00:00:05 Speaker 1: Welcome to This Country Life. I'm your host, Brent Reeves. From coon hunting to trot lining and just general country living, I want you to stay a while as I share my experiences and life lessons. This Country Life is presented by Case Knives from the Store More Studio on Meat Eaters Podcast Network, bringing you the best outdoor podcasts that airways have to offer. All right, friends, grab a chair or drop that tailgate. I've got some stories to share. Everybody glad to be here? Everybody having fun? 00:00:42 Speaker 2: All right, on the count of three, we're going to give a world champion, world-class welcome for the wonderful event that's going on today, and I'm sure a lot of us have been here every year. 00:00:59 Speaker 1: I've been here for the last 40. One, two, three. All right. Thank everybody for being here. 00:01:11 Speaker 2: This is a special This Country Life podcast, and I've got some wonderful folks, and everybody's going to get the chance to tell the stuff they've been up to lately. I think everybody knows what Joe's been up to lately for the past, let me guess, 364 days. 00:01:28 Speaker 3: I took one day off. 00:01:30 Speaker 2: But to my extreme left, Everybody, you know him, you love him, you can't live without him. It's the world's greatest small game hunter. 00:01:41 Speaker 1: Kevin Murphy. 00:01:42 Speaker 4: Glad to be here. 00:01:43 Speaker 1: Kevin Murphy. Now, Kevin, I had to ask you this. Is this Butchie Three Toes? 00:01:49 Speaker 4: That is Wings and Things. 00:01:51 Speaker 2: Wings and Things. He's got the best name for dogs ever. I was 14 before I figured out my name wasn't Go Get Wood, but this one right here is the predecessor or the Follow upper of, do you still have Butchie Three Toes? 00:02:08 Speaker 4: He's on my mantle. 00:02:09 Speaker 1: He's on the mantle. He's on the mantle. Very well, in a place of honor. Next to him. 00:02:14 Speaker 2: Is the recently crowned world, is it the world champion or best mustache at the world champion's world cup? 00:02:23 Speaker 3: Did you win? 00:02:24 Speaker 5: I did. Where's your plaque? Are you kidding? It's in my truck. 00:02:27 Speaker 6: It's in a, like I wanted, it needed to be under lock and key because the other guys that were competing wanted that. 00:02:32 Speaker 2: Josh Spillmaker, who works for Meat Eater and produces Clay's podcast, entered, for some reason, the championship mustache contest. And he finally, after all these efforts, he's had that thing since he was a little baby, and it's finally paying off for him. 00:02:50 Speaker 3: That is an absolutely fine mustache, my friend. 00:02:53 Speaker 5: Well, thank you. 00:02:54 Speaker 2: I feel like I got a starter kit over here compared to this thing. 00:02:58 Speaker 5: I just get up in the morning and say, Jesus, take the wheel. 00:03:00 Speaker 1: Yeah, and he gave you handlebars. That's right. 00:03:03 Speaker 7: Well, he came back, and he was all excited. And I was like, Josh, if somebody beat you, I want to see that mustache. 00:03:08 Speaker 1: Yeah, for real. What was her name? Yeah, there we go. All right. 00:03:13 Speaker 2: Now, right here to my right is my good friend, Lake Pickle. And Lake hosts the Backwoods University podcast on Bear Grease Channel for Meat Eater. He also works for Onyx and does a lot of goodness in the outdoor space. He is an absolute veteran, career veteran, cameraman, outdoorsman in outdoor media. 00:03:34 Speaker 1: My good friend. And he can't shoot bears worth anything, but I still love him. Lake Circle, right here. Yeah. 00:03:42 Speaker 7: No, man, I'm pumped to be here. I've never been to this event before, and this is impressive. Like, truly, it's impressive. I was like, good grief, this is a big event. 00:03:51 Speaker 1: Yeah, for real. It is like our Super Bowl, man. 00:03:54 Speaker 7: Y'all have something really cool here. Just the attitude and the crowd, all of it. 00:03:58 Speaker 1: It's really cool. 00:03:59 Speaker 3: You know, I said this morning, Brent, I was telling somebody, since 2011, we haven't had a single fist fight. 00:04:08 Speaker 2: Hmm. 00:04:09 Speaker 3: We haven't had a single argument and I seen one person frown because they didn't get some squirrel that they wanted to eat. 00:04:19 Speaker 1: That's a pretty good record, man. 00:04:21 Speaker 7: I don't even have those stats for family reunion. 00:04:23 Speaker 3: I'm right there with you, Pickle. 00:04:25 Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. 00:04:27 Speaker 2: About six months is all I can get on that. Time lost without family fist fight. 00:04:32 Speaker 1: Zero days. 00:04:33 Speaker 3: I get it. 00:04:34 Speaker 2: To Lake's right is my good friend, Dave Gardner. Dave Gardner. has an Instagram page. 00:04:41 Speaker 3: Called Dave Gardner Creative. 00:04:45 Speaker 1: Dave Gardner Creative. 00:04:47 Speaker 3: Very original. 00:04:48 Speaker 2: And he is a freelance photographer and has been filming me running around in the woods for the last four or five years, I would assume. So if y'all have seen any contact or any content when I was running around on your television screen or on your phone or whatever you watch or stuff, there's a good chance this guy right here was filming it. And we're going to talk about some of the stuff that just came out here. 00:05:13 Speaker 1: In a minute. 00:05:14 Speaker 2: And we'll talk about that and get his thoughts on what we did. But to the far end down there, last but not least, is our friend Joe Wilson, who is absolutely everybody's friend. I've never met a fellow. I was talking to Jen Pearson. Jen Pearson is our events coordinator with Meat Eater. And she said, Brent, This thing that y'all do, the squirrel thing down there in Arkansas, who do I talk to about it? 00:05:44 Speaker 1: And I said, there's one guy, and his name is Joe Wilson. She said, tell me what he's like. 00:05:48 Speaker 2: And I said, he's a guy that could absolutely talk you into taking out your own appendix if he decided to do it. 00:05:54 Speaker 3: Boy, we come close this week. 00:05:57 Speaker 1: To doing that. 00:05:58 Speaker 2: But Joe, it's such a pleasure to be a small part of this and watch this thing go every year. 00:06:06 Speaker 1: It gets bigger and better every year. It's like the World's Fair. 00:06:10 Speaker 3: Thank you, Joe. Hey, thank you, and let me help out here. First of all, I'm just a little bit bigger than that small piece that you're talking about. 00:06:20 Speaker 1: I got you. 00:06:21 Speaker 3: I've had tons of volunteers show up to do amazing things. The place is relatively clean right now. Second, we have amazing teams who work real hard shoot straight and try to get this hard to get meat. Unless you're Kevin Murphy out of them trees and onto the plates. And then finally, you know, I got fishing game. That's been very supportive of me over the years. And, uh, I pulled a little stunt. I don't know if y'all looked up about 1245 and you seen a helicopter come over and, uh, That helicopter was part of my network that stemmed from this whole operation we're doing. Clifton Jackson had won the world champion cleaning competition for four years. And Saturday, I got a phone call that his father-in-law had passed away. And they were going to put him in the ground and they did today. And Clifton wasn't going to be able to make it from Little Rock to Springdale. And I love me some Clifton Jackson. 00:07:30 Speaker 2: Is there anybody that you'll talk to that knows that doesn't love Clifton Jackson? 00:07:36 Speaker 3: So I said, Clifton, you need time to mourn. But it's hot outside, and I imagine they're going to bury people of the morning. And so when this funeral gets done, you don't think you could drive here? And he said, ain't no way. I said, what if I get a helicopter? And he giggled. which is part of healing when someone you love dies is laughing. 00:08:03 Speaker 1: Yeah. 00:08:05 Speaker 3: And over a little bit of work, because I built a network, Brent, I was able to score a helicopter, and we flew down to Little Rock, picked Clifton up, flew him by, flew kind of low above this place, landed the helicopter, quarter mile up the road, shuttled him over, and Clifton... I think because of the flight schedule, he got second place today. 00:08:29 Speaker 1: Oh, is that right? 00:08:31 Speaker 2: Wow. 00:08:31 Speaker 3: But a great man got first place and Clifton was proud of him. 00:08:35 Speaker 1: Well, that's outstanding. Yeah. Yeah. 00:08:38 Speaker 2: And just so anybody, there's no confusion to anybody that's listening or anybody that was here. This was a totally donated by the helicopter service. No state money, no squirrel money, no any money. was donated other than the company that owned the aircraft and donated. 00:08:57 Speaker 1: The time, the pilot, and the fuel. 00:08:59 Speaker 3: Yep, that's correct. 00:09:00 Speaker 2: Well, Lacey Pickle, Lake's wife, is here, and she has brought me something that I want to, you didn't know was coming. But the fellow that does y'all's trophies for everybody, he called me a week ago, two weeks ago, He says, I got. 00:09:21 Speaker 1: Something I want you to give to somebody. Yeah, so what is it? He told me what it was. 00:09:26 Speaker 2: And what this says is World Championship Squirrel Cook-Off 2026 Champion Event Coordinator. And we're going to give this to my friend Joe Wilson. 00:09:40 Speaker 1: Man, I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you, guys. 00:09:46 Speaker 2: Joe is the guy who likes to– We're very reminiscent, I think. But Joe's the guy that likes to be the center of attention, and his least favorite subject is Joe Wilson. He always wants to talk about something. else and prop somebody else up. Well, folks are thinking about you, and they appreciate you. And it's for the folks that are listening and not watching. It is a walnut plaque with some pretty scroll work in there. It's got Joe's name on it. And just a small token of appreciation from the people that love you and appreciate you. We understand there's lots of folks that help, but you're a big part of it, and we thank you. 00:10:24 Speaker 3: Well, I'll never take the honor, and I appreciate the plaque, but honestly, I guess I don't understand it because you know the background. 00:10:38 Speaker 1: Sure. 00:10:39 Speaker 3: The background is I told a big lie one day. 00:10:42 Speaker 2: I never get tired of hearing the story. I actually told this to a friend of mine that I'm bear hunting with this year. And he couldn't believe it. So give us the Reader's Digest version of how this started. 00:10:54 Speaker 3: Yeah, in 2011, I was contacted by Bizarre Foods for the Travel Channel. And with that contact, they asked if I could host the Ozark edition of Bizarre Foods. And they gave me a long list of things. And I could accomplish every one of them. And they got to the grand finale, what was going to be their big spot on the show. And that was if I knew how to cook squirrels. And I said, yes. Not only that, I cook world champion squirrel. And they said, how do you know? I said, because of the world champion squirrel cook-off. And they said, is there such a thing? I said, yeah. They said, when is it? I said, when are you coming? They told me a date, and we had the first one based off of that lie. Well, since then, y'all see what we've created. We've created a deal where Tens of thousands of people over the years have been able to come together and eat this squirrel. And not to be romantic or nothing, but it becomes something way beyond cooking squirrel. 00:11:57 Speaker 4: Yeah. 00:11:58 Speaker 3: And for me, it become the fact that as you walked around out here today, you've seen people who have never hunted in their life. They probably never even fished. But what they come for is the novelty of the show. The chance to eat something that you can't buy at the store. You got to know someone like us. And to look out in the crowd and see people from all over the country, all over the world, England and Australia and all of this. Man, that's what the show's about now. You know, that's what it is. And so I appreciate the plaque and I know that man, he's a good man. But that's to everybody who's ever been here. 00:12:38 Speaker 1: Oh, absolutely it is. 00:12:40 Speaker 2: I get to take pictures with families and kids that i get shorter every year and they just come i'll get comparison photos of and the kids just get bigger and bigger but it's it's such a fun event where i met kevin murphy was right here the first time 112 years ago he was just a little he was just a little poke Kevin, what's going on in Kevin Murphy's world? 00:13:03 Speaker 4: Man, this summer has been busy, busy, busy, and I have been catfishing. I've become a rod and reel catfish guy. 00:13:10 Speaker 1: For real. 00:13:11 Speaker 4: So I had a good buddy of mine that I met back in 2013. All my good buddies I meet at work. So I met him in a rock quarry in 2013, and he retired this year and had a bunch of free time on his hands. 00:13:26 Speaker 1: Wow. 00:13:27 Speaker 4: Me and him, we went out probably like close to 20 times, been rod and reeling below our magnificent waterways, fished three rivers, the Cumberland, Tennessee, and the Ojai River. And, yeah, I'm working my way. 00:13:42 Speaker 1: Up to be a rod and reel guy. So you didn't do a lot of catfishing growing up? 00:13:45 Speaker 4: A little bit, you know, here and there, just not to the magnitude that I did this summer. You know, kids, I had no skills. I mean, you know, you don't instantly just learn– something out there so this year i went with him and he's from a long line of of uh cat fishermen um i think he told me right before his dad died that he fished 360 days out of a 365 day he wasn't real serious about it so you know that's who i like to hang with. 00:14:14 Speaker 2: Let's see christmas easter his birthday and his anniversary so or her birthday his anniversary. 00:14:20 Speaker 4: That he was a big fisherman and like i said we've got that magnificent river system you know i made the meat eater show Me and Steve on the jug fishing have been doing that quite a bit. Only been one time this year, two times, have been very successful at that. But rod and reeling fishing below the dams in the bowls, it's a little bit different skill. I mean, when you've got a weight on that weighs 16 ounces, and that's bigger than most fish people catch. 00:14:44 Speaker 1: For sure. 00:14:46 Speaker 4: So a little bit different strategy going in and fishing. 00:14:48 Speaker 1: Except for Josh. Josh catches big fish. 00:14:51 Speaker 2: Josh is a trout guide here in Arkansas, and his– done quite well you're you're you're. 00:14:59 Speaker 6: Spending a little little time doing that is that when he ain't kicking rocks at bears exactly yeah josh killed a bear opening day i did opening day tell us the story about that first tell the story that led up to it the video that that joe's talking about i was uh baiting i was baiting for bears on some private land that uh that's adjacent to the wilderness area and uh In order to bait up there, I've got to, I had to pack bait in on mules. And so the first time I went up there, it went up a few times and got it baited while I started having a bunch of bears come in. And the third or fourth time I went up, there was a sow there when I got there. And she was, she liked having that bait, but she was also interested in the bait that I had. And I could not get her away. Did she have any cubs close? Well, I didn't think so. And I started unloading the bait. And I literally had to shoe her. I mean, kicking rocks at her, throwing sticks at her. And she never backed off farther than about 30 yards and just circled all the way around. And then her two cubs came and showed up. And that felt like a compromising position. 00:16:16 Speaker 1: Joe, you referenced the video. 00:16:21 Speaker 2: Josh put this video on his Instagram page and I just assume his wife, Christy was there filming it, but you had the camera on a stand. 00:16:29 Speaker 5: I had the camera on a stand. 00:16:30 Speaker 7: Yep. 00:16:31 Speaker 1: So you was there. 00:16:31 Speaker 6: It was a tracking camera, so it was following me. Just you and Josh were there. 00:16:36 Speaker 3: Just me and the camera. 00:16:38 Speaker 1: I seen you had your side piece on there. 00:16:41 Speaker 6: I did, and I have to be honest, there were a couple times I drew on her because she got within about five, six feet of me. 00:16:47 Speaker 1: Is that right? 00:16:47 Speaker 6: And I wasn't going to shoot her, but I was going to maybe have to fire toward her just to get her to back off. But I got in and out of there, and then I went and baited on– On the couple days before, still had good bears. 00:17:02 Speaker 5: And, you know, you never know. 00:17:03 Speaker 1: Sure. 00:17:03 Speaker 6: I mean, they can drop off in a moment's notice. But I went in and took my mules up there and dropped some bait and went and parked the mules and then went and stood in the stand, got in the stand about 1 o'clock and saw between 1 o'clock and 4.30, saw probably eight different bears. And about 4.30, had a really good, big, mature sow. dry sow with a big monster head come scrolling in and man just thank the lord you know i've been you know just my my biggest concern is that i put all this work into doing this and then miss and so i've been trying to shoot a hundred arrows a day just to really to try to train myself just to be yeah i. 00:17:49 Speaker 1: Ain't shot a hundred errors in my life. 00:17:51 Speaker 6: Yeah i mean just just trying to shoot a hundred arrows as often as i can And man, just 10 ringed her. 00:17:57 Speaker 5: She ran 40 yards and expired. 00:17:58 Speaker 1: Well, that's why you do that. That's fantastic. 00:18:01 Speaker 2: You know, Jared Larson, who colleague, another colleague of Lake's that works at Onyx, told me one time that you will put no more. How many bear hunters we got in here? Any bear hunters in here? 00:18:14 Speaker 3: There's some hands. 00:18:15 Speaker 1: Two. Okay. I see six, 10. 00:18:19 Speaker 3: 47. 00:18:19 Speaker 1: And they will agree with me. 00:18:20 Speaker 2: There is no, Jared Larson said, you'll have no more sweat equity into any type of hunt than a baited bear hunt. 00:18:30 Speaker 1: Oh man. Because it's the hottest time of the year. 00:18:33 Speaker 2: And you're having, if you having to tote that stuff, any length of, of any travel, especially if you're hunting in a place like where Josh is at, where you're walking in. 00:18:42 Speaker 1: Right. 00:18:43 Speaker 2: Uh, I'm fortunate enough to be able to go into a piece where we could drive it in there and, and, and dump it out, but it's hot. 00:18:52 Speaker 1: And there's just, It's just a lot, too. It ain't easy. And I've been sitting over. 00:18:56 Speaker 2: A bear bait now for– Dave has been sitting with me with his camera for three. 00:19:02 Speaker 1: Days, four days. 00:19:03 Speaker 3: Today will be day four. 00:19:04 Speaker 1: Today. 00:19:04 Speaker 2: This afternoon will be day four. And it ain't– you don't dump bait out and a bear walks in and you shoot it. 00:19:11 Speaker 1: It just don't happen. 00:19:12 Speaker 3: Are they eating the bait at night? 00:19:13 Speaker 1: They are. They're eating at night. 00:19:15 Speaker 2: The acorns are starting to drop, so we're having some issues with that. But it's not– it's not a lead pipe cinch by any means. 00:19:25 Speaker 3: Well, we got some weather happening today and maybe it'll shake it up. 00:19:28 Speaker 1: So any change is always good. 00:19:32 Speaker 2: Now we're starting to see more and we passed on a, on a, on a decent bear yesterday, but he's got a lot of potential to be a bigger bear and there's bigger bears in that area. 00:19:42 Speaker 1: So that's, that's what we're looking for. Good deal. But, uh, we'll talk more about that in a minute. I want to talk about elk hunting. 00:19:49 Speaker 2: Hmm. 00:19:50 Speaker 1: Lake is an elk hunter and an elk filmer. He's filmed Mr. 00:19:54 Speaker 2: Will Primos for years out west and is an accomplished elk hunter himself. 00:19:59 Speaker 1: And you're fixing to go on one shortly? Yeah, I leave on next Tuesday, I think. 00:20:05 Speaker 2: New Mexico or out west? Yeah, meeting Brad out there. Okay. 00:20:10 Speaker 1: Is this a place that you've been to before? 00:20:12 Speaker 2: Yeah. 00:20:13 Speaker 1: We've got a lot of history there. 00:20:15 Speaker 7: And typically like that place, if you could have it, if I could have the first 20 days of September, if I could have the first 20 days of season or the last five days of season, I'd take the last five every time. 00:20:28 Speaker 3: Really? 00:20:29 Speaker 7: Yeah. That's just, that's what you want. Bugling and calling bulls in and acting right. And so I'll be there a little over a week. And the 16th is typically, historically, that's like the day. 00:20:43 Speaker 1: That's the day. 00:20:44 Speaker 7: Yeah, when everything, I mean, you can have some good hunts before then, but historically that place, the 16th, they really start to fire off. 00:20:51 Speaker 1: Okay. And so. 00:20:52 Speaker 7: Big bulls in that area, potential to kill. Biggest bull I ever shot in my life was on that place. 00:20:58 Speaker 1: How big was it? 00:20:58 Speaker 7: 356. 00:20:59 Speaker 1: 356, that's pretty supportive. That's a good one. Yeah. 00:21:02 Speaker 2: Any elk hunters, Dave's a elk hunter from way back. From way back to Missoula. Dave Gardner lives in Missoula around that area up there and is an archery elk hunter. 00:21:20 Speaker 1: You got any hunts coming up there? 00:21:22 Speaker 3: Hope so. 00:21:23 Speaker 8: Trying to figure out the schedule, but yeah, hopefully get out for six, seven days and go wander around the woods with a backpack. 00:21:32 Speaker 2: Dave's wife Ada, she's accomplished herself. These folks are Run up and down the mountains like cat squirrels in the pecan tree. I'm telling you. You don't want to follow Dave or Ada or his little boy, Bo. I don't think I could keep up with him. 00:21:47 Speaker 3: We're getting older. 00:21:49 Speaker 1: Yeah. 00:21:49 Speaker 3: We ain't no Kevin Murphy. 00:21:51 Speaker 1: Who ain't? 00:21:52 Speaker 2: That guy's on his own deal over there. His time machine is clogged. There's no sand falling. 00:21:58 Speaker 1: Out of it. 00:21:59 Speaker 3: So I had the honor today. I've done stuff with Kevin over the past few years, but I kind of, Prodded him because, Brent, you're on a diet because of this bear hunt deal. So I filled your space with Kevin Murphy at the judging table. 00:22:17 Speaker 1: Yep. 00:22:19 Speaker 3: And what do you have, 14 dishes? 00:22:23 Speaker 4: I was contracted for 13, and then under protest, I did 14. 00:22:30 Speaker 1: I've done it three times, I think, and I have yet to eat. 00:22:35 Speaker 2: Anything that i thought i would never eat that again the quality of the food that comes in back there is some well thought out and well prepared stuff all. 00:22:45 Speaker 3: Right so i'm going to tell you one that i think is a brent reeves topic and it's it's a it's a curiosity that kevin murphy has and anytime this old boy here gets on a mission he finds the end of it right yeah Tell them about the cornbread, Kevin. 00:23:07 Speaker 4: So we're going through the dishes, you know, everything's a little bit different. And all of a sudden we get one and it's got hot water cornbread, which I've heard about during my lifetime. It's not anything that was ever served and never had it before, but I've seen more of a Southern thing than in Kentucky. So I see that in there. And then two or three of the judges start talking about, oh, this cornbread is really good. So, and I'm trying to watch and eat, you know, Composed, yeah, just like go through there. So I slice into the hot water cornbread, and I thought, oh, man, this is tasty. They needed to put some squirrel meat in this right here for the appetizer, the side dish on the thing. So started talking to several people in there, and Joe says, oh, so-and-so over at the next table, he's a big chef. He knows the secret to hot water cornbread. And the guy says, I don't know no secret. I says, well, when you find out, I want to know. Because when I go back home, I'm going to start making some hot water cornbread. 00:24:12 Speaker 1: You like it. 00:24:13 Speaker 4: It was very appealing. Something different. I like cornbread. I like all products made from corn. But the hot water cornbread, yeah, it sparked my curiosity. 00:24:22 Speaker 3: It dang sure ain't a muffin, is it? No, it's not. 00:24:25 Speaker 1: And we make it at home. Yeah. It's fantastic. 00:24:28 Speaker 4: So give me the reader digest real quick. 00:24:30 Speaker 6: What's different about hot water cornbread than regular cornbread? 00:24:33 Speaker 2: You're basically cooking the meal with the boiling water before. 00:24:38 Speaker 1: You put it in the skillet. 00:24:40 Speaker 5: Is the texture different when it's done? 00:24:42 Speaker 2: No, it's just a little thicker. It's just a little more dense. It would be like a store-bought hush puppy. Some of them are kind of dense. There's no flyer in them apparently. But that The hot water cornbread is good. If you just make it thin, fry it crisp, it's crunchy, and it's good on ice cream. 00:25:04 Speaker 1: I mean, it's fantastic. 00:25:05 Speaker 4: That's one good secret right there, thin and crispy. 00:25:08 Speaker 2: Oh, yeah. 00:25:08 Speaker 4: I could see where that would really pay off. 00:25:10 Speaker 1: Oh, yeah. 00:25:11 Speaker 2: That's really good. I've had that forever. I got my wife eating it. She likes hot water cornbread, too. Mainly because I'm the one cooking it. Has anybody seen the... Uh, 12 and 26. Are you familiar with the 12 and 26 films that come out on meat eater channel? Has anybody saw the, the moose episode with me and Northern Manitoba? A lot of folks, I think are 6,000 people has seen that sitting in here. Well, this is the guy right here that filmed it. Dave Gardner and I drove, drove and flew and drove to Northern Manitoba and filmed and hunt. that hunt up there. And if you hadn't seen it, I won't spoil it, but a moose does die in the end. 00:25:59 Speaker 1: Okay. I spoiled it. I got a moose. It's been out for a while. 00:26:02 Speaker 2: You should already know, but it was an absolute fantastic adventure is one of the absolute incredible time that we had. Dave and I've gotten, been very fortunate to share some experiences all over the country. And that one up there is going to be hard to beat Dave. 00:26:23 Speaker 1: Oh yeah. It was, uh, it was a lot of fun. 00:26:26 Speaker 2: And the kind of the premise of the story, there's always a story in a meat eater film. There's some, some underlying thing that happens there, or the story's never just about hunting or fishing. There's something that goes along with it. But this one was kind of why I started out as a cameraman many moons ago. And I used to film Clay Newcomb before meat eater, when it was just a bear grease channel and, or, uh, bear hunting magazine channel on YouTube and everybody I'm know is a lot of folks have seen where the bear came in and got close to Clay's arrow and it touched the tip of his arrow. Well, I was the clown behind the camera that if you turn the TV up really loud, you can hear somebody say, get back. Well, that was me talking to the bear, not to Clay. Anyway, we got the bear. So that was my claim to fame. And that's, that's, that's, eventually what lit the fuse to why we're all sitting here now so anyway the the story on this was kind of going from me going from behind the camera to in front of the camera and behind the camera was my friend and brother dave gardner over here and it was special for me josh and i talked about this on a companion podcast just the other day but it was it was It was hard for me not to want to do what Dave does. Dave, can you, and I know I hadn't told you I was going to ask you here, but can you tell these folks what it's like? Everybody would like, a lot of folks would like to have a hunting show, but hardly anybody wants to be the cameraman watching somebody else do something. What appeals, what's the appealing part of that? Can you even, do you know what it is? 00:28:15 Speaker 1: I don't. 00:28:16 Speaker 3: I think it's the best job in the world. 00:28:17 Speaker 1: Yeah. Why is that? 00:28:20 Speaker 8: I mean, I get to go on a, you know, that was a trip of a lifetime we were on up there in Manitoba. And, uh, I get to experience, have the same experience that you have almost without pulling the trigger. 00:28:35 Speaker 1: Right. 00:28:35 Speaker 8: So, I mean, I feel the same excitement that you had and get to share those experiences with you, but it allows me to exercise some creativity and, uh, I don't know. 00:28:46 Speaker 3: Just super grateful to do what I do. It was a long road to get there. 00:28:49 Speaker 1: Yeah. 00:28:50 Speaker 8: A lot of years of banging my head against the wall, trying to, trying to figure out how to make it work as a cameraman. 00:28:55 Speaker 1: But yeah. 00:28:57 Speaker 3: Can I say something, Brent? 00:28:58 Speaker 1: You absolutely can. 00:28:59 Speaker 3: So man, I don't think you guys get enough. 00:29:03 Speaker 1: They don't. 00:29:04 Speaker 3: And, and I'm not even talking about the financial side of, of what y'all do, but over the past year, I've been filming a program too. And, uh, You know, you're the first ones up, the last ones to bed. Whenever I get done doing what I'm asked to do, I go in, eat dinner, and lay down. And you guys are worried about batteries and cleaning lenses and talking about USBs and drives and what lens you're going to use and all of this stuff. And me personally, as I go further in this adventure that I'm in, man, I want to show all of what you guys do. Because for us, the viewer, we're attracted to what the hunter is doing, but no one truly knows until you walk in this deal. how much work you guys are doing and the four different angles and flying the drone and doing all the work. You guys are the stars of the show. 00:30:07 Speaker 1: 100%. 00:30:08 Speaker 3: And, I mean, I'm finally understanding it because I've had the opportunity. It's amazing what you guys do. 00:30:16 Speaker 1: You know, I was talking to Jeremy Allen. 00:30:17 Speaker 2: He's a good friend of mine and has been helping me put some bait out for some bears, or I've been helping him more like it. And we were talking about it. He said, man, is this going to be good? We killed this big old bear. We got Dave over here. He wore a shirt that's got all the muscles in it. He said, we got Dave over here to help tote this thing out. And I said, let me tell you what Dave's going to do. He's going to tote that camera out. We're going to have to take this bear out. That's Dave's job. And that's the best part of being the camera guy. 00:30:51 Speaker 1: Is like, oh, sorry, man. I can't pick that up. I got to get this footage. 00:30:55 Speaker 3: It's an amazing skill. And really to get the shot, to get the lighting, to get all that stuff, I'm far too dumb to understand what's going on. But if you tell me to stand in one spot for 10 minutes and walk in a door six times, I got it. I could handle that part. And I really think that all this B-roll of that side of the adventure, there's a space for it. And I think people need to see it because it can encourage others to do the same thing. And being the guy talking, that's one thing. But the guys filming and getting the audio, that's awesome. 00:31:36 Speaker 2: Well, Lake here, I mean, that's how I got in this business. That's how Lake started. Lake, you filmed. 00:31:42 Speaker 1: Yeah. 00:31:42 Speaker 7: I mean, I wouldn't be doing anything if a camera didn't come first. 00:31:47 Speaker 3: Yeah. 00:31:47 Speaker 7: But it was kind of like what you were saying earlier. The upside, I mean, there's obviously– some upsides to being the one that shoots the moose, you know? 00:31:56 Speaker 1: Sure. 00:31:57 Speaker 7: But there's also like when you're filming somebody and they punch a tag and you were there, there ain't a tag to punch on holding the camera. Like I've, I've gotten so much stuff that, that being behind that camera allowed me to go and see, you know? 00:32:12 Speaker 3: But you get, I think as an outdoor cameraman, you've got to be the hunter because you're the guy that's going to blow the whole deal. 00:32:21 Speaker 2: Yeah. 00:32:22 Speaker 3: And, Just me walking around, meeting people, talking, eating, and doing some outdoor activity. When you're on a trip of a lifetime to film a moose, you better be a better hunter than Brent. 00:32:36 Speaker 2: Oh, yeah, which is not hard to do at all. But that is the thing. Like you said, you're first up, last to eat, last to go to sleep, and there can absolutely be no– No reason for a failed hunt can be the cameraman's fault if he wants to work in that business. 00:32:57 Speaker 1: It can't be his fault. 00:32:59 Speaker 2: Yesterday, prime time, 30 minutes before absolute lights out, two bears on the bait, somebody coughed and scared them off. 00:33:12 Speaker 1: It was not the cameraman. It was me. And it just, I mean, this happens. And I felt, I apologized to Dave. He's like, I mean, that's you idiot. I didn't do it. That was you. Can I tell you a quick story? Sure. 00:33:26 Speaker 7: So the first time, like, so I get hired to run camera for Primo's, right? So I make it through my first fall and I had not hunted with Will yet. I had filmed everybody else, but like, especially as a kid growing up in Mississippi, you know, like I thought Will Primo's hung the moon. 00:33:42 Speaker 3: That's a big deal. 00:33:42 Speaker 7: So springtime runs around. They're like, all right, you're going to Missouri with Will. You're a turkey hunting. And I'm like, you know, like this is it. So we go out and we would, we're walking, it's like late in the morning. And if you're a turkey hunter, y'all know if a turkey ever starts handing out gobbles for free, like you didn't do anything to provoke him, you're just kind of like, okay. So we're walking and this turkey just starts gobbling when Will's like, okay. So we sit down and he starts calling, turkey starts coming. And over this little rise in the hill, I see two fans. And I'm like, And I'm just right down Will's shoulder. 00:34:17 Speaker 1: And I'm like, I got this. I'm doing it. 00:34:19 Speaker 7: I can't believe, you know. And I'm here, two strutting turkeys is all I see. And Will goes, you got him? 00:34:26 Speaker 1: I said, yeah. 00:34:27 Speaker 7: And he said, the one on the left. 00:34:28 Speaker 1: I said, yeah. 00:34:31 Speaker 7: Two turkeys fly off. And I'm like, this ain't how this is supposed to go. You know, like Will's supposed to kill. And Will gets up in the most nonchalant way and just starts walking out to where the turkeys were. 00:34:44 Speaker 5: I'm like, what is he doing? 00:34:45 Speaker 1: The turkey's gone. 00:34:46 Speaker 5: What is he doing? 00:34:47 Speaker 7: And all of a sudden out from the side of the tree he was sitting on, I just catch this little flicker. 00:34:50 Speaker 3: There was another. 00:34:51 Speaker 7: And I lean out and there's a turkey flop. And I was like, oh no, I never got, I didn't get. 00:34:57 Speaker 1: A stitch of that turkey. I'm fired. 00:34:59 Speaker 2: Yeah. 00:35:00 Speaker 1: I thought that was it. 00:35:00 Speaker 7: I was like, well, this has been a nice long six month career. 00:35:04 Speaker 1: Yeah. 00:35:04 Speaker 7: They kept me around. But yeah, the first time I filmed Wilbur turkey on, I did not get it on, on video. 00:35:10 Speaker 3: And I don't know which direction. I just wanted to make that clear because I know all, You three are those guys. And I know that Josh has been doing it too. 00:35:20 Speaker 5: I'm really good at not getting turkeys on film. 00:35:22 Speaker 3: Well, but me and Kevin's the other side of the deal. We don't have a clue what none of that is. And I'm sure Kevin could read three books and be a professional. But you guys deserve a lot of credit on that side of the film. And I think that these people out here and the listeners... They need to see it. 00:35:45 Speaker 1: Sure. 00:35:47 Speaker 2: That's a good idea for some projects coming up. And actually, next month, Giannis Patelis and I will be in Kansas on a deer hunt. I didn't draw a tag, but Gianni did. And we're going to film each other. 00:36:00 Speaker 3: Yeah. 00:36:02 Speaker 2: I'm going to film Gianni, and Gianni's going to film me filming Gianni. So it's going to be like One of them things where you're looking in the mirror. 00:36:09 Speaker 3: You guys are taking our jobs. 00:36:11 Speaker 1: Oh, absolutely. Dave's going to be at home. 00:36:14 Speaker 3: You thought AI was coming. It's just me and Giannis. 00:36:18 Speaker 1: Dave's going to be hunting. 00:36:18 Speaker 3: It's not AI. 00:36:19 Speaker 1: It's just Brent and Giannis. Exactly. 00:36:22 Speaker 6: You know, we should do a film where the meat-eater personalities film the cameramen hunting. 00:36:31 Speaker 2: Oh, I'd be in that in a minute. I promise you, my favorite job is behind the cameras. I'm very blessed to be sitting here and talking to these folks in this room, talking to the people that are listening and watching this on YouTube. But I envy Dave when we go hunting, that he's getting to. 00:36:49 Speaker 1: Get all that. 00:36:50 Speaker 2: Because I got into this to show my dad. My dad wasn't a duck hunter, so I started filming some duck hunts to show him what ducks look like coming through the timber. 00:36:59 Speaker 1: And that's where it all started. 00:37:01 Speaker 3: Well, and that's the goal of a good film. 00:37:03 Speaker 1: Yeah, is to show somebody. 00:37:05 Speaker 3: To show somebody. 00:37:06 Speaker 1: Yeah. 00:37:07 Speaker 3: And, you know, the focus shouldn't be on the 12-point buck or the 12-pound bass. It should be on the reason why it's important. And Kevin's, I mean, he's a key example of that, right? 00:37:21 Speaker 1: Yeah. 00:37:21 Speaker 3: I mean, he's an odd dude. He's dressed here in fluorescent Hunter's orange and, It looks like. 00:37:27 Speaker 1: He's been working on a chain gang. He's got shoes on this time. Yeah. 00:37:30 Speaker 3: And the first time we'd seen him with shoes. 00:37:32 Speaker 1: Yep. Yep. 00:37:33 Speaker 4: This is my deer dog outfit. You know, the deer dog hunters get no respect wherever they are. We're down to 10 states out of 50 that only allow deer dog hunters out there. And I came on a work project about five years ago down here in Arkansas and met a bunch of deer dog hunters and just fell in love with it. And I'm in deer dog camp twice a year. for the last five years. So it's just something. 00:37:59 Speaker 1: I had a suggestion today, Joe. What's that? 00:38:01 Speaker 2: A guy coming to me and said, what about a tree-in contest here next year? And I'm like, man, that's a good idea. 00:38:09 Speaker 3: We better have a guy. 00:38:12 Speaker 2: I'll talk to Joe. I'll pass it along. But anyway, we had a good, had a dog get auctioned off today. Somebody donated. 00:38:20 Speaker 1: Yeah. Some happy folks left with a good. 00:38:22 Speaker 5: Yeah. 00:38:22 Speaker 3: We try to show every aspect of this. And that's why, you know, the skinning portion is such an important role. 00:38:30 Speaker 1: Yeah. 00:38:31 Speaker 3: It's kind of amazing we're allowed to do it, right? 00:38:34 Speaker 1: Yeah. 00:38:35 Speaker 3: But you got to skin it to eat it. I say those squirrels come in a biodegradable package, right? That's true. And so we got to show what it's like when it doesn't come in solophane. 00:38:47 Speaker 1: Yeah. 00:38:48 Speaker 3: And styrofoam. We got to show that. We got to show how hard it is to accomplish this. And it doesn't matter if it's squirrels or ducks or doves or this bear that you're trying to get. 00:38:59 Speaker 1: Right. 00:38:59 Speaker 3: This is a lot of work and it's really what makes us human. 00:39:04 Speaker 2: Well, John, John Pantuso and I were talking earlier today and I mentioned this, I think on a podcast not too long ago that we got to share this stuff. We got to share it. If we want to see this, keep going. If we want to see this for, I have, I have a grandson, a brand new grandson who is about a week old now. 00:39:25 Speaker 1: And if I want that. 00:39:26 Speaker 2: Young'un to be able to see the things that these kids over here, these Jackson young'uns that I have known for years, and I met them right here, Joe, and those folks are just like my family. I almost got choked up when I seen them earlier today. If we want those folks and folks just like them to see and enjoy the things that we're good at, I dare anybody to find anything bad about what is going on right outside in the 98-degree heat that everybody's standing in. 00:39:55 Speaker 1: We got to share it and show folks. 00:39:58 Speaker 3: As much as that little plaque humbles me, which you just said humbles me too, and I'm honored to be around guys like y'all, and I've got lots of them. We all do. We're blessed people to have tons and tons of amazing people in our circle. I have yet to find a person that doesn't make me better. And I think what gets forgotten so often is we look at mentors as these positive figures, people we strive to be like, but we could also have mentors that are negative people and we strive not to be like them. And so it doesn't matter who you meet. You got to take what they gave you. And that's what this event, Being in the outdoors, meeting humans all over the place means to me, and y'all are some of my favorite people. Just being in the industry and trying to preach that, you know? 00:40:57 Speaker 1: Kevin Murphy, final thoughts on the 2026. 00:41:00 Speaker 4: I'm going to do show and tell. 00:41:02 Speaker 1: Lay it on me. 00:41:03 Speaker 4: But I appreciate being a judge. You know, it's been a new perspective doing that. I've helped cook a couple times here. I've wandered around a couple times. But going in there and being a judge... I think that's something that what I would do suggest is that at the next event, you just have people put their name in a hat and pull them out and let them. 00:41:24 Speaker 1: Be a judge. 00:41:25 Speaker 4: And I think they would really respect this a whole lot more of being able to go in there and participate, doing something different that they're, you know, regular person. I know you pick some people out of the crowd and everything, but would be a vital part of it saying, hey, you might have a chance to be a judge. 00:41:40 Speaker 1: Good idea. What you got there? 00:41:42 Speaker 4: So I'm a novice waterfowl hunter. That way there's no pressure on you. 00:41:46 Speaker 1: Okay. No pressure. 00:41:47 Speaker 4: You can mess up, do whatever you want to. You can do great. You're not a hero, but novice waterfowl hunter, and I'm a novice archaeologist. And last Sunday, 11 hours northeast of here, about two meters under the ground, this was pulled out by me and my son, his girlfriend, and three more– and that is the second molar of a mastodon. 00:42:15 Speaker 1: Wow. That's cool. That is pretty cool. 00:42:20 Speaker 4: Some of the first Kentuckians last year, I talked about the phallus that we found that was carved out of the lower tusk of a mastodon. So that's the second molar from a site that we're digging 14,500 years ago. Our country was covered with glaciers. from the edge of the Ohio River going down up to Carbondale, Illinois, which is like less than 45 minutes as a crow flies from my house. And our country, that portion of the United States was completely glaciated, covered in ice. Here we are 12,000 years later on, and we got 98 degrees. We've been going through a heat wave in Kentucky. But just to show you how quick that the temperature can change. And then, like I said, we're trying to trace the first Kentuckians with Dr. Gramley at that site, and we will be digging all the way into the middle of October, first week in October, hoping to find some more artifacts. We found a four-foot tusk a week before I got there, but I asked if I could bring something down here for people to see. 00:43:26 Speaker 3: So where did you find this? 00:43:27 Speaker 4: That came out of northern Kentucky, 11 hours. 00:43:30 Speaker 1: I ate at. 00:43:31 Speaker 3: Denny's one time, and the waitress had teeth just like that. 00:43:34 Speaker 1: That's a mastodon. She could crush a maker's tooth. I think that was her name. 00:43:38 Speaker 5: Her name was Mastodon. 00:43:39 Speaker 3: That's awesome. 00:43:40 Speaker 1: Josh, what you got going, man? 00:43:42 Speaker 6: Man, you know, bear season's over. Now we're looking at killing some deer. 00:43:47 Speaker 1: For some folks. 00:43:49 Speaker 5: Well, yeah, now that I'm tagged out, I just. 00:43:53 Speaker 6: Lean up against the bed with my hands folded praying for you guys to tag out. 00:43:56 Speaker 1: Oh, man, we can take all the help we can get. 00:43:58 Speaker 5: I'm going to try to do a bunch of trout fishing this fall too. 00:44:01 Speaker 1: Okay. Yeah, folks can find you. 00:44:04 Speaker 5: Josh Lambridge, Spillmaker on Instagram. 00:44:06 Speaker 1: It's easy to spell. 00:44:08 Speaker 2: It's easier to say than it is to spell blake you got a elk hunt coming up leave on tuesday backwoods university's doing fantastic. 00:44:17 Speaker 7: It's a lot of fun it's a lot of fun it's a lot. 00:44:20 Speaker 1: Of it's a lot of good information it's fun to listen to. 00:44:22 Speaker 7: Yeah and i'm really thankful for folks that came by and said something. 00:44:26 Speaker 2: To me about it here means a whole lot yeah yeah they're doing good dave you're gonna be busy this afternoon what are you gonna be. 00:44:32 Speaker 3: Doing hoping to Film a big old bear coming in. 00:44:36 Speaker 1: That's what I wanted to hear you say right there. 00:44:39 Speaker 3: Man, I got stuff. Joe's going to take a nap. 00:44:46 Speaker 1: No. He's got to sweep. 00:44:48 Speaker 3: I'm racing in the Ozark Gambler in a Cadillac. Going to pick up trash in the woods with some mud tires on that front wheel drive. I'm going to northern Wisconsin on a woodcock hunt, trying to catch a muskie. And then fast forward to December, first week of December, I'm going to Kingman for a lion. 00:45:12 Speaker 1: Really? 00:45:12 Speaker 3: A hound hunt. 00:45:13 Speaker 1: Yeah. Nice. Yeah. 00:45:14 Speaker 3: So, uh, yeah, I, I, I'm going to be busy. And then I got to take that boy small mouth fishing about 430 times in between. 00:45:23 Speaker 2: Well, he's working on some popcorn over there, so he'll be ready. 00:45:27 Speaker 1: Yeah. 00:45:28 Speaker 3: So, uh, if you want to pay attention to what I'm doing, just look me up on Facebook, just Joe Wilson and I'm, I'm the one that looks like he lives in North Arkansas. 00:45:37 Speaker 1: He looks just exactly like that. 00:45:39 Speaker 5: He looks exactly like he sounds. 00:45:41 Speaker 2: Well, thank everybody for being here. Thank all the folks at home and wherever you are listening to it. Will, we know where you are. I talked to your mom and daddy today. We're praying for you. It's going to be a good deal. It's going to work out just fine. Thank you all for being here. And like I always say on three. 00:46:02 Speaker 1: Y'all be careful. I didn't count to three. One, two, three. Y'all be careful. There you go. Thanks, guys.