FFOD335 : Let’s Go Outside

This week I’m talking about something that’s been on my mind for a while.. getting kids outside. It doesn’t have to be a hunting trip or a fishing trip. Sometimes it’s as simple as taking a walk in the woods or turning over rocks in a creek. (Or looking for a big, hairy Cryptid, if you know you know.)  As I look back on raising kids and watching my grandkids grow up some of my favorite memories started with one simple decision .. let’s go outside.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Welcome to Fistful of Dirt, the official podcast of Monte Oak Properties. Whether you own a small farm, lease land, or just love hanging in your backyard. We're all about the outdoor lifestyle and how to get the most from your time in God's great outdoors. Now here's your host, Ronnie Cub Strickland.

SPEAKER_03 0:24

Testing one, two, three, how we sound in Laurene.

SPEAKER_05 0:27

We sound great. We always do.

SPEAKER_03 0:29

Semi-live from the Camo Cave.

SPEAKER_05 0:31

Semi-Live.

SPEAKER_03 0:32

In the rainforest.

SPEAKER_05 0:33

It's so humid.

SPEAKER_03 0:36

It's uh we've been getting a lot of rain.

unknown 0:38

Man.

SPEAKER_03 0:38

The corn's looking good. That's the good news. The bad news is. Hogs. Woo wee, they have found it. You know, when them corn cobs, they don't mess with it much. And I've I've never had a, you know, a real hog problem.

SPEAKER_06 0:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 0:52

But now the corn cobs are, I don't know, they're, I don't know, probably six or eight inches long and big around as uh hot dogs. Anyway, they have found they are just tearing them up.

SPEAKER_05 1:06

And I asked you, I was like, how are they finding them? Can they smell them? And you told me they had better noses than deer.

SPEAKER_03 1:12

Yeah, you knew they had an issue with their eyesight.

SPEAKER_05 1:15

I n yeah, I said I knew that one of their senses was a little jacked up. I just didn't know which one.

SPEAKER_03 1:20

Yeah, they don't see good. But anyway, I your husband and cranky went down there yesterday just uh doing a little uh CSI work and they have a plan.

SPEAKER_05 1:30

Yeah, they're making a plan.

SPEAKER_03 1:31

That shooting house that I built on the trailer is down there and all we gotta do is spin it.

SPEAKER_08 1:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:39

Kind of face where they're coming out of the woods into the corn.

SPEAKER_08 1:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:42

And uh I'm telling you that one's days are numbered. I'm afraid it's more than him, but I got a moultry cam down there sending pictures, but I need more than one because that's a big, big area, and there's no telling where they're coming from.

SPEAKER_05 1:56

We'll get it figured out.

SPEAKER_03 1:57

Too much going on right now, mainly with you, it's college stuff, right?

SPEAKER_05 2:01

Yeah, back to school. Back to school college is a whole different kind of back to school. Like your child's gotta move in.

SPEAKER_03 2:08

Been there and done that twice with y'all, too. Yeah. I can remember having a trailer behind my pickup truck and moving in, and and nobody got a ground floor room. It was always up them stairs and down them stairs. And then anyway, it's uh it's easier now than it was. Matt's getting ready to move into Mississippi State. And uh we you found something online, a Walmart mattress in a bag uh box that's a Mossy Oak thing. I don't know what they call it, but that thing's the coolest. There's great memes on social media of people cutting those mattresses open. Oh, yeah. Wow. But Walmart.com's got one that's got some mossy oak on it, and I was like, where was that thing at? I couldn't have thrown that over my shoulder, walked up there and opened it in the room.

SPEAKER_05 2:56

How cool is that?

SPEAKER_03 2:57

So that was a good find right there.

SPEAKER_05 2:59

Yeah, you can pack it up, takes up no space, and then just boom, boom, boom, it kind of self-inflates or whatever. Not inflates because it's kind of like a foamy material, but the bless their hearts.

SPEAKER_03 3:10

They got sheets and everything in there.

SPEAKER_05 3:12

The beds are like prison-issued, like not to be ugly, but they're just like a metal frame. They're not luxurious at all. And if your baby's been used to like a box spring and a mattress and a mattress topper and all that kind of stuff, you gotta help them out. They can't go to them just straight little little prison beds that the dorms have.

SPEAKER_03 3:32

Well, here's a and you sent a couple of pictures from over there, and he's such a big boy now. Walker's going into his sophomore year.

SPEAKER_05 3:40

Right.

SPEAKER_03 3:40

Avery has graduated now, she's working on her doctorate in psychology.

SPEAKER_05 3:45

So Mississippi State's kind of Starvel's a happening place for our family.

SPEAKER_03 3:49

And they're so grown. I know. And look, here's some advice from an older guy. It goes by in the blink of an eye.

SPEAKER_04 3:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 3:59

You just need to absorb and be with them all you can.

SPEAKER_04 4:03

That's so true.

SPEAKER_03 4:05

I wrote some articles. I found one the other day. I was looking for some material because I got to do a talk here coming up. And uh I found this I I wrote two of them. And I submitted them. I don't even know what magazine it was. I don't know what was what it was, if they even publish it or not.

SPEAKER_04 4:24

Really?

SPEAKER_03 4:25

Yeah. But it's and I'm gonna read a couple of them right here. I I hope you ever hey, everybody says they like stories, so we're gonna go down that road a little bit. I got a great podcast lined up for next week, but I'm gonna read this to you. And if you're a grandpa, you'll get it. If you're a dad with little bitty kids, maybe you'll learn something. And uh because there's nothing more impactful than the outdoors. And that don't mean you gotta grow up to be, you know, some kind of great hunter with your own TV show. It's just so many defining moments can happen out there that have nothing to do with hunting.

SPEAKER_08 5:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:02

I love it.

SPEAKER_08 5:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:04

Anyway, this first piece I and I again, I don't remember if it was published or where I sent it to, but it's called I just called it Little Things.

SPEAKER_08 5:11

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_03 5:13

I'm gonna try to read it. The print's kind of small, but it is.

SPEAKER_05 5:17

I can see it from here, goodness.

SPEAKER_03 5:19

It says I can't begin to tell you how many conversations I've had recently with people my own age about kids these days. You can call these kids millennials, the next wave, the next generation. I don't know all the terminology. You just pick the title. These conversations seem to always have the same tone and mostly the same adjectives. Entitled Lazy spoiled. At my age I had the luxury of looking at not only my own kids who are grown, but my grandkids. So I have what I consider a double major in attitudes of the young. My guess is my parents had the same thoughts or concerns about my generation and considering what they went through as kids, then young adults, I imagine they use some of the same words to describe us at the time. It's no big secret that we're a product of our environment. So maybe the millennials, as we call them, were just delta by at hand. For instance, how many of you older people ever sat at the dinner table and watched one or both of your parents take a bite and look at their phone? Take a bite and swipe down looking at Facebook. How many of you older people ever stood on first base after getting a hit in Little League and glanced at your mom and dad and saw them looking down at their cell phone and not cheering you on? Before I go any further, let me confess that I have been guilty of this addiction and then I realize that like any other addiction, there are prices to pay. There's nothing wrong with cell phones or social media if used right. It's like fried food, it's all about moderation. It's easy to get caught up in the routines and tough to break free. Thankfully, one of my say songs is the outdoors. Not only do I limit cell phone use while hunting or planning, when my grandkids are around to help with this, I forget about it altogether. My device sits in my truck or on a table until the battery dies, and I have found it whatever I thought was so important wasn't important at all. What is important is what these millennials seem to struggle with relationships. What does it say when you're talking with someone and they are constantly glancing down at their phone? To me it says my conversation with this person is not very important and therefore neither am I. I have been guilty of this new age, somewhat rude behavior, but at least I have made a point not to do it with my grandkids. Trust me, they know when you're engaged and when you're not. The great thing about sharing hunting and fishing and almost anything outdoors is the opportunity to teach them something that they cannot learn on an Xbox or a PlayStation. There's no app for how to tie a fishing door on or how to load an air in a crossbow or how to sling seed from a hand spreader. Well, there may be a y a YouTube channel, but it's not the same as learning from a living, breathing person. Now it makes a commitment to keep it interesting, but there's where the little things come into play. What are the little things? Well, here's some of the things I found that can and does make a difference when dealing with the next generation, especially the young ones. First, be honest with them and yourself. Understand that kids are different these days and and not all old school ways are going to work. Second, set guidelines and stick to 'em. Behavior, chores, rules, all of these are important for them and you. Ask questions. How's school going? How's work? How's life? Get them talking and you listen. If they talk long enough, you'll see an opening for some good advice. If they are offered an alternative, they most likely will take it. Too many parents are using devices as babysitters and I get that. It's up to you to offer some activity that takes the place a fortnight, if only for a little while. In today's world it's a tough uphill battle to get people's attention, especially kids. And one one trip to the woods probably won't do much. But repetition and making things fun and interesting may spark something that at least gives them something to Snapchat about. That's my thoughts on social media. That's really good. I don't even know if y'all remember this, but when y the boys were little, I used to give them chores and this is they didn't have cell phones. I get it, they were little.

SPEAKER_05 10:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:03

And if they did the thing, Yahya would take some what it five dollars or something.

SPEAKER_05 10:08

Put it in an envelope, put it in an envelope, write their name on it. Write their paycheck.

SPEAKER_03 10:12

That's right. So they would they would understand work as a reward. You get mad because uh you think they should be like you. Well, they're not gonna be like you because they came up in a different environment and things are different.

SPEAKER_08 10:26

Right.

SPEAKER_03 10:27

And uh it's just it's it's just c crazy how some old school people get mad and don't wanna take part. It's like we have changed the way that they grow up. They got different tools and stuff, so you gotta change the way you approach that.

SPEAKER_05 10:45

And the thing is that now there's starting to be resources. If if you're a mama like I am, you got to research everything. How are we gonna do this? How are we gonna do that? Everything from the little stuff, which foods do you introduce first to technology and how much are you gonna allow? And the thing is, we were in that generation the first ones raising quote unquote iPad babies that were trying to figure out what was allowed and what wasn't, and there was no references because we were the first ones kind of trial by fire, let's figure it out, let's try not to jack our kids up, but also you don't want them to be the weird kid that's never seen an iPad before.

SPEAKER_03 11:25

Yeah. Key to me was always about, and I I found this but to be true, if you offered them an alternative, they would take it. Absolutely. And you know, if the alternative is let's go fishing, let's go hunting, let's go come in, let me show you how to do this, they would do it 100% of the time. But you gotta have that ammunition and you gotta and that requires time, which is again the most valuable resource anybody has.

SPEAKER_05 11:53

The thing you always told me was no matter how many defining moments you have with your kids and how much you tell them verbally, this is how we do this, this is how I want you to act, they're gonna learn how to act by watching you. If that's your big goal is to keep them off their phones, you gotta get off your phone around them.

SPEAKER_03 12:12

Yeah. They can't do anything but get better by watching a positive role model. And like I said, and it's just like you said, they're gonna learn by watching how you roll.

SPEAKER_08 12:23

That's true.

SPEAKER_03 12:24

Things make giant statements and to each his own.

SPEAKER_08 12:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:29

I don't really care. Like when me and your mom we were raising y'all, I wouldn't have any beer in the fridge. That didn't mean that I wouldn't have one out at the softball field with the boys.

SPEAKER_05 12:39

It's just not what we saw.

SPEAKER_03 12:41

That's right. I didn't want you to see it at the house and stuff like that. There's little things, but you know, I don't care how how far advanced we get in technology, they they always need role models. They need to think, man, that person right there is a rock. And uh hopefully that that can be you. It should be if you're a parent. But uh maybe it's an uncle or an aunt or whatever it is, but it's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_06 13:06

It is cool. I can't believe it. I can't believe it. You thought I missed.

SPEAKER_02 13:32

We looked at the video.

SPEAKER_06 13:33

We looked at the video and it even looked like I missed. But we started to walk around and all that back there. And then we went up right there in the woods. And then I look over where Pop's walking, and I say, There it is, but Pop's already saying it and stuff.

SPEAKER_02 13:53

How cool was that?

SPEAKER_06 13:54

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 13:55

Congratulations, buddy. You can go get your dad to help us load it.

SPEAKER_06 13:59

Yep. Oh yeah, my brother, mama, yeah, yeah. Everybody.

SPEAKER_02 14:05

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_06 14:10

Every I was always saying every other day that I was gone, I knew it was the day. I actually had a feeling in my gut that today was the day.

SPEAKER_02 14:19

You had a feeling?

SPEAKER_06 14:21

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 14:23

You've done a lot of deer hunting for a young fella.

SPEAKER_03 14:27

Yep. What are you gonna do this afternoon? Are you gonna wait on the really big buck we know's living up in them pine trees? You gonna shoot something?

SPEAKER_06 14:36

I mean, if something good walks out, I'm done with this passing up stuff. You done with it?

SPEAKER_03 14:41

Here's the article I wrote, and I don't think this one got published. I don't even remember where I sent it to, or I don't remember if I was asked or anything, and it didn't even have a title, but it was about kids. And I'll I'll talk about some of the stuff I did to make it easy and fun for you kids, but I didn't have a title for this one. Kind of glanced over it and that I don't know what we should call I think finding Bigfoot, but I think that's the I think that name's already taken. So that's taking five. And all this stemmed from your you know going down rabbit holes and all that.

SPEAKER_05 15:15

Well, I'm the most hopeful skeptic. I love to talk about Bigfoot. I've not had a sighting. I can't say I'm a believer, but man, I love the stories. I love them.

SPEAKER_03 15:25

I don't have many Bigfoot sightings in Mississippi, but before you say that, can I tell you one very interesting fact?

SPEAKER_05 15:32

So, as far back as publications in the United States, newspapers, magazines, do you know where the oldest recorded Bigfoot sighting came from?

SPEAKER_03 15:43

Oregon.

SPEAKER_05 15:44

Natchez, Mississippi. Oh, it is the oldest Bigfoot sighting was published in Natchez, Mississippi.

SPEAKER_03 15:52

You gotta be kidding. How come I don't know about that?

SPEAKER_05 15:54

I can read it to you. It's from 1721. And it's cited by a lot of Bigfoot enthusiasts in the the circles I run in as being the earliest written account in North America that could be interpreted as a Bigfoot encounter. And it comes from the journal of a French Jesuit priest and explorer whose name was Pierre Francois Xavier de Charlevot.

SPEAKER_03 16:19

Wow, I am so impressed you could pronounce it.

SPEAKER_05 16:22

Well, thank you. According to his journal entry from December 25th, 1721, which what do we say significant about the week of Christmas around here? The rut.

SPEAKER_08 16:34

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 16:35

Deer. So I'm like, okay, well, if the deer are moving, maybe the Bigfoot are moving. I just thought that that date was pretty interesting. But while staying with the Natchez people, the village was awakened by a great alarm. The people reported hearing, quote, a beast of unknown species and of extraordinary bulk. They said that its cry sounded like any animal that they had ever known, and it supposedly carried off sheep and calves. Charlevot himself suggested it may have been a wolf, but the Natchez people insisted it was much larger and an unknown creature.

SPEAKER_03 17:12

Natchez, Mississippi.

SPEAKER_05 17:13

1721.

SPEAKER_03 17:14

Devil's Punch Bowl.

SPEAKER_05 17:16

How cool is that?

SPEAKER_03 17:17

That's where we're from.

SPEAKER_05 17:18

Yeah, if anybody sa if you have to ever say an interesting fact about where you're from, Natchez, there you go. I just gave you a good tip.

SPEAKER_03 17:25

The first Bigfoot sighting.

SPEAKER_05 17:27

Yeah. Written encounter.

SPEAKER_03 17:29

I'm seeing what you're talking about.

SPEAKER_05 17:31

Yeah, and so there was a lot of people that tried to discount it, were like, oh, it was a bear, it was a wolf. And I'm like, in Natchez? Have you been to Natchez? Don't see a lot of wolves down there.

SPEAKER_03 17:43

All right, moving on. You know, Old Timer builds knives with durability in mind. They also want it to be a tool that is comfortable enough to work with day after day. Since the beginning, Old Timer has made knives for those who don't rely on others to get the job done. I love that. Old timer built for generations. You know, there's nothing I love more than teaching my grandkids how to be better woodsmen. The Onex app helps me do that in a way that makes sense to them. They're all about apps and that phone. Using Onex to set optimal wind on stands that should or shouldn't be hunted on certain winds makes it easier for them to understand that, hey, a north wind blows from the north, not to the north. Using that little slope angle layer when teaching them how to read topographical maps, but the color-coded shading makes it a lot easier to explain to them what tightly stacked tofo lines mean. Bottom line, Onex Hunt makes learning fun for those young ones and still helps me find success in the field. It's an easy-to-use platform. Hey, even I can do it. I suggest it for any age outdoorsman.

SPEAKER_00 19:07

You're listening to Fistful of Dirt with Cut Strickland. Presented by Mossy Oak Properties.

SPEAKER_03 19:31

Yeah, and Matt and Walker were like six or five or seven. Five and six somewhere near.

SPEAKER_04 19:37

Four, four and five, five and six.

SPEAKER_03 19:38

And uh it wasn't it wasn't hunting season, it was getting close.

SPEAKER_04 19:42

But uh this time of year.

SPEAKER_03 19:45

Yeah, well, no, it wasn't quite this hot, but anyway, there was more planning went into this than any hunt I've ever been on.

SPEAKER_04 19:52

T-shirts were made.

SPEAKER_03 19:54

I don't care if it was an elk hunt out west, we dropped it. Yeah, there was a lot of planning went into this, but they were excited.

SPEAKER_05 20:01

Yeah, we were gonna hunt for Bigfoot.

SPEAKER_03 20:04

Anyway, I'm gonna try to read this one. That's a little bit long, but I I I just like this was a pretty cool idea. Sometimes I'm grateful I don't have little kids today. It seems much harder to raise them than were mine than when mine were growing up. I do have four grandchildren that my wife and I are blessed to be around a lot, and we've learned it's hard to compete with all the activities and tools they have today. So many games and events to keep them busy. It's common to see kids today on their phone or tablet playing whatever the game just got downloaded, and I guess some of that's okay since it's in their culture. My wife Pam and I make it a point to keep them busy at our farm with other things fishing, hunting, swimming, chores, checking trail cameras, playing in the dirt pile. That's a big one. And so on. We have discovered if they have other activities to do, they put the games and phones down and get down and dirty. I love that. The key is making it fun. I think that's what I was gonna name the article. We had all girls and I didn't care if they were big hunters or not, but I did want them to know where meat and food comes from and to be able to speak the language around the supper table. I took them hunting and fishing as much as they would go, and now they want to pass it on to their kids. Mission accomplished. I'm no child psychologist, but I picked up on some things relating to kids in the outdoors that I feel made a difference and starting them off the right way and then keeping them involved. For instance, shooting is an area that needs special attention. I like to use B B guns and treat them like they're regular farms. All the safety aspects are the same as big calibers, and so are practical. Practice methods. I also made sure the B B guns fit them. Saw the stock down, whatever it takes to make it feel better to 'em. Lots of paper targets on the range and off to the woods to shoot at whatever we can find. Stumps, pine cones, turtles on the pond, whatever we see. In the course of all these things to happen, first they are learning how to safely handle a gun, and second they are getting comfortable with it. I've seen so many parents scare a child to death with a twenty gauge or a two forty-three. They seem small enough to us, but it's a bazooka to a little kid. The worst thing you can do is imprint that hard kick and loud sound of a gun that is too much. There's no way they won't flinch, and that's the last habit you want them to form. They will come around and bigger guns to bigger guns when they are ready. I'm gonna stop there for a minute. The most the coolest practice thing we ever did around there, I went and bought a package of balloons and went all through the woods hanging those balloons. It got on the side by side and everybody took turns. We spent hours shooting those balloons out in the woods. They thought that was the coolest thing ever. Alright, back to this. Second is go at their pace. Don't insist they go hunting every time you go. Let them pick the times they want to go. Make sure your expectations are real. There will be more noise and moving around and less deer sightings if your child is typical, and that's okay. Let them bring what they need to entertain themselves and have a blind that is big enough to accommodate a little moving around. Remember it's their hunt, not yours. Make a teaching adventure out of those early hunts. The child doesn't even have to take a gun, just let them tag along. Point out things that might be interesting. Acorns dropping and why deer eat them, tracks, spiderwebs, anything they might key in on. Talk about why you hunt and why it's not only important to you and the family, but the environment. Like Ted Nugent says, it's perfect. Make sure they understand why you enjoy it so much. Concentrate on the fun part of deer camp, even if you don't belong to a deer camp. Things like getting gear ready, cooking outside, going to look at new gear, and watching hunting shows on TV. Let them invite a buddy to camp out and wear some osseoak and face paint and shoot B B guns. Make it a part of their culture. Kids need something they're comfortable with and good at.

SPEAKER_05 24:44

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 24:44

That's a big, big deal. Giving them something they're comfortable with and good at.

SPEAKER_05 24:48

That's how you build confidence.

SPEAKER_03 24:51

One of the mo one of the most memorable things we did at our farm was a Bigfoot hunt. Two of the grandsons were infatuated with a television show about Bigfoot. I wonder where they got that from.

SPEAKER_05 25:03

I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 25:04

So we had a weekend long hunt that included scouting for sign, baiting up an old hog trap with slim gems and hard candy, and a nighttime spotlight search from an ATV. They still talk about that to this day. I promise you the lit the years leading up to their first real hunts are the best. Some kids are ready before others. If they are around it a lot, then they might want to go sooner or later. Such was the case with my two grandsons. Walker got his first buck sitting with his dad and me when he was seven. A perfect shot on a seven point buck from a two forty-three at eighty yards. Matt took his first deer with a crossbow at age six, sitting with his dad and me filming the hunt. Matt's first hunt was supposed to be just a dry run. I had been introducing myself to the ins and outs of a crossbow with the hopes of getting some family members to go bow hunting. I had never even held a crossbow, much less shot one, but quickly learned that I may have been missing something. In the process of getting myself and other family members familiar with the crossbow, one of my grandsons, six-year-old Matt Ellis, made me aware after his practice session that he was ready to go bow hunting. So we did. It was hot as usual. In October in Mississippi. But I'll never be the one to tell a six-year-old it's too hot or too windy or too late or too anything. We managed to get all our gear in the blind and settle in. Matt was working on some snacks and I was adjusting the camera tripod when he whispered, Pop, there's a deer. Is he too young? Does he understand what it means to kill a deer? Have we pushed him into this because we like it? I focused the camera and just waited for his reactions. I didn't have to wait long. His next words were Pop, if she moves to the right, I can take her. Well, alrighty then. No more negative thoughts here. Let's roll.

SPEAKER_02 27:34

Right behind the shoulder that second time.

SPEAKER_07 28:28

I just couldn't believe it. I feel good about it.

SPEAKER_02 28:34

What's your thing?

SPEAKER_07 28:35

I think it's awesome. I feel like I feel like I feel like I'm in outer space and like I I found no training.

SPEAKER_03 28:48

That's a grandline. I was sure I'd heard the dough crash just inside the wood line, but made Matt sit there a while. Now what happened next was truly the most priceless part of the day. After a few minutes in silence, Matt says, Pop, I think we should say a prayer so we can find my deer. We took our hats off, and I'll never forget this simple prayer from a six-year-old new deer hunter. Dear God, please let me find my deer. That's my first one. Have a good week. Amen. Oh, that just tears me up. We left the blind and went to where the deer was standing. Matt saw the blood and took to the trail like he had recovered hundreds of harrow arrow-hit white tails. Here's some, here's some, Pop. He went this way. My grand had to look like a crescent moon. He lost the blood on the edge of the plot and said, Pop, I think the deer is lost. I'll never forget how he said that.

SPEAKER_07 29:49

It ran off and got lost and it's gone. We don't know where it is.

SPEAKER_03 29:55

We gotta track the blood. That's how you find them when you're born.

SPEAKER_07 30:00

Like it doesn't end.

SPEAKER_03 30:01

No, we'll we'll find it. We'll we'll find it. We'll we'll find some more blood. That's what you do. I just wait on your dad because he can see better than me.

SPEAKER_07 30:17

Told you. Look, here's some blood right there. Blood on the ground. Blood everywhere. We can't find it in the dirt. We don't know where it is in the dirt. There's nothing in the dirt.

SPEAKER_02 30:31

Hey, let me ask you this. Come here.

SPEAKER_03 30:33

Can you believe on your first deer hunt ever you shot a deer?

SPEAKER_07 30:38

That's what I told him already, so.

SPEAKER_03 30:40

He lost the blood on the edge of the plot and said, Pop, I think the deer's lost.

SPEAKER_02 30:47

I bet you wouldn't finish the moon.

SPEAKER_07 30:48

Wait, there's a little bit, and look oh, oh, oh, oh.

SPEAKER_02 30:52

So you have to look really hard. Look here. See here.

SPEAKER_06 30:57

What?

SPEAKER_03 30:57

You know what that means?

SPEAKER_06 30:59

What?

SPEAKER_03 30:59

That means it ran that way.

SPEAKER_06 31:02

Oh yeah, I see the deer trail.

SPEAKER_03 31:04

Yeah, well it's just wait on your dad, okay? I told him to retrace his steps while I walked just a few yards into the woods and saw the doe laying like 20 yards away. By then his dad was there, and we put Matt on the blood trail and he found his deer. It was sheer joy. For a long while after that. His mom, grandmother, little brother, his pet lab Lucky all celebrated what was supposed to be a dry run.

SPEAKER_01 31:32

So what's your what's your favorite part of hunting?

SPEAKER_07 31:36

It's that you kill one for your family and eat it, and then like it's what you made for your family. It's like not like going to Walmart or Kroger wherever you're gonna go to shop and just buy one. You gotta hunt yourself and you're doing for your family.

SPEAKER_03 31:58

It's clear he not only would be a hunter for life, but more importantly, understood why we hunt. These grandkids are the reason I work so hard to obtain and now maintain a small farm. I have been blessed to work for Toxie Hayes and Mossy Oak for almost four decades now, and have been to places and seen things outdoors that most people can only dream of. I have seen all sides of hunting and game management, and believe me, there are many opinions out there are hunters. For me personally, my goal was to have a target rich environment where my grandkids can hunt and fish and be successful. If the white tail gets big racks, that's great. But while these kids are young, I'm not focusing on what's I'm only focusing on what's fun, not what's a shooter. These days I get as much pleasure from the seat of my tractors from the seat of a lock on during bow season. I work the land so I can entertain and teach him. And in my opinion, there's no greater responsibility or reward. So there you go. I thought that was the article about the Bigfoot, huh? I don't think I ever wrote that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 33:12

It was I I found it, it's from May of 2012. And it's just said had a big time. Matt and his cousin Walker have convinced us that we have a Bigfoot in the area, a real Bigfoot, and they want to catch him. Since my daddy is an awesome pop, he decided to make it happen this weekend with a Bigfoot hunt and a camp out at the Mandin. It was awesome. The menu was impressive, a shrimp bowl for the grown-ups and hot dogs and s'mores cooked over the fire pit for the little folks. Queen, that's my sister, that's her nickname, even made monster cookie dough dip for the occasion. Saturday was full of sunshine and swimming, but that evening the boys and Butterbean got down to business. They set up a big hog trap, they decided to bait him with beef jerky and sweets, and later that night they went to check their trap. They saw two deer and a possum, but no Bigfoot. After showers and a viewing of Harry and the Hendersons and two big sugar crashes, the boys laid it down in their bunk beds, and the girls and cranky stayed at the big house with Yaya. We pop popcorn and look at magazines. Queen gave me baby hair lessons because we're currently training Cranky's part. Cranky had some wild hair when he was little. She's the baby hair whisperer. We lost track of Pop in the wee hours as he had some business to tend to. And the next morning our Bigfoot hunters were eager to check their traps. They got all CSI on the area and decided that he had been there, but he got away. The cage was turned over, the bait was gone, and there was Bigfoot hair. What a close call. Maybe next time, fellas. Cranky said next time he's in.

SPEAKER_03 35:05

They had so much fun. And the part you missed was we were gonna wait and check the trap at exactly midnight. I had taken a uh they found some hair that was out of that was off of a turkey beard. I stuck it up in that cage and they were all up in there.

SPEAKER_05 35:24

They were freaking out.

SPEAKER_03 35:25

They were a little braver in the daylight. We went back down in there like at 11 o'clock. I had taken a uh predator call. I had one of those remote uh Gary Robertson calls.

SPEAKER_05 35:37

Yeah, a compu caller.

SPEAKER_03 35:38

Yeah, and I went to the city. Yeah, I hit it over in the woods and I put it on a wounded rabbit or something, and I put it like 30 yards from the target, I mean from the trap. And I had the remote in my pocket, and we pulled up there and they had their little flashlights and their eye beams. I said, Y'all, he's around that corner and just look. And they were, and it was Matt and Walker, they were little, and they would take a step and look at each other, and then they would lean out so they could see her, and they'd take a step and look at each other. They look, they were into it. I know, and they got about, I don't know, 10 or 15 feet away from that ATV, and I hit that copy caller, it screamed the and you have never seen them little lights coming back vibrating, and one of them just dove over the front of the Granger jumped in there and go, go, go, go, like we had just robbed a bank or something like that. It was the most fun, had nothing to do with deer hunting or anything else, but uh imprinting them is is very, very important.

SPEAKER_05 36:40

That's huge. What a special memory. I'm glad everybody documented it too.

SPEAKER_03 36:45

Yeah, you got tea you had t-shirts made, didn't you?

SPEAKER_05 36:48

Yeah, we were serious about it. It said Chickasaw County Bigfoot research team or something like that. Cranky had a onesie. That's how little he was. He he didn't have a t-shirt, he had a onesie.

SPEAKER_03 37:00

Well, here's the deal. Here this is is and I tell people all the time, and if you introduce them, it doesn't matter. I had all girls and we went and I would roll up a sleeping bag and have a bag full of Barbie dolls and all that kind of stuff. It's just about you gotta remember us about them. And don't don't be that little league dad who's just constantly screaming at the umpire, hollering at his kid, bypassing the coach, yeah, being them. Don't do that.

SPEAKER_04 37:29

Right.

SPEAKER_03 37:30

Find out here here's a great idea. Same way with little girls. Take them on a date when they're five, six, seven years old. Let them pick where they want to go eat. What movie we're gonna see. Open the door for 'em.

SPEAKER_04 37:45

Show them.

SPEAKER_03 37:46

Give them that baseline of what a date is supposed to feel like. Same way in the woods, let them pick. Have them write it down. Hey, what do you think a perfect hunt would be? And they'll let you know. Tell them to write it down and hand me the list.

SPEAKER_08 38:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 38:01

All right, we'll stop at the sprint mart and I'm gonna get this and some Skittles and I'm out and do something. Write it and just do that. Your number one goal is they want to go back.

SPEAKER_05 38:13

Right.

SPEAKER_03 38:14

Because you can if you put pressure on them and like I gotta do this, I gotta do make them make them feel like they're gonna associate that hunting trip with fun.

SPEAKER_08 38:25

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 38:26

Not trying to please p dad or mom, whatever, make it fun. They'll learn the hunting stuff as they get around. I get those kind of questions all the time. Here and I I got one the other day, I get so many messages. If I hadn't answered you, I'm sorry. Especially on Facebook. It's like, all right, which call, what do I need to concentrate on? Much. I've been watching this, I've seen Dave Owens, I'm going turkey hunting. What do I need to work on first? And I tell them all the time, land, find you places.

SPEAKER_08 38:57

Dirt.

SPEAKER_03 38:58

Dirt, get you some dirt, even if it's public stuff, find the place. Find a place that's got turkeys. All that other stuff will come in due time.

SPEAKER_04 39:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 39:08

You can kill any turkey that ever walked the face of the earth with a single-sided box call. If your timing and your location is good, find a place to do it. Don't just complain about there's not enough dirt. Uh there's too many people that their faces out there. Find them. People laugh all the time. I got permission the other day just by talking to a guy at the store. He's like, You could, yes, sir. And where you live, I live down here. You know, I've been there 31 years, but I ain't from around here.

SPEAKER_05 39:39

Still the new guy.

SPEAKER_03 39:39

Yeah, and I have those kinds of things. He said, Man, I live in there so and so. He said, I got some turkeys back here in my pasture. You welcome. Yeah, I was like, all right, what you got going? I'm cutting hay. Hey, if you need some help with that, let me know. I mean, there's ways to get in there. It doesn't have to be private, but always have a location. A B and C find a place that's got turkeys and you'll figure the rest of that stuff out.

SPEAKER_05 40:01

I love that advice.

SPEAKER_03 40:03

Yeah. And if you're taking a kid and you don't have a private farm or anything like that, build the whole experience around something else. You know, our our big deal was going to get a biscuit.

SPEAKER_05 40:14

Going to get a biscuit. I I just remember um once I got old enough, a lot of our places, because we didn't have a farm, we would have to drive an hour or two, sometimes more. And so there was a lot of getting up when it was still pitch black, dark outside. And one of the only things you could tune in on the radio was Coast to Coast AM.

SPEAKER_01 40:37

From the city of Angels near the Pacific Ocean. Good morning, good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation, around the world. I'm George Nori. Welcome to Coast to Coast AM. Later on tonight, open lines.

SPEAKER_05 40:52

George Norrie. And listening to, and that's probably why I'm a weirdo, because that would be about Bermuda Triangle and Bigfoot and are the bees going missing. Like it was the coolest thing. And we would just brainstorm like, what do you think that is? What about that?

SPEAKER_03 41:07

Yeah, you never know what's going to imprint on something. Main thing is uh is dedicating that time. And you know, Steve Green, you know, we heard a podcast about Jesse Fish and just look at the time he put on. What a great guy.

SPEAKER_05 41:21

Time after time after.

SPEAKER_03 41:22

Making and look, and we are all guilty, especially me, of assuming we've had such a great life in the outdoors that everybody's like that. You can take somebody on something, and it can literally be a life-changing event. And we take that for granted. I don't. I really know the older I get, the less I take anything for granted.

SPEAKER_05 41:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 41:41

But uh them kids, man, they need that more than ever.

SPEAKER_05 41:46

And our most valuable resources are time.

SPEAKER_03 41:49

That's right. And it it takes it, you know. I've dedicated a whole bunch of time to them boys.

SPEAKER_05 41:54

Yeah, I know.

SPEAKER_03 41:55

Basically basically my whole turkey seasons for the last five years, most of them, or six years or whatever it is, and now they're good at it. They stick their chest out about it. I love it. And they may not get to go a lot with college and football, cranky's doing it, but it's okay.

SPEAKER_05 42:12

And that little spark is in their heart. They want to do it. Whether their schedule allows or not, they want to now.

SPEAKER_03 42:18

Yeah. Well, that's good. I didn't I didn't mean to bore y'all with that. I thought those were great. And Lauren insisted I loved it. Yeah, talk about the Bigfoot stuff and all that. I'm gonna leave you with this last note. I made a post last week, found the best t-shirt I've ever seen in my life. And it's one of the faded bottomland shirts. It's at the Mossyokestore.com and it's just that faded t-shirt and it says USA.

SPEAKER_05 42:43

USA.

SPEAKER_03 42:44

I'm telling you, when I saw that, and I don't know why, it hit me so hard. I was like, I just stopped in my tracks, and they didn't have but one and a 2X. And I was like, dude, you gotta get some more. Coolest thing ever.

SPEAKER_08 43:00

USA.

SPEAKER_03 43:01

Yeah, that's right. And it ain't because the World Cup's going on and all that kind of stuff. It's like those two things, when I saw that, Mossy Oak Bottom Land and USA, it just flew all over me, so I made a post and I got some of the greatest comments. You know, some of them were just clenched fists and some of them were American flags. Absolutely. I don't care what you see on the news, I don't care what you hear on TikTok, anywhere else. It is the greatest country on the planet. I had so much fun listening to the foreigners coming over here for this soccer stuff, talking about the food and the people.

SPEAKER_05 43:38

How kind people are.

SPEAKER_03 43:40

Yeah, which one after another after another. I was like, why don't you see that stuff on the news?

SPEAKER_05 43:45

Friendly, just warm, welcoming, the food's great, air conditioning.

SPEAKER_03 43:51

Yeah, we uh we are so blessed. So blessed to live here and so thankful. So anyway, uh Getting back into some really cool hunters probably next week. I've got a guy lined up to say he's a legal guru. We're gonna talk about how easy it is to get in trouble. What some of the new laws are.

SPEAKER_04 44:14

This is all honey related.

SPEAKER_03 44:17

This guy is not only one of the smartest people I've ever been around. He is a turkey girl. So from me and Laureen up in the semi-damp camel cave from Mossy Oak and Mossy Oak Properties. Thank you for listening. God bless each and every one of you.

SPEAKER_05 44:39

We'll see you in seven days.