Bear Grease - Ep. 105: THIS COUNTRY LIFE - The Stuff In My Pockets

Episode Date: April 28, 2023

This week on This Country Life, Brent Reaves shares the stuff in his pockets -- what some of you might call his "every day carry." From a 10 year old buckeye to a gold dollar coin, Brent walks you through each item you can expect him to have on his person, why he carries it, and why he thinks you should, too. So come on in and find out what makes Brent's EDC short list -- after this, you might just add a few items to yours!  Connect with Brent and MeatEater MeatEater on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube Shop Bear Grease MerchSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

First Lights fieldwear collection is made for the work that happens long before opening day and continues when the season ends. Products built for early mornings, full days in real use. Hard wearing where they need to be versatile where it matters. No shortcuts. Just gear designed for the work that earns the season. Built to perform, built to last. Check out. First Light's new fieldwear gear at firstlight.

Welcome to This Country Life. I'm your host Brent Reeves. From Coon Hunting to Trotlining and just general country living, I want you to stay a while as I share my stories and country skills that will help you beat the system. This Country Life is proudly presented as part of Meat Eaters Podcast Network, bringing you the best outdoor podcast the Airways have to offer. All right, friends, pull you up a chair or drop that tailgate. I think I've got a thing or two to teach you.

The stuff we tote around in our pockets. Every day carry is a term I'm only recently familiar with, but one I've been practicing since my feet hit the ground in the mid-60s. Now, that's only partially true because some of that time, at least initially, I was what was being toaded around every day. But from my earliest memories of having britches with pockets, I've had my go-to items that I couldn't leave the crib without, especially after I got out of the actual crib.

Now, why is this important? Because a man needs to be prepared. Well, that's partially true. The correct answer is we all need to be prepared and carry things we need. So feel free to interchange pocket with purse, backpack, satchel, briefcase, sock, bazaer, or wherever you decide to cash something that you might need later. But what are these items? Are they there out of necessity and utility?

Or are they simply there for nostalgia? or maybe a little bit of both. I can't speak for yours, but I'm going to tell you all about mine. We're going to talk about it in a minute because first, I'm going to tell you a story. Mr. Bill Chancellor was a tractor mechanic. He could more accurately be described as the tractor mechanic. I'm not saying he was the only one around because where I grew up, you couldn't swing a dead cat around more than once without hitting a tractor man,

regardless of where you were standing. There was lots of folks that were tractor mechanics. What I am saying is if a tractor mechanic needed a tractor mechanic, he called Mr. Bill. Now, I can't remember where my dad got his tractor, but it wasn't in the best of shape, and he got a pretty good deal on it because of that. It was a 35-horsepower, Massey Furkson, and the red paint had long faded to a rust brown, and the gray color of the engine and the chassis that was all gone. There was a little padding left in the seat, and the only thing was the only thing,

thing left that identified it as a Massey Ferguson was a sliver of one of the decals that was on the hood. But the plan was to help Mr. Bill rebuild it from the floor to the ceiling and Mr. Bill shop. So whenever Dad got away from work that summer, we worked on that tractor under the guidance of Mr. Bill. I was probably 11 or 12 and trying to make a track in every track my daddy made at that time. And on this particular day, we were nearing the completion of the tractor restoration. and let me tell you, that Joker looked good. The engine had been completely overhauled. The paint was original Massey Ferguson red and gray paint.

Mr. Bill had replaced the decals with the originals he'd gotten from the Massey Ferguson headquarters. I remember exactly where I was standing watching Mr. Bill as he adjusted something under the hood, and he asked my dad above the racket of the tractor, he said, buddy, I can't reach my knife. Let me borrow yours. Well, I started looking around for Mr. Bill's nap because I knew my dad was not about to hand him his one. I see my dad reaching his pocket and handed to him.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I wasn't allowed to touch it. And here Mr. Bill was scraping and gouging on metal with all his might. I was shocked. That was a killing offense. But my dad just looked on like nothing was happening. Like the previous 11 years of proper knife care instruction that he drilled into my head, had never happened. That's a knife, not a screwdriver. That's a knife, not a hammer. And yet right

before my eyes, I was watching Mr. Bill slap annihilate the edge off my father's case knife, which was the knife. Everyone who knew Reeves was correctly spelled R-E-A and not R-E-E-E carried in their pocket. There were no exceptions. Dad got that pocket knife back and eventually we loaded up and we headed home. Now we ain't got out of the driveway when I said, Dad, I saw you hand Mr. Bill your pocket knife. He kind of laughs and he said, Son, you saw me hand him a pocket knife.

He handed it to me. It wasn't a case. I was a little confused. I said, I thought we only toted case knives. He said we do, son, but we don't loan them. All right, everyday carry, EDC for short. The stuff in your pocket, or in my case, pockets. Because I got stuff in just about all of them.

This is learned behavior from someone in my formative years, like my dad, my grandpa, my older brothers, folks I spent the most time hanging out with, which was exactly how they came about carrying the items in their pockets. Every male member of the Reeves family carries a case pocket knife. Now, you ladies hold on until you hate mail. My sister-in-law has a collection of them, that would rival most museums.

I kid you not. My wife doesn't tote one because she has me, but if she wanted to, she would. And I would make sure she had a good one. Now, I don't know what number of great-grandpas it was that started this tradition, but I could testify that the Reeves family has been patrolled in Arkansas

and removing with a knife all the parts of animals that don't taste good since before the Civil War and way before the Case Brothers, got together in 1889 and commenced to give him birth to what would become a staple in the Reeves Boys Everyday Carry, the case pocket knife. Around 1920, one of them jokers designed the trapper model, and that's the one. That knife has become a part of our identity, and you can bet one thing for sure. If you see one of us and need a knife, we got at least one. We ain't going to let you borrow it. Just show us what you need cut and get out of the way.

Anyway, let's start with the right front pocket of these American-made roundhouse overalls. Inside, you'll find a case pocket knife and a tube of chapstick. Some might say why would a man told a pocket knife in 2023? Same reason he took one in 600 BC when the first folded knife was invented. Did I say 600 BC? I sure did because that's when some cat in Austria got tired of his wife hollering at him for poking holes in his breeches. every time he put his knife back in his pocket. Now, I'm sure she had plenty of sewing to do without fixing his clothes every time he got

finished skin and a mess of squirrel. So he invented the folding pocket knife and marital bliss. And for at least 2,600 years, a man that was prepared and ready to be a man has tooted a pocket knife. And just think, 601 years after he invented it, say around 1 AD, I bet he was the most popular dad in Austria when the tales of himself. cutting the tree cutting ribbons off a Christmas presents quicker than a hiccup. Way to go, man in Austria.

You, sir, are a legend. Now, if you're not prepared to answer the call when your wife hollers for you to cut something for, I wonder about your priorities and her judgment. At the beginning of our marriage, Alexis would say, Brent, do you have your knife? And my answer would usually reference a question about a bearer's wilderness bathroom habits. Now, years later, as she celebrates daily her lottery like husband win? It's a simple, honey, cut this for me and bam, the deed is done. I'm always ready.

A pocket knife can protect your family, skin your supper, help you build a shelter, open a package, perform surgery. The possible uses are endless. When you need one and have it, life is golden. When you need one and don't, there's not a more helpless feeling. This is normally where I chunk in a story about how I got in a bind one time and needed a knife and didn't have one. I can't do that. You know why? Because I ain't never been without one except when we go to airports, concerts, and different places now where you can't tote one.

I can't tell you how many times I'll pat my pocket for the knife that ain't there and the short-lived panic that startles me until I realized I didn't bring it with me on purpose, which reminds me of a time when me and Clay Newcomb were catching a flight out of northwest Arkansas. We were headed for British Columbia on a bear hunt, and it's not a big airport, but the security folks there are just as observant and dedicated to doing their job and making things safe for all of us. Fortunately, we were in Arkansas and not some big city airport when the X-ray man found the skinny knife in Claibos carry-on. Apparently our clothes and our gear leaned more toward a couple of hunters than a couple of fellas with nefarious intentions. We called Misty,

and she came and picked up the knife. The TSA guy was cool about it. Besides, we had several others legally packed and secured in our luggage. We wound up not needing the skin and knife anyway, but that's a different story. On Blood Trails, the stories don't end when the hunt is over.

They just get darker. I've seen something in the road. I instantly thought it was a sleeping bag and there was a full of blood. Oh my God, he doesn't have a hit. Blood Trails is a true crime, podcast born in the outdoors. Where the terrain is unforgiving, the evidence is scarce, and the truth gets buried under brush

and silence. Indications were he should be right there, but he wasn't. This season, we're going deeper. From cold case files to whispered suspicions, from remote mountains to frozen backwards. Each story begins in the wilderness and ends in darkness. Because out here, there are no witnesses, no cameras. just fragments and the people left behind trying to piece them back together. He's not an honest person. He's incapable of being honest.

Somebody somewhere knows something. I'm Jordan Sillers. Season 2 of Blood Trails premieres April 16th. Follow now on Apple, Iheart, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. All right. Pocket knife. Covered that one pretty well. At least till we get to the other pocket. But until we do, what else is in the old.

right front pocket. Chapstick. Now here's a disclaimer. Down here we call lip balm chapstick, regardless of the brand, but we never call it lip balm. Hey, I don't make the rules. I just live bomb.

That's the end of the disclaimer. Chapstick. Not much you can say about that. Sure you can. You can dive it on a cut to help stop bleeding. You can use it to moisturize dry skin. Heck, you can even use it to help with building the fire and keep you from having chapped lips.

My dad told me a joke when I was a kid about an old cowboy that rode into town from out on the range. Instead of rushing into the sloon to get him a cold drink, he hitched his horse up and pulled a brush out of his saddle and started brushing himself off. The mayor of the town was watching him as the cowboy cleaned up as best he could, straightened his clothes, washed his hands in the trough and tucked his shirt in. The mayor was impressed and started walking toward him to welcome him to the town when the cowboy walked around to the back of the horse,

poked his finger in the horses behind, and rubbed it on his lips. The mayor was shocked. But he welcomed him anyway, and he said, I appreciate you cleaning up when you got here. We got a lovely little town, and we want to keep it that way.

But, man, I only got one question. Why did you poke your horses behind and rub it on your lips? The old cowboy looked at him and said, my lips are chapped. And the mayor said, oh, does that cure? And the cowboy said, no, but it keeps me from licking them and making it worse. Toot some chapstick with you.

It's smaller than a horse cheaper to feed, and there's no bad aftertaste. The right front pocket is done. So what's an old lefty? Loner pocket knife, a buckeye, and a sackage of your wheel, $1 corn. The loner knife is for your friend that doesn't carry one, but finds himself in the need of one on occasion, which is the very reason you tote one to begin with. And if he doesn't tote one, he ain't got enough sense not to use your good one in a manner that it wasn't designed. All these things I'm about to say now go slap out

the window when it's emergency. When it's life and death, nothing else matters. However, when it ain't and you need a wire cut, a screw tightened, or a pry bar, don't look at me and ask to borrow my pocket knife. It's something to be respected, taking care of, maintain, and sharpened regularly because a dull one is of no service to anyone. Now, I'm not going to tell you what the brand of my loner pocket knife is because it don't matter. It ain't a case. It's a well-made pocket knife, I assure you, but I'm talking about what's in my pockets and what I like the best. You may hate case pocket knives and like something totally different.

I don't care. That's fine with me, but you ought to be in jail if you do. Just kidding. Not really. What about that sackage of your wheel a $1 coin? Well, I can tell you it was minted in 2000. Monetarily, it's worth whatever a dollar will buy you, but my wife gave it to me. And if you don't know who sackage ofia is, do yourself a favor and look her up, or better yet, read Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose.

That book is thicker than a cathead biscuit, but worth the effort and just as easy to digest. She was an invaluable guide and interpreter that helped Lewis and Clark find their way across the wilderness and back when our country was young and we didn't know our behinds from 15 cents about anything west of St. Louis. The coin serves as a symbol from my wife to me that when I'm out on a hunt or a long journey, I can always find my way home. She's my Sagatiaiaia. She's a whole lot more. But she's not much on skin and stuff, though, and I have a feeling that's Sacchiaiaa was. Anyway, that's why I told it.

The Buckeye, if you've listened to any of the Bear Greas Render podcast, you may have heard me mention it. I'll tell you about this particular one in a minute. First, I want to talk about why you'd have one to begin with. Esculis Pavia, commonly referred to as the Red Buckeye that is the most prominent variety of the two known grow to Arkansas. It produces a nut which is actually the seed and it grows in a pod. that matures in late summer. Now, folks have been toting them in their pockets for luck for generations. There's an old saying that went,

you'll never find a dead man with a buck guy in his pocket. Now, I don't know if that's because you don't find a lot of dead men laying around or because it wouldn't be too cool to pilfer through their clothes if you did. My family, close friends and I would give them to each other as tokens of good luck for hunting. Somewhere in our family's past, it was dictated that one hunter had to give it to another for it to work. You couldn't just find one and put it in your pocket and reap the benefits. I ain't how that works. Now, I'm not superstitious at all.

I'd just firmly believe that if I was to lose the one I got in my pocket, that I would never have another successful hunt. The one I have I've been caring for close to 10 years, and it means a lot to me. First time I met old Claibault, he'd asked me to come film a bear hunt for him in the Washington Mountains in Arkansas. He and the majority of his young ones took me around where he grew up hunting and we wound up on a mountain in the area, and I saw a buckeye bush. I told him the story of how my family traded them back and forth and handed him one, and in return, he gave one to me. I'm still

toting it to this day, and I have every day since that hunt nearly 10 years ago. Clay's always amazed when he asked about it and I take it out of my pocket and show it to it. He told me he lost the one I gave him before we got off the mountain that day. He didn't kill a bear that year either. Coincidence? We'll never know for sure, but no, absolutely. Not a coincidence. In the bill of my overalls on the right side, I carry my billfold, all my folded money. Inside that billfold is a bicentennial quarter. A quarter minted in 1976. My dad had jars full of them. So along with everything else that's part of my uniform, I tote one of those in remembrance of him. And until I started thinking about all my everyday carry items to tell you all about,

I'd never really seen how much connection there was to the members of my family who passed away. But now I do, and talking about each one of them makes me smile. I've always fancied a good pocket watch, and on one father's day, my wife and little girl Bailey gave me one. It came all the way from London, England, and it keeps time like a man possessed. It has a decorative silver coon attached to a. a short chain on the other end that hangs on the outside of the bibbed overalls. Now for all those that have a pair of overalls, real overalls, and you never quite figured out what that slit was above the bib of the pockets

and the small hidden pocket sewn into the seam on the bib, if you didn't know what that was for, stand by for news. It's for your pocket watch chain and your pocket watch. The watch is obviously for telling time, but the fob tells everyone a little bit of about. about you. It makes a statement without making one. I like to think that when folks see mine, they see a country boy that's proud of where he came from, proud of the folks that raised him, and even more proud to share these stories. Thank you so much for listening. If you like it,

share it with your friends. Maybe they'll like it too. And hey, beat the system. Tote two pocket knives. Keep the good one for yourself, loan the other ones to your friends. This is Breed the Reves, sounding out. Y'all be careful. First Lights field wear collection is made for the work that happens long before opening day and continues when the season ends. Products built for early mornings, full days in real use. Hard wearing where they need to be versatile where it matters.

No shortcuts. Just gear designed for the work that earns the season. Built to perform, built to last. Check out. First Light's new fieldwear. year at firstlight.com.