Ep 145 The Hunting Stories Podcast: Derrick Murray

Send us a text Derrick Murray's journey as a hunter began at just five years old, wielding nothing but sticks and his grandfather's questionable advice about knocking squirrels from trees. Remarkably, that bizarre technique worked—creating one of many unforgettable hunting memories that would shape his life. Through turkey hunts interrupted by oblivious mountain bikers and a troublesome rifle that morphed into a reluctant single-shot, Derrick shares authentic moments from a lifetime in the woods. His most memorable hunt features pants around his knees, deer running through his sights, and five shots in the fading minutes of deer season—a story that perfectly captures the unexpected nature of hunting success.What makes Derrick's narrative especially powerful is how hunting became his anchor during recovery from addiction. After achieving sobriety nine years ago, his first turkey hunt represented more than just a successful harvest—it marked a reclamation of identity. Watching his young son's eyes light up at the sight of that turkey created a moment of pure connection that reinforced why hunting matters.Now planning to introduce his five-year-old to the woods, Derrick exemplifies how hunting traditions pass through generations, creating bonds that transcend the simple act of harvest. His stories highlight the healing power of time spent outdoors and remind us that sometimes our most meaningful hunting moments happen when everything seems to be going wrong.Whether you're a lifelong hunter or simply appreciate authentic outdoor stories, Derrick's experiences offer both humor and heart. Share your own hunting stories with us—we'd love to feature you on a future episode! Support the show Hunting Stories InstagramHave a story? Click here! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Howdy folks and welcome to the hunting stories
podcast.
I'm your host, michael, and wehave another amazing episode for
you today.
Today, we actually connectagain with another listener,
someone who reached out and saidhey, I've got some stories I'd
love to share with you, withyour listeners, and so I want to
introduce you guys to DerekMurray.
Derek is a great guy, he'sovercome a lot and he has some
amazing stories for us today.

(00:24):
I don't want to steal too muchof his thunder, but I want to
say, derek, thank you so muchfor coming on the podcast and
sharing everything with us.
It means a lot.
I really do appreciate it Foryou listeners.
Thank you, guys, so much fortuning in.
I appreciate you as well.
Please give us a review, a like, a follow, whatever you want to
do on whatever platform you'relistening to right now.
But yeah, let's go ahead andkick this thing off, guys.

(00:46):
Let's let Derek tell you someof his stories.

Speaker 2 (00:49):
Thank you Cool man All right, derek.

Speaker 1 (00:54):
Welcome to the Hunting Stories podcast.
Brother, how are you, good man?
How are you?
I am doing well, man, I'm doingwell.
I'm super excited to talk withyou.
Scheduled this thing out alittle while ago and and finally
made it, and despite somescheduling conflicts, where
you've been sitting around foran hour, so sorry about that.
Here we are man ready to hearsome stories, so I'm excited I'm

(01:14):
excited too, man.

Speaker 2 (01:15):
Um, you know I've been listening to your podcast
for a while, so, uh, it's kindof cool to be on on it and uh,
yeah, man, yeah, buddy so I saythis every time I have a guest
on that is a listener, but like,if you guys are listening and
you want to come tell some ofyour stories, hit me up like
it's it's easy, like we're alljust having fun here.

Speaker 1 (01:34):
That's what this is all about.
So, to the listeners, if youhave a story or if you know
someone who has a great story,reach out to us and we'll touch
base and get you on here likeDerek and Derek, let's do this.
Man, why don't you introduceyourself so everyone knows who
they're hearing some storiesfrom today yeah, um, my name is
Derek.

Speaker 2 (01:51):
I'm just a average guy from New York, uh, born and
raised here and uh, ventured outcross country for a while, kind
of got away from hunting um,not necessarily by choice, while
kind of got away from huntingum not necessarily by choice.
But uh, I grew up hunting.
It's what I, what I loved doingas a kid growing up and uh, you
know, that's that's kind of myfirst story man.

(02:12):
It's the first kind of realhunting that I did and uh, I
think it was like I think it waslike my grandfather.
He, uh man, don't hold me tothis because I don't know if
it's true or not my grandfatherthat's the best thing about
hunting stories.
They're all half true, yeah well, my grandfather I don't know if
he told me and my cousins thisjust to get us out of his hair

(02:36):
but he told us, if we find asquirrel that's bouncing around
a tree, go up and hit the treewith a stick and that squirrel
will run down so you can smackit and you know there's an easy
meal.
So okay, don't hold me to.
I don't know if there's anymerit behind that.
I'll.
It comes to play a little bitlater in the story, but uh yeah,

(02:56):
initially I'm getting you know,uh, what do they call them?

Speaker 1 (03:00):
Snape vibes.
We're like hey, go, go look forthat Snape and bang the sticks
in the woods and you just getkids, just go looking for an
animal that doesn't exist.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
That's, that's the vibe this has given me.
But go ahead, well, I'll paintthe picture.
Pretty young I was five yearsold, five or six.
My cousins are both one yearand two years older than me, so
it was five, six and seven orsix, seven and eight, don't
really remember the exact age.
But uh, my parents set up acamper and our driveway and uh,
we would go camping in it, youknow, just in the driveway.

(03:33):
Parents would be in the houseand we'd be down in the camper
having fun, playing all night,going out, campfire, type of
thing.
So we're all we're, we're alldown there and uh, we decided
the next morning we're going torun away and we're going, we're,
we're all down there, and uh,we decide the next morning we're
gonna run away and we're gonnago live off the land.
Now, okay, as little kids and,uh, my grandfather, we, my whole

(03:57):
family, lives on the same road.
Basically, I mean, it's gotcha,right across the road is my
aunt and uncle, right next dooris my grandparents, two houses
down is my uncle, and mygrandfather, who lived next door
, had 60 acres and it's all on ahill, all on a hill.
So early that next morning,after we decided we're running

(04:18):
away, we run up on mygrandfather's hill and we build
forts up there and do all thatfun stuff.
But you know, maybe aroundeight, nine o'clock, we started
getting hungry.
So what do we do?
We listen to my grandfather'sstory and we start looking for
squirrels up in the trees.
And, uh, we find the squirreland we start running after it,

(04:42):
chasing, chasing it down,hitting the tree, hitting the
trees with sticks.
I mean, three kids runningaround, you know that squirrel
should have been long gone.
But lo and behold, thatsquirrel ran down that tree and
my cousin got the hit on it.
No, way.
It actually worked.
Yeah, it worked.
Again, I don't know if it wasjust dumb luck or if what my

(05:06):
grandfather said had any meritto it whatsoever, but uh, five,
six and seven years old, we'reup there cooking up a squirrel.

Speaker 1 (05:16):
Now I don't know or anything, or did you just cook
it with fur on, just my?

Speaker 2 (05:22):
cousin.
He was seven years old.
He was allowed to have a knifeat that point, you know Okay
okay.
So we gutted it, we dideverything we were supposed to
and we scunned the thing.
We built the fire, and onesquirrel for three kids wasn't
quite enough.
So we ended up having to goback down and get food.
But you know, my parents, myaunt and uncle, they knew

(05:46):
exactly where we were the wholetime.
We're running away, but, uh,you know.
So the moral that I guessthere's is that, uh, you know, I
started off hunting at a reallyearly age, you know it was,
that's too normal.

Speaker 1 (05:59):
It was normal for us was your grandpa proud that that
you did that, that like?
Or was he surprised maybe eventhat you went out there and
killed a squirrel just bystumping it with a stick?

Speaker 2 (06:09):
You know my grandfather was kind of hard
Native American type of guy andI don't ever remember him saying
much about it.
But you know he was more likehunt for food type of thing.
He wasn't trophy, he wasn't youknow, it was just a way of life
for him type of thing.
So us going up there andgetting a squirrel and eating it

(06:31):
, he was more happy that we atethe damn the dang thing you know
and then just waste it andleave it up there on the sale
yeah, that's awesome man.

Speaker 1 (06:40):
That's a great story.
I love that I can't believethat it worked.
Like I said, I could have swornthat you guys were just going
to be.
This story is going to be youand your brothers just banging
on trees with sticks for hoursand your grandpa laughing at you
.
But I'm glad it worked out.

Speaker 2 (06:52):
Yeah, I mean I don't know how long we're up there
actually hitting sticks.
I mean it's, you know, fiveyears old.

Speaker 1 (07:05):
My memory is a little bit right.
I didn't remember we got one.
I didn't remember we ate thereyou go, man.
That's a great story.

Speaker 2 (07:09):
Well, what else you got.
So let's go forward a coupleyears, all right.
So, um, I gotta say the firstthing that really got me into
hunting was turkey hunting.
Turkey hunting.
I loved it.
I loved the fact that you cango out there and as a kid, as a
young kid, I could call and havean interaction and, um, you
know, my my first real encounterdoing that.

(07:31):
I believe I was probably eightor nine years old.
I couldn't carry a gun in NewYork State yet um, but I went
out hunting with my dad and, uh,my dad, he was late onset
hunter.
He never hunted, you know, as akid, and he kind of just got
into it because of my mom, hisfamily or her family.

Speaker 1 (07:53):
Okay.
Okay, so your grandpa's on theother side of the family, not
your dad's dad.

Speaker 2 (07:57):
Correct.

Speaker 1 (07:58):
Correct, okay.
Got it so did you ever ask himwhat got him started?
Was it just being around yourmom's family, or was there
anything him what got himstarted?
Was it just being around your,your mom's family, or was there
anything else that got himinvolved was before that that
was pretty much it.

Speaker 2 (08:09):
I mean, it was like my grandfather saying hey, we
need, we need some meat becausemy, my, my grandfather had eight
children.
So I mean it was yeah, it wasone of the things where it was
definitely a food thing and uh,like hey, get up on the hill and
bring, bring home some meattype of thing, um, but uh, so

(08:31):
he's the one who really got mydad, it's the one who really got
me into hunting type of thing.
Um, he was always willing totake me out turkey hunting,
always willing to go squirrelhunting, you know, actually with
a gun, not sticks, but um, uh,I remember we went up to public
land, which there's public landall around me.
I mean, I live in a great areafor public land and that's cool.

Speaker 1 (08:54):
I didn't know that.
I just assumed most of the eastcoast was like texas right,
where everything's private andit's impossible to get out of
anything no, new york's actuallyreally great, at least central
new york where I'm at.

Speaker 2 (09:04):
I mean, there's okay cool, there's 900 acres less
than five miles away from me tobe able to hunt and uh wow, did
you see run into many huntersout there, or is it pretty?
Sparse.
No, there's, yeah, hunterseverywhere.
I mean it's you're kind of,you're kind of hunting the
hunters, you know not.
You know, find a place wherethey're not, or you know that

(09:26):
type a place where they're not,or you know that type of thing.
I'll walk everybody or whatever.
Okay, so that plays a factor inthe stories where, where I'm
going with it.
Um, so we walk out on publicland and, you know, my dad just
let me call, let me call andwhen I was younger I used to be
better at calling with just mymouth, not not any.
Slate calls no, box callsnothing.

(09:46):
So we're walking and I wascalling, walking and I was
calling, and we finally hear agobble.
So we're walking along a trailit's a marked trail, it's known
for, you know, having hikers,bikers, everything and we hear
this gobble and we set up maybefive yards off the trail.
The bird was maybe 150, 200yards away when we heard it

(10:11):
starting to gobble.
And we're, I'm calling, I'mcalling my dad's setting up and
he's, you know, he's gettingready, he thinks this is gonna
happen.
I think this is gonna happen.
We see the bird come up overthis, this knoll, probably about
80 yards away.
He still has to come down intothis creek and then come back up
to actually for us to get ashot at him.

(10:33):
And uh, he was.
He was coming in on a string,like there was.
He had one mindset and it wasto get to us.
And uh, he gets down to thebottom of this ravine and we
hear some noise off to our ourright.
I believe it was all right, I'mlike man that that doesn't
sound like anything, any kind ofanimal.

(10:54):
Next thing, you know, we hearhollering people riding down
through with bikes on theirbikes and you know, just blew
the whole hunt type of thing,you know, and oh my, my dad my
dad was angry.
He stood up and you know the,the, the sound of the shotgun,
the I mean those guys on thebikes just hit their brakes.

(11:15):
I mean they were, they were,they were scared, you know,
because my dad was just standingup letting them know we were
there type of thing.

Speaker 1 (11:21):
He was, you know he might have been aggravated yeah
that's funny man but um you know, I'm assuming you did you see
that bird?
You said went into a littleravine and then they, they.
You heard the noise.
Did you ever see that birdagain?
Did it come out of the ravineor did it hear the noise and
booger off?
I?

Speaker 2 (11:39):
never.
I never saw it again.
I mean as soon as they camedown through I.
I mean the noise that they weremaking.
You know how?
I mean we were five yards offthe trail and they came between
us and the bird, so I mean Okay,no, god, really that's funny.
Yeah, there was no chance onthat bird type of thing after

(12:00):
that, but I'll tell you whatRacking of a shotgun shell is a
noise I think everyone knows andeveryone understands.

Speaker 1 (12:09):
So that's pretty funny that that's what your dad
did yeah, he's, uh, he's acharacter at times.

Speaker 2 (12:15):
I mean he just he.
I don't know how to explain mydad in a in a practical way.
He's a hard-working dude andyou know.
But yeah when, when he, whenyou start to set him off or get
him irritated type thing, he heturns funny.
You know the little things thathe does, you know?
Yeah, funny to me anyways yeah,that's great.

Speaker 1 (12:38):
So when your dad became a hunter is, is now he in
love with it, kind of like youare where it's like your life,
or did he just kind of do itbecause it was a part of the
family and a thing that was likekind of expected of him?

Speaker 2 (12:49):
it's um, he, he enjoys it, he really does enjoy
it.
He um okay, but not, I feellike, not to the extent that I
took it.
You know he, he okay, he got inhis own lane type of thing.
Like he enjoys to go out andhunt, he loves to do it, and he
loves to do it with me, you know.
And now his grandchildren, um,who he's you know, gonna be able

(13:12):
to go out this year with um, sohe's he's excited about that
fact of it.

Speaker 1 (13:18):
Um, that's cool when.

Speaker 2 (13:20):
so when I left new y I left New York nine years ago
Um, he didn't do a lot ofhunting.
Um, since I've been gone,there's other things like health
issues with my, with my motherand and that type of thing, that
kind of prevented him fromhunting.
But uh, now that I'm back in NewYork.
We got to go out last winterfor deer season and, uh, we

(13:44):
weren't successful.
But you know he's still.
You know he was waking up inthe morning with his pants on.
As soon as I'm pulling in thedriveway he's loading up his
truck type of thing, you know.

Speaker 1 (13:55):
Awesome, that's amazing.

Speaker 2 (13:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (13:57):
Those are going to be some great memories, especially
once you get your kid out therewith him.
Like that'll be.
That's what it's all about,like, like your first story,
right, your grandpa, and thisyou know, banging sticks to kill
squirrels.

Speaker 2 (14:10):
Who knows what your dad will tell your, your kiddo?
So, yeah, no, exactly I'm, I'mexcited for it.
I mean, I'm really excitedbecause, you know, this is the
first year that I'm taking myson.
I believe our kids are prettymuch the same age.
I have a boy that's five, agirl that's three, and then I
got a three-month-old.

Speaker 1 (14:24):
There you go man Racking them up.

Speaker 2 (14:27):
Yeah, no more, three's enough.
Well, cool man.

Speaker 1 (14:32):
Well, very cool.
Yeah, I almost got my son outfor turkey hunting this year.
The problem is it's like outhere you got to really hike, and
so I'm trying to find a placethat I can get on birds without
like having to go on a too longof a hike, because of several
reasons.
One, he just doesn't want tohike that far, and then,
secondly, like you want to getin when it's relatively dark,
and asking a five-year-old orsix-year-old to walk too far

(14:53):
into the rocky mountains and thepitch black is just not going
to work.
So I'm trying to find a way tolike get something.
I I've got a friend who's gotthe property that backs up to
some national forest that no oneelse has access to, so I was
thinking of putting a blind backthere, hanging out at my
friend's house until right whenthe sun comes up and then
shooting out there with him,something like that, so he
doesn't get too scared of thedark.
So we'll see, we'll see, I'llfigure it out eventually.

(15:15):
When's the?

Speaker 2 (15:17):
turkey season already started there, or is it?

Speaker 1 (15:20):
By the time this episode comes out?
Yes, by the time this episodecomes out.
Yes, but not yet.
It starts on Friday or, excuseme, saturday, so I think in two
days.

Speaker 2 (15:28):
Man, I'm jealous.
I got to wait until.
May 1st oh yeah, you have towatch people all over the
country.

Speaker 1 (15:35):
I think in Texas it's been like two weeks it's been
open already.
It's been crazy.

Speaker 2 (15:43):
New York is one of the latest seasons that I think
they have in the States.
I don't know why.
I mean, there's birds out theregobbling their heads off right
now and it's just driving menuts, like you know.
I can't wait to get out there.

Speaker 1 (15:56):
Yeah, who knows, maybe it's like the farther you
go north, the later that theyactually get to that.
Like I don't know, it's not therut, I don't know what it is
for birds, but we'll call it therut but maybe they just need to
get to the point where theyknow they're breeding um, and
that's why the seasons arepushed out a little bit, to make
sure that the breeding happensbefore everybody starts shooting
at them.
So who knows?

Speaker 2 (16:15):
yeah, who knows?

Speaker 1 (16:15):
either way, I'm sure there's some reason, but yeah
yeah, some biologist somewhereruining all your fun, but that's
just what life is All right,derek.
What else you got for us man?

Speaker 2 (16:28):
Um, you know, I actually wanted to kind of so so
.
So last year I was hunting inNew Jersey.
So actually, you know what?
Let me back up a little bit.
So I left New York and I got ajob traveling the country
building old folks homes.

(16:48):
So I got to go out to.
You know, most of the statesapply never get any, you know,
draw anything.
But when I was actually actuallythe last place, last state that
we were in was new jersey anduh, surprisingly, new jersey has
a really good deer huntingprogram, like in the south

(17:10):
southern tier of new jersey.
Like I couldn't believe theamount of tags that I got got
for a non-resident.
There's no draw or anythinglike that, it's just like you
pay the money, you get the tags.

Speaker 1 (17:25):
Yeah, did you get a bear tag?
I know New Jersey's got themost bears per capita of any
state in the country, which iscrazy.

Speaker 2 (17:32):
I didn't get a bear tag.
I thought about it, but I Iwent archery only um okay so I
didn't.
I didn't get to do any gunhunts, I didn't even try to do
that, it was just strictlyarchery.
The the piece of public landthat I found was only 50, 60

(17:53):
acres um, which was near an rvpark that I was staying at uh,
okay so you know, and that's theother thing too I mean, if I
got a bear and I brought it backto the rv park and had to
process it, and you know, mightmight get a couple weird looks,
or might get, you know somecomplaints called on me, type of

(18:14):
thing slightly differentconversation than bringing back
a deer, I guess yeah yeah, Imean, I got looks when I brought
back deer too, but uh, you know, I can explain that one a
little bit better than a bear, Ithink.
Yeah but, um, okay, okay.
Anyways, I was surprised thatnew jersey's um deer tags and I

(18:34):
went out, like I said, fullyarchery, um and uh, I went out
and the amount of tree standsthat I found out in this little
piece of private or public landwas crazy.
I mean, there was, like everyother tree there was, a tree

(18:55):
stand bolted to it.
I thought that was, oh yeah, Ithought that was insane.
Like you couldn't, I was likeman, are people actually hunting
it this hard?
But I never saw anybody in them, so they just leave them there
all the time.
Yeah, no, I mean, I ended upleaving mine.
I I cable locked it to the tree, Um, you know, and I I was, I

(19:18):
was hunting pretty much thewhole season, every chance I
could get, um, so I was therequite, quite regularly.
But, um, I wanted to bring upthis story because I learned
something from this podcast thatI made the same mistake I
believe you did no, we're notyou.

Speaker 1 (19:33):
I say it all the time .
We're not supposed to learnthings on this podcast, it's
just supposed to be fun, it isfun, damn it.
What'd you learn?
All right, keep going.

Speaker 2 (19:44):
I believe you had a story about an elk that came
within 20, 30 yards behind somebrush.

Speaker 1 (19:51):
Yeah, Was it the one where I left my muzzle loader on
the other side of a big rock?

Speaker 2 (20:00):
it might.
It might be.
I could you know, I could bewrong in this story.

Speaker 1 (20:05):
Yeah, tell the story and we'll see what I, what I
recall.
Maybe it's me, maybe it's Imean, I can't remember every
story, but we'll see so trophydeer have eluded me every
hunting season I mean, it's notthat I don't see them, it's not
that I don't get with the range.

Speaker 2 (20:22):
It's just that I do something you know messed up or
whatever it is, and my trophydeer is probably a lot different
than somebody else's trophydeer, but uh yeah I had my stand
set up and I had the nicest,nicest 10-point walk in within
20 yards, came to full draw, hadno idea I was there whatsoever

(20:45):
in my tree stand, pulled back,hit the release and I shot in
front of him.
Now I was like man, my bow'snot off.
That's a 20-yard shot.
I know I got that shot all daylong.
Why did I miss that?

Speaker 1 (21:03):
shot because missing missing in front means you're
missing by like 12 to 16 inches,that's, that's that's off
that's interesting so what, what?

Speaker 2 (21:11):
what I think it was is I looked at the pin, but I
never looked through my peepsight.

Speaker 1 (21:17):
Oh, okay.

Speaker 2 (21:19):
So when I was at full draw you know my head angle
pushed my arrow over in front ofhis chest because he came from
right to left and that's theonly thing I could think of.
But the part where I actuallylearned something is a week
later.
I kept seeing these deer thatwere crossing 50, 60 yards up

(21:41):
where I couldn't get a shot.
So a week later I decided,after sitting all morning, that
I was going to get down and justwalk up there and see if I can
find a new spot to set uprelatively close to where I was.
10.30 in the afternoon, 11o'clock in the afternoon, I'm
out of my stand walking upthrough, I have my arrow knocked

(22:03):
, just walking up through, justby chance, and down comes this
10-point.
Same exact deer Came right down15 yards in front of me and
stopped behind a bush and I wenta full draw on him, made sure I
was looking through the peepsite this time and uh, I was

(22:25):
waiting for him to take thatstep right past that brush and
uh, he never did.
He saw me, you know, he wasstaring me down.
He kicked off and he ran backthe other way and I never, I
never took the shot and I swearit was probably a week later.
I was listening to your podcastat work and, uh, you told that

(22:46):
story to somebody, or somebodytold that story to you.
All I remember is that I heardit on the podcast and it was, I
believe it was.

Speaker 1 (22:54):
But huh, I don't know , if I have one with an elk, so
maybe.
But huh, I don't know.
If I have one with an elk, somaybe somebody else.
It does make me think of theone time I uh almost killed a.
It was in texas.
I was in a blind.
Long story short because I'vetold the story probably five
times or whatnot on the podcast.
but I pull, I go folder on aturkey that I had called in um.
But I was basically ready topack up and I wasn't hunting
turkey, I was hunting axis deer.

(23:14):
So I was like whatever forturkeys, here it's turkey season
, I'm gonna shoot it um.
And in texas you can use arifle, you don't have to use a
you know, shotgun or a bow orwhatever, and you can do that in
colorado too, but only in thefall seasons.
Either way, I pull back andthere's brush in front of the
turkey.
So I and I was a novice, like Idon't, I had killed one other
turkey with a bow, but I'd neverreally really killed anything

(23:36):
else and that turkey it was 15yards, nothing in between us.
This one, there's brush, itwasn't a lot, it was really just
grass like tall grass, and Ijust didn't know, because I
never shot through enough ofthat stuff to know how it would
affect my arrow, and I was likeI don't want to hurt this thing.
So I let down, put my bow downand pick my rifle up and rifle
up and I look and I can't findit.
So then I set the rifle backdown and at the time I couldn't

(23:58):
mouth call.
So I bring out my slate calland he pops up and now, but he
went from like 20 yards to like50.
So I got my rifle up and I putit on him.
Next thing, you know, I'm likeI can't see shit Cause I'm
dialed up to 10.
I pull it back down, and I dialit back down to three, and I

(24:19):
pull it up and there's that birdand he's strutting and I just
uh and took him down.
So I've told that story plentyof times and there's a little
bit more to it than that.
But, um, it does remind me ofyours where, like, I went full
draw on an animal in front ofthe brush and and I'm sure I've
heard plenty of stories well,that happening to a lot of
people man it it's a, it's anunfortunate thing.

Speaker 2 (24:38):
Yeah, man, I mean, like, like you said, you just
said that you're kind of anovice.
I consider myself a novice too,especially when it comes with a
bow.
You know I I'm pretty deadlywith a rifle, other than this
year apparently but uh, I got alove hate relationship with my
gun man.
I got a love hate relationship.

Speaker 1 (24:56):
That's funny, man.
I have only killed that turkeythat I just told you about with
a rifle.
Otherwise, I've killed a whitetail deer with a shotgun,
another turkey with a shotgunand everything else with my bow,
like everything else I'vehunted Like, and it's crazy to
me that like the harder it gets.
For some reason that's where Iseem to have success, cause I I
don't even find animals when I'musing easier weapons, now that

(25:18):
they're easier when I'm usingguns.

Speaker 2 (25:21):
Yeah, no, no, I mean, my first successful harvest was
in New Jersey with a bow, so Imean that was whitetail doe and
you know it was not much of astory.
She came to 30 yards.
You know she ran 20 yards andthat was.
That was the end of her type ofthing.
But um, yeah, yeah, there was.

(25:43):
I mean there was a lot of timethat went into that.
You know that actually put mein that position, but you know
it's, it's just how many, howmany days do you think you put
in there in new jersey?
oh, their season started inseptember and ended january,
january like 20th or somethinglike that, but uh, I probably

(26:06):
hunted probably every weekend,except two, you know okay
throughout that, throughout thewhole time and then whenever I
could on the weekdays, if I gotoff of work early I'd go hit the
stand.
You know I'm pretty particularabout getting in super early if
I'm hunting in the afternoon or,you know, getting in two hours
before daylight in the morning,type of thing.

(26:29):
So if I don't meet thoseparameters it's just I don't
even.
You know, I try not to go atleast to the spot where my stand
set up.
I might go somewhere else whereI can just kind of get in,
scout and hunt type of thing,but I won't go to anywhere where
I don't want to blow anythingup, you know.

Speaker 1 (26:47):
Yeah, no, there's nothing wrong with that.
It's a good strategy, gettingin there nice and early.
I struggle with that.
I need to be better.
I'll tell you that I get inthere in the dark, but not two
hours in the dark.
I think that would be prettyepic to get in there and have
that quiet time in there.

Speaker 2 (27:03):
Yeah, no, it's cool for the first 30 minutes and,
depending on the time of year,my opinion, it gets pretty cold
by daybreak.
You're waiting for that sun tohit you.

Speaker 1 (27:14):
That's the truth, man .
That's the truth.
Cool man, what other storiesyou got for us, derek?
I know you said you have ahandful of little guys.
We'll just keep rattlingthrough these things, man yeah,
man.

Speaker 2 (27:23):
So let me get to my love hate relationship with my
with my rifle there we go.
So, uh, again, while I wastraveling, I I would come back
to New York.
I have a lifetime license here.
Um, so I get, you know, tagsmailed to me every year, um and

(27:43):
uh.
So my dad had my tags, I was inIowa and I was like you know
what, I think I can make it backhome for the opening week of
deer season this year.
And, uh, I hadn't had my 308out since I was in arizona,
which was probably four yearsprior, when I went on a coos
deer hunt that I didn't even getthe rifle but, um, I didn't get

(28:09):
drawn.
But so, anyways, I'm in iowaand I go to, I drive over to new
york.
I think I got the last two daysof archery where I brought my
bow too, and I didn't seeanything.
But I went out and was all right, let's make sure 308 sighted in
, let's go out back.
And you know, make sure, makesure I'm dialed.
So go out back, pull up and Ishoot.

(28:33):
And I'm like, all right, it's alittle off.
So I start turning some thingsand uh, go, man, it seems like
I'm getting way off here.
Like, no matter what I'm doing,I'm how am I not sighting this
gun in and, uh, I go to put myclip in my clips, not staying in
my gun.
There's a little.
The little through underneaththere fell out which actually

(28:54):
helps hold the barrel down.
So my barrel's bouncing way outof the stock and I'm in my
dad's yard.
I don't know where the screw isI'm looking around oh yeah, I
couldn't find it.
Actually my dad did find it, butuh, but not before that deer
season.
Um, so that screw held in thethe spot that actually the clip

(29:17):
actually clips to.
So my clip okay wouldn't stayin.
I found a screw with the samethread pattern.
I had to put like two washersin it just so that my stock
wouldn't be coming off my.
You know, my barrel wouldn't becoming off my stock and it
turned my my bolt action 308into a single shot 308 so oh my

(29:41):
god that's the start of it.
It gets better.
Okay, I start.
All right, cool, I got thebarrel fixed.
Now I'm gonna sight the gunback in.
You know, now everything's off.
So I go and shoot it, maybetwice, and my cross there's just

(30:02):
completely go sideways in mygun and start rattling around in
there yeah on my scope.
So I'm like, wow, this scope isgarbage.
Now you know, I gotta go buy anew scope did someone drop it?

Speaker 1 (30:17):
like what made that happen?
I've never heard of, uh, thethe actual crosshairs moving
around I have no idea whathappened.

Speaker 2 (30:24):
I mean it's I bought the gun with that scope on it.
I don't know if, you know, Itraveled cross country.
I kept it in a box, um like a.
You know, I traveled crosscountry.
I kept it in a box, um, like agun.
You know a gun box.
But um, I don't know whathappened to it.
But anyways, I go and buy, go,buy a new scope.
The lenses are way better onthis, my new scope anyway.
So I'm kind of happy.

(30:45):
It happened, um, but uh, so Iput, I mount the scope on and
the first shot I take I didn'ttighten one of those screws down
to put the scope on the railall the way and that scope came
flying back off, smoked me inthe face.

(31:06):
I got blood pouring down myface.
I mean I'm like getting readyto sell this gun immediately.

Speaker 1 (31:13):
Yeah, that one, that one, derek.
Well, I mean a little operatorerror.
At this point, man, we're goingto start worrying about you
more than the gun, but go ahead.

Speaker 2 (31:22):
No, no, I get you that one was completely me.
But you know, it's just likeone thing after another man, I'm
like I can't get this gun right.
It's a single shot.
Now, you know, after anotherman, I'm like I can't get this
gun right.
It's a single shot.

Speaker 1 (31:36):
now, you know, scope's flying off hitting me in
the face and um did the scopeactually come off or did you
just get scoped?
I've seen guys get scope before.

Speaker 2 (31:42):
It's funny every time no, the scope actually came off
like I I've I learned my lessonyoung about getting scoped.
I mean, it still happensoccasionally, but you know, um
yeah, the scope been flying off.
Landed on the ground, I wasworried about my new scope that
I just bought, you know, andended up putting it back on the
gun, sighted it and everythingwas fine.

(32:05):
Um okay like I said at thebeginning of the story, I had a
week to hunt new york before Ihad to go back to iowa for work
and, uh, I hunted every singleday from sun up to sundown and I
saw one deer until the last day, damn yeah okay now, this is

(32:27):
all public land.
And you know I got a couplebuddies like, hey, why don't you
come over here with me this day?
And you know why don't you comeover here?
And you know we'd go and let'sdo some deer drive, let's try
and drive some deer, and justnothing was moving.
Um huh, yeah, I mean I walkedacross 10 gut piles.
You know where someone else hasdone a small buck.

Speaker 1 (32:47):
You know that's about all I could.

Speaker 2 (32:49):
They're there no, yeah, they're there, it's just
I'm not there when they are.

Speaker 1 (32:55):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (32:56):
So on the last day of the hunt I go out to a place
that I never liked going.
I mean there's deer there.
I know there's deer there.
It's a hard place to get to.
I mean it's just a straighthill.
It's, you know the old storyuphill both ways, no matter
which way you go.

(33:16):
Okay, three and a half feet ofsnow on the ground.
I didn't really want to gothere, but my buddy's like come
on, let's yeah.
He's like let's go.

Speaker 1 (33:27):
So I go out.
Do the deer even move aroundwhen there's that much snow?
That's so much snow, yeah theystill move.

Speaker 2 (33:35):
I mean, it definitely slows, you know, but they got
to eat, they still got to eat,they still got to drink, they
got to do all the normal stuff.

Speaker 1 (33:45):
Yeah, okay.

Speaker 2 (33:47):
But it got down to the last 10 minutes of shooting
light and I hadn't seen a deer.
And I stand up, I'm freezing.
I'm on the side of this hill.
The wind's blasting me in theface for the two hours I've been
sitting there not seeinganything.
I'm not even seeing squirrelsaround.

(34:08):
Third point and I said, allright, I got to go take take a
piss.
So I learned my lesson frombeing younger.
I brought my gun with me and Istand, I'm standing up against
this tree and I just unzip mypants and I look over to my
right and I see probably 10 deerrunning.

(34:31):
Oh no.
So I picked up my gun.
My pants are down at my kneesat this point.
I don't have any number.
You're going number two, huh no,no, no, it was just.
I got 15 layers on.
Once I start taking the beltsoff, I gotta pull them all down
to get get stuff out.
You know yeah have.

Speaker 1 (34:51):
Yeah, have you ever heard it?
What do they say?
It's like it's that seasonwhere you got to get two inches
of pecker out of four inches ofCarhartt, or something like that
.

Speaker 2 (34:59):
Yeah, eight inches or two inches of pecker out of
eight inches of clothing.

Speaker 1 (35:04):
Yeah, that was what was going on.
Three and a half feet of snow.

Speaker 2 (35:11):
So these deer are running.
I pick up my rifle, I pull up,boom, I shot this deer on a dead
run.
I knew it was a doe, it was agroup of does.
I had two doe tags and, uh, Iwatched her pile right up dead
run, you know, smoked her.
One of the other does that wasbehind her stopped right over

(35:35):
top of her.
She was piled up and shestopped right on top of her.
I'm like, well, you're there,okay, might as well yeah, I got
two tags yep, and so I pull backup, shoot again, and this I I
hit her and she starts runningtowards me.
Mind you, you single shot.
Now I'm putting another one init because I mean, it's the last

(35:57):
10 minutes of shooting lighthere.
I don't really want her to runoff too far.
I got to drag her up this hillas it is and I put three more
rounds into her before shefinally fell at 10 yards away
from me and I was thinking I wasmissing her the whole time.
But when we processed her weprocessed our own deer.

(36:18):
There was four bullet holes inher Wow.

Speaker 1 (36:23):
That's crazy.
She just not hit any vitals, orshe just jacked up on
adrenaline or whatever.

Speaker 2 (36:30):
I believe the first shot.
I clipped one lung and then theother ones were all in the
front shoulder.
I mean, it was just I.
I I know I was sitting vitalarea.
I don't know exactly what I hit.
It was pretty mangled actuallywhen I when I opened her up, but
I believe it three or fourshots with a 308 from 10 yards.

(36:51):
Yeah, I believe it.
Well, it started at like 120and then worked up to 10 yards
away.

Speaker 1 (36:58):
Okay, okay, that's pretty funny and your scope held
on the whole time.

Speaker 2 (37:02):
The scope held on the whole time and you know,
love-hate relationship with thatthing.
So what?

Speaker 1 (37:08):
point did you pull your pants back up, though?
What point did your pants comeoff of the knees and ankles?

Speaker 2 (37:14):
Probably about the time my buddy came running up
over the hill.

Speaker 1 (37:22):
Man.
He must have thought there wasa battle going on, because
you're like I'm going to go pissNext thing he knows five rounds
are fired and two deer are down.
He goes.

Speaker 2 (37:31):
I thought you were shooting, a single shot, you
know.

Speaker 1 (37:39):
And.

Speaker 2 (37:40):
I'm pulling up my pants and I'm yelling.
I'm like, hey, go make surethat deer is down.
I got to go check this otherone.
And he's yelling you got two ofthem.
I'm like, yeah, there's two ofthem down.
We got to drag two of them outof here.

Speaker 1 (37:59):
Oh man, that's awesome.
That's an epic little momentthere.
I I learned that lesson aboutleaving your rifle while you go
piss or do whatever.
Everybody has to learn thatlesson once.
Man, I'm glad, I'm glad you'dalready learned that lesson and
that story ended that way ratherthan, uh, with the deer just
walking away yeah, man, it was.

Speaker 2 (38:13):
It was.
Uh, it was a fun night becauseI mean, we were up till one
o'clock in the morningprocessing after that point and,
uh, I had to drive back to iowa, which was a 16 hour drive the
next morning, so it was how, uh,how far out was the drag for
the deer?
Oh, probably I wasn't.

(38:33):
It wasn't terribly far, itwasn't like any colorado packing
out that thing.
It was a mile or two, it wasn'tanything okay, not not too
crazy up a hill like this.
I mean it was you know.

Speaker 1 (38:48):
They were at the bottom of that hill when, when
they died and uh, so when youkill those things and you shoot
them at the bottom of that hill,when they died, so when you
kill those things and you shootthem at the bottom of a hill,
does it just not cross easternhunters' minds to like take it
apart, throw it in a bag andwalk out with it?
Or do you guys all just drag itout?
Because in Colorado, likeobviously elk, even mule deer,
you're not dragging those thingsanywhere.

(39:09):
Often you're too far back, butthey're also just way too damn
big.
But not dragging those thingsanywhere, often you're too far
back, but they're also just waytoo damn big.
Um, but I've killed onewhitetail and man.
I quartered that thing right upbecause I didn't know any
better, and uh and I and Ipacked it out.
So is that just not somethingthat's done in the east?

Speaker 2 (39:22):
I mean I, I don't know, I don't.
I've never really hunted thewest.
I mean I hear everyone packingthem out, but it's just kind of
what I grew up doing.
So, like you know, I still doit.

Speaker 1 (39:31):
I mean I like to.

Speaker 2 (39:32):
I also like to let my deer hang, if I can.
You know, if it's cold enoughand I can bring them back, I'll
let them hang for 10 days beforeI even really touch them.

Speaker 1 (39:43):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (39:44):
So I mean, I don't know if that's part of it, I
just do it because that's how Iwas taught to do it.
You know, it was just you gotthem in the field.
That's a good enough answer.
You throw the heart and theliver back inside of her and or
him, whatever it is, and drag itback out.

Speaker 1 (39:59):
Yeah, okay, huh, that's interesting, man, it's.
It's interesting like acultural difference between how
you, how you deal with, uh, dealwith the once they're down,
because, yeah, all the smallanimals I've ever killed, I
still just quartered them up.
I just didn't like it.
Like you don't know any betterwith your strategy, I don't know
any better with mine.
And I've killed an axis deer inhawaii.
It was again.
It was two miles back there andI'm like I'm not lugging this

(40:22):
thing out of here so I juststarted skinning it and put it
all.
I had game bags.
I threw them all in my pack andI, of course, I have a pack
that has a great frame on it, soit's like not a big deal to
throw, you know, a hundredpounds on it.

Speaker 2 (40:34):
So I don't even own one with a frame.
You know like my backpack holds.
You know my extra clothing.

Speaker 1 (40:40):
You know that's yeah, peanut butter and jelly
sandwiches, and that's about it.

Speaker 2 (40:44):
You know I'm not, you know I, I'm not one of those
hunters that takes food out withme.
I don't know what it is I just,oh, okay, I, I do not take food
out with me now.
I'm, mind you, I'm not goingout camping or I'm not like like
I might hike in five miles, butI'm hiking out five miles and
going home to my bed.
You know type of thing yeah, um, yeah.

Speaker 1 (41:05):
No, that that makes sense, man, that makes sense.
I'm.
I'm the kind of hunter that hasto take food.
I'm just a big guy guy.
I run out of gas, so I got tohave food with me.
I got to have like peak refuelsput in 4,000 calories,
otherwise I can't go.

Speaker 2 (41:18):
I grew up wrestling as a sport, so I mean going
without food is normal for me.

Speaker 1 (41:24):
There you go, there you go.
All right, we got off track.
We went down one of them rabbitholes.

Speaker 2 (41:34):
What else you got for us, derek?
Um, yeah I got another turkeyone for you I think, all right,
let's do it, man.
Uh, so this is this is.
This is a cool one for mebecause it was the first time I
got back into hunting, which Ididn't really tell you.
I mean, it was just basically,I left new york and, um know, it
was a bunch of drug relatedstuff and I'm clean and sober

(41:57):
for nine years and but took meon hunting for a while.
Good for you.

Speaker 1 (42:03):
I'm glad you took that journey and got out of it.
That's what's important.
So congratulations, man.

Speaker 2 (42:07):
Yeah, that's awesome.
Again, it wasn't my choice atthe time, but it was the best
thing that ever happened to me.
Good man you.

Speaker 1 (42:12):
Again, it wasn't my choice at the time, but it was
the best thing that everhappened to me Good man.

Speaker 2 (42:14):
I'm glad to hear it it was, and it took a while to
refine myself and, you know, getback into hunting, type of
thing.

Speaker 1 (42:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (42:31):
Which I didn't realize was such an integral
part of who I am and what Ireally love to do.
And I, you know, I eat, sleepand breathe that type of thing.
Now it's like what I what Iwake up hearing.
But this was my first huntafter being sober.
Hell, yeah, very cool.
My son, which he was like Idon't know two years old at the

(42:52):
time, maybe he didn't get to gowith me, but he was there to
enjoy it afterwards, which wasreally cool.
So I don't remember where I was,but my wife and I drove back to
New York with my son and, um,it was like middle of May for

(43:15):
Turkey season and uh, you know,I went back to New York with the
plan to go turkey hunting andthen obviously visit family,
because I hadn't seen a lot offamily you know me being gone
for for a couple of years and soI, I was using my dad's shotgun

(43:37):
I did not have my own shotgunyet, own shotgun yet and uh, my
grandfather's hill, again rightnext door to my dad's house, um,
I was going up there everysingle morning, every single
morning that I could, and therewasn't a single bird goblin.
I couldn't hear anything, Imean, and I don't know where
it's, what it's like elsewhere,but in new york you can only

(44:00):
hunt till noon um during thespringtime for turkeys um, oh,
that's interesting.
I didn't know that yeah, so, um,you know, I was hunting from
sun up till noon and and and notgetting anything.
And when I was a kid I had mygrandfather's hill pretty well
pegged down for where theturkeys were going to be and

(44:22):
where I needed to set up.
Being gone for three or fouryears, everything changed.
My grandfather had cows.
He didn't have cows at thatpoint in time, so now different
wildlife was moving around,eating in different places, type
of thing.
About a mile up on mygrandfather's hill he has a

(44:43):
cabin and behind the cabin isthis big field which half of it
he owns and half of it aneighbor owns, and I never
really liked hunting up there,but I know there's birds up
there.

Speaker 1 (44:56):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (44:56):
So, after hunting for a couple days not hearing any
birds, I decided you know what acouple days not hearing any
birds I I decided, you know what, I'm gonna take my dad's truck,
drive up to the cabin, park histruck and then walk the rest of
the way up to that field andsit in that field.
And uh, that was my plan in themorning, which never happened.

(45:18):
I got up.
I got up and started drivingthe hill, driving up the hill,
and maybe a quarter mile up thehill there's this weird hill
with a bend on it, okay, and uh,there's trees lining both sides
of the road.

(45:39):
For some reason this morning wasmuddier than the rest of the
mornings.
I've been up there.
My dad's truck, four-wheeldrive, wasn't making it up
through this mud.
The truck was sliding sidewaysdown into the trees.
I'm like I can't let my dad'struck go into the trees.
I'm getting out, I'm cuttingpine boughs, putting them

(46:03):
underneath the tires, trying toget it out of the mud.
Now it's like, you know, it'sstill before sun up and I'm I'm
just like come on, man, I justwant to get up to this field and
uh, okay.
I'm fighting it the whole wayand, uh, finally, I'm like man,
I gotta, I gotta like try andback out of here, like without

(46:26):
hitting this tree, like you know, and I'm I'm not gonna get this
hunt.
You know, sun's up right nowand yeah, I'm like for shits and
giggles, I'm gonna hit my slatecall.
I hit my slate call and 200yards away I get three gobbles
Like hammering.

Speaker 1 (46:44):
No way, that's awesome.

Speaker 2 (46:48):
And the day before sorry I'm bouncing around a
little bit, but the day beforemy dad took me down to our local
sporting goods store and hebought me my own gun, my own
12-gauge, and it was kind oflike yeah, it was kind of like a
yeah, it was kind of like, hey,man, I'm glad you're doing good
, I want you to get back instuff that you love.

(47:10):
I'm buying this gun for you.
And, uh, that was the first,the first day I really owned
that gun.
As you know, I'm taking thisthing out and I got three birds
hammering at my sleigh call.
My dad's truck is stuck in themud, about to hit a tree.

(47:33):
So I I grab a log, I shove itbehind the tire, throw all my my
, my vest on and I'm goingtowards the turkeys.
You know I'm, I'm, I'm hittingit, making sure where their
location is.
I'd sit down and be like, oh,they're coming.
I hit the slate calls a coupletimes and they'd come down a
little bit closer and then I'dhear them start drifting off.

(47:54):
I'm like, all right, I got toget up and move.
I'm going back towards themAnother 50 yards, towards these
birds.
They come in another 10, 20yards and then back off, and by
the time I knew it, I'm half amile past my dad's truck you
know, just working these stepsevery time and you know I, I get

(48:18):
up to man.
I hunted this spot like threedays in a row.
Not a single gobble, not asingle bird, nothing.
I get up to it and I set up andright, I don't even have a
chance to hit my slate callafter I set up here and I'm like
on a log just so I could seeover top of it with my gun, like

(48:39):
, and they can't really see methat there's no real like I'm
going to find this tree and setup and like have a nice setup.
I'm like laying across this logtype of thing, Just like, please
don't see me, just do what youcan yeah.
And these birds come down 15yards and first day with the new

(48:59):
gun I blast them.
You know Hell yeah.
And so it drops, and you know,and Hell yeah, so it drops, and
you know, I run up, I'm superpumped, I'm, you know, I'm like
yelling because this is like thebest thing, that's happened to
me, you know, in a long time.
And yeah, there's a lot ofthings that happen to me, but,
like hunting wise, I was likedude, this is it, this is what

(49:21):
I'm this is what I'm doing here.

Speaker 1 (49:24):
Yeah, and that's awesome.

Speaker 2 (49:26):
And then the realization of like, oh, I still
got to go get my dad's truckunstuck.
And I'm, you know, I'm, I'mcalling him, I'm calling my
cousin.
I'm like, hey man, are you?
Are you at work, you know?
And everyone's like's like,yeah, I'm at work, I can't come
help you until this afternoon,type of thing.
And I'm like, ah, what am Igonna do?

(49:47):
And I mean that eventually Ijust stuck more pine boughs
underneath there and I got itaway from the tree a little bit
and kind of slid down onto anold, old road and, uh, was able
to get my dad's truck out ofthere and go back down.
And it was.
I walked into my dad'shousehold in turkey and my son

(50:08):
maybe was awake for five minutesprior to this and just to see
his eyes light up man, it was,was amazing oh man, I can't
believe it instagram him, himsitting on my lap with that
turkey man he was.
I think he was just as happy asI was.
Um, you know seeing that thingand you know he's he's pumped

(50:29):
for this year he really is, manhe's I got one of those ground
blinds.
I don't know if you've seenthem, the ones the I believe
it's tide we where you can seethrough them yeah, yeah I've got
one of those too, man.

Speaker 1 (50:40):
I've got an older model that's super cool and
sometimes I feel like I can seeright through it, but sometimes,
when I'm trying to look throughit, I'm like I can't see shit.

Speaker 2 (50:48):
I don't know what it is.

Speaker 1 (50:49):
It's like when you're concentrating you can't, but
when you're not concentratingyou can look right through it,
but that's mine, Again mine.

Speaker 2 (51:02):
I's.
That's the whole reason why Igot it, cause I mean I'm
perfectly fine with sitting on,sitting next to a tree or, you
know, climbing to a stand, whichI'm not going to bring my son
into a stand with me, and youknow I want them to have that
movement ability, you know.
And where.
I mean to get a five-year-oldto sit.
Still, I mean, you know it's,it's gonna be a challenge type

(51:23):
of impossible impossible.

Speaker 1 (51:25):
Yeah, just bring like a little rug, put them on the
floor, not even a chair, chair,that'd make too much noise.
But, um, that's exactly my plan.
Man, using that same blind,I'll get my boy out there
eventually.
If I kill a turkey this weekend, I might even go out with him
another time and just put theblind out, like not, I only have
one tag.
Um, but I go out in there andjust like just call from the
blind to like we'll just makethe best out of it and pretend

(51:46):
like we're hunting yeah that's,that's what I did when we were
in new jersey with my son, withuh, bow hunting.

Speaker 2 (51:51):
You know I brought him out there with no intention
of you know, if one walked byobviously I was gonna shoot it,
but you know it was justbringing him out there to the
exposure and he found a turkeyfeather while he was out there
and he was, you know, all happyabout finding the turkey feather
and it was just.
You know, that's what it'sabout man getting them going and
100 100 man.

Speaker 1 (52:12):
I can't wait to get my kiddos involved.
I'm excited you got to keep mein the loop and let me know how
it goes with your kiddo.
I want to.
I want to hear how he managedum and any tips and tricks you
got when you went and she couldpass it my way.

Speaker 2 (52:23):
Yeah, man, I, I for sure will do, but uh, I'm just
winging it, okay cool.

Speaker 1 (52:30):
All right, derek man.
Well, this was fun, brother, Iappreciate you telling us your
stories.
I, I, I love kind of like theum.
You know, of course everybodylikes the one big grandiose
story but like the like thequick hitters, that all are just
like really fun andentertaining.
Always fun to listen to man.
So thank you very much for forreaching out and uh and sharing
your stories with us, man, andyour story of your, your

(52:51):
successes with you know, gettingoff of whatever you were on
getting away from drugs, that's,that's awesome.
And I'm glad that you got backto hunting, it's.
I'm glad that that's taken andfilled that spot for you.

Speaker 2 (53:03):
Yeah, man, I mean, it's just like any, anything I
can do, hunting related, I mean,and you know if, if you're
struggling, if somebody'sstruggling with addiction, I
mean there's, there's hope there.
There's, there's hope out there, you know, just taking that
next step and doing the nextindicated thing uh the next
right indicated step uh type ofthing.
And uh, you know it's, it's.

(53:24):
Uh, it's been a pleasure beingon here with you, man.
I mean, I've listened to everysingle one of your podcasts, I
believe.

Speaker 1 (53:30):
And uh, you know it's way too much of my voice.

Speaker 2 (53:34):
Hey, man, it's awesome While I'm at work.
I believe you had someone onrecently too, man.
It was like I, when I waslistening to him, it was like he
was telling my story.
Man, he's like at work,listening to you all day long
and I believe he's in, he was inconstruction and everything and
it was just.

Speaker 1 (53:51):
It was awesome listening to that guy too, man
trying to blank on his nameright now, but that's the
gentleman from maine.
That's not what that soundslike.
Yeah, um, but yeah no it's uh,yeah, that's what this is all
about, just hearing, having funwith it, and I'm glad you
listened in, man, I really doappreciate that.

Speaker 2 (54:06):
And once again I'll tell the listeners.

Speaker 1 (54:08):
man, if you guys have a good story, reach out.
Be like Derek.
Derek's brave Got on here.
We had a good time.
At least I had a good time.
Hopefully you did too, derek.
I'm always looking for moreguests, and I'd rather have the
average Joe Hunter on than aninfluencer, because you guys are
more fun.
So let's do it.

Speaker 2 (54:28):
Yeah, man.

Speaker 1 (54:29):
Well, thanks again.
Do you want to share yoursocials or you just want to walk
off into the sunset?
I'm not going to force you.

Speaker 2 (54:35):
Yeah, man, I'll share my socials.
I mean, it's Derek1536 onInstagram, I believe, and
there's not much on there.
But uh, you know, feel free.

Speaker 1 (54:48):
Cool, cool man.
I'll link it in the show notes.
If people want to hit you up, Imean, who knows, maybe
someone's got a similar journeyand they want to just like
bounce some things off of you,who knows?
We're all here to help eachother.
But, derek, thank you again,man, I appreciate you.
This was a ton of fun.

Speaker 2 (55:04):
Yeah, man I appreciate you.

Speaker 1 (55:07):
This was a ton of fun .
Yeah, man, I appreciate it.
Man, all right, guys, that's itAgain.
I want to thank Derek forcoming on the podcast Couldn't
have done it without him but ofcourse, you guys for tuning in
as well.
I really do appreciate it.
I hope you guys enjoy hearingthese stories as much as I do,
because I really do enjoy them.
If you have a great story, geton my website, go to the

(55:27):
Instagram, wherever it is.
I've got the form kind of allover the place.
It's even in the show notes.
Fill it out, Let me know thatyou're interested in connecting
and we will be in touch andwe'll hear some more stories
from amazing hunters around thecountry, even around the world,
actually.
So that's it, guys.

(55:49):
Beyond that, review us, like us, share us with a friend, but,
most importantly, get out thereand make some stories of your
own.
Thank you.