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Little Woods Outdoors Season 1: Episode 1- Introductions
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Introductions to the crew.
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Transcript
Introduction to Little Woods Podcast
00:00:03
Speaker
All right. Good group of guys here, December 14th, 2022. We are live. Finally. We've talked about this day for at least eight months trying to get my podcast live for Little Woods. And here we are. Episode one.
Meet the Hosts: Whit, Drew, Tyler, and Jacob
00:00:25
Speaker
We're going to look back one day and be like, Oh my gosh, Joe Rogan, you have nothing on this show.
00:00:32
Speaker
Ah, little ado though. My name's Whit Bell. I'm gonna get those us taken care of. We're out here. I got my boy, Drew Hampton. I got my guy, T. Bird, Tyler Birchfield. And I got my cousin, my coon hound slayer, Jacob Martin. We're all out here. We're trying to kind of just relate with the general public just because
00:01:01
Speaker
There's a majority of us that grew up in the woods, has a lot of experience in the woods. And we got a lot of stories to tell that a lot of people have probably done the same thing we have. We'll start with just some introductions though. Just make it easy, sweet. First episode, nothing expected. But we're gonna start with T-Bird.
Tyler's Journey to Arkansas and Passion for Hunting
00:01:26
Speaker
He's out in Northwest Arkansas. Give us a little bit about you, Tyler.
00:01:31
Speaker
Hey guys, this is T. Bird, Tyler Birchfield. Grew up in the Southeast Arkansas Delta. Really, that's where I learned most of what I know today. Really kind of got into my blood on the hunting and the fishing, just being outdoors. I now live in Northwest Arkansas, which is not the pinnacle for any kind of hunting, so it's
00:01:58
Speaker
kind of a downfall there, but moved up here for college, did four years, found a wife up here and ended up staying, probably won't ever leave. I do a little bit of the photography for the little woods and a little bit on the side with, you know, you mentioned the logo, that's kind of how we got going.
00:02:21
Speaker
with the duck and the horn. But yeah, I mean, that's kind of me. Right now I do commodity sales for a company called Black Hive. It's a great gig. I get a lot of free time, a lot of anonymity to kind of go and do.
00:02:38
Speaker
anything I really want as far as hunting, fishing and, and going on about my life. So it's been good so far, but that's where I'm at. I'm in Northwest Arkansas and, uh, love getting down, down south, do some hunting. Oh yeah. We get him down anytime we can. Um, you know, we love having Tyler there. He, he, he loves to shoot a gun, but he shoots a camera way better. That's all I gotta say. Uh, he can do that for sure. He's a good camera shot.
Jacob's Career and Return to Arkansas
00:03:08
Speaker
My boy, Jacob, living out there in Fort Smith right now. We're trying to get him closer to Central Arkansas, back to the Delta where he needs to be. Give us just a quick introduction, Jake, if you don't mind. Oh, well, Jacob Martin grew up in Central Arkansas, got the oil and gas business back in 2007, eight-ish,
00:03:36
Speaker
Traveled all over the United States, overseas and offshore. Took away a lot of my hunting time. Took a little break from the oil and gas business here recently and winded up back in it, but I'm working here locally in Western Arkansas. Got me a couple hound dogs I chase all over the country. We know that. Just grew up hunting and fishing.
00:04:06
Speaker
Just what I like to do. These hounds really got me going here lately. I don't know, I'm just glad to be a part of this. We know that we're going to give a special shout out right off the bat though.
00:04:24
Speaker
Hopefully one of these days we look back and say, my God, was that really episode one? Episode one is about two months away from Jacob's first baby. So we're, we're all nervous for him. He's had hounds, but he hasn't had a baby. So we're right there. I don't know. I don't know nothing about either one of them. So it's going to be a good learning experience.
00:04:48
Speaker
But you know, and thank you, Jacob. Thank you, Tyler, so far. Y'all are doing great. The next guy, this is a guy I grew up with. Me and him literally have got, we have gone through things we shouldn't have in vehicles. That's like our biggest definition. Drew Hampton, great guy from Dez Arc area. We'll give him a little time to kind of explain.
00:05:19
Speaker
what he does and his involvement with the outdoors, et cetera. Go ahead, Drew.
Drew's Background and Podcast Enthusiasm
00:05:26
Speaker
Yeah, like you said, my name's Drew Hampton. I grew up in the little town of Desert where, like Whit said, we've been hunting buddies for many, many years and hope to continue that for many more. I went to college up in Northeast Arkansas, moved over to Northwest Arkansas, moved back to Central Arkansas,
00:05:47
Speaker
And this is kind of my home where I grew up and hunted out and things of that nature. I currently work in the insurance business with one of the major companies. You might see them in the SEC quite a bit with their logo, things like that. But it's an enjoy to be here. A lot of these guys here that you'll see on this show and that are here tonight, I think it's
00:06:12
Speaker
It's going to be a good year. I think I'm excited for it. There's a lot to be expected to come forward and I'm ready for it. Thank you, Drew. Appreciate you. Didn't drop the ball that time. No, and you didn't get us stuck this time, so. Yeah, we are not stuck currently, but no. And since the beginning, I've kind of been leading everybody, but each time be a little different.
Whit Bell's Journey to Veterinary and Hunting Passion
00:06:39
Speaker
My name's Whit Bell.
00:06:42
Speaker
Little town of Hickory Plains. Um, unless you drive through it, if you don't blink too fast, you might not see it. Who knows? Uh, it's kind of where the whole idea Littlewood started. Um, kind of a play on names would be kind of a great place to start that. Uh, but, uh, kind of a little background on me grew up out there. My dad was a row crop farmer.
00:07:09
Speaker
We grew up hunting, fishing, had no idea how great we had it. As you age, you start to realize that 3,000 acres of row crop farm and getting to kill the big deer and kill the ducks, it just puts some perspective on things, especially once you start trying to chase that public land duck.
00:07:31
Speaker
fight over a spot to goose hunt, et cetera. So, very blessed that the family had what we had. A little bit about me. I'm currently a veterinarian. I own my own business. It's called Little Woods Animal Hospital. Went to Fayetteville for undergrad. Then I had to go to LSU for vet school. That's quite a transition, but it was, uh,
00:08:01
Speaker
It was literally the best time of my life. Both places, uh, met some great people, uh, spend a lot of time away from home. And I'm glad to be back. We're established now as a business. We've got time to sit around and talk with friends on a podcast about hunting because who doesn't have time for that? I mean, you got to make time for that. So.
00:08:26
Speaker
Uh, you can't beat that. And, and I really think hopefully it's December. I haven't put a pair of waiters on yet this year. I haven't, I have not got geared up yet for hunting, but, uh, it's, it's time now. And I think getting to talk with buddies and, um, schedule trips and all of that, I think.
00:08:50
Speaker
Every year you let go from that is a wasted year. So go get at it now. But that's a little bit about me. Um, I think that, you know, now, now that everybody knows a little bit about everybody, I'm going to bring up a good buddy. He's my cousin Cole. I plan on him being on here pretty often for these episodes.
00:09:14
Speaker
He's got one of the best labradoodles I've ever met. And that's hard to say because I'm not a labradoodle fan, but, uh, expect him to be on here and the next episode we catch him on here. Uh, we're going to get a good introduction from him because he's got a lot of good stuff. Got a lot of good stories for sure.
Podcast Goals and Stories from Arkansas
00:09:35
Speaker
Ace is my favorite labradoodle when I ain't got to walk across that wet field because
00:09:40
Speaker
You know, y'all only take me, y'all only take me goose hunting on wet fields. Uh, so I like when ice is out there, you know, y'all got me out there stomping around in the mud. Being the second time it's been mentioned, goose hunting, we go to goose hunting a lot. It's, uh, it's only for a certain breed of people though. There's a lot of really, really crappy parts of goose hunting or a lot.
00:10:09
Speaker
But when you have that excitement of a goose hunt, like we've had multiple times, it makes you go back. It's just like duck hunting. It's worth it at the end. So we miss you, Cole. We'll see you on the next episode for sure. And in regards to next steps from here, each episode, we have, as a group of guys, Little Woods associated, I suppose you could say,
00:10:39
Speaker
We have friends that have a plethora of knowledge that we want to share. Um, if they're not on my mic, they could have my mic one day. They could have T-bird's mic one day. Somebody's got a lot of information that we can share and it might not even be hunting outdoors stuff. It's just, there's a lot of info that we enjoy. Um, I got a neighbor down the road that's can train a dog better than anybody I know.
00:11:10
Speaker
Um, our, our buddy Cole that we're talking about, he's in seed sales along with he farms himself. People need to know about that kind of stuff. So, uh, if there's any ideas or, or y'all are able to reach out to us, reach out to us. We can definitely post something you want to hear. So, um, kind of getting past that, uh, drew T burn Jake, I'll kind of leave this out to anybody that kind of wants to step in. Um,
00:11:39
Speaker
Y'all have any goals, expectations from this podcast? Like where, where are we going to head with this? Do we want to get anything across? Do we have a specific specialty? What do y'all got for me? I mean, we all hunt everything. Uh, flies, deer. I mean, we dove hunt, goose hunt. I mean,
00:12:06
Speaker
You name it, we hunt everything, fish. It just opens up and, you know, we're all, we're all dog men, houndsmen. Uh, you know, that's what you do for a living is take care of them animals. And, uh, we just like to talk about, you know, the outdoors and stuff like that. Cause that's what we love doing. And there's a lot of people that love doing that as well. So.
00:12:34
Speaker
You can always, y'all went elk hunting this year. You say you're not geared up for hunting, but I think I seen you already drop a 140 inch buck, no big deal.
00:12:48
Speaker
Oh, I guess I should rephrase that. That was a scrub. That was a scrub. I know it was, my bad. Should've let him grow. Yeah, and to be honest with you, I mean, Jake, like you said, you know, we all, we hunt just about everything there is to hunt for the common man. But a lot of it for me is just really being able to share those experiences and learn and hear from other people as I get older.
00:13:17
Speaker
Think I like hearing you know success stories or all the stories are great things like that, you know more than I like actually Having that happen firsthand. It's just that excitement of it and seeing that excitement in someone else It is it's kind of a contagious thing for sure. Yeah, there's nothing better than taking Taking someone you know duck hunting or any kind of hunting and let them harvest or take their first, you know first thing their game You know
00:13:46
Speaker
Well, I think one of the, I've got to be a part of that a lot.
Pride in Arkansas's Hunting Culture
00:13:50
Speaker
Yeah. And I think for me, one of the greatest things is, is Arkansas itself, you know, and a lot of you guys can attest to that, that we have just about anything you could want to hunt and it's in our back door. Uh, you know, we've, we're starting to see elk being brought into this Northwest Arkansas area. I mean, we've got the duck capital of the world within an hour from us. I mean, we.
00:14:13
Speaker
We have some great deer that come out of here and from our personal farms and family farms and things like that. And I think what's going to be great about this is not only the successes, but the failures that we've all experienced. I mean, I think I learned more from failure than I do from success. I'm a big turkey hunter. I love turkey hunting. I live and breathe it. My dad lives and breathes it. I go to different states. And so I think it's going to be interesting as the year
00:14:43
Speaker
turns over here to 2023. Kind of all the plans that we may have here in the future, and we'll kind of touch on that here in a little bit, but it's just Arkansas is great and a lot of people don't get to experience everything that we get to experience. You know every state has their own uniqueness of what we may not have things like that, but it's it's hard to beat Arkansas. You know outdoorsmanship and in the conservation that goes on here in the work that's done here as well.
00:15:10
Speaker
That's right. It's the natural state. Hit them with the natural state right off on first episode. Just got to let them know, you know? Hey, I got all the hunting failure stories you want to hear. Yeah, we all got those. Yeah, that's, that's abundant.
00:15:31
Speaker
Oh, but I mean, great kind of discussion there. I mean, Drew, literally, I mean, you touched on a bunch of it, state of Arkansas, we're all from it. So we're going to be partial for sure. I mean, we, we, we hunt all over though too. You know, I go to Oklahoma, you know, all over. I'll be, uh, I'm pretty sure about the whole state of Arkansas now follows me to Mississippi to Turkey hunt.
00:16:01
Speaker
It's a enjoyment though. I mean, we're chasing them with everybody else. And at the end of the day, we get the same sort of excitement as the next person. And all we're gonna have on this episode is it ain't gonna be complaining about the neighbor that put his decoys 100 yard from us. That's happened. It's gonna be,
00:16:29
Speaker
the enjoyment of that one hunt that we found the spot that was secret for at least half a day. That's the stories that I wanna share with people. That's the enjoyment that I hope everybody that listens to this gets to experience because if you find the ex, we call it the ex there,
00:16:55
Speaker
You're in your, that's money hole. That's, that's something that you call your buddy the next day and say, Hey, you missed out. I mean, that was it. If you could bottle that, you could sell it until the day you die. You look at everything. I mean, everything on the, uh, that you could buy right now.
00:17:17
Speaker
The markets, the general markets right now, uh, you sell commodities, right? Tyler, if you could sell commodities that is consisted of hunting supplies or, um, hunting trips, hunting experiences.
00:17:33
Speaker
That's put me in on that. Just kind of like, you know, going forward from this, I mean, each episode, hopefully we're going to kind of focus on, and it'll probably be kind of season based. I mean, like, like everybody said so far, we're.
00:17:53
Speaker
We hunt everything. I mean, we do to some extent. Some things aren't as plentiful in Arkansas. So, I mean, we have to travel to do like pheasant, quail. Quail used to be big, not as much. Pheasant hunting. We travel Midwest. Turkey hunting. Yeah. Arkansas got a one bird limit.
00:18:12
Speaker
We travel a little bit for that, um, deer hunting. We're going to be around here. We're going to be hammering them hard.
Whit and Jacob's Love for Dogs and Coonhounds
00:18:19
Speaker
Um, elk hunting, obviously they're trying to get some established in Arkansas, but we go to Colorado, same place as everybody else does. So hopefully as seasons change, we have new content because of, and most of it's probably going to be failures we share. Uh, but if we have some success, I want everybody to hear about it. I mean, that's.
00:18:42
Speaker
That's what I like to listen to. I mean, I go tune into the guys hunting public about three episodes in a row. It's failures. And I still listen to it because it's enjoyable to listen to because you it's part of realize that it's part of it. Yeah. I mean, that's just part of it. So, um, like tonight, simple, plain and simple. Um, I,
00:19:09
Speaker
Me, Jacob, uh, both of us have, uh, redboned coon hounds. Um, I took them out tonight. I took my other two dogs cause they did a run too, but they just need exercise. They're getting kind of fat, fat, but, uh, I took them tonight. They treat hard, treat on a dentry. We came home and I was ready to podcast. I mean, it's that.
00:19:33
Speaker
It might seem like a failure to some, but I enjoyed the heck out of it. I get to go do that. A lot of people don't. Kind of rambling here now Tyler, but basically we're going to keep it going and try to try to keep something new for everybody every week because
00:19:57
Speaker
I mean, it might be fishing. Who knows? I don't have a good, I don't have a single fishing story. That's not a lie. So I think that's all fishing is is a lie. I won't be the guy to hear that from. Give me a tube of crickets and I'm on them.
00:20:21
Speaker
Oh, yeah. And you had mentioned the dogs. I think we all have hounds or labs in some sort or another. That would be a really good topic to probably discuss, just kind of go on and introduce the rest of the team. You've got a football team built with the Coonhounds you have. Oh, yeah. Worked my way up to five. All of them are supposed to be working dogs to some extent.
00:20:51
Speaker
You know, everybody's not meant to be a quarterback, so. We have some failures too. Currently right now I have two Redbone Coonhounds, both registered. I've had a couple litters out of them and I've kept in this last litter a pup. He's four months old now, roughly. Wife only let me keep him if I name him Clifford, so I've got a big red Clifford.
00:21:20
Speaker
Other two are Hank and June. Those are the two I took hunting tonight. And then I have a lab that cost me about three months of dog training. At least that dog trainer was honest with me. Her name's Willow. She's not good at her job. That's what I say. She's a guard dog. She would ride on a full with her before she went to the rice field.
00:21:49
Speaker
I don't know if anybody else in the world has a dog like that, but I do. And she's not good at her job. She's getting a little fat too. Biggest lap dog you can ever meet. Then I have a separation anxiety border collie.
00:22:04
Speaker
His name's Stetson. He's, he doesn't work cattle. He, he, uh, he works my wife for attention. That's all he does. So, um, that's my crew. Five dogs. Don't judge me too hard. I'm a vet. I can take care of them. It's just, I also would judge other people if they had five dogs. So don't get five dogs. That's all I gotta say. I won't bring you a couple of cats. I don't need a cat. That'll be bad.
00:22:34
Speaker
I don't want to end up on the news for the vet that had cats and the dogs were chasing them. Okay. Yeah. Some guys start their hounds on cats. I mean, and that's another thing, you know, Jake, you keep up with the red bones world pretty good. I mean, most, well, let me take that back. You keep up with the Coonhound world pretty good. And yeah.
00:23:00
Speaker
I try to keep up with all the hounds and stuff.
00:23:05
Speaker
I don't currently competition hunt, but it's on my radar pretty hard. I got a two year old Jip that she can smell a dead animal from probably a world record distance. And I'm trying to get her a job with the cadaver Academy, you know, to, you know, make her an actual working dog. But I got a six, I got a six month old pup named judo. He came from Vermont.
00:23:35
Speaker
uh out of some really well bred vine bred dogs and he's just now starting to turn on and uh i'm gonna start pushing him real hard next few months i mean i'm already letting him run loose like a maniac and uh but yeah i try to keep up with all the coonhound world i mean
00:23:56
Speaker
That's how I learned, and there's a lot of good folks in the Redbone community and the hound community, UKC, PKC, and all that. They do a lot of big hunts, a lot of small hunts.
00:24:10
Speaker
I just enjoyed it. It's, it's my football. That's right. That's, that's what I like to keep up with and watch. And they got some live streams every, every year for like tournament of chance for UKC. And, uh, you know, I think they're going to do a super hunt here pretty soon. That's, I think it's going to have some live stream. So it's, it's cool to watch those, uh, those high end dogs that, you know, are just.
00:24:38
Speaker
tree and coons like you can't even imagine, so. I mean, it's no joke when I tell y'all that anytime I call Jacob, he's got his alpha. What is it now? Alpha 200?
00:24:52
Speaker
Yeah, I got a 200. Yeah. He's got this alpha 200 on his dog. And he said, yeah, he'll be chatting with me next thing I know. He's like, yeah, Reba's 281. Looks like she's trailing something. He's sitting on his couch. Like what?
00:25:09
Speaker
I mean if you if a man's not committed then a man's not committed but Jacob wants them dogs to hunt so hopefully Reba she's gonna she's gonna get it lined out eventually here she's I will say that but the
00:25:25
Speaker
She caught that possum on the ground we went the other day. That was a good time. That was a good time. She bowed up on a possum last night. I mean, you can't be bad at her. She's, she's figuring it out. So I, she, she's a silent, she's a silent assassin. So she don't ever get them up in a tree where she's supposed to be looking. She's too quick. Probably where her problem is. She's like a mini excavator though. If it gets in the ground, cause she's going to be digging.
00:25:53
Speaker
Yeah. And then my boy T-bird, uh, he had him a lab to go to the same dog trainer. His actually turned out okay. He didn't, he didn't waste three months of stuff, but it sure was funny watching our three month recital. It was like watching kids, you know, you see kids at a dance recital and you're like, Oh my gosh, are they really doing that? Um, that's how it went down, except I mean,
00:26:20
Speaker
except for his dog. I mean, except for his dog. So, give us a little background, Tyler. Yeah, he turned out all right. Sent him down to Mark Wilkes at Frog Buyer Retrievers. He's in Austin, Arkansas, right? That's right.
00:26:36
Speaker
Yeah, he was actually a puppy of a lab that I had that I got when I was 18. It was my first dog and his name was Fletch and had him for 10 years, bred him out at 9. He ended up dying shortly after. I think his heart gave out on the
00:26:56
Speaker
on the activity, but got a good pup out of him. Yellow looks just like him. His name's Kane. He's got one gear and it's go all the time. He's got an insane motor in him. Kind of crazy around the house with an eighth month old that just started crawling and him running everywhere, but we're getting ready to get going for duck season. Can't wait to get him down to the old little woods and get him some work, burn off some of that energy.
00:27:26
Speaker
Yeah, he turned out, he turned out pretty good. He's a, he's a good dog. Acclimate's well to a house dog as well. So can't be, can't be too mad about it. Tyler, correct me if I'm wrong. Is that your only dog you got right now? Yeah, that's the only dog I have. I really want to get a chocolate female. Might have to fight my wife on that for a few more years, but I think I'm going to make it happen.
00:27:51
Speaker
My wife told me two's the same as three, so I'm already got my eyes open for something else. Might as well have one more if the baker's dozen. I don't even start counting them. Yeah, Drew, tell us a little bit about your pets, you know. Yeah, I'm not quite in the dog world, unfortunately, although I've had some great opportunities to work with some great labs down at Barmita and things like that, but I actually have a
00:28:21
Speaker
pet cockatiel that came with my wife. He's about 20 years old and he's still kicking and still hollering and he's about as scared of his own shadow, but he maintains himself pretty well. It stays in a cage.
00:28:38
Speaker
I'm blessed to have him though. He's been there with my wife for a long time, longer than I've been together with her. Does he treat canes? He might holler at one. I'll tell you what, he'll be sitting in the back corner with his feathers or his wing over his top of his head, probably screaming. He doesn't get out of his cage very often, unless we did him out.
00:29:04
Speaker
But, uh, but yeah, that's about all the, all the pets I've got, you know, uh, or low. That's right. That's right. Yeah. He, uh, I don't think he's seen a lot of day and in some time. So do you have to feed him like a bird?
00:29:19
Speaker
No, well, you just feed him every morning. Like a baby bird? Well, I'll hold a cracker out. He makes a bigger mess than he eats, so that's the biggest problem. We love you, Drew. I mean, he is 20. One day, one day, I'll join the group. Yeah, as a veterinarian, I should know what that equates to people years, but I have no idea. I have no idea. Me and birds, they can go way on.
00:29:49
Speaker
Speaking of birds, we set the old varmint call up here last weekend and we was trying to kill some time before we went deer hunting. And I said, let's set that out, try to shoot some of these crows.
00:30:05
Speaker
I don't know if anybody's shot said, Hey, let's go shoot some crows before, but we did, we did. Oh yeah. And, uh, it's a little harder than you think, but we're starting to figure them out a little bit. And, uh, the best part of the story is, uh, we breasted some of them out and threw them on the trigger and.
00:30:25
Speaker
They're about as tough as a Mickey Thompson tire. Little blackbird stew going on there.
Crow Hunting Stories and Outdoor Camaraderie
00:30:32
Speaker
Oh my god. T-bird, you ever had crow? I've eaten a lot of weird things, but crow ain't one of them. I mean, it's almost impossible to eat.
00:30:43
Speaker
I mean, I've always been told to eat crow, but that's about it. Yeah. Well, I smelled the bread. It's like a, like a big teal breast or a, you know, smaller size duck. Yeah. And I breasted out it. It was clean looking. I smelled it. It didn't stink. I was like, that's pretty odd. Cut the breasts out, sniff the meat. I don't know. I just got to smell it for some reason. I don't know why you're smelling it. Well, cause if it smelled like donkey, I wouldn't go eat it. That was true.
00:31:12
Speaker
Did you wrap it in bacon? Well, I don't know. The bacon would've... That'd have been the only part you could eat. Yeah, throw the rest of it away. But anyway, we gnawed on it the best we could. Like I said, it was like chewing on a Mickey Thompson tire. It was tough. What did my brothers eat that with you?
00:31:33
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. It wasn't like the YouTube videos I researched before where those guys were cutting it with a butter knife because that was a different species of crow. Oh man. These are pine tree crows. They're a little tougher. It's like the deer that live up there in the rocks. Is that the weirdest thing you've ever eaten?
00:31:58
Speaker
Ah, probably so. I mean, besides like, you know, goats and stuff, like you get down there at the taco shack. Yeah. But that slaps, so I ain't gonna worry about that. I don't know. That's bringing up my brothers. I've got two brothers, Sam and John. They are some hunting fools.
00:32:25
Speaker
Yeah, they are. From time to time, and I guess this is a good transitionary period, catch us on Facebook, Little Woods, outdoors.
00:32:40
Speaker
You go on there, you'll see my brothers kill way more than I do. And maybe it's because I'm the bigger brother. I'm letting them enjoy this outdoors a little more, or maybe they, maybe they better hunters than me. I, I don't know that answer, but I mean, I do know they're stupid enough to try Crow and I can officially say I did not try Crow. So we'll talk down to us for doing that. I gave you a, I gave you a tune.
00:33:11
Speaker
Hey, John, John, he, uh, you know, harvested his second one 50 plus year of the year of the season. So this year John was stone cold. So he got a one 69 and a one 50 and I had the taxidermist and I'm fairly certain he killed both of them in a pair of Hey dudes. Yeah. No doubt. Like who?
00:33:35
Speaker
I mean, he acts like he forgot his boots, but I'm pretty sure they're good luck to him or something. I have no idea. I couldn't wear them hunting. And he wears wager pants along with it. See that little string hanging out on the bottom of his feet. Hey, don't judge the man that is wielding that kind of weapon though. I ain't mad at him.
00:34:00
Speaker
There's some nice deer. I've been showing them to everybody. Yeah. Now we'll keep everybody updated. Nothing else been shot. You killed a nice deer too. He just broke off 10 inches that you needed on there. That's right. We, another thing, I'll shoot out a shout out to the quest hunt competition. I don't know if there's anybody that
00:34:26
Speaker
Participates in that or not. That's going to be listening to this, but last year me and a buddy were able to take first place in Arkansas and that was. I gotta say I as. Best $100 of luck I've ever spent my life. I spent $100 on so much worse.
00:34:45
Speaker
And if somebody, if you catch them early enough, I think it's $75 to sign up. It's so worth it. Yeah, you can catch them. Yeah. Me and my buddy, Royce, we finished first. He had a stud buck there, did he not? Oh yeah, it was a nice one. And all I had to do was cover. I just had to cover the spread. I felt like I was at Vegas trying to cover. Yeah. What was your combined inches?
00:35:16
Speaker
Ooh, great question. I think we were right there. 320 wasn't it? 321, somewhere in there. It was 153, 169, so probably around 320. It's about the same size. It's about the same size as one Kansas deer. Those two. That's no joke. You know, and the quest hunt, I mean, props to those guys. We had good music while we were there.
00:35:45
Speaker
I'm pretty sure the whole deer hunting community is a drunk, just like me from time to time because everybody was drinking beer. It was a, it was a beer drinking festival and it was a good time. It really was great artists they're singing.
00:36:03
Speaker
I do think the judges did terrific we did see two deer from kansas the year that we went that were greater than two hundred and twenty inches i mean it's pretty incredible it was it was a blast.
00:36:18
Speaker
I tell everybody that if you're not signing up for it, you're crazy. If you've got a chance to shoot anything over 130 inches, you need to sign up because you never know. Just sign up. They got great prizes. Yeah. Top 10. I think even the top 10 this year, I could, I don't know, somebody might be able to pull it up on your phone. I think top 10 this year, it's only going to take like 260 inches to be in the top 10, maybe, which
00:36:48
Speaker
A couple of 130 inch deers. That's not bad. I mean, that's pretty good deer, but it's not, it's not unheard of. Uh, we're very fortunate where we live that we have a lot of crop ground. And so obviously we have better deer than we have in the past because corn started being planted. But, uh, I mean, it's, that was a blast quest hunt was a blast and, and I'm ever thankful for that opportunity.
00:37:16
Speaker
I'm over here hunting them pine cone eaters. Yeah. I mean, you both Jay, there's a place for them. I seen some nice ones. It ain't first place though. They, they like the camera, but they don't like when I go, but yeah, that quest that's pretty cool. I mean, I, like I said, I'm the most unlucky deer hunter there is.
00:37:42
Speaker
When it comes to seeing big deer and I mean, it gets me excited. Just, you know, just to be in a competition to shoot some nice deer and try to try to get a place, you know, try to just, it's just fun. And y'all with, where'd y'all go? Springfield to have y'all ceremony and all that. I mean, they, I get y'all set up up there with a venue and it's just a cool deal. And I mean, like I said, I didn't even participate in it and I'm excited about it.
00:38:12
Speaker
Yeah, it is. I mean, it kind of, not that you really need a reason, but it kind of pushes you a little harder to get out there and hunt. And I'm looking at the leaderboard now with, uh, first place has three 38 and one eights. So it's pretty good. Pretty good bucks. That's an Arkansas. Yeah.
00:38:35
Speaker
Yeah, this is not just an Arkansas tournament.
Quest Hunt Competition and Arkansas Success
00:38:37
Speaker
It's multiple states. Yeah, multiple states. I, I think every year they add on a couple of states and, and that's another thing that makes it fun. Cause I mean, first place it's 170 inch and 153 inch. I mean, you look at the next state over and you're like, Oh my gosh, I'm glad I didn't live in that state when I killed this. Cause you would get laughed at. I mean, the Ohio, the Wisconsin.
00:39:05
Speaker
Illinois got some deer up there. I don't, Hey, in Arkansas, you can hunt them with a gun for a really long time. So maybe that's a factor. I don't know. It's, it's a, it's a different beast and that's what makes it so much fun. I, I was in Baton Rouge for four years and I bet you
00:39:26
Speaker
All of my buddies down there, if it had horns, it was down. Let me rephrase that. If it was Brown, it was down. They didn't care. And as we slowly move up north, it gets better and better and better. So, um, Oh Drew, he has quite a few good deer on the wall. His dad, I'm pretty sure is the best Turkey hunter I've ever met in my life. But, uh, they had a farm over there on the white river and.
00:39:56
Speaker
And y'all killed quite a few, didn't you Drew? Yeah. I mean, one of the interesting things about our farm was the non-typical state record was actually killed on our farm for Arkansas. Uh, some people will know the Dooley book and things like that. And, uh, we were very fortunate. Uh, we had a hunter's paradise, uh, down there on the white river. I mean, you could just do just about anything and.
00:40:21
Speaker
If you saw some of the deer and, you know, eventually I hope to post something, you know, social media, so you can kind of experience what we did down in the white river and, um, what we call swamp donkeys, things like that, the river bottoms. I mean, they just, we were very fortunate and that has got some really good deer that, I mean, typical and non-typical that are just, uh, just out of this world. So we were very fortunate for that. Another great place to treat a lot of raccoons. It really is.
00:40:52
Speaker
Oh yeah. I know everybody's going to start to realize that the tree and the raccoon is probably the most important thing to Jacob, but to say, well, I mean, I've Turkey hunt it. I just ain't good at it. That's my dad's passion and I'm coming into it too. I love to duck hunt and I love to Turkey hunt. I love the stalk of a bird and things like that. And so.
00:41:18
Speaker
Uh, but I mean, even the raccoons down there, I mean, they're basically bear cubs. I mean, it's just unbelievable how big they get, you know, and because of the row crops and things like that. So, um, it's, uh, it's, it's pretty neat. It's pretty neat area down here. I thought I was going to have to get a game cart to haul that one we treat last weekend out. It weighed about 25 pounds.
00:41:40
Speaker
I'm pretty sure it was, it was close to the world record. It was heavy. We did, we did have some beer before we tried to carry it out, but I mean, we said it down about five times. Yeah, it was heavy. Wish trading off. We should just skin him right there on the spot, but would've been a better idea. Would've been a lot better idea.
00:42:09
Speaker
But it was fun though, I mean, dogs did good. Weather was good. Moon was a little bright, but it was a good night. Yeah, Moon was bright. How many did y'all end up killing? That night was one, and then the next night one. Both big old warcoons. Yeah, the second night we took, what about six or eight people that's never been coon hunting before?
00:42:38
Speaker
I'm pretty sure we had 18 people and I'll tell you that at some point there's too many people that was too many people.
00:42:48
Speaker
Yeah, it was just a kind of a deal where some people wanted to go that have never seen hounds, you know, tree dogs work at night and they were all duck hunters or I say all duck hunters. They had labs and stuff. So they, they're used to like working dogs and stuff. So yeah, we want to see, we want to see what these hounds are like. And you know, we treat a coon right off the bat. Uh, first a little swamp we crossed. I filled my right boot up with water.
00:43:18
Speaker
Yep. Uh, I never hit the bottom. So that was, that was awesome. And, uh, yeah, I asked Cole, I said, we're going to be forwarding any, uh, any, uh, swamps. He's like, no, no. And he shows up in his, in his Sitka waiters. He shows up in Sitka waiters and he's got me over there swimming a creek right off the bat. So, you know, it was awesome. And then, uh, we picked that we caught the dogs, went down the road a little bit and then, uh,
00:43:48
Speaker
I think three of the dogs ran a deer about, I don't know, a mile straight across the farm and we hopped in the truck and had to catch them on the other side on the road before they got out of pocket. That's when coon hunting gets unfun. I love it. I don't. I personally do not. I mean, when you, when you're got a GPS, nice.
00:44:14
Speaker
Nice GPS on them, and then all of a sudden it says lost connection. That's when you know you done messed up. That's when you know you got a deer dog. Yeah, boy. I don't know. I don't know. I've never really ran deer dogs, but I think I might have a female deer dog at my house. Well, you got Bruce too. That's John's. He's a deer dog. He's a deer dog for sure.
00:44:45
Speaker
not to uh not to take us back to the very beginning of this episode but um with i know i'm i'm a little more curious just because i don't know the complete history and the story of it but um you guys talking about coon hunting in your woods made me think of it uh can you give a little background on how you guys um how your family came into those woods and and kept it over the years and just kind of developed that into what it was
00:45:12
Speaker
Yeah, so kind of the reason it's this group of guys is because we all kind of jokingly together came up with the Little Woods,
The Origins and Importance of Little Woods
00:45:24
Speaker
right? I mean, that was collective and it took off. And I mean, it's based a lot of
00:45:32
Speaker
my life decisions and et cetera on that. So in regards to the woods, ever since I was growing up, like I said, we had plenty of farm ground that was in the family and our main area, my grandfather, he was quite cavalier on
00:45:58
Speaker
what he wanted to do. So if he decided he wanted to be a fish farmer, he was. If he decided he wanted to have the best cutting horse in the country, he tried to buy it or raise it. If he decided that
00:46:18
Speaker
He wanted to kill a duck in the woods, just like the next person did. He tried to do that. So, um, the main thing, you know, behind that is, is there was a very large block of woods. Uh, not gonna name any names, maybe the big woods around us here. Um, my grandfather, uh, purchased 160 acres out of it. Uh, that 160 acres, he built the levee around it.
00:46:47
Speaker
People thought he was crazy. They probably did seem pretty crazy in the late 90s. They built the reservoir. They built the drainage to it so we could flood it if we wanted to. And to date, I'd say it's been several years. Jacob, you got an exact date on that. You're a little older than me.
00:47:11
Speaker
Oh, when they built it. Yeah. Uh, I'd say probably it's gotta be mid nineties or early thousands. No mid nineties, probably. Yeah. I would think, yeah. Me and Whit's grand, uh, grandfathers were brothers. So I was down there quite a bit as a kid and, uh, I didn't live down there though, but.
00:47:36
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, they, they, they put that together and man, it was, it was kind of before its time, I guess. Yeah, it really was. I mean, nobody, nobody had green tree reservoirs. I mean, there was no GTRs around there. Was there? Because everybody was going to, you know, WMA type stuff and public, you know, it's, I don't know about the nineties as far as how it was popular, but.
00:48:02
Speaker
Uh, I know it went up and down there a few times and then like here recently past few years, you know, it was crazy. Uh, man, it's all the public ground issues and you know, it sucks, but sometimes it's fun. That's like the big story. Like from the beginning, if you can find that spot for half a day before somebody else you're good. But I mean, and, and with him.
00:48:30
Speaker
Building that, it kind of set idle, wasn't flooded. It was select cut one time. Deer population was good. Um, some good deer were killed in there. Um, probably, um, our 160 is surrounded by other woods, which makes it kind of awkward, but kind of not at the same time. And, and in the surrounding block of timber, probably a hundred yards from our levee, uh,
00:48:57
Speaker
Uh, a very, very, very nice buck was shot that actually won the, uh, big buck classic. Shout out to DL, Hitler for that one. That was a good buck. Really good buck. I think it was a 200 plus inch deer. Yeah. Um, pretty sure I was.
00:49:19
Speaker
I don't know, chasing women or something. I wasn't, I was a nut and very hard. Um, I regret that. Um, but with that being said, I mean, the woods are where they are now because of what people did in the past. That's what's so good about it. Yeah. I mean, he, he did, he wanted to hunt them.
00:49:40
Speaker
But he also knew if he kept it in the family long enough, somebody figured out how to hunt them. Uh, we had to build us a levy through the middle of it to split it up. It wasn't going to hold water all 160 acres very evenly. Um, we got that done about two years ago. And ever since, uh, this year being an exception, just due to the overwhelming drought that we have.
00:50:04
Speaker
We were able to flood it up and kill several, several, several mallards out of there.
00:50:13
Speaker
doing it on your own place, that your family worked to build up for that reason means a lot. So I know, like I said in the beginning, I'm very fortunate for what I have. I will ever forget that, but man, getting to share that with my friends and we all go out there and do that, that is a blessing and it's a blast. So the Little Woods, it's not a location, but in a way it is because that little block of woods right there,
00:50:45
Speaker
We all have a majority of our fun in. We kill good deer. We kill good ducks in it. We've killed a bunch of raccoons in it. You, if you're a squirrel hunter, go hunt it. I don't care to chase them with you. I don't like to eat them, but there's plenty. I mean, you find you an oasis that good and I'll buy it with you. A hundred percent would buy it with you. So, but yeah, I mean, and
00:51:11
Speaker
And everybody, uh, that haunts public or whatever, you know, it, and even private, you know, it's, everybody has their patch of little woods somewhere.
Challenges of Finding Hunting Land
00:51:22
Speaker
That's right. Uh, you know, and this ground's not getting more available for the hunters. You know, it's hard to, it's hard to find a good spot to hunt, whether it's deer ducks or whatever. And, uh,
00:51:37
Speaker
You know, the places I have to hunt over here and the places I go to hunt, you know, they're usually little blocks of woods or little patches of woods. And I think everybody can relate to how small the, how small area the hunting community has in some areas. You know, it's, some people are getting out of hunting and some people are just having to adjust. Yeah. And kind of the piggyback off of that, uh, you know, you guys probably know.
00:52:06
Speaker
My family sold our farm. We no longer own the farm that's on the White River and I'm very fortunate to have with some other friends that allow me to go out to their place, but You know the little woods is not just a center location I mean just just think about what you have and your own little woods that you have as a hunter and Everything it makes me miss mine every day because you know you have your own little patch even if it's in public you have that patch that you can go to every day and
00:52:36
Speaker
and put in the work that you want to do, the management that you want to do. And I think that's kind of what makes us relatable to every hunter out there is we have different little woods that we go to in kind of our own sanctuaries and things like that. And the little woods, the patch of ground that Whit's family owns,
00:53:01
Speaker
my family and his family go way, way back because my great grandfather was a logger. Oh, here we go. And so now he wants to say that, you know, this, that and the other, but no, I mean, you know, just, just thinking, think of this, you know, I had to stick a little fun at him because, you know, he says it's, he is, but, uh, but no, it's, uh, you know, just don't think of little woods. It's just one specific area, your own personal area, you know, but,
00:53:30
Speaker
I mean, you can, you could sit, you could sit out there with all the money you got and the nicest stand you got with TV playing Blair.
Sharing Hunting Experiences with Friends
00:53:38
Speaker
If you ain't got a buddy hanging out there with you in the stand or you ain't got somebody that would sit in the stand with you. You ain't hunting, right? That's the best part. You ain't hunting right at all.
00:53:49
Speaker
I mean, how many times this year, uh, Tyler, I ain't seen you. You got that new baby and all, but how many times between the two of y'all, Jake and Drew, have we hunted again? I mean, that's, that that's been a good time. We ain't shot anything, have we? No, we shot the bobcats. We shot three bobcats in about five minutes. Well, I'm pretty sure you shot the small one, Jacob.
00:54:19
Speaker
I mean, I don't know. We didn't get the scales out, but, uh, you know, I know we shot that big one and went down and you seen that little tiny one right there. Like, Ooh, I don't know if I can hit that one. He passed me the gun. I ain't ever even shot this gun and, uh, you know, headshot right there. Oh my God. It wasn't a headshot. That was a, I mean, you gut shot that poor little cat.
00:54:49
Speaker
That was an exit wound. I might've gut shot him. I don't know, but he's dead. There's more turkeys, uh, hatching eggs over there. I mean, and that, and talk about, don't get me started on turkeys, man. I mean, I almost would fast forward through the rest of waterfowl season for that. That's woo.
00:55:13
Speaker
I can't wait. Um, but I haven't even shot my shotgun yet this year. I mean, besides hit those crow, we're going to have to get some practice in or something. It's time. Don't look like y'all need practice for me. Y'all's tree topping them crows cartwheel on them. Yeah. They just don't eat like a turkey. They do not. Oh my gosh. They do not.
00:55:42
Speaker
Well, Hey, I, I've truly enjoyed it. I'm ready to get coal on this thing. I'm ready for the next episode already. We might as well just like, let's just end this one and start the next one. I'm ready to go. I'm fired up. Uh, but just to be honest, I mean, kind of for the future, this, this isn't going to be a one day thing. This is, we're about to get it right.
00:56:08
Speaker
We're going to do it right the first time. I think the episodes will get better as we go, especially. I mean, if anybody knows somebody that knows how to work a computer very well, send them my way.
00:56:23
Speaker
Uh, yeah, we're not that technologically advanced, but we can shoot a crow. We can shoot a crow, but this diagram podcast podcast is hard. Right. And like I said, six months waiting. We finally got it figured out. Um, you would have thought we had to practice a little bit. Yeah. But I appreciate everybody coming out. Uh, Tyler, Drew, Jake.
00:56:50
Speaker
I'd sit on the telephone and talk to you all day. Why don't we talk on a podcast? Uh, why don't we talk about what we want to talk about next time? We're not going to be sitting here lecturing everybody about what it means to be outside, et cetera, like we did all tonight, but we're about to tell some stories and they're probably going to be halfway lies. If I know Jacob, right.
00:57:13
Speaker
Now, if drew talks, don't believe it. That's all I have to say. So, um, thanks everybody. Uh, we'll see you next time. And anybody got anything to say outro? Now, uh, find us on little woods on Facebook. Uh,
00:57:35
Speaker
Got some exciting stuff coming. Glad to be here. Thank you. Y'all have a good night. See you guys. See ya.