Bear Grease - Ep. 337: Render - Dale Brisby

Episode Date: June 25, 2025

In this episode of the Bear Grease Render, host Clay Newcomb travels to Winnebago, Texas and is joined in the Rodeo Time Podcast Studio by "The World's Greatest Bullrider" himself, Dale Brisby.  Dale talks about what it's like to be a cowboy and the romance and nostalgia around it, his experience creating Radiator Ranch and his ranch intern program, and the impact that losing his father had on him. If you have comments on the show, send us a note to [e-mail] Connect with Clay and MeatEater Clay on Instagram MeatEater on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and Youtube Clips MeatEater Podcast Network on 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 Grease Render.

If you're watching this on YouTube, you would notice that we're not in the global headquarters. Dale, if you came to Arkansas, you would get to see the global headquarters slash Meteeter South office. So are most of your listeners from Arkansas? No. I wish they were. I wish every one of them was. I was about to say we can talk a little slower if we need. Oh, chow, Josh.

Well, if you, if you, hey, we're ready to take it. We take it all the time from Texas. Texas and Arkansas touch. Yep. We talk more smack about Texas. Well, not as much as a few other states, but so it's okay. But the, that's the best thing y'all got going

is the fact that Texarkana combines us. Yeah. So you're welcome. Texarkana. Well, we are in Winnebago, Texas at the Radiator Ranch podcast studio. You've had a hard time saying that. Why is that radiator ranch podcast studio? Is it a tongue twister for you?

Yeah, a little bit, a little bit. But, man, I have been watching Dale Brisby. I'm not going to say before you were cool, but before you were as cool as you are now. Okay. For real. Okay. years ago, like before Netflix, I remember seeing this wigged, cowboy-hatted...

Like back in the Red Box days. Glasses wearing cowboy. And I remember just being like, I like this guy. And so anyway, so I'd just say that to say, I've been watching you for a while. And then when your Netflix series came out, I was really excited for you. But tell me about, I paused.

I thought you were about to jump in there, Dale. Well, I was just going to speculate on why you liked it so much. Well, you could. It's called How to Be a Cowboy, and so that gave you, you were like, ooh, finally, something I could study. Yes. Learn how to be a cowboy from the world's greatest bull rider. Yep.

And the most humbled, Dale Brisby. Yep. That's right. So anyhow, what were you going to ask? Well, so did you grow up in Texas? Well, Dale, yeah. I was born in Lubbock, lived in Snyder for a minute, moved to Memphis, spent probably 10 years around college station area, and then now I live here in Winnebago. So, okay, so everybody, everybody knows you as Dale Brisby, which is who you are.

So who am I talking to right now? You're talking to. Dale Brisby. Dale Brisbane. So you actually went to school in College Station. I mean, I lived there. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

I went, I was spent some time on campus. Did you hanging out with some of the chicks? And then the teachers would realize I'm not enrolled. And that I really just live in a college town and rodeo. So I got run off. Did you go to college? I spent a lot of time on that campus, yes. But you didn't graduate?

Was I enrolled? Maybe not. Okay. But had a lot of good times. A lot of good times. Yep. Now, this is a great slap to Texas. What school is there?

Texas A&M, baby. Whoop. C&M. Okay. Is Texas A&M in the Southeast Conference now? SEC. SEC. Thank you very much to Johnny Football.

Yeah, that helped. Well, so how long have you lived where you live now? Ten years. Ten years. Yep. And you have legitimate roots in rodeo. Yes. Like, give me a little, give me like a chronology and like what was it like growing up?

What did your parents do? Give me a little chronology of Dale Brisbane. Yeah, so my, my old man kind of did all of it in rodeo, and he would ride bearback. He was a bullfighter, pickup man. He rode bulls. He rode Bronx. I don't know how much he team roped, but I saw him at some jackpots, and it seemed like he was handy at team roping. I never saw him tie calves, but he seemed to know a lot about it. He was just all things rodeo. When he was 14, he showed up at a rodeo in Lubbock, and just went to the derriggins shoot and started working for Charlie Thompson C. Barty Rodeo

and eventually started picking up. He might have been younger than that, like maybe 12 or 13. I think by the time he was 14, he was picking up. And yeah, he just love, he's, he is the most passionate man about rodeo that I've ever met. And so I feel like I'm not too far behind him. but regardless, I grew up with a dad that did all of it and he did not see it coming just how good at bull riding I would be and that is just the world's greatest. And at nine years old, I actually invented riding bulls with one hand. So for that they rode with two hands.

Really? And I just, yeah, it was still a little too easy for me. But I got to do... But you came by your love and passion for rodeo honestly. I mean, like, your family, that's not a schick. Correct. Yeah, we just, dad was a true rodeo man. Yeah, like I remember he could drive the truck too. So like I just some, I loved getting in the truck with him, you know, with the trailer load of stock and going down the road to a rodeo. Like it, to me, that's when I really felt like I was living the dream.

Yeah. And, yeah, I remember, anyhow, I don't know why I'm remembering some of these random memories I hadn't thought about in a long time. I guess just the way I described my dad just now kind of taking me back regardless. Yeah, watching him. And so I did dabble in multiple events and I really enjoyed pretty much anything on the rough stock end. To be honest, I kind of looking back, I wished I hadn't because it would have made me just a better cowboy. But I took, I kind of even shot away from time to vent stuff, specifically team roping. Like, it's not that I regret not calf roping, but I wished I would have team roped a little more.

Been a little more handy with a rope, I guess. Well, it would have made me at least a better cowboy because, like, I have always appreciated the ranching side of cowboying. Yeah. And it does involve a rope. And so, like, I don't know, there's just been times in my life where I found myself around team ropers, and I probably could have taken some really good instruction for him.

But on the flip side of that, I did focus on the end of the arena that I wanted. wanted to be on. And so that was exciting. Rough stock arena. Yes. Rough stock side. Yeah. So let me back up and explain to the viewers. The two ends, like we're kind of segregated in rodeo. And it's mainly because of just the way the arena is set up.

One end is your timed events, which is team roping, steer wrestling, calf rope in barrel racing. And they go one at a time and they time them. It's a race, but you go one at a time. And then on the other end of the arena, because of how much the, you know, the way the stock flow at a rodeo, you have your rough stock, which is bear back riding, saddle bronc riding, bull riding. And then the other two jobs to do down there would be bullfighting and a pickup man. The bullfighter's job is to distract the bull when the bull rider comes off.

And then the pickup man's job is to help the buck and horse riders off of their animal at the end of the eight-second ride. So it's five jobs you can do down there. Three of them are competition, two of them are hired. And so those five things are what I enjoyed doing the most. You know, right around high school and then college and thereafter. So that's just where my dad spent most of his time. And we talked about a little last night. There's something about the fight with an animal.

and the fight being like, you're trying to ride him, he's trying to buck you off. Yeah. But there's a certain set of fundamentals in each of the events that you have to implement to ride him for eight seconds or make it around the bull that's trying to hook you as a bullfighter.

And all those fundamentals are counterintuitive. Your intuition is going to tell you, and the bull riding, that bull is going to come up in the front end, and his head's going to come back, And then he jumps in the air and he switches and his front end hits the ground while his back end kicks. And so, like, if you've never been on a bull before, your intuition, as he jumps, that head's coming near you, you're going to want to, like, lean back. Well, then it's like a slingshot because his next move he's going to kick.

And if you're leaning back, well, he just slams you forward and you actually, your teeth hit at the top of his head. So as he jumps forward, you've got to counterbalance that and jump forward with him. and literally drive out over the top of his head. We call it to make it simple, going to the front. Going to the front. But your intuition says, no, get away from the front. So when he goes down, you go to the front.

So if your fear overrides your logic of what the fundamentals are, then you're going to get bucked off. Yeah. Essentially, that's what I'm trying to explain. So in that moment, I'm not saying nobody has fear ever, but same thing in the bronchrodden. We talked about it.

You have to lift on your bronchrane and keep your shoulders behind your hips. Well, your intuition, if a horse is to start bucking, is you want to sit up and you want to pull. Well, that'll get you bucked off. So the fundamentals to be successful are counterintuitive. Yeah. And so you make a decision in the shoot

of if you let your fear take over, you will not succeed. But if you can control your emotions and execute the fundamentals, that's how you're successful. Yeah. It's such a, it's like a primitive... That's the fight I'm talking about.

The internal fight of not being a sissy in that moment. Yeah. I think what's so cool about rough stock riding, which I've observed from afar, but just a tinge of it in riding mules

that I'll connect is that this, it's such a primitive, simple fear. Like I think so many of the fears that people have today are complex and not a fear of you're about to get slammed into the dirt or kicked, which would be kind of like a primitive human fear, be hurt by an animal, you know? Right. But it's the same, that's the same fear that people have when their finances get out of control or when they have a child that, you know, goes astray. I mean, like, fear is this throbbed inside of a human.

And I like to look at stuff and think about how does, you know, like, what's the significance of riding a bull for eight seconds? Or in my case, for what I do a lot in my life is like, what's the significance of taking an animal in a certain way and extrapolating that out into life and finding places, where you're like a better person because you've done this thing and you've mastered this internal discipline. And that's what I saw today. So we bucked some horses today. I was in the arena on my mule and holy cow. And I've seen, I've been to rodeos, but something about being

out there in the arena, close, seeing the power of those horses. And then watching these guys, I was watching your interns before they got on, and I was quizzing them. I was like, hey, man, are you kind of nerved up? Are you scared? You know, just like question them. And they were, you know, they gave me several good answers about how they were calming their fear. Donnie over here, he was slapping his face before he got on that thing. But it's not like, I mean, I think people could look at some stuff like that and think it's just like this macho, you know, exercise.

But I don't view it like that at all. I view it like an internal discipline that I can respect that somebody could get on there because it's, and here's where it ties into mules. I got into mules and equine animals as an adult. Like I grew up riding some horses in rural Arkansas, but was never, we didn't have, we didn't have stock. And part of the reason I got into it, honestly, was because they intimidated me. And I was interested in, in, I've always been interested. interested in anything that really intimidated me, me trying to go touch it. For sure.

And then I just, I loved mules, wanting them for hunting. But man, when I first got into it, every moment of every ride, I was thinking, what am I going to do if something goes wrong? And I got bucked off a few and had that feeling of just complete loss of control, you know, that just scares the fire out of you. Nothing like what these boys handled today on these Bronx. but I see it, you know, and that's what's cool about rough stock. There's risk. You know, it's a risk before. And then if everything goes well,

afterwards, looking back in retrospect, it was an opportunity. But if it goes poorly, well, then it was a risk that you shouldn't, you know what I mean, then it's easy to, and that's in life too, even with finances. You know, like if the business fails, you know, when you are walking up to something, it's a risk. If you succeed at it, looking back, it was an opportunity. So there's a moment in there whenever you are in the buck and shoot where the stakes are high of, you know, with rodeo. Like we talked about it last night.

I've not witnessed anyone, anyone's life coming to an end in the arena, but I know people who have. Now, none of them were close friends, but like I'm familiar with this bull rider that it happened to. And so the seven degrees of Kevin Bacon is not seven degrees away for us on that front. So when you crawl down in the buck and shoot, like any bronc or bull rider would be lying if they said it never crossed their mind. Yeah. That could be their last ride.

Yeah. Regardless, like, you know the risks you're taking. The stakes are high. And they're not as high for, as, you know, maybe like somebody who's serving in the military. But they're still pretty high compared to just your everyday. I'm going to go to the mall and go shopping. And so that's what I'm talking about. When you're able to overcome the fear of what could happen,

and then you execute these fundamentals at a high level, and you succeed, making a good bronch ride just kind of encompasses, it's like everything good about being a cowboy just floods through your veins, for the eight seconds during and about 30 minutes after, sometimes longer. And it's almost like you get a glimpse of like everything that makes being a cowboy cool, it just flashes before your eyes

during and after that ride when it goes well. Yeah, man. And so, I don't know, because it is hard to explain to somebody who has no idea about the sport, like why would you get on this animal? Yeah. And even for the first, you know,

I just wanted to be just like my dad, that. And so for the first, you know, 50 or 100 Bronx I got on, I didn't know why I was doing it either. But I knew, because it scared the crap out of me. Bulls legitimately did not scare me. Really? As much. Like, there were times maybe certain bulls, but Bronx, that scared me because they're higher off the ground. They're going fast. Yep. And it's just different. And so, but it just, it was deep down in me and I was like, I have to conquer this fear. that I have.

What, do you think a guy like J.B. Mooney, does he have fear? Well, there's times where J.B. has been on enough and he's been down the road enough that, I mean, he's seen it all. He probably has witnessed, you know, somebody. I mean, like, he's, he went to 15 PBR World Finals. But what you described, where that little feeling inside of you, like he understands Bushwacker is, I mean, the bull bucked him off a dozen times before he wrote at the 13th. We got to give a little bit of context. So J.B. Mooney is the most winning bull rider of all time. Good friend of yours. Yeah, I would say he's the second greatest bull rider of all time.

Right. Right. Right. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. It's the second greatest. Yep. I mean, it's still pretty good. Top two. He's in the top two. Yeah. He's pretty good. He seems like he's pretty good. Yeah. He and our best friends, by the way. Well, I calculated that. Me on top of there. Yeah. Man, somebody like J.B., it would be... But yeah, cool to do some type of physical and psychoanalysis on him. I have a feeling that he is in the same tier of human as like an Alex Honnold. You know what Alex Honnold is? He's the free climber.

He's the guy that climbs all the stuff. For sure, I would put him in the same category. He is a freak of nature. Yeah, for sure. Alex Honol, I've heard people say that whatever chemical drops, into a human's body when they should be experiencing fear. I mean, fear is the thing that's designed to protect us. I wouldn't say that just maybe I don't know much about the guy you're describing,

but just like my observation of J.B., like I wouldn't say that he's just got completely absent of fear. Right, right, right. Because, I mean, we've seen it. We've all seen people at least get hurt very badly, parted out of the arena. Yeah. And it's happened to any, if you've ever entered a rodeo, somebody, right before you has gotten hurt so bad the ambulance had to come in and put at least once.

Yeah. And now you're about to get on. There's, you would have to be insane, like literally something mentally wrong with you to just, to, to not sense some fear there. To not at least logically think that that could potentially happen to you. Right. But that's what courage is.

It's not just like an absence of the fear. It's just how you respond to it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, he even said on my podcast, he was relieved when they were, retired Bushwacker, who, you know, had been bucked off however many in a row. So Bushwacker is a Bucking Bull. Was the greatest buck and bull of all time? Arguably. J.B.'s the only guy that ever wrote him? Yeah, they say another guy wrote him when he was two or three. Was it, was it you? I had no cameras on when I wrote him. There's a picture in the back

of me riding him, and I'll show that to you. But regardless, J.B, so there's a, there's a moment in the PBR when you do you are able to pick your bull and a lot of guys might pick a bull depending on their ability and this like this bull fits me whatever well he would always just try to pick the rancous bull in the pin and on my part like he he talks about it's like well why do that he said because nobody remembers 85 point bull rides which is an interesting quote because yeah most bull riders be like man I'd love to have an average score of 85 but that's not that's not what he's going for. Yeah.

Probably like your man Alex. Like he's not just trying to be average, you know. Yeah. Regardless. So he finds, he picks, picks Bushwhacker again and again. He bucks him off again and again. Which is consequential for his career too, because I mean, this man's a professional bull rider trying to win money.

Yeah. If this bull's been, has bucked off 12 of 12 of the last rides, it's like not, not something you necessarily would have been better. Yeah. They weren't all right in a row, you know, but the point is, is like this particular one, yes, yeah, the last previous, whatever. I can't remember how many times, you know, the one out of 13 he rode, it may not have been the 13th time he got on him.

I don't remember that part. But regardless, my point is he does finally ride him. He's 94 and a quarter. And, well, when the time comes for them to retire the bull, it's like, dang, where he's sad? Like, no, I didn't have to keep picking that bastard, you know, is what he said. Well, the point is, is like, he understands. that, you know, he's glad he finally slayed that dragon, but it's a mutual respect that he has for the bull.

I would say that's a good way to put it. He respects those animals. He always knew that they could, you know, cause damage, which to me is even more noble, you know. Yeah. Somebody who's completely oblivious to what an animal can do. It's like, oh, man, you may not be brave. You just don't understand what you're doing.

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How good is this new kid from Brazil? John Crember? I think so. The young one? Yeah, I've seen him at J.B. There's a bunch of them that he was actually born here. But yeah, so he spends time at J.B's John. The guy that just won something really big that might have.

Do you know what I'm talking about? Oh, no. Who won the world? Jose did. Do you talk about him? I think so. I mean, he's a world. champ. Yeah, he's literally the best right now. Yeah, he's the best right now. Yeah, he's got the gold buckle on.

Yeah. Yeah, not as big as your buckle though, Dale. Right. Yes, thank you. Hey, did you. Did you see my buckle? I did see it. Yeah. What is that the... Boone and Crocket measure. This is the 29th recording period. Hoon. So does that mean that you had the, you had the biggest measured Boone and Crocket animal, or you were actually the measure like you had the tape. I'm the measure. Hmm. Yeah. So that's like at a rodeo, like you're not the best bull rider, you're the best judge. This would be exactly. It would be like...

We don't give buckles to the judges. This is a good point. But the equation that I was trying to bring to your buckle is that they don't just give these buckles out to everybody. Right, yeah, same as mine. You can't order this buckle off eBay. Yeah, mine and your buckles.

You can't find them on Craigslist. And if you have any big deer, antlers or anything you like scored, I could do that for you. But that's another story, Dale. No, I'm fascinated by, I'm fascinated by people that are the best in the world of anything. Well, thank you. Like you and J.B. I'm also fascinated by guys that have to overcome, like, what makes them good at what they do is overcoming fear,

which is not everything. Like, there's lots of stuff that you could be. the best in the world and not have to confront this like very primitive fear of getting bucked and hurt by an animal. I think that's cool. The other thing when you were talking about like having friends getting hurt, like you know lots of people that have got hurt and even people that have died. You know rock climbers are like that. I'm not a rock climber. I know more about rodeo than I do rock climbing. And but I was like these these guys that are free climbing and stuff like, they're all in arms reach away in relationship to people that have died.

And I feel like there's some similarities in this kind of stuff, you know. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, to be honest, the rock climbing thing, I would be as confused about the outsider looking in. If I didn't have the context I have with rodeo, then I would just say, like, man, that was the dumbest thing ever. But I know that they would probably think the same thing about somebody getting a bull.

I think there's similarities because I think it's people inside of the context of their world going to the extremes. I mean, like most people, when they see a horse, they want the gentle one. Right. That's the goal of training is to get on the gentle one. Rodeo picks the extreme. Let's find the rancest horse, the rancest bull, get on it and see if we can stay on it and survive. You know, it's the extreme. And, yeah, the rock climbing stuff is the same.

It's like most of the time when people see a sheer rock granite face, They're like, we're going to go around that mountain. They're not wanting to go over it. But, yeah, there's some similarities there. Yes, sir. For sure. There's, yeah, and there's all kinds of, I mean, even just football. You know, like for a running back to, he's got, you know, when he sees that seam,

he's got to cut through it regardless of who's coming from what direction, with a wide receiver cutting across the middle of the field, you know, running a slant, like he knows he could get his clock cleaned. but there's that might be in that scenario the route for the quickest touchdown. And so there's all kinds of professional athletes typically in sports and that, that, you know, have this impending doom in front of them, but they move forward anyway. And it happens in life as well, you know, like you said, with finances. But it's interesting to me, like UFC fighters, like cowboy.

Yeah. we brought that up last night. Like, Cowboy, I think that bull riding, probably rock climbing, I don't know about rock climbing, but I know. I've never brought rock climbing up one time on this podcast. Bull riding. Don't get the wrong idea about me.

Bull riders and UFC or people that want to fight professionally, I think are probably very similar in that. There's a lot of people that like to have ridden a bull. There's a lot of people that like the idea of being called a bull rider. Yeah. And what people will think of them when they get to tell that story

or show that picture or show that video. Yes. And I think that's probably similar with fighting. There's a lot of people that would like to be revered as this bad A fighter, whether it be professionally or in the streets or whatever, they want to be feared, you know? Yeah.

And then you have these people like my buddy, Cowboy Soroni, who, I mean, don't go. me wrong, he might enjoy the fact that someone thinks he's a badass, but more importantly, he likes to actually fight. It's less about telling the story, which he does very little of, and it's more about, no, the moment the fight starts, I mean, he put it like if you walked into a gas station and there's two people maybe robbing the place, like it's literally a nightmare for anyone. But if he walked into that, it's a dream come true for him. Like if he now, like, those are his words. He gets to fight two people. And that to him is a dream. Is he still

fighting in the UFC? He retired at 48 professional bouts in the UFC, but he wants to get to a 50, so he's coming back and he's going to fight two more fights. Forty-two now? Forty-two. I think 42. But my point is, I asked him one time. Some people that love it. He loves the actual fight. Yeah, yeah.

He's not just somebody who, and I would venture to guess if you're in the UFC, you probably love the actual fight. You've probably made it that far. Same thing with guys at the NFR. They love the actual bull ride. Yeah.

They're not just trying to like get a cool picture for the gram so that everyone will think they're a bull rider. But that's what, that's somebody who makes it. that's somebody like your man Alex who probably made it is a really good rock climber it's like you love the actual thing yeah you know no cameras no audience no crowd no music you want to be it's you against the bull it's you against the bronc open the gate i want to try to conquer this and that's that's dale and that's dale and that's you know cowboy it's just like no nobody's

watching me and you go outside and we fight right now. You know, here's what I like about rodeo and hunting that I think are similar. In all the games of modern time that men play for recreation. And I'm using the term recreation lightly because if you told me that I was a recreational hunter, I would be like, I don't think so. I think it's deeper than that. But let's just say, of all the things that people do, like rodeo, Hunting, MMA, whatever, football, sports, golf.

All those things, I like that rodeo has a functionality that's connected to something real. Right, like ranching. Yeah, I mean, it's clear that rodeo came from. Correct. True cowboys, people around cattle that were, that's cool, because you really can't say that with football or baseball and certainly not golf. Like, why are we doing this? Well.

Exactly. We just kind of came up with it. You don't golf, do you? I don't know. Okay. Well, but then hunting's the same way. I mean, hunting is even, you know. More primitive.

It's the reason we do this. There's a function to it. Yeah. It's like hyperfunction. I mean, like, this is something that humans have done since the beginning. And we're providing meat for our families. And so it's. O.G. Way to eat.

Absolutely. Before Uber eats, there was a bow and arrow. That's right. That's right. Or an adalal dart or a spear. Something. Yeah. No, so I've always appreciated that about rodeos

that you could consciously connect where it came from. Like, Cowboys made up this sport. Yes, sir. To be able to rope, to be able to ride a Bronx. I mean, because, you know, Bronc riding would have started with people trying to break horses to ride. You know, I mean, I think that's cool. I like to think about the foundations of stuff

and where it came from, you know. Yeah, I mean, I kind of touched on it, but like in all my time in a practice pen with getting on Bulls and Bronx, while they were practicing team roping, I wish I'd even paid more attention over there because it would have made me a better cowboy on the ranch. But anyway,

do you think that the modern surge and popularity of Western culture has helped you? Because of me? It's because of you? Yes. Do you think Taylor Sheridan made Yellowstone because of you? Because he was watching my videos? Absolutely.

I figured he did. Are you talking about me? I mean, I was in Yellowstone. You don't even know that, do you? Dang. Are you serious? No, damn it. What did you do?

I was ranching. Did you have, like, a talking part? With Rip? Did you really? How did I miss that? No, I didn't have a talking part, but... Were you, are you... I was in it, yeah.

You serious? You never know when I'm telling truth, do you? I cannot tell. With those glasses, like, listen to this. Look at me. Look at me. I'm about to tell you something. I've killed 14 Boone and Crocodier with my bow.

Well, you got a buckle. You couldn't tell. You couldn't tell. Do you believe it? I've only killed 13. Hmm. Now, why didn't any of my producers tell me that he had been on Yellowstone? No, I actually heard a podcast, an old podcast with you on it where somebody called it out and said, you should be on Yellowstone. And then it happened.

Yeah, so the, Jimmy goes down to the sixes. Okay. To ranch. and I was there. My buddy True was the wagon boss. This is in the movie. I was there. Well, we were actually working that day.

And it's not like we didn't know the cameras were going to be there, but I'm just saying like we were actually weaning that pasture of calves. And they didn't just fabricate work. It was a real thing. And that's one thing Taylor was angling for with the entire show.

was as much authenticity as possible, while also maintaining the storyline. But regardless, we're there working. And so the film crew actually had no idea who I was. Taylor didn't know I was going to be there. I mean, he knows that I day work there sometimes, and he owns the ranch, and he and I have met a few times. Okay. But regardless, like the people filming, like, they didn't know Dale from Adam.

So I was in it. Okay. And then later I saw Taylor and he was like, man, your fans loved that you're in Yellowstone. And we were supposed to, he said, he was like, we need to get you back and give you a speaking part. But then the show kind of wrapped up a few seasons later. We just never made it happen. But I'm a big fan of Taylor's and what they do with the Sixes. And he, you know, are you familiar with the Sixes?

No. So it's a big ranch here in Texas. Okay. They talk about it in the show. Okay. Probably, I would say, the most well-known ranch in the country. It's somewhere between the four-sixes and the King Ranch. Okay.

Which you're probably familiar with because of their hunting. They do a lot of hunting down there. Yep. And they also, you know, I think it's the largest ranch, at least in Texas, maybe the whole country. But regardless, the four-sixes is, well, Taylor bought it. Okay. And that's why it's in the show a lot. Okay.

But they have, they now sell beef straight to, which is interesting. Yellowstone beef. I mean, 4-6 is beef. Four-six is beef. Yeah. Which is, can happen. Well, do you think that? But it was just, it was brilliant.

The craze in Western culture. And I mean, I realize it's like long been in America. This is like an American thing. But am I right in saying there's been like a surge in the last decade for the appetite for content, Western content. I think the interest has always been there. So what sparked it? Nostalgia for people, like, the romance of like being a cowboy.

I mean, there's people that lived in the city watching Roy Rogers when they were a kid that wanted to be a cowboy. You know, like kids dressing up as Cowboys for Halloween has been happening since Halloween was invented. And so like the desire for people to be a cowboy has been there a long time. Chris Ledoux has a song, you just can't see him from the road. And essentially what he's saying is like, cowboys exist. You just can't see us from the road when you're cutting across the country in your car to the next city. Well, in my experience, the internet has now shown people what's out here. And so whenever they were a production company came to me about what,

kind of show we should make for Netflix. I had been making videos for years at the time, and about 20 or 30 times a day, I would get a message that either said, how do I get started ranching, or how do I get started rodeoing? And that's what my internship program was built on, those people that want to learn to rodeo,

because I can help a guy get started riding bulls or Bronx, and they're able to work for my apparel company alongside that, you know, while they're learning. Yeah. Regardless, I get these DMs all the time. How do I get started ranching? Because they don't know. They're watching the Western movies.

They're watching all the stuff this before, even before Yellowstone. They're interested in it. But they don't know how to get started. They live in, you know, they work on a chicken farm in Maryland. And anyways, so I told the production team,

I was like, well, let's call it how to be, a cowboy. How to be a cowboy. Because, like, we'll just teach people, because that's the question I get all the time. And so that's what our Netflix show was based on. With that in mind, like, I would have conversations with people, because when I first started rodeo and everybody's talking about, man, this is a dying sport. This is, like, we got to, like, save the, you know, like, they're a dying breed. And, like, I disagree completely. Yeah. There is so much interest in our industry. Yeah. And I, because the moment I got Instagram and Facebook and people are able to message me,

it's just like randos from all over the world are just like, man, do you take interns from Switzerland? Can I come over there from Europe? Can I come? Whatever. Like, it's just like people, South Africa, like all kinds of, like those two are Canadians right there, like all over the world. People are interested in this genre. Well, you've made it so accessible.

and I think that shows like Yellowstone, do they help? Absolutely. But there's a romance and a lure and just a nostalgia to what we do out here that people can't deny. Like there's just what we did today, like you gathered cows with us, then we bucked some horses. Like people don't get to do that. Yeah. Like that's not a normal thing that a person sees every day. Like maybe they saw somebody walk. a dog, maybe, on their drive to work.

Yeah. And so I think that the future of our industry is growth. 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 pool 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, I Heart, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. So my buddy Steve Rinella, he lives in Bozeman, Montana. Never heard of her. And so he, it's like the cowboy,

it's like the cowboy capital of, of, you know, that part of the world. And this question revolves around people that really aren't cowboys, wanting to be cowboys, and dressing and acting like cowboys. So he believes that if you wear any type of Western boot or hat, you've at least got to live a livestock adjacent lifestyle. And so he kind of like, you know, like today, I didn't wear a cowboy hat on purpose.

when I rode with you because it's like I didn't want to be a poser. But. Somehow you still manage to appear as one. Exactly. But I guess what I'm saying is people inside the cowboy industry love it when new people come in. Is that right? For sure. Yeah.

I mean, when you see a guy walking down the road. Had you worn a cowboy hat today, it would not have made me mad. Yeah. Well, I would like that. Now, I am the expert on all things, Cowboy, and that's why I've created a guide to whether you is or you ain't one. And I call it, you ain't no cowboy. So, like, I am, I can get very specific with, you know, if you ride a mule, you ain't no cowboy. If you, you know, oh, dang, you were on a mule today. Well, hey, listen, no. That was just an example. You don't realize how congruent. we are on our doctrine. Yeah. Like, I'm not a cowboy. I'm a mule skinner.

Okay, good. And that's the reason I wear a... So you don't think you are either. I don't think I am either. That's right, that's right. That's the reason I wear a felt hat like Daniel Boone did, like God-fearing men did, you know? But seriously, though, yeah, I...

Now, there is, like, it just depends on the context of a word. Like, C.S. Lewis talks about the word, a gentleman. Well, like when the word was first created, it meant that, I mean, I can't remember exactly, but it meant that you were of a certain age and you might have owned property. It was like a black and white list of like, this is what made you a gentleman. But eventually, with the English language, it turned into a compliment. And they're like, man, he's a gentleman. Well, no, he either is or he isn't.

It's kind of like, are you from Texas or are you from Arkansas? It's like, you either are or you aren't. It's not, and it's like, man, he's a Texan. You see, like, how you can use the word twice. It's like, are you from Texas or Arkansas? Okay, he's the Texan. He's the Arkansasan or whatever y'all call yourselves. But regardless.

Arkansasans. Arkansas, it's even worse. We say, but. Akerne. Regardless, the same thing has happened with the word cowboy. So, like, I got you. You see what I'm saying? Yeah, yeah.

The word means something different probably than it did before. People, well, it just depends on what context you're using it. Is he a cowboy? Well, I don't know. How does he make his living? Well, he's a CPA and he goes to, well, okay, for sake of conversation, if you're asking what his trade is, no, he's not a cowboy. Yeah. But is it okay for him to, you know, wear a cowboy hat and boots and go to the Fort Worth Stockyards on the weekend to watch.

a rodeo? Absolutely. Is it okay for him to want to be a cowboy? Absolutely. Does that mean, you know, I just, if he calls himself a cowboy, it's not going to, you know. Cowboy is what you do. This helps me down. This is kind of like a, it just depends on how you use the words. Like, I'm not offended if that same person who's a CPA in Fort Worth wants to come out here and learn to ride a horse. Like, that's absolutely great. It just depends on in what context you're asking the question. Like, I'm not. I think I'm hypersensitive just based on my upbringing of being a phony, like hyper sensitive. Yeah.

Like to the point that I'll push it the other way. Well, I don't want to come. I don't. And I mean, I think that would go right back to my dad, my upbringing. I'm just trying to be who you were. I've got friends in my head in my head that like are just top hands. Okay, well, are they more cowboy than me? All right.

Well, now we're using the word differently than. just by black and white definition. Yeah. Because it's like, do you make your living with a horse and a rope and cows? Yeah. And then beyond that, like, okay, how much of a cowboy are they than this person? All right, well, now it's more of just like the way the word gentleman has been turned around. I really do need a good straw hat.

I've got a straw hat. It's old. I need one of these. It's June. It's June. It's June in Texas. Time to switch from felt a straw. But it's also, it was six.

67 degrees. I had on a vest. It's June 4th. That is crazy for Texas. Yeah. Yeah, no doubt. So do you do much hunting, Dale? I love to hunt. Yeah. I don't get to do as much as I used to. Always, I mean, like, we just hunt pigs a lot down here, like since I was a kid. We couldn't go to a party in high school on a weeknight. school night, but we could stay out as late as we wanted if we were hunting pigs. I don't know. Like, we would just, we would spotlight and just, sorry, dad, I didn't get into 1.30. It's like, but we got seven pigs or something like that, you know, but I don't know. That was, and a little bit of deer hunting growing up, and then more as I got older, and now every year I go on an archery elk hunt, which I got to specify archery, because if you don't shoot an elk with a bow, then you ain't.

know, cowboy. Yeah. And then I'll also go noodling with my ex-girlfriend. Ex-hmm. Hannah-Baron, yeah, we've worked it out, and she guides a noodle trip for me every year. Okay. Yeah, Donnie and I go. Right, right.

Okay. What's the, I'm going to steer away from that one. Yeah, it's a lot of drama. Don't worry. It's complicated. It's huge drama. Yeah, I see you wearing that. Well, me and her dad are still like, best friends.

And so, you know, don't throw the. baby out with the bath water, you know what I mean. I hear you, man. I actually don't know what that saying means. So everybody says it. I don't understand it. You want me to explain to you? Well, I understand the baby got the bath last, and now the bath water's dirty.

But I just don't get the scenario of like how it connects to where the, anyway. We can move on. We'll talk after. Noodling. I can explain to you. It's pretty simple. Those are my two main trips. What's up?

What would be like a top shelf hunt? And let me ask you this. Do you think that you've had enough exposure to hunting that you would really be able to know exactly what you like to do? It'd kind of be like me being exposed to rodeo and saying, Clay, what would you like to do? And I'd be like, man, I guess I'd like the bull ride because that just seems flashy. Like elk hunting is like the bull riding of the hunting space. Because there's nuance. There's like squirrel hunting on mule.

man. It's like top shelf. I mean, I've done a lot of cool stuff and there's some like little bitty kind of little crevices in the hunting space that are like fun. Me and Cowboy found ourselves out in Utah between two sponsor events and we were just sitting around and these guys wanted to go and I wound up in a pickup with some guys coyote hunting at two in the morning and I'd rather eat glass. Like I was so, like I wanted to go to, like I don't care about those coyotes and they're calling. I'm like, I want to take me a little melatonin go to sleep right now. Yeah. And so there's certain trips where, like,

I guess I do know, like, yes and no, I don't want to do this or that. Kind of how I feel about, like, helicopter hog hunts. Like, depending on who the pilot is. Like, there's a, it's just like, I don't know. Like, if they've, like, fought in war, you're all in. Like, I was like, all right, I might get in a helicopter with you.

But the stakes aren't, it's just like, to do what? Kill some hogs? Like, I don't know. Let's ride around in the can-am plug. But there's also like, I don't know that I'd go on a rifle, Elkunt. I don't know that. I'd really like to get a super nice white tail one day. Yeah.

That'd be cool. Yep. Moose hunts intrigue me. That would be cool. I would do a white tail or a moose with a rifle. Okay. That doesn't bother me. Listen, I potentially have access to some incredible moose hunting.

Not every year, about one year out of every maybe five. We keep our word around here. Right, Garrett, maybe. Dude, you need to come with me to Alaska on a ridge hunt. Oh, in Alaska, I was thinking more like a canned hunt. Well, do you have like some high fence moose somewhere? There's high fence moose in Texas. Okay, good.

Where are those at? All over Texas, but. Oh, I bet your people would hate that I just said that. Oh, that's like, that's like saying, what would that be equivalent to in the rodeo world, a high fence, it's there somewhere. But I don't, it doesn't bother me. We can talk about high fence. We could do that.

Yeah. No, I'm not, I'm just joking. I would, if I was going to hunt a moose, I would like to go to, I'd rather do a big one out of the wild. If you do a moose, I mean, you don't have to do it with me. But sidebar, I don't care if it's a high fence. Like, once you get over so many acres, hunting is hunting. This somebody's just trying to, like, control some genetics, more power to them personally. But that's just spoken like a true Texan.

Dale Brisbane hot take for me. Spoken like a true Texan. What about Barry? Have you ever thought about Bear? Yeah, maybe. Maybe. Yeah. With a knife? Whatever, man.

Man. Yeah. Well, cool. That's cool. What, you are, I probably didn't really introduce you that well at the beginning of this. You don't start over? Yeah.

The whole thing. You don't just X that? Let's just do this again. All right, one more time from the top, people. Yep. No, Dale, you're, what I've always appreciated about you. I said that I've been watching you for a long time is that you're really good at being authentic inside of your space,

like you're real cowboy, but you are, you're an incredible marketer, which that could be like a slap in the face. Like, yeah, that's like saying you're a good used car salesman. That's not what I'm saying, Dale. you're really good at it's coming around to be in something nice to say. All right. Where are we going with this?

Here we go. Is that you're incredible. You're mad at me about the high fence comment. You're incredible about you're good at these catch phrases. All these phrases and things that you say. It's just put on shirts. It balls out of my mouth. Like, I just can't help it.

Yeah. So give me, give us a tour. Because there are going to be some people here that, you know, have not been exposed. Probably very few. I would say the most common one that get is old son. Now, did you make that up? Absolutely. No, you didn't.

Yes, I did. No, you didn't. Just pressing you. Sometimes stuff needs scrutiny. I believe you. I just wondered if you actually did. Oh, old son. Old son.

I mean, did you not hear your grandpa say that or something? No. Daddy said it. And when I say daddy, I'm talking about me. No, I'm daddy. Okay. I'm referring to myself in the third person. Okay.

I love it. That was the first, I mean, I knew that That was so good. You don't believe me. No, no, I do. I truly do. Okay. Sometimes I tell people this.

I tell my kids this. I tell my wife this sometime. My lovely wonderful. You call her old son? No. I tell them sometimes the truth deserves a high level of scrutiny. So that's why I was just like, you didn't make that up. And I was like, no, you didn't.

No, you didn't. And then when you said you did, I could see through those glasses. And I knew you can tell me the truth. Yeah. You understand what I'm saying? When you lean your chair back and you don't know your right to the point where you think it might be going to fall over. Yeah.

But it doesn't. Yeah. That's me. I got you. Is what he's saying a joke or is he being serious? Yeah. That's where I like to live. Yeah.

Or I like for you to live. Well, no. Probably the first time I heard you say, old son, I started saying it, like, to people. Like, it caught on. Like, it's on its way. I mean, I think it's a compliment that, like, seven years ago I was saying, old son, you know? occasionally. Not surprised, it's still a compliment.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, old son, what would be like the ranking order of Dale Brisbane's? Yisms? Yep. After that, I mean, like rodeo time. It's rodeo time. It's rodeo time.

Brodyo time. Down the road. Then you ain't no cowboy. Okay. Just ranching. Just ranching. Like to moderate ranching. Heavy ranching.

Those are just the different levels. Okay. Kind of like the how we were talking about cowboy. Yep. You know, we kind of put a little emphasis on the ranching. Yep. Yeah, those are some of the... Well, there's more.

Riding bulls and punching pools. Right, that's it. Yep, that's what... I've already ridden my bull today, so watch out. And then you say, keep it 90. Keeping it 90? Keeping it 90. Yep.

When would you say keeping it 90? He's a fan. I've forgotten about some of the things. I mean, just that's what I do. I just keep at 90. I mean, so like, let's say me and you're riding down the road, something happens. What you've been doing?

Give me a hypothetical. Okay, just like, yeah. How you been, Dale? Keeping in 90. Keeping at 90, man. Old son. And I would know, what would I know about you from you saying that? You'd be like, I'd be like, dang, Dale's been busy.

You know? Yeah, Dale's been busy being the best. Mm. Okay, so keeping at 90, you. You ain't no cowboy. Old son. Just ranching. Riding bulls.

Punching. Light to moderate ranching. Heavy ranching. Rodeo time. Rodeo time. What's some of the other ones, guys? There's some people out here. Yeah.

Your mom's favorite bull rider. Is that on a t-shirt? Your mom's favorite bull rider. Yeah. I mean, we've got all kinds. Yeah, we could walk through out here. I could show the audience my apparel line. Mm-hmm.

Yeah. Mm-hmm. Oh, that'd be great. Yeah, that'd be a good. I mean, anyway, it would. You have a great amount. For this next 20 minutes, we're going to walk around with these cameras. I'm going to show you some of my sayings that are available to you on radio time.com.

That's right. Plug. That's right. That's right. Well, that's cool. You got any big trips planned? Can you talk about any of this stuff that you got coming up? Like with going to California Friday for a movie.

I think I'm going to play an announcer at a NASCAR event. For real. For real. What movie? Can you talk about it? I don't remember. I could talk about it if I remembered. But I know that I got to fly.

You could talk about it. You just don't remember. Correct. I know I fly out. Is there anyone in charge that knows what he is? It's literally all been set up through the DMs. I don't even have the guy's phone number. I know his name is Ben something.

And I'm going to fly to Sacramento. So somebody was just like, hey, Dale, will you come here at this time? Give me your credit card number. I'll put you in a movie. No, he doesn't need my credit card. He asked you for it. You should not give it to him. Okay.

This could be a scam. Yeah. I don't think it is. Okay. So you're going to be in a movie, Del? He's got the blue check mark. Oh, oh. Yeah.

Okay, yeah. And then I'll come back here. I'll be here for one day. We'll probably film some here on Monday. Then Tuesday morning I'll go to Cowboys Surrey. We'll do some jujitsu with some veterans, and then we will, the Discovery Channel is doing some, like a show for shooting some guns and stuff.

Yeah, which is good. Yeah, they're coming back around. So, yeah, new administration. So you got some big stuff coming up. And then I'll do my trip to go see Hannah and we'll do some noodling. Okay, that's in June. Yeah, Alabama. Because this, you know, around July,

those catfish lay eggs and then come into the boxes to protect them. Move out to the deeper water. Yep. Yeah. And so July is kind of slow. I got a can't am deal in August. But we're filming for my YouTube channel. All the time.

All the time. Yeah. I really don't like taking these trips. I like doing. You travel a lot? Too much. But I'd, yeah. Sometimes like opportunities come up, you know, like a movie and Discovery Channel.

You kind of just got to go. Got to go. But I like doing what we did today. Yeah. Just ranching, though. Well, the ranching side of it, but I like making the video. I like making rodeo time episodes, podcasts here in Winnebago. That's what I like.

Yeah. Yeah, that's cool. That's cool. Yeah. Hunts this fall, you're going in September, El Cunton? To Bear Mountain and Kremlin. I don't know where that is. It's right south of steamboat.

Like stones throw from steamboat, Rabbit Ears Pass. And... I mean, don't tell me where are you going hunting. Yeah. Well, I mean, it's a guided hunt. Yeah. So, like, that's another thing that people throw rocks at

where it's just, like, I don't care. Like, I don't... Yeah. I am the world's greatest bull rider. I don't have time to... I mean, like, I've been on two elk hunts. So, yes, I'm going to let somebody guide me on a hunt. You know what?

I just found an... It's not a high fence place. I found an equivalent... I found an equivalent to what you just said. Because, yeah, in the hunting industry, like if I... Now I've gone on plenty of guided hunts. Like, a lot of guided hunts.

But if that's, like, all I did, it would be like, oh, well, Clay's successful because he goes on guided hunts. And when you... I didn't even realize people, like, threw rocks at that. Listen, I've got a great connection back to your world that you're going to love.

So people would throw rocks at that. Because, you know, like, on the end of the... inside, like, in the inside of hunting to be able to do it yourself, you know, means something, and it means you're authentic and you don't need a guide and all this stuff, which I get it. And I would prefer not to have a guide, and most of the time I don't. When Clay Newcomb puts a fairier video on his Instagram, and I am a, I don't know nothing about trimming my mule feet.

Yeah. I've been doing it for nine years. I had one ferrier that came to my house and showed me how to do it. And I realized that I was going to have to hire this guy every six to eight weeks to come and put shoes on my mules. You only trim your mules feet every 68 weeks? That's over a year. Six to eight, six to eight, six to eight. Okay.

We'll just say that. Okay. Six to eight weeks. And I was like, this isn't going to work for Clay. So I started doing it myself. And my mule's never gone lame. and I can trim your feet. I'll put little videos up

and man, there's two groups of people in life that are, they're wonderful people. Instagram commenters and Facebook. The Instagram is positive and Facebook will grill your ass. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, ferriers and beekeepers are the most opinionated people in the world.

But that connects back to your hunting thing, but you don't care about what people say about being guided. what I say to somebody that gives me an incredible amount of input about how I'm doing it wrong about being a ferrier, is they're like, hey, Clay, you're using the wrong hoof tool, you know, yada, you should do this, you should do this. And I just don't care. Correct. Like, it just, what I do kind of works for me.

I realize it's unconventional. I realize it's probably not the best, but my brain only has enough space to be really good at so many things. and meal feet is one that I'm like, man, if I can just get by, I'll probably be able. 1,000 percent. That's it. Like, I have no desire to be so much, I am not Cameron Haynes. I have ran with the man, and he's who, he is the reason I elk hunt, 100%. I was a fan of his, and then I went up there. He gifted me a bow. Yeah. And that's what got me started. And in my relationship with Mountain Ops, a sponsor, they gifted me a hunt. And so if it wasn't for Cam and Mountain Ops,

I wouldn't be going on it. Now, I love it and I appreciate it, but I am a cowboy and a rodeo cowboy. That's what I'm most passionate about. Yeah. And I've heard people throw rocks at guys like myself who, yes, I qualify. I would technically be an influencer,

and yes, I'm going to go bow hunting and now I take a picture with a bull that I got on a guided hunt and they throw rocks at it. but like, rewind the tape. I just said I was okay with some, with a CPA out of Fort Worth coming here to ride horses and put on a cowboy hat. Like, it's good for the industry.

Yeah. You know, who cares? Like, just get off of everybody's back. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's like, let somebody just experience it. It's kind of how I feel about the high fence conversation too. But regardless, whatever. My point is I just think that like,

what's good for the goose is good for the gander. And I didn't even realize like that was a thing. but I get the mystique of it. And is that CPA as good a hand as my best friend, Dusty Berson, who manages the four-sixes? No, he's not. And the only disrespect would probably come in, or not even disrespect, but just the only annoyance I would have

is if the CPA acted like he was a better cowboy than my friend, Dusty. Exactly. But, you know, then it's just like, oh, you're oblivious. Same thing with me. I'm not going to act like I'm a better hunter. And you never said that. Nobody, nobody ever said that. Then I would be the Dale Brisby of hunting.

That's the exact same thing. And that would be the joke. And that's why you should laugh at it. But that's not, I mean, anybody who would act, I don't know, it's just pretty, should be common sense to me. Well, that's why when I dabble into the equine, world, which I'm not an expert. I get quite a bit of fire from it. And there's a lot of people who are like, oh, that's so cool, man. But it's, that's all just. It's people's pride, man,

and they're passionate about this one thing. And yeah, it's just like, hey, you know, you stay in your, I don't know, just be happy for people. Yeah. Be happy for people. I don't know. Some people are just like, just completely bitter and poor souls, whatever. Well, I think it's people's pride. Are you a believer? Absolutely. We haven't really talked about faith, but I've gotten that sense about you. Yeah. Like a Christian, believer in like Christian, like the Bible?

I actually don't, I don't think I've ever said this on my podcast before, but I'm actually the, I've been the, associate elder at our church for 20 years. What, Baptist? No, we're a non-denominational church. Oh, okay. But, but Bible believing. Okay. Christian. Like the Holy Bible, the one with 66 books in it? That one. Okay, cool. Me too. That one. Gotcha. Yeah, man. So it's a massive part of my life. All right, good. Yeah. We almost talked about it last night, and I was like, oh, I think he might be. My Christian radar was going off. Anyways, but regardless, it's good. I think, I don't know, how that connects to the comments people make on social media.

Some of them are well-meaning. I just put up a fair deal just a few days ago. I just trim my mules' hooves and just put it up. And somebody wrote me a very detailed comment about everything. And he was nice. I mean, the guy genuinely was trying to help me. He was like, he was kind of like, hey, Clay, you're kind of looking like a goober.

Let me help you not be a goober. And it was meaningful what he said. but I kind of, I was just kind of like, well, I kind of just do what I do and it works for me. I'm kind of okay with it. Yeah. I mean, it's on the other hand, too, it's just like at this point, 2025, we can't really put out content and just be completely surprised if someone does that. You know what I mean? Somebody's going to comment like that.

So, yeah, it's two sides to the coin, you know. 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 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 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 two of Blood Trails premieres April 16th. Follow now on Apple, Iheart YouTube. or wherever you get your podcasts. Okay, I feel like, while I got you here in front of the table, we've got to dissect a little bit about what happened today with me on the meal while you were picking up. Oh, yeah. I want to bury the lead a little bit, if you know what I'm saying?

Winkety wink. Let's talk about the situation that led to me having a little bit of a limp today. Yeah, so you were, we were picking up and... Tell people what that means. I don't think people know. So bucking horse rider rides as brong or bucks off, regardless to pick up men in the arena that are on gentle horses need to ride in alongside this buck and either help that rider get off of the horse

or we need to take the flank off of him because that's what he's kicking at typically. It's not making him buck. He's got like a belt on. health around us. Exactly. It doesn't go around there. It doesn't go around their jelly beans. All the horses today were either mares or gildings. None of them even have jelly beans. So it had been impossible for us to tie it around there like people think in the more ride. It's just not the case. Regardless, that flank gives them something to kick at. It just makes the way in which they buck more consistent, which means that it's going to be safer for them.

and the rider, if they, but they're animals that want to buck. We can't make them buck. They have to want to. But it doesn't cause pain. Regardless, whatever.

That's what, that's the flank strap. Yeah. So the responsibility of the pickup man is to help the rider get off safely and then take that flank off

in the arena. So, for you being on a mule, number one, we don't know how she's going to take it. Number two, you know, you've never done this before. So horse and rider, mule and rider are both pretty inexperienced. So I wasn't going to ask you to help the rider get off.

I didn't know how she would take another, you know, riding double. Somebody jumping off of a horse onto her. My goal was to help you get the flank off. And so the last horse, which is kind of the more sweetheart pup of the group, I wanted you to come in alongside. And I was like, the only thing is you can't end up behind them. They'll kick you. And you said in the head...

This horse's name is the Baptist? The Baptist. His given name was Hangum High from Pete Carr. He went to the NFR back in like 2008, long time ago. He's an old horse. And regardless, you said, kick me in the head. And I said, no. And I put my hand on the middle of your thigh.

And I put anywhere from here down is probably because this horse doesn't kick that high. And so I got the horse, grabbed a hold of him. and he's kind of turning in a circle. And we come... The rider's been... The rider has exited the bucking horse. I was essentially wanting you to come in alongside that horse and trip that flank.

So lean off of my mule and grab the latch of the belt, basically. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And flip this belt off. And it was a little too much too fast. And I thought you might have been able to heed my instruction a little better than you did. And anyhow, this horse kicked you. the bucking horse kicked you.

Did you see it? I heard it. Yeah. And I felt like I thought it was just mainly kicked kind of your saddle and your saddle blanket. Yeah. Didn't kick very hard for compared to how hard they're able to kick, but got the meaty part of your calf, thankfully, and not your shin bone. Yeah. Yeah.

And you doesn't mean, does it hurt now? I took a couple of the leaves. I really think that helps. Yeah. But it does, it does hurt. Yeah. But no, it was so funny because I was going to, I had been following you guys around on my mule, Betty Bay, and kind of just be in there while two of y'all were picking up, you know.

And so I had done that, I guess, three times already. And so Betty was pretty used to that, okay, there's going to be a bucking horse, come out of that shoot, act crazy. We're going to go towards it. And she did great at that. But when you told me to get the flank strap off of that horse, that meant you got to get in super close to this horse that's been bucking, that's been wild.

But you told me don't get behind it. Yeah. But what is difficult about it is that... He was turning. It's not like the horse has stopped and you've got to ride into the side of it. I mean, you're spinning circles. Yeah, he was kind of turning. in a circle. You're spinning circles. And so I come up close and I'm probably four feet,

but right from the rump of the mule. And I, and you know I'm in a tricky situation. And so do I. Yeah. And I spur old Betty. Yeah. I mean, I'm like, dang, we got to get up. And she, she proceeded to move at my cue. But that, but the angle, I was like, it was like a race car going along the outer track and the guy on the inner lane is turning and I couldn't get in front of her quick enough and I mean just whoop just she just let out a sideways kick probably about half throttle but it I mean if you've never been kicked by a horse or mule it's a unique feeling I mean it's just like you know yeah and I immediately and she didn't you know hit me just right in the side of the calf and for about

a split second, I thought I'm going to be bad hurt. Like, you know, you just think, and there's that adrenaline that flood you and you think I'm shielding really what's about, you know, that's what's going through my mind. I was like, crap, I'm going to be. But it ended up just being a big old. Yeah, you never know. Like, sometimes like you can get kicked like that and you think it's the end of the world, for sure, it's broke, this or that and the other. And then it ends up being the next morning you can't even feel it. And then sometimes the opposite is true. You don't even realize how bad hurt it is. And two days later, you're like, something ain't right.

Yeah, yeah. But it's crazy in the arena. Like, it's one or the other. Yeah. Well, I truly think it's okay. But it's my fault. You told me exactly what not to do, and I did that. Yeah, I mean, it's your first time.

It's hard. That mule's kind of looking out for herself. She doesn't, you know, she's a little nervous to it. Yeah. It's her first time. I mean, with work, I'm sure she would get good at it and realize that, like, she could do it. Yeah.

But. Well, it was, it was so much fun. Gathering the cows and working the gate, you did great. Yeah. Well, that was a lot of fun. Yeah. That was a lot of fun. Yeah, it went well.

For sure. For sure. Man, I don't know if, I don't know if we can shift this far of a turn and get kind of serious if you're willing to talk to me about it. We'll see. about your dad. Oh, yeah. No, I don't mind talking about him.

Yeah. I mean, we kind of started talking about him earlier. He definitely isn't going to object. Yeah, yeah. No, I, somebody, I've, I. Because he's dead. Okay, I guess we are comfortable with this. All right, roll the tape, boys.

Dale's comfortable with talking about his dad. Yeah, what's he going to do about it? I don't know. No, no, no. I have been a partaker of Dale Brisbane content, but it was just recently that I heard the story of your dad passing away in the arena. Yeah. And will you tell me that story?

Yeah, so we were a Holodis every year is the first weekend in May. And you usually switch to a straw about that time. And we would always stop in at Catalina Hatters and Brian and get a new straw hat. on our way to Holodos, and I'm just kind of telling the story now. I don't, I'm not trying to plug this random hat store, but they, then we'd go to Lotus and just every, every spring is just, and either riding or working there, one of the two. Like I've ridden all three events there.

I fought bulls there. And my dad would always pick up there. And so I'd go with them and we'd always go. and my aunt and uncle lived in Bull Verde not far. But I had that year, I was fighting bulls for Sammy Andrews. And so I had like 10 of his rodeos that year. Well, one of them was an Ami rodeo in Paris. And so Wednesday, before both of our rodeos got started on Thursday,

and he was talking about just picking up and like, you know, it doesn't really pay a lot. and, you know, he could probably make more, he'd be money ahead if he stayed at the house, and we were just back and forth. And he made a comment something like staying at that. And I said, well, I'd never ask you to quit. And I shook his hand, and I can feel his hand in my hand right now,

you know, better than I can see his face. And I was driving a little bitty car, and he was loading up his, you know, pickup horses. That one right there was one of them. And it's out at the house still. And yeah, so we kind of said goodbye to each other. We each going to our rodeos and shook his hand. And I drove down the road.

I was going to stop and see my brother. He was building a saddle at a Saddlemaker's house like 15 miles away. But when I left there, it was the hardest I'd ever cried up until that point. when I left there. I just knew it was when me the last time I saw my dad. I heard you say that. How did you know that? I don't know.

To be honest, like, I think God, like just years before, I just felt like I'm going to lose my dad early. But it was never as strong as it was on May 1st of 2013. And I thank God for that because the years leading up to it,

I would record him sometimes. Like I would just, I took notes when he talked about cows. Like I just, I soaked up every moment I could. You had a really genuine relationship with your father. I believed I was going to lose my dad early and I acted on it. And it's some- Did you ever share that with him?

No, I'm sure he saw me, he definitely recognized me acting on it. Yeah, gotcha. But I'd always been close to my dad anyway. I was never one of the, a son to just say that, I mean, like, to think that his parent didn't know anything. My dad knew, he was, he was a brilliant man. and I treated him like that. And that's my advice to young people is to just,

even if they maybe don't know that, I mean, there's just no point in treating them like that. Yeah, I just, I wanted to be around him. I wanted to be. It's interesting you talking about the relationship with your father because, I mean, a lot of people don't have great relationships with their own. Either there's a massive conflict or there's an absence, just kind of an absence of relationship.

Yeah. And the spectrum is all the way in between. Uh-huh. You know? And it's really interesting to me to hear you say that you suspected this. Because, I mean, I think God does that kind of stuff for us all the time if we're paying attention.

I think so too. I've tried to replicate it with all types of relationships I have. It's crazy. Like, I genuinely often treat... It's not every day all the time, but like family members and like some certain people. It's just like I will talk to them as if it is going to be the last conversation I have. And eventually it will be. And that's real to you because of what happened.

Because it haven't. And I don't know why, but I'm thankful for it, though, that God did. But so I don't know. I just, that's the hardest I'd cried. What were you? What were you, I can't leave the spot. What were you thinking about when you cried that day? Him dying?

Yeah. Did you think it was going to happen that day? I didn't know. It just like overwhelmed me. I had shook my dad's hand and felt that and maybe even, I can't remember a specific instance, but cried before. Like I had thought, I had kind of had, that was the strongest it had ever been, undeniably. Like, I would remember crying this hard. Yeah.

Because I got to that spot where my brother was and I had to sit in the car because I didn't want to be embarrassed. because my face was just beat red. Wow. Wow. It was just that overwhelmed. Let me ask you this. What did you do with that feeling? I mean, did you pray?

Did you like? Looking back, I wished I had got in the pickup with him and gone to the rodeo. Told Sammy, I can't make it to Paris. There's no part of me that would like no show a gig where I told somebody I'd be their bullfighter. Yeah, yeah. But, I mean, today, when I'm. In the instances where I've gotten close to feeling that, I will cancel a trip, and I have. Like, you know that since.

There's been times where, like, I'll change. I don't know. Like, I don't know. Like, I'm going to change the future. Whatever. It's weird. I know. It's not, it's not normal.

I'm not trying to be whatever. I don't, some of this stuff I haven't ever even said out loud. But regardless, I know what I felt that day and damned if 24 hours later, I'm standing in the arena at Paris, Texas, putting a neck rope on a horse. And somebody asked me about Jacobs, Crawley, who's. one of my best friends. He's a bronch rider, and he was in Holodas with my dad. Like, we'd been roommates in college. We would practice together, went to some rodeos together. And so, this judge in Paris, Texas, is asking me, like, how's Jacobs and Sterling doing? I was like,

well, this and that, and I had my phone in my pocket. I got face paint on, my baggies, because I'm going to fight this rodeo. And I was like, oh, there's the redhead now. Let's see what he's got, you know, because I knew that guy's horses. So I thought maybe he was calling to ask about a horse. And he was like, dude, your dad is on the ground. And so they had just started their rodeo, the bearback riding, and he's the pickup man. And he picks this guy up and then just like goes down with him, apparently. Wow.

Yeah. And so, but he had his hat pulled down, you know, like this. And he, he, so he's wearing it. and it hits the ground. And anyways, I have the hat, and it's got a mud stain on it. So when we recreated that picture, same horse, same saddle, same hat, that's what, that's, anyway, that's, that's, that's, that's when Drew painted that for me. Yeah. So, yeah, he, he called me, and, and so, like, I just look over at Sammy and I said, I got to go, and I walk out the outgate and drive down to San Antonio.

How far was that? Probably five hours, six hours, maybe. Y'all are long ways apart. Yeah. I mean, and it was a heart attack. Correct. Yeah. Yeah.

Doc says he was dead before he hit the ground, but, you know, they work on him. And Cindy McCumber rides in the ambulance with him to the hospital. But then, I don't know why my dad had said he wanted to, he's like, man, I feel like I'm supposed to do something great. And anyway. So he said that like a couple weeks before, and he had said it one other time. And I was just like, yeah, I don't know what it is. And he was like, I don't know what it is either.

I don't know if I'm supposed to do something. He said that to you. Yeah. Just like casually. Like he wasn't trying to be anything. He was just like, I don't know. Because he was managing this ranch, an oil and gas company owned it. And it was like the easiest job he had ever had.

rewind seven years later like seven years earlier my mom had left my mom had left and he just was like anybody is just like going to move on in Texas like if you get if you don't show up to sign the divorce papers you're still divorced well like he didn't sign them anyways whatever two years goes by and he's just like what god brought together let no man separate and he just like sits and he fasts and he praise and I just watch this man have faith that his wife is going to come back when there's just no why would she come back like nobody ever his parents everybody's like you got to move on you know his kids didn't tell him that but he doesn't and two years doesn't seem like a long time but when

it's a year and 11 months in and you don't know it's going to be two years that feels like a long ass time you know well yeah yeah dang if she didn't come back and um you know they always come back Turns out, but most of the time at least. Wow. And he was just there waiting. Wow. That's honorable. So the last seven years of his life is the best seven years of his marriage.

He's got this awesome job managing this ranch, this oil and gas company owns, and they don't even care about the ranch. They show up once a month. And he's just, he had had MS. And so he had this, which it went into remission. And so these seven years, his son's working for him. Like, we buck horses once a week on the, it's just. It was heaven for seven years. And he was starting to get a little comfortable, but he was like, I got to, I feel like

I'm meant to accomplish something great. And that was ringing in my head on this drive to San Antonio. And I'm just like in denial that he died. I was like, no, this is going to be some story where like they revive him at the hospital, you know. So they're trying. They tell you that he is. He had a heart attack.

No, they told me had a heart attack. Okay. And then like, on the drive, my aunt calls me. And she's like, yeah, he, and I was like, no, this is, there's something. Because he said, even though the day before, it's the hardest I'd ever cry. You know what I'm saying? Like, I've just got this, uh, I knew it was going to happen, but I didn't believe it happened. Yeah.

And, uh, well, anyways, he did actually die. Turns out. And, uh, and so I was just kind of left, like, I knew it was going to happen, but like, what was that feeling where he said he was supposed to accomplish something great? And, um, I think. Looking back, now it's been, you know, 11 years, 12 years and a month that he's died, I run into guys that knew him, like before I was born. I run into guys that he taught, you know, how to ride or whatever.

And it's just like this legacy that he left behind. He had already done the great thing. there was just now God blessed him with this death, this exit at 55 as a, you know, rodeo cowboy and everybody's like, well, he died doing what he loved.

And that's true, you know, but it's almost like he lived this life. And I'm not trying to make something better than it was. I'm not trying to misremember something. I just think he was a great man. Yeah. And God put this like, he was like, all right, I'm going to take you before you mess it up.

and the impact that it's had, I think there were a lot of people didn't really realize how great of a man he was. It was simple. Yeah. You know, we were talking about Zeke Thurston earlier. It's just like he's not super flashy, whatever, but you look up at the end of the year

and he's won the world. Like, where did he come from? I was like, oh, he just rides great every time. Yeah. And that's kind of like my dad was just like, he just did the right thing, you know? And it was like Tiger Woods says, same boring strokes every day.

and he raised his family. He didn't drink. He was a man of God. When tough times came, he just leaned on God and his faith, and he brought his family back together. And then at 55, he died. And it was this cherry on top that, I don't know,

it was hearing people. And he had used the word butterfly effect before, you know, the ripple effect and his ripple effect after he died was just crazy, and it just keeps going. So the great thing is that the legacy that kind of the Lord used after he died. Yeah.

And, well, I mean, I don't know. That's kind of... And it... But... You're part of that. You're a part of that great thing that he left. I mean, I say that in all seriousness.

It's like what you, I mean, that is the essence and the beauty of fatherhood is that you get to, you get to pass something onto your children. And I mean, in such a tangible and real way, he passed so much to you. And I mean, the rodeo stuff and riding bulls and the pure passion that you have for it that he had, I deeply respect. But what I deeply respect more about you that I've seen confirmed with my own eyes since I've, I've only been here 24 hours, but been around you a little bit. The fact that you're in the midst of a pretty corrosive environment at times, I know the rodeo world can be pretty corrosive and you don't drink. You don't.

You're like you're very family-oriented. Like who you are is, that's what I'm most impressed with about you. And I know that's directly connected to him. I mean that with all seriousness. I said this, and again, I want you to connect this to your dad because it's not many people probably have the same pendulum. And I realize your father died, so it gave you this ability to scrutinize and evaluate probably differently

than those of us that have living fathers. I think there's something about a dad dying that makes you really scrutinize the relationship. But to end on a compliment to Dale, I knew that you were a legitimate, solid human by the way that I have witnessed you, even in your content, which is comedy, generally, by the way that your interns treated and respected you. And the way I saw you treat and respect them, I was like, I think this is a good guy. I think he's got a good value system. And you're probably, I mean, behind the shades, behind the cowboy hat and the wig, ridiculous.

Whig. You're like a solid human. That's my assessment. Well, I appreciate that. It does mean a lot. You know, anything good in me, I think the Lord instilled through my dad. You know, we got a pretty common saying around here is don't meet your heroes, you know, because. Yeah. So, you know, like I, I think, I think there's a lot of things about me that are, you know, you'd be underwhelmed with. But I do, I do appreciate you were my hero. hell. I don't know. You said it with your...

I mean, you kind of said it with it. You got our hitting around, man. But no, I think that I've been blessed with a great team here. You know, I was blessed with... Like I said, I'm really not trying to just like beef up. I would have said all this when he was alive.

And that's the thing that I just... I hear that. I was a fan of the man, you know. and when he passed, I had zero regrets. Like, there's one or two comments where he and I got, because we worked together. Yeah. And there's like one or two times I can think of

where we got mad at each other, where I probably said like something minor out of line. That's pretty impressive. But I was such a fan of his, and I wanted more time with him all the time. And so I had zero regrets when he passed. and they took him to the hospital, took him to the mortuary,

and then we went and picked him up, my brother and I, and nobody else ever took possession of him. It was just like a lonesome dove thing. We just wanted to be the one. And so we drove him to the funeral home. We drove him to the church. Then we drove him, and we buried him.

We lowered him. We threw the dirt in. Wow. But we had the funeral. We did the graveside here. Funerals in Lubbock. graveside here. And so it was a couple, a day or two later. And then I get home and I'm sorting stuff out. And it was like eight days after my dad died that I realized, dang, it hasn't even crossed

my mind where he might be right now. It was as sure to me as gravity. Like I ain't got to acknowledge that when I knock this off, it's going to fall. Like you just know that you don't have to, oh, gravity is what made. I think, you know, like there was no, it was as sure as I am of gravity. that's where like I would just knew that that was a fundamental truth for me and that was maybe the biggest assurance I had about moving forward in life without him was that he left me with this faith you know that I was able to take with me and that was maybe one of the the more grateful things I was I was most grateful for yeah with my dad man thanks for sharing that Yeah, yeah, you bet.

For real. Super, super interesting. It's a long story. It's weird. I don't know. I've told it like, it's not weird, but it's just different. I've told it maybe five times and it's just like, depending on where I start, it just hits me different. Yeah.

Yeah. Well, that's awesome, man. Well, hey, thank you so much for having us to the ranch. Thank you for, for hosting me today. Yeah. And at some point, at some point. At some point on the meat eater web YouTube channel, you're going to be able to see me and O'Dale out.

Ranching. Ranching. And then Clay getting kicked. You'll get to watch it. We got it filmed. Yeah. That's a good thing. If you get kicked by a horse and nobody's there to film it,

I don't think it's as cool as getting kicked. It didn't happen. These days it didn't happen. Yeah. Yeah. So anyway, thank you, Dale. And anything else I'm supposed to say? Keep the wild places wild because that's where the bearers lived.

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