00:00:00 Speaker 1: Hey everybody, and welcome to another episode of The Hunting Collective. I'm Ben and Brian. Today I am joined by Great Chad Mendez. Chad Mendez is a man that you may know from his exploits in the fighting game. He's a UFC featherweight fighter with a record of eighteen and four. He's had some some legendary fight start his career. He's currently in the midst of a comeback. He's gonna fight in UFC two thirty two Saturday December in Vegas against one Alexander Volkanovski. But that's not really the reason I sat down with Chad. I met Chad a couple of years ago on a Turkey camp at John Dudley's place and was was immediately stricken by like just how cool a duty was, how much fun we had together, how much he really cared about while meat, wild animals, wild places, all the things that I and you care about. So I figured for all these reasons, he's a great person to talk to. Um. He has a good angle on being a celebrity outside the hunting space and having to deal with speaking about hunting to a broader public, and this heighting his awareness around what he says and does what his goals are. So, without further ado, Chad Mendez from Sacramento, the at his gym, getting ready to punch it up UFC two two Enjoy no pressure. Chad Mendes, How you doing, sir, I'm doing great, man. I'm here in Sacramento. We're about a week and a half out from my fight. Yes, the biggest fight of my life. And yeah, every fight is the biggest fight of my life. But with no small thing to be taking some time out to sit with my dumbass and talk about hunting different things, Like I could talk about hunting all day. That's like, I know you're back fighting. I mean it took took a break for a while and you mostly just hunted, right, I mean like, yeah, So I started a business called Finns and Feathers, and basically what it is, we call it like a celebrity outdoor service and we take people on different hunting, fishing, crazy trips all over the world, Like we go to New Zealand, we do stuff in Mexico for fishing, and just all kinds of stuff in the United States. Um, and then we have like twenty different celebrity pro staff members different UFC fighters. You have some PBR guys, pro basketball, baseball, football player, just kind of a mix of a different group of people, and all of them absolutely love hunting, love fishing, love the outdoor. So we'll get a group of people, send them on, say like a mule deer hunt in Utah, and then we'll put one one or sometimes even two of our celebrities on the trip and they're in there hunting with all the hanging out and hanging with them hanging out. Yeah, it's it's cool, man. So we launched that launched that um back in the into two thousand fifteen. So it's done well for you, right, what kind of fishes that? Yeah, it's been awesome man. Just being able to travel and and not only just make money, doing something in the outdoors is like a dream of mine, but doing it with so many people that share the same passions that I share you. So it's it's been awesome. I feel very blessed to be able to do it. Certainly looks awesome from the outside looking in. What's your next? What do you got playing? I mean, your season just about over. You get any like after your fight, you're you gonna you know you know right back to Yeah, yeah, I think it's like a week and a half, two weeks, and then I'm straight to Ohio. I usually do a late season white till hunt with my buddy Zack Singler out there, um, and he leases some farms and he actually owns a couple of farms that I mean, the guys completely ate up with hunting like we are just eats breeze sleeps it like he'll he'll buy a property and just completely set it up for hunting. That's it, like no house on or anything, you know. And uh, I just go out there with him and we'll run some cameras and try to hopefully locate some some shooter bucks and go out there. I usually go out there for like four or five days and then go straight to the A T A show. Yeah, go fight somebody up and then go and relax. Yeah exactly what. It's usually like twenty degrees or colder, so there's not a ton of relaxing when you're sitting out there. But that's my type of paradise. I'll take it im me too, me too. Well. I mean we're in the gym, we're in ultimate fitness here in Sacramental gym sneaky old gym. Um. You spend a lot of time in here in the last you know, training for your last fight and then training for this one. What's it like at this I mean, this is your ten days out. You've gone through all the pay all the motions, You've done this before, You're no stranger to this. What's it feel like now? Like, what's the what's the feeling right now? At this point in my camp, it's it's kind of the home stretch, Like the hard work is all done. I'm kind of the maintenance mode and kind of recovery mode. UM. You know, I'm I'll do probably one or two more UM relatively intense workouts. They're short, but it's just to basically hit that red zone a little bit and kind of keep my body. UM fine tune as far as staying in those zone, but I don't. The stretching is over, like pushing my body the limits. That's all done. That's that was the last, you know, seven weeks of camp. So UM right now, it's like I said, it's just the recovery. I feel good. My weights on point using a new UM diet system that I haven't used before. UM and I've felt unbelievable this entire camp. So what's what's the diet system? Um, It's called RP Strength is the company that set it up for me. But it's so for me. I think what my biggest um, my biggest well, probably a thing that sucks for me most as far as the fight game goes. I wasn't eating enough. I'm training my butt off and I'm working out too, sometimes three times a day, but usually one to two times a day. Um. And then you know, so you get up in the morning, I'm rushing. I'll eat something really small, like a banana and maybe a protein shake. I come here, I do like an hour and a half two hour hard workout, and then I'll you know, drink a protein shake, shower or um, go home, eat one big mill usually try to take like a nap and rest, and then I get up and go straight back to the gym for my second workout. UM. And that's usually you know, between an hour or two hours long. Go home, I'll eat a dinner and it's bedtime. You know. That's what I probably had a thousand calories, you know, maybe calories. It just wasn't enough food for me. And I always felt like that when I when I started getting later into the camps, like I could tell my body is just like not keeping up. Um. And so I I talked to this company, um before this fight, and they start they reach out to your eye actually and UM, I told him what my issues were, like how I was feeling later in the camps, and like we you know, we'll set something up for you. So what this diet is, I'm eating very clean, Like there's a very strict list of stuff that they want you eating, but it's I get to decide it. Like what's great about this is I can use all my wild game, you know, all the stuff that I was Yeah, so I can implement all that stuff into the diet. Um. But you know, my fats are very UM clean fats, you know, avocado, olive oil, UM, peanut butter um, natural peanut butter um, and then healthy carbs um, all the lean protein obviously UM and then uh, fruits and vegetables are mixing there as well. But it's all on time schedule. Like right before I sat down with you, I was like trying to crammel his food in my mouth because I'm supposed to eat right at two o'clock UM was the next workout. So for me, what that's done is forced me to eat all these mills throughout the day. Like if I'm going to take a nap, I'm like, I'm gonna eat right now. I'm gonna take a quick nap because i know I have to eat again soon. So everything is just kind of it's it's pretty life consuming. It sucks. It's such a regiment you're so locked in. Yeah. I felt guilty about like, hey, let's because yeah, you're you're so so regimented. And I'm sure it pays off in the end, but it's quite the sacrifice. Yeah. And and like I said, I've never done it before, so it was kind of the thing. I was like, well, let's test this out for like a two or three week thing. If I'm filing like crap, or you know, my weights ballooning up or something like that, then you know, maybe I won't do it. But right off the bat, I felt unbelievable. My endurance, my strength, speed, everything is like on point. I've never eaten this clean and this UM schedule throughout any training camp in my fight career. So yeah, I mean, I mean, you look damn good. Sir, thank you, thank you very much. Um. But when you talk to the experts about diet and about health and about eating right, does how much does wild game come up to You'd be like, that's part of my diet, that's what I do, and they say, hell, yeah, that's a great thing to do. Oh yeah, I'm sure. I mean it seems to obvious to me. But yeah, when I sat down this this company and I was like, look, there's like chicken, turkey, uh, you know, beef, but it's got to be or leaner. And I'm like, can I just substitute all this with all the wild stuff? And They're like, absolutely, that's actually better. So I'm like perfect, And then this is definitely a diet that I can give it a venison that your elk and it's in um, you know what turkey. We just finished our false season here in California. Um uh duck goose. Like you mean I can pretty much eat all that stuff, Yet how do you usually prepare it? And the like how have you prepared to them this diet? A lot of this diet, I've done a lot of ground stuff because it's the easiest and quickest, you know, I throw a pack of ground elk or something. I can use that so many different things, and it's easy for meal prep um. But we'll do you know, like whild turkey breasts. I'll throw it in a slow cooker or even a pressure cooker. I'll throw some vegetables in a little bit of chicken broth or something there and then shred all that up and I can keep that. Actually that's what I just had before I came up here. But I can keep that for like a you know, four or five days and just eating that throughout the throughout the days. But um, yeah, I mean the trigger I'll throw like sometimes I'll throw a whole elk rows on the trigger or something, smoke it and then slice it. You got you know, munch meat or whatever. So well, it's good to hear. It's good to hear for everybody out there listening that that game. That's fair cause you want to join the UFC any soon. It's the right thing to eat. And usually supplying most of the guys on my team. There's only one other guy, Tyler Diamond. He actually just walked by, But everybody else hunts only me and Tyler and um, I'll usually bring like a big box or something to meat, and it's like the the giveaway day, Like everyone's like fighting to get it. Let me get something to get up. But supply these guys you're doing it right, doing it right? Do you do? You feel like, um, I know, there's always every time I'm you're talking to somebody that is like an athlete, professional in the professional sense, or really in any sense, you always try to compare hunting to whatever you do. I feel like sometimes that's the easy way out. It's kind of a weak um way to go about these storylines. But there's something to it. I'm sure there's something to it for you, the way it balances your life a little bit, I'm sure. But explain to people, you know, the different the difference in the feelings, and how maybe hunting sets you up for fighting, and fighting might such up for hunting. Is there what's the relationship with Yeah, I mean, I think there's a lot of similar these. I mean, for me, one of the biggest things obviously being in shape. My job as a fighter is to be in shape. So getting in shape for any certain hunt is never anything I've ever thought about, you know, It's like that's just part of my normal job. So that just rolls right over into hunting, you know. Um. But as far as like the patients and being disciplined and and practicing you know, what you need to practice in order to be successful, I think all those things are exactly the same. As far as the fight game goes and being a successful hunter. Um, you know, if I'm not using my bow, I'm not practicing with him, I'm gonna go out there and a either wound something, not find it or miss. You know. It's pretty simple as that. But um, if I'm not practicing my punch combinations, I'm gonna go and fight and get knocked out or something. You know. So the preparation is definitely key. Um, And that's very similar in the two. But um, um patients, I mean, being patient in a fight is very very very important. I have a lot of emotion and uh rage, and I go out there and just try to freaking take you guy's head off. That's when a good fighter will capitalize and see your mistakes that you're making into and punch and finish you. But um, same thing in the fight. You gave me a target panic, I mean, if you're not prepared for that, and if you get too excited if you're not patient. I mean, we've all been there. I know I've been there quite a bit, um, but it's all part of it. So you gather like we're just sitting in the sitting in the gym here and and dudes are walking bilex up chat like that. You know, there's a brotherhood from what you do, Like you're training with these guys, you're sweating with them, You're doing that stuff that strikes me about what you do. And then there's there's a there's a brotherhood and hunting the same kind of way, man Like you're walking around the A T A and a couple of a month or so and it's up. Um talk about that part. I mean, is there parallels to to those two things? Is? And I think it's something very primitive and primal a fighting another human, like two guys to get in the cage and beat the crap out of each other, sometimes almost near death. I would imagine, um, you know, like for me fighting Josie Aldo, this is the prime example. There was some beef between us, you know, both of us, kind of talking crap and some media before the fight, but we got in there and went through an absolute war like, hands down the toughest fight I've ever been in and probably the hardest thing I've ever done in my entire life. And like, I have no choice, and I know he feels the same that there's you have no choice but to like grow and and feel some type of respect for that human after going through that feeling that pain. Um. And I think you know the same thing with with hunting. I mean the very primitive thing. You know, I got a bunch of guys around the campfire at night and girls even, um, you know, sharing the stories. Everyone has the same passion and love for the outdoors, and you know that's something that you know, it's it's something we all love. And I think that just maybe grow some type of bond that's outside of what you would see on the on the streets. Yeah, it's a pretty intense. I mean both those two things are pretty intense situations and the intensities of what draws you close like you can't well. I was I was talking on Rogan's podcast yesterday about like the three D experience of hunting. Right. You you practice, and you gather these skills, and you gather this experience and then you put them to work. Um, it's not similar to fighting in the way that you're against, but you're you're still against. It's you know, yeah, a wild animal at some level. Um, But it's a three dimensial experience. Once that, once you get that, once the thrill happens and you get the exertion of you know, you sling that arrow, then it's the three dimensional sperence. You get to feed your family, you get to to be closer the people that you're with. Um. And that's that's what strikes me about about fighting too. There's a similar accountability. Like when you throw a punch, your accountable for what happens on the other end of it. When you send an arrow, you are accountable for what happens in the the other end of it. And that accountability like just brings people together. I've never thought of it like that, but it's exactly what it is. Yeah. Well I'm glad I thought nailed it. Um. And you're you know, through all this all this crazy stuff in your life, you're you're about to have uh your wife is pregnant. Yeah. I didn't break any news. No, I haven't like posted anything on social She's talked about it on social but um, you know, there's a lot of creepy people out there for me just posting that. I mean, I'll probably do it a little bit later, but yeah, I don't know. I'm still kind of thinking about it. Yeah, it's a heavy thing. It was heavy for me. It's like this is kind of for me for a while. Me and my family want to enjoy this. So yeah, a little bit of time. How's a feeling right now? That's good, man, I mean, knock on wood, everything's been very easy so far. I think my biggest fear was heard. You know, I hear so many horror stories about the women's hormones going nuts and just girls getting out of roll. But she's been. It's it's been really easy, and in fact, it's weird. She actually has lightened up and like I feel like she's very calm and kind of just like cool and relax. I'm like, I like this happy a lot better. But hey, babe, it's gonna keep you praying for right. But no, it's been good. She didn't have any morning sickness. Like I'm gonna jinx myself by saying all this, but it's been it's been awesome. That's awesome, man. I'm happy for it. Uh, thank you. It's a life changer and it you know when I when my wife is pregning with our son, everybody tries to give you advice and tell you their experiences, but really that you can't. There's no way to prepare when you just gotta ride and it's it's my dad said something to me like, um, it's it's gonna get real now son. Yeah here, I'm terrified. I'm very excited, but I'm terrified. You know, I have a lot of friends that have newborns and have young kids, and you know, you're right, you hear the horror stories all the time. Um, I'm sure they probably talk about that because it's something that sticks in their head a lot more. But the good times are everyone says that it's well worth it. You know, there's no no matter how many hard times you have with it, And there are a lot of hard times like the first three or four months, or just like being a boot camp with your just with your wife and a hole like she's like, we can't leave that house. We don't know what to do. Poop everywhere, What are we gonna do everywhere? What are we gonna do? So but that's that's what it's like. But then like the intensity of the love, the intensity of like how you see the world through their eyes, all of a sudden is that that's there's no amount of shitty diapers that match that. It just isn't. So everyone says too, if you have a girl that you you get soft, and I'm like, I better. I'm hoping I have a boy. But I'll be happy either way. But man, I gotta make sure I stay tough for this fight game while I'm stilling it. Yeah, do you think you got some years left in you for the for the fight game? I mean you're on a mission right now that yeah. Well, um, you know the plan for me was always to kind of fight right around thirty five. You know, I've been doing this for almost eleven years now, and I started wrestling when I was five years old and wrestled every single year all the way up through college, and then the day after graduate college jumped right into the fight game. So you know, I've been doing this my entire life. So I don't have any any problem with when it's time to call it quits. Calling it quits, you know, um, like it's I don't have a chip on my shoulder. You know, when it's time, it's time. So you know, I'm gonna keep fighting until everything tells me that it's not. Let you seem content right now. I mean, with all the crazy ships you got going on, it seemed like a happy dude to me. I mean, it seems like our life is good. Man. I feel really lucky that I can come in I can basically make my own scheduled training. I'm I'm getting paid to be in shape and get in there and compete, you know, being be an athlete, which is awesome, you know, and then also of doing all this stuff in the outdoor world, which in my perfect world that you know, I'm fighting, I'd love to finish up my fight career and then kind of make a transition into the outdoor world to where I can find a way to do something making a living, doing what else, you know, something else I absolutely love. So right now, just trying to you know, build a name in the outdoor world and just do something to get that recognition, I guess, and make the transition as you do as you build that name. I mean, it comes with um the same as being I think the question I wanted to ask you is you want to make a name for yourself in the hunting world, right, UM, A lot. You know, you and I both know a lot of people that have names in the hunting world and have done it for a long time. And it's like, how do you hope to craft that? What do you What do you think about when you're like, yeah, man, I really have to you know, spend the rest of you. You're a young man and if you retired thirty five, you could have thirty years in the outdoor space. Like how do you think about that? I mean for me? And that sounds amazing, you know, It's like I said, it's for me. Hunting, being an athlete, competing has been something I've done my whole life, and it's it's something I absolutely love to do. Um, you know when the time is here, you know, the outdoor, outdoor lifestyle, just hunting, fishing, just anything in the outdoors is my true passion. I absolutely love fighting. Um, I love competing, but my true passion is the outdoor. So being able to do that for as long as I can, like dream come true so many years. Yeah, let's see. You think you're gonna keep doing what you're doing now or you gonna try to craft something else for you, like to craft another corner of the industry for um, you know, I haven't thought about a lot trying to get UFC fight and get it done. I mean, as far as growing fins and feathers, I'd love to keep that going, um, just because it's so damn fun, you know, and UM, I think grow either growing that a little bit bigger. I probably don't want it to get too big because I just don't want it to get too much. I don't want to turn into work, you know what I mean, Like it's perfectly is like if you make good money, Like it's not too difficult and it's a lot of fun. So if I could keep that like that and then continue working with as many companies I do now in the space, UM, you know, my dream would be to create content, you know, keep growing my YouTube channel, um, keep doing stuff on all social media, and just keep moving forward. So yeah, what how's you think about? I mean, there's a lot of ways to to chop up, like how you display your hunting, how you talking to people about hunting, how you use your fame from the UFC and you turn that into um, you know, a good slice of the hunting world for yourself, is there a way you want to approach it, like, you know, thoughtful illness, and like how how do you see that going? I think the teaching is what is what's so um interesting to me. Like for me, when I started fencing feathers, obviously people knew me as a fighter. Um, you know, I've been hunting and fishing my entire life. But obviously people knew me as a fighter and didn't know that that was something that was so passionate about. So after following me for a few years and seeing that, you know, and especially when we started Fins and Feathers, we got hit up by a ton of people asking, you know, how do I get into hunting. I've never hunted before. I see you hunting, I see you eating all this amazing wild game. I want to do this, like I want to have a freezer full of meat? How do I start? And I think for me, and this is kind of something we've talked about, is growing fins and Feathers almost into like a little academy like how to learn how to hunt, you know. And I have a buddy that's actually doing it from field to plate is his Instagram. Um, Jeremymon and he's he's I think that's genius. Like just taking people and teaching them how to hunt, how to process the animal um in the field, how to process the animal, to cut it up to create the meat, and how you prepare it. Like that's all amazing to me. Like being able to teach people that and just see the excitement that they have when it comes, Like I totally understand what that excited feels like. And seeing them for the first time go through that, Like I absolutely love that. So if there was a way that I could do that, you know, keep growing my name and being someone that a lot of these people that have never done it before kind of look up to, and that I could kind of teach them the ways, like I would love to do that. Yeah, And then you can do the verse too, right, I mean, with your platform and what you've been able to do um in your career, you can shine the light on hunting in a way that a lot I can't other folks can't that come from the industry and are trying to grow in just just inside the instry. I mean, you bring a whole another subset of people to to bear for hunting. I mean is that. Have you had any troubles with that trying to to do both things, you know, if anybody's come at you, like while you're killing those poor animals. I mean, of course, like when I first started doing it. I mean I actually when I first started fighting, and I I signed with my management team, and you know, we're growing the Chad Minda's brand in the fight world. You know, I started to dabble a little bit with posting the hunting and fishing, and you know, people told me I wouldn't do that. You know, it's gonna open a big can of worms and can't build a brand. At first, I didn't really do it. You know, I kind of shot away from it, and I just finally got to the point where I'm like, look, this is me, Like I absolutely love this, This is who I am. I don't want to like hide from it, like I'm not embarrassed about it. Like I absolutely love this, Like this is something I truly believe in. I'm going to start posting it. So I started posting, you know, my kills and what I was cooking with it, and like you know, all that stuff. And right off the bat, of course, you know, people blow up and they don't understand it. They've never seen it from me posting it before, and it's it's something that's so disgusting to them. So, you know, I think over the last probably four or five years now, I've just weeded out or even change some people's minds. I know that in the beginning, I would kind of go back and forth with people trying to explain myself, and once I think I explain things a little bit better to them, there was a lot of people that were like, wow, I've never thought of it like that. That's awesome, Okay, I appreciate you explaining it, you know, um, And then you still get the occasional people that don't care and they just want to hate him. But it takes some courage in your position, with all you would have to lose if something would go wrong with that, you know, like I said, trying to build a brand, trying you know, to remain relevant in a sport that's you know, that's harsh, and a lot of ways in an environment that's harsh, like being having enough courage to come out and say this is who I am. You know, it sucks that it takes courage to say that about hunting. And some of your just sucks not doesn't make any sense to me, And it sucks, but it's real and you can't skip over it. Even in this discussion when you started changing people's minds, he really wasn't around one portion. I imagined the meat was probably the easiest way to exactly, And I think people people don't And there's the people that don't understand and they think, oh, this is just a hobby, and it's like, no, this isn't a hobby for me, Like do I enjoy it? Yes, I absolutely enjoy it, but this is how I live my life, Like this is a lifestyle for me. Like I would rather fill my freezer with a big old wild boar then go to a h grocery store and buy pork from a package, you know, like I don't want that, Like am I against eating it? No, I eat it, But I would rather go and fill my freezer with a big wild page opportunity exactly. And so I think explaining that to people changing some people's mind But yeah, cooking the food, you know, when I would show the meat hanging like this isn't me just killing this pig and leaving it out there, like taking a picture with it, hi fiving someone and walking away like that's not what I'm doing. I'm butchering this thing, like I have a bunch of meat that's coming off of this. And then I show, you know, me creating some some amazing mills with it, you know, and I think that's the pictures of that. And just I put videos of me doing like how toos on how to cook certain things on my YouTube, and I think people start realizing that and they're like, wow, okay, yeah, I get it too, I get it. Well, it's all it's it's it's frustrating in one way that that you have to do that, but it also it also like that descent also forces you to do, like it forces you to be more aware of what you're up to. You know, if if if there wasn't anybody questioning it, you might just post a group and grin and go about your day exactly. You're like, man, I gotta like I really care about this thing. I'm gonna My response is to become more positive and to put more good stuff out there and to try to convince people even more so. In some ways, like it sucks that it it goes down that way, but it's good because it forces you to have a better, more codified opinion, uh and and way of doing what you're doing exactly. And I don't feel bad explaining, like some people absolutely hate, Like I have other buddies, like why do you even explain yourself? Like you screw them, like just ignore them. You have a lot of people that will hit me up, like wait, why do you even care? Well, I do care. That's the thing, Like I want them to understand. Like sometimes you change their mind. Sometimes they're just too thick headed and they don't want to understand. You know, that's their own issue. But if I can show somebody that thinks hunting is just absolutely horrible and show them why I'm doing it and then change their mind, like that means so much to me, Like I enjoy doing that, you know, if I can explain to them why we do it. You know, obviously, like I said, you're gonna still gonna get the people that don't care. But like I don't mind informing. And I don't mind, you know, I don't I don't mind showing these people that just don't understand. And I get that there's things that I've thought. I'm so guilty of this but even growing up, there's things that I've thought, you know, something so horrible, and then when I actually learned about it, I'm like, oh, that's not bad at all. Why did I ever think that was bad? You know? And so I'm guilty of I I totally understand what that feels like. So I'm just gonna explain it and if if they get it, and hopefully they do, that's awesome. If they don't, well, the important thing that I think you're getting across here even is that you're not changing what you're doing for anybody. You're not going like, oh I'll do it differently because you don't like it. You're going, okay, wait, wait, how can I explain this better? How can I then come to communicate with you a little bit better? So you get what I'm talking about here, because obviously there's you know, several um big time oxymoronic notions with them like I love this thing when I killed it delicious, but yeah, that's just what we should, you know. So what it's almost like to me, it's like I didn't really choose it. It just came to me, and it was like I can't get out of it now. I'm too wrapped up. I love it too much. No, I agree, you can't. You usually can't. Do you ever think about those like those big why questions with yourself, Like because I'm you know, I'm around the same age and and I grew up hunting and came to like at some point in my life, I was like, yeah, man, but I don't know if I'm gonna do it the way I did it yesterday. I don't know if I'm gonna, you know, just shoot spikes of my rifle like I did when I was a kid. And I started thinking a lot about why I do certain things, and a lot of people I listen to this podcast, you don't know that. That's that's kind of the reason this exists. So we can then ask why, like people can learn your story and then ask like if you ever ask yourself, hey, why do I do this? Why do I really do this? Um? Because it's it sounds like people are want to hear that from you. They want to hear your why. Yeah, I mean I I definitely asked myself that quite a bit. You know. There's certain things as far as just hunting in itself, you know, and there's a lot of people the comments things that I hear from people that sometimes make me even second guess myself. I'm like, why, you know, why am I doing that? But you know, I choose to eat me that bottom line, that's why I do this, you know. And for me, it's do I love killing something? Absolutely not Like It's not like I I crave murder and death. You know, it's not what hunting is about at all for me. Um, And I don't think that. I mean, I don't think that's what it is for most people. But um, you know, being in the outdoor sharing memories. Like I was just telling my wife this the other day, and I've been in camp, I've been my My life is so routine right now. You know. I get up in the morning, I eat my food, which is you know, I'm cramming down, going to work out, come back, eat again, rest, eat again, go to practice, come back. You know, it's the same thing every single day. I'm just like killing myself very routine. And I was telling Abby, I think it was yesterday. I was like, I saw commercial. It's funny as the area commercial on TV. I don't know if you've seen the new ones, but at the end, these guys are like just sitting around the cowboys, you know, and they're they got the sun setting in the background. I think they're drinking coffee or something. They're sitting on a on a fence, and it was just absolutely beautiful scene, you know. And I'm like, man, I'm craving adventure right now. Like she's like, what do you mean. I'm like, I just I crave that, Like I want to be somewhere with the sun rising and it just being beautiful, like absolutely beautiful, and me sitting there listening to nature. Like I'm like to me that it's something I'm craving right now. I want to get out of this routine, Like I want to go fight and beat this guy up and then I'm back in the woods, you know. So here's my plan. I'm gonna beat the ship out of this guy back in the woods. How about the cage back in the woods? Man. Now that's a good thing to think about. I mean, I always think this is something that we've been talking about a lot lately. It's like why what why does killing? Why is killing gratifying or why do people think that's what it is? Right? Because killing is when you do finally achieve the thing that you were after it's a task at hand. It's a task at hand, you were successful. That's why there's some gratification. A lot of on hers show it like you and I move hunting together. Like when when something dies, you're like, yeah, dude, congratulations. We say congratulations like like it's not something didn't just die. So there's this this weird dichotomy that people don't understand. I don't know, and I don't. I'm not mad at them for not understanding. Kind it's a pretty complicated. It is thing very complicated to do. Do you ever think about that? Is that's something that you like try to you know, when you're on social media or just when you're with people that are new to it, Like, how do you describe that kind of thing? Yeah, it's tough, and that is one of the things it's very hard to describe because it's if you don't I guess, if you've never done it, it's it's very hard to understand. But you're right. We we feel successful, like we we harvesting animal, kill an animal. You know, the the goal has been achieved, Like we've practiced our butts off. It's like me going through an entire training camp. My goal is to get in there and beat this guy. And when I get in there and I beat the guy, I'm gonna cell it. I feel good like I just worked my butt off. You're not celebrated because his face got I just, yeah, I just beat the crap out of another human being. And I'm like, yes, you know, but I that was the task at hand. I was successful at the task at hand. So I feel good because I worked hard. And it's the same thing in the outdoor world. You know, I'm I'm practicing with my bow, I'm practicing with my rifle. You know, I'm learning how to be sneaky. I've gone through many, many, many failures, many failures, and so when it finally comes together, it's the task hand that's the goal. You're successful. You feel good. The death part of it, obviously, is not something I'm like, yeah, I killed something, you know, it's not That's not the part I'm happy about. I'm happy because I'm successful. I'm happy because I know now I have something very delicious that I can eat like, and I'm excited about that. Our turkey hunt. I was just thinking about this on the drive over here, like, how awesome was that trip at Dudley's like killing wild turkeys. We would process them. We've go out fine Morrell mushrooms and create just amazing mills drinking some whiskey. Like how awesome was that you shot the wall? I did you the all the arrows still stuck over there. It's like a trophy for the dud dud house. Yeah, man, that's I would. I can talk about turkey on all day. It's for turkey anyway. I feel like Morrell mushrooms, springtime turkeys, the fucking feeling of being out in the woods, like you're you know, probably not here inside incremental, but like everywhere else I've lived, it's like gets cold and gets shitty, things like come alive and you're ready. You're kind of a little bit depressed, Like March comes okay, okay, come on can turkeys? Yeah, look at three weeks we're coming. Man. It's like that happens that and then you get to go experience like you know, new life in the woods, like when we were doing that. There's these levels and layers to hunting, Like one layers like me and you and dud and Tursten and all those guys hanging out and having a great time connected by this thing that that bonds us all. We're all from way different the areas of the world, way different upbringings, way different entries into hunting where we're a guy from Germany who's only hunted one day in his life. It doesn't understand what we're doing. He's awesome, we got Dudley is a lifelong guy. Like, we're all from different corners, but we come together. It's not it's not a problem. There's nobody like, well, let's let's feed each other out first. Like you're immediately happy to be there, immediately happy to be with each other. And I think it's just all that's all interconnected. It's not. It doesn't. Um, it doesn't happen like that in other areas. No, No, I agree, Like it doesn't happen even right now, because if we're not hunting. No, this is like it's not the same. Yeah, you walked out there with all my teammates. I mean, yeah, there's no connection at all. It's it's just you know, yeah, I'm not gonna have that feeling were walking to hunting camp. Everyone's there to do the same thing. We're all having a good time. Dude, I've been in so many and then you get you know, when you and I would you will see each other at a trade show or some ship like that, it's like the bro hugs just a little bit rock. It just comes in harder, you know, Like, man, remember we talk when you're like met a guy in head dinner, and it's like it's not the same. Good to see you. You look nice, that's great with Honey's like, what's up. So that's just another thing that that is so much different from the inside than it would look from the outside, you know. And we had fun in that camp, man, We took so much, took some legendary photos of but like even those things from the outside looking in, like look at those good balls. But because we were enjoying each other's company and having a great time, we're eating morals out of the tregger smoker and turkey breast. And it's like, even though I think it's it should be illegal that Dudley can win his own we gotta talk about yeah own farm. Yeah he can't, he can't. That's cheating. We get there. He clearly is stacked the deck against he knows all the biggest toms are hanging out. Yeah, he keeps taking over you go right over there. I'm gonna be over here in the go ahold, don't worry, there's no big turkey and bam, like it's happen like inch and a half spurs. Yeah, it's like fifteen inch beerd come on. That's and then he gives himself a belt that he purchased. Yeah, and then we know about all about John Dudley. I'd like to I might sneak in there this year and just scrab tech and like show up and pop out from behind the Bible. Do you ever feel like um archery hunting? I had. I went to this big ran about archery hunting turkeys recently about and I was like, man, I just can't. I like hunting with a bow, but like turkeys, I just there's just so many reasons why not to take a bow. Do you ever think about that? Because I have thought about that, and I've I've missed quite a bit. In fact, I've actually hit them and lost them. Yeah, probably more than any animal that I've ever hunted. With it so hard. I mean it's like you're shooting melan and then has oscillly like moving feathers and you know they're strutting going out of strut. You know, it's hard. I mean that arrow has to penetrate basically a wall of feathers and thin bone to get to the vitals, and the vitals are kind of moving around in the in the target zone a lot. So yeah, a lot of dudes. We are wounding turkeys. And I've gone on several rants on this podcast about let's think about that. Let's think about that hard. I love archery hunting, but maybe this is the time in the face because I don't eat the face. It's true. And that's another thing. The only thing that sucks with archie unless you use one of the what of the guilty cut the head off, you know, it's either a complete miss or they're done, which I think is genius. The only crappy thing is you've got to specifically set them up with the longer arrow and you gotta kind of move some stuff around on your bow. But you know, it works. It works gruesome activity. But so is shooting him with a shotgun and them in the head. So whatever, I mean, those things equate to each other. But you're right, I mean, that's you know, you're shooting up I don't even know what the cutting diameters on these, but it's long six five six inches that I would imagine. Um, that would be the one time where I'm like, that's you're either most cases there you're either missing or cutting it right off, cut its head off. Um that's you like said, it's not a good visual, but it's effective. Nonetheless, doesn't even matter to me at that point. They do fly a little different too. So my wife, Um, she wanted to kill. She'd her archery hunted. She wanted to kill a turkey for her first bow kill. So I got a real you know, dialed it all in, got it set up like we're gonna use one of these, so it's either clean miss and I didn't want her wounding it and then you know that's not finding it, her being turned off from hunting and all that. Yeah, for sure, So I wanted you know, we tried shooting that dause she missed I think three times at like twelve yards, and I mean I I put one of those things on my bow and it was shooting all over the place. You know, they're not You gotta really fine tune them. You can't just screw one of those on like a like a yeah, And that's another like another point that I always makes much. I love these things and much. I all love archeries that there is. You know, it's hard to start hunting with a bow. It's working hard, it's not easy. It's much easier to like get the killing under your belt. You know, I even remember, I'm just getting used to the situation. Yeah, um, I remember driving into Turkey camp with with old Turst and and um he said something like, I wasn't aware in his German acts, I wasn't aware that you could wound animals. All I saw on social media was guys liked and campaign's killing them. I wasn't aware that they got wounded, and I was. I guess they's very lucky for him. He was a one shot one kill him. That was his first first thing he'd ever kill. But he you know, he's a fan of Dudley's in a record executive out of New York City and you know, an urban night for for lack of a better way to describe him, a fucking wonderful dude. He's amazing. I wish he was hearing he's amazing. He would be, but yeah, I mean his his um. His explanation of that was something I brought up and let other conversations like I met a guy who was introduced primarily by social media to hunting, which is is a is a relatively new thing in our generation, Like people are learning about hunting through social media. It's a weird lens with which of view it. And he had just never run into like hey, wounded one never and never heard of that. He's on his first hunt and it's after he shoots his turkey and it runs off with an arrow in him in it. He ends up finding it pretty quickly, but it's in the moments between shooting it and finding it that he realizes this thing could get a waste, think could get away. And it's not a cut and dry situation. And this is not he's not. This is a very successful human being in many ways, Like he's not he's not dense. He but it's just how we present hunting and matters. It's crazy. Yeah, I guess I've never thought of it, but yeah, I mean, if you've never been around it before and you've only seen it on social media, that makes me it could distort it a little bit. To see these guys like Cam Hanes and Too Good, it's their fault. It's their fault. But yeah, I I think I think turkey hunting and I think the kind of type of turkey hunting that we did just as a as a big group is so much fun. It's my favorite thing. If this year, think I'm gonna try to kill um, this may be good, something good for abby, especially when you might have a little one walking around. Um. Sure. My wife keeps buying would buy chicken right from the store. She's like, I can't just be eating elk meat all all year, you're idiot, um white meat. You got to get that white meat. And I'm like, well, okay, like I shot at turkey. She's like, yeah, but we ate that in a couple of weeks. Okay, Well how many more turkeys? Thinking of my brain, I'm like, how many more turkeys do I have to shoot? So we don't have to buy this chicken from the store. Not that I don't like Mr Purdue, but fuck him for now. Like, I don't try. I'm not try to go hume um. And so that's why the last two years I've tried it, I was like, oh, if I killed twelve turkeys, that would be it just travel around. Yeah, but you can do it. Yeah, yeah you can do. We can kill five here in California. Yeah, you can kill four in Texas, five in California, kill six in Montana if you'd really get down dirty. Um So I think this year, I'm really going for it. I'm going And I've thought about that too, because yeah, I be said the same thing, like we have all the red meat that we could ever want, and it's the white meat we run out of turkey to my favorite thing doing is a slow cooker with it and just shredding the rest. But she, um, she's like, yeah, I gotta get I need chicken, so she'll buy like the organic, free range chicken. But that's not cheap dude. Nitrates and launch meat like this is just it's like it's it led me to gardening and different things like that too, because I'm just trying to like hunting has led me to be, like I'd like to take what hunting is and transfer that eating. Yeah, that's a goal of mine. Yeah. Yeah, we just were our houses right now. We're in a cul de sac and we're surrounded by these huge vintage oaks and there's zero sunlight in my backyard, like just shade, like all the time. So we've tried growing a garden. Everything gets about, that's all, and doesn't produce. It's like done. So I don't know. I mean, we're eventually probably gonna move from We both really like Utah. I would love to move to Utah. Um, she's from Missouri. That's something we've talked about, but I would rather do Utah. We have a lot of friends that lived there, were friends and well, I mean the men. I moving to the west myself being from the East Coast and have bounced around a little bit over the last couple of years, moving around for jobs and stuff. The West was always something that I've watched on TV. It was always I remember thinking, I'm well, elk, I'll never run Elk, that's foolish. You have to get away across the country that never be able to afford or I have the time to do that. And now I live in a place where everywhere and everywhere so everywhere. Just come on out, dude, I'm there. I've talked about it. So I went with my buddy Max uh he. I was talking about the tinderling. Did we did the commas? You get the sheep tag elk tag into deer tag I ended up getting a dough where I was at like one of the last days, Like I missed like a three forty bowl, just a big herd bowl. Um Max missed the bowl and we were just like tucking our tails between our legs. I'm like, I want, I need to bring some meat home. So I ended up taking a dough and uh, and that was all we got out of three three hunters. So it was a pretty tough time, but it was very game rich. We just sucked you and me both. But yeah, I mean I think you get to a point where in that state, like the fact that you just said I had a sheep tag and ilk tag and hic so great. Like to me, I just want to like giggle with like a child Christmas morning. And I took a lot of breaks from hunting this fault to get my family move, to do all that stuff and get the new job kicking. But um, I was like, I just keep telling people for the next thirty five years, I'm gonna hunt the West like a madman. There's just no this endless. It's endless out there. It's beautiful, man. I mean, did the elk population out there? I mean, you said you have my bison running th year. I mean, yeah, not far from my front doors. Yellowstone Parks. I mean everyone was in a while, and I'll just drive twenty minutes and there's we lived right in the mouth of uh the Gallatin River runs through the Galaton River Valley and then to Custer Galaton National Park or not Custer Galton National Forest, and I mean it's it's shifteam mansionary door and you're in this like high walled canyon and then there's signs like sheet crossing way. Yeah there's a uh no, but I have I have yet to like I might just go there with sixer, sit there and look for sheep because that's my dad. Would you and my dad would come and I'd be like that, you realize that I live in a place where there's like I could walk, I could hike up and find sheep whenever I have a minute. It's and it's so I'm sure you're like me, It's like you live in a place where that isn't the case. You want to be there more than not. So I think my wife would end up leaving me because I'd just be out there doing all that all the time. I've told my wife, like we gotta come up with a weekend. What can I do? Yeah? What did I do? What can I make sure? How can I make sure you're looking happy? Get your honey dues in. I'm gonna go play and look for sheep. I know. Yeah, I'm taking this six pack of PBR and I'm kind to find I'm going to look glass up some sheep that I can't kill. But yeah, I mean I think I look forward to run around the west. Um. And so there's the other questions I want to ask you, but a lot of them are around those why questions, Like I think that's what interests me the most right now, just in this podcast, people that listen, it's it's a cross section of everybody, and everybody has their own wise and why they do things. But you ever think about, you know, we talked about, you know, killing is gratifying, right with what's the why? There? We know you and I know with the why, but it's just kind of letting it out for people. The next step to that, and the next question I always asked myself is like why do I desire the trophy? Like the word trophy gets weapon tis and you certainly can't really go out and use it like, Hey, I went on the trophy Alcohn. That immediately changes whether you're you know, five people that follow you like immediately changes. Um. But to me, the trophy isn't just the antlers, it's it's the experience, it's the it's the meat. Um. But the next level that is me asking myself and asking you, like, we desire that, sure if and we desire to show people that that we I think that desire could like is problematic because a lot of people will say there's intrinsic motivations, which is like, just for me, I'm doing something because it makes me feel right, And there's extrinsic motivation, which is it's it's for other people. I'm doing it because other people like to see me or might like to have seen it. Um. How do you balance that? Because I mean, you have a big social media following, you have, you have celebrity and many ways, and you're trying to tell your hunting story. How do you balance you know that why the desire to to finish off with the Yeah, I think that right there is probably the hardest thing for people that don't hunt to understand the the trophy part of it. Quote unquote trophy part and like that term gets used all the time in my in my comments, like you're just a trophy hunter. Well what does that mean? Like if it means that I'm searching for the most mature animal, like, yeah, then I'm a trophy hunter because in in this in this world, you know, I'm not I don't want to go out and shoot a one year old or two year old deer. A there's less meat, you know. It's I want this animal to be able to grow up and become mature so that now that thing can spread its seed and and keep the population growing. Um. You know, there's quite a few things with it, but it is a tough one to try to explain to people that don't hunt and don't want to understand. But um, for me, I mean, it's it's going out searching for the most mature animal. Um. And sometimes that's the bigger animals. Sometimes that's not. I mean I've killed you know, I think my six year old I killed the Ohio buck last year's like six six and a half year old buck, you know, which is a mature dear. It was like a hut, Like it's not like a giant by any means, but I'm happy with it. You know, I killed him with my bow. I went out there, I had a couple of days to hunt, and I have some amazing meat my freezer from it. You know, like that is a trophy hunt to me. Yeah, you don't ever feel pressure two. And I think this, this would be a question you'll be uniquely suited to answer, like pressure to celebrate one more than the other one who comes, like celebrating the antlers and celebrate the meat. Like do you feel like, well, if I just celebrate the meat more people give me less shit if I just you know, take one trophy photo and like meat meat meat, Like how do you balance that messaging and with you know, those motivations are are interesting to me because it becomes like how do you balance what people want to see and what you want to say? I mean, for me, it is, Yeah, it's a balancing act. I mean, I gotta do both. I mean I have to show people that if I if I only posted a trophy picture of me grabbing this deers ant leer and taking a picture with it and don't say anything about the meat, that's when I get people that are like, oh, I hope you didn't just leave that there after you took that photo. You know, people that just don't understand, They just don't get it's a great hobby you have. Like, okay, so now I have to explain to these people, like I'm not just killing this animal to take a photo of it and then walking off like this is. And so then usually I do either a picture of me processing it or showing all the meat all processed, like look, this is my buck that I just killed. Now this is all coming home with me to fill my freezer. And then I show me cooking that meat. You know. I think the balance between those three things is what makes at least for my following, makes people understand, Okay, this is why he's doing this, you know. And so there I like showing off what I've killed, you know, And this is the toughest part to explain. But it's not because I'm proud that I killed this thing, like I murdered an animal. You know, I'm not proud. I'm not trying to say that I'm proud because I was successful. I put in the work. This was my task that I was trying to succeed at, and I'm successful. You know. Yeah, that's what I appreciate it from knowing you is that like we have you have fun, you enjoy life, you enjoy hunting. It's what drives you in a lot of ways. But at the same time, there's immense respect for the animal, for the people that like representing them in in in a way. So, um, I've always appreciated that things, buddy, Yeah, I mean I it's like I said, outdoor. The outdoor lifestyle is my ultimate passion, like absolutely love it. I've done it since I was a little kid, falling my dad threw the woods, you know, chasing a little blacktail bucks up in this this Sierras, you know, and being so excited going up for the week end and just camping with my dad and my brothers, and you know, growing into that type of lifestyle from a little kid to where I'm at now, Like that's my life. This is what I love to do, you know. And someone actually just left the comment the other day and he said, like, oh, you just got some money and now you think you're a hunter. It's like, and I've been doing this since i was a little kid. This is this is my lifestyle week as the surface level bullshit, it's crazy. Yeah, now you get it. Yeah, that's what I said. People think, Oh, now you're famous and you have money, now you get to kill being animals Like that is not. No, I don't. I don't tolerate that. It's like, dude, it's it's you wouldn't like, yeah, you wouldn't exactly, you'd be like, no, I'm good because I've worked hard my whole life. Let's say I do a lot of public land hunting too, Like, let's not get that confused. I do a lot of public land hunting where I go out and ay, I'm either skunked or I'm very successful. Like it goes both way. We've all been there. We all hunt public lands. Do I hunt a lot of private property? Of course? But and have I bought tags before? Of course I've worked my whole life, killed myself in the gym and in school, like I have a college degree, Like I've been through all that, Like I know what hard work, what it takes, like I've done it. And now because I'm successful and I have some money that I can afford that tag, Like, of course, I'm gonna know. You're supposed to keep doing it like you did it when you're a little kid. Ye have it. Yeah, that's the whole point of working hard. Yeah, that's something that's bullshit. Um, I think you have to go pretty soon, right, you have to go. Um, you got you have a UFC fight, But I feel like to finish off your like I want so you're fighting a gentleman named Alexander Volkanovski. Correct. Um, I want to play Alexander and I want you to talk ship to me. Dude, I'm the worst that I just want to be like fucking Chad Mendez. I'm gonna punch you in your face, all right, listen bad Janowski. Oh oh, I see how it is. Don't make me. Uh dude, I'm I'm bad. I'm so bad at talking ship, trying to do that they do and I hate it. I'm like, I can't do it. And they were like, well, we can't really sell this fight unless you're they want it, man, they want they want the Connor, they want you know they I mean, I get it. It's it's selling a fight, but it's not me. It's not who I am. I've never like being a wrestler. Like my dad's always taught me, you be respectful, and like I don't. I don't have to be a complete asshole to show that I'm tough, Like I know I'm tough. I know what I can do. I don't need to show you it and let you hear it with my mouth like I'm going to show you when we step in the ring, generally show it. You generally do the walking less of the talking. I thought maybe we would get like fuck you, but he came through. Um, well, good luck, dude, Thanks, thank you for sitting down with me. Good luck on Saturday. Ninum, is it in Vegas? It is Vegas. Yeah, it's at the the t Mobiles at New Arena and the New Arena and ves Well, wherever I am, I will have a drinking hand and I'll screaming at the television when you knock out Vaginovski. And after we're gonna get yeah, and the Turkey season come down the pipe. Yeah, thanks brother, Yeah, thank you. That is all. Chad Mendez, thank you, my friend for taking a short time. He was in between um a baby doctor's appointment and then he was going to another doctors point for himself. He was training for fights, he was doing his meal plans. He was stuffing bagels in his mouth. Before we started the podcast, UM, and for some reason he felt graceful enough to sit down with me in Sacramento, UM at your ry favorite You're ry a favors Ultimate Fitness Jim where he's in their team, trained and and talk through some of these important subjects. So appreciate it. I hope to do this again, uh in hunting camp with Chad where he's not so focused on the next fight. But I look forward to I look forward to watching chat on the big screen. UM go up against Volkanovski on the twenty nine of December. Good luck, my brother, I know you'll do well. What else? What else? I also want to make a note to say thank you to everybody who who wrote in and who emailed and and d m and called after my appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience. Joe Rogan get is a is a great friend of mine. UM. If you haven't listened to it, please go do. UM. It's episode I believe twelve sixteen of the Joe Rogan Experience, and we talked for three hours about a lot of important things, a lot of silly things too, But UM, thank you to Joe Rogan for having me on. Thanks to everybody for listening. It was. It's always a great experience. Joe is an amazing individual and a great friend, and I'm very privileged to be a part of his immense and men this platform. Um, it's something I never thought would be reality, but it is, and I'm thankful, very thankful for it. What else You really should go to the media, to your dot com? You really should. I mean, if you're not doing it, I'm not sure where your priorities are. You gotta go there. You gotta sign up for the newsletter. Get click on the website. There up in the top right corners, the orange button said subscribe. You click on that. You get this weekly mailing of our best content. It always includes the Hunting Collective podcast. It always includes articles of videos from lots of smart folks, so it's it's definitely an addition to your inbox. Go check it out. Hunting Collective attire is up on the mediator dot com store. Go to the store and and click on the different types of apparel that are there. Scroll down find your favorite Hunting Collective gear. We've got the Hunting Collective hoodie, We've got the Hunting Collective yetti tumbler, and we've got the Hunting Collective pro Nuance antip old Ship T shirt. Much more to come in the weeks. You'll be seeing some hats and other T shirts go up. If you've got any suggestions for cool glass T shirts based on this podcast, um, hit me up because we are ready to roll and we want to make what you want to wear. So the Mediator dot com look for the store and go find that a peril. Very much appreciate that you do that, and we're also looking forward to the next year. The last thing I'll say is we're looking forward to next year. Dude. You got a Mediator Live podcast tour which I will be a part of and some of the stops, but more importantly you can see Steve Ornella, Johanni to tell us cal in the whole crew in the town near you, So be checking out for that. Yeah, I think that's all. That's all I have to say. I really appreciate you and we'll see you next time. I'm then Collective Podcast

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