Wesley Woodyard: Bear Dogs, Deer Dogs, & Virginia Elk

Wesley Woodyard is the definition of a mountain man, a houndsman, and a true outdoorsman. Hosts Bryce Matthews & Steven Basham were glad to have Wes join them on this weeks podcast to discuss his pack of bear dogs, his deer tracking dog, and his once in a lifetime elk harvest. Join the Semper Doggin crew as they branch out from the coonhunting world this week and dive into a new realm!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Canines are our passion.

(00:10):
They are our addiction.
They are our way of life right down to the very core and without them we would be lost.
The canines of this world really are something to behold.
They assist us at work, they accompany us at home, and they perform for us in the field.
No matter where we go, they are by our side.

(00:32):
Canines really are a ride or die, and for that we are grateful.
This podcast will showcase working canines of various breeds and disciplines as we search
for those canines and their handlers who are always striving to be the best at what they
do.
Those who are always grinding.
Those who are always pushing the limits.

(00:52):
Those who are always dogging.
Join us on our adventures as it is sure to be a wild ride.
I'm your host, Bryce Matthews.
And I'm your co-host, Stephen Basham.
And this, this is Simper Doggin.
Welcome, welcome, welcome to another episode of the Simper Doggin podcast guys.

(01:20):
I am your host, Bryce Matthews, and tonight we are joined by Mr. Stephen Basham, hailing
out of southern Indiana.
How are you brother?
I'm doing good.
How about yourself bud?
Cannot complain.
Trying to stay warm.
We've had a busy, busy week.
We've had very bitter cold temperatures.
And yeah, just trying to chill in the house tonight and stay warm.

(01:40):
It's kind of nice.
I think it's all of us.
I mean, I know, I know when you hear Indiana you think of Northern, but we're not used,
we're not used to these cold temperatures.
Man, it's been rough.
And man, you had that deal last time we were on here and your whole house was frozen.
You were trying to power your house off your truck and goodness gracious, you get all that

(02:01):
under wraps.
Got our under wraps.
They finally got us power back.
So we're, we're doing good.
And the guy that's joining us tonight, guys, he seems like he got his power back on too.
How's it going, Wesley?
It's going great guys.
Good to, good to see both you two again.
Yeah, absolutely guys.
So tonight we are joined by Mr. Wesley Woodyard out of Virginia and Wesley is a, he's a bear

(02:27):
hunting buddy of ours.
He hunts down there with the famous Heath Hyatt and that crew down there running the
black bears all across the Virginia mountains.
And Wesley has been a good friend of mine for several years.
And I always joke with him.
The only time I ever see him is at the base of a bear tree.
And unfortunately I didn't get to do that this year.
So I didn't get to go down there.
So I missed it.
But we're going to recap his bear season this year.

(02:48):
We're going to talk a couple of things on this podcast.
We're going to recap the bear season, kind of see how things went down there in Virginia.
And then this year, Wesley, he decided to get into some deer tracking with a German
shorthaired pointer.
So first time handler doing the deer tracking, we had a novice dog he raised up from a puppy
and we're kind of going to walk through those steps and see what that process looked like
and, and maybe some takeaways, some do's, some don'ts for anybody who might be interested

(03:12):
in those things.
We're going to get away from the coon hunt a little bit tonight and I'm excited to dive
into something different.
What do you say, Basham?
Oh, definitely.
It's always nice to kind of step outside the box.
I mean, you talked about it in our last, in our last podcast about, you know, getting
back out to the other avenues of the dog world versus just coon hunting.

(03:35):
You know, we get caught up in the trap of doing what, you know, talking about what we
love and, you know, we forget to kind of venture out a little bit.
So, you know, here we are trying to venture out and see what, see what else we can come
up with.
Yeah, absolutely.
So Wesley, we are, we know all about you, but a lot of our listeners probably don't.
Why don't you give us a little background on who you are, where you're from and kind

(03:57):
of how you got into the hound hunting world and, and just, let's just hear a little bit
more about, about Mr. Wesley Woodard.
Sure.
Yeah.
I don't have a whole lot to say, Bryce, to be honest.
Wesley Woodard from there, Virginia.
I got into bear hunting, I guess about eight years ago.
I owned dogs about eight years ago, seven, eight years ago.
I'd hunted with Heath back in 2003 to four, it's kind of where it all started for me with

(04:21):
the hounds.
I never owned a dog.
I just went with him, you know.
But since then, you know, I've had the opportunity to raise some dogs and get some dogs going
and I found a new love for that.
You know, I know you guys talked about predominantly a coon hunting podcast, but I'm kind of excited

(04:43):
that you reached out, you know, talk about something different.
Absolutely.
We're pretty pumped too.
That's a little bit of a jab.
It kind of was.
Yeah.
So, so here, you know, I, you know, we'll try to start the dogs, the pups on some coons
and you know, tree game, but it's just not, it's not my thing.

(05:05):
I don't get excited like you guys do.
And you know, it's a different way for me and different way for you.
And I respect both.
No, absolutely.
So you know, you, you said you've been hunting with Heath for years before you got your own
dogs and, and you've been ever since I've known you, I mean, you always had a pack of
dogs and, and running around and, and what I've learned through watching you is that

(05:26):
you and you can correct me if I'm wrong, but you have picked up a ton along the way just
by sitting back and being an observer.
That's one thing I've kind of learned about Wesley is he's an observer and able to go
back and take bits and pieces of each hunt and build off those and try and build your
pack.
And I really appreciate like just being able to see that from an outsider.
Yeah, you know, it's all kind of came from the foundation of it.

(05:49):
And you know, like I said, I knew what nice dogs were back, back in 2003, 2004, and even
before that, you know, you never saw a bear here to tree two or three a year was, you
know, that, that was, that was really good.
You know, now we're in the forties, you know, in a month.
But you know, I'm still, I'm nowhere, absolutely nowhere near where I want to be with, with

(06:11):
my pack.
I'm actually pretty disappointed in the dogs that I ran this year.
And you know, we just had a tough season in general here in Virginia.
Yeah, let's, let's talk about it because when Basham and I went down there, you know,
Basham got to come in the one year, I think I've been in there four or five times now,
but it's been pretty action packed.
I mean, we're on bears most days.

(06:31):
There's not too many days where you're just riding around your rigging or your busting
brush and you don't get nothing stirred up.
But I heard through the grapevine that this year was a little bit tougher.
Why don't you talk to us a little bit more about what kind of made this season tougher?
Was it food?
Was it temperatures?
Was it, was it natural?
What was it?
What do you think caused this year to be a little bit rougher bear season?

(06:53):
No, I mean, it was absolutely a combination of things, Bryce.
I mean, see, you start with the crop, the acorn crop for us here in the particular area
that we hunt.
It just, it was almost non-existent after, after the first few months.
We had that storm come through and it blew almost everything out of the trees.
And then you can go into the temperatures, you know, the first, the first two weeks of

(07:15):
bear season that we had, I mean, we were, we were probably somewhere in the 15, 20 degrees
and snow.
I think a lot of the bears, you know, they, I think they laid up, you know, and not to
mention that I think the numbers, you know, just the numbers in general this year are
down of the available bear to run, you know, on top of everything else.

(07:37):
It just, it was a, not a good year for us.
Yeah.
So go ahead, Basham.
I said, so you think that, you know, over the last few years, you think has there been
an influx in bear hunters in your area?
I can't really say that.
I mean, it's typically the same three or four groups and, you know, we all tend to stay

(07:57):
our area, you know, come, come the harvest season.
The mass is really a big thing that absolutely hurt us this year.
So behind my house, I had a lot of acres across the mountain where we typically hunt, which
is literally two miles in a straight line.
There was nothing.
So, you know, I had a lot of bear on game cam here behind the house, but you know, it's,

(08:18):
it's private land and we can't run those.
It'll get to a whole other issue with, with the private land and the bear and, you know,
they're going to go with the food or they're going to go where people are feeding.
And, you know, and people say, you know, I've seen so many bear this year, it's unreal.
And, you know, there's a reason for that.
Likely because you're in the food or because you're feeding.

(08:39):
Yeah.
And, you know, one thing that I've like really appreciated about your guys's group going
down there is you guys are, you guys are hunting public ground.
You know, you're not hunting private ground where you've got bait piles out and everything.
You guys are going out hunting public ground and, and doing things just all natural.
You know, it is what it is.
The bear there, they're not.
And if they're not, you're going to go do what you can to find them.

(09:02):
You guys are doing your due diligence, going out, scouting the mass crops, trying to see
where the acres that where the foods that trying to see where the bears have been hanging
out.
You're talking to deer hunters in the early season.
You guys are really doing a good job scouting and trying to figure out where things are
at.
Like how much effort goes into, into the bear season?
Because you know, and explain to the listeners, like what a bear season in Virginia looks

(09:24):
like because it's not like Coon hunting Indiana where it's year round.
Like why don't you tell everybody like the kind of, the kind of season that you guys
can expect in Virginia.
You know, it really just varies.
You know, up until this year, you know, we sort of see a decline in things last year
and you know, and he's talked about it.
We're going to start seeing more of a decline because of the, the Sal Harbor Straits and

(09:45):
the seasons that run here in Virginia.
You know, the three day kill season that we have, there's a lot of sows that get harvested
that shouldn't be even, even during the kill season, you know, there's a lot of sows that
get killed and you know, that really hurts us as bear hunters here.
It's not like a raccoon, you know, they're plentiful.

(10:06):
You kill one sow and you're killing not just one sow.
You figure that every 10 years.
I mean, you're probably killing 20.
That's a problem here.
But you know, this year was a little bit different again, because I think of the food, the temperatures,
the weather, everything had an impact on, on the things that we've done.

(10:27):
You know, we hunt it hard and we hunted the same area that we always typically hunt because
we've taken care of that area for so many years now.
And even if we aren't catching bear, then it's hard to leave that area and maybe another
group will come in and they may catch a bear and they may take that bear.
But it's hard to leave that area knowing that you've taken care of this long and trying

(10:49):
to protect the game that we have and you know, just kind of oversee.
Yeah, I mean, you're just being good stewards of the land.
And another thing that was like I was trying to get across here is, you know, you guys
don't get to hunt 12 months out of the year like we do.
You guys have one or three day kill season early and then you have 30 days, which is

(11:13):
what in September?
Yep.
So we've got a, we've got a two month training season, which is in August, September, which
you know, August is miserable here in Virginia.
It's so hot.
The dogs, you know, they stroke out with all had to happen.
September is a little better.
You know, a lot of those, you know, we rig from the truck.
We don't have to get out bear moving.

(11:34):
You know, they're looking for food and things to do, but after that, you know, things, things
really get tough and come December, you've got to get out and hunt.
Yeah.
And so you've got 30 days to make it happen.
You guys are essentially housing dogs for nine months out of the year.

(11:55):
Well, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Now you're right.
Nine months.
Yeah.
So three months we get the hunt and unless you're a traveling man, you know, Ethan, they
got the opportunity to go to places and they got some friends outside of Virginia.
But you know, we spent thousands, thousands of thousands each year, you know, just, just
for, you know, three months.
That's it.
Man, I'd go batshit crazy.

(12:17):
You know, having the dogs down there, you know, mine, they've been put up for a couple
weeks and I want to go down there and pop them all in the darn head because they just
won't shut up and they get bouncing off the kennel walls.
I'd hate to see, you know, if I was to put them up for four or five months, you know,
how they would react.

(12:39):
That's funny that you say that, you know, we all talk about that and it's like, we'll
come out in the morning.
If it's before daylight, we'll flick a porch light on, you know, everybody knows everybody's
got those dogs, you know, we're going hunting.
So that sound, that door shut, the truck starting, you know, they're raising hell, you know,
and it's like that a lot of times up until they mellow back out, you know, realize that
they're not going anywhere because we just can't.

(13:01):
Yeah.
But I think we've got some some work in progress on that.
Maybe some stuff going on Richmond where we can maybe extend some of our training season
and things.
So maybe it'll work out for the better.
Well, one just kind of backtracking just a hair.
One thing that really stood out to me as a houndsman, as you know, just a nature guy

(13:25):
was whenever I came down and went hunting with you guys was the details, the almost
to the point of if you didn't know, like let's just for the listeners that don't know.
So whenever they run these bears and they go up a tree and, you know, they go in and

(13:47):
they've got them up a tree, these guys will, you know, pack in to the tree.
And if they can't, I know for Heath and his crew, if they can't determine the sex of the
bear and roughly how much that bear weighs, that bears not being taken.
And so the dedication to preserving their animals is second to none, in my opinion.

(14:14):
It is.
It's really important for us.
I think last year we made a mistake on a sal bear.
And you know, really that's that's been about the only one I can think of in a few years.
I don't even know that was last year, maybe the year before.
I think Bryce was actually down.
We treed, I think we were in the 11, 12 range this year and we took three of those bear

(14:39):
and all three of those bear were on the ground.
It's a picture in a walk away for us.
You know, we've come to the common consensus as a group.
If you kill them, you can't run them again.
It's just that simple.
Is that hard for for people to, I guess, let's go with like the general bear hunting population.

(15:03):
Is that something that's hard for people to grasp or is it something that you're seeing
like bear hunters unite and really come together and say, hey, guys, like, let's preserve this
natural resource that we have because it's very valuable to us and something that means
so much to us.
Are you seeing like I'm seeing a big swing, I guess, in the coon hunters to give a comparison.
I'm seeing a big swing in guys not posting stuff on social media that doesn't need to

(15:23):
be posted.
You know, three years ago there was some stuff that gave people a bad rap.
They were, you know, video and everything and posting it and blasting it for the world
to see.
And there were some, there was a few people who like, hey, knock this crap out, you know,
let's knock it off and let's preserve what we have.
Let's be better houndsman.
Let's be better outdoorsman.

(15:45):
And I'm seeing a big change in that.
So are you seeing like a forward momentum in guys, hey, let's protect these bears.
Let's not, let's not take these sows.
Let's, let's run them again and let's preserve what we have.
So to hit on that, you know, I was that guy at one point, you know, when I first started,
you know, I thought, wow, you know, this, this is really cool.
People are going to think it's cool.
And I did post some things that probably should have, you know, those videos belong to the

(16:06):
woods now.
It's nobody's business.
Everybody knows how things go, but it's, you know, the public doesn't need to see it.
If you're in the hound world and you understand, as far as here in this County, I'm a little
pissed off.
You know, there's a particular group that like to kill everything that they catch.
I mean, there's a statement that they feel like they need to make and it's not helping

(16:30):
any of any of us at all.
They're killing sows or killing small bear and it's ridiculous, frankly.
Yeah.
I mean, I, and I agree.
I was guilty of that too.
I, you know, I was, I was, I was posting videos.
I was just like, I was like, I thought that, you know, by posting videos, I was just like
I thought that, you know, by posting this, it made me a better houndsman.
It made me a better coon hunter.
It gave me more credibility only to find out that, Hey, you're on the wrong side of the

(16:53):
track here and we've got to get back on the right side in order to push this train forward.
I think once everything become, you know, a social media thing, you know, before you
could just talk about it, but now everybody, you know, you have anti-hunters and PETA and
things that really want to crack down on, you know, the lifestyle that we love.
I don't think that you should give them fuel for that fire.

(17:14):
I mean, of course we all enjoy it and want to share the stories, but it's just not necessary.
It's for the woods.
Yeah.
The kind of, kind of caveat a little bit is like that video you took.
Oh, hold on.
Technically difficulties.
So one thing that I, another thing that I want to know here is what are you seeing as

(17:36):
far as the main situation?
I heard that there might be a little bit of mange coming through Virginia.
Are you guys seeing any of that where you're at?
And once we get bashing back on here, then he can continue where he was at, but let's
fill in with that right now.
Cause that was something that I was wanting to know about.
So I know as far as, you know, Pennsylvania, they, they had a major issue with it in Northern

(17:56):
Virginia.
They're fighting it here.
You know, honestly, some of the bears that we've saw look a little rough, but it could
be as far as scratching their back on a tree.
As far as a full blown mangy bear here in the area that we hunt, I haven't seen it this
year.
Gotcha.
Bassman, you back?
Yeah, I'm back.

(18:17):
I accidentally kicked my cord out, but where I was getting at was, is I think a lot of
what we were talking about, about posting on social media, I think it's just the excitement
to be honest with you.
It's not really, I don't think Bryce that you do it in a way to say, Hey, look at me
or to volitify your, you know, I'm a houndsman.

(18:41):
I think it's more of, Hey, this is cool.
I enjoy it, man.
All my buddies and we'll enjoy it too.
Kind of like the coyote video that you took, right?
Where they caught, where they caught the coyote in the field and you took a lot of flack for
it because you know, of the nature of it.

(19:03):
Like I said, I don't think it's, I don't think anybody's going into it, posting those
videos saying, Hey, look at me.
I think it's more of you find a common ground with people and you just kind of want to,
you know, the social media world and the world that we live in nowadays, I think everybody
just wants to share, you know, everybody and to a fault, Hey, I want to share this.

(19:27):
I want to share what's going on with my life every second of the day.
And we need to take those points that are positive as houndsman and sharing the good
experiences and bad experiences with that and leave out all of the, uh, all the gory
details of it.
Yeah.
And I agree with that.

(19:47):
And I will say that, you know, I, I do still post because I do feel that it's important
to share with people who are not in the hound world.
I think it's important for people to see that and to see that it is the way of life
for people.
Now, what I, what I have changed over the years, and even with that coyote video, cut
the video off right when the dogs catch coyote, like we're not showing any of the aftermath,

(20:11):
you know, and that there's a picture at the end, the Coons, they're not coming out of
the trees anymore.
You know, I have a tailgate picture.
That's nice.
The bear, we're not showing videos of what's going on on the ground or anything.
You have a nice picture where the bear is displayed properly propped up on a nice rock.
You've got the dogs there.
You got the sunlight, right?
It's, it's given respect to the animals is what it is because I do think it's important

(20:32):
to still share and to still educate, but I think we need to do it in a tactful manner.
I agree.
But you know, in the same sense, you know, they're still, I wouldn't know the number,
but there's still maybe a 30% of folks that, that, you know, are craving that, what you
said, you know, that credibility, that you lock the thought that you needed here.

(20:55):
I absolutely feel that way.
I feel like a particular bunch is look at the seeking credibility because, Hey, I can
catch a bear, I can kill them, but let's, let's blast it all over Facebook.
And you know, little bear, small bear doesn't matter.
And it's killing us as, as Houndsman here, you know?
Yeah.
And one thing that I like is you guys seem to have a pretty strong foundation, the American

(21:21):
bear foundation where you guys have a Virginia chapter.
And you know, do you, I know Heath is on the board for that.
Is that something that you're actively involved in?
Are you keeping track of what's going on there?
And if you are, like, do you guys have any new updates for things that are happening
in Virginia?
So I am a member of it.
I've been in the loop.
I'm not sure that the things that are, that are being talked about are probably out.

(21:45):
So honestly, I would probably rather not.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah.
Nope.
You're good.
I know there's some, there's some major changes coming that, that are absolutely going to
help the bear.
I think the deer hunters are absolutely not going to like it.
Right.
Yeah.
I mean, I just, I knew that there were some things coming down the pipeline and I'm out
of the loop because obviously I'm not in Virginia.

(22:06):
I don't have bear dogs.
So I don't get to keep up with it as much, but I do like to see those organizations that
are, that are actively involved.
They're trying to grow their memberships.
They're trying to do the right thing to preserve and protect and promote.
You know?
It's a huge deal.
And for you guys to have a Virginia chapter and to have credible guys who are at the helm
of that wheel, like I think that's very important for our future.

(22:29):
Absolutely.
I mean, you know, he, he, he's a major contributor to things and you know, he's got his own podcast
and he preaches about things and you know, he'll say what he wants to say too, but he's
really light with it.
Um, but yeah, and I, I love listening to his stuff.
You know, I listen to every Wednesday, like, and if you guys haven't like go check out

(22:49):
the what's that Wednesday over on the W uh, podcast feed, like you will learn some stuff.
Even if you're not into the, the bear dogs and the military tactical canine dogs, like
you can pick stuff up over there.
And I like to be a well-rounded houndsman.
I mean, I like to pick Basham's brain on things that maybe not necessarily the hound world,
but what did you learn whenever he was doing the police canines?

(23:11):
I think it's just good to be a well-rounded houndsman and get information from all sources.
Take a little bit from each of them, discard what you're not going to use and just make
yourself a better houndsman.
Absolutely.
So one thing that I want to talk to you about, Wesley is, is this new venture that you went
down this year with this German short haired pointer, why don't you just start from the

(23:32):
very beginning about, you know, even like the thought process, like where were you at?
Were you, were you sitting in the truck driving down the road?
Like, you know what?
I think I'm going to try something new or I'm bored today.
Like I'm going to, I'm going to see what I can challenge myself to learn.
Like what was the process going forward with this German short haired pointer and the task
that you tried to accomplish this year?
So you're married now, right?

(23:53):
I am.
Yes, sir.
Happily married.
Yep.
Basham too.
Yeah.
Yep.
So you, so you understand that you don't make all the decisions.
Very true.
Yeah.
So my wife, my wife actually went into this endeavor here.
It really wasn't something that I wanted to deal with.

(24:13):
Danielle got you on board, huh?
Yep.
Well, I wasn't on board, but you know, she's a beautiful dog.
And then I got to looking at things, you know, what people do with, with the GSPs and, um,
it's had a little dog knowledge and from the, you know, from the hand world and the bear
world and, uh, I figured I would try this.
So really what happened was wifey came home with the dog.

(24:37):
Yeah.
Yeah.
No, yeah.
I mean, that's, that's what I was saying.
She made the call.
So she did she pick out the GSP for a certain reason.
It was pretty.
So actually I talked to another buddy over here in a neighboring County who's a deputy
and they actually run, uh, the dormitory pointers, uh, as K9 dogs.

(24:59):
And he's also a mutual friend of his and he's like, don't do it, dude.
They're crazy.
They're crazy.
He said, don't do it.
But I came home that day.
There it was.
Okay.
So, so you've got this dog and you're like, all right, I'm going to do something with
it.
I've got a little bit of dog knowledge.

(25:20):
I enjoy messing with the dogs.
What can I do with it?
You start doing some research and I know bash them so rudely interrupted you and cut you
off while you were talking.
So let's go into like, you're just researching it and like, okay, what can I do with this
GSP and let's go.
So initially, you know, I thought, I thought about it, you know, we've got the dog it's
here.
I'll try and do something with it.

(25:41):
You know, from the very start, you know, it was just a dog.
But then I was thinking, you know, okay, this might work out.
So initially what sparked my interest was I'm colorblind.
So I have trouble tracking deer.
Like I can't see the blood very well.
If it's a lot of blood or if it's at nighttime, then I can see it, you know, with a light.

(26:03):
But I was like, okay, well, let's try this.
You know, I know people use them to shed, huh?
You know, they use it for drug dogs, this and that.
So why can't they track blood?
So that's where it all started.
So I started listening to a bunch of podcasts with Jeremy Moore with dog bone and actually
bought a kit or two, well, I bought a couple of kits from him.
But that's where really it all started was was Jeremy Moore podcast.

(26:25):
And you know, he's other side of the of the hound dog, you know, the tracking side of
it.
And you know, obviously I talked to him and he's a man you're messing up or you're doing
good or, you know, step back or fix this or, you know.
So that's kind of where it all started for me.
Yeah.
And so how old was this pup whenever you decided to start messing with it?

(26:50):
So we got her at eight weeks old.
I didn't start pulling with her until she was about five months old.
But that's when I, you know, I started looking at the dog bone podcast, listen to his stuff,
you know, going with Jeremy Moore and the way that he did things.
And also the way that he did things with, you know, the food.
So I would I would take food and that was the drive and I would hide it and I would

(27:13):
take a scent trail from there to the food and boom, bam, and find it.
And that was the reward.
And that's kind of how it all started.
But then I started replacing, you know, just regular food with with the deer drag Jeremy
Moore stuff and they provide and I would use a deer drag with the scent and put it on the
food bowl.
And you know, it was a it was a process.

(27:35):
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, and and so the whole what was your goal for the end of twenty twenty four?
Like where did you want to be?
Did you have a goal?
Was it something as minute as I want my dog to track one deer or was it you know what?
I want to have 30 confirmed finds under our belt at the end of this deer.

(27:57):
Like what was your goal?
I had absolutely no hopes for the dog.
I mean, truthfully, I mean, I didn't go into it with any hopes.
You know, if it worked out, it worked out.
And I'm super excited that it's it's went the way that it's went.
You know, everybody that I have, you know, if they wanted to deer or even if they knew
they had shot a deer and it ran off 80, 90 yards, you know, six months old, I wanted

(28:20):
to get her out on that track.
That was that was kind of the foundation that I set for.
And I think today she's a year old January 1st today and somewhere around the 20th.
But I think we have 15, 15 recoveries and three bumps that we didn't find.

(28:41):
I mean, that's pretty impressive to me.
Like I think that for a guy who's going into this, absolutely zero experience, who can
listen to some podcasts, who can, you know, talk to people, use his resources.
That's one thing that I want people to stress is, is use your resources.
And I know that sometimes I get accused, Shane Smith of telling me that I sometimes I don't

(29:03):
listen to the people who are closest to me.
I will go out and I will listen to other resources and I'll pull bits and pieces of information.
But what I really try to do and with all best intentions is take information from all kinds
of places and try to put it to one.
And sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.
But I think that's awesome, you know, to be able to take this dog that you had no hopes

(29:26):
for, you really didn't even plan to get, find something that you're like, Hey, I think that
we might be able to do this.
Gather Intel, gather information and put in some time and effort into it.
And I would call it a success.
I'm still going to call it a trial.
Uh, you know, I did this, you know, I made a post on Facebook, you know, I did all this

(29:46):
this year for free, like absolutely for free.
So I spent my time and my gas sometimes half the night helping these guys out and, you
know, just for exposure of the dog, like it really meant nothing to me.
I was really excited about it, but you know, I've learned so much watching being able,
you know, on lead watching her track that I truly feel like it's helped me a lot in

(30:11):
the hound world of how those dogs work off lead.
Yeah, absolutely.
Go ahead, so, so just so the listeners know, uh, let's break it down a little bit because
when you think of hound hunting, you think of, you know, pulling up and you think of
cutting a dog loose.
So just kind of go into detail exactly.

(30:33):
You know, you just mentioned that, you know, watching a dog work on lead, uh, just kind
of go into detail a little bit about that.
Sure.
So I mean with our hounds, you know, if we might be rigging a road, you know, some not
familiar with rigging, you know, we're riding around on the roads and dogs are on the truck
or in a box.
They strike a track and you know, we turn them out and they go, uh, you know, we don't

(30:57):
get to see those dogs again.
We don't get to see how they work.
We can watch them on the gardens, but you, you don't get play by play action that I specifically
get to see with a dog on a 30 foot lead.
So I get to watch her movements.
I get to watch, you know, the way she, her body language, the way she throws in there
or nose in there.
Um, she's taught me some things that I didn't know, but now we, we, we are learning each

(31:22):
other a little bit.
You know, when she'll stand up sometimes on the deer's close, she'll stand up in like
when I go like on her hind legs and tug like that to me now that I understand that the
deer's close, whether it's dead or whether we're getting ready to jump it.
Uh, we're still working on that.
You know, I feel like I've made some errors.
We both have made some errors, not so much her, but me learning her.

(31:44):
Uh, we've, we've pushed some deer that probably didn't need to be pushed because I didn't
understand what she was trying to tell me.
Yeah.
So, and I think, sorry, I had to keep interrupting you, buddy.
I got internet issue.
Go ahead.
You're good.
Yeah.
So I think that goes a long way with what you were saying.
You know, it's kind of like whenever I was, uh, doing bomb dogs, you know, just being

(32:07):
able to see, you know, all my life, I ran coon hounds and I ran deer dogs and I ran
bagels and I ran, you know, squirrel dogs and all these other dogs that were off leash
and never really got to see it to whenever I made that transition into the bomb dog world.
And we were doing Labradors, uh, being able to actually see them up close and personal.

(32:33):
So just kind of a little experience of mine, you know, I had a bomb dog at one time, her
name was Bonnie and, uh, her, and every dog is going to be different with their tails,
you know, as far as what, what they're hitting on, you know, like you said, yours stands
on a time legs that tells you, Hey, it's close, you know?

(32:56):
And so for ours, it was Bonnie, you know, her tail would go left to right, the left
to right, the left to right.
You know, she's out there hunting and hunting and hunting left to right.
And then all of a sudden, as soon as I knew she was on something, her tail would literally
go in a circle every time in a circle, in a circle, in a circle.

(33:18):
And so that told me, Oh wait, you know, she's onto something now.
And then in our world, when they found it, they laid down because everything we did was
based off of the Kong based off of a bumper.
All we were doing was just, they were looking for that toy.
Sure.
So what does the process look like?

(33:41):
Less, if somebody, somebody shoots a deer and they're like, man, I'm not sure I put
a great hit on it.
Or even if they did put a great hit on it and they are just wanting, they know that
you have a dog in training and they're like, Hey, let's give this dog some exposure.
What's the process look like?
Like what are some dos and what are some don'ts for hunters to help out their, their tracker

(34:02):
that they're going to have come out and help them recover their animal?
Let me start by saying that I'm absolutely novice and I know nothing.
That's good because there's people listening that want to get into it.
I know they do.
So to hear from somebody who's in the same boat as them, like it's not overwhelming.

(34:24):
It's not something that's like, man, this guy has 20 years on me.
I'll never get there.
Like you're in the same boat.
So this is fantastic.
Yeah, no, I'm absolutely not a professional.
I don't train dogs for living.
I know nothing.
I'll just say it just like that.
I know nothing.
But what I have saw is, you know, shot placement is absolutely important.

(34:46):
You know, I'm on a track is important.
What kills me, what I absolutely do not like is for them to go look for it for an hour
and then call me say, Hey ma'am, we need some help.
You know, in my back of my mind, I'm thinking, okay, all right, I'll come help you.
But what have you done?
And they'll say, well, we made loops here and there.

(35:06):
What they've done and they don't understand is even a speck of blood.
They've tracked it on their boots.
One speck of blood, I mean, if they walk circles and one speck of blood, these dogs are going
to smell and it creates a false track for the, you know, for the animals I'm trying
to pursue.
And I may roll up and look like an absolute idiot because they didn't handle the track

(35:29):
right.
The best thing to do is if you're not sure, stop, you know, stop and, you know, just call.
There's no shame in that.
I mean, if you're, if you're wanting to recover what you're, you know, the game that you've
shot or whatever and stop and call, I would gladly come out and try that before I would
like to decipher what's right and what's wrong.

(35:53):
So if, if somebody does, I guess I don't know how to ask this question.
Say say a guy does exactly what you said not to do.
They go out there and they track that thing and they get everything all jacked up.
What are you doing to, are you doing anything to help your dog?

(36:14):
Like as the human who has all the senses, not just a nose, like, is there anything you
can do to help your dog eliminate those false tracks?
Like as a novice dog and a novice handler, is there any like little tips that you found
like, okay, this helped me eliminate these false tracks and get on the right track?

(36:35):
So for me, like for instance, it's happened a couple of times that I've done the false
tracks and you know, I've had some bad news there, but for me, I try to broaden the search
area.
Like if you're absolutely sure that it's went this way, or if you're not even sure, I'll
make a bigger circle.
You say, Hey, I stopped here.
So I'll make a big circle to see if that works.

(36:56):
If the dog picks up on that.
So it's not just blood for the dogs, the deer carry an interdigital gland that also produces
scent.
It's more like a fear gland, like a like adrenaline gland, I guess you could say that they also,
they put out a scent and I found success with that as well, not just blood.

(37:19):
So if we lose blood and then you know, you could go another 30, 40 yards and not see
nothing and you wonder why the dog did what it did.
And again, me being novice thinking, you know, the dog smarter than I am, let's, let's try
this because it knows something that I don't, it smells something that I don't.
Bastion, you got anything to clue in on that?

(37:42):
Was there anything that you did back in your day?
I think, I think the biggest thing is, is it's kind of like a kundo, right?
And it's kind of, it's kind of a little bit different because let's say wheels gets out
there on a bad track and you're pushing him along in your head, you don't care that he,

(38:06):
in your head, you're like, I don't care if it's the same coon or not.
I want you to get the heck out of there, stop and grub and, and go find a different one.
Yep.
This one here, what he's talking about is a little bit different because you're not
wanting him to find another deer.
You're wanting him to find that deer.
So I think just the biggest thing with what he's doing is just patience, not pushing them

(38:32):
too hard, letting them, even if they've got to run over the same area three or four times
until they finally get it going, it's imperative, you know, something that he's doing when you're
doing scent trailing, you know, like he's doing like recovery or, you know, even bomb

(38:52):
dogs or anything like that.
There is no other, you're looking for that exact one.
So patience is the number one virtue of a handler.
Yeah, I don't for a second doubt that, so if you run through a herd of deer, you know,
there's 10 deer in a field and you know, they're sending deer everywhere and they're also going

(39:17):
to, you know, it's creak that that scent from their interdigital gland.
And I feel like, you know, it's the same with in my mind, it's the same with, you know,
a complete stalker or a canine.
How do they, how do they decipher?
You got 25 people in a crowd.
There's one guy running from the law.
How do they know that that's the dog because of adrenaline, you know, there's their scent,

(39:41):
you know, they're dropping scent bottles, they're dropping everything because our adrenaline
is higher and that's what they're tracking, not the other deer, you know, they have to
be a little bit straight laced with it.
Yes, they do.
And so it would not be a good thing for Bryce because we know Bryce is a lack of patience.
Amen.
Amen.
I'm not very good with it either.

(40:02):
I'm really not.
This has been so much fun.
So what does the off season look like?
You know, if you're rocking and rolling and you're learning and your dog's progressing
and you've got 15 confirmed fines under your belt and then bam, the season's over, what
do you do?
What do you do in the off season?
Yes, keep them busy.
I mean, you know, again with Jeremy, Jeremy Morris, the dog bone thing, you know, I don't

(40:28):
think it really ever stops.
You know, if they can find that in the seasons and, you know, the sense of stuff that he
provides, you know, you still do the baiting and still do the trailing.
It's harder, I think, in the off season for us because, you know, they're scent involved.
We can lay a track and, you know, my wife, even her kids, they know us, they smell us.

(40:53):
They're going to take that track regardless.
So it's really hard.
It's hard to lay a scentless track for those dogs to work.
But something's better than nothing, I think.
Yeah.
Well, have you thought any about like, and I don't know if this would be counterproductive
or not, but have you thought about trying to train her on the sheds?
Like that way she's staying busy and then you're still doing something with deer?

(41:14):
Like, is that counterproductive?
Do you know?
I would say that it would be, but, you know, honestly, I have no desire for it.
That's me personally.
I think you're, and don't get me wrong, I think you're introducing multiple things.
Now, I can see where you're coming from, Bryce, because like even in the bomb dog world, we
would do like ammonium nitrate blasting caps C4.

(41:38):
Like we're training on multiple different bomb making materials.
So I think you're correct on that.
The only problem you'd run into there is, is, you know, when he's out there trying to
track down this, trying to track down this deer and then his dogs hitting on a shed.
So it's, yeah, it's, it just adds more distraction.
Now, can you do it?

(41:59):
Yes.
And that kind of goes into what me and you have talked about, you know, even about your
tramp female.
I think the also you said, what does off season look like for him?
It's intentional training.
Something that me and you talked about.
It's not just going out there and turning a dog loose and saying, Ooh, I hope you run
and do what you're supposed to do today.

(42:20):
No, it's intentionally saying, Hey, I'm going to work on this today.
I'm going to work on that today.
So I think that's more so, you know, what a lot of people need to get in mind is, is
when you go out into the woods or when you're actually training these dogs, it's, it's having
a purpose.
And if you don't have a purpose, I mean, Google's everybody's best friend.

(42:41):
You can find something, even if it's a wrong thing, find something and intentionally have
a purpose for what you want to accomplish that day.
You said it best there.
You know, a lot of our guys, I'm not going to say our guys, you know, as a group, but
there's a lot of guys, you know, the off season, they'll, they'll take their bear hands and

(43:02):
they'll, they'll coon on them.
What that creates is, well, you know what it creates come bear season.
I mean, you know, they'll tree coons.
It keeps them busy.
But you know, in the end game, you're getting your dogs out and you're exposing them to
things and you know, maybe you could do some trash breaking or this and that, but it's
a fine line there.

(43:23):
I mean, do you keep them pinned up, you know, for nine months of the year?
Do you get them out some exposure and break them down or, you know, do you, do you let
them tree some coons?
You know, it's a preference really.
If you're happy with your dogs and what, you know, if it's tree game, I'd be good with
it.
Fast game?
Right.
No, I understand that.
I just think it was very interesting and I really enjoyed like following along on your

(43:47):
social media accounts and stuff, like watching you and the dog learn together.
Like I just thought it was, I thought it was very neat because I think the deer tracking
dogs are a very, very neat section of working dogs.
I guess that's the best way to put it.
But what I'm afraid of, what I'm afraid of is that just like anything else, new and improved

(44:13):
comes along, right?
And at what point does the new drone technology and drone tracking just push the deer dog,
like the deer trackers out of business?
Have you, do you guys have that in Virginia?
I've got a story for that.
Let's hear it actually.
Yep.
So, um, I'd actually talked to Heath and another buddy the day before I went and took this

(44:35):
track.
The guy called me and it was just rough.
You know, I had some European mounts and stuff going on.
I was just busy life.
And by the time I got to this track, um, yeah, literally we were like 31 hours and she actually
found it.
The first time that she had ran down, it was a false track.

(44:57):
I think that it, honestly, I think that it's where they had, you know, kind of walked around
and did this and did that looking for the deer.
Um, but after that, you know, I took her back, restarted, got squared away.
So 31 hours and she, she found the deer for this guy.
So now, um, with no respect of, you know, he don't respect me at all apparently, but

(45:22):
so he went and bought, you know, one of those $7, $8,000 drones and he started a deer recovery
with a drone.
This is the same guy that you found the deer for?
It is.
Yeah.
Well, that's fine with me.
You know, I don't, I don't care.
You know, I did it for free.
I did it for fun.
I did it for me and I did it for the dog.
I didn't do it for money.
It wasn't that, you know, it was exposure and something for me to do.

(45:46):
I don't care.
If the man wants to make money, then, you know, happy for him, but, uh, it kind of rubbed
me wrong.
Yeah.
I would, I would say it would go ahead.
Basham, you got something to say.
I think, I think what we're talking about here though, Bryce is preference.
That's kind of the difference between a trapper and a coon hunter.
You know, you got guys that go out there and sit and you know, you know, firsthand Bryce

(46:11):
because you're father-in-law traps.
Yep.
So what's the difference between him going out there and trapping a raccoon and you running
that same raccoon?
There's no difference.
There's not.
There's not.
So it's preference.
It's something that you enjoy doing in the outdoors.
You know, it's the difference between bass fishing off of a bank and getting in a boat

(46:34):
and bass fishing or fly fishing.
I mean, it's just, it's a difference.
It's a preference.
I think that's what makes us different is we find ways to make our pet that, uh, that,
that the wife brought home on a, on a whim, we find a job for him.

(46:54):
And so I think that's just us as people when as dog and houndsman, uh, you know, as houndsman,
we just, we are addicted to the relationship that we have with a dog.
So we're going to find something else that we can do with a dog.
And I think that's where this deer tracking comes in because I know, you know, I grew

(47:18):
up in the country and I never heard, not until here recently.
That I ever hear of anybody tracking deer, which kind of baffles me that it wasn't a
big thing, you know, back before technology.
I never heard of people tracking deers with dogs.
And so it is, it is very fascinating, you know, to hear people pick up that new, that

(47:43):
new niche to do with a dog.
And you know, like I said, I think it's just, it's, it's a drive to be able to do something
with the dog.
You said it best.
I mean, you know, again, I told you my, my, my love for it came from the color blindness.

(48:05):
Like I can't see blood and you know, I've always got buddies that are losing deer and
you know, bad shots and you know, excitement and things like that, you know, to that nature.
So I naturally like to help, but if I can't, if I can't see blood, I can't help them.
So that's true.
Yeah.
So I just up the chances, you know, by thousands.

(48:27):
You did, you did.
And like I said, I mean, I think it's so, so cool and so interesting and man, I'll tell
you what, I've been so guilty in my life of putting too many irons into a fire and, and
just doing this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and dabbling
and don't think about it and doing everything.
And, and at one point I was like, I'm going to get a deer dog, you know, but I have, I

(48:51):
have come to learn that I have got too much going on and I've got to pull some irons out
of the fire.
So the way that I continue my interest in is watching people like you guys, like I'm
living vicariously through you and just kind of enjoying it, being happy for you.
Like I loved this deer season, watching you guys learn and grow and stuff.

(49:12):
Like I just thought it was very neat.
So very interesting.
How'd the coyote business go for you, Bryce?
Oh, it's good.
Yeah.
We're getting coyote dogs for sure.
Nikki, she said yes without saying yes.
I think it came out more like no, but it meant yes to me.
So you already got one and got rid of it.
Go ahead, Wes.

(49:33):
I mean, how many do you need, Bryce?
I mean, we've got all kinds of those here late season in Virginia.
I know it.
I know I did have one bash him.
And the thing that stinks is the guys that I run with now, I didn't meet them until after
I sold the dog.
I was driving five hours down to Kentucky every weekend to go hunting because I couldn't
find anybody up here that really ran next to me.

(49:55):
Well, I sold the dog and two weeks later I get introduced to a group of guys that run
40 minutes down the road.
You know, that's the problem of being the new guy in the area.
You just don't know anybody.
You don't have any contacts.
But yeah, coyote dogs are coming for sure.
Big fan of that stuff in the winter time.
So all right, Wes, I want to close this out with it with an interesting story.

(50:17):
And this is completely not dog related, but I want to know and hear a little bit more.
I've heard a little bit, but I want the listeners to hear about the encounter and the experience
that you had a couple of years ago taking an elk in Virginia.
Oh, wow.
Yeah.
So I've actually got, I've got to talk about that here around March.

(50:38):
So we've got a sportsman banquet at the local church and normally seven, 800 people attend.
So 64 years, you know, it was a couple of decades here in Jowess County in Virginia.
I think 1928 that they brought elk into Virginia from the Yellowstone.

(51:00):
About 30 years later, you know, there were two different herds that they'd killed.
And, you know, there's some famous people actually came here and killed those elk here
in Jowess County.
So I guess 64 years, it went 64 years here in our county that it had been a part of elk
harvest.
And man, I got a picture.

(51:22):
I got a picture one morning.
My buddy called me to see my trail camera and he said, man, you got to get up.
And he said, there's an elk on the camera.
I was like, no way.
He said, yeah, I looked and it was in fact an elk.
I went and bought my license that day.
Cause I'm, you know, ever since I bought dogs or had dogs, I'm really not much of the deer
hunter anymore.

(51:42):
I, you know, I typically let the wife and the kids take care of that.
I understand that completely.
But that was something I could pass on.
So, you know, that Friday or that Saturday, first day of bow season here in Virginia,
October 7th, got pictures of it, went hunting that evening, saw it a couple of times in
the food plot that I had.

(52:03):
October 8th, my son's birthday magic happened.
I saw the elk, saw him a couple of times.
He finally, he worked out, he come to my left.
You know, I actually, and people may not believe this, I don't care if they do or not, that's
the way it happened.
But I climbed out of the tree stand.
Every time he put his head down in the food plot, he'd turn up some radishes.

(52:24):
There was a big bush to my left.
I climbed out of the tripod stand.
Army crawled.
Sorry.
A Marine Corps crawled over there next to that bush.
And probably at this point, no, no, no.
At this point, it probably was an army crawl.
It was, but actually it was weak.
It was weak.
Cause I was going to say, I doubt that ass was, was low to the ground.

(52:48):
It was probably high in the air.
No, it was definitely a Marine Corps crawl.
I had a DI on my ass, but I needed like one more oomph with an elbow to get around that
bush and man, he raised his head up and looked at me and I took it anyway.
I took that one more oomph and I laid it there.
Honest to God, you know, I felt like it was a good shot.

(53:09):
I wasn't sure, but it worked out.
And again, you know, I had to call some buddies, you know, I called Michael Lambert and you
know, I actually called Heath that morning and I called several people because I couldn't
see the blood.
I had blood on it.
I didn't have a clue, but little did I know that, you know, 64 years that I'd done something
that a lot of people dream of and pay big money to go out West and do that.

(53:32):
I got to do it here in such a small town.
So have you seen like, was there reports of a viable elk herd before that?
Was this a, just a passer by or like, what are the circumstances surrounding this?
So they have started reintroducing them out in Wise and Dixon.

(53:53):
I know that you wouldn't know those counties being from up there, but we're looking at
about three hours.
It's more towards Kentucky, Tennessee area.
They figured it was just, you know, a straggler bull that got run off, you know, eight by
eight bull ended up being four years old.
It just, just showed up, man.

(54:15):
That's so wild to me.
And like, so you said you had to go buy your license.
Was there, if there has not been an elk harvested in 64 years, was there still an elk license
to buy or did a standard deer license cover that?
Like, what are the regulations on that?
How did you know that it was even legal to take?
So I'm actually decent buddies with a game warden.

(54:36):
We talk pretty regular, but there was two surrounding counties in Bland and Tadwell County
that there's been some elk within the past 10 years that have actually been taken.
And, you know, he told me it's a buck tag.
You know, there is no tag for them.
You know, here in our location, we don't want elk.
You know, we're not built for that.

(54:57):
The farmers, the crops, the fences, you know, they would absolutely destroy everything.
And so down, down towards Kentucky and things, they've, they've set up areas in these strip
mines that are managed for the elk.
And, you know, they typically like to keep them there.
But whatever happened with this one, it just, it wandered off and, uh, I only paid for it,

(55:19):
frankly.
Man, that's so wild.
Like that is so cool.
Like whenever you posted that picture on Facebook, I think is where I saw it first.
I was like, do what?
Like I didn't even know there was elk down there.
And like, you know, I've, I've seen you post about it a couple of times and talk about
it.
I'm just like, that is so neat.
Like you just recently got the mountain back and got it hung up, right?
Yeah, I did.
And you know, that that's honestly the hardest secret I've ever had to keep.

(55:42):
You know, I've got a pretty small circle of friends and I told just a couple of them,
the circle got smaller.
So it was, you know, it's one of those things that the experience for me was great.
If I would have never killed that elk, then I would have been fine with that.
Just the experience and any of the videos that I did get.

(56:03):
And, you know, I'm a conservationist, not a killer.
I mean, frankly, so it was fun.
But what, what'd your boy think about it?
I know your boy, he cracks me up when we go bear hunting.
That kid is wound up and he's ready to go.
He loves him some bear hunting.
Like what, what did Barrett think about killing that elk?

(56:25):
Yeah, Barrett's wild.
He called it a moose for a long time.
He was three then he didn't really understand.
And you know, now it's sitting here, you know, I've got Christmas ornaments.
I got a red nose on it.
It's awful.
Man, I love it because, you know, there's one of the guys that we coyote hunt with up

(56:46):
here, his grandson, he's got to go with us every weekend.
And you know, this kid, he's five years old and boy, he is amped up about it.
You know, he can't wait to get his coyote dogs and he'll see that, he'll see that yoke
running across the field and getting right across the road.
And he's about to come out of his skin.
Like, like we see it, he's like, Kyle, Kyle, Kyle, Kyle.

(57:08):
I mean, he is all over it, you know, and I absolutely love it.
I love seeing these young kids that are so pumped up about it.
You know, I think one of the videos that, that cracked me up was, didn't you guys play
a deal with Sasquatch on bear this year in the woods?
Yeah, he, he'd been seeing the Sasquatch and so I'd borrowed an outfit from a guy here

(57:32):
in town.
I saw the trails where you actually hunted there that day up in Mill Creek.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I borrowed an outfit from him and walked down off the hill and he wasn't, he wasn't such
a tough guy.
I love it.
He wanted his dad and that wasn't there.
I just love it.

(57:52):
I love that you guys are, you guys do it as a family, you know, it's absolutely no surprise
to see, you know, you and your wife, your kids all out in the truck during bear season
running around, you know, just enjoying it as a family, going to the trees and making
it a whole or deal.
And I think, I think that we need more of that.
Like I wish there was more of that across all forms of hound hunting, you know, but

(58:13):
I really see it very, very strong in the bear hunters.
Like it is a family deal.
It is a group deal.
It is an effort by all involved.
No, I mean, I see a few guys, you know, Nikki and you know, you're all, I followed a bash
from two, but it seems like a big world for you guys to show dogs.
And you know, it's important what you're doing.
It is.

(58:34):
I really just, I don't think that, that people understand the sacrifice.
Yeah.
The sacrifice, the thrill, the, the, the passion, addiction.
Yeah.
I mean, you can, you can name a hundred different things.
I don't think that, you know, the outskirts really understand.
And what I'd really like to get across with, with that is don't ruin it.

(58:58):
You know, it don't be that guy.
Publish the good things and show the good pictures and do the right thing.
There's no reason to show a coon screaming or having a hold of a dog.
There's no reason to have a bear fighting a dog rolling on the ground.
There's no reason to post any of that.
Yep.
I agree.
I agree.
Well, Wes, man, this has been a blast.

(59:19):
I thank you for joining us here.
And you know, we've been trying to make this happen for a while and appreciate you taking
the time out to join us tonight.
Is there anything else you want to add before we close off here?
Absolutely nothing, Basham.
Appreciate you.
Yeah.
Just, just one thing.
You know, I think you guys probably picked up on it, but definitely, you know, want to
give a shout out to you, Wes, you know, being a veteran, United States Marine Corps, Semper

(59:45):
Fi, obviously always a brother of mine.
So definitely thank you for your service and, you know, everything that you did for that.
You as well.
All right, guys.
Well, this has been fun.
Basham, you got anything else that you'd like to add or we good to go here, brother?
No, that's it, buddy.
Awesome.
Awesome.

(01:00:05):
Well, guys, for myself, Bryce, from our co-host, Steven, and from our guest, Wesley Woodward,
we appreciate y'all listening to Semper Doggin.
We really do enjoy having things on here that are not Coon Hunt related, branching out.
We'd said from the very beginning, this was not a Coon Hunt podcast.
It has went down that road here as of late, but we are trying hard to branch out.
So we hope you've enjoyed this.
If you stuck around with us this long, we want to bring you some more content like this throughout

(01:00:27):
the rest of this year, 2025.
That was a goal of ours was to keep branching out and to bring more light to other forms
of hound hunting and the handlers behind these dogs.
I think it's great for us to, you know, be able to share this stuff with everybody and
really get to introduce people maybe to something that they've never done.
Maybe they've never tried it.
Maybe they want to go bear hunting, don't know where to go.
Maybe they want to learn how to track a deer or how to train a deer dog.

(01:00:49):
They don't know where to go.
This is the podcast where you can dabble in a little bit of everything and get to learn
a little bit more about it.
So Basham, thanks for being along for the ride, brother.
I appreciate all you do for us.
Definitely, buddy.
You too.
All right, guys.
Well, from Bryce, like I said, from Bryce, Basham and Wesley here at Semper Dog and we're
signing off.
We'll see y'all later.
Thank you, folks.

(01:01:21):
You