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
From Atlanta Woods To Arkansas Timber With 404 Outdoors
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We sit down with Rithin Manchireddy @ 404 Outdoors to talk Georgia roots, learning curves, and what it really takes to turn weekend hunts into out-of-state adventures. We swap stories about duck clubs, frozen rice fields, public land turkeys, North Dakota road trips, and the gear that keeps you in the fight when it gets brutal.
• Growing up in Georgia with family hunting roots that start in India
• Getting hooked on deer hunting after an early nine-point moment
• First duck hunting experiences in Georgia swamps and what they teach fast
• Building the 404 Outdoors page and using content to chase bigger trips
• Joining an Arkansas duck club and learning timber, water, and late-season timing
• Ice management lessons: ice eaters, pumps, open holes, and what not to do
• Turkey hunting frustration on pressured WMAs and smarter ways to approach birds
• Career path after college during COVID plus side hustles that fund hunts
• Coaching football while trying to protect time for hunting season
• DIY North Dakota waterfowl: scouting, permission etiquette, access rules, and units
• Cold weather hunting gear that actually matters: boots, hand warmers, face cover
• Quail hunts, pheasants, and why wild birds feel unforgettable
Check out 404 outdoors. I think the tag is 404 outdoors G A. And then my tag is in there, but it's yes sir Reathan on Instagram as well.
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Welcome And Meet Reathan
SPEAKER_05Tristan Tony back with another episode of the One Hove Life Outdoor Podcast. And today, and I'm going to try to get the name right, Rith and Man Shreddy. Shreddy? You're close.
SPEAKER_03Reeth and Manchretti.
SPEAKER_05Reath and Manchretti. But uh another Georgia Outdoors page that um, you know, through social media and both being in Georgia and posting content, um, found him. And he's actually pretty close to us, like 45 minutes down the road. I know he's a successful businessman himself, and uh excited to have him on tonight. So, man, thank you for taking the time to come on the podcast tonight. Excited to uh, you know, talk some Georgia outdoors and a little bit of everything with you.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, happy to be here. I'm excited to be on a podcast. This is my first podcast, so excited to be here, man.
SPEAKER_05Nice, nice. Well, we'll try to make it a good experience. We're not the uh best by any means, but I always tell people we're consistent. Like, I don't know if you've seen that Theo Vaughn clip, like of I'm gonna show up every day or whatever, but that's us. I got you. That's what I'm here for. So let me get a beer.
SPEAKER_01Hold on.
SPEAKER_05So tell everybody, man, you know, where you from. Well, obviously you're from Georgia, but like, you know, what got you into the outdoors, what you do, all that stuff, a little bit about your page.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Um,
Growing Up Georgia With Hunting Roots
SPEAKER_03so grew up in McDonough, Georgia. Uh kind of deer hunted uh when I was in my you know elementary years, I guess. Uh my dad, so both of my parents are from India. So my uh dad actually hunted back there. Um, and you know, he's in his uh early 70s now, so you know, he's using a lot of old school Flintlock muzzle odors and you know some Civil War type looking stuff. But he said, you know, they lived on a farm out there in villages, so he used to hunt with him and his brothers. He's got a big family. So um I believe it's five brothers and one sister. So they used to hunt a lot just to put food on the table. So, you know, he came over here uh, I think at 89, went to school up in New York, and then settled down here in Georgia, um, and never really hunted a bunch. But, you know, I guess just me growing up in Georgia, all my buddies would hunt and all their, you know, friends and family are big and outdoors, fishing, hunting, camping, everything, being outside. And uh he kind of saw my interest in it. And uh he had a couple buddies that he worked with um that had some land. And I think uh I remember distinctly, I think there's a video game, it's like Deer Hunter 2005. And I had it on the computer. And, you know, I get home from school and I go straight to the computer and you know, go after mule deer and big bucks and everything on the on the computer. And then I think my dad saw how much I liked him. He's like, you know, would you want to go try to get a real one? And I'll never forget my first deer hunt. You know, we go to Walmart, get some, you know, run-of-the-mill, whatever's in the camo section, be my sister and my dad, go set up, man. I can't, I think it's in around Sharpsburg, so southwest of Atlanta. Okay. And uh go climb up in a big climber, or not a climber, uh a ladder stand, me, my sister, my dad. 45 minutes later, a nine-point walks out. My dad dropped it. And, you know, it's kind of kind of hooked after that. And uh yeah, hard not to be after that. Oh, yeah. I mean, and you know, you can't kind of spoils you because you think everything's gonna be that easy. 45 minutes sits after that. But uh, you know, that kind of got me really locked into the outdoors, and then it really wasn't until high school uh I had a buddy that would, you know, duck hunt, and you know Georgia duck hunting is is what it is. Um, and I'd see him posting uh pictures of woodies and you know the occasional mallard here and there. And I said, hey man, you know, I'd like to get into that and let me go with you. And I think uh I think it was a sophomore, sophomore in high school, and he was a junior, and I remember it was cold as could be. You know, I got my my uh bass pro shop waders the day before, you know, ready to roll, some black cloud, but you know, black cloud was a craze back then. Oh yeah. And uh, I forget what shotgun I had. I think it was old Winchester SX3. And uh, you know, I I never walked in the water before and with my waiters on or nothing. So we go stomping in this Georgia swamp and I'm huffing and puffing. I'm, you know, you're going knee deep every step. I I couldn't make it, you know. So I was like, here man, take my gun. I'm I'm gonna be there, but y'all go ahead. And I, you know, we barely get to this spot. I'm I'm about uh keeled over and uh just sat up on a log and the sun started coming up and it was getting close to shooting light, and I heard these you know woodies flying around and I didn't know what they sounded like. And uh, you know, these couple of guys we were with were getting on duck calls and stuff. And man, I I was sitting on that log and I tried to take a deep breath like this, and that log rolled and I went in 21 degrees, and uh you know that woke me up, but we didn't even shoot a bird, but just being in that atmosphere, man, it was a foggy morning. You're hearing ducks around you, and you'd see one cut through the fog every once in a while. And uh, you know, I didn't even we didn't even pull the trigger that morning, but I was just you know, something about it got me hooked. Dude, dude.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, that's that's funny how many times like people have similar stories to that. You know, you go to Bass Pro, get geared up, and then you go out for your first hunt. I think we've all kind of lived that as like the same thing with us, like we didn't get into duck hunting until like maybe eight years ago and uh just grew up, you know, grew up deer hunting or whatever. And um, no doubt about it, just hearing those woodies like first thing in the morning, like that experience alone kind of gets you get you hooked, you know.
SPEAKER_02Well, dude, yeah, that's the experience alone. If I was kind of giggling on the inside when you're saying, like, because it is an experience in itself. If you've never walked through a swamp, right? Yeah, like you're walking through a swamp, and like I've got friends of ours that are like, like, I'm fearless. I don't give a damn. I mean, honestly, I'll walk with it doesn't matter. Anaconda's I'll swim with sharks. But you know, like real people, you know, normal people, they're like, what are you doing getting in a swamp? Yeah, with gay. Oh, yeah. People like people in the north, they're just think we're absolutely insane for doing something like that. So so I mean, kudos to you for even just having the guts to just go do it, especially in the dark. You know, yeah, I mean, I know how stinky the mud is, and there was probably mosquitoes along the way and everything else, you know. I mean, that in itself is just an experience, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And you know, over time, like every hunt from that hunt on, you kind of realize, man, a headlamp would have been nice, you know. I'm not using my phone, you know, some bug spray would have been nice, you know. You start picking up on the little things and uh uh little things that might make a hunt more comfortable, but you know, you got to start somewhere.
SPEAKER_05That's right. That's right, absolutely,
First Duck Hunts And Swamp Lessons
SPEAKER_05man. So you got the page 404 outdoors. How how long have you been doing that? When did that kind of become a passion for you?
SPEAKER_03Uh I think I started, I want to say in 2022. Oh, cool. I think that's around when I started. And um, you know, I think I was just I got out of college in 2020. Oh. And uh, you know, during my college years, I went to school at Sanford University in Birmingham. So my time away from Georgia, I really wasn't doing too much hunting. I'd come back home and we'd mess around at a couple of wood duck spots, but I wasn't doing this like, you know, on the road, traveling, hitting new states, trying to cross the country and and and shoot stuff. But uh, you know, I think in 2022 I was really getting after, and I said, maybe it might be cool to start a page. And, you know, I tinkered with some names here and there, trying to figure out, you know, what I wanted to be. And I guess uh just being from Georgia, I think the you know, the area code 404, a lot of people can recognize. And I thought it'd be cool just being in Atlanta or Georgia-based uh uh page might be kind of cool. But you know, Georgia-based, but you know, we go all over. Um, I think in 2023, we got up to North Dakota, which was you know a life-changing hunt and experience up there. But you know, every everything after that was kind of just like, you know, where else can we go? What else can we see?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, man. There's so many cool, you know, duck hunting in particular, so many cool spots throughout the United States that like God, like we always talk about just getting out west and like doing the Snake River and like going on like you see like the dive bomb guys just dry field widgets, like stuff like that. It's just like a dream, you know. Oh yeah, whatever.
SPEAKER_02You know, I mean, just those you know, see you see people that are just like wrecking them in what in Arkansas we would just call that a rice field ditch. Yeah, right, like in Montana, yeah. Yeah, in Montana, you know, they're just setting up on and stuff like that and wrecking them, you know. And I'm just I that's for sure what we're always chasing. Is is not only that experience, but you know, if there's a if there's a wigeon along the way, or those pretty birds, oh yeah. Right, right. Um, that's gonna that's definitely going to uh add the icing to the cake.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, totally, totally relate
Starting 404 Outdoors And Traveling
SPEAKER_05on that. So I know you uh from just talking and stuff, you're in a duck club out in Arkansas. So is that where kind of the most of it, and then you try to branch out from there, or what?
SPEAKER_03So the duck club was only this past year. I had been looking um at trying to get in one, but you know, you know, asking five, seven, ten grand is a lot for you know a young man. So it's a lot for any man. Yeah, it's a lot for anybody, and you know, especially, you know, after this season, I learned a lot just about being in a club, what it comes with, hunting, Arkansas in general, you know, we had a pretty shitty lease in Mississippi for a couple years, and you know, it's a thousand bucks, a couple of gar holes, you'd shoot a couple gadwall here and there, but it's you know, it's something to do. But you realize six and a half six and a half hours of driving to stay at a Mickey Mouse infested hotel is not a very fun thing to do every weekend. So um, you know, Arkansas is better, and you know, we had it was a pretty good club, good guys, good spots. Um, it's just a dry year, not a lot of water. And yeah, we have a creek running through um where our timber holes were. So we really could only get to one unless you wanted to walk a long way, and nobody wanted to lug decoys and all our gear that far. So sure um, you know, it ended up being pretty good. And you know, that was my first true timber experiences this year is in the Arkansas Woods. Oh, nice. Yeah, just being, you know, even in Arkansas, it's like a lot of these birds and and big push of migratory birds don't come until that, you know, second week of January, third week of January. And you can really hammer them. Like the last week when it when it froze up, dude, we ran a couple ice eaters and ran some pumps with running water, and it was unbelievable. So yeah, it was insane.
SPEAKER_05Oh man, that's so cool, dude. We we hunted um the vet.
SPEAKER_02We did the same thing and got our asses kicked. Yeah. Well, I mean, we shot we shot we shot some. We did it.
SPEAKER_05We did uh not like when it first froze, but we went out for the uh vet hunt. He's a veteran, I'm not okay. Cool. I just go out there to hang out and film and stuff, and uh we hunted public on Saturday, and like with guys that know what they're doing, and like you would think, I mean, a week of rest, you know, not as many people, you would think it would be lights out. Yeah, and uh man, it was super slow, didn't get anything. And then the next day hunted uh at our buddy buddy Cades, who owns Delta Thunder Outfitters in Jonesboro, and um shot like nine, but like it was fighting the ice the whole time, getting it brought up and all that, because it had been a frozen block of ice for 10 days or whatever, you know. Then we're coming in trying to hunt it.
SPEAKER_02Well, and yeah, the way that the wind was blowing in this rice field, so the giant ice like we got an ice hole open, and we're like, Yay, let's hunt. And so we're sitting here hunting, and and the wind we're facing this rice field long ways, right? And we're in pantle blinds, and the wind starts the wind shifts and starts blowing from left to right. And we I look down and I go, There's nothing but like 250 yards by about 75 yards sheet of ice, and it's coming our way. Like there's I've got I'll have to put some video up of it next year, but we literally moved in ice. Like, I thought we were cool last year when we moved in ice island that I thought was big. No, not like that. This was every bit of no lie, 150 yards by 60, 70 yards. It's pretty nuts.
SPEAKER_03And y'all just y'all just pushing it, yeah or with kind of with your kind of with your shins, you know, because it's like your feet under it and just kind of because if you bust it up, it then it's like more of a pain.
SPEAKER_05It's almost better to move the whole sheet. Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_02It's like uh there we ought to do like uh a tips, honestly, for busting up a hole because I learned the hard way, and you don't just run through the hole and just go, all right, let's just bust it all up because all that ice then makes all the water underneath that like even more, yeah. And it just won't separate. Like it won't. We ran an ice heater one night and we went and busted it up for like four hours, and then then put the ice heater and left it on with the generator go all night. And the guy showed up at the at the first part of the morning and they go, dude, are you serious? They're like, we can't even fit like five decoys in this hole. Yeah, because it froze so much. But man, that's cool that you guys do. I you know, and there's something you probably had that creek helping you out a little bit, a little bit of moving water, you know, that you guys open water like that. Um, but to Tristan's point about it, it was you know, we were standing in feathers, there's feathers everywhere where they scouted the day before, and I was like, oh dude, this is gonna be a banger, you know. Yeah, duck's a ducks.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, no, it was crazy. We had uh we had an ice eater in one spot, and we we just put them in the fields. And looking back, we we were all sitting at the club, like one day left of the season, like, man, we probably should have ran one to the creek and tried to open the creek up, but you know, maybe next
Arkansas Duck Club And Timber Talk
SPEAKER_03year. But uh our ice eater, we put that joker in the night before we wanted to hunt that spot.
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SPEAKER_03And that thing locked up solid. Um, and it was crazy. You know, we ran that polypipe from the well to wherever we wanted to hunt on these frozen rice fields. And there would be, you know, that polypipe is not the sturdiest. So any stubble, any sticks, whatever is gonna poke little holes in it. So as you run that pipe, there's water kind of down the pipe. And there would be one or two bigger, you know, punctures and more water be leaking. We'd have a 100-yard by like a 50-yard hole open, and these ducks are landing next to the damn pipe. Oh no, 200 yards away from us. It was insane. So every once in a while, you know, it would be, you know, 10 pack would get down, five pack could get down, six pack would get down. We'd have to go walk out there and try to poke them or flush them out to try to get them to come work back into the open hole. But it was crazy. You know, I think those first group first few days of when it really got cold, I think it was just local birds that already knew the game. And, you know, you're tucked up in a woodline and the water is right open in front of it, they're like, yeah, it looks a little fishy. So they stuck to the to the open stuff out there on the polypipe.
SPEAKER_05When um so when it got good, like what all were you, was it just like mallards feet down? Or I mean, were you guys getting mixed bags or what?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it was uh it was a bunch of mixed bags. I think really the only things in the woods we shot this year were we shot a couple Gadwall, but it was a lot of mallards and a lot of green wing tail. But when it froze up and we had an open spot uh in a rice field, um, man, we shot Gadwall, mallards, ringnecks, uh, what else we kill? Um, some spoonies or spoonies doing stupid things like 15, 20 packs of spoonies landed 10 yards in front of us. It was insane. Um, we we had some Canada geese do it dirty one time. Really? You know, just just yeah, every anything you can imagine, it was pretty cool. Um, and I really wanted a big sprig pintail this year. And I've shot some in the past, but nothing with a big sprig on it. Sure. And blew two crazy opportunities. The sun is up and I could see everything. There's one leading the pack of mallards, and it swung, and it was just me and my buddy because everyone else kind of tapped out. It was kind of getting cold. Me and my buddy are sitting there. I said, Man, there's a damn pintail in the front. I thought he was gonna raise up and shoot with me. I'm on the ground. We had just shot some. I only had time to throw one shell in. So I throw one shell in, raise up, and I know I shot right in front of that joker and they took off. Then the next day, you know, you know, looking back, we were like, Oh, we probably should have let them work. So next day, I don't know if it was the same one, probably wasn't. Same kind of deal. You know, some mallers and one big ass sprig pintail, a six-inch sprig on, spinning us, and they gave us two good looks, and I'm thinking, okay, one more, one more time. And sure enough, that second pass that kept on going. I was like, damn, blew it again. Oh, dude.
SPEAKER_02You can't do anything right, but the story of uh exactly, right? One more time. Most frustrating bird, dude. You know, I really think, dude, that could be a hat. Yeah, just sit with a pin tail on it and it just says one more time. One more time. That's a good idea.
SPEAKER_05One more time.
SPEAKER_01Don't feel I'm putting I'm putting royalties on you.
SPEAKER_05Oh, you well, you better move quick. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02You're like us, then we'll be uh I'll be upstairs talking to my wife. You know, basically the squeakest man. She's like, yeah.
Learning Turkey Hunting The Hard Way
SPEAKER_05You got anything uh on like on the plans for or oh I can't talk on the books, I guess, for like anything planned over the summer. Are you just kind of sticking to hunt like the normal hunting season?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, we'll we'll do a little fishing. I've got I'm not a big turkey guy. I'm trying to get into it. You know, I've made a I've made a couple gobble, and then, you know, I remember I had a uh WMA, got a quota hunt down in uh, I think they call it Chattahoochee Fall Line, like way like almost Columbus. And I was in Donna. So it was like an hour, 30-minute ride, and you get three days. So drive back and forth three mornings and you know, set up first morning, hit a little owl hoot, and heard one gobble like 100 yards away. So I got to like 80 yards and sat my eyes down, and then I heard it pitched down and hit the ground, and then I really didn't know what to do. So I just sat there, waited like 30 minutes, gave a little call, didn't hear nothing. Next day, got to 50 yards, made him gobble in the tree, flew down, silent, and did that for three days. And then, you know, I thought I was doing something because I made him gobble. And then uh, you know, that was a couple years ago, and then last year, uh, we got close to a hen, you know, first thing crack a crack of dawn, we're hitting our little owl hoop, and she's like 20 yards in this tree next to us. So we just let her call. And, you know, we just tucked behind some trees and just let her see if she could, you know, crack a gobble open over someone. And uh, you know, never heard a gobble. She pitched down, started walking around, kept calling, and just never heard anything. But I've got a uh trip up to Illinois in the middle of April to get in uh I think to show Easterns, but uh if you cross the Mississippi, uh you can get in Eastern's on the east side, and then you can get in Merriam's on the west side. So I don't know, we'll mess around with it, but I think I gotta, you know, get my butt kicked a few more times before I get close enough to shoot one.
SPEAKER_05Well, man, there's there's a lot of good turkey hunters. We're not good turkey hunters, by the way, but there's there's a lot of good turkey hunters that aren't successful. I mean, I feel like it's just one of those things that it's it's hard for everybody. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02I gotta I gotta I gotta say this, and I think I might may have mentioned something about this on the podcast before, but since the last podcast, I've even confirmed this further. So Ranella basically said that he does I saw him take Rogan and uh the other dude out turkey hunting, and he goes, I only got a day and a half to do this with these guys, you know. And they're just like, Oh, you just go out there and shoot a turkey, right? You know, so easy. Well, Ranella was just talking about basically that he's like he's not that good at it. He's like, I'm not, I'm not that good at it, I'm not that good at calling that, but he makes it happen. And no disrespect because he's obviously way wealthier than I'll ever be. But I know I can do a call better than what I've watched on TV. And I have better, I have expectations. All right. That's all I'm gonna say. I have expectations, but we just never got into it a lot because quite honestly, um, between the deer hunting and the duck hunting, it's like our families are ready for a break, yeah. In the spring, and uh, but you know, with what we do now, um, that's triggered more emphasis on us, you know. Obviously, um, we're looking to put content out constantly. Yeah, and of course, we want to get out and enjoy the outdoors, so it gives us an excuse, I guess, but we're trying to figure it out.
SPEAKER_05You uh you mentioned the lottery or the like you pulled that hunt or whatever. I just had one that I pulled up North Georgia that um I'd been putting in for for five years and finally pulled it. Oh, yeah. Yeah, so I'm I'm pretty excited. We'll see. I mean, wait, yeah, you he's gonna come along and uh be moral support slash film film guy for me. Right, right.
SPEAKER_02And this time we're gonna film it.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. My first turkey, dude, it was on public land in North Georgia, and um I was so nervous that we were gonna screw something up. I was super nervous. I I made him put down like we were just back like using GoPros and iPhones back then, but I was like, no, put it down, you can't film it because people are like their eyesight's so good, you know. Like I was so worried it's gonna see them like trembling and shit.
SPEAKER_02Oh man. Uh Trissa got his first turkey a few years back. If you guys don't know this, go back and watch the video. It's pretty, I mean, it's pretty fun. You can feel our energy for sure, but it was a different style of hunt, you know. It wasn't your typical where you gotta you're calling them in, that kind of thing. It was really it was weeks, if not really a year or two of transition of us learning what these turkeys would do. And we're heavily pressured, and you know, thank God we got a good buddy of ours, Cade, you know, out there at Delta, he's a hell of a turkey hunter. And so we just consulted with him and we're like, here's what we got, this is what they're doing. What do you think? You know, and he's like, Need to get your ass a ground blind and get out there. He goes, Don't call it that turkey at all. He goes, watch where it walks, what it does. Because he goes, How big is it? And I said, I don't know what big is, but it's beer like almost touching the ground, it's pretty big, you know. And he's like, God damn, that's a big ass turkey. He goes, That turkey knows everything, you know. So especially our public, man. Yeah, so what I'm noticing is this turkey would come out like in the afternoon, and you'd come out to this food plot.
SPEAKER_05We tried to get out there like um several times. I think we just went to the first time we found him is we were just going because people are always like, Yeah, try to, you know, watch them go to bed and then you can know for the morning. Right, right. Well, we kept going to the spot, and like there would be turkeys out in this field. We're like, Well, shoot, there's there's nothing we can do, they're gonna see us, you know, trying to get to them if we can't call them like into the woods. So then it became a game of like, okay, if we get out there at this time, can we beat them? And then we like that happened two or three different times where they were in the field and we're like, shit, okay, it didn't work. So finally we're like, we're getting out there at like noon, you know, whatever, you know, and forever, you know, and I think that turkey came out at like 1 30 and I shot it at like 3 30.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, took its time, dude. It went out underneath this. It was it was the sun was up and it was fully hot. And this sucker sat underneath this big canopy of this tree that sat out in the corner, this back top of this field. He sat there so long at first that we thought that maybe while we weren't looking, that somebody went out and set a decoy up. That decoy, yeah. I mean, we were starting to think, man, because it didn't move, bro, at all. I mean, that'd see it was like a hundred yards away, but it appeared as if it wasn't moving. Yeah, yeah. And and then finally we saw it move. We're like, oh but dude, that guy, he knew what he was doing, and he might even do we were hunting it because he took so long. I mean, it was like two, like Tristan said, almost two hours it took him to close about 50 yards. It was like two hours.
SPEAKER_03So now, was your like I know when you seen it, you were probably all excited and jacked up with him taking that long. Did you kind of have time to settle down? Or as he was coming in, did you kind of get ramped up again?
SPEAKER_05It was definitely like definitely had plenty of time to like settle down and not rush anything.
SPEAKER_02But I think get more work, I mean, like overanalyze, maybe.
SPEAKER_05What ended up being stressful at the end was like it got to like 30-35 yards, and I was like, I was shooting a 12 gauge, so like in hindsight, like that's not a like that's completely fine, you know. Like, but in my head, yeah, like I was, you know, I mean, people talk about shooting turkeys at like 50 yards with a 410 or whatever, yeah. So I like in hindsight, like it was probably nothing to worry about, but I'm like, man, like he he kept wanting it to get closer, I think, is what it was. And I'm like, no, I want to shoot it, you know. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02No, no, it was like 30, 35. Yeah, it did, but man, we just it was it was a very surreal experience, and it was definitely, you know, not like your traditional hunt, but from a hunter's perspective to feel like you won the game. Yeah, 100%. Yeah, yeah. We felt like we earned it, we worked hard for it, we did something different that not other people were doing, just going out there and blowing their turkey calls and stuff like that. Right. And uh, you know, got good advice from a friend that really, I mean, led to us harvesting the thing, you know. And I say us because I always say it's our turkey, but uh but no team effort for sure. Yeah, it just resonated in me again what how hunting is so cool that you can take these different strategies, you know, and yeah, a lot of people want to hack on people when they do something that's successful that's different, you know, the whole turkey fan thing, you know, or yeah, whatever it might be, uh jump shooting snow geese, whatever, dude. Listen, if they're overpopulated, like snow geese, dude, kill them all, dude. If they allow us to throw shrapnel bombs with drones on snow geese, do it. But I'm just saying that that's the cool thing, right? Just like deer hunting, there's so many different ways you can deer hunt from a saddle, from a climber, from a deer stand, from a rifle, shotgun, muzzle. I mean, trail cameras, no trail cameras, traditional. I mean, there's so many different ways. And and that's all we did. And um, yeah, I think you everybody wants that vibration, that that that energy of I want to see every buck I see, I want to go. And he goes, Oh, yeah, 20-yard shot. Here I come. Yeah, right. And it just doesn't work out that way. And I'm just thankful that we had a good friend that was able to help us out with that because uh it was it was it was surreal.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's for sure. I've got a buddy that's you know, he'll he hunts deer a little, he hunts ducks a little, but he he literally will save as much as possible and try to take off as much of turkey season as he can and go state to state and hunt as many days as he can. Um, so he's a good resource. I I reach out to him a lot, you know, whenever I'm getting my butt kicked. But uh man, I remember one cool uh tip, I think it was the hunting public had said, and it was basically something like, oh yeah, and and I love watching their videos, but I think the tip was basically just something simple, like, you know, you you you park in the parking lot at a WMA and you've got a ridge you're gonna go to, and you walk straight to it and you start calling. And they were like, you know, how many other people have done that exact same thing? Park here, walk straight there, and call this way. He said, What they'll do is they'll park, walk all the way around if it takes another
Public Land Tactics That Beat Pressure
SPEAKER_03hour.
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SPEAKER_03So, but go on to the back side of that ridge or whatever they're trying to call to and call from the back side, which not a lot of people are gonna try to take the time and effort to go put themselves in that position. So now, you know, now that Turkey's like, oh, it's not the same thing every day. Let me go see what's going on over here. I thought I thought that was a very uh interesting tactic that they use.
SPEAKER_05That it that's actually a really good tip because one of the things like with the hunt I got this year, that lottery hunt is while it's cool because it's like a week before the season comes in, but there's 10 people that have it. So like you know, I'm looking at it and like how many acres?
SPEAKER_02A couple thousand.
SPEAKER_05I don't want to say how many acres because I've people can look up, but anyway, but uh that's a lot though. I'll I'll tell you all air. But uh, but it's um one of those deals where it's like in my mind, I'm like the turkeys might be on all the turkeys might only be on 500 of the acres, and then outputs 10 hunting parties. If if if everybody does their homework, it could put all 10 hunting parties in that area if they're you know what they're doing. So that's a good tip. I might have to try to try to do that.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, man. Just approach it differently. I remember uh when I did my quota hunt, I was in between trucks. I think I had a RAM like 1500, and I wanted a diesel, and I was in between them. And uh I was doing just working in Atlanta, I was running some cars on Turo, like the car rental app. So I'm in a I pulled up over there three days in a row in a black Tesla Model 3. So I'm out there, I'm out there on the WMA with a shotgun, turkey shells, everything packed in the back of this truck. And I remember I think it was day two. Some guy came up with F-150, and I'm going down the hill. He said, Man, are you lost? I said, No, just in between trucks, man. And uh, you know, we we just you know got a laugh out of it, trying to, you know, talk to him about where he's going, what he thinks we ought to do, and stuff like that. So it was a funny interaction.
SPEAKER_05Oh, dude. Yeah, I was there's uh you see it every year now, but the first people I saw to do it was 24-7 hunt when they like went out somewhere and they rented like a minivan or something and put a bunch of packs on it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I think I saw one this year they rented like a pink Mercedes like SUV and they had that joker loaded down on the hood. I'm like, man, they're pissing some of these rental loaners off, but it's pretty funny.
Making A Living Beyond Hunting
SPEAKER_05So uh, you know, we're talking a little bit off air and um about how we like to always get into like how folks, you know, make their living and do what they do, because obviously the outdoors is um we all would love to have the outdoors be our day job, but it's just not realistic, you know. So all of us are, you know, gotta got some kind of thing we're doing to make it all happen. So tell us a little bit about uh, you know, I mentioned earlier you said you went to school at Sanford, you know, feel free to go into that and kind of what you do now.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so I had the pleasure of graduating during COVID. So, you know, went and studied sports administration and I minored in communications. I think my ideal job was to just go work for the Falcons or Braves or Hawks or something in professional sports, you know, do corporate business like suite sales or something, just being in that atmosphere. And man, I graduated, went and visited my buddy in Charleston. He was in school out there, and then people started talking about masking up and you know, getting these boosters and shots and all this shit. I'm like, okay, you know, something funny's going on. And, you know, get back home, putting my resume and cover letter and all this and that together. And, you know, people are firing everyone that they don't need. And now we're talking about essential jobs and this and that. So not really a good time to start passing your resume out to places that are firing everybody. So you know, kind of figured it out. I worked some uh I worked at uh Mexican restaurants and uh bartended at some places. There's a place called Taco Mama out in Birmingham. It's a big uh yeah, big, you know, it's like a family style type of Mexican restaurant. So went back over there, back to Birmingham and kind of figure it out, did some lawn care back here in Georgia, and then my my family runs a pain management clinic. So they came and you know, asked me, he's like, hey, you know, we're trying to build our personal injury side of our business up. Um, do you want to come and market and try to figure this out and try to grow this side of our business? So I think that was in uh April of 21. I came back from Birmingham and came back over here, and I've been working with them ever since. Um, nice, man. You know, yeah, that's been my main nine to five. And then, you know, messed around with Turo for a couple years. Um, our office is right there by the airport, so it's really easy for me to clean a car, get it over to the airport, and take like a $10 lift back home and or lift back to the office. Um and uh had a you know, three cars at one point. I was making decent money, went and bought a duck boat, you know. I should have been saving and investing, but you know, I needed a duckboat, so got a duck boat. Got to, man. Yeah. So, and then uh been coaching football at uh my old alma mater uh Woodward Academy for the last few years. Um I coached middle school ball for three years, and then last year they just bumped me up to varsity. So it was pretty cool. You know, some of the kids I first coached in seventh grade are now, you know, rising juniors, so it's kind of cool to go coach them up at a higher level now. So they all remember me and you know it's all fun. That's great, man. What uh what do you coach? What do you do? Like so I coach uh defensive line. Okay, cool. I was like a defensive coordinator for three years with the middle school. I was with seventh grade, uh seventh grade for two years, eighth grade, and then they called me up to varsity. But man, I'll tell you, you know, middle school is cool because you know, you practice Monday through Thursday. It's not as crazy. You got a game Saturday morning at like 10, and then you know, you're done first week of October, second week of October. Man, you could call it up to varsity, and it's a you know, it's an honor. Of course, I loved it, but dude, it's Monday through Friday, obviously. Friday, you're gonna get home around midnight. Films on Sunday, starts at 12, you probably get out of there at 5:30 or 6. Saturday's the really only off day. And you know, we we made it all the way to the quarterfinals this year. So the last two years, I had trips to North Dakota. This year I didn't get to go to North Dakota because we played all the way to freaking Black Friday, and North Dakota's locked up. So, you know, it you you got your pros and cons to it. So I'm trying to figure out how to make, you know, I I love football and I love hunting. So I I gotta find that middle ground. Um, so it's a work in progress. But Georgia last year instated that um the first week of November is a bye week for everybody. So there's no games that first week of November. So, you know, I'm I'm gonna start early and I'm gonna go get all my coaches and just be like, hey man, you know, I'm here for all this. I'm an assistant coach, I'm D-line coach. I gotta take this week off. You know, I gotta keep my sanity and my happiness and you know, go up there and chase ducks for a week. Hopefully, you know, it'll be good weather. But, you know, I miss going up to North Dakota, man.
SPEAKER_05So I've I've we've never done that. What's it like up there? I mean, when you've gone up there. I mean, have you just um like freelance or what's kind of your strategy up there?
SPEAKER_03Yeah,
North Dakota DIY Waterfowl Blueprint
SPEAKER_03so 2023, we went the week of Halloween, so the last week of October. And it was me and two buddies of mine from Alabama, and it was supposed to be six of us, but you know, people say, Oh, my money's tight, or oh, you know, that's a long way. I can't sit in a truck that long, whatever. Ended up being three guys. So now you know what is it like 30 hours or something? It's for my house, it was 26 hours on the road. And it's drive, fill up, keep driving. Like we don't stop, you know, we go until we get to the Airbnb up there. And man, if you haven't gone, I'd put that at the top of the freaking list. And it's hard for us, especially just logistics-wise, joint going all the way from Georgia, but that first year we went, we go up there, we scout one day, we found a little pothole that was loaded up with ducks, and we get in there and the next morning and we're shooting ducks, and it starts snowing. And wow, it probably snowed about a foot or you know, 18 inches or something crazy. And we know we whacked them, you know, we're shooting, you know, gadwalls, snow geese, cacklers, big honkers, mallards, galore, like everything is loading up in this pond. The next day, you know, you know, we go, we'll shoot our ducks in the morning, go drop a trailer off at the Airbnb and hit the roads. So North Dakota's got a rule where if the land's not prepensed and it's not posted on on it, you don't have to ask the landowner permission to go hunting. So, you know, us being Southern boys, we're gonna ask regardless. And yeah, you know, some of these folks are like, you know, it's not posted, man. You don't have to ask me. We're just like trying to be respectful. You know, if you ain't wanted us using this gate instead of this gate, you know, we were just gonna hear them out. But bro, we when that snow hit the ground, one scouting was easy because you're seeing dark birds sitting on top of snow. It was like, you know, the greatest contrast ever. You don't even need binoculars to see anything you could you could see in plainest day. And that those were to this day the best hunts I've been on. Because I had we had brought some uh layout blinds and we weren't ready for snow. We just brought some, you know, I think it had the uh Sitka Marsh pattern on them. Uh-huh. So we're like, damn, what can we do? So we pulled the towels out of the Airbnb and punched holes in them and zip tied them to the doors. So now when your doors are closed, yeah, and we we put it on our feet uh on the feet side of the uh layout blind, and dude, we vanished in the snow. So, you know, we had silhouettes all around us, we had four spinners out in front of us, and they were clipping their wings on the spinners out in 15 yards. It was unbelievable.
SPEAKER_05Wow, oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_03So do you think um oh go ahead. No, I was just saying it's like just did that for seven days in a row, you know, shot ducks, drop a trailer off back at the Airbnb, and ride around so you find some more. And we covered a lot of that state. And I guess the one thing you gotta pay attention to is they have units. So it's not just regular blocks. It's kind of it'll follow a river or follow a county line or or a highway. And you just gotta make sure you're in the same unit because when you buy your license, you kind of gotta um you kind of gotta figure out where you're gonna be hunting, and then you pick your zone or your unit that you're gonna be in primarily. Okay. Um and out of staters, we get you're restricted to that area, but for a non-resident, you can combine. So, like you get two weeks as a non-resident. You can either combine them in one seven-day period and hunt wherever you want, or if you're gonna, you know, come a week, go back home and then come back when it freezes or whatever, you can hunt like unit one, and then when you come back, you can hunt unit two or three or four. You can't hunt the same unit again. So, you know, they've got, yeah, they've got a little bit of strategy just to even out pressures and stuff. So it's a pretty good deal up there, man.
SPEAKER_05Do you think like um, I mean, did you guys run into uh issues with uh I mean, how hard was it, I guess, like getting permission? And I mean, was were there other people that you kind of had to compete with? What's up, guys? If you want coffee that doesn't suck, you probably can guess what I'm gonna say. Get the duck. Dirty Duck Coffee is the official coffee of the One Hove Life outdoor podcast, and they have a great lineup of different coffee blends, everything from Morning Wood and First Flight to Dark Dynasty and Suns Up, Guns Up. You can't go wrong with Dirty Duck Coffee, and they have a great lineup of cold brew cans, Mocha, French vanilla, original cold brew, and cinnamon teal snickerdoodle. If you want 15% off your next order, use code One Hell of a Life 15 on your next order. With or was it pretty like easy to do, I guess,
Permissions, Getting Stuck, Making Friends
SPEAKER_05on your own?
SPEAKER_03I mean, yeah, uh, I think it was pretty easy on us. We ran into a couple guys in the evenings. Like, you know, if you're if you're scouting off a main highway and there's birds everywhere, I think, I think that was probably the coolest part about it. It's like you really, it's not really scouting, it's go find more birds. You know, like you're gonna see birds. You might see a thousand here, but you keep riding down and you might see 5,000. And then you might go see 10,000. You might go see freaking 20,000 sitting in the pond and wait for them to get up and see where they go. So it's there's no shortage of birds, especially when the weather's right. Um, you know, even the, you know, we probably knocked on 10 doors because those were, you know, either redlined or said no hunting allowed. But, you know, out of the 10, we probably got eight yeses. And they were just like, you know, please pick up your shells, please don't try to rut up my field, don't get stuck, you know. Um, and then the two no's were probably, you know, I remember one distinctly, there was a bunch of birds in that field. So we asked the guy and he said, you know, I would let y'all hunt, but me and my son and his buddies are going out in the morning. So it's, you know, we're not mad about that. Obviously, you've got your rights to your land. But man, we got stuck probably five or six times. And, you know, I've got I had a truck leveled on 35s with mud grapplers on it. And, you know, there's nothing you can do when that thing's bottomed out, you got to get on your side and just start, you know, trying to get back down to the bottom. Oh man. Yeah. So it was fun. But you learn to, you learn to watch, you know, if the wind's blowing this way. You know, this side of the hill is going to be all right. All the snow gets blown over. So if you drive over that crest, now you're going to be in the deep stuff. So you learn that the hard way. You start sticking to where you can see the crop tops sticking out of the snow.
SPEAKER_02I learned the hard way on flooded fields similar. Yeah. You know, when you're in just a completely flooded area where you can't even see the roads anymore. Um I learned the hard way that when you turn off of a main road in between two rice fields, that there's likely a ditch. Yeah. Next to the rice field. And uh yeah. Um that was fun.
SPEAKER_05In in his defense, I will say it did look like a lake out there, but still, still it was uh yeah, it was not fun.
SPEAKER_02It's not fun when you take your buddies brand new side by side pan and you sink it to the headlights and lock the door. I called my wife and I said we might have to spend seven thousand dollars. Oh my gosh. She goes, why? And I said, Because I think I just screwed up bad. But it's crazy what a good mechanic can do for a uh handle a crown.
SPEAKER_03Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_02Man, up there, yeah, that thing back as good as new.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, we I had I had bought a new set of tires, new set of rims, and they came with some tires that were decent tread. Go up there and day one had a blowout.
SPEAKER_05No way.
SPEAKER_03And of course I don't have a spare because who needs a spare? Get get towed to the shop, had a you know, break out sixteen hundred dollars, get a new set of tires, so that was fun. You know, local guy, you know, you know, it was cool meeting everybody and seeing everybody, and they cut me a deal. But man, we got brand new tires on, and they were good. They're like Cooper STT pros, so that's what all those guys run up there because all the snow, apparently they're a good snow tire. Okay. And then, you know, two or three days in, we get stuck, man. I'm talking, yeah, probably up to our headlights too. And I'm like, we could shovel all day, and that's what we're gonna have to do because, you know, what else we're gonna do? And you know, you brought up side by side, so it got me thinking, man, some guy was riding down the road. I think we were hunting by his property, and it's the, you know, it's the North Star King ranch, you know, tinted windows, everything, AC and heat and all that. He had blacked out windows. You couldn't even see who's in there. And he drives up right up to the truck, dropped his window down, and said, Hey, y'all need a hand. I said, Yes, sir. He had a winch on that joker, came up, hooked it up on the front of mine, and just one time just pulled my, you know, I had a uh, I think a 2014 Cummins, and he just yanked fist out like that.
SPEAKER_05Went a side by side?
SPEAKER_03Went it side by side. I said, Damn, those jokers are powerful. And, you know, he he was a local guy, so we chopped a, you know, chopped it up with him and tried to see, you know, what his intel was, if he had any other spots, but you know, definitely thanked him. We had a couple, we had a couple bottles tucked under the console. So, you know, we did a couple shots out there in the field with him. But there you go. Yeah, we said thank you, and uh, he was on his way.
SPEAKER_02So the moral of the story is that when you get up there to hunt, fake, fake getting stuck.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and it was crazy. I mean, you know, we go up there and you know, we're watching dive bomb videos of them destroying them up there. And so we're trying to mimic, you know, their spreads and their setup and everything. And I realized I had probably 10 dozen silhouette decoys and some full bodies, and I had my spinners. I knew spinners would be good, but ended up just messing around a marketplace, and some local guy up there was selling like five dozen for like a hundred bucks or ten dozen for a hundred bucks, something crazy. So went over there and bought them and we're sitting there talking to him, and he's a good buddy of mine now, his name's Travis, local guy, big snow goose guy, just sat there, sitting outside, it's freezing the cold. He's like, Y'all want to come in for us things? So we go in there, and he's you know, got a little spot over there in uh North Dakota, the northwest side, and we're sitting there talking to him, and he's like, Yeah, man, this is a good spot. Go try over here. And he knew every landowner. You know, we told him the places we got a couple no's, and he's like, Oh, tell them you know me, and you'll go get a yes. And, you know, the next year we went, we went and hit up, hit him up, and you know, we were hunting with him, and him and his buddies got together, and we had a big snow goose hunt one morning. So, you know, you just go put yourself in that environment and be friendly, and people are gonna be friendly back, and you can make you know friends anywhere you go. So it was pretty cool. Now he's a lifelong buddy. We still stay in contact. I didn't get to go up there this year, and you know, we lost uh that Black Friday right after Thanksgiving. I texted him, I said, Hey, is it too late to go up there? And he's like, Man, those jokers driving semi-trucks out here to ice fish on these lakes. So yeah, it was a little too cold for to go duck hunt. But, you know, as a good buddy Travis, I made that trip, man.
SPEAKER_02Man, that makes it great. Chris, I know you're gonna go ahead.
SPEAKER_05Well, it's just it's a good testament to, I mean, we've lived that. Yeah, we've lived something very similar in Arkansas, which is not near as common down there, you know. I mean, unfortunately, it's just the the climate down there is just a little bit more, I hate to say hostile, but just kind of is towards out of staters. Not everyone's like that, of course, but versus your North Dakota, South Dakota, there's just a lot your odds of running into a friendly situation are probably a little bit higher up there, but not to say it can't be done because we've got our our friend Kate that I I was just talking about, Davy too, but um just like you said, being nice. Just when we were on the veteran hunt the other day, met a couple local guys that were super nice too. And I think um I think that's a good point to bring up for anybody going to hunt anywhere out of state is just you know, put your best foot forward, try to help help others and be friendly, and um you never know you know what shaking a hand could lead to. Yeah, you know, yeah.
SPEAKER_02It's just like you know put put your best foot forward to just being you, I think. You know, just don't don't be ex don't have any expectations on on gaining anything. Of course, in the back of your mind, if we're all being human, you know, we're all like, I hope this leads to something. I think when you uh honestly meet somebody, you forget about that. You just do if you're a good person, I think, and you just all of a sudden just start connecting, you know what I mean? And then the focus comes off of your personal wants and needs and and that kind of thing. And it's funny how that that just develops, you know, it really does, you know. And and like you said, you know, you make friends for life.
SPEAKER_04Right.
SPEAKER_02You know, and I love that part about this this sport, you know, I really do. We talk about it so much. I mean, it's it's just crazy how you can meet somebody and and and you know, just I always like to refer to Mr. Glenn. Yes, you know, and he's he's my dad's age and everything, and and you know, he feels like I've I feel like I've really known him all my life, you know, I mean, all my life. And and uh I I've known him for five, six years, you know. So it's just um it's it's it's incredible the way it works when you when your heart's right and you just do the right thing and um and you run into some some good people. I mean, thank god there's still good people like that out there, like your buddy and and Kate and Mr. Glenn and uh Davy, other people that we could just name off and and continue going with, but yeah, let's keep that up, folks. That's some good shit. Yeah,
Illinois Rut Hunts And Big Bucks
SPEAKER_02totally. I would do the same thing, like if we still lived in Illinois, and I still do it from afar. I mean, I know so so many good public land areas from just bow hunting there for all my life, you know, and and the golden triangle of Illinois.
SPEAKER_03And uh I still this didn't you went up to Pike County this year, didn't you? Yeah, sure did. I was with uh Golden Triangle Whitetails. So it's funny you bring that up. Mike uh Mike Pavlick.
SPEAKER_02I know my I know I know Mike Pavlick.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so he's he's a good dude, he's funny. And uh yeah, got up to go. So, you know, I like I said, I had that first week of November off, and I wanted to rut hunt. So kind of scrambled together. I was like, you know, I paid I paid Mike like half my deposit. I was like, hey man, you know, you got to kind of work with me here because we could lose, you know, November 14th, or we could freaking be playing until damn near Christmas. He's like, Yeah, man, just let me know when y'all lose. You're welcome to come up anytime. Super accommodating uh outfitter for sure. So kind of scrambled it together and just got to hunt those last three days. And it it was, I think, the very front edge of the rut, because you know, little bucks were chasing and does are kind of getting pushed around, but nothing big was really running around. And, you know, being from Georgia, we've we've seen some big deer and stuff, but you know, day one, I seen some does and seen a bobcat or a coyote or whatever. And you go to the lodge and you see what they got hanging on the walls, and it looks like freaking bass pro shop. There's, you know, 180s and 90s everywhere, you know, and a couple 200s, and you're like, Jesus, you know, that's what you came here for. Um, so you know, sat up there for a few days and then had to come back home from football and work, and then tried to go back up late season and it was freaking 12 degrees, and I'm freezing my tail off in these tree stands. And, you know, there were there were deer moving, but you know, we only they only hunt afternoons up there when it gets that cold. Okay. And, you know, they cut corn and you know, have big corn fields mowed uh the late season for for this uh exact reason. Okay. And you know, I went up there with a bow, and I think next year I'm gonna try to go back with a muzzle odor at least just to put something big on the wall. Because I think my biggest deer right now is just a 130 in Georgia that I killed with my bow, which I'm proud of. Oh yeah, and I and I'm proud of him. Anywhere, I mean, yeah, yeah, yeah. And uh I just want to put something big on the wall like what they got. So might go up there and cheat a little with a muzzle odor and then I'll start tinkering around with uh with my bow. But I had a great experience up there.
SPEAKER_05That's great, man. Yeah, that's we um I've never shot anything like really over 110, 115 inches, but like I our till I was 15, we lived up there. He lived up there obviously till late 30s or whatever it was when our family moved to Florida, but then we, you know, of course, are up here in Georgia now. But like, man, looking back on it now, I'm like, I I mean, for growing up there, like I'd had great experiences hunting, but I'm like, God, I wish that like at this age now I could have taken advantage of some of that dude. Cause oh my god, like the land of the giants, bro. We we we we still go up and hunt this public like that. We've hunted our f like family and friends have hunted for years, so it's like he knows this public, like the and and like the Arkansas boys know public land, like that's how he is. And um, we went up there like three years ago and he shot a uh split G2 12 pointer, like 100 150 inch buck. And it's just it god, I get excited talking about it, but it's it's close, it's close to close to the golden triangle up there. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02I guess Brown Pike in Adams County is a very special place. I mean, it I mean, just do your research, right? I mean, it it really is, and uh I don't know, you know. I as I was saying, I still I still give people pointers, even though I'm not there, you know, they'll tell me exactly where they're at. And I'm like, all right, if you keep going a little further, that ridge is gonna split, and then this is gonna happen. And the deer don't sit up here because the wind does that when you go down to that valley. And I mean, I just I've hunted there since I was 11 years old, you know what I mean? Yeah, and uh I enjoy that part of it, you know. That um now you know who you are. If you know I'm coming up there, then you guys need to you know go find another spot, huh?
SPEAKER_03Work with me.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, but I will tell you this this is a tip to everybody out there bow hunting public land. That double split D2 buck over there that's on the wall, he got shot because I saved it. I saved it, and it was a spot that I watched everybody walk right by. They park their truck, like you said earlier. You park your truck, you do that, and everybody does that. Well, in this instance, I said I'm gonna do just the opposite because everybody up there is going to where the furthest place they can go. And man, I've just there's been so many times like where I pull into in some of these public spots where I I pulled up to be the first person in that parking spot and go to the check-in desk and a freaking 180-inch deer jumps up right behind the check-in box. Yeah, and I'm like, dude, these deer aren't stupid, they know where you're not going. And it was just a really steep valley, it was a 15-minute walk. I mean, it wasn't even 15 minutes, and that's where it happened, you know. And I say that I knew it could be good. And what I'm saying is, I guess in a nutshell, is don't overlook if if the cattle path is one way, most people take the cattle path. And if you can get right off that the cattle path, sometimes the deer really know it. And uh you're successful.
SPEAKER_05So
Cold Weather Gear That Matters
SPEAKER_05when you were hunting up there in that uh 12 degrees, so you know, I was like, I've always been one of the like you were talking about telling a story earlier, like going to Bass Pro and getting like your first pair of waders or whatever. And growing up, it was always like, Yeah, you're wearing seven different jackets and different camo and whatever you can put together. And uh, I was listening to Cam Han's on Joe Rogan the other day, and he um he's of course, you know, as sponsored by Sitka, but like he was talking about how their bow hunting systems are so like conducive to um to just be being mobile and staying warm and stuff like that. I mean, did you feel like I mean I see you're wearing a sickka shirt shirt, so I'm assuming you might wear some of that. Did you feel like uh it's it's the higher end camo is worth it for that cold, like it'd help?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I think I think with anything, you know, you can wear whatever you want. I just I've always liked Sika, and so I've I've worn it as as much as I could afford, you know. I've tried to get as much as I can. But, you know, if you go and freeze your tail out there wearing the Walmart and Academy stuff every once in a while, you'll realize, you know, paying for quality stuff does make a difference. Um, the biggest thing for me, you know, I'm pretty good about wearing enough clothes to where my like upper body and lower body are okay. It's always my damn hands and my toes, bro. Yes, me too. So, you know, I went up there and I had some non-insulated boots, and you, you know, you try to wear more socks and you sweat and then they freeze. So the biggest thing for that, uh, I think I went and got some 1600 gram lacrosse sicca boots. So they got them in that elevated two pattern. But, you know, since lacrosse split with Sika because Sitka makes their own boots now, uh, there's there's limited stock of them. So I went and found some, you know, third or eighth party website, you know, some sketchy site. And, you know, kind of crossed my fingers when I checked out, but you know, they ended up coming. But, you know, the higher the thin salute or grams of insulation makes such a big deal. Um, so these ones are 1,600 grams. And man, you you can, you know, you damn near can wear some like, you know, super skinny socks and be all right out there. And then, you know, as far as my fingers go, I think eat duck hunting, deer hunting, whatever it's cold, the best thing I've done is bought some $20 rechargeable hand warmers on off of Amazon. And I I bought some that were one-sided, so like they only heated up one side, but you got to get you some that are both double-sided. So you get your palms and your fingertips, and you know, you could sit all day and be comfortable.
SPEAKER_05But that's that's the pro tip.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, those are pro tips. And then, you know, duck hunting that last week of of Arkansas when that wind is howling, wearing like a uh what do they call it? Balaclava or something where your your cheeks are covered up, that's a big, big difference too, man. I could, you know, not having that, you really can't hunt all day, but you know, having your face covered up makes a big difference.
SPEAKER_05Oh man, I that would that's there's two things I'm gonna have next duck season for sure, is a good pair of uh gloves. That here's the thing, I I hate hunting anything with like bulky gloves. So like sure, I'll probably still end up like taking them off during the hunt, but like on boat rides and stuff like that, not having a good pair of gloves and you know the neck gator or whatever. Like I got my uh face got so windburnt, I was like, dude, never again.
SPEAKER_03Oh yeah, no, it's miserable. And I remember the first day when it started freezing, it wasn't snow, it was like sleet where we were. And so it it the way we were hunting, it was kind of coming off our left shoulder, and you couldn't even turn your head like this unless you wanted to get pelted. So, you know, you would you'd turn your hat like this and try to block it, you know. You did you did all types of things and ended up just trying to turn our backs because ducks were working across like that way, so it ended up being fine, but you know, having you know, the the young guys call them a shisty these days, but having everything except this covered up makes a big difference. So, you know, after after that, you know, and then I run a dog too. So a lot of times I'm getting the birds back. So my hands are are getting wet from touching a duck or wiping him off or whatever, and then you know, your hands are frozen again. So having some uh hand warmers are are huge, some electronic hand warmers.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, no, that's that's definitely a game changer, but I'll have to get the uh double-sided ones, yeah.
SPEAKER_03For sure.
SPEAKER_05Well, dude, we appreciate uh you taking an hour to uh spend some time with us, man. It was great talking to you and talking to local Georgia folks is always something we love to do.
SPEAKER_02Um especially folks that are doing it right, like you, man. I mean, great message, great podcast for your first podcast, dude.
SPEAKER_05I love it. And natural, awesome and natural, dude. I appreciate it. No, it's fun.
SPEAKER_02We'd love to have you on anytime.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_03Let's let's get back on it after turkey season or something.
SPEAKER_05Sounds good, man. We check back in and uh, you know, if you're ever up this year, uh up this way or whatever, um we could do one in person too.
SPEAKER_03Oh, yeah, that'd be dope.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, we can definitely do it. Cool, cool, man. Well, tell everybody where they can follow your page and follow you at.
SPEAKER_03Okay, sweet. Yeah, uh, I think the best way to do it would be check out 404 outdoors. I think the tag is 404 outdoors G A. And then my tag is in there, but it's yes sir Reathan on Instagram as well. And then we've got a YouTube page if y'all want to check it out. I'm trying to be better about getting some long form content. You know, I'll post a little TikTok style shorts and reels, but I'm really trying to get out uh some more long form. So we've got a quail hunt on there and we've got a dove hunt on there. And then here in April, we have a turkey hunt coming up. So trying to do more long form posting. But yeah, y'all can definitely check me out there.
SPEAKER_05Awesome, man. Yeah, he actually hunted at uh the place me and Katie went to last year at um burnt pine. Yeah. Same guy, too.
SPEAKER_03Oh, yeah, Daniel Morse. Yeah, so one of the attorneys, and it's crazy how small of a world we are in.
Quail, Pheasants, Food, Final Thoughts
SPEAKER_03Uh, so one of the attorneys I work with um owns Burnt Pine Plantation. Oh, no kidding. So, you know, he linked me up with his kid, and his kid's a senior in high school, and you know, he's one of my boys now. So, you know, they invited me out for a quail hunt out there. So, you know, you go eat a break, uh, eat lunch over there, you know the deal. And you know, you go out there and shoot some some awesome birds over some great dog work. And, you know, you know, they're pen raised birds, but it's it's it's still a damn good time. I love watching bird dogs work, so you know, just watching them run full tilt and then stop on a dime and point, I think there's there's hardly anything that can beat that.
SPEAKER_05It's we just went on a another one this past past weekend with a buddy whose family owns a owns a uh operation down in South Georgia. And so it's yeah, yeah, and it it just they do a good job of like it feels like you're I mean it really it feels like hunting. It doesn't feel like you know, I think uh before I went with Burnt Pine, like I just didn't know anything about it, and I was like, uh man, I don't know, like pen raised birds. Like, is this gonna feel like one of those like raised mallard shoots or whatever? But I didn't feel that way at all. I thought it was awesome.
SPEAKER_02Well, and the last, the last um um, you know, we basically it was like three different areas that we went to, and the last area we went to, he, you know, Dawson's like, this is as close you're gonna get to the real birds, the way these birds are acting. And it was super windy, and and these birds were just popping, you know, before dogs can get in there and point. And and uh it was just he goes, that's about as close to real birds you guys are gonna get. Yeah, for sure. And and we couldn't, we couldn't put we couldn't put a pellet on them.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I mean, likewise, I was struggling too, and it's it's such a different shot than what we're used to when stuff is cupped up or swinging across, like you gotta block these out and pull the trigger, you know. It's just a weird, weird feeling, a weird shot.
SPEAKER_02Well, and poor poor Jeremiah, our buddy, you know, his gun wasn't cycling right, and so the guy's like, Well, I've got my snow goose gun, and the uh full choke on and he's he shot a few, he shot a few, and I'm like, dude, that's like seriously impressive. I I gave him I handed that gun to him, and I'm like, you know, I mean, like my gun's super heavy, but you know, when you're out there snow goose hunting, you you're shouldering it so much that you know what that feels like, right? You're yeah, you're working on that. But when you got a quail that just says, and you got this freaking heavy ass snow goose guy, I was I was feeling for you, Jeremiah. Yeah, uh fun stuff though, man.
SPEAKER_05My uh real quick on the burnt pine thing. I think I might have told you about it over our message or whatever, but my wife's uh co-worker is a member there, so it was just like a random thing. He's like, Hey, I got some birds to shoot. Uh, do you and your husband want to come out? And I was just wanting to go like take some pictures. She was like, No, he's hiding too. And I was like, sweet.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. No, yeah. They got some awesome facilities, and you know, they'll let you shoot clays. They got an awesome clay course out there. So that's a that's a place to be, man.
SPEAKER_02I love bird pie. Dude, we were walking on the first field, and we already shot a couple quail, and we get to this one edge, and we're walking. All of a sudden, this bird jumps up, and I'm going, What's that hawk doing coming out of the field? And then I look at that's really short wings for a hawk. And he's going, shoot it, shoot it, shoot it. It was a freaking peasant. Oh, yeah. Leftover. Yeah. Those are fun. Yeah. We tried to, we dude, we we tried to track that sucker down. They're tough. Oh, yeah, they're tough. You ever did find that sucker?
SPEAKER_03Yeah. I mean, we were up when we were in North Dakota, we'd hunt some of those potholes. And as we hunted them, you know, we're shooting ducks, but you'd hear roosters cackling all through the cattails around us. And you know, we, yeah, I mean, we would go and I remember one hunt specifically. We just packed everything up, put the ducks in the truck, and we're just like, hey, you know, you know, my dog's a pretty good dog, and I think he was eight at the time. And uh, I was like, I'm just gonna cut him loose. Let's just walk this perimeter and see what he can't. And you know, I'd just go tell him to hunt it up and he'll go put his nose down and see what he can do. And I see him just lollygagger through there, and then I see him like really lock in. I'm like, okay, y'all better get ready. And sure enough, he he got real birdie and went and damn near put his nose on one and flushed it up. And, you know, here we are shooting, you know, pheasants over the damn pond. And you know, pheasant gets knocked down in the water and he had a water retrieve. And man, we freaking walked that perimeter, shot three or four of them, just you know, on one pond alone. Yeah, they're North Dakota's loaded just like South Dakota, man. There's a ton of pheasants up there, and they're so gorgeous, too. Seeing a wild one, it I've never seen one up close, like a wild one up close, and some of those we shot were so gorgeous.
SPEAKER_02I have never seen one, but it's got to be very similar to the first experience of holding a blood duck. I mean, it's just oh yeah, so many colors going on, beautiful. I was up on a honker hunt up in Chicago, and you know, um friend of mine took us by his friend's place, and and they're showing us all these deer they shot, and we we shot honkers and mallards and and snow and and cut corn that morning, and it was a blast. And and we're in there, and and I walk into his trophy room, and he's got this big vase, and it's just plum full of rooster tails. I mean like a decoration, it was cool. I go, those aren't real, and he goes, Oh yeah, he goes, Those are real, and I said, Where do you shoot those around here? He goes, Oh, we shoot them all the time. I go in this area. He goes, Yep. I go, are they released? He goes, No, because they're wild. And I'm like, I just couldn't comprehend that, dude. I was like, like my dad wasn't a big hunter, but when he did hunt, he went to the Dakotas and Pheasant hunted. That's where you go. And uh I just had no idea that even northern Illinois had a wild pheasant population.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I wouldn't have guessed it either.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that is crazy. Just the tails. I mean, he had a couple mounted, of course, you know, but I I I gotta imagine like holding one first time, Scotty, somewhere like a beautiful wood duck or something. Yeah, because they're they're a beautiful thing, for sure.
SPEAKER_03And it was one of the best, like wild game animals I've ever eaten. It was unbelievable. I think we all we did was pluck it and we put some run-of-the-mill seasoning and put it in the oven and kind of baked it, kind of roasted it, and it was it was phenomenal. Wow it couldn't, it was so good.
SPEAKER_02Oh man, that's tempting our fancy.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, that sounds great, dude. Well, well, cool, brother. Well, thank you again, dude. Um, like I said, we'll have to do it again sometime and hit us up if you're ever up this way.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, absolutely. I appreciate you guys, appreciate you guys having me on.
SPEAKER_05That's great and take care of both. Sounds good, man.
SPEAKER_00Thanks. Y'all take it easy. I've been hell down, I've been hell bound, riding on a bit time. Don't do that, now think I'll go down, standing in the foreign rain.