00:00:02 Speaker 1: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast, your home for deer hunting news, stories and strategies, and now your host, Mark Kenyon. Welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast. I'm your host, Mark Kenyon. This episode number two and twenty four, and today in the podcast, we're talking about the joys and challenges and lessons learned and hopes and dreams and fears of raising an outdoor kid. All right, welcome to the Wired to Hunt podcast, brought to you by Onyx. And today in the show, before we do anything else, I want to read you a few reviews of the Wired Hunt podcast. Ready for this, Dan, There there are. There are over one thousand, eight hundred five star reviews of this podcast. I'm proud to say. But yeah, but we've got a couple of doozyes thrown in there too that I wanted to share. For for example, quote enough of the family talk. If I wanted to learn how to be a father, I listened to a different podcast and end quote. Or or how about this one quote? It would be five stars. But the obnoxious guy won't shut up about his kids, so annoying. Oh man, this is just building my confidence. These are these are just a few of the rave reviews that we've gotten about our parenting related talks, Dann. So since people are asking for it, I thought we'd doubled down on the family talk. Good idea, right, Oh yeah, I can't wait till these people they're they're so excited. Here's the Wired podcast. It's on my phone. It's about freaking kids. Are you know one star review? Now? Are those one star reviews? I think there were two star reviews, those two we have it. We haven't done our job then, yeah. Yeah, But thankfully, thankfully, there's been actually a lot more positive feedback about about these kinds of talks in our urbs sessions where we kind of share our everyday life stories and struggles and whatnot. And um, for a long time it was just you with the kids. But now I've got a little bundle of joy and um that's got me thinking about all this kind of stuff too, And especially most recently here, I've been out on this several week excursion with my little boy out west. That's got me thinking more and more about introducing our kids to the outdoors and stuff like that. So I had this idea, Dan, and in the second here, I'm gonna bring in another friend of mine who's gonna be able to join us talk about this too. But I thought we could just talk about this whole idea of raising an outdoor kid, and um, talking through our experiences so far, more so your experiences in mind, since I'm really new into it. And then my friend Andy Bradley is going to join us. He has a seven year old and a nine year old boy. UM, and I think I think this is fair to say that all three of us want our kids to grow up, you know, being exposed to the outdoors. UM, hopefully having an interest in something like hunting or fishing or some of the other outdoor things we like to do. I know that's something that's definitely high on my on my list of of hopes and dreams that ever it's going to be getting into that stuff. So so I thought we could just kind of talk through all that kind of stuff, what we've been doing so far, what we've learned. Maybe if you were, Andy, have any other advice for me since I've got the youngest. Um. It's funny I told my wife about this idea, and she said, why, I don't think you guys are terribly qualified because none of you have successfully converted a child to a to an official adult Hunter or anything like that. So she's like, you don't have much, you have much to stand by, but for whatever it's worth, we're going to share our perspectives. I guess from where we are. Um, so I'm five and a half months in your how old's avant dans like five and a half five and a half A right, so you're five and a half with three kids, and Andy's nine years in with two kids. So we can talk about the young child experiences and then you can come back to this podcast ten years from now and we will tell you about what it's like to have a teenage Hunter, hopefully like um. So, yeah, that's us thinking, dan Um. Before we do all that, though, I do think we need to take a little bit of time for our pregame show like we usually do, but instead of a kid related pregame show like so many of them are. Do you have anything worth talking about this non kid related today? Well? I guess I do, but I was hoping for some kind of grand announcement like like congratulations, Dan, am I allowed to do that. I don't know if I don't know, if I don't know, if you wanted to do it. Okay, if I can do it, then then yes, you can do it. This has been decades in the making, ladies and gentlemen. This man has come from the bottom to the top. He is grinded and worked and slaved over his computer and his laptop and his desk. He has posted notes strewn all over across his computer, monitors, his desktop, his cubicle walls, everything to inspire him to be what he is now, which is one of the leaders in the hunting community and the white tail space as a communicator, as a podcaster. It is my privilege to announce to you that Dan nine fingers Johnson was named the two thousand eighteen Quality Dear Management Association Communicator of the Year. Congrats, dude, Yeah, I appreciate that, man, I appreciate that. Was that was that was that announcement up to par. It is it's up to par and uh if you did, proud of you, if you did that announcement off the top of your head. That was really good. By the way. That was all ed lib Man just came to me, just came to me. But as this is and this is the first and only podcast in the world to be hosted by two Communicator of the Year. There, I'm just following your footsteps, buddy. Well you're doing you're doing awesome stuff, man, so well deserved. It's been it's been awesome to see what you're doing with nine Finger Chronicles and the podcasts and Sportsman's Nation and giving back to qt May and two percent for Conservation and all the things you're doing to make sure that that, um, you know, that giving back to the resources top of mind, and that's something that we've talked a lot about here. But it's been just as a friend that kind of watching from afar um without getting too cheesy, it is a it's a proud friend, proud proud moments. So keep up the good work, man. I'm excited for you. I appreciate that, and you know, I do have to say that I owe you a little bit of thanks as well, because you know, I was in a spot when when you started this podcast and when you said, hey, Dan, uh you want to be my co host? And I said, yes, let's do that, and then I kind of got I was in kind of a low spot, not knowing if I wanted to do anything in the hunting media space anymore. Uh, just kind of sitting in a state of idle. An idle state, I guess. And then when I started the podcast with you here as the co host, I felt like I got some you know, some rejuvenation into it. So I had, you know, I owe maybe you were the little snowball at the top that pushed down the mountain and turned into a big snowball, you know, down the ways. But so I owe you a thanks as well many you are welcome, and um, if you could please refer to me from now on as the little snowball for the rest of our relationship. I appreciate that there's my little snowball, but can't you rubbed the top of my head? Give me? That's so cool though, man, Um, it's a bummer that you're not down there in New Orleans like we were last year. That would have been great if we could have been there for the announcement. Um. Yeah, but we got further representing us down there. I wish I don't know if I guess this is coming out after that will happen, um, but I wish we could have had further go up on stage and accept the award for you and Lindsay Thomas Jr. He's the director of communications for the Quality Deer Management Association, and I asked him, Uh, is there anybody that I need to pick to go and accept the word on my behalf? And I wanted to have further go and do it with maybe like a cardboard cutout of me there. It just it happened all so fast, and I didn't find out until last week, and unfortunately, just with my schedule, UM and the family, I wasn't able to make the trip down there, which sucks. But uh, you know, I'll wrap the qd M a proud regardless. Yeah. Man, that's awesome, great organization, great people involved with it, and um lucky we've got some people like you that are helping spread the good word and good stuff up in the future. So that's exciting. Anything else, I mean, all my news as far as my life is just kids related. Now. I've been out doing this Montana adventure and we can talk about that once Andy joins us. Well, that's what I wanna talk to you about. So your wife posted a picture of you changing a car tire and you guys were sitting there. It's like, but but the thing about it it was, here's a picture of you changing a car tire, but in the background was just this beautiful mountainscape right, just this gorgeous, gorgeous view, and it's like, uh, freaking car tires. My day sucks. Boo. Look at me. I'm just like And as I'm sitting in this cubicle smelling the person behind me is like livering Neians for lunch. I just was like, I'd rather change a car tire there every day for the rest of my life than sit in this cubicle one more day. Yeah, you're right, I can't complain too much. But I'm just the least handy person. And I think I've mentioned this before, So even changing a car tire was a very intendating proposition at the moment. And it was like we were just about to head up for the evening to go. We had plans this nice night in Yellowstone National Park. We're gonna go in there, We're gonna have like a nice hike. I was gonna go fish for a little bit. We're gonna go get dinner in this place just outside of the park and drive through this valley and look at Buffalo and all that kind of fun stuff and um, and then yeah, we we loaded up the car where we got ever in the car seat. We're about to pull out, and I turned on the car and then the low tire pressure gage was flashing. I'm like, what, I look back there in that back right tira is flat. But I had like a thirty second like meltdown where I just like put my head down and just stare at the ground for like thirty seconds, taking deep breaths, and said, all right, you just need to fix it. Go get the tire replaced and we'll get back to the plan. And uh was able to do that, and that the tire shop about twenty minutes away was able to They had to replace all my tires. Actually, um, which is a bummer, totally blew out the one. These are crazy batter roads out here, and that just totally ruptured one. So had to get on the tires. But we got everything done in time to still get out for our evening plans. They're a little rushed, but we still got out, so it's Uh. These trips are always a little challenging just from you just don't know what's going to happen when you're on the road for so long, driving all over the place and pulling this tin can of a camper all over they're The awning ripped again earlier this week in a wind storm. I forgot to put the awning down and we went out to go look at some places and came back and the awning was ripped, so duct taped that. Um so kind of just part of for the course. Now. I don't know if we're gonna talk about this in the upcoming podcast, but how is met transitioned from being a stay at home baby to a baby on the go. Everett is doing very good. I say Emmett, You said Emmett, but it's Everett Everett. I'm sorry, I got a buddy's friends name in it. That happens to the best listening. But he's he's doing really good. And I'll definitely share a whole bunch more about what that transition has been like. But knock on wood, so far, I've been We've been very lucky. So it looks like we've got on the road baby, which has been cool. We sometimes just like kind of pinch ourselves, like how do we get so lucky that we have a kid that's like so adaptable to our kind of weird lifestyle. Um So, I do we we keep on like telling ourselves, all right, the next one, we're not gonna we can't expect the next one to be like this, so you should. Yeah, we're just gonna enjoy this and prepare ourselves for more difficulties with with the next one. But so far, so good. So I guess now that we're on the kid topic, should we should we hit time out really fast and get Andy in here and then just dive into this full steam. Yeah, this is a perfect, perfect transition. All right, Let's take a quick break and then we'll get Andy in the line. All right. Before we do that, though, we need to take a quick break to thank our partners at White Tailed Properties. And today our producer Spencer new Heart is checking in with a White Tailed Properties land specialist to talk about summer food plots. This week with White Tailed Properties, we are joined by Tom James did land Specialists out of Indiana, and Tom has some advice for those who had intentions of putting in a food plot but still haven't gotten around to it at this point in time mids Alive going forward, I would say the best plan would be a strategized and plan for in August planning. Here in the Midwest. By the time you get to mid July, the only thing you see going in the ground is double crop where a farmer will cut when are weed oft and go back in and drill soylbeans, and they can do that successfully. As far as food plot guys go, we're just looking at a really drowny, hot, stressful time at this season. But you're only a month away from prime time fall planning gates, which is mid all August all the way through mid September here in the Midwest. So my best advice for anybody would be just to go ahead and plan on mowing your field, getting the existing vegetation sprained and burned down with round up, and and maybe do a soil test, knowing what your soil amenities are gonna need. But just be geared up and planning ahead for killing crops, excuse me, killing competitive vegetation. Had your seat selections done and ready to rock and roll in about three or four weeks. If you'd like to learn more and to see the properties that time currently has listed for sale, visit White Tailed Properties dot com. Backslash James that's j A. M. E. S All right, so we're back and with us, is my buddy, Andy Bradley, you've been on the podcast before. I think I'm one of our shed hunting episodes, right, didn't you. Yeah? So that not last or a year before. Yeah, I always shed camp. I think you showed up just after Dan had to leave to do kids stuff, Isn't that right? Dan? I think you would believe early I got I had a window to shed hunt. I shed hunted in that window, and I made it back before that window closed. So this perfectly ties into the top of good discussion then. And uh, just before we pulled you in, Andy, we were just talking a little bit about um, you know how I've been out here with Everett and the family, trying to do some camping and hiking with him, UM, and I figured you'd be a good guy to add to this though if we as we talk about this whole idea of raising an outdoor kid. Because of all the of all my friends I have children, I've always kind of looked at you and Becca as having like really done a good job raising your boys and like doing neat things with them outdoors. I'd love seeing all the different things you've done with um with the boys. So I kind of want to start with you, Andy, I'm just kind of curious, like, what what was it like when you began, you know, when the boys were really young? I mean, how do you begin this or what was your thought process? Because like for me right now, I'm so eager and like I so badly want Everett to be into the outdoors and like these things I'm so passionate about, Like I find myself having to try to temper my expectations because I'm already like finding myself already thinking, oh, well, I gotta do this, I gotta do this. Like what was it like for you when when the boys were younger? Because there's seven and nine, right, Levi and Lukey and that right right? Yeah, So what what was like your mindset like early on? I mean identical to what you're what you're describing. I think it's just one of those things where you like it too much, I think, and you just want them to enjoy it like you do. And that was that was the hardest thing for me, is when they're not old enough to kind of understand how awesome some of these things are, to try to kind of pitch it to them on their at their speed, because I want to show them and look how cool that is, And they're looking in Turkey that's yards away and they're like, well, that's awesome. But when you when you slow it down and figure out what's you know, a crayfish is cool when they're little, not sev Look how big is this beard is? I don't care to take me back Christian, you know. So that was kind of my experience of the same thing. You want to like, your mind just racist for all these things that I can't wait to do this, do this, do this, and then you realize that the things that kind of get you going right now aren't. It's gonna take a while for that to be what gets them going. So that was kind of my first experience kind of that I had to temperate as well. So, yeah, do you feel like you fall in the same boat, Dan, as far as like I think in our past conversations you've kind of shared some of the thoughts, right, Yeah. I mean I was just excited, you know, like when my daughter was born. She was the first kid I had, and even in the hospital the couple of nights that we were there, I was talking to my wife Sarah, and I was just like, hey, man, I can't wait to get her and a tree stand with me. I can't wait to take her shed hunting with me. I can't wait to do all these things with me. And next thing, you know, it's just like you realize that that is at a much slower pace. You know, they for them, you could go out and do it, but to take them and to get them to enjoy it without burning them out is at a much slower pace. Yeah. Do you guys ever you guys ever had like any any worry about like what if they don't like any of this stuff? Is that something that you have ever thought about? Like what if you know, ten years, fiften years down the road, but no interest in this kind of stuff? Man? You know, And that's why I think not pushing it on them is so important. If you want to share with them your passion, I guess you have to be able to share with them what their interests are and that may not be hunting all the time. So for me, like I have to take like I kind of really liked baseball growing up, and my dad was all about baseball and sports and stuff, and it kind of burnt me out a little bit, turned me off, and so I kind of pulled away in baseball, and I don't want that to happen with my kids from a outdoor standpoint, So just I'm basically baby stepping, you know, like check this bug out and then play up this, play it up like this bug is the greatest thing ever. Or go out in the backyard recently and we're catching fireflies and digging in the dirt and just getting dirty and getting used to being outside where all this all this nature happens. I think that's that's kind of the path I'm going to take. Yeah, yeah, what about you, Andy, Yeah, well definitely. I think scared is like the first the first notion I had is like what if they don't like this stuff that I just wanted to And I sometimes I described the stuff to my wife and Mark knows this. Like we've started planning on going somewhere on some trip or something, and I start talking. My wife doesn't even want me to start planning it until about a month before we go because she doesn't want to listen to all my plans and my ideas. So so it's kind of with them. I was so scared that like what if they don't like it? And now it's kind of after you have and not like my kids are almost one of them ten almost in seven. So it's at the point now where it's not I'm not scared that they're not gonna like it. I'm more like it's almost like I'm gonna be sad if they don't enjoy it like I do, because it's such an enjoyable you know, everything about it, from fishing to hunt, whatever it is. It's it's so much fun. And I just hope because I know a lot of people that just they don't have that in their life times. Oh man, I hope I enjoy it like I did for their sake. It used to be like I was afraid I'm not gonna be able to take them, but now it's like, oh, for their own sake, I hope that they love this or at least something. But I'm with Dan on that one for sure, that you realize that you really gotta, you know, slow it down and just let let them love it at their own pace. Because if the same thing with sports. You know, I was that kid that was begging their dad to go outside and play baseball, and I think I burned my dad out. But the home on their stories so so so what what kind of stuff because I'm I'm obviously very early. Still he's five, and he's five and a half months old, pushing six months old, I guess almost next week will be six. And um, what kind of stuff you kind of alluded to a little bit, damn, But what were like the earliest things you guys were doing to kind of like try to introduce introduce the kids to it. I mean, Andy, what were the things that you were kind of first starting out with the kind of you know, get him introduced this whole world. Well, we've always had all kinds of dogs, so that was the first, like the first thing that they were exposed to, is we had coon dogs and bird dogs and all kinds of and they would be down there and they'd always want to go check those out. But I think that was just something that they always wanted to be around. But as as it got all it went by, the time went by a little bit. I think fishing was probably the first thing. My parents live on the Kalamazoo River, so we can go down there, and you know, I can distinctly remember him, one of them sitting in the car seat and it was kind of a half joke, but putting a fishing rod in his lap in the car seat when we were sitting at the edge of the on the edge of the river. Just part of that for the kid, for me, just so I can see it done. But I think I think the water is probably the first thing that really because they can there's just I don't know what it is about the water, but it just draws them to it. So probably that you've kind of I feel like you've kind of done the same thing. Damn, would you say, because I've I've seen you guys taking the kids out a lot fishing. Yeah, And I think it's what's easy first, right, being quiet in a turkey blind or in a tree stand is not easy to do, right, So anything where they can be loud and they can show their excitement. And when they're young, like my my son is three now and my daughter's five, and you know, just like their dad, they're both loud and and and so they are. They get excited when they see like a water bug or the bomber goes under the water, they scream in there. And that you have to capitalize on that. I feel you can't tell them maybe quiet, be quiet. You gotta oh that's awesome, good job, you know, all that stuff and get him excited about the little things. And then I think, as those little things get just as even this time of year. Example two years ago is when I started taking my daughter with me on these nighttime drives looking for deer out in the fields. Hand them the binoculars. It's not about you looking at the deer, it's about them holding it, even if they're looking at the wrong way, and you have these pretend conversations with them, right like, hey, what do you see, oh dad, that's a big buck. Dad. You know, it's not about you know, it's not about at all. It's probably a dog or a piece of wood out in the field. But but they're excited about it, and that's what you have to capitalize on. I feel, yeah, I've got I've got a niece or several nieves, three nieces now who who all whenever they come to my house, they want to look at the deer mounts, or look at the shed antlers, or I've got binoculars on my back window. We're you know, we're always looking at the fields behind the house. Same thing. And they always put the binoculars the wrong way and look through the big holes and always I don't mind. You know, they can't see anything, but just like you said, Dan, they'll they'll be like, oh yeah, I see it, I see imagination. Uh huh, yeah, that's it's so much fun. I agree, it's like and I guess I have got a little bit of training with with my nieces because it's been neat to see them from little aty biddies to now the oldest is I don't know, seven or eight, and getting to introduce them to, you know, just what I do and talking about like when we eat venison, when they come visit, talk about that, and tell them the stories about all the different you know things I'm doing. How we got this, what this deer? You know where this deer was, and pointing out this one and we're like back during the hunting seasons sometimes like we would babysit them, um and you know, you know Dan, how often I would have my wife come pick me up on that one property drive the truck through the corn So sometimes she would bring all the nieces with her, so they'd be all piled in the truck and then come driving the truck into the cornfield. And then I come sneaking up to the truck to hop in the back and then Kylie opened the window and all three girls start screaming at the top of their lungs, like Mark, like no quiet, right, Holy fields here. Uh but yeah, like that kind of stuff. I'm I can see how just introducing them those kinds of ways, um makes a makes a big difference. And there's a lot of fun um. But I want to talk more about fishing. Give me, give me some more advice from both of you guys as far as introducing kids to fishing, because that's gonna be top on top of my mind, and I'm already thinking I probably want to just introduce Everett to fishing by going on like a seven day float trip fly fishing. Um, Right, that's the right way to do it, right, something a little hard, more hardcore, maybe like you could parachute in or something. Maybe the Yukon River going through Alaska. I mean, we're gonna do it, do it right, You don't exactly in all seriousness though, someday, Andy, how cool it be to take our boys back on that float trip that we did in Montana last summer, Right? I thought about that ever since we went Dude, Yeah, yeah, Son and go oh man, Dude, that's the place. Yeah. Remember when I did that pack rafting trip last summer, Dan, that was with Andy, Um, and that would be I mean, if the kids did learn how to fly fish, that would be an amazing place to take him because there were just so many fish and they were so eager to feed. But um, that's a long ways down the road for me at least. But yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, But back to the beginning though, give me a talk. How did you end up getting the boys into fishing? Andy? Any uh, any lessons learned there? What was the story? Yeah? Absolutely, it's gonna go a direction. You weren't thinking ice fishing. That's it. It's the easiest thing. And I know you're gonna say so, You're gonna say no flies and there's no orbust or nothing. But I'm telling you, set him on a bucket with that flasher in front of them, and they are hooked. My kids have zero video games, so the closest thing to a video game they have is my VEX slide that flashes in front of them. Were ice fishing in the shanty. So that that was how my kid got hooked. Because it's it's that easy. You can find him in shallow water and they're sitting right over top of them, and you know they're there, but you aren't gonna fish, probably at least the first three years when you're taking them, because they're not real equipped to take all those responsibilities on. They kind of they require a lot of help. Well yeah, and like how do you manage just the elements? I mean you just you bring him in the shanty, bund them up with a thousand layers and just let them play. Well, that's what just like Dan was saying a little bit earlier. It's not they're not. I was really hardcore. I feel like I was when I was a kid, and I feel like I was into it. But I was probably just exactly like my oldest son. Probably as time goes by, I'm starting to realize that I probably was just like him. But a lot of the time they're just playing like out, we'll, we'll be bundled up, we take the shanty, I set the shandy up, I set their rods up. I don't even set one up for myself because I'm not capable of work in mine and helping them. So I just sit between them and they catch a few fish, and after an hour, if they're not biting really good, they're ready to and then next thing you know, they're they're outside the shandy. I can hear him wrestling whatever two brothers do. They're fighting and doing whatever they do. But that's the hardest part is to just and And I don't have that Mark knows this. I'm not the stand and watch kind of guy. I'm more of a hands on, let's do this, let's do and and I have to just take a step back because they want to do what they want to do. And I feel like, and I've always tried to describe like how they get to know and anything that that we do. I try to make it as organic as possible. I don't try to push them and make them and force them. I just let them do what they want to do. And if sometimes when we're fishing, an hour of its fishing or less, and the other two hours they're out chasing each other and throwing snowballs, I guess you know they're having fun. I feel like that's a memory that they can have when they get older. It's a good experience. And I hope, you know, I hopefully that that you know translates to I'm wanting to do it more as they get older and they're more focused on it. And if you know what, though, when you have kids, you realize that as long as you have them, if they want to throw snowballs, go fishing and throw snowballs the whole time, as long as they want to go, you'll be happy for them to do that. You know. Yeah, what what is the evolution been? Have you seen? Like, yeah, since you started doing that with with them, are they you know, have they picked it up the way you hope they would do? They want to go ice fishing or fishing on the lake and stuff. Now are they getting more into the actual fishing part of it? Like have you seen that grow at all? Or what's that look like? It kind of comes and goes, Man, it really wavers. Some days they're into it and they want to do it for hours, and other days they just want to goof off. And I don't know, you know, I don't know if so, it's definitely progressed now, like I can. It's at the point where I LEVI we just like we actually went fishing yesterday and he's got his own open face, you know, he he doesn't have zep CO two oh two anymore. It's he's done open face and cast it, you know, and all that jazz. You know. He can take the fish off the hook, he can do anything that he needs to do, put the bait on. But it definitely has progressed. But there's times where you go, You're like, I want him to just fish, but sometimes he just wants to google. He was fascinated yesterday after we fished and didn't do very well, we pulled he pulled a lily pad up and it was about twelve ft long and the stock of it was and that was a that was a fascination. We had to talk about for fifteen or twenty minutes. But it's still it's still a blast. But back to what you were saying, Yeah, I definitely think they've progressed, you know, but I I don't want to push him, but I think they have progressed. Yeah. Do you think that it is either one of them more into it than the other, Luke versus Levi, or they both kind of the same place. They both have their own little uh niches where they kind of fit in. So Lukey is the youngest one and he's the baby, so that's why he's Lukey. But um, he's like we call him the slops okay, so his his mentality is totally different. Levi is a hummingbird and and lukey' is a slapt So we when we have different activities, that one of them. So trapping is Lukey think he absolutely loves it. And it's perfect because he's methodical and everything he does in his life, he's slow. He just takes his time and I've learned that from him. Why we I take him? It's like, there's no reason to hurry, just take your time. And and he loves trapping, and Levi not so much. It's not ac ipact enough. I don't think it doesn't you know, really get him, get him charged up. And Levi wants to fish and do things like that. And Luke likes love sitting in a true stand Leavi not so much. He wants to play on my phone. And if we sit in a deer blind for too long, and it's like, so I think they you know, definitely have to navigate different you know, paths for each one of them because they they have different interests or interests in different uh you know, different things that they like. I guess, yeah, that's kinda be so cool to see those different unique interests. Grill though, Yeah, that's crazy. What about you, Dan, What are you seeing from the kids so far as far as their interests in this stuff? I'm sure, I'm sure. I'm sure Knox is really the big outdoors of the minority. But what about the altar two? No, it's it's it's cool to see this because she gave us five. Now. So when she was too, you know, she would we would go fishing for blue gills and she would basically just be sitting on my lap and I would she would maybe hold the pole and reel in. To last summer, she would, you know, she was four, and she you know, she could start reeling the fish in when the bobera would go under water. And now this year, oh my god, the last time we went fishing, she did not want to leave. And I was pretty pumped about that. I mean, she is putting the worm on the hook, she is casting, she's reeling it in when it goes under. She can't take the fish off by herself quite yet, but she is gun hoe about fishing. And it's just been the thing that I've been doing is letting her do all of this at her own speed. Because um, she would want a real like three years ago, she would want a reel, or two years ago, she just reel just real the whole time, and real and real and real, and it's not even enough time for the worm to sink yet. And I'm just like, no, sweetie, don't do that. You can't do that. You gotta let it sit. And then she would go and she wouldn't want to do it anymore. So then when we would go fishing, I didn't care if the bomber went under one time. I just let her reel in every time. Did you get one? No? I didn't get one, Dad, Okay, Well maybe just try letting the letting the bomber sit there for a little bit. Okay, okay, I'll try, Dad, And then they and then she would realize that you have to let it sit there for just a second, and then it would go over. And I think what really got her hooked was the being able to just play around with some of the stuff like the worms, hold the worms in her hand and just play around and look at them and get dirty and in some and being in some clear water. We have a pond that we fish and it's crystal clear water and you can see the fish swim up to the to the worm and pull the bomber under and that is and the kids get a really big kick out of that. So that that's how go ahead. I was just gonna ask Dan the milestone. This is a huge milestone in our house. The hook sat. Yeah, that happened. It was like when people potty train, Like he sets the hook. I called my wife when he sets the hook knowledge like, you don't have to. He catches his own fish when he when he set the hook, it was his own fish. Things you get proud of when you have kids. That's right, people, But we had to have a talk about that because my my wife dad is a huge angler, huge fit bass fisherman, and when he sets the hook, it's almost like he's trying to rip a manhole cover off of a street, just like and he just he rips. Like the the term ripping lips literally happens, you know when you when you're real in it's just the lips of a fish on a hook. Because he's setting the hook so hard. So my my daughter is trying to mimic him, and she's just ripping. It almost throws the pole so fall over, so I'm like, sweetie, you don't have to do what grandpa does. Just really in the pool. You're gonna be fine. Now, what about what about Mac? What's his interest on the fishing side. Is he getting yet? I saw that he was like watching your I think it was your father in law cleaning fish the other day. Up is that? Is he getting into it? He's kind of on the same pace, I would say, just a little bit behind. He doesn't like to touch the fish or touch the worms as much as Ava did. But um, he caught his I'm gonna say he caught it his first fished. Uh. My father in law threw the bober out bluegill, took it under and uh then he he kind of helped reel it into to the shore and then he got his picture taken with it, and he was pretty pumped about that. But he was um. This last fishing trip was kind of a milestone because he used to be afraid of worms and touching the fish and stuff like that. But now when sister would catch a fish and he needed or she needed a new worm for her hook, he would get the worm for her. So they had kind of a system worked out. I'll get you the worm, you catch the fish and then I'll get you another worm and tready. So whatever he wanted to do, whether it was just real like she did a couple of years ago, it's like she's he's two years behind where she's at and he's three. So um, you know it's it's always And I don't know about you, Andy, but when you had your first boy, like having a boy, it's like if my daughter didn't want to go hunting or fishing, you know, there's a part of me that's just like, ah, oh well, but when you have it's like you have these expectations for my my son, and maybe you do to Mark with your first child being a boy, where it's like, Okay, he's a boy. He's gonna hunt, he's gonna fish, he's gonna do all these things and and you know, hell he may be into you know, designing clothes. Yeah. That and Mark said, it's a very good chance. There's the really, Mark, I know it's usually not recorded what I'm insulting you usually, so please let its on the record. But but yeah, I'm sure you probably felt the same way too, Andy into Yeah, for sure, man, it's it's a wild ride, for sure. What what about the you mentioned trapping that Luke, he's really been into that. How how did you go about that? What's the process introducing them to that whole that whole deal. I mean, I don't know, maybe it's certain personalities, but I think that's one of the first things that I can remember doing with my dad, and it's something I mean, there's a million different things you can try to trap. I mean, different ways of water, if different things, and if you how I would describe, just from my point of view, trapping. My dad told me when I was a kid, he said, when we're trapping, we're trapped muscats and mink and all different kinds of stuff. But it's like Christmas morning, he said, you go up there and that it's like every time you unwrapped the present Christmas morning, and it it was like that to me, like it didn't start out that way. But with my younger son, he who loves it. I mean, when we go check traps, I mean we and you got to check them every day. And there were some some traps that I would check and these are things that I didn't know i'd have to do until I had kids. Some of them are kind of a painting, you know, in the butt to to check. So I would check all those in the morning at four thirty in the morning, before before work. But if I had like drounding sets or things like that, or kind of bears that it's you know, that they could be checked in the afternoon. I would say, all those traps and I would find myself actually setting traps that maybe weren't real. I'd like thehood of catching something, but if they were, it would be in areas where I could use conna. Bears are different things, so I could come back and check them with the kids. And there was many times where I would catch stuff in the morning and then I wouldn't mess with it. I just want to work and come back. And obviously these these you know, animals are dead, so it's not like they were suffering or anything like that all day. But I would come back in the afternoon and you know, play dumb. We'd come driving up and I'd let him get in front of me and oh and he'd run out, you know, and those kind of things like that. I mean that he just he lives for the coon trapping and you know, mink. Mink is the funnest I think he likes that the best because they leave a little you know sign in the mud and different things like that, or in the snow it's you know, snow on the ground. So there's a lot of clues to look for. And even if there's not a lot of clues, like you were saying, then you can talk about the bug being the coolest thing in the world. You can you can turn it into fun no matter what. You can find something that you know, look at these tracks over here, what do you think this is? And they and it's to the point now where like my little boys are the little sponges of information, Like what do you think that is? That's the raccoon trap. For sure. You can see different things, you know, different his feet look like this, and if it was a possible, it would have this, So that I think trapping is a really good one to uh for them to you know, see the wild world, like like I do. I guess, yeah, I know nothing about trapping, so I'm leaning on you here. And um, you mentioned few things that stuff to me, like just the way that you know, you're setting some traps now not necessary for their effectiveness, but more so for like the ability to get there with the kids and that kind of stuff. Is there anything else that you've learned to that's helped you as far as like, if someone else was listening and they want to introduce their kids to trapping, any other things that you kind of picked up along the way that you'd recommend. Yeah, I mean trapping is one of those things. Everything is now there's an unlimited resource on the internet for any you can cook on YouTube and watch one after another after another different methods people are doing to catch, you know, different things. But muskrat traps. Man, if you've got muskrats, and then granted they're not worth a whole lot of money, but they might be the kind of thing to get your kid hooked on the outdoors for the rest of his life. So there worth something you know that way. But you can trap muscrats on a little pond, almost every little pond you could ever finds them, and you can trap them with a one time kind of bear. There's no you know, even if it's somebody that's never trapped before, you can't really screw up the counter bear. If the cond of bear goes off something in it, it must got that tenant. He's dead. So and those are you know, just stuff like that. You can't You got to not be afraid to just go do it. I guess, you know, go do it and try it and get on YouTube if you have to, you know what I mean. Books obviously, but this this brings up another thing, um that as hunters too, will I think I think you've probably had this already happened Dan, I'm sure you have, Andy, But I know it's like I imagine it would be an interesting thing when you first introduced the child to a dead animal, Like, how will they process that? What that means? Um? What was that like for you Andy, whether it was that was trapping, was that with the deer hunting? You know what? How have you approached all that? Well? I have there's one that kind of stands out in my mind and I kind of have a picture of that same day that kind of reminds me of every time I see it. But I think LEVI was probably our oldest is probably he was probably two and a half maybe, and I had killed a deer, shot a deer behind the house. There's a little bit snow on the ground, and uh, I took him out there with me, and so he was like, I mean he's less than two ft tall. He's just a little I got him all bundled up, and it's cold out, you know, and it's and i'd already know the DearS down. It's kind of similar to the track being setting it up for him and the years down. And I actually drug it to this little two track that I could drive too. And I hadn't got it the deer yet. So I come back to the house and I bundle him all up and I go, you know, the whole song and dance I shot a deer, and I don't know if we're gonna be able to find it and this and that, and he's just like three years old. He's talking blabb and you know, he wants to go, and so we get them all dressed up, you know, and he goes out there with me and we we quote unquote find the deer and he's really excited. Man, he's just like and I don't know if that was the first experience you've had was something that was dead, but I can distinctly remember he was watching and I say, all right, I'm gonna go to you know, I'm gonna get the steer and now we're gonna feel dressed it, and so he's like, okay, yeah, and he's just kind of watching there and I start to feel dressed the deer and I opened this dough up and he I hear him say, I'm getting back in the truck, Dad, even as he thought like he wasn't quite ready for that yet, and I don't. He wasn't freaked out, and there's been no lingering effects of that trauma that I put him through. But he's standing there just like I mean, he's just this little baby staying there, all bundled up. Well, I'm getting back in the truck, Dad, And he goes back to the truck. I let him back in the truck and I go back out there. I'm like, that's one of those moments where it just goes through your mind. You're like, man, am I gonna regret that later? I don't. But there was no ill effects. He's fine. He's but we have like a hobby farm kind of a thing going out of our house too, so that kind of helps we have. I think it's important that kids to get to see, you know, how where food comes from. So and that that's something I've always been very much, you know, I wanted to make that very available to them to see, you know a lot of people and talk about that with with them. That a lot of people like that guy on that sign right there, smiling eating that hamburger. And people don't like hunting, but they don't mind people eating hamburgers. And you know, it doesn't make sense that people, you know, and just that whole song and dance that you've heard a million times that you know, that animal lives, it's a free life, it lives the life that it was intended until maybe thirty seconds thirty seconds of whatever it is we're eating has anything to do with the human while it's alive. And that cow, it's entire existence stood there. You know, not that I'm against farming, because I don't want to sound like I am at all, but I just we make it very clear. My wife's very onboard with it too, that that the best is part of life. That's that's you know, everything's gonna die, and we're you know, we're taking advantage of the resources that we can get our hands on, you know, and it's it's not anything that we don't take serious. But at the same time, you know, it's been it's been all positive. I think I don't. I don't think I can think of at the time that Lukey was exposed to time is something that, like I said, we've always got pigs that are getting ready. I mean they nicknamed their pigs, you know how kids will name their pigs that we we had pigs that were and they're not four age pigs or show pigs or any of that. They're just gonna be going in the freezer. And we talked about it the entire time, and they're probably four, maybe four and three, maybe three and five when we first they first had one, they named their pigs bacon and sausage, so they kind of have a grip on it at this point. I mean, I wouldn't want to insult anybody, but I my five and seven or seven and nine year olds have a better grip on where their food comes from than a lot of people. So, you know, I think it can be a really good lesson for for the rest of your life about you know, your relationship with food. Do so no, like I I'm blabbing on now, but it's uh, I don't have any real bad stories for do you hopefully? Do you think that do you think the key though to having them so comfortable with that was then just the fact that you had them exposed to it early and often, and then that you can't just explain aimed it as you went. Would you say, that's kind of what's been like the key of that success? Do you think? Yeah? I think I think so, because we've had a lot of I mean they've had a lot of experience. We do process a lot of you know, wild game and here, and they're they're into that, like the idea of getting our own food and and things like that. Is they like that idea of eating fish. That would be the first thing that like, I don't know what it is about fish, but they don't. Nobody's like, oh that poor fish. When you're cleaning the fish for some reason, and whenever something has for people tend to do that. But I mean my kids and like I said, me and Dan have talked about we were talking about no no pressure on them at all, but Luke will help me clean like when we're skinning. For instance, we had uh a couple of links that we caught one day and we went down to the basement and it was bedtime and this is something my wife was actually we were talking about yesterday at our house. We there's no Martin knows this bedtime is kind fluid with the brad Lea's I think everything is, yeah, pretty much. But no, if they're doing something that we in our minds deemed like productive, they don't have to go to beat or they don't have to take a napper. It doesn't have to be dinner time. For like, if if we're working on something outside, if we're messing with the pigs, or if we're if I'm skinning a deer, or if I'm tracking a deer or anything like that. They if they're just playing outside, if that's if that's what it is, they don't have to come in to go to bed if they're outside and enjoying it outside. Now, if they're inside watching TV, like if they want to watch TV, and they asked him that sometimes we let him. If it's eight o'clock, it's like all right, the bedtime, and like we'll go outside, we'll go outside, We'll go outside. And they know that at this point. But if even with like skinning the mink in the basement downstairs, if if if Luke wants to do that, when I had a bunch of stuff that I wanted to skin and I started working on it. And Becca is real good about it. She doesn't have a problem with with them coming down there, and if they want to stay down there and if they're engaged and whatever is going on, if they just want to play in the basement, you know, off in the other room, you know, in time for bad guys, but if they're engaged in there and and something you know that that they can be learning about, we just let it roll and let them, let them continue to do that until they lose interest in it, and when they're ready to go, be done, you know, hopefully. And that in particular night I skinned I don't know, I think to mink and I don't know, a couple of coons or something. And he was down there the whole time he was helping. He was hanging onto this and hanging onto that, you know, and it took me three times as long to skin them all because he wanted to help. But you know, that's something that we try to do, is make sure that we don't you know, hamper their interest in something by something like bedtime, right, Yeah, something arbitrary. It's funny. That's such a good point. That's that's something that my parents did. My dad especially with me, that I think really helped me get into the things that I'm into. He always later in years, he would always say that I always just knew how to feed the habit, always feed the habit. So if ever I was showing any interest in like hunting or fishing of the outdoor is he would, you know, he would always help feed that habit. So, like you said, he would never stop him. He would never if I if I want to go out for the weekend to go hunting, he wouldn't. You know. He put aside things because that was always something he prioritized. Or if he if he was gonna spoil me to something, it was gonna be hunting gear or fishing gear, like he would he would. He he was really tough in a lot of ways, but when it came to like a new fishing pole or something like that, he's like, well, I'll feed the habit for this one special thing. Um. And I think you know that was something whatever it was helped encourage it. Yeah, and it it certainly worked. He fed the habit to what's now an obsession across the board for me. Um what so, Yeah, that was a that was a tip I've kept with me. Um Dan, what about you? Back to what would originally asked Andy about though, when it comes to introducing them or exposing them to you know, to death a dead animal something like that. What's what's that been like for you and the kids. Yeah, so I'm pretty blunt with him right at the beginning. I mean I tell them that if we're eating meat an animal dies fly, you know, like a spider will eat a fly, a snake will eat a frog or a mouse, and we will eat a deer. And I've kind of compared what we do with other things in nature, right, So, uh and then uh, this past turkey season was a perfect example. I'm you know, I shot my turkey. There was blood involved, and I took the turkey back home and I was, you know, cleaning the meat off of it and whatnot. And my daughter was sitting there and kind of watching me do it. And instead of just like doing it, I kind of explained to her and I showed her, Hey, look at this, We're gonna turn this into turkey nuggets, or we're gonna turn this into something or you know something, or hey, we're gonna make fish sticks out of this fish. Or something, and then she relates it to food, and that way, when we do have supper or eat that meat, then she can have a conversation with me. She's like, oh, Dad, you shot this buck, didn't you. Now we're gonna eat it. Yeah? Yeah, Oh hey Dad, is this the fish that I caught? Yes, it is. It is the fish that you caught, you know, and and and and so that you can have those conversations. But man, we've I followed a blood trail with her before my stepdad shot up Um shot a deer a while back. It was not this season, but the last season, and I had her. We kind of walked through the timber, followed the blood and talked to her about how I mean I got Sometimes it's best to be really detailed about it. Um. That way, it's almost like it goes over their head a little bit, but they're they're engaged with you still, like, yeah, he put that arrow right through the vitals, and loss of blood is gonna gonna stop it, and and and you know all this stuff. And they look at you a little confused, but they're like, yeah, yeah, okay, yeah, that's cool. Yeah, even though they don't they don't really understand that. You know, we found the buck. There's blood in it, and she's like, Dad, is that buck? Is that buck dead? Yeah? It's dead. Grandpa shot it. Okay, Now what are we going to do? I'm like, well, do you want to sit here and watch us? You know, we have to take its guts out, because we're gonna take the guts out so it doesn't ruin the meat. Well, Dad, I don't want to watch that. Okay, you don't have to. You know, we'll go go with grand grandma. You know, don't force him to do anything really that they don't want to do, because that day was great for her, but maybe taking the guts out would have been too much. So let's just you know that there that bridge will be crossed another time. Yeah. Yeah, that that makes a lot of sense. Um, what about the actual hunting part of things? I know that you you haven't taken a va out to sit yet right down, Nope, just fishing thus far. She found her first shed the spring. That was pretty cool. Um, But Andy, you you've been getting the boys out now with all sorts of stuff. How how did that begin? Did you? What was their first hunt? How is that evolution? Kind of looked. I think I gotta think about that a little bit, but I'm thinking that it was probably in a pop up you know, pop up blind. I used to have a food plot that I had planned just for that reason, Like I would spend hours and hours on it, and the chances of seeing the buck in it were very slim, but I did it just for that reason. And I actually never I have I've yet to kill a deer with them with me yet, but I've in you know, a recent couple last couple of years, I've kind of transitioned away from the compound bow and back to the recurve, which I shot in the past, but um, it kind of opens up the parameters for me and what I feel comfortable shooting. And so now I've actually last year, I took him a few times and I have a couple of three stands set up for them to get into. And that's that's it, man, that's I mean, that's obviously not where I started, but um, that's where I'm at right now, and it is it is something else like they I can't wait till the day that I happened. Last year, I had a really close encounter with a buck that was probably not, you know, wouldn't be a shooter for most people, but when you got your like five year old, six year old with you, it would be. Lukey was with me and it was like five yards away and I had my recruit and I'm like, I'm gonna shoot this buck and it just turned and ran away. And I was like, I've never been so bummed that a deer, you know, blew me up. Ever, I was just like and it was like probably a two year old, you know, it was a small deer, but it was one of those things like I just can't I can't explain how much fun And I can't even imagine what it's going to be like someday when they're shooting deer or turkeys or whatever is they're doing. But um, yeah, that that would be. I would have to say probably the pop up blindness, the transition, how I got him into hunting, what what What was Lukey's reaction to that close call last year? Man, It's just I don't know what I explain it. They just they have a and and his the way he is, he's so like his brother is very cereebral and asked one million questions and then Luky it just looks at you and he's like and he's like kind of squint his ee and he's just thinking. It's like all his questions. It's almost like you've answered himself. I don't know what's going on in there, but but he he just looked at me and he's just like that deer was close, Dad, And I'm like, it was five yards away. I'm like, yeah, but it was close. He's like, were you gonna shoot it? And he was sitting there and there's still as a stone, you know, and nobody moved. I don't know if it so were the Wind's world or you know, who knows. The place that I hunt's got a lot of human activity. No hunters, but a lot of people. They like to take walks with their ship too and stuff, which you know, it is what it is. But it might have been something like that they ran him off, but I mean it was It was really cool just to see his reaction and I could I could like I hugged him after the deer ran off. I'm like, what do you think of that? And when I hugged him, I could feel a little heartbeating fast. I was like, oh my gosh, like and I wanted to just tear up right then, I'm like, I don't know, I think he gets it. I'm not gonna get my tow ahead of myself, but I think you might get it, you know. So it's pretty amazing, man, do they are they? So? They do they have like the itch now from the hunting? Do the gig excited about wanting to sit out there with you when it's the deer turkeys or something like that? Yes? Absolutely, Um, I remember I was listening to to I don't know if it was. I think it might have been the mediatory that you were on. They were talking about um, Steve was talking about his kids and when he was a kid that his dad it was laughable to think that you weren't welcomed to go whenever here's his dad was hunting and I and I've I've kind of thought like that's a good way to do it, and I'm kind of trying to as time has gone by. Now I'm thinking like that's the way I have to do it. Any time that I'm gonna go do anything outdoors, I'm never gonna And there's been times when I said, nobody, you can't go today because it's too cold. Or to this or to that, or you know, I feel like I got a good shot at the buck that I got on the trail camera or something, and I've kind of put all that and basically and scrapped all of that. Now it's just if they want to go, I don't care what it is we're going, and sent controls kind of out the window. Too. Was two boys, but I don't. I don't. One thing I don't do is I don't take them both at the same time, because I feel like it's just it's easier for them to not get distracted with you by each other and things like that, and I prefer to, you know, try to keep it one on one. That way, I can make sure I'm doing the right things too, you know. Yeah. So your philosophy that you never they're never not invited on a hunting trip, does that mean that one of your kids might show up at our boundary waters back country whitetail hunt in Minnesota. Well, not be surprised. For the first thing that are in our household. You witnessed system. The very first thing that our kids learned in the word no. They learned that very quick around you, and that's how we do it, so I can't say no, and there are times that I have to and that might be one, but I guess I guess I'll tell them all this time. I guess you don't want my kids coming? I guess no. I just think that based on my history of canoes, it wouldn't be safe for them. Yeah, that's true, that's true. What am I getting myself into that one? That's for another day, I guess. Yeah. Now, Hey, Mark, I got a question for you, right. So we talked a little bit earlier about how, um, like what was going through my mind and how I was going to have to adapt to my children kind of living this this lifestyle and you this year is a huge change for you. You know, you're you went out west, You're doing all this outdoor activity, but now you have a how old is he? Six months old? Just about you? Okay, so now you're you're bringing a six month old with you. So how has your outdoor life kind of changed with the addition of a six month old? Yeah? You know, it's one of those things that I definitely had like a lot of apprehension about, like even before having kids, it was how will kids impact all the stuff that we want to do and all these plans I have, UM, So I kind of selfishly was like thinking about that a lot um. But then once we had it, once we had Everett, you know, my wife and I were both kind of on the same page that we never believe that we had to change our lifestyle to commendate like yeah, like we never felt like there's some people you see that they have a kid and they never leave the house again, and like it's always like, oh, you can't do this, you can't do that, you can't do this too hard. We had so many people telling us that kind of stuff, like, oh, you'll never be able to do this again. Or last summer when we're out west, and after we had told people that we were pregnant, we had so many people say, oh, we'll enjoy your trip out there. You're not gonna go out there again. Um, we're good luck you know this backpacking trip and it will be a long time till you can do that anymore. And we always kind of thought in the back of our minds like no, like we can still like we can just incorporate him into these things, um and make it a really cool thing for him, And that was our goal and our hope before all this, but um, you know, this summer was like the testing grounds for that theory. Though. Can we still do some of these things? Um? So yes. We We've been out now on the road out west for almost three weeks camping um with a little guy, and the week before that we took him on his first camping trip. Before that, and we've done a lot of hikes and stuff and Michigan and now here in Montana, and um, you know, overall it's going really well. And I'd say, like, I'd say that I think we're right, like we can still do we can still live the lifestyle that we have been and we can still be very outdoors focused. We can still do a lot of these things and travel a lot um. But it is definitely different too. Um. I think the big things have changed is that everything just takes longer. Like I can't prioritize like my goals anymore. It's much more so about like the minimum, like it's just okay, let's just get there, or let's just have a little bit of an experience. Let's just test the waters and if we can at least if we can, if we can hike for half hour, that might be all it is, and if that's all it is, and that's great, we just just enjoy it for whatever it was we got. So, you know, we had on the drive out here. Usually I like to burn rubber and get out here as fast as I can drive straight through, but that definitely wasn't happening with a five and a half month old in the car seat. So you know, it took us three days and we took like long hour and a half two hour breaks that rest stops and let him play and you know, just everything takes a long time with feeding him and changing him and letting him nap and play and all this kind of stuff. Um, So that was an adjustment as far as like traveling. And then the same thing like when we're out here, like trying to go for hikes and things like that, everything just takes longer. So I set much lower expectations for what we're gonna do, and um, lots and lots of breaks, and then I'm just you know, I having to think about different things. You know, before when it came like if I was gonna do some big hike, I was just thinking about, Okay, how far can be? And Kylie hike and you know what's the elevation gonna gang, gonna be alrightet ten miles? All right, let's go do it now. Obviously, all those things are much different because you know, you don't want to be too far from the trailhead and then have the baby throw connection because he hasn't adjusted to the elevation yet or something like that, or him get sick and be too far away from the car um, or the sun get too hot in him be overheating. And there's all these new things that I'm trying to learn about now too, So it's a much more aware of things like sun and weather and rain and wind and bugs, um, all that kind of stuff. So we've had a lot of hikes that we've started and then to turn around. So we've done a lot of like our longest like we've done with him was like seven miles. UM. We've done a lot of like two to three to four mile things with him, UM a couple of hours. But it's been cool. I mean, even though we're not doing anything like quote unquote epic, like the stuff I used to think I always want to do. UM, just taking like a little walk down the road with him and like see him get excited about you know whatever, a dog running by that that is that is super cool. Um. So it's been it's been awesome. I mean he's been great. Like I mentioned at the beginning, we've been really lucky with him. He sleeps really well. He's just a happy, chill baby. Um. He really enjoys being outside. It seems like that he just enjoys looking around. He's very observational. He's just constantly scanning, looking at things, taking in the world around him. Um. And then this past weekend we actually took it on his first tent camping trip. So everything before this has been in the camper, you know. Um, this this weekend we did a tent camping trip. We actually found a really cool place. There's this road that actually goes up to the top of this kind of um, this relatively moderate mountain range here in Montana, and you can drive this road up to the top and you're kind of above tree line, like beautiful, beautiful views this National Force. So it's like you can camp anywhere. And it's kind of place that we would usually hike to, but we're not gonna do like a ten mile backpacking trip with him yet. This is the kind of thing that we could. We could drive up there, it was pretty comfortable. We could camp right out of the truck. We could set up the tent and still be like in a really pretty place and feel like we're out there. So it's like a really great opportunity to you know, still be doing like a something that felt like exciting for me and Kylie but was accessible for him. And he had a blast and he just kind of hangs out and he slept in the tent. Great, we have a set up um. That was one of the things we didn't know what tent camping was gonna be like, because not only is it myself and Kylie, but we also have our two dogs. So I've got my big lab and then Kylie's little dog, Cooper, So we have two dogs, two people and him. So we bought a bigger tent in the spring to accommodate a bigger family. So we bought a four person backpacking tent. And then because like Boone, the lab is so just I mean, you know, Andy, he's just not I know exactly, he's not self aware, like he's just spinning around and jumping exactly, and he's definitely not so one of our words always like him stepping on Everett, We're bumping him and smashing him or something. So we got this little play like this little mini kid tent that we actually use for a lot of things, like if we're hanging out outside. Imagine this is like a little I don't know, Like it's a three ft long by one ft tall mini tent um that just pops up like a pop up blind kind of thing. And so when we're outside hanging out, and like if there's too much sun and he needs a little bit of shade or we wanted to set him where while we're cooking or whatever, you can put him in that little thing and he can roll around and play, but he's not gonna, you know, get stepped on by the dog or the same thing in the tent. So we put him in that inside of our tent so that when Buoner jumps in, there's run around trying to get settled. He's not going to step on ever. So that worked out really good. Um, and then for like a sleeping bag tip situation. Oh and let me take a step back. That baby tent. If anyone's curious, it's called the kid co Peapod. I had some people ask me on Instagram about that, um, and then we put him in this little like Patagonia full down suit that um it's you know, it's like a snowsuit almost. But we used as like a sleeping bag. We've seen some other people online that use this for their little babies, taking them backpacking and stuff. And that worked awesome. I mean, he stayed warm, he slept through the night like like just perfect, and you know, he he heard coyotes howl for the first time and we had a wolf howl in the middle of the night. I'm pretty sure, yeah it was. It was one of those things like me and Kylie both, Yeah, we woke up in the middle of night and like like we woke up to it and then you just kind of heard the tail end of it and then you're like, was that what I think it was? Because we both the kind of staff and looked at each other talking about that all the nights. Yeah, what were we just talking about? That you that I was talking about? Yeah, yeah, it was, yeah, talking about you all the nights that you've spent and I have never heard one either, and you've never heard one. That's cool. Yeah, And so we actually one once before last summer. I heard one once, Um, it was the first time, and then yet this this time was the was the second time, and obviously ever start gonna remember. But still kind of cool that you can say that on your very first time tank camping. Yeah. Um, so that's been really sweet. And then, um, I don't know, I mean it does pay to have some helpful gear like we have had this like baby backpack carry it's um the Osprey Poco a G is the one we were using, and that's been great for carrying them around all over the place. Um, don't you have some kind of backpack carrying into that you've used? Yeah, I have. I don't even know the name of it right now, but it was we bought it a garage tale and it's it's been used for all three kids. Yeah, I feel like having something like that that's comfortable is nice if you're gonna do a bunch of hiking with the kiddo. That's been huge for us because he's just been kind of toted around all over the place and it's comfortable and it has like a pull up sunshades, so kind of like a sunroof deal that pulls up over him. Um My wife is really paranoid about him getting sunburned because he's like very fair skin like her. He's got very light skin tone, so she's always saying he's gonna get burns, gonna get burns. So having a little sun cover is is good. Um, but yeah, I don't know, it's been it's been awesome. It's very different, but it's been so exciting. Different, isn't it. You can't You can't explain how it's different to somebody that doesn't have kids. I remember telling you that, Like it's like when somebody just explains the mountains to you and you're like, yeah, I get it, man, I get it, and you're the person telling you's going now you don't get it. And then the first time you lady to get your eyes on and you're like, oh, that's what are you mean? Kids? It's like that too, Like it's so cool, and you're tell them the story, how cool it was it, whatever your kid did, and you can see it in their eyes that you're telling. The person you're telling, they're just like, I don't want to listen to this, But you don't care that they don't want to listen to it. You're so happy about it. You can keep telling them, you know, yeah, I can definitely relate to that now. And I so I always was that guy. I was that guy. I was like, Oh, they're talking about the kids again, blah blah blah. But now I told you I've seen that look in your Here goes Andy on his baby rants talking about kids. Yeah. But but yeah, now I'm on the other side. Um. And that's one thing that I really that's one thing that I really had to learn to do. Like what you said, Mark was slowed down anytime I wanted to, uh, bring my kids with me. You know, It's like you can't just go out and check a trail camera or go out and glass for deer. You have to make sure their sippy cups. You have to make sure their shoes are on. You have to make sure they've gone to the bathroom before they get in the drunk. You have to make sure there's you know, if they get hungry, you might need to grab a snack, you might need to go look for your extra pair of binoculars. You might need to you know, and then by the time you get it ready to go, oh dad, I gotta go potty. Well I thought I just asked you to go potty. No, Dad, I don't. I didn't have to go, but now I do, Okay, so then you gotta go potty again. And it's just like you can't just hop in, hop out go you you have to prepare for everything. That's that's definitely definitely been my big take home probably from this this summer so far with him. It's uh, yeah, it's just it's just get I think it gets easier though, Yeah, would you say that, Dan, Like it gets you don't expect like even though Mark you said you didn't um, your expectations are you know, maybe lowered. But as it goes by, like as time goes by now, like every time you go do something, you're not like ready gung ho, and then oh shoot, I gotta I forgot, I gotta pump the brakes here. It's like now I I'm kind of tempered, like I know when we go do Yeah, absolutely, I feel that I have to do the you know, I'm I'm changed. I have changed to expect that it's you know, I have to be slow. Yeah, and it's probably worth it, right, you don't mind so much now, No, I don't mind, not at all. Yeah, you know, speaking of changes you have to make for kids. Because my wife and I and my baby all share a twenty by ten camper right now out here in Montana. I I can't record my podcast in the camper because he's either napping or he's gabbing away and making all sorts of noise. I'm recording this podcast in the front seat of my truck in the middle of a rain storm. Can you hear that at all? Dan? Can you hear the rain and thunder? Yeah? I can hear the rain on top of the car, but I can't hear I didn't hear any thunder. Yeah. So kids always always changing things up. But um, back to the camping thing. Um, Andy, you took your you took your family out for their first Western trip last year, so with a six and eight year old, uh, to Yellowstone and stuff? Right? What was that like? That was awesome? Man, it was an awesome experience. I'd never been out to Yellowstone or Granti Con so for you know, and I didn't want to. I kind of didn't want to go without them. And I've been waiting for you, like, you know, ever since they were born, thinking like we should we go this year? And then we're like, yeah, they're probably not old enough. And and we waited until they were, you know, this last year, so you know, eight and six, I guess, And it was it was the perfect age to take them because everything they can, you know, you can point out and on the side of the road and say look at that, you know, whatever it is, and they can they can take it in, you know. And uh, but they're not so young that it's not all about you know, no, there's no diapers involved or you know, any of that, which, you know, not to say it wouldn't have been fun, but I think for their sake, they enjoyed it because they they were just you know, they got to ride in the back seat, they weren't all strapped into a car seat, and they you know, read books, and it was it was an awesome experience. But not just just yellow Stort of Grand Teatown. I mean everything that we went throughout there, We saw the bad Lands and different things like that, and and I mean they're absolutely hooked at it, like they if if a week goes by and one of them doesn't say, remember when we were in Yellowstone or when we were in Grand Tea Town, or you know, not a week goes by, that one of them doesn't bring that up or I always will hear him talking to their son, like the neighbor kids come over that we're talking about it. We went to Yellowstone. It was so cool, and so I definitely think that another one of those trips is in our our future real shortly. I think that's awesome. That's that's what I I just can't wait to yea once he you know, recognizes stuff and he like, you know, right now, it's cool that he's in these places, but it's mostly just cool for me and Kylie, but he's just kind of like oblivious. But it'll be it'll be really exciting when he actually recognizes what's happening. And I do. I was thinking about this the other day. I still think there might be something like positive for him in having these experiences. Now absolutely, you know, if this energy that you guys are shooting when you're in those places, I think he benefits from that. I mean, I think, don't you know what you think? Yeah, that's a that's a good point. I think you think you're right. I mean, how happy are you when you're in those places? And I mean I don't it's not like he's reading your mind or anything like that. Nothing weird like that, but I mean I feel like, you know, there's probably a good vibes coming off you guys when you're out there. I would think, yeah, that makes sense. And even you know, even if it's like four years from now or something and we're just telling him the stories of this stuff or he's looking back at the pictures, and I feel like that's something like, oh, yeah, I was doing that stuff. Yeah that was me. I was that kid, And I think that's yeah, that's maybe that builds some kind of like identity or confidence or something that you know will positively impact him. I hope. So I don't know anything from your trip taking them camping, like any uh, any lessons you learned from that first big family road trip with with that age of kids. You know, our kids are they're they're awesome, man. I mean not just trying to brag about my kids, but they don't have electronics. They don't know anything about I mean, they don't how to run an iPad better than I do, or any any electronics that you could ever get your hands on. They're better at it than anybody that's our age. But at the same time, like we don't have. We we've never put something in front of them to occupy them. We've taught them and I think this is, you know, gonna do them a service in the future for the outdoors because we've taught them to entertain themselves when when there's nothing going on, figure out something to do. Like if if there's nothing going on, they go outside, they play, they take their b B guns out there. You know, whatever it is they're doing, they're they're doing it on their own. So that's what, you know, what I learned about it. Just let them enjoy it, because if they're staring at at a iPad or whatever it is, they're not going to enjoy They're not gonna even remember it. It's gonna be another time in the car. And we didn't do that. And we got a lot of books can check out things. That was something that you kind of recommended, getting books for the Western reading like type things. Didn't really get anything specifics for myself, but I thought we thought about that with them. So we had like books that we had running from the library. I checked out from the library that we could you know, that they could read all the way out There are different things and and it was pretty amazing. I think, uh, like, I can't wait to go do it again. We've been talking about what we're gonna do next, but it all takes money. So yeah, that's that's the trick. That did seem like you guys had such a cool trip though, that was that was fun to see the pictures. Man, that's awesome. So Dan went, Dan wins the first big family road trip for you guys out to the mountains going to be I think next summer um potentially going to Colorado. Nice, so gonna My brother went out there with his son, uh this past summer, and he drove throughout the entire night, so it didn't really like change his son's sleeping pattern. And I think I talked to you a little bit about that. So I think that's what I'm gonna try to do, is you know, put the car, kids in the car at like I don't know, eight o'clock at night, drive all the way through the night to uh Colorado or a stop somewhere, or break the trip down into like go to the o Maha Zoo and spend the night and then get up early the next morning and drive to Colorado. And but you know that's still not gonna happen until next summer. So I'm excited. Though the logistics are gonna be weird, but I'm excited. Yeah, that'll be awesome. And and and that was something we did do, Like the first day we took off, we started like two thirty in the morning or something, and so we did have a really good long spell that where he just slept all the way through. And that does help just cut some time, because if it's during the middle of the day, they're just gonna there's gonna be more times when you have to stop. And so the nighttime driving is a is a key idea for sure. Um. I think we gotta wrap this one up here pretty quick, but I want to get one more thing um out there, one more talk. And this is something that I'm now having to encountering. This is something that me and Dan have talked about a lot over the years. Um. But I'm particularly interested in your thoughts on this, Andy, and then maybe Dan, where your latest thoughts are on this? But what about what about Andy when it comes to balancing right, balancing your hunts, balancing your hunting trips with you know, with the obligations you have as a father. Um, I know you you you and me take offer some eltcutting trips. We've done some fishing trips. Um. You know, it seems like that's something you're able to You're able to take off for for those types of things. And I know you hunt a pretty good amount of home. How do you manage to keep you know, that balance in the right place though, Well, I think you've heard the term, uh what is it a political capital that we say sometimes you gotta you gotta be home when you can be home, and when it's time to be in the wood, you gotta you gotta be in the woods. So I try to be be take care of business when I'm home. So the mama is glad, doesn't isn't mad at me when I leave. So I don't know, I I you know how because she's my wife, is is super understanding, like she doesn't want to hear me tell her every detail about everything that we're gonna do, every hunt, every trail we're gonna go down. But at the same time, she she wants, she likes for me to go and enjoy those things. So and I think she he's the kids enjoyment and too, And I think and I've not really gotten like stucked her into that world so much. She loves kayak and encampment. She camps probably forty days out of the year without me, the kids. They go all over different state parks and stuff all the summer long because she's off in the summer. So um, it's it's uh, it is a balancing act. But at the same time, I mean, she understands that what it what it is, what it means to me, and how good it is. You know what it does to you, man, it gets your back to zero when you can go out and do stuff like that. It makes you feel alive. So I mean, that's that's the biggest thing I fant is do what you gotta do when you can't be hunting and fish, because you know, make make their life good when you're here, and then they don't they want want you to go. They won't be mad when you leave. I guess yeah. I think to something you said there about how it kind of does you good. And I don't know if this is I've always thought, is this just me trying to come with like a self serving explanation or is there truth to this? But I've always thought that these types of things when we go out and do our own hunts or trips or whatever it might be. Um while it might take you away from your kids of the family for some period of time, it puts you in a better place. You are more engaged more. They're a better parent, a better husband, a better person with them, I think afterwards, because that's a part of your life. Do you think that's reasonable? I think absolutely true. I mean, adel new wrinkle when you go now because the kids are like, what I miss my wife when I go, for sure. But if there's just something about those little boys, man, they just they just want to watch TV. And you know, you're sitting there and they come in the room and what do you see? What are you watching? Bed? And they come walking over and climb up on you and they're sitting there watching TV with you. You know, it's like you missed that stuff, you know. But I definitely think that you it kind of recenters you. You're getting the in the grind of just working all the time, and it feels like, you know, if you have other obligations or things on the weekends and stuff, it doesn't you don't get to, you know, recharge your batteries. But when you want to do something like that. I feel like it just kind of puts you back to back to zero, and you can you know, I definitely think that there's some truth to that. Is there is there anything other than, like you said, just kind of racking up the capitol in the off season. Is there anything else you've done to make it, you know, better, maybe for the kids or anything that. Is there anything you've done to just make that work a little bit better for everybody else? Which I can't. I wish I had, like the the silver bullet right here, but I feel like I'm I'm letting you down. I don't know, I feel like you than I am, and it probably isn't a silver bullet, but so I you know, I think I think a lot of times, and I've kind of read what I said. You gotta take care of business when you're here. Do the things that you can't do when you're gone. I mean, as simple and stupid as that sound, but that's that's what I do. I don't. I can't if if you got us thinking leaky roof, don't go hunting and wait for that text when you get back into cell service somewhere. And so there's water dripping, I mean not that that's happened that hasn't happened here, but that type of thing. If you've got something that's gonna manifest when you're gone, you better take care of that because you're never gonna go again. If that's something like that happens, you know, that's a good point. I guess that would be my best advice. Take care of business when you can take care of business, because when you're out there in the middle of Idaho and you don't get service and you get seventy two texts when you get back to town, Hey, what do I do in the hot water or whatever? You know? I don't. I don't want that. That's my nightmare right there. So I try to prevent all those things from happening. Yeah, what about you, Dan, anything anything new now? In in this fifth or sixth year now of of dealing with this stuff, your head anywhere different than it was last time we talked about during last fall, Give me something good, man, because I feel like I didn't have anything good. So give me. Here's what I will say, and that is early season hunting has now become a go when my wife is happy type of thing. Right If she's in a bad mood. I probably won't go hunting the first week in October because you know, if she's having a bad day and she's like, well, I don't care what you do. If she knows that I am going to be gone for a night or two nights or gone for even four hours to go on a hunt, she has to sit with my kids. And our kids are crazy, right, and they do put stress on on people. This is not a joke, this is nothing new. But I have to make sure that I take care of my wife like this. The trip I went out to California with that was for her to let her know that I was happy. You know, I'm happy with her and that you know, basically, these trips that I do, although I'm I don't know. My wife doesn't suffer in silence, if that makes sense. So she will tell you, well, yeah, she she tells you exactly. Yeah. Yeah, she tells you exactly how she feels at all time, which is good. Right. She's not the kind of person where you have to say, so, what's wrong and then she says nothing. If I say what's wrong, you better be prepared because she's gonna tell you what's wrong. Right. So so that's my life too, man. I think, yeah, similar. So when I you know, when I go for you know, when I go on my two week vacation, she's gonna I'm like, hey, is everything okay? Well, uh yeah, everything's fine. I mean she's come to expect that. But it's not gonna be fun. I'm gonna be here with three kids. I'm gonna be a single parent, and it's not easy raising three kids because you have basically everything else gets put on hold until I get back, and you know, stuff doesn't get done, maybe laundry or cleaning, or the kids have to eat hot dogs for you know, uh, five out of ten days or whatever, because that's just simple and I don't know it's and it's one of those things. Here's one thing that I have to have to say is I think that once men get married, and I don't know where this is coming from, but once once men get married, there something is happening in today's world where they are it's just like, okay, now you are no longer a man. And I think these I think these trips when when for me, anyway, when I can go out and like you said, Andy, get recentered, I think that is needed. I think men need that. Uh, they need to be challenged, they need to be um out in nature. They need to you know, basically beat on their chest and be like him Taylor, right, you know, be I think obviously the definition of a man has changed over the years, but I think that the core definition is still the same. There's a there's a physical part, and I think that that concludes it right there, Dan, But it's gonna get deep, you know what I mean, just like you know, the metro sexual I don't I do what. I don't have those What are you talking about? You know what I mean? But I'm just like I think, Uh, I come back on something like this. I've able, I've been able to vent. I'm a better dad, I'm a better husband. Maybe she sees that, maybe she doesn't, but I feel I feel it, and and um, I just got to make sure that she's happy throughout the rest of the year so that she can be pissed for you know, the rest of the what I am hunting. So it's better to happen we pissed three or four weeks out of the year as opposed to you know, months on end. So that's true, that's true. You know, I've been thinking about this a lot. Oh sorry, any good. No. I was just gonna say, have you there one of you ever like just been sitting there and your tree standing, nothing's going on? Or maybe I think this instance, I was ice fishing and I sitting there, nothing's going on. I picked my phone up, my A D D kicks hand and I instantly pull up something Facebook or Instagram or something, and I looked down and I scrolled this lady post my husband went Elcott in September. Has anybody seen him? Since? It was like January second? And I look up Bradley Yep, time to go home. Halfway through January. I'm like, that's one of one of those times when you're like, okay, yeah, I think it's time. Have either you had that experience that where you just social media you found out that you you were just you know, just a father, uh absent father. Have you ever had that been that? I've had a couple of those. One was my wife posted a picture of my truck as I'm backing out to go on my my vacation and she's like, hello, hello fall widow, here I am or something like that. She said, you know, the next two weeks I will be a fall widow. And then um, the the other times you're sitting in a tree stand and then you know it's bad at home when you just get you know, you set your tree stand up, you climb in, you hang your bow up, you set down, take that deep breath you're hunting, and then check your text and it's from your wife and it says, when are you coming home? She knows, she knows when you're coming home. But you know, all she's saying is it's that's that's code for it's crazy as ship here, Please get your ass home. That's a bad feeling your stomach when you see that text. Absolutely, yeah, yeah, I've been thinking about all this a lot. I don't know how it's going to change things for me this year, especially because I've got, you know, a lot on the schedule. So I'm trying to figure out if it's if it's shorter trips, you know, maybe by planning instead like week long trips, they're like four day long trips coming back more often like that, so so it isn't as long periods of times being gone or I don't know. I feel like I've got a lot to learn this year. But but you guys have thoroughly scared me in some ways as you you are. How's this conversation though, because I know you've had it. I don't try to lie and tell me you haven't because I know you've had it when your wife has says something to you about the amount of time you've been gone or you're getting ready to go out again, and then your current counter argument is something along the lines with with this is my business now, like this is how I make my money now, right, I don't. Yeah, I mean I'm trying to learn how to get to use that. I know, Mark, you have a legitimate you know you have a legitimate Uh. I was backing on that statement, but like, I'm sure there's comes points where there comes a point where she's just like, yeah, I've heard that too many times. It's not going to count this time. Yeah. No, we definitely have had that conversation. And and so yeah, I do have like the ultimate get out of jail free card for a lot more stuff than a lot of people. Um So because of that, she is like very understanding of a lot of the stuff I do. But they're there. It gets to the point now where there's always one usually it's like the third week of November where if it's been going two and a half months straight, you know, you had a trip her two in September, and then you know a lot during October, and then after the big two weeks of the rut. Usually there there finally gets that snapping point. That's where it's like you're just you're you're not even here, like you're not not not not just that you're not physically here. But even when when I'm physically here, she'll say that I'm not even mentally there. And and so there usually is like a reset where we have to have kind of talking and she's like, all right, I really need some help here on stuff for you need to be kind of mentally checked back in. Um. But but for the most part of the rest of the year, you usually she is pretty understanding of the fact that it is business related and she's she's really she's really good about it. UM. But I am always trying to like, I don't want to use that as like I don't care what your situation is, Like I don't care how you feel, I don't care how hard is for you. It's my job, so I'm gonna do whatever I want. That's definitely not the tact I take. So even though yeah, it's my job, I am trying. I always am trying to find ways to make sure that I can make it as you know, as doable for her, as non painful for her, um and and and and the thing is that, yes, I am not around as much during the fall, but the benefit of what I do is that I'm present all the time the rest of the year, Like we spend all day together every day, Like I don't have to go to day. Yeah, maybe that's the downstad. Maybe I need to really look at this theory, something like golf or something, get out of the house. So so, yeah, there's pros and kind um, but I am constantly trying to find ways to to to make it work for her to um. So I'm sure this year there'll be some some relearning, some figuring out how to balance things better. And I've always wanted to make sure that I'm carrying my you know, my my side of the bargain too. I never want to just throw off everything on her, like managing the household and the baby and everything. So I'm sure we'll have a new challenge with that this year. But we'll figure it out. We've gotten a lot better. I think for us, A big thing was like communicating about it all. Like my wife isn't as much like like my wife is more so she'll kind of just hold on to stuff. She won't bring it up until I forced the issue. So we've kind of I've learned to like forced the issue early on versus like early on in our relationship, I knew like she wasn't super talkative with I could tell that she was irritated about something. I knew it was probably about my hunting, but I just didn't want to deal with it. So I was like, I don't want to get in a fighter. I don't want to get you know, have this like uncomfortable conversation. So I just let it go. And then we'd go like a week and you could just tell there's like this tension or anythings, um and that was never good and it would lead to some kind of blow up fight, you know, a month later or something. But now I just nip in the butt, so I will just force the issue on. Okay, I know that something's bothering you, it's probably X. Is that is that the case? And if so, let's talk about it, and once we've kind of figured out that we need to do that, UM, that that's related to a lot of things in our relationship, but especially with like hunting and balancing all those kinds of things. Now that we get that stuff out on the table, it's so much better. And then she could be like, Okay, I understand you've gotta be gone for a week for this. I understand you gotta be gone for a week for this, But maybe instead of being gone two weeks straight, what if we what if you came back for three days, Like that'd be really helpful. Or I've got this thing going on, I really could use some help during that period, and like, once we talk through that way, we can find a way to make it work a little bit better for both of us. So that's it's simple. But just communication, I think UM helps absolutely, That's all I got. I guess we out, like I said, five years from out, ten years from I we'll have to reconvene once we have older children and see if any of this helped us out right? Any anything? Don't hate me? Yeah? Your ruined? Any dear? One time? Was any any final thoughts? Uh? And you want to add on this no, I I don't have a lot. I guess I guess I would say that, Um, don't be afraid to not kill huge bucks, or not kill as many ducks, or do whatever. If your kid wants to go, take them, man, just take them fish and don't catch anything. Just take something with you if that's what, If that's what, it doesn't matter, you know what I mean. Just take them out. And that's where I'm at now. I used to take things like not that I don't take it serious, but I at this point now what I take serious is any interest they haven't going if they want to go hunt, and I will take them. I'll put them in that tree stand and we will sit there and be cold, go home if we have to, or whatever we have to do. That would be my advice. Just to take a man whatever you can, whenever you can. Yeah, I'm right there with you, Dan. Anything else, no, man, just you know, baby steps. Um, that's what I mean. That's that's the only thing that I know how to do. And and and I don't want to ever burn them out because even going once or twice is better than not going at all. And that's that's really what I'm looking forward to. Yeah, Well, I'm looking forward to experiencing all these things you guys are talking about it. Uh, it was like the scariest thing ever, you know, having a baby, but it has been the coolest thing ever too, and everything, all these new things ahead of us. I just I'm just looking forward to it so much. So raising out towards kid I think is probably gonna be the coolest outdoor adventure of of our lives. Right, So, um, I think so I can't. I can't ask her anything more, And that's gonna do it for us today. So if you haven't yet, I think today is the a for you to subscribe to the podcast and leave a rating or review on iTunes. It's a surefire way to build up some of that positive karma that you're gonna want for hunting seasons, so be sure to do that, and while you're at it, follow Wired to Hunt on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. And finally, thank you all for listening, especially in episodes like this here today, where we take a break from talking big bucks and hunting strategy and instead focus on some of these bigger issues in life. So I hope you enjoyed it. Thanks again, and until next time, stay wired to hunt,

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