Hanging Out with Josh Mullins Discussing the Field Staff & More

Introducing Josh Mullins of Black Widow Deer Lures. We talk about Josh's position, the Field Staff and more.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Well, welcome to season three of the Black Widowed Deer Lures Podcast. And today I'm here with Mr. Josh Mullins. What's going on, brother?

SPEAKER_01 0:15

Enjoying the weather.

SPEAKER_00 0:16

Yeah. I heard that. It's pretty nice out today. We're over here in Tennessee at the Black Widowed Deer Lures uh what do you call this? Home base warehouse distribution center. Yeah. So we're here uh getting together for some uh fall strategies, some podcasts, all that good stuff. Having uh good time.

SPEAKER_01 0:39

Get to meet everybody again. We ain't seen them in a minute.

SPEAKER_00 0:42

Yeah. Absolutely. So how long of a ride was it for you?

SPEAKER_01 0:47

I left five o'clock this morning. And about eight thirty, so uh three three hours a little about three hours.

SPEAKER_00 0:55

Right. So yeah, so the um I think I'm about uh just shy of four hours. I came in last night.

SPEAKER_01 1:04

It it it wouldn't be so bad, but it's just like 55 miles an hour pretty much the entire way. So it uh if I could run 70, which you know I ain't gonna say that it didn't, but for all the law enforcement officers change the channel.

SPEAKER_00 1:21

All right. Well, I know um so if you guys have been longtime followers of Blackwood Deer Lords, you have definitely seen uh Josh posting. And uh he also goes by uh what is it? The Hill Bow Hunter, what is it? Back Hills. Back Hills Bow Hunter. So it does a little bit of that, and then he also uh uh he owns uh Gold Deer Wild Game Attractant. So but he's been a long time user of Blackwood Deer Lores and has uh become a a pretty big asset of the company now for quite a while.

SPEAKER_01 1:56

Yeah, it's been I guess ten years of me actually using a product and eight going on nine as far as on the field staff. So I've uh been through a lot of different people. I've seen people come and go, and it is uh it's been a blessing though. I I've you know thank the world of the family and the the whole group in general. I mean, it's just uh it's a fun time and and a good product.

SPEAKER_00 2:23

So absolutely. Yeah, we've uh it's uh one of the last remaining family owned scent companies. So when you really uh this is a very welcoming family. So when you get when you believe in a product and you push it and everything like that, you find yourself uh getting adopted almost. So we're not quite Bogolskis, but we're pretty close. We're close, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

But I mean, I I like I said, with being blessed, I mean I I've done stuff that I know that I would have never got to experience, you know, had it not been by meeting them and and everything. So I mean, from southeast Kentucky, and we just we don't have a a lot of deer, and I've got uh I mean probably I'd say 15 states now, I guess, 17, I don't even know. I don't I don't I couldn't even count as the many that I've been through just because of of the people that I've met and stuff, and it's you know, 90% of it's been because of Black Widow. So I've uh I've been able to to meet a lot of a lot of great people.

SPEAKER_00 3:31

Yeah. So you you're a long time user of the product and then became on a field staff. And then so now you are um over the field staff. You are the uh what do you say? Not it not the coordinator, but you oversee the majority of it. Because I check in on them, but you you pretty much run the entire field staff. Um that was uh how long how long ago was that? That was five, six.

SPEAKER_01 4:05

It's been about six I the the story how it all got started. I mean, it was uh it I still remember it like it was yesterday whenever um I just had been on the field staff for I don't know maybe maybe four months, I guess, not that long. And I was sitting in a tree stand and my phone rang. And uh I seen Greenville, Tennessee. And uh I didn't answer it, but I because I couldn't get it out of my pocket fast enough, but I actually called Andy back while I was sitting in my tree stand that day whenever he uh asked me if I would be interested in in joining the pro staff side. And uh that was uh that was more more fun than the hunt, actually. I mean it just that tickled me right. It tickled me to death. I mean I remember it. I mean, it really it was crazy just how it all went down because he's like, Well, you should just wait till you got out of the tree stand.

SPEAKER_00 4:54

I said, No, no, we're not waiting. We're good. We can talk. Absolutely. Yeah, so it's been uh many years and and the field staff has turned into I mean, an animal of its own, really. Now it's uh so the growth of the field staff has exploded over the years to where we have to implement so many different levels, I guess you can say, to manage it. Yeah, I mean you know, because we have so many great hunters that are a part of it that we utilize for everything from testing to product product releases and and you know, content and everything like that. So really truthfully, like you had to get into uh we did what coordinators, then coordinators to state ambassadors. Yep. State ambassadors oversee each state and all the people in there because again, I mean you when you review the field staff.

SPEAKER_01 5:52

Oh man, it's uh it was it was one of them things you sit down for a day just trying to to kind of monitor stuff and it was just not possible. So I mean, if we without that help, you know, on that side with the state ambassadors and I mean even with the coordinators, because I mean we got you know a couple of coordinators as well now, too, that right.

SPEAKER_00 6:13

And we had to give them all tasks of their own. So yeah, one that does c uh prizes and contests, and one that we're uh you know that um kind of oversees, make sure that everybody is you know staying away from any hot topics or or causing any issues. So you got kind of like a I wouldn't say a disciplinary one, but more or less just a watchover to make sure that we're saving, you know, making sure that everything's done in a positive manner, right? Yes. And then um then they all share going over um reviewing applications and seeing if new new um field staffs are a good fit, right? So there's a lot of moving parts to it.

SPEAKER_01 6:54

Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_00 6:55

And you watch over all of it. Yeah, I hit it. And I say I I'm guilty of when somebody says, hey, something about a field staff, I'm like, that's a Josh question.

SPEAKER_01 7:04

Yeah, and it's uh it's not unfair to say that I I mean my phone it's on 24 hours a day, but I mean I I I couldn't tell you how many times one or two o'clock in the morning my phone has gone off, you know, whether it be a a Facebook message or or you know, text or even a phone call for that matter, you know. Um but we I try to to take the call, you know, unless it's two o'clock in the morning and I'm just out. Right. But uh I I get so many sometimes. I mean, I do tell people it's better to text because if they call, it's probably gonna get forgot, especially if they don't leave a message. But uh because it just every day it's consistent, you know, between it and the and the gold digger and stuff. It's just emails and texts and phone calls are crazy.

SPEAKER_00 7:55

So absolutely, but you've done a hell of a job over the years, and absolutely there's no way we could manage all that. I mean, you're such an important part of that. That is uh that that is a uh a task that I don't want to do for sure. We definitely uh I I help out, but I'm like, man, when it comes down to reviewing and everything and checking on this, and you know, the the coordinators really do a good job of helping out because that that's a a big task in itself. So the coordinators and then the state app ambassadors being able to actually watch over their state if they have questions from state ambassadors, I mean from their actually state members, the ambassadors could generally handle it, but they do come back to us every occasionally when there's something like, hey, I don't know how to handle this, or I'm not sure about the answer to this question, or I kind of have the answer, but I just want to make sure it's right, right? So you get a lot of those.

SPEAKER_01 8:52

But yeah, I know with the state ambassadors, the real big plus about that. I mean, you know, you're from North Carolina, I'm from Kentucky, and I don't really know the laws of of a lot of these states. I don't have time to sit down to to figure them out. So it really helps to have that, you know, uh state ambassador to kind of understand the laws. Maybe there's something new that comes in with especially with this new, you know, the well, not nothing new, but with the CWD stuff. You've got all this stuff popping up all the time and the ever-evolving laws. Yeah, and it's it's crazy. Because like for me, I'm actually in the CWD zone in Kentucky and and we're not allowed to uh bait until August 1st. I mean, they don't get sick after August 1st.

SPEAKER_00 9:34

So that's what we've got the same in our uh CWD um oh what do they call it? I forget the name of it. Uh surveillance zone. So North Carolina's got surveillance zone, yeah. And those deer, they don't get sick during deer season, only during the summer.

SPEAKER_01 9:49

No, they was it's correct. Because there was just one deer and it was actually a an adjoining county, so they put that buffer of all the counties around and uh we unfortunately got hit with it, but and it uh puts a damper on a lot of things, but you know, it we don't can't bait through turkey season anyway, so it's not a real big thing. Yeah, it's not too much.

SPEAKER_00 10:10

Yeah, uh actually for North Carolina they just removed uh eleven counties. So we had I don't know, fifteen, sixteen or so, and then they just removed eleven. So I think now there's only like five or six surveillance zones on in North Carolina now. But at least the good thing is I thought it would continue to grow and they would never back off of it. But to actually see them drop eleven counties off, I was actually quite shocked, really. But um, yeah, it was good to see that uh they decided uh to remove those. So but that's good to have those state ambassadors that know that.

SPEAKER_01 10:46

Yes, because I mean because you get people that ask, you know, and I if I don't have the time to sit and and look, yeah, I'm not gonna have the answer to it because I mean it's I mean, and they're even uh beneficial when getting new accounts and new dealers and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_00 11:01

And like uh we were just talking about Pennsylvania, you know, being able to call that uh, you know, those coordinator, I mean those ambassadors and say, what is going on? Like, oh these counties or these certain areas, they've the CWD, you know, they they can't even sell the product or well, I mean they can't sell it because that's uh what is it, commerce, they can't touch that, but they you can't be in possession of it or you can't use it. And and they can really help us with the law. So especially when I, you know, of course, we're not in Pennsylvania. So I'm like, well, why is this dealer saying that they can't sell our product? You're right. And we're like, wait a second.

SPEAKER_01 11:35

So then, you know, again, uh field staff uh definitely helps out in because I know Tennessee, I remember I guess it was two years ago now, that pretty much everybody in the western side of the state that the game wardens was actually telling these people, hey, you're not that use, you know, pure urine. Yeah. But you kind of spearheaded that home. Yeah, because I uh I contacted well, there's four or five that I contacted and finally got in touch with somebody and he emailed me a letter head stating that it was legal to use pure urine as long as it's you know DPP approved and RT quick tested. And uh but most of the time. Yeah, I got a letter.

SPEAKER_00 12:17

That way we can email the letter to the actual retailers because the retailers and some of them just were uh that's that's not what he told me, you know. So you're like, wait a second, here is the letter from the game commission. And uh even with that, some of them still don't want to talk to you, you know.

SPEAKER_01 12:35

So I I don't really uh venture too far into Western Tennessee anymore because of that reason, you know, the people that I've talked to either they're so much misinformation. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:48

So but so yeah, the the field staff has been awesome, very instrumental in that, and they do a lot for us. You know, they really do. They um field testing with the staff. Every time we get a product that we're kind of wondering, you know, how you know, we we go through the paces, but we see how how it kind of works with them and they get first dibs on trying out some stuff before we get it to market.

SPEAKER_01 13:13

Yeah, and that's a big help because I mean, you know, you can try it and I can try it, and one or two other people can try it, and you know, but it's a lot better if you can have 75, 100, 300, you know, to do it. You've got a a wider uh area. That's that you can get uh a a better answer of what you know what you're looking for.

SPEAKER_00 13:34

So right, yeah. So it's always been good. And they you know, the the field staff has been, you know, very instrumental in in helping with the testing and using and content. Yeah. Always great source of content, um, being able to utilize that because there's only so much me and you can do.

SPEAKER_01 13:54

Yeah, I mean I well we've got a lot of cameras running, but it's uh it kind of you start over you know flooding your s posts every day with 20 or 30 Black Wood, you know, people don't want to see that, especially. So you know my wife, she kind of well, you posted that the other day. I said, I know, but I'm posting it again.

SPEAKER_00 14:13

Well, and the good thing is especially like when we're we're doing um any advertising or anything on certain products, right? You can reach out and say, Hey guys, I need uh trail camera photos of a deer putting his nose on the scrape rope. Yeah. Or who's got uh you know, a photo of this or a photo of that, or summertime scrapes, you know, when we're talking about the um the bundle that we just released, and you need photos of summertime scrape activity to kind of go along to show people. Yeah, it's just a uh endless source of content that you can reach out to to them, and they've been very beneficial and and it's been great uh working with all of them, you know.

SPEAKER_01 14:57

I mean, I've I've met a lot of people over the years and and most of them I've talked to on occasion, yeah. I mean, you know, whether it be a phone call or just texting or messaging.

SPEAKER_00 15:08

I mean, you know, I I do speak to a lot of them because I mean, you know, you you got to kind of keep, you know, up with people, you know, whether it's I mean it may not necessarily be anything about hunt-related or anything like that, but I mean And that's actually the field staff group, like on the Facebook group. That's what a lot of it ends up being, is a lot of just socializing. And of course there's products and stuff involved in in the content, but there's a lot of times it's just everybody just talking about what they're up to, what they're doing, fishing pictures sometimes, things like that. You know, sharing adventures.

SPEAKER_01 15:42

And then it uh it definitely is is nice because you know you're not having uh some places pushing that stuff down their throat, and you gotta do this, you gotta do that, and you can't do this, and it's just it's like I said, it's a family. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 15:58

Yeah, everybody gets along. We we've definitely taken the approach we're not uh you know, um what as Andy used to say, you can what is it, discipline with a stick or you can lead with a carrot. Yeah. Right. And he said you can't beat on the field staff, yeah. No, no, no. Yeah, so it's been yeah, so we've we've and I actually we've had a lot of staffers come over that have had some, you know, unfortunate issues and and other places and and just found a home here. So that's been good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:30

It's definitely it's grown and it's gonna continue to grow.

SPEAKER_00 16:34

I mean, you know, it's uh and actually so this summer um for everybody that's listening, you guys can actually uh take a look at the Facebook page uh in the next uh few days and the next upcoming weeks, you'll see posts we're accepting new field staff members. Um and then there'll be an application process. You guys, if you love the outdoors and you guys want to give it a shot and join the family, you know, you can fill out the application and submit it. And like I said, uh Josh, myself, a couple coordinators, you know, take turns over reviewing applications and and getting uh you know staffers uh added uh if it's a good fit. So and again, you there you don't have to sell anything. That that is that is a a great, you know, actually just got a a reminder from Danielle here that you don't have to uh sell anything. So it's not like some of these staff like, well, you have to join us uh hundred bucks, yeah. And then you gotta sell these products, or you you don't have to buy a starter kit. There's a couple that just have starter kits, right? You gotta buy a t-shirt, a hat, a hoodie. You know, we have that. If you would like that, you can buy it at a discounted rate if you would like it, but it's there, you don't have to, right? So um there's no minimum order requirements to stay on staff. You know, we just truthfully are looking for staffers that that enjoy the outdoors, they use the product, they believe in the product, and then you know, when they talk with their friends and help with support on uh on different uh pages that they could help with um you know, uh, we got a camera that died here. Yeah, so we still got a backup. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so we've uh we definitely uh we'll be able to to you know go through the application process and see if you're a good fit. But honestly, really there's no there's no what you have to do.

SPEAKER_01 18:28

Yeah, there's yeah, there's no there's nothing in that side. I mean, you know, you're going to hunt and you're going to be using you know deer lure. 90% of the time people's using deer urine, so it's there for you to use, but you don't have to buy a hundred dollars and sell fifty of it just to you know meet requirements. I mean there's no no requirements to be there, you know. Absolutely. Just come in and and join the group and and learn and and just have fun. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:56

Yeah, because there's not because I know there's certain that you have to have so many posts, you have to have so many followers. I've actually seen some that you have to have minimum requirements, how many people you've got on social media. You don't have to be an influencer. Yeah. You know, you don't have to be a TV show, you don't have to be an influencer, you just have to have a passion. Yeah. You just want to want it. You just want to enjoy it.

SPEAKER_02 19:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:16

And so, yeah, so definitely uh you guys keep an eye out um because soon um probably uh here in the next uh actually in a few hours, I'll probably throw a post up here. But uh y'all pay attention because we'll accept uh staffers uh all through the summertime, you know, just everybody kind of keep an eye out for the application, submit it, and um you know uh we'd love for you guys to join the Black Widow Deal Force Field staff. Absolutely. We have a blast with it. So we'll definitely keep an eye out that. So all right, so moving on from the staff. What's your favorite lure from Black Widow? You've been using it so long. I see so many posts, and I I see you always kind of experimenting. Yeah, man, that one would be kind of hard.

SPEAKER_01 20:04

I guess I would really be come on. I I know a couple of those stickers in my head right now. What phase we're at, I guess, is where I'm going to be at. Uh you know, hot vanilla. I'm a big hot vanilla fan. I knew it. That was right there. I was about to say hot and vanilla. Big hot and vanilla fan. Yeah. And branch butter, a given. Right. But early season, I mean, uh the extreme interest, but when we was testing, it was actually released this year, the uh secret sauce. Yeah, I mean hate sauce.

SPEAKER_00 20:39

That's that's I just that's our newest uh curiosity lure. Which and and that that makes sense because you like hot and vanilla. Yeah. So for those of you guys that aren't familiar with hot and vanilla, it is our hot and ready, but it also has the curiosity aspect of it with vanilla. And it's a blend that intrigues bucks at all phases. Yep. Even if they're not really so let's say they're not really I wouldn't say in the mood, but they're not really revved up, the testosterone is not they're not peaked, they're not rocking and rolling yet, the vanilla grabs them. Yes. That's a curiosity, right? So you get the curiosity aspect of it, then you get the you know, the the estrus part too. So it's both blended together, and for all the the youngsters that aren't familiar with vanilla, right, and that's that or really honestly, truthfully, this generation is not real well versed in vanilla. If you talk to an old timer, an old old school hunter, that used to carry a 35 millimeter canister with a cotton ball in it, and they would smirk vanilla. Vanilla vanilla. I've done it many years. And they had that little canister, and everywhere they'd go, they'd be like, Oh, that was the secret. You know, they'd pop it open. And I had that vanilla, and it would grab deer's interest. Well, that is a tactic that's been lost over the years. I mean, a lot of people aren't aren't really familiar with it, but vanilla is a huge curiosity lure. And um so when it was developed, uh Andy devi developed hot and vanilla using the asterisk with the curiosity aspect of it. And I would say out of all the hunters that I know, I see the most hot and vanilla that you posed have killed a lot of deer with hot and vanilla.

SPEAKER_01 22:36

Yeah. I mean nice deer, actually. So and uh but hot and vanilla, extreme interest, yeah. The now V, I mean, I've got to give V uh a shout too because the heat of the rut, I mean, that is just that there's nothing that compares to it. You're not going to find that's almost not fair. It's no. I mean it's it's the hottest of the hot. I mean, it literally is within moments of artificial insemination. Right. So it is absolutely the peak of the peak. But uh I I do like it. But now the new, like go back to the the the actually like the extreme interest. I used it for years early season. Right. And uh but when we started testing the secret sauce, I mean I So you think you found a new favorite on your curiosity now? I I'm I'm telling you the the secret sauce has kind of really got me up nights time because I have to my phone got buzzes, and guess what? You gotta get up and look. And then you sit there for two or three hours looking through your phone because deer are there. But uh yeah, I I I do I do like the secret sauce. Right. And then, you know, smoking sticks, which everybody knows me knows that I don't go to the woods without smoking sticks.

SPEAKER_00 23:59

I mean I Yeah, I really like the uh the all-season curiosity. I use it quite a bit. Actually, we use it a lot. I like to put it in the stand with me. I do too. And it's a wind indicator and it covers my scent. But again, there's a lot of times where we've been in a stand. I know me and Andy have experienced it in Ohio a couple times where he'll tell me he's like, snuff it out so the deer will leave. We can't even get out to the stand because they won't leave us, you know. So the the all-season curiosity is uh a heck of a product.

SPEAKER_01 24:31

I know that uh usually that I don't even know how many tubes I go through a year, but you know, you make the I am gonna have to have smoke smoking sticks as I burn one in the stand, one on the ground, and and it's just I I go through, you know, sometimes I'll even put three in the ground. I mean, I guess it was two years ago now. We got I got a deer back home. I call her Bobby. I mean, she's just she can pick you out of anything. She knows you're there. She she's in stand in a blind and the smoking sticks. I had three of them kind of in the in the middle of the field, you know, 30 yards in front of me, and she knew I was there. I mean, she just knew she was looking at me, but she just couldn't get enough of the smoke from when it hit, and then she came out and was there for probably 20 minutes, but she was she was not happy, but she wasn't well passionate. Oh, yeah, got her.

SPEAKER_00 25:23

She wouldn't have to be mesmerized, mesmerized with it. I know we had one zigzagging back and forth just trying to get in our scent cone and would would pick us out, could smell us, but then would smell the all-season curiosity and just kept coming, and then she would kept looking around, trying to figure it out, but she would literally zigzag back and forth 20 yards until she hit the scent cone, coming closer. Zigzag, hit the scent cone, coming closer. But the thing was, like she it overpowered our human scent. Yeah, and she just couldn't say away, absolutely. She's intrigued. Yeah. So the secret sauce has been my newest favorite. Oh, yeah, man. I yeah, because that was a going back to the field staff, that was tested um two years ago, right? Two or three. Two. Two years, right? So two years it was tested, then it was released to the field staff again before it came public, right? So that was I tested a little bit and I was like, oh, it works good. You know, I'm still I I like it. I like extreme interest, though. I think I think I've got a uh I love that. Just I I think the cigarette sauce does pretty good, but extreme interest has got a special place in my heart, I think.

SPEAKER_01 26:40

Well, that was kind of what I cut my teeth on because whenever I started, it was kind of before the rut, you know, um, when I first found it in a you know in a store location, and that was kind of where we all went when I realized extreme interest was there. I was like, I don't have to try that. I was I was impressed, and I still use it. You know, I do I do use it.

SPEAKER_00 27:01

Yeah, because I use it all through the season. Yeah, it's one of those that do it doesn't matter, like early season, during the rut, late season, you know, because uh even the extreme interest catching your uh your doze, then the bucks are right there.

SPEAKER_01 27:17

You know, so so I mean it uh it's it's been one of my favorites. I mean, I do use I do use extreme interest quite often, you know. I always have it, I have it in my pack regardless. I mean, you know, there's d regardless of the year, the time of year that I go, you know, it's extreme interest and smoking sticks. That's always two things that I can a hundred percent guarantee I will have with me. Right. And you know, I just that's just the way I've always been. So but uh but now the as far as the secret sauce goes, I mean, I don't I don't I couldn't even tell you how many hours of video that I had.

SPEAKER_00 27:56

Yeah, actually I got a nice bachelor group of bucks showed up to it and I was like, hmm, yeah. Yeah, this is uh this is gonna be a nice addition to your your bag of tricks, really.

SPEAKER_01 28:08

Yeah, and I like to I spray it around my camera just right. I d I don't know why. I mean it's just it's just one of those things I just I get tickled at them whenever they come up and start you know messing around at your camera. And then I had a nice eight pointer last night, or actually it was this morning about two o'clock that come in on a uh rope.

SPEAKER_00 28:25

Yeah, you got a rope that's got a um and uh hanging. It's a drag, yeah. It's not a drag that's hanging with the secret sauce.

SPEAKER_01 28:32

Where I'm satal, I when I hang something, it's usually uh out of their reach. So I do have to to kind of extend things down on occasion. So I have to f I put a drag on the bottom of it. Right. And uh button.

SPEAKER_00 28:44

It's kind of like your extended wick instead of your scent stick. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:48

You have to do something because it and I do it every time too. I can't help it. I just you don't think about it when until you see it on camera. Well, that it's over two feet over the deer's head, you know.

SPEAKER_00 28:58

Right. Yeah. But so yeah, so now the secret sauce is available online. Yes. So it has been officially released online, it is not uh in any retailers. So it's just a strictly an online product uh for right now. But if you guys haven't tried it yet and used it, it is a great curiosity lure. Um so you head over to Blackwitted Deer Lores.com and uh you know try out your uh secret sauce. Actually, if I if I'm correct, they just saw the new labels. Yes, right?

SPEAKER_01 29:29

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:30

Yeah, we got brand new labels for the secret sauce. It's been uh it's been in uh production. So for those of you guys who are watching the video, um brand new labels just produced and and uh looks pretty good. It's got like a greenish hue to it.

SPEAKER_01 29:49

Yeah. It uh I don't know, then the labels kind of pop too. Yeah, they look good.

SPEAKER_00 29:55

It does look good. Yeah, so this is again online only right now. You guys can uh try it out. The secret sauce. There you go. Brand new label, and uh you guys can find it on the website. So what is your most memorable hunt with Blackwood Eritrean?

SPEAKER_01 30:25

I'm gonna have to probably several years ago when I when I I got sick and uh uh didn't know if I was gonna get to hunt and uh but I w had to wear an eye patch for the longest time, I guess. And actually I was deer hunting with an eye patch on and uh that that was probably one of the the times that just hit you in the you know in your mind that hey I might not be able to do this alone. Right. You know, and um it it didn't it didn't really hit you I guess until I mean I I never really cried I don't think I've ever cried when I've killed a deer, I don't think that I can remember, but that one flood of emotion. Yeah, that one that year, you know, it we was in Ohio and uh I mean it it it hit me different. Yeah, you know, and uh I'm still now a lot of stuff I I can't do, you know, as far as I used to sit all day, every day, but I can't do that. But that was probably my most memorable hunt was the year I got sick and and kind of questioned whether I would ever get to do this, you know, again. And uh I did and it and I've I've hunted pretty much every year since. I mean I did have I think a one off year because of doctor appointments and stuff, but um other than that, that uh you know you just gotta be thankful for what you have. I mean, you know, everybody, you know, people anymore look at hunting and stuff as um going out and and and killing something. And to me, just us in North Carolina hunting or us indoors, yeah. Ohio or or you know, when I was in Oklahoma, uh Florida, I mean I every place that I've been, I mean, it's that that was really something that you remember more than the hunt. I mean, it I've killed a lot of uh nice deer over the years and and which I ain't gonna say that I have standards because I don't. I mean I I just I'll be the first to say. But I mean I have I have killed some nice deer over the years.

SPEAKER_00 32:48

And it's just uh Yeah, the buck you killed last year was pretty nice. Yeah. Well, it's a real nice buck. I mean it well actually the last three well, three years ago.

SPEAKER_01 33:04

If it uh if it if it presents itself, who knows, you know. Just depends on how I feel that day. But yeah, I don't and I I don't really I mean people they they bash everybody because of it, but you know, hey, if you're happy with it, I'm I mean I'll be there to shake your hand with the best of them. So I mean, you know, you can't uh when you start losing just enjoyment of being in the woods, you know, that's the time to to change.

SPEAKER_00 33:33

I think so. That's something I'd say like we have a veterans hunt every year, and uh we bring over a bunch of veterans to hunt, and I tell them the trophy is the eyes of the beholder. Yes. We're not we're not man we manage this property, but this is not a management hunt. Whatever you guys want to, you know, shoot, you can shoot. And I tell you, that is the happiest group of guys when I'm dragging out spikes and basket eights and sixes, and they have an absolute blast. And that's just that's the fun part. Yes. Of just, you know, they're they're excited, they were successful, and you can come around camp and everybody is having a good time, high five and filling coolers and enjoying it. Yeah, you know, and it's not like uh I can't believe you shot that. Like you know, it's it's nothing like that. I think that we've we've gone so far away from that uh now today as be has become more of a as they say, a game of inches. Yeah. Competitiveness, you know.

SPEAKER_01 34:31

I guess the first year I I I actually killed it was 91. And that was the only deer I seen. And I don't think I seen anything the next year. But I mean, you go from then to where man you was praying to see a deer to now to where you know you you which we still even back home, we don't have the quantity. I mean, there's some good quality, but no quantity. I mean, we just don't have it, but um it's a lot better now than what it used to be because we didn't definitely didn't have no standards back then.

SPEAKER_00 35:01

I mean, you know, it was uh like I said, uh you're you were happy to see an animal. You know, the numbers were completely different than they are now, you know. So a lot of a lot of different states, even in North Carolina back then, we you know, you could hunt several days and not see anything, you know. And that's a time a lot of you know, especially this generation of hunters that's not familiar with that time, that uh you know, they sit down and you know, oh I only seen five deer today, and I'm like, Good Lord. Yeah, yeah. Twenty years ago, that was huge. Like, if you saw five deer, man, you better not say nothing because there'd be 50 people over there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:52

But I can remember hunting, you know, for seven days and not seeing a deer. Yeah. You know, didn't even know if they were there, you know. But uh it's man, am I even in the right spot? Any white tails here? It was crazy because it's you know, you whenever they did kind of come out with a cell or not cell cams, but the 35 millimeter cameras the week we thought we was jacked up when we go run to CVS to get uh pictures to film. At least that's the only way we was gonna see it there.

SPEAKER_00 36:23

I've got a whole mole tree. That thing looks that thing looks like a small suitcase. Yeah, you know, and you used to strap that tree. And actually, no, it didn't have straps. You screwed it to the tree from the inside. Yep. Yeah, it had like Phillips screwed it. You would screw it to the tree, and uh yeah. I I remember you getting blown at a by a deer, and I'm like, well, I was excited because I was like, that means there is a deer in these woods. Holy smoke, I got busted, but you know what? There's a deer.

SPEAKER_01 36:52

That uh is exactly right, because I mean it's man, things have changed, and and just hunting in general has changed as far as now everybody is managing deer and stuff, and you get to see, you know, it's not uncommon. I mean, we again we don't have a quantity of deer, but I mean I do see more than it is the same deer every day, but I'll see five or six deer, right? You know, and then you'll have the straggler of a real nice buck. Because there was three on camera last year, and and that was very, very uncommon for us. Yeah, we didn't see that, but you know, we uh manage and stuff with mineral and try to keep everything intact, I guess. But I mean, you know, I'm not gonna tell my neighbors what they can against shoot and absolutely talk to them and and see if they are willing to help, and if not, you know, hey, more power to them. I mean, we'll be happy for them.

SPEAKER_00 37:47

So yeah, absolutely. That's that's the biggest part too, is like, you know, the these deer don't belong to you either. So if they get if one of our bucks gets off the reservation and a neighbor, you know, happens to be successful, hey, we're just as happy as if it happened, you know. Yeah, I know the one car camp. And you know, and I'm that's the same as uh in Ohio. We had a uh a couple guys that harvested a nice buck above us, and they were right on the property line, and I walked in there, and man, they all were you know worried that I was coming in there just to get get mad and yelling. I'm like, man, way to go. I said, grab the antlers, let me take a picture. And they were like, What? You know, and I'm like, Yeah, let's get a picture. That's awesome, man. Nice buck, you know? And uh, and I guess that mentality of everybody, like, oh, that was my deer. I can't believe you shot that deer.

SPEAKER_01 38:35

You know, so you hear it all the time. I mean, it's uh which I mean I was I was pleased for him. I mean, because I'd watched that deer for two years, and uh he killed it the the Saturday opening Saturday morning, and uh which I did get to see it, and and it was uh it was a really nice deer. I mean it was mid-160s. Wow. And uh but then I kinda went on uh kind of like a binge of like watching bucks walk by and I said, Man, I don't know if they're gonna get much better because at that time, but then you know I shot one actually the Sunday, this uh the following day, the afternoon, and uh it had a little trouble, you know, g getting it, but we got it figured out in the long run, so it was okay. Awesome.

SPEAKER_00 39:24

Awesome. Well, well, Josh, I appreciate you uh taking time to do some some uh podcast time with us. You guys will be seeing more of Josh this season. Um he's gonna be doing a lot of the podcast uh this season three. This is season three. I know it's yeah first first two seasons. Uh again, guys, they were if you listen to them beforehand, a lot of it was products, uh, you know, just going over the products, the differences between the gold label and the red label, and I'm sure we're all touch it. If you haven't heard them before, we'll touch on it again this upcoming season. Um essentially, uh, you know, all the the features of you know the freshness, how we um, you know, collect and bottle same season with dated packaging, all that good stuff. So that was you know, the first season or two was going over a lot of the specifics and features, and now moving forward this upcoming season, you're gonna see a lot of guests, a lot of stories, of course, uh intertwined with uh some product features, some new releases, and just people's experiences in the woods with our products. So be sure to uh check in and and we've got some big news coming up. We're the next podcast, we're gonna be talking with uh Miss Danielle Principe. And uh and we've got some big news on some changes happening over here at Black Widowed Deer Lores in a positive way. Oh yeah, and things are staying in a family. There's a little tease for you, and uh we will uh we'll touch a little bit more on that. So thank you guys and thank you again, Josh. As always. Well, we'll see y'all on the next episode of the Black Widowed Deer Lores podcast.