Bear Grease - Ep. 160: BEAR GREASE [RENDER] - Songs & Bucks

Episode Date: November 8, 2023

This week on the Bear Grease Render, Clay Newcomb is joined by Ben Lagrone, Dr. Misty Newcomb, Gary "Believer" Newcomb, and "This Country Life's" Brent Reaves. The crew plays a song featuring banjo, guitar, shaker egg, and a set of spoons. They then turn their attention to discussing: Accidental discharges - shooting a mobile home and and a foot with a bow and arrow. Brent chasing a school bus with his dad's truck. Ben's biggest buck and Clay's issue with dog tracking for whitetail deer. And the crew's favorite stories from "Deer Stories: Passion and Lies." We really doubt you’re gonna want to miss this one… Connect with Clay and MeatEater Clay on Instagram MeatEater on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube Shop Bear Grease MerchSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Built to perform, built to last. Check out. First Light's new field. Worldware Gear at firstlight.com. My name is Clay Newcomb, and this is a production of the Bear Grease podcast called the Bear Grease Render, where we render down, dive deeper, and look behind the scenes of the actual Bear Grease podcast. Presented by FHF Gear, American Made, Purpose Built, Hunting and Fishing Gear that's designed to be as rugged as the places we explore. Welcome to the Bear Greas Render, everybody.

I've got my wife, Dr. Misty Newcomb here. We're going to start off things a little different today, Dad, with a kind of a sentimental song about the woods. Usually we'd come in pretty hot and sing some Johnny Cash or, you know, something. But this is a little more laid back. Have you ever wondered lonely through the woods and everything there feels just as it should life there You're part of something good

Have you ever wondered lonely through the woods Have you ever wondered lonely through the woods You ever stared into a starry sky Lying on your back and asking why What's the purpose I wonder who am I I've ever stared into a starry sky. It's like to a starry sky.

Walking in the snow. Tried to get back where you were before. Always end up. Never been out walking in the sky. Excellent. We had Brent Reeves on the shaker. Brent, great to see you. That's a, this needs to be identified as a wooden egg full of lead shot, I think.

Wooden Egg Full Ed Shot. Great to see you, Brent. Thank you, buddy. To Brent's left, Ben LaGrone. On the spoons. Good to see you, Ben. Thanks for coming. Man, on the render, we used to sing.

I bet we used to sing. There was a time when my idea for the render was to have a live band here every single week. I'm dead serious. No, no, I mean, not just me. I was going to try to have a live band here every single render to play. and it just didn't happen. But it's been a while since we've sang. If you're new to the Bear Gros Render,

this is the Bear Grays Podcasts is a documentary-style podcast. The Bear Gros Render is where we gather around every other week and talk about the actual Bear Grays podcast. Early on, the first year, we played music probably every two or three times. Not because we think we're good, but because we like to have fun. Because we do like and we like to play. And as we said, you know, our kids, So last night, my daughter,

Misty and I were practicing, and my daughter, who was in her room, supposed to be asleep. Texted me and said, Hey, y'all sound great. She said, yeah, y'all sounds great. And there was a delay in the next text, and I was like, man, that's really nice.

I was actually encouraged. I need a little encouragement from time to time with my music. And then the next text was, How long are y'all going to be playing? And the next text said, PTSD. She's talking about, you know, we started playing during COVID. And that song was one of the first songs I ever learned to play on the banjo. Is that right?

And that, when Clay heard that song, he was like, I think I can play the guitar. Like, it was so unimpressive. He's like, I could do that too. I forgot I could play guitar. Y'all missed the funniest thing I've said in years. Is when I found this egg, I thought, well, Ben can sit on this. That's kind of like what he does, ain't it? Get hatch this out while y'all are playing.

I used to play spoons like, you know, it's two separate spoons. That's like luxurious stuff right there. Yeah, I can't wait for you to do the old. Well, the flamenco. Oh, yeah, yeah. However that go. I've done that. Are you a good spoon player, Ben?

I've played it before. You're trained spoon player? It's in my percussion repertoire. Okay, okay. Hey, Ben used to play for the Arkansas Razorbacks marching band. Did y'all know that? Oh, really? No. Oh, yeah, that's right.

That's why the percussion was coming so easy to you. Sometimes I feel like we should just go around and say the most astonishing facts about ourselves and our achievements that no one knows about. You know, like, it seemed real important in high school some of the things you did. And has it been brought up since. What would you like to say? I don't know. Doctor.

Weirdly, no. I was thinking more about, yeah, I'm trying to think of obscure facts. Clay likes to bring it from time of time. Brent's whole podcast is obscure facts about his life. I love Brent's podcast. So Brent Reeves is here. Brenda boy, Brent Reeves. Is that what we call him?

I laughed out loud. For real, this is no joke. And there's big potential for bias in me because you're my friend. I want you to succeed. Right. You know, this country life is on the bear grease feet. Right. So there's like,

big, big question marks around whether I, my opinion is legit. However, I'm going to say it is because they're just as big of biases about being critical about just the work that we're doing. So like, I'm like very critical of you too. Sure. And so I would. How does that feel every morning? Oh, it's every time.

The phone rings and I'm like, it's clay. I'm like, well, he's not asking me to go film him, so I am in trouble. Yeah. Yeah. So I feel like those two things balance out, like my love of you and want you to succeed, but also me scrutinizing your every word. Yeah. And I laugh out loud by myself almost every single time I listen to of this country life.

I really do. I mean, Brent is an astounding writer. because he and I've had you know you could listen to some of Brent's stories and be like how could have all this

have happened to one person which is a legitimate question but I've been around Brent enough to have been to hear him tell a story that even I was a part of and it was like

well geez I wouldn't have told it near that entertaining so I mean I think Brent it might seem like Brent has had like an exceptionally wild life. I think he's probably had a more wildlife than most people.

Yeah. But he's a really, really good storyteller and remembers detail and remembers stuff that other people don't. So I'm paying you a big compliment, but I'm also drawing it. I'm also trying to make sense of it. But no, your last one about three stories that didn't fit. Yeah. So the ethical qualms that I wanted to bring up was cursing in church. Did y'all hear that?

Did you hear that, dad? That was the funniest of all the stories. Yeah. Hunter, your son, hearing his father use foul language. Three days before that. I mean, you would think of all the things that happened to a little fellow in three days. I mean, it's everything he looks at in every direction, it's something new. You know, I mean, because he's just learning to talk and learning to hear and learn to pay attention to things that's going around him, you know.

Of all the things, of all the things that happened in that span of time, that was the one thing he keyed on. And in the one place, he remembered it, he had a citywide audience because we were being broadcast on the radio that day. The church service was. Mm-hmm. And then your buddy who shot Jesus. Oh, gosh. Man, I have told that story so many times. And it is, it always starts out some, you know, it's like you do sometimes.

You'll say, Brent tell me a story. And I'm like, I ain't got one. You know, it just things happen and that remind me of something. You know, we're riding down the road. That's when the best stories come out when we're doing something. when we're doing something else, and I was like, oh, gosh, I just saw a redbird.

That reminds me of something. But if somebody points a pistol at me, says, tell me a story. I was like, okay, I got a buddy that shot Jesus one time. I can tell you that story. So it was a misfire. Like he was, he didn't mean to,

he didn't, yes, exactly. He didn't, he thought he had unloaded his gun. There's lots of story, lots of lessons in that, you know? He, he wasn't,

he wasn't upset. thinking he had shot Jesus. He had shot his pistol in his house. Yeah, yeah. A loaded firearm that he thought was unloaded. Now, was he being funny when he... No, he was very distraught. But why did he say I'm going to hell?

He took it. It was so a big burden on him. Now, this guy had just gone to work as a police officer. He hadn't gone to the academy yet. So he had a big burden. And in state of Arkansas, I'm not sure that rookies now are if it's the same way or not but you when we went to work when you had a year from the time you were hired by a department and be under a field training officer and then within that

year span sometime during that year you had to go to the academy and pass that to go you know back to work on the street and be a certified police officer so he hadn't done that yet so everything that he's learning he's learning from you know the officers above him and And he was getting ready to go to work that night. He was quick drawing. Practicing his quick draw. Yeah, a revolver. Was he pulling the trigger?

Well, apparently so. Well, I mean, but it was, if it was like if you, I've got a story, but if a revolver, if you feel like it's unloaded and it's a double action, you pull the trigger, the hammer drops back and then fires. Correct. So, I mean, he must have been doing that. Absolutely. Yeah.

Okay. Let me ask you a question. Okay. And if you have any other comments on this country life, now's, now's the time. Have you ever accidentally discharged a firearm? No. Never. Not once.

Never. I take that back. Yes, I have. Turkey hunting. Okay. Yep. See, I knew it. What happened?

Me and... Brent, do you feel like you're being unfairly interrogated right now? No. Okay. Because I could lie. This is just a Tuesday. I'm just watching the facial expressions here, trying to figure out what clay's after. I could have lied and said no, but I do recall a time.

And it was a faulty. it was a brown and pump shotgun had a broken safety me and another friend of mine had left going turkey hunting in the afternoon we were walking down this road and he said you bet we need to load up now because

as soon as we step off in the woods we got to sit down right there as a turkey we knew where the turkey was at so when I'm standing I've got my barrel away from everybody I went in through one in the magazine from the magazine into the barrel and as soon as it

slide hit home bam it went off really yeah and that's with my that wasn't my finger touching the trigger and I didn't have a finger in the house in there wow that's dangerous it went off yeah absolutely did Ben have you ever shot a firearm unintentionally no I haven't

dad I shot a hole in my garage one day You did. Yeah. I vaguely remember that. It was after I was out of the house.

You know, it was in an area where that pegboard is and the backside of it's all rock, you know, on the outside. Uh-huh. And it was pretty revealing, you know, how dangerous it is to play with firearms, you know. What were you doing? I was just cleaning my gun or something. I don't know. Probably at 3.50. No, it couldn't have been a revolver.

I don't know what it was, but I, boom. So you. intentionally pulled the trigger, you just didn't think it was loaded. Yeah. You just thought you'd cocked it and they're just going to kind of... Yeah. Yeah, pretty stupid. Pull the trigger.

Pull the trigger, man. Miss Newcomb, have you ever fired a gun on accident? I have a story about a bow and arrow. Okay. So when we were all little, my brothers left my two middle... So I had three older brothers and then me. And my parents left the two middle brothers alone for the first time. And the oldest brother was kind of law and order,

and he kept every... everything going. Well, I remember as we were pulling off, all of us felt a little bit nervous about the two middle brothers being home alone. I was the youngest sister, and I still knew, this isn't a good idea. And as we pulled, as we pull out, my dad yells out the window, hey, don't play with BB guns while I'm gone. Like we were just, they were just, you could tell, now as a parent, I know my parents were just thinking through all the things they could do to hurt themselves. So my brothers went back to their bedroom and got a bow and arrow. Now, it wasn't like a professional bow and arrow.

We weren't bow hunters or anything. I don't even know what kind it was, but apparently it had an arrow that could go through a boot, through a leather boot. We learned that because my second oldest brother shot my brother right above me in the foot with this arrow while we were gone. It's stuck in its foot.

And when we pull up, we just see Ben like writhing in pain on the ground outside. Randy looking very scared to see my dad pull up. He's all out of arrows. And there was, you know, the boot, they were trying to get the boot off, but it was, I mean, it was in his skin. And so they were, they were freaking out. And after that, I decided to never mess with anything. And so I was a good sister and always learned from my brother's mistakes.

And so, no, I have never, not that I'm not. Discharged the firearm. No. Aided my compliments to him for not shooting the BB gun. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They were just trying to keep it real. Where are you going with this? Well, have you?

I've got a story. One time, one time I remember Misty called me when I was away, and she said, something's going on in the house. It was late at night. Do you remember this? Oh, I remember. And it was real scary to her. She thought somebody was in our house.

And I wasn't there. And I don't remember the details at all, so I won't elaborate on them. I just remember telling her, it's totally fine if you just want to take that pistol and just fire off around just aim it right through the roof just shoot I told her to do that

and she didn't and it ended up like being you know nothing do you remember that I vaguely I remember thinking what it would be I put the roof on my house when we built it and I remember thinking it won't be too hard I can patch a hole in that roof

I very clearly remember but that's not I don't remember it go I must have missed the part the roof. I remember you telling me, just get the pistol and just if anybody's in the house, just shoot. And I said, what if I miss? And we had just built the house. Well, I wasn't telling you to shoot somebody. Right. You weren't. But that's how I heard it. I was like, what if I miss? And you said, hey, just, just, you told me, just, it's okay if you fire a bunch of holes in the, in the sheet rock. And I just remember thinking,

that was really hard to put up. I don't. Yeah. We take, we take intruders pretty serious around there place. For real. Knock on the door, pow! Text first. Come over. No, Dad, I've told you this story. I'd be, perhaps you won't remember the details of it.

But I got a Ruger 44 Magnum, 9-inch barrel, super red hawk for graduation. Graduation. It was a big, big pistol. I was doing some hog hunting and I was going to deer hunt with it. And one day I was sitting out. on public land hog hunting and just bored

sitting on a log and it's a double action revolver and I was playing I was fiddling with the double action do you know what a double action is Misty it's a revolver so you cock the hammer but if you well if you pull the trigger the gun goes off it's like the way you talk down to the

most highly educated person I do you I like how I'm that's my role in this well the double action is a porter because I was cocking the hammer with my thumb, click, click, and pulling the trigger, but having my thumb on the trigger and letting it down softly. Just kind of getting a feel for the trigger.

And I had just done it so much, I'd just kind of got into like a comatose state. And I had that barrel laid across my leg, just like this right here. And at one point I didn't put my thumb on the trigger, and I just put. pulled the trigger and it just boom, 44

Mac. I mean, it was like a major thing. Oh my gosh. Yeah, and I probably never I learned a lot from that. It left black marks on my pants. Sure. On both ends. Do you remember that, that? No, I don't.

You don't? I didn't tell you. No, you didn't tell me. Well. I'm pretty sure this story never made it to my ears. I didn't tell you for a long time. I did tell you that eventually. Okay. I feel like this is a story you'd remember. He just drank that out of his mind. Anyway, it was not good, not good at all.

How old were you? I would have been, like, in high school. That gone. Yeah. So, firearm safety, big theme in this country life. Okay, the other, the other... Hey, I got a call one time when I was the deputy sheriff. Here's a law enforcement story.

Got a call one time. This lady said, somebody shot my house. And so, man, we're beating feet over there. We'll see what's going on. And we go into this lady, she lives in a mobile home, and in the middle of nowhere. And she was in the laundry room ironing. And the deep freeze is in there.

And laying on top of the deep freeze is a 45 round. That's made a dent in the deep freeze. But it came straight down through the roof. Somebody shot that gun up in the air. And he came down. No way. came through the roof, hit the deep freeze right beside where she was ironed. Really?

Yeah. Just the bullets laying there? Just the bullet, yeah. So it had lost enough velocity that it probably wouldn't have killed somebody. It would have hurt. Yeah. I mean, he came through and it made a big dent in that deep freeze. Wow.

If he hit her on the top of the head, he could have. This is like the side of the unsolved mysteries that eventually comes out. Like, there's somebody listening to this right now down around Warren, Arkansas. What county was it? It was in Union County. Union County, Arkansas. That's going, man, I let one fly. Yeah.

Straight up in the air. I pointed where it came down. I've always felt like if you shot, like squirrel hunt and you're shooting 22 rounds in the air. And if you miss, like the 22 rounds just going in the air. I've always felt like they would lose enough velocity that it would be like dropping a 22 round like out of an airplane. lane like it would just hit on the ground do you think that's true i don't think any of that's even

close hey you remember uh me telling the story about shooting a game warden's house that i don't remember that that's one story that i didn't hear about that's not quite as dramatic as that introduction well i've got a story i and told you you got a story you can tell me well train once you hear it you'll remember it but uh that uh that Game warden lived right next door to me. And his house burned, he moved mobile home in. And I was out shooting my bow in the backyard. And I missed my target, and it hit a rock and flew right in the back of his tree.

And I went and knocked on his door, and I said, man, I got some bad news for you. He was really nice about it. So anyway, I appreciated that. Robert, Robert Ball. Really? Nice guy. And you just pulled the air out? Yeah.

Do you have to repair it? No, it was a little low, and you know, you didn't notice it much. Just a flesh wound. His wife, we had to call an ambulance for his wife. Not really. So if you own somewhere around Hot Springs, Arkansas, a 1964 double-wide with a small arrow hole, and it may have been that mobile home. That's right.

That's funny. That's funny. Okay, the other thing, I listen to the, I got caught up on this country life this week. And so your story of chasing the school bus in a truck. How about that? I mean, that's crazy, Brent. You must have been a wild kid.

Man, I just have wild ideas. And it didn't take me long at the sand or something. Were you not afraid that your dad would have? I wasn't scared of nothing. Did your dad not put the fear God in you? I told you. I've been on Spencer's, Meet eater trivia twice.

And when I sit out in that chair, I know I'm fixing to win. I have got a total of four questions right out of 20 of the two times I've been on there. It was an unusual amount of undeserved confidence. But when I sit down there, I think, man, I am fixing to kick everybody's butt in here. I just, I never walked up to the plate. I didn't think I wasn't going to hit a home run. I hit one in Little League. I had no reason to think that.

But I don't lack for self-confidence. But when you were nine years old, taking your dad's truck and chasing the school bus. The only thing I could think of was me passing that school bus and throwing them the deuses as I went by and barely looking over the steering wheel. Wow. You know what? A dream of mine, and I'm going to cast this out there and this will hopefully get back to

who I wanted to get back to. I want to have Tim Reeves on this podcast. He's a good. He's a better storyteller than I. will he do it? Nope. Yeah, he will. Tim, come to the Bear Grease Render podcast.

We won't embarrass you. And just for clarity, Tim is Brint's brother. Yeah, my old brother. He's in all these stories. But you just, yeah, you just talked about his dad, just making sure everybody knows his brother, not father. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, we got to get.

Why won't he come? He will come. He's the best story telling the world. And we get, like, I don't even want him to talk. I just want him to sit there. When we would sit around at the duck camp. and talk. He was just spitting out one story after another.

My buddy that taught me how to, it started me in, an outdoor video would grab a camera and set it up. And Tim was like, he forgot how to talk. He had a stroke or something. He's just like, uh, he just freezes up, man. This is not what I believe about Tim. Tim would be great. Tim, you're invited.

Please come. There you go. Last spring, Clay Newcomb and I collaborated with Jason Phelps at Phelps game calls and building each of our own favorite turkey diaphragms called prime cuts. Now, I'm going to tell you, I love mine because it's easy to use. I'm not going to go, I'm not going to win a turkey calling contest. It's just not going to happen. But when I run this call, I get the sounds that gobblers are looking for.

I have a great turkey hunting track record. If you go listen to real turkeys out in the woods, they're not going to win calling contests, right? That's who I listen to. I can make those sounds on my cut. I also hunt with Phelps's cut, and I hunt with Clay's cut because they're all three great cuts. Check out Prime Cuts at Phelps Game Calls.com. I think you'll be glad you did, and you'll find out that the Steve Ronella cut is an easy-to-use cut for beginning callers who just want to start making good turkey noises and getting action. Hey, let me tell you my favorite story from this country life lately.

Brent's retirement story. Oh, yeah. That was big. Shep is the one that told me to listen to it. Really? Shep Newcomb did. Yeah, he listened to it. He and Clay were on the way to ball practice, and they didn't finish it.

He went to ball practice. He came out, and he said, Dad, can we finish that podcast? And so they came in and they said, you should really listen to this when Brent's going to retire. I guess, did you record it before you retired? I did. Like the week before you retired, so you weren't retired. Anyway, so I listened to it that day, and, yeah, it was very touching, Brent. That was...

Is that where he went over the fence? Yep. Yeah. Oh, we get to lay the other house. That was really good. That was really good, man. I tell you what, I'd tell you what I would have done. I would have called in sick. Yeah.

Somebody had to go in there. How does it feel to be... It's kind of surreal. Yeah. You know, that's a big responsibility that I carried for... A long time. 32 years. And it feels good.

It's strange, though. It's just a little weird. You know, and I told Alexis, you know, Bailey, who's 11, she's so much younger than my other two children, Amy and Hunter, who they were aware of the things that I was doing and the stuff I was going through. And it was hard. And I told Alexis, I said, I don't want Bailey to ever even know anything about that stuff that I used to do. And she says, I think that's wrong. She needs to know what her daddy did. So when she gets older, you know, maybe she can learn some of that kind of stuff.

But she's probably right. She probably does need to know eventually because that gives kind of an excuse of why I'm so crazy. But, yeah, it's been a lot of, it's been pretty, pretty wild. Yeah. Well, cool. No, I'm, I love it. I love it. Thank you very much.

Yeah. Ben. What you got there on the floor? This is the deer. Let me see that thing. I hadn't even touched it. Gally, he's got some good mass. So Ben, Ben killed the biggest buck.

Biggest buck you've ever killed. Yep. Yep. On September 23rd, 2023. Well, opening day. That deer is more impressive than what I saw on video or what the photo I saw. Just the mass. Yeah.

Like that was, you know, you can tell a lot. you can't judge a white tail entirely based upon mass, but you can tell quite a bit about their age, just maturity level, maybe not fine-tuning it, but I mean, that's for sure a four-and-a-half-year-old plus deer. Well, he totes it out to the end, doesn't it? Yeah, it's a 10-point. Don't, you know how much you scored?

Have you already scored? No, I hadn't scored it. I mean, yeah. Are you going to score it today? No, we did. I don't know. Might as well. I don't know.

You could. You're always be disappointed. So just don't. That's kind of where I've been is like, I don't want to taint my perspective. Well, scores,

you know, so back in the day, I mean, back when American hunting television started in the 90s, late 80s, man,

if you saw the cover of a VHS tape at Walmart that said, 140 inch buck by bow you were just like holy cow I want to see that 150 for sure they would be like man I mean those were big numbers I don't really understand

what's happened there are more 140s 150s and bigger deer but more people have cameras more people are filming and in the outdoor industry there's just a lot more 160 70 80 90 200 inch deer being killed on film but a 140

inch buck is still just as hard to kill and still just as elusive. Like in my, if my, in my hunting locally, like I hunt a 140-inch deer about once every eight years. Yeah. Just the truth. I mean, and I have hunted some good deer in the last several years, but, but I say that to say, a deer like that, I wouldn't even score. Because it won't, it probably won't, it won't score 140. Right.

So it might as well just. Just say it's a one. You think it's a 160. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Just say, it's probably in the ballpark of 160. It was the story that meant so much to me and just how all the stars aligned with all that. Tell us that. Well, even just this place I'm hunting is some private land that I've been picking up the phone and writing letters, trying hard to find a place for me and my little girls to hunt. It was like winning the lottery. I couldn't believe that they called me after getting my letter. the summer I was scouting and put cameras up and this is one of the first bucks on camera.

Really? And I just thought, and he was consistent. I mean, almost daily. And it was just like, is this too good to be true? Like, I write this letter, I'm hunting this land. This is the first buck I see. I talked to Jessica, my wife, and I was like, listen, he's so consistent.

If I stay out there all day on opening day, like he will die. There's no way I'm not going to see him. I stay all day. So I get out there opening day, and it's like 90 degrees. I don't know if you remember how hot it was. It was so hot.

And I stay, I saw doze just all day. I came back out around 4 o'clock and thinking like, man, I can't believe this buck has it come. Just like so many of those hunts, it was right at dusk that these four-dough come out. And they come up and all of a sudden, it's like they just, like I had a neon flashing light on me. And they just got so nervous. and they all were working me and stomping their feet and all that jazz for probably about 20 minutes. Oh, really?

And I was just so nervous. I was like, I was like, I really hope the buck didn't come out right now when these dough are about to. Sure enough, I see three bucks come in from the thicket. And let me tell you this, I know where this buck sleeps. I know where he eats. I mean, I know his schedule and where this guy's at. He comes up from the thicket, and I'm just thinking,

golly, while these dough are on me. So you can see. him coming. He's coming. He's coming. And he, the dough start walking away. They were spooked. Like, not to the point of running, but they're just like, I don't like this guy. And he comes in to feed while she's still kind of spooked at me. And I just got nervous. Like, I didn't want to wait around too long. And it was dusk. And so he was slightly quartered a quarter toward me, you know, not preferable. But I knew I just, I needed to take a shot. Well, I shot and I did hit him. I knew I hit him. But the way

behaved, I thought, I don't know if I hit him real great. He ran 20 yards and looked around with his little buddies beside him. And then he just turned up this mountain that I'm on and he just ran 100 yards and I watched him. Run up hill. Uphill. Uphill.

I mean, sprinted. I thought, oh, no. Well, eight minutes later, I hear him crash. Well, I got down and checked my arrow and it was 100% a gut shot. And I was like, golly. To make things crazier with it not only getting dark is we've got a massive thunderstorm coming in in about 30 minutes.

And me and my daughter, my oldest daughter, would go out, I mean, just ride at dawn. And we searched high and low that area where he was at. We couldn't find blood. We couldn't find anything. But it had rained. And it had poured. I mean, the bloodshel was gone. Right.

We searched for two hours up on that mountain. and then I went down to the thicket where I know he beds. I thought that's where he go and there'd be water flowing. Looked around a bit and I knew that'd be like a needle in a haystack. And my friend Matt Taylor, he knows a guy with the dog. So he comes out and he was actually confident about the rain. He said that when the deer dying, there's a pharynome that releases through their hoof and the rain actually kind of spreads it out a bit.

And he said his dog's tracked after rain all the time. I was like, okay. I just learned something. Yeah, exactly. I've got some comments on that here in a minute. He gets out there and the dog, she picked up. She picked up his trail from where I shot all the way up the mountain. And then she got real confused.

And he said it's probably because we were walking around so much. Yeah. That's what they all say. I was like, that was great excuse. Well, he stayed out there. We searched for hours. We worked that mountain. And then I convinced him to go down to the thicket.

we tried the thicket and couldn't find him. And I was pretty devastated. I was just like, I don't know what to do next. You know, meat's gone. And this, there's just, this thicket is bad. It's so thick. Well, anyway, I slept on it. Woke up Monday morning, I said, I'm going to take a day off work.

And I'm going to go search that thicket every inch of it. He's got to be there. He's got to be dead. He's got to be on this 80 acres that I'm hunting. So I literally get to that thicket. and zigzag it in a perfect, systematic way. I'll show you my Onyx trail later, Brent,

and Gary, where I walked. I was going to ask if you used Onex to track yourself. So you walked to real grid. I mean, it was crazy. Yeah. Anyway, it's now like almost evening. And I thought, you know what? I'm going to go walk to the total opposite end of the property.

I'm going to make a big circle. I'll go over the mountain again. And then I'll go to this fence line I know of. And this fence line, it splits the woods up where this farmer lets his cattle sometimes go, and so it's real wide open woods, and then on my left will be my thick woods that I think he's in. On those rare looks to the right, about 150 yards,

I see a giant vulture just, and I thought, I think I just spook that vulture. And so I turned and started walking, and another one, I was like, they're eating something big. I start running, and there's another vulture, and sure enough that was him. And he ran from where I shot about 450 yards, based on the route he took. By the crow flies, it was 250, 300 yards. Right.

And so that's where I got him. It was a story of perseverance, because I'm the kind of person that's like, I don't like taking no for an answer. And when I woke up Monday, I was like, oh, do I really need to spend a day doing that? It's like, that's just what I've got to do. I know he's there. You know, that's where you go. The thing about a gut shot animal is that that's a mortal wound so that that animal is going to be going to be dead, you know. Yeah, that's a bummer you couldn't find it.

Yeah, because he had a lot of meat. It was huge. Yeah. Definitely the biggest deer. I've talked to a guy, I've talked to two people in the last couple of weeks that have used drones to recover deer. No. Yeah. It was actually a guy in Missouri that had shot a deer, and he told me, and I thought, and I,

sit and he talked to me about what happened and it was like how'd you find it and he said well I had trouble finding it but he used a drone and I actually was like in back of my mind was wondering if that was legal yeah and because you can't use drones for hunting but it's totally 100% legal in Missouri you know I don't know every state but they're actually companies there are people that are licensed drone operators that have businesses and he called a you know like drone operator company to come and they charged like four hundred dollars just to show up and a hundred dollars if they find the deer i read on their facebook page so he paid him 500 bucks and they found that deer just like that really his deer

had run 950 yards from red shot it man i got he recovered it really quickly um this is my onyx route so that that's my ladder stand that's that's that thicket and he was way over here. Nice. You got to take a picture of that. That is. Nowhere near where you thought he was. Nowhere near.

And all that blue is that thicket. Holy cow, you covered it, did you? 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 bed. And there was a full of blood. Oh my God, he doesn't have a head.

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 backwoods. 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. I'm going to say something here, and it's everybody knows how pro I am of hound hunters. and hounds love hounds grew up running dogs i'm going to throw this out there for the the dog tracking community to uh i don't know just a charge i i've rarely i i when people tell me they're going to

call a dog i'm just like good luck it it it i and it's not the dog's fault it's not the handler's fault. And if some of my friends that have dogs and have tracked deer for me, hear this, brothers know that I love you. Every dog handler I know is training a pup. Was your guy training a pup? No. Are you sure? Well, not with us. But it was a younger dog that he hadn't run or something. Well, no, he was a veteran dog. Okay. He told me, he told me a story that's like identical circumstance. Okay. Everybody I'm always going to training a pup. Yeah, yeah. And then, and then they want you to get out. And see, this is where the story gets,

this is where it's tough. You call a dog guy, and he's like, well, stop looking. And you've got to stop looking and wait until he gets there. And that's where I think most people mess up because you should have just kept looking. Do you see what I'm saying? I hear you.

I mean, anyway, so I've got a little bit of a quorum with dog trailing. Not that there's anything wrong with it, but just... Britt and I are very nervous. I mean, I love them. I love them. I know lots of good dog trailing guys, but I just, I just haven't seen them.

Didn't someone help you catch one? Yeah, and, yeah, I've used them before. I've used them before. But, yeah. I think what you're trying to say is it's not like the perfect savior. It's not a guarantee. It's not, I'm not, yeah, that's a good thing. I got my hopes up.

I got my hopes way too high. Yeah, most, if you've never been around the recovery and people are going to write me and they're going to be upset with me. I'm just telling you. I've hunted my whole life, and when they say you're calling the dog, you're in trouble. It is not the dog's fault.

Do you know what I'm saying? I know what here's what you should say. Practice shooting better. Yeah. Yeah. Amen. Yeah. Put the dog trailers out of business,

make good shots. Yeah. Well, and I think, too, if you're referring to people calling a dog almost as a last resort, is it causation or correlation, You know, like these things are correlated. Great point.

But the deer is pretty good and lost. Something's wrong. Yes. That's a great point. And so people call dogs in bad circumstances. Exactly. That's exactly right. Ph.D. right there is.

There is. It's just not a guaranteed thing. Right. It's just not a guaranteed thing. You've walked all over the tracks and now you want a dog to find it. Yeah. And he's going to end up at Walmart in the grocery section. I'm kind of mad at the hunters.

and I'm so pro dog right now that I'm kind of mad No no I mean my fault for gutshot it wasn't his That's true Yeah Well

Brent what was your favorite Deer story Of this one This episode KC's story was good And I've heard him tell that one before You know that that was good When you rattled that buck in

You can watch that on their YouTube channel Yeah it's a good And there's a lot It's on a meat eater YouTube channel Mm-hmm It's It's a good story. And he tells it so well.

I mean, he's very enthusiastic about it. But as far as my absolute 100% favorite, I like yours, was great. Come on. I really liked that. That was a good story. Killing the deer and the coyote? Coyote and the deer was good. Which one is it?

It's that double white throat patch up there high on the right. Up yonder. Yeah. That is pretty, isn't it? That's a good story. Better than Mr. Henry's story? Mr. Henry's great. And I don't know that I could pick a favorite of them

because there's a lot of differences in them, you know. And even the dog hunting story, you know, I identified that. We used to have dogs, running dogs and deer dogs. We didn't have walkers. We had beagles. I was telling somebody the other day about there's like, man, you know, some walker dogs are pushing those deer byes

it's like a quick draw you know it's like a shooting gallery out there and I like man we had beagles and we'd sit on the I remember sitting on the stand one time these beagles you hear them coming out there and they sound like you know miniature hound dogs and they was

and they had logged in this in this place where I was where we were hunting the year before the winter before so there was and it had been wet So there were some deep skitter ruts in there. And you could hear them, them beagles coming,

but they were, oh, oh, oh, oh, and then you hear them, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Going down in the skitter ruts. And I thought, what? What in the world is that? And I got to look it out there, and I could see like 100 yards.

You could see them all together coming across the top of the ground and boom, it may disappear. You could just barely hear them. That's great. Falling in the skittirits. That's great. But anything with dogs, man, you know, I'm all about that.

But Mr. Henry, Mr. Henry is, that guy is a legend. I'm surprised I hadn't already heard about him. Yeah, yeah. Then, which one stood out to you? Well, the dog one was my favorite. Really? Yeah, because I saw my granddad deer hunted in the 1930s and 40s on horseback. And there's hardly any deer in Arkansas.

And that was the way they hunted. And so I've just grown up hearing those legends. And then that's how my dad started out hunting too. And so I've never got to experience that. So when I hear those stories and relate them to what I hear my granddad talking about growing up, it's like it helps me experience that. And when they talked about killing those three bucks, it's like I could just feel like how epic that would have been. And how the camaraderie.

It's like, wow. like all these guys bringing all these big i mean that had to been just such a huge day for all of them yeah involved so i really enjoyed um that story but all them were good there were so many unwritten rules about that too like the camp next door had dogs and they run a their dogs run a deer in front of us and if we killed a dog or killed a deer in front of their dogs we gave them half the deer i was just and might as like one of the the 11th commandment everybody did that that lots of stuff like that and it would just make for good neighbors yeah dad which one stood out to you well obviously i liked yours the best but if i hadn't raised you i would probably you know i

like the 200 inch buck because it's so unusual i mean that's just like a freak story i mean how many guys in america has killed a 200 inch buck yeah so i mean that that's that's in a category all by itself. But Mr. Henry. Mr. Henry, so soon. Holy smokes. I saw that picture of his room. Yeah. That was it. I've never seen a room like that before. Yeah. I mean, this guy's killed more bucks

than I've ever even thought about. Yeah. And, you know, for him to still be going at age 80, I mean, like, you know, we track some of the same periods, you know. I'm 75, he's 80. He could hunt. I couldn't. And so I see what he did, and I mean, I'm like in awe of this guy. Yeah.

I mean, he's like, did you say he was a legend? Should have been a legend. We should have known about it. I mean, you know, he's, I don't think there's many people in the whole country that can match what him and his son did. Yeah. Yeah, I was shocked. Like, so my, one of my friends, Tracy Jones over in East Tennessee had said, hey, there's a guy you got to meet over here in the mountains. And I knew nothing of this guy other than just what my friend had told me.

And so I went over there, and I didn't know what I was expecting, but that's not what I was expecting. Henry Lettuce in his house. And that video actually did not show the entire room. There were walls behind me that were full of big deer too long. The video you're talking about you put on Instagram. Yep. Yeah, I loved it.

You'd probably told it the story better than the, the story really was about the guys accusing him and his son. Oh, yeah. And he said, well, hey, men, they're hard enough to kill him the day. Yeah, he said, they're hard enough to kill in the daytime. I can't imagine trying to kill them at night with them. Oh, yeah. No, they, the other thing is, is that they, those are all, I didn't say it,

but those are almost all public land deer. Yeah. Now, a lot of the biggest ones came from Illinois. You know, they have gone to Illinois for 30 years and have, but they were never outfitted hunts. And he's just done a lot. But a neat guy, he just vibrated with excitement talking to him, for real. You know, most older people you talk to, their deer story is, I've killed so many deer. I don't care about doing it anymore.

Right. So when you find a guy like that, that is so unique in itself that he's still fired up at 70. Now, I'm 75 and I'm still fired up. Yeah. Just as much as I was when I was 35, I dream about getting out. But after this knee surgery, I found other hobbies that I like. It's easier. Yeah.

I found hobbies that I don't have to climb mounds. I don't have to climb trees. I don't have to worry about odor. I just go out and enjoy my hobby. But I can't help it. I'm going to be back in the woods at some time. Yeah, yeah. Well, the other thing, and I captured some of this on video,

but it doesn't really translate into putting it on social media that easy, but Mr. Henry has designed a tree stand that he's used for 30 years. He has a unique tree stand that's all his own design. Really? That's real lightweight and compact. and that he uses. He has a, he built an electronic deer cart for hauling deer.

You know, once he got older and was hunting that far back in the mountains, he needed a cart. And man, that part of the world is, it is incredibly rough. They got big mountains too. I mean,

he was talking about those boomer, little boomer chipmunk squirrels being over 5,000 feet. I mean, that's a high mountain with big relief. Like, you know, if you're in, Denver, Colorado, and you talk about a 5,000-foot mountain that might be flat.

I mean, you know, relief means how much mountain is actually there. But out there, 5,000-foot mountain might have 4,000 feet of relief. That's a big mountain. Yep. You know, one thing he said that caught my attention, you're talking about 5,000 feet, you're talking about going deep in the wilderness, but he at least once said he went back, you know, an hour. Yeah.

I'm thinking about places that you and I've hunted. I mean, it's an hour and a half, two hours. Yeah. So, I mean, I don't know. Maybe the road, I don't know, but I don't question this guy at all. I mean, any way. I mean, he is like my new hero. Yeah.

What did you think about Aaron Stanfell's confession? That was a funny story. You know what I thought about with that? I was like, you know when you're watching a sitcom and you're kind of chuckling and laughing? And you kind of, if you ever stop and be like, if somebody did that in real life, like, that wouldn't be funny. It wouldn't be funny. And you wouldn't, yeah, you're like, nobody would actually do that. That's how it felt like, listen to the story.

It's like, oh my gosh, you really did that. Well, I would say the best thing that he did was he told the story. Yeah. I mean, if he, and I think he really was like, he was paying penance by just like telling the story. Well, I'll tell this story just because it's funny. I don't, because I don't feel guilty about it at all.

Oh, you're going to tell us one. But you mentioned my brother earlier, Tim. We did, we have shared everything together. He's eight years older than me. I mean, he is absolutely my, he'll be on the Berger's Shrendering next week. He is absolutely my hero to this very second.

It always has been. He took me hunting when he should have been. left me at home because I was more in the way than a help. But he took me with him. I have a lot in common. We took me with him. And we shared everything except turkeys. You know, he would go listen and I would go listen.

I'd call him that night. You hear a turkey this morning? Nope. Do you hear one? I heard three. Nope. I didn't hear anything. And gone so far as to he's like, I'm not hearing anything down here at the river.

I'm going to go somewhere else. I would go so far as to take it a turkey foot I had dried out and make tracks where I knew he was going to see him. He's like, man, I got some sign down here and I cannot hear this turkey. I'm like, bro, just hang in there. He's in there. You got to stay. You got to lay with it just to keep him off of my spot. So.

Okay. So this is no different than what Aaron is. It's exactly the same thing. Even more links that you're going to. There was no whole bar when it came to turkeys. Now, deer wasn't that big a deal from me and him. So we were actually scared. We was going to kill a deer.

It didn't have to mess with it while we were hunting. So we just did, the deer hunted to keep us busy until duck season started. So I get it. I know where they're coming from. I don't know why he fessed up to it. But because you can go to heaven with that on your conscience, surely. I hope. oh, if St. Peter's a turkey hunter, I am good to go.

I thought his story of killing the two bucks in Kansas was really good, too. Yeah. Day apart. It just sounds so easy. Yeah. All those were very, very good stories, every one of them. Just unbelievable, most of them. Well, we've done, so we've done three Dear Stories podcasts.

And just a full. disclosure part of the deer stories thing is a function of the amount of work that it takes to do a documentary style podcast and in the fall we're we're hunting we're traveling doing stuff and so the deer stories is a way for me to collect stories and i i love them just as much as a documentary style podcast honestly i think it's a good change of pace for people and um and i i really i really i really i really i really I really enjoy them, but we're about to start learning stuff again. Sorry, guys. Y'all are going to actually have to listen and pay attention and not have any more fun.

We're just like, it's going to be like a militant journey through American history, culture, deep dives into yourself. We're going to be digging up our own, our own issues, looking at the world. You ready, Misty? Hey, I'm just saying I know about a couple of these. It's going to be a good, going to be a good little run. Yeah, oh, gosh. I wish I could tell you what I'm working on. I've got three things I'm working on.

It's a one of your head. More shadowing. I have a funny story about Bear, our son, who's had an incredible deer season so far. He's gone out and sought a lot of land and done a lot of scouting and has good public land options. He's good at recruiting people to come with him. So there's a little crew of guys that goes out

and they go out and hunt. And then he's also good at bringing them back to help him process his deer. He does a great job of that. And he was telling us about one of his friends. One of his friends has a romantic interest. I think this is an okay story to tell. I don't think I'm disclosing anything. And has been less interested in helping bear process venison this year.

This two shall pass. And he, Bear said, they have a group chat, all these guys. And Bear texted and said, hey, you've not been as a, as into deer hunting this year. What's going on? I think your priorities are a little skewed this year. And the guy writes back on the thread to all the guys. And he said, bear, one day you'll understand when your priorities change. And Bear, bear, in front of all of us, we're all processing.

We had like a little meat processing party and bear very adamantly and boldly said, my priorities will never change. Boy is going to eat that. I told my mom and she said, you need to record that somewhere. Yes, yes. The same thing, the same reason y'all got, you were processing the deer is the same thing that's going to happen to bear one. I haven't heard that one.

Yeah, he said we had a good laugh. Strangely, I think Bear will have his life management skills down enough that he will be able to maintain high levels of integrity in both categories. Well, I looked at him and I said, Bear, I'm pretty sure your priorities are going to change. And he said, well, what I'm saying, and he started backped up a little bit. I'm just saying that I think that my priorities will be such that it can accommodate both. And I will not have to cut back on any deer hunting. I'm telling you right now, Bear needs to cut back on.

his deer hunting. I work in his school. His priorities are not quite what they should be right now. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But he's had a very successful hunting season. That's funny. That's good. That's good. That's good. Well, hey, thank you guys so much. Ben. Congratulations on the big buck. Thanks. Brent, this country life, man, going awesome. Thank you, buddy. Hey, I will tell you this. I will foreshadow the touch here. Here we go. Brent Reeves and I, are fixing to do a Mississippi River expedition. Oh, the cat's out. The catfish is out of them back. Look at what kind of hat I'm wearing right here.

You want to read that, Ben? What's it say? Sea arc boats, man. Sea arc. Man, me and Brent have a... I love it so much. Me and Brent have a 26-foot sea-arc boat with a 300 horsepower Suzuki,

fully covered. I mean, it's just shy of Noah's Ark. Like a battleship. And we are going on a... 200 plus mile expedition down the Mississippi River, like our forefathers, Davy Crockett, Hulk Collier. Just starting listing names, they've been there. Mark Twain, Daniel Boone.

Yeah. They've been there. And we're going on a deer hunt, catfishing trip, duck hunting trip on the Mississippi River. Wow. And at some point in the, years to come, perhaps this will be, people can see this. Yeah.

Through digital imagery. It's going to be fun. It's going to be good. Yeah. Yeah. I'm looking forward to it. Sea Arc, are they up here? No, they're at, where's Sea Arc? Micella.

Yeah, they're in Monticella, Arkansas. Oh, good folks. I was telling Steve Ronella about our C-Arc boat, and Steve was like, I have a sea-arc boat. And I said, well, they're from Arkansas. And, uh, yeah, Steve, Steve has a sea-art. Yeah, a lot of boat companies in Arkansas. Yeah.

What happens, these guys work for like Ranger, and they learn the business, and then they move down here and start their own. That might not be how all this works, but you see it in a lot of different areas. Yeah. A good friend of mine, a college friend of mine, it's got the express boat in high springs, and then Ranger boats and that boat, and there's probably a one or two that I'm forgetting. Is War Eagle made in Arkansas?

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's one of the best duck boats Or used to be. Sea Arc is their good stuff. A lot of good folks down there.

I've been down there several times and I've gotten real close with the folks that are building our boat. Man, they are absolutely focused on making boats and stuff that we can use and a lot of folks can use out there on the big water. It's 26 foot. That's a big boat. That's a big boat. Much smaller, would you?

Well, you wouldn't want much bigger, really, for like a pleasure craft just because it would be too big. That's a big boat. Yeah. Yeah. That's a big boat. I mean, it's made for the Mississippi River. I mean, that's what that, am I right, Brent? Absolutely.

I mean, that's a river boat. That is a Mississippi River boat. I mean, that's, that's longer in this room we're in. Your cousin has had a 23-foot, and he had plans to go down the Mississippi. I don't remember if he ever did it, but 23, I think, would be a minimum. Yeah. I mean, it can get dangerous out there. The river's super low right now.

The river, that's the only bummer about it for the next little while. River's going to be really low, which, I mean, won't make any difference. It's big enough for us to get down it. But Mississippi River, she's going dry. Preacher Man says it's the end of time. Mississippi River, she's going dry. Yeah. Yeah.

What's the rest of the song? That's Hank Jr. Is it? Country Boy. Country Boy can't survive. That was the class song for the senior class right ahead of me. Is that right? That's cool.

Well, guys, thanks for coming. Brent, good to see you. Ben, Dad, Misty. Great to see everyone. Good to see you, play. Have a great week, everybody. See you. Adios.

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. And there was a full of blood. Oh my God, he doesn't have a head. 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 backwoods. 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. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.