May 12, 2025 • 28 mins
In the heart of East Texas, between Dallas and Houston, lies the Stone Ranch - a wildlife sanctuary born from one man's love for his parents and his passion for the outdoors. Jon Stone, a commercial general contractor by day, embarked on an unexpected journey into ranch development following a family tragedy.
The origin story of Stone Ranch is deeply personal and profoundly moving. After Jon's parents experienced a traumatic home invasion, his mother heroically defended the family, earning her the nickname "Warrior Princess." Wanting to bring joy back into their lives, Jon purchased land near their home in Crockett, Texas, with the initial goal of creating a place where he could take pictures and videos of wildlife to share with his parents. What began as a simple gesture of love expanded into something much greater as the Stone Ranch has developed.
Starting with topographical maps and a protractor, Jon designed the property around natural features, creating strategically placed water features, blinds, and feeders. He worked with timber companies to clear pastures while preserving the natural flow of the land. The result is a sustainable ecosystem that supports diverse wildlife including whitetail deer, axis deer, fallow deer, black buck antelope, bison, bongos, and sable. His trophy fishing pond has yielded bass over 12 pounds, while separate catfish ponds provide endless catch-and-cook opportunities.
What makes Stone Ranch truly special is its accessibility. It is conveniently located just a couple hours from major Texas cities. This proximity has made it an ideal destination for families, corporate retreats, bachelor parties, girlfriend getaways, and soon, weddings. The ranch offers various packages, from individual experiences to group adventures, all with the unique selling proposition of exclusivity - when you book Stone Ranch, you have the entire property to yourself!
Beyond the ranch experience, Jon has launched "Heartbeat of a Hunter," an outdoor lifestyle brand inspired by his love for wildlife and conservation. The brand encapsulates the adrenaline rush that comes with outdoor pursuits - whether hunting for game, the perfect photograph, or simply moments of joy and connection with nature. The distinctive heartbeat logo symbolizes the passion that drives outdoor enthusiasts of all types.
Perhaps most meaningful is Jon's commitment to sharing his ranch with others, particularly those who might not otherwise have access to such experiences. Veterans, first responders, children, and those dealing with illness are always welcome. He takes special pride in empowering women through outdoor skills and self-defense training, inspired by his mother's courage. For families, the animal feedings and safari rides provide unforgettable memories as children and adults alike come face-to-face with exotic wildlife.
As Stone Ranch continues to grow, with plans for a 10,000-square-foot lodge and wedding venue overlooking the water, Jon remains focused on creating an environment where people can build lifelong memories and annual traditions. The venture has evolved from a simple desire to make his parents smile into a thriving business that touches countless lives, all while staying true to its founding principles of sharing, conservation, and creating joy.
Whether you're seeking adventure, tranquility, or simply a connection with nature, Stone Ranch offers a uniquely personal Texas outdoor experience that keeps people coming back year after year. stoneranchtx.com
And for any of your outdoor enthusiast loved ones, HeartbeatofaHunter.com certainly has unique jewelry, knife sets and fashionable apparel!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is John Stone with Stone Ranch and Heartbeat
of a Hunter, and you'relistening to the Son of a Blitch
podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Hello John.
How the heck are you doingtoday, man?
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Man, I'm doing fantastic.
I'm just glad to be in thecompany of George Blitz.
The George Blitz Tell you whatan old-time friend.
It's so good to see your face,my friend.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Yours as well, man.
So for those who don't knowwhich many people listening may
not John and I have known eachother for at least two decades,
that's right.
We met when we were like fouror five years old and we've been
playing soccer together andJohn is one of the nicest people
I've ever met in my life.
That's kind of how I describeyou.
But you are a man of manytalents.
(00:56):
Many things got going on.
Why don't you give us a littlebit of background, talk about
your day job and talk about alittle bit of intro on?
You know the two things you gotkicking these days that we're
going to focus on and talk about, and that's the Stone Ranch and
Heartbeat of a Hunter.
So maybe you can give a littlebit of background.
You know kind of where you're,you know born and raised, and
maybe how you got involved withyour love of the outdoors, and
then we'll kind of talk aboutthe new projects you got going
(01:17):
on right now.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Oh, fantastic, I appreciate that.
And for your audience, I don'tknow if they know how incredible
of a soccer player you are anamazing drummer, you know,
traveled throughout the countrydoing such, so it's kind of a
neat deal.
One of these days I want you tokind of tell more about
yourself because I mean, a lotof your listeners probably don't
know what the diversebackground that you have, but
(01:39):
it's a lot of fun.
So, national Geographic.
But I was actually born inCorpus Christi.
So I moved, was born in CorpusChristi until I was five, born
in the same hospital as FerretFawcett.
That was a big deal.
When I was in junior high Ibecame one of the cool kids
because I was born in the samehospital as Ferret Fawcett but
(01:59):
moved to Houston when I was five, got hit by a car, lost my
memory, the ability to smell, soI'm kind of a native Houstonian
.
So I've been here ever since,took a quick sabbatical over at
A&M and came back hereafterwards.
So my day job.
I'm a commercial generalcontractor here in Houston.
So since I wasn't busy enough,I still had four hours left in
(02:20):
the day because I was onlyworking 20 hours a day I kind of
, you know, got into theoutdoors.
It was kind of a wild reasonthat I got into the outdoors,
but we can go over that and thenhow we get into the brand as
well.
So let me go ahead and kind oftell you how I dove into the
outdoors.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Absolutely Len.
I think this is quite theorigin story.
Why don't you go ahead and tellme a little bit about it?
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Well, it was one of those chance in a million deal.
My father had West Nile virus.
He was a workaholic, and so Ikind of grew up doing the same
thing, mowing grass, you know,nights and weekends, at the time
when I was going to school.
But he got bit by a mosquito,got West Nile virus and then
from there he had meningitis,had a stroke, so he wasn't super
, super fit, you know.
(03:03):
So, anyway, fast forward.
Unfortunately, one night theywere in the Spring Branch area
and you know he's in awheelchair, sits sitting up.
So bad guys broke into thehouse, put a gun to his head so
I'm gonna blow your head off.
And you know they asked ifanybody else was in the house.
He's not gonna get my mom up.
So they cracked his head open,they threw him on the ground,
(03:25):
cracked his chest, and so theonly good news is they made so
much noise beating the hell outof my dad.
I woke my mom up, so literallymy mom.
I built a back door for them toever get out, but instead of
running out the back door andcalling 911.
My mom's kind of a badass.
So she grabbed a gun and raninto the fire and ran those
(03:48):
bastards off.
And so anyway, I tell you thatpart of the story is because it
was around Mother's Day and inHouston there's a radio station,
104 KRBE.
They said nominate your mom forMother's Day.
So anyway, I called in.
Long story short, my mom won it,ruled it, nicknamed my mom the
(04:09):
Warrior Princess.
She loved it.
So we kept the Warrior Princessname.
But the reason I tell you thatis my father.
Since he can't get around much,we moved him up to Crockett and
you know he loves both my folkslove the outdoors.
So I found a little piece ofdirt right around where they
lived, threw a high fence aroundit and there's a little story
(04:33):
on the development of that, butanyway he threw some animals on
it so I could take some picturesand videos so I could show my
folks and put smiles on theirface and that's, you know,
that's all I really gave a damnabout is making them happy.
So that's literally how I gotinto ranching and you know I had
no idea but I figured, you know, other human beings can do it.
If they can do it, I can do it.
(04:53):
It's just going to take a wholelot of hard work and focus and
that's how it started.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
So you've got this land and you're like, all right,
I'm going to develop, I'm goingto bring all these animals on
and kind of just create this togive back to those who gave so
much to you.
And I love that story.
I love, you know, the heart andpassion that comes behind it
and sharing that with yourfamily.
And you know I want to talkabout a little bit.
You know, I know that you knowstage one, right, you buy this
land and it's undeveloped.
(05:20):
So you ended up doing a lot ofdevelopment and kind of getting
it to where you wanted to see.
You know, as far as you know,getting some water features on
the property and looking at theelevation.
So why don't you talk to me alittle bit about that, like when
you're sitting there at a blankcanvas, you know, and just kind
of your Google Earth image orwhatever it is that you're
looking at, and then you decide,ok, I'm going to go ahead and
develop this.
What was your goal in mind andwhat were some of the things
(05:40):
that you were doing at the veryonset of that to be able to
create this?
Speaker 1 (05:45):
So when I started I wanted to get a place close to
my folks so I could get themover there or take videos and
pictures and go see them.
So I found a piece of propertythat was close and it was right
on the lake by Houston CountyLake.
So it was a perfect, perfectlocation close to them.
And then so I bought it andwhen I look at it in order to
(06:05):
develop it, it's just solidtrees.
So I took the, I got atopography map because you're
not going to fight God, I'mgoing to see what God gave me.
So you know, god gave us thistopography and I looked at it
and then I got a protractor out.
Really and most people canshoot or see either with
binoculars or a gun 100 yards.
So I took a protractor out andI looked at the topography.
(06:27):
Then I started drawing arcs andcircles so I could put feeders
and I could put blinds.
I looked at, kind of, where thelow areas were so I could dig
those out and create waterfeatures and lakes and streams
and ponds and catfish ponds andbass ponds.
So anyway, I drew all that outand then I went to a timber
company and I brought the timbercompany in and I had them clear
(06:51):
where I wanted the pastures.
So then of course it has toflow, you know.
So none of the all the blindsare facing different places.
You know you're not shooting atone another, you're pointing
down, you know not near oneanother.
So then we cleared, cleared itall, and then I got track goes
in and pulled up all the stumpsbecause we're gonna, you know,
create food plots and stuff forthe animals so they're healthy,
(07:13):
uh, and then we, so we pulledthe track goes in and got all
the dump, you know, stumps out,and then we seeded it and you
know it's kind of a, it was kindof a wild deal.
Then we stocked the pond, so sowe pulled a 12-pound, 4-ounce
bass out of the trophy pond.
So for people that don't knowthat, a 12-pound, 4-ounce bass
is very nice, it's a nice bass.
(07:34):
So we have catfish pond, a basspond and stuff like that.
So anyway, then I could grab myfolks and either drag them over
periodically the recovery was alittle too hard but I could
take videos and take them overthere.
So I saw how much fun it wasfor my folks and how much they
enjoyed it.
And I've always been a firmbeliever is if you have
(07:55):
something, you have to share.
You know, because it's reallyreally tough to develop stuff
and you and I are blessed.
You know we've worked very,very hard.
But there's not everybody's notso fortunate to be able to have
done this Now.
Granted, we sacrificed a ton todo that.
But, man, I really want toshare.
I'm selfish when I see people'ssmiles.
That's what makes me happy.
(08:15):
You know, I'm selfish when Isee people's smiles.
That's what makes me happy.
So what I do now is, every timeon the high fence there's a ton
of animals in there.
It's kind of like I wasstarting to build a park for a
while.
I've had two bongos, two sable,two bison and we've got tons of
whitetail and axis and fallowand black bug antelope.
But every time I see kidsoutside the fence, they're all
looking inside, looking, youknow, looking at the animals.
(08:36):
And I'm a sucker, you know.
If you're a veteran, if you'vebeen on the armed forces, if
you've been on the police or ifyou've been kids or if you've
been sick, you know I'll doanything to help you, you know.
So if I see kids out there onthe fence and I'm either running
the fence line or setting asnare or whatever.
I'm like, hey, do you want tosee some animals?
And they're like, oh my God.
So we'll open up a gate, we'llthrow them in the back of the
(08:58):
Polaris or the Can-Am orwhatever we've got and take them
around and just create thosememories for them.
Because, you know, I've had somany people tell me, and the
people that I've brought up andthe families that I've brought
up, that you know, it's just, itwas once in a lifetime memories
.
You know, we're taking pictureswith bongos and bison and you
know it's kind of like that's,that's what keeps us going, is
(09:18):
the fact that so many peoplehave had such a good time.
You know, so that's, that'sreally the, the, the reasoning
behind it is puts people smileson their faces and, uh, you know
, selfishly, that makes me happy.
So that's why we keep doing it.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Well, and you know you've built this and there's
been so much success with that.
And then I think you know youprobably realize the long you
know along the way at some pointthat you know there's gonna be
a lot of folks who might want toit up and have that be.
You know something that you'dbe sharing with the general
public in that sense, and whatis that looking like as far as
(10:05):
what you're building and youknow?
Currently, let's just chatabout that a little bit and kind
of give people an idea of thosewho might want to come check
this out, how they can do thatand what that looks like.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
What caused that shift was my protein bill.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
I know what you're talking about.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Yeah, when I looked at my protein bill and my corn
bill, like oh my God, so thatwas.
But that was the, that was theshift.
So what we've done is we've gotsomething that we call the
annex, and the annex it's onHouston County Lake and it's on
the three acres on a point onHouston County Lake.
(10:42):
So that's what we.
You know, for the longest timeI would have my friends and
family and clients and everybody.
I could just come stay with meat my place, and my place is
right by the ranch.
But then we secured the annex,which is right next to it and
it's right by the ranch, butit's on the lake.
So now what we do is we'velisted that on Airbnb and we did
(11:04):
that literally within the lastweek.
Let's call it.
But for the ranch, when webring people in and people want
to, we have different packages.
So we've got individual packets.
Or, if it's a couple, packages,so we've got individual packets
.
Or, you know, if you want to,if it's a couple or if it's a
bachelor party or if it's agroup of girls or whatever.
You know, we have the annex.
It's got six beds in it andwhat we do is we offer different
(11:25):
packages for the ranch.
And I mean there's been there'sa lot of girls that I know that
haven't had the sameopportunities as guys, you know,
and they're growing up but theylove to fish and they love to
hunt.
So there's been a group of sixgirls and they said, hey, can
you help us?
You know, either set up.
So either set up with thefishing or the hunting.
(11:45):
We've got rifle ranges, we'vegot ski throwers, all of that
stuff.
So what's happened is this hasturned into not only just my
friends and family but groups ofguys and groups of girls or
little corporate retreats orwhatever.
You know, they'll rent theplace and then I've got packages
across the street whereliterally I'll tailor it to
(12:05):
whatever they want to do.
So we've got all sorts ofdifferent amenities where you
can either have the bisonexperience or the leaky
experience or the rifle range orshooting skeet or the kayaks or
the trophy bass pond or thecatfish pond.
All of these things are options, so we tailor, make that to
whoever the group is.
So it's been a lot of fun thatway.
(12:26):
But what's really cool, there'sa lot of parents that have kids
and they want their kids to gofishing, but they didn't really
grow up fishing so they may notbe as competent in that, but we
are.
So they'll sign up.
Or if they say, hey, I want totake my kids fishing, we'll take
them over to the ponds andwe'll bait hooks and we'll help
them, teach them how to fish andpull the fish off.
(12:49):
And you know the bass pond welet people catch and keep
certain amounts and the catfishpond is unlimited.
It's kind of a catch and cooktype thing where they catch as
many catfish as you want, cookthem and have a blast.
So all of those things.
You know whether they be.
I went fly fishing once andreally what I thought was we
(13:11):
were out there and these guyswere celebrating their 15th year
and their 20th year Everysingle year.
They got that group of guys andwent out there and these guys
were celebrating their 15th yearand their 20th year Every
single year.
They got that group of guys andwent out there and fly fishing
and I was like, wow, how cool isthat?
So you know, we want to be ableto do the same thing where you
have your favorite group ofgirls, whether they're, you know
, in whatever clubs they're in,whether it's be shooting clubs
(13:32):
or fishing clubs, or just yourgirlfriends that you, you know,
you go to yoga with, but you getto spend a week with them, or
three days, or four days, and ifwe can create an environment
that they look forward to itevery single year to come out
there and then we can help them.
If you know, there's certainpeople that you know they may
not be as proficient with riflesor pistols or fishing, and I
(13:54):
mean a lot of the girls we'vetaught how to shoot guns and
rifles.
Oh my God, george, just thefact they get so stoked, they're
, like I, feel empowered, youknow, because there's a lot of
people that don't really knowhow to even defend themselves.
And going back to my mom, whenthat happened to my mom, I,
literally, we lived in aneighborhood that happened to my
(14:19):
mom.
I, literally, we lived in aneighborhood and I paid for the
entire neighborhood to go to asAthena at the time, and we
rented, you know, a few of theinstructors and several of the
lanes, because the mostimportant thing is, if you're,
if you're going to have a gun,know how to shoot it and be safe
.
It has to be, you have to besafe.
So literally, we paid foreverybody to go there to learn
how to be safe.
So literally, we paid foreverybody to go there to learn
how to shoot guns.
(14:39):
So now when everybody comes upthe ranch, if they want to learn
, we teach them, you know.
So therefore it's the equalizer, you know, if you know, you
just want to be safe.
You want all the girls to besafe, the guys to be safe and be
able to be, you know, confidentin helping themselves.
So that's been a really, reallybig joy, like I said,
(15:03):
predominantly the girls,teaching them how to shoot and
letting them be able to defendthemselves.
But, like I said, probably themost fun is taking kids around,
throwing them in the back of thebuggies.
You're two feet three feet frombison.
Their eyes are like this, theirsmiles are like that.
I mean, it's freaking off thecharts, you know.
And it's so funny because a lotof the parents I'm like I'll
(15:23):
tell the kids hey, anytime youwant to come back, or I'll be
telling stories the parents like, wait, can we come back?
You know I'm like, yeah, youcan come back, you don't have to
bring the kids, but you know,because they want to bring their
friends.
So I'm just trying to create anenvironment where groups of
people can come every singleyear and just be looking forward
, like you know, when we weregrowing up, if you went to camp
(15:44):
or whatever you did, you got tosee your buddies.
And if you have to look forwardto doing this every year and
reserving the place and you haveall the different amenities to
do that, you know where else canyou go and play and pet, you
know, with bongos and bisons,and see the sable and like some
of the background.
Those are the deer that we have,you know, out of the ranch.
They're not little bitties,little bitty babies, you know,
(16:05):
they're pretty substantial.
So you know we've got areasthat different parts of the
ranch that you know the animalfeeding is one of the all-time
favorites.
All the families, you know wehave family reunions out there.
We go out there and have theevening animal feed.
So we go out there with cornand animal crackers and sit
there with all the animalsaround.
(16:26):
You'll have a hundred animalsaround you just eating and it's
a photographer's dream.
I mean the photographers love,love, love it because you can
get so close to the animals, youknow, and you know whether you
want to take pictures of fish orwhitetail or black buck or any
of those, the bongos.
That's been a massive, massivehit.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
I mean, I totally know what you're talking about
in this sense, like there'snothing like introducing
somebody to the outdoors thathasn't had that experience.
And where you're located.
I mean, you're not far from thetrifecta of big cities in Texas
, right?
It's not a far drive fromHouston, austin, dallas, any of
these places where people SanAntonio and to be able to
experience this, to get up closeto nature, have a chance to do
(17:08):
some shooting, have a chance todo some fishing, exploring,
hiking, walking around and justthe wonderments of the great
outdoors.
And then you're taking anotherlevel too of that too, where
that camaraderie they can havefrom these annual trips or
whatever it is.
But you also are creating avenue that will be able to host
weddings, and I'd love to talkabout that, because that's a
(17:29):
whole other level of this andwhat you're going to be bringing
to the table when that, youknow, is finally finished, and
once you talk to me a little bitabout that I know you're in the
middle of developing that andI'd love to hear you talk about
that and then I'd love to talkabout Heartbeat of the Hunter
after that.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
Sure, thank you, sir.
Yeah, you're right, we're rightbetween Dallas and Houston.
So normally a lot of theranches are all South Texas and
you're driving four or five, sixhours to get down there.
So that's been a huge draw, isjust being a couple hours from
Houston, you know, and the samewith Dallas, I mean it's it's.
There's a huge draw there andpeople don't want to drive all
the way down to South Texas.
Nothing against the South Texasranch.
(18:03):
They're gorgeous and they'remassive and we've all been there
so it's fantastic.
But, man, this is like a longcommute in Houston, you know.
So it's not a bad deal.
But so what we're doing is likeright now, like you can go one
of two places.
There's the Airbnb that we can,you can get to it from there.
But at Stone Ranch, tx, whichis our website, we've got
(18:25):
different packages, you know.
So there's individual packages,there's nightly stays.
Basically it's the privateranch experience, because what
we do is we shut the ranch downfor you.
Most ranches you're part ofgroups and they're still fun.
There's different groups andyou get to share and everything
(18:45):
else like that.
The differentiator is thisranch.
We shut it down, it's for you.
If you want to go left, youwant to go right, you want to go
shoot, you want to do whateveryou choose to do, we can do.
So.
It's having your own ranch, andthat's spectacular.
Everybody has loved thatBecause, like wait, we don't
have to share, it's ours Likeyes, that's right.
(19:07):
So right now through there, youknow we'll have, we have
packages that you know you cango ahead and rent it for as long
as you want.
You know I mean either weekendsor you know there's corporate
retreats.
People will come from Monday toThursday or Monday to.
Wednesday and we will set up.
You know projectors and stuff.
But what we did is, right nowwe're building a 10,000 square
(19:34):
foot.
Basically it's a lodge, andit'll have six bedrooms and in
the back, the way we have it setup, you can fit probably up to
120 people.
So you can really fit probably150, but I'd like to keep it
down to 100, 120 or so.
And what that is it's for awedding venue.
So both that and corporateretreats where you can rent a
lodge.
And then we also haveeverything that's available at
(19:57):
the ranch.
So basically you can have allyour corporate meetings in the
morning and then go across thestreet and we can go fishing, we
can go hiking, we can go seeanimals, feed animals, anything
like that.
And on the ranch itself we havewhat we call an amphitheater
and we're building stair-stepped, overlooking the water.
So there's a big deck on thebottom and we're building that
(20:23):
now, you know, or within thenext few months.
So there's a deck on the bottomand it's tiered so people can
sit down, you know, kind of likean amphitheater, like you see a
lot of times when you're doingyour concerts, you know, and
it's overlooking the water.
So literally, when that's done.
You can sit down there andpeople can get married there as
well, and we'll drop corn in thebackground.
So I can imagine seeing Romeoand Juliet get married down
(20:44):
there and have all sorts of youknow white tail and deer and
animals all in the backgroundacross the water.
It'll be spectacular.
So, and then the lodge.
Of course, that's like I said,it's 10,000 feet.
You can have receptions there,you can have quinceaneras there,
you can have all of that stuff.
So it's going to be a lot offun.
So that's probably.
It'll probably be first quarter, 26,.
(21:06):
Maybe third quarter, dependinghow, or fourth quarter,
depending how quickly we get itdone.
Amphitheater is starting towork on that as well.
So there's a, there's a ton ofstuff going on and that's, of
course, my my day dot, my dayjob.
Like I said, I'm a generalcontractor.
That's what I do every day, andyou know, on nights and
weekends we're kind ofdeveloping the, the ranch, and
then then the outdoor lifestylebrand that I was telling you
(21:29):
about.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
Yeah.
So let's, let's jump into thatman.
So obviously, uh, you know you,you created the logo, you've
got the stone ranch idea andthen tell me about what it was
that made you decide to buildthis brand and have something
even more so than just the ranchexperience that I mean cause
you if you weren't busy enough.
Now you've got this amazingbrand that you're launching.
You've already done some shows.
You've got some more coming uptoo.
It's very exciting.
You know some amazing apparel,jewelry, all sorts of things.
(21:59):
So just kind of dive into that.
And when did that start?
When did that kind of ideaclick and what was it about that
that made you want to run withthat and build this brand?
Speaker 1 (22:13):
So first it's my folks' fault, because I'm doing
this for my folks.
We're going to blame everythingon them because I wanted to
make them happy.
But while trying to make themhappy I've also made myself
happy because I experienced thelove of the outdoors.
You know, my only love for theoutdoors as I was growing up was
mowing grass kind of adifferent love.
So the love of the outdoors nowis being out there with all the
animals and seeing them andfeeding them and nurturing them
and taking care of them anddefending them.
(22:34):
We'll get into the defense ofthem later on, against the
coyotes, against the diseases,against all of that stuff.
It's all part of the management.
But heartbeat of a hunter we'reall hunters.
Whether you're hunting for theperfect spouse or you're hunting
for the perfect photograph orthe perfect dinner or the
perfect animal, whatever it is,we're all hunters.
(22:55):
We're hunting for happiness.
So the heartbeat of a hunter is, you know we're hunting the
outdoors, the experiences, soone of the things like for the
hunters themselves, it's kind ofa neat deal, like if you're
trying to pull a trigger.
It happened to me the othernight, you know I was trying to
defend the animals and we haveto take out coyotes, because
(23:16):
coyotes, unfortunately, they tryto take out your fawns.
You know whether it doesn'tmatter which fawns, whether it
be whitetail or whatever, I'drather harvest a coyote than let
that coyote eat an animal alive.
You know, that's no way to go.
So when you have something inyour scope and right before
you're pulling that trigger,your heart's just beating.
(23:39):
You know, and I mean that'sthat heartbeat of a hunter is
like.
It's that adrenaline fix.
You know.
Same like when you met yourwife.
You know you've been huntingyour wife for you know however
many years.
You know, luckily, you met yourbeautiful wife when you were
younger, you know, and so you'vebeen married for a long time.
It's been beautiful, but whenyou met her, your heart's just
freaking, pumping, you know.
So that's what the whole logois.
(24:00):
I mean, it's the heartbeat of ahunter.
Our logo is about the outdoors,you know it's with whitetail,
waterfowl, bass, fish, fishing,et cetera, and it has the
heartbeat going through it,because that's what makes your
heartbeat is being in theoutdoors.
So that's kind of how itstarted.
Everybody that saw the logo waslike oh my god, I love that, I
love that, I love that.
(24:20):
So I was like you know what.
Just like I wanted to share theranch, I want to share that
experience and that logo withother people.
So basically, what we've done iswe've created, uh, all sorts of
merchandise.
You know.
There's apparel such as this.
There's hats You'rerepresenting well, I love the
hat.
You know we've got jewelry.
I mean one day we hope to bewith the outdoor elites of the
(24:43):
world.
You know your Hannah Barons,your Eva Shockings.
I mean those girls are amazing.
I like to visit with them aboutthe brand, you know, because
it's the love of the outdoors,you know.
But you know we have knives,we've got, you know, all sorts
of neat merchandise.
We have it all on the site.
So we went to the HoustonSafari Club and launched it in
their convention and it wasextremely well received.
(25:05):
So it's been a lot of fun.
So now we're trying to, you know, increase the brand awareness.
We're trying to, you know,we'll increase some of the
different things that we'recarrying as we grow.
So I mean that's been a lot offun.
So, you know, really it's theday job and then on the weekends
we try to take people out atthe ranch.
(25:26):
If they want to go during theweek, we've got people up there
that will host them, so they can.
Right now there's six bedroomsin the annex is what we call it
and it's literally on threeacres on a point on Houston
County Lake.
I mean it seems so private.
So I mean, if you see thepictures of it, everybody
freaking loves it.
They're like man.
So you know, we sell packagesthrough stoneranchtxcom and then
(25:50):
we also offer it on Airbnb ifit's not busy during the week,
because there's also a day passthat we, you know we'll let
people come out there and we'll.
You know they've got access tothe ponds and you know we'll
take them for some of thesafaris and you know, do the
animal feedings, stuff like that.
So we're trying to make it so wecan share as many people as we
can pay for the protein bill,hopefully a little bit left over
(26:12):
for the electricity bill, andbut it's been a lot of fun and
it's been so well received.
You know we get texts andletters that you know literally
there's a gentleman out therethe other day and he had his
grandson and their friends and Igot this beautiful text and
these were people that lived inBel Air but I got the beautiful
text that you know these kids.
They said they had the time oftheir life.
(26:34):
I mean, they had never had abetter time.
You know, and you know theseare kids that have done a lot of
stuff, so we knew we were doingsomething right.
When it's kids that are exposedto a lot of different
opportunities, you know, aroundthe world, and they said, hey,
that was the time of their life.
Now, granted, they were fishingfor bass and they had bison
(26:55):
just walking around next to them, so that probably a little bit
of adrenaline rush.
They probably had something todo with it, but they had a great
time.
And that's why we do it.
We want to share and we want tolet as many people be exposed
to this as possible.
I want to help as many girls aswe can learn to defend
themselves and empowerthemselves, you know.
So we do anything we can to doto help with them, the guys you
(27:18):
know.
I mean, just like I said whenwe went fly fishing, it was just
fun to see your buddies everyyear, give them something to
look forward to.
So you know, we're creating anenvironment that people can
create lifeline memories andlook forward to things every
year.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
Well, you've done such an amazing job at that and
I'd love to see this grow.
Like I mentioned earlier, oneof the nicest guys I've ever met
.
I can't think of a better hostand the passion that you have
for the outdoors and what you'rebuilding, man, it transcends
and it's just a kind of thatenergy keeps going.
Man, you have so many beautifulareas around your, your ranch.
You have so many beautifulareas around your, your ranch.
(27:54):
You have so many amazinganimals, uh, and opportunities,
and just for people to go inthere and kind of soak in and
check off so many boxes all atonce.
I mean, it is truly incredible.
Um, you know, I I'm just I'm sohappy to see this continuing
growing success and I can't waitfor more people to be able to
experience this.
I highly suggest everyone checkout the links in the show notes
below to experience this.
I highly suggest everyone checkout the links in the show notes
(28:15):
below.
Go and book a weekend, go checkout this place and, you know,
on Airbnb, go check out thewebsites as well and, you know,
get yourself some cool jewelry,a knife, all sorts of great
stuff, man, awesome apparel,everything all around man.
I'm just, I'm really excited tosee this continue to build, and
I'd love that you're justsharing this with everyone and I
want to just thank you forcoming in and sharing your
passion and your projects herewith me today and with the
(28:36):
audience.
I know that there's a lot thatthey can go and check out and
really enjoy from all the thingswe've talked about in the
podcast notes below.
So please go do that, go andfollow.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
And why don't you go ahead and tell real quick
everyone where they can followyou as far as like on social, so
they can kind of see the?
Uh, you know more updatedthings than maybe just the
website, sure?
Well, uh, the main thing isstone ranch, txcom, that's the
website for the ranch, and thenheartbeat of a huntercom is the
uh is the website for you knowthat type of merchandise, uh,
and then there's basically atheartbeat of a hunter and at
stone ranch, uh, those are thesocials you know.
As far as Instagram andFacebook, I think we have both
of those going.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
Cheers, man.
Well, thank you so much, john.
And again, everyone, go checkout the show notes below and you
know we'll have you back on.
We'll do some updates and youknow, make sure that you guys
follow my socials as well.
I'll be sharing a lot of theupdates, especially as the
venue's getting closer together.
When you guys can go and havethe perfect wedding at the Stone
Ranch, can't think of a betterplace to do it, man.
So, hey, thank you once againfor joining me today, john, and
(29:38):
you have a blessed day, sir.
Thanks, billy, take care.
Cheers.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
Cheers.
This is John Stone with Stone Ranch and Heartbeat
of a Hunter, and you'relistening to the Son of a Blitch
podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Hello John.
How the heck are you doingtoday, man?
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Man, I'm doing fantastic.
I'm just glad to be in thecompany of George Blitz.
The George Blitz Tell you whatan old-time friend.
It's so good to see your face,my friend.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Yours as well, man.
So for those who don't knowwhich many people listening may
not John and I have known eachother for at least two decades,
that's right.
We met when we were like fouror five years old and we've been
playing soccer together andJohn is one of the nicest people
I've ever met in my life.
That's kind of how I describeyou.
But you are a man of manytalents.
(00:56):
Many things got going on.
Why don't you give us a littlebit of background, talk about
your day job and talk about alittle bit of intro on?
You know the two things you gotkicking these days that we're
going to focus on and talk about, and that's the Stone Ranch and
Heartbeat of a Hunter.
So maybe you can give a littlebit of background.
You know kind of where you're,you know born and raised, and
maybe how you got involved withyour love of the outdoors, and
then we'll kind of talk aboutthe new projects you got going
(01:17):
on right now.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Oh, fantastic, I appreciate that.
And for your audience, I don'tknow if they know how incredible
of a soccer player you are anamazing drummer, you know,
traveled throughout the countrydoing such, so it's kind of a
neat deal.
One of these days I want you tokind of tell more about
yourself because I mean, a lotof your listeners probably don't
know what the diversebackground that you have, but
(01:39):
it's a lot of fun.
So, national Geographic.
But I was actually born inCorpus Christi.
So I moved, was born in CorpusChristi until I was five, born
in the same hospital as FerretFawcett.
That was a big deal.
When I was in junior high Ibecame one of the cool kids
because I was born in the samehospital as Ferret Fawcett but
(01:59):
moved to Houston when I was five, got hit by a car, lost my
memory, the ability to smell, soI'm kind of a native Houstonian
.
So I've been here ever since,took a quick sabbatical over at
A&M and came back hereafterwards.
So my day job.
I'm a commercial generalcontractor here in Houston.
So since I wasn't busy enough,I still had four hours left in
(02:20):
the day because I was onlyworking 20 hours a day I kind of
, you know, got into theoutdoors.
It was kind of a wild reasonthat I got into the outdoors,
but we can go over that and thenhow we get into the brand as
well.
So let me go ahead and kind oftell you how I dove into the
outdoors.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Absolutely Len.
I think this is quite theorigin story.
Why don't you go ahead and tellme a little bit about it?
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Well, it was one of those chance in a million deal.
My father had West Nile virus.
He was a workaholic, and so Ikind of grew up doing the same
thing, mowing grass, you know,nights and weekends, at the time
when I was going to school.
But he got bit by a mosquito,got West Nile virus and then
from there he had meningitis,had a stroke, so he wasn't super
, super fit, you know.
(03:03):
So, anyway, fast forward.
Unfortunately, one night theywere in the Spring Branch area
and you know he's in awheelchair, sits sitting up.
So bad guys broke into thehouse, put a gun to his head so
I'm gonna blow your head off.
And you know they asked ifanybody else was in the house.
He's not gonna get my mom up.
So they cracked his head open,they threw him on the ground,
(03:25):
cracked his chest, and so theonly good news is they made so
much noise beating the hell outof my dad.
I woke my mom up, so literallymy mom.
I built a back door for them toever get out, but instead of
running out the back door andcalling 911.
My mom's kind of a badass.
So she grabbed a gun and raninto the fire and ran those
(03:48):
bastards off.
And so anyway, I tell you thatpart of the story is because it
was around Mother's Day and inHouston there's a radio station,
104 KRBE.
They said nominate your mom forMother's Day.
So anyway, I called in.
Long story short, my mom won it,ruled it, nicknamed my mom the
(04:09):
Warrior Princess.
She loved it.
So we kept the Warrior Princessname.
But the reason I tell you thatis my father.
Since he can't get around much,we moved him up to Crockett and
you know he loves both my folkslove the outdoors.
So I found a little piece ofdirt right around where they
lived, threw a high fence aroundit and there's a little story
(04:33):
on the development of that, butanyway he threw some animals on
it so I could take some picturesand videos so I could show my
folks and put smiles on theirface and that's, you know,
that's all I really gave a damnabout is making them happy.
So that's literally how I gotinto ranching and you know I had
no idea but I figured, you know, other human beings can do it.
If they can do it, I can do it.
(04:53):
It's just going to take a wholelot of hard work and focus and
that's how it started.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
So you've got this land and you're like, all right,
I'm going to develop, I'm goingto bring all these animals on
and kind of just create this togive back to those who gave so
much to you.
And I love that story.
I love, you know, the heart andpassion that comes behind it
and sharing that with yourfamily.
And you know I want to talkabout a little bit.
You know, I know that you knowstage one, right, you buy this
land and it's undeveloped.
(05:20):
So you ended up doing a lot ofdevelopment and kind of getting
it to where you wanted to see.
You know, as far as you know,getting some water features on
the property and looking at theelevation.
So why don't you talk to me alittle bit about that, like when
you're sitting there at a blankcanvas, you know, and just kind
of your Google Earth image orwhatever it is that you're
looking at, and then you decide,ok, I'm going to go ahead and
develop this.
What was your goal in mind andwhat were some of the things
(05:40):
that you were doing at the veryonset of that to be able to
create this?
Speaker 1 (05:45):
So when I started I wanted to get a place close to
my folks so I could get themover there or take videos and
pictures and go see them.
So I found a piece of propertythat was close and it was right
on the lake by Houston CountyLake.
So it was a perfect, perfectlocation close to them.
And then so I bought it andwhen I look at it in order to
(06:05):
develop it, it's just solidtrees.
So I took the, I got atopography map because you're
not going to fight God, I'mgoing to see what God gave me.
So you know, god gave us thistopography and I looked at it
and then I got a protractor out.
Really and most people canshoot or see either with
binoculars or a gun 100 yards.
So I took a protractor out andI looked at the topography.
(06:27):
Then I started drawing arcs andcircles so I could put feeders
and I could put blinds.
I looked at, kind of, where thelow areas were so I could dig
those out and create waterfeatures and lakes and streams
and ponds and catfish ponds andbass ponds.
So anyway, I drew all that outand then I went to a timber
company and I brought the timbercompany in and I had them clear
(06:51):
where I wanted the pastures.
So then of course it has toflow, you know.
So none of the all the blindsare facing different places.
You know you're not shooting atone another, you're pointing
down, you know not near oneanother.
So then we cleared, cleared itall, and then I got track goes
in and pulled up all the stumpsbecause we're gonna, you know,
create food plots and stuff forthe animals so they're healthy,
(07:13):
uh, and then we, so we pulledthe track goes in and got all
the dump, you know, stumps out,and then we seeded it and you
know it's kind of a, it was kindof a wild deal.
Then we stocked the pond, so sowe pulled a 12-pound, 4-ounce
bass out of the trophy pond.
So for people that don't knowthat, a 12-pound, 4-ounce bass
is very nice, it's a nice bass.
(07:34):
So we have catfish pond, a basspond and stuff like that.
So anyway, then I could grab myfolks and either drag them over
periodically the recovery was alittle too hard but I could
take videos and take them overthere.
So I saw how much fun it wasfor my folks and how much they
enjoyed it.
And I've always been a firmbeliever is if you have
(07:55):
something, you have to share.
You know, because it's reallyreally tough to develop stuff
and you and I are blessed.
You know we've worked very,very hard.
But there's not everybody's notso fortunate to be able to have
done this Now.
Granted, we sacrificed a ton todo that.
But, man, I really want toshare.
I'm selfish when I see people'ssmiles.
That's what makes me happy.
(08:15):
You know, I'm selfish when Isee people's smiles.
That's what makes me happy.
So what I do now is, every timeon the high fence there's a ton
of animals in there.
It's kind of like I wasstarting to build a park for a
while.
I've had two bongos, two sable,two bison and we've got tons of
whitetail and axis and fallowand black bug antelope.
But every time I see kidsoutside the fence, they're all
looking inside, looking, youknow, looking at the animals.
(08:36):
And I'm a sucker, you know.
If you're a veteran, if you'vebeen on the armed forces, if
you've been on the police or ifyou've been kids or if you've
been sick, you know I'll doanything to help you, you know.
So if I see kids out there onthe fence and I'm either running
the fence line or setting asnare or whatever.
I'm like, hey, do you want tosee some animals?
And they're like, oh my God.
So we'll open up a gate, we'llthrow them in the back of the
(08:58):
Polaris or the Can-Am orwhatever we've got and take them
around and just create thosememories for them.
Because, you know, I've had somany people tell me, and the
people that I've brought up andthe families that I've brought
up, that you know, it's just, itwas once in a lifetime memories
.
You know, we're taking pictureswith bongos and bison and you
know it's kind of like that's,that's what keeps us going, is
(09:18):
the fact that so many peoplehave had such a good time.
You know, so that's, that'sreally the, the, the reasoning
behind it is puts people smileson their faces and, uh, you know
, selfishly, that makes me happy.
So that's why we keep doing it.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Well, and you know you've built this and there's
been so much success with that.
And then I think you know youprobably realize the long you
know along the way at some pointthat you know there's gonna be
a lot of folks who might want toit up and have that be.
You know something that you'dbe sharing with the general
public in that sense, and whatis that looking like as far as
(10:05):
what you're building and youknow?
Currently, let's just chatabout that a little bit and kind
of give people an idea of thosewho might want to come check
this out, how they can do thatand what that looks like.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
What caused that shift was my protein bill.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
I know what you're talking about.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Yeah, when I looked at my protein bill and my corn
bill, like oh my God, so thatwas.
But that was the, that was theshift.
So what we've done is we've gotsomething that we call the
annex, and the annex it's onHouston County Lake and it's on
the three acres on a point onHouston County Lake.
(10:42):
So that's what we.
You know, for the longest timeI would have my friends and
family and clients and everybody.
I could just come stay with meat my place, and my place is
right by the ranch.
But then we secured the annex,which is right next to it and
it's right by the ranch, butit's on the lake.
So now what we do is we'velisted that on Airbnb and we did
(11:04):
that literally within the lastweek.
Let's call it.
But for the ranch, when webring people in and people want
to, we have different packages.
So we've got individual packets.
Or, if it's a couple, packages,so we've got individual packets
.
Or, you know, if you want to,if it's a couple or if it's a
bachelor party or if it's agroup of girls or whatever.
You know, we have the annex.
It's got six beds in it andwhat we do is we offer different
(11:25):
packages for the ranch.
And I mean there's been there'sa lot of girls that I know that
haven't had the sameopportunities as guys, you know,
and they're growing up but theylove to fish and they love to
hunt.
So there's been a group of sixgirls and they said, hey, can
you help us?
You know, either set up.
So either set up with thefishing or the hunting.
(11:45):
We've got rifle ranges, we'vegot ski throwers, all of that
stuff.
So what's happened is this hasturned into not only just my
friends and family but groups ofguys and groups of girls or
little corporate retreats orwhatever.
You know, they'll rent theplace and then I've got packages
across the street whereliterally I'll tailor it to
(12:05):
whatever they want to do.
So we've got all sorts ofdifferent amenities where you
can either have the bisonexperience or the leaky
experience or the rifle range orshooting skeet or the kayaks or
the trophy bass pond or thecatfish pond.
All of these things are options, so we tailor, make that to
whoever the group is.
So it's been a lot of fun thatway.
(12:26):
But what's really cool, there'sa lot of parents that have kids
and they want their kids to gofishing, but they didn't really
grow up fishing so they may notbe as competent in that, but we
are.
So they'll sign up.
Or if they say, hey, I want totake my kids fishing, we'll take
them over to the ponds andwe'll bait hooks and we'll help
them, teach them how to fish andpull the fish off.
(12:49):
And you know the bass pond welet people catch and keep
certain amounts and the catfishpond is unlimited.
It's kind of a catch and cooktype thing where they catch as
many catfish as you want, cookthem and have a blast.
So all of those things.
You know whether they be.
I went fly fishing once andreally what I thought was we
(13:11):
were out there and these guyswere celebrating their 15th year
and their 20th year Everysingle year.
They got that group of guys andwent out there and these guys
were celebrating their 15th yearand their 20th year Every
single year.
They got that group of guys andwent out there and fly fishing
and I was like, wow, how cool isthat?
So you know, we want to be ableto do the same thing where you
have your favorite group ofgirls, whether they're, you know
, in whatever clubs they're in,whether it's be shooting clubs
(13:32):
or fishing clubs, or just yourgirlfriends that you, you know,
you go to yoga with, but you getto spend a week with them, or
three days, or four days, and ifwe can create an environment
that they look forward to itevery single year to come out
there and then we can help them.
If you know, there's certainpeople that you know they may
not be as proficient with riflesor pistols or fishing, and I
(13:54):
mean a lot of the girls we'vetaught how to shoot guns and
rifles.
Oh my God, george, just thefact they get so stoked, they're
, like I, feel empowered, youknow, because there's a lot of
people that don't really knowhow to even defend themselves.
And going back to my mom, whenthat happened to my mom, I,
literally, we lived in aneighborhood that happened to my
(14:19):
mom.
I, literally, we lived in aneighborhood and I paid for the
entire neighborhood to go to asAthena at the time, and we
rented, you know, a few of theinstructors and several of the
lanes, because the mostimportant thing is, if you're,
if you're going to have a gun,know how to shoot it and be safe
.
It has to be, you have to besafe.
So literally, we paid foreverybody to go there to learn
how to be safe.
So literally, we paid foreverybody to go there to learn
how to shoot guns.
(14:39):
So now when everybody comes upthe ranch, if they want to learn
, we teach them, you know.
So therefore it's the equalizer, you know, if you know, you
just want to be safe.
You want all the girls to besafe, the guys to be safe and be
able to be, you know, confidentin helping themselves.
So that's been a really, reallybig joy, like I said,
(15:03):
predominantly the girls,teaching them how to shoot and
letting them be able to defendthemselves.
But, like I said, probably themost fun is taking kids around,
throwing them in the back of thebuggies.
You're two feet three feet frombison.
Their eyes are like this, theirsmiles are like that.
I mean, it's freaking off thecharts, you know.
And it's so funny because a lotof the parents I'm like I'll
(15:23):
tell the kids hey, anytime youwant to come back, or I'll be
telling stories the parents like, wait, can we come back?
You know I'm like, yeah, youcan come back, you don't have to
bring the kids, but you know,because they want to bring their
friends.
So I'm just trying to create anenvironment where groups of
people can come every singleyear and just be looking forward
, like you know, when we weregrowing up, if you went to camp
(15:44):
or whatever you did, you got tosee your buddies.
And if you have to look forwardto doing this every year and
reserving the place and you haveall the different amenities to
do that, you know where else canyou go and play and pet, you
know, with bongos and bisons,and see the sable and like some
of the background.
Those are the deer that we have,you know, out of the ranch.
They're not little bitties,little bitty babies, you know,
(16:05):
they're pretty substantial.
So you know we've got areasthat different parts of the
ranch that you know the animalfeeding is one of the all-time
favorites.
All the families, you know wehave family reunions out there.
We go out there and have theevening animal feed.
So we go out there with cornand animal crackers and sit
there with all the animalsaround.
(16:26):
You'll have a hundred animalsaround you just eating and it's
a photographer's dream.
I mean the photographers love,love, love it because you can
get so close to the animals, youknow, and you know whether you
want to take pictures of fish orwhitetail or black buck or any
of those, the bongos.
That's been a massive, massivehit.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
I mean, I totally know what you're talking about
in this sense, like there'snothing like introducing
somebody to the outdoors thathasn't had that experience.
And where you're located.
I mean, you're not far from thetrifecta of big cities in Texas
, right?
It's not a far drive fromHouston, austin, dallas, any of
these places where people SanAntonio and to be able to
experience this, to get up closeto nature, have a chance to do
(17:08):
some shooting, have a chance todo some fishing, exploring,
hiking, walking around and justthe wonderments of the great
outdoors.
And then you're taking anotherlevel too of that too, where
that camaraderie they can havefrom these annual trips or
whatever it is.
But you also are creating avenue that will be able to host
weddings, and I'd love to talkabout that, because that's a
(17:29):
whole other level of this andwhat you're going to be bringing
to the table when that, youknow, is finally finished, and
once you talk to me a little bitabout that I know you're in the
middle of developing that andI'd love to hear you talk about
that and then I'd love to talkabout Heartbeat of the Hunter
after that.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
Sure, thank you, sir.
Yeah, you're right, we're rightbetween Dallas and Houston.
So normally a lot of theranches are all South Texas and
you're driving four or five, sixhours to get down there.
So that's been a huge draw, isjust being a couple hours from
Houston, you know, and the samewith Dallas, I mean it's it's.
There's a huge draw there andpeople don't want to drive all
the way down to South Texas.
Nothing against the South Texasranch.
(18:03):
They're gorgeous and they'remassive and we've all been there
so it's fantastic.
But, man, this is like a longcommute in Houston, you know.
So it's not a bad deal.
But so what we're doing is likeright now, like you can go one
of two places.
There's the Airbnb that we can,you can get to it from there.
But at Stone Ranch, tx, whichis our website, we've got
(18:25):
different packages, you know.
So there's individual packages,there's nightly stays.
Basically it's the privateranch experience, because what
we do is we shut the ranch downfor you.
Most ranches you're part ofgroups and they're still fun.
There's different groups andyou get to share and everything
(18:45):
else like that.
The differentiator is thisranch.
We shut it down, it's for you.
If you want to go left, youwant to go right, you want to go
shoot, you want to do whateveryou choose to do, we can do.
So.
It's having your own ranch, andthat's spectacular.
Everybody has loved thatBecause, like wait, we don't
have to share, it's ours Likeyes, that's right.
(19:07):
So right now through there, youknow we'll have, we have
packages that you know you cango ahead and rent it for as long
as you want.
You know I mean either weekendsor you know there's corporate
retreats.
People will come from Monday toThursday or Monday to.
Wednesday and we will set up.
You know projectors and stuff.
But what we did is, right nowwe're building a 10,000 square
(19:34):
foot.
Basically it's a lodge, andit'll have six bedrooms and in
the back, the way we have it setup, you can fit probably up to
120 people.
So you can really fit probably150, but I'd like to keep it
down to 100, 120 or so.
And what that is it's for awedding venue.
So both that and corporateretreats where you can rent a
lodge.
And then we also haveeverything that's available at
(19:57):
the ranch.
So basically you can have allyour corporate meetings in the
morning and then go across thestreet and we can go fishing, we
can go hiking, we can go seeanimals, feed animals, anything
like that.
And on the ranch itself we havewhat we call an amphitheater
and we're building stair-stepped, overlooking the water.
So there's a big deck on thebottom and we're building that
(20:23):
now, you know, or within thenext few months.
So there's a deck on the bottomand it's tiered so people can
sit down, you know, kind of likean amphitheater, like you see a
lot of times when you're doingyour concerts, you know, and
it's overlooking the water.
So literally, when that's done.
You can sit down there andpeople can get married there as
well, and we'll drop corn in thebackground.
So I can imagine seeing Romeoand Juliet get married down
(20:44):
there and have all sorts of youknow white tail and deer and
animals all in the backgroundacross the water.
It'll be spectacular.
So, and then the lodge.
Of course, that's like I said,it's 10,000 feet.
You can have receptions there,you can have quinceaneras there,
you can have all of that stuff.
So it's going to be a lot offun.
So that's probably.
It'll probably be first quarter, 26,.
(21:06):
Maybe third quarter, dependinghow, or fourth quarter,
depending how quickly we get itdone.
Amphitheater is starting towork on that as well.
So there's a, there's a ton ofstuff going on and that's, of
course, my my day dot, my dayjob.
Like I said, I'm a generalcontractor.
That's what I do every day, andyou know, on nights and
weekends we're kind ofdeveloping the, the ranch, and
then then the outdoor lifestylebrand that I was telling you
(21:29):
about.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
Yeah.
So let's, let's jump into thatman.
So obviously, uh, you know you,you created the logo, you've
got the stone ranch idea andthen tell me about what it was
that made you decide to buildthis brand and have something
even more so than just the ranchexperience that I mean cause
you if you weren't busy enough.
Now you've got this amazingbrand that you're launching.
You've already done some shows.
You've got some more coming uptoo.
It's very exciting.
You know some amazing apparel,jewelry, all sorts of things.
(21:59):
So just kind of dive into that.
And when did that start?
When did that kind of ideaclick and what was it about that
that made you want to run withthat and build this brand?
Speaker 1 (22:13):
So first it's my folks' fault, because I'm doing
this for my folks.
We're going to blame everythingon them because I wanted to
make them happy.
But while trying to make themhappy I've also made myself
happy because I experienced thelove of the outdoors.
You know, my only love for theoutdoors as I was growing up was
mowing grass kind of adifferent love.
So the love of the outdoors nowis being out there with all the
animals and seeing them andfeeding them and nurturing them
and taking care of them anddefending them.
(22:34):
We'll get into the defense ofthem later on, against the
coyotes, against the diseases,against all of that stuff.
It's all part of the management.
But heartbeat of a hunter we'reall hunters.
Whether you're hunting for theperfect spouse or you're hunting
for the perfect photograph orthe perfect dinner or the
perfect animal, whatever it is,we're all hunters.
(22:55):
We're hunting for happiness.
So the heartbeat of a hunter is, you know we're hunting the
outdoors, the experiences, soone of the things like for the
hunters themselves, it's kind ofa neat deal, like if you're
trying to pull a trigger.
It happened to me the othernight, you know I was trying to
defend the animals and we haveto take out coyotes, because
(23:16):
coyotes, unfortunately, they tryto take out your fawns.
You know whether it doesn'tmatter which fawns, whether it
be whitetail or whatever, I'drather harvest a coyote than let
that coyote eat an animal alive.
You know, that's no way to go.
So when you have something inyour scope and right before
you're pulling that trigger,your heart's just beating.
(23:39):
You know, and I mean that'sthat heartbeat of a hunter is
like.
It's that adrenaline fix.
You know.
Same like when you met yourwife.
You know you've been huntingyour wife for you know however
many years.
You know, luckily, you met yourbeautiful wife when you were
younger, you know, and so you'vebeen married for a long time.
It's been beautiful, but whenyou met her, your heart's just
freaking, pumping, you know.
So that's what the whole logois.
(24:00):
I mean, it's the heartbeat of ahunter.
Our logo is about the outdoors,you know it's with whitetail,
waterfowl, bass, fish, fishing,et cetera, and it has the
heartbeat going through it,because that's what makes your
heartbeat is being in theoutdoors.
So that's kind of how itstarted.
Everybody that saw the logo waslike oh my god, I love that, I
love that, I love that.
(24:20):
So I was like you know what.
Just like I wanted to share theranch, I want to share that
experience and that logo withother people.
So basically, what we've done iswe've created, uh, all sorts of
merchandise.
You know.
There's apparel such as this.
There's hats You'rerepresenting well, I love the
hat.
You know we've got jewelry.
I mean one day we hope to bewith the outdoor elites of the
(24:43):
world.
You know your Hannah Barons,your Eva Shockings.
I mean those girls are amazing.
I like to visit with them aboutthe brand, you know, because
it's the love of the outdoors,you know.
But you know we have knives,we've got, you know, all sorts
of neat merchandise.
We have it all on the site.
So we went to the HoustonSafari Club and launched it in
their convention and it wasextremely well received.
(25:05):
So it's been a lot of fun.
So now we're trying to, you know, increase the brand awareness.
We're trying to, you know,we'll increase some of the
different things that we'recarrying as we grow.
So I mean that's been a lot offun.
So, you know, really it's theday job and then on the weekends
we try to take people out atthe ranch.
(25:26):
If they want to go during theweek, we've got people up there
that will host them, so they can.
Right now there's six bedroomsin the annex is what we call it
and it's literally on threeacres on a point on Houston
County Lake.
I mean it seems so private.
So I mean, if you see thepictures of it, everybody
freaking loves it.
They're like man.
So you know, we sell packagesthrough stoneranchtxcom and then
(25:50):
we also offer it on Airbnb ifit's not busy during the week,
because there's also a day passthat we, you know we'll let
people come out there and we'll.
You know they've got access tothe ponds and you know we'll
take them for some of thesafaris and you know, do the
animal feedings, stuff like that.
So we're trying to make it so wecan share as many people as we
can pay for the protein bill,hopefully a little bit left over
(26:12):
for the electricity bill, andbut it's been a lot of fun and
it's been so well received.
You know we get texts andletters that you know literally
there's a gentleman out therethe other day and he had his
grandson and their friends and Igot this beautiful text and
these were people that lived inBel Air but I got the beautiful
text that you know these kids.
They said they had the time oftheir life.
(26:34):
I mean, they had never had abetter time.
You know, and you know theseare kids that have done a lot of
stuff, so we knew we were doingsomething right.
When it's kids that are exposedto a lot of different
opportunities, you know, aroundthe world, and they said, hey,
that was the time of their life.
Now, granted, they were fishingfor bass and they had bison
(26:55):
just walking around next to them, so that probably a little bit
of adrenaline rush.
They probably had something todo with it, but they had a great
time.
And that's why we do it.
We want to share and we want tolet as many people be exposed
to this as possible.
I want to help as many girls aswe can learn to defend
themselves and empowerthemselves, you know.
So we do anything we can to doto help with them, the guys you
(27:18):
know.
I mean, just like I said whenwe went fly fishing, it was just
fun to see your buddies everyyear, give them something to
look forward to.
So you know, we're creating anenvironment that people can
create lifeline memories andlook forward to things every
year.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
Well, you've done such an amazing job at that and
I'd love to see this grow.
Like I mentioned earlier, oneof the nicest guys I've ever met
.
I can't think of a better hostand the passion that you have
for the outdoors and what you'rebuilding, man, it transcends
and it's just a kind of thatenergy keeps going.
Man, you have so many beautifulareas around your, your ranch.
You have so many beautifulareas around your, your ranch.
(27:54):
You have so many amazinganimals, uh, and opportunities,
and just for people to go inthere and kind of soak in and
check off so many boxes all atonce.
I mean, it is truly incredible.
Um, you know, I I'm just I'm sohappy to see this continuing
growing success and I can't waitfor more people to be able to
experience this.
I highly suggest everyone checkout the links in the show notes
below to experience this.
I highly suggest everyone checkout the links in the show notes
(28:15):
below.
Go and book a weekend, go checkout this place and, you know,
on Airbnb, go check out thewebsites as well and, you know,
get yourself some cool jewelry,a knife, all sorts of great
stuff, man, awesome apparel,everything all around man.
I'm just, I'm really excited tosee this continue to build, and
I'd love that you're justsharing this with everyone and I
want to just thank you forcoming in and sharing your
passion and your projects herewith me today and with the
(28:36):
audience.
I know that there's a lot thatthey can go and check out and
really enjoy from all the thingswe've talked about in the
podcast notes below.
So please go do that, go andfollow.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
And why don't you go ahead and tell real quick
everyone where they can followyou as far as like on social, so
they can kind of see the?
Uh, you know more updatedthings than maybe just the
website, sure?
Well, uh, the main thing isstone ranch, txcom, that's the
website for the ranch, and thenheartbeat of a huntercom is the
uh is the website for you knowthat type of merchandise, uh,
and then there's basically atheartbeat of a hunter and at
stone ranch, uh, those are thesocials you know.
As far as Instagram andFacebook, I think we have both
of those going.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
Cheers, man.
Well, thank you so much, john.
And again, everyone, go checkout the show notes below and you
know we'll have you back on.
We'll do some updates and youknow, make sure that you guys
follow my socials as well.
I'll be sharing a lot of theupdates, especially as the
venue's getting closer together.
When you guys can go and havethe perfect wedding at the Stone
Ranch, can't think of a betterplace to do it, man.
So, hey, thank you once againfor joining me today, john, and
(29:38):
you have a blessed day, sir.
Thanks, billy, take care.
Cheers.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
Cheers.
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