Hunt Your Way

On this episode of The Nomadic Outdoorsman Dan talks with Bone Collector and Headhunters TV hosts Nate Hosie and Michael Waddell about their adventures in the outdoors.

Nate and Michael are OG’s in the outdoor world. They have both made a name for themselves in hunting television and music with their larger than life personalities and their on camera antics. Dan is in disbelief as they join him in The Nomadic Outdoorsman podcast booth to discuss a wide range of topics like turkey hunting, disunity among hunters and much more. The group talks about memorable and comical moments from their years of chasing game all around the country.

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[00:00:00] All right, guys, welcome to today's show. Now, this show is a real treat. I love having all kinds of guests on, but these are two guys that I just never envisioned sitting down in person, doing a podcast with, and the fact that it happened up at BowFest this year was pretty incredible, and I think you're really going to like it.

So on today's show. My wife and I sit down with Nate Hosey and Michael Waddell. It seems weird even just saying that, like the fact that I sat down and talked all about hunting in the outdoors with these two, this was a fun episode. I hope you guys enjoy it. But a quick update before we hop into this episode here in Missouri season has officially kicked off, which just blows my mind that we're already in the fall.

I've got a bunch of trips coming up. I've got hog and deer down in Georgia. Then I'm heading up with the XOP crew and a bunch of others up in Wisconsin. Those are going to be awesome. But [00:01:00] here in Missouri, I hunted a couple times at my home property the 25 acres that I bought in January. And I've had a few bucks there that have come in during daylight recently.

Now, my number one target buck I've nicknamed him Mr. Clean. He's just a beautiful, typical eight point, wide, tall, heavy. He's an awesome deer for sure. And if I could get him on my property. That would be amazing. Here's the problem. He came in the other morning at 2 AM. I went out to my stand around five o'clock, get up in my stand.

I'm getting set up and basically it's just a full saddle setup, but I already had the platform hung. I had my bow hanger in the tree. I had my sticks. All I had to do is climb up and get harnessed in, hang my bag, hang my bow. Not much moving whatsoever, didn't bump anything on my [00:02:00] way in, and as I was like, taking my headlamp off or something...

It was, the smallest amount of noise. I just hear a deer blow out of there. It didn't actually blow, but it took off running and it made me sick to my stomach. I still don't know what deer it was because it was so dark. I'm just really hoping it's not him on a different note. I have had more shooter bucks on camera this year than ever before.

In fact, I had one, if you've looked at my Instagram lately. I posted about it, an absolute freak in a huge bachelor group of bucks. I saw this deer last year, the final day of season, he showed up on trail camera, of course, 30 minutes after season ended. But, I'm working on access to properties all around where I had that camera hung, because he's not a homebody there, he was just passing through.

In two years, I've got two trail camera pictures of him. So I've got to figure out where exactly he's hanging out. [00:03:00] Because I would guess that's a mid one seventies deer, which is unheard of down in my neck of the woods. On top of that, I've had every day that I've hunted, I think aside from this morning, I have had daytime buck activity.

On a different camera, somewhere else on my property, on a different property. So I think September is going to be the month that I fill my first of two buck tags here in Missouri. Fingers crossed. I don't want to jinx it, but I think it's going to happen and I'm going to keep you guys updated. Obviously, you're going to see it on Instagram long before you hear the podcast.

But as soon as I get one on the ground, you better believe I'm going to be doing a podcast about it, talking about all the details, how it played out. And I think you guys are going to really enjoy following along with the process. Brief update on, on Missouri. I'm heading out of state a couple times in October.

Actually, I think three different states in October. More states in November. Some in [00:04:00] January. It's going to be a very busy fall and winter for me. But that just means a lot of good in person content with the people that I go and hunt with. Without further ado, we're gonna hop into this episode with Michael and Nate.

He was doing things that were just badass. That was one of the coolest moments of my life. I was really scared, but knowing that Dane had the gun, I did have the rifle we would be okay.

Alright, guys. We are here at BowFest and I've got Nate Hosey and Michael Waddell. This kind of seems weird to me because like I do a lot of over the web interviews and stuff like that. But having you guys people that I grew up watching, I remember one of my first ever videos that I watched of hunting was you on a caribou hunt.

And I remember A cow came right in front, I don't even know, [00:05:00] is that the name of a female caribou? That's what I call them. It was like, you were on a log, or right behind a log, and it was right in front of you, and you like, scared it. You were like, hey how's it going, or something like that. And I was like, that dude's awesome, like that guy, he's scaring caribou.

Matter of fact, I think I know that particular hunt, yeah, that was my first caribou hunt years and years ago. I was a Ralph and Vicky Cianciarulo. Up in Quebec, obviously. I don't even think you can hunt in Quebec right now for caribou. I don't think so. I think a lot of the caribou stuff's shutting down all across North America.

Alaska's still open. Yeah, I haven't put a lot of time researching. I'd like to find out more. I know they had a lot of problems, some unexplained, but but yeah, like in the early or the late 90s through the 2000s, that was the go to fun adventure destination. That was going to be pretty much guaranteed a fun hunt.

Good chance killing a Pope and Young Animal. But you were still way back country. It was the ultimate fun hunt. Yeah, and I'll be honest since we started with Headhunters, that's always been a [00:06:00] bucket list for me. But there just hasn't been the opportunity to go anywhere that you would feel confident enough.

Or that the herd is strong enough. Talking about it, it'd be great if they can come back around a little bit. Because no different than yourself, growing up watching Michael or different... Hunting personalities that I love I mean that caribou stuff when they get into that migration man that they just looks wicked I was and I mean they are some cool animals.

They're yeah, they're wicked looking I'd love to get the opportunity You know get the pins on one here someday. That would be sweet. I just like adventure I like doing new hunts things that I've never heard of before I talked to a guy not long ago and he blowgun hunts iguanas on retaining walls down in Florida I'm like if that's not the most redneck thing like redneck engineer.

He hooks a fishing line to it like you're bow fishing But the dart of the blow gun. That wasn't Tim Wells, wasn't it? It wasn't Tim. This guy just does it for a like pest control. Yeah, he's like dude, you got to come down here and try this and i'm like, hold on You're shooting a dart that's hooked to a line and it's like eye level i'm like, I just feel like getting caught and coming back at me, but I haven't done it [00:07:00] yet I just like new opportunities finding out what people are passionate about and go check it out So that's it, right?

I think that's just it new opportunities new adventures. It's Not just about, what you maybe come back with to put on the wall or put in the freezer. It's just really the adventure itself, who you meet, the culture, the vibe and everything. That's what's cool about here at Bofest is just so many families.

You got some people that are pretty serious out there, keeping score. Other people walk around with a cold beverage and laughing. One guy come by me and he had just, he had some doors blasting on his Bluetooth as they were shooting. Go and get a hamburger, cheeseburger, grab a... Brett, grab a, a cold drink, whether it be a, a Coca Cola or a cold beer, and just keep on rockin man.

Oh, Yeah, that's some of the nicest people you could ever meet up here, too, over the years. And they're, they've been accepting to our concerts, which proves they're nice people, yeah. They act like they sit out there, and they love it, like We got we think we got canceled today, but outside of that, we're all good. But like he said, this is such a great place to come up and be a part of such a strong hunting [00:08:00] community up here in Wisconsin. And, obviously a lot of people from Minnesota as well, but it's a special place to come out and hang. Yeah. What did you guys grow up doing?

Because obviously now at this point you've traveled all over, hunted all over. What were your roots? Was it deer and Turkey or what? For me, honestly, when I started when I was like five years old, obviously you couldn't hunt until you're 12. But when I was five, my dad owned a printing company and a lot of different business associates and stuff.

And my mom's dad my grandpa was a huge hunter. My dad really wasn't a hunter growing up. And so my grandpa was always on them. Hey, we need to get with these guys. One of his friends had a preserver they would put out like pheasants. And they'd hunt bird dogs over pheasants. And, at that time we had a lot of grouse.

woodcock. So earliest years of my hunting, I started out hunting over bird dogs. And we'd go out with them every year. I had a little Orvis cap gun. And, anything that took flight I'd be busting caps at and really got into that scene. And then as I got a little older, I'd start going with my grandpa for white tails and when I was probably, I don't know, 14 or so, my neighbor started taking me for spring turkey.

I [00:09:00] killed a turkey in the fall when I was 12 with a buddy and it was cool, but once I started hearing a turkey gobbling stuff, I really, I just love turkey hunting, that interaction instead of like deer, you're defensive, you're so offensive with turkeys and so it took to that.

Earliest. It was bird dogs and then got into whitetail and then turkeys. Okay. Yeah, for me I grew up in Georgia, so it's funny, I, I can't even remember back when I first started hunting. It just seemed like I was always around it. Yeah. And, growing up in a real rural, rustic area, the earliest I remember was my papa.

And it was, fishing, but we'd go fish creeks. Never threw anything back. It was never even sport. It was more about, catch a mesh to fish to eat that night. And and I remember we would go hunt rabbits, but it wasn't like your traditional with bagels. He just, we just ride around and find a rabbit out and log a road and he'd pop a few and we'd, he'd go back and skin them out.

And that led to in our area I remember, I was, I'm 50 now, so I was born in the seventies and then late seventies, early [00:10:00] eighties, the deer started really going crazy around Georgia. Some nice bucks. And so my dad got into that, but early on, it was just shooting it stuff like rabbit squirrels or, walking around we used to have a decent amount of quail around there and we, you could about flush a quail out of a.

Sage patch just about, if you walked around a much and now there ain't any hardly, but anyway, and that led into deer hunting, but I, I don't remember really when maybe around high school is when I remember thinking, Hey, let's try to get a big, and it was just hunting. It was just like, it was just trying to go deer hunting.

And obviously everybody was hunting out of permanent stands. You'd build them, build them out of leftover wood. Dad was, my dad was a carpenter or contractor and he'd build. These old big permanent stands. Wonder we didn't die. Claude skyscrapers and a lot of clear cuts and stuff in Georgia. And we just get up there with 30 all six, that led to, yeah, I remember I was buying our first bows and my dad always had a few bows laying around and I remember I went and saved my money, [00:11:00] one money, one summer when I was 14 Actually, 13.

I bought a Martin Pro Eliminator bow. I paid 200 for it. Martin was my first bow. Was it really? I had a Magnum Jaguar, I think. Yeah. And I loved it. But I love the old wooden stand stuff, back when I started hunting. Stands were like, all the rich hunters have stands, Yeah, if you bought a lone wolf or a millennium.

If we had a stand, it was homemade with two by fours that were left over from when we tore up our deck, that's exactly right. And I sat on a bucket or a log or a downed tree for years, and then one day I was like, you know what, I'm gonna build myself a stand. And so I made two L's and a couple planks between it and ratchet strapped that sucker to the tree.

And then I just found a, I think we were at a yard sale and there was an old wooden six foot ladder. And so I bought that, leaned it up against the tree, and went and sat in that, and yeah, talk about lucky you didn't die. Redneck lock on for sure. There's no limit to what guys will hunt out of. I've seen some pictures of some redneck tree stands, [00:12:00] a school bus flipped upside, or flipped upright, and sitting on top of that.

And everything, things definitely were not as technical. I don't remember early, I remember when I started rifle hunting when I was about 11 or 12. And in Georgia, you can pretty much... Come off breast milk and start hunting. You don't have to really Actually, you don't you're not required to have anything not even a hunter safety course or really a license.

You do have to Now you do have to go online and register your kid like literally like showing that he is. Yeah It's a security number and i'm taking this two year old that's it. But no he shot the big guy I'm sure a lot of that happens Dad, turkey season on youth day, pushing a stroller, but I remember just walking up my uncle Morgan's barn.

And there'll be six, seven folks, up there all have the rifles and back ends, everybody had on coveralls and some Texas steer boots, and Hey man, where y'all want to go? It was like, man, I was thinking about going to the platform stand. I was going to holler one. If ain't nobody going [00:13:00] to get into, yeah.

Okay. If you go to holler one, I go to holler too. And I never, you just walk off and then, there you go. Nate would go down to hollow one and I'd all right. I'm gonna go to I'll go to platform stand Never was there a discussion about which way the wind it's like we all just went to the stands that were permanent or built Yeah, and you'd go sit in them and I remember sitting up there and daylight start coming and all of a sudden boom You hear shot like dude, I believe that was I think I Scott Steiner done shot You know, he said he was going to the watermelon patch and it would just eat you up and I remember that joy Maybe I hadn't even seen anything, but thinking I've heard two shots and I think it was my uncle Jeff and Scott Steiner and just couldn't wait thinking.

We've probably got one. Somebody got a deer and literally meeting back up and contact. Hey, no, you just shot. No. Texans sit there thinking we didn't even have the radios, but I remember meeting back up with was that you that shot uncle Jeff? Yeah, I shot me. I think I got a man. And he put like a pretty good buck to [00:14:00] me and just be fired up and walking over there and yeah, finding blood and finding a little, it'd be a little year and a half old seven and we would just, it's like we killed a deer, like eight of us went in what did y'all got?

We got to, it was never, individually. No, it was not individual. It was not. And then, usually that would result in a big old breakfast and we'd laugh and a nap on a Saturday watching football maybe. And I don't know. We still try to. Keep that vibe alive. I think in our camps, but I don't know.

I don't know if it ever be that. I think some of the younger things is happening. It seems like that's getting more prevalent. I see a lot more I use the hunting public as an example. It seems like there's a, even what you guys do, where you're really pushing the adventure and the experience.

It's not sure we all want to get a big animal who don't want to get a big book. We can act like we don't, but if you're an hour, Yeah. There's a part of you like, dude, I might have a 180 inch deer walkout. You're jacked, whether it's on public or private. But at the end of it, my most fond memories are [00:15:00] those times where it was we, it was a group.

And sometimes I was a lucky dude that a little 8 pointer or it was doe day and a doe walked out and I got to be the... Young guy to pop one, and so anyway I love that some of the stuff that's happening, they're starting to recapture the experience and, the camping and the hanging out, getting ladies more involved, bringing the kids to camp.

And yeah. And it's not just about how quick you can get the. Scorecard out. Yeah. And because I think a lot of times that part of it can lead to a little depression and Take you away from the true roots of it. Not that I'm against it because I certainly score some deer every year Yeah, I mean we always we call and text, you and I will Nate.

Hey, that was nice What that deer score is like 151 or whatever nothing wrong with that, but I also people See people chase it and they will have enjoyed it until they score it. And it wasn't up to what they thought. And then they're down and out about it. And I'm like, dude, no way, man. You, your lady was there, man.

It was fun. It was a good weekend. Your favorite football team won. You got you a [00:16:00] nice book. Just, I don't know. I see people get caught up in that a lot. So it's one thing to enjoy it and man, I want to shoot a big buck, but to forego like the tradition, the camaraderie, the fellowship out in the woods or at hunting camp, whatever it is, elk, deer, duck.

Yeah. And I think it's like. Like he said, I think a little bit of it is like, because I know that when I started, Randy had been coming off of Whitetail Freaks, and Randy would tell you this, like, when they first asked me, what do you think about being, like, a personality, because originally with Headhunters, I was just, on the production side, I was going to help film, and I was like, listen I have, I will come in and I will do whatever you want me to do, but I don't, I'm not worried about whether or not somebody thinks that, I'm a great hunter or anything like that, as long as they know that I love it, and I want to go in there and...

And, I'd never shot a big deer at that point at any point in my career, in Pennsylvania or anything like that, so had the opportunity over the years to take some great deer. But like Michael said, some of the greatest reminders of what hunting is has been, getting to share the woods with my little boy this past year.

He took his first buck and it's got his first doe, got his first turkey. And, there was the part of me [00:17:00] inside that. I knew there was these couple like little eight pointers that have been coming out in the food pot all day. And then that part of me almost tainted it to an extent to where I was like hey, there's a good, there's a, there's been a nice eight here.

And one day Cruz just looked at me, we had hunted two or three days. He said, Dad, I'm tired of you not letting me shoot these good bucks. Yeah. And there's a deer that he called the fighting four. Yeah. As soon as he said, I said, you want him? He said, yeah. I said, let her bark. You know what I mean? But it was a reminder to me too, of to him, just like the other day, I took it home and he has a big mule deer of mine that he loves in his room.

And I put that up, he said, look at him, daddy, he said, it's bigger than your mule deer. And he, and that, he doesn't, and that's exactly what hunting is, you're exactly right in the way that, and you guys have always done that. Thinking back to when, like you said, I grew up watching Michael as well.

I was never sitting there and I was like, hey man, did you see that 164 Michael killed this year? On that, I never one time ever did. Now, of course, every now and then, your big deer in Kansas, the first big one you kill, come over that fence that you shot 20 yards.

Oh yeah. That's going to happen, but it was never Hey, you guys catch bone collector and see that one, one 70 that Nick killed. You know what I mean? I don't even, does Nick even score his [00:18:00] deer? I don't even know Nick we, we have labeled him the game hog. We'll have this conversation as we're talking about, just good breakfasts and getting the ladies involved and just having a good time.

And I was at Nick's over there. He's the first one to hijack everybody's computer and start looking at all the trail cameras. Where are you going? Don't worry about it We call him the game hog. Yeah, Nick's all about the big He's like the biggest taxidermy freak you'll ever meet all he wants to do is mount like He would ask what are y'all gonna do with those sheds?

Yeah, let's try to steal them I got an extra cape. I'll mount those for you. Yeah, he will he would literally mount it. He'll mount everything and so Nick definitely, I have to me and T won't have to get on Nick all the time like Nick, but being a game hog, trying to get, once again, trying to hijack to get the best stands to kill the biggest deer, but yeah, you guys have got such a great team and even, with Headhunters and Randy and Scuba, I think that's the heritage that you want to promote, whether if it is on television or, YouTubes or whatever it is, it's just that heritage of, Camaraderie, [00:19:00] having a good team of people around you, and that celebrated and enjoy it and could have fun with one another, like they do in their camps and like we try to do in our camps. And cause I think that's what will make the heritage survive. You know what I mean? A 200 inch deer for everybody. Isn't going to make it survive.

You know what I mean? The atmosphere that hunting is what makes it. All right. How many of you guys hate dealing with tangled up rope, trying to untie it? It's all knotted up and you actually really need it at the time. Don't raise your hands because I obviously can't see you. But, those days are long gone.

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Alright, I get asked all the time, so here it is. This is a list of my go to optics for the fall. First and foremost, I've got my Fury 5000 range finding binoculars from Vortex. These things go with me everywhere. From hiking and floating trips to fishing trips and obviously on every one of my hunts. I love these because I can basically replace two with one.

I don't have to carry binos and a rangefinder when I've got it all [00:21:00] built in to one awesome piece that fits right in my bino pack. Next up is my Razor HD spotting scope. Now this goes with me on all my western hunts. And I keep it in the truck all fall if I want to glass a field or do some scouting on a current property that I have.

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Now let's get back to the show presented by vortex

down in Missouri. I make it a point. I try to hunt with like 20 new people a year and that's not like [00:22:00] brand new hunters, but like I want to hunt with people I've never hunted with because I just love seeing other people's excitement for things. And so we're blessed that we've got some property.

It's private that we can hunt. And my buddies are like dude, you got some big bucks out there. Why do you keep inviting all these people? Like i'll talk to some random guy from florida who's never deer hunted and i'm like dude come on up and shoot something Yeah, and i'm like it's about the fellowship.

It's about that camaraderie It's about making memories and they come up and i'm like Shoot what you want if it gets your heart pounding If you want to pull the trigger, go for it. I don't care. After your first one, we're going to change things up a little bit, you can hop on board with the management plan.

But as a whole, just getting new people, and those are my favorite hunts. Taking her out on her first hunt, even though I put a really janky tree stand up, and she didn't, she wasn't real happy with me about that. It I survived. But taking my son out he couldn't care less. He was having fun drinking hot chocolate and eating Twinkies that we got at I'm looking at a bean field that we can see every inch of and all of a sudden he'd pop up.

I heard a deer [00:23:00] and I'm like, you did? Where is it? Play into it. Let's yeah, let's poke our head out. I heard a big one. We didn't see a deer like the one day I'd go hunting and don't see a single deer this year. It's with him, but he had the time of his life and now he's like When can we go hunting?

We see a deer on the side of the road. Dad, shoot that deer! I'm like I can't do that at 70 miles an hour on someone else's property. Yeah, he's bummed. I know one thing, I've got a heck of a lot of respect for you taking that approach and and a lot of people are not taking that approach.

Matter of fact, there's been all these, seems like in our hunting industry or the culture, it has all these little... It goes through, culturally and now it's good and bad. It's gotten very I don't know if the words granola I don't know. I don't think that's the best word describes it, but it's a very, it's liberal in the sense of just, let the animals win and stuff like that.

And I too. Holy cow. The first thing you do if you buy land, I've spent so much money on my farm from [00:24:00] feeding protein to putting up new stands, putting in new food plots. Even my wife is Michael, what are you doing? Next thing you know, I got a veil mulcher out there.

Like, why do we need this expensive people equipment to make another food plot? And so you get so addicted. to, to making the wildlife better. So you're certainly trying to, you're letting them win. But overall that same mentality, a lot of that group is not for hunting recruitment. And I think that's asinine.

And I think that your approach of taking somebody new. And especially, me, man, I'm 50 and I was unbelievably blessed. It's almost making me feel old when Nate or you would say, dude, I used to watch you, when I was 12 or 11. And I'm like, man, y'all, in my mind, I feel like, dude, we're the same age.

I'm not older than y'all. And then we start running around these mountains. I'm like, man, y'all wait up. And but inevitably. I, like you said, to see new people [00:25:00] get engaged and know that they're part of our culture. Some that might already be on the fence and then some that maybe never had experienced it.

And I do think that having hunters and recruitment is what is going to save it. And so if you look at historically, even though we've got a lot of non profit organizations and great game and fish departments in different states I still think inevitably it's been the hunters, the paying hunters that have preserved the wildlife.

So the ones that hunt it, put it on their table, same ones that preserve it. And after we're gone, who's it gonna be? And once there's less and less, so I think some of that granola atmosphere, let them win, is actually a different way of saying, actually I don't want you to hunt or you to hunt, cause I want to be more for me.

Yeah. And so it's a self, it's just almost like a campaign. We got a jar of cookies. Let's all quit eating cookies everybody you're eating too many cookies Everybody quit eating the freaking cookie and what they're wanting to say is like if y'all don't eat all the cookies I can get more Yeah, so I think that's a little bit.

I think it's [00:26:00] I think it's a bait and switch. I think oh for sure I think some of it's very narcissistic the root of what they're saying. I It's like going back to World War II. I think Joseph Goebbels, was he telling the truth or he was telling a lie? So you can twist it, and you can take propaganda and twist it.

So what I've seen, whether it's around the turkey culture, or deer, or hunting public and private, and did you do it over bait? You do it over this way? The way I look at it is man, do it the way you want, by legal. That's the situation. I'm not competing with you. I'm not competing with you. You're not competing with me.

When I hunt, I compete with myself. I'm trying to get a deer that maybe... If I'm trying to kill a Pope and young deer, that's for me. It's not for me to think that you can say what else is a little better. No, it's just cause I'm proud, vice versa. I think if I can, if we spend time talking or Nate or any of us if y'all say, dude, my goal, my dream in life is to get a 350 inch archery elk.

Dude first of all, if you get it, it don't make me love you [00:27:00] anymore. I'm just going to love it for you and want to hug you and say, dude, you did it. I knew you could do it. And you saved your money. He was in shape. You were shooting good. And look what you did. You shot a 350 inch elk at 60 yards with that bow.

And I knew you could do it. I shot with him both. So I just don't make her love you anymore. You're not going to love her anymore. It's just congratulations. Yeah. Congratulations. And that's sometimes the hunting industry forgets that. And sometimes the people who kill these animals, they'll come strutting in here.

They're like. Everybody's gonna freaking want a piece of me. Yeah. I killed that 180 buck, and I was like, nobody gives you They give you a license. Nobody cares, homeboy. Nobody cares. It's they'll congratulate you. And I saw that firsthand, because I walked over here when we first started, and I just took his hat off and signed it, and he was like, No, man, I just wanted to talk.

You didn't see that whole thing. I killed four 140s last year, bro. You gotta get this on your head. He ripped it out of my hands. I was like, oh, okay, my bad. That's awesome. Yeah, that's what I meet hunting celebrities and I only get a signature from the guy who killed more. That's what I was [00:28:00] telling somebody last year at ATA.

I was like, with all the YouTube stuff somebody's gotta do a skit anymore, like, where you just walk in, but it has to be almost like, how like they shot more at, it has to be off the cuff and like you just walk through it. Thanks for coming. Just take somebody's hat and just go through 50 people sign their hat because some of them be like Yeah, no problem.

Somebody's gonna get mad. One person's gonna get mad you take that Yeah, you know there can't be any planning. You just grab it off their head. Thanks for being here Yeah, like just see the reactions you get, you know Some people be like, thank you and they'd be like, what the heck is that?

They don't even know who that was. It is funny man Yeah, some people get the beat in their own chest and I just trips to me. I don't understand that. I even this past year, Nate was in on it too. Some, because, I'd say I too like watching Nate and Randy and especially Nate, I love Randy, but Nate.

Nate, I met Nate around turkey calling, Matt Moret back in those days and H. S. Strutt and and that was my background. So my passion for turkey hunting is crazy. Him growing up in Pennsylvania, you're, you pretty much you're still celebrating June [00:29:00] pride week if you don't turkey hunt in Pennsylvania, everybody turkey hunts.

That's just, that's the deal. No doubt. And and so anyway, so obviously if we go, and we got a tag, you're trying to kill a turkey. And so there's a lot of tactics and technique. And so you get a lot of ridicule based on how you do it. There's one particular guy hating on me really bad.

And I finally saw him, at a show and I talked to him in person. I said, man, you're bowling up on me pretty stout, online. But, two things we can debate. You can try to swing, but just cause you got a little gray in a beard, I'm gonna hit you back. I'm gonna hit you back.

So as we talked the conversation, I said, bro, why are you so aggravated? That's it. Is it, are you mad? Are, is Turkey hunting gotten so bad? And so I knew it before I said it. . So I told him, I, I told him this and he didn't realize I baited him in. I said, are you just not good enough?

And you think the Turkey hunts are not what it used to be. Let's just say in Georgia, do you think you're not getting your limit anymore and you think it's because of people like me? He said first of all, I did get my limit. And I do think that people like you who are promoting this, [00:30:00] Decoys and fanning the technique.

I said, so you did get your limit? He said, yeah. I said, he said, I've got my limit every year for the last however many years. And I said, so you are a good turkin. Yeah, I'm a good tur. And I do it my way. And of course I just don't, yeah. So I said let tell you something. If I'm so good or you're so good and I'm so bad, but supposedly good 'cause I'm killing all the churches to teach all these people.

Guess what? I haven't shot a turkey in three years in Georgia. I said, so who's killed? Who's hurt more? You're mad at me that I made a decision that yes, I shared with people. Here's a tip and technique that can work. I didn't choose to do it your way or my way or any way that anybody that's been a mentor of mine has taught me because I decided that I thought that I'm going to leave these turkeys.

I said, my wife killed one. One of my kids, two of my kids killed a turkey and we had already put a limit on what we were going to shoot based on our lease and our property. And I [00:31:00] said, you have went around beating your chest, calling me a clown on how I'm killing too many turkeys and teaching people to do it.

You have limited it out in each state. And I said, and I know you got ego because I punched your butt and when I said, are you good enough or are you just not good enough to handle killing a turkey in low population areas? And he certainly jumped back and said he was. Yeah. On public ground. So this asshole is still running around hunting, killing turkeys when whether other people who decide to use a fan, decoy, whatever.

They can adjust the situation and say I'm just going to kill one. So what makes him better killing three his way, whether it's with a two call or an old sweet 16 and some World War II camouflage or somebody taking a brand new shotgun with TSS who only shot one. Yeah. So everything's in perspective.

And so what I've learned in hunting, if there's a way, and that's just, again, getting back to both is what I love about it. You've got all these traditional guys. You've got shooters that shoot every kind of brand of bow, every kind of site. And the romance or bromance of it is the [00:32:00] fact that dude, what's that sight you got?

Yeah. What is that? Let me see that arrow, bro. What is it? Look, man, is that a Black Widow traditional? Can I shoot it? And what happens is nobody's calling you a sissy because you're shooting, a vertical bow that shoots over 300 feet per sacket. Yeah. Got the brand new Hoyt or Matthews, whatever it is.

Everybody's sharing in excitement. So what happens through the love, you leave with these things like, when I get back, I want to get me a, I want to get me a recurve. Yeah. But you're not shamed into it, I feel like it's it's really unfortunate that it comes with the territory when you post anything about hunting online on any platform, you're going to get hate from somebody.

Yeah. And, but you're at an event like this, I don't see any knockdown drag out fights over who shoots 143 inch deer or a 190 inch deer. Like it just doesn't happen. Like from Michael's standpoint, obviously I've stayed close to it on that situation and I really try to stay non confrontational, but I've even made some different posts about, especially things that he's done or different things because, at the end of the day, like I said, I, [00:33:00] he's my boy, I got the utmost respect, and in reality, what a lot of these guys are doing is trying to get his attention, right?

Because the fact of the matter is, I tell you this, I have loved a turkey hunt since I was a kid, and a lot. I would say this, I've been around some of my favorite turkey hunters, Eddie Salter, Matt Moret, Paul Butzke, these these people are people that I grew up worshipping, loving their turkey stuff, some of the greatest, but if I were to say, if, personally, a true turkey hunting innovator that has showed me, and a lot of people like me, tactics, that you could legally kill a turkey in, in a lot of states, it would be Michael.

I would say he is the number one innovator of turkey hunting, in my opinion, of my, childhood a lot of great callers, great hunters, but, somebody crawling out there with a decoy on their head and smoking a turkey, I've never seen this kind of stuff before, getting out there and, so like, all these people are coming at him, or trying to go at him, because the fact of the matter is they just want an ounce of his attention, right? [00:34:00] Just, to try to discredit him, and the idea of, Are we honestly arguing about shooting a turkey in a legal aspect?

This is up to your game and fish. If it is a legal tactic, and then you're gonna jump on and make some sort of video to try to discredit him in any possible way. When you gotta look at it this, he's done more for the wild turkey in his career than anybody on social media that I know of today, you know what I'm saying?

So it really comes down to a situation where it's almost comical to me, like I sit back and I watch these people and I think, Hey, you know what, maybe I don't know anything about turkey hunting, but another thing I know is, like he said, he hadn't shot a turkey in three years in Georgia. I pay attention to the guy or girl who's taking everybody, right?

I've watched a lot of people hunt. Hey, guess what? Anybody can go kill a buck. Anybody can go kill a turkey. But I've always gravitated to the guy or girl who's taking somebody. Who's calling them up turkeys. Who's taking, like you said, somebody on their first turkey hunt. Sharing that stuff you did with Theo Vaughn and all that stuff this year.

And those boys you are sharing that culture, right? And for me to go on Instagram, post a turkey, I shot a [00:35:00] turkey. Whatever, but you, the true hunters are the ones Taking people, introducing people, hanging stands for people, showing them success, right? Letting them punch a tag. And that's something that he's always been the best at, in my opinion.

I've watched him take more people for turkeys than anybody. It's that's where I'm not really a social media fighter, but I'm coming if somebody's coming at him. I don't know. I don't, I just don't see that. Where you're coming from with that, and I know what they're doing.

They're trying to get his attention. Oh, yeah, I get that. Unfortunately, I fall into the camp of I like to troll the trolls. If I see someone, like if a telemarketer calls me, my goal is to keep them on the phone as long as I possibly can, like just let it roll or someone says something and immediately I'm like, all right, I'll look him up.

This guy shoots Penelli. Nobody shoots Penelli's man. Only real men shoot Mossbergs, like for some reason there's that. Weird culture online. I had a bunch of people. I bought a turkey fan, right? Yeah umbrella with the turkey print. I was [00:36:00] like, this is the coolest thing. It's got a spot for a GoPro I can walk I can crawl across the field and I sucked with it.

I was so bad And it probably run a lot of turkeys. Yeah, 100 percent to be guaranteed, right? Oh, yeah, and so I'm like, I buy the gimmicky stuff I always do but I was like it's helped me kill it kill a couple of turkeys I have scared so many birds right but I put it in a video one time and this guy goes Real men don't reap birds.

And I was like, I thought I felt a change down there as soon as it came in the mail. My manhood disappeared all of a sudden because I've got this turkey fan. I'm like, who cares man, just go out and do it. I don't care if somebody just got done changing oil and wants to climb up in their tree stand. Or if they buy an extra washer and dryer to keep all their stuff scent free.

I couldn't care less. This is what I do, you do that. If it's legal in your state, it is. I'm the ultimate, I think, the world needs more masculinity, oh yeah. But there is a part of sometimes the male ego that can be obnoxious. Masculinity ain't [00:37:00] not masculinity is, let this place.

I know she's a good hunter. I've seen some of the stuff y'all do. She loves, enjoys it and outdoors. But let me tell you, she, she could probably. I wouldn't want to take off on a sprint up this mountain. She'd probably beat us out to the top. If all of a sudden starts happening, even though you're her husband, I can promise you every man here is going to make sure she's safe in these kids.

That's masculinity, the insecurity sometimes within men is obnoxious. And I think that's what we get into is, a lot of these guys who are having a tough time and maybe they don't have a beautiful life like you, maybe they don't have the security to invite some stranger off the street.

And have a nice meal and share your property with them. I think what happens is they're bitter and they're mad, they're insecure, and they don't know how to say great job and to be sincerely happy. Yeah. You'll find that. As it can be your podcast as it grains gain success and you get a chance to have a voice for the industry.

You don't have people even close to you that all of a sudden start getting frustrated and dude, [00:38:00] I remember shoot when you couldn't even shoot a bow what does that have anything to do with that? It's almost like there is a problem sometimes of just a sincere. Congratulations, man. Hey, bro, let me give you, let me give you a bro hug and tell you how proud I am of you and what you would think your father or uncle or granddad or just a close friend would.

It could be financially. It could be like, man, you ain't gonna believe it, dude. We got a sponsor and it's first time ever, man. We got some stuff and we're going to be in the six figures this year. And ah, must be nice. Good for you, bro. We ain't I'm still working down there at the elementary school.

Dude, I would have been too, but I took a chance. Can you just say congratulations? Can you just say it paid off? But I think that's it. And I think the hunting part of it goes over and just, if they see you with a nice deer, okay, we're at it's like the judge and jury coming public private.

Yeah, high fence. Was it corn fed? Was it bait? Was it vertical? It's like a teacher. They're grading your test as I ask you the questions Oh, okay. That's a mark against you used a rifle. Yeah. Oh, you used a six [00:39:00] five creed more. Are you kidding me? Oh, no, absolutely. It's almost like that'd be a good skit.

I thought it'd be a funny skit Y'all probably don't remember people's court but judge Wapner, when I was a kid, if you ever had a sick day, you'd sit around and watch prices, right?

Y'all please stand honorable judge Wapner's entered the building, but if you come in, it's have judge Wapner coming in And he's just all flex stuff, you know so This deer public or private, and at the end of it judge Wapner decides, you know of the hunting industry decides If this young lady was is she worthy?

Yeah, I'm going to come to find out It was not on public. It was private ground that was owned by her grandfather, and it was in a bait state Not worthy We totally need to make that We'll have the two attorneys represent both sides One of them is going to be decked out in all the same camo The other one is going to be in like Muck boots, blue jeans, and like Walmart camo And we're the only ones that know We're the only ones that know Like you think about public or private [00:40:00] We are literally the only ones who know As far as I know, there has never been a deer, turkey, elk, whatever you're hunting that has any idea whether it's on public or private.

Oh yeah. It just comes down to ground. And this is a true story. Eddie Salter, in one year when I first started, I was doing a lot of field producing for H. S. Eddie, I invited Eddie up to my place in PA. In one day, including one guy right from a truck that I got on video, we had three different turkeys shot out from in front of us in one day.

And then we could only hunt until noon. Yeah. Okay, yeah, I'm on private dirt that others hunt, okay? Like I have permission, knock on door permission. So is that different than public? Because I promise you that turkey just got blistered out the car window. He's just as educated as the one that got shot at on public.

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They want to survive. Like the debate is always what do I do? If you don't do it my way, there's an issue, right? And we just have to get completely over that. And that's why, like with the podcast, I said, I'm going to talk to everyday outdoors, men and women, and I want to know what they do, how they do it.

And there's no judgment. Yeah, I tell people all the time until I try something, I don't have an opinion about it. The only thing I want to do is I want to go and try it, like that's right You huh, you hunt white tails with hounds. I've never tried that man. That's right That seems [00:43:00] insane.

Like I want to go check that out. Yeah, then I can form an opinion That's my opinion shouldn't be written into law, like I'm that's your personal world would be a mess if I was Over all conservation all hunting opportunities, and you have enough anti hunters as it is that come after you It's like when you see the industry people or people that are supposed to be within the industry You know cutting it somebody or turning on somebody or something like that what is this?

This is supposed to be a family of people out for the same thing You know, people are gonna like you said celebrate one another be there for another But when you have people sometimes the worst people are the ones within the business Causing the issues, it's not even the people who, if somebody says they don't like to hunt or fish and that's fine, whatever, and they come at you, at least you could say, Oh they don't like what we do, but when the guy coming after you and who's cutting you and telling you, how terrible you are as him, who had a turkey fanned out on his Instagram picture, that's a problem, that's an issue. One thing, one thing, two, two things I'll add to that is One is like the public and private to me, it's really not a debate because in my opinion both [00:44:00] can be difficult in their own way. And if you broke it down I, I come from, everybody knows if you read my bio, I come from a place called Booger Bottom, Georgia.

But, honestly, it's not like a lot of very rich people. It's just what you would think. It's redneck, blue collar, cold beer drinking, hard working guys that, a lot of different backgrounds of people. And And so obviously we hunted and fished and we loved it and we didn't have a lot of land to hunt.

And so we did have some opportunities to hunt in WMAs and public ground and 100 percent it was tough. It made me a good hunter. And then we'd get in a, like a timber company lease, be 500 acres, be 20 of us, all paying 200 a lease. That's probably why we had the platform stands like, where do we want to go?

We are, somebody's going to kill a deer because we got every tree covered like PA or some places in Missouri, and So inevitably, it was hard tactically and technically to hunt because really you can throw away technical and tactical because it becomes like if you're sitting in a tree stand, you don't know if it's going to be.

Somebody hunting squirrels, which would be legal like you go up to Mark Twain [00:45:00] National Forest. I go up there every year I bought some squirrel dogs up there from a guy named Danny He's become a great friend and I bought a little mountain fice and squirrel hunting is big You might be deer hunting. It might be a pack of squirrel.

Squirrel dogs come through and they're just shooting 12 gauges It's legal during deer season. Yeah, is it inconvenient for the deer hunter? Yeah He's not doing anything wrong. No, you're not doing anything. Yeah, you cross paths. Oh oh, Yeah, wish him luck. Tell him where the squirrels are, typically you just tell them they're on the other side of Mark Yeah, they're not here.

The deer are on the other side. That's right. But what I learned is that's hard but I will say the hardest thing I've ever did and I'm still in the process of doing it was have my own dirt I finally my wife and I got you know around 600 acres And I tell people all the time like it's the hardest thing I ever did to afford it I'm still pay a bank note every month.

I've been blessed to where I finally got enough I feel like I can afford it and the money I got put into it and I certainly have got those deer Conditioned in a way with my food plots and feeders to where if y'all come I can [00:46:00] say north wind, bro Put this young lady and you be ready six o'clock.

There's a good chance, I'm telling you, there's a good buck coming in here. They know it. But it took me so much hard effort, money, and sweat and tears to get to that point. So my point is, the deer hunting is easier. Yeah. But my God did it take a commitment on my behalf and my wife to get to that place where we could have something like this.

So what's easy and what's hard, you have to, everything's in perspective. Yeah. And the last thing I'd say on the, on hunting too, about that and how we criticize. The best thing I've ever done in my job, and I hate to even call it a job, but it's going to these places and you get a chance to hang out and high five, hug necks, meet the wives, the girlfriends, the husbands, and vice versa.

And man, I've had a couple grown men that's come up to me and they're like, what the hell? And man, I'm like, what's up, buddy? And I had it happen here. And I was like, hey man, what you doing? And he had a beer and it was him, just let me buy you a beer. I've been on the range and buy him a beer. And all of a sudden, dude, Tear and hug and be my [00:47:00] age.

Gray beard. Brawny shake the hand I'm talking about yeah, they ain't been in the gym. These suckers been lifting cinder blocks and shingles Yeah, and man I get choked up talking about hey, buddy. Thank you. I'm like what? What do you mean? He said bro. I went through a hard time.

I lost my dad, you know I me and my wife split up and yeah, just you know, this and man just living through you and watching your shows and to meet you and you buy me a beer and he said, man, I was in a low time and it hits me. You never know these people you're crucifying. You don't know what this young lady is going through.

You don't know what this man is going through. And people talk about privilege. They ain't no such thing. I don't care who you are, what color. There's nobody truly privileged to the level that you're not going to. Ever get around heartbreak, and somebody is disloyal to you, or death in a family, or something tragic, or a vice that grabs you that, could be alcohol, could be drugs.

Hunting is more than just an animal. When you get people like you're talking about going [00:48:00] into, there is no telling, this is, you don't even realize how many people that you're being kind to, that ain't even about being a person out on TV, that you hug their neck and just spend some time with them. And BS and tell jokes that you could have saved somebody's life because people getting ruts, man.

And and so I'm just never we're sarcastic. If you're ever in our deer camp, you'll swear we hate each other. We just jabbing and having fun, even walking the range. Or if a turkey gets in range and it doesn't get shot, it gets bad. My wife calls me the turkey Nazi.

That's our wifi login, turkey Nazi. At family deer camp or even elk camp, I say, man, listen, if I'm not making fun of you, I've got a problem with you to some degree. I've been out with his prodigy. Yeah, Philip. Oh, my God. Greatest turkey hunters of all close my eyes. It could and he calls. It could be Michael Yelp.

He is dialed, right? And an amazing target. But I've been saying everything and man, I've been a part of some quite a few turkey [00:49:00] kills. And I'm just getting scolded in the middle. Nate is a good he's he's one of the best I've been with Nate. But I would say Nate Philip. Those guys are good.

But you're right, Philip. Philip oh man, if anybody knows Phillip Culpepper, he's hi, man. Hey, he's it doesn't care if it's me or date or eddie salter. He'll jump on it No, if you miss it, if you miss it, he ain't mad about it because he can't say nothing about it Like if you just miss the turkey, hey, we're good But if that's how my gun gets in here in skirts, and you don't get him shot, you better just stand up and get ready.

And he only is easy because he is a world champion of getting them in, but he is a world champion misser. I was filming one time with on one shot. These turkeys, I didn't even think they were coming. And I had the zebras on, I'm like, hey, we gotta shut these zebras off. He just handed me the camera, and I was like, I don't know if I'm in focus or not, right?

Then he thought they spooked and he threw his stuff, he got mad, he left me and Drake out in the woods and just walked away. Oh he's intense. So then, he was two, three hundred yards away, and I was trying to pow. I was like, I called him, I was like, [00:50:00] hey, they're still here, y'all go kill them.

I was like, oh yeah, okay. Philip calls me January 2nd, every year, hi man. What you up to? I'm like, nothing. You hearing any? No! No! I'm not! I'm not scouting turkeys. We eating blackout peas. Cornbread is, it's New Year's Eve, bro. It's no, turkeys are not goblin. Man, I'm telling you, it's been warm.

They might be. But if they are, what are we going to be mad at him about the fan, they ought to be a lot more mad about what he created in Phillip Culpepper. Oh yeah. He's killed way more mad at me, be mad at what you created in Phillip. Created, yeah, and dude, he is insane. Yeah, you see that footage you showed me this year speaking to the fan, and like again in some states You got to know where it's legal or whatever, but yeah, he had using one of Hans Everybody's I got things a hundred percent guaranteed.

I'm not kidding you. He's easing down. He's yelping nice and soft Hey turkeys gobbling hard. He gets down there some open timber. He shows him that fan I've never seen this in my life when [00:51:00] I tell you there's 15 20 turkeys take flight I'm not talking about runoff. I'm talking about, he shows them this fan and they take flight.

It looks like a dead, like waterfowl leaving a field. I bet he threw everything he had. It was like the Blue Angels formation flying over. It was actually like silent, cause even he was shocked. They didn't run, they didn't putt, they flew away. I was like, there's your 100 percent success.

There's your 99 right now. Turkey hit his softy open, he showed that. That's hilarious. Yeah, it's hilarious footage, man. Those birds outsmart me all the time. I hate turkey hunting and I love it and it's just I chased one bird all year long this year. Sounds like you need a lesson. Normally I'll have... Now what part of Missouri y'all at?

Y'all in the spring? Southwest, yes. Okay, yeah, okay, that's beautiful. It's, I've had a hundred turkeys on trail camera. I've had mornings where I can... He said he likes to take new people, so we got a place this year. Listen, I need somebody who knows what they're doing, because I'm an idiot.

So you're here, you're getting all the turkeys. Oh, [00:52:00] yeah. We get on them, and then as soon as I start talking crap about how easy turkey hunting is, they humble me, and I just... Strike out this year. Yeah, but like I had 700 gobbles one morning last year. Golly. I had 25 birds in the trees right behind me. Not a single one came out and I'm.

Self proclaimed the world's worst turkey caller. But if I see a turkey, I'm going to find a way to go after it. Dude, I will go all the way around to the road, up the neighbor's fence line, and just creep through the woods and go kill one. But this year was a struggle. It was rough.

Man, you have those years. I give you a lot of credit for sticking with them. Yeah, I know. This is why. She's she always... Like the blow up doll thing, like I've got the blow up turkey that blows in the wind all the time. We made a tick talk about that, like me and my girl driving down the highway and I'm all decked out in my leaf camo with my blow up turkey and just cruising out to the woods.

He'll come home and like the next day he's okay, I'm getting up to go kite hunting. I'm like, I thought a season just ended and there's another season and another season. Is he pretty tough? on you in the woods? Like turkey hunting? Be quiet, be still or? [00:53:00] Honestly, like I've just started going out recently just because we had young kids and like I couldn't.

But. I like to talk so I'm like trying to whisper and he's teaching me but

She's a workhorse she like likes to go so I'm like I think Western hunting is gonna be her thing We can actually go after stuff because we climbed up in that tree stand And we're in there for seven and a half minutes and she goes this is boring. Is this what you do all day long? I said all day every day till I get one I could be starting a new business You could

be doing so... Stemp Brothers, we could have so much quality time Not doing this We're not getting anything accomplished No, it's still a great memory, it definitely was Yeah, she's been enjoying it, but yeah, I'm not Anybody new that comes out, I'm not hard on them Myself son. I'm like, dude, I don't care what we do.

If we kill something or not. I want him to enjoy it. If I can build that excitement for it and then get more and more serious about it that's fine with me. Cause even he was, we got out there and he goes, dad, [00:54:00] what do we do? We sit here and look around for deer. Two minutes go by. He goes, okay, what do we do now?

And I go we just keep doing this over and over. I try to be that way. And I always start off that way. And then I end up. Just turn it into a jerk like but if it's not a good day of hunting, I'm not bad, but if it's all of a sudden in these moments that I know the statistics run in my mind okay, this is it this is, it's going to happen.

This turkey is, then I'm all of a sudden I go from. Just, hey boy, you like that turkey gobbling, that is fun. I'm just glad you're out here with daddy. To the next breath, I'm like, if you move, I will pull your ear. Yeah, I will pull your ear off your head. Yeah. If you ever want to have that dirt bike that you want for your birthday, if you move now, you will never.

You know that? bird right there is going to cost you everything. If you want to blame him for one thing, you could blame him for that mentality because. I've got it. Philip has it and Tiffany I will. Yeah. He's [00:55:00] got it Affectionate to my wife is probably Mo until I love her. Yeah. I love her. But we have been in more fights in the TUR with you, and I'll be out there like telling her you're just not focused.

That's what it is. You're not focused. She calls it my fast talking, but again, like you and I think it comes with when you take a lot of people throughout the year. Yeah. It's not that you're mad as much as. I want them to get it so bad. For them, and I know that this is it now.

So you know that moment, you can read it. That's right, you're reading that moment, so it's like... Tiffany, right now I don't want a sunrise picture holding hands we gotta get to that tree, now. Exactly. I'm like, hold on. I'm not being, like, I'm not mad at you or mean to you, but in the moment we gotta get this thing killed now, and you can blame him for that, because I think that's trickled down along the way. Phillip, I'd say, might be worse. You know what I mean? I've got the same thing. But I think with Nate's pretty intense. Matter of fact, Nate is probably what I would consider... The nicest dude in the hunting industry, and he's sincere.

He's so nice that you like, you doubt his sincerity in being nice. And he's dude, there's somebody that's nice. So I've had people ask me, [00:56:00] it's look. You might not get this opportunity, but no, Nate is really nice. I said, if you ever want to see him be a jerk, just go turkey hunting with him. That's the only time he's going to be a jerk.

That's where he's going to keep you a little tell you, any argument. Oh, that's going to be in a turkey hunt. You need to calm down. You need to calm down. I'm like, there's no calming down right now. That turkey should have been shot. Yeah. We were waiting for footage. I'm not, we have two more tags and I could see his head with the camera.

You know what I mean? I'll tell you a funny story. So talking about having a chance to take Caleb Presley with Barstool and Theo, I love that. So I was, in my personal opinion, my wife told me, she said, Michael, look, when you take these guys, remember, they're city boys, they've never shot a gun, don't be the turkey Nazi.

And and I took them down to a mutual friend, Nate goes down there, and this place is the best place that you will ever dream of hunting Osceola turkeys. Yeah. Lots of turkeys, the turkeys work, but they're wild turkeys, so you just don't walk out there and here turkey, and shoot one, you gotta work them.

But if you have any turkey ability or skill, you're gonna just about guarantee a chance to [00:57:00] kill a turkey. Yeah. So we go down there, and and I'm being in my opinion, nice, and there's a few times I kinda got on pretty hard, and Caleb ended up killing a turkey, Theo did not. And we was just with him last week actually, Caleb and his wife, we was up here in Wisconsin, camping and hanging and Caleb and his fiance was down, so they had this Like nature walk is like it was a camp, like a camp for kids and dudes and couples.

And so they had all these activities. And so one day was, you could go on this nature hike and then you could go whatever, go to this yoga class, whatever. So Christie signed up. So ended up her, Caleb and Margaret were walking and Caleb knows Christie said, dude, your husband, man, he gets pretty intense.

Sturgeon said, man, he could kill somebody, and she said, is he that way all the time? He said, Caleb, he was so nice to y'all. I was telling him to be nice. He said, you ain't, you didn't see the, you didn't see the true turkey knots. So I didn't know she was telling the story. So I come back and Caleb and his wife were sitting there, her fiance, and he's you had your wife when she was pregnant [00:58:00] crying because she wouldn't crawl under a bar fence after walking three miles.

And I said, what are you talking about? Yeah, Dude, you had your freaking wife crying. I said, she'd have punched a tag if she did. Yeah, he said. Caleb said, she's telling me that you didn't want one bad enough. That's the reason you Caleb. I said, see, I was nice to you, buddy. That's hilarious. I love that.

That's amazing. Hey, I don't want to take up all of your guys time. And I know we've got an award ceremony starting here in a second. Oh, nice. But I do want to thank you so much. Yeah, thank you. For taking the time to sit down. Thanks for the laughs. my face hurts now. You've accomplished something. And now you've made me look really good.

I can be way harder on her. You got a gentleman. Exactly. I owe it to you. My kids have kept you up the last couple of nights there cause we got their roommates next to us. So their windows nonstop. It's awesome. Their romantic getaway has turned into this. My youngest is banging on the window.

It's not as romantic with parents in the room. We just create a different vibe. I'll be honest. It does create a different vibe [00:59:00] in the room. Thanks again, guys. Yeah, thank you guys for having us all, man. I enjoyed it.

There you have it. I had so much fun chatting with these guys. And even as I listen back, my face hurts again from smiling so much. Sharing all those laughs, hearing about their passion for the outdoors. It's something that I hope to do every single year up at BowFest. And it's just so much better.

Hopefully you guys enjoy hearing these in person conversations, these interviews, whatever you want to call them. More than you like. The web ones, because I hope it feels like you're sitting right there with us. Speaking of next year, you could be, you should come up to Bofess in 2024. If you're not already registered, you need to hop on and do that.

And if you use code nomad 24, you're going to get 10 off the current price. It's 89 99 to register right now. For next year's BowFest, but if you use that code, you'll get it [01:00:00] for 79. 99. Just so you know, this is only going to remain in effect until the next price increase. Cause as I'm sure with festivals, as you get closer to the new date, the ticket prices go up.

So go do that, and who knows, maybe you can come hang out, be on a podcast with me, or you can pull up a chair and watch me interview Nate and Michael again in person. Either way. I hope to see you there. I hope to shoot some courses with you or just hang out and share deer pictures or hunting stories, whatever that looks like.

So until next time, guys, always choose adventure and God bless.

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