at the r and my family doctor was there and he said,

are you allergic to anything? So I can't think anything you're allergic to? I said, I'm not allergic to anything that I knew of. So they gave me that that any venom. But the first thing that he did was he put my hand in a bag of as for about fifteen minutes. Then he pulled it out and took a scalpel like John Wayne, and that's the that's the scar that you see on my phone. He cut an X on there and squeezed my hand like he was milking a cow really and pushing blood and venom out. Yeah,

that's the first thing. Because so what do you think? Do you think that was like not good medical practice? But for nineteen seven, that was I he went to medical school. I I can only attribute that I'm got my thumb today and it's working by what he did,

because he got the swelling guy. He got me with one thing and my hand got so big that they thought they would have to cook cut and uh, I can't hear what you call that, but they make cuts in the top of it to relieve the pressure because they thought the skin was gonna tear open, and that would have caused you know, a lot of data. But if they said, you know, we're giving it thirty more minutes, it's got to start going down or we're gonna do that.

And this was over like six hours, and then it but it started going back down and he went all the way up to my bicep. You know, I'll tell you when I stopped catching snakes was when I got a family and hardly had a lick of health insurance, if none, there were large spans of our life when we had none. Not because we chose that, but because and I remember when I had my kids, really I caught snakes. The kids have seen me catch quite a few,

been in the snakes. But at one point I was like, you know what, this may not be the smartest thing for you to be doing, because I thought I'm gonna get bit by a snake messing around with it and not going to be able to work because you know, back when I was working, before I was playing music professional, two doses of any venom cost three dollars, so I would be interested to know what it what it costed. Hey, so I list somebody Isaac Neil, my friend Isaac Neil, Missouri,

the photographer. Um, he sent me podcast. And don't be tempted to send me a podcast. But I did listen to the podcast Isaac sent me, Um, just because I had a long road trip and it was about ana venoms And do you all know how anta venom is made? This horse? Sam is Well, see, I would I could have repeated that, but I really wouldn't have known what that meant. Okay, So the way they make ana venom

is that there is a place here in the United States. Um, they have a hundred and fifty horses, and they have all the possible venomous snakes that people in the areas they're servicing could could be bit by. Okay, and let's say it's not even the United States. I mean there's there's probably well that's I got questions about that. I don't know, because but basically they take actual snakes, get

venom from the snakes. Like a specific snake of rattlesnake copper head, and then they inject small doses into a horse and it actually makes them swell up and get a little bit sick. And then they do that for three weeks and then they extract like so much blood out of that horse and you know X, you know, one horse can produce x numbers of doses of ana

venom and it's not very much. I mean, it's like fifteen doses of ana venom for like, you know, like this session with his horse, you know, and so and basically when you and they treat it in some of the way, it's not like a blood transfusion. They do one more thing to it, or maybe a lot more, but basically it is horse blood and and it has built an antibody too small amounts of that venom, and a horse's blood is enough like human blood that it just kind of goes in. It's like, hey, we're on

the same team. We both got hair and feed our baby's milk, and so they it and and basically that is antivenom. And the point of this podcast that I listened to that Isaac Neil sent me was that it's we've been doing that process for like over a hundred years, like the medical technology basically has increased, so now they're doing studies on chemical anti venoms. And it was pretty, it was pretty The podcast was Okay, uh you can,

you could. I'm not gonna say the name of no Um, but it was true that basically snake venom is is truly and they said it a nefarious chemical compound that has lots and lots of wild things that go into your body that makes I mean, it has like real strategic things, like there's a part of it it's designed to shut down your brain. There's a part of it

that's designed to shut down your muscles. There's a part of it that's designed to, you know, make your feet turn backwards, so so when you think you're going forward, you're going backwards. That's a joke that didn't happen. But like basically, one one snake, misty like that um, one type of snake might have many things that that venom does, and so you have to if you're making a chemical, you have to find a solution for each one of

those problems. You see, So it's super complex. Backwards feet, yes, no, but what so with the to venom with a horse, like the horse did all the work typical western humans. How much it costs three worth now? Is seven hundred and seventy seven and seven? Is that what venom costs now? Inflation? Just inflation. I'm curious what what it would cost. I bet it's beyond that six grand. The other thing that what I didn't talk about too much, well, I did

talk about it. Misty said that, you know, how are we going to make a podcast that was like interesting about snakes and stuff? Man? Snakes. I said it in the podcast at the beginning. Snakes are a incredible and unique component that is a cog in the wheel of the human experience. And I mean it's just true. They they I mean you think of all these other animals, I mean, a snake just it just plays this part. And I every time all these podcasts that it might

feel like they're like really scripted. I didn't write that conclusion until the end, like till like twenty minutes before I was done with a podcast, because I really was like, what did I learn from this? And I thought about Genesis chapter one, and I thought about the serpent deceiving the woman and that ultimately ended up being a pathway. There's a redemptive side to that, because you know, and I do believe the Bible. It taught us to learn to obey God. I mean, God said don't eat the fruit.

Snake says eat the fruit. It's okay, just eat the fruit. Man. Every mother except from Alchi's mom, she's still good. She was warning about other stuff, so it didn't have to be a snake, but not really like jujue warning. It's like taught me to pay attention, and that warning was easy for me to go. She's right. If she said, Clay, don't you pick up that basketball? Don't pick I mean that would be kind of like a hard thing to be, Like, come on, I can pick up the basketball. It's not

that big a deal. She tells me not to touch that snake, and I get over there and I feel a little chill come up my spine. I see that sucker strike. I'm like, she is a smart woman. I mean, I'm it's nuanced, but I think it's deep and I think it's real. Is that the negative things are very strategically placed in our life for a purpose. And so

there's two components. There's two like there's this metaphorical snake I'm talking about now of like how the challenging things, the things that can kill us, actually become key identifiers for the positive side of who we are. So you wouldn't look at Clay and be like, Clay is who he is because of snakes his mother. But I am who I am because I learned to obey my mom, I obeyed my dad. I mean, like much of my life was shaped by these people, and I find that

to be true in a lot of life. But sometimes people become defined by the negative things. So you know, that's like the whole like metaphorical side of of this snake. If we're looking at this snake is as something bigger than an actual reptile, but when we're talking about an actual reptile, I love snakes and so on the conservation side of what I was trying to do was just continue to tell people like you don't have to kill

every snake you see. Um, you know, the only snake I would kill, and I'll just be honest, is that if there was a big rattlesnake in my yard, like I'm actually I wouldn't kill him. I'd catch him and take him some where. I take him out in the mountains. If you know the right snake in the right place, you know, I would kill in my yard. That's it. That's it. You had a big one in your yard in town, didn't you. Two years ago? Bent reeves he sleeps with the fishes, didn't make b lives in kind

of a subdivision type area. I live right at the beginning of subdivision. Right across from where I live is three or four acres of woods and a big hay field, and they've been cutting hay out there. This was in September because we were we were baiting. We were baiting bears then and uh I had come in and a neighbor comes up, knocks on the door, say, hey man, you got a gun. I'm like, do I need one. He's like, we got a big, big snake. Yeah, he says,

we gets a big rattlesnake out in yard. And I'm thinking, okay, there's not a rattlesnake out in my yard, not where I live. And I go I side and he wasn't kidding. It was a huge raft snake in my yard. Well, I'll and at that time Bailey was six, little girl was six, So you know, across the road he's good to go. He can't. He can't live in my yard. So that was the end of him. And a matter of I talked to Chris Jenkins about that, and Chris said, uh,

you probably didn't error too far there. Yeah, I mean there's a place for that, but in general, and I know you, if you were out in the mountains, you wouldn't kill a snake. I mean, so I hate rats too much to kill a snake. It's true, It's true. That's that's that is My identifier with a snake is that he's going to get rid of the rat problem. Rats. I don't do rats, don't do rats. Same same. Hey, before you close off, I've got a snake story about you getting bit and I'm gonna tell it right now,

so you can cut it out if you want. Okay, it's a shepherd when he's a little boy. Had Clay got bit my snake? Not And it wasn't like a a bad wasn't a venomous snake. Yeah, And it didn't make the podcast. But Clay once got bit by snake, which bit by lots of snakes, just not venomous from one, all right, So he got bit by a snake and Shepherd was real, real interested in that. That that really caught his attention, and he would tell people made my

finger bleed. Yeah, it made his finger bleed, and Shepherd wanted to tell everyone he saw about it. Shepherd also had a speech impediment at that age, and so he would run around and say, my daddy got bitten the dinger by snake, says Inger. We carried him around a little had a little cut on my bomb where this big black rat snake bit me on thumb. And we would takes Shepherd around and we would say tell them.

Misty would say, tell them what happened to your daddy, And he would say, he said, my daddy got bit right on the dinger. He sna my daddy's ginger finger finger. Hey, I will tell one more snake story my Once, when I was in high school, I was driving my brother's Missubishi Eclipse, which at the time was like a really sweet like black tinted windows, like a like a multidisc CD changer. He was like cool, Sky knew I was never that cool. I drove like beat up trucks and stuff. Um,

he let me drive his Missubishi Eclipse. I was coming home and I saw a big copper head that had been hit right on the tip of his tail on the road. And I mean the snake was like fully alive, but he had been hit. And so I it was dark, slammed on the brakes, I was by myself, got out, caught the snake, but I had to drive home, and it was a standard stick shift. I got the snake

in one hand. I gotta drive with a stick shift and the standard And also I didn't have anything to put the snake in, but I wanted to bring it home. Show Gary nukelem and uh because it was a big one. And uh, so I just I decided that I didn't want it in the car with me because you know, if it got loose in the dark while I was driving in my lap, that could be a problem. So I drove with that copper head hanging out the window, and I drove with one hand and I would shift.

You know, you just grab a gear real quick and put your hand back on the wheel. Shift, grab a gear, put your hand on the wheel. The snake is flapping out the window. I drove all the way home with that snake flapping out the window. Get home, take the you know, show Gary we got a picture of I got a picture of that snake, me holding that snake, and uh it got snake blood on the side of the car. And that snake blood ever came out. It was as if you had put like lacquer thinner on

the car. And Zach Nukelem was upset with me for time. Yeah, he was. That was black Mitsubishi Eclipse exactly and it forever had this like cloudy section of paint where that snake blood did something to the paint. Well, we're going fly fishing this weekend, me and Zach, so I'll bring that back up, so ask him about it. Hey, last thing, listen to Brent Reeve's podcast, Nightlife Nation podcast if you're interested in coon hunting hearing some good stories. Brent has

a cool podcast. Yeah man, Two other guys, Steve Fielder and Nick get a lamb yep. Check out their podcast and uh man, thanks guys. It's a lot of fun. Um. Keep the wild places wild because that's where the rattlesnakes live and the bears live. Have you ever thought about a bear getting bit by a rattlesnake? Has that ever entered your mind? My brother's got a squirrel dog hates him. He got bit three times in four days the spring. His head looked like he'd been six rounds with Mike Tyson.

And if he can find one now he's gonna try to kill it. Cannot keep him off of him Mountain Curve. They should name him Captain. Captain, Captain,