Bear Grease - Ep. 387: Render - We Are the Hunting Pressure

Episode Date: November 12, 2025

In this episode of the Bear Grease Render, host Clay Newcomb is joined by Moe Shepherd, Bear Newcomb, Isaac Neale, and Josh “Landbridge” Spielmaker. In the thick of deer season, the crew shares their favorite Bear Grease deer stories and swaps updates on their own recent and upcoming hunts—including Bear’s annual friends-and-family deer camp. 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 Greas Render.

We've got quite the, quite the crew here, quite the crew. Got Isaac Neal. It's been a while since Isaac's been here. Feels good to see you. Feels good. Feels good to be here. Got the band back together. The band's back together.

Bear Nukum. Nostral nukem. Nostral nukem. Land Bridge is here. And then Mo Shepherd is here. Oh, Mo. Glad to be here again. The deer hunter.

It's like that time of year, like when the deer going to rut, like Mo kind of shows up. Yeah. Shows up in the render. Yeah. You've got him patterned and then all of a sudden. Yeah, his home range gets a lot bigger. My home range expands and I show up places I've never, hardly ever show up. Yep.

That's right. Okay, so I've been talking with Janice Retellis, and he has told me that I need to be talking about my book more. And he's like, and I'm like, every time he says it, I say, Yonis, the book doesn't even come out until 2027. You know what year it is is? 2025. And he says, doesn't matter. He says, talk about it every time you open your mouth between now and then.

So I'm taking Janus's advice. Do you see all these books right here? From right there all the way to wait past Moe over there. Yes, sir. Basically, that's not limited to, but every single one of those books is pretty much a reference inside of the book that I'm writing. Incredible. Wow.

I mean, there's a lot of research. The book currently, so in the literary world, what you do, when you get a book contract with a publishing house, is that the publishing house immediately puts out a news release that says, oh, this person is writing a book with this title for us. It kind of like stake out your territory in case anybody else is thinking about it. At least they'll know that you're thinking about it too. And so like over two years ago, this project, when it comes out in 2027, will have been going on, I think, for three and a half years. So behind the scenes, behind what you see when you watch surrender, when you hear Barry Grace, always right past the words that are coming out of my mouth, just right back here. Not so much here or here.

But right in here, the book is throbbing and has been for years. But we're actually, there's a flow of literary, literary creativity right behind the brand. I hope that's what they call it. Do you have a title for it? Well, yeah, American Bear. I feel like the longer it goes on, and especially if you're talking about it for the next two years, you might consider a title change to bear with me. Wow, that was good. That was good.

It feels like you've been sitting on that for a while. It just came to me. That's actually incredible. I'm going to go out. That'll be the subtitle, bear with me. It's been a while. Believe me, Isaac, I've known him a lot longer than you, and that's true. Well, the book is the biography as never before told.

And I can say that with, like, great certainty. Like, there's biologists that really know bears. There's anthropologists that really. that really know ancient peoples and hunting. There's American historians that really know the deerskin trade, like Steve Rinella and Randall and the books that I've been a part of with them even.

There are modern biologists that understand the bare human conflict that's going on in America right now. Never before has all of that been put together in just like a truly wild story. and I'll be done with the manuscript by February 1st. So I've got three months. And so just, I mean, like, right before we click on this render.

Two or three books and three months. Well, it's been a couple of years, and we've only got this far. No, no, it actually wasn't anybody's fault that the book, the project was extended a year completely because of, like, calendar details and publishing stuff, which I'm grateful for. Actually, today I would be cool if they were like, hey, we're going to put it off another year. You've got a whole other year. I mean, the book would be so much better.

I mean, these people that are writing books like really fast. So, Janus, that was for you. I hope you enjoyed that. And I told Janus that, like, what if I tell everyone all that's in the book? And he said, you won't just talk about it. So there we go. But Janus Patelus has never steered anyone wrong. Never. I don't think he ever has.

Yeah. At all. Yeah. So it's deer week, dear central week. I mean, deer time, buck time. It's November the 6th as we record this. This comes out later. But it is, that's why Mo's here.

And Bear, Bears, in two days, he's going to have his annual Bear Newcomb Public Land deer camp. Bear? Beware of bear. Beware of the bear. How many people you got coming in for this deer camp? I've kind of lost count, but I've got at least 25. 25 people.

25 hunters? Probably not. Probably like 20 hunters, but everyone goes in pairs. Only 20. Only 20. Oh, then they go in pairs. Yeah, because, yeah, I've got about 20 really good spots, so we're going to do like a rotation. That's impressive that you've got 20 good spots. spots in one location.

Hey, let me tell you something there. Let me tell you something. Good spots. If you see Bear Newcomb's Ford Ranger pull up in your public land spot, right before a gun deer season. Keep rolling. Everything is in trouble. I mean, everything.

We're making a population level impact here. It's basically a deer drive. We have to be nomadic. We've had this camp for four years and we go to a different spot every year because. You're like an ancient sheep grazer that just like demolishes. the land grazes it down and just has to keep moving. We say that we can't complain about the hunting pressure because we are the hunting pressure. We got to make his jokes that says that we are the hunting pressure.

With bears Ford Ranger on it and a big spike. He made me feel better a while ago when he told me where he was actually going this year and it was out of last year he was in the middle of some of my stomping grounds. And we didn't kill any deer. I went down there and took a kid hunting or a young guy with me and stuff. Yeah. Yeah. And you put my buddy Levi on a bear.

And he killed a bear where I told him to go. Yeah. That's correct. Well, we didn't get any near. I feel like you better trademark that before this episode comes out. Yeah. You got that YouTube crew, the hunting public.

That's his next career. That's true. That's true. The hunting pressure. The hunting pressure. Well, I mean, we had even heard the best part of it. This is an international deer camp. Incredible.

Yeah. There are people coming from other countries here. What are the logistics of getting somebody legal to hunt? It's just non-resident. Not a resident? Yeah. But do they have to have like the hunter safety or anything like that? Or is there an apprentice tag here in Arkansas?

If they're going to hunt by themselves, they have to have hunter safety. But other than that, it's just same rules. If they're with. If they're with. If they're with. or be with with a R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R.

Yeah, someone 21 or older that has a Hunter's Head. There's also a like a Hunter's Ed, what do you call it?

It's like a, like it's like a one-year replacement for the Hunter's Ed. I forget what it's called. Yeah, yeah. It's like where you can say, hey,

I'm going to do this, didn't get a chance to. Yep. Yeah. But I promise I will. Yeah. Essentially. And you get one year.

Wow. That's super cool. last year, y'all in the whole camp, we saw one deer total. Wow. And killed a bear. But it was the cool, I mean, it was one of the coolest. Yeah, it was one of the coolest experiences I've ever had in the woods.

Do we need to circle back to 20 good spots? Well, okay, the year before, we'd kill six. Maybe you didn't have any good spots at all. Wait, wait, wait, the year before, we went to, we went to my stomping grounds where I've been hunting all year. killed six. Right, right. And the next year I was like, and, you know, like a bunch of them were like spikes and stuff. And I was like, man, if we just keep going here, we're just, there aren't going to be any bucks left.

And so I started pouncing around. One day, there'll be a genetic study of the white-tailed deer back, you know, when Bear was a young man. And they'll be like, in the genetic record, they'll be like, we're not sure what happened. But there was a population level. There's a anomaly. Right around here. in this five square mile area. Barry, you know why you all saw one deer last year?

What is that? By what you just said, you said you decided to move because you didn't want to thin the deer out over there where you were at. Anytime you brag about what you're doing or what you have done, let me tell you, I've done it myself over the years, and it'll come back and it'll bite you every time.

Oh, okay, so you think that he got a little overconfident. Overconfident, and so it showed up on me. Oh, it definitely did, because we were like, Surely, if there's 20 of, 10 dudes out there with guns and, you know, pinch points and stuff. 10? 10 groups. Yeah. And any deer was legal where you all were at, dough, buck, button bucks, bikes.

10 points, it didn't matter. You know, I think Seymour saw like the flash of one deer and Levi killed a bear. What are the wildest names of some of your members? Seymour. Yeah, Seymour. Shucks, I can't think of any off the bat. The eagle. The eagle.

Weston the eagle. That's all I can think of at the moment. Is Seabass going to be there? No, C-Bass. He won't this year. Yeah, Seabass has been at the camp before. What was a young man's name that I took? He's from in this area, isn't he?

That was Atticus. Yeah. And it was kind of a weird name. He killed a buck last week. A little buck over here. Yeah, he'll be there. But yeah, we've got a lot of people coming in. We've got a giant wall tent and a bunch of other tents that we're going to set up tonight.

And I feel pretty good about it this year. I think, you know, kind of back in my home range, got a bunch of good spots, been seeing a ton of deer, and the rut has been picking up like crazy over where I'm at. So I think we're going to get into them. The real question is, do you have a buckpole set up? Yes. Yeah. I'd be careful about that.

Oh, wait. What? Buckpole. It's just like the, it's like the greatest expression of confidence that you're going to kill the deer. Yeah. You make the effort to put up a buckpole, say. So don't. I see.

I'm londing my rifle to a young man from England. Yeah. Yeah. Got a couple different countries represented this year. Wow. Wow. We are the hunting pressure. We are.

That's us. That's hashtag. But that's pretty good. Well, man, you know what? I commend you, bear. That's pretty cool that you're taking guys out. And so yeah, that's cool. Josh, you killed a deer this week with your bow.

I did. First boar, or first deer in years with my bow. Now, you killed a buck last year with the gun, but you killed them. Killed good, decent bucks the last two years with rifle. Yeah. This year, I went to scout in a spot. and I got out there and I think I texted you something about scouting and where I was looking because it was a place we used to hunt years ago.

And he said, don't scout hunt. I was like, I had my tree sand with me and I had my boat. It was the perfect day. A big front had been like a three day. It was back in the latter part of October, the kind of central part of the country, you know, in south, this part got it. but it rained for three days. Yep.

Clear it out. It was cold. Drop 25 degrees. And it was kind of rainy. And when I pulled in, I saw a buck, saw an eight point grazing in this field. And so I thought he didn't see me. So I tried to sneak up on him. And when I got there, he was gone.

But I just decided, hey, I'm going to put my tree stand up. They didn't seem spooked when I saw him. So I thought I'm just going to put my tree stand up here on the edge of this. field and got up there and it was a tree stand I'd never used before I got a hand me down. So I'd never use it. So I didn't go super high, maybe 16 feet. And sat there for about an hour and a half. And a little buck came walking underneath me.

And he stopped 10 yards in front of me. And he's quartering away real hard. And when I shot him, he just bolted. And I felt like I got a good shot on him. but I watched him run maybe 100 yards away before I lost sight of him. And I got down out of the tree pretty quick because my arrow was a full pass through and I wanted to see if it had good blood on it. And it did all the way down.

And so I thought, well, he probably just ran over there 100 yards and died. So I gave him about 45 minutes probably and just started trailing him. And it was a really good blood trail. I mean, really good. You know, it was hard to miss kind of blood trail. and man I got down there. I got down out of the tree about 5.15 and started looking for him.

And I looked and looked and ran circles. My on-X tracks are like, looks like I've just completely covered the entire area. Yeah. His on-X app actually sent word back to the headquarters to send help. Yeah. Just because they were like tracker. They were like this guy. Josh is either lost or he can't find his animal.

Yeah. My good buddy Brian Beulie. came and and he came out. He drove an hour out to come help me look for this deer and we looked for him until 10 o'clock at night. And I was pretty discouraged because it would be the first deer that I've shot and lost. And I was pretty sick about it. And I was just like, I'm going to get back up at daylight, go back out there. It was, fortunately, it was in the low 30s, mid 30s. Yeah, I was good and cold. I knew it was going to be okay. The meat was going to be okay. and I went back out and just started scouring again,

went down in these draws and looked for him and man, nothing. I was about to give up and I thought, I'm just going to walk over in this area, which was actually kind of back closer to my stand. And lo and behold, I crossed through an area where I hadn't been and he just laid out in the open there.

Yeah. And so... Now, I, for some reason with Josh, feel like every time he has a hunting experience, I need to teach him. something. Yes. Yes. So Josh, he's good at smiling and being like, okay, Clay.

But he called me, and he said the blood trail was just like blazing hot. Yep. And then it just vanished. For 120 yards. Just vanished. Yep. And I told him, I said a lot of times that happens, and you feel like the blood's dried up, it didn't dry up. It didn't dry up.

Just the deer did something that you didn't expect him to. And part of the problem was is that it was sprinkling. It was raining. It was raining for hours. It was raining, and it was dark. Yep. And basically, the deer circled back and went closer to where, and Josh said something that I hadn't thought about, but it makes sense why you would think it is that he just felt like the deer was going to be running away from where it was shot. Like just.

And into the thickest part of the woods. You watch it run away from where you shot. You just feel like it's just going to keep going that way. forever until it dies. Well, this deer, you know, busted out because the noise came from behind it. Right. And then, but it had come from behind you. And so it just basically made a big loop and was trying to get back into where it was.

And I tell you, I have found a lot of deer almost by just like pure instinct. Just when you tracked enough of them. I mean, you know, most of the time you're hoping you don't even. and a half deer falls within 50, 60 yards. It's not that big a deal. But we tracked a deer the other day in Georgia when I was with Ross Chastain. He shot a deer with a rifle that couldn't find any blood, and it was real thick, and we were wandering around.

And basically, I just started walking trails, deer trails, just in the area. And I was just like, eventually I'm going to see blood anyway. finally did, just like skipped from the last blood, which was basically where he shot the deer to like 60, 75 yards. I found a little bitty speck of blood on a deer trail that was kind of a little different direction. Anyway, you know, you just kind of got to maybe not use your, you just got to think about what the animals are going to do

is usually going to want to get back to where he came. Yeah. I mean, I just, I did not want to lose that deer. and I just kept looking, kept looking, kept looking. Really glad I got them. Now, Mo, you hadn't got one yet? No, no. I've hunted several days.

I hunted some during the muzzleloader type season or alternative weapons, whatever they call it here in Arkansas now, and I bow hunted a few times. I barely hunted a couple of days during that once with my bow and then once with alternative weapons. But I've seen a few does, seen a couple of small bucks. but nothing of much size to anything. I've seen a lot of sign where I've been,

where I've sat in some stands, and I've done some little bit of slip hunting in the rain when it was rain in those days a couple weeks ago when it was the end of that mousal odor season. But like Barry said earlier, they're making lots of sign right now. Or they have been there. Probably doing more dough looking for right now

than they are making sign. Yeah. But they're going to be in those areas where that's at or where the does are bedding. Mm-hmm. Barry, you had to call Mo the other day to get some intel. Yeah, well, I was after a big buck,

found a big rub line, and there were 15 scrapes and a 300-yard stretch. Like two miles from the road down on some real thick stuff, right where you would think a big buck would be. That's why I was in there. Hide out, yeah.

And I went in there, a ton of sign. Sat it once had a spike come like 10 feet for me, but that was it. And the next time I sat it at 945, I see back behind me, I see the buck. And he was a big gnarly six point, like crooked rack, but an old buck, like a big, just big, ugly six point. And I was hunting with a self-bow in a ground blind,

and he came like 22 yards from me, trailing a dough, goes into some brush. The dough runs out like 20 yards from me. I bump up, get within 10 yards of earth, and the buck never comes. I think he winded me. It was kind of once the thermals, you know, weren't so dominant

and the wind kind of took over. Anyway, I was kind of stumped at what to do, and so I consulted Moe, and basically he told me to find a finger ridge that's coming down into that. You know, it's way down in a valley on a creek bed, and so as soon as the thermals aren't the dominant, once the wind takes them over,

then it's just swirling in there. And there is, there does happen to be a nice, nice finger ridge coming down there. Any sign in there? I haven't been in there yet. He hadn't been to it yet, but I told him, I said, I bet there's some rubs on that finger ridge. He's probably coming up higher because he's probably bedding up higher because

they like to bed higher. Yeah. He's probably coming down to check for those or check he scrapes, whatever, and that. So I kill several bucks out of way that's fine. Most are signed down low, but kill them way up above where they're making the sign. So, that's a hot tip.

Hot tip. Yeah, hot tip. Tips and tactics. 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 contest. 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 dot com I think you'll be glad you did and you'll find out that the Steve Rinella cut is an easy to use cut for beginning callers who just want to start making good turkey noises and getting action. Isaac, what are you been doing?

Working a lot. Yeah? What do you do for work? Well, you know, I've been making videos and taking pictures. You were hunting with a first light guy. Yep, up in Ohio. What's his name? Kyle Forber.

Yeah. He's the new ambassador. Yep. Yep. Heck of a baseball player, I'm told. Yeah. I've watched him play ball. Yeah.

He's got a great property up there. and we did not do any good. Their rut hadn't really... You were just hunting for like one day though. Two days, yeah, it was pretty tight. Yeah. Did have a fun experience happen, a new experience. We were hunting this big timber right off a food plot,

maybe 200 yards, not seeing anything. And this little button buck bolts straight into the woods from the food plot at us, gets to within 20 yards, hangs up, then comes right up, starts licking the ladder stand to the settler on, makes two full circles, comes back, licks the ladder stand again, and then goes back to the food plot. Wow. What do you make of it?

Witchcraft? Yeah, absolutely. There was no reason for him to come in there. I didn't see anything in the food plot that chased him in there or anything. He just came straight to us on a B-Lond. He must have smelled you. He liked it. Yeah.

It's been a while since we've talked to. thought any new tattoos no new tattoos oh just all the same old standards um yeah i don't i don't think there's much news fit to report i've been hunting a little did did a little guiding up in uh wyoming for mule deer and antelope oh really guide yep nice that's cool yeah successful hunt yeah tagged out all my hunters so i'm easier than others it it is remarkable i think it's skews and I think we're in a weird world. I think there are a lot of people who like to hunt that don't hunt or have as much experience hunting as us, but just some remarkable people.

All of them great and friendly and I really enjoy it. The clients. Yeah. But I had a guy show up and say, I got a new barrel put on my gun. I haven't shot it yet. What? Okay. We're going hot in this afternoon.

Yeah. He said, do you have something I can shoot at? that on the property. And I was like, tell you what, I'll bring my gun. And we'll start off with that. I know it's on. It's on out to 400 yards. And maybe if it gets slow midday, we can shoot at something. But I don't, we're shooting my gun. We're not shooting your gun. You have to shut it. Like, it's a remarkable thing. He was okay with that? Yeah, yeah. And he shot a deer. He shot a good deer. With your, with your gun. Okay. And it ended up being a layup shot at like 140 yards, this, you know, 160 inch 4 by 4 was bedded 140 yards from the road and just looking out.

Yeah, I have two friends I work with that had went, they didn't go together. They went separate, but they went to Wyoming on mule deer hunting a couple of weeks ago. And they both tagged a mule deer. One of them really nice of them was just a smaller mule deer, but they were both. Had good hunts. They saw several mule deer and said they had really a good time. Wow. It's incredible up there.

It's funny hunting. I've only ever hunted public land. there and it can be a little hard. A lot of it's landlocked and what's not is pretty overrun, right? And so I'm taking these guys hunting and putting them on deer that are much bigger than I've ever shot. I have never shot. So private land? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So the way it works in Wyoming is you have to be a licensed guide working under a licensed and insured outfitter. And he had a couple of leases and stuff. Nice. Yeah. Incher. That's cool. That's cool. Well, deer stories.

Some of my favorite episodes of the year are the Bear Greece deer stories. I've been trying to figure out, we've done this five years now, and every year we've had, I think, at least two deer stories episodes. Usually there's between five and seven stories on each episode. I would like to, I wish somebody not me or not like a part of our group, could analyze these stories to help me understand what kind of stories that we like to tell. Stay with me. There's a million dear stories.

Bear with you. Please bear with me. Dear with me. Dear with me. This little idea may come to fruition in 2027. After the book. after the point. No, you know, because when I,

I find when I sit down with people and Josh has been helping me gather stories, I look at someone that I've come to them, and maybe they don't know a thing. Many of the people that have been on some of these episodes had never even heard of Bear Grease or podcasts at all. And so I'm like, and they go, well, I mean, I've been like deer hunting my whole life.

Like, what kind of story do you want? And, like, what would I say to them? because I'm not necessarily looking for a big buck story, but I might be. I mean, one of the best stories that I personally have is the story of my saga with moose. And really, it's a story of the patterns of a really big buck. There's a buck that my neighbor ended up killing, you know?

Yep. And so, like, I'm very interested in, like, a great deer story that has some great deer behavior, something unique, something that deer did that you never would have predicted that he would do. Yeah. Like that's cool. But then also the story of Gary Farmer on this episode, who the story wasn't even about deer hunting. It was, he was taken, they'd done a deer drive.

He was taking a nap. His buddy pulls up on a mule and, you know, says, hey, hop on, let's see if she'll ride double. I mean, the story wasn't even about deer hunting. And when he told me that, I was like, that's a great story. Yep. Anyway, any thoughts on how you would describe to someone? Like, if you brought your best friend that didn't know any of this and you said, you got to tell Clay a story, what would you say to him?

I think there's two types of stories that really do it for me. And it's things that are humorous, not necessarily side splitting, but like where you screw something up or something goes awry or whatever, like that mule story or I think this oftentimes comes up more in the turkey hunting stories but still in deer stories

the things that are sentimental or things that carry weight for something beyond just the hunt yeah and like I was just before we started here I was saying like some of my best

deer and certainly my favorite stories happened like that like my favorite deer I ever shot. It was a 140-inch mainframe 8 that had broken off both its G-1s. Just rubbed them slick. So it's really a six-point.

Technically, it was illegal when I shot it because I was in a county that had a four-point on one side restriction. And I remember, like, walking up to it. Law of statute. Yeah. Statute of limitation.

I remember walking up to it and being like, well, I was with my dad, I'll tell you that. But I was like, dad, this isn't legal. And he's like, that's not what that rules about. This guy is clearly a very mature dominant. Oh, that knew what to say.

Yeah. But we were walking in. We're walking this road in, right? And there's this bedding area right up next to it. And you can't get through it without blowing out east here. If you're walking in the middle of the day, it's like they're bedded 10 yards from this little path through here. And so we're walking up to it and fully expect to blow out some deer. Three or four does come through and there's this little spike standing in the middle of the road.

And I have my camera on me walking with that. and I bend down on my knees and I'm getting a picture because he's just standing there all pretty in the middle of the road and I'm about to snap the picture and dad's like, are you going to shoot that deer?

I'm thinking, no, I'm not going to shoot that deer. I would never shoot that deer. And I'm like, no, what are you talking about? And he just reaches down and grabs my head and turns it.

And this guy is just standing there like the king of the forest right next to the road, still in the bedding, area. He hasn't bolted out there yet, but he's standing there like, uh, I've never encountered something I can't handle and you guys are no different. He's just proud and this is my spot, right? And he just stood there and I pulled up my gun and I shot him and it had nothing to do with skill. I did everything wrong. But that's the type of story that I'm like, that's really special

to me and I will always remember it. Cool that it was a good deer. But just being there with my dad and screwing things up and still worked out. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. been asking you that. Are you going to shoot that deer? Yeah. Are you going to shoot that deer? I'm looking at this 10-inch spike. You're like, okay, dad, boom.

Bair, what would you describe? What kind of deer stories are we looking for? Because I actually got to, I actually got to now do a little cleanup work with what Isaac said. When I sit with somebody, I tell them I don't want your sense. Because your story is not necessarily sentimental. I wouldn't call that sentimental. No, sentimental may not.

I'm not disagreeing. That's a great story. You define sentimental then. Well, okay. Here's the other thing that happens when you sit down with people. I say, tell me your best deer story. And they go, oh my gosh, you are not going to believe this story claim. Are we recording?

And they go. It's true. It's true. Man, this. My six-year-old son, it was his first time to hunt a deer. And they tell me about their six-year-old son killing the deer. Which, dude, I have four kids. I've spent, I've dedicated a lot.

lot of my life to getting them into the outdoors and it's incredibly gratifying. It doesn't make for that compelling of a story usually. You're talking about a sentimental story where the sentimentality really only hinges on that person. And not take anything away from a kid or any of those stories. There's a place for that story. And that's part of my point on what kind of stories are we telling on the Bear Gris deer stories because they've got to have a hook, they got to be exciting,

they got to have a punchline. I think part of it, too, I'm answering my own question. Okay. I think part of it too, I told Josh the other day, I would almost rather pick the person I want to tell me a story.

I literally told somebody the other day. I said, these deer stories are 30% story and 70% storyteller. Oh, yeah. Yeah, and it's not even like bells and whistles of storytelling. It's not like everybody has to be like an Andy Brown

that gives the sound effects and the details, though. But it's the character of the person. Yeah. Like, like, it's the way they sound. It's the, it's the authenticity in their voice. It's the, anyway. When I say sentimental, I'm thinking, well, initially I went to that turkey story of the guy in Tennessee

where he took this, no, took the strap off his gun. and left it that's a great story that's it's not like saccharine sentimental it's not like yeah yeah yeah yeah it's like the relationship or in this dear story one

the uncle Ira what did he call him Ari Ari Ari Ari Ari Uncle Ari the story of him just that whole like that connection to someone else

that thing that transcends this I think that's what I mean by sentimental but she's a great example of the storyteller talking about dipping and he used the word wretched.

Retched. Are you read out of a wretched in there? Yeah. We need to do a deer story like an all-star deer stories. Yeah, it's time probably. Yeah, I mean, because over the past five years, there's been some really good ones.

Well, I think people would vote on different ones. Because I'm always surprised when I, to me, there's always one story in the episode that's like the best. Like, if you had any other thought, I would think you didn't understand deer hunting. But clearly that's like myopic view of your perception of how you evaluate life, which I'm joking when I say that. But there's always one that's just like really clear.

And then I'll talk to somebody and they'll be like, oh, I like that one. And they're all good or they wouldn't be on there. Right. You know what I mean? I would say overall deer stories and turkey stories are the podcast that I get the most feedback on. Positive, negative? Like people love dear stories and turkey stories. Okay, let me pass something by you on picking the storyteller.

I feel like there are people who are exceptionally gifted with storytelling. And oftentimes, the craziest things happen to those people. They have a propensity. Yeah, some people. Yeah, my uncle Scott is that way. Incredible storyteller. He's a big old guy, always wears overalls. And the...

This stuff happens. call him snake bit, right? He just, you know, he was building his house and nailed his hand to his roof. And hearing him tell that story is incredible. But just him fiddling with a climber and getting his knees hyper extended because he slipped out there. Sounds like he's got some coordination issues. Oh, definitely. For sure. Going to the bathroom and feeling good about it while hunting and then putting his coveralls back on and realizing that he had used the sleeve. Yeah, that happens. And constantly, It's always happening to him, and he's an incredible storyteller. But I'm like, I could count up on one hand, maybe this quality of experiences in this realm that I have had.

And you seem to have this every week. Kind of like the guy on the story of the stories of this second episode where the guy's dad loves to hunt and loves to do all that. His son says he can't hit the broadside of a barn. Oh, listen. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Jordan. Bear, what was your favorite? story and I kind of want to open it back up because we didn't have a render about episode one

which had some incredible stuff it had it had uh Andy Brown uh about Uncle Ari but mainly it had Johnny Johnson's story about giving away that big deer and had the stories about the deer camps too well so that was on uh the second one okay right you're talking about the first well I'm just saying I'm opening it up to all the deer camp stories with Matt Taylor has to be my favorite. Because of deer camp. Well, yeah, and I've got, I can go to their deer camp a lot. And those stories, so Matt Taylor's son, Weston, is one of my good hunting buddies since.

It happens to be the eagle. The eagle. He's the eagle. Yeah. Yeah. If you see the eagle pull up in your hunting area. If you see that. Forget it. He has the bald eagle and the, in the American fire on the back.

He has a shirt that says, I am the pressure. Yeah. He is. He's almost tagged out already. He's got one buck tag left. He lets, no mercy. He does have the longest running, he has a wild hunting statistic.

He has never passed a deer in his life. He's never lying in a year. Never once. If he sees and he shoots him. He's on public land his whole life. That's no exact direction. Bat tailors. No, I'm serious.

Like he's, every deer he's ever seen in the woods while he had a gun, he killed it. He's killed like 21 deer or something, right? My man does not know what a deer walking away looks like. What's that? He's a flag. He's like, I saw something weird in the woods today. There's a white flag right.

I know what it was. But anyway, so I've gone to that deer camp. Maybe since I was, I think I was 14 the first time I went there. But they, those three stories, whenever I heard the first one about the antler getting shot, I was like, he better tell the Tannerite story. He better tell the deer jumping out of the truck story because it's just like those stories are just so iconic. The greatest hits.

And they kill like very consistently giant public land bucks. I mean, almost every year. They've got a wall where the, you know, like whoever kills the biggest buck every year gets a hat. And they've got a wall for like 30 years worth of bucks. And you go look at all the pictures. and they've got some giant bucks that they kill on public land. And like, I mean, they tell those stories here and there,

but like these stories are, you know, like the deer jumping out of the back of the side-by-side. Yeah. They get back and he's not there, you know. So those had to be my favorite just because it's like the way they hunt is a very tough way to hunt, but they've, what I like about it is they've done it for so long. They've got a lot of tradition in their camp,

and it's like a, they just have a really neat camp and I feel like it's kind of portrayed well through those stories of kind of like what, what's really, like what the camp is really about there. Yeah,

yeah, I thought Matt, Matt's stories were, were great. Was the Tannerite guy, the same guy that got kicked in the face? Yeah, same guy.

And the same guy that, what was that other story? Well, those were the two stories about this, this Cody, you know. Yeah. Yeah.

Matt's story, that story could have had a way different outcome. I don't know if when you're listening from a production standpoint, like when Matt starts telling the story of him smoking, like Marv on Home Alone.

Yeah. There's like this real lighthearted, like, do-do-do-do-de-de-d-d-d-d-d-d- music. And the story could have been, and the guy was blind. Right.

And lost. Disposing of explosives in a fire is a crazy move. It just was one of those no-brainer moves. Yeah. But, Josh, what was your favorite story of all of them? You know, I really like Johnny Johnson's story because I think a lot of that, that respect for older people is starting to slip a little bit. And I think that that one was a little sentimental to me.

Yes, yes. I had great appreciation because it was no, like it was no question. Oh, he shot the deer. You know what I mean? Yeah. And I appreciate that about it. And that would have been at a time that Johnny wasn't necessarily the greatest guy in the world, but they still had respect for this old man.

And I think that means something to me. Man, if you hadn't listened to that episode, look up what episode number that is, Josh, if he can. But that story is one of the most unique. And what was so cool about it to me was Johnny, he didn't want. to tell me that story. That's what I was going to say. The setup, because if he had been like, I got a story for you, check out how good I am. Right. Well, and he, you know, you said he kind of told it to you just by chance. It was totally by chance. I wasn't even at his house. It was when I went to his cab, his place to get him to tell me about, like his whole life, which was one of the coolest

episodes of 2025. Episode 314, Confessions of a Former Outlaw. Okay. Now that was that one. I was saying, what's the deer stories episode. So Johnny had episode 314, which is Confessions of a Former Outlaw. I think in my mind, one of the coolest stories that we've ever told. And then the deer stories won. But yeah,

so I was at Johnny's to talk about turkey hunting, and I was just looking at his wall of deer. And there was one that was the biggest, just clearly the biggest. And I just said, hey, is that the biggest deer that y'all have killed over in this part of the country? Kind of just trying to get a feel for how big the deer were.

because sometimes you go into people's place and you see a bunch of deer on the wall and they go, oh, these aren't the big ones. The big ones are in my living room. Yep. That's actually pretty common. Yeah. And they go, oh, yeah, these just in the barn are the ones that didn't make it to the shoulder mount.

You know what I mean? Yep. And, I mean, they were a huge deer. So I was anticipating him telling me this is the biggest one. It's like I'd say 150-type inch deer. And he said, yeah, that's probably the biggest one. except for, you know, we gave one way.

One that's probably bigger than that we gave away. And then he just started talking about the other deer. And I was like, hey, wait a minute. Let's circle back. Tell me what you mean by I gave it away. And he just went, oh, God, we all kind of shot at the same time. And, you know, this guy killed it. And old man, I mean, he was just like, let's keep moving, Clay.

This is not that interesting of the story. And so when we sat down and he had the recorder on, I said, You got to tell me the whole story. Give me the whole story. And so he did. And it was pretty phenomenal. 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 Phelpsgamecalls.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 calls.

who just want to start making good turkey noises and getting action. I actually had another story on, this is kind of behind the scenes. One of the storytellers, I won't tell who had a story that they were going to tell me and did tell me that was spurred on by Johnny's story because it was the opposite. Two guys shot and there was a major conflict over who killed the deer. and to the point that one of the guys went and put his foot on the rack and said, okay, well, I'm just going to break the rack. And, you know, you can take half and I can take half or something like that. Oh, real Solomon.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, no, no, you can have it. You are the true mother. Yeah. Yeah. So it was a real ugly story, though.

I mean, it was like, you know, just guys just mad at each other. Kill the energy of the podcast. Yeah, it was, and so anyway, it just didn't really fit, but there's a lot of stories that don't end like Johnny's did. But I also think that there's a lot of those old guys that, like Ernie and Matt's story, who doesn't really care about the horns that much, which is bizarre to me.

Louis-Dell and Charlie Edwards, the turkey hunting outlaws that we did the series on genuine outlaws, those guys were deer hunting. and their whole life, I mean, killed a lot of deer. And they never kept the horns. Really?

I mean, they'd give them away to people. Their horns are just scattered throughout the county. I talked to Stoney one day. I mean, when I was doing that interview and I was like,

what's the biggest deer your dad ever killed? And he said, oh, he killed a giant one time. You know, big, you know, he described it to me. And I mean,

I feel like he was describing a 160-inch, maybe bigger. type deer. And I was like, man, I'd like to see that. I want to get a picture of it. And he's like, oh, well, we don't even have it. Don't even know where it is. He said, that gave it away. I was like, gave it away? And he's like, oh yeah, he said, Clay, he said, those deer, when those horns are stacked up at our camp the week of deer season, he said they mean something to us. Because when they kill a deer, they put the horns on the woodpile. And he said, when we pack up that

next Saturday to go home. Those horns don't mean a thing to us. And I just kind of give him away. Even to this date, Stoney says that about himself? I don't know. I mean, he'd probably keep a big one. I mean, I don't really know. He just said that's the way his dad and them were. And he

was talking about himself when he said that doesn't really mean that much to us. But I think the culture around keeping horns is way stronger today than it than it probably was in the past. I mean, I think people want to keep a set

of horns today. Yeah. But I know Mo Shepherd does. My dad, though, give away several sets of horns. He even killed. He used to go out west in Colorado, and he hunted Wyoming, Colorado, Montana, elk hunted mule. He killed some big mule deer.

And he'd bring him home and he'd show them off. And then I remember when I was like 10 or 11 year ago, some people came by and he was showing them in the horn. horns of a big mule deer he'd kill and they said well those are nice horns he said well do you want them they said yeah we'd like to have them to take home or do whatever and he just give them to him and i remember him doing that several times when i was a kid growing up uh huh uh he didn't think much about the horns you know so yeah can't eat them yeah what was your favorite story moe which one

stood out to you really like the one that you're all were talking about you know but as uh to hit on another base i really like the one of uh Waylon Valines. Mm-hmm. I mean, even if it hadn't been a monster buck, that's the way it all took place. Him hunting, him missing it, not getting to go back for a while and going back. And that's what he done, set on one of those finger ridges. Did you hear that in the story, Bear?

Mm-mm. I didn't notice it. Yeah. Him and his wife went with him, and they went and sat on a finger ridge away from where he had, because he said it looked like a better place to maybe ambush a big deer. another good deer. And anyway, that's where he wound up killing it. And it's one of them where it don't happen very often.

It's happened to me twice my whole life where I walked up to a deer and it's a lot bigger than what I thought it was when I put my sights on it or slung an air at it or done something to it. And that don't happen very often. And it happened for sure on his. That deer, I wish you could see it. It truly is just giant. It doesn't look like it came from Ozarks.

It's a mainframe 8. Eight point. I mean, just like a, imagine. just a clean 8 point now it does have the number of kickers but they're but they're uh just and i think they're on the g-2s i can't remember had some maybe some on the base as a few but just i mean i don't i can't remember how long the tines were is that way over 12th he said like it was six and a half at the base and four at the tips yeah i'm out to where they flasked out on the end just just just kept its mass and uh yeah and this is just on this old rocky ground over here so

Yeah, that was a good, that was a good story. That was a great story. Like I said, the way the whole thing transpired, it was really a great story, and then them dragging it out. And then he even made that comment, you know, even though he's got that deer and got those horns, I don't know if he's got it mad or what, but he even made that comment. I usually don't never hunt for horns. I just hunt for the deer because I like the meat. Mm-hmm. And sometimes that's who kills some of them monster deer.

Yep. Yep, yep, yep, yep. what other what other stories were in there had uh father stephen gadbury's story about him and hunting with jesus that was a good opening he was like yeah it drew me you know i thought it was going to be one of these you know deals like hunting with jesus you know oh yeah and he was like actually i mean like for real hey suits yeah yeah i thought that was pretty funny he uh he got a good chuckle out of that one Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Oh, those fighting bucks with... Oh, yeah, Richard Fought. So Richard Fought, he's worth talking about. He is pretty well known. He's been on the Southern Outdoorsman podcast several times. I think one of their Andrew and Jacob's best, like most listened to episodes ever was with Richard Fought. I listened to one of them that he was on.

Yeah, you were on there the other day. Yeah, I sure was. All famous and... Looking at him. Looking good on there. Yeah, I think it turned out really well. Got a lot of comments about that episode, about the rub lines and everything on it. Yeah.

That guy's killed some big deer. Yeah, yeah. He really has. I tell you what, I got to talk to Richard, and I really enjoyed visiting with him because he's real open about it now. He was a pretty rough guy back in the day, and when he was doing a lot of his hunting. and man, he just, he completely turned his life around. And he's a really pleasant guy to be around. He got some great stories, a really good storyteller.

He told us the story. It's not on the episode, but about fist fighting a bear. Yeah, outside of a bar. Literally. Yeah. Fist fighting a bear and losing big time. Yes, yes. Well, that's not entirely surprising.

Yeah. Yeah. I really liked his details. about like the kid carrying the stand in and it clanking against his ankles every time he took a step and then the seeing the was it the blood come out the aluminaac yeah yeah coming out the yeah that's crazy that too i mean like he said he was on public ground and then two bucks of that caliber fighting i i wonder how that deer like if that deer like saw him right there or like if it was just so in the moment yeah just you know out of breath and

and had so much adrenaline pumping that it just didn't even notice him. But I wonder how he even got four steps from a deer. I mean, you'd think that even a... The wind was howling, and, you know, he told the keys to it. I think that was the key, is that the wind was howling.

And, I mean, sometimes you'd be surprised what you can do if it's real windy. And I think when those bucks are that focused on one another, they just lose focus of everything else, you know. And so, I mean, I think he had two things going for him there, you know, where he could just get up to him. Yeah. I mean, I don't know. I agree with that because, you know, it's been several years ago, but I was sitting on the ground on just a little blind place I built.

And I'd been there most morning. It was probably a couple hours after daylight. And I heard racket. And I thought, what is that? I'm out here? And it sounded like somebody banging rocks together. And then, I mean, this was like. in the late 80s, probably 87, 88, 89, and when I could still hear real good.

But I sat there for a while, and then it would stop, and then it'd get louder. And I could tell it was just around the ridge from me. I was on a bench. And so I got up and went, started slipping towards it, slipping towards it. And the closer I got, the ladder it got. Well, I finally got over that crest of that there. It was on like a white oak bench where there's, you know, they're usually pretty open. I mean, you can, there's still some brush, but you can see.

good and out there probably 100 yards. I could see moving, got looking. It was three bucks. And they were fighting, like what his story said. You know, they wanted to get down. I remember when I first saw them, they was two shoving each other, and I was muzzleloader hunting.

I had an old renegade muzzleloader with open sides. I thought, gosh, I got to get closer, you know. And I didn't really know what to do, but I thought, well, they're occupied, and the wind was okay. It was blowing hard that day. And so I started. started slimmed a bit closer about the time I seen moving again and that third buck run,

just hard as he could run and I still remember today, did that real loud, like that and just rammed the side of one of them that was. Really? Really? And spun around and they went to button each other than this one would fight on it. And I just kept getting close and I got about probably 50, 60 yards of them and got down on one knee and got me arrest and took a shot and shot my muzzleloader. And they just kept fighting.

Really? Yeah. And I thought, oh, crap. missed, you know, and back then you got black powder, you got a patch, you got a ball, didn't have all the fancy bullets in. So I go to reloading, and here they come. They start coming towards me, fighting, and then one ram's another, and I'm trying to load and watch the deer and do all that.

Do you know which one you've shot? Yeah, they were all three wound up, I think they would have been eight points, but one was a little bigger. He was, had taller rack, and that's the one I picked out. He was one of the two that was first fighting together. And the smaller of the three is one that run and rammed into the other ones. Anyway, to shorten the story up a little bit, I finally got my gun loaded. And as they was coming towards me, they were probably 34 yards.

They were, the two were fighting. And this one was behind them, the bigger one. I thought, well, why is he behind him, you know? And I got ready to shoot again, and he just collapses. It's the one I'd shot. But he paid no attention to that shot. He was still wanting to fight with those other deer. Wow.

Why haven't you told me this story before, Mo? You just wasted that. This was the best story I've heard you tell. Well, it brought to my mind. I mean, I've got so many stories over the years I've hunted so much. I mean, I just thought it when you all got to talk about. Oh, that's cool. That's cool.

Mo's forgotten better stories than you've ever had. I know. That's true. That's, wow, that's cool. I was going to ask you if you'd ever really seen deer just like. Yeah, I mean, they were getting that, you know, and they weren't monster bucks, but they were nice mountain bucks, all three of them. And like I said, I think I killed the best of them, but I'm not absolutely sure I did

because they were all moving and there's open sides and all that, but I think I killed the best rack one, but they were all, you know, in that class of 15, 16-inch deer, eight points, just good mountain public land deer. Yeah. Wow, that's cool. I don't, I mean, I've seen plenty of deer tickle their horns together. I've probably seen some young deer get fairly serious fighting. But I can't say that I've ever seen like what Richard saw or even like that.

I remember my dad was still alive then. He died in 91 and now it was two, three years before he passed away. But when I brought that deer back home and showed it to him, we were looking at it. There was holes poked in it when they just ended out where they'd been fighting pretty hard, you know, where the other horns. And that may have been from where that small one run into that one I shot. You know, like I said, they were, had to down close to ground doing, you know, shove and push like that. And that one just made two or three loud grunts and just, well, wham, knocked that one from away from the other ones.

Wow. But it's pretty awesome. And the other time I seen that happen was another time I was bow hunting. I didn't kill a deer. But I seen a buck with a dough out in a little clearing in an old home place where I sat and watching some acorns in there. He was feeding on acorns early in the season. and the buck was kind of pilling around. And at that time, this was several years after that,

but I was trying my grunt call out, and I would grunt, and the dough and the buck would both look towards me, and then they just go back to the piddly. He kind of sniffing around how I could do behind her, and she was mainly just eating acres, and they was probably 50, 60 yards from me. I was up standing on an old limb on a white oak tree, hunting with Marie Curve Bow,

where I used to hunt a lot when I could climb trees easy, but I heard, remember hearing, sticks breaking. I looked in a really nice buck came from behind me somewhere and came running, grunting, back, back, back like that. And he ran and knocked that deer down, that smaller buck. And they fought just a little bit. And then he walked over and nose the dough around and they took off with the other direction.

And I didn't ever did see him anymore after that. Wow. Came and took it from her. Yeah. From him. But it wasn't much of a fight because he was a lot bigger deer. But I tried grunting and everything. And he never paid me in no attention once he was with that.

that dough they took off. But that's the two instances I've seen bucks kind of spar off in the woods like that. But the first one was pretty awesome. I've ever seen Deer Fight pretty serious. One time with Lee Walt, whenever I was like a little kid, we saw two. I don't think they were giant bucks, but two bucks. Down on Turner Hill? Yeah, they were racked bucks and they fought a little.

But I've never really seen them other than that. that and get after it that I can think of. Well, we've got one more Dear Stories episode going to come out. I was only going to do two, and then the stories were good, and I like doing these, so we're going to have one more that's going to come out next week. That's some of the best news I've had all day. Wow, okay. You wouldn't believe the people, friends of mine and even family members of people I work with that I talk to on and off that they always asked me throughout the late summer and early fall, are they going to do deer episodes?

Are they going to do deer episodes on bear grease? I said, well, it probably will. I said, you know, I don't know for sure, but I fear they say, well, they, and a lot of people say that's some of their favorites is the deer stories. And like I as we talk about the turkey stories in the spring. They really like them. Well, now that you burned up the best story, we'll cut that. Yeah. We'll have it splice it in.

I'm almost serious. I might tell a story on this next one. Oh. Yeah. Don't tell the same one. I've got it. Yeah. Well, I've told the same story every year.

Well, that's the thing. That's the interesting thing about stories. and when you start going to people time and time again, I mean, I've almost literally deer hunted my whole life. And there's only so many stories that are really great. Yeah. You know, I mean, it's not like you just have unlimited, really unique stories. And most people, when you go to them and say, tell me your stories,

they've got one or two, maybe three, that just are, really great. And then and so, I mean, they're hard to come by. So I'm dipping into

the obscure story category. One of my stories may have to do with an explosion. Matt Taylor brought it to mind. Have you ever heard

me talk about an explosion? Well, in the vicinity of deer hunting? It doesn't ring a bill. Yeah, I think I've told me about I was trying to remember if I ever.

told it on the podcast. Were you hunting near Taylor's Deer Camp? So there I was. Middle of the woods. With Matt, with Cody. Yeah,

I don't know if you've told it on the podcast, but I know the one you're talking about. You told it to me. Yes. I'm thinking about telling that story as a rebuttal to Matt's story. And then, yeah,

so anyway, it's possible you might hear from me. But, man, me and Isaac Neal are going deer hunting this week. Maybe you'll bring a story back. Oh,

that'd be great. Yeah. Last time we hunted for an extended, period of time? No stories. No, none stories. That was tough.

Yeah, we went to Illinois. And this is the first time of my life, and don't you ever use it against me, world, that I went on a fully guided whitetail hunt. I mean,

I just never done that in my life. We were offered. You were invited. I was invited like two weeks before it happened, and it was like, hey, you could go to Pike County, Illinois on a fully guided

whitetail bow hunt. And it just worked. I wanted to go. Isaac went with me to film. And we hunted for six hard days. And, I mean, didn't kill a buck. I think we hunted for seven. Probably.

We were slated for six. And then you were like, let's do one more, which was Halloween. You're right. You're right. Yeah, yeah. And it wasn't the, it was, you know, you can be in some great deer country and not kill a deer. You told me about that trip after you got back. Yeah.

You said it was, it was crazy to be in the, such a place like that and not get any opportunities at anything. Yeah. We saw one shooter far away. Yeah. I think we saw two, actually. Remember the first day we saw the one out of the back of the blind? Yep.

And then we saw one more. Oh, yeah. So, anyway, we're right in the middle of it right now. So Barry Newcomb's been hunting a lot. It's all four bucks yesterday. Anyway, we'll have, we're making stories as we speak. Yep. So, man, thanks everybody for listening.

to Bear Greece and Lakes Backwood University, Prince, this country life. It means a lot to us. Live tour. There's still tickets for five of the six live tour destinations. Birmingham, Alabama,

Nashville, Tennessee, Memphis. Fayetteville, Arkansas. Sold out. Thank you so much, Fayetteville. That means a lot. I'll never forget you because of it. Dallas and Austin. Were you at risk of forgetting Fayetteville? Well, what I meant by that was just in the meteor sphere that I operate behind the scenes. That's awesome.

Behind the scenes, this corporate stuff that happens. They were like, hey, do you think Fayetteville would do good? Because all the other cities are huge. You stuck your neck out. Yeah, and I said, come to our little podunk city. He vouched for Fayetteville. And Fayetteville showed up. baby.

Yep. Yeah. And probably most people that's going to it, they don't even live in faith, me. Yeah. Are you going? Yeah, we got a table. Yes.

We did too, Bob. We got a table. Good. I'm taking my friend Brian Beulie with me. Brian Bealey. He's the one who came and helped me. He drove an hour. He's the other night.

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Good. Good. Yep. So last time, weren't you going to give it away to a random listener or the first person to come to help you? I had a couple.

I had a couple of, I mentioned it to him and he said, I got to get to get to. tickets. I said, sorry, pal, they are sold out. But you might happen to have a connection. We got ours the first day. They come available through the deal. Yeah, they sold out just with the pre-release.

Wow. That's what I'm saying. The first day on the pre-release. Yep. When we got ours. Yeah. Yeah. So the other shows will be really great, too.

They're just in other places. Yep. So, all right. Well, thanks, guys. Mo, good to see you. Good luck, hunting. You all, y'all, good seeing you again, Isaac. Yep.

Of course, Bear and Josh, always good to visit with y'all. Yes, sir. Yep. Well, keep the wild place as wild because that's where the bears look. 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. 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.