Speaker 1: 0:00

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Speaker 1: 1:21

thank you so much for coming on, um. You know, give the the listeners out there a quick, quick rundown.

Speaker 2: 1:27

Yeah, so my name is Tim Gutzma. I'm with the doe patrol. We're based in Michigan Um big deer hunter pretty much that's what I do Most. Most of them spend most of my time doing um, starting to tickle into doing some other stuff with some friends. But we as a as a company folks have put meat in pantries, so we donate a little bit over 2000 pounds a year to local organizations and really we focus on building a community of guys that want to spend some of their evenings when they're not in the woods cutting up deer, which is pretty sweet. So that's kind of like the 32nd. Uh, yeah, I guess snippet of what we do I, I kind of love that.

Speaker 1: 2:10

I want a real quick focus on that before we dive into other things. But so two thousand you said two thousand pounds, yeah I think it was about 20.

Speaker 2: 2:19

It was like 2416 pounds or something like that this past year, so we could have done more, but I ran out of freezer place space, so that that's always, that's always the the one problem.

Speaker 1: 2:30

But so when, when did that start? Like where, where did you get the idea from? Or you know how'd that all break down? And I think that's a really unique thing, that, uh, you know we've been talking to the guys here. You know we, we kind of want to start doing that, and I know New Jersey has um hunt for the hungry or or something like that. So where did it all start for you guys?

Speaker 2: 2:54

Yeah, that, um, we started in 2020 during COVID. Um, I was pretty involved with the boys and girls club. Uh, my wife and I spent a lot of time volunteering. We love middle school, high school kids, so youth group mission trips, stuff like that we were. We're always very involved in our community and our churches and anyways, in 2020 I got a call from the, from the club, after the shutdowns and they're like hey, we feed about 600 miles a week every day and we are running out of food.

Speaker 2: 3:28

Uh, our local, our local school was title one, meaning they served breakfast and lunch. So then there were 600 kids that were getting breakfast, lunch and dinner five days a week outside of their home, and most of those kids were lucky to get one meal on the weekend, um, in their own home. Um, so, uh, it was in december, it was like december 1st or something like that, or end of november, beginning december, uh, and late dough season was coming up. So I called a couple buddies and was like, hey, you want to go shoot some doughs and we can process them and donate the meat and it'll be great, and that was pretty much how it started. But then, within the next two weeks, uh, it was just.

Speaker 2: 4:10

I talked to a couple of different people, who one was running a nonprofit organization, for that's an outdoor based organization. He said there's no, there's no. Dough competition Don't benefits, it's everything's about antlers and and big bucks. And he's like you need to blow this thing up. And then kept getting these nudges and I kind of felt like it was god telling me that I needed to do more and it wasn't enough. Uh. So finally I went to my wife, said you need to design a logo and we need to blow this thing up. And so we had about two weeks and we had our first event in 2020. And yeah, it was incredible how, uh, how it all ended up coming to be in a very, very short period of time.

Speaker 1: 4:52

Now that's pretty cool to hear and you know a great thing that you guys are doing over there. You know let's take it back before then. You know where did the hunting all start? Did you grow up in it? Is this something you picked up? And we know michigan is in the top five for for hunters and everything like that. So where did it all start for you?

Speaker 2: 5:14

yeah, no, um, I guess, shot my first deer. Uh, well, uh, I was probably 12. Uh, yeah, because back then I think you had to be 12 to be able to do the youth hunt and now you can do the apprentice program at any age. So I think my four-year-old might be trying to get out with a crossbow this year, but I think I was 12 years old. My dad was always a big advent hunter. He'd go out to Iowa, missouri, every single year.

Speaker 2: 5:43

Pheasant white tail, uh, shot my first. It was a five point. I still, I mean, I can remember that hunt like none other when my dad. It was incredible, but that was the first. I was like first experience hunting, um, youth hunt 12 years old and I went every year from then on out, um, and we can. The youth hunt went until we were 16. Back then I think I only shot one more buck during the youth hunt. Never shot we were 16 back then. I think I only shot one more buck during the youth hunt. Never shot a doe. My dad never was into shooting does. I think he shot one doe in his entire life and it was on a, his first date with my mom actually.

Speaker 2: 6:15

Uh, and he hasn't shot a doe since what a date that's an incredible date, I know I, yeah it's funny because I'm like the doe guy, uh, and, and here's my old man, he just is not in for it. Um, but uh, yeah, so we, we, we did a decent amount of hunting. My dad ended up getting a farm down in central Illinois, so we, we do a lot down there. I've got five or six properties around the greater Grand Rapids area that I manage and help get other people into hunting. But my hunting really didn't like take off until college.

Speaker 2: 6:53

So I played college baseball and had another knee surgery, felt like God was telling me it's time to be done trying to play kids sports as an adult. So I just full-time and started hunting. And that's where I was about 20, 20 years old when I started hunting, like crazy I mean I would, I got into it and I got the itch and I was like what was I thinking? Not hunting like I didn't archery hunt through high school or anything like that. Um, so really the last 10 years is has been my number one passion, um, and I I just can't get enough of it.

Speaker 2: 7:26

I think I shoot anywhere from six to 10 deer a year, depending on the success of how many does, I can get down and other hunters I can get out. But we've spent a lot of time the last well, yeah, 10, almost 12 years now in Illinois managing that farm. So, yeah, I've just got the. I got a passion for white tails managing deer, or our deer herd, our population, uh, michigan has got a ridiculous amount of does. It's an unbelievable. How many does we have? Um, so I just, I just love it, man.

Speaker 1: 8:01

No, I mean that that's that's absolutely incredible and you know it's, it's the opportunity, it's the being able to do it. You know the does are it's so important. You know, I always tell people like you know, like we're talking about before we started recording, like here we have so many opportunity. I mean you know we have unlimited amount of does here. There's this, this the dough number, the deer number, just in general is is insane.

Speaker 1: 8:27

So you know, having a place like that in Michigan where you have the dough numbers, you know it's you got people that just want to shoot bucks, but then you got people that you know love shooting does, and I think it's a. I think people should always shoot does. I mean it just depends on your deer number and everything like that, like we're you know, like I just said, but you know it is meat for the freezer, if you're able to, to feed other people, everything like that. There's so much that good that comes out of it. And same thing with with bucks too. I mean, do you guys donate bucks too as well, or is it just strictly does?

Speaker 2: 9:03

yeah, um, and we do. We had, I think we did 126 deer is how many deer we processed this year, um, and I want to say in the ford there was about 40 bucks. Oh, wow, um, so some of those are, you know, know, people's personal deer, um, people who have not learned to process deer. That's a big passion of mine is teaching people how to process wild game um, taking care of their own meat. Uh, you know the old Chinese proverb you teach a man a fish, he eats for a lifetime, but he gave men a fish and just eats for a day. Um, it's the same same thing for me, with me, with, with whitetail, and most people want to learn. They just don't have the means or have somebody willing to teach them. Um, but we, we, man, we have been so many bucks this past year, and some studs too, which was sweet um, so we don't, we don't turn away any deer. Uh, the.

Speaker 2: 10:00

The emphasis on doe patrol is just that. It's just an encouragement to remind people like you, gotta, you gotta take those. And I think the baby boomer patrol is just that. It's just an encouragement to remind people like you, gotta, you, gotta take those. And I think the baby boomer generation is not interested in shooting does. It was all about four corns and six points and spikes and it didn't matter. It just needed bone on top of its head and they were not interested in shooting a doe. It wasn't cool. Uh, and we're we're trying to normalize that a little bit more, that it's cool to shoot does? Um, it's a lot more. It's a lot more fun when you get to shoot more things more than one deer a year, you know different, different generation, and you know it's I, I will agree with you on that for sure.

Speaker 1: 10:37

You know it's it's hard because you go to these other states and you know, still you can't hunt does, like like you can where where we can, and everything like that, where it's like you think about hunting a doe and it's like, well, people will look at like what's wrong with you, like you know, why don't you just go shoot a buck, and everything like that. But it's, you know, coming from from our background, where, where we are like it's so encouraged to shoot does and um, encouraged to shoot does and um, I think it's going to just keep being this trend. And you know, yeah, who wants to shoot? You know one deer a year, you know, or maybe two a year, depending on the state that you live in. When you know you can, you can shoot a couple more and you know it's better. You know practice it's going to help you in the long run when, when push comes to shove, when you, when you do have that, uh, shot at a big buck because the more you shoot, the better, the better you are.

Speaker 1: 11:27

You know, the more you have that in hunt practice or not even practice, the, the, the real, it being real. You know, I think it definitely benefits. I mean, shit, I've shot way more does I've shot than I've shot bucks. It's not even close. You know, um but um for for you guys, you know, you, you go into that first year, you know so, 2020 it's the beginning of covid. I, I would imagine, right, yeah, beginning of covid. You know so you're starting all these brand new things and ideas, but also battling with with the pandemic and things like that. What was the most challenging thing for you guys to start out during that time period?

Speaker 2: 12:18

I think that there's two aspects to that. Two aspects of that. One we were really blessed that most people in the outdoor industry have a similar ask perspective, mandates and keep your distance and all that stuff right. So, um, we're super fortunate that we had, you know, 10 people that wanted to come and process to you, um, and that, yeah, we were super blessed that that worked out the way that it did, because if we were in any other, any other area, uh, hobby, you know, I don't know, but like it's, the hunting industry as a whole is just everybody's very similar, um, so you get outside of that and you may not have had the as successful of a launching of the business, especially when we started in 2020.

Speaker 2: 13:28

But our biggest hurdle to answer your question sorry, I kind of went around the bush there but our biggest hurdle it was really transitioning from. Are we just going to be a bunch of buddies that shoot three to four deer to trying to get the word out to our community in an hour hour and a half two hour circle and grow it? Um, and not knowing how to do it. Uh, I'm in business, so I I'm from a management side of things. I manage people for a living, but I I didn't know how to reach other hunters that that have no idea how to figure out who we are, what we do, where we're located, and so that was our biggest hurdle the going from it just being seven of my friends five of my friends to all Tom Dick and harry showing up donating deer. Um, so we can benefit more people than just the handful of people at the club yeah and then I imagine.

Speaker 1: 14:37

It just it just kind of took off after that, obviously, you know. So you get through that hurdle. You know, did this idea come in the summer, like when exactly did it come? And then when was your first actual like hunting season doing this? And the process with that like or was this did, was this on the you know, on the whim, right during hunting season every so you kind of had to balance everything at at one time, or did you have some time to to figure it out?

Speaker 2: 15:07

No, I mean, year one was a shit show. Um, it was literally, I think I said earlier, it was big end of the end of November to beginning of December and our late no season was December 12th. Like we, we had less than two weeks to plan it, um weeks to plan it. Um, and we ended up having, uh raffles about 40 people show up to my barn, we gave away a gun, we had free food that was donated. Um, I had to get in touch with a local processor because we weren't set up to process deer, but I think that year we took in 12 deer.

Speaker 2: 15:45

Um, in two weeks we ended up throwing a full-on event. It had people speaking that did a shop placement seminar, that were dog trackers. Um, it was just, it was crazy. I don't even know how I worked my actual job in those two weeks because of everything that we had to do to throw together an actual. I mean it was like a small banquet, essentially right. If you've ever been to like an sci banquet before, that's pretty much what we did, at a very small scale in two weeks so we hold our own um game dinner.

Speaker 1: 16:19

We did it for the first time last year. I had time to prep for it, so I mean it, but it was still very like nerve-wracking and just stressful just setting setting up and getting everything. And that was within a a decent time period and we're going to be doing, you know, every a new one every year. So we got into doing events and stuff like that. But so I kind of yeah, I kind of understand how, what, what you're feeling and everything like that. Um, so so you had two weeks you said you know, the first year was was a shit show. After you completed you know that late dough season, what was the next step for you guys? Where did the planning go? Now, you had a whole off season and everything like that to get things under, you know, order or whatever you want to call it. So where did it really go from? From?

Speaker 2: 17:06

there. That was a. That was a challenging thing. There was a. I spent a lot of time wrestling with it the following year because I didn't know. I didn't know if it was just like a one and done. You know what? We? We helped people in our community. It went well. We're super blessed. We also raised a whole bunch of money so we were able to give the boys and girls club I think we raised like $3,000, um for the club that year Um, so that went to buying meat for their pantry on top of the 12 deer that we had processed to go to their pantry.

Speaker 2: 17:36

Um, and I, I don't. I really wrestled with it. I was like, should it, should I continue to do this? It was a ton of work and to do one even better, I don't want to. I didn't want to half-ass another year where I came into it with only two weeks to plan Um.

Speaker 2: 17:52

I spent a lot of time just praying, reflecting, talking to my wife, other people. I had other people telling me like, what are you like? What do you actually think? Is this feasible, to continue to do it? And I didn't know. I didn't know the answer. I thought it was because I was able to do it in two weeks. So, my man, if I, if I've got, you know, a full year to plan this thing, that'd be amazing.

Speaker 2: 18:16

And you know, a lot of people were giving me feedback from the standpoint of hey, it was super close to Christmas, we wanted to come, but we had Christmas parties or we were on vacation, or we had our own deer camp up north that we go to with our cousins that time of year to go shoot does at our family farm, and so there's all these things that I was trying to weigh out and I'm like what, how can I make this better? And, anyways, it just came down to like I, I felt the nudge, I felt God telling me like you need to, you need to keep doing this. Uh, this is, this was so great, it blessed so many people. We had people reaching out. I had people reaching out from all over the state that had just heard word of mouth what we were doing. Um and uh, you know, I've we've been brought up on podcasts of people that I've I don't even know before. Um, before that I just listened to. So it was good, that was stuff like that. Happening was like a testament of like okay, you're doing. You're doing what needs to be done.

Speaker 2: 19:13

You know we have organizations in the state of Michigan, just like you guys do in Jersey, that that donate me. You know Michigan Outdoorsmen Against Hunger, and it's for some reason that the nonprofit world's never run well, which is which is why we're not a nonprofit. We just put everything back into the business every year, cause I I I'm on a few nonprofit boards and I I can't stand the way that nonprofits operate. So that was another thing that I sat and contemplated. That entire like year. Everyone's like well, how do we donate? Donate like we want to write it off and and in my mind I'm like dude, you gave a hundred bucks. Like you, you're really gonna try to write off a hundred bucks. You realize you need to donate like eighteen thousand dollars to really even make a difference from a tax standpoint. Uh, you should maybe talk to your accountant.

Speaker 2: 20:03

Uh, because I got a feeling you're probably not donating 18 grand right now definitely not right and there's so many different facets of it that I'm like what, how do we make this successful? What do we do? How do we get people involved? And how do we get people who are my parents age, who own businesses are and are a little bit more financially stable in life, that it's all going to get taken care of? And after, after year two, people started like coming to me and saying dude, uh, we thought this was going to be a one and done. Now, year two was even bigger. We doubled in size. We ended up donating twice as much meat as we did the first year. And just the the amount of people that like, we want like would just say you know, we want to get involved. How do we get involved? And I'm like, I honestly I don't, I don't even really know how you get involved because it it's kind of just a thing I do with my wife and uh.

Speaker 2: 21:12

So that in year two is when we we started processing a few deer. Um, and that's what the the decision going from year one to year two was I we need to take in deer, process deer and do our event. So we, we took in a few deer that year. I had to hone my skills, because I was self-taught from a processing standpoint. Um, I'm I can't really be like just running a knife, whittling these frigging eyes down and not know what I'm doing so spent freaking hours and hours watching processing videos. Some people where you're like, holy crap, why are you posting this on YouTube? You, you, barely you, you should barely have a knife in your hand, let alone be posting to try to teach other people, um, and at that point I didn't even know anything. So, um, but yeah, I mean, I, uh, again, I kind of feel like I'm doing a big circle around what, what really transpired. But every, every year, we've, we've, we've grown, we've developed, we've honed what our specialties are. Every year, we, we partner with local charities and non-profits that can, we can benefit during our event.

Speaker 2: 22:18

But the the last, so first two years, was pretty much just our event taking deer. We started processing a few deer, I started working on my own skills to be able to process, um, and then, year three, we processed a ton of deer in the barn and it, my wife, started making a meal for everybody. And that's when we realized like we needed the community. We needed to build a community of people. Um, and the hunters hunters were yearning for it, if that makes sense. Like people wanted that sense of community, they wanted a place to volunteer, they wanted to be able to give back and they wanted a reason to shoot more deer um, I think that was a huge part.

Speaker 2: 23:02

Uh, when we started processing all the deer in our in our barn, it was like, oh my gosh, we, I've got a reason. Now I could go shoot seven deer um and not not have to stress about it or wonder where to go with the deer. Find a processor that's part of the michigan outdoors when he gets hunger. Um, and a lot of those processors even then will will deny deer during our gun season because they're too busy anyways, and it's not like processors make that much money um, during deer season. I mean, that's the downside. If they got 200 a deer and they, they do, all right, but they don't. So it's.

Speaker 1: 23:44

It's also like you know, yeah, I agree, like you, you shoot for what your, your freezer can, can fill, or how much your, your family's going to eat or wherever. That's always been my thing. Like people like, oh well, why, why'd you pass? Like I remember I've, I've shot does before and you know I'm waiting for that buck and everything like that and I'll have does, come out and like I'll have buddies. But like you know, this was years ago be like, hey, why didn't you shoot that down? Well, it's really just me eating it. Like you know, I don't need two to three, three deer, you know, I just need one dough. And if I get that buck I'll have, I'll have some extra meat and everything like that.

Speaker 1: 24:19

But at what point? You, you can't eat all this meat, especially when you're also hunting other animals. So if you're hunting hogs or you're fishing or, or waterfowl, or bear or whatever, that's a lot of meat to get in the freezer. So sometimes it's like all right, well, I'm gonna pass certain deer, because you know, at the end of the day I've already got my, my freezers already full, you know, and and this gives you, like you said, it gives hunters a whole other excuse to hey, you know what, now I get to shoot that deer, it's gonna go to somebody who, who's really gonna need it and you, and you know it gives um the brotherhood. I think you know, like the community that that you're talking about, like I agree, like hunting is such a great community, you know, and it's once you find that group it makes you know things even even better.

Speaker 2: 25:11

Yeah, and we honestly that that's been one of the coolest experiences growing this and building this is people like stopping me walking in meyer and it being some dude's mom um, who's been in the dude's been in my barn processing deer and the mom stops me and is is like, hey, my son's volunteered for doe patrol, helped cut up deer and he's just talked so highly about it. How gratefully is to be a part of it. And I tell all my friends what you guys are doing and I think it's incredible, like like getting those people that say that kind of stuff. It's like, oh my gosh, like what we're doing is is spreading beyond even just the meat that's going into the pantries. Matthew's House Ministries was our beneficiary this year out of Grand Rapids, and we donated over 2,000 pounds of meat to them, which resulted in 11,000 meals. So when we ran the numbers for them and how many pounds of meat they use to produce each meal and they cook 80 meals a day, or 80 plates a day is how many people they feed we were able to supply them with nine months of food and 11,000 plates will be served. And that's just incredible to me.

Speaker 2: 26:25

And then when all of a sudden, someone's mom's like I'm so proud of my boys and they may not go and volunteer at the Boys and Girls Club, but this is a good place for them to to give back, uh, and and to be involved in something that's that's bigger than themselves and it also makes you feel good. Um, I mean it. It's a grind when you're processing deer two nights a week until 10 pm at night and you're doing five hours of processing twice a week and sacrificing time from family, friends, obligations, your own time in the woods, and when, all of a sudden, you start seeing those numbers and realizing the amount of people and lives that we're changing, it makes it so much, it makes you feel so bad. When you're like in a bad mental headspace about it if that makes sense Like you feel guilty. When you're like, oh, I don't want to process here tonight. It's like hold on, we're blessed enough that we can do that and what we got to do is sacrifice, you know, a few nights for two and a half months.

Speaker 1: 27:28

Like golly, that's a first world problem right there, you know so right yeah it's, it's it makes you appreciate the things that you know, that that we have and everything like that. Because you know, like, like you said, it's, it's a first world problem. You know, I, I work um child psych with, with children and everything like that and communities that are, you know, not privileged. You know so I, I hear it all the time. I'm like listen, like you know, things get worse, things get worse. Look at, you should see what what other people have and and things like that.

Speaker 1: 28:03

But you know one one thing I want to cause. I, you know I have it pulled up. One of the first posts I actually saw of yours um was when you guys had the co? Um drop off that, that, uh, that dough, you guys completely broke it down. Is that something? Does that, does that happen? Often now, the you know, with the more outreach and everything like that, some of these, these programs, maybe like a freshly roadkill or maybe a poached deer that they've confiscated, is that something that is is has been happening a little more often.

Speaker 2: 28:37

Um, I think we've done two. Uh, I actually try to veer away from roadkill. Uh, carter is the CEO. He's, he's awesome. We uh I've gotten breakfast with him before and, uh, we try to stay in touch, um and whatnot.

Speaker 2: 28:51

But, um, the that was a. That was a fun experience to take a deer from a conservation officer and break it down and then give it to people that need it. Um, uh, and you know he gave me a call. He's like I think pretty much the front quarter is shot, but the rest of it seems to be okay. And in the next year that he brought me was stuck in a fence that he had to. He had his front leg stuck in barbed wire, uh, and he had to put it down, uh, and the whole front quarter that was stuck in the fence just had all trauma all over it. I mean it. It was so bad deer was struggling for who knows how long. But we're trying to do a little bit more of that.

Speaker 2: 29:36

Um, the, the downside to roadkill and stuff like that is the meats. Meat can be so just blown up, um, and I mean it's one thing to like make some country fried steak after you've already processed the meat, but you don't want country fried steak after you've already processed the meat but you don't want country fried steak before it comes off the animal. Yeah, because it's all bloodshot and yeah, it's just it's gross, uh. So the the meat's been, it's got a bunch of trauma right. The stress on the deer that the deer has when they, when the deer, dies from that trauma, just it makes it tough to eat and I, I, if I don't want to eat it, I don't want to give it to somebody else who is eating it for free, you know, but that was, yeah, we're we're trying to do a little bit more of that is just cautious of how blown up a deer is.

Speaker 1: 30:30

So yeah, that make no that. That that definitely makes sense. So you know, going going into this year, you know let's personally for for hunting. You know we're right around the corner. Uh, by the time this episode drops, um, you know we'll be already in season and everything like that. So you know, what does it look like from, what do the seasons look like in michigan, when do you guys start, and things like that.

Speaker 2: 30:55

Yeah, so we have an early, we have a youth hunt in September and then the weekend following is early antlerless. And this year they passed for it to be a public and private because in years past it was only a private land thing, so you had to have private access to do the early antlerless. So that'd be huge. I'm really looking forward to that. I think that'll be beneficial for our entire state. Um, we are hoping, not this year but probably the following year, to do an early antlerless um event. Um, it, yeah, there are events, are events, just a riot. And I think early doing one early antlerless would push more people to get out, because a lot of people don't want to. It's buggy, it can be hot, uh, you don't have a place to go with the deer. But if you know you're going to donate it to a good cause. We'd like to do that.

Speaker 2: 31:45

But our season technically opens october 1st, um for archery season, and then that runs until november 15, which is shotgun season. In our area we don't have a rifle zone until north of the middle of the lower peninsula. Um, and then, uh, that runs to the end of november, december 1st, and then, like two days later, opens muzzleloader, which in our zone you can use any gun, not just a muzzleloader. So I don't know why they don't just call it second shotgun. So that runs for another week or 10 days and then two days after that opens the first late antlerless season, which runs till January 1st. And then this year we have a new late antlerless season which is January 1st to January 15.

Speaker 1: 32:31

And that you can buy $5 doe tags so we can use a gun from november 15 to january 15 this year and I I imagine that's definitely by far your your the busiest time of the year, because you know it's same thing here. Like you get bow hunters and you know, listen, we there's a lot of bow hunters in the state and everything like that. But you know, when gun season, that's like everyone comes out the woodworks and you know, I want to say, you know it's really that older generation too, you know it's, it's all those guys that have. You know they grew up hunting their their whole entire lives and now they, they may not have the time or wherever the case is, but they mark off or at least us, they, you mark off that calendar right when, uh, the gun season starts off and you know, you, you get the biggest wave of of hunting during during that time.

Speaker 2: 33:24

I would, I would definitely say, oh yeah, the orange army comes flying out of the woodworks, right. So we're uh, we're excited to see what happens with um. With this upcoming season we actually are launching uh doe patrol east michigan um, so we're going to be throwing our the east side of our state around the detroit metro area has got their season goes until january 31st um. The urban suburban district um in grand rapids and which is Kent County also just got expanded into that. So if you have property in those County there's three counties on the East side and one County might be four counties actually on the East side I'd had to double check anyways and in the one County right in grand Rapids that you can hunt until January 31st um with uh archery equipmentery equipment, uh.

Speaker 2: 34:14

So we're going to be throwing an event on the east side of the state this year with a couple of my friends over there that are kind of head-stoting that and um. We can't be more excited to be able to help the that suburban area and the suburban hunters to try to push them late season to shoot more does. So we don't have a date solidified yet, um, but it's actually kind of the first time I've publicly said that um, so we're stoked, we're excited, uh, to see some expansion and um being able to benefit an area that has such a high population of deer. Um, so it'll be.

Speaker 1: 34:47

It'll be a riot to be over there in january as well yeah, no, that that's good and you know the expansion is always good and you know how. You know for for someone like I you hear a lot I've been there for hockey and stuff like that, but never for for hunting or anything like that. So like, how big is your? Is your state Like you know so from where you guys are to to the Eastern part, like how long has that taken? You know you count that as the. You know you got the up up there and everything like that. So like, break down kind of the you know the state of michigan for those who don't understand, you know the difference from where you guys are to to the east. And then would you guys ever think about doing something up in the up? I know it's definitely tougher hunting and stuff like that, but you know kind of break down what that would look like as well if you could.

Speaker 2: 35:37

Yeah, no, absolutely so to. I have family over in the East side, so with some I've spent a decent amount of time there as a child, growing up and heading over to the East side. But from so where I'm at in Holland, which is 30 minutes West of Grand Rapids, um, it's about two and a half hours to the Detroit area. Three hours if you're trying to cross to Canada is pretty much the distance east to west across the entire state, and from us to get to the bridge, the Mackinac Island Bridge, to go to the UP is about three and a half. But if you're going to come from the southernmost part of the state you're going to get about five hours. From the Indiana-Ohio border all the way to the bridge would be about a five-hour drive, so it's five hours to run the whole. I mean they call it the mitten, right. But then to get to the west end of the UP from where we are seven and a half hours, so it's an absolute hike. I mean there's no good way to get to the West end of the UP. I mean you're looking to go into North Northeastern Wisconsin. At that point, um, you can go down and around Chicago, but no one likes driving through Chicago, so we avoid that. You'd rather take the pretty drive anyways, um. So, yes, we would definitely do something in the up at some point. Um, the up is dealing with a lot of other different issues with hunting and, uh, the wolf population is through the roof up there right now. Uh, so we got a lot of problems with that, but we actually have some pretty good bear hunting in the up as well. Um.

Speaker 2: 37:10

So, yeah, I think that that the goal is for us to hopefully see that the East side of the state goes well, um, and if that goes well, we'd like to launch something in like more central North central Michigan, um, so something would call it near like Cadillac area. Um, so that way we kind of have the, the lower peninsula covered, um, where people could drive anywhere. Cause our last anywhere, because our last year, in our last year event, we had someone come from the east side of the state and he's actually the one that is is kind of headstoning and and working with us to to get a good location and other partnerships with the their pro shops over on the east side, because I don't have connections into that area, um, so as long as this goes smoothly. I'd like to keep rolling into more, uh, more locations throughout the state. Eventually, up would be incredible.

Speaker 2: 38:03

Uh, people up there used to drive in a long ways anyways, cause you're kind of desolate. Uh, you know, city to city is or village to village, realistically, you know, it's usually a couple hours, hour and a half to two hours. The up is gorgeous. I mean, we got, we got everything up there, so we got elk in the lower peninsula too, but it's almost impossible to get a tag yeah, go ahead.

Speaker 1: 38:28

No, and this is like one of the reasons why, like, michigan is so like such a sought after state and everyone just hunts. Because you guys, like you know, like I said, I I drove there for for hockey and everything, but it wasn't looking into. You know, at that time there was no like and my family hunted, but not not like it is now and all this research and stuff like that. But you know, you look at Michiganigan and they're, you know they're constantly going to be in the top five. But you guys have such a huge variety of you know of hunting and different. You know the backgrounds and the animals and you know you you're talking about how there's there's wolves, you know, are up in the the up and everything like that, and even elk you guys have, you know, in the lower part, but it's so much land and you just wouldn't think of it as an outside, as an outside hunter, like you know. I've I've never been there for hunting and you know it's. It's something now that would love to probably do it at some point.

Speaker 2: 39:32

Oh for sure, I sure. I mean I think we have the highest, uh, moose density as well on Isle Royal. Really. Oh yeah, I think it's the highest population density per acre, um, in the entire United States. Uh, it's incredible. Isle Royal is absolutely gorgeous. It's actually a national park. It's an island in the north of the UP. It's my dream to go there someday. I have not done it yet, but I just want to go to see the moose. Friends of mine went and found jet antlers of moose from five years ago. They're green and all worn down. Michigan's a fascinating state, uh, I mean, we got more lakes than we know what to do with and the great lakes and salmon fishing's incredible here and health bear, bobcat, moose, wolf, wolf. There's no wolf hunting yet but, lord willing, the democrats let us at some point.

Speaker 2: 40:34

So, yeah, it's. Uh, it is a fascinating state and it's really. I think it's kind of underlooked because of the lack there of quality deer, probably because most hunters look at white tail in the midwest. Yeah, um, and the deer hunting most people think is kind of a joke in michigan. But you know, we, the holy grail, or the, the deer belt in southern michigan, people are pulling 150 to 180 inch deer out of every single year, um, right on the indiana ohio border. I mean, the hunting down there is incredible, um, and even around us there's people shooting good bucks. Some kid shot a 220 inch deer literally right five miles from where I'm sitting right now. Uh, so the hunting's getting a lot better. Our just our regulations just suck.

Speaker 1: 41:26

So yeah, yeah no, I feel you on that same with ours, yeah it's.

Speaker 2: 41:31

It is what it is and that's partially why we want to do. What we're doing is to build a community. It's like you don't have to.

Speaker 2: 41:37

To me, I I argue with everybody always just kind of bitches and moans about the dnr, the nrc, you know that our government post and their regulations, and to me it's like, why? Why are we, as hunters I mean it's a small, small group of people considering for the hobby or lifestyle that we have, right, I mean it's it's a very small group considering, like, looking at how many boaters are out there or fishermen are out there or any other hobbies, right, but why? Why are we so worried about the government doing things? Why don't we just take care of it on our own? I mean we, we've been the conservationists for hundreds of years. So why do we? Why do we complain when, like, in my mind it's like, take the matters into our own hand, we can take care of it ourself. Um, and just like when people complain, like, well, if I don't shoot it, my neighbor's going to it's. It's like, come on, it starts with you, dude. So yeah, that's the whole aspect of the community is to build, build on making does cool. I mean I, I want to. I had to make a shirt that says make killing does cool again or great again.

Speaker 1: 42:45

Yes, yes, we will definitely, we'll definitely rock that here in Jersey, since you know we're all about killing does down here. You know, um, like I said, a limited amount of does. Like you, you can't get doe hunting it, jersey is doe hunting and it's the same thing. Like we're not a known state, you know. But we have big deer. Michigan has big.

Speaker 1: 43:07

Yes, you know what you can't compare the midwest with, with what we're doing, right, no, they have. They have the, the quantity of big deer. You know, that's just the difference. We have the just quality of deer and then you have I I call the sprinkled in the, the big bucks. Like, you have to work for those big bucks, you have to go to where those big bucks are. Listen, I, I I've seen them, you know. I, I know people that have shot them. They're here, you know, but we don't get the attention, which I don't personally mind not getting the attention.

Speaker 1: 43:47

You know of jersey just being and we're not even a sleeper state, you know, um, I think real tree just just put out their, their sleeper states, and you know, of course, jersey's not on it, which, whatever, I don't mind that, you know, but it's we do have so much offer Michigan has, so I don't even know everything that you guys had to offer till now. You know, and it's, it's incredible. And then once, eventually, hopefully, when it can pass, or you know, you get the wolf hunting which is which is needed, because I know you guys are by Wisconsin. You know Minnesota is not too far, canada is literally right there. Where you do have these bigger wolf populations, it only makes sense to be in in Michigan. You know I talked to we just released episode not too long ago with um, with quentin from full draw pursuits, and he was stalked by a, by a wolf on his on his deer hunt when he was walking to to the stand.

Speaker 2: 44:43

So instead of we have mountain, we have mountain lion too, which is crazy. The dnr just don't want people to think that they're actually here. Uh, yeah, I've seen one hunting firsthand and it really made my. It made my sphincter pucker man it was. Oh, that was a scariest experience of my life. From about 100 yards away from the tree stand, he crossed the road and just let out that.

Speaker 2: 45:07

I'm like, oh my gosh I gotta walk back in the dark, right, I got, it was crazy. You see a three foot long tail and I'm like what the heck is that right at last light? So, and that was in big rapids, which is an hour and a half north of me. So you're talking center of the state, it all. Right, it's crazy. They're, they're here and our dnr does not want to want, uh, people to know that I I haven't talked about this yet because I completely forgot.

Speaker 1: 45:35

It happened during turkey season, but it's something I I gotta start talking about again. Um, but I will. Day before um, turkey season went up with scouting and I was walking, you know, I was up by the delaware water gap area, so it's big mountains, it's, you know, remote, for for you know remote and I'll tell you I so I don't know what it was, but it was not a bobcat and it looked more like a mountain lion to me. It had a long, like that long tail and everything like that. Yeah, and I've heard reports. You know, I know a couple buddies that have seen, seen them in jersey. You know, you hear the reports that you know. I know a couple buddies that have seen, seen them in jersey. You know, you hear the reports that you know. I've talked to people. They're in pa. I 100 know that there is at least one up in that area of new jersey, of the border of pa, and it just, it just makes sense. They travel. You know, I'm not saying we don't mind.

Speaker 2: 46:32

I'm not saying we have a.

Speaker 1: 46:33

Living population. We don't have a Living, but we have Cats coming through. I Imagine looking for, for territory and things like that.

Speaker 2: 46:45

Yeah it, it's a. We had one shot, I think, last year or two years ago in the lower, like really far south, because I think, if I remember correctly, if there's no season for them, it's invasive. So you can technically shoot them. If I remember correctly I mean don't quote me on that, but because I don't want to go shooting something that you've never seen in your state before. But I'm almost positive some dude shot one in the lower. I'm trying to pull it up right now but I'm having a hard time finding it, but I remember the picture was going around like crazy um, oh, dude, it was why it was huge. It's a big cat. But yeah, there, yeah, and we got.

Speaker 2: 47:41

We have bears too, all over the place. There was one in in our, my hometown, the other a couple years back and no one knows what happened to it. My guess guess is the DNR came in and tranquilized it and relocated it. But we have tons of bears in our state. Our bear population in the lower is getting unbelievable. We should have like. It takes like 10 years now to get a tag and we need to increase our bear tags and I love bear hunting. I shot my first bear last year in Northern Ontario and I got the itch. I won't be able to stop now give me one second my camera unplugged.

Speaker 1: 48:20

Oh, you're good, yeah, um, yeah, I mean I love bear hunting too as well. So you know, here you fit in right, right there with us because you know we're all about bear hunting and everything like that good eating, uh, love, love, having them. I got some still in the freezer there. I got my bear behind me and everything like that. But you know it's, I hope it works out for you know, for you guys, and everything like that. I hope they, they do some change some things up for you guys. I mean, I feel like everyone, everyone wants that. I and I like how.

Speaker 1: 48:52

I wanted to touch on it, but I forgot. You said you know a lot of people complain about the DNR and all these things. At the end of the day, like, that's why it's healthy. Rules are rules. It's never going to be perfect. We are never going to be 100% satisfied with, you know, fish and wildlife and everything like that, with all the rules that that are out there, you know, and it's something that I've just come to like, hey, listen, whatever rules are rules. I got people like, oh, like this doesn't make sense. Well, yeah, you know what? It's not going to make sense for us, but you know for for somebody else, it's for them. It it makes you know for somebody else it's for them, it makes sense. So you know it's there. You just got to live with it and just go about your, go about your business.

Speaker 2: 49:40

Oh, 100 percent. I, I kind of think about it the same way. I mean, I train my team here at my, at my business is, you know, we're we're a team. We're a team of the DNnr, we're a team of the national resource commission. We're a team. We're a team with anybody that has anything to do with conservation. You know, I'm a hunter, but I'm I've never really been the greatest conservationist, and I think that's where a lot of hunters fall is. They're not great conservationists.

Speaker 2: 50:12

And our DNR and our local government, our state government that helps implement all those rules and regulations, they're part of our team. And just like the soccer team or football team he played on, every player had a reason, a role and that that helped the team succeed. Right, like you can't pull the goalie in soccer unless you're trying to make moves in and score, because you're down right, but you still have 11 men on the field. Right, and to me, every team member plays a role and not every team member is as good as the other. So each team member has to pull their own way and be the best they possibly can be, because there's always going to be team members that that aren't aren't quite there. Right, like everybody played a sport with somebody that just wasn't as athletic and still got playing time and or just wasn't quite as good, but you didn't want to get them off the team. When you look back now in high school you're like, oh, we could do without them. But as you grow and mature and and get a little bit older, it's like man, we, we needed every aspect of that team to succeed. We needed the bench players, we needed the, the fifth pitcher for the baseball team, who literally threw like 10 innings that year.

Speaker 2: 51:24

Um, it, it's the same, it's the same thing. I mean we're. When we look at everything. I don't know why it's so hard for us to comprehend that, but I'm a firm believer that we are a team, with the DNR, our local COs, our conservation officers, I mean even our local police department, who has to deal with some of that stuff as well. It's we're a team and if we don't want to build the community of ground, build our own community and start our own rules and regulations that we're going to just follow, then why are we complaining about the rest of them? Because they're doing their best and everyone's going to complain, and just like people complain about antler point, restrictions and qdma.

Speaker 2: 52:05

You know quality deer management practices and it's like to be honest with you. If some dude goes, shoots a four corn, but your area had a rule that there was a four on one side and it was like me, honest with you. If some dude goes, shoots a four corn, but your area had a rule that there was a four on one side and it was just you and the neighbors. I had that rule and some 40 year old man who owns 200 acres is pissed that this 16 year old shot a four corn. That dude. That dude needs to like just chill out like we're. You know. We want him to be a part of the team. We want that kid to grow up and love it. Our DNR just got rid of the youth and our youth hunt. This is our last year they can shoot bucks. Really, my son, if I could take him out this year at four years old, it would be the only year he'll be able to shoot a buck. So now it's antlerless only.

Speaker 1: 52:48

Have you heard of why? Did they give a reason why they're trying to get people to shoot?

Speaker 2: 52:54

more. Does I mean I don't know how we can emphasize enough the fact that I mean they've done enough. Right, we can shoot deer with a gun for two months straight Two months. I don't know any other state that allows you to shoot a deer with a gun for two months straight. I mean I don't know why we need more chances, but uh, it is what it is. So they're just trying to put the focus and the emphasis on does? Um, we're actually our doe patrol is is looking into purchasing a trailer? Um, and getting it outfitted with a ac unit and a cool dot system? Um, so that during the youth hunt we can throw an event where, if kids donate their dough, we'd give them a little gift package or local pro shops on board with it and they're gonna throw some shirts and swag in with it.

Speaker 2: 53:45

Um, just because we're gonna have to make the youth season, something about it is going to have to be cool, or? I mean, whose dad's going to want to take their kid out and be like oh yeah, buddy, you get to shoot a doe Like, like nobody's? Every dad wants their kid to shoot a buck, right, they'll go to work and brag the spike that their kid shot, it just doesn't matter. They want their kid to shoot something with antlers. So there's some weird things with our state, but I don't necessarily disagree with it, because the amount of mature bucks that get shot on their summer patterns september 15 still because of the youth hunt, is pretty high.

Speaker 2: 54:23

Um, but at the same point it's like selfishly from all the hunters who don't want them shot during the youth hunt. It's like, well, maybe we should pass more two-year-olds then during season. So anyways, I think it's going to be good. It's just a bummer because it's going to be harder for hunter retention. I think we're going to have a harder time. We're going to see our hunter numbers decline and that's a problem.

Speaker 1: 54:52

Yeah, we're already up against it Like it's. You know, with that what? What have you seen in in Michigan? You know, I just looked at the at the stats for for Jersey and a lot of the numbers are are down, which is which is never, never good. You know where, like you said, it's not like fishing, it's not like boating, it's not like. You know where, like you said, it's not like fishing, it's not like boating, it's not like. You know, my buddy, he, he owns a, a food account. He has a very successful food account where now this is what he does and it's everyone eats. You know, everyone loves food, everyone loves. You know, fishing's easy, it's, it's cheaper, it's everything like that. Hunting really has a lot of things against it, you know. So what have you seen in michigan with, with the hunting number and, and you know things like that?

Speaker 2: 55:36

um, well, I think we have roughly like half a million tags or something like that that are sold a year or in between, half million or yeah, 500 000 to a million tags that are sold. Uh, but we're, we're down. Oh, yeah, she right, sure enough. Uh, we're early 2000s. We had about 800,000 deer hunters and we're down to about half a million. So our hunter numbers have declined tremendously in the last 15 years. Um, but we can. We can feel it from the standpoint of the amount of people who are like man, I'd like to get into hunting, but I don't have a mentor.

Speaker 2: 56:22

I really, I really am a firm believer that the baby boomer generation dying off is the is the biggest reason for that. They were giant hunters, I mean, they were. That whole generation had to grow up to do whatever they could to survive, you know, um, and so them them passing away. You're losing a lot, of a lot of hunters. The regulations changing, I mean our state switched it to where you have to e electronically, um, confirm that you shot a deer, um, and there's a lot of people that are pissed about that. So they're just making it so that it's a little bit more challenging for people who are like I. That's just the straw in the camel's back for me kind of thing. Where I'm like I've been on Illinois you gotta electronically do that every year and I think it's great because it's more, you're getting better numbers for the DNR and for NRC to be able to actually confirm how many deer are actually shot, versus me just punching my tag and wrapping it around my deer and processing it myself. So it's definitely interesting.

Speaker 2: 57:24

I'm a little concerned to see what's going to happen in the future with hunter numbers, because the amount of mature bucks that are starting to get shot is going up as well and that the only reason that that makes sense to me is that we're our numbers are down. My generation or generate our generation is interested in managing deer, so we're letting go smaller deer. But I don't, I don know. I don't know how we're going to get people, how we're going to get kids to be excited about does I love does. Don't get me wrong. I mean I feel like I'm like the Kip Campbell of Michigan where I just freaking love shooting does, but not everybody's that way. So I've got to make killing does great again, I guess.

Speaker 1: 58:10

A hundred percent, definitely definitely do. All right. So I got a few more for you. You know I'm going to, I'm going to get you with our classic questions, for we have with every new guest that we have on here. So if you could have for two weeks, money is not an option, don't, doesn't matter. What is your dream animal and where would it be? Alaskan moose there we go no questions asked.

Speaker 1: 58:39

Alaskan moose I'm right there with you. Everyone knows that. Everyone who listens to this show knows that that's in a flow. I would like to do it on. You know, float the river for two weeks and my gosh moose.

Speaker 2: 58:53

I would do a lot for that. I, I'm actually supposed to be in three years doing northern ontario moose, but if you're not, if you're non-resident, it's art, it's firearm. Only they don't allow resident or non-residents to use archery equipment. So, um, yeah, alaska, alaska, most of the bow would be my dream, otherwise kodiak grizzly. But I think that my biggest thing is I elk is. There's so many elk in our country and in canada that and everybody wants to do elk and it just doesn't. It just doesn't trip my trigger the way that everybody else does. Um, like, for instance, I go to maryland sika deer hunting, I go to your neck of the woods, um, and this is gonna be my second year going to maryland sika deer hunting and I, I just I love it. It's like mini elk, right, um, and not a lot of people are into that and maybe, maybe that's partially why I'm like I'll get an elk someday, but it just doesn't trip my trigger.

Speaker 1: 59:56

I want to go down my one of our team guys, peyton. He's from Maryland and so we do have plans on doing that and everything like that at some point. But you know, I always tell people like when you're going through this, like your dream animal is something that's very hard to achieve, and I think elk hunting is just it's pretty easy to achieve in, in my opinion you know, I know they've made it a little harder, I think next year.

Speaker 1: 1:00:22

I think colorado made it there's no more over the the counter tags or or something like that. So yeah, it's going to make it a little bit. But but you have Utah, you have New Mexico, like damn, we have PA. Pa has them. You guys have them. You know, I think.

Speaker 1: 1:00:37

And also, if you're looking at a price range, you're not looking at the same price range like go to go to Alaska. You know, depending where you're from, you're going to have to take two flights, you know. Then you're going to have to take that, that small plane to wherever you're going. Then you're going to have to fly, you know, you know the float plane or whatever they are, and you're going to have to go to some remote area. That it's. It's a lot of money, it's a lot of time, it's a lot of traveling and you know it's just not like it's a dream, because you know, at the end of the day, I swear and I pray that it happens and I would give a lot for it to happen but it may not be achievable. Where elk, like, honestly, if I want to go elk, I could probably go hunt elk this year and it's.

Speaker 2: 1:01:21

Yeah, it's not actually a dream, it's. It's something that could be a reality for anybody. I agree with you 100, I mean. I think my ultimate dream is desert bighorn sheep, because I'm fascinated with sheep, but that one's like. At least with a moose I'm like I think I can scrape together 30 grand and figure out how to go on a moose hunt, but I don't think I've got 70 grand laying around for sheep and I don't know that I'd ever have 70 grand.

Speaker 2: 1:01:50

And I hired a guy for points actually, so he takes care of all my points laying around for a sheep, and I don't know that I'd ever have 70 grand. So it's like, and I, I hired a guy for points actually, so he takes care of all my points, so he, he knows that I want to do, I mean I think I applied for, I think, eight different states, 15 different species or 16 different species, um, so, and he's awesome, I mean he just takes care of it all so I don't have to worry about it. It's a pain in the butt knowing what States you need to apply for when, um, and I want to do the sheep someday, and that's the only way that I could ever see it being feasible is by applying for 25 years, and yeah, it's a lot.

Speaker 1: 1:02:29

Yeah, no, it's definitely a lot, lot um typical or non-typical whitetail I'm split.

Speaker 2: 1:02:42

Give me a giant eight point. Like I shot 154 inch eight point a few years ago and like now I want a 168 point. Uh, give me, give me a gigantic eight point, or non-typical, like a mainframe 10.

Speaker 1: 1:02:56

I'm like nah, not interested, so non-typical for sure, otherwise a giant eight there's nothing that looks like giant eights look just so so impressive like it's oh yeah, giant eights look just so so impressive like it's oh yeah, when you picture a deer, a deer that's what you picture, like that, just that frame, and everything like that. Or sixes I love big sixes, like I had a lot.

Speaker 2: 1:03:21

And now sixes I I think I found a very big, tall six and there's just something about a six that is just like I don't know, it's beautiful I chased 130 inch six point last year and I spent a lot of time trying to get after him and I just couldn't, I couldn't, I couldn't close the door. I mean he had over 24 inch beams. The dude is he was gnarly. Um, yeah, big sixes and big eights. The eight point I'm after this year's in Michigan it was in the one forties with over 10 inch brow times. So I'm I'm hoping I can close the door on this dude this year, but definitely we'll see you.

Speaker 1: 1:04:03

Uh, you're a. True, you're a. You're a snack guy in the woods.

Speaker 2: 1:04:07

Oh, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 1:04:08

What's your go-to hunting snack?

Speaker 2: 1:04:11

Cosmic brownies All day, all day, you can't go wrong. Or Cinnabons Cinnabons are good too Anything you can get from a gas station that makes you feel like shit. It's just a little bit of nutrients for the day, right, if you can call it that.

Speaker 1: 1:04:32

Oh yeah, um, if you could, if you could own property in any state, what state would it be to hunt?

Speaker 2: 1:04:39

uh, honestly, probably michigan. Um, I love our state and I would look for property in the northern lower um in the Cadillac region that someday, if I ever drew for an elk, I could shoot an elk on my own property, I could bear hunt on my own property and could manage deer so you could shoot three awesome big game species all in one state. Um, and partially because it's it's close to home, I don't want to leave my family and my friends they're we're very close and tight niche. So if I was like, oh, I had a falling out with everybody, then I'd be like, okay, I'm gonna go buy a ranch in montana, uh, but uh, to have a falling out with everyone you're close to is uh, got to do something pretty dumb. So we're to stick here in Michigan, unless I was a douche all of a sudden.

Speaker 1: 1:05:33

So yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:05:39

If you could get sponsored by one company, what would it be? Ooh, one company. Oh, that's a good question. One company, oh, man, yeah, you got me there.

Speaker 2: 1:05:56

I would probably say I go a lot of different routes for this, because at one end I'm thinking of, like hunt wise, which is our, is a you know, the mapping software. Like onyx, um, because they're michigan-based, is where they were founded, um, but we already do stuff with them, so I can't really use them. Uh, I, I would. I would probably go with the boat manufacturer, um, I would go.

Speaker 2: 1:06:33

I would want to run with a younger company or a company that's rebranding. So I'd go with like elite um, I shoot an elite they were. They went under new management recently and I've changed up a bunch of things and I heard the culture. They're shifting and doing really good things and I think it'd be fun to be with a company that's not necessarily like the Matthews of the world, where you're kind of insignificant. So I would go with a company like that, where you have a little bit more involvement and you're somebody to them and you get to grow with them and they grow with you. I'm a firm believer that a rising tide raises all ships. So I want to be with a younger company like elite.

Speaker 1: 1:07:15

Yeah, I mean I've. I've heard great things about elite over the last couple of years, like they have definitely shifted the tides. Um, what's the? If you could only hunt one week out of the year, what week would you be picking?

Speaker 2: 1:07:32

Uh, I would be in central illinois at our deer farm down there, october 20 to october 27 or october 22 to halloween. Pre-rut to the rut. I'm not. I'm not a big fan of the rut. I love the pre-rut.

Speaker 1: 1:07:48

It's a big answer for for a lot of people. They always say that like the rut is just so unpredictable, you know you're. If you're chasing a specific deer, you're probably not going to kill that specific deer, but if you're looking for a deer that's just going to be cruising through, you may have opportunity. I mean, I drew back at, you know, one of the bucks. I named him, kong um, had two or three years experience with him, had him at 12 yards but he was chasing does and I could not get him to stop. I was met, met, I was screaming and he just did not care whatsoever like he was, just like going all over the place. So it does make it a very frustrating time frame to kill a specific deer or to even get a deer to to stay still for for a second.

Speaker 2: 1:08:41

But um we, we have so much fun at our illinois deer farm, the pre-rut it the the deer are just interested enough in calling so you can call them. That's what I love about the pre-rut is you get a deer to come in to check out a doe decoy or they think it might be the early, like a doe is an early estrus. And I just think that pre-rut you get a lot more deer just cruising around looking for that first deer or first doe. But yet they're still in normal ranges, right, they're not going miles at that point.

Speaker 2: 1:09:15

And I chased a giant buck last year that way, missed him with my bow, ended up catching up with him late november and I mean he was a giant, he was 170 inch deer and just chasing him and in the early pre-rut, having 10 different encounters with him and nothing was close enough after I missed him with my bow, it's like that was so cool. Um, that was a great experience. And you just see deer doing deer things still instead of just horny things where they don't really know what they're doing.

Speaker 1: 1:09:42

They're just running around yeah yeah so I I always say um, you know my saying, for, for the rut, it's like you're, you're going out to a bar or a club and you've done a bunch of cocaine and Red Bull and Vodka's and you're just all over the damn place. Um, you know, if you have the the opportunity to to hunt with one person, um, you know, it could be a relative, it could be someone famous, it could be a relative, it could be someone famous. They could be living, they could be of deceased. Um, you know who? Who would you pick? Um?

Speaker 2: 1:10:24

um, probably, I'm a big ted nugent guy. Uh, ted Nugent would be a riot. Uh, you can go to his deer camp. He's in Michigan, he's a Michigan guy. Um, but you can go. I've thought about paying to go hunt his high fence just so I can spend time with him at his deer camp. Uh, I think it'd be a riot. I think he's just hilarious. Um, if I was going to go more of a serious route, um, I would probably say my grandpa, who died when I was young. But he's the reason why we're hunters. Or, um, uh, oh my gosh, golly, oh my gosh, clay newcomb did a huge podcast on what's his name. It was a giant bear hunter way back when. Anyways, it doesn't matter, but one of those old guys like a Fred bear kind of thing where you could learn a lot from somebody. I think that'd be fascinating.

Speaker 1: 1:11:23

Yeah, so family would be grandpa, for you know, just to see a riot, would be Ted Nugent. And then you know, like a friend, those are all good, all, all great ones. Um, and then you know, really, last one, you know I got for you here today. Um, you know what, what would be your, your, what's the five-year plan for for you guys over there? You know what, what do you hope to achieve in the next five years?

Speaker 2: 1:11:47

Yeah, I want to be able to be a company where we're sustaining processors, to be able to take in those. So I want to be able to get to the point that we can pay processors more than enough money to take in does and have anywhere from 10 to 15 processors partnered with us, Um, and we can pay them anywhere from 30 to 50 bucks a year that's donated and we can help shift the culture in Michigan. So that'd be, that'd be my dream. My goal with this company is to continue to to grow out that way and way and continue to bless people who who don't have enough meat.

Speaker 1: 1:12:37

So yeah, no, I, I love it and you know, I hope that is all achievable for you guys and in the future. You know, tim, it was an absolute pleasure getting you on any. Any last words.

Speaker 2: 1:12:52

Yeah, I gotta. I gotta cheers I want to share with you, man. I mean, I know it's a, it's 10 AM here, but I wrote a cheers in the deer stand one time and it was something that I love sharing with other people. So here's my cheers, man, to the deer, not the deer that are hung on the wall, but the deer that someday soon will fall. We will not forget the mighty chase and putting delicious loins right on our plates, for it does not matter how big or small, because, at the end of the day, the trophies to us all. Each trophy stir tells a tale that will last for other without fail. So grab a beer or fill up a glass. It's your signet. And, lazy ladies, let's kick some ass.

Speaker 1: 1:13:23

That is fun. I love that that's a good one. That's a good one.

Speaker 2: 1:13:29

I like that. So, cheers man, thanks for having me on. I really appreciate your time.

Speaker 1: 1:13:32

Cheers man. Yeah, appreciate it Everyone. I hope you guys enjoyed this episode. The links are going to be down below. Go support them. And also one more thing even though you know we're able to to Venmo you guys money, so when you guys are doing this, we can donate and everything like that through through Venmo and things like that.

Speaker 2: 1:13:49

Correct Yep that through Venmo and things like that, correct? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, buy some merchandise, that way you can rock it back home. So that's the best thing that people could ever do is I mean people walking around saying, oh, what's that shirt? We got a pretty cool thing going on right now Miles for Meat. We got a buddy running 46.6 miles, so we got logos with his shirt on a shirt and it's really cool what he's doing.

Speaker 1: 1:14:13

And we on a shirt and it's. It's really cool what he's doing and he's just uh, we're selling shirts to raise funds for what we do. So Definitely, everyone, make sure you guys go check them out. No-transcript.