A Poetic Cold Open

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Every heart has a moment in the wisdom of Christ. The earth shows and times those days. And in that stillness, you realize you're not chasing these changes. Where we go beyond the sides, the chosen, go deeper into the stories that fuel the fires. We hide miles into the public lands. From the fast country to the vast roads. We sit down for the fires and trappers. We live for the thrill. Embrace the unknown and return for the stories we're telling. This is more than a podcast. This is a start of something real. Let's chase it.

SPEAKER_01 1:02

Welcome back, everyone. And on this episode of Chase the Unknown, we sit down with Johnny Bauman, hunter, innovator, and the mind behind tagged and bagged. What started out as a solution to a common problem in the field, how to properly protect and transport your trophy has now become one of the most talked-about pre-taxidermy patching packaging systems in the game. We talk hunting, being an entrepreneur, and the journey of building a brand that's changed the way outdoors and preserve their hard-earned success. If you ever wonder what it takes to turn a great idea into a real product for the hunting community, this one's for you. Let's dive in, everybody, and welcome to the show. Welcome to the Chasty Unknown. How's it going? It's going great, man. Thanks for having me on. I appreciate it. Of course, you know, um, the funny thing is before we I remember, so before I met you at the Great American Outdoor Show and everything like that, actually Tag and Bag was popping up on the on Instagram on like requested and everything like that. I was like, wow, like that's a pretty cool, like neat system. Like, all right, you know, I can get behind this because I have no idea. I never knew like how the hell to transport waterfowl, and now you guys got into a whole nother game and everything like that. But like for waterfowl, I'm so new to waterfowl. This whole I just completed my second season goose hunting and I my third third season duck hunting. Um, so I brought a duck um last year. I had no idea. He was like, Oh yeah, well, you should do this, this, and then I was like, Well, ain't no one told me. I like I I how the hell am I supposed to know? And then I killed this really big uh goose this year, and you know, I wanted uh wanted a goose one, but same thing, like I had nothing to prepare it with. I I just sat in my freezer for a little bit and obviously got freezer burnt and everything like that. Um and then we go to the great American outdoor show after you know seeing you guys pop up. And at first I I I didn't I didn't know you guys were there, and we're we're in the waterfowl section, and my fiance actually should look at and I was like, oh my god, I was like, that's so funny because like I literally just saw your guys' page. Like it couldn't have been like more than like two or three weeks before uh the great American outdoor show and everything like that. And you know, we stopped by and everything. We grabbed we grabbed a couple of packages and everything like that, and you know, now we we got you guys on, so it's crazy how small this uh this world can really be.

SPEAKER_03 3:34

Dude, that's so true, man. Yeah, it's crazy. You know, we got that so much, like, oh my god, I saw your ads, I saw your ads, you know, and it's so cool to be able to meet the people that actually have seen and used our product before, man. It's been a very, very cool thing, and like you say, man, I had no idea how to package a bird properly until I started doing this stuff and researching, you know. Like I was such an idiot, I'd throw them in garbage bags, Walmart bags, and my tax sermon would be like, What are you doing, man? Like, you know.

The Moment The Problem Was Obvious

SPEAKER_01 4:05

Yeah, that I think the last one, the geose, uh, yeah, he was like, What the hell? He was like, Yeah, I was like, All right, I was like, Don't worry, like, you know what? We'll scratch us when I go. I got it. Total was like, I got a new system, so don't worry, next year, the good the big one that I shoot, or if I shoot a banded one I go, we won't have that issue because I'm already preset to uh for waterfowl next year and everything like that. But um, before we dive into you know the brand and everything like that, you know, give everyone out their quick uh quick backstory.

SPEAKER_03 4:33

Well, the whole backstory behind Tagged and Bagged is that I took some buddies out hunting and um they're brand new duck hunters, it was late in the season, and we shot some stud greenheads, and they are like, dude, we want to mount them, it's our first birds. I'm like, I don't really know how to package them. Like, I know there's a right way, and then I thought I knew the right way, and I didn't know the right way. Then I started doing some research, digging around, and I'm like, man, well, I watched these videos and they had like all these certain different things, like wet towelettes and all this different stuff. And I'm like, dude, I don't even have a freezer bag the right size. I'm like, oh my god. So I had to run 15 minutes into town to go get the freezer bags, and I like by the time I dicked around, it'd be like an hour before I even got these birds in the freezer. So I'm like, come on, there's gotta be a kid out there, and there wasn't. So I'm like, all right, I gotta make a solution for this. So I started making them for me and my buddies, and then my buddies are like, dude, you gotta sell these, man. Like, people could really, really use this product. So then I uh just kind of researched harder and harder, tried to figure out how to make it in America, and uh yeah, we we just hammered away, brother.

What The Tagged And Bagged Kit Includes

SPEAKER_01 5:43

I think you know, one of the greatest things, like I always hear every time we have somebody on who you know is creating something, they always start out as I just made it for me and my friends, and then like all right, it it hit the spot, and then people are like, Oh, like either you should sell this or like oh, where can I get this at? You know what I mean? And it it's I think that's always like it's always great when you know, especially like somebody like you, you know, or the little companies, like when the big companies do this, like when they have all this money and and everything like that to do it, it's like, all right, like cool, they they came out with another product, but it's so important to, you know, somebody, small business owners and everything like that, who you know, like you, you you created something out of just trying to for you and your friends, or thank God you, you know, your buddies wanted to get out there and waterfowl hunt and um created this this awesome new product. So um really excited to to talk about that uh here. So, you know, why don't you you know go in to kind of talk about what the what the product exactly is?

SPEAKER_03 6:50

Yeah, so our first original product was our duck kit and the goose kit, which was just a larger size of it. So basically it's just an outer bag, it's waterproof, sealed up, ready to go. You can leave it in your blind bag, back of the truck the whole season, it's gonna be safe. Um, and then everything from the outside to the inside is 100% made in America. And we researched it and it's backed by over 350 taxidermists right now. Um, so that was a big thing, you know, just getting all their ideas to generally get it. But on the inside, when you open it up, you're gonna find a uh really nice handy-dandy direction sheet. Super simple. Front sides all like explanation, simple steps, backside. You can flip it over, scan it, watch our video on how to do it. Um, and then you're gonna get a freezer bag. Freezer bags three times thicker than a regular freezer bag, so it's really durable. It's actually custom size. So, like our goose kit will actually fit up to a turkey and up to a swan. So they're they're really big. Yeah, they're huge. And then you got your towelettes on the inside, you wet those, wrap the head and the feet, uh, the gauze ball for the mouth to soak up any blood when you're kind of flailing it around. It helps stop the blood from going back on the feathers and stuff like that. And then straps to strap on the the um the towelettes and stuff like that. And then your migratory bird tag, that's a huge part that we added this last year. Um, when you're traveling across state lines, or let's say you got a pile of birds in the back of your truck, they got to be labeled and listed whose birds are whose, and that way you are legal to travel with it. Otherwise, you can get fined for it. So that was another thing we worked out with uh good buddy of ours who owns the migratory bird tags company. And uh yeah, man, no, it's been an awesome journey. It's been so cool to do all this for sure.

SPEAKER_01 8:41

Yeah, I mean it it first of all, because you know, I'm creating this, like the good thing about show boating is you get to go out and do what you do, you know, you get to go on a hunt and everything like that and show people this brand new product and everything like that. And like, you know, like I've said, and you know, what I probably imagine so many people have said to you, like, oh, that this is like this is great and unique because I've never known how to do this. And you know, I don't it I've asked taxidermists and they've kind of like said the same thing, like, oh, like, yeah, you do this and do this, but like at the end of the day, like for those everyday hunters or somebody who's new, like like your buddies, or somebody who doesn't really have the money always to to get taxidermic work done. When you want to get it done and you kill a bird that you're like, oh, I need to preserve this. You want the correct tools to make sure you're preserving it so it gets to the taxidermist okay, no problems, everything like that, because the last thing you want to do is you know, show up freeze or burn and everything like that, or it all destroyed and not being e one, either be too damaged to work on, or you know, it's just not gonna turn out the way that you would originally want it to.

SPEAKER_03 9:55

Yeah, amen to that, man. And like it's been really cool the testing because, like, you know, I wasn't like full on believer at first, but then the more and more we talked to taxer must, we just took all their minds, mushed them into one. But then when we actually tested it and put birds in the freezer, just in a regular freezer bag alone, and then just no freezer bag at all, and then our kits like the craziness of the difference, man, over like even just a year, it is just nuts. But our kits will actually work for uh ducks and geese for three plus years, which is really cool. So if I so if a guy, you know, I'm I was a younger kid, man. I I was trying to think it, think it through, you know, because I could never afford a mount right away. I had to wait, yeah. So, like, you gotta make it able to last a long time.

Taxidermist Backing And Real Freezer Testing

SPEAKER_01 10:40

Yeah, and you know, also not only younger, but when you get older too, like everyday life comes up, you know, you're like, Oh, like I'm gonna go drop this this bird off at the taxidermist tomorrow, you know, and then something happens, you know, you gotta go to work, or you know, you gotta take care of the kids, or or whatever the occasion is, like, all right, now this bird's gotta sit in in the freezer for whoever knows how long, you know what I mean? So it's another great thing. So, you know, when you first came up with the idea, you know, when you started reaching out to taxidermists, what was kind of the the original feedback? Was everyone like really, you know, excited and on board right away, or was there a little bit of that like uh some people didn't answer and and things like that?

SPEAKER_03 11:25

You know, there is everybody has their own opinion because there's never been a product like this. So it was it was very it was very like difficult in a certain sense to get everybody like okaying the exact product we had, but the idea behind it, everybody loves it. Taxidermists. I mean, they they're like, dude, the less work they gotta do, like trying to make the bird look better and like trying to fix all the problems, like all the busted up feathers, the the feet that are freezer burnt down to like beef jerky strips, you know. So the idea behind it, they love it and they promote it in their own sense. We have a ton of taxidermists that keep it on their own shelves at the shop, too, which is really cool. Um but man, it's it it honestly really blew up for us last year in December. It was it just went wild, and like you know, I've been super blessed. I've been blessed enough to quit my job, my full-time job, and uh yeah, man, it's just it's been a blessing all through and through, brother.

SPEAKER_01 12:26

Yeah, I mean, uh and I and I could see why. I mean, at first, obviously, you you know, with any type of product business, there is that period what it does take, but once it catches, you know, and something like this, where like you said, nothing like this has ever been created for before. So, you know, you you created something there that was in a real big need, and I think you know waterfowl is just growing as a sport, more and more people are are are getting into it. I think um, like I said, I I got into it like uh one of my buddies, Justin, he does a really good job of getting people into waterfowl. I mean, this man can call like no other he knows like he's like a guru when it comes to this, you know. So he's done a really good job at getting like multiple people into. I think last year, I think he took probably at least seven or eight new hunters out where in the blind with us at all different times. Um, I've become absolutely extremely obsessed with waterfowl because of him um showing me uh when we went on our first uh duck hunt. It wasn't the best hunt, it was pouring rain and everything like that. And of course, the one time the birds weren't really flying well. One time we're like, all right, we put the guns down real quick and go grab like a drink of our coffees and everything. And then, of course, like I think two or three black ducks flew right into our decoys. And like I was like, okay, you know, yeah, yeah. So, you know, but it it was absolutely dicting of a time. And I think a big part of why people are growing more to it because unlike deer hunting, and we all love deer hunting hunting and everything like that, and it deer hunting has its time, but then after you're stressing and you know, you're just grinding the whole entire time, not communicating really with anyone, just you know, you have to play the wind, you're you're set everything like that. Yeah, you go into the waterfowl mode, you can get a bunch of your buddies and everything, you get to talk, laugh, like you know, we cook food and everything like that. You're having a grand time, and you know what? If you do miss one, cool. There's gonna be thousands more, especially with geese. There's gonna be thousands more coming in. So I think it's a lot easier to get a new hunter into waterfowl than it is like any other thing.

SPEAKER_03 14:44

Amen to that, man. That's really cool that your buddy's done that too. Like, there is nothing better than like you get the new guys out there and they're shooting their first birds, man, seeing them all excited or missing their first birds, seeing them all excited, you know, jazzed up. And man, there's nothing like it. That's so cool to hear that you guys do that with them boys.

Trial And Error Building The First Kits

SPEAKER_01 15:03

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It it's it's become a thing. We try to do that with everybody, like we try to get as many people. We're trying really hard to grow the outdoors. You know, we host events and everything like that, game dinners, the stuff like that. Like, we really like growing the outdoors because this is what we have, and you know, it's it's always going to be threatened. But you know, this is just a like I said, a product that is absolutely incredible. So, you know, still more on the beginning and everything like that. You know, when you're getting the feed, like what did the trial and error kind of like obviously without giving out too much information, like look like for you? How was it? Was it frustrating at times, you know? Um, you know, what what was that kind of like?

SPEAKER_03 15:45

Yeah, man. No, anytime you start a business, you have to accept that at some point something is not gonna go right, it's just natural. And I wouldn't call it a failure, it's a learning point. That's the biggest thing. And we had learning points, like, even our outer bags. It was literally at the beginning, it was a black bag with a white sticker on the front. It was completely trash, it was absolutely horrible. Like, I don't even know how we sold even one of those kids, like, it looked just garbage. Like, the new ones look amazing, but it was that learning curve. Like, even at the beginning, we were using nylon stockings on the inside because about 20% of the tax derbists we talked to, they liked it. Well, we realized the more and more we talked to some of these bigger names and some of these newer or these guys getting newer into the industry, they're saying, No, it's not as good. You know, there's a lot of failure that could happen when an actual person uses the kit. Like if it's not done by a taxidermist, it could get jacked up, you could have the feathers the wrong way, all sorts of stuff. So we had to take that out. So, yeah, we lost a lot of money at the beginning, but it you know what, it was it was investing into it, you know. You gotta learn from it, and uh man, it's it's been a cool, cool learning, learning curve, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_01 17:03

Listen, I I would like to see a picture of your OG original bags if you got one, or if you got I I would definitely like to see it. Um second, one second. I think I got one. All right.

SPEAKER_03 17:18

Here's the OG right here. That was I love it, and then I got a goose bag right here, but that's it. Like these are our new ones, you know what I mean? Like these are yeah, big, big difference. Yeah, yeah, big difference. Like this was just a black bag, bro, just garbage.

SPEAKER_01 17:36

But yeah, yeah, but you know what? That that's what it's like starting a brand new, you know. But you gotta start somewhere, you gotta start small, and you're just gonna build yourself up, but you are going to lose a lot of money probably in the beginning until you start seeing that gain. But hey, look at you now. Yeah, man.

SPEAKER_03 17:53

I I about dumped every penny of my life savings into this company, so you know, I was willing to risk it all because I believed in it, you know. I believe through and through that this is a beneficial product for everybody, whether you're new hunter or you've been doing it for 40 years, you know. And that's that's the cool thing about it, man. I've never been so passionate about anything in my life, and uh yeah, it's it's been a blessing so far, definitely.

The Great American Outdoor Show Grind

SPEAKER_01 18:18

I love it, I love it. Um, you know, so how how did you guys get um how'd you guys get to the great American Outdoors? Where where'd the idea come from? Like, all right, now we need to be at the Great American Outdoor Show.

SPEAKER_03 18:30

Man, I I had a couple of buddies of mine.

SPEAKER_01 18:32

So, Dave, I don't know if you know the owner of the finisher, um, but his name is Yeah, yeah, I don't know him, but I I've heard yeah, I've heard of him.

SPEAKER_03 18:40

Yeah, so I I talked to Dave, and actually, he's the reason we switched our packaging. I I give Dave a lot of credit. He's been with us since day one, he's an awesome, phenomenal dude. And he's like, Okay, you guys have to get down to that show. Like, that's the show you have to be at. And we're like, all right, all right, we're gonna do it, you know. So we just full sent it, loaded up the 21-foot trailer and hauled on down there, you know? So, how how far was the drive for you guys? I think it was I think it was 13 hours. All right, not bad, not bad at all. Yeah, not not too bad.

SPEAKER_01 19:18

What was your experience? Like uh this I mean we we go every year, like we we're and when I say we're fiends, like I'm talking about my fiance. She is the one that's always saying we need to stay an extra day. So now we're up to like five or five or six days. Hopefully, eventually we'll get a booth there and everything like that, so we could just stay the whole 10 days so she could be happy. Um, you know what I mean? Um, but it it's it's such a fun time. I mean, I we love going, we love seeing the new products and everything like that. Again, love love meeting you guys there and everything like that. I thought, you know, yeah, that the booth was great. It was in the great, you know, great section. But you know, it's what was your experience? Was that your first time there? So it was first time there.

SPEAKER_03 20:00

I own another company that sells like merchandise and stuff. So I've done expos, but that was definitely the biggest expo I've ever done. Um, it was it was very, very awesome. I mean, I got to meet so many amazing people there, you know. You get to putz around with the vendors, joke around, and you know, man, I I honestly it was just great being there, but man, it's a long show, it is a grinder. And I actually ended up getting pneumonia, um, like the last day there, bro.

SPEAKER_01 20:31

So I was dying. Oh man, that's absolutely brutal. I I've taught, you know, I've I've talked to a bunch of guys there, you know, yet again, same, you know, when you start doing this stuff and everything like that, and you grow, you start meeting so many people. So now like I remember the first time going, I knew nobody, like nobody at the booth knew no, you know what I mean. And we would go and like I didn't know too many people who were visiting, and now it's like turning like I'm at the booth talking to the people at the booth because now I know them and everything like that. You know, you're walking around, you're you're now friends and everything like that, who you're your buddies with, and everything like that. Like, I I you know, you're it it is such a great thing, and it's like I do tell people if like if you want to get to show, and obviously everyone's like, you know, there's shot show and there's there's tack, and listen, this is the show I think to go to. I I want like some more bigger companies also start getting there. Like there's there's still a few that just don't. Obviously, there are still a lot of big companies that that are there. You know, I'm a big broadhead guy and bow hunter, so like you know, I'm a sever guy. So like Sever was there the first year um I went, and then they haven't been back since. Um, you know, Annihilator is always there, like there's always some great stuff like there, uh, people there and everything like that. But it's just funny, like, you know, talking to the guys, and they're like, I'm like, dude, how do you do it? And they're like, listen, it's the same damn conversation over and over and over. He goes, you know, my one bunny. Was like, dude, they're so you know, he went on like one of the busiest days, and he goes, dude, like, I don't know, is it just me that they're like so snippy and short? I go, dude, I imagine they've had the same conversation at least minimum five thousand times. And then, you know, the bigger of um the booth you are more popular, you're gonna so 10,000, 50, you know, how many people go in a day. Like, oh my god, dude. It's not imagine having that conversation. And you know, we went to a show, we started doing our shows and everything like that this year, and it's it was a two-day show, three, three-day show. And I was like, Oh my god, like I'm burnt out after three days and nowhere near at the capacity of what it is at the Great American Outdoor Show. So, like, I can only imagine and then you get sick.

SPEAKER_03 22:45

Oh, god, it was brutal. I was better at it and I couldn't even, I didn't even go back to the show after the last two days. Like my buddy, my buddy and his sister ended up running it the rest of the time. But man, like you said, it like the biggest thing about our company and our product, it it needs to be there's a lot of education that needs to happen before people like actually want to buy it. So we front the education, and then when they buy the product, they have to kind of read the read it and then see it and then use it to educate themselves. So, you know, there's a lot of that, so there's a lot of conversations about what it is, why it helps, and like the reason why it's essential for people to use. So, I mean, do it. It's it was great for us. It was it was awesome.

Expanding Into Fish Kits And Guide Use

SPEAKER_01 23:30

So yeah, I I I can imagine, I I can imagine like that's a show, and you know, the way that you guys also pulled people in, you know, I loved how you guys did the um, you know, the percentage off with the uh Nerf gun and everything like that. Like I thought that was an absolute um, yeah, I thought that was an absolute excellent idea. Um, you know, obviously I saw like that's a boot once I saw it, like I wanted to go, but like say I didn't, that boom right there catches like my attention. Like, okay, like let's just go do this, like let's give it a shot, and then you just get pulled into like all right, like all right, this is a pretty cool product. Like, so I can see how that how that worked and everything like that. Um, while you guys were there, you when did you start working on the new product? Has that been on your mind for a while? Um at the show, was it already in the work? I imagine it had it already be in the works and everything like that while you're at the show.

SPEAKER_03 24:24

Yeah, yeah. We've been in the works since last year on this. So we did a lot of research and studying, and then also a lot of testing already. So with the new uh with the fish kits, man, they are they're pretty sweet. And I I've loved them, but now we're just in that same cycle as we were at the very beginning with the duck and the goose kits, you know, just the the learning process, you know, getting people to understand it, and then also people seeing it being used. So um it's been really good though so far. We we're already without uh we're about I think we got about 63 guide services running our kits right now for just for the fish and then for the waterfowl. We're over 400 uh 400 outfitters that we work with.

SPEAKER_01 25:13

Wow, I love that. That's that's absolutely great. Um, what were some of the the challenges? I mean, I know obviously still you're you guys are going through through stuff and and learning everything like that, but like when you first got the idea or like what were some of the challenges because fish is just a completely different uh different animal when it comes to uh for taxidermy. I and I never knew, and that's always been my biggest question is like I if I ever get a trophy fish, which I you know, of course the the breeder trout that I caught that was my biggest trout ever, it was during catching and release, so I had to give it back. But even if I wanted to keep it, like I was like, what the hell do I even do? How do I even do this?

SPEAKER_03 25:53

Yeah, man. No, the probably the hardest part is um a lot of people do use those replica mounts, which are which is really cool, you know. A lot of guys do that, but when we talked to taxidermists, it was still about 70% of people do skin mounts and 30% do replicas. But the biggest problem was trying to figure out the right size. So, like we have anything up to a 36-inch fish will fit in our kit. So there's still guys that want bigger sizes, and there's extra bag, you know, for smaller fish. Like, let's say you catch a 12-inch bluegill. Well, you got a lot of excess bag, but there's ways to work around it, and it still will work for it. But uh, we kind of want it based off of a walleye. Um, so a big thing up here is our walleye fishing. So I knew those were my home routes, and a lot of the guys I know that go out would use it, you know. So that's kind of where we stuck, but man, it was pretty neat trying to figure it all out, and the hardest part of it all all the time is making it 100% made in America. It is very difficult, and thank god we did it with all those tariffs going on and stuff, like and everything else. I mean, it's I could totally imagine, yeah. It's great to be American made too, man. I'd rather I'd rather pay extra to support a company that's in America than pay overseas, you know. I I want to keep it that way for the rest of time.

SPEAKER_01 27:18

I I I 100% agree. You know, whenever I can I buy American made, yeah, it's gonna cost me a little bit extra, but you know, it it's it's the better, and especially like yet again, we go back to small businesses. Big businesses, a lot of big businesses, they put their money over overseas and everything like because then they they don't they don't really care how you know not to get political, hopefully, you know, the whole tariffs thing starts to to change some some stuff and everything like that. But um obviously small businesses, you know, especially the ones that get American, like those are the ones like all right, cool. Like I'm just gonna go with this just because it's American made and like I want to show them some support and everything like that. But American made, you're a lot of people are just gonna choose products because of American made, and you know, I I I to know a thing that that's absolutely great, that's gonna get the people to be like, all right, let's let's go buy this and support this.

SPEAKER_03 28:14

Yeah, man, exactly. And that's the biggest thing is like we had to figure out a right price point too. So, like, like when we go and buy, like, let's say the bags, okay. It being American made, we can't buy 500 bags. You have to buy thousands and thousands of bags. There's a lot of risk up front, but you know what, man? I'd take quality products for a reasonable price over shit products at a reasonable price, you know. I mean, like, I'm gonna make sure it's the best of the best, and that's what I love, man. It's I'm I'm so happy we did it this way.

SPEAKER_01 28:51

And honestly, your the pricings are are still pretty damn good for for what you guys got, um, you know, online and everything like that. Those are still pretty good prices. Um, especially yet again, this is all preservation. So like it could end up costing you more if your your waterfowl's ruined, if your fish is ruined, you know. It could honestly take also take away a memory if your your animal is so ruined so badly that you don't get to, you may not even get to, you know. I've I've heard taxidermists be like, yeah, listen, some stuff is just so beyond repair and everything like that. And and that sucks because it's like, uh, like I I couldn't imagine, you know, somebody calling me like, hey, listen, you know, that um that green head that you you shot your first one, like, you know, we we can't get it done for you, you know, or you know, your banded, your banded bird that you want, you know, mounted and everything like that. Like, uh, it's it's beyond, you know, repair. Like that, I think that's more way more heartbreaking than just paying uh just a little bit of money, like I said. Obviously, I don't I don't think that's uh those are those are bad prices at all compared to what the taxidermist is gonna is gonna charge anyway.

SPEAKER_03 30:06

Yeah, man, exactly. We've been actually working with a couple taxidermists, and uh so what what we do with them is we give them the kits, they buy them, you know, at a retail price or whatever, but they'll give them out to their clients, and the whole rule is you know, they pay 25 bucks for the kit or whatever, then when they bring it back, they get 25 off their mount because it's gonna be worth it to the taxidermist, you know what I mean, to basically give it away for free because they're getting back a bird that's gonna be way easier to work on for them, and they get to spend more time on the details than uh you know just trying to fix all the jacked up parts of the bird. That's that's pretty cool.

Hunting Roots Travel And Bucket List Goals

SPEAKER_01 30:47

That's a that's a great idea for sure. Yeah, man. Um, so you know, for for you now, like you know, I just want to kind of get a little into to you personally hunting and everything like that before you know we get back to everything like that. But you know, when did uh when did uh you start hunting?

SPEAKER_03 31:05

Dude, I started I started going out with my dad when I was just a little kid. My dad actually we used to field hunt and he used to take me in a wheelbarrow and push me out there. Dead serious man. I got a picture of it, it's so funny. But um, man, I started kind of more like actually hunting when I was 12. Um, I grew up, my dad never really was like a super avid duck hunter or deer hunter, but we went out and like our kind of duck hunting was like we go out in the morning, shoot all the dumb birds early in the morning, then we wait for everybody to leave the lake and we go jump shooting. So, dude, my dad was a mastermind at jump shooting, like dude would be crawling through the reeds and then popping up, just boom, boom, boom, shoot like three birds and one one string up birds, and I'm like, dang, dude. Like, so that's kind of how I started off. And then uh when I turned like surprise 16, 17 when I got my license, man. I just started cruising around, finding ducks, and you know, then I started traveling, going up to North Dakota, and you know, then it just started burning like a wildfire, man. Now I'm obsessed. Like, I wish hunting season was year-round, like it's bad.

SPEAKER_01 32:16

Yeah, how was how was North Dakota when you went?

SPEAKER_03 32:20

Oh, dude, it is just tornadoes of birds, man. And I I really love scouting, so I'm the type of guy we get back from a hunt, clean the birds, and I'll hop back in the truck and just start driving because finding those tornadoes, man, it is like, oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 32:37

That's insane. That is insane. We we had um we not with ducks, but with with geese. I mean, this year, just the amount of geese, like we were in a fly, like we're in a flyway. Yep, and it was like you're you're kind of like deaf. Like there's just so many, and they're just circling and circling, and they're landing and said like thousands on thousands. I mean, I think I I easily gotta say like one hunt, maybe over exact, but at least probably like 10,000 birds. I believe you, man. That's nuts. Just like, and you know, I think almost every hunt we either limit it out or we got to the point, obviously, we're band checking every and everything like that, and you you know, you start to get picky, and then you lose count of how many birds are you're like, all right, like just in case, let's hold out here. We don't want to shoot over our limit, so like it's like, oh, like, yeah, cool, like that. We'd be like one short, but it's because we literally just like stop shooting birds and we're only picking out like certain birds and everything like that, you know, where it was just like absolutely insane. But yeah, water, I mean, I can only imagine, like, I keep hearing like North Dakota and like these places, just like I would be in heaven, and then you know, one of my buddies they would be just absolutely through the moon to go over and see see that with ducks and everything like that.

SPEAKER_03 34:06

Yeah, man, exactly. And like I went out there, and when I started, you know, you start off not having any land, but the guys I went out with had some land, but then over these like past four years, I've gathered about 20,000 acres of permission just from driving around, talking to farmers. Big thing here in Wisconsin, cheese. We we have tons of cheese, tons of beer. So I just drop, I make my rounds every year, dropping off my cheese sticks and you know all that kind of stuff, and you know, and it it's super cool, you know. We respect their land, we clean up after ourselves, and yeah, I think that's the biggest thing when you go out there.

SPEAKER_01 34:45

What um what ducks haven't you shot yet?

SPEAKER_03 34:50

Oh god, man. I so a lot on the diver side of things, but I just took a trip out to Vancouver Island. I don't know if you know where that is. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, just north of Washington there. It's uh it was a 36-hour drive this last year. I took so I went all the way out there to go. That's insane. That's insane, yeah, dude. So 36 hours. But I would do it too.

SPEAKER_01 35:18

Yeah, that's sick though. Like that is so worth it.

SPEAKER_03 35:20

Yeah, and then we shot our Harley Quinn, our barrels goldeneyes, and then uh a bunch of red breasted McGanser, um, our surf scoters, our common scooters. Um, but I got I think I I forget, I gotta look at my list again, but I think I'm at 32 out of the 41. Um so I'm getting up there, but but impressive.

SPEAKER_01 35:42

That's that's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_03 35:44

Yeah, I mean, but it's been a grind, bro. It's like I said, I travel all over, so I was just down in Texas last year, too. And so Texas was nuts, man. I'm not kidding. We shot what was it? We shot like 54 birds in I don't know, like three hours. It was just stupid. It was a it was a bigger group of guys, but all we did was line up on this little mill pond and we just slaughtered. That was uh was the Gatlin guides down in central Texas, they're phenomenal guys.

SPEAKER_01 36:16

That's pretty wicked. My my buddy lives in Texas and he he he uh with du and everything like that, so he's always waterfowl hunting. He's I mean he hunts everything down there, but um he just slays just waterfowl. He went from living in my town to Vermont to now he's in he's in Texas and just absolutely loving Texas. Dude, that's so sick. I hear everybody loves Texas. I love Texas too, but I can't like I'm a winter person. Like I need to I need to have my seasons, and when it comes to like deer hunting, I don't know. I just I just couldn't couldn't love it there to deer hunt. Like I love the lot smaller too. Yeah, you know, it's just completely different. Would I would I get a vacation home there? Yeah, would I go down there to hunt every year for a couple weeks if I have the opportunity? Like, yeah, like he's flew, he's flown in um, we did a podcast with them. Uh and he was talking about the time they went on a hog hunt in a helicopter and they were soaring like 10 feet off the ground and just absolutely just slaughtering hogs. And I'm like, that that's a like one of my my dream is obviously a moose hunt. Everyone knows that who listens to the our shows and everything like that, but in Alaska, but man, doing a hog hunt out of a helicopter with an AR and just like an unlimited amount of rounds, like that is definitely up there as one of the coolest like hunts like you could possibly go on. Yeah, sign me up. I'll sign that dotted line. Right, and like I would I would do that in a in an absolute heartbeat, but um yeah, so how uh have have you uh have you targeted any snows yet?

SPEAKER_03 38:01

Dude, that is one thing I have not messed around with targeting wise. Like I I have I've gotten invites to go out. I had about four or five invites to go out this year, it just didn't work out. Um, I was just so busy, you know, with life and then these new kits and everything else. But I have I have been lucky enough to get on some feeds out there when uh the migration's headed south. And doing them them birds, like I and like my buddies tell me more when they set up actually for them, but those birds coast forever and they circle forever and they take forever to come down, man. So like you really gotta be patient. So to be honest, for the most part, I've only really shot at them at higher distances. I've never really got them in in like I get them at 50-60 yards, you know. I'll poke at one, and if it smacks them in the head and knocks him down, I'm good. But you know, kind of that situation.

SPEAKER_01 38:57

Yeah, my my buddy, he killed he killed one this year, and we were so where we're hunting, there'd be one always flying in in like a flock and everything like that. So, like when we would see it, it'd be like, All right, hold up. We ain't killing any other bird but that bird. Like, if you see it, this is all we're aiming for. Like, let's knock this one down. You end up killing one, and then like we were gonna go for a hunt to do them, and then we're gonna get, but it's just too just too much work, too much. Like, I'll eventually probably want to go do a guided hunt one day just because the amount of decoys you need and everything like that. Um, I'd much rather pay somebody to to do all that work and everything like that. And I just show up to to hunt, I will definitely pay for that. Um, but to like actually like target them, yeah. I don't I don't we may one day, but like it's not in the in the bucket list. But I do want to shoot. I do want to get one, shoot one at least. Like, I want to be able to shoot like everything once. Yeah, dude.

SPEAKER_03 39:51

I know, and the dream for me, like my absolute dream is to do the 41 in in a year. I think a lot of people are trying to do that too, like you know, try and get their 41 done. Um, but man, I got some big dreams, big goals, even with big game. Like, I want to shoot every big game North American mammal you can hunt. Like, that's my dream. Oh, yeah. I want to kill every single mammal that is huntable, and that's that's my biggest dream, I think. But it's gonna take a lot of time, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_01 40:21

Oh, yeah. Yep. Hey, if the company keeps going the way it is, though, you'll have that time.

SPEAKER_03 40:26

Yeah, right. Then I'm gonna have to make moose bags, you know what I mean.

Time Management Discipline And Why It Matters

SPEAKER_01 40:31

That'd be great. Um, oh god, you know, I I know I know one I know one person. Um, you know, he's a buddy of ours, was in Jersey. Um, he's been on the show. I think he's one away from his grand slam. Um wow. And I I think it's I don't correct uh, you know, somebody can correct me out there if I'm wrong if somebody knows if one of our the guys who who knows. I think it's a mountain lion. Oh wow. I want to I want to say mountain lion, I think he's missing. Um, but I'm not a hundred percent sure. Like he's he has a giant, I think he like I think he killed almost like a record moose. I was thinking I think 72 inches like across. Oh my god, like absolutely just insane. And I was just like, that's my dream. Like, I will pay a lot of money for that with a bow. Like, yep, sign me up. Where's the credit card swipe? You know, right? Listen, my fiance, she may divorce me once, you know, I go do that hunt. And you know, not only not only do you have to go do that hunt, but if you kill something, the taxidermy bill. Oh, dude, we complained for deer, bear, and waterfowl. I can only imagine what that taxidermy bill is gonna be like. Oh man, yeah, that's gonna be a rough one for sure for you. Yeah, so you know, you big game too. So, like, you know, you're deer hunting and everything like that out there. Um, I've talked to a bunch of guys in Wisconsin. So, how do you break up your time also with now one, when you're creating the company, everything like that, to now you know, you have to do you still have to do a lot of work for the advertising and you know, making sure everything's good to go, but also having time to get out in the woods, not only to waterfowl hunt, but to also chase other animals.

SPEAKER_03 42:17

Um, I dude there is no such thing as balance in my life. I will say that. Like, I don't it's like you put out a fire when it shows up. So I I just kind of chase fires, man. And like the biggest thing is I know what I love to do, and I have to make time for that, but I also have to make time to grow a business properly. Like, we message just about every single one of our followers at least once a month, try and keep up with them, see how they're doing. You know, we try and be different, you know what I mean. We want to we want to build relationships with people. I don't care if you never even buy my product ever in your life, but hey man, I just want to build that relationship, hear about your hunting stories, that kind of thing. So that's my favorite thing about it. But man, I I think I think there is a sense of some balance of just trying to organize your time and be efficient. Efficiency, I've learned, is everything. You know, you're like trying to do something, and all of a sudden TikTok pops up, and you're like, all of a sudden you just swipe for an hour and you're like, bro, what was I doing?

SPEAKER_01 43:20

Yep, that's why I don't that's why I don't go on TikTok at all. My fiance gets mad. She's like, dude, you have like a hundred messages on TikTok for me. You haven't I go because if I open up one, I'm going to be on TikTok forever. And I have not only do I have to work, but then I'm running a brand, like I run a company. Like there's things that we need to do. I need to edit these videos, I need to do this, I need to do that. Like, you're gonna send me down a damn rabbit hole on TikTok, and I hate I hate it, and I love it and I hate it at the same time, but I refuse. Like, I at least I could justify like if I'm on Instagram, on the company Instagram and looking at hunting stuff, you know, going through stuff like that. I could justify that. At least like I'm doing something somewhat. It may not be the most productive. You're getting ideas, but at least you're getting ideas in your head. You're you know, you're you're doing all these different things. If I go on TikTok, it ain't none of that. Most of it's not about hunting. She don't send me really anything about hunting. So, you know, it's just all funny stuff where I'm just gonna sit there, laugh my ass off for an hour to two, and then you know, just be like shit, I just wasted my time.

SPEAKER_03 44:26

Oh, yeah, and it's hard. I'm not saying I don't ever do that because I definitely do, but it's it's just trying to be uh, you know, determined and you know, just disciplined enough. And I think that's the biggest thing about owning a company is like it's not as easy as what it seems. Like, some people do make it easy, like they're driving around their big trucks and their nice bullets and all this stuff, and like you know, they just got it, like, oh, it just happened. I just started a brand, and that's how it happened. Nah, dude, it sucks. Like, it it sometimes it sucks so much. You're like, why am I doing this? But then you look back at your reasoning of why you're doing this. I'm doing this to help people, you know. I don't give a shit about the money, to be honest. To me, it's about the experiences and the stories I get to hear and the benefit people are gonna reap from it. So that's that's the only reason I'm in this man. I I don't have any other really urges other than helping people and you know, just being a part of what I love, and that's the hunting community.

SPEAKER_01 45:24

Yeah, I I agree. I mean, you know, I think a lot of people, especially like younger people and everything like that, or people who are getting into creating, you know, creating content or and all these things are are jumping on doing podcasts and creating podcasts. Like now, I always tell people they're like, Oh, well, uh, how many how many uh downloads is the show gonna, you know, does your show get? And I go, listen, I I really don't care. Um, I know kind of like what our download is, but it also just depends. Like, you know, I I share our stuff, so like everything I create is content for for everyone else who's coming on. So like I give people the option to collab. So like I'm like, all right, here boom, you get the when the post is done, and then you get videos and stuff like that. I'll clap on that on Instagram. So but I go, but if you don't if you don't accept it or something like that, is it gonna hinder the the amount of downloads? Of course. I go, but honestly, I love talking about hunting. I love um, you know, showing people out there that there's so many different ways of doing stuff, and you know, there's companies like like you, but there's also people who aren't always I don't always get the biggest names because you know what sometimes you gotta hear from the person with 50 followers because honestly, there's some killers, dude, and they know they know how to kill. I you know, I'd like to get people who don't have Instagram, you know. That's it, that's like always my goal. Is like there's people out there that don't have Instagram, and I would like to get those guys because you know what those are the guys I guarantee you that probably know more than a lot of the people that are big name people on on Instagram and everything like that, and all these stuff like that. You know, it's just obviously harder to to contact them. But like I tell people straight up, this show could get three three views. I wouldn't care, and I would still do it. You know, we we do get a lot, and I'm very grateful for everyone who listens and everything like that and and downloads the the episodes, but I'm not doing it for the views. I'm I'm doing it for the you know, it could be that one person who who listens, and if they find something useful, then you know what? My job is my job's done here, and I I I think I I achieve what I was looking for.

SPEAKER_03 47:39

Nah man, you do a phenomenal job with this, and you know, and you have the all the right attitude and all the right perspective on things, and I think I think that's why things go so good for you, and you know, you just gotta keep that hustle going and that grind. And nah, man, I I love it and I enjoy being controlled, man.

SPEAKER_01 47:58

Yeah, no, I'm I'm I'm loving having you. You're definitely gonna, you know, always tell people they once they come on, you guys people get open invites after that. So, like, you know, once once people come on once, and you know, especially when the episodes flow and everything like that, I'm like, listen, you need to whenever you want, well, you come on, you can just like, hey, listen, I got a product drop, and you know, let me jump on. Like, all right, cool. Like, that happens all the time. Like, people are like, Hey, I want to jump on, I want to talk a certain thing. I'm like, all right, cool. Come on, no problem. Just we'll we'll schedule it, and that's about it. Um, but for you know, for you, what do what do you guys see next and you know, hope to accomplish in the next five years?

SPEAKER_03 48:39

Oh, the next five years, man. I I want to accomplish. So we just came out with so we got duck, goose, fish, and I want to get into some upland game. Um, so uh we'll maybe work into that, and then you know, I to be honest, man, I want my products that we make, we spend a lot of time creating them. So I don't just push a product out and throw it out there, and I don't know, maybe it'll work, you know. Like I I spend a lot of time in research. So in five years, man, my dream is to make sure that every single hunter or fisherman um has the essentials that they need to preserve their trophies, man. Like you said, you know, if it's your first bird, you don't want to ruin that first bird. If it's your dog's last retrieve, you don't want to ruin that bird. There are so many ways you can ruin your bird, but essentially buying our kit will save you all the hassle and that stuff. So, no, man, I my dream is to be able to just change lives too, man. Like I uh I run my own little thing too, and uh we take kids with cancer out on their dream hunting and fishing trips. So uh tagged and bagged. I love that. Uh tagged and bagged is a part of that too. And uh we donate money to to my association, and you know, we kind of work things through and we do a lot of the prep for that. So, man, I just want to change people's lives and make it easier, you know. Be be super super easy in the factor of understanding the product and being able to use our products, and yeah, so I'm super excited, man. I'm excited to touch people's lives, and uh man, I'm I'm really hoping things uh things work out. So I'm excited.

SPEAKER_01 50:25

I first of all, I I love to hear that, and that that's such an amazing thing. Um, you know, and it's crazy because you know what, yeah, I'm in the I'm in the same realm. Not um, so I work my background in in work is I work in the mental health and psychiatrist, obviously, psychiatric and behavior with children. And that's actually the next step of what we're gonna be trying to do here is to create a program where we can get um kids out in the outdoors mode. It's gonna be harder with hunting, especially obviously with what's psych and everything like that, but at least like fishing or just just hiking and and teaching them all these things because my like my patients alone, like they're obsessed about hearing my stories because they don't get to experience it. They don't they know nothing about hunting. Like there, there's times they're like, hey, can we can we put on Meat Eater? Or you know, I know Amazon Prime now has um has the has a hunting public, you know, and that's a little more hard hardcore. Like that's stuff that I watch, but like they'll they'll watch it and everything, and they're always like, Oh, like they knew I'm going hunting on Monday. They're like, oh my god, like we can't wait to, you know, you come back and we hear the stories and everything like that. You know, they're obsessed with the fact that I'm so obsessed with bear hunting too. Um and the kids are always asking, like, oh, like, you know, let I want to I want to start hunting, like I want to start hunting, I want I want to come hunting with you. And I'm like, you know, this is something that we could definitely, definitely work on. Um, you know, obviously there's a it there's a lot of you know, whatever, but you know, that's something that we're gonna be figuring out. But it it that's such a great thing that you that's what you guys do too. And you know, uh when we get off, let me know your I would it uh like to make a donation for sure.

SPEAKER_03 52:05

Oh man, you're the best. I appreciate it, man. And no, I think it's you know what? Uh there's there's something to getting out in the woods and being out in God's nature. I'm a I'm a believer, I'm a believer in God through and through. And uh, I've talked to God more in my tree stand and out in the duck blind than I've ever talked to him in church. And I have preach gone through a lot of stress, anxiety, and you know, everybody, what everybody feels, man. And when I get out there, my mind's just clear. And I I just I don't know, man. It's it's the most stress-relieving thing you could ever put yourself through.

SPEAKER_01 52:45

It is until you're chasing a big buck that's just giving you the stock. That is so true, though. That's a different that's a different type of anxiety, though. That that's different type of yeah.

SPEAKER_03 52:56

Well, at least you start forgetting about all the other bull crap back at home and you're just only thinking about that buck.

SPEAKER_01 53:02

You know what I mean? Well, and here's the thing, I think anyone can agree, they will take a stress over a deer, a bear, waterfowl, turkey. Like that's the stress that we want versus the other stress of you know, paying bills, maybe child care, what you know, work, whatever, like that. Like in the day, like I always tell people that's a good stress. Like, hunting is a good stress, everything else is a bad stress. We don't want that stress. We just want the we want the good stress. Amen to that, brother. Um, yeah, so I mean, guys, you you guys really do kill it. Um you know, I I I can't wait. Of course, um unfortunately I've you know when I did you know bump it to you guys and got your product, the season had just closed for us, but I am super excited to to use this next year. Um, it's gonna be once waterfowl starts for us, uh, you know, heavy. Um, I'll be throwing this in the end. And the goal for next year is to shoot either another mallard that I want to mount with a band. I still need to get a black duck. I would love to to mount a black duck. Yeah, there are there are a lot. Um, I don't know how we didn't get um, so we were hunting a lot of fields. We were by a river and everything like that. So we need to get spinners. Um, so we're all like our group, we're all getting we're all getting spinners, I think. Um that's the one thing that we didn't have this year uh that would have definitely helped in our in our goose decoys and everything like that because they were the ducks were flying all around and everything like that. Uh, but my buddy's uh spinner that he had, he actually broke it right before the season started. So we did not get a chance. Yeah, um, so next year we all decided like the one thing we really need is um is spinners and then also just scouting a few more places. Um, we got a lot of wood ducks and everything like that, too. Yeah. Um, so like that's another I've shot a wood duck, so I don't I haven't shot a black duck yet. So black duck, if I shoot a black duck, that is a guaranteed just um mount. And then we have these. My buddy shot a beautiful hybrid uh this year, and it was absolutely gorgeous. And I would love to shoot a hybrid, dude. That'd be so sick. Yeah, I know that's you you might have you guys might have to take the trip to New Jersey next year.

SPEAKER_03 55:37

I I'm telling you, sign me up. I'll I'll come down there, man. That'd be kick ass. Maybe a week before the show.

SPEAKER_01 55:44

Hell yeah. Listen, yeah. Yeah, yeah. We we we smacked especially geese, we smacked the geese up until like even the last day. Like, it was a bit definitely last day was was definitely harder. They were a little resistant to the decoy spread. Um, but we still landed them and we still we still got them and everything like that.

SPEAKER_04 56:08

Did you hear the last one?

Final Thanks And Where To Buy

SPEAKER_01 56:09

Sorry, I think I lost you there for a second. Uh no, no worries. I was just saying we'll we'll we'll get them done. Um things like that. But um man, we're we're coming close to to an hour. Um, you know, I absolutely enjoyed this episode so much. Any any last words that that you want to say?

SPEAKER_03 56:28

Hey man, I just want to say I appreciate you for having me on. It was awesome talking to you, and I'm sure we're gonna talk a lot more in the future coming up for next season.

SPEAKER_01 56:37

Um, definitely, definitely.

SPEAKER_03 56:39

Yeah, man, I'm excited. And you know, you guys watch it. If you guys need a kit this season, you can go check us out at tagdombag.com. And uh yeah, other than that, hope you guys have a good spring turkey season and enjoy the summer before the hunting season.

SPEAKER_01 56:53

Hell yeah. Listen, everyone who's listening, their Instagram, their um website is all going to be down in the links below. Make sure you go check them out. Listen, everyone who is a waterfowl hunter or even a fisherman, now that they they got the fishing stuff done, make sure you guys go grab this. It is a must-need. And then everybody else who is in a waterfowl hunting, I've been preaching this for the last two years now. Make sure you guys get at your asses out into the woods. If you're close enough to Jersey or want to travel to Jersey and hunt with us, listen, we're always looking to get new people into the woods and out into the outdoors and waterfowl hunting and everything like that. So make sure you guys check that check that out and hit us up. Um, everyone, I hope you guys enjoyed this episode. And we'll see you guys next time.