UBIcast
The official podcast of the United Bowhunters of Illinois.
An outlet to shine a spotlight on our supporters and members, as well as provide updates in between our quarterly news letters.5
UBIcast
Whiskey City / David Schneider
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Episode 1 kicks off with Mr. David (Snide) Schneider. We talk Whiskey City, bowhunting, all things trad, and a touch of nonsense.
And welcome to episode one of UbiCast, the official podcast of the United Bow Hunters of Illinois. Um, the thoughts behind this podcast was to come in and um just run a raw, unedited podcast here. Um, give a little support and a little love to our supporters uh as well as our members. Um, this is gonna serve as a good opportunity for us to reach out to the membership, um, get the members to kind of get to know each other a little bit, um, and put a spotlight on our supporters, who we greatly appreciate. And uh at the end of the podcast, we're gonna have some announcements, uh, which will serve as a great way of reaching out to the membership in between the quarterly newsletters. So stay tuned at the end. Uh, we'll have some announcements on some shoots, upcoming stuff going on with the UBI, and uh that's it. So we're kind of uh kicking it off, we're gonna give it a shot and have some fun with this. Tonight we got old Snide himself, Mr. Whiskey City. David, how are you?
SPEAKER_00I'm good, Michael. How are you doing, buddy?
SPEAKER_01I'm doing well. The only one that calls me Michael is my mom, and that's when she's mad at me.
SPEAKER_00Well, that's me, my mother and me now. I'm gonna Michael from here on out.
SPEAKER_01No, I'm I'm kidding. I'll let it ride. I'll let it ride.
SPEAKER_00No, man. I appreciate you having me on early. Appreciate you having me on.
SPEAKER_01Well, good to have you on, man. It's uh we we've had a pretty dang good run here, uh, goofing off together. So that's right. And you've done a lot, a lot of promotion for UBI, and we uh we greatly appreciate that. And uh I we couldn't have thought of a better person to have on here to kick things off.
SPEAKER_00Well, man, I appreciate that, Mike. I'm a proud UBI member, man. I mean, that's that's that's family there. You guys got a great thing going on. This this UbiCast or whatever you're gonna call it, UBI cast. Um, it's gonna go over huge, man. Listen, there's several different formats out there that we listen to them all, right? I'm one of those guys that can't get enough. I mean, I was just listening to Gene and Zernzak today, listening to that whole episode, and you know, and this is just gonna be another one. I'm gonna shuffle into the mix. The cool thing about it is is you're gonna have uh what'd you say, news and updates for UBI members as the season goes on. So it's kind of it's kind of it's twofold. You can go get your UBI news and uh hear from the sponsors and people in the industry. It's pretty cool that you're doing this, Mike.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's gonna be a lot of fun. We're gonna kind of take turns uh on the podcasts. Um, so we're kicking this one off, and then Jason Baudry, he's gonna cover a podcast. Uh Brad Morris will cover a podcast, Jeremy DeFendi will cover a podcast, and I think we might even get Sugar Bear to cover a podcast. Uh old Tim Sugar, old Tim Nuss himself. That is that is awesome. Yeah, I think we're gonna uh so we're just gonna kind of tag team this whole thing, and uh, you know, everybody's got busy schedules to do this once a week or once every two weeks, even for one individual, is a lot. I give these guys a lot of credit, man. Right. The Zern Zacks of the world, you know, that uh are non-stop, you know. Nonstop.
SPEAKER_00He's doing her full time now. He's doing her full time. That's how non-stop he is. He's full stop. I mean, he's full on doing it. That's right. That's all right.
SPEAKER_01So, yeah, like I said, it's uh it'll be good, you know. That way people don't have to sit and listen to my damn voice every time. They can change it up, you know. It's like mute mood music at that point. It's like mood, little berry white versus some uh some James Simmons or something, you know. Uh anyway, I like it. So let's go out to Whiskey City. Let's do it. Let's do it. Where did the idea for whiskey city trad gear come from? My head. Oh that's a scary place, David.
SPEAKER_00That's a scary place. Nice place to visit. You don't want to live there, trust me. There you go. No, dude, yeah, I I have told this story on multiple multiple uh podcasts, but I will tell you, you know, for the UBI members that are listening, I'm I'm David Snyder from Southeast Indiana. I'm about uh I don't know, four and a half hours from uh where the UBI banquet's held, uh four and a half hours south. Um, I'm down here by Cincinnati, Ohio. I'm right in the southeast corner of Indiana, by Cincinnati, Ohio, about an hour uh southeast of uh Indianapolis. Um shot tried my whole life. Started when I was like seven years old, uh, like most people, the red fiberglass longbow. And uh that graduated to a uh Ben Pearson Mach 1. Still looking for that bow. Um, I carved my initials in. There was a movie, and it was a baseball movie, Mike. Uh, and there was some, I think Robert Redford was, I can't remember it. And he he took a wood burner and put his name in the bat. And so I took a wood burner and put my name in the riser behind the back plate of this Ben Pearson Mach 1. But no, uh, I unfortunately I let that bow go and I've been looking for it ever since. And it's got my missiles in the dang riser. Uh killed my first deer with that bow and and and several deer after that. So I've been on the lookout for that bow for almost uh uh 40 some years now. I've been 40 years looking for that bow. So amazing if that surfaces, yeah. I know it. That's kind of that kind of is what got me into being a bow hoarder, if you will, and a collector and respecting the history of archery and some of the people that came before us was basically the hunt at every rendezvous that I went to looking for that bow. But uh no, I wasn't trying my whole life, all the way up to my teenage years. I've never this don't make me part of the traditional union by no means, but I've never uh I've never uh killed any game with a gun. Uh it's I mean, I mean I have a small game and what I've never never hunted and killed any game with a uh deer, but large game uh with with a gun. I've just always hunted with stick bows, and and that's just kind of what I've always done. Well, my kid got fishing. Uh my oldest kid, Hunter, he he got uh really serious into competitive bass fishing back in high school, back in middle school, actually. So I just kind of put everything I had going on the back burner. I didn't lay the bows down per se. I still hunted with them all the time, but I quit going to the shoots as regular and uh so on and so forth, and just kind of lost touch with a lot of my traditional guys that I used to shoot with. I mean, I still have a majority of them that I talk to, but still. So I was kind of on a 10-year hiatus uh in there, Mike. And that would be kind of the period from maybe uh you can rationalize this from your dad's shop to the railroad, and then you came back as a bowyer. Well, I was coming in right around the same time, you know what I mean? Um my my kid graduated college uh doing well for himself, and I thought, well, what am I gonna do now? So I I went and kind of started looking for the 3D shoots, Mike. And they're a lot of the trad-only 3D shoots around me had dried up. Not only the trad-only clubs, the overall wheelie bow, trad clubs, just 3D clubs kind of dried up. So I started finding some of those people that I used to shoot with and stuff, and they said this one closed, this one closed, this one closed. I mean, it was five or six clubs, a lot of reasons, no help, price of foam, you know, just all those things.
SPEAKER_02Anybody that runs a 3D club, same same reason, yeah. Every club could just use it right.
SPEAKER_00So I thought, well, how hard can it be? You know, I got I got a little piece of ground. I'm not, I don't have a huge piece of ground, but I got a piece of ground big enough to hold 30 targets and uh park a few cars, and so me and a few buddies got together and we started shooting together, going to shoots, and we called ourselves the Whiskey City Traditional Archers because we were all from Lawrenceburg, Indiana. That's what the uh the town of Lawrenceburg I grew up in was called Whiskey City, Indiana. Uh yeah, it had a big distillery there. So, anyway, so we called ourselves Whiskey City Archers, and uh next thing you know, I'm looking for targets and so on and so forth. I'm gathering all that stuff up, and we had our first shoot here, and uh that's cool. It's four and a half years ago, and there hasn't been no turning back since. It's grown by leaps and bounds, and uh, I see it.
SPEAKER_01I see I see it, man. Yeah, whiskey city everywhere posted all over social media, people wearing shirts, the the the hipsters, and yeah, man, it's whiskey city all over the place.
SPEAKER_00And and I would like to, I mean, I I can't take a whole lot of credit for that. I just got a really good network of people and supporters around me. Um, and it just kind of made, like you said, the t-shirts and the gear, it made the company, the whiskey city triad gear, it just made it kind of a no-brainer and it just launched super quick. It was an overnight launch to and it really moved too fast. And and I took a few bumps along the way on the business side of things, and I'm still learning to this day. And and you know, I'm paying a lot of attention to the people that paved the road in front of me, and um, yeah, I'm learning a lot, but uh it kind of moved a little too fast, and the club has moved fast. I mean, that very first shoot, we we were laughing and joking, thought we'd be lucky if 25 people showed up. Well, like 40 people showed up, and for a trad shoot, that's pretty respectable. And and I thought, well, maybe this thing will go, you know. So we set them up again, did it again, and we brought out a schedule and the whole nine yards, and you know, lead to present, lead to now. And I'm not saying this like boisterous or braggadocious. Um that's not what it's about for me. It's that's it's it's uh that's not what I'm doing here. But like we had a shoot, our first shoot this year, drew 114 shooters. We just had a shoot this past weekend, 96 shooters. Um, so we have a good presence in in this part of the state, you know, in the southeast corner, and and we get a lot of participation. And who can ask for more than that?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no kidding. Yeah, our local club here, uh Jolyhead Archery Club, it's we've seen a little bit of a a downturn in the shoots. Now it it's uh it's not a traditional only club, it's you know, uh all archery club, but right um you know, we've seen we've seen the numbers dip down on the the 3D shoots. Now, obviously, compound shooters they don't need to practice as much. Right. I personally uh I personally believe that the crossbow coming in the game has removed a lot of the compound shooters from coming to the 3D shoots at that point because they switch over to crossbow and you don't practice with them, you sight them in and you go hunting just like a rifle. It's um a lot of guys have that mentality. September the place is packed, guys are just tuning up their bows and sighting in their crossbows, and then they're gone. You never see them again until the following September, right?
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_01But we get a lot of trad guys, a lot more trad guys at the club now, and it's uh it's it's cool to see that, dude.
SPEAKER_00It's uh it's something that I um you know, and I'm gonna I'm gonna switch gears from whiskey city a little bit. This is the the the UBI podcast, and like I said, I'm a proud UBI member. So um five years ago, I think it was now, yeah, it was five years ago, maybe six, I went to the Kalamazoo Bow Show, and that's when I first ran into Mr. Tim Nuss. So I I I wasn't set up there as a vendor, I wasn't even a vendor at that time. I was just, you know, I've I've been to the Kalamazoo Bo show since the Brums owned it years and years ago, you know. And I just it was it was a yearly pilgrimage up to that thing where you know, just kind of cabin, you get cabin fever, you're rolling off of deer season, you're super stoked, but you're ready for what we call 3D season. Uh obviously, with the numbers and everything around me, 3D archery is a with the trad community here is a huge thing. Uh, people call it foam season. I mean, they look forward to it, like you and I look forward to deer season, you know what I mean? But but uh so I met Mr. Tim Nuss and I I passed him several times. His his his voice has a distinct sound to it, you know. And he caught me. He sounds like a sugar bear. He sounds like a sugar bear. I mean, whatever way to put it. But but it kind of caught my ear, and I started paying attention to what he was saying. And uh the enthusiasm, the um it was infectious, Mike. It was he it was like it wasn't like a regular dude telling another guy. It was he was what he was saying was coming from his heart, it was coming from his soul, it had meaning. When he was telling this guy, UBI is a family, you know, he means it. He this is a guy that means it. It's not an organization to him, it's family, and he wears it on his sleeve because I've come to know him fairly well in the last six years. But I walked over there and without question threw down my, I think it was 15 bucks at that time, what I can't even remember, maybe been 20, can't remember, don't matter. Threw it down and I said, I want to join. And um, it wasn't, and and I mean, I know there's been other organizations that this kind of shows through the years, but not many, not many. And I thought, well, here's Illinois over here representing their state with a with a traditional archery club that is the only bow hunting organization in the whole state of Illinois on your story. It closed my mind because we we have them here in Indiana. Um, but uh anyway, long story short, and I'm a member of those as well, but um, it was just infectious what Tim was saying. I I threw my money down and uh have been a proud UBI member ever since. And uh I tell you, I don't regret it, I'll tell you that much. And when Tim says it's like family, I have met lifelong friends, people that I consider you're one of them, Mike, dear friends of mine through this organization. And then, you know, I it just rolled forward from there. You know, I ended up getting into the uh the business side of things, and then the very next the first or second, I think it was the first thing I ever saw set up at was the Compton uh traditional rendezvous up in Barry and Springs, and you were right next to me. Yeah, you know, I remember that. And there was Tim and Tim walked up and called me by name, you know. I mean, he remembered our interaction, so on and so forth, and I found out that you were just as neck deep as it gets in the UBI organization as well. And it's just like I say, that same infectiousness, if you will. It's just uh, you know, I've met lifelong friends through UBI that I I just yeah, I just can't say enough about your organization.
SPEAKER_01It's cool to see the growth uh happen. Um, you know, and we it's been you know, uh uh Jay and Brad and Ryan and you know the rest of us, we've talked about it in meetings and stuff, and it's it there it appears that there's leaps and bounds that are happening in the organization, um, but nobody sees the 20,000 baby steps in between each one of those little leaps. You know what I mean? Nobody's that part of it, and it's like it it uh it takes a lot. Um and the current board uh that we have I I I'll tell you right now, man, kudos to these guys. Oh, yeah, they are just doing an awesome job staying on top of things and yeah uh keeping things moving forward. And it's just cool to see it, you know. Tim Tim has always talked to me about that um, you know, that that uh desire to see growth in this organization. And I mean, I think I think I got involved seven years ago. Yeah, I think I've been involved in it for seven years now, and you know, and and it's it it was hard. It was it's it's been a tough road. It's an art. It is, it is, but um, you know, as and as things change, you know, um technology changes and stuff, that leaves open doors for us to push for more growth, also.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um, but uh yeah, these guys, I mean, they like said they're getting on board and getting out to the shows. They set up at Compton, they set up at Kalamazoo, and they just man, and they got the same enthusiasm that Tim has, which you rarely see. You know, I mean, Tim Tim's just fired up for it.
SPEAKER_00It is, he's 220 wired into 110, man. And and and and I mean, the only thing uh pipelining through that current is UBI. I mean, he is all about that organization. He means it. I can't say enough about Tim Nuss, he's just a really special guy to me, but uh you know, but seeing the you know, Jay, Brad, uh Jason, uh or uh you know, and all these people you're talking about, and I could go on, but uh they have the same kind of enthusiasm, man. And it and it the proof's in the pudding because it's showing, you know. I've seen substantial growth in the last five years. I mean, I've seen substantial growth. I mean, substantial. I just went, I'm only on my second year, second year going to the UBI banquet. I think last year, correct me if I'm you probably remember better me, but because everything's kind of this whiskey city thing, everything's been kind of a whirlwind since I got into the business.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think last year was the first year we had there.
SPEAKER_00And and and I know you were asking me, you had asked me to come, but you know, you obviously, you know, just spread too thin, and I still work for a living, so it's it's kind of tough sometimes. But but after my first, which was two years ago, UBI banquet, that's one that I'll never miss again. I just will never miss it again. And um it's it's kind of like you know, you have this uh this uh epiphany moment that these are just my people, and don't don't get me wrong. I mean, we're all each other, we're all traditional, uh archers and and archers. Um, and that's an international language that speaks amongst everybody, right? But you ever just clicked with with with some people, you know, and I haven't found anybody inside UBI that I just didn't click with, man. It's just all my kind of people. So yeah, so yeah, man, it's great.
unknownIt's great.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's pretty cool. It's uh we you know, and we're pushing uh again this year, we're pushing uh for the 2027 banquet. Uh we had well, we had space, we had we were set up for 19 vendors, um, but the ID and R didn't show up kind of like um CWD.
SPEAKER_03So yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um banquet wasting disease. There you go. Um non-existent. Um anyway, I think you're gonna go. Yeah, they were there, they were there last year. Yeah, good guys. They didn't make it this year, but uh oddly enough, we ended up with 19 vendors, and we're so this for 27, we're gonna have 25 set up right. Um a little bit of shuffling and uh tightening things up, and uh we'll we'll we'll fit 25 vendors in there. You know, that's the cool part, is it's and we got some heavy hitters in there too. Oh, no doubt when it comes to vendors. It's it's it was just no doubt.
SPEAKER_00I see more people this year. Um, don't get me wrong. I mean, uh I I I I'm catching on as I go, but not everybody, you don't have to stay for the banquet and all that. It's much like uh PBS or Compton or whatever. You stay for what you want to stay for. If you want to buy tickets for the banquet, you obviously stay for the banquet. However, I seen a just a plethora of people this year that just came for the vending with, you know, and that's that's all well and good. They come in, they they do their shopping, they do their uh mingling around, and then they would then they would go. Don't get me wrong, the banquet's huge, you know, there's a lot of room is packed, but there was double, if not triple of that of people that just stopped in periodically throughout the weekend. And uh, I met a lot of new people, and I got to put a lot of names with faces, people that have been sending me messages on social media and whatever. And uh yeah, that's that's great. There is a huge traditional presence in in the state of Illinois, just a huge traditional presence in that state, and it's just very impressive. It's it's very impressive what you guys are doing with that organization. And I you know go ahead.
SPEAKER_01You you know what I find uh find odd is you run into people and you you meet people that you find out that they shoot trad bows, but these guys don't go to any shoots, they just shoot help with stick bows and and and shoot stick bows in their yard for practice. They don't go to any shoots, they don't go to any events. Um and that's part of where we're we're getting some of these guys, just like it's constant talk, you know, it's constant reaching out to people, and you know, um, it's just neat to see that. Um I I guess I was kind of the same way. Um I I shot I shot out back all the time. I never shot 3D with the stick bow. Never never shot 3D, period, really, actually, ever in my life, you know, and uh that was it. I just got used to just practice at home and go hunting. Um, but there's that camaraderie and the community side of it too that you're missing out on when you don't go to that stuff, you know. The amount of the great folks that you end up meeting, it's like, man, you make so many cool friends.
SPEAKER_00I wouldn't trade it for anything. That's what it's all about for me is it's not about The material stuff that's easy. That's anybody can achieve that stuff. It's it's it's the camaraderie piece, it's the people you meet, the impressions you leave, the impressions that are left with you. And I know it sounds cliche and really tacky, borderline tacky, but uh I have met lifelong friends because of a stick and a string. And it's it's funny. Um, you know, there was at the UBI banquet last year, you know, people stopped by the booth. I obviously set up there as a vendor, and uh people sit stopped by. There was these four guys that were there, all four of them came together, rode together. And I I I don't know a lot of uh cities in in your state. Uh uh they told me where they're from. I'm not gonna remember it. But anyway, um they were like two hours south uh of you of Joliet. And anyway, um uh they had came because they had had heard, you know, um about UBI and they knew, even though they were compound shooters, they knew it was the only bow hunting organization in the state. They knew that. That was oddly enough, they knew it, you know, but they were transitioning into traditional archery uh as compound shooters because of the work and and uh the mailers, everything that that UBI has done over the years. There was one guy in there that showed some interest in UBI, and he started getting the newsletter and he started he started getting involved. And I asked him if he knew you, he said, No, I've never met Mike. I said, How about Tim Nuss? Nope, never met Tim Nuss. I'm a member though. I sent him my membership to and he brought these three guys with him, and they were all transferring into traditional archery because of the UBI correspondence and the you know, every uh it's it's like I say, it's just very infectious, and and and that speaks volumes for where that organization's going. It's on a it's on a serious uptick of a swing, and and I think if you're anybody in the traditional archery community, and I I don't want this to sound callous, that's not what I'm trying to do. You should pay attention to what the way UBI is doing things because it's very, very impressive. It is. I'm I'm I'm impressed by it every year.
SPEAKER_01Every year, yeah, it's like I said, it's a lot of work. It's that's the hardest part is finding people to do the work. Uh yeah, and I know I understand what they're going through. It's the same with the clubs. That's animal mentioned earlier, these clubs that shut down and uh because they can't find help. Um we just had a meeting at our our club, and it it's it's a struggle. It's just you know, everybody wants to be involved without having to be involved, and it's like, man, that's that's not how things get done, but those are also the same people that'll be the first ones to complain when it goes away, when the club closes, you know. Well, that's you know, so you know, you're only gonna take out what you put in, and it's the same way with this organization and with whiskey whiskey city, uh, with anything, you know, you're gonna take out what you put into it. So if you sit back and wait for all everything to happen, you're gonna be waiting a long time, dude.
SPEAKER_00You ain't kidding. Uh, I remember the first year we had the Whiskey City Classic, year number one. Um, a lady showed up here, and uh her name was Nancy Norris, and her and her and Nancy, I believe, uh if she was a secretary, can am I right on that, Mike? She she was uh uh treasurer. She okay, sorry, she was the treasurer.
SPEAKER_01That was her last position. She was a um she was on the um board of directors, and then she stepped into the treasurer position, right?
SPEAKER_00And I remember her here talking to some of the members and stuff here about UBI and what they had going on, and so on and so forth. And and I said, Well, I'm a UBI member, and she looked at me like, Well, how'd that happen? You know, and I said, Tim next happened, you know, and that we just struck up a conversation, but I remember it's it's it's funny, there's a lot of uh whiskey city members that live here in Indiana or Kentucky or Ohio that support UBI, and and we receive that love back. There's a lot of UBI members that support Whiskey City. I have sent out a lot of memberships to UBI members that's never stepped foot on the ground, but they want to support it, and it just kind of goes back and forth. And I know we're neighboring states, not all that far apart from one another, so that just goes hand in hand, you know, and and the power is in the numbers. That's how you get longevity, you know. You you bring in new, fresh breath or a breath of fresh air, people with different ideas, and and different ideas is Mike. It's it's never a bad thing, it's just never a bad thing. Um, you know, it's kind of some of these organizations. I'm not talking about UBI, I'm talking in general things I've noticed through my own life's journey. Um, some of these organizations kind of box themselves in with the uh ideology, this is the way we've always done things, this is just how we've always done it. And then they age out and they dwindle year in year and year after year. And you need these young, uh driven type of people uh to get in there and just kind of ignite a new flame under an age-old tradition, man. And and that's kind of what UBI's got going on. I think I don't want to be as I want to be, you know, uh naive in saying that. I think I'm correct. I mean, you know, it's just all these the board members are comprised of you know, people that's been in it a decade or less, I think. Um, but with the exception of Tim and and and you know, there's still people there, but but uh and and the club is just doing tremendously because of that. Um, yeah, and I know it's a group effort. I mean, don't get me wrong, I know it's just not the board, it's the membership, and that's what carries the board to make these decisions that they make and keep moving it forward. But that was a long run off a short dock, Mike. Sorry about that. Uh no, no, it's all good.
SPEAKER_01Um, yeah, one of the things we're we're doing is we're we're implementing a lot of stuff um the other 364 days of the year, other than the banquet, uh trying to fit things in, uh, membership hunts. We got a couple cool membership hunts that uh are going to be going up on the website. Uh good ones soon. Good ones, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01And then uh, you know, all the different shoots that these boys are all heading out to. I try to go when I can, but you know, I can't make it to a lot of them. Um but too busy, too busy with uh sandpaper. That's what I'm saying. But you know, these guys they you know, they get a group of members and board members, and they'll just get a group of them together and start texting everybody and heading out, you know, to hit these these local shoots and stuff. Um, and I encourage everyone look up shoots in your area and get out and hit them, man. Yeah, man, you gotta support local shoots and and keep it growing.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I I come to uh uh Joliette um at the end of every year. I'm I'm on my this will be my third year going to your big year end shoot. Man, you want to talk about something there that's grown as well, and and uh you may be able to tell me. I hear that there may be some uh was it camping? Camping this year, yeah.
SPEAKER_01I actually, yeah, we got approval for the you did get approval. I I never did follow up. It's it's yeah, so that that'll all get uh the announcement will go out. We'll have the advertisement going up for the shoot. Um that's the third weekend in September. Yeah, um, that's our trade shoot at Joliat Archery Club. Um, we did just pick up 30 new targets. Um, so I think we're up to a hundred. And well, we're all I as a matter of fact, I want to say we might be over 200 targets now.
SPEAKER_00Um and targets that I've never seen before, you know. I know there's different companies and stuff out there, and Joliet, you guys try to keep it fresh. So if there's a target or company out there that uh is isn't your typical like McKenzie or Reinhardt, right? No, I mean no disrespect to them. I love McKenzie and Reinhardt. I love them all, but you guys will think outside the box and and and you'll go search for that target and bring it in. So that's the first year I went up there, I did a video on it, and I just kept saying, Look at this. I just kept staring at the targets like some kind of kid. I was like, Look at the detail on these targets, yeah. But uh, and and and you guys really, really I know a little bit about setting a course. You guys really know how to set a course. I'm not kidding.
SPEAKER_01Gets involved. Well, he's he's heading up the 3D over there. Um right now, but uh targets, Ryan will get after it. And he ordered foam and and made some targets, so we had seagull targets out there. Scenarios.
SPEAKER_00I mean, every you know, like it's great, dude. It's it's it's it's definitely if you're a trad archer, that's a uh that's definitely a stop you have to put on your calendar if you shoot 3D throughout the year. You know, you always hear about these other ones, and they're great too. And etar, obviously, is the biggest of them all, but but uh as far as I I put Joliet right there with any of them, the classic, what I got going on, it just any of them, any of them. Yeah, as far as going and I don't set up as a vendor there, you know, and I don't think I ever will, Mike. And and here's why. Um, it's just too much fun. It's too much fun to walk down in a booth.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's it. You gotta keep one in your pocket, at least one or two shoots in your pocket just to goof off. Yeah, you gotta shoot in a booth. I never I don't I I never shoot at ETAR. I mean, it's I might shoot half of a course if I'm lucky that whole four four or five days that I'm there. I might shoot half of a course once. Usually by the time the booths close, I'm pretty burnt out. You know, I don't really want to shoot a boat, I want to go eat a steak and put my feet up.
SPEAKER_00So that's on your feet 10-12 hours a day, literally talking to hundreds and hundreds of people every day. So, I mean, and then me, I try to squeeze in, I try to squeeze in shooting because I've also got the YouTube channel. So I try to squeeze in, shoot, and then I do Bose of Etar, which kind of has now caught on. If I don't do Bose Etar, I'll be getting hate mail. So I gotta keep that.
SPEAKER_01Don't shut you down, don't shut you down. Don't shut me down.
SPEAKER_00That that's uh if you look at some of the largest videos that I got going, it's always the Bose Etar and stuff like that.
SPEAKER_01You know, that yeah, if you skip that one year, I think YouTube would reach out to you and ask where the videos. So everybody likes.
SPEAKER_00Of course, I couldn't I couldn't do that if it wasn't for Carrie in the booth, you know. Um I know you got help too. I mean, I've seen Manke over there helping you with the oh hillbilly. Oh hillbilly and oh hillbelly. But no, dude, it's it's it's honestly it's so it's so crowded there. It's it's such a it's such a great shoot, and it's a great event that uh, but uh on the vendor side of things, it can be it's busy from the time you show up to the time you leave.
SPEAKER_01It'll wear you flat out. But yeah, it's uh it's good. This uh, like I said, this this the push for 27 right now, uh for you know, we got a lot of good stuff for 26, you know, in up leading up to the banquet, but I'm gonna take a stab, I'm not gonna divulge who we're having at our banquet as far as keynotes and daytime seminars at the moment. I got a couple loose ends to a couple calls to finish, uh finish up and finalize details, but I will say um I'm gonna take a stab and say it's gonna sell out this year. Uh the the tickets are gonna sell out for the 27 banquet.
SPEAKER_00Uh, with who we are they've sold out the last two years, I've been darn came close. Oh, uh you didn't? I don't know how you can fit any more people in that ballroom. So I just assumed you was sold out. They gotta move some walls. Oh, yeah, those walls move, don't they?
SPEAKER_01Okay, yeah, they can move that one wall, but yeah, yeah. Um, we were we were close. Um, but I I'm gonna say that it's gonna sell out for the 207 banquet. I'm I'm pretty certain it's going to. So yeah. Um once we get all the info out on it, you know, for one with the vendors we have coming, I mean that's it's just awesome to have you all there. It really is, you know. What the what trad bows are about and what the UBI is all about, even you know, the compound guys that that stroll in, we're seeing a tremendous flip in compound shooters at the Joliet Archery Club, for instance. That's my local club. Um, you know, uh Ryan and I ran 3D for who's the president of that club, Mike.
SPEAKER_00Sorry to cut you off. Who's the president? Who's the president of the Joliet Archery Club? Uh Matt Hagstrom. He's a good dude, he's a great guy.
SPEAKER_01He is he's doing a great job with it. He is doing a great job with it.
SPEAKER_00He's tinkering around with trad bows, right?
SPEAKER_01Uh well, yeah, you know, he shoots the trash shoot with us to goof off. He knows it's fun. I mean, yeah, yeah. I will say this Matt's very serious. Yeah, that's typically the only time I see him smile when he's shooting a bow. He gets out there, he shoots, and he laughs his butt off. He's super prescribing. Yeah, he's super serious with you know with the compound and stuff, but you know, either way, he's picking up a trad bow, and that's what it's about. And I don't know. We just have uh five more shooters all at the same time. Five more shooter shooters reach out, they're hanging up this the compounds, they they want to shoot trad bows, man. Uh, and it's just neat to see. And in two years, Matt Matt told me in two years' time, his exact words were uh well, I asked him, I said, What has the growth been in traditional shooters at this club? And he told me, Um, I asked him for the over the course of a year, and he says, Well, course of a year, I can't tell you in the past two years since you all started doing that stupid UBI trad shoot. He goes, It's been an over a hundred percent increase, yeah. And that's pretty awesome, yeah. And we've done that shoot for years now, but I and I know it's we're we're well over a hundred percent increase on trans shooters at that club.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's just it's awesome to see.
SPEAKER_00So, isn't it crazy to see the influx? It's it's crazy to see the influx of the you you touched on the compound shooters. I know we've done this, but I got a guy in my club, I got several, but just last shoot when I had a I had a group of compound guys show up here, tried bows for the first time. They was all had either a Samic Sage or a Black Hunter or Amazon bow of some degree. They all had, you know, arrows weren't even close to being matched. Uh and that's that's just fine because they were having an absolute blast. And and I talked to the we have this guy in the club, his name's Tom uh Pierce, and Tom was a sponsored, Tom wasn't a small, I mean, you know, he was a sponsored compound shooter, a really good shooter, and uh went all over the country shooting, like many of them do, you know. And and when he made the transition to traditional archery, he and I was talking at one, maybe one of the first shoots he came to here, and he said, No, I I still like my compounds and so on and so forth. He said, But the the level of like the anxiety, the pressure, the level that they live on, you know, if you if you don't if you miss one X, you might as well go to the truck, you're done, you're done, you gotta be right, and you see some of this look at look at like Brody Turner, look at what these guys are doing, like like Lancaster.
SPEAKER_01You watch Lancaster, you blow one shot and it's over, you're out of the game.
SPEAKER_00It's absolutely insane. So you you uh but there's a lot of pressure that comes along with that, you know. There's a lot of pressure comes because the get the level of competition is so high, and and don't get me wrong, we got good levels of competition in trad archery too, but this is what he told me, and this will always stick with me. Um, he said, David, he said I've shot compounds my whole life, one way or another. I've been doing it such such a long time, and I can't even really remember when I started. He said, but here's the thing I kind of fell back in love with archery when I picked up a trad bow. I fell back in love with archery. It was becoming so monotonous and so uh just you know, the competition side of it, uh it was coming so monotonous from him that that he started enjoying archery again. And uh he's I think this is his third year, and I don't I don't think he picks up his compound hardly at all anymore. But um, it's just uh I'm sure there's several other people, some similar stories. It's just great when I hear those, and uh, you know, and it has a positive impact like that. Because archery is so it's it's supposed to be fun, right? If it's not fun, why are you doing it? You know, take up bowling or something else, uh whatever these guys uh are under these competition compound type guys are under so much pressure that that uh this is just like a godsend to them. I mean, it's when they do it, they're laughing, they're joking, they're they're you know, you can see them make a bad shot and they laugh it off.
SPEAKER_03You know, I mean they don't absolutely not there's not as much on the line, you know.
SPEAKER_00But uh I really enjoy seeing that transformation uh when I see it, you know. I enjoy watching that.
SPEAKER_01Good deal. Yeah, it's it's always good, man. Um I'm gonna I'm gonna spin the wheel here and uh we're gonna make a hard left. Hard left. We're gonna make a hard left. Let's talk a little hunting, buddy.
SPEAKER_00Let's do it.
SPEAKER_01Let's do it. Let's talk a little hunting. Yeah, give me your most memorable harvest. Any animal most memorable is what I want to know. Okay, well, one that the one that just constantly just comes back up, and you just think, man, that was awesome.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, one. I instantly want to go to, you know, like a lot of what people judge that by like the biggest buck that they've shot, and that wasn't all that wasn't all that memorable for me. That was like a 15-yard shot, and and and you know, he went 30 yards. Uh, but what was memorable for me was actually just this. I'll give you one from just this past season.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so I've got a short you got a short memory, don't you?
SPEAKER_00No, no, and I'm gonna only go back one season. Go back one season. Um, and this is gonna play into kind of the uh the hunter that I've I'm doing all this. I wouldn't even be holding a bow if it wasn't for hunting. I'm a hunter. I mean, all this is because I hunt. I've hunted my whole life, I've been very fortunate, I've taken a lot of game in my life, um, all with all with trad equipment, and uh, you know, it's just I was always the type of hunter. If I felt like uh I'm still kind of this way, but I've kind of switched gears. If I felt like it was worth if it brought me joy, I wasn't a I wasn't a trophy hunter. I I wasn't a trophy hunter, but um I've I've done the one the the the 130s, the 140s, the touching 150s. I mean, my biggest, my biggest buck ever is an eight-pointer, 146 and 3.8s. Um but having said that, that don't get you, you know, employee of the month or anything, and but but I've done a slew of 130s and and things of that nature. So about real back about four years ago, this could be because of the YouTube channel, I have no idea, but I started thinking that I was like, you know, uh I don't know, Chuck Adams or something, and I started passing up, you know, your 120s, your 130s deer. I started passing them up, and I've got bucks of footage of of Pope and Young Deer just directly under my stand, you know, and I started doing that, and it's it's kind of late in life, but it's not until I started doing that. Um, you know, the whole rest of the whitetail season kind of opened up for me. So last year uh I set out to uh kill 150-inch deer. The uh the that that's been my goal for the last two years, but uh I haven't got that done yet. Um, but uh last year I set out and I had I was looking at several nice bucks in the area that I was hunting, and uh you know, had passed up a couple uh 140 type deer and um and you know was sitting there getting kind of down on myself. I was like, man, I'm uh I shouldn't have passed those deer up. But this, I don't even know if I told you this story. So out of the corner of mine sitting in a stand like a regular evening. Now I had uh 87 sits last season. Now I count a sit, it's either a morning sit or an evening sit or an all-day sit. During the rut, I think I only had 11 all-day sits last year, but that was all pretty much during the rut. And I save vacation, I take off a lot, you know, during the rut. That's that's my vacation. But anyway, um uh out of the corner of my eye, I I looked nice. I seen a small buck, like six, seven point or something like it. You know, not very big, well, bascreck eight point or something. I don't even know what he was, but I'm watching him and he uh he throws the ears up. I'm watching him, I'm like, oh, here comes something, you know, from the wood line. And just a monster stepped out there. Um, uh that we call him Splitter because his brows split, but uh 170 some inch deer, uh, best we can guess. And big deer that I've actually ever laid eyes on in you know, probably 45, 46 years of of hunting, it's of deer hunting, it's it's the biggest deer I've ever laid on. Eyes on in the woods. And uh so he kind of ran that buck off. This is this is uh pre-rut, but it was they were starting to push a little bit, they weren't chasing, they were starting to push. So he ran that little buck off, and I noticed he had there was a couple does there. I thought, well, there's no way I'm gonna get him off them does. But I went ahead and I grunted uh lightly. He paid attention. He came around the back of the tree, and the tree I was in, uh, I moved this, I moved to this area because you know that I was getting uh a lot of activity in that area. So I moved to this area, and the tree I was in had a fork directly behind me, and uh it was a perfect shot. He was at about 20 yards, broadside, quartered away, perfect, but that tree was just kind of in my way, and you know, you don't I don't risk it with any game. Everything's got to feel exactly right with trad equipment for me. It's got to feel right, I gotta be uber confident in that shot. So I let down. He walked to the right of me and he stopped behind another tree. You know, everybody's got these stories, and then process I'm standing up and I draw back. And and Mike, I I kid you not, I had uh I was hunting with uh Midorah, and um I must have held that draw. It probably seemed like a half an hour, but I'm not exaggerating when I say I held that draw for three minutes because he was alert, he he was downwind of me, and I'm I'm very cautious. He was alert of what was going on. I mean, he knew something was off, but he was just being very cautious, and he's he was feeling things out, and um, and so I was a full draw that long time to my my arm literally started shaking. I I had to let it down when I let it down. He flared uh just a little bit, and uh the shot was about 26, 27 yards. Now, a lot of people would probably make that shot. I'm not one of those people, so I had to watch that deer walk away. Um, so I didn't even harvest a deer, I didn't even uh you know drop the string on him. Um, but that's probably one of my most memorable hunts because afterwards, in hindsight, I thought if I'd have killed, if I'd have harvested something earlier in the season, I'd have never seen that buck. So it just kind of confirmed what I was doing and and gave me the uh confidence that I needed to keep doing it. I am not a trophy hunter, but I've done the same thing so many times. I've I've set goals for myself. I want a 150-inch better deer. I've got several buddies, including you, that's killed the 150-inch deer, but I haven't, you know. I've I've killed a bucket load of the 130 to 140 type deer, and uh, you know, I've whitetail hunting has be kind of has kind of opened back up to me and passing up some of them deer. Now, to if anybody wants to go out there and call a spike buck with tried equipment, any equipment, more power to them.
SPEAKER_01I don't stare down my nose that people that it's a it's a deer tag, it's it's a it doesn't say trophy deer tag, it doesn't have a number on it, it doesn't say 200-inch deer.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, my whole thing is just setting goals for myself. That's it. I'm just I've just a goal I've set for myself. I'm not a trophy hunter, but it's a goal I've set for myself, and I want to do that on film. And the the the the crazy thing about when you take a camera to a tree, and I know there's a lot of other YouTubers that probably gonna listen to this, so they're gonna they're gonna understand, and um it's a disadvantage, you know. I've I oh yeah a couple of years, it's cost me, you know, where I would turn the camera on the tripod or whatever, or tripod, I use uh fourth arrow and you know just turn it ever so slightly because you want them center frame and and that's it, you're busted. So I've I've that's been a learning curve, you know, and I've I've still been I'm a hunter first, but uh but but you know, a couple I I've I've I've really bought a couple nice bucks with that camera.
SPEAKER_01The amount of times I put cameras in that tree with me and then fill a tag and go, dang it, I forgot to turn that camera on.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01I guess I I get tunnel vision, and it's like my focus goes on that animal 100%. My my intentions are good, but the outcome ain't great. But yeah, um, but you know, uh on a on a trophy size, that's something that um I I think I've seen a lot of where you know these compound trophy hunters that come over to tread, all of a sudden that those inches go down. Oh, yeah all of a sudden they go down. It's like that 170 now becomes like a 120, you know, and it's like that's that's good enough. Oh, yeah, and that's fine. Yeah, you know, I mean I've shot my share of smaller bucks, you know, year and a half old, two and a half old. Um where I've gone with it myself is I've switched over from shooting those younger bucks, and now it's three and a half year old or better. I'm not concerned about rack size, right? I don't, I don't, I don't get all you know gung-ho on the rack size. And um, I shot one this past season that there was three bucks there, and one good one. He was, I'm sure I know he was in the high 140s if if he wasn't 150.
SPEAKER_00Dude, you sent me a video of that off your phone. You sent me a video of that buck. Is that the buck you're talking about? He was out in the field at a distance, but oh yeah, then you closed the gap later. You were on that buck for a while. Now you passed up some deer, you passed up some deer. You wanted to you wanted to harvest that buck.
SPEAKER_01Well, I wanted that buck, but yeah, he stayed out there about 50 yards, and yeah, not too much. Two other bucks came in, and this three and a half year old comes wheeling in right up to that decoy, and I was like, Well, that's the one that's getting it, you know. So that's it. I mean, this this big guy watched it happen, and I was still stoked over that, you know. I mean, it was it was exciting.
SPEAKER_00I gotta I gotta thank you for the whole decoy. You mentioned the decoy thing. I gotta thank you. Now, I had a decoy and I've hunted with decoys, wasn't a big white-tailed decoy guy until I started talking to you. And now you've got decoy and white tail, you know, Midwest White Tail down to a science. And I mean, you so where I had tried and failed, I'd tried and had some success in the past, uh, 10-15 years ago, but where I tried and and and failed was basically until I talked to you, and and you just kind of opened open my mind to what I may have been doing wrong, you know, and I just listened into you and I was doing it all wrong. My setup was wrong, my decoy itself was absolutely wrong.
SPEAKER_01Oh, there's a lot of bad decoys out there. Oh my, I had a flambo doe that I used to take, and and and punt that thing, you can punt that thing right into the river, and it's about it.
SPEAKER_00She looks like she spooked, you know, she legs are down, and I never really thought about it until you said what kind of decoy you got. And I said, You said, dude, look at that. You wouldn't tell me. You said just look at her the next time you set her up. And I went out to the barn, drug that thing out. It wasn't even deer season, set her up just to look at it. I was like, She's squatted, she's like she's getting ready to bolt. I never thought about it. And I seen deer flare off her flare, you know, I've seen deer spook with that decoy in the past.
SPEAKER_01So I but I tell you what, them bucks will hang up uh average 50 yards every time they they come in on that decoy. Yeah, that flambeau, they'll come in on that decoy and they'll just lock up at 50 and just stare at it, and nothing happens, and they eventually turn and walk, or they hightail it out of there. Yeah, one of the two, you know. I have one. I gave it to actually I gave it to my brother. Yeah, I was like, you could use this one.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I uh I I even with the way I was doing it, Mike. I don't want you to give me around. I had plenty of deer compound close, but that's not good enough. We don't hunt with compounds, yeah. So you basically taught me how to bring them the rest of the way in, and and that was years and years and years of hunting with decoy, trial and error yourself. You have got a system. I'm telling you, I know you're not a big crowd speaker guy. I'm kind of shocked that you're even doing this thing. I thought it was gonna have ride. I thought it was gonna have ride. Yeah, but but uh um you know, you could do a you could do a seminar, and people would pay attention on decoying the midwestern white tail. I'm telling you what a lot of people don't know about you that's a science within itself, and you've got it figured. You've absolutely put a lot of time in decoying white tail deer, and and I failed a lot, sure, but that's how you learn.
SPEAKER_01Nobody in my family ever used decoys. And I remember the first decoy I got, um, I think it was a flambeau, yeah. It was a flat that flambeau decoy. Um, we had our uh we had a shop in Crestwood, a traditional archery store, it was a retail store, and we had one sitting in there, and I snagged that sucker and brought it out to the farm, and I just kept messing with it, messing with it, and failing time and time and time again. And then I came across those carry light decoys, and I grabbed one of those and changed my setup. But I mean, I'll tell you the game changed instantly. The game changed instantly on that, and um, like I said, there was a lot of failures, but that you know, that's Rue, her first deer. We put that decoy out, and I told her, I mean, she she could tell you verbatim. I mean, it was I told her I said exactly how it's all gonna come down. We're setting the decoy up, those deer are gonna come from this area, they're gonna come right here, they're gonna come past the decoy to circle down to that decoy, and it was like clockwork, it's all on video, too, and that's the coolest part. But that was her first deer to get that on film, it was pretty amazing.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, oh, absolutely amazing.
SPEAKER_01I love it though, man. You know, it's uh I you know, I'm I'm anxious to see some whiskey city video with that decoy.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, well, I took it last year. I should I should send you the video that I have. Uh, I I had I had the flambeau buck, which you've told me to get rid of, and I have since I got the uh uh what's the decoys we use? I I've got um, I've got two of them out there in the box.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I got a uh I got a carry light and then I got a um old Hank. The old Hank, right? Blocker blocker decoys.
SPEAKER_00Yep, that's what I got is the old hanks, but anyway, uh uh I I took that out and I mean, you know, still was having a little bit of growing pains, even with that that that decoy. This but because I set it up the way you told me to set up, I had more success than I ever did. And I've actually got like a 130, 135, uh 130-inch eight-pointer, 135-inch eight-pointer within 10 yards. But he he eventually spooked as well, you know. I mean, he eventually didn't blow out of there, but he ran off 30 yards, stopped, and then walked off, you know, just didn't know what this guy was all about. But but uh anyway, yeah, it's it's it's very interesting to uh pick your brain on that kind of stuff. Um, I want to do some more. There isn't nothing better in my mind. I mean, don't get me wrong, I hunt some pretty thicket, I hunt some hardwoods. I mean, I it's pretty diverse, you know. Everybody asked me, you know, um, not everybody, but people have asked me in the past, what are you doing early season? I find the white oaks. I'm from Southeast Indiana. I find the white oaks, find the acorns, you're gonna find the deer. Uh, you know, so I've I've learned through trial and error so many things that have helped me through the through the years, but there's something to be said for hunting a southeast Indiana cornfield or a bean field, and you got that open trad shot on a deer. And and I'll be honest with you, most of those are a little bit more, those will test your patience a little more because you're usually on a on a tree line totally exposed. There's not a whole lot of cover, and you got nothing but open field in front of, and you need that decoy to take their attention off of you. You know what I mean? I mean, as long as your sense right, your thermal's right, winds right, all that other stuff plays, right? But you are stacking the deck in your favor with a well-placed, well-executed decoy. I I totally believe in them now, and I I think this season you're gonna see a lot more of that. And matter of fact, I will send you that footage of the other buck of the last years that I never did, I never did air. I actually my last this last season with you know almost 90 sits. Um, I got so much deer footage, man. I ended up taking a public park um uh deer dough, and then I ended up harvesting another dough that I didn't film. So I got two doughs last season, but I passed up over 30 bucks, you know. Um, and I have no regrets there. That's a goal I've set for myself, so I have no regrets there, but um, I've got a lot of good b-roll, a lot of good footage of all that stuff that I couldn't use, so you know, I didn't really ever put out uh you know another video, but um, yeah, hopefully this year it all comes together. And uh that big 170 plus deer that I was telling you about, he's still there. Um uh I'm hunting with uh the Halls, which are a couple good buddies of mine, and and Abe Hall is is uh, you know, old Abe manages deer, man. I mean, he really knows now he can't keep them all, they got a lot of property, but he can't keep them all there, you know. Obviously, it's fair chase and all that, but but uh he keeps right on top of that stuff. And he just told me the other day that that he seen that buck, and that buck did make the season. So I'm gonna be right back in the same spot. A thing that's kind of that I've kind of shifted gears. We're coming on. I'm gonna kind of shift gears on you. We're coming on turkey season. Oh, yeah, you're now that's one of the things that I used a gun a lot for when I told you I killed other game with gun, it was always turkeys. I never was really uh, you know, there's people out there that's as die hard about their turkey hunting as as we are about whitetail, you know. I was never that guy, and and look, I didn't really think uh I I don't want to tick anybody off here. I didn't really think it was all that challenging. I didn't I would find where they roost, I would find where they roost, I'd do some scouting, find where the the the toms were roosting, and I'd go in there and sit down. I sometimes I wouldn't even call. It was 50-50, they were gonna fly down my way or another way, you know, and then they'd fly down and day would break, and you know, you'd get them decoy close and shoot one, you know. And I don't know how many I've killed 20, 25, 30 turkeys in my lifetime. I mean, quite a bit, you know, and uh with a gun. Now, through that process, I did take my recurve. I took a recurve out a couple times, missed one, wounded one, and uh been there. I'm sorry, I wounded two and mental, and then I just kind of chalked it up. Now that was in my 20s, and I just kind of chalked it up. These things aren't built for archery, you know. They're right, better not, period. Yeah, I don't know, dude. So my whole world has opened up the last couple years. Um, I'm I'm I'm three three in a row now on three seasons in a row, harvesting with I got a little kinu. You might know something about that bow. It's a little uh hybrid reflex deflex long bow. And uh, dude, I'm telling you, it much like so I have video of taking one of my first tom. That's another thing that's the first tom I've ever taken with trad equipment is on video three years ago, and I shot that guy at like uh 16, 17 yards. My decoys were were you know 12 yards away from the blind because I'd done nothing but gun hunt them, you know, and I thought 15 yards is a chip shot. Well, just like you, you know, schooling me on decoying deer, Abe Hall schooled me on uh you know, harvesting turkeys with a trad bow, and the way I had to set up and change the way I was doing things, and I've done that, and it was a huge eye-opener to me. And I'm three seasons in a row, got three nice tombs down with that with a trad bow, and I don't see myself ever picking up another gun to hunt turkeys. I I I've really now I'm starting to enjoy turkey hunting. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it with a gun, but not to the extreme of taking harvesting one with a with a longbow. I mean, it's it's not even a not even a comparison, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I haven't uh I've yet to kill one. Um, I and I will say, I mean, I haven't put a lot of effort into it.
SPEAKER_00You don't, I just stand up.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, half the time I forget to put in for the tag. Yeah, I know, and I don't even think about the tag, but right.
SPEAKER_00Um but you rounded the bear hunting, you're a diehard bear hunter, too. So, and you have been since you were a kid, so you're kind of shifting gears, and around turkey season, you're putting all your focus toward your spring bear hunting.
SPEAKER_01Well, that's it. This this year I have a turkey tag for fifth season, uh, which is May 7th through the 14th. Um, and that's a terrible time for me because I'm gunning to get product finished up so I can bail out for bear camp and then get back, and then we got Compton right after we get back. So it's it's a bad time, but I'll I'll burn a morning or two, and that's that's about the best I'll do for you know, I might have one or two sets in in the morning. You want to take a bow this year? You're taking a bow? Uh you're a bowier. You have to tell listen, I'm gonna I'm gonna tell you right now, I'm taking both. There you go. I'm taking both. You don't have plan A and plan B. My goodness, man. Them things are brutal. I get that five dollar turkey tag every fall. Oh I always have a turkey tag in my pocket, but it never ends well. Um but I'm just I'm gonna change things up a little bit and I'll try it this year and uh see what happens. And you know, it'll be a nice breather, at least get some fresh air and watch a sunrise out at the farm. But um, other than watching one from the shop window, but yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00No, dude, I I I get it, and uh, you know, like you said earlier, it's important to go out to the obviously as a vendor, but also you got to keep a couple of these shoots for yourself and stuff, yes. Um, yeah, and I know that time of the year for a for you, you know, you're trying, you know, you gotta what's your waiting list up to on your bows nowadays? You don't want to talk about it on an apologize? It's up there, man. I know you constantly walk around feeling like you owe everybody something because their bow's not done yet, right? And I know just having got gotten to know you. I know the time you put in the shop. I can call you at and you know, and you're still in the shop, it's nuts, right? But you still enjoy it, and that's the most important thing. But these rendezvous and stuff, like you say, they'll get you know, being a bowyer gets in the way of some hunting here and there, you know, because you got to mix in those shows, those rendezvous and whatever. It it gets, you know, I know come turkey season, you're really under the gun as a as a as a profession, as a bowier, you're really under the gun. So that probably helps just kind of slough off those turkeys as well, because you just simply don't have the time.
SPEAKER_01You know what? It it's uh it's a bird. It's in the end, man. It's a bird. I'm just gonna call it like it is. But for to me, it's just a bird. I'm gonna I'm gonna see that tried equipment, and it'll be something different, trust me. Yeah, but uh, I'll see that bird in the fall, too. They're there, you know. I I know where they they ruse honestly. We're out at the farm. I have one stand on the back creek. Little Beaver Creek runs at the back of the farm, and I my favorite spot is right there. There's a pine tree on the on the south side of the creek that I remember that pine tree was about two and a half, three feet tall, and I kept looking at that, going one day that thing's gonna be big enough, man. I'm gonna tell you right now, man. I've had a stand in that thing for a few years now. Oh, that's pretty cool. Yeah, we've been hunting a farm for 36 years, and I I watched that dang pine tree grow, and I finally got a stand in that tree. I just something about pine trees, I just love hunting around pines. Um, I do maybe it's because it's just so quiet. Yeah, you know, coverage coming through them, you know what I mean.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you just take out a couple branches, set your stand in there, and you got some natural cover in those things. I love them. Yeah, the bad part is when you don't like them when it's windy.
SPEAKER_01No, not at all. Or when you cut that one branch and it keeps just oozing sap all over the right down the back of your back of your hoodie. Yeah, yeah. I I I got a pair of uh first light um pants, um cobadway pants for the the late season, and the whole seat of the pants is just it's just black from the all the sap that ended up on the seat, but um that uh probably about uh I would say about 50 to 60 yards south of that uh uh pine tree is where all these turkeys roost. And I got video footage, and I'm telling you, man, if we were short of 50 turkeys coming through that field, man, I that that Would uh blow my mind. Right, right. There's just so many dang birds there, and nobody hunts them. You know, so it's like uh you know, if I don't get out in the spring, they're there in the fall. I have them around me all the time in the fall.
SPEAKER_00I just can't fall turkeys seem to be harder. They're more I don't know. I oh they're tough, they're tough. I don't know, but there's a difference, you know. We can get fall tags here in Indiana, and I think last year I had 12 turkey misses, and it could be a hen, you know. So I had 12 misses from the stand on turkeys. Um first off, I uh you know it's not my shooting because I'm a superior, superior next level shooter.
SPEAKER_01Oh, we've seen it, yeah.
SPEAKER_00So having said that though, those things, it's not easy to hit them from above, it's just not. They uh they're kind of like doves, they make one little twerk or one little jolt, and I mean you just missed them, you know. I mean, so yeah, yeah, they're they're tough. Yeah, I've got a lot of I've got a lot of misses racked up on fall birds.
SPEAKER_01I learned over the years, and you know, the 30 35 36 years out there, the point in time where those fall birds get really stupid, or maybe they're just that smart, yeah. Shotgun season, yeah, dear firearm season, they will be two feet from your blind. And I have video footage 20, 30, 40 birds all like right there, and they don't care, they just do not care, you know. But it's like the minute that ends and you're back to bows, it's like they're gone, man. They will not come close.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, once the pumpkin army goes in the woods, it changes the dynamic of every creature that walks or crawls. It does 100. I I agree with you. They're so rattled, yeah. They're that that's that's everything, everything's rattled.
SPEAKER_01The squirrels act funny. You know what I mean? The squirrels act funny, you know. Yeah, it just uh I don't know, changes the game, but that's that's why you know the my particular where I live.
SPEAKER_00I always you know, I took seven for seven years in a row poping young deer on my place, and then well, I start having 3D shoots. You want to ruin your hunting, put a 3D shoot right in the middle of your hunting woods.
SPEAKER_01You know, I I honestly I've been out there to your place and I sat there thinking, you know, bold move, dude.
SPEAKER_00You know, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I was I was really I was really in the driver's seat there for many, many seasons, and but but no, the it you know, I just I got good friends around me and I just transitioned to the next county over with a couple buddies I'm hunting with my whole life.
SPEAKER_02So yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00So it's it's it's really worked out. I've really had the last three deer seasons have been phenomenal for me. Uh as just as far as I don't know, it's just taking on a horse of a different color. I mean, I feel more connected. It's it's just a weird thing. I mean, you know, I used to have no brakes to me whatsoever. If it's brown, it was down, you know. I mean, or if it was within range, I was always ethical, you know, 15 yards and in, broad ship picking the right shot, all that stuff. I was always ethical. I passed that on to my uh son. He hunts the same way very ethically. Um, you know, with trad equipment, we need to give the game all the respect they deserve, you know what I mean? Because we have we don't have a point and shoot triggered type mechanism, you know, that that takes out a lot of the guessworker accuracy, you know, you know, so we we we need all those other factors to be in in in in a row. So I was always pretty good about that, but I just didn't wait, you know. I just didn't, and for the last three seasons, I've really been more selective and and it's really opened up uh it's it's it's it's opened up a different aspect of whitetail hunting for me. Absolutely just and I'm I'm just now I've hunted my whole life, but I'm just now on the start of that journey there. So it will happen, it will happen whether it's this season, whether it's next season. My goal is to kill 150-inch deer better on video. Um and if that one's oh, I I don't want to talk a bunch of smack. I mean, he could be tipping 180s. If if I if if if he comes in, I was able to harvest that deer on video. Golly, yeah, Eichler's gonna give me a call and say, How'd you do that?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, with a uh a whiskey city shirt on. Um what uh what hunt you got coming up this year? You going on any trips?
SPEAKER_00I am. I uh so at the end of May, I'm going to uh hog and gator hunt right after turkey season. I was going to the North Kakalacky. Kakalaki, yeah. Me and my buddy Abe going down there, and his brother Ben, and I think my son Hunter's going. Uh, I'm pretty certain he's going, and we're gonna have a good time there. We're gonna do gators during the day and then hogs in the evening, so I'm pretty excited about that. Um, then I go to every year, as you know, uh I go to the uh Black Widow Bear Camp in Maine. I got on board yeah, I got on board there about three years ago, and uh, you know, and I've been going ever since for three years. This will be my fourth year, actually. No, yeah, no, this will be my third year. This be my third year going to and uh so I got that later in the year. You know, I I've had opportunities and I, you know, it's just I still work, you know, I still work for a living, and and just like every anybody's listening to this, it gets tough. It sure I would like to I have bucket list animals, I need to get moving on it, you know. Uh at the UBI Bank when I heard Minton, uh Minton seminar, Mike Minton seminar, you know, nothing to it but to do it kind of thing, but man, it gets tough. Life can really, and I've got all these coals in the fire, it just gets pretty tough. I've been invited on several really, really good hunts that almost seem too good to be true. That I just for lack of a better term, don't have it in the schedule to make those those hunts.
SPEAKER_03That's the hard part, and it pains me, man.
SPEAKER_00It just absolutely pains me. But I'm three years, I mean, I could retire today. I'm I'm like uh three and a half years out of retirement, and man, when that gets here, I just I don't know what's gonna happen. Elk, moose. I mean, I've been putting in for elk and moose every year for the last 15 years. Elk in Kentucky and Eastern Kentucky. I've been putting in moose for Maine a long time, and I never get drawn, but but I still I still put in every year. You hear these stories where oh, I put in for 10 years and then finally I was drawn, but I keep trying, I keep taking a stab at it.
SPEAKER_01Yep, yeah. That's I mean, that's really all you can do on uh those draw states.
SPEAKER_00Those draw I would love to kill a red stag, yeah, buddy. I know a guy, I know yeah, I don't want to out your business, but you're going stag hunting. I'm very jealous, I'm very, very jealous.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, me and old Brad Morris, uh El Presidente.
SPEAKER_00El presidente, hey, that'll be he's such a good dude, you know. That's the whole thing, and I I don't want you have to like who you share hunting camp with. I'm sorry, it needs to be said, it needs to be out there. And if anybody's listening to this and think, what a pompous guy to say that. No, it's you know it to be true. You have to it you know, one bad guy in camp can ruin the whole experience, you know.
SPEAKER_01Well, I've seen it, I have seen it just running that bear camp up there, you know, over the years.
SPEAKER_00It's like we've had all kind of personalities there throughout the years, and I'm sure outfitters know exactly what I'm talking about, you know.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, we've thrown guys out of camp, and we're gonna come back in day two or three, you know, just go go home, man. You know, it's um yeah, no, it I'm looking forward to that one. Um I'm prepping that's this time next year, yeah. I'll we'll be there in New Zealand, and uh you know, but uh it's a lot of preparation for it. I'm 51. You're in the gym. I'm in the gym, yeah. Uh-huh. I'm in the gym three days a week, you know. Um yeah, you know what? I I ain't getting younger, and it's it's gonna get harder to do it, and uh you know, yeah, take care of myself a bit and get ready for it. So yeah, man. Yeah, no, I can do, but yeah, that'll be neat. That'll be a neat one to do.
SPEAKER_00Well, I'm just here's what I'm hoping. I'm hoping you get out there. I hope you have a very successful hunt. But just like anything else, if if I I kind of know how you are having you know, uh talked to you last many years now. Uh if you go out there, I don't know if it would be good. If you go out there, it could do if you harvest one right off the bat, if you go out there, because you're doing self-guided, you're the whole nine yards. So if you go out there and harvest one off the bat, I don't really I don't know that that would kill the desire to go back for you. But if you go back there and have a close encounter, would you be more apt to go back and get it done? You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01We so we hunted Nebraska a lot um for quite a few years, northwest Nebraska, pine pine ridge unit, and um went in blind. You know, I did a bunch of light work on it, researching into it and stuff, and just put a group of guys together and we went. You know, we Airbnb'd a ranch home and um just hit public land. And um every year, I I've never killed anything out there, but every year, I mean, I seen a ton of animals, and and each year I got closer and closer and closer to kill one, and that's that's the drive. That's the drive, yeah. That's the drive. It's like, yeah, if you went out and shot a giant every time you win, it's like, yeah, yeah, that's where I'm at.
SPEAKER_00Like, if I go, if I do get an L tag and I go get one the first season, I I I don't know if I'd be like, Yeah, well, I did that, I'm moving on to the next critter, you know.
SPEAKER_01Uh well that's it, yeah. Yeah, I mean it's like it's kind of like you know, with these hunt a lot of the hunting programs out there now. They go out and they shoot three, four, two hundred-inch deer a a season. Yeah, what what where where's the excitement in that? Where's the you know, I mean, it's unnatural for that to happen, first of all, but um, you know, when it comes that easy, it's like, yeah, uh, you know, it's just to me, it's not I don't know. This it's gonna be an adventure. You know, I like hunting places I've never been. Uh, I like the unknown. Um, I want to see what's on the other side of that hill and what's on the other side of that mountain, and that I just want to see it. You know, I mean, it's not about like a hundred percent about I'm I gotta kill something or this trip sucks. I I don't feel that way ever. Right. Um, you know, it's more it's what you make of it, I guess. You know, I mean, if you're gauging it on the kill, like you know, it's been said a million times before, if you're gauging it on the kill, you're missing the point. Um, I strongly believe in that. You know, yes, I'm out there to kill an animal, I'm not out there to take pretty pictures, but well, I'll tell you, you're in God's country. You know, I mean, you're seeing things that most people don't get to experience. Um and I when I say that, I mean it's you look at all these folks that get up and sit in in a cubicle all day long. You know, that they get up, they ride the train to work, they park in a cubicle all day, ride their train home, and then sit and watch, you know, family guy the rest of the night or something. Yeah, yeah. They're missing so much of life right there. Yeah, just just to see the world wake up and see those all those critters come out of the woodwork and just uh I mean, you know, full circle. They you know, they you watch them all come out, you watch them all go back in, and it's like, man, it's just something special about it to me.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no, I get it. I do, I understand that. I do.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it'll be cool though. You know, like I said, it's gonna be a good trip.
SPEAKER_00I'm I'm looking forward to hearing the stories, yeah. No doubt.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I'll have a GoPro on the whole the whole 14 days there, you know. It's so no, he won't. No, he won't.
SPEAKER_00Whoever's listening to this, he'll have a GoPro with him, it won't be on. We argue every season. Hey, he he sent me pictures before of his GoPro in his hunting bag, and he's like, dude, uh this and this this happened. I never did pull out the GoPro. I'd be like, Mike, would you start recording that stuff? But yeah, when I say you're uh you know hunter first, that's definitely you, yeah. Yeah, GoPro is not even you might pack thick enough of it to take it along, but you never really use it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. I'll have to strap a bunch of dash cans to myself or something.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I've just seen your buddy South Cox just brought out another video the other day. I'm I'm fans of all this stuff. I watch, I don't know how you probably don't have time, neither do I really, but in the evenings, you know, a lot of people watch different things. I I watch YouTube, you know, I watch every whatever else's got going on, and uh I search for wood. I yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I live vicariously through those guys, like uh, you know, Mike Minton and those guys that that film their hunts and stuff. But uh yeah, I'm gonna get around to it. I got about another three or four years. Hopefully, I still have my health and uh you know, and I'm able to do that kind of thing. So that's that's that's it, which I'm dealing with, you know. I've kind of had an epiphany moment there too, as well. You know, I just started I started paying attention to my health on a personal note here in the last year, you know, and you know, I'm starting to eat right and do some do some different things to to kind of make sure that I make those hunts, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_01That's it.
SPEAKER_00Slippery slope when you get on it, man. It's just so you know, the hustle and bustle, grabbing stuff on the go. I I work in a profession where you don't really get a lot of time to to sit down and have a wholesome lunch. You know, you grab something on the go, and that's nine out of ten times. That's fast food, you know. So so I've just kind of changed the way I think around that. It's been a lifestyle change for me, and it's really very uh it's kind of self-centered. I mean, it's really it's it's me thinking about the future and thinking about those hunts and making some of these bucketless critters um hunts that that I've always wanted to do.
SPEAKER_01But you you gotta be self-centered on that. Nobody nobody's gonna take you out on those hunts. You're gonna take yourself out. So you you know it's good to be selfish about that stuff. That's what I feel. I mean, that's the first thing I I said is you know, it's kind of a selfish trip for me, you know, to do New Zealand. It's it's it's a selfish trip, but it's it shouldn't be. Yeah, it shouldn't be a selfish trip. I mean, this is this is my go-around, um, and this is my opportunity. This is it. Yeah, we all get one time to do this, and um I'm gonna I'm gonna go for it.
SPEAKER_00Is Brad is Brad fired up about it too? Is he all amped up?
SPEAKER_01Oh my gosh, he should see the text.
SPEAKER_00Oh, he's already talking about it.
SPEAKER_01He's well every day, like it's so hard. He is so bored at work, so but you know, he sits at work and then he's just firing text off, and just all the research he's doing, all the research I'm doing, and you know, yeah, he's pretty stoked. So yeah, he is uh it's gonna be good. So well, I do know this.
SPEAKER_00I know this, brother. You're an outdoorsman. I mean, it's a different kind of game, but is it the premise is the same, you know? Yeah, stock, the premise is the same. So yeah, I I I fully anticipate you uh to I mean, I'm wishing you all the best and wishing you success, but I I fully anticipate you to not come back empty-handed either way, whether it's whether it's a close call, whether it's a you closing the gap on a nice stag and didn't get done, whatever it is. It's it's gonna it's gonna resonate with you for the rest of your life.
SPEAKER_01That's it. Oh, yeah. Yeah, Brad even said he goes, listen, he goes, if we come back and the only thing we shot was a chicken, pretty epic.
SPEAKER_00Wallabies wallabies over there, yeah. I you know wallabies, many, many kangaroos. I looked it up the other night. You was yeah, like four feet or three feet or five feet four. Yeah, I don't know if they eat them, I'm sure you will.
SPEAKER_01Uh I'm I'm gonna try it because I think at some point we're gonna get tired of freeze-dried meals, but I you know, I might I might boil out a wallaby tail, and uh that's where you need to break out the GoPro for video proof that you ate a wallaby. Like in Grad, you know, it tastes a lot like sparroids, you know.
SPEAKER_00No, it's gonna be good, man. That's yeah, that's awesome that you're doing that, and that you gave yourself the time to do that. I know that's tough in your line of work, but uh yeah, man. Dude, things are happening. I mean, Mike, I don't know, I don't know how to tell you this, and I've been through a lot of ebbs and flows in my lifetime of traditional archery, but I feel like the last three or four years it's been on a serious uptick, and I can look around and I can credit some people for that.
SPEAKER_01When Air Aaron Snyder came into traditional archery, he brought a lot of huge amount of people a ton of guys into tradition, and you know, I just talked to Aaron uh about a week and a half ago. We were BSing, and um he's rolling back into it, man. He just got himself a new witter, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um actually knew that.
SPEAKER_01I I'm he's running full trad this year, and you know, there's haters out there, there's always gonna be haters out there. But listen, the the dude puts his mind to it and he focuses and he refuses to fail.
SPEAKER_00Oh, that's the one thing I I give oh, yeah, and and I don't care you know what what form of archery you've shot your whole life. He still had to harvest that game with stick bows.
SPEAKER_03That's right.
SPEAKER_00And I mean, he he went on a tear, man. I'm I'm telling you, the the dude is super impressive. Um, when he came in, he brought a lot of people to traditional archery. I I said his name earlier. Zernzak has brought a bunch of people into traditional archery. Um, and there's uh I'm trying to do my little part to bring people into traditional archery, you know. And I said this on a video the other day, it's not what you can do for traditional archery, but what are you doing for traditional archery? It's you don't have to always give back to something that's gave to you for years and years and years, you know, and whether that be UBI, whether that be the Trad organization and your state, whether that be I'm a big advocate of supporting like-minded people with like-minded goals and and hobbies and so on and so forth, and and and there's power in numbers, so you know, let's just be my little PSA toward the end of this thing. If if if you are in uh obviously, I don't even live in Illinois, but I'm a member of uh UBI because I want to be. I see what they got going on there, and it's infectious. I want to be a part of that, and I'm a member of several other organizations in my state and out of my state, but mostly all traditional organizations, you know, PBS, Compton, I mean, all across the board. Um, I support these organizations that support our sport, and if that's your only means to give back, that's good enough. That's that's good enough.
SPEAKER_01And that's it. You know, I mean, it's um we all gotta be representative of what we're doing, you know. I mean, we it's uh I've I've said it a bunch of times in the past, you know, with UBI has regional reps, you know, that we broke the state into five regions, so we have regional reps, uh one regional rep, uh region one, we have two regional reps, uh, Luke Becker and Jeremy Tefendi, but the rest of the regions we have one. Um, but I've always said every member of the UBI is essentially a regional rep in their region. You should be a regional rep. You you are the face of the UBI to somebody that doesn't know about the UBI. Um and it's the same way with traditional archery. You are the advocate for that. I mean, you're the one, you know what I mean? You're the one putting the word out about it, you're the one educating these people, you know, putting a bow in their hand, you know. It's it's only gonna benefit you to help grow it. Yeah, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_00It's gonna benefit you to help grow that that community. I could not agree with you more.
SPEAKER_01So I guess what uh what events you got coming up? What uh what shows you got got coming up? Where are you gonna be?
SPEAKER_00So as far as Whiskey City Trad gear goes, we will be at the uh Compton rendezvous, we'll be at Etar, we will be at Cloverdale. The Cloverdale Nationals used to be the granddaddy of them all. No kidding. Yes, and let me tell you, they're coming back. I'm the last four years at Cloverdale, the attendance is going through the roof, it's growing, it's it's you know, there again, I don't want to speak on the great club, great guys over there. I don't want to speak on behalf of them, but there was like a lull happening there for a number of years, and and I'm not ashamed to say it because I've the first nationals I went to, first Cloverdale Nationals was in '91 or '92. And I went, I never missed them. Never missed them. Went every year. Um, and there was kind of a lull. It was kind of like, you know, now it's just like the last four years has been substantial growth at that at that uh rendezvous. So Cloverdale Nationals, Compton, Etar. Um I feel like I'm leaving one or two out, but uh I'll go. I have a few shoots like Joliet, Tennessee Classic, that I go just for my own for me. Those those are the two those are the two that I keep for myself. I don't set up there as a vendor. I go and just have fun and and and shoot and just enjoy people.
SPEAKER_01Um those are the those are the two that keep the arrow makers in business. Yeah, yeah. Those are.
SPEAKER_00I don't know. Etar, golly, I don't know. Just a mass amount of people. When you say there's 3,000 shooters there and they're hauling them in like cattle on wagons from the parking lot. I mean, it's just a massive amount of shooters there. But uh yeah, if you ever walk into the clubhouse, you see their lost and found arrows section. There's literally 5,000 arrows, and they that's not from the year before.
SPEAKER_01That's from Yeah, you know it's funny. Two years in a row at Compton, uh, when you go out on one of the courses, I think it was like the green and the orange course. When you walk out past the shed, there they had their big old bucket of arrows. Two years in a row, I found one of my arrows in there. What are the odds, man? You know, yeah, if you think you're gone, you just kiss them goodbye. It's like whatever.
SPEAKER_00But it wasn't last year, it wasn't last year. I shot with you a couple times last year. Jeez, oh peaks. You're that doesn't happen a lot. Yeah, I know you say that, and you're pretty modest, but man, you were shooting lights out. But uh um yeah, I tell I tell you, man, so everything's going well. These rendezvous, I really look forward to them. I look forward to the camaraderie of it and the whole nine yards. The business is going well, whiskey city trad gear is going well, whiskey city traditional archers. Uh, you know, I'm not gonna say it's just we we got a lot of members. It it's a beautiful thing that we have going on because a lot of people uh like me, uh they choose to support the whiskey city traditional archers and not even stepping foot on the grounds here. I send out a lot of memberships because I got the memberships available on uh the wctrad.com, the business side. I send out a lot of memberships to people. I I think uh I think I've pretty much covered every state now. Yeah, all the at least the lower 48.
SPEAKER_01But uh yeah, the which the the classic is uh that's one that uh all you folks should definitely get to. That's that second weekend in September, and that's uh it is a blast, man. It's it is growing rapidly.
SPEAKER_00Like I'm I'm kind of like to the point where I'm doing I want this thing to get any bigger, and people's like, Well, you're gonna you're gonna be as big as he no, I don't want to be as big as he tar that there's so much work involved in that. I mean, and there's so much work involved in the classic, which you know with Joliet, there's a lot of work, but um, you know, I I I'm about you know, I I just procured some more property next to mine just to make sure my classic could survive because I was almost running out of space, you know what I mean? And to see what that thing's to see where that shoots went in four years' time is just you know, I'm just really, really humbled by it. And and yeah, like I'm sure you are when you look at uh what's going on in the UBI. I have the very same feeling about my thing going on, you know. Yeah, getting the participation that we do. Yep, it's good to see it. Yeah, man. Good deal, man. Well, this was this was good, buddy.
SPEAKER_01I think it should be great. Good having you on. I appreciate you taking the time out. I know you just got back and were about ready to pee your pants by the time you got out of the country.
SPEAKER_00So I didn't mean to uh we went, but I I think we went longer than normal, but uh or whatever normal is because this is normal is this first episode one, so maybe this is normal. It's super easy to talk to like-minded people, man. It's just that's right, it's super easy.
SPEAKER_01That's right. Well, good deal. Well, uh stay on here a minute, and uh, folks, I'm gonna go over a couple little things. Uh UBI info. Um, it's uh April 18th, Region 1 shoot. Denny Hayford puts on his re region one stump shoot Saturday, April 18th. Starts at 8 a.m. Uh in Danvers, Illinois. Um, you can reach out to one of the regional reps uh or board members, or you can reach out uh by email to ubidirectors at gmail.com with questions about that. Uh Denny's contact information is on the website, so you can reach out to Denny and get info on that. And I believe uh there's a post on the UBI Facebook page all as well with all the info. Um the East Central Illinois Archery Club has in that one's in uh Urbana, Illinois. They got a shoot on Saturday, April 18th, also 8 a.m. to uh 12 noon. That's registration time. So last registration is at 12 o'clock. Um they got a great, great course set up out there, and uh it's a good club. And then uh Joliet Archery Club has a Mac qualifier. Um, if you shoot the Midwest Archery Championship, they have that coming up on April uh 18th and 19th this weekend. Um registration is 7 a.m. until 1 p.m. on Saturday and 7 a.m. till noon on Sunday. Uh that's uh you could either shoot the Mac or you can shoot it as an open shoot. Um and then uh last but not least, if any of you folks are interested and wanting to get involved, the UBI has an open board position. Uh information was in the newsletter put out in the newsletter. Um, there's an open board position for the UBI. Uh if you are interested in uh running for the board position, the election on the board position, you can send your information, uh send over a bio, uh brief bio photo, and all your contact information to ubi directors at gmail.com. Um, and then we can get your name on the ballot. Um ballots will be uh the election will be held electronically uh via email. So those ballots will get emailed out to you the membership uh by May 7th, and then you'll have uh up to the end of May to get your votes in. So uh any questions on that, reach out to your regional rep andor a board member. Uh, and uh that's it, David. I want to thank you again for coming on. Appreciate you, appreciate your friendship and uh all the laugh as usual. Yeah, all right, my friend. Well, that concludes episode one of UbiCast, the official podcast of the United Bow Hunters of Illinois. Oh my gosh, you sound great. You sound professional. Thanks again, folks. Appreciate y'all