Redemption and Records

This week Nathan introduces Elijah Summerton and hears how going back to his roots in the woods helped him find his faith. Dayton talks about setting some personal records and his start as a three-year-old outlaw. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Welcome to Lone Star Trail, a new outdoor show aimed at bringing you hunting and fishing updates and compelling stories from around Texas and right here at home. Get ready to join us down the trail. Now, here's your host, Nathan Smith.

SPEAKER_04 0:24

Hello, friends, and welcome to another edition of the Lone Star Trail. I'm your host, Nathan Smith, and I'm glad you could join us for another edition of the show. We'd love to hear back from you, all of our listeners, uh, whether you're listening online or with one of our affiliate stations. We're happy to have you, and we'd love to hear from you. You can email us at Lone Star Trailradio at gmail.com or find us on Facebook, Lone Star Trail. Uh we'd love to hear from you. See pictures, uh stories from your adventures out in the field. Uh anything you want to share with us. We'd love to talk with you. We enjoy visiting with our listeners. On today's show, we're going to hear a story of redemption uh from a guy named Elijah Sumerton out of Arkansas. Ran across Elijah's story or part of his story on Facebook, took a shot in the dark and was able to get in contact with him and heard more about uh his life, uh the impact of the outdoors, hunting, fishing, and uh the uh the values that it taught him at an early age, and uh and then returning to those values after living a very different life uh in Memphis for a number of years. So uh inspiring story of overcoming a lot uh and returning to his roots. Returning to his roots and uh and to his faith. And uh a really just uh amazing young man and uh one who is really doing some interesting things and uh someone to keep an eye on. But I want to introduce you to him, Elijah Summerton. Also, we're gonna talk with M6 outfitters and uh and hear some interesting stories about guided hunts, uh, the season that they've completed, what's on the horizon for them, and just an outlook on wildlife in general in Texas as we continue to see drought conditions increase across the state. Dayton House on House Rules today talks about records and regrets. Yeah, he's got some of both, and uh he's gonna share some of those stories on this week's edition of House Rules. So pour that second cup of coffee and uh sit back and relax, enjoy the show. Couldn't do the show without our great sponsors, so we're gonna hear from them right now. Whether you're looking to buy your next hunting property or have acreage to sell, you need Brian Clark and Ranch Pro Real Estate in your corner. They use the latest in technology to make listings easy for sellers to maximize value. In the market to buy that perfect ranch or hunting getaway, call Ranch Pro Real Estate at 325-642-3630. That's Ranch Pro Real Estate at Ranchpro Realestate.com. The land is their life. You're listening to the Lone Star Trail. We're glad you're here. Now let's get back to the show. Welcome back to the show on the phone. Today we've got Elijah Summerton all the way from Arkansas. Elijah, tell us where you're at today.

SPEAKER_01 3:17

I'm in Le Panto, Arkansas. Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_04 3:21

What's the what's the closest, biggest town that's that's next to?

SPEAKER_01 3:24

Oh, Jonesboro. We're we're actually right in between Jonesboro and Memphis, Tennessee. So it's about a 45-minute drive each way.

SPEAKER_04 3:32

I gotcha. Okay. Heart, the heart of Arkansas.

SPEAKER_05 3:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 3:36

All right. Well, thanks for joining the program today, man. Um uh taking some time to visit with us. I think uh listeners are really gonna be in for a treat uh today as they uh as they hear from you. And again, just thanks for thanks for the the time you're taking to visit.

SPEAKER_01 3:52

Most definitely, man. Yeah, I appreciate you uh giving me this opportunity.

SPEAKER_04 3:56

So I I ran across uh your Facebook page on accident. I was just uh I guess I was doom scrolling the other night and I ran across uh I ran across your page and it it caught my attention in one of the videos you posted recently about a a former life, a completely former life that you uh that you lived at one time when in your younger days. And uh that was a powerful video. I don't know, maybe it was 20 seconds long, but man, it was powerful because the images that it showed, and then at the end, you know, you're you're sitting up with a with a uh a tripod and a rifle uh overlooking that looks like probably some water nearby, but hunting out somewhere. And and uh it wasn't the the the pictures from a former life to the hunting picture that was transformative or impactful to me, it was the it was the fact that you in that video mentioned that you'd given your life to Jesus, and uh and that is what really truly caused your transformation. So without giving many details away, man, and and whatever you're comfortable with, uh I'm gonna ask you to to kind of walk us through some of that in just a second. But uh for the listeners, listeners that are that are out there right now wondering why are we even talking about this, it's you know, on this show on the Lone Star Trail, we talk about we talk about conservation, we talk about hunting, fishing, uh updates and news. Uh, but but really as men, especially, you know, when I I feel renewed every time I'm outside and every time I'm I'm out outdoors, uh, especially any chance I get to hunt or fish with uh family, you know, it's a renewing experience to me. And um I, you know, I'm I'm also you cannot help be reminded of God's power and his grace and his his mercy when you're out in his creation. And so that's the connection for for this show and trying to always drive that home on this show. So Elijah, tell us about um uh tell us about Elijah and and that backstory a little bit, and then you know, kind of talk about where you are today.

SPEAKER_01 6:02

All right. Well, to uh not make this a lifetime long story, I'm gonna sum it up. So started off, uh I I was born and raised in my early years here in Lepanto, Arkansas. This is a town that's probably about 2,000, less than 2,000 people. So I mean it's very rural Arkansas. It's what everybody does hunts, fish, ride the back roads. And um, I started off that way. So then when I was around 13 years old, uh I never had a father. So that was a thing in my life that I always struggled with. I was about 13. Um, a person that was really close, she was my great aunt. She was like a mother or grandmother to me. She passed away, and just a line of events started happening. As in, like, you know, my I started getting in trouble. My family started kind of disowning me, and just the more that happened, the more I got away from all of that and started going down a bad path. I moved to Memphis. Moved to Memphis, and and things started happening in your life when uh when you moved. Yeah, I mean, I I was already kind of getting in trouble. I was, you know, being disowned by my family and this and that, and it kind of just pushed me away and wanted me to rebel. And I've always had a very rebellious spirit. I I say it all the time, I should have gone to the military. That was the perfect place for me. I I was looking for action, I was looking for all these things, and I would have found it in a better place if I would have gone to the military. But I went to Memphis, a way worse place. So when I went to Memphis, um it just started cascading, and I started getting deeper and deeper and deeper there. And uh I ended up, you know, started a rap career, and I did pretty decent around the local scene. I was around a lot of famous people, and all that came to be at the height of my career around 2020, like I was doing probably better than I've ever done before. And something changed in my heart. And I just I would find myself going out to places, going to shows, going to clubs, going to friends' house, and it just it would make me sick feeling. Like I just could not stand to be there. I couldn't stand the sights, the smells, the noises. I just something started changing. And I started to have a change of heart, and I did not understand it. I mean, towards the end, I got I got pretty dark, and I'm I I was far away from Christ as I could be. I I denied him. I didn't pay him any mind. I didn't think twice about him. It was just like, hey, there's you know, that guy they tell me to follow, and I don't want to choose to follow him. But it started really changing on my heart, so I didn't understand what it was, but I I knew something was different. And I had a calling to go back home. And the weirdest part that I still can't figure out is nothing happened. Usually, it's usually something bad happens, it kind of snaps you in. But I mean, I I was I was doing fine in life. I had the most money I've ever had, I was doing the best of my career, but it just it changed in me. So I moved back to Le Panto, I moved back to Arkansas. Um, I had a daughter, she was about uh almost a year, I believe, when we finally got back over here. And I had a buddy, he was a farmer, and he gave me a job because I just kind of just up and left. I didn't have nothing set over here. And he gave me a job, we got a house here, and started feeling more and more like I wanted to go to church, and I just didn't understand, I didn't know why I wanted to go to church. But then we started a business. My brother-in-law who's married to my sister, um, he he was in construction his whole life, and me and him started a construction business, so we was working that, and then we was working seven days a week, 12, 16-hour days. I had no time to go to church, so I sent my family to go first. And my wife and kids started going to church, and they've been going there for probably about six months, and then we started taking weekends off, and then I got into church, and that's when I kind of realized what happened. I realized what made that change. And there was a a lady in in our church, her name is Lisa Tyler, and she told me something, you know, that whole time you was going through that, Jesus was with you the whole time. He he was right beside you. So now looking back, I can see all that. I can see where he was with me. There were so many times I was not supposed to be here. I mean, there there was one time I had just had a wreck and my car got totaled. So I was walking to the store about 10 o'clock at night, and three guys ran up on me with guns to rob me. And two of them took off running after they got, you know, the little that I had on me, and the other one turned around and pointed the gun at me and pulled the trigger and it didn't go off. It was just moments like that that I was like, um he he was there seeing me through all of that, even when I was totally against him, he was still with me. And it got me to where I'm at now, man. Now I'm I'm fully invested. I am fully invested. I I don't just go to church and sit in the pew, man. I go to Sunday school, I go to every event, and I annoy my pastor with about 20 questions a day.

SPEAKER_04 11:36

Wow, what a story, man. What a what an amazing uh transformation that is. And you know, God put that at least recognition in you, even though you may not have known what it was at the moment. Uh He put that recognition that something's not right here in you. So man, that's awesome. Well, thanks for sharing that. Today uh you mentioned your your construction business. Uh and I it's black hammer, is that right? Yes. Construction? Black hammer.

SPEAKER_05 12:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 12:08

Black hammer construction, yeah. And you guys do all kinds of different construction right now.

SPEAKER_01 12:12

Yeah, we um we do a lot of remodels. We're actually about to do a full house remodel for one of the parsonages for our church. And um, we've done several full house remodels, bathroom and kitchen remodels. Sometimes we do a lot of new builds, a lot of decks and fences in the summertime. Yeah, we're we're most definitely blessed. It's we're doing very well.

SPEAKER_04 12:35

You also find some time uh for social media, and that's like I said, that's how I came across your stuff and your story, um, where you post uh a lot of stuff about all kinds of hunting and fishing and uh outdoor activities.

SPEAKER_01 12:49

What we're doing is is about three years ago, I haven't hunted since I was probably a teenager. Because I moved to Memphis and there's you know not a lot of people that I was hanging around with and hunted. And about three years ago, me and my business partner, we um decided to go deer hunting, and I just I fell in love with it all over again, probably way more than I was when I was a kid. And here recently we was talking and we was like, man, if we could figure out a way to make money off hunting and we could do it a lot more and do something we love. So that's the whole reason that we I even started social media. Um, he does it with me, he's on the other side of it. He doesn't want to be on camera, so he forced me to be on camera. Right. So um, so yeah, we just started running with it, and we're you know, we'd we would love to do, you know, if we could make some good part-time money to sure to hunt and fish, uh that that would be a dream. That's the dream.

SPEAKER_04 13:47

Yeah, exactly. That is the dream. I'm trying to do the same thing. I mean, uh, that's what we're all trying to do, is trying to find ways to go to go hunting. Yeah. Right. Yeah. I talked recently to a guy who's uh he's got a he's got a guide service on the lake close to us here, and it's becoming a real popular bass lake. And um, you know, he he uh that's what he said. He's like, I'm living everybody's dream right here. Is it's work, don't get me wrong, it's work guiding for for bass fishing, but it's at the same time you're out on a boat every single day, you know. So it's work you get excited to go do. Speaking of boats, give us a little bit of your your I really appreciated your philosophy, and I played it for my wife. She was not as impressed with your John Boat philosophy, but tell us about tell us about your John your John Boat theory. A video you posted on Facebook the other day.

SPEAKER_01 14:38

Well, I said that a John boat is the ultimate boat because it can do everything. Um and I got my first boat about two years ago, and it was a small little 12-foot, very narrow boat, had a motor on there, it was too big for it, so it it rolled rough. And um that's we was on the water every day, every single day. And then now I've got a newer and bigger boat, and we just we do so many different things in that John boat, and I know guys that have hundred thousand dollar bass boats, and they can't do nothing but bass fish, and they gotta be in big water, and they can't get into tight places. Like I can bass fish, I can crappie fish, I can catfish, I can do any kind of fishing in it, but then I can also duck hunt out of my boat, or I can get into very, very tight timber because we do a lot of timber hunting here in Arkansas in my John boat. I can um I brought it to the lake and went and had a lake day. I had my family on the uh pontoon, and we was in the John boat and we were switching back and forth, and it it was a good time. And and over in this part of Arkansas, there's uh the most rednecks you can see around here. So I've seen people I've seen people skiing off of John Boat, and there's a river, it's called Little River, and when it floods, it gets really big. So when it was flooded one time, and there was guys that was pulling behind a John boat skiing. And I've seen people pulling tubing on John Boat. I mean, you can do anything, and then and then um over here at the St. Francis Lake, there's sand bars around June, July when the water starts getting low, and you'll go out there and see a hundred John boats parked on them sandboats and people out there hanging out. So it's it does everything. I mean, you can have a lake boat, but it's a lake boat, and then you can have a bass boat, but it's just a bass boat, but you can turn a john boat into anything. And I I tell people all the time, hey, if you're thinking about getting a John boat, just do it. Get a John boat, you won't regret it.

SPEAKER_04 16:40

Just do it, exactly. Good advice. You know, I'm gonna have to you've never been to Brown County, Texas, and if you're talking about uh the world's biggest rednecks, because we may give we may give you a run for your money on that. All great people, but but and I'm you know, I'm I'm I'm redneck myself, so um I are one. Yeah. Man, Elijah, um what's on the what's on the horizon for you guys with your company, with your uh social media stuff, with your your personal spiritual walk. What what do you see on the horizon?

SPEAKER_01 17:18

Well, we would um we would like to uh as my partner would say, retire the hammer. You see, he's tired. Yeah, he's tired. He's he's been actually doing it as a family business since he was 12 years old. So um he's actually younger than me. I'm 37, he's 32, and he has a lot more X and pains than I do because of it. And he was like, man, if we can do something. So I've kind of seen it my mission to try to help us get out of that. And that's what we're doing with social media, and then you know, if it if it works, it works. If not, he's gonna be very unhappy with me. So um, and I've I actually when we started the business, I've never even done construction. I I could barely even work the power tools, and um but I had a little experience with business with being in music, and with him telling me that uh that he's done it for so many years, a guy came up to us and asked if we could build some apartments in the back of the gym. And he was sitting there kind of hesitant, and I was like, Yeah, sure, we can do it. And that's kind of what started our business, and um, I just started obsessing over learning about it and picked up on it quick where I could at least be of some assistance. And now we've been doing it for three years, a little over three years now, and it's it's been a blessing. I mean, God has blessed us to no end, even in in the winter times when the seasons slow, he he would give us an entire house remodel to keep us busy until it got spring again. So it's it's been an awesome opportunity. I've learned so much. Um just me also trying to find myself as a man, like what it means to be a man in Christ and to be able to provide for my family, it's taught me a lot. And I'm I'm very grateful for this journey that he put me on.

SPEAKER_04 19:16

That's huge, you know. And when we align ourselves with uh the definition of manhood, the biblical definition of manhood, it changes everything. You know, the world, the world looking in tells us as men what we should be. And so many times that's that's not what the Bible says a man looks like. You know, when we come to that realization and understanding of what biblical manhood actually means and actually looks like, then that's a turning point.

SPEAKER_01 19:45

Most definitely. And I I try to tell younger people all the time that I see that are, you know, when you're young, you're you're chasing all the worldly things. And I've been there, but I can't express enough. There's a different type of happiness. When you're young, you're chasing happiness and you can never catch it. But when you give your life to Christ and you live how you're supposed to as a man, it just comes to you. I've never in my life been this at peace and happy than I am raising a healthy family, working a hard job, providing for my family, and living for Christ and doing as much as I possibly can to serve the church. It just it I don't chase happiness no more. It just naturally comes. And I I I try to put that in these young men's, you know, we were hard-headed as young men too, so I understand, but I try to preach that as much as I can.

SPEAKER_04 20:35

Well, that's great, man. And keep on keeping on because the world needs more Christian men, and we uh we definitely need more uh Christian fathers and and role models and mentors. So uh good on you for for being that for for younger men and and boys growing up. Elijah Summerton, Lifanto, Arkansas. Man, thanks so much for your time today on the show. And uh we're gonna check back in with you. So uh I'm not gonna lose your number. I'm gonna bother you again, and we're gonna have another we're gonna have another talk. We'll get into some other topics next time we we uh get the chance to chat. But again, thanks so much for being here today. Thank you for having me, man.

SPEAKER_07 21:12

Stay tuned, like here. Lone Star Trail will return after these messages.

SPEAKER_03 21:19

We're here talking to one of the fastest growing invasive species in Texas. Hi, I'm Giant Salvinia, nasty invasive species. I double in size every week. I understand you destroy Texas lakes and ruin fishing. Oh, yeah, that's my thing. And that would be why boaters, fishermen, and skiers hate you. Yep, but they do give me rides from lake to lake. Folks, Giant Salvinia clings to boats, trailers, and gear. So remove even the smallest piece and put it in the trash. Don't tell them that! Hello, Giant Salvinia, could buy Texas Lakes. A message from Texas Parks and Wildlife.

SPEAKER_04 21:50

Whether you're looking to buy your next hunting property or have acreage to sell, you need Brian Clark and Ranch Pro Real Estate in your corner. They use the latest in technology. To make listings easy for sellers to maximize value. In the market to buy that perfect ranch or hunting getaway, call Ranch Pro Real Estate at 325-642-3630. That's Ranch Pro Real Estate at RanchproRealEstate.com. The land is their life. You're listening to the Lone Star Trail. We're glad you're here. Now let's get back to the show. Welcome back to the show. On the phone, we've got Gunner Mann. He's a professional hunting guide. Gunner, thanks for being here. Hey, thanks for having me. I want you to to start off uh a little bit. Tell us about how you got started in the hunting business and what what made you kind of just go all in on the guide service.

SPEAKER_02 22:55

Growing up, my we we grew up in Dallas, and uh my dad had a deer lease out in Richland Springs, and we'd come out here with me and my brother and my dad uh early. And growing up, I really honestly wasn't really all that involved. I was kind of all gung-ho on the sports and didn't really care to come out to the deer lease. Uh and then growing up, my brother, he he always every weekend he was with out here with my dad. And uh he we I remembered being real young and sitting in a blind with my brother, and he'd say, shoot that deer, and he's uh two years younger than me. So he'd say, shoot that deer. I said, I don't want to clean it. So he so he would so he would clean the clean the deer for me. And up until I mean even through high school, I I think I didn't, I don't think I really ever put my hands on my own deer until after high school. And uh, you know, then we kind of we didn't really separate ways or anyway, anything like that, but just kind of growing up, you know, I without being in school together, we started doing our own thing, and that's kind of when I started. But uh really my my brother and my dad, they kind of never really pushed it on me, but I it was always there.

SPEAKER_04 24:19

Right. Okay. Well, tell me about your your guide business. What's the what's the name of your business?

SPEAKER_02 24:24

Uh M6 Outfitters. We've been uh that's that's new. Uh it's been S D Whitales. And I was partnered up with a guy out of Zephyr for a few years, then we kind of he retired and we went our own ways. And so S D Whitales is now M6 Outfitters.

SPEAKER_04 24:44

How how many years have you uh have you been doing this?

SPEAKER_02 24:48

This is my ninth year in the guiding industry. Uh I kind of went full-time three years ago. And then last starting out, I was doing we had a glass company with my family, and uh I was doing that part-time or most of the time, and then started guiding here and there kind of randomly, and then it just got busier and busier. Oh, just a few years. I mean, I guess about three years ago, I've that's kind of when I went full-time.

SPEAKER_04 25:17

I'm sure you get lots of stories you could tell. Maybe some you can't tell on the radio, but um what yeah, if if you had to kind of define or or pick out a hunt that defined your your business or operation or maybe turn the corner for you, what what's that one hunt that that you were part of early on that did that?

SPEAKER_02 25:39

You know, I don't know if I could really point it down to one hunt. You know, it being uh every three or four days, it's almost like somebody news new is walking through the door, and you really, if you've never hunted with them before, you don't really know who's really coming besides a few minutes on the phone when they're booking. Uh but just overall, you know, every year you're gonna have one or two people that you just really can't make happy. Uh anything you do, but right, just the different people coming in and out. Uh, we're about 80% repeat clients, so it is nice knowing kind of who's coming and what to expect year after year. But yeah, I don't think I could nail it down just to one hunt, just being around the I mean, just different people.

unknown 26:30

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 26:31

Learning learning about where they're from and kind of what they're doing. And I mean, when you're sitting in a deer blind all day long, you kind of get to know somebody.

SPEAKER_04 26:40

Sure. What separates uh you guys from an average um outfitter in in Texas?

SPEAKER_02 26:48

Uh well when I first started guiding, uh you know, the the guy that I was working for, he and it stuck with me still, he would always say you control the controllables, uh, you can control your guides, you can control your lodging accommodations, uh, you can control the the food, whatever the chefs preparing. Uh you can't really control the animals, you can't control the weather. So if if you can take care of the if you can have good food, you can have good accommodations, uh, a good guide, then I mean you're you're already above most people at that point. And I do a lot of traveling, hunting, and visiting different people. Uh and I kind of take a little bit everywhere I go and say, this is what we can do better, this is what we need to work on. Uh so I I mean I use I use a lot of I guess other people, you know, uh just trying to always be better. But we've got a great group of guys. I've got uh myself and then uh three other guys that are with me pretty much all the time. And it's I mean it's almost like a brotherhood. I know exactly kind of what the other guy's thinking or doing before he's even doing it, and and then vice versa with them. So uh we really we worked well together, and I mean that's that's kind of really the key is controlling the controllables.

SPEAKER_04 28:18

Right. If somebody has has never booked a guided hunt before, uh anywhere, what what would they expect or what could they expect from one of your hunts, one of your trips? We're in turkey season now. You want to talk about turkey season? That's that's great.

SPEAKER_02 28:34

Or what we could talk about turkey season. I've been out, I got an Axis hunt going on right now, but uh we've kind of been out scouting birds and just getting prepared for opening day is a Saturday, uh for us in the North Zone. So I mean if if you're gonna book a turkey hunt and come out, we we kind of do a little bit of everything. I've got a do-it-yourself package where I kind of get give you an address and I'll send you a pen, meet you at the gate early morning and say and take you out and say, hey, the birds are been roosting in this area. Uh here's the property line, here's what the train looks like. Uh kind of give them a little pregame pep talk and basically say, go have fun, uh, be careful. Sometimes they'll say, hey, tag along if you want, and always like to if if they don't mind. But turkey hunting, a lot of these turkey hunters, they like to go by themselves and do their own thing. Uh some people like to sit in the same spot all day long, some people like to run and gun. So it kind of really depends. And then we got packages that where we we give you the full meal deal and uh we cater to you, we guide for you, we call the birds, uh, we take you everywhere we need to go. Uh chef prepared meals. When you come in, you don't have to worry about cooking dinner late or eating breakfast when we come in, it's already ready. Uh so I mean usually about a week or two out, I'm calling the the next group and saying, hey, you all ready? If you don't need anything, most of the time it's do you have any allergies? Uh is there anything you just absolutely don't like to eat in case we in case we make something and you didn't tell me that you just don't like onions. That happens a lot.

SPEAKER_04 30:26

First world problems, right?

SPEAKER_02 30:27

Yeah, right, right. But I mean, we kind of really we really do it all. Uh we do some day day meet hunts, but we do a lot of uh the all-inclusive package where we we feed and house you and make sure you're comfortable. And you really, I mean, if you just show up with your your gun and your binoculars, some people don't even bring binoculars, they just show up with a box of bullets, and uh we we get after it.

SPEAKER_04 30:56

I'm on your website here. Everything from uh access to zebra and all things in between looks like that's pretty much it. Yeah. Um audad, black buck, elk, gimmsbach, red stag, turkey, frogs.

SPEAKER_02 31:13

We do we do all that stuff. Uh the most that I mean the the stuff that we do kind of more of, we do a lot of Axis, a lot of black buck, uh, a whole bunch of white tail. This last year, I think we did 74 whitetail bucks, and uh I lost count on the does, but I mean just in the three months of season, uh we we were after it pretty good every day. And then I mean, in in between all that, we were still doing uh a bunch of Axis, black bucks here and there, all dad, uh some Gems Buck, Oryx. But we do a we we do a lot more of the black buck and the axis. That seems the more popular with the white tail.

SPEAKER_04 31:58

Right. If you're just joining the program this morning, we have Gunner Man with M6 Outfitters on the phone, and we've been talking about uh how you got into the business, Gunner, and uh and just some things that you guys do with your company and uh just what what folks might could expect if they book a hunt with you guys. And we talked a little bit about the warm uh season we had uh for the typical uh rifle season for deer. You guys started in October uh last year with that. But um let's talk a little bit about um just some typical mistakes that you see. You talked about earlier before the break, you talked about uh getting to know folks, you know, in a deer stand when you're with them all day or or over a weekend. What are some common mistakes that you see hunters make uh when booking a guided hunt? Whether that's with you or uh somewhere else. And I'm not necessarily just talking about on the hunt itself, but what are some what are some common mistakes that you see?

SPEAKER_02 32:57

My my favorite common mistake that I see. Uh so when when you show up to the ranch, the first thing we'll do is uh we have liability waivers that we'll sign. Uh we'll have a price sheet out that way there's no confusion on what what you're spending or what you want to spend. It's it's all there and laid out for you. And the next thing we'll do is uh we'll go out to the range and get get comfortable, make sure you're comfortable with your rifle, make sure the scope didn't get knocked off, or or really whatever you're traveling with through the airport or anything really. If you're coming 30 minutes down the road, I still would like for you to shoot just to give me a better peace of mind. And when people come in and do that, within the first two minutes, uh you can really get a good feel of what their gun safety is like. And the biggest mistake that I see is the people that are coming through the door and talking about how great of a shot all over the world they've been hunting and just kind of done this and that, getting them on the shooting bench and saying, all right, well, let's see it. And they leave their they might not bolt their gun, or most of the time they'll they'll get so worked up and get excited that they leave their gun on safety. And when they go to pull the trigger, they jump and just anticipate that bullet, and it's it's pretty comical. Like, oh yeah, that's embarrassing. But so just gun safety in general, it's not really uh it's not a really laughing matter, you know. It's that I want to go home at the end of the day, especially if somebody's carrying a rifle with me or pistol or shotgun. Uh but just not bring in the wrong box of bullets. Uh they might bring a 308 and grab a box of 30 aught six off the shelf and like, well, uh but a lot of people when they I mean we do on our on our our exotic hunts, all of our exotic hunts are high fence hunts, and a lot of people assume when you say high fence that it's like fishing in a barrel, or um it's not always the case. Uh some I mean, sometimes you pull in the gate and what you're after is right there. Uh I'm not gonna say that's never happened, but for the most part, we we do have to go out and hunt. None of these animals on these ranches are uh brought in day to day. All this stuff that we have is ranch raised and they know when to hide and where to hide. Uh when when they hear the the test shots going off at the shooting range, oh yeah, they're uh oh, time time to go hide.

SPEAKER_04 35:56

Right. Right.

SPEAKER_02 35:59

So that would be a pretty good mistake for when people are booking a hunt before they even show up, is expecting a I mean we do offer a hundred percent off opportunity, but it's definitely not a hundred percent success rate. Uh people miss, people wound, uh gun malfunctions. I mean, there there's a lot of things that can happen.

SPEAKER_04 36:26

Sure. What's the worst miss you've ever seen as a guide?

SPEAKER_02 36:33

Oh, don't I'm just asking. You don't have to say about my buddy Matt.

SPEAKER_04 36:38

Oh right, Matt, if you're listening. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:45

No, I've I've kind of we we we do have some misses. Uh sometimes, I mean, just this last year we were shooting whitetail, and a lot of times when I'm sitting in the blind, or if I'm sitting on a pop-up with somebody, I'm saying, hey, all right, that buck that just walked in, he's on the left, he's walking right, uh, he's got his head down, he's up, he's looking at us, he's looking away. I'm telling if if there's a guy sitting with me, I'm telling him everything that's going on, and he's following along and talking back to me. And you would kind of think, all right, there's only two or three bucks out there. Uh we're talking about the same deer. No, especially when I mean sitting side by side, and man, I've had it's happened twice. Uh shoot the completely wrong, wrong deer, uh, or just I mean, blow up the rock that is four foot to the right of it. Oh man. It's a it's a little different. Uh I've had I've had we do a lot of uh I mean I'm I wouldn't we do special needs kids hunts and stuff like that, but not even really in that category. But you some of these younger kids are using uh oh, I think it's called like a phone scope or uh like a digital right digital scope where you you know I I can look at their they can put their phone screen on the scope and they can just sit back in a blog pod and I mean it's like playing a video game almost.

SPEAKER_05 38:28

Right.

SPEAKER_02 38:28

But so some of those times, I mean, especially with younger kids, they they miss, but I mean I I have seen some. Uh well shoot, one of my one of my best friends, he came out. I can throw him under the bus. Uh his name is Santiago, we call him Chago. We've been best friends since we were five years old. And uh he had a bachelor party and he asked me to put something together for him. He came out here and I said, All right, we've got an axis. I said, I think he's blind. I don't know if he got sprayed by a skunk or what, but I mean he he's blind, and this would be a good one for you. He's pretty new to hunting. He shot three times before that deer even moved. I said, and it was only about a hundred yards. I said, he's the one in the front. Uh we were we were hunting a wheat field, and he was one of the first ones that came out, and uh I was I was cow calling with him, and he he was kind of coming towards us, and he stopped at a hundred yards. And I said, Hey, all right, there he is. That that's the one you want. He said, Okay, he shot, and the deer didn't even move, did did not even, I mean, like barely turned its head the other way. I said, shoot him again. He said, So he shoots again, and then the deer just kind of turns his head the other way. I said, All right, shoot again. And this time, like I couldn't even tell where he was hitting. And then at that point, I said, I think you're shooting like five foot high. I'm not really sure what's going on. And at that time, he kind of ran a little bit and stopped. I said, All right, shoot him again. And he goes, Hold on, I gotta get more bullets. Uh yeah, my buddy Chago, he ended up leaving with the buffalo anonymous. Yeah, a bigger target. We we came back to the range, and I was I mean, I was convinced that the gun got knocked off somehow in the just get to the blind. No, it was bullseye. I mean, we we checked it. Well I'm not making any excuses for him. Right. It was all him. I've made I've made my mistakes.

SPEAKER_04 40:54

Sure. Well, yeah, we've all that made those mistakes, but it's a lot funnier when it happens to somebody else.

SPEAKER_02 41:02

Oh yeah, yeah, especially when it's a good friend. Right.

unknown 41:05

Right.

SPEAKER_02 41:06

Because you can really, I mean, you some of these people that come in, you it's hard to kind of tease them or kind of play because you don't really know how they'll react. Uh sometimes the testosterone just kicks in and they get defensive about it.

SPEAKER_04 41:23

Right.

SPEAKER_02 41:24

Uh but I mean, knowing somebody, especially if they're coming back year after year, you you can really start to know know people and then it gets it gets fun.

SPEAKER_04 41:37

Right. Well, that's great. And that camaraderie and just getting to know folks, that's uh that's a huge part of you know hunting and just the that kind of yeah, the camaraderie is probably one of the most important things.

SPEAKER_02 41:50

I mean, if you get your deer, if you get your turkey or whatever we're going after, uh, you know, that's that's a bonus. But when they're going back and they're that they mount that deer and put it on the wall, they're gonna tell stories about, oh yeah, my guide, he his friend missed that axis three times.

SPEAKER_04 42:12

Have you seen uh I don't know if you follow Jeff Foxworthy on YouTube or Facebook or anything, but he's a big hunter. I don't know if you if you know him or not.

SPEAKER_02 42:21

But I I I follow a little bit.

SPEAKER_04 42:24

Have you seen the inside of his uh trophy room? No, I have. You need to find it, I'll try to send it to you. But on uh on YouTube, I think it is, he goes into his trophy room and he's kind of being interviewed about different things, and and he said, you know, these are all memories on the wall. They're not they're not trophies, they're memories about uh each individual hunt. And he said, you know, I can I can recall each and every one of these hunts, where we were, who was with me, what happened, what crazy thing happened or didn't happen. And uh, you know, it's special.

SPEAKER_02 43:02

Oh yeah, absolutely. So yeah, I mean, one of the uh I've got a a uh guy that's working for me right now. He's one of my full-time guides. He uh just graduated from Tarleton this last year with animal science. And he was probably we're probably a month into uh deer season this last year. And I mean it's kind of on a different scale, but a little bit the same. Uh one of the guys says, Man, what's the what what was your favorite hunt? And the the guide said, Man, when I was with uh Jonathan, that that guy, that guy was really fun. We had a good time. And he said, Well, that was probably your biggest tip too, huh? And he said, Well, actually, no, that uh that guy didn't even tip me at all. Uh, he'd never been on a guided hunt before, didn't really understand the the tipping way. And he said, I actually just really Enjoyed spending time with that guy. Uh they talked a lot about their faith and other stuff in that in that area. And he said, I just really had it enjoyed sitting with them, and that was one of the best things that I that I got to do all week.

SPEAKER_04 44:17

That's awesome. You know, there's not many other things, activities that we do in this world anymore that it's kind of a natural setup for for those kind of conversations and those kind of connections.

SPEAKER_02 44:30

Oh yeah, absolutely. Uh a lot of I wouldn't say a lot, but I mean for me and myself, uh sitting in the woods is about as good of talks with the the good man above that I can get with as being out in the seeing seeing nature.

SPEAKER_04 44:48

Yeah. Well you can't help but be uh impressed at uh the God that we serve, you know, sitting in his his creation. So I think that's a reasonable.

SPEAKER_02 45:06

You know, that's a that's a big deal.

SPEAKER_04 45:10

We did uh we did a big cat, the West Texas Big Bob Cat contest last weekend, and we had really high hopes. Our team had really high hopes going into it. Like, you know, like every everybody does.

SPEAKER_02 45:23

Uh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 45:23

Uh did you get a ton of it last weekend?

SPEAKER_02 45:25

Uh no, I I can't stay up that long. Okay. My brother that I talked about earlier in the the interview, uh, he does all of those uh I mean all the local contests. He's uh if there's a contest on the weekend and he's not working, he's a police officer now. And if he's not working, he's doing a contest. I asked him on Sunday, I said, How'd you do? He said, Well, we donated.

SPEAKER_04 45:51

Well, that's all we did too. But uh, you know, we stopped, we had super high expectations going in, and we had had some acreage that had not been hunted on, and it it was uh next to a place that hadn't had any kind of hunting at all on it. And uh so we had lots of high expectations, high hopes, and uh as the wind increased, et cetera, our our hopes uh decreased. And anyway, we walked we kind of disbanded at about five or so in the morning after having not shot anything. I haven't even seen anything. And I've run around yeah, and I uh we did shoot some hogs, but I thought, you know what, it's too late to go to bed. I'm so irritated with myself and just the situation. I'm gonna go sit in a deer stand and just watch the sun come up. So I did that, walk down past the creek, past the tank, and just got a stand and and just sat there literally just waiting for the sun to come up, played the call, you know, off and on. Anyway, why not get the cat to come out about six o'clock that Sunday morning? But um, but man, it was just kind of a reminder like, you know what, this is not a problem. This is a blessing to have been out all night trying to hunt with good friends and just having a good time. So it was it was just kind of a reminder to me, like, you know what, this is this is a blessing, not uh not shouldn't be a frustration. It was frustrating, but but man, what a blessing.

SPEAKER_02 47:21

Oh, I know it is, yeah. Yeah, my brother said that uh they they got their I think what is it, you gotta have five Fox to qualify.

SPEAKER_04 47:28

Yeah, five foxes.

SPEAKER_02 47:30

He said they they knocked that out really quick and we're all excited, and they were hunting a bunch of unused country too. And uh he said then it was just nothing. It was dead, it was windy, and then I think they called it about 2 a.m.

SPEAKER_04 47:44

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it was it was not ideal conditions, but you know, it never is, truly. I mean, there's always gonna be something that's like out of your control, like you were you were saying earlier.

SPEAKER_01 47:56

So oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 47:58

Gunner Man, M6 Outfitters. Uh man, what a what a great time it's been talking to you and uh learning more about your business and just getting some insight. We're gonna talk again. Uh uh thanks for your expertise, and uh we'll talk again soon.

SPEAKER_02 48:10

Yeah, hey, thanks for having me on the show. Uh I really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_04 48:16

You're listening to the Lone Star Trail and it's time once again for House Rules with Dayton House. Dayton is a retired government trapper, a firearms expert, an outdoors enthusiast, and a true textan. At 76 years old, he's still going strong and enjoys sharing his passion of the outdoors with others. We're back with Dayton House, retired government trapper. Uh, you're not retired, however, from all kinds of other hunting.

SPEAKER_07 48:46

That's correct. I've enjoyed hunting 77 years now.

SPEAKER_04 48:51

That's great. We've talked about this in the past. You got your start uh road hunting.

SPEAKER_07 48:57

Yeah, three years old.

SPEAKER_04 48:58

Three-year-old outlaw on the hood of a Ford. Well, it's been a while since we talked last. What's been going on with you?

SPEAKER_07 49:06

Uh I've mentioned several of the records that I've uh set, personal records more than anything else. Uh one of them killing 67 hogs in one night by myself. I don't know that anybody of any of my friends that have ever killed over 20 by themselves in one night. But at the Pecan farm a few years ago south of Richland Springs, well, there's three or four hundred, maybe five hundred hogs could be seen in one night.

SPEAKER_04 49:39

Wow And you only got sixty-seven?

SPEAKER_07 49:42

Only got sixty-seven. I tried to shoot three shops at every one of them.

SPEAKER_04 49:46

Wow. That's a lot of hogs.

SPEAKER_07 49:48

Too many. Oh man. That talk about some damage. Uh they ran a pecan farm, and I believe they come for miles, perhaps ten miles or more, just to eat pecans every night. Uh, I'd killed over 1,300 hogs that year, and sometimes uh you'd see groups of 50 or 60. Here at Beattie a few years ago, I saw about 120 one night, and they were all around the pickup it running. The wife was with me, and she said, How are you going to shoot that many of them? And I said, Well, as long as I don't kill a cow, well, I'm in good shape. But there's too many hogs at times like that. A group of 50 or 60 is about three times what I'd like to see.

SPEAKER_04 50:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 50:39

Uh ten or fifteen is uh a good size to shoot, and if you can kill half of them, well, you'll be doing good.

SPEAKER_04 50:46

You're making a dent, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 50:48

Uh on this place I've killed two coyotes in one shot twice. I'd kill a hog one night, come back two or three days later, and coyots would be eating on it, and I'd let them line up. And that's the first time I've ever done that. I've been trying for 60 years to kill two in one shot and didn't do it till five or six years ago. And now I've done it twice here at Beattie.

SPEAKER_04 51:13

Just a lesson, don't give up, right?

SPEAKER_07 51:15

That is right. Keep trying. A few years ago at uh Colmeen, uh north of Lake Proctor, the lady that owned that did not want us to kill the cows. For some reason she liked to hear them howl, and there got to be too many of them. She wanted us to kill hogs only, and then they started coming up near her yard, and when she was walking with her dog, well, she was afraid they was gonna attack her, so she started allowing us to kill the cows. And we'd killed enough hogs that whenever you'd shoot, it was like ringing the dinner bell. And the old coats would come immediately and eat on the hog. One night after I'd shot a hog, within 30 minutes, I'd kill five coats off of that one hog.

SPEAKER_04 52:07

What year was this? This wasn't this wasn't recent, was it?

SPEAKER_07 52:10

Oh, 12, 15 years ago.

SPEAKER_04 52:12

Okay, all right.

SPEAKER_07 52:13

And then another night to three weeks later, I killed four coats off of one hog. And there were so many coats up there, you'd hear maybe ten different groups howling at the same time. And since then that property subdivided and I guess divided 20 ways, perhaps, and we're no longer able to hunt any of that area. Back in uh, I believe it was 78, I killed a turkey that had five beards. Most people have never seen one that had two or three beards and I took this turkey by the Goldwaite Eagle, the local paper there in Goldwaite, and at that time the editor's wife was the only one there, and she wasn't interested in hunting. She didn't want to see it, didn't want to make a picture of it, and it never got posted in the Goldwaite Eagle. And now her son is the editor, and he'll have uh uh 10 articles about hunting there every week, and uh he never did uh see that turkey, and uh but very few people have ever heard of a turkey having five beards. No way. 25 and 38 inches on all five of them if you total the length of them.

SPEAKER_04 53:36

Wow. How old do you think that turkey was?

SPEAKER_07 53:39

I don't know, probably eight to ten years old. Imagine he's a little tough if you try to eat him. Uh there at Colmeen, I mentioned a while ago the largest hog I ever killed was 419 pounds. And I saw it one morning and thought it was an Angus cow, and so I just kept on driving, and I thought, well, its ears look funny. So I stopped and looked back at it, and the old hog was coming to me, and I just let it come within 75 yards and shot it in the neck and it went down. I got back in the pickup and started to drive off and looked, and that hog got up and started running, so I had to shoot it a couple more times. But uh, that's unusual to kill a wild hog that'll weigh over 200 pounds. A lot of people say, oh, that'll weigh three or four hundred pounds. Uh, not till you weigh them. Uh it's unusual to kill one that is over 300 pounds.

SPEAKER_04 54:37

Did you just pitch him in the back of the pickup?

SPEAKER_07 54:39

No, I left him there. I couldn't even roll him over hardly.

SPEAKER_04 54:43

Man, that's a big pig.

SPEAKER_07 54:44

Oh, too big, that's correct. But uh this was a fun time whenever you can see hogs every day, and some days I'd stay up there all night and uh enjoy that. I killed three deer in one shot years ago. Oldest brother and I were wanting to have some processed over in Hamilton, made sausage out of it, and he had a seven millimeter, and I was shooting a 308, and both of us that same morning killed three deer in one shot. I've been trying to kill four, but I've never done that. I've always uh raised my limit on one shot. I caught my own dog years ago in a snare, and the dog went about a mile and a half from the house, and I didn't go over there for seven days. So the dog was caught in the snare for seven days and eight nights. And when I got there and found it, well, she's still alive. The cows across the fence and nearly stomped her to death. Oh my goodness. She was weak, she couldn't jump in the pickup.

SPEAKER_04 56:03

Wow.

SPEAKER_07 56:03

And so all these critters that you think catch snares choke them to death. Well, it doesn't dogs oftentimes are used to being tied. And so I was lucky that it didn't kill the dog.

SPEAKER_04 56:14

Yeah. Did she come back come back to life a little bit?

SPEAKER_07 56:18

Oh yeah, yeah. Next week I was carrying her with me every day. She didn't get caught up. That's right. Uh growing up, one of my brothers shot a hole in the ceiling with a shotgun that I'd just cleaned. And I've never had an accident with a a gun that hurt anything. I've had them to discharge and shoot a hole in the ground, but uh never shot, had one to go off in the vehicle or never hurt anybody with a a discharge.

SPEAKER_04 56:52

So there's gotta be, you're just telling part of the story there. There's gotta be more to that story. What how did that happen? How old was he? How old were you?

SPEAKER_07 57:01

We were still in high school, so we were probably 12 or 14, and I'd clean the shotgun and leaned it up against the wall, and whenever he came in, he threw it up to the ceiling and pulled the trigger. He didn't know that I'd put it around in the chamber.

SPEAKER_04 57:17

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_07 57:19

But that's the closest accident I guess I've ever had.

SPEAKER_04 57:22

Uh what did what did your uh mom say?

SPEAKER_07 57:25

Don't do that again. Uh I did have a near uh death accident with a hand load that my nephew loaded in 6'5 Creedmore a few years ago. He overcharged it, and this was a gun that had never been fired, and he wanted scope mounted on it, and whenever I fired it well uh had so much pressure, has a small hole on the end of the bolt near the chamber, and the everything came out that hole.

SPEAKER_04 58:07

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_07 58:08

It locked the bolt down. The ejector, the extractor, the springs, and all the plungers, and everything in that bolt, into the bolt, came out that hole. Uh we had to hammer the bolt open and it didn't run the gun. It did ruin the bolt, but uh they're replaceable, and a good gunsmith and uh eight hundred dollars will you get it going again. Had to, it did not run the barrel. And I was kind of surprised about that. So Remington has a good action if you can uh blow one up.

SPEAKER_04 58:43

What about your what about your hand or your face? Didn't ruin your no damage at all.

SPEAKER_07 58:47

Okay, just blew everything out. I'm surprised that it blew the extractor and the ejector out that little vent hole. That that's dangerous when you low overload them like that.

SPEAKER_04 59:02

Well, that's all the time we have for the show today. We thank you for stopping by and joining us on the Lone Star Trail. We advise you to come back next week, same time, same place. And you can find us on Facebook and write to us at Lone Star Trailradio at gmail.com. We'd love to see those hunting pictures and stories. From all of us here at the show, thanks for listening. So long