EP:425 | Hiding from Critters with Pat Newcomb

On this episode we’re joined by Pat Newcomb of Nukem blinds to talk about the many benefits of using a blind. Is there anything more old school than building a blind to hide? However, today’s modern camouflage doesn’t dictate you use blinds now but there are many situations where a blind adds value. Pat explains many of them and they all made sense. We had a great discussion about hunting and hiding. 

Listen, Learn and Enjoy. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

I'm Jeff Foxworthy, and welcome to Gamekeeper Podcast. If you want to learn more about farming for wildlife and habitat management, invite it, you are in the right place. Join the Gamekeeper crew direct from Austrian Land Enhancement Studios as they discuss the latest wildlife and habitat management practices. News, and of course, money. There's no telling what you'll learn, but I'm going to tell you. I bet it's interesting. Enjoy.

SPEAKER_07 0:26

We're live in three, two, one. All right, welcome everybody. West Point, Mississippi. It's it's it feels like spring like that.

SPEAKER_04 0:34

The turkey tailgate's going on. Youth season opens tomorrow.

SPEAKER_07 0:38

You know, this these mornings, no jacket required. The natives are restless. Yeah. I bet we're gonna have a lot of mosquitoes by the time the season goes.

SPEAKER_03 0:46

We've already got a lot of mosquitoes on the room. I think they're predicting a cold snap, but it seems like Yeah, right when it opens. The real thing. We got a big rain coming in the next year. A lot of rain. Yeah. Forecast from three to maybe five inches. Got we're gonna get that much in the next week. Oh that's more than we got all winter. Maybe it'll wash the pollen away.

SPEAKER_04 1:05

It'll certainly help. It's tough. It's sure greening up, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_07 1:09

There's a lot of people burning. There's a lot going on in the gamekeeper.

SPEAKER_06 1:13

It's really exciting. Small burning. More and more folks burning.

SPEAKER_03 1:17

So you know you've had a good week burning. Here's the new judge of that I found. So I get home and Diane's like, that's right. Gasoline or something. What does that smell? Smoke. I go scrub and I come back out to get some supper. She's made. She's go back and bathe again. So you know you've had a good week burning when you have to take two showers.

SPEAKER_06 1:39

Inside of my car uh smells like a drip torch.

SPEAKER_03 1:42

Yeah. The smoke is not so bad. It's the smell of the diesel. The diesel. Mostly diesel, actually. Are you using a what's your ratio of diesel and gas?

SPEAKER_07 1:52

One third, two-thirds. One third.

SPEAKER_06 1:54

I put a couple gloves in water and a couple gloves in the other.

SPEAKER_04 1:58

Two diesel, one gas.

SPEAKER_06 2:00

Two diesel, one gas.

SPEAKER_03 2:02

Correct. Yes. I used to do more. They say that in these tanks we have.

SPEAKER_06 2:07

If it's cold, you add more gas. Sorry for interrupting.

SPEAKER_03 2:09

No, that's yeah. But I mean the drip torch, I think, from what I hear, 40 60 40 is still good. But you definitely don't want too much gas. It doesn't, it doesn't work as well either, you know.

SPEAKER_07 2:21

Unless you're Tim Brooks. Oh no. You know that John Tivers, that four-day course he's puts on. I'd love to go sit through that.

SPEAKER_04 2:28

I think we should we were talking about having him here and hosting a one-day course. And we've actually had a lot of people that have commented, hey, I want to sign up and do that if y'all do it. So we should we should definitely consider it.

SPEAKER_06 2:37

We could do it at my place and get a burn out of it. That's right. No, look at you. Yeah. How about that? He is smart. But we would have to blindfold them to get them there. So well, nobody would want to do that. Let's talk about hiding from things.

SPEAKER_07 2:54

Well we are. Turkey season. Yeah, let's let's turn over here. Well, look at on the guest couch sitting here, he's driven all the way from somewhere in North Carolina. Yeah, we just talked about that.

SPEAKER_04 3:03

We've got Mr.

SPEAKER_07 3:04

Pat Newcomb. And his company, so his name is Newcomb, N-E-W-C-O-M-B. Okay. The B is silent, Lanny. Then we've got his company is called Newcomb Blind. Yeah. We've been giving them away for a couple of years. It's kind of a play on words. It really confused Lanny a few days ago, Pat.

SPEAKER_04 3:24

Well, I just found out that your name was actually Newcomb, and I was like, because I mean I always thought, you know, I was like, what a coincidence he got named after his own word.

SPEAKER_03 3:32

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 3:32

I was like, Oh, his name's actually Newcomb, but misspelled. So that's I mean, excuse me. I guess you not misspelled, but spelled a different way.

SPEAKER_00 3:39

Well, first off, thank you for having me. And yes, it's a playoff my last name. And I had no idea the confusion it would make in my life when I did it. I think it's a great name for a blind.

SPEAKER_05 3:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 3:51

Yeah, it really is. It turned out great. Like any name, it's what your product becomes, it makes it mean something. Yeah, it's a great blind. That's my point.

SPEAKER_07 4:02

And you know, blinds are n are are used in a lot of different scenarios. I I've I've met with Glenn before, and he was really good at explaining about some setups for deer on the ground using y'all's blind. Uh crow hunters are are using them, uh, obviously turkey hunters. The afternoons are I love using a blind in the afternoons because I like what we've talked about. Sometimes I like going to someplace and just kind of taking a nap.

SPEAKER_00 4:24

Right.

SPEAKER_07 4:24

And that blind's helpful in that scenario.

SPEAKER_00 4:27

It is. And when we originally came out with this, I did it because I'm a turkey hunter. And I thought of it as a turkey blind. And I thought that was going to be what it was. And the market quickly told us how many different avenues there was for it. And especially a lot of people deer hunting on the ground. We sell so many in the fall, but I I equivalate that there's more deer hunters. And a lot of people adding a tool to their arsenal, it's not your only way to kill something. But you know, when we're out there trying to harvest that mature animal, we're going to take anything we can to help us a little bit. So I like to have that in the arsenal because sometimes no matter what you're hunting, you want that extra little bit of cover.

SPEAKER_03 5:08

Yeah, the deer hunting especially was probably overlooked in the age of everything's taking kids. And I mean, I I do it and I love doing it with grandkids now too, but you know, a$3,000,$5,000, even if it's a homemade, it's expensive shooting house,$10,000 in some cases. Uh those are great, but then they're there. They're so expensive and cost prohibitive too. And the thing that strikes me, one of the things we're always missing, especially when we're taking guests, is really good morning spots that are like set up. So just like we got a couple of guests coming and we find something, you know, going on through cameras or, you know, watching scrapes or, you know, acrons falling all down a roadbed or something that's a good spot. You can just so much versatile, you know.

SPEAKER_04 5:50

Oh, yeah. And you know, most of our spots are set up for north winds, and we get a lot of south winds here, so it allows you to, you know, just make pivot if you're wanting to hurt hunt a spurt uh specific spot. And the wind is uh not right.

SPEAKER_03 6:01

I mean, it's nothing like having a great comfortable spot, especially in cold weather. But it's also um I encourage everybody to have something like this, especially his are so well made and so they work so well. Portable, too. Yeah, and they're they're they're creative in the way they're the shape of them is. I think it actually hides you better than just a straight line across the ground. That's right.

SPEAKER_04 6:21

And there's some sponsors.

SPEAKER_03 6:22

But I would encourage people, it's just there's kind of a craft, everybody loves old school. One of the most old school things there is is building a blind. So you could take one of these and is I mean, you could just take one and pop it up and hunt with it. But if you really want to make it disappear, it's already made to brush in just a little bit. It wouldn't take much. And it's like you're I mean, something could be five yards if the wind's right and I know you're there.

SPEAKER_06 6:43

Yeah, I used to carry something. Uh, you know, I think a lot of folks, especially now, want things that are more lightweight, you know, more, you know, you can get around with something. I used to carry something that was like five or six sticks that you would stick in the ground. That's what I do, yep. Uh but this is uh this is a much bigger step for the same weight. Versatile takes up the same amount of space in your backpack or whatever.

SPEAKER_03 7:08

You two would look at it, you know, you you've got it so easy to raise or lower the little port to shoot your gun out of. So if you had a kid, you just spread that out and it's lower to the ground. When I talked about versatile, it's versatile in more ways than just pick it up and go. It weighs what a pound?

SPEAKER_00 7:25

Three pounds. And to your point, it is very versatile. The wider you make it, the lower the windows go. And we sell them in different sizes, and it's not about the size of the hunter, but it's how you're sitting in the woods. So a six foot five man can sit behind our regular size blind that you can put a five-year-old kid behind the same blind. So it's it really is versatile for everybody.

SPEAKER_03 7:46

I mean, you sit down, say you sit down with a kid, and you want to okay, sit down on them, it's already kind of popped up already. Sit down and get them behind it, get situated. It would literally take you five seconds to adjust the height just right.

SPEAKER_06 7:59

Yeah, I got them to give me the full spiel at uh NWTF, and you're right. It's a I mean, it's five seconds.

SPEAKER_04 8:08

Talk to us about the science behind behind the angles, it's very intently designed.

SPEAKER_00 8:14

So I'm no scientist, but um we aren't either. It a lot of it, to be honest with you, kind of happened on accident. It was one of those things that I was hunting with a five-year-old kid, my daughter, Presley. Um, and I was doing it the traditional way that everybody else was doing at the time. You know, you got a big 360 hub blind, and you're carrying those big blinds out, and you're taking the chairs and everything else. And I had watched a bird pitch down on this one hillside for about 10 days in a row, and I just knew it was gonna happen that day. And of course, like turkeys do, they did turkey things and they were in another spot. So I'm with a five-year-old kid and a shooting stick, two chairs and a big hub blind that I'm packing up and haunt across a valley of western North Carolina to go set up on a bird, and I just thought this was ridiculous. So I started playing with it, and the biggest science, I guess I would say to it is a lot of people have asked me why does it come to a point at the top? Is a question I get. Another question is, do we have to have the mesh? Can we just get rid of that and make it a full screen? And to me, the point at the top is really actually important because it breaks up your head movement enough. It's not a full concealment blind, it's not meant to be. If you want a full concealment blind, that's what the hub blinds are for. This is just a weapon for you to use. You sit back from it. So when you sit back from our blind, I've got it pushed all the way out in front of me at least at arm length, so I can pull up and shoot off the sides or through the windows. And then as far as the mesh at the top, I truly believe it. If you look at any pictures or videos of it, you can see through it so much that you get the backdrop behind you. And I think that's what really makes it blend in the woods and disappear. And then once we came out with the leafy fabric in a moss yoke pattern, you know, it really disappears. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:08

You know, another um thing, I guess, with this would be um it's just amazing to me. I don't understand quite why, but you've got your head popped up, you got a kid, and you're in a big window on a shooting house, and there might be some does or some deer 10 yards, and you move and stuff, and they don't really spook. I mean, they can if you're really stupid, how you move around. But it's something about them that doesn't alarm them near as much when there's just a head poked up as they see those probably shoulders and the body and all. And if you look at this, all you're gonna have is if anything could see anything at all, it's just your head poked up in a little hole right there. And I feel like that's an advantage too, just like it is in one of those shooting houses where all they see is your head and don't seem to be near as spooked from it.

SPEAKER_00 10:54

Well, I think a big advantage is also just sitting on the ground, Toxie. Um, you know, I'm not gonna sit here and tell you deer are conditioned of seeing you in a tree, but they're not used to that kind of movement up in the trees. When they see that movement on the ground, they don't know if you're another animal or what, and they give you a second chance a lot of times.

SPEAKER_03 11:11

Yeah, I mean, it's all I mean with one of these, I mean, you just that's and that's another good thing. How many times have you got a really good spot and you got the weekend to maybe take your kid and the wind is dead wrong for the one she have? And then you okay, just this might just get to a different spot. That's right. And then you're kind of teaching them, you know, because you're gonna have to take some things with you, although this stuff's light enough, take it all. A chair to sit in that's really comfortable, you know. And just build you a little, take a second to brush it in, maybe a little bit if you want to. And there's just a little more to that than just going and getting in the house that's already there. That's kind of cool. Yeah, you know, I'll just even if you got a place and you've loaded it down with beautiful stands, you'd be smart to have a few of these so you can adapt to the wind direction or differences in sign you find something hurt going on.

SPEAKER_06 12:01

Seeing a deer cross in one spot. You want to get a little closer.

SPEAKER_07 12:04

Yeah. So why don't we uh why don't we start with Dudley's rapid fire quests? Oh, yeah. Let's get to know him a little bit better. So, Pat, get ready. Dudley's got some questions brought to you by Nutrient Ag Solutions.

SPEAKER_03 12:14

That's right, our buddies. These are tough questions, so nuke them, Dudley.

SPEAKER_06 12:17

All right. So um are you ready? I am ready. All right. Do you travel much to hunt, or are you more of a homeboy? I travel a lot. Um, so you're on the road. So you're en route to the hunt on the road. Uh, do you like to listen to some loud music and get fired up, or are you gonna turn it down and be more contemplative? For the most part, when I'm on the road, I'm listening to podcasts. There you go. I love it. Uh, what shotgun did you kill your first turkey with?

SPEAKER_00 12:50

My grandpa's 20 gauge that he gave me.

SPEAKER_06 12:53

Love it. Uh, name a favorite tailgate snack you consume while out in the country working or hunting? Nutty buddies. Nutty buddies. Oh, man. Nutty buddies. All right. Do you just eat it or do you eat it layer by layer?

SPEAKER_00 13:08

So a nutty buddy is actually a big thing for us at Newcomb. And to be honest with you, it's one of those things that kind of happened on accident. But a buddy or two of mine, we started taking nutty buddies with us, and it was one of those things that I told somebody one time, it was actually fishing. This was after it worked for me a couple times. And I said, Hey, uh, we're in this fishing tournament. I don't fish. I was invited to come and throw a rod around. And um we weren't catching anything. And the guy I was with wins a lot of tournaments. Of course, he wanted to blame me, you know. But I said, Hey, have you had your nutty buddy yet? He said, What are you talking about? I said, Well, the way it works, because I've found this with hunting a couple times and it worked, is you got to sit down, you got to eat your nutty buddy, and just don't even think about the hunt or the fishing or whatever you're doing. And you're and it'll change. This has happened several different times with deer and turkey. And we sat there and we had our nutty buddies, and literally his next cast he caught a seven-pound bass. There you go. So we've had some luck with them. We have a lot of fun with it, especially when we're in camp and we tell a story, and next thing you know, everybody's eating nutty buddies the next morning at daylight, telling me that. But it's just one of those things that we like to say we enjoy it, and we it takes your mind off of hunting for a second to sit back and relax.

SPEAKER_04 14:28

Well, I can tell you with kids we have a lot of nutty buddies on the line.

SPEAKER_03 14:31

So, yeah, but you got you kind of got your thing, a particular type of snack, you know, and it wasn't quite the same as it wasn't always a clean good look, but the one for when I grew up, Mr. Fox loved and he always carried a snicker bar. Oh, yeah. It was all about the snicker bar. Same with my dad. Never another snack, yeah. A snicker bar.

SPEAKER_06 14:49

Yeah, when you think you can't hunt anymore, eat your Snicker bar, and it'll buy you about another hour or so.

SPEAKER_04 14:54

Yeah, my dad did Snickers in those zeros, which is like a white chocolate.

SPEAKER_06 14:59

Um, name a local lunch place, a favorite local lunch place, and what are you ordering?

SPEAKER_00 15:08

Granny's Kitchen. Sounds delicious. They're bacon double cheeseburger. In Asheville. It's in Weaverville, but yes, it's North Asheville.

SPEAKER_06 15:20

What would you say is the closest range you've ever pulled the trigger on a gobbler? Three yards. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 15:27

What is your preferred range? Within 12 if I can do it. Oh, wow. Are you shooting them with a bow? So I used to shoot a lot with a bow. And I just about 10 years ago had my shoulder completely redone. Uh-huh. So this will be the first season I've bow hunted again in 10 years. I don't like them when they get that close.

SPEAKER_06 15:48

I mean, my heart would it my heart would explode. That'll get nervous when they get that close. Man, the closer the better.

SPEAKER_00 15:54

If they're walking in, I'm letting them come. Oh no. I'm stuck.

SPEAKER_06 15:59

What is the most prized call you carry in your vest?

SPEAKER_00 16:02

You know, I can't say I have a prize call. Okay. Um, I play a lot of different calls. I mean, I have to have a mouth call. I mean, that's if it's a category, it's 100% a mouth call.

SPEAKER_06 16:13

Okay. Um, have you ever called up a gobbler and decided not to shoot it?

SPEAKER_00 18:21

I've let other people shoot them. But no, um, no. I'm not there yet either.

SPEAKER_06 18:28

What? And last but not least, what is your favorite spring favorite spring bloom that reminds you of turkey season? Dogwood. Good answer. Yeah. It's funny, it seems like the dogwoods are slowly disappearing, at least around here. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 18:45

There are fewer of them for sure. There's been some kind of like a I've heard it referred to as like a cancer. Yeah. Like a blight or something.

SPEAKER_03 18:53

There's a blight with them. Just something for you to research. Because I mean, we may need to help people get those back in some cases. But I grew up in the Clark County, Monroe County, but especially Clark County, Alabama, is like everywhere. That's where the Tom Beebe and Alabama come together, but back further north in the county was just big hill, like the guy said that time, you can stand flat, stand flat footed and kiss the ground. It was those hills were so steep and it was just cascading dogwoods in those old uh longleaf pine plantations. It was just incredibly beautiful. One of my favorite strikers is made out of dogwood. You've got some.

SPEAKER_07 19:29

Bobby lives on dogwood lane. Yeah, yeah. And what designed for us. When we first uh moved there, we had my wife count them. We had about 40 dogwoods, and now we've got less than a dozen. I'm the same way I don't have as many as a habit. And it's not from us cutting them down, it's just the canopy's too.

SPEAKER_03 19:47

Can they grow in complete shade? Do you think the canopy's too dense if his trees are getting real big?

SPEAKER_06 19:51

I don't know, but I have a good friend I go to church with. Uh she is a plant pathologist at stake, Clarissa Balbalian. I'm gonna call her and find out.

SPEAKER_04 20:00

Are they a fire um adaptive species? I would assume. I would assume so.

SPEAKER_03 20:04

I would think people burned them all the time. They burned the longleaf stuff that I grew up in. Yeah, but there's something that's going around that's getting.

SPEAKER_01 20:10

Yeah, quick research, quick uh beating into it. Look at you. Look at you out, Richie. Uh yeah, they've been in decline since the 1980s, 40 to 49 percent in the eastern United States dog was have. And does it say why? Uh could a potential up to a fungus, mildew, some uh burrowers, and uh environmental issues like drought.

SPEAKER_04 20:32

What does that say?

SPEAKER_06 20:34

Anti anthracnose. That's that's just a common weird word to lump all kinds of ailments to it tells me from what he read that they don't really know.

SPEAKER_03 20:44

It scares me because it's been going on for that long. It scares me like quail, you know. We lost them and lost him and lost them, and he sat there and watched them disappear, and nobody could tell you why definitively. And so that scares me back. We need to start growing some.

SPEAKER_04 20:57

Yeah, they're hard to grow. We've done it a couple times, but yep.

SPEAKER_07 21:01

All right, look, Pat. So tell us how did you get started? How did how did nucleum blinds come to be? What was that inspiration?

SPEAKER_00 21:10

It really started with the pursuit of the turkey. And for years and years, um, I started hunting, I guess now about 31 years ago, so it's been a long time. And just wanting that extra little bit of cover and nothing, everything that you guys mentioned earlier, I was trying. You know, I was trying the the steak out in front of you, I was trying the little screens, I was trying different things. And with that, I also owned a tree company in Asheville, and I got it where it was pretty much operating where it didn't need me every day. So I had extra time on my hands. And I just wanted something that didn't exist. So we started playing with it and started figuring stuff out and spent a lot of money to get the first couple made. And once I ended up getting a full utility patent on the product, I decided I was gonna make a passion, a business decision in a in an industry that I had a passion for and start the company and start selling them. Did you say a tree? Yeah, so we we cut trees. Oh, really? Residential commercial tree company. Yeah, cool.

SPEAKER_06 22:09

I bet you get to see some really cool wood.

SPEAKER_00 22:12

Yeah. Oh yeah. We actually have a sawmill and a kiln and everything. Good for it. Nice.

SPEAKER_06 22:17

I bet you uh have a magnet machine or whatever they call that to look for nails and stuff.

SPEAKER_00 22:22

No, uh we we find them the hard way.

SPEAKER_06 22:25

A lot of you know, a lot of those neighborhood trees always have nails in them and stuff. You can usually tell if it's got them in it.

SPEAKER_00 22:31

Okay. But yeah, just the uh wanting a little bit extra cover is the simple answer to that.

SPEAKER_07 22:38

Yeah. I like the that the triangle shape of it.

SPEAKER_06 22:41

It's it's well thought out. Well, like, I mean, I'm thinking out loud here, but you know, you got you have a righty and a lefty hunting together. Uh that it can be helpful to have that. Um, whereas it might, you know, mess you up in another type of blind.

SPEAKER_00 22:58

Well, a lot of times when you're hunting together, people ask me every day, is it a two-person blind? And I'm gonna tell you no. Um, you can squeeze two people behind it, but ideally you're each running with your own. And um when we sit side by side, the the corners overlap. So you've got shooting ports basically all around you. You can shoot through the windows or off the sides, obviously. And that's what made us develop the double up system, which is two blinds with a panel that goes in between them. I saw that at NWTF. And the and the biggest reason for that is anybody that's hunted with a newer hunter in any kind of a blind, shooting house, whatever, when you get that gun out a window, they need the perfect shot. They need that animal to come in and stop, usually. Well, it never fails. You get them on a shooting stick out that window, and the animal's walking, and then they they gotta do what? They gotta pack out that window and go out another one. So, what I was doing with Presley when she was young is we were shooting through that center V between the two blinds, that would give her a full 180 swing. And we had a great success with it. And then just one day I was sitting out in the woods and I thought, you know, I need to make a panel to go in between here. So it it's really great for beginner hunters because it provides enough cover to help them. It provides little enough cover to make them actually still learn how to sit still and be in the woods and and be an an outdoorsman. But it also now gives them the opportunity to be able to shoot virtually 180 degrees without having to come off that shooting stick.

SPEAKER_07 24:29

What else are people using these things for besides turkey hunting?

SPEAKER_00 24:33

So turkey, white tail. Um I want one for dove. I was getting ready to say a lot of dove hunters use them, especially our taller models. So you can sit up in a chair with the XLs. We actually actually came out with an XLT this year as well, more for your track chair hunters, wheelchair hunters, or somebody that just wants to sit real high on those dove stools.

SPEAKER_03 24:55

I mean, you could take two of those, even the smaller one. You could take two of those and just just like that and sit between them and have a great dove line, even out in the wide open.

SPEAKER_00 25:06

Yeah, all of them are based on how you sit, uh the height wise. And then with the double up system, we also did it in Moss Yoke Habitat, so we sell a lot to waterfowl hunters. It's a mobile panel blind that, you know, depending on the size of them, nine to thirteen feet wide and our different sizes. And you're carrying less than seven pounds in woods, and you can set it up in less than two minutes. So it's a great portable blind, really, no matter what you're hunting. I I joke about it all the time with people at trade shows. I said I don't care what you hunt, you can hunt mice in your backyard with it. Just whatever you want to hunt. It's if you're sitting on the ground, it's great.

SPEAKER_07 25:40

That leafy flodge, that's amazing how well it works. It's so three-dimensional.

SPEAKER_04 25:46

Yeah, you know, we've uh we've been wearing leafy jackets. You know, I have turkey hunting for a long time. So uh, and it definitely adds a layer of concealment that you don't get anywhere else.

SPEAKER_06 25:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:58

Kind of like I heard Toxie say uh on a podcast not long ago, you lose your shotgun in the woods when you get excited and lean it up against a tree. You'll do the same thing with your blind.

SPEAKER_07 26:09

So so I imagine you've got some stories, but you've been at this five years now, but you're probably going back to some of the same consumer shows, people that bought blinds are telling you their success stories. That's got to feel good to hear those.

SPEAKER_00 26:20

I tell them every day. I said I'd rather hear that story than sell somebody else another blind. Um, there's nothing like being at a trade show and somebody genuinely comes up to you so excited to tell you a story about your product and how you help them harvest their biggest buck or their turkey or their their kid's first bird, or that's what it's about.

SPEAKER_04 26:39

That's the great thing about this industry, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_00 26:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 26:42

So are there tips and tricks that you've learned messing with these blinds that you could share with people listening that make them even better?

SPEAKER_00 26:50

Absolutely. Um we are gonna try to actually probably rebrand this and get outside the ground blind word because it's not really a ground blind. I feel like we're kind of creating our own category. Um more of a hunting screen. So that's the key to tell anybody, and then we're blocking that movement as a screen out in front of you. But aside from just what you see, there's other uses for it and other ways to move with it. When you get it, it's folded up in a bag 32 inches long and it weighs three pounds, and it's gonna take you a few seconds to put it together. When we hunt with it, I never go down to the bag unless I'm going a long ways in in the morning. Once it gets to the long form, I keep it that way. You can take our blind and drop the center pole and roll it up, throw a little bungee on it, now you're carrying it just like a walking stick. And then the way it folds up organically on a top of it comes to a point, uh a fork where you can actually use it as a shooting stick. Um, but we use it for a rest out in the woods, you know. A lot of times we're walking with it, like I said, in in the long pole form, and you know, how many times you need to hold your binoculars steady or whatever we're doing that on top of it. Um I use it as a windscreen a lot of times. It's not even in front of me. Sometimes the wind's hitting me wrong, and I use it for a wind block. We've used it to create our own shade. I mean, there's a lot of different things that people use them for, and people, you know, teach me things every day. I waited out a hail storm last year up in Wisconsin with two-inch hail, and we had the blinds over our head holding them, keeping us dry and keeping us from getting beat to death.

SPEAKER_06 30:31

That sun thing is real, really, you know. Lanny's like, hmm, when you said that. But that's it always it always seems like the turkey wants to come to the the sunny side of the tree. Or he's always on the sunny side, and you gotta set up in the full sun.

SPEAKER_07 30:47

Yes, taking advantage of those shadows is that's where we hung, but this allows you to take your shadow with you. It really does.

SPEAKER_03 30:53

For sure.

SPEAKER_07 30:54

Yeah. Wow. What uh Lanny, you think about thinking about taking Hayden back when he was a kid.

SPEAKER_04 31:01

Oh, it wouldn't happen without him. I mean, it just with the the young kids, of course, yeah. You know, I don't move very much, you know, I don't twitch very much, but neither does Hayden, but no, we're I I move a lot and Hayden moves a lot, and you know, just with young kids they move a lot, so it is critical with the young ones for sure.

SPEAKER_00 31:18

Well, we hear it a lot. We have people come up to us, I don't need that, I can sit still. Well, guess what? Everybody in this room can go out and call on a bird this goblin and coming in and sit still to kill it. Or sit there and watch a deer walk 150 yards across the field to you and be still while it's coming. Right. But every one of us are sitting out there in the woods, eating our nutty buddies, playing on our phones, checking on X, doing whatever you gotta do, not paying attention. And you know what the worst feeling in the world is? When you look up and they're at 10 yards, 15 yards, and you've already been busted.

SPEAKER_04 31:52

Very good point. Because you're right, you can hammer down and and and but when your your radar's down, you're moving. I'm moving all the time, anyways.

SPEAKER_07 31:58

But yeah, that is so are you seeing more people use them for kids, and then maybe if they're taking an another new hunter, uh it w what's the primary usage that you're seeing with them?

SPEAKER_00 32:10

I think the best way to say this is everybody. We we have a wide range, right? So I we we tell people all the time, if you can think of one use for it, try it out. And I guarantee you you're gonna have ten. So to answer your question, our biggest sales market is really 40 to 60. Um we do sell a lot, obviously, with the 40 to 60. They're they're using them with their kids because that's that's an area where you know dads are taking their kids out. But really, I mean, no, there's not any certain age demographic. It's it's really just a person that wants that little bit of extra cover when you want it. And it's one of those things that you don't have to use it every time, but have it in your arsenal and have it as an option. It'll help you, it's not gonna hurt you, I can guarantee you that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 33:01

What is what what what does that sell for?

SPEAKER_00 33:04

Anywhere from 110 to 150 on a single blind, just depending on the size and the pattern.

SPEAKER_06 33:09

That's a that's a pretty cheap investment. That's a bargain. Yeah, for something you're gonna put in your truck and even when you need it.

SPEAKER_04 33:15

We love the the the big pop-up 360 blinds. Everybody's used them, but I can tell you, you know, moving those things and breaking them back down no matter how many times I watch the video on how to put them back down. Yeah, I've ended up in a tangle web of blind and argan and where I leave it in the woods.

SPEAKER_03 33:33

Super simple. Yeah, I just leave it in wood, super simple. So I'm assuming you make that chair? Yes, sir. I thought so. Um I have used chairs, um, and I can just say that that actually from this distance looks like the best design I've ever ever seen. But having said that, uh, especially if I'm like taking somebody, even if I'm not using the blind, um, it makes a huge difference. I mean, I wouldn't, I would think I would not. I've got something, I'm gonna get one of those. I would not not have one in my arsenal. You're talking about having something available. Like if I'm taking Diane a couple times a year, I mean, it's it's a must. If you're taking a kid or someone else, and quite honestly, Bobby, you're gonna go sit in the afternoon and pick up a bag. That chair might be just as important that you can sit comfortable all afternoon. You can sit still much better, too. And when you get an old and a bad back like me, that I mean that that chair is a godsend, honestly.

SPEAKER_00 34:29

Well, not just that, but how many how many people tell you patience kills turkeys? Right, is there no question about it? When you're sitting comfortable, you're gonna have more patience, you're gonna sit longer, you're gonna wait them out. And we didn't reinvent the wheel on that chair. You've seen those uh low turkey chairs like that. We just made it stronger. We we went out went outside the box, we didn't do the pop rivets, we didn't do the cheaper hardware. We bulked it up a little bit. We used nuts and bolts. So if something was to come loose, you can tighten it. And we redesigned the actual seat of it to make it comfortable for a big guy.

SPEAKER_07 35:03

So uh that folds up and you can just put that in your it. Can you put it in your v? How do you does it have a sling? What do you how do you tote that?

SPEAKER_00 35:10

The blind or the chair? The chair. So we actually made it where you can tote it two different ways. You can fold it just like it is with a strap that goes around it, and there's a shoulder strap built on the side of the chair. It also comes in a carrying bag, so if you prefer that method, you can carry it that way.

SPEAKER_07 35:25

Yeah. Those are comfortable. Oh, it makes a huge difference.

SPEAKER_00 35:28

I try one out.

SPEAKER_06 35:30

I gotta go see it.

SPEAKER_07 35:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:32

In the future, I'll have it where uh the blind and the chair go in the same bag. Ah we're not there yet. That's a good idea.

SPEAKER_01 35:39

The chair comes in handy, especially like out west, down Florida, something like that.

SPEAKER_03 35:42

You know, you don't want to sit on them sand spurs, Texas, everything's Texas, everything sticks, stings, and bites out there. Yeah. Look at there. Wow. Well, if you've got alpha. I love the mesh in the middle because it's gonna keep it cool. Well, it'll breathe, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 35:56

Not sure where Deadly's going with this.

SPEAKER_06 35:57

Well, I just gotta sit it down. So he's right. It does have the nuts and bolts. Well, it is heavier duty, it is not heavier than the one I have.

SPEAKER_03 36:10

You need to make a tall one. I'm working on it. Yeah. Because I mean, people would buy those that sit in their high.

SPEAKER_04 36:17

It's not near as rattly as mine either that I'm that I've been using. I've just missed the whole chair thing. I mean, I'm man. Uh I might I might kill more turkeys.

SPEAKER_03 36:27

I mean, I'm I'm bad to just like go and forget details, but I have used one quite a bit. But especially if I'm taking someone too, it makes a huge difference.

SPEAKER_07 36:39

You know, I have resisted toting a lot of stuff. Me too. I've always wanted to just be but once I'm there, I wish I had it. Oh yeah, that's 100% on the chair.

SPEAKER_06 36:47

Yeah, I I probably wouldn't tote one on a like an eight-mile public land day. But I mean, if I'm going in on private and you know where you're walking three or four hundred, five hundred yards in. There's no excuse if you know where you're going over there.

SPEAKER_07 37:01

Those chairs are a game changer. Big time. Well. Well, what else you guys got? You uh I didn't even know you had these chairs.

SPEAKER_00 37:08

Yeah, those are new to us this fall. We're actually about out of them. We'll probably be out of them before turkey season even starts. So they've been a good year. Yeah, get the horns, which is um other than other than the the the blinds, obviously we sell the the panels to make your double up systems, the chairs, and then this year we also came out with some uh face masks, like nice mesh masks and some some lightweight gloves where you've got your thumb and your pointer finger cut out of them.

SPEAKER_03 37:35

You know, and our very gloves are very early, that's near and dear to me topic because I mean we couldn't make gloves, we had to find a glove maker. I mean, I mean, I good Lord, I was like a used car salesman talking people into making stuff. It was such a small amount back then. But we actually could design and engineer and whatever you want to call that our own face mask. But the old Hawkeye. Hawkeye headnet, yeah. And my mom literally for the first two years, she sewed them all. Literally. And so we did get the the plant to stamp out the blanks and she would, you know, the front and back side of them. But I've always the headnet thing was been it's amazing, it's just not that much that you spend and how critical it is to turkey hunting. Well, and I you know unless you want to paint up really big, you know.

SPEAKER_04 38:21

I don't even know anybody that's doing when you we you throwed the the mask into the hat. We did that before anybody, yeah. So and I mean I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 38:30

Back in the day, I mean it wasn't bringing in necessarily a ton of dollars, but it was so essential. Oh, yeah. I mean, that was the one of the first things we did besides a shirt, a pant, and a jacket, you know, and a hat. Face mask. Face mask. Yeah, we had a face mask and a head net both. Bobby, you definitely you know all about face masks, I think. I I love the half mask. Yeah, I love it. That's what we all hump, most of all of a sudden, until you know, in some cases, you'll get to where the mosquitoes are so bad that you can't even breathe without a head net on. Yeah, but I use the half mask.

SPEAKER_04 38:58

If you've never had a sore on your nose from wearing a mo somewhere, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 39:03

When I think about a mask, Toxine, I was thinking about this the other day. One of the, when I first I've been, Lane, you've been here what, 31 years? I've been here. I don't even know how many years now. I hadn't been here but just a few years. And um one of the and one of the guys went to film uh seminal, the what's the John Anderson? And he came back with this beautiful video of this turkey, and then John Anderson, and the whole time they interviewed John Anderson, he's wearing a face mask. He never takes it off. Yeah, so you don't you can't tell it's John Anderson, it's just somebody with a face. You can tell that boy's voice. That voice is very distinctive. But he and when it did do it on purpose, I don't know. He just never took the face mask.

SPEAKER_03 39:46

You know, here's a here's a along those lines, I've got pictures of this too. So just say we all been out and we took daddy, and this is going back 15 years or more. And so we take him on a hunt and then we go by and stop by like the Tin Lizzie or if we're in Livingston or somewhere or whatever, we go by the local breakfast place diner, and he still got it around his neck. And then we're back at the camp, it may be middle of the day. We're pitching to eat lunch, and I have to remind him, he's got just taking everything off, just got he still got it left around his neck. He would wear it all morning until you reminded him to take it off or around his neck. It's hilarious.

SPEAKER_00 40:21

And then he'd forget it on the afternoon hunting, blame you, right?

SPEAKER_03 40:23

Yeah, yeah. No, he I tell you what, he never, I'll say he was a steel trap as far as remembering things. I'm the one that forgets stuff, so you can point that finger at me all day long. But he didn't have a backup face mask hidden everywhere I got it. Well, I keep one in my back, you know, the whatever the game pouch or what are you turkey totem pouch in the back of the vest, because in I'll either maybe forget mine, I've got a spare, but especially I'll end up taking a lot of guests and they won't even have a head net. I hadn't thought about it. So I'll I do keep a spare and a spare gloves.

SPEAKER_04 40:56

Bobby, you remember those. At one point, somebody was making a uh uh a mast and it had like white on the inside of it. I do, right? Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_07 41:05

Ran a turkey off of one of those one time. That is inside out.

SPEAKER_03 41:10

I have been so allergic to anything white. I will never ever wear a white t-shirt or white socks or anything.

SPEAKER_07 41:17

True story though, but Pat, I had a turkey that got about 75 yards and just wouldn't come any closer. He came from about 300 yards, just goblin like her. He gets it about 75 and he just kind of stands out there for 30 minutes, and I never get to kill him. And then when I finally figured it all out, I realized I had my face mask totally inside out. And it was white, it was white.

SPEAKER_04 41:38

He'd put it on in the dark. Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_06 41:40

Well, I don't know. You you know that old Primo's cassette with all those dudes standing there holding up turkeys. There was a guy in a white beekeeper suit that killed a turkey. It was like, I guess that was his challenge, you know.

SPEAKER_00 41:52

Yeah, that's tough. So, what I need to do this year, I guess, is wear a white shirt behind the blind and go kill a bird for you. Yeah, there you go. He'll come in from behind me and I'll be in trouble if I do that. I wouldn't wear one. I just don't want to miss out on being able to shoot one.

SPEAKER_07 42:05

Pat, here's a piece of advice for you. If you ever get to hunt with Toxia on one of his places or something, and you see a glove laying on the side of the road. Don't pick it up. No, don't matter.

SPEAKER_04 42:16

Don't touch it. Or head. No matter what. Or a head net, yeah. Or a sock. Yeah. Leave it, leave it alone. Just leave it leave it there. Well, that's on anybody's property in the South.

SPEAKER_07 42:26

You know, I'm just I'm just real impressed with that blind. We've been kind of doing some business with you guys for a few years, and we've given away a bunch of these, but the guys that have won them have loved them. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 42:37

Definitely encourage everybody that has any interest at all to just go online, check them out. Yeah, I'm sure you've got some videos to watch too.

SPEAKER_00 42:44

Oh, yeah. Yeah, you can find us on all the socials, and we're at Nuke Em Hunting on pretty much everything. And I'm not sitting here telling everybody to get one or whatnot, but go look at them. Yeah, that's exactly right. And check them out. It is a cheaper investment. I mean, that's what a box of TSS is going to cost you next year. So good point.

SPEAKER_03 43:00

Um maybe more. The TSS make next year, maybe more. I hate to make a run on them, but they're it's not looking good.

SPEAKER_00 43:07

There's a lot that comes in a little package, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 43:09

And that double up setup I've just started looking at it. It's really, really cool.

SPEAKER_00 43:13

So, what's your website? Nukemhunting.com.

SPEAKER_07 43:16

N-U-K-E-M hunting.com.

SPEAKER_04 43:20

Correct.

SPEAKER_07 43:20

Is there a little apostrophe in there at all?

SPEAKER_04 43:22

Nope. Wasn't there a video game? Duke Nukem. Duke Nukem. Yeah. Huh. There you go. That's why I think when I think about it, I think about blowing them up, blowing the turkeys up.

SPEAKER_07 43:33

Richie, why don't we I know we got a little trivia question for him?

SPEAKER_01 43:38

Yep. We got trivia here. Uh we have a listener who left a review on Spotify, Kyle. We're on Spotify?

SPEAKER_04 43:45

Spotify.

SPEAKER_01 43:46

We're on YouTube and Spotify. And Apple Podcasts.

SPEAKER_04 43:49

And Apple Podcasts. Golly, Bobby. Where have you been, Lane?

SPEAKER_01 43:53

Crawl out from under your rock, Lenny. Absolutely wonderful conversation. As always, the Game Keeper Podcast delivers. God bless. Oh. So Kyle win?

SPEAKER_07 44:05

Yeah. So tell him what he uh Pat, what does this guy win?

SPEAKER_00 44:08

So this week we're doing the Newcomb uh regular size blind and obsession 3D Leafy with one of our Lowlander chairs, a face mask, a glove, and a Newcomb hat. Oh, oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 44:20

I won't in. Whoa, can I can I I stole the hat, but he's got another one. Can I leave a review, Bobby? You can. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_07 44:27

May not get pulled, but you can leave a review. All right, guys. Thank you so much for struggle.

SPEAKER_01 44:32

We've got uh Zoe trivia here, yeah. It's by our buddies at the Peanut Patch.

SPEAKER_07 44:37

I'm gonna catch some grief about this trivia.

SPEAKER_06 44:39

Yeah, did you write this one too? We were eating some of those peanuts at the baseball game last night.

SPEAKER_07 44:43

Yeah, I saw your picture on whatever it is, Instagram. And while we're here, so uh the the peanut patch has been so nice. They've been working with us and they've kind of asked, could we move this trivia to the front of the show so more people might listen? But I I just like it at the end of the show. We kind of relax and we've we've talked, and so I'm kind of making a play, guys. We're giving away some great prizes. Y'all listen to the end of the show and get to listen to this trivia. And uh, you might win a prize, so especially a nuke and blind.

SPEAKER_04 45:14

So here is our trivia. Richie, I can tell by the way you're looking at this piece of paper that this is a tough one. This is a classic.

SPEAKER_07 45:23

Why would you do that to our guest? I'm not trying. Maybe it's a team effort. But remember, and I'm not good at trivia anyway. This is a let this is a sit around the table tonight. Dinner conversation with your family.

SPEAKER_04 45:35

Kangaroo in Denmark, orange kangaroo in Denmark. I got a couple emails about that. A lot.

SPEAKER_07 45:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:41

All right. So let's think about the bird, the albatross.

SPEAKER_07 45:44

The albatross. Okay. Lenny is like an albatross around my neck all the time.

SPEAKER_01 45:49

That's a good that's a good sign. He's been waiting to say that on my own.

SPEAKER_03 45:53

That's in his job description, by the way, Bobby.

SPEAKER_01 45:55

It probably is. Is it possible for an albatross to fly 2,000 miles without landing? I'm gonna oh, it's not my question.

SPEAKER_07 46:04

It's not your question. Bobby. Think about the albatross. And if you're a sailor out there on the street, you don't have to keep selling it.

SPEAKER_00 46:11

I would say it's a trick question. Um 100%. I I I want to say no, but I'm gonna go with yes on this. I'm gonna go with yes, too.

SPEAKER_07 46:20

Yeah. How far can they fly?

SPEAKER_01 46:22

An albatross can fly 10,000 miles non-stop circling the globe in under two months. Wow. Outstopping. Yeah. That was one of your better.

SPEAKER_04 46:33

They do a lot of gliding. They do a lot of gliding. You've had much worse trivia questions. You know, if you're a sailor and you see that.

SPEAKER_07 46:38

If you had a yes or no 50-50 chance, that's nice. Well, he kind of drilled into it. He figured it out. But if you see an albatross, it's supposed to be like a good luck time. Good luck.

SPEAKER_04 46:47

That's right. Have you ever seen one? I don't know. I've seen those. What's it called, Dudley? Frigate birds? Yeah, frigate birds. I've seen a lot of frigate birds.

SPEAKER_01 46:55

River chickens. Huh? What? The cranes on the side of the river. You ever call them river chickens? A heron? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Pomarons. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 47:05

Are you eating those things or what? No, no, no.

SPEAKER_03 47:07

That would be a federal offense. That'd be a trouble. That'd be a little bit of trouble there. Those are good expensive. Taste like bald eagle.

SPEAKER_07 47:14

All right. You got that one right. Congratulations. The old albatross. That's an interesting. I just it's hard to imagine a bird being able to stay aloft.

SPEAKER_03 47:22

What's the saying about an albatross?

SPEAKER_06 47:25

There's something about I know it's a real they I know it's a bad omen if if you kill one. Like it's like a curse. Maybe that's.

SPEAKER_07 47:33

I mean, I know it's illegal, but well, there's a saying about an albatross hanging around your neck. Yeah. And uh it that it's so where's that come from? It comes from a poem. Uh Richard could probably go Google that, but it comes from a poem.

SPEAKER_03 47:45

I think he's bluffing, Lenny.

SPEAKER_01 47:46

I think he's making an albatross around one's neck refers to a heavy, incompassable burden or debt uh of or source of guilt that hinders success.

SPEAKER_04 48:00

Oh, that is where

SPEAKER_01 48:06

Yeah, it came from a poem uh from 1798 from Samuel Taylor uh Coleridge. The rim of an ancient marine. Huh. Mariner.

SPEAKER_05 48:17

That's interesting. It's called a mariner. The ancient marine. A rhyme. Not a rim. Richie. I'm telling you, my goodness.

SPEAKER_03 48:28

I thought this thing was, but it's just so educational to fit in with y'all. Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 48:34

Learn proper pronunciation.

SPEAKER_07 48:36

Yeah. Pat, we're big fans of Nukeham hunting. You got some neat stuff going on.

SPEAKER_03 48:40

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_07 48:41

Is there anything that we didn't that we need to talk about we didn't mention?

SPEAKER_00 48:45

Uh not with the blinds, no. I mean, I think we've covered a lot of it. And I mean, just at the end of the day, it's what I like to tell people is we're people that like to get out there and hunt. We're trying to get as close as we can to the animals just like everybody else.

SPEAKER_03 48:58

Just like us. That's what I tell you.

SPEAKER_00 49:00

And it's it's one of those things that, you know, keep doing what you're doing to keep the turkeys coming in. Uh all we can do to trap, all we can do everywhere is important. Well, you know, I feel like in Western North Carolina, we're just now taking our hit that everybody else took the last several years. We're starting to see it. Um, for instance, last year where I live, I personally only killed one bird on purpose, and we have a limit of two. And I figured I'd take the rest of mine out of state just because we saw a hit last year.

SPEAKER_06 49:29

Self-regulation, making them is more important than taking them, right? Isn't that the saying? Habitat over harvest.

SPEAKER_07 49:36

Good good saying that.

SPEAKER_00 49:37

That and we believe in you know, trying to get new hunters out there, whether they're 40 years old or eight years old. Um, that's a big thing to nuke them hunting.

SPEAKER_07 49:46

Well, I also say, and we give give you guys uh give you guys credit and props for I know Cuz does some veteran hunts, and I think you guys are super supportive of those providing product to help out those hunters.

SPEAKER_00 49:57

Yeah, and I actually get to go sit in on one uh week after next down in Florida with you guys on the weekend. That's right.

SPEAKER_03 50:05

Um you know he um they've been guys for guess 10 or 12, 15 years on Ferry South Florida starts tomorrow. That he drove down there. Greg Briggs goes with him, and Greg, you know, it takes them a week solid or more. Drive all the way down there, scout for a day, two different hunts of wounded veterans.

SPEAKER_06 50:22

So the veterans' hunts.

SPEAKER_03 50:23

Wounded veterans. And Greg's pulled me aside. He said, if I gotta not even use vacation time, or if I got if I gotta use my vacation time, whatever. He said, That's the most meaningful thing that I do the whole year long. He looks forward to it. That's it. And he's he'd be in tears with it. He said, Man, to just you don't know what it does for me to see those people and what they have to go through and how much it means to them. He said, please, just please let me keep going. I said, Good Lord, dude, you're the warrior in all this. Yeah, that's all.

SPEAKER_06 50:51

Yeah, well, on that note, let's say some prayers for our troops. Absolutely, right now.

SPEAKER_03 50:56

Out of way, Dudley. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 50:57

Thank you so for your service, all of you. That's good stuff. Well, thank you, Pat, and we appreciate you coming. Yeah, thanks for being here. Hey, thanks for having me. Means a lot.

SPEAKER_03 51:06

It's fun to see really innovators in today's world. And he is one.

SPEAKER_07 51:09

Yeah, that's right. It is. All right, check them out, nucemhunting.com. There you go. I got that right. That's good stuff. Why don't you say goodbye, Dudley? Goodbye, Dudley. Get us out of here, Richie.

SPEAKER_02 51:18

Thanks for tuning in to this week's episode of the Game Keeper Podcast. And be sure to tune in again. Subscribe to Game Keeper Farming for Wildlife magazine, and don't miss the Mafio Properties Fistful of Dirt podcast with my good buddy, Ronnie Cutter.