Brady Davis and Matt McCormick - Building A Waterfowl Legacy: Knives, Dogs, And Western Ranches

#63 A great hunt starts long before the first flight. We sit down with Matt McCormick and Brady Davis of Flying V to unpack how a forged bird knife, smart dog choices, and year-round ranch management turn big plans into clean birds and reliable shoots. From Bozeman to fast water on the Yellowstone, this one moves from craft to habitat to dogs with zero fluff and plenty of grit.

First up: the Bird Blade. After hundreds of real-world birds—from teal and huns to late-season honkers and cranes—the guys dialed a shallow, four-inch 440C profile with a rigid spine and precise tip. The machined G10 handle stays locked in when wet; the handmade leather sheath drops into a blind bag and ages like a saddle. It’s a father–son forge story with Western roots and a design built for one-swipe breast pulls, clean joint breaks, and minimal waste.

Then we zoom out to the 365. Flying V maps properties for early, mid, and late-season waterfowl across Montana’s long, liberal seasons, and they don’t stop at fall. Spring nesting habitat, pressure plans, crop rotations, water control, and predator management have to coexist with elk and deer migrations that reshape the landscape each winter. The goal is sustainable hunting that holds birds—and delivers steady days for guests—whether it’s 80 degrees in October or 30 below in January.

Finally, the dogs. We get honest about British labs, American labs, and Chesapeake Bay retrievers—what “off switch” and “all gas” really mean in deep snow and moving current. A young Chessie named Smoke provides the proof, charging downriver after a crippled goose and reappearing with the bird like he owned the bend. The takeaway is simple: buy for fit, not hype; titles matter, but the right dog matches your terrain, hours, and handling style.

Hit play to hear the full story, learn how to enter the Flying V hunt giveaway, and get the details behind a knife made to be handed down. If this episode resonates, follow, share with a hunting buddy, and leave a quick review—your support helps more bird hunters find the show.

Gundog Nation is Proudly Sponsored by Waterstone Labradors.

Chapters

• 0:00 Mission Of Gun Dog Nation
• 0:38 Community, Youth, And Show Sponsors
• 1:57 Introducing Flying V And Montana Life
• 3:22 Why Build A Bird Knife
• 5:39 The Makers: Forge And Leather Story
• 9:28 Sheath Design And Field Use
• 11:20 Blade Length, Balance, And Materials
• 15:27 Turkey, Geese, And Real-World Tests
• 18:06 Giveaway Hunt And Product Ethos
• 19:58 Dogs In The Field And On Camera
• 22:40 Sponsor Breaks And Field Tools
• 24:09 Flying V TV And Habitat Projects
• 26:13 Ranch Management For Long Seasons
• 29:07 Predators, Nesting, And Balance
• 33:53 Coyotes, Trapping, And Regulations
• 36:57 Chessies Vs Labs: Why Grit Matters
• 44:48 Drive, Off Switches, And Breeding Honesty
• 52:52 Titles, Fit, And Finding The Right Dog
• 58:07 Invitation To Hunt And Knife Details
• 1:00:00 Membership And Community Closing

Transcript

SPEAKER_04: 0:02

I'm Kenneth Witt and welcome to Gun Dog Nation. Gun Dog Nation is much more than a podcast. It's a movement to build a community of people around the world that like to watch a well-trained dog do what it's bred to do. Also, we want to get our youth involved into the sport of gun dogs, whether it be hunting, sport, or competition. We want to build a community of people united to preserve our gun dog heritage and to be better gun dog owners. Tune in to each weekly episode and learn about training, dog health, wellness, and nutrition. We will also offer tips for hunting with dogs and for competition, uh, hunt tests, field trials, and other dog sports that involve gun dogs. Please go to our website, gundognation.com, and subscribe to our email list. We will keep you informed weekly with podcasts that are coming out. We also will be providing newsletters with training tips and health tips for your dog. You can also go to patreon.com forward slash gundognation and become a member. There's different levels of membership on there. Just go check that out. Also, we'd like to thank Sean Brock for providing the music for this show. The introduction and the outro is Sean Brock. He played everything on there except the banjo by Scott Vest on the Dobro by Jerry Douglas. Sean is a neighbor of mine from over in Harlan, Kentucky. I'm just crossing mountain in Hyden, Kentucky, and he's a super talented guy. But most of all, want you guys to check out the Creekers. They are also from Hyding, Kentucky. This is an up-and-coming bluegrass and country band. And these guys are hot. They're all over TikTok and YouTube. You will hear these guys because in a year or so that they will be on the radio. They are very talented. Their videos are going viral on the net. These boys are family. Two of the lead singers, one grew up with my daughter, and the other one is my cousin's son. So he's family. But check them out. Check out the Creakers. Also, last but not least, if you want to buy a hat, koozie, t-shirt, or even gun dog supplies, go to shopgundognation.com and you can purchase any of those items. Thank you so much for listening. It's a privilege to have people that want to put up with me talking about dogs all the time. I actually enjoy what I do, and I'm so glad to have this opportunity. And thank you. Hello, welcome back. It's Kenneth Whipp with the Gun Dog Nation podcast coming to you today from Fort McCabot, Texas. And uh I'm really excited to do this one. These guys, we've been talking a little bit before with this show, and we got so much to talk about. We're going to narrow it down to a few topics today. Um Matt, I gotta tell you this, man, every time I see your name, uh it I've got a really good friend here in Texas that played football at Texas Tech. He was like a Brazilian jujitsu world champion, and he's like 6'7. Talk about a scary dude, but he's as nice as he can beat. His name's Matt McCormick. Uh oh, there we go. Yeah. And and then to beat it all after after all that stuff, you know, he's like the uh he was a D1 football player, then a world champion fighter, and now he's in the guns. I'm like, he's a dangerous individual. So yeah, no doubt. No doubt. He's massive, but he's also, if you talk to him, he's like a teddy bear, you know. I wouldn't want to make him mad. And uh and I won't. But anyway, uh I just when I see your name, I can't help but think about him. So uh guys, I'm gonna let you guys introduce yourselves. Uh you've got an extensive resume, and then let's let's talk about something that's dear to our hearts, and it's something that you all sent me to explore, and we're gonna we're gonna talk about this. But Matt, let's let you start first.

SPEAKER_00: 3:20

Yeah, yeah, thanks for having us, Ken. Uh excited to be here, excited to uh chat with you. Um Matt McCormick, um, my partner Brady Davis. We own Flying V, which is a recreational ranch management business based out of Bozeman, Montana. And uh Brady and I have been friends for a long time. We know we know uh way too much about each other. And decided we decided to go even deeper and uh and and start this business together. And man, we're on a bit of a we're on a bit of a heater right now. It's been it's been really, really great, really fun working land, um seeing the fruits of our labor as as projects mature. And uh we're in the best time of the year right now, right? Fall, this is what we all wait for, it's what we all hope for. Brady and I were driving down the countryside today, and you know, I was looking out and all the leaves are kind of gone, and and it's starting to get that drab color around here in Montana, and man, this is this is the time to be alive.

SPEAKER_04: 4:21

Hey, you you said it, Matt. I'll let Brady introduce himself, and then I uh you uh before before we continue. I fell in love with Montana and I've been there a bunch this year now, and you guys are lucky. Yes, we are. Well, Matthew. No, go ahead. I'm sorry, Brady. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_03: 4:42

I just said I'm I'm Brady Davis, uh, you know, here in Bozeman, Montana. Uh first time caller, longtime listener. And uh and uh really happy to be on the podcast with you. I've I've I've listened to a bunch of these podcasts that you have on here, Kenneth, and uh, you know, we're we're we're dog lovers and dog guys. We love everything hunting and and especially wing shooting with dogs. And so, you know, luckily we're in a position in our in our business where we get to do a lot of hunting. We get to be on a lot of really nice ranches, and uh the dogs, you know, play a very active role in what we do literally day to day. I mean, everywhere we go, you know, Matt and I went and looked at a couple of ranches today, and you know, we're airing dogs at different ranches, and I mean there's always there's always a rodeo with us with dogs, you know, in the bed of the truck. We had them in the bed of the truck, we had them in the kennels, we had them in the back seat in crates. I mean, we look like a damn traveling circus going down the road, which that's just pretty normal for us, man.

SPEAKER_04: 5:51

I like how you roll. Listen, gentlemen, you know, I know I had a long, long phone conversation while I was driving with Brady, and we got deep into dogs, and actually you educated me on a breed of dog, we'll talk about later. But I learned enough about you, and about you tell me about Matt, and now it's talking to Matt for a little bit there. I know you guys, if you do something, you do it right. I can't imagine either one of you not doing anything uh shy of perfection. And and when I talked to Brady on the on my road trip for this long period of time, it's probably about four to six weeks ago, roughly, he didn't tell me what was going on behind the scenes. And uh then I was reaching out to him to get him on the podcast, and he tells me what what he's doing, and and we talk about the concept and behind this. So I'm so excited because you all I've I'm so excited when y'all sent me this knife today, and we're gonna open this up. I I was I couldn't wait. I was like a kid at Christmas because I'm a knife freak. And I'm gonna we're gonna get deep into this. Here's what I love. My wife was with me, and I was like, it has a band-aid. I'm smart enough to know that's in there for a reason, and I'm a lawyer, so you know, you want to it's safety. Uh I got a fly V sticker, we'll put that on some of my dog stuff. But man, I the only thing I like about as good as knives, I love leather. Uh but this bl this this case is excellent. And Brady was telling me, and he said something, I'm old school, I'm a lot older than you guys, but Brady was telling me that plastic and kydex or whatever you call it, don't cut it. I love that. If you want a high quality knife, why in the world would you put it in plastic? So, and I'm not knocking other knife makers, that's your that's your business, right? But I want y'all to look at the craftsmanship of this handle. I know this doesn't do it justice, y'all, and I'm trying my best to let you see it without getting stitches. I'm 40, I'm actually about 80 miles from a no that's 68 miles from a hospital. So I don't I don't want to that band-aid, I don't think we would fix it. Um now, guys, I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm done talking. Tell me why you made this and tell me everything behind it.

SPEAKER_00: 8:18

Go ahead, Matt.

SPEAKER_03: 8:19

You can start.

SPEAKER_00: 8:21

This is your project, your brainchild, your story, your history, your friends, your life, all in one product.

SPEAKER_04: 8:30

And I'm gonna put an asterisk in there, y'all listeners. Brady's a longtime rodeo guy. So he he's had a lot of experience with leather. Correct. All right, so continue.

SPEAKER_03: 8:41

You know, we're we're gonna be posting a video here soon, and we talk about this in the video, but Flying V, our our business, as you know, we do you know land and ranch management. We we never once set out to be a product company. We we never we never in our business model ever decided like we're gonna sell some cool products. However, Matt and I have spent literally thousands of days in the field together hunting, and we have just complained about these crappy throwaway products that we all use. And and I think especially in the world of waterfowl hunting, which is what we do more of, um, you know, we love all-wing shooting, but we are primarily waterfowl guys. We feel like all these products coming to market, they're all just kind of throwaway products, right? I mean, you buy them, they're cheap, all these brands are vying, you know, for a price point. And at least up here in Montana, we have really cold weather, really extreme environment, and everything breaks. And we we just got kind of sick of it, and so we decided that you know, there will probably be a few products over the years that we release, and if we do, we are going to release the best version of the best product that we could possibly ever do. And so um, when we came up with the idea of the knife, it all started because you know, Matt and I also do a bit of big game hunting, and you know, in the big game hunting world, it's very common a guy shoots an elk or a deer or whatever he shoots, and he's got his buddies there with him, and they get up to the animal. It's so normal for a guy to pull out a knife that his dad or his granddad gave to his dad and passed it down. But when we go wing shooting or waterfowl hunting with guys and we're laying birds out on a trailer or tailgate and we're cleaning birds after the hunt, guys are just grabbing, you know, whatever, pocket knife or whatever thing they have in, you know, in the door of their pickup. And there's not really a heritage built around knives in the wing shooting world. And we thought that, you know, we hated every knife that we had ever used, and we decided that we needed to, you know, come up with a better version. And so we spent, what was it, Matt, two years prototyping this thing. I mean, we did, we did prototype after prototype after prototype. And backing up a little bit, years ago, I lived in Colorado and I was a farrier, I was a horseshoer, and I did, I did some blacksmithing, and and uh there's there's an association called the World Championship Blacksmiths, and they had these contests all over the country and all over the world, and I wanted to compete in those, and I found out there was a man who lived down the road from me a handful of miles who was a multiple-time world champion. His name's John McNurney, owns a company called Yukon Forge. And I showed up at John's house one day and told him that I wanted to be his apprentice. This was gosh dang near 20 years ago, and he told me no at first. And uh I just kept pestering him. I said, Listen, I'm gonna come be your apprentice and I'm gonna learn from you. And finally he's like, All right, dude, here's the deal. You be at the forge at 4 a.m., have the fire going by 4:30, because it's they use these big Coke forges, right? So you gotta start a fire in it, get the Coke hot, get the air going, get everything going in it, get the Coke going by 4:30, have coffee going by 5, and I'll be out and we'll start working together. And this led to a really fun relationship. John McNurdy and I became very close friends, and I ended up apprenticing him with for him uh for years. Uh and it was really fun. We ended up competing together in the World Championship blacksmithing contests, and and I learned a lot. I learned a lot about horseshoeing, I learned a lot about blacksmithing, I learned a lot about bladesmithing, making knives, and and all kinds of things. And so when Matt and I came up with this idea that we were gonna build this bird blade, we knew who we were gonna call, and it was John McNurney. I mean, if anybody's ever watched the TV show Forged in Fire, he's won that before. Uh, he's been a you know judge there. I mean, he's very, very well-known blacksmith. And uh and interestingly enough, when I lived in Colorado at that time, that's also when I got into waterfowl hunting. And at that same time, I didn't know anything about killing geese. And John McNurney was the only guy, you know, dumb enough to come out with me, and neither of us knew anything, and he'd come lay in the snowbank with me, and we'd we'd shoot him sometimes, and we'd get skunked a bunch of times. And he was just dumb enough to come freeze his tail off with me and hang out and and hunt. And uh he also had a really cool yellow Labrador at the time named Thor, and Thor was the very first Labrador retriever I ever saw go pick up a Canada goose. And so, you know, there's a lot of history there between uh John and I, but when when we decided that we wanted to release a knife, this is how we came up with it. And so we started the process, and then as we started talking about the knives, you know, at Flying V, we're we're in the West, we're in Montana, and we've kind of planted our flag as the Western waterfowl hunting guys. And, you know, I come from a very strong rodeo cowboy ranching background. Matt's been around ranching for years and years. We wanted to do, you know, we always like to say we like to combine cool cowboy shit with waterfowl hunting. And so we were not looking to build a knife with a kydex holster. You know, we like to combine these western elements into anything that we're doing. And there's nothing cooler than handmade leather goods. I mean, I listen, I'm a metal guy, I think blacksmithing's awesome. There's nothing I love more than leather, man. It smells good, it feels good in the hand, it patinas over time. And so when we reached out to John, what was really neat is that his son Wyatt, who at the time 16, 17 years old, is actually a very renowned leather worker. And so Matt and I got on a call with him, and John's like, hey, dude, I love the idea. We can build the knife. Wyatt will handmake every single one of these sheets. And so it's a father-son duo building these things. And, you know, we we were just very excited about that. Matt came up with a really great idea. You can talk to him, Matt about the no loop on the sheath.

SPEAKER_04: 15:48

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SPEAKER_00: 17:28

Yeah, yeah. So the, you know, as we were developing this, we needed to make it for waterfowl hunters and upland hunters, right? That's kind of that's our niche. Those are our people. Whenever we meet a waterfowl hunter or a pheasant hunter or any sort of upland hunter, it's just instant friends, right? We have a lot of common ground there. And if you're gonna make a knife for those guys, there's no need for you know a belt loop on the sheath. Uh, because it's gonna go in a bag or a vest or a blind, you know, satchel or whatever, whatever it is you carry, um, that goes with all your other stuff. Um you know, and and in waterfowl, a lot of guys wear waiters. Uh, you don't want to have a knife on your waders. You know, you need it in your blind bag or your boat bag or wherever, wherever the hunt's gonna end, that's where it needs to be. It needs to be with you all the time, um, but be easily accessible. So there is no belt loop on the sheath um for that purpose, right? It's it's it's purposely developed for waterfowl hunting and upland hunting.

SPEAKER_04: 18:34

To be at the cleaning table. Yeah, yeah. Interesting. So let me ask you this, guys. I got questions. You know, when I got it, you know, the the stuff I clean is I've I cleaned Sandhill Crane, probably the biggest thing that I ever cleaned and love it when I'm up there hunting. Um but you know, then it's just grouse and ducks and stuff. When I was talking to Brady about this on the phone and picturing it in my head, everything he told me pretty much came out. The only thing that I was surprised by is the length of the blade. It seems fairly long. And I know there's a reason for that. So please tell us why the length of this blade and what the exact it looks like it's three and a half, four inches. No.

SPEAKER_03: 19:17

Probably yeah, so it's a it's a and I gotta pull up the exact measurements, but it's basically a four-inch blade. We made it shallow. You know, we we didn't want a big deep blade, you know, with a big uh big front on it, because we knew that, you know, uh the people that are gonna be using this blade are gonna be cleaning everything from chuckers and quail to teal on up to the sandhill cranes, like you just mentioned. And for us, we shoot a lot of big late season Canada geese, big birds, right? Yes, and so we wanted something that had a thick enough spine on the blade to have some rigidity, but also for that tip to have some surgical precision when we're cleaning those small birds. Okay, and so the reason we did the length that we did was because it truly, in the world of cleaning birds, is a do-all blade. Um, and we have cleaned early season teal and coil with it, again, on up to the sandhill cranes and and big late season Canada geese. And so it was it was designed for that. So it's a 440C stainless blade with a G10 handle that we've done some machining on. Uh, we've got a nice finger uh spot for it for your for your pointer finger um or middle finger. And it's it's just been really good. When we started our original prototypes, the blade was bigger, taller, and thicker. And we just kept sizing it down by micro measurements each each round of prototyping. And then we landed on this one and gosh, Matt, I don't know. I mean, we must have cleaned 500 to 700 different birds with it before we settled on this exact one. And once we got it, it felt good. It felt really balanced in the hand. Yeah, you know, because when you're cleaning birds, if you're breasting them or how what however you're cleaning, it feels very balanced between the handle and the blade. And that was really important to us because when you're cleaning birds, you know, you're holding that blade either horizontal or tip pointing down a little bit. You know, you're cleaning it with your wrist cock. And so the balance of the blade feels very important. Um, you know, we've seen other knives that are very handle heavy, we've seen knives that are very blade heavy. That makes it really hard when you're cleaning those smaller birds, those smaller upland birds, your chuckers, your huns, uh, your teal, your you know, small ducks and things. It makes it really hard to be surgical if the blade is out of balance. And so I love it. And again, we we a little bit nerd out on everything that we do. Matt, especially, is very analytical, and I appreciate that at a high level about him because he thinks about things that I don't. Even as a guy who's made a lot of knives and done a lot of forging, it was really interesting hearing Matt's feedback on the balance of the blade in the hand.

SPEAKER_04: 22:23

Well, I I like it. I tell you something, I know it's just little things, but I even like the how I know I'm lefty, but I like how you can put your finger right here. So I haven't cleaned thousands of birds, but I've I own a game ranch here, a high fence hunting ranch. As a matter of fact, I got a hunter coming Saturday. So I'm always clean uh cutting animals. And I know guys that this wasn't designed for big game, that's not what you had in mind, but it I could use this very easy. I like the size of the blade, I like the thickness of it. But here's something else I noticed because I just got through cleaning some waterfowl um when I before I came back, and um this handle it feels like it's something I could grip on to even if it's wet. Absolutely. Yes, and I love that. I mean, like most most knives are slick handled or or but this handle is got I don't know if it's just ridges in it. It's hard to tell here, but but that's something I've really caught my attention because you know you're you're what you're rinsing off stuff, your hands are wet. I mean anytime you're cleaning something, your fingers are wet. Uh even when I clean big game out here, so I like that I can hang on to it.

SPEAKER_00: 23:39

Yeah, no doubt.

SPEAKER_04: 23:40

Yeah, and there are into the handle.

SPEAKER_00: 23:43

Yeah, so it's a G10 handle. Originally we talked about doing some sort of impregnated uh wood handle. Um and we ended up going with the G10 handle for that purpose because it would never get slick. And if you groove it out the way that it is grooved, even if it gets wet, it will still have um, you know, you'll still have a solid grip on it with a glove on or your bare hand or you know, even surgical rubber gloves, which we use a lot of when we're in the facility cleaning, like in one of our butcher rooms or something. Um, we use that. Uh, but it always you can always use it and always have a good grip on it. And you see that how the handle has an arc underneath it. That's so that that's more of an ergonomical, so it fits in your hand a little bit better. So if you are cleaning something that takes a little more pressure, you can put that pressure and feel comfortable with it in your hand, right? With your hand all the way around it. Yes, um, you know, and that length, I want to mention something about that length. So Bertie and I clean birds two different ways. So, you know, and that's the way most people are. Some people clean it this way, some people there's more than one way to skin a duck, right? So, yeah, what you gotta do is you gotta try to do the best for everybody, and this knife actually really complements both of our styles, and the blade length really comes into play there. So it's a scalpel blade, right? I love the scalpel blade. I think that is for bird cleaning specifically. I mean, it is hands down the best. Um, the weight is nice because if it's too light, you lose track of it and you don't know where it is. I obviously you're watching it, but there's you know, if it's too light, I don't personally like it. But the length of it, I'm running, you know, a collarbone. If I'm breasting a bird, I'm gonna go collarbone to breastbone, and then I'm gonna lay it sideways and rip that open and use the whole face of the blade to cut that breast out, and it's one swipe. You can clean, you can take a breast out in three to four swipes if if done correctly, with a blade that long. You can't do that with a short blade, right? And you can't do that with a drop point or anything like that. You can't do it with a scalpel blade that's over four inches long. You can make one clean solid swipe, pull it all off in one go. It is it is it's the best knife that we've ever seen.

SPEAKER_04: 26:03

You know, you guys, especially because I know y'all are hardcore waterfowl guys, y'all should make a really good demo video if you haven't done so already for like YouTube. Because what you're saying, I can picture it just because I I actually enjoy I'm not so much I like getting meat off animals. I don't like field dressing animals, it's not my favorite, but when it starts scanning down and stuff, that's what I enjoy. I just take my time and go. But yeah, I'm listening to you and I'm picturing what you're doing, and I'm seeing like I've had clean birds with my bench made pocket knife, and I'm sitting here doing swipes at it trying to get that breast out, and all I'm doing is making grooves and not getting all the meat, and it's just not clean.

SPEAKER_00: 26:46

Yeah, and that blade will allow you to get it super clean up against the up against that central uh breastbone, all the way down through the rib cage, all the way to that wing socket, and be able to do one clean swipe at the wing socket and be able to pull it out right away like that.

SPEAKER_04: 27:02

Uh I'll tell you another place you guys need to. I know I don't know if it's your style of hunting. Do you guys turkey hunt? Oh yeah. This right here will be a turkey hunter's dream. Yeah, I turkey hunt pretty heavy.

SPEAKER_03: 27:16

We uh we've we've we've been using it for the last couple years in the prototype typing stage in the last season turkey hunting, and it's it's phenomenal. You know, those turkey breasts are really deep, right? Yes, deep, long cuts. And and going back to what Matt was saying, I really like it having the less cuts you have to make along the breastbone, the less meat is wasted because you're able to surgically scalpel it off of the breastbone and come around and curve around that bird. And so that's where the length and that that thinner tip and point of the blade really comes in handy. And this this knife will hold an edge at a very, very high level. And so you can just literally just slide it down because of the balance in your hand and the weight, it'll it will just slide right down a turkey or any other bird, it just peels that off just beautifully with with less waste. You know, you see guys clean knives with short blades and dull knives, and there's a bunch of meat left on the breastbones. Yes. Whereas with this, it it really gets all that good meat off and and and keeps it intact as well without being hacked up.

SPEAKER_00: 28:28

The other nice part is if you are if you are pulling, you know, legs or wings off, you know, that especially with turkeys and geese and stuff like that, uh, you can use that blade as a breaking knife as well because it is stiff enough to be able to you know pull off that joint. And I think that's really important compared to a flex blade of some sort, something a little thinner that has some flex. It's really hard to, at least for the average guy, the layman, to be able to pull off those joints with something that has flex in it. And so it's got a really stiff spine, it it will not flex, and it is it's just solid all-around knife, man. It's really, really good.

SPEAKER_03: 29:12

We've we've done we've done from time to time we'll fully spatchcock ducks. Um, we've we've done that, you know, cutting them down the spine and skinning it around so its skin is intact. You've got the wing base, you've got the legs on there, and it's a full, flat, spatchcocked, you know, duck. And yeah, great point, Matt. I mean, it works really well for that, getting in and out of those joints. And yeah, so we've been very happy with it. We're very excited about it. Um, right now we we started on November 4th through November 30th. We're doing a hunt giveaway where anybody who goes online to our website, which is flyingb.us and purchases one of the bird blades, they're automatically win entered to win a hunt with us uh on a place that's Near and dear to our hearts here in southwest Montana called the Kaiser Ranch. In my opinion, it's one of the things best waterfowl hunting uh ranches in in the state of Montana. Beautiful scenery, beautiful hunting. But whoever wins it gets to bring a buddy with them. All they got to do is get to Bozeman, Montana on their own, and then we have a place to stay. We'll have all the food and we'll get to hunt together for a couple days. And so we're very excited about that as well. But uh that's going on this entire month in November as well.

SPEAKER_04: 30:31

Well, Nice, hey, I I'll be glad to promote that on all my stuff for you guys, and and because that's I think that's a great idea. And uh I I can honestly say this, gentlemen, and I um people can believe me or not, that's that's their that's their freedom, but I don't endorse stuff like that I truly unless I really believe in it. Just because I don't need to. I I this is not anyone would know you don't get rich with podcasts. Um I enjoy doing this to meet people like you, to meet dog people too, and uh uh I really believe in your product, and it's made in America. So yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 31:11

And it's made in America by Americans with American products, father and son team, man.

SPEAKER_04: 31:17

It's really cool. Really? I've got to meet people in the industry that's that's developed products, and it's so neat to see somebody that has a passion for it and has a desire to produce something that's perfect. And when you told me about on the phone, Brady, I I was like, Yeah, this I can't wait to see us because I know I'm not gonna be let down. And I was not. Yeah, I was actually it was much better than I could have imagined. But good news is I get to use it this month. I'm gonna go hunt up the panhandle at the big honker lodge. He's a friend of mine that has a big honker podcast. I'm yeah, Jeff invited me to come up there and hunt. And I'm pretty so I'll get to use that and I'll have it in front of all those guys, and it'll be a lot of fun. You're gonna be cleaning some specs. Yeah, yeah. That's I can't wait. And then I've got a Sand Hill Crane hunt what I do every year with a bunch of buddies in Lubbock. Um I've got a couple other hunts. I'm trying, I'm actually trying to do an Arizona quail hunt with a guy I did a podcast with uh named Brett Browning. So I'll get to I'm gonna use this thing. That's great. I'm gonna get it bloody. Let us know what you think of it. I will. Um now, Matt, I know Brady's dog background. We had a real extensive nerdy dog conversation. I mean what do you hunt with? What's your choice?

SPEAKER_00: 32:40

Uh so I've always been the cameraman. That's how I cut my teeth in and around here. Um so a dog actually was always uh you know a character in the stories I was selling that I was selling for the most part, right? And and they were never a part of my life uh in my home, but I always had dogs around me. And um, although I grew up with labs as you know any Midwesterner would, I grew up in Wisconsin and and we always had a black lab. And that was great. Duck dog, public duck dog, meat dog, right? Dad trained it, and and uh they always did good. Uh but what I realized was that there was no way that I was gonna be able to travel the world duck hunting and goose hunting and documenting these people's lives if I had a dog with me, because I wouldn't be able to give the dog the attention that it deserved. So um enter Brady into my life who who you know has no idea how to run a camera but loves to run dogs. And so they became uh, you know, kind of our you know, our pride and joy test subjects out in front of the camera. And I uh, you know, our most his his lab led, you know, when it uh he and I were already hunting together and everything when when he got him, and I will take credit for naming him. And then and then uh I documented his I've documented his life from a puppy all the way until now at eight years old as uh you know our veteran hunter. And and so dogs were never in our household, but I was always living kind of vicariously with other people around me and their dogs. And so when I looked at our business model, and now that I've removed myself from behind the camera a little bit, still there. Um, but also we got guys that are working with us and helping, you know, bring guys along on this journey for content creation, which is you know a big thing these days. Yes, and uh and they get to come out and hunt with us. I'm getting more time to be in front of the camera now and you know, spending time on the ground, which is great. So, what I decided was you know, Brady's got the waterfowl dog, you know, position in our group, and we're always looking for ways to make things really efficient and really good for everybody around us. Um so if Brady's the dog guy, I I'm not on a waterfowl hunting. I don't want to muddy the waters, and I want him to run his dogs and him be the guy. That's that's kind of the deal. Um so I decided to go a different route. And in Montana, we are very well known for our for our upland bird hunting here. And you know, it's something that we've done a bit of. Um, but the more uh time we spend on these legacy ranches in Montana, the more we're realizing that we need to have a better understanding of the upland scene in Montana. So a few years ago we decided this, and we've been taking active measures to figure that out. And so what I did, and then a long story short, you know, kind of coming back around, is uh I went ahead and called up Jay Lowry over there at Ryglin and got myself uh uh an English cocker from him, and he's about six months old now. Hondo is his name, and uh he is a birdie little dog. I I tell you what, it is uh so fun. And you know, Brady said he's a longtime listener, as am I. And I've heard you talk about you know, cockers on this podcast, and and uh I'm not gonna say it, help push me over the edge, but I did listen to him before I pulled the trigger and and uh got a good understanding of what I was in for. So uh so we got a cocker in tow now.

SPEAKER_04: 36:26

Hello, this is Kenneth Witt with Gundog Nation, and I've got to tell you guys about something that I've gotten hooked on lately. It's Folicious. These are gourmet instant faux and ramen bowls that actually taste like the real deal. When I'm out in the field all day, and the last thing I want is to settle for bland camp food. Folicious is what I go to. It's authentic, the flavor, it's real ingredients, it's ready in just minutes. It's perfect for hunters, fishmen, or anyone on the go. And you can get them over 1900 Walmarts nationwide, your local AEB here in Texas. Or you can just go online at folicious.com. Trust me, once you try it, you'll keep a few stocked in in your back in your pack pack for your next adventure. I just want to say this, I'm gonna add this to this commercial because I know the owners of this company. They've hunted on my ranch. Uh uh, Joseph, uh, he and I who actually met in Colorado on a hunting trip uh that was a real adventure. They are true hunters. They've hunted the ranch, you know, and I've hunted with them. And Anna, she is just amazing. She is the one that came up with this idea. They were both on Shark Tank. They are amazing people. So it's I love seeing people like this have a business. And I just had to say that in addition to the commercial because I really believe in the product and I believe in the people that made the product. Be sure and go to folicious.com or go to Walmart or H E B and try their product. I promise you you will like it. Hey, there's something else. You know, my cocker is actually at the vet tonight getting she had it sounded like she had an obstruction breathing when I took her hunting at this on the very last trip. And uh, but luckily she has no obstruction, she has no infection, uh, and and she's coming around. But I was real worried about her, but I'm telling you something. I think that that might they may have the heart of ten dogs. I've never seen anything like them.

SPEAKER_01: 38:18

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_04: 38:19

She will hunt. You have to pick her up and put her up because she'll hunt till she passes out. I mean, yeah, you guys know all too well. I I guess that first week in Montana I was up there, I mean, it was 90 degrees. And I couldn't hunt her over an hour because she'd kill herself. And I put her up and and she can't stand, you know, but there's something else that that that's the hard words can't really describe it until you own one, right?

SPEAKER_00: 38:47

They just they just have they just put a smile on your face. Yeah. That and that was one thing that I really wanted, and I have two young boys, a four-year-old and a two-year-old. And you know, I wanted a dog that that the boys could grow up with and the boys would love, and and he would love them back. And I got hunting with some of these cockers and got to watch them work uh both upland hunting and waterfowl hunting. And everybody has a smile on their face when that dog is around. If that dog is out of the crate, you got a smile on your face. And that was really attractive to me, right? Like having a dog that everybody wants around. You can always have, and and Brady's dogs are great, but we have been around dogs where everybody appreciates the work that they do, but they ain't gonna like spend time with them after after the hunt and get down on one knee and let them jump on them and lick them and stuff like that. With a cocker, every single time, everybody wants to touch and hold that dog. It's just the coolest thing.

SPEAKER_04: 39:47

You know, Matt, I had a hunting guide on this podcast and we've become really good friends. Uh, talk to him all the time, he's out in North Carolina. Uh, but he said, uh, if you want your tips to go up, you know, he he guides hunts at one of these preserves uh like four months out of the year. He said, if you want your tips to go up, throw a cocker in the in the cart with you when you're taking your hunters around, they'll have it in their lap. He said I believe that. Yeah, he said you can take the cocker away and your tips will drop 10%, you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I believe that. Well, being in Wisconsin, Matt, did you get to do it? Did you ever get to rough grouse hunt up there?

SPEAKER_00: 40:21

Yes, we did. Yeah, we did. And uh, we never did it with dogs, though. I never grew up in an upland hunting family, right? So we would chase them, um, the rough grouse and the woodcock up there. And but it was all on foot. It was more of one of those things like, oh shit, boom. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04: 40:39

A lot of people knew that because you can walk right up. Uh you know, man, I I hunted around uh Eagle River.

SPEAKER_00: 40:46

Okay, yeah. Is that was that very familiar? Yeah, we would be south of there about um hour and a half, closer to Wausau. Um I actually grew up in the Green Bay area. Um my family now lives, my family now lives um kind of in the Waw area, and we spent a lot of time in that area, all the way up Eagle River and over to Ladysmith and up in the you know, north of Highway 8 type stuff.

SPEAKER_04: 41:09

I learned that that's the snowmobile capital of the world, right? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 41:14

Yeah, lots of lots of lots of bar hopping on snowmobiles, flat track, short tracks. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04: 41:20

So uh being a green beard, you or your family, do you inherit Green Bay Packer tickets?

SPEAKER_00: 41:26

Uh not tickets, no. I didn't come from one of those families. Uh, but I did I did inherit the blood in my veins. Um and so I bleed green gold, although I'm I've seen uh I've seen a lot of things go wrong with you know worrying about the Packers. So I don't spend a ton of time worrying about them. I'll watch them just enough to be able to talk to my family educatedly is about how far I go.

SPEAKER_04: 41:51

Yeah, at least have something to talk about. That's probably all they talk about, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_00: 41:55

Yeah, well, they always got something to talk about with the Packers. Every Packer fan does.

SPEAKER_04: 41:59

Now, you guys, I don't know if you want to talk about this on here, but at least I ask you about it. You guys produce TV shows, right?

SPEAKER_00: 42:07

Yeah. Yeah, we have uh we have produced a TV show the last two years. Um it's called Flying V on the Meat Eater Network. Um and it kind of chronicles our journey throughout the season. Um a little bit about land management, a little bit about fun hunting, Brady and I, the people around us, kind of just the you know, a little bit of a day in the life of what we got going on here. Um last year, our first season launched, this year uh will be season two, and then we're filming season three right now. So it's it's on the Meat Eater Network on YouTube called Flying V. Um, yeah, and we there's some really, really fun hunts that that we had last year that just kind of panned out, right? And uh you get to see some cool habitat management, some some uh some projects that will continue to mature um throughout, you know, you got to see one start in season one that you'll see in season three as fully mature, which is really cool.

SPEAKER_04: 43:08

Well, let's let's I I need to check you guys out. I I I knew about it, but but you know, when you're hunting and traveling, I I don't have time. I don't even listen to my own podcast, you know, it's that bad. Um but I I'm gonna I'm gonna watch your all's channel because I I'm curious to see how especially now uh knowing what all that you guys do. But so uh what do you let me ask you this? So let's let's go into your ranch manager just a little bit. Uh I know like I said, y'all got so many things I want to talk about, but you just mentioned habitat management, and you're you're documenting this habitat that you guys are managing. So as ranch managers, you you t tell everybody what that means. I mean, you're not just like feeding cows. You you you all do a whole different you're you're trying to attract uh, I guess, game and hold game. Is that part of it?

SPEAKER_03: 44:03

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, you know, we're in a little bit of a unique situation here in Montana because historically there's been legacy waterfowl properties across the country, primarily in the southeastern part of the U.S. and the eastern shoreboard, and then moving into the Midwest, you know, as the years have gone by. And so guys are doing, you know, moist soil management, different waterfowl management techniques. Well, um, while we while we implement some of those things up here in the north, you know, I mean, our northern border is Canada. And so we have to come into a ranch and look at it from a from a 30,000-foot view and kind of break it down into a few quadrants. And what I mean by that is, you know, our waterfowl seasons here are very long, very liberal waterfowl seasons. We've got liberal limits and and a lot of days. So we are here, Montana's split between the Pacific and the Central Flyway. And so due to splits and the way seasons start and the way seasons end, we basically get 115 days of hunting here in Montana for waterfowl. And so we have to look at a ranch and a property and break it into three things, and that is early season, mid-season, and late season. Because of our weather changes, you know, you talked about when you were up here it being 90 degrees. You know, we'll open our season, you know, end of September, first of October sometime, and it'll be 60, 70, 80 degrees. And then by the end of the season, I mean, we can be down, and we have hunts, you know, that we've hunted that are 35, 40 degrees below zero. I mean, bitter, bitter cold hunts. And so we have to come in and look at a property and decide, you know, we we do the the farming plans, what crops we're gonna grow, where, look at the water, where the boost birds are gonna roost and loaf. And that roost and loaf changes throughout the year. Um in the early season, they do things totally different than they do in the late season. You know, we're not we're not in the south where we have a 60-day waterfowl season and it turns on and it's just go, go, go for two months. And so we have to really take in a lot of factors and and plan this out for how each individual property is going to be optimized, right? Yes. Um, we'll also come in and we'll look at things like how to manage the pressure. Different ranches can handle different amounts of pressure. And also the the hunting program, meaning how to actually hunt the property. Because a lot of times a guy will buy a duck spot and come in, and he there's a bunch of ducks in one spot, so you're gonna go to that spot and hunt it. Well, that might be good, but it also might completely screw up the hunting for days and weeks. And so guy buys a place in Montana and wants to come up here and bring his buddies or his business partners and hunt for three, four, five days. You know, we're looking at it and trying to make sure that the hunting is consistent throughout the time that it's being hunted. Um in addition to that, yep, sustainable hunting. In addition to that, we have different elements as well. You know, our big game populations. Uh, you know, we've got deer, obviously, we've got mule deer and whitetail deer, we've got the upland birds, we also have a strong elk population in our state. And so when you're doing a duck project, you know, ducks need three things food, water, and safety. Well, so does a deer, so does an elk, so does a bear, so does a moose, so does everything else. And so when we're when we're adding water and adding food and doing these things, we have an element that a lot of duck properties around the country don't have to factor for, and that is a high deer and elk population. And so it's it's been a lot of fun. It's a really it's it's a non-stop formula that we're trying to figure out every day.

SPEAKER_00: 48:15

Um Yeah, and there's really no roadmap to this in this part of the world. Uh Eastern Washington has a roadmap, flood the corn. That's what they do. That's their management strategy. Um, and then and and as you work down, there's some there's some really good techniques in in Nebraska, which we have a similar ecosystem as Nebraska and the Platte. Um, I would I would draw a really comparable linear to the Platte River for our eastern half of our state. Um, but nobody's been doing this, at least, that you can learn from in the intermountain region of the West, right? And that's where we reside. That's where the Kaiser Ranch is, which is our flagship ranch. Um, that is where we are paving the way, right? And it has to do with sustainable hunting all season long. The other thing that Brady um didn't mention is in the North Country, in addition to hunting season, we actually have a massive nesting population. So we have to create habitat for nesting as well, which is not a factor in the south. So your your spring migration habitat and your habitat that stays and holds water that stays and hose and food that's available in the spring is so important um for those nesting populations, so that you can have high quality hunting in October. You know, a lot of guys that we see come up here, they want solid hunting in October because they can't hunt in the south. Well, that takes um a little bit different approach when you're creating spring and summer habitat in addition to fall and winter habitat. So now of a sudden you have a four-season ranch um that may have cattle, it may have elk, it may, you know, we have one ranch that you know calves out about 400 elk. I mean, that's gonna be that makes a mass, takes a massive toll and puts a massive impact on the ground at the same time that your ducks are nesting. It's pulling in predators, it's it's um damaging certain um areas of your water or your food or your levees or whatever, whatever the case may be, right? Um, these are just factors that aren't necessarily taken into consideration in the South that we have to think about first and foremost if we're looking to create a legacy type waterfowl ranch in Montana.

SPEAKER_03: 50:55

What we've learned is doing what we do is truly, and I and I don't say this to overstate it, it is truly a 365-day-a year project.

SPEAKER_02: 51:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 51:06

Um whether it's upland birds, big game, waterfowl. I mean, there's so many factors, and it is it is truly every day. It doesn't matter if it's the weekend, it doesn't matter if it's the holiday season, you know, we've got to make sure, you know, water's on, whether we're irrigating crops, whether we're moving water, whether we're the planting's happening on time, that that calving and and grazing is happening on time. Um it's it's really fun. And it makes it so that when when Matt and I and our team go to work every day, every day's different, man. Like sometimes all of us will be in the office together for a whole day, but that's a little bit unique. I mean, oftentimes one or all of us are out, you know, on a ranch. Sometimes we're on multiple ranches at the same time doing totally different things, especially in this time of year. From a from a professional standpoint and a work standpoint, uh, Ken, it's it's really fun because there's no such thing as the same day, man. I mean, it's it's different every single day, and we love it.

SPEAKER_04: 52:13

Man, we're very blessed to do what we do. Yeah, yeah. I know what you do is not easy, but man, I I think that sounds like paradise to me. Um so yeah, I mean, and I guess speaking of predator control, I know it like in Texas, you know, there's no there it's open season year-round, shoot any kind of predator here. You guys, is it's not like that there, right? Like I know you can't just shoot a wolf, can you, unless it's self-defense or something? Tell me about that.

SPEAKER_03: 52:45

No, so the the only predator that we can really shoot year-round are coyotes. Okay. Um, but we have you know, large populations of mountain lions, bobcats, bears, uh, in certain parts of the state, we have wolves. All of those animals require a tag, whether it's through traditional hunting methods or trapping. And so, for example, trapping season just opened up November 1st, so just a couple days ago, a few days ago. And um, you know, one of the guys on our team has been trapping beavers and raccoons and and all these other things that will continue on because to Matt's point about the spring nesting, we're worried about you know, ground nesting birds, you know, the turkeys, the ducks, the pheasants, the huns, the sharpies, all these things. And so again, it it's predator management is really important to what we do, um for the big game as well, but you know, we kind of tend to start with the lens of wing shooting in general, whether it's up under waterfowl. Um but managing the predators is a is a real thing. I mean, one of the guys on our team, he's he's raised and trained a pair of really nice uh dogs for coyote decoy dogs. And so he goes out and hunts them with his dogs, and and it's it's really fun to see, and he's made a hell of a dent in some coyotes over this last season, um, which is another fun element to the dog work that we get to see and and and have done. But predator management is a real thing around here for sure, because there's so many types of them, and there are different regulations for just about every single one of them.

SPEAKER_04: 54:34

Hey, it's Kenneth Whipp, the Gun Dog Nation podcast, and I'm very proud to have as a new sponsor Cable Gangs. That's spelled G-A-N-G-Z. Brendan Landry at Cable Gangs has developed, in my opinion, and I have, and I'm a customer, the best timeout systems on the market. They're easy to pack, easy to store. They can call up just like an extension cord. They use premium galvanized steel cable coated with durable, UV resistant PVC coating. The branding can make custom products, anything you want that's related to a dog timeout system or a cable system or a way to safe and secure your dog. They've even made a system that works with a bicycle so you can go and exercise your bicycles and have your dog running along with you. It would be impossible for me to describe you all the different custom applications they have, so just go to their website at cablegangs.com and check it out. They make dog timeouts a way to safely secure your dog. If you're at a field trial, a hunt test, coon hound competition, whatever that might be, these guys make the best product on the market. Check it out for yourself, cable gangs.com. Well, I can say this, guys. I being an outsider, I was in Montana for out of the in the last two months, I was up there three weeks total. In Northeast Montana, especially, especially, I've never, ever in my life seen so many coyoges. They're they're everywhere. Every day that I grouse, I was duck hunting too, but every day I grouse hunted, my dogs jump coyoges. And and uh I mean you drive down the road, I they're everywhere. Is it locked out over the whole state?

SPEAKER_03: 56:09

I mean, there's there's areas that have more and areas that have less, where ewers, you know, less population density and higher bird population and and you know, rodents and everything, more rural agricultural lands. So there's gonna be more coyotes there. Yeah. Um, but even here, you know, just outside of Bozeman on some of the places we work, we still have a high population of coyotes because because of all the work that we do, we also create a food-rich environment for the predators. So it's a it's a balancing act, right? There's a there's a biology to everything that we do. And predators, what I will say, are important to be in an ecosystem. They do play a very beneficial role. And so, you know, we're not the guys that say you need to come in and eliminate coyotes and eliminate mountain lions and eliminate bears and bobcats. That's not the case. There's a the the ecosystem has has a perfect balance of everything. And so it's just about managing them and making sure that everything is in sync.

SPEAKER_04: 57:17

Yeah, you know, that's true. Even even with I'm not a snake guy, but I've got snakes at this ranch, rattlesnakes, and everything else. And but you know, they keep the rats and everything else down. I mean, you're right, it's a balance.

SPEAKER_00: 57:30

Yeah, yeah, we have snakes too. Like I don't, I I personally kill every one of them.

SPEAKER_04: 57:38

I do too. I hate them. Like we have roadrunners. I used to have one, he's finally not here, but he would come while I was doing podcasts and peck on the patio one, and it sounded like it was going to come in too, because they're pretty big bird, you know. And I don't, of course, you can't mess with them, but the one thing that they're good for, they will kill quail, your Bob Whites, but they're good for killing snakes. So I've got around my yard that I probably don't have rattlesnakes around my yard. And most of the rattlesnakes on this ranch that I've killed, over half have been within the vicinity of my house.

unknown: 58:10

Wow.

SPEAKER_04: 58:10

Wow, and that can be because I'm here more instead of other places, but I'm always on an ATV, you know, cyberside. But yeah, I don't like them either. I'm like you.

SPEAKER_00: 58:20

Yeah, I don't like, I don't like them. Um another thing about predators, one last thing. You know, with if you have, if you're in the West and you have a migratory population of any big game animal. So that could be antelope, that could be mule deer, that could be elk, anything that's migrating from one location to another, and you are anywhere along that journey, you are going to pick up an influx of predators because they follow the migration, right? They're following the food. And so naturally these duck properties end up being in river corridors, which tend to be wintering grounds for any of these animals. They try to get into the get into the river bottoms, out of the snow, out of the elements, and get into some cover with accessible food and safety. Well, the predators come too. So we see an influx of predators as the elk and the deer and the antelope migrate into some of these, some of these ranches here in Montana, which then adjust your focus, you know, on what your control mechanisms end up being. You know, you can only trap so much because you can only, you know, you can only manage a trap line that's so long. So we have to contract some of that out. You may start hunting them a little bit harder, or if you have a problem with a bear, or you have a problem with a mountain lion, then you start, you know, targeting that one animal instead of trying to, you know, just a blanket statement of let's just get rid of the lions. Um, the lions are okay to have on the landscape, and they're actually pretty cool to have on the landscape, unless they're killing things you don't want them to kill. If they want to kill some mule deer, that's okay. If they want to start killing, um coming down in the river bottom and standing standing their ground on your dog, now that's a different story. Right. So um then and and it's still a lot west around here, so we still have grizzly bear, you know, lions, tigers, and bears. And and when that happens, like you got you gotta do what you gotta do, right?

SPEAKER_04: 1:00:20

So do you guys have a mountain lion season there?

SPEAKER_03: 1:00:24

We do, yep. Yep. So lion season here starts, you know, right about now, you know, late fall, early winter, and then runs into late spring.

unknown: 1:00:35

Okay.

SPEAKER_03: 1:00:35

Uh in most states in the west are that way. So they'll they'll mostly be you know kind of your October, November into the late March, early April type type time frame. Okay.

SPEAKER_04: 1:00:48

Oh now the next topic I want to get into a little bit is uh Brady you I know you started out in the lab world and now you've transitioned to the Chessie world the Chesapeake Bay Retriever and I thought it was really interesting when you told me in depth you know how why you're that's your dog now. You're not not that you're an anti-lab guy but you've done a lot of research on chesis and I I'm I'm dying to pick your brain about that.

SPEAKER_03: 1:01:20

Yeah so I'll I'll kind of start by backing up just a little bit you know I got into waterfowl hunting 20 22 years ago somewhere in there and uh of course you get into waterfowl hunting you get yourself a Labrador retriever right um and and listen I love a lab as much as anybody there's great labradors out there and I my very first dog was an American lab awesome dog one of the one of still one of the nicer dogs I've ever ran um unfortunately had a bad accident was killed when he was four years old yeah and then I kind of went down the route in the in the British labradors and again I've what I'll say before I say anything I've seen really nice dogs in everything great British dogs great American dogs great whatever breed but for what we do up here you know really cold temperatures deep snow and big geese uh to be honest with you the British labradors didn't really cut it um I've I had three of them and at least the three that I had tended to struggle a little bit they were generally smaller dogs and so we we went through this and you know Matt and I again spending thousands of days together in the blind we you know we decided to go back to the American lab side so my dog Led that I have right now he's he's an eight year old dog he's at a sweetie's easy rider Ford who's Purina High Point dog of the year multiple years um likely going to be nominated to be a Hall of Fame dog very very well known field trial dog um and we got lead and he's he's been great right he's a great dog um like Matt said he's he's he's eight years old when lead was 10 months old at the trainer he had what's called a bicep tendon evols and basically broke his shoulder and he's got a uh four inch titanium screw in his front left shoulder well what happens is the tendon that runs over the front of the shoulder over time begins to break down and so that dog I mean I I love that dog he's awesome but he's not I'm gonna be honest he's not gonna live to see 12, 13. He's not gonna grow old right yeah and so due to the hunting that we do I mean the hunting can be again in a field in small water in a big fast moving river like the Yellowstone River or you know one of these big rivers in Montana we need dogs that are very very high drive and can handle the cold and so I began doing research years ago on Chesapeake Bay retrievers and I know all the stereotypes that everybody says you know they're hard headed they're mean they're whatever yada yada yada well what I found as I started doing my research is there's quite a few breeders in the country that are breeding some very very nice chesis and they're not gonna bite you they're not gonna bite your kids they're not gonna do anything wrong um but they're a different dog for sure. So I right now have a dog I got from a from a guy named Lucas in in Denmark Maine he runs a kennel called Rankin Brook Retrievers and Lucas and I had talked on the phone for almost two years I told him exactly the type of dog that I was looking for and exactly what I wanted and a breeding came up and it was the right breeding and he called he's like hey man I I truly think this is the one and so I got my first chess you know a couple years ago Matt and I flew to Maine went and picked him up it was super fun. He's been at a pro trainer a friend of ours named Nick Sheely here in western Montana he's got a a kennel called Canton Retrievers sorry Canton Retrievers and he's been with Nick for almost a year and we just got him back three weeks ago and he isn't he is a hammer.

SPEAKER_00: 1:05:44

He's been running hunt tests with him this summer but I mean the dog's only 22 months old somewhere right yeah 22 months old he's already 85 pounds big dead grass colored chessie yeah Matt's got a picture of him right there I mean he's an absolute hammer of a dog um beautiful dog he's he's only been on three actual real waterfowl hunts with us so far but that dog is gonna have no problem handling a big crippled live Canada goose when we send him out on a long retrieve uh when it's I got a story I got a story about him just so we went out and hunted a uh new property of ours um just the other day first time we ever hunted it and we're gonna hunt smoke right first time that we hunted smoke uh just us and we're gonna go hunt the river I mean we got a chessie let's go river hunting and so we go out to that river and the birds are doing it right and it was a great hide hunting the bank we were on a nice long slick but about two-thirds of the river was pushing down a side channel to the right which was main river and we were hunting river left well we we finished these geese and they're cherry shots like 15 yards over the water right in the spread and somehow you know I don't know how this happened but we crippled one of them and the the bird goes down but gets into that water goes goes head out and just starts making its way to that side channel. Smoke jumps off that bank and just goes for the chase and he's not gonna stop and he goes all the way down the channel to where we lose sight of him and now he's going down and we got a little channel out in front of us that we're gonna see main river we're gonna see sure enough here comes the goose and smoke is right behind that goose going right downstream and there's a this is like three or four hundred yards away from us in very fast moving water. Yeah going downstream and there's a big sweeping right bend that's coming up with a big eddie on it and you know we didn't envision having to retrieve ducks down there but it would catch the bird if we ended up you know having one get by slip by and go it would that eddy would catch the bird. So Brady goes hightailing it down the bank and uh gets down there to where he can see smoke to make sure that you know everything's alright because there's down trees and stuff around and and sure enough I mean you can tell him what it looked like because I it was out of sight for me a long ways for me. But my version of the story is they both disappear and they're at the corner and here can here they come smoke by by his side and Brady holding the goose all the way back. So I ended up chasing that goose down four or five hundred yards downriver in main channel. It was the cool it was it was such a cool moment to see because we've thought so much about this dog prior to getting him and then here he is go to the trainer for a year come back Nick hunts with us for two two hunts and is just like all right here's the keys like go ahead good luck he's a great dog and then we're just like let's go to the river we do and that dog did I mean it he couldn't he couldn't have worked any better.

SPEAKER_03: 1:09:06

I mean I could I I can't even I don't have anything else to say like he did really great and it was just a prime example of breeding and natural instinct um he had great training but I mean when a dog gets that far out of your sight in a moving river channel chasing a crippled goose who can swim faster than a dog you know at that point once once that happens you're kind of SOL it's like well let's hope let's let's see what happens and so again I was a little bit nervous right this is only the third time we've ever hunted this dog his third real hunt ever and I'm thinking shit here we go we're gonna we're gonna run into a problem or this dog's gonna end up lost or whatever and you know I don't know how long it was it felt like forever the truth it was probably only four or five minutes but then here he comes packing this fully live crippled goose just proud as a peacock head up and just charging up the riverbank and and he was so fired up and and brought that goose back and and you know we got to shoot some more ducks and geese on that hunt but you know that was kind of what I was looking for in the dogs right and and uh you know after I'd had smoke for a little bit um I'd also been chatting with with a guy in Minnesota uh Adam Levy from Next Generation Gun Dogs and Adam also knew exactly what I was looking for and he called me one day and he said hey man I got this litter coming up and uh it's an artificial insemination litter and there's a there's a lady in the Chesapeake Bay retriever world named Linda Harger out of Idaho and she's very very well known in the Chessie world field trial chessies field champions and over the decades has raised and and trained and bred some of the nicest Chesapeake Bay retrievers on on the West Coast but also in the country as a whole and Linda had a really well-known dog named Clippers Frozen Assets and he was he produced Field Trial Champions uh very nice dog big 85 pound classic brown chess big hard charging dog uh but this dog's been dead for 30 years wow and there was one straw of semen left and Adam called me said hey I've got this really nice female she was best to breed at the you know chess specialty and sent me pictures of her really nice gun dog and he's like man you want hard charging you want grit you want drive I think this is the one he goes I don't even know if this litter's gonna work I mean AI litter with 30 year old straw and so they did the breeding and man she had like nine puppies and went really good. So I've now the same day that Matt got his cocker he and I got on a plane we flew to St. Louis we drove to Illinois went to Rygland gun dogs he got his English cocker Hondo we then loaded up in our you know Nissan Rogue rental car and we drove to Rochester Minnesota to Next Generation Gun Dogs and we picked up my new Chesse female named Annie Annie Oakley and uh and then we drove back so it was it was two grown men and a little tiny rental and two screaming puppies and and uh we had a great road trip back across the country back to southwest Montana and that sounds like a fun trip. It was awesome we had we had a great time so Brady what throws me off what you just said you know how it's so odd to have that many pups with an AI breeding usually it's the opposite effect right I mean you usually have one or two or three absolutely yeah absolutely it was it really was surprising to me I think and Adam and everybody at Next Generation Gun Dogs but uh she had a very good full healthy litter um so it's it's kind of fun this is a bit of a heritage chessy breeding um I'm very excited to have this puppy she's you know same age as Mass dog almost six months old and she is high drive um she is do like a joint birthday party each year for your dog yeah there you go there you go yeah memorial day Brady are on Memorial Day being a guy that's had British labs and American labs which I've I've had both actually own both what are what are the major differences you see in the breeds I know you've talked about it some you've talked about why you went to the chessie but what do you see intellectually trainability uh ability what what's the big difference you see between a chessie and a lab?

SPEAKER_04: 1:13:50

Let's just generalize labs American British. Hey it's Kenneth Witt with the Gun Dog Nation podcast and we are so proud to be partnered with the National Shoot to Retrieve Association also known as NASTA NAST has a common love for producing the best bird dogs possible. It's a great community that builds and bonds everlasting friendships. I've actually got to meet a lot of the NASR members and who's taking me hunting and some grouse hunting and stuff in different places. So I can honestly say I'm a member and I'm proud to be partnered with them. NASTR hosts national and regional field trials that emphasize the working ability of bird dogs. They have been around for over 50 years. There's a reason that NASTR has been around that long. Please check them out at www.nstra.org and go along and support your local NASTR club they do have national and regional events and it's a good place to help learn to be a better dog trainer a better dog owner and to compete with your bird dog.

SPEAKER_03: 1:14:46

Thank you I I think the the differences between an American and a British lab in my experience is they're both wonderful animals right both of them can make great gun dogs. The British labs are generally calmer right yes um as they're advertised more of an off switch but that also translates to field work so the American labs generally again I know people listening are going to say I got a British lab it runs 100 miles an hour and I've seen an American lab is slow. I get it but generally they're going to be the American labs are going to be faster harder charging dogs and with a little bit little bit less of an off switch although that said I mean lead is as field trial bread of lab as you can possibly get his his mother his damn was a was a QA2 dog master hunter ran derbies all kinds of different things right um lead'll lay on the lay on the you know dog bed in the corner of the living room with the best of them right but he is higher drive and he is a little more wound up than the British labs that we've been around and are around. So the British labs are great the truth is you know they say that the average duck hunter based on surveys goes duck hunting 12 times a year. Right? If you're lucky um a British lab is is perfect for that guy and guys that hunt even more than that but it's a perfect dog because there's 355 days that you're gonna be just living with that dog in the backyard and around the house. I think that's great. I I think that for me I just wish that breeders were more honest about what they're putting out and here's what I'll I'll tell you I mean by that there are different types of guys who hunt differently and there are different types of guys who handle and train differently right I and Matt, we get to hunt a lot of days every year in very extreme conditions. I'm also very much okay with a very high drive dog. I'm a different type of dog handler probably than than most guys I like a dog you know I come from the horse world I always used to say I can put brakes on a horse but I can't put gas in them right and so I like one that I have to pull the reins back and slow down a little bit. Same with a dog for me personally I like a higher drive dog. Now that's gonna come with some headache there's gonna be some time that he's gonna be a bit of an asshole. He's gonna get out of line when he when he gets into a problem he's gonna get deeper into a problem than than maybe a dog who's a little bit calmer and a little bit more methodical trainability wise I think they're both great right yeah um I was listening to a podcast the other day with a very well known trainer named Chris Jobman uh from Flatlander Kennels in Nebraska and Chris is I mean he's I don't even know how many dogs he's passed at the grand and you know trains a bunch with Chris Aiken and and Riddle and all these guys, right? Like very, very high-end Labrador guys. And I was listening to a podcast the other day and Chris said something and this will ruffle some feathers he said there are things that an American labrador can do that a British lab can't but I don't think there's anything a British labrador can do that an American dog can't. And it's just different style of breeding right different needs different purpose. And so I think if somebody is a casual duck hunter who enjoys going out from time to time, the British Labrador is a phenomenal option. What I don't like and you and I talked about this on the phone Kenneth the first time we ever talked is I don't like when breeders American or British or Chess or anybody say this is the perfect dog for all situations because you and I both know that doesn't exist. There's not a product in the world that's the perfect thing for all situations.

SPEAKER_04: 1:19:08

That's right. It it's almost like seeking a mate for marriage right Brady and Matt you're you're learning that now you get a dog you got to get a dog for you for your personality type for your hunting type for your lifestyle totally and and it's it it's hard to find that and new people people that are just getting in the market for dogs Matt's had the benefit of being around very good dogs and very experienced dog people but your general population jumps out and buys a dog does not have a clue. And and you're right Brady I mean totally they're told that this can do it all that's really not correct.

SPEAKER_03: 1:19:43

And I also think the guy living in a subdivision who's gonna go hunting 10 times a year with two or three of his buddies should probably not be running the hottest bread field trial American labrador out there on the market. No that dog's gonna you know eat all of his wife's clothes he's gonna tear the kennel apart the guy's not going to exercise him and train him enough to make him realize that dog's potential I don't think it's fair to the dog or the dog owner when breeders say this is the dog that is the best dog for all situations. I categorically do not believe that garbage I think that that trainers and breeders and kennels need to be a little bit more honest and say this is for these people and this is where you'll get the best results. Again I've said this over and over and I don't want to beat a dead horse I know there's outliers on both sides. Two of our ranch clients own British labradors and they are some very very nice dogs. I've seen those dogs work incredibly well in the coldest of weather on big Canada geese. They're phenomenal dogs right they are outliers in the in the breed as a whole okay they've got very good training they've been trained by the right guys they're handled by the right guys they're phenomenal dogs I've also seen American dogs that are terrible right I mean again all you can do if you buy a puppy is play the law of averages right you're playing the odds yeah right if you breed a very hotbred male and a very hotbred female you're probably going to have a hotbred puppy now there's gonna be some outliers just like if you breed two really nice dogs with a great off switch they're probably mostly going to have a really great off switch but there might be a couple of spazzes in there. That's okay but I just think that there's different types of hunters different types of handlers and owners and for me personally just my personality our hunting style if a dog is advertised and one of the very first things out of the mouth is they have great off switches it's not the dog for me. That doesn't mean it's a bad dog. It doesn't mean it's not the dog for most people it's just not the dog for me. I want a dog that's all gas right yeah I can put brakes on him uh we can slow a dog down we can help a dog learn to think methodically but I do not subscribe to the theory that there is one dog that is the best dog for everybody. And now I'm I'm new to the chessy world and you know my dog smokes been running hunt tests all summer my youngest daughter is a senior in high school I've got a son in college a daughter in high school if she gets out of high school I really want to get into the hunt test and field trial game. Part of the reason I haven't done it in the past is I knew I would love it and it would consume a lot of my time. So I'm very excited to get into that but I'm looking for dogs that are fast, hard charging you know and if they're a little bit hard headed I'm okay with that because let's be honest so am I. You know they say dogs are like their owners well Matt's Matt's nodding his head in agreement I'm a bit hard headed listen I'm a little bit of an asshole I like dogs that are that way as well. Yeah and so I just wish that that dog breeders specifically not trainers because they'll they train the dog in front of them right they're they're standing next to and putting their hands on that dog and and hopefully giving you honest feedback on that dog.

SPEAKER_04: 1:23:30

I just wish that breeders were a little bit more transparent on the product they're producing and who that product is going to yes well you you know uh I've just got to give one example I I want to I have British and American dogs both and uh I have a British male that I got from Southern Oak from sh from from Barton and he knows me and knows what I like and uh so he he had a dog and I was wanting one that was started because I needed something now you know and this is a couple years ago anyway he's like I've got a dog that I think is perfect for you and it he had flunked out of the service dog program. And it's Maverick he's a yellow dog he's in a lot of my social media stuff he will run through a brick wall like I mean you would and I go to hunt tests and I promise you guys judges people there think that this is an American dog he'll he'll run he'll run so hard at a retrieve in a hunt test that he slides into it like like it's home plate and grabs it on the way and hammers back. That's great. And when he's in a blind he's so amped up he doesn't whine you know that's a British trade you know not supposed to be whiny whatever but you'll have to tell him to sit ten times Maverick sit you know he's just sitting there vibrating he'll hear a duck call he'll stand up Maverick sit you know sit sit sit sit and here's the thing I could get a dog just going to lay there on my feet but I don't want that I I like the fact that he's wanting to run through the blind I've actually seen him try and climb over a blind to get to a duck. So people and then I tell people like after I'm hunting for a while in the blind I was like you know he's a British dog like oh no he's not yeah yeah he's 100% but but so but you're right I mean there's outliers on both sides of the spectrum I've got another one other British dog that that I have and she's very methodical very thinker. She's got high drive but she's a thinker like she uh I don't know it it it it's different uh but then I have a field I have a dog off the Floyd you know that's a number one dog I mean yeah yeah that's as that's as juiced up as it comes. Yeah he's as ju he will he'll run through a brick wall and kill you bringing it back but he's actually a good dog uh outside of hunt test or outside of hunting and of course he has a little bit of an off switch you know he's not crazy and he's not whiny uh so it's just like you said you just do your research as best you can and and I heard somebody say on this show one time look past the paper and because you can have dog that's I I I've I was with a really experienced dog person this past weekend and they was talking about seeing this master dog had master titles and said it's horrible you know so just because they have those titles you need to to see that dog hunt maybe hunt with that dog and you know really do your research because and I'm not knocking I do hunt tests too my dogs have titles I'm not knocking it I I I participate but look past the titles. Purina Pro Plan here at Gundog Nation we use Purina Pro Plan for our dogs we actually use the Sport Performance edition which is 30% protein and 20% fat the beef and bison it contains glucosamine omega 3s for their joints it also contains amino acids for muscles and antioxidants it also has probiotics that's guaranteed to have live probiotic in each serving there's no artificial colors or flavors we see the difference in our dogs we see the difference in their coat their performance their endurance and also in recovery be sure to use Purita Pro Plan dog food the reputation speaks for itself there's a reason that Purina has been around for such a long time. We suggest that you use it and we are so proud to be sponsored by Purina Dog Food. When you're getting ready to go on your next hunting trip make sure you pack the most efficient and reliable ammunition on the market. Myra Ammunition brings you the most diverse loads on the market. Myra's patented stack load technology is the epitome of efficiency. Two shot sizes stack together to create the most diverse and efficient line of shot shells in the industry. It doesn't matter what flyaway what state or what the weather the standard remains the same at Myra reliable loads that perform in any condition every single time we're proud to have Myra ammunition as a sponsor for Gun Dog Nation absolutely you know I think that again the titles are great right I'm I'm very much looking forward to getting into that world but there's also it it's also can be a little bit misleading because a dog could be a master hunter but it might have taken him 40 tries.

SPEAKER_03: 1:28:26

Yeah right and other dogs might have passed you know 90% pass rate on these tests um you know the same with the field champion or FC, AFC NFC you know all these different titles you can put on a dog I think it is important if somebody buys a dog knowing they're going to have that dog for the next decade plus to pick the dog that's going to work best for them. Yes and I've had some really nice dogs that were were wonderful dogs right and they just weren't the dog for me. Some of them been some of them been sold uh some of them had been given to other people and there's nothing wrong with that. I again I think that and again people are all different I'm a type of guy if I get a dog and he's a great dog but he's not a great dog for me I'm gonna help find that dog a great home where he's a great dog for them. I do the same because I am not I am not a guy that's gonna buy a puppy and just because of just because I bought a puppy I'm hella high water committed for the next 15 years. I'm not that guy I come from the horse and ranch world where you know we buy and sell horses we trade we we upgrade we downgrade we we make lateral moves I think the same goes for dogs right in my world right again I'm not preaching from a mountaintop here but if a dog isn't the right dog for me but he's going to be the right dog for somebody else that's where that dog should go I you know quick story I got a dog years ago from Wild Rose Kennels from Mike Stewart, who I Mike's a great guy. I really enjoy Mike. Been to the kennel multiple times in Oxford and bought a dog from Mike and had him trained by Wild Rose. He's a he's a very methodical gun dog. He did a great job. Um he wasn't me and that dog didn't necessarily fit together perfectly. And Matt and I have a mutual friend who is a veteran, had been deployed multiple times in Iraq and Afghanistan, and and he met that dog, and him and that dog bonded very quickly. And it turns out, and and I'm telling you, and Matt saw it, and I saw it, our friend had come to my house and hang out with my dog, and that dog would calm him down, make him feel good. That dog was an absolute superstar, as basically a service dog.

SPEAKER_02: 1:30:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 1:30:53

Um, our friend had, you know, had PTSD, and and when he was going through dark days, that dog would go hang out with him. And as soon as, as soon as that dog and and our buddy met, I remember telling my wife one day when my buddy left, I said, I feel like I'm boarding somebody else's dog right now. She said, What do you mean? I'm like, I know we bought this dog, we had this dog trained, we've hunted with this dog. This is not my dog. It needs to go live with him. And that dog is still alive. He's old now, great face, great beard, lays under the covers at night, eats Taco Bell. Um, he's a phenomenal dog, but guess what? He has lived a life that is so incredibly full. Yeah, he's gone fishing, he's gone hunting, and he's been a service dog to somebody that Matt and I love very dearly. And so that's just one example of a dog that might have a better use somewhere else.

SPEAKER_04: 1:31:49

Yeah. And I've I've done the same as you, Brady. I've sold dogs that just doesn't fit me or Matt, you know, just didn't just didn't, we didn't bond together. We're just different or something, or just didn't, or had things I didn't like. And I'll find a place for it. Somebody that I know, it'll be somebody that I know and trust, uh, like you said. And I've done that, I've done that before too, and may do it again in the future.

SPEAKER_03: 1:32:12

So a lot of guys like Burnett's. I'm more of a blonde guy, you know. It works out well. So you can you there's a place for every dog, there's a place for everything. But um, yeah, we're really excited to be going down this chessy route. Um, again, I've only done three actual hunts with Smoke, but in the two years we've had him in the training, we've spent time with Nick at Canton Retrievers at the trainer. Uh, you know, all signs point to he's gonna be a great dog for us and our crew and the way and the style that we hunt. And then, you know, Annie, who's six months old, is gonna come up and get put into the string as well. And we got course Hondo, the English cocker on the upland side. And yeah, man, it's a we got the coyote decoy dogs around the crew. We got a guy that works for us, a guy new, you know, red healer puppy, cattle dog puppy. I mean, you come into the flying bee office at any day, and we look like a damn animal shelter around here. There's dogs everywhere, and it's it makes work fun, right?

SPEAKER_04: 1:33:12

Hey, it's you got diversity in the workplace.

SPEAKER_03: 1:33:15

Yeah, we're DEI hires.

SPEAKER_04: 1:33:18

So I like that.

SPEAKER_03: 1:33:19

One thing that I'm really excited about is Matt and I have been, you know, really close friends for a lot of years, and there's a little bit of trash talking that goes on in between Matt and I. And so, you know, he'll he always for years love if a dog did anything, he's like, Man, you know, lead, for example, does not bark in the field, does not do anything. But if he's in the bed of the truck and we can pull into the goose field, he'll get a little whipped up and bark in the crate a little bit. Yeah, he's like, that dog is a known barker. It's a joke around the office. He's a known barker. And uh, if anything happens, Matt's on it. He'll he'll chirp you about it. So I was very excited for Matt to get a dog because uh trials and tribulations are in his future, and I cannot wait to just shovel it right back in his in his end of the court. So it's it's fun, but we we love the dogs and get to do a lot of hunting with them. Again, we're we're blessed to do what we do, but we get the opportunity to spend a lot of days in the field with the dogs doing a lot of cool things and a lot of cool scenarios.

SPEAKER_04: 1:34:19

Well, gentlemen, it's been an education with you guys. I uh I'm so excited to to try this knife out. I got a feeling we need to do another podcast for sure. Uh because we'll we'll probably just scratch it. Anytime.

SPEAKER_00: 1:34:33

Uh yeah, we'll do it anytime, man.

unknown: 1:34:35

I know.

SPEAKER_03: 1:34:35

What we need for you to do is next time you come to Montana, yeah, come up, stay with us, we'll go hunt some of these ranches together, and uh, we can do a podcast after a great morning duck shooting, a great afternoon upland walk, and uh and we can do another podcast. But we'd love to have you. If you're ever passing through the state, you you let us know, brother. We got places for you to stay and and would love to love to share a blind or love to share the field with you sometime. Well, be careful what you ask for because I'll show up at you. We don't invite a lot of people, so I'm I'm I mean that sincerely.

SPEAKER_04: 1:35:11

No, I'd love to. I I fell in love. I Matt and I talked about it a little bit before you got on. We were talking before the show. I I love Montana and I've seen him where I'd been, and he I I I love it. Um I've I've not covered much of the west side or the northwest side, but I've been all over the east, all down the east and central and southern.

SPEAKER_03: 1:35:31

Yeah. Uh well just remember to tell everybody that's listening from California right now, it's really, really, really cold here. Yeah, it's it's you'll hate it.

SPEAKER_00: 1:35:40

It's all terribly cold. Winds, man, the wind and the cold.

SPEAKER_03: 1:35:44

Everybody's mean, it's a terrible place.

SPEAKER_04: 1:35:47

No ducks.

SPEAKER_00: 1:35:49

No ducks. Didn't get a blessing.

SPEAKER_03: 1:35:55

Truth is, we're just a flyover state, you know.

SPEAKER_04: 1:35:58

Now the is are these online, these knives online now for purchase?

SPEAKER_03: 1:36:05

They are online. So if the we have a website, it is flying v. So flying the letter V dot us. Flying V dot us. And if you go on there and you go to the shop, uh, you can purchase a bird blade on there. And again, if you do it during the month of November, from November 4th to November 30th, you'll automatically be entered to win a hunt to come hunt for two days with you and a friend on the Kaiser Ranch with us. And and uh I think it'll be really neat. Um, it's a ranch where you know people don't really get the opportunity to experience something like that. And uh and and again, I I never use the word guarantee in hunting, but it is a really special place, and the hunting will be too when the winner and whoever they bring comes with them.

SPEAKER_04: 1:36:50

Well, hey, that's way better than buying a raffle ticket because you get a really, really high quality, nice knife and a chance to go on a free hunt.

SPEAKER_03: 1:36:57

So definitely be you get a great knife, and again, going back to the knife, it's a knife that we want you know, you the buyer to enjoy, but be able to pass it down to your children and their children and their children. Again, we we we're not a product business, and so if we ever come out with a product, I promise you it's a heritage legacy product that will last longer than you and I are all gonna be alive.

SPEAKER_04: 1:37:20

Well, listen, guys, Matt, you being the content creator, please send me pictures, your cocker of Brady's Chessies, your dogs. I post them on all my social media because that's what people do on my platforms, you know, is dog pictures. And I'd love to I'd love to uh see I I know you probably got some amazing pictures too.

SPEAKER_00: 1:37:42

We do, we do, and I will absolutely share them with you, buddy.

SPEAKER_04: 1:37:45

Yeah. Well, hey, I hope to get to meet you all in person soon. Uh and I will, I'll be up that way. If you ever come down south, you if you get finally get froze out in waterfowl hunting, you don't come down to Texas, warm up, give me a shout.

SPEAKER_03: 1:37:59

I love Texas, man. I spent a lot of time there rodeoing back in the day, and and I've been right there where you live. You spent a lot of time in West Texas, Odessa and Midland and all Lubbock and that whole area. You know, Odessa used to have, I don't know if they still do, but they had a really cool pro rodeo over New Year's, over New Year's Eve.

SPEAKER_04: 1:38:18

Well, it's it's Brady, if I'm correct, it you probably you're the expert, but I think that one in Odessa is the first rodeo of the season.

SPEAKER_03: 1:38:26

It it's right there at the start, yep. And so I used to we used to go spend New Year's in Odessa, Texas, and West Texas, and and that was how we kicked off in the in the pro rodeo world. And man, I I I love West Texas. It's a great spot. I know you guys have some great hunting and and uh just great people. I'm I we we will absolutely at some point make a trip and come say hi.

SPEAKER_04: 1:38:49

All right. All right. Well, Jim, and thank you all so much. It's been an honor and a privilege, and thank you so much for this knife. It will get used, and I will I will uh sing the gospel about the knife to people.

SPEAKER_03: 1:39:02

Well, I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts on it, brother. We think it's pretty special, and we're confident everybody else will as well. But, you know, let us know what you think.

SPEAKER_04: 1:39:10

I I will. Thank you all. Thank you, Kent. Okay, bye-bye. Hello, this is Kenneth Whitt with Gundog Nation. I'd like to encourage all you listeners and viewers on our YouTube channel to check out patreon.com forward slash gun dog nation. For$10 a month, you can become a member of our community and we'll have access to lots of stuff. Mainly we'll do a monthly forum, an open forum where you can ask me anything gun dog related and we'll learn from each other in the community. Should be a lot of fun each month. We will do that. So check it out patreon.com forward slash gundognation.