On this episode of the podcast, the brother and sister duo of the sit down with the man himself, Snyder. We talk about growing up in the 80's and early 90's, how he got started in the outdoor industry, and how he became the man he is today. We also talk about his early days as a kid growing up on the streets of New York City and how it all led him to becoming a full-time outdoors guy. We also discuss how he went from being a high school dropout to becoming one of the most well-known outdoorsmen in the country, and what it takes to be a professional bowhunter and ultra-marathon runner in the world of outdoor sports like bowhunting and backpacking. Enjoy the episode and spread the word to your friends and family about this podcast! Cheers, -Jon Sorrentino and . Jon & Jon Jon and Jon talk about hunting, fishing, and all things outdoors and adventure sports. Jon talks about his background in the outdoors, and talks about what it's like being a full time outdoorsman and being a part of the outdoors community. If you like hunting and fishing, you'll love this episode! Jon has a ton of great stories to go along with this episode, so be sure to check it out! Don't Tell a Friend about it! . . . Subscribe to Jon's YouTube channel: Jon's Adventures! Subscribe on Podchaser Podcast and Subscribe on iTunes Learn more about your ad choices. Subscribe and become a supporter of his photography and other awesome travel and lifestyle tips! If he's looking for the best deals on the world's best spots to get the most amazing deals in the best deal on the best spots in the entire country! We'll be giving you a chance to win a discount on all of the best vlogs, including the best places to find the most beautiful places to go around the world! and so much more! , to get exclusive deals on everything you can get in the ultimate outdoorsy and the ultimate getaway on the highest deals and the most authentic outdoor guide on the best deal in the most authenticest place in the place that s the best place , the ultimate deal and the best all of it all that s going to offer the best anywhere in the greatest place on the map, anywhere
00:00:58.000People get real weird with that kind of stuff when they want something.
00:01:01.000You know, it's like, there's some people that'll text you, and then if you don't text them right back, they'll send you question marks, like, question, question.
00:01:08.000Yeah, it gets, it's weird trying to, little did I know where I would end up in life compared, you know, kind of where I started from.
00:01:15.000And then now, well, it's funny, my wife, she knew me and we met in 07. Didn't have a phone, no computer, lived in the woods, slept on a Therm-a-Rest air mattress.
00:01:26.000You didn't have a phone or a computer in 07?
00:01:30.000You know what, I think I might have got a flip phone right around that time frame.
00:01:34.000And I was sleeping on a, and this is a no bullshit story, she'll tell you.
00:01:38.000I had gotten divorced and I kind of made this, you know, do whatever.
00:01:42.000I wanted to hunt a lot, get out in the woods a lot.
00:01:44.000So I slept on a Thermarest air mattress in my, you know, you bring chicks over, they're like, what the fuck is this?
00:01:50.000I just had this, you know, 24-inch wide backpacking air mattress.
00:01:53.000I slept on that and just saved, you know, money for whatever, hunting, getting it outdoors.
00:01:57.000And then she and I, you know, screwed around, dated for a while and we were apart for several years and we got back together and She's like, who the fuck are you?
00:02:34.000All of that stuff, forums and, you know, whatever, all that different stuff just got well known and then, yeah, went from there.
00:02:41.000Well, that world, that world of outdoor enthusiasts and backpack hunters is such a rabid world.
00:02:49.000The guys who are really into that, for people who don't understand, It's like if you combined ultra-marathon running, rucking, and hunting together, it's kind of all those things.
00:03:02.000We've talked about it on the podcast before, and I know I've brought you up before, but that world is the combination of athletes.
00:03:11.000I don't like when people call bowhunting a sport.
00:03:14.000Because I think it's more of a discipline.
00:03:15.000It's a weird thing to call it a sport because it's not like there's a game going on.
00:04:21.000Like, I'm the first dude that shoots a recurve that, you know, is somewhat known.
00:04:25.000For people that don't follow hunting, let me explain to you.
00:04:27.000Aaron got too good at shooting with a compound bow, which is probably one of the hardest ways to hunt, so he decided to shoot with a fucking, like, a medieval bow.
00:04:35.000Let's talk about how that got started.
00:04:48.000You know, so for people to understand, when you go to an outdoor range, you've got one long line, and you've got targets on the far right, which is like the five-pound weights at the gym.
00:04:57.000And on the far left, you've got the 200-pound dumbbells.
00:05:01.000So I'm over at the 100-yard bail shooting a Reinhardt 18-1, 100, 120, and I would have stick bow guys come down to me and tell me I'm unethical for shooting that distance, and I would be like...
00:05:12.000You can't hit the bail down there at 10 yards.
00:10:27.000I ended up shooting, I don't know, 11, 12 animals that year.
00:10:30.000But fuck man, it was like every time I went out I was learning something new and I had to totally change my hunting style.
00:10:37.000When you think about it from a perspective of someone who's a non-hunter, they question why you would want to shoot a bow and arrow in the first place.
00:10:43.000Because they think that that would be less ethical than using a rifle.
00:10:47.000Like if you wanted to shoot something you should use a rifle, you could kill it quicker, it's better.
00:10:51.000To go from that to a compound bow, it's like, why are you doing that?
00:10:56.000And then they realize, oh, you can actually be very accurate with a compound bow if you have practice and if you learn how to do it correctly and you're disciplined.
00:11:04.000But to take it another level and to go to a recurve, that's where it gets to, in some people's minds, are you hunting for food?
00:11:15.000Why are you doing it with a recurve bow?
00:11:18.000And I think one of the best answers that I've ever heard from anybody is that they said it is much more difficult but also much more rewarding.
00:11:27.000And when you're eating that animal, you have this insane sense of accomplishment that's actually another level passed even with a compound boat.
00:11:38.000So I went from your side of things, making fun of everyone, to being addicted to getting close.
00:11:43.000So now my—the first year I shot a mule deer at four feet in the cliffs when I drew my bow back, my arrow was between its horns when I drew up.
00:11:53.000But it was one of those things where now the reward from it, like, yeah, that feeling you have when you get it done is— Because it's much more difficult.
00:12:19.000And so that year, though, when we were going in on a lot of these animals, I was able to get a couple turkeys and a black bear, and I shot a mule deer.
00:12:28.000And that mule deer, like I said, when I was in those cliffs...
00:12:31.000My arrow was between its antlers when I drew back, so I shot it at three feet.
00:13:17.000Because to go that far and hit the exact same spot is difficult because I lost sight of Frank almost the whole way because I couldn't expose myself.
00:14:52.000That gust of wind hit it, I pushed off, and I was worried the shade, they'll think it's a mountain lion, pouncing on him.
00:14:58.000So I could see the shade of my fat head on the back of his neck, and I'm like, you know, it's one of the most intense moments of my life, you know, as far as this goes.
00:15:08.000And so when I went to draw, I had to sweep my arrow right between his horns and drew back and shot him, you know, straight down, and he ran 50 yards and piled up.
00:15:17.000When you eat that animal, that's got to give you this insane feeling of accomplishment.
00:16:07.000Even with a regular compound bow with great binoculars and using a rangefinder and all that jazz, it's not guaranteed that you're going to eat.
00:16:39.000I mean, that dude was born to live on nothing, right?
00:16:42.000So I always put things into perspective, and he brought it up too, was when things are down, right, when you're mentally or whatever drained, and you think about it, it's like, all right, I chose to put myself out here.
00:16:56.000All the people before me, they had to hack it out with.
00:16:59.000They didn't have Sitka gear, they didn't have binos, they didn't have this, they didn't have that.
00:17:04.000And so it helps motivate me, for one, but I'm like, as weird as it sounds, I think of that a lot when I'm...
00:17:35.000And, you know, a lot of it talks about their lifestyle and talks about the hardships that they had to go through.
00:17:41.000And, you know, mostly bow and arrow hunting for deer and buffalo.
00:17:46.000And it's just that that life must have been insane.
00:17:50.000But it also talks about one of the main characters of this woman, Cynthia Ann Parker, who was abducted when she was nine years old.
00:17:57.000And then the Americans recaptured her when she was in her 30s and she wanted to go back.
00:18:03.000She didn't want to live in a town and live in a house and she fucking hated it.
00:18:09.000It's like that life of, even though it's so difficult, that subsistence hunting life, it's so insanely connected.
00:18:17.000You're so insanely connected to the forest and to the woods, to the animals, just to the earth itself.
00:18:24.000You are, and I think on me, I spent 150, 200 nights a year in the wilderness for the last year.
00:18:32.000Yeah, you probably do more than anybody that I know.
00:18:34.000That's one of the reasons why I wanted to talk to you about this, because your company, Kofaro, which makes some great backpack companies out there that make amazing gear, but you guys make, I mean, there's no arguing.
00:19:14.000He was happy to see a younger guy that could not get out of the woods.
00:19:18.000And so what was crazy, where most people end up getting stuck in an office, if he came in the office and I was in there and disgruntled, he'd be like, what are you doing?
00:19:26.000Go get your shit and get in the woods.
00:20:45.000And I've been able to pass a lot of those things on to her, but it's a different lifestyle.
00:20:50.000When I was in high school, you could have guns in your truck, you'd take them into the principal's office, he'd keep them in his office, and then when you got out, you'd go deer hunting.
00:20:59.000I'm not that much younger than you, but a little bit.
00:22:02.000Yeah, we drove down there, and I don't even hardly remember what my mom was telling me, and we bought a bow, and I didn't know what I was doing, right?
00:22:09.000And I would say, like, the way that, you know...
00:22:15.000At that time, I was pissed because we'd go to football camps.
00:22:18.000I'd have like the poor kids stuff and whatever, but it makes you a lot better person, I think.
00:22:23.000Yeah, that feeling when you're poor and you're young, that's irreplaceable.
00:22:27.000You know, I still think about when I was young, like not knowing if we were going to have enough food.
00:23:12.000And I mean, you've been around all walks of life like I have myself.
00:23:16.000And the one thing I wouldn't take back is, you know, now there'll be, you know, of course you get successful and people are like, oh, you know, he's got money, he's got this.
00:23:24.000And it's like, I remember my dad, he worked for the highway department.
00:23:27.000He was a sole provider for the family of four making like $1,400 a month.
00:23:32.000And I had a sister and, you know, both my parents smoked.
00:25:08.000We've done good between my ex-wife and I because that kid budgets to a point I want to choke her because she just moved up here and I'm like, look, I'll just pay for it.
00:25:16.000She's like, nope, I don't want any money.
00:25:19.000I budgeted all this and I'm like, I must have done something right because I would have prayed for help because I didn't have help after 17. I think sometimes it's just genetics too.
00:26:53.000You know, I'm not father of the year by any means, but when we do, you know, simple things for your kid to see, like we do backpack cardio and Kaylee comes, you know, and she can see you're giving it everything you've got.
00:27:14.000Yeah, they say, like, the best way a guy can be a father to his daughter is to...
00:27:22.000Especially like to set them up for the future is to show them how they should expect to be treated and Show them how you treat other people like the way you behave Around them is like what they're gonna learn.
00:27:36.000Yeah, like being if you're respectful and friendly Like the way you are that that results oftentimes better For them to see then even what you teach them and tell them because what you tell them only goes so far but what they see is When they see you drive or driven,
00:27:53.000when they see you work hard, when they see you diligent and respectful and friendly, that's what really, like, sinks in.
00:29:24.000I mean, like now I... From where I was to, like, right now, the views I was raised with, I mean, everything has changed, you know, greatly.
00:29:37.000You look back, I mean, I'm sure your same thing made you, you know, I mean, my dad was not exactly easy on me, but it fucking made me tougher, so I can't bitch about that.
00:32:10.000You get, you know, Dudley and Cam and me and you and, I don't know if you know Levi Morgan, probably the greatest archer to ever hold a bow in his hand.
00:34:22.000The comedy store just furloughed all of its employees.
00:34:25.000They were hoping to reopen, and they had opened as a bar.
00:34:29.000So they had outside patio seating, and they had it all set up nice, social distance and everything, and then the governor just came down with another order to shut all the bars down.
00:34:38.000And now the Comedy Store has no money coming in, so they're fucked.
00:34:40.000And then it looks like they're not going to open up anytime soon.
00:34:44.000They were hoping to open the Comedy Club back up in August or July.
00:39:00.000I mean, he was hospitalized for over a week.
00:39:02.000And his doctor actually told him they were, you know, thinking about putting him on a ventilator, and his doctor said, if we put you on a ventilator, you'll probably die.
00:39:10.000And it turns out his doctor was a wise man, because...
00:39:13.000Somewhere around 80% of the people they put on ventilators in New York City died.
00:39:19.000The doctor was saying that if you put him on a ventilator, his body would stop working.
00:39:23.000It's like, if I give your body this machine that starts working for it and your body stops working, there's no guarantee it's going to start working again.
00:39:32.000It's going to breathe on its own again.
00:41:43.000Our health system is all about fixing you once you're broken.
00:41:47.000It's not about preventing you from being broken.
00:41:50.000Everything is about our health care system is all about care once you're injured or care once you're sick.
00:41:57.000It's very little is about preventative nutrition and making sure you take care of your body and education.
00:42:03.000I mean, our governor, our mayors, all these people are doing is just talking about wearing masks, talking about staying home, flattening the curve, making sure that, I mean, all this shit they're talking that no advice at all about taking care of yourself, no advice at all on meditation,
00:42:19.000no advice at all on eating healthy and exercise.
00:43:00.000The first time I took AlphaBrain, now that we're just diving down all the time, I had the most crazy-ass dreams, which I knew that shit worked, because I don't dream.
00:43:10.000But either way, I mean, as far as the Copenhagen, my buddy was addicted to cocaine in Copenhagen.
00:45:13.000One of the stunt guys I used to work with on Fear Factor used to swallow his chew and he told me that he learned he used to swallow the spit, you know, and he told me he learned how to do that on sets because you couldn't just carry a bottle around and spit into it or spit into a cup.
00:47:38.000So when you get them, and they're not all that bad, but you get sick and you would vomit uncontrollably and then your esophagus would rub together or whatever and you'd vomit of blood.
00:47:49.000So explain, where's the blood coming from?
00:51:39.000Whether that has to do with it, that's just a redneck we avoid saying I don't get migraines anymore and that could be why.
00:51:45.000Whatever the actual scientific reason is, my blood is definitely thicker and my blood pressure is normal.
00:51:50.000Well, one of the things that happens also to people that have had a bunch of head injuries is your endocrine system doesn't function properly.
00:51:57.000Your pituitary gland doesn't produce hormones correctly and it makes people depressed.
00:52:13.000That are treated by my friend Dr. Mark Gordon.
00:52:16.000He runs this Traumatic Brain Institute and the whole goal of this was essentially to try, initially to try to figure out why these soldiers and football players and martial artists and all these people were experiencing so much depression and what was going on and it turned out that Man,
00:52:34.000your pituitary gland is really sensitive.
00:54:07.000When I have people at work that come up with an issue and they're kind of embarrassed, I'm like, look, there is nothing you have fucked up that I haven't.
00:55:43.000It's not like accounting or bookkeeping where we have to do the work here, but doing the work of actually sleeping under the stars, actually camping, actually hunting and hiking, that's invaluable, man.
00:55:58.000There's been a few heated arguments over that where they've given me crap about paperwork, and I'm like, oh.
00:59:34.000Well, living your life that way for 20 years is not good.
00:59:37.000Well, a lot of people are finding that out because of this pandemic, that living like that with credit and having high bills and paying those bills off, that's what a lot of companies did because they thought it was the right way to do it.
00:59:50.000And those companies are fucked right now because they've had no income coming in at all for three or four months and it's going to implode.
01:01:50.000And so I'm looking at all these things leaving and I have all my – I'm not like a prepper by any means but we've got crap to house.
01:01:56.000And I was – so this came story time for my wife where I'm explaining to her what would happen if everything kind of shit hits the fan and what's going to happen.
01:02:05.000And Americans are so weird with the way that we think.
01:02:09.000And so I had tons of people from what kind of gun, what kind of survival stuff, fire starter, what kind of stove.
01:02:15.000So, you know, isobutane stoves, a canister stove.
01:02:32.000But things like that, that multifuel stove, everyone should have one of those because you can, no matter where you go, you're going to have some type of fuel to burn in that thing.
01:02:40.000So we talked a lot about that on the podcast.
01:02:42.000That was a lot of the questions I got was, you know, sustainment, basically.
01:03:48.000Once you're just one night by yourself out there and you would have a totally different understanding of what it actually means to exist in the wilderness without assistance.
01:03:59.000We're so accustomed to life with assistance, whether it's buildings or electricity or air conditioning and refrigeration and all the different things that we use, supermarkets.
01:05:10.000Why didn't I? Because you have seven days to think about everything you've done wrong.
01:05:15.000And that's one thing that people really need to understand is getting right with, which I've tried to work on a ton, is just getting right with Yeah.
01:05:39.000Well, and then sleep deprivation, water deprivation, food deprivation, all of that, along with being alone, starts to take a toll on the human mind.
01:05:49.000And it's funny, you see, same with alone, but same backpack hunt.
01:06:04.000You're going to donate 500 bucks to an elk tag, and you're going to get in there, and you're going to bitch out, and you're going to head back out in about three days.
01:06:09.000We're going to take your money, and you're not giving it back.
01:07:24.000And I mean, they make some that are decent.
01:07:26.000But, you know, I would laugh so hard when Cam was coming up and people are reading all this stuff, and I'm like, yeah, you're not fucking Cam, right?
01:07:35.000Like, you know, you can do—you can think you want to be, and you— When you go, when you hike in, usually, you know, if you're coming from back east, right?
01:07:45.000Forums and all Facebook, whatever, all the shit you different get, and you're packing way too much shit, right?
01:07:50.000Gear list-wise, which I can go over in a minute, but you're packing probably 30 pounds of shit you don't need.
01:07:58.000And you've watched way too much Primo's videos, and you think the elk are just coming screaming in, and that fucking doesn't happen, and you don't see them.
01:08:05.000And then the, oh, like, my knees hurt, right?
01:08:10.000Or, oh, I gotta get back to my business.
01:08:48.000But then once you do it for a while, you go, oh, okay, I get it.
01:08:51.000First of all, I had no idea you'd get that tired.
01:08:54.000Hunting, just hiking, just walking around the woods is fucking exhausting.
01:08:59.000And then when you add a pack, especially if you're living off your back like you do, just the way I do it, if I'm staying in a lodge or I've got a tent somewhere...
01:09:10.000Just carrying your stuff that you're hunting with is exhausting.
01:09:14.000But it's also something about continually and regularly pushing your body and your brain way past the point where you want to quit and doing it so that you're comfortable with being uncomfortable.
01:09:26.000And most people in everyday life are not comfortable with being uncomfortable.
01:09:36.000And I'm not trying to blow it out of proportion because it is fun if that's what you're into.
01:09:41.000But reality, you're looking at two to seven to eight miles in.
01:09:46.000In Colorado, you're at 10,000 to 12,000 feet.
01:09:49.000When I think about preparing for those things, besides the shit that Cam does, I think about that fucking machine that you showed me that's an inclined treadmill that has barbells on the side that you lift up.
01:09:59.000So you're carrying this thing where you're going up a treadmill.
01:11:03.000And I'm like, this is made for backpack hunting, right?
01:11:06.000Yeah, I would imagine that's probably other than actually hiking yourself.
01:11:09.000That's probably one of the best ways you could ever get in shape for that.
01:11:12.000Well, you think about it, you look at like his little video there.
01:11:14.000So what I do is I have a 45 to 60 pound pack and I have two 45 pound dumbbells.
01:11:19.000And then I'll do five minute intervals with just the pack.
01:11:22.000And then I'll grab the dumbbells and I'll do five minutes of shrugs or just holding the weight up with the 45s.
01:11:29.000Then I go and I put it down to like basically a half mile an hour and I do a truck pull.
01:11:34.000And I put my hands and you're basically just driving forward with your body, not parallel to the ground, but just like if you're pulling a truck with a harness.
01:11:41.000And I do that, and then I do those three exercises and intervals for 30 minutes, and I'm pretty fucked up by the time I'm done.
01:11:47.000Pull that picture up again, the video of that shit.
01:11:50.000That looks like one of the hardest things you could do in terms of something you could do in a gym.
01:11:54.000If you're carrying that weight, like in that farmer's carrier, and you're going uphill, it's a self-propelled treadmill too, right?
01:12:00.000I have one of those outside, one of those air runners.
01:13:04.000They work different parts of your leg.
01:13:06.000Yeah, right, because you try stabilizing, right.
01:13:08.000And I would imagine, like, having a sand dune stepper type shoe on while you're going on that thing would be the ultimate...
01:13:17.000Well, you're right, and people do not think about that, and that's one thing that guys that just run on pavement, flat ground, when you say a stabilizer muscle, whatever you want to call it, the left and right part of your shins, the first time you take a guy out that hasn't hiked side hills,
01:13:33.000like 35-degree slopes with a 45-pound pack, Their calves are smoked and the left and right side of their shin bone is just toasted because they're not working those.
01:13:42.000And that lateral stability, people don't understand.
01:13:45.000I'm not a runner, so I don't like running, but I train with a pack on and I hike everywhere.
01:13:51.000And so I do a lot of side hills just to get those muscles ready for that.
01:13:56.000Because it's a different world, and it'll KO you.
01:13:59.000I mean, you'll be down for a couple days because they're so sore and stiff if you never used them.
01:14:03.000And that treadmill does not help with that.
01:14:05.000But when I said like that, the sand stepper sucks, it's a good suck because it's a way indoors you can...
01:14:27.000Now take it and flip it upside down so that the handle is on the bottom and the kettlebell is above, so you've got to balance that sucker out.
01:14:33.000And as you're lifting it, it's way more difficult to do.
01:14:36.000And that's using your stabilizer muscles.
01:15:29.000And so I turned that into a rope drag.
01:15:31.000I hooked one of my belts from Kofaru and hooked a harness to it, and I did that thing in half and wrapped it with gorilla tape, and I dragged it up and down my driveway.
01:16:20.000I try to put myself in a position to where I have to do something, if that makes sense.
01:16:26.000Because there's days you just don't...
01:16:28.000I feel like doing shit, I mean, right?
01:16:30.000So I just make my wife drop me off, and I'll tell her, you know, I always say, earn my day.
01:16:35.000I'm like, I gotta earn my day, you know, and I keep tracking my steps on my watch, and so she'll drop my ass to the bottom of that fucker with 50 pounds, and she'll laugh leaving.
01:16:42.000I always tell people one of the best ways to make sure you do something is have a list.
01:16:46.000Just have a list of what you gotta do today.
01:16:50.000It seems so crazy, but if you don't have a list, if you don't have it written down, what you absolutely have to do, Man, you're going to slack off.
01:16:57.000You're going to find reasons why you should do less.
01:20:31.000And so I'm like a real stickler on land nav, like learning how to navigate to a certain degree and not just using a GPS. And so what I do is I have an 8 or 10-digit UTM grid coordinate and a map.
01:20:59.000And as you break that down in squares, you end up with a thousand meter grid square.
01:21:05.000This is like a very plain Jane way to explain it.
01:21:08.000Inside of that grid square, when I turn this on, it tells me inside of that grid square how far I am from left to right and how far I am from bottom to top, so easting and northing.
01:21:20.000And so inside that thousand meter grid square, my pinpoint location is a 10-digit grid coordinate within 3 meters of my location.
01:21:29.000So anyway, once it gives me that, I can plot out and up to where I am inside that grid score on my map and gives me my exact location.
01:21:36.000So what it means is if I'm all fucked up and have no idea where I'm on, I just turn on my watch and it tells me.
01:22:22.000And so what people don't understand, like if you talk about intersection and resection, if you're lost, so let's say, Jamie, you ever been in the woods very much?
01:23:38.000And so 180 plus 45 is what, 225. So now I go to, on my map, the top of this mountain, and I do an azimuth, and that azimuth is going to be 225. The top mountain is going to cross my exact location.
01:23:54.000Are you writing this stuff on the map, or are you just looking at it?
01:23:57.000I'll write it on a map, and I go to this map, and I do the exact same thing, and where those two lines crisp across is my exact location.
01:24:04.000When you draw on your map, do you use a marker?
01:25:03.000It's not that difficult once you get going.
01:25:07.000So this is something you learned when you were really young, when you were cutting trees?
01:25:11.000Yeah, 14. So you learned it then, and then you learned more.
01:25:15.000Have you been formally trained in this stuff?
01:25:17.000Well, in the military I was formally trained, and I went to a class, but I was so young I can barely remember when I was working for the Forest Service.
01:25:25.000And then now I teach courses for this because...
01:25:30.000The ability to get where you're going is kind of lost now because you just turn on a GPS or you use Base Map or Onyx or whatever.
01:25:41.000But the reality is navigating if you're in a hurry.
01:25:44.000So if you and I were in the woods and we needed to get to a basin before dark, you're going to have handrails and catching features.
01:25:53.000If you can look at that map and see it in a three-dimensional way, and I can grab my compass and say, hey, if we head northeast, you know, the whole way half-ass, we're going to hit this creek, and that creek's going to intersect with a trail.
01:26:04.000I don't have to use my compass anymore, really.
01:26:06.000I'm going to shoot an azimuth, and I'm going to look at the farthest point I can see to where we need to go that I'm going to be able to see the whole way.
01:26:12.000And that compass is going to go in my pocket.
01:26:26.000What's interesting is very few people know how to do this, and this is a critical skill if you do get lost, and a lot of fucking people get lost in the woods.
01:26:34.000One of the things that you were talking about in your podcast once that I never really took into consideration was the fact that a lot of binocular holders' harnesses have magnets on them.
01:27:29.000So, you know, where we are, you know, these guys have lived there their entire lives, and they're like, oh, it's northeast of where you're at.
01:27:36.000I guarantee they know where they've farmed it their whole lives, where I'm like, fuck, the fucking sun's not up, the clouds are out, which way's northeast?
01:27:43.000Well, oh, there's northeast, so I just have always, you know, always have a compass with me.
01:28:34.000So you can imagine, you know, nowadays, like if my daughter at 15 said, hey, I'm gonna go on a four day backpacking trip into the wilderness.
01:28:47.000I just think that that feeling of not knowing if you're going to survive and then surviving, I don't want my kids to have that, but goddamn, that's invaluable.
01:31:12.000So on the way down, these aren't bullshit.
01:31:15.000This fucking probably took 10 years off my life.
01:31:17.000So we go on the way down, and I took his bow, and he took my walking sticks, and we're bushwhacking for the first two to the trail.
01:31:24.000And Frank and I went and reenacted this because I'm like, dude, I gotta go see how bad this was because I was in fucking spirit world like half the time.
01:32:37.000Under the truck was in the shade and the wind was blowing.
01:32:40.000So I'm laying there literally just sprawled out four points of the compass trying to cool off because I was worried about getting heat stroke.
01:32:55.000Now, keep in mind, my buddy did not know he had help coming.
01:32:59.000So he's on his hands and knees on the wrong side of the trail looking for water and the creek's on the other side of the trail and you can hear it.
01:37:16.000Was that in BC? Yeah, it was in BC. In reality, though, you talk to, like, bring up Lancaster, who I went with when I stayed in the NWT for that two-month time frame.
01:37:46.000So the shit those guys deal with, they've been doing it since birth, right?
01:37:51.000And so I was telling Amy and Frank, I was like, okay, you guys know how much I've done and all the different things, you know, hunted and how many animals I've put on the ground.
01:38:11.000So the amount of experience those guys have and the stories, like when I get those guys on the podcast, it's hilarious because I just got to experience a two and a half month section of it.
01:38:22.000We were literally, from a light bulb, from a paved road, hours from any electricity.
01:38:28.000Like, it's a 12-hour drive to where the helicopter picks you up, and then you're flown in another two hours.
01:38:34.000So when I got bit by that bite, it was funny, by that spider, it was funny at first.
01:39:14.000Man, you gotta listen to the podcast to hear the whole story, but we ended up calling it the long cock black hobo spider, and there's a story beside that, but I think it was a hobo spider.
01:39:24.000Yeah, but I don't think they're overly poisonous.
01:39:26.000I think I was allergic to it, but the moral of the story, in six hours, my leg locked up straight, there was veins going up towards my heart, and I had cold sweats, heart rate was racing, and Clay's like, dude, we gotta get you out of here, you're gonna fucking die.
01:39:39.000Like, we are a long, long, long ways from anywhere.
01:39:45.000Four hour helicopter ride, but then you're dealing with some fucked up doctor in the northern part of fucking Whitehorse, you know, or whatever the fuck it was.
01:41:21.000But what was funny is once it went back down, we just duct taped towels around my calf muscle to go on moose hunts because it was so fucking painful when the infection was going down because the willows were beating it up.
01:48:33.000And so, let's show you how the, you know, the moxie that Frank has, he drug his ass out of that tent and filmed me shooting that mule deer.
01:48:43.000And he hobbled his ass over there after I shot it.
01:48:46.000And it's a fucking mile and a half from where he's glassing, you know, flagging me in.
01:50:18.000It was so much pain in my back area that I knew it had something to do with my kidneys.
01:50:23.000But every time I tried to pee, it literally would drop me to my knees.
01:50:28.000And so I was like, okay, let's assess this.
01:50:31.000And I'm trying to think through, should I take next to no gear and try and hike out, take enough gear to stay the night, but then have the burden of the weight and What's going to be the best option?
01:50:43.000Because I didn't have any service and I didn't have anything back with me that I could get a hold of anyone.
01:52:11.000A lot of fighters get those from dehydration, from weight cuts.
01:52:15.000I think Aldo, Jose Aldo, has gotten those before.
01:52:18.000I think more than one fighter has gotten those.
01:52:20.000I think what they told me, a buddy of mine is a doctor, when I was roided out, I was taking a lot of protein and different things, that there was a calcium buildup from that or something.
01:52:57.000And he had to wind up getting surgery.
01:53:01.000Australian actor Liam Hemsworth told Men's Health that he had to completely rethink his vegan diet after ongoing surgery for a kidney stone.
01:53:09.000Some foods are high in substances called oxalates, which can increase the risk of kidney stones.
01:53:14.000These include spinach, potatoes, nuts, and even chocolate.
01:53:25.000I was drinking a lot of kale smoothies in the morning, and then I found out about the dangers of oxalates, and I was like, oh, I thought I was doing healthy.
01:54:01.000Been in some hairy situation on cliffs where storms rolled in, blacked out, and just had to hunker down in like a cave, right, and just wait it out, but nothing horrible.
01:54:10.000Your kidney stone was bad, but really like some of the things you'd think that would happen.
01:54:14.000If I die back there, it's probably not going to be from a bear.
01:54:16.000I'm probably going to fall off a cliff.
01:54:17.000Like that's the one thing that I would guess would happen.
01:54:25.000That one there is probably worse than any.
01:54:27.000The chances of having a bear eat you is so slim, but lightning and cliffs are probably the worst ones.
01:54:34.000Yeah, lightning is another fucking scary one, huh?
01:54:36.000That's a normal experience out there, is lightning storms.
01:54:40.000Yeah, and in that one area, the Sangre de Cristo's is a mountain range, and it's scientifically worse there because of the heat from the ground and the cold from above.
01:55:03.000So when there's a lightning storm, you just lay in your tent and hope it doesn't hit you?
01:55:06.000Well, I mean, the reality of it is, as they blow over, you may be causing—and I'm not an expert at this.
01:55:13.000It's just I have the, if it's my time, it's my time.
01:55:16.000So I just get in and I listen to an audiobook and try to pretend it's not there.
01:55:21.000And that is probably horrible advice, but the reality is my buddy— What audio book would you listen to when you're almost dying from a lightning storm?
01:55:36.000That dude's voice helps me go to sleep.
01:55:40.000But my buddy, which I don't know if I can say his name because he's on an ODA team, him and his buddy, this fucking guy's get hit with lightning.
01:55:49.000In the spot where we killed a bull, and he texts me, and he said something about this reminded me of, I think he got hit with an RPG or something.
01:55:57.000And I'm like, well, dude, are you good?
01:55:59.000Like, that's a hell of a build-up to a story with no finish, right?
01:56:03.000He's got scars where the lightning came out of its, oh, no, that's where it entered, and then it blew the front of his, or his buddy's shoe out.
01:59:25.000I don't know, man, but those are the things that'll probably get you, you know, like talking about, yeah, bears is like the last thing I worry about.
01:59:45.000I saw it hit an old-growth tree once and blow a 180-foot tall tree into pieces, and I'm like, oh, that did not look appealing, you know, as a kid.
01:59:55.000If you have service, you can see where it's going, right?
01:59:59.000Like the one that passed two years ago, I knew Frank was fucked because it was going by me literally 400 yards, and I'm watching cloud to ground, and I'm texting Frank.
02:00:36.000I was reading through Roy Sullivan's Wikipedia.
02:00:38.000It says he got struck two other times, once when he was a kid, but it didn't hurt him, so he didn't claim it.
02:00:44.000And then another time, his wife got struck while he was helping her with the clothes, but he didn't get hurt that time either, so I guess he didn't claim that time.
02:02:55.000I mean, I get the idea of, you know, they eat what you kill or whatever, but I also get the idea that wolverines eat the shit out of, they'll clear a basin of mountain goats and sheep out in a minute.
02:05:18.000There's a, I think he's from Sweden or Switzerland, I forget, a wildlife photographer named Carl Amon, and he was obsessed with these things.
02:05:26.000He saw one once, I believe, and then he set up all these camera traps.
02:05:30.000He spent years in there trying to document this thing.
02:05:32.000Because there's an enormous chimpanzee, like a subspecies of chimpanzee that lives in the Congo in this place called Bili.
02:06:33.000See if you can find the guys, Carl with a K, Amon.
02:06:38.000He's this wildlife photographer that got obsessed with this animal.
02:06:42.000Because they were, you know, a lot of people were claiming bullshit for the longest time on this.
02:06:46.000There's photos of one that someone had shot from the 1920s, and they were trying to figure out if it was a hybrid, if it was a gorilla-chimp hybrid, if that's possible.
02:06:55.000See, that's the one that's the camera trap on the far left.
02:07:36.000People were trying to figure out what the fuck that was.
02:07:39.000It was like, it's really big for a chimp, because these guys are trying to hold it up, and its legs are still dragging on the ground, so if it was standing up on its hind legs, it'd probably be as tall as them.
02:14:44.000But you think, like people think you can't eat.
02:14:48.000And there's some predators you probably shouldn't eat.
02:14:50.000But again, in the big picture, which I do not understand how people think, They eat everything else.
02:14:57.000And so to be truly not the hashtag conservation, but if you're worried about other animals, you have to keep everything in relative check.
02:15:06.000Yeah, there's a weird thing that people have, though, when it comes to predators.
02:15:09.000Like there was a woman who ran an alpaca farm in Malibu.
02:15:13.000She had this one particular mountain lion that had found her farm irresistible and Slaughtered a bunch of them and killed a couple of goats too and she got a depredation permit to kill this thing and the amount of death threats that she got when they found out that she was gonna kill this mountain lion or was told that she got a permit where she could hire someone to take this mountain lion out and And so she eventually wound up not doing it just out of fear.
02:16:52.000What's crazy to me is that some dude that just let his kid throw his entire steak away because it didn't taste good is going to give me crap for shooting a deer that I'm going to eat the whole thing.
02:17:44.000Read that, because they said that COVID is spiking, but deaths aren't.
02:17:49.000Which is really interesting because that must mean that they're better at treating it or maybe people have a better understanding of how to survive it or maybe the people that are getting it are younger because a lot of them are getting it specifically from the protests, which they're kind of denying.
02:19:37.000I fall asleep when I read them, which I probably should read more.
02:19:40.000But when I look at all of the different...
02:19:46.000Everything that's going on nowadays, like if there was any major, actual, real major crisis, like how fucked we would be as a society is pretty amazing.
02:19:54.000Well, it's like we were talking about our dietary choices, the fact that 70% of Americans are overweight.
02:19:59.000This is such a weird time in terms of how easy life is without, you know, pre-COVID. And that people had gotten accustomed to this soft way of living.
02:20:11.000So when someone does something like what you do, what you prefer to do, that's what makes it so extraordinary.
02:20:16.000Someone uses that ridiculous farmer's walk, farmer's carry machine, and here it is.
02:20:22.000As U.S. coronavirus cases spike, country will be seeing more deaths, Dr. Fauci says.
02:20:29.000They will be going up is what it says.
02:20:32.000I understand that Dr. Fauci is a medical expert and a good man, but I am annoyed at him.
02:20:37.000For what he said about the masks, because he literally said that we told people not to wear masks so that they wouldn't buy them so that healthcare experts can get them.
02:22:33.000But knowing as a converted fat kid, like, fuck, I wish I had some help when I was younger.
02:22:38.000Do you remember when Trump had that lady that was telling everybody not to touch their face and then she licked her finger and then turned the page?
02:22:46.000But that's when, you know, when we're talking about health experts and things along those lines, that's the kind of shit that you see sometimes.
02:22:54.000And it just makes you go, God, people are so weird.
02:24:07.000It's just, I mean, something about watching that arrow fly through the air after all that hard work.
02:24:12.000Now, you may want to snap that fucker in half several times on the way to finally hitting an animal, but being a guy, I'm driven, I'm goal-oriented, you know, I really like the challenge, I like to practice, I like all that.
02:25:34.000Well, we just shot that tournament with Luke and the group and the compound trad.
02:25:38.000Luke was so happy because at the end, he asked a bunch of compound guys what their scores were so he could give them shit because mine was higher.
02:25:47.000Because everybody was giving him shit about, how do you let Aaron beat you with a stick bow?
02:28:13.000Well, I thought that would have been – this is how weird the traditional archery community is for me.
02:28:17.000I thought that would be a positive for guys that do backpack hunts and it was for a lot of guys.
02:28:22.000I got – I made the mistake of reading a few online traditional archery forums about myself, and that was a bad idea because I was like the devil because of those veins.
02:28:32.000Because they want them to be feathers.
02:28:34.000Yeah, I'm like the Antichrist or something.
02:28:36.000They want it to be feathers because it's traditional?
02:28:52.000Yeah, and I don't, man, like with me, I don't care if you hunt in pink underwear and use a whatever the hell, Dave and Goliath, whatever, the bow, so you do whatever makes you happy.
02:29:01.000I just want people to get outdoors and get off the couch, but, you know, everybody has different opinions and perspectives and whatever else, but for me, that was just a tool that increased my opportunity while I was out there, but it was definitely frowned upon by some.
02:29:17.000Don't you think that this would be a really good time for some sort of hunting education, like a program that people can enter, where they could be taught adult-onset hunting, people who are adults learn how to do it, someone take you out.
02:29:31.000I mean, I know there's a few people that do similar things out there, but man, it would be real nice, especially when When COVID happened and people realized, hey, this food supply chain is a little sketchy.
02:29:44.000We don't really have any toilet paper here.
02:29:47.000My buddy went to the grocery store and said there was one package of ground meat.
02:29:56.000Some of my neighbors that were not keen on me taking my own animals and all the food I had in the deep freezer that all of a sudden wanted to come.
02:30:12.000Uh, you know, other than like, yeah, I'm not into hunting, like that, um, kind of underlying, you know, go fuck yourself, you shot an animal.
02:30:56.000And I mean, you also have, like for me, the fact that, you know, the way I got it, it just adds to the whole experience, which is hard to explain.
02:31:05.000But I think that as a whole, like land navigation, you know, how to break down an animal, you know, animal behavior.
02:31:13.000Yeah, that'd be a hell of a class that I think wouldn't be a horrible time to.
02:31:16.000Yeah, I think it would be great for people.
02:31:17.000I mean, I wouldn't say do it with archery.
02:31:19.000I would say do it with a rifle, you know, especially people that don't have any experience in it.
02:31:23.000But I think that would be incredibly rewarding.
02:31:25.000It's not something that everybody can do.
02:31:27.000Well, people always say that when you talk about hunting as being a method of acquiring your meat.
02:31:32.000Like, hey, we don't have to factory farm.
02:31:58.000They attract people that are interested in challenges.
02:32:02.000Yeah, and I would say the only thing if you did that, you'd probably want the shooting of the weapon to be the last portion because a lot of people would want to just do that and then bounce.
02:32:38.000You'd roll it out and we would have different courses or whatever.
02:32:42.000When I say we didn't have rangefinders, Right when I started, there was like a Bushnell 500. The thing was the size of this freaking notebook.
02:33:23.000Levi Morgan has shot higher scores at times on unknown 3D courses where the known 3D course had a shot a lower score and those guys had range finders.
02:34:28.000Well, I mean, about the time, like, my wife is making my head too big, I'll pull up YouTube and have her watch an ASA with, like, Gillingham and Levi or Dan McCarthy.
02:34:39.000And I'm like, these guys are good, honey.
02:34:48.000I try to explain to people, like, if I never hunted again for the rest of my life, if I never even ate meat for the rest of my life, I would definitely shoot bows and arrows.
02:35:00.000Because there's something that happens when you concentrate on that target and the shot process and the shot breaks and that arrow sinks right into where you're looking at.
02:35:36.000That stick bow, you got to shoot it all the time.
02:35:38.000So I got to a point where 15 years ago, I would take work off and call in sick to set up my new bow.
02:35:45.000Like I was always been addicted to archery.
02:35:47.000And then later on down the line, that newness wore off where now, well, I'm the boss, so I don't have to call in sick.
02:35:53.000I am so, I mean, literally like a kid at a Christmas waiting for shit to come in with that recurve.
02:35:57.000So it rejuvenated that love for archery.
02:36:01.000And it kicks the shit out of you, and so that challenge, you know, when I say kicks the shit out of you, that challenge of practicing, it's pretty addictive.
02:36:08.000I was actually surprised you haven't tried it more yet, but you may not have.
02:37:29.000He's like, I'm a CrossFit instructor and I got rhabdo from a CrossFit workout.
02:37:32.000But you're pushing yourself so hard with all those reps and you're doing it, trying to keep up with all the people that are in the class with you.
02:37:39.000I get it's great for you, but for morons like me, probably not the best move.
02:37:43.000I'm going to agree with you in that moron category on my end, because a moron like me, like, literally, like, Frank and I are competitive even though we're not competitive.
02:37:53.000If I go into a CrossFit gym and Frank beats me, it's not like I'm going to go home and be like, oh, shucks, I lost my mother, and I'm going to go, you know, full apeshit.
02:38:08.000I'm saying I do not, I would probably slack on form because of whatever the water, whatever it's called for the day.
02:38:15.000I'd probably chintz on form and fuck myself up.
02:38:18.000Look, I know you can fuck yourself up doing everything, and I've fucked myself up doing jujitsu multiple times.
02:38:22.000I'm not saying you shouldn't do it, but...
02:38:25.000You know, I've talked to people that are real, like, legit trainers, like Steve Maxwell, who said he doesn't like it because it's lifting weights as a sport.
02:38:34.000He goes, lifting weights should be something you do that enhances sport.
02:38:37.000He goes, particularly when you're doing Olympic movements.
02:38:39.000He's like, Olympic movements shouldn't be done to maximum repetition.
02:38:42.000He's like they should be done controlled and they should be done, you know a low number of reps and you're just trying to build strength, but Everyone's got their own thought process and when you look at those guys in those competitions and the girls the girls scare the fuck out of me There's some of those girls are built like fucking gorillas like that's crazy.
02:38:59.000I don't know if that's good girls, but I don't know who's into that But the guys are obviously insanely fit so saying that it's not good for you seems silly It's obviously very good for them You know, some of those fucking dudes are so impressive.
02:42:35.000Jesus, my estrogen levels were like through the roof.
02:42:38.000So I looked, and like an idiot, I was taking, I had 200 milligram per milliliter Deca, and then I had another bottle that was like 400 or something, and I got them mixed up, so I was doubling up on Deca.
02:44:08.000But I got to a point where I was super emotional and not like a – I don't believe really in the roid rage thing because I never got that.
02:44:50.000Like, that's the closest, I'm not like a suicidal guy.
02:44:53.000That's the closest where my brain just didn't function right.
02:44:56.000And then I got off cold turkey and Whatever.
02:44:58.000Well, that is a big issue with kids, young kids.
02:45:01.000Their endocrine system crashes and just like we were talking about with soldiers that have been blown up a bunch or football players or fighters, your body's not producing testosterone correctly.
02:45:11.000After you get off that shit, you get really, really depressed for some people.
02:45:14.000Bigorexia is what they were telling me because I was afraid to go to the gym because I was shrinking.
02:45:52.000I'm not a weight dropper, but definitely if you're doing a deadlift, there's something, and it's heavy, something's probably going to come out of you, right?
02:47:04.000Like, I would do calf raises, and I would put two 45s on each side on the ground, and then I would put four 45s on the, like a Smith machine, and I'm just doing calf drops.
02:47:18.000For one, they said I was taking all the weights up, and two, they said that's not, they didn't kick me off totally, they said that is frowned upon here.
02:48:06.000Well, when guys will ask me certain pieces of advice that they need, like a, they need someone like maybe you or me or Ronella or whoever to give them a, oh man, that's okay.
02:48:38.000Well, the only problem with that kind of advice is some people start off with a terrible base, right?
02:48:42.000If you're a person that doesn't have any athletic background, no exercise at all, you really do have to start off light.
02:48:48.000And I tell people all the time, like, if you're just starting exercise, if you work in an office, you're in a cubicle, you're completely sedentary, All you have to do is just start walking.
02:49:43.000But you can get checked out and so I am probably not the best for advice because literally if you're the guy that's gotten checked out and you're just making excuses, I'm like, dude, just quit fucking lying to yourself and push more.
02:49:55.000It is kind of crazy how many people lie about how often they work out and what they do.
02:51:48.000Do you have to, when you make a meal like that with a dehydrated, do you have to add extra seasoning so that it tastes good when you rehydrate it?
02:52:02.000Everyone might if you're if you got a buddy or or Depending upon what the meal is some meals are more flavorful than others some are more bland I added after okay, so when you're in it's like you pour boiling water into it and then you add the seasoning on top of that so what I do is I You can do it in a Ziploc bag,
02:52:20.000but the easiest thing is those just cheap plastic containers, or you can put in a titanium one.
02:52:27.000But once I, you know, kick it off, boil it, get it rehydrated, get the boiling water in there, I just put a lid on it, let it sit for 10 minutes, not very long, or boil it until it is if I have extra fuel, and then it's ready to go just like that, just like a mountain house.
02:52:45.000Yeah, and it turns your poop funny colors.
02:52:47.000Like, MREs is an orange, and Mountain House is a green.
02:52:51.000I've never pooped green, at least I did, and I did look at it, but the smells that were coming out of my body last time I ate Mountain House, it's just like, Christ.