Hunts On Outfitting Podcast
Stories! As hunters and outdoors people that seems to be a common thing we all have lots of. Join your amateur guide and host on this channel Ken as he gets tales from guys and gals. Chasing that trophy buck for years to an entertaining morning on the duck pond, comedian ones, to interesting that's what you are going to hear. Also along with some general hunting discussions from time to time but making sure to leave political talks out of it. Don't take this too serious as we sure don't! If you enjoy this at all or find it fun to listen to, we really appreciate if you would subscribe and leave a review. Thanks for. checking us out! We are also on fb as Hunts on outfitting, and instagram. We are on YouTube as Hunts on outfitting podcast.
Hunts On Outfitting Podcast
Ep.105 A Free-Range Texas Adventure That Checks Every Box
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A North Carolina houndsman meets a target-rich Texas and turns a bucket list into a full-blown field course. We kick off before daylight with bodies moving through mesquite and a cold, old buck that tests our patience until legal light. By 7:12 a.m., the tag is punched. That moment opens the gate to everything Texas does loud: thermal glass sweeping wheat fields, boars and sows spilling like ink across the dark, and a sudden realization that red reticles don’t work for colorblind eyes. Switch to green, and the hits land. Farmers breathe easier; we learn why hog control is stewardship, not spectacle.
Midday brings rock and thorn, where an aoudad teaches new anatomy. Heart and lungs sit in the shoulder, not behind it, and a steady 200-yard shot with a 308 proves it. The meat is better than the myths, the country spare and beautiful, and the lesson simple: every region makes you relearn what you think you know. Then the surprise—Rios in the fall. With a legal rifle and a calm rest, a Rio turkey adds a Grand Slam square while highlighting how seasons, tools, and ethics shift across state lines. We collect coyotes over hog kills, trade stories about javelina and axis dreams, and map the contrasts between scrubby flats and the oak-tangled Appalachians.
Threaded through it all is the power of dogs and good people. Tyler’s plot hound roots meet Texas blood-trailing pros who help youth hunters recover deer, turning near-misses into lifelong memories. It’s a reminder that conservation isn’t a slogan—it’s decisions made at night on farm roads, in daylight on glass, and beside kids learning to breathe and squeeze. If you’re weighing a Texas trip, this story delivers practical intel on free-range opportunities, hog management, gear choices from .308s to suppressed .223s, and the terrain truths that make or break a stalk. Subscribe, share with a friend who’s planning a hunt, and leave a review to help more folks find the show. What’s the first tag you’d punch on your own Texas run?
Check us out on Facebook Hunts On Outfitting, or myself Ken Marr. Reach out and Tell your hunting buddies about the podcast if you like it, Thanks!
Welcome And Giveaway Recap
SPEAKER_02I'm your host and lucky guys and I love everything hunting, the doors, and all things associated with it. Welcome. Hey, if it's your first time tuning in, welcome. If not, welcome back. We got a fun bucket list hunt that someone was able to cross off their list and tell us all about. Tyler Young, what a great guy. Super nice and an energy about him that's contagious. And uh not to mention a great storyteller. Now, him being a die-hard handsman, we definitely talk a bit about chasing some bears and his passion for that. Uh we touch a little bit about the truly monster, once-in-a-lifetime North Carolina buck that he was blessed enough to harvest this fall. Tyler will be on again in the future to go more in depth on those two uh subjects. This time, though, we chat about his amazing and complete Texas hunting adventure, from bucks to Awedad, turkeys, and more. He brings us through his dream hunt that became a reality for meeting some great people. If you listened to last week's podcast, on our big two-year anniversary, we had a t-shirt giveaway. The first six people to email or message me their shirt size and mailing address got a Hunt on Outfitting podcast shirt sent to them. We had a great response to that. Thanks to all for your support. I ended up giving away some extra shirts actually because of response from it. The furthest away from me that a shirt went was Arizona. And the first one to respond was Brady from Prince Edward Island. Thanks, brother. I sent you a little something extra. Uh because of the great response from that, we will be doing more giveaways in the future. So if you listen to that podcast episode and you were one of those lucky people to uh message me in time to get a shirt, thanks. Your shirt is on uh the way. All right, so let's talk to Tyler because I'm telling you, this guy was so much fun to talk to and just hear about his hunting experience. And uh let's get to it. Oh, and if you were looking to get a hold of us to maybe come on the podcast or suggest somebody for it or just reach out to me, you can email me at hunts on outfitting at gmail.com or you can find us on Facebook, Hunts on Outfitting, or I find myself on there at Kenmair. Feel free to reach out. Some of you guys have been. It's been great talking with you from all over. Uh Tyler Young, thanks so much for coming on the podcast. You know, I saw uh the pictures from your Texas hunt this year, and you put that as a bucket list hunt, and it looked really awesome. And I can't wait to talk about that. But before we get into that, uh for those listening, you know how it is. How would you describe yourself, where you're from, and what you do?
SPEAKER_00Well, my name's Tyler Young. Um, I'm 29 years old, uh, born and raised in Old Fort, North Carolina. It's just a little it used to be one red light. Now we've upgraded to two red lights and we're getting a bojangle, so we're moving up in the world. But uh no, just uh born and raised out in the middle of literally nowhere, just uh live on a cattle farm and just uh hunt or hunt every day that I can and work in a machine shop and just uh the outdoors is my life. That's about the best way I can describe myself. If I if I can kill it or I can catch it, I'm after it.
SPEAKER_02Well, that sounds perfect. What kind of what kind of cattle y'all raising?
SPEAKER_00Uh we have black Angus and we also have Gelvy, but uh we mainly have black Angus cattle.
SPEAKER_02Okay, yep. I've got uh I've got some as well, and I they're herdy and they can look after themselves, but as far as uh catching calves to tag them or something, you've got to find anything, you gotta have some running boots on.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, buddy, when whenever we're a calvin, they're they're fine. Like right now you can go out there and love all over them, but when they start calming, you better have your tennis shoes on because they will kill you. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I know anytime someone says, like, oh, there's bears around or coyotes, I'm like, I'm not worried at all. Like one crazy animal to try to get in there around those mamas.
SPEAKER_01Yes, sir.
SPEAKER_02So yeah, it's it's good and it's bad. It's good that you know they're looking after their calves. It's bad when it you try to do anything with them, but uh it's all part of the fun.
SPEAKER_01Yes, sir.
SPEAKER_02Uh, and then you've got uh you got young blood kennels, your uh your true houndsman. You've been uh been doing that for a while. You got your starting coon hound hunting, was it?
Hounds, Family Legacy, And Plot Dogs
SPEAKER_00Yes, sir, yep, yeah. I started uh I started coon hunting when uh I was just being up here with my grandpa actually was uh he was big into coon hunting, he had grand knot champion uh coon dog and everything. And uh hunting with hounds has ran in my family. My middle name is Mason, and uh my great great-grandpa, his name was Sam Mason. So they actually they tried to incorporate his name and my name, and uh he bear hunted and stuff, and he actually hunted with one of our uh presidents, Teddy Roosevelt. Wow, back in the day and everything. So it's it's definitely it's it runs through my veins thicker than blood. So it's I I don't I truly if I don't have a dog, I don't rook and I would know what I would be doing without a dog, you know.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I I do like uh you know it just it just makes the hunt like especially our snowshoe hare population appears not huge in this nap, but I'm running my dogs several times a week, and I rarely bring the gun, you know. It's just just want to run them. Now the coon hounds that I have they they want it dead, they want to get their mouth on it, you gotta shoot those. But it's uh yeah, it's it's just all the dogs make it. Would I go out hunting rabbits without them? No.
unknownYep.
SPEAKER_02So Teddy Roosevelt, really, so I maybe I'm wrong, you might know, but isn't it they call him Teddy because he was on a bear hunt with somebody and they tied up the bear for him or something like that before, and he's like, No, I'm not shooting a tied up bear.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, it was there was some story with a bear or something like that, to where um he he either got like in a fight with one or something like that and got the name Teddy Roosevelt, which you know, I mean he was he's like me. If he could kill it, he traveled and hunted and killed anything that he could, and that that's kind of that's how I feel about it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, and also, you know, a huge conservationist and done so much for you know your country and and and hunting and fishing and all that and making sure it's you know there and as sustainable as he could get it.
SPEAKER_01Yes, sir.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so that's really cool. So he was hunting with him. Wow, that's uh he got some history there.
SPEAKER_00Yes, sir, yeah, yeah, and then uh I don't know um how familiar you guys are with it or whatever with the plot hounds. But um name got them, so a little bit. Okay, so the plot is actually North Carolina's state dog. And they were brought over seas from uh, you know, the like Germany or wherever they originated from, and brought over here with the the settlers and everything, and back through my lineage, we're actually distant cousins with the actual people that brought the plots and introduced them to America. And I've got three or four of them. I actually have a 12-week-old puppy tied out in the kennel in the yard right now, you know, that's a plot. So I try to to me that's cool just between the family legacy and the the state dog and everything else. Plus, I really like a plot dog anyways.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's uh that is really cool. You got a lot of history there. I know the plots are neat. I've never been around them until I went down to Maine running bears with buddies of mine there. And you know, you hear that they're like they're a bear dog, they're designed for bear hunting and all that. So you're I didn't know what to expect, really. And I get there and I see this small, scrawny, like 40-pound dog. I'm like, really this? But I'll tell you, they have got some grit.
SPEAKER_00Yep. That's and that's my favorite thing about them. Like, I mean, you know, like each each hound has their own, yeah, their own character, you know, between no, like you know, like blue ticks and stuff are known for their nose. Walker dogs are known for their nose, but they're known for like their speed and like their tree, and more than anything. Yeah. And then you got a plot hound, and I think that's what I like about them. They're just they're lean, scrappy, grit, like uh, they just they have no back down. That's like that little puppy. She's 12 weeks old, and I think 10 pounds. We weighed her the other day. We had to take her to the vet and get her medicine and stuff, and she weighs like 10.6 pounds, I think. And right now it's actually cold enough down here to have a fire in the house.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And we've been letting her stay in the in the basement. And I opened the darn fireplace the other night and was putting wood in the fire, and that little heifer crawled up in the fire pit and was biting the flames to the point it was shriveling her whiskers, and I had to actually pour out of her. She was, I mean, she was invested in that fire.
SPEAKER_02Holy cow. That's wild. That's uh you know, some would say that that sums up the plot just about perfect. Yeah. Just yeah, full of piss and vinegar and fight and fire.
SPEAKER_00Yes, sir. And that's what I love about them so much. I mean, they're they're they're weak in some aspects of it, but you're truly personally, if I could, if I could just give my two cents on it, you're not gonna find a doll with more heart. And that loves their their job as far as hunting big game as a plot. That's just they will always have a special place in my heart.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah, I I like them a lot too, but it's just until you can get one with the voice of a blue tick, I'll uh I'll stick with the blue ticks. But you know, they they are great. They're good dogs. Yes, sir. Um, yeah, so you you go, I want to do another podcast with you sometime in the near future, but I mean you hunt, we'll just touch on a little, you hunt all over running your bear hands.
SPEAKER_00Yes, sir. Yeah, yes, sir. Yep. Yeah, I uh I go to Maine almost every year, um, Wisconsin, which I actually met my wife in Wisconsin. She's from Wisconsin and her family, Hunts Bear and Wisconsin, and everything up there. And um, I got some buddies, they actually they're they're big plot guys, and that's where a lot of my plot dogs come from, is up there. And I was on a hunting trip and met her about five years ago, and just that's a whole story in itself. We're just recently married, and then uh I hunt Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, um, obviously all over North Carolina where I'm from, and then uh one of my favorite hunts is New Mexico, and going out I go out west with them and um try to catch cats with them. They're catching a line out there on dry dirt is hard. Yeah. Um, but um as far as going out to New Mexico, it's just it's cool the terrain and it's a different hunt, and then the bears are different colors out there. That that's the coolest thing about it, is just seeing the different colors in the bears out there.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, there's a lot of color face at bears out there, right?
SPEAKER_01Yes, sir. Yep.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and then uh I know I I've heard that running cats, dry ground, no snow at all. I heard it's uh it it takes a special kind of hound with an amazing nose.
SPEAKER_00Yes, sir, yep. And my dogs don't have it. They don't I guess just where uh where a cat doesn't lay any scent, yeah. Um they just they don't have much. Now I have a buddy that hunts out in Utah, New Mexico, and stuff, and I mean he's posting videos all the time, and like to watch his dogs work a dry a dry ground cat. It's truly, I mean, he's got some special dogs, and I mean he can he's the kind too, he can see a cat tracking the sand, and I'm just looking at sand, I don't even see it, you know. So it it it is, it's a it's a totally different ball game.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. But I mean, sounds like I mean, you're running bears in the best areas that the country has to offer, it sounds like.
SPEAKER_01Yes, sir. Yep.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's amazing. And then also, too, and you know, that's great listening to the podcast that you did on that about your buck this year. What was it? Was it one 177, 178?
SPEAKER_00He um he grossed 181 and three-quarter, um, which, I mean, it's my it's my buck, my story. He's 180-inch deer. He is not by no means a slouch, but when it comes down to scoring him and everything, he scored 177 and 68 as a typical chem point.
SPEAKER_02That's net.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yes, sir. Yeah, his net score was 177 and 68. And I'm I am from a little old place here. I mean, honestly, if you kill a hundred-inch deer, you have killed an absolute giant. So to kill nearly a 200-inch deer, like it's it's totally, I mean, the Lord just blessed me. I mean, there's no there's no other way to describe that hunt. I mean, it truly in itself, it was something just it was a miracle, truthfully.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's just crazy. I've been fortunate to get a nice buck before. Not quite that big, and uh, buddy of mine this year got one about that size. And you know, with deer hunting, I find it sometimes it comes down to shit luck, really. In my opinion. And and I'll I'll take it any day because I mean it that's because North Carolina, you guys aren't known for massive deer like that, right? And you no, sir, no.
Big North Carolina Buck Story
SPEAKER_00I mean, where where I hunt is straight up in a gnarly old rock face and law thicket, and I'll be honest with you, our deer season goes from September to January 1st. Wow. Um, I don't really bow hunt because of that's during my bear season and I'm normally traveling and hunting. Sure. But um our rifle season is Thanksgiving week until January 1st. And if I see from November to January, if I see it five to six days a week, and if I see two deer, I'm I'm saying like two deer for that whole two and a half month time frame, I have seen like that's a record book year for me. Like it's that's that's how many deer we have around here. And in that day that I killed that deer, I actually seen five deer and killed him. So I had uh it's like that boy in that podcast said my next two years is liable to suck because I had about a ten year ten-year hunting spree in a day.
SPEAKER_02That's incredible that you guys have that few deer and everything, and and that you're I mean, you pulled off. I mean, that is quite a trophy. It's just unreal. I mean, we've got deer here and quite a few of them. Um, but to get one that size is still it's you know, it's rare. Yes.
SPEAKER_00Yes, sir. Yeah, he ended up being the um the biggest deer ever killed in my county. Yeah. Um, he scored the sixth largest typical ever killed for the entire state. Down east, they're noted a little bit more for the deer because we get more down into like pack country and stuff. Right. Yeah. Um, so there's a there's a few more deer and they've got more food to eat up here. They just they just have browse. I mean, like leaves and tree bark and acorns and stuff like that. But down east they get into like croplands and everything. Um, and then he actually scored 26 overall for the entire state um for typical and non-typical. So to kill that here, I mean that that's that's huge to me.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, that's huge to anybody. That's uh incredible. Yeah, so where do you gonna keep deer hunting or you think you gonna hang it out?
SPEAKER_00Oh lord, yeah. No, I've I've listened I I love deer hunting. I normally go all over the country deer hunting, and to kill that literally in my backyard was just an absolute, absolute blessing. One of my one of my bucket lists is to actually uh you can ask my wife or anybody. I tell everybody I want to come to Canada and I want to go deer hunting. Just for the I've watched enough TV shows that I have just the sheer body size because around here, honestly, like a full-size mature buck is about a hundred to a hundred and ten pounds.
SPEAKER_03Really?
SPEAKER_00So, yeah, and then my wife, she's from Wisconsin, and I actually was fortunate enough during Thanksgiving uh to harvest the deer up there with her and her family. And like that deer weighed almost 250 pounds. And I mean, it was just a little old scraggly four-pointer. Yeah. So just their sheer bottom. I like to eat. I don't care nothing. I mean, don't get me wrong, I like looking at your horns, but now I I register them by how they look next to my taters and gravy. So the the the bigger they are, the more meat in the freezer. And uh I've always had, I guess you could say, a TV crush on, I'm sure you've heard of him, Dean Partridge or North Canadian whitetails up there and and all that. And I've always I've always said I want to go hunt his you know, his outfit and stuff up there. It's just having the time and the money and the capability to go up there and do it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, yeah. Up there in Saskatchewan, yeah. Um I'm a little ways from there, but we uh we we've got a pretty good deer crop here most years of absolute monsters. So if you want to make a trip down sometime, we'll uh we'll talk after and I'd love to love to have you out and see what we can do.
SPEAKER_00It ain't it ain't nothing but uh you tell me what day and I'll crank the truck up and be on my way.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's crazy. So you're you're big, your full grown box are like 110 pounds. Yeah. Here, I mean you're over 200 almost always.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's that's insane. That's what I've seen on TV. Like, them boys will kill them deer, and it's like, I mean, they're they're massive. They're I mean, obviously they've got big racks, but it's like their bodies are so big it actually doesn't do justice to how big, you know, their their racks really are.
SPEAKER_02It it can make the rack look smaller. Yeah, it definitely can. You get you get some of these bodies on here, because uh yeah, the deer. I mean, but we're we're pretty heavy egg land here and things like that, and then where it does get so cold, uh the deer really put on the mask for winter. And they just they're always carrying around that heavyweight, so yeah, they uh they get big.
SPEAKER_01Yes, sir.
SPEAKER_02So yeah, uh you speaking about bucket list uh I mean you've had a great season, but uh I saw so you you said it was on your bucket list to go down to Texas and hunt.
SPEAKER_01Yes, sir.
SPEAKER_02So I mean let's I'm excited to hear about this whole trip because you you did a lot of shooting there, a lot of hunting. Yes, sir. That's amazing. And uh how first of all, I guess we'll start from the beginning. Why why Texas?
SPEAKER_00I've got some ideas as to why it's it's it's just one of them places where I it's just growing up watching hunting on TV, watching Jackie Bushman and Buckmasters and the Bucks of Tecamadi and everything, everybody always went to Texas. And it was just one of them places, especially for the United States, that they're just known for big old wide bucks. And the, I mean, from North Carolina, I mean, pretty much all we've got around here is bear, deer, coyotes, and squirrels and some turkeys. So the the javelinas, the the hogs, the you know, the all dads, the deer, just everything they have there to me, that's almost like going to Africa, just getting to see all the different animals that I don't get the chance to witness, you know, in North Carolina. So that's always been a bucket list of mine to get to go out there and hunt it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean you see they you can basically do a full African safari now in Africa, some of these, you know, ranches. And you know, a lot of them are can be fenced, and people like, oh, they're fenced, but I mean they're like some of them are like 30,000, 40,000 acres fenced, like it's insane.
SPEAKER_00You know, so and one of the cool things about that trip is every single animal I harvested, there wasn't a fence in sight that was all free-range hunts. And that that to me that was pretty awesome to accomplish and shoot what we did, you know, just the good old-fashioned hunting way, getting out, stalking them, hunting them. That that was that was fun.
Why Texas Was The Bucket List
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So uh unpack it for us. So you're like, I want to go to Texas, and you know, for obvious reasons why, just be so hard to experience. So then where do you go on figuring out, okay, who am I going to see, what area, and what game?
SPEAKER_00So um the way it actually all threw down is um I do you you mentioned my team launch them and young blood kennels and everything. You know, here um I had a guy by the name of Nicholas Lee reach out to me on Facebook, and um he's a big he's a big dog man. He actually has Max um tracking and he lives in Texas and he travels all over Texas. Um he goes up to Oklahoma, New Mexico and stuff, and he has he actually has a plot hound and like two curd-looking um dogs that are actually cat dogs from out west, and he has trained them to track blood, any kind of blood. And, you know, it's good business for him because of all them high fence farms and stuff. I mean, some of them gazelles and stuff them boys catch, they pay$15,000,$20,000 to shoot them. You're if you if you owned it, you wanna find it. You know, that's just ethical.
SPEAKER_02And those And ones, they're I think it it's because uh that they're in an area, they're from Africa where there's so many really fierce predators, you uh your lions, you cheetahs, your jaguars, and all that. From what I've been told, they they can handle pain a lot better than your North American animals in a way, and they can really soak up the blood more. So they're so tougher because of the level of predators that they're dealing with. So that makes sense. Yes, sir. Sorry to interrupt.
SPEAKER_00Yep. Yep. Uh no, you're fine. And uh so he uh he actually it was his bucket list for him to actually he wanted to go bear hunting with hounds. He had never experienced it, you know, and stuff, and where we were friends on Facebook, and I do a lot of like my dog training summertime, so every weekend I'm posting videos of bears in the tree, you know, and just the the action pack of the dogs and everything. And um, but we He reached out to me and he was like, Hey, do you do guided bear hunts? And and I have my guide license. I don't, I'm not in it for the money. I I truly, it's all about the dogs. And like, but at the same time, like if you wanted to come bear hunting with me, I I'm not opposed to taking you. You know what I mean? Um, and he reached out to me, and it was him and a couple of his family members. They wanted to come and experience it. So we worked it all out. They came out here, and the way it the way they had to come, they didn't come during our they kind of came towards our later season. Um, and by that time the bears, we had already wore the bears out pretty hard. Um, so we were we killed all the dumb ones per se. We were we were having to really hunt for the for for them, you know. Yeah. And uh we actually got on one and I almost I got him within about 50 yards of getting a shot on one, and somebody else within my group had, you know, harvested. It was just one of them places where, I mean, you can't let it get by yet, and obviously, I mean, there's several guys that hunt with me, and I mean they're you know, they know to stop it, and and I mean it's obviously for the dogs and everything, but they had such a good time and stuff. And the only kind of crappy part about North Carolina is how expensive it is for you to have a license and everything to hunt here. Really? And also, yeah, it's for an out-of-stater like this year it cost my wife because she wasn't a resident here yet, it cost her nearly six hundred dollars for her tags and license, just to bear hunt.
SPEAKER_02Wow, because I go to the year, but it's not that bad.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and then like New Mexico for my tags, my license, everything's like 300 bucks. So, I mean, it's not that bad, you know. And I mean, me and him, he was I was killing him, sending him videos of bears and stuff all the time. He was killing me because like it's pretty cool. He'll get on like a wounded gazelle or a buck or whatever, and his dogs will literally bay it up like my bear dogs will bay a bear on the ground.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
Free-Range Texas Plan And Hosts
SPEAKER_00And like the deer and stuff will try to gore his dogs and everything. And he would think, oh, it's just old deer, it ain't really that danger. A deer with antlers is pretty dangerous. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And, you know, and he would, yep, and he would send me, you know, pictures and stuff of like where his dogs had got gored and stuff. I'm like, that's that's rough. I mean, like a with me with a bear, it more or less just rips them to shreds. This is like just straight just shoving stuff through them. So it's a whole different, you know, medical standpoint. And uh, I was like, man, I was like, I really want to to hunt Texas sometime. And you know how it is. Like, you'll have people say, well, just come on sometime and never follow through with it. And uh, you know, and me and him have been talking back and forth about it. Well, this past year for 2025, I was going back out to New Mexico, and where he lives in Texas, it ain't but like a five-hour drive. It's a lot better than a 20-hour drive from his house to my house in North Carolina. And I was like, man, I said, you know, it's not that far. It's a lot cheaper if you and your wife want to come up and go bear hunting with me while I'm in New Mexico, by all means come up. So they came up and, you know, they hung with the stuff. And this past year out there in New Mexico, it was just weird. The part of the state that we were hunting, just there wasn't much feed, and the bears just wasn't I mean, we were able to scrunch up a couple, but it's not like not like it normally is and stuff. And uh, but they, you know, it's still just the fellowship more than the killing, you know, and getting to watch your dogs, dogs work and stuff. And uh we were actually, they were leaving, and he said, uh, what's your work schedule for like the next month look like? And I said, Nothing really. I was like, I'm shut down for the week of Christmas at my plant. And he said, Well, he was like, don't make no plans, come out here to Texas, we're gonna go deer hot hunting and hog hunting. And I was like, You're kidding. And he showed me a picture, I mean, it's um 140-inch eight-pointer, and I mean old country boy from North Carolina, that's an absolute giant for me. And uh he was like, You want to shoot this buck? And I said, Absolutely. And his wife had actually shot and missed this deer earlier in the season and actually punched her tag on another buck. And he was like, He's still running around, he's just a cold buck. We need to, we need to get him off of our deer lease. Like, come out here and you can kill him. So we worked it all out, and I went out there, and that, I mean, like I said, I may see, you know, two deer in an entire deer season around here. Well, that opening, I say opening morning, it was opening morning for me. Me and him were sitting in a box stand, and all of a sudden, the closer to daylight it was getting, I could just see bodies moving out there in the the mesquite out in front of us. And he was like, that's a deer, that's a deer, that's a deer. And I mean, I'm like, there's no way there's that many deer out in front of us already. Yeah. And it daylighted, and I'm not kidding you, there were 17 rap bucks in front of us. And I was like, I I mean, I I I was speechless. I had never seen so many deer standing in front of me at one time in my life. And I was, I mean, I was I'm fine with shooting a spike. And he was like, he was like, he was like, no, we can't shoot that, and we can't shoot this. And you know, he wanted that one particular, it was a you know, a seven and a half, eight-year-old buck, and they wanted off at lease. And uh finally, here you come. And uh he was like, that's the one we want, right yonder. And he looked at his phone, and I mean, this is like 6.59, the deer standing in front of us, and legal shooting light was 7.10 a.m. So I had to sit there, let my buck fever kick in, watching this deer eat in front of me and everything. And finally, it turned 7.10 a.m. and he was like, all right, we're ready. And anyways, by 7.12 a.m., he's taking my picture with him. I wasted no time uh, you know, shooting that deer and stuff. And uh, but we ended up, I think we seen, we seen over 20 deer that morning. Yeah and it was just it was it was a blessing to me just to see the the deer and everything. And you know, I got to harvest it, and he was like, well, now that we've got that out of the way, let's let's do some hog hunting. And uh we uh we were actually riding out, and that there was two hogs, and I I around here shooting 50 yards is like a very long shot for me just because it's so thick and everything here. And there was two hogs over a hundred yards out. Well, I I obviously I whiffed. I I wasn't used to shooting that far, and I was all excited, and I shot right over top of the one, and they run off and stuff, and he's like, that's all right, we'll we'll night vision them. And that's been on my bucket list as far as I've always wanted to hog hunt out of a helicopter, yeah, and I've always wanted to shoot night vision. I've coyote hunted around here with night vision a little bit, but it's like, I mean, cheap night vision, like you still had to end up holding the spotlight and shooting them, you know, with a with a light on them. Yeah. And uh he's got the those ARs on platforms with the big old, you know, night vision scopes and everything else, and he does it to to help a farmer out and stuff to kill the hogs out of his crop fields and everything. And man, I mean, we went riding around that first night, and he's got a big tablet, he's got a uh handheld unit, and he was shining, you know, holding it out his window and stuff on them fields. And I mean, you seen hogs out in those fields like you would see cattle in in pastures. I mean, it was just it was ridiculous. And yeah, and I mean, that very first night we ended up I mean, we pulled up on one field, I think I ended up posting that video on Facebook, and we shot, and there was I I bet you there was over a hundred hogs out in that field um just running everywhere, and I mean we were just mowing them down. And I it it was just it was awesome. I had never seen the amount of game like that and stuff, and the shooting with the night vision and the ARs, and and funny fact, I'm actually colorblind to red. Okay. And his his night vision scope, the crosshairs on it was red. And it didn't register to me because red is brown to me. So, like trying to track a deer and stuff, I can't see the blood. Yeah. And I was I was missing, and I was like, dude, I don't, I'm shooting in a wide open field here. Like, I I don't understand why I'm missing. And I was like, what color are these crosshairs on this, you know, in this scope? And he was like, Well, they're red. And I said, That's my problem. So his wife actually rode around with us each night, and uh, Miss JC, God love her, she's she's awesome. She rode around with us and kept her guns full of ammo and just she kept us in line, I guess, you know. Um, but she changed my scope to green crosshairs, and when she changed them to green, now that was a game changer. It was all then. I wasn't missing. And uh, you know, so I mean, we ended up that first night, I mean, we killed, I bet you we killed 13 or 14 hogs that first night. And um I mean, it was just it was it was awesome. And then that next day, you know, we uh we got up and everything, and I still had a dough, and uh, we went riding around looking for uh a doe and uh everything, and he was like, Man, have you ever you know you ever seen a all dad before? And I was like, No, I've seen him on TV and everything. You know, all dads are out there is like an invasive species. It's a goat that was it's an African goat, and it's gone out, and I mean, it's just it's just m multiplied to the point it's all over the state now.
Dawn Deer Hunt And The 140-Class Eight
SPEAKER_02Oh, okay. So I I wondered that about the what's it Aldad Odad, he said. It's odad.
SPEAKER_00It's a Aldad, yeah. A-L-D-A-D. Yep, all dad, that's right.
SPEAKER_02So they're they're an invasive. See, I didn't know if they just had them on game ranches or what. So they they're a thriving invasive, basically invasive. Yes, sir. Really?
SPEAKER_00Okay, then the all dad is an invasive species and Axis deer, the the deer that looks like little mini elks with the little white polka dots all over them. Yep. They're they're an invasive species. Now, granted, they were brought over here, but they've like they've gotten out of those high fence farms and stuff, and when they did, that country's just like Africa, so it's just allowed them to multiply. Okay. I just think everything. Yep. Yeah, and I didn't I number one, I didn't know they were an invasive species until he told me. And then number two, I didn't know you could hunt them year-round. And all you have to have is a license. You don't have to have a tag for them. Just because they're an advanced one. Yep. And so we ended up finding a herd of them, and he looked at me and he was like, You want to shoot a goat? And I said, Are you serious? And he was like, Yeah, get your gun, let's go. And and we ended up putting a stalk on one of those things, and that that so far has been my furtherest shot. I shot that one at a little over 200 yards, and it's it's kind of wild because the anatomy of that goat is crazy. You know, like a deer, you want to shoot them behind the shoulder. Yeah. Well, uh a goat, their heart and lungs are actually in their shoulders. So he was like, you need to pull dead center in his shoulder to hit his heart. And I I shot dead in the, you know, shot it dead in the shoulder and it went about 45 yards and pitched over. And just uh, I mean, and that wasn't even a big one, but I mean, their masses, just their body and and everything, you know, uh and that was just that was a true blessing. I had no idea that I was gonna get to shoot, you know, a goat, let alone, you know, one like that and everything. Yeah, and actually, but that was actually a doe. That wasn't even a big ram. Really? We just we came up, yeah, we came up on a uh a herd of does, and that was like the lead doe or whatever. So he let me because I mean out there it doesn't matter, you know, if you shoot a buck or a doe or whatever. And I mean, obviously, I'm not gonna be picky, it's a darn all that. I'm gonna shoot it, you know. So uh yeah, and then believe it or not, it actually is really good eating. I've already been eating on this one, and it it it is, it's very good eating.
SPEAKER_02So the does the does have horns, because the one that you shot, I mean, it had a pretty nice set of horns on it. So really that was a doe.
SPEAKER_00Yep, yep, that was actually a doe. It wasn't even a big ram.
SPEAKER_02Wow. Um, so what what gun were you using? What rifle were you using? What ammo?
SPEAKER_00So I have a um I have a Remington 783 Bold Action Calibur's in the 308. Okay, and that's what you did it. Yes, sir. Yep, yeah, that's what I shot my deer with. That's what I well, that's what I shot pretty much everything out there with, other than like, now the hogs we were shooting on um 223 AR platforms. And um, I mean, them two them 223s was thumping them hogs like crazy. And, you know, everything, and that's what we were shooting coyotes and stuff with was the was those 223s, but the uh the the AR or my 308, I shoot uh I shoot Federal Premium Bible Shock, 165 grain bullet channel. Okay. And uh, I mean, it's just it's a tack driving gun. I mean it it just it shoots hard and it's fast. And I I really it's never let me down so far.
SPEAKER_02Well it yeah, it seems to uh it got the job done. So yeah, no, I was just curious about that. No, that sounds like a perfect caliber though, is the 308. Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00Yes, sir. Yep, and that's it's a a 308's almost too big for here where I hunt because I shoot so close. But the good thing about it is you ain't gotta worry about tracking one. And where I can't see blood, it's kind of like bam, yeah. I mean, if you not if you knock their running gear out from under them, they can't go nowhere, so I ain't gotta worry about tracking them. Yeah, yeah, exactly. But yeah, that was that goat, that was truly that was an amazing experience. And then that that very next night we uh we went back out hog hunting. I mean, we got we got into a covey of them again, and I mean it was just just shooting. And I mean that was what was awesome for me, was it was just, I mean, as as quick as you could throw another clip in the gun, it was shoot them. And what we ended up finding, I brought several of them home to eat out there. I mean, they look at hogs out there like I would look at a mouse running across my floor in my home.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And uh, but what we could find out there in those wheat fields, we found 35 dead hogs in two nights of hunting. Really? Yes, sir, and that's just what we could find. Uh there's no telling what actually ran off and died and everything else, you know. So it was to to say we done some killing was an understatement.
SPEAKER_02Well, I'm sure the farmers appreciate it, because I mean you I've never been there, I'd like to go someday, but you always hear about how wild hogs, especially in Texas, cause billions of dollars in damage every year and stuff. So I mean, they really are littered with them that badly.
Night-Vision Hog Control
SPEAKER_00Yep, and uh what we were killing those hogs out of were wheat farms. Okay. And the they bail those wheat bells like what, you know, like a hay bell. Okay. And I want to say that I think he said one of those wheat bells is the heat the farmer sells them for$90 a bell. Wow. And I think one hog, I forget how many bells I have. I think I think one hog can create up to like eight or nine thousand dollars in damages a year. I forget how many bells like they figured up that one of those hogs could eat by itself. Yeah. And I mean, you know, so I mean, that that farmer, I mean, each hog you're killing, I mean, you're you're saving him thousands upon thousands of dollars to to kill them. You know, and most of those farmers out there want you to kill the hogs. They have no problem with you, you know, killing their hogs as long as you're being safe around their livestock and everything.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean, uh I I I farm here, you you know, you're thinking I farm there, and I just I know what domesti I fence in a large area every year, mostly every year raise domestic hogs, right? What domestic hogs can pair up? So I I couldn't imagine trying to firm and having that many wild hogs that just be unreal. Did you get a chance to talk to any of the farmers or anything or anyone else around there to talk to him? And do they think that they can ever get a handle on the wild hogs there, or is it just they're putting bandages on it on the problem?
SPEAKER_00I I honestly all all we're doing is putting a band-aid on a bullet hole. I mean, that's the I mean, I did talk to the farmer that we were killing the majority of those hogs on a little bit. Yep. And I mean, he just he I mean he was so appreciative of us killing them, but then he would just turn around and say, for everyone you kill, there's gonna be 20 more take its place. Because, you know, I mean, they're just constantly reproducing. I mean, we seen we seen several sows out there with eight, nine, ten piglets. I mean, it's just uh I mean, I don't about the only way you could ever just eradicate them is just I mean you would have to just have an absolute Civil War mass murder out there, and I still don't think you would get them all.
SPEAKER_02Wow. So it's that it's it is that out of control in Texas.
SPEAKER_00Yes, sir. Yep, yeah, it's it's very bad. It really is. I mean, between me and or I mean say I'd say between me and you, but just between my days of hunting out there, I seen I bet you I seen 300 hogs in two and a half days of hunting. And like we were riding around. Well, the day that I killed my goat, we were riding around and we actually he called around and was trying to get a hold of the farmer. But we he was driving, I was like, Nick, I said, right yonder is uh is some some pigs. Well, we stopped and threw that mesquite the way the the bushes are, you can see the cattle out there, but we ended up, I think we counted 190 hogs in that field with it, that fella's cattle, and I bet you there was probably 80 of them, almost 300 pounds or bigger boar hogs. That's crazy. Wow. Yes, sir, not counting sales and piglets and everything else.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean uh you you hear stories that I've never been to Texas Lake to go someday and you hear stories and stuff, and so it it is like that. Wow, that's that is crazy. It'd be I couldn't imagine trying to farm with that that many around.
SPEAKER_00Yep, yep. About the worst thing we deal with around here is just a stray coyote here and there. I mean, and that's you know, that's not really a big ordeal.
SPEAKER_02No. Uh well, because you guys you guys have some hogs in North Carolina, do you?
SPEAKER_00Yes, sir. Yeah, there's um there's hogs down in the eastern part of the state. Okay. And then um there's actually it's kind of crazy where I'm at. There's there's some in the eastern part of the state, there's some in the w like I'm I'm not the furthest part of the western part of North Carolina, but I'm I'm in West North Carolina, but you can go literally right over the mountain from my house right here and be right on the South Carolina, Georgia state line, and there's hogs there. And then you can go up to my buddy's house about an hour from here, and he lives on the Tennessee state line on a in a place that we call uh Rhone Mountain, and they've got hogs up there. But it's just it's weird, it's just like sporadic. But I think what I think what keeps the hogs bathed down here is lack of food. Winter and and winter, and then also you have coyotes and bears here that will actually kill and eat them. Whereas hogs honestly are kind of the top of the food chain in Texas, from what I've seen. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Well, I mean, you are tough.
SPEAKER_00Yep, yeah. I mean, you've got a random, you know, you've got coyotes out there, which I'm sure they'll take down a hog, but I mean they're not going to take down a hundred hogs, you know what I mean? Yeah. And then, you know, they've got mountain lions and bobcats and stuff in certain parts of Texas, but not enough to to really do the damage on them. Whereas here, I think we've got a big enough predator problem with bears and stuff like that that when a few hogs do get around here, it kind of keeps them at bay. Not saying it couldn't ever get out of control, but at least it it allows it to stay in control, I guess, you know.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, no, I was wondering that. Yeah. Interesting. The hogs they they're so tough, too. You know, you've got a predator going after them. I mean, it's it's not an easy meal. They can't fight. I mean, they are fast. Yes, sir.
SPEAKER_00And they can they are fast. I mean, you wouldn't believe a little old chunky pig could run 30 miles an hour, but I mean, when they decide to hit second year, they're gone.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah, it's it's just that when you've got the topics on them and that's a good thing. I mean, they uh I think when I got to hunt them in Florida a few years ago. Uh I mean it's going to talk to God. You know, they've got uh the lions there and uh and uh too. That's what I mean. It's just yep, the hogs are just they just got too much bite in them. The only animal that will really get them if one's crossing a big body water and a gator might grab them. But that's right. That's about it. You think tires are about their worst enemy.
SPEAKER_00But Yep. Yep, yeah, for sure. But yeah, out there, you know, they do all kinds of different stuff. I mean, night vision hunting them honestly is probably the it's one of the most effective ways I feel like to to kill 'em. Uh uh, but you're you're only killing as many as you can shoot. Yeah. Um I think what they have found to really like work on a herd of 'em is where they trap 'em. You know, when there's big like corrals or whatever. And I mean, but you know, at that you can walk up and kill twenty or thirty. Of them at a time if you get a big crowd of them, you know, in a pen or whatever. And then I think the helicopters just are inner wanting to be army man or we're in a helicopter getting to shoot ARs out the window or something. Yeah. But yeah, that's on my bucket list to do just to say I flown in a helicopter and let alone shot something out on it. To me, that would be cool.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it would be cool. Um, so I mean, yeah, you had a great trip. And then it it's not done. You also I see you got a turkey as well.
SPEAKER_00Yes, sir. So I'm I'm big into turkey hunting. Um we have a lot of turkeys here, and it's so I have um I have a little personal goal of I would like to kill a deer in every state that has a deer, even if it's just a doe or something, just to say that I've accomplished it. And then in North Carolina, or I mean in North Carolina, in North America, you have the Grand Slam, and you have your Easterns, your Rios, your Merriams, and your Osceolas. Yep. Um, and I mean we have Easterns here at the house. Oh, that's what you guys have there.
SPEAKER_02I was wondering that. We got Eastern. Yes, sir. Okay, you guys have Eastern.
SPEAKER_00Yep, yep. Yep. So our our birds are eastern here at my house, and then the osseolas are only found like in Florida.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think a section of Florida too.
Aoudad Stalk And 200-Yard Shot
SPEAKER_00Yep. Yeah, and they are from what they say, those, those are like the hardest ones to hunt. Yeah. Which I'm interested to see. Eventually I want to do it. I know, I know it's high price to go hunt a bird or to hunt a turkey in Florida just because of that, you know, it's only in one space and it's part of the Grand Slam and everything else. But now these birds here at my house, they're just they're harder. There's nothing like hunting a big old mountain gobbler. Just they're they're smart and they're they just I don't know, we don't we have a bunch of turkeys, but we have like uh we got a lot of hens and not a lot of gobblers, so the gobblers here really aren't that aggressive. Um and like a lot of times if we put decoys and stuff out, I mean I've seen them come to decoys and everything, like I've seen where my buddies have killed them, you know, with decoys. Yeah. But a lot of these mountain birds, you almost are more effective just calling them and letting them come looking for you as a hen and just kind of sniffing them as they come by you compared to just setting up and saying, Here I am, because they're they're so wary of their surroundings, half the time they won't even commit to coming in to you. Okay. Yeah. But yeah, um, out there in Texas, they have Rios, and uh I had a turkey tag, but I thought that was just kind of part of your your license because like North Carolina, you can't just get a bear tag. Whenever you get it, you get a bear tag, deer tags, turkey tags. Like it's just uh a whole bulk idol. Yeah. Yep. And Texas is the same way, and we were out riding around looking for, you know, uh pigs and stuff. And uh Nick was like, he was like, man, he said, right you under some turkeys. We got to glassing them, and uh it was just it was a group of jakes. I think there was like eight or nine of them. There was some hens, but there was a couple of japes in there with them. And he was like, You want to shoot a turkey? And I was like, I mean, in North Carolina, you you only have a spring season, yeah, and you can only shoot them with a shotgun or a bow. And I was like, I was like, I don't, I said, I didn't know turkey season is. Like, yeah, we've got a fall and a uh spring season. I said, okay. I was like, well, I don't have a shotgun. And he was like, well, in Texas in the fall season, you're allowed to shoot them with whatever. I was like, game on. So, yes, sirs, and I and he has a uh he's got a little, it actually, between shooting coats and stuff with it, um, he had a little Rugan American Ruger American 223 uh rasher. He had a suppressor and stuff on it, and you talk about a tack driving little gun. And he handed me that gun and I I stomped it a little bit, and uh I was able, I I sniped one of them turkeys with it, and I was just like, that that was pretty awesome. I almost felt illegal at first because back home you're not allowed to shoot them with a rifle, but then once it was over with, you you could care less. But it was that was cool, and shooting up with the game with that, I actually went and bought one of those little guns here once I got back home and everything, and I've already been working on the crows and stuff around the house with it, so it it's pretty awesome. I like it. But yeah, that that turkey, I mean, don't get me wrong, I love spitting, having one spitting and drumming and and gobbling at you coming in, but as far as trying to fulfill that grand slam or whatever, I mean that's you you never know with the way life is and stuff, you never know when you may get the opportunity to to harvest that. So I wasn't gonna let the opportunity pass me by when I seen I was able to. Yep.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, exactly. That that's so cool. I know I've I've uh I got into turkey hunting. We just got a season here a couple years ago, and then I got into it last spring, and I'm I'm obsessed. I think it's awesome. They are I I'd never understood the hype before. I do now. I get it now. Yep. It's more fun.
SPEAKER_00There's nothing like one just gobbling so hard that it rattles your ribcage, and when they're drumming and you can't hear them, but you can hear them spitting and drum, and it's just like I mean, it gives me goosebumps.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and I I like too that it's interactive. Like I I learned how to diaphragm call and all that. Like you're moving, you're calling, you're putting no decoys. It's not like just sitting in a deer stand twiddling your thumbs, right? Like you're doing something towards the hunt. I like that.
SPEAKER_00Yes, sir. Yep. Yeah, that's I I think that's what I like about it, is you're you're moving and stuff, but at the same time, when the time comes to sit still, you better sit still because they can see like no other.
SPEAKER_02Oh yeah, and hear incredibly well.
SPEAKER_00Yes, sir.
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_02So what are the reos? Did you find out what the reos are like compared to you know the easterns? Like what what is that turkey species like?
SPEAKER_00They are they've got more white in their feathers compared to an eastern, where an eastern is more dark. Um they are to me, they are they're a taller bird than the eastern, but they're more of a like a slimmer frame. But I think that's because there's not there's nothing but stinking cactuses to eat out there. Like I don't see I don't I guess that's why like when you when you look at like their deer. Yeah, their deer have massive wide racks, but they have I mean 80 pounds farm yeah, I mean, you know, their their their bodies are their bodies don't match the proportion of their racks. And I mean it's just they don't have nothing to eat, but I definitely think the the Rio is definitely a taller bird than like the Eastern. Okay, yeah. And I've seen Merriams on my trips to New Mexico bear hunting. I just haven't ever had the opportunity to go out and like hunt Merrims, but from what I can tell from Merriam, they've got a lot more white on, but they look a Merriam to me looks a whole lot like a an Eastern bird, but a lot more white in their feathers. And then from everything I've seen and watched on TV and YouTube and everything else, they gobble a lot different.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Yeah. Yep. Because they say like the Easterns are fairly vocal. Do you know what the Rios are?
SPEAKER_00I that I don't know. I've never I mean I've seen it some on TV and everything, but I'll be honest with you, most of what I've seen on TV, a lot of them boys are sniping them as they're coming to corn feeders and stuff.
SPEAKER_02Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah.
Hog Damage, Farming Impact, And Scale
SPEAKER_00I mean, yeah. I've never really just seen them. I've seen a few shows where like they roost them and you know they call them and work them in and everything. But a lot of times I've noticed they're shooting them around watering holes and corn feeders and stuff. So I don't really I don't really know. And I would I would like to go out there and still do one like old-fashioned way and like try to hear them gobble and you know, everything. But at the same time, if if a man tells me to shoot, I ain't gonna not shoot if I'm allowed to.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. I would not have passed that up. And that, you know, now you've got that turkey crossed off your list and looking at the pictures. I mean, it was a nice one, and yeah. So the Texas, I mean, you you got the full Texas experience from the sounds of it.
SPEAKER_00Yep. Yeah, pretty much the only other animal that I didn't see or get to harvest that I guess is more like a native Texas animal, but they were we were more in the northwest part of the state, and I think they're more south, and it's still on my bucket list to try to go get. I'd like to kill a javelina.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Just uh just to say that I've killed a javelina and stuff, and then I've always wanted to go out there and kill an axis deer just because of how pretty they are. I think that polka dotted hide with like the little mini elk horns, I just think they're they're pretty.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah, the javelina. So those listening that wondering, they are like uh a wild boar, sort of. A bit smaller, right? And they're they also they call them a peccary as well. Yep, yep. Um I know I've been looking for somebody to come on the podcast someday to talk about them because I find them uh just really unique and uh kind of a cool animal. And I think you could call you can kind of call them, I think you you whistle for them or something like that.
SPEAKER_00Something like that. And then I know um I've seen some boys on uh Facebook and stuff too, where like they hog hunt them, or well, I say hog hum, they hum with the dogs like we like you hog hunt with them. And they say them little old suckers are absolutely ruthless. Really? Yeah, which I mean I've seen that, you know. I mean, like when they fight each other and stuff on corn and stuff when them people are hunting them and deer hunting and stuff they eat. They and my buddy even said he was like, uh a javelin is iller than a hog ever really thought about being, and they're a lot faster than a hog too, so I can only imagine.
SPEAKER_02So it'd be one heck of a hunt.
SPEAKER_00Yes, sir.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. No, they look cool. I'm I'm interested in them too. I'd kind of I was looking at some hunts in Arizona and Texas and stuff because I was like, I don't know, it just it's just something so unique and and it looks pretty cool to hunt. So uh what uh what was the terrain like also there? I mean, compared coming from North Carolina, you're going to Texas. I mean, what what was that?
SPEAKER_00Very, very, very flat and desert, but uh it's and everything there wants to poke you. Um but no, I mean it was well like where we were deer hunting and and hog hunting and stuff, it's very um agriculture. Um, but if you blink your eye, I mean for them it was the hill country. So I mean, like those goats and stuff was in, like ravines and you know what their their version of a mountain would be about like walking up my driveway to my house. But uh it's uh it was it was very diverse, very rocky desert um with just a lot of like shell and sand and just cactus and like scrub oaks and stuff like that. It just it was very, I guess, abandoned terrain compared to like where you guys are from and like here in North Carolina where we're just known for big ivy thickets and big tall oak trees and and mountains and stuff like that. It was very, very diverse.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, that'd be that'd be neat to see there. Did you see any uh rattlesnakes?
SPEAKER_00I did not. It was actually chilly enough while we were out there. I didn't I didn't see any, but now my buddy, they they see plenty of them. And I mean we have rattlesnakes here at our house, but they're nowhere near as common as what he has to deal with out there. And that's one thing, and if you get the chance and off, you know, off the cast or whatever, I can give you his info or something. He would be somebody very awesome to have on your podcast uh to talk about his dogs and and the the Texas culture and everything. But uh that's one thing he runs into a lot because I mean where they have those high fence farms and like where people are hunting, these goats and stuff, it it's it's hunting season year-round. Yeah. So he's constantly getting called out. He sent me a picture the other day. Um, well, actually last night, um, he tracked down a black buck. And I mean, that's an African, that's an African goat. Yeah. Um, and then the other day, about two days ago, he sent me a picture and he ended up tracking a big all dad ram. And I mean, it it it was it was a giant ram. And just so I mean, he deals with that all summer long and he has to watch out for his dog as far as rattlesnakes and and stuff like that, you know, and then I find it cool because I deal with my own kind of medical issues here with my hounds, but then to watch what he deals with in Texas with his hounds and the different kinds of injuries, I find that fascinating, and I actually learned stuff from him of what he does with some of his animals, and then he's actually called me saying, Hey, I've got this dog that's got this wrong with it. What what do you do to yours? And we've been able to help each other, you know, medically with dogs and everything else. And it it it's been it's been very cool.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah, that I know I we deal with some stuff here, but it's not too bad. We definitely don't have rattlesnakes or anything like that. I mean, the worst is I mean, coon hunting, uh the dogs get tore up by the coon here or there, they got their flop ears, I call them coon bait, or you know, they've burned by our fence or something like that, but it's not terrible. But yeah, hunting in an area where there's you know rattlesnakes all over, running dogs and that, and cactuses and everything. I mean, uh yeah, that's you got some tough dogs.
SPEAKER_00Yep. And then uh question for you as far as like your coon hunting stuff, because I said, I mean, I used to be big into coon hunting until I work third shift, so I work all night now and I don't really get to coon hunt much anymore. Uh but are y'all's coons up there bad for rabies?
SPEAKER_02No. So luckily uh in Canada in general, we the we're pretty good with our rabies here. It's not it's not common at all to come across territory. But we get uh I mean we get uh on average my dogs see, we're getting ninety to a hundred coon a season. And uh it's I've never run across it, thank God. But the dogs are vaccinated for it, obviously. But um no, luckily here it it's it's kept under control quite quite well. Yeah.
Predators, Terrain, And Access Rules
SPEAKER_00They say too, that's why I was wondering, because like I know my buddy in Maine, um, that coon and that lives up there and stuff, and they coon hunt stuff some. They they don't really have a problem with rabies, and they they say that's more of a um like a distemper and everything from where w it gets so hot down here, yeah, and the coons are it's almost like a like a saliva transmitted thing to where so many coons are drinking out of the same water hole and everything. Yeah. It's it it's no different than you going to a high school with a bunch of snuck nosed kids and getting sick because of them and stuff, and I and it's kind of like here, but they say that the places that stay the coldest don't really have that, you know, that problem too much. And that's why I was wondering, 'cause I know, I know it gets cold up by you guys. Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, it sure does. Um, but no, we're we're lucky it's uh it's rare. It's not unheard of, but it's it's rare. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Right. Gotcha.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so um yeah, so you you that's the thing. So to recap it, how would you how would you recap it? I mean, what what an experience you had. I mean, it sounds awesome.
SPEAKER_00Yes, sir. Yeah, I mean, just to recap it, I mean, the Lord just really blessed me. I mean, I I I never dreamed I I I was born with a bad leg and doctors had told me that I would never be able to walk. Even to this day, I'm not supposed to be able to walk. And I I work on my feet every night.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
Turkey Tag, Rio Differences, Rifle Bird
SPEAKER_00And I mean, I hike for miles and miles and miles, you know, here hunting these mountains and everything that I grew up in, and then just I just I work super hard and save my money up and try to go on these trips where I can and everything, and just the Lord's blessed me with, you know, the opportunity to go places. And I mean, I've seen country that I mean, I'm sure I'm not the only man that's been there, but very few men have got to see it. And then I just it's been a blessing to me in my life to have people that, you know, at first you would think, oh, they're just they're just clients and you're just getting money from them, taking them hunting or whatever. That uh Nick and Miss Jaycey have are they're my family. I mean, we talk almost every single day. Me and him, I mean, we talked last night, we talked this morning, and just, you know, that to have the invitation to come and and hunt and be a part, and I mean it I didn't have to stay in a hotel or nothing. I stayed at their house. Miss Jacey cooked supper and stuff. I mean, it was just it was a true treat. And they're planning on going back out to New Mexico with me this year and hunting and and everything, and it was just it's one of them it's truly Nick is Nick is more than a friend to me. He's a brother to me, and they know that I would, you know, I'd give them a straight off my back and be right there if they needed me, and the same, you know, same for them to me and everything, and it's just it Texas is truly a target-rich environment. If you ever get the chance to go, take plenty of shells and plenty of coolers because it's not it's not a matter of if you're gonna see game, it's how much game you're gonna see. And I mean that whole trip, I mean, we ended up killing I killed two deer, um, I killed a goat, um, I killed the turkey, um, we killed six coyotes. Um, we actually killed the coyotes on the hogs that we had shot during the night, you know, going back the next day to try to retrieve them, coyotes would find them, you know, and get on them and everything. And uh I mean, just what we found, you know, was was 35 hogs and I hunted for two and a half days. Wow. So, I mean, it was just it it it truly was. It was a it was a blessing. I can't thank them enough. And like I said, if I can let you have his info and stuff, but if you could ever yes sir, yeah. I mean he would it it's and I got to experience too, if you've got time, I I like to share this or whatever, um, while I was out there, they um they actually the state of Texas does a youth hunt and the game wardens actually um take a kid deer hunting. Oh, cool. And there's a ranch out there that that's Lord, he's got I forget how many thousands of acres. I want to say it's like 40 or 50,000 acres, and that the the rancher actually puts it on and he gets so there's so many deer out there in three days I've seen over 500 white tails just just riding around, let alone this like this guy's got so many white tails hurting his crops, he actually gets defredation tags for the white tails. And I want to say he had like 300 tags, and um, so to to to try to give them out, he lets little kids come and hunt his farm, you know, because I mean obviously it's helping him and it's getting the kids in the outdoors, which I mean that that's what we need. I mean, get them off the Xbox, get them out in the outdoors. That's the future. And yep, and I mean I never I had a PlayStation 2, and I probably I probably could count on two hands how many times I ever turned that game on. I was always outside hunting and fishing, it's just how I was raised. Yeah. And uh, so anyhow, during that that while I was out there, they had they put that youth hunt on, and me and uh Nick actually stood by with his dogs to trap these little kids' deer. Because you know how it is, you get a 10-year-old child out there that's never shot a deer before, they're not some of them's not gonna make the best shot. And um, there was actually a little boy, he shot a three-point buck, and there was a little girl, she shot a doe. And the boy, the boy leg shot that little that buck, and his dogs, like I said, he could put them on. I mean, literally, I still to this day, I haven't seen the blood yet. I mean, Nick said, you know, right there's some some blood, but I couldn't see it from being colorblind. But those dogs trailed that deer up, jumped it, ran it, and then literally, like I've got the videos on my phone of the dogs actually circling the deer and baying it and holding it still to where Nick could dispatch it and put it down. And I mean, that little old boy was smiling ear to ear, hugged our neck, just thanking us, was so appreciative, you know, of that deer and everything. And then a little girl actually gut-shot a deer, and I mean, she it would have killed it, but it was it was better for us to be able to use those dogs, track it, go ahead and dispatch it, and have that meat and have that deer rather than a coyote find it that night and eat it, you know. And uh just to experience that with his dogs and tracking those those deer down and everything, that just that's a that's a whole nother side of the hound world that I've never got to see because I mean generally when I'm turning loose, it's an uninjured animal that's nothing but two things and claws, and it's I mean, it's just a solid roar, whereas these dogs are truly having to use their nose and and hunt that animal, you know, animal down, but yet I just think about how many lives that he's you know allowed them to have their their trophy. And if it wasn't for those hounds and it wasn't for their nose and everything, how many trophies would have been lost and how many like disappointed hunters there would be, you know, and just the companionship of the hounds in general, let alone helping you be successful to me is just awesome.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Oh, yeah, absolutely. I mean, uh there's a lot of places that still don't allow the use of tracking dogs, and they're here. They're working on it, but they don't yet. I mean ethics. Yep. Yeah, it it's it should be like that.
SPEAKER_00One thing I like is like I find it cool. I I love watching that drone deer recovery. I don't know if you've seen him on the internet and stuff. Yeah. And I mean, to me, that's awesome. And don't get me wrong, that's a awesome, awesome way of seeing where your deer is at. But you take a deer or any animal that's wounded, if it's capable of getting up and running from you, it can go on the landowner's property or whatever to where you can't you can't retrieve that animal. Whereas, you know, depending on the injury and stuff, those dogs, like I said, were able to hold that animal and you know, bay it and keep it to the point you were still able to, you know, respectfully slip in there, harvest it, put it out of its, you know, misery from a bad shot or whatever, and still get your your prize, you know. And that's what that's what people don't understand. And I mean, one thing I deal with here, and it it it cracks me up as far as bear hunting and stuff, is you have a lot of people that are diehard deer hunters, and you know, just like that last podcast I done where, I mean, and he wasn't being rude, but you could tell he wasn't a he wasn't a houndsman. No, no, you can't tell that.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And and everything, but a lot of people around here will say, man, you the dog's ruined my deer hunting. And I I get you might bump your big buck and and everything else and stuff like that. But truthfully, if your dog is trained right and it's running the game, but it's wanting to run, and I mean, I've got five people that I could join this podcast right now and them say they've seen it firsthand be a bear tree with me with a 200-pound bear in a tree, 13, 14 dogs tree, and and I could turn my spotlight to the right and show you a doe deer laying there looking at us while we've got a bear tree. I I I mean, it's just, you know, it's just, it's not, it ain't gonna ruin everything. And even coon hunting. I mean, now if you've got a dog that's coming in there and just staying in the cornpile or something instead of hunting, I could see it boogering your deer a little bit, but I couldn't tell you how many times I've seen people where we went coon hunting and turned loose on somebody's bait paw trying to kill coons off their deer corner or whatever, yeah. And then you can't even get outside and the deer sitting there eating.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I I mean it's it it it's all, you know, I don't I don't get why people have such a bad repro uh I don't a bad attitude towards the dogs when tech I mean that's what these dogs were bred to do. That's why they're here. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02No, I know what you mean, because around here, I'm the only one around here in my area that has coon hounds, and it took a little bit for people to realize, and then they do and out of deer season. I got people calling me all over saying if the sun goes down, I got coons on a deer bait, it's costing money out. They realize those deer don't care at all about the dogs, and vice versa. I mean, I told people to think about the deer that can't about dogs, I think about how many diets are out there that are actually hunting the deer. I said the deer seem to notice when my hands are out running. They're not interested in them. And they know that I if we've seen bucks bedded down, my dogs go flying through a field on a coon send 20 feet from that buck, the buck doesn't even get up. He knows the dogs they're not after him, you know.
SPEAKER_00Yep, yep, sure. Absolutely. Yeah, yeah, and that's been a big thing here, too, is the bears have they've lost such a fear for humans. The people around here at first were kind of against me running my dogs and everything. And I mean, not being a smart elector, but I mean I told them it was like a bear I that that's a wild predator. It it's in it to hurt you. You it might look cute eating your bird feeder and tearing your trash out, but eventually it's gonna lose fear of you and it it's gonna hurt you. It's not a matter of if it's gonna hurt you, it's when. And people have finally, you know, within the community and stuff, have come around enough that now they'll actually call me and say, hey, I've got a problem bear cone in my yard all the time, you know, not asking you to kill it, but will you at least come and put your dogs on it and let it see, hey, you know, a human needs to be feared and stuff. So it's that there's good and bad. I mean, you still got your Karen that absolutely thinks that just because your dog's ribs are showing, you're the most worse person in the whole wide world, they don't they don't realize that dog's ribs showing is no different than you going to the gym and working out six days a week and on a high calorie diet and your body consuming it. That's I mean, it's not that I'm starvating. I mean, and there are people that starvate the dog, don't get me wrong, but there's a difference in being starved and being fit. Yes. And, you know, and that's that's what people, you know, it's just and then you've got your people too that aren't houndsmen, they're just dog people that, you know, put a I for lack of better terms, a puke taste in everybody's mouth as far as how they treat and act and um on people's land and stuff, which gives the good guys not a chance to actually have a chance of hunting or doing whatever. But I mean, as far as the dog aspect of it, I I really hope that, you know, your your place and everything that they'll give the opportunity to allow tracking dogs and everything, because that would be a lot more game recovery, and honestly, to me, it's more ethical and puts in more of a effort to out of respect for that that deer that you shot or whatever, to find it and put it out, put it out of its misery and to respect for that animal as much as anything.
SPEAKER_02Well, it it just show if you're doing that, then you are doing literally absolutely everything you can possible to do rape by that animal. Yes, sir. That's the way I see it. You know, if you're allowing the dogs. Now, not just any dog, so you know, you can't have someone offly you know, German shepherds say, like, oh no, this thing tracks. It's like, no, no, like one a certified person, certified dogs. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Um, well, you know, Tyler, you've been a blast to talk to. Your your energy is contagious, it's been fun uh going through and reliving with you, you know, your Texas hunting. Uh I really appreciate you coming on, and I definitely want to have you back on again.
Javelina And Axis Wish List
SPEAKER_00Yes, sir. It it was my pleasure. Thank you for reaching out, and you uh you just let me know when and we'll talk about whatever, whenever you want to. I really appreciate you uh giving me the opportunity to to talk and and everything. And uh, you know, I I just I I appreciate everything that's um you know went on and everything, and then like for you and stuff as far as like the the hunting and everything. I don't know um like your stores and stuff up there where you get a lot of your equipment, everything from, but I'm actually in partners with a store down here called S and S Hound Hunting Supply. Okay and they've got they've got everything from guns to ammo to doll collars, all the alpha stuff you want. Um I uh Cody and them, they're they're really good people, and they've they've actually I started working, I say working for them, I I take a lot of their pictures and stuff so that they can put it on their website and everything because I do I am able to travel and go and do and stuff. And they they kind of push me to keep traveling and going doing this. So I appreciate the opportunity to to go and and see this country and and do it because I I I want to share it with people. Just I mean, and I guess the best advice I can give is if if you've got a dream, if you want to go somewhere and do it, don't say you can't, just go do it. I mean, you you know, you only get one earthly life. I mean, obviously, if you're saved and you believe in the Lord and everything, you know, you're gonna have a heavenly life. But as far as down here on earth, don't be don't be afraid to to venture out and go hunting and reach out to people. And just like you reaching out to me over this podcast and stuff, I, you know, to to get the word out that there's still good people like my buddy Nick and JC, you know, that'll that'll hunt and let you go and do stuff. That's what it's about. It's this is uh should all be a brother and sisterhood. And uh, I mean, this is what we were founded on. Our ancestors hunted these animals to eat and live off of, and now we've we live in one of the you know best environments as far as the capabilities to go and hunt and and do and everything, and I just I appreciate the opportunity to talk about it and go and do it.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. Uh Tyler, anytime. Yeah, no, that's that well spoken. That was well put.
SPEAKER_00Yes, sir. Well, I appreciate it and uh I appreciate the opportunity to to to be on here with you. Anytime, thanks. Yes, sir.
SPEAKER_02Okay, so if you're still listening and you made it this far, uh rating a review on Apple and Spotify would be much uh appreciated from you.