November 8, 2024 • 26 mins
Opportunity knocks in some form all the time. How we handle it sets the course of our daily lives. Taking advantage or choosing to abstain can have big and long lasting impacts on you and those around you. We’re talking about the choices we make and how we deal with them this week on MeatEater’s “This Country Life” podcast.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome to This Country Life. I'm your host, Brent Reeves
from coon hunting to trot lining and just general country living.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
I want you to stay a.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
While as I share my experiences and life lessons. This
Country Life is presented by Case Knives on Meat Eaters
Podcast Network, bringing you the best outdoor podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
The airways had off.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
All right, friends, grab a chair or drop that tail gate.
I've got some stories to share. Opportunities. Life is full
of choices, and every day those choices lead us down
the path of the rest of our lives. Now that
(00:48):
sounds kind of deep, but it's true. We determine our
path by what we choose to do with the opportunities
that are presented. I'm gonna talk all about it, but
first I'm going to tell you a story. This week's
(01:08):
story comes from Marshall Day, a nineteen year old lifelong
resident of Story County, Iowa. Story County is located in
what could.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Be the bullseye of the state of Iowa.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Ninety eight thousand, five hundred and sixty six islands lived
there amongst five hundred and seventy four square miles of freedom.
That's one hundred and seventy one point seven people per
square bill. That's not too bad. Everybody would have plenty
of room, and as long as you didn't run into
that point seven fella, you'd probably be able to sleep
(01:44):
good at night.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Anyway.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
In Marshall's words and my voice, here we go. Recently,
my dad and I applied for Colorado tags as a group.
We didn't draw the elk tags, but when the uncleaned
tags came out there was some black bear tags available.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
We thought, why not. It's cheaper than an elk. It
sounds like a whole lot of fun, and after two days.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Of driving, we made it to the National Park campsite,
just down the road from where we had been spotting
water holes on the map. The next day, we drove
up to the trailhead near some water holes we wanted
to check out and started hiking. It was fairly easy
hiking at a low incline and with the top has
got to be around the next ben mindset, We eventually
(02:34):
found ourselves two and a half hours up the mountain.
We sat there for a bit and then we followed
our map the rest of the way to the water hole.
We didn't see any sign it first until I saw
a big pile of bear scat.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
We thought that was.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Promising, and judging by the amount of scat, the bear
was pretty big, and we found a big, old flat
rock to set against about one hundred yards up the
hill from the water hole, and we waited. We saw
a satellite bull come through in the middle of the day,
and then around six pm, I looked over my left
shoulders see a little ball of brown fur coming towards us.
(03:11):
I pointed it to my dad, and I saw three
more that were coming with him. We quickly realized it
was a soal with three cubs. Surprisingly, the mama looked
to be less than one hundred pounds. She wasn't big
as nothing, and we couldn't believe something so small could
make a pile as big as what we saw. My
dad started taking pictures, and when they got about eight
(03:33):
yards away from us, we realized they had no idea
that we were there, and they wanted to be right
where we were. Now realizing this, my dad yelled, hey bear,
and the mama looked up, saw us and ran back
down the hill. One cup ran past my side on
a rock just less than two yards from me, and
one ran past my dad, and then the other one
(03:55):
just sat there looking at us for a couple of
seconds before running back down the hill after his mama.
We were both super excited and our hearts were racing
because that was both of our first experience with a
bear in the wild. After that, we sat with the
with the rest of the afternoon and saw five mule
deer and a herd of eighteen elkremore. We watched him,
(04:18):
and we could hear the bull bugle, and we just
bashed in God's creation. That right there was worth the
whole price of admission. The next day, we didn't see
anything until we were driving out that night and saw
a big black bear in the middle of the road.
He ran off up the mountain, so we decided that's
where we wanted to be when the sun came up.
(04:41):
So on the third day of that hunt, we found
a trail that went up that direction and we took off.
It was thick and it was steep, but we were
seeing acorns and berries and lots of bear skin. Constantly,
encouraged by the sign, we kept going. After two and
a half hours, we found ourselves only half a mile
from our vehicle, but up one thousand feet in elevation.
(05:06):
We came up to a spot that leveled off into
a bench about two hundred feet from the top, and
there was a big muddy puddle. We walked up to
it and there was bear tracks all around it, and
wouldn't you know, more scat and we found the perfect
ambush spot on the ledge above the water hole. And
(05:26):
right about then we realized we'd forgotten to fill our
own water bottles.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
We were too far.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Up to go back, so we stayed there with the
little water that we had. The sun beating down on
us all day, giving us sunburns. It was pretty quiet
day and we hadn't seen anything for quite a while,
and around six that evening, nature called, so I stood
up and turned around the water the plants. No sooner
(05:55):
had I turned around, my dad started frantically whispering my name.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Marshall, Marshall, Marshall.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
I assumed he was teasing me, because the last time
we were hunting in Colorado, I was doing the same
thing when some elk came out. I turned around to
see a bear coming to the water hole. Quietly got
my gun my shooting sticks in position, and right as
I was getting settled in on the bear, he turned
away staring at him behind. I didn't have a shot,
(06:25):
and the bear hadn't moved, and my dad couldn't see him,
but was wondering why I was taking so long to shoot.
Put my crosshairs on the bear and I waited. Finally
he turned just enough and I pulled the trigger. My
shot rang out, and the bear stood up and tumbled
through the muddy water fell down.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
He was dead.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
My legs started shaking from the adrenaline as my dad
and I celebrated. We got down to the bear and
we took pictures and we got him quartered and skinned out,
and I have to give a shot. Got out to
my amazing father who not only let me shoot first
instead of shooting the bearer himself while I was turned around,
but he skinned and quartered the bear for me and
(07:10):
took all the meat in his pack while I took.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
The head and the high.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
He really is the best father I could have, raising
me to follow God and love the outdoors, and.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
I just couldn't ask for better Dad.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
After getting the bear broke down and packed in our
backs in the dark, we started the steep hike down.
I've been out of water for over hour and a
half and now Dad was very low. The hike down
was harder than the hike up, and we were carrying
lots of weight in our packs, and it was dark.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Finding out way down, man, it wasn't easy.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
We almost got stuck multiple times, and at one point
we stopped on the mountain to take a breathe, and
I was wondering if we would ever make it off
that mountain at all. Halfway down, ran out of water.
It'd be another two and a half hours of stumbling
down through the thick brush before we finally made it
back to the vehicle, dropped our packs and started chugging water.
(08:09):
We gave thanks for a successful hunt, and more importantly
for getting down.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Safe and sound.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
We went out the next day for Dad, but we
didn't see anything. But I thank him every time I
tell that story and will for the rest of my
life for putting my experience above his and letting me
get the bear. He really is the best father I
could ask for. And now, with some bear meat in
the freezer and a great story to go with it,
(08:37):
bear hunting might just become a yearly thing for us.
And according to Marshall Day of Story County, Iowa, that's
just how that happened. That story is right on theme
today with what I'm talking about, which is taking an
opportunity seeing where it goes. I got a feeling the
Marshall that as you get older, the best part of
(08:59):
the hunt ain't gonna have anything to do with a
bear or who got to shoot it first. It'll be
more about the opportunity you had to spend time together,
and y'all did it. Thanks for sharing, buddy. Opportunities come
(09:22):
along every day in one form or another, and what
we do with them can determine the direction of the moment,
the day, or the rest of your life. Some we
may never know the circumstances of based on our decisions.
A lot is left up to fate or the grand design.
And unless you're reading a fictional book like the ones
they call Choose your Own Adventure, you'll never know what
(09:45):
might have been, what you avoided, or what you gained
in the totality of the circumstances. You can look at
the obvious example of say skipping out on going to
the movies and watching a scary show. You can say, well,
I didn't get scared because I didn't see it, But
could you have met a new friend? Ran into an
old acquaintance found a five dollar bill. Who knows that
(10:08):
you could have had nightmares. It seems to me that
if a hurricane and the Gulf can be theoretically caused
by the flutter of a butterfly's wing on the other
side of the planet, the possibilities are literally limitless. Now
I think back on different times when opportunities and choices
arose in my life and how the decisions I made,
(10:29):
even the ones that seemed so inconsequential, continue to have
a measurable impact on my existence and those around you.
Often get asked, what was my favorite part of my
law enforcement career. Was it wearing a uniform or when
I worked undercover. It's hard to really say with absolute
(10:52):
certainty because each was vastly different, But I always say
working undercover and give this analogy for the reason why
when I was wearing a uniform and working patrol, I
was reacting to the situations that arose.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
If I sitting on.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
The side of the highway working radar, someone had to
come by me violating the traffic laws before I acted.
The same with answering calls that came in through dispatch.
There had to be a report of a situation requiring
an officer to direct their attention and go to wherever
That report described as needing the police. In other words,
(11:27):
we just waited around for something to happen. Now, obviously,
patrolling throughout the jurisdiction in a marked car, ever vigilant
has a place and to turn crime and buffoonery. But
it's hard to quantify how much, because we can only
estimate the percentage of crime that's being reduced by the
presence of a marked police car in a particular location.
(11:51):
The same for speed enforcement. The goal of writing speeding
tickets is to get folks to slow down. If you
get them to slow down, you automatically reduce accidents and
property damage and injuries and fatalities. But how much is
reduced is only an estimation because there's no algorithm you
can use to get an exact figure. Crime and accident
(12:11):
statistics are all subject to comparisons to the same areas,
using past reporting data and averaging out the differences. Not
always sounds boring, but I'm going somewhere with this. When
I worked undercovering narcotics, I could lay my hands on
a tangible and measurable amount of drugs that we'd seize
that would not stay on the streets. I could look
(12:33):
and review at the end of the year at what
we'd done and say unequivocally that what we'd seized and
measured down to the ground was judicated through court and
destroyed and it wouldn't hurt nobody. I could see what
we'd done as opposed to what analytical probabilities estimated we did.
That to me was the difference between reactive law enforcement
(12:56):
waiting for a call to come in versus proactive law enforcement,
which was us going out and purposely targeting individuals who
were in the drug trafficking business. We were working hard,
in long hours and season opportunities as that came up
to do our due diligence of fighting the drug problems
in our district, and doing so, we missed time at home,
(13:20):
time with our children, friends and families, and it was
a heavy cost in the end for all involved, especially
the little ones who had no choice but to accept
the hand that they'd been dealt. I talk about this
only because the pathway we take effects not only us
but everyone around us. It doesn't have to be negative either.
(13:43):
I mean the decisions I made good and bad, all
led me to where I am today, and the same
for you too, and I hope you're in as good
a place as I am. Now, let me tell you
about the place I was in a couple of weeks ago.
I was hound with a friend and was getting to
his house late before heading to the stand the next morning,
and I was relying solely upon his knowledge of the
(14:05):
intel he'd been gathering the weeks prior to my last
minute announcement that I was coming to hunt. His past
twenty plus years of hunting there wasn't hurting my chances either.
It was after ten o'clock when I got there that night,
and my friend Quinton was waiting up for him. We
sat in his living room until nearly midnight, going over
Moultrie Sale cam picks until we came up with the plan.
(14:29):
The plan was for me to go and climbing a
stand where we didn't have a camera, wind direction, his
history of encounters, how the land laid forming a great
travel corridor, and mainly a gut feeling from Quinton convinced
that both of us good enough that that was the
spot for.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Me to sit.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
And I knew where several other stands were located because
I'd seen him the previous spring when he and I
were turkey hunting up there.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
The one that I was going to.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Try and find the next morning, tark cellar from a
point he'd share with me on on axe.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
I had never been there.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
I admit that not having seen it in the daylight
had me a little anxious as I made the half
my wall from my truck up to the area where
the stand was looking. They're a good deer on this farm,
and I didn't want to contaminate the area with my
ascent anymore than I had to by walking all over
creation trying to find a lock on stand that I'd
(15:25):
never seen, and it was manufactured purposely not to stand out.
I had my tree saddled in my backpack just in
case I couldn't find it Quickly. I picked out a
tree from the from the map we'd studied the night before,
sitting in his living room that while I couldn't tell
how good it looked from the ground, or if it
even offered any concealment or a place to hide and shoot,
(15:48):
but it was going to be a starting point for
me to find a tree that I could get into.
If I didn't immediately find the stand he'd hung earlier
in the year. There wasn't any reflective tape or mark
trails that led to the stand, So in my mind,
I decided, as I approached the area where it was
supposed to be that I just climbed the first tree
(16:09):
that I thought the stand would be if I hung
it myself. I crossed the corner of that field and
I stood thirty yards at the edge of the woods,
looking into the darkness of the hardwood timber With the
red List headlight. I take comfort in the fact that
the deer struggle to see most shades red. I call
that red light my cloaking device. Now I'm reminded every
(16:32):
time I say that around my friend Michael Roseman, who
makes the headlight. I'm talking about the same light that
Steve Vanilla likes so much that he bought seven of
them from Michael for his friends and family. I say,
my red List light is virtually invisible to deer. Michael
laughs and says, they can still see you, dummy.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Well that's true.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
They can't still see me because they have excellent night vision.
But if I use the wind to my advantage like
I had that morning, I take my time keeping noise
to a minimum like I had that morning, and use
a walking life that they won't see from a distance,
the chances are higher I can get into my hunting
spot undetected like I had that morning.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
It's my cloaking device, Michael, leave me along.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
Well. I didn't see a stand hanging, so I checked
the map again on my phone, and I walked toward
what I thought was the tree that I'd pick out
while sitting on Quinn's couch. As I got closer, I
saw the climbing steps that were strapped to the tree.
I followed them up the trunk and I found the platform. Bingo,
I'm in business. I took it as a good sign.
(17:41):
After I climbed up, my anxiety was lessening with each
full of the rope. As I hung my backpack and
my bowl, I settled into the seat about forty five
minutes before daylight. I'd rather be an hour early than
a minute late, and that applies to everything I had
three days delegated at the last minute the bow hunt.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
It was a last minute decision.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
After I got home from being in Louisiana, Tennessee in
eastern Arkansas over the past two weeks, my girls were
headed to the in laws in Texas, and I was
scheduled to hunt here in Arkansas, but it was insanely
hot for bow hunting where I planned to go. I
hung a camera over there a couple of weeks ago,
and the mosquitoes were so bad that I knew they'd
(18:25):
still be bad, and too bad for me to sit
comfortably in the tree. All the activity, according to the
camera was at night because.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Of the heat. So what was a boy to do?
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Only one thing to do, go where the mosquitoes ain't,
and that was a few hours north at Quinton's house.
I'd taken an opportunity. I'd made a bold decision on
a whim. I'd driven six hours the evening before, and
was now as silly as it sounds, sitting in a
tree in the dark, waiting on daylight that was still
(18:58):
a little other thirty minutes away. There wasn't a bird chirping,
There wasn't an owl hooting, there was dang sure, it
wasn't no mosquito buzzing. There wasn't a sound at all,
not one, just silence. Eventually, the sun started rising in
the east and the woods started waking up. Squirrels were
(19:19):
jumping from limb to limb. Birds were singing, and I
was straining for the first sign of a deer moving
in any direction. I was also looking around at the
location of that stand, and I swear Quinn hung that
joker in the exact place I would have. Either I
was as smart as him, he was as smart as me,
or neither one of us knew anything about how deer
(19:41):
moved along pinch points through the woods, following the terrain.
At seven point thirty, a turkey gobbled like it was
spring less than one hundred yards in front of me,
and I could hear turkeys jumping all through the woods
in front of them. And while I was soaking in
all that turkey entertainment, I heard a leaf crunched by
behind me. I glanced over my shoulder, and there walked
(20:03):
the door the size of a yearling giraffe, just as
relaxed as she could be. I guessed her to be
twenty five yards behind me. I couldn't swear to it
because I left my range finder sitting on the tailgate
of my truck, along with my binos and everything else
I told in my harness. Had I had enough sense
(20:26):
to remember, i'd have known it was twenty five yards
because I'm not sure if everyone else does this or not,
but I memorize every distinctive feature all around me and
get the yardage to it. I know some of you
saying everyone does that, you idiot, but I'm not sure
if they do or not not. Like the way I
do I sing it. I used a tune in my
(20:49):
head and I put the words to it as yardages.
That's a lot easier for me to remember and that
way than it is. Gum tree twenty five yards, bigger,
gum tree thirty four yards, pile of leaves twenty one
so on. I do it clockwise in order from starting
at the twelve o'clock position, which is directly in front
(21:09):
of the stand, regardless of the direction that I go
three hundred and sixty degrees all the way around it.
I don't memorize many, just the ones that naturally catch
my attention when I look in that direction, five or
six of them at the most. But I need a
range finder to do all that, and I didn't have one.
That was an opportunity missed. But I played football long
(21:33):
enough to know what ten yards looks like, and imagining
ten yard increments laid out in front of me. I
guessed the trail I had walked over that was behind
me to be two and a half of them. Now,
my most favorite math teacher on this spinning orbit that
we called home, Miss Brenda McDougall. You can check my figures,
but I think that adds up to twenty five yards.
(21:55):
I was confident it was, and a later measurement with
the range finder would prove I was spot on at
twenty five point one yards, but that would come later.
And this was now, And as all of this was
playing out inside my cranium, that deer trail the football
overlay I imagine intersecting with the trail. The dinosaur of
(22:15):
a doe that had just passed behind me stopped and
looked back the way. She came, y'all know what that means?
Something else is coming now. I figured it was a
yearling deer, and I was half right. It was a deer,
but it weren't no yearling. I immediately guessed him to
be one hundred and forty plus buck, and I never
(22:38):
looked back at his antmers.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
I grabbed my bow, got.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
It and the arrow I had waiting on the rest,
and slipped them both around the left side of that tree.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
As the buck went behind some brush on the right.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
He stayed right in her tracks, just walking slow, and
stopped in the clearest spot there was on that trail
twenty five yards behind me, and just looked at that door.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
Who was starting to walk slowly away.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
I don't even remember doing it, but the next thing
I know, I'm at full draw with my twenty yard
pin right at the top of where that buck's lungs
would be, with my finger resting on the trigger, and
I couldn't pull it. This was a chip shot, and
I couldn't turn that air loose because of a limb
the size of my little finger that branched out and
(23:25):
covered his vitals. For a moment, I thought about trying
to thread the needle, and immediately remember the time I
tried that in Kansas on an absolute giant, I hit
a limb that I didn't see that sent my arrow
into orbit, and that deer on a fast train to Georgia.
So I followed him at full draw until he once
(23:46):
again walked out from behind all the trees and all
the limbs and stopped dead, still, quartering away forty five yards.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Or was it fifty yards? Or was it forty eight yards?
Speaker 1 (24:00):
I didn't have a yardage song to sing because I
didn't have my range finder that I needed to write
it with. Not seeing a limb and missing the deer
is one thing. Misjudging a distance and missing one is another.
But the granddaddy of them all is guessing wrong and
making a bad shot on him. That is the most
(24:21):
egregious error of all and.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
The easiest to avoid.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
You don't take that opportunity is one way to look
at it, and I think that's the wrong way to
see it. You take the opportunity to not make a
bad shot, and you wait for another day. I waited
two more days and I never saw him again. But
the year ain't over, and he's still there. We get
(24:47):
pictures of him occasionally. He ain't going nowhere, and neither
are we. We met that morning because he took an
opportunity to chase a female and I took the opportunity
to find a cooler place to hunt. We parted ways,
having no interaction other than one of us feeling richer
(25:09):
for just being there. Be a good deal if all
our encounters went that way. With everything, and especially everyone,
Thank y'all so much for listening to me here on
this Country Life and Claybow's Baggery shows. There's all kinds
of stuff you can listen to today, and if you're
hunting something else to add to the rotation, we've got
(25:32):
a lot of good stuff here at Meat either from
outdoor trivia and the country music and some show enough
how to episodes on all the things that we love
to do.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
You can find something that you'll like. I bet you
we will.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
Until next week. This is Brent Reeves signing off. Y'all
be careful
Welcome to This Country Life. I'm your host, Brent Reeves
from coon hunting to trot lining and just general country living.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
I want you to stay a.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
While as I share my experiences and life lessons. This
Country Life is presented by Case Knives on Meat Eaters
Podcast Network, bringing you the best outdoor podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
The airways had off.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
All right, friends, grab a chair or drop that tail gate.
I've got some stories to share. Opportunities. Life is full
of choices, and every day those choices lead us down
the path of the rest of our lives. Now that
(00:48):
sounds kind of deep, but it's true. We determine our
path by what we choose to do with the opportunities
that are presented. I'm gonna talk all about it, but
first I'm going to tell you a story. This week's
(01:08):
story comes from Marshall Day, a nineteen year old lifelong
resident of Story County, Iowa. Story County is located in
what could.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Be the bullseye of the state of Iowa.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Ninety eight thousand, five hundred and sixty six islands lived
there amongst five hundred and seventy four square miles of freedom.
That's one hundred and seventy one point seven people per
square bill. That's not too bad. Everybody would have plenty
of room, and as long as you didn't run into
that point seven fella, you'd probably be able to sleep
(01:44):
good at night.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Anyway.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
In Marshall's words and my voice, here we go. Recently,
my dad and I applied for Colorado tags as a group.
We didn't draw the elk tags, but when the uncleaned
tags came out there was some black bear tags available.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
We thought, why not. It's cheaper than an elk. It
sounds like a whole lot of fun, and after two days.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Of driving, we made it to the National Park campsite,
just down the road from where we had been spotting
water holes on the map. The next day, we drove
up to the trailhead near some water holes we wanted
to check out and started hiking. It was fairly easy
hiking at a low incline and with the top has
got to be around the next ben mindset, We eventually
(02:34):
found ourselves two and a half hours up the mountain.
We sat there for a bit and then we followed
our map the rest of the way to the water hole.
We didn't see any sign it first until I saw
a big pile of bear scat.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
We thought that was.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Promising, and judging by the amount of scat, the bear
was pretty big, and we found a big, old flat
rock to set against about one hundred yards up the
hill from the water hole, and we waited. We saw
a satellite bull come through in the middle of the day,
and then around six pm, I looked over my left
shoulders see a little ball of brown fur coming towards us.
(03:11):
I pointed it to my dad, and I saw three
more that were coming with him. We quickly realized it
was a soal with three cubs. Surprisingly, the mama looked
to be less than one hundred pounds. She wasn't big
as nothing, and we couldn't believe something so small could
make a pile as big as what we saw. My
dad started taking pictures, and when they got about eight
(03:33):
yards away from us, we realized they had no idea
that we were there, and they wanted to be right
where we were. Now realizing this, my dad yelled, hey bear,
and the mama looked up, saw us and ran back
down the hill. One cup ran past my side on
a rock just less than two yards from me, and
one ran past my dad, and then the other one
(03:55):
just sat there looking at us for a couple of
seconds before running back down the hill after his mama.
We were both super excited and our hearts were racing
because that was both of our first experience with a
bear in the wild. After that, we sat with the
with the rest of the afternoon and saw five mule
deer and a herd of eighteen elkremore. We watched him,
(04:18):
and we could hear the bull bugle, and we just
bashed in God's creation. That right there was worth the
whole price of admission. The next day, we didn't see
anything until we were driving out that night and saw
a big black bear in the middle of the road.
He ran off up the mountain, so we decided that's
where we wanted to be when the sun came up.
(04:41):
So on the third day of that hunt, we found
a trail that went up that direction and we took off.
It was thick and it was steep, but we were
seeing acorns and berries and lots of bear skin. Constantly,
encouraged by the sign, we kept going. After two and
a half hours, we found ourselves only half a mile
from our vehicle, but up one thousand feet in elevation.
(05:06):
We came up to a spot that leveled off into
a bench about two hundred feet from the top, and
there was a big muddy puddle. We walked up to
it and there was bear tracks all around it, and
wouldn't you know, more scat and we found the perfect
ambush spot on the ledge above the water hole. And
(05:26):
right about then we realized we'd forgotten to fill our
own water bottles.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
We were too far.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Up to go back, so we stayed there with the
little water that we had. The sun beating down on
us all day, giving us sunburns. It was pretty quiet
day and we hadn't seen anything for quite a while,
and around six that evening, nature called, so I stood
up and turned around the water the plants. No sooner
(05:55):
had I turned around, my dad started frantically whispering my name.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Marshall, Marshall, Marshall.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
I assumed he was teasing me, because the last time
we were hunting in Colorado, I was doing the same
thing when some elk came out. I turned around to
see a bear coming to the water hole. Quietly got
my gun my shooting sticks in position, and right as
I was getting settled in on the bear, he turned
away staring at him behind. I didn't have a shot,
(06:25):
and the bear hadn't moved, and my dad couldn't see him,
but was wondering why I was taking so long to shoot.
Put my crosshairs on the bear and I waited. Finally
he turned just enough and I pulled the trigger. My
shot rang out, and the bear stood up and tumbled
through the muddy water fell down.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
He was dead.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
My legs started shaking from the adrenaline as my dad
and I celebrated. We got down to the bear and
we took pictures and we got him quartered and skinned out,
and I have to give a shot. Got out to
my amazing father who not only let me shoot first
instead of shooting the bearer himself while I was turned around,
but he skinned and quartered the bear for me and
(07:10):
took all the meat in his pack while I took.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
The head and the high.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
He really is the best father I could have, raising
me to follow God and love the outdoors, and.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
I just couldn't ask for better Dad.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
After getting the bear broke down and packed in our
backs in the dark, we started the steep hike down.
I've been out of water for over hour and a
half and now Dad was very low. The hike down
was harder than the hike up, and we were carrying
lots of weight in our packs, and it was dark.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Finding out way down, man, it wasn't easy.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
We almost got stuck multiple times, and at one point
we stopped on the mountain to take a breathe, and
I was wondering if we would ever make it off
that mountain at all. Halfway down, ran out of water.
It'd be another two and a half hours of stumbling
down through the thick brush before we finally made it
back to the vehicle, dropped our packs and started chugging water.
(08:09):
We gave thanks for a successful hunt, and more importantly
for getting down.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Safe and sound.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
We went out the next day for Dad, but we
didn't see anything. But I thank him every time I
tell that story and will for the rest of my
life for putting my experience above his and letting me
get the bear. He really is the best father I
could ask for. And now, with some bear meat in
the freezer and a great story to go with it,
(08:37):
bear hunting might just become a yearly thing for us.
And according to Marshall Day of Story County, Iowa, that's
just how that happened. That story is right on theme
today with what I'm talking about, which is taking an
opportunity seeing where it goes. I got a feeling the
Marshall that as you get older, the best part of
(08:59):
the hunt ain't gonna have anything to do with a
bear or who got to shoot it first. It'll be
more about the opportunity you had to spend time together,
and y'all did it. Thanks for sharing, buddy. Opportunities come
(09:22):
along every day in one form or another, and what
we do with them can determine the direction of the moment,
the day, or the rest of your life. Some we
may never know the circumstances of based on our decisions.
A lot is left up to fate or the grand design.
And unless you're reading a fictional book like the ones
they call Choose your Own Adventure, you'll never know what
(09:45):
might have been, what you avoided, or what you gained
in the totality of the circumstances. You can look at
the obvious example of say skipping out on going to
the movies and watching a scary show. You can say, well,
I didn't get scared because I didn't see it, But
could you have met a new friend? Ran into an
old acquaintance found a five dollar bill. Who knows that
(10:08):
you could have had nightmares. It seems to me that
if a hurricane and the Gulf can be theoretically caused
by the flutter of a butterfly's wing on the other
side of the planet, the possibilities are literally limitless. Now
I think back on different times when opportunities and choices
arose in my life and how the decisions I made,
(10:29):
even the ones that seemed so inconsequential, continue to have
a measurable impact on my existence and those around you.
Often get asked, what was my favorite part of my
law enforcement career. Was it wearing a uniform or when
I worked undercover. It's hard to really say with absolute
(10:52):
certainty because each was vastly different, But I always say
working undercover and give this analogy for the reason why
when I was wearing a uniform and working patrol, I
was reacting to the situations that arose.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
If I sitting on.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
The side of the highway working radar, someone had to
come by me violating the traffic laws before I acted.
The same with answering calls that came in through dispatch.
There had to be a report of a situation requiring
an officer to direct their attention and go to wherever
That report described as needing the police. In other words,
(11:27):
we just waited around for something to happen. Now, obviously,
patrolling throughout the jurisdiction in a marked car, ever vigilant
has a place and to turn crime and buffoonery. But
it's hard to quantify how much, because we can only
estimate the percentage of crime that's being reduced by the
presence of a marked police car in a particular location.
(11:51):
The same for speed enforcement. The goal of writing speeding
tickets is to get folks to slow down. If you
get them to slow down, you automatically reduce accidents and
property damage and injuries and fatalities. But how much is
reduced is only an estimation because there's no algorithm you
can use to get an exact figure. Crime and accident
(12:11):
statistics are all subject to comparisons to the same areas,
using past reporting data and averaging out the differences. Not
always sounds boring, but I'm going somewhere with this. When
I worked undercovering narcotics, I could lay my hands on
a tangible and measurable amount of drugs that we'd seize
that would not stay on the streets. I could look
(12:33):
and review at the end of the year at what
we'd done and say unequivocally that what we'd seized and
measured down to the ground was judicated through court and
destroyed and it wouldn't hurt nobody. I could see what
we'd done as opposed to what analytical probabilities estimated we did.
That to me was the difference between reactive law enforcement
(12:56):
waiting for a call to come in versus proactive law enforcement,
which was us going out and purposely targeting individuals who
were in the drug trafficking business. We were working hard,
in long hours and season opportunities as that came up
to do our due diligence of fighting the drug problems
in our district, and doing so, we missed time at home,
(13:20):
time with our children, friends and families, and it was
a heavy cost in the end for all involved, especially
the little ones who had no choice but to accept
the hand that they'd been dealt. I talk about this
only because the pathway we take effects not only us
but everyone around us. It doesn't have to be negative either.
(13:43):
I mean the decisions I made good and bad, all
led me to where I am today, and the same
for you too, and I hope you're in as good
a place as I am. Now, let me tell you
about the place I was in a couple of weeks ago.
I was hound with a friend and was getting to
his house late before heading to the stand the next morning,
and I was relying solely upon his knowledge of the
(14:05):
intel he'd been gathering the weeks prior to my last
minute announcement that I was coming to hunt. His past
twenty plus years of hunting there wasn't hurting my chances either.
It was after ten o'clock when I got there that night,
and my friend Quinton was waiting up for him. We
sat in his living room until nearly midnight, going over
Moultrie Sale cam picks until we came up with the plan.
(14:29):
The plan was for me to go and climbing a
stand where we didn't have a camera, wind direction, his
history of encounters, how the land laid forming a great
travel corridor, and mainly a gut feeling from Quinton convinced
that both of us good enough that that was the
spot for.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Me to sit.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
And I knew where several other stands were located because
I'd seen him the previous spring when he and I
were turkey hunting up there.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
The one that I was going to.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Try and find the next morning, tark cellar from a
point he'd share with me on on axe.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
I had never been there.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
I admit that not having seen it in the daylight
had me a little anxious as I made the half
my wall from my truck up to the area where
the stand was looking. They're a good deer on this farm,
and I didn't want to contaminate the area with my
ascent anymore than I had to by walking all over
creation trying to find a lock on stand that I'd
(15:25):
never seen, and it was manufactured purposely not to stand out.
I had my tree saddled in my backpack just in
case I couldn't find it Quickly. I picked out a
tree from the from the map we'd studied the night before,
sitting in his living room that while I couldn't tell
how good it looked from the ground, or if it
even offered any concealment or a place to hide and shoot,
(15:48):
but it was going to be a starting point for
me to find a tree that I could get into.
If I didn't immediately find the stand he'd hung earlier
in the year. There wasn't any reflective tape or mark
trails that led to the stand, So in my mind,
I decided, as I approached the area where it was
supposed to be that I just climbed the first tree
(16:09):
that I thought the stand would be if I hung
it myself. I crossed the corner of that field and
I stood thirty yards at the edge of the woods,
looking into the darkness of the hardwood timber With the
red List headlight. I take comfort in the fact that
the deer struggle to see most shades red. I call
that red light my cloaking device. Now I'm reminded every
(16:32):
time I say that around my friend Michael Roseman, who
makes the headlight. I'm talking about the same light that
Steve Vanilla likes so much that he bought seven of
them from Michael for his friends and family. I say,
my red List light is virtually invisible to deer. Michael
laughs and says, they can still see you, dummy.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Well that's true.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
They can't still see me because they have excellent night vision.
But if I use the wind to my advantage like
I had that morning, I take my time keeping noise
to a minimum like I had that morning, and use
a walking life that they won't see from a distance,
the chances are higher I can get into my hunting
spot undetected like I had that morning.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
It's my cloaking device, Michael, leave me along.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
Well. I didn't see a stand hanging, so I checked
the map again on my phone, and I walked toward
what I thought was the tree that I'd pick out
while sitting on Quinn's couch. As I got closer, I
saw the climbing steps that were strapped to the tree.
I followed them up the trunk and I found the platform. Bingo,
I'm in business. I took it as a good sign.
(17:41):
After I climbed up, my anxiety was lessening with each
full of the rope. As I hung my backpack and
my bowl, I settled into the seat about forty five
minutes before daylight. I'd rather be an hour early than
a minute late, and that applies to everything I had
three days delegated at the last minute the bow hunt.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
It was a last minute decision.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
After I got home from being in Louisiana, Tennessee in
eastern Arkansas over the past two weeks, my girls were
headed to the in laws in Texas, and I was
scheduled to hunt here in Arkansas, but it was insanely
hot for bow hunting where I planned to go. I
hung a camera over there a couple of weeks ago,
and the mosquitoes were so bad that I knew they'd
(18:25):
still be bad, and too bad for me to sit
comfortably in the tree. All the activity, according to the
camera was at night because.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Of the heat. So what was a boy to do?
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Only one thing to do, go where the mosquitoes ain't,
and that was a few hours north at Quinton's house.
I'd taken an opportunity. I'd made a bold decision on
a whim. I'd driven six hours the evening before, and
was now as silly as it sounds, sitting in a
tree in the dark, waiting on daylight that was still
(18:58):
a little other thirty minutes away. There wasn't a bird chirping,
There wasn't an owl hooting, there was dang sure, it
wasn't no mosquito buzzing. There wasn't a sound at all,
not one, just silence. Eventually, the sun started rising in
the east and the woods started waking up. Squirrels were
(19:19):
jumping from limb to limb. Birds were singing, and I
was straining for the first sign of a deer moving
in any direction. I was also looking around at the
location of that stand, and I swear Quinn hung that
joker in the exact place I would have. Either I
was as smart as him, he was as smart as me,
or neither one of us knew anything about how deer
(19:41):
moved along pinch points through the woods, following the terrain.
At seven point thirty, a turkey gobbled like it was
spring less than one hundred yards in front of me,
and I could hear turkeys jumping all through the woods
in front of them. And while I was soaking in
all that turkey entertainment, I heard a leaf crunched by
behind me. I glanced over my shoulder, and there walked
(20:03):
the door the size of a yearling giraffe, just as
relaxed as she could be. I guessed her to be
twenty five yards behind me. I couldn't swear to it
because I left my range finder sitting on the tailgate
of my truck, along with my binos and everything else
I told in my harness. Had I had enough sense
(20:26):
to remember, i'd have known it was twenty five yards
because I'm not sure if everyone else does this or not,
but I memorize every distinctive feature all around me and
get the yardage to it. I know some of you
saying everyone does that, you idiot, but I'm not sure
if they do or not not. Like the way I
do I sing it. I used a tune in my
(20:49):
head and I put the words to it as yardages.
That's a lot easier for me to remember and that
way than it is. Gum tree twenty five yards, bigger,
gum tree thirty four yards, pile of leaves twenty one
so on. I do it clockwise in order from starting
at the twelve o'clock position, which is directly in front
(21:09):
of the stand, regardless of the direction that I go
three hundred and sixty degrees all the way around it.
I don't memorize many, just the ones that naturally catch
my attention when I look in that direction, five or
six of them at the most. But I need a
range finder to do all that, and I didn't have one.
That was an opportunity missed. But I played football long
(21:33):
enough to know what ten yards looks like, and imagining
ten yard increments laid out in front of me. I
guessed the trail I had walked over that was behind
me to be two and a half of them. Now,
my most favorite math teacher on this spinning orbit that
we called home, Miss Brenda McDougall. You can check my figures,
but I think that adds up to twenty five yards.
(21:55):
I was confident it was, and a later measurement with
the range finder would prove I was spot on at
twenty five point one yards, but that would come later.
And this was now, And as all of this was
playing out inside my cranium, that deer trail the football
overlay I imagine intersecting with the trail. The dinosaur of
(22:15):
a doe that had just passed behind me stopped and
looked back the way. She came, y'all know what that means?
Something else is coming now. I figured it was a
yearling deer, and I was half right. It was a deer,
but it weren't no yearling. I immediately guessed him to
be one hundred and forty plus buck, and I never
(22:38):
looked back at his antmers.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
I grabbed my bow, got.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
It and the arrow I had waiting on the rest,
and slipped them both around the left side of that tree.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
As the buck went behind some brush on the right.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
He stayed right in her tracks, just walking slow, and
stopped in the clearest spot there was on that trail
twenty five yards behind me, and just looked at that door.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
Who was starting to walk slowly away.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
I don't even remember doing it, but the next thing
I know, I'm at full draw with my twenty yard
pin right at the top of where that buck's lungs
would be, with my finger resting on the trigger, and
I couldn't pull it. This was a chip shot, and
I couldn't turn that air loose because of a limb
the size of my little finger that branched out and
(23:25):
covered his vitals. For a moment, I thought about trying
to thread the needle, and immediately remember the time I
tried that in Kansas on an absolute giant, I hit
a limb that I didn't see that sent my arrow
into orbit, and that deer on a fast train to Georgia.
So I followed him at full draw until he once
(23:46):
again walked out from behind all the trees and all
the limbs and stopped dead, still, quartering away forty five yards.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Or was it fifty yards? Or was it forty eight yards?
Speaker 1 (24:00):
I didn't have a yardage song to sing because I
didn't have my range finder that I needed to write
it with. Not seeing a limb and missing the deer
is one thing. Misjudging a distance and missing one is another.
But the granddaddy of them all is guessing wrong and
making a bad shot on him. That is the most
(24:21):
egregious error of all and.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
The easiest to avoid.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
You don't take that opportunity is one way to look
at it, and I think that's the wrong way to
see it. You take the opportunity to not make a
bad shot, and you wait for another day. I waited
two more days and I never saw him again. But
the year ain't over, and he's still there. We get
(24:47):
pictures of him occasionally. He ain't going nowhere, and neither
are we. We met that morning because he took an
opportunity to chase a female and I took the opportunity
to find a cooler place to hunt. We parted ways,
having no interaction other than one of us feeling richer
(25:09):
for just being there. Be a good deal if all
our encounters went that way. With everything, and especially everyone,
Thank y'all so much for listening to me here on
this Country Life and Claybow's Baggery shows. There's all kinds
of stuff you can listen to today, and if you're
hunting something else to add to the rotation, we've got
(25:32):
a lot of good stuff here at Meat either from
outdoor trivia and the country music and some show enough
how to episodes on all the things that we love
to do.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
You can find something that you'll like. I bet you
we will.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
Until next week. This is Brent Reeves signing off. Y'all
be careful
Host
Clay Newcomb
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