March 19, 2025 • 53 mins
Experience the transformative power of nature with our latest podcast episode that dives deep into Hometown Hero Outdoors and its mission to heal veterans through outdoor adventures. Join us as we sit down with John Sewell, the passionate ranch manager at Harris Ranch in South Texas. Discover how this incredible organization honors the sacrifices of military personnel by providing unforgettable outdoor recreational experiences that promote healing, camaraderie, and renewal.
John’s story is both inspiring and enlightening, showcasing the intricate balance of managing a deer ranch while fostering a thriving habitat for wildlife. Through thoughtful conversations about hunting practices, land conservation, and community support, we explore how outdoor activities serve as a therapeutic outlet for veterans seeking solace and support.
Listeners will hear heartwarming stories that exemplify the profound impact of these experiences—from tears shared in the field to laughter around the campfire. It’s not just about chasing deer; it’s about chasing healing and connection with like-minded individuals who understand the struggles many carry silently.
As we navigate the challenges faced by ranch management, John opens up about working towards an ambitious goal of accommodating more veterans each year in this healing journey. The episode encourages listeners to engage with the initiatives of Hometown Hero Outdoors and highlights how community involvement can create lasting positive change.
Don’t miss out on these powerful stories and valuable insights—tune in to grasp the essence of what it means to support those who have served our nation. Together, let's foster understanding and appreciation for the outdoors as a sanctuary for healing. Join us on this journey, and consider contributing your voice and support to this worthy cause.
Produced by Phil Ewert Productions
Theme Music: Hero's Journey
Joel Loopez Tunepocket.com
Licensed by: Phil Ewert Productions
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
In the land of 10,000 lakes, a remarkable movement
was born.
Welcome to Hometown HeroOutdoors.
We are dedicated to honoringour military service members,
veterans and first responders byproviding them with
unforgettable outdoorrecreational opportunities.
We believe those who haveserved and sacrificed so much
(00:25):
for our country and communitiesdeserve a chance to reclaim
their spirit and find healing inthe great outdoors.
This is Hometown Hero Outdoors.
Welcome to the Hometown HeroOutdoors Podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Here is your host, chris Tatro.
Welcome back to all ourlisteners out there.
With the Hometown Hero Outdoorspodcast, I am here today with
John Sewell.
John Sewell is the ranchmanager down at Harris Ranch.
(01:16):
We've had a partnership withJohn over the past, going on
three years.
Now John is down in Uvalde andI know I'm going to catch heat
for saying it incorrectlybecause of my Minnesota twang.
You said Down at the ranch.
Down there is right on theborder of Mexico and John just
want to introduce yourself tothe listeners, let everyone know
who you are and where you'relocated.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Good, yeah, I really appreciate you all having me on.
You know we're way down here.
You know close to the border,about 35 miles, I guess, as a
crow flies, but in between SanAntonio and Del Rio, basically,
and we're in the brush countryand and we're a deer hunting
operation, a ranching operation,and you know I got involved
(02:02):
with with you guys just throughhappenstance, and you know we've
been off to the races for threeyears and we want to keep
moving on.
Obviously, I'm in the deerraising business.
I love big deer, I love freerange white tails and I have a
lot of deer that need to beharvested each year and that's
(02:25):
why I've chosen to take yourguys in the field, try to make a
difference in their lives.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
That's awesome.
Yeah, no, thank you foreverything you do for our
members and working with theorganization and really
connecting with us.
Um, you know, I I hear nothingbut good things from everyone
that goes to the ranch and Iknow some people get jealous and
want to go back quite a bit,but you guys are sitting on how
many acres down there?
Speaker 3 (02:48):
around 17,000, a little bit plus or minus more
than that, but, um, you know,it's all, it's all, uh, brush
country and and it's justwhitetail country.
Uh, I was born and raised inFlorida, so my dream was always
South Texas.
And here I am.
I've been here 29 years, socelebrating a long, a long haul
(03:10):
here and just been very, veryfortunate to be on a great
direction, to grow big, fairchase, low fence, white tails.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
That's awesome.
So yeah, let's start there then.
So you grew up in Florida.
What did your upbringing looklike as a youth, and then
getting into adulthood andmoving to Texas?
Put us on that journey.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Yeah, we, we got to have a whole nother show for
that.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Well, maybe we can do that.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
Yeah, I was very I was, you know, just been very
blessed all my life.
I feel like I was dealt a verygood hand, even though I had
some, you know, divorce in myfamily, as everybody else does,
and separated parents and all ofthat.
I was adopted to start with.
So, you know, I was adopted ata young age into a family, you
(03:57):
know, and I can't say enoughabout how fortunate I am to have
been chosen by them, and myparents were working class
people and we always my dadhunted and fished and so that
led me to loving it and so allthe years of growing up with him
taking me and then, of course,getting old enough to take
(04:18):
myself, I made some connectionsyounger in life and a job that
one of the gentlemen I workedfor, his family, owned this
ranch.
So I was invited to come outhere when I was a young kid, at
12 or 13 years old, and I justhad a burning desire every year
to want to come back.
(04:39):
Well, when something happened inhis family and some things
changed and deaths in the family, according to you know, people
that could or couldn't be hereto run it, and so on and so
forth I was asked would I beinterested in taking the helm
and of course I was very, youknow, happy to do that.
(05:00):
So I got the opportunity to comeback and start piddling with it
a little bit here and there andfinally got an opportunity to
to basically sell out thebusinesses that I had in Florida
and move out here and take over.
Maybe it wasn't the best movefinancially but it was the
(05:21):
absolute best move for me in mylife and I have a daughter that
grew up here and she loves thislife as well.
You know I have.
I just can't even say enough ofhow fortunate I am and you know
that brings us to the nextlevel of how unbelievably
(05:42):
fortunate to take, to take thislife and be able to share it
with others, especially thosewho have issues and have
troubled paths, that that thatcan't seem to get.
Get by that stuff, you know.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Yeah, so you already had some sense of business.
It sounds like you said you hadto sell.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Yeah, sense of business.
It sounds like you said you hada self-improvement.
Yeah, I was in the treerelocation business in central
florida for quite some time andI did a lot of work at disney
and universal and I did lots ofwork in the in the tree industry
and in florida and all thesoutheast as far as that goes.
So, yeah, I mean I was savvy inbusiness, but it's not so much
business savvy savviness youneed to to learn how to run a
ranch.
(06:27):
I did not have that background.
I did not.
I did not have any kind offormal schooling, past high
school school of hard knocks.
I got a lot of that coming outhere and taking what I had in
all the years of my life in thepast, bringing it here and
(06:48):
instrumenting a lot of thingsthat were new to me and trying
to understand what it was goingto take to not only be a manager
of deer but a manager of landand stewardship and conservation
, and so you know that that'sbeen a, that's been my goal and
(07:09):
I always say if you take care ofthe land, it will absolutely
take care of you.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Yeah, no, and you chased your dream.
Really, you know you've beengoing there for so long and
moved away from other businessesand, like you said, financially
was it the most responsiblething?
No, but you know, truly, I meanwith you.
You took a leap, you took aleap of faith and you've enjoyed
your life and your decisionever since.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
Yeah, I mean, I would just say that there's no one
that has has been as fortunateas I have.
And again, I say all the time,I don't know how I got, I don't
even know how I got here, butyou know a leap of faith.
You said it, and so here we are.
And you know a leap of faith,you said it and so here we are.
And you know I was, I waslearning how to run ranches and
(07:50):
you know stuff aboutconservation and stewardship and
water, which is so importantout here, and I had some people
come out to visit me after I'vebeen here.
I think it was a year, was 2017then and uh, you, uh, you know,
uh talked about some award, aLone Star Stewardship Award.
I never even heard of, um, andthese people were like you know,
(08:12):
you're doing everything that wepreach to everyone and you
don't even have any idea how yougot here.
And I'm like, no, it was pretty, pretty funny.
But anyway, I was chosen forthe Lone Star Stewardship Award
in 2017.
So that's an award given by theTexas Parks and Wildlife for
the best managed ranch in Zone 8, which is probably 40 or 50
(08:37):
million acres of South Texas andyou know, there's probably less
than 300 of us that have everbeen chosen, so very, very
humbling period that validatedeverything that I was doing, for
not only you know the future,but cleaning up what was done
(08:58):
wrong in the past and being ableto take land conservation to
the next level.
And being able to take landconservation to the next level.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
And you said I mean, that's a huge testament to your
dedication to the ranch and thethings you did there.
You know you talked about nothaving any quote unquote formal
education with conservation andland management, though, so
those are the things that youwould say you've learned
throughout what you call hardknocks.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
Yeah, absolutely.
I took everything thateverybody would tell me and you
know, read about it or look atthings that somebody would say
and instrument it into mysituation, and if it worked out
well for me, I would say youknow, hey, they were right.
And if it didn't work out forme, I would try to tweak it a
little bit to make it, to makeit what they're trying to tell
(09:47):
me.
And so so, taking what was toldand being able to twist it a
little bit or do it a littledifferent, uh, for my situation,
uh really paid off and, and youknow, again.
I I never even dreamed I wouldbe in that position to get that
award so very humbly that'sfantastic.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
No, congratulations on that and hopefully you get it
again another time.
But uh, about, about the deerand the conservation that you do
have there.
I know you have 17,000 ishacres, you said you know, and is
it fenced completely?
Speaker 3 (10:21):
no, it's not completely fenced, so we do have
some bad neighbors that we haveto keep out.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
But you know we have miles of still low fence also,
all the deer can move in and out, so obviously you're not
bringing in genetically modifieddeer.
Essentially it's all free range, natural yeah, it's all free
range.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
I did um, I did some some of a program that texas
parks and wildlife offered toeverybody in the state which is
called triple t, and triple tstands for trap, tag and
transfer.
So you can go to uh before cwd.
But you could go to a rancherthat you knew had really high
(11:02):
quality South Texas deer and hehad been managing for quite some
time, and you could ask him hey, if you've got 100 does to
harvest this year, would you beinterested in giving me 50?
And he would say, sure, you canhave them, they're not allowed
to sell them.
And then you have to hire ahelicopter service and a crew
(11:25):
and you would go down andcapture them with a net gun and
a helicopter and then you wouldrelocate them back up here to
your place.
And so that brought I did thatfor five years and that brought
hybrid vigor.
They were all wild deer from thewild but I wanted hybrid vigor
and I would like to change up mygenetics and that was a program
(11:47):
that was offered to everyoneand I did that for five years
and that was really a kickstartto a change for me.
You know, I was feeding protein, I was feeding cottonseed, I
was doing all the things that Iwas supposed to do and we were
killing some big deer, some 170plus inch deer, but they were
(12:07):
infrequent and I know that's aninfrequent animal.
It's just the odds of killing170 inch deer in fair chase is.
I don't even know where it istoday, but there's nearly 6
million deer harvested in theUnited States each year and I
don't know how many of them aretruly 170 class deer in low
(12:27):
fence.
So that changed my directionand then I kind of get to a
plateau in the whole situationand felt like you know, there's
got to be something I'm missing.
Why am I not getting bigger andbetter?
Some of these deer that I'vebrought in should have better
(12:49):
genetics, should have helped mein the long run and the hybrid
vigor.
So I started working on somefeed options and thinking what
was going to make our situationbetter and quality of feed and
so on and so forth.
And quality of feed and so onand so forth.
And I got with a guy, HunterBarrett, and Hunter was also
(13:10):
looking for a new outlet tostart a business and so on and
so forth.
So he started working with hisfamily, which were cattle feeder
.
His family were cow guys, theyfed cattle, His family were cow
guys, they fed cattle.
And they started working onimplementing a fortification for
(13:30):
cottonseed, basically putting amineral and a vitamin pack on
cottonseed, just the same stuffthat they put in deer pellets.
So we changed it up a littlebit and put chelated form
minerals in there which areabout 30% more digestible and
utilizable in a whitetail deerand cattle and anything.
(13:52):
So we started that about sevenor seven and a half years ago or
eight years ago and, uh, youknow I just took a lot of time
in trying it in a control tomake sure it was going to be
what I wanted it to be, and Iwas just blown away at the
quality of change.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
That much just from the feed.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
Yeah, absolutely it has changed Three years ago.
This is my seventh year on 365days of free choice feed and
it's all fortified cotton seed Ifeed, nothing else.
Um, you know we do put out cornand that's bait.
It's not feed Um and.
(14:37):
And so, with that being said,365 days of this feed has 165
days of this feed has not onlychanged our antler quality, it's
changed our fawn recruitment.
We have a super high fawnrecruitment.
Our survivability of our fawnsare through the roof.
Our conception rate isincredibly high.
(14:59):
Lots of does almost all maturedoes have two fawns and a lot
have three.
It's just crazy what thatchange has brought in the last
seven years.
And so you know we're killingseveral deer in the last few
years, over 200 inches.
Speaker 4 (15:19):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
And that's just kind of unheard of in our country
when I say our country, thisnorthern end of the South Texas
zone.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
Those are some massive deer and so over time
you know you're talking aboutusing the cotton feed and then
also having the former.
You know you have corn.
You said too Do you see theirhabits or their feeding habits?
Do they vary between thedifferent types of feed that
give them between the corn orthe cotton seed?
(15:51):
Do they prefer one over theother different types of feed
that give them between the?
Speaker 3 (15:55):
corn or the, the cottonseed.
Do they prefer one over theother?
Well, you know, we keepcottonseed at every place.
We feed corn and we keepcottonseed at every place we
have water.
Um, I'm going to tell you adeer at this point in the game
our deer prefer cottonseed.
Um, cottonseed is an incrediblesource of fat.
Very, very high fat content 17to 20%.
(16:16):
Well, why is fat so important?
For a couple of reasons.
A couple of reasons are one itis what's needed for a doe to
produce high quality fat milkfor their yearlings or their
fawns.
Secondly, a deer, a cow, anyungulate will limit on fat.
(16:37):
So when I say limit, they won'teat themselves into oblivion
because the fat makes them stopIn cattle feeds.
They put salt in feeds to stoptheir amount, to stop how much
they eat, based on a saltcontent.
So we want deer to eat all theywant to eat and we want them to
get all the fat they can get andwe want that fat to be
(17:01):
available for those bucks,especially going into the rut
and coming out of the rut.
Anybody who hunts deer andunderstands deer harvest knows
what their deer look like priorto the rut and they know what
they look like after the rut andthey're very, very poor
compared to what they look likein September versus February.
(17:24):
So turning those deer aroundwith fat is ultimately the
biggest part of what I'velearned about this feed is those
deer do not get to a point ofno return.
You know, most of your deathsin whitetail deer are
post-season rut caused by beingvery weak and potentially having
(17:49):
bad weather because of a veryhard rut of fighting, so on and
so forth.
So this has taken deer thatpeople would say, oh, you know,
you better harvest them by sixand a half because they're going
to be run out and they're goingto be poor and they're not
going to be able to recover.
We're not harvesting our trophydeer till 10 plus wow yeah, so
(18:13):
it's.
It's taken a whole different uhavenue from what we learned.
One we always learned oh, youfeed protein or you feed
supplemental feed from afterdeer season to right before deer
season and you stop.
I think that's the biggestmistake anybody's making.
Those deer do not want to stopeating that protein or that
(18:36):
supplemental feed until the rutis on, so we've taken them off.
In October Our fawns are 70days old or 75 days old at the
most, and we've taken them off.
And then potentially, if we'reharvesting does we're harvesting
does early in the season thatare leaving orphan fawns behind
(18:57):
and those fawns don't have achoice.
If you're feeding out of tubefeeders that are elevated and a
little difficult, the fawn can'treach that, so he has to
supplement.
Now his mother's gone.
You've been supplementing themwhole family because she was
getting supplementation and thenthe fawn was getting good
nursing and then you cut it alloff and everybody kind of goes
(19:19):
into a tailspin.
Um, you know, gut health, Ithink.
I think humans are starting tofigure out gut health is
absolutely important and youknow, we've been battling gut
health with with animals foreverand if you can keep a roller
coaster out of their life, keepthem from going up being good
(19:40):
and down being bad all the timeby changing their diet and
taking them off of feed andputting them on feed um the.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
The whole picture is better in the long run yes,
that's a lot of time andobservation and research, I'm
assuming, to figure all that outyeah, that's what we call the
school of hard knocks.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
I've made all the bad mistakes.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
That cost a lot hey, that's where we learn the best
making the mistakes, and thenyou try not to do it again.
So how much, how much feed orcotton seed do you guys go
through in a year?
Speaker 3 (20:13):
I don't even want to say, but about 350 tons.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Wow, that's amazing.
And then does it come fromsomeone else in Texas.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
Yeah, hunter Barrett at Fortified Cotton Seed in
Plainview, texas, north Texas,about seven hours from here, has
a facility up there.
A lot of cotton is grown inthat area, so that's just a
great place to have a facility.
But, um, you know, I would liketo think that we could get
something moving a little bitfurther to the south so we could
(20:41):
cut down on freight and all ofthe things that go along with
that.
But you know, we're moving itas far east as, uh, as georgia
and florida, and so on and soforth, so it's catching on.
Um, we reinvented the wheel.
I really feel that.
And, uh, I'm going to tell youI'll never go back to feeding
any kind of pellet orsupplemental feed other than
(21:03):
cottonseed.
It's a single feed.
Um, very, very few pigs eat it.
Uh, raccoons don't eat it,bears don't eat it, uh, turkeys
don't eat it.
So, and you just pour it out onthe ground.
Basically, you can put it in abasket if you want.
You can put it in a troughthat's covered so you can keep
moisture off of it.
You can pour it on the ground.
(21:24):
They prefer it on the ground.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
So, uh, very easy to feed you know, and you got 17
000 acres, you know, with amassive deer population.
If you were to estimate howmany deer you probably have on
that property, take a wild guesshow many are there?
Speaker 3 (21:39):
Right now around 2,300.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
That's a lot of deer.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
That's a lot of deer.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Too many.
It's a full-time job, justmaintaining a number.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
How many do you typically harvest a year?
Speaker 3 (21:58):
harvest a year.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
We're always pushing for 500 or in that 500 uh range
about equal bucks versus does250 and 250.
It's a lot of deer too, I mean.
But though you talked aboutyour, your reproduction with the
deer and that they are verysuccessful with each uh, each
mating season and having thebirthing of, you said two
yearlings per deer usually.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
Yeah, I mean, I have a little area here that I
frequent along the main road andthere's three does on the main
road that have raised three thisyear and they all look great
and the doe looks great.
So you know, it kind of comeswith a double-edged sword we
can't keep up with therecruitment because we just
(22:37):
can't harvest the numbers.
So, you know, that brings us towhat I felt like I wanted to do
for I wanted to do for for youguys is I wanted to find
somebody who had some peoplethat wanted to enjoy the
outdoors and, uh, I wanted tohelp.
I wanted to help people whodon't have the opportunity that
(23:00):
I have, and uh, so I reached outto some people and they asked
me a couple questions.
And you know, before I know it,I'm in touch with chris and I
mean, I'm in touch with sean,who was in touch with you.
And here we are.
You know we're starting, orturning over, hopefully, a new
(23:22):
leaf, moving forward the lastthree years and to make a
long-term commitment andrelationship with you guys to
get more people in the field tohelp me harvest these animals.
You know, it doesn't doesn'thave to be a trophy buck and it
doesn't, it doesn't have to be amonster buck for these guys
(23:46):
that that are coming out.
It has a lot more to do withthe harvest of the hunt.
And you know, I have just been,I guess, blown away from what I
didn't know about what we'redoing here and what it has meant
not only to us but to thepeople who are coming.
(24:09):
You know, they have not onlythe utmost appreciation for what
we're doing, but they needoutside help.
They need people that aregrounded, like us, that sit
around the dinner table alltogether at night, that that
(24:30):
that talk about real life thingsthat we deal with every day,
that talk about real life thingsthat we deal with every day.
And for myself, I'm not anex-military, I'm not an ex-law
enforcement, and so it reallydrives home what I did not know.
(24:54):
And every time we do a hunt.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
It just digs a little deeper into what your being is
and why you're here.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
You know, generally speaking, us who have not been
there are not doing enough.
And I hate to say that I hateto throw everybody in that bus,
but I damn sure wasn't doingenough.
And I hate to say that I hateto throw everybody in that bus,
but I damn sure wasn't doingenough.
And now it just makes you wantto do more.
(25:26):
And wanting to do more is easyto take people hunting, but it's
hard to afford it when you'retrying to give it away.
So you know, that's why we'rekind of in a, in a, in the
middle road of taking, you know,20, 30, 40 guys a year.
My goal is to take 100 guys ayear.
(25:48):
Can we get there?
I think we can get there.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
You know, yeah, we just need to.
Yeah, the things that theseguys bring to me is you can't
put a price on.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
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Hometown Hero Outdoors podcast.
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(26:29):
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Speaker 2 (28:17):
That's spotlessdefendercom.
Yeah, I mean, you know, theoutdoors is a place for us to go
and relax and bond together.
You know, and yes, we do a lotof outdoor hunting and fishing
and things like that.
But that's just the vehicle.
It's really about theexperience and the people that
you're with.
It's the peer support, it's theconversations, it's the
camaraderie in the outdoors.
It's really about theexperience and the people that
you're with.
(28:37):
It's the peer support, it's theconversations, it's the
camaraderie in the outdoors.
It's the relaxing and it'shitting that reset button in the
place with like-mindedindividuals who've been through
something same or similar.
But really the world becomes alittle smaller because you feel
a lot of our individuals whohave served feel like they're a
bit on an island.
But once you get everyonetogether in the same room or you
(29:00):
sit with someone in a blind,like down at harris ranch, and
there's other individuals there,you can really talk about the
experiences you've had andreally focus on all these things
in a very peaceful place.
You know, the hunt is anexperience in itself which is
phenomenal, but there's a lot ofin between that happens there
too, and I know that you guyshave shared a lot of tears with
people down there you knowbetween yourself, john uh jim,
(29:22):
who's there helping, as well assean and other field staff that
we go have assist at harrisranch.
We know that people share a lotof tears in those blinds kind
of navigating a lot of themental things that they've been
weighing on them for a while.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
Yeah, I mean, I say it every, every hunt, you know
when we get done.
I'm like how many grown, howmany grown men cried this week.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
Right.
Speaker 3 (29:49):
You know and and nobody can say it wasn't me.
You know, nobody can say thatit wasn't me Because everybody,
everybody sheds a tear.
I mean, you can't help but to.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
Right.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
And so you know that again is what has been such a
driving force for me to want todo more and help as much as I
can.
And hey, these guys got ournumbers.
We tell them that gate's alwaysopen.
You ever have a snack 24 hoursa day.
(30:22):
You get ahold of us, we'regrounded, we move on to the next
job.
Jim, of course he's been there.
He's been in Vortac, he's beenin law enforcement, he's been in
the army.
He's been in law enforcement,he's been in the army.
He's been there.
I have not.
So Jim, ultimately, can bondwith them way better than I can,
because he knows what they'retalking about.
Myself, you know, I'm justtrying to shed light on my real
(30:48):
world, all the things I canbring to the table for them,
whether it's something they'reasking about or some question
about something that maybe Ihave some help.
But you know, the bottom lineis is nobody leaves here with a
handshake, everybody leaves herewith a hug.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
I love it.
Speaker 3 (31:07):
It's amazing to me.
We're all grown men, you know.
I mean we're like a bunch oflittle old kids.
When we get here and we bond,everybody leaves here.
It's a whole.
You know, grab and bustsomebody on the back, because
you're not just going to shakesomebody's hand.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
That's fantastic.
Yeah, I hear a lot of peoplethat I think this last go around
, when you guys had a bunch ofour members out, there was about
a thousand applicants that putin for that week that you hosted
people at.
So the word's out and they knowwhat's happening there and they
know what you guys are goingthrough and helping with and I
think people are really excitedto get down there and assist
(31:45):
with that.
But one of the things that youalso brought up is you know
you're you're doing 20, 30, 40people a year and you really
want to do a hundred a year andthat's something we communicated
at our gala when you were uphere.
Also, with a couple other videoswe put out really talking about
the mental health side ofthings and how some assistance
from the general public would beabsolutely phenomenal to help
(32:05):
us to get more people there,because we know it's changing
lives.
You know I talked to jim notlong ago and he's talking about
just how much.
You know he said that he'stired, but it's not that he's
tired from all the physical work.
It's really helping take on alot of these feelings and
working with individuals throughwhat they're experiencing,
which isn't a bad thing.
(32:26):
You know, we're here to helpand that's what happens.
You know it can be a mentallyexhausting too not in a bad way,
but in a good way and I reallydo think that you guys are
changing lives down there.
I really do.
Speaker 3 (32:37):
Yeah, it's been.
You know, I mean just thestories we've heard from a
couple of years.
We've done it.
I mean people, like when theyhave a crisis in their life, I
mean we're like we're the nextguy they call.
We're not a week, a week downthe road, I mean they call us,
(32:58):
you know, pretty quick, you know, to tell us they've had a
crisis in their life.
They want to talk about it.
You know that means you'rechanging someone's life, you're
giving them an outlet.
And with that being said again,how do we get a hundred people
here?
Well, I play the jim jim and Iplay the lottery each week.
Or jim does and and says youknow, if we can just win the
lottery, you know we'll have itmade.
(33:19):
And because we'll just give itall back to this, to the
organization to get more peoplein the field, I mean mean that's
our goal, that's what we wantto do.
I'm almost 60 years old.
I've been unbelievably blessedand fortunate and, you know,
sharing this and being able toafford to keep it operating in
the manner that it's operatingand getting more people in the
(33:41):
field.
You know, unfortunately,hunting has become a rich man's
sport and it costs a lot ofmoney to operate and so on and
so forth.
But you know it's not all aboutthat.
If I got to do I told Seanearlier if I got to do 25 or 30
guys a year on my dime, thenthat's what I'm going to do.
(34:02):
I'm going to make a difference.
It's just.
It's just being able to affordit and being able to afford 350
tons of cotton seed a year andthe electric and the fuel and
all the stuff that goes alongwith it.
I mean, everybody knows it's notlike we're poor mouthing, but
we're trying to make adifference, um, and not have to
sell these hunts but to givethem away and, uh, and getting
(34:25):
to that level of where it'sgoing to take to get 100 guys in
the field.
I mean, we have a member thatmakes wooden flags and I told
him when he brought anunbelievable flag down here and
I said my goal is to get theback of that flag signed by
everybody and get 1,000 names onit.
So he brought a pretty big oneand that's our goal on it.
(34:45):
So he brought, he brought apretty big one and that's our
goal.
So we have everybody that'scoming signing the back of that
flag with their branch and theirname and their date, and we
were telling them not to writebig because we want to get a
bunch of people on the back ofthat flag.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Oh, good old Josh Melching, he's a good guy.
Speaker 3 (35:03):
You bet yeah for sure , and you know the connections
that we have made and, hopefully, the changes we made in other
people's life.
Um, you can't put a, you can'tput a cost on it or price.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
So so, yeah, I mean it's just you talked about, you
know the expenses and stuff, butlike you can't, like you said
you can't put a price on that,you know what I mean?
Just, it's just the sheer helpthat is massive and mean just
it's just the sheer help, thatis massive.
And there's a couple people Iwant to send down there at some
point here.
I know they've been through alot on the enforcement side of
things in the recent coupleyears so it'd be good for them
(35:37):
to get down there meet you guysand get to experience the ranch.
But, um, you know we did do afundraiser about two years ago
and that we did sell some huntsfor that for you guys, and that
helped us with some of theexpenses down there.
Um, but down the road I'mlooking to see if there's any
(35:57):
individuals that would like toassist.
Uh, and we are more thangrateful for anything that
people can provide to assistwith other individuals, just
like the organization all, butspecifically harris ranch,
because it is a very uniqueproperty and they're very
special people there that arerunning the harris ranch and
that are giving their own timeand I mean you've had how many
people this last time that wentthrough there, was it?
Speaker 3 (36:19):
you know we had the last two weeks.
We had 12 and um, we're to do12 more.
You know what we found and andI think it was the first year we
did you know up to 50 guys andwe ran them through too fast.
You know, we gave them the huntand we gave them a night here
and we gave them um a day here,but nobody wanted to leave and
(36:43):
and you really just start to getin to a bonding situation on
the second day.
So we made these hunts last alittle longer this year.
It let us take less people, butit gave them more time and that
more time potentially is alifesaver for some of these guys
.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
Found that sweet spot .
Speaker 3 (37:05):
Yeah, no it's good.
I mean, you know, when you havepeople that are here, chris,
and they show up and they huntwith us for a day and a half and
someone mentions that maybesomeone's not going to be able
to make it on the next hunt, andthey say, well, can I just go
stay in uvalde in case theydon't come.
I'll get a hotel and then can Icome back.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
You know.
Speaker 3 (37:27):
You know it's meaning something to those guys, you
know.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
Yeah, no, it's, you know, and a lot of people too.
I mean, you do have probablysome Southern folk that are from
Texas that do come to the ranch, but a lot of us Northerners,
you know, it's a.
It's a different experience forus to come down to Texas and
experience your guys's form ofhunting and deer management and
the ranches.
We're not used to that up here.
It's very, very different andit's very eye-opening.
(37:51):
But it's also gets a little bitof a different sense of hunting
culture, which I'm not used to,you know.
So I love going to texas myself.
You know I used to come down onhog hunt every year for man go
back to 2012 almost, but I'vebeen coming to texas to hunt
with sean at his youth hunt forthe last three years, going on
four, you know.
But it's I just love comingdown there and experiencing it
(38:13):
and just the, the culture andhow everyone respects our, our
law enforcement and our firstresponders and military.
It's just a different world andI think that's an experience in
itself, on top of what you haveto offer.
I think that's why people likeit a lot, especially coming out
of state.
Speaker 3 (38:28):
Yeah, yeah, we got guys that come you know on some
of the hunts from you guys allthe way from North Dakota.
Speaker 2 (38:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (38:35):
You know, that's pretty, that's pretty impressive
to come way down here fromNorth Dakota for a couple of
days, you know.
But shoot man, we love it.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
We love them to come from anywhere, whether it's
close or far.
Speaker 3 (38:55):
We're in bucket list thing to do for a lot of people.
But you guys also do otherhunts on property too.
I think you guys didn't.
You have a couple javelinas?
Yeah, we have javelina.
We have, of course, wild pigs.
Um, um, we have wild turkey.
We don't do any.
You know much turkey hunting inthe fall, but we do in the
spring.
And then of course we havedoves and all those things that
go along with just normaleveryday hunting.
But, um, you know, for the mostpart we're we're focused on
(39:15):
deer and and and we we get somefree range in exotics.
They get in here and, um, youknow, like sean can tell you, I
hunt those things like theplague.
So, um, a'm not a exotic guy.
So we get one, we try to huntthem until we can get them.
Speaker 2 (39:32):
For the exotics.
Speaker 3 (39:34):
Exotics would be axis deer, fallow deer.
You know, right now we haveaudad, we have red deer, we have
axis deer and we have fallowdeer one of each of those
species and they jump in fromthe outside.
They get out of somebody else'splace and they jump in from the
outside and we target them andtry to get rid of them.
Speaker 2 (39:57):
Yeah, yeah, there's exotics all over texas, I think.
I just saw a news report wheresomeone was sitting there, deer
stand and had a tiger walkunderneath it recently oh gosh,
yeah, we don't have any tigersyet no, I don't want any of that
nonsense yeah, no doubt, and doyou guys have any like, uh,
fish ponds on the ranch oranything like that?
Speaker 3 (40:17):
uh, we have some small ponds, but we don't really
stock them or do anything withthem.
They're kind of flood in theriver and they come and go, so
we don't mess with that muchthere are all the turkeys, the
rios yeah, all the rios herethat's cool.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
Yeah, those are hard to come by, especially up here.
Speaker 3 (40:33):
It's all eastern and miriam, so yeah, we don't see a
whole lot of those yeah, youknow, we got got guys that chase
the grand slam and the worldslam and all of that turkey
hunting nonsense.
But um, I've done all that youknow I love, I'm an avid turkey
hunter and yeah so I've killedthe world slam a couple times
and the grand multiple times androyal slam four or five times.
(40:57):
I mean I was.
I was as crazy of a turkeyhunter as there ever was oh, I
love turkey hunting.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
You know, for us there's something about being
cooped up all winter in thenorthland and then all of a
sudden you get the spring to hitand you have a responsive
animal in the woods and sittingout and listen to the.
The woods come back to life andthe birds and just everything's
waking up and having those,those thunder chickens come back
at you.
Speaker 3 (41:22):
So much fun I love it that it's good, Sensory
overload kind of.
Speaker 2 (41:27):
Yeah, I know, I love it.
Speaker 4 (41:29):
I love it.
This one's scary 66% ofAmericans would struggle to pay
for a $1,000 emergency.
We don't keep any money in thesavings accounts, right?
The scary part about that isthat 8 out of 10 of us watching
(41:49):
this right now are going toexperience a $5,000 whoopsie
every 10 years.
Something's going to happen.
Kid's going to break a leg andthere's going to be
out-of-pocket max medical thatyear.
Right, there's going to be ahell, storm or a fire or some
kind of a natural disaster thatcauses us to have to write a big
old check for our deductiblefor the roof replacement or the
car.
Right, something's going tohappen.
And I want you to think back tothe last time you had a
financial emergency.
(42:09):
Was it the event that causedthe stress or was it trying to
figure out how?
Speaker 2 (42:15):
to pay for the event that caused the stress.
Well, very good, yeah, so youknow.
If any individuals want tobecome involved with Harris
Ranch, say you do other hauntsoutside of our organization.
How would individuals go aboutdoing that?
Speaker 3 (42:31):
You know I, I unfortunately do not have a
website.
Um, I don't advertise at allbecause I really don't have a
lot of spots available forothers.
And, um, you know, the best wayis to to just contact me um via
cell phone.
And uh, you know I hate tothrow my number out there to 10
(42:51):
million people, but hey, you'regood.
Once they come hunting, um, youknow, I would, I would certainly
talk to them.
And and again, if you'remilitary or law enforcement and
you want to get out, uh, youneed to follow HHO uh on
Facebook, I believe, and uh, youknow those guys are very good
(43:13):
about getting back to you.
I know Sean fields, a lot ofpeople, vic, josh, you, um, and,
and a lot of people areinterested.
So we want to get people outthere and give them an
opportunity, and we're going totry to do a couple weeks of
hunting in late january, sowe're going to have another
another couple trips availablefantastic, and if there's
(43:37):
anything else that you wouldlike to you know, let our
listeners know about you or anassistance that you're looking
for.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
Would you care to share any words about that?
Speaker 3 (43:45):
well, you know, not much to talk about me.
It's nothing about me.
It's about doing something for,for guys that are struggling.
Um, uh, again, I've been veryfortunate and I've I feel like
I'm, um, I'm done with worryingabout what tomorrow's going to
bring me.
I'm worried about whattomorrow's going to bring these
guys.
So, um, you know, assistancefor me.
(44:08):
No, I don't need any assistance.
I need to figure out how to geta hundred guys a year in the
woods.
So, if anybody has any anyreally good ideas about, I'm not
a marketing guy and I'm not, uh, I'm not a charitable donation
guy.
I'm none of that.
But what I am is a guy that canprovide an outlet for people
who are struggling and, uh, andthere's a lot of that.
Speaker 2 (44:33):
No very good point.
Yeah, there's a lot of peoplestruggling, you know, and we're
just trying to change them, youknow, one day at a time and make
sure they can stay to fightanother day.
That's the biggest thing.
Speaker 3 (44:41):
So you know, you know the thing that you don't see
and you don't really understand.
I never.
When I heard this story of 22people a year I mean a day
committing suicide, ex-military,and the number of people with
PTSD and law enforcement, youknow I never thought that was
(45:03):
real, but it's real.
I see it every time we have ahunt.
But it's real, I see it everytime we have a hunt.
And again, I mean you got abunch of grown men crying all
the time because there's so manystruggles that they don't want
to talk about and finally theygot somebody to talk about it
with and uh, you know, if itdoesn't, I say to everybody if
(45:23):
you don't think it's real, justcome down here and spend a
couple days with us when we'redoing one of these hunts.
And, for you know, there'scorporations that are donating
to lots of causes and justbecause we're a cause doing
hunting and guns and all of thatstuff, we're making a
difference.
So, you know, I challengeanybody that wants to help or
(45:51):
make a difference to to to getahold of you guys so we can get
more guys in the field.
Speaker 2 (45:53):
Absolutely, you know, and to your point too.
You know.
One thing I do at our suicideawareness prevention walk is
have everyone in the crowd raisetheir hand, and this is, you
know, a hundred plus people.
And I tell everyone, you know,raise your hand if you have
anxiety, depression orexperiencing that, before Some
people raise their hands, raiseyour hand.
(46:14):
If you know someone who doeshave those, raise your hand if
you've known someone who's takentheir own life.
You know, by the time I'm doneasking these questions, look
around and almost everyone hastheir hands raised, you know,
and it shows that you're notthat far removed, even though
you might think you are from allof the mental health hurdles
that people in our professionsgo through Not just our
(46:35):
professions, though, in societyin general but on top of that,
it just hits home a littlecloser when it might be someone
that you know.
You know, I just had thisconversation with someone
recently.
We just lost another soldier, a, here in minnesota two days ago
.
Uh, due to suicide, um, due tosome of the mental health that
(46:56):
they've experienced and thethings that they went through,
and it's just, I hear about itway too much and it's got to
stop, or at least we got to trya little harder every day.
And that's what you guys arehelping do down there and I
appreciate everything that youguys are doing.
Your assistance is greatlyappreciated.
Uh, we're doing everything wecan at the organization to help
get that goal of a hundredpeople for every year and we're
(47:18):
looking for assistance fromother individuals who would like
to be a part of that and we'replease reach out to us at the
organization or John SeanOldsberg I got to give him a big
shout out.
You know he's been a very keyelement with the organization
and being at Harris Ranch, hespent a lot of time with John
and Jim there, plus our members,helping them do everything that
they do in the field.
Speaker 3 (47:41):
Yeah, I mean it's a great organization.
It's a great organization.
I obviously reached out becauseI was looking for a
organization that was not heavyin the cost of operation.
I was looking for anorganization that had people
that were volunteering theirtime to do for others instead of
(48:01):
getting paid to do for others.
And you know, and that's whereyou guys are.
And you know, and that's whereyou guys are, and that means a
lot to people like myself whofeel like if we're giving the
time and the effort and offeringthe hunts that are going to
people who really need them, andthere's somebody else not
skimming half of the half of thedollars off or or doing
(48:22):
something otherwise.
You know you guys are allworking people.
We got people taking weeks offof their scheduled work days to
come out here and help.
I mean, you know, what more doyou want?
What kind of what moreoperation do you want?
They're not heavy at the top.
We're getting just about everydollar that we take in goes to
(48:43):
helping somebody.
I mean that's a, that's a bigshout to where you guys are
headed and we just need to do itas a team and again.
I mean it's, it's.
I don't.
I don't need any appreciation,I don't need anybody to pull my
chain.
I just need a way to get theseguys in the field, and it's
going to take a team, and it'snot just me by myself.
Speaker 2 (49:07):
Amen, amen, no, I, I hear you.
It's all about the volunteersand the people around us, and
those are helping us stand andwe help them stand back, and
very good point, you know.
And one thing I just hadanother podcast not long ago
where I talked about, you knowit's it's about being able to
share the resources and theexperiences that we have to help
others, and that's what youguys are doing.
(49:28):
You know you're sharing thatand that's what's going to help.
So is there anything else thatyou'd like to add before we get
going here, john?
Speaker 3 (49:37):
Well, we can talk all day about it, we can talk all
day about deer, we can talk allday about that stuff, but you
know, again, it's not about whatI do.
Um, just because I have theoutlet, uh, I feel like what I
do.
Um, just because I have theoutlet, uh, I feel like I feel
like it's what we have to do asthose who have not been in the
armed services or have not beena law enforcement officer, or
(49:58):
who've not been a firstresponder, um, you know, uh, I'm
just, I'm just basically got myhat in my hand going.
Anybody got a really good ideaof how we can make this happen,
to get a hundred people in thewoods, get a hold of somebody
and let's get it done?
Speaker 2 (50:16):
Absolutely.
You know, and we do have acouple of videos on our YouTube
and social media channels withHarris Ranch.
We have one specifically withJohn talking about the ranch
itself and his experiences,similar to the things that we've
talked about over the podcast.
But then we have another onethat we do talk to some of the
members and they do talk abouttheir experience at the ranch
and the things that they'veencountered, and I encourage you
to head over to youtube andcheck those out the harris ranch
(50:38):
videos, uh and really get adeep dive into what some of
these people are experiencing.
I believe we have one memberwho talks about how he hasn't
hunted for a while, um to thefact that his brother took his
own life in their hunting spot,which is a pretty drastic thing,
and then all of a sudden he'sat the Harris Ranch and he
begins that healing process alittle further.
(50:59):
But for our listeners, I justwant to say thank you for tuning
in today.
Thank you, john, for being here.
I appreciate everything youguys are doing down in Texas.
I hope to come see you soon andbe able to help some members
down there as well.
Big shout out to Jim and Seanas well for helping out the
ranch.
But for the listeners, if youwant to get more involved with
Hometown Hero Outdoors or HarrisRanch specifically, please
(51:21):
reach out to our email, which isinfo at hometownherooutdoorsorg
.
Again, that's info athometownherooutdoorsorg.
And then for other listenerstoo.
You know we are not mentalhealth professionals by any
means.
However, we are a peer supportgroup of individuals across the
country who want to assist youin the outdoor experiences and
(51:41):
help your mental health.
If you're feeling like you'redown or you're having a dark day
, you can reach out to us at anytime.
You can either do that throughsocial media, our phone number
on our website, or you can reachout to one of our field staff
in the community group.
We have applied suicideintervention skills training
that we use and that is a toolin our belt to help you through
that crisis.
We will find you additionalhelp after that if it's needed,
(52:03):
but other than that, you cancall 988 or text 988, which is
the crisis line, if you do needadditional assistance.
So please stay here to help ushelp you another day and get you
out in the woods or on thewater.
So thank you to our listenersfor being here today and thank
you to Harris Ranch one moretime and we will see you again
next week on the Hometown HeroOutdoors podcast.
Speaker 1 (52:24):
Thank you, the Hometown Hero Outdoors podcast
is made possible by thefollowing sponsors O'Neill
Electric Contractors.
The Minnesota Police and PeaceOfficers Association.
Relentless Defender, appareland Financial Cop Financial
Advisors.
Thank you for listening to theHometown Hero Outdoors podcast.
(52:48):
For more information, visit ourwebsite at
hometownherooutdoorsorg.
In the land of 10,000 lakes, a remarkable movement
was born.
Welcome to Hometown HeroOutdoors.
We are dedicated to honoringour military service members,
veterans and first responders byproviding them with
unforgettable outdoorrecreational opportunities.
We believe those who haveserved and sacrificed so much
(00:25):
for our country and communitiesdeserve a chance to reclaim
their spirit and find healing inthe great outdoors.
This is Hometown Hero Outdoors.
Welcome to the Hometown HeroOutdoors Podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Here is your host, chris Tatro.
Welcome back to all ourlisteners out there.
With the Hometown Hero Outdoorspodcast, I am here today with
John Sewell.
John Sewell is the ranchmanager down at Harris Ranch.
(01:16):
We've had a partnership withJohn over the past, going on
three years.
Now John is down in Uvalde andI know I'm going to catch heat
for saying it incorrectlybecause of my Minnesota twang.
You said Down at the ranch.
Down there is right on theborder of Mexico and John just
want to introduce yourself tothe listeners, let everyone know
who you are and where you'relocated.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Good, yeah, I really appreciate you all having me on.
You know we're way down here.
You know close to the border,about 35 miles, I guess, as a
crow flies, but in between SanAntonio and Del Rio, basically,
and we're in the brush countryand and we're a deer hunting
operation, a ranching operation,and you know I got involved
(02:02):
with with you guys just throughhappenstance, and you know we've
been off to the races for threeyears and we want to keep
moving on.
Obviously, I'm in the deerraising business.
I love big deer, I love freerange white tails and I have a
lot of deer that need to beharvested each year and that's
(02:25):
why I've chosen to take yourguys in the field, try to make a
difference in their lives.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
That's awesome.
Yeah, no, thank you foreverything you do for our
members and working with theorganization and really
connecting with us.
Um, you know, I I hear nothingbut good things from everyone
that goes to the ranch and Iknow some people get jealous and
want to go back quite a bit,but you guys are sitting on how
many acres down there?
Speaker 3 (02:48):
around 17,000, a little bit plus or minus more
than that, but, um, you know,it's all, it's all, uh, brush
country and and it's justwhitetail country.
Uh, I was born and raised inFlorida, so my dream was always
South Texas.
And here I am.
I've been here 29 years, socelebrating a long, a long haul
(03:10):
here and just been very, veryfortunate to be on a great
direction, to grow big, fairchase, low fence, white tails.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
That's awesome.
So yeah, let's start there then.
So you grew up in Florida.
What did your upbringing looklike as a youth, and then
getting into adulthood andmoving to Texas?
Put us on that journey.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Yeah, we, we got to have a whole nother show for
that.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Well, maybe we can do that.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
Yeah, I was very I was, you know, just been very
blessed all my life.
I feel like I was dealt a verygood hand, even though I had
some, you know, divorce in myfamily, as everybody else does,
and separated parents and all ofthat.
I was adopted to start with.
So, you know, I was adopted ata young age into a family, you
(03:57):
know, and I can't say enoughabout how fortunate I am to have
been chosen by them, and myparents were working class
people and we always my dadhunted and fished and so that
led me to loving it and so allthe years of growing up with him
taking me and then, of course,getting old enough to take
(04:18):
myself, I made some connectionsyounger in life and a job that
one of the gentlemen I workedfor, his family, owned this
ranch.
So I was invited to come outhere when I was a young kid, at
12 or 13 years old, and I justhad a burning desire every year
to want to come back.
(04:39):
Well, when something happened inhis family and some things
changed and deaths in the family, according to you know, people
that could or couldn't be hereto run it, and so on and so
forth I was asked would I beinterested in taking the helm
and of course I was very, youknow, happy to do that.
(05:00):
So I got the opportunity to comeback and start piddling with it
a little bit here and there andfinally got an opportunity to
to basically sell out thebusinesses that I had in Florida
and move out here and take over.
Maybe it wasn't the best movefinancially but it was the
(05:21):
absolute best move for me in mylife and I have a daughter that
grew up here and she loves thislife as well.
You know I have.
I just can't even say enough ofhow fortunate I am and you know
that brings us to the nextlevel of how unbelievably
(05:42):
fortunate to take, to take thislife and be able to share it
with others, especially thosewho have issues and have
troubled paths, that that thatcan't seem to get.
Get by that stuff, you know.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Yeah, so you already had some sense of business.
It sounds like you said you hadto sell.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Yeah, sense of business.
It sounds like you said you hada self-improvement.
Yeah, I was in the treerelocation business in central
florida for quite some time andI did a lot of work at disney
and universal and I did lots ofwork in the in the tree industry
and in florida and all thesoutheast as far as that goes.
So, yeah, I mean I was savvy inbusiness, but it's not so much
business savvy savviness youneed to to learn how to run a
ranch.
(06:27):
I did not have that background.
I did not.
I did not have any kind offormal schooling, past high
school school of hard knocks.
I got a lot of that coming outhere and taking what I had in
all the years of my life in thepast, bringing it here and
(06:48):
instrumenting a lot of thingsthat were new to me and trying
to understand what it was goingto take to not only be a manager
of deer but a manager of landand stewardship and conservation
, and so you know that that'sbeen a, that's been my goal and
(07:09):
I always say if you take care ofthe land, it will absolutely
take care of you.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Yeah, no, and you chased your dream.
Really, you know you've beengoing there for so long and
moved away from other businessesand, like you said, financially
was it the most responsiblething?
No, but you know, truly, I meanwith you.
You took a leap, you took aleap of faith and you've enjoyed
your life and your decisionever since.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
Yeah, I mean, I would just say that there's no one
that has has been as fortunateas I have.
And again, I say all the time,I don't know how I got, I don't
even know how I got here, butyou know a leap of faith.
You said it, and so here we are.
And you know a leap of faith,you said it and so here we are.
And you know I was, I waslearning how to run ranches and
(07:50):
you know stuff aboutconservation and stewardship and
water, which is so importantout here, and I had some people
come out to visit me after I'vebeen here.
I think it was a year, was 2017then and uh, you, uh, you know,
uh talked about some award, aLone Star Stewardship Award.
I never even heard of, um, andthese people were like you know,
(08:12):
you're doing everything that wepreach to everyone and you
don't even have any idea how yougot here.
And I'm like, no, it was pretty, pretty funny.
But anyway, I was chosen forthe Lone Star Stewardship Award
in 2017.
So that's an award given by theTexas Parks and Wildlife for
the best managed ranch in Zone 8, which is probably 40 or 50
(08:37):
million acres of South Texas andyou know, there's probably less
than 300 of us that have everbeen chosen, so very, very
humbling period that validatedeverything that I was doing, for
not only you know the future,but cleaning up what was done
(08:58):
wrong in the past and being ableto take land conservation to
the next level.
And being able to take landconservation to the next level.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
And you said I mean, that's a huge testament to your
dedication to the ranch and thethings you did there.
You know you talked about nothaving any quote unquote formal
education with conservation andland management, though, so
those are the things that youwould say you've learned
throughout what you call hardknocks.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
Yeah, absolutely.
I took everything thateverybody would tell me and you
know, read about it or look atthings that somebody would say
and instrument it into mysituation, and if it worked out
well for me, I would say youknow, hey, they were right.
And if it didn't work out forme, I would try to tweak it a
little bit to make it, to makeit what they're trying to tell
(09:47):
me.
And so so, taking what was toldand being able to twist it a
little bit or do it a littledifferent, uh, for my situation,
uh really paid off and, and youknow, again.
I I never even dreamed I wouldbe in that position to get that
award so very humbly that'sfantastic.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
No, congratulations on that and hopefully you get it
again another time.
But uh, about, about the deerand the conservation that you do
have there.
I know you have 17,000 ishacres, you said you know, and is
it fenced completely?
Speaker 3 (10:21):
no, it's not completely fenced, so we do have
some bad neighbors that we haveto keep out.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
But you know we have miles of still low fence also,
all the deer can move in and out, so obviously you're not
bringing in genetically modifieddeer.
Essentially it's all free range, natural yeah, it's all free
range.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
I did um, I did some some of a program that texas
parks and wildlife offered toeverybody in the state which is
called triple t, and triple tstands for trap, tag and
transfer.
So you can go to uh before cwd.
But you could go to a rancherthat you knew had really high
(11:02):
quality South Texas deer and hehad been managing for quite some
time, and you could ask him hey, if you've got 100 does to
harvest this year, would you beinterested in giving me 50?
And he would say, sure, you canhave them, they're not allowed
to sell them.
And then you have to hire ahelicopter service and a crew
(11:25):
and you would go down andcapture them with a net gun and
a helicopter and then you wouldrelocate them back up here to
your place.
And so that brought I did thatfor five years and that brought
hybrid vigor.
They were all wild deer from thewild but I wanted hybrid vigor
and I would like to change up mygenetics and that was a program
(11:47):
that was offered to everyoneand I did that for five years
and that was really a kickstartto a change for me.
You know, I was feeding protein, I was feeding cottonseed, I
was doing all the things that Iwas supposed to do and we were
killing some big deer, some 170plus inch deer, but they were
(12:07):
infrequent and I know that's aninfrequent animal.
It's just the odds of killing170 inch deer in fair chase is.
I don't even know where it istoday, but there's nearly 6
million deer harvested in theUnited States each year and I
don't know how many of them aretruly 170 class deer in low
(12:27):
fence.
So that changed my directionand then I kind of get to a
plateau in the whole situationand felt like you know, there's
got to be something I'm missing.
Why am I not getting bigger andbetter?
Some of these deer that I'vebrought in should have better
(12:49):
genetics, should have helped mein the long run and the hybrid
vigor.
So I started working on somefeed options and thinking what
was going to make our situationbetter and quality of feed and
so on and so forth.
And quality of feed and so onand so forth.
And I got with a guy, HunterBarrett, and Hunter was also
(13:10):
looking for a new outlet tostart a business and so on and
so forth.
So he started working with hisfamily, which were cattle feeder
.
His family were cow guys, theyfed cattle, His family were cow
guys, they fed cattle.
And they started working onimplementing a fortification for
(13:30):
cottonseed, basically putting amineral and a vitamin pack on
cottonseed, just the same stuffthat they put in deer pellets.
So we changed it up a littlebit and put chelated form
minerals in there which areabout 30% more digestible and
utilizable in a whitetail deerand cattle and anything.
(13:52):
So we started that about sevenor seven and a half years ago or
eight years ago and, uh, youknow I just took a lot of time
in trying it in a control tomake sure it was going to be
what I wanted it to be, and Iwas just blown away at the
quality of change.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
That much just from the feed.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
Yeah, absolutely it has changed Three years ago.
This is my seventh year on 365days of free choice feed and
it's all fortified cotton seed Ifeed, nothing else.
Um, you know we do put out cornand that's bait.
It's not feed Um and.
(14:37):
And so, with that being said,365 days of this feed has 165
days of this feed has not onlychanged our antler quality, it's
changed our fawn recruitment.
We have a super high fawnrecruitment.
Our survivability of our fawnsare through the roof.
Our conception rate isincredibly high.
(14:59):
Lots of does almost all maturedoes have two fawns and a lot
have three.
It's just crazy what thatchange has brought in the last
seven years.
And so you know we're killingseveral deer in the last few
years, over 200 inches.
Speaker 4 (15:19):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
And that's just kind of unheard of in our country
when I say our country, thisnorthern end of the South Texas
zone.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
Those are some massive deer and so over time
you know you're talking aboutusing the cotton feed and then
also having the former.
You know you have corn.
You said too Do you see theirhabits or their feeding habits?
Do they vary between thedifferent types of feed that
give them between the corn orthe cotton seed?
(15:51):
Do they prefer one over theother different types of feed
that give them between the?
Speaker 3 (15:55):
corn or the, the cottonseed.
Do they prefer one over theother?
Well, you know, we keepcottonseed at every place.
We feed corn and we keepcottonseed at every place we
have water.
Um, I'm going to tell you adeer at this point in the game
our deer prefer cottonseed.
Um, cottonseed is an incrediblesource of fat.
Very, very high fat content 17to 20%.
(16:16):
Well, why is fat so important?
For a couple of reasons.
A couple of reasons are one itis what's needed for a doe to
produce high quality fat milkfor their yearlings or their
fawns.
Secondly, a deer, a cow, anyungulate will limit on fat.
(16:37):
So when I say limit, they won'teat themselves into oblivion
because the fat makes them stopIn cattle feeds.
They put salt in feeds to stoptheir amount, to stop how much
they eat, based on a saltcontent.
So we want deer to eat all theywant to eat and we want them to
get all the fat they can get andwe want that fat to be
(17:01):
available for those bucks,especially going into the rut
and coming out of the rut.
Anybody who hunts deer andunderstands deer harvest knows
what their deer look like priorto the rut and they know what
they look like after the rut andthey're very, very poor
compared to what they look likein September versus February.
(17:24):
So turning those deer aroundwith fat is ultimately the
biggest part of what I'velearned about this feed is those
deer do not get to a point ofno return.
You know, most of your deathsin whitetail deer are
post-season rut caused by beingvery weak and potentially having
(17:49):
bad weather because of a veryhard rut of fighting, so on and
so forth.
So this has taken deer thatpeople would say, oh, you know,
you better harvest them by sixand a half because they're going
to be run out and they're goingto be poor and they're not
going to be able to recover.
We're not harvesting our trophydeer till 10 plus wow yeah, so
(18:13):
it's.
It's taken a whole different uhavenue from what we learned.
One we always learned oh, youfeed protein or you feed
supplemental feed from afterdeer season to right before deer
season and you stop.
I think that's the biggestmistake anybody's making.
Those deer do not want to stopeating that protein or that
(18:36):
supplemental feed until the rutis on, so we've taken them off.
In October Our fawns are 70days old or 75 days old at the
most, and we've taken them off.
And then potentially, if we'reharvesting does we're harvesting
does early in the season thatare leaving orphan fawns behind
(18:57):
and those fawns don't have achoice.
If you're feeding out of tubefeeders that are elevated and a
little difficult, the fawn can'treach that, so he has to
supplement.
Now his mother's gone.
You've been supplementing themwhole family because she was
getting supplementation and thenthe fawn was getting good
nursing and then you cut it alloff and everybody kind of goes
(19:19):
into a tailspin.
Um, you know, gut health, Ithink.
I think humans are starting tofigure out gut health is
absolutely important and youknow, we've been battling gut
health with with animals foreverand if you can keep a roller
coaster out of their life, keepthem from going up being good
(19:40):
and down being bad all the timeby changing their diet and
taking them off of feed andputting them on feed um the.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
The whole picture is better in the long run yes,
that's a lot of time andobservation and research, I'm
assuming, to figure all that outyeah, that's what we call the
school of hard knocks.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
I've made all the bad mistakes.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
That cost a lot hey, that's where we learn the best
making the mistakes, and thenyou try not to do it again.
So how much, how much feed orcotton seed do you guys go
through in a year?
Speaker 3 (20:13):
I don't even want to say, but about 350 tons.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Wow, that's amazing.
And then does it come fromsomeone else in Texas.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
Yeah, hunter Barrett at Fortified Cotton Seed in
Plainview, texas, north Texas,about seven hours from here, has
a facility up there.
A lot of cotton is grown inthat area, so that's just a
great place to have a facility.
But, um, you know, I would liketo think that we could get
something moving a little bitfurther to the south so we could
(20:41):
cut down on freight and all ofthe things that go along with
that.
But you know, we're moving itas far east as, uh, as georgia
and florida, and so on and soforth, so it's catching on.
Um, we reinvented the wheel.
I really feel that.
And, uh, I'm going to tell youI'll never go back to feeding
any kind of pellet orsupplemental feed other than
(21:03):
cottonseed.
It's a single feed.
Um, very, very few pigs eat it.
Uh, raccoons don't eat it,bears don't eat it, uh, turkeys
don't eat it.
So, and you just pour it out onthe ground.
Basically, you can put it in abasket if you want.
You can put it in a troughthat's covered so you can keep
moisture off of it.
You can pour it on the ground.
(21:24):
They prefer it on the ground.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
So, uh, very easy to feed you know, and you got 17
000 acres, you know, with amassive deer population.
If you were to estimate howmany deer you probably have on
that property, take a wild guesshow many are there?
Speaker 3 (21:39):
Right now around 2,300.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
That's a lot of deer.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
That's a lot of deer.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Too many.
It's a full-time job, justmaintaining a number.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
How many do you typically harvest a year?
Speaker 3 (21:58):
harvest a year.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
We're always pushing for 500 or in that 500 uh range
about equal bucks versus does250 and 250.
It's a lot of deer too, I mean.
But though you talked aboutyour, your reproduction with the
deer and that they are verysuccessful with each uh, each
mating season and having thebirthing of, you said two
yearlings per deer usually.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
Yeah, I mean, I have a little area here that I
frequent along the main road andthere's three does on the main
road that have raised three thisyear and they all look great
and the doe looks great.
So you know, it kind of comeswith a double-edged sword we
can't keep up with therecruitment because we just
(22:37):
can't harvest the numbers.
So, you know, that brings us towhat I felt like I wanted to do
for I wanted to do for for youguys is I wanted to find
somebody who had some peoplethat wanted to enjoy the
outdoors and, uh, I wanted tohelp.
I wanted to help people whodon't have the opportunity that
(23:00):
I have, and uh, so I reached outto some people and they asked
me a couple questions.
And you know, before I know it,I'm in touch with chris and I
mean, I'm in touch with sean,who was in touch with you.
And here we are.
You know we're starting, orturning over, hopefully, a new
(23:22):
leaf, moving forward the lastthree years and to make a
long-term commitment andrelationship with you guys to
get more people in the field tohelp me harvest these animals.
You know, it doesn't doesn'thave to be a trophy buck and it
doesn't, it doesn't have to be amonster buck for these guys
(23:46):
that that are coming out.
It has a lot more to do withthe harvest of the hunt.
And you know, I have just been,I guess, blown away from what I
didn't know about what we'redoing here and what it has meant
not only to us but to thepeople who are coming.
(24:09):
You know, they have not onlythe utmost appreciation for what
we're doing, but they needoutside help.
They need people that aregrounded, like us, that sit
around the dinner table alltogether at night, that that
(24:30):
that talk about real life thingsthat we deal with every day,
that talk about real life thingsthat we deal with every day.
And for myself, I'm not anex-military, I'm not an ex-law
enforcement, and so it reallydrives home what I did not know.
(24:54):
And every time we do a hunt.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
It just digs a little deeper into what your being is
and why you're here.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
You know, generally speaking, us who have not been
there are not doing enough.
And I hate to say that I hateto throw everybody in that bus,
but I damn sure wasn't doingenough.
And I hate to say that I hateto throw everybody in that bus,
but I damn sure wasn't doingenough.
And now it just makes you wantto do more.
(25:26):
And wanting to do more is easyto take people hunting, but it's
hard to afford it when you'retrying to give it away.
So you know, that's why we'rekind of in a, in a, in the
middle road of taking, you know,20, 30, 40 guys a year.
My goal is to take 100 guys ayear.
(25:48):
Can we get there?
I think we can get there.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
You know, yeah, we just need to.
Yeah, the things that theseguys bring to me is you can't
put a price on.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
Hi, this is Phil podcast producer for the
Hometown Hero Outdoors podcast.
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(26:29):
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Speaker 2 (28:17):
That's spotlessdefendercom.
Yeah, I mean, you know, theoutdoors is a place for us to go
and relax and bond together.
You know, and yes, we do a lotof outdoor hunting and fishing
and things like that.
But that's just the vehicle.
It's really about theexperience and the people that
you're with.
It's the peer support, it's theconversations, it's the
camaraderie in the outdoors.
It's really about theexperience and the people that
you're with.
(28:37):
It's the peer support, it's theconversations, it's the
camaraderie in the outdoors.
It's the relaxing and it'shitting that reset button in the
place with like-mindedindividuals who've been through
something same or similar.
But really the world becomes alittle smaller because you feel
a lot of our individuals whohave served feel like they're a
bit on an island.
But once you get everyonetogether in the same room or you
(29:00):
sit with someone in a blind,like down at harris ranch, and
there's other individuals there,you can really talk about the
experiences you've had andreally focus on all these things
in a very peaceful place.
You know, the hunt is anexperience in itself which is
phenomenal, but there's a lot ofin between that happens there
too, and I know that you guyshave shared a lot of tears with
people down there you knowbetween yourself, john uh jim,
(29:22):
who's there helping, as well assean and other field staff that
we go have assist at harrisranch.
We know that people share a lotof tears in those blinds kind
of navigating a lot of themental things that they've been
weighing on them for a while.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
Yeah, I mean, I say it every, every hunt, you know
when we get done.
I'm like how many grown, howmany grown men cried this week.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
Right.
Speaker 3 (29:49):
You know and and nobody can say it wasn't me.
You know, nobody can say thatit wasn't me Because everybody,
everybody sheds a tear.
I mean, you can't help but to.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
Right.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
And so you know that again is what has been such a
driving force for me to want todo more and help as much as I
can.
And hey, these guys got ournumbers.
We tell them that gate's alwaysopen.
You ever have a snack 24 hoursa day.
(30:22):
You get ahold of us, we'regrounded, we move on to the next
job.
Jim, of course he's been there.
He's been in Vortac, he's beenin law enforcement, he's been in
the army.
He's been in law enforcement,he's been in the army.
He's been there.
I have not.
So Jim, ultimately, can bondwith them way better than I can,
because he knows what they'retalking about.
Myself, you know, I'm justtrying to shed light on my real
(30:48):
world, all the things I canbring to the table for them,
whether it's something they'reasking about or some question
about something that maybe Ihave some help.
But you know, the bottom lineis is nobody leaves here with a
handshake, everybody leaves herewith a hug.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
I love it.
Speaker 3 (31:07):
It's amazing to me.
We're all grown men, you know.
I mean we're like a bunch oflittle old kids.
When we get here and we bond,everybody leaves here.
It's a whole.
You know, grab and bustsomebody on the back, because
you're not just going to shakesomebody's hand.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
That's fantastic.
Yeah, I hear a lot of peoplethat I think this last go around
, when you guys had a bunch ofour members out, there was about
a thousand applicants that putin for that week that you hosted
people at.
So the word's out and they knowwhat's happening there and they
know what you guys are goingthrough and helping with and I
think people are really excitedto get down there and assist
(31:45):
with that.
But one of the things that youalso brought up is you know
you're you're doing 20, 30, 40people a year and you really
want to do a hundred a year andthat's something we communicated
at our gala when you were uphere.
Also, with a couple other videoswe put out really talking about
the mental health side ofthings and how some assistance
from the general public would beabsolutely phenomenal to help
(32:05):
us to get more people there,because we know it's changing
lives.
You know I talked to jim notlong ago and he's talking about
just how much.
You know he said that he'stired, but it's not that he's
tired from all the physical work.
It's really helping take on alot of these feelings and
working with individuals throughwhat they're experiencing,
which isn't a bad thing.
(32:26):
You know, we're here to helpand that's what happens.
You know it can be a mentallyexhausting too not in a bad way,
but in a good way and I reallydo think that you guys are
changing lives down there.
I really do.
Speaker 3 (32:37):
Yeah, it's been.
You know, I mean just thestories we've heard from a
couple of years.
We've done it.
I mean people, like when theyhave a crisis in their life, I
mean we're like we're the nextguy they call.
We're not a week, a week downthe road, I mean they call us,
(32:58):
you know, pretty quick, you know, to tell us they've had a
crisis in their life.
They want to talk about it.
You know that means you'rechanging someone's life, you're
giving them an outlet.
And with that being said again,how do we get a hundred people
here?
Well, I play the jim jim and Iplay the lottery each week.
Or jim does and and says youknow, if we can just win the
lottery, you know we'll have itmade.
(33:19):
And because we'll just give itall back to this, to the
organization to get more peoplein the field, I mean mean that's
our goal, that's what we wantto do.
I'm almost 60 years old.
I've been unbelievably blessedand fortunate and, you know,
sharing this and being able toafford to keep it operating in
the manner that it's operatingand getting more people in the
(33:41):
field.
You know, unfortunately,hunting has become a rich man's
sport and it costs a lot ofmoney to operate and so on and
so forth.
But you know it's not all aboutthat.
If I got to do I told Seanearlier if I got to do 25 or 30
guys a year on my dime, thenthat's what I'm going to do.
(34:02):
I'm going to make a difference.
It's just.
It's just being able to affordit and being able to afford 350
tons of cotton seed a year andthe electric and the fuel and
all the stuff that goes alongwith it.
I mean, everybody knows it's notlike we're poor mouthing, but
we're trying to make adifference, um, and not have to
sell these hunts but to givethem away and, uh, and getting
(34:25):
to that level of where it'sgoing to take to get 100 guys in
the field.
I mean, we have a member thatmakes wooden flags and I told
him when he brought anunbelievable flag down here and
I said my goal is to get theback of that flag signed by
everybody and get 1,000 names onit.
So he brought a pretty big oneand that's our goal on it.
(34:45):
So he brought, he brought apretty big one and that's our
goal.
So we have everybody that'scoming signing the back of that
flag with their branch and theirname and their date, and we
were telling them not to writebig because we want to get a
bunch of people on the back ofthat flag.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Oh, good old Josh Melching, he's a good guy.
Speaker 3 (35:03):
You bet yeah for sure , and you know the connections
that we have made and, hopefully, the changes we made in other
people's life.
Um, you can't put a, you can'tput a cost on it or price.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
So so, yeah, I mean it's just you talked about, you
know the expenses and stuff, butlike you can't, like you said
you can't put a price on that,you know what I mean?
Just, it's just the sheer helpthat is massive and mean just
it's just the sheer help, thatis massive.
And there's a couple people Iwant to send down there at some
point here.
I know they've been through alot on the enforcement side of
things in the recent coupleyears so it'd be good for them
(35:37):
to get down there meet you guysand get to experience the ranch.
But, um, you know we did do afundraiser about two years ago
and that we did sell some huntsfor that for you guys, and that
helped us with some of theexpenses down there.
Um, but down the road I'mlooking to see if there's any
(35:57):
individuals that would like toassist.
Uh, and we are more thangrateful for anything that
people can provide to assistwith other individuals, just
like the organization all, butspecifically harris ranch,
because it is a very uniqueproperty and they're very
special people there that arerunning the harris ranch and
that are giving their own timeand I mean you've had how many
people this last time that wentthrough there, was it?
Speaker 3 (36:19):
you know we had the last two weeks.
We had 12 and um, we're to do12 more.
You know what we found and andI think it was the first year we
did you know up to 50 guys andwe ran them through too fast.
You know, we gave them the huntand we gave them a night here
and we gave them um a day here,but nobody wanted to leave and
(36:43):
and you really just start to getin to a bonding situation on
the second day.
So we made these hunts last alittle longer this year.
It let us take less people, butit gave them more time and that
more time potentially is alifesaver for some of these guys
.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
Found that sweet spot .
Speaker 3 (37:05):
Yeah, no it's good.
I mean, you know, when you havepeople that are here, chris,
and they show up and they huntwith us for a day and a half and
someone mentions that maybesomeone's not going to be able
to make it on the next hunt, andthey say, well, can I just go
stay in uvalde in case theydon't come.
I'll get a hotel and then can Icome back.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
You know.
Speaker 3 (37:27):
You know it's meaning something to those guys, you
know.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
Yeah, no, it's, you know, and a lot of people too.
I mean, you do have probablysome Southern folk that are from
Texas that do come to the ranch, but a lot of us Northerners,
you know, it's a.
It's a different experience forus to come down to Texas and
experience your guys's form ofhunting and deer management and
the ranches.
We're not used to that up here.
It's very, very different andit's very eye-opening.
(37:51):
But it's also gets a little bitof a different sense of hunting
culture, which I'm not used to,you know.
So I love going to texas myself.
You know I used to come down onhog hunt every year for man go
back to 2012 almost, but I'vebeen coming to texas to hunt
with sean at his youth hunt forthe last three years, going on
four, you know.
But it's I just love comingdown there and experiencing it
(38:13):
and just the, the culture andhow everyone respects our, our
law enforcement and our firstresponders and military.
It's just a different world andI think that's an experience in
itself, on top of what you haveto offer.
I think that's why people likeit a lot, especially coming out
of state.
Speaker 3 (38:28):
Yeah, yeah, we got guys that come you know on some
of the hunts from you guys allthe way from North Dakota.
Speaker 2 (38:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (38:35):
You know, that's pretty, that's pretty impressive
to come way down here fromNorth Dakota for a couple of
days, you know.
But shoot man, we love it.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
We love them to come from anywhere, whether it's
close or far.
Speaker 3 (38:55):
We're in bucket list thing to do for a lot of people.
But you guys also do otherhunts on property too.
I think you guys didn't.
You have a couple javelinas?
Yeah, we have javelina.
We have, of course, wild pigs.
Um, um, we have wild turkey.
We don't do any.
You know much turkey hunting inthe fall, but we do in the
spring.
And then of course we havedoves and all those things that
go along with just normaleveryday hunting.
But, um, you know, for the mostpart we're we're focused on
(39:15):
deer and and and we we get somefree range in exotics.
They get in here and, um, youknow, like sean can tell you, I
hunt those things like theplague.
So, um, a'm not a exotic guy.
So we get one, we try to huntthem until we can get them.
Speaker 2 (39:32):
For the exotics.
Speaker 3 (39:34):
Exotics would be axis deer, fallow deer.
You know, right now we haveaudad, we have red deer, we have
axis deer and we have fallowdeer one of each of those
species and they jump in fromthe outside.
They get out of somebody else'splace and they jump in from the
outside and we target them andtry to get rid of them.
Speaker 2 (39:57):
Yeah, yeah, there's exotics all over texas, I think.
I just saw a news report wheresomeone was sitting there, deer
stand and had a tiger walkunderneath it recently oh gosh,
yeah, we don't have any tigersyet no, I don't want any of that
nonsense yeah, no doubt, and doyou guys have any like, uh,
fish ponds on the ranch oranything like that?
Speaker 3 (40:17):
uh, we have some small ponds, but we don't really
stock them or do anything withthem.
They're kind of flood in theriver and they come and go, so
we don't mess with that muchthere are all the turkeys, the
rios yeah, all the rios herethat's cool.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
Yeah, those are hard to come by, especially up here.
Speaker 3 (40:33):
It's all eastern and miriam, so yeah, we don't see a
whole lot of those yeah, youknow, we got got guys that chase
the grand slam and the worldslam and all of that turkey
hunting nonsense.
But um, I've done all that youknow I love, I'm an avid turkey
hunter and yeah so I've killedthe world slam a couple times
and the grand multiple times androyal slam four or five times.
(40:57):
I mean I was.
I was as crazy of a turkeyhunter as there ever was oh, I
love turkey hunting.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
You know, for us there's something about being
cooped up all winter in thenorthland and then all of a
sudden you get the spring to hitand you have a responsive
animal in the woods and sittingout and listen to the.
The woods come back to life andthe birds and just everything's
waking up and having those,those thunder chickens come back
at you.
Speaker 3 (41:22):
So much fun I love it that it's good, Sensory
overload kind of.
Speaker 2 (41:27):
Yeah, I know, I love it.
Speaker 4 (41:29):
I love it.
This one's scary 66% ofAmericans would struggle to pay
for a $1,000 emergency.
We don't keep any money in thesavings accounts, right?
The scary part about that isthat 8 out of 10 of us watching
(41:49):
this right now are going toexperience a $5,000 whoopsie
every 10 years.
Something's going to happen.
Kid's going to break a leg andthere's going to be
out-of-pocket max medical thatyear.
Right, there's going to be ahell, storm or a fire or some
kind of a natural disaster thatcauses us to have to write a big
old check for our deductiblefor the roof replacement or the
car.
Right, something's going tohappen.
And I want you to think back tothe last time you had a
financial emergency.
(42:09):
Was it the event that causedthe stress or was it trying to
figure out how?
Speaker 2 (42:15):
to pay for the event that caused the stress.
Well, very good, yeah, so youknow.
If any individuals want tobecome involved with Harris
Ranch, say you do other hauntsoutside of our organization.
How would individuals go aboutdoing that?
Speaker 3 (42:31):
You know I, I unfortunately do not have a
website.
Um, I don't advertise at allbecause I really don't have a
lot of spots available forothers.
And, um, you know, the best wayis to to just contact me um via
cell phone.
And uh, you know I hate tothrow my number out there to 10
(42:51):
million people, but hey, you'regood.
Once they come hunting, um, youknow, I would, I would certainly
talk to them.
And and again, if you'remilitary or law enforcement and
you want to get out, uh, youneed to follow HHO uh on
Facebook, I believe, and uh, youknow those guys are very good
(43:13):
about getting back to you.
I know Sean fields, a lot ofpeople, vic, josh, you, um, and,
and a lot of people areinterested.
So we want to get people outthere and give them an
opportunity, and we're going totry to do a couple weeks of
hunting in late january, sowe're going to have another
another couple trips availablefantastic, and if there's
(43:37):
anything else that you wouldlike to you know, let our
listeners know about you or anassistance that you're looking
for.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
Would you care to share any words about that?
Speaker 3 (43:45):
well, you know, not much to talk about me.
It's nothing about me.
It's about doing something for,for guys that are struggling.
Um, uh, again, I've been veryfortunate and I've I feel like
I'm, um, I'm done with worryingabout what tomorrow's going to
bring me.
I'm worried about whattomorrow's going to bring these
guys.
So, um, you know, assistancefor me.
(44:08):
No, I don't need any assistance.
I need to figure out how to geta hundred guys a year in the
woods.
So, if anybody has any anyreally good ideas about, I'm not
a marketing guy and I'm not, uh, I'm not a charitable donation
guy.
I'm none of that.
But what I am is a guy that canprovide an outlet for people
who are struggling and, uh, andthere's a lot of that.
Speaker 2 (44:33):
No very good point.
Yeah, there's a lot of peoplestruggling, you know, and we're
just trying to change them, youknow, one day at a time and make
sure they can stay to fightanother day.
That's the biggest thing.
Speaker 3 (44:41):
So you know, you know the thing that you don't see
and you don't really understand.
I never.
When I heard this story of 22people a year I mean a day
committing suicide, ex-military,and the number of people with
PTSD and law enforcement, youknow I never thought that was
(45:03):
real, but it's real.
I see it every time we have ahunt.
But it's real, I see it everytime we have a hunt.
And again, I mean you got abunch of grown men crying all
the time because there's so manystruggles that they don't want
to talk about and finally theygot somebody to talk about it
with and uh, you know, if itdoesn't, I say to everybody if
(45:23):
you don't think it's real, justcome down here and spend a
couple days with us when we'redoing one of these hunts.
And, for you know, there'scorporations that are donating
to lots of causes and justbecause we're a cause doing
hunting and guns and all of thatstuff, we're making a
difference.
So, you know, I challengeanybody that wants to help or
(45:51):
make a difference to to to getahold of you guys so we can get
more guys in the field.
Speaker 2 (45:53):
Absolutely, you know, and to your point too.
You know.
One thing I do at our suicideawareness prevention walk is
have everyone in the crowd raisetheir hand, and this is, you
know, a hundred plus people.
And I tell everyone, you know,raise your hand if you have
anxiety, depression orexperiencing that, before Some
people raise their hands, raiseyour hand.
(46:14):
If you know someone who doeshave those, raise your hand if
you've known someone who's takentheir own life.
You know, by the time I'm doneasking these questions, look
around and almost everyone hastheir hands raised, you know,
and it shows that you're notthat far removed, even though
you might think you are from allof the mental health hurdles
that people in our professionsgo through Not just our
(46:35):
professions, though, in societyin general but on top of that,
it just hits home a littlecloser when it might be someone
that you know.
You know, I just had thisconversation with someone
recently.
We just lost another soldier, a, here in minnesota two days ago
.
Uh, due to suicide, um, due tosome of the mental health that
(46:56):
they've experienced and thethings that they went through,
and it's just, I hear about itway too much and it's got to
stop, or at least we got to trya little harder every day.
And that's what you guys arehelping do down there and I
appreciate everything that youguys are doing.
Your assistance is greatlyappreciated.
Uh, we're doing everything wecan at the organization to help
get that goal of a hundredpeople for every year and we're
(47:18):
looking for assistance fromother individuals who would like
to be a part of that and we'replease reach out to us at the
organization or John SeanOldsberg I got to give him a big
shout out.
You know he's been a very keyelement with the organization
and being at Harris Ranch, hespent a lot of time with John
and Jim there, plus our members,helping them do everything that
they do in the field.
Speaker 3 (47:41):
Yeah, I mean it's a great organization.
It's a great organization.
I obviously reached out becauseI was looking for a
organization that was not heavyin the cost of operation.
I was looking for anorganization that had people
that were volunteering theirtime to do for others instead of
(48:01):
getting paid to do for others.
And you know, and that's whereyou guys are.
And you know, and that's whereyou guys are, and that means a
lot to people like myself whofeel like if we're giving the
time and the effort and offeringthe hunts that are going to
people who really need them, andthere's somebody else not
skimming half of the half of thedollars off or or doing
(48:22):
something otherwise.
You know you guys are allworking people.
We got people taking weeks offof their scheduled work days to
come out here and help.
I mean, you know, what more doyou want?
What kind of what moreoperation do you want?
They're not heavy at the top.
We're getting just about everydollar that we take in goes to
(48:43):
helping somebody.
I mean that's a, that's a bigshout to where you guys are
headed and we just need to do itas a team and again.
I mean it's, it's.
I don't.
I don't need any appreciation,I don't need anybody to pull my
chain.
I just need a way to get theseguys in the field, and it's
going to take a team, and it'snot just me by myself.
Speaker 2 (49:07):
Amen, amen, no, I, I hear you.
It's all about the volunteersand the people around us, and
those are helping us stand andwe help them stand back, and
very good point, you know.
And one thing I just hadanother podcast not long ago
where I talked about, you knowit's it's about being able to
share the resources and theexperiences that we have to help
others, and that's what youguys are doing.
(49:28):
You know you're sharing thatand that's what's going to help.
So is there anything else thatyou'd like to add before we get
going here, john?
Speaker 3 (49:37):
Well, we can talk all day about it, we can talk all
day about deer, we can talk allday about that stuff, but you
know, again, it's not about whatI do.
Um, just because I have theoutlet, uh, I feel like what I
do.
Um, just because I have theoutlet, uh, I feel like I feel
like it's what we have to do asthose who have not been in the
armed services or have not beena law enforcement officer, or
(49:58):
who've not been a firstresponder, um, you know, uh, I'm
just, I'm just basically got myhat in my hand going.
Anybody got a really good ideaof how we can make this happen,
to get a hundred people in thewoods, get a hold of somebody
and let's get it done?
Speaker 2 (50:16):
Absolutely.
You know, and we do have acouple of videos on our YouTube
and social media channels withHarris Ranch.
We have one specifically withJohn talking about the ranch
itself and his experiences,similar to the things that we've
talked about over the podcast.
But then we have another onethat we do talk to some of the
members and they do talk abouttheir experience at the ranch
and the things that they'veencountered, and I encourage you
to head over to youtube andcheck those out the harris ranch
(50:38):
videos, uh and really get adeep dive into what some of
these people are experiencing.
I believe we have one memberwho talks about how he hasn't
hunted for a while, um to thefact that his brother took his
own life in their hunting spot,which is a pretty drastic thing,
and then all of a sudden he'sat the Harris Ranch and he
begins that healing process alittle further.
(50:59):
But for our listeners, I justwant to say thank you for tuning
in today.
Thank you, john, for being here.
I appreciate everything youguys are doing down in Texas.
I hope to come see you soon andbe able to help some members
down there as well.
Big shout out to Jim and Seanas well for helping out the
ranch.
But for the listeners, if youwant to get more involved with
Hometown Hero Outdoors or HarrisRanch specifically, please
(51:21):
reach out to our email, which isinfo at hometownherooutdoorsorg
.
Again, that's info athometownherooutdoorsorg.
And then for other listenerstoo.
You know we are not mentalhealth professionals by any
means.
However, we are a peer supportgroup of individuals across the
country who want to assist youin the outdoor experiences and
(51:41):
help your mental health.
If you're feeling like you'redown or you're having a dark day
, you can reach out to us at anytime.
You can either do that throughsocial media, our phone number
on our website, or you can reachout to one of our field staff
in the community group.
We have applied suicideintervention skills training
that we use and that is a toolin our belt to help you through
that crisis.
We will find you additionalhelp after that if it's needed,
(52:03):
but other than that, you cancall 988 or text 988, which is
the crisis line, if you do needadditional assistance.
So please stay here to help ushelp you another day and get you
out in the woods or on thewater.
So thank you to our listenersfor being here today and thank
you to Harris Ranch one moretime and we will see you again
next week on the Hometown HeroOutdoors podcast.
Speaker 1 (52:24):
Thank you, the Hometown Hero Outdoors podcast
is made possible by thefollowing sponsors O'Neill
Electric Contractors.
The Minnesota Police and PeaceOfficers Association.
Relentless Defender, appareland Financial Cop Financial
Advisors.
Thank you for listening to theHometown Hero Outdoors podcast.
(52:48):
For more information, visit ourwebsite at
hometownherooutdoorsorg.
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