Ep 151 The Hunting Stories Podcast: Jake Walsh

Send us a text What happens when neighbors spot you arriving home at midnight, covered in blood, without your wife who's normally always by your side? For Jake Walsh, it became the perfect storm of misunderstanding that culminated in one of the most memorable hunting stories you'll ever hear.Jake's path to becoming a hunter wasn't traditional. Growing up surrounded by hunters who "put a bad taste in his mouth," he avoided hunting throughout his youth. It wasn't until adulthood when concerns about food quality and factory farming practices pushed him to seek cleaner protein sources. Armed with nothing but YouTube videos and podcasts—particularly Steven Rinella's field dressing tutorials—Jake taught himself how to hunt just five years ago.What makes Jake's journey particularly fascinating is how quickly his passion transformed into innovation. Frustrated with traditional climbing methods for tree hunting, he developed the Bandit Climber—now a sought-after ultralight climbing system. His artistic talents led to creating Rut's Mini Mounts, hand-painted replica trophies that help hunters preserve their memories in miniature form. Both businesses were born from authentic experience rather than market opportunity.If you've ever wondered about the unexpected places hunting can take you—from suspected criminal to entrepreneur—this episode delivers with humor, heart and genuinely useful insights about modern hunting culture. Have you encountered similar misunderstandings about your hunting lifestyle? Share your story and check out Jake's innovative hunting products at raccoonrigs.com. Links:www.raccoonrigs.com Social tags:@stealthyclimber @raccoonrigs @ruttsminimounts 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 wegot another great episode for
you today.
Today we're actually hearingfrom Jake Walsh out of South
Carolina.
Jake is a newer hunter, beendoing it for about five years,
but he's completely fallen inlove with everything hunting, so
much so that he's kind of madeit his career in his life and he
started a couple differentoutdoor brands to try and live

(00:26):
his dream, which is super cool.
And he reached out to me andsaid hey, I've got a great story
I want to tell, and this is onethat we have not heard on the
podcast for sure.
There's been nothing quite likethis.
So I'm going to go ahead andstop there, but thank you guys,
so much for tuning in.
I really do appreciate it.
Now let's let Jake tell yousome of his stories.

(00:53):
Thank you, all right.
Well then, we'll just kick thisthing off, just a real short
pause and we'll go.
Welcome to the podcast.
Okay, Quick pause.
All right, Jake.
Welcome to the hunting storiespodcast.
Brother, how are you?

Speaker 3 (01:02):
I'm doing great.
Thanks for having me.
I'm really excited to chat withyou and talk your ear off.

Speaker 1 (01:06):
Yeah, man, I've been following you for a while.
You do some pretty cool thingsand, to be honest, your message
to me I don't know, like a weekago, two weeks ago was out of
the blue and I could tell therewas some excitement about it.
I'm excited to have you on thepodcast, man.
But let's do this.
Why don't you introduceyourself and what you do,
background in hunting whateveryou think is good information,

(01:26):
and we'll start there.
Sound good.

Speaker 3 (01:27):
Yeah, well, for starters, you're one of my go-to
podcasts from when I'm painting, so I paint a long, drawn-out
process, so I paint long, and soyou're one of my go-tos, so
this is great for me.
I'm not going to listen to thisepisode, though, because I
can't listen to myself talk.

Speaker 1 (01:42):
Yeah, this episode though, because I can't listen
to myself talk.
So, yeah, yeah, I don't listento any of mine.
I can't handle it.
I can't handle it, but Iunderstand where you're coming
from.
Um, as long as I mean, this iscompletely off subject.
I mean I'm interrupting yourintroduction, but as long as I
have you.
Have you tried any of my newfriday hunter's briefs episodes
yet?
What, any, any feedback there?

Speaker 3 (01:57):
yeah, they're like the five ten minute ones no, I
don't click on those, becausewhen I'm paying I need something
that's an hour at least,totally fine.

Speaker 1 (02:03):
Totally fine, man, all right, I just figured I'd
ask, all right To the listeners,if you guys are listening to
those, give me feedback, tell meto turn them off, get rid of
them all together, or whatever.
Now, jake back to you, man, allright.
Introduce yourself.

Speaker 3 (02:16):
I'm Jake the alias online is Stealthy Climber
though I'm just a humble publicland hunter here in South
Carolina.
I saddle hunt, primarily bowand rifle.
I just hunt with the seasons umwhite tail, pretty much only Um
.
It's all I really got time forand all I can really get out
there and go for.

(02:36):
Yeah.
I love white hunting so much Ihad a um, a non-traditional, uh
introduction to hunting.
So where I grew up, where Iwent to high school, um, the
hunters that I knew put a badtaste in my mouth for hunting.
You know what?
Okay everybody in high schoolwas drink beer, shoot deer, like
that was it.

(02:56):
And when I was hearing that inhigh school I was like I will
never, ever do that.
That just sounds terrible.

Speaker 1 (03:03):
Um and so everybody kind of, if you didn't start
hunting, everybody knew thoseguys that kind of get put a bad
taste in your mouth.
So I didn't start hunting and Idefinitely knew some guys that
I was like that's not my culture, that's not for me, but I
didn't know the big picture ofit and, yeah, it's, it's there's
.
There's a lot of differentpaths you can take as a hunter.

Speaker 3 (03:19):
So exactly, yeah, and that's so.
I uh, I was completely turnedoff by it for a long time, all
of high school, all of college.
Then, as I entered my adultlife, what really brought me to
hunting was food, food quality.
Me and my wife started lookinginto what we were eating, what

(03:40):
we were putting into our bodies,what we were putting into our
bodies.
We got repulsed by factoryfarming, and so I uh I was like,
you know, if, if we're gonnaeat meat, we gotta eat clean
meat, like we gotta supportlocal farmers or we need to go
get it ourselves.
And so I that's actually how Igot into hunting I uh wanting
clean meat, and so I just taughtmyself how to hunt.

(04:02):
Uh went out in the woods.
I remember when I got my firstdeer it was a doe and I was
trembling, I was super emotional, I prayed over the animal.
It was life-changing for me andat that moment, right there, I
knew this is the only way.
Yeah, this is how we'll getmeat with our family for the
rest of my life.
That's cool man, that's supercool.

Speaker 1 (04:26):
Actually, I tell people all the time I'm like
hunters have a lot of more incommon with vegans than people
think, because it is that likethat, don't like factory farming
, one good quality food, likethere's a lot of similarities
there and if you actually get adecent vegan who's willing to
listen to what you have to say,they'll be like no, I get it.
Yeah, it makes sense.
Um, but man, so what?
I?
So it's interesting that youdid that.
Like a lot of people don't jumpinto it without having any kind

(04:48):
of mentor whatsoever and justjump into it.
How did you sharpen thatlearning curve?
Like, what did you do?
Just jump out and get in there?
Were you youtube?
Like what?
How did you prepare yourselffor that first doe hunt?

Speaker 3 (04:59):
oh, shout out to steve ranella, meat eater.
I watched so many of thosevideos.
I watched, uh, steve Rinella'show to butcher a deer or how to
field dress a deer.
I probably watched that video60 times before I went hunting,
just because.
I was like if I'm gonna do this, I need to do it right yeah uh,
so yeah, a lot of YouTube, uh,I'd say.

(05:20):
And then I started listening tohunting podcasts and then, uh,
actually one of the the biggestvideos for me was when, uh,
cameron Haynes took Joe Rogan onhis first hunt.

Speaker 1 (05:29):
Okay, and his other comedian buddy.
I can't remember his name rightnow, but yeah, I know the video
you're talking about.

Speaker 3 (05:35):
Yeah, so I watched that video and I was just a lot
of videos and so, um,coincidentally, me and my best
friend, we both got into huntingat the same time, but for
different reasons, and didn'tmention it to each other until
we were both like.
Hey, I'm going to go hunting.
And my friend was like wait,I'm about to go hunting too, you
like hunting?
Well, I was like no, this willbe my first time, and it was his

(05:57):
first time.
So we kind of just, we didn'teven mention it to each other.
We, we both got into hunting atthe exact same time that's
crazy learning together, whichwas great that's super cool, man
.

Speaker 1 (06:08):
It's nice to have a buddy to make a lot of errors
with.
That way you each makedifferent errors and hopefully
sharpen the learning curve.
Yeah, funny thing about thatsteven rinella video.
So when I was learning samepath as you youtube podcast,
just absorbing what I could, um,calder parks and wildlife had a
really good program like learnto hunt.
So you like go to these littlemeetings.
Um, in the meeting where it waslike processing deer, they had

(06:29):
like a stuffed animal deer,which was ridiculous.
Um, but then they just put onthat steven ranella video and so
like that's the first time Isaw that was actually at a cpw
like sanctioned event, andthey're like here, here's how
you do it.
This is the best, bestinstruction you will get.
So it's cool that you foundthat um, without having to have
a, a state department.
You know, send it your way, um,oh yeah, but that's cool, okay.

(06:52):
So then you and you said it wasyour girlfriend or your wife
were interested in the healthfactor wife.
Okay, and what did she think?
Was she interested in huntingas well, or did she just say go
get me food, honey?

Speaker 3 (07:03):
um, you know, she was very at first she.
She was totally on board, shetotally understood.
Yeah, but when I told her thatI was going to go harvest my own
animal and butcher my ownanimal and process my own meat,
she started to get a littlehesitant and but now where are
you doing this well?

Speaker 1 (07:22):
Well yeah, she sacrificed a kitchen counter.

Speaker 3 (07:27):
I gave a moment plop deer on the kitchen counter and
I thought her heart was going tofall out of her chest.
But now she's super, she's themost supportive woman on the
planet, and so now she actuallyhelps out.
I remember, after I've beenhunting for a while, I was like
you know what?
I think it's time that you seewhere your meat's coming from
too.
It's one thing for me to goharvest it, process it, and then

(07:48):
you get to enjoy it.
So I tapped her in for to helpme process a deer in our kitchen
, and at first you could barelypinch it with her fingers.
But after 30 minutes she wasdeep in there with me, you know,
processing the meat, and aboutan hour into processing it she
goes.
I am salivating.
She was like this is making meso hung and I was like that's,

(08:12):
that's what happened to me too.
So that's awesome, man.
She, she's one of the rarewomen where she's like can you
please go, you know, get anothernice big buck to where we could
have some more taxidermy on thewall.

Speaker 1 (08:24):
So that's amazing, man.
I have a funny story.
I plopped a deer down on mycounter and it wasn't my wife,
but our childcare providerturned the corner and was like
what the hell are you doing?
And the meat it was actuallyaxis deer.
And she's like are you justcutting up a bunch of tuna Cause
?
It was like that dark,beautiful.
And I'm like, no, this is, thisis deer.

(08:46):
And she's like no way, thatlooks spectacular.
So it's cool to have someonelike outside of it, just like
see the raw meat and be like,wow, that looks cool.
Uh, how long ago did you startthis adventure, man?
How long ago did you start?

Speaker 3 (08:56):
hunting.
Uh, it's been gosh how longit's been many years, you can
ballpark it 10, 15?
.
No, I'd say five.

Speaker 1 (09:07):
Five, no way, okay, that's crazy.
Okay.
Well, so then I have anotherquestion for you.
Eventually we'll get to thestories everyone, I promise.
But you have I don't knowexactly your involvement, but
you have two outdoor brandcompanies.
How did you go from not huntingfive years ago to basically
having like two product linesfrom two different organizations

(09:29):
like what, what?
Tell me, kind of like, theorigin story of those, because
I'd love to hear it yeah, soI'll preface preface this with
um.

Speaker 3 (09:39):
I truly believe that in like the blood memory stuff
and your ancestors lived onthrough.
All of my ancestors on my uh,biological father's side were
frontier men.
They got dropped off in thewilderness when, uh, when this
land was first being discoveredand they were given, you know, a

(10:00):
musket and said go figure outif we can live here so the hat
is a family heirloom then?
Actually I just recently likereconnected and met my
biological father and startedhearing these things.

Speaker 1 (10:15):
So, uh, unfortunately no family heirlooms but did he
hunt or anything like that?

Speaker 3 (10:19):
so they are big hunters oh, interesting okay and
so he.
So he has two other sons thatI've never met who just don't
like hunting, hate it, and thatbroke his heart.
And so I remember theconversation I had with him, one
of the first conversations.
It was very recently.
He was like he said somethinglike oh man, if only you could

(10:42):
like chase your dreams.
And I was like, well, if Icould figure out how to turn
hunting into a career dream cometrue yeah and the got silent
and he went you hunt.
Yeah, it was like the.
The world got opened up for methat's amazing, man.

Speaker 1 (10:59):
That's cool that that was there.

Speaker 3 (11:01):
Um, yeah, that reminds me of this is.

Speaker 1 (11:03):
This is a funny story .
I don't know if you listen tothe Ted Nugent episode, but he
had a kid that he gave up foradoption and then, like 20 years
later he's like of course youknow Ted Nugent, like his right
wing, as it gets, this guy is aliberal chef in like New York
City and they meet and theyrealize this.
And then he's like well, you'reinto food, let me go get you
some deer.
And now this guy's an avidhunter.

(11:23):
So it's like crazy how it kindof does run in the blood.

Speaker 3 (11:26):
Yeah, but yeah.
So I mean I'm very fresh intoit.
I'm never going to say that I'man expert by any means, but I
love it.
It's my entire life, it trulyis.

(11:50):
My friends laugh at me becausethey're like you know, something
so new.
Five years is very new in alife.
Something so new is what yourentire life revolves around.
I mean I, everything I dorevolves around hunting of some
sort.
And so, um, I had that passionand I just dove all in.
I mean, I made it my life, Iloved it so much.
And so, uh, when you makesomething, your passion, and you
love it so much and you'redoing it every single day, you
start to, you know, think ofthings that could make it a

(12:10):
little bit easier or better andstuff.
So that's how the brands wereborn.
I mean, many mounts came from myfather-in-law and I having a
great hunting trip together,both getting two great bucks.
And you know, mounts can onlybe in one place.
Yeah, I desperately wanted hismount because it reminded me of
the hunting trip we took, and hewanted mine, and so I thought
of the idea of the mini mouse,and so that's how that was born.

(12:31):
And then for raccoon rigs, I'ma public land hunter.
I'm I'm hiking deep into thewoods, uh, climbing trees,
finding spots, and, um, I hatesticks and I hate climbers.
Yeah, there's got to be abetter way to do this, and there
really wasn't.
And so, after a lot ofbrainstorming and trial and

(12:54):
error, I came up with rack andrigs and the bandit climber and
now it's all I use and peoplewho use it.

Speaker 1 (13:00):
It was wildly successful and now everyone who
uses it are like this is theonly thing I'll ever use to
climb trees so that's cool, man,that's super cool they're both
passion projects born out of mediving 100 into my, my passion
of hunting yeah, that's awesome,and we will talk a little bit
more about your companies at theend.
I think we've gone pretty farhere without actually diving

(13:22):
into these stories, althoughyou've given us some little
tidbits, which is great.
I'm going to say one thing, andthen let's kick into stories
and the one thing I wanted totoss out to you.
I know that you just met yourfather, but if you want to
capture some of his stories,I've offered this before.

Speaker 3 (13:34):
No one has taken me up on it yet.

Speaker 1 (13:36):
Either we can bring him on the podcast and you can
interview him and hear hishunting stories from his life,
or I can do it for you within,or I can be a fly on the wall.
We can do it however you want,and this goes out to all the
listeners as well.
If you got an old timer and youwant to capture their stories
like I'd love to be a part ofthat, I think it's.
It's easy to get in touch withyounger hunters that have social

(13:56):
media and things like that.
It's that's um, oldergeneration.
They're not into podcasts,they're not into social media.
So I need help connecting withthat generation, everyone
listening.
Let's get some old timers onthis podcast.
Let's hear some stories thatprobably aren't true but have
been passed down for generation.
That's what I want.
So, okay, but think about that.
Jake Offers there.

(14:17):
We'll talk about it offline,but, man, let's set the stage
for your first story, man.

Speaker 3 (14:23):
All right.
So I've got to give a lot ofbackground to the story to make
it make sense as to why it'ssuch a meaningful memory in my
life.
So my wife and I went toAlabama to go do some work on
some of her family land it was.
You know, we're cutting treesor pulling weeds, just stuff
like that.

(14:43):
But we're in the middle ofnowhere Alabama and, uh, I was
doing some work.
My wife wanted to, you know,take my dog out and around and I
said, hey, please be careful,there's some rat poison in the
barn okay I don't do not let himout of your sight, okay, okay,
I won't, I won't, so I'm doingsome work.

Speaker 1 (15:02):
They leave not 15 minutes later they come
sprinting back inside screamingrut, ate rat poison I was hoping
that would come up way later inthis story, not immediately but
, okay, I knew it was gonnahappen otherwise you wouldn't
have mentioned it yeah.

Speaker 3 (15:20):
So everything you know, drop everything.
We're in the middle of nowhere,the closest store to get
anything is an hour away, and so, thank goodness, my
father-in-law is a vet.
And so he kept a level head.
Everyone was crying, sobbing,and I looked at him and I said,
david, is my dog going to die?

(15:40):
And he kept a level head and hesaid if we can get some
hydrogen peroxide he will notdie.
Well, like I said, hydrogenperoxide's an hour away and so
my mother-in-law hops in the car.
She was probably going 130, 140down the, down the back roads
to get to the store.
All we have is a turkey basterto get hydrogen peroxide down my

(16:07):
dog's throat.
Damn, if you could visualizethat it might be the funniest
thing you've ever seen in yourlife.
So we fill up this turkeybaster with hydrogen peroxide.
My dog he's just clugging it,poor thing, down his throat.
We give him the vomit up, someof the poison, but obviously not
enough.
So we're in Alabama, I live inSouth Carolina and my in-laws

(16:29):
live in Florida, and so my wifedecides that her and my dog are
going to go to Florida with myfather-in-law to where he can
treat him.
So that means I'm driving toSouth Carolina alone.
And I want to give anotherdetail.
Me and my wife are almostinseparable.
We never, hardly ever, leavethis house without each other.
Our neighbors see us all thetime together.

(16:52):
I drive back from Alabamacompletely alone.
I get home around I want toprobably say midnight, 1 am and
I'm making a bunch of rackets.
You know how neighbors are.
You make a bunch of noise.
They're peeking through theblinds.
They see me get out of the caralone without my wife, late at
night, after seeing us leavejust two days prior.

(17:13):
Yeah.
So at this point, it's, you know, 1 am and I had been tracking
this, my target buck for theseason.
I had been tracking himaggressively, been tracking him
aggressively, cameras I put somany cameras out the weather, I
had him dialed and so I knewthat the next day was going to

(17:34):
be the day that he was going toshow up.
If that was the only time.
That was my window, and so I'mlooking at my watch.
I'm like, ah, it's 1 am, I'mjust going to not sleep and I'm
going to go into the woods, getset up early.
I'm gonna.
I'm gonna hunt yeah this is my,my best friend, who I referred
to earlier, and I said, hey, Inamed the buck bandit.
I know people are weird aboutnaming bucks.
Um, I said bandit is gonna godown tomorrow, I promise you.

(17:57):
Uh, I was like I'm gonna go, uh, whatever, and he went.
Well, I'm gonna go hunt him inthe morning then and you know me
and my buddy, we share spots,he's my best friend.
I will never say like hey, don'tgo hunt this spot yeah but when
you've been tracking a buckit's like a dagger to the heart
when your buddy's like, well,I'm gonna go in the morning and
he's gonna beat me there.

(18:18):
He lives a lot closer yeah so Isat there and pouted all morning
.
I mean, I was just sitting onmy couch pouting.
He texts me, he goes, hey, Iwent to the spot, I bumped two
does.
They blew at me.
Uh, another one came and saw me, blew off and I saw nothing.

(18:40):
So I'm sitting there going.
Not only did he go, he totallyblew that spot out.
That deer is nowhere near thatspot anymore.
So I'm sitting there, pouting,pouting, pouting.
I think it's an hour drive tothe spot that I I got him at.
So I'm pouting and you know,I'm like you know what?

(19:00):
I'm sitting here doing nothing.
My wife's out of town, I gotnothing to do.
I'm not gonna kill anythingfrom the couch.
So I you.
So I'm like, whatever, I'm outof spite, let me just go and try
to hunt him.
Anyways, I pack up my stuff, Ihead to the woods and I get
there late because I'm angry.
Nothing's going to happen.

(19:22):
I get up in the tree, Iprobably get in the tree, I'm
probably set up at 5 5pm, whichis late, got it.
That big buck walks out straightto me at like 5.15.

Speaker 1 (19:37):
No way.

Speaker 3 (19:39):
I'm not going to be here for 15 minutes.
I mean, when I tell you I hadhim dialed.
I had him dialed Biggest buckI've ever seen in person in my
life Came right over the hillthat I expected him to come over
into my wind, I mean thatshould tell you how hard he was.
Rutting into my wind, did notcare.
Yeah, I lined up, took the shot, dropped him.

(20:00):
He did not move a muscle.
But then he starts rolling downthis.
I mean we're in south carolina,there's, you know, there's some
pretty good hills.
He rolls down this hill and soI mean you can imagine I am
through the roof, I'm sleepdeprived.
I am just I texted my buddy.
I got him.
It didn't matter, I got him,you didn't blow him out.

Speaker 1 (20:22):
Let me ask you a quick question about your buddy.
I know you said you put lots ofcameras.
You had him just really youknew his patterns, you knew
everything about it.
Did your buddy put in that sameeffort, or was that you and
then he was kind of coattailing?
Or was he doing the same andyou both working together he put
out equal number of cameras.
Or am I poking a wound here?

Speaker 3 (20:47):
That's the deer in particular All me, but I'm not
going to take the limelight awayfrom my buddy.
I mean, we, we share all ourcameras he puts in work.
We, we share everything.
Gotcha, I mean, that was justmy, it was my dream buck.
You know, I've been followinghim for so long, yeah, and but
that deer all me, he just kindof swooped in there last second.
I was so angry I was.

(21:10):
You know, I would never tellhim like hey, don't, don't go
hunt him.
That's my deer, because whowould ever do that?

Speaker 1 (21:15):
yeah, plus, I mean, if you get to lay eyes on him,
you know it's great thatsomebody puts him down.
If it's not gonna be, you mightas well, be him, but I'd rather
.

Speaker 3 (21:23):
I'd rather it be my buddy.
If it wasn't gonna be me, I'drather be my buddy and not
someone else.
I was pouting, but I wasn't.

Speaker 1 (21:32):
You're a gentleman.
I don't know if I would do thesame thing if I put in all that
work.
You do feel like it's your deerbut good on you and your
friendship man, I appreciate it.

Speaker 3 (21:45):
Anyways, this deer is every bit of 200 plus and that
is huge for South Carolina andI'm not exaggerating.
I promise he was a monster andwell, now I've got to get him
out.
I'm out there alone.
I've got to drag him out.
He's at the bottom of a hill.
It's a pretty steep hill.
I'm sleep deprived.

(22:05):
It was ridiculous.
So I started dragging him outand I thought I was going to die
.
I mean, it was.
He was the heaviest thing I'veever lifted in my life.
If he felt like he was athousand pounds, yeah, I'm
dragging him out.
I get him.
It takes me hours, hours to gethim out.
I get about halfway.

(22:27):
My heart feels like it's aboutto beat out of my chest.
I laid it up against the treeand I laid up against him and I
looked at him and I said we'regoing to die out here together.
There's no way I'm getting youout of here.
Yeah.
Of course I eventually did.
Uh, it was all.
It took me all night and, uh, Iprocessed them or gutted them

(22:48):
out in the woods, put the gutpile under, buried it under the
dirt, all that stuff that you'resupposed to do.

Speaker 1 (22:53):
How far back were you and what time did you get back
to your truck?

Speaker 3 (23:02):
I couldn't tell you the exact distance I was, but
I'd say a half mile, okay.

Speaker 1 (23:10):
Good distance.
Dragging a deer yes.

Speaker 3 (23:12):
Straight up though.
Yeah, um, and I have no ideawhat time I got back to my truck
, um, but I you know I got them,and so I put them in the back,
which I.
I quarter them out, put them inmy cooler.
I stop at a gas station, I getice poured over him.
I cord them out, put them in mycooler.
I stop at a gas station, I getice poured over them.

(23:34):
But during all that, I'm notbeing the most making sure
everything's nice and clean.
There is blood everywhere.
My cooler is covered in blood.
I'm covered in blood.
There's blood dripping out ofthe back of the car, everything.

Speaker 1 (23:48):
And so I want you to remember I'm guessing where this
is going.

Speaker 3 (23:52):
Okay, yeah, and so, um, I get home late at night I
pop open the bag, I've gotbloody knives, I've got a bloody
axe.
I've got.
I'm covered in blood.
There's blood dripping out ofthe back of my car and I've now
I've got.
You know, I can't leave it likethat in the neighborhood, so
I've got to start cleaning allthis up.
One of my neighbors, who I'venever spoken to before this,

(24:15):
ever, uh, at that point livedthere for two years okay, okay,
he lives like diagonal from meover here.
Um, he comes out and he startsand it didn't click for me yet,
but he starts interrogating me,hey, what are you?
Doing.
I'm like, oh, I'm just cleaningup my car.
He keeps interrupting me.
Oh well, what's all that?

(24:37):
I was like oh, I'm sorry, thisis.
You know, I got some bloodbecause I went and it cut me off
again.
Keep asking me all thesequestions oh, where's your wife?
I was like oh, she's in florida.
Oh, why is she in florida?

Speaker 1 (24:52):
and it still hadn't registered for me yet I murdered
my wife.

Speaker 3 (24:55):
Yeah, um, and so I'm uh, eventually I'm like it
clicks for me.
I'm very sleep deprived.
It clicks for me.
I'm like, oh my goodness, thisguy thinks I've murdered my wife
.
So I tell him like hey man, I Iwent hunting, I hunt, this is a
deer, would you like to see thehead.
And he goes oh, I have guns, Ihave guns.
I was like I know karate.

Speaker 1 (25:18):
I know karate.
Stay away from me.

Speaker 3 (25:20):
I was like that's not what I was trying to say, that
I went hunting and I have guns.
I'm just trying to show youthat this is a deer.
This is not my dog, who haven'tbeen around, and so eventually
I show them the antlers andstuff and everything's blown
over.
But my wife didn't come backfor many days after that.
You know, drive from florida tosouth carolina it's not an easy

(25:41):
, you know.
You don't just up and do it yeahso, uh, after that got the, got
the Euro mount going,everything.
Well, my wife got home.
Probably four days later.
I paraded her around ourneighborhood we I made sure that
everybody saw her.

(26:03):
I made sure that we walked pasteverybody's ring cameras.
I made sure we walked pasteverybody's windows.
My wife is alive yeah, so thatthat will forever be my favorite
hunting memory, just becausethe highest of highs and the
lowest of lows that's funny, man.

Speaker 1 (26:22):
It's funny that your neighbor was like I'm gonna go
talk to this guy, rather thanlike if he thought you killed
someone, like what's he, what'she going over there and what's
he gonna do, you know, I tellyou what if someone, if someone,
pulls up across the street fromme with blood dripping out of
their car and they're covered inblood, the last thing I'm doing

(26:42):
is walking over there.
Yeah, being like howdy neighbor,like and not seeing, like
there's certain things youalways see that guy with and
that's not the case right now,like not having your wife there.
Yeah, I might have been likehello, 9-1-1.
Uh, you know, just check thisout, see what's going on here.

Speaker 3 (26:59):
It's got blood outside.
You might want to come check itout man, that's crazy.

Speaker 1 (27:03):
That's crazy how.

Speaker 3 (27:04):
And your dog's okay, right yeah, he's totally fine
he's actually the namesake ofruts mini mounts.
He's, he's living life, right.
What kind of dog?
He's?
A pit ski or a staff?

Speaker 1 (27:20):
ski.
He's a.
He's a Staffordshire terriermixed with a Husky.
Okay, cool, man, cool.
Did you give your wife a littlebit of shit for being like hey,
be careful.
And then immediately lettinghim eat the poison?

Speaker 3 (27:32):
I gave her a little bit, you know know after it was
all blown over and he was fine,because I've never seen that
woman cry so hard.
Oh, no, when she was on theground sobbing.

Speaker 1 (27:40):
So I mean that dog is her baby yeah, god, that's
funny man, that's a great story.
I about halfway through I waslike, oh no, I know it's gonna
happen.
I yeah, oh no.
And then I was just likecurious, like how how far does
this go like?
Do you get arrested orsomething?
So but I'm glad I worked outwhere it did.
Um, did you actually?
You said over 200 inches here.
Have you ever gotten that guyformally measured?

(28:00):
Is he the one right above youby chance?

Speaker 3 (28:02):
I said, I said over 200 pounds 200 pounds.

Speaker 1 (28:04):
Oh, I thought you had 200 inches, okay no, no, yeah,
200 inches would be.

Speaker 3 (28:08):
200 inches would be crazy.
He's a very big eight point,especially for South Carolina.
He's in the garage, I wouldshow you.
But no, he was a heifer.
He was a chunky guy, not thebiggest rack in the world, but
big enough for me to be.
You know, shaking over himwhenever he came on my camera.

Speaker 1 (28:25):
Dude, every region has its, you know, its hogs that
you just are so excited about,and that might be a 100-inch
deer, that might be a 180-inchdeer, but it doesn't matter.
If it's good for you, that'sall you need, right?
Oh yeah, was that the firstbuck you had ever killed, or had
you killed some before then?

Speaker 3 (28:42):
No him.
Right here, right above me ismy first buck I ever killed.
That's a good buck man.
Yeah, his name is Big Eightkilled.
Um, yeah, his name is big eight.
Uh, and that was actually thehunt that I referred to earlier,
where both my father-in-law andI had a good hunt.
Um, it was.
That was my book that I got andmy father-in-law got a monster
book puts makes this guy lookslike a yearling spike.

Speaker 1 (29:04):
I mean it's crazy how does he compare to bandit?

Speaker 3 (29:07):
uh, he's smaller than Bandit.

Speaker 1 (29:09):
No, I mean your father's.
He's way bigger.
Way bigger than Bandit.
Wow, okay, very cool.
All right, man.
Well, we didn't take up all ourtime, we got time left.
What other stories do you wantto tell?
Do you want to tell that storywith you and your father-in-law,
or do you got something?

Speaker 3 (29:26):
else that one's a quick one.
So, uh, that one took place inalabama.
Uh, it was a a rough huntingseason, unfortunately that that
area in alabama where we hunt iskind of getting overrun with
hogs, can't kill them fast yeahand so that's really hurting the
deer population.
so, uh, hunting there is gettingpretty hard, um, but we had a

(29:46):
really good season.
I was sitting up, uh, on thisnice edge Uh, and I think two or
three days prior I had saw thebuck that my father-in-law ended
up killing in that spot.
So I was actually there huntingthat deer, um, but this guy
came out and gave me no time atall.

(30:06):
He came out full sneak nose onthe ground just out of the brush
.
He got just to like mid-massout of the brush and started
backing up.
I let, I let the shot go.
He dropped in 20 yards.
It was a dream come true.
Uh, that was the first year Iwas shot on during that hunting
trip, so after that you know I'mloosey-goosey everyone else

(30:30):
everyone's hunting.
I'm happy my buck's hanging yeah, walking with a chest puffed
out, just like yep yeah, take alook boys, yeah, and so, um, you
know, after that, my, my bestfriend was on that trip as well,
and so after that, I'm lettingeverybody pick their hunting
spots first.
I'm like I don't care, mybuck's hanging, and so, uh, my
father-in-law being thegentleman that he is, he always
lets us pick hunting spots first.
I'm like I don't care, mybuck's hanging, and so my

(30:51):
father-in-law, being thegentleman that he is, he always
lets us pick our spots first.
He's like you guys are youth, Iwant you to go out and get some
deer.
And so me and my buddy, we pickour spots, and he just takes
the last spot.
He's like I'll go here, I wantto watch it.
It's beautiful there.
It's beautiful there.

(31:15):
Well, I'm sitting I'd say I'dprobably sit in 700 yards away
from my father-in-law for thefor this sit and I hear a shot
ring out, and I know myfather-in-law, I know he's not
shooting, unless it's a whopperyeah well, I hear the shot ring
out, I immediately text him.
Please tell me that was crabclaw, which is what we named
that book.
And he doesn't answer me.
He doesn't answer me.
I'm like are you okay?
Please tell me that was.

(31:36):
Crab Claw.
Eventually he sends me a textand he says found him and just
sends me a picture.
And just sends me a picture ofthe biggest rack I've ever seen.
That's awesome.
My hunt at that point is over.
I do not care and I I'm runningto where he is, uh, get there,

(32:00):
help him drag it out.
But in that process of uhhelping him pull that deer out,
which was just a mamm, we get atext from my buddy and he goes
that was me.

Speaker 2 (32:13):
We look at our phones like what is he talking about?

Speaker 3 (32:15):
I'm like what he had shot.
A nice buck too.
No shit, not too far away, butfar enough to where.
In all that rustle of uspulling him out, we didn't hear
the shot.
So, my poor buddy, we didn'tsee the text.
We're pulling that deer out.
He dragged that poor deer outby himself.
No one heard him shoot, no onewas checking their phones.

(32:39):
We were all cracking up becauseduring that trip you hear a
shot.
Was that you?
Was that you?
Was that you?
The one time he shoots, no onetexts, no one hears the shot, no
one checks it off.
He's out there by himselfdragging this deer back.
I felt so bad for him that wasgreat.
That's awesome All three of usgot it.

Speaker 1 (32:58):
Were you the only three hunters there, yeah, or
were there more guys?
Okay, and then a couple quickquestions.
Your father-in-law?
Was he a hunter previously, ordid he kind of jump in with it
when you jumped into it?
No, he's been hunting his wholelife.

Speaker 3 (33:12):
So you know now that as we've gotten closer um, he's
become pretty much my huntingmentor.
You know I text him outquestions.
Um, yeah, he's, he's my pool ofknowledge when it comes to
stuff for hunting related,especially white tail.
Cool, he actually took me on myfirst ever turkey hunt this
past season hell yeah, hell yeah.

Speaker 1 (33:32):
Man, that's cool.
I I imagined he had beenhunting for a while.
I was like, yeah, he'll onlyshoot a big deer.

Speaker 2 (33:36):
And I'm like, okay, he's he's been around a while,
so that's cool, um and then Igotta ask stack rank.

Speaker 1 (33:43):
I know father-in-law had the biggest deer.
Your deer's a very good deer.
Was your buddy's bigger orsmaller than yours?
Slightly smaller, just a tadAlabama had such good deer?
Is it that private land or wasthat?
Uh, does he?
Does he own some huntingproperty or lease it?

Speaker 3 (33:59):
yeah, so my father-in-law's family has a bit
of uh.
Yeah, it's actually timberland,but you hunt in it cool very
cool man.

Speaker 1 (34:10):
All right.
Well, that was a cool story andit's that's awesome that all
three of you put one down likethat.

Speaker 3 (34:14):
That doesn't happen that way often, man and it
hasn't not happened since wehave.
Since then, we've gone twoseasons without seeing a deer no
way.

Speaker 1 (34:26):
Wow, well, you took all the males.
There's probably none left.
Well, they're on camera.

Speaker 3 (34:31):
Don't get me wrong, they are doing the top line in
front of our cameras.

Speaker 1 (34:34):
But we can't.
You seem to find them.
That's cool.
That's cool man, All right.

Speaker 3 (34:44):
Well, what are the stories?
You got, man.
I mean like I said, I'm a younghunter, there's not many big
stories.
I mean, there's stories thatare big to me, I hold near and
dear to my heart.
But you know, most people haveprobably been like be like, oh,
been there, done that.
I'll tell you one more.

Speaker 1 (34:54):
Okay, Then I want to ask you some questions about
your.
I want to say it's a tree stand, but it's not a tree stand.
What is it?

Speaker 3 (35:09):
It's a tree climber, it just it cracks me up.
Uh, actually this'll be twostories in one.
So you know I'm trying to do mypart and you know, bring
hunting into my family, into mybloodline.
So I've been trying to get mylittle brother to come out and
hunt with me, nice.

(35:36):
And so, um, the first time Iever took him out there was this
big, big, big pine clear cutthat had just been cut, and then
they replanted, so the pineswere, I'd say, two, three feet
tall across this big acreage outon public land.
And so what we did is we just Iwent out there with him in the
center of that thing, because itkind of bowls upwards where you
can look down the whole thingwe put a ground blind up and him
and I just sat in a groundblind together.
This is his first time everhunting and I knew that there

(36:02):
was a very large coyotepopulation in this area, I mean
very large, I mean very large,and so I was very eager to see
how he would react once that suntipped down and the coyotes
just let it go.
But we go, we're sitting in theground blind, and when I tell

(36:22):
you this was the most coyotesI've ever heard, ever, they
showed out for him, theywelcomed him into the wilderness
for the show, it was 360.
It sounded like they were maybe30 yards in the brush just
letting it go on yes and so Iwatched his face drop.

(36:45):
he's, it's just for someone.
He didn't have a weapon on him,he didn't have anything.
I was, you know, it was only me.
I just brought him along, andso I was like you know, how can
I have a weapon on him?
He didn't have anything.
I was, you know, it was only me.
I just brought him along, andso I was like you know how can I
have a little bit more fun withthis?
After all, it is my littlebrother.
I got to tease him a little bit, and so this we.
We went far into this place toget it, and so it was probably
like a 45 minute walk, and so onthe walk back, I decided you

(37:14):
know what, I'm going to messwith him a little bit.
I gave him my Leatherman, whichhas a knife about this big, and
I said hold this out for whenthe coyotes jump at you.
If you need to, you can stabthem.
This poor kid.

Speaker 1 (37:34):
How old was he at the time of this trip?

Speaker 3 (37:38):
uh, I want to say 18, okay, yeah.
And so this poor kid.
He is walking with the tiniestlittle leatherman knight you've
ever seen, and I'm in front ofme and I'm biting my lip not to
laugh.
He is holding it out in frontof him like this Every step
fully extended, yeah.
Every noise, every slight noise,a squirrel, a bird, shoot that

(38:02):
knife towards it.
He was jumping at everythingand I was just behind him trying
not to crack up.
Eventually I told him that youknow, you probably pretty much
never will get a coyote jumpingat you, and he was really upset.

Speaker 1 (38:21):
You know what you probably, despite telling him
that like a coyote, could attackat any moment, he probably felt
a little bit better having someway of defending himself,
probably a little bit moreconfident back there just
because of that, even though youwere just laughing at him from
behind.
But that's a good big brotherthing to do.
That's important, right.

Speaker 3 (38:34):
It teaches them a lesson.
Well then, in the past year,I've been chased down by hogs
three times in the woods?

Speaker 1 (38:43):
Yeah, I've had that happen in Texas.
It sucks.

Speaker 3 (38:46):
I hate hogs.
Yeah.
I hate them.
I respect all animals.
I hate hogs, yeah, but I'vebeen chased down three times by
them.
Every single time it was close,it was, they were right up on
me, and so I, you know, I tellthem those stories because it's
good for him to hear you know,and it's it's kind of like a you
know, hey, your big brother'sout there fighting off hogs.
You know, it's a little, it's alittle chest puffer story for

(39:08):
him.
And so I took him out anothertime and I set him up.
He, he's a loud hunter man, he'sso loud, so I try to put him a
little bit away yeah I set himprobably 200 yards away from me
down the same trail, so it wasclose by and I put him up in a
tree, used the bandit climber,uh, and then I kept on going to

(39:32):
where I had some nice deer oncamera and saw nothing that
night.
But I get a text from him,right as it's gray light, almost
impossible to see, and he goes,there's something coming up on
me and I was like, oh awesome,I'm hoping he can see a deer.
I'm like, hold, still, it'sprobably a deer, and I saw a

(39:52):
game show and I set him up there.
So I knew I was like something.
If something walks by, they'regoing to walk by right here.
Yeah.
And so I don't hear anything anda few minutes goes by and he
was like the two of the biggesthogs I've ever seen just walked
right underneath me.
I was like I was like, oh, whydon't you text me?

(40:14):
And he was like I was Googlingif hogs could jump or climb
trees and so that's awesome.
So I I rotate on the tree towhere I can look back where he
is, and I see these just two.
They're big hogs.
I, yeah, I gotta get.
They were big.
They're walking right towardsme and you know, I don't.
It was gray light, it wasgetting dark, so I already

(40:34):
started climbing down the tree.
At this point I am maybe liketwo, maybe two feet off the
ground and so I'm just basicallyin yada, hanging there off this
tree and so, um, I'm like crap,my bow is.
We were bow hunting.
My bow was already on theground.
I had my glock on my hip, uh,and I was like I'm just gonna

(40:55):
hold still and hope these hogsI'd already been chased by by
hogs three times like I hopethese hogs don't.
You know, smell me, come at me.
Sure enough, they smell me.
They come at me.
Uh, you see they're squealing,they beeline for me.
So I just pull out my glock andlet a shot off to scare him.
And that scared the snot out ofmy brother who was up in the

(41:17):
tree, and so they, they run off.
I give it a few seconds.
I don't hear him anymore.
I get down, I pack my bag, Iwalk to where he is.
He has not moved an inch.
If anything, he's higher up thetree, he's doubled his height.

Speaker 1 (41:30):
I was like you can come down now.

Speaker 3 (41:32):
He was like I was like you can come down now.
He was like I was waiting foryou because I was not getting
down if those hogs were on theground.
So my poor brother.

Speaker 1 (41:41):
His, like Google research, was inconclusive.
He's like I don't know if theycan climb or not.
I just got to stay up here,yeah.

Speaker 3 (41:48):
So he says he wants to, you know, actually go
hunting this year, maybe get abow, maybe get a rifle.
So these, these, uh traumaticexperiences haven't scared him
away from hunting, so I'm hopingwe can get him out there and
get him a deer this year that'sawesome man.

Speaker 1 (42:01):
So you put him 200 yards away from you without a
weapon, up a tree, correct?
Yeah, okay he must be loud okayI'm telling you he's loud yeah,
that's funny.
That's funny.
I like that he googled whetheror not pigs can climb a tree.

Speaker 3 (42:19):
I was dying laughing.

Speaker 1 (42:20):
Oh my god, I don't even know what to think for that
.
Whatever you're scared, you dodumb things.
So yeah, uh, that's, that's agreat story.
That's the kind of shit I loveto hear.
Um, doesn't necessarily need tobe like.
This epic trip, right, justlike a little anecdote about a
dumb hunting buddy or brother orwhoever it is doing something
silly in the woods is so great,uh.
But all right, jake, uh, whydon't you tell us a little bit
about, uh, rut mini mounts andbandit climbers?

(42:44):
Is that what?

Speaker 3 (42:44):
it is sorry if I'm getting this wrong man but no
worries, the company's calledrack and rigs and yeah, it's
called the bandit climber got it, oh so close.
Okay.
So for ruts mini mounts, uh,that one's really uh, it's
really simple.
Like I said, I wanted to find away for people to be able to
have their hunting memoriesclose, easy, be able to share

(43:05):
them, and so what we do withruts mini mounts is we make
replica mini mounts of people'strophies, so, uh, and we can
turn.
It's like if someone has a euro, we can turn their euro into a
shoulder mount, a full bodymount.
We can turn.
It's like if someone has a Euro, we can turn their Euro into a
shoulder mount, a full bodymount.
We can do a racks that hangfrom your rear view mirror.
Cool, um, we do them in singlecolors like gold or black, or we

(43:26):
, most of the time, we paintthem to be, uh, replicas, to
look like the deer, get all themarkings and stuff, and so
that's been an absolute blast.
Uh, we've done countless, andwhen I say we, I mean like me
and my dog right yeah, countlessspecies, um, all over the world
.

(43:46):
It really is done so well andI'm so honored because, you know
, kind of like you, with thispodcast you get to hear hunting
stories, but with me and themini mounts, every single animal
that comes in.
I get to hear the story aboutthe animal because they're
everyone's so happy to share,right.
But then I'm modeling theseanimals to be exact, so I'm
really getting in and seeing thedetails of these animals.

(44:09):
I'm seeing, you know, scars ontheir body from fights or that's
cool man yeah, I'm seeing it insuch close detail.
So it's actually I.
I have to stop myself fromgetting attached to these
animals because I spend so muchtime with them and I ship away
to their rightful owner.
I'm like I'm glad to see them gosometimes.
So it's really awesome.

(44:30):
Uh, I love, I love every singleone.
I love, love painting them, andso we and they're perfect.
You know, we, they're minimounts, so we range from, uh,
five inches to nine inches.
Okay, uh, we shoulder mounts,hero mounts, full body mounts,
and it's just, it's awesome andthey I shouldn't say wildly

(44:51):
successful, it's wildlysuccessful for me.
You know more than one persondoing it.
That's successful.
Yeah, yeah, I just have anabsolute blast.

Speaker 1 (45:01):
I love it okay, what does someone need, like beyond
you know, reaching out to you,but like let's say they sign up,
but yeah, I'd like one.
What do they, what do they sendyou to, like get this done yeah
, so it's we.

Speaker 3 (45:12):
It's all on our website.
Actually, all we need is a 360video of the animal that you
want done.
Just set it up, get your phoneout, record a video walking
around it, and that's all I need.
And then from that I model it,we process it out and then every
single one's hand-painted.

Speaker 1 (45:28):
Cool, very cool man, all right, and then bandit stuff
, the raccoon stuff.

Speaker 3 (45:36):
Yeah, which is the reason for that?

Speaker 1 (45:38):
yeah, and the shirt.
I see the shirt too.

Speaker 3 (45:40):
It's good oh yeah, uh , I have like 18 000 of these
shirts, so I don't even remember, realize I'm wearing them half
the time.
Um, yeah, so, like I said, I'ma I'm a public land hunter.
Um, I'm going in deep.
Uh, you know, I'm scouting hardand I, just when I first
started hunting, I hated sticksand climbers it just I felt so

(46:03):
heavy.
I felt like a turtle walkingaround, honestly, with all that
stuff on my back, and it feltloud.
It just didn't seem right.
Yeah, and so, you know, I wastrying to be a ghost in the
woods.
I was trying to respect natureas much as possible.
I wanted it to be like I wasnever there at all.
And so, in my disdain for thesticks and the climbers, I

(46:26):
started thinking of ways that Icould get up and down trees
easier, and I really wanted tobe a minimalist hunter.
I don't want to carry a bunchof stuff out there with me, I
want the necessities and thenecessities alone.
Okay, and so I developed thebandit climber V1, which I was
making out of my garage.
Uh, every single one washand-built by me in my garage,

(46:48):
and so, basically, it's acompact climbing system to where
you have the platform andyou've got an adjustable rope
that cinches to the tree.
And so when you stand on theplatform um, and you've got your
saddle on when you raise yourfeet, the platform raises up and
you tighten it, and when youstand back up, you're two feet
higher, two, three feet higher,depending on the length of your

(47:10):
legs, and so I was able to usethat and, uh, I started posting
them online, started sellingthem.
They did extremely well.
I mean, it blew me away theamount of people who loved them
and said pretty much everybodywho's ever used it said they'll
never go back to what they wereusing before because it's
lighter, it's faster, it'squieter, it's easier to use.

(47:33):
And so you know, like anythingonline, you post something new
in the hunting industry, you geta little bit of hate, yeah.
And so I started doing thesevideos where I was addressing
people's number one like oh,this is that.
They're like oh, that looks soslow.
I got up 20, I want to say 26feet in a tree in two minutes

(47:55):
and 30 seconds, ready to hunt.
Yeah.
That's lightning fast.
And then I did a sound test,and so what I did is I recorded
a video, undoctored audio, of meclimbing up a tree with the
bandit climber and I did agiveaway on Rucks Mini Mouse and
I said whoever can tell me whatis going on in this video, I'll

(48:16):
give you free stuff.
6,000 people replied, commentedand stuff.
Not one person guessed that itwas me with full gear, full
backpack rifle climbing a tree.
We got things like it was adeer eating persimmons or a deer

(48:36):
.
Of course it is yeah, and sothat was also.
That was great marketing for me.
Yeah, um, and so we did a pitchblack test where I went into
the woods, used the banditclimber and my buddy filmed me
on thermal pitch black going upand down a tree.

(48:56):
I couldn't see the tree infront of me.
The bandit climber was perfect.
So, we did a lot of stuff likethat and I think that kind of
sealed the deal.
People really started lovingthem, started buying them, and
now we've got a bunch of peoplewho just swear by the bandit
climber and so, like I said,everything was built out of my
garage.

Speaker 1 (49:14):
That's awesome.

Speaker 3 (49:22):
That's not sustainable.
Obviously I was gonna ask.
I was working non-stop.
I was sleeping about an hour anight and that is not a joke.
I mean, I was on the brink ofdeath.
My wife was concerned for me.
She made me go to the doctorbecause I was like I was
starting to like have some realphysical problems from working
non-stop, and so now we've gotmanufacturing being done and the
bandit climber version 2 isjust so sleek, so beautiful,

(49:43):
it's even lighter, it's, it'sawesome, and so that's what
we're launching here soon, and Imean we probably get, I want to
say, 5-10 emails a day.
When's the bandit climbercoming back out?
No.

Speaker 1 (49:56):
That's awesome, man Congrats, that's super cool.
Um how much?
How much does V2 weigh?

Speaker 3 (50:01):
If you don't mind me asking you uh, three pounds,
pretty much on the dot.

Speaker 1 (50:05):
Okay, that's crazy.
And are there any other?
Like, uh, beyond themanufacturing, switching from
your garage to a formal facility?
What are some of the other?
I guess upgrades of V1 to V2?
.

Speaker 3 (50:20):
So the V1 was steel with like adhesive grips stuck
on it and end caps that werecarbon fiber with thick rope.
I chose this rope intentionallybecause I did sound tests and
the thicker rope muffled the themetal sound, so it was dead

(50:42):
quiet.
The v2, it's really strongaluminum that were then heat
treating so it's even strongerokay um, uh, it's got built-in
grip to where you know you don'thave the grip tape pretty much
anymore.
It looks sleeker, it's flatterand wider.
So the the v1 was a steel likehalf inch pipe that was then cut

(51:08):
with the end caps and the rope.
This one is three inches wide,so you've got a lot of real
estate to keep your feet on andit's very comfortable to stand
on.
And then it's got thinner ropesbecause there's no more need to
muffle that steel sound.
So it's got thinner ropes,which makes it even more compact
.
I tested the V3.

(51:28):
I was actually able to stick itin my back pocket.
I mean, it's 22 inches long soit's not fitting in your pocket,
but you can stick it in yourback pocket and walk.

Speaker 1 (51:37):
That's cool, man, that's awesome.
So let me ask a couplequestions.
I've never used a climber, I'venever used a tree stand, like
just not the Western hunting,it's just not.
Common People, I think, arestarting to do it more, but when
you're picking a tree, if thetree has, like branches coming

(51:58):
off, you can't, you can't use it, right.
You need like basically a cleanI don't know we're gonna have
to say it, but like a cleanshaft up with no branches poking
out, right uh, so it's.

Speaker 3 (52:04):
That's definitely easier.
My, when I'm picking trees, I'mmy criteria is I want to be able
to hug it and touch hands and Ialways try to pick trees that
have at least no like not a tonof branches.
If there's one or two branches,I'll pick it.
But that was one of the biggestconcerns we got, too with the
bandit climber.
I was like, oh, what aboutbranches?

(52:25):
You can do it and it is stillfast, but all you got to do is,
uh, carry an extra tether withyou for your saddle and you just
unlatch and go up around thebranches.
But by all means, if you'reusing the bandit climber, just
pick a tree with not a ton ofbranches.
It's just gonna save you timeand headache okay cool man, cool

(52:45):
.

Speaker 1 (52:45):
well, yeah, I'm gonna check out some of the the
videos, and I just followed thethe bandit climber and all you
guys on on instagram.
I've been following ruts manyamounts forever, but I'm gonna
start checking that stuff outbecause's it's something I'm
very interested in and I have abuddy's inviting me to do some
whitetail hunting in Kansas, soI was thinking maybe I'd sneak
up a tree for that.

Speaker 3 (53:01):
So oh dude, yeah Well , if you do, let me know.
If you, if you decided that youwant to try out saddle hunting,
let me know.

(53:21):
I will send you a banditclimber for elk hunting.
And I mean, could you imagineme?
You know a self-taught hunterwho hunts whitetail on public
land in the southeast.
Seeing my product being used tohunt elk right west, I had to
change my pants afterwards itwas it was.

Speaker 1 (53:38):
Did he get one?
Did he get one?
Or was he just kind of showingthat he he was trying that
method?

Speaker 3 (53:43):
um, I don't know if he would have got one.
I hope he would have sent it tome, but he never followed up.

Speaker 1 (53:48):
So that's cool, man, that's super cool.
And you gotta get out west, man.
There's nothing, it's.
It's different, they're verydifferent styles.
They're both super exciting.
I've done the sitting in ablind, obviously not the tree
stands, but that's hard on yourheart, man, it's hard on your
brain and there's a lot ofdifficult aspects of it.
But elk hunting is somethingtotally different.
You got to try it.

Speaker 3 (54:10):
I want to so bad.
I mean it's on my bucket list.
I feel like I got to pay mydues as a hunter.
First Get a few more seasons in, a few more whitetail reps in
and then maybe one day I'll getout west.
But that is a dream of mine,yeah.

Speaker 1 (54:24):
Dude, pull the trigger.
There's no time.
The best way to learn is bygetting out there and doing it.

Speaker 3 (54:29):
That's my opinion All right man, a backpack, a deer
out or something, or an elk out.
I'm your guy, I'll pay for myflight and I'll just I'll.
I'll suffer with you and hikeit out.

Speaker 1 (54:39):
There we go, man, there we go.
Cool.
Well, what, uh, where canpeople find you?
Share your socials websiteswhatever you want, and then
we'll, uh, we'll sail off intothe sunset here together, buddy.

Speaker 3 (54:49):
Yeah.
So the website's raccoonrigscom.
That's got raccoon rigs andruts many mounts under the same
umbrella, um and on.
There you'll find all thesocial media.
You'll find everything there.

Speaker 1 (54:58):
So the website is your go-to to get all perfect
man, and I will put a link to itin the show notes.
Jake, this was fun man.
I love talking to new hunters,um, especially ones that didn't
kill their wife.
This was entertaining episode.
I appreciate you, man.
Thanks again for reaching outand for being brave, sharing
some stories with us.

Speaker 3 (55:17):
Yeah, thank you, and hopefully this coming up season
I'll have even more stories foryou.

Speaker 1 (55:21):
Hell yeah, man, hell yeah, all right, talk to you
soon.

Speaker 3 (55:24):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (55:30):
All right, that's it, folks.
Another couple stories in thebooks.
Again, I want to thank Jake forcoming on the podcast and
reaching out to me.
I really do appreciate it.
I've been a fan of his for awhile and I'm glad to hear that
he is a fan of the podcast.
So, guys, please check outRutt's Mini Mounts, check out
Raccoon Rigs.
He's doing some really coolstuff.
I'm definitely going to checkthem out, because I don't have

(55:51):
any experience in any kind oftree hunting and it's something
that I really want to get into,and I've just basically been
waiting to make my own minimountain, and so I'm going to do
all of those things so checkout the links below.
I appreciate it.
Give us a like, a follow, shareus with one friend, and that's
it.
Guys, get out to there and makesome stories of your own.