One Hell Of A Life Outdoor Podcast
The One Hell Of A Life Outdoor Podcast hosted by father-son duo Tony Vogel and Tristan Vogel, Owners of Zero Duck:30 and Zero Buck:30 . Our passion lies in bringing every hunter the REALITY of what it REALLY takes to hunt their target animal while equipping them with the knowledge to be a successful hunter and promoting the lost "old school values" that laid the foundation for the sport we love so much today.
One Hell Of A Life Outdoor Podcast
How Pineside Outdoors Built Community Around Outdoor Apparel And Performance Gear | Joe Strong
We sit down with Joe Strong of Pineside Outdoors to unpack how a few garage-made hats became a growing outdoor brand and why quality control, painful sampling, and honest field testing matter more than hype. Along the way we talk dogs, duck seasons, sonar debates, and building gear that actually survives ice, mud, and long mornings.
• origin of Pineside from homemade hats to brand
• moving from blanks to full manufacturing
• sampling failures, sunk costs, and protecting trust
• sourcing, moqs, tariffs, and cash flow risk
• fit, function, and material choices that matter
• year-long wader testing and transparent updates
• dog training principles and first-season readiness
• duck hunting as bass fishing by another name
• technology ethics and efficiency in the field
• Bassmaster expo realities and tournament humility
• roadmap of hoodies, base layers, gloves, dry bags, waders
Call or text 850-251-8650 or visit www.floridaducks.com to book your trip, Williamson Outfitters
Use code ONEHELLOFALIFEOUTDOORS for 15 percent off your order @ www.froggtoggs.com
Dirty Duck Coffee: use code onehellofalife15 for 15% off
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I've been held down, I'll be held down, I don't need not. Don't do that now, they are slow down, standing in the poli ray.
SPEAKER_03:What's going on, guys? Tristan and Tony here, back with another episode of the One Hove Life Outdoor Podcast. Today we got uh Joe Strong on, the owner of Pineside Performers or Pineside Outdoors. On um I follow him on Instagram. And uh yeah, we're just connecting for a podcast. We were just talking off air that he's from Pennsylvania. And Joe, uh, give us a little rundown of who you are and where you're from and all that, man.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, dude. And hey, welcome to the show.
SPEAKER_03:Thank you for coming on. Thanks for having me, guys.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, this is awesome. Um, yeah, my name's Joe. Um, it says right there in the corner, I believe. Yeah, yeah. And and I own out Pine Side Outdoors or Pine Side Performance. We kind of play on both words depending on the type of line we're pronounced. We have a performance gear, which we're still working on a lot, which I'm sure we'll get into, and then the pine side outdoors, which is more so like the parallel side with um, I would say like hoodies, t-shirts, like graphic tees and stuff like that. So it's kind of like a two-part thing in one segment, but yeah, we like to do outdoor stuff, fish and hunt and all that good stuff. Have a good time, mostly have a good time. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Well, and obviously you know what you're doing because uh I already see like two shirts right now that I want.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, so that's just some of our um our sun shirts that we put out in the summertime. So I kind of try to have a display of some of the things that we have because I don't have anything at my house anymore. We have a warehouse now, so I mean it's not huge, it's not a huge warehouse at all, but it uh gets the job done, so it's better than having it in your house.
SPEAKER_03:Nice, man. Well, give us a little background, you know, what I guess how you got into that and what's it what's your background? I mean, did you uh like we were talking to Brock Miller, which you reached out to me after that podcast, but and he you know had a b background in like digital marketing kind of stuff from college, but then he was saying that like what he does now, he like wish that stuff applied, but not it doesn't apply all that much. I mean, do you have a background in kind of the brand something that translates to owning a brand or where'd that come from? Uh how much time you guys got?
SPEAKER_05:We're we're here as long as you uh want a podcast, brother.
SPEAKER_02:That's right.
SPEAKER_05:No, it's uh it's actually interesting because I had no background in any of that stuff. Obviously, outdoors was I did that since I was a kid, but I actually was in school for kinesiology, which if you guys don't know, it's study of movements of the body. I was actually a strength of additioning coach for seven years, but in the meantime, I was also working on the what a cool name to have when you're doing that. Yeah, it was a very good name to have. And uh, you know, Coach Strong was pretty oh yeah, Coach Strong.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah. So it's like it took me a minute to get that one.
SPEAKER_02:I go trust him for curveballs sometimes where he does have to like think for a minute and go, what is he talking about? So sorry.
SPEAKER_05:The crazy thing is I've never even thought of it like that until people are like, you know, you have like a great name for what you do. And I was just like, Yeah, I guess. I never because it's just you go your whole life with that last name, doesn't really ring a bell until someone hears that name, and you're like, that's a unique last name. But I don't know, you get bullied a little bit too calling you Joe Weak or even strong or this or that. It is what it is, but yeah, so I took this is crazy how this whole business started because I actually didn't even start it to make money in the beginning when I actually started it to wear gear myself and from my dad and whoever else on the where so I went to the University of Tennessee, I transferred there from uh community college, and I was going to school for exercise science, kinesiology, whatever you want to call it. And we were walking through a bass pro shop, and I was like, Dad, this is cool, but like a lot of this stuff kind of I don't want to say it looks the same, but I was like, it kind of like all kind of looks a little bit generic, and I was like, I just feel like we can make something for ourselves to wear on our fish and whatever you want to do. So we just started making stuff for fun, and then like a friend came over one day and was like, Oh, what is this hat? And I was like, Oh, just like hats we're making, me and my dad. And he's like, Oh, can I get one? And I was like, Yeah, sure, take one. He wore that hat, and then like I tell you, like 10 more people texted me, asked me for a hat like that, and then I was like, I guess I'll just make some hats. Yeah, so then I just started giving hats out, and people more people started messaging me, and I was like, Okay, this is kind of weird, and they're like, How much for a hat? And I was like, I don't know, like 15 bucks. Like, I don't know, I didn't even have a market, like I didn't even mean to do this on purpose. Like, this whole brand wasn't started on purpose. Wow, so then I just started swinging the gear and people started buying it, and then we had like this is I guess during the pandemic, so we'd have like little parties because we couldn't go out around here, everything was shut down, and uh people would come here and just start buying stuff, and like things that I would start making, they would want to buy that for more money because it was like limited edition, it was weird, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And then it turned into then it turned into man, there's a party at Joe's every Friday.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, there was. We have a bar at the house, and people would come over, and it was it was like we were like bootlegging, like uh television or something.
SPEAKER_03:That's that's awesome. That's cool, man. Well, it's I guess it's kind of gotta be meant to be. And I mean, obviously, you got a big following on Instagram. I mean, it's uh seems like it's been pretty successful.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, I mean, it was weird, it's a weird thing. I guess I say taking back from when we started, like I didn't even have social media, like I had 500 followers on my personal account, and that's probably from high school. Yeah, I didn't know what I was doing, I was just throwing crap out of wall and seeing if it stuck. And just if I go back now and look at what I've posted, it's probably the most cringiest thing you'll ever see.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, dude, we can we understand that I mean we totally understand.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, we've had YouTube videos we've had to take off because we're like, that's just so that's so embarrassing.
SPEAKER_05:I believe I saw my first YouTube video on there, and it's like the most cringiest thing ever.
unknown:Oh my god.
SPEAKER_05:I never even ought to watch it. I think the first two or three, probably the first all of them, honestly, not all of them, but some most of them in the beginning of these. So bad.
SPEAKER_03:It was it's so hard to listen to yourself like talk to, especially when you're like really uncomfortable with the camera at first.
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SPEAKER_02:Yeah, well, and you hear your voice differently than other people do. You know, it just we don't all hear it, the tone and everything. And you're always going to be your worst critic, right? You know, but um, but you know, while we're on that topic, dude, uh, let's talk about this for a second because I think we're kind of onto something. It's you know, we all do this, right? I mean, everybody that we associate Tristan with uh who we have on podcasts, they're either, you know, somebody that's got a big following or has a retail line or is a specialist, a biologist, some you know, they're very heavily involved in uh recording, video, everything, right? I mean, just usually, yeah. Yeah, yeah, for the most part. So I think what I where I want to break this down for a second is you know, number one, I think all of us would look at it and say, lessons learned. You know what I mean? Lessons learned. So so there's the positive right out the gate is that you get out of that, and you know, while it's embarrassing, you're just doing it out of straight heart and passion when you start the first time you're on camera or you're on audio, video, it doesn't matter what it is, and you know, you just don't know what you don't know.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, no doubt. That's right.
SPEAKER_02:You know, I think everybody goes through that, you know.
SPEAKER_03:Uh-uh. So how long have uh how long you guys have been doing or well, how long have you been doing Pine Side?
SPEAKER_05:This is year five. Awesome. Year five. So we've been through a lot of change, a lot of adapting, and a lot of ups and downs. You know, that's just nature of the course. Kind of sucks sometimes, and then sometimes it's great, and then other times you're like, what the hell am I getting myself into?
SPEAKER_03:Well, I would imagine just like sourcing, I mean, your different designs and you know the fabrics and all that stuff. I mean, especially like the the changing climate of you know, tariffs and whatever stuff overseas. I mean, it's gotta be constantly, you know, stuff you gotta keep up with.
SPEAKER_02:Um, you know, before we kind of I want to dive into some of that actually and and talk about what you can talk about, because we don't want to give away any trade secrets or anything like that, but you know, what do you think? Like when I was hearing you talk about like, man, I just made some hats and people liked them and I kept getting calls and people wanted them. But why what do you think? Was it something that you had an eye for? Just that you're you're staying on top of trends, it's a statement that you got lucky with. Um, you know, what what do you think is like kind of led at least in the beginning and to now? Like, talk about what your passion, because obviously it's good looking stuff, dude. It's aesthetically, I appreciate it. I mean it is, and um, but kind of like is that something you just maybe just accidentally found a knack for, or what what are what what do you think have has made people grow your brand?
SPEAKER_05:Uh honestly, when we first came out with it, I don't even think the design was even good looking, but I think it was different looking, and we have different colors, like bright colors, like we didn't necessarily, it was more just outdoors at first. I wasn't going with the candles or anything. Like, you gotta remember this was during pandemic, so we didn't have our hands on a lot of products, so it was just more so what we can get our hands on. We were printing the material, we were pressing the material on hats. Uh, I think it was just the scheme, it was during summertime, so bright colors were a thing, and that was how it started. I wish I had some like old sample things in here to show you guys because I don't. Unfortunately, it's they're in the other room, I should have brought them. But I don't I honestly don't know. I think it was more so just a community trying to support somebody doing something, but I didn't start it for I didn't start it for our business, and then people really liked them, and it was more so like the having the rare hat in the area. So it's like, oh, I have this undropped hat right now that no one can get their hands on, and then it became like a commodity thing, and it was like kind of weird. And I started putting out like leather patch hats when those started started getting popular. We sourced some from like somewhere online. I don't even know at that point. I had no idea what sourcing was, I didn't know anything about that stuff. It was so new to me, and I was just trying to navigate this thing because I was like, yo, we have something here. I think it was more so the name than it was the design. I think a lot of people thought the name was really cool. Um, and how I came up with that is my neighborhood's called Lakeside, and the neighborhood next was called Pinewood. I combined those names in a Tennessee hotel room um on a piece of paper on like one of those hills, and I think it was a holiday in. And then I wish I still had it, but I don't. And uh I said I texted my friend, I was like, yo, what do you think about the name Pineside? And he was like, Oh, that's a pretty cool name. And I was like, Yeah, it's kind of cool, right? And he was just like, Yeah, and then I just started making stuff. I was actually in college and my dad was making the stuff at the house for us, and he would send it to me and my buddy in Tennessee, and uh we would just wear it, you know. He we don't well, he was on the Tennessee fishing team. I was on it for a little bit, then academics got in the way and stuff like that. So I was very briefly went to a few meetings, and then I just had other things going on, but um, but yeah, and then we just wore it for fun, and then like like I said, people just started wearing it, and I really to this day have no idea why, but I knew I had something, I knew I had to keep the wagon going. So we just started messing around with designs and screwing up a lot.
SPEAKER_03:That's cool, man. It's cool.
SPEAKER_02:No, that's that is. I mean, just riding the wave.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, when it comes. I mean, because I like we don't have a ton of experience, but we'll do kind of like merch drops here and there just for mostly just for like us and our friends, but you know, some people listen to podcasts, you know, buy the hats or whatever we do. But um like from a minimum standpoint, it's like you get, I mean, until you get like it up way up in those quantities, you know this way better than we do. Like, it's so hard to get those price breaks. I mean, has that been a challenge? Like being able to get the quantities needed to like, okay, yeah, we can actually like get a profit on this stuff.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, so I go overseas now, um, learned the hard way over there because if you go in there blindfolded, I've had a that's a whole nother story, but I had a whole thing of hoodies. I think there was 200 hoodies that I messed up. You gotta be on your P's and Q's with these people because if you're not, they're gonna just assume, and that's the worst thing for you to do. So sample and sample and sampling, no matter how much it costs, it's huge. Because I had five thousand dollars worth of hoodies and had to give them away because they just were not good. Yeah, that was right before the Mass Master Classic, too. So we were that was back in Knoxville. I guess it was I'm looking at the badges 2023. We had a bunch of product coming in and the hoodies. I was excited for these hoodies that come in and they just they did not do well, so I just had to get rid of them. Like I just was like, I'm not selling this product, like sourcing it, like, but to your to your answer or to your question, um, yeah, hoodies, hats, all that stuff is usually like a minimum quantity of a hundred. Um, so you have to buy a large amount, and the price point is better than just like printing on demand or whatever, because you get a better discount, but you gotta put out the money for it. So if you have like customers ready to go, like it's definitely beneficial, but you're gonna put out a pretty penny.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. Yeah, because I mean that's that's our dilemma all the time is like we're not like uh we're more into like the video and media and podcast like realm. So it's like you want to put out some merch at like a decent price, but then you're like, okay, basically if I don't put it at this, I'm not gonna even break even on it. You know what I mean? Because when you're only buying 12 or 24 hats, I mean you just can't find unless you're getting something like some crappy hats. But I mean, we always like to, you know, you know how a good hat is.
SPEAKER_02:You I mean, you you want quality, so oh yeah, no, but when we we did t-shirts one time, you know, dude. I went through like because I'm so OCD, I was like, you know, you find that kind of certain t-shirt that you buy somewhere, it's an area t-shirt or whatever it is, you know, and you know, Tacova's t-shirt or whatever it is, and you're like, gosh dang, dude, I love that shit. I actually don't like their shirts that much. Well, I mean, you know what I'm saying, though. You know, you find yeah, you find that certain t-shirt, and you're like, you feel it and you touch it, and you're like, Oh, I love this shirt, it looks good on me, that kind of thing. And we did that, I mean, I did that for god, like probably five, six different shirts, you know, and I put it on and I'm like, man, F. You know, it just took me a week to get this shirt, and that's not gonna work, you know. But it is, I mean, that's I guess it's just like anything else, like, right? I mean, if you're if you're gonna you gotta invest money to make money, you know what I mean? And sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, you know, and the tough part being a small business is just saying, all right, especially when you have wives and everything else involved, the reality of it is you're like, all right, babe, I need a thousand bucks. And she's like, It's already hunting season. You're gonna spend a thousand bucks like by next week. You know what I mean? You know, and then you're like, but I need an another thousand, you know. So that's the reality of it. And we all, you know, at the end of the day, you just gotta you gotta find like if you with you, you knew that stuff was working, so it probably made you feel feel very confident in investing more money in your business, you know.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, I mean, there's ebbs and flows um with the business. Obviously, we're getting ready to come up on our busy time of the year with the holidays, which is awesome. But even with like what you were saying about the material and the clothing, I'm so like locked in on like making the material perfect because I'm very meticulous on how I like things fit in me. So, like if a t-shirt's too tight around the back or the hoodie's riding up the armpits, like I'm gonna make sure, like, if it if it fits passes my code, it's probably gonna pass somebody who doesn't care that much, you know. So, like, I want to go above and beyond and make good gear because I feel like a lot of times there's just companies, you know, they're just printing on regular t-shirts or whatever, and that's cool because I started that way, but you have to eventually evolve and set yourself apart. And like for me, that's where I'm at right now. It's like I'm fully manufacturing hats, hoodies, wait. Actually, I have waiters that were manufacturing and we're getting ready to produce, put out an extra. We've been testing them out for about a year now. I just need to make sure they're a good product to come out because obviously they're gonna be expensive. So I need people to trust that these are gonna last you a long time. So that's why I've been just putting my due diligence on posting videos about it, just getting updates in like certain situations. Like if I'm getting stuck in mud, you know, if I'm running up on ice or something like that, I'm just constantly updating the customers because they want to know. And we've gotten really good feedback on them. We're just collecting more data, and then next year we're gonna release them.
SPEAKER_03:Dude, that's awesome. Good for y'all.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, no, and I'm in and I mean, man, isn't that so important in uh in our industry, you know, any any hunting industry, I guess. Like when it comes to the performance materials of whatever it is, your backpack, your jacket, your pants, your waiters, your whatever it is. I mean, good for you that you're putting the time in as a hunter to say, man, look, I'm gonna be representing this. I want to make sure that this is gonna work.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, because like kind of the piggyback off of that, like the outdoor industry, like everyone's so hard on everything. It's like people will either be like, and I when I say hard, like everyone, you know, is on the computer.
SPEAKER_02:They don't take care of their shit.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, exactly. Like, or even if they do, they're just you know out there every day. So it's like if it if it works great and it's built well, like they will be your biggest advocate, I would imagine. And then like if it's a piece of shit, like you'll worst critic.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_05:And that's kind of how like I want the brand to be, is more so not like talking about it, actually being about it, you know. Because you know, I'm an angler, I'm a hunter myself, so I'm out there doing this stuff on a daily basis. So if this stuff is failing, then why the hell am I gonna wear it? Why the hell am I gonna sell to somebody? You know what I mean? So I mean proof to put it. I mean, I can't fake it, you know what I mean? Because I'm actually out here doing it, and that's kind of how I built the brand. I didn't want to be just a guy behind a desk. Like, you really gotta show these products off. And I think once you make really good products, they're gonna just talk for themselves because you need good products.
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SPEAKER_05:To be able to be reputable and take that next jump. I mean, you can always market things and stuff like that, but eventually someone's gonna catch on to it. Like, yo, their product's crap. Like, don't buy that, it's junk. Whatever. You know, there's plenty of people out there that do it. I just don't, I won't do it. Like I just said, I just gave away$5,000 worth of hoodies because I didn't like them.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah. No, I that's awesome, man. I think that's obviously a testament to you know where you guys are at now and where you where you will be. Uh, before we got on, you were talking a little bit about uh, you know, getting geared up for duck season coming in next weekend. So, you know, how long you've been hunting? I mean, what uh like what got you into the outdoors? What like drives that passion for you? Or did you start fishing? Like, let's just hear a little talk a little bit of shop on on that.
SPEAKER_05:So growing up, actually, it was it was dirt bikes and fishing. Uh so we rode dirt bikes. My sister raced, I didn't race, my dad raced. I more like just did my own thing. I think that kind of emulates like what I do now. I do my own thing, you know what I mean? I don't like a lot of organized things for people telling me what to do. So it was fishing and dirt bikes on the weekends. So we weren't weren't riding dirt bikes, we were fishing. Or in the creek grabbing snakes, salamanders, turtles, frogs, whatever we could do. My dad wasn't much of a hunting, he didn't hunt, he fished though, and and we gave a start. We were on dirt bikes like three at three years old. Um, me and my sister had PW50s and an Eton quad, and we would ride those every weekend. And then as I got older, fishing, and then football happened. So, football in the fall takes up a lot of my time. I actually got the privilege to get some college interest, and I went there and I was like, Yeah, this isn't for me. I need to go make money because like you have to make at the end of the day, you gotta make money to survive. And I'm not I wasn't we were not, we were okay, like middle class, but like you know, we weren't like throwing in it. I gotta go make money, and then um eventually started hunting duck hunting. I honestly fell in love with duck hunting a couple years ago, and I was like, this is and honestly, I think I love it's duck hunting so much is because it's kind of like bass fishing, where it's like different spreads, different lures, different, different um settings, like for everything's similar but not at the same time, and you can fish something, which is cool.
SPEAKER_03:That's that's yeah, no, that I've never thought about it that way. And I mean, I would imagine like as a bass fisherman getting to fish different lakes, like that's gotta be like what we love about duck hunting is not only like the mixed bagged aspect of it, but just like to your point, those different environments, like it's always I mean playing that game literally from one field to the next field could be a different environment, you know, in the same state. So uh that is a really great, like kind of I don't know, whatever you want to call that, where you compare it. I forget what that's called. No, no, but in that analogy, analogy.
SPEAKER_02:No, but isn't that interesting too, Tristan? I didn't thought about this way either. Is like same thing with fishing, right? Like if you go to say uh the Great Lakes, right? And you go fish smallmouth, you go out with one person, and they're gonna be like, bro, I'm telling you what, this lure right here, yeah, on these kinds of days, we're gonna wax their ass. And but you could go out with the next guy, and he'd be like, Let me tell you something. This lure right here, you know what I mean? Because you get to learn that local game, right? Yeah, uh, and that's one thing that's that is it really fun about fishing too, but that I really enjoy about duck hunting when we go different places is just seeing how different people do it, you know what I mean? The the the decoys they use and why, the calls they use and why, you know, all that stuff.
SPEAKER_05:So yeah, it's like when we go down like the salt marshes to then hunting like the local river, it's like totally different night and day. But yeah, no, I have fun with it. Like I said, like I just I kind of dug deep into it and went down a rabbit hole, and now I got dogs and everything else. So I try trained my own dog, I trained my own dog. She's I don't know, she's a she's a nut, but she's good, she listens good. So this will be this will be her. I got a black well, I my black lab's a hunter. My German short haired pointer is a crybaby, and it's she we call her like a like a house princess. She literally will tell you how it is. She talks back to you, she hates loud noises. She's an awesome dog, she's just like a princess, like your number one princess of a dog. It's just like, and she was the first one I got because I was gonna train her to be on pheasant and stuff. Everything was going good, and then we got the black lab, and then uh we just really figured out that she didn't like loud noises, the thunderstorm, fireworks, anything like that. She would like start shaking in the corner. It's like this is weird, but I'm not gonna force it on her, you know, the dog has to want it. So that's and then our black lab, she just is like, she's like a sponge, and anything you teach her, she does it wrong the first time you you correct her. She's perfect, like it's crazy because I'm getting spoiled with this dog.
SPEAKER_02:Aren't they amazing? I mean, I'm going through that with a put my own puppy right now, and I don't want to necessarily talk about her, but number one, I love hearing that you got a girl because everybody is like, Why'd you get a female? I'm like, why would you have a preference of female or male if I get the pick of the litter and that one was passed all the tests and making everybody look bad? You know, I don't give a shit what it is, but um, but um they are a sponge, dude. And I have not I never had a dog with like this good of a bloodline. I mean, as I mean, I had some great we had great dogs, but I never had one. I guess I didn't understand a hunting dog to begin with. Yeah, I never had a hunting dog, period, and I just didn't understand like why is there such a craze about number one black labs, number two, you know, this whole like hunting them and all this stuff, you know. I had no idea that when you get a good dog with good bloodline, how they make you look good real easy. You know what I mean? You know what I'm saying? It blows and jumbles me.
SPEAKER_05:It really does. I'm training, I'm training her, and I'm like, I know like I'm not the most experienced dog trainer in the world, uh, but she just makes me look good. And I'm just like, this is crazy. Like, I was like, look at me, guys, look, the dog listens, and like somebody listens to you. I'm like, it's crazy. Like, hey, I'll take it. It's crazy how they act from the house to like when you're out on the boat on the water with them, like they act so different. Like, she's like when she's out there, she's just like this. When she's at home, she goofs off and mess around like totally different dogs, like night and day. It's crazy.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, they are they are like ours. She loves my my wife. She wanted to have a strong relationship with her, and this dog, like, she won't lay with me, but she'll lay with mom, you know. And I'm like, I'm you know, I instead of being a jealous guy, I was like, let him have that, let the dog have that, like mom have that. You know, she needs to be a dog and be a puppy, you know, at the same time. But um, yeah, it's it's a great ride so far. And how old how old is she?
SPEAKER_05:Uh, she's turning two months in or two years in February. So this will be her first year hunting. I didn't want to rush her into it because a lot of guys they like to rush her in. I've talked to a lot of my buddies who train dogs, and they're like, don't rush the dog. Like, yes, take your time with her, let her develop. And I was like, Yeah, I don't care to hunt her right away, anyways. When she's ready, she's ready. And I mean, if not, I'm retrieving the duck anyways and putting myself at arm's way. So you know, so yeah, I'm happy you said that.
SPEAKER_02:This gives me more confidence in what I'm doing because um, you know, I I kind of timed when I wanted this dog, and it all happened for a reason, I believe. But you know, she's right now like 22 weeks, 21, 22 weeks. Um, and I'm not gonna hunt her either. She's learned all these things. I'm focusing more on association, that kind of stuff. But she'll go to she'll go to uh Milk Creek Retrievers um like probably around the first of February. I'm gonna send her, but I'm gonna take her with me, hunting camps and all that stuff, and let her associate with the other labs and you know, do that kind of stuff. But and then maybe if I have an opportunity to, you know, if we're out of cades or something, I could go out in an afternoon by myself with her, you know, maybe something like that. But um, while I want her so bad, that I want it, I want to see her get that first duck. It's just one of those things where I'm gonna have to wait another 370 something days.
SPEAKER_05:So yeah, she uh we're actually this like I said, it's her first year out there, and we took her out early season because we get like two and a half weeks or whatever it is, something something stupid. Um, and we take her out there to hunt, and we get two ducks, we whiff on them.
SPEAKER_06:Oh no.
SPEAKER_05:I think the dog doesn't even understand what's going on out there anymore. Like, she's just like, what are we doing out here so early in the morning? Because the early season is not good. Like, we don't get many ducks, so you only get like maybe a pack, you know, maybe three ducks come by, and then that's your day. That's how it is up here in Pennsylvania. So um, yeah, but I think she's fine, she'll be fine. Obviously, she knows her command. So when I send her out on a duck or something like that, she'll be fine. But I need to get her on this damn duck soon, hopefully next week, because uh talk clocks tick.
SPEAKER_02:That's right, dude. You have to send send me a video of that. I want to see it because I'm so excited. I've got to wait another year, so I'm jealous and envious of that.
SPEAKER_05:Dude, I love the process of training the dog, so I honestly got kind of uh like attached to it. I want to get another dog, I want to get Chesapeake, and I'll see if I can duplicate it or the dog just making me look good. Like I really because I I really I took my training from like being a strength coach, and once I learned the fundamentals of training a dog and like knowing what it needs, I kind of just implemented the programming to the dog and. We would have certain days that we just go out and train, you know, like maybe 20 minutes in the morning and then 20 minutes in the evening if I have time, because the dog's attention spain out there is only so long. So um, and it honestly like it worked. I mean, I think I think it worked at least. I'm not 100% sure yet, but I mean everything I teach her to do, like I'll send her on these blind retrieves, like 200-yard blind retrieves. And like in my neighborhood, it's like a suburban neighborhood, and there's people out there and stuff like that, and she just goes right after the bumper comes back right on my hip. So I'm hoping. Yeah, it's cool. She's she's she's interesting. I'll send you some videos.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I mean, definitely do. I love it. It I'm just like you said, dude. I I'm just I am uh I don't know. I'm obsessed. That's all I'll leave it at that. I could talk about it all day long.
SPEAKER_05:I love my dogs.
SPEAKER_02:I love my dogs, right I understand why people get so into this, but but going back to my original point, my point is about there's a reason why now I understand all of you folks with AKC dogs of any kind, really, um, whether you're a sheepdog or whatever it is, there's a reason why people get good bloodlines. You know what I mean? And now I now I personally understand, you know, and it's just I'm like, oh, I didn't know they made them this good. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_05:I mean, it's one of those things. I have one, I have one that comes from an okay bloodline, and then I have one that comes from a champion bloodline, so I can definitely see the difference. Nice, that's funny.
SPEAKER_03:Okay, uh, so how how's your uh regular duck season shape shaping up? You guys think it'll do pretty good or what?
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, I mean, it's getting the cold front right now, so there's a lot of birds. There's definitely a lot of birds. We've been doing some scouting, and then we're also going to Illinois uh the day after Christmas, so we're gonna go meet up. You know that you know the Southern Attic guys, like uh Hayes and uh Tanner.
SPEAKER_03:Southern Attic. Is it Southern Attic outdoors?
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, yeah, I think that's their Instagram account. Southern, it's like white flags. They're good buddies of mine, uh Hayes's.
SPEAKER_03:Let me see. I feel like I follow them.
SPEAKER_02:What area, uh like what part of Illinois, like north, south, middle? So uh south. South.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah. From what I'm told, we're gonna be hunting a lot of cornfields, like flood of corn.
SPEAKER_06:Nice.
SPEAKER_05:I've never been I've never been there. They just told me to come because my buddy owns like 500 acres of private land in Arkansas. But he was like, I'm going to Illinois, you should beat me there because he told me we're gonna get after it. So me and a couple of the buddies loading a truck up to there at the Christmas, and we're headed there. So we'll see what happens.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, man.
SPEAKER_05:I'm excited. We're definitely excited.
SPEAKER_03:I follow them. I don't know. Yeah, that's obviously where I've heard it from. I don't know when I started following them, but I do.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, they're good dudes over there. Uh Hayes, I talk to Hayes a lot in Tanner um as well. So they're like they both run that account, so they're good dudes. So yeah, well, we'll be out there, we'll be filming and stuff too.
SPEAKER_03:So I'm excited. Yeah, we're originally from like south, I guess, western Illinois, kind of like across the river from St. Louis.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, I only ever been to Illinois one time. So I'm making my comeback.
SPEAKER_03:Outside of hunting and fishing, uh yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Well, I I'll say this though. I'll I'll say I'll say this. Yeah, outside of that, that's about all I got.
SPEAKER_03:It's it's I mean, I've never been to Chicago or any of that, but uh, I mean, the hunting, the hunting and fishing is uh yeah, it's a good place to be for a lot of that.
SPEAKER_02:It is, I will say that. They do a great job of their natural resources, and it's beautiful country in Illinois. It can be so diverse. I mean, it's got some of the best soil in the world for for habitat for whitetails and and game, you know, ducks, you you name it, geese, that kind of thing. And you can go from corn flats for miles as far as you can see. It looks like Kansas to roll in hills that are as steep as those arc mountains. You know what I mean?
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SPEAKER_02:It's a it's a it's a it's a neat state when it comes to that, man. If you're gonna be down there in southern Illinois, it's a beautiful country, you'll love it. It's just got that it's gonna have that that that ducky feel. Uh you know what I mean.
SPEAKER_05:No, I'm excited.
SPEAKER_03:Oh no, I was just gonna say it, like apparently um I've seen some stuff about it since, but uh Ramsey Russell posted this thing like a couple years ago about all this history about you know the Mississippi and Illinois, like in the area of where you know that is. And I guess at one point, I mean that was like the best duck hunting. I mean, before kind of Arkansas became what it was in this heyday or whatever, is I think what he was saying, which I was like, damn, I had no idea.
SPEAKER_02:Yep, for sure, for sure.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, excited, definitely excited. I also excited that I found Airbnb for like six hundred dollars for like five days, and I'm like, that's insane.
SPEAKER_02:That is that is awesome.
SPEAKER_05:That's not bad at all. Like that's not bad. It's for like four people and a dog.
SPEAKER_02:Well, what a lot of people don't understand about Airbnbs and uh is that different states have taxes. So basically, when there's enough revenue coming through from those Airbnbs or anything that's short of a six-month lease, what happens is those states they will put in like uh renters' taxes. Okay, so for like example, Tristan, you know, when we were in Florida and we had to rent a house, remember I was having such a problem finding a house that somebody would give me that did not have a 12-month lease, I had to sign an agreement. Well, and you know, our buddy helped my buddy helped me out. The reason for that is is that if you in the state of Florida, if you have a property that you charge people for, whether it's one day or nine months, they ex have put this uh vacation. I forgot what the tax is called, but it's a it's an additional tax that they put on that. So people will avoid that by making sure they have a one-year lease. But that affects a state like Florida would have that higher B they're gonna have higher Airbnb prices immediately just because the insurance that that person's gotta pay. Oh, interesting. Yep. So when you go to destination states like that, and then a state like Illinois, for example, southern Illinois, let's just say, yeah, or if we're in the foothills of Georgia or whatever it is, you're gonna find those way cheaper because that tax isn't being assessed. If that makes sense. So anyway, just some insight.
SPEAKER_05:I'd much rather go to those cheaper places anyway. That's more at my speed. Yeah, I did.
SPEAKER_02:I was looking for one out in the country down in South Georgia a couple years ago for us, and me and Tristan and Drew are trying to find this place like way out in the country, right? Well, remember that little house we got?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, that was in Florida.
SPEAKER_02:Oh no, Florida. I'm sorry. It was in Florida, yeah. It's where was it? Okay, yeah, it was down Florida. But the point is, is that when I was looking, I found you know those old um what was those campers called? The stre the stream, yeah, the something, streams, the metal ones. Somebody had one done up for like it's supposed to be for like a husband and a wife right after they got married, and it was all like hearts and everything. And I almost booked that some bitch for the three of us. It would have been great, but it was only like 60 bucks a night. I was like, goodness gracious.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, on that trip, we we actually stayed at a little house on a farm for it was just one bed, a fold-out couch, a kitchenette, and a maybe a shower, I think, for 80 bucks a night. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:One time me and my dad went to uh Bass Mother Classic in uh South Car Anderson, South Carolina, which is a beautiful place. Yeah, and uh we got to the yeah, we got to the Airbnb, and it was like we got there late and it was all dark, like had to open up like a gate and everything to get in there, and you're just going down this path, and you're like, I've never been here before. There's a lake in the backyard. Who the hell knows what's in the backyard? Like, and we're pulling up and it's just like so dark. We're like, I'm really hoping that like this place, like there ain't something wrong because it's a fish flag out here. I mean, it's just like going to the woods at nighttime, you know, and I'm going through county, so I don't have any guns on me or anything like that. So I'm like rolling naked over here. So but it was fine, it was nice, but yeah, those Airbnbs can be sketchy sometimes, you know what you're getting yourself into.
SPEAKER_03:What uh what's it like going to a Bassmaster classic event? That's gotta be pretty cool.
SPEAKER_02:Well, we used to have them, we used to have them down there in Palaka.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I know off the St.
SPEAKER_02:John's River. I never went, but stressful.
SPEAKER_03:Um making sure you have enough merchandise.
SPEAKER_05:Uh and oh wait, okay.
SPEAKER_03:I didn't realize it was like you can I I don't even know what like explain to me like what you do that. I have you said a booth there or what? Yeah, I didn't realize that.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, so it's like they have an expo there. They have an expo, and then they have the tournament. While the tournament's going on, the people go to the expo mostly. You can see Blast off, and then they um they'll have the the tournament going on, like while people are at the expo, and then there's like all the top brands there, you know. All them guys are all there, all the boat companies are there. They I mean they get it's decked out, and like there's a lot of companies giving out free stuff, uh giveaways, selling merge, probably. Yeah, I'm sure they're there too. Uh I I didn't go last year. Um, it's just been a bunch of things moving around trying to get new products in and trying to pick and choose where we go just because sometimes places aren't the best place when you put out a bunch of money and the return isn't great, that's just business. But uh whenever it's in whenever it's in Knoxville, we try to go because uh what that's what we started the brand at. So uh this year's actually back in Knoxville, so we're trying to make a decision if we're gonna go or not. But it's stressful for the person who's the company. Um, if you're not a multi-million dollar company, yeah. Um, like like a like a person like me, I was fortunate enough to have a couple friends help out my dad. Uh we built the booth out of what we do woodworking too, so we built the booth. Uh we trailered it down. I didn't even have an enclosed trailer at the time. We didn't put on a landscape trailer and tape uh tarped it down. We just made it happen. We had gear, we were two trucks, we just made this thing happen and it was awesome. Like we we had a great time. We parted our butts off. That was awesome. At nighttime at those events, you know how it goes, it's just networking and people are out there just having a good time. Literally. So uh we'd show up to like the booth, hung over the next day. It was it was fun. Dude, that's great. Yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_02:It feels like it feels like the uh the do uh the ducks convention this year.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, but I just would imagine the uh the energy around it just because the tournament's going on and like that's being showed. It would be the way-ins are probably a blast.
SPEAKER_05:Oh, dude. So the weigh-ins like the year I went had the the booth there. I couldn't go to the way-ins because I had to be at the booth. But when I was just the person there just spectating, we used to go we'd go to the weigh-ins, and the way ins are freaking awesome, man. It's like they got the music rolling, got the the trucks rolling into it, the boats, they got the it's fireworks. Yeah, dude, neat. Yeah, yeah, it's yeah, it's really cool.
SPEAKER_02:I've never went to one in person, but I I've what definitely watched it a bunch of them on TV. Um, you know what was cool is me and Tristan um we were down um shed hunting and doing a little bit of farting around turkey hunting this spring. We were down in South Georgia, and we ended up meeting a fella that he had a picture up there, I think is what it was. And I said, Do you know Rick Clun? He goes, Oh yeah, me and Rick Clun are good buddies. He goes, I used to fish on the bass tour, and I was like, dude, we're standing in greatness right now. I mean, this guy's probably what he trists in 70s, 80s, 70s something. Probably I'd say, you know, old fella. But it was just cool seeing like some of his nostalgic shit, and you know, just that I knew who Rick Clun was, you know, just from back years and years ago.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah. Yeah, bass fishing is that's I love bass fishing. I mean, I have a bass boat and we we do a good bit, and you get real humbled real quick when you go into a tournament. You can have a day where you're just slinging it, you go on a tournament and you'll come out with maybe five pounds, and you're like, Yeah, I'm not even going to weigh-ins. Like, it's just you have those days, and then there's days like I fished a tournament this year, and we and me and my girlfriend fished it. It was a tournament we do at our local lake, and they do a thing for ALS every year, which is awesome. And uh you go in there, you pay you pay your dues or whatever, and then everything gets donated to the ALS Foundation. And we went in and we were just getting mopped all day. Like she was hitting them, and then it'd be a pickerel, and it'd be like a four-pound picker. I'm like wrong weight, wrong fish. Like we but uh so that so we wound up like with like seven pounds that day, like total. And we're talking like from like seven in the morning till three thirty in the afternoon. So we go home, I go out with my dad's literally like the next day, and I smack like a it was a 12-pound bag in one hour.
SPEAKER_06:Wow.
SPEAKER_05:On one bait, one bait, and I was just like, dude, you gotta be kidding me. Like, that's just how bass fishing goes, man. That's just how it is.
SPEAKER_03:I find it so impressive, like just I because I we grew up like fishing farm ponds and stuff in in Illinois mostly, you know, and then like when we lived in Florida for a little bit, you know, you're fishing like your your neighborhood ponds and golf courses, and you smash bass in those, but again, it's pretty like and big bass too, because it's Florida, but it's like not even close to like up here when we live close to Lake Lanier, and we went out, we used to have a duck boat, which I mean, you know, it's obviously not an ideal fishing setup, but like we go out there and yeah, we'd pull into like little coves or whatever and fish docks and uh troll around or whatever, and man, we were just like we got skunked all the time, and I'm like, that's when I realized like this is a whole different thing, fishing these big lakes and rivers. It's humbling, right? It's not even the same thing.
SPEAKER_02:It's not like throwing a popper out there on a late July night on a farm pond, dude, and just wrecking them. You know what I mean? No, no, no, no. It's like the difference between hunting a deer, it's like a difference between hunting a deer on a high fence or on public ground. Probably you know what I mean. Like the the the vast difference of that. Um before I forget, Tristan, just about Lake Lanier. I want to see, does he follow? Do you know have you ever heard of the Finn twins?
SPEAKER_05:Sounds familiar. Sounds familiar.
SPEAKER_02:They're big up here, Lake Lanier. Tristan, you know more about them than I do, but the only reason why I mention them is that their father runs the pest control company I use, and that's how I learned about them. And uh, but they just slay them.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, no, they're out there all the time. They're they're like a big, pretty big YouTubers, I think, and it's just brothers that are like you know, 22, 23 or whatever, and just making YouTube videos and killing it.
SPEAKER_02:Yep.
SPEAKER_03:Um check them out.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, they call them Finn's twins. The Finns, the Finn's twins, right?
SPEAKER_03:I was gonna say though, yeah. Um when it comes to like fishing like lakes and you know, uh, you know, bigger lakes and bigger bodies of water, like uh, dude, like just the the games that you gotta play with the depth, and I mean, you know, it's like you just you're catching bass at depths that like blow my mind, honestly, in some of these lakes.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, so I got the privilege to go to uh St. Lawrence River a couple years back, which is in New York, upstate New York, and that was like the coolest thing in my life. I caught my biggest smallmouth was 6.26 pounds, I believe, was on a bed because they were bedding during this third weekend of June, I believe it is. And I went with my buddies, they were pre-fishing for a tournament. I got the tag along with them guys. Um, they're big tournament guys. And we went out and we fished for a whole week, and we were just drop drop shots, and it was just like three-pound bass, smallmouth, at like 30 foot deep. And you see them hit it, and you see them rolling in and fighting the whole time since the water's crystal cleared. And uh, it was just an amazing thing. I actually have I'm staring at the picture right now of the bass that I caught. Actually, I'm gonna see how we pour off the water real quick for y'all. I take the water still in here, but that was on St. Lawrence. Oh my god. That was on the St. Lawrence River 6.26, I believe. I pulled off a bed, so yeah. So my body's actually because we were pre-fishing, so there that that fish was gonna be one of their tournament fish, and they found out the day of tournament, the spot that we caught it, they couldn't fish it. So they went up to a segment that tournament, but yeah, but I got I got to catch the fish, so I always got the warm up on them.
SPEAKER_02:Tristan, I've been trying to get Tristan to watch this guy for years, and I know you do if you're a fisherman. But dude, is Zona's awesome fishing show the best fishing show out there? Isn't it one of the best ever, dude? Yeah, he dude, that guy makes me cry laughing, but he was doing a piece, and you may be seeing it earlier this year, but he was talking about Ford facing snow, right? All this, you know, yeah, I know, and people talking about is it cheating and all this stuff. But he goes, here's the thing that I love about it. He was out, it might be on the St. Lawrence or something, but he was up, he was he was fishing for um um smollies, and he goes, I'm out here right now in I think he said 38 feet of water. He goes, I'm catching these giants right now at six foot in the middle of the damn lake. And he goes, No way for think about it, he goes, think about from the beginning of time since people started fishing. He goes, from then until forward facing sonar, those fish weren't touched. Yeah, he goes, Nobody knew that you could find those fish right there. Yeah, you know, he goes, so that's what I personally love about. I thought that was a really cool perspective. I was like, damn, dude, that really is. I mean, you think about it all over like the United States, that's just like opened up a whole nother realm of fishing, you know.
SPEAKER_05:I mean, oh yeah, I actually I'm a fan of for forward facing sonar, and here's why. One, it's not easy to use. People that's a misconception. The forward facing sonar is actually very hard to understand until you understand it, it's a hard thing to use. Now I have it, but someone stole my graph on my boat. I it fell off my boat at the boat ramp, and I went back there and someone stole it.
SPEAKER_02:So I've actually been without it.
SPEAKER_05:I refuse to buy another graph right now just because like if they're like a thousand dollars and I just I'll just go fish. Like, I'm not tournament fishing right now or anything like that, so it don't matter to me, but I'm actually a huge fan of it. Like it's hard to use, so it's a learning curve. And two, I like to use it because if I'm fishing a spot and there's no fish there, at least it's gonna tell me there's no fish there. You know what I mean? True. I don't use I don't really scope fish. I don't really scope fish, but I at least want to know I'm throwing in a decent spot.
SPEAKER_02:Right. No, for sure. Yeah, I mean, I do the same thing as my little fish finder I have on my little bass raider out back. You know, I mean, I'm like, dude, I don't want to like just sit over here and and fish for no reason, you know.
SPEAKER_05:Exactly. I I got time, I got places to be, so I'm trying to catch some fish while I have the time.
SPEAKER_02:I wish they had forward-facing Sonar for deer and ducks.
SPEAKER_03:That's my well, no, that's my argument with um cell cams. Like, I mean, that's kind of a nuanced thing. Like, I don't necessarily think that while we do use them on public land here, if they outlawed it on public land, I would be cool with that, like, honestly. But um on private land, like it's made us way more efficient. And it's like, bro, like the time spent wasted. I mean, now in your when you're in the woods, it's like never a bad day. Like when your fish is so I don't mean to sound that way, but it's like you know, all of us don't have all the time in the world, so being efficient with your time as an outdoorsman. I mean, time is money and everyone's got responsibilities. So that's the forward. I feel like cell camps are like the forward-facing sonars of like the deer woods.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, it totally is, it totally is. But you know, it's just like we talk about uh with anything else, and and we can we can like real quickly probably the hottest topics in all these like people call cheating, you know, could be forward-facing sonar, uh, what's it called? The type of style hurt hunting turkeys with a fan.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, yeah, uh reaping.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah. That's cheating, you know. But all you other deer hunters are like, oh well, we got I know this guy by his middle name. You know, I mean, I I've known this deer since he I saw him come out of his mom's ass. You know what I mean? I mean, and and you hunt this deer and you have all this technology. Does that make you a great hunter? But you but you can look at it two different ways. Yes, because you utilize technology to get it done, or no, you were a pussy and took the shortcut. I mean, I'm just saying that's the cool thing about what we do with hunting and fishing, is there's a different way to approach it everywhere.
SPEAKER_03:Somebody's about to get really pissed off in the podcast if I don't like give devil's advocate real quick. Because I think, like Joe was saying, like there's a learning curve to you know learning uh forward-facing sonar, and it's not the artist thing. Like, regardless, like of if you're seeing a stud buck on camera, that's a whole different thing than actually executing picking that buck out because still to do that takes an insane amount of talent. You gotta play the wind, even if you play the wind right, like shit can still go wrong. Like, so that still just takes an insane amount of talent. It does, it does, I think, on top of that.
SPEAKER_02:I love that you can approach these sports at different levels, you know, and we all have our different preference level, right? Yeah, that's okay. It doesn't mean you need to chastise somebody else because the way they do it, right? You know what I mean? Like me and Tristan sometimes, dude, we'll shoot a spike. I mean, we're not afraid of it, we'll brag about it.
SPEAKER_03:As a matter of fact, I don't know about brag about it. I just say I'm thankful.
SPEAKER_02:Well, I was actually gonna film a video.
SPEAKER_03:You might put it on up on the pinboard at Academy or whatever.
SPEAKER_02:Well, I'll tell you this that I had B-roll going because I just knew I was gonna shoot the spike on our private land. And I did a B-roll that day. Basically, that I've been tracking this buck for several, you know, probably the last year and a half since the first time I got him on camera. And I've been like, I've been waiting for the wind to I mean, played it all out, and then I was gonna shoot this spike, you know, just do the whole thing. But no, and that's the cool thing about our sports is that the outdoor industry and everything is that you know we can all approach it the way we want to.
SPEAKER_03:No doubt.
SPEAKER_02:You know, because I mean it's changed a lot for me. I uh dude, I was like a caveman with a you know, I was like a caveman when I first got into it. Yeah, dude. I mean, rub two sticks together to hunt, you know.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, now the technology we have is insane.
SPEAKER_02:Now we have a lighter, you know, whatever. So so but no, I love technology. I'm not I'm not beating it up. If that's the way you like it, go do it.
SPEAKER_05:No, I think I think you know, use it, don't abuse it. Uh that's like my biggest thing is like if you abuse it, like people using Ford Face Center, they might give me crap for this, but if you're staring down at the kit like the screen the whole time, like you're not looking at the beauty around you, you know what I mean? You're literally in nature, you know what I'm saying? Like you got eagle, we have so many eagles around me, like eagles going around. Like, look at what you're doing, and then like next thing you're gonna lump a freaking four-pounder, like that's gonna happen. So, like the more you throw in areas, you're gonna get hit eventually. Unless you don't got anything on the end of your line. I don't know what to tell you, but you gotta enjoy like the the little things, man, because like you're out there and like stressing about looking at your screen, you got the beautiful scenery around you, dude. Like, especially some of the places you can you fish or even hunt, like it's hearing birds chirp, like that gets me going. Like, I don't I don't even sometimes care about the fish, dude. I don't care about the fish. Like, I'll tell you right now, like, we're just I get skunked more times than not. If I'm fortunate enough to catch a fish that day, that's awesome. But I'd rather and the same thing with duck hunting waking up with the birds, seeing different birds come by you, like that's awesome to me. Like, I could care less if we shoot something. I love being on the nature.
SPEAKER_03:I love that you said that, pointed that out about like the birds chirping, because that's one thing. Like, I don't know, that that rings a bell with like me because for whatever like reason he's always pointed stuff like that out to me, and then now that's just the way I am. But I'll be sitting there, I'll be like, Man, do you hear that woodpecker or whatever? Like, you know, or you'll hear that owl and we'll look at each other, you know, or just like stuff like that.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, what the hell was that? You know, no, there was actually something, Tristan. I sent you a video of, and I don't know if it was a deer or what I was doing hunting. I was out in the woods and I sent him the video, and his reply to me was, Oh, that crow in the background was cool, or what a woodpecker, or it was just remember, you know, the big red ones when they make that sound. They they do that real high loud. I think that's what it was. And I was like, Man, I'm happy that I I taught him to you know recognize those things, you know, because that that's why I sent it to you. Because I was just like, it wasn't the woods I was panning, it was that it was perfect timing of doing that, you know. I mean, it was lucky timing, I guess I should say.
SPEAKER_05:Life's stress, stressful enough. Like, if you're out there stressing about executing, then like you're kind of doing, I in my opinion, doing it for the wrong reasons. You gotta enjoy being out there and what we're fortunate enough to be able to do, you know. That's just executing is just a bonus to me.
SPEAKER_02:That's right.
SPEAKER_03:Well said, man. Well, bringing it back to uh Pineside, I mean, what what exciting stuff do y'all got coming up, you know, here in the next six months or years? Is there anything you want to plug about the business, you know?
SPEAKER_05:I mean, we gotta actually, I'm excited because like I said, we just got our first little warehouse thing going on, which is cool. And then uh we got new hats coming in, we got all new hoodies coming in. So we changed all the material up on our hoodies. Not so much, changed up a lot, but like little things that just make them better. Um, we got waiters coming, we have face layers coming, hood jackets coming, uh UNA that we have it coming in the works. Um, a lot of testing going on right now during duck season. So, like our our waiter hoodie and stuff like that, or new gloves, like riding gloves for like you know, when you're going to spot the spot when it gets cold out, you gotta have some gloves. So we got the gloves going on, goggles, dry bags, shell bags, like all that stuff right now is being tested, and it'll drop next year. And then obviously we have like a bunch of new stuff coming in. Like you see performance shares behind me. We have new hoodies that I have, two new hoodies coming in in the next week or two, uh, a bunch of new hats, a bunch of new t-shirts. Uh, you name it, we're bringing it out. And I'm just excited to be able to finally execute it because last year we had to kind of take a little step back to do a lot of testing on gear to be able to roll it out. Now I feel confident enough to be able to put the gear out and see how it does and see what people honestly honestly thought about just because that's like keeps me going. That gets me amped up. It's like if you tell me something's too tight or this or it's a little too loose or whatever, I'm taking that critique and tweaking everything. Not everyone's critique, but if it's like a mess of people saying, Oh, this, this, this, the same thing. Okay, I'm not gonna be stupid. Two plus two is four. We're gonna change it, you know what I mean? So um, a lot of cool things that I'm super excited about. Like I said, I'm super excited. We finally got a a place to store our stuff at, and then like next year we're gonna hit the road a little bit more and we're gonna get out the more shows because we had to take, like I said, had to take a step back to rebuild up a little bit just because we're manufacturing and crossroads with that stuff, and then you get tariffs and all that crap. So that was something we had to navigate through. So it was kind of tough, especially like being a smaller brand or like not having a big company, you know. Um, so there's a lot of exciting things to look forward to, and I'm sure there's a lot of things that I don't want to deal with coming up, but we'll deal with them when they happen.
SPEAKER_03:Well, dude, if they're uh if you're ever in our neck of the woods, you know, northeast Alabama, North Georgia, you know, South Carolina, anything like that, definitely hit us up because definitely I definitely will come support and shake hands. And we're trying to get more into like going to just the local shows, especially like kind of in promoting the podcast, doing the more like regional, like stuff in our our backyard, you know what I mean? Uh, just to meet people and do that kind of thing.
SPEAKER_02:Well, we tell we tell all our guests, you know, if you ever like we truly mean this. And I know people don't call us just because they don't want to impose or what, but we truly no, we live here in northeast Atlanta. 85 runs right through here. Man, if you're coming through town, let us know. Let's go have a beer, eat dinner, come by, sit in the podcast studio. I've we got an extra room. You know, you're always welcome.
SPEAKER_05:I appreciate that. Yeah, definitely. You know, if I'm that way, I'll definitely give you a call. Maybe we can set something up, do some kind of hunt sometime soon.
SPEAKER_02:That's right.
SPEAKER_03:Sounds good, man. Yeah, good deal. Tell everybody where they can get in touch with you.
SPEAKER_05:Uh, you know, honestly, I run all the social media, I don't have a marketing manager or anything like that. So if you want to get in touch with me, you can message us on fine type performance on Instagram, message me on my personal. I'm always on the phone doing something. Unfortunately, that's the neck of the game.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:Um, but yeah, that's how you get a hold of me. I mean, I'm pretty simple, pretty easy to get a hold to. If you know someone's talking crap, I probably don't respond. But you know, if you have a question about something or need a tip on a hat or how to make something or a business idea, I can I can help you, I guess, to my best of my knowledge. Might not work for For you, but or I could tell you what not to do, I don't know.
SPEAKER_02:I love what you're doing. Joe, I love what you're doing, dude. I think uh you know, um, and that's one of the things I really am truly humbled by with this podcast is that that we get to meet some great people, and you know, every time that we have a guest on that we get off a podcast and Tristan and I will like bump fists and we was like, dude, man, what a great person, or you know, and and you're just you're falling in line with all that, dude. We love what you're doing, and thank you, and uh thank you for taking your time out tonight to to spend with us.
SPEAKER_05:Nah, I appreciate it. Thanks for having me on, guys. Like I said, like I love like we probably could have another four-hour podcast. I could probably tell you so many more things that I did wrong with this business. Uh I probably shouldn't be in his position, but hell, I don't give up. So we're just gonna keep on doing this thing till the damn wheels fall off. Well, that's why you're in in that position, man. Because you don't that's the name of the game. That's what I tell anybody. Just don't give up.
SPEAKER_02:That's right. All right, Joe. Well, man, thank you very much. Appreciate your time.
SPEAKER_01:You guys have a good one.
SPEAKER_05:Thank you.
SPEAKER_01:I've been southbound, I've been hellbound, riding on a midnight train. Going too fast now, think off slow down, standing in the pouring rain.