Ep 148 The Hunting Stories Podcast: Brian Dowling

Send us a text Ever walked into a hardware store covered in blood, desperately trying to convince the cashier you're not a murderer? That's just one of the hilarious mishaps shared by this week's guest, Brian Dowling.Brian brings a unique perspective as both a firearms expert with an actual master's degree in guns and a veteran who found healing through hunting. Working at XCAL Shooting in Virginia—a massive 97,000-square-foot facility combining shooting ranges, a gym, and a gun store—he's turned his passion into a career that spans gunsmithing, instruction, and product development.What makes this episode special is the heartwarming thread running through Brian's hunting stories: his incredibly supportive wife. From helping him drag a freshly harvested doe up a hill in a wheelbarrow while wearing pajamas, to stealing "his" perfect pheasant after missing shots all day (much to his good-natured chagrin), their relationship shines through the narrative. When Brian describes seeing his blood-spattered wife hosing down a deer carcass in their yard without complaint, you can hear the genuine admiration in his voice.The conversation takes us through the challenges of Eastern whitetail hunting, North Carolina hog hunts in eerie swamps, and the comedy of errors that ensues when a hunter isn't properly prepared to transport his harvest. Brian's self-deprecating humor about showing up at a rural hardware store covered in blood to buy rope and a hatchet—prompting the cashier's skeptical "that's what they all say" response to his innocent explanation—will have you laughing out loud.Beyond the entertainment, Brian offers valuable insights into how hunting serves as effective PTSD therapy for veterans like himself, creating a deeper understanding of why many former service members find such profound peace in the woods. His technical expertise also shines through when discussing rifle zeroing and equipment selection for different hunting scenarios.https://xcal.com/ https://mimicfirearms.com/ Instagram, Xcal Mimic Brian Support the show Hunting Stories InstagramHave a story? Click here! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the wild where the adventure awaits
Hunting, fishing, filled withtales and great mates.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Howdy folks and welcome to the Hunting Stories
podcast.
I've got a new intro for youtoday.
Hope you guys enjoyed that alittle bit longer.
Tell me what you think, send mesome messages, give me some
feedback, want me to go to theold thing or, if you're liking,
the new thing.
It's actually a song I puttogether using some AI tools.
That being said, we have agreat episode for you today,
guys.
We're connecting with BrianDowling.
Brian is a hunter, a veteran, agun nut gun expert I really

(00:37):
should say that reached outsaying he had some fun stories
to share, and he certainly does.
That being said, I don't wantto ruin them for you, so we're
going to go ahead and let Briantell you those stories, but for
you listeners.
Thank you, guys.
So much for tuning in.
I really do appreciate it.
Give me feedback on that song.
I really would appreciate that.
Also, I have a special surprisecoming out on Friday a new,

(00:57):
special edition of the podcastI'm going to maybe start doing
every Friday.

Speaker 1 (01:08):
Please give me feedback on that as well, when
it hits.
So that's it, guys.
Let's kick this thing off andlet Brian tell you some of his
stories.
Thank you, and I'm not grabbinggears.
It's time for the ride.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
All right, brian.
Welcome to the Hunting Storiespodcast.
Brother, how are you?

Speaker 3 (01:37):
I'm very well, thank you, I'm glad to be here, really
happy to be here.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
Dude, thank you so much for reaching out once again
.
I mean, I think it's going tosay this last like five episodes
or something like that, but Ido have a little form to fill
out if you want to come on thepodcast and tell some stories.
And you did that, brian.
So thank you very much, man.
I appreciate it.
I'm super excited to hear yourstories.
I don't know what we have instore for us today.
Know who they're hearing somestories from, all right, so my

(02:06):
name is Brian Dowling.

Speaker 3 (02:07):
I work actually for a couple companies I work for.
My main job is for XCALShooting, sports and Fitness in
Ashburn, virginia.
We're a 97,000-square-footshooting facility gym.

Speaker 1 (02:21):
Brazilian jiu-jitsu gun store, you name it.

Speaker 3 (02:23):
Shooting, whatever you name it, shooting, shooting,
whatever we do it.

Speaker 2 (02:26):
Are you at your house or at your work right now,
cause you have more guns behindyou than anyone that's been on
the podcast, so that's kind ofpart of my job.
That's kind of part of my job.

Speaker 3 (02:33):
I uh.
I have an extensive educationin firearms.
Uh I actually all the way up tomaster's degree.
Like yeah, I'm like one of thefew people in the world that has
a master's degree in guns.

Speaker 1 (02:43):
Oh man.

Speaker 3 (02:44):
Yeah, I studied procurement and development, so
that actually ties into my job.
I am kind of like the righthand at XCAL.
I do a ton of different stuff.
I'm their last living gunsmith,so I do a ton of stuff for them
.
And all this stuff behind me,this is what I do.
I teach gun building classes.

(03:04):
All this stuff behind me, thisis what I do.
Um, I teach, I teach gunbuilding classes.
But um, and I also, startingnext year, we start our own
company called mimic firearms.
Uh, it's already started, butnow we're going to be rolling
live next year and it falls alittle bit in the tactical,
practical world.
Um, we were making our own PCC,our own sub gun, and, uh, I'll
be working for them.
Uh, I'll be, I'll be a managerfor them as well and doing

(03:27):
development and it's, it's crazy.
So the world is my gut, the gunworld is my world.
I will admit that um.
But as part of that job, um, Iwork a lot of long range
shooting and, uh, as part of myown personal development, being
a veteran um and a formercontractor, uh, hunting is is a
big piece of me.
Uh, it's actually it's my PTSDtherapy it is uh, I'm kind of

(03:49):
our, our official, non-officialoutfitter.
Uh, I've worked for Cabela's inthe past.

Speaker 1 (03:54):
Um so uh.

Speaker 3 (03:56):
I, um I.
We have some very high endclients and I provide them, uh,
with every bit of huntingknowledge that I have.
And I'm very much an at-homeguy.
I'm a West Virginia, virginiahunter, big whitetail hunter.
I travel to North Carolina tohunt hogs.
I used to live out in.
You're in Colorado, correct?
Yes?

Speaker 2 (04:15):
sir Is that right.
Yep.

Speaker 3 (04:17):
I was stationed out at Carson for a while.
Okay yeah, but hunting is like90% of my life.
It is literally what I live foryou got a lot going on.

Speaker 2 (04:27):
So if hunting is 90% of that, then oh my goodness.

Speaker 3 (04:34):
The rest of the stuff .
The rest of the stuff comeseasy.
You know, shooting irons.
Shooting irons are, are, are abig, a big piece of me, but um,
it's, it's.
Uh, you know, I tie them alltogether.
Okay, you know um, crossbowhunting is actually.
You know, I'm a average archer,I'm a really good crossbow
hunter.
So because I think that the two, you know, between firearms and
a crossbow, I think there'ssome philosophies that do mix

(04:55):
and I'm sure I'm open to can ofworms with that one.
Somebody's out there probablyscreaming and yelling at some
point, being like no, they'redifferent, you know.

Speaker 2 (05:02):
But um yeah, I don't know enough about any of that
stuff.
If you enjoy it, that's allthat's important.
It's true.
It's.
It's like I saw a documentaryon whiskey.
I think the the, the whiskey.
Uh, it was called neat.
Right, you have your whiskeyneat.
And there was this big segmentabout, like, the most important
part to enjoying whiskey and inour case, enjoying hunting is
doing it the way that you enjoyit.

(05:23):
And that's what's important andthere's no wrong way to do it.
You can do it with a splash ofwater, you can do it with some
cubes of ice, you can do it neat.
You can do it however you want.
So, when it comes to huntingman, do it the way that you do
it, enjoy yourself, I meanobviously, be, you know,
responsible to nature and theanimals, ethical all that stuff.
But um, yeah, just do it theway you want to man, there's

(05:43):
nothing wrong with that yeah,I'm with you, I'm with you you
know um, but yeah, so it is.

Speaker 3 (05:48):
It's a huge part of my life, you know um.
I really, I really enjoy, Ilove being the guy that gives
that information to people likeI love that's cool like that
when they come in and we get, weget people come in.
Uh, virginia is can be a meltingpot, especially northern
virginia, right outside the city, right C.
And people come in and they'relike man, I have never whitetail
hunted in my life and I'm like,oh my God, man, you're going to

(06:09):
be sick of me in an hourbecause I'm going to follow you
around.
You know your bank account isabout to be depleted.
We're going to buy so many gunsand stuff, so it's, yeah, I
love it.
I love it.
It's a big piece of me.

Speaker 2 (06:20):
That's cool.
Here's some questions for you.
Did you, did you hunt beforeyou went to the military?

Speaker 3 (06:32):
Uh, I did a little bit, uh, not as much as you
would think.
Uh, it was mostly small gamewith my buddies.
Um, and it was, um, you know,and I would go out on the
occasional deer hunt when Icould in Virginia.
Uh, I was a very busy kid when Iwas younger and uh, yeah, sport
, yeah, and so, yeah, and sohunting would be something that
in Northern Virginia we werefairly rural, but, like you
would be, it would be somethingyou would do like once every

(06:52):
couple of weeks until it becomesa lifestyle, and the winter
would come around.
You'd be like you want to gohunt rabbits, you want to go
hunt squirrel, you want to gohunt some imaginary birds that
we'll never find, and so, yep,yeah, and go hunt some imaginary
birds that we'll never find,you know.
And so, uh, yeah, but but italso wasn't uncommon, you know,
especially in my day, uh, youknow, in the nineties to.

(07:13):
Uh, you know this, and this is,uh, pre all the craziness in
the world.
Uh, you know, you could rollinto your high school parking
lot, you know, with a 12 gaugein the gun rack, you know and
you go hunting.
Yeah, so, uh.
So I did hunt before I joinedthe military, but it really,
really became a passion when Igot out.

Speaker 2 (07:28):
Got it Okay.
Next question would be then didyou have family that exposed
you to it?
I know you said you wenthunting with your buddies.
Or was it more that you becameinterested in firearms and it
was sort of a means to usefirearms more Like where exactly
did it fit in?

Speaker 3 (07:43):
It was a close 50, 50 .
Um, I was already a gun guy, Iwas already an infantryman, Uh,
and I, uh, I was a contractor atthe time when I really, really
ramped it up and, to be honest,I, I found that the the clearing
of my mind aspect at that point, like the PTSD therapy, really

(08:04):
really became a thing and itreally, um, it really really
moved me along that path and I,but I already was a gun guy, so
it was very easy for me.
Um, but it, it, it was, it wasa very serious tie-in of my
buddies exposing it to me andnot so much my family.
My family wasn't full of a lotof hunters.
You know he's exposing it to meand not so much my family.

(08:26):
My family wasn't full of a lotof hunters.
You know a fisherman galore, Imean my, my family's actually
from.

Speaker 1 (08:30):
Massachusetts, so we had fishermen everywhere.

Speaker 3 (08:32):
But uh, but everybody you know Massachusetts has some
very, very restrictive gun oruh, gun laws and hunting laws.
You know so that that hamperedme, but it was pretty much a
little bit before high school.

Speaker 2 (08:47):
Then the military and then, when I got out, I was
just I was driven.
I knew what I wanted to do.
Hell yeah, man.
Hell yeah, very cool.
Okay, I have a bunch ofquestions, but I'm going to take
us down weird rabbit holes thatwe don't need to get to.
I got you, unless you'rehunting rabbit in those holes.
So let's do this, man, unlessyou background and kind of how
you became, you know the Brianthat we have here today.
Let's jump into some stories,brother.

Speaker 3 (09:05):
Let's do it.
Let's do it.

Speaker 2 (09:06):
All right, set the stage.

Speaker 3 (09:08):
All right, so, um, I have to.
So this is going to be a littlebit of a weird start, cause
I've heard some of the otherepisodes you know.
Um, I have to give a lot ofcredit in my hunting world to my
wife.

Speaker 2 (09:20):
Oh, um.

Speaker 3 (09:21):
My wife is my ride or die.
I mean she supports me ineverything that I do, and I mean
I'm blessed.
And I don't use that word veryoften, but I'm blessed to have
her and she, you know, in ourrelationship, that's, you know,

(09:43):
about half a decade, a littlebit more long.
She's definitely supported methe entire time and she's shown
herself to be a true, supportinghunting wife, that's awesome.
And so at one time we decided itwas actually just post-COVID or
just after COVID we decidedthat we were going to move to
Warrington, virginia, and we hada five-acre plot there little
rambler house, and we were goingto move there.

(10:04):
And I told her I said I don'tcare where we move, uh, as long
as I can throw a tree stand upin the backyard.

Speaker 1 (10:10):
And.

Speaker 3 (10:10):
I don't care what I throw out of that tree stand,
I'll throw rocks out of it if Ihave to.
I said let's just move to,let's move out there.
And she said I'm down, let's doit.
So we had uh, we had it was myfirst hunting season there and
I'd never hunted in front of her.
We'd gone shooting together abunch.
We actually our first date wasat a shooting range, which was

(10:31):
weird for me and so we it was myfirst hunting season there and
it was early rifle.
Okay, and I said you know what?
I'm not going to take my rifle,I'm going to take my crossbow
out and that's what I want to dotoday.
So I roll out and I walk down Idon't know, maybe it's 75 yards
down to my tree stand and I getdown there.

(10:51):
I got my crossbow and I decidedI didn't want to get up in the
stand and I just wanted to sitand just enjoy being out there.
And I took my crossbow and Iknocked it and I put the safety
on it.
I leaned it up against a treeand I literally um like turned
around and I'm like fishing inmy pocket for like a can of dip.

(11:11):
As I'm doing it, I like lookedout at the ground and I look up
and there's this big fat doe,maybe, maybe 15 yards in front
of me and she's just looking mein the eyes and I'm looking at
her and to me it felt like halfa century right, you know, I'm
sitting there looking at her.
I'm like, oh, this is taking toolong.

(11:33):
But the important part here isthat my crossbow is not anywhere
near my hand.
It's leaning up against, kindof like, the ladder in the tree
next to me and I stop and I lookat it and I'm like in like the
longest moments of my life,reaching down and just trying to
like wrap my hands around itand bring it to my I'm.

(11:54):
I'm super pumped because thishas been my first deer on the
property.
I can, like I can't evencontrol myself.
And I'm like reaching down, I'mlike almost shaking and I get a
good grip on this crossbow and Ibring it up literally at the
slowest speed I possibly can andI'm like raising it to my chest
and I'm linking my thumbthrough the thumb hole and I

(12:15):
finally get up to my chest Right.
As I kind of get up to myshoulder, the deer just very
nonchalantly stops looking at meand turns and gives me like the
most perfect broadside shot Ipossibly could have gotten and
it stops, Like it just literallystops.

Speaker 2 (12:32):
I was just waiting for you to pin this deer to a
tree with your crossbow man.

Speaker 3 (12:40):
I was.
It almost happened, and so Ijust sit, uh, almost barely
looking through my scope.
I just zipper straight through,straight through the vitals,
perfect shot.
She maybe goes about five yardsand just drops Um, I'll say by
far with all my hunting, likethe most ethical kill I've ever
had.
It was just so fast, yeah, andso I walked how?

Speaker 2 (12:59):
long from when you walked out there and sat down,
maybe even pre setting up your,your your crossbow, like how
long were walked out there andsat down, maybe even pre setting
up your, your your crossbow,like how long were you out there
?

Speaker 3 (13:07):
Maybe 15 minutes, that's maybe maybe it was, it
was nuts, it was nuts.

Speaker 2 (13:12):
My best case scenario is like a full day of kicking
my ass Hunting mountains is likeonly once I've ever killed on
opening day.
Otherwise I'm just, day afterday after day, a mile mile, mile
, day, a mile mile mile.
Just I'm jealous of you guysthat get it done like that it's
the, uh, it's, it's the, it'sthe northern virginia.

Speaker 3 (13:28):
You know, uh, typical whitetail hunt, you know I mean
either you'll see you'll seenothing for five days or they'll
walk up on you in the firstthree minutes.
You know okay so I zipper, andthen I walk over there and, uh,
you know, I start to dress,dress the dough and, uh, get
everything out.
And many times in my huntinghistory have I stopped and like

(13:49):
in my brain, I'm sitting theregoing.
I'm going to figure that outlater.
I'll say you know, what am Igoing to do if I actually hit a
deer and I get to get her out ofthe woods and this actually
comes into another story later.
But so I, I, I zipper and I get, I, you know, completely
cleaned out.
I stop and I look and I go Idon't have a deer cart, I don't
have three feet of rope, I don'thave a bungee cord near me, I

(14:12):
have nothing.
I was like I got to get thisthing up this hill and the hill
is actually kind of annoying.
I mean, it almost starts goingstraight up right when you back
up to our house.
So I drag her as far as I canand I'm just sitting there and
I'm just pooped and I'm justlike man.
I was like I did not preparemyself for this silliness.
I'm trying to get through thickVirginia woods and brambles and

(14:32):
weeds and all sorts of stuff.
So finally I give up and I goget a wheelchair, or a
wheelchair, get a wheelbarrow.

Speaker 2 (14:37):
Okay, all right.

Speaker 3 (14:39):
Roll it down the hill .
And at this point I'd knockedon the window and I said all
right, this is going to be atest here.
And I say I look at my wife andI go hey, you want to come help
me?
And she goes and she's going toeat this deer too.
So she's like, yeah, let's dothis.
I had no idea, I'd never shownher a dead animal?

Speaker 2 (14:57):
never in my life Did she have any kind of hunting
background, or was it just likeshe got with you and was like,
let's do it?

Speaker 3 (15:03):
She didn't have it for herself, but she had.
Uh, her grandfather was a hunter, so she was very she was used
to the the visuals, but I hadn'tseen her be used to it, I guess
that's the best way to put itso uh, she, we, we, we go down
the hill and we get the deer inthe in the wheelbarrow and we
just start kind of wheeling herup and and of there's legs
flying everywhere and every timeyou move the wheelbarrow a

(15:24):
little bit, a head come floppingout with a tongue.
And my wife is just a champ.
I mean I was amazed she'sfolding legs in and moving heads
over and everything like that,and I was like there's no way
that this is going as well as itis going right now.
Like there should be some sortof squeamish, screaming or
something.
And I knew she was a tough girl.

(15:45):
My wife's a veteran too.
I knew she was a tough girl,you know what I mean, but she
was proving it.
And we finally get all the wayto the top of the hill.
And by the time we get to thetop of the hill, I don't even
know.
I want to throw this deer in adumpster.
I'm so tired, and so is coffee.
And uh, you know, we, we dumpedthe deer in kind of our front
yard.
And uh, I start drinking mycoffee and walk around the house

(16:09):
.
I'm getting ready to go do thesecond part, which is go out
there and, you know, finishcleaning the deer and skin it or
or get it to my processor.
And uh, I, I look outside andmy wife is out there in her
pajamas.

Speaker 2 (16:28):
No, no less in her pajamas.
Uh uh, one leg up, one of thedeer's legs up.
Oh, I thought, okay, I'm gladit was a deer legs.
You had me.

Speaker 3 (16:31):
Yeah, exactly, she wasn't peeing on the deer, but
you have one one deer leg up andshe's got the entire you know
body exposed and she's justhosing it, hosing it out, hosing
blood out, hosing blood outjust sitting there and just get,
and it must be spraying allover and I didn't even.
I'm sitting there looking ather, I'm going well, holy shit,

(16:51):
that's the, that's the woman forme right there, like that that
was.
She didn't even, she didn'tknow complaint, know nothing.
They didn't even think twice.

Speaker 2 (16:58):
Just knew what to do and got it done.

Speaker 3 (17:00):
Knew what to do, got it done, helped me throw it in
the back of the truck and it wasoff to the processor, uh, so
that was kind of our first deer,uh, as a couple together, and
it was also when I knew I waslike, if this woman ever leaves
me, uh, I don't know what I'mgonna do with myself.
Like I'm done, I'm finished.

Speaker 2 (17:16):
Good for you, man, good for you.
My wife is the one for me,absolutely, but she's not into
that stuff.
So like we watch a zombie movie, right, like the last of us
we're watching these days, andzombies are fine, but as soon as
a zombie gets someone she'slike, tell me when it's over.
And she can't no gore for herso yeah, you got yourself one
man, that's cool.

Speaker 3 (17:36):
I did, I did, I took.
We took her on a hunt becauseshe hasn't really done it and I
wanted to take her on a birdhunt.
I figured it would be theeasiest one and we went to this
place called Rose Hill Farms.
It's here in Virginia, a reallynice little game preserve and

(17:57):
it's a very simple hunt.
You can be in and out in threehours.
You just kind of walk in and aslong as you have your hunting
license, they, they have birdsprepped for you and they and and
you pick a certain number ofbirds, and I'm not a big fan of
reserve hunts, but for birds, um, you know, uh, chucker and
grouse and pheasant aren'treally indigenous to Virginia,

(18:18):
you know.
I mean they're indigenous toAsian countries, you know and
out.
West.
Out West they can flourish, buthere in Virginia, uh, they're
going to get eaten by anythingthat lead them.
And so, um, we, we went to thishunt and, uh, I was like this
will be great and I bought heran old Winchester model 12.
Cause I figured, let's make it,let's make it really classic
and really enjoy it.
And, uh, you never know, you'realways real nervous when you

(18:40):
take somebody hunting for thefirst time because you really
want them to succeed.
You know, at the end of the day, like I could have given you
know, you know, two shits if Igotten a bird, um, but I wanted
her to at least get a bird andget the hunting experience out
of the way.
And, uh, we get through the dayand the people there have this
amazing dog working with us andit was great.
And, um, I think I'm on myninth bird and.

(19:05):
Andrea has missed her fifth.
So we got to this point wherethis I finally saw this one,
this one pheasant, beautiful,beautiful, you know, emerald
green head, and I saw it and Iwas like you know what, now I
don't care what else happenstoday, I just want that bird.

(19:25):
It was just, it was a beautifulpheasant.
I just want I could see it inmy head.
You know the picture of me justlike holding it up next to me,
you know.
And so the dog flushes, a birdbird flies.
I missed twice and the bird'sgone, and so I'm sitting there
going this is this is ridiculousLike there's no way I missed

(19:46):
that bird, and we just kind ofkeep going and keep going and
keep going and I get a couplemore birds and, andrea, you,
know, uh, she was trying, butshe, you know, she just not a
skill she was used to and shejust kept missing them.
And so we, uh, we finally got tothe end of the day and we're
talking to this, this, uh, toour, our guide, and she was
awesome, she was just she usedto work at what is it?

(20:06):
The place from Tombstone, theranch, the Four, sixes or
whatever?

Speaker 2 (20:10):
Oh, okay, yeah.

Speaker 3 (20:12):
Yeah.
So she was a character, she wasreally awesome.
And so we're sitting there andI was like at least this girl is
making this comfortable for usand making it fun.
And we get to the part wherewe're kind of walking back
towards the farmhouse part,where we're kind of walking back
towards the farmhouse.
And as we're walking backtowards the farmhouse, uh,
andrew is walking underneaththis huge, huge pine tree and
she looks up and she goesthere's a pheasant up here and

(20:35):
the, the lady you know with us,turns and looks at her and she
goes, okay, and andrew's likewhat do I do?
And she's like shoot it.
And she's like shoot thepheasant.
She's like is that fair?
And I was like I don't care ifit's fair.
I was like it.
It flew up there, shoot it.
And so, um, it just happens topop off the branch and andrea, I

(20:56):
guess, plugs it and it hits theground and I'm like thank god
she got a bird that's all Iwanted was for her to get a bird
, and she got your bird, didn'tshe?

Speaker 2 (21:03):
she got the bird, she got my bird.
That's all I wanted was for herto get a bird, and she got your
bird, didn't she?
She got the bird.
She got my bird, I go walkingup and she's.

Speaker 3 (21:08):
There is no doubt in my mind she's holding my bird in
her hand and I'm sitting therelooking at her.
I'm going oh my God, you weresuch a good luck charm for me.
I was like but that's my bird,and I didn't even care about the

(21:29):
other nine birds, I was justlike they're food now I don't
care, I don't care.
And so I begrudgingly had tosit there and take a picture of
my beautiful wife holding up mybird, um.
And, of course, like it's, it'salways funny too when you bring
somebody hunting like that.
Like um, they're wearing thegear that you brought for them
or that you bought for me, Imean and yeah and, and I'm
kitted out like I'm gettingready to retake fallujah, and
you know like I have every

Speaker 2 (21:46):
piece of gear.
I can think of on and I'm justsitting like vision goggles for
your yeah, yeah, flares goingoff.
You know um?

Speaker 3 (21:54):
so it was just.
It was a hilarious, hilariousending to the day and it was
like so bittersweet, I was sohappy for that.
You got the bird.
But, like to this day, I haveto tell friends, like you know,
I went pheasant hunting like twoyears ago.
My wife shot my bird.
I was like I swear to God.

Speaker 2 (22:09):
How dare she, how dare?

Speaker 3 (22:11):
she, how dare she?

Speaker 2 (22:12):
Good on her.
Yeah, exactly man.
So how did she take it?

Speaker 3 (22:30):
I know that to me she sounds like the kind of lady
that was just like.
You know, when they kill thatfirst animal, it's a, it's a big
moment for them.
How did she handle it?
She handled it very well.
Uh, she is, uh, she's,amazingly resilient.
So she I know we're both animallovers yeah, I mean like, we
live our life for our dogs, andyou know I mean like and and so
we uh, there's, there's, there'snothing lost on us as far as
like an animal life.
But she's also very pragmaticand so she went, she shot food,

(22:51):
Dragging her out there to do itagain, to go for a bigger game,
Maybe a different story, I don'tknow.
It's up to you.
It's very different.
When you're sitting, Birds aretrying to get away from you
every bit.
That they can't, they're justtaken off.
It's almost like a challenge atthat point.
I mean, they're giving you thebird as they fly away and you're
just like oh, I'm going to getyou.

(23:12):
But deer, you know other biggame like deer and hogs and
stuff like that do have.
They have greater personalities, I mean in the animal world.
You know, they just do.

Speaker 2 (23:24):
Yeah, what does Steven Rinella call him?
Like charismatic mega fauna orwhatever Like yeah, exactly,
yeah.

Speaker 1 (23:29):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (23:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (23:30):
They're like animals basically they're charismatic
they are, and and it's I.
I am compassionate to peoplewho are sitting there like it
every minute, every day, youknow.
I mean, you know if, if therewas a way to jump out of
airplanes, doing it, I'd do it,um, but I, uh, I think that, um,
you know, we'll give it a shotone of these days.

(23:51):
It's totally on her.
If we get, and and honestly Ibelieve this with almost anybody
I spent time with or I hungwith uh, if you get there and
you know you're about halfwaythrough your trigger pull and
you change your mind, that's onyou.
That's fine, that's fine with me, uh, now as soon as you get up,
I'm gonna take up that triggerpull, and you know it's a job,
but uh yeah, so.

(24:11):
So we'll see what the futurebrings.

Speaker 2 (24:13):
I didn't see that coming.
I don't know why I didn't seethat coming, but that was funny.
Um, no, I'm with you.
Though when I started huntingman, I was like I'm going.
I was going with some my, mywife's family, I had never
hunted, had no interest inhunting, and I wasn't even sure
if I'd be able to pull thetrigger.
But it was like this bondingexperience of going out, being
part of elk camp and I, likefull well knew I was like I
don't really want to shootanything.

(24:33):
I don't think I'm going to beable to shoot anything Turns out
, put something in front of me.
I am a cold-blooded killer, butbefore going I had no idea and
I didn't think it would bepalatable for me.
But everybody's different,everybody's different.

Speaker 3 (24:48):
Once it creates a lifestyle, it can stick.
It definitely can.
And once it stuck with me, Italked to my mom today.
We were talking about what wedo to unwind.
And I said Ma, I was like youcould stick me in the woods for
a week on end, and as long asI'm out there and just letting
everything kind of flow away andtakes all my anxiety away,

(25:14):
makes everything very relaxedfor me, and so yeah, it
definitely is a big once you getto the lifestyle, once you get
in there it just becomes part ofyou.
Well, that's a good story.

Speaker 2 (25:26):
I'm sorry that your wife stole your bird.

Speaker 3 (25:28):
It happens.

Speaker 2 (25:29):
I hope you remind her every day.

Speaker 3 (25:31):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (25:33):
What other stories you got, man.

Speaker 3 (25:34):
I try not to, but so one that actually that people
remind me that I always have totell was actually this past
season.
Okay, and it's a funny one.
I try to have a little bit ofhumor.
I like to make fun of myself,so I try to have a little bit of
humor in everything that I talkabout.
And, um, so, this past year, uh, some of the, some of the uh,

(25:56):
the members of our, of our uhshooting club, uh, and our apex
members, which are our high endmembers members, grant me
certain pieces of land I can gohunt on.

Speaker 2 (26:06):
Oh, that's cool Because.

Speaker 3 (26:08):
I do a good job for them and it's my reward and they
treat me well, I got to admit,and so one of them.
It was getting later in theseason and we were starting to
get a little bit of snow inVirginia, West Virginia and I'd
gone to their property.
I spent a lot of time on thisproperty and I really love it.
It's my happy place and I'm outthere and I showed up no snow,

(26:34):
and it's one of these pieces ofproperty where I can actually
drive my truck from the front tothe back of it and if I feel
like I'm getting skunked in theback of it, I'll drive to the
front again and just hang outthere for a little while and
I'll drive to the back.
So it gives me a lot of free,uh, movement uh, or if I want to
yeah, I can.

(26:55):
If I want to, I can just throwmy rifle over my shoulder and I
can just walk the whole thing,you know, for hours.
And so I, um, I, I felt likeevery time I found a deer they
knew I was there five minutesbefore I was even in the woods
and, uh, they were gone and so,uh, I was, I was starting to get
a little frustrated, but asfrustrated, you know, it was
kind of like a bad day ofhunting was better than a good

(27:16):
day at work.
But I, um, I definitely wanteda deer and, and I was, I was I
kind of wanted last, last yearfor the season, and I was at
this point where I was coming inbetween two pieces of property
and they're kind of these largecow fields, if you will, or
grazing fields.
I was coming in between twotree lines and I turned around

(27:45):
and like three yearlings camewalking out and then in what was
looked like the closest to thebiggest deer herd I'd seen in a
while, like like four doe walkedout and one buck, and the buck
like literally had like shownhis head and then just turned
away.
And so I was like, all right,I'm not even going to if I even
walk into the woods right now,he's gone.
So I looked up at the doe and Iwas like you know what, I'm

(28:10):
gonna take the biggest one.
And uh, I'm gonna, I'm gonna,I'm gonna smoke her and and I uh
this.
This past year I kind of made apledge to myself uh, as far as
equipment was concerned, uh, Iwas going to, uh, I I hunted
with a Sig MCX 300 Blackout theentire time.
Mine has a 16-inch barrel, soit's kind of like the AK for

(28:33):
America in a way.
It's kind of crazy how the gunworks out.
But I told myself I was goingto hunt with it all season long
and I ended up taking like fivedeer with it.
And so I took my mcx off myshoulder and I was hunting with
a battle site on purpose.
Uh, just because the thetypical distances that we have
here I mean generally invirginia, you're not shooting it

(28:55):
over 60 yards you know, so okayyeah, and this was about a 45
yard shot, and so let me realquick.

Speaker 2 (29:04):
Those cattle pastures were.
There's no way you're getting ashot over 60 yards in those
little pastures.

Speaker 3 (29:08):
Not really.
They're about 100 yards inlength and then separated by
tree line, and so you can seethrough the tree line, but it's
a dicey shot.

Speaker 2 (29:18):
Okay, got it.

Speaker 3 (29:20):
If you had a 5 to 25 and you cranked her all the way
in um, you might be able to getone through those trees.
But I still wouldn't.
I wouldn't chance it you know,Um, so this one was just about
40 yards, uh, that's a kind of aguesstimate.
But, um, I, I did the samething I'd done all season long,
you know all four other deer and, uh, you know, I dropped my

(29:42):
reticle right on the same point,uh, right on the right on the
vitals, and squeezed the triggerand for the first time, uh,
this season, uh, it didn't dropand it ran and I didn't even
know if I'd hit it.
And I'm sitting there and likeI had and there's like zero
recoil on this gun.
So, you know, I mean I was likethere, there's no way unless,

(30:03):
like, I sneeze through mytrigger pole, like there's no
way I missed.
And so I'm kind of like youknow, it's kind of like that
feeling, you know what I meanLike, you know, you feel your
neck burning and you're like man, I got to go.
I got to truck over there, so Igo running over there and I get
down.
I get down to the tree line shewas up against and I looked down

(30:23):
at the ground blood, good blood, and uh, but I noticed it
running all the way into thewoods and around all these these
cattle fields.
Uh, is all these ravines thatlead back to a Creek, to a
pretty stout Creek, and thoseravines are a pain and I didn't
realize it as much as I did thisday.
Um, and I can just see theblood, like going downhill and

(30:45):
over logs and everything, andI'm following and following and
there's snow on the ground atthis point and, um, I'm just
like all right, well, at least I, I know where she went.
And I get to like the deepestpart of the ravine and I look
down and there she is at stone,dead, and I'm like I'm like
great.
And then I go look up theravine and I'm like, son a,

(31:06):
there's no way I was like thisis going to kill me, but I'm
going to do it anyway All rightand so once again, the I'm going
to figure it out thing cameinto effect.

Speaker 2 (31:16):
But no wheelbarrow this time, right no wheelbarrow,
no wheelbarrow.
Or wheelchairs.

Speaker 3 (31:22):
No wheelchairs.
Yeah, I might have needed oneafterwards.
So I get her.
I kind of skirt the edge ofthis hill and I'm going down I'm
actually going down game trails, you know using their tool
against them.

Speaker 1 (31:35):
And.

Speaker 3 (31:36):
I'm dragging her and dragging her, and dragging her
and dragging her and finally Iget her to the bottom of this
ATV track.
And when I get to the bottom ofthe ATV track I look up and
it's like straight up, and I'mlike man, I'm like all right,
I'm gonna go get my deer cart,I'm gonna come down here and I'm
gonna drag her up.
And so I get down there, I gether on the deer cart and I start

(31:57):
to try to drag her up and thewheels won't move, and they
won't move at all.
And every time, uh, I wastrying to figure out what was
wrong and it turned out thatlike one of the one of the
screws was coming loose and oneof the bearings had come loose,
and so one of them wasn't moving, the other one was just sliding
in the snow.
So I'm like, all right, here wego, and and I don't know if you

(32:19):
can tell on camera, but I'mlike 145 pounds.

Speaker 1 (32:22):
Um, I'm like, I'm like.

Speaker 2 (32:24):
I'm like barely bigger than the doe.

Speaker 3 (32:26):
Yeah, I'm like 20 pounds heavier than this deer.
So, uh, so I, I, I getunderneath her and and I pick
her up and I'm I'm like fivefeet up the hill and I put her
back down, and I'm five feet upagain, put her back down, and
I'm just like man, I got, like Igot, I got a ways to go.
I got like another 200, 300yards to go up this hill and so
finally I put her down, I go.
You know what?
I was like I'm an idiot.

(32:47):
I'm like I have a pickup truckthat's right over the edge of
that hill.
I was like I'm going to go getmy truck, I'm going to back it
up to the hill and I put her onthe deer cart and I drag the
deer cart up, you know.
So I being the illy preparedBrian Dowling, I go to the truck
, I don't have a rope.
I don't have anything.

(33:07):
I have like a knife and acombat rifle.
So I'm just sitting therelooking at myself.
I'm like I'm an idiot.
But I'm in an area, I'm nearMiddleburg, virginia, and I just
decide you know what I was like.
I'm making this harder than itneeds to be.
I was like there's no timelimit where I am.

(33:27):
I was like I'm just going to goget a rope.
So I drive to a, uh, a hardwarestore in the middle of
Middleburg, having no sense ofself whatsoever.
Uh, I stroll into this hardwarestore, um, not really paying
attention to anything, and I go.
When I walk around and I go,you know what I'm going to grab

(33:49):
this and this and this and thisand this and I walk up to the
counter.
It's a little town hardwarestore, like nice little kind of
mom and pop shop.
I walk up to the cash registerand I hadn't looked at myself
yet and I hadn't looked atmyself yet but, having put a
deer on my shoulders that I hadshot, I had blood all over me,

(34:10):
all over my shoulder, all overthe front of my jacket, all over
my pants, and it wasn't like itwas a lot, but it was enough
where, like you could tell, Ihad blood on me.

Speaker 2 (34:20):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (34:21):
And as I walk up I lay down a hatchet and two
spools of rope and two bungeecords and I stop and I look at
the nice lady behind the counterand she looks at me and I lit
the first words out of my mouthwhere I didn't murder anybody.

Speaker 2 (34:38):
And she goes yeah, that's what they all say, yeah,
yeah.
And she stops and she goes.

Speaker 3 (34:42):
I'm not sure I believe you.
I said listen, lady, I was goes.
I'm not sure I believe you.
I said listen, lady.
I was like I have not committeda crime here.
I was like it's the end of theseason, shot a deer, I'm just
trying to get it out of thewoods and she goes.
Whatever.
She just raised me Were you incamo at least.

Speaker 2 (34:57):
Oh yeah, I was in, I was in.

Speaker 3 (35:06):
I had my of Carhartts Um.

Speaker 2 (35:06):
but you know, I'm also in, you know, rural
Virginia, where anybody, whetherthey were a murderer or not
would be wearing a camo jacketand a pair of Carhartts.
It wasn't like I stuck out froma crowd.

Speaker 3 (35:14):
So I eventually went back, got all the way back and I
was finished with the day and Ijust I literally spooled that
rope from the back of my mytailgate, uh, wrapped it around
the cart and just drug that deerout.
And when I drug that deer out,I mean you would have thought I
just won the Olympics, like I.
Somebody was putting a goldmedal around my neck Um, I was
most excited person ever.
Threw in the back back of mytruck and then told my wife the

(35:38):
entire story.
Uh, and then she was just likeyou know she's like maybe next
time you'll be prepared.
Now the back of my car lookslike an REI.
I mean literally you could findany piece of equipment.
I think there's a generatorback there and maybe some MREs.
I'm not positive.

Speaker 2 (35:51):
That's funny, man.
I've said this before on thepodcast.
But the best lessons areself-taught.
You make those mistakes You'relike not going to happen again.
I don't want to be a murdererat the hardware store again.
I'm going to make sure I'mprepared next time around.

Speaker 3 (36:03):
But that's a great story, 100%, 100%.

Speaker 2 (36:07):
Let me ask you did you manage to get a photo of
yourself with the deer orwithout the deer, but covered in
blood?
Because I'd love to seeactually what you look like
going into the hardware store.

Speaker 3 (36:16):
So I didn't take a picture of that one that day.
I did take another picture.
It was the week before when Igot my one buck of the season.
I got all does, all season andI got one buck.
It was a four point and Iwanted to keep the skull and I
very rarely like when it's does,I just drop them off of the

(36:37):
process and I get all my deerprocessed because I believe it
just builds commerce in ourshooting sports.
You know what?
I mean Like these people got topay the bills too, but I just
dump them off.
And then this one I was like,oh, I got a four point and I was
just like I want to keep thatskull.
And, uh, I cut the head off andI got this picture.
My wife took the picture causeI'd I'd cut the head off and I

(36:59):
and she's got a couple of themactually.
Uh, they're actually funnypictures of me with deer heads
and of her from her officewindow at home and me in the
front yard just staying thereholding this deer head, like I'm
expecting a reward, like sheshould have thrown a treat out
the window or something likethat.
But yeah, she does have a hostof psychotic looking pictures
after I've come home fromhunting trips.

Speaker 2 (37:22):
That's amazing, man.
That's amazing.
I have a photo of a buddy ofmine.
We were hog hunting and he shotlike a 300-pound hog and he's
holding we got the head offwhole with just this massive
head.
It's like the size of his chest, like their necks are as big as
their heads.
It's just this huge thing.
He's holding it up by the ears.
It's just this epic photo ofjust this gnarly pig head and

(37:42):
this guy just covered in blood.
So um.
I could probably not quite likeyour deer head, but still I bet
that I'd still like to see thatphoto that your wife said, oh
yeah definitely, definitely.

Speaker 3 (37:51):
I'll definitely send that to you guys.
Um yeah, so, uh, so yeah, soyeah, deer hunting, like you
know my self-taught, you knowwhat I mean.
They, they were, um, and theygenerally they come out fairly
humorously and uh, you know, we,we, we really kind of believe
in subsistence hunting, you know, I mean, we, we eat everything
we shoot and so, um, you know my, I try to keep my freezer as

(38:14):
full as possible, which, um,which I found, like I said, you
know, my wife being a championyou know of of, of dealing with
my lifestyle, um, she, she hastons, of tons of moments where
she's just like she has to stopand be like I can't believe I
married.

Speaker 2 (38:29):
this, you know this is you know this yeah, here I
have a question for you, goingback to the 45 yards, knowing
that you are an outright gunexpert, is that?
Is that fair statement, right?

Speaker 3 (38:39):
yeah, yeah, oh yeah yeah.

Speaker 2 (38:41):
So I I recently got a new rifle, put on a new scope
and I was like where should?
Was like where should I zero at?
And so in your situation I'mcurious, where would you sight
in where you are?
Where do you sight in?
And then, if you were to goWestern big game, what would you
zero at?
And then what do you think isthe perfect?
If you're just not going toswitch between the two, like
where would you land?

Speaker 3 (39:02):
And I don't want dare , no, I just, I just want an
answer, because you know, I'mjust curious so, um, to not be
technical, and because we do somuch, uh, long range with us,
now for western big game andeven I've even seen ranella do
this uh, now he's, he's movinginto modern sighting, sighting
systems, um, I would say, forwestern big game, you want to

(39:25):
just like.
If you were, uh, an sf sniperor, you know, a marine corps
sniper, I would, I would putyour zero at 100 to be as long
as you understand your holds.
You know, if you, you, if youunderstand the flight path of
your bullet, then your hundredis going to be where you want to
start.
And the reason for that is whenwe do our long range uh out

(39:46):
here, and we, we teach ourstudents to go out to a thousand
.
And if you started a hundredand you're using a and this is
where it does get a littletechnical using, like a, um, an
MRAD system, right, an MRADreticle, uh, and that just means
that the reticle is in milradians, um, you are starting to

(40:08):
get yourself into trulyaccurate shooting.
One of my guys can get you into, you know, uh, our, our main
instructor, gets you out to athousand.
And then, when we do arefresher after that course, uh,
the next guy gets you into afive inch plate at 600 um.
So I mean so.
So I would start your zero at ahundred.
Now, if you want to find amiddle ground between the two,

(40:28):
it just depends on what kind ofscope you're using.
You know if you're using, ifyou're using a five to 25, you
know what I mean Something thatyou need to see the moon with um
, then then a hundred is what isgoing to do you justice, uh, if
you're using something smaller,like I tend to use, uh, when
I'm here in Virginia, like I'lluse a battle site, um, or I'll
use a I've even hunted with anACOG before.
I know that's a technical term,but you know a U S military

(40:51):
ACOG, um.
You know I do my zero at 25,but I understand where my holds
are on that.
On that scope.
So it it takes some, take someknowledge, some optics knowledge
, but if you, if you feel likenerding out one night, just sit
down and learn how an MRAD scopeworks.
Okay, interesting.

Speaker 2 (41:12):
And if you really want to learn Sounds like I need
to recite because I'm at 200.

Speaker 1 (41:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (41:16):
So I have heard of that Out west a lot of guys will
zero at 200 to 300 because theyknow they're taking that shot.

Speaker 2 (41:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (41:23):
It just depends on the reticle you're using.
Okay, two to 300, because theyknow they're taking that shot.
It just depends on the reticleyou're using.
If you know you're shooting at,if you know you're going to be
shooting long distance, and youstart that crosshair at a
hundred, then when you'rereaching out, everything else
will fall in line.
Your holds will fall in line asas you start to move down that
reticle.
It does take a little bit ofscience and, yes, out here we

(41:44):
use a laser range, finders andKestrels and, uh, we are very
technical.
You know, my, my instructor atwork is a is a SIFSIC instructor
.
I mean, he's amazing.
Um, and these guys haveforgotten more about shooting
than I'll ever know, and I'm agun expert, so so they uh, so
there, there's skills to it andif you ever want to learn, head
out to, if you're ever inVirginia, we'll teach you.

(42:05):
We don't care, we love it.
This is what we live for.

Speaker 2 (42:08):
Cool, cool.
I want to get into shooting.
I want to get into long-rangeshooting.
I just haven't gotten there yet.
But yeah, I got this new rifleand I love it.
But I was like, where should?
I sight in and I knew where myholes should be at 200, but it's
good to hear your opinion.

(42:29):
So sorry for the listeners thatare going technical when we're
supposed to just be doingstories, but it is what it is.
I was curious, man, what elseyou got, brian man.

Speaker 3 (42:38):
So there was one funny day.
This one goes back to my wifeand she insists.
I always tell people this story,Uh so there was the day that
she didn't want me to get a deer.
Uh and uh, this was at the samepiece of property and it was
one year and it was the bestyear I'd gotten.
All year it was, it was, and uh, I'm not a trophy hunter.

(43:00):
I don't care how many pointsthey have.
If, if a 10 point comes walkingout, yes, I'm going to lose my
mind, but if they're a four or asix-point, it's food in the
fridge.

Speaker 2 (43:10):
Brown is down meat.

Speaker 3 (43:11):
Yep.
So I was out at that propertyand I had taken my truck I think
was in the shop, but thatwasn't going to stop me from
going hunting and I grabbed mywife's CRV.
Uh and uh, it's, it's this cutelittle red CRV, it's perfect
for her.
She loves that car and uh andmy, my dumb ass goes and drives

(43:34):
out to to go hunting.
And of course, uh, the day thatshe doesn't want me to get a
deer, cause she knows, I'm goingto throw it in the back of her
carpeted CRV.
I am out there at the property.
I'd just given up.
I'd been walking the trails allday long and I hadn't seen
anything.
And I'd seen this buck a coupletimes when I'd been out there,

(43:55):
but I hadn't been able to reallypin him down and I knew where
he hung out.
But every time I would go outthere I would scare up a bunch
of deer and I couldn't tell ifhe was there.
And I decided to pack up the carand, just like I was going to
call it quits for the day, and Igot in my truck, or I got in
her car and I I started driving,you know, kind of down the

(44:18):
field towards the trail.
And as I'm driving now I turn,I look at the corner of my eye
and there he is and he's like,literally, staring at me once
again.
And I'm looking at him.
He's looking at me once again.
Um and I, I'm looking at him,he's looking at me and I'm
sitting here.
I'm going, son of a.
I was like I'm in the car.
I was like I got to find a wayout of the car.

(44:38):
I was like otherwise, this isillegal.
I was like, but I'm gettingthat deer.
So everything that could gowrong in five minutes goes wrong
, like, literally.
Like.
Like I bang my gun against thedoor, I look over, he's still
there.
I go to open the door so I canwalk down the fields and feel

(44:58):
pretty ethical.
And so I go to open the doorand the keys are in the ignition
Seatbelt bell goes off.

Speaker 1 (45:04):
I'm just like son.

Speaker 3 (45:05):
I was like and this guy won't move, he's just
sitting there staring at me andI'm just like hey, I.
I was like now he's too dumb tolive, so I have to, I have to
do something yeah, you got itbetter for the herd to get him
out of the gene pool so I uh, itended up kind of being a funny
story in two ways.
I I get out and I walk down thehill and I turn on him and as I

(45:27):
turn on he still doesn't moveand he's sitting there and he's
looking at me and then he it'salmost like he wanted to die.
He kind of like scoots his butta little bit and once again
gives me a perfect broadside.

Speaker 2 (45:38):
Yeah, sounds like you're hunting a zoo, brian.

Speaker 3 (45:41):
Yeah, I'm sure you weren't in a zoo, yeah I know
it's most animals, I don't know,for some reason they don't fear
me.
It's probably my size.
Uh, I'm little, so he, he likekind of he, he scoots his butt a
little bit.
And uh, this year I was huntingwith an AR 10 and that was my
whole deal.
I was like I'm gonna hunt withthis AR 10.
I love it.
And, um, so I I hit him and heruns about 30 yards and he falls

(46:03):
down.
He tried to get into the woodsto bed down so I couldn't find
him and he got like into thislittle little thicket and he
falls down and I'm I'm kind ofover the moon at this point
because he's the best deer, I'vegotten in a while and I'm just,
I'm just pumped and and I gorunning over to him and uh, and
I, I, I start, I start fielddressing right away after about
15 phone calls to my wife and ofcourse she gets this phone call

(46:25):
that she didn't want, which wasI got deer.
And then she finds out it's abuck, and and she goes, I can
tell, I, I know, just in herbrain she's like crap, he's
gonna put that in the back ofthe car.
So it kind of gets a littlefunnier just because I start
cleaning them up and the guy whois uh, who's, who's, very one

(46:47):
of my very near dear friends,who owns the property, uh, he
shows up over the hill and heshows up for the hill.
I'm, I'm armed deep like in adeer.
You know I blood up the elbowsand you know I'm pulling guts
out and everything like that,and he's a hundred two.
So he understood what was goingon.
But, of course he's dressed likea normal human being and I'm
dressed, you know, uh, likeCabello's threw up on me and uh

(47:08):
he's.
He's just looking at me andhe's like where's your truck?
And I go, I don't have my truck.
I was like I got Andrea's CRV.
And he's like you have yourwife's car and you're going to
throw that deer in the back ofit.
And I'm just like, yeah, yeah,I am.
I was like this one's notstaying here and he literally
gives me this look and he's justlike good luck with that.

Speaker 1 (47:29):
He's like you you.

Speaker 3 (47:31):
You have fun when you get home.

Speaker 2 (47:33):
Did you have a tarp or anything?

Speaker 3 (47:34):
I did have a tarp back there I had I had a.
I had a small tarp and I onlygot a little bit of blood that I
think I cleaned up beforeanybody noticed.
But then then I had to hear itfor the week.
I mean she told me she was likeshe's like, you know, my car
has smelled for the past uh, forpast, you know five days and I
was like I don't know what to doabout that and I was like it's

(47:57):
going to be a good deer, though,you know.
So, uh, so she once again she'svery forgiving, but it was the
one day that she didn't want meto get it there.

Speaker 2 (48:05):
That's too funny, man .
Yeah, I can imagine my wifewould be pretty pissed if I took
her vehicle.
We have an Explorer and then wehave a Silverado.
So if we took the Explorer andI brought that thing back with a
deer in it, she'd lose her shitat me.

Speaker 3 (48:18):
So I don't care where you're coming from.
I got to find a better plan toDexter up the back of her CRV,
so I can make sure I get deerout of there, but yeah.
So once again amazinglysupportive.
I got to learn the rules, Ithink somewhere in the next 10
years of our marriage.

Speaker 2 (48:35):
What you got to do is get her out there with you,
yeah, and then she's making thesame mistakes and can't blame
you If you're doing it together.
It's an event, right?
It's not a mistake.

Speaker 3 (48:44):
This'll.
This'll be the first year I'mhoping I can do it.
This'll be the first year thatmy stepson's going to hunt with
me and he's only been my stepsonfor a short period of time,
obviously, but he's going to goout and hunt with me this year.
We built him a rifle last year.
That's one of my things at myjob I build rifles for people so
we built one together and he'sall pumped about it, and so

(49:07):
we'll finally get him out there.
I think that that will be agood way to at least get mom out
there for, like the middle tothe aftermath, I don't know if
we can get her out there at 5 ambut maybe we can get out there
to the center part.

Speaker 2 (49:17):
Yeah, I guess I got to ask what?
Why hasn't she gone out?

Speaker 3 (49:20):
Is it because she doesn't want the early mornings
and stuff like that, or we areextremely I don't like to say
we're workaholics, but I live mylife at XCAL, but I live my

(49:41):
life at XCAL and she works foras a contractor for the
government, and she is just asdedicated to her job as I am
mine.
It's when it's just us, uh,it's let's cook a big meal,
let's get on the couch and, youknow, let's watch like an entire
season of of whatever you knowwhatever yeah.

(50:01):
And that's um, that's our timetogether and uh, and we've
earned it.
You know what I mean.
Like we work so hard and um,like I said, we're both veterans
, so we have no problem beinglike.

Speaker 2 (50:21):
I'm going to park my ass on the couch for a little
while.

Speaker 3 (50:22):
Uh, because I didn't before so here's a question for
you shoot show recommendation.
Give me one, and you can't saylast of us, uh, no it wouldn't
be the last of us.
Uh, dark winds.

Speaker 2 (50:26):
I'm actually a big fan of that one yeah I'm not
familiar.

Speaker 3 (50:29):
I'll have to check it out yeah, so I believe it's amc
and it's a uh, it's a, it'skind of set in the 60s.
It's set right after vietnam andum on an indian reservation and
uh and it is a uh, it's justsuch a, it's such a good show it
and it's just enjoyable.
But it's also it's got itscreepy fun elements to it, that

(50:53):
kind of make you know, kind ofmake you wonder.
And I I listened to all thebooks too, uh you know on my
commute and uh, so I, I reallywas, I really was all about that
show when I found out it wascoming out oh very cool, yeah,
and then and this year.
Uh, so I'm a big aliens fan.
The movie aliens, I'm obsessedwith it.
Our dogs are named aftercharacters from aliens, like

(51:13):
everything uh and aliens earthis supposed to come out this
summer and that's going to be uh, that's the like, the one show
that I'm just anticipatinghardcore.
Whether it's good or not, itcould completely be terrible,
and I'm still you never know,you never know.

Speaker 2 (51:27):
But that franchise historically has got some pretty
great films oh it does cool.
Well, brian, you got any otherones for us?
I know we're about out of timehere for what we scheduled.
I want to make sure we get themall in, if we can.

Speaker 3 (51:38):
No, I think you know the only the most recent hunt,
just real quick one, and this isreally just a shout out to
people in North Carolina.
There's these guys I go huntwith in North Carolina, called
Carolina Razorbacks, Carolinacalled Carolina Razorbacks, and
this is some down home huntingLike they will drop.
They've dropped me off in themiddle of the swamp for like 17

(51:59):
hours before uh and me being an11.

Speaker 1 (52:00):
Bravo, I'm like oh, this is home for me.

Speaker 3 (52:01):
It's very easy Um and uh.
You know I've been skunkedyears and years in a row not
being able to get a hog.
In this past year I finally gotone Uh, but it was funny, my
wife being my luck charm.
I just texted her and I saidI'm not going to get a hog
during the day, I'm going to behere all night.
And as I hit send, I look upand there's 10 of them in front
of me.
And so I finally had a successthis year, and it's kind of

(52:27):
that's just moral of that storyis like just keep trying.
Like you know, like I said, abad day of hunting is better
than a good day at work.

Speaker 2 (52:31):
Hell yeah, man, hell yeah.
Well, I don't know if you'velistened to this episode, jim
Huntsman, have you listened tothat episode?

Speaker 3 (52:37):
yet I believe so yeah .

Speaker 2 (52:38):
He goes to the swamp in North Carolina.
If you guys are interested in ahilarious story about someone
hunting a swamp in NorthCarolina, check out the Jim
Huntsman episode.
I don't know what number it is.
There's that area.
It intrigues me the hunting inthat area.
So oh it's it's terrifying.

Speaker 3 (52:55):
You go out there.
I heard things in those woods.
The worst part is I heardthings in those woods and then
afterwards, uh, these are andthese are great guys, but I mean
they're good old boys and Iturned to him.
I'd be like man.
I heard some shit in the woodslike I heard some like like
screeching and weird stuff andlike, instead of them like
assuaging my anguish and beinglike, oh yeah, that was a
raccoon or that was this.
They were like yeah I'd be likeno yup is not the answer I was

(53:18):
like you know but uh, but yeah,no, north carolina great hunting
, definitely, without a doubt, Ibelieve it, man, I believe it
huge black bears out in northcarolina.

Speaker 2 (53:26):
I think they hold the uh, the continental united
states record comes from northcarolina yeah, I, I think it
does.
Yeah, yeah.
Well, brian, thank you man,this was a lot of fun.
Why don't we share?
You've obviously got a lotgoing on why don't you share
some of your information wherepeople can find you, what you do
, et cetera?
And I'll put links to all of itin the show notes.

Speaker 3 (53:47):
Sure, sure.
So biggest one for my life isgoing to be wwwxcalcom, or at
xcal loudon, uh, on instagram.
Xcal is my home.
My bosses are, uh, are savinggraces for me.
They, they, they gave me mysense of purpose, without a
doubt.
Um, so xcal is my house.
Look it up on instagram.

(54:08):
It is a?
Uh, it is like nothing we'veever seen before.
Um, and then Mimic Firearms,which will be coming out next
year.
That's at Mimic Firearms onInstagram.
And if you're interested ingetting in touch with me, for
whatever reason, just for fun,send me a message, show me some
hunting stories, show me somepictures.
My own little small company isGunfisher Weapon Earring made up

(54:29):
, word, by the way, andGunfisher Weapon Earring is
G-U-N-N-F-I-S-H-E-R, underscoreW-P-N-G, and that's on Instagram
.
But that's just like tocommunicate with me.
See all my cool gun stories.
There's a lot of full autoshooting on there.

Speaker 1 (54:49):
And there's all sorts of stuff I do at work.

Speaker 3 (54:50):
But yeah, feel free to spread the word and we'd love
to see anybody who's interestedin this community, shooting
sports or the outdoor community.
Uh, come to X-Cal, I mean, weare, we are a home, hell yeah.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (55:02):
Hell yeah, man, cool Brian.
Thank you again, man.
This was a lot of fun.
I actually hear all the timethat like, obviously it's easy
for me in the west to getwestern hunters on, but they're
like, I want to hear more eastcoast, more whitetail stories,
and so I love hearing them andI've got lots of people
clamoring for them, so thank yousir, I really do appreciate it
pleasure tell your wife that, uh, you're lucky because you you
are.
I will.

(55:22):
But thanks again, man, Iappreciate you you got it
brother.
All right, guys.
That's it.
Another couple stories in thebooks.

(55:42):
Again, I want to thank Brianfor coming on the podcast.
I really do appreciate it.
Couldn't have done it withouthim, obviously, and he was brave
enough to go out there and fillout my form, helping me find
more guests who have greatstories for you guys to hear.
So thank you, brian.
I do appreciate you Listenersagain, share the story with one
person.
Give us a rating if you haven'talready.
I really would appreciate that.

(56:03):
And then I'm going to go aheadand actually start this song
over here.
I'll let you listen to the fullthing if you want to hang on,
and I'll start putting it at theend of the show.
After recording the intro, Iwas like maybe I'll just keep
the beginning intro but then addthe song at the end.
So enjoy, guys.
Beyond that, again, I wouldlove feedback on the song.
I would love feedback inregards to the episode that's

(56:24):
going to be coming out thisFriday.
So stay tuned for that.
That's it.
Go out there and make somestories of your own guys.
Thank you so much.

Speaker 1 (56:33):
Welcome to the wild where adventure awaits Hunting,
fishing, filled with tales andgreat mates.
Out in nature's beauty, we findthe right track.
Join us each week for a story'sin there.
So put on your boots, grab yourgear and your rod.

(56:58):
We're diving into the news,taking a step toward the wild
card.
We're in the woods, where therivers run clear, gather round
the fire, the cold rain in.
Thank you, grab your gear.

(57:19):
It's time for the ride In thiswildlife.

(57:39):
We take it all in stride.
I've landed, I've come.
No, I've been down the knob.
Grab your gear.
It's time for the ride.
I've landed, I've come.
No, or I plan down.
I grab a gear.
It's time for a ride.
Guitar solo.