Gundog Nation
A show to bring together gundog enthusiasts, trainers, and handlers with discussion focused on all breeds and styles of gundogs.
Gundog Nation
Gundog Nation #008: Johnny Morgan - Trainer, Competitor, Hunter, Pastor
In this conversation, Ken Witt and Johnny Morgan discuss their shared experiences in dog hunting, the transition from hunting with beagles to retrievers, and the unique way Johnny incorporates dog training into his ministry. They explore the impact of their dog training experiences on their faith, share personal anecdotes, and discuss various dog breeds and training techniques. The conversation highlights the importance of community involvement and the joy of watching dogs work in the field.
Gundog Nation is Proudly Sponsored by:
Hello and welcome to Gun Dog Nation. This is Kenneth Witt and I'm coming to you from Texas. I want you to know that Gun Dog Nation is more than just a podcast. It's a movement to unite those who want to watch a well-trained dog do what it's bred to do. Also, we are set out to try to encourage youth, to get encouraged in the sport of gun dogs, whether it's hunting, competition, trials, hunt tests, all the above. This is a community of people that are united to preserve our heritage of gundog ownership and also to be better gundog owners. So if you'll stay tuned to all of our episodes, we're going to have people on here to educate you about training, about nutrition, health. Anything can make you a better gundog owner. It's my pleasure to welcome our listeners and please join our community. All right, welcome to Gun Dog Nation. This is Kenneth Witt, talking to you today from Texas.
Speaker 1:I got a really good new friend today, mr Johnny Morgan, who's a pastor at the Live Oak Baptist Church in Denham Springs, louisiana. Is that correct, sir? That's correct. I was encouraged by a mutual friend that we have that he and I probably a lot of like. I have my Hillbilly Eastern Kentucky accent and you've got Louisiana. They thought we'd be great talking together. One thing, johnny, is I kind of grew up. We have similar backgrounds, at least in our dog experience. I started out Beagles and I used squirrel dogs and stuff. Curs being in Eastern Kentucky, I didn't really get into coon hunting as much. I had a lot of buddies that did it. I just had a good friend of mine well, son was on here the other day. He was the 2024 world champion UKC coon dog. He grew up. That boy grew up a half mile from where I grew up or less, actually less than half a mile right.
Speaker 1:Uh, my daughter still lives there, but anyway, uh, let's get started. We? Uh, johnny, I guess let's just start beginning. What? What was your first breed that you hunted with?
Speaker 2:we got got. I got started with beagles. I literally my earliest memories of my grandfathers was literally picking me up, putting me on a stump to listen to a pack of rabbit dogs run.
Speaker 1:Ain't nothing like that sound, is it? It's music? Yes, sir.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and so that was from. Just about I tell people I was carrying a dog leash at birth. Just about following behind my dad and my grandfathers.
Speaker 1:Nice. And then, how long did you stay in the beagle business?
Speaker 2:I stayed with beagles till probably about 12 years ago. I got out of it completely and so go ahead.
Speaker 1:I'm sorry, no, well, no, I'm sorry, johnny. Johnny, so did you? I know you obviously hunted beagles, did you back then? Did you do any trials or anything with beagles?
Speaker 2:I did, yeah I pleasure hunted, I guess you would say all the way through high school. Um, I got into competition hunting in high school and out of high school with coon, hounds and squirrel dogs and then probably in my mid-20s I got into competition hunting real big with my beagles with the american rabbit hunters association, arha. Yes, I'm a little pack with them for several years and finished several dogs in the grand champions and champions and competed on the national levels with them oh, wow.
Speaker 1:so what you know and, johnny, I won't portray to be an expert in beagles, but I did fool with them quite a while. What was some of the lines that you loved back then when you was some of the bloodlines? There's a Northway, is that? Am I correct? Is Northway one of the? Was that one of the bloodlines? It was, yeah, it was.
Speaker 2:What did you use? Probably the bloodline that whenever I was competition hunting a lot I was fooling with Indian Hills Major. It was a dog, I think he was from up around Kentucky. Okay, a lot of our dogs went back to him Mountaineer, sunny dogs like that. And then there was a local dog that a good friend of mine had called JT's Live Oak Luke, and most everything I had in competition went back to him because they literally would produce dogs that would jump rabbits in the middle of a parking lot. I mean they could just ever more hunt. So we got you know, a lot of my dogs went back to him.
Speaker 1:Did you like beagles that like I won't say cold trail, but did you prefer beagles that didn't bark until they was on a fresh trail?
Speaker 2:I preferred them to be more hot-nosed and I preferred them to pick their head up and run. You know a lot of people we used to run them. They'd almost be like fox dogs. They'd hit it here and hit it here and keep moving it, you know, and not sit there blowing holes in the dirt, like you would say.
Speaker 1:Nice, and why did you like that? To where they could see where their heads were up and they could see a rabbit if it jumped.
Speaker 2:No, just so that they was moving the track quicker. I mean, I always liked a faster beagle. Okay, it would just move the rabbit, and so.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, Johnny, I don't know if you'd ever cross paths but I probably one of my buddies from my hometown. I probably learned more about dogs from him than about anybody, Johnny. Ray Johnson was a big, big rabbit hunter in Leslie County, Kentucky, where I'm from, and then over in Knott County Kentucky, a real good, a former co-worker of mine, Robbie Noble. But Robbie and him still are active in beagles. I don't know if they're into competitions and stuff Right, but it was big, you know. I think when I would have been doing it was in the early 2000s pretty heavy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's about that's when I quit. Competition hunting was in the right around 2000, 2001. Okay, and then I went back to just pleasure hunting a little bit and then eventually just quit fooling with them. And then I went back to just pleasure hunting a little bit and then eventually just quit fooling with them.
Speaker 1:And then you sound like you, like me, so I know how I am. You sound like you went on to your next venture. What was the next breed and type of hunt you got into?
Speaker 2:Well, for me, I actually quit dogs. For probably two years I didn't have anything, or about a year and a half I didn't have any dogs, or about a year and a half I didn't have any dogs. That's whenever I'd come to my church. In 2004 is whenever I come. That's when I went into ministry.
Speaker 2:Come here and I'll be honest, dogs to me is like drugs to an addict. You know what I'm saying, and so I can't do it a little bit. I'm all in, and so I got out of them for a little bit. And in 2008, we lost a roof to our sanctuary, to our church, to a tornado. We had to meet in a high school gym and I found on the Internet a guy named Hank Huff with Kingdom Dog Ministries from Houston, and basically his website said duck dogs to present the gospel and it kind of intrigued me and I'd never duck hunted. So we got him to come to a presentation for us and me and Mr Hank become friends and in 2013, I bought my first retriever from him and that's when I started doing ministry with him.
Speaker 1:You and I are so much alike it's scary. Matter of fact, I almost wore that shirt a while ago. Really, is that a poncho? No, this is a drake. Okay, the reason I say that it wasn't so much about the clothes, but I had never duck hunted either. You know, in eastern Kentucky there's no fly, we're in the mountains, so it wasn't a flyway like western Kentucky Right, like western Kentucky right, and I didn't really get into retrievers to about 2014, okay, and it wasn't so much duck hunting. I got into antler shed hunting and stuff. Hey, okay, trained them, you know, and then then a little later went duck hunting.
Speaker 2:But so tell me how it's progressed from 2013 to now well, when I got my first dog, um, she was a three year old chocolate female. She was already had her senior level title with AKC. So I started doing ministry and I guess I had her for about six, eight months. I said, well, if I'm going to have a duck dog, I might as well start learning how to duck hunt. So I started duck hunting a little bit. I probably didn't start competition hunting until probably 2015,. Right around in 2015. I had her. I had a young male chocolate dog, so I started going to some HRC tests with them and, um, just, ever since then I've just I don't get to really go to a lot. Um, I have a little chocolate female now that's six years old. She's a hunt retriever champion, master hunter. She's within about 85 points of having her 500 points um, but I got a best friend that's a pro trainer and so he does all the competitions. And so who is that? I'm trent tibbitt, with red line retrievers of louisiana.
Speaker 1:He lives right here, local don't know him, but I have heard his name, yeah. So what's the highest level? You've taken a dog to try or to test?
Speaker 2:The highest I've done is just seasoned. But my goal with my chocolate female when she gets to that last 15 points I'm going to run her. That way I can say I'll put the 500 points on her.
Speaker 1:No, I don't blame you. So, backing up to 2013, you found this ministry in Houston that had a duck hunting. Explain that to me.
Speaker 2:How was that used in?
Speaker 1:ministry.
Speaker 2:We basically just used our basic commands Sid, heel, things like that, you know, run, send them to pick up a bumper.
Speaker 2:And we just mixed the gospel in with them. You know, and you know what is like. I can make my dogs heal and sit beside me and I can throw the bumper out there and I've had as many as 2500 people chant their name and they won't move until I call their name. And so what scripture? Tell us in Matthew six that we can only serve one master. So it's just a really good visual of how we should serve God and how we should be sold out to God. So you know, we just use their, like you'd be training a duck hunter. You know, run a hunt test and just mix different scriptures in with them.
Speaker 1:So you're doing this in front of your sanctuary or your the people?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I travel. I travel wherever. Last year I did about 12,000 miles just doing this ministry. I've been as far east as Georgia. I've been in probably 10 different states total in the last 11 years.
Speaker 1:So you're taking the dog, do you take it in the church?
Speaker 2:I'll take it to churches, schools, wherever, wherever they want.
Speaker 1:And you're using those examples. I've never seen this before. This is new to me. So you're using that, you're putting on the dog, kind of let the dog perform Correct, and you're giving commands and then you're making it relevant to the Bible. That's it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'll send you a link to it. That's something else.
Speaker 1:Okay, I had no idea it. That's something else. Okay, I had no idea. Well, you mentioned that when you talked. You know this message back and forth, but I didn't fully grasp what you did.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's actually three of us that do it now full, or there's two that's full-time. Mr Hank is still doing it. He's up in his seventies now, and then there's a guy named Justin Coffey from Houston Texas. It has extreme obedience, it's full-time, and then I'm part-time.
Speaker 1:I'm doing it, and then you're doing that and you're still a full-time pastor at your church Still a full-time pastor. Oh wow, you are a busy man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Like last year I think I did 55 presentations and 12,000 balls and was still a full-time pastor.
Speaker 1:So how do the people receive you when you, when you go and put on this? I know performance is not the best word I can think of, but that's all right no, that's a good word, they.
Speaker 2:It's even people that don't like dogs or get captivated by what they're doing. And so you know, as you keep it moving fast, you know, and it keeps them engaged, and they're hearing the gospel, and then I'll usually and they're hearing the gospel, and then I'll usually share my testimony at the end or depends on the group and wrap it up and people just respond. I think you know I've had my dogs in front of probably over 300,000 people in the last 11 years with over 30,000 salvations that I know of. You know, sometimes I go into a school and I can present the gospel but I can't get them to respond, and so I really don't know how many salvations come out of that. But we still plant the seed, you'd say yes, yes.
Speaker 1:So you're not only you're saving souls, but you're also, maybe winning some people over to the hunt dogs.
Speaker 2:Oh, without a doubt, yeah.
Speaker 1:Right, what. Give me some examples of people that to to hunt dogs oh, without a dog, yeah Right, what. Give me some examples of people that's come up to you and not only have been saved but also was like, hey, I'd like to learn how to train a dog to do that, or, or, or hunt.
Speaker 2:Right, yeah, there's um. You know I could tell all kinds of the stories almost seem wild. I was doing a like a wild game dinner at a little country church and I had a 76-year-old man come up to me afterwards and he said, son, can we talk? And I said sure, and we sat on the tailgate of my truck and he said I've hired every pastor this church has ever had. He said I'm chairman of the deacons. But he said I never realized tonight that I really wasn't a believer. I've been playing the game my whole life. And so sitting on the tailgate of my truck he prayed and accepted Christ and so, you know, and I went back and helped him talk to his family and his pastor and all that and so.
Speaker 2:But then, you know, I've had young guys come up and say, hey, how do I get into retrievers, you know? Or how do I get into the coon dogs like you was talking about? Or how can I use my coon dogs to tell people about God or my rabbit dogs? And so it's given me a lot of opportunities with young guys to kind of encourage them. You know this, once for a long time my dogs was an idol to me. I guess you'd say, is because I put them before God and now they're not. Now I'm using them to bring God glory. So it gives me an opportunity to share with these young guys how they can do the same thing. When they're standing around a tree at 11 o'clock at night, you know, they can tell people about Jesus and things like that.
Speaker 1:So you know, johnny, you, so I've got like I said. You don't know my background much either. I played years with the Bluegrass Gospel Group in eastern Kentucky and we played all through the Appalachian area. But you know, I was the same way. I played in these churches and I didn't get saved until I'd probably been playing for seven or eight years. Right, I was playing, I was going, right, but you know, and I guess, and I sit through a lot of altar calls, right, you know, but, and then you know, everything changed. But so, and then you talk about the idol, idol worship or idol worship.
Speaker 1:Good friend of mine, pastor named Brad Stevens. He was into my bluegrass group, became a pastor at a young age and still has been gosh, probably over 20 some years, and he was, he was during that time he got into hunting real heavy and YouTube videos. He's funny as he can be real country. You know, he makes me sound like a New Yorker. He had turkey videos. You know, brad steve's, it's hilarious, uh, and he got into it. He's so good at. He's good at hunting, good deer hunter, good bow hunter, good turkey hunter, good singer, good musician. His wife's just so talented and and he finally was like you know what? This is getting too big, uh, right, uh, and, and, and I get it. We all are guilty of that stuff and putting things before god, but uh, wow.
Speaker 1:that really puts it to home, though, when you say that yeah um, you know we get chasing stuff and forget the big picture, right, right, um, so I guess you just. So how many labs do you have right now?
Speaker 2:I have four right now. I've got a seven-and-a-half-year-old yellow female that I've kind of retired from ministry. I have a six-year-old chocolate female that's my primary dog. I got a two-year-old black female that's with Trent right now running competitions and training and I'm going to start working her into presentations. And then I got probably about a 16-week-old black female that I'm training. I'll have her until she's six, seven months old and she'll go to Trent.
Speaker 1:He usually keeps them about two years I've got three 16-week-olds I'm training. Wow, it's a handful Everybody's not like me and you and full with the different, completely really different breeds. But describe what's the biggest difference you've seen when you first were training and running beagles to labs and bird dogs and all the casting and all the hand signals and all this stuff you're doing with bird dogs. Right, tell me how you adapted to that, cause it's you and I know that's complete. It's completely different. Oh yeah, it's daylight and dark.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah Well, beagles or coon hounds, squirrel dogs, all of it's the same. It's all about tracking and then for them they either have it or they don't. And so the main thing with my beagles and you know coon hounds and stuff was you trained them to handle, you know whenever you're ready to go, to come in and things like that. But you know, but labs, that's a whole different. You know, when I got my first lab and I didn't know anything, I never I never legally duck hunted in my life. I'd shoot a wood duck when I was rabbit hunting but never had a duck stamp. Same here.
Speaker 2:And so when I got my first dog it was a learning experience I was watching YouTube videos and I didn't know because I never duck hunted, I didn't know retriever people here. So I slowly started meeting and starting to make some good friends along the way that would say you know, johnny, do this, johnny do that. But like beagles, you can leave them in a pen and take them out and go, dump them out and jump a rabbit and run. You know, and that's all you got to do with. These labs is every day. I mean, I literally work with them. I was outside with my puppy at five o'clock this morning before I went to go speak at the sheriff's breakfast Working. We just walk around the yard, sit, sit heel, sit, sit heel, you know, just trying to get her used to the basics, and so it's an everyday life.
Speaker 1:You know it is. You know you them hounds. You just go out and drop tailgate and learn to run, you know. So I did that. It didn't take a lot of. Like you say, they either do it or they don't, and it's almost that way. I've trained a lot of blood tracking dogs and it's it's not rocket science. They either want to do it and it's easy, or they or they don't. It's not a big deal. So yeah, I'm like you when I switched into the lab world and I. The only difference between you and I probably is I have a lot of time in protection dog stuff, so I learned a lot of that. But still, labs is a different. I think it's the most complex dog training there is. I know I don't proclaim to be the expert, but from my experience it's just, it's complex and it's very time consuming.
Speaker 2:Well, and like I have four, dogs at the house and they're like people, they're four different personalities. Yes, we're one of them, I can just say no and that's it with her. And then another, like I have four dogs at the house and they're like people, they're four different personalities. Yes, where one of them I can just say no and that's it with her. And then another one you might have to nick them with a training collar a little bit to reinforce the no. And so they're so different. You know each one of them and you have to adapt your training to that dog, you do.
Speaker 1:And they learned like I've got three, basically the same age, all British lines, two imports and pups, and I mean I'm doing the same training but I have to adapt it and they're learning different ways, at different speeds, different maturity levels. It's an ever-evolving process, isn't it? I think it's an ever-evolving process isn't it. I think so did you. Now you tell me you was doing YouTube videos. Did you take any kind of training seminars? How did you educate yourself other than the videos?
Speaker 2:YouTube videos, dvds and then lots of phone calls. I'm sure that there was trainers that would cringe when they would see Johnny Morgan pop up on the caller ID, because they knew I was going to have some kind of bizarre question on how you know what I needed to do to fix my dog.
Speaker 1:I still do that to people and I'm sure they do me the same way. They've seen my number. I know two guys I wore out but yeah, I won't mention their names but yeah. So one of the things I want to get into, because I haven't talked about this on the show much but I had some tree and dog squirrel dogs I had more luck with, I think, because I had this more of a rough, harsh demeanor training dogs, because I was a fool with shepherds and stuff and doing shits.
Speaker 1:Right, when I got it I was wanting to try to do some squirrel dogs. The feists were just too timid for me because I'm kind of loud, you know, and I'm used to these big 80-pound Rottweilers and stuff, you know, and it's just different, right, so for me and I foster great dogs I got a buddy from Leslie County that they have their own line of squirrel dogs that they've developed that are basically fast based road lines. But the dog that worked for me because it was more hard, was a mountain cur, right, because they're basically a slim pit bull, I mean really. I mean they almost look pit bullish and they're very gamey and they're tough and they can take it. You know the pressure, but I had a lot of luck with those. What about you? What was your best breed in squirrel dog stuff?
Speaker 2:I fooled with a lot of the mountain curs, the Smith Street bred ones and things like that, yes, and got into Kem cars some. I had one camera, yes, sir, because we would cross back and forth, we would coon hunt with them and squirrel hunt with them.
Speaker 1:yes, and so um, I trained mine on coons like I do live trapping. I got them treating coons. I just wasn't a big coon hunter, I mean at the time I'd like, but anyway. So yeah, I would do a purpose, my cur dogs, right, and I don't know, I guess if I and I don't know I guess if I do that I don't know that I really didn't have a lot of experience with fives?
Speaker 2:Yeah, they would.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:But I'm like you. A fife was always a little bit more timid. I trained a lot of fife cur crosses. For a man Like he'd bring me four puppies and I'd get them all started. I'd them all starting, I'd pick one and keep one, and he'd take the other three and I'd sell the one I kept to make. That's how he paid me, yes and so, but there was a lot of. They was kerr feist crosses and never seen them.
Speaker 1:That's a good idea, though, yeah, uh, and you know, I don't know what it was, I think it was just me, I just my personality. I kind of had that same issue with britney's. I thought when I had a britney I tried and it was a female and just so soft and timid and I know every dog's different, they're not all that way. But I thought, yeah, I'm probably not the right mix, right, but definitely the Fyce wasn't my thing. But yeah, you know, out west here, now that I've been in Texas 12 years, you don't see mountain curs, you don't see fives, you don't even hear them in west Texas. Now, maybe east Texas is different because they've got trees and timber and squirrels and close Louisiana there. Do you see them in Louisiana still?
Speaker 2:Is it a pretty prevalent breed for squirrel? It's a lot of curs and things around still curs and things around still.
Speaker 1:And if I, if my history is correct, the mountain cur was actually one of the only breeds truly developed in Appalachian mountains.
Speaker 2:I think so.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that's. And it's neat because I'll tell you some little dog history. That's probably boring for most, but the Texas state dog is a blue Lacey, yep. And, uh, what's interesting, the, the the Blue Lacey, is named after five Lacey brothers from Kentucky that moved into the Marble Falls area of Texas. So when Governor Rick Perry was in office as the governor of Texas, they made the Blue Lacey the Texas state dog. And when you read the background of the of the genetics of that dog, this is so funny. It's one of my pet peeves. But like, oh, it says it's part wolf and part this and that parts a greyhound. I actually believe the greyhounds possible, especially because of the color.
Speaker 1:But I bought a blue Lacey to track out here in Texas. I've had a couple, had some dandies, but I posted that dog on my Facebook. All my buddies in Kentucky was like man, where'd you get that curry? I was like man, that looks just like a mountain curry, doesn't it? I thought so too when I saw it, because especially my female blue Lacey, the first the second one I had was only she was under 40 pounds, right. So some Blue Laces get bigger, yeah. But anyway, I said boys, they can say all they want to on this legislative stuff about the Texas State Dogwood.
Speaker 1:That dog has got original mountain currant in it because them guys came from Kentucky and that was a very prevalent breed at that time when they came. And you can look at it and tell it. And you know what the blue lacy are gamey like, they'll fight a circle, saw, you know. And the mountain courier, you know that they're like that too. They're athletic, they're muscular. But that's that's just my two cents on the blue lacy in Texas. It's a, it's a, definitely if they well, they can do that Embark on it now I guarantee you, if they Embark, swab that dog. It's got Mountain Curry in it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a neat breed.
Speaker 1:The Blue Lacey's a neat breed. It's kind of an all-purpose dog and the good thing. I don't know if it's the same now, but you know, forever, forever. And those dogs have lived a long time with no health problems because, I guess, just ranchers. You know, back then they were a ranch dog, right. You know how people back then, if you had a dog that couldn't cut it, they'd kill it, you know Right. So or if it had sick, if it got sick, they didn't go to the vet you know, so I think it evolved a very healthy breed just by process of elimination.
Speaker 2:Right, you know, I guess Right healthy breed just by process of elimination.
Speaker 1:Right, you know, I guess, right, but they're a neat breed and they're very aggressive, right. I mean, like the vet here, I've got a ranch near Menard, texas, and you know, I know she doesn't really like it when blue glaciers come in because, you know, some of them are pretty wicked. But anyway, yeah, I digress but uh, but I'm just, we're both dog nerds, I think you might like that, yeah, and then I've also had a out here at the ranch I had a louisiana dog, catahoula, really. Yeah, it's the only catahoula I ever owned.
Speaker 1:Love the dog, he was a monster. He was 85 pounds. I never seen a dog that big ever and that was just natural. He wouldn't overweight, right. But he was my tracking dog here and then he started trying to kill my deer. I've got a high fence ranch, right. So he taught you know, started trying to kill access deer. So I placed him with a buddy of mine that had a big cattle ranch out with an alpine, yeah, but but I love that breed too, yeah, yeah, they're gamey dogs too, yeah, gamey, yeah, man, similar to Mountain Cur in that respect, similar to Blue. I had a Blue Lacey. She was here when I had my Catahoula. Did you fool with them ever, the Catahoulas much.
Speaker 2:I never had Catahoula. We had Leopard Cur, which is real close. The leopard curs would tree a little bit more, which they call a leopard. It's a catahoula just more bred to tree dog than running.
Speaker 1:You have to educate me here those catahoulas. Are they ever used in coon hunting or anything? They're just not a tree dog.
Speaker 2:Most of them for more stock, but I think there's people that have used them. Yes, for tree dogs and things.
Speaker 1:Now, like I said, I don't have a huge knowledge of Catahoulas, but I'm going to tell you, I got to tell you what my dog would do. So this big beautiful dog I had, boom, and he come out of Louisiana. I was training, I got him to track game and you know, I just like I like I've never, I've always wanted one Right. And you know, just I, just like I like I've never, I've always wanted one right. You know so I would put him in the back of the cyber side here at the ranch. And uh, you know well, here's how it started. So my neighbor had shot a deer and they couldn't find it and he called and asked me to come over my tracking dog right and so I went over.
Speaker 1:At the time I said, man, all I've got today is my blue, my catahoula, and he's only like 10 months. But he's been exposed. I've worked with him some, but he's surely not, you know, ready, right, we go over there and they show me where he had been. The animal had been shoved, the axis deer, and so we, you know, I got him down and looked at the blood. I got him down and looked at the blood and he tracked it for a little bit and there was nothing. There wasn't hardly any blood at all. What it was was a gut shot, so hardly any blood.
Speaker 1:I put him back in the cyber side and I went in the direction. I thought the thing was there was no blood trail. We just lost the blood. Here's how he would track. I could get him in the cyber side. He'd'd be in the back and he would wind and smell whatever it was that had been shot, right, he would bark one time real loud, and when he did that I'd let him out and he'd go straight to it, and that's how he tracked animals here. He did that every single time. It was amazing. That's interesting. Never tracked on the ground ever. I'd just keep him in the back of the side of the side, and then he barked. When he barked, I let him out and he, he found I don't know how many shot game here, huh. So interesting.
Speaker 2:Well, I would prefer the ride to side by side too, if I had to yeah, yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1:I mean, he ain't got his nose in this cactus and all this rough stuff out here, you know, and yeah, I guess he outsmarted me, right, you just drive me around, right, I'll get out when I feel like it, you know, but uh, no, it's, it's just neat, I, I like I said I'm a dog nerd and that's that's why I do this podcast and I learned so much from people like you. Uh, you know it's, I can never learn enough, right? One thing I know training dog myself is, I sure, ain't a know-it-all, you know. Right, you get humbled daily when you work with dogs. Oh, yeah, all the time. So, with your schedule, it sounds like you was up this morning training. How many days a week do you try to work with your dogs?
Speaker 2:I try to work with them every day at the house and I try to take off. You day at the house and I try to. I try to take off, you know, at least once a week. I fail a lot and go train with my friend. You know that's a pro trainer and we'll throw ducks and things and so. But I'll do a lot of yard training at the house and things are my church.
Speaker 2:We actually have a little bit of property behind us and we have a pond so I can bring my trailer up. I have a pond so I can bring my trailer up. I have a dog trailer with all my equipment in it.
Speaker 1:I'll bring it up here and train early in the morning and then then work and then bring them back home at lunchtime or something, do you? I assume in that area where you live you'll probably have quite a few retriever clubs, don't you in the area? There's several retriever clubs in our area, yeah uh, I noticed that that part of Louisiana, that's southeast Texas, man, there's good retriever clubs all around.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that sure is helpful.
Speaker 1:That's helped me a lot. Right, you got any duck hunts planned this year?
Speaker 2:I'm going to put at least about an hour from me in Port Berry and I'm hoping I still got about three weeks vacation. I got to burn before the end of the year, berry, and I'm hoping I still got about three weeks vacation. I got a burn before the end of the year, so I'm hoping to take some some days off and make some hunts now, do you ever?
Speaker 1:have you ever tried upland hunting?
Speaker 2:I haven't. As a matter of fact, me and Trent was just talking um there's some upland tests in January, february, about trying to hit a couple of those, just to get the title and just to say we done it that's my goal too.
Speaker 1:This year I'm going to try two of my dogs in upland test. I'll tell you what, john, if you ever want to. I and he's on my first podcast, scott knee, neighbor of south dakota. Yeah, I've hunted up there. This will be my third year and he's, uh, he's, excellent. It's wild birds, right. Uh, there's, I mean, there's lots of places to go, but I, I really enjoyed. It's very affordable, uh, and I've never been disappointed. We hunt three days, we tag out each day, we get our lamb at each day and, uh and it's, and I just like it, it's, it's, I actually, I honestly I prefer it over waterfowl, really, because you can walk around and you don't have to be quiet, right, stay covered up and you just watch those dogs work. It's pretty fun.
Speaker 2:And I like to watch the dogs work. When I was young, it was all about the numbers how many rabbits, how many squirrels can I kill? And now it's just about watching the dogs work and I think well, if I kill it, I got to clean it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's you know. I deer hunted real heavy for years and I always, when I got older, I thought you know what the fun's over. When it's down Right, then it's work, that's it. But well, yeah, I have to. If you ever decide to upland hunt, holler at me, I'm trying to do. I'd like to do more of that, but have you ever sandhill crane hunted? I have not. That's pretty fun too.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 1:I've heard that Now there's good places, but you know, my house is in Midland, so I'm only an hour and a half hour and 40 minutes from Lubbock. Okay, so Lubbock, it's a really good place to stay in Ukraine, yeah there's a lot of outfitters up there in that whole area, but that's some good eating too, if you've not tried it.
Speaker 2:That's what I've heard.
Speaker 1:Yes, sir, they call it the ribeye of the sky, Exactly. Yeah, it's good. So yeah, if you ever do that, holler at me too. But well, what would you like to tell our listeners? Tell us about where they can find your church website when you have service, all right, and tell them if you're. I don't know, johnny, I don't want to speak for you, but if you are open to go to other churches, if we've got people listening and they want you to come, how will they get a hold of?
Speaker 2:you. You can either go to other churches. If we've got people listening and they want you to come, how will they get a hold of you? You can either go to my website, obediencetodeathcom, and it's the number two, so it's obediencetodeathcom, you can find me there or my phone number, 225-278-4772. And I'd love to travel. I love to travel. I would love to go to other churches.
Speaker 2:My church is championing this ministry like its own, and so whenever I go do things like that, they're praying for me here and they want me to go, and you know, and present the gospel, and so they. They think it's just as part of our church and so you know. But our church services we do an eight o'clock and a 1030 service here and, and you can find us online, we're on facebook and youtube and it's live baptist church and so, uh. So yeah, I know that the internet's changed. You know, covid, we was ahead of covid a little bit when we went online with our services, but you know, now we have people all I hear from people all over the united states say, hey, we found your service, you know when they they watch, and so you know it's really. You know, the path of our church is really a footprint of our church has expanded because of online now.
Speaker 1:You know that's a change that COVID caused. It's been for the best right there. I mean, just like you. It's got your ministry in homes that may have never ever found you. Yeah Well, if I come through Louisiana on the weekend, I'll have to come check you out, you come here and I know some good places to eat. I am probably better at eating than anything.
Speaker 2:That's my spiritual gift.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, lord, I'm a foodie big time, actually, when I travel, I'm Googling the best places to eat. I don't even want chains, you want chains.
Speaker 1:I want privately owned mom and pop that's the way I am but I tell you what, though I will say when I drive to Louisiana, man, I get to eat, I mean, and I'm always researching if you like to eat. That's one state to travel, that's it for sure. Well, johnny, it was a pleasure getting to meet you face-to-face on video. Yeah, we'll try to meet in person. We have to shout out to Kelly Curry, because he's the one who introduced us together. Boy, he's a fine person. He's given me so much feedback for my show and helped me, because you know, I'm new at this. I'm surely an expert. I'm no Joe Rogan, or whatever you want to call it, and I just enjoy it. And uh, I'm just me and I don't. I don't ever script Right, I just shoot in the hip and talk, you know so anyway, but no, he's been a, he's been an excellent, uh, source of feedback and and and support me. You know, emotional support, but good guy, he's a great guy.
Speaker 2:Kelly's been a good friend, a big supporter of my ministry, and you know he watches our church services every week and so Kelly, kelly's a good guy and you know I'm sorry, forgive me, I've had allergies like crazy but that killed me.
Speaker 1:But you know I want Kelly on the podcast, but he knows so much about so many subjects in depth that I don't know where to begin. I mean I'll have to, like narrow it down or maybe do a series. That's right, you'll have to do four or five episodes. But he's a very intelligent man and he's very humble. I mean I'll ask him a question about something and he'll tell me a dissertation. And I'm wanting to take notes while he's talking to me. I was like, wow, this is good and he's even about my show. He actually called me Saturday. He calls me on Saturdays I think that's his day and honestly, I've got a notebook over here on the table. I was writing down what he was telling me. I I've got a notebook over here on the table. I was writing down what he was telling me. I mean he's that smart. But anyway, johnny, it was a pleasure meeting you. I wish your ministry the best and my youngest daughter's real big at the church back in Kentucky and I'm going to pray for you all too, for your ministry.
Speaker 1:I appreciate it, thank you so much, all right, you have a good one you too. Thank you.