FFOD337 : We Hunt Too with Lou Hill & Dr. Stacey P. Gill

This week I had the pleasure of sitting down with Lou Hill and Dr. Stacey P. Gill of WeHunt2 WeFish2. I first met these guys through our shared love of the outdoors and it didn’t take long to realize we had a whole lot more in common than hunting and fishing. We talk about how they found their way into the outdoors, why they’re so passionate about introducing others to it and what hunting and fishing have meant to their lives. They’re doing a great job of encouraging folks to get outside and experience everything God’s creation has to offer.

I’ve always believed there’s room for everybody in the outdoors. The more people we can introduce to hunting, fishing, and conservation, the better off we’ll all be.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_06 0:03

Welcome to Fistful of Dirt, the official podcast of Masiok 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 Cuz Strickland.

SPEAKER_01 0:24

Semi-Live from the Camo Cave. Semi-Live. We're surviving the heat, the heat dome. But boy, it's been hot.

SPEAKER_00 0:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:33

It's been so, so very hot. And uh I still get scrolling social media. There's all kind of people out there already doing whatever they do. And and I get like go, let's go mow the food plot.

SPEAKER_00 0:48

Oh, you talking about prepping for deer season. Prepping for deer season.

SPEAKER_01 0:50

I I I get that. But I I'm seeing all these people hanging deer stands in July, and I'm like, holy cow.

SPEAKER_00 0:57

Is there any benefit to that at all? Like stuff grows up around them, maybe and they're less visible.

SPEAKER_01 1:04

You know, a pinch point or a pond or something like that. I get it, but it's like I saw a guy the other day in Alabama and he had on flip-flops. I was like, Are you serious? It's uh you know there's lots of snakes down here.

SPEAKER_00 1:20

And ticks and briars.

SPEAKER_01 1:22

I eat your text from me this morning.

SPEAKER_00 1:25

How's that? Or a good morning text.

SPEAKER_01 1:27

You know, we got a big ditch. You pull up in our driveway, it's a huge cover, it's like five feet around or six, it's giant.

SPEAKER_00 1:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:34

And I look and look and look. I never see a snake down there. Every time you come by there, you see one.

SPEAKER_00 1:39

Water moccasins. Every time it feels like.

SPEAKER_01 1:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:43

I sent you a movie not too long ago. I was on my mower and I didn't have anything with me. And we watched that thing gobble up a fish, and I got it on video, and you were all the comments were like, Why didn't she shoot it? Why didn't she shoot it? I'm like, literally the only time I didn't have a sidearm.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

Yeah, well that one this morning wasn't quite so lucky.

SPEAKER_00 2:02

Had the judge with me.

SPEAKER_01 2:04

410 pistol.

SPEAKER_00 2:05

I love that thing. I hi if you have snakes that you want to eradicate, I cannot recommend it enough, not sponsored by the judge. What is it, Taurus?

SPEAKER_01 2:15

Yeah, I think so. You're your your mother, my bride, bought me one for Christmas and I've never seen it. That's that's her on the nightstand. She's got ammo on it. She loves that thing.

SPEAKER_00 2:26

Intruders and can shoot it. Reptilian or human. I'm ready for it.

SPEAKER_01 2:31

All kinds of rounds for that thing, too. Yeah, you can do a snub or a shotgun shell.

SPEAKER_00 2:36

But uh little 410.

SPEAKER_01 2:39

Yeah, I've been doing a little bit of prep here and there. I made a post I think it was last weekend, a new spot and it literally five years of thinking going into this.

SPEAKER_02 2:52

Really?

SPEAKER_01 2:53

I'm telling you, I've been thinking about what can I do to make the spot better. It's too wide open, blah, blah, blah. Anyway, I finally got it to where I think it's worthy of a uh a deer stand, and I know it's gonna be popular.

SPEAKER_02 3:05

Why?

SPEAKER_01 3:05

You and ya ya and the boy, because it's gonna be in a great place. I've got it. I just got it tweaked. And uh I was online I said, I'm not gonna build another deer stand. Although they got a lot of character on it. Like the dump. Oh yeah, it's gonna be in a flat spot. You need to be have some elevation on it. And I went online looking at shooting houses and I was astounded.

SPEAKER_00 3:32

In a good way or a bad way. In a bad way, how much they cost. Oh no.

SPEAKER_01 3:36

And I hey, look, I ain't living in Mayberry and I know it ain't nineteen sixty-five, but holy cow, they're prices.

SPEAKER_00 3:42

Like, what are y'all doing, living in them?

SPEAKER_01 3:43

Yeah, it's crazy. Uh, I've made the decision we'll build another platform like we did last year.

SPEAKER_00 3:48

That was fun.

SPEAKER_01 3:49

That was fun. That's a good one. I'm gonna buy a solid budget-friendly shooting house and put it on top. Something that's a little better and you know, airtight, maybe and all that. But anyway, that's as far as I've got with deer prep. Nice. Headed to uh the uh Legends of the Outdoors Hall of Fame this coming weekend.

SPEAKER_00 4:10

Yeah, that's right, coming up quick.

SPEAKER_01 4:11

Yeah, I I think there's six or seven people going in. Uh Captain Lisa Fitzgerald, Dave Washbourne, Jeff Foles, he's a waterfowl guy, Tommy Gardner, Captain Tommy Scarborough, Sandy Brady, I know him. And then Paul Butsky and Ted Nugent.

SPEAKER_00 4:32

Know them real well.

SPEAKER_01 4:33

Know them real well, so I'm looking forward to that. I'll give y'all a little recap of the legends of the outdoors hall of fame. That's a pretty cool thing. A lot of people don't know there is a Hall of Fame for people that hunt and fish, but it is, thanks to Gary Mason and his bride.

SPEAKER_00 4:49

But it's a neat event. It is a good one.

SPEAKER_01 4:53

Yeah. Speaking of neat, got two neat people coming up, Doc and Lou.

SPEAKER_00 4:57

Doc and Lou.

SPEAKER_01 4:58

We hunt too, we fish too is the name of their podcast.

SPEAKER_00 5:01

G W O, like the two of 'em.

SPEAKER_01 5:04

You know, I actually saw them. I saw a clip on social media, don't remember where it was. And uh this and they had a guy I know, Michael Carter, he's a he's a black guy, and he sent me a s a screen grab of them and said, You need to go listen to this podcast. And it was really good.

SPEAKER_02 5:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:22

And I said, You know what? I'm gonna reach out to him. And sent a PM on Facebook or something. Bam, got him.

SPEAKER_00 5:28

I didn't know who had reached out to who. You reached out to them, that's cool.

SPEAKER_01 5:31

Absolutely, and they were just very nice. Drove all the way to West Point.

SPEAKER_00 5:35

From Birmingham or outside of Birmingham?

SPEAKER_01 5:38

Outside of Birmingham, and uh it was it was a really, really fun podcast. These guys are deep, deep into all kinds of stuff. And we got some good serious questions on there too. And I I've always been fascinated when I this is 30, 40 years ago. If I saw a black person at a trade show or something like that, I I'd go up to them and say, and just I wanted to know, yeah, how'd you get started?

SPEAKER_02 6:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:05

Was it easier for them or harder for them? And and uh I I I asked one question like that, but all they wanted to talk about was current affairs. Yeah, and they were dialed in. And it's a really, really good podcast. And I think I'm gonna go on theirs. We hadn't picked a date yet or anything else, but I said y'all need to come on mine first. Had a great time, and I think y'all enjoy it, but uh, the name of their podcast is We Hunt To, We Fish Two. We're gonna go visit with Doc and Louis. Is that correct?

SPEAKER_03 8:14

That's correct.

SPEAKER_01 8:15

And Lou Hill.

SPEAKER_03 8:16

Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_01 8:16

Now, tell me where the before we get started, I did a little opening already talking about We Hunt too and all that, but tell me where the tell me where the doctor comes from. Because your nickname is Doc. Doc.

SPEAKER_03 8:27

Yeah, that's that's primarily what um people call me. And Doc comes from um the doctor part of my name, which uh is my doctor degree in educational leadership. Um my background is um been in education for 25 years now. Started out as a teacher, coach, um, principal, um uh and transitioned to higher ed as a professor at Jacksonville State University, where I'm there currently, um, serving in the educational leadership department. So doc has just been something that's stuck, you know, instead of saying Dr. Stacey Gills just call me Doc. That's that's that's fine.

SPEAKER_01 9:06

So nickname's a big deal in the South. Nickname. And I gotta tell you, what you do for a living is so much more important than what I've ever done. I got I got all kind of grandsons, and education is such a big part. It can in this day and time, it can be very thankless because some people think they get bad information and all that stuff. Yes, sir. So thank you for that.

SPEAKER_03 9:28

Appreciate it, appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 9:29

And we got Lou Hill.

SPEAKER_04 9:31

Yes, sir. And what do you do? I am a a broker owner, owns a I own a real estate company, EPI. EPI real estate in Birmingham and Tuscaloosa area, and um been there, been in business for about 24, 24 years in real estate.

SPEAKER_01 9:50

Wow. Yeah, that's a good field to be in. It is. You know, we had that this podcast is sponsored by Mawsey Oak Property. So we we're in the real estate business too. Yes, sir. I've seen it. We got into we got into that by accident almost. I've probably told the story, but we had so much going on, and one of Toxie's best friends from childhood, he went to, I think he went to Alabama, Chris Hawley, and he was gonna open him up a little real estate thing. Okay, and he asked Toxie, he said, Can I call it Marcio Properties? And Toxie's like, Yeah, never thought about it. And he put a little ad in some real estate papers at Marseille properties, and the phones lit up. Everybody's like, I'm on in, I'm on a franchise. That's how the whole properties thing started. So uh I I I I'm gonna get a little background because we and I and I'm gonna tell y'all up front the way the how I contacted these guys, and y'all don't think less of me for this. I saw them on TikTok because uh it was a clip, and I was like, those guys, they're not as old as me, but they ain't no young spring chickens either. And they throwing some social media out, I just reached out and cold called y'all. That's right. And uh I saw you tell me a little bit about growing up where and how, and was there any hunting and fishing involved?

SPEAKER_03 11:08

Absolutely. Um, Utah, Alabama, as a matter of fact, uh I may have told Lou this story or or some parts of it that where I grew up at, uh, I'm like two less than two miles from the Black Warrior River. Oh, and down this road is called Fentur's Ferries Road. And down that road is a Mayo office.

SPEAKER_01 11:30

Yeah, that's property. That's the headquarters.

SPEAKER_03 11:32

See, see, I told you.

SPEAKER_01 11:34

That's where Chris Hall is from. Yeah, see.

SPEAKER_03 11:38

And when I tell people that, they were like, nah, man, that ain't I'm I'm telling you, man. May Oak was less than two miles from my house because I grew up on 430 Brown Avenue, yeah, which runs right into Fincher's Red Ferry Road, going to the Black Warrior River. So uh Utah, Alabama, uh is where I was born and raised. My my mother is from Mississippi, actually, um, Bluffport, Mississippi. And my father, my birth father, he is from that Tisho B. Bology area. Yeah. And so for um for me growing up, um, my my my background has been part of that share cop sharecropping experience because my folks were farmers. And that was pretty much the way of life, you know, what we gathered is what we ate. What we what we um put out on the market is how you know we made a living. So um being being being exposed to that, uh, also coupled with the fact that, you know, my uh brothers and my uncles at the time were the ones that would go and hunt. And um they would go hunt to deer and bring that to bring that meat for us back um, you know, for uh for the winter in the freezer. So one story I tell all the time, well, after we moved from Bola G, we moved to Utah on the on Brown Avenue, uh, my brother, the oldest brother, he went to the military, went to the Air Force, and on his breaks, he would come home and he and his friends would go uh hunting. And and and the way I explain it is right across the street, if you're since you're familiar with where the office is of Amasy Oak, right across the street was hundreds and hundreds of timber of woods. And that was essentially not only my playground, but where my brothers and their friends went to hunt. And um as we as um the story goes, they would go hunt a few hours later, come back with a deer and hang it in the back, skin it, cut it, cut it up, quarter it up, and that's buy meat for the uh for the winter. Now, my brother closest to me, uh, which is Donnell, um, um, we would hang out in the woods a lot, a lot uh together, and that's how I learned how to build what many today would consider tree stands, what we build out of two by fours and one by fours in the yoke of a tree, and that's where we sat for hours shooting squirrels and things of that nature. So that's what my that's my introduction into to hunting, but prop but the biggest thing was fishing, being that we were so close to the Black Warrior River, that's where a lot of our uh days in the summers were spent. Um matter of fact, that's why I learned to swim. Um they picking me up, throwing me in the Black Warrior River. Sink or swim. Sink or swim. You gotta find it, find your way back the best way you can. So um that that was life for me in Utah, Alabama. Um as we matriculated, you know, through life and and tried to do better for ourselves, things got a little bit better. Um, you know, education was pushed on me uh as a way to get out of, you know, that uh a life of poverty. Just I mean just to say what it was, because we were poor. Actually, we we put the P.O. in poor. So um that was our that was our way out, particularly for me. That was my mom's vision for me to to uh have a better life. So that's why I went to you know, went on to college, went to UAV, played a little football, graduated from there, got that doctorate I talked about earlier from the University of Alabama, but uh in making a way for my life, for myself, that's what I had to do. But to reintroduce myself into hunting came tragically, as a matter of fact, because um the brother that I spoke to you that I spent a lot of time with, you know, he passed away in 2016, which uh which is where the the establishment of we hunt to, we fish to kind of is comes from because it's kind of an acknowledgement to him. Because my mom at the time of his passing, you know, I was going through deep depression because we were so close and we spent so much time together. And uh one of the things that we did like to do was to fish. So um my oldest brother, he did some. So she told me, say, hey, get your older brother, go fish with him that way to give you some connection and a remembrance to the brother that you lost. So that kind of um started that that that that that drive, that motivation to get back into the outdoors and do the things that made me happy, which was spending that time with him. And uh that that drive to want to do better and become a better hunter and develop those skills and be good at what I do because I know it will put a smile on his face. Because for every harvest that I've I've taken, for all the successes that I've had, I can I can feel him smiling, I can feel him on my shoulder saying, good job. You know, I'm proud of you and have it for you. So for me, that's that's what it was.

SPEAKER_01 16:32

You ain't no newcomer to this. No, sir. When y'all was shooting him to air and bringing that, it wasn't nobody looking for big rags.

SPEAKER_03 16:39

No, we we we we we uh that wasn't a thing. It was meat. That was food. That was that was that was our um sustenance and uh nourishment for our pretty much our survival because um, like I said, you know, we didn't have the luxuries that that I experienced today, or most families, uh other families probably experienced at the time. You know, that's just the way it was. So in in in rural Alabama.

SPEAKER_01 17:02

I had this lady, and I've I've told the story a hundred times. She kind of attacked me at an airport one time. She could tell I was a hunter, and she uh and we were elk hunting, and unsuccessfully I was trying to film it, but boy, she blasted me about hunting and how cruel and all that. And I said, Well, how long you've been vegan? She said, Well, I'm not. And I said, So you don't mind going to McDonald's and get you a burger, but you don't want me chasing that. And she looked me square in the eyes. She said, Well, that's different. So you ain't gonna never change that. That's that fine, but I know what hunting for food is. Still do it. That's right. Now, Lou?

SPEAKER_04 17:37

Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_01 17:38

That was a good story right there. We're gonna get to we're gonna tell some more. Tell me a little bit about your back.

SPEAKER_04 17:42

I don't know if I can match that one.

SPEAKER_01 17:44

Okay, that's okay.

SPEAKER_04 17:45

I uh I grew up in Tuscaloosa and uh road tide. But I I grew up on a road called MacPherson Landing. Um, I was close to Black Warrior River as well, and um when I was growing up, it was nothing but big cotton fields around the area. And so fortunate to have my father in my life, and um, I would introduce to hunting around about six years of age, and my dad would um let me uh go with him and hear the dogs run. He was a big rabbit hunter. And so he would listen to his dogs run. I would never get out the truck, but he would just sit outside the truck prior to rabbit season occurring. He just wanted to hear and train his dogs. And so I was introduced at a young age, and um first gun that I received was a BB gun, and so I was shooting with a BB gun. He trained me safety, safety, safety first, and go out there, and my daddy uh liked Miller High Life. So I took a Miller High Life can and I put it on a stick, and my I told my dad, I'm gonna shoot the the high life out the can. And so every day I would go out there shooting that can, and I got blitzers on my hand trying to shoot the high life, and I finally got that high life out the can, fell out. And I was so excited, he said, okay. He said, You did it. I'm gonna get you another gun. So I grew up in the woods. My daddy and my mother believe in education. My daddy was a counselor, and uh my mother was in sales like I was, and so they gave me books to read. And so on my block, it was a lot of ladies, a lot of little girls on my block, but I didn't want to play with the girls, I wanted to do what my dad did and go hunting. So they gave me books to to read about hunting, National Geographics, and at that age I'm reading and understanding why I can go out here when he goes out. And so he eventually told me, he said, You will. And used to watch him bring the rabbits home with his best friend, and they talk about hunting and and rabbits and what they did and who dogs were better than each uh dog and how well their dogs were trained, and they were out there to prove a point. And so I could look from the window, but I couldn't go out there when they were having any talks at the time. So eventually, as I got older, he took me on one of my first rabbit hunts and everything, and I had a great time just listening uh with the 20 gauge, and I learned how to shoot the 20 gauge with keeping bullets in in my fingers, so when I shoot I can rapid fire, just cock it and put another one in there. So I got pretty good at at rabbit hunting and and I got a passion for uh deer hunting the wrong way. My daddy took me on a rabbit hunt and he said, son, when we go on this area, on this property, and there's a lot of deer on this property, and now when we get here, uh don't shoot at a deer. And I said, Okay. Uh he said, uh but I knew that he had great rabbit dogs, so I didn't worry about uh his dog shooting, I mean, me shooting at a at a deer. Anyway, we're going through the woods, and uh my daddy told me, he said, uh, hey son, there's a big deer right beside you. He said, I want you to see him, but don't shoot him. I said, Okay, dad, I'm not. Where is he? He said, Don't shoot. I said, I'm not. He said, It's to the right. So the deer, this is where my love came from. The buck was sitting right beside us, less than five yards in front of us, and looking at us with his head tilted back, and he was just staring at us. And when he moved his ears is when I noticed him, and the big sagegrass, and I'm a little kid at the time. And my dad said, You see him? I said, I do. I see him, and I know my heart was beating like, man, that's a deer. I said, Dad, that's a deer. He said, Yeah. So he started walking and deer got up. I don't know what happened from the time that he told me. I don't know what happened, but my dad took a step forward. The deer took, uh, jumped up and ran right, and I shot. He said, I'm gonna say exactly what he said, but he said some words.

SPEAKER_05 21:50

He said, Dang it, stuck. Didn't I tell you not to shoot? I said, Dad, you have nothing to worry about. Your dogs are rabbit dogs. That's a deer. He said, but they gonna chase the deer. I said, No, they're not.

SPEAKER_04 22:00

He said they're gonna come to the the shot. And so they circled back to exactly where I was at. And so we gathered all these dogs to move away. And I was so hung on deer, I didn't want to go rabbit hunting because I'd never seen something that magnificent disappear that quick and that quiet before. And that's all I could talk about was deer hunting, deer hunting. My daddy was not a deer hunter, but my daddy, that's why I knew his his love was action more than just saying I love you. It was like an action, I'm gonna take you, and this is the way I love you. So he would take me on a hunt. He took me on my first deer drive. And my dad and I were sitting uh in an area and the dogs, uh the uh it was walkers and some red bones, some black and tans, and they were coming through the woods, and then he said, The deer coming. I said, How do you know? I said, How do you know that the deer's coming? He said, uh listen. He said, Listen. He said, You can hear the distance. So we heard a splash, they were coming through the water. He said, Do you hear them? I said, That's not the dogs. He said, No, the dog's in the back. The dog is way behind the deer. I said, The deer coming. He said, get ready. And before I knew it, it came out of the water, they came through some uh cattails, and then they jump on uh to this big field where we at. We shot, he shot, I just made my one little shot and we saw the deer, you know, uh collapse, and we end up harvesting a deer together, and I was so happy. That was the first time that we harvested deer together, and my daddy, like I said, was not a deer hunter. So I separate start separating myself from my dad, and to have the passion uh of going out by myself uh for the first time and harvesting a uh a buck was the buck by myself with a uh 12-gauge slug by myself um gave me the passion for for deer hunting more so than rabbit hunting. And to have that amount of land, like you said, around the river, to be able to go out there and sit down by the river. Saw one of the biggest bucks of my life sitting by the river fishing, and he's right beside a doe drinking water, and they just went back up into the in this hills and just and um laid down. And that's a psychic. It is, it is. And so it was no fear of going in the woods by myself. I was a person that picked up snakes and play with all types of animals and watch it now. I did I I did that. I don't do them snipes. And so that's that's me in a nutshell of of of how I grew up and to have the experience with my father and um and he he he's deceased down past in 2003. Um and I really wanted to take him with me uh uh to go deer hunting, but uh uh one last time.

SPEAKER_01 24:47

Those memories, like with your brother and your dad. Yeah, that how vivid is that? You you can't hardly get that anywhere else.

SPEAKER_03 24:56

So you won't ever forget anything. No, no. It's it stays vivid because every time I'm out in the woods, it's like I'm taking them with me, and trying to harvest uh uh anything, is it's like I'm doing it for him because I know if if if he was here, we would be doing it together. That's right.

SPEAKER_01 25:13

My dad wasn't a big deer hunter at all. He's a fisherman. Okay, and I tell I say this all the time, he's the best fisherman I ever knew that didn't have a boat.

SPEAKER_02 25:20

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:21

We fish from the banks and had them legs and all that kind of stuff. But he would go. But it's just I and I deep down I feel bad for people who weren't exposed to that at a young age, and we're gonna talk about that next year, but um, I almost feel stupid asking this question because y'all's pedigree is way better than mine when it comes to hunting way back when the day that uh did you guys, as things are progressing, we're getting educated and all that. Did y'all watch much outdoor TV and it's heyday? Yeah, you know, T and N and all them old stuff. D y'all watch some of that stuff?

SPEAKER_03 25:55

Yeah, um National Geographic jumps out at me, you know. That was the first one, yeah. Yes, that's on Saturdays, because um part part of what we what I did on Saturday, got I had to get up very early to watch my Saturday morning cartoons, to enjoy that, then um to to enjoy watching the continental wrestling. But shortly right before the Kung Fu flicks come on, that National Geographic would come on. And that's you know, you would see the animals and see the stories and see the you know how people uh travel all over the world and and and experience these animals in different ways. And then the the other one that jumps out is the the the safar one. I can't think of the name, but it's uh it was walking not walking across Africa, um uh Tricking Across Africa, I think that's what it was.

SPEAKER_01 26:44

National Yeah, that was high dollar production. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Kurt Gatty, the American sportsman, was on when I was on there. Okay. And back then it was film and it wasn't no audio. They would narrate everything, and I would watch that stuff, and I was always one, I was like, they never say anything about the videographer, the cameraman. And he'd be right, and I was like, that dude's carrying all this gear. I was always fascinated with that stuff. Right. But all of a sudden, you know, there's three networks, you know, TNN. When we launched onto TNN, okay, it was uh all they did was hunting, fishing, NASCAR, country music, and rodeo. Okay. And that kind of changed perspective for a whole lot of people. Do y'all get to watch any of that stuff? Like y'all may not be old.

SPEAKER_04 27:31

No, I I watched I watch rodeo, but I remember fishing, and it used to be every Saturday, I would look for C Bill dance out there with that Tennessee hat on and fell in the water one time. Yeah. I mean, that was experience, and then National Geographics is what uh what I grew up on. So and then I start watching um uh Safari. I it's I know it's a it's a it's a it's a hunting show that used to come on. I can't remember the name. Big game stuff.

SPEAKER_01 28:00

Doc, I heard you say something about wrestling.

SPEAKER_03 28:02

Oh WWE. Oh, it was Continual Wrestler. Oh, Continual. Yeah, it was that local you know, South kind of kind of kind of wrestling.

SPEAKER_01 28:10

You got no idea how big a wrestling fan I am.

SPEAKER_03 28:13

Oh man, the bullet. Before he was the mask on his head. That's right. Armstrong.

SPEAKER_01 28:22

My daddy was a 20-year military guy, and when he got out of that, he was the National Guard recruiter. Okay, and his office was in the city auditorium, and that's where they had wrestling.

SPEAKER_03 28:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:33

And back then it was uh mid-south.

SPEAKER_03 28:36

Mid-south.

SPEAKER_01 28:36

Cowboy Bill Watts and all of them. Yeah, yeah. And they used to come once a month, they'd come to Natchez, and I was the biggest fan. I would like sell pictures for them, you know, up in his bleachers. And I was there early one time, and this giant big black Cadillac pulled up, and they was all in the same car together, and I was heartbroke because I thought they all hated each other. But I look I I I absolutely that's what I got up to watch with wrestling. It was mid-south and all that kind of stuff. And you can tell people that and they'll just shake your head.

SPEAKER_03 29:13

But that's where it started.

SPEAKER_01 29:14

I went over to and we're gonna get back on track.

SPEAKER_03 29:17

We on track. We on track.

SPEAKER_01 29:19

One of the biggest thrills I ever had. You remember John Boy and Billy, the big show on the East Coast. They had the biggest, one of the biggest syndicated radio shows ever. And I took John Boy for his quest for the Grand Slam. He killed all four turkeys with me. Anyway, he won he invited me to come over on the radio show, which is a big one. They were in 36 states.

SPEAKER_02 29:39

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 29:40

And I walked into the radio station that morning and ran straight into Rick Flair.

SPEAKER_05 29:45

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_01 29:46

Oh, I was just yeah, I was standing there with my mouth open. He introduced himself and all that. And I'm like, okay, I can die and go on whatever. That's right. Got to meet Rick Flair, but it's uh it's crazy. I want to talk a little bit about that podcast because I found y'all's podcast and I've done listening to two or three of them. And like I say, you guys aren't as old as me.

SPEAKER_03 30:08

Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_01 30:09

But most podcasts you see are, you know, young guys, and they may be talking about shooting 100 yards with a bow and all that. And that's okay.

SPEAKER_02 30:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:18

Nothing wrong with that if that's what you do and that's what you practice for. But you don't see many gentlemen your age jumping right into that podcast world. I don't y'all both tell me why. Why podcast?

SPEAKER_03 30:30

Okay. Well, um, there are many platforms out there that we can try to reach as many people as we can, but I think we decided that the podcast format is the best best route because um our goal is to not only educate and empower but inspire people to participate, to get outdoors, and we use our experiences as a way, as a teaching tool, or as a way to explain it, or as a way to show them that they can do it too. And if if if we can make it relatable, then they will have a more of a tendency to want to be a part to ask the questions, or we may be able to do something or say something to push them over the edge to become an outdoorsman. So um a lot of what we wanted to do was to reach a broader audience because to be honestly, uh to be honest with you, uh, Mr. Strickland, you know, we were challenged. I stopped right there because Mr.

SPEAKER_01 31:24

Strickland was my daddy. Hey, look, before we go any further, the reason I asked him this question, y'all ain't figured it out. These gentlemen are black. And I ain't saying African American, because I don't say that because they're Americans, but they're black. So they have a twofold job to do. Y'all reaching a whole bunch of other people, but go ahead and continue.

SPEAKER_03 31:45

Yeah, and I'm and I'm glad you could. I'm glad you mentioned that because um um that that's the point. We were our goal is to read up reach a broader audience, particularly the black community, because um, matter of fact, there was a a call or charge made to and and our response was to use this podcast as a way to address it, to get more people involved, to to talk about our story, to broadcast and showcase our abilities as hunters and fishermen and our doorsmen to to the large audience that hey, you know, we can do this too, which is uh where the podcast, how I was born. And uh he can tell you how we met.

SPEAKER_01 32:28

Yeah, I want to know how y'all met. You pick him up right there.

SPEAKER_04 32:31

All right, so we met, and I'm gonna tell you about the podcast and how we met. Uh I um I take some new hunters hunting with me. I don't like hunting with everybody, okay, because I like hunting by myself. That's my piece, that's my getaway. But when someone asks me and they truly genuine about wanting to learn about hunting, I take people with me. And I had a a very uh good lawyer and friend of mine's and uh uh a real estate agent that went hunting with me, and they like, Lou, man, you you paint a picture so vivid, I can think I can see the deer and kill it before it even gets there. I said, I said, I said, I'm just giving you off my experience. You should start a podcast, man. See, people will listen to you. I said, man, no one's gonna listen to me. Yeah. I said, I listen to myself, I only want to listen to myself. I said nobody gonna listen to me. He said, Lou, you'll be amazed because what you you're coming from the heart. And uh he said you should you should consider starting a podcast, and and we hunt too, we fish too, is a good part. I'm glad that uh Doc introduced me to this and we met. And the way we met, we both were that Bass Pro Shop, uh, up there talking about bows and um and a good over in Leeds, Alabama.

SPEAKER_01 33:41

Good friend right across the street from Buckeys. That's right, right across the street from Bucky's. You know, where it is. Exactly.

SPEAKER_04 33:47

Good friend of mine, uh Craig, that's the Bo Tech up there. Shout out to Craig. He introduced us to uh and we got to talking, we trade numbers. Little did we know, you know, the passion that we had. We knew we liked hunting, but we never hunted together. And little did we know we start talking about hunting, and and and Doc came to me and said, Hey, we need to start this podcast. And I was like, because I was thinking about, and it was nothing but God that just put us together. Divine individuals divine individuals. And we clicked and we it it clicked off so well that you know we uh we agree, we disagree, we talk about it. So that's the thing, and we like, hey, it's okay to disagree, let's move on. Because we want people to understand we come from two different perspectives of of of hunting and fishing, and I don't know everything. Uh, and and but I'm just giving my experience and want to learn from others because I never we never stop learning in hunting or fishing.

SPEAKER_01 34:43

That's uh that's very interesting. Did you doc did you know how much work a podcast is?

SPEAKER_03 34:48

Oh, absolutely. People have no idea.

SPEAKER_01 34:51

Tell a little bit about getting this thing going, the way hunt too.

SPEAKER_03 34:55

First of all, it it's um it's it's having the the niche or or understanding what people will be interested in. Right. Umce you identify that, then you had then you you kind of build around that, okay, how you want to portray this, or how you want to bring that niche to to to the public. And Lou and I talked about it, he said, we were like, hey, you know, what do we do we want to talk? Do we want to hear us talk or talk about our experience, we want to hear about others. And like he said, you know, we sometimes we disagree, but we came to a common ground and said, hey, you know, we can talk about ours. That's right. But let's see what other folks got to say. That's right. And so when we did that, that's kind of sparked the idea because in USC in some of our episodes, it started off just he and I. And then from there we started bringing people on, which gave us another perspective, which kind of helped blossom that idea about, you know, hearing from other folks and actually showcasing the talents and skills of of of hunters, both black and white, and women. And I must say, even w with our uh uh superstar in in the audience, Rick Diller, you know, he kind of that was one of the big ones. And uh we had a lot of uh um you know feedback from that. But the the the the work that goes into it in terms of finding the right uh um people to come on, that's right, you know, with the right energy, right energy. And then the the the post-production, which oh my god, that that's that's that's grueling to edit of editing and making sure it looks right as presentable. Cause um one thing that we agreed on uh it's okay to show mistakes, it's okay to show a flaw, it's okay to not be perfect. So if you started our podcast, you would see how we started. It was kind of rough at first because we had we were learning. And um I think that that showed our authenticity or our realness in this space. Because you know, we don't want to present ourselves as anything other than authentic. Now we're not not saying we're no authority, but I think with the perspective that we have and our experience with the people that we bring on, I think we can make a pretty good case is hey, if you listen to what we are presenting, then you will have the tools and things that you need in order to go out and at least be relatively successful out in the outdoors. That's right.

SPEAKER_01 37:21

I'm gonna ask you this, but I kind of already know the answer to it. How's the reception been? Because I seen you over here with Michael Waddell not long ago. So I'm I'm gonna assume the reception so far has been pretty dang good. It's been it's been great.

SPEAKER_04 37:34

You hear a, you know, we was fortunate once again to meet some great people that try to prepare us for what's to come. And so they said, hey, you're gonna get some good, but you're also gonna get some bad. Yeah. And then they want to bring in why you want to talk to Michael Waddell when you can talk to someone else like me or and and and and get a jump start. And I was like, why not talk to someone that's already well established in the industry, regardless of what they look like, because the platform is already established. So in order to grow, we're not taking just small steps, we're taking big steps. And to be here with you is a gigantic step.

SPEAKER_01 38:14

Oh my god. Oh my god, this bar is raised very well, it's already there. Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 38:21

And we appreciate the opportunity. So we to just to be amongst some of the greats that have already paved the way that that have hunted in so many different areas, and then to have us on the shows is just you know, I'm thankful. Yes, I'm thankful for the grateful just to be here amongst your great.

SPEAKER_01 38:40

Envy is what got the devil kicked out of hell. And there's gonna always be some people that are envious because they look in there and they they're gonna get on that keyboard down in their mama's cellar and they're gonna say, Man, I don't, I don't, I don't spend one millisecond worrying about any of that.

SPEAKER_04 38:56

Neither.

SPEAKER_01 38:57

It's pretty I don't get many negative comments, not many, but if I do, I'll I just, you know, delete block. Right because there's always gonna be that. 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 Omx app helps me do that in a way that makes sense to them. They're all about apps and that phone. Using Omex 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 might be static tofu lines mean. Bottom line, Onyx Hump makes learning fun for those young ones. It still helps me find success in the field. It's an easy-to-use platform, and even I can do it. I suggest it for any age outdoorsman.

SPEAKER_06 40:30

You're listening to Fistful of Dirt with Cunt Strickland. Presented by Macio Properties.

SPEAKER_01 40:43

We do have an audience here. Rick Diller, by the way, he's gonna be on here in a couple of weeks. I'm not gonna spill any of them things. But we uh you asked me, well, I got a friend named Rick Diller. Do you know him? And I got a I showed you that picture. We he was on Hunting the Country 30 years ago.

SPEAKER_04 41:00

And I saw that I saw that shit.

SPEAKER_01 41:02

I was personally always fascinated when I saw somebody that was black trying to break in. What he wasn't trying to break in, he was a biologist. Yeah, and I was like, we're gonna take a biologist, yeah, and we just had the best time and all that. But it was like, if I can get him on here and get him a little exposure, because you said it before we turned these microphones, people are listening to podcasts, they love them stories, and they're gonna eat up talking about your daddy and your brother. Now, people love that kind of stuff. And since we went down this comment road, I want to get y'all's thoughts. Again, you're a little bit younger than I am, but you're really good at social media. What are your thoughts on social media these days as far as hunting and fishing goes? I ain't worried about political issues, but your thoughts on social media works at today, hunting and fishing wise.

SPEAKER_04 41:51

Uh the the the the younger crowd uh like quick, fast action. So those shorts, when you see those shorts, really capture the audience. Because I'm getting I get enticed when I see a quick short and somebody pulling back and they shoot a deer. You don't care about the whole story. You just want to see the end results. And so if you can capture the audience with the shorts, the little mini videos uh I think works well. And everyone has a phone now. Everyone is paying attention to their phone versus a TV. My son is about to go to college, uh, my my baby boy have three boys, and he's headed to college. I said, Do you want a TV? He said, No, I don't need a TV. I got an iPad and my phone. That's all he needs right now because he looks at that and they flip through. And so once they find something that captures their their their uh their their the vision, then they want to continue to look at it. And hey, that's everybody.

SPEAKER_01 42:45

Everybody that ain't just your son, that's everybody. Right.

SPEAKER_03 42:49

And see, I I think uh with social media there's a uh responsibility aspect to it as well. Now, granted, uh social media is great. It's great for exposure, it's great for getting the message out there, but there's a responsibility that's attached to it as well. What what we try to do, particularly with We Hunt 2, We Fish 2, is being responsible in terms of being not only authentic, but presenting the information in a way that's not only is relatable, but it's respectable to the outdoors, to all ages. To all ages, not just to our generation, but the younger generation as well. Um we we refrain from a lot of negative things. So we don't we don't talk about negative things. We present ourselves and our and our information in a way that is is relatable, is respectable, um, particularly in our hunts. Um it's not the it's not the big category type type stuff. We'll show a hunt, um, show the result, and then have some commentary about it. And hopefully the audience will take away some tips and advice that they can use. Um the the I think that with social media it it it it allows for a broader audience. That have a you know not necessarily a short attention span, but once you capture that audience, that'll lead them to other platforms where they can get the whole story. That's correct. Um so I think social media uh has has helped the outdoor industry in terms of exposure, showing what the different uh opportunities people can have, but at the same time, I truly believe in the their the the responsibility uh of it as well. Um I won't get into the negative part because you know we we we pride ourselves on being positive.

SPEAKER_01 44:31

I'm gonna jump on that negative part just a little bit. And look, I got I'm on there all the time. I gotcha. Uh on every format you can think of. And this year I took a uh I took three of my grandsons to the NWTF. If I've told this story, just give me a minute, I'll go through it again, but it fits here. And there was a couple of, I mean, there's a bunch of influencers there. They call them influencers, and two of them are girls, and they work with Mossy Oak's son, but these are these girls are very popular. They're also very classy. Yes, yes. You know, they ain't wearing a bikini up there catching up. These girls, hunting, they're really good. The only reason my grandsons went is because they wanted to meet them two girls and have their picture made. And their line, the line was long. And I was looking at that going, how cool is that that we even have somebody to pass it on to. And I made a post about it, and some guy just went off on me about man, there's too many people hunting. You couldn't get close to the booth because of these influencers, and I I lit him up. I usually block and delete, but I was like, dude, that's the reason that that you should be proud that the young people are taking any interest in what we do because it that that's where they're gonna get their information. It really is, and you guys do a good job on that. Not being selfish is one of the things.

SPEAKER_04 45:52

I yeah, I think we we owe it to the younger folks to to because they don't know anything about it. Like I've I took all three of my boys hunting. Out of three, the middle son is the one that really loves it. He comes back from college, he wants to go, he wants to go. My baby boy said, I help you dissect the daddy, but I'm not gonna kill it. My oldest son said, Um, I shoot, but I don't want to clean. But my middle son, he'll do everything. They're individuals. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 46:22

Yes. That's uh that's just the way it goes. And uh you you can't expect everybody to understand it, but it's like I tell I, you know, if if you buy a hunting license and you go by the rules, we're on the same team.

SPEAKER_02 46:34

Yes, right.

SPEAKER_01 46:35

And that envy itself, it just drives me crazy. Which and and I don't want you to talk negative here, but I gotta ask you what you because I talk about this till the cows come home about uh and I I've watched a good bit of what y'all done put out. Sometimes I fast forward to it because of time, but it's really it's really good to watch y'all getting good tips. You talk about archery, you talk about bow hunting, tree stands, fishing, salt water, whatever it is. The we we s I s I feel like we can't hardly get out of this big buck mentality. And I have fought that with my grandsons from the get-go. I went so far as to take the trail cameras down and say, let's go look. Here's a buck rub and there's a slide and all that. You think we get too tied up in that from time to time?

SPEAKER_03 47:20

I I I think so. Um, but I mean it's it's to each individual. You have to each his own. Each individual have their own purpose, they have their own motivation as to why they hunt or why they get into the outdoor, which is fine. But let's not miss uh the bigger picture. Yeah. And that's what we try to promote, that's what we try to teach, it's bigger than the hardest. It's bigger than uh how many inches. Even though Rick Dillard gave us a great uh schooling on how deer are measure, but it's much bigger than that. I think it's the experience, I think it's the lessons learned, um, both from the successes and the failures. I think those lessons are are are can be uh transferred into everyday life. It'll help be a barometer for how we live every day uh with preparation, dedication, and determination. Those three things are seen in how you go about harvesting a deer, uh prepping for it, and being determined to be successful. No, it don't have to be the biggest, it could just be a doe, it could be uh a six-point, it doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_04 48:20

So I saw a spike that was uh six years old. Yeah. Spike tall, 14 inches. I was so excited trying to harvest that with my bow, but he was very smart, right? And then you come to a I had a 120-inch eight-pointer come out. I was focused on harvesting that more mature deer than I was trying to harvest his two and a half, three-year-old eight-pointer because he has his doctorate in avoiding people. Yeah, and I wanted that doctor not so much for the antlers because he was so smart in avoiding. And he used to live, I thought, deep in the woods. No, he was living close to the gate when I come in. Watching you more than you was watching me. Thank you. And so it's yes, we focus on on antlers. Uh me personally, my growth is can I harvest something a little larger, more mature than I did uh the before the the year before? And what is it going to take? Like you said, taking the cameras down, that really evens the playing feel. And now it really puts you back into okay, a real hunter, a woodsman, understanding the layout of the land and what can you do to try to get who made that that rub on that tree.

SPEAKER_03 49:40

That's uh public land, or going to public land, yeah, where you don't have the cameras or you don't have the the the comforts of a nice shooting house and being able to place that stand in that same place year after year. You have to go and read the signs of the woods in order to be successful, play the win. Absolutely. Understand where you are on that ridge and understand thermals and how they fall throughout the day. So that's right. That's that's that's where it's at for me.

SPEAKER_01 50:05

It's all okay.

SPEAKER_03 50:07

That's it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:08

I tell you when I had my eyes opened, and everybody gets hung up in it. I mean, everybody wants to shoot a big deal. We all do. Ain't nothing wrong with that. Don't get me wrong. I was on the board of directors for back when it was the QDMA was the QDMA and now it's the NDA. But anyway, they had a they had a hunt. They they started by taking these, uh they'd go to these farmers markets and set up a little booth and cook venison.

SPEAKER_02 50:31

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 50:31

And these are in, these ain't like in Alabama. These are places where city folks coming out to and everybody would eat the venison. Oh, I'd love to get that. Anyway, ended up, they put on a hunt. I think it was 14 people at the first one. Crossbows, and we had classes, how to shoot a crossbow, how to pop a wine up. That was the most diverse people in that thing. Black, Asian, purple hair, nose. Anyone you want to see was there. And I was so fired up because they were there to learn how to hunt. So I was talking to them, and this is what was hanging them up from not going on their own was what to do with the deer after they got it. And it's like, and one of them said, you know, I tried turkey hunting because I knew if I got a turkey, I can throw that thing over my shoulder and get it, and I eat one for Thanksgiving. So I I got really down a bunch of rabbit holes on teaching people, look, you ain't got to process it, figure out how to get it to your vehicle, there's process and all that. Yeah, there's millions of people, I call it the low-hanging fruit, that want to do this right for the protein. That's right. That's what they're interested in. They are. And I always like trying to talk to those people saying, hey, it's okay. You know, shoot a spike, it's okay. You got one tag and you got two weekends.

SPEAKER_03 51:51

You got a chance to get another one.

SPEAKER_01 51:53

Shoot a spike.

SPEAKER_03 51:53

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 51:54

That's okay. And I I I just feel that coming from y'all's podcast and it's on.

SPEAKER_03 51:58

Because I I tell them, I'm scared, I mean the cuts off. It was one video. I told him, I said, hey, you're gonna get that one out of the way. Yeah, gonna get that one out of the way.

SPEAKER_04 52:07

Then you can hunt the big ball. I had a I had a buddy to come hunting with me, and he likes to hunt. But me personally, when it comes to cleaning deer, okay, I've done it so long, uh, I don't wear gloves. But when he came to the deer, it listened. And you're done. Listen, I thought I was on uh looking at Gray's Anatomy because he had put a whole plastic suit on and gloves on, and I was giggling inside, but I'm just excited that he wanted to go ahead and clean and understand the trajectory of his bullet. And and I said, I said, look, this is how you harvest your deer. I said, I can tell you by the way that that the bullet went in your deer, how what angle he was sitting at. He said, How could you tell? I said, Come here. I said, Look, here's the blood splatter. Your deer ran off here. Now, this ground is uneven. I said, That's why your bullet hit high and it went low. Because when you shot, you was up a little higher elevation. He said, How you know that? I said, Man, because I pay attention to details. And the more you harvest or miss, you're gonna understand what you do in the woods. So just pay attention to details.

SPEAKER_01 53:10

My daddy used to have a term, and I don't ever use it. It was a rough crowd back then. I was born in 1954, so you use use your magic. But then if somebody was uh not well versed in that, they would call them a wicker bill and laugh. And I was like, I I ain't like that. I have been that. Like I walk into the co-op, I bought a little piece of land, and I was in there asking questions about a food plot. And some guys looking at me going, You're cuz and you don't know how to do that. See, I felt like a wicker bill. So I would never, like you did, you said you were giggling on anything. You didn't want that person to you get so fired up that they didn't even want to be a part of it. Absolutely. Here's a deep question now. Okay, I because you guys would have a really good perspective on this. I have my own perspective on it. I've always said that the people that hunt, fish, trap, and that's a small world, we're kind of in a bubble, are the best people there are. And I've I've I have had a lot of black people around me, a bunch. I'll tell you some more stories, but do you do you feel like they're more receptive and they don't really care about color or anything else? I feel that. I don't know if you guys have a different perspective. I I don't see that going to 3D shoots and working at the Bass Pro over here and standing there signing hats. I I feel like it's the best group of people out there. Not that I'm putting people in groups. I'm just saying I think they get it.

SPEAKER_04 54:38

I I've been to several states hunting public and outfitting businesses, and the experience that I've I've received, the the love that I received was more than I guess the negative, outweighed the negative. You everyone's pretty much at camp or on hunting ground for one purpose, is trying to harvest or enjoy the great outdoors. And so the experience that I have in any island in Kentucky and Ohio and and uh Wyoming, all was so wonderful. Everybody showed love. It was no color, it was hunting, hunting buddies coming in, telling stories, and may have a cold one at the end of the day. We have a little shootout competition, it was great, just trying to see if we harvested an animal or not. But we sat out and we we talked amongst each other. And if you could take a picture, it looked like salt and pepper because we just mixed and mingled all with each other, and we were just telling stories. No one saw color or anything like that. I think we left out there with a lot of phone numbers, a better respect for each other, saying there are other people like us that look different than us that can hunt uh that can hunt too.

SPEAKER_01 55:48

Man, I wish everybody could grow up hunting fish. What do you think, Doc?

SPEAKER_03 55:52

Well, uh I I think this. Um I have I I had a conversation or interview with a game warden, a white gang warden. And um one of the questions that I want to ask is about the perception that, you know, black black people have with, you know, public land, gang warden, stuff like that. But here's my experience. I was coming out of this public land called Chacalaco, which is in the northeast corner of the state of Alabama, and um Don't be dropping no pens for him now.

SPEAKER_01 56:22

No, no, no, they're gonna be looking for you, truck. I ain't finna tell you, uh do that.

SPEAKER_03 56:28

But um I'm coming, I'm coming out of the woods and down the down toward the gate, and I have my my weapon across my shoulders, walking down, and at the end of the gate, you got two, three white guys sitting at at the truck talking this and then the third. Now, normally anybody would think, like, oh, you know, what this experience finna be like, or what they're gonna say, or you know, do I need to make sure I have my you know, you know, case of an emergency type things available to me. So but at but I'm saying all that to say all that wasn't necessary. Yeah because the the closer I got, the the the the smile started to come, that they started to turn and say, hey, did you see anything? Hey, uh what you were looking for? Hey, um, we you know, I saw one come out this way. The conversation turned to hunting instead of what I look like or what they look like or what their fears were by seeing me or what my fears were with seeing them. So to to answer your question, I think that um hunting does bring people together uh if you give it if you give it an opportunity to. Um I shared on even on the Waikam My Dead on the Michael Waddell show. Last I remember, all the deer was brown. Yeah, all of us. So the ones I hunted brown, the ones you hunt around. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 57:50

It's uh you I may be weird, and that's okay. I may be we all weird a little bit. I don't ever think about that until I s if I go home and I watch the news for 30 minutes, and it's like somebody seems to always be staring the pot. The people that I'm around all day, yeah, and it none none of that ever comes up. It was about food plot stuff or hey, I'm looking at a used tractor and all that.

SPEAKER_04 58:15

It's just aggravated. Because that is the money. Yeah. And if they don't talk about the negative uh and get the negative responses, and then it's just it's not TV. Yeah, everybody wants everybody wants to see the good and the bad, but they want to see animosity. They want to see, you know, so dividends. Dividends. And and look at the comments. Look at the comments when when you have uh uh great comments, you have a little like, a like, like. But when there's a negative coming, everybody goes to that negative coming and then start talking about it and really focus on the negative versus the positive.

SPEAKER_01 58:56

I I just wanted to bring that up because I felt like we should. And that's good. It just it just aggravates. It's uh yeah. You said something about you know, for likes and money and all that kind of stuff. I want to ask you two. Y'all probably got a great perspective on this. Do you think it's easier right now or harder if you reach somebody and they say, okay, I'm gonna pull the trigger, I'm gonna get into this. You think it's easier right now? Or do you think it's harder because stuff costs so much, it's the access limited? Just your personal thoughts on how hard or easy is it for somebody to get going after that you got them motivated.

SPEAKER_03 59:35

50 bucks. Yeah. You can go to Baz Pro, Academy, Walmart, you can pay 50 bucks to to get your license to have access to about what, 700, 50. And uh it's relatively for for for a person from my background who is budget conscious starting out, yeah, I can get my license for 50 bucks, get me a savage on for about 239 bucks. Uh get some Walmart clothing for $19.99 a piece, um walk out in the woods and shoot a deer. Literally, that's the entry point. I think that the conversation that has drive driven hunting now is the latest and greatest. If you want to be good, if you want to be great, you got to have this or that. So um that can be quite expensive.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:24

And and I heard two things when you asked that. Were we talking about getting into hunting or getting into it being a podcast? Hunting. Hunting. Okay, okay, okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:33

Yeah, and so getting we're gonna get them on your podcast. Then y'all gotta get them into hunting. But we can do that. Is it hard or easy because stuff costs so much? People use that for a crutching excuse. I'm like you. Yeah, you know, when I started, I didn't have no camo. I had a Marlin 3030 that was silver because the balloon was water.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:52

Right.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:52

But I was determined.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:53

Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:55

Either you got that or you don't.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:56

So and and if you don't want to buy a brand new gun, go to a reputable company and you can get a used gun. Go to a punch shop. Go to a punch shop. Uh, and and or you can go to a a nice store that has uh used guns and get your uh, like you said, get your nice gun.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:12

And and uh you can go out with a khaki pair of pants and a a green shirt. You don't have to get so caught up like uh some of us, like myself, because you want to blend in with the woods. Just go out there and experience outdoors. Sit down, even if you don't go out there with any weapon. I've said this before. If you just go outside, doing not even in hunting season, understanding the different vegetation that's growing. Get you some binoculars, close your eyes. Listen to where you are, that's right, and then open your eyes. See if you can spot that blue jay in the tree trying to knock that acorn out, or you hear uh a cardinal, or you hear a sparrow, do you hear a marking bird? Okay, you have to understand what's a a crow. And then you hear the crow, do you hear a turkey? So it's a bear owl. A bear owl, yes. So it's so much that you can do. Just listen first before you go hunting. Observe the woods, and then after you observe the woods, and then it's so much out there where we live, it's outdoors Alabama. That's a a link that you can go to understanding the different uh seasons that occurring bag limits, different uh proper WMAs that you can go to. So you and you and it's it's a plane, it's a map, so you can understand that. And that don't cost you anything going to outdoor Alabama. That's free. And then 50 bucks, like you said. You can get started.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:31

Best way to find and follow the podcast, and you two guys, I want you to list everything where they can go on YouTube, Instagram. Why can we find and keep up with you guys?

SPEAKER_03 1:02:42

Well, definitely go to YouTube. That's where our podcasts are uh housed at uh we hunt to we fish to on YouTube.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:49

Now two is uh the number two, number two. The number two, we hunt to the number two, we hunt, we hunt to, we hunt, we can.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:56

We hunt to, we fish to got you.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:59

That's YouTube. Yes, sir. You guys do Instagram or any of that stuff?

SPEAKER_03 1:03:02

Yes, yeah. We hunt to, we fish to is on Instagram and TikTok. Facebook um is actually on the doc at uh we hunt to we fish to, but you can find it there as well. Um we're moving to um Spotify and Apple Cat Apple Podcast Um in about a couple of weeks.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:22

So that's where you need to be. You deserve to be there. Well, from uh just I guess a podcaster to another. I appreciate y'all coming all the way over here.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:33

We appreciate the opportunity to sit out talking with the the man.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:36

Yeah, I got here a little bit later, but the good news is we dragging our feet enough. We're gonna I'm gonna take y'all down there to No Way Jose. We're gonna have an early supper before we drive that two hours back to Birmingham. Yes, sir, yes sir, absolutely. Uh we got Rick Dillard over, like I say, he's gonna be back up here in a couple of weeks. And uh we're gonna probably go visit the retail store. But I I appreciate it, and the only the only I don't have any uh underlying motives other than I just wanted to promote the podcast. Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:04

You could have chosen anybody, yes sir. But uh we thank you so that at least it shows what we're doing is it's reaching oh yeah, you know, not the little bit. We meet we reach the big dogs. So to reach the big dogs, you know. This quick in the in in in the industry is is is wonderful for us. So we're headed in the right direction. We we positive, we're two positive individuals. Once we leave here, we're gonna debrief. Yeah, we're gonna have a that's two hours felt like we're about 30 minutes. Yeah, because we're talking the whole time. By the anticipation of getting here. Yeah, what to expect, what to learn uh from a great person as yourself. And and takeaway is gonna be great. What can we do to be better than we were before? Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:47

Well, I I learned a long time ago that, and you know, I've I've been everything. I was the milkman, I was a produce boy at the Kroger, and everybody's got a story. Yes, right, sir. And most of them are probably way more interesting than yours and mine. Right, right, right. And uh I I love sharing those because I get tired of uh, you know, somebody trying to sell me something. Oh, that's a good thing about y'all's podcast. I'm like, man, that's real. That's uh we hunt to, we fish to on YouTube. That's the best place to go, right there.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:18

Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:18

Well, God bless you guys. I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:20

Thank you. God bless you as well. Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:23

If you enjoy listening to Fistful of Dirt Podcast, then you've probably heard. Give us a rating, leave us a review if you like it. Well, if you like it, here's what you can do: open your iTunes Podcast app available in the app store if you don't already have it on your phone, and type in Fistful of Dirt. Make sure you're following us, scroll down through the episodes until you see ratings and reviews. Have the stars to rate the show and click write a review if you'd like to leave us a comment. The good ratings help us out and ensure that more people will be able to discover the podcast. Thanks for listening. We'll see you in seven days.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:00

I enjoyed the heck out of that.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:02

That was fun.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:03

Let me tell you something different about them too. And and they were they they thought it was a big deal coming over here. And they were a little bit nervous or maybe off their game a little bit. I can tell you both of those people are great storytellers.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:16

Oh yeah. And we even got some off the mic too. I know they're good storytellers. Absolutely. Should have turned their mics on a little sooner.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:24

But the most impressive thing was they wore you out for an hour after it was over with.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:29

About getting better, getting more dialed in with their production into things.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:34

It's gonna you you know they're gonna be successful.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:36

Yeah, because they asked all the right questions.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:38

And we had a and we had a blast. I took them, I took them to eat supper after it was over with. And man, I heard a bunch of stories, and I was like, I brought the microphones for this. Big time hunt bow hunters, they wanted to be Africa, they saw water fish, and it's like you could go in any direction you wanted with them, but I really enjoyed that. And I went ahead and subscribed. I think the easiest way to follow them is on YouTube, I'm not sure. But it's we hunt too, we fish too with Lou and Doc.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:08

Lou and Doc.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:09

Enjoyed the heck out of that. Alright, fixing the pack up and go, like I said, an opening to the legends of the outdoors hall of fame induction ceremony in Springfield. I'll be sure and give y'all a uh recount of how that went. I don't I I'm really anxious to hear Ted New York.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:28

Oh, I know, me too. You should record that. You should just slip up there with your phone and record some of that audio.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:34

Get some sound bikes for Lauren. We may do that. All right, if y'all out doing deer prep, be careful, it's still awful hot. And uh that's the bad thing about Mississippi. We have every kind of snake there is except the ones that got loose in Florida and they ain't poisoned. So if you're out doing deer prep, prepare for them ticks, watch for them snakes. So from me and Laureen up in the Camo Cave from Mossy Oak and Mossy Oak Properties, God bless you all.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:02

We'll see you in seven days.