00:00:01 Speaker 1: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast, your guide to the White Tail Woods, presented by first Light, creating proven versatile hunting apparel for the stand, saddle or blind. First Light, Go Farther, Stay Longer, and now your host, Mark Kenyon. 00:00:19 Speaker 2: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast. This week on the show, I'm doing a solo Ask Me Anything episode which I'm going to be answering your questions about my new role medi eater conservation issues, and deer hunting tactics, strategies and regulations. All right, welcome back to the Wired to Hunt podcast, brought to you by First Light, and today it is an Ask Me Anything episode. I put out the call for questions last week and today I'm going to answer them about all sorts of different topics and the three major buckets that I would say those questions fall into are questions about my new role at METAT and what that's going to mean for Wired to Hunt, which I kind of introduced to you guys that this is happening last week. And then number two, a lot of questions about deer hunting tactics, trail cameras, deer hunting regulations, various strategy related things, lots of stuff to cover on that front, and then finally a bunch of questions related to conservation, public lands, wildlife, and a lot more that's relevant to this new side of my life at Meetator as the director of Conservation and so today I'm going to answer those questions, and I'm going to do it in a way that hopefully can keep this relevant to you no matter which part of those questions you're interested in. I know there's some of you who come to Wired to hunt specifically for that deer hunting stuff. So we're gonna have a chunk that is just deer hunting questions, and then there will also be a chunk of questions in which I put all that conservation stuff together. So if you're into that side of things, if you're curious about that world, you can listen to that part or hopefully you'll listen to the whole thing and get a little bit of both. But before we get to that, I do want to just say thank you so much to everyone for the messages and the comments and the text messages and all the support with this new step for me that Meetator taking on this new role really appreciate that. I'm just super excited about this opportunity to do something that I care about a lot and that hopefully will lead to good things to come for the future of deer hunting and hunting and fishing of all types in America moving forward. So with that said, I'm going to keep this intro very short and sweet. We're going to get right to these questions. We're going to split it up, like I mentioned, so you can fast forward if you're not into one of these, but we'll start with a couple quick questions related to the new role, and then we're going to go into conservation related things, and then finally we're going to jump into the hunting side. So that's the plan, that's what we're going to do here. So first question is from Brendan. I'm just going to share the first name for folks here as they submitted their questions. Brendan asks, what do you imagine will change with your podcast and anything else given your new role. So a lot of that's up in the air still, but the basic plan is that, you know, my role will continue to have a big content side of things. So I'm going to continue doing podcasts, I'm going to continue doing shows and films on the Mediator YouTube channel. I'm continue doing all of that hunting kind of front of camera stuff that is part of my role as a member of the crew at Metator, So you're still going to see me doing those shows. There'll still be some deer hunting shows there might likely or not likely, there will be more films and shows that are also related to just general wildlife and conservation and nature. I've got some really cool new projects in the works that will be released sometime this year. On that there will still be uh, you know, I'll still have a role with the Wired Hunt podcast. At a minimum, you're gonna be hearing from me, you know, probably something like every other week or maybe more than that. But but you'll be hearing me as a host of the Wired Hunt podcast still for many episodes. But there will also be new folks showing up on Wired to Hunt. You're probably going to be hearing more from Tony. You will likely be hearing more from some other folks too. But we're going to continue having Wired Hunt podcasts on the same frequency, the same quality, getting you the best possible deer hunting information and resource that you need to become a better deer hunter. So that's going to keep happening, and I will still be a part of that, but I just won't be on there quite as much. That will allow me to open up more time to do more of this Director of Conservation type work, which you know is going to include a lot of different things. I'll be spearheading the bigger picture strategy for Meetator on how we engage on conservation issues, how we think about our conservation related content, education and news, how we can be better advocates for issues that are important hunters and anglers and wildlife and wild places. So how do we engage, how do we influence, how do we make sure that our audience in the hunting and fishing community is taking action when it's needed. So we're going to be thinking about that a lot, going to be thinking about how we do all of this a little bit more strategically, how we use Metator's resources and you know, the megaphone that we have with our platform for good as you know, in the best possible way. So there's a lot that needs to happen on that front that's going to require time. There's also going to be some new content from me related to that on the podcast side that's still being figured out, but you might be seeing I'm not sure if it's going to be a new podcast or new miniseries or what exactly that is. I'm not sure, but you will be hearing from me in some new podcast capacity talking about you know, these larger nature wildlife conservation related issues too, So stay tuned for that to come. And I think that's, you know, at a high level where things are at right now. I'll be still doing deer stuff, but a little bit less, which will open me to do more of this conservation, bigger picture wildlife and wild place related things, and also just some different hunting related things too. I'm excited to be doing some different big game hunts this year that I guess I'll save for the moment, but you will be seeing some of that in the coming months. That'll be really outside of my wheelhouse that I'm that I'm excited about, So stay tuned for that. I think that covers it. Another question Ryan asks when the next book is coming, and so that is definitely tied to kind of this intersection of my hunting and my conservation passions. So the new book should be published sometime in early twenty twenty seven. I'm putting kind of the very final finishing touches on it right now. I've been working on it for years now, gosh, maybe back in like twenty twenty two or twenty twenty three that started really really happening, and it's been going on ever since, kind of working, you know, all my little extra spare time on slowly but surely putting this thing together. So, if you haven't heard already, I've mentioned in the past, but the new book is going to be similar in format to my first book, which was called That Wild Country. And that book explored the past, present, and future of America's public lands, and it did that through a series of my own adventures on public lands. So I told these stories while then teaching about the history and the current threats and all that. The new book takes that same format, so a bunch of adventures out there in the wild world, but this time instead of exploring, you know, the issues directly applicable to public lands, this time it's all about exploring the past and future of fish and wildlife in America. So, what's going on with our animals and fish? Why are so many of them in decline? What's going on? And how do we stop that? How do we change that. And it's told through a series of my own hunting and fishing adventures across the nation. So, like I said, that's coming in early twenty twenty seven. I will definitely be sharing a lot more details as we get closer, but stay tuned and thank you in advance for checking that one out. So, continuing on a similar vein conservation questions. If this is not your jam, you can fast forward to the deer hunting side of things, which is about you know, fifty percent of this podcast. But I'd urge you to tune into some of this because if you love deer hunting, then we have to be thinking about how we make sure we have you know, open space for deer to exist on. We need to make sure that there are landscapes that we can hunt on. We need to make sure there are healthy deer pop populations and healthy populations of all the other wildlife out there that are connected to the places that deer live. So conservation matters for the future of deer hunting and much much more, obviously, So a couple different questions, many different questions here, and I'll try to tackle these relatively quickly. Casey asks a long one. So I'm going to read this one verbatim from my computer. Casey asks, with midterm elections coming up, public lands feel like they're becoming collateral damage of straight party line voting. A lot of people care deeply about conservation but feel trapped because voting across the aisle can mean sacrificing other core values. We also see candidates talk publicly about supporting public lands, but when you dig into their voting records, there's carve outs, backdoor compromises, or missed votes on things like the Roless rule. As someone deeply invested in conservation, how do you recommend voters actually evaluate candidates on public lands? Where should we be digging on the sound bites and do you see any realistic path towards compromise or accountability that protects public lands without further deepening division? All right, Casey, great question. Thanks to that one. There's lots to tackle there, and this is a tough one. And this is one that I think all of us face every election cycle, which is when you're placing your votes. How do you think about you know, public lands within that and conservation more broadly within those voting decisions, you know, for every one of us. How we vote is obviously a personal decision, and each one of us has a different set of issues that matter, and we prioritize those different those those different things in different ways. And of course, you know, I'm not going to be one to tell anyone how they should rank those things and how they should prioritize different issues. I know that public lands and conservation isn't going to be number one for most people, but if it's somewhere in the top, I certainly think it should be part of your voting and maybe just as important as where it falls or how it influences your votes. It definitely, no matter which side of the alle you're going to vote, it definitely can be a huge part of your communication with these candidates. Because here's the thing. We can vote for a candidate based on this big mixed pot of issues we care about, and they're probably going to be good on some things and less good or bad on other things. That's true, no matter if you're voting for a Republican or a Democrat. Neither side is perfect in my view on the issues related to honey and fishing, that's for sure. So what we can do is, of course, look at your priorities. But then also, and I think this is the most important thing here in the near term future. I think we should be communicating to all candidates leading up to elections and then also after elections about why this stuff is important. So before elections, you know, as you're trying to make that decision for yourself who best represents your interests, we should be calling these offices and saying, hey, you know, Republican candidate for my Senate seat, I really care about hunting and fishing or public lands or this particular issue. Let's say, maybe protecting the boundary waters in Minnesota, or if you live in Montana, maybe you really care about the roadless rule or whatever it is, not having public lands sold off. We should be calling these candidates ahead of time as they are running for election and being very clear about the fact that, hey, if you want my vote, this is an issue that really matters to me and hunters and anglers across your state and across the country. If you want our vote, you've got to be right on this. So we can be influencing them leading up to the election. No matter if you're going to vote for them or not. Maybe you've already made the decision. Even if you know for sure, hey, I'm not going to vote for this Democrat or I'm not going to vote for this Republican. Still we should be calling them and saying, hey, this matters. If you want the vote of my community, you better get right on this one. So that's the first thing that each and everybody can do. Each and every one of us can do that. Number two, after that person is elected, whoever it is, whether it's the person you wanted or the person you didn't want, we can still be calling that person's office and emailing that person's office and saying, hey, you are now representing me and the rest of the hunting and fishing community in this state or in this nation. This is a set of issues that's very important. Again, pick your issue, pick your public land policy, whatever it is, or have a whole list of them, and explain, hey, if you want to represent our interests, if you want my support during your term and into the future or for your reelection, here's what you need to be doing. Here's what you need to understand. Let me be a resource to help you understand why this is important, why this is good for your state, or for this country, or for the economy, whatever it is. So having that communication and trying to exert that influence for the election and then with your vote and then after the election, that is something we can all do and that's really really important, and that's the only way we change this thing right now. Like you said, Casey, it's tough because no one party represents hunting and fishing and conservation and public lands across the board in a good way. One party is good at certain parts of that, the other party is good at other parts of that. So there's no easy answers here if we're talking about this set of issues specifically. So what we need to do is continue to press both sides until both sides are good on these issues. They can argue over you know, specific solutions, but we are only going to get out of this if we can just continuously, consistently just just bang on the door and tell people this matters, this matters, this matters. If you're gonna be bad on public lands, it's going to be a poison pill career for your career. If you're going to be bad on you know, basic sound scientific management of wildlife, if you're going to be bad on that, it's going to be a poison pill for your political career. If we can continue to hammer that home, eventually we'll get to a point where we don't need to say, well, if I vote for this guy, it's going to be horrible for public lands, but is good for me on you know, firearm rights or whatever. Or if I vote for this gale, it's going to be good on the environmental side, but it's gonna be a nightmare on this other thing. I don't want that to be the case anymore. I want everyone to recognize that conservation and public lands is a must. Maybe there's gonna be other things we can have, you know, partisan divides on, but conservation and public lands is something we can make nonpartisan. But that only happens if we force the issue, and we do that with this communication, these emails, with these phone calls over and over and over again. That's, I guess, a long answer to your long question, Casey. You did also ask, though, you know, where should we be digging beyond the sound bites to actually understand, you know, how these candidates are voting and how they actually how their track record stacks up to what they say. I've got two ideas for you. One is you know, of course, try to pay attention to this stuff throughout the long run, read the news over the course of the election cycle, pay attention to this you know, as much as you possibly can in your daily life. But obviously most folks don't have time to do that on a consistent basis. So two things that were helpful for me. One thing that I've done that gets pretty good results is actually, you know, and I hate to use AI kind of I've got all sorts of questions and thoughts on AI in general. But I did a little experiment here to see how it would work with Google Gemini. I think you do something similar with chat GPT to get a little bit of a review of a candidate's conservation or public lands related voting record and an analysis of sorts on that. So what I did as I went into Google Gemini and I asked, I'll read you my prompt. I said, provide an analysis for me on how Congressman Tim Wahlberg, who's my congressman, has voted on issues related to public lands conservation, and provided grade on that voting record, and a plus would be awarded if he's voted in such a way that ensures the long term sustainability of our nation's public lands and wildlife, and f would be awarded if his vote instead would lead to the sale, transfer, or serious degradation of public lands and wildlife. Please provide links to sources that can confirm your points. So that was the prompt that I put in, and it spit out a pretty good review, a pretty you know, thorough and simple to understand explanation of key things that my congressman has voted on that are relevant to public lands and wildlife, and in a simple but pretty good analysis of how good or bad he was on those things related to the interests of someone who cares about that. Now, the key thing is that you can't trust one hundred percent anything that these ai you know, models provide, so you need to go and fact check that stuff. And so that's why I ask for links, because I always want to be able to go and fact check those sources and double check. But I did a couple that, you know, I have a pretty clear understanding of from firsthand knowledge to fact check. So I asked for an analysis like this for my congressman, and then asked for an analysis of this for Congressman Ryan Zinki out of Montana and what it provided for both of those people was a pretty darn sound analysis, a pretty non partisan but honest analysis of how these two guys, you know, stack up when it comes to their conservation voting record. So you can go ahead and do something like that for your congress people, for your senators, for any elected official that you're looking for, you know, in the twenty twenty six voting cycle, and you know, use that as a starting point. Again, don't trust it outright, but use that to then say, okay, this thing told me that my congressman voted for XYZ legislation which was bad for conservation. Okay, let me double check that. Let me let me click the link and read the article to fully understand that. That's a pretty good first step in understanding this. Another tool that can be useful is an organization called the League of Conservation Voters. And what they do is they put together a scorecard for various elected officials that basically go and they look at every different vote that these people have related to environmental issues and then rank, you know, basically mark whether they voted for the anti environment option or the pro environment option, and then you can see every one of those different things and then read more about that specific policy. Now, I will say that this is not an end all, be all. I would go through here and look at every specific you know, vote with some detail, because you know, I would call the land and you know, the League of Conservation Voters as definitely a left of center organization. And so there's some stuff in here that's a little farther center than maybe what I would call uh or than what I would like to see. Some of this stuff's a little bit more on the you know, environmental justice stuff. There's some DEI stuff, There's some and and you know, not saying anything about that, but that might be a little bit outside of what I would put in my bucket of conservation or public lands issues. So go in here and look at it for yourself. But there's a lot in here that's very useful. For example, I went in here looked at the scorecard for my congressman, and I can see, you know, how he voted on the rollback of clean water safeguards, and then I can drill into that and read more about this. Oh, yes, that is something that does impact clean water and he voted against it. How about this he voted to rescind protections for the boundary waters. Okay, he voted to roll back protections for the Arctic. Okay. And I can go and continue to fact check this stuff, but it's again a place that aggregates a bunch of that information. For an elected official. It's a starting point, but it's a place where you can start to understand, Okay, what has this person actually done that's influencing these things I care about. I think the big takeaway for a lot of this is that I don't trust any single headline or social media post or TikTok or anything, because everyone has a little bit of a spin. Everyone comes from a different perspective, everyone has a bias, and sometimes that's not an intentional, malevolent thing. That's simply we all look at this thing differently. So I try to get a bunch of different sources. I try to fact check as much of this as I possibly can. I try to pass it through the common sense test and only make decisions once I've done that. I don't try to make a decision based on just a one off. All right, That was a long answer there to the first one. I'll try to move a little bit quicker through some of these other ones. Nick asked, what advice would you give someone trying to break into the conservation space. So I'm not sure Nick, if you mean, you know, trying to get into conservation as a career, or if you just mean trying to, you know, start tackling some kind of conservation effort as an individual citizen. I guess I'll give you a little bit of an answer for both fronts there. When it comes to just trying to make a difference on this stuff, the simple answers, just get started doing something today, Just take individual action. I think there's so many ways that in our daily lives there are, you know, simple but meaningful ways that we can make things better. So that can be like doing something in your backyard or in your hunting property that make things better for wildlife, that make things better for you know, not just the deer that live there, but also the small mammals or the birds, or the pollinators or the fish in the creek. Make a difference with your own two hands when you can on the land that you influence or volunteer in public lands or in public waters. That's a simple way. I've talked about this a lot with the Working for wildlife tour. But volunteering to do something make things better today with your own hands, with your own blood, sweat and tears. A that makes things better in a tangible way today, and b it fills you with a sense of ability and energy that leads to a lot more happening when you can make something better, when you can change something today. I think it helps in snowballs. It leads to you feeling like, hey, I could do more tomorrow, and I can do more next month and next year. So that's the first thing. Number one. Finds something you can do now in your own neck of the woods, and then you know number two, then just start connecting and engaging with this stuff. So find out where the needs are. Connect with local conservation groups. Connect with the conservation group for the critter that you care the most about, or the place that you care the most about. Sign up, ask them, Hey, where do you need help? How can I jump in? What do you need? Where can I be of service? Those types of questions inevitably are going to lead to opportunities, opportunities to make a difference, and then maybe to you know, to the other potential part of your question. It could lead to career opportunities because there is no shortage of needs out there in the conservation world. There are nonprofits, and there are folks you know at the state agencies, and there are folks that are federal agencies and public land managers and wildlife managers who are doing the best that they can with limited resources, limited staffing, limited time, and they need people who are willing to step up and help out. Volunteering time, volunteering money, volunteering, you know, a skill set, there's places to do that. And the more you do that, the more you put yourself out there to help, the more likely it is that you might find that opportunity that hey, here's this entry level job, or here's this job opportunity, or here's this internship opportunity, or here's this class you can sign up to be a part of that maybe leads to that down the road. So that's what I would recommend doing. Just get started, find those close to home things where you can make a difference today, and then start just putting it out there for these different, bigger picture things that can lead to a difference down the road. And then finally, you know, do what I talked about ten minutes ago, which is making those phone calls, talking to those candidates, talking to your elected officials, and you know, trying to do on a consistent and basis. You know, my buddy Randy Neuberg a couple of weeks ago, I guess last week on the show, said we should be reaching out to our elected officials once a month, consistently reminding them of the stuff that we care about and what's happening right now. My buddy Cale has said that he tries to do this once a week. It's not that big of a time suck. You can do this in a three minute phone call once a week or once a month or whatever it is, and that is a huge, huge thing. We can make a big difference if there are thousands of us doing that, that's the power we have. We can make a difference with that. So I hope that helps. Noah asks, what are your thoughts on the push in Michigan to add massive amounts of solar farms. Man, That is a big one, because this is not just a Michigan thing. This is something we're seeing, you know, with solar and with wind, and we're seeing that not just a Michigan but we're seeing it all across the country. And you know, this isn't just related to those renewable energy sources. It's also just energy of any kind. Anytime you have energy infrastructure going in, it makes an impact. So you see that obviously with solar farms, you see that with wind farms. We've seen it for decades and decades. When it comes to gas and oil, of course, that infrastructure has had a significant impact on the environment in public lands over the years. So whatever it is, I think that the very most important thing is that it comes down to the sighting of those you know, energy projects. Where are they placed, What are the actual you know, kind of guardrails around them, so that they are done in as environmentally friendly of a way as possible, as wildlife friendly a way as possible. You know, we need energy, that's obvious. Every single one of us uses energy, uses electricity, uses gas and oil and increasingly solar and wind energy to power our homes, our phones, our cars, whatever we need it. It is what it is. How do we do that in a way that makes less of a negative impact. I think that clean energy is obviously something that is is a good thing. I'm not gonna sit here and say that I don't want cleaner energy. I do, but I don't want to throw the baby with throw the baby out with the bathwater. I don't want clean energy, but then ruin all of our wildlife habitat in an attempt to do that. So I've got really conflicted feelings on solar and wind because it certainly seems like solar and wind energy does not have as many of the you know, negative environmental byproducts as maybe burning fossil fuels does on some fronts, but the on the ground impact is huge, especially those solar farms, like I'm sure you're talking about Noah, where you see you know, one thousand acres, fifteen hundred acres completely fenced in, fencing out wildlife, completely covered with solar panels. I mean, this is this is intense wildlife habitat destruction. And it just makes no sense to me. Why are we doing that? Why are we just destroying wildlife habitat when there's all of these rooftops all over the nation, all of these concrete parking lots all over the nation that have already been destroyed. The wildlife habitat has already been destroyed there that we could be putting these panels that would not make the negative difference there. I know there's cost issues, I know there's all these things, but I really think that when it comes to these renewable projects, we can still be supportive generally of the idea if that's something that you're into. But I think we have to really be pushing for responsible sighting of those and making sure this stuff's not being put in important wildlife habitats, not you know, breaking up and fragmenting wildlife migrations. It's not destroying wildlife habitat. This stuff should be put in smart places, not taking special places and making them worse. I know that the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership did some work putting together. I think there were some documents kind of outlining their proposals on how to be thinking about this, how to make sure we're doing this in the smart, sponsible, environmentally friendly way. That'd be something to take a look at and probably share with some of our lawmakers now. But yeah, I don't like seeing habitat destroyed. I think we have to be just as cautious about this renewable energy as we are about you know, traditional forms of energy both make an impact, so both need to be done carefully, with a lot of thought and guardrails around them to make sure that we are mitigating the negative effects and making sure that yes, we get our energy, but we do so in such a way that does not negatively influence the environment or wildlife or public lands any more than it absolutely has to. That's my take. Justin asks currently, which species do you feel is under the greatest threat due to the potential selling off of public lands and what can we do to help? So I think when it comes to the threats of the sale or transfer of public lands, while you know, last summer there was the possibility that this could happen across a lot of different states, a lot of different areas forest service bl and lands, et cetera. I think most of the pressures to date, and the biggest risks have probably been on Bureau of Land Management parcels, which are you know, out west, those are our you know, desert landscapes typically or where you see BLM grasslands, desert. You know, this is stuff that you see a lot in those major Western states. So you know, I could see this happening in a Nevada or a Utah in those places. Most of those Western BLM type landscapes have habitat that are critically important to two or only three species that are you know, in relatively significant decline. Sage grouds have been in massive decline in recent decades. I feel like it's something more like eighty percent drop in population in the recent handful of decades. I don't remember the exact numbers there, but serious serious issues on the sage grouse side, And if we were to actually see a sale of public lands happen on BLM ground, that would definitely be something that would be impacting sage grouse and then mule deer. Mule deer numbers have been dropping across many states across many parts of their landscape, and a big part of that is because of habitat loss. So if we were to see public lands soul they're transferred, I feel like mule deer would really be feeling it. Pronghorn are another one in many places they've been trending down. Again. There are another important sage brush and grassland species that could be hurting if public lands and if those like sage brush stepped type ecosystems started being developed and sold off. So those three would be big ones. Those ones stand out to me, you're at the top. Justin asks, I guess I'll jump back he did ask. Justin did ask what can we do to help? And I would just jump back to what I've reiterated over and over, which is like, we've got to talk to our elected officials about these things while they're in office, when they're up for election, and after they're elected, just consistently, over and over and over again, making sure they know that, hey, selling off for public lands, it's not going to fly all right. Pickle asks, when you retire and look back on what you accomplished, what will success look like when it comes to fighting for public lands? I think two things. I think one, there's with any of this, there's a lot that is outside of any one of our hands. Right for any of us who care about these things, we can make an impact, but we can't control it all. We don't have the ultimate say on so much of this. So I think one, I would look back on my career and say, did I do everything I could? Did I go for it? Did I put my best foot forward and keep trying over and over and over in different ways to make a positive difference? If I could sit there after I retire and look back and say, man, you really did. You tried your damnedest, I would feel pretty good about that. I would feel well satisfied that I gave my best Part one. Part two, and this is the one where it's much more outside of my control. But if I could say that what I've been able to enjoy growing up and now as an adult on public lands, that the incredible experience of the amazing hunting trips, seeing just the wild, incredible fishing trips and experiences, the backpacking trips, the hikes, the camping. If what I have been able to enjoy, this unbelievable set of public land adventures that I've been able to enjoy, if that's still available for my kids and their children, so my grandchildren when I retire, If my grandchildren still have those same opportunities and those same places, that's a success. That's what for me would be a win. How much of that's possible, I do not know. I think that we are going to have to work our tails off to keep these places around, to keep these opportunities around, to keep these wildlife healthy and thriving. We have got our work cut out for us. There are so many pressures from so many different sides coming in on these things. If we sit back and think that somebody else is going to do it for us, it's not going to happen. That will not be the case. Fifty years from now, I will not be able to be retired and look back and say, Yep, my grandkids have the same opportunities. If I want that to be the case. If you want that to be case, it's going to take it's going to take us taking ownership of it and saying, hey, I'm not going to wait for somebody else to do it. I'm not going to assume that this other group will do it. I'm going to take action as an individual, and I'm going to be a part of collective action to make sure that our leaders, our businesses, our government, our managing agencies are doing the right things too. So that's on me, that's on you, that's on all of us, and that's what I think success looks like for me, and I'm going to work really hard to try to make sure that's the case. Pickle, I appreciate your question. All right, I'm going to move on to the second phase of this conversation. For the sake of time, We've got some hunting related questions, and I want to make sure we tackle those two Neil asks, what region or state that you would love to whitetail hunt have you not yet gotten to Okay, right off the bat, Kansas jumps out to me, I still haven't hunted Kansas. That's an obvious one. I definitely still want to do that. It's, you know, one of those states that's got two things going for it in my book. Obviously, it's one of those states that has a really great age structure, so there's lots of mature bucks, lots of big bucks, lots of that exciting kind of stuff that you get to see in a state like that. But then number two, it's got the terrain that I really like. I love the grasslands, I love that open space, I love that rolling topography. That's just like something I personally enjoy and Kansas has that. So it combines those two things. I'm sure, I'm sure I would love that. So that's one. I'd also love to get up into the far North and hunt somewhere, you know in Canada. Uh, I've seen those hunts up in Alberta or Manitoba, even Ontario that look pretty cool to experience. I would like to do that someday too. Tim asks, do you see the big buck craze fading off and turning more into the wild unknown? So I think what he's getting at here is, like, you know, the obsession over antlers and big and big bucks, you know, is that fading away? Is there more of an interest now an adventure? And I do think that that is that's happening to a degree. I think there's always gonna be people that you know, love big Bucks and chase big bucks and antler score and inches and all that, and you know, I'm always gonna like that stuff to a degree, I think a lot of folks will. It's it's pretty human to be impressed by big critters. That is a natural thing that's been happening since the you know, since Cave art was being drawn and you were seeing these big antler moose and elk and deer on those you know, on those pictographs. That's a pretty natural thing for us to be fascinated and excited by. At the same time, though, I do think that, you know, my own personal journey mirrors that of a lot of folks, which is that at a certain point you realize that it doesn't matter that much. Yeah, it's pretty darn cool, but it doesn't make you special. If you kill the big buck doesn't make you better than anybody else. If you kill the hiding scoring buck certainly is not going to make you a better dad or you know, person at your career, or leader in your community or anything like that. So it doesn't matter that much. And if we are worshiping at that altar, it might be a mistake at least That's what I've found in my own life. And so yeah, for me, experiences and adventure have become a bigger part of my criteria for what success and enjoyment as a deer hunter looks like, and also like sharing those experiences with people you love and people you care about. So I think that's happening. I think more and more people are getting turned off by the obsession with antlers and that trophy hunting hysteria, and they're realizing, hey, you know what, that's not all that matters either, and they're returning to you know stuff like I just mentioned, or like you mentioned, how do you do this in a new way, How do you do this in a new place, How do you challenge yourself in new ways. How do you go deeper? How do you stretch the bounds of what you define a deer hunt? You know, maybe it's going on a float hunt. Maybe it's going out and canoeing around a lake. Maybe it's traveling to a new state and doing it with a traditional bow. Maybe it's you know, just focusing on managing your property to make sure there's not so many dos and you've got a better age structure. Maybe it's just going out there with their kids a lot. Maybe it's you know, being a mentor to other new hunters. I don't know what it is, but I do think that more and more people are realizing that deer hunting success doesn't have to mean one hundred and seventy inch bucks or whatever, because that's a not realistic for ninety nine percent of us. And b it really is a narrow view of what deer hunting can be and really should be. It's such a rich, amazing experience if we don't let ourselves get obsessed and kind of pulled into this comparison culture of trying to one up the next guy with antlers. For me, it's been a really really good thing to step out of that, and I think there's a lot of other people that would probably benefit from that too. So that's my take. Tom A. Bell asks after the TSI work and putting in food plots at ken Roven, that's my family deer camp. Have you seen an increase in deer numbers this year and is there anything you would do different or that you have plans for in the future. So, yeah, many of you probably have seen over the last handful of years that my family and I have been doing work at our family deer camp. We carved out some opening, some for food plots, some for just kind of like betting areas and little wildlife openings to get some sunlight on the floor. And we have seen positive benefits for sure. Maybe not as much or as consistently as I like as far as how that's impacted our hunting, but definitely we've seen positive benefits. So we're talking pretty small scale here still, right, there's only a there's really just a ten acre chunk of our property that we can access to make improvements. To this point, twenty acres of the forty is just like untouchable swamp, and then the other twenty sorry, the other ten is where the cabin is and like right around there. So that's you know, we haven't done anything there yet because it's so close to where all of our human activity is and the worry there is like if we improve that, well, then you're just going to scare a deer away every time you come outside the door, pull into the house or anything like that. So we haven't touched that ten So there's the one dry ten acres barles from the cabin where we have done our efforts and there, you know, total, there's there's two food plots. One is like an eighth acre, one is maybe a half acre. And what they have done for us is attractively a consistent dough family group or two, probably one, but maybe sometimes there's two dough family groups in the area now on a pretty consistent basis. That's happening throughout the year. So you have that. You you know, day after day after day there will be a group of doughs probably somewhere in the area on these food sources. And that was not the case in the past. We would see deer very and frequently in the past. Now like hey, there was a pretty good chance there's gonna be some deer in the zone. We're just not seeing consistent buck activity yet they're spending time somewhere else for some other reason. There's better food, there's better habitats somewhere else. We're like seeing zero buck activity until the rut till like you know, late October, and then you'll start getting those cruisers coming through checking those that dough family group or two. So it's a start. It's been awesome. We've seen more deer than we have in the past. We've had you know, some mature bucks and encounters and opportunities that are better than the past. So without a doubt it has improved. I just think that if we want to continue to see that reach the next level where maybe we're seeing bucks on a consistent basis, that we're gonna have to increase the scale of those improvements. So increasing the size of those openings, increasing the size of those food plots, maybe adding in more diversity to the other chunk. Maybe that ten acres around the cabin we could improve in some other way that can help without you know, spooking deer with our activity. So that's stuff that we're still thinking about, but it's been fun to see that progress come into play. If any of you saw my film that we put out last year that really, you know, highlighted this progress. My dad and I you know, saw multiple bucks when hunting together, including two of the biggest deer we've ever seen there. One of them was an unbelievable I mean, you know, for you know, I just talked about how antler sized and everything, and it's not everything, but it is something. And we saw a true one hundred and seventy inch buck in northern Michigan. It was killed by a neighbor a few weeks later, but unbelievable. Deer is incredible and that just never would have been possible in the past, if you know, we hadn't made these improvements. And also other neighbors have made habitat improvements and I think that has helped the whole neighborhood. So that's been really cool to see, fun to see that progress and excited to see what happens next. Okay, Andrew ask how much effort and how serious do you take sen control? And what is your routine? And another person asked a related question. They asked, do I spray and hang my clothes? Another person asked about this when it comes to their boots. They spray their boots and it doesn't seem to be helping. Are they doing it wrong? I will say that my take on scent control has changed a bit over the years. I for a long time was very much in the camp of do every single possible thing you can to minimize your scent. Do it all. Why not? You know, you might as well try your best. You might as well check every single box and do every little one percent thing because all those little one percent stack up and they can help. And that is true. If you want to make sure there's no chance, or at least as little chance as possible, of being winded, then that can help a little bit. But I do also see, you know, my buddy Klay Newcomb has always made the case to me that you're never going to win it. You're never going to fully eliminate your scent. And that's true too. Even when I've done everything, and I've used noxonics unit, and I've used nose jammer, and I've sprayed stuff, and I've kept stuff in a scent free tote and I've kept it outside. I've done the scent free showers and the scent free laundry and all of that. Even when you do all of that, you're still getting winded a lot of the time, you know, with that one hundred percent protocol, I would say that maybe fifty percent of the time I get away with not being winded, and then twenty five percent of the time I get winded. But they're kind of like, eh, I don't know what this is. I don't like it, and they just turn and walk away, but it's not a full blown freak out. And then the other twenty five percent, it's a full blown freak out, just like any other time, as if I were doing nothing. So one part of me says, hey, that's that's pretty good. That's better than nothing. So for that reason, you to do ith. I do understand though, why some people say, you know what, I'm not gonna win it no matter what. So I'm going to just not stress out so much about all these things. I'm going to enjoy the hunt. I'm gonna wear my long John's in the cabin and not feel bad about it, and gonna go out there and have a good time. And I'm gonna play the wind smart and probably get away with just as much, but without all the headaches and stress and anxiety that you know, old Mark would have about that, and I'm kind of on the fence right now. I've done a little bit of both in recent years, as I've tried to you know, get back to you know, maybe not being so obsessed with fill in tags and more, you know, interested in the larger experience. As I've gone through that personal transformation, I've also eased up a little bit on some of this kind of OCD ness around send control. I actually stopped using an ozonics unit this year, and I did that not because I don't think it helps. I do think it helps, but it's a you know, for me, it became kind of pain in the butt toting around this extra thing, having to screw it into the tree. And then most of all, it's so darn noisy. Now. I know there's newer models than I have that are supposedly quieter, so maybe the new ones are better, but the model that I have makes this loud, obnoxious, you know, wind noise, blowing noise, fan noise up above your head, and you can't actually hear the world around you. I wanted to hear the birds. I want to hear the squirrels. I want to hear the footsteps. One hundred yards away as they slowly come my way. So this duy, I said, screw it. I'm turning off the Ozonis. I'm leaving it at home, and I'm just going to get out there and hear again. And that's been really, really nice. And I still kill the nice buck. I still killed some dose. I still had a great time. So it's a personal decision for everyone. I do think these things can help. I do still spray nosejammer on my boots and on the tree when I hunt. I think that gives me a little boost that helps me out. A handful of times a year I'll do that. It's not a huge inconvenience, and I think it helps some I still keep my stuff in scent free toast, i still do the scent free showers, but I'm just not quite as obsessive about it as I used to be. And as with a lot in this hunting thing, I think it comes down to balance and figuring out what you want out of it. And if you don't want to be you know, this stress and anxiety ridden O C D hunter, who's you know, over the top about everything, that's okay. I think whatever does it for you is just okay. On a related hunt, I guess. JW says, you are a thoughtful and introspective type. Thanks. Do you think you would still be advocating for hunt your own hunt at this stage in your life if you had never killed Frank? Okay? So okay, So that's question number one. And question number two, this from another person, but it's related, is from k C or ka CJ. He says, what advice would you give to a new hunter to help them avoid comparing their success with what they see on social media and focusing on enjoying the process instead. So these are related because my of advice of hunter own hunt is pretty much what Casey just said there, which is, you know, trying to enjoy your own version of success rather than worrying about what everybody else is doing. And so JW's question was, what I still be pitching this hunter r own hunt thing at this stage of my life if I had not killed Frank? And Frank was, you know, the biggest deer I've ever killed. I killed. He's like a Boon and Crockett class buck that I killed in Michigan, I don't know, seven years ago or something. And I think that, yeah, absolutely, I don't think that that buck has changed my trajectory at all. You know, I've killed the other big deer and those are great, and I certainly have appreciated those hunts and those experiences and those memories. They are amazing. But you know, as I just mentioned, I've also realized that there's so much more to it. And what I've realized is that, yeah, I love chasing big deer, and I'm going to be excited about them in the future, but there's all these other things like my kids and my family and my friends and those memories and going out and having lunch with your buddies in the middle of the day and you know, being able to hear the squirrels in the distance and doing you know, going on in wild adventures and hunting in new places or trying out new methods. All that stuff really matters too. And so yeah, I think each and every one of us has a different definition, and that definition will change throughout your life too. You know. For me, when I was you know, you know, early twenties, it was like, man, I want to kill a lot of deer, and then it was how do I kill the biggest deer? So I had to go through that set of stages to where I am now, where I've realized, Okay, I've kind of done it. I've proven to myself that I can do it. I've learned how to do it. You know, there's certainly ways I can do it better. There's certainly growth I still have. But at the same time, there's other ways to explore new edges of this. And so that's how it's changed for me. Everyone's going to have a different version. So yeah, I have two thousand percent. Will continue to advocate to hunt your own hunt and be okay with what that definition of success is for you. If you are new to this, or if you are you know, getting into this and you've been into it for a while, but you're starting to wonder, Man, is this really what it's all cracked up to be? Or is this vision of hunting that I see on social media or YouTube? Is that what it's all chocked up to be? Do I have to chase that? Or if I want to be a deer hunter, do I have to kill a big giant buck every year? I would say no, Like, we gotta we gotta step away from this. We've got to step away from what social media and YouTube and TV shows all of it. What are what they're feeding us? We need to my view, at least, the way I've looked at this is try to, you know, consume some of that if it's fun as entertainment, but to not let that influence my experience, my goals, because ultimately none of this matters. Nobody else cares really what you kill or what you do. Maybe you'll get a few more likes on social media, but that is so fleeting, that is so trivial. In the end, we should be doing this for ourselves, for our families, or our own enjoyment and satisfaction and our freezers. All the rest is outside noise. And if that outside noise is making you feel bad about what you're doing, is stressing you out about what you're doing, is making you feel shameful about what you're doing, is in any way a negative on your life, well then we've got it wrong because this stuff does not matter. Like we are not saving the world by killing big deer. So if it's not bringing you enjoyment and satisfaction, it's a waste of time, and it's probably dragging you down or your family down, and keeping you from doing more important things. So I think we've got to focus on doing this in the right way for each of us as individuals and for our families, and for whatever our personal values are. That's at least the way I'm looking at it now, and how I suppose I would recommend other folks who are kind of wrestling with us right now too. And all that said, there will be people out there who the right thing for them at this stage of life is to chase big, mature bucks, to try to challenge themselves, to do something hard, to get that deer that's bigger or older than anything they've gotten. And if that fills them with energy and excitement and drive, man, more power to you. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. The only thing I would say there's something wrong with this is trying to push that on somebody else or make somebody else feel bad. If that's not what they are interested in. That would be my take. Noah asked, if I had to give up servid hunting for the next five years, what would fill up your time besides scouting? What are you hunting instead? In the fall? So servids would be like any kind of deer family animals, So white tails, mule deer, elk, moose, etc. So if I couldn't hunt any of that stuff for the next five years, how would I fill my time? Well, Number one, I would do a pile of fission would be fishing all fall. That's one thing I miss out on the fall is because I'm hunting so much, I don't go do the fall fishing thing. I would do a lot of that, and then I would probably get an upland bird hunting and waterfall hunting. That's something that I've always said, Oh, I'd love to do that some more. I've done it handful times, but really very very little experience. So that's something that I would get into. I'm sure I would enjoy that. So that would be the big thing I'd get into. A bird hunting, I would fish a ton, and I would go do some fall bear hunting. That would be a thing probably. I think I'd be interested in doing some more black bear hunting where we're relevant, So I think there would be no shortage of fun things. And you know, to this whole thing of you know, hunt your own hunt, diversity and experience is something that I'm all of a sudden realizing has more and more value to me right now. So I'm excited to be chasing some new things. And so this is a question that's quite relevant to where I'm at personally. To Tanner asks what outdoor books do you recommend for young kids? So a really fun set of books that we recently discovered in my family are those by a guy named Kevin Lovegreen. He's got a bunch of short, relatively simple chapter books for kids that cover hunting and fishing stories and adventures. My son is seven, he's gonna turn eight, so seven eight years old here, and he is just eating these up. He's read each of he has five of them so far. He's got one about two different white tail hunting chapter books. One's a mule deer hunting book, ones a moose hunt. There might be one other one that I'm forgetting, but he's loving these stories. They're fun, they seem pretty wholesome, but they're out there doing hunting adventures, going on cool trips, doing cool stuff, and it's written in a way that seems, you know, pretty engaging to a seven or eight year old. I've heard that you know, these these are good for you know, I don't know, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve year old something like that, and he's also got a bunch of fishing ones which we've just ordered and will be those here soon too. So so far really enjoying Kevin Lovegreen would recommend those, And I don't know, maybe I've got to write some books like that in the future too, because I think there's a market there, there's a need for more books like that, And my wife keeps telling me that I should try that, So we'll see. Maybe in a decade or so, I'll try kids book two. Jake asked, when do you start shed hunting? I'm in Isla and on private and do you use shed hunting more as important info to find sheds? Well, what's he saying? Is this more of a scouting mission or is it just to find sheds? So all right, so I typically start shed hunting. I view like February fifteenth as my start date. It's going to depend on where you are because snow cover is such a huge, you know, driver of this. If you've got tons of snow, then of course snowpack influences when you can start, because you're just not going to find them if they're all covered with snow. But all things being equal, I think a decent number of antlers at the ground by mid February, and then I usually go until about mid March. That's like my main month of shed hunting, where you've got enough antlers on the ground. The key thing is you don't want to start so soon and cover a bunch of ground and spook all the deer off your private land before the antlers on the ground. So if you go out there mid January and start pounding these places pretty quickly, you will push those deer away and they still have antlers on their heads, So you don't want to do that. You don't want to cover that ground until most of those antlers are down. Then it makes sense to get out there and start looking because even if you do spook some deer, the antlers are in the ground. There on the ground, you can search, and you've got an opportunity to find them now. On the flip side, you also don't want to wait too long because if you wait too long, well, those deer might shed their antlers and have them on the ground for weeks and weeks and then squirrels to them all up. Or maybe you've got shared permission and other guys have been out there and they've found all the antlers first, so you've got to find that middle ground. So, like I said, depending on snow melt, that mid February ish time period is usually when I get pretty serious about it. I'm very serious like that, you know, last few days of February through the first ten days of March, or still. If I had to pick one week, I'm going to pick, you know, March one through seven. That's my super bowl. But of course it's different region to region and based on snowfall, and as far as what it's doing for me, it's both. I definitely look at it as some scouting intel. But if you are trying to do both of them at a really high level, you'll do neither one of them. At a high level, you'll do kind of a credit job at both. So when I'm shed hunting, i am in one thousand percent shed mode. I'm really focusing on looking for antlers from different angles and directions, and I'm scanning on the ground, always very very focused on that. Any scouting information, it's it's incidental, excuse me, incidental. It's a little bit of help here and there, but it's not my major thing. I will plan later trips back to these same places specifically to scout and then do that very well one thousand percent. That said, when you're out there, you do stumble on things that help from a scouting perspective. So the more time you're in the woods usually the better it's going to help you learn stuff. Okay, Steven asks, all right, hot topic here in Michigan, do you have any evidence based opinions on how we can fix our tag limits and issues such as one buck rules and such. There's several other questions from people related to things we could change with regulations in Michigan around you know, should we have baitings, should we have a one buck thing, should we have two bucks, should we have earn a buck? Should we do all those different things? And then Jesse asks with well, I'll answer this one first. My suggestion for the state of Michigan would be too. I guess I will just say my personal opinion, like what I wish was the case was that we had a one buck lee in our state. And I've said this in the past and I'll say it again now. I think that this represents a win win for you. No matter who you are, there are some people who would like to be able to shoot whatever buck they see. There's folks to go out there. I want to shoot the first buck they see, or they say, hey, I'm just hunting for me. Why do I have to wait for a big buck. I want to shoot that spike or that forecorn or whatever, and nobody should tell me otherwise. My god given right to shoot whatever buck I want. And to that person, I say, yes it should be. If that's what you want to shoot, more power to you. I've got nothing wrong with that. If we had a one buck any buck situation in Michigan, this would allow them to do that. But there are also some people that say, hey, I wish we had better aide structure of bucks in Michigan. I wish we had older bucks. I wish we had a better balanced herd. I wish we were in a situation where I could see, you know, a big mature deer more frequently in Michigan. I wish it was more like Iowa or Ohio or Indiana. And to that person, I would say, well, guess what a one buck limit. While there's not an Antler point restriction on there or anything, this would help you do that because inherently, if we have only one buck tag instead of two buck tags in Michigan. This would force some people to make a decision, well, do I really want to shoot that little buck right now, because that would be the end of my buck hunting season. There's a lot of guys would say, I'm going to wait. I want to be out here a little longer. I want to see what else is out there. Currently, there's some people that will shoot the first buck they see and then get picky for the second one. This would force people to get a little bit more picky right out the gate, and so inevitably more young bucks will make it to older age classes. More bucks and older age classes will equal bigger deer for feed people, and so the people that care about that thing will have that opportunity, while the people that want the freedom to shoot any buck will still have that opportunity as well. Finally, I do think that a very important thing across the board, regardless of which camp you're in there, is that we need a better balanced What am I trying to say here, sex structure? I'm really struggling here to say the right thing. But basically, there's so many dos in Lower Michigan. In some parts of the state, there are way too many deer. Our managing agency has been preaching that we need to kill more. Does we need to kill more? Does we need to kill more? Does it's getting out of control? Hunter numbers are declining, deer populations are skyrocketing, and hunter impacts have not been able to keep pace. If we move to a one buck tag limit, now you have fewer people killing two bucks because you can't do that anymore. And instead, if you want to kill two deer, one of them has to be an ant list deer. So this should hypothetically increase our antler list harvest as well, which is the key thing to managing deer populations is we need to increase our antler list harvest, our dough harvest. So I'm no expert, I'm not a deer manager, I'm not a biologist. I could be completely off base on this. I trust our managing agencies and the biologists out there. I put my faith in them. But this one sure makes a lot of sense to me, and that would be my citizens take on how to do this now. Jesse has a follow up question, which is, with the right regulations in place in Michigan, how much better could it be compared to Iowa based off how much better habitat Michigan has for deer to thrive compared to Iowa. So I don't know if we would ever be better quote unquote better than Iowa. Iowa's got a lot of unique things going for it as far as like the culture of passing young deer there, the tradition of that, they have you know, season structures in place with very short gun seasons. They of course have you know, nutrient differences and the soil there that impact antler size and quality. There's genetics that could be influencing the size of deer there that have been in place for a long time. So all of those things have made Iowa very special. But you're right that Michigan does have a ton of quality deer habitat, probably more quality deer habitat than Iowa does. Iowa has food, but they lack cover. Michigan has a pretty good balance of both. So yeah, I think that if we had something like the one buck limit, like I mentioned, something like that, I do think we would see, you know, what folks would generally call the quality of deer improve dramatically. I think you saw that in Kentucky when they moved to a buck one buck limit. You saw that in Indiana when they moved to a one buck limit, and I think that could happen in Michigan too. So I think the key thing though, is that we've got to figure out a way that will work for Michigan's deer hunters and the political process in place that you know, is kind of surrounding how regulations change in the state today. I don't know if that'll ever happen. I don't know what that looks like, but but yeah, I think Michigan has room to go. We've got to manage the doors better. We need to tackle that issue. But if we can do that and maybe find a way to balance freedom of choice with what you shoot, but also improve the aide structure, maybe we can get to a win win that gives people that mature buck experience that Iowa uniquely has while still making this a great opportunity state too. So that's my Michigan take. Let me see, is there any more that I should tackle or should we wrap this one up? You know, Ron's got a question here about the boundary wires. I'm gonna circle back on public lands and conservation really quick and mentioned this just in case this is still relevant, Ron asks how can Representative Stobbers recent moves in Minnesota to use rules to overturn public land use restrictions be thwarted. So what he's talking about here is what's going on in the Boundary Waters, and he asked, basically, what can we do as citizens to stop this? And you know, how might this riple out to other parts of the country. So very quickly, if you have not been following media or myself on social media, if you haven't read the op ed that Steve Ranella and Callahan Ryan Callahan recently published talking about this, I want to give you a very quick cliff notes on a current event right now related to public lands, waters and wildlife that will influence a particular place in the short term, but could influence many other places across the nation in the long term. And this is the latest kind of addition of the Boundary Water's threat. You guys have heard me talk about this on the podcast over the years, I've traveled there from multiple hunting and fishing trips, I've detailed this current threat. So hopefully you know what's going on. I'm gonna give you the shortest cliff notes version of this that I possibly can. Here's the deal. There is a mine that has been proposed. This is a foreign owned mine that has been proposed right on the edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area wilderness. The Boundary Waters. Is this unbelievable wild place, more than a million acres, all these lakes and rivers and forests, untouched by roads and development. It is an epic place. There are moose and wolves and bears and deer and grouse, and tons and tons and tons of tons of fish. Amazing place, one of our greatest treasures, the greatest treasure probably of the Upper Great Lakes in the Midwest. It's the most visited wilderness area in the United States, and it's so accessible for a lot of us. So this is a special special place. This proposed mind would be right on the border of it, in upstream. So this kind of mind is a sulfide or copper mine is notoriously polluting. But this pollutant, if it were to get out, would get into that water system and it would flow up. It would flow up into the Boundary Waters and throughout it, polluting many waterways that are currently clean and intact and super important to fish. And wildlife. So that's why this mine has been opposed by the hunting and fishing community for a long long time. Now, that's why we've talked about in the past, and what happened in twenty twenty three was that the government agreed with this opposition and put in place a twenty year mineral withdrawal that basically said, you can't put a mine in this watershed that's so careful or that's so pristine and fragile for the next twenty years. Can't do it. Well. Right now, there's something taking place. Representative stobb Or out of Minnesota is proposing using something called the Congressional Review Act that would essentially remove that protection. It would remove that mineral withdrawal, rescind that and open this place back up to mining, and then it would allow for you know, the Twin Metals mind to go in. That's a bad thing in the short term of curse, of course, if you care about the boundary waters. But the national implication here is that if the Congressional Review Act were to be used in this way, it would be the first time that's ever been done, the first time that the CIRA has been used to overturn a rule like this, and if that were to be done, if that precedent were you know, put in place, if all of a sudden, Congress sees like, oh okay, we could do this. We we use the CRA. We are able to vote on this thing. It's a simple majority vote. There's no you know, there's no ability for public input. There's you know, none of the typical things that would happen with your usual change in public land regulations or protections. If we can do that with the CRA, we could do this not just in the boundary wars, but we can do it in Montana, we could do it in Michigan. We could do it in anywhere else. And so this could be replicated elsewhere if it works. And for that reason we at meet her and many other people across the nation. Other conservation groups are saying, hey, this one is when we've got to stop. This is similar to how the public lands sale last summer that would have set a precedent for a new way to sell off public lands and to you know, divest us of our public land inheritance. Well, here's another one where this could be a precedent setting public land issue that could impact us in many other ways. So for that reason, we've been asking folks to reach out to their representatives. This is a House resolution, so this is going to vote on the House floor, and supposedly it's going to vote this week. Now, if you're listening to this, when it comes out, it will be, you know, Thursday, January twenty second, twenty twenty six. I've heard the vote might be on Wednesday, So the vote maybe has already happened before you're listening to this, but maybe not. Maybe it's happening today on Thursday, the twenty second, or maybe it's Friday, or maybe next week. So if it's already happened, I'm sorry, I'm a day late. Let's make sure that we stop this, you know, at the next stage. Let's stay on this. Let's make sure this doesn't make it through any further. If it has not happened on the House floor yet, then we need to get a hold of our representatives still and sound the alarm on this. This is not good public land policy. This is not how decisions should be made. This is not how protections or regulations or management should be adjusted. So high level goes back to what I said at the very beginning, comes down to making our voices heard with our elected officials, making those phone calls, making those emails. Both backcountry hunters and anglers and sportsmen for the Boundary Waters have calls to action right now on this. They've got action emails that you can sign up onto that automatically send them to your representative, so you can easily do that by visiting either one of their websites. And then I think again, it just comes down to doing this consistently, talking to these folks over and over again, taking the five minutes every couple weeks or every month, whatever it is for you, and just saying, hey, this bounder ward's thing, that's an issue, or Hey, this whole public land sale thing, I'm not behind it, or hey, when it comes to the management of our wildlife, let's make sure we're listening to our biologists. Let's make sure we're listening to the wildlife experts, and not you know, having this as a vote by random people or politicians influencing these things. Whatever the thing is that you care about that you're concerned about, whatever that conservation issue or cause or place is, you've got to let your folks know that this matters to you. Help them understand the issue. In many cases, these elected officials don't know this stuff as well as you do. We typically, many cases know the specific issues or cause is better than some of these elected officials, and they're just voting because that's you know, some think tank is telling them to do that, or their donors are telling them to do that. We can be that other voice that helps bring some common sense to the conversation. That's our opportunity, that's our obligation. That's what I'm hoping we can continue to do more and more going forward. So well, that said, that's going to be it here for the Asking Me Anything episode. I appreciate you guys joining me. Thank you again for being a part of the Wired to Hunt community. It's been such an amazing ride over all these years. And as I mentioned at the top, that ride's going to continue. It's going to change a little bit. We're gonna have some new voices, but it's only going to get better. I feel really confident in that. I do think that with this change and with some of these new projects that we're going to be putting out, there's going to be an emphasis even more here on Wired to Hunt. On great whitetail content. So if you are here for that whitetail stuff, Wired to Hunt is going to have more and more and more of that, and then there'll be these new places where you can continue to hear me talk about some of these different things, like the conservation, like the public lands issues, like other wildlife issues. So if you're into both, you'll get to go to two different places to do that. If you're into just one or the other, we're going to have separate appropriate homes for that content. So hopefully you can get more of what you really care about, get the information and the education that's going to make you a better hunter or a better advocate, or hopefully a little bit of both. So without any any more beating around the bush, and we'll let you get after the rest of your day. Thanks for being a part of this, Thanks for doing that good work and calling your elected officials and getting out there sharing the hunting and fishing lifestyle with your friends and family. And until next time, stay Wired to Hunt.