The Show’s Mission And Mood

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Every hunter has a moment when the woods go quiet, the air shifts, and time slows down. And in that stillness, you realize you're not chasing these games. You're chasing something beyond woken to the chasing unknown features. Where we go beyond the sounds, chase the child channels, and deep into the stories that fuel the fires. The show is for the ones who sleep over the rust, who hike miles into the public land for just the chance. And we live for these signs before the shots. In the back countries, for the back rows. We sit down with the hunters and trappers with relentless stories. We live for the thrill, embrace the unknown, and return with the stories we're telling. This is more than a podcast. This is the start of something real. Let's chase it.

Meeting DeAndre “Trey” Reed

SPEAKER_00 1:10

We got with us today DeAndre Reed. I said it correctly, your last name. Yes, sir. Yep. There we go. There we go. There we go. We're off to a great start. Um, if you don't know his name, you would probably know him as the dreaded archer 17 on Instagram. Welcome to the show. I mean, thanks for having me, man. Yeah, no, I it's a it's been a long time coming. I've been I've been following you for a little bit now. I think you've also wanna say you've been on with Dave and Chris from Pursuit Live and everything like that. So I've followed along uh a little bit over the last few years now, and you know, you you had some exciting news too. I see that you uh you you you teamed up with uh with the guys out at uh what it's elite and and everything like that, uh archery outfitters, uh not archery outfitters, Jesus Christ. Um they go by uh what is the outdoor uh the outdoor group, right? The outdoor group, yep.

SPEAKER_02 2:13

Well, congratulations on that. I appreciate it, man. Yeah, that that whole thing was like wow because uh like one of my buddies, I don't know how he got the uh guy's number, but it was like the seat, the um the president of marketing, and he was like, Yeah, I got the president of marketing's number, man. And uh so I was like, give it to me. He was like, for what? And I'm like, I'm gonna have him on a podcast. He's like, all right, cool. So he gave it to me, and I just sent the guy a message. I was like, Hey, look, I'm a fan of Elite, uh, love what you guys are doing, man, and um, you know, love to have you on a podcast. And you know, if it's you know, if uh if if you would you know like it, I would love to, you know, work, do something with the brand, some kind of collaboration, whatever. And uh he gave me a call immediately, probably like 10 minutes after uh I text him, and then we talked for like three hours. And after we got done, now and we didn't even talk about me you know uh signing with the leader or anything like that. It was just kind of just talking about Archery, how I got started, you know, getting his story, and come to find out he actually lives like 45 minutes away from where I live. So he lives in Streetport, Louisiana. So we now we got something in common, we're talking, and then we got done. He was like, dude, I love to have you on on our hunch staff. And I'm like, let's let's do it. So it was kind of one of those, like, I mean, I'm just gonna shoot my shot.

SPEAKER_00 3:32

I love it. I I I love that. Um, you know, and and to really start things off, tell us, you know, tell the listen out there

Sports Identity And Depression After Football

SPEAKER_00 3:40

a little bit about yourself.

SPEAKER_02 3:42

All righty. Well, um, like you said, you know, my name is uh DeAndre Reed, but um, all my friends and family call me Trey. Um, born and raised in Tex Rakana, Texas, uh, played football my whole life, never really um had any interest in the outdoors at all. Um, well, I take that back. When I was like six, my dad he hunted a lot, and but him and my mom weren't together. So on the weekends that I would go to his house during hunt season, you know, he'd get up early, make me breakfast, and like, hey, you know, sit in the house. And I when I get back, you know, we'll go do whatever. So I'm like, you know, I want to go hunting, you know. And he was like, ah, you don't want to go hunting. I'm like, no, dude, I I really want to go hunting. So like my on my seventh birthday, he bought me a pair of hunting boots. So I'm like, okay, sweet. We going hunting. Nope. And so my eighth birthday, he got me a BB gun. He was like, if you learn how to shoot the BB gun, then I'll get you a you know uh uh a 270 and take you hunting. Well, needless to say, that shit never happened. I I came home every day from school, I learned how to shoot that BB gun. Every I did all my hunter safety stuff. He never took me. So at that point, I was like, you know what? I'm done, you know, uh getting my hopes up. So I just like started focusing on sports, and um, you know, I was I was blessed to get a scholarship. I attended the Naval Academy, played football there, and then I transferred from there my junior year, and I went to Southern Arkansas University, played football there, graduated, then I went to Texas AM, got my master's, and then my I got ended up getting a job with RJ Reynolds Tobacco, which how I ended up in South Dakota. And um, you know, when you are when you play football your whole life, it's kind of become your identity. And then when it's it's gone, like you graduate, no more football, no, you know, no NFL dreams, nothing like that. So like I fell into this like deep depression, like like nobody's business. And I I thought before I got started dealing with depression, I thought depression was BS. I'm like, man, people just like learn how to deal with their shit. And then it hit me. And the only way I knew how to numb it was to be out and be social. So I'm going out every night, drinking, partying, uh, just get off work at five o'clock, be at the bar by 5 30, and I'm closing that joker down at 1 30, 2 o'clock. Gotta be up in the morning, and I I got fat. I gained like I when I got South Dakota, I was probably like 225 pounds. And after a year, I was like 260. Just from drinking, eating, and just partying. And uh, the girl I was dating at the time, she

The Archery Shop That Hooked Him

SPEAKER_02 6:30

was like, Yo, you're like super depressed, like we gotta do something. So she was always trying to get me out the house to do something. And uh one day she we were we went out, we were just driving around, and every morning I go to work, I pass this old rickety sign, and it says archery shop, and it points down this dirt road. So I'm like, yo, let's let's go down there because I've never been down there and it's all blocked by trees. I don't know what it looked like. So we go down there, and you know, they got an outdoor range, and I'm seeing people outside shooting and stuff. I'm like, mmm, that looks pretty cool. So we go into the shop, and the owner, his name is uh Kim, and uh he walked up to me and he was like, you know, how can I help you? And I was like, I don't know. I pass this place every morning, and I decided to come in here today and see what it's about. And he was like, You ever shot a bow? And I was like, Nah, I never. He gave me a uh a mission hammer, and we got on the range, and from that first shot, that was that was it right there. It just got it got me hooked, and uh I found out I could hunt with the bow. So then I you know, helped I got my tags and started hunting, and then my brother was like, Yo, dude, you should like document your journey. So that's where the Instagram page started. And at first it was just you know, DeAndre Reed, and then my uncle he always you know give us nicknames and stuff, and he was seeing me shoot my bow, and he was like, You know, you the you the dreaded bowman. I was like, dreaded bowman. And my brother was like, Nah, dude, it's Archery, like dreaded Archer, and then name just stuck. So I quickly changed my name. I started the podcast, and it just kind of uh just kind of all turned into what it is today.

SPEAKER_00 8:02

I I I love that, and you know, it's it's so like a a lot of things to touch over there and everything like that, you know. But I I think things happen for a reason, right? And you know, in your beginning of life, it was unfortunately you you didn't get to hunt in and everything like that, but then you found your your passion in in football, and that's what you were you were meant to do at that time, and then listen, at the end of the day, it were it worked itself out, you know, you're able to go to South Dakota, you know, yet again, like something I think not only a lot of athletes understand and have like a huge time after they have to hang them up. I I was in the same exact position for as you, and hunting was that one thing like that gets you over the hump, and it it's it replaces what you did before. It's basically, I imagine, like for you, like it's probably like the same same thing, like it's pre-season, you know. Then you have the season, you know, that rut time, like that, you know, that's the that's like the

Hunting As A New Season Of Life

SPEAKER_00 9:10

playoff grind, like and and everything like that. And you know, you have to exercise, work out, there's injuries, there's all different types of things that that go on that match our lives when we were all playing sports at a especially at a very high level.

SPEAKER_02 9:26

Oh, yeah, dude. It's it's crazy you you say it that way because my brother, when I got him into it, he called me one day, he was like, dude, this is because it he because he had just got done playing football at SMU and he was like, bro, this is filling the gap. He goes, If you break down a year, it's just like football, man. We got you know, you got you know the offseason, you know, early January, you know, you you you're looking back over you know the last season, what you got, what you did wrong, what you did right, you know, you're getting new gear, so you're kind of recruiting your your your setup, and then you go into like you know, spring camp would be like you know, 3D shoots where you're going out testing your gear, seeing what works, what don't work. Then you get into you know summer when you know you're working out, you're also looking at uh you know getting your setup uh as far as like in the tree stands, where you're gonna set, you're scouting and all that, and then boom, you hit the season. And it it's it, dude, it's it's exactly like preparing for a football season. And that's what uh helped me, what helped me you know get myself out of depression. And um, and that's kind of why I started the podcast was to reach out to other former athletes that you know I played with and was like, hey man, are you dealing with the same thing that I'm dealing with? And um a lot of guys that I had on early, they were former athletes and they you know didn't necessarily get into hunting, but they found something in the outdoors, whether that be um, you know, hiking, trapping, um fishing, a lot of guys found fishing. So it was like, okay, we're all finding our way back to the outdoors, and they all said the same thing, like it feels like it woke something up in them. Like, you know, guys that I know that got an archery that was like, dude, the first time I shot that bow, it was like something woke up in me and it started filling that void, and I just couldn't stop. Like I shot till my arm fell off. I was like, dude, I did that did the exact same thing. Just you know what, you don't want to give it up. And I know like the day that I walked in an archery shop Saturday, on a Saturday. I didn't about around noon, I didn't leave till they closed. I was back the next day before they opened, bought my bow, and from that day on until the day I moved from South Dakota, I was in that shop every single day, unless I was hunting, but I was in there every single day, and I became family. Like I volunteered out there. I was working on working on the sales floor, I was out. You know, if we had 3D shoots, I was out weed eating, putting up targets, all that. Like I just jumped head first in it. I had to.

SPEAKER_00 11:46

Yeah, yeah. It's a you know one thing, like, especially our generation. I imagine we're somewhere close in the same age and and everything like that, if not probably five years off, right? What you said earlier, too, is like you didn't know what depression was. Like, there was in my eyes, there was there was no such thing. Like, I had no idea what depression was. Um, and yeah, it was kind of the same thing, like, huh, like get up and and do something about it. Like, what are you what are you sitting on your ass for? And you know, yada yada yada, and then you know, fast forward, I ended up working psych, uh, you know, I work psychbehavioral with with kids and everything like that, you know. So I I I saw that firsthand and I was like, damn, like, and then I also experienced myself and I'm like, well, we we were very wrong growing up and everything like that, but it it's it's something that yeah, not everyone gets hit with it. You know what I mean? You at some point in your life you are gonna go through it, you know what I mean? And it could be in the beginning of your life or it could be in the mid, you know, later down the line. And I think yet again, when you take an athlete or you take a hunter or you take anyone that's passionate about what they do and remove them from that, yeah, it's that is what is going to to come. And you know, for you, diving head first also was I imagine what us athletes do. We we dive headfirst into you know the things that that we like to do. And then it completely was able to, you know, help you in your growth and and how to basically heal heal yourself in in that way.

SPEAKER_02 13:27

Oh yeah, I found out a whole lot about myself, like uh like just on this archery journey, just you know what makes me tick. Because I, you know, like I say in the past, it's always been football, but I outside that I didn't know you know who or what I was, but with through hunting, just you know, sitting in the tree stand, you learn you start to learn a lot about yourself. Like I learned I like more so being by myself. Like I get my best thinking done when I'm out in a tree stand by myself or I'm in a ground blind or whatever, out in the woods walking around, share scouting. I get my my best ideas when I'm out there doing that. Um, you know, it really pushed my work ethic. Like I was like, all right, football came easy. I really didn't have to work that hard for it. But with this hunting stuff, it don't come easy. You gotta get out there and you gotta put boots on the ground, you gotta scout. In order to be successful, you really gotta put in the work. No matter how good you shoot your bow, that's just a piece of it. You gotta get you know, put the whole puzzle together. So I learned so much about myself and push myself to limits that I had, you know, in the past never pushed myself to, like, especially when I went on my first elk hunt uh four years ago. Like I had never pushed my body to that limit before where I like at one point in time I thought I'm gonna die on this mountain. And I just like I gotta dig deep in me to keep pushing because I didn't work out like I was supposed to. Like, there's there's nothing gonna prepare you for the mountain. You can do all the cardio you want to. That air up there is real thin. It's ain't nothing you can do. So, and and I really didn't take the workout serious. I was like, you know, I'm I'm a I'm a former athlete, I can do, I can walk through the woods and call an elk. Nah, the mountains they tore me up, but I push myself, and at the end of the week, I'm like, okay, if I can do that, I can pretty much do anything at this point.

SPEAKER_00 15:15

And and especially for you too, like coming where where you you live and you grew up and then even moved, like, I mean, I'm not a hundred, but probably way more flat. Like, I've been to Texas a few times, you know, and I mean, I I haven't been to South Dakota, it's flat, like the part that I lived in in uh in eastern South Dakota, Sioux Falls is flat. Okay, yeah. So you're you're dealing with a you know, flat, you know, you're dealing with no elevation whatsoever. So to throw yourself into a hunt like that, and yeah, you're you're gonna think you are in shape. You're also you know, from from what I hear from a lot of guys, especially hunts like that, or even from from myself being deep into the woods in Maine and everything like that, is how alone you are and how much that plays on your mental toughness. And yet again, you're that would hit your anxiety and depression, like like we talked about, and everything like that. Um, that's something that is not talked about, I think, enough when it comes into the challenges of hunting in places like this. Like, yeah, like I'm there, there's a chance that you die up on this mountain, or you die miles into the wood with with no cell service or in a swamp or or whatever the case is, and that has to play a huge effect on people's head, especially when you're you're actually out there and you just hear nothing but quietness, like we're used to lights and cars and planes and you know all that, and there it's just quiet.

SPEAKER_02 16:54

Well, see,

Peace In The Mountains And Off Grid Living

SPEAKER_02 16:55

I feel peace in it though. Like when we uh me and my buddy Rex, we finally got to our uh spot where we were gonna camp and we just kind of we get settled in, we're sitting down around camp, and I'm like, dude, I feel like all the noises has has stopped. Like my in my head, if I could play all the stuff that's going on in my head right now, it people would be like, dude, how do you sleep at night? So like when I got up there in the mountains, I'm like, dude, it's quiet. I felt like 20 pounds just lifted off my shoulders. And I have this theory that all the Wi-Fi signals and um and cell phone uh signals, all that stuff weight has it had to have some kind of effect on our body. No, 100%. When you're up in the mountains, it's none of that. And I'm like, Do I feel lighter? I feel I feel at peace. And I mean, sleeping in a tent, I got my best sleep.

SPEAKER_00 17:46

You know, my my best sleep. Look, no matter what, I I remember I always tell this story because when I met my fiance, first time she came with me to go camping in Maine, and like we're we're not far from the border of Canada, right? Um, so we're middle of nowhere, no self-service, no, you know, nothing. There's no police or or anything like that. You may get a ranger or a wildlife officer coming through once once in a while, but you are by yourself. And like her body kind of just like naturally just got into sync with with herself, and she just felt so much better. And sleep is better, you know. All your all your bodily functions are are just better, and it it's it's the truth. You you look at all the research that they do now, and as much as I love doing what we're doing on social media and the podcast and everything like this, all like right now, and I imagine you too. You have the camera, you have the laptop, you you may have the TV, like you know, you have the phone here, like you have everything is going right now. We have lights, every everything like that, right? How unnatural is that for you, and how much of an effect does it play on you? Which the more studies come out is just such a negative effect on you, and yeah, if we could be in the woods for the rest of our lives, listen, I don't know. Sometimes I'm like zombie apocalypse, you know, like you know, yeah, it sucks, but then also like you get to be outside, you know what I mean? No phone, no this, no that. Like, obviously, people like I'm not that crazy. It would be a huge wake-up call, and a lot of people would would die and everything like that. But it's like I don't know, like sometimes I really wish I could experience what life was before we had all this and be able to go out and hunt and fish the land and just live purely off the land without a cell phone, internet, and anything like that.

SPEAKER_02 19:57

Oh, yeah, dude. My um, my now wife, we actually got married uh two weeks ago. Congratulations. I appreciate it. But when I met her, she that that's how she is. She's like, I want to be off the grid. When I'm camping, I'm leaving the phone, you know, in the car, I'm not touching it. I want to be one with nature. That's I mean, that's her thing. I remember the first time we uh went camping. I woke up and she was, you know, out of the 10. I'm like, where did she go? So I look outside and she just you know, no shoes on, just standing, you know, in the sun, just arms spread out. I'm like, what are you doing? She's like, I'm sunbathing. And I'm like, what? Like, and she's she's wiggling her toes in the grass and stuff, and she's just like one with nature. She she hates all the like TV and stuff. Our our house is just full of plants and everything. Like, she wants to be outside. And um, and like we just had a little girl in January, and she's like, Um, you know, I don't want her to, you know, grow up watching TV. I want her to be outside and doing this, that, and the third. And I'm I'm all for it because I like a lot of that stuff is just like I have nieces and nephews, and they are addicted to these things right here, like the iPads and all that. Like, I took an iPad from my niece, and she the way she reacted was like an addict. It is war three, the menu. Yeah, I was just kidding with her. I'm like, I ain't giving it back. And she started shaking and crying. I'm like, here you go. I'm like, Yeah, I don't want my kid to have that. I want her, I want the I want her to experience like what outside is, and just being one with nature and and all that, and knowing where her food comes from. And dude, that there is some peace in that. And um, where I

Culture, Race, And Being “Out Of Place”

SPEAKER_02 21:40

come from, a lot of people give me uh backlash. They're like, yo, like no, why you doing that white folks stuff, bro? We don't we don't do that. I'm like, Really? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:48

You you know what be and and before because I I was gonna eventually ask, like, being here in Jersey, I get that, and I yet again, you'll probably be able to explain a little more where exactly in Texas because usually South Texas, places like that, like everyone kind of hunts, everyone kind of fishes, everyone kind of like does, you know, within reason. And it, you know what I mean, depends. Um, but like here living on the east coast, like our inner cities are our inner city, like serious, serious, like inner cities. Like, I I yet again, one of my patients, I work in inner city. They're like, I even know there's trees in New Jersey. And I was just like, I was like, what? I was like, you've lived here your whole entire life. Like, New Jersey actually has a lot of trees, a lot of farmland, a lot of wildlife. Like, we we have like almost everything, and it's like, how you know that everyone looks at me, especially in like yet again. Also, I played ice hockey too. I didn't know if you knew that trade, but I don't know that I yeah, I played ice hockey at an extremely high level, so like everyone's like, Oh, you just like to do white people stuff. I'm like, no, like I listen, hockey got to me, like, yeah, you know, I'm I'm I'm mixed. I was like, I am half white, but like hunting, like everyone does it, like it and it is for everyone, like it doesn't matter what you are. And listen, you look at a lot of places around the world, that's still how people get their food and their way of life.

SPEAKER_02 23:15

Yep, exactly, man. So, like, whack where I'm from, I'm uh it's it's called Texacana. So we're like on the border of Texas and Arkansas, so you can actually like we have a street called State Line, so you can be on one side of the road and you're in Texas and literally walk across the street and you're in Arkansas. So uh the people are like Arkansas side is kind of like it's all bombed out and depleted, all the businesses closed down. It's it's it's nothing over there, but like when you get like like the outskirts, you know, people they live on big acreages, they hunt and all that stuff. But I live like in Texas in the heart of Texas, Canada, so it's like the city. So yeah, you got people that duck hunt stuff, but they go off to do it, like it's like a secret. They gotta go two states over and and hunt, they don't hunt around here. And like said, my my dad hunted, but like I never really saw like a lot of his friends. He's kind of did it by itself, and it was something he just I don't I really I thought he's winning the wood and just sat there. Because I there's only a handful of times where I actually saw him bring a deer home. Like, what do you think after doing? But um, yeah, like it's it's more it's like a city here. So the big thing here is is sports, everybody plays sports. So either you're on a football team, yeah, football, yeah, yeah. You know, travel baseball, uh, AAU basketball is getting big here. Like everybody plays a sport. So when you when you're when you step outside you know of the box and do something different, everybody kind of look at you different. So, like when I moved back home, everybody expected me to like get it more involved in you know little league football because you know, I was you know, kind of a star around here. So, oh he's gonna come back here and he's gonna do this and do that and do that with sports. I'm like, no, I gotta be in these woods. I gotta be in these woods.

SPEAKER_00 25:04

Now, real real quick, like so so for you and like yet again, being you know with your background and yet again, like like you said, like you're you're doing a quote unquote white man's sport, what people say, right? What was it a lot of like backlash, or was it a lot of backlash from white people, or was it a lot more from your own family and your friends and people of color? Because I've noticed I think I've had more people say things actually, way more. I've only had one white person ever say one terrible thing to me during my whole hunting career. And versus you get it more from people of color.

SPEAKER_02 25:54

Uh, I I got I would say I got it more from people of color, like my family with me. Anything that I do, they all down for it. It's it's it's whatever. Like, hey, if if Trey doing it, it must be it must be fun. But it was like, you know, um, like it was like friends and like people I grew up with, and those like, man, that's that's weird. Like, you know, why are you doing that? Uh or you know, are aren't you afraid of going in the woods and getting killed by a bear or something? Like one, we don't have bears around here. Like, I'm not gonna get attacked by a bear. The I I might see a mountain line on occasion, and that's just and that, and that's because he strayed outside of his habitat. Other than that, I'm I'm not worried about that. Um, but no, it was just like um, and and it was something I got my whole life because I went to the high school in town that was predominantly white, so pleasant grove. You get there, it's uh there was probably 12 black kids in entire high school when I was there, eight of them were my cousins, so it's same.

SPEAKER_00 26:56

So very we we've lived very similar lives except for a year on the whole other side of the state and played a different sport. But like that was like we had probably yeah, we probably had a little more than 12. We we were a big school, um probably like 20 or 30, but majority of the people were my my cousins or someone like I'll never forget. I went to high school, and just this black guy comes up to me and he's like, Oh, yeah, yeah, we're cousins. And I'm like, and then I ask him, they're like, Yeah, yeah, yeah. That that that's your cousin. I'm like, Jesus, I I find a new cousin like every single time I go out.

SPEAKER_02 27:28

Well, they'll do that that that's how it is around here. So then you got like all the other schools that are you know predominantly you know African American. So like whenever we would go places, they'd be like, Oh no, them them the the white boys, they go they go to the white boy school. It's like, dude, we black like y'all. So I kind of always got it, so it never really hurt my feelings. Um, but you know, so I like people ask questions, I tell them, but then what happens is it starts it kind of starts a conversation. Like, have you ever tried it? Well, no, I ain't man, you ain't got time to be out there in the outdoors, do none of this stuff, whatever. I'm like, bro, how about this? Cun come to my house, bro, and shoot a bow. And they'll come over, shoot a bow, and they're like, I kind of like that. Or I'll take them out, we'll go, you know, shoot, you know, go to the gun range, shoot something. I like that. And then I'll you know, cook them something. And to me, that's the best way to get somebody really interested in in hunting is cook them something. Like, man, how can I get this? You gotta get it on your own. And so uh that's kind of how I deal with you know, dealt with it with you know, other you know, people of color, but like in South Dakota, when other white people found out that I hunt, it was kind of like they was um, it was kind of like I guess you the best way to explain it, they're trying to test my gangster. Like, how I how like do you hunt, hunt, or do you like do you hunt or do you hunt hunt? And I'm like, bro, I hunt saying it twice, don't make it. I was like, yeah, like do you hunt? Do you hunt or do you hunt hunt? Yeah, and I'm like, no, bro, like I I hunt, and then they'll like I'll you know, pull up the phone, like I kill this, I kill where you get that from. I kill this, I kill this, I kill, and they're like, Oh, you you really do it. I'm like, Yeah. Now I was like blessed because the girl I dated at the time, her family had like 12,000 acres, and they was like, You can go out there and have fun with it. Boom! Because only her brother hunted and no one else. So I'm like, all right, cool. So I have food plots and all that stuff. So I really learned the land and like you know how deer moved and all that, and I was able to, you know, put down some pretty nice deer. And then I of course learned public land and put down some nice deer. And everybody, every deer I've ever killed, everybody was like, Oh, that's a high fence deer. Like, no, I've this is public land. Like, I put in, I put in the work. I get up at two o'clock in the morning, get to where I gotta be about four. I'm deep in there, and so a lot of it was just like, you know, people just they thought that I was cosplaying, like, oh, you're not you don't really be hunting, like, no, dude. I really be doing this, like this is my lifestyle.

SPEAKER_00 29:58

It's it's it's crazy, and you know, you know what? And and that sounds like you know, we I I was speaking to to Laura last week, uh, or a couple weeks ago. We we just dropped the episode with her, and she was like, Yeah, like with women, and it, you know, it's like, do you hunt or do you hunt hunt too? Like, people don't believe that people of color do it, women do it, like you know what I mean. Like, it's always like, Oh, like, are you an actual hunter? You just do it for the clicks or the views or or or whatever, you you know what I mean, until they until they find out that oh shit, most of these people are better hunters than me, you know what I mean? Like, and and you know, it it does start a conversation. Like, I've I've been lucky through my career, like I really haven't gotten really that, like, no one's ever questioned me about that. Um, you know what I mean. I I wonder, and yet again, I wonder if some people are just being nice and just don't say anything, you know what I mean. Um, I I like to talk and like educate as much as I can and and talk to all different people, like you know, approach, you know, I would like to help you as best as I can. You could be the most successful person in the world, you know what I mean? And it it doesn't matter, like you can you could still approach me and and everything like that, and I'm still going to try to you know to talk to you or find a way, like maybe something that that can help you out and that can help me out, you know what I mean. And you're we're always learning, you know what I mean. You're you you're never gonna be able to learn everything about deer or or whatever animal you're hunting because you know what animals do things that we will never understand. Facts, no facts, you know what I mean. So it it's it's it's one of those things. Um, but so we we we we've already gotten 30 31 minutes into

Learning To Hunt From YouTube

SPEAKER_00 31:55

this episode, and you know great conversation. I love this, this is going quick. Um, that great conversation, guys. When when you know that it's it feels like time has has flown already, but let's you personally hunting. So you went to the bow shop, you got your bow and and everything like that. What did that first year look like to you of you know getting into archery hunting and and everything like that?

SPEAKER_02 32:21

Oh, so uh that that first year it was uh it was like drinking water through a a pipe, like it just it just I like came like just that's just information was just just coming, information overload. So what actually ended up happening was I was actually at the shop and there's this guy named Bob, and he uh he called me Trey Bird. He was like, Hey Trey Bird, you uh you going hunting this year? And I was like, I can hunt with this. He was like, Yeah, and I'm like, I didn't know I could do that. I'm like, yeah, I'll I'll I'll hunt, I'll hunt with the yeah, yeah. Well, what I gotta do. So right then and there, he gives my phone, downloads the South Dakota uh game fishing park app, and I apply for my archery tag. I apply for archery tag, I applied for a rifle tag, um, East River and Rest River. So I end up getting a West River archery tag, and I got a uh rifle tag West River. So I'm like, all right, sweet. Now I gotta figure out where to go. And this is how I found out that my then girlfriend, her parents had all this land. So um I I I get home and I just start, I get on YouTube and I'm starting, like, you know, how to kill a deer. And it sounds like a little kid looking something up, but I'm just being honest. I'm like, how to kill a deer, and all these videos covered. I'm watching everything about, you know, if you're hunting the ground blind, you want to wear you know black uh black clothes instead of camouflage because you can blend in with the back. And I'm learning about you know, tree stands and and saddles and all the stuff. I'm like, I'm not doing no saddle stuff, but I'm like, I ground blind. So I went out and got a ground blind, and then I'm looking at you know uh you know how to pattern a deer. I just go and get a bunch of gang cameras and I'm putting them up, putting them everywhere. Um, you we we can't use uh you can't bait in South Dakota, so uh I'm like okay, well, what do they eat at? So now I'm I'm out scouting and seeing where they graze, and they're out in the cornfields and they're out in the soybean fields, and like, okay, well, that won't be here when hunt season comes. So there'll probably be it'd probably be easier to hunt this because it'll be cut, and I'm just kind of putting the whole game plan together. And um that first I didn't I didn't get anything arctic season that year. I was it was just no luck. So then rifle season comes, and uh my then girlfriend's dad's like, hey, take he take me out to this spot, and he was like, Walk through this field, you're gonna get to the a little creek, cross it, and it should be an elevated blind, get up in there, you can hunt it. Well, I'm afraid of the dark. So when he drove off, it got real dark out there. So I kind of walked maybe 50, 60 yards across that field and stopped. Like, I'm not walking any further until the sun comes up. So I just sat there and sun comes up and I can see something moving in front of me. Now I'm terrified because I don't know what it is, but it's it's making its way right towards me. And probably about 10 minutes later, it's bright enough where I can see, and it's it's a dough. I'm like, oh, it's a deer. And but I couldn't I couldn't start shooting until like uh like 645. And so boom, 644. I'm like, ah, it's bright enough. And I just I I let her have it, and I I give him a call and I was like, Hey, I got a deer already? I'm like, Yeah, and he hadn't even made it back home yet. So he turns around, comes and get me, and he's like, Uh, you know how to do you know how to feel dress a deer? And I'm like, I have no clue. So he goes, Well, figure it out, and hops in a truck and drive off. So I love it. I get on YouTube and I look up, you know, how to feel dress a deer. Found a video from uh Meat Eater, and I'm literally watching it. And as he makes a cut, I pause it, make that cut, watch it. Okay, he did that, and I did and just follow it step by step. Boom,

First Archery Deer And Raw Emotion

SPEAKER_02 36:10

got her field dressed, drove her to the road, called him, and picked me up, and then like I was like, okay, I can I can do this. And so uh the next season, it was pretty pretty much the exact same thing, man. Just um really like dialing into one spot. Like, I'm gonna hunt this particular area, I'm not gonna be bouncing around and all that. And um, actually ended up getting my first archery deer that year, opening weekend, uh sitting in the ground blind and boring, fell asleep, and I woke up and there was a doe that was like 15 yards in front of me. And I'm like, oh, so I like grabbed my bow. And at this time, I had never pulled back on animal. So I'm thinking, it's like it's like shooting a 3D target. I was wrong. As soon as I go full draw, my legs start shaking. I I I'm I'm just like like I'm like I'm shivering. I'm like, what's going on? And I just I closed my eyes and just let it fly. And she opened it up and she jumped up in the air and took off. And like I don't know how much time had passed, but I know I was sitting there shaking and I couldn't control myself. And the only thing I could think of was I had a honey bun that was right in my backpack. So I grabbed the honey bun and I just started like feeding on it and like shaking, and but it calmed me down. So I get out the blind and I I I'm walking and I find a little speck of blood and I follow that, and then I found this big puddle of blood. Then I find my arrow and like I'm look at it, I'm inspecting it, and like I'm a weirdo. So I'm like talking, I'm talking to myself as if someone's filming me. I'm like, yep, that's some good blood right there. Yeah, that's a kill shot right there. And I walk probably like another 20 yards. I see a white belly, I run over to her, and the reaction when I shot this dough with my boat, and I did with my rifle was completely different. When I grabbed that dough, I immediately just started like balling, and I I couldn't understand why. I was like, why am I crying? Like I literally harvested a dough last year and I didn't do this. Why am I crying now? And I after you know we got it hung up and everything, and we're in the house, and I'm sitting there reflecting on the hunt. I'm like, it's because I didn't really have a love for a rifle hunting that was just something I was I just did because I got a tag, but I was really, really putting in work to get one with my bow because I I've heard how hard it is, and I put all my time and effort into getting this dough, and people can say, Oh, just a dough. It was my first dough, and I don't, and you never gonna take that away from me. And I just felt like I okay, I set I set a goal, I accomplished it, I can actually do this with a bow. And I haven't picked up a rifle since then, and it's just all been just all archery.

SPEAKER_00 39:01

Yeah, man. I I'll say you're you're you're not you're not so weird. I talk to myself all the time, and I and I think now more than ever, since you know, I've been dialing so much into the filming game. So I'm always filming now. So when I'm not filming, I literally am talking to myself, like I'm like, yeah, uh, you know, turkey season. I'm whispering to you. I'm like, all right, I hear a gobble, I'm not even filming. I'm like, all right, there's birds coming in. Like, all right, like, you know, I think that bird is like right over there, and I'm just like, thank thank god you said it, because I like I I I've I do it too. Like, I I think I don't know. I think I I wonder how many other hunters do it. I I would say it might be a lot more common than what we think and everything like that. But then too, like, I might have to start doing that too, is like bring myself a little snack, and the the minute like I shoot something or my nerves get like get me, like just start like trying to eat to help me calm. It makes sense. It has your your mind starts thinking about something else, yeah. You know what I mean? Like it so like it it definitely makes sense, but it's just absolutely hilarious that you you brought out the honey bun.

SPEAKER_02 40:13

Dude, that is a staple in my bag, bro. Like, if when I'm going hunting, bro, a hostess ice honey bun, but I take it out the pack, I put it in like a either a um plastic, a ziploc bag, or wrap it up in a napkin so I don't make all that crinkly noise. But I keep a honey bun on me on it always. Like, that's I'm a must have.

SPEAKER_00 40:30

That's why I gain so much weight during uh during hunting season. Like I stopped working out when I stop. The only thing I'm doing is running running gunning, which definitely like by the time like I'd say like that November, like then it's like, all right, like it's just sugar, wah wah, or quick check here for for us, sandwiches, like, and just I'm always picking up like donuts and and food and everything like that. But and the one thing I love about bear season, and this is a huge killer for me, is I always stop at Dunkin' Donuts almost every single day, pick myself up a bunch of donuts, and I'm in the saddle just eating freaking donuts.

SPEAKER_02 41:07

You you gotta have a ritual, man. Like mine is

Rituals, Superstitions, And Hunting Snacks

SPEAKER_02 41:10

I'll get up at about 2:30, 3 o'clock. My car is already packed the night before, so I'm literally getting up, getting dressed, boom, stop at the gas station. I'm getting a hunt, two honey buns, one to eat on the way, one for the bag, and I'm getting an energy drink. And that's the regular. And if and if they don't have the energy drink that I that I drink, I have to go find that particular one. So I can get that, and I'm then I'm in the stand. That's that's my my ritual. And then uh after the hunt, I don't care where it's at, I just gotta find somewhere that has a chicken fried steak. If I can get chicken fried steak, um that's it's money, man. I I didn't found some hole in the walls in South Dakota. They got some amazing chicken fried steaks, man.

SPEAKER_00 41:51

Like, I love it. I I love it. Yeah, those those and that yet again goes back to to sports. So you you get into those rituals and and and stuff like that. I'm a I'm a mess when it comes. I am so superstitious, like with a lot of the stuff. Like, I kind of mine starts the night before. I gotta do the like the same routine the night before. Wake up, it's listen to almost the same music. And if I kill something, I have to kind of like go back into the music and like, all right, like I have to make sure like I'm adding like certain like this year for turkey. Got my first turkey. You know, I'm only three years in hunting turkeys, and got my first two turkeys this year, and the anthem every single morning. First, it started off with Sean Paul. Um, and I was listening to a bunch of Sean Paul, but then also like it it became like this was the turkey anthem this year, was um, goddamn, it is um call on me by Eric Per uh Perdes or whatever the hell his yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So you just see me at like 3:30 in the morning just just going hand, just full blast, like getting ready for the turkey woods, like just so that was like, and it's like all right, like I had success with it, so now that is my my ritual, right? And that'll that'll probably just be my turkey ritual. And then I have my killing hats, like not this specific one, but like the other one that I have. Like, this is just my wear round hat, but I have this exact one as my hunting hat, and I got like I got like at least right now. I have like seven killing hats that I rotate, but like this this other hat was like on a streak, shot a dough 24 hours later. You got it, it's hot. This hat's hot. Shot my freaking buck. I was like, all right, like boom. Every time I get a kill, if I'm wearing a new hat, like now it's upgraded to the killing hat. So now it goes into the bin with all my hunting gear, and I can only wear it when I'm hunting. Yeah, dude.

SPEAKER_02 43:48

I I I got a trapper hat that I found at a uh thrift shop, and I'm and I'm as soon as I saw it, I'm like, man, some some old school cat big buck in this. I'm buying it. So I bought it, it was like two. And dude, I wear that hat all the time. Like right now, I can't tell you where it's at. I only find it during like right before the season. I can start getting myself together and boom, boom, there you go. So, like, I don't know, I couldn't tell you where it is right now, but I know it's here. And that's my that's my jam, man. My brother, he has the weirdest ritual. He will not put his hunting clothes on until he's at the spot outside. He'll get down to his drawers and like right outside the truck and get up and get dressed. I'm like, why do you do that? You're like, man, when I'm in the car, man, all that all that stuff in the car, you know, the kids, McDonald's, all that shit is floating around in his car. I don't want that shit on my hunting clothes. So he he waits till you get to wherever he goes and he gets starch-neaked, boom, put his hunting clothes on, and he's into the woods. But hey, we we all got crazy rituals, man. I I know one guy, he has to listen to like 90s RB before and after the hunt. I'm like, bro, I can't ride with you, bro, because you in here, you in here crying and singing. Oh, key sweat.

SPEAKER_00 45:02

Yeah, I don't I don't know about that one. Yeah, I I don't I don't blame you. That one wouldn't get me in the like, yeah. I I gotta get pumped up. Like I I am just full on like pumped up. Like I'll listen to some country music during hunting season, especially in the opening like weekend. Like it's just country music, but like there's a certain point, like as the season gets longer, I gotta get into my music that is just gonna get me like I wanna go like really kill something. Like, I I want to put my head through a goddamn wall. Like, I just wanna like I'm all jacked up. The deer are jacked up, I gotta be jacked up. You gotta match their match their energy and everything like that. But um,

Building A Brand That Looks Like You

SPEAKER_00 45:40

yeah, so and and and one thing yet again, where what you've have created too of of with this, you know, with your show and with the podcast and everything like that is something I love too, is just the the artwork of of what you've you've kind of done. And that was I think one of my first things that that I saw was I think it was the the skull guy with with the dreads and everything like that. Like that right there too brought a whole nother avenue that either wasn't being done yet or just wasn't like popular yet, and it's different. I think we're in that realm where you know people are being more creative and they're showing their personalities, and you know, it it's not that old school, like everything has to be plain and simple, cut and dry, like you know, social media is a big big thing and ever and everything like that. Like the old timers, they don't they don't understand, you know. I mean it's it's one way and and and that's it. Where just that right there was I was like, when I when I saw that, I was like, yeah, I was like, that's pretty freaking badass.

SPEAKER_02 46:51

Okay, so so I I have my degree, uh, my master's in uh in business administration with uh emphasis on marketing. So like I know like branding is like a big thing. Like, so I'm like when I came up with the dreaded archer, I'm like, what kind of logo can I have that's like when people see it, they like if if they don't if they don't see the words, they just saw the the picture, well they know this is me. And um I I I tried finding like an artist to uh to do it, and like everybody kept just it wasn't right. Like I told them what I wanted and they just couldn't get it right. So I just went to Best Buy, bought an iPad, and I like got procreate and started sketching, sketching, sketching. I think I made like five or six different ones, and the one that people saw was not the it was not uh the one that um was not the one that I originally came up with. It was like the original one was it was terrible. But uh the final one was like my brother was like, dude, you gotta do put the beanie on him because you wear beanies, like that's your thing. And with the podcaster the headphones on, and he kind of tweaked it a little bit, and then I tweaked it, and then boom, we got we got the finished product, and I just I love it because it it's me. Like I actually took like he my brother took a picture of my face, and like he's real good with um Photoshop and all stuff, and like basically like made like my cheekbones and all that stuff. And like, this is your actual skull, boom, dreadlocks with the with the smile. And the original one had gold teeth in it too, but I usually yeah, because like I want to be me. It's like because I I used to wear like little grizzly once in a while, and he was like, nah, bro, this just goes straight straight white to cross because you always smiling. So I'm like, all right, cool. And it came out and do people loved it, man. Like, I remember when I put shirts for sale, I'm like, no one's gonna buy these shirts, but I just want to see what happens. And dude, the minute I put them on my website, man, they just started like flying like hotcakes. I'm like, holy smokes, like people like the logo, and uh now when I go like the tack or anything, people a lot of people don't know me, they know the logo, so they'll be like, Hey, dreaded archer podcast. I'm like, Yeah, I'm gonna dreaded Archer, like, oh snap. So, but like we um like when I got my brother into Archer, he was like, dude, I want I don't want to be like everybody else. He goes, I want our brand to be uh different. He was like, you know, let's bring us to the outdoors and not the outdoors to us. So he was so like when he if you saw him attack, dude, he's in his Jordans, he's in those I would love that cargo shorts or no wait, which Jordans is he rocking? Uh he's he's uh he rocks fours, nines, and 11s. That's it. Uh me, I don't I'm not I'm not a sneaker guy. Oh any or he wears dunks, like he's uh huge, yeah. The SBs, yes, what's what he uh what he wears a lot of. So you'll see him out there in that, and then like he rocks his chain, and he was like, Bro, you gotta get you a chain. I'm like, for what? He's like, bro, it's gonna be part of the brand. So I'm like, all right, whatever. So I get a chain and we we go out to tack, and dude, it was just like one. I thought, like, man, we're going out to this event that we've never been to. Um, it's really not one of it's not like black space, but dude, we got there, and new people were just like, hey man, what's up? We just mingling, talking back and forth. And dude, they was no, they gave my brother shit. Like, dude, you out here in Jordan's and like, bro, it's this this is what I wear. And it just it's just it just formed into the brand. So, like, you know, team dreaded archer. You see us out, we're we don't dress like we are in out hunting. We're if we had tack or at a outdoor expo, dude, we're wearing our like I guess you can call it streetwear, you know, we're yeah, yeah, nice, nice jeans, you know, cool graphic t-shirt, backwards hat or whatever, and that's just kind of like who we are. And people see us and they they know like, oh, that's them destroyed archer boys over there.

SPEAKER_00 51:02

But I I love it. I love it. I love it. My my one boy. Uh we we his name's Phil. We call him Boo Boo, right? He, you know, black guy, tatted, dreads. Um he runs a food count, really, really successful food count, right? And he is just wild. Everything about him is loud. Let's just say that. He just got his gun license, right? Buys a pistol, already has a laser on it, light on it, sight on it. Just like, dude, what I was like, what is wrong with you today? He hits me up. And he bought a AK AK 74 or something like that. Um, or or one of them, 762, and I'm just like, I'm like, dude, you're you're just you're I was like, what is wrong? What is wrong with you? Right? You just got like relaxed a little bit. He's got chains all like all over the place. He's always everywhere we go, he's blinged out. I go, I go, dude, I was like, I was like, I love you. I was like, I can't wait to eventually like I want to take him hunting one day or to one of these shows, and and that's exactly how it'd be like the minute you see him, it's like yeah, you're not going hunting, but you're you're gonna be, you know, hopefully he'll he'll be a hunter. Like he's gone out in the woods with me, loves it, and everything like that. But he wears his streetwear, he wears jewelry, he wears, you know, yeah. I'm gonna have to tell him he can't that shit's gonna be blinging way too goddamn. Like, I mean a lot of jewelry. You got just one little thing on he's got like hella chains, he got the watches, and and I'm like, I'm like, yeah, if you come out with me, leave that shit in the car. Yeah, that's dude.

SPEAKER_02 52:57

Yeah, no, you know, it's um it's it's kind of it's wild because like when people see us, they like for the first time, it kind of like you know, they kind of had a place, so then they come talk to us and we get to talk, and they like, oh son, these these cats know a little bit about a little bit, yeah. We get you know, sharing stories and going back and forth. And my brother, he's one of those guys, like when you meet him, you never forget him. Like, I remember we met John Dudley attack uh in South Dakota, and then we just got the chat chopping it up, whatever. And then the next year we're in Oklahoma, I'm just walking, and Dudley's like, Yo, Nick, what's up, bruh? And like runs up and like dabs him up and they get to talking, and everybody looking like, How does Dudley know these guys here? And your buddy Phil reminds

Dream Hunts And Rapid Fire Favorites

SPEAKER_02 53:40

me of that's he reminds me of our buddy Cam. So, you know, when he was young, he got he got hemmed up, man. He he uh got a felony and you know, lost, and he couldn't have a gun, nothing like that. And before then, he wasn't a gun guy anyway. But um, you know, he he stayed under the radar, and uh some program the state had ended up being able to get his gun license, you know, his rights to own firearm again. And man, the minute he got that letter in the mail saying that you know the govern the the governor gave him his his rights back, this dude went gun crazy, man. I'm talking about, dude, we got a group chat, and I promise you, once or twice a week, he send the picture. Just cop this, just cop this, just cop this. He now he's um he he was a school teacher, but now he's a he opened up his own um private security company, he's a bodyguard now, and he just like got he uh he's a first responder now. I mean he is doing everything and do like before you could ask him about a gun, he can tell you nothing. Now dude, he can tell you a gun company who bought that gun company, who started that gun company. I mean, he's just into it, and he went from having no guns to now he got like four safes at his home full of guns, and he's just like, shoot, man, I'm I'm ready for something to pop off.

SPEAKER_00 55:00

I I I like my guns, but yeah, there's nothing to to bow hunting. Like, and I told him today, I was like eventually, like living in Jersey, you know, we're very like restricted and limited, like not nearly as bad as you know, some other states, but we're up there, like you know, I have my guns and everything like that. I have a couple guns I use for hunting and stuff like that. Like, I will buy at this point. I have the guns that I really want for now. You know, if I move to another state where you know I can get some nicer things where I don't have as many limits on it, you know. I mean, I'm gonna I'm gonna get some of my dream guns or build some of some other stuff, you know. But I'd much rather take that money and buy a new bow. You know what I mean? I you know what I mean, or or if I'm going to buy a gun, like I love my 306. I don't really hunt with a gun, but I go up to PA to do the opening rifle every year. That's a blast. Um, you know, hopefully, you know, we'll be up in Moose Moose camp, you know, in the future. Hopefully, this upcoming year. Um first three days, I'll probably bring my bow, but gotta bring the gun just in case. If I see a freaking moose, I'm not uh, you know, and I'm not in range. I'm not really yep, bring me the gun real quickly, you know what I mean? So it it's it's just one of those things I imagine you're saying as a bow hunter, like once you get into bow hunting, like I don't know, guns just kind of like fade away. Like I used to love guns, and bone hunting is just like, yeah, I'll I'll take a bow, I'll take arrows. Like, I'd much rather spend my money on building arrows and and and things like that, and you know, than going out and buying a new gun. Yeah, see, for me, I I only need two guns.

SPEAKER_02 56:41

I only and right now I like only got one. I got a whatchall, uh 30 out six. That's there we go. That's my that's my uh all purpose if I need something. But the other gun that I want, and I'm just I'm just waiting, saving up money to get it, and and look until the wife says, All right, you can go get it. I want a Barrett M8250 cal. Do I do I need it? No, I don't need it, but I want it. Yeah, that's not something you need, but that is something you want. The only reason I want that gun because when I was at the Naval Academy and we was doing our uh marksman test, we got to shoot one. And I shot that joker like three or four times. I'm like, oh yeah, I'm I need one of these. And I was like, Can we buy these? It was like, Well, yeah, well, you can you can not while you're at the academy, but yeah, you can you can go to a gun store and if they got it, you can buy it. I'm like, I one day I'm gonna get one of these.

SPEAKER_00 57:34

Yeah, that that's a gun that's just gonna sit there too, because the amount of money you gotta spend on per round of like, yeah, shoot it once. Like, okay. I I think it's like like probably like well, I bet it's like 50 bucks a round, I bet. Yeah, probably, probably about, especially now. Especially now. Um, but all right, uh, we'll we'll get into the last few questions. We're we barely even scratched the surface. I feel like I these conversations that are so like we never ever scratch the surface, which does mean we'll we'll definitely have you back on. Um, you know what I mean? It's been absolutely uh a blast, but let's get into a couple more here, more quick our quicker questions and and and answers here. Um if you our biggest one two weeks, money is not an option, right? Don't gotta worry about money. What is your dream animal and where are you hunting at?

SPEAKER_02 58:30

Oh, um, I'm dream animal. I want to go to Kodiak Island and get a bear with my bow. Oh, yeah. I love it. And and and if they tell me that I got some kind of terminal disease, I'm going out there with a loincloth and a knife. That's like it's going hey, look here. Either he's gonna take me out or I'm taking him out, but let's go right at that at that point, right?

SPEAKER_00 58:53

Oh, I love that. Um, what's your favorite time of year to to hunt? Like, if

Venison Meals And Wild Ice Cream

SPEAKER_00 59:00

you could only hunt for like a week out of the season, where are you hunting? What time of what time of year are you hunting? Uh you said where or what time of year?

SPEAKER_02 59:08

What time of year? Oh man, it's it's gonna be the fall, man. Fall dude, when it the the fall, you know, leaves changing colors, you know, animals are starting to um move around and and get ready for the winter. And it's just it's that smell, and I and I think the reason I love the fall so much is because like it reminds me of football season, man. In Texas, that that fall, that smell that's in the air, it's it's nothing like it, man. And different you wake up and it's like crisp, it just it's not too cold, but it ain't too hot, it's just right. Yeah, it's it's gotta be up in the fall, like middle of November.

SPEAKER_00 59:42

Preaching. If you could hunt with one person, right? Whether it's you know, current person, somebody who's alive right now, or someone who who passed away a long time ago, could be anybody. Who who would you who would you hunt with? The white shoe.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:01

He wrote this book, all right. Bo Hunter Encyclopedia. All right, dude. I love this book, man. I um I I watched one, uh an old, old show what he was on, and he was like, This is how old the show was. He was talking about the book releasing. That's how old this show was. I found this old VHS at a uh garage sale, and I'm like, man, I gotta find that book. And I was in this like small town and uh Illinois, like Glenda or something like that, and um went to this bookstore and they had it. And I'm like, oh my god, I bought it, boom! And dude, I've watched so many videos uh of a man, and dude is just a legend, man. Some of the stuff that he was doing like back in the you know 70s and 80s, people today think they're coming up with the stuff like nah, man, the white was doing that stuff, you know, back in the gap. So yeah, it would it would definitely have to be you know the white shoe.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:55

I love it, love it. Um what's your what's your go-to broadhead?

SPEAKER_02 1:01:03

Ooh, go-to broadhead right now is this uh sever 2.0s. Yep, sever 2.0s. Uh I love their broadhead. Um, I used to be so against mechanicals. I was wouldn't went for it before that it was uh the QAD Exodus. I'm like that, those are my my go-tos, but um Sever sent me uh I forgot which one they sent me a couple years ago, and I love those. And then when the 2.0s came out, I got those, and I'm like, Yep, this is it right here. So those are my my go-to.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:35

This is what Sever. This is full, yep, full, full, full. This has like five in here, one right here. Like, I have I have I've been shooting sever for eight years. Shout out to Sever. Um, if you're not already shooting sever, make sure you go get yourself some sever broadheads. Go get you some. I yeah, I love that answer. Love can't say anything else bad about that. Like, that is the best answer you could have you could have given.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:07

I and do I love the broadhead, but dude, I just love like the the model of the company, man. What you can buy one broadhead because you know, sometimes you don't need three, you know. I just need I need I just need one to the replace one that I used last year, and uh so I I love that. I love the packaging it comes in. Like they have amazing customer service. Uh I think I ordered the wrong the wrong grain one time, and I'm like, man, I'm screwed. But I just you know go to the website, emailed them, was like, hey, look, I ordered the wrong broadheads, wrong weight. Can you guys uh you know exchange them out? And it was like, yeah, send me this thing and print it out, post it, sent in the mail, boom. And before I could even send my broad heads off, they'd already sent the ones that I needed in the mail. So I'm like, hey, you can't beat that because most places they want you to send it in, and once they get it, then they send it out. Yeah, so like yo, yeah, I agree.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:02

Now, last one. Your go-to meal when cooking venison.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:11

All right, go to meal. So um, I do this thing. Um I I basically I cut the backstrap with the ribs still on it. So I make like a like a tomahawk backstrap. So take that, cut them individual, so like little lollipops, like little venison um tomahawks, and then I'll take red wine, put it in the pan, roost it, reduce it down to a syrup, put like a little pinch of sugar in it, a little bit of cornstarch, reduce it down to a syrup, put that to the side, then I'll make some garlic mashed potatoes, mashed potatoes, put the um the uh venison on top of the mashed potatoes, and then kind of just a light drizzle of that red wine sauce. Dude, perfect, man. It's it's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:58

Oh you know, it's crazy. I I was I was before we we hopped on earlier, lunch, tenderloin, had the other half for for dinner, cooked it, smoked it, then cooked it, basin, you know, my butter, garlic, everything like that. And I'm back to being hungry again after after that. Red wine, red wine is one of the go-to. If you're not cooking with red wine, you're missing out, man. You are definitely missing out. Like I would say it's one of my favorites uh to cook with. Um, usually when I have a red wine, I will also pair it with like a blackberry or something like that. Make it make a yeah, like a red wine, blackberry uh sauce. Um, and then yeah, go just go from there, and there's just so much you there's so much you can do at Venice, and there's a lot of times I like it very simple: salt, pepper, butter, and that's really about it. And then there's sometimes where I just want to make the best. And the fiance, I will say the fiance, she can cook, she's way better of a cook than I can. She's the one where if I want something that's complicated and like I get from a restaurant, she's got to be the one cooking it. Not me, not me.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:16

Now, now check this out. Now, I do like a go-to dessert that I'm what I'm I'm a huge, huge, huge ice cream guy. Like, I have my own like turner and everything. I make my own ice cream.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:27

Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. I think I know what you're gonna say. Uh I'm waiting and say, I I think I know what you're gonna say. What? Venice and ice cream. Yes, I've had it once, and when I found out about it, I was blown away. We have a uh we have a wild game dinner every every single year. Um, and one year, yeah. We had it there, and like I was like, I need to try it. How do you make yours? Like, I I wonder I wonder if there's different ways because I've never heard of this before until last year.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:00

So how I do mine is um so I went to this uh place in Nebraska, I forgot is in it's in Omaha, but they had this bone marrow ice cream with beef. And I was like, this is wild, but it tastes amazing. So I'm like, I can pretty much do that with deer. So I take the the femur and I cut it in half and I smoke it. I'll smoke well first. I'll boil it, then I'll smoke it, take it out, and then I'll get my cream and I'll boil the the bone marrow in the cream for about uh about 25-30 minutes on low, take it out, strain it, and then put the cream in the churner, and I'll put uh little lemon zest, um what you call it, vanilla bean, and just let it let it churn for probably about uh if I use the big the big mixer, it'll probably take about 30-45 minutes, and then like halfway through before it's done, going back to the red wine. I'll let the red wine reduce in a um pan. And then while it's churning, I'll slowly pour the red wine into the cream, so then it gives it that swirl. So then you have this red wine bone marrow ice cream that is out of this world, dude. It it reminds you like a shortbread almost, dude. It's crazy. Holy hell. When I make it, I cannot like my like my mom and like my brother, like my fam, I can't tell them what's what it is. I just tell them, Oh, it's shortbread ice cream.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:37

We're getting we're gonna get an ice cream machine.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:39

Hey, get what I'm telling you, bro. Dude, it is holy amazing, man. And it took me probably like five or six times to get it right to perfect it, yeah. When I got it right, I'm like, boom, it's it's money, man. And like I make weird ice creams. Like, I did a um a sweet corn raspberry ice cream, that was crazy. Um, I love sweet corn, dude.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:03

I'm dude, I just it's it's fire, man. I need to try that. I yeah, we need an ice cream machine so I can start making all different types of ice cream.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:11

Don't don't get no like like I got the ninja creamy. It don't it that's the it's that's just if you need a quick fix, but you gotta get you like an old school nostalgia ice cream maker. Walmart got them. The brand's called nostalgia. Get you one of them, and you you good to go, bro. I'm telling you.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:27

Oh, yeah. I think we just made every listener hungry, and probably everyone's gonna go out and get ice cream right now. But yeah, that that oh, I never would have thought venison, ice cream, a little lemon zest, vanilla bean, yep, you said, and then red wine.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:46

Oh yep, and just while while it's while it's churning, just slowly pour it in. Dude, it's dude, it's it's it's amazing, man. Like I I've I've always wanted to open like my own ice cream shop and like have weird stuff there and serve it, but like yeah, then the law ain't gonna let me serve no venison. No, they're they're not, they're not or have me on the front of the newspaper.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:15

But I think how those things work is you would have to have your own farm. FDA has to come out and like uh, you know, all that type of stuff, and then you can do, but yet again, that we're now we're talking some bread, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:30

Yeah, we got a guy here, he has a food truck called Underground Pizza, and this dude he serves pizza, but he has wild game on it, and he like he and he gets busted up all the time. So like now it's kind of like he's like a vigilante pizzeria. He like like you gotta um send him your email address, whatever, and you know, he he kind of vet you, see fill you out, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then you know, saying he'll and um he'll be like send a text message out like, hey, um, I'm making um what what do you have the other day? Uh it was duck, duck breast pizza. Well, he basically like like like made like no, it was a duck sausage that he had made, and he had put it on the pizza. And bruh, I didn't I didn't get it, but I but just I saw pictures of it. I'm like, man, I know that joker's good. And he'll post online, it'll be like, oh, you know, he'll post like just post a piece of pizza, and people like, oh, and you know, you gotta hit him up, like yo, I'll get a slice and drive over to his crib and get it, or he'll be like at a park somewhere, and I cannot believe that. Yeah, underground pizza, man. Shout out to him, dude.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:38

It's it's like it's like buying drug, but you're buying pizza, right? It's the one good thing if you're if you're the one buying it, you know. If you guys get caught, you're not getting in trouble. That's that's he's only the one getting in trouble. You're you're not getting in trouble. It's a um it's like a it's a safe, it's a safe version of a drug deal. Yeah, he's always like, you can get this for me. I'm like, you didn't get the cops gonna stop me and say, Where you get this pizza from? Yeah, right. Oh no, it's like, hey, you where's that pizza from?

SPEAKER_02 1:11:14

Hey, you with the grips on your face. But yeah, like he uh he has like a legit food truck and he sells like pepperoni and all stuff, but like if you want the the exotic stuff, you gotta hit him up on the DL, bro. It dude, it's I love it, man. It's it's him, and then there's another guy that sells raw milk. I didn't know it was illegal to buy raw milk. Like I saw dude on Facebook and was like, Hey man, I got raw milk. So I hit him up. I had to meet him behind a grocery store. Crazy, crazy, crazy.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:46

All that is crazy, absolute craziness. But all

Final Encouragement And Wrap Up

SPEAKER_00 1:11:50

right, everyone. Well, I mean, that was an episode of laughs. I hope everyone enjoyed this episode. Trey, you got any last words? Oh, yeah, man.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:00

Hey, if you've been ever been thinking about getting the outdoors, ever thinking about picking up a bow, don't wait, go and do it.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:08

Yeah, no, a hundred a hundred percent. Listen, don't don't hesitate. It it will be one of your best decisions that that you personally well, you know what? After you get addicted and all the money you spend, I don't know about that. But it it it mentally and physically and everything like that, yes, 100 will be one of your one of the best decisions you you absolutely make. But uh Trey, we we definitely appreciate you coming on. We are definitely gonna have to get you back on because we only got one deer story. Oh, and I got a bunch of them too.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:40

Hey, hey, I'm I'll definitely come back, man. Anytime, dude. I I love getting on podcasts, I love talking outdoors, archery, hunting. That's like I love it, man.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:49

Oh, yeah. Me, me too, right there with you. I've obviously this is what we do, you know what I mean? And it it's it's been an absolute blast. Everyone, we hope you guys enjoy this episode, and we'll see you guys next time.