Ep. 338: The Biggest Buck in the USA

typical white tail record holder. Yep, I gotta get lucky sometimes, dude, it's a big deal. Yeah, it's been nuts, man, This past six months been crazy. Here you guys sitting with a huff Buck T shirt on you like never like a dude of the buck named after. Never thought that deer hunting would turn into a business. Uh, we are like your your friends with Luke Combs, and Luke contacted me one night, texted me one night being like holy shit. Yeah, and at the time, you guys thought it was a

state record. Yeah, we just thought it was state hm m m. Yeah. He called me at two in the morning the night I killed it. I assume he was getting on bus call after a tour and I had sent it the picture to Ray Fulter, one of our buddies that we used to tour with, and he's still tours with Luke and uh I sent Ray that picture of the deer because I didn't post it that night. I just tweeted, I think I killed the Indiana state record. Now, okay, we're gonna get into this whole story. How did you think?

But real quick, why did you think it was that just because someone rough scored it? Yeah? I had a buddy come over that that evening after I killed it, and he undershot it. Yeah, that's a good friend. Yeah, he had like to thirteen, which he had never scored. He was like his first time scoring, you know, a big deer and what did it come in at thirteen is what he had? But no, no, no, that's what he had. It was two eleven and four eights net

to sixteen four or to sixteen and two eights gross. Okay, so so he alright, so he overshot the actual Yeah, but how did you not immediately realize because you didn't look at National You just looked at Indiana. I just looked at Indiana. I googled Indiana state record because I had never looked at world records or anything. Yeah, you felt like distinctly Indiana, And I was like, well, hell, this might be Indiana. But and it crushed it right, Yeah,

by like eight ten inches or something. Ye tenant maybe even more so. The only typical white tail bigger out there is in Canada. Canada the handsome handsome buck. If you want to know what the handsome buck looks like, go look at Pat Durkin's truck. He's got a decale of it on his truck. Does he need a huff buck one? You do? Definitely as part of your as part of your business plan, you need to get huff Buck stickers. That'd be good. That'd be good. Yeah, Yeah,

get on that. Um, you got your guitar. No, we brought you a guitar. Yeah, I wish you had that whole damn dear head with you. I know, if I could have fitted on the plane, I would have brought it. I see it, So I guess, my hands how big is it? I guess I could have drove my focus, my Ford focus out here all the way. I'm gonna ask you tone of questions about the whole store. I got one question to ask you first, when you drew

back on it, were you thinking, damn, that's a big buck. Oh. I knew he was huge right whenever I first see him in the creek. He was faced, and I was just like, this is a h deer. That's all I was thinking, because I had never even seen a hundred. To clarify, he killed it with a crossbow. Yeah, the good shot placement. Thank you. Forty yards kill me with the crossbow. Yep, hmm, we'll talk about that. Yep, yep. Dude drown in from West Valley City, Utah. Name is Braxton.

There's a thing called is the thing happens to babies? Braxton Hicks. Is that something happens to women? No? No, No, that's that's a woman thing. Yeah, those like the false contractions. Yeah, if you're a lady out there, the two of you listening. A lot of times people come up to me in airports. They would be like, you know, I always like it's just dudes that come up to me in airports, right, But then now and then a woman will come up to me an airport and I'm like, awesome, She's like,

my husband likes your show. He was too scared to come up. That's him over there, waving sheepishly. My husband likes your show. Um, you ladies out there, how well, roughly, how pregnant are you when you start having bracks and hicks? Is it's pretty close to the end. That's in like the eighth Yeah, I mean that's up to the finish line. So if you're sitting there listening to the show and you're like, oh my god, I'm going to labor, you might just be having bracks and hicks attractions. This dude's

named Braxton, who I'm talking about. That's why I bring it up. He's a turkey hunter. Sounds like he might be a new turkey hunter. He might be an emerging turkey hunter, because he says, first off, he's allergic to pollinating juniper trees. That's important to lay out, he says, And all of his turkey hunting, he's ever he's only ever gotten one shot gobbil offer to jurkey, and that was when he had he was having a reaction to a juniper tree and sneezed and shot gobbled bird twenty

yards behind him. He started laughing so hard to bird got away. So if we ever redo our t shirt of ship that makes turkey gobbles? Is that even on there? Sneezes. I don't think it's the pukin's on there? Really? Yeah, we had a guy puke up one. He just got a shot gobbl Since I can't really turkey call, maybe those are the noises I should practice making when I'm walking around. Sonic booms, sonic booms, puke in everything, Oh yeah,

twin rotor helicopters. Yanni, can you recap your story about everything that's going on at your turkey farm, like the whole thing, because we got a lot of feedback about it, a lot of worries, um, but mostly about how my hands got bread that part of it. That and and about how they come in the house looking for their eggs, just about them getting eaten by predators whatever you like whatever. Alright, Well, you know, Yanni got predated by his chickens, got attacked

by Martin. He's the only guy to know who had his chickens attacked by Martin. Yeah, and and turkeys. But the turkeys survived, did They just lost quite a few. One lost a chunk of her upper beak and then she lost Wondering about that one hand that was missing, and she lost to Martin. As far as we know, his wife called the Martin red handed. You know, skunks are around foxes, fox I think does the most damage to us. Call you up real quick. I'm reading the

world's greatest book ever written called Black Range Tails. It's Carl Malcolm's book. I own a copy to we it's crazy because we're hunting in this area in New Mexico. And he said, Man, you gotta read Black Range Tails. I can't give this detail. Wake said, never mind, I'll tell you another thing though, I was gave away in my hunt spot like real specifically gave it away. But anyway, now and tails and figure it out, won't It won't work like that. So anyways, there's a dude in Black

Range Tails. There's a miner who has what what was it like? You know how everybody used to have rheumatism all time in the old days, mountain man miner bones, they all had rheumatism. Yeah, So one miner had come to another minor telling him I need a big fat skunk in the book, and actually he tells the story of how they wind up getting the skunk for him. He needs a big fat skunk, and they get the skunk,

but the skunk sprays him. Then they carry the skunk around and then they render it's fat, because you know how like snake oil. This minor believed that skunk fat rubbed down his joints would cure his rheumatism. And it worked. He came back a while later and said it cleared up. But the miner that got the skunk, he knew that when you had rheumatism. He got on his horse. This is eies. He would get on his horse and ride to the hot springs and cure his rheumatism in the

hot springs like his care better. And the mountain men would suffer. They would suffer horribly from it because they didn't have chess waiters. And they're beaver trapping in the water, which is right. They how did they do that? Because they wear they'd build, they'd make buckskin pants that went to your upper knee, and then they'd put wool there down just to add a little insulation. So when you see him a picture of a free trapper, and he's

outlaw buckskinning and wool lowers. But they would they would get suffered in their knees from all that cold water, and the he was a plaster miner, so they're working stream beds and he would get rheumatism from the stand in the cold water all time. Are you getting it yet? Yeah, I'll tell you when I get it. It's very specific. If I stop and kneel in the snow and then walk down a steep hill, which you think wouldn't come up very often, but it does. Oh yeah, you tell

your freaking turkey story. Well, last August we received in the mail. I think we had to order twenty and when they got there, I want to say that eighteen had made it. Uh. So you opened the box and there's two dead turkeys in. Yeah, and I think that that attrition is expected. You know, they're just there like days old, and you know they just you know, we're shipped across the country where they think they came out of.

Maybe your neck of the was dust and somewhere down around those parts, not quite the south, not quite in the midwest, southeast, not quite right in the middle. Is there is there ice fishing? That's how we can do in India for how many months of the year month month or so? Farm ponds man I don't know if you know, but there's a thing called the ronella doctrine. You live in the state where they can ice fish.

You don't live in the south. Really well, I guess I'm north there, Oh Yankee, Okay, your accident just changed when you said that and realized, gosh darn it. When we were when we're hunting with Luke, we're laughing about uh like they were saying, hey, they were telling Luke and his friends were asking us to do, like, so do your southern thing for us, And I was like, is no way in the world in the world, I'm gonna tell you, guys, how we goofed like the voice

we use to goof on Southerners. And they're like, well, we have the same thing, like when we talk about Yankees, and he does it, and I'm like, no, you're not talking about Yankees. You're talking about people from northern Wisconsin. Oh yeah, to filets, per salmon, big Box. I'm like the northern ex we're up in Green Bay. Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, guy, big Box. The turkeys. Yeah. So we uh we raised them up and uh sold off I don't know, sold off most of them. What'd you do with the dead ones?

In the box. It wasn't ceremonious, was no. Uh the garbage can probably, but we raised them up and uh sold off most of them. I think we're My goal was to keep five. I think sold him as what just sold turkeys? Well, whatever you want to do with them. How big were they when he sold him? Oh jeez, I don't know. Pretty good. I mean like a bait, like a fall poult, you know, like a bird that where you're like, she it's almost about Yeah, we just wanted to kind of break even. I just put it

out on Instagram, and so I think we had Instagram. Yeah, so you broadcast to a national audience. Yeah, and you know what, that was a mistake because a lot of people from far away we're like, so what would it take to get a couple in southern Indiana. I'm like, bro, no, it's not happening. Okay, you can if you can drive here, you can buy as many as you want. So it wasn't too hard. Well, I ended up selling them all

to I think there's some living in um. You know, I think I told you I sold some to the daughter of um Gosh, darn, I'm not gonna remember his name now. John the turkey author that was saying that we should have on the show that lives with his daughter out by like three forks country. Now, they bought some and we did that deal right in the Costco

parking lot. I just had a box turkeys, put him in her truck and she gave me some cash and uh, and then there's some living I think down kind of like South cotton Wood at the mouth of Highlight Day. And Uh. Anyways, unfortunately, uh, in the end, when I thought I had one, I wanted one to keep one, Jake, because we thought we would enjoy the jake in the spring when he would gobble and strut around, you know.

And Uh, turns out I can't sex them very well, even when they're you know, five six months old, And so I was left with a bunch of hands, and uh we lost I don't know a few more, and hey we're down to two now two hands. We lost them to a pine Martin. Um probably lost some. What happened is I was trying to teach them the roost in those fir trees, you know, right next to the driveway there, and uh, so you're like gather around turkeys. No,

we threw them up in there. That one night we'd throw her place one or two onto a limb and then everybody else would be like okay and fly up. It was quite impressive to see. Um. The general flying of the turkeys that we got to watch while we had the big flock was cool. They'd climb way up that hill behind the house, and then when they were done on the hill, they wouldn't walk down. They'd all pitch and then come swooping and dive bombing in and land right like at the garage or next to the garage.

And to see like fifteen turkeys do that together, it's a pretty cool thing. Um. But yeah, they weren't smart about roosting, and no matter how many times I pitched them up there, they liked this fence. And the fence was maybe six ft tall. I guess that that is uh low enough to the ground where a fox can jump up and get some part of them. And um any who, Uh, I had a day. I came home. I'm getting to the part where the turkeys got into the house. Um. I come home, I go into the house,

leave what we call the service door open. It's just like the side door into the house, and uh go back to the truck to go grab a few things, some groceries or whatever. And in the short little period of time, all five her chickens and the two hands have gone into the kitchen, and one hand has jumped

up onto the countertop where the eggs are kept. And at this point that the turkey hands were laying eggs, and she is with her beak sort of fondling and rolling a turkey egg that's in a basket of eggs, And I can see that she's specifically working the turkey egg and not the chicken eggs that are around it. So I thought that was kind of interesting that she like walked into the house and literally within thirty seconds like knew exactly where the eggs were and then was

able to pick out possibly her egg. Um. Then another little interesting thing that we had happened was that some wild jakes showed up a four pack originally they're down to three now roady there there again last night, and they actually roosted at the house last Well, he just he hadn't had time. You didn't let me know last night. It was late. It was too late over there for

a while, set up a tent in the yard. Um and uh, one day, Uh, we're we're in the basement looking at the basement windows, and uh, all the jakes are there, and our two hands are there, and uh, it's interesting because Jennifer thinks that our hands think that they're chickens. And when they see those wild jake's, they don't go, oh, you're one of us, They're like, what are you? Like they literally could give a ship if those jake's are there, Strutton goblin or whatever, couldn't They

couldn't give ship. They don't. They don't pay any attention to them whatsoever. Like they wanted so little that they wouldn't even give ship for it exactly. But sometime you normally just want to get rid of They wouldn't even give that for it. You got it. Yeah, thanks for

the clarification. One time, I don't know if next to the house everybody's got this where like the grass doesn't quite grow right up to the edge of your house and you kind of sort of have like either a mud or a dirt or like a dusty, dry kind of zone where the grass kind of quits before you hit like the concrete. You know, well, chickens and and turkeys will like to dust in that stuff. So I don't know if this hand was using or if she actually laid down to get bread, but basically right outside

the window, like right under our noses. Uh, those four Jake's bread what looked like bread her And yeah, it's hard to say what you know, kids like those turkeys are fighting. Oh no, no, I told my girls. I said, listen that if when you guys talk about this, use that word sexy and it's like super cute and all that. I said, that's what the boys are gonna want to do to you right there straight. Yeah, we talk about anywhere kids, man, because they're here about it anyway at school.

Oh yeah, well, what's gonna happen Susie's you're gonna lay down and say we just lay it all out, man. And it was funny you start laying something out for your kids that you think you're being a little ahead of the game to lay it out for him. They're like, oh, yeah, tell me something. Yeah I heard at school that what happens is now listen while we're on the subject, No, that's not what happens. What happens is this. But there's

nothing you can't get ahead of anything, No, not in public. School, so we figured they may have or may not have gotten bread. We were going to then save the eggs and put them in an incubator. But the more we researched it and and started messing around with it, or didn't mess around with it because it was just gonna be a a big investment to get into it and

to get an incubator. Yeah, we kind of had them, and we were reading reviews on the incubators and the warmers, and you got to turn why can't she just incubate her? We tried, and they're yeah, they're just not into it. They don't know enough about being turkeys. No, I don't know or if that's part of the problem they had when they used to try to reintroduce turkeys by putting out domestic like like farm raised wild turkeys, could never

pull it together. They didn't know how to avoid predators, they didn't know how to nest, and then they realized you got to move wild turkeys to establish wild turkeys. That's right. You can. I tell you two pieces of feedback, Yeah, please do so one I like it was a very long email, that's all one sentence. It's great. It's like like McCarthy would get lost reading this um. It's a great sentence. I can read it. But one guy wrote in a very similar experience to you, Yanni. He lives

in the area. Hold on, is this a sentence or not? No? No, there's two Turkey letters that are of a note. The first one is not a single sentence. Got it. But he lives in the area northeast of Atlanta. They hadn't seen a wild turkey um in fifteen years. Hold that thought from it. In the book and Barry Lopez book Arctic Dreams, he talks about this phenomenon that happens where

you know what a fiord is. There's a thing that will happened to whales blew the whales now and then where they'll be working the back of a fiord, and the fiordal freeze m hm, and so so so much of the fiord freezes that they can't hold their breath long enough to get from the area they've kept open out to the open sea. So they've kept it open, activity kept it open, and they'll be locked there quite it could be quite a group of them, and they just keep an area open and they can't hold their

breath long enough to get out. From the ice, and the ice is too thick to break it. And when this happens, here's the part that the mystery part of it. When this happens, polar bears just materialized there and it's like, how in the world. And I was talking about this one time has happened in like thirteen polar bears wound up there and they'll be like, how do they know?

How do they know this is going? We're so did the whales die and then are on shore rot They keep a small area open, so there's these whales are just swimming around in a circle, alive in the water. They're they're coming up and breathing and their activity. There's a whole pot of them and they're able to keep a little breathing hole open, but they can't leave because they can't hold their breath long enough to keep to

other open water. And it's like this mystery that he gets I was just ruling out that there wasn't like a rotting whale car bears are killing it. But even like if you look at like the densities of bears, there's bears from this isn't just ones that wander by. It's sort of like this like, how does like, how does word get out? Are they that good at smelling? You know? Or whatever? Hold that thought? Uh had no

wild turkeys in fifteen years. This old man had killed one fifteen years earlier, and that was a rare sighting. He gets some hands, He goes out and buy some turkey hands, and bam, there's a stratter out breeding his hands. Like, word gets out. He watched what hand got bred by the stratter and saved her eggs and he's incubating those eggs.

He hashed them. According to that email, I ended up hatching off the majority of her eggs that she laid and had great success with the offspring in this breeding season. So yeah, successfully he hatched the hybrids I would have. I would like to name Slade. Follow up question hell of a name is if the offspring, yeah, if they were more like did they tend to be more wild slash Ferrell or did they just follow the domestic around and become barnyard birds? Ready for the single sentence? Please?

Oh you know what, there's a period here. Someone going into add periods the whole thing. Give me the original, the original, Oh, dude's great sense, this might be a new song. I think it's a sentence because it didn't have a period at the end. Okay, so it's whatever you have. It's a passage stream of consciousness. Oh yeah, it was great. Though. You have been talking a lot about turkeys on the podcast lately, so I thought I would share with you a pretty crazy story. I lived

near a creek. We say creek around from a creek as a sound of rusty Dorr hinge makes anyway, moving on, anyway, moving on. My wife thought a few turkeys added to the barnyard would be a good idea to eat what the horses, cows and pigs leave behind, and we would eat them in the fall. So she brought home with tom and two hens she got from a friend. They were adults, and she thought she would just hatch them

off and raise her own. Long story short. At one point there was six jakes and two Tom's that came up from the creek. The struck on the two hands, and that poor bastard Tommy was working his ass off to defend his two hands. He had been fighting so much most of the feathers on his breast and legs was gone from being spurred off from the wild turkeys. I came home from work to find one of the hens dead. Didn't think much of it. Maybe she was

sick or who knows. A few days later I find the second hand den with two or three of the wild Jakes still breeding her even though she was dead and Old Tommy joined the dark side, was joining him period. There's a period that was a sentence that was like an accident, Like I don't think he even meant to put that period. It contained because the next two words of the continuation there's supposed to be an end instead of that period. He was joining in on the fun.

Oh sorry, so that's still the same sense. Listen, this is not listen. Here's the thing. This is not the dog on the person wrote because it's like everything I need to know is here, all the details, everything I need to know is here. You could have a guy who's real good with a period, who could not who right, would not be able to write this story. So this is nothing. No comment on that it's great or would be a natural break. She was dead and old Tommy

joined the dark Side and was joining in on the fun. Yeah, I was saying, there might be more to the Turkey that we have yet to learn. Talking about his hand rooting through the eggs on his counter. But nature, along with man kinda can be pretty brutal. Can you imagine being bred to your death? Pretty rough way to go. Thanks for all the good work and great educational entertainment.

You got that last sense on the bright side. On the bright side, old tom, he was already half plucked for the roaster, and my brother and two of my younger cousins kill a couple of nice times that year, right from the pasture. Heartwarming story. That look good on a T shirt. M I'd buy it. Oh, that would be a great T shirt. We should get permission, see if we could print that out of Oh, dude, we gotta do that. He send that Sam James being bred to death? Thank you by sending that to Sam James.

Those shirts we gotta get. Can you manage this? Gran? Okay? I wope. I gotta get my tomatoes in. So here's here's what steps you need to take. Asked that gentleman. If we can print it on a T shirt, you'll get a free T shirt and then tell Sam we just need this worked up on a T shirt. We don't do that. I'm thinking, Hell, Vetica, we don't do that. We should do a graphic novel. Help either T shirt or grab now hell vedica a big block whatever thing looks good, not like a heavy metal fine. It needs

to be like, yeah, there's a new Dustin Huff song. Maybe, yeah, you could get a couple of lines out of it. Probably you're gonna sing a song, right if y'all want, man are my the way I write my initials and heavy metal style, like the way you like to say? Do you think that's worth? We could just make our own Yanni. We could call it Yanni's initial font. Sorry you always say I just thought I just wrote my initials. When Yanni writes his initials, they're in a heavy metal fine.

I don't know what it takes to get like a font like you want to you want to like draw out the rest of the alphabet. Here's a here's a question came in. This is legit question? Uh hunter from on harry O, Canada rode in with a question that many folks may have its like is that you editorializing? There? Who's saying like many folks may have anything that's not

italicized as me writing kran editorializing? The question is is he sees a lot of TV shows such as ours, he points out, and other folks who shoot big game and they'll they'll shoot it and then say they're gonna leave it until tomorrow. And he's like, the way I was brought up, you're supposed to go get an animal no matter what and at least gut it as soon as possible to save as much meat as possible. Am I wrong to think that way? And am I missing something?

Or is the carcass okay to be left overnight with the guts inside, not knowing if you made a perfect, longer heart shot. I'm a meat hunter in Ontario, Canada, and this has come up a lot in hunting camp conversations. Uh, this is a great opportunity for everybody else's here besides dust and to introduce themselves and answer this quick question quickly. That way, my dad will be happy like that, He'll still be a little upset that Mark Kenyon, Mark Kenyon,

Why would someone say best leave it till tomorrow? Yeah, that's a good question. Uh. And it comes down to the fact that not every shot is a perfect lung or heart shot. So if you do have that perfect shot and you're very confident that deer is going down right away, then yeah, go get him. But if either from your best guess of where it hit or you actually saw where the hit was, if it was farther back, there's certain places where you might hit a deer with really a bow or a gun that's going to tell

you that that deer might not die right away. And if you were to let's say, hit that deer back towards the stomach or the intestines and then go chasing after that deer right away, he's probably not dead yet and you're more than likely going to bump that deer and run it even farther away, in which case you might not recover that deer at all. So the idea

behind because it might not be bleeding by them. Yeah, So the idea is many times a deer like that will bed down relatively quickly but might not die for four or eight or ten hours. You know, that's that's the worst case scenario, But that does happen. So in that case, wait that amount of time, or wait till the next morning, and then that deer is probably gonna be right where it bettered down at first, and you

will recover that deer. Now, if it's a hot day, you might lose some meat, and that's obviously a worst case scenario, but it's better than not recovering the deer at all. And if you're hunting later in the year when it's cold out, many times that deer will be perfectly fine. You'll be able to recover all the meat. So I would always rather recover the deer and as much of the meat as you can versus zero, which is why you would wait in certain situations. I wouldn't

do it, you know, all the time. I would only do it if you have to do it, ladies. Joan Mark Kenyon now Mark Road an article for the media dot com called how long should you Wait to Blood Trailer Deer? Where he lays out all the scenario is about like longs, guts, stomach, et cetera. Introduce yourself, spencer. They spent New h and Mark also pointed out in there what his uncle used to do in the nineties,

tell folks that approach. I remember, yeah, it took me a second, but he he would always just this was just to get a little bit of a weight after he shot a deer. This was during gun season. He would always bring a cigar with him, and he smoked that victory cigar, and that would force him to wait half an hour. So at least he give it a little time, because the temptation. A lot of times you're so excited you want to get out there right away

and go find it. But he always at least smoked that victory cigar and then he knew, all right, I gave it time. Now I can go search. My old man was a firm believer, like hadn't like he circumstances didn't matter. It was forty five minutes. You could walk over and it could look like someone had gone through the was with a bucket of paint. Minutes right, no matter, you could you could have basically seen it stumble and fall. Yeah,

just that was it. Yeah, but that's the thing like I had that happened, this last fault, like stumbling whirling around, does a couple of circles. But then all of a sudden, it looks like he's got his feet underneath him and he rolls over the horizon. There's lots of blood. But I'm like, you know what, you just don't know, and like it is a good rule unless you see him laying there with his tongue out. A friend was telling

me he gets story. He was just down fishing alligator guards and he a guy was describing to him, how long when your bomber goes down, how long to wait for you set the hook? And he said, you want to wait as long as it takes to smoke a whole cigarette. And my friend doesn't smoke, and he pointed out, he doesn't know what that means. He doesn't smoke, and he said. The guy got kind of irritated and said, I don't know. Count Hey, I feel like we're missing.

We're not answering his question. I'm not done with the question. Can I tell you what Mark specifically wrote in this article heart shot? I write it better than I said it. Let me let me tell you what Mark says, heart shot recover right away, double lung thirty to ninety minutes, single lung or liver uh four to six hours, gut shot eight to twelve hours. But yeah, but the deer to have to kind of yell out what he what

happened to it? This is this is if you can where there's a lot evidence on your arrow to to tell you where you hit. Now, I think to even more fully answer this if someone said, and I'll ask you, Mark, have you ever in your life had someone know for a fact that the deer was dead and just out of sheer laziness say I'll go get it tomorrow. I couldn't think of a single person I've ever met. It's always you want to get it right now. That would

just be someone being lazy and dumb. Yeah. Uh. I one time, eight at night kill the bowl my bow, and it was dusk, and it was in an area with a lot of grizzly bears, and made a decision I'll regret. And we didn't want to open it up until the next day because we didn't want to open it up in the dark and let all that stink out. And I mean it was already like getting dark, and we were back in the pre dawn darkness and had already lost the area around the ball joints and had

lost the tenderloins on it. And I always saw I should have just lit a big fire, sucked it up and got it done. And I thought it was supposed to get cold that night, And then laying there for a few hours, We're like, we had to hike a couple of miles back to our gear laid there and just like all now, I'm like, it's not getting cold's not getting cold, and went back and just felt like

a dumbass. And I think even when it is cold, an animal like an elk, like they trapped peat, Like it could be twenty degrees out and you're gonna lose me because heats just trapped inside of him. Yeah, And it was just being like lazy and nervous and kind of like overwhelmed by the logistics of like how are you gonna go get all our ship and we'll be one around the middle of the night, and like I just made a dumb right, not something I'll do again.

Brodies here. So you feel like we answered it thoroughly because there's that what the one thing that didn't get mentioned is whatever you want to do, let me know what I can go on. I am We never like talked about when the animal is shot, like this is like I'm assuming an animal that's shot right before dark you do to me, I'm asking, I'm out. So Yanny says it's time to move on. You don't want to engage anymore. Maybe you can't clarify for me because I don't.

It's said that the question is he sees a lot of TV shows such as ours and other folks who shoot the game with it being a far hike to retrieve the animal. Then they say, wait till tomorrow. What's the explained to me what he's meaning by being a far hike to retrieve the animal and how that plays into the question you follow me. I'm sorry to see I'm confused by the question and that part of the question,

and you're asking me, yeah, I declare. That's why I'm asking if you felt like you answered it thoroughly, if you if first of all, you have to understand the question. I think he's I think he might be confusing two things. That's why did you see the little addendum the addendum I did? Or I said to know that it's dead and just put it off till tomorrow isn't a thing

I'm aware of. And then I went on to site a time when I did that and what circumstances drove me to make that decision, and pointed out that I had in fact regretted that decision. Do you feel there's more to well? It just it still just doesn't answer or clarify the part about like how it's like a far hike to retrieve the animal. But I think you're wrong. I don't know what he means where he's just like, maybe I don't know what he means by that inflating

two things. Yeah, but nobody else either has any idea what he's trying to say. Oh, like he's saying, you did it because it was a far hike. He'll have to right back in again. Do you guys know that? Uh? Seth and Chester in the Walleye Tournament their first walleye tournament Day one the seventy boats. They finished day one number seven. They were hoping to do top twenty. They finished Day one number seven their first ever walleye tournament

fishing in there. They had their fishing in their alumacraft. We did all that begging and pleading to get him a walleye boat. We got him a wallet boat from a Lumacraft. So they're like a like a sponsored by a lumacraft. Finished Day one number seven, had a couple of problems, finished the tournament number seventeen out of seventy five boats, but still took a cash prize. Huh how much that? How much was it? How much is unterbucks to conservation. Where are they? Where are they kicking that too?

They gotta wait and see. They gotta wait and see how they do on the next ones. But those boys first ever Walleye tournament finished day one number seven, finished the tournament at number seventeen. Their goals to finish top twenty. Yeah, says said he lost a monster the second day. That would have really, they would have pushed him up. I'm stoked for him. That's so damn good. That's a hard body of water fish, especially when you live like six hours away. Them to roll up there and get I'm

gonna tear that place a new one. This weekend guy wrote in real riled up about Bighorn National Forest in Wyoming. They're gonna they're they're looking to start charging for dispersed camping. This is a solution brought forward two years ago by the Get This Big Horn Mountains Coalition Dispersed Camping Task Force. Currently, the forest requires campers to move at least five miles

after fourteen days in one location. This is just to prevent you from being cute right and moving into an area and then like moving to the other side of the valley, to the other side of the meadow and staying another fourteen days, and then moving back to the other side of the meadow and staying another fourteen days. Currently, the forest requires campers to move at least five miles

after fourteen days in one location. However, many campers, trailers, and recreational vehicles are left on the mountain unoccupied for much longer than fourteen days. I'm aware of this where and I've I've been guilty this in the past. We're let's say you're gonna go camping for a weekend and you want some really cherry spot that you know about.

You drive over on Wednesday and park the old camper or you'll get to a spot and there's nothing there, but it's old tent mm hm, like no coolers, no walk, like an old tent, and that dude's like basically like my spot. You back in a few days. So that's when I go about cleaning up the forest, you know, and just that's when you clean up. Yeah, like, oh,

someone's forgotten old. However, many campers, trailers, and recreational vehicles are left on the mountain unoccupied for much longer than fourteen days, which can cause frustration for other recreationalists who are following the rules and seeking a new place to camp in in fourteen days. One potential solution forwarded by the task force is the implementation of a yearly sticker

all dispersed campers would have to purchase. The sticker would make it as as these UH personnel for Service personnel are saying, the sticker would make it much easier to contact users who are violating the forests fourteen day rule. In addition, the Forest is considering extending the fourteen days stay order throughout the year. Currently, the order extends from

June one through September thirty. When I was turkey hunting recently up in the northwest corner of the state, I found where a dispersed camper had basically set up a community. I mean they were there to stay on National forest land. I imagine that it looked like they had spent the entire winter there. The order extends June one through September thirty, and campers can stay in one place for as long

as they want outside of those four months. Bighorn National Forest is currently the only national forest without year round limits on dispersed camping. Guys real mad about it. He's mad about the fees they want to change. What he says is going on. The Bighorn National Forest plans to charge in order to disperse camp on public lands. This is an abuse of the FIG program and a blatant shake down of public landowners. Let folks know about this issue.

Encourage them to write to their centers before the Forest Service gets drunk on fees. Please don't use my name or email. I gotta I gotta think on that one. Anyone got immediate? Yeah, I don't have a problem with it. A twenty stick are you throw on there to go camping on national forests? What's the what's the big deal? I agree, I'm right. I'm right there with you, Brody. I feel that we take it for granted just because it's public land. We think that it's should be just

a free for all. I mean, they should be for free. But those roads that you drive in to access your public lands with guests, what they have to be maintained and the people that do that need to be paid. It's not like the Forest Services rolling in cash, you know what I mean? Yeah? I mean, did Carl Malcolm have a new truck when you guys saw him recently, Steve's not listening anymore. He's onto the next article. But like,

my job is to keep the show rolling. So I'm just looking ahead, thinking, and you guys can talk about what you need to talk about. Um, I want we're gonna get into this big gass white tailed mini here. Mark, what do you think you wrote a whole book about how public lands are managed? Yeah, I think it's a hell of a deal. I think twenty bucks for a year worth of camping, that's pretty good. But now as good a deal as zero. Yeah, but you could say

it remains a hell of a deal. Man. I think it's not a bad idea that we'd be a little more invested in them. Like you guys both said, there's a lot of there's a lot of costs to managing those places. Let's put our money where our more. I think we should add like a half a cent federal sales tax. Oh. I would support that. That would just

directly go to all public lands. I had to give a talk down in Florida the are day, and you know how everybody, how it's become, to use Tom mcgwain's expression, it's become over observed Pittman, Robertson has become over observed among hunters, right like every hunter on the planet now likes to point out Pittman Robertson contributions, which for people

have been hiding under living under a rock. Um. There is a federal excise tax on all guns and AMMO and other sporting goods equipment to the tune of about thirteen percent. So when you buy a gun or you buy any AMMO, you're paying at exercise tax that goes to support wildlife conservation, and most of the money comes from recreational shooters. What is higher comes from recreational shooters. So a new Jersey cat lady who buys a pocket

pistol is kicking into Pittman Robertson. She might also belong to Peter, but when she bought the pocket pistol of that morning went to wildlife work. So I don't remember what the hell it is. Someone tell me what it is. Then, overwhelming majority of the money is from recreational shooters, not hunters. Where's that going with this? Oh? I was pointing out when I gave a talk in Florida the other day

about the future of hunting. I said, I invited the audience to ponder, can you as much as hunters like to celebrate Pittman Robertson industry people celebrate Pittman Robinson. Can you imagine what they would do to you today if you said, I got an idea, right, here's my idea. Every time you buy a gun and every time you buy AMMO, let's make it that there's a thirteen percent federal tax on that purchase. It would never happen, and it'll go to wildlife habitat. Dude. They would they would

hang you. Oh dude, it would make they would hang you. It would make the deal that went down at the country's capital not too long ago. It would make that look like a little rainbow gathering. I think for so long most people hunters or recreational shooters didn't even know they were contributing that way. You know, it's just like a thing that became. But no, but we'd love to celebrate. And now I'm like, okay, how would you receive it

being increased? They would hang you. It just wouldn't happen. Well, you're seeing it with the backpack tax ideas for you know, backpackers, hikers, bikers, The idea of doing similar tax on that kind of gear, and year after year that keeps getting shut down. What about a duck stamp for public lands? Like that kind of approach. I would love it if someone now came and said, hey, man, if you want to hunt ducks, you gotta kick down. What does the duck stamp right now?

Do you want to hunt ducks? Actually actually bucks? Starting right now? All goes to the feds. Yeah, but you don't think that like, not just for ducks, but for for public land hunters in general. Why would have to be hunters? Why wouldn't it just be everyone who uses

public lands? Well, I think that it's even better, but just because I think because it's not just the money to be the administrative the administrative stuff like so for instance, my my my wife likes to go hike the m okay, she'd also be like, hm, I need to do what right? It would be like an administrate because you're you're take

like hunters are. It's ingrained in hunters. If there's like this whole regulatory structure and it's like everyone knows like you gotta go jump through all these hoops and and like dudes that ride their mountain bikes, they're sort of like blissfully unaware. They're blissfully unaware of all the ship everybody else has to do. Right, do you gotta get a permit and past these like classes? And if you can't, their heads and melt. Still a good idea? Sure? I

support it. I support I think it. You buy a mountain bike, there should be every mountain bike and every trail shoes should have a excise tax fifty big number. But any mountain bike? What about an e bike? All right? The huff? First? Tell us how you got How do you get into the music business? I left my hometown when I was nineteen, two months after graduating high school and packed car, packed truck up, moved down to do what you like? Moved to Nashville nineteen. Didn't no person

down there? How old are you? No? Then? What happened when you did that? Where'd you go live? I just had a one barroom apartment, started playing open mikes, uh, met some people started writing Met Luke and two years after moving to town and started going on the road with him. Hang with it, those guys, and the rest is history. You see like America even more. It's crazy. So you're obviously playing guitar and singing and doing all that stuff a good bit before you left town moved out,

like when you were in your teenage years. I mean, I started playing guitar when I was twelve. I wrote my first song when I was fourteen, and hold room. You killed your first deer that's twelve, twelve years old, killed my first squirrel when I was ten. You can start playing guitar because of that. But you killed a deer at twelve and started playing guitar. What was your subject matter? What do you mean like, what was this sort of your theme of your music? Just life, small

town stuff girls, not hunting. Oh yeah, hunting was in there. Two trucks, hunting, fishing. Where's the guitar over there? Hey? Over a guitar? CRN. I want you just give us a little sample so as we get into the story of this world record, white Tail, the beginning of it. Whatever the hell? Any song have you written a song about that buck yet? I have, But give us a little liock of that. I'll play one that. Oh that's just kind of Phili help you get set up there?

What do you need to do? Phil Goung No, he's gonna give us a little teaser and then we'll have a full song later, Okay, right now, it's just a teaser, ladies and gentlemen. So you know, like the guy that killed the world record white tail typical white tail or sorry national typical white tail record, I should be fishing somewhere on a boat, floating something cold. Can't you really? In five pound largemouth? Good time? Grand? Yeah, I should

be fishing. Little teaser, little teaser. So you learn in high school, packed up, move to Nashville. Were you surprised when I said he started to make it? I don't know about making it, but I mean it was just cool to be in there. Do you have a day job? No? Play music full time and right full time? And I might call that making it? Yeah, I guess so, But what you want? What do you call making it? I don't know. Number one, that's making it for me? That's

what I want, That's that's what you're shooting for. Well, I think there's like degrees of it. But I think if you can, if you set out in the arts and you get to where you don't have to do anything else, that's making it Part one. I agree, Yeah, but you're still hunted. You still went hunting back home yep. Did you start Do you hunt more where you came from or more down in Nashville, Indiana? Yeah, that's where

I'm at now. I've moved down there, But then I moved back at like twenty four and then I was just traveling back and forth, going every other week, every other two weeks or so. So, yeah, I live in Indiana now. But was that part of your plan to go back there once you kind of got a foot in the door. Uh, it always was. I just didn't know how soon I would, you know, I didn't know if it'd be thirty five. You're married. I got a girlfriend. How long you had a girl? From? Four years? You

couldn't get married to her? Oh? Yeah, that's the that's the next step. What's her first name? Mackayley? Okay? Uh? What's the property you were hunting on? H five acre hog farm? Same farm I killed my first scorel on where I killed my first deer. Used to vaccinate hogs on it when I was a kid. Who olds the farm, big farmer, You shouldn't be saying that, man, Well, everybody already knows in my hometown, there's already Pete. Well, there's a lot more people than your home towel his name

your absolutely not. Would you not say that? I'd better say than sorry? Yeah? Why and why are you guys so adamant about that? Because on X makes it so damn easy, Yanny, I could find your property in one minute from now if I wanted, I understand, But would you uh, well, you'd have to know my wife's name. But that's true. What do you think is gonna happen? Maybe maybe started, Maybe there's like a quarter mile away. Maybe the neighbor has his farm, he's already have, he's

already I mean, people already know where it is. We're already finding deer with their heads cut off, I mean right outside of this property, so people in our Yeah, it's it's terrible. So yeah, I've already been in contact with d n R about it, and I dude, we've already found three deer with their heads cut off after this, So it's brutal, like they're people are are who would be out shooting deer moving over in that region at night. People's neighbors around have been finding people on trail cams

nate at late at night. It's crazy, all because of a deer. So in order to not add to that, Phil should bleep it out. Yeah, maybe we should leave it out. Doesn't give it a body years place. It's my dad's one of my dad's best friends. And you grew up on that property. He did too, pretty much. I mean once them two became buddies in high school. I mean they were hunting together into their twenties thirties, and whenever I came and how how would you describe

the property? I mean they raised some crops on it or yeah, it's probably crops and timber. And what would be like a normal deer that gets killed there? Well, my biggest was a hundred thirty four inch that I killed in named him Larry. And did you guys feel like that was a big buck? Oh? That was like, oh my gosh, I was. Yeah. I was calling my dad, Hey, you gotta get off four man, you gotta come see this, dear.

You know. But his uh the Catur County Highway Department and uh, but his biggest one, which was the biggest on the property hunt and which what I was a freshman whenever he killed that, well, so like you know, no, I mean not even close to what got but I mean like like good deer. Yeah, there's always good deer there. But I mean, our only rule is fifteen inches wide. If he looks like he's fifteen inches, you can shoot him.

And then dude does the hard farmer hunted too. He's got other properties that he farms, and he goes and hunts the cabin woods. It's just another another one down the road. How many guys are hunt pretty much just me and my dad and my nephew East and just got into it. He killed his first deer with me this past year. And uh he's seven, so me him and then maybe two other guys on occasions, but pretty much just me and my dad. Did you guys run trail cameras out there? I don't run trail cams because

you just don't. Because you don't. I used to in high school. Uh just never really do no more. I just I felt like when I was in high school, I always I would always go to where that camera was. So I just decided I'm just gonna go deer hunting. That's just kind of what I started doing. Does the property have some like historical tree stands that your dad hunted out at one time and now you hunt him? Yeah? So I God, I know the property like the back

of my hand. So I just kind of where I've killed dear seen deer, where Dad I killed has killed dear senior. I just go put my climber up, or I got four set stands on the property and just kind of mix it up. Hunt a gun season, archery season. Yeah, did you used to hunt with the regular bowl before you start hunting the cross bowl? Yeah? To gross on my shoulder, I still got him. I want to fill him. Yeah, where are they on there? I don't want to right

back here? You can feel they just said I can get it cut out, But it's right on some nerve right there. But it's one's growing on the bone that the new one is. And that's that's why I think I can't get a bow back no more, because sometimes it'll catch like I'll get sometimes I'll be watching TV and my right arm will just go tingly. So can anybody hold with the crossbow in Indian or do you have to get like a doctor's per No, you can now. Yeah. So I bow hunted from fourteen to like twenty, and

then I bought a used crossbow from my buddy. What kind of crossboards you get? What the heck is Striker Striker crossbow. So I've been using that ever since you got a nicer one, since shooting that huffbuck. I don't Striker hasn't reached out. I don't think they make them no more. I think they were made by bow Tech, but I don't think they Yeah, so huh, yeah, they want to remake them. I guess. Now, do you hear is there like a network of hunters in the area

where you're hearing about what's going on of this deer? No? No, no, like like in the vicinity of this property. Yeah, and we're in Southeast Indiana, Southeast Indiana, in the vicinity of this property. Like, and I know that you got like you got a one thirties buck. Okay, your old man got a one fifties buck? What you're did you get that?

That was I was a freshman, so twenty ten maybe. Meanwhile, are you hearing like, um oh, Joel blow On the next place over got a one ninety Yeah you hear stuff like that, But I mean it's you know, a hundred fifty in hundred sixties pushing it. You're like, damn, he got a hundred sixty inches deer. You know, like usually about one thirty to one fifty is like the big deer. It hasn't gotten better through your lifetime like so many places have. Yeah, I mean it went for

about two years after I graduated high school. It was pretty bad because we just took a ton of deer off of it. When I was a kid man, I was just you know, whatever it was. And so I actually let it go for about two years and then I started hunting it again. And yeah, so I was hunting my sister's property a county over letting some just I was just letting it because I wasn't seen any deer,

so I was just like, let's just let it go. Um. And then my nephew Easton started getting into it just this past year, and I was like, which I had hunted at the killed that one thirty four, But that was the first year that I really started hunting it again. Was in got back into it, hunting two weeks straight, just trying to beat my one thirty four, and the first shooter that walked out was moose. So on this on this topic of how things have changed, a big

change happened in Indiana. I mean you probably know the day better than maybe ten years ago. Eight nine ten years ago, Indiana switched to a one buck a year rule. So now all that's no matter what it was right before I started hunting. So when I was twelve, it was one buck, one dough and then it went to like one buck two does. But before then you could kill two bucks. I believe that was before I was

deer hunting. But so the there's been a lot of talk about how much Indiana has bumped up in the record books and stuff like that since switching to that. It's become much more of a quote unquote trophy destination because those bucks. A whole lot more people are thinking before shooting because they know they'll be done, and I do, like, I want to shoot the first one I see, and then with my second tag. Look at Michigan, you heard that a lot. So that was the first buck you saw?

That was the first shooter I saw it. I was on day seven or eight, um days. Maybe I'm jumping ahead, but no, I'm gonna say it wasn't you Can you wait for the for it to get ready for that? Do you know what I'm I'll wait? What is it? On that line of thinking? Here? Does it take us back a little bit it's on the line of thinking of this buck, like he said he shot. It was the first buck he saw. I have a question about that, but it could have been asking answer right now. Wait, yeah,

we're just not to the buck yet. Well I thought we were, he said it was he jumped? Did he jumped? I don't know what to do. The man's just a songwriter. What I do with my hands. You'll end up asking the same question I bet. Oh, yeah, I have no doubt. I just want to like. But then you get all the glory for asking. No. No, I want to ask when we get to the deer. I'm not gonna ask sliding the note. Sliding the note when I'm trying to establish here is I'm trying to establish um to what degree.

There's like a rumor around town or whatever about an absolute toad running around people been seeing I had never even heard about him. Tell after I killed him, that's what no one at church is like, holy shit, and I don't know whatever. There was only two people that in my area. They came by the next day and was like, start showing me trail camp pictures videos. They secretly knew about it. They were sharing it with us, you know, like there, oh, here's a one forty we've

been after. But nobody knew about this deer. It had been pretty quiet, but I think everybody knew about the deer, just no one's willing to hear that. People were some people were aware of for two to three years, were aware of this deer and I didn't even but they weren't blabbing about it. Yeah, they weren't blabbing about it. It wasn't Did they know that we're spending a lot of time on your place? No, they didn't know. I mean, it was this deer was traveling so far, dude, it

was It's crazy. He we got confirmed eight miles whoa Yeah, did this buck have a name by other people? Yeah? So the guy eight miles he had him as a mega time junior. Yeah, apparently five six years prior there was a one that that guy killed that they believe was this the sire this genetics? So I don't know, Mark Ken the guy. Is he the one who named it?

Legati J Mark's drunk, that's like, yeah, So then I named him moose after I well, actually whenever I saw him coming the originally like that's a freaking moose man. That's just stup. Can we can we go back to the eight mile away guy? Yeah? Who's this guy? His names? You want to bleep that? Give me? And what's his story? Dustin? Can? I if I were you, I wouldn't even be talking about my sister's property one county away. That's too specific.

I don't get too shook up about it. It's because this is a great time I think to bring up how Dustin is not the same hunter that Spencer and Mark are, right, we need to talk about those differences and why these guys like right now their panties are literally in a wad because I'm saying here, like yeah, it's good. Yeah, it's like shooting. I just go deer hunting.

I love deer hunting. Good. So, like you're apprehension based on the fact that people are just gonna descend on this corner about Indian hard to like find a property hunt that I'm really stoked on, whether it's public land or by permission or whatever, that I would not tell my wife like what I'm doing, or like what property I'm on, because that's like how like he fell out of a tree about died, laid there for days because he didn't like to tell anyone where he hunts, becau,

his wife didn't even know. His wife didn't even know how to, didn't have any idea where to say. When he never came home, She's like, I don't know he's out hunting. The stakes are that high. Yeah, but this happens all the time. I mean, I'm sure it happens out west too, but locally in the Midwest, it happens to myself. I've got guys trying to least stuff around me, or at least stuff that I have access to for free.

They find out that you hunt there, they've seen what you've killed there, and all of a sudden's gone, or they hear from the lantern, well, I'm being offered five thousand dollars by this other guy. I got to share something a little behind the scenes. If he was like, if he let me tell a story, I'll try to make quick one night. Like, here's advice for anyone with kids, anyone married with kids. If you want your wife to not be mad at you, take your kids to go

do whatever you're going to do. No one ever got mad at a spouse who had took all the kids to do something. You're like bulletproof. Except one night, uh, me and my buddy Tony took all of our kids. So we had a shipload of kids and we took clan digging and things got carried away and we were gone way late on a school night, and I got on the phone driving and got yelled at. And then

he got a call and got yelled at. And he said to me, um, if they if this is his quote, if we were the way they wanted us to be, they wouldn't like us. My wife's like, yeah, I would, But point being if he is like like, oh, like that, he wouldn't be on the show because I would have been like just a if he was a big buck blow hard, that's a big buck blow hard. I wouldn't have been like wanting to talk to him. I like

big buck blowhards. What I'm saying, it wouldn't have been like I wouldn't have I wouldn't have been an entertaining story to me. Yeah, I get that. Are you jealous that he has a buck named after him? Now? I don't have a buck name after me. You do? You never seen it? It's on my water, But I imagine, oh right, the buck I killed when you were off in the hospital. Oh, that was the one that helped you pack. I made a sticker and it was called

the Ronella Bucks. Yeah. He made a really nice decal, the kind of you like put the whole decal behind it on something and then you ate a couple of minutes from it in and then you peel that big plastic people off and the decal is just left. Well, Steve ran around with the whole thing on because I didn't know that, Like, hey man, I, unless you're really trying to protect that decal, you know, you can peel

that other part off. And I look to do it. It It was too late to kind of ruin the did the decail have you like fidgeting with your belt and your pants? You my pants around my knees. Uh. The guy that was eight miles away, um, he was onto it. Yeah. So he came like three or four days after I killed this deer, and I got a Facebook message from him, was like, Hey, dude, this is gonna be crazy, but I hunt over here. I'm pretty sure I was hunting that deer, you know, And I had already had a guy.

I'm not gonna say the name, so we don't have to bleep it out. But so this I'm writing all this down. I kind of a shark here Bill Bill sell all this Bill is gonna go in alive and started selling unbleeped the unbleeped cut. Yeah. I've been doing it for about the two and a half years now. It's nothing new. Website pops up dot com. Yeah. But uh so he come over the next day because he wanted to see this dear. He knew that was that

was the deer. You know, he had this deer after talking to him in his sights the year before as an eleven pointer, guests him at about two yards freehand, couldn't pull the trigger. So he comes over and oh, he just put his head down right when I opened up at walk in cooler. He just goes, that's him, because that's him, And I said yeah, And then he starts showing me all the cams you know, trail camp picks videos. Oh yeah, so I mean he had three years to three years of him. And then, like I said,

three or four days later, come down. He's like twenty five minutes away and uh starts showing me from Moose as a three and a half year old ten pointer two an eleven and then into twelve when I killed him, He jumped from one seventy five to whenever I killed you. A lot of people have his sheds. One guy found so what is his name? I don't even know his they shoote. I can't remember. But anyways, he brought him

to the Indianapolis show. I had moose at and uh he side by, he said, I found side by side and he had him scored there one with giving him a twenty inch spread. Never from the year before. That's from the year before. W'd you kill him? Was it during the rut? Yeah? It was November four, so he was he was wandering, he was, Yeah, he was walking right through the woods first week in November. Our buddy Clay, he's got a great story. It kind of shows one of the things that's cool about Clay is, uh, he

was after a big giant buck in his neighborhood. And he lives in a you know, like it's not like big egg arias, right, little chunks here and there, and um, it's hard to keep track of a deer, right. Yeah. But anyways, he's aware of a big giant buck and find some of its sheds, and then he hears of a guy right, the got it and he was like, damn, you know, like the story's over right. Yeah, but but Clay brought him and gave him the match and sheds

a couple of sets of sheds. That's pretty dude. Yeah, yeah, Anya, your bud. That dude didn't give I was hoping i'd get him. You need to subtenly suggest he listened to this episode so he hear's that story. It's a little guilty. Yeah, I know. I've talked to him at the Indian Apple Show and he said there's too much people like wanting these sheds. So I was just like, you know, collectors and stuff. So I was just like, well, let me just make some replicause of him or something. You know.

Do you know the last time this buck was spotted by someone else, whether he's on trail camera, pers like, how how far he came to wind up and see how this is flowing? Yeah? So what was the question again? Yeah? How far did this buck like travel as of late before you killed him? Uh? Well, I mean so the only time that we have him confirmed at eight miles away is only December through February. That's the only time and then on But I thought he had him, he

had him in his sights. No, no, no, this is who's adjacent to my right beside my property that I hate. The neighbor had him, the neighbor adjacent to my the woods eye. And he didn't come tell you. Yeah, he hadn't. He didn't come to the next day after I killed it, and he saw pictures and goes, that's him, your own neighbor, own neighbor. Now he's a cool guy though, But so when you see him, you're like, hey, what's going on, man, how's der hunting been? Well? I never really, we never

were che Yeah that's the thing, you red, Harry. Yeah, but you there was no two in talk about any deer, Like nobody knew about it. If I was your neighbor, I had been like listeners, a big one forty. If you see him, yeah, I would shooting him and get out of the woods. Don't hesitate, get out of the woods and don't come back, because that's it. Yeah, So why were you in this spot on this property? And like why did that buck want to be there? What

was he doing? So going back to pictures, So after that next day brought some pictures over and so his first daylight was October sevente. That was his first daylight he got of him. And that's whenever I was like, I gotta start taking work off, you know, like it's him on a camera camera. Yes, what he saw in October. October sevente was his first daylight. So then so he's coming into the rusting to show up. Yeah, five and a half, you're always starting to show up in the daylight.

And uh, so I come home, but you didn't know that. I did not know, So I just come home. I always take off the last I don't do nothing the last week of October. In the first week in November, I go deer hunting. That's all. I don't write no songs. I do it from a tree stand. But just write him in your head. Yeah, I'll just get on my phone and write. But uh, you're not up there like in the tethered saddle. I don't have a sixth straight

with very anything. But so he was getting picks of him constantly October and I shot him on November four. Pretty crazy, did he he never like had a close encounter or nope not the year before he did? Was that two yards was the only time he's saw him so he had been getting pitted. But like I said, I didn't know about So I hunt that last week in November or last week. You're like a serious enough deer hunter where you're like, come the rut, I'm hitting

two weeks hard. Oh yeah, yeah, I deer hunt all all the time. So, um, the reason why I was there was I had I was on day seven or eight, and I got four set stands on that property. So my nephew killed. How far is this from your house? Okay? Yeah, so you don't need to go stay somewhere, you're just hunt,

you're hunting at home. Yeah. So uh, I took my nephew out on Halloween because he killed his first dough in September, which was you season, first deer he ever killed, first time, first time ever going out, put twenty five grains of powder in a fifty cow and let him smoke on fifteen yards. So it's pretty cool. That's great. Yeah, so the first time. So he's he's way ahead of way ahead of where I am. So uh, like I said, I've been hunting that whole week that last week of October. Uh,

And on Halloween, I took Easton out again. So he kill his first buck, so he could have easily killed this deer because this was before I shot him. He could have been he could have been the guy. So I told him, like route when getting sand I said, uh, Eastern,

like your your buck hunting today? First buck comes by and he, you know, he's saying he just went to bash Pro for the first time how many weeks ago, and he was like, hey, Dusty, uncle, Dusty, wouldn't be crazy if we killed a big buck and got it in the bass Pro shop. Literally said that. I started laughing at him. I'm like, Eastern, I'm like, that's not gonna happen. I said, But first deer comes through with some you know, horns on his head, you can shoot it.

And he killed a five pointer about nine o'clock that some more that morning, and I killed a dough right after. So what's the five poinner? Is that a two by three or five five? Yeah? He had one on one side, two on the other, and then two little I'm the blank by blank crowd here just more specific helps out folks. Yeah, I've switched to that, but come on, it was a little deer, but it was his first buck, so it's

pretty cool, you know. So I'm buck hunting. So four days later, I'm going through these four set stands, you know, just depending on whend, how the weather is. And then so you're being like you're being serious. Yeah, I mean you're playing the wind and thinking it's like I don't get two. It's like I go deer hunting, you know, it's just it's deer hunting using any cover sent I use heat wave, heat wave cover center calm. It's a calming scent, heats it up to like a hundred seven

degrees and disperses. What do you think about that mark? It's pretty wild. That's not my cup of tea. But teacher on, hold on, I thought that's my things. I had no idea I was there. I can't see it work, but yeah, so uh but that evening I just decided, like I had been hitting those set stands pretty hard, you know, with Easton, and then I was hunting by myself too. So I also got a climber that I got eighth grade year when I bought my first bow. Still got it. It's the summit viper, and get a

new climber. No I ain't got it? Oh yeah I did. Actually they didn't give me one they gave me to actually, so anyways, that evening, I just I hunted, tell about noon, uh tell lunch that morning on November four, one of my set stands same one where Easton killed the five pointer out of and uh so that hunt tel noon, went home, got lunch, came back. I didn't even know where I was gonna go. Times you get back up

in there about three. It's at three o'clock because whenever I took the truck back and I took my climber with me, I didn't even know where I was gonna go. I just I'm gonna mix it up today. It was about forty five. It was pretty warm day day in November, and I was like, I'm just gonna go to this west end of the farm, like I didn't even I

hadn't been back there in a while. And all those other sets of the east side, right, Yes, all my other ones are on the east side, so that I usually the west side of the farm to the deer. You know, I just let the property lines about a hundred yards from where I set up from uh property line. So yeah, got up about three o'clock that evening, you know, put my sin up, got my climber up, saw it off two limbs, and within three and a half hours I killed the biggest deer in the USA. Didn't see

I didn't see a deer all evening. Didn't see a deer all evening. And that was the first deer I seen. All right, So why are we through? The actual moment? Brody? Is your question ready to come? Right up? We're coming. You already asked it. I knew you would the rumors about the but like people, but I feel like you're leaving a lot out for these two white tailed nerds over here. Like there's no like funnel oak flat, like oh yeah, hanging in the woods. No, so like I'm

up on the oak flat. Um yeah, so uh there's the acorns were dropping. Oh yeah, what do you call those do? What? What do you call patch or out patch? We say, go up to the oak patch and you know? Um so yeah, I got up three thirty whatever, didn't see a deer and it was about six thirty right, I'm talking right whenever the sun hit her up. Tell me more about your setup. What do you mean what you're hunting? You're hunting, You're hunting in the oak grove.

I got a creek running about and that's where I seen about seventy yards uh to my south or to my north, I mean, and then um, there's woods uh all around I mean, and then about three yards back is the cornfield. I mean, it's just a huge ass cornfield. Like I said, it's timber and crops. But just getting nervous. You ever climbed this tree in the past. Nope, this was the first time because I saw two limbs off going up like I had been around there before, but

I never got up in this tree. Have you been up there that season? Huh? No, I hadn't been back here since. This story is is so it's like a like an archetype of a hunting story. There's so many that go just like this, where either a new hunter or someone like in your situation where you always hunt one area and the first time you go to the one spot, you never go to the big buck that big bucks like I'll tell you on they never go

to exactly. So like there's there's people who say, like, how how come is it that like the new hunter that goes up for the first time ever shoots the big giant buck or the kid or whatever, and it's always because they would pick the place that all the pros never go, or in this case, the one spot for whatever reason you didn't go, and that's where they be. He hangs out there and doesn't see people and treat shooting arrows at them. They figured out, did you leave it?

Was it? Like? Can you say you never? You left it for the deer? So like do you guys kind of treat it as the sanctuary, like it's off limits most of the time. I mean they're like, uh, one of our buddies, he goes back here and hunts it. But me, I just always just leave it over that way because it's pretty thick that on the west side, So I just always leave up for the deer and stay on the east side. And that's where most of the funnels aren't really but back there is that oak

flat and then the property line. So here's my yard. You can hunt over there more often. Now in the future, I think I'm going to. I think I'm going to this season for sure, I'm gonna try it out. That east side's gonna get real good again a year or two off and then go back into year two. Okay, with the last question, I'm gonna ask you in a little bit. Is um, you realize it's all downhill from here? Oh I know. Okay, so I'll ask you about that.

So so give me the moment. Oh shoot, so I'm talking sitting there, you're like the song a second verse. I actually did write a song that week, and uh it's called Country is a Good Thing. And uh so I was just sitting there on my phone, texting my girlfriend, texting my dad. You know, just you know, no deer, you've seen any deer? Nope? And I'm talking at dusk. Yeah, it's it's right as the freaking I'm talking right one.

It's so crazy because right when the sun hit, like, I got a text and I'm pulling my phone out and he said any deer, And I'm about to text back, and right whenever back, ain't seeing a deer. And right as I'm about to text, I looked to my left and I just see movement and all I saw was these big gass antlers facing me with his head down and he put his head up and that's when I went, oh my god, that's a moose. And after I've seen him, I didn't you know, you're thinking, where's this deer gonna go?

Is he How far out is he? He's about seventy yards. First see him, and I'm just like, you know, I'm blacking out. I'm just shaking like crazy, you know, I'd never I'm thinking sev in deer, like nobody's gonna believe this, and uh, he starts coming right to me in the No, he's just he's just walking through the woods. Man. It was it was where he's just moving saplings on his way by I mean it was crazy, yeah, and so

no clue, had no idea. I had no idea, and you had good wind, a good wind, and some good scent heat waves it so so anyways, um, I didn't even have time to range finding, so my range finders in my pocket. But it's quick, like from when he put his head up to me going wow, this is the biggest deer I've ever seen in my life. He's coming right up the ridge and I mean it's saplings all over the place. So I'm just like, when do

I When am I gonna shoot him? So I just whistled at him when he was maybe forty I was just guessing forty yards because it was a minute, minute and a half, two minutes. I don't even know I blacked out, and uh I did, and I've whistled at him and he looked at me. The whistle okay, that literally just a little whistle and he looks at me and I can't shoot him. I mean, I'm just sitting

there with my crossbow and I can't. I got two saplings right in the boiler room and I'm about to just throw up, like I'm just like I can't shoot this deer. Like do I got shot him? Though? I can't do that, you know, like that's stupid. And uh, I had maybe a yard. I was just like, man, if he takes one step, I think I can sneak one in there. And I let him take one more and I whistled and he took a second step instead of just that was in the trees. Then yeah he

was so he knew where the sound was coming. Yeah he knew. And right whenever he took that second step, I had a little sapling again, so I just had to go a hair to the left and just pulled the trigger quick smoked him. He ran fifty sixty yards straight west, stopped, looked around. All I could see was the rack behind him, you know, and I'm seeing his as old man, that's the biggest. He looked, and uh,

he stops about fifty sixty yards, looks around. I'm just gonna go down, Go down, baby, And then he starts doing the dance, flicking his tail and I said, oh yeah, he's dropping and dropped fell back into the holler that it came from, and I just went, let's go. Just I put my heads up, shaking like crazy. Called my girlfriend mckayley, like I said, I was on day seven eight, So she's when you're gonna be home. You ain't gonna

kill big deer, you know. I'm like, baby, I gotta be out there to kill something bigger than my one thirty four you And I was just trying to beat that. And when I sent her that picture, she was like, oh my god. Well when I called her, I was like, you don't even understand, Like I just smoked a one sev in deer, and she's just fired up about it because even though she doesn't really know, you know, like I'm just saying, it's the biggest deer that I've ever seen,

you know, And uh yeah. Then I called my dad right after and I said, Pops, you're gonna need to get her crew out here. I said, I'm still on the tree, and he said, now take your time, dust. He's like, I know you shook up and you're worked up about it, but just just wait to come down till we get there, which I did, and I was already already up. You were, Yeah, he knew that I was. I mean, yeah, I wanted to be safe, yeah, exactly, And so I waited for them. I didn't go see

the deer. I just took all my stuff up to the field edge. Like I said, it's about some strong willpower. I saw him go down, so I knew. But I wanted my dad and everybody to be there when we got up, because I knew this was gonna be. I didn't think, you know, state record or anything like that, but I just knew it was gonna be probably the biggest deer that any of us have ever seen, or going to the biggest typical USA. Yeah, And he was just seventy yards from your tree standing you chose not

to go. Look, he was fifty sixty yards and I watched him fall and he went down in the hall, and I was just like, and I knew, like, but I knew he was huge, but I didn't go look, I waited until uh he's one of the boys of Uh he's got three boys and hog farming. They all come out, everything come out of his mouth. And so is gonna develop software that just finds names, Yeah, finds names in big Buck stories. And yeah, he'll he'll sit

back at home. Let I'll just do it. Ye. So yeah, we got up on him and we're all just like in shock. Really, you know, we're just looking around, like high five and then just like, well, what's he going to score? And I'm just thinking one eight, you know, and I'm and I said one five was like that was me pushing. I'm like, he's maybe five, and then goes the prophet. Now he goes I'd say he's high one sixties. I said, I think he's a little bigger

than that. Man. I said, give him some credit. But you know, we're just we're not guys that we don't put tape on deer. We don't if we're close to fifteen inches, we shoot him. It's just like, you know, that's just how it is. So with us trying to figure out how big this deer was was like, you know, whatever. So I got him out there in the woods and took six of us to get him out. I was

gonna ask, what was your body like? Was he just three hundred and is what we're He's probably two thirty field dress, so three hundred on hoof is what we were guessing. It was me and six other guys. Oh, it's we didn't. We were just guessing just from deer we've killed prior, you know, um, just guessing them off that.

But yeah, it was. I had my shirt off by the time we got up to the field edge after dragging him, because I was just out of shape and dragon deer shows you how bad how to shape your arm. So uh yeah, we got him in the truck and uh took him back to the house. And at this point I have started to send like snapchats, you know, to my buddies, and I said, boys like I killed A one eight and my buddy Blake and Byron Am I allowed to said their name, They're not they're they're

just my friends, you know, they're just not friends. And they come up there like I said, yeah, we're gonna, we're gonna skin this deer out. You know. We do all our processing and stuff in the basement the house and uh By, Buddy Blake said, put the knife down, do not touch that deer. He goes, I'm coming over. I'll be there in fifteen minutes to keep it out. Yeah, and we were gonna cut the backstraps out and everything, you know. And uh so he comes there and he goes,

that is not that's a two deer. He goes, let me put a tape on it. Like he's never really he's not an official score. He knew enough to where where to put it and how to you know, And we got the does all my scoring for yeah, and we got the number. And he goes, you're gonna need to get this in a like a safe dude. I'm like, no, dude, I'm just like no. Like he goes, You're gonna need to get pictures, like professional pictures of this deer. And

I start laughing at him. I'm like, dude, I'm not calling enough a photographer to get this picture of me in this deer. Like I thought he was nuts. I thought he was nuts. He's like, I'm telling you, dude. So I called my photographer that I used for like my music and stuff, and I was like, hey, you want to come take a picture that this was the next morning. I was like, hey, I killed this deer yesterday evening, you want to come take some pictures. My buddies say that this is gonna be a big deal,

and sure enough that's whenever. The next day was whenever, Um you called, Spencer called me. Yeah, Luke texted me, and I said, that's not my world. Yeah, but I know who he ought to talk to. I guess I can kind of go into that night too after because Luke called me that once. I had said, like after we fun, yeah, so like after we knew kind of what we had. You know, me and my buddies and my dad were just downstairs drinking beers like damn, this is crazy, and we had put the words right out

of my mouth. We had rolling rock that night, little bloody Mary there. I just keep the white pail, you know, white ale and um. So we're all just down there and I couldn't sleep at night after they all left, like I was just I kept getting up and going checking on him. You know. After my buddies are telling me like, dude, this is a big deal, like you're gonna need to get this in a safe and I'm just like, shoot, I better like not go to sleep tonight,

like what if these pictures get out? And I didn't know. And so about two o'clock at morning, I get that. That night is whenever I tweeted out like it was just a tweet, like I couldn't say. I was like, I think I killed the biggest deer in Indiana, like Indiana state record. And so I put no pictures, no nothing, and uh, Ray, I was telling you about Ray Fulture who he wrote like when it rains at poors and stuff. I always torn with Luke and uh been buddies for

a while now. And he texts me, he goes, he goes, oh huff. He calls me all he goes, oh huff. Now let me see this deer that you tweeted about. So I sent him two pictures. Right after I sent him. I'm in bed and I get a call from Luke. Luke Combs. I'm like, shoot, go out into the kitchen. I'm like, what's up, Luke? How you doing? Man? It's been a while, you know, And he goes, Bubbs. He calls me Bubbs because I was always the youngest, you know,

kid on whenever we go on tour and stuff. I was the opener, and I was always twenty one, twenty two, you know, I was just the the young guy in the group. And he goes, Bubbs, you don't even realize what you did, did you. I said, oh, man, it's it's huge. Man. This is gonna be a wall hanger. Man. He goes, no, he goes, don't do anything. But yeah, he goes, don't do anything. He goes, I'm gonna call somebody for you. And I said, all right, cool man,

I appreciate it. And then he called me into marrow or the next day, and then Spencer called me right after, and then that's kind of how the story launched. I guess crazy. Yeah, I don't. I don't want to like be a douche bag, but I'm uniquely I'm uniquely suited to hell somebody dustin in this situation. I knew. And when I suggested guys walk through, I suggested Spencer because Spencer one pays attention to this, and Spencer knows what happens when people shoot big deer and like, what the

steps are. I used to work for North America. I told Spencer. I told Spencer, did I warn you? I think I warned you. I warned not to exploit him. Did I Uh, yeah, I think he did see that. Maybe maybe that was in just like big big big Buck, Big big Bug, did Spencer, do You're right or do you're wrong? Okay, uniquely suited to help someone like dust in this situation. I used to work in North American White Tail, who is like the proprietor of of big Buck stories. They want to buy them for their cover

of their magazine. I've covered like world record deer in the past. I've talked to bass pro, Cabela's, some of the folks that have killed some of the biggest deer in the world about how they went through the selling process of their antlers to to profit off of these situations. Um. And we've also covered like a lot of big box on our website and other places, and like sort of the fallout from that, whether it's like accusations of poaching or just like the all the negative things they can

come from that. So the next day Dustin and I probably spend like an hour on the phone talking about like here's here's the next step, uh, to like set you up to benefit and to get this thing legitimized. Yeah, the fat and SKINNYO it is you shoot a big old buck. Call Spencer, if you got a world record buck, hit me up. I'd love to love to coached me through it. He did too, Man, Uh, you sold the deer. I did well? What was one of the Spencer spent an hour with him in game, the whole thing. But

we're not gonna hear any of that. Like, give me one main takeaway. What was like the one thing that Spencer said in that hour where you're like, man, that was really a hot tip for me. Well, it's just I didn't know anything about the business side of deer hunt. I just didn't even know there was deer shows or anything, like you go take a deer to a deer show or whatever. So like he was coaching me through like the magazines and interviews and this is you know what

these go for? What a cover of a magazine? What this is? So I didn't know anything about that stuff. How long did it take for taxidermists started calling you? Oh? Shoot, it was it was the next day once I posted it. Ye did Uh did Spencer ballpark for you? What someone might pay for that rack was? How close was he he was right on it? Dead nuts? Yeah? Jeez, man, I can't. Now I realized you you probably can't. You have like a non disclosure. You can't tell us? Can

you tell us out? So when they when the guys bought it from you, I don't know. I honestly don't know the number. When the guys bought it from you. You signed an n d A. I signed a bill of sale. No, but that's not an n d A. Yeah, but I we keep it. It's between me and him as an undisclosed like number. It was. We agreed, Yeah, we agreed to not talk about want I asked you what you did with your money? It's in a very

safe location. Remember that there was one record holder. I talked to, Luke Brewster, I think has still the non typical world record white Tail. He had said he was offered hundred thousand dollars and he turned it down. He wouldn't tell me who it was. I asked it like, could I have three guesses? And I got it on the second guess who the offer was from? Um? But once the word it got out that he wasn't going

to accept a hundred thousand dollars, nobody really bothered him anymore. Okay, So all right, did I put an end of the bidding war. Yeah, there was another sell that huge moose for I want to say it was sixties, I remember

forty or sixty. There was another guy who killed I think it was the Louisiana or the Mississippi State record, non typical, who had said he couldn't tell me again the details of what had exactly sold for, but he said that he had an offer of thirty thirty thousand dollars he was about to accept, but somebody came in at the last minute and made a better offer that included more money plus more replicas that he ended up taking.

So those Dustin can't tell us what the number would be, but something because you can you haven't use your imagination. Did you get a replica? How I can get I'm gonna get the property owner one horses cost to get one. I was gonna say we should get one for the studio. But yeah, yeah, we kind of blew all our money on this meat tester we had left that You're into

and Dustin's into. We definitely need to have a replica of the Oh you know what we did buy that's like this Actually, did you guys hear about this yet? At auction? What don't you pay for it? Spencer at auction, we bought an eight foot punt gun. Dollars Can you fire? Make a lot of money off this punt gun? Can we fire it? Oh? Yeah, that's the whole things about when's that party happened? Eight eight foot long investment. He

calculated it out to be a two gauge. It's estimated that throws about one pound throws a pound leg for reference, that turkey load is like two ounces max. Eight foot long punt gun. You pull a string to make it go off. It just looks like a shotgun with a never ending barrel on it. Twenty hy dollars at auction and H and H we're gonna make the world's best performing YouTube video of all time. You don't remember Gallaghy how used to like another eighties reference from for your

Young Wimer Snappers or used to be a comedian. He had two sticks. He liked a toy with the English language. So he would be like, Um, there is t h E I R, but there is th h e r E. What gives That was like some of Gallagher's humor, and then he'd do that line of humor about why things are spelled the way they're spelled. And then he get out a big sledgehammer and he would smash fruit. Watermelons

were big for him. That was like when you went to see gallaghery, that's what you got, you smashing watermelons. He'd smashed anything you think of. I bet you Mark and uh Spencer have no idea who you're talking about. The crowd Sometimes you would put on a piano's exciting. People in the know would bring plastic sheeting at a Gallagher concert. Okay. The reason I bring up Gallagher is me and Spencer are gonna take the shooting all man or stuff with our punt gun. I'm ready to see that.

I won the auction about ten days ago. We hope it's going to be here in June. So Dust and I gotta ask you, uh yeah, put a button on talking about that does a does a world record, but taste better than a run of the mill one thirty. What happened all the meat? I've ate about four or five packages of it of the backstrap? Can you send us a chunk for a meat tester? Hey, I'm actually gonna do some No, I'm actually gonna do some jerky.

How about jerky or do you guys wants a little chunk, when your little chunk of meat hole muscle, and we'll tell you what, We'll tenderness test it. And so then when you're telling people the stats, let's do it'll be like it scored this tenderness test of four point three best tasted world class out there. I'm getting backed up on questions right now. I'm just listening to figure out. So you've eating four or five packages? Are you savoring it? Are you valuing that meat as much as the guy

that bought the antlers from you is valuing those that bone? Well, I mean, it's just whenever mckayley, my girlfriend wants to if you're when you send Steve his little bitty chunk, if you want to send me like I would very pot luck in the world because it'd be a great way to bring it. Well, you know that meatball you're eating, how do you think about that? Well, the world record. You might be interested in the fact that's a world record. That would be pretty cool to uh, you know, share

that with some friends. I have a little party. We had the world record book. We had friends giving UH November thirty after I killed the deer and UH ended up taking taking it over there and frying it up, having a poker, having a poker, and I was like, you boys bearter getting your snapchatsy that you class white tail here. The one thing we talked about, Dustin was that like, this is gonna happen regardless of what your next steps are, that folks are gonna call you out.

Is like you poached it, this was a high fence deer whatever, and imagine that happened either way. But I was like, you should really get a game warden over there to just like take a picture of you in the buck together and the game warden standing there and that'll like shut some of this down and see the gut pile whatever. Yeah, So like and that's what I did. I called d n R and I talked to the lady and she was just like like the disc at

true or whatever. She was just like I said, I killed the like possibly state record in Indiana, And she was just like I had no idea what I was talking about. I'm like, who do I need to talk to? Yeah, and I'm just like who do I need to get somebody here to check this deer out? So like, but anyways, like nobody ever came. So then like three or four days, five days later, I'm getting calls from D n R. Well, I'm back in nash wondering like where I killed this deer?

Or like they were now they're following up, they're starting, they're starting to get calls from people all over the place. Really yeah, oh he posted it, he Bobby shot it with a rifle, blah blah blah blah blah. And why just people talking. It's unreal, man. It doesn't matter whether the story because it's impossible. It's really impossible to to to which to me it was impossible too, but it happened. And it's just like you know what Pat Durkin says,

big bucks make people stupid. Yep, that's true. Oh he doesn't say haters gonna hate haters. I would love to hear. I think you're confusing Pat Durkin with a young lady who sings pop music. Yeah, go on, So I'm I'm down in Nashville, you know, writing songs that week, and uh get a call, hey when can you be you know, when you can you be back up here to show us where you killed this deer? I said, Well, I'm not going to be home for another to three days

or so. Um. So they went out there. I told him, gave him the property owner's number, and I went out there, found my gut pile, found my tree. They were texting me. I had the DNR number, and he said, is it was it? This tree? Two limbs cut off about twenty ft up. I said, that's it. I said, gut pole should be about you know, sixty yards in that haller. And they found it. What was left of it, you know, there was coyotes had got to it, but what was

left of the gut pile. And there was a week or two that went by, you know, I thought everything was squashed. Like okay, cool, they're still getting more phone calls. Well, they wanted to come have another sit down. So I said, well, come over to the house and sit down on couch. I'm some coffee. I'll tell you about the whole hunt if you want to. You know, hear about it. So they so they're just getting calls some people who are like it has to be yeah, that's what they were saying.

They're like, we just keep getting calls like man, and we just want to I said, well, I said, here's the antlers, like showed him the antlers, and I told him everything. They want to see the arrow or anything like that. They talk to the landowner. Yeah, talked to the landowner. Uh yeah. And it was just like the thing about it was is people think that I live in Nashville, so it was a residency thing. But I I'm an Indiana resident. I just travel for work, you know,

to write songs down and record songs. So like there was this huge thing of like I said, well, you can look at my bank statements. I said, I've been living here. I said, I moved away at nineteen, but I moved back and now I just traveled back and forth. I said, but the past five six years I've been you know here, you know. So yeah, it's but we finally squashed it. We all took pictures together and so yeah, so here's what I wonder about situations like yours and

other people have gone through this. You shoot this this world class, dear. You never really this is never something you were trying to do, right, You just want to be a deer hunter. But now you you stumble into this world class dear. Now you're dealing with d n R, You're dealing with allegations approaching you're dealing with the business side. All of a sudden, people are offering your money for

the deer. People are inviting you too shows, and now you're traveling all over the country and you're talking to a thousand people and everyone wants a piec of You're glad it happened? Like, are you okay with this? Do you like this? Or has it been? Like? I got more in a bargain for I've prayed for a long time, uh for music to you know, I just needed a break. You know, I had three d dollars in my bank account when I shot this thing. So it has completely

changed my life in a the best way ever. It's crazy nice, that's awesome. Uh Uh remember how I told you I was gonna ask you about Do you like it's all downhill from here? Yeah? I mean I'm buck hunting. So now have you redefined a shooter? Buck? I'm going back to one thirty four if I can beat my one thirty four and yeah, it's just like and if I can maybe get lucky enough to work my weptope, one forty one sixty's going back to November. Yeah, I'm

not even gonna that's just most the reset button. Yeah, it's just the reset I'm and my things like it's awesome, but it's like I have I get just the joy out of shooting a dough, you know, or I just love deer hunting. I love eating deer, so it's great man. Yep. Um, your girlfriends stayed with you through this whole thing. Yep, yep, she's yeah. Do you get you get approached by women who just want to be closer, Like if you're like in prison, women want to write your letters just because

you're in jail. No, no antler chasers. Thank god, you kind of answered my whash, So I'm gonna ask you anyways in case you want to add to it, because you said you had three hundred bucks in your bank account, which would mean that makes the decision to sell pretty easy. But it's still but you know, the USA world record,

So was it easy? That was? It took me two months after talking with Spencer and really trying to figure out like what my best option was, you know, and I'm getting I had two offers and me and him were talking about bass Pro and like I was waiting for them, but they never called. I had contacted them, and I was just trying to figure out if there was more people would be interested, but I only had two. Well, then the one guy he made a real good offer

and was like come see me. And uh I was over there for like eight or nine hours, just bullshit and and you know, just picking guitar. We were just you know, and then he's a guitar player. He had like three or four guitars only not only monster white tails. I mean he had guitars, guns, everything over there. I mean it was awesome, Ted new it. Ted. What I

like about you calling him moose? Right afterwards was when the hole in the hornbuck was killed, like back in Y was killed by a train and some railroad workers had found the deer who had no like familiarity with hunting or really wild life in general, and they actually argued about whether it was a moose or a white tail at the time. That's that's crazy. Wow, Yeah, like that was my first thought whenever I first saw him. He put his head up. I just go, moose, Holy shit, moose,

this is a moose? Like what is a moose doing? Indicator County, Indiana? You know, I just like what this is a hog farm? You know what? Hell man? So yeah, are you ready to play song for us. Yeah, I might have to tune it back up, though it's probably got out of tune. So Hayden's you don't travel with the guitar, Paul, you do? I't have a guitar over one shoulder, that dear rack. Why, here's why. Luke gave me that guitar, which the one I got Taylor. He gave it was his first show guitar and I've had

it for about five six years now. You don't like travel with it? I don't know. It's I'm putting it up in it's going in a glass case on the wall. I don't want I would like to get a copy of the replica that dear head, dear handler. Should they make those ones just on a school cap, like a fake school cap. It's just skull captain then, so that's just what the antler's cost. And then whatever the taxidermy and stuff is. If folks, did you keep the real cape or you lost the real got the real cape

that was in the deal. I said, I want to have the real cape, so I got to keep it. Who are you gonna have stuff the deer I had? It's already done, Yeah, Charlie Watson, North Vernon, Indiana. You should have had John Hayes doing well. This guy was thirty minutes down the road. This guy's thirty hours exactly exactly. If folks want to see the buck, I imagine you're gonna be traveling with this thing. It's some trade was coming up this year. Do you know, like what stops

you gonna be making? Yeah, so, uh, we're in I'm actually doing Smoky Mountain Knife Works. Gotta show there on July nine from eleven four, playing for like forty five minutes, then just showing the deer off, bringing your two passions together. That's what we're doing. That's when I was talking like deer hunting into a deer business. It's just crazy that

goes hand in hand country music and deer hunting. So that's what we're gonna start doing, is you know, bring guitar, play forty five minutes to show the deer off and tell the story. July nine, Um August, we're in uh where's that at Kansas City? And then I'm in Bloomington, Illinois on the August, and then we're working on September, October, November shows and then you get back in tree stand Oh,

that's what I told him. I said, I said, I got at least have some time for Buck, because you know that's right from And I only killed two deer last year us like kill three or four years. So I'm running along on me. You know, I'm saving that, I'm saving moves, so I don't always have a little bit, man, I'd always have a little bit. The next day, Um, before you and I talked, Luke Combs was making the introduction and one of the things he said was that he's like, this is gonna change his life and it

couldn't have happened to a better dude. And he was right like that. That was so damn cool to hear that story. How you're not me or Mark Kenyon killing

that buck? Yeah, man, I just it's crazy. And he knew that it was gonna help me, Like that's why he called, you know, texted you, and you know we've been friends for a long time, and um, just I've been praying for something in music to what in the hey, you know, like, and sure enough a deer walks through and I shoot it at forty yards and now I can do the deer and the music, you know, hand in hand. It's just it's it's it's god man, it's just how it is. Amen to that. Play us a

song you love? So can I tune it first? H Are we doing one song? One song? Yeah? Stay for our trip show. Yeah, I'll just play that fishing song. That's fine, that's great. Just it goes good with the meat eater. You know. I should be fishing somewhere on a boat, floating sun tine, cold cane, chilling, thrilling in a five pounds large mouth, good time, grinning. Yeah, I

should be fishing. Hell. I should be in a deer stain, sipping coffee from a cup, watching the woods wick up, spitting red and maine, waiting on a big buck slip up thirty thirty in my hands. I should be in a dear stand huh, in my way from a severy day right race. Hate this backed up traffic far from the skyline, night lights, concrete high rise makes it hard to find the stars, catch the sunset. WHI shh is down a back row, back home, sitting on the best

damn honey hoole. I know, shouldn't be caught up in this fast life city living man. I should be fishing. Yeah, I should be way out without a warrior care in the world, instead of staying still stuck heads with some dude in a suit honking in my rear view. I could use a camel line beer. Gotta get out of here, A hundred my way from a severy day red race. Hate this backed up traffic far from the skyline night lights,

concrete higher rise makes it hard to find him. Stars, catch your sun, said with shots down a back rode, back home, sitting on the best damn honeyhole. I know. Shouldn't be caught up in this fast live city living man, I should be fishing. Man, I should be fishing. I should be taking it slow, taking it in with a west wind blowing just right, A hunting my way from a seven day rat race. Hate this backed up traffic far from these skyline night lights, concrete high rise makes

it hard to find them. Stars, catch your sun, said with shots down a back rope, back home, sitting on the best damn honey hoole. I know. Shouldn't be caught up in this fast live city man, I should be fishing, Man, I should be fishing. Song of Regret. I wrote that song about living in Nashville, Tennessee. Then you moved back, and I moved back, and then I wrote a song about it. Have you gone fishing more? Yes? Good? Oh yeah, We're gonna prioritize fishing a lot more these days. All right, man,

thanks for coming on cool. I appreciate you all having me Dustin sticking around for Trivia, which we have two big announcements coming up on, so please tune into Wednesday's episode of Trivia with Dustin Wednesday. Dustin Hoff, owner of the former owner of the shooter of the Hunter that killed the Huffbug. Thanks everybody. Oh yeah, I appreciate that. Guys,