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
From Illinois Honkers To Florida Marsh: A Hunter’s Whiplash Weekend
We chase Illinois honkers through Arctic lows, dial spreads for fickle field mallards, and stack firsts: a first honker, a first band, and a hard-won lesson in reading flight lines. Cold gear, decoy choices, and local history shape a week that ends with plans for Florida marsh heat.
• new setup and travel-light game plan
• first honker story, misses, and recovery
• calling cadence, scout behavior, and early volleys
• spinner strategy, sunny fields, and wind truths
• river flight lines and waves of geese and mallards
• swan sighting and Braidwood power-plant history
• gloves, merino layers, A-frames and heat management
• afternoon FOMO, subtle spreads, and patience
• deer stand moves, late-season access, and cameras
• spread wars and why less looks more real
• hitting limits, then watching birds teach
• flip to Florida: gators, marsh, and gear shift
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What's up guys? Back to another episode of the One Hell of Life Outdoor podcast. As you can see, we have quite the different setup here. Tony is in Illinois with Cow, which you're familiar with from a couple different podcasts now. And they're uh been smashing some honkers and some mallards.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, baby, let's go. Let's go. The only reason why I like the state is for the outdoor part of outdoors part of it. Of course, you know, originally from here, but to get back up here and where it actually gets cold and uh there's snow on the ground and honkers' feet are out. Dude, come on. Come on, it's been an experience though. I was jealous the videos you guys were sending today. I freaking hate doing anything without you. And it's a bummer. I'm just like, if anything, it'll set more fire on the next time I said I'm going up to Cows. He's gonna be like, Yeah, yeah, dude, listen, I'm taking PTO. Um, I'm going.
SPEAKER_03:I would if I could, but we gotta get Tristan up here as soon as possible.
SPEAKER_02:Well, especially I mean, and even just this dude, when you pick one of these big big dogs up for the first time, like last when I picked that thing up, I was like, Yeah, it's not as far from a mall or Jake. Dude, I'm looking at these specks on his wall, and I'm like, they're just so much smaller. Oh yeah. Yeah, yeah, that's crazy.
SPEAKER_07:That picture of you holding that one stretched out really put it in the process.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, dude, I wasn't like sticking my arm, you know, without picture.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, no, I was just and that was that was an average size one, like honestly. Yeah, that wasn't even a giant. We didn't kill any monsters today, but uh that was it was a good one, but it wasn't like uh you know, one you gotta drag through the corner because you're not gonna wear your shoulder out picking it up. Um just dragging like a garbage bag across the stocks almost far as it can.
SPEAKER_07:So I don't know if I realized this last time you were on, Cal, but like for some reason I was thinking like those greaters, like those were kind of mixed in, but that's kind of like a rare thing, I guess, to kill one of those, huh?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, like the real graders, the true bloodline greater Canadians that we've uh I've seen, like very few, but um there was like some killed in Minnesota this year. I know that, like like true tested bloodline ones, and now those are gigantic, right? We're just talking about the the like the MVP line of uh the hawkers thing. Matt was saying today that you know you got uh you know a softball size head, the necks that are like our size, and uh like the biggest one I've ever seen is like 18 and a half pounds. That's just sound. Like a big turkey, good turkeys 28 to 30. Yeah, I mean, and then this thing flies, uh migrates at 18 and a half pounds.
SPEAKER_02:Man, you want to talk about destruction when something like that hits you flying 50 60 miles an hour.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, you shoot them overhead, you want to make sure you're watching where that one lands.
SPEAKER_07:Oh man, for real. Somebody got a hospital room.
SPEAKER_02:That'd be like, why don't you do more shot of greater?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, you guys see some pretty good vocal talk this morning. Um they were they were a little quiet yesterday, and then didn't some but we had a group of like five landless today that were uh that were doing it all. They were making all the noises and screaming and uh all the things. So yeah, I never realized how like much shit your dad has to go through before he pulls the trigger.
SPEAKER_02:He's like checking text, lighting the smoke, getting a GoPro, which is pissing me off because that dude those GoPros are toast. I'm throwing them away.
SPEAKER_07:I I started calling him uh I started, I said, you know what your new nickname is. I'm like, you're the fiddler because you're like a fiddler crap, you're always like fiddling or something.
SPEAKER_03:I mean, it's just for like the us we had a scout come out this morning. I mean, it was 643. Yeah, it was like I mean, minutes after you could shoot, which we weren't even expecting anything. And uh here comes here comes a scout just screaming through the field. I'm like, this bird's probably gonna do it right. And uh Tony's first honker ever. I looked out, he's checking text messages, getting the shells, get the blinds. I'm like, dude, this thing's like 40 yards. So your first honker ever. He's like, Oh, hold on, I'm coming. Didn't even have his gun. Hold on, I'm coming.
SPEAKER_02:I'm like, oh wait, no, the gun was loaded. That that that time it was loaded, it was after I took that volley, and he was like, get ready. And I looked down at my gun, I'm like, Oh shit, I didn't put any more shells back in my gun. Well, these guys were these guys. So let me set this up more you said. We freak they we're sitting there and they all look at me and they're like, All right, this one's yours. And I'm like, nothing like putting freaking new guy up on the stage. Yeah, that's my friend. I'm like, I'm shooting Cal's gun and everything, and I and I did freaking rock him, but I I'm gonna I'm gonna say that with also saying that there was two different times where I think three of a three-pack came in, and one time me and Matt's dad got up and we they they let us both shoot, and we freaking let them rip a fetter, dude. Oh man, yeah. I mean, right there at 30 yards, dude. Just you were single too, that was yes.
SPEAKER_03:I mean, the the the first one in the morning was like it knew every the even the hawkers knew that Tony was there for his first honker, yeah. And like the little little Timmy goose got all right, go fly to him, you're the one. We just sat down and just got light, yeah. And here comes this bird honking through the field. I'm like, here he comes. Like, right, and he rocks them. I'm like, all right, cuz I'll take care of him, I'll give him my vanelli and you know, some one-shot business, some really good shells that I was throwing him. Crash the first, like one, and like, all right, you know, won't get too expensive, and then all of a sudden it's like a it's like a zipper machine boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. This is getting a little expensive, Tony. You better start hitting them, man. Like a whole box of business laying on the field. You still got one bird dead.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, dude. But one time, one time I went to pull up and I thought something had something happened with a gun, but it was totally me. What happened? I had my I put my jacket on, and uh, we were setting up decoys and everything. I had my coat off, and so I put my coat on, and I go out to shoot this one, and my jacket's open, and just the whole side of the jacket just folds into my shoulder, and I go to shoot, and I'm like, dude, what just happened? It and I just I pulled the trigger before I had it like actually, you know, like shouldered, and I was like, that was embarrassing.
SPEAKER_03:Like 10 minutes before I too. I'm like, Are you used to shooting with that many clothes on? You know, Georgia boy, he's bundled up too. I'm like, you got to get it out and in with all that, and he's like, Yeah, yeah, man. Of course, of course. First one hangs it off.
SPEAKER_02:I did make a comeback. I did make a comeback. Oh, you made some good shots. Yeah, I freaking that one goose I hit, it was out there about 50, 60 yards on the third shot. Yeah, yeah. I popped him and then uh shot at I shot a mallard. They they all volleyed, and I was going because I shot I went to pull up and I just I thought we hit two or three of those. Yeah, and one I saw two one bird fall, and I saw one just get folded and like two people shot. That bird just went feathers whenever I was like holy. And I just pulled up, and the one hand was like and just freaking going away. I was like, aimed about I don't know, 18 inches underneath it, dude freaking rocked it from about like 60 yards. And it was business.
SPEAKER_03:At least a few of them connected.
SPEAKER_07:Yeah, did y'all did y'all put out spinners today after the goose climate?
SPEAKER_03:Or no? Yeah. We in four uh reinforced spinners and a couple dozen uh full-bodied ducks. Kind of had them hidden in the spread while we were goose hunting and then kind of bunched them up uh once we started duck hunting, and they're working pretty good. I mean, yep, if we had you know, we were fighting weather the whole time. I mean, it was it was sunny this morning, um, which is continued good for field mallards, but it wasn't near cold enough and we didn't have a lot of wind. So the birds that worked us, I thought did it pretty good for the conditions. Now, if it was like like Sunday where it was minus four and we had 20 mile an hour winds, and they would have been doing that, they would have we would have we probably would have shot our four-man limit in 10-15 minutes because they can't stand it when it's that cold. They they eat it up, so well, and we quit.
SPEAKER_02:I mean, we ended up shooting four mallards too, and we shot our shot four man of honkers and then shot four mallards, two drakes, two ends. And and I mean, we could have sat there. If we if we stayed all day, we'd have shot our we would have shot our limit of ducks, but it's just one of those spots where you know it's um they have special access to this this field uh that the farmer usually doesn't want nobody to hunt. How the tracks look in that place. Oh, dude.
SPEAKER_03:I took pictures of it. It's like it's uh it looked like a doormat for geese all over the place.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, up and down every corner, oh dude, just freaking ducks, geese, ducks, geese, ducks, these. I'm not kidding you, man. Those those geese feet, oh yeah, dude, every bit like I don't what four five inches in diameter or four inches in diameter, easily.
SPEAKER_03:We should like look like big freaking pterodactyl feet. We should have put one in like some kind of ink today and put it on your arm and have it tatted. I was telling him about what I had to speak for him. I was like, a lot of people use the term axe loosely. I said, but uh the Wednesday morning, I go, we are really like we are on a complete freaking hawk racks. I mean, it was it was then this morning we riding in the quad. I'm like, look down, he's like, What is that? I'm like, those are all goose facts.
SPEAKER_02:Wow, the only place you could find like actual like snow that was untouched was in between the corn stalks because every pat every uh between every cornrows just I mean just tracks all over the place, but yeah, man, they uh Tristan. You and I'll tell you this is one thing you're going to you're going to get out of this, and that's you know, we're so used to our experience of big numbers of geese has always been out there with Kate at Delta Thunder, you know, and um we are used to seeing obviously seeing tons of snow geese, you know, seeing tons of specks. See, I've never seen honkers in numbers like this. You know, they were coming off this river in like I bet we saw 10,000.
SPEAKER_06:Wow.
SPEAKER_02:And I'm talking the whole time we sat there, dude. It was like, all right, they're either gonna take this flightway up the river this way, or they're gonna come the way that we were. And you could just tell that when they went to us, they went to the certain spot, okay, they're gonna go that way. The other ones, they were all just coming in there's like no, I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_03:Both both on you know, when it gets this cold up here and everything's froze out, they get on the rivers really hard. And if you can figure out their flight line, you can get under like that many. And that'd say even yesterday we were maybe not 10,000 but five thousand for sure.
SPEAKER_02:We're working uh and I'm talking about groups running from you know, your biggest V's. I would say maybe that I saw a hundred and fifty, you know, in a V. And then, but just waves, yeah, dude. I mean, just waves, not like you know, it's a little bit different than like the big waves of the snow geese that we see because you'll see those waves tight, just all following each other for miles. These like you could see where they were all coming up, and some of them were going like, all right, we're going this way, and some of them are like, Oh no, we're going that way.
SPEAKER_05:There's groups of two groups of yeah, it just kept.
SPEAKER_02:I mean, like you'd have one group come, and then you look like in the distance, you could look back and say, like almost be like, All right, well, we got uh groups coming for the next three hours.
SPEAKER_03:No, I mean, but it was just deep, you know, it just kept coming. Once we were done on the docks, there was another mega wave that came out. It was like it was still it was still coming out at 10 o'clock, just rolling up it was you was like your first swan you saw?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, dude. I just saw my first motor swan, dude. It was incredible. That's sweet. It flew right over the top of us, man. That was so neat. I'm like, what is that freaking long neck?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah, it looked like an angel in the sky. It was like a blue sunny sky, and that thing was flying. I was like, that thing was pretty cool.
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SPEAKER_02:I didn't have my phone because I was like, gosh dang it, dude. I wish I would have been able to film that. That would have been neat.
SPEAKER_03:But if we'd had spinners yesterday, we'd have killed ducks too. But my uh I mean, like I told you, everything's resetting around here a little bit with the Arctic freeze and the warm-up and rain tomorrow. I mean, I'd I'd scouted uh an area and shot geese in and out of this field for like a week taking care of it. Um, rested it, and then we we went in there. I was like, there'd no spinners. There's there hasn't been a duck around here for you know since freaking the Easter of last year. And uh I was down and then Tommy's like, there's some duck. I'm like, no, I forgot to tell you about pigeons around here, like you're on the sidelines of tons of pigeons. Like, man, those look like mallards to look up and share as shit. There's like 400 mallards.
unknown:I'm like, no.
SPEAKER_03:That's that's an I don't know where those came from. Five minutes later, 400 mallards coming through again. I'm like, all right, well, there's those things came from somewhere, I don't know where, but I haven't seen a duck around here in a month, and there was there's mob scenes of them. I was like, this goes to show you.
SPEAKER_02:He's like, you don't understand if I think there's a glimmer of a chance oh yeah, that we're gonna have some mallards flying. I have my spinners with it. I go to bed with a spinner.
SPEAKER_03:Like, why not why not put them out? And yesterday I'm like, no spinners, no ducty where there's not this like a straight up honker hunt, and there's mob seen some mallards. I was like, Oh, go figure.
SPEAKER_07:He turns his spinner on his six provincial spinners everywhere, I don't go anywhere with uh you were talking about negative four degrees. So, like, how do you even have the dexterity to like shoot? Like, what kind of glove do you wear to like because I can't stand like the bulky feeling on my hands. Like, what do you like? Do you wear like the gloves where you can take the finger off or whatever?
SPEAKER_03:Well, I mean, I'd love to tell a tough guy story, but we uh we kind of manage the elements a little bit. Like when we're in we'll hunt A-frames for sure. There, the days of layout hunting and minus four are like are kind of over. I mean, if you gotta do it, you sit in the truck until you see them start flying and you go out and kind of get in. Um, if you're doing that, you you know, I'm the same way. I can't call or pull a trigger with glow on. So tons of hand warmers stuck in your bim pockets, right? And you're constantly having them in there because you know, we've all been in that weather, but if you're not paying attention and your hands out on that stuff, like you got frostbite in inside of 10 minutes, right? So, but like in our A-frames, we'll have like Mr. Buddy heaters in there and try to keep. But it's crazy because you don't go anywhere with your hands, right? You keep them in front of the heater at all time, or if we were on a pit, we can have it really, really warm. So um, we're fortunate enough to use the technology of heat in a lot of places to help that cause. But you know, if you get out of uh the pit or the a-frame and go, you know, clean up the hole after a valley or something, you get then you know, I'll I'll use uh like the other day on Sunday went to clean up a duck valley, and I had mechanics gloves on, which I normally always wear in the field if I have to, because they can bend, they got grip, they're good, good, good file gloves, in my opinion. But uh like it within halfway through the spread, my hands were just like rocks, you know. I mean, like you know, it'll stop you. So um, yeah, otherwise, you like the I use like a collar's glove that folds open like a mitten sometimes if you have to, or you know, whatever gear you like. And anybody that makes gear that you wear will make a bigger, a bigger mitten or a glove or whatever. So yeah, it's it's no time to short your gear, brother. I mean, when it's that cold, you gotta be you gotta be ready to roll for sure.
SPEAKER_07:So, you know, I know you're a big sticker guy, and I'm not throwing any shit by saying that.
SPEAKER_03:I got my frog tog set on man.
SPEAKER_07:Yeah. So I was listening, you know, obviously Cam Haynes.
SPEAKER_03:Cam Haynes?
SPEAKER_07:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_07:Yeah, so he was on him and this guy, Adam Greentree, were on Joe Rogan's podcast. And uh Adam Green tree is a big like bow hunter on Australia. And Cam, I guess, has a deal with Seka now. And he was talking about um just how effective their like layering systems are and stuff. And he's like, you know, my whole life I thought I had to wear seven hoodies to be warm in the in the cold. He was like, I'm like freezing my ass off trying to pull my bow back. And he's like, Nah, he was just he's like, I'm not trying to give like an action for Sika or whatever, but he was saying, and he's like a lot of the higher-end brands, like with their um layering systems, he's like, they're a game changer for flexibility, for warmth, for all that.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I mean, even uh like even Matt, my buddy today were with uh forever. Like I took shit with that crew, like oh, sick of poster boy or whatever, and they're just too damn cheap to buy it. But you know, once they got on their uh like their their guide discount, everybody started to kind of sniff around it a little bit, and now Matt's like head to toe in it. But uh yeah, even like you know, Tony was in when I could see a Georgian boy coming up here, even like today. We were in like we were in like Bermuda shorts and t-shirts in 36 degrees. It was like Rand is like hunting them on a summer day, and Tony's always like yeah. I mean, today like a merino wool, one of their merino wool zip ups and a hoodie is all I was wearing, you know. It is it is a difference maker, but there's a lot of good systems, it's not just thick cow, you know what I mean.
SPEAKER_02:I think I wouldn't even put that jacket on had I not, you know. I I had that that um you did good for coming from Georgia.
SPEAKER_03:I was like, don't get don't get hung up in the airport. Like, don't I don't want to pick you up like you're going to Disney World at four rollerbags, and like we're going from like V landing to right into the field to get your ass moved.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, dude, he's like he did pretty good. Yeah, I was like, dude, so okay, I got everything on the carry on. I'm like, all right, now it's time to pack like this. Is what the military taught me. So I'm like, I'm looking at every square inch of this. Um I forgot what that carry on is. It's it's pretty nice one that that we got from work. I can't remember. North Face, yeah, north face one. And on the base of it, it's got like channels, like where the you know, like with the push down handle, that's on the back side of it, on the the bottom of it, basically, where the bars go, and I'm like, all right, I can fold my underwear to fit in those gaps. So I'm like not wasting even an inch tall of this gap. And dude, I took the the the From Togs three and one, the the jacket and the fibs, and I literally had to fold all that and pressure push all your audio. Oh, I forgot to get it. Okay. Yeah. I was like, all right, two t-shirts, two pairs of you know, I mean, I like I cut cut down to all that. But the thing about it is it's so weird going out of town. I was telling him like this morning, I'm like, dude, I I swear to god, I'm forgetting something. I mean, I'm just I don't have my gun. I don't have my shelf, my backpack with everything. I know where everything's at in every zipper, you know, that kind of stuff. But but yeah, no, man.
SPEAKER_03:You did pretty good, man, for um for coming in and and only having to carry on. He was he was I don't know what's what's the name in this backpack though. I know when we were in Arkansas, it was your fault that he left them, but this dude's gotta have a pack with all kinds of meaning this worthless shit in it. He's constantly looking through it like his uh his 1974 GoPro batteries missing or something.
SPEAKER_07:Oh man and like the thing, he was like, I forgot if it was the backpack or the gun, but he was like, I thought you grabbed it. I'm like, why would you think I grabbed it?
SPEAKER_03:I grabbed conversation. I'm like I had my dad growing up too.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Why don't you grab my boots? It's my child to grab your boots. Well, somebody's fault and ain't mine.
SPEAKER_02:I had to save like all of like I'll put like a lot of small stuff in like my um like my shave bag, like my medicine and different stuff like that, you know. So I had all these loose items I was bringing, like all right, my glasses, the GoPro batteries, GoPro, uh all these just loose items that I didn't have room to put it in something. I just had like stuff that son of a bitch in there somewhere. So as soon as I got here, I was just like, dude, where is all this shit? I'm just like I was like, it's weird.
SPEAKER_03:Then I see I see his bald head in the groceries in the gas station shopping, like it's like Walmart. I'm like, we gotta go. He's like coming out with bags. Oh, I'm gonna go in one more time, look for these crackers. I mean, you're not again the stuff. He's gonna hawkers fly more. See those birds flying? Those are our geese that are coming out early. We gotta go, yeah. Like they, you know, afternoon hunts. I was telling Tony I hate him because I always feel like I'm running late. So like I'll be like, Oh, we can go set up at one, I'm in the field by nine. I'm like, why don't I just hunt all day? And they uh like at 10:30, as he's coming in, they start to kind of trickle out, and by the time um we get to the field, they're just rolling out in waves, right? So um, but yeah, it was well, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:You know, the psychology about that, you know, because you know, in the morning, you don't get a choice, right? So there's a start time.
SPEAKER_03:I like the start where it's dark and we're ready.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, and during the day, there's that fault whether it's true or not, dude. If I'm not out there, like I can one minute could cost us the best volley of our life or a band or whatever it is, you know.
SPEAKER_03:Duck band, a duck group or something, yeah, dude. There's no ducks around though.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, the BOM up.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, that's what I get, right? It's like if man, if I don't get there quick, it's gonna be too late. And then we're just sat in the giant spread. It's like you're just rushing, you know. I mean, it's like, got any second, we gotta hurry up. And then you sit in the blind and you don't see one for two hours.
SPEAKER_07:It's like uh I uh we've we've over the last like probably I don't know, three or four weeks, we've moved three stands a few different times, and usually it's been after a morning hunt where it's like me and him are like, all right, we're gonna sit till like 11, and then it's like 9 30 and we're looking at each other and like man like but you have so much FOMO because you're like, dude, you're like, I'm gonna like start to put my bow down or whatever, and these deer are gonna come running in. But at some point you kind of just gotta be like, you know what? If it's not meant to be, it's not meant to be. Screw it.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_02:Well, and now look what I mean to the build upon that. I think we even talked about on the last podcast was you know, we moved everything because we I mean we literally had this, it's probably the best lookout spot ever, really. And it's not a bad wind because the the ridge side goes like this, and we're sitting on I love sitting on shelves because I bucks a lot of times like to work those side of the shelves on long, long ridges, and uh, and when you sit on those, your wind is going way over the top of the valley of anything below you. So literally, I'm like, let the wind blow down there, I don't care. And we saw that come true, and we saw two nice shooter bucks um in just a few days, and saw I don't know, 10, 12 deer, you know, what it was, and uh and then we put a camera up and it just went to shit. I mean, we didn't see nothing, it was almost like that was a little sanctuary during the rut or something where the bucks you know went and got their thing on, you know, or so they're like, let me take you back. Look, it was like the private dance room at the street. Bump, bump, bump, come on down this ridge, baby.
SPEAKER_03:As soon as it goes away, if you don't pay attention to it, they're all there, you know. I mean, yeah. So we we went bringing a spinner to the field.
SPEAKER_02:But no, we ended up going in there and sitting, right? And then we got down and said, hey, man, even though it's this late in the season, dude, we can just wait forever sitting in this deer stand. So, you know, we went out and what's up, guys?
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SPEAKER_02:And and did a lot of scouting, walked a lot, up and down a lot of ridges and really combed a lot of property. And now, I mean, we're seeing quite a few deer in that. Uh where you got that camera at now.
SPEAKER_07:Yeah, it's been rocking and rolling now in the morning. So hopefully uh it stays that way and doesn't get messed up or whatever. But we'll see. We you can only hunt that place till January 1st. So uh next this weekend is out of the question. So then it's like really there's only like two weeks left to hunt it. But you know, I'm pretty confident if we spent two days there, we shoot a deer. Two mornings, that's anyway.
SPEAKER_03:But um I think we got some recruits today to come down to Memphis with us, too. Yep. First, it was we were about 20 bush slides deep at this point, and everybody, yeah.
SPEAKER_05:Well, we awesome.
SPEAKER_03:That was we then I started we started to replay the memory. I was like, Yeah, we gotta go back to that. It was pretty fun.
SPEAKER_07:Oh man, it was as long as we don't get that freaking big uh that coyote think about it.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, he's met Matt.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, you met Matt, the the with who we hunted with today.
SPEAKER_03:He looks like the groundhog from Caddyshack. He's like uh he's like four foot one with a giant beard. He looks like a fat little duck commander.
SPEAKER_02:He was at that dinner with us. Uh if I saw him, I would know, I'm sure, but yeah, I just can't remember what the time that group picture. He's he's the real tall one, yeah.
SPEAKER_04:He's definitely no, but you'll see.
SPEAKER_02:I mean, him and a dad, him and his dad look quite a bit alike, but yeah, he's good, he's good, dude.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah. My my dad fished uh professionally on the bass tour, and then when he was on pro team tournaments, he fished with Matt's dad. So me and Matt were Matt were like fishing at campgrounds together when we were you know six, seven years old. He's I've known Maddie for a long play baseball together in college, so Matt and I go go way back, which is great because you know, him living an hour south of me. We can really we we can say you can almost see it's like having a scout an hour south of you. So I know when I start to run out of birds and he's got them, I go down there, and then when I got him, he comes up to me and take care of each other pretty good. Like we I mean, you lived it kind of this week, yeah. It's cool to it's cool to do that, which you guys do that stuff too.
SPEAKER_02:Well, yeah, and and him and his dad love bush light. And I was just like, that's so awesome.
SPEAKER_07:Of course they do, they're western boys, right?
SPEAKER_03:His Matt's dad for sure. Tony was looking for a beer. I'm like, go in the garage, you can build a fort out of 30 packs. So you can't you can't find a beer in his garage. Um, you're just beer blind for sure.
SPEAKER_07:Find find a bush line in the haystack.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, we were drinking beer on the and the on the tailgates outside today, like it was July.
SPEAKER_02:I gotta tell you this. So, you know, I mean, anybody when you get four guys talking telling stories, drinking out the front yard after a successful hunt. Um, we're out there, you know, cutting it up pretty good. And every once in a while somebody drops the F-bomb. Well, you know, my loud mouth, you know. At one point, well, earlier Kyle's like, hey, you know, hey, uh, just kind of watch your mouth, you know. Just and I thought, oh, you know, maybe uh um Matt's uh what's Matt's dad's name again? Mike, maybe Mike's wife or something. Maybe you know, she I don't want to you know curse around her or whatever, I'm just trying to be respectful and everything. Well, I we got into a story about something, and I I break it and they're and and uh Cal's like dude, the neighbor is a priest.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, he was outside and motherfuckers keep in, and then like one time like then Mike's like hey, watch it, and like you see the guy over there, he's shoveling snow or something, look over. Yeah, these fuckers in five yards, and he's lighting up a smoke, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_02:Hey dude, and then the other thing was was that his wife that was backing out?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, then she was one trying to bring us a bottle of tequila.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, she goes, You guys want some tequila? And I'm like, Yeah, and they're all like, No, give him any more. I'm like, man, they gotta they got uh opposite the track, I guess, in that relationship.
SPEAKER_03:I'm like, if we stay outside and drink, clean these birds, you gotta wash it a little bit. It was good, and then we give him after a few beers, uh, you know, he started lighting them off. I'm like whisper him, but Tony Tony don't whisper anything. No, no, my voice don't whisper. Then we took a whispering voice. We took a long, we took a ride and took him through Braidwood, which is like they jumped Arkansas into central Illinois because it looks exactly like Arkansas.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that yeah, dude. It's it's really um, you know, um, up in this area, it it's really a waterfowl mecca in its own right. I mean, that's what I'm getting from that. It's it's a special piece historically, just like you know, we learned about cash, you know, Arkansas, Tristan, or you know, wherever it is, you know, it's that's one thing that's been special to me about this trip is just learning the history of why they do that, you know, and and this power plant, what it does, and this river, and why this the confluence of these three rivers, and just learning about all this, why it's such a water, why there's so many honkers here, you know. I mean, and why there's still so many mallards here, whenever they just got done having you know, wind chill below temperatures, and I mean how tough they are, and they don't leave. Yeah, you know, it's just it's it really just kind of that's the thing I've really enjoyed about being up here doing this. You know, it's just you know how you're same way, it's just uh getting that full that full picture, like the first time that Mr. Glenn took us for a ride, you know, and learning about the history, you know, it's that's that that was that was kind of cool today, just driving around. I did have one guy walked up at McDonald's.
SPEAKER_03:Even the people are like they're from uh part of the this guy.
SPEAKER_02:This guy walks up to me, he's missing the teeth. He goes walking up to fill up this cup at McDonald's while I'm waiting for my food. He goes, You know what the problem is, don't you? And I said, No, but I'm sure you're gonna tell me. He's like, gosh damn foreigners, gosh damn foreigners. He's like, The foreigners, and you know, and he and Kyle's like zip out the door, and I was like, Yeah, let's get out of here.
SPEAKER_03:Oh man, but this day got long on the tooth already.
SPEAKER_02:I go, you know, I go, I go, nobody up here has voted for voted for Biden, right? He's like, Oh no, not not not outside the city.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, if you if you look around, even like some what a lot like a lot of Missouri outfitters, I'll talk about Braidwood station and and how it hum how it stops and holds so many birds, right? And um, like the fights at the boat ramp, and it's uh it's it's it's um it's it's a gnarly place for you. You you can't be soft skinned to be hit to hunt around Braidwood for sure. But there was a like on X showed how many fields were leased in a blown-up area outside of Braidwood, and that they're all leased. I mean, they're they're in there, like when the ducks are here, it's snowing. Like you every field has a monster spread. I mean, today this afternoon was not an afternoon to be hunting, really. Yeah, and how many spreads do we see?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I mean tons. And I'll tell you what, this is the other thing, Tristan. We're driving, and I looked at Cal and I go, Are those geese or a spread? He goes, That's a spread. And I go, Well, there's geese right next to that spread. He goes, That's a spread, too.
SPEAKER_03:I go, on top of it, dude.
SPEAKER_02:They hunt that close to dude. Two big honker spreads that these folks had and they weren't hunting. I guess they it's a traffic spread or whatever, they they just leave it out there. And dude, these spreads were not 200 yards apart.
SPEAKER_03:Did I show you that video? I'll send it to both you guys. Like, no kidding, yeah, dude, two different properties, they weren't 200 yards apart, they're on top of each other, like and then they try people try to outdo each other, and really when that happens, you go less is more, right? You get your realest stuff, spread it out, and make it look like something that everybody else isn't doing because everybody else is going all their buddies throwing 10 trailers out trying to be bigger, so you just look like you're you're making a a three dozen bird crawling spread or spread out and hope it looks different. But I've I saw and I don't usually like stop and like rain my uh waterfowl kingdom on on anybody, but like I'm like I've sent it to the how many spinners can you pick out in this this spread? But they they had third, they had made four or five dozen ducks, couple dozen hawkers out, and I can count 12 spinners in it, but I think there's more. Like, if you were if you were if you had epilepsy, they would give you a seizure, it looked like a strobe light in the field. It was like I was like, Yeah, I I stopped and like just videoed it. I'm like, this is insane. I mean, they had 14 foot stakes with a spinner on it, had them buried in the grass everywhere in between. I'm like, that's just getting out of hand, man. Like you're gonna you're gonna shut down the power station running all that freaking right. Yeah, people, it's it's really uh the history of it's cool. When you come up, I'll show it to you. It's uh, and then if you can even get there one afternoon when they fly off. Like, I mean, when I mean you're talking 250,000 ducks, you know, at the times that are holding in there, it's it's it's all one giant mallard refuge. It's awesome.
SPEAKER_02:Oh my gosh, that is crazy. That's the other thing that's wild too, is just seeing such you know, up in there, you know, there in Arkansas, we see everything, right? Like those are ducks, but they could be anything. Yeah, here it's it was. I mean, it's just all mallards, all mallards, like nothing else. Nope.
SPEAKER_03:I told you, don't don't try to pick out a canvas bag for they're all greenheads, all mallards and all honkers.
SPEAKER_02:He was single we're talking about. One snow goose today.
SPEAKER_03:We saw he's like, Well, they'll mix in a little bit, but as far as ducks go, this time, this time of year, especially, he's talking about a duck limit. I'm like, Don't get ahead of yourself. We only kill one mallard. We got plenty of ducks to kill. Here you kill six ducks, four mallards, and two off ducks, right? I'm like, the only time I've ever done that is when there's wood ducks around. Like if you're field hunting, you have a field hunting by a creek, the wood ducks will give you a spin in the morning. Kill them and kill your mallards, get your six bird limit. But I'm like, that's the only time don't don't look around for you know a pintail or because they're all green heads, everyone are all green heads.
SPEAKER_02:Well, that was one of the things. Whenever I I changed out my landing, you know, I uh I put flare call on there to go out there because I was like, dude, I don't need my teal call.
SPEAKER_03:You know, you don't even need it, yeah. If you saw a teal today, I'd be like, no. He did yesterday. I was I was doing something, he's like, Look at all them ducks. I'm like, they're pigeons for sure, they're not ducks. I looked up and I just see nothing but green and silver coming through. I'm like, Well, I'll be goddamn for sure.
SPEAKER_02:Well, dude, and I tell you what, I don't know if it wasn't that windy, but you know, there's usually a little bit of uniformity to ducks line, right? Except for teeth, you know, our our divers, but there's usually a little bit of uniformity. I don't know what it was, dude, but today they they there was uniformity to their flights, like you know, there's a little bit of a B going on, not a defined one, but yesterday those big groups maybe it was just because it was so many in each pack, yeah, that we were seeing that it would just look like it really looked like the way teal would fly, you know. I mean, just a little erratic, and I think that's why he first thought that I thought they were pigeons, you know, because but but now that we and they got they hit we had the sundar back and the sun hit them, and you could see them. I mean, even with as blind as I am.
SPEAKER_03:This morning, too many, you could see like those big giant groups of mallards were man.
SPEAKER_02:Well, you remember that one out that flew over. I was like, look at the white ass belly on that thing. I mean, it was and I don't know if it was the sun or what, but it just looked predominantly lighter than all the other ones it was flying with, you know.
SPEAKER_03:So I got some videos sending you, yeah. But there was that brain with two the other day. We were having one of those days where there wasn't much going on, and um we decided to start just blowing at sand hill cranes, right? Well, we got a group of sand hills to come all the way down and basically work us. We had two light. Um, there I'm sticking my head out of the pit, and you just see I mean right over me. You can see the feet like almost bounce off the yeah. I was like, why would that happen? You know what I mean? I was like uh it was uh it was pretty cool, but yeah, yeah. When was that? Like this time of year, it was Sunday and that like really negative four polar vortex stuff. But they're written and we're ready to get down. And like, yeah, man, it's a good thing. I'm not a violator because we could have smashed the stand up for sure.
SPEAKER_02:That's pretty cool. Uh I'll tell you what, just I the to just I meant to say this earlier, but to just kind of cap off today's hunt. Like, literally, if we would have sat there and kept the spinners off, dude, we would have shot we could have shot three. We should we should we could have took 18 four groups. I mean, three, we could take four groups of uh we they they would have just kept coming, dude. It was just there was just so many.
SPEAKER_03:We could have killed a hundred hawkers, yeah, dude.
SPEAKER_02:And they were flying low and everything, and it it was just cool after we shot our limit to actually sit there and just watch them, you know what I mean? Just watch them work and stuff like that. You can just you can start to learn, I guess. I mean, I did. I I feel like I got more educated on just on just watching why they do what they do and how their heads are looking, you know, and they're the how the lead use and is looking and how they're changing. I'm just watching all this shift, and it that was cool just enjoying that instead of worrying about killing it, you know what I mean? Right.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, it was I was there was a what's good working birds today, yeah. Yeah, yeah. We had nothing like uh paying homage to your decoy setup. It was like we had two landing uh in the decoys thing, one landed on the left side and walked through the whole thing. I got video of it, was like was like touching the decoys and honking at them, and like I'm like, Oh, I it must look real because he walked through three.
SPEAKER_02:What was that sound like? It was a very you know how chickens trust them when they go, you know. It's like it's like the in my mind they're doing that. It's like I'm not sure about you.
SPEAKER_03:And you don't ever hear that from a goose unless you're posting it. This sucker was doing it was like purring, it was like it was like ready to let out let out a really sharp honk, but he it sounded like it was like on the verge of making like a turkey yelp, yeah, you know, or something. And then all of a sudden you'd sit down and like watching them call. Other birds was awesome. Yeah, yeah. It's like he every bird that was layering out look at him and freaking give him a freaking yelp and then look over and then honk at them and like, well, nobody's gonna come play with me, walk a little further and freaking honk it for you.
SPEAKER_02:Obviously don't do it as good as we do. Yeah, right, yeah. I was like, I can help you out a little bit, but no, you know.
SPEAKER_07:That's pretty funny. And then uh so how how do you feel that in 60 hours from now you're going from snow hunting uh can of geese to hunting uh alligator-filled swamp at 75 degrees? Let's go, baby. Talk about the craziest polar opposite of hunting.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, from one extreme to the other, dude. It's it's so cool. I can't wait. And it and you know, that's a special place for us because that's where we cut our teeth, you know, uh duck hunting and stuff. And and I really do still believe to this day that nation nationally it's it's one of the it's one of the best places, you know, one of the best areas. Florida's got some great duck hunting. And you know, from an outdoors perspective, like I would call a slam, like, all right, I want to go get a waho and a model duck. You know what I mean? And you could literally, if the seasons align, you know, whatever fish that is, that's that's that um you can fish right now. I don't know, you know, what that would be, but um down there, but but that's the cool thing about it, right? I mean, that you can go do that. But you go from all right, you're freezing your butt off to where did anybody bring the thermocells? Yeah, really, and then you worry about packing mosquitoes around. I'm like, dude, I can't even remember what happened to me two days ago. Just make sure you got your pack with you, man.
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SPEAKER_05:That's right.
SPEAKER_07:Yeah, backpack. Dude, I uh I was just trying to fix my freaking I got the original Dr. Duck Journey backpack like when it came out like three years ago, and I was trying to fix it because the zipper got screwed up and the T-Zip zipper, I was trying to like pry it open and I couldn't tell for sure if it was like a some kind of like painted metal or if it was like a plastic, like a really hard plastic type thing, and freaking snap the zipper, and I'm like, shit. So I don't know. I guess I guess I'm if I can't find like a local place to fix it, which I don't think I can. Katie wants me to try the but if not, I'm probably gonna be in the back the backpack market again.
SPEAKER_03:If you get the if the O-ring is still on it, I always used to use uh zip ties that because I I bought a couple blind bags and packs that couldn't live without, and when you break the zipper off of them. But it'll still have the base on it. I tried putting zip ties. Yeah, I did that.
SPEAKER_07:It's like the whole thing's the whole like thing is off now, it's broke. I was trying to open it stuff to get the I was trying to open it up to get like the teeth from the one side to like get back in there, then close it so it will zip right. And then that whole like whatever you call that piece, the zipper piece broke, and I'm like, okay, well, I guess that's screwed. Sometimes you just let go, right?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I know, right? Yeah, well I I like the uh tangle-free guide bag a lot, and like they were I thought they were discontinuing them because they they made a certain camo with it one year and they were they were selling them, right? Like they were selling them like you know 70% off. So I bought like I just bought like four of them, and they're just out there in the bag still. I'm like, because I that's the blind bag I've used forever, and I'm I don't want to ever not use it. So turns out they were just changing camo and they're still selling it. So I spent I hope you like that. I hope you like that camo. Yeah, it's like funds are funds are low. Somebody's getting a new uh blind bag for Christmas for sure.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, just be like, Daddy gave me this for Christmas last year.
SPEAKER_03:I hunt four times a year playing college baseball. I got four blind bags. No, it's crazy like that though. When you're a waterfowl hunter, there's certain gear you can't really live without, man. Oh man. Don't have it.
SPEAKER_05:We'll say that's why we're so fidgety this week. Yes.
SPEAKER_02:No, and I yeah, no, I just uh man, I just everything just felt off. What happened this morning? This mor, dude. I thought you your keys, your sunglasses were sitting on the counter. I didn't know they had got an extra pair of sunglasses and an extra set of keys. So I go up there, I go I go up there at like 325 or whatever, and I was like, I gave a little touch on my coffee, and you know, I got up and made you coffee this morning. Yeah, I got I got up. I mean, I got up. He said, What time you get or I said, What time do you get up? He said 245, dude. I got up at 235. And so anyway, I was like, I'm not gonna be late. And come to find out, he's out in the truck waiting on me. And it's like, I'm looking, I look at my watch and I'm like, dude, it's freaking 338.
SPEAKER_03:I'm like, we gotta we gotta get sleds in in the morning, decoys, dinners. So I'm like waiting this 325. I'm like, I guess I'm doing this by myself.
SPEAKER_02:I go out to the drive cigarette and he's walking down the driveway, he's like, let's go!
SPEAKER_03:And I'm like, Yeah, we gotta roll at 3 30. Do we have to roll at 30? So I'm like, then he, yeah, we did. We well, I I because I but after day one, I gave you 20 minutes. You gotta you gotta bury 20 minutes.
SPEAKER_02:Maybe the 20 minute buffer buffer zone.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, you got to stopped at a gas station in the middle of nowhere and got dressed, and uh we were off and running. So it was like uh 3:31. I'm like, unbelievable. I'm where's this dude at? I came in the garage, freaking head gawking and smoking. I'm like, yo, we gotta go, man. Let's go.
SPEAKER_02:Like hey, yesterday. So Tristan, when I flew in, I took an Uber to this gas station where I was meeting him, and I get out, and this lady goes, Well, it's not every day that we get people from the Atlanta airport. And I said, Well, I'm going in there and change and go goose hunting. And she goes, Hell yeah, or something like that. I was like, All right, well, people support the goose hunters around here. That's good.
SPEAKER_03:You know how many people see change in that gas station? There's like a half truck stop, and there's like the bigger changing areas. Like, we we we switch people out in there all the time.
SPEAKER_02:Well, yeah, Cal's like, walk in the door three paces, do a military left step, right turn into the I mean, you like new go down soon if you walk into the in the bathroom, you're gonna go to the last doll, it's the biggest doll. You can go in there, and I'm just like, all right, yep, they they do this a lot.
SPEAKER_03:Or the cross is like the alternate alternate family bathroom, which is the popular one because it's not being used, where you go in there and change up. When anybody comes in town, that's the place you go. So yeah, we kind of put you under the gun, yes. Well, I was going to pick him up. I was like, all right, I'll for Tony, I'll pick him up hauling my 60 and my hawker trailer through Midway Airport because I love them, you know. I would have been motherfucking the whole time. Like, get your ass in, let's go. And uh as I'm going there, I'm looking back and I'm see, I see something bouncing in my whole like fuse box in my trailer, like came off and was like dragging. So then I had no lights. I was like, dude, I can't go through the airport Chicago, like with no lights on my trailer. I'd get hooked. Right. Yeah, I mean, he's like out by the curb waiting for me. I'm like, you gotta jump in an Uber, man. I'll get like I'll get you.
SPEAKER_02:It wasn't that it was only like a 35-minute ride. So I was like, but it'll save us time for sure. And I and I talked the dude in too. He's got two kids, he had a three-year-old and a six-year-old, and we got talking, he's like, What do you do? And I just said, you know, I I told him what I do professionally, and I told him a little, I said, you know, I meant my son and I run out. He goes, You do that with your son? I said, he's like probably uh your age, Tristan. Uh he's a panic man, and uh we get talking and everything, and he's like, I you know, I'm uh I did that TikTok post about getting in the outdoors, you know. I mean, just get out there, you know what I mean? And and he told me why I was uh leaving him. He goes, you know what? He goes, Mr. Mowgli, I'm taking my kids walking in a field or fishing or something. He goes, I I go do that. And I said, Yeah, just go do something. You don't have to hunt or fish, you know, but just get them out there. And I just thought that that was kind of cool to me. That you know, that that ride. Um, heck, I don't know. You know, that that family might enjoy the outdoors now.
SPEAKER_03:Right, yeah, it works out pretty good though. I mean, the list of firsts, you saw his first bands killed in a field, first dry mallard, 12-year-old goose, yeah. First dry field mallard, first honker, yeah, first swan. Yeah, I had a lot.
SPEAKER_02:That's why he has he asked me, he's like, How's it going? I go, dude, this this is a lot of firsts, a lot of firsts.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, but it worked out okay. So you give us an excuse to have to go hunt in the driving rain in the morning.
SPEAKER_02:I just don't drive before we started. I was like, Man, I I don't know. I don't know if I'm I don't know if I'm up. I mean, I really like honestly, and thank you again. And and I mean, Cal, it's just uh it's it's been a it's one hell of a life. It just is, and and I'm just so thankful that you know we get to that's one thing that's so great about our community of hunters and stuff, is just that we get to meet good people that I mean, really it's it's life-changing experiences that we get to go do, and you know, I'll remember this for the rest of my life, you know. Like you don't remember everything you shot, you know. I will remember the band, and I will remember shooting six of this business shots and not hitting a good phone.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, we gotta we gotta start we gotta start connecting here, man.
SPEAKER_02:But but but for real though, that's that's what's special to me, and and I'm just happy that you know I come up here and just you know be able to intake it all. And it's yeah, two days has felt like 12. I mean, no kidding.
SPEAKER_03:I mean, it's just been that it's it's been pretty intense. When you wake up, you come in and you're from the the plane into a blind and within the first hour, yeah, and then you're up at two. Yeah, the good thing is, Tristan. I didn't I didn't take him to the good spot, so I'm saving them for you. So yeah, there we go. When January 30th for Monkers, but duck season's out central zone Tuesday. So we were in the field for the last day of north season last last night. So oh nice, okay. The last day of North Zone duck season, I'm like, I mailed it in. That's a that's a first. That's another first, too. That's right. That's right. Usually last day of North Zone duck season, there's there's mallards in the field. I don't care. I'm like, I'll wheel one down.
SPEAKER_02:But yeah, dude, I go you just saw the look on his face when he when he realized that yeah, those are mallards, dude.
SPEAKER_03:I was like, those are pigeons, Vogel. I'm not they're not ducks. There's no ducks around here. I look up, I'm like, holy shit, those are ducks.
SPEAKER_02:He looked down at his buddy, he goes, Man, are you yeah?
SPEAKER_03:Are you kidding me? You got to swing his mirror chuck? He's like, No, I don't, I didn't bring him either. I'm like, Yeah, I didn't see I haven't seen a thing, I haven't seen a single duck. He was swimming in the creek uh here in like two weeks and I've been hunting the hell out of it. And then yesterday just showed up, you know, it was crazy.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, no, it's it's it's a special place, uh, it really is, and there's a lot of history to it, I think. And there's a lot probably a lot more than I could probably just be a sponge for, you know. We're driving by these different uh state parks and all that stuff, and I'm just looking at all this man, dude. I want to walk through those woods, you know.
SPEAKER_03:If you're not doors, then that's not a bad place to be.
SPEAKER_05:No, for sure.
SPEAKER_03:The cool thing is like you land in the city, right? And it's a concrete jungle in Chicago, and then you know what, 45 minutes later, you're in you're in the middle of nowhere killing hawkers. It's like that, you feel like you're in a farm town.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah, especially where you you live. I mean, it's just it's so rural, you know. It's just farm field after farm field, it's just it's beautiful out here.
SPEAKER_07:That's awesome.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, bring your ass up.
SPEAKER_06:I know, right?
SPEAKER_03:One half of the Vogel plan is done, but you gotta come down. I know, right? Yeah, you don't need your dad either. You're a big boy, that's right. I'll take care of you.
SPEAKER_05:You don't need me. That's both.
SPEAKER_03:So yeah, we wrote a podcast, and I could do all this videography, and then these motherfuckers GoPro's not working. He's playing with his phone. I'm like, by the way, his son is the talent and the camera.
SPEAKER_02:That was half, actually, you know, going back to that was half. That's why this morning I did it one time, and I go, That's this freaking GoPro. I was like, I'm done. I even text Tris and I go, These GoPros are I'm like, I'm done with these stupid things.
SPEAKER_07:I'm just throwing we've been holding on to those since like 2020.
SPEAKER_02:Well, you know why we've been holding on to them so well because me and you have both lost them and had to pay to replace them and heads, and I'm like, dude, I'm not getting rid of these. I won't I won't fucking do it. Or what does he say? I have I'm not fucking leaving.
SPEAKER_07:Yeah, I uh I just bought another battery yesterday, it's 90 bucks. Like, this shit's expensive.
SPEAKER_02:I thought that you sent me that, but I I lost my freaking uh that's the other thing that threw me off. I can't see shit today, so I left I dropped my glasses somewhere out there in the snow. And it surprised me.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, constantly stuff fishing in late to the late to the truck. I'm like, good lord.
SPEAKER_07:Oh, yeah. I'm like, I I was telling him the other day, I'm like, you know, there's like a good amount of times throughout probably the last five years where if I just didn't like put in the effort to wake you up, you just want him coming out. And I'm like, I don't I don't know if he just mentally just is like, oh, Tristan's got it, he'll wake me up. Yeah, no, as a pottery.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, at some point, right? Yep, yeah, no, but sometimes with this body feels really old when it wakes up and it doesn't want to, it doesn't have the quite the uh the well, I mean, when you when you've done a lot of things and you've killed a lot of animals and you drink a lot of bush flights and you wake up and your body doesn't feel good, yeah. You kind of say to the uh maybe I won't go.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, time to wake up. Yeah, dude. All right, so listen, listen.
SPEAKER_02:I can't not before we get out of here, Tristan, because we only keep you too because you're an hour ahead of us. I can't not tell this story. So we uh I take Tristan. One of the big things I wanted I talked to you about my stepdad who got me in the boat hunting. His name is Jerry Dale, and he hunted with Fred Bear. I mean, this guy's a legend and uh all this stuff. Well, anyway, you know, um I wanted Tristan to be able to spend time with him in his later years, so we would go down to South Missouri to his farm and hunt. So we're down there, and Tristan, um, I won't disclose how old he was, but he uh we go down there and I'm making up some bullshit. And I tell him one morning, I go, You want me to tell you how you shoot a shoot a big duck, big buck? And he's like, What? I go, You gotta drink this. And he goes, What is that? And I go, it's half five hour energy and half apple crown. And he goes, I ain't drinking that. I go, so I down it and I go out and I shoot a freaking really nice buck. So he goes, Are you hunting in the morning? I go, No, I ain't hunting. I go, Yeah, fun. I shot my buck. And so, dude, no lie about four o'clock in the morning. What he's sitting there holding two of, and then he goes out, and what did you end up shooting that morning? Dude, was that you said that was the I think that was the year I'd have shot a spike or something, but oh okay, yeah. But so anyway, we go back the next year, and I think it repeated itself. Somebody shot a deer, we did it, but after that, she's like, I don't believe in that shit anymore. Yeah, it's not working. I'm not doing it. We had a good run. But isn't that funny? The point I'm trying to make is isn't that funny how your brain works? You're just like, dude, if I don't do this, and dude, I don't kill a deer.
SPEAKER_07:You told me I had to eat like an onion raw before going out to uh like I'm thinking what your superstition is versus bullshit, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah, whatever. Watch that dad. The first time I'm sitting there, he goes, You ever seen a deer field dress before? And I'm like, No, I'm like nine. And he's like, he's sitting there and he goes, Get down here and watch me, you know, like when your dad's working on the car, he's like, God damn, you're gonna have to do this yourself, you're like sick. So I'm looking, hold my Kmart flashlight, hold it up there, and I'm and dude, I didn't know he was gonna do this, but he he grabbed the liver out and goes, take a bite, and I'm like that. He goes, You have to, it's a rite of passage, and uh, I can't remember if I did or not, but I was definitely scared of doing it.
SPEAKER_03:I don't remember if I actually did a passage of chicnosis nowadays.
SPEAKER_02:Oh boy, CWD started, right?
SPEAKER_07:Yeah, well, yeah, you're probably you're probably um immune to CWD, any of that stuff.
SPEAKER_03:We got a whole whole uh month left, man. So I think uh we're getting a decent warm-up and then another cold, which you know, honkers are kind of reverse migrate. So we s we'll uh we'll keep the calendar open for you, man. If not, you gotta just make it part of the one hell of a life calendar next year. Some you gotta get up. So yeah, sounds good.
SPEAKER_07:If we if if we can get I know it's hard with birds or whatever, but if we could like hone in like maybe two different dates and be like next year, be like, all right, either one of these, you know, that kind of thing, uh that would probably be the move.
SPEAKER_02:Let's have some place that is on the calendar.
SPEAKER_03:You kind of come in like the first week of season, you know, but it's not like I said, it's not the same. When it's warm, it's gotta be like it was today. You know, it's like you kind of keep an area open, and then when you get a first big snow, like that, then through like a couple weeks after, any any couple days will be fine. If you can get here the perfectionist, get here for the first like five or six inch snow. It's uh it's just awesome. It's awesome. Like you forget about everything, you forget about everything in in your life, work, getting them all. It's like all you want to do is for you you want it to be light out and you want to be able to set a decoy spread because uh you're smashing them. Like you sleep at night you know, before I get on, you're like, why can't you just keep get light out? Christmas morning at night is like God, it's like I just wanted to give it morning. I just want the sun to go up, so yeah, it's uh but yeah, man, we'll uh I can't wait to get you up here too, dude.
SPEAKER_02:So yeah, I mean really the only thing I'm missing. Uh the only thing I'm missing is missing, yeah, besides birds. The only thing I'm missing from this trip, really, as far as fulfillment is just I you know, I'm saying I just could not stop thinking about it all day. I was just like, gosh damn, dude. I want I want Tristan to be a part of this. So we'll definitely figure it out when you pick one up, there's there's one of the big ones up, and I didn't pick up a giant one, just a big one, dude. You're just gonna be like, God dang, dude.
SPEAKER_03:There's I mean, it's just I couldn't believe I was like, Yeah, you get a you get a good 17 pounder with a head the size of a softball. When you walk up on it, you're like, God, what the oh my god, a huge no one in the yeah. I was sending you a picture of one, was that uh Saturday or Friday? That was a that was a monster. His neck was about 10. Oh, the one you said that was all redded out. Oh, he was a yeah, that's not what they call it, but it looked like a deer. Yeah, like he just his neck looked like that, yeah. Then you pick him up and it slinks out. Like if you you hold it up to your head and his body's still not off the ground. It's like god. Next time we're gonna oil up your foot and tattoo your arm. There you go. Yep, okay. We still might do that tonight if I gave him junk enough. There you go. We're gonna tramp stamp before.
SPEAKER_07:That's great. It's good to see you, brother. All right, guys. Well, it's good to see you. It's fun hearing about it. Definitely looking forward to joining in on it.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, man. Well, and if you guys follow us, you know, Steph, uh, definitely you'll see. Uh I'm gonna be sending Tristan a bunch of videos, pictures, and stuff like that. We got some pretty good little clips that you'd be able to put together and kind of sum it up, I think, uh, in a heartbeat.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, you have to put music over some of them. Yeah, some of the misses got a little uh they uh not for telling PG 13. I was like, man, that was a great video. Then you hear like, oh well, until somebody said that.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah, no, every time that happens, I'm like, Tristan will figure it out.
SPEAKER_03:He'll just he'll he'll he'll freaking throw a Morgan banger over the top of it, and everybody'd be like, ah, keep my shot called enough to be killed those motherfuckers. Yeah, right. But Tristan's good, he can fix everything on the on the video. So no, but I'm pretty sure can't wait to get you back up, brother.
SPEAKER_07:Sounds good. Well, appreciate it. It's good, uh, good talking to y'all, and yeah, sounds sounds like a good time.
SPEAKER_02:I'll see you tomorrow. I'll talk to you tomorrow. We'll figure out we're gonna go out there and get some more deer meat.
SPEAKER_07:Sounds good.
SPEAKER_01:All right, have a good I've been southbound, I've been hellbound, riding on a midnight strain. Too fast now, think of slow down, standing in the pouring rain.