Show Notes
On the East Coast Chippokes Island is a highly sought after deer hunt. Whitney Clements grew up running her family’s hounds who host the one day exclusive hunt. Whitney has been running hounds for as long as she can remember. Which fueled the fire for her love for hunting.
Whitney tells Heath about her love for deer hunting and how hound season is the highlight of the year. They talk about all things hunting and even hit on some scent running work. Get a look at hunting from a female perspective. Glad you can join us on the Journey.
Check out the Sportsmen's Empire Podcast Network for more relevant, outdoor content!
Show Transcript
Heath Hyatt: [00:00:00] The Homan XP podcast Network is taking you on the journey. Your host, master trainer, Heath Hyatt, will combine his decades of experience as a homan and as a professional trainer that will light the path forward and make our packs lighter on this lifelong journey to become better hunters and hounds men.
There are no shortcuts, so lace up those boots and grab a dog leash. The journey begins. Now,
I've been a member and supporter of Go Wild for over a year now, man, how time flies? Their social media platform is Four Hunters by Hunters, and if you followed me for any length of time, you know that I'm in the woods or on the water if I'm not working. And yes, some asks, do you work? Unfortunately I do.
It's a place that I post all of my [00:01:00] trophies no matter how big or small mine, mostly small, I get tips, tricks, tactics, and advice from people who eat, breathe, and sleep the outdoors. I log all of my outdoor adventures, including the time spent listening to the best podcast in the land, the journey hosted by no other than yours, truly.
So when I need anything outdoors, I just log on to the Go Wild store, pick out what I need, and that's anything from hunting, fishing, camping optics, outdoor wear, and yes hound supplies. I'm proud to partner up with the Go Wild team. So let's get your journey started today. Here on Go Wild.
Today on the journey we're in for a treat, guys. So we got Whitney Clemens [00:02:00] on Clements, is that right? Yeah. Yeah. Gosh, CLE I leave out the T because my southern draw sometimes don't say it, but I got Whitney Clements on from down towards the Virginia Beach. We won't give her, we won't give her home area up that way.
Don't get flooded with people hunting. But, um, they do a hunt every year in Chapos on the, and that's a one day hunt, correct? Mm-hmm. And it's only 30 people and it's first come, first serve. And from the research that I've done, and I've actually got a real close friend of mine that, um, goes down and hunts every, and I don't know how he draws it every year, but he does.
He's been going for, I mean, Angelina was. I mean, she was just a, a baby, I mean like seven, eight years old. The first couple times he went. Um, and an, and Anthony O'Neill's, who I'm talking about, Anthony would come to my house and hunt the first two or three days of bear season and then Thursday load up and go to go down to Chapos and hunt the, the Saturday [00:03:00] hunt with those folks down there.
And, you know, he just couldn't quit talking about it. So anyway, through him I was able to do some research and hook up with, um, Whitney, who's actually been raised. Doing this hunt. And we're gonna talk about hunting from a female perspective. We're gonna talk about, um, running dogs. And I've heard, so we're gonna verify this during this podcast, that she can handle all 30 dogs by herself.
So I've gotta get, I've gotta get the low down on this information. Like six, kill me.
Whitney Clements: I wouldn't say by myself, that's for sure. Well, so definitely with the help of my dad and my brother.
Heath Hyatt: Yeah. Well, I know how it is. I, yeah, I've got too many and I, six is about all I want to carry. I can't, I can't handle any more than that.
I don't want to handle any more than that. And four would be a perfect number, but I always have a younger dog or two with me and [00:04:00] so on and so forth. So, yeah, I know you've been busy today. I really appreciate your time. So how's things ever, how's everything down east? It's
Whitney Clements: great. Good. It's hot.
Heath Hyatt: Well, we can send some of the heat that I'm sure we're getting from you.
It was 90, it's 90 degrees today and humidity this morning was in the seventies when I checked it, and the dew point was 73, which puts a lot of moisture in the air. It's hard, hard, hard on the dogs. Yeah,
Whitney Clements: it is. Very, sorry, I'm gonna turn that off. It is, um, very humid, that's for
Heath Hyatt: sure. Yeah. So it's kind of coincidental as, as, uh, Whitney and I were sitting here talking like, I drive through her neighborhood basically every time I go to, to down to the coast to hunt with BB or Doug and um, you know, brings her some ties.
She actually went to school right here beside me, within 10 minutes of my house. So, such a small world and I mean that's what makes Hound hunting great is the, the [00:05:00] networking and you know, just connecting with people that. You know Right. Literally in your backyard or you're driving through their neighborhood and you never knew it, but then the hounds bring you together.
So that's what makes, that's what makes the hound world, um, phenomenal for me.
Whitney Clements: For sure. Yeah. You make a lot of connections and, um, I don't know, you get to know a lot of different people. It's pretty cool. Yeah. I would've never guessed that that was who you said recommended. You know, you talk to me. Mm-hmm.
I would've never even thought so. I can't wait to tell my dad 'cause he loves that guy. Well,
Heath Hyatt: and Anthony loves him
Whitney Clements: and you'll know exactly who I'm talking
Heath Hyatt: about too. Yeah. And they'll be down. I think they drew this year too. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. It's my world. Alright, Whitney, so give us a little background on you.
Tell us a little bit about yourself. Um, what do you, what do you do for a living? And then we'll, we'll get to talking dogs here in a minute. All right.
Whitney Clements: [00:06:00] Cool. Um. So I'm a nurse. Um, I grew up, you know, since we're talking about hunting, I grew up, um, dog hunting basically since I was old enough to walk. Um, I was just selling heath, like I'm pretty sure my dad used to carry us around in diapers.
Um, riding around with him, you know, getting dogs up, all that stuff. That's some of like my favorite memories as a kid. Um, and then now, um, like I bow hunt, I still hunt. Um, it kind of took my dad a little twist and had to twist his arm a little bit to convince him that all that was, you know, something that I wanted to get into.
But he's a die hard dog hunter. But, um, yeah, so I do that. Um, just loved outdoors and had had this opportunity to talk about it and talk about what we love to do and. [00:07:00] Unfortunately, dog hunting doesn't really have the best name and a lot of, you know, to a lot of people and not everyone takes care of their dogs the way that I like to think we do.
So just getting the opportunity to talk about it and talk about what we do and what we love is pretty cool. So,
Heath Hyatt: so, uh, you had a, one of the things you said there is now when you are still, when you're bow hunting, um, you're not running dogs, you're just still hunting. Yeah.
Whitney Clements: October, well I don't know how y'all season runs, but here where I live all of October, um, bow hunting, and then the first two weeks of November I bring out the muzzle loader and then as soon as shotgun season when the dogs come in, it's all dog hunting from then.
Yeah, no, that's, that's, and they're still hunting after that for us, you know, for me personally. 'cause that's what we wait all year to
Heath Hyatt: do. Surround dogs. [00:08:00] Yeah. And I know when I, when I go down to bbs, they have to coordinate because the, their bear season comes in earlier than ours. Um, and we're guys just for the people that's in Virginia that's listening or, or not in Virginia, we're talking about east of the blue Ridge.
So that's kind of the divider in Virginia where you can run deer with dogs and where, you know, west of the blue ridge, we cannot on purpose, you know, I got some trashy mutts and they'll, they'll pick up a, they'll pick up a, my, my young dogs will decide they wanna cave on one everywhere now and then, but, um, they have to coordinate with the deer hunting clubs, uh, to be able to come in and run bear on those clubs and so they're not interfering with you guys.
Yeah. So, yeah, I was just making sure that, you know, I didn't think you could run, do deer with dogs with bo or muzzle loader and then the shotgun season. Yeah. Yep.
Whitney Clements: Yeah, we start that, it's usually like the third week in November and runs usually till the end of December, our first week of January.
Heath Hyatt: So, yeah.
Yeah. So [00:09:00] that's, that's basically the bear season down there too. Well, the bear season comes in October 1st.
Whitney Clements: Yeah. I honestly don't really know much about the dates on the bear season here in Virginia because I just haven't had an opportunity to go. But, um, yeah, I
Heath Hyatt: can't believe that, I can't believe you're in like the mecca, the mecca of bear hunting down there.
I mean, I don't know. You gotta get some them trashy blue dogs and get 'em over on the bear side. I know.
Whitney Clements: Yeah, that'd be definitely something I'm interested in for sure. But
Heath Hyatt: yeah, we're gonna hook you up this year. That's what we're gonna do. So Whitney, what got you, like, I know you said you love the outdoors, but at what age and what really drove you to the outdoors and to hunting? Um,
Whitney Clements: I mean, I always grew up hunting and going with my dad and stuff.
Um, It was always like a huge hobby for [00:10:00] me. But I did play sports in high school, so I was big like in softball, and then I played in college my first two years. So pretty much after I graduated high school, I'd say I got more into hunting and different types of hunting. Like I just grew up until like I graduated high school.
I just dog hunted with my dad. Um, I guess when I got old enough to make my own money and buy my own toys mm-hmm. I got a bow and a muzz editor and started getting more into that and making connections with people. Um, like, you know, just going different places, hunting, um, I don't know, teaching myself more like watching stuff on social media.
Social media honestly is a big, was a big kicker. Like just watching all these girls that. Or like outdoor enthusiasts that hunt and do all this really cool stuff. Like I can honestly say, I said, I [00:11:00] wanna be like that. Mm-hmm. And here we are. So, um, I don't know. I just, I love it. Now. Anything I can do outdoors, I do it.
Any hunting season I can get into, we're usually doing it. So I'm not gonna say I'm the best. Mm-hmm. But any chance I can get outdoors doing something, whether it's hunting, fishing, you know, deer season, Turkey season, I told you I like the catfish noodle. Mm-hmm. All that stuff. It's just, it's been cool and I love talking about it.
Yeah.
Heath Hyatt: So, is deer hunting your passion with the dogs or is it just, um, or is there something else there? I know, you know, you and I talked about Turkey hunting. I mean, I. That's kind of my second love is is spring Turkey. So is it, is it deer hunting that Dr. That drove you? Or is, was it just being with your dad and like getting, getting introduced to that [00:12:00] lifestyle because it is a lifestyle?
Whitney Clements: Yeah. Um, I definitely love it. You know, I can say that that's my dad and seeing like how happy, what, you know, watching him do what he loves and then seeing how proud it makes him, like us being involved in what he does and, um, the way he talks about, I mean, you think I'm passionate about Dog Hunter Inc.
You should hear this man talk about it because he could talk all day long. You wouldn't be able to get him off of this podcast. Um, so really just seeing him like do what he loves to do. Um, our dogs are at his house and he actually is retired, so when I'm telling you he lives in his dog pens. I basically mean that he has a huge building.
I don't even know what, how big to say it is, but he's built this huge, like, um, covered, um, [00:13:00] pens with fans and I mean, it's just like, it's literally the nicest dog pens I've ever seen in my life. Um, we've even had like a vet come out to give the dog shots and he's like, what in the world?
Heath Hyatt: It's like the Taj Mahal of dog pens.
Whitney Clements: Huh? That's what literally people are like, it's like the Taj Mahal. So, um, it's kind of a big joke now. Mm-hmm. Because people will literally want to come to the house just to see, like during deer season, people will be like, we just wanted to see your dog pens. We heard about 'em. So it's pretty funny. But yeah, I would say my dad definitely is a huge, like, reason why I love doing it and my family, the memories we make, I mean, it's just, Nothing really compares to that.
Like when dog season comes in, we just, it's my whole family. I mean, my younger brother, he's not as into dog hunting, just hunting in general. He's still, he played college [00:14:00] baseball and you know, now he's at, um, and New River. So he's, I'm sure he'll get more into it, like once he graduates and comes back home.
But my nephews like everybody's, it's a whole family ordeal and yeah,
Heath Hyatt: I don't know. You know, and you said something there that, you know, we talk about it, but it's spending time with your family, with doing something that they enjoy and you make memories that last a lifetime. And I don't think enough emphasis is put on that a lot because, um, you know, my, we talk my, you know, Maddie, my daughter, she's with me.
If she's not in school, she's with me in the woods. And you know, I've, I put on several podcasts last year about some of our hunts and, you know, I've got a, um, I don't know what you call it. I've got a big picture board in my office at work, and that, that picture board is covered e and I've [00:15:00] got a lot of pictures on it, but 80% of those pitchers are from our hunting adventures because that's what we spend the majority of our time doing.
Um, now we do other things, but like she, she's into horses. I mean, her, her love for horses is as great as my love is for the Hounds. And, um, but Hounds are right there with her love for horses. So there, there's all kinds of pictures and stuff, but it's 80% of that is from hunting and the memories that we've made and the quirky things that we've done, or snapping a shot of her sleeping in the truck or sleeping on the boat or whatever, whatever.
But yeah, you know, I think that people don't, like, maybe they take that for granted is. You know, we're doing something, uh, with the ones that we love or our friends, our our good friends. And you know, that stuff, that's what we'll be talking about when we're sitting in the old folks home. We can't get around.
You remember? And we went, that's what we're gonna be doing. [00:16:00] Like, and that's what, oh yeah, that's what it's about. For sure. So you got some, I see some ducks in the background. I, I know we briefly touched on it, but so you deer, you deer hunt, you um, obviously you duck hunt some. Yeah. Yeah. And you Turkey hunt.
Is there any, and you catfish, you noodling, you noodling for catfish? Oh yeah.
Whitney Clements: I've got the scars. I
Heath Hyatt: seen that. I'm like, you better put some gloves and some sleeves on them. Things are vicious. I,
Whitney Clements: I did put gloves on this year.
Heath Hyatt: You had, you had to learn the hard way. Yeah.
Whitney Clements: Um, yeah. All that stuff. Um, I mean, that's probably it.
I fish a little bit, you know, but nothing
Heath Hyatt: crazy. Yeah. I mean, so you, do you salt water, fish, or fresh water since you're right
Whitney Clements: there? Just, yeah, just like ponds. Gotcha. Um, my boyfriend has like tons of ponds right here at his house, so we just, bad [00:17:00] fish, just mess around. Yeah. I got you.
Heath Hyatt: I got you. Nothing
Whitney Clements: crazy.
Yeah.
Heath Hyatt: So let's talk about the dogs before we get into the pursuit of, okay. So, and I know this because Anthony has given me the lowdown on, on you guys, but you're running blue dogs, right?
Whitney Clements: Yeah. So we have blue ticks, mainly blue ticks, walkers, um, the hunt we do with Anthony at Chip Oaks. We just take all of our big dogs down there.
But we do have some beagles that we'll run to, like for little small cutovers or just little pieces that. If we're close to like a main road or something, we don't want our dogs getting a chance of getting hit or anything like that. Like the beagles are gonna stay in that piece. Mm-hmm. Better than our big dogs would.
'cause they haul tail. If they blow through through it and the deer gets out of the woods, we're hunting. Um, but at Chip Oaks, that state [00:18:00] park is huge and we're pretty much surrounded by river for the most part. Um, so the dogs just, I mean, they just have a field day all day long. It's really, it's really cool.
But, so yeah, mainly blue ticks though. My dad's actually had, um, basically since I told you like he started hunting when he was younger. Sorry. He's had the same dogs, like the, um, same bloodline of dogs throughout. Like we still have dogs that are in the same bloodline from when he first started. So that's pretty cool to me.
Heath Hyatt: Do you know what that, do you know any bloodline that's in 'em by chance?
Whitney Clements: Uh, I mean, like blue ticks. Yeah. I don't know. Yeah, it would be like his blue ticks for sure,
Heath Hyatt: but no. Do you, do you know their bloodline? Do you know, like what,
Whitney Clements: no. Nah, not really.
Heath Hyatt: Anthony said that he had [00:19:00] kind of formulated his own strain because he's been doing it so long.
Um, so I would say that most of the, the do the blue dogs that he started with were, were way back. Oh yeah. Yeah. Um, and it, it, it's, it's funny that you, you said that you take the big dogs and you run the little dogs because that was, that was one of the questions I was gonna ask you. Um, I've had some people that run, that run deer with dogs that I've talked to and.
They started out with the running dogs, like the running walkers and stuff, and they said, absolutely. They push 'em too hard. You can't get shots at 'em. Like the deers just when they come by you, they're, they're wide open and it is, it's just almost impossible. So then they went to the, the walkers, the blue ticks, the black and tan, whatever it may be.
They went to the hound away from the running dog and still was having problems. And then they, they [00:20:00] decided they were gonna switch to the beagle. The beagle, and they started out with a long-legged beagle, and they ended up with the short-legged beagle. So I'm gonna ask you about that. But they said that the reason they did is because they pushed them just enough to keep 'em out in front of the dogs.
But the deer, when the deer come to them, they were not like hitting mot hitting the the MT four and busting the sound barrier. Yeah.
Whitney Clements: Yeah. You could say that.
Heath Hyatt: The journey on Hounds Man XP has teamed up with one T D C. This dual action support for oral health and mobility in our dogs. This unique supplement is so effective that it is recommended by top veterinarian experts worldwide to maintain and improve our dogs' health in four different areas, their oral health, hips, joints, and muscles, skin coat, energy and recovery.
Guys, I've been [00:21:00] using this product for the last six months and it has been a game changer for me. If you're looking for something to help with the overall health of your dog, go to work sowell.com and give this product a try. It is highly recommended by Hounds Man XP here on the journey.
You like to be outside like I do hunting, fishing, hiking. If so, OnX is the app for you. I've been a loyal Onyx user for years. It's the one app that I can honestly say I use it daily while hunting. I know where I'm at at all times. I mark trails, bedding areas, feeding areas, and the list goes on in my travels.
I use it to Prec Scout, all the new places that I am blessed to hunt. Last year, while hiking Yellowstone, I used OnX to map out the trails and know the difficulty of each one. And here's a secret. [00:22:00] I mark all of my favorite fishing spots on on X. It's been a game changer for me at work. I've used it multiple times to get in touch with property owners.
OnX has so many great features and tools. You can literally use it in your everyday life. It is by far the best mapping app on the market. And hey, it's approved by yours truly at Hounds Man xp. So when you go to subscribe to on X, use our code H X P 20 and get you a discount. So get your journey started with on X and know where you stand.
Talk to me a little bit about the hunt itself. Like do you, you guys start out, um, like checking roads for tracks. Do y'all rig for tracks? Do y'all free? Like what, what method or all methods do you guys [00:23:00] use to kind of get into the hunt? And then, um, like I said, I, my dogs run Deere. I guess I can put that together, but yeah.
So how do you guys start? How do you, how do we, yep,
Whitney Clements: I gotcha. Um, so really it kind of depends on where we're hunting. We do hunt with like a few different hunk clubs, so it depends on where we're going. Like the chip oak hunt, for instance, that we just do, it's one big, um, huge piece of property and they have stands where they know people are gonna be like designated stands.
Mm-hmm. Um, and we just literally let the dogs out. And somewhere like that, there's deer, just hundreds of deer. So the dogs are gonna find deer like that. Um, one of our hunt clubs, we have like different, you know, they've been haunting it since literally the 1950s, so they have [00:24:00] little like, pieces of property that we just kind of like, we'll give 'em all names.
So like we all kind of know like, Hey, we're going to the old house, or we're going to Barnharts, or, you know, those are just some names that we use. But um, we have like stands. Set up designated around each block of woods or property, whatever that we know we're gonna hunt that like our standards will go to.
And then, um, but when it comes to that, you know, you might, let's say if it's early in the morning or something, um, like we usually will, it really just depends. It depends on the weather, depends on where we think the deer might be laying early in the morning or like in the evening where the deer might be laying.
But for the most part, we kind of just go and run a piece of woods and then go to the next, go [00:25:00] somewhere else. Like wherever we have like hunting masters, that kinda, which my dad is one of those just makes up like, you know, the plan for the day. But it's not like in bear hunting how, you know, you, um, like find tracks and stuff.
It wouldn't be like that. Um, the only other thing I could say would be, Let's say somebody rides by on the way to the hunt club and they see a tempo standing in, in one of the fields or something. Mm-hmm. Hey, let's go there this morning. It, um, I don't know, it's kind of just random. Really? Yeah. Because our, where we live, I mean, deer everywhere, don't get me wrong, but like in southeastern Virginia with all this farmland and stuff, there's just deer are so overpopulated, so i'll, for the most part, nine times outta 10, whatever piece we hunt, we're gonna at least run something out of a deer, out [00:26:00] of that piece of property.
Right. So,
Heath Hyatt: and the, um, I mean, you've got, I've seen some bucks back in your. In your background there. Yeah. I'm sorry.
Whitney Clements: That wasn't on purpose. This is where
Heath Hyatt: No, no, no. Like they're ni they're nice deer. I mean, the one back towards the window or whatever. I mean, he, his rack's out past his ear. So that's definitely a good over eight.
What's what, a 20 inch spread there and
Whitney Clements: yeah. That one is, that's the boyfriend's, um, this one is mine. Mm-hmm. That was with the muzzle loader there. Nice. But we're blessed where we live. We have pretty nice deer in this
Heath Hyatt: area. Yes, you do. I've been seeing some on some trail camps here this past couple weeks, and I'm like, holy cow.
Like, yeah. We're blessed. Yeah. I mean, you know, with, you got the, the crop, I mean, you've got corn, you've got beans, you know, you've got peanuts like Yep. You've got all that, um, farm vegetation Yep. That they're growing and I mean, there's no reason for a deer not to [00:27:00] thrive. For sure. For sure. And I was looking at Chapos.
Um, it's 2.2 0.1 square miles is how big that is. Oh, wow.
Whitney Clements: Mm-hmm. Yeah. I didn't even realize that's how big it was. Yeah. Sorry. Excuse my
Heath Hyatt: labs. That's all right. So, oh, you got a lab. So do you use it for hunting any?
Whitney Clements: Um, these were my boyfriend's dogs before we started dating. They knew. I don't, I don't think they're going too far from the house.
Yeah.
Heath Hyatt: Well, they're lap dogs. They're lap. Yeah. What a good, oh, we love them. Yeah. So what is your favorite thing about running the dogs? Like what is it that that draws you to, I know, I know it's a lifestyle. I know your, your dad Yeah. Is, does it, but what is it that, what's your why? Like what is Whitney's?
Why? Like, this is why I love to do it. This is why I love what I do.
Whitney Clements: Um, I would [00:28:00] say, you know, it's just, It's like something to be proud of. Like I will tell you, my dad does the majority of the work. My dad and my brother, uh, lemme not forget him 'cause they live right there where our dog pens and stuff are, you know, that's where my dad, his, my dad lives on his family farm, so my brother does also.
So they're always right there. But like I know how much work they put in, especially my dad, like every single day. And the stuff he does, like his dogs are better taken care of than I am. I mean just, it's just nuts. Some of the stuff I'm like, dad, these are dogs. They're not people. So anyways, but knowing like how hard he works, even during the summer, you know, all year round, um, takes, we take the dogs to pens, which I'm sure y'all do the same thing, but like, [00:29:00] And then raising them literally from like puppies and then watching them grow and see like them, you know, do their thing and do what they love to do.
'cause it's more than just us loving it. Like the dogs love it. I mean, they would run all day, all night if we let them. Um, so like, that's obviously fun. I mean, really, it's not just about killing deer, but when you do kill a deer and it's behind your own dogs, like that's freaking awesome too. Um, it's stuff like that, the memories we make.
Like I have one hunt that I just have to bring up because it's like the coolest thing ever. Um, we were hunting one of my dad's cousins's farms, and this was like three years ago on Christmas Eve. We always do really cool stuff. Like on holidays last year, my brother killed a really nice buck on Thanksgiving.
And then the year before that, or it seems like we always do something cool on Thanksgiving or Christmas Eve. Mm-hmm. [00:30:00] And most people aren't hunting those days, but we do. So we always think it's cool. But probably two or three years ago, you know, we were hunting with our dogs and my brother was running dogs.
Me and my dad were on a stand right, right beside each other, like 150 yards from each other. So we couldn't see each other, but um, we knew, you know, where each other was. My brother shot and starts yelling. We can hear him. He killed like a really nice buck. Sends us a picture. By the time I'm like, okay, like not even five minutes later, I'll.
Our dogs are running deer. Like they split off, I guess it was three bucks laying together. So one came to me, one went to my dad, and this is all within five minutes of that. And we all killed like three nice wall hangers. So that was really cool. Yeah. You know, that does not happen all the time and probably will never happen again, but [00:31:00] just like stuff like that is just, I don't know, it's something we'll never forget.
Like that's probably one of my dad's favorite memories of us, like all hunting together. So. Oh, that,
Heath Hyatt: I mean, I don't know. I mean,
Whitney Clements: I hope I answered your question. Okay. It's just all of it really.
Heath Hyatt: So how, how mu how involved are you? Because one of the things that I love is training pups, like that's mm-hmm.
Um, I mean, I, I love my old dogs, but they're kind of a. A semi-finished product and reason they're semi-finished. 'cause I feel like they continually learn, but the puppies are what really excites me. I like to watch the development. I like to figure out the little nuances that each one of 'em have and, you know, kind of formulate a plan of how I'm gonna get this dog to do this behavior or do this task.
Um, and each, each one of 'em is different. So how invest, how, [00:32:00] how involved are you on, on the, the puppy side or the training side of it?
Whitney Clements: Um, I mean, for the most part, like, 'cause we can't run dogs and we used to, would, could run dogs like in the off season in Virginia and we can't do that anymore. And we don't have, um, pens in Virginia.
We actually have to go to North Carolina. So, um, that's what we usually do to train puppies. My dad, um, books. A few different places, like, you know, I'd say closer to hunting season, closer to the season, like a couple times a month, and then, you know, at least like once a month for the dogs. But, um, that's really what we do right now, like fox pens and some of the pens have deer in them too.
So we just, you know, like we'll take puppies with like older dogs that run really good [00:33:00] and I mean really, they kinda learn for themselves. I mean, like, they kinda learn from the older dogs. I guess it's, I don't know. Um, we do have, my dad also sends like some of our puppies to, um, someone that will like a pin and that where they'll like, kind of help raise puppies and like help them with track and deer and stuff.
Mm-hmm. But, Really, for the most part, it's just getting them out of the, like, out of their pen and getting 'em hunting. Um, I don't know like how it is with, you know, the bear dogs. I feel like it's a little different, but for the most part, that's kind of all we can do. And if they learn to run, they learn to run.
If not, so that was good. But this is our dogs. I mean, it's amazing like how they, like, they're literally born, like that's what they're born to do. And that's why I'm kind of a little more passionate about [00:34:00] like the dog hunting and stuff, because a lot of people like it has a bad name. Um, unfortunately, but I think it's people just don't understand or they see things and think that every dog hunter treats dogs one way or another, or that we're harming animals.
But like, that's why I keep saying, Like the dogs love it, and that's what they're born to do. They're born to hunt. Mm-hmm. Whether it's raccoons, bear or deer, like that's what those types of dogs are born to do. So they're not born to sit here in my house on my lap. They're seeing them do what they love to do too.
And like, that's why I said like, they kind of learn from each other and I don't know. So that's just how I feel about
Heath Hyatt: it. Yeah. So, well that was the second I had a second question is, so I have sent several dogs. I have, um, I have [00:35:00] give several dogs to some deer hunters that run hound run hounds for deer, for dogs that I had that wouldn't tree or didn't want anything to do with a bear had, I mean, no problem on putting 'em on deer.
So, do you guys have problems with dogs that don't wanna run deer? Because if you do, I maybe I need to look into that so mine don't run 'em on purpose.
Whitney Clements: Um, you know, not, not typically, and maybe that's because, not to sound cocky, but we have good dogs. Mm-hmm. But that's also 'cause we spend a lot of time with them and training them and taking them to the pens and stuff like that.
But, um, you know, for the most part, all of our dogs will run deer. They'll occasionally run like a fox or something. Um, but if there's a deer in the woods, that's what they're gonna go track. Um, and I, I don't know, you would think [00:36:00] going to like fox pens and stuff. My dad and I have had conversations about that.
Like, why don't they, like, how does running a fox make them come here and run deer? And he's like, I don't really know. But I guess they have similar smells or just, it's just the haunting aspect in general, but. Um, they, yeah. What they've, the first time I've ever seen any of our dogs like run a bear. They actually did tree one a couple, probably two years ago.
Um, but I've never seen that other than that.
Heath Hyatt: Mm-hmm. So what is your take on how the fox pens help your dogs run deer? 'cause I have a very, um, I have a very valid reason why, but I wanna hear your reason. Okay.
Whitney Clements: I [00:37:00] kind of wanna hear your reason because I don't really know. Um, I mean, on, in my opinion, it is just like, well, like I said, just like them hunting something and.
Well, so well, but I really don't know the answer
Heath Hyatt: to that. Oh, well, well, we'll go have a conversation then. Please enlighten me. So, so the, so, you know, like one of my buddies in North Carolina, they have a fox pen now, they mm-hmm. They run bear, but they, they take their puppies between four and six months old, and they put 'em in a fox pen and learning to run a fox helps them to sort out the odor.
So your dogs are basically running, like they're running, running, running, running. Um, so when they, when they learn how to, to trail, jump and run a fox mm-hmm. The deer just becomes second nature because they already know how to run odor, if that makes [00:38:00] sense. Like, yeah. It doesn't matter what odor. Like I'm, I'm running a, I've got puppies right now that are, they'll be four months old.
The 28th. Today's the 25th sixth. 26th. So yeah, two days, they'll be four months old. Um, I have been doing tracks and drags, whatever you wanna call 'em, with these puppies since they were 10 weeks old. So they're almost 20 weeks old, right? Mm-hmm. So, so 10 weeks. Um, and I've got 'em trailing and finding the end of a two hour old track and you say, well, that's, you know, two hour old.
But again, we look, gotta look at the environment. We've got to look at the, you know, the weather humidity. Like it's summertime, it's hot, it's hot. Um, if I put the track in the morning in the dew, an hour old track, they run it like they're looking at it. And then the evening I can do an hour and hot half track in about, um, I mean the dogs struggle with it.
So anyway, [00:39:00] but I'm teaching and I am using bear scent, so I am using bear odor and it's a synthetic, which means it's not. It's not completely what a bear smells like. It's just no way to replicate it synthetically like that. Um, well let me re, let me, let me redact that. It's possible, but I don't think that the odors that I've been using smell a hundred percent like a bear, but I'm not a dog.
Yeah, right. So, but I'm teaching my dogs to trail right now. That's all I'm doing. I want them down using their noses, and I want them to be able to understand that the older, the scent, they can still be successful with that. So I've been running them through a process, um, but I've also taken my dogs throughout my career over time and, and put 'em in a fox pen just to see if they would run.
Mm-hmm. And then flip 'em over. And Yes, of course. I ha I end up having to, we don't have a huge fox problem in our. F where I hunt, like [00:40:00] we're in hunting in national forests. Um, there's not a huge fox problem now. There is a, there is bobcats, a lot of cats, and I know that I've started some, some puppies on my dad's barn cats, they would run 'em down and, and run 'em up into loft and tree on 'em when they were puppies.
And I end up, I would always tree a couple cats bobcats during season with those pups, but that's what they knew. So, yeah, so I think it's just you're teaching those dogs to run odor. You're teaching those dogs that if I, if I pick this, if I pick this odor up and I find, and I, I I track it eventually it's gonna be a fun and game because something's gonna take off running and I get to chase it.
So that's kind of my theory on that. Yeah, no, I
Whitney Clements: agree with that. So,
Heath Hyatt: but yeah, a lot of people use fox pens because that's what's available. That's not, yeah. Yeah. I mean, you know, like you said, we can't, you know, I can't run bare, but. Basically three months out of the year here in Ver for me, in, [00:41:00] in Southwestern Virginia.
You know, I've got, our season comes in next week, like said it's 90 degrees. I'm not causing my dog to in. Yeah. It come our, our training season. Yeah. Oh, okay. Training. Yeah. But I'm not gonna cause my dogs to have a heat stroke and run 'em in 90 degree weather. Yeah, you can't. I can't. Yeah. So, you know, I get a little bit of August to run.
September's usually pretty good unless it gets really dry. We've had a couple dry Septembers and that makes it really tough for the, for the tracking and trailing, um, of the bear. And then December and then we look at December as a, as a whole, if the, if the food crop is good, the bear hunting seems to be good.
If you can get yourself in the right places, if the food crop is poor the second, third week into bear season, um, it gets a little tough. I mean, the bear get more sporadic. Um, you're, you're going deeper and trying to. To, um, find out where they're laying and it, it is a little tougher. So, [00:42:00] and I get it, like, it's tough, it's tough for us to train, but back to what, you know, you guys taking 'em.
And so do, do you teach your dogs to, to load and lead in the off season or is this stuff you're doing during season? Like, and I know, like in my, a vision that I have is I see the picture on, um, um, I think it's Southern Hound Magazine and then I mm-hmm. The Fox and the Hound, like I see like 20 dogs, um, you know, following a horse into a a and I know there's a Fox dogs, but that's my vision of deer Hounds is like having 10 or 20 dogs, um, going to an area to hunt.
Is that Yeah.
Whitney Clements: Correct or not Correct. So what we personally do, um, some people hunt a little bit differently, but like, you know, we. Usually it depends on like the size of the piece we're hunting or where we're hunting, all [00:43:00] that stuff. But typically a normal like block of woods that we're gonna hunt, um, we'll have like seven or eight dogs.
And I mean, really, we just let 'em out the box. My dad, me or my brother, whoever, like, walks with the dogs basically until mm-hmm. We find a deer. Mm-hmm. And that's when they go do their thing and we go back to the truck, basically.
Heath Hyatt: Yeah. So you're, you're
free
Whitney Clements: casting them? We're kind of just like walking with them just to where we think deer might be laying or, um, sometimes they jump a deer as soon as we let them out the box.
Uh, it really just depends. Now, some people, I don't know, I don't, I don't wanna speak for other people, but that's what we do personally.
Heath Hyatt: Mm-hmm. Yeah. No, I'm, I complete, I don't know if that answered
Whitney Clements: your question. Yeah. But definitely like bear dogs, when I went for the hunt in hat county, [00:44:00] that was first.
I've seen any other type of really, I've seen dogs tree, like raccoons and stuff, but I've never really, and like, um, you know, rabbit hunting, I've done that. But the bear dogs were definitely, y'all just, I don't know how to like word it, but they're definitely trained differently than for a bear, than mm-hmm.
Deer dogs are, I would say more like obedient to different, um, more obedient really. I don't know if that's the right
Heath Hyatt: word. Well, now that's not what I heard. I heard that you, you were really, really good with the dogs. I
Whitney Clements: mean, we use like our g p s to like, Tone them. Like when we're trying to get them to like come back to us, like, you know, a lot of them are like, we call tone broke.
Mm-hmm. Where, you know, [00:45:00] we want them to like, where we can call 'em off, call 'em off of like a deer or whatever. Or to come back to the truck, like if we're calling 'em, but
Heath Hyatt: Yeah. But who do, I mean, somebody had to teach 'em what tone meant. Somebody had to teach 'em, you know, that tone means come here. So are you involved in that or,
Whitney Clements: yeah, we all do that.
My dad, well really my dad, he doesn't really understand the G p s, so I would say like my dad, my brother and I. But I don't know, I guess I don't even think of it like that. It is just like second nature. Yeah. So, but you, but I wouldn't say all of, you know, we have a lot of dogs. We have like, Anywhere between, roughly between like 45 and 55 hunting dogs.
So some of our dogs are definitely like more not, or I would say obedient than others. Mm-hmm. Um, I mean, they definitely know us, they know [00:46:00] our trucks. Mm-hmm. Stuff like that. But, um, you know, we have puppies and they like to play around and stuff, so it kind of just depends on the dog. Does your dad Depends on how old they are, stuff like that.
But does your
Heath Hyatt: dad let the puppies run loose when they're young or does he keep 'em pinned up?
Whitney Clements: Um, like in the yard? Mm-hmm. You know, right there, like at our farm and stuff, but definitely not like free range at all. Right. Yeah. People where we live don't like
Heath Hyatt: that. Well, I was gonna ask
Whitney Clements: you, so we tried to keep, he has even designed his haunting his pens to where the sound goes a certain way Yes.
Towards where no one lives. And like all the new housing and all that stuff that's built up around them. 'cause we, you know, I mean, when you put 50 dogs in a dock pen all [00:47:00] together, they're a little loud. Yes. So he's even done that to where like, people don't, you know, we don't wanna cause issues. We're just Yeah.
Doing what we love to
Heath Hyatt: do. Yeah. No, the, it's funny you say that 'cause I, I can hear my dog, somebody must be coming up the driveway right now, but I've got my dog situated where the neighbors in front of me, they're, they can't hear. They can hear 'em if they're barking, but it's not like they're standing in her backyard.
But, so yeah. Only only people with hounds know, or not hounds, but people with dogs know that the trials and tribulations of having neighbors. Sure. For sure. So, so Whitney, let's, let's, um, let's spend the next few minutes just talking about, you know, being a female hunting. You said that social media really was what drove you saying, you know, you said you want, I wanna be like that.
So what is it, like, what is your world like, what is your, what are some goals that [00:48:00] you have?
Whitney Clements: Um, I mean, I would like, this year in particular, I would say my biggest goal is to kill, like a really nice buck with my bow. Um, I'm gonna just get off of dog hunting for a little bit. Mm-hmm. Um, just 'cause, you know, that's something I worked really hard for during the off season.
Like setting up cameras, checking cameras, um, putting out like minerals, you know, during the summertime we make food plots. I did get my dad onto making food plots, so that's been fun. Mm-hmm. Um, but, you know, all that stuff, um, just like the hard work that you put into it. I mean, you know, it is hard work, really putting up stands in 90 degree weather.
It's not always the most fun thing, but it's worth it, um, sitting for, you know, how it is sitting [00:49:00] for hours and hours and hours. It's just, I don't know. The bow, bow hunting to me is, um, just, I feel like the most challenging. Mm-hmm. So that's why I enjoy the most. I've killed, you know, I've killed deer. I've killed a, like, couple small bucks with my bow, but nothing really, um, Everything I'm proud of, but I would like to kill something nice that I've been hunting.
So, um, well wait, I'm just excited
Heath Hyatt: I not for that this year. Did I not see a, a Texas
Whitney Clements: buck? Oh, yeah. Um, that's right there. Yeah.
Heath Hyatt: That, no, that's a monster. I'm sorry that was
Whitney Clements: with my bow. But, you know, our, that was something on my bucket list. I have a bucket list of different hunts and stuff that I wanna do, but, um, that was to, not this past winter, but the winter before, I wanted to kill a [00:50:00] non-typical buck.
Mm-hmm. With my bow. And yeah, I would say that one was non-typical, but you know, after the fact, looking back now, I'm like, I don't regret doing that at all, but doing all the work myself, killing something, you know, whether it's at my dad's farm or, you know, right here at, with my boyfriend, like, I just feel like that will mean so much more to me than flying somewhere and killing a deer.
Me personally. Yeah. Um, I wanna see like my hard work pay off. So that's probably my biggest goal this year for this season. And, um, I don't know. I mean, I've done a few other things like the bear hunting. That was really cool. I got to see like, seeing dogs work in a different aspect. That was, that was really cool.
I wanna do that again. Um, we're gonna make
Heath Hyatt: that happen. Do what? I said we're gonna make that happen.
Whitney Clements: I know we are. Um, I actually, [00:51:00] well, you know, being a female and haunting, um, I don't know. It's actually like I've met tons of people, like through social media really has been, I. Really cool. I've been on lots of trips with girls that hunt like all over the United States and I don't really have a lot of close girlfriends right here that like to do what I do.
Um, so meeting people, like I've been on some duck hunts, some waterfowl hunts with different girls. Um, one of my best friends, she lives in Arkansas. She just came to the beach with me last week and we're going duck hunting in November together. So like it's just really cool to meet different people that love to do what you do and they might not live here, but it's opened up the door for opportunities like for me to go see the world haunt different places, but also meet really cool females that [00:52:00] like to do the same thing.
So that's really been, it's been cool. It's nice to know that there's other girls out there that like to do badass stuff too. Mm-hmm.
Heath Hyatt: That's right. So are you going to Arkansas to Duck hunt?
Whitney Clements: Um, well, yes, we're gonna go to Arkansas at some point, but our planned trip is, um, we're going to, me and some other girls, another, potentially two other girls from Virginia.
Um, we're going to Oklahoma mm-hmm. To an outfitter that we went to last year and we killed, um, geese and ducks. So I think that one, wherever it is. Mm-hmm. That, yep. That was greenhead, um, abandoned. Yeah, that was abandoned mallard I killed there last year, so that was really
Heath Hyatt: nice. So what, yeah, what kind of shotgun you took you?
A 12 gauge or 2012.
Whitney Clements: 12 I heard 180 7. Oh, listen, that's what my dad, I'm telling [00:53:00] you, my dad is my person. He mm-hmm. Is I use his gun that he like, Grew up using, so now I use his gun and I don't really think I can get off of using that.
Heath Hyatt: So you're using a, a Remington 1187. Mm-hmm.
Whitney Clements: Shoot. That's what I use for everything I do.
Yeah. And it's not really light, so No. I might get something different for like waterfowl eventually. Mm-hmm. But I don't know. Nice. So you still let me use it, so I'm still getting at it.
Heath Hyatt: Still use it. That's right. Yeah. I, I, I mean I've, I've shot 1187 a lot. I mean, that's a really common gun. And I've actually, um, because of my age and like you just said, that weight of the gun, I, I, of course I'm a, I was a big Remington fan and I went the Benelli route and then [00:54:00] now I'm actually Totting a, a fron infinity.
Okay. Which is a 2020 gauge is what I, that's what I Turkey hunt with. I mean, that's, that's what I use and I love it. I love it. So anyway, so next, the other question I had for you is, what, what challenges do you have in the hunting world being a female? Like what is it that, you know, what ch what is a challenge that you see that you guys, that, that are different from us, from a man than a woman?
What is it that's different and poses a challenge for you?
Whitney Clements: Um, honestly, I feel like if you would've asked me that three years ago, my answer would've been different. But I feel like, um, females in the hunting industry is a lot more accepted now and like growing up, um, like I grew up hunting and like, I don't know.[00:55:00]
It's a way of life for you. It's, I don't, yeah, it is. And I feel like a lot, so many girls are getting into it now that it's definitely more accepted. I honestly, a few years ago, I probably would've said just like people accepting that that's what I like to do and like, I'm a girl and I'm gonna do this. Um, but really a lot of men are like, they love to see me do what I do or like ask me stuff and, which I think is really cool.
Um, I, I don't, I really, I don't know if I have any like, challenges honestly. 'cause I feel like most people think it's pretty cool to see a girl like out there doing what the guys do. Um, I don't know.
Heath Hyatt: Well that's, I mean, that's tough one. I mean, that's good
Whitney Clements: though. That's very good. Um, I wouldn't say, [00:56:00] Like, the first time I ever came, met my boyfriend's mom.
I was like, your mom's probably gonna think you're dating a crazy woman. But even she, she loves it. She loves it. Like, you know, we are best friends. We can do everything together. And I like to do everything he likes to do. So for me, I really don't have any mm-hmm. Challenges, honestly. Um, my only challenge is that I don't make enough money to go do every single thing that I wanna do in the outdoors.
That's me. My, that's a challenge, but I think that's a challenge for more than just female. Oh,
Heath Hyatt: I, I mean, I'm hoping and praying that I'm still healthy enough and able when I retire, which is in the near future. Because my goal in life is to stay on the water or in the woods. Like, that's my goal. That's all, that's all I wanna do.
Um, yeah, that would be awesome. But I'll, I'll throw this at you because, um, you know, the girls here, they deal with it at [00:57:00] school a little bit. They have some, you know, they're, I mean, of course we're in a rural area, you know, you've been here, we're in a rural area. Yeah. Like we're in a rural area and it's, um, it's accepted for the most part.
But some of the, the little cliques at school, poke fun at 'em, make fun. You know, y'all, you know, y'all hunt, y'all do this, y'all do that. And you know, and I've told 'em all, like, it don't matter. You be, you, do you And let them be them. Yes. Let, let, let them do them. Like they don't know what they're missing out on.
They don't. You know, they don't see the, the, like, you know, the time spent with your family. You know, the si like being outdoors. I lo I'm like you, I love the outdoors. I don't care what I'm doing in it for the most part, as long as I'm doing something. But I love the outdoors. Um, and, and they're the same.
They're, they're the same way. And, um, they'll take spells where they get a little bit of a trash talking at school or whatever. Mm-hmm. And you know, I think they've got to the point where they just ignore it. Like, I don't [00:58:00] care. You know? Yeah. They got, I mean, they got camo crocs over here. They've got, I love it.
Yeah. I mean, you know, they're country like it. Yes. Let 'em be
Whitney Clements: and that's okay. That's right. I would say like at that age, I definitely could see where that was more challenging. Like I was always a big tomboy. And it sounds like your daughters might be the same way and. But guess what? I grew up and I'm still doing it.
I'm still doing what I love to do. And now it's definitely more like accepted, I guess. But, um, that's why I brought up social media and I hate to be that person, but I really think social media and like different females out there have opened people's eyes to like, we're not, there's a lot of people, male and female who do things on social media just for like the image.
But then there's also people out there, especially [00:59:00] females, I say. 'cause a lot of people say that, you know, she's just doing this for, to look cool on Facebook or whatever. But, you know, there are so many people out there that truly do the hunting and post stuff just because like, hey, we love to see it.
And I love for people to see like, girls can do this too. And, um, I don't know. That's something like, speaking of like younger girls, a lot of people have told me, like, and I take that as like a huge compliment that like, I'm very inspiring for like, younger, younger girls to like, you know, do things on your own and go out there and just like live your best life, like you said.
Um, I don't know, just be an independent and like, we don't need a man to do this. We got this. That's right. I mean, I do need, I do need my dad. I always need my dad, but, mm-hmm. You know, um, I don't know. So that's, that's been really cool for me. Like when I [01:00:00] do hear comments like that, 'cause that's ultimately like I want girls to grow up and do the same exact thing.
I think it's awesome. So any chance I can get to talk about it, like you said on here, I thought that was pretty cool too. Yeah. So,
Heath Hyatt: So, yeah, I, I want my girl, I want, I want my mind to grow up being able to take care of their self. I don't want 'em to have to rely on anybody. It's nice to have that, but, you know, and I think, I think hunting and being in the outdoors gives you a toughness Yeah.
That a lot of people don't have. Um, and I, you know, I told Maddie today, you know, I took her, she, um, broke her ankle playing at volleyball camp at tech last week, and she's been, she's having to sit around. It's killing her because she can't help take care of the dogs. Like, Aw, that's her thing. Like, she loves to, huh?
I said that's cute. Yeah. I [01:01:00] mean, she can't, she can't take care of the dog. She's sitting inside and, and you know, I, I don't know what I would do if I couldn't spend that, that time with her, like mm-hmm. You know, and she's not, um, preppy or prissy like she's. Straight up tomboy, I mean, boots and blue jeans. I mean, she, I mean, she loves the dog, she loves her horses, and I don't care what I'm doing.
She's with me. Like, I mean, it don't matter. Like she gets in the truck and goes on trips with me, she gets up in the morning at five o'clock and Bear hunt. She'll get up at five o'clock in the morning and go get on the boat. Um, and stay with me. And I don't know what I'd do without her. Like, you know, it's, yeah.
It's that important to me. Um, and I think it's phenomenal that the, how do I put this? I think it's phenomenal that, um, that there are more [01:02:00] females leading the way and that everybody is accepting of it. That, you know, this is, this is cool, this is cool. Yeah. So, and I mean, we hunt, like if, if you get to come up and hunt with us, you're gonna see that, um, we have five or six, seven guys mainly that, that, that's in our group.
And it's a family event. Like, yeah, all of them's family. Like, depending on when you're there, the kid, the kids will be there. If it's a weekend or they're outta school for like, bake, uh, holiday, like Christmas and new, the, the kids will all be with us. Um, you know, wives and girlfriends, they're, they're usually there.
Um, it's a family ordeal for us. Mm-hmm. And, you know, we, throughout the year, of course, bear, bear hunting is what the ma you know, mainly we do with the group, that group. But we go camping with the same group will go camping with each other. The same group has [01:03:00] cookouts and, um, little get togethers throughout the year.
We go hiking together. We, we do all these things as a group. And all of the kids, um, are a part of that. So, yeah. That's great. Yeah. So, alright. Do you wanna leave us with, in any, in inspiring words, like Yeah, lay it on us. Come on. What you got? I really don't
Whitney Clements: know. Um,
Heath Hyatt: I dunno. Yeah. Put you on the spot. Did I?
Yeah, you did. Well, like I said, Whitney, you know, you know, hearing your story from Anthony, um, you know, hearing about your hunting, um, the love for dogs, like I said, I'm, I'm a little bit out of the realm with the deer hunting world. I, I, I guess I got a vi like I said, I got a vision of what you guys do, but yeah, I've never done it.
So maybe I need to, to get down [01:04:00] to, you need to come this
Whitney Clements: year too. I'll come bear hunt and you can come. See what deer dog hunting
Heath Hyatt: is all about. Well, now I can do that. I will definitely, as long as it's not bear season, I have to do it in November. Yeah, that's fine. And I don't care nothing about killing one.
Um, the between, between the girls and me last year we killed six, which it mm-hmm. On our tag. I don't know how, I guess y'all have, do y'all have five tags or six? Um, five. Five. We have six. Um, and I killed three and, um, Tegan killed three last year and we, our freezer's pump full, of course, we, we ended up killing two bear, which we never do.
And then the other, anyway, we've got more deer than we can shake a stick at, so we're gonna lay off of it this year. But yeah, I would, I think I'd love to do that and I'm, it's funny. Good. That's pretty cool because I'm gonna go to Arkansas Duck hunting this year. You are? Yes. All right. When, [01:05:00] um, I haven't, we haven't decided a date yet, um mm-hmm.
Just it's in the works. But some of the guys that I've interviewed on the podcast, um, that's what they do. And I love the work of the dogs. Like the dogs are what drives me. I've never duck hunted. I've, I've never had a desire, but I want to go watch, learn, and live. I want to, I wanna see. Oh, yeah. Well
Whitney Clements: that's, if you've never seen like a duck dog or a waterfowl dog work, there's nothing like that.
So that's definitely something you need to do. Yeah. Because they are, they're very smart. Yeah.
Heath Hyatt: No, I'm very smart folks. I'm, I'm excited about that. And like you said, it's about opportunities. Yeah. Like just go
Whitney Clements: and see it. It's cool. Like there's some people out there that. Just wanna, my dad, he just wants to dog hunt.
He doesn't wanna do anything else. Me, I'm like, I wanna see it all and do it all. Like [01:06:00] the, the more the merrier.
Heath Hyatt: So yes. Alright, well, so let's end it with this. What's your bucket list?
Whitney Clements: I literally was just thinking this, um, my next bucket list thing probably won't happen anytime soon, but is to kill or to go hunting for, um, a mountain lion with dogs.
I think that I've seen this is, social media is bad for me because I get all my crazy ideas from social media, but the videos I've seen of that are so cool. It is just like, you know, they t 'em just like bears and I just think it'd be awesome to get up in one space. Mm-hmm.
Heath Hyatt: So that's a bucket list. Do you wanna kill a elk with a bow?
Whitney Clements: I've had the opportunity. Mm-hmm But I need the money too. Oh, you and me both. No, but those are def That would definitely be cool. But that's something I really don't know any [01:07:00] enough about to even start like that
Heath Hyatt: process with the dogs with lines.
Whitney Clements: I mean the dogs do most of the work, right? Mm-hmm.
Heath Hyatt: Yep. I know a guy.
I know a guy. Yeah, I know.
Alright, well thank you for your time. Thank you for taking the time outta your day and helping us, um, teach, train, and learn and it's been a blast just getting to talk to you and getting to know you.
Whitney Clements: Same. Thank you.
