Ep 173 / Broadheads and Banter: A Night with Magnus

Join Brett and Squatch as they sit down with Derek Craig to chat about all things hunting, particularly the ins and outs of Magnus broadheads. We dive deep into Derek's recent safari adventure in South Africa, where he experienced some epic hunts and learned a ton about conservation efforts in the region. On top of that, we also dig into the hunting scene right here in Indiana, where Derek shares his insights and experiences that could help you up your game. Whether you're a seasoned pro or just getting started, this episode is packed with tips and stories that will resonate with any hunting enthusiast. So grab your favorite beverage, kick back, and enjoy this informative and entertaining discussion!

This week’s episode packs a punch as we sit down with Derek Craig, a passionate bowhunter and the man behind Magnus Broadheads. We chat about his recent adventures in Africa where he went on a safari hunt, and let me tell you, it's not your average hunting trip. Derek dives into the concept of value in hunting and how that plays a crucial role in conservation efforts. He explains how hunting in Africa is different from what we experience here in Indiana, where the hunting culture is rich, but perhaps a bit more straightforward.

Derek's tales from South Africa are filled with excitement and a sense of wonder that only comes from exploring the wild. He discusses the thrill of bowhunting in such an exotic location and the lessons he learned about conservation—lessons that can be applied right here at home. We also touch on the reality of hunting in Indiana, discussing the importance of understanding the local ecosystem and regulations, and how they affect our hunting strategies.

As the conversation flows, we reflect on the emotional side of hunting—the victories, the losses, and the respect we owe to the animals we pursue. There’s some heartfelt discussion about the impact of losing an animal and how that shapes us as hunters. With plenty of witty remarks and stories that will have you laughing and thinking, this episode is a must-listen for anyone passionate about hunting and the outdoors. So grab your favorite drink, kick back, and enjoy this lively chat with Derek Craig!

Takeaways:

• Derek Craig shares his exciting experiences hunting in Africa, emphasizing the importance of conservation.
• We dive deep into the value of Magnus broadheads and how they enhance hunting success.
• Derek discusses the differences in hunting culture between Indiana and African safaris, revealing unique insights.
• The podcast highlights the significance of community and support among hunters in navigating differing opinions and practices.

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
Welcome to the WhitetailAdvantage podcast with your host
Brett Bovin.
Thank you for tuning in andenjoy the show.

(00:22):
What is up everyone andwelcome to the electronic Campfire.
I'm your host Brett Bovin.
And before we get intotonight's show there's a lot of things
I have.
Everyone knows the intro.
Everyone knows we're notpolitically correct on this show
and but I just want to take asecond and say my hearts and prayers
go out to Charlie Kirk and his family.

(00:44):
Prayers and thoughts go out to them.
But my heart's racing rightnow because I'm just.
It's been.
That's a man that I looked upto and still do to this day.
And to take a side of thisprobably some people don't see this
if you don't.
I had to write this downactually because I knew I'd get sidetracked.

(01:06):
If you don't think this wasn'tan attack on your.
Our free speech, you're a dumbass.
They're trying to telleveryone out there that if you speak
out we're gonna kill you.
Charlie wasn't the aggressive person.
He was a person that went outthere to have open and we willing
to go out there and have opendialogue with everybody out there

(01:28):
from all different backgroundsand whatever you want to say and
he was killed for it.
I'm done tolerating this andand done tolerating excuses and this
is.
At the end of the day this isgood versus evil.
And we all try to be goodpeople and we all try to hear that

(01:49):
little voice in our head andsay convince ourselves that maybe
we could be a little moretolerant, be a little bit more accepting.
But the problem is they don'ttolerate us.
So.
And if you're that stupid tocontinue to give tolerance and that
type behavior to those peoplethen they're going to be the same
people out there.
Kill you.

(02:09):
Yeah, that's none of my rant anyways.
Welcome to tonight's show.
Our host bringing our hostbefore we get on to our.
Our news for tonight becausewe have three big announcements we
gotta make.
Isn't that right Squatch?
Yeah, we got some good ones.
We got some good ones.
And excited for our guestthough Derek.

(02:29):
He.
This is actually going to behis third time on the show.
The most a guest has been onthe show besides like a co host and
a buddies that we've been haveon the show.
He's the most repetitiveperson that's been on show support.
So I'm excited about that.
What's the first big News,Squatch, you want to release it or
you want to.
You want me to say it?

(02:50):
Well, I. I'm appreciative ofwhat you've done, so why don't you
take the honors on that one?
All right.
We've added a new teammate.
He's not here for tonight's show.
Got a little busy.
We've added Frank as the newteammate from Broadside Ambush.
Frank.
He's the newest member ofWhitetail Advantage.
I'm excited about that.

(03:10):
And you know what, Squatch?
It's your thing.
So you say this part of the news.
Well, Brett has granted Frankand I to have our own sister show
of Whitetail Advantage.
And it's going to be calledthe Frank and Squat show.
And yours truly, myself andMr. Frank Mystique at Broadside Ambush.
Frank, we're going to bringyou some cool stuff as a little sideshow

(03:34):
to Whitetail Advantage.
And it's going to be a good time.
So I hope everybody's goingto, you know, join us and we'll have
some cool stuff on.
We're getting some nittygritties and some real good, you
know, technical advice on some stuff.
Maybe, maybe some bow techtalk, maybe some, you know, old time
tricks and of the trade herethat we do when we're out hunting.

(03:56):
And we'll be happy to shareour experiences with you and have
on whoever wants to be on.
But as I'll speak for Frankand myself, we'd like to thank you,
Brett, for extending thatolive branch out to us and saying,
hey guys, you know, why don'tyou do something for yourselves on
here?
I'm excited for you guys.
I'm excited to see where it goes.
The third piece is Johnny'sgonna be having his own show too.

(04:21):
The Whitetail Advantagepresents Johnny's show Mysteries
in the timber, coveringparanormal cryptics, Sasquatches,
Wolfman here in Michigan, allthe paranormal stuff.
So we're excited about that.
He loves that.
So we're excited about that.
I'm gonna let him get moreinto that when he has his own show.

(04:41):
But with that being said,let's get back in for tonight's show.
We're talking Magnus Broadheads.
We're talking about with Derek Craig.
We're also going to beprobably diving deep into.
So he's from Indiana.
We're going to be learningmore, a little bit more about his
hunting there in Indiana.
And he also just got back froma safari hunt out there in Africa.
So I'm actually really curiousto pick his brains on that because

(05:05):
I'VE seen more and more peoplego out to Africa and hunt out there
and really like it too.
They said.
I remember talking with, I'mdrawing a blank on his name right
now, the owner of Grizz Media.
He said, if you want to learnconservation, go to Africa.
So enough of me chit chatting.
Let's bring in our guest,Derek for tonight's show.

(05:25):
All right.
Hey, Derek.
Hey, guys.
How you guys doing?
Good.
How are you doing?
Doing good, doing good.
So sorry there was a littletechnical snafu there on the front
end on my part, but we, itlooks like we got it figured out,
so.
Oh, we're all good, man.
So for anyone that doesn'tknow you, can you give a little background
about yourself first?

(05:46):
Yeah.
Derek Craig, live in thenortheast corner of Indiana.
Primarily bow hunt.
Very, very seldom do I take agun out to chase any type of anim.
Waterfowl.
But yeah, I film hunts.
Do a lot of filming in theoutdoor space.

(06:06):
Been working for MagnusBroadhead since 2009.
Work with a variety of othercompanies in the hunting space.
In my mid-50s.
I'm 56.
I got two daughters.
They're 24 and 26.
Both of them grew up hunting.
My oldest doesn't really hunt anymore.
My youngest still does when,whenever she gets a chance.

(06:27):
She's way at school gettingher master's degree right now, so
her hunting time is very limited.
But yeah, that's, I mean,that's kind of me.
I just ate up with bow hunting.
Ate up with, with hunting in particular.
Mostly deer and turkeys, alittle bit of waterfowl.
Not as much as I used to, butdo hunt some waterfowl and yeah,
you know, just enjoy.

(06:48):
I, I, I get to play in thehunting space in the hunting industry.
And I pinch myself every daybecause I can't believe, you know,
that get to live this dreamof, of working in this space and
doing all this fun stuff and,you know, being on podcasts and various
other things.
It's, it's just been a great,it's been great the last 15 or so

(07:09):
years in this space.
So.
That's awesome, man.
And I know you were or you'restill doing, you're an engineer.
Yeah, I'm actually an engineer.
So I actually have a real jobas well.
I'm an engineer.
I'm a forensic engineer.
So I go and I basically Iinvestigate buildings for the most
part.
When something happened, let'ssay a vehicle plows into a side of

(07:33):
the building.
Okay.
You know, do you know, youlook at that and go, okay, how much
damage was done?
How far did the damage extend?
What's got to be done to fix it?
Our company that I work for,we're typically hired by insurance
companies, attorneys, stufflike that, to look into large losses,
that and everything.
So, I mean, anything fromlittle mundane stuff that can happen

(07:54):
to a residential building or acommercial or industrial building,
all the way up to catastrophictype of events on those buildings.
So let's dive.
I know that you were justrecently out to Africa for your hunt,
correct?
Yeah, I got back from Africaabout, oh, man, what's it been now?

(08:14):
At least a little over.
I'd say a little over fourweeks ago, five weeks ago, something
like that.
Yeah, we went to Africa, wentbow hunting in Africa.
There's a group of us allshooting Magnus heads.
So the Magnus heads performed incredible.
But, yeah, we went to Africa,plains game hunt for 10 days and
just had an absolute the timeof our lives in Africa.
South Africa is where we went to.

(08:36):
So.
Yep, yep, yep.
So what's.
What's one thing that whilelearning out there in Africa, how
long were you there in Africa for?
We played for 10 days.
We hunted for 10 days, but wewere there for a little over two
weeks.
We were there, I think, like15 days total.
So between on, we hunted for10 days and then about five days

(08:58):
on the tail end, we did justtouristy type of stuff, which was
a lot of fun because severalof us took our wives along and, you
know, and the wife's had funduring the hunting camp.
My wife didn't go hunting oranything really with me.
But on the tail end, everybodyjust had fun being tourists, you
know, going and doing touristystuff and South Africa.
So, yeah, for two weeks solid,I was there in South Africa.

(09:21):
It was quite the experience.
So what's one thing that youthink, or you might have more than
one thing that you could learnthat you learned in Africa that you
think that we should probablytake here in the stateside on conservation
or maybe your state in its ownway or that you can learn in your
own way.
Yeah, so.

(09:43):
So, you know, I mean, thewhole thing about hunting in Africa
is those animals do not existwithout a value being assigned to
them.
So the only reason that theyhave as many animals that they do
is because we as hunters arewilling to go over there and spend
money to hunt them.

(10:04):
And every.
It.
It feels a little weird on thefront end because, you know, when
you think about hunting, say,here in the Midwest, you know, like
in Indiana, where I'm at, you,basically, you have got deer and
turkeys, small game,squirrels, rabbits, stuff like that,
some waterfowl.
So it's not like you have aplethora of different species.

(10:24):
And it's easy to say, well,okay, to hunt a deer, a tag is X
dollars, you know, and all that.
And you can assign, you know,somewhat of value to it.
But when you're over there inAfrica, say, for example, a, an impala
might have a value of say,$1,000 or $1,200 versus, say a kudu

(10:44):
might have a value assigned toit of say, 4200 or 4800 or $5000.
And, and everything's inbetween because there's so many different
animals.
And it kind of feels weirdhunting them because when they're
coming in, you're doing abunch of mental gymnastics.
You're, you're looking at ananimal going, okay, A, is he, is

(11:06):
he kind of cool?
Like, would I be interested inshooting that animal?
Because some you might look atand go, yeah, I have no desire to,
you know, to shoot that animal.
And then B, you're alsothinking of it through the lens of
an economics because we all gointo a hunt or anything pretty much
in life and say, well, youknow, I'm willing to spend X dollars.
I mean, you go out to dinner,you know, with some friends, and,

(11:29):
you know, you might go all inand get the most expensive steak
and the most expensive drinks,or you might go in and go, you know
what?
I'm coming here tonight tospend 50 bucks.
And so I'm going to get thisand I'm going to get that, and it's
very similar.
So you go into it with thismindset, looking at everything's
got a value, how much am Iwanting to spend?
Which is not what we're usedto here again in the United States

(11:53):
because we don't have thatmany different animal species the
hunt in any one area.
I mean, maybe you go out westand you got, let's say you're in
Montana and you got, you gotelk, you got moose, you got whitetail,
you got mule deer, some black bear.
So, yeah, you got five or sixgame species, but you still don't
have 30 or 40 or whatever itis you know, that they have there.

(12:15):
So the, the, the, the basicprinciple of it is because those
animals over there have got anassigned value to them and a monetary
value to them.
That's the reason they have them.
If they, if we didn't comeover and they weren't willing to
spend the money that, and payfor that value, then the locals would

(12:36):
have hunted them toextinction, you know, so that they
could aid, eat.
I mean, that's the biggest thing.
I mean, you know, they'relooking for food, you know, to feed
themselves, you know, and alsoit becomes their economic driver.
I mean, the number oneeconomic, the, the largest economic
component to the South Africaneconomy is tourism.

(12:59):
And the largest majority ofthe tourism dollars come from hunting.
I mean, obviously you gotpeople just want to go sightseeing
or do this and that, there's that.
But the largest amount of thetourism dollars come from us as hunters.
So because of that, because ofthe dollars, that's where the conservation
component of it kick,component of it kicks in.

(13:20):
Which, you know, I mean, insome ways, you could come back here
to the United States and say,you know, maybe, you know, we're
blessed obviously, you know,in the North American model that
we have and all the publiclands that we have and different
resources that we have.
But then sometimes I wonder ifthe whole thing from a financial

(13:44):
standpoint isn't somewhatcheapened a little bit.
And maybe, you know, everybodycomplains that tags are so expensive
or leasing or outfitting isexpensive, and it is.
But then I go, you know, whenyou actually put a financial dollar
to it and a sizable one thatyou notice, you know, I mean, if
you buy a $50 deer tag, that's50 bucks.

(14:07):
But if you gotta buy a $500deer tag, that impacts your wallet
and you're a little moreconscious of, you know, everything
that goes into that animal,what that animal means, not only
to yourself, but ecologically.
And so sometimes I wonder thatmaybe if things weren't a little
more expensive across theboard, it, it might help us from

(14:30):
a conservation standpoint.
I mean, it's, it's a catch 22.
And I, you know, I, and I getit because I, I, I hate how expensive
leasing and outfitters are andall that.
But I always think thatanytime something is, for the most
part, when something is freeor doesn't cost you much, we tend
to take advantage or takethings for granted.

(14:51):
You know, I mean, you know, ifyou've hunted your grandparents,
you know, land for 20 yearsnow, that you aren't grateful to
your grandparents, but youkind of just take it for granted
that you've got this land thatyour grandparents had, versus if
you had to spend 2000 or 3000or $5000 every year to lease that
land, land to hunt it, well,then you got a vested financial interest

(15:14):
in it.
And in doing so, you got aninterest in taking Care of the land.
You got an interest inmanaging the animals.
Theoretically not.
I mean, you don't have tomanaging the animals better.
You know, maybe going out andhelping mend fences or helping watch
and keep trespassers out andthe whole thing.
So I mean some, some of thoseprinciples from South Africa and

(15:36):
that management mindset cantranslate over here to the United
States.
And I, you know, I don't knowwhere the, the, the best balance
is of it because again, youknow, we all complain about hunting
being a rich man, becoming arich man sport, and unfortunately
it kind of is in many cases.
But then again I go, well, ifit was all free and you just, you

(15:59):
know, I mean you just go knockon farmer Ted's door and, and he
just lets you go.
And another guy go.
And another guy goes.
And if it were that way acrossthe board, well, next thing you know,
there is no value to it andthere's no incentive for us as hunters
to make the hunting better,the, the landscape better, manage
the animals better.

(16:20):
It just becomes going out andshooting deer or turkeys or whatever
it is.
And so I don't know, somewherein there's the balance though.
Yeah, I think a lot of stuffkind of hit home.
So for instance, going down toIndiana, we were, Johnny and Dave
still going to Indiana tohunt, but I had to back out for some

(16:40):
personal reasons.
But like, I think it was like6 to 800 bucks to cost to go down
there to hunt.
And I think the tag itself wasfor out of state was 250 to 300 bucks,
something like that.
Yeah, I think it's in the 250ballpark range.
I think not.
It's not cheap, but it's not expensive.

(17:01):
Yeah.
And it's, I think for Indiana,for an out of state license, I think
that is very, I don't want touse the word affordable, but acceptable.
Like it's very.
It's a great price point forother states considering Indiana
is a top 10 big boomer state,big giant buck state.
And so I was a littlesurprised at that.

(17:23):
And then when you like forinstance here in Michigan, I draw
a blank on a residence becausenon residents tax because I don't
think people want to come hereand hunt because it's Michigan.
But for like a combo licensehere in Michigan is like, like 50
to 80 bucks.
So it's still expensive, butit's not cheap.
And, and Right, right.

(17:45):
I think trying to figure outhow I want to say this.
We take hunting for granted inour own way.
And like scotch, maybe you canhelp me out.
I'm trying to blank how I wantto go with this just on the price
point of it.
It's what you're trying to sayis the value of what you have to
pay isn't equaling, you know,the actual hunt itself.

(18:10):
Is it really worth the addedexpense to.
To take that kind of stuff on?
I think, you know, like, youknow, it's got to have that balance.
You got to have that balance.
Like, when I went out to Ohiolast year, you had to buy the main
license, you know, for therefirst, and then the bow license and
then the dough permit and whatever.

(18:30):
So it added up, I think it waslike in the 250s when I, when I went
out there, that Indiana'sprobably not much different.
But, you know, it.
We.
We in New York when, you know,they changed the licensing around
the way that they used to sellthe license, it was cheaper.
Like you could get your whole,you know, caboodle of your tags and

(18:52):
everything.
It used to be about $65 forlike, everything.
But then they startedcombining stuff and making it more
all one license and then justmaking you get an archery tag, and
they called it the supersportsman and all this crap.
And then by the timeeverything ends up, I'm.
I'm at 97 a year basically tohunt land that I own and ask permission

(19:16):
if I can do it.
You know what I mean?
And it's kind of sucks, youknow, I mean, it's like, I don't
think I should have to do that.
There should be anotherexception for that.
But, you know, to get back to,like, what Derek was saying in.
In relationships, when.
When you have to lease a pieceof land versus knocking on the door

(19:37):
and getting permission, youknow, the thing I concentrate on
with that, that helps me alittle bit, is having insurance.
First thing I say to somebody,look, you know, I'm interested in
hunting your place.
First thing I want to let youknow is I am totally insured by a
multi million dollar liabilityinsurance coverage.
I can provide you with the paperwork.
Also, I can provide you withreferences of people in the last

(19:58):
20 years that I've hunted ontheir land and stuff like that.
And you'll luck out sometimesyou'll get that handshake deal.
I had a handshake deal, butthen somebody tried encroaching on
that and I had to lease it.
But it's still.
I only leased a spot for 500for the year, and it was 58 acres.
So, you know, it was worth itfor me for the 500 bucks.

(20:20):
You just had that peace of mind.
And I was the only one thatcould go in there, you know, I, I
didn't mind it and like yousaid, and you know, I mow in there
and do all that stuff with thebush hog and whatever, you know,
anything I can do to help out.
It's, it's little things.
Still can't believe not to cutyou off.
I can't believe I'm 20, my20th year hunting.
I'm 31 years old.
That, that was a thing that wetalked about in the last show.

(20:43):
Hunting insurance.
Yes.
That's the thing I didn't like.
Oh, I pay like, what did yousay, like 35 bucks.
If anybody's interested, lookup United New Jersey Bow Hunting
Organization.
And you know, it's New JerseyUnited Bow Hunters is the name of
the organization.
You can go online, you can getthe, the application and fill everything

(21:06):
out.
You pay the $35 for themembership and you're covered in
all 50 states withmultimillion dollar liability insurance.
If you want to print it out,you could print it out and give it
to the landholder and say,here, here's the proof that I'm okay.
And that was one validargument that I had when this other
guy came in and trying toencroach on the property.
I said, yeah, well, you wantto let him in here?

(21:28):
I said, is he covered by insurance?
No.
I said, well, somethinghappens, you're on the hook.
Something happens to me,nothing's going to happen.
So, you know, it's, it's a,it's a good point to have.
It's.
And you know what, it's goodon your part anyway to have it because
you know you're covered.
If something happens, Godforbid, you're covered.

(21:49):
You know, you don't have toworry about this happening or that
happened.
And you know, especially witholder people, you know, maybe you
got an older couple that stillhave like some land and stuff, and
they hear all these horror stories.
Oh, George let Mike go on thefarm and he twisted his ankle.
Now he's suing him.
No, I always tell them, I haveinsurance, I'll sign a waiver.

(22:10):
You're not responsible foranything, you know, and it's.
If you do that and you showpeople, you know, references, even
if they're interested, youknow, usually you can get in still
around here.
I mean, it's getting harderand harder because we've had a push
of what I call city.
It's from the city coming up,and they don't like anything to have
to do with the outdoors.
But, you know, it's.

(22:30):
It's still doable.
You just got to be polite.
You know, don't.
Don't go like, you know, withsleeveless shirts on like I got right
now and stuff.
You know, if you got.
If you got a little kid thatyou can take with you, maybe it not
be your kid, but, like, maybeI robbed Frank's little guy and take
him.
Hey, I want to bring Juniorout with me.
Teaching me outdoors peoplegot a soft spot for that, too, so

(22:51):
that helps.
I do want to take a second topivot real quick.
Here is Derek.
When we've had you on theshow, we.
And we'll still get into thesemadness broadheads and talking about
media content, stuff like that.
But one question, though.
I wrote it down here because Ifeel like I haven't asked you this.
Can you describe a time whenyou felt you were your absolute lowest

(23:12):
in your hunting career and onethat you felt like you had to overcome
that moment?
As far as, like, in thehunting industry, like, as a.
As a career in the industry,you mean, like in a hunting situation
where, you know.
Both.
Okay, both.
I'd say as far as my huntingin the hunting industry goes, because

(23:37):
it's turned into, again, my.
You know, I. I have a job as.
As an engineer.
However, the hunting industryhas become a very nice side income
stream for me.
You know, I keep joking thatsomeday I'm pro.
I'm.
You know, if I do this muchlonger, I'm gonna have to make a
decision.
Do I want to stay as anengineer and do the hunting industry

(23:58):
as a side gig, or do I justwant to walk away from engineering
and be fully employed throughthe hunting industry, which is multiple
revenue streams?
But, you know, with all that,you're like, that's.
Boy, that.
That's awesome.
Oh, my God.
Chair slid down on me there.
You're like, man, that.
That's pretty awesome.
You know, working in thehunting industry and getting paid,

(24:18):
and it is, and it's awesome,but it can all be pulled right out
from under you very fast.
You know, there's nothingthat's guaranteed at all in the hunting
space, and there's nothingthat's guaranteed with anybody's
job or anything like that.
But you're basicallyfreelancing in that space, and you've
got contracts with differentcompanies, and those contracts are

(24:40):
typically good for a year or so.
And the highest of high andthe lowest of the low, always within
the same company.
You know, when I met Mike, sawhim, who owns Magnus back in 2008
or nine or whatever it was.
And we hit it off, and I went into.
He invited me in, like, 2010or 11 to go to the first ATA show

(25:01):
that I went to with him.
You know, I walk in ATA andyou see these booths, and, you know,
you got pictures of MichaelWaddell up there, larger than life
on the side of a booth or, youknow, whoever insert anybody, you
know, and all that.
You're like, man, how coolwould it to be to be that person?

(25:21):
And how cool would it to be tobe in the magazines and stuff like
that, you know, and everything?
Well, a few years ago, Ilanded a deal with Athens Archery.
You know, it was a bow manufacturer.
Now, granted, it's notMatthews, it's not bow tech, it's
not Hoyt, but Athens made somereally damn good bows, and it's a
bow manufacturer.

(25:42):
And quickly, in that deal thatI landed with them, I became one
of the faces of the brand.
So I was in magazines, video content.
We did.
You know, we filmed stuff fordifferent TV shows.
You know, when you bought anew bow, the last year that they
were in business, when youbought a new bow, my face was hanging

(26:05):
on the tag on the bows thatgot sold, and you're like, man, this
is like the highest of highs.
And then I walk in the ATAshow the one year, and there I am,
larger than life on the sideof, you know, their booth.
I feel like I.
That photo.
Yeah.
And.
And it's not like, you know,again, hey, it's not, you know, Michael

(26:25):
Waddell on the side of theHoyt booth or something like that.
But still, it was a big deal.
It was a real big deal to me.
I was like.
I couldn't believe it.
And.
And I.
You know, and you try and stayhumble about it, like, holy shit,
this is really happening.
And.
And then as fast as that risewent, the rug got jerked out from
under me when they went out ofbusiness because of their camshifting

(26:50):
technology and BowTech, youknow, basically threatening to shut
them down, which basicallythey did.
And so that was.
That went from the highest ofhighs to the lowest of lows, because
I was like, man, like, whatthe hell, man?
I just, like, achieved thisdream, and you just see this upward
trajectory, and then you'rejust like.

(27:12):
I mean, not that it was allcrashing down.
I had other.
Obviously, Magnus and someother contracts, but still, it was
a big.
It.
It was a big reality check andopened my eyes to a lot of things,
and I talked to a lot of people.
About it had a lot of callsfrom different people in the hunting
industry.
Went through some depressionactually, on the whole thing, everything.

(27:32):
And then, and then in the endit all worked out.
So that would probably, Iwould say, be the lowest of lows,
you know.
Now I'm actually working withdarton archery on it from a.
Both side of things here.
So.
So that was, that was kind of,that was kind of the lowest, you
know, so far in the huntingspace, as far as that goes, as far
as hunting goes.
You know, I think that thelowest oppose is really is anytime

(27:55):
you lose an animal, you know,and some of them sting worse than
others, you know, so, youknow, that stinks, you know, when
you lose an animal.
I mean, there's a.
The buck right back herebehind me, over my shoulder, right
here.
That animal I shot in October.
Two.
Years ago, three years ago, Ican't remember now.

(28:17):
And then found him a littleover a year later, actually almost
a year and a half later, foundhim dead.
And I.
And I mean, I just, you know,the whole season was just a train
wreck because I kept trying tohunt him down and hunt him down,
got pictures of him forseveral weeks after I had shot him
and then lost track of him.
And so, you know, I mean,that's, that's a low.

(28:38):
Anytime that you lose ananimal, I think, you know, I think
it's a low.
I mean, I don't, you know,some bother you more than others
do, but if you don't, I mean,if you.
Well, I shot a doe and yep,couldn't find her.
Oh, well, I mean, don't get mewrong, I'm not gonna like, you know,
lose like many nights of sleepover it.
But at the same time, I'm notgonna be too happy with myself about
it.

(28:58):
So, you know, I think anytimeyou lose an animal is pretty low,
you know.
So I remember it was, I wantto say it was my third year hunting,
like 14, 15 years old.
And I'm sure you guys know 14,15 year old years old, you think
you're.
You're king badass out in thewoods and this and that.

(29:19):
Like nothing like you're indestructible.
I remember taking the shot ata deer and I still remember it like
it happened yesterday.
He came, I was able to callhim from about 80 yards away and
come underneath my stand.
And he was basically fiveyards right in front of me, just
directly below me.
And I got greedy because itwas a giant buck, what I thought

(29:42):
was a giant buck at the time.
And I pushed the Shot, and itwas basically just straight down.
And I thought, well, if I gethere, I could get the lung or this
and that.
And I took the shot, neverfound him.
We went tracked for, like, forever.
And I told my dad thissituation when I went up to the house,

(30:03):
and he said, why the fuckwould you take that type of shot?
And just saying this and thatand basically kind of like making
sure I drive home the point,like, you gotta take clean, ethical
shots.
That's what he was trying to do.
But in the moment, I just feellike he was attacking me.
But I'm glad he did it becausewhen we went out looking and just
thinking back, it was like,yeah, I was a dumbass for taking

(30:25):
that type of shot, and I justwounded this animal.
And ever since then, I getvery methodical with my preparation
and practicing with my bow outin the woods, meaning out here at
home and taking the ethical shots.
I mean, don't get me wrong,I'm sure a lot of hunters out there,
we try to push the limits withour shots, but we still try to do

(30:47):
the clean, ethical shot thatwe can.
And, yeah, that's one thatdefinitely sits at home.
I think I probably missedabout five deer where I can't find
them.
But that one, that one stickswith me the most because that was
just a young, dumb decisionfor me at that point.
Yeah.
I found many times when youtry and force something, it usually

(31:07):
doesn't end well.
You know, I.
And.
And if.
And it's whether you get inyour own head and force it, or if
you let.
If you let the voices and theghosts of, say, social media get
in your head or something.
You're like, oh, man, youknow, so.
And so was razzing me aboutthis or that or whatever.
I'll show, you know, prove itto them.

(31:28):
I mean, we've all probablydone it.
Or a buddies.
You let a buddy or somebodyget in your head and you force something,
it rarely goes well.
I mean, rarely ever.
And I. I just have learned theolder I get, I find myself, Myself
being more patient when itcomes to hunting and more just open

(31:50):
to the fact that if it's meantto be today, it'll happen.
If it's not, there'll beanother day.
And.
And that's.
That's hard.
Especially if you're a guy whoonly gets to hunt, like, on Saturdays
and Sundays, over the courseof maybe three or four weekends,
you know, through the courseof the year.
Unlike, you know, me.
I mean, I typically can.

(32:10):
And I can get out 60, 70, 80sits in a season very easily, you
know, in my life, so it'seasier said than done.
But at the end of the day, Ialways find that patience is probably
one of your best tools.
And.
And forcing something just.
I mean, you just doesn't workout well oftentimes, so.

(32:32):
But.
But we still do it.
I mean, you still.
Every once in a while, I catchmyself like, you know, okay, you
could do it right now.
And it's like that little.
The little devil figuresitting on your shoulder going, come
on, do it, do it, do it.
Squeeze the trigger.
You know, you're like, man,may I should just wait.
But anyway, so, yeah, there was.
My dear, last year, I. I got.

(32:53):
I was very fortunate toharvest him, but.
And I. I tell everyone whenyou're out there in the woods, so
when you're just sitting inyour tree stand, run scenarios through
your head.
Like, what if a deer comesfrom this area or this and that?
Run every type of scenariothat you could possibly think of
and just run it through yourhead and figure out what you would
do with in that scenario.
And while you're out there,make sure you're ranging distances

(33:14):
from tree points or whateverthat way, you know, like, all right,
that dude, that trees over atleast 30 yards.
So if anything comes in there,it's 30 to 35 and stuff like that.
The deer I had come in lastyear, I arranged a tree grouping,
was about 22 yards away.
And this one deer was coming in.
He's walking somewhat fast,but if I didn't hit him at this point,

(33:36):
I wasn't gonna be able to geta shot off.
I didn't have time to range him.
All I remember was that was 22yards away roughly.
So he's just a little bit from it.
So he's gotta be at least 20to 21 yards.
Heck with it.
Let's get aim here and execute it.
Now, I also have 20 yearsexperience now underneath my belt
and can do that type of mentaljudo type thing in my own head.

(34:01):
If you're haven't been doingthat practicing it out here at home,
like, I remember having mywife, I would be like, all right,
that's.
That tree is going to be 15yards away.
I need you to come betweenhere and there and.
And just run and stop at a second.
And then I got to figure out,all right, you're probably going
to be here.
And then I'd stop and rangeand went, all right, I was a couple
yards off.

(34:21):
You got to practice this stuffin the off season.
You can't just go out there and.
All right, that's what theydid here.
So I'm going to do it out herein the woods now.
So that's my mentality.
And a lot of things.
Yep, I think, I think a lot ofthings too, that people, you know,
take for granted isproficiency in their equipment and
what they're capable ofperforming with it.

(34:42):
If you buy the top shelf bowand you know, the best freaking carbon
arrows out there and the bestheads and you just think, well, I
don't have to really practice.
I can, I bought the best of everything.
The bow is going to do it himself.
They get out there and, youknow, they, they wound one and you
know, then they're mortifiedand they're devastated and they start

(35:02):
kicking themselves in the assand saying, you know, I should have
put more time into it.
And you know, it's hard, man.
I mean, work.
I work two jobs.
So, you know, you, you get the time.
But, you know, now, now I'mgetting down to the last couple weeks.
I was just out tonight, I wasshooting and my stuff is working

(35:23):
right.
And you know, I make sure I'm proficient.
And don't get me wrong, thingshappen, you know, sometimes, you
know, last year I hit, I hit abuck high in the shoulder, a little
forward and I really pissmyself off.
You know, I don't.
I try not to make bad shots onanimals, but you know, from every

(35:44):
hard lesson that you gothrough, it also hardens you, it
teaches you, it sharpens you.
And the old saying is, ironsharpens iron.
And those, those tough lessonsmake you a legend someday.
They make you a better hunter.
And anybody that says theyhaven't gone through lows of hunting

(36:04):
and missing and, and woundinganimals and stuff, I mean, can you
freaking imagine, like my, my,you know, my bloodline, American
Indians, can you imagine themall sitting around going, well, tomorrow
I'm going to shoot a big buck.
Dude, they were hunting for food.
How many animals do you thinkthey wounded with what they were

(36:24):
shooting?
You think we're the firsthunters to go out there and, you
know, wing an arrow atsomething and hope we hit it?
I mean, they didn't care.
They were just, they weren'tin, you know, sights, no range finders.
They just knew what they knew.
And if they killed the animal,they kill it.
If they didn't, they were gotto be really good trackers, you know,
and there was 50 or 60 guys ina party and they would hunt that

(36:44):
thing down till it died.
So, you know, we're taking itto the level of it's.
It's a game.
It's.
It's something that you do onthe weekend.
And.
Yeah, I mean, I enjoy everypart of it.
I love to meet.
And I still to this day areone of the only hunters that you'll
see given animals Indian last rights.

(37:06):
I actually hold their head up.
I like, draw air from theirsnout, and I blow it back up into
the air.
And then I take the blood andI mark both sides of my face.
And that's the respect earnedback to that animal to release his
spirit back to the wild.
And I do it with anything.
And I make sure everybody thathunts with me, whether they're new

(37:26):
at it or they've been seasoned hunters.
If you're on my ground andyou're hunting the animals that I'm
after, you don't do that.
That's the last time you comeout in the woods with the squatch.
So it's.
It's a.
It's a respect thing.
And there's just so manypeople that don't have respect for
the animals.
They just think it's.
It's no big deal.
And that really burns me when.

(37:49):
When I see something like that happen.
But that's also why it hurtsme so bad and so deep when.
When I screw up, because I oweit to that animal to make every attempt.
I mean, I hit a buck one year, man.
It was a 14 pointer.
And believe me, I know thissounds like every damn deer story
you ever heard.
It was probably the biggestbuck I ever seen in my life.

(38:09):
I made a bad shot on him.
I chased that deer for threeweeks trying to find him.
And I.
It got to.
I was in swamps up to mywaist, thinking, he went in the water,
I'll find him.
I'll find him.
Listen to crows.
I mean, it ruined me.
I. I basically everybody'slike, what are you doing?
I'm like, I'm done.
I'm not hunting anymore.

(38:30):
I screwed up.
They're like, ah, come on, man.
You'll be all right.
And let me tell you, it tookme a long time.
It took me a long time.
And it was.
I was pissed, like, 60 of it.
I was really pissed at myself.
But the re.
You know, the 40 of it, moreon top of it was just.
I know I hurt that animal.
And I knew, like, I didn'tmake the best possible shot I could.

(38:54):
Like you had.
He's saying, like, you gotthat devil on your shoulder.
Squeeze off, Squeeze off.
If I waited a couple moreseconds, I probably would have Had
a perfect shot.
So that's why I said, youknow, I'm up there, too.
I'm in my.
I'm 50.
I've been hunting a long time,since I was a little kid.
So, you know, let's say 40something years.
Being out in the woods.
I hunted with my grandfatherbefore I could even hold a gun in

(39:16):
my hand.
I've been through the experiences.
I've seen what people go through.
And you know what's nice?
Even though sometimes it's alittle bit of a burden, people confide
in you because they have thefaith in knowing that you've seen
the stuff that's going on.
You're a warrior.
You've been in this fightchasing these animals.
You've seen what equipmentdoes when it fails, you know, and

(39:40):
it's nice.
People call on me.
You know, people call on me,hey, I got this going on, or this
happened with that animal.
And you know what?
It's a blessing to be able totake that and say, look, do this,
or, hold on, don't do that.
Let me look at it, or whatever.
And, you know, the older youget, you.
You become like.
Like Derek was saying, youbecome more patient.

(40:02):
You.
You become more.
I mean, years ago, I was a killer.
If it was brown, it was down.
I shot so many deer, my fatherwould take the belt to me because
he was so pissed off.
He came home, there's anotherdeer hanging in the garage.
And, you know, you know, not to.
To get off on a tangent, butyou learn as you get older, your

(40:23):
time is short.
So, like the 35 that my dadbought me when I was 15 years old,
I'm sitting there in the woodsand I look at that gun and I go,
what year is it?
Oh, yeah, it's 20, 25.
Holy cow.
I've been holding this gunthat long.
And then I.
And then the flashes, likesnapshots go off in your head.

(40:46):
Hey, remember.
Yeah.
Remember back in, you know,93, when I got that and I shot that
eight pointer and he cametumbling down over the rock wall?
Or.
Yeah.
I was up, you know, in theCatskill Mountains and I blasted
that bear and he almost landedon me.
All these snapshots in yourbrain keep going off, and believe
me, it passes you by fasterthan you think.
So it's an important thing toenjoy what we do, make.

(41:11):
Make hunters look good.
Don't be a, you know, somebodywho's not good out there that just
does wrong, you know, andthere's so much evil in this world.
And, you know, you Touched onit when you started the show.
What happened to Charlie Kirk?
And you know, it's this, weneed more good in this world.

(41:32):
There's too much evil.
There's just too much evil.
Help your brothers out.
Don't bash people in thehunting industry.
Help each other out.
You know, be there forsomebody that doesn't know what they're
doing.
Don't turn your back, youknow, just, just do what's right
for people.
Show that good.
Derek, we got about like 15minutes left with the show here with

(41:52):
you.
So with Magnus, let's diveinto that for a little bit.
Yep.
What's new?
Is there anything new that youcould tell us?
I know there's the company soyou gotta have a lot of closed door
meetings and stuff like thatyou can't release.
But is there anything new?
Well, well I'm, I'm trying,I'm trying to have something new
but I can't really talk about it.

(42:14):
So we came out a couple yearsago with our 150 grain single bevel,
two blade single bevel.
And then this past lot yearago, I guess this past January 125
version of it.
So we've got those, we do havea left hand of the 125.
That's we knit, we, weinitially released them both right

(42:36):
hand.
Then we got feedback, peoplesaid no, you gotta have left hand.
This was when we did the 150.
So we did, we made a left handbecause it wasn't that big of a deal
to make it and just didn'tsell any, I mean hardly sold any.
But everybody said you have tohave left hand because naturally
arrows clock left because thebulk of strings are twisted such

(42:59):
that they clock left andtherefore nobody will buy right hand
single bevels.
And that was complete baloneybecause that's all anybody ever wanted
to buy.
So I mean as of, I can'tremember as of like last spring we
had sold or, or yeah, it was,it was spring or something like that.

(43:20):
We had sold, I don't know, 25,30 packages of left hand single bevel
and thousands and thousandsand thousands of package of right
hand single bevel.
So we do have a left handsingle bevel coming in the 125.
There was something going on.
I, I don't know what's all,why it's being delayed, but it is
coming out.
I do have something in theworks that we've thrown in front

(43:43):
of our patent attorney.
He's given us the go ahead tostart doing some prototypes.
So we are working on that.
I'm hoping to have someprototypes and we'll see how it goes
from there.
So hopefully we'll have a newhead in the near future.
But beyond that, we're justreally focused on more efficiency.
We bought another machiningcenter a year or so ago, so we were

(44:05):
able to more than doublebecause it's a, it's a much more
efficient machining centerthan our other one.
So we were able to more thandouble our machining capacity.
We've added some employees.
Mike Som himself, who startedMagnus 41 years ago, is kind of,
he wants to retire.

(44:25):
He's kind of phasing himselfout of day to day operations.
So we have a new gentleman bythe name of Brett Parker.
He's our new president of Magnus.
And Brett and I work togetherquite a bit.
We talk to each other at leastonce a week and sometimes more than
that.
And he's doing really well incoming online.
He was a Magnus shooter beforethis and, and he came out of Brownells

(44:50):
actually from the gun side ofthings, from a marketing and, and
management standpoint.
So got a good head on his shoulders.
He's got some good ideas.
He's bringing some, some newideas in which are great.
He and I get along well.
We talk again, we talk everyweek, if not more than once a week

(45:12):
and bounce a lot of good ideasoff of each other.
And you know, he'll say, hey,you know, I'm thinking about, you
know, improving this process.
We just had a process thatgoes into one of our broadheads.
It's a little bit tedious.
And he was bouncing ideas offof me the other day a couple weeks
ago on how to make it moreefficient and streamlined.

(45:33):
And you know, I alwaysexplain, well, we, you know, I mean,
he's like, well, what if wedid this?
I'm like, well, we can'treally do that because of this.
But what we could do is takewhat you're talking about and maybe
attack it from this otherangle here.
And, and so we, we tend toflush with a lot of stuff like that
out.
So really the focus is justgetting better, is continuing, you

(45:54):
know, to, to be there for thecustomers and customer support, the
warranty.
He, it was his idea actuallyto go to a new online form system
for the warranty, which makesthings easier for everybody than
the old email system that weused in the past.
So he, you know, he's bringingin a lot of that good new ideas and

(46:14):
we got, we got some new stuff,you know, in the work, some new.
He Wants to get some updatedmerchandise, you know, some updated
graphics on shirts and hatsand some different things like that
and bring them in.
We are having a whole newwebsite being built right now which
should work better and be moreintuitive and make the overall online

(46:36):
shopping experience betterthrough Magnus.
So, you know, those are thethings we're kind of focusing on
right now.
I've been trying to look upMagnus for, like, the last two days,
and I can't get the website tocome up.
Is the website down?
Wasn't to my knowledge, but I've.
I've been sitting on a beachthe last few days, so I've been typing.

(46:57):
In Magnus products for thewebsite and.
Nothing comes up on my phoneright now.
And came up on my phone.
What the heck?
So looks like it's going well.
Maybe my computer is juststupid, I guess.
I don't know.
But no, that was, that was one thing.
That was so he.
His name Brent or Brett?

(47:17):
Brent.
B, R, E, N, T. So it's.
Close to a cool name like mine.
Just one letter.
Yeah.
No, that's one thing.
I thought like, like all thehunting companies out there with
broadheads, whatever, bows oftheir merchandise.

(47:37):
I was like, if magnets justdid this or they.
If they did this or just letme take control of social media for
them.
You promote this side andpromote this here and there, man.
They just, like, flourish intheir own way.
And I was like, what?
Yeah, well, you know, more.
But I know, I know Mike was a very.
I don't want to use the wordcontrolling, but he was like, he.

(47:58):
It was his thing.
So I don't blame him.
It's his baby.
Yeah, Magnus is his baby.
And he's very.
He's very much, you know, he, He.
He's been burnt in the past,years ago by different people.
I mean, you're in businessthis long, you get burnt by business
partners, investors,employees, you know, people you sponsor

(48:19):
or whatever.
And so him kind of deciding itwas time to retire and phase himself
away, and he still is there.
He goes into the shop aboutthree days a week for a little while,
every day or every week.
And, you know, and so.
But he's phasing himself out.
One of those things startedwith, like, I've been with Mike again
since 2009, and we've had thisprofessional relationship.

(48:40):
I'm always there on the R Dside, the tech support side, helping
develop new products, bounce ideas.
But then finally, this pastwinter, I got him to say to walk
away from the pro staff.
I'm like, dude, just walk awayfrom the pro staff, Just give it
to me and let me run it.

(49:01):
And if nothing else, it's justone less burden on his thing.
And I think it's improved.
I mean, there's some thingsthat I want to do different with
it, you know, and all that,you know, and there's going to be
some more changes that comeabout next year.
And then after the.
The.
The pro staff and Brent gotinvolved, there was.
And this is not knocking our.

(49:22):
Our previous social media manager.
He was a great guy.
He'd done it for many years,and it was the same thing all the
time.
And we were like, you know, let's.
Let's change things up.
And so I was like, well, whatdo you want to do, Brent?
And Brent goes, I want you totake it over.
I was like, well, I don't know.
I've never done social media.
I don't, you know, I've nevermanaged it for a company.

(49:44):
And he's like, well, worstthing that happens is it continues
on the way it's been.
So, you know, I mean, you'renot going to do any.
I think he was doing a badjob, but you're not going to worse.
So.
Yeah.
And so I think that we'veimproved that as well.
The engagement, when I look atthe analytics on it, the engagement
since I took over in earlyJune is way up.

(50:05):
You know, we're trying togive, you know, when you do a broadhead
company, you get a lot oftrophy photos, which are awesome.
You know, we want to.
We want to share everybody'ssuccess that they have in the field,
but for the longest time waslike, hey, here's Derek.
Here's the deer he shot inIndiana with a Magnus stinger buzzcut
broadhead.
And that was it.
And now we're trying to getmore contact.

(50:26):
So, like, say, Brent, if yousent in a picture of a deer that
you killed this year, I, youknow, typically I be like, hey, Brent,
congratulations.
Hey, can you give me, like,three or four sentences about your
hunt?
I mean, what was it about thehunt or the product or whatever?
Just give me something.
And then I.
And then I post that.
Dial a little bit of that.
I mean, usually it's word forword, but if I've got to clean up,

(50:48):
you know, the English, I will.
But I think that becomes alittle more engaging for those people
who are looking at that whenthey go, oh, man, okay, here's the
story of this.
Or they tell about the greatcustomer service or, you know, how
they've been shooting Magnusheads for the last 10 years.
And this elk that they shotwent 50 yards and tipped over or

(51:11):
whatever, you know, and, or asI had one the other day, it was,
it was just a, it was a doe,they say just a doe.
It was a guy.
He killed a white tail doe andhe's like, yeah, this is my first
archery kill ever.
I, I hunt from the ground witha 45 pound bow and, and I wanted
a broadhead that I knew would,could perform at low poundage and

(51:31):
all that.
And, and very impressed withyour product.
So when you put all that stuffin those posts, they become more
engaging and then alsothrowing in, you know, some stuff
of, you know, pictures of whatwe do at the factory.
I was throwing up some oldretro photos, you know, some old
stuff of Mike and everything.
And the, the engagement's justgone up through the roof.
So those are some changes thatwe've made.

(51:53):
And you know, it's, it's been good.
I mean, it's more on myshoulders to do, but it's not bad.
I mean, at first I kind offelt like the dog that caught the
car and I was like, oh shit,now what do I do?
But, but as I got going, Ikind of learned, you know, it's like,
all right, you know, I make, Imake four, sometimes five posts a
week and they don't take verylong to do and I try and keep them
relevant and current and if wedon't have anything good to post,

(52:16):
it's no shame in skipping aday either too.
So.
I know people love to see thatbehind the doors, behind the scenes
type content, type deal.
Like, people love that.
They get fascinated.
Like, ooh, I see everything here.
But what do you guys do back there?
Maybe I could take some ideasfrom that.
I can apply it to my own type stuff.
I know I'm like a behind thescenes junkie when it comes to that

(52:38):
stuff.
Right?
I love that.
So when I saw those, those elretro photos of those broadheads
and stuff that you wereposting there, man, it.
Was so sweet to see and yeah,those were cool.
Yeah, yeah, they're reallycool, actually.
There's a lot of history there.
If, if Mike would just stepout of his office and let me go rifle
in through doors and stuff,I'm sure I could come up with some

(52:58):
real gems next time I'm out.
Yeah, I mean, every once in a while.
And he, the funny thing is hedoesn't, he's.
He.
Because he's lived it, hedoesn't really find that much fascination
in it, but like Brent and I,when we were out there, we were going
through the.
This last time I was out therein June, we were going through the
closet that's got all of theold shirts and stuff in it, and we

(53:20):
were finding original Magnussnuffer shirts and snuffer hats in,
like, Advantage Timber.
Timber Camo and stuff like that.
And.
And Brent and I were justlike, we're just.
I mean, I loaded up a box.
It was a huge box and FedEx at home.
And in fact, my daughtertonight was running around wearing
a snuffer SS T shirt that wehaven't made in probably 15 years,

(53:44):
you know, so, yeah, we.
Ben, Mike's like, all that old stuff.
I don't need any of that.
But Brent and I are like, thisstuff's cool, man.
You know, and so, yeah, yeah,you know, finding some old.
Old packages of broadheads orphotos or, you know, I was finding
parts to Magnus rack packsthat we haven't made for the last
12, 13 years, probably.

(54:05):
I was like, hey, I need a newseat for all my rack packs.
I was grabbing parts.
And so, yeah, I mean, there'sjust tons of history there that he
just kind of.
He.
He sweeps it under the table.
But again, he's lived it forso long, you know, so that'd be cool.
But you do like a.
The very first one or theoriginal Broadhead type deal and
then just do like a coolhistory thing down the road, and

(54:28):
bam, here's the new one type deal.
Yeah, well, I wanted to dosomething like that a year ago when
Magnus turned 40, and I reallywanted to do something along those
lines with him explainingstuff, and he shut me down.
He's like, no, I don't want todo anything I don't want.
So I put something together.
It was like a year 40 videoand stuff that I narrated and everything,

(54:50):
but I really wanted to go outthere and do something like what
you're saying that we couldtalk about the original products
and have him, in his words,and go out to his mom and dad's house
where there was a shed outback that he started the company
in and stuff like that.
But he's.
He.
He's.
He likes to keep.
He doesn't like doing this stuff.
This is why I'm always the onewho does this type of stuff on Magnus

(55:13):
behalf.
He doesn't like being.
He doesn't like being that.
He.
He tells when people see himand they're like, do you really work
for Magnus?
What do you do there?
He's like, yeah, I'm the janitor.
That's what he sells them.
So come to janitor.
Nice.
Which isn't a lie, but, youknow, that's cool.
Anyway.
Well, Derek, I just want tosay thank you for taking the time

(55:33):
to come on the show.
I greatly appreciate it.
Thank you for everything that matters.
Yeah, man, me and I, I, I loveMagnus, man.
That's been my go to Broadheadsince when I, When I first started
hunting, I was 12 years old,and I think my very first one brought.
It was a Crimson Raptor mechanical.
Those ones, those were back inthe days.
And then I tried some otherones and then we.

(55:55):
My dad saw this one that TedNugent was when he was with Magnus.
He, he had the one that I'mactually using now.
And ever since then, I've beenusing those Magnus products my entire
life.
So it's things.
I think it's going on nowroughly 10 plus now that I've been
shooting Magnus.

(56:16):
Magnus right there.
I got.
I, I shot Magnus for years.
I, I used to shoot.
There you go.
They're.
I used to use them a lot more.
My traditional, my recurve stuff.
Yeah, I like them.
I like, you know, like yousaid about that gentleman, he, like,
you wanted something thatwould be on a low poundage bow, even
though I was pulling a 60pound recurve.

(56:36):
But they were pretty cool.
I'm, I'm a big fan of Ted Nugent.
And he, he was shooting themat the time and I was like, I'll
try them out.
They were, they're good.
I want nothing against them.
They were, they were good Broadhead.
Yeah.
Well, I mean, we, we, we liketo think we're the best of the cut
on contact.
Fixed blade heads out there.
I mean, you know, if that's,that's what your flavor is.

(56:59):
And I get it.
Some people love mechanicals.
That's awesome.
No, you know, no shade towards them.
If that's what they want toshoot, go for it.
Some people like chisel tips,you know, or they like whatever features.
And we are straight up cut oncontact, no baloney, made in the
USA, lifetime warranty.
And, you know, here we are, 41years in business and still clicking

(57:21):
on.
So that's.
That says a lot.
41 years in business.
It's a good run.
Yep, definitely is.
People on their art team.
So I'm, I'm a big Magnus guyand a couple of members on the team,
they're big rec guys becausethey love that mechanical.
They love that.
That's what fits their style.
And yeah, one thing we saidfrom the beginning with Whitetail
advantage was we.
If everyone has, like a teamor a company that they love the most,

(57:44):
they promote it.
We promote it here alltogether on one show.
And that's why we have Magnusdown there and rec together, because
we have teammates that believein their product, and it's me as
the teammate.
I believe in Magnus.
And everyone's going to havetheir own thing when it comes to
hunting products that theybelieve in.
And they.
It's their go to thing.
And sometimes something work,might work for someone's post up

(58:07):
compared to somebody else.
So just for me personally, Ilove the cut on contact with Magnus.
I love what it offers for mein my setup.
That's why I strongly push for Magnus.
Well, we appreciate it.
So, yeah.
Before we let you go, though,Derek and I got four rapid fire questions
for you.
Okay?
Okay.
All right.

(58:27):
All right.
What animal is on your bucket list.
To hunt right now?
On my bucket list to hunt iscape buffalo.
Ooh, I think that's the first one.
I haven't heard someone on theshow say.
Cape buffalo.
Cape buffalo, Yep.
What is the top state you want.
To try hunting for Whitetails?
I would say Iowa.

(58:48):
I've been putting in forpoints, but one of these days, I'll.
I'll get drawn and go out there.
And there you go.
If you could pick anybody togo on a hunting trip with or share
a campfire with one time, whowould that person be?
It's my daughters, both ofthem still.
And I've shared hunting campwith them a zillion times.
It still is.
They're the number ones.

(59:08):
And of the two, because myoldest doesn't hunt anymore.
So I. I've got to say, myyoungest, Sydney, she's.
She's my hunting buddy, andI'll pick her before I'll pick anybody
else to go hunt with.
So that's awesome.
Last question here.
What do we need to do toimprove the hunting community?
Come together.
Come together and stopbitching at each other.

(59:29):
And stop.
You know, and I get it.
I mean, we're all guilty ofit, you know, I mean, you know, I
got to be careful what I saybecause I work in this space and
I sell broadheads to not onlyvertical bow hunters, but crossbow
hunters.
And I like to pick on crossbow hunters.
But we.
But we.
But we got to be careful.
We can't.

(59:49):
I mean, it's one thing to.
It's one thing to rib on yourbuddy because he decides to hunt
a different way than you do orwhatever, you know, and we can all
have our attitudes and preferences.
I mean, I have nothing againstgun hunting.
I just really don't do it very often.
I mean, occasionally lateseason, I'll take a rifle out if

(01:00:10):
I want to go, or amuzzleloader and go throw a dough
in the freezer.
But it's just not really mything, and crossbows aren't my thing.
But we all need to stay humbleand support each other and realize
that we are all in thistogether and support each other,
even though we're.
We have differences in the waywe do it.

(01:00:30):
I mean, you know, I'm not abig fan of baiting, but I got to
support, you know, my fellowhunters across the line in Ohio where
they bait.
You know, if I just say thatbaiting sucks and if you bait, you're
not a good.
You're not an ethical hunterand this and that.
I just alienate an entirestate of people that I have friends
in.
You know, I mean, just becausewe can't bait here, and I'm not really

(01:00:52):
a big bait guy, doesn't meanthe baiting's wrong or high fence
or, you know, whatever it is,you know, so we just all need to
learn to support each otherand stop fighting.
I think we can take a lessonfrom the hunting, because we do.
We try to think that becausewe're hunters and this and that we
think that we're.

(01:01:12):
We're better, but you.
But we're the same thingthat's happening in the hunting community
is the same thing that'shappening out in the real world.
People might have differentviewpoints or different angles or
beliefs than what you do.
And so for everyone on theteam, we all have our products that
believe in the way we hunt.
All this and that between uson the team, we with each other,
and we joke with each other.

(01:01:32):
By the end of the day, Isupport Squatch, I support Dave.
I support Johnny, I support Frank.
I'm gonna give them crap forwhatever they do, whatever they do
it, whatever like that,because they're my friends, they're
my brothers.
That's what we do.
But at the same time, Isupport them.
And the same thing we need todo in real life is we need to come
together and support eachother no matter what.
I'm gonna make fun of peopleno matter what.

(01:01:53):
That's what I do on their show.
And that's what I have.
I speak my mind.
That's what we do.
And.
But I'm also willing to have,like, Charlie Kirk have an open dialogue
with people.
And, like, you Said perfectly.
We just need to learn to come together.
And even though you might havedifferent beliefs or different ways
about hunting and stuff likeand however you want to go about

(01:02:15):
it, just because somebody'sdifferent on the way that they want
to hunt doesn't mean that youshould just be like, oh, nope, you
do it that way.
So you're wrong.
Support each other.
Let's have fun and be able to be.
You can be able to go outthere and hunt and enjoy it at the
end of the day.
Enjoy it.
That's the most.
It's the most funnest thing.
And it's the healthiestversion of crack.
I say it all the time.

(01:02:37):
It's amazing.
Go enjoy it.
Yes, that's right.
That it is.
Anyway, Derek, I want to saythank you again for coming on the
show.
I greatly appreciate it.
Before we'll end on you,Squatch, how can people reach out
to you and find you, man?
Well, you guys all knowSundays and Tuesday nights here on
the Wait Till Advantage.
You'll see me also onBoondocks Outdoors, Mike Nitray and

(01:03:01):
the rest of the bunch down there.
I got Instagram outdoors andmore with the squatch and my YouTube
channel that's going to befiring back up now to hunting seasons
here.
Get some videos out there for you.
Some fresh clean kills.
Derek, how about you, man?
My preferred way everybodygets a hold of me is go to YouTube
and go look up New DayOutdoors productions and hit subscribe

(01:03:24):
button please.
That's where I post the moststuff you can find me on Instagram
at New Day Outdoors.
I have a New Day OutdoorsFacebook page.
I don't do a lot with it.
You can look up Derek Craigmyself on Facebook.
Send me a friend request.
But really YouTube is whereit's at, you know.
And so here we are getting inready to fall.
There'll be some more huntingvideos coming and gear videos and

(01:03:48):
stuff like that.
So I try and keep somethingall year.
There's all kinds of differentstuff there.
A little bit for everybody.
So I love it.
When's your hunting season start?
It's October 1st tomorrow morning.
Oh, it starts in tomorrow.
So I have.
Well, Indiana technicallystarts October 1st, but I have what's
called reduction zone properties.

(01:04:08):
We have a reduction zoneseason on special properties.
And I happen to have aproperty that's in a reduction zone.
It's for September 15th, so.
And it's an earn a buck zone.
You have to shoot, you get aspecial, you get a second buck tag.
Because we're a one buck state.
You can get a second buck tagin these reduction zones, but you
have to kill a doe before youkill a buck.

(01:04:29):
So.
Yeah, so I start tomorrow, butI have appointments tomorrow morning,
so I might make it outtomorrow evening.
I bet I probably will.
In fact, I know I will becauseI'm dying to get in the tree, so.
Right.
I'll find the time no matter what.
I don't care.
I don't have any of my stuffaround and ready.
So it's going to be a scrambleand then I'm gonna go in the woods
and go, shit, I don't havethis and I forgot that.

(01:04:50):
And you know, I feel like anidiot, but I'm sure I'll probably
go tomorrow night.
So just don't forget to orderyour broadheads because you know
you're gonna.
I do have those.
I do have those.
I remember last year, I waslike, man, I just remember I don't
have anything put around.
Like, it was just bad last year.
I was like, yeah, I'm still going.
It's October 1st.
I don't.

(01:05:11):
Yeah, I don't care.
Yeah, all my, all my stuff'sjust spread all over, so I'll grab
a bunch of stuff andthankfully I hunt.
I hunt mostly private land andwhere my reduction zone is, I've
been hunting for like 28 years there.
It's, you know, I mean, youknow, where the deer are and aren't
and what they do and so, youknow, it's.

(01:05:32):
And if I Forget something,it's 150 yard walk back to the truck.
It's not the end of the world.
So.
Nice.
Well, good luck on yourhunting season then, Derek.
So.
All right, well, thanks guys.
I appreciate it.
See you guys.
Have a great rest of your night.
All right, bye.
Oh, man.
Well, everyone, that's goingto conclude another episode of the
Whitetail Advantage podcast.
Thank you for gathering aroundthe electronic campfire.

(01:05:54):
Now, this show made you laugh,made you think, give you a new perspective.
Please hit that like andsubscribe button.
If you listen to this on theaudio version, please give us that
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The audio versions of ourpodcast gets released every Monday
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And now that we got two newshows on Whitetail Advantage, the
Frank and Squat show andMysteries in the Timber, those, we're

(01:06:19):
starting to figure out whenthey're going to be getting released.
We're trying to figure outwhere we're going to be recording.
Some of those might be gettingdoing live shows too.
Those details are going tostill work that out.
But most likely what we'regoing to be doing with those every
other Friday, you're going toeither get a episode of the Franken
Squatch show or the Mysteriesin the Timber Show.

(01:06:39):
So we're looking forward to that.
And like always, if you wantto be a guest on the show, reach
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thank you to all the companieswe've teamed up with us here at Whitetail
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(01:07:00):
Thank you to everyone out there.
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Thank you for tuning in toanother episode of the Whitetail
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