Ep 146 / Harvesting Memories: Our First Hunt Stories

Welcome to the Whitetail Advantage podcast with. Your host, Brett Bovin. Thank you for tuning in and enjoy the show.

What is up, everyone? As you can see, we're doing a different intro tonight. I was going to be something different, but Johnny ruined the surprise. He did with everyone on the team. He goes, well, why don't we just don't do an intro? Well, that was my plan. And he goes with that. And you know what, Johnny? It's your idea. My idea? Yeah, exactly. So why are you even here? Not what. What you. All right, guys, Now.

The show starts now. Tna. Yep, it's the TNA segment. I will bring him back. I respawned. He's respawned. He's back. That's right. Hey. Hey, John. Did you have a good day today? No one cares about this day. Just take him away. I don't know, but it just got better. That looks pretty good. Anyways, I have. I'll say this, though, real quick. Today is Tuesday, April 15th. Holy. And it is episode 146. We're close to one. Episode 150. Now, we all know we're not politically correct.

We recording the slot machine. But I also do. I do like to say this with every show. I also like to say thank you to all the men and women in the military. Thank you for your service. And also thank you to all the police officers, the firefighters out there, and everyone in public service. Thank you. Thank you for your service. I would like to. Now, what are you gonna say, John? Are you gonna interrupt me some more?

I'm gonna say, I would like to thank the top who wrote me a ticket for rear ending a car day before spring break. That was cool of you. That was awesome. Well, hey, my fault. But, yeah, just pay attention. It's really hard entering your emails. Well, learn how to drive. He was trying to kick that lot lizard out. I was. Yeah, you're out of here. Why don't you learn how to drive, Johnny? Don't blame the cop. Anyways, a couple housekeeping notes here to start off. I hate.

I don't like that term housekeeping. So I'm gonna find a different term for that. All right, Consuela. All right, Consuela from Family Guy. No. Housekeeping. Oh, no, no. Diabeto. No more. No more cookie. Diabeto. No more. No more Whitetail. Let's see here. We do not have a show coming up on this upcoming Sunday because it's Easter. So if people only listen to this on the audio version, our next after tomorrow, which is going to be Wednesday the 16th.

Our next episode won't be released on the audio version till the following Wednesday. Make sure to head to our website. Revamped it. I think there are some problems with it before, but it should be working now. Also, go make sure to check out and get some of our merch. It's on the. Our separate website, but everything's right there in the comments. And also I do want to point out Brian, great buddy of ours here at Whitetail Vanish. He just released his first episode.

Make sure to go check out his episode, it's under Twilight Hunters podcast. It's a great episode. Learning about health and ageism in. In hunting. So with that being said, we were supposed to be covering a state in. In Canada, but I think they're. They're too good for us. Well, you know what I mean. I know that. Anyways. I know that. I know that you know that. I know that. See, I knew that you know that. That I knew that. That you knew that. Well, I knew that you knew that.

I knew that you knew that I knew that. Who's on first? I don't know, but I know. This is getting boring, right? All right, on to the main topic here. Brett. Yeah. Hunt, fight, and eat. You have to hunt one. Fight one. Eat one. Oh, change it up. Okay, yeah, change it up a bit. Hey, no, never mind. Ah, I'm leaving it alone. I'm leaving it alone. So. And I'm just making this up on the spot right now. Postum raccoon. Beaver.

Is it the kind of beaver that I'm thinking, or is it that real life wild critter? Oh, they're both the same, aren't they? I hope not. Because if they look like that when you pull the pants down, you better put them back up and run and. Put the light off. What were they again? Stupid ones. Yeah, stupid ones. I possum. Possum for our friend. A raccoon and a beaver. I'm gonna eat the raccoon. No, you gotta do the possum for Mike so he shuts the up.

That's why I'll eat the possum just to shut him the up. I'll kill the. The beaver. And the last one is hunt the. Yeah, the raccoon. There you go, Michael. I'll try an opossum for you. You know what? How about this? If we go down to Indiana and I see opossum, I'm gonna shoot the. I'll film me cooking it over the fire, and I'll flavor it up with some flavors of the Forest. And I'm gonna. We'll all eat some and we'll all. Eat some and then we'll show you. Look, Michael, we've all tried it.

It tastes like ass. We all come up with sepsis and we end up in the hospital. And you're to blame. Mike. Yeah. How you doing? Brett's older brother. What? You don't know how to cook, bruh? He says you can't cook possum. You don't know how to cook. I'm gonna have these guys here. We'll. We'll teach them. Don't worry. We'll teach them. I know how to cook. I'm not stupid. So why don't we do that during turkey season too? Like if we see a possum, we'll just smoke it. Well, then we'll smoke.

Might be pretty decent. It could be. I'm down to try that. Dan says awesome is delicious. Who said that? Dan. Dan's probably tried possum. He probably had possum parmesan. Possum lasagna. Yeah, Dan's gonna stick at possum. Was one of those new Rhett's broadheads I sent him. Nice. You just sent him one. Yeah, he sent him one. One generous. The practice tip too. Probably. Probably used one. It's a rubber one. It's a used one. It's the box without a Broadway. Mine came with deer hair.

Well, these are pre used. Boy. Broadhead looks like buddy. Well, this really does. Michael says. He says. Wait, I have a question. Oh, God. Why am I not surprised boys have. A penis and girls have a vagina? There's your answer. Yeah, that's your answer. We do actually have a topic for tonight. Are you assuming somebody's gender? Oh my God. Like Brett's white. Hey, look, look. Squats. No, no, the Mrs. The one and only. I'll text her. Squatch will like it. Dude, she is a 60 year old plus goddess.

I mean, if you guys haven't seen her, watch his website. He's got pictures of her posted everywhere. Yeah, there's. There's new ones. There's new ones every day. But yeah, I was gonna say I was looking on your Grinder page. There was all kinds of pictures. I know. I gotta update it. It's only like a half hour behind. So it looks like what I did was I strategically place moultrie cameras that send me soul pictures every.

So Brett's dad's house that he don't know about, that looked like, you know, stuff. Deer. You know, I'm ser. I'm really serious though, guys. What? I don't know what happened with him, but she's. She's really beautiful woman. I don't know what happened. He might be milkman material or I don't know. But his family all has blonde hair. Blue eyes, FedEx driver, you know, she's. Got like blondish hair. He's a ginger. I don't know. I don't know where that came from. It came from.

Where did I get my ginger side? From a leprechaun. My great. My great grandpa on my mom's side. Do you post it on your only fans. Only fans account? The only problem with my only fans account is I'm the only fan. You pay yourself 9.95amonth. I. I'm making a killing on myself. Really? That's right. So I was thinking for tonight we just sit back and we just tell some stories. Our first kill. What kind of story our for? Hey. Oh, my God. We have a surprise guest. Now what? Holy Mc Boven.

No. Who is it? Oh, the silent partner. Oh, he was the pro. He was the producer. But he's been busy doing some side and I told him that, hey, why don't you jump on? We're talking Muslim stories. It looks like he is here. Well, hello, good sir. Producer, are you there? Oh, I'm here. Holy. The missing link. Always a missing link. Is he under a blanket? I also hear, I will say this. So because of his line of work, he needs to not have his. It's. He's just here. That was the deal that him and I made.

He has to do that because of his line of work. Very nice. So, and I will add, he's doing a fine job working for me, giving me pictures of Ms. Bowie. We call him the producer or the Deucer. The Douche. All right. And he's. He's quiet all the time. No, he doesn't like to talk. No one likes him. Pay no attention to the man. Right. You fish deucer. I fish, hunt, anything. I don't care. Wow. That's right. Well, he definitely. He definitely fits on this show. Well, there you go.

He fits on this show, that's for sure. Congratulations. F and Fox, you're in. That's it? Well, until my mom answers us back. Yeah, I was just thinking let's just share some. Share some hunting stories.

Our first kill, Our most memorable one. I'll go first. Yeah. Okay. That was only like two years ago with your first kills. Shouldn't be that it was last year. Well, there you go. Yeah. So, I mean, you're right and wrong with two years. I mean. Yes. Told it out my Prius. You know, the wife was pissed. Oh, man, that white. When she saw that I killed it with that her Prius, she was batshit crazy pissed at me. I can't disclose what he does, Michael, but I'll just say this. It requires him to be.

What's that word? Anonymous. Needs to be anonymous. No. So my first time, my first kill, I was 12 years old, and I was practicing over and over again with my bow. And my dad taught me was finger releases. And that was big at the time, obviously, for him growing up. And finger releases weren't a thing till when I got older. Daniel commented. There sure is a lot of cops on this podcast. Hey, Dan, we will not give our address, okay? We've done a lot of illegal.

Well, listen, I'll give my address out, but just bring a shovel at least. Yeah, we just feed them to the pigs. Dave is lie, deny, and counter accused. I didn't do it. You did it. Don't know what you're talking about. Yep. But I was practicing getting. Trying to be the best I could be. I was 12 years old, I'll leave it somewhat short. And went out in the woods with my dad. He. He said that I want to be there for you when you. When you get your first deer. So he had. He had me set up in my stand.

And then about 30 to 40 yards away from me was his stand. And one day I shot my. My first. I shot at my first deer. It was a doe. I missed and went right underneath her stomach. I crawled, cried like a little baby back. And all I remember is my dad getting down from his tree stand. It was like an hour left of sunlight. Picked up my arrow, climbed up my tree stand and is looking me. I kid you not. I'm. I'm legit crying. Tears are falling down my face. And he goes, brett, why are you crying?

So I practiced and I practiced and I missed. I wanted that right there. And it was perfect. It was a perfect broadside shot at 20 yards. And he said, well, in this family, we only bow hunt, and that's hunting, and that's bow hunting. So you gotta get used to it and you have to accept it and move on. And ever since that point, basically, I think as all human beings, we need to embrace failure, but we can't accept failure. And that day, I had to embrace the suck of it all.

And I went back out to practicing. A week later, I shot my first forker, a Four pointer. And it was the best time of my life. I was able to shoot it. Exact same spot as that dough. A week prior, he ran off. And I was so excited I couldn't even get out of my stand. My dad's like, wait there. You just don't move. We have to watch where he's going. And. And then we got down and we went up back to the house to get our. Put our stuff away and let mom know that we got a deer.

So. And my mom, she loves to follow us on the deer tracks. She just loves doing that. However, this one, my dad said, nope. It's our first time together as father and son. It's going to be ours only. So we went down there, find the deer, and I kid you not, we cut the balls off and we hung them in a tree and we took some blood. I was. He said, I was a new alpha in there. You gotta show your dominance. And we took some blood and wiped it on my face and, and got home and cleaned it out.

And I will tell you this, I almost threw up because that was my first time smelling like the intestines and, and all that. And all that stuff inside. I was like. And Yeah, I was 12 years old. That's why your eyes up? Yeah, it smelled so bad. It squinched my eye. Oh, God. That was from a scope. His dad said, turn it sideways and put it right up to your eye. Dad has a lifetime of disappointment in him already. Yeah, come on.

We all know that was a injury and he's a little cockeyed from it, so leave him alone. Mother shift wild. Well, that. That was my first time. And did any of you guys have a Kleenex? Because that. That was a real tear jerker for me. Thanks, Johnny. That. Hey, Johnny. Johnny, hand that over here again. Johnny, hand it out to the screen. Oh, thanks, John. There you go. All right, that's perfect. I could go get some of my wife's tampons for you if that'll work. Oh, yeah, yeah, it better be about.

That bit around for Brett. So that was your whole story? Yeah, that was my first. That was my first two kill. That's it. All right, squad, tell us your first kill. Oh, Jesus. Which. What do you want, bow or rifle? Your very first kill. That was my very first kill. All right, well, Brett's my very first harvest. It was with a gun. It wasn't with a bow and arrow. But yeah, Michael did it too with his first gear deer and the balls in the tree. So I was. Holy. How old was I. 3.

No, it wasn't that old. It was like I was probably eight. I wasn't that old. No, I was like eight or nine or something. I think it was like maybe eight or nine some somewhere in that area. Well, anyway, I grew up in rural upstate here and it's. We were fortunate to have 125 acres of our own. It was, you know, good, real good hunting land. And my father wasn't much of a tree stand guy until. Oh, I. I don't know, I was probably 14 or 15 before we really.

Well, he had once he had one deer stand that he built, but with me we built a couple down in the swamp. But anyway, we didn't hunt the stand that day. He was sitting on a five gallon bucket and he, you know, it was rifle season and I'm busting his, busting his ass about taking me out, taking me out. And he said, listen to me, you know where the bucket is in the swamp? I said, yeah, Pop, I, I know.

He says, when you get off the bus, put on some real warm clothes and come down real slow and, you know, meet up with me here and we'll sit here together. And I said, okay, Pop, I'll come down right after the bus, you know, lets me off. I'll get dressed. I'll come down. Don't forget your orange. I said, I know, I know. I'll bring my orange vest. So I start walking down real slow like he taught me. A couple steps and stop and looking around a couple more, couple more.

Well, I start to break into the swamp and I look up the hill and I see all these deer going up the ridge, up, up the hill. I says, oh, he's going to kill me. I just spooked. All the deer out of that were coming down to him, right? So I'm like, all right. So I stood still for a couple minutes and then I walked real slow some more and I get up to him and he says, come on, come on, sit, sit. So I. I messed up. And he says, what'd you mess up? I said, all the deer just went up the hill. How many?

I said, probably 15 or so. Okay, okay. He says, it's all right, it's all right. I said, well, I feel bad, you know, I screwed the hunt up, Pop. He says, no, no, you'll be all right. We'll be all right. We'll just sit here. So he had just got a Marlin 9 millimeter camp carbine rifle, which the reason why he bought it for one, it was a semi automatic. It was 9 millimeter. And it still took the same magazines that his Beretta model 92F used. So he liked it. It was just something he had to have.

And he said to me, he says, listen to me, son. He said, when it starts to get dark, they're going to come through this hole in the rock wall. I'm going to give you the gun. I says, okay. He said, keep pulling the trigger until I tell you to stop. And I said, okay, pop, I will, I will. He says, you put it right where I, I taught you. Right on the vitals, Right in the right, in a good kill zone. Okay. All right. So we're waiting and waiting, and it's starting to get a little bit near dark.

And he, he just tapped me real light. And he says to the right. And I look and there's a good sized doe coming in. And he says, here, here, get the rifle, get the rifle. I said, okay. And I, I, he says, get it, get it up to your shoulder now. I said, yep. He says, do you see the deer in the scope? And when I was younger, I had a, I, I just, I didn't really like scopes. I, I've shot better with iron sights.

I had a problem with trying to line my eye up into the scope and get the whole picture the right way. And his was short enough where I could look through it and I could see the deer. And I saw the deer standing there, and I said, dad, I see it. Can I shoot? He says, are you on her? And I said, yeah. He said, remember what I told you? Just keep shooting until I tell you to stop. I said, okay. He goes, go ahead. So, pow, pow, pow, pow, pow. He's going, stop, stop, stop.

And he rip, he freaking takes the gun and rips it out of my hands. He says, what the hell are you doing? I said, you didn't say stop? He's like, yeah, I told you stop. After the second shot. You got her? Well, the, the doe tumbles over. I got her about four shots out of the six. I probably let fly. And the dough went down literally yards in front of us. So, you know, you're a young kid, you know, and all this hits you, and it was just a whirlwind of emotions. I mean, we were, like, happy.

I was broke up. I, I, I didn't know what to experience. And he says, all right, all right, listen, we got to get this deer out of here.

He says, so I'm going to teach you how to gut it out. It's getting dark. You got to hold the light. Okay. So, you know, same thing. You hold the leg. He's showing you what to do. And. And, you know, that was my. My first deer sitting on my old man's lap. That was the first deer I ever killed. And it was. It was the next year after they had decided that I knew enough that I could go out on my own with them being around, but in a different area, not exactly right next to them.

And then I had got my first doe by myself with. With the rifle, but I was able to get a bow after that. I shot a four pointer, was my first buck with the bow and then a bunch of deer after that. But, yeah, you know, it's one of those things you'll never forget. I'll go down. My. My cousin owns the property now because my grandparents built, died, passed on, and then he bought the property. And it's. It's hard. I can't even go past that tree. So. Yeah. But pretty cool. Yeah, it is.

Yeah. Yep. Well, mine wasn't as ventful as yours. Right now we can't even compare to. Mine was more up than anything. Moved back from Texas to move in with us. Dave, you share your story, and then we'll have John go after you. Okay. And then the deucer is going to share a story too. All right. All right. I don't even remember how old I was. Jesus Christ. It's 10, 11, 12, something like that. Well, he was around when you started hunting, so. Well, this isn't the same uncle. This is the other one.

Not the one that got me into hunting. This is his brother. Is that when dinosaurs roam the earth? Right after that comment. So he was the. He was the master of drinking goble beer, if you've ever heard of Global, the brand. Oh, yeah. So he handed me one day and said, yep, you're gonna go hunt. We're gonna go hunting tomorrow. And I'm like, okay. I don't even. I don't even think he knew.

He gave me this shotgun, this Mossberg pump 16 gauge, and he just handed it to me the night before and said, here's some buckshot. Go shoot that tree in the yard. So I went and shot it, and he's like, yep, you're good to go. So we live basically nothing but woods around us. And we go out the next night and we got my flatlander cousin or my uncle, my. My Aunt Beth's husband. Never been hunt before. Never shot a gun, never did nothing. Decided he wanted to go hunting one time.

So they drop him off. He's like 300 yards further in the woods to me. My uncle sets me and he's like, here's my prime spot, you know, Shoot the biggest deer that comes out, whatever it is. And I'm like, all right. And I probably at that age, you know, shouldn't be left alone, but I didn't give a. I had a shotgun. He says, walk straight ahead about a hundred yards. You'll see a valley of red. And I go, what the fuck's that mean? And he says, you'll just see it. And he leaves. I need.

And I go out there and I see basically a dump truck pile of apples with a box blind. So I'm sitting there and I don't know what to do. I'm just sitting there. And just before dusk, here comes about 10 does. Yep. And I'm like, well, I'm just gonna shoot the biggest one, whatever it is. Yeah. And I shoot. And I'm in a piece of metal folding chair and it rocks me back. And I look down again and everything's gone. I'm like, holy, I missed it. How the did I miss it?

It's like 15, 20 yards with, you know, with some three inch. So I just sit there and I'm. Like, what the hell? Then all of a sudden, probably like five minutes later, I'm watching and apples are like flipping in the air and it's starting to freak me the out. Like, why are these apples jumping in the air? So I racked another shell and I walk on the other side of that pile and there's this big ass do just dumped over. Yeah. So I sit there and he says, oh, I'll come back and get you.

And I'm like, all right. And my uncle Mike heard. So he comes running, he's all freaking out and like, yeah, that's awesome. And yeah. So my Uncle Tim comes back, picks us up, says, hey, I'll take you home. I'll take care of the deer. And I'm like, okay. So he drops off to my uncle Dan's or my uncle Jay's, and it's like 11 o'clock and like, he ain't coming back. I'm like, where the is he at? So I call up my mom because he only lives like half a mile away.

And she's like, oh, yeah, Uncle Tim's over here. He's frying up venison. And I'm like, what? He's like, yeah, dude, he's frying up venison. So I beeline for the woods and he had the back straps Ate up. He had that all cut up and quartered up, and it was all laying on the table in the sink. Wasn't even gonna share it. It was my deer. I was like, what the. Yep. Yeah. And then pretty much after that, when I got older, me and Dan, pretty much.

We grew up together since we were, like, kids when he moved from North Carolina. So we. We pretty much hunted together at his aunt's farm, which he owns now because she passed. And we just. We put the murder on them out there. Allegedly. Well, they got the block permits for crop damage. Oh, nice. So she would put them. No, Down. Up north. North Baldwin. Gotcha. Yeah. Because Dan's from up there, too. And she would put a bale of circle hay out in the middle of her field out in front of the house.

Yeah. And we. And we would just sit there and wait for them to all come, and then we got the skss out and just started unloading on them. And they couldn't run because it was all ice. It froze. Yeah. And then we load the back of his truck up with, like, 10, 15 deer at a time, and we take them into Baldwin, and we would sell them for, like, 40 bucks a pop. Nice, man. We made a killing that year, I bet.

Now. Did they? Is that, like, back then, I'm assuming it was more, obviously more popular. Nowadays, it's kind of less popular, in my opinion, where they have, like, those. The meat processing place, and they have those two. Those giant hang your deer type thing. It was really popular. Yeah. Your block pole type deal. Yeah, we. We. Me and Dan did that a lot. We still do. We still do it out his house, and then he has one behind the farmhouse, too. But we still do the buck pole.

We got one at the cottage up north, too. Yeah, we just hang ours in a tree now. But I always thought that was cool to see that, especially like the. The black and white photos. I always thought that was really cool to see. They kind of. I think there's a place in schoolcraft or portage someplace in that area that still does that type of thing where they. Everyone brings their deer and they hang them up on these on the butt poles, and you just see, like, 20 deer on them. Indiana this year.

Yeah. Up here, it was popular. Like in the Adirondack deer camps. The guys would run a buck bowl, hang their bucks up on it and stuff like that. When we went up to. We used to go up to Bruce's crossings. Oh, that's cool. Hey, I know where Bruce's crossings at. That's right. Next to that. My uncle's cabin. Yeah. So me and Dan and a couple buddy of ours went up there for a weekend. We leased some property up there and we went up and unloaded on them and they had a buck pole right in front of the.

Basically it's a hotel slash gas station. And we rented this big suite out and they had a big buck pole and our friend Stan. Actually it was funny, we went to the casino and we came back and the one that was that you could see is all ate the up. That was our friend Stan. The coyotes were on it. On his. Yeah. Yep. The coyote was. Was eating the ass and his whole deer when we came back from the casino. Yeah, it was funnier than left. Everybody else's alone just ate stands.

His was like the size of a dog too though. So it's probably why it went for that one. Matter of fact, it may have been a chocolate lab. It could have. And then, and then that day we went. We went back because a couple of the other guys are too much of to go hunt. Hunting. So you know, I don't like that language. I don't like that type of language. Yeah. Anyway, that guy, me and Dan stuck this. This deer with a beer can and a cigarette mouth in. In our friend's bed.

Yeah. And the cleaning lady came in and she lost her. She freaked the out. You know, Brett said. Brett said he went to a place called Bruce's Crossing, but this is what he was looking for. That was Bruce crossing the street. No, we had fun up there. If, if we weren't banned from that hotel, we probably would have went back. Dude, how do they know that you're banned now? Let's go back and try it. Let's just do it again. Yeah. That was 20 years ago, if not longer. Yeah, sorry.

Brett wasn't even born then. Yeah, I was born 93. Yeah. Me and Dan used to go up to that property where we were going to bear hunt. And my ex in laws owned 93. This. This luck is I got this prime spot out behind the property there. And there's just a few. It's all cedar swamp butted up to like 10,000 acres of meat paper. And there's some high ground. So I had this spot. I shot a couple nice deer out of it. I found a better spot. So I told Dan, hey, just sit here. I always see deer here.

I always see at least one or two bucks. I make it to my spot in my pop up, probably sitting five minutes and I heard boom. And I'm like, you Got to be. And this is back in the two. Way radio, walkie talkie days, net sell days. Yep. And I said, was that you? And he says, yep, I just smoked an eight point. And I go, kid me, you. And then he was all pissed off and I'm like, why are we. So we left and went back got his deer because I was. I had a giant black bear trying to stalk my ass.

So we went back and got the Mac 90s with the drum clip. Waiting for that. Oh, but he said as he dropped that eight point, he said his granddad was right behind him. And he said he was huge. And he didn't even see that buck until it dropped. And then he looked and he's like, oh, my God. Now, before we get to Johnny, my mom said she's got a free minute. Oh, Squats. He just turned red. Yeah, you can see the cheeks blushing. Weird. I gotta check out something real quick.

Grinding with a Squatch D. Can you guys hear that? No. No. Oh, I hear something. Hello? Hang on. I heard her say I'm here. Can you hear us? Yeah. Oh, there she is. Hi, mom. Here I am. Hello. How are you? Hi, Ms. Bowman. Hello. Hello. Hey. Hey. You two settle. You two settle down. Hello. I'm the Christian of all of them. Yeah, well. Oh, I'm the Christian that took a wrong U turn, but yeah, you did. I just. I just want to introduce myself. I'm the Squatch. And you're. You're like. You're like.

I don't even know. I might have lost for words. I'm jumbled up. What an Honor to meet Ms. Bo. Well. Well, it's an honor to meet you. Brett has talked about you all so much. Thank you. That skin. Scary. And yeah, whatever he said, it's a lie. Oh, he. No, he speaks highly of all of you. Oh, that's nice. Great. You are a good liar. You were right. I'm liking you more and more every day. Yeah. Well, mom, I just wanted to. I just wanted you to call in because we wanted.

We didn't get to the last time, so we just wanted to. Hey, squad, stop smiling now and make. The old man blush. He's gonna go to bed with butterflies in the air and cuddle up to a teddy bear. Yeah. Yeah, that's it. No, that's it. You got a good kid. Thank you. Thank you. I think he's a good kid as well. He is. He's pretty much like our little brother. Yeah, well, for some of us grandkids. Yeah. These guys were walking around when Cars were invented.

Yeah. Oh, Bo. What year did you graduate, Brett? 2012. Oh, my God. I had already. Well, no, I was just getting ready to retire out of the army at that point. Wow. Yeah, I was. I graduated high school when you were born, Brett. I graduated in 88. You guys are old. I graduated in 85. Well, that's not. Yeah, see, that's. That's not. Well, I'll be 56 in June, so. Yeah. Yeah, you're still. You're. You're still young. Yeah. Oh, I know all the time. Yeah, I do.

Hey, like the song says, older women make beautiful lovers, and I'm a firm believer. Oh, yeah. You're a wonderful man. Well, thank you, Brad. Looks like you got a new daddy. Don't forget Father's Day. Yeah, don't forget Father's Day is coming up, Brett. Right. Yeah. Let's call my dad now and see what he has to say. Conversation, Brett, you might want to make sure you get that back. Child support. Done. Hey, Brett. Y. Hey, Brett, you remember how you made us disappear before?

When your dad comes on, just hit that button for me, all right? Dude, we gotta get your. We gotta get your dad on now. Dude, we gotta get your dad on. You guys are wonderful people. Thanks. Well, thank you, Mom. I don't want to tie you up. I know it's late. All right. You guys have a wonderful night. God bless you. Nice meeting you, too. Nice meeting you. Love you, Brett. Bye. Bye. Bye, Brett. Tell your mom you love her. Come on. I did. Oh, okay. Made sure.

Yeah. Yeah. Don't make your new daddy come over there and spank you. Go. Maybe take the belt off, boy. Yeah. Oh, my mom chased me one time with a belt. I pissed her off, and it was the one time she legit chased me with a belt, and I ran away. That's funny, man. And then you ran into a wall, and that's why your eyes all up. I told you guys. He fits right in. Man, doorknobs. Well, Johnny, now it's your turn. Yeah, tell us. Tell us your jacking story. Yeah. Second tour of Nam.

I don't like talking about it. I was just gonna say, wait a minute. Is this when you get shot in the neck? Is this when you get. Oh. Oh, God. Way before that. Oh, okay. 2006, Iraq.

No, honest to God, I. I killed a dive way before I killed my first deer. My first deer. I was well into my 30s when I killed him. It was a. So my first year, once I got out of the army is when I really started Hunting. Before that, it was kind of like I'd use it as an excuse to get out of school. Yeah. So good excuse. Yeah. Oh, yeah. And it worked. Then once my dad would wake up, he'd wake me up. I don't want to go. And then of course, he was happy because he didn't have to babysit me.

So, yeah, it was a win win, Right? But no, I was doing a hunt in. Where was I? Nebraska? Yeah. No, Missouri. I was in Missouri. So I did a Missouri and Kansas hunt. Then we were duck hunting in Nebraska as well. But I was in Missouri rifle hunting. Because at the same time, rifle season in Missouri is bow season in Kansas, and we're hunting both. So I'm in Missouri, and we were on a three day hunt, and it was for Wounded warriors in Action Foundation. Nice, dude.

The first full day I would see deer, I'm like, oh, that's a nice spot. It's a nice spot. And they're like, no, no, no. Just wait. Just wait. Like, okay. So I'm like, taking advice from these guys, right? They're like, I'm like, that's a beautiful basket rat. No, no, no, no. Just hold on. So I did, and I waited until the very last day. And it's like the sun setting, and for hours we didn't see anything. And I'm like, heartbroken, dude. I'm like, I'm in Missouri hunting whitetail.

I. I'm seeing all these beautiful deer, and you guys are telling me not to shoot. And now it's the last day and we haven't seen jack. Like, we didn't see anything. And I was using a Ruger M77 and 300 wind mag. That was the rifle they gave me, right? This one lone doe, like, her spots must have just. Just came off. Like, she comes up right at D, like right as the sun setting. And the dude that's with me is like, he's like, shooter, shooter, shooter. That. That's a shooter shooter.

I like, all right, all right, all right. And put the crosshairs right behind the shoulder. Boom. Dude. This deer cartwheels and tumbles down. I'm like, yes. I'm all excited. And the dad's like, all right, we'll give her a little bit of time and we'll walk up there. I'm like, all right, cool. You know, don't see any more deer. The sun sets and we go up there and we walk, right? We walk up and we're like, where the hell is she? She's gone. And we're like, well, let's look around.

And we follow blood trail. And right where I shot her, about 12 yards out, there's a giant, like, ridge that went down. She had tumbled down that and wrapped around a tree, dude. I was like, I'll go grab her. And I went down there. I seen her, dude. It was, like, picked her up by the hind legs with one hand and lift her up. It was the smallest deer I've ever shot. It was. It was embarrassing because all these people are. You know, it's a veteran community hunt.

All these dudes are smoking these giant bucks, and I come to camp with this, like, tiny little dough that you can hold in both hands. Yours are the best tasting, though. Oh, my God, dude. So my most memorable experience out of that whole hunt, right? And they're standing it out and everything for me, and I'm like, all right, cool. You know, and they're like, all right, we're just gonna leave the. Leave the carcass here. I was like, whoa, whoa. But what about the loins?

And they're like, oh, no, we don't take those. Those are. That's coyote meat. I was like, oh. Like, that was. I always remembered my dad taking those. And these dudes were like, nah, man. We don't eat those. So we cut. I cut them out. And I was like, oh, these are coming. Dude, those lines are, like, that big. They're so tiny. But, yeah, that was. That was my first year. It was. Yeah. Nothing special. Super small. I was 30. I think I was 31. 32, possibly.

No, I was 31. So I turned 30 in Kansas, and then I went hunting after that. So, yeah, so everybody but Brett's popped their dough cherry. Yeah. Yeah, we got to get Brett. Brett's got to get himself his dough in Indiana. Exactly. I'm gonna get. I. I haven't. I haven't shot a DOE in the 18, 20 years I've been hunting. I shot at does, but I never found them. But I have yet to put my tag on a dough. Wow. I'm getting a doe tag, though. Oh, yeah. I'm buying a doe tag and a buck tag. Yep. I am, too.

I figured, man, nothing better at a camp than fresh venison. Oh, absolutely. You know, we get a couple deer, man, we'll eat like kings. And I'm hoping to be able to bring back some help for you guys, too. Oh, that would be awesome. Yeah, that'd be nice. I'll be doing that right before. So. No, it's. So I'll be leaving the first Week of September, out to Oregon to hunt. And we're about a month later, so, yeah, I'll have it all back here for sure. Well, I love to taste that.

Michael S. Brett, what has been the biggest buck you have shot? It's been a deer called Fish hook. He scored 144 and some change. He is my biggest deer. I shot him in 20, 20. Yeah, yeah. 20, 21. Yeah, yeah. Is that the one in the intro video? Yep. Yeah, yeah, yep. I remember that one distinctly. And. And Deucer will get to your story here in a second. I remember. I won't get into all the details about it, but I remember what's special about him besides all the other facts.

A couple of facts that were special about him was when I put my trail cameras out there, I was late to the game. I didn't put the cameras out till the end of August, and I went to check them a week before opening day. And the very first two photos were of, like, the wind and, like, some trees just from the natural movement along. And the very first picture of an actual deer was him. I was like. And he's standing right in front of my tree stand. I show my dad. I'm like, dad, look at this.

This thing's giant. And I hunted him hard and for the first, like, month, and I didn't shoot him till November 3rd. And I can tell that story at a different time. But, yeah, that. That's my very first harvest is going to be one memorable one, that's for sure, because it was with my dad and my Fish Hook kill. That one is going to be very special in my heart because it was pseudo with my dad as well. The backstory with that is, is my dad was part of that as well. So, Deucer, do you have a story?

Well, it's gonna be hard to beat all you guys, but we'll. We'll try this one out. I guess I will. I will precursor this this much. Is Deucer just getting back into hunting? He took sabbatical from hunting. Right, Dooser, You. You were gone for a while. Yeah, about 10 years off. Yeah. Yeah. So. So I was probably about 9 years old with my uncles and my grandfather. First time in Canada. Grandfather already tagged himself out. My one uncle already tagged himself out.

And my other uncle, he had one more tag left. And, you know, me being young in another state, out camping, I'm just having fun. I don't give a fuck. So I go out hunt first time, and my uncle's like, well, first one we see we're gonna drop. Doesn't matter. Okay, sounds good. Light's going down. Getting a little dark. Not too dark, but enough to see. Seen something come on in. Seen two. It looked like two coming in, but they were really close to each other. But one perched up.

So I figured there was a hill there. So after I shot it, told my uncle, hey, I got one, two to the left. So he was gonna take the one to the right and I was gonna take one to the left. So we shot the same time. Come to find out, this is where the funniest part comes, is we stopped a buck from fucking the dope, so. And he was still in, huh? Yeah. Yeah. So get back. Shit you not. We go and get the deer. I drop him. He's still inside this doe. So we're laughing all the way back.

We called, you know, we use our next cell phones. I remember those trips. Told my grandfather to bring the four wheeler out. He comes out and the first thing my grandfather says, well, I hope he got his nut off. So we. We cooked him up. And while we were, you know, my. My uncle's like, I think I taste a little creamy in this one. So again. And then second one was this. What was it last year, Brett? I talked to you about it. Yeah. First time back out, doe or bow hunting.

Sit up in a tree, saying, now I've been out for 10 years. So I don't. I can't remember the times and nothing. I'm up in the. On a public land and all that. Sitting up in a tree stand, sitting there. It's getting daylight. It's 7:00. For some reason, I think I can't shoot until 7:15. I have my bow draw, sitting there waiting. Had a big doe come on out, and I waited and waited. I had perfect broadside hit. It was so close, I could have just dropped it right there. I had perfect sights, everything.

And I waited, still looking at my watch like, hurry the fuck up. Hurry up. 7:15. Well, my buddy sat there, waited for me to shoot it for at least five minutes. Ended up taking a shot. I seen it drop. I'm like, dude, what the fuck? You're supposed to wait till 7:15. He's like, no, dumbass, you're supposed to shoot at 7. Never saw another deer after that. I was pissed. I leave it up to Brett because he. He gave me a bad spot. That sounds like some bright right there.

I blame Brett's eye because, you know, he looks that all up. I expected the picture he sends me. Yeah, that I'd get you every time. Yeah. Dad should have been the other way. He could have made that eye better. That's. Yeah, he shoots a bow, you know, with that eye the way it is. But I guess that's the eye that I close. You don't even have to close it. It's. It's already closed it automatically. No, so for. For retrospring 1 for reference, I. I have like. It's like foreskin in the.

Of the eyelid, basically. There's extra skin in my eyelid, and I'm. I'm trying to go the doctors to where they can cut that stuff off. Give you a lift. Yeah. Yeah. Is that what we're calling it now? Yeah. I just thought that you shot so much you got callus on your eye and. And you know, that's what happened. Well, he took shots so much that he's got. He's got to be able to put a gun in his hand first, you know, get put down bow and think he's a real man. Yeah, well, there's a joke about that.

So let. Let me tell the joke real quick. So there was this kid, and he. He had a deformity when he was born. He. He was born without any eyelids. So the doctor said, well, we can heal this, but. But, you know, we'll have to take the skin from when he gets circumcised and we'll use his foreskin to give him eyelids. A poor little bastard turned out all right, but he just went through life being a little cockeyed, you know, And I mean, it's right up Brett's alley. Ended up being a little cockeyed.

That story sounds like Brett. Brett, did that. That foreskin come from your daddy? From that mushroom tip stabbing him in the eye when he was a baby in there. Sorry about that. Br. How's it going? Let me. Sorry. Damn. We should ask his mom when she was on. Yeah, I do want to ask out of all these stories now, Deucer might not be able to. He might be able to elaborate a little bit on this question, but at least for us four, my biggest question now from this.

Because we've been hunting now for 20 plus years now, sharing these stories, we've always. We've obviously gone through a lot. A lot of ups and downs through hunting, a lot of emotional aspects of hunting. And one question I want to ask now. What's been the biggest mistake or biggest adversity that you've gone through that you feel has made you a. A better hunter now? Because going through that and I will say mine first to give you guys kind of like an idea where I'm trying to go with this.

When I shot my. When I shot my first dough and I missed. Like I said, embrace failure, but don't accept it. There's a lot of moments where I've had in my hunting career where I just wanted to quit. I wanted to give up. I was like this. Hunting. I just can't do it. I'm tired of. I can't not seeing deer, I'm missing deer and this and that. I'm tired of this. Then I just rooted back into my upbringings. And my personal drive is I don't quit. I've never quit anything in my life.

And because of going through those moments where it's just like. Seems nothing can go right. It's the moments where you got to just suck it the fuck up, practice more, read more, study more. And you'll eventually come. It'll eventually come along the way. And because I think of those hardships that at least personally that I've gone through has made me a better hunter. To accept those low moments because I know that they're only going to last for a brief moment. Accept those brief moments, but.

And move on from them. And they will help you in the long run. And I'm very grateful for those moments that I've gone through. And I think in my opinion, all hunters should go through those, those type of moments in some aspect. I agree. I think the good hunters are the ones that went through it. You know, they're the ones like me, you like. I'm very competitive, you know, I don't like, I don't like losing it. Nothing. And if I miss or wound a deer, I just shoot that much more.

I think, all right, I did something wrong. I gotta fix the problem, right? And maybe it might be different, at least for us three, because of our line of work compared to squash. But I'm sure it is very similar where. Because it's the find a way, find a way to win type of mentality. Because of me working in law enforcement, you had to find a solution. You had to make a decision. You can't lose. And with you guys obviously being in the military, the same type of mentality.

Squatch, do you have opinion or a take on the, on this question? Well, the, the only thing I can give you an influencing story. What affected me was I learned to listen to God and give him the credit. And because I'm nothing, you know, we, we, we, we, we put on this show and, and we do what we do. But you know. Yeah, no, that's, that's true. Yeah, that's true. Oh, absolutely. And what was it?

You can be, you can be the, you know, I don't know, let's say in our 20s and our 30s, we're just invincible. We know everything and nobody can tell us what we're going to do wrong. And you know, I was lucky. I, a lot of, a lot of the deer that I shot over the years, it was just in the right place at the right time, you know, I, I, I thought I knew whatever. I, you know, I, I screwed up on a. Probably the biggest fucking deer I ever seen in my life.

You know, a 10 yard shot with a 30 odd simp blue, blew right through him and just didn't hit vitals. And you know, that was the first kick in the teeth is like, hey, guess what, you know, you're not superman. And you know, fast forward a bunch of years and, and I, I hit this deer. I, I was working my, I was working my regular job and killing myself doing landscaping. I was working every weekend. I was like, ah, man, it's freaking deer season. I gotta get out in the woods.

You know, I'm, I'm missing out on what I love to do. And I went to my favorite stand and got up in there and just, you know, I was just, I was really like getting closer with my walk with God and, and, and I was praying and I was like, you know, I, I'm working so hard. I'm like, can you just get me something here quick? Because, you know, I don't have a lot of time this year. And I turn around, there's a halfway decent eight pointer coming along.

And I drew back, I shot the deer was quartering away from me. I seen the fletchings go right in, you know, deep into the deer. And the deer ran and it stood by this orange maple that was down in the woods. And then there's like a ravine that goes down towards the swamp. Swamp. The deer walked off slow and I was like, oh, he's gonna go bed in the water and die. I gave it time. Long story short, I got down, didn't find any blood. Called deer search.

The guy came with his dog, looked, couldn't find anything. I asked the guy, I said, you know, and I was still like a baby Christian, let's say at it. And I said, hey, you know, I'm kind of embarrassed. I'm like, hey, you know, you really worked hard. Do you mind if I prayed for you? You know, and he's like, oh, that'd be really cool. I said a quick prayer for him, and, you know, he went on his way. He said, hey, let me know. Let me know if you find that deer, man.

I'd be interested to know where you hit it. And I said, well, yeah, that makes two of us. And he said, you know, really, it was no trouble. He was going up to the next county to go hunting with his friends, so he just stopped along the way when I had called to try to help me find it with his dog and so on, and so be it. So the next day, I get a picture on my phone, and it's this huge ten pointer. And I'm like, who the hell is this?

And he goes, hey, man, I just want to thank you for praying over me. You know, you blessed me, and I shot the biggest buck of my life, like you prayed for. And I was like. I was like, wow. I was like, it ain't me, bro. You know, God. God answered the prayers that we prayed over you. I didn't have nothing to do with that, you know, But I'm happy for you. I'm still looking for my deer. He's like, well, good luck. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

So I looked for a couple days for that deer, couldn't find it. Went back listening for crows, didn't find it. Fast forward two weeks, rifle season starts, and everybody's like, oh, where are you going, dude? Where are you gonna hunt? I'm like, gonna go back to my stand, you know, And I call it the rabbit run stand because it's an old. Our road was rabbit run where I grew up. And the old carriage road goes down in. Through there, through the woods. So I'm like, I'm going to my rabbit run stand.

Yeah, yeah, okay. So sitting there, I hear to. I hear the rifle shots go off all around me further, you know, on the other properties and stuff. And I'm going, yeah, there goes a dead deer. It goes a dead deer. Nothing. I'm sitting here, I'm like, you got to be kidding me. It's like one of the best freaking stands I got. There's nothing, you know, And I'm like. I'm thinking back at the yester years when I used to shoot a deer every opening day. And, you know, you're kicking yourself.

You're kicking yourself. And I got mad. I got really mad. I said to God, I said, you know, I have a purpose. You put me here. You made me have these gifts and these talents to enjoy the outdoors. Why don't you let me have my trophy? You know what, why are you, why are you saying and doing, and putting me through all this that I can't have what I shot? And I know I hit it right. I know I hit it right. I, I, I know when I shoot a deer, I know where the arrow hit.

I was like, why are you messing with me?

And I heard it, I heard a voice, and he said, put me first, and all your trophies will follow. And I said, what? He said, put me first, and all your trophies will follow. And I says, I am, I'm going to church. I'm, you know, reading your book. I'm, I'm. Why you're messing with me. You know, this ain't funny anymore, you know? So as the shots had quieted down, I look out from where that orange tree where I last saw my buck stop before he went down into that ravine when I shot him with the bow.

And I catch a glimpse of horns coming up the rock wall from that tree. I'm like, oh, buck. A buck. Okay. So I start grunting on the grunt tube, and I see him lift his head up, and he looks, and he starts going out to the log road. And I'm like, okay, okay, he's coming. So I have my.257 Roberts. I took the safety off real easy, and I wrapped the sling because I had to make an offhand shot. And I knew he was going to come out in front of me. And as he's walking down the log road, he's limping.

He's not like a broken leg limp, but he's got something going on. And I'm looking at him closer. I'm going to myself, I'm saying, well, that looks a lot like that 8 I shot with the bow. But there, I said, there's no way that deer died, you know, I said, it's, it's not going to happen. So I watch he walks down the trail a little further, and he, he just looks like into the woods where I am, and he's breathing, and the steam is just coming out his nostrils. And I'm like, he's just standing there.

I'm like. And I'm thinking to myself, well, am I going to shoot him? All right, I'm going to shoot him. So I settled across here, right? He was kind of like quarter towards me, so I wanted to hit him in the patch of the throat, just a little bit below it. And I touched the rifle off and he, he reared up and he fell over, and he was trying to Kick and stumble and try to get up. And I shot him one more time just to put him down. And I went.

I'm looking at him, I'm like, I'm putting all the stuff together. I'm like, he was limping. He looks a lot like that. Eight. Maybe it is. I'm like, I don't know. So I'm telling you, I get down and I walk over, and I had called. My neighbor was with me, a friend of mine, Harry. I said, harry, get up here. I shot an eight. He's like, yeah, I heard you shoot. All right, man, I'll be right up. So I go over there, and I can see something, like on an angle.

It looked like a ridge under the hide, and it was into the armpit of the deer laying there on it. When I could see it laying on its side, there was a hole. Oh, I'm like, I'm like, no freaking way. I'm like, I didn't shoot that deer there with the rifle. And you could see it wasn't gangrene, but it was healing. It was like a hole. It was healing. So I put my hand down on the hide, and my hand was like, thump, thump, thump over something in there. I looked up and I said, well, you weren't kidding.

You know, I put you first, and you gave me my trophy. And I was like, this is, this is. You can't make this up. I'm like, I can't believe this freaking happened. This is, this is. Two weeks later, there was a hellfire going on where that deer came from. And that deer, like, he respawned from the last place I saw him, you know? And I said, okay, okay, yeah, I get it. I get it.

And as I learned more about scripture and I read more of the stories in the Bible, God comes to us on a level that we can understand. He comes to each of us on a level that we can understand. Okay? Just like he came to Simon Peter on the boat. Simon Peter was one of the best fishermen in the Bible, but he had a dry spell. And Jesus told him. He said, cast your nets to that side of the boat. And he's like, what do you mean? I, I, I've been. He said, cast your nets to that side of the boat.

They'll be so heavy, they will break. I'm telling you to do this. And when he did, he said, I'm not fit to tie the sandals on your feet, my Lord. So that's what you, you, you say all this, the stuff that, all the things that we take and we learn, and we. We. We put it to some kind of, you know, science that we've got these guys figured out. We got these deer figured out. All I do is I just say, hey, put it up here where you want me to go. I'm good. You know I'm good. I know I'm gonna.

You made me good. You made me the way I gotta go. You made me do all this stuff. You made me have interest in this. Instead of doing drugs and. And doing the wrong thing, you put me out here in the woods to guide me this way. And now he's put me in a position where I can reach out to hundreds and thousands of people through what we do here.

So anybody that thinks that there's not some higher force who's God that doesn't steer you in the direction that you should go, you're sadly mistaken if you don't understand it. And that is my. My expert guide, let's say, on how to deer hunt. I listen. And it's the same with fishing, you know, just get that feeling, you know, And. And it's your conscious. Your conscious talks to you. And, guys, when you say, I never heard anything from God.

I've actually heard God on more than two occasions speak to me. And people say, well, you're lucky. I never hear that. Excuse me, I'm sorry, but I tell everybody you're. You're mistaken. God speaks to you every day, and they say, what do you mean, conscience? Yeah, I got a conscience. I said, you know. You know when you did something and you're thinking about it and something's telling you maybe it wasn't right? Yeah. I said, well, that's God, whether you realize it or not.

We're all born with that natural antenna of a conscience, and it's God speaking to you. So my best advice is learn the outdoors. Learn how to survive, and put the Almighty first in what you do. And I'm telling you, when I have a dry spell, I will sit there, and I get on my phone, I go on my Bible app, and I start reading scripture. And don't. You know, every darn time that I do that, deer show up. And God and I got this thing he. He puts.

When I have a thought, and I'm wondering if it should be this or that. I see a deer. So it's just the way that he talks to me. He comes to me, he lets me know, hey, I'm listening. I got this, I got that. But there is no advice. A lot of people have great advice. There's some awesome hunters out there. But God created everything that we enjoy, and I follow what he teaches me. Well put, brother. Right. On that note, how can we even compare fair and have a good night. That. Yeah, yeah, that.

That. That is well put there. Squash. Thank you for that. I definitely know that my. At least my journey itself, I need to do better at putting. Lord. First, I. I do want to get the opinion from the Dooser from your point of view, because you're fairly new but fairly into hunting, and I want to know your point of view on the question at hand. Well, like I said, I've been out of it for 10 years. The reason I stopped was it was my grandfather's and my thing of how we bonded. It was a family thing.

We always hunted. When he passed away from Parkinson's, I just figured there was nothing left to do. Can't do it. Didn't pretty much believe in myself. And I figured, you know what? I need to set back. I need to figure out what I need to do. Anytime I figured out when I went back out in that woods for the first time, it felt home. Like Squatch said, sometimes miracles work in their weird ways. And he works his weird ways. And every time I go out there, I feel like my grandfather's with me.

And just everything comes back in that. That feeling of just getting away from my. My career, my jobs, all that stuff. You know, it's. It's so nice getting back out into nature. And it's going to take me time to get back in my old roots, but it's like riding a bike. I haven't forgotten it. I thought I would, but I'm starting to remember all of it. And I'm. I'm now 100% in it now. And my wife is gonna kill me because I'm already five grand in the hole with it, but.

Oh, well, I'll deal with the consequences later. Well, you could just tell her it's that or you could start doing math. Yeah, I guess so. I don't think my. My boss would like that, but. Yeah, yeah, yeah, do the divorce and hunt more. Yeah, divorce and child support and. Yeah, whatever. I mean, I've had a. Like when I used to hunt when I was younger, I used to go out.

I don't know if you guys ever done it, but any new place I ever gone, I've always grabbed the ground, put it between my hands, rubbed it against my. You know, my gun. Pretty much brought myself to that nature, and I always took a piece of that. Anytime I shot something out of it. I took a piece of that dirt with me. It reminded me, and I would put the year on it. And it's. Everybody's got their quirks. You know, what they do and how they do, and whatever helps them memorize it.

You know, cutting the tail off of a deer, the antlers off the deer, the skin, whatever. It helps them remember. But my thing is, I grab the dirt, I sit down there on my one knee, look down, and I pretty much pray to my grandfather, trying to. Hoping to have a good hunt. And then I just sit out there. No phone on me. I just kind of just sit out there and enjoy the nature. And a lot of people don't realize, you know, when you live in the city and you get.

Life gets busy for you, and when you get out in that woods and you finally put that phone down and you really open up your ears and you listen, you start enjoying nature, and you start enjoying things, and then you start noticing things, and it's like. I don't know how to say it, but it's. It's like a big relief. It's a big breath, and it's like you feel like you're home again. You can start all over. Yep. Yeah, I agree.

Yeah. Because your story resonates a lot to me, because I quit hunting years ago when my oldest passed away, so he was my hunting buddy. And then I just. In my mind, I just. I didn't care about hunting no more. You know, he was. He was the one that we would always text and everything, and he was really good friends with my Dan's son, Tanner. So I just didn't have even the desire to hunt. I just didn't care. And it was weird because my youngest really wasn't into hunting. Didn't really care.

He was into football, which is fine. I didn't care if my kids hunted or fished. Not. He just decided one day, he, hey, I'm gonna try hunting. I'm like, let's go. He got out the first youth hunt, shot himself a velvet. Big, tall, velvet spike. And my oldest, actually, before that, he shot a doe on the youth hunt. And that kind of brought it back for me, where I kind of realized what I was missing.

And then it was more of my therapy than anything, you know, because it put me in a dark place for a long time, and. And now. Yeah, now it's just kind of like. It's. It's like part of who I am. You know, my kid, you know, he's into it. You know, my oldest, when he gets back out of the Marines. He's talking about wanting to take it up again. And at that point, at first I didn't want to hunt for myself.

I just was like, I'm not going to deny my kids that opportunity to enjoy what I used to like to love to do when I was, you know, my whole life. But then I still feel there's a part of Caleb every time I go hunting, you know. Yeah. Yeah. I personally, I. So my. My grandma died from. From breast cancer when I was six months old. And that's why I always have pink veins on my. My arrows is to that dedicated to her. And I think we all have our like.

Like Doozer said, we all have our quirks and stuff like that, but I think. I think we need to have more of these type of conversations with hunting is more than just going out there and shooting deer and trying to harvest a deer and kill a deer. And yeah, we come on the show to give the best advice possible and all the information that we seem fit. But I think we also need to have these conversations more where hunting is more than just that.

We. That's why we call this electronic campfires because we. It's our chance to share these memories and share these moments because really, at the end of the day, that's what really hunting is about. That's what hunting was back then, where everyone would get together for deer camp. They'd share stories and share those heart open, those heartfelt moments, and that's what made that special. We don't have that as much these days.

And then honestly, after tonight's show, I think that we should dedicate more shows to opening up like this because reality is this. What we just all talked about is hunting. And it's hard. It's why we do it. Yeah. Killing a deer is just, you know, the carry on top. That's awesome. But yeah, it builds different kinds of friendships too. I will be honest. Absolutely. They're more. It's more of a true friendship. It's more like we talk about it all the time. More like a brotherhood.

Like when my kid passed and Dan found out about it, he was the first one that drove all the way down here. Him and his wife, they were the first ones out of even my family. They beat everybody down here, you know, and it was just. We grew up hunting together, you know, and it. And I just think hunting bonds people closer on a different level than just regular friendship, you know, I mean, you. And I, Dave, we. We can reference the military from that.

Like. Yeah. The dudes from the army that I have, they are more family than. Oh, yeah, my siblings or my. My dad, you know. Yep. But you. If one of them called me today and was like, dude, I have a hard time. Cool. How far away are you? I'll be there 20 minutes later. Yeah, that's. Or 20 minutes earlier. That's what I would do. And with the hunting community, like, us right here, you know, I've. We've never met squats in person, but like. And we ran into each other a couple times.

Brett, you've been over to my house. But at the same point, like, if Brett was like, dude, I'm having a hard time. Come on, dude, come on over. Or I'm like, Dave, man, I'm struggling. Like, dude, come on up. Like that. Let's do this. And yeah, we. We can see each other in person and then go all off season without seeing each other in person and then pick right back up where we left off. And that's. That's the hunting community. Yeah. Like a married couple. Basically an ugly stepchild named Br.

We say. We. We say, brother, welcome to the brotherhood here. And it. Yes, we do a lot of hazing on this show. Do not get me wrong. We love that part. But then a day like John just said perfectly. There's more to it than just hazing with brotherhood. It's. You have that person's back and no matter what, you're going to be there for them. Like, I know John, you've been there with situations where you've had a buddy that was in a down moment and he's dropped everything and you go help him.

I know my brothers and sisters in blue. I've been in the same situation. I've had to drop things and like, hey, I just need to have. I need to talk for like 20 minutes. Just. I'll just sit there and let them vent or I'll go meet them in person. That's. That's a part of the brotherhood. That's the point. That's the brotherhood here that we're trying to create with Whitetail Advantage.

We want everyone that's listening to the show that watches the live shows to feel like this is actually you're feeling welcome. A part of the brotherhood to reach out to us in any situation. We're. We're an all open book. You can reach us on all platforms. I'll even give you my number. Some of you guys actually do have my. My number. Yeah. I actually got Brett's Posted at the 76th Street Truck Stop in the bathroom, so. But it is just like marriage if you think about the vows.

I mean, it's for the good and the bad. You know, you're. You're there for them when it's good and you're there for them when it's bad. You know, and with the hunting community as well as like, you know, the, the military or law enforcement, I'm sure, like, I will talk about every single one of you guys right to your face. Yep. I do it too. Like, I'll talk to Brett. I'm like, man, you know, Dave's. Dave's a pretty good dude, man. Like, that's, you know, he's not.

Don't tell him I said that, dude, you know, other faith and we'll say something nice behind your back. Yeah, I won't say. Don't worry, I won't tell anybody. Exactly. Right. I just wanted him to know that I think that he's a piece of. But hey, yeah, he's a really good guy. You, buddy. Good guy. But during the show bash on him. Michael says this when we start wrapping it up, I don't feel welcome. Well, since you're not 18 yet. Yeah, you gotta grow. You gotta grow hair on your balls before you can.

You gotta be able to drink a beer. Not even drink a beer. You're shot in a beer. Yeah. Well, with that being said, guys, let's. Let's do the outro all together. Let's do this first. Squatch. How can people reach out to you? People can reach out to me, as always, on Instagram under outdoors and more with the squatch or my YouTube channel. You guys can always find me here at 8:30 on Sundays and Tuesdays on the Whitetail Advantage.

You can catch me also on the Garden State Outdoorsman podcast with Mike Nitray and Frank Mystica. And you know, like I said, you know, we're here to work together and help each other out. So if you got questions, you want to know more about religion, hey, I talk about everything. So hit me up. Dave. How about you, brother? Same thing, man. Just reach me on the Wait Till Advantage podcast every Sunday and Tuesday. More like Tuesdays for. Until next month, hopefully. And then it'll be Sundays too.

And. But you can reach me on Instagram, Facebook and on YouTube under PSE Mobile. Hunter John. How about you, brother? You can find me on Whitetail Advantage. I'm here as much as I can most Sundays. On Tuesdays, you know. Yeah. And then I'm on Instagram, Nitro Outdoors. Johnny Nitro Knight. I'm on there. Hit me up Any questions, let me know. I mean, I'm an idiot and I quote movies all day. So if you want to quote movies man, find me. Yeah, John Squatch doesn't know a lot about movies.

We should just do like in the hunting season where we just dedicate. Talking about movies. Talking about tonight. We do a movie night trivia. Yeah, well, him and I are actually working on that. Him and I'm going to be working on that. I love that idea that Johnny gave tonight. Oh, during the day like squad started quoting Airplane. I don't. Have you ever seen Airplane? That's. I haven't no. Airplane. Oh, watch Airplane one. Airplane two is dumb. Airplane one is good.

And you gotta watch Police Academy too, man. All day quoting Airplane or Blazing Saddle. That's the other one.

I was 22, I saw as young as the one in my department when I got hired in and my buddies asked me, you ever seen the movie Top Gun? I'm like, what? The movie? What, what the. What are you talking about? What are you talking about? Like you've never seen Top Gun? And then I finally saw it. Was that movie about. Yeah. Do you know what it's about? Yeah, what? It's not about fighter pilots. Tom Cruise. Well, Tom Cruise. I've seen the movie. It's about being gay.

Okay. Yes, it's about being gay and Tom Cruise struggling between heterocentral and homosexual. Well, he was a semen. So I mean, you know. Yeah, look at it. Listen, okay, you have the. Tom Cruise is. He wants to fit in with the fighter pilots who are always shirtless, bouncing around, doing really gay, right? And then the doctor who is like feminine and Tom Cruz is like, oh, you know, I kind of like you.

Then there's scene in the movie where Tom Cruise goes over to her house and they're sitting there, they're laying on the. On the B. Or they're laying outside and you're thinking, oh man, he's going to make a move. But what does he do? He gets up and leaves, right? He drives away on his motorcycle. The next scene, the doctor, you see her walking into the elevator with Tom Cruise and she's dressed like a dude.

She's like, okay, if Tom Cruise doesn't like me as a woman, maybe he'll like me as a guy, right? So that's when Tom Cruise starts really paying attention to her. She thinks about it and then. Have you ever. The very last scene in Tom and Top Gun, right? They're flying. Are we talking about the. The Top Gun? Top Gun. Top Gun. Top Gun. I'm trying to remember of Gay Scene. I don't, I don't. I feel like you're grasping at straws with this. Somebody's been watching pornhub too much.

That's why I was like, talk. Too many movies, man. Yeah. Top. Is it called Top? What is the last. What is the last conversation in Tom, in Top Drawn, between Iceman and Never? I remember, but I don't remember, though. No, no, it's. You can ride with my tail anytime you want. Oh, that's right. That's right. Right. And then Tom Cruise turns around and says, I would love to ride your tail. Yeah. And that's how it ends. And then now think about it. Val Kilmer's dead and Tom Cruise is still alive.

I know. What a waste. Yeah, that's a stretch. But, yeah, if you watch that movie now, you're gonna see it completely different. Have to rewatch this movie now and look at it in that lens perspective. But you know what it is? This is. This is what happens in real reality here, guys. All right. John watches so much porn, it starts mixing in with real movies. And in his drunken stupor. Yeah. He seemed to make sense as they come together. And then he makes some kind of, you know, reference.

Yeah. To this. And he's like. Yeah. And he just sees it in his own light as Top Gun and some kind of. Well, you know, they make parodies. Yeah. They make parody porn. Oh, yeah. That's what he's. He's thinking, like. But he remembers watching the real movie first. Yeah. You can't. You can't tell me the volleyball scene in Top Gun is in Jay. I don't even remember. I, I suppose that kind of was pretty gay. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, so I, I can see your point. I, I can see your point.

Okay. I just have to watch it now in that perspective. Exact. And then you're gonna be like, holy. You're gonna blow up my phone and be like. Like, I know that. I know exactly those scenes you're referring to as well. So I, I, I remember I'm replaying it in my own head. But now I have to watch it actually through that perspective now. I'm not wasting my time to watch that movie again. I just. I just have a question. Why was. Why was John so focused on all them scenes?

Dude, were you, like, that bored overseas like, you had the lotion out? Yeah. All the cloths ready to go. I mean, I know you guys saw a bunch of donkey out there. Oh, man, don't even get me started on that we would take bets on who's gonna fuck what donkey. When you see a group of like four dudes walking into a field at like midnight, you're like, oh man, one of these poor donkeys didn't get rid railed. And then we had a on which one would do it. We had a great show. Getting heartfelt.

And that's just what she was just waiting for. It just. It went Top Gun gauge. Yeah. Nose the ground, dude. Yeah. Stay tuned next week. Definitely did not eject out of that one. Stay tuned next week for when we talk about Woolly Walker. Yeah. Or Free Willie and the Fudge Factory. Actually, this is when Johnny gets Willy Wonka and Willy Wanker confused. Then I'm going to compare it to Oklahoma City bombing or some.

Yeah. Johnny's recollection is if you see four Oompa Loompas going into a field, you know one of them is going to get it. Well, everyone, that's going to conclude another episode of the Whitetail Advantage podcast. I want to say thank you to everyone for gathering around the electronic campfire with us today. I don't know if it's electronic, if. This show made you laugh, made you think, gave you new perspective, please hit that like and subscribe button.

If you're listening to this on the audio version, please give us a five star rating and also give us your feedback on how you think the show went. Do you think you can do anything better and improve upon. Please let us know. We like constructive criticism. Yeah. Comments next week about every single movie that came out that had gay scenes probably. And if we made. And if we turned you gay. Yeah. Send a comment to John. Yeah. Personally, thank him later.

The audio versions of our podcast gets released every Monday and Wednesday at 5am Eastern Time. However, again I will point out we do not have a live show on Easter. So our next audio version of our episode will not be released till next Wednesday. Now, if you ever want to be a guest on our show or you want anyone from our team to be a guest on your next show, head to our website whitetail bash.com and you can book one of your live shows with us.

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