OoM 029： Hunting, Fishing, Wildgame Recipes, and Harvesting Nature with Justin Townsend
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Summary
Justin Townsend has been a hunter and angler since he was a child. He was raised in southeastern Oklahoma where hunting and fishing was used as a way to provide for his family and himself. In fact, a man s ability to survive and protect and provide for others is still a primary mark of a man. In this episode, we talk about using nature as a resource to provide, how to create lasting memories in the outdoors with your family, and everything you need to get started on your own hunting adventures.
Transcript
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The earliest skill sets of men included the ability to hunt, game, and provide for the tribe.
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In fact, a man's ability to survive and protect and provide for his family and himself is still a primary mark of a man.
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This week I have a conversation with Justin Townsend about hunting, fishing, and harvesting nature to do just that.
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We'll talk about using nature as a resource to provide, how to create lasting memories in the outdoors with your family,
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and everything you need to get started on your own hunting adventures.
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You're a man of action. You live life to the fullest.
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Embrace your fears and boldly chart your own path.
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When life knocks you down, you get back up one more time, every time.
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You are not easily deterred or defeated, rugged, resilient, strong.
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This is who you will become at the end of the day.
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And after all is said and done, you can call yourself a man.
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My name is Ryan Michler and I am the founder of Order of Man.
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We always do with you today about one of the earliest skill sets that man has learned to master,
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But I've got a couple of quick announcements that are exciting that I want to share with you
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First of all, I do this every week, but I want to say thank you to those of you who have left reviews.
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Specifically this week, Vernon Foster, he has this to say about our show.
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I love that Ryan has created a space for men to speak the truth and be vulnerable.
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Too often we get caught up in ego of self and trying to live up to the expectations society has placed on us.
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This show will challenge you to think about your real purpose and the legacy you want to leave behind.
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Vernon, I appreciate you taking time to leave a review.
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Guys, if you haven't left a review for us just yet, I know you're going to,
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Take two quick minutes and do just that if you would.
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Also, I've got a very cool opportunity that I wanted to share with you.
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It's going to be held on October 16th through the 18th.
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Enter those codes at checkout and I hope to see you there.
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I'll also be doing an Order of Man meetup in Las Vegas that weekend for anyone that
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So be sure if you are going to go to that, be sure to email me at ryanatorderofman.com
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Now, you know this already, but all the show notes, the links and the best quotes for this
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episode and my conversation with Justin can be found at orderofman.com slash 029.
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Now, let me introduce you to my guest, Justin Townsend.
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Justin has been a hunter and an angler since he was a child.
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In fact, he's now teaching these skills to his two-year-old, so I know that it runs in
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He was raised in southeastern Oklahoma where fishing and hunting was used as a way to supplement
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Justin moved away from home to college where he's able to fine-tune his culinary skills
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And then as time progressed, Justin combined his passion for the outdoors and his love for
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food and he created the online publication Harvesting Nature where he is the editor-in-chief and
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Today, we're going to talk all about Harvesting Nature.
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One of the things that I have looked a little bit about what you're doing is you talk about
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I'd like to hear a little bit more about what that is and why you think that's so important.
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Okay, so basically kind of the whole purpose with Harvesting Nature is we look to promote
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sourcing your meat from the wild, both wild fish and wild game through the means of going
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out yourself, putting the time to research, plan, spend time with your family to get out
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there and really, you know, hunt and fish as a way to, you know, to supplement the fruits
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and vegetables you may have or other food that you may eat.
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But this is kind of a, as we see it, a more responsible way to take command of your food
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Why do you take that approach and what are your thoughts behind that?
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So if you go in the supermarket nowadays, I mean, most people go in, you look at the meat
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counter, you look at the, you know, the shelves that have all the meat on there, you, you look
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at that and it's just meat, you know, a lot of times many Americans and many people all
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over the world are really disconnected from your food.
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You don't know where it came from, what's its origins, where the, the life it lived previous
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to it being packaged, sort of wrapped up and for sale on the shelf.
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So the responsible side of it would be that you're sort of taking command in knowing that
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once I'm out there and I select the animal that I'm going to harvest, that that animal
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And it's going through the process where I know its origins.
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I know that it, you know, it lived a good life.
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It, it died a clean way and it's sort of, you know, is, is coming from the field directly
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So in a sense, it's kind of a strong connection of, of where your food comes from that I think
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And then just through the years of, of growth of agriculture and growth of industrialization,
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It sounds like it's more than just a connection with, you know, knowing where the food came
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Obviously that's, that has its health benefits, but it sounds like for you, it has way more
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And, and for me, it lies in, you know, I, I grew up in a rural setting in Southeastern Oklahoma
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and now I live in, in San Diego, California, which is a lot of busyness, a lot of going
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So getting out into wilderness, you know, sort of for food, for sure, my food allows me the
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opportunity to kind of get back out, reset my batteries.
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It, it helps fulfill my, my natural sense of adventure and, you know, that inkling I
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have to kind of be out nowhere and just truly experience, you know, a lot of nature has to
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How difficult is it for you to get out into nature where you're in more of an urban environment?
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I mean, what do you suggest to guys who maybe are more in an urban environment and want to
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get out and do some of the things you're talking about?
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I mean, in, in most urban settings, like you will find a rural environment, a national
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park, a state park, or, you know, a place to sort of get away from it all within just
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For me personally, if I want to go, you know, if I want to fish the oceans right here, it's
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less than, you know, 10 miles away from my house.
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If I want to go up to the mountains, it's a, you know, a 45 minute to an hour drive,
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That was one of the challenges when I first moved here was sort of just researching and
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Connecting with local hunters and local anglers to kind of figure out the best spots to get
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What do you think for somebody who's listening and, you know, is, is, is thinking, Hey, this
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is something that I am interested in that I want to learn more about.
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Where does someone start when it comes to harvesting nature to get out there, to start
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fishing, start hunting, if they don't have any background in it from before?
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There are, I mean, there's a number of resources online that, you know, you can Google or search
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to look and see, you know, how to get started in hunting, how to get started in fishing.
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I mean, a lot of it's very basic, but one thing I recommend to almost everybody that sort
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of connects and ask that question is find somebody local, find a friend.
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I mean, a lot of people in this day and age are connected via social networks, via, you know,
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So someone's always got a friend of a friend that may do that and just sort of bounce questions.
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That's one of the responsible things as a outdoorsman that I take on is it's always,
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you always are seeking to sort of educate people who want to know.
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And I think that's, that's fairly common across the board.
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I'm in Southern Utah and the community is really open.
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And everybody wants to go out and track together and talk about, you know, what they saw.
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What do you have a, uh, that a hunt or an experience that's maybe stands out as something
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I mean, there's, there's a lot of hunts that stand out as memorable because me, it's sort
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I mean, growing up, my grandfather would take me, you know, if I think from the age of eight
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or nine, we would go out and that was sort of a, a ritual is like every Thanksgiving,
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that's when our, uh, our general, uh, whitetail rifle season was in Southeastern Oklahoma.
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So he would always like secure us a place to go hunting or we'd go hunting on my uncle's
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And it was sort of the chance for me and him to just get out and just spend time with
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each other for me to learn growing up and for him to teach me.
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So it's always in my mind is something that stood out.
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And then even just beyond the hunt itself, you know, that following day or two days later,
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when we all sat down with family to Thanksgiving meal, you know, there's, there's fresh venison
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on the table that the family's of course, you know, wanting to hear about how, you know,
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You know, it's just that moment of pride to you feel cause you know that the food that's
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going on the plate is feeding your family and they're looking as you as the provider,
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even though you may be an eight or nine year old little kid.
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It sounds like you've turned that more into your, I guess your family has turned that into
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a family tradition rather than just this thing that we have to get done.
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And, uh, you know, growing up, it, the wild game and wild fish was a way to sort of supplement
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what we had, you know, able to provide or grow or even get in the store, but it sort of has
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She's not hunting yet, but she, she knows she's been out with us, um, and seen us, you
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know, uh, hunt rabbits, not any big game or anything getting too far out, but you know, rabbit
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So I try to get her involved as much as I can just so that she can get the experience
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and, you know, truly understand that, you know, the animals out there that we're hunting,
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We're, we're bringing that back and that's food.
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Well, and I think that's a big issue right now because you have the big uproar about,
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you know, Cecil, the lion and how everybody's upset about that.
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Talk to me a little bit about those that maybe think that what you're doing is, is not
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Cause I'm sure there's a lot of people that believe that and, and how you counter that
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And so you have really, I think in the past growing decades, hunting has sort of got a
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really bad rap because people looked at it more from the trophy side.
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So you go out there, you're looking for this, you know, huge animal with this huge, like,
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you know, antlers there, the racks just amazing.
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And that's what people out there chasing when that in all fact is just a small, small percentage
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Most of the hunting community are just like everyday guys and gals who are going out there
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just in the pursuit of, you know, the very same thing that I am just adventure of getting
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They love the raw beauty and they love and respect the animals, you know, in hunting that,
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that sort of brings it all together for them because they can go out and fulfill their
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need for food, which is, I think the main reason that most people get out and go hunting
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I know for us when, you know, the hunting season comes around and we have venison or we
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have elk meat in the fridge, like not only is that it's satisfying because, you know,
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we, we provided, we took care of that, but then also just to have enough and to be, to
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Cause I mean, there's, there's always the instance that, you know, something happens and, uh,
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you know, power goes out at the grocery store and they lose all their supply or, you
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And if you know that you can fall back on your, your own provisions versus relying on
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someone else to provide it, it provides a sense of comfort that's, that doesn't exist
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And I think that's just a manly characteristic or a manly trait to be able to provide for
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So I think what you're saying is right on, what are your, uh, what are your fridges
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Um, right now it's getting pretty sparse cause we're actually, we'll be next month,
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we'll be rolling into the beginning of our, our sort of hunting season.
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So right now we're, I've got kind of my meat in the freezer on reserve and we've been
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So a lot of the, the meat's been coming from either freshwater fishing or saltwater fishing.
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And then you'll stock that up with, with venison and elk.
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So we're, uh, we've got a couple of trips planned this year where we're headed to, uh,
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the Sierra Nevada mountains to, uh, for mule deer and black bear all in the same trip.
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And then we're headed up to, uh, Wyoming in October to hunt antelope up there.
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So those will be the, the big freezer fillers this year.
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What's the most difficult animal to hunt for you?
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Oh, I mean, it, it's, that's a hard question to answer because, you know, each animal, uh,
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and each environment that the animal lives in presents new challenges and, you know,
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Honestly, probably, and it may sound funny hunting, um, hunting mule deer in, in Southern
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California, uh, the mule deer, we kind of a mule deer, uh, black tail cross down here
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and sort of hunting them has proved the most difficult because they're, they're fairly elusive.
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There's not a lot of natural resources for them to thrive on down here.
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And that's just something that I've been, uh, acclimating to over my time spent here.
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What, uh, you talk about respecting the animal.
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And I think that's a side that a lot of maybe animal activists don't see.
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They just see, think that you're killing a, uh, a harmless animal and an innocent, an innocent
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creature and you're not going to harvest the meat.
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Because obviously it sounds like you've come to love and appreciate what they are.
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And I mean, that's, you're absolutely correct in that first and foremost.
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Like I, I respect the animal, you know, one for the life that it led.
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And two is it's, it's being blessed upon me to provide for my family.
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So that's one of the major things and sort of, I think it's the responsibility of the
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Once you've made the decision to pull the trigger, you know, that that animal is going
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You know, don't waste, don't, you know, don't waste the meat.
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Take what you can take all that you can so that you can responsibly use it, which would
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be, you know, preparing it in a proper way as far as eating it.
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So do you do, so obviously rifle hunt, um, archery as well, muzzleloader, what, what
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are, what is it that you're primarily hunting or how you're hunting the, the, the means of
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Um, right now, primarily it's going to be, uh, uh, rifle hunting being in the West.
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It's a, we're hunting public land, a lot of big tracks, you know, several hundred or
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thousand acres land, and we're going out and backpacking and actually camping and sort
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So it's primarily rifle because we're looking at animals who at a distance of two to 300 yards
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can sort of steve your movements and move away.
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So we're, we're training and practicing and going out for these sort of long distance
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Obviously there's, there's training with your weapons and there's probably physical training
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Um, so I'll go ahead and start with the weapons.
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I mean, we go out, we'll shoot, um, you know, we sight our rifles in anywhere between a hundred
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to 200 yards and we sort of go out every couple of weeks and practice with our rifles,
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just get familiar, make sure that we're keeping them clean to maintain all through that.
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And then going out and spending some time on a, the 200 yard range as well, just shooting,
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And then the physical side of it is kind of an everyday thing.
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Um, I personally, I do a lot of high intensity training.
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So, you know, sort of the more popular CrossFit workouts that you're building your core, your
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legs, your shoulders, and your back, cause you're going to be carrying, you know, a 30,
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And then if you get meat, you're looking at another 60 to a hundred pounds on top of that.
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And then, you know, we have the luxury here in Southern California that we have a lot of
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So at least once or twice a week, you know, we're putting on a 30 pound pack, or I even
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have a backpack for my daughter that we'll carry in and we'll go hike up and down the
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mountain, excuse me, just sort of make a day of it so that we can get out there and get
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our exercise in and sort of rope it in and spend some time with some family as well.
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I mean, I don't know if you've ever been on a hunt or any activity where you weren't adequately
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I'm sure you've got experiences with that and just think about how much harder it is, right?
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And it's especially, you know, in the West, you're, you're hunting places where you may
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have the potential to, you know, go several thousand feet in elevation gain over just
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And if you're not physically fit for that, if you're not trained up for that, then making
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it up that incline or making it over the next hill is it one, it's, it feels like I'm
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hindering myself from doing what I came out here to do, but also three in the back of
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your mind, you're like, there's probably the best deer over that next ridge and I can't
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And also, you know, one of the people, one of the things I don't think people consider
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a lot is the more physically fit you are, the less prone you are to injury.
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And if you get an injury out in the back country where you're, you know, five to 10 miles away
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from the nearest emergency service provider, that puts you in now a life threatening situation.
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So training to prevent things like that is also, you know, something in the front of
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So let's talk about that because obviously you need to be prepared and I'm sure you have
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some degree of, you know, first aid training or you know a little bit about that.
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What, to what degree do you, do you know about first aid and how to, how to take care of
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Um, I mean, personally, I, uh, going through college and then sort of right after college,
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I spend a lot of time working in the security industry, uh, working in hotels, restaurants,
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So we were taught a lot of first aid sort of on the spot, but I've also took it upon
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myself to sort of research, you know, wilderness first aid.
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Uh, there are a lot of military first aid guides that are really good because they, they
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believe it or not, tend to put you in the same situations where you're far away and just
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sort of have to use what's on hand at the time, but sort of familiarizing yourself
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and keeping yourself sort of in tune with what's going on as far as like the first aid
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world and reading and researching will certainly help, but always having a good first aid kit.
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Um, I carry one, a small person, one on myself.
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Sometimes I'll carry a large one in my pack, but usually whoever, at least one person in
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our party will have, you know, a full size first aid kit that we'll, we'll carry that
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allows you to treat most basic injuries that aren't life threatening.
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And if, and if it was something like that, then I assume, you know, you'd, you'd call
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in at that point or make emergency preparations or something like that at that point.
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And when we're far back country, we have a, a GPS monitor too, that, that allows you to
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signal sort of for, for emergency services to come, come out and find you and they'll,
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they'll come out and rescue you and assess whatever damage at that time.
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So, so there's emergency training, survival training, obviously, you know, your way around
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What other types of skills do you feel like men should develop as they're looking into
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harvesting nature and, and doing these sorts of things that you're talking about?
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One would be sort of, you need to kind of have a biological sense of where you are and where
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you're going, not just for the sense of the pursuit, but, you know, think about if we want
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to touch back on safety, like what time of year is it?
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Am I going to have any other predator animals out there that I'm going to have to keep an
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eye out for, you know, bears, mountain lions, you know, even be rattlesnakes should, I should
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always be mindful of my environment of where I'm going and sort of researching possible
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scenarios that I may encounter to sort of mentally prepare myself a little better for
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The other thing I would like to tie back into sort of that being responsible and taking care
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of the animal, researching butchering techniques, packing meat, cleaning it, all those things
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are very important because if you're a couple miles away from where your, your ice chest
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is, you know, it may take you two trips if you're going three or four miles to carry all
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the meat back and you need to know how to one, quickly and adequately get it off the animal
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and then two, to get it back without, you know, losing meat or causing damage or, you know,
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eventually down the road making your family sick if that was the case.
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I mean, to what degree are you breaking down the animal and, you know, what does that process
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look like just generally because I know it's different for every animal that you're, you're
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hunting but what does that look like for you and on a long hike like you're talking about?
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What you're going to look at is something you have to think is once the animal is down in
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front of you, you have some major components which you want to take or that you may want to
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take depending on, you know, the availability of hauling the weight.
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You'll look at, you know, if they have antlers or their skull, the hide, if it's an animal
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that you may want to keep the hide to tan or to reuse or to give to someone or the main
00:22:06.980
So each animal has a different amount of meat but what you want to focus on would be, you
00:22:12.360
know, the quarters which would be the front and back shoulders, the left and right hinds
00:22:18.480
and then, you know, any tenderloin or back strap.
00:22:22.160
Uh, neck meat is, is a often unused element and are you going to take ribs?
00:22:27.920
Are you going to leave the bones completely or are you going to take everything off the
00:22:31.480
These are all sort of considerations that you have to run through your mind once that
00:22:36.580
animal's down because, you know, within a matter of minutes, the temperature outside,
00:22:40.800
even though it may be September, October, November, maybe in the seventies and all of a sudden
00:22:45.520
you're dealing with meat that has the potential to go bad if you don't get it cooled down
00:22:49.820
So how many guys do you typically hunt with and then do you all have tags or are you just
00:22:53.400
feeling one tag at a time and helping each other out?
00:22:58.560
Um, on this most recent, uh, September trip where we're going to go up to Sierra Nevada is
00:23:02.660
it's going to be probably, uh, myself and then one of, uh, the guys that I regularly hunt
00:23:07.000
with and he's actually got a mule deer tag and I'm going up with him to sort of scout
00:23:11.840
But I've also, uh, purchased an over-the-counter, uh, black bear tag as well so that the area we're
00:23:17.620
going at is known for a good population of black bears.
00:23:21.540
So if that opportunity presents itself, I certainly want to be prepared and, you know,
00:23:27.560
So let's talk about another component of your website.
00:23:29.720
Obviously you've got this hunting component and the tracking and the actual, you know,
00:23:33.220
shooting and all of that, but then you've got this other component, which is the recipe
00:23:36.320
component and how to then prepare this food to make it enjoyable, right?
00:23:41.340
So tell me a little bit about why that, how you got into that, maybe even some of your
00:23:47.760
So I started off, uh, cooking in college first started off in catering and then moved my way
00:23:53.420
into, uh, working in a regular restaurant and sort of, I always have, have grown up with
00:23:58.920
And, you know, I saw my grandmother and, you know, other family members preparing wild game
00:24:03.620
And sort of, as I went to college, it kind of got put on the back burner, but I still learned
00:24:07.660
to cook a variety of things and learn to prepare and sort of write recipes and really tune that
00:24:12.700
And then once I got out of school and moved out here to California, I was able to sort
00:24:17.680
of take those skills and apply it to the real world.
00:24:22.120
Let's take wild game and let's make it one easy, straightforward, and really delicious
00:24:30.440
And so that sort of evolved the whole concept of, of writing and sharing those recipes.
00:24:35.260
Some of those favorites, I mean, I, I've done some, uh, corn venison Reuben sandwich, which
00:24:41.320
is probably it's up there on the top, top favorites.
00:24:44.560
And that's sort of, if you look at the, the gourmet versus the non gourmet, I guess that
00:24:49.060
would be on the, the lower non gourmet side where, you know, some others we've, uh, a friend
00:24:54.060
of mine has brought me some salmon from Alaska and we took it, you know, seared it off, mix
00:24:58.560
it with, um, some purple sweet potatoes, some squash, and just really got a nice fresh seasonal
00:25:04.920
dish out of it, which was a little more on the gourmet side than just, you know, a sandwich
00:25:08.840
or, you know, venison corn dogs or something like that.
00:25:12.660
So it sounds like, and a lot of it's probably just trial and error, right?
00:25:15.580
Just trying new things, testing new things out.
00:25:19.600
It's something I talk, you know, when people ask me about cooking, you know, how do you get
00:25:26.720
I guess it's sort of one sort of failing with, with grace, but two also realizing that you
00:25:33.260
are going to fail and having the confidence to try something anyway.
00:25:36.200
So have you made something that's like completely inedible?
00:25:39.200
You just took a bite and you're like, I can't do this.
00:25:41.360
Um, I have, I mean, there's, there's been dishes like that and usually you can doctor it
00:25:45.900
up to the point, uh, that you can come back from it.
00:25:49.140
But I tried to, uh, replicate this pemmican recipe and sort of use some coconut oil.
00:25:55.160
And I did, uh, venison jerky and ground it up and sort of made like this paste like bar
00:26:00.940
thing, but, uh, ended up putting too much cardamom in it and it came out with like a
00:26:07.620
And I was just like, I still have the bar in my fridge and my wife's like, are you ever
00:26:14.660
So, so, so do you eat them or are they still in there?
00:26:19.980
So in a, in a bad enough situation, you would be able to have those and need, and eat
00:26:26.680
And I, I still pluck one off and throw it in my pack.
00:26:29.100
You know, if we, if we're going out for a day trip or something, I'll, if I get absolutely
00:26:33.460
hungry and don't have anything else, I'll snack on it.
00:26:35.380
Cause it's, it's a pemmican sort of a, an American Indian recipe that takes dried meat
00:26:46.000
So basically you get this high protein, high calorie boost of energy just off eating one
00:26:52.080
And so if you're out hiking and moving around, it's the perfect meal.
00:26:58.820
What, what type of equipment do you, do you have?
00:27:01.040
What type of equipment do you recommend for somebody who maybe is just getting started?
00:27:04.720
What should they be looking at in terms of clothing or, uh, you know, backpacking gear or
00:27:10.460
even, even down into the rifles and the weapons you're using?
00:27:14.080
Um, I mean, you know, there, there are several different styles of hunting all over the country
00:27:18.820
that, that require you to have different types of equipment.
00:27:21.540
It's sort of the joke that, uh, me and my friends have, you never kind of catch up on
00:27:24.980
needing to buy something, either something fails or you're like, oh, this is new and
00:27:30.200
But basically I think everybody should start in, in the essence with just the beginning.
00:27:38.640
Does your state only allow you to hunt with a shotgun?
00:27:42.180
I mean, sort of researching a lot of what's going on with local laws and stuff will dictate
00:27:49.120
Um, beyond that, uh, the style of hunting you're going to go in would be, you know,
00:27:55.560
are you going to be hunting out West where you're going to have, you know, large tracks
00:28:00.520
Are you going to be, you know, like in the Southeast heading out to a tree stand and sort
00:28:04.700
of driving your truck, walking 50 yards and sitting in a tree stand that would also kind
00:28:11.020
And then, um, various other situations would be what animal type.
00:28:14.460
Cause you know, if I'm going out deer hunting, I'm going to, I'm going to need my camouflage,
00:28:21.640
But if I'm going duck hunting, it's going to be a shotgun.
00:28:26.240
I need things to bring the ducks back and to carry them decoys.
00:28:31.740
Um, as far as a specialized equipment, I mean that I use, I I'm pretty basic, uh, binoculars,
00:28:39.800
I, uh, I carry just a basic backpack with, uh, it has a two liter water reservoir in
00:28:44.920
it and, you know, kind of the, the camel pack, if you will.
00:28:49.060
And, um, you know, rifle, I use a, a Savage axis.
00:28:52.940
It's a 308 caliber rifle, which 308 is a good caliber to where you can hunt almost any animal
00:28:58.900
in the United States with, uh, pretty easily as far as big game.
00:29:02.180
And then, uh, camouflage, my camouflage of choice is first light.
00:29:06.460
They have a merino wool camo, which is, which is really lightweight and durable.
00:29:11.440
So if you're out in the field, um, certainly where weights a constraint, having multi layers
00:29:16.700
that are super lightweight and will dry quickly and don't have a lot of odor, uh, certainly
00:29:22.020
helps and plays in a key factor and sort of the success of your hunt.
00:29:25.640
We'll make sure we make links to some of those because I know some guys are going to want
00:29:29.080
to go back and see a little bit about what you're talking about.
00:29:31.500
So we'll make links available on the show notes.
00:29:33.820
What, uh, what type of hunt do you recommend someone start with?
00:29:40.340
What type of hunt would be a good starting point?
00:29:44.580
Um, I guess in its basic form, probably one of the easier hunts to get into would be,
00:29:52.420
you know, small game, rabbit, squirrel, things like that, uh, upland game birds.
00:29:57.640
So you have dove, pheasant, chukar, a lot of those different, um, upland game birds are
00:30:04.020
I mean, if you know somebody with a field, you know, that will allow you, you know, to
00:30:08.740
come out and hunt there, that, that would be a good starting point.
00:30:12.760
I mean, I grew up deer hunting first cause that's what my family did.
00:30:15.760
So if you sort of make that connection with someone and whatever style of hunting they're
00:30:20.720
doing now, I would recommend just, you know, trying it out.
00:30:23.560
And it's not to say you have to do that forever, but it gives you a good launching pad to sort
00:30:28.080
of bridge over to different hunting types and network and meet people who may show you
00:30:33.560
I mean, between that, what, what the people around, you know, and then also something with
00:30:37.540
a high success rate, I imagine is, is something that's valuable as well.
00:30:41.220
So you actually want to be out there again, right?
00:30:43.640
I mean, personally, myself, Southern California, there's not a lot of water, so we don't get
00:30:48.220
out a lot to go duck hunting, but growing up in Oklahoma, there was a ton of water.
00:30:52.920
So going duck hunting was something that was relatively easy to do.
00:30:56.340
So sort of knowing what sports more popular in your area is a good way to approach it.
00:31:03.120
Especially if you're considering, you know, bringing your, your children into it and things
00:31:07.300
Cause I know over time, you know, they'll get, they'll get bored and antsy and things like
00:31:11.640
I, that's actually something that I deal with is that I get, I get bored, which causes
00:31:19.560
I mean, it sounds like a lot of hiking and things going on.
00:31:21.420
Are there some activities or things that you do to keep your mind on the task at hand rather
00:31:33.000
I've dealt with, I've dealt with it since I was, you know, a young boy in the deer
00:31:37.160
I was always like, you know, you'd sit there for two or three hours and you're like, I'm
00:31:41.440
I've been sitting in the deer stand since six o'clock this morning and it's now 10.
00:31:47.160
And on the way back out, you see like the huge buck that would have walked past your stand
00:31:53.760
It's sort of, I've unfortunately been faced with that a lot.
00:31:57.180
Uh, the good thing about the style of hunting now, this Western hunting, getting out is
00:32:01.280
that, you know, you're sitting on a hilltop and you're glassing the furthest hill or whatever
00:32:06.040
point you feel comfortable shooting at and sort of watching and looking.
00:32:09.220
So there's always that interesting fact that at any given second, any given moment, something's
00:32:13.420
going to move or something's going to come out or something's going to crest the hill.
00:32:18.640
But honestly, I've seen people do a number of things.
00:32:22.280
You know, uh, one of my friends, he, he hunts, uh, up in Western Pennsylvania and some of
00:32:28.040
his family members, they hunt out of big box blinds there.
00:32:31.060
And his uncle, you know, has like a, a heater in his stand and he reads a newspaper and sort
00:32:38.780
It's his relaxation point to kind of go out there away from it all and, you know, enjoy
00:32:46.960
I mean, I think it's okay to obviously, you know, you won't, your main focus when you're
00:32:52.720
But if you have things that you can do, you know, maybe if you want to sit out on the side
00:32:57.720
of the field and read a book while you're watching for deer, I mean, I see nothing wrong
00:33:03.740
Just, just whatever you want to, whatever you want it to be.
00:33:08.080
Make it something that's going to be enjoyable for you.
00:33:11.360
The moment that you sort of take that enjoyment factor out of it, that then presents a self
00:33:21.040
And, you know, is it something that I'm making myself do or is it something that I'm excited
00:33:28.800
Cause I'm sure with, with guys, I mean, we have a tendency to be obviously competitive
00:33:32.180
and then we, we sometimes can get obsessed with certain tasks and it's like you said,
00:33:37.180
It's, we feel like either we have to, or we're just taking it to this level that it's no longer
00:33:42.440
So I know, I know a lot of hunters pride themselves on what their longest shots are.
00:33:47.400
So I'd be really curious what your longest shot is and what your closest shot is.
00:33:58.640
I mean, if you're talking about rabbits or duck or something, you know, with a shotgun,
00:34:03.840
Um, shortest shot, probably maybe five, 10 yards away.
00:34:10.000
Well, Justin, this has been such a great conversation.
00:34:11.920
I've got a couple other questions as we wind things down.
00:34:14.320
Um, the first, the first question I have for you, which I didn't prepare you for this.
00:34:17.920
So I'm throwing you in under the bus here a little bit and I'm on the spot is what do
00:34:24.060
Um, for me to be a man, I mean, it's, you know, to be responsible, respectful, to treat
00:34:30.640
everyone as an equal and how you want to be treated, be responsible for your family, you
00:34:36.880
know, take charge of, of the aspects of your life and sort of, you know, if things fail,
00:34:43.300
figure out why they failed, work with your family to find a solution, be a good example
00:34:48.440
for your family, for your friends, for everyone and inspire others to do great things through
00:34:56.100
So I guess live, live a bold and, you know, great life in any way that you can.
00:35:02.800
Hey, if we want to learn more about what you're doing with Harvesting Nature, whether it's
00:35:06.960
recipes or some of the activities and the hunts and the things that you're doing, how
00:35:12.460
Um, so we're on, um, all the major social media platforms.
00:35:16.200
Uh, you can look us up by Harvesting Nature and of course our website, which is www.harvestingnature.com.
00:35:22.480
Uh, we put out, uh, almost daily articles that range anywhere from hunting to fishing to
00:35:29.220
wild game recipes, to preparing physical, physically for hunts and, uh, getting outdoors as well
00:35:36.280
as just, uh, you know, some great photo essays and things like that.
00:35:40.900
Uh, we also, you know, we have 20 riders that are located all across North America that contribute.
00:35:45.940
So we get a really wide range of personalities and opinions and experiences that, that allow
00:35:51.940
just about anybody to connect with what we're really striving to do.
00:35:56.080
Again, we'll make, uh, we'll make that all available in the show notes so people can connect
00:36:04.500
I know it's going to inspire some guys to get out there and start taking advantage of
00:36:15.060
I hope that you were inspired to take action on some of those skills that are as old as men.
00:36:19.400
You can see why Justin loves it so much and how he's been able to develop these skills
00:36:23.260
and create some very cool memories with his family as well.
00:36:26.300
I know that's something that fathers out there like myself really are trying to create.
00:36:32.020
Now, again, if you enjoyed the show, if you learned something new, if you're feeling generous
00:36:35.540
or you just want to say thank you for the information we're putting out there, if you
00:36:39.500
would take two quick minutes, head over to order of man.com slash iTunes and leave your
00:36:45.580
And I will try to feature one in an upcoming show.
00:36:47.840
If you'd be willing to jump over there and do that for us.
00:36:50.200
Now, quick reminder again, the thrive conference, October 16th and 17th.
00:36:54.660
If you use those codes, I mentioned before brotherhood one nine seven or brotherhood three
00:36:59.940
nine seven, you'll save over 70% on the ticket prices and you'll have the opportunity to
00:37:05.000
learn about entrepreneurship from some of the world's best entrepreneurs.
00:37:09.560
And then lastly, you'll be able to have the meetup with me and some of the other guys from
00:37:14.080
And I'll be looking forward to meeting you there.
00:37:17.400
So I know, and you, again, you can email me at Ryan at order of man.com.
00:37:21.900
And then if you go to thrive, las Vegas.com, enter one of those codes, brotherhood one nine
00:37:27.660
seven or brotherhood three nine seven at checkout.
00:37:31.840
I look forward to talking with you next week, but until then take action and become the man
00:37:37.920
Thank you for listening to the order of man podcast.
00:37:40.760
You're ready to take charge of your life and be more of a man.
00:37:43.680
You were meant to be, we invite you to join the order at order of man.com.