Bear Grease - Ep 65: Bear Grease [Render] - Whitetail Antlers, Underground dogs, and Bucking Mules

Episode Date: August 3, 2022

On this week’s episode of the Bear Grease Render, Clay is joined by the familiar crew to discuss the public display of taxidermy in gas stations. Brent Reaves tells us about Waylon’s new found ability to tree a raccoon underground. Isaac Neale shares the perils of cowboy boots. Josh Spielmaker embraces his roll as the Bear Grease Bad Boy. Misty Newcomb raises the collective IQ of the room when she elaborates on doctoral research. Clay fills us in on the roller coaster of training a bucking mule. While Gary laments the lack of chairs in modern Gas Stations.  And you’re definitely not going to want to miss the question one shop owner asked Clay and Brent that inspired a minor existential crisis. Connect with Clay and MeatEater Clay on Instagram MeatEater on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube Shop Bear Grease MerchSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. First Lights fieldware collection is made for the work that happens long before opening day and continues when the season ends. Products built for early mornings, full days and real use. Hard wearing where they need to be versatile where it matters. No shortcuts. Just gear designed for the work that earns the season.

Built to perform, built to last. Check out. First Light's new 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. So Josh is now like the audio bad boy of the Bear Grease podcast.

I got a rep now. I got a reputation. The street career. I think you got a rap. You got priors. Well, he got reprimanded for fidgeting, heavy breathing, drinking on the podcast. Not alcoholic drinks, not alcoholic drinks, but drinking on the podcast. And then, and so we were texting Josh, you know, okay, here's the thing that we all do and we all know.

it when you actually need to talk to someone about something serious and you turn it into like a little bit of a joke you're doing a bit yeah yep you see what I'm saying yeah it's like rather than like call Josh and like yeah front him yeah just like which to me that's the best way to do it oh to brent Reef britt Reeves says that who's never on this print he's not not jokingly I'm like hey stop so so so we send a text thread and we're like oh Josh you're offended Josh, you're offending brain. I think you need to watch yourself. I'm just saying.

No, no. So after a couple of joking text messages about the heavy breathing, it got real quick. Then it was like, Josh is really offended. This is how we create a villain. He is now a bad boy. I'm a megalomaniac. He's adjusting that mic to breathe directly into it.

I'd like to bring up a point like the chairs provided are very noisy. Like, is that our fault? It adds ambiance. I mean, it's not like we're sitting in a recording. studio. It's your office. Clay has attacked Josh. Josh has now attacked back. He says, this is not a recording studio. Wow. That really hurts my feelings, Josh. He said it jokingly. Yeah. He did it in a joke style. What if you had really confronted me after this? Like, Clay, I know you think this is a recording studio. It's not. You think that all the taxidermy

deadens the sound, but it doesn't. I bet that if you took that bear out of here, this thing would sound like an echo chamber. I can't too. I wonder what the like resonance would be if you removed every bear hide from here it would be it's definitely helmet it's seriously echoey it was when you first moved in but now with all the bear hides and the furs I've got the furs absorb a lot three four five six seven eight eight eight bear hides a full deer hide a mountain line hides 18 coon hides a mountain line did you say mountain line a mountain line a black panther shoulder mount black panther shoulder mount bear hide here's got a tick on bear chaps does it really Well, welcome to the Bear Greas surrender, guys.

I'm very excited about today's podcast. I want to just pitch this in right here at the front so that everybody will know. August 2nd through the 4th, this podcast comes out on the third of 2022. There's time left. There's time left. There's a big season opener sale for First Light, FHF Gear, Phelps game calls, and all the meat eater brands. And basically, I'm not going to go through all the exact stuff, but if there was ever time to buy first light gear, it's now.

Big sales on everything that they've got. Also with Phelps, there's some stuff that's even 40% off with the first light. Phelps is having a big, big sale. Their elk bugle that has the built-in diaphragm is revolutionizing elk call. I mean, you know, typically, Josh, you use a turkey-type diaphragm call and then you blow through a bugle tube. I didn't know that. And it takes a little bit of practice to blow it.

Is there a video where I can see? that used like in a home shopping network type of context? Yes, there is. There happens to be two gentlemen that I just, I met them just briefly, uh, Kludnookum and Bragg Reeves that made a little video at a gas station with tax burning in it. You said, come back. We got some work for you. Does first light have any boot cut pants for Isaac? Oh, no. I wish they did. Hey, what would you say to a guy who says, I like to buy my stuff at the last minute and at full price? Like, is this a good opportunity for them? No. If that guy would need to wait to the 5th of August. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Like roll the dice. I don't know if it's going to show up in time. Wait till like, wait

if I was that guy. Okay, cool. But if you want, if you want a good deal. And to get it in plenty of time for the season. Now's the times. Season opener sale. Gary? Well, you know, look how our main man here is dressed in overalls. This is kind of like Dunlap store right here. Yeah. You know, this is an Aniquated way. Don't forget my socks. This is all high-tech stuff yourself. This is all you need is overalls. Right.

And a good attitude and perfect balance. I have all those. And white teeth. And you wear quite a bit of first light. Yeah, I do. All the time. Well, we're just begging them to make us some overalls. Cut that out, Isaac.

I got it. Don't cut it out, Isaac. Don't cut it out, Isaac. If I get in trouble, I'm going to blame you, though. You got it. The last render. So we always, every now, and then describe the structure of our podcast for anyone who might be new.

Every other week, we have the Bear Grish Render, which is where we gather up a group of people to talk about the real Bear Gris, which is our documentary style podcast, which we do every other week. So we produce a weekly podcast. So this week, on the Render, we are going to be talking about our gas station tax germany road show podcast. Very funny. It was very entertaining. Oh, man. Me and Isaac, when we kind of built this idea, and by I built this idea, means I called Isaac and was like, this is what I'm going to do. And he was like, great idea. But it just means a lot when he's like, great idea, do it.

Yeah. So when we built this podcast, I was like, yes, man. I was like, this is, this is going to be good. Why is that dog barking? Tess, push. Oh, my ears. That's loud. I can't take dogs barking. He says that and he has six out of dogs. They're always parking. So I was excited about this because it was just a different style of podcast than we've ever done.

It was, but it was a lot of fun. It was primarily in the field content. We had two feature guests, one of which was Misty Newcomb and one of which was J.B. Shreve, who couldn't be here. He was going to come, but he wasn't able to. Okay. So we're going to talk about that a little bit later. Fascinating character. I've met him before.

Old J.B. Shreve. Introductions. We're going to go counterclockwise this time. To my right, Josh Landbridge Spillmaker. Still as a stone. Still as a stone. The Bear Grease audio bad boy himself, Josh Spilmaker. Gary Newcomb, to his right.

Gary, how you been, man? Excellent. You got a lot to say on this podcast. You know, I can't wait. You're going to tear you in. I'm bubbling over. Good. Jubilation.

Good. To your right, Misty Newcomb. Great to see you, Misty. Always. Have you got a lot to say? You know, I've said a lot. Will you live? I think I have about an average amount to think.

Great. To you're right. Isaac Neal. Yes, sir. Assistant to the producer of the Bear Grease podcast. Yes. Great to have you. Thank you.

I kind of missed the boot cut jeans and cowboy boots. Yeah. Well, I was at a... You went full reverse loss. I was at a show all weekend and I had my boot cut jeans and my cowboy boots on. Did I tell you how I got the cowboy boots? I assumed you lost a bit. Bottom.

Did you... My wonderful father... Take them off of a corpse or something. My wonderful father, Chris Neal, says, you want some cowboy boots? And I said, yes, I'd love some cowboy boots. Thank you very much. He said, my podiatrist said, I can't wear him anymore. I thought he was going to get him from the podiatrist.

Like somebody couldn't. I didn't know what a psychiatrist is. Just foot doctor. Context clues of a foot doctor. Foot doctor. Anyway, so he gave me the boots, right? Love the boots. I was standing on concrete all weekend at a trade show.

And today, I was just like, I'm tired. I'm going with my supportive tennis shoes. That's the reason. I'm putting in his shorts. But I did get this shirt from my dad as well. So it's all sympathetic. Bringing in the spirit of Chris Neal. Yeah.

Great. Great. Well, looking good. Looking good. And then to your right, Brent Reeves. Great to see, Brent. Great to be seen. You're wearing a very nice pair of overalls today.

And a new pair of shoes. Oh. Oh. Oh, my. Bears. Look at these socks. Bears? That's bears.

Yes. Ladies and gentlemen, Brent Reeves is wearing a powder blue pair of trouser socks. Yeah. With bears on it. Decorated. Does that bear have a fish in its mouth? What else would he have in there? I don't know berries.

It's a pattern of bears. Grisleys. These are these are present from Bailey, these socks. She gets me socks with, I got socks with the hound dogs on them. Yep. With trout. You would appreciate them, Josh. Fish, bears, animals.

Yeah. So I like to wear them. Excellent. And who are you? Who are you? My name is Clay Newcomb. Okay. I'm the host of the Bear Grease podcast.

So we're going to talk about the Tax Termy Road Show, but before that, I want to wade through a few things. Brent, tell me about your dog tree in the other night. No, whalen, first cut out of the box, turn him loose, he goes, trees, I look on my Garmin, 150 yards. I walk to the spot where he's at, and he still sounds like he's a quarter of a mile away. And we're hunting up in the woods where we filmed where you guys were at, where we come hunted up with Michael. I get up to the edge of this slew right here, man, it's flat ground all the way in there. So there's no hills. There's not a hollow tree close.

There's not a, there's a slew right in front of me, but there's no beaver dam. There's nothing. I don't understand why I can't hear this dog. It shows him to be at this point 20 feet away. I walk 20 more feet. And I'm standing on this bare ground, flat bare ground in the river bottoms. And this dog sounds like he is a quarter of a mile away.

He just, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh. I was like, I can't, where's my dog? So I'm looking at Michael. I said, Michael, I can't find my dog. And I'm looking at the garment And that thing is spinning around in circles like a ceiling fan I know I am right where this dog is at Or where the collar's at

And then I get to listen And he is barking under my feet What? Under my feet, he is in the ground And I think somebody's got to get a shovel I've got to dig my dog out I walk, I could see Hold up real quick

Yes That sounds like the next Clan-Eucum song Somebody get a shovel I got to get a dog out Just an idea Howlend of the story Could be I'm in the old chicken in the holler.

So I'm 20 feet, 25 feet away from the edge of the slew. And I can see, it's not running water, it's standing water, but I can see the water moving. So I walked over to the edge and laid down and looked under it. And there's a six-inch gap between the top of the dirt and the water. You can see there is a beaver run, a beaver hole that goes up in this bank. And I get down there and I can hear it. And it sounds like Whalen has got a paper towel tube and he's barking through it and barking out that hole, you know. That would be a sight to see if that was true.

I shine my light in there and I can't see anything. It's just water. So I called him. And when he comes out, he looks like he's in a submarine periscope. All I can see is the top of his eyes. And the rest of him is under water at that point. He comes right out, swims out. And I grabbed him by the collar and pull him up.

And I looked at Michael. Michael said, we're just going to say he had the coon. I ain't going down there to check. There it was. And from then, how far in there was he? 15 yards. Oh my gosh.

Yeah. Wow. For real. He was way back in there. Yeah. I mean, it wasn't like he was right on the edge of the bank. He was 15 yards away from the edge of the water. No flashlight.

He's a man. He's a good dog. Okay. So I've got a little bit of a story. Bear Nukamina went this week to get ready for bear season. And we went and we took our mules to a piece of property where we bear hunt. you may have seen us have the mule, the mule videos where we're hauling bait. And we took banjo up there and right out of the shoot, Banjo.

Y'all have seen me post some stuff about banjo, and he's not doing great. Clay and Banjo are in the strained era of their relationship. He's had a little bit of recidivism, hadn't he? Yeah. He's kind of gone. Would you say that he's sort of the Josh Spielmaker of the mule pack? He's the bad boy of the mulepatch. But he, so my history with banjo is, is that he started off really good.

You do remember, though, that there was one episode of the Bear Grease Render that I titled, kicked by a mule because he kicked me when he walked out. That's a strike against an animal if it ever reaches out and kicks him. That's like getting bit by a dog. It's like, wait a, you know, usually you don't give him too many more chances in that. But because he was, it was kind of my fault, I kind of scared him. He wasn't like trying to hurt me. You know, he got a pass.

He kicked me right in the thigh. Well, I started riding him in January, and he was doing really great. First time I rode him, just rode him around the round pen. You usually start riding him in a round pen just as a contained, controllable environment. And I had packed on him. I had done all the, there's multiple training exercises that you do to basically train a mule. Well, I got over, just overzealous with how good he was doing. And so one day back in the spring, I decided, I'm just going to,

ride him out in our small pasture out here. And he was doing fine. Everything was okay. And then I went under a tree and the limbs of the tree raked against my hat and made just kind of a scratching noise. Josh, it would probably be like your mustache like scratching up against the microphone is what it sounded like to Banjo. And so Banjo, it spooks him.

He runs. He makes like just a quick run. and when he does, I kind of tighten down on the saddle just trying to stay on. And when I do, I think that spooks him. And he bucks twice real big. I mean, I couldn't see it. And when you're in the saddle, it feels like a giant, like, you know, rodeo buck. It probably wasn't.

All fours off the ground. And, uh, but he bucked hard twice and I flew off the front. He bucked me out. No big deal. I actually got back up on him and rode him right then just to let him know everything was okay. but since that time, he has been ultra spooky about almost everything. So I started riding him in the round pin again and still doing all my normal exercises,

my lunging, my, I don't really even know what to call it, but there's like five or six things that I do. To be clear, this is not Clay with his hands over his head bending at the knees, not those kind of lunges. That's right. Yeah, it's right. I was thinking you like upright on top of its back doing some sort of horseback gymnastics or muleback gymnasiness. That would have been cool. Go ahead. So anyway, Misty saw that one. Misty and my nephew were in the garden when that happened.

And then two, three weeks later, after I'd worked him a couple times and ridden him a couple times. And I thought, okay, we're over him getting spooky. We're over him getting spooky. We're good. I was riding him. And I'd ridden him for 30 or 40 minutes in the round pin. And just all of a sudden, he just got spooked, unprovoked, spooked is what it felt like. and he bucked two times and I flew off the exact same way.

So he drops his head and spins hard right and I keep going left. But the second time I landed on my feet. Yeah, it was pretty good. That was Monty. Hawkeye Henson's technique. He was a saddle bronch rider, man, could ride the hair off a winged Pegasus. And when he got, and when he come off of that bronch, it was nine miles in the air and he landed on his feet and walked off like a stud that he was.

Really? Yes, sir. Wow. That's inspiring. Yeah, fact check that. What's his name? Moni Hawkeye Henson. Okay, so now I'm scared of banjo, just to be, if I'm being honest.

Yeah, for real. And he is hyper, he's hyper aware of me now when I'm around him, when I put stuff on his back. And I've only got on him a couple of times. and I've actually sent an inquiry out to my friend Ty Evans, T.S. Mules on Instagram, who's a master mule man. And he's supposed to answer my question on his podcast. Oh, great. Basically, I had a young mule that was doing good, rolled him multiple times, everything was okay, bucked me off.

Second time he bucked me off. He's gotten much spooky. And I think I know the answer of what to do is you just got to keep doing the same thing. but so we take banjo to the land to haul all our materials up because i am building this story has some complexity in it i'm building a pit blind for black bears yeah and that's all i'm going to say about that we use decoys roll top like a rice field you're speaking my language now but we have to hand big it and so i had to bring i had to bring a bunch of stuff so I was going to use banjo as our pack animal, which I did. Banjo, I get banjo all packed up.

I get Izzy saddled up. Bear's going to lead banjo and I'm going to ride. And as soon as bear unties banjo from the tree, I said, bear, whatever happens to that mule, I just had a feeling. Just by the way he was acting that he was going to act up. I said, whatever happens, just hold on to him. You're not on his back, so he's not going to hurt you. Just hold on to him. Well, the second I get on Izzy and ride off a little bank kind of towards him,

Banjo gets spooked and just throws a bucking fit. Nobody's on his back. I'm on Izzy. But he, for comfort, is running towards Izzy. And so I'm trying to take Izzy away, and I start, like, trotting down the road to just kind of get away from him and just let him buck it out, and then I was going to go catch him. well he he's just like right up on me and is he just bucking and i mean and and i'm confident that is he's going to get spooked and buck me off which he's never done and anyway finally the darn

thing bucks and just throws a fit and probably five or six big bucks you know and then finally he he's like he quits and he's like okay i'm free and bear drop the lead way to call him out I don't think you should call your kids out on a nationally broadcasted podcast. I'm sorry. I just wish you to hell that. That's all. I'm not mad at him. Anymore.

And the mule just. It wasn't mad at him, but he wasn't happy with it. Banjo has my steel chainsaw in his deal. He's got a pickax, a shovel. He's got all my stuff on him. And he just takes off a running down this road. And we're way out in the middle of nowhere.

He's going back to the truck. Well, we're at the truck. Oh. He's going just somewhere. You ain't even got there yet. He's going wherever he's going. I don't know. Oh, wow.

And so it's always a touch-and-go thing when a mule takes off because if you chase it, they'll just keep running. But if you don't go after them, they keep running too. And so Bear Nukham, though, this is where I'll regain Bears' dignity inside of this. That boy never gets, he never missed a lick. Like his facial expression never changed, his demeanor never changed, the energy coming out of His body never changed. Mine did. I get worked up.

I mean, I was like, I don't cuss, but like most people probably would have been a good time to do it. I mean, I was just like, Bear gets it. You know, I mean, I was being real intense. And Baird just never, never made a move. And anyway, Bairg takes after the mule. And about 10 minutes later, I see him walking back with banjo. And then we go up on up on to where we're going and start digging a pit line for eight hours. Maybe you should have him ride banjo.

Maybe him and banjo would get along. There's just so much happening in this story. I feel like I don't know much about meal training and haven't paid as much attention outside of just filming videos. But I'm hearing a lot, Clay, that I think Ty Evans or not, I could work with you on. Oh, okay. I mean, I just bear being able to get banjo, not sitting in a lot of loose energy. You thinking that you weren't mad at bear. Emotional discipline is what you're talking about.

I can assure you bare new exactly where your emotions were at in that moment. I think there's some things here. Also, I question whether or not you felt I really do. When people have traumatic experiences like wrecks or they always think they remember things exactly how it happened. And they almost never do. Your memory plays tricks on you. Am I right, Britt? That's correct.

Yeah. In those kind of moments. Well, you saw it both times. Well, I'm more heard and turned. So I saw it when you were on your, yeah, I heard. She more herned. I saw like that. Dad, do you have any advice?

Yeah, I think the mule is reading your emotions and reacting. I just thought of that one. I know what Mr. Yeah. I'm not smart enough to come up with that. I was real calm before that. Right. That doesn't matter.

I mean, we're all real calm when our kids are behaving like perfect angels. Do they have a mule barn sale around here anywhere? There it comes. Well, he said if I was waiting for going to say, you need to sell that mule. Yeah, you need to get rid of the meal. I mean, it's just no question. I mean, why monkey with that mule? Well, I think you just have problems with mules.

And I've got years investing this mule. I've had it since it was weaned. And I think it'll be fine. I agree. I don't think we get rid of the mule for being a little jumpy. I think that, I think really. If he just keeps stacking up X's, then, Yeah.

I think that let's try the mule handler first. Like, let's go that angle. Let's get some emotional discipline. I'm just, I'm being a little bit facetious because I know you're not out of control with your mules. You're real restraint. But I think if you're real restraint and your actions, like you don't take action. But I do think those mules have a crazy ability to read.

Oh, they do. To read people. And so even if you're being really self-controlled, they can read if you're. The way that I've heard it described, and I've used some of my words to describe, it is that a mule does not have a complex vocabulary in language in terms of words. I mean, literally, they have just a few verbal noises that they make that do communicate with other things. What they do absolutely communicate with all the time is facial expression, posture,

ears, eyes, mouth, nose. They literally communicate with like the furrow of a brow, the angle of an ear. And the other thing they communicate with is there was their, was their, feet. I mean, Banjo and Izzy, every single day I watch them kick each other. I mean, like, they communicate with that. So, yeah, you're speaking a different language when you're around them in that, and that's what natural horsemanship and these guys that are real good at it are, are good at doing is putting out the right frequency. It sounds like voodoo, but man, it is science. I'm always amazed at how much a mule, any equine animal or a dog,

can pick up on fear or intimidation. Like, I mean, my dogs are big, goofy, have two great Danes, big, goofy, docile dogs that just want to play all the time. If they see someone who's intimidated by them, they want to bark at them. Yeah. But they won't bark at anybody else.

I mean, a two-year-old will come by and they'll just bound over there and lick them, but a six-foot-six big old dude walks by and turns like this and looks at him, they're going, woo-woo-woo-woo-woo. Yeah. It's amazing. Yeah, yeah.

It's like Clay's turkeys that were discriminatory against anything they perceived as weak. They would attack anything they perceived as weak, either someone that had a disability in terms of like a visible disability where they couldn't walk straight, they would go attack that person. Really? Yes. Elderly people, young children, often women. My wife ate. My wife hated that. You're just like a classic bigot.

Yeah. Those turkeys. If you're going to be a bully. You know, pick a fight you can win. I'm wondering if Banjo's a listener of the podcast, a consumer of media and has maybe picked up on this agenda you've been pushing where you're like, your mule doesn't like you, it doesn't have the capacity to love. And Banjo's just, I'll show you. You know? You hurt me.

I'm going to hurt you back. Yeah, emotional. I thought we had something going. And then you're out here telling people, mules can't love, you know. That's right. I'd like to see that it's all about who has the tree. I know what love to is. I have a space horsemanship, a book that I read.

A book that I read years ago before I was even training equine animals talks about a paradigm shift inside of training primarily horses is what the book talks about, but mules too, where this idea that a horse likes you or doesn't like you or that a horse does this thing because it wants to get back at you for you, you know, like not giving enough grain yesterday. Like, basically, these guys, it was a... Is that true or false? Oh, oh, it's complete anthropomorphization.

That's a big old word. We've mapped... If you're going to define relevant, then I think you need to define that. We've mapped human traits onto animals. That's right. Thank you, Isaac. Yeah, yeah. And basically, the two guys that wrote it, I can't remember.

remember their names. Basically, one of them was a neuroscientist, and the other one was a real good horse trainer, and basically the neuroscience guy, which I loved, and I still would like to have him on the podcast. He was like

a horse does not have a place in its brain to love you. But what about in its heart? Right. Exactly. And a brain doctor knows nothing about hearts. 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 Rinella cut

is an easy-to-use cut for beginning callers who just want to start making good turkey noises and getting action. What about Trigger and Silver, man? Yeah, no kidding. Is that? Lomb Ranger and Tonto and Tyn Rogers? Roy Rogers.

I mean, those animals love those guys. Yeah. Didn't even like them. It is actually hard because we had a, we had a mule. And what was her name? The very first one, was it Mabel? Ellie Mae. Ellie Mae.

And we had a horse, Ruth. And Ruth left for a while and wasn't there. And Ellie May was so needy. I would walk out and Ellie Mae would not pay me the time of day. I'd go on walks by where they. the mules are. And I would walk out there every single morning, walk out there with the dogs.

They would walk with me. The mule would just stay off to the side. When the horse left town, I would walk out there and she would come greet me every morning and witty at me every single day. I just, I'm not saying that they love. That's a classic, you've anthropomorphizes these animals because you feel like she's like emotionally lonely.

They're hurt animals. So they want, they have a deep, deep desire. to be with another animal. I'm just saying she winnie. I'm just saying like emotions winning. I mean, I don't know. Maybe I know more about this topic than you.

Yeah, maybe so. Social. To the list. Social animals. It's what we call it. Great. Well, let's talk about this. Let's talk about this podcast.

What was your favorite part, Isaac? I think it was the lady who just like had all the information dialed in on the mounts. Just like, oh, that's a 176. It's like, yeah. Dead gum. Sandra. Yeah, she corrected me.

Yeah. I was like, ah, that's 165, 170. And she's like, no, it's 176. I think, I think, Mr. Boone and Crockett, try 175. Yeah. In a broader sense, like, I enjoyed the whole thing. I enjoyed, we can get to the funeral procession. That was a really interesting thing for me.

We almost took that out, by the way, if you want to get behind the veil. See how the sauce. is made. But I think what's really powerful about this piece is like it, as soon as you start listening, it takes you to all the places in your childhood and growing up and the places in your hometown where you're like, yep, yep, that place is gone, this place is shut down. Oh, interesting. That's what it did for me.

You were thinking about the places you remember with Texarkerman and whatnot. Absolutely. Yeah, Sandra Barrett at Dunlap store in Kirby, Arkansas was really something. She was good. Yeah. It was a lot of fun. Yeah, I wish, I mean, if she was close, I would have been like. hey, come beyond the bearish render.

I can't pull it out of my head. I don't know if you said it on the podcast, but how many of the stops were planned and how many were impromptu. That's a great question. So I think we decided we made 15 stops. And they were totally, they were not random stops. Sure.

Okay. And the plan stops were like three. Okay. Like three of 15 were, like I had an appointment with Clifton Ward, and I had an appointment with Sandra Barrett. That's 20% of the stops for planned. Yeah, maybe just two.

Maybe that's all I had was two that I wanted. Did Hunter know we were coming? The Burroughs? Yeah, I didn't think he did. I thought we surprised him. Yeah. And so, but it wasn't just a random sampling of 15 gas stations. Like we were looking for country gas stations.

We were looking for places like towns that we were. towns that we felt like might have deer heads. But the one Brady Mountain one stop there, north of, well, whatever direction from Crystal Springs, east of Crystal Springs. We literally coasted in there after our vehicle said zero miles left on fuel. We were going down the road and he had the nearest gas station, which was that spot in the GPS.

Or I did and he was like, all right, uh, the speedometer says we've got two miles. of fuel left. How far is that? And I'm like, well, it says here 17. Cross your fingers. Actually, it was like, we were like three quarters of a mile past beyond what the capacity of the car said.

And finally, the car zeroed out and we've got it in sight and we just slid right up to the gas point. Nice. And so that place totally was just random. And we went in there and that's where there was a big mule deer. It was meant to be, man. There was a wood duck. There was a fish.

How do we feel as a big striper? as a general rule about non-native species in gas stations. I mean, I can't talk negatively about it. Still for it. Still for it. I mean, personally, when I see that, I'm like, but it's something different when I see a white tail or something. You know what I mean?

What didn't make the cut was there was a jackalope in there. So we did a little bit on the jackal. Where's the line in non-standard? I bet people do not. I think we need to pause there. Okay. Everybody knows what a jackalope is. That's another song.

Yeah. Everybody knows what a jackalope is. It's a, it's a form of non-standard taxidermy. Yeah, where they take a rabbit, they mount a rabbit and put deer horns on a rabbit. Usually, it's really brilliant. It was a source of great. Conjorn or a confusion in my childhood. The jackalope is a jackrabbit with antelope antlers.

Really? Is that a, is that a brand name? Should we be, are we going to owe somebody royalties for using the word jackalope on the, Deerhorns on it. Well, how many antelopes do you see around southwest Arkansas?

I mean, we'd still call it a jackalope I think so, but the actual jackalope is antelope antlers on a jackalachshunders on a jackbacker. It's kind of like Cotton Tail, white tail there, something.

I think it's a little bit like a generic brand, you know? Yeah, like it's just a little like a weed eater. So this is a string trimmer. That place,

yeah, that place had a big, nice set of dark, dark, a big, like kind of a nice, non-typical like mule deer but it was just a skull it was just a skull plate you know i bet i bet nobody has spoken of that mule deer in 15 years well it'd be nice it'd be interesting to interview the

owner yeah uh and we didn't we didn't meet him we just walked in there and there it was and then so your question was how many scripted stops really just two yep and then there were 15 other ones and i was pretty pleased with the amount of deer horns that that we saw on our trip, though it wasn't like a random sampling. The taxidermy representation of southwest Arkansas, southeast Oklahoma. It was fairly strong. Was that first place you stopped the smokehouse? Was that a gas station?

No. Or was it just like a restaurant? Like we just wanted some beef jerking cinnamon rolls. So I remember as a kid. Who doesn't? It reminded me of going to this country family restaurant when I was a kid, just chalked full of dusty, old taxidermy, all, you know, mangy looking. But it immediately took me back there as a kid.

Brent, what was your favorite part of the road trip? Miss Sandra. You know, you talked about seeing her talking about the deerheads and the deerheads and you think about all the places you grew up and saw. Miss Sandra took me back to the people. You know, there's not a lot of folks like that. her or not I don't see a lot of folks like her anymore I mean she has been a staple at that one place for the majority of her life she knew if you called it if people listening heard that

she was telling clay dear stories and all of a sudden a guy walks in and she stops mid-sentence and says hello billy don yeah yeah yeah that wasn't planned either no gosh I just wanted to bring her home with me yeah and she's just a genuine a good person a genuine person a genuine person And she had so much value in those deerheads up there that there's probably people walking in out of that store that if you ask them, they've probably been in there a million times, some of them. What do you think about all those deerheads in Dunlap store? And I'm like, what deerheads? People are so focused now. Get in, get what you need, get out, and get gone.

I could have stayed there all day and listened to her talk about the different things. On the front of that, and I made a little mention of it, there was on the front of the cash register was a, pictures from old pictures, new pictures of kids, grown-ups, folks that were, you know, graduation pictures or engagement announcement. And I asked her, I said, these are not all families. Oh, no, this is just part of our community here. We're all family. It was just, it was so cool because I grew up in a place like that.

I made mention that her stories were rivaling any of those ever told on the Bear Grease podcast. Yeah. What do you call it when someone gets the? There's a term for athletes that get in the zone, and they're just like almost operating at like a supernatural level. What do you call it, like, free flow? They call it flow in the work.

Flow, okay. Let me, okay, so Ms. Sandra, when she started telling the story, towards the end, it was like she was in the flow. And her voice picked up the pace, and she was like, and then there she was, and then I was coming through there, and I said, I will spank your butt. She threw a squalid fit She was great

When she really got fired up Like she would talk to you just like real normal Just like yes this is Don Kelsey killed this one And then by the time the end She was like just like She was just ripping on the stories And we couldn't include them all

She told us I think every single story And a couple of them She didn't know the full story But she knew all the details that were known Like that deer came from this place And this man and it's been here for this long. There were 10 deer, so you guys only heard like three stories.

Yeah. But yeah, she was a super sweet lady. And I just like cold called her. And one, and, you know, just said, hey, this is who I am. This is what I'm doing. You know, she didn't know anything. And I just, and it's hard to describe to someone on the phone in a gas station. Like gas station conversations on the telephone are not long.

It's just like, hello, Dunlap store. You know, it's not like they're just going to sit there. Yeah. Yeah, and there's people coming in and out, yada, yeah. And so here I am trying to say like, hey, we would like to come to your store and interview you about your deerheads. Like, I could, and she was real sweet, but I could tell us she was like, these guys are weird. Yeah. Yeah.

And I was like, okay, we'll be there tomorrow about 10 o'clock. And, you know, Brent will be wearing her overalls in the John Deer cap. You'll know who we are when you see us. No, she was real nice. But that was neat. And then Clifton Ward, Clifton Ward was a neat old guy. He had that whole gas station covered in deer.

And the biggest coincidence of the whole thing was we were in there talking to Clifton Ward. And the man who told me about Clifton Ward was Rusty Johnson, who lives in northwest Arkansas, which is four hours from there. Rusty Johnson's dad lives in Texarkana, which is hours from Dirks. we're in there talking to Clifton Ward,

who I'd never met before, but knew through the Johnsons. And Jack Johnson walks up. Jack Johnson is a Boone and Crockett score. I had just asked the man, you know, we'd just guessed on the score. Jack Johnson goes, Clay? You can hear him go, Clay?

And I turn around like, Jack. And anyway, he was like, just passing through. I mean, it's, in anyway. That is pretty crazy. It really was. That's Rusty's dad. Rusty's dad.

I mean, I said that. Yeah, Rusty's dad was Jack Johnson. But, Josh, anything stand out to you? Well, coincidence enough, today, I was listening to this podcast again. And right before I get to the part where Brent talks about the funeral procession, I see the first funeral procession I've seen in two years. Right in front of me, the officer's lights are on. I look up and I thought, oh, I better stop before I realized, I thought it was just an officer coming down the road.

And I realized it's a, it's a funeral procession. I've ripped my hat off and pull over. Oh, did you take your hat off? Oh, yeah, I did. Now, would you have known to do that before? I didn't, I never thought about taking my hat off. I mean, I've always pulled over. You wouldn't take your hat up.

No, when I was real disappointed, who is your dad? He didn't teach you that stuff. I'm going like, come on, man. Well, yeah. So the funeral processions. I thought that was a nice little tidbit thrown in there. You like that. Yeah. Okay.

I was like, it's like a little PSA right in the middle of the podcast. Yeah. Yeah, it was, I wanted, I wanted the podcast to feel like a road trip, you know. That was the soundscapes of the podcast were a nice change. Like I can hear the squeak of a door opening and the bell ring when you go into it. Like all those little. Like the atmosphere we try to create in here. Exactly.

The zip ties. How long was the road trip? Okay. How long was that road trip? What time did y'all leave? What times did you get back? I left. I was in Alma by 7 o'clock, so I left here about 6 o'clock in the morning.

And I got home about 9 o'clock at night, and we pretty much drove the whole time. And I picked up Brent and Alma, and then we went from Alma to Crystal Springs to Sunshine, Kirby, Derrick's, Hayworth, Oklahoma, antlers. Moyles, Oklahoma, and then back up through Fort Smith, and then back to Northwest Arkansas, Brent went back to his house. Are you kind of like a gold digger? I don't know what the right word would be, but it looked like Brent funded the whole project here. Yeah, who did I tell my receipts? Yeah, Brett bought me a few drinks.

You have to stay hydrated. I'm not sure how that happened. What all? convenience store items were consumed on this trip well by far the best and it wasn't convenience store we're coming from burrows was that there was a center roll and we put pictures on instagram but as big as a cow patty and we had he gave us two and we

we eat one all day took us all day to eat one and then at the end of the trip we cut the other in half and he brought some home and i took some home we're still eating on it but they had some some some beef jerky that was crazy good. Oh my gosh. That stuff was good. And then we had a bologna sandwich at Ms. Sanders.

I don't know how. Which I paid for. Yeah, finally. That was the meal lip sandwich from. Yeah, see, that didn't make the cut. We gave a wildly exciting audio version of a bologna sandwich being made that somehow didn't make the baby-by-play. Yeah.

A bologna play-by-play. You know, it was cool about that store at Dunlap store. when Alexis saw the video that you put on Instagram, but she said, I recognize that store. I've been there. I thought, you have been in Dunlap store.

Yes, her grandfather, A.T. Oliver was a church of Christ preacher in southwest Arkansas. And he, in Murphy's Borough, and he loved stopping in that store and getting that hand-dipped ice cream she talked about. When they had his funeral, the whole family goes down there. So there was three van loads of them.

And to honor him on the way back, they all stopped there in Delap's store and got some hand-dipped ice cream. She said, I've been in that store. Wow. That's pretty cool. Dad, what was your favorite part? I just enjoyed the relaxed nature of the whole thing. It brought back a lot of memories about Mr. Petty's, where I lived in hot springs. You could go two blocks in any direction, and there would be a little store.

They didn't have deer heads in it. But, you know, and then as I got older, I said, convenience stores have come in and these things disappear. So as you look, I enjoyed Misty's social capital deal. And I kept thinking, what is replaced this? Because something has replaced this part in a community, the old store. And coffee shops is about all I could. You know, you got church, you got civic clubs, you got a lot of stuff going on. it bring people together you got parades you got all kind of stuff going on that pull communities

together and a lot of times chamber of commerce has helped but in model of small town the coffee shops are a big deal you know you'll walk in a coffee shop and there might be 10 guys sitting around do you go down there and drink coffee no i don't i go in occasionally and just see see these guys but i don't you know i'm too busy goof what are you doing I'm just a deadbeat man and I've become really good at it. He's driving his side by sides to the golf course. I'll tell you what really disappointed me. I mean, I just couldn't believe two guys of y'all's stature would walk into a store,

a station that didn't have any taxidermist at all and not harass them a little bit. I mean, really, I mean, I can see that as humorous as you guys can be. I see you think we should have confronted them. I think so, man. It's a fair confrontational rendered. Hey, man, I love your little store here, but where's your dead gum dare heads? Clay stowed all the toilet paper out of the bathroom. We did a little graffiti on one of them.

We didn't put that on there. We went in the back and spray painted stuff. Yep, good. No, I'm just kidding. No. That's a good. I take that criticism. Yeah, we should have confirmed.

We just walked out of there like a couple of little stolded ground squirrels. Just went back to the car. We were eager to get to the next spot. The toilet paper, stealing the toilet paper, made me think... That's really not true. We didn't do that. No, yeah, yeah, yeah. Sure.

An issue that wasn't brought up on here, and I felt like could have played an integral part in this conversation, especially with Mr. Shreve, is bathrooms. That was like the number one thing my mom talked about with gas stations growing up. Does that place look like it? It has a clean bathroom? or not. Oh, right.

Like in the idea of trying to get people to stop at your store. Right. Yeah. Just like, that was item number one. You'll see that. Everytime. On road signs now. CLEAN bathrooms.

Yeah. Mom approved bathrooms. You might find an inverse correlation, which means as cleanliness of the bathroom goes up, taxidermy goes down. I don't know why, but that's my gut feeling. I know it's an unpopular opinion. Okay. Some things you just don't too.

If you go to a place and need to use the restroom, do you have to buy something? Oh, a lot of people mandate it, like bathroom to pain customers only. Yeah. Stuff like that. I just feel this internal compulsion to do it. Yeah. I'll, like, go buy a bottle of water or something. Brent and I.

Is Brent shaking his head no. Yeah, yeah. I don't think it's a moral thing. I don't think I'm superior. I'm just, I'm trying to put it out there and see people's feelings. Thoughts? I like to contribute. I like to be a financial contributor.

The reason I brought it up is you went into that one gas station, no taxidermy. You didn't want to feel bad. You bought a Sprite you didn't want. Yeah. We did. It was primarily because we walked in there and there were like eight people behind the counter watching us. Yeah. Can we help you?

And I'm like, we may have been the first customers that day. Yeah. Oh. So I wonder if there's a link between customers in rural communities and deerheads. Can you do a follow-up episode where you can? go back and you're like, we're here to help you out. We've got a trunk full of taxidermy. Let's throw it up for a week.

Wow. See what happens. That's a good idea. We could fill our vehicle up with taxidermy and go around and see if people would let us hang. Yeah. Man, I can't. That actually makes my stomach tighten just a little bit.

It was a little, it was a bit of a stretch time or two going in these gas stations, just cold turkey, like asking them about stuff. I mean, it's not, it seems like, well, yeah, Clay, you would. have been comfortable talking. No, I wouldn't have been. I had to... It's the sign of the times. And I don't know what it is. But maybe it's the fast-paced life or the disconnect that people have, but you don't walk into a store like Ms. Sandra's store. And we didn't walk into a store. I don't think that anybody was rude. Most of people were welcoming. Can I help you, you know?

Sure. But you get a general feel. And when somebody is actually glad to see you and know that you're coming in, And we got to from like that one place in Oklahoma, the ladies were working there in that little store, two stores together that had no idea about any of the deer heads. Hanks, exactly. They were like, hey, y'all come on in. What can we get you?

And we started talking about deer heads. And they looked at each other like calves looking at a new gate. They're like, what are these folks doing? But once they figured out what we were doing, man, it was all they could do to help us. Yeah, yeah. They were pretty, they were really helpful. So a lot of places. They weren't, they didn't slow down when we figured out what we were.

Yeah. And that's what I think. that's what makes it what makes it different. Used to folks like her, those two ladies and Miss Sandra and all the other folks that we saw there, that was 100% nearly every place you would go. And now we talk about it because it's not. It's different. When you were talking about Ms. Sandra and the pictures up on the register, right,

it made me think like that's social media pre-social media. Right, exactly. And I'm not here to like just talk bad about social media. I think there's a lot of good and positive and upside potential to it, but it is a force that can silo us, make us not as connected, make us want to say things that are mean-spirited or whatever because there's no in-person repercussion. It sort of tears at the fabric of some of our community. But when you go to the gas station and you see the pictures and you're interacting with people face-to-face, it builds those things. Is that in that vein of social capital that you're talking about? Or is that not related at all?

No, I think it's in that vein. And I think what Brent's talking about, you know, you don't want to be too nostalgic about the past because the past had stuff in it that, you know, whenever you talk about a place of connection, a place of community, the next question is always for who? Yeah. Was everyone in the community really allowed in that space? Sure. So in some ways there have been improvements, but overall there has been a generational shift across races, across different cultures.

And this is a North American thing. Most of the research that we've seen is North American, but a generational shift in all the things that Gary just named, parades, church membership, civil, civic organization membership. And even when there's still membership, people are replacing, for example, I was reading this week about people are essentially, replacing doing for and doing with doing on behalf of or doing with with doing on behalf of what's that mean well so like people are still involved in I mean the U.S., I don't know if y'all ever read Tocqueville but when he came to the U.S. this is like in the I mean centuries ago one of the things that stood out about the U.S. was it's civic participation and how how rich community life was

today even with the U.S. went with our civic participation dying we're still more engaged in our communities and in volunteerism than a lot of other countries. Yeah. So all of the research that we're looking at is that I've been looking at is in the U.S. But even when people are, so people stay engaged in like volunteer organizations, like the Lions Club, the Els Club, or family, you know, community traditions. But a lot of times they'll give a donation instead of going and doing stuff with people. Yep.

And so, and that's, that doesn't get you the same thing. That doesn't get you the same social benefits. You know, we all have that need to socialize with each other. And we're going to find it. We don't have to have that little, we don't have to have Dunlap store. I'm going to seek it out. Now, certain people aren't quite as apt as others to find that socialization, you know, wherever it's going to be, you know, deer camps.

They didn't used to have deer camps probably like we have now where you got 30, 40 people in a deer camp. And, I mean, they don't kill deer. They go down there and eat and visit and have big. time. So it's really important to have that structure in your society, but the more urbanized we get, the more people walk in and go dead deer hanging on the wall. And it almost becomes like a work, this store I've told you about so much, it becomes a tourist attraction. So if you can capture what you were looking for and you can do it well enough,

The Corvette Club will come there. The motorcycle club will come there. The four-wheeler's will come there. There's two new little places around our community that have done exactly what they did, what Dunlaps has done. And people come from all over to go there. They've rebuilt the old store down there,

and you go down there, and it'll be 30, 40, 4-wheeler's parked around it. I'm 30 miles, 20 miles. from the hub of four wheeling and I stop in to get a biscuit from this guy. And I'd heard about his store. So you got deerheads in there? Yeah, I'm sure he does. I know he has fish. He's big fisherman.

But it's an old building, you know, and he's smoking meat and, you know, he's got ice cream. And, I mean, people just love that. So instead of it being in every community, it all of a sudden becomes something attraction. Really? Right. On blood trails, the stories don't end when the hunt is over. They just get darker.

I've seen something in the road. I instantly thought it was a sleeping bag. And there was a full of blood. Oh, my God, he doesn't have a hit. Blood Trails is a true crime podcast born in the outdoors. Where the terrain is unforgiving, the evidence is scarce, and the truth gets buried under brush and silence. Indications were he should be right there. but he wasn't.

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

I'm Jordan Sillers. Season 2 of Blood Trails premieres April 16th. Follow now on Apple, Iheart, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. Yeah, so Dad was telling it there's a store in Oark, Arkansas, which is maybe one of the oldest gas stations. It is the oldest going concern in Arkansas, supposedly. 1890 is when it started as a store. Right, right.

And it's ongoing. And I would just bet you if you were to do a study on it, It was just a store for years. But now, probably in the last 20 years, it's a destination. Yeah. They've made it into like a themed. It's kind of like going into like a cracker barrel or something. It's a law drug.

Antiques. Yeah. Well, not necessarily. You get really good food. I've never been there. You got wooden floors. You've got a porch you can set on. You got.

old pictures all over the place. And they've got 10. I actually was going to go there to the Oarks General Store, I think is what it's called. And we just weren't able to get there. Hey, let me repeat it. We do not need Dunlaps. I don't want Dunlaps. I want a Cherokee Casino that I can walk in with a clean restroom, get gas at a cheap price,

and walk out and listen to a podcast. And not interface with something. Not necessarily interface. But if I know there's a place around that has Dunlap's personality, I'm going to drive to it. You know, it's going to be a point where, you know, I want to go to it. But it's been replaced by something better. Do you think so? In my opinion.

In my opinion. Yeah. I mean, I'm not going to drive to Dunlapst a few. fuel up when I can drive 10 miles the other way and get a McDonald's burger. I can buy something. I got a clean risk. What you're saying is that we've chosen what we wanted. I mean, like time and progression has picked.

The dollar bill dictated where we went. And that's what Jeff said. You know, that's what J.B. Shreve said. Yeah. I mean, if you map it onto something else that's happening, I've got a lot of friends who take issue with. with Jeff Bezos and the way he runs his company. That's Amazon.

And still buy from Amazon because it's really convenient. Right. It's like you may say that you want this, but like ultimately I'm stopping at the chain gas stations because they're convenient. They're right here. It's going to be clean. It's going to be cheap.

You know, this is contrary probably to everybody listen to this. But I moved to a little town in Arkansas to raise a family. to have a nice career opportunity, but I would not have moved there had there not been a Walmart. I'm telling you. I mean, that seems kind of crazy. If there hadn't been a piece of hut, a Walmart, just a couple of little conveniences, I would have said, hey, I don't need this career opportunity. You guys can have it.

So, Amazon, I mean, they're putting people out of business, but, I mean, it gives my family more money. I see stuff. Save money, live better. Yeah. You know, so therefore I can take a vacation. And that's what I think I'm trying to say. Like, I'm not anti-modernization. I wouldn't want anybody ever get that idea,

even though they might be like, think that. Like, I love Walmart. I love going and buying cheap gas. All that I think is interesting is understanding really what's happened and what we've given up for it. Just to map the change. I see what you're saying.

That's a great point because we're not, yeah, I don't want somebody to be confused and think that we're trying to be like nostalgic for the past. Like, I don't like doing like. Do you want to go back to Rotary Dial Landlines? Yeah, like I'm cool with it being 20, 22, and us having the internet and social media and being able to buy gas quick and not have to go in and talk to someone for 30 minutes. But maybe just throw a white tail inside. Just put a deer head in there and I'll be fine.

but my point in what's interesting about it is just trying to map and understand where our society has moved because you just wake up and you think it's normal and you look back and be like well there used to be general stores and all this and then you look at the oil industry you look at social capital and these ideas it's just interesting it really is that's all i want to do like yeah i'm with you and that's a great point i'm glad you said that like i don't i don't i don't i don't necessarily even want to go back. I just want us to understand where we're at. And then we can, you know, we don't have to build relationships at the gas station anymore.

Like, that is not a human necessity. It wasn't like, in the beginning there was a gas station, and that's where you went to get all your information and your gas. But we do have to build relationships somewhere. That's right. And I think that that's what, and this is kind of, we've talked to our kids a lot that we live our lives off of ancient principles that do not go out of style.

There is no fad that is going to, the principles that we live our lives by are always going to be right no matter what technology no matter what technology comes but we live a very modern lifestyle that's governed a very modern lifestyle that's governed by those ancient principles and i think that that's the thing is we're not trying to just go back to it and because i think clay you actually would you would prefer to live in a city i mean a city a town that does not have a Walmart in it that would be your preference and as evidenced by the fact that we live in a town that does not have a Walmart and, yeah, and that we've always, I feel like we've gone out of our way to go to gas stations. I mean, Clay wants to go to a place that has character.

So I think you definitely would, I would say, I hear what you're saying, and you don't want to go back and you like your smartphone, but you also, you like to take the kids. I'm on TikTok, guys. Yeah, I mean, I mean, it goes back to. I own TikTok. Yeah. You don't own TikTok. I think that's a Chinese corporation. I got, I asked them this last week.

But bear grease, I mean, you're all about the popularity of what you're doing is based on Dunlaps. I mean, who wants to kill a bear to get greased? I'd rather go to a store and buy some grease. Yeah. Yeah, something to kill you. You know, that bearerase is too healthy. I think the themes that we always come back to are the things that have tension in them, and that's what you're discussing. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Like just that tension of like the old meeting the new, the things that I like. meaning the new things that I like. I think we've got to be aware. It's just smart to just be aware and just understand stuff. It's interesting. And just put a dead gum deerhead in your gas station. Really? How hard is it?

I'm going to say this. My favorite part was the guy who, what was his name? Shaquille. I wanted to bring up Shaquil. He was, I love Sandra. And I told Clay, definitely the MVP. But Shaquille, I thought that was super cool because you kind of have this meeting of the worlds where Shaquille clearly wasn't, you know, his family origin is not, yeah, is not

southeast Arkansas or southwest Oklahoma wherever you were. But he, he, he, in a certain level, you know, embrace there, you can see the cultures coming together. And I thought that was a super cool story that someone felt close enough to Shaquille to say, hey, I'd like to bring my beerhead. He was stressing him. He didn't open a store to to hang taxidermy in. But like, like, like, like, yep, that, yeah, that, yeah, I'm in. Bring him in. Yeah, he was such a cool guy. It was a neat old store he had. And, I mean, it was, I mean, he wasn't trying to be cute by being a country store.

Like, he had just a convenience store that he was just trying to make a living in. But it was a neat old building. And turns out there's some history with that place. He said it'd been there like 80 years or something. And we walked in and it was a small, there was one other person in there. And he was, they were just, he was talking to this guy. I think this guy had like a 24 pack of beer like a 2 o'clock in the afternoon. And he was sitting there talking to Shaquille.

Probably for later consumption. We, it was hard to say. Responsibly he was getting his months larger of. But they were just talking just like they were best buddies, you know. And then I knew a couple of these stories I would walk in with my recorder and kind of just be like incognito. But I knew that I had to tell the guy what we're doing. And so he was very interested in the Bear Grays podcast. That's awesome.

He had me write it down on a piece of paper. And I said, I'm going to write my name and my phone number. I need to reach back out to him to see if he heard it. To me, it was a highlight. Because it kind of, to me, it's almost like in Shaquille's store, this tension that we're talking about was resolved. I mean, you're clearly seeing a global universe. And I mean, you're just seeing so many themes in it. I have this on tape.

On tape. Okay. On digital, digital. On SD card. He, uh, he, when we were leaving, he said, he said, what, what good does this do people to listen to your podcast? And you're like, that's an excellent question. I mean, like, he was really processing because I was like, we're a hunting conservation, like, history. Clay has an existential crisis.

Yeah. And we're, and we want to talk. and let me know. We're going to talk about deerheads and gas stations, and he was just like, huh, now what company is it that you work for? And then he said, he won't be around long. He said, what, what, what, what, what good would it do for someone to listen to this podcast? It was like the most genuine question.

And I was like, well, actually, you know, the hunting industry, and that's a lot of people that listen to be hunters, I said it's actually a really huge industry in the United States. And he was like, oh yeah, oh yeah. He knew that. And he just was puzzled, man. He was just puzzled. It is puzzling. We could roll in his.

But it's interesting. That was so nice. We could go to roll up in his driveway, unannounced, walking with a deerhead, and said, hey, remember us? Can we hang this in here? I promise you, he'd drive a nail on the wall. We ought to go hang a deerhead down there. He would drive a nail on the wall. We ought to hang a deerhead in Moyles, Oklahoma.

I think it's Moyles. Was it Moyals? Something like that, yeah. and we say every person that goes to that store because of Bear Grease will like give them something. Take a sticker. It had to take a picture. We ought to do that.

I don't want to give up one of my deer heads though. Yeah, that's what I was thinking. What was the name of the store? Brittingham store. Yeah, Brittingham's. I was wondering if Bear Greas would give his deer. Maybe interested in like sponsoring a scholarship of sorts or something. like that to someone who may have a gas station or maybe looking to open a gas station.

And need taxidermy? Need taxidermy. I think that there's a greater good to be done. That's the good. That happens from listening to this. We're connecting gas stations with. Hey, what about the shout out Ms. Sandra gave to that one taxidermist? Mad dog taxidermy.

Yep. She's straight up. Just like, here's the guy. Period. The end. Let me just tell you. That is social capital right there. Exactly.

That's a proud example. He got an advertisement on Bear Grease that who knows what he would have to pay for that. It's been a functional. Come on. Let's just be honest. Functional social capital. Yeah. You go into places.

In fact, I can think of several. I won't mention them. And a couple of them are real good friends of mine. And I go, where's the dead-gum chairs around here? I want to socialize with people. And they go, we don't have chairs. we don't want people coming in here to socialize you know and really they don't so it's more than like a gas station well it's like a real good friend of ours and me know that that oh i know what

you're talking about and and you know i mean it's a great run place it's clean it's got nice restrooms it's got great products there's no chairs do your business and get out so what what i'm saying or what i'm thinking is you can have all the deerheads in the world but you've got to have good food You've got to have places to sit. You've got to have friendly people. Hey, what's going on, Billy Don? You've got to have two names. I mean, you know.

Two names. That's big. And so. It is important. Yeah. So you can do that without deer heads. But it just happens if you have that environment, you usually have some. Well, and what we did, you know, we could really dissect what we did.

We used a, a, almost a spurious correlation to try to try to. to draw conclusions about something much bigger. It's a placeholder. We realize deerheads do not mean that someone's going to build social capital. There, I am saying it. But it's an indicator. It very strong, I'd say. It could be an indicator of a time past.

I just don't understand why all these researchers that I've been reading. They don't talk about deerheads? Not once a taxiderm. They've been brainwashed by the liberal media. Misty, there's your book. Misty says cut that out Mr. Misty says cut that out. Dude, when you said chairs, I immediately saw the little booths red for myca benches with a wood grain table top, two of them right in front of a window.

I can't tell you how many gas stations I've seen that. Little styrofoam cups of coffee, old men in their overalls. One cup of coffee, one spit cup. Yep, absolutely. That's kind of the story of my grandpa is like his truck, when he died my nephew. you got the truck and I got in there and it just smelled like chew. I mean, that's what it, it smelled like the old spit cut. But we took him, he was, he was dying and we were trying to, you know, we knew he was going to die. We were trying to get the kids these relationships and we

actually brought a video camera down because he was just a great storyteller. And we wanted to hear them tell us stories so that our, and so I brought my kids down, my mom, all my kids sit in the room and we just ask him, tell us this story. And he loved it. And after it was over, we said, hey, we want to take you, and we name the steakhouse downtown, or anywhere else you want to go. Just name the place. And his, he was not like super close to even his own family, his immediate family, his own kids. I would say he wasn't the best at building those kind of relationships. But that man ate out every single night of the week.

And he built very deep relationships with those people. And I'm not kidding. I would grow up and go into a restaurant and he'd be there. And I always felt like the people waiting on them, knew him a little bit better than I did because he had like this routine. But anyway. It's really hurtful.

It wasn't. He wanted to go to the Country Express. That was where he... Oh, the gas station. That's where he wanted. And the Steakhouse that we volunteered to take them to was next door and he's like, oh, not much of...

Let's go to the Country Express. That's where I like to eat lunch on my next. It was so good. Every Monday he ate at that gas station and he knew everybody in there and different people would come in. He'd tell us their story. People that were strangers to us would come in

and they would stop and talk to them and he would tell him, don't tell him, I'm sick. It's like, you don't look well. You know, the businessman, not necessarily the businessmen, the construction workers, you know, they have their favorite little places to go. Yeah. Country Express. I mean, it's just a gas station that has some nice booths and great, awesome,

unbelievable food. Yeah. It's the catfish. Yeah, just, I mean, barbecue, whatever you want is good. And, you know, it's one of these. Social capital deals. They go in there and they share what they're doing and projects their own. And no deerheads, though.

Sorry about that. But the further we got away from four-lane highways, there's a direct correlation between deerheads and the number of lanes on the highway. Oh, I'd love to see a heat map. That's a good one. At Route 66, you think about it. We don't, you know, we don't leave Dunlaps. We don't leave all these places.

We retain a few of them, you know, just is, artifacts or whatever you want to call it. I mean, but Route 66, how many people travel that thing every year to just stop in at a little driving. Yeah. Small gas stations. I mean, so people learn how to make money off that, you know, you say, well, I think I can start attracting people. Hey, we'll close down here pretty quick. Do you know where the live mountain line was?

Oh, yeah. No question. I think about it every time I drive by. Yeah. Then that was a gas station. It was. It was in his restaurant. I'm fact checking myself.

Yeah. What color was it? Jet black like a July night. I mean, December night. Yeah. 1979. Hey, one thing that came out of this was a dead gum purple cougar, wouldn't it? Yeah.

In the gas squash. Wow. Hey. So I bleeped out. the name of the small country gas station that didn't have deer heads. I bleeped out the town. I bleeped out everything

because I didn't want to make them look bad. I'm pretty sure everyone whoever drives through there is going to know who... I mean, gas squatch? That's not... No, no, no, no. No, no. No, not these guys.

There was another one that I had felt beep out completely. Okay. Because I didn't want... I didn't, we didn't want to do harm to these people. We weren't throwing shade. Absolutely. I got shush. So, we were so impressed with a place.

I left the name in, even though we kind of got on. to them for not having a deer. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I just kind of, I mean, they really went all off. It was not Barry Grease sanctioned, but it would have been Gary Newcomb sanctioned. Yeah.

You probably could have played around a golf in there. I don't know. It was a big store. Oklahoma knows how to do gas stations. They sure do. Man, the Chalk Tall Travel Plaza with like 180, 190. It may have been a 190-inch typical. It's huge.

I mean, it was straight up, looked like a picket fence on top of that. It wasn't. I'm dressed typically, but it was a typical rack. It was a beautiful deer. Yeah, it was. Man, thanks guys. Man, do we ever have some exciting bearer grease episodes coming up in the future? I'm not even going to give you any hints, but very excited.

Very excited about what's coming up. Last spring, Clay Newcomb and I collaborated with Jason Phelps at Phelps game calls in 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 Rinella cut is an easy-to-use cut for beginning callers who just want to start making good turkey noises and getting action.

This is an I-Heart podcast, guaranteed human.