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
Episode 2
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
This episode, Brad Morris sits down with UBI member, bowhunter, and family man, Randy Brand.
Okay. All right. Well, welcome to episode number two of the UbiCast. And today we got uh Randy Brand. Welcome aboard, Randy. Thank you. All right. Uh Randy, uh tell me a little bit about yourself, where you're from, and uh folks uh out there get to know you.
SPEAKER_00Sure. Oh so I am from Columbia, Illinois. That is in Monroe County. It's about 20 minutes south of St. Louis. Uh we live on about a 120-acre farm. Um I'm 49 years old, do HVAC for a living, and uh been been bow hunting for about 41 years.
SPEAKER_01Really?
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Holy cow. Now took me out. Has that all been traditional bow hunting or it has not?
SPEAKER_00I started off with the compound and uh really all the way up to about eight years ago is when I picked up the uh the recurve.
SPEAKER_03Oh yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01All right. How did uh what made you pick up a uh recurve?
SPEAKER_00Just bored or honestly, everybody moving to crossbows. I wanted to get back from that, you know. I don't want to bash the crossbows, but I I kind of do and want to be distanced from it. Um so I picked up, you know, went up to the archer shop, picked up it was a uh a bear Kodiak and started shooting that thing, and it was like I was a kid again, you know. Trying to keep it on a bad target, you know, was a challenge, but it was so much more fun than a compound that you could nail quarters with, you know. Oh yeah. I I just been hooked ever since. And then my wife got into it, and that just fed the fire, and she loves it, and I love it. And you would have told me eight, nine years ago that we'd be traveling all around to shoot 3D tournaments. I said you're crazy, but every weekend we're shooting somewhere. It's just cool. Then, huh? Oh my gosh, she's a better shot than I am. She really is. She loves it, and uh, we have a great time.
SPEAKER_01Oh good. So do you guys uh do you guys compete too? You know, um I mean do you guys do do you guys do like the uh outdoor 3D? Do you guys outdoor 3D tournament indoor league or yeah, we yeah, local leagues.
SPEAKER_00We shot uh leagues quite a bit up at Bluff Cities, the local archery range. Um we've tried a couple like 300 round shoots. Uh we went up to where was it, Evansville, Indiana for one and up in Springfield, Illinois for one. Um, but you know, we just came back from last week and we were at the Classic, you know, Tennessee Classic. Yeah, we're planning on going to Cloverdale.
SPEAKER_01So okay. All right. Now I didn't know if you guys do like uh I know some of the uh you Ubi guys they went out to uh Lancaster and they do Lancaster and Vegas.
SPEAKER_02I mean, the look at that looks like a huge venue.
SPEAKER_00So that's kind of in the plans for next year. Uh so I got one of Mike's uh Ascends, uh huh, and uh he's like we're going up there next year. It's like you know, don't tip me with a good time, you know. Yeah, I might have to run up there with you. Um how do you like that ascend? Oh my gosh. It so when I did the other 300 round, I was using a uh Big Jim Buffalo. It was a good bow, but it really didn't fit me that well, and totally new with wood arrows. I mean, I did all right, but I started shooting this ascend and as an immediate, no kidding, 50 points heighter score. Really? Yeah, it's it's ridiculous.
SPEAKER_01No, I shot that he had it down at uh Whiskey City last year, and we were all out there, and and I've never shot it, and we were standing at target like just shooting. And of course, I canted it like it was my recurve, you know, and it was off. And he goes, No, you need to shoot that thing straight up and down, and uh lo and behold, straight up and down, and it was just money right on. And I'm like, Absolutely, this is crazy, you know.
SPEAKER_00The biggest thing I have to get used to on that is I'm not used to shooting a 39-pound bow. So my point on is a lot closer to you know the bull than what I'm used to. Usually I'm even you know, I I gap shoot, so my point's underneath the 3D target. So trying to train myself to get that point back up is kind of hard, but once I'm there, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah, that I I I guess you would call it a gap shoot too, because I used uh I came from the same thing, compound, and uh, you know, it was always peep site pens. And when I got into the traditional stuff, I started using uh point uh pointing my arrow. I'm like, well, that's kind of like a pin, and I'm gonna use that. And that's the end I've tried to do the instinct thing and pull back and just you know, look at a spot and burn a hole in it, and I cannot do it. It'll end up in the woods or in a tree or something else. Absolutely with no consistency whatsoever when I try to and when I first got into it, and I came from the compound, and uh it was funny, and I didn't know anything about like air tuning, you know. I just bought some arrows, threw on 125 green because that's what you know, compound had man, and I sat and I missed deer after deer after deer. And I I would sit there, I'm like, what am I doing? And then you know, you Google it and you get online and you're like, oh, you need to tune your arrows. And I'm like, man, I don't know how to tune an arrow. What do you mean tune an arrow? And uh yeah, it's sure, you know, especially going to all the shoots and talking to a bunch of uh guys, and you know, the community's so great and helpful. I mean, it wasn't until then where I'm like, oh, there's actually science involved in this, you know, it's not just like a pick up and shoot, but uh yeah, oh yeah, I was shocked myself.
SPEAKER_00What's it I was shocked myself, you know. Oh yeah, and you know what got yourself from arrows and you shot the thing. I had no idea about tuning.
SPEAKER_01No, nothing. And I my first uh traditional bow, I went online and a guy had uh an old bear uh uh grizzly, and I didn't it the the price was good, and I'm like, oh you know, it's a couple hundred bucks, why not? Didn't look at the weight, so it comes, it's like a 60-pound bow, and I've never shot traditional, and I'm out in the backyard with he sent some arrows, and I could barely get this thing pulled back, and I'm shaking it. And arrows are going everywhere, and I'm like, this this kind of sucks, you know. And uh yeah, it wasn't until I dove into it a little bit more like wow, okay, that's but uh oh yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00I think I missed the first two or three deer that I shot at with that thing. Yeah, the backyard, I was like, Man, I'm doing pretty good, but you know, as soon as that deer was in front of me. I was shooting over the top of every one of them.
SPEAKER_01Oh, exactly. I remember it. I got a bow. Um uh Mike built a bow and I took it out and deer hunting. I said, I'm gonna do it deer hunting this year. And I backyard hitting money all day long, getting a tree stand, you know, and I had it set up, you know, 12, 13 feet, like I had a compound, and shot over all these deer and couldn't couldn't figure it out. And then I'm like, well, just Kentucky windage it, and then it was going under and couldn't figure it out. And then finally, I remember one time I shot this deer, and I and it was in the evening, it had aluminox on it, and uh I emptied the quiver and this buck would just didn't move, and he came back around and started nibbling on the aluminoch. And I'm like, dude, don't those, you know, don't those things are expensive for three. Don't be nibbling on that, you know. But yeah, it was it was it took a lot of practice, you know, shooting from a tree stand than sitting on the or standing on the ground shooting at foam, you know, it's a lot different. But that's funny.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, the funny part of my first my first trad kill, I was getting, you know, kind of frustrated. So I actually took my recurve, hung it on one side, had a compound on the other. I had my glove on my hand and my release on my hand. And I said, if there's a big butt coming by, I'm grabbing that compound bow. I was so not sure of myself. So I actually killed my first doe, trad kill, with a release around my wrist with my glove on my hand. And after that, I've never brought that compound bow back out in the woods.
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah, it's funny. Like when you get when you get used to it, you're like, okay, I got it dialed in. We went up to bear camp and uh I had a recurve, and I'm like, man, you know, I'm not gonna bring it because I know I'm good with the compound, but and then you get up there and you're only like 12 yards, you know, 10, 12 yards away from the bait. And I'm like, well, this ain't that far, you know. And so yeah, ever since that first year, I shot that bear with a compound, and I'm like, nah, I'm not bringing it back up. No, no.
SPEAKER_00So that's not even a consideration anymore.
SPEAKER_01No, it's not. I mean, my uh my son, I ended up giving my compound to my son and last fall. I'm like, well, let me shoot it again. And I haven't shot it in a couple of years, and first shot, you know, 10, you know, 10 ringed it in 20 yards. And I'm like, okay, that was there's there's just no like that was cool, you know, but it wasn't like you know, two years you ain't shot it and you ten ring it, and just like shooting a gun, kinda.
SPEAKER_00Well, I mean, it kind of it really it takes the fun out of deer hunting because that deer comes in and it's like, well, you you're gonna get it, you know.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah. How well so when you shot your first deer with the trad, were you just ecstatic about it?
SPEAKER_00I immediately texted my wife, the lady's property that I was hunting on, and just said, I did it. I was so excited, man. Oh man, I was I was tickled. Yes.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah. It's like when once you get an animal on the ground with a trad, it's like, okay, man. I mean, it's I was like, I got this, you know, and you know, and then well, last year I I deer hunted and I don't know what I didn't didn't see a lot of deer, took a couple of shots and missed, and uh didn't even I ate tag soup last year, but you know, it was you learn a lot though when you go out there, you know. I'm like, okay, you know, it's it's it's practice, it's practice and animal behavior, and it's you know, it's a lot different than a compound. Oh yeah. So on the uh on the uh tournament side about it, are you getting heavy? Uh you're gonna you're gonna get heavy into this tournament side. Uh uh we'll see.
SPEAKER_00We'll see. I don't know. There's a lot of good shooters out there, you know. It's a it's funny. We shot in uh Evansville, you know, and I shot pretty good the first day. And then the second day they they group all the uh longbow guys together, and I started shooting with this guy. I said, Man, this guy's good. I don't know all the big name shooters out there, you know, and super nice guy, you know, and he's he's a lefty and I'm a righty, so we're looking at each other and he's kind of blowing kisses at me, you know. We're joking around, and this guy's really nice, a really good shooter. Come to find out it was Michael Davenport. I had no idea, you know. After the shoot, I look him up on Facebook. He's like, oh, this guy's a big deal. Yeah, yeah. Super nice guy, though. Man, so you just never know who you're shooting against, but yeah, yeah, that's a lot of fun.
SPEAKER_01Now, do you do a lot more uh three 3D than indoor traps?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, yeah. We got a core group of guys around here that we almost every weekend we go somewhere to shoot.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Good deal. Well, I'm sure Lancaster will will be a lot different. I mean, I've seen the videos at Lancaster. I mean, there's hundreds of guys on the line there. You're right.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that that was something new to get used to. Like on the first day when you shoot, you'll have you'll be surrounded, pinned in between two compound people, you know, with jerseys on, and they're taking a so serious looking at it through binoculars, and I'm just sitting there going, oh boy, I'm you know, the redneck in the group here. Yeah. But uh it was it's a lot of fun. It's always fun on the second day when you can shoot with the other longbow people.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. It seems that uh I know just from I I don't really don't compete a lot. I mean, I shot well, we shot a couple weeks ago to qualify for a Mac, and they're like, oh, you ought to shoot it. But uh it seems that um the longbow division in the in the tournament side is coming coming back or coming getting quite a lot of attention in that, you know, especially with a lot more bowyers making uh target bows and stuff like that.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, Mike Mike brought that bow out at the very time.
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah, yeah, he sure did. And I know he's he came out that I know Stalker and a few other uh our South Cox and a few others have come out with uh long bows that's for a tournament side. It seems like it's gaining traction. I know there are Joliet at our club, um at our 3D shoots. I mean, we have it's a bigger turnout than compounds, you know. A lot of guys, and a lot of guys that shoot the compounds, they'll they'll see us out on the course and they'll come and shoot it, and they're like, you know, oh, this is kind of fun, you know.
SPEAKER_00So uh well, that's yeah, we had that. We had that uh there's a club up here called Panther Creek, and they have a shield shoot up there, and uh I bet we got stopped six different times, people asking us about our our bows, you know, and it used to be where they wouldn't even look at us, but yeah, there's a big interest in it now.
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah, yeah. So you're near that Panther Creek uh area, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Well, it's about uh I'd say about an hour and 45 minutes north of us, but okay, yeah. So we go Panther Creek, and there's also Wolf Run is a real good one at Greenhouse, Illinois. Those are two of my favorites. They're like I said, they're close to two hours away, but I'd never miss them. There's real good course.
SPEAKER_01We went down to that Panther Creek last year, and uh oh, it was hot as could be. But I'm gonna tell you, what a great course!
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01I was I mean, it was it was great. I mean, it was hot because I know they were like I seen a few guys camping. I'm like, no way, man. I need some AC. But uh yeah, they put on a really good shoot down there, and I hope to see it get bigger, but yeah, nice course, really nice course.
SPEAKER_00Now, now Wolf Run, they had an all-traditional shoot already this year, too. It was a blast, it was similar to what Panther Creek had. Oh, really? Yeah, the uh the one arrow survivor shoot and all that stuff.
SPEAKER_01So how did you uh was this you said you went down to the classic last weekend? Was that your uh first time?
SPEAKER_00No, this is second or third. Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_01What did you think of that? I've been wanting to get down there, but I heard it. They say a lot of guys said if you go to any shoot, you gotta go check out the Tennessee Classic.
SPEAKER_00That is an absolute blast. They had, I think it was a thousand and three registered shooters this year, and over 1,500 you know, people just showed up and looked at vendors and whatnot. So, but yeah, blast. I mean, you can spend all day just talking with people. I mean, you walk two steps, you see someone else you you you know, you know, yeah. Over the years, just going to these different shoots. I got friends, a lot of friends from Indiana, Tennessee, you know, Ohio, where you know, Alabama, you know, and it's great just to go to these places just to see the your your long-distance buddies, you know. Right. But yeah, it's you can go. And Cloberdale too is coming up, and that's blast too. You know, we're just like a bunch of gypsies who just move from one place to the next, shoot our bows, you know.
SPEAKER_01It's so much fun, though. They had that classic. I think it was uh it was a steel target you had a shoot through, and and you could just hear the arrows, some of the arrows just hitting that steel target. I mean, it was just a cling cling, you know.
SPEAKER_00So the classic is uh twin oaks. So they had two metal oak trees cut out, and then they had little acorns in the middle that you had to was it was the foam, was the acorns.
SPEAKER_03Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, I got lucky both days. I I'm I hit foam all weekend, but that thing was peppered with marks for arrows and just a pile of arrows laying in front of it. Oh, I bet, I bet.
SPEAKER_01Oh, that's funny. That's just like when you go up to Compton and you walk the course there and you go by that little that little tent or that little shack there, and they just have buckets and buckets of lost arrows that's out there, you know. Oh, you can fill your pockets with knocks. I mean, they're just everywhere.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01No, I have I I haven't uh I haven't been to the Classic or Cloverdale, but I heard Cloverdale is pretty good too. A lot of guys go out to Cloverdale.
SPEAKER_00I I enjoy that because they they have a lot of shootoffs, like at the end, you qualify too to shoot the shootoffs. I I like those shootoffs, it gets your your heart pumping and gets you nervous. Yeah. You know, it's a lot of fun.
SPEAKER_01Now, does your uh does your wife go all these shoots too with you? Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00Matter of fact, last year at Cloverdale, they have something that's the shoot-off one evening. So everybody goes there and they basically have 10 targets, and you have a shootoff amongst all these people, and she won it last year.
SPEAKER_02Really?
SPEAKER_00Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01Oh, that's awesome. That's awesome. So a lot of competition in in the in in the brand house, huh?
SPEAKER_00I I don't even try to beat her. She's she's she's better than I am.
SPEAKER_01But now, is uh is she gonna shoot uh Vegas with you also? I mean I mean uh Lancaster.
SPEAKER_00No, she she doesn't enjoy the indoor stuff really at all. She likes the 3D stuff.
SPEAKER_01Okay, well good. So what bow uh what bows uh are you shooting there? Uh what do you uh let me put that? What do you uh what do you shoot for target and and what what do you what do you take out in the woods hunting?
SPEAKER_00So that's a loaded question. I am a bow addict. You know, I I buy and sell more bows, but recently I've been uh shooting a Black Widow PSA to 62 and 48 pounds. Um that and I have a uh uh three-piece uh big gym buffalo. I've been using for a uh long bow. That's a 64, and I think it's 49 to 28. And those are your uh that's what you shoot tournaments with? That's what I've been shooting 3D with. And uh last year, let's see, bow hunting-wise, I took out a um 62-inch desert bighorn and a 60-inch PSA Black Widow.
SPEAKER_02Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I don't stick with one bow. I'm I'm horrible. I shoot everything. So people take one bow at night and you know, shoot one bow at night. I take out three or four. It's it's ridiculous.
SPEAKER_01Oh man, that's gotta get uh that's gotta get hectic there. With you know, each I'm sure each bow shoots different.
SPEAKER_00I try to get them pretty darn close, and and I kind of have it that way. The only ones that I don't have close is that that sock trail because it's 39 pounds. I'm just leaving that guy as a 20-yard bow and just leaving them as that.
SPEAKER_02That's the ascend bow?
SPEAKER_00The ascend, yeah. Yeah, and uh I also have a 40-pound, what is that, uh, Java Manapala Express? Okay, it shoots about the same as the uh it point on as the uh the ascend. So and I shoot what arrows are those. Oh, okay. All right, usually shooting 3D. 3D I stick with carbons because the bunch of knuckleheads I shoot with like to aim at your arrow, so it's expensive for schools.
SPEAKER_01Well, I know how that, yeah, yeah. We uh up here just And the next guy's like, well, I'm gonna shoot your arrow. Oh, yeah. Your arrow is the target. So you always bring your junkiest arrow you can find.
SPEAKER_00Well, you know, it's amazing how good your friends can shoot after you know when they're aiming at your arrow. Yeah, we go through a lot of arrows that way.
SPEAKER_01So uh you're you're a UBI member, Randy, and uh how long uh how long you've been a member for?
SPEAKER_00I believe three years. Um so Mike Gibson and Mike Gibson lives real close to me, which I I believe he's the secretary.
SPEAKER_01He's the treasurer, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So he lives real close to me. And we started shooting uh some a lot of 3D together, and uh and then he I guess he was a Regan rep there for a bit. So he got me, you know, he told me about it, and I got involved at that time. So I'm thinking it was about three or four years, maybe.
SPEAKER_02I'm just guessing. Okay. All right. Oh, good deal.
SPEAKER_01So and you you uh see, I seen you at the banquet last year. Was that your first banquet you uh you came to?
SPEAKER_00No, we went to uh the year before also. Yeah, those are blast.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, they are. It's a it's a good time. I've been I think this was my fourth or fifth year going, and uh yeah, my first year, it was I think it was Randy Cooling was the first year. Randy or or uh Heikler, it was one of those two. And uh was three years ago, I think. Maybe it was two South and Aaron last year, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, when I was first started where you can't take two steps without seeing somebody you know, you know, it takes you three hours just to get through the uh the vendors area. Oh yeah. It's a great time.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you know, I it it's funny. You you mentioned having friends in all the states, and uh I remember when I when I got into traditional archery and they invited me down to the to the banquet there, and you know, I was shooting a compound and I fell out of place going down it because I didn't know anything about it. And then you meet people and man, now I got friends in you know Tennessee and Kentucky, and you know, we now we're going on trips together and stuff like that. It's it's it's a whole different community, you know.
SPEAKER_00Easy to make friends.
SPEAKER_01Oh, easy to make friends, and no one really knocks you, you know. I mean, even if you you you suck and you can't hit it, you know, everyone you have a good time, you know, and it's not it's not uh you go out on a 3D course, and I can't remember the last time really we took scorecards on the and we just go out and shoot, you know, and it's just a good good time out on the course. But good deal. What do you uh what do you got planned for the rest of the year? Uh you got any hunts coming up or oh, I'm strictly white-tailed guy.
SPEAKER_00I don't uh it with my line of work, I gotta be, you know, kind of cautious with my vacation time, you know. Yeah. So I it's hard for me to leave an area. I mean, I'm right in the middle of you know, big buck country. So how can I spend money to go somewhere else to go hunting? You know, I would like to hunt bear maybe someday or pig, but like I said, it's so hard for me just to leave my backyard where I have a chance where I can shoot a 200-inch deer if I wanted, you know, yeah, at least have a possibility at it, you know.
SPEAKER_01Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Now, is your uh does your wife go out hunting with you guys too?
SPEAKER_00Or no, my my now, my daughter is an absolute deer fanatic, and she's still using the compound bow, but uh that little 17-year-old girl shot a bigger deer than I did this year. Really? Oh gosh, yeah. Yeah, she's dedicated to she was going. You know, I shot a couple doughs this year, and I was after a couple uh nice ones that didn't connect with them, but uh she got to the point where she says, Dad, you just stay home. I'll get them. And well, she got one of them.
SPEAKER_01Oh that's good deal. Now, does she does she uh she uh do the 3D shoots with you guys too with her compound?
SPEAKER_00She used to. She's well, she's 17 now, so you know how that goes.
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah, yeah. Yeah, I got a 15-year-old, and uh to take him deer hunting, you know, getting up that early on a weekend, and you know, I uh now deer hunting's a different story.
SPEAKER_00She'll she'll get up before I do, but you know, like 3D and stuff, she yeah, you know, she don't find it, I guess, too too fun for her. But deer season comes around. Boy, she's all about that. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Cool. Cool.
SPEAKER_01Okay, well, uh what else? I see. Um so you've been with UBI a couple of years here, and uh I seen that you had put in four uh uh board position. I did. You did you know what you're getting into?
SPEAKER_00Well, now here's the thing growing up, we used to have a club local here, it was called Cas Cascillo Ners Club. Me and my buddy and his dad was the president, and we had a pretty good group of guys, and we always had a pretty good core group of guys that would set out targets and help. Well, this was all when I was probably about 17, 18 years old. We had a lot of fun. Well, you know, and then girls happened and stuff, and I left the group for a little bit, and I when I got a little older, I came back to it and it was gone. So what what happened to Kaskaskia Bow Hunter's club? Nobody helped, yeah, you know, and I was like, you know, as much as I love this group here, at least I'm gonna try to help.
SPEAKER_03Contribute in some way here, you know, at least you know.
SPEAKER_00But uh that's you know, everybody's so nice there, and everybody seems like they worked so hard. I just felt like I needed to put my uh my name in the hat to see if I can contribute.
SPEAKER_01And that's the thing, you know, I hear stories of uh all these clubs that you know they used to happen and they're and uh they were big and everything, and they just start closing here. I a couple months ago I seen where a club had closed that had been around for years, you know, and you just don't find the help, or you know, it and that's what it takes is people helping out and contributing, and and you just it's hard to find it to keep a club going, you know. It's a lot of uh volunteer work. I mean, we're not getting paid for this, but it's just you know, a lot of volunteer work, and and that's what it takes to keep these type of things going and everything. Well, good. Yeah, I know the elections went out and uh they're running till the end of the month, so good luck to you, you know.
SPEAKER_00I got leaked one vote, I voted for myself.
SPEAKER_02Uh what there you go.
SPEAKER_01Oh well, what else we got here? So what else you got, Randy? Anything? Uh I don't know. Talked about what we shooting and some got Lancaster coming up here. And you plan on going to Lancaster at all? So I am uh probably not, you know. I've really never got into the uh I I qualified for the Mac and I've never done a tournament shoot before, you know, and I'm gonna I'm gonna give this a go this year. And uh I'm just I like I don't know, I like hunting. I mean, I like going out and shooting 3D, but man, when you're out in the woods there and you know you got an animal coming in and and just the challenge of you know, harvesting that animal, that's where that's what gets my blood going. I mean, I I like shooting foam and uh I I love 3D shooting and going out with everybody and shooting at it. Just maybe one of these days I will. Um but yeah, I it's really not my thing right now, but uh I I'm not opposed to it. Not opposed to it.
SPEAKER_00So how far how far away are you are you from Springfield, Illinois?
SPEAKER_01Oh, I'd say two hours, two and a half hours, not very much.
SPEAKER_00So I know they'll they're gonna have another one up at Shields, which is real close where the banquet's held okay in January.
SPEAKER_01Really?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you ought to come down.
SPEAKER_01Oh, is that that new uh I we Don uh after we left the banquet, they had like that big indoor thing there next to Shields?
SPEAKER_00The big dome looking the big yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Oh, okay.
unknownReally?
SPEAKER_01With arrows, with arrows. See, I'd be the guy that would put an arrow through your thing and it'd deflate on all of us.
SPEAKER_00They had uh uh uh you know the the rules at the very beginning. They said if you sky draw, you are out immediately. He's like, Well, I can see that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely, but yeah, I'm not opposed to it. I think uh I think it would be fun and and uh you know I mean it it all you know it's good practice, you know. Right, it's really good practice, but uh I haven't really my really got into it, you know. I'm no we're look we're leaving here at the end of the month for bear camp and and I just get jacked up about going up there for bear and and beer. Oh yeah, it's a blast. Yeah, if you ever you ever get a chance to go bear hunting, I mean it's you sit there and you wait, but when they come in, man, I mean you talk about knees knocking, and that bear is right there, and it's it's pretty cool. It's it's cool.
SPEAKER_00So you go up to Canada?
SPEAKER_01Is that where you're yeah, we're going up to uh Ontario, Canada there at Triple J Lodge. And uh like I said, three years ago, that's when I shot my and it's weird, it's funny. Um went up there my first year with a compound because I was a little nervous because I'm like, all right, this is a bear hunt. I know I can I know I can hit with compound and first or second day shot a bear. Oh wow and then I kick myself for not bringing a recurve because I'm like, this is so close, you know. I mean, this is close. But uh yeah, it's up in Canada. And I to me I like bear hunting just as much as deer hunting. I mean you go you see a lot of deer, but when that bear walks in and you know, you really don't see bears like you see deer, and man, just the adrenaline you get from seeing that bear come in there, you know, it's pretty cool.
SPEAKER_00It's kind of funny. Down here the last couple of years, we've had bears that actually migrated down the south. We actually had one on off of Main Street in Columbia, Illinois, up in the tree in someone's backyard.
SPEAKER_01Is that right?
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah, I heard pigs are pigs are coming down in there too. I haven't seen anything like that, but I did uh, you know, everybody was squawking about it, so I had to run up to Columbia real quick and see it for myself. So I got a couple pictures of the bear in Main Street, Columbia.
SPEAKER_01That's crazy. Uh yeah, I heard Southern Illinois they get uh uh starting. My cousin lives down in St. Ann, or uh is it not St. Ann, uh somewhere down there uh near the Shawnee, and he had heard that they're spotted a few pigs here and there, down and there. But uh yeah, we used uh hunt pigs in Oklahoma. We'd go down there towards Texas, but I never brought a bow down there, just a gun. But uh you know, that was just as fun as deer hunting, you know. I'd sure like to get one with a bow, though. I mean, I think it'd be cool to get a pig with a bow. Oh, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00Hogs are just uh a trad guy's uh green animal to hunt, you know.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. I you see them guys down in Texas shooting them hogs and and Mexico. I think Mexico they went down the Havena hunts down there. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, there's so much stuff I'd like to do. I wish I had a little more time to do it all, but oh, isn't that truth?
SPEAKER_01It's just finding time to do it all, do anything, you know. Time and the money. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So how was your uh how did you do hunting on your hunting season last year?
SPEAKER_00Did you uh I had uh I shot I killed a couple does. Um I was after I had a couple real nice deer that I was after. Um I actually had one of them about 25 yards at one point, but I I I just promised myself I'm not gonna shoot over 20. And he was right there. I got pictures of him. I actually snuck into this tree. It's across across the field. So I got you know a plowed field that I walk across. I was nice and quiet. I got up in this tree and I'm sitting there, and about half an hour later, I look over and that deer stands up. I snuck up in there 25 yards away from this big buck, and he never heard me. So I'm sitting there, I was like, Oh, this is early. I am gonna get this deer, he's gonna come out. I just know it. So he stands up, shakes a little bit, scratches right back down. He goes, Like, okay, it's still early, you know. I'm sitting there and about an hour later, he stands back up, stretches, rubs his antlers on the tree a little bit, sits back down, like he gotta be kidding me. He does this all the way up till dark, and now I sneak out of my tree. I'm walking back home, and I get about three quarters of the way home, and I have a cell camera right in front of my tree. And there he is, walking right in front of my tree standing. About I didn't even make it home yet. And there he was. So that's that's basically how my my deer season went. I shot a couple does, my daughter shot a nice one. I I did get a nice one during the firearm season, but uh no, no big ones with the with the bow this year.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. What's your what's your most memorable shot with a bow hunting?
SPEAKER_00So I got a little piece of property my friends let me hunt on. And I have a mock scrape on that. And well, I got two of them. So this one here, this was probably my first pretty decent buck. And he he walked up just as pretty as could be, walked up, start rubbing on that rope. And this had a clear 20-yard shot, and I just watched that barrel just tin ringed in. It just I just I I can just picture that in my head, you know. And and then another one was I was driving to that same plot of woods one morning, and I I drove around this corner, and my headlights scanned across this field, and all I seen was deer eyeballs, right? And they're just a bunch of dogs, and then I see this just a giant buck there. I was like, oh my gosh. And as a crow flies, he's probably about a mile away from my tree stand. So, anyway, I drive up to my spot there and walk out to my tree and got all set up, and it's probably I don't know, 8, 8:30. That same buck walked 18 yards from me. And uh he walked past me, and it was a quarter and away shot, and I shot and I remember him taking off, and I see that whole arrow sticking out. I was like, how did I not get penetration through this deer? You know, I sit down kind of disgusted with myself, like, I can't believe that just happened. And about that time I hear that deer crashing across the ground. I was like, Well, wait a minute. Maybe, maybe something, something better happened than I think here, you know. So I get down and look over there where I I had hit him, and it was just blood everywhere. I was like, I don't understand what happened here because it looked like I didn't get like an inch of penetration on this deer. So anyway, I follow the blood trail to this deer, and it's just like gushing out, you know. And I get there and I look. So what happened? I angled forward and hit that opposite shoulder, and that arrow must have bounced back. So when he ran off, that arrow was just flopping through the wind, you know. And I thought, I thought, oh man, but that ended up being a real nice one. That one was a little bit over 150 inch gear.
SPEAKER_03No kidding. Oh, yeah, that was a nice one. No kidding.
SPEAKER_01You said you had another one that you uh another memorable one there.
SPEAKER_00Oh, they all are. Yeah, no, that that uh that was the two there, the one that came up to that mock scrape, and you know, it's just just pretty as can be, just a perfect shot, and you know, it's a short, short track job, and then and then that one uh you know it just the chances of seeing that one on the road on my way to my my hunting spot, and then actually getting him later on in the day was pretty cool.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Well, that's cool. Now, do you uh though do you have uh land down there? Are you are you public hunting or so?
SPEAKER_00I got uh the the farm we live on is 120 acres, and then uh my wife and I also own another uh farm that's about 40 acres, and then we got some friends that uh let us hunt on their property, it's a little over 20 acres.
SPEAKER_02Oh, good deal.
SPEAKER_00I'm pretty fortunate. I I grew up hunting a lot of public, but I'm kind of spoiled now.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00I mean, I can literally walk out my back door and be in a tree in 15 minutes now.
SPEAKER_01So oh, that's awesome. That's awesome. It's a little tough up here. I mean, you we got you got some little nooks and crannies around here where they're good, but a lot of it's public, and you know, you get out there and you sit in a stand and some dude walks by and it's tough, but uh I mean you just it's doable, but it's tough. You know, I just you can't it's kind of nice to have that private.
SPEAKER_00It really is. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I still turkey hunted, you know, quite a bit all the up to about maybe I don't know, eight years ago on on public ground. And it used to be really successful turkey on public ground, but kind of got busy and kind of got dangerous. So I kind of gave up on it, you know. Did you uh did you go turkey hunting this year? I did not. I haven't been in about eight years.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Well, I'm still this is my third year of I've gotten a gotten a tag. I've gone three years, and you know, first year I brought out shotgun and and didn't really didn't see any. And then last year I brought out my bow and uh had a Jake come in. And I'm like, man, it's whatever, you know, I'm gonna take a shot at it. And uh it's it's a whole different thing. And I'm sitting in the blind, and you know, I took a shot at this turkey, and the whole the top limb went right through the blind. I mean, it ripped the gaps in the blind. Yeah, it was crazy. But I got attacked this year, went out, uh, went out a few times and didn't see any. And you know, uh don't see any, and then you know, I'm packing up and get ready to drive home and come across another field on the other side of the road there, and there's seven, eight toms walking across, and I'm like, man, it's it, they're a hard, it's a hard hunt, you know. Yeah, it's is it is it's a it's pretty tough, but guys do it. You know, I've seen a lot of guys harvest turkeys this year.
SPEAKER_00I don't see how they can do it without applying. There's some of those guys that do it, man. I don't see how you could fool a turkey's eyeballs.
SPEAKER_01Oh no, no, I don't see how you do it without a blind either. I mean, I've that's all I've hunted in is a blind, and you know, and I don't I don't they do it though. I mean I've I know, yeah, they're they're better than I. Yeah, yeah. All right. Well, uh, well, Randy, it was good to have you on here and appreciate it thank you yeah i know i i haven't really uh never really we've really never talked i've seen you at a ton of shoots and at the banquet and stuff and i'm like well we're gonna get a member on on the podcast you're uh you're actually our our first member for the the ubi podcast well and we're we're hard act to follow when you got schneider and and and roberts you know old veterans of this stuff and right right yeah exactly who've been shooting bows since they could walk you know yeah yeah then guys in the slow news day getting me on here you know yeah well and me hosting I'm like uh all right I'll I'll give it a whirl but yeah it was it was good talking to you and everything and uh look forward to seeing you at some of the shoots this year I know uh I don't know if you have you ever gotten up to the Joliet tread shoot you know I I was thought I thought about it last year that their their big shoot but it was like the weekend after the whiskey city shoot okay yeah and we went to the whiskey city shoot and then I was like well I don't know if I want to travel again the next weekend. Yeah yeah it gets to be where you can go every weekend but I think this year though uh they're gonna have camping in Joliet so yeah uh from what I hear it's it's gonna be uh go a three-day event there they're gonna have camping and uh which would be good you know that would definitely draw more people for sure oh for sure yeah yeah the crowd I I run around with there's they're big campers I'm an Airbnb guy all the way I like my showers and my clean toils yeah we went down to whiskey city last year and and uh we camped they're like bring a tent and uh I bought an air mattress and went down there and that thing I think it lasted half the night and it they freed it and I'm like uh but it didn't rain and man it was a heck of a shoot down there it was my first year at Whiskey City.
SPEAKER_00I mean Snod puts on a he's got a great place down there.
SPEAKER_01Oh it's beautiful down there and what a course man I mean it was an awesome course you know these are the type of guys it's fun to be around anyway you know oh yeah yeah but I I you know as I'm shooting that course and I know it's all his land and I'm like boy what of a heck of a way to you know come get ruin your deer hunting that the whole time I'm like man this is really ruining your deer hunt you know but uh but yeah he uh I mean it's a heck of a shoot and a good time down there he puts on a really good you know and it's growing every year too and uh there was a lot of people down there and a good time old Snide that's definitely on our our short list to go back to yeah yeah well mine I would like to try out that Tennessee classic I it's just hard right now it's it's like a couple you know it's it's you're like three weeks away from going to bear season and I mean you could go every you know I did you could go every weekend if you wanted to to a shoot and uh but yeah one of these years I'm gonna have to pin pin down and go to that classic because they said that's if you go to any that's a good one to go to but uh yeah and then I like I mean I seen where they uh you can go in there and make your own self bow down there at the end oh yeah so one of my buddies I have the privilege of shoot with around here is Tony Tall and uh everybody knows Tony.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah I've seen him before that guy is an incredible self bow maker so he built a bow there and then they have a self bow challenge and he ended up winning that so he built the bow that week and won it one with it.
SPEAKER_01Really down there he built he's amazing yeah you know that's something I've never shot as a self bow. Have you ever you ever shot one? I'm a big guy and got quite the draw length so I'm kind of scared to have to be like eight foot long you know oh cool it it would be neat but yeah yeah I mean them guys that uh they crank out them self boys I mean they take that log from the videos I've seen down there and just hack away at it and oh they they get down there a week ahead of time oh do they oh yeah they start building yeah that's crazy well Randy it was good to have you on here and uh you know uh good luck to you on uh the board position that that'll be closing here at the end of this month and uh and it was good to talk to you get to know you and now that you know a lot of the members listening to this will get to know who Randy Brand is you know so yeah hopefully run in yet you at uh one of these shoots and good luck to you and your wife when you guys go to Lancaster oh we appreciate that yeah yeah I know I think uh there's uh quite a few up here Joliet that's gonna go I know Josh Bodenchek he went for his first time I think last year and shot that ascend yeah I got to shoot with him in Springfield. Oh did you okay yeah yeah yeah he's he's he took that ascend and I know he dedicated all last year to that so oh he's a fantastic shot too yeah yeah he is he's a good dude all right well we got some announcements here Randy while I got you on here we got uh the elections for the uh United Boat Owners of Illinois for all those listening that closes 1159 on May 31st so go online there uh check your emails um and go ahead and cast your vote for the board position we have Randy Brand Mike Denham Sarah Reggie and Luke Becker are all running for the board position so go ahead and put your uh election or your uh cast your vote for the elections at the end of this month also we got uh black blackhawk field archery their 34th annual traditional rendezvous that's gonna be going on May 15th through the 17th in Brockton Illinois I believe that's up north so if you guys are looking for a shoot to go to uh at the end middle of this month Blackhawk Field Archery is their 31st and 34th annual traditional rendezvous we got uh eastern so eastern central illinois archery 3d chute that's also going on May 16th and 17th believe that's down there I believe that's in central Illinois if I'm not mistaken so uh you can find information that online and also we got the Compton traditional rendezvous that's June 18th through the 21st it's gonna be in Nobleesville Indiana this is the first year that they're having it in Noblesville so uh get a chance going up to Compton you headed up to Compton Randy I am not I'm gonna go to Cloverdale and uh the Whiskey City ones are the two big ones I'm gonna go to this year.
SPEAKER_00Okay. All right and a good chance to go up to the Jolietz one too.
SPEAKER_01Yeah absolutely I know that's in September they're working out the final details you know it's still a ways away the working out the final details for that in uh September there but I believe we have the camping nailed down so that's pretty much a given there but uh we're hoping for good last year we had a little bit of rain but this year should be good I know they're working on um a good cookout that Saturday night and uh yeah should be a good a good time and uh be a be good to see everyone there. I want to play some of that famous uh archery golf that I've seen on you talking about a good time is hard yeah I've never done it a couple years ago I tried that and it uh Tim Nuss he he brought some arrows with golf balls glued on the end of it and I mean you launched these things and I mean you're shooting them right up in the air uh I mean straight up treetop and it's crazy it's crazy I mean because you you know it's you got a golf ball tied to this thing and yeah but uh yeah put a fine arrow for that don't you oh yeah yeah it's I mean you're going through trees and everything when you shoot this thing it's funny but it's it's a good time yeah real good time so all right Randy well I want to thank you for coming on here uh UBI second episode and uh good luck in the election and uh looking forward to seeing you round uh round some of these shoots this year absolutely sounds great all right you take it easy all right easy buddy all right bye bye