Transforming Military Skills into innovation: Ghillie Puck

Have you ever felt the tranquility of the woods wash over you, or experienced the adrenaline rush of a hunt? Rob, creator of Ghillie Puck and former Marine, joins us to share how these moments not only shaped his personal journey but also sparked the flame of entrepreneurship. From fumbling his first bow release to innovating hunting gear that changes the game for newcomers, Rob's narrative is one of transformation—mirroring the seasons of the very forests he roams. His tale intertwines the silent communication with nature and the loud battle cries of business, proving that the wilderness can be both a sanctuary and a crucible for creation.

What does it take to turn a passion into a lifeline for others? In this episode, we uncover Rob's mission to make the hunting landscape more accessible and the meticulous crafting of his products—designed to meet the hunter where they are, blending ingenuity with the raw beauty of the outdoors. This journey isn't just about gear; it's about community, resilience, and finding oneself in the process. We also peel back the camouflage to reveal the personal side of hunting; the dream hunts that fuel our fantasies and the simple pleasures, like a cough drop that keeps us company in the stand.

We wrap our conversation with an open-hearted call to the wild, inviting anyone with a curiosity for hunting or the outdoor lifestyle to step into this shared space. The woods are vast, and there's room for every story, every question, and every eager soul looking to partake in the tradition and camaraderie of this age-old pursuit. So, pull up a log, or a comfy chair, and join us as we celebrate the rich tapestry of hunting—complete with all its highs, lows, and the unexpected lessons learned along the way.


Hecs stealth Hunting Apparel: https://hecshunting.com/shop/?avad=385273_b396467f5&nb_platform=avantlink&nb_pid=323181&nb_wid=385273&nb_tt=cl&nb_aid=NA
Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/ghilliepuck/
Website: https://www.ghilliepuck.com

Transcript

Speaker 2: 0:21

Welcome back to the Garden State Outdoors podcast presented by Boone Cunning. I'm your host, mike Natche, I'm Frank Basica and today we got Rob. It's Grand Champ, grand Champ, yeah, perfect, great, great. And you're from, gilly Puck.

Speaker 2: 0:39

Welcome to the show, thank you, thank you, awesome to be here A really cool product and I know we're going to get all into it and everything like that, but a really unique product. I you know I think our listeners are going to be really excited to hear hear about this, if they haven't already. But before we get into that, give us a little backstory of you how you grew up into the outdoors and to hunting and how you kind of got into that, um, this lifestyle that we got going on yeah, so um, I actually didn't grow up uh hunting as a young uh kid.

Speaker 3: 1:13

None of my friends were, uh, none of my immediate friends were hunters. Uh, we were kind of more uh sports, but I've always taken a passion hunt. I've always wanted to go hunting. Just never had the uh, just never had anybody to really go with or kind of teach me along the way. So, um, it wasn't until after the. I mean, I've always shot guns growing up and you know soda cans and stuff, so I really wanted to get in there and it was uh after the Marine Corps, um, where I really wanted to just be kind of isolated in the woods and that just sounded so appealing and just, you know, connecting with you know kind of nature and that whole aspect of it. Um, and so, right after uh, the Marine Corps is when I and 2018 is when I really started uh picking up hunting and kind of just uh became uh got my GD off of youtube on it.

Speaker 2: 2:04

Basically, you know, I didn't thank you for for your service um first of all, I definitely gotta appreciate that and um, you know, and, and that makes I feel like a lot of people who do join the military, right, they start to get into to hunting or a little more, just because, like I've heard of people like, yeah, like you know, I've never, I never hunted, ever at all, like I didn't grow up in it. But you know, you're running into guys in the military who this is what they did. They grew up on a farm, they did this. That you know. They've always like you, at least you shot guns and everything like that throughout your life. But, like you introduce yourself to so many different people there, yeah, but that that is a pretty, that's a pretty cool, unique. And now now look like you got completely addicted and now you have your own, your your own company. That is that is really growing and taking off and it's like man, where, what a what a journey it's been so far. Yeah, it's.

Speaker 3: 3:03

It's been wild, definitely, definitely blessed in the way of how things kind of played out and just kind of I was able to give, because I didn't, I wasn't in the breadth of the hunting community, so I was kind of able to give like an outside, I guess maybe unique, perspective on some things that, you know, I wasn't really taught. I kind of had to figure out a way to um, to adapt, and then I ended up creating this thing and it worked for me and I was like, hey, I bet you it'll work for others. And here we are.

Speaker 2: 3:31

Yeah, no, that's kind of how I feel, like when I talk to a lot of people, just like every day, they're like you know what it really started out. When it works for it would work for me and like, hey, like I would use, use, you know, I built something for for myself. And then it's like you know what, if it works for me, I imagine, yeah, it's gonna work for other people. So like, why not? Let's, let's try it out with other people, and it usually, you know, works out pretty well, like that. But, um, where, what was your first hunt, like you know what? What was your first hunt, like you know what? What was your first? Yeah, what was the first hunt that you went on and what was that like?

Speaker 3: 4:10

Oh man, I think I forgot my release for my bow. Um, so I was living up in uh. So right after the Marine Corps flew home, um, my wife and I were renting a little property up in uh for a little small house up in um Germantown, new York, and which is Columbia County, new York, and um, it's, it's, it's pretty rural up there, a lot of farms and stuff, so it was. It was definitely some some land to go, you know kind of find it was perfect for getting into hunting. I didn't have to really go knocking on doors or anything. It was perfect for getting into hunting. I didn't have to really go knocking on doors or anything. And uh, the house that we, you know we were renting at the time, um was on two acres and behind it was a big field and so I was like this is perfect. I saw, you know, doe coming out in the field in the evenings and stuff like that. So, um, I grabbed my, I went and bought a tree. So actually, my very first let me rewind just a little bit my very first first day out of the Marine Corps I went to the local archery shop and got a bow. That was the first first day, like just touched down in New York, cab brought me or uh, yeah, cab brought me up, surprised my wife. And then I'm pretty sure I said I'll be right back. And then I went down the street and uh, got a bow, yeah, and not see me in nine months, hey, how you doing, I'll be right back. And so, yeah, got a bow, got the arrows, got everything fitted. It was gone for a couple hours and, just you know, became addicted right there. And then that was in August. So our season starts October 1st for bow, excuse me, our season starts October 1st for bow, um, excuse me, uh.

Speaker 3: 5:45

So then I had about a month to train on, you know, to figure out everything and kind of honing my my shooting so fast forward a month. Got a tree stand a little uh, climber from my landlord at the time, uh, he let me borrow one of his climbers. And so I went back, climbed up, sat in the tree, um, had a. I didn't even have a bow hanger at the time, I just had it on my lap and I saw a deer was way out of you know, shooting range.

Speaker 3: 6:16

Um, and then I, I, you know, getting all jittery, nervous is the first thing I've seen? I've seen plenty. I've seen dozens of deer, you know, just walk into the woods, everything. But again, that thrill of seeing one while you're up in the stand actually hunting is, as you guys know, a totally different experience. But yeah, and I looked down and I realized I forgot my bow release. So that was the first day of, uh, the hunting. And then, and then there was just youtube videos after youtube videos after youtube videos how to hunt, and you know, learning about the techniques and listen to some of the old-timer hunters, uh, that's, that's how it started, right there, that was the first time that is absolutely.

Speaker 2: 6:56

First of all, I I don't blame you at all for getting right off the plane. At least you said hi to you know, to your wife and then like, all right, this, this is what life is going to be like now like I feel like if, if I wasn't into hunting before and you know, I traveled somewhere and I went somewhere and I was away for for a long time, whether it was the military, or like if I, you know, got some job overseas or whatever and I got into hunting, like the first thing I would probably do coming back home is be like, hey, yep, okay, I'll bring it back, let me, let me just, uh, let me go to the bow store real quick and get myself a bow. And you know, that's that kind of sets up. Your wife was like, uh, is this what life is going to be like now? He's going to say hi, that he's just going to be gone out to do stuff rotting, and it's like the typical, that's that's what we do, um, but and then forgetting the bow.

Speaker 2: 7:45

I think you'd be the first person I think I've ever heard of forgetting it on their first ever hunt. But it is a very common thing to forget, and that's why I think a lot of people now will they usually have to. Like I always throw one in my pack just in case. You know, I have so many times almost left my bow home or my quiver home, or like something and I don't know what it is, but something's like, oh no, like I think I forgot something in the house. I'm like I'll go back and I'll grab, like my water bottle. I'm like, oh my god, I completely forgot. Like I thought my bow was already in the truck and it's not. I took it out, uh, the night before and I was working on it. Like it's just such a common thing for for hunters to forget something at some point. Like it's impossible yeah, no, absolutely.

Speaker 3: 8:35

It may have not have been my, I may have not been my very first hunt that I forgot. It was either the first or the second.

Speaker 2: 8:41

I can't, I can't exactly recall, but yeah, it was a fatal, most memorable one, just because you know, um, you know, you, you saw a deer out in range and it's like, and it's true, it's like, man, I don't care how many damn deer I see, like, I still see deer, like in my backyard.

Speaker 2: 8:56

And it's just when you're actually in that, that mindset yeah it's and it could be a spike, and it's like, oh my god, like why am I shaking? Like how many times am I gonna see the same type of animal throughout my lifetime? And I'm still going to shake, like it's just like it's such a cool and that's why you gotta love it. It's like it doesn't change absolutely absolutely, it's consistent yeah, it's very consistent. How did the rest of your you know your first year go?

Speaker 3: 9:26

So the first year again, very rough it was. It was actually probably the best thing for me because I learned things the hard way and then once I learned things, I usually try not to make the mistakes again. But again, I think, just having no real you know person to be like, hey, this is exactly how you have to do, I was able to kind of create my own style and do what worked best for me, which I think a lot of people you know don't really ever kind of get that experience, because they always have maybe a grandfather or father saying, hey, this is exactly how you have to do it. I was able to kind of cherry pick from different videos and the local guy at the archery store, and so I didn't have one person going, no, do this, do this, do this. And so I actually, yeah, it was, it was good.

Speaker 3: 10:17

Where I was there wasn't up in Columbia County, there wasn't a lot of. There's a ton of dough up there. I didn't have my dough tags my first year, I believe. Um, so I my first year kind of went. It was pretty, pretty bad. It was pretty bad. A couple of times I forgot uh, let's see, geez, I think. I think the release was the big one that I was forgetting. I think there was multiple times I forget that, but I saw one buck and it came into range but it was just after dark and at that time in New York it was the sunset is the last time you could shoot, so it was just after that. I never got a shot off on him. I saw him a few more times. It was very exciting. I mean he was definitely a mature four pointer, just an old, you know split rack right there and a very old swamp buck and I'd see him several times but I didn't have much luck the very first year.

Speaker 3: 11:18

The most memorable thing that I had that kind of drew me to this situation of Gilly puck was, um, about two miles down the road Every time I drive past between where my wife worked and where we live. It was a big field. I'd see about 11, I heard of like 11 dough out there and they were there every single night. And uh, at one time sitting out there and I and I hear you know, crunching in front of me, I kind of look up and there's three doe walking directly to my stand and I hear some more like coming from my left. There's three more kind of, and they're all just coming right at me and I realized it was the big herd of like 11 doe, and they walk directly to my stand and, you know, were underneath me, directly to my stand and, uh, you know, were underneath me.

Speaker 3: 12:06

I could have, you know, dropped the glove right on top of them, and they just stayed there for about I don't know, maybe five minutes, and I was in like a half squat. I was trying to stand up just in case there's a buck following them or anything, and so they looked up right as I did. That, you know, big mistake. And now, yeah, just kind of doing a, doing a 10 minute squat, until finally one of them one of them blew my spot and they all took off, but that was, uh, that was the first year. First year was a little rough, so that was, um, it was the learning curve. Uh, after that, though, the next year is when things uh, got a lot better for me.

Speaker 2: 12:41

Well, we, we, we might as well get get into that that next year. But right before we do, I always say and it's the one thing I talk about I'm pretty sure I've talked about on the last few episodes that were recorded it's better to suck and have a shitty first season than have a really successful one. In my opinion, you know you learn a lot more. But it's also like I said, if you go through that suck, when you eventually go through that suck again, you know what it's like and you haven't just experienced success.

Speaker 2: 13:12

And I feel like that that should be used in everyday life, like, honestly, once you get through that first adversity, and if you haven't had adversity before, you're more likely to fail because you've never experienced it. So you're going to quit and give up, you know. But if you have that adversity in the beginning and all those failures, but keep pushing through. When it happens again, you know, okay, let's keep pushing through, because shit's going to turn around anyway and you know, you know we're going to have a better day or a better life, or you know a better hunter or whatever the case. Case is, you just got to keep pushing.

Speaker 3: 13:49

Yeah, no, absolutely. I absolutely agree with that.

Speaker 2: 13:53

So year two, you go into year two. What was that like first before you, your summer? What did you do in the summer and what were some of the things that? Were you watching more YouTube videos? Were you scouting more Like what, what, what did you do in the off season that that definitely helped you moving forward?

Speaker 3: 14:10

Yeah, so the off season again, I really knew nothing about scouting. I ended up working for a company doing like tower climbing for antennas and stuff like that Retentive repair work repair work, excuse me and the owner of the company one of the owners of the company a couple of years older than myself, he was a big hunter, so he kind of he kind of showed me a few techniques and, you know, kind of introduced me to like scouting, what to look for, you know, and explained why there wasn't necessarily a lot of bucks where I was sitting, and so he kind of definitely helped, uh, helped me understand a little bit more of the legwork that had to be done for a season. So throughout the summer I just kind of, you know, I was shooting pretty pretty regularly. Um, I was uh again, I don't like to kind of toot my own horn kind of thing, but I was just, I understood the fundamentals of the shooting and I was good at it right off the bat, which was super helpful. Um, I was, uh, I was like a marksman coach in the Marine Corps, so I kind of had the same fundamentals and applied a lot of them to shooting the bow and they are very similar as far as, like you know, release on like your natural, natural respiratory pause. You know all those things so it was very helpful in that manner. So I was very blessed right off the bat to kind of be able to figure out, you know how to hone in on the target. Now I just need to find it.

Speaker 3: 15:36

So, not knowing many people in New York at all, actually not knowing anybody at that time other than my boss, actually not knowing anybody at that time other than my boss, my in-laws had like a five to seven acre parcel behind their house. So I went knocking on like a couple of doors around. I found out who owned the property, knocked on the gentleman's door. Actually, his wife answered and said that you know, the husband would be back in a little bit. I ended just writing a letter putting in the mailbox and eventually he got back to me and said uh yeah, he goes, he goes. I usually have a friend that hunts back here but he hasn't hunted back here in a couple of years. So you know, you can, you can absolutely hunt back there. The only problem with back there, where all the trees were, the deer were moving, were like telephone poles.

Speaker 3: 16:24

You know, there were, there weren't there was no backdrop, and then it kind of backdropped a little bit into a farm area. So there was, it was very wide open. It kind of went down a hill and then open, so that I just stuck out like a sore thumb and uh, the deer would come across the hill and they would kind of make eye contact with me. It'd be coming down, like across the hill and they would kind of make eye contact with me. It'd be coming down like across the hill, they'd make eye contact with me, blow my spot, they'd be gone. And I was like like I gotta figure this out. Um, and so then I kind of like tapped into, I guess, a little bit of learned techniques from from the marine corps.

Speaker 3: 17:01

Um, I was a third recon, so we were kind of, uh, you know, I understood the Beau flageon and you know, being in the, in the bush and stuff like that. So, um, you need to blend in with your surroundings. So I was like I, the only thing I got behind me is sky and other telephone looking trees. So, um, I created, uh, I I bought a couple um leaves, I created this, actually this little system off of a broken arrow and, uh, a wooden block and uh, I screwed these on and stuck the branches in and uh, screwed it to the tree behind me. And the next couple days I went out, it came down and, uh, the doe kind of like looked in my vicinity but just kept moving, didn't, yeah, paying attention to it, and that's. That's when I was like, all right, I have something here. And uh, like, a couple weeks later, I got my first buck. It was like august 14th, all right, excuse me, october 14th. I got my, my first buck. So that was, uh, my first deer ever.

Speaker 2: 18:03

It was a six point buck, so that was, that was exciting, yeah that's awesome that's amazing, it is so cool how, just like first of all, I was going to ask like how your military background helped you in the outdoors, so you were able to to kind of answer that as well. But you know you, you basically right there your first idea of your product came to light and it legit helped you stay undetected with that dough and everything like that. And then you were able to finish the season off, you capitalized with your first buck and everything like that. So that is it's absolutely amazing to kind of see and or to listen to, because you know that for anyone listening it listen, whether you know what you're doing or not, like you know you got to get out there and try you. You got to do your best to just to give it your all and to just send it and to enjoy what you're doing.

Speaker 2: 19:04

You know and know get creative if you have to. You know for you, like you went with. You know your instincts of what you're trained with. You know through the military. You know and also what you've, you've picked up just with just doing what you. You know you did the last year and what you experienced also on the last year and it's you know, did the last year and what you experienced also in the last year and it's, you know, slowly gotten you to, to where you are, where you are now. So it's a you know for anyone who listening, it doesn't matter how old you are, it doesn't matter if you, you know you're starting as a kid or you're starting out, you're 50 or 60 like, listen, just go out there, have fun, just do it. You, you are going to learn. Don't be afraid to fail, because you know what you. It's just going to get better.

Speaker 1: 19:44

Oh yeah, I've failed many times. We all have we all have.

Speaker 3: 19:50

Yeah, absolutely, I absolutely agree with that. The failure is like the most important part of life. I think People need to fail more. I think that's the thing. People need to fail more to become further successful in their lives. I think that's a big thing.

Speaker 2: 20:10

I 100% agree. So you go there. You're off the high of your success. You had a lot of success with your second year. When did were you still now making you know these things for yourself going into the next year? When did the idea of Gilly puck really start to like all right, this is something I really want to start working on and, you know, pushing it to to maybe other people.

Speaker 3: 20:39

Yeah, um, I I'd say, right after, right after that, I was like I was like, wow, I was like this is it's kind of like, it was just. I was like I was like, wow, I was like this is it's kind of like, it was just. I was such a high and I, you know, I didn't really have I guess it was a weird time because I it was a high, because it was like one of the like coolest things I've ever done, you know, is shooting. You know talking to another gentleman he's gone like 15 years and never uh, um, harvested a deer with a bow and being able to harvest a deer, my, my second year in um, my real full year of actual hunting and kind of knowing a little bit of what I was doing and not going in completely blind, uh, being able to implement some of the things I've learned and then the some of the things I've created to to harvest, it was awesome. Um, I didn't have a lot of people to like celebrate with and call and I was like I was like, man, this would be so cool to just be able to, you know, help others.

Speaker 3: 21:31

And then I was like I wonder how many other people are in like that situation without, like, um, you know, somebody to teach them or somebody to that want to get into hunting that may be, you know, too scared to get into hunting because they don't want to go out by themselves. I'm like, I'm like this is where I could kind of make something and that's kind of where it hit me right there. It was kind of that moment in the tree stand, not really having anyone to call. It's like I wonder how many other people are really in this situation that are, that are looking to get into this, that really, you know, maybe are too afraid to take that first step or to ask somebody to go with them. I'm like this would you know if this helps them kind of get into it?

Speaker 3: 22:10

I'm like I'm going to, I'm going to make something to help somebody and whether it, you know, it gets them a little bit closer to their deer or helps them harvest their first year, or shortens the amount of time that they're in a stand, they can get home to their, their wives and kids or whatever it is. Uh, I'm like, right there, it's kind of all the thoughts started running through the head. I'm like, I'm like I'm going to make this for others. Um, so I pretty much after I figured out how to, you know, dress the deer and everything uh, that took a little bit of time as well Um, after I figured out how to dress the deer.

Speaker 3: 22:40

I kind of went in and after the the adrenaline cooled and you know, I was in the bed that night. I was like this is what I want to do, and uh, and so I went out and I started buying, uh, different, different materials, like this is like an old, like aluminum pipe. I went to home depot and I had a couple broken arrow shafts, uh from, uh from that deer actually, actually, that I had, and so I kind of stuck it in there and glued it and taped it and got a couple more branches. And then that became the start of it right there and I was like I can create these. And so then I ended up calling up. I talked to my wife and I was like no, no, I think I can, you know, I think I can do this, I think I can, you know, I think there's a, there's a chance to help other hunters. I think there's a little bit of a market here. And she's like all right, you know, blah, blah, blah.

Speaker 2: 23:36

So yeah, yeah, she wants to support, but she's also like okay what are you doing?

Speaker 2: 23:43

yeah, what what, how much is this gonna cost us? I like it's like I tell, like actually I'm in the middle while we're doing this. I'm texting bianca right now because we actually decided to get for the event and then for for further stuff. She's she's taking up on, you know, during our events and she just ordered, um, we're ordering 150 shot glasses that are going to have our logo on it and the 50 are going to go to for free for the for the event. And she's been like okay, well, you know it's going to cost this much and then this much and this.

Speaker 2: 24:14

And I can imagine she's just sitting at work right now between clients and like he's definitely going to say the most, like let's get more, and just with the more expensive and then which you know it's when we sell it. She's like okay, yeah, but I imagine she's like gosh, he's probably running all these things through his head right now. I'm just like, okay, now, then we also need this, and then we could do this, and then we could do this. And she's like it's just gonna cost us more and more money, but in the long run it works and especially if it's something that catches, it's it's, it's so worth it. You know it, it, it pays for itself plus, plus that, because now you got another income, you're not, and stuff like that. Maybe I don't know if you know yet where you are yet, but is this are you still working full-time too as well? Part-time?

Speaker 2: 24:58

yeah, yeah, so right you know, just like us, like we're all still doing other stuff out besides this. But then who knows, you never know where it can take us. Like you know it could be like, hey, this is what we do for for the rest of our lives in this space. You know our bills, or you know it helps pay the bills, whatever. Whatever the case is, you just don't know. But when it works, it's, it's just worth it when it works, it's, it's just worth it.

Speaker 3: 25:24

No, it absolutely is, and it was such a. It was right at the beginning of the COVID and yeah, so we had, we had a little bit of time. It was, you know, I think my job was to have one week on, one week off, and and I was like I was like I, you know, I gotta do something with this time and I'm like let's, let's put it into, let's put it in, to try to perfecting this thing. I think I was the following spring after that season. Um, so I got, let me see, so that must've been. I get so confused with these dates. It's just the past two years.

Speaker 3: 25:59

I get you, so the same way I have a two year old and a two month old, I feel, get you.

Speaker 1: 26:06

So the same way, I have a two-year-old and a two-month-old.

Speaker 3: 26:07

I feel like I haven't slept in like three years. So it's uh, everything is kind of blurring right now. Um, yeah, no, that is. But uh, I think, uh, I think it was the spring of 21. Um, right after that, following season, I was like you know what? Let's, let's kind of go all in on this. Uh, I'm one week in, one week out. I can do something with this time. And that's what I started doing. I started doing research and looking up what I need to do.

Speaker 3: 26:33

I knew nothing about this process, absolutely nothing. And so I called a patent lawyer. Actually, I called my brother-in-law. He patented something back in the early 2000s, when he was in college. He'd got a patent on a mechanism. I forget what it was and how that played out, but he's like hey, I knew this patent lawyer back 20 years ago I don't know if he's still in business, but give him a call. So I ended up giving him a call and that started the process. Right there. He filed the, he filed it, or we filed the application for it and started.

Speaker 3: 27:11

I started drawing. And then I switched jobs, um, when I was working night shifts and I just started drawing how I envisioned this thing and drawing the functionality. And this is without doing any research on anything. You know, I did the.

Speaker 3: 27:25

The patent lawyer did the research to make sure there was nothing, you know, contradicting it, and I kind of wanted him to do it without myself fully doing it, because I didn't want to get ideas from other, from other companies.

Speaker 3: 27:37

Essentially, I wanted to make this like as original and versatile as possible, and so I started just creating everything that this thing could possibly do and drawing it out and the functionalities of it. Then I finally came up with this thing and then I tried to think of how well, not too many people bring an impact to the woods of them to screw it into a tree. So how can we get this to a tree and give them the opportunity if they wanted to permanently mount it or if they wanted to strap it, or if they them to screw it into a tree? So how can we get this to a tree and, you know, give them the opportunity if they wanted to permanently mount it or if they wanted to strap it or if they wanted to hook it up to a camera mount accessory. And so it was just it was a long process.

Speaker 3: 28:12

It took about a year of drawings and again just the night shift, the four to midnight shift, and, yeah, just kind of grinding this thing out. And then it became this uh, you know kind of what it is today, which is, um, you know, it can, it can really attach to, it's so versatile and, uh, this is what I really wanted. It was just the more people that were able to benefit from this uh, for me was the goal the better.

Speaker 2: 28:39

So yeah, no, it's it. It is very versatile and you know you guys offer a lot of options now. So was that, like when you were first going through the, through this process, right, and you know, did you like I did what was the first, like leaves, or you know natural brush that you use? And like when you pick up one, like do you have people DM, you call you, text you whatever, like hey, you know what I'm from, you know so-and-so, maybe like Arizona, and like maybe you know the foliage is a little different there, like how does that work for you to pick up this many, because you guys offer a lot of different options?

Speaker 3: 29:27

pick up this many because you guys offer a lot of different options. Yeah, so that question, the amount of people that reach out, is a daily thing. Um, getting you know, hey, you guys should get these leaves and get these leaves, which we did do for quite a bit of time. Um, but we really kind of had to to narrow down like what are the majority of the, the people hunting? Because if I spread, I felt like if I spread myself too thin, I I had too many options, it would, it would.

Speaker 3: 29:48

I wasn't able to focus on the benefits of it and the meaning behind that. I mean, I could, I guess we could get every single plant out there and every single tree, but who knows, maybe one day we can, we can absolutely facilitate that and accommodate that, which would be my goal Honestly. Which would be my goal Honestly. It would be my goal to accommodate every hunter that could benefit from that. But, being still fairly new and working full time as well my nine to five, and kind of doing this after work from the hours of 5 pm to 3 am I kind of had to do. Um, what was the? You know the, the meat and potatoes of the hunting community, the oak trees, the maples, the hardwoods. We have a few, uh a few, of the softwoods, the douglas spurs, the pine um the cedars. So we are trying to to accommodate everything. But now we're kind of starting to starting to breach the duck market.

Speaker 3: 30:49

And then the turkey uh hunting so it's yeah, there's a lot of avenues.

Speaker 2: 30:55

There's a lot of avenues and this is it's not just like you know you're getting into other stuff because, hey listen, turkeys use their eyesight like no other. So, like you know, and of course, you're hunting on the ground when you, when you're doing turkeys right, you know with with waterfowl, you're, you're going to be on the ground and your camouflage is very like it has to be on point. You know with with when it comes to bird species, their eyesight is absolutely amazing. Plus, also, when you're hunting ducks and waterfowl and everything, they have the clear advantage of being just so high up, you know. So, putting in a system like this where all right, however way you do create it or whatever the case is, might also make that, like you said earlier, that setup time so much easier. That, like you said earlier, that setup time so much easier, you know, because I know that one thing with waterfowl hunting, just from just from the the last two years, is the setup is not is not always the the easiest thing in the world. Like if you're hunting geese in a in a field, it's like you, you kind of stick out and it does take some time. You have to brush it all in and everything like that.

Speaker 2: 31:59

If you know, if you have this set up where it's like all right, we just we do this, do this and everything kind of connects, it's like all right, we just saved ourselves, we just saved ourselves a lot of time, you know, um, whichever way you guys end up, you know going with that or whatever, I'm actually very curious, very curious and definitely would love to. I can't wait to try it out. I I've gotten a new love for for waterfowl hunting over the last two years and, like have become a addict for for waterfowl in the late season when deer hunting dies down. But very interested just to see that and I can definitely, like I said I could see how it works, uh, so well, how it would work very well for for turkey hunting yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 3: 32:39

um, I haven't personally gotten to waterfowl hunting yet, which I absolutely want to do, but again, it's kind of the focus. I spent all my now. I spent all my time, you know, kind of designing this thing. Now I'm in full swing of this, so my time is definitely way more limited with shipping these out and everything and then again working the full time and now two kids.

Speaker 3: 33:00

So it's eventually I'm it's a lot, I know, I know there's plenty of other people that do all of those things, so that's no excuse on my part. Eventually I will get into waterfowl. Um, I also want to kind of take the same approach with waterfowl as I did with this, almost and not really knowing much about it, and kind of just looking from an outside perspective and seeing where the gaps are and kind of, so I can create again the best uh, non-biased uh mechanism for that that season, um, so to speak. Uh, turkey hunting this kind of works kind of perfectly for turkey and I did use it. I wasn't successful this year because the one time I had to go out I was able to go out for, uh, turkey hunting was on mother's day, which, for anybody who's listening, I do not recommend doing that um definitely definitely not.

Speaker 3: 33:56

Yeah, it sounded way better in my head where, hey, I'll get up early and, and then I totally misunderstood that. No, go ahead, have fun. And as actually go ahead and have fun and don't and not instead of don't go, stay home, it's Mother's Day. So we'll not be making that mistake this year. We'll find a different date to do that. But I did go out and so I was a little rushed. In the morning it was about 9 am, maybe I ended up retreating back to my home.

Speaker 3: 34:28

I was out with a couple buddies, so what I did was took this ball head clamp and I had, and you get this, the ghillie hook can hold up to eight branches around it. Not all eight need to be utilized, which I feel very obligated to say. You know it's not always clear and in the videos and whatnot. So I could use two of these four, of these six, these, it doesn't matter, and I can put one on each side if I need to. It's basically whatever it's. It's to give you the option of eight. You don't have to use eight.

Speaker 3: 34:54

So I hooked four up and then I hooked up to a ball head clamp and I just clipped it on a root in front of uh, in front of the tree, I was sitting in front of me and so when I do my call and I uh, the guy, the gentleman I was with, was doing calls we could hear. They were way off the distance. I just took the clip, unclipped it from the root and we moved up closer, sat down behind another tree, clipped it back on and uh, and we couldn't get on this tom. He was just a game of uh, you know, cat and mouse and he kind of. He was coming in and then he'd go away, and so, however, my buddy did keep this and did end up getting one, I think, like 30 minutes after I left.

Speaker 3: 35:36

So he felt, yeah, he felt the absolute need to send as many pictures as possible and brag about Of course, of course, of course, and uh, no, which was awesome. So, but yeah, so it is. It is. I am trying to even hone in a little bit more for the turkey hunters and how we can make this better and more versatile for them, but the clip has really been. It's been awesome the ball head clamped and just the different leaves and stuff to use in front of it.

Speaker 2: 36:04

Yeah, now I listen.

Speaker 2: 36:07

Clamps make it a lot easier, but like it's just a system is.

Speaker 2: 36:10

It's simple, Like it really it really is.

Speaker 2: 36:12

It's a simple system when you, once you get down to it and that's the the most important thing, like I've talked to a bunch of people just about like any type of you know equipment out there, any you know whatever we're dealing with, like we don't have the time, you know, and if you're someone who's really not, I would say, a die-hard hunter or outdoorsman, who you know is wants to spend all damn day in in the woods and everything like like this, like you said in the beginning, like this is the perfect thing where you can get in and out, you can get home earlier, you know the wife or the husband you said in the beginning, like this is the perfect thing where you can get in and out, you can get home earlier, you know the wife or the husband you know, or the kids, they'll be happier because you know you're not spending all your time.

Speaker 2: 36:51

And also it's pretty simple as you can just go out into the woods, just bring that, you can stick into the ground or whatever, and boom, you can hunt anywhere. You're now a mobile deer hunter on the on the ground. You know you don't have to lug around a ground blind anymore or or anything like that. You know if you're someone who likes to just hunt on the ground, boom you're.

Speaker 3: 37:13

You're good in in any type of scenario absolutely, absolutely, um, and that's really what we wanted it and what I designed it for.

Speaker 3: 37:23

Because, you know, a lot of people do, you know, see this product and they think big, corporate and stuff like that, and they kind of because unfortunately, it's where a lot of things are going, but they don't, they don't see somebody who, you know, had the struggles at the beginning and is actually producing this to kind of minimize, uh, kind of minimize those, uh, those gaps between maybe shooting a deer, like you said, like going home to see family and stuff like that.

Speaker 3: 37:48

And that's ultimately what I, what I just kind of like the mission statement for this, this company, is to be as effective, uh, you know, as possible and to help as many in this stretch and benefit as many people, or, excuse me, stretch as many people as can benefit from this as possible. And so I, I really do um and am going to continue making this more versatile, quicker to set up um, more effective, and so that's that's kind of what I'm chipping away at every every year. Well, it's been one year, but yeah, but yeah, you know I'm really I'm really interested in and trying trying this out.

Speaker 2: 38:26

I already have. I have one spot in in mind, definitely. Um, even with early season doesn't matter, like for the most part, there is a part where this is a set, uh, a permanent stand that I have there and it's just on one side of me, it's just very open, so they're coming on one side. I'm kind of screwed if they come everywhere else, like I'm just good, you know. And then also very important, the late season is something we talk about a lot on this podcast. You've lost a lot of you know. You lost your cover. All your cover is gone, maybe even from I'd say almost from the main part of the rut on. Like you, you've lost almost all your leaves, right, this is something that can help you on a big and probably the most important time of the year too, especially for those dedicated hunters who are constantly out.

Speaker 2: 39:14

Listen, I would throw it and I think I deemed you, um, over the summer, um, you know, was for saddle hunting. How's it going to be for saddle hunting? You know what's that process like and that's the same thing. Like you know, get up quick, set up quick and you don't have to now really worry about. There could be a perfect tree that has no cover. Now, boom, you set this up and you you have some cover and you can bring it down with you and everything like that, where it's going to be a simple setup.

Speaker 2: 39:42

So that's where I'm really really focused on, on using this product going into into next year. That I'm actually really excited about. You know, now it's now I'm not as limited as I was before and already with the saddle you're you're really not limited to what you can do. Now this kind of takes away, takes away all that. And you know I'm that's what I'm really I'm always looking to how I can up the saddle game and how I can up, you know, being a mobile hunter. So this will be another you know option that that I will be running for for next year for sure no, that's awesome, man, and, and, and, and.

Speaker 3: 40:23

you know, I really do want to kind of emphasize on this. Isn't the? This isn't the cure for hunting Like this, isn't? You're not going to, you're not going to get one of these and all of a sudden, you know, get a deer or anything like that. I saw the. Uh see the, the Senate sass and behind it I mean it is just as much as a tool as the as a scent blocker is anything. So I mean, you know it's. It's an amazing product. By the way, it's the only thing around that.

Speaker 3: 40:50

Stuff's awesome but uh side note uh, but uh, yeah. No, I mean, it really is like just as much as a tool as your scent blockers or, um, as camouflage. I mean, you are granted. I mean, my kind of ideal thing with this is because I get a lot of the people that go oh, you know my, you know granddad, hunted in blue jeans and the flat I was gonna ask that as the next question.

Speaker 3: 41:11

Yeah, yeah, smoking five cigarettes and whatever I mean I get. I get it all day long, and so and I've made a few parody videos showing like I I think I was wearing a santa outfit in one and I was like yeah, behind it.

Speaker 2: 41:25

I was wearing the Halloween costume.

Speaker 3: 41:28

So it's like my whole goal and my whole point to prove to people and to show people is like you could have the most expensive camouflage or no camouflage, you're only as good as your backdrop. Like if you're, if you're wearing Sitka or first light or whatever and you have a wide open backdrop, it does nothing. So you know, this is to use as a tool, like anything else, to basically help create an artificial backdrop, no matter what season or what setting, and that's why we offer what we offer Cause if, even if we don't have your exact leaf or color, um, or you know branch style, it will still help break better than nothing to a degree exactly.

Speaker 3: 42:11

It's better. It's better than nothing, but, uh, you still have to absolutely do your due diligence. You can't go up there. You know smelling like a, you know upwind or downwind smelling like a couple, you know a hound or a couple of hounds and stuff like that, and and you go up there and they're going to, they're going to blow you out of the thing, uh, you know, out of the tree. So it's, you know, it really is designed for that and it's also. One more thing is that you know, um is that everybody's situation's different.

Speaker 3: 42:37

Like these, the winds out in the Midwest are much more, uh, more aggressive than the winds here over in the East Coast. So I mean you can get creative with it. If you need to glue these in, I mean that's my saying. That I say is like I'm giving you the hammer build your house. I take no offense if you want to cut this or trim it. I mean this is I want this to work better for every single person out there and that's why I created it is to be successful, not to. You know, this isn't the cure for all all hunters. So I mean, if you find something with this that works better for you, if you need to glue it onto here to make it for those 70 mile an hour wind gusts out there, or you know whatever.

Speaker 3: 43:20

If you need to spray paint the back of them, I do it in my videos where I spray paint the back of them white and then I go out coyote hunting. So uh, it's. You know these really are it's. It's supposed to be versatile, it's supposed to be customizable. You can do whatever you want. Same with our tripods. I mean, our tripods are are black. I, I, I spray paint these all the time. So you know, nothing is concrete with this. Get as creative as possible and definitely tag us. We love seeing the creativity, so yeah, definitely, and it gives you another advantage.

Speaker 1: 43:54

And hey, any little bit of advantage I can get I'm taking you know, yeah, so it's, it's.

Speaker 2: 44:03

You know. It's funny because I was going to say, like people sometimes think that just because they get a certain product, that they're also going to kill big deer or all these deer, and that's not the reality of it. You know, there's so much that goes into what we do. You know, and you know I, yeah, I shoot hoyt doesn't make me a better hunter than you know. I, yeah, I shoot Hoyt. Does it make me a better hunter than you know? That's just what I. I just like to do.

Speaker 2: 44:25

It's part of the piece in my hands. That's just what I'm comfortable with. You know, I'll wear sick. I can wear, damn, I could wear, like you said, blue jeans and yeah, it's, it's happened, it's our granddaddy's back in the day. That's, that's what in. You know what next year I can just dress like that the whole entire year and, if everything goes correct, I can kill deer like that, right?

Speaker 2: 44:46

But it's just another piece of the puzzle and the backdrop is very important. Just breaking up, you know your silhouette is just. It means a lot, you know. So I with deer they can't see in cars, but that's how they. You know, listen, just, you're trying to blend in as best as you can. You know, and I think you'll. If you're someone who does get picked out a lot, I think this, this product would would definitely help With that. But yet again, you still doesn't mean you could be moving and doing all these unnecessary Things just because you got something. You know that you're, you're blended in. You still can't, you know, do anything stupid. Like you said. You can't be smelling like a hound. You know you can't be twiddling your thumb and and moving all around your head like you. You still have to watch your movement. At the end of the day, you can still blow the hunt, it doesn't matter.

Speaker 3: 45:37

Yeah, right and, and you know, just because deer can't see in color doesn't mean that there's something else in the woods that can, that can see in color, that will blow your spot or maybe alert the deer that you're there. So that that's also what I, you know, have to explain to people is you know that the one thing you're hunting but you have to take enough you know in an account that everything else that's surrounding people walking by, you know somebody goes hey, is somebody in the tree, or you know whatever, hikers or whatever it is a bird, a bird seeing a squirrel I mean everything else that's in the woods you have to, you know, factor in those things too.

Speaker 3: 46:13

Are they going to see me, are they going to alert something that I'm there? You know, the squirrels are the biggest annoyance we have up here and they're constantly, you know, yelling and screaming. So, uh, you know, I ask that you're not just hiding and camouflaging from the deer, you're hiding from anything that might give the deer, um, your location.

Speaker 2: 46:34

Uh, so there's also that yeah, no, I, I agree, frank. Any questions from you before we keep on going?

Speaker 1: 46:46

So I guess, before you were saying how you know like the military helped you, especially like shooting when you did make the jump to do archery, did you ever experience like any target panic or anything? Because I know like over the years, years, like I still suffer from that so I I don't really get that, unfortunately.

Speaker 3: 47:09

I mean because I I would kind of want it because it's kind of uh you know, you see the you said target panic, correct. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean I kind of I kind of want that, I don't know that next level of like adrenaline and like am I gonna?

Speaker 3: 47:22

make this shot, but it's. I've been able to to kind of uh, it's a gift and a curse because it does, I feel, for me, maybe take some of the meaning out of the harvest, where you know where I. I know that I can focus in and hone in. Not to say I'm a hundred percent shot, you know, on my shots, but I'm definitely probably more. I don't even know how to explain it really but I'm able to kind of shut the emotions down for that time being when I do see it. That's not to say I don't feel adrenaline, but I'm able to kind of I don't get like the crazy shakes or anything like that. Okay, so there's there's not a lot of target panic, it's more of like it's more of like it's kind of just like the breakdown of the fundamentals. Okay, you know this is what you need to do. You know you're going to get a little bit shaky, so you need to really time it. Okay, breath, focus on your breath. Okay, you're pulled back, targets moving, line up, shoot. It's kind of like just a series of just somebody either screaming in my head what to do, you know from boot camp, or something like that. But no, I think it's an interesting question.

Speaker 3: 48:30

I don't necessarily feel like I get the target panic Knock on wood.

Speaker 3: 48:35

I haven't made a shot on a deer that has gotten away and I couldn't imagine what that would feel like and you know, I know that would be be, you know, very upsetting and it happens all the time and it's it's not something you can always control. You know, I've just been very blessed that the deer hasn't ducked or jumped or you know, it's not always the hunter, by by far, it's not always 100. You can make a perfect shot and that deer just you know you creep the stand or a branch or something right before you shoot it and that deer takes off and it's a bad shot. But you know, I've been very blessed to, to to have a success rate now still at this day, and I pray to god I do not jinx myself but uh that I've been able to put them down every time yeah, I know it's something that because, like I said, a big part of my target panic when I do a target panic is I just forget to go through the motions that I've.

Speaker 2: 49:30

I go through every day when you're shooting. It's like all right, you got to do this, you got to do that, you got to do that something where the military's helped you. It's like all right, the pressure's on, but you still know what to expect. All right, the heart rate's up, but you still know what to expect. All right, the heart rate's up, but you still have to perform with with. You know what you still have to do.

Speaker 2: 49:47

I think, for for some of us who who suffer with it, it's just at least I could speak on mine. It is rushing something I shouldn't be rushing. It's like okay. Like instead of putting like all right, just take a deep breath, just relax you. You've done this so many times.

Speaker 2: 50:04

You have shot deer where everything's gone well, just just go through your motions and and and let it go, instead of just like, oh my god, boom, and just not even focusing and then you know a bad shot.

Speaker 2: 50:15

That's what happened to me this year, like I, watching the video back, I knew exactly what went wrong. Just by, okay, because normally I'll draw back and a lot of my videos I'll have it drawn back and I'll perfectly put it down and like, okay, relax, and then just squeeze through. This time I I drew back, put it right on and I just let and I'm like, come on, like, and I knew that my adrenaline got, that like I could feel myself shaking. That was the first deer I saw all year, you know, in the beginning of the year, and it's like, okay, I haven't been in this situation since since last season, so like, but once you get into it and get used to it, that it's, it's too tough, it is tough, but it is a good thing you know not to have, but I understand what you're also trying to say. It's like it makes it what it is as well.

Speaker 3: 51:06

And it kind of goes back to what we were talking about the mistakes. I mean, you learn the best from any mistake you make, right there. And um, it's not to say that I don't make mistakes. I've, I've absolutely made mistakes. Um, it's just, I've had a different level of training where I can almost I could pick the bow up once a year and just be, you know, be able to shoot in the center, and it's just something.

Speaker 3: 51:32

Again, it's just, it's repetition through the military and then different circumstances too. It's, you know, when you're in the woods and it's calm and it's quiet, the only thing you're with is your thoughts. So it's like, am I going to mix this? So it's like you know, you're pulling this thing. We have a saying called, you know, go slow is smooth and smooth is fast. So that's kind of the thing.

Speaker 3: 51:51

So I go through like my head. It's all these things that I had to learn how to do, while somebody's screaming in your face and there's other shots going around and stuff. When you develop that mental state, it's almost like a level of meditation you have to go to to be able to think of these things. So I'm able to kind of almost meditate when I start, you know, cause I still get the adrenaline when I see the buck. So if I see a buck or a spike dough, whatever it is, I still get that level of like, and then it's just like meditation. It's like, okay, you know, I kind of go back to somebody screaming in my face and hearing the things that I have to do Okay, grab the bow, don't move too fast, you know.

Speaker 3: 52:28

Hook it up, draw it back. Okay, if the shot's not there, let it go. If you get the shot, great. If you don't get the shot, something else will come by. And so it's very like, slow talking in my head, very calm, um, that I kind of put myself in. But I I do wish a little bit that I, that that whole thing, kind of stayed there, because it's like I, I don't know, it's just something, it's something special about it. It really is something special that I've seen in, like the videos. I mean just the shakes, it just it's, it does something to you. I feel like it's. You know, it is an amazing thing.

Speaker 2: 53:01

but yeah, no, I listen, I, I, I fully, I fully understand that. Um, you know some of the, the two packages that that you offer, right, yeah, I think you, you offer two bundles, correct, three, now three, okay three. So go through those three bundles and what comes in them, and you know some of those options yeah, absolutely so.

Speaker 3: 53:24

The the first bundle, which is our basic package, um, that comes with, uh, your choice of whatever. We'll start the outside and work our way in. So whatever style, branch or color you know, the best kind of suits your environment, or you know where you're going to be hunting, or your camo whatever it is, or lack of camo. Um, it comes with eight of these uh, aluminum based limbs. So we've made some upgrades. These were previously pvc, they're now aluminum, so they're lighter, they're more durable and they do have like a plastic coating to kind of mimic the the tree bark on it. It's got our twist lock connectors on the bottom. And then it comes with this pvc based this is the gilly puck right here, so it's comprised of the bottom portion that you know can strap or be screwed to the tree, and then this center plug system, so the puck plug adapter kind of goes in there. And then it comes with the thumb screw to be able to screw it into the back, or you can screw it onto your you know your ball head clamps or you know anything with a core. Any camera mount accessories then could screw on to. Um, okay, so so back to that kind of deviated a little bit. Uh, your choice of 12 branches. So so, 12 branches, eight limbs. It's going to come with this PVC puck right here. Okay, what am I missing? An eight foot camo strap to be able to strap to your stand or the tree or whatever you're hunting on. And that's our basic package.

Speaker 3: 54:57

Our elite package comes with. This is our aluminum based puck. So this is a little bit heavier way, more durable. We, uh, we tried the, the test on them. We tried to break these things before, uh, before send them out, which was pretty fun. It was unsuccessful. But, um, so it's the aluminum puck right here. It's a little bit darker of a color. Uh, does. It has the same functionality. These have, like a life. These have a lifetime warranty on the puck. Anything goes wrong with it, you know, let me know and I'll absolutely get a new, brand new one out to you.

Speaker 3: 55:30

So this is our elite package comes with the exact same thing the aluminum puck, and then our. Then it comes with the, the ball head right here. So it comes with one of these ball heads. The tier one package comes with everything that the aluminum package comes with or, excuse me, everything that the elite package comes with, but it also comes with the ball head clamp and then the tripod, which is our new ghillie pod, which, again it goes from a tripod right to a monopod, so if you are hunting in a field or wherever, you don't have to take a whole tripod with you.

Speaker 3: 56:08

We have a three inch spike on the bottom of it, so you just simply slam it into the ground, screw your puck onto it. You can take it move. It's incredibly, incredibly simple, light. I think the centerpiece weighs, I think it was like eight ounces or nine ounces. So, and then this is. This is more so, not meant to be used as a tripod, but more of a stabilizer for the monopod is the way I explain it. It doesn't. It doesn't have the wide base that's going to stop it from, you know, being pushed over easily, but it's just more. I wanted these to have like a leveling system on the bottom to kind of get it. But that's and that's why I have the monopod with the spike goes right in. You can just slam it right into the ground and just to help stabilize it.

Speaker 2: 56:56

I like it. I like that a lot. That is pretty cool.

Speaker 1: 56:59

That is awesome.

Speaker 2: 57:05

And I like the clip.

Speaker 2: 57:05

I'm a huge clip, like I do like Strats, but I like the clips as well, just because I use clips for the GoPro and stuff like that and certain stuff for filming and everything like that.

Speaker 2: 57:12

But that right there, like just throwing, like I know this is the example but just throwing for the GoPro and you just clip it, boom and you're done. You know, especially if you're getting into when you need to be quick, you're in a know, especially if you're you're getting into where you need to be quick, you're in a bedding area, something like that, like I just, you know, I I feel more comfortable and confident. Plus, if I or if you're on the ground and you need to make a quick adjustment instead of undoing, you know a, a rope or or you know whatever, you just clip it, boom, you can put it right to the backpack and you can actually just just walk on your way and and keep going. So, um, yeah, that's, that's really unique. I'm gonna. I think that's probably the package I'm gonna go with I might as well just buy everything so that that, that's.

Speaker 2: 57:58

That's. That's pretty cool, pretty unique. What, what else are? Are you? Are you, I know, without giving too much, you know what what else are? Are you? Are you, I know, without giving too much, you know, detail out what, which? What are, what are some of the things also, besides the deer and the waterfowl, are you trying trying to get into with this?

Speaker 3: 58:15

Um, I, I mean, if I can find, um, something to help every hunter, I would so and that's kind of my goal. I mean any hunt, I don't care if you're hunting squirrels, rabbits, you know, whatever you, whatever you're hunting, I really want to help just everybody. I want to create something that can help everybody. You know, I keep going back to the story of, like, the nervousness I had and then nobody to really kind of show me the way, and I was like man, if I, it kind of is like a little bit of like a, like a confidence booster, you know, for, for, for, for me, and like, uh, you know, even tenured hunters can really benefit from it but something that can give somebody that like that little bit of an edge.

Speaker 3: 59:01

Like I said, I keep going back to back to the uh being able to get home like a little bit sooner because you got your harvest, you didn't scare that deer away. So you're not going out tomorrow and the next day and the next day. You know you got that, you got that buck early on in the season, you didn't spook it. Now you're spending the rest of the time with your family or, and it's not to say, you know, you don't want to be out in the woods, because I love to be out in the woods but I'd almost want it. The pressure of having to be out in the woods is what you know kind of my wife hates. So if I don't get something early on, I'm just sitting there.

Speaker 2: 59:44

And now we're into December and I'm still just watching every deer hunting video and you know all the cell cameras and studying and the maps and all that stuff. Scouting takes time away from family time, like I yeah, that's it, it's, um, I agree. Last lat, what, two years ago, when I killed him, I had the most successful start of the season 30 minutes and dropped a doe. Nine days later dropped, dropped that buck, um, and I was able to coast, like for her birthday, like I always take off for her birthday, I never hunt, unless it's she allows me to morning hunt because she'll she'll like to sleep in and everything like that. But like I don't have to, I didn't have to worry to like I was like all right, like, yeah, we could go do stuff, and like for halloween, we went and did stuff and like during that time. Well, this year was the complete opposite, like I struggled, you know. So I was on full drive of just like, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, like I need to be out in the woods, I need to do this, I need to do that like step, which, yes, we all love.

Speaker 2: 1:00:31

But when you have, you know, a fiance or a wife or a husband or kids and and stuff like that, then it starts to like is it? Yes, they do understand. But also we can't just drop every single thing. And you know we have to go to work, we have to take care of the house or whatever. You know there's things that we have to do. So anything that's going to help. If our spouses and family are happy, then they're going to be. So OK with us going hunting and stuff like that. So okay with us going hunting and stuff like that. So in the long run it works out so much better and having a simple system like that just makes, makes life just easier.

Speaker 3: 1:01:13

I absolutely agree and I think too. I mean, you're talking, maybe you have two weeks of uh, you know, I think what most jobs I'd say probably two weeks vacation or something like that. After a while, maybe a week vacation. Maybe you don't have any vacation that year. So your time is valuable and all of our time is valuable and it's like if I have two weeks, you know, to allocate towards vacation, again, you got to really consider family and trips around it and you know, if the if there's the weekends are 75 and sunny and you get a cold front on a Wednesday through, you know it's like I got to take a couple of those days off to do that. So if this can, if this can take that, you know, give you a day back of vacation, if this can give you a week back of vacation because you get it the very first day out there, and now you can take that week and take your wife and kids on a, you know, on a vacation, maybe go to the, maybe go to the garden state, who knows wherever.

Speaker 2: 1:02:09

Yep Exactly.

Speaker 1: 1:02:13

I'm going to use that for everything. Try to get my wife to let me have one. We're going to.

Speaker 2: 1:02:19

we're going to clip that exact part and just we're going to that that's going to be the thing for it. We're going to put that on our. That's going to be the thing.

Speaker 1: 1:02:25

We're going to put that on all our things.

Speaker 2: 1:02:28

Hey, you're looking for a birthday present for your husband here. This is going to get you more time with him if he can, but I absolutely do love it. Frank, got any more questions before we move on to the last segment? No, I don't even know where my I literally having redoing everything. I just up there, it is jesus, I had my notebook, um. So we always like to you know, for for people that come in on the first time, we always got you know questions that we always go over with. You know quick, quick questions. Nothing, anything crazy, but everyone knows what we're about to ask. It's our, probably our most popular question on this, on this show is if you could your dream hunt, what would your dream hunt be? Two weeks, money is not an opt. It doesn't matter the place, an animal, what would it be?

Speaker 3: 1:03:26

oh man I'd have to say elkhart. It's always been. Uh, I've always wanted to go on an elkhart. Um yeah, elk hunt, I don't know. Do you know where? That doesn't matter it really doesn't matter um, first for the elk this year.

Speaker 2: 1:03:48

This is for 2024. This is the first elk when I think we're on four or five that we've done so far. First elk and usually that's the front runner yeah, I don't know it would.

Speaker 3: 1:04:01

It really doesn't matter at all. Um, wherever I'd be blessed enough to be able to, to have the chance to harvest an elk would be would be amazing. Um, that would be, that would be my big. Yeah, that's, that's what I'd love to do, absolutely what is your favorite hunting snack in the woods? That's a good question. Oh man, I'm trying to think back. It's tough, there's one.

Speaker 2: 1:04:29

There's a lot of. There's so many things that you can have I really do a lot of fasting.

Speaker 3: 1:04:35

I do a lot of fasting, so I really don't eat that much. I'd probably cough drops more than anything, just because, because it's usually right around cold season.

Speaker 2: 1:04:44

So listen, I do love me some cough drops. I do love me some cough drops.

Speaker 2: 1:04:48

I'm not gonna lie during that time of the year. I I will agree like I'm a huge snacker and everything like that, like when I'm in the woods, but I have my whole system so I try not to be sick. You know, from you know the vitamin c packet that I'll throw in the orange for my drink with orange juice and like all these things. I think I'm going to have to add cough drops. So, thing like I'll, I'll have cough drops at night or like throughout the day, but when I'm actually hunting I don't take any with me. And I need to start doing that because, yeah, you don't want to cough and sometimes, especially when that cold weather, it gets that tingle and if you already got like a sore throat or whatever you just want to like, that could just blow your heart just just quickly.

Speaker 2: 1:05:28

So, listen, the cough drops a good one, that is, I love me some like, if I get a cough drop and I'm like not feeling the best, I'll devour a whole bag of cough drops and like in like a day, oh man me too, some, some recolas man. Uh, you know those honey drops what's your favorite flavor, then let's do the favorite flavor of that like if you could have the one flavor for for a hunting one. That that's a good, there's a good, there's a bunch of good ones, yeah I really do, like the.

Speaker 3: 1:05:57

I'm probably saying it like an idiot too. Recola, is it recola?

Speaker 2: 1:06:00

yeah, yeah, it's a commercial recall.

Speaker 3: 1:06:02

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I think that's how you say I don't know how to say it short I don't know if it's recola or whatever so anyway, those I. I like the original, I'm an original guy. I like the. Yeah, I really do. Can I go with the originals for those? Um, yeah, I feel like that was my, that's a great commercial that now.

Speaker 2: 1:06:22

It's going to be stuck in my head. I'm going to be saying it all day.

Speaker 3: 1:06:25

It's going to drive me nuts how to actually pronounce it now, because the only thing that's coming to mind is the commercial.

Speaker 2: 1:06:33

We got a bunch of people listen to this and they go up to the store and like, yeah, can we have some Ricola? And they're like what Get out?

Speaker 3: 1:06:53

It's good, typical or non-typical. White tail. You know, I've never seen a non-typical, so I'm gonna have to go non-typical. I think that would be my ideal. That would be pretty, that would be.

Speaker 2: 1:06:59

I'd be ecstatic if I saw a non-separate yeah, yeah, yeah, if, if you can hunt in one state, if you could get a property in one state, what state would it be?

Speaker 3: 1:07:12

that's so tough, probably kentucky maybe to go wrong with one of those states?

Speaker 2: 1:07:19

nope.

Speaker 2: 1:07:20

I have like 50 in my head right now that I you know that's like I wish I had just had endless amount of money because I would probably have a hunting in every state. You can hunt deer or like whatever. I'd probably have my. If I can ever get it to the chance, I would like to harvest a deer in every state in the United States that you can, and I think what we have whitetails in 49. I don't think it's all 50, I think I think it's 49 if I'm if I'm not mistaken. I'll have to look that up later yeah, that's, uh, that's.

Speaker 2: 1:07:51

It's a good point, but yeah, I'd love to hunt in every state, but it might my ideal state, probably somewhere kentucky range, yeah well, yeah, which you can't go wrong, like you, if you're picking anywhere in those areas, it's like all right, we get a property here or you know it's, we're gonna have some fun and we're gonna shoot some big deer yeah, because I wouldn't want something that's too flat, like out midwest, that's like very flat.

Speaker 2: 1:08:17

I don't like. I don't like the flat, like I've never hunted in terrain that's flat, like I'm very. I know we're going to be going down to South Jersey this year and it's it's flat compared to I'd like. There are some, but like South Jersey is very different from where we are, like we're hunting on mountain ridges and stuff like that, swamps and and there it's just a little. I think someone said on one of our shows like 25 feet is like a you you need to hunt that elevation you need to hunt that, like that's a, and I'm like what the hell?

Speaker 2: 1:08:49

that's a little bump in the road like that.

Speaker 2: 1:08:51

That's so crazy and uh peyton just came back from iowa and I told this on the, the podcast, the other day. Um, he was 15 minutes from the building that he was working on and he could see. He drove 15 minutes away and he could still see the building that he was working at. And it's like you can't do that Anywhere around us. There's just too many mountains, too many ridges Going up and down. The only way you can do it is if you're on a mountaintop. That's it around here.

Speaker 3: 1:09:23

That's um yeah, yeah, there's a. There's a lot of uh. I mean, there was a few videos I was watching about some of those, like you know, some of the guys out in the midwest and stuff. I'm like man, how do they just get on these giants all the time? And then I flew to a wedding out, uh, in the midwest and I remember flying over and looking down and it's just square, cut fields with a small patch of woods on the corner of it, so you know where the neighbors got the same yeah so it's like okay, so they're either in this neighbor's uh you know patch or that neighbor's patch, yeah.

Speaker 3: 1:09:53

And so I was like, okay, that's the videos are making a little bit more not to take credit away from them.

Speaker 2: 1:09:58

I mean, you still have to go out there and find it, yeah I think it's just open up the blinds in your window to look at them but yeah, it's, it's different because I I think the difference you said earlier is the wind, their, their wind is a lot stronger, so their scent control is also a lot more important, you know, for them over there, um, but also from what I heard is when they hunt they have so many deer in front of them that drawing back is not the easiest thing in the world.

Speaker 2: 1:10:24

So you know they don't have the cover and everything like that. And they have, you know, 30 sets of different eyes on them at at one time. It's like, yeah, they, they know. Like you know, when we're hunting in the areas that we hunt, you know, you got that, you know a lot of thick. You got that like hunt, you know you, you got that, you know a lot of thick, you got that. Like, all right, you have your little window right and boom, like you don't, you don't, you don't have to really worry about that, you know. Out there it's just like, yeah, there ain't nothing here, like there's, there's nothing, and I imagine, walking in you like man, a small little piece, you, you're gonna blow some deer out if you don't walk in correctly too as well yeah, yeah, and then saying that the square cut miles and stuff.

Speaker 3: 1:11:06

Now you got to go two miles around just to get downwind of this. Yeah, that's not to take credit away from the spot stalkers out there like that's, that's some uh, patience. I mean, like you said, all the eyes, the wind and stuff that changes. You just walked two miles for nothing and yeah, it's it's every.

Speaker 2: 1:11:23

Every area has a really unique style of hunting. You know you go to, I heard you know, I've talked to the guys from west virginia and, like gosh, they're hiking six to seven miles in and I'm just like in the mountains and I'm like, I'm like what that is, that that's some serious to get a deer Like would it be cool to do once.

Speaker 1: 1:11:43

You know for a weekend, maybe a week, yeah, hell yeah, but do that.

Speaker 2: 1:11:47

That's your home state that you're hunting in Like, oh my God, that's got to be tough.

Speaker 3: 1:11:52

I'd be hunting once a year.

Speaker 2: 1:11:54

Yeah Right, I better kill something when I go out, because if I don't, I'm not going back out. Better bring the ghillie puck, because if I don't, I'm not going back out.

Speaker 3: 1:12:02

Yeah, better bring the Gilly puck.

Speaker 2: 1:12:06

If you could get sponsored by one company and the company does not matter what would it be?

Speaker 3: 1:12:16

Oh man, this is another one that people usually are like oh man, like what are we picking? This is tough. I'd say probably white, just because I uh shoot my hoyt out of the, you know, in my video.

Speaker 2: 1:12:29

So I'm not really doing anything, I'm kind of already, you know, advertising as yeah hey that that's a great and I said I think mine was a, was a hoyt either or like sicker or something like that. But like with the bow man, now you can get a bow or two a year. You can have a fully customizable where it's like all right, it's, you get to shoot the. You get the newest bow every year, Like you. You don't really have to worry.

Speaker 3: 1:12:54

I don't have to pay the guy extra to give me a receipt for a lower amount to show my wife so it's perfect, exactly.

Speaker 2: 1:13:08

Um, if you could hunt with with one person and this can be, it doesn't matter. It could be dead or alive, it could be a family, it could be someone who's super famous, who likes to hunt like it does not matter, who would it be?

Speaker 3: 1:13:21

that is.

Speaker 2: 1:13:23

I've heard some good ones. I've heard I think I think I said mine last year was Teddy Roosevelt. We've gotten Fred Bear. We've got obviously like Ted Nugent, like one of the one of those guys like we we've got some interesting one and of course people go their family and stuff like that and you know. But there are a lot of hunters out there like and more professional, like athletes that are starting to pop up, that are, that are hunters and everything like that. Who's that guy from the Eagles? Cox, I think it is. What's his first name? I can't remember, but he's a huge. He's a huge hunter, like a really big, like a lot of NFL guys are getting, are getting into hunting. That I've been noticing.

Speaker 3: 1:14:07

I was going to say probably Derek Wolf. Him and I have chatted a few times and you know he wanted to. He wanted to get involved early on, so actually my very first video ever released. He messaged me and we kind of uh talked back and forth a little bit since then but he's gotten huge into hunting and you know he's hanging out with all those big hunters.

Speaker 3: 1:14:27

Now he was on the joe rogan and stuff, yeah, yeah. But I'd say probably either derrick will be cool to go hunting with. I feel like him and I have uh, you know, we'd have some good conversations. Another one too is probably steve brunel. I feel like that guy just even about hunting I can learn from him. I mean, I know he's not, you know, I know he does some bow hunting but he's not as he just hunts everything. So but I mean big, I'm a big, I only hunt bow. So probably somebody only hunts bow but I'd love the conversation with, like Steve Brunel. It's just his knowledge on history.

Speaker 1: 1:15:06

And it's crazy, it is such a calming voice, you know that's my, that's my, that's my.

Speaker 2: 1:15:10

That's gonna be my meditation from now on. Just throw him on and just like there you go he's.

Speaker 3: 1:15:14

He's gonna calm me down because, it's right, his voice was made for podcasting, absolutely I really I've done that at nighttime before, when I'm just like you know, during the season, when I can't sleep, I'm like listening to him, I like me, whatever it is be neat or whatever, and I'll just dose off to it and yeah, I'd love to just just hear that guy just pick his brain and just again, the guy's just got so much knowledge and cooking recipes. I love cooking, yeah, yeah, yeah I'd say, uh, derrick Derek Wolf or Steve Steve, or now, yeah, he's a lead.

Speaker 2: 1:15:43

They're both like. I mean, derek was a freak of nature. He's huge.

Speaker 3: 1:15:48

Holy hell, I'm probably half his size like height, so it'd just be. It'll look like he's got a mini me walking through the woods.

Speaker 2: 1:15:56

He is a giant there giant. There's also another guy that I would love, um Brett Burns. He plays for uh, he plays for a Carolina. I'm a huge hockey guy, so he plays for the uh Carolina hurricanes and he looks like he's. He's missing all his front teeth and he's got a long beard and he's and literally this is what he does, is he travels.

Speaker 2: 1:16:14

He like I think they live, they rent an RV or they have an RV here and makes you know he doesn't rent, he's a millionaire, he. He makes you know he doesn't rent. He's a millionaire, he rents an rv and he like drives around and like their home in, like texas or whatever, has like farm animals and stuff and he he hunts and fishes, like he goes to the games and he has a kuyu backpack on and all that type of stuff, like he's another one, like I would love to, and like he's such a hockey guy, like the fact like that's why I'm missing part of my teeth, like and that's why he's missing all his. You know, I was close to looking like that. It would have been perfect for for me If I would. Someone about a chip. I have like a small chip there, if I got the whole thing knocked out and just had the beard, I'd be such a hunter, like I would just.

Speaker 2: 1:16:54

I would just wear the black and red flannel all the time. Like I would just you know I'd get like a nice raccoon hat or something like that. Like, and I would just you know I'd get like a nice raccoon hat or something like that. Like that would be my, that'd be my style, like I'd be rocking it for sure. That's it, man.

Speaker 3: 1:17:07

No absolutely.

Speaker 2: 1:17:09

But yeah, no, listen, we want to thank you so much for coming on Like we. We really appreciate that was that we had a lot of fun on this one. It was super great product that you got there and we're very excited to see what you're going to be coming out with next and everything like that. We're really excited to try out the product and giving it a shot this year. Anything that you need from us, any help, anything like that listen, feel free, reach out to us. I imagine we'll be talking back and forth and everything like that.

Speaker 2: 1:17:40

But, yeah, anything you can do, anything that we can do to help grow the community to do as well. And I, I love how you, you know your statement is to to make it better for everyone and listen and help everyone out as we can, because you know what our sport unfortunately is is dying off and the only way we're going to turn things around is if you know we we help everyone. We we make it easier for everyone People who don't know how to do stuff. Listen, if you got any questions, any anything you want help, feel free. Like I'm literally meeting up with with someone in a couple of weeks to go help them scouting and stuff like that. Like you know, we we love to do stuff like that and we want to get as many people into the outdoors. Whether you come from the background or not, doesn't matter, what color you are, doesn't matter, you know what gender you are. We just got to get as many people into the outdoors and grow, grow our love for the outdoors yeah, amen man um so you know.

Speaker 2: 1:18:37

Yet again, thank you so much, everyone. All of this is make sure you go check them out. The link is going to be in the description below. If you got any questions, don't feel free. I mean don't hesitate. Jesus Christ, you know, reach out to Rob, reach out to us any type of questions you've got. Um and we'll. We'll definitely be getting Rob back on, you know, in the future and everything like that. Um, it was a great episode. I hope you guys enjoyed it and