00:00:05 Speaker 1: Welcome to This Country Life. 00:00:06 Speaker 2: I'm your host, Brent Reeves. 00:00:09 Speaker 1: From coon hunting to trot lining and just general country living, I want you to stay a while as I share my experiences and life lessons. This Country Life is presented by Case Knives from the Store More Studio on Meat Eaters Podcast Network, bringing you the best outdoor podcasts that airways have to offer. 00:00:29 Speaker 2: All right, friends, grab a chair or drop that tailgate. I've got some stories to share. news we can use. 00:00:42 Speaker 1: There's not a lot of introduction that's needed for this episode. We're going to get right into it when we start, and it's all pretty self-explanatory. So, without any further ado, join me at the fire, and let's get started. A year ago this week, I received a story submission from the great state of Vermont. Now, outside of being in basic training with a fellow from Vermont way back in the 1900s, I really don't know anything about that state except of how pretty it is. The pictures that his mama sent him, I thought, were postcards. The leaves were on full display in the fall of 1987, and what I was seeing in the photos of a small town with Victorian-looking architecture looked like the beginning of a Hallmark Christmas movie. It was beautiful, and it didn't even look real. Since then, I've been all over this continent, especially the last few years, but never have I had the opportunity to visit the Green Mountain State. I'm ashamed to say that if Given a U.S. map of only borders and no names, I'd give myself one in five chances of picking it out. So, I googled a blank map challenge quiz, and believe it or not, I got it on the first guess. Feeling confident and way smarter than I thought, I proceeded to misidentify Delaware so many times the test suggested I turn in my passports. The point is that I haven't done much rambling up in that part of this country, and I ought to fix that. Anyway, when Vermont homesteader Brad Roy sent me this story in October of 2025, I read it, thoroughly enjoyed it, and filed it away to use later. 00:02:43 Speaker 2: Well, now it is later. 00:02:47 Speaker 1: Brad mentions the story taking place in a portion of the state known as the Northeast Kingdom. a term I was completely unfamiliar with but intrigued by its origins. The Northeast Kingdom is a rural, heavily forested region in the northeastern corner of Vermont that covers like 2,000 square miles across Essex, Orleans, and Caledonia counties. It was given its name by Vermont Senator and former Governor George Aiken in 1949. Anyway, I found the story intriguing somewhat for the game Animal Pursuit. The moose was completely foreign to me until last year when I was in northern Manitoba chasing them myself. No, the moose was only part of it. My favorite thing was the community around that he acknowledged with a heartfelt gratitude, but added mostly anecdotally, which is exactly how it should have been acknowledged. More of my thoughts on what I mean specifically about that once we're done. 00:03:55 Speaker 2: So here it is. 00:03:57 Speaker 1: The words of Middlesex, Vermont native Brad Roy and my voice. 00:04:03 Speaker 2: Here we go. 00:04:07 Speaker 1: Deep belly giggles erupted from the backseat of my truck as my two-year-old son wriggled with joy and amusement at what he had just heard. I felt slightly embarrassed at my practice attempt to sound like a sweet and lonely cow moose in search of a studly lover to keep her company. It was so funny to him, but then again, neither of us really knew what we were doing. With only a handful of days left before the Vermont 2024 moose season opener, I was pulling out all the stops in preparation. Alongside hours of scouting, Hundreds, maybe over a thousand miles put on my pickup truck and suddenly just justifying gear purchases to myself that I had put off for the past few years. One key area of prep for this newly minted moose hunter was an exhausting amount of practicing cow calling. After all, it works on YouTube all the time. So what better way to pass the time riding home from the daycare than belting out cow calls and bull grunts to my impatient toddler in the backseat. The Vermont moose hunt is arguably the most sought-after crown jewel of what these green mountains have to offer to sportsmen and women. And after a 17-year hiatus from my father drawing a permit in 2007, we once again were on deck to pursue our very own monstrous semi-aquatic onion. During the 07 hunt, I was fortunate enough to be named as my father's subpermit E. In Vermont, a moose permit winner can designate a subpermit E, which is a second hunter to accompany them and participate in the harvest. 00:06:01 Speaker 2: After a few days of dawn to. 00:06:02 Speaker 1: Dusk hunting, I decided I needed a midday break to fuel up and take a quick nap. And I vividly remember The sound of my father's rifle ringing through the valley mere minutes after I left his side when he. 00:06:17 Speaker 2: Happened to cross a young bull. 00:06:20 Speaker 1: I promised myself after that moment that should we ever get the good fortune to draw a tag again, my desire to hunt down snacks and a nap would not interrupt my hunt for a moose. The time for redemption began early on a morning in October of 2024. After a restless night in camp and a much earlier-than-normal wake-up, we were parked at our destined spot, an hour prior to legal shooting light. We sat in the cab of the truck, watching the first glimpse of the day's glow slowly chasing the stars away. And as legal light arrived, we saddled our backpacks, loaded our rifles, and set out to begin our second moose hunt ever. The morning passed quickly. We were hunting hard, but also somewhat amused and annoyed at being in the center of what sounded like a county-wide moose-calling contest. The hills were alive with the sound of other hunters, some who clearly had practiced more than me, and some who definitely had practiced less. And even with all that racket, no moose were seen. After hours of hiking around and happening upon us, Few groups of hunters who were so friendly we couldn't trust anything they said, we managed to jump one in the distance that was bedded just a few hundred yards from the truck. Thick hardwoods and loud walking conditions meant it was gone long before we got a good look at it. So we continued on and stopping by a place that we had scouted the previous week to go retrieve a trail camera. As we took our first steps down that trail, though, we noticed two men seemingly struggling a bit as they stopped and rested. We learned that just minutes before, they had been walking out that same trail and were able to shoot a young moose. Congratulations were in order, and we helped them drag it out the remaining weight of their truck and get it loaded. We finished up the rest of the day and made it back to camp for some much-needed R & R. The second day began much like the first, and shortly after daylight, we were hunkered down in a seemingly good spot. About an hour or so of listening to what sounded like every other moose hunter in the state being successful, we took the swirling winds as our cue to head to newer ground. We made our way down an old logging road and began overthinking our next play. About the time we decided on a plan of action, we saw a patch of ground that stood out to both of us as we. 00:09:00 Speaker 2: Drove past it. 00:09:02 Speaker 1: Might as well give it a try, I said, and we agreed to take a quick walk through. 00:09:07 Speaker 2: The new area. 00:09:08 Speaker 1: My father said, I think I'll just leave my backpack. We can do a quick in and out and then go back to our plane. Well, you do what you want, but if there's one thing I've learned over the years, it's that if you're going to go through the trouble of hauling a backpack, bring it with you every time you leave the truck because the one time you don't have it with you is when you're going to need it most. We laughed and we set out on our quick trip into the woods, both backpacks in tow. The air was hot. It was too hot for a moose hunt. And despite patches of snow on the ground from an early season storm, temps that day were expected to push toward 80 degrees. After a few hundred yards of walking, we came across a beautiful clear cut that looked like it was straight out of my moose hunting dreams from the prior few nights. Now this would be a great spot to sit when we came back this evening. I started heading back out the way we came. Let's loop up and around a bit back to the truck, my father said. Might as well look at something new on the way out. We slowly made our way back to the truck and after a few minutes of silently slipping through Away from that cut, things turned into what I can only explain as downright moosey. The warm temps of the mid-morning sun were tempered down to the tune of 10 to 15 degrees by thick spruce and cool damp moss, and a feeling of excitement grew in my belly. We picked our way slowly and soundlessly through the thick young timber, and suddenly a volley of gunfire erupted from my left. Talk to me, I whispered with intensity and excitement to my father, who was standing only a few yards away, had clearly seen something that I had not. He rearranged his glasses from the shockwave of 45-70 rounds that had just endured and explained the moose had popped out a distance away, but his shots didn't feel that good. What turned out to be an unsteady rest coupled with distance and an understandable rush of excitement may have gotten the better of We waited, and eventually I let out the best excuse for a moose call I could muster, hoping the missed shots hadn't driven that moose into the next county. Then we slowly made our way to the exact point that that moose had been standing, with fresh tracks in the soft moss and patches of snow, but no blood, hair, or any other sign left behind. We knew a clean miss was the only unfortunate explanation. Disappointed, but not convinced the hunt was over, we continued onward in the direction the moose had run. A short distance later, we saw it, broadside at about 40 yards or so. Being only the sub-permittee, I determined making the call to shoot was completely up to my father, and I looked at him for reassurance on what our next move was going to be. Kill it, he said sternly and quietly. I brought the gun up but had no clear view of the vitals. Thick and muscular hindquarter along with the one large paddle were the best that I could see. My heart began to race as I shifted to another tree to rest on. 00:12:36 Speaker 2: Kill it, he whispered a bit more vigorously, but again I had no clear shot. 00:12:43 Speaker 1: With an animal that could weigh upwards of half a ton and be a mile or more away in mere minutes, I wasn't prepared to take a less than ideal shot. If it was meant to be, it would happen eventually. The bull stood patiently, seemingly unaware or at least unfazed by our presence. After moving to a new tree to rest on, I finally found vitals in my crosshairs through the dense, ankle-thick spruces on the edge of the cut. I heard one last and much more assertive, kill it, from over my shoulder. Suddenly, my rifle roared, and that. 30- 06 round waved goodbye to me, making a short journey to a point just behind the front shoulder of that big bull, somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,840 miles an hour. He just stood there as I quickly cycled the boat and prepared for a follow-up shot. I held the crosshairs on his neck, the only visible piece of moose vitals I had at the moment, and while my fingers slowly began to squeeze off another round, it was halted by the sights of the moose tipping over sideways and coming to rest on the ground. That moment was one like I had never experienced in my life. Out there in some of the most devastatingly beautiful country I have seen in the state of Vermont, with an incredible and majestic bull moose down. I was standing side by side with the man who fostered my love of hunting and had offered me the opportunity to go along on his moose hunt, not just once, but twice. We were both speechless for a moment, taking in and appreciating what had just happened and convincing ourselves that it actually had. This had been truly a team effort in every sense of the term. And today, our team had won. 00:14:42 Speaker 2: Big time. After a quick thank you to the Bull for. 00:14:46 Speaker 1: Including us in his circle of life and death, the real work began. We called in help from family members who were staying at a camp with us that weekend with a simple pre-written message I had saved on my Garmin inReach just for such an occasion. 00:15:01 Speaker 2: It read, Moose Down. After a few hours of field dressing and. 00:15:06 Speaker 1: Dragging the big bull by hand, we decided it would be wisest for all. 00:15:10 Speaker 2: Parties involved to call for some horses. 00:15:14 Speaker 1: We hopped in the truck to get to an area with cell service to make that call, but I didn't make it 100 yards down the road before I saw a horse trailer bobbing its way up that bumpy old road in our direction. Like a moth to a flame, I hopped out of the truck and approached the driver as he slowed down. You have no idea how happy we are to see you. Would you be interested in pulling a moose out for us? After a quick pull of another moose just up the road from us, the crew skillfully assisted with the help of their horse rooster in an expedited version of what would have likely taken our camping crew somewhere between one and three. 00:15:55 Speaker 2: Weeks to complete. 00:15:57 Speaker 1: Not really, but it would have seemed like it. Watching them work was an incredible display of good people doing an important job with expert skill, made even more so by the efforts of Rooster. We watched in awe as that 2,200-pound horse pulled our moose through clear cuts, across boggy areas, and in and amongst trees with an ease that made me feel a little disappointed with the effort we had given with five grown men. When I think back to what The best part of that day was there's too many to count, but I can tell you that watching that crew work and that horse pull is in contention to be the best. The hot conditions had the clock ticking double time, and we were so thankful that they were able to get our moose out quickly. We certainly were not the first thankful group of hunters Bobby and Ashley Geyer have encountered, and thankfully for all of us who have had the privilege of getting a moose in the Northeast Kingdom, both of them, along with Ashley's father, Mark Farrell, are ensuring that we won't be the last. 00:17:16 Speaker 2: Their efforts are important, and I hate to. 00:17:18 Speaker 1: Think about what would happen to a lot of moose meat if good people like them and their horses like Rooster weren't around. We made it to the check station and, as always, were impressed by the biologist's professionalism and friendliness. The bull weighed in at 791 pounds with a 44-inch antler spread. We were all smiles as we recounted that day's story with friends and family who were also in the area hunting. An hour and a half later, we were happy and relieved to see our moose hanging at the processors and the meat cooling down less than 10 hours later. 00:17:56 Speaker 2: After the shot. 00:17:58 Speaker 1: Even better, we were happy to find out that my father's shot had hit the moose, so both of us were able to take part in this harvest, and it truly was a team effort between us, one that I will never forget. A Vermont moose hunt can be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and although I have been fortunate enough to be part of a handful, this was certainly the experience of a lifetime. And according to Brad Roy, that's just how that happened. Well, Brad, I appreciate you sharing that story with the rest of us here living this country life. There is no better representation of what this community is to me than this story right here. I've said from the beginning that everyone has a story to tell and everyone's story deserves to be heard. And this one, is a testament to a common appreciation of nature and like-minded folks working together in the stewardship and recovery of an animal. They were there to help someone else, but once that task was done, they gladly assisted Brad's family. That was something more common in days gone by than it seems to be today. Now think about those times when everything wasn't so fast-paced, when work was whatever your shift was, and once you were at home, Work stayed at work. People went out of their way to help their neighbor or a stranger, not because they had to, but because it was the right. 00:19:34 Speaker 2: Thing to do. 00:19:37 Speaker 1: Stories like Brad's aren't unique in the circles of folks I run with, and that circle encompasses the majority of North America. The uniqueness derives from the attention actions like these receive. The news used to be when someone didn't go out of their way to help their neighbor. Now the story is when someone does, like it's a one-of event, if there's time at the end of the show to squeeze it in. Well, I don't see it that way. Badness gets the attention. All the attention, 24-hour news cycles thrive on calamity and sensationalism when people say things are worse than they've ever been. 00:20:16 Speaker 2: Well, I disagree. 00:20:19 Speaker 1: Since time began, there's been bad news and bad folks. At one point, in the very beginning of our existence, one out of four people. 00:20:28 Speaker 2: On Earth were murderers. 00:20:30 Speaker 1: The reason I like Brad's story so much is because it accentuates the positive. And it's one of the innumerable things that happened that day that was good that no one would have ever known about because of its virtue. Had tragedy befallen that trip in any way, you can bet someone somewhere would have shouted it from the rooftops. 00:20:54 Speaker 2: But it didn't. And that's the news I can always use. 00:21:03 Speaker 1: Thank y'all so much for listening to me, Clay, and Lake here on the Bear Grease channel. 00:21:09 Speaker 2: Now, I talked it over with Waylon. Got a little surprise coming. 00:21:14 Speaker 1: It's something that's coming out, a collaboration between us and a certain duck call company here in a few weeks. I'm very excited about it. But they said I could only tease. I couldn't tell anybody. I couldn't show anybody what's inside this box. So, since I'm a man of My word and I obey my superiors at all times. 00:21:38 Speaker 2: I'm not going to show you. Yes, I am. Here it is.