The MeatEater Podcast - Ep. 170: Emotional Rainbow

Episode Date: May 27, 2019

Steven Rinella talks with Maggie Smith, Tracy Crane, Seth Morris, and Janis Putelis.Subjects discussed: what happens when the Latvian Eagle locks his jaw; driving under the influence of turkeys; peacocks; the trials and tribulations of hunter's safety; eye patches and left-eye dominance when shooting; the impressions of a first-time hunter; hanging at the gun range; Maggie's emotional rainbow; shooting in full strut; running down a wounded critter; and more. Ridge Wallet: RidgeWallet.com/meateater Connect with Steve and MeatEaterSteve on Instagram and TwitterMeatEater on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YoutubeShop MeatEater Merch  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey folks, exciting news for those who live or hunt in Canada. You might not be able to join our raffles and sweepstakes and all that because of raffle and sweepstakes law, but hear this. OnX Hunt is now in Canada. It is now at your fingertips, you Canadians. The great features that you love in OnX are available for your hunts this season. Now the Hunt app is a fully functioning GPS with hunting maps that include public and crown land, hunting zones, aerial imagery, 24K topo maps, waypoints and tracking. You can even use offline maps to see where you are

without cell phone service as a special offer. You can get a free three months to try out OnX if you visit onxmaps.com slash meet. This is the Meat Eater Podcast coming at you shirtless, severely bug-bitten, and in my case, underwear-less. We host the Meat Eater Podcast coming at you shirtless, severely bug-bitten, and in my case, underwear-less. The Meat Eater Podcast. You can't predict anything. Did you see the note, the email, from a guy about some guy he was camping with

getting mauled by a northern pike. No. Yeah. Didn't catch that one. Washing dishes in a lake off the end of a dock. Come on. Really?

No way. And the northern, must have been shiny plates or something. The northern came up. The northern came up and it was like a barracuda. Huh. Came up and gashed the dude's hand real bad

and then his hand started festering and wound up being a pike tooth stuck in there. No shit. Oh my God. You're never safe. It's interesting, isn't it? No, you're never safe.

Never. You think you're just washing dishes. Mulled by a fish. Mulled by a northern. Oh God. You're feeling all safe in those northern woods.

You're like, there ain't no grizz here. No mountain lions. And all of a sudden, ah! I might have talked about this before. Do you know what happened to my brother-in-law? You remember when skiing? Remember water skiing?

I do remember water skiing. Yeah, but water skiing lost its cachet with the advent of the wakeboard. When I was a boy. Long time ago. People water skied on skis. Well, if you were really good at it, you would barefoot. You guys know what that is? Yes.

I'm from Minnesota. Skiing with no skis. I'm from Minnesota. I still water ski. Yeah, like you'd put a wetsuit on or not. I think barefooters would typically wear a wetsuit. You'd put a wetsuit on and you'd lay on your back and kind of like like so you'd lay on your back and take the ski hold the ski handle obviously and then you'd grab the rope with your feet oh like you'd hold the

rope yeah so you're supine that means laying back right uh-huh and you got the you got your feet touched together and so like the the curves on the inside of your feet are sort of holding the rope. Interesting. And the boat takes off. And pretty soon you're skimming on your back, laying on your back, bracing the rope in your feet, laid out, feet toward the boat, head back. And you get to where you're skimming along. And then he would just all of a sudden,

through like this little bit of magic, he'd pop up and there he was skiing with no skis. And it'd be like digging his heels into the water. Like that's what would brace you. Just toes curled up. Your toes curled up. And then the thing of it is, then you got a wetsuit on.

So you're able to roll around and spin on your back. And not get burned. It's like you break dancing. You're like break dancing on the end of a rope. So he's coming around. This is the lake I grew up on. No, I think it was the lake next to the lake I grew up on. And hit a sunning bluegill.

Oh, my gosh. Drove the dorsal fin into the bottom of his foot. He had to have it surgically removed. No shit. Oh, my God. Oh, my gosh. Yeahrove the dorsal fin into the bottom of his foot. He had to have it surgically removed. No shit. Oh my God. Oh my gosh. Yeah, poor bluegill. What are the chances?

Or his foot. You could look at it either way, I guess. So yeah, you're never safe. There you are, 63 miles an hour or whatever, behind some boat, and you can still get hurt. I want to return, before we talk about what we're going to talk about mostly, I want to return to you observing Tracy.

You want to introduce yourself? Sure. I'm Tracy Crane. Okay. And then Maggie. I'm Maggie Smith. Seth Morse. And of course.

Yanis Putilis. You were observing that Yanis' driving habits are off-brand for Giannis. What is Giannis' brand? I was just surprised, having spent multiple days driving behind Giannis, the speeds at which Giannis drives. I think Giannis' brand is buttoned up, conservative. He's sitting here in a nice button-down with a cashmere sweater over. Very tidy.

Yeah, but I come and I ask. I don't see him as reckless. And I could almost classify his driving at moments. Reckless is extreme. But Mario Andretti style. I was like, whoa, he guns it. Well, you know what we call him. Bahayani.

I was trying to, because that was in the morning, right? Yeah. That time you followed us. Correct. And so we were trying to get to a roosted turkey before light. Yeah, you definitely had your eye on the prize. We had our eye on the prize, and we were not driving quite to that degree. You guys didn't have as far to go, and we were leaving at the same time, see?

Fair. But there was a weird exchange that we talked about a fair bit. We pulled up to you. Because we had to talk about something real quick. And I commented on your fast driving. Yes. Or maybe not but anyways you said why don't you go ahead because you'll be driving faster than me yep where in the world would you

get that idea oh well the whole time coming down i felt like you were tailgating me and so i was that's why i thought you pulled up next to me. No, I was trying to keep up. I was struggling to keep up. No, and then after he made that comment to you, Steve, he started to roll the window up, and he gave a signal with his hand and burned out right in front of us. Yeah, Baha Yanni. Yeah, and then someone was like, Yanni's a little spicy this morning.

It's been said before, you guys aren't the first group of people that have noticed that I drive maybe a little bit more aggressively than most, but I can tell you, man, I haven't had a speeding ticket in... That's a knock on wood, Yanni. No, no, no, but because on roads where there's speed limits, I don't. I feel like when I'm on a dirt road, I feel like I should just be driving where I feel safe and in control. But I don't know how you could.

I have kids in the car all the time. How could you in good conscience? On that dirt road, there's a little old lady I gather, just by her decorations, who has out a sign. I thought it was interesting. Her sign is aimed up toward the National Forest, not down toward the highway. She's alerting drivers coming from up.

Yeah. Says something like, drive slow, please. Like, respect our roads or respect our homes. Come in there. The reason she has it pointed that direction is because people are coming downhill. So you're naturally going to be driving faster going

down the hill than up the hill. That's what it is. That's well thought out. Real quick, I don't want to bore people to death, but I want to return to Yanni's brand. This is not how he dresses because what's the first thing I said to you this morning? Why are you so dressed up? Every time I wear a collared shirt, you say that.

He's going to a... His daughter's got a little routine she's doing. I got to go to one of those this Sunday. Sunday? Spring concert and art auction is what we have tonight. No, Saturday. Last year, somebody that must have a little hobby farm donated a peacock. And by the time I was done Googling, can you eat a peacock or do people eat peacocks, it had already sold.

So this year, I'm prepared. Rather than spending, because the whole deal is- Was it a meat peacock? I don't know. I didn't know that there was two different things. I don't know. I'm prepared. Rather than spending, because the whole deal is- Was it a meat peacock? Huh? I don't know. I didn't know that there was two different things. I don't know. I just feel people have them as, I feel like they're an ornamental.

I do. And I'm guessing that that's what it is donated for, but I don't need an ornamental peacock. But I would rather, because the deal is with this art auction, is that they're basically saying like, hey, it's great fun. We're all going to get together, do the little spring concert. But really, we need $300 for each kid from every parent, right? So if you have two kids, you've got to drop $600 for the art program. Someone articulated this to you?

Yeah. In what form? An email? They're just saying, hey, we don't have enough funds for like the art program that we want to have here right funds are for funds for art and music and all that stuff are cut nationwide right so if you want to keep this going on it's a pro it's like this is what it would it approximately costs us three hundred dollars per kit so i like take that as i've got two in there stroking a check for 600 whether

I walk out of there with some piece of art that might... So this year I'm coming prepared and if that peacock shows up again or one of his offspring or her offspring, I'm bitten. So can you eat peacock? Can you eat a peacock?

Oh yeah! And that's what you're going to do with it. Buddy, we'll probably keep it around for a little bit because it'll be cool to have a peacock in the you eat a peacock? Oh, yeah. And that's what you're going to do with it. Buddy. We'll probably keep it around for a little bit because it'll be cool to have peacock in the yard for a week or two. You think it will stick around? And you're going to wake your daughters up one day and say, girls, you know where I keep the hatchet. I've already talked it through with them. They know the deal.

We're going to have a big peacock dinner party. I look forward to being invited. Did my daughter have one of the feathers after you? Exactly. We're going to have a big peacock dinner party. I look forward to being invited. Did my daughter have one of the feathers after you? Exactly. They were a little suspect. I'm like, dude, let me tell you. The feathers?

You think these turkey feathers are cool? Wait until you have a bucket full of peacock feathers, man. You're going to be stoked. That could make a little business out of that. Yeah, every year they could sell, what peacock feathers i feel like you're gonna be ostracized from the the community i don't think so at all if he were to kill the peacock after yeah after winning it in the auction when you walk up when you walk up to get the peacock let's say there is one for sale and you purchase it when you walk up and you get and you get a chance to speak into the microphone and you say,

thank you, everyone, for turning out to support. I'm going to eat this peacock. Watch and see. Watch and try to gauge the audience response. Okay. I will do that. Maybe I'll pose it as a question. I'll say, has anybody ever eaten one of these things?

And then I'll throw them off. They'll be like, you think that guy might eat a fika? They'll be like, no, he's just joking. He's drunk. No, there's no drinking that goes on at this event. Well, you look good either way. Hey, thanks. Well, and thank you for the compliment.

I liked how you described my brand. Oh, good. I'm glad. Can we do that a little more? What's Seth's brand? I quickly want to add that I do feel like in high school, I was often definitely part of the troublemaking. But I was also, I feel like the person that was like,

okay, we're going to cross over the threshold. This is the part where if the cops catch us, we're going to be in really big trouble. So let's just take it back a notch. That's a nice balance. Right. And I think that fits my brand now. I would agree with that. I think that's a good evaluation.

Still likes to have fun and party a little bit, but... No one's wanting to curb it back. That's why he follows the speed limit only on paved roads, not on dirt roads. You know? We'll button this up, but that's... I think that's called type one morality.

Not doing it because you're afraid of getting caught. Not doing it because you fear the punishment. I think there's these degrees of morality. Oh, interesting. So there's a thing, you don't do it because you don't want to get in trouble. And then the top morality is you do it. This would be civil disobedience.

The top morality is doing it knowing you'll be in trouble. That's the only reason you're doing it is basically like so you get in trouble no i think it goes and i'm not looking at it right now but i think it goes like the thing being like rosa parks right so she's doing a wrong right she's committing a wrong right you know according to civil law, committing a wrong, and there's trouble, but that's like a different type of morality. It wouldn't be like, oh, I'll break a law so long as I know I won't get in trouble. Right. And since there's no police on these back National Forest Roads,

what are the odds? So therefore it's okay. Yep. And then on the main road, it's like, oh, no, I drive the speed limit here because I don't want to get in trouble. Yep. So he's a type one moral guy. There's pluses and minuses to that, I drive the speed limit here because I don't want to get in trouble. Yep. Yep. So he's a type one moral guy. There's pluses and minuses to that, I think.

Real quick, just to return to the brand thing, and then we're going to get on. Does Seth have a brand? Absolutely. Everybody has a brand. What's my brand? Well, your brand. You don't have to tell Seth's brand. You don't have to tell Seth's brand here's what Seth's brand is Seth's brand is he's vivacious he's he's he has a little bit of um kind of liking to push the envelope daredevilish

um but but tones it down with kind of that warm smile, that willingness to help, that is a great turkey finder. Yeah. That is really his biggest redeeming quality in my mind. I'll take it. And also the fact that he's a DP is also a winner in my mind too. Yeah, not the kind.

He's a DP. I'm also a winner in my mind, too. Not the kind. He's a DP. I'm sure we'll get to that. We're not going to cover that. I don't want to destroy your career. I appreciate that. Okay. You guys. Here's what we're here to talk about.

You guys recently. Maggie and Tracy. You gals not guys recently embarked on a life's journey i would definitely say it was that who wants to do who which of you would like to do a quick rundown of what exactly you just did go for it maggie you go for it, Tracy. Oh, Maggie's up because Tracy already branded everyone. Well, we went on our very first turkey hunt. But what did you have to do to prep?

We had to get our hunting license, do hunter's ed, do some shooting practice days, and learn a little bit about turkeys. As adults, as very literate adults who went through hunter's ed um can you give me some uh like what's your impression just you know casual impression about that process extensive yeah that's exactly what comes to mind i'm not sure i i'm not sure i thought much about it in advance, but I did not think it would be as robust and as beefy as it is. It took a long time. Understandably so. Now kind of sitting back on the other side reflecting on it, I completely understand why it's as extensive as

it is. Totally. I totally agree with that. I mean, I don't know, was there 10 topics and then like within each topic there were between four and seven subtopics. And then within those subtopics, there were chapters. I mean, it was, yeah, it was lengthy, but it almost like, I don't know, kind of freaked me out a little bit in some sections. In what way did it freak you out? Just like talking about injuries and they're saying like turkey hunting is the number one like situation when you're out in the woods where hunters get injured. And I was like, whoa, okay.

Maggie's like, I thought turkey hunting was the easy way to get into this. My, again, like the thing with the different types of morality, it'd be easy to go find this out. And I'm going to say a thing that might be demonstrably wrong. But I feel that the most common hunting accident is swinging on a bird and peppering someone with a shotgun. Yep. You guys probably heard about that too, right? Yeah. They talk a lot about your shooting zone.

Yes. Like what happened with Dick Cheney? Mm-hmm. He's hunting quail in Texas. You're in thick brush, right? A bird jumps. Yep. You kind of focus on the bird.

Mm-hmm. The bird's a little low, you know? Yeah. And the times that I've been shot by a shotgun, never bad enough to even puncture my skin, but I've been peppered uh it was the same thing hunting upland birds really honey quail i don't know if they said it was number one but they definitely said it was on in the in the you know one of the most um often injuries they see

because obviously you're in full camo and you're hiding so you're buckled down and you're hiding. So you're buckled down and you're calling. And so people mistake you for... And you put decoys out. Right. When I took my hunter safety back in Pennsylvania, they showed a video of this guy calling to a turkey and he would move in on it. And as he was calling, he was using a mouth call, he would wipe his mouth with a white bandana.

Why was he wiping his mouth? Just from like, I don't know, spitting and stuff when he's calling using a mouth call okay but he'd wipe his mouth and he like keeps get like getting closer and closer to the turkey and all of a sudden like a shot out of nowhere and the the dude ends up getting shot oh my gosh who was filming this it was it was like a simulated thing it was a pretend video yeah but it was just to show like that's the most common hunting accident in pennsylvania so that's how that they had someone and they're like let's have it be that you're out calling wiping your mouth with a handkerchief as a white handkerchief as a way to demonstrate how one might get in the

hunting accident yeah i don't know if it was just a way to get into the conversation that, like, turkey hunting is, like, the number one thing where people, you know. No, I got that. I just don't know that I would have written her up that way. Yeah, I don't know. But it's the one thing that, like, stuck in my head about that. That's interesting. Well, of course. I know that that's one of the arguments against, in states where you're allowed to use a rifle hunting spring turkeys.

That's one of the big arguments against it. Against that. There can't be many. No, there's a couple. States that allow you to use a rifle? You let you hunt rifles with spring turkeys. And there's a story. We probably talked about this.

I hesitate to even get into it. There's a story about what happened when they tried to make it that you couldn't use rifles in Florida for spring turkeys. Like where they got resistance from. Where it was coming from turkey hunters. Turkey hunters were saying, you know what? We're all wearing camo. We're making turkey noises. This is flat country.

We use turkey decoys we feel that it'd be in the best interest of turkey hunters and turkey hunting if you were not allowed to use rifles because they carry obviously they go in a straight line for quite a ways yeah yeah and people were uncomfortable with it and my understanding of this story is that it got turned into like a gun issue and not like a hunting issue. And it was misconstrued in a weird way. But that's one of the reasons why in most places they limited shotguns. Probably something to do with efficacy too, right?

It's like, yeah, I get a lot closer. But there's just the safety concern. Do you guys realize realize like having gone through hunter safety what do you think when i tell you that there's sort of a movement across the country to ease up and make it easier to easier to get licenses and removing restrictions and allowing people to hunt multiple years with a mentor before needing to do their hunter safety or simplifying hunter safety uh having done having kind of not been raised around this and having done it and when i tell you that that's true

is that surprising to you or you see that like oh i could see that it's surprising to me to lower the goal being to lower the barrier to entry. I mean, I see why there would be a push, but I don't agree with that. You don't? No. So you felt it was useful information? I did. I mean, some of the videos were pretty funny.

I think we could do a better job in our department. But no, it was very educational. And personally, I really liked the section all about conservation at the end. I mean, that really struck home. Really? As being someone that studied ecology and biology. I mean, that was, I love that they put that in there. And I was like, you're not going to necessarily,

depending on who your mentor is, get that side. You know, or there's other things you might not get from a mentor that are probably in there. Yeah. I don't know. I appreciated the extensiveness of it. You guys had coursework and fieldwork. We did our coursework online.

And then you had a field day. In person, in a test. And you did some shooting that field day? We didn't actually. And I think partly there was an option. It was you could volunteer if you wanted to participate in that section of the field day but the majority of the field day was focused on there were different stations that were set up and you basically had to attend every single station and each station had a different kind of objective

of what it is it was teaching you and then you could stay after if you wanted to shoot but we didn't because we knew we were going to be doing practice work with you guys anyways and it was an interesting group of people that were there in what way i don't know i just was like i'm not sure i feel terribly comfortable staying here and shooting there were like 15 i don't know how old they're when the youngest kid when you can get your hunting license 10 10 yeah the majority of the attendees were definitely children. Children. And they were already, the way that they were handling the firearms during our stations, I was like,

okay. Oh, really? Yeah, and I was like, how did they pass? It was questionable. Was that a phony dynamic being in there with the kids? Oh, yeah,

and we got partnered with the kids. Yeah. It was kind of cool, though. It was cool. I mean, at the same time, because all of the people who were facilitating the field day were adults, obviously, and was kind of cool, though. I mean, at the same time, because all of the people who were facilitating the field day were adults, obviously.

And the majority of the people at the field day we went to was in a small community. It was very family oriented. So they had just passed on the gentleman who had been doing it for 50 years had just passed on kind of the leadership responsibility to his daughter. So it was really like special to kind of see that dynamic and um them talk a little bit about how kind of important this has you know how important this has been in their life um but yeah interacting with the kids it was like trying to get them to talk what are you most excited about what have you learned what stuck with you it was like quiet they wanted nothing to do some strange strange woman like grilling them about something.

They wanted nothing to do with us. You're not my mom. You're not the teacher. That was until word got out that we were part of Meat Eater. And then they wanted to talk to us. And they thought we were really cool. And so did the parents. The parents then started flogging over and were like, okay.

That's good. Yeah, that's good. Yeah, that was good. So then the next stage is, break down for people what your exposure to firearms, exposure and impressions of firearms. Well, I grew up in a very large city, and I was never exposed to firearms as a child, as an adolescent, even as an adult. So I had no experience. I think you guys were shocked to learn that, but I had never shot a gun before. I remember thinking, how would you get through life and not shoot a gun? I know.

I was like, that's not necessarily representative of everybody but I'd never held a gun I'd never shot a gun I'd done nothing within the realm at all the more I thought about it there's more people that are in Tracy's shoes than have gone through life

and have shot a gun I think in this state 80% of households. That I'm not surprised by at all. Yeah, I'm not surprised by that. I don't know. Here I am like, I keep shouting out

like figures and stuff that I don't know. I'm sure you're in the vicinity. Yeah, a lot of. So, go on. But I remember, and I've never even really been in situations

where I'd been able to see a firearm. You know, like I wasn't in situations where besides like on a police officer or something. I remember when we first bought our place in Montana, I remember seeing one of the farmers who has property neighboring us. And he was like driving around in his, I think it was his pickup truck and he had his rifle or shotgun, I don't know one of the two, like hanging in the back of his truck. And I was like, oh, okay. Like, whoa.

Like I was like, now I feel like I've, you know, my perspective has completely changed, but I was like, oh, this is a different, I am in a different world yeah did you ever see that there's a cover it's kind of a startling cover of a new yorker magazine from some time ago in the last year where there's like two cars pulled into a turnout like a like a river launch and there's a pickup it's like a it's like an atypical campsite

yeah it's like a campsite type thing there's a pickup with a shotgun in the window so he's got his like shotgun in the window rack and there's a guy getting a boat he's got his little kids with them and they're like getting they're unloading inner tubes or whatever and the guy's kind of like looking very uneasily because this shotgun is like aimed over as he's unloading his car with his kids and it's kind of this a little bit of an eerie cover yeah i didn't see it which i think is like a certain you know people who don't i think that that's people don't have exposure to firearms don't really like understand like how they function and what purpose they serve in people's lives. Totally. There's kind of this like, yeah!

Totally. Well, and then you add on top of it what we see in the quote-unquote news, and I think that doesn't contribute in a positive way to how people who don't have exposure view firearms. Yeah, yeah. Definitely. Yeah, absolutely.

So, never shot one. No, N-O, absolutely. So, never shot one? No, N-O, no. I know you're baffled by that, but I never had a chance. I would never have had a chance. I grew up in New York City. I walked to school every day. We didn't leave the city that often except if we went on vacation and stuff. That was not the life that I had as a,

as a child. And then the first time you shot was with Giannis. Correct. And what, uh, talk about that a little bit. Well, I was fortunate enough to not go first.

I made Maggie go first because I think I was a little apprehensive. So should we cover Maggie first? Yeah, I'm covering Maggie first. Maggie, exposure, impressions prior to your, your cover Maggie first? Yeah, cover Maggie first. Maggie, exposure, impressions prior to your new found? Yeah, not in my family was I ever presented the opportunity. Like my immediate family, my cousins,

Owen and Noah very much grew up hunting with my uncle, but my family was just not on that page in Minnesota. I mean, I know there's a huge hunting community in Minnesota, but my family is very liberal, I would say. And it was just never presented to me. So I did get to shoot one time with my cousins because my uncle wanted me to go out and do that. It was important to him. Yeah, it was important to him. And the first gun I shot was, I might get this wrong, Noah, was your military grade AR-15 on the ground, which was just like,

holy moly, this thing's kind of fun. So that was your first shooting experience? Yeah. Well, then they handed me. Most people, it's like a.22. Well, then they handed me, I think it was a 12 gauge or 20 gauge shotgun. And they didn't tell me about the kick. And man, I flew back on my ass.

How old were you when that happened? I think I was like 16. And then? And then after that. That was it? That was it. Yeah. Curious about them at all?

Did you ever think like, yeah, I'd like to buy one of those things? No. No. Never. I don't think. Ed, my boyfriend would go out and every time we're in a sportsman's or something, he wants to go look. And I was just like, like, not going to.

I don't know. He's a carpenter? Yeah. He doesn't own any? No, he doesn't own any. He lived in Wyoming, though, for a while and did some hunting there. Yeah. And then when you went to shoot, what was that like?

I was scared. Of the unknown? Yeah, just I didn't know what to expect it'd been a while i don't know why i was scared but i just was my heart was like racing what your last experience with a shotgun yeah it wasn't a good guy knocked on your ass you said so and laughed at so you got mocked and knocked yeah um so you went you you went shot and you were scared, but just scared of whatever. Not necessarily the noise, not necessarily the kick, but just apprehension, I think, about the whole situation. Was there any self-loathing? No.

No? No. I just wanted to get it right, I think. Not mess it up, not hurt anybody. There's a lot of respect I've gained. And also, I think that's partially wise intimidated like don't think a firearm is something you just mess around with you know yeah so I want to make sure I was doing it right not hurting anybody and then when you shot when you

shot was it um like did you enjoy shooting or does it more seem like just a thing that you have to do in order to then go out and go hunting um I think i enjoyed it for sure after i got used to it for its own sake yeah for its own sake it was fun to see like where i hit on the target and everything but it was totally different though like when it came it comes down to actually setting up and like getting in that moment too yeah that's a totally different feeling as well but i got more comfortable with it the more we shot and felt better about it but the first one the video you got me this is terrible i think i screamed well oh i like screamed i was like well and i think she's like that's also why i got the benefit of like witnessing her doing it first because she like felt the kick like

but she's tiny and you could see the impact on her body because I don't think she was expecting it to be as much as it was, so you weren't prepared for it, so your body really reacted. Yeah, and the noise just scared me, but I get spooked easily. So you made a strange little sound. Yeah, a scream, or I don't even know what. As you pulled the trigger? After.

Okay. No, not after. They each did a clip, a five-round clip out of my 22. Oh, that's what you started out with. Oh, yeah, not that. But then I was like, would you guys want to do that some more? Okay, but hold on. Hold that.

Did you guys like shooting the 22? Well, I find it to be easier. Oh, me too. It's a smoother, more seamless experience. Right? Oh, yeah. Oh, totally. So it was like... It was a very mild report. Yeah, so I was like, oh, this is what we're talking about. The recoil

and report are minimal. Yeah. It was lovely. Dude, kids love shooting 22s. I can see why yeah totally i was saying i screamed not when i shot the 22 okay so go on yanni oh yeah like i said they only did each a clip of that i'm like yeah you want to do that some more because that's i figured that is a great way to get into it at least you're you're getting to do all the same motions almost the loading is a little bit different you realize you're gonna have a lot of guys being like it's not a clip it's not a clip no magazine yeah what's the difference there's like a thing called a clip that's not that's not

what that one is and i know what you mean and everyone knows what you mean but people will write in and be like, Well, good. I'm glad that you're addressing it now and that these people don't have to write in. They'll write a note that sounds like this. Do-do-do-do. Do-do-do-do. Now you don't have to.

So a five-round magazine. And I thought we would run through a box each. Seth, what is the difference between a clip and a magazine? Well, I don't know if there's a difference, but I know my buddy and roommate, Rick, who was in the Marine Corps, if I call it a clip, he's like, what the hell is a clip? Because there's this little thing that used to be like a clip. We always grew up calling them clips. I never called them movies.

Oh, I called them clips too. But yeah, it's like. But then I noticed people were always correcting you about it. Yeah. Oh, here we go. Am I right? Am I right or am I right? You can put in difference between MAG, and it will auto-fill magazine and clip.

An ammunition clip is a device used to store individual rounds of ammunition together as a single unit that is then ready for insertion into the magazine of a gun. Yeah, we used to call you Yanni Van's Wall, man. You're supposed to know this stuff. Interesting. Well, we learned something new today. I just taught Yanni a little something about firearms. Feels good, doesn't it, Steve?

He's usually pretty, his brand, his brand is known about firearms. Hey, folks, exciting news for those who live or hunt in Canada. And, boy, my goodness do we hear from the Canadians whenever we do a raffle or a sweepstakes. And our raffle and sweepstakes law makes it that they can't join. Whew. Our northern brothers. You're irritated. Well, if you're sick of, you know, sucking high and titty there on x is now in canada the

great features that you love in on x are available for your hunts this season the hunt app is a fully functioning gps with hunting maps that include public and crown land hunting zones aerial imagery 24k topo maps way waypoints, and tracking. That's right. We're always talking about OnX here on the Meat Eater Podcast. Now you guys in the Great White North can be part of it, be part of the excitement. You can even use offline maps to see where you are without cell phone service. That's a sweet function.

As part of your membership, you'll gain access to exclusive pricing on products and services handpicked by the OnX Hunt team. Some of our favorites are First Light, Schnee's, Vortex Federal, and more. As a special offer, you can get a free three months to try OnX out if you visit onxmaps.com slash meet. onxmaps.com slash meet. onxmaps.com slash meet. Welcome to the OnX Club, y'all. Anywho, that 22 wasn't exciting. They wanted to jump right over to the smooth board. No, no, it wasn't that it wasn't exciting. I think it was more, at least from my perspective,

I was like, come on, we're not going to be using this. Let's practice what we're going to be using in this situation. You wanted to get the real-world training. Yeah, totally. I wanted to be as prepared as possible and utilize as much of the time as we could. So you wanted to switch over to smoothbore. You're probably not comfortable with lingo yet?

I mean... Like you wouldn't... Seth mentioned someone needing to grab their iron, and you didn't know what he was talking about. I could kind of figure it out, but I did one of those awkward pauses, and then I was like, oh, right. Yeah, I'm going those awkward pauses. And I was like, oh, right. So, you know.

Yeah, I'm going to get mine too. Like you don't run around saying you're 22 like a double deuce. No. Old Betsy. Oh, no. No. There's a whole new litany of vocab. Nelly Bells.

That's what I call my shotgun. Really? That's her name? Old Nelly Bells. Oh, Nelly. Oh, tell us the origin of that name. I don't know. I don't know where...

I have a friend that used to use that term just like... Like, oh, goodness? For like general firearms. My goodness. Oh. What do you mean? Like... I don't know.

Just like a name. Like not a unique one. Just firearms in general. He would call them Nelly Bells. Yeah, just like, oh, I would call them Nelly Bells. Oh, I just grabbed old Nelly Bells. Just like people would say, grabbing my smoke pole, going to go hunting.

Yeah. I don't know. It kind of just stuck with my shotgun. I don't call my rifle that. Quick quiz for you. Oh, goodness. When I say a smoothbore, do you know what I'm talking about? No.

Yes, I do. Maggie, go ahead. You took hunter safety. Smoothbore is in a shotgun and a rifle. It's called'm talking about? Yes, I do. Maggie, go ahead. You took hunter safety. Smooth bore isn't a shotgun and a rifle. It's called a rifle because the bore is rifled. There's like ridges in there. What are the ridges called? Oh,

the land, like the land and the... Yeah, you're super close. Yeah. Lands and grooves. Lands and grooves. Yeah. You know why they originally started cutting those in? To help the bullet travel in a straight line? No.

To prevent fouling. Black powder's messy. So you'd shoot, and there'd be so much fouling that it would be hard to load it. And so they originally started cutting grooves in there as a place for all that powder to go, all that powder residue. And then you realize you could get more groove by cutting them in spirals. And they started throwing a spin on that bullet.

And then people were like, uh-huh. Comes out very stable. I just learned something again that I didn't know before. I didn't know that that was the original intent. I'm going to start a podcast called Gun Talk.

Okay, so you want to switch over to the smoothbore? Yeah, because I wanted real life practice. We were getting close to game time. We got to get the skills pumping. And what was your impression of shooting turkey targets with shotguns?

Fun? Not fun? Too much loud noise and kicking? No, it was fun. You liked it? I mean, I liked it better than just the regular target. That's one of the heftiest kicks out there. Yeah.

Turkey load. Oh, you're, 12 gauge. Oh, you're shooting 20 gauge, but like shooting a turkey load out of a shotgun is one of the healthier kicks on the market. Yeah, and I've shot those same shotguns they're shooting with those same loads. And that's not a walk in the park. Even those 20 gauges, they pop you.

My brother's old girlfriend, I told you this, she was shooting turkey loads and she had a hammer cock shotgun, punched a hole right below her eye, threw her skin with it, and then his wife busted her collarbone shooting turkey loads. I was so glad you told us that before we went. Both of those guys

both of those guys missed the turkeys. Yeah, once you say that it's like lingering in the back of your head right you're like oh for crying out loud what have i got myself into yeah so you enjoyed shooting at the targets and what frustrations did you have amy yeah like in what way the eye thing was like throwing me off because i'm left more left eye dominant and i know you're both of them are yeah really are i really struggled with that.

Why did Yanni? Why did Yanni Vanswall want you guys to shoot? If you're left eye dominant, why was he wanting you to shoot right handed? He gave us the option. Like when we started to share with him what what the frustration was and not being able to keep that left eye closed. My issue was it takes a while to set up, right? If you're not used to the position you're supposed to be in, how to hold the gun, aiming, and just getting comfortable before you shoot. So my left eye would be closed for a while

before I was like ready to shoot. And then by the time I was ready to shoot, my left eye was like fighting me so hard to open that I felt like it was interfering with my ability to like effectively aim. And he was like, well, you can shoot left-handed. But the idea of shooting left-handed felt a little bit intimidating to me because I'm technically right-handed. So the idea of like switching over to the other side felt like I'm learning something new altogether. Let's not throw like an entirely new factor into the situation let's just figure out how to like make this left eye cooperate a little bit more yeah and then you didn't weren't comfortable shooting with both eyes open no I can't like see what I mean you can see with both eyes open but you can't

like narrow in in the way that you want to be narrowing in because he would tell us exactly where we were supposed to be aiming especially especially as we were initially patterning the shotgun. And with both eyes open, I felt like I couldn't get to that specific of a spot. Totally. I could only get there. Both eyes open would only work if they were shooting left-handed, being left-eye dominant.

Yeah, that's a good point. We even toyed around with Tracy. We toyed around making her a special pair of sunglasses. I feel like I would like that. Like, I feel like the idea of, like, the fight, the battle with that left eye, like, with a patch over it, it, like, creates an ease. It's like I don't have to pay attention to that fight.

When I'm, when I am, I don't know why I fight with it so much. And maybe it would just get stronger and better over time the more I do it. It would. I think most experts would tell you, though, that since you're at this beginning stage, you should be going left-handed. I think that's what I do with my daughter. That's what my dad made me do when I was a kid. She's got the same thing going on.

And we did it this past time, turkey hunting. I did a pair of sunglasses and just put some i think i did tape what did something anyways to cover her um left eye and she shot great you know but i think i'm just gonna tell her she's gotta shoot mother left hand probably more advantageous to get her into it while she's young yeah yeah the same for you it's like you only shot a gun now 20 times it's weird though as an adult this is like an overarching thought, but like it's weird as an adult getting into something new, especially something like this that is so specific

and so nuanced and like it's not, it requires like a really built out specific skill set. Like it's very unnerving because the idea of like starting something as an adult and like, am I going to be able to do it? Am I not going to be able to do it?ving because the idea of like starting something as an adult and like am I going to be able to do it am I not going to be able to do it nobody likes the idea of failing like you want to start something and be good at it right away and like that's like a whole mental journey oh yeah that I went on me too not letting you guys down wanting to like you know live up to

the expectations all that kind of stuff. I didn't have any expectations. Of course you did. That is total baloney. What do you mean? He told me, he said, I expect nothing from these people. Yanni, who was it? No, I proposed. No.

One of us did. That you'd block your eye out mm-hmm Yanni thought you'd have a patch so cute that you'd carry an eye patch and then I proposed maybe we'll take and make you take your shades and block the eye out but then I thought, but you liked shooting like that, right? Yeah.

I liked it a lot. A lot. But then I thought, there's so much going on in the turkey woods that I felt that it was, that it was just like, oh, yet another thing. Oh, I need to put my special glasses on.

Like, okay, he's coming and he's coming hot. Where's the eye patch? Hold on. Tell him to just stay right there. Hold on. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, you didn't like that idea idea which was a little heartbreaking and disappointing

i understand why you you vetoed it it just was so nice to shoot not battling this blinking thing that kind of keeps opening yeah for sure yeah it'll give you a headache when you're sitting there blinking and yeah just like every now and then you'd see more i'd see less and then i feel like i'd have to like readjust my aim because now i was off a little bit like it just it flustered me a little bit honestly and when you're shooting it's different too because you're shooting at the range you have on ear protection which you're supposed to actually hunt with too do you know that interesting because i never really cover that in hunter safety. And you don't see that in real life application.

You're supposed to have your protection on. Okay. You wouldn't just put plugs in. You wouldn't put like a headset on. But you shoot with headsets. You shoot with glasses. It's just different. In Europe, everybody's got like actual muffs on their head. Really?

When they're like not hunting, but when they decide to shoot. They put them on once they decide to shoot. When I guided, I used to just wear a pair. I think they're made by Howard Light. It's like a lot of guys wear them on the job site. It's like an orange band that goes around your neck, like a big horseshoe, and it's just got plugs. I used to wear that on my neck.

And then you would put them in before. Yeah, that way as soon as the client was about to shoot, I just could. Remy and Cal. Remy and Cal are very good about ear protection. Really? Remy wears one of those little, you know, looks like a headset, but it's, you know what I'm talking about?

Looks like, what am I getting at, man? It's like ear plugs on a spring that you wear around your neck. What I just described. Yeah, but what is the word? If you were going to look them up, what would you describe it as? Oh, boy. Don't they call it earpro? Or is that something totally different?

No, I'm saying, like, how do you describe a headset that plugs your ears? Yeah, it looks like a big plastic horseshoe that has earplugs attached to the ends. Yeah, I just feel like it's like an industry word for it. Anyhow, he's real good about putting those in. And Cal wears them around his neck. And when we were turkey hunting in Texas, he sits down and no joke, we're calling to a turkey. He no joke puts the earplugs in his ears. He does, but then can he still hear the gobble and stuff?

That's why I can't do it. He's got special high-end ones that don't change. Really? Yeah. You go to a shooting range, man. It's got special high-end ones that don't change. Really? Yeah. Huh. You go to a shooting range, man. It's rules at a shooting range. Of course.

Yeah. Hearing protection. But you're also surrounded by a ton of people who are shooting. Yeah. Hearing protection, eye protection. Sure. Now, we always, like, I always wear my regular sunglasses. And not, but I never got in trouble for it.

But they make, like, ballistic sunglasses for it. But they make ballistic sunglasses. But we wear regular sunglasses. And Yanni, talk about what happened to you. Yeah, Howard Light just calls it their quiet band. Oh, band. Is the name of their product. Yannis, see, here's the thing. We're in a little bit of a tricky ground

because they're not meant for this. But I don't know. Is it it we don't really know no they just say eye protection yeah it's certainly better than not having any on as in my case certainly you know and i would think that you definitely want to wear the plastic lenses and not the glass lenses because glass could shatter and hurt you. But, yeah, I was shooting a gun a while back. I don't want to get into details about this because there's a chance that I'm a little bit to blame. Uh-huh. I'm not blaming you.

I'm half to blame. Yeah, but I'm mostly to blame because I'm the one that loaded the rifle. But I put a 7mm 08 into a 270 WSM. And the difference in caliber and dimensions of those two bullets is about a tenth of an inch you're going from I put 280 into 270 point two eight zero into point two seven zero the bullets still exited the gun actually still hit the target wasn't I mean it was only I don't know eight inches off of bullseye but that created enough pressure to you could say blow up the gun that i was shooting and it happened to be a left-handed gun i was shooting it right-handed and had a shot at

left-handed the all the blowout of the gun would have gone away from my face but because if you think about the way a rifle's built, the bolt opens on the right-hand side of a gun that's for a right-handed shooter. And it's made that way. So if you do have a blowout, it's going away from your head and your face, right? Okay. And so in this case, it was made to go to the left. You shoot myself, Paul, a gun. To the left of the gun.

And that's where my face was. And so basically like the trigger assembling snapped the the stock had two big cracks in it it blew out the bottom plate um just ruined it and then yeah there's actually a chunk of uh it was a model 70 and one of the the bars that runs along the bolt was dislodged and actually raked my shoulder. There's a picture of that. Oh, man. I've got a scar there now.

It came off smoking hot. I've got a scar on my shoulder. My blame is this. Well, can I finish? Yeah, but I feel like you're absolving me a little bit. Okay. No, go ahead. Finish your story. Well, thank goodness that I try to always wear glasses when I'm shooting, right?

But I didn't have my – for some reason, my range bag didn't have my eye protection. So I was wearing my Costa sunglasses. And it ended up – when I went to the doctor just to get checked out later, the picture looks a lot worse. I definitely had a puffy face from it, but there was a lot of like carbon blast is sort of like how I've been describing it, that it kind of pockmarked my face.

One side of my face definitely made it swell up a little bit, but the doctor couldn't find actually any chunks of anything embedded in my face or my neck i can tell you that my coast is definitely i feel like i don't know if i would have lost any vision but they had a scratch and a crack in them and when i took them off you can very clearly see the outline and i'm just very happy that my eyes did not take that shot, you know, the way that the rest of my face did. When we were shooting, was I wearing my souped-up yellow lens, Costas?

You were wearing some sort of Costa. I think you were wearing the ones that are kind of like a camouflage pattern. Yeah, with the light lens. I can't remember. Those are like, that's meant to be my hunting ones because the lens isn't that dark. Oh, I see. You can wear them in low light conditions.

For low light conditions. Yeah. But then I got them in camo. I have a bunch that aren't in camo. Got them in camo and got the light kind of yellowy lens. So it's like if the camo was properly functioning, you'd think that I just had yellow lenses. The yellow lenses were just floating in the middle of nowhere.

The yellow lenses were floating. That's what the turkey is thinking? What are those? Yellow oars. Yeah, that's what I have, though I typically just wear regular ones. And at the range, I've never gotten grief for having I think just glad you have something on but the plastic lens glass lens thing isn't something I'd thought about too much because I have both but my camo ones have a plastic lens

the glass lens I like but then when your kids fire them across the tile floor yeah I think in as far as I've always understood, because I owned glass coasters back in the day when I was guiding a bunch, I think the lens itself is a little more durable. You just won't get that buff that kind of happens on a plastic lens eventually. But again, yeah, if you drop them, those plastic lenses oftentimes bounce back and you put them back on your head and go on about your business

where you drop those glass onto a tile floor, like you said, and you're probably going to be out a lens, you know. I was in Mexico once and I had my glass lens ones and one of my kids just dropped them on a tile floor and I sent them back in um sent them back into coaster they fixed them and sent them back to me no problems

wear them for however long again then one day my kid just standing there holding them with a broken lens like i didn't get to see like how he did it this is a different kid this is my younger one matthew just like walking around with broken sunglasses so he probably took a hammer and hit it sent him in like for the sentiment for the warranty they sent him back still have them did you get a little note that's like bro you should take care of your glasses a little bit. Yeah, like, oh, you again. No. Didn't get any grief about it. But now I have – now when I'm going on trips, I bring two pairs.

Smart. My glass lens, which I just like to look through. And then I bring some plastic lens ones for after my kids bring my glass ones. You're crazy not to, man, especially on like the kind of trips that we do when you know you're going not to man especially on like the kind of trips that we do when you know you're going to be out and about whether it's the beach or the mountains or whatever like and i think that i've heard is this true that like lighter colored eyes or can tend to be more sensitive are your eyes very sensitive i don't know about very but like i definitely feel again i've been wearing nice sunglasses now for probably close to 20 years of my life.

And if I get caught out there without them, I'm hating it. No, I have the same problem. I cannot. If I have to drive and it's sunny out, it is impossible for me to keep my eyes open. They want to close. The sun kills them for some reason. I always have to have sunglasses on. I think the more you wear them,

the more it's painful when you don't wear them. Yeah, maybe that's what it is. You just adjust appropriately. I remember the first time, everybody says Costa, but they used to say Costa Del Mar, which is still the name, but that people used to say it. I remember the first time I had a pair was in 1996, I think. Long-ass time ago.

But, yeah, I can't stand it now. But you can't get kids to wear them. And I feel that kids, you know, every parent now is all worried about sunscreen on their kids all the time. No one thought about that before. Now you're supposed to put sunglasses on your kids and put sunscreen on your kids. And I kind of, like, fight against that a little bit.

It's like bike helmets. I always feel a little guilty not putting it on them, but a little guilty putting it on them. I don't. I would wear my bike helmet when I got a block away from the house, take it off and ditch it in the woods. Oh, gosh.

So anyhow, there we are. We're going to make you a blocked out pair of and come back. Sonia, there we are. We're going to make you a blocked out pair of shades. Yeah, but you X-nayed it. It just made you tough up and learn how to shoot. That's right.

That was a, you know, a little taste into what the future holds. I think one of the hardest parts was just the positioning. That was just the positioning. That was just like,

I did not expect it to be such a, like I can't even. Like a slunch down. Yeah. It didn't, took a long time for that to feel comfortable. But Sneaky Pete made me feel very comfortable

after like the 20th time. Yeah. Let's get into the hunt. The big hunt. Who wants to go first? Well, what's the question? What did you feel about it? I asked you what you felt about hunter safety.

How did it go? What you felt about learning to shoot. Let me do this. Let's enter into the hunting part like this. You just went on your first hunt, correct? That is correct. Both of you went on your first hunt. Tracy successfully.

Somewhat. Tracy successfully. Maggie had a great success and that was a great time. But no dead turkey. Okay. If I asked you, let's put it this way. If I asked you

five years ago, do you think you'll ever be a turkey hunter what would you have said no if i said what you said what if i said do you aspire you aspire to be an american hunter probably no okay tracy that would be a no and if you asked any single person who knew me at that time, who know me at some point, their answer would also have been no way. I would agree with that. And when you pictured it, I'm not asking you to go back in time and imagine your impressions five years ago,

but leading up to this, and you pictured it, it'll be like this, and this is what will happen. This is what it'll feel like. How accurate was your pre-assessment or whatever I'm trying to say. Like your mind movie, your vision of it, how accurate was your vision of it? I would say there were some parts that were accurate and there were some parts that were vastly inaccurate. Like I don't think I had an expectation

that everybody says it's hard to find turkeys. I don't think I had an expectation that we would be challenged as much as we were actually hearing a gobble. It was rigorous. That was largely Seth's fault.

Go on. I'll take the blame. No, no blame, Seth. No, that's all right. But more also in terms of like for those first couple of days, I also felt like there were moments where I was like physically challenged in ways that I didn't expect to be physically challenged. Like I'm not sure I expected to be climbing up, you know, trying to keep up with you as you're running. Like I, I

thought, where did I run? No, you weren't running, but you're just so like you, you do this all the time and you're so strong. And like, I don't do a lot of this stuff very often. And so my physical capabilities were tested in a way that I probably didn't anticipate or expect to be tested in that way. Like climbing over deadfall. I was like, like getting in blow down. Like we had to,

we had to cross through like blow down. Yeah. Like it was just like, wow. Like there is, you know, you have to really be in like strong physical shape to be able to be successful.

Yeah. That was like a hillside. And I even said to you, when people talk about dog hair, that's what they're talking about. And when people talk about blowdown, that's what they're talking about. You got both in one day. This is dog hair blowdown. Which is like a hillside of lodgepole pine where they're still very densely packed. And then they get leveled in a windstorm.

Interesting. And man, it makes a mess. Well, and I just was like, he makes it look so easy. So I headed in thinking, oh, I'm just following Steve. And then I was like, oh, my goodness. This is not that easy. So you didn't picture that part of it? No.

Uh-uh. Yeah, there's nothing in yoga class that prepares you for no deadfall is there no no it's definitely gym no it's a completely different type of physical demand or strain and it's not like it's just for a short period of time like there were times where from where from first thing in the morning until the evening, you're out and about. Just walking. Yeah.

And it's not like you're just walking flat. You're really kind of experiencing a really diverse terrain, or at least we did, I feel like. You experienced a very Western turkey hunt where people back East are going to hear you talking about this. And sure, there's places in West Virginia and, you know, other parts of Appalachia that, you know, those people climb some hills turkey hunting.

But like what you guys went through, especially like the first afternoon we went out, I mean, we pretty much did like a little elk hunt. You know what I mean? You'd be the same kind of country and same stuff you would have covered going on an elk hunt in the afternoon. I slid on my belly. That felt so bad. Yeah, we had to post hole through snow.

We caught some deadfall. Cut across a couple of creeks. I was crawling on the way back up. Steep hillsides up and down. Maggie, you're a marathon runner. Yeah. You've ran marathons. Yeah, I've runs yeah you didn't find it was hard walking around for turkeys did you no i think the physical part i was felt like yeah i'm excited about this because i want

to see if i can keep up with the honest legs yeah i was excited about that i think i kind of had an idea in my head about what that was gonna be but i have an advantage unlike tracy does because i edit you know i've edited hunts i've seen what you guys do so i was like i think i know it kind of goes into this you know like don't know everything but the physical part i was like i think i got for the most part and i know you like chastise me for saying that but you're like everyone says they're always prepared for and they're not and i was oh yeah well that's like the two things no one the two things everyone says they're going to do and don't that they're going to break their boots

in i wore mine in the office oh no i wore them to the office all week yeah they're gonna break their boots and they're gonna like whatever get in shape means. Yeah. I felt like I was in pretty decent shape. Oh, yeah. You were, I mean, you and I were waiting on the two camera guys all the time. That's impressive. What was the thing that was most, what was the thing, Maggie,

that was most surprising about actually going out hunting? Like something that as much as you've had exposure to it, like what was the thing that you're like, oh, I get it now, or I didn't picture this being like this? The emotional side to it. Like, I mean, I was drained. Every emotion I had in my body was put out there. Tell me more.

I mean, it was excitementhuh then there was like disappointment at certain points frustration then I felt pressure then when I had my opportunity I felt guilt and sadness but then there were like came back and I was like wanted vengeance I mean I and then there was times too when I was like I just loved it like I really was out there and I was like, this is like not on a trail. Like hiking, I don't know if I want to go to like a trailhead now and just go for a hike. Like I loved it. We were just like off trail, just moving through country.

Like that was just listening. But then stopping and just looking at stuff. Because the trail is such a different experience and being out there and immersed. And I like loved that part about it. Like that was just so much fun. It's fun running game trails, isn't it? Yeah.

Because you always, like, you see how the animals are running contours and, like, the animals don't move across the landscape in an ass-backwards way. No. They very much, like, go with the flow of the landscape. You know, it's cool to see. Totally. And just, like, learning from Giannis, too. It was like, wow, you know so much, you know. And, like, a lot of this stuff you don't get to see when and just like learning from yannis too it was like wow you know so much you know and

like a lot of this stuff you don't get to see when you're editing you know you get to really capture emotion you have to feel it when you're having emotions did you remind yourself that that like were you like but it's just a game or did it feel sort of more real you know i mean because how do you untangle it you know it's like a pastime did it feel sort of more real you know i mean because how do you untangle it you know it's like a pastime but it but it brings out emotions that a lot of pastimes do not i mean people who play golf get pissed whatever they miss a shot totally running and can get like really mad and they like bend their golf club so there's like legit anger but i feel like it doesn't have that it doesn't not being a golfer maybe i wrong, but it's hard for me to picture it bringing about

the full suite of emotions that come out. Yeah, I didn't expect that at all. Definitely not. I've golfed 100 rounds in my day, and there's, no, not even close. I can tell you, running a marathon, I was like, when I did that, I was like, oh, this is the hardest thing. This is an emotional journey. No.

Totally. What do you think it's attributed to, then, that it's so vastly deeper and more complex i don't know if i can really answer that for you i don't know that it just surprised me i'm still processing yeah i don't i did that is just like came out of left field yeah my brother describes that um that he has that he gets very lusty. Yeah. He wants, like, because he's trying to find the right word to sort of capture

how badly he wants success. Oh, I definitely felt that. That's like, he feels that the word lust almost does it more justice. Yeah, I would agree with that. He's so lusty. Or like elk or turkeys or whatever it's just you just want to get that thing and be successful so bad yeah and i think what added to that is the turkey we were tracing i mean there wasn't very many gobbles but we heard him on the

first day and i'll never forget that and i came came back and I was like, I heard him. And you guys were like, are you sure? And I was like, I don't think there's any other noise that sounds like a turkey gobble out there, but I'll never forget that. Talk about your opportunity. Tell us about your opportunity. It's like still heartbreaking. We got there first light, a little bit before. A little bit before, for sure.

You guys had named the turkey sneaky yeah we'd already been i think that was the third morning that we've been on him yep and we had hunted him like literally almost most of the prior two days meaning you know where he roosts he makes noise from the roost hits the ground does, does some gobbles, but will never come in. Yeah, we knew his general zone. We knew where he dusted himself and everything even. I mean, we knew his territory. But you hadn't had eyes on him yet. At a distance, maybe.

I think you did. No, you did that first morning. You saw him after he flew down. You saw a glimpse of him cut across the hill. And knowing that information and knowing the layout of where he was roosting, we knew that at least twice he had gone, looking up the hill, he had gone to the left and kind of gone down into this bowl. And that's why we decided to set up there as opposed to on the ridge

like the morning before because he didn't come down the ridge towards us. He kind of cut across the toe of the hill and went down into a bowl. Yeah. He evaded us. Oh, man. He's good at evading. Yeah. So your opportunity.

There you are, out in the woods. Yep. All set up. Giannis has got the decoys like how far away? 20. Yeah. Like right where we know he's going to walk. And it's just the waiting game now. My heart is just like in my throat. I'm like sweaty. Yeah. I mean, we were much over a hundred yards from his roost tree and it was a full hour.

Oh yeah. Until, and luckily he got, he would gobble every five to ten minutes from where he was, so we knew he hadn't drifted off in a different direction. Were you calling him, or he would just gobble on his own? No. I had already called enough the prior two days, and I was not going to make a peep. So how were you planning on him finding you?

Because we knew his direction. Oh, you knew how he was gonna travel going the other way off this this ridge um it was kind of hell hole-ish like there was more blowdowns it was steep it just wasn't and we had heard him in this bowl and watched him go into this bowl and just had like he's been spending a bunch of time in this bowl so he just seen the natural path he's gonna eventually take so you were ambushing him. Yes. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

Ambushing him with decoys. With decoys. Yep. And we're all set up. Just give him the silent treatment. Yeah. Because you know if you're like, yip, yip, yip, yip,

he's going to go off in some other direction. At this point, I figured he was probably a little smart or like knew something. He's gun shy. Yeah.

But I will never forget when I first saw the hen come and she was I mean two hens and they were huge. Big old hens. And puffed out and I was like oh my god. They were like feathers. They were like big.

Maybe I'm just remembering them being big. They do a little hen strut. They were side by side in front of him basically. Like, and I was like, oh my God, is that the cobbler? I didn't know. Hadn't seen him at that point. And you, you remember said, you will know.

And when he came through, I was just like, in my head, I was like, I could not believe that that's how they strut around the forest. Well, we are not around. Like, this is just like what these animals do. That like weird to me thought, last spring i called in a turkey for a guy who never hunted turkeys and when the turkey showed up we couldn't see very far like off in one direction all of a sudden he's just like there and i remember before he shot he goes oh my god yeah that's kind of how i felt because also here's this like absurd blue head coming

through the you know yeah yeah it was coming through the grass he's all puffed up you know with his ladies and then he came in and was like are you ready and he called and the hens looked at directly at us did not give a shit about the decoys yeah that was my mistake i mean retrospectively i should have not called you know we always we talk about not shooting him in strut because the head is more compact. So I didn't do that. He's kind of tucked into his body, right? And so if he's just standing there and his head is erect and up, the target's bigger.

It's clear away from the body. It should be easier to hit, you know? And he's at 20 yards coming in strutting. And at the time when I said the deep place— So he just happens to be coming through the woods at 20 yards well dude like i said we've been hunting for three days is he moving quick or slow i mean i understand what you're saying he's like they're just fake walking like they're gonna feed well once he saw the decoy he was probably moving a little bit quicker at the decoy. And you tried to give him a call or an alarm putt?

Oh, no. I just gave him just a couple of the alps. And the hens were like, I'm out of here. Yeah, the hens heard that and were like, that didn't come from those two hens I'm looking at. That came from up the hill 20 yards. Came from the eagle. And they just spun 180, went back the way they came. And of course, he's sort of following,

gobbling the whole time. And every time I call, I'm like, I continue to call now because he's – but, again, there's a stump that when I set the decoys, I didn't see the stump and go, oh, that's going to cause an issue. But he went behind the stump, came out the other side. I called, and he turned and got behind that stump so fast. And then coming out the other side of the stump, he definitely had some giddy-up going.

And in hindsight, you feel like you should have gotten a couple cracks off. Maybe, yeah. Maybe because he was strutting. Sure, no. I should have just had you shoot him while he was strutting. Listen, I know about that whole thing, not doing that. I didn't know until like... I should have just had you shoot him while he was strutting. Listen. I know about that whole thing. Not doing that.

I think that is just... I think that is some BS. Personally. 20 yards? Yeah. Just shoot him. Yes. Yeah. I knew it.

I mean, I was sad. And upset. Did he fill your head full of that? Not to shoot him when he's in strut? We had talked about that. Of course. Yeah, why do you think we're in this predicament right now? I don't know if she arrived at it naturally.

Oh, no. No. No. They didn't teach that on her safety. They're like, oh, one last thing, class. Yeah. Never shoot him in hunter safety. They're like, oh, one last thing, class. Yeah. Never shoot them in strut. Are you aware of this, Seth, the whole not shooting them in strut movement?

Well, I always tried to, like, not shoot them in strut, you know? Yeah. Why? Yeah, why? Well, just because, like, I don't know. You have a better chance of hitting meat, breast meat. Yep. And, like, I've shot turkeys in the strut before and just, like, totally blew their fan apart and, like, all sorts of stuff, you know?

Yeah. But if it comes down to it, I have no problem with it. Yeah. No, if everyone knows what's up, like, while I was hunting my friend, Jared Fank, who's he you know he's a he's been he's a seasoned turkey hunter yeah and we had a turkey come in and i knew that he was getting ready to shoot turkey the turkey's in full strut and i gave the turkey an alarm putt and he lifted his head up and he shot but that's because i know that he's like a guy who's been

shooting turkeys his whole life yeah this year i was calling a turkey in for rick and uh he the turkey never left strut except for when he would gobble which is all that's a risk low that's a risky shot you know just shooting when he when he gobbles but i made a call and i turkey gobbled and rick shot him when when he gobbled just because it was the only time his head would leave you know being tucked up against his body yeah yeah but so there he wanders off unscathed and you had an emotional outpouring yeah pulled my hat down over my eyes and the adrenaline left my body and i was vibrating did you get a chill when the adrenaline left your body yeah man but i remember you know it's real when you get the chill.

And in my head, I just kept replaying it and being like, now, now, now, now. I just wish someone would have just whispered, like, now. But that was just my, you know, it was everything I did not expect it to be. Thought I was prepared after all the setups. In your mind movie, you didn't picture that being something that would happen no then Tracy had something happen in her thing

even just you saying that makes my heart begin beating fast again talk about your opportunity which you capitalized on so we had been I mean this was basically the first day I think it was day four the first day where we actually had heard a gobble like we had been kind of trying to find birds for a long

time we hunted three i think we hunted three days i heard one gobble in three days you heard zero gobbles have we hunted three days yeah i think so and we went to we hunted three days? Yeah, I think so. And we went to, we hunted three days on, all on forest land, national forest land. Hunted three days on national forest land, never heard a gobble. And then went to a private parcel. Went to a private farm parcel. And lo and behold. Lo and behold. Lo and behold, we found some birds, some birds which i mean having spent that amount of

time without seeing any birds like the change in emotion and the change in feeling that you feel physically i was like oh my god we're here this is we're getting close this is go time and i think not only like do you start to think about how is this going to play out am i going to know what to do thinking about what you guys had taught us like just making sure that like everything was like in only like, do you start to think about how is this going to play out? Am I going to know what to do? Thinking about what you guys had taught us, like just making sure that like everything was like in check. And I think you anticipate that it's all going to kind of happen exactly like you anticipated happening and I'm prepared. And then, you know, that doesn't happen. And, you know, you're kind of in the situation where, you know, you're outside your comfort zone and the intensity of it all is a lot to handle. Our turkey, we were actually about to head inside because it was starting to pour rain.

And I was shocked, actually, that Steve had kind of said, you know what, I think we should go inside for a little while. I was like, really? Steve and Noah are saying we should go inside for a little while. I was like, really? Steve and Noah say we should go inside for a little while? I didn't want to. I don't want to sell you short, but I'm trying to make it be that you're having a decent time. Right, which I absolutely was.

Then literally upon completion of you finishing that sentence, we heard a gobble. No. Oh, the hen came in. A hen started to happen. We started communicating with the hen. She came in. A hen started to happen. A hen called, yeah. That's right. And we started communicating with the hen. Yep. And she came out, and she was a little feisty. She was a little feisty, but I was shocked.

She marched right up to the decoys. Puffed up. Kind of had her little moment with them. She was like, what's happening over here? And then she was like, nothing I'm that interested in. And off she went. She's like, hey, you're not alive. Yeah. But she didn't. I was so surprised because she went she's like hey you're not alive yeah but she

didn't i was so surprised because she was like yeah you're not alive i'm i'm moving on she wasn't like what is this she was like huh this is a little disappointed i've seen them be uh baffled by it sometimes like which i would kind of birds will attack it totally fight. And fight it. And I also last year had this really amazing experience of watching a hen come up to one and just purring at it and pecking at it. Really? Yeah. Five minutes. Really?

Five minutes. That must have been incredible to see. Just doing these weird little... Interesting. Yeah. And got irritated with it. Fascinating. Yeah, she had bigger things on her plan.

Probably wasn't actually. I'm probably exaggerating. Probably wasn't actually five minutes, but it was a long time. Yeah. Or if we're going... Yeah, totally weird. And that was the first bird we had really seen.

We'd obviously seen some birds in other capacities, but that was the first bird we'd really seen. We'd obviously seen some birds in other capacities, but that was the first bird we'd actually seen where we were set up. We were kind of in a different mindset, if you will. I felt like we were kind of in go time. So then, you know, shit starts to get real. Hey, folks, exciting news for those who live or hunt in Canada. And boy, my goodness, do we hear from the Canadians whenever we do a raffle or a sweepstakes.

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Welcome to the onx club, y'all. Then all of a sudden... And I'm thinking through my head because the day before, Steve was like, when you see a turkey, you do not move an inch. Not an inch. So I'm like, you know, I definitely don't want

to be the one that Fs everything up. So I'm thinking in my mind all the things that you told me that I'm making sure I'm good, I'm prepared. And then... We've been hearing a gobbler behind us and he was obviously with some hens because you kind of hear him go back and forth and he never got closer. You could make him gobble but it didn't do any good.

We never knew exactly where he was. We were all kind of like, where is that coming from? We weren't totally 100% sure. Like some couple hundred yards away off in some direction. But then all of a sudden, he's like, go, go, go. It's like, oh, he's coming. Oh, yeah. And then all of a sudden, there was one gobble where literally he could have been sitting in my lap.

I was like, that is so close. That was loud as anything. The gobble heard around the world. Absolutely. Yeah. It was so loud. I want to talk a little bit because I'm a big part of your mishap. It wasn't even a mishap. I keep

calling it a mishap. To me, it felt like a mishap, but it wasn't an actual mishap. I keep thinking he's going to take the line of travel and come to our left like the hen did. Because he's sort of

kind of like calling from where she was calling. And then the gobble heard around the world and felt like it was in my lap. Literally. But he wasn't in my lap

and I couldn't see him in front of me and I was so confused. And the only place I could think that it was was clear across the field. Oh, interesting. Was there a blind side? All behind us is

solid and to the right is blind side. Yep. It feels like he's yelling in my ear. Yep. Where is he yeah right and i'm like he is it at all possible that it is somehow across this field and it sounded like that and so i'm staring trying to find it and then out of the corner of my eye here running at us, running at us is a turkey.

Like sprinting? Yes. Yeah. As fast as a turkey runs. Yeah. It was. Yep. And I like in Seth's down there.

We got a camera guy down there. A turkey running is not a good sign typically typically not a good sign and in the second that i register this happening instead of there's there's two thoughts and like they're racing and there's a thought in my head that was behind in the race which is the true, that he's running up to the decoy. He's so jacked up that he's literally running to the decoy. But that thought is lagging behind in this race to the fore of my mind. It is losing the race, the thought that's like,

that turkey is out of here because something spooked it. But he's extremely close. Like how close? Close enough where I say, shoot the turkey, shoot the turkey. And all we had prepared for was this stationary, this turkey that's standing there at 30 yards. Perfect scenario, right?

Tape to a box. Right, exactly. Oh, he is prepared for the perfect scenario. I knew exactly where I was supposed to be aiming. I felt like I would have a little more time. Didn't really work out. It's hard to recreate the running turkey in my backyard. Well, maybe somebody should come up with that. Yeah.

Because it would be nice to have some experience. With a moving target. Totally. I think that was my hardest thing, too. It was like, wow, setting up and trying to move, but not move a lot. Because you're trying not to spook them. Yeah. And if you ask anyone, they'll tell you, never shoot at a moving turkey.

But I have the lust. I have the lust. I have the lust. And I can see why. I kind of felt like I even had the lust, and this was my first freaking time. I can see where that's a very real reality. Totally. Especially after you feel like you've spent so much time grinding for this moment. I was like, here he is.

And if we had waited a second, he would have stood there for 30 seconds, a minute, strutting, kicking that thing, nuzzling it. But instead, I just like. But I will tell you. It doesn't even make sense that I misjudged because he didn't have his head positioned. How spooked Turkey does.

His head was tucked, right? I just screwed up, but I was grateful. I screwed up too though, Steve, because I didn't shoot as well as I, I would have liked to.

Yeah. True outdoorsman would have, that was a chip shot. I am, I am working on my status, but it is clear that I am not at that level. I'm working now, Seth. Come on.

You'll get there. But you know what you got to do to get there, and you don't want to do that. Probably not. We told you. What? How you tell a true outdoorsman. I don't think you told me that. Yeah, we distilled it down to one single thing.

We talked about it. Shoot. Lay it on me. I wasn't there. I don't want down to one single thing. We talked about it. Shoot. Lay it on me. I wasn't there. I don't want to remind you because we can't talk about it. Oh, so Giannis and I can't know the secret.

The secret. We told you. We told you. Oh, I did hear about it. We told you that we... Something about trapping. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. No.

Go on. No, okay. A seasoned shooter, you in 10 years, would not have a problem. I appreciate the optimism. You in 10 years, that would be not a bad shot. Oh, even next year. Okay.

So go on. You're going to practice a bunch. You take over. But I was appreciative. Shoot, shoot, shoot. Whatever I'm saying. Very agitated. Very agitated.

I can tell you, I've been in that position before. Buddies scream, whispering in your ear. Shoot your ear shoot shoot shoot it is not cool but but on the flip side i actually feel very grateful that he was doing that because you wouldn't have shot on your own i'm not sure like i think i shot it standing there she would have shot it when he spent a minute there but i i appreciated the guidance you know what I mean? It was an intense guidance. Don't get me wrong. It was not like, Tracy, shoot the bird. It's time.

It was, shoot! Shoot the bird! You know? And I was like, okay! It's a real problem of mine. It's a real problem of mine. I feel that when I'm mentoring new hunters, I typically let them down at at at the moment of truth i don't feel like i was let down i think i'm i'm running at a different uh i i am i'm not

sympathetic to the the pacing that they that they feel is comfortable well i don't want to force them into a more a quicker pacing. Right. Yeah, but I mean, for me personally, I actually think it was helpful because I like to be pushed a little bit. I like that challenge. So I didn't mind that.

It was more a matter of because he came out from the right so unexpectedly, and I think you had eyes on him slightly before i even did and then i was like oh my god there he is oh god and then you're like shoot the bird and then i was like this is time that i felt like i couldn't really like get my good shot obviously i didn't get as good of a shot as i would have wanted walk through the shooting but you have to use the word instead of bang okay i feel like some of it is like very foggy because it was all it all happened so damn fast too so okay so i'm set up i'm i'm hunched down i'm ready to go and i see this bird come like shockingly out of my right hand side and

then you're like shoot shoot the bird and i was like okay so i i pull the trigger blouch and i'm like oh and then rolled it yeah the bird flies up in the air the the wings are kind of like and i was like and i at that moment was like janice told me that when you sometimes when you kill a turkey that they can like flounder or flap for a little bit before they die is that what's happening that usually means a good hit oh steve no no i don't know at that point i didn't know okay take it to farming for a minute okay in the old days and still today in some cases people will dispatch a chicken say yep by beheading it yep and what do those chickens do do they just fall over and never even twitch no they kind of like do a... Or do they run around the barnyard? Oh, yeah. Mm-hmm.

Okay, so when you get a direct hit on a turkey, it doesn't... Like, the best direct hit on the turkey oftentimes doesn't immediately register to one as a lethal hit. Mm-hmm. Because there is a lot of... Activity that happens or action. His head has been effectively removed by a direct shot from a shotgun,

but there is a lot of movement. Yep. So that's what I was thinking was potentially transpiring. For a split second. I think you said something. You were like, yes, you got him or something like that. And I was like oh really like i was a little taken aback by shock and then literally you were like shoot again yeah it's funny how fast they can go from flopping to having their legs underneath them

you have their legs underneath them yeah it's true and that's what steve said so he was like i saw that he like was getting his legs underneath him and it wasn't a lethal shot and at that point I think my mind was so flustered that I was like oh goodness gracious like I was a little bit a wreck kind of that I don't think I could focus enough to like regroup and like shoot effectively again I think that was the issue because I was stressed and I was panicked and I was like, I've hit him, but I haven't lethally hit him. And now we have an issue. And you had two more shells in the old clip.

That's correct. The old tube. Yep. What happened? Neither one of them touched a bird. I shot them, but they did not touch the bird. And I was like, this is a disaster. Then it started to like sink in.

Then I was like, this is exactly what I was most fearful would happen. Which is? That I would injure a bird and not lethally shoot him. And that I would cause pain and suffering to an animal. And that was exactly what happened. So, but like, you don't really have a chance to like process that all because you're like,

we gotta go, we gotta go find him. You know what I mean? Like, you're like, we gotta go, we gotta go find the bird. So it's like,

you're trying to process all of what just transpired, but like, but there's no time, no time. Cause you're off running across the field, looking for tracks, trying to locate him, trying to find him, trying to find where he went. While that all is happening, you still have a lot of adrenaline going.

But I couldn't help but in my mind think about what that poor bird was going through, which probably isn't necessarily realistic, but that was exactly where my head went. It was like he's in pain. He's suffering. He didn't expect this this isn't fair like I was going through all of those types of emotions coupled with the fact that I was like god damn it why did I suck so bad like I was annoyed that I felt like I had not capitalized successfully and like impressively on the moment. Let's say we had had your first hunt. We had decided it was going to be a deer hunt,

a rifle deer hunt. And we knew that in the best case, like how it typically goes, best case scenario, we would instruct you to, when we get a chance at a deer, we're going to shoot behind the front shoulder. Yep.

So that we punch a hole through its lungs. We don't waste any of the shoulder meat. Yep. Okay. And we knew that what would happen would be you'd hit the deer. The deer is going to run off. Yep. 10 yards, 100 yards.

Yep. And run off, bleed out, pile up and die. Yep. And we knew going into it, that's what it was going to look like. Yep. How would you feel if that happened? Because effectively, you shoot a turkey, it has some moment of panic, runs off, dies, there's a little bit of time expires,

but runs off, gets in the brush, dies. Yep. And some time, some whatever, minutes elapsed. Yep. But it wasn't what we thought would happen because we thought the tip where you shoot a turkey just dies yep if i like how much of it was disappointment that it didn't go as we planned and how much of it was the horror of it having this brief moment of confusion and pain so i think it's the second that second point was probably what i was struggling

with the most but then after i kind of processed those emotions i was like oh the disappointment of not having it go exactly as i had hoped or as you guys would have wanted it to go that that was secondary yeah so we had shot a deer and i was like, perfect shot, but the deer ran off and we see it like go and it crosses the creek and goes and runs over a hill. Yeah. And you're like, oh my God, I'm nervous. And I'm like, no, no, no, it's perfect shot. Yep. And we go over there and there it is dead. Yep.

Would you have been really upset about the distance, the time and distance that elapsed? Would that not be upsetting to you no i think it would have been upsetting to me however like given the fact that we were in the i was in a situation with you kind of guiding me and providing your expertise and your experience and perspective if you had counseled me in that situation to say this is quite common i guarantee you that you know we'll find him you know very close or what have you that would that would ease my concern no i was shocked that we found it i know that is why instead he's like that is correct that is why i think i could read that from you and i was like this is a tricky like we now have a very tricky situation yeah hey you guys got lucky i Totally. Most people, when Bird gets out of sight of you, they don't leave a blood trail. It was a range of emotions because we got –

the first thing we did was went and checked the riverbank and couldn't find running turkey tracks crossing it. And Seth had had enough experience, even though Seth's behind the scenes. Seth had had enough experience where he's like, when they hit this thick stuff, they just buckle down. It seems like that with most birds. When waterfowl hunt,

their defense is to fly away. When they can't do that, they just find a spot to tuck in and they just sit very still. I've seen turkeys do that before. I feel very grateful that we were able to recover him, honestly. It took a while to process it all emotionally, but had that not been a final outcome, I feel like I would have felt very differently about my whole experience. Have you eaten any turkey yet? I have.

What did you do with it? I made turkey schnitzel just like you told me to. Did you enjoy it? It was a huge success and I'm going to make some more turkey schnitzel this weekend because Jeremiah's dad and brother are in town and so I figured it would be fun to cook up some turkey for them. So your future father-in-law future brother-in-law. Yeah.

Nice. Walk me through how you made your schnitzel. I followed your recipe. Okay, so you did like that. Oh, absolutely. I'm not just like winging my turkey schnitzel. I followed the expertise recipe by the book. Did you put saran wrap down when you hammered it out?

Yeah. It was freaking awesome. You served it with lemon? Yep. The lemon makes all the difference in the world. Lemon is critical. Hearing this, how do you feel about this, Maggie, that you haven't had any? I just want to go back out there and get one. You guys didn't know this, but you should probably, Tracy, pass a little bit of turkey. I already did.

Oh, she did. Steve, give me a little more credit than that. She did. She shared with me, so i'm very grateful for and appreciated after our after our hunt and our surprise about the turkey not just piling up dead um i thought for a couple minutes i was like there's a zero percent chance tracy will be doing this again and then an hour later i put it to you and you were already at 90. Yeah. And I would tell you I'm at a hundred now, like even with further distance from it and the reflection of it and just the kind of perspective that I have on the whole experience

and how magnificent it was. And also just the connection to the outdoors and spending that time kind of connected to nature. Like even probably if I hadn't got a bird, I would probably tell you now I'd be 100% likely to do it again, that I want to do it again. And partly there's this mentality of like I want to do it again better. Like I want to improve upon my previous experience. I want to get more comfortable.

I want to be more accurate and effective. Like I want to get better at it. Totally. Where are you at, Maggie? 110. It's weird to see this in you where, not that it contradicts something I thought about you, but it's weird to see in you there's sort of like a friendly sort of vendetta

kind of thing going on. Do you know what I mean? Because you're competitive. You're obviously competitive. And so I can see that you don't like the feeling of having not been successful, but not in a pouty way. No. But in a way where this isn't over, I'll figure this out.

Yeah, definitely. And I mean, I think that's what draws me to running and individual sports in the get-go. And I'd say hunting is definitely false. I mean,'s what draws me to running and individual sports in the get-go. I'd say hunting is definitely false. It's not sport necessarily. There's more to it than that. You do it and you're going out there for a purpose. Yep. There's a thing you want to happen and you're wanting to make that thing happen. Yeah. I think that's why I was a decent athlete in college is that I didn't get down if I didn't perform well in a race.

It was not like that's the the end all be all you know there's room to improve and reflect on that and get better and I don't know I came away with just so much appreciation that just and fun like I had so much fun makes me just want to go do it again Maggie or went to Josh Prestine when we got home and uh ordered herself up a SA08 I didn't know that synthetic 20 gauge you did yep just got word

I'm getting it wow really yeah so the drive is there seriously yeah

is this gonna be the first firearm in your household mm-hmm it's the first time my mom's probably hearing about it right now

yeah American gun owner yeah It's the first time my mom's probably hearing about it right now. Yeah. American gun owner. Yeah. I think to our experience just from like chasing that one bird and having it be so intimate. Like we tried other places. I was always like, yeah, let's go here. Sure.

Giannis, whatever you think. But that intimate moment was just, I don't know. That's addicting. You're going to rig up a safe place in your house to keep it? You guys don't have kids running around, though. No. I need your help, but yeah,

tell me what to do. Oh, grownups, I mean, it's different, but. Yeah. No kids.

That's exciting. Yeah. Thanks. Now,. That's exciting. Yeah. Thanks. Are you going to hunt deer this year? If you guys will help teach me, sure. Okay. Any final thoughts? I don't know.

No. Sneaky Pete's still out there. I mean. The turkey's still alive. Yanni went and checked. I know. Yeah, I went and Found him another day He worked

Oh man He'd make a fool of me That day But Seth's going This weekend I think he's You are? We're gonna go

I'm gonna check on him Nice See if he's still around I'm out of days man He's a little too far away If he was like 10 to 30 minutes away I'd probably

Work something out. But he's two hours away. So, yeah. You going camping for the whole weekend up there? Yeah. So you can put some time in. Yeah. It's supposed to be beautiful, too.

Oh, it's going to be a good turkey weekend in Montana, man. Yeah. Yeah. Tracy, you got any final thoughts? Two final thoughts that I want to share. One is, you know, I feel like a lot of people talk about the importance of like having a mentor as you get into hunting. And I never really understood. I mean, of course, you always want to have somebody that can like help teach you or, you know, kind of show you the ropes. of being able to try something new with people who are so experienced

and so much of an expert in kind of the area. And I feel like I would have never been able to kind of embrace this new adventure without that. So really grateful, honestly, for you guys taking the time to kind of introduce us because the knowledge that was imparted, the experience that was imparted, the level of security that I felt knowing that I had somebody next to me who is an expert who could help guide and navigate any situation that would potentially arise was monumental. And I would say to anybody who's looking to kind of try

something new, especially in the world of hunting, finding that is so valuable. Like that is, that was a critical part of me being able to experience this and wanting to experience it again. And then two, I would just say, I was really grateful to be surrounded by people who are just badass people that really like to just also have fun so like while things were really tough had there not been the laughter that there was it would have been a whole different ball game and so being able to infuse a little bit of that fun and that laughter like I felt like I had a really awesome group around me supporting me even in my my worst moments because you guys saw a lot of shit that you probably would never you know have seen um I was really

grateful for that oh thank you so thank you guys piggyback on that too I mean how many times you try something new and it's like an expert trying to show you totally not willing to come down to your level or like they make you feel dumb in that situation or you don't know what they're talking about. I mean, this was like eye opening and I don't know, very appreciative and grateful for the experience and knowledge. That's like bestowed on me. I mean, that's not lost on me. I still think about turkeys when I'm going to bed at night.

What's fun. What's fun about going out with you guys and showing you some things there is that you're open about what you know and don't know. And it's nice to see things through new eyes. And for people to have the sort of self-confidence and willingness to kind of like fess up about what they aren't aware of or what they haven't seen before. Because it helps you sort of guide someone and understand what they aren't aware of or what they haven't seen before because it helps you sort of guide someone and understand what they're going through but i think there's a lot of times there's a way that that some people get into a situation they feel like they kind of want to bluff their way along and that bluffing along can actually be a real impediment to kind of meaningful

progress because there's sort of a posturing. Totally. That someone might have, like, oh, this is nothing new to me. And oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And it just, it gets awkward and weird. But to have, to be with people who have that self-confidence to kind of like, to express marvel or express interest in what you don't know and do know, what you're comfortable with and not comfortable with, makes the whole thing pleasurable and easy. And there's never, there's no weirdness or tension that arises.

Yeah, totally. From someone being a bullshitter. Right, totally, totally. Janice? Yeah, I hope in a year from now you guys just roll in about 11, one morning you guys are like, there he was have like some real good you know hunting stories that and you guys weren't with steve or myself dragging a couple rope draggers behind yeah we're coming in and yeah with dead turkeys come check it out um that'll

be great my new fan behind my desk i hope yeah i hope to see that. No, I was going to say, Tracy, you should really play up the provider role when you are serving this turkey this weekend to your soon-to-be in-laws. Because this is great. I want to imagine that you're in there and your father-in-law and your brother-in-law, and you're like, yeah, well, someone around here has got to bring home the music. Serve it up. Guys do that.

Yeah, well, well, little lady, what do we have here? You'd be like, just something I shot. Just a little something I shot out in the woods. Yeah, I think they're all just a bit shocked. They're like, oh, I didn't expect this out of you. I knew you were moving to Montana. I got a lot of hats and a lot of gloves for Christmas this year, but we did not

expect this. I just keep getting shocked from everyone too. I leveled off old Betsy. Old Willie Nelly Bells. Old Nelly Bells. When old Nelly bell barks alright so next time

we'll talk with you guys we'll talk after we deer hunt this fall I'm down let's do it I'm game gotta get some practice in in the meantime Seth you got any final things that we could go ahead it was just one of the most memorable, I think,

meat-eater shoots that I've been on. Just because of the laughing and just seeing two people have never done this thing before. We had a lot of fun. We sure did. We laughed a lot. It was a good time. We need to frame that ninja, the ninja hammer.

Oh, and I found out you weren't a true outdoorsman. That's right. Why? Remember the beaver trapping thing come dark that one night you you wanted to go to bed you didn't want to i was like you know because y'all was like you're gonna go out and set a little steel and you wanted to go to bed i was down but you advised me it would not be a good idea all right thank you everyone All right. Thank you, everyone. Hey folks, exciting news for those who live or hunt in Canada.

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