00:00:00 Speaker 1: Hey, this is Tyler Jones and you're listening to the Element podcast. I mean my side, hold on to me, gep me. So what's happening on the woods people? We're sitting in in the truck again. That's what we do a long way podcast because technically we really don't either one of us. Like it's about to be nobody has a house. It's about this family of the Element here no Element housing, No, No, I'm about to go to the RV life again for a short while while we construct a supposed forever home. And you're going to construct a home soon, and you've been living in a makeshift home. It's been pretty homey, it's been pretty nice. Yeah, it's been, uh, but it's a it's it's literally like, as we prepare to go to the mountains in a few weeks, like it has turned into a mountain in my house. Like I don't even know why we're laving to go to the mountains because it's just climb right, talking about clothes upon clothes upon toys. Man, it's just ridiculous. But yeah, we're kind of both in the same boat where I don't know when y'all are starting exactly, but we're looking at July, and I said that like last show, I think that's kind of Uh, I don't know. Um, there's like what do you call starting right, because y'all started a while back because you've got a pad so and so we were and all that kind of stuff, and I've got to get all that kind of stuff ironed out. But like I would imagine that the first, um, first pier hole will be drilled in July something like that. So we're gonna both be building houses during deer season. It's gonna be a part We're gonna have to figure out a way to not work though during deer season when you build your own house like I do, it's gonna be hard to do what Uh, I can foresee a whole bunch of six am starts on the house and quitting about you know, one o'clock or something like that and going hunting. So I think it works up pretty good. I mean, you and I both structure our lives around hunting and like what we do around it, so we are free to go and do that. And uh, I don't know. I think what we need to do this year's for sure concentrate on uh skipping out asn't the rout word, but taking the time to go hunt when it's time to go hunt and not getting too anty about it. And on October eighth, when it's like eighty seven as opposed to a hundred or whatever, you know, it's still not good hunting weather. But at the same time, when it's October twenty two and there's a front coming through, we don't need to be working in watching deer in the neighborhood rut. We get a podcast. Yes, we were podcasting from the table in the cold front and that buck was breeding that dough on the lake shore and he was a shooter. We're like, we're gonna do this podcast and then go work a fun party. Yeah yeah, yeah. But anyways, today we are not watching uh bucks rut around, although I would be fine fast forwarding Actually no, because we can sip him in there first. But fishing yeah yeah, yeah, sure, Well today we're actually watching the fish rut, baby Baby. We did a little pre scout while Ago went out and uh Tyler found a nice grasshopper and threw it in the water. And amongst the debris on the on the bottom there is a couple of brim beds and it's smoked a grasshopper right away? Did they Does anybody tie size sixteen hopper? Because I think that's what would be like. I don't know, but I think they should. Man, honestly, I don't know how selective uh long years. Yeah, I'm talking about for side, like mouth size more than anything, you know what I mean, like getting that hook in their mouth. Yeah, I think about the one I threw in there. I think, yeah, I threw a little bit bigger one and it spooked the little perchi pretty bad. So just just to clear this up, we do understand that per and brim are not actually what we're targeting, but that's what they're called here, all right, this is a long yard sunfish. Yeah, so we'll be targeting here shortly. But first before we do that, we've got a pretty cool, fun interview that we're gonna have today. So fun, so fun. Our buddies at fair in Ball, who's been on the podcast a couple of times. I think he did a big buck breakdown. And then one of the first episodes when four, uh it was early. It should have been number four. But if you can recall, and if this doesn't surprise you, useax phone service Uh. During our first it was like he was like our first interview, we were broken up at the time, you know, and then we were like, hey, you want to be on our podcast. We're starting this new deal. You know. He's like, what's a podcast? And so we taught them how to do with the podcast just in case you wanted, and uh, then he decided to do this podcast. And I'm not sure like if he had his iPhone headphones in at the time we were doing this, and then his hair was like blocking the microphone or something the whole time. But like he we we were unable to save or salvage any of his audio, which is one of the few times that that's actually happened. And uh, we're kinda gonna probably deal with the same issues every time that we talk to Zack. Zach tends to be in places where the service is not good, which is usually if you want to kind of just list qualifications of a good podcast guest, it's usually people who spend time when the service isn't good. So we will forgive him. Um, However, if this continues, Zach, I don't know what we have to find another long haired friend. Uh yeah, that's uh, I'm looking forward to uh to to the conversation into letting everybody listen to what Zack is going to talk about, because what we kind of want to talk about with him is uh not so much tactical thing, because he can speak about the tactics all day and we'll talk a little bit about it because that's just what we do. But um, there's a lot of conceptual stuff about traveling and hunting with friends and and that kind of thing, which is uh, honestly, that's an important part of what we do at least, so it's definitely something I'm interested in. And some of you guys may be pretty more hard than me and more of a solo hunter or whatever, but what they do is definitely not solo hunting, and what we do isn't either, and so definitely right up our alley, I hope you guys are going to enjoy that, and uh, I'm hoping that we can get this done pretty quick because I want to go cast a halfway flat rod that we just got out of storage. Oh yeah, oh yeah. Before we get things going too quick, we do want to make sure that you're aware that our back country series that we've been working really hard on is going to release very soon. Yeah, if not already, depending on where go check the feed see if the back Country series is out. If so, go listen to it. If not, anticipate that with much angst. It's a big There's got some big, big, heavy hitters on the podcast that know what they're doing, man, people that spend hundreds of days out in the woods in the back country every year. So I'm pretty excited to bring that to you. And if you like that series, man, a comment, um within a review on iTunes would be a great thing to let us know. Um, how if you appreciate that, and if you want us to continue that in the next next summer or whatever, you know, we can do that again. Um. So we're gonna we're gonna try to release one of those a week, probably on Tuesday's. Uh, don't hold us to that. We try to do our normal programming on Thursdays, and don't hold us to that. But uh, because we're fixing to have a really busy summer. The reason that we're kind of gearing up and doing and we don't know when this podcast is going to release the one recording today is that is because you're fixing to leave on a john omous vacation. I'm going on a pretty good vacation in early July. So, like, we've got a lot of busy, a lot of fun coming up. So bear with us through this time. I know everybody's out having fun. Uh, if we don't have a podcast released on the exact time that you expected, just go back about thirty episodes and listen to something again, you know, to be fine. I'm telling you like I would. I searched through our our feed a few times recently, and I haven't looked through all of them, but like there there are gonna be episodes where I'm like, oh, I can't believe I forgot that we interviewed that guy. That was a great interview. You know, it's just been a few years into my memories terrible because I've been hitting the head of a bunch and um, you know, that's just the way it goes. But there's been a we've Man, We've been blessed with a lot of good info on this podcast, a lot of people that can can spit the knowledge. Man. So anyway, I guess anything else we need to hit here before No, I don't guess, So, man, I'm just kind of excited to talk to Zack a little bit about life and then go see who's willing to take a fly in the creek. Well, let's get Zack on the phone. Then I don't even be doing that, all right. So now on the podcast, we have Zack Farrenball from the Hunting Public. What's up, dude? Of course we're can you hear us? Okay? Okay, yeah, I'm like, introduce you, and we didn't hear anything. I don't know if you even heard me. Yeah, I don't even hear you. Guys, that's so weird. Yeah, I can hear you planing to day. I don't know. It's just funny because I thought the same things, like you said, introduce you, and I was like, well, maybe they're just giving it. Yeah yeah, okay, well we'll try it again. See what it happens. All right, here we go. Alright, so I think now on the phone, we have Zach Fairnball from the Hunting Public. What's update that much? It's trying to stay in service. I guess people, if if only people knew what has been going on the last few minutes here. But there you're heading out to uh, pretty awesome state that Casey and I visit quite a bit. Huh head in the Colorado right, yea, yeah, what's the plan there, dude? Some keating and stuff or what are you gonna do it out there? Oh? Hopefully gonna do some hiking, camping stuff like that. Yeah yeah, cool man, that's awesome. So trying to enjoy the summer off there. Yeah, dude, that's uh, that's what I'm doing. I'm taking off in um like twelve days too. We're gonna actually head up to Olympic Peninsula and I'm gonna be gone for like a month, just fishing my way up there pretty much. Man, Pretty excited. Yeah, that sounds like a really good time. Oh yeah, dude, So have you done any small mouth fishing yet this year? Yeah? I actually went up to I was mentioned to you guys earlier that we went up to Wisconsin and the night at a river that uh with a buddy that I fished with a lot last summer. And we hit to hit a river that's just really good. It's a really good stream and wet. We caught some fishing. He caught a couple of really night really nice and I got a couple of beasts, you know, solid fish. But I was just happy to be out on the river and just kind of getting out of kind of snapping out of that turkey turkey hunting mindset, you know. So it's just good to good to get out. Yeah, you go, you go, you'all go hard on the turkeys. Man. I feel sorry for the public turkeys when y'all are it's like it's a it's just like adamant about killing him. Man. It's just it's crazy. We we don't have Casey and I don't have quite the same turkey culture because where we grew up there wasn't turkey switch is weird because they're like in the US, you know, but where we're at, it's like a whole man, it's a void. So yeah, we get to go a little bit. But how many birds did you kill this year? Um? I guess I personally pulled the trigger on four, but um, you know, I guess I guess as a group, I don't even know how many week, you know, as far as like with my buddies and me and you know, filming buddies and stuff like that, I don't even know there a lot I think, I mean, I think we would have shot turkeys in like over ten states as it grew. It's cool. It's cool. So imagine somewhere there is a freezer full of turkey meat at this point. That's nice, man, it is, it is. It's really great because you know, when you shoot one or two birds a year, you know, you can run out of that pretty quick. And it's like when you when you cover all this ground, actually can hold on it, you know, and eat it and kind of savor it a little bit longer. It's nice. Yeah, for sure. We went and this is actually kind of my first year as an adult to go kill some birds. And uh I was shot too, and brought him home, cooked him, and my wife said, that's my favorite thing that you've ever brought home that you shot and we eat. So now I have the green lot to go kills many turkeys as possible next pretty stalked about it. Yeah, that's a good deal. That's it's actually my favorite thing as well. I mean, there's nothing better. And now I don't know if you, I don't know how exactly clean them, but generally I take take the breasts out and then also cut the cut the legs out. Usually all like slow cooked the legs and stuff like that, but the inside of the breast meat there's a tenderline in there, a tender like if you pop that, you can either cut it up the silver skin there's a big tendon in there. Either cut slice you know, sliced off that, or you can actually just grab that that uh that tendon and just pull the meat right off and that little those two little pieces of meat on either side or like that's the that's the real deal. There's literally nothing better than that piece breast. The breast is great, but the little tender in there is awesome. Oh yeah, it's gold. I've been taking those uh legs and thighs and doing that. I've got the Meter cookbook and there's a recipe for a pizzoli in there, which is kind of like a Spanish stew with hommy in it. And I'm telling you it is my favorite thing probably to eat. It is. Oh my gosh. It's just got that spicy, you know, Southwestern kind of taste to it or whatever. But that's kind of the first time I've done the legs and thighest thing. You know. Growing up, we can have a dearly slick down the south part of the state here and uh go down there and shoot birds and we would just fry up you know, turkey strips, which are delicious, but you know, whenever you start really making use of the whole bird. Have even made turkey bones stock this year, so really going into my hippie realm, you know, with the turkeys. Yeah, that's cool, that's cool, that's I mean, that's yeah. I think it's important to use as much as you can. And I you know, as you learn more recipes and stuff. I mean, I I've always just been a pretty straightforward guy so far as far as cooking on like you know and Brian a Deep Bryant or slow cooking. But yeah, I know, I know, I gotta get even more creative as time goes on, because yeah, you know, you got that many turkeys in the freezer cook so after a while, you know, slow cooking, slow cooking, everything is like, hey, I gotta do something different. Yeah, yeah, that's awesome, dude. So uh you know, I know, um, you like doing the small of thing and y'all are mostly kayaking for that thing, right, for that those adventures, I guess right, yeah, yeah, I mean ever since I was in uh high school, we did we started waiting and then we kind of graduated to canoeing when we could, you know, we had more time, and then and then really just got on the kayak game here in the last few years. And uh, the reason I like the kayak is you can go by yourself, and you can get a shuttle, you can shut well I'm not gett a shuttle, but you can use your bike as a shuttle, and you kind of do a whole a whole float by yourself, no problem, you know, pretty efficiently school. That's how I do it the mostly now if I have the choice. But I also still really like to wait there, do you one of those guys is dropping like three grand on a kayak or like what is what's Yeah? Yeah, actually that I have is pretty expensive. But the nice thing about it is I've been able to use it and I've definitely got my money to ice out of it. At this point, I think I bought the kayak and on the sixteen, so this would be the they think I think it was sixteen. So I used it all summer sixteen seventeen eighteen. This is the fourth summer I'll have used it. So it's a you know, I feel like it's worth while and still you know, some of those things. As long as you take care of it, you can turn around and sell it to and for the next one. So yeah, yeah, sure we got I've got a ocean kayak Proud or thirteen, you know, not quite as expensive, but it does me fine, and I use it on on the creeks and rivers here in Texas a lot. But a lot of the guys, like we live on a real big large mouth lake right like Lake four, you know, famous large Mouth Lake or whatever, and there's like this culture of kayak fisherman on the lake, which is kind of cool, but it's like man for the purpose you're using using it for, Like, couldn't you just buy like a three thousand dollar boat and be more efficient? You know? But I can see where like in your scenario where you gonna be fishing creeks where like you know, a hard bodied boat or anything with a motor. You know, it's just not gonna be what works well, you know, I guess it kind of makes sense more for exactly what you're doing. Um, have you been having issues with like the floodwaters and stuff up there messing up you know, different rivers and whatnot that you used to fishing. Um. Well, actually most of the flooding has been taken place in the area that I live, southern Iowa, where there's really not much for fishing. I think I've probably told you guys that before. It's just like it's kind of a dead zone as far as, like, you know, river fishing goes. There's still good public lakes, but they're pretty I guess they're not real real crazy lakes are just kind of that uh you know, damned up uh valleys or whatever that we're creeks feed into them, but they're you know, they're they're good for large mouth fishing, but for river fishing, you know, there's not much. But what's kind of cool about the area that I started targeting and uh Wisconsin this year is there are a lot of rivers that flow directly into Lake Michigan. So when that's the case, those rivers don't seem to be as affected by you know, a lot of rain is like I guess some other tributary rivers nothing like that. Yeah, yeah, it makes sense. Um, So when are you gonna come down here and catch large mouths with us? Sometimes? Man, you know, I really want I want to as soon as possible but you know how life. Life is crazy and busy, but hopefully I've always wanted to get down in Fish, Texas. I just have never got the chance. Yeah, it's awesome, man, you should come, for sure. It's the Probably the issue for you in the future is, um that a lot of like the best part of the year is probably mostly during Turkey season and starts getting real high right after y'all would finish up your Turkey tour. So if you don't get down here to see us sometime soon, there's a good chance I'm gonna be up in your country next year. Uh. If I don't draw a tag this year, like the DNR is gonna get a call and be like, what's going on because I've been Uh I think I have four plus one this year, so like I should draw it and uh and so I'm gonna be up there this year, man, And I'm excited. And um, you know, big big thing we want to kind of talk about with you this or today is just um, you know, traveling, because you guys do a lot of it. You're traveling right now, you know, And that's just kind of like, uh, something that's pretty Uh. I think a lot of people dream about about it and and uh, it's probably more attainable than a lot of people know. Um, But the first thing I guess I would ask you in regards to this is, if I do draw that tag, how many spots are gonna help me eliminate? Before you're like, Okay, you gotta find, you gotta find, you gotta find it in this this is narrowed down enough? Uh, Like do you mean like how like how many spots are you gonna help me eliminate? I'm not asking you to give me a spot, but like, like, how like this kind of stuff is not what you need to hunt, you know what I mean? That kind of thing? Yeah, I mean really that's the ultimate I feel like that's the toughest part as far as all the traveling hunting goes, is just having that knack too, you know, cross stuff off quick and not getting attached to anything. You know, It's like, what the more you can do that, and the more you can just you know, accept the fact that like when you're traveling, you're always going to be on some sort of some sort of limited time, right, whether you're hunting an area for a month, that you're hunting it for a long weekend, Like, you know, you're still at some point you have to draw a line of just cutting stuff out and I think, you know, that's just one of those things that it takes a little bit of prack this. But once you get to where you're like, hey, you know, I'm not none of these places really mean anything to me as far as like I have no history with it. I have no you know, memories that's they're telling me to set up and anything like this. It's like, as soon as you feel like you're not seeing the type of sign, whether that's here a turkey sign in these areas that you pick, you just cross out every area like that, because at some point you gotta do that, you know. So I mean as far as helping you helping you cross out a lot of stuff. Luckily in Iowa you don't have to cross out that much because there's a lot of there's a lot of game and a lot of it. But you know, there's definitely areas that you know on the given year, you know, as as we've hunted it, I kind of feel like I've hunted a full cycle at this point, if that this makes sense, Like you kind of hit all the different oak you know, oaks that are dropping acorn as at different times you hit different flood levels. Kind of seems like some of the river bottom and stuff that we hunt kind of go through a flood cycle where you know, every three to five years they'll flood, and right in this year we're kind of in that, you know, high water years. So it's gonna kind of reset that whole cycle, which will be which will be fun. But you know, on every given year, based off water levels, based off what trees are dropping, you know, the mask cop everything like that, Like it can help you. You know, once you just kind of understand that cycle and you understand what's going on at a given time, it does make it a lot easier to to knock everything out that is not holding the deer or turkey. So for example, this year we focused on a lot of pin oaks because that's where you know, those are the oaks that were dropping the most, and the beer we're just like slot areas. So that's just one smaller example, you know, crossing off the stuff or not, whether or not you know, hanging out, Yeah, for sure. So Tyler and I've got a couple of places out of state that we're pretty partial to as well, just from like previous experiences with big Bucks or whatever, or seeing the year or what have you. So when you're approaching like a new season, especially like one where you're talking about it's going to be kind of like a reset, like this year is in Iowa at least, Um, how much are you letting yourself still have like preferences from past seasons carry over versus trying to just go in every year with a clean slate. Um, I think I think you know it varies a lot, but like, um, I guess there's a couple of different examples. I mean as far as like spots go that. Um Ah, let me let me just start by saying, like I think they're to a certain degree. There's always terrain features that you get, you know, you you target right, Like there's specific ridges and like how depending on how like long those ridges are, how broad they are whatever, maybe whatever makes you know specific terrain type jump out at you. Those things always stay to say, but what is actually growing on those bridges, whether it be crops you know it's different different oak trees or or just like you know, swampy areas, whatever it may be. It's like all that stuff can change, you know, your decision um and and as far as like getting attached to your spot, like here's here's an example. It's like in we were hunting a place in the Sandhills in Nebraska that, yeah, every time we go into it, we'd see big bucks, like every time. And this year we went into it, you know two times, I think, and we just weren't seeing what we were hoping to see. So just bail on it, you know. It's it's like, yeah, the year before, there was a bunch of big bucks in there, but you know, things change and for whatever reason, you know, and and and especially in a place that you're not hunting, you're not familiar with because you're not hunting it, you know, you're in and ear out or you haven't been hunting it for a long time or scouting lot of it, like you may not necessarily even know the reason why. But if they're not there, don't waste your time. Like just it's just like I feel like I catch myself saying this all the time. It's like if you're not totally confident that you're hunting where the deer or the turkeys or whatever maybe are, then like get out of there, because they're probably probably right. Like, you know, if you're not seeing signs, then they're not there, like or you're not just seeing them, whether if you're like a Nebraska States if you're just like pros spotting anything, like, just keep moving and don't get attached, because if you get attached, I think that I think that's kind of well. I think that's one of the Getting attached at home or in UM and out of state situation is like one of the easiest things to do and also one of the uh probably most detrimental things you can do as a hunter to success. It's like get locked onto something and it's no good, You're just wasting your time. Yeah yeah, so, uh, you know, a realistic goal is kind of a big deal and like setting up your mentality making it uh so that like in the end, when you get done with the trip, the experience is at least a good one and you feel like you've you've had the experience that you kind of went for, especially in like an out of state situation. So uh, just talk like briefly about how you guys um set up your mentality, your your goals, and your realistic and then also like how you're able to still have the grit and the determination to kind of achieve those goals as well. Yeah, I mean, I guess every the biggest thing is just got to realize every state is gonna be different. I mean that you're gonna go do an out of state trip and um, you know, like Iowa, Kansas for example, you can have a little bit a little bit higher expectations I suppose than a lot of other places. But you know, you also got to keep a realistic as far as like you just unless you know, unless it's someplace that you've you know, gone to consistently over and over again and you really start you're feeling like you're starting to figure it out, I mean, you just you just don't have UM. I guess it's just it's just hard to get you know, it's hard to have a realistic goal of shooting a really big bot or you know, going to and shooting a bunch of turkeys whatever it may be, dear or turkey. I guess, I guess I think i'd ask to like, do you mean specifically here or turkey or both or either? Yeah, mostly mostly deer. Yeah, we we hunt turkeys like once a year pretty much, so Deer's definitely are are what we like to do probably more. Yeah, okay, so yeah. I mean as far as you're like, you just gotta have that mentality of like, it's not I guess it's just not. Um, well, you just gotta realize everything is different, right, And I mean if you do your do your research, when you can get a little bit of an idea of what the caliber of ther are. But I think one problem that a lot of people have is like, you know, I hear people all the time say like, well, Ohiola's got Ohiola's got huge bucks. Well it's like, I mean, yeah, it has huge bucks. But that's on. I mean, you know, big tracks of private land, and those are the pictures you're seeing. You know what you're not seeing is you know, the crazy amount of at a state Hunters Center in the public land pull offs and stuff like that. So when you get there and all of a sudden you're like, oh, you know, this is gonna be a lot different. I guess, um, I guess that's the thing you gotta be. You can you just can't have too high expectations. I guess at least that's that's what what we feel. We just feel like it's really easy for guys to get you know, these crazy expectations that are just not realistic. And as far as like continuing to go, I mean, we just we just like to figure stuff out. So like whether we're hunting a you know, two year old buck or we're hunting an eight year old bucket doesn't really matter to us. We're just you know, the ability to learn a new habitat is pretty important to us. This is something that I've been pretty inquisitive about for quite a while. And I asked it two different people who we have on the show, and and no one's and people are giving me answers, but like I never really get like the nitty gritty of what we're I'm looking to understand, like, how do you know, uh, if we're gonna dive into this a little bit, how do you know, um, you know when it's like any legal buck or like a forkey is a good thing or you know, man, really you should probably wait on you know, something that's you know, a four and a half year old, dear. I mean, you're you're in the spot, and like a lot of times, um, it's easier to know when trophy potential is really good, right, But I feel like, for instance, I reflect back to a trip that Tyler and I took about two years ago. We went to a public land spot in Texas that was kind of further away from home. It's kind of a first time venture, and uh, I passed like a little one and a half year old buck and it was the only handlred critter the whole time. That pretty much that we saw and passed him on the or is not in looking back, like shooting that deer would have been a success because we would have went shot a buck on public on a three trip. But I didn't do it because you know, you kind of had that expectation of, man, I've never been here before. It's kind of remote. You know, it could be good, and then it's not. You know, how do you how do you judge accurately really what you should be shooting on a place. I mean, to me, it's it's pretty simple, like if it makes me happy, I'm gonna shoot it. And I think I think the other thing that like you gotta remember is I think, I mean, really, how many how many people? How many people actually shoot a buck on public plan in the first place, let alone out of state? I mean not to sound harsh, but like I mean, like you said, if you would have shot that buck on public plan, you know, even if it's a one and a half yield buffing, you know, it's just like one of those deals where you know, I think that I think, in my opinion, it's really really hard and unless you do it a lot, it's really hard to shoot, you know, a big con and out of state trip, like a really big buck. You know. So to me, it's just like pretty much like if I get a good clean shot and the deer is doing what I thought it would be doing in that habitat that I'm unfamiliar with, that's a success to me. So like that buck in some situations and in a lot of situations, is gonna just simply be a two or three year old buck. And then you know, maybe maybe if I have a ton of time to hunt in an area where I'm seeing a lot of good bucks, you know, I may hold off a little bit. But like we're just so like I guess as our as our group goes, we may be the wrong people to ask as far as that goes, because we just we really do, I mean, we've been fortunate enough to shoot some really good bucks. But like, I don't know that people fully understand either like how serious we are and when we say like we will shoot a lot of like we're gonna shoot a lot of different caliber bucks and be perfectly happy because to us, because to us, what measures success, this is like figuring them out in that area. And you know, whether that's a two year old or of like I said, an eight year old, it doesn't really matter. It's just if that's part of the experience for us. It's just like you know, figuring it out and then seeing something, you know, seeing something because because think about think about when you really go back throughout out a whole season, whether you're hunting at home or you're hunting out of state, Like, yeah, amount of opportunities that you have of a good clean, you know, twenty yard broadside shot or a buff generally is like the number of deer that are like bucks that are in range of that, you know or in the chip shot range really relatively small. And if you're thinking about trying to put that into a week long trip, like your odds go down significantly. So it's like if you're always going on these out of state trips, and you're like trying to set at least in my opinion, you're always trying to set realistic goals, like you're gonna go home without shooting deer most of the time, you know, or or you're setting goals of like the highest caliber of deer in the area, and like you're going you know, you're like, for example, like you come to Iowa and you're just like one six year bust. Well, there's a pretty good chance you're gonna actually eat that tag. I'm not saying you can't shoot a buff like that, but like there's a pretty good chance that you're not going to because it's pretty darn hard to get on one sixty and range on public plan no matter where you're at. If you're just going to the expectation of like, hey, you know, if I get the right opportunity and I have a great hunt and it's on the you know. To me, it's like I always tell people, it's just like I just know when the one comes by that I'm gonna shoot. I just know. And I don't know how to explain exactly what that means, but like I just know, Yeah, how often, um, in retrospect do you pass something that you you wish you would have shot like looking like, for instance, in my story, like at that moment, that didn't mean didn't make me happy. I had like high expectations, you know, I had dreams, but like looking back, it would have made me happy. And I feel like that's kind of maybe maybe it comes with more experience. I don't know, what do you think, UM? To be honest, at this point, I would say I would say that I, oh, man, uh, I don't know that. I honestly don't know that I've ever regretted passing a deer, Like I've just never I've never looked back and be like, man, I you know I should have shot there? Yeah? What about UM? Kind of take that a little bit further. Uh, just kind of that uncertainty of what you should be shooting. UM. Sometimes, especially as as you start moving kind of out of that you know, heartland stuff out of the Midwest and you start going you know, either west or South or wherever where your population issues are just lower or might be even nonexistent in some places, How do you have the confidence to like just take off to a place that you've never been and just feel like there's gonna be deer in that area that are there to hunt. Um. I guess the confidence for at least at least the style that I've gotten to is like, if they're they're like I cover enough ground at this point on foot just scout, you know, in season scouting. I guess that like I'm gonna know pretty quick that they're either there or they're not. And if they're not there within that state, I'm going to the next piece, you know, like not going to set up camp and you know, be limited to that if I'm not finding to your sign. So I guess having the confidence is just like having the confidence in the ability to find them based off of you know, scouting and looking for sign. To me, that's that's what's giving me the confidence as far as that goes. It's like that if they're there, then you know, we'll find them. If not, then we're going to move to the next place to where we are going to find them because they're somewhere out there, you know what I mean. Yeah, Yeah, I think like the reason these kind of these questions come up for us is just because like I feel like that maybe a lot of people can like see how you guys or even us as much as we hunt can just justify going out of state spending four or five bucks on the tag, But for like the weekend warrior kind of blue collar guy, like it might be um like a little bit more of a special opportunity or an occasion for them to go out of state, so they wanted and I guess I guess for me like that that's the thing too. It's like that's why we try to hunt in you know, relatively short trips like what we feel would be realistic to a guy, you know, take on his vacation. And also why we go into it. I mean, really that's just why we why we do everything we do, is to try to you know, relate to what other guys will be doing. And I think as far as that goes, like you say, the weekend warrior guy, like, I just I hate the idea of a guy that, you know, maybe maybe his vacation is only five day is I hate the idea of that guy going into an out of state trip, spending a bunch of money, a bunch of time, you know, time away from home whenever, maybe to just go and have these like super unrealistic expectations of what he's about to go there and shoot versus just going They're hoping to learn something new, have fun, and maybe the next year hold out for something a little bit bigger. But like, you gotta have a starting point and you gotta have some confidence boosters that you know are going to allow you to you know, I guess encourage you to keep doing it. And I think and it depends on to each his own right, Like maybe a guy's shot just a ton of big bucks, and you know his goal is to just travel and shoot something bigger. Like it's gonna be different for everybody, but you know, I don't. I'm not at at a point in my life where I feel, you know, I gotta be super picky because ultimately, it's just not what it's about for me. It's more about, like I said, just learning something different. And that's what that's really what it's always gonna be. I think, what it's always gonna be about. But you know, like you're gonna spend the money on it, like I always think this, Like, man, I spent the money on it, like I want to get the food from it, like I'm gonna go home and not did not not have a deal with me? You know, whether whether he's a big little whatever. Like the last day, like I'm shooting a dough if I have to, Like, I'm going home with something because I feel like I spent I spent the money for the food is the biggest you know, really what at the end of the day, what it's really about it. Yeah, And it's surprising how people will charge you up for for having that opinion, you know, Like I've got a pretty coveted Elk tag in in Mexico this year that I was just really blessed to draw and I'm kind of going down there with the same thoughts. It's like, you know, the first X amount of days I'm there, you know, Um, I've never been a trophy o counter by any means we've talked about in the past, you do not have, but like, uh, this is a unit where like you go to shoot big bulls, So why not go down there and try to shoot a big bull? But I I guarantee you it's any ill tag. And on day nine, the last at hunt, if a beautiful cow gives me a chance, I'm gonna shoot her, you know. And it's kind of weird to say that, and people get real mad about you having that opinion on things, but I don't know, so you know what I go you were saying, uh, at this point or where you're at, and that sort of thing. I'm gonna I'm gonna kind of play the other side of the coin here on you a little bit, all right. So, UM, I think a lot of times the pressure to shoot something bigger or older or whatever it is, you know, to hold out comes from only having maybe one opportunity in one state or what have you, you know, and being where where you're at, getting to travel and have different tags everywhere I can see where like the more tags you have, the and even like you know, big time industry TV guys or whatever, when they're going on twenty seven hunts a year or whatever, like they go and shoot the first, you know, decent book they can because they want something on film or whatever, you know. And then like if you take that and then you kind of go completely the opposite direction with it. And let's take someone from our home state here, uh, in the county we live in, you get two bucks. One's a branch chandler, but or a thirteen inches or water and one's a dink, uh, And that's what you can shoot, right, so like, um, naturally, guys who have fewer tags are going to want to hold out more. Do you think that if you're back in that world where like you're just hunting to Iowa and this may have been what it was like back then or Ohio or wherever, that the temptation to hold out for something greater would be there more because you have, you know, less arrows to fling. Yeah. If I'm yeah, if I'm in Iowa, Yeah, I actually do. Like I do, I would say in Iowa in my home state, and then you that I know really well, Yeah, and I have a really good grasp on it. It's not as much about like, you know, learning something I mean, I shouldn't say it's not about learning something new. I mean, in my opinion, you learn something new every time you go out. But it's like it's not about learning a new area or habitat. It's about just like execut shooting the things that you've learned in the past. You know, at some point having that ability to execute that. And yeah, and that in that instance that I'm gonna probably be more likely to hold out. I mean, and I I wait for a bigger but you know, in my eyes, looks a little bit bigger buck, but that you know, I guess it still is like if it gets to be later in the season, like I would rather shoot one than not shoot one, So like I guess, let me put you asked a question earlier of like have I ever regretted not shooting one? And yes, there was this one time. This is before I traveled, and this was and it was because of having you know, the whole season with only one buck tag. It's exactly why. It was opening morning of Ohio and me and my friend Ben went into a piece of public land and like right off the bat, really nice eight pointer just you know, maybe maybe a three year old eight pointer came in. So the thirty yards broadside didn't shoot the whole the rest of the season. I never got an opportunity like that, And to this day, I wish I would have just shot him, because I still had buddies that had tags that I could have gone and sat with. I you know, I could have still hunted the whole season one way or another or not, maybe not have an arrow to you're a tag in my pocket to fill, but like I still could have hunt. I still would have hunted the whole season. It's like, why did I not just shoot that buck? Could have been an opening morning? You know, I remember his his antlers. You know, we're chocolate colored like I. You know, It's just like it would have been such an awesome buck to shoot, but instead I got greedy and I and I and I'll you know, I guess, I guess I totally live you yeah now and sticks in my head a lot, and I just think I don't want that. I don't want any I don't want any part of that, you know, of that again where I just regret not shooting one. And I guess if people are, if people are worried about shooting one and then not getting to go, I mean, just go sit with your friends, like it's really a fun thing to do. You can get you know, we've been doing it for forever obviously when we're filming and stuff. But you know, go take a camera or you know, take pictures or whatever. Just go hang out, learn something to do. There's there's ways to be in the woods with out hunting, um you know, yeah, without having it, without having a tag. Yeah, sure, you know that would be my advice. There. You mentioned something kind of cool there I've never really thought about hunting is about one of the few things out there that I can think of that being greedy will end up with you having less of what you want than more of what you want. And I guess kind of the long run, if you're a greedy, person might come back about you in the butt, you know, or whatever by losing relationships or whatever. But like in that exact instance, because you felt that you were being greedy, you didn't shoot a deer, you know, and everything else in life, it's kind of the other way, like if you're greedy, you're gonna take more of what you want as opposed So now it's it's kind of cool just trying to be greedy and thinking like I'll get a bigger one, you know, I got all this time, and I'm gonna put all bunch of effort into it, like know, Yeah, It's just it's such a it is an interesting thing, like because because at the end of the day, what we're what was a bit like you know, probably probably realistically a slightly bigger set of antler is ever going to do for me at the end of the day, Like what was it gonna do for me? I'm still you know I'm still just you know, ultimately going to get the same amount of meat, which is why you do it, should do it in the first place, in my opinion. You know, yeah, dude, for sure. I mean I don't know that the the whole, the whole kind of thing we're walking all around right now is kind of this like this idea of um being selfless obviously, but like you have to have a counterpart as far as a human counterpart to uh, in order to be selfless towards something right, and so um, there's you know, there's this whole like I've been this whole movement in the last few years, I guess of like this uh hardcore like soul hunted public land. Dude, Like you're talking about all the challenges that you could us we have, Let's put them all in one guy and you know, make this like solo hunter thing. And that's like obviously it takes a lot to get that done, and it's something that can that's a good achievement for those who can do it. But I know, I know, you know, I'm pretty sure where you guys standing. I know, Casey and I really rely on each other a lot um for like things like just like keeping the positivity when things are going kind of south, you know, and we're not able to we're not able to make things connect, you know, and we're getting so close, and and especially me, like I can get a bad attitude about it pretty bad. So um, I know, like having him to like bounce ideas and all these different things like talk about some of the benefits that you guys have, and just being able to to not be out there so all time and to be hunting with each other. I think for one, like you said, bouncing the ideas, that's huge for us. Like we always talk about, like I know I've mentioned that in in recording just today. It's like, don't get locked into a spot. And as soon as somebody's doing that, we're like, hey, dude, like just break away from it, like either going there and kill one and quit quit bouncing around the edges, or like you know, just stop just or just quit hunting there in general, because like you're wasting your time. And like I feel like when when we say that to each other, it's just immediately it's like, yeah, you're right, because it's so easy and deer hunting to fall into that old mentality of thinking of like if you bump a deer, it's the end of the world and you only got one and you should only be hunting one huge buck and blah blah blah. It's like, hey, the end of the day, Like there's a tons and tons of acres to hunt, you know, on public land across across the country, Like you're gonna ever gonna you know, if you just limit yourself to one deer, one spot, you're gonna just I mean, you're gonna just be banging your head against the wall after a while. But if you're going to it open minded, you know you've got, in our opinion, you've got a better odds of having a lot more fun and learning a lot more. So that's one really good benefit. And another good benefit is it's just I guess, like, um oh, just I think for me is like, you know, I know that my season is never gonna end, no matter how no matter if I feel all my all the tags that I could, you know that I'm gonna buy it for the season in a week, Like I'm not done hunting. Because even if even if you know Aaron J. Greg and Ted due to like I just go to Ohio or I'll go somewhere else. Like I got a lot of friends that are always gonna be hunting. So the more friends that you have and you stay connected with throughout the hunting season instead of making it some sort of weird competition, like I know, like kind of what you're talking about. Like the guys that are like, you know, solo hunter, like they're they really take a lot of pride and like being secretive and stuff. It's like I don't want any part of that because like I want to just keep hunting with all my friends throughout the season and like learning from them and learning together and just I like to hunt because I think it's fun. Like my buddy is just fun. And I think sometimes hunting by myself is fun too, Don't get me wrong, Like I I sometimes miss that aspect of it. But like I never want to do just one or the other, you know what I mean. I think it's healthy to do both and just you know, learned from each other as well as learned from your own personal experiences. To me, that's the best part about hunting with the group is that you've never done you know, and and and you don't have to be making YouTube videos to be that either. Like, you know, my dad and his buddies have been doing it for years too, So it's it's you know, it's just one of those things that hunting, in my opinion, hunting with the group is about the only way to go ya what about? Um? So kind of expand on that, like the benefits of it here in the past season or so, you you all have really done a lot of these, uh like go somewhere and hunt with some newer people, people that you know, maybe you've known, but uh, you know, I haven't never hunted with or whatever. Um what do you feel about that dynamic? Do you really enjoy it all the time or there are times when it's okay? Or is it something that you think everybody should try out? I mean we were actually just talking about it last night. I Mean some people it seems like, you know, as far as like videos and you know, some people are like man, like you know, you're hunting with these guys and like you know that like they're doing this wrong or whatever. It's like to us, that's part of the experience, just like just sharing like the knowledge. You know, it's like, yeah, you know, maybe we hunt with some guys that aren't very experienced turkey hunters, for example, But that doesn't mean that, like you know, we're not just we're not We're not going out there just to shoot a whole bunch of turkeys into us. It is fun to go with somebody that For example, Um, we just went hunting with the guys from Hushing and Born and Raised and like they admittedly, like you have like very very very little to no turkey hunting experience, and like right away, you know we had, um, you know, we have talked to those guys while I have been never hunted with them and you know, or I had never added with him at least um, and you know, we went out there and it was like it was a blast. Man. I'm like, we we all have similar interests because we all love the outdoors. And like, while they don't have a ton of turkey hunting experience, like it's fun for us to just like you know, be out there and they're interested in learning, we're interested in like helping them out and that's fun to us. And like I would say, every time we hunt with somebody new and sincerely enjoy it one you know, for for one reason or another. And you know, I guess like, uh, you know, going into it and meeting new people. Like that's another reason that I really like it. It's like I love going into new camps and just meeting new people and talking about dinner experiences. One of one of my favorite things to do, like when we're on Deer and Tricky tours, is just talk to like more local guys and just hear more about you know, like, okay, so other than deer hunt saying or turkey hunting, what else do you guys like? And like I've found out about things that I didn't even know really existed existed, Like some guys from um around the Mississippi that hunt around the Mississippi River, whether that be in Mississippi or Louisiana, they were like talking about on these giant swamp rabbits Like I didn't know that existed that they were talking about how fun it was, And like to me, you know, just meeting these people in camp and you know, talking with them and hunt with new people, like that's always just so fun. I always also, seriously, seriously, always thought it would be fun to like see a turkey, for example, and then like get into like see him driving or something and like get to a pull off and be getting in the pull off just at the exact same time as some other guy that like I've literally never met, never talked to you, and just be like, hey, dude, like like wol film you shoot this turkey, like you get like, do you mind if we just tag along just for the experience? Like I always think, I think at some point that will happen, But like I would think that would be so fun just because like if you could just like link up forces with somebody without ever knowing them before, Like I feel like that would be a pretty special, special thing. And I think that that hunting cannot allow you to do is be you know, you know, just be social, be you know, be on the same team. Like there's no reason, in my opinion, you should not be on the same team. I mean it gets I think it gets me kind of fired up, and to get everybody in our group kind of fired not like what what do you win at the end of the day, you know, you don't, man, you I mean you actually do the counter of that, I think you know when that yeah, for sure, man, Yeah, it's it's it's great stuff. Man. I feel like it's just such a it's such a breath of fresh air. It's it's um, you know, it's uh, it's the way a lot of people feel, but they just don't maybe have the platform that you do to to speak on that, you know, but they're like, frankly, we've had some guys on in the last few months or so that just uh that eat the solo thing up and that's the only way they want to do it. And it's because they can't find anybody that hunts the way they do. And you know, I think it's I think it's good to be to be driven to do something, but at some point, you know, man, like I can just I can say this, and you said you spoke to this earlier. But like, um, last year, Casey and I hunted together the whole year and then his vehicle crashed out on him basically and uh stopped working in December, and uh so he had to go to work so he could afford to get a new vehicle and I got to go on a solo trip by myself and hunted. Um really only hunted one afternoon. I tagged out the first after I got there. But like, I was like that that just afternoon. I was like, it's kind of cool, it's a breath of fresh air. But at the same time, like I didn't laugh one time on that trip by myself, you know what I mean, Like you just don't sit there and just like bust out laughing very often to your own thoughts, you know. So if you do that. We have a few guys that walk around town here an memory that that do that, so they're kind of weird. But yeah, you know what I mean, Like you, I just we laugh our heads off all the time, dude around here on trips and stuff. So I just, uh, I look at that as like being a super super good benefit man. And and I mean, like I talked about earlier, but also just when you start like talking about getting up and I know you guys do this as hard as anybody, but just like getting up early, staying up late and working on whatever you guys are working on at night, and and then doing it all over again, like days and days and days at a time, like you, uh, you get tired to the point where like it's uh, it's hard to stay stay in the game, stay focused, and not to mention, just stay positive sometimes. So I'm sure that's a big help for for me, I know, to be around Case because he's uh just ultimately positive, you know. So and in verse of that is Tyler, Like I get kind of down in the off season, which is kind of strange, and Tyler is like always Mr Raw Raw you know this time of years, like everybody kill them all. It's like, okay, that's the deals. Like you have different personalities, man, and that's what like ultimately that lifts everybody up to be a better hunter. Kind of the same thing we're talking about, you know. Yeah, like one of the things that like I really thought it was hilarious this season. I started doing when we were in New York, like we were every morning we'd get up and like, man, it was really starting to get to that point in the season and we were in part of the time zone where like, dude, it just got like the mornings were early, real early, like a lot of three like for seven days, you know. And in the middle of that, like I'd wake up and like we're all dragon and like I I do a little bit better hopping up and just like I got way too much energy in general, so like I just hop up and it's like I'm like immediately like talkative and stuff, and it's just like one of the things i'd always say, and like I really do believe that. Like when you think about it this way, you know, you're like, yeah, I guess you're right. We better go get up and go. It's like i'd always just be like, boys are gonna be gobblin somewhere. You think about it that way, you're like, hey, like yeah, and if we go find them, and if we get our butts out of bed, we go find them, like it's gonna be a fun day. So like it's kind of just this, like you know, you play off each other where if you buy yourself and you get up, you know, day five, I'm getting up at three thirty, you're like, and may just sleep in when that might have been the day that you got out there and got one. So I think I think it's just it's important to motivate each other and you know, just just I mean, I mean, I think that in itself is an important for a cool factor of hunting together. It's just like you, like you guys have mentioned like getting you're having their ups and downs and stuff and and uh, you know, just keeping each other positive and keeping each other motivated to get out and go because if you're not out there, you don't get anything, right, Yeah, yeah, sure, And you know along with that, like it's not only is it important to like hunt with somebody for that reason? Well maybe important is the wrong where, but a good thing to do for that reason. Right, But once you become like not to get like too weird about it, but like emotionally attached to the other person, we're like you care about each other. Like there's also like this responsibility of like, man, if I don't get up and do this and work hard, like how fair is that to my buddy? Right? Like, for instance, I'm pretty bad about dragging my feet in the morning. I get up earlier than Tyler every morning, and he's ready fifteen minutes before I'm ready. I don't know how it happens, but like there's this driving me to like make sure and hurry up and get ready and do things because I know that, like I have somebody relying on me, you know, and I'm going to affect his experience if I don't do my part of the gig. And I think that that's something I don't know that's one of the Then there's a ton of this. We could write a book about there's probably seventeen books already out there about it of like the life lesson that you can get from hunting or a hunting camp or having hunting partners, right, Like, it's kind of important as a human to learn that reliability and learn kind of how to rely on each other. Yeah, yeah, no doubt, it's a it's definitely got like, it's definitely got a lot of positive influences I feel to be hunting with other people. And you know, on the flip side of that too, I think there's a lot of things that like you can learn about yourself in solo hunting, and that's why I think, you know, doing a little bit of both is important. And you know, you guys, Tyler, you had mentioned that you went on a trip, you know, by yourself, and you didn't laugh as much. It's like, I I went on a trip to Minnesota just to I and I ended up being short. I shot at turkey the first morning, but I was there for you know, I was there in the whole trip, I guess in general, for about twenty four hours. But it was like, but after I shot that turkey, it's like I didn't high five anybody, and that was kind of bitter sweep. I thought, I think I called my dad and I was just like, you know, what do you do? What do you do? And uh, what do you do when you shoot a turkey and nobody's with you? You know? Yea was like my sister when she was like four or five years old, she had an imaginary friend, you know. I mean, I guess you could have done something like that. Yeah, the turkey didn't want to give me five. So you always have somebody to talk to you, because I talk to myself a fair amount. Ye are you Are you a big like self motivator like that or is it just weird talking to yourself? It's just weird. Yeah, yeah, that's good. That's good. Do you move your mouth when you do that or is it just in your head? It's it's out loud. I do have moments where I like, I will bust out laughing, but it's usually like if I'm watching a video or something like that. You know, I usually I laugh at squirrels a lot. In the woods, squirrels made me laugh a lot. But yeah, so um, just kind of in general. You know, we've talked a lot about the friendships, about camping and hanging out with people and traveling to do all this stuff. Um as hunters like you change like with the seasons, right, every year is a little bit different, and then like your passions can sometimes ship if like we I would under I would agree, or let me ask you, do you agree that kind of all three of us here kind of all will remain hunters the rest of our lives. Right, it's just something we do so but it always is, it's ever ever changing, right, like the way you like to hunt, like for whether it's you know, a tree stand versus on the ground or rattling versus pinch points or whatever, you know, it doesn't matter. But um, do you feel like, um that from here on out you're gonna want to do the traveling thing and go to different places and see new things, or you're gonna kind of get your feel of that travel bug and then want to settle in and really hone into a specific spot. There's too much now, there's too much. There's too much were old out there. It's not I mean, and and you're so limited you know in life, like how long and and you know how long you have to go do those things? Like I mean, there's just too much to see for me to like never get content where I may not do it as much at some point in my life. I'll never I'll never like I hope, I really hope that I'll never get content, and I just don't see that happening, I mean honestly, like you know, like Iowa at this point is like okay, like I've really done this a lot now, like I want to do something different, you know, and um, it's just it's just one of those things like it's it just is really not about like it's not about numbers or like it's not about shooting a bunch of big bucks or shoot a bunch of turkeys. It's just like I want to do it and in as many places and see as many things as I as I possibly can, and feel like you know, I've I've you know, just learned as much as I can as I turned ben become as good of a hunters as I as I can be, you know, and like for turkeys, for example, like I really want to try to get one and as many of the you know, forty nine states that they're in as I can. I gets a you know, it's a goal of mine. I'm keeping track, you know, It's like it's something that and if I if I managed to get all forty nine, like I'll do, you know, try to do it as many as I can again in different areas, like just different public areas, you know, not not just go back and have the same old spots. Is there a public land in the Yucatan to go do the oscillated on public land? I don't know. I think that would be tough. I don't, I don't, I don't know. I guess, I guess. I guess that's where that's where it starts to be, Like I don't have as much interest in that as much as I do that just like the you know, the forty nine states, you know, like the forty nine states, maybe Mexico at some point, but even that, it's like, you know, there's just there's something about the the you know, I guess, covering all that ground and you're in your home home country. I think it's like the US is an awesome place to be able to just travel on. Hunt Turkey is kind of a kind of at will, you know, like you can just pop into the state real plick and hunt it and you know, keep moving and you get to cover so much ground and see so much cool stuff. I mean, I see way more like I like turkey hunting better for I think I ultimately like turkey hunting better than deer because you can actually, in it's such a touch short time frame, just see so much. You get to see all different types of hunting cultures, You can see all different types of habitat, you can see all different types of just like I mean, just anything anything you want to just get to see a ton of stuff, and like you get to do it as such short time frame. Where like deer season, you know, you at best you're only making you know, at best you're making like five trips to season wearing Turkey season, you're doing like ten or twelve, you know. And I mean to me that that that's pretty darn cool. Where I want to hunt as many deer states as as I can in my lifetime. I don't see where i'd ever get you know, forty nine states hunt deer, and where I would could see it actually being realistic for turkey, you know, yeah, yeah, for sure. Do you feel like as far as the big game side goes, you'll ever be satiated of white tail and want to look for other stuff? Now I want to out, can't be all deer hunt. I mean it's yeah, it's like it's on the it's on the uh, it's on the radar for sure. I mean we're seriously trying to figure out ways to be able to do more of that stuff as well as you know, continue to hunt white tail and Turkey. I mean, are are I guess Bret and Butter if you will, will always be deer in Turkey just because that's what you know. We've built our chap on and everything, and that's where the majority of our viewers are coming from. But at the same time, we feel like there could be some definite value and you know, how do how do I, as an Eastern hunter, you know, do more Western hunting you know over the counter? Or how do I apply for these different tags? How do I do this all this different stuff? I think, you know, I think that there's definitely interest there. It may not interest everybody, but there's interests there. And to be completely honest, I like, here's the reason for me is like I don't the one thing about the Midwest and the East is like I never feel small anymore, like when I was younger, Like I remember like when I was eighteen years old and I went to southern Ohio for the first time, and I was on like a huge state forest or national forest of like these big hills I like in my head time I've never hunted in before. You know, I felt small, and I felt like, oh man, like I'm a little nervous, Like it's a little scary, it's a little intimidating, and like that doesn't happen to me anymore. And I feel like the only way that I'm gonna get that is if I start going west, you know, further west of time. And I mean, like you name the state in the in the east that I hunted is just like it really is just not that intimidating, and so like at some point you just walk if even if you're lost, you just walk and you'll followed drain and down you'll hit a road. You know, like it's not it's not like I feel like it's limited as far as like just having that knack of like making it out always, you know, making an outstaye and and be you know where. You know, it gets a little bit more, it gets a little bit more dangerous as you start getting into some of these bigger, more remote areas and like I want to feel small. That's cool. You need to hunt in grizzly country. I think I think that's that's what you're missing. That'll definitely do. That's cool. Well, uh, there's a there's not plenty, but there is public land down here in Texas if you need to come down here and uh, you know, saytiate another state of white tail Man's Well, I think I think at least some of us are going to be an Oklahoma and Kansas this year, so we'll be close. And then, you know, as time goes on, like well, as time goes on, we want to hit them all. Man. We do when you're ready, when you're ready for that challenge, you know, and you want you finally get there, come on down. I'm kidding. I'm looking forward to seeing y'all do more cool stuff. Man. It's a it's a lot of fun to watch you go all over the place and hunt stuff. So very cool. Man. I like what y'all are doing, and I appreciate it too, because you know, it's just I don't know, it's like we were saying earlier, it's just you know, and you you hear this a lot because people tell it to you a lot because it's deserved. Like it's a breath of fish air, you know, it's it's a whole lot different than the old twenty acre food plot stuff. And it's good. Yeah, for sure, Man, I got one question for you. Leave. Um, so, I know you guys have had a lot of success hunt in public and everything, But give me a reason or a few reasons why I shouldn't be looking for like permissions on private if I draw the Iowa tag this year, why you shouldn't. Yeah, yeah, like why you know, like like like no reason if you if you're if you want to like my all means and like to be honest, it's pretty easy in Iowa, really yeah, Like I mean, I would say easier than a lot of places. Um, you know for me, I guess for me, it's just I feel like I've thought about it this. I've thought about this a lot, you know. For me, it's ultimately like as a as a person who's trying to create videos that help people learn, Um, you know, the only way to do it, whether you know, like yeah, yeah, anybody can knock on the door and ask for permission and get it. But the only thing that's a sure thing that every single person that has attack can hunt is public land. And I feel like that's the way to be the absolutely most relatable. And that's why, like, for the most part, I'm not saying I would never like hunt private again in the right situation, but like for like you know, well, I mean the last however many years, I haven't hunted private land, uh Porgier Turkey, And I mean it's like it's just become that's the reason for me. But like if I'm if I'm not doing this this video, like I would definitely ask more permission. I would still I still hunt tons of public lan and mostly on public land, but like if the opportunity was there and somebody let me go, you know, I mean, it's the same thing, right, It's like, hey, you know, the next guy had just as much right to ask for permission as you did. And I don't see any problem, you know, now, I don't. I wouldn't. I'm not I'm not the leasing type. I don't have any problem with it. But like you know that, in my opinion, asking for permission is like, you know, it's a kind of the same deal, right, Like anybody could have done that as well, and I think it's kind of a lost art. You know, we did we we actually, I was I was filming, I wasn't hunting, but like we actually did quite a bit of that in Wisconsin and had a lot of success as far as like getting access to like actually a pretty absurd amount of ground on private land just by simply knocking on doors and talking to farmers and like got a lot, like I said, a lot of ground doing that. And I mean it's one of those sittings. When I was younger, we would do it all the time for like fishing access or like shooting groundhog, small game hunting, like because around where I grew up there wasn't any public land. But then you know a couple of hours. I used to ask for permission all the time, you know, one of the things that you know, if that's I mean, if you want to do it, I man, I got no, I got yeah, I stand for it. And I say, definitely in a state like Iowa where you got a lower population of people people, there's way more, way more of a chance of because a lot of people that just don't hunt, you know. Yeah, so I guess, And the reason the big reason I'm asking I guess more than anything is like is like I'm not afraid to I mean, you know me, I'm not afraid to go off and walk several miles to hunt on public or whatever. It's not that like I'm trying to to make my hunt easier pack in and out or whatever, which I mean obviously it's nice, but um, I'm not scared to do that. It's more like like you know, what are what is my I guess my experience with deer? How does that change off of you know, off of public land there? And I would like do I have a chance at bigger bucks or more dear sightings or like more patternable deer I mean dealing with less people or am I still gonna have probably have a permission piece that's like ten other guys in the county have permission to hunt as well, or you know how like how does all that compare? You know what I mean? Um? I think I think, Um, I think, let's put it this way, like in my in my with my knowledge of the area that you know, you'd be hunting in like around where we live there, it's like on public land, the deer pretty like the tink pressure is pretty low, so they act like you know, they act more like what you think the deer would do. So it is still you know, in my opinion, it really is just easier to see more big bucks in daylight, in moving longer distances. But if you find the right piece of or private land, I mean, it could be just like almost almost like it can be almost funny, like how how daylight active bucks can be. I mean I'm talking like big mature bucks, like you know, chasing those and fields for multiple hours before dark, that type of stuff. So are those people are those places already least you know what I mean? Like sometimes they are. Sometimes they're as easy as like I mean, like I've said, like I've told you guys a lot like the population of people hunting, in the population of people in general, it's just it's just blowing up that like, and there's just so much deer habitat so much like your habitat that is isolated from roads and people in general. That like, you know, if you if you found the right piece, I do think it could be that you'd be that surprise. Like I know, I know of guys talking about like I know of properties that I've walked on private land that the deer literally betting in the open field because there's because that's they don't ever get pressured, Like no jokes like that. That stuff really happens on private land and in Iowa. Now some people are gonna be fremad at me for saying that and maybe given away the maybe taking incredibility go away, But like that's no jokes, like literally bumping deer out of open field like Hundridge tops, because you know, the strategy of them betting there is pretty straightforward. Like yeah, for the most part, people don't bump me. And when they do bump me, they just walk across this field, so I spott them before they get to me. You know why that out in the timber where I can't see the pressure coming. If that does that make sense, That's why they do it. And there's just that, you know, on some properties there's just that little pressure. You know. I hate to say that to you, and then you know, like, um, I hate to say that. You know, it's easier to get permission and everything. You go over ten doors, like he makes me knock on all the doors. Anyway, that's the thing. Like I've gotten to the point so I when I came back when I moved back from Dallas out here to East Texas where we live, I um, I spent like two years asking for properties and not so much knocking on doors. Is like doing some real good Internet creeping and finding phone numbers and using this was before on X or whatever, like using tax um you know, c A D websites and that kind of thing, and like finding all these people on Facebook and them and all these different things and like making contact that way. And I knocked on some doors and stuff too, And I literally did that like several hours a week for two years and got zero permissions out here where we live now. UM, it's just a different culture, you know. For one, I mean everybody hunts um here, so you know, if they didn't hunt, their nephews hunting and so like I couldn't find me. And that's why I'm like, that's why I hunt public now. But I look at you know that like over ten would be uh still okay around here, you know what I mean, It would that would be just fine, like expected, I guess, And it's a lot. I mean, it's like that around where I grew up in Ohio. You know, you're talking smaller, smaller land blocks you're talking, you know, a lot more roads on more house. I mean just simply again like I'll never, I'll never, I'm never. Like, let's put it this way. In my opinion, the the biggest differences in hunting, you know, within hunters in general, it's just simply like the overall population of the state that they're hunting in, right, So, like you know, you guys in Iowa and Kansas that are you know, residents of those states, they're they're hunting experiences like so much different than somebody and like maybe in your area of Texas or like my area of Ohio and says so much different. Thing Like that's the part that a lot of people that don't get the ability to travel, they don't see whether they're on one side of it or the other. I mean, that's why. That's why people So why people that you know, you can watch a TV show like I remember growing up and like watching TV shows and be like, man, these guys are like these guys are just great hunters. They're all over big stuff. But I didn't realize that they were living in southern Iowa where the deer bet in olpen Field on their on their thousand acres of land. I just didn't know that stuff existed. And it's like, I literally just didn't know that that that existed. I didn't know that They're like when the first day I ever hunted turkeys on public land in Iowa, I like I almost lost my mind. I couldn't believe. I couldn't believe that there was a play in the world, that there was that many to gobbling turkeys in one case of you know, and it's just I mean, it's just something I think that when you when you've never got the chance to travel and see a whole bunch of different stuff, you never you'll never really realize how Yeah, it's just crazy. It's it's a it's a learning experience always, just to see the difference. And and a lot of that boils down to simply human population. When you gotta hire human population, you got less habitat that the animals can live on, and therefore you got less game people going after him. Yeah, yeah, for sure. So you mentioned that if you found the right private piece, that it could be outrageous, and so what generally, and don't don't worry about going in too much detail, but just generally, what does that look like what's the right piece. So I think the right piece for the most aren't like it's just gonna have a thick a thick draw. Sometimes sometimes smaller is better, like where it doesn't have a ton of timber, And the reason is it's just there's not a lot of people looking at that. Um you know, sometimes a small draw that's got thick, you know, pretty thick vegetation in it. And then if you can, if you can add some cr so you can add some CRP into that, then um, you know, you're for sure you're gonna have a lot of deer. And you know, sometimes it's just the more open stuff, I would say, And in Iowa it's just more overlooked. So it's gonna have just like a lot of good betting habitat because everywhere and I whether it's there's destination food sources, like you don't have to look far to find, you know, a cornfield the deer feeding in. What what you got to look for is the places that have the best betting areas and like that you can find stuff that has good CRP, good dick, brushy drawls, stuff like that that are you know, kind of overlooked little pieces. Sometimes I mean, really could just be a forty or an eighty in southern Ireland that's got the biggest buck on it, and you know, a small island of trees in the middle of a CRB field stuff like that, just like kind of like probably what you guys see can since you know, when you guys are hunting those big, big open areas, it's like sometimes the big bucks are out in the strangest places where nobody's hunting, you know, yeah most of the time, you know, Yeah, that's cool there. We'll appreciate all the info, man, And and uh, it's good just to chat with you again. Man. It's been a while now. You guys have been hard at it. So it's been since a t a really that we've we've had a chance to talk for a little bit. So, um, anyway, I appreciate you doing this, man, And just like, um, just given your whole philosophy, I think it's good for for our listeners to hear that for sure, and and it matches up well with the way we think about things and for those listeners that are interesting and just find out more about Zach Farrenball. What's the best place to send the man, h We got the most content. I'd say, hands down on them. It's just hunting public. We got deer turkey hunting videos, mostly public lands, some private land stuff sprinkled in from my friends and stuff like that, and then the hunting public on Facebook and Instagram. Uh. We also have a podcast that is on hot Being iTunes, Switcher. We do a live podcasts on Facebook where we do a question and answer and stuff like that. So we got a lot of different pretty much just the trying to crank out content one way or another on multiple platforms, you know, every hour of the day. Yeah, you guys. You guys are a monster when it comes to that. Man. I uh, I don't see how you do it. You must drink a lot of coffee, which I know you do the rest of them. Cool man, Well appreciate it, and uh we'll be talking to you soon, I'm sure. Man. Good luck this summer out and calling Rotto and I hope you can catch them fish out there too. Yeah. Thanks, I appreciate you guys having me. It's always a black sure thing, man. AhR, bro, You'll be safe on the road. Yeah, thank you, man. I'm stoked ton Iowa, I know that. I bet you are I bet you all. I don't and who knows, dude. I've said this like every year since the podcast has been going, and we have. I haven't drawn it yet, but like, I think I draw this year. Yeah, I think that if you don't, it's gonna definitely be like worth a call, like, hey guys, um, so just wondering what's going on here? Am I getting? You know, it's crazy to think that you and I went and scouted Iowa like three years ago. It's been a minute a little bit over three years ago. I think, sure, it's not too it's been a while. I think it's been Uh, it was not two springs, right, I guess it's Spring seventeen, wouldn't it. Yeah, two and a half years and three in March next next year. That was March. Yeah, I wish it was cold like early March. Man. We were trying to get the shed rally going on. I think where we did not do that. No, wed couple of kids aren't the thing. And there's a big public deers just not big public ship. No. They apparently they get picked I guess. Yeah. But anyways, that's that's exciting. Man Zack put down a couple of big deer up there. It seems like I mean, I think that, um, managing your expectations for that hunt's probably a good thing. But I think you're where you need to be. Like just in our conversation, I think you know exactly what what you're going up there for. It's it's one of them things like I'm not going up there to shoot at one sixty, but if it happens, it happens, right. But like I'm definitely like it's I'm not looking for anything much smaller either, Like I mean, you know, it's it's it's anything that strikes my fancy like we talked about. But like ultimately I just paid, like you said, nearly seven hundred bucks plus, like however many for points over the last six years, five years or whatever. Um, I like that's a tag that warrants holding out a little bit, you know what I mean. And that's so that's kind of like what I'm gonna do is focus, hold out, try to go a couple of times if I if I need that during prime time and make something special happen. Man. And that's I mean, that's why I've been putting in for tag. The same thing with the Helo Hunt. Man, like you didn't if you wanted to just draw a tag and go killing elk, like you wouldn't have put in for the healer, right, yeah, exactly. And that's the that's the thing right there, man, is that you're gonna, um, you're gonna go up there and you're gonna have a different mentality than you do here on Texas Public, you know. And it's like what Zack was talking about. It it's just funny how some people are like, uh, it's it's kind of a joke. Really, Um, people are like, I've killed thirty eight pping young deer. You know. It's like really, so you're walking around out in the wood saying if it ain't a open younger, you're not gonna shoot it, right, Like, that's just man. You just gotta have a good idea what's gonna make you happy? And I guess if that makes you happy and numbers are a thing for you, then that's fine. It's just don't expect everyone to be that way, right yeah, And you might should have been an accountant instead. Exactly. Maybe they are accountings and that's why they have plenty money you going trip. But it's probably right, man, It's probably right. So I'm yeah, I'm excited about that, man, But we gotta we still got a while, man. And luckily, um, you know, Zach was on the road when we were talking to him, um, and he was talking about I think off there. He was like, you know, it's just good to like kind of pass the time to be able to talk to you guys on the road, you know. And I think, what's good about Uh, this summer and this trip that I'm taking is gonna help me pass the time to get to that deer season. You know, you're gonna pass a lot of time. How many weeks is it? Uh? We leave in twelve days, but we're gonna be gone for a month. Four or four weeks you know is a lot. So what day you get back the I think we're gonna get back twelve. I was supposed to play a show onte I play a show on the sixth. I have to fly back for which is fun. But we already we budgeted that into the show months. Man. So after you leave, we have one more podcast, one more standard podcast, because there will be a bad country in there. But as so, if this releases that week, I guess this whole conversation doesn't make a lot of sense depending on but uh, the talk like for our live purposes right now, we have one more podcast until we don't do something together for five months, five weeks. Uh yeah, I know, dude crazy. And luckily we have done several interviews in the last couple of weeks with a bunch of the back country experts, like we talked about the beginning of things, so that Zach even mentioned in this podcast the Broke Crew. Yeah, so anyway, hopefully we're going to release that one pretty quick. Actually, um, I was talking about doing that first May maybe so anyway, Um, where as far as YouTube videos going stuff, we are looking at a pretty interesting video that you took in February January something, yeah to early March, I don't know, sometime it's after deer season. I was going in to do the last choke camera pool on some Texas public and uh, wouldn't you know, it didn't bring a gun or a bow and there was hogs galore everywhere, and we were talking about was Zach off air too, Like it's not like we get super fired up about hog hunt anymore, but when they're there, I want to shoot him. And I did not have anything to shoot them with and there I mean I stalked with him like ten yards of one and finally ended up catching one by hand. So and videoed it by yourself with your cell phone and anyway, I've been putting that together. So hopefully here in the next week or so, you'll be able to see that video on YouTube. Casey just being a wild man out there on public catching. I don't know. There may not have ever been somebody document a pig being caught by hand on public lands. Hope it's legal. You're gonna be looking at probably like enough money in a ticket to for a pack for here. They better not give me a Ticket's all I can say. If they do, we're gonna need you all to protest. So that's right, Yeah, element faithful to yourself. That's what else. May anything else happening soon? That's that's about it. Just I'm probably gonna fish a lot, especially when you're gone. I'm gonna catch a bunch of big fisher. That's you are. You're gonna do any cat fishing or anything, or you're talking about like going trout fishing and never or not Denver, Colorado, I'm gonna do that, but I think I might try to uh do some meat halls, some more meat halls, you know, I don't know. I kind of got the bassage to tell you the truth of matter, just because we were on the lake the other day a little teaser, Tyler and I set a trot line and baby caught some caught some cats on that. But with that because comes some obtaining of bait, and we spent a lot of time kitchen brim, which was fun. Bluegills. I don't think we ever broke the species barrier on that day. Bluegills all day long. It was. It was a lot of fun. The water is super clear year and we saw bass cruising around and now I'm like, I'm already gonna getch some bass real bad, yeah, real bad. Well, there's probably some top water even in bass to be caught. I man, lily pads are starting to come up, and I love pad fishing. Man frogs. Yes, it'scum frogs. Uh, it's not a great fly thing, so my bust out. I haven't thrown a conventional rod and probably over a year. Really, yeah, so it might be kind of fun through through one the other day. Yeah, I caught a bunch of bass. Yeah, it's fun. It's fun. It's still fun. Don't worry you'll like I bet it, just bet it well cool And so I guess, uh, I hope you guys are enjoying the saying. If you like the Bad Country podcast, Um, like I said, feel free to send us a message and let us know, Hey, that's something I really am getting good info out of, and feel free to do as many of those y'all want in the future, and that'll let us know that, Uh, that's something that's giving value to to you guys, because we don't just necessarily do these uh. I mean this has been one that way. This is a series that's helped us for sure, but like, um, you know, we didn't have to record them. I guess we want you all to have find some value and and get helped from that as well. So yeah, pretty much the podcast is just a good way for us to like learn stuff people, and we happen to record them. Solves. That's good. You heard me asking stuff to do. And speaking of Zack, well, he go he was in and out of service a lot throughout the thing. You probably won't catch a ton of that because we'll do some editing, but one time he did uh, say, go check out the Hunting Public YouTube channel, and I believe he lost service when he said YouTube, so be sure and check that out. We'll link to all that stuff below in the notes. And uh, also probably go check out our YouTube channel because it's cool too. And we're gonna have some sweet fishing videos coming up pretty soon, hopefully some sweet hunting videos coming up. Yeah, hopefully, hopefully. I think that. I think we're gonna start the season and on a good foot. If nothing else, we're gonna have some cool video of some big elk. I think that's right, and some cool country for sure. Yeah, definitely might even get some good video of some big elk this summer too. Are you going? Uh? For sure? So here's the thing. Uh. The other day, Cassie was like, well, if we go through there on our vacation, does that mean you won't have to go back in August? So I don't, I don't, I don't know when I'm going for sure. I would. I honestly love my wife, but I'd rather go without her than if I only have one of the other options. But I think I'll have both options. Is that because you wanna like get up in there? And yeah, if I go without her, Um, then I'll probably backpack in and do a loop, you know, and get to know the country something. And that's kind of the main goal of going on the trip, is like, like, it's not like going to Iowa or even i was in a good example, It's not like if you went to Michigan right to go scout out and see if there's big bucks in this place. Uh, we already know that there's big elk in the HeLa. We don't need like confirmation of that. So really it's more about like learning trailheads, learning access points, learning where there's water, where it's a good place to camp. You know, Hey, rock face right there is huge. I probably don't need to try to go up that to chase milk. This is the better route. That's the kind of scouting that I want to get done this summer. And uh, my wife is not as keen on the back country stuff as I am. So yeah, yeah, most most women aren't. But luckily there have been a few that have been on the podcasts that were like the best straight up with you all, the best interviews that we've probably done. That's right. The Chicks held it down for the back Country series they're legit mane. So anyway, I hope you guys are looking forward to that. And anyway, it's time for me to get out and go do something today, so I hope you guys are doing the same. Remember this is your element living in

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