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The Hunting Stories Podcast
The Hunting Stories Podcast
Ep 116 The Hunting Stories Podcast: Collin C. Cottrell
Have you ever wondered how a transformative fitness journey can intersect with a passion for hunting? Join us on the Hunting Stories Podcast as we welcome Collin Cottrell, a dynamic entrepreneur and dedicated hunter.
This episode is packed with inspiring stories and valuable insights from Collin Cottrell, capturing the essence of our shared experiences and the evolution of the hunting industry. Don't miss this engaging conversation that celebrates resilience, passion, and personal transformation.
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Howdy folks and welcome to the hunting stories podcast. I'm your host, michael, and we got a good one for you today. Today we're actually connecting with a friend of mine, colin Cattrall. Colin and I met, I want to say, a year or so ago in central Texas on a hog hunt one of his actually high caliber hunts, which he'll talk about a little bit on the podcast. But we've been buddies ever since and he actually hit me up after I did my kind of remembrance episode 100 for my father-in-law and he had just lost a very important person to him and he wanted to tell some stories about his good buddy. So, colin, thank you for sharing those stories. I know they mean a lot to you, I know you had a good time telling them and obviously it was great to hear them. So thank you very much To listeners.
Speaker 1:Thank you guys for tuning in. Check out the show notes. Colin's doing a lot of cool stuff. We'll talk about it a little bit more at the end. But also just make sure you guys get out and vote. November's coming up quick. Make sure you take one hunter with you Now let's let Colin tell you some of his stories. Thank you, all right, colin. Welcome to the Hunting Stories Podcast. Brother, how are you?
Speaker 2:Doing good, man. This has been a long time coming, michael. Yeah, right, I think we've been talking about doing this what?
Speaker 1:for over a year now, I think, at least, yeah you know I don't remember exactly what date it was that I went on your little hunting camp, the high caliber hunts thing, but we've been talking about it since then, man, so, but you're a busy guy, it turns out, if you're, you know, if you're not with the family or running over mountains. So hard hard, hard to catch up with, especially for a big fat guy like me.
Speaker 2:So yeah, man, those, those, those training blocks take a lot out of you, honestly, Like you're when you're running, for you know, when you're training for a hundred mile races, man, it's, it's, you know you're running two to three hours a day, every day for a six month period of time. So it does take a lot of time. And then on top of that, obviously, the entrepreneurial work you know doing, running my businesses, those kinds of things, um, families, number one, um, and just life, man, it's, it's crazy, it's. It just gets busier and busier every year as the kids get older and older too. So that's crazy. But, man, stoked to be here, stoked to be and I'll be honest, I haven't done a podcast with somebody for a while. I took a little bit of a break for a while too. So I get asked to be on these a lot, but I wanted to take a little bit of time off from doing these.
Speaker 2:So you're like my first official podcast back in what I would call a new chapter, a new season, so lucky you.
Speaker 1:We'll also say that this is not the normal podcast, where you're going to not talk about the things you normally talk about. Today, you're going to tell us your favorite hunting stories. But let's take one step back. Why don't you, colin, introduce yourself so the folks know who they're going to be hearing some stories from today.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I'm a father of three. I'm a lifelong entrepreneur. I've built a few different businesses over the years and that's kind of been a big passion and pursuit of mine is building businesses. Specifically, I've done a lot of work in the hunting outdoor space for many years, for about 18 years now. It started out with I had my own. I was a consultant in the excuse me in the industry doing a lot of marketing type stuff. Uh, I kind of came up when social media was really just getting started. So, um, back in 2006, ish started going to the trade show, started connecting with people, started meeting people, got to know some really really cool people uh, through that and those ended up becoming my clients. Some of those people are Ted Nugent, Cameron Haynes just a lot of great high caliber guys in our industry now who've really made a name for themselves. So that's kind of my background.
Speaker 2:More recently, I went on a self-growth journey and that's kind of how you and I connected. I started a new business about four years ago called High Caliber Hunts and basically it was focused around a hunting camp atmosphere for men where we could kind of get a little bit deeper with each other and have a little bit deeper conversation and start to talk about some of the struggles in our lives, some of the things that are going good, some of the things that we need to work on in like a hunting camp atmosphere. And really it's about that connection, that camaraderie, that self-growth, self-development that's really become a passion of mine through my own transformation, which you know we kind of alluded to. You know, I do some 100-mile races, I do some, you know, running training, trail running. I'm big into lifting weights. I do some running training, trail running. I'm big into lifting weights. I was a former college football athlete. I have a lot of cool background as an athlete and those things. But as life happens, we get complacent and we put on some extra pounds.
Speaker 2:We lose ourselves in different moments and through that journey of coming back from that after after 2020, uh, I made a pretty cool transformation in my life, ended up losing a hundred pounds, and then I ran my first hundred mile race after that and that was, that was pretty cool, um, but now my passion is just really connecting with other men, using the tools and some of the things I learned on my journey to help them make transformations in their life, and a lot of that is, you know, it's it's kind of what I call the four F's. It's it's fitness, a foundation and faith and self-development. Uh, you know, fellowship. Obviously that's where the hunting camps come into play and kind of I'll talk more about my, my, my coaching community and you know, at the end of this, but uh, um, and then your financial side. You know finances, you know. So I've kind of really built my life around that framework of balancing those areas and it's really served me well, and now I'm trying to help other other guys do the same and it's been a lot of fun, man, but hunting is a big passion of mine, specifically bow hunting.
Speaker 2:I've been a bow hunter for over 20 years now. I started, you know, when I was in my midens. Fortunately, my dad got me into bow hunting as he started to pick it back up and I pretty much I didn't really learn a lot about how to do it from him. I kind of was more self-taught. But he put a bow in my hands and that was really freaking cool to do that and I really I got the bug right away because where I grew up in Minnesota we have what's called the Orange Army. It comes out every year. The first two weeks in November is for the Orange Army. Basically it's rifle hunting season, deer hunting season, and it's a really cool thing. And that's where my background in the hunting camps actually came from. Is my family growing up we did these hunting camps for the weekends during that first two weeks of November. It was really fricking cool, man. Like it was just a way to connect and camaraderie, tell hunting stories, um, eat good food together and just have a good time, um, you know, with friends and family. And and then from there I was like, man, that's fun, I love that and I love rifle hunting.
Speaker 2:But I picked up a bow and it just that zen man, just something about pulling that bow back and just the way it cleared my mind and then my dad's like, yeah, you can actually hunt from mid-September all the way to the end of the year as well. I'm like what? Like nobody ever told me this, so now you could hunt all year. And obviously when you're in high school, like I played, I played multiple sports, so that always got in the way of my hunting. This allowed me to be able to hunt more during that fall season, outside of football season.
Speaker 2:Where I could, I could actually do some hunting and and, uh, from there, man, that passion grew and again, like I kind of mentioned, I I was fortunate enough to kind of start to work in the hunting space, so I got really well. I always had a lot of really cool opportunity to hunt with some different people over the years. You know, go on some private hunts, go on some, you know, guided hunts, different things like that. You know just just really awesome opportunities through networking and through, you know, just really good friendships and relationships over the years.
Speaker 1:That's awesome, man. Yeah, and I, I obviously at some point I don't even remember how we discovered your high caliber hunts and I want to talk more about that at the end, but I was like, yeah, a bunch of guys going hunting, sitting around camp, like talking like that's, that's right up my alley. So you're what you're doing. Colin is great man and I do appreciate it because I've met a bunch of great guys through your camp. Um, guys that I talked I wouldn't say daily, but, you know, once a month I'm reaching out to several of those folks and we're just, you know, shooting the shit.
Speaker 1:So, um, what you're doing is cool, uh, but let's get into the meat and potatoes of this thing, man let's, let's uh, let's, let's have you tell some hunting stories, so why don't you set the stage for, you know, whatever you got on the docket for us?
Speaker 2:yeah, man, I, I honestly I'll be, I'll be straight up, I didn't, I didn't think too deep into this, just because I like to be authentic about where I come from in this and so I know we had kind of talked about before maybe telling a few stories about my buddy Robert.
Speaker 2:I want to give a little background on that as well. He was probably my best friend. Honestly, and just to kind of give a little more context to this my work in the hunting space and my marketing side. It's given me a lot of opportunity to meet some really cool people and Robert was one of those people I met early on back in 2008, 2009.
Speaker 2:We were actually in a hunting camp. We were in what's called a writer's camp, so all these writers in the hunting industry would come together for a week and they would use different hunting products and they would. They would basically use that hunt as a for content. You know they they would talk about that hunt, talk about those products in their, in their magazine articles, if you can remember those days. No, it's kind of funny to think where we've come from then, but Robert was in hunting camp. This was in eastern Montana and we were in an antelope hunting camp out in eastern Montana. I had just I just got out of college and moved to Montana that spring and it was really cool. I was. I was working with one of my marketing clients who was a rodeo clown, but he also had. He was part of one of the first online hunting shows, which was called Outback Outdoors.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 2:Outback Outdoors is still on the Sportsman's Channel. It's one of the longest running hunting shows there is, but it was actually one of the first online hunting shows which I was helping market them and helping get them online. I knew how to do all of that with the technology that we had back in 2008.
Speaker 2:You know, it was there wasn't a lot, but it's kind of crazy to think where we've come from. I was out there filming this hunt with Ryan and Ryan Litwin is his name and I was out there and we were in this hunting camp and and these guys that were all around us were there for for this, this, you know, this writer's camp and and while we were there, you know, ryan and I were hunting, I was filming him. He didn't end up having any success and he had to head off to another performance. He had to head off to another. You know, he was a rodeo entertainer, rodeo clown, so he had to head off to another show. He's like why don't you stay in hunting camp and hang out? Just be helpful, you know you. You know, uh, you know, maybe cook food, maybe help clean up, you know, just just help entertain these guys.
Speaker 2:And that was kind of my first. I was a pretty, you know, I was 22 years old, 23 years old at that point, you know, and this was like my first experience around you know, older men in a hunting camp scenario, where it was like more professional, right, and I was starting to learn like the idea of how you network with people and how you connect with people and this was a really cool opportunity. Some of these guys are very, very well-known writers, very big-time industry companies. I'm still connected with all of them to this day. They're all really great friends in the industry.
Speaker 2:Jay Lichty from Grim Reaper Broadheads was in that camp, which is one of the broadhead companies now in the industry. They were really just getting started at that point. There was just some great people in that camp and that I'm very fortunate that I got to build. I had the opportunity to build relationships with and because I stayed in camp for a couple extra days after Ryan left and kudos to Ryan for giving me that advice to do that Cause I could have easily just left and went home and been on, you know, on my way, but I love hunting and I love being around people in a hunting camp, so I stayed. And anyway, one of the other gentlemen that was in that camp was a man by the name of Robert Hogue and Robert was the founder of a website called bowhuntingnet and bowhuntingnet started in 1994. It was the first bowhunting related website ever.
Speaker 1:He started it on aolcom wow, on those cds that they send out every week. Yeah, you remember, yeah, that's, yeah a lot of younger people won't know what we're talking about, but we had stacks. Those are frisbees.
Speaker 2:Basically, because they got so many of them, you just play with them, so yeah and so what you could do back then is you could start your own like website on there if you knew what you were doing. So he started the bow hunting website. The first bow hunting website there was, uh, there was several other uh you know, anti-hunting, anti-gun type things that were on there and he's like I gotta find a way to uh counteract that. You know, because my passion, his passion at that point, you know, was bow hunting and hunting in general and spreading awareness about hunting. Robert at that point too, to kind of give a little context, was I think he was in his mid 50s or early 50s, so he wasn't a young buck by any means. You know he was technology, if you think about technology in 1994, I remember my first time getting on a website was 1996. I went on nascarcom and like, if you remember the dial up you know it was, it was crazy man. Like this was the early days. So Robert was an early adapter, he was a pioneer and he really, you know he had a passion for hunting and bow hunting specifically and wanted to spread that awareness and fortunately for him it turned into a business and a long career doing that. He had been in the industry before that he actually had created one of the first hunting camos before that.
Speaker 2:You could look them up they're called Camo Clan. They're still. I buy it every once in a while on eBay. I see it on there and I buy it up as quick as I can, just because he was my best friend and I want to have as much of him as I can have. But Robert was in camp and we just hit it off man, he would go out antelope hunting. He'd come back, he. He had this satellite dish he brought into camp um where he was. He was literally live uploading um. You know the results of the hunt.
Speaker 2:He was talking about the other hunters yeah who was getting on antelope, who was shooting antelope some of the products. He was basically live blogging. Um, before live blogging was a thing Like he he was bringing Starlink before Elon man.
Speaker 1:That's cool.
Speaker 2:He was amazing, An amazing man and uh, we hit it off and he just said to me you know, like hey, we got to stay connected. I know you're only 20 something, I'm 50 something and he might've been even 60. So I don't remember. He, he, he wasn't young, he wasn't a young guy.
Speaker 2:He was you know 40, 50 years older than me, but we hit it off and and he he said, give me your phone number. I'm headed to a bear hunt after this. So I'm going to be out of touch for the next few months, like this is going to be a pretty bit. It was this busy time. He was invited on all these hunts. He would go talk about them, he would post his stories, those kinds of things. You know he was a writer and so, anyway, he gave me a call then in what was it? It was probably November, december timeframe, and he's like hey, I bought you a ticket, you're flying out to Texas to hang out with me for a week.
Speaker 2:I was like what he's like? No, seriously, I'm going to buy you a ticket. You got to come out here. We got to hang out. We got to talk business Because I was doing my marketing stuff and he knew he needed to advance his website, he needed to advance, get on social media more, he needed to start doing some things to stay with the times. Because that's what he was. He was a pioneer, and so I was like cool, that sounds awesome, man. So he literally I'm a 23 year old kid. He's like I got you covered, man. You can come stay here for free, I'll feed you, I'll put a roof over your head. We're hanging out for a week and we're talking business. And so I went out there. It might have been January or February that year, which was a perfect time to go because it was wintertime and I was living out in Bozeman, montana, at that time.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I got out to Texas and it was a nice 80 degrees, you know 70 degrees.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a good time to be in.
Speaker 2:Texas. Way better than August. Oh, it's a good time to be in Texas. Way better than August. Oh, it was perfect. Man, and I'm just like man. That was only my second time ever going to Texas, and so I was like man, this is awesome. And so we hung out for a week.
Speaker 2:He brought me out on his hunting lease, which was right next to where he lived. We went out, I brought my bow, I went out, killed my first pig spot and stalk on the ground. That was. That was really cool. Like I just remember, I'd never hunted pigs, I'd never even seen a wild pig before, and so he just was like we're going to go out there and we're going to walk around and we're going to find one and you're going to put a you know a stalk on it. I was like, okay, that sounds cool. And you know, in my head I was thinking, oh, we'll sit on a feeder and wait for corn to come out and we'll shoot it, you know, on a feeder, which you? You can do that too, which is great. But he was like, no, I want you to, I want you to try to, I want you to try to spot and stalk on one and kill one. That would be a lot of fun for you to do that, so kind of that first hunt.
Speaker 2:Our first hunt together was we drove up onto his lease property, we parked and we started. You know, we started walking around on these lease roads, basically these little two tracks, and so we're walking around and this is thick cedar brush, juniper brush, it's really thick and it's hard to see through that. But you can see through these little paths in the trees and stuff like that. And then every once in a while there'd be these little oak breaks where it was really nice, you could see through, really nice.
Speaker 2:But what was really cool about that is just using the train to your advantage. You get the wind in your face, you were able to sneak around really easy and be super quiet and be able to sneak up on things really easy. So it was awesome. I was like man, this is fun, this is really cool. And I ended up, you know, coming around the bend of this little two track road and and Robert was kind of behind me and I turned and I just kind of like this and I said there's a couple of pigs he's like gave me the thumb, the big thumbs.
Speaker 2:I just remember the big thumbs up he had a big smile on his face, you know, and I was like I was gonna go after it, you know. So I come around that corner and I got within like 20 yards. These pigs were rooting around. One of them was laying down, just had his nose in the ground, kind of digging in, and the pigs didn't see me. I had a perfect win. I just remember pulling back, anchoring kind of went through my whole shot process and I just let them have it. That thing, just it smacked him. I'd never heard an arrow hit that hard. Just something about when you hit a pig, it just sounds like you're I don't know you're whopping somebody over the head with a frying pan. It's just, it's a super loud, loud hit.
Speaker 2:I later found that that's because they have a big, you know a big plate in their shoulder. You know a big shoulder plate and it just when an arrow hits it, it just it just crazy. Uh, I smacked that pig, perfect shot. He was kind of quartering away while he was laying down and it dropped right there. He spun around a couple of times and died quick, I mean it was, it was so quick and I was just like, wow, this, this is awesome, I like, I like this kind of hunting.
Speaker 2:So, right away I was, I was addicted to, to, to hog hunting. You know, that was kind of my first encounter, my first experience, and I was just super addicted. But then, as I dove in and started to learn more about it, there was just so many different ways you could hunt pigs and different scenarios, and they're so abundant here in Texas, you know they're, they're everywhere. So it's really you're doing, you're you're just trying to mitigate the damage that they're doing on the fields and the and things like that. So, yeah, it was cool man, it was a really cool experience, but most of all, it was just that bonding time I got to have with Robert and that set the tone for our next 15 years as friends.
Speaker 2:That was that first experience that we got to have together and I remember we went back to the house. He got me some good photos and stuff. He was really good at all that. He wrote a whole story about it. He put it on his website. I was just like wow, and his website. At that point bowhuntingnet was getting, I think, a million people a month to the website.
Speaker 2:It was like when you typed in bowhunting on Google, it was the top search. So this was a big time deal and it opened my eyes to this whole new world of internet writing and internet blogging and what that looked like and how companies wanted to be part of that, and you know. And then obviously I was versed in social media, so I was understanding how we could use this with social media and I created this whole new idea for business for me and you. Just the way that Robert and I hit it off, it's like, man, we got to get to work on this, like we need to continue to build this and grow this. So him and his business partner hired me right there and they were you know, they were my client at that point and paying me, paying me some good money to help them build their business up.
Speaker 2:You know that they were doing really well in and plus, on top of that, the perks of getting invited on cool hunts, getting a bunch of free hunting products from our sponsors and partners yeah, like it just opened my eyes to this whole whole new world, right, and at that point, like we had the outdoor channel and the sportsman's channel and then this whole internet tv thing was starting up. We had bill winky and then Outback Outdoors. Some of these shows were starting to pop up, but it was so cool we could write about our hunts that we were invited on, or on people's properties or even just on our own leases our own properties and people love to read that, they love to hear about those things and not just a magazine format.
Speaker 2:So it was instant, instant feedback, instant. You know, there was just a lot of really cool things about that, that opportunity. But, man, that that turned into a really great relationship for us and before I knew it Robert was, you know, he invited me back to come back out. I think six or eight months later kind of did the same thing. I brought my bow back out out. We, we worked on some projects, we've been working on um, we did some more hunting.
Speaker 2:You know, it was just really cool and I just remember being there that time, in in central texas, and I just was like man, I love this place, this place is awesome. Like maybe I should think about moving out here. You know, um and uh, it's it's a long story. I won't get too deep into all that, but uh, but I ended up meeting a girl too when I was out there that time. So I had a little girlfriend in Texas that I was kind of hanging out with and that kind of that kind of you know it was coaxing me into oh, maybe I want to be closer to her too.
Speaker 2:So I did a year later I ended up moving out to Texas, um, and Robert invited me to be part of his hunting lease.
Speaker 2:We were doing work together. It was really cool and that just started our relationship, uh, you know, in a way where we could spend a lot of time together. You know, he was kind of the old, wise soul and I was the young, the young soul, um, who, who really enjoyed his wisdom and enjoyed learning from him, and he was teaching me a ton about bow hunting and teaching me a ton about, you know, hunting deer and hunting pigs and hunting bears and different things like that. And but then, on the other side, I was teaching him about this internet thing and about social media and how we could, you know, continue to build and grow what he had built. So it was a lot of fun, man. Those were some fun times, but that turned into us going on a lot of hunting trips, and a lot of it was turkey hunting. Turkey hunting was Robert's like ultimate passion. He had been on every hunt there was literally caribou bear.
Speaker 2:You know gator hunting, like a ton of different, a ton of different hunting. You know he's done everything different, a ton of different hunting. You know he's done everything Africa, everything in between, um, but Turkey hunting was his ultimate favorite. Yeah, and he taught me I had been into Turkey hunting. I'd never killed one, but I had been into Turkey hunting as I started, as I started hunting and I from the start I didn't I was like I'm not shooting one of these with a shotgun, like I'm going to, I'm going to kill one with a bow, like that's what I'm going to do. So my first, like four years of turkey hunting, three or four years of turkey hunting, me and my dad in Minnesota hunting Easterns at that time, which are tough birds to put down. They're very smart. They're probably the smartest bird of the subspecies, in my opinion, because I've hunted all of them and they're really tough. That's because they're the ones giving you the hardest time. That's why they're the smartest, right? I I guess I don't know they're like they're like the smartest dumb bird I've ever.
Speaker 2:You know it's. It's crazy man. I don't know if you've hunted a lot of turkey, but man they are. It's just something about turkey, man.
Speaker 1:They are so dumb, yeah, and they make you feel like an idiot because you're like you're going, like hey, turkey, and it's like I'm over here and yet you can't get there and kill it like exactly, they give you all the information you need but you can't get it done. I love turkey hunting. I just wish, like in colorado, you get one tag so it's like you put in a lot of work and you're going to get two meals out of it, so I wish I could get more birds, um not that?
Speaker 1:there are a ton of birds in colorado but, then I've. I've had a lot of fun. I I'm hoping to eventually complete my turkey grand slam. Right now I've got Rio and Miriam, so I still need Eastern and what is it? Osceola or whatever they have down there in. Florida. Yep, but yeah, I love it, but continue, sorry.
Speaker 2:No, no, no, I love it, man, I love it. And when you meet somebody who's passionate about turkey hunting, it's not about like kind of you mentioned like man, I wish we got more than one tag. When you meet somebody who's into turkey hunting, it's because they go hunt multiple states. They are super passionate about it. Like, don't get me wrong, eating turkey nuggets is amazing, turkey breasts whatever, however you like to cook it. But man, the pursuit of wild turkey, especially with a bow I didn't realize, like, how passionate people are about that, not not just with a bow, but with a shotgun too.
Speaker 2:Um, but what I learned robert was like, yeah, I, I, every spring, I go on what's called a turkey slam and I go kill all four subspecies of the turkey and I talk about it. I, I take my truck, I load it up and I travel to all these different states and we write about it and we do it. I was like that's cool. And at that point I'm not married, I don't have kids, I don't have anything holding me back holding me down, I've got a bow in my hands, I've got enough money in my pocket to survive. And Robert's like, do you want to come with? I'm like hell yeah. And so I remember it was like 2010 was our first, our first uh slam attempt together. So, leading up to that, robert had killed, I think, probably five or six slams in a row like six years in a row where he killed all four subspecies in one in one spring.
Speaker 2:So, like, this was a big deal for him and I and I was learning about this passion of calling and um how to hunt them, and especially with a bow. It's totally different than with a shotgun. You gotta have a ton of patience, um, but yeah, we went on that. That first slam together, man, and it was just, it was so cool I. So my first, my, I kind of wanted to tell the story about my first uh Turkey hunt with Robert. We uh the. The first uh place on the on the on the trip was we were going to go to Florida and Robert that was the. That's where the first hunt of the season opens up is in South Florida you can hunt Osceola, Um, I think it mid-May, April, no, no, February, March, Mid-March, excuse me, yeah.
Speaker 2:Maybe February, it might have been February. Honestly, it's the first season that opens, though. So, you know, in South Florida obviously it's warm, then it's nice weather. He's like you know, we load up the truck, we pack everything and basically we're going to Florida to hunt wild turkey. And I brought I had a camera at that point too, so he's like we'll try to film some of it and try to put that out there and be able to offer something new for the website. You know, put some videos up about this, but ultimately we were writing you know he was writing stories about it and putting posting photos and stories about it. But uh, I didn't think I I didn't know if I was going to get to hunt on all these. On all these hunts, it was more me just going along for the fun and learning with him and and just being in a blind with him to help document and help be part of that, and so Robert ended up killing the first morning. We got it all on video. I actually still have the video. I need to send that to you after this, cause it's really cool. It's a really cool video.
Speaker 2:That was our first hunt, official hunt together ever first turkey hunt especially, and it was just awesome. And he just, he just turns to me after. He's like hey, you want to kill one. You know, david has offered the. The outfitter at that time, uh, david mills is his name. Great, great friend, still great. He was great friends with robert. He's like david offered up, he really likes you, he, he wanted to give you a free hunt and allow you to kill a turkey. He's like really, you know, I in. I don't know if you know anything about osceola hunting, but it's mostly on private land. There's not a lot of public land in florida. You can find a little bit. A lot of times it's pretty pressured, but typically you pay anywhere between two thousand to three thousand dollars for a osceola hunt in florida it's not a cheap.
Speaker 2:That's crazy it's not a cheap hunt because it's so well sought after, because a lot of times it's the last. It's the last bird people have to kill to finish up their grand slam. So for me to have the opportunity for that to be my first bird, I was like, wow, this is amazing. I appreciate this, thank you. I was almost like, are you serious, you know? And he was, and so we went out. That next morning we were up early Actually now, and he was, and so we went out that next morning we were up early Actually. Now. That I remember it, I haven't thought about this hunt for a while to be honest, so I appreciate you allowing me to think about this.
Speaker 2:We were actually late getting up that next morning for some reason. For some reason, robert was probably drinking coffee. That's why Plenty of coffee. He loved his coffee. He's the one who helped me become a black coffee drinker, actually, because he just was drinking it all the time. I was like, well, I guess I got to join them in this one. I'd never really drank coffee. At that point I wasn't into coffee. But uh, we were late getting up and getting going and and Robert's like oh, don't worry about it, we're going to go out there.
Speaker 1:And kill one anyway. Okay, all right, you know like they had coffee last night as well. Yeah, maybe they were out partying last night.
Speaker 2:But we get out there, we get the blind set up. Um, you know, we primarily hunted turkeys out of a ground blind, a double bull ground blind at that point. And you know we're all set up in the blind and robert's robert's a master caller man, he was a great, great turkey caller and uh, you know he's, he's, he's calling and calling and no response. We'd call about every 10, 15 minutes and all of a sudden it's probably about 1030-ish in the morning. You know, we got out there probably like 8, 39 o'clock, you know, like well into sunlight already, well into the morning, and he's like just be patient, you know they're going to come, you know it's going to happen. I was like all right, all right. I'm thinking, oh, we missed it, they were probably off the roost, walked right by. That's typically how it goes with turkey hunting, from what I had known at that point. But these were unpressured birds, so that kind of helped as well on private property. And he's like just be patient. And next thing, you know, he called and big loud gobble off in the distance. I'm like, oh my, I just remember my. My hair on my arms was like standing up man, I got goosebumps. I was like this is awesome, the, the, the sound of a, an Osceola, turkey, how they gobble, I don't know. For some reason, just in that moment it just was loud, it was and I guess he was pretty close.
Speaker 2:No-transcript mistake that turkey hunters make is they put their, they put their decoy out at 20 yards. You're trying to shoot a turkey that has a, you know, a vital area this big, you know, literally at 20 yards, like that's why a lot of guys you know end up not killing one. It's really tough to kill one, but if you get them in nice and tight and close and you're careful, you know this is all stuff that Robert had showed me, had taught me on that first, that first morning, and as I watched him do this, I was like, wow, this is cool, like we're going to kill a bird at eight yards, literally eight to 10 yards, right there in our wheelhouse. And it all came together. That bird came running in, saw the decoy strutting, his stuff in front of us. I'm just like my heart's just pounding out of my chest. This is the coolest thing I had shot at turkeys prior too, but I'd never done it like Like Robert was showing me, you know, getting them in so tight and close like that, and it just brought a whole new uh, you know, it brought a whole new adrenaline to me in that moment and a whole new passion for hunting these stupid fricking birds.
Speaker 2:And, uh, man, I pulled back and I, I just put my pin on that bird and just let him have it and it whop, you know, and he jumped up, he spun around and he ran off and I'm just like it just happened so quick. It was just like it was just like that. And I like I just remember looking over at Robert, did I get him? Did I get him? He's like you got him.
Speaker 2:I'm like, should we go grab him? Should we go grab him? We go grab him, you know, because I'm thinking, you know, a lot of times you have to go grab that bird and make sure it's dead right away. He's like no, you got him, just be patient, just wait, we'll give it some time. And you know he like we're just, we're fired up in the blind. You know we're just we're we're hooping and hollering and and he's like I don't remember the exactly what he said, but he was like you know, there's there's many turkey hunters out there, but uh, what did he say? There's many turkey hunters out there, but there's not many who've killed an osceola turkey, or something like that. It was it was you know it was, it was.
Speaker 2:It was something really cool. I have to find what he wrote because it was really cool for what he said. Um, it's it's. I'm not remembering it right now exactly how it was, but he said something like there's many people out there, but there's not many people that have killed a turkey. It was something profound.
Speaker 1:Just in the moment I was just like whoa, that's cool, I'm part of the elite now, right, yeah, I've joined the club.
Speaker 2:I think he said with a bow. There's not many that have killed a turkey with a bow, which?
Speaker 1:in all realities.
Speaker 2:I thought about that. I was like man, that's, that's true, a lot of turkey hunters are, you know, using shotguns and whatever, and so it was really cool to like for him to say that and just get me fired up in that moment. We walked over there together and it was. It was laying right on the edge of the grass and the tall grass and I just remember lifting that thing up and that thing had hooks that big and big long, you know 10 inch beard. It was just a beautiful bird man, it was just. It was so awesome.
Speaker 1:Yeah, how it all came together.
Speaker 2:But it wasn't just the kill man, it was just that whole, that whole time of camaraderie and fellowship with Robert. You know, like I just I I grew up and I didn't have a grandpa who took me out hunting. My dad took me out hunting and that was wonderful, but I didn't have that grandpa type figure figure. Um, my grandpa had passed away when I was super young, so I never really had a grandpa to take me out and do these things. And it was like that moment where it was like it was like having a grandfather take you out and show you the ropes and you know, show you how it's done and then for it to all come together. That was just icing on the cake, right?
Speaker 1:That's super cool. I never thought about that man but my father's father ran away when he was born, so never met that granddad, my other granddad. He passed when I was about eight and he was the only hunter in the family, so when he passed there was no one to pass that along. So like from eight until what I think, I started hunting at like 31. So you know, it would have been great if if I had had the opportunity to hunt with my grandpa Like that's something that I never realized that I missed until you mentioned that.
Speaker 2:So yeah, and that's something I had thought a lot about. I'd actually had vivid dreams. In these dreams I was hunting with my grandfather and fishing with my grandfather, but I never actually experienced that in person, right, you know, I had to hunt with my dad and stuff. But so I just remember that moment like being super special and my first turkey kill and Robert called it in for me. You know this, what a, what a cool way to to kill your first bird. And we celebrated and David Mills cooked up turkey nuggets for us and man, he's, he's a master, master cook Like this guy knows how to cook everything and anything wild game.
Speaker 2:It was amazing and just we started that whole trip on such a high and, uh, it was so cool and we ended up going to Alabama hunting turkeys there. I could tell some cool stories about that. That was a lot of fun. Then from there we went back to Texas kind of reloaded for a couple of Got some rest, because you know these hunts, you're getting up early, you're staying out late, like these are long days.
Speaker 2:You're traveling, driving around. I didn't realize how taxing that was, even for me as a young guy.
Speaker 2:I can't believe, robert was doing this, you know, at 60-something, you know, yeah, and we loaded back up and he's like all right, we're headed to South Dakota next, you know. So we went out to South Dakota. I ended up killing two birds out there. He killed a, he killed a, uh, I think, three birds. And then our buddy, fred Roberts, robert's uh hunting partner Fred Lutcher is his name he, uh, he ended up killing three birds as well. So we killed, like you know how many birds almost 10 birds in that one. You know, six, seven, eight, eight birds in that one hunt over three days in in that was was that Nebraska or South Dakota? That might've been Nebraska. And then we went to South Dakota. After that we hunted there, um, we ended up killing, um, some, some uh Merriams there, um, which was the ones that we killed in Nebraska were also Merriams. A couple of them were hybrids, where they were the Eastern hybrid cross.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So, um, that was really cool man. And then we came back to Texas and hunted for a few more days. I didn't end up killing a uh a Rio, though, so I killed an Eastern hybrid. I killed a um, a uh a Merriam's, obviously, and then I killed a um uh, the Osceola. So I killed three of the four officially you can. You can count a hybrid as one officially, um, but I was kind of like, eh, I'm not going to really count that because to me it's not really an Eastern Like. If I'm going to kill an Eastern eastern like in minnesota or wisconsin or something you know one of those northern northern states where they're the full, full, purebred eastern.
Speaker 2:But it was really cool. I think robert ended up coming back to texas. He killed a rio, finished his spring grand slam, and I was just like, wow, what that's so cool. That was like his seventh or eighth grand slam he's ever killed, um, but what a. What a really cool experience that was to do that. And we, I think we did that again the next spring. Um, maybe we didn't, I don't remember, but that might've been the only spring we did that, that one together. Maybe it was the next spring, I don't remember. Now it's been. You know that was that was back almost 15 years ago now.
Speaker 2:It's kind of crazy to think back to that, but it was a lot of fun man. It was a lot of fun man.
Speaker 2:Those were some fun times hunting wild turkeys, and that just really grew a passion for me for turkey hunting and I love turkey hunting. Now with a bow, it's like my favorite thing to do every spring, and last spring was the first spring that I didn't really have a lot of time to go out and do a lot of spring turkey hunting, and part of it was Robert had passed away right before season opened up, so it was kind of like it was one of those things that we always had done together as well Cause I'd come out.
Speaker 2:we were on the same hunting lease in Texas and we hunted that same lease together for for Rios there and he passed away right before the season started, and so that was. That was pretty tough. I think I went out one time and I just I couldn't do it, man it just being out there on the property no-transcript.
Speaker 2:He was my, my drinking partner, he was my eating partner, my coffee partner, my hunting partner. He was like a grandpa. He was like you know, he was all these things wrapped up in one and what, what an honor to meet somebody who, in his older age, who had went through so much in life through divorces and businesses growing multi-million dollar businesses, those multi-million dollar businesses falling apart and going bankrupt to you know, you know just being able to spread his passion the way he did. He was such a unique person and I just know, for the rest of my life I'll honor that, I'll honor that relationship, I'll honor that time together. He ended up getting a extreme form of cancer where it took over his body really quick and he went quick, you know, and it was just like it hit me out of the blue, I was like what the heck?
Speaker 2:I didn't. I didn't think this guy would ever die. You know, like this is the, this is the guy you know. He was 83 years old when he when he passed away.
Speaker 1:And I figured I'd be.
Speaker 2:I'd be, uh, wheeling Robert out to the ground blind until he was like I'm not joking Like I always thought that, like in my head.
Speaker 2:I had this. My reality was that I'm going to be wheeling Robert out to the. We had literally talked about that. He's like you better take me out to that blind, no matter how old I get. You better be bringing me out there Like we would joke about that. You know, and, uh, I literally thought that would happen. You know, it was literally a year, no, two years ago. Robert was still was still bow hunting with a crossbow and you know we, three years ago, we killed a, we killed a couple of bucks together and then that the year after that he killed a buck by himself, um, with his crossbow, and that was his last buck he ever killed.
Speaker 2:But I wanted to tell this story about I think one of the cool stories I could tell is. So, on the hunting lease, we hunted deer out there in Turkey together. This is in Central Texas. This is the lease that I first hunted pigs on, and then when I moved to Texas, he invited me out there to be on the lease with him and there's eight of us guys out there, um, and it was a pretty tight knit group of guys.
Speaker 2:You know Robert had been hunting on this lease for 40 years. He had he found this lease, got to know the property owner and been out there for many years. So he's he knows this property like it's the back of his hand right, like he knows this thing so well. So we'd go out and hunt together. He'd teach me, here's where you know, here's different trails, here's how it's set up, here's how the deer move through the property, you know. He taught me a lot about all that. And then he would encourage me to go out and just explore and and and do sits in different spots to learn about how the deer were moving through that area. You know, not even you don't even have to bring your bow, just go out and sit and watch and learn. It was really cool how he taught me to do that. And so I got to know this property and I think our rules were we had three or four stand sites, so we could have three or four stand sites on the property, a piece on this thousand acre piece. So it was pretty widespread. We had different rules around that.
Speaker 2:But I had learned this one area. I called it behind the bales. It was down on this river bottom and kind of on the north side of the property and anyway, nobody was really hunting that area or hunting it very much. There was a couple of stands that were close to it with a couple of the other people they didn't really hunt it very hard and I started to notice a pattern of deer running. You know a couple of good bucks running through that area, got some trail camera photos and there was a lot of doe movement. More than anything, honestly, I had got a couple of photos, but there was a lot more doe movement. I was like, well, when the, when the rut hits, that's probably going to more, that's going to be the spot, cause those, those, those bucks are going to be running, those does on that river bottom.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And this was all stuff that Robert had taught me. He's like you gotta watch, you got to watch, you got to watch how it works, you got to. This is totally you know, and I know that you can look at similarities between deer hunting in other States as well. But uh, texas is a little bit different, where we have like multiple rut times. Um, I don't know, when you lived here did you kind of learn about some of that a little bit, like you know.
Speaker 1:I wish I wish I only went deer hunting like twice. I never got on anybody's lease. I I did public land and I didn't even do like big troughs of public land because, you know, back in the day rivers were public so I would just rock, walk down dry riverbeds. And I did kill a nice, probably 120 inch whitetail buck. Um, he would. If I had to guess, I'd say he was like three years old, like a giant of tomorrow. I think he was about to explode.
Speaker 1:But to be honest, I just was happy to see any deer. I had to go out with a shotgun, double up, buckshot. There were all sorts of regulations and, man, it was a weird situation because when I got out of that riverbed, every time there was a truck parked down the road watching me and then they'd follow me around town and they did not like me going down and doing that. And I called the warden ahead of time to make sure everything was on the up and up. And he's like no, everything's good, everything's legal. What's interesting is he never asked me any questions about anything other than did my game cameras ever pick up any illegals like walking through the riverbeds?
Speaker 1:But yeah, that has since become illegal you can no longer do that, so I might've been the last person to do that and who knows, maybe my specific hunt was the catalyst to do that and, who knows, maybe maybe my specific hunt was the catalyst to make that illegal. But yeah, I never. I never had the like organic big trough of land Texas deer hunting experience, even though I was down there for a few years.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's cool. Like you, you start to learn. Like cause, I grew up in the Midwest and Minnesota and hunting deer on, you know, on egg land. You know and fields and field edges and you know wheat fields and cornfields and stuff like that and how they move through that versus you know. Obviously we have feeders. In Texas we don't have a lot of egg. This property has a good diverse amount of egg and open hay fields and cedar breaks, you know, and then oak breaks as well.
Speaker 2:So it was really a diverse piece of property where I could really learn different ways of hunting deer in Texas. But one of the things about Texas deer is they come into an early rut or they come into a rut, but then they also have a couple late rut periods. So if you could catch those deer running those does at the right time, you could hit them at multiple. You have multiple opportunities to kill a good buck and for me that was that first rut it was. It was kind of like November 15th through kind of the the 2025th. It was like a good 10 day period there. That first rut really hit it was it was usually later- you know kind of later than everybody else.
Speaker 2:And then the kind of the second rut you know you later than everybody else, and then the kind of the second rut you know you could get into december, and then that final rut sometimes is in the early january even and uh, so I was kind of keying in, I didn't really hunt hard that early, the early part of the season, because we can start bow hunting october 1st or roughly around october 1st, the first week october usually and uh, this was, this was 19 or, excuse me, this was 2018, by the way. So just to kind of give some context to it. But I'd been seeing some good deer and Robert had been seeing some good deer. He lived out there and so we, you know we were both kind of keen on on some good bucks. We knew there were some good bucks running around, some of the other guys. We didn't share a ton of information with each other because it was still kind of competitive right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you want to go back to camp and have the biggest buck there, for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but Robert and I shared quite a bit with each other at that point and just being good friends and stuff like that. We kind of knew a couple of these bucks were running around, these bigger caliber bucks, and one of them was probably the biggest buck we've ever seen on this property. So everybody knew about it but nobody was talking about it. Robert and I had been kind of talking about it a little bit but anyway we kind of knew where he was running a little bit. But that first rut hit and I had a buddy out with his son on the property who I was kind of focused on getting him on some pigs so he had come out to visit. For that week it was still a little bit. This was like I think it was like the 17th or 18th of November, so I had known that like kind of the rut was getting started at that point. But I was, I was focused more for the next week.
Speaker 2:You know that wasn't a really hit hard but anyway that night I went and dropped those guys off at one of my ground blinds to hunt pigs and I was like, well, if I hurry up I can jump in the tree. I had a good win for this spot, what I called the BTB behind the bales. It was behind this big hay bale on the edge of a wheat field down going into a river bottom, and so I snuck in there. Good win. And right away when I got in my stand I just remembered there I was surrounded by deer, like they were all over me. It was the coolest thing. Like these does were everywhere.
Speaker 2:No bucks, it was just all does they're all feeding around me, coming through, working their way through this river bottom, and I was like, wow, this is like. It just felt magical, it was a, it was a crazy. It was a crazy thing Cause I wasn't expecting it, you know, and I hadn't really hunted that spot yet into that year, into 2018. And I was really focused on helping Ryan and his son get on some pigs. You know, they had never been hunting in Texas and wanted to kill pigs. So it was really cool, and Robert and I always texted when we were out hunting. We'd always what are you seeing? How's it going? You know.
Speaker 2:So he was in his blind at the same time, over by his house. He had a spot over by his house that he would go sit in. You know, because he was a little bit older now at this point and he was using a crossbow, he couldn't get around as good as he liked and I was like what are you seeing? He's like, oh man, there's just a lot of early movement tonight, a lot of does around. I was like I know, man, it's crazy out here. He's like it does. He's like. I just remember him saying let's be patient, like this could be a good night for us. You know, this could be a magical night, he said. And I was just, if you knew Robert and how he talked, it was classic, robert, it was so cool.
Speaker 1:He just loved, just the way he talked about hunting.
Speaker 2:It's going to be a magical night, you know, and you know. Next thing, I knew I caught some movement off to my left and I said, hey, robert, I got some movement to my left. Looks like a buck, like I'm going to put my phone down. You know he's like, shoot straight. You know, aim small, miss small and he always, you know he would encourage me. You know, put your phone down, get focused, get ready. You know whatever, be patient though. You know, be patient. You know, with a higher caliber a buck that I had ever shot like, you start to learn how to have patience with those bigger bucks. You know that. You know any little wrong movement, any little wrong you know thing, you do like they're gone, they're just smart old bucks, and so I'm dialed in, I'm focused, I got my bow in hand and I'm ready to go.
Speaker 2:And and these does, I'm really surprised the does didn't win me because they were all around me like it was just and that's where kind of the magic happened like these does were surrounding me that night and I never got winded and I watched this buck come off from 60 yards out, just coming through. You know he hit every tree on the way, just like branches falling down, and I was just like, oh my gosh, like this is, I can't believe this is happening. And he was coming in to check on does and I knew right where his trail crossed. In front of me there was two different trails, one at 30 yards, one at 20 yards, and he was going to. He was, it looked like he was coming right for that trail. So I I'm just like perfectly set up and ready. I'm just kind of looking off to my right, just hoping that one of those does don't catch me, pulling back or something like that, or win me.
Speaker 2:And fortunately it never happened. That buck, he walked right in my range. I didn't even have time, I didn't even try to range him, I just knew he was walking on that trail. So I kind of aimed for in between 25 yards and I just pulled back, put it on him. He was perfectly quartered away as he turned and he looked up at me and I shot and the rest. He literally dropped 40 yards, 50 yards away and I was just like it was magic, it literally was magic.
Speaker 2:I was like, did that just happen? I couldn't believe it. And so, to give context, this is 160 inch, 11 point buck Like this is a massive Texas buck, 21 inch inside spread.
Speaker 2:This is just a big buck for where we're at, like we're on a private property, but this is not high fence or anything like that Low fence, you know. You know, just, it was a great buck. It was literally the biggest buck that had been shot out on that property at that point and I just it was amazing and I just texted, I was like I got him, I shot him, robert's like I got a buck coming in too, hold on and uh, and so he ended up shooting a buck as well right after that. And so that was such a cool hunt, like he. We doubled up that night and I I brought my buck in, I went and helped him get his buck and we doubled up that night and it was, it was amazing, it was one of the most amazing hunts I've ever been on.
Speaker 2:And again, this was, this was just like. It just seemed like this happened when Robert and I hunted together. These magical things happen where it would always come together and man, what a cool thing. And I've got that picture. You know, that's one of my favorite photos. But we took pictures the next day together with both of our bucks and you know he had shot a really good one too. His was probably 130, 135 inch, you know, I think 9 pointer, 10 pointer as well, and those were both really good bucks for that property. But man, again just diving into some of those memories with.
Speaker 2:Robert man, that was just an amazing, amazing hunt, amazing time. It's kind of funny because now I'm more passionate about elk hunting more than anything. I've gotten more passionate about elk hunting over the last couple of years. But just thinking back to turkey hunting and deer hunting, those things, those hunts I started up with in Minnesota in the Midwest, and how it's totally different here.
Speaker 2:But who you hunt, with the time you spend, you know, in camp together, the camaraderie, the stories we told, the ways that he used his wisdom to teach me and help me learn, not just about hunting but about life through hunting. You know I'll never forget that. I don't. I could never repay him for that, you know, cause I'll use those lessons for the rest of my life, till the day I die, and I'm teaching my kids those lessons now too, you know, and like we kind of talked about with hunting camp, I'm teaching those lessons to guys in hunting camp.
Speaker 2:Now, that was part of my passion Robert had encouraged me to really, you know, take my self-growth and self-development and bring that into that hunting camp setting, because that's really hunting camp is magical. It's where you can be open and free and have deeper conversation and learn from each other and I'm just appreciative of that opportunity that he pushed me, that other people around me have pushed me to do that and take some of these lessons that these guys have taught me especially specifically Robert, you know, in life. So, yeah, it's cool man, it's fun.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:These are fun to think back to.
Speaker 1:This is so much fun, good man, it is therapeutic. I think that you know, obviously we're friends, and so I saw that Robert had passed and it was obvious that he meant a lot to you, and it was right at that same time that I had just recorded my episode 100, which was to my father-in-law, who I wouldn't quite say is the same relationship as you and Robert, but absolutely taught me everything I know about hunting. I have so many fun stories, and recording that episode was one of the most fun episodes I've done out of all of them, just bringing in my brother-in-law and my original hunting buddy, steven, and so I was like let's get you on, colin, let's talk about Robert. And here we are, man, and I love it. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy hearing these stories, seeing you smile. It obviously means a lot and we all have that person that's really important to us, whether it's hunting related or just in life, and so it's good that we get to remember him in such a fun way with hunting stories.
Speaker 1:I think that's kind of the point. Right is to tell these stories our entire life, to tell them to your grandkids, right. Like, let me tell you about my buddy Robert when you do have grandkids. I know your kids are little, but yeah, man, this has been a lot of fun. Do you have any more stories you want to tell? Otherwise, maybe we can tell people a little bit more about what you do and then wrap it up. I know you're a busy guy.
Speaker 2:Yeah no, I just you're a busy guy. Yeah, no, I just I. I think my biggest regret, honestly, is, as I wish I think this is maybe something for for the listeners to, to take home and and remember is I wish I would have recorded more of those conversations and I know you don't think about that in the moment, but with what we have with technology today, I wish I would have sat down and just like, had a, had a, like a podcast, even if it was just privately between me and him, that I never shared. I wish I would have done that.
Speaker 2:I wish I would have taken those moments. I do have videos and I do have old videos on my phone and I have pictures and stuff like that. I have those memories deep inside of me. I'll never forget those things, of course, but it would have been fun to share some of those stories to people so they could really see a different side of Robert that I saw. You know with that, that in-depth relationship that we built together. So maybe that's something for guys to think about, don't you know? When you have the opportunity, you know, to maybe have a conversation or sit down with somebody, to maybe do a podcast, or even just set up your phone and just record a conversation between you and somebody you love and care about, or maybe your hunting partner, it'd be fun to do that because then you can look back at that and relive that, relive those moments in maybe a different way than just memory.
Speaker 1:So yeah, I'll double down on that call. And my guest number one was supposed to be my father-in-law. He was pretty deep into his chemotherapy. He didn't really understand the concept of a podcast and he thought he would be doing more than he would have to. But he was deep into chemo and he's like when I feel better and he just never got to the point that he was feeling better. So unfortunately I never got him on here. Um, so you're 100% correct, colin, 100% correct. Have those conversations with those people and record them if you can, and I'll actually do one better. If anyone wants to have one of those conversations with a loved one, do it here. I will happily record it. I will sit back and let someone else guest host their loved one and share their stories and I'll just sit here and enjoy it, because I love that stuff. I think those are some of the best ones that people feel most passionate about. So to listeners or Colin, if you know anyone that wants to, do exactly what you just said.
Speaker 1:man, just reach out to me, I'll help facilitate all of that.
Speaker 2:So that'd be cool man. I appreciate that yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but let's do this. Let's tell the people where they can find you and what you're up to with high caliber hunts and your coaching and your running. If they can ever catch you, why don't you?
Speaker 2:share that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, man. No, it's, it's, it's. You know, obviously we kind of talked about it at the start a little bit. It's become a passion of mine through my own transformation, Um, so it's been really cool, like over the last last year or so, through some of my own personal, uh, struggles and growth and different things, different transformations in different ways, not just weight loss, but the mental, emotional, even spiritual growth that I'm having in my life.
Speaker 2:Um, you know, I've just this passion for bringing more community and bringing men together to have more camaraderie. You know, you know what it was like in that hunting camp, right, and you're still connected with a lot of those guys. Like I get a lot of those guys that come to my hunting camps and they're like, hey, I want to stay connected, you know, and we get on a, you know, maybe a text thread or whatever, and that's great. But I think there needs to be more. And so I've kind of taken that into building what I call high-caliber nation and it's become more of like a group coaching mastermind, where we're getting together on a weekly basis to do a video call every week. We have a WhatsApp group where we chat and we talk about how to use what I call the core four in your life to bring more balance, to bring more growth, to bring more self-development. So it's been really cool to kind of grow that side, and a lot of guys are. You know they're growing physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, you know they're becoming a better.
Speaker 2:but I like to say they're becoming something greater in their life and, like I'm right along with them. You know, I've had some really cool growth and transformation in my life and I can teach them a lot and I'm using those skills to be a coach and teach, but also I'm I'm learning a lot from these guys and the camaraderie and the fellowship we have together. So, yeah, if that's, if that's something that you know maybe your listeners are looking for, if they're looking for more camaraderie with other men in their life to start to grow and get on a better path, maybe dig out of some some bad decisions they made, or maybe they're been complacent or things like that. You know, reach out to me. I'm on Instagram. I'm pretty, pretty active and vocal on there. I'm getting more active on there now after I've went through some some own my own personal struggles. I'm kind of getting back on the horse a little bit, so to say.
Speaker 2:So, definitely just want to encourage guys reach out.
Speaker 2:There's other guys out here, like Michael and I, who want to connect with you, want to build relationship with you, and then some of us have tools to help build a better framework in your life, to teach you how to grow, to teach you how to become a better version of yourself so you can show up better in your friendships, your marriage, become a better dad, become a better friend.
Speaker 2:How to physically get in a better place which is a huge catalyst for everything how to maybe find your faith, how to financially become more literate. In those ways there's just a lot of growth to happen. But I think that starts with getting around the right people, and it's cool to be able to use high caliber hunts as kind of a catalyst to that, but now expand that into high caliber nation and actually build community around it. So that's kind of what I'm working on, that's what I'm passionate about. I'm building that and growing that right now and it's been a lot of fun. But I know God's got a big plan to use that to help others become a better version, become something greater.
Speaker 1:That's cool, colin. Well, I will put links to all of that in the show notes. Make it easy for the folks. They can just look there and click and find you on Instagram, and I'll put all your websites and all that stuff on there. So, guys, please do check out all of that. Colin. Man, this was fun. Let's do it again, yeah we will?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think we should, and let's get some of your stories. Obviously we wanted to hear Robert's. I think that was kind of what we planned on, but I know you got plenty of stories. I'd love to hear some of your elk adventures. Let me ask this are you going out this year?
Speaker 2:not going out this year. I'm taking I'm taking this fall off more for just self-growth and kind of staying close to home. Um, I'm gonna hunt around here more than anything I think this year, focus on that, but uh, but hopefully go back out next year and get back on that. So I went out last year and it was my first time back out to montana actually elk hunting. In 10 years maybe longer, um, I have a. I have a great hunting partner out there, my buddy Toby cap.
Speaker 2:And now that I'm in great physical shape. You know doing these races and stuff.
Speaker 2:that's, that's why I love doing it. I love doing hard stuff, man, because it it really. It really gets you prepared for the mountains. I spent 20 days in the mountains last year and I don't think I got tired once. To be honest with you Like I wish I could say the same, my trail races are way harder than than carrying an 80 pound pack in the mountains Like it's doing. A hundred miles or 50 miles in the mountains is really freaking tough.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So it really gets you prepared. I think, what? What does Cam say? Cam's got this, this kind of this moniker that he uses. You know, train hard, hunt easy. And I can tell you if you, if you really want to work hard on yourself and level yourself up physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, like again, like with what I do with my coaching, like it really gets you prepared for the mountains.
Speaker 2:And even though I didn't kill one last year. I got on a few, had opportunities. You know it's. It's so much fun. There's just so much passion around elk hunting. Calling them in the situations, just being in the mountains obviously is huge. There's a lot of cool stuff there. I'm really on the start of my elk hunting journey. Even though I've done it a few times over the last 15 years, I still haven't killed my first bull elk. That's what's on tap, hopefully for next year.
Speaker 1:Um all right man yeah, I uh, I got my first archery bull elk kill last year and uh, I'm not going to archery elk hunt this year, most likely because I drew a moose tag.
Speaker 2:So actually as soon as we wrap up here.
Speaker 1:I'm diving into the woods to go set up camp so I can get back out there for opening day for moose, which is saturday. So, pretty, pretty fired up. Colorado, colorado. Yeah, it's just a cow tag, but I don't care, I'm not looking for awesome.
Speaker 1:like if I ever want moose antlers, I'm gonna go to alaska or british columbia, somewhere where they actually have paddles, because these colorado shiraz moose they're into the not huge antlers, so I'm just looking for a full freezer. So, uh, colin, this was a lot of fun. I really do appreciate it, brother, and we will connect again soon and I'm sure we'll stay in touch between the next time we get you on.
Speaker 2:So thank you again, man. Appreciate it, sounds good. Sounds good, michael. I appreciate the opportunity to chat with you, man, and tell some stories and, honestly, just remember Robert. So this one's dedicated to my good friend Robert Hogue. I appreciate it. Thank you.
Speaker 1:Perfect it, thank you. Perfect, all right, guys. That's it. Another couple of stories in the books. Again, I want to thank Colin for coming on the podcast. Obviously, those stories meant a lot to him. The gentleman Robert meant a lot to him, and that's really important. The offer is out there, guys. If you have someone that won't be with us forever and you want to have them on the podcast, reach out to me. Uh, let's, you can even host, that's fine by me, I don't care. Let's hear some great stories from some great hunters, um, so please do reach out. I think probably Instagram messages the best way. I also have a like, a get in touch with me on the website that you can check out. Um, but either way, thank you, guys for tuning in. Please check out all of Colin's links. They're in the show notes. Now, guys, get out there, vote and take one person with you, but also make some stories your own, thank you.
