Show Notes
In this episode of The Range Podcast, host Ricky Brule interviews James Blankenbeckler, host of Open Season TV. They discuss their origin stories in hunting and their first bows. They also talk about their current archery setups and the broadheads they use.
James shares his experience working in the outdoor industry and his role in the insurance business. They also touch on McMillan River Outfitters and their plans for future hunts. In this conversation, James Blankenbeckler, host of Open Season TV, discusses his hunting experiences and offers advice for archers and bow hunters. He talks about his upcoming hunting season, including hunts for whitetails, antelope, and bears.
James also shares his thoughts on hunting ethics and the importance of learning how to kill animals effectively. The conversation touches on the bond between hunters and the unique challenges veterans face when transitioning to civilian life. Overall, the conversation highlights the excitement and reverence that come with hunting and the connections it fosters.
James can be found @bbhunt53 on Instagram, Open Season TV @openseasontv_
and MacMillan River Outfitters @macmillan_river_adventures
RT Outdoors: Insurance for the Outdoor World is available online at rtoutdoors.com
The Range Podcast can be found on all major platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Video versions of the podcast can also be found on the Vapor Trail YouTube Channel and Wild TV.
Enter Promo Code trp15 during checkout at www.vaportrailarchery.com to receive 15% off VTX Bowstrings and Branded Apparel.
The Range Podcast is brought to you by Vapor Trail Archery and Stokerized Stabilizers. We are proud to be a part of the @sportsmens_empire network.
Show Transcript
Two Rick's Better Than One (00:01.548)
Welcome to the Range Podcast. I'm Ricky Bruhle and with me is Jake Hollywood Iverson. Join us at the Archery Range where we'll tell stories from the hunt, discuss technical bow shooting tactics and gear, and pick the brains of some of the most successful people to ever shoot a bow. Whether you're about to shoot that axe for the win or send an arrow at a trophy bot, this podcast is for you.
Two Rick's Better Than One (00:29.646)
The Range Podcast is brought to you by Vapor Trail Archery, makers of the best bowstrings money can buy, originators of limb driven aero rest technology, and innovators of Stokerized Stabilizer Systems. Welcome to The Range everybody, I'm your host Ricky Gruley. Thank you all for joining us today. You can find the video version of this episode on the Vapor Trail YouTube channel. So please head on over, subscribe, give us a like, and hit that bell so you can be up to date on all things archery.
And don't forget to follow us at the range podcast on Instagram and on Facebook as well as vapor trail archery and stoker eyes stabilizers On the show today. We have James blank and Beckler host of open season TV with Chuck paddock on the Pursuit channel He's also a USMC veteran Thank you for your service James. How you doing, man? No good, man. How you doing? Fantastic really good. Thanks a lot for for being here
Happy to have you on today. You've always been a really big supporter of Vapor Trail products for a while now. so I want to give you a huge thank you and a shout out for that, both you and Chuck. Chuck Paddock, he's your partner and co -host on Open Season TV. And you guys have always been great supporters, and we appreciate the content that you're putting out there for us. I just want to know a little bit about your origin story. What got you started with hunting, and what was the first bow that you ever had?
So what got me into hunting was actually Chuck, Paddock and his dad. My dad passed away when I was at a young age and Chuck's dad was a preacher at our local church and was just a great man, just a fun mom, a human being. And so kind of he tucked me in and showed me the ropes and got me in the outdoors and stuff like that and sparked the passion for hunting and stuff.
A story that you may not even know is I'm right handed but shoot left handed. I enjoyed being with them so much that Chuck shoots left handed and we couldn't afford a bow. So I got a hand me down bow from Chuck and taught myself to shoot left handed so I could go bow hunting. No way. That's cool. And I still shoot left handed today. But I always thought it was interesting. I'm like, what are the chances that these two guys both shoot left handed? Now you know. And the main reason why
Two Rick's Better Than One (02:52.824)
Cause you know this, you know, as a lefty, know, you're probably the last one to get the bow that came out. You're the last one to get the new product. You know what I mean? So the struggle there is, is real. And even for us trying to determine how many left -handed units should we bring in? And we never have enough. We never have enough. We always run out of them. And that's like, shoot, now we got to, now we got to pivot and try to figure out how we can make this happen. But PSE laser flight was the first bow, little bitty wheels.
and
My first two deer, the bow was so slow and so quiet, the deer thought it was acorns falling probably. I I took seven shots before I connected with a deer and I shot six times at two deer and then hit the third one. There you go. Wow. Yeah. I mean, that's and that's I think that's pretty typical. I when I first got into bow hunting, I just had this this mentality like I was going to shoot the biggest buck I could. That was it. I didn't it didn't. I wasn't going to shoot anything that walked by.
It was going to be the biggest buck. I don't understand why I had that mentality. And there's a lot of people that do like, talked to a ton of people that are just getting into it now. And they, you know, most, think, I think most people start out as a gun hunter and then they go to bow and they're like, yeah, I'm just, I'm going to, not only is it going to be a little bit harder, but I'm going to make it really hard. Yeah. Really hard. It's hard as I can make it. Yeah. Back then, cause if you know people feel longer distances today, but back then man, especially starting out, was.
20, 25 yards maybe max with the bow I had and the power. I mean, we don't have the efficiency back then that we do now. mean, bows are over 90 % efficient now back then they 50, 70 maybe. yeah. yeah. They've come a long way. It's, it's so fun to like every once in a while, you know, we'll have an old relic come into the shop and we'll be doing some work on it and you you shoot it and it's just like, Holy cow. They have come a long way. I mean that thing.
Two Rick's Better Than One (05:14.146)
there's so much hand shock and those things and the bow literally just wants to jump out of your hand. yeah, because the limbs were so straight. They bit back this way, but when you tuck the pressure off of they're almost straight. Yeah, for sure. PSE that's funny. I feel like that's that's a common first bow for a lot of people, at least for compound anyways. I think well, like when I started it was PSE bear. Jennings. Yep.
Golden Eagle was back then, if you remember them, Dartman. There wasn't a lot of, not near the choices we have today. And then to find a dealer or to get one at a store or something, were, mean, PSE, you're right, they were the biggest, probably, distributed bow out there at that time. Right, right. XI is another one that was around that was pretty popular. Miles Keller. Miles Keller, yep. Those two names are synonymous for sure.
What is the, what's the current archery setup that you have right now? Like bow accessories, all that kind of stuff. Yeah. So I have a expedition X light 33. I shoot it between 65 and 70 pounds dependent on, on what I'm doing. I had soldier surgery a few years ago and 70 is the max I'm going to get to, but I really liked the sixties now with my shoulders. So that, gen eight, big patrol rest on it.
Spot -hawk boonie sight just put one on this week. I shoot a triple stack three pin and I shoot odd distances. Like most people are like 20, 30, 40. I do 25, 35, 45 because with today's bows, zero to 30 is pretty easy with a 25 yard pin. it takes the guesswork out of it if they're close enough. Shooting some gold tips this year. Arrows, air strikes.
I got a Mountain View quiver on it, which I just tried this year for the first time. New company, I don't know if you guys care, I'm gonna shop it out, but they're really nice quiver. And then I shoot a Spot -Aug -Wise guy release.
Two Rick's Better Than One (07:26.328)
Nice, yeah, Spot Hog, man, they make some heavy duty stuff. I when I used to work for the Sportsman's Warehouse, we would do a demonstration where we would actually take the site off of the ball and bang it on the counter, put it back on the ball and show the customer. Because they're always, they were a little bit higher priced. Now, a lot of the other companies have kind of caught up with their pricing and is more competitive. But back then they were probably one of the higher priced items.
people will go, why would I spend that kind of money? here, let me show you real quick. And you just bang it on the counter, put it back in the bowl. they're like, wow, that's amazing. ran one over and tried to deal with it the next day. Little accident, but I ran one over and tried to deal with it next day. I bet. Yeah, I mean, a lot of the sites that are out there now, they're all pretty heavy duty, but I still don't think you can quite beat the, you know, the indestructibility that comes with a Spot Hog site. So no, they're, they're made right.
for sure. I've been the record we got for like 2004. We started the TV show. So when we started our TV show, there was two things that I shot, fake Patrorest, SpotHawk sites, and we were fortunate enough to work with both companies. So I've never had to sway what I believed in. Yeah, yeah. To make it you know what saying? And I don't I there's other sites that are good. There's no doubt that for me, I'm just I love the SpotHawk. So yeah.
Yeah, they make a pretty good product. then, yeah, so sounds like you got a solid setup. Did you mention which broadhead you're shooting? So I am going to shoot a Grim Reaper whitetail special for whitetail honey. And then for thicker skin, bigger game, I'm probably going to go to a two blade sever, 125. I shoot a 125 and everything. I like the heavier arrows. really, typically, and you know this, especially when we first started,
The tips were always better on a 125 compared to a 100. Either they had a tow car insert or a steel insert or something like that. I just always shot them. Now it's not that way. They're pretty much the same now. But it's hard to break old habits when you had sick success with them. Right, right, exactly. Yeah, the old saying, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, right? So I get that.
Two Rick's Better Than One (09:44.878)
you know, we're constantly getting bombarded with new products, new things, you know, you got to try this, you got to try that, you got to try this, especially broadheads. And, you know, I don't know, I've just always, you know, shout out to Matt at Grim Reaper again, same thing. I've, I've shot 90 % of the animals that I've taken with a Grim Reaper broadhead, and I can't really see a reason not to. So I just keep using that. do. I know, you know, Mike over at Magnus, and so
I'll usually I'll hunt my turkeys with with a Magnus and I know Hollywood here he's he's shooting a Magnus this year too so they make a great broadhead I used to shoot their fixed blade buzz cuts way back in the day but then I got a bow that was I just could not get those fixed blades to tune through it and so I moved I switched over to a mechanical and I just they were flying great and every animal I shot at with them that did the job and
You know, and you know how it goes to, mean, it doesn't matter what broadhead you're shooting. If you don't hit them in a good spot, you're not going to do its job, right? got to, it's a 50 -50 deal, right? hit the deer bad. Like there's no magic. You hit it bad, you hit it bad. You can recover some of those thankfully. But typically you hit it bad, you hit it bad. It's not the broadhead's fault, it's the shooter's fault. Yeah, exactly.
So let's talk a little bit about Open Season TV. You guys have been, gosh, how many seasons are you into now? 16. 16 seasons. in 2008. 2008, wow, that's wild. That's crazy how time flies. And you guys are on the Pursuit channel, right? Mm we're on the Pursuit channel, Hot Channel TV. That's just a streaming network so people can have it out there. Pursuit has tons of streaming. I mean, if you want to see it.
You can go to Pursuit Up, which is an app for your phone or app for your TV. You select it. You can just go watch whenever you want on demand. And then they have the streaming channels too. So we've got a pretty good following, pretty good ability for people to follow us for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I was checking that out a little bit this morning. And yeah, it's pretty cool. You can just go right in there and you could binge watch. They usually keep one or two seasons in there for binge watching.
Two Rick's Better Than One (12:05.966)
Usually it's somewhere between 2024 total. As they're up in this season, they may tuck a season out and it hasn't caught up yet. But yeah, because we're right in the middle of I think we're on week seven or eight right now of the new season. Yeah, there's well over 20 episodes here. So that's pretty cool. So yeah, if you want to check that out, make sure you head over to Pursuit Up Open Season TV. Check that out. They've got a ton of content there and just to end it.
Just a cool group of guys. Every time I talk to you guys at ATA and stuff like that, just very approachable. You guys are always super personable and not stand. There's some people where it's like they're kind of just standoffish. know what I mean? And you guys would never hesitate to turn and shake a hand and say hey and have a chat. So I've always appreciated that about you guys. And we just like to work with people like that. So thank you for that.
You know, that's that's our personalities. We did not start this to be famous. We started this to share what we do. Hopefully educate some people because we have some techniques we use that now they're known. But like when we started, you know the way we were calling deer and stuff, no one knew. I mean, it just things like that. And then. You know you're you're where you are because people allow you to be there. You're not there where you are because of you. I mean.
people have to watch you and like you. So why would you not thank those people? Right. Exactly. Exactly. And we work like I work full time, man. So I just interact the way I do every day with people. I answer every question on social media. Like if you contact us on social media, we don't have people working for us. Some days it's worse than others and you got to answer a bunch of questions just time wise. I don't mind answering questions, but yeah, we still do it ourselves. Yeah. And I
And I love that you, you know, and I have to apologize too, because you're always reaching out. You're like, hey man, let me know what you need. Do you need some content? Let me know specifically what you need. And I'm like, yeah, yeah, for sure. And we're just, we're so busy and inundated with stuff. But I just, love that you do that, that you reach out and say, hey. And so that's always in the back of my mind. I can always go, you know, if I do need something in particular, it's like, hey, or you're like, what, you know, we want to shoot Stokerized stabilizers, but what are you trying, what are you promoting right now? Or what do you want us to use? What do you think would work best for our setups?
Two Rick's Better Than One (14:28.972)
And I just, really appreciate that. You know what I mean? Cause you guys are able to help us promote, you know, the things that we need and, and what, you know, what we're currently working with. Yeah. makes it easy for us, but you want to, you know, you've got to support the people in what you guys are focused on. mean, if I want to use something you don't make anymore, it doesn't really help you today. Right. Exactly. And speaking of your day to day, talk a little bit about that. So I.
In my mind, I have the best and worst job in the world. So with my connections in the outdoor industry, I started a commercial insurance company that specializes in outdoor companies. I do commercial insurance too, but I specialize in outdoor companies. And well, anything from manufacturers, guides, outfitters, archery shops, firearm shops, ranges, hunting clubs. I mean, pretty much if it's in the outdoors, I get to...
work with those people and write their insurance. And I do a lot of consulting in it. I consult people that don't even use me for insurance because the hunting industry is so small to have somebody lose their business over a lawsuit and insurance is dull. Not when they, when you can prevent that, you know what I'm saying? So, but, that makes it the best. talk hunting and fishing literally every day for work. worst is, is it's insurance. So people hate it. And
when you hear from people, it's usually because they're mad. Right. So that's the bad side. But we don't get that a lot because we do everything right up front and you communicate. You know how I communicate. I answer my phone Monday through Sunday. If I'm awake, I answer my phone. So I don't have much issues with that. But you know, a bad claim does it. So but yeah, we do. I do everything for pretty outdoors. mean, it's a pretty cool job. Yeah. And I think we were talking earlier, some pretty
pretty big manufacturers out there that you're working with, Yeah, we work with Trueball XL, Spot Hog, HHA, Stan Lowski, Big Time. That's some of the big ones right off the top. And then we work with the Annihilator Broadheads, those guys. If you don't know the Annihilator guys, I did their first insurance policy and become good friends with them and just their passion to do stuff better.
Two Rick's Better Than One (16:52.904)
It is just amazing. Like they even breathe the outdoors. So, and they blew up. They've won like broadhead of the year at the ADA two or three times. So good guys, but yeah, we do a bunch tree stand manufacturers. mean, we do a trophy tree stands, family tradition tree stands. So yeah, we got a several billion, a lot of smaller companies, a lot of startup companies. I'll tell you a startup company, if you haven't seen it, that you should check out is Quivair. They make the
app where you can see the 3d images we I started with them and they're great people like the great thing is the people that I need at my real job are passionate about the outdoors too. Like they're not doing this because they don't they just are trying to make money. Of course, everybody wants to make money. But they saw a need in fixed it. Okay, somebody something so there's a lot of cool products. Yeah, it's a really cool I did I saw an advertisement I don't know if
Good thing with Lancaster and McKinsey targets, I believe. Yeah, there you go. but I do. So I think I think you do have to have a specific target, correct? That functions? no, no, no, it functions on, I think any target, but the 3d targets, the McKinsey's, they have it built in, like you scan, right, you can see target and they have a special version, I believe for that. Okay, but
Yeah, that's pretty cool. It shows you your arrow angle, how it would go through, what vitals you would hit. So like, like when you're practicing to actually kill animals, it's a pretty good product. Yeah. So it's like, so for our listeners, it's, it's, it's like a virtual, app where you can bring it up on your phone and then you, you, you open up the app and you can, it'll actually show you like a 3d visual of the vitals on the target. So you can see exactly like where is your arrow.
in the heart, lungs, liver, that kind of thing. Yeah, it's pretty miraculous. It's pretty amazing because the targets obviously don't have a real good way of doing that. And like you said, if you're shooting at a specific angle, I don't think a lot of people realize, if you're shooting at an extreme angle, they don't think that you have to shoot back a little bit further or forward a little bit further in order for that arrow to intersect vital areas. so I think it's huge because not only is it
Two Rick's Better Than One (19:17.902)
Like you said, mean, they're sure they, you you got to put food on the table and you got to feed your families. But at the same time, they're providing a good service. It's not, just for the, for the hunter, but also for the animal itself, because it's making you more proficient and understanding where proper placement needs to be in order to successfully kill that animal. Yeah. And it takes incarceration 360 degrees in all directions. So it tells you like, if you think it'll show you if you've got a heart shot on a quarter and a way shot.
Like this would be an awesome competition if they could get it in archery shops and stuff to shoot the targets at different angles and just see how people know how to shoot or if they really know how where the heart of stuff is or the lines. Yeah, it looked really cool. It's definitely something that's intriguing, you know, and it's funny, know, just when you think you're like, gosh, what could a company come out with possibly come out with now, you know, and then you see that and you're like, that's brilliant. Yeah, I wouldn't guess this. I would have thought somebody would have come up with a target where like
It shows the vitals or something, which we've had those before, but this is next level. Yeah, for sure. So one other thing, too, that is kind of cool, I was talking to Chuck couple, I don't know, it probably a month ago or something he called. He needed some things and he's pretty heavily involved now with McMillan River Outfitters. And I don't know for the listeners that maybe don't know about that outfit. It's up in the Yukon. A lot of moose hunting, lot of stone sheep.
What else did I see? think there's there's bear hunting caribou all that kinds of stuff, but there's there's a lot of big names that have have gone through that outfitter in the past I mean I for you know a couple of names I can mention right off the top of my head is like Ralph and Vicki would go up there. So that they've been pretty well involved. saw Kurt Wells had been up there, you know, and you know, obviously aside from you and Chuck, you know, just just been a lot of.
Pretty big names that have gone through and so I just think it's really cool that That he's so heavily involved and then naturally or inherently then you are as well because you guys you know are Co -owners of open season TV, so I'm really looking forward to seeing what you guys do there And then also I'm like I'm like ooh, you know one of these days I'm gonna want to get up and do a moose hunter. I want to go do something so now I now I know who I'm gonna call you know for that kind of stuff so
Two Rick's Better Than One (21:42.574)
Tell us a little bit about that like kind of how that went down and and just like what what the future looks like for for you guys and McMillan River Outfitters so the way it went down is Chuck and some of his friends went up there hunting and Chuck does some investments and stuff like that You know, they build subdivisions and he does project management for for these companies and he's invested in of course, too has a partnership with them and
They went on a moose hunt two or three years in a row and then started making friends with the owner and then they wanted to get out. And the next thing you know, Donald Trump Jr, Rock Borland, Carlos Rodan, which he's a pitcher for the Yankees and Chuck is buying McMillan River adventures and starting a new venture together. And they couldn't have bought a better place. The Donald Bakery they have is amazing. Moose.
I mean, they're world class moves. I forget how many record book moves they've killed over the years. It's been beat and then they'll set a record and then they get beat. You know, they go back and forth on that. Top five caribou. I mean, they have massive caribou and no one even talks about it. Grizzly bear, black bear, sheep. Pretty much it's a hunter's paradise if you want to do it. It's completely changing. mean, Chuck's been up there all year.
redoing all the camps, I forget what they've spent, like a half a million dollars in updates just to accommodate people and make the hunts better and stuff. we're gonna do some hunts. Chuck's probably gonna be up there hunting this year. I already was, when they did this venture, my season was already set. as you know, we were planning a year, two years out for a lot of this stuff. next year I'm hoping to get up there maybe on a bear hunt and I want a caribou. I'm doing a moose hunt next year.
in Alaska. So I won't I won't move out there but okay. do a caribou like caribou is really high on my list of stuff to do that. Yeah. No, that's that's amazing. It's you know, I remember McMillan and correct me if I'm wrong, but I feel like it's so it's been around for a long time. yeah. and I feel I feel like
Two Rick's Better Than One (24:00.834)
You know, when I was younger and before everything went on demand and, you know, streaming and all that kind of stuff, you know, you'd sit and watch the outdoor channel or you'd be, you know, watching some hunting shows on TV. I feel like Macmillan River Outfitters was just a very prestigious, like anytime you would see somebody hunting there, you'd kind of, you'd sit up a little bit and start paying close attention, you know, because you know, something cool is going to happen. You know that there's going to be a trophy animal that's going to get taken or.
You know what I mean? I always, I always just remember. So when he told me that I was like, really? Like the McMillan River Outfitters? And like, that's, that's amazing. That's fantastic. And you're right. Like same with me growing up. Like the cool thing about what I get to do is a lot of the stuff I dreamed of when I was a kid, I've actually met those people now and I've got to live some of the adventures I've watched, but it was the prestigious destination. Just like you said, like
It was a dream location for people to go to because if you got there, the success rates out of the world and you're, you're hunting world -class animals. mean, and not world -class, just one animal, know, giant grizzlies you can hunt giant freaking, caribou giant moose, like everything that they have up there because of the way they've managed it for decades is just amazing. I can't wait. I mean, I can, it's going to be,
You're not going to wait a year or two to get up there, but it's going to be fun because limited tags and they're selling hunts. You know what saying? So it's not like, you can just go whenever you want because the way Canada works is you only get so many tags for your prop, for your, permitted hunting area. So they only get so many caribou, so many bears, so many moose, so many, sheep. think, I think black bear, they, it's, I think that's unlimited, but like the big bears and stuff.
Yeah, yeah, of course. So what about your hunting season that you got coming up? Any cool hunts? know you talked briefly a little bit about some of them that you did, but tell us a little bit about your upcoming season. A lot of whitetails. Just with my work schedule, everybody thinks that if you own your business, you get to hunt a lot. If you're in the outdoor industry, you get to hunt a lot. But that's far from the truth, as you know. And I work full time, so I do this on aim. So I'll be in Ohio, Kansas.
Two Rick's Better Than One (26:25.166)
Oklahoma, Texas, of course here in Indiana, hunting white tails. And then I'm going to Montana Antelope hunting. And then hopefully North Carolina bear hunting. People don't know about North Carolina, Eastern North Carolina bears, they're monsters. I was there, 22 shot a 500 pounder, Chuck shot a 522 last year there. They're giant black bears. I hunt them with dogs. I grew up coon hunting, so hunting, I'm not much of a bait hunter at all.
anything. Okay. But running with I don't mind it. It's just I can sit at a bait when I'm can't walk. Right now I can move so I like the dogs for bears for bears. But it's a blast. mean, if you've never got a man you should. Yeah, I would I would love to try to do that one of these days that I've always hunted over bait and I've had some people you know, not quite understand
how some of that stuff works, but I've had them make comments like, wasn't that cheating or whatever. And it's like, well, here's the deal. When you get into the environment that these animals live in, there is no other way. You know what I mean? Especially here in northern Minnesota, they like thick cover. You don't hear them moving. They're ridiculously quiet and ridiculously sneaky and smart.
You know, even every bear that I've taken, every bear that's come into a bait, I can promise you knows that I'm there. They know I'm there. The hunger just outweighs their fear. Yeah, but they're just like, man, I got to eat, you know. So it's just one of those things where, you know, and especially like with dogs too. it's just it's one of the only ways it's just the most efficient way to do it. And, you know, like you said, with us having limited time, you know, got it. You just got to.
you utilize the tools that are there for you. it wouldn't be allowed if it was going to have some sort of negative effect. But yeah, that would be fun. I would love to try to do that. I've tried doing spot and stock bear hunting out in Montana. And I was pretty green then when I did it too, but it's next to impossible. At least it was at that time. Maybe I'd be a little bit more skilled in that area now. But you would know when to move and when not to, for sure. Yeah.
Two Rick's Better Than One (28:49.44)
I actually did a bated bear hunt this year in June. I went to New Brunswick. I went with a great outfitter. I did not kill a bear because I hit the rut and saw cubs and small females that weren't in heat, but no boars were coming around. They still killed some giant bears because the outfitter is phenomenal. But the week I went was just the, if you could pick five days not to be somewhere, I picked them. Isn't it amazing how that happens?
So yeah, well, you think you plan it right. And you know, they wanted me to come back up and have another shot at it. But with my work schedule and stuff, just doesn't happen like that. I mean, if I got paid to hunt full time, maybe, but my wife likes food in a house. Yeah. Got to keep the, got to keep the lady happy for sure. That's cool. Yeah. So just kind of looking back, looking on your Instagram page and you got.
You know, you've had a lot of success. You got whitetails, mule deer, mean turkeys, like up the wazoo. I love that when you, especially to do it with a bow. Now, when you send me a picture where you shot a turkey with a bow, just like, yes, it's people don't understand. Marry them this year with my bow. I mean, yeah. In South Dakota, right? Yeah. South Dakota. Yeah. I like the bow hunting turkeys. The, one of my favorite accomplishments all times and I've been blessed is.
Look through my Instagram without a doubt. God has blessed me. And I've been fortunate to do what I do. But I did a single sleaze and archery slam with a bow for turkeys. that's awesome. I actually hit it right. Like, that's one of the times where I was like, holy cow, I traveled more than I hunted. I shot every turkish all I shall force me. I actually shot five turkeys, but four species in five days of honey. That's crazy. But like
driving to Florida and back, you know, that was a day each way and then Colorado and Kansas. And so I had more time traveling than I actually had hunting in the woods. but I shot, I shot all four of them and it was phenomenal. And my yardage, ended up the yardage cause I, I kept track of where I shot them. In five turkeys, I shot 30 yards total yardage. wow. I shot two of them at five yards. That's like 10 yards. you know, just.
Two Rick's Better Than One (31:15.978)
Seven yards like it was right at 30 yards for all five turkeys. So I had them up close and personal I was of course I was using a blind. I mean, yeah, yeah, I'm not that stealthy Yeah, I don't know. I just I feel like if you're trying to do it without a blind you're glutton for punishment, but you know, it's interesting you say that because I hunted when you had made mention about some of your misses and stuff when you first started an archery the first thing that comes to my mind is Turkeys they are
the bane of my existence. I've missed so many turkeys with my bow. silly, right? But then the first year I got to Nebraska with ears and he's like sets the decoys up at like six yards. And I was like, really? Six yards? Okay.
He was like, yeah, dude, I don't he's like I don't think I've shot a single turkey over ten yards Yeah, I'm with him being here on the same page and I was like and I and I still see I see so many people still doing that they're putting the decoys out there like 20 yards because they feel like that's their comfortable range, right, but it's like learn to shoot your bow at a shorter distance and In those blinds man, if you're wearing, know If it's blacked out inside and you're wearing all black and you open those windows wide open It really doesn't the turkeys it doesn't spook them
You know, but if they see some movement in there, you know, it's really important that you're you know that you have your hands covered and stuff and your face covered because otherwise you're just like a beacon in that blind But man, I've had turkeys come up and poke their head right in the blind I mean and as long as there's no movement in there or anything like that, you know, and it's just amazing They'll come right into those decoys at six seven eight yards without a problem And then you know, the only the only other thing there then is that people especially archers need to understand that that
that being that close, you want to practice at that distance because you'll come to find out that oftentimes it's your 30 or 40 yard pin that you need to use when they're that close. Yeah, 55 for me. Like if they're three to five yards, I set my movable pin on like 55 yards because your arrow doesn't have time to come up because it's so close. I shot the Rio I shot on the slam when I did the slam. You're talking about poking in the window. He didn't poke, but the window I shot him out of.
Two Rick's Better Than One (33:30.642)
and
And hopefully took care of business right the way that always yeah That's how I shot the fifth one because he it just cleaned him and he died right at the decoy and the there was three long birds to come in the other one jump on top of him I shot him off top. I was in a state you kill two birds the same day, but Well, I gotta make that clear with people because people get in their home states and they're like you can't do that But yeah, there's states that you can do that. Mm -hmm in where I was hunting you could shoot
You can three toms in the spring and you can shoot all three of them in one day. Yeah, it's funny because then we had a guy on the podcast this spring. name's Matt Dykes. He's a local hero here in Minnesota. And he shoots, I think he said roughly 30 birds a year. Holy cow. And so this is what he does. And most of it's spot and stock too. He's an animal.
when he, after we had put the episode out, he was like, yeah, I feel like we need to preface that that's in multiple states. You know what I mean? Cause you just, cause people, they get fired up and they're like, well, that's not possible. You can't, you know, you wouldn't be able to do this. Like, well, yes you can. You just got to travel around a lot, you know? Well, I say it every time because I shot two alo one year early on, like 2010. Legally, you can shoot two alo, get two tags.
And I had people call the game warden on me after the TV show. When we hear it, because they said that you can't do that legally. But I had the tags, the footage, all that stuff. But literally somebody walks to the TV show and called the game warden me. Or called the state gate warden, you know what saying, the state office. And they contacted me and they looked in the records and of course everything was fine. It was a phone conversation, but I was thinking.
Two Rick's Better Than One (35:57.1)
It's perfectly legal, but then people don't know. Yeah. And it's funny too, because I think about, know, I immediately go to, well, you know, if it wasn't legal, of course, you're not going to put it on a TV show, right? But then there are dummies that do that. We've had one that did it. So I won't say any names, but it's just like, OK. I had two of them do it, actually. Yeah. Jeez. What the heck?
Well, so the next question I have for you is what is the best piece of advice that you have for archers and bow hunters out there? Yeah, so I actually answer this question a lot. And I'll go back to you when you said your goal was to shoot a big buck and only a big buck. I think the one thing that archers, when they're early on, they don't learn how to kill animals. And shooting a target really good does not teach you how to kill an animal.
So I tell everybody that I teach archery that go shoot dose, learn when to draw, learn how to aim at them, learn the whole cycle of what it takes. Because once that adrenaline kicks in, you are a different person than when you're standing in your yard or going to 3d shoots or whatever. I've always said, learn to kill. Like if you learn to kill, then when the moment's right, you'll, you'll perform right. You know what saying? That's the most thing. Like if you're performing right, then it's ethical.
If you're nervous and shaking and taking a shot that's not right, just because you're drilling and you haven't been in that situation, then that's where you get those wounded animals a lot of times. I mean, there's other ways, but I think a lot of shots people just aren't prepared for. Yeah, that's a great piece of advice. And I believe strongly in that as well. And based on my own personal experience, because when that buck came in, I blew it. You know what I mean?
Still to this day, mean, I've probably taken not, it's not a huge number, I'm sure I've taken over 30 does. And still to this day, when I draw my bow back on a doe, I get super shaky, super nervous. I got to calm myself down. I got to go through the motions, go through the steps, take the shot. I get this adrenaline dump while I'm sitting there, you know, and you're trying to like sort through all of that. And so yeah, it,
Two Rick's Better Than One (38:21.07)
The first one or the 100th one, you know what mean? It's always going to get your heart rate going. And if it doesn't, well, then I don't know. I don't know if I would do it anymore. You know what I mean? yeah. I still, and I've killed, like, when I was growing up, we could kill six does on permits. And then we had farmers that would get depredation tags. Some years with my bow, I'd shoot 10 plus does. Yeah. And I'm 50 now. And I still draw back on a doe.
it can feel the jitters. You know what I mean? Hey, I want to make a good shot and not make the animal suffer. But you still got that excitement that hey, this is about to happen. Like that's the moment that you realize it's going to happen. It's always a nervous moment. Yep. Absolutely. Yep. Taking animals no joke. And at the but at the same time, there's something that's, you know, it's it's it's very primitive. And it kind of, I don't know if it just
it's like an instinctual thing or whatever it is, it just kind of brings you back to like, you know, the primal instincts and there's just something not just the food on the table, but there's something like extremely rewarding about it. But at the same time, you're like, the just the reverence that's that's involved with it as well, you know, and just understanding taking something's life. And it's just I don't know, it's a whirlwind of emotions, you know, that I don't think a lot of people really talk about, but it is it's
That's pretty insane. everybody or just about everybody experiences that. I go into deer oppression. People start talking about, like for years I went into deer oppression because I hunted and liked hunting so much that in Indiana we can kill one buck and once you killed your buck you were done. I didn't know what to do. I would go hunt does and stuff, but once all my tags were filled I'm just sitting at home and some years I was done in October, early November. Now I'm two and a half months at home. mean the TV show definitely helped me travel more, but.
You know, it's just, and then you, you, like you said, like I've hunted a lot of animals and chose to hunt certain animals and the respect you gain for the animal, whether you know the animal or not, it's just amazing creatures that they are. And you know, you can take their lives. mean, we do it. It's what we do, but, there is that surreal moment that that happened. You realize it every time. And yeah. And then the, just the.
Two Rick's Better Than One (40:47.116)
the boost it gives like if so if you're with somebody to like you're with a buddy or you're with your dad or your mom or whoever there's something about how it I don't know the right word to use but just like what it does for the relationship you have with that person all of a sudden it just magnifies it like intensely like it's such it's a it's an incredible moment to share all those emotions with another person and then for that person to be very supportive and what's going on
too, it's just, it's like, I can't describe it. It's just, like you're saying. So you mentioned earlier, I spent nine years in the Marine Corps, but I've, I've worked and traveled and had friends all over the U S but the people I hunt with and the people I served with definitely have a different bond with them. Especially the people that I've filmed hunting and killing and they film me. Like you have a connection and moments together that nothing else in the military self -explanatory, what we go through.
Right there as a group. No one else does so You always have a bomb with him. I mean, I've been out since 2004 and I still have connections From you know the early 90s when I when I started right, right? Absolutely Yeah, I mean you and it and when it comes to that too, I've had conversations with a lot of military veterans in another podcast that I do and and the theme there is is very consistent in that You know
when you get out, like trying to adapt to life outside of the military and trying to figure all that out. And if you didn't have that support system of other veterans and people that you were out there with, life would be, it'd be tough to get through, you know, just trying to, you know, navigate that. Sure, you could get some sort of therapy or something like that, but it's not the same type of therapy that you can get from somebody who's been through it with you. If you were in over a long time like me, the structure,
Just a structure portion of not having the structure in your life is it alters your personality. You're not going into depression, but you don't know what to do. You're almost lost. Because for me, for nine years, I had a lot of the same routine every day. When I got up to when I worked out to when I did this training, all that.
Two Rick's Better Than One (43:07.566)
you knew like your life was laid out for you. Even when I was in charge, I was laying people's lives out for them, but I was still doing the same thing that I was taught four years before that. I think that adjustment is hard. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Just trying to figure out even, you know, my, my sister in law was, army for over 20 years. And, know, she said one of the things that was most difficult is, know, my wife would ask her, Hey, where do you want to go eat?
And she would freeze up because she's like, I don't know how to make decisions. You know what I mean? Like, just being so used to, like you said, you're in that routine. You don't have to figure out where your food's going to come from. You don't have to figure out all these things. They're kind of laid out for you. And just trying to make those decisions, it took a little while just to transition even into that. I don't think a lot of people understand that. Work. So another one, like when I came out and started working in the steel mills and stuff, like
In the military, it's based on rank and there's some favoritism, but not like the civilian world. like in the, military, you got to earn your rank and you can get so hard or so high just going through the motions, but there's a certain point that that stops. And now you have to be accelerated in your job and stuff like that. And so like that's the people that are in charge of the people that earn, earn acceleration. When I got out and came to civilian world, the idiots that were in charge of me was amazing.
But like one of the guys of the supervisor his his brother -in -law was the plant manager I mean He couldn't have been in charge of anybody but because of favoritism and relationships, but that was hard for me to get To adjust to like right, you know Yeah that that all makes sense that I like I can't I can't relate but although I although when I was younger I
aspired to be in the military Whatever doors open for me didn't didn't take me on that path, but just Conversations that I've had with people and it just makes sense, you know, of course Well awesome. All right. Well folks that brings us to the end of this episode James thanks again so much for your time today. I really appreciate it, man Thank you Yeah, it was a good time we had some great some great conversation there
Two Rick's Better Than One (45:33.354)
So where can people find you if they want to get in touch with you? So social media channels, Open Season TV, and then on personal James Blankenbeckler, and then on Instagram it's BBHunt53 because that was my email in the Marine Corps and it just stuck forever. But yeah, so you can either get me on my personal or Open Season TV. I answer on both. Cool.
Awesome. yeah, make sure you head on over there and look them up. If you have any questions for him, like he said, he's really good about answering them. So feel free to send him a message and also don't forget, head over to Pursuit Up, look up Open Season TV on there. You can watch some of their episodes. So it's a lot of fun to kind of see what they got going on there. Also, don't forget to follow us at the Range podcast on Instagram and Facebook, as well as Vapor Trail Archery and Stokerized Stabilizers.
You can find the video version of this episode on the Vapor Trail YouTube channel. If you like the video, hit that thumbs up button, subscribe and hit that bell so you can be up to date on all things archery. And if you're listening, do me a favor, give us a rating, a review and make certain that you give us five stars. And with that, we are going to pack up our bows and arrows and we're hitting the range. Have a great day everybody.
Vapor Trail is now offering an exclusive discount to the range podcast listeners. Enter promo code TRP15, that's T R P 15 at checkout for 15 % off VTX bowstrings and Vapor Trail and Stokerize branded t -shirts, hats, and other gear.
