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 One Hell Of A Life Outdoors . 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
DEET & SCENT-Free Bug Protection For Hunters | Will Fontenot
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We sit down with Will Fontenot from Hunt Repellent to hear how a DEET-free, scent-free insect repellent went from a South Louisiana problem to a fast-growing product on shelves across multiple states. Along the way we get into the sales grind behind retail growth, plus turkey hunting obsession, public land pressure, and how habitat changes can ripple through waterfowl country.
• the origin of Hunt Repellent and why EPA testing shaped the launch timeline
• why DEET-based products can damage rubber, plastics, and hunting gear
• how the team grows from 30 stores to 250 stores through in-person demos
• why cold calling retailers fails and walking in works
• where the product sells best from mom-and-pop outdoor shops to gas stations near public land
• Will’s background from LSU forestry to account management to leading sales
• Louisiana hunting life from duck hunting decline to going all-in on turkeys
• practical public land turkey strategy focused on access, trucks, and avoiding conflict
• the costs and planning behind chasing a multi-state turkey season
• crawfish farming, water depth, and why duck decline debates get complicated
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I've been selling. I've been hell down. I've been on the mid time straight. Too fast now, thing off slow down. Standing in the poliary.
SPEAKER_03What's going on guys? Tristan and Tony back with another episode of the One Hove Life Outdoor Podcast. And you guys have probably seen this product on social media in the last 60 days or so, like we have. It's called Hunt Repellent, and it is sent and deep free. I'm holding a couple or the spray and then there's a lotion here. But today we got the uh sales manager, Will Fontenot, um, on to tell us about the product, how they came about, um, you know, all that good stuff, learn about his journey in the in the outdoor industry, and just shoot the shoot the shit as normal. So uh, Will, thank you for taking the time to come on tonight, man.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, thank you guys so much for having me. Like I said, this is this is my first podcast, and um, yeah, I'm excited.
SPEAKER_03Awesome, man. Awesome. Yeah, I like your shirt. I like the uh hot repellent. Is that a pacho? Yeah, there you go. Nice, those are nice. Good deal.
SPEAKER_01No, but man, let's face it. Oh shit. If you're that's all right.
SPEAKER_03I swear I have not drank a beer.
SPEAKER_01You know what though? What's good about that is they add character to the table.
SPEAKER_03We actually just worked out, believe it or not.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we did. Um, but uh no, you guys, uh, if you're an outdoors person, I don't care what you do, whether it's hunting, fishing, just outdoor activities, camping with your family, you name it. This product is something that we all need. Um, and uh that's why I'm excited to explore today because um nothing's more relatable than that, right? Yeah, that's something that everybody needs.
SPEAKER_03So no doubt.
SPEAKER_01It's it just it surprises me how long it's taken the world to do this.
SPEAKER_03I'm I'm interested to hear the backstory. Well, will you go into just kind of the something on your eye right there?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you got something on your eye. I don't know what it is.
SPEAKER_03I don't know.
SPEAKER_01All right, sorry. It was a bug.
SPEAKER_03God, we're starting off we're we're starting off really great and professional. Anyway, um, no, well, we'd love to hear just like the origin story of this because like he was saying, I mean, it's definitely a unique lane that I have no doubt it's gonna continue to keep snowballing. So we'd love to hear the origin story.
Origin Story And EPA Testing
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. Um, so I'll introduce myself and then I'll go into the to the unstore, you know, more about me. Yeah, someone's William Fontenau. You said uh font.
SPEAKER_03Okay, I went to school with a font knot.
SPEAKER_02There's a pile of us where where we live. Um, actually, the CEO is uh a fontenot as well, and we're not related.
SPEAKER_03Wow, okay. I figured for sure y'all were related. Gabe, right?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, Gabe, Gabe's the CEO, and and uh we're not related. There's a pile of us down here. Yeah, yeah. For I graduated with eight of them in my grade of 80, and none of us were wow, that's crazy.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's like a Smith, huh?
SPEAKER_02Anywhere else. Yep, yep. But um, so I'm the sales manager here at Hunt. I joined the company about eight months ago, one month after official launch date. Um, the company was founded two years ago, but with a product like this, it's almost like launching a pharmaceutical drug, which really we didn't know. And the so every both of our lotion and our spray right there had to go to the EPA testing, lab testing, every everything on the bottle is approved. If you even change one little word, you have to go through the whole entire process. No kidding. It took two years to get it from an idea to even being able to sell product. Um and and as you guys stated, I live in we live in South Louisiana, bug Mecca. Um and there was nothing on on the market that that we liked. You know, you have thermocell, but it it runs out of juice, you gotta go buy more cartridges, and then when you're walking and moving, you know, you're at a baseball game or something, you don't want to be carrying around thermosell on right.
SPEAKER_03And I'm also not convinced that breathing that stuff ends great either.
SPEAKER_02I always try to like it's unhealthy. Yeah. Um but where we really got the the idea where it would launch it is specifically our uh South Louisiana till season. I don't know if you guys are familiar. We have uh world-renowned uh till season. Yeah, and it's a hundred degrees outside, the mosquitoes are terrible. And and we're putting on uh insect repellent, and it gets on your guns, and like for example, my butt stock on my shotgun isn't it's not even there anymore. What from from from uh deep-based products.
SPEAKER_01No kidding. It just chewed it up, it just eats the rubber.
SPEAKER_02It eats your rubber, your your plastics, your leather. What really um you can clean your headlights with with uh and deep based products.
SPEAKER_01Oh, you're right. You know what? I saw somebody doing that actually. You're restoring your headlights? Yeah, yeah, when you have the foggy headlight thing going on. I actually saw somebody doing that with uh off. No kidding. Yeah, yep.
From 30 Stores To 250
SPEAKER_02Yep. So that's kind of how Hunt uh came to be with that idea, and it took uh Gabe and his brother-in-law Burns two years to launch the idea, and then I joined eight months ago. We were in about 30 stores just locally, and now we're in about 250 stores, all done with blood, sweat, and tears. Me and me and my partner Jake run the roads every day and beat them. Yeah, wow.
SPEAKER_01What a great story, dude.
SPEAKER_03That is really super super cool. So in your particular role, I mean, are you guys trying to like what is a day-to-day look like? I mean, is it everything from trying to call in like big stores like Academy to like your local like uh bait shop or what? I mean, everything in between?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so we're we're not in any big box stores yet. Um, to be honest, none of us came from this industry. We thought that uh we were just gonna walk into Academy and and get it on the shelves. So it's a it's actually very difficult to do that. But yeah, that that's in the works, but a day-to-day looks like uh a Monday, usually like a planning day for the week. And Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, me and Jake are Jake uh we're we're on the road beating down doors. We see 30 to 60 stores a week each. Driving as far as eight hours away and sleeping in hotel rooms and uh come back Friday and then uh hunting fish on the weekends and then back to it.
SPEAKER_03So I'm curious because we're both in sales and uh obviously I you know you're I I understand the lifestyle for sure. Um, you know, when it comes to like prospecting places, I mean, are you just straight up like cold calling uh spots? Are you trying to like set these appointments before you drive, or what's the deal?
SPEAKER_02So this is gonna sound crazy to you, um, as well as Gabe. Gabe thought it was crazy as well. Um Gabe is Gabe comes from a very successful background in corporate sales. Okay. And I tried the tactic of of setting uh appointments, uh-huh. But when they hear you're a salesman and they've never heard of your company in a retail store, they immediately hang up, don't give you the time or day. So I quickly pivoted, and now we just barge in there. And nice, man. That's that's how we have found our our success is just barging in there, introducing ourselves, and and once they see the products, um, they they they cannot resist. There, there's nothing else like it.
SPEAKER_01Well, and and think about, and I I know you guys know this, but I'm thinking about it from like I said, as a salesperson, you know, is that that makes a lot of lot of sense. And and because all obviously all of us in sales, we also understand buyers' needs, right? I mean, you have to if you're a successful salesperson, and that just makes a ton of sense that when you walk in and you're going to help elevate their retail profits with something so unique, who's not gonna listen to you?
SPEAKER_03Right, right, you know what I mean? I mean well, and uh one of the things, like to your point, like with any product, like it's that's the challenge, right? Is like you're I mean, if you believe in what you're selling, which I know there's some crappy products out there and crappy services, but if you're at a company that you believe in, that's you're just like God, if you I could just get 15 minutes with you, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, this was my first ever sales job.
SPEAKER_03No kidding. What was your background before this?
SPEAKER_02So we're all of us are are under 30 years old at at the company. Nice, so very, very young company. Two of us, uh two of my co-workers, this is their first job out of and we're all local. We're all we're all from our little part of Ricefield country in southwest Louisiana.
SPEAKER_01That's cool.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I went to school at LSU.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_02Graduated in forestry in 2024. I worked at a software company called Mallard Bay.
SPEAKER_01We uh oh yeah, we're familiar with them.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I was with Mallard Bay from launch date, my freshman year of college, and I worked there for six years throughout college and then after, and then I came here.
SPEAKER_03Wow. Yeah, that's great, man. That's awesome. What did uh at Mallard Bay, just curious, did you do sales over there too, or what what was your role over there?
SPEAKER_02More of an account management role, just like uh really upselling. Um just keeping people happy and and I speak the lingo with those. Uh I'm a I'm a big hunter, so I speak the lingo and and get along with those uh outfitters very well.
SPEAKER_01Well, so I gotta I gotta ask this question, all right, and and hopefully I'm not stepping outside my boundaries, but you had no sales experience. How did you land a job as a sales manager? Was it was it was it a vision? Was it just your industry knowledge? What I mean obviously uh was Gabe. Yeah, Gabe. Gabe, uh he saw something in you that was spot on because you're having the success. What was that factor, do you think?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so we Gabe wanted to hire uh locally. Um Gabe, me and Gabe grew up five minutes from each other and just never knew each other somehow. And we're both a font no. Um so I did have some experience in selling, I wouldn't say zero, but as far as retail in-person selling, um no experience. And uh what and I saw the building, I drove by it. It's five minutes from my house. We're in a they purchased a 8,000 square foot warehouse, an old uh family dollar, and completely gutted it. Um and now it's it's gorgeous on the inside. I'll have to send you guys some pictures so you guys can can throw it up. We have a 1959 Land Rover sitting in here. And uh so I just happened to drive by the building, saw it, piqued my interest, asked some people what it was. They put me in connection. I wasn't even searching for a job, and I just scheduled a meeting just to come visit. I worked for Mallard Bay, so we were I was in the industry to an extent connected.
Will’s Career Path Into Sales
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SPEAKER_01Well, it sounds like to me that he's got an ability to, you know, I I I I've been in charge of companies and managed people and stuff. And I I I always say that you know, you can have great product or service all day long, but if you don't have the right people, it doesn't matter. And it sounds like he's got a an innate ability to to identify good talent.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah. That's a good that's awesome, man. So have you had any um you mentioned and working with uh outfitter with Mallard Bay. I would imagine there's some outfitters that you could, I mean, maybe not huge volume, but do you guys have any outfitter partners that like they sell their products and they're like pro shop or whatever?
SPEAKER_02Not yet. That that that's coming soon. Uh yeah, I've sent it to a few outfitters of friends of mine at uh especially some Osceola Turkey outfitters.
SPEAKER_03Or I would think like fishing and stuff like that too.
SPEAKER_02Maybe I'll fishing, um, Gulf of America really reps our stuff well. Um, you see, he's a good friend of ours. Duck hunters. I deal dealt with a lot of duck hunters, but they don't deal with with bugs as as much. Usually it's it's gone into the cold.
SPEAKER_03I know, man. That's that's the thing. So when Brett reached out and sent us um sent us the stuff, I was like, I made a video right off the bat, but I was like, honestly, here in Georgia, I'm not gonna be able to use this to like it just is starting to get to like 70, 75. So probably still got like a maybe during turkey season I'll get to finally use it, you know.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. Um in Louisiana, there's almost no breaks. Uh yesterday I was out turkey scouting, I coated myself in in hunt.
SPEAKER_01Nice. Wow, dude. I can see this product, and I'm like, I'm saying this, but I don't want to sound like Mr. Obvious. And that is like, for example, um, let's take Cash, Arkansas, where we go all the time, right? They're in the rice capital of the world. All right, and Northeast, and I we know a lot of people there. We're not there during that time of year, but they're like, bro, late summer, like the people don't even go, they it changes your plans like completely in townships. And I'm just thinking, if something like this was in Jordan's, yeah, everybody in that town, they're not even an outdoors person, they're just like, gimme that, like you know, I mean, yeah.
SPEAKER_03That's so cool. 100%. What's um when you guys like uh you alluded to it a little bit earlier, but I just want to kind of drill back down just because I'm curious. Like, is it uh like the mid-level outdoor, like mom and pop type stores? Is that kind of like your guys' wheelhouse right now?
SPEAKER_02That's so yeah, the the the small independent mom and pop outdoor stores do really well. Um gas stations, a well-placed gas station, like outside of like a WMA public land. There's some baseball fields, those do extremely well. And then believe it or not, call me crazy, but boot women's boutiques with a small men's section.
SPEAKER_03Yes, dude, like where the Duke Cannon stuff is.
SPEAKER_02Oh is it's a safe product. Uh you don't smell it. Um, it's good for their children. And then a lot of them buy it for their husbands, so they come back from shopping and say, look, look what I bought you.
SPEAKER_01Well, you know what? Let's give credit where credit's due. You know what that is? In my opinion, it's it's it's it's your it's your it's your marketing here. It's the it's the pot packaging and product because when you look at that, it's clean. Yeah, it looks aesthetic, aesthetically, yeah.
SPEAKER_03It says hunt on it, hunt on it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and so you the wife hasn't seen that from that husband, and I can definitely see how that happens. That's pretty cool.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we're yeah, our goal was to make bug spray cool. I mean, yeah, who posted bug spray on social media, and now it's every day we get pictures of people posting bug spray, which is crazy.
SPEAKER_03Well, you guys have done a good job uh with it, like just some of the like the koozies and like the stickers and stuff that came with like the uh stuff that Brett sent is yeah, you definitely can tell that you know there's been thought put into the br overall branding picture of it.
SPEAKER_01Um what did it take? And this might and if I'm digging too deep, you can just tell me shut up. But but but I'm thinking about this all right. How do you how do you protect that name? How do you get a service a service mark on that name? Because that had to be extremely difficult.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so I I don't know the answer to that specifically, um, but I do know there are some sort of protect that it it's it's protected in some way.
SPEAKER_01Sure, it is, and I mean he must have a good attorney, good, good, good patent attorney, is what I'm saying, you know. But but that is I don't know.
SPEAKER_03I mean, I think if I was walking through a store and didn't even know what it was, you'd want to be I would pick it up, especially just for like your husband, like you said. Yeah, well, my walk well, not you, uh you know what I mean. Not my husband, but you wouldn't be here if I had a well, I guess it could be, but yeah, we won't even go down the rabbit hole.
SPEAKER_01All right.
SPEAKER_03So, um, shoot, okay. Let me get my oh, okay. So, and I don't want to like don't go into specific numbers because I don't want to like put your like your sales stuff out there for anybody listening, but I'm just curious, like, what does it look like from a like a retail store? Like, do they gotta buy a palette of this stuff? Do they buy like a box? Like, what does that look like?
SPEAKER_02No, so we we have pretty low minimums um wanted to do um as a new product. We didn't want the buy-in to be to be big like most other products. You're looking at a three thousand dollar buy-in. Hold on, a bunch of products like uh camouflage and shotgun shells. You're looking at a big purchase order. So we knew we had to to get in the store some way. So we we lowered our our buy-in, and I'll just give it's less than$1,500. I'll just say that. Um so it's low, it lowered the barrier to entry. Um and then once it hits the shelf, if we get in, it sells. That's so the same price we're giving up is is the lower initial sale up front, but they it it sells. So the restocks are well.
SPEAKER_01You guys gotta have a ton of just like I mean, really, there's no way that I mean your retailers are only speaking what the consumer is purchasing, yeah. And the results are there. So I mean there's gotta be a little bit of a snowball effect starting to happen with like as we all know in sales, referrals are everything, right? And I mean, you guys gotta be able starting to be building a network like that with so many stores where you're just like, look, bro, this stuff sells. So get all get on the train.
SPEAKER_02Word is traveling. I was like that. Yeah, word's traveling. That's awesome.
SPEAKER_03That's great, man. So do you guys um are you guys planning on doing any like of the of the duck hunting shows or like any of the regional like fishing shows, or have you guys ventured into that world yet?
SPEAKER_02Like in advertisement wise, or yeah, just like conventions, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Like in the booth and like setting up.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, I mean shows. I thought you've been on TV. Uh oh. Um yeah, we're we did a few in Louisiana.
SPEAKER_03Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_02We did our first real one two weeks ago. Nice. Uh we have a nice Bruce. We brought the the Land Rover from the office sitting in the floor. And yeah, we plan to do to do a bunch more. I'd have to look at the calendar, but I'm sure we have seven, eight to ten of them for the rest of the year.
SPEAKER_01Heck yeah.
Growing Up Hunting In Louisiana
SPEAKER_03Nice, man. So I I know you mentioned uh obviously you're you know, started using this teal hunting. So you're tell us about uh growing up in Louisiana and the outdoors, man. I mean, because you talk to a lot of duck hunters and they're like, man, it's just it's not quite what it was, you know.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so I'll start with this. I'm a jack of all trades when it comes to hunting. I do it all, I try to do everything. I don't pinpoint myself into one category. With that said, I still so I grew up duck hunting six, five, six years old, three minutes from my house. Um literally get on my four-wheeler, drive three minutes and have world-class duck hunting. Pintail, you know, you're shooting pintail, mallard, uh gray ducks or or gadwag, y'all might say that. Um so that was really at at my back door growing up. And uh literally three minutes, three minutes away from my house, my dad would take me. He introduced me to the outdoors. I'm blessed for that. And uh, me and him would go and my brother, then right around 15 years old, I'd say, I'm 24 now, the hunting took a yeah, major decline. You can't even shoot, probably more than a green leaf. until there a day. And that's not being a dead horse, that's just reality. Um but so that's just I grew up duck hunting and then as I got older I now I I do it all. Woodcock hunting, squirrel, rabbits then I'll save the best is for last I'm completely ate up with turkey hunting. I'm the only turkey hunter I know probably within 30 miles of me. Because we live in we live in the marsh. There's there's not in the rice fields. We there's not many turkeys which is a good and bad I mean I have access to unlimited amount of land. There's not many turkeys so that's my uh it switched from duck hunting to turkey hunting.
SPEAKER_03Dude you know it's funny it's like turkeys are the only thing that people like say that about like that are just like addicted you know I mean people say it kind of like joking with duck hunting but the people that are ate up with turkey hunting they say it exactly like you just said it.
SPEAKER_02No it it it eats like it's I'm just infatuated with it. It's almost it's terrible that's all I talk about.
SPEAKER_03So so what uh what's Louisiana's um like when's their season start and what's what's the lowdown on that?
SPEAKER_02April 3rd to May 3rd this year.
SPEAKER_03Okay. Month long season it got pushed back two weeks ago two weeks later maybe a couple years ago so our season now opens later um it's not very good hunting I don't advise people to come over here but uh that's what we got so it's it's funny I was just talking to my buddy Kate or that runs Delta Thunder Outfitter is our good friend friend he um was saying he's one of those that wants to get a turkey in every state you know and he is we were just talking about how he was saying it's so hard in Louisiana because exactly what you just said like it's so much marshland and he's like one of these years I gotta get down there and get one though to knock it off my list.
SPEAKER_02Yeah your best bet is is to give us a local it's somehow social media and trade some type of hunt. That's just that's the only way the public land is it's brutal.
SPEAKER_03We just actually had a um you would probably eat this up we just had uh so you know UF obviously SEC yeah so we had um the one of the turkey biologists over there our doc her name's Dr. Kelly O'Neill I forget her exact like title but she's um involved in their turkey program there at U UF um turkey lab and super interesting stuff they like her exact thing she's doing is they went out and uh caught um failed nests that had been like you know a predator came through or somebody mowed over it or whatever and basically salvaged the eggs and incubated them and now they're like in a I think she said it's a quarter of a mile a quarter acre yes they're like containment doing all these studies on these turkeys that are growing up they're now a year old and they're going into they got easters and OCLs. Yeah and they're doing all this all these studies trying to figure out just different things about you know what what food sources you know allow certain turkeys to grow better and just all kinds of you know predation factors and stuff it was really neat.
SPEAKER_01Well it ain't the one of the highlights that we're hoping that we're gonna get a video from her and we'll send it to you because it's pretty cool. She said that they had a pole three days old strutting yeah oh my gosh she said you could barely see the tail feather and it was strut and I was like that's so cool.
SPEAKER_02That's really cool. And I graduated like I said in forestry but it was really a concentration in wildlife habitat management with uh upland focused so you said upland yeah like upland species not like uh wetlands but uh it's all the like the turkey talk and habitat and all that I I love all of it.
SPEAKER_01You eat that alive huh? Yeah yeah that's awesome well and then and I mean in recently we also had um um Jason LeBartis yeah he's the turkey of Turkeys Tomorrow we had him on yeah and I honestly I learned a whole lot from there I I the big thing uh nutshell I'll take from that is how important it is that you self-preserve that you self regulate regulate yeah conservation for turkeys no matter what the limits are for the state and he went through some scenarios that just blew my mind honestly how quick you could wipe out a turkey population if you're not paying attention to that as a private as a private landowner.
SPEAKER_03It's just it it just uh in in a nutshell it was just a breakdown of like this is how big the habitat is and if you have if they say that the average and they he said did say the average property owner on average is a hundred acres so you're gonna have say 10 property owners involved in that potential like group of turkeys that are using that land and if everybody took their limit goodbye turkeys I mean that's that was the nutshell well another thing he kind of said too is like you could have one property in that thousand acres of 10 parcels that has the majority of the turkeys and then it's like if they go in and shoot their one or two turkeys whatever it is for that state and then their buddy does and their brother does and so next thing you know they killed 10 turkeys off that property all of a sudden you could have like a county or like a maybe not a county but like a whole corner of a county that like just wiped out that's wiped out you know I've never thought about it that way but yeah it blew my mind I was like wow they the turkeys aren't restricted to property line so I mean yeah living at a thousand acres and they're gett everyone's hunting them yeah it makes sense yeah man when uh when you went to school that um definitely super interesting I love that kind of stuff we do both love that stuff and that's part of why we you know have folks like like that on the podcast um what like you just so focusing on upland I mean louisiana doesn't scream upland to me so I mean did you did you have a fo like a plan to like maybe go to a different state with that or what?
SPEAKER_02So in in high school the the reason for me picking the the major is in high school I did forestry state champion forester in high school through our FFA and I enjoy uh identifying trees and and just walking in the woods I like nature um so I was like well if I'm gonna go to college I at least want something I I like but I don't think I ever intended on using it to be to be honest with you.
SPEAKER_03I gotcha I wanted the degree and uh wanted to do something that I enjoyed nice man wow yeah no that's that is cool that just to be able to learn about that stuff.
SPEAKER_02So you said uh a state champion in forestry what how do you become a state champion in forestry yeah so I don't know if you guys are familiar with of FFA yeah yeah FFA chapters um my teacher at an FFA chapter I mean uh my school had an FFA chapter my AG teacher was like the he led it and through FFA they have all these different competitions meat ID livestock ID okay um milk tasting like off Napoleon dynamite uh let's go different things uh and I saw forestry and I was like I think I'd like that and it involves uh tree identification um timber stand improvement uh thinning and cutting trees tool ID and then a couple others mapping how to map and uh found it interesting took a hold of it and uh got really really good at it and yep one uh state state champion best in the state so what's the that's awesome so what's that competition look like like do y'all show up like like and I'm not trying to make fun of it at all but I'm just trying to understand from a competitive standpoint.
SPEAKER_01Do y'all like stand at a starting line they're like all right here's a thousand acres go figure all these things out and first person back we know I mean what what explain that a little bit because I think that's very interesting.
SPEAKER_02Yeah so it's broken into teams so like my high school would have a team this high school would have a team and usually the state contest would be 35 teams and uh you're you're graded as an individual as well as as a team.
SPEAKER_01So they break you into groups four different groups and you go do tree ID first then you switch off to this and then this and this and then usually around five hours longstop and then they go and grade everything and upgrade you as a team and then individually so that's an accuracy accuracy based on your accuracy basically yeah yeah and your in-depth knowledge obviously of of each thing or whatever that's that's pretty cool I mean because that's that is so intelligent on the FFA or any of these organizations to do that because like I always joke around with him like when we go golfing I'm like let's play for a quarter a hole and he's like I'm not playing for a quarter hole and and me I'm driven by like I don't care if it's a dime a hole like I want to beat his ass over over something. You know what I mean? So it's cool that they've made that more interesting yeah at a competitive level because what it ultimately does is it's makes everybody strive to be the best right at what you're doing. So that's really cool.
SPEAKER_03Yeah and they hand out scholarships a lot of people got scholarships to to schools um to to go practice actual forestry at at the college that's awesome oh I bet yeah I didn't do that I chose the the party school of LSU but uh I'm sure that was a good time how was football when you were there at LSU yeah good the year before I was there was it was unbelievable was that Joe Burrow the year before no yeah hey man I uh I didn't go to like a all right guys if you've been listening to us for a while you know we love frog talks waterfowl gear but did you know they don't just make waterfowl gear they make some incredible fishing organization like the frog talks tackle vault 3600 that's one of our personal favorites also the FTX Elite series is great if you fish hard and need something to hold up to the elements. And what about footwear? Yeah guys frogtogs has you covered there everything from hunting boots to deck boots to fishing shoes to casual stuff like the Java 2.0 and flip flops. I can go on and on but honestly you just need to head over to frogtogs.com and use code 12 life outdoors for 15% off your order. I went to a community college in Jacksonville Florida but uh my wife went to Florida State so I've become kind of a Florida State fan which they they're not in the SEC so like we'dn't be cool right they beat us I went to an away game in uh yeah in Orlando in Orlando in Washington I was there yeah I drove 12 hours and it got beat yeah damn that stadium's rough isn't it yeah that was a bad stadium so for the NFL I'm a Jaguars fan and I know it's sad but um they're they just announced today that they're gonna be playing their um 2027 season in that's in that stadium that is rough I know but my wife's mom lives in Orlando so I'm like yeah I guess I'm gonna have to try to go to a game there's uh not a real big uh NFL presence around here at least where I live I don't pay attention to the Saints I don't think I've watched the Saints game ever to be honest yeah it's dude it's so different in the South like so he I don't know if he mentioned this earlier but we're originally from Illinois um so until I was 15 and I don't even know his 30s or something they moved our family down to Jacksonville Florida and that's when I first like started getting into college football because in Illinois it's like who am I going to be a fan of Illinois for football?
Midwest Roots And Woodsman Talk
SPEAKER_01Like it's just not the same you know so I when I got to the South I was like oh I get it like you know we went to the Gator Bowl a couple times and I was like oh okay like well actually the first time that you and I really got into it and I and honestly I never got into college football either for the same reason you know growing up in the Midwest but he and I we got I don't remember if I got them from my boss or something but we got tickets to a tax slayer bowl. Gator yeah gator bowl tax slayer bowl yeah tax slayer bowl at uh at the Jag Stadium and I was like man let's get there early and just go see this whole like Tennessee Tennessee and Iowa yeah let's go be part of Tennessee's uh I think it was Josh Gives was their quarterback I think too yeah but we wanted to be part of like the what do you call it the prep the uh I don't know just like right before the game like the band and all that stuff yeah so we were like I wanted to just like engulf myself in this right and we walked out of there and we were like oh yeah this this college football thing is addictive as soon as I heard uh heard them all singing Rocky Top and I was like all right I don't like Tennessee but this is fun this is super fun you know so yeah we're we're a little addicted to college football now now that we're out here in Georgia um of course you know Katie with uh with uh um Florida State um it just caused a debate actually for me and mom this morning mom saw a little onesie and I go oh get that for the baby it she goes nope it's bulldogs yeah she goes I'll be contacting Lady see if she can make a a a a Florida state one and I was like man dang it yeah we got a baby on the way so thanks man um go ahead sorry what part of Illinois southern um southern yeah southern to mid like we lived we grew up right across the river from St. Louis um around Belleville Collinsville Alton area um but did most of our hunting like up in the northwestern Illinois what they call the Golden Triangle um you know Brown Adams Pike County uh around Quincy that area yeah so reason for for me asking is I had the best turkey hunt of my whole life last year in southern Illinois oh yeah without dropping any I'm not gonna drop the county or anything but uh yeah the best most beautiful turkey hunts I've ever had yeah that's great was it private land or public land it was public land all right I know where you were no I mean I know I have an inclination but you know that but it's you get you got to draw that right yep it was a draw yeah so there's a reason why they have that and uh no that's cool man gorgeous land gorgeous compared to where I live I think it's cool dude um that you're I I call it like a woodsman you know like well like uh you're actually probably the truest embodiment of a woodsman we may have had on this podcast being a four straight champion and doing all the different hunting but like I feel like the way the hunting industry is like people can get so caught up in like oh my god I'm like this you know duck hunter or whatever and like everything revolves around that but there's so many cool opportunities out there like you just said what woodcock hunting like yeah woodcock hunting too yeah there's so many cool things that you I just learned that woodcock was a freaking migratory bird I was watching a TV show this upland some show I was watching the other night and uh it was actually these ladies I can't think of the show right now but um I had no idea I had no idea that woodcock was I don't know that a migratory bird it's it's a blast to do you get to visit with your friends and buddies and just walk and and watch the dogs just do their thing. It's do you they scare the shit out of you when you walk when you're walking through the woods because you almost step on the little camo sucker man.
SPEAKER_02So is it like quail hunting in a way I guess in a way um yes it's usually like singles woodcot don't never really like a bunch of them at one spot but to an extent yes I've I think I've only been quail hunting one time. So I don't don't want to sound like an expert but uh walking with a dog and and getting to visit and enjoy nature and shoot a few tasty ant tasty birds.
Public Land Turkey Pressure Tactics
SPEAKER_03Nice man. So you said like turkey hunting you're the most ate up with if I asked you like I have a quota hunt this weekend and I'm trying I I have like two options from two different spots I've scouted turkeys and I'm trying I'm asking all my buddies like what they would do. So like if I throw a scenario at you can you give me like what you would do yep where in Georgian yeah so basically I got north northeast Georgia yeah north yeah so I got a um I got a lottery hunt and it's you know I that's all I'm gonna say so it's a lottery hunt you know and I uh have scouted two different parts of the property now luckily we also deer hunt this property so I have like some knowledge of general stuff that could probably rule out some areas but basically I found two different spots and the first spot I went into um after I'd all right this was two weekends ago I went in um and I'll try to keep this short scouted a spot where I thought turkeys would look at look like you were there first like there would be on a map and there was no turkey sign didn't hear anything I went to another block that I was like okay this seems like pretty like hard to get into so we're just gonna go well I basically went through this thick brush crossed this creek that like was not easy to cross I had like walk like a hundred yards to find a crossing so that alone those two factors kind of made me okay well maybe the average person might be a little deterred because this has not looked like turkey habitat well I get to like where this um these pines come into like hardwoods and I found a bunch of scratch and like poop and stuff and long story short um go up this ridge and at like 1030 I spooked four thir four turkeys on this ridge and I was like okay cool so I'm gonna mark that I'm gonna back out but I know there's turkeys here fast forward to last weekend I go in this other block and I get out of the truck truck or get out of the car at 710 and I sunset sunrise 730 and they're already like going off but I don't know where they're at I just knew they're somewhere that way so basically I got down to like this ri this river bottom and got within you know close and I was like shit they're across the river on private property go figure and it's like a big river like they're not you're not walking across that river you gotta figure out and well I mean it's private anyway. Yeah so um I was about to leave and then one gobbled on my side of the river. I was like sweet and this is at like 830 but I was like the only thing about that spot is it's more accessible to the peop to people and it's like basically this property there's only 10 people that pulled this hunt and it's that I'm like I feel like other people could find these turkeys but I'm really like intrigued because of how vocal they were I'm like man I really want to go in there but I just from a pressure standpoint I'm worried about other people hearing those same turkeys you know I I think the first thing I would look at is as far as the access can people sneak in on you without seeing your vehicle let's just say they park behind a bend or is there really only one parking spot to get to get to them. So on the caveat to that spot is that there's a couple spots from like the north let's say north ish or like the east northeast but where I went in at is not obvious and it's like more south. So where I was at there's nobody else there's no other way you could come in from that direction unless you had because it's landlocked by private. Unless you just happen and ask a pro a private landowner or something you know um so from our direction I don't think so I think from another direction and be calling at the same same turkeys I think so yeah I think to me it's it's really about the access and if people can see your truck.
SPEAKER_02I mean if people see your your and it's a smaller piece of woods they're not gonna come in on you as much as the big bad social media people say oh they're they're coming in on me. That's nine times out of ten it's not gonna happen. Intentionally now if they come in from the other side and they didn't even know you were there. So maybe I just go in from where you entered and even do a big loop to the other side so you can catch any people going to them and and then they see you first. So you got your truck blocking one side and you're actually blocking the other side.
SPEAKER_01Okay yeah that's smart well you know and then think about what he says makes a little bit of sense Tristan because think about two years ago we knew where some turkeys were on a different piece of public land. We showed up there super early on opening morning there's some other guys in the parking lot and we just I said we're crappie fishing we're crappie fishing today. That's why I said we're out of here well you know because it wasn't even worth it I I they had to have known the same birds were there that we knew were there so but you're saying that there's a lot of people like that that will just be like all right we're gonna go somewhere else or whatever.
SPEAKER_02If you look on social media people are going to say otherwise they're gonna say no everyone's out to give me they're coming steal my yeah of course it's not it's not uh nine times out of ten they're they're gonna do the the correct thing and it's your choking back out.
SPEAKER_01Most people are good.
SPEAKER_03Yeah yeah cool that that that confirms my uh because I gotta say it when I when I heard them all firing off from about 710 to I left at 845 about every two minutes, I was like I'm gonna have a hard time not coming back down here.
SPEAKER_01Oh he called me dude like He's Tristan's used like a really straight talker, dude. He called me and I kind of thought that he was out of breath a little bit when he was telling me about it because he was freaking fired up, you know, and I was like, oh my God, like here we go with another addiction.
SPEAKER_03I know. I got a feeling I'm I always stayed away from it, man.
SPEAKER_01Like, I mean, I've been I my my roots go way back to 10 years old bow hunting, you know. I mean, and I've shot a lot of deer with a bow. And I was always afraid to get into waterfowl hunting because I would my I mean I don't know that my wife would be with me right now, quite honestly, because I just go too deep into something, you know. And uh um, you know, I guess the only reason why I get the turkey hunt now is just over the years she's become a little bit numb, you know, to to like this. I just told mom, I was like, oh yeah, it's a me and Tristan just got this turkey hunt lined up, you know, we're going whatever that weekend is in April, and she's like, she just turns around. Where back in the day, I probably would have had a two-day talk about that, you know. So, but I just never got into it up in Illinois, but I saw them all the time, bro. I mean, like, and I've told this story once before, but I think Illinois, you're right, and there's other states just like this. If you talk turkey hunters, that you find the right spot, dude. You can just get on a whole ton of turkeys. But I was just walking through the woods one day, following this top of this bank off of this river, it was about 80 foot drop down to this river, and just following this bottom. And I came to a spot, and it was a gigantic black oak tree. I mean, I'm talking yeah, it's giant, you couldn't put your arms around it. And for the whole bay, if you can imagine as white as the canopy as the tree is, nothing underneath it was alive. Nothing, it was covered in turkey droppings. And I was so in, I was it's I'd never, I mean, nature wise, I saw something like that. I'm like, dude, this is I'll never see something like this again, you know? And I went back and talked to a biologist that he would always stop into this public land checks uh area where there's park rangers and stuff. And I told him, I said, I saw the craziest thing today. And he's like, first of all, where were you at? And I was telling him, I said, Well, I was walking down here, he goes, 'Are you talking about the turkey tree?' And I go, Gosh dang, dude. Like, I thought I really found something. He goes, but of course, you know, the state officials knew where that tree was. But they, these turkeys apparently had been roosting there for like 30 something years, bro. Like, and there was no vegetation at all because there were so much turkey droppings that like killed it all, I guess. You know, but but I also sat there and had like 50-something turkeys come walking underneath my tree one fall, you know. So it I get it, you know, but but no, I wanted like my point whole to to close that point is that when I saw that, I was like, oh baby, oh man, I'm I'm gonna come back next spring. And then my wife was like, We got kids and you need to pay the bills and we need you to work. And I never never got into it.
SPEAKER_02On that, on the wife subject, this is I'm getting married in like 10 months. So I told my fiance this is the uh my last turkey season unmarried, so I'll see you in May.
SPEAKER_03Oh my god, that's amazing. Oh, dude. So what do you do you have anything outside of Louisiana lined up this year?
SPEAKER_02Or you know, the past couple years, uh so I started turkey hunting in like uh 2020.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
Traveling For Turkeys And Big Costs
SPEAKER_02I met someone that turkey hunted, like I said, no one I know turkey hunts. I didn't even know it was a thing in Louisiana. So I got introduced to it like five years ago, but we always traveled for duck hunting. We travel Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi, all duck hunting growing up. And then uh when I started Turkey hunting, I was like, man, we should just do this with Turkey Hunting. And then so I wasn't as much as we want to say I'm just a hype follower. I've been I'm I'm not, I'm saying. But uh, so yeah, this year I'm I think I'm gonna go to Oklahoma, uh Nebraska, New Mexico. Nice, uh, Alabama. Yeah, full schedule.
SPEAKER_01That's awesome. Where are you at on your on your on your journey for each each uh state?
SPEAKER_02Each no each species. At the rate we're going now, probably finish in 25 years. Uh but uh 10 or 12 around there.
SPEAKER_01Well, what about species-wise? Where are you at? I haven't shot.
SPEAKER_02Oh, nice. Oh, the last one I need. I've done uh I've shot a Rio and Miriam and Eastern three times in one season before. I've just never got the aceola.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's a that's a tricky situation only being in South Florida. Money talks. Well, we just public land's a nightmare.
SPEAKER_01Well, apparently there's uh even an area, you know, in Florida where you know there's a there's a kind of a buffer zone line there where you can uh get into some hybrids too.
SPEAKER_02So yeah one day I'm gonna go. I'm just I can't go to the public land, and I just the the the price tag is just outrageous. They know what they have. I'd be doing this.
SPEAKER_03What what's it run? What's it run roughly? Like if you had just ballpark like a ranch.
SPEAKER_02For an Alceola, I mean I think if you found one less than 2,000, you'd probably think you're getting scammed.
SPEAKER_03Wow.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, less than 2,000, and that's probably only for the bird. You're not looking at lodging, meals for a nice place, like a real nice meals, lodging, three-day hunt, probably 3,500 to 4,500. Hold on, real nice places for one turkey. Yeah, you can almost go for that much, dude.
SPEAKER_03For real, that's crazy. You do a lot of duck hunting for that much, too.
SPEAKER_01Wait till you have to wait till you have to explain those finances to the other person here in a few months.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's hilarious.
SPEAKER_01You better be like, babe, I've got like this 10-year budget um for osseola hunting, and it's built in already. You don't have to even worry about it.
SPEAKER_03Doesn't matter if I save if I save$50 a month for the next 10 years, I can go.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I have this osseola fund.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. That's great. Do you do you have a favorite turkey hunt?
SPEAKER_02I think it would be my most favorite turkey. So I have a lot of memorable, like memorable turkey hunts, you know, in the in the Rocky Mountains, stuff like that always sticks out. Last year I shot a turkey five minutes from my house.
SPEAKER_03Wow.
SPEAKER_02In the rice fields, crawfish traps in the background. Um, just there's not many turkeys, and it took me about five years to find one in that scenario. I've been saving it, looking, looking, looking, finding one in the in the crawfish fields. And I some people are gonna listen to this and then I'm gonna lose all my turkey permission. But uh yeah, so I shot one at 10 yards last year, goblin strutting coming through the field road of a of a crawfish farm. That's wow, dude. Ever. I doubt I'll top that.
SPEAKER_01Watch in two years, you're gonna you're gonna see something, some guy on social media just be like, bro, turkeys eat crawfish. If you want to find the turkeys, you gotta find the crawfish, bro. Yeah, that's about as Louisiana as it can.
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Crawfish Farming And Duck Decline Debate
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we live in the crawfish mecca. It's all, I don't know, you guys are familiar with uh crawfit like farming practices.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I've seen a little bit of it, like just through social media, but that's it. Like there's that one page that's real popular.
SPEAKER_02I forget what they're called, but yeah, the crawfish farming is completely taken over our little area, the little southwest corner of the state. That's where I don't know the facts, but I know between Jeff Davis Parish and the Kanye Parish, um, where we're at, they caught over a million pounds of crawfish in one week. Oh my god. All the crawfish that you're seeing is come is coming from a 45 mile radius throughout the country. Wow.
SPEAKER_03What what does crawfish go for per pound, roughly? Around here, uh, I think right now it's like three dollars. Three? Okay.
SPEAKER_02Around here, where it's like probably in Mississippi or Texas, it's still probably ten dollars a pound.
SPEAKER_03Damn.
SPEAKER_02Supply and demand, supply and demand.
SPEAKER_03A lot of money in crawfish, dude.
SPEAKER_02Oh my gosh, there's there's build it's a billion dollar industry. Billions.
SPEAKER_03God, who it's just crazy, man. The things that like you don't realize or people make money doing, you know? Like who who I mean bug spray, right?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, bug spray. And the there's a theory, I don't know if I support it. Um I'm not gonna say it, but that the crawfish fields is one of the reasons why Louisiana duck hunting is is on such a decline. No, it's true, but there the theory is that um so really like 2010, crawfish really took off down here. Now every field that you see, people are cutting down 10 acres of pine trees to make a 10-acre crawfish field. But um so before crawfish fields, after they cut rice, it would be fallow, it would just be left alone until the spring. So what would happen is rainwater would flood it and flood just natural moist soil, just natural goodness. Well, now everything is crawfish. So they harvest the rice, they leave the stubble and they build their levees higher. So where it's usual when it's flooded, it's just before the crawfish fields, it was maybe an inch or two deep when it when it flooded. Now you're looking at anywhere from thigh to hip deep fields. Go drive by all the crawfish fields and you don't see a duck in them because it's it's deep. A duck doesn't want to you'll see you see the ducks in the mallards and the pintail. Um, you see them in in one inch deep water, the shallower the better. So that's a theory. That's all that's that people want to talk about in the southwest Louisiana.
SPEAKER_03Well, I would think, I mean, is there any like the flip side of that coin? I mean, is there any talk about like divers in those areas?
SPEAKER_02Like you'd think there'd be no no divers, some blackjack or ring necks, a few, um, but no campus back, no red.
SPEAKER_01I guess my argument to that would be just from the outsider looking in, right, is there sure were hundreds of thousands, if not, I don't know if if if seven figures is relatable, but of duck hunters in Louisiana, right? So let's think about this for a minute. When it was the Mecca, all right, you have all these people managing their land, managing those properties. The farmers were getting paid to fly out, you know, outfitters getting paid by people that want to lease this field, just no different than Arkansas, right? Yeah, you have this revenue generation, the local businesses love all the duck hunters from out of state coming in, all these things that play into it. My only argument to be would be who was the entrepreneur that said, Oh, F the duck hunting, we're gonna just start slamming these crawfish in here until the duck hunting sucks. Or was it a transition of farmers going, nobody's leasing my fields anymore for duck hunting? I need to make money. And now I've got this guy figured out, hey, I can make some money on crawfish.
SPEAKER_03Well, I think it's that they could make crawfish after after rice, right? So I mean they're like, sweet, let's double down.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah. Well, same thing with duck hunting, right? That's what they would do if they harvest the rice and then lease their field while it's not being used. I mean, you know, when the once the rice is harvested. I don't know. I'm just thinking out loud.
SPEAKER_02I I don't think I don't know if I believe in it.
SPEAKER_01Um, that's just what a popular thing around here is. Um it's no different than the whole corn thing up north. Yeah. Oh, everybody's blaming Tony Vandemore. Oh, Jesus, come on. You know, I mean that is such a small channel of that of ducks in the big scheme of things. Uh I don't know, but we can we could we could go down that rabbit hole, but I'm not. I'll let Tony Vandemore go down that rabbit hole.
SPEAKER_03So dude, yeah, and you know, it kind of gets me thinking like one thing that we had, you know, there's so many different factors that people talk about like affect ducks, you know, everyone's got their theory, and like um when we had we were fortunate enough to sit down with our friend Cade, who runs Delft Center Outfitters, his granddaddy who guided for like uh Bill Byers Duck Club, I think, for like a long time, like 40 years, and like farmed. And he was saying that like the overall agricultural, like the practices have changed so much that like and the equipment has has gotten so much better that like all of those fields that are these rice fields, like back when he was farming, you know, would leave like didn't he say like 20-25% of the things?
SPEAKER_01It'd be like 20%.
SPEAKER_03That would be be waste. He said now it's like less than 10. So think about all that food and all of those thousands of acres of rice fields that are not available.
SPEAKER_02I agree. There's yeah, there's a million different different things, you know. I'm I'm gonna encourage my fellow duck hunters of Louisiana keep hunting, it's gonna get better, so they'll save me all those turkeys.
SPEAKER_03That's what I'll you know. I think my my thing about it, which you know, is we have kind of an unpopular look on it because we came from duck deer hunting for so long. So, like our to us, like we didn't grow up like you did, you know, five minutes from like some phenomenal duck hunting.
SPEAKER_01So, like we're we did grow up five minutes from some phenomenal deer hunting, right?
SPEAKER_03Well, and you know, going into duck hunting like seven years ago or whatever, we were just lucky or like we were just happy to shoot like three teal. Yeah, and then you know, as time got on.
SPEAKER_01Any species that we didn't have, just if we went out there and like, oh dude, we shot a kitchen today or a model duck, we'd be like, all right, pack it up, let's go home. Successful day. Or break up with the bus flights.
SPEAKER_03The first time we limited out, it was like, oh my god, you know what I mean? But it's just like I think from our perspective, it's like, of course, we're always gonna go hunt because that's like you know, to us, like that's what we came from.
SPEAKER_01But I get it from like well, and it's more about the experience, right? I mean, as we know.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, you know, and I I think I get it from both sides of the coin, though. People that grew up in great duck hunting, you know, and for I mean, it's gotta be discouraging to see where it's came, you know, where it's where it's at now, you know.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean let's put ourselves in those shoes, Tristan. Let's say, for example, you know, we grew up in that in Illinois, right? And we were there, and then all of a sudden, you just don't see deer anymore. Yeah, how weird would that be?
SPEAKER_03Super.
SPEAKER_01I mean, and I know we're talking different because you know, waterfowl is migratory and that kind of thing, but but um it sure would be cool if somebody could wrap their arms around some facts associated with with, you know, because everybody's got a different opinion, right? I mean, it all of it is there's nothing factually based. And I think the thing that makes it so hard with waterfowl is us three, right? We could have a field. And let's just say we have a field, let's say we have ten fields, and we have a reservoir that we do on our we have so much land that we have a thousand-acre reservoir over here, right? And we only hunt our fields until eight o'clock. We you know, all that stuff, right? That you might only be talking about 0.03 percent of the population of the ducks, right? But in your little world, it's badass, right? So that's I think what makes it very difficult is the perception, like we've always said where we hunt, bro. You want to kill pentail? You can like get a mirror and put the shotgun on your shoulder and shoot up, of course. If they want a decoy, yeah, if they want a decoy.
SPEAKER_03That's that's the caveat.
SPEAKER_01You're gonna see them, but you're gonna see thousands and thousands. So the average person, if they walked into that environment, we we go, why is there uh why do people talk about there's a decline in in pentails? Your perception of what you see in that little spot is not necessarily the reality, and that's where I'm going with this whole yeah, that's a good point, and it's different for everybody. So, you know, we all and it's different for the private landhunter versus the public land hunter, right? You see what you see on your public land, and and I mean, I might be a two, three, four, five thousand acres. That's really not that much property in the grand scheme of things, right? It I mean, when you're talking about millions of birds, you know, and it just that's what, in my opinion, what makes it so tough to determine what's truly going on, because man, you can still have uh like you said, there might be some outfitters in Louisiana that still like Honey Break, oh yeah, for example, that murder them, right? But they have the habitat, the property, uh all that stuff, you know what I mean? So anyway, sorry to get off on tangent, but I just double area. I think that's what makes it tough to determine like facts.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I will say that the TLC's in Louisiana, we are spoiled. It is unbelievable. That is still unbelievable.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so do you like I hear a lot of people talk about like Venice, but if you do that, you need to go with like an outfitter or you're gonna potentially kill yourself. Like, what do you what do you suggest? Because like that's something that's on our bucket list. Like, is there like an area we should look for outfitters? Is there any outfitters that you'd recommend? What would you recommend as out of state?
SPEAKER_02Luckily, you know a guy, um me? Oh, nice.
SPEAKER_04Okay, yeah.
SPEAKER_02The company uh Hunt has a camp of five minutes away from from the office. Drive the side by side, right up. We have three cool. We have a pretty big farm that that we lease, and it's and it's some really good duck hunting. And uh, so yeah, and we uh opening day of teal season, we have a teal festival that we that we started last year. Huge, fun event. Um, free bird cleaning. People come all around this this part of the state and and go to it. So that's great. I would say the southwest part of the state for most people, I would still say the southwest part of the state or even that um north of north Louisiana, north of uh Monroe, and so line. Okay, another good spot. They have a few good outfitters there.
SPEAKER_03Nice, man. Well, before before we get out of here, we want to circle it back to you know the whole reason that we're on the on you're on the podcast tonight. And man, I just want you to plug anything you feel like you want to plug, any new news with Hunt Repellent, any uh spots that you know, hey, like if you want to go, if you're listening to this and you're in Louisiana, like any spots to go pick this up, like take the floor.
SPEAKER_02Like I didn't even go much into the product, but yeah, man.
Product Claims, Pricing, And Where To Buy
SPEAKER_03Do what you go into it, man. So there's no time limit, by the way, so you're good.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. So we make uh the two products that that you guys see the spray and and the lotion. The lotion is an EPA, they're both EPA approved products. So all the claims that I'm about to say we just didn't make in a makeup in our garage. They are backed by science and testing. Um the lotion is good for 14 hours for mosquitoes. Okay, eight hours for every other bug, even gnats. I hear that every day. Is it good for gnats? Yes, gnats, dicks, no kidding, flies, everybody insects. Sand fleas. Yep, uh sand flies, I've heard before. Yeah, okay. The spray 12 hours for mosquitoes and eight hours for everything else. And it is a scent free product. Now, right when you spray it, I know people are gonna say, oh, it's not actually scent free. Right when you spray it, you'll spray some you'll smell some uh alcohol. We use that as a binder, and then after about a minute, it's virtually odorless. Like if you're deer hunting, your human scent is gonna put off. More odor. Sure. Personally, I'm a lotion fan. Guys don't like to put on lotion. I didn't I don't like to either, but the lotion to me is a superior product. You put it on at your sink before you roll out for the day, and once a day, 14 hours, you're done. You won't get bit.
SPEAKER_01Wow.
SPEAKER_03Well, I didn't even think about it.
SPEAKER_01Does it help against chiggers?
SPEAKER_02Yep, chiggers too.
SPEAKER_01Oh, now that's what I'm talking about. And when we're in Georgia hanging deer stands in in August, dude. Oh my god, there's been so many times I've gotten infested with them.
SPEAKER_03And ticks too.
SPEAKER_01That's one thing, you know.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Now I will say this with ticks. We know that they're sneaky. Um so they'll get in through your leg and they might not bite you until they hit your belly button. So I would really cope like around your waistband, like even put it around your waistband, your around your arms right here, a bunch of it right there, and then your legs. And then honestly, the more the better for for the ticks. I'm I'm scared of the ticks with the uh Lyme disease and off again. I'm scared of it. So I cope, I lather myself in lotion.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, no, that's that's definitely one of those that it's like, God, that's yeah. I I've thought about that because you see, like, there's people that like I've seen in the outdoor industry that are like that post content online that have it and live with it. Yeah, you know, it's not like there's no cure for it. Yeah, you know, it's just you're coping with symptoms at that point.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. And uh we were you can check out our website, huntrepellent.com, all our socials, um huntrepellent. We're on Amazon, Amazon, our website, and then a couple other uh Shopify Collective. I don't know them all off the top of my thing, but they'll also sell it. Um we're in 250 stores. I think we're only in a few in Georgia so far, so probably none near you guys. But uh you can go to our website on repellent slash the store locator, and you'll see all the pins of every store that carries us. We're in Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, and southern Alabama.
SPEAKER_01Okay, awesome, man. And then can you buy it straight? Do you guys do you guys do any direct selling or it's all through your chains? No, we do direct selling. Um, so you can order it straight off the website. I'm sorry if I might have been there. Yeah, so don't I'm just I'm what I'm doing is I'm trying to rule out that person. It's like, well, I can't find a store. Well, guess what, dude? Hit the easy button and get it off of Amazon or off their website.
SPEAKER_02And it's free shipping. If you order two bottles, it's free shipping.
SPEAKER_01Oh, nice, okay. Well, that's like super so what's what's it usually retail for? Or does it does it range?
SPEAKER_02$16.99 for the spray and$15.99 for the lotion. And yes, I know it's more expensive than your usual, but I've if you use it how sparingly and and wipe it in and not just spray it aimlessly into the air, it's gonna last around double or three times as long as any other bug repellent.
SPEAKER_01That's awesome. That's awesome. Because think about it. If you were just using, I'm not even gonna name any names, but you go out there and you're hunting all day, right? Whether it's early deer season or or or teal season, whatever it is, you're spraying yourself with that product in the morning, and just psychologically, you're spraying yourself as soon as you go out again. So literally, with these pro this product, you put it on once, it's it's a one and none. So you have to be you're using double the product. So for you guys to be a little bit more expensive than some of those brand names out there, uh to me, like in that scenario, it makes a lot of logical sense. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_03So if uh if anybody's listening to this and like they own a store or something, uh willing want to get in touch with you, um, how would they go about doing that as far as getting uh stocked up in their store?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so on our website, you can uh we have a Become a Dealer link and you can fill it out there, and then shortly you'll be getting a phone call from me.
Wrap-Up And Looking Ahead
SPEAKER_03So awesome, man. Well, dude, thank you so much uh for joining. I mean, not only just to talk about the product, but it's been fun talking turkeys and learning some Louisiana stuff and how you're a uh national or a a forest state, a forestry state champion. Yep. Yeah. Well, cool, man. We'll we'll definitely uh you know, down the line, we'd love to have you guys back on and hear about your you know how things have changed maybe six months or a year from now. And um, yeah, we're looking forward to using it.
SPEAKER_01And well, guess what? You win my vote for doing one of the best jobs ever for the first time being on a podcast. How about that, dude? We've we've done almost 200 of these things, you know, so it's easier said than done, but um, but no, man, um did great.
SPEAKER_02Thank you so much. I I really appreciate you guys having me on, getting to tell Hunt's story and and my story, and 12 months from now, there's no telling where where we're gonna be.
SPEAKER_01That's right.
SPEAKER_02It's gonna be big.
SPEAKER_00I've been selling, I've been helping, riding on a midnight train. Going too fast now, thing y'all so down, standing in the polling rain.