Hunts On Outfitting Podcast
Stories! As hunters and outdoors people that seems to be a common thing we all have lots of. Join your amateur guide and host on this channel Ken as he gets tales from guys and gals. Chasing that trophy buck for years to an entertaining morning on the duck pond, comedian ones, to interesting that's what you are going to hear. Also along with some general hunting discussions from time to time but making sure to leave political talks out of it. Don't take this too serious as we sure don't! If you enjoy this at all or find it fun to listen to, we really appreciate if you would subscribe and leave a review. Thanks for. checking us out! We are also on fb as Hunts on outfitting, and instagram. We are on YouTube as Hunts on outfitting podcast.
Hunts On Outfitting Podcast
Ep.22 From PTSD to Peace: Todd Hisey`s Outdoor Therapy Mission
What if the great outdoors held the key to healing invisible wounds? Join us as we sit down with Todd Hisey, the visionary behind The Veteran Hunters. Todd takes us through his extraordinary life, from a family steeped in military tradition to a fascinating 22-year career as an infantry officer. Along the way, he recounts meeting influential figures such as General Dallaire, and how his diagnosis of PTSD ultimately led him to discover the therapeutic power of bow hunting. This realization sparked the founding of The Veteran Hunters in 2018, an organization now transforming the lives of nearly 400 veterans and first responders across seven provinces.
We explore the heart and soul of The Veteran Hunters, where the real therapy comes from the bonds formed during hunting and fishing trips. Todd shares how these experiences, tailored to individual needs, provide not just a sense of purpose but a powerful antidote to the isolation many veterans face. With support from partners like Vortex Canada and Bass Pro Cabela's, the organization is breaking down barriers and fostering a tight-knit community that includes lady veterans and first responders. Hear firsthand accounts of successful hunts and the transformative impact they have on participants, shedding light on the unique challenges and rewards of outdoor trauma therapy.
Finally, we hear from Shawn McCrea, the New Brunswick manager, about the chapter’s development and his own journey from military service to finding peace in nature. Discover the emotional fulfillment Sean experiences guiding fellow veterans on hunts, and learn about the broader impact of these activities, from donating meat to food banks to addressing local wildlife issues. Whether you’re a seasoned hunter or new to the concept, this episode is packed with inspiring stories, practical hunting tips, and a profound message about the healing power of community and nature.
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this is outside outfitting podcast. I'm your host and rookie guide, ken marr. I love everything hunting the outdoors and all things associated with it, from stories to how to's. You'll find it here. Welcome to the podcast, alrighty. Welcome to Hunt Son and Fing podcast, the only podcast brought to you by Father John's Pre-Marital Military Couples Counseling. Know your rules of engagement. All right, guys, we have a really great podcast for you this week.
Speaker 1:First off, I want to say to all you military veterans out there and current military members and first responders, thank you for your service. This podcast is for everybody, but it does talk to you. Peer support, therapy, guidance, understanding, sense of purpose, self-worth these are all things that most people need. A lot of us hunters know Doorsman find these things in nature and with some of her fellow hunters. But what if you didn't know where to find these things and that support For a military veterans, law enforcement officers, paramedics, firefighters and corrections officers.
Speaker 1:This can be especially needed With oftentimes very difficult and traumatic work. Many people in these occupations understandably develop PTSD, so where can they go to talk to people who have been there? They actually understand and can also take you on an outdoor healing peer adventure. The Veteran Hunters Started by Todd Heise. He tells us all about how and why he did in this week's podcast. I also had the pleasure of being joined by the New Brunswick manager of the group, sean McRae. This is a great non-profit organization that I hope you enjoy learning about and as well.
Speaker 1:Spread the word. Now let's get to this week's guest.
Speaker 2:Sounds good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so, todd, thanks for coming on the podcast.
Speaker 2:Well, thanks for having me. I'm more than happy to share about the veteran hunters and what we're doing from coast to coast and, more than always, happy to help a fellow podcaster. So we did a couple of seasons and I know what it's like to find content and try and get guests on, so I'm more than happy to help you out.
Speaker 1:Thanks. So, Todd, you served in the military yourself. Do you mind kind of talking about how you got into it and what branch you're in?
Speaker 2:Sure, joining the military was something that I always wanted to do, even from the earliest of ages, and I actually grew up not thinking that we had a legacy of military service until years later I started doing some research and found that my family actually has a long history of military service, going all the way back to almost the American Revolution, and so it was kind of interesting to find out after the fact why you were so drawn to serving the military Joined when I was 19, back in 1991.
Speaker 1:That doesn't seem so long ago until you start doing the math and you're like, oh, that's actually a few years ago.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's funny, I just became a grandfather for the first time and it's like whoa. But yeah, so joined in 1991, 1991, went through the military college system. Um, that was a. It was a great experience getting to meet, uh, lots of you know famous Canadians who became astronauts and authors and uh, had lunch with General Dallaire when he got back from Rwanda and you know, getting to meet Canadians like that as a young officer, about ready to head off to lead you, to lead my platoon for the first time.
Speaker 2:So I served for a total of 22 years as an infantry officer, did most of my time in Alberta, so I got to know Gagetown well in the summer times. And, yeah, I spent most of my time with the 1st Battalion, prince Patricia's Canadian Line Infantry, and did a couple tours in the former Yugoslavia, was in the first group of Canadians that went into Kosovo. And then I was fortunate I got into Russia as a weapons inspector and that was a really interesting experience. And then I had some broken service. I got out for about five years, went back to my hometown of Fort Murray, worked in oil sands and a big Maritimer community in Fort Murray, lots of new fees there and then went back into the military kind of 2006, 2006, 2007. We were going into Afghanistan and I guess when you send General Hillier a letter saying you're going to run out of people, and he writes you back saying you're exactly right, how do you want to serve? And so, yeah, and so I got back into the Army and then served again in Edmonton until 2012 and then transitioned back out of the military.
Speaker 2:By that time they were figuring out that I had post-traumatic stress, which was linked back to actually my Kosovo tour in 1999. Which was linked back to actually my Kosovo tour in 1999. And it turns out the Canadian Forces medical system actually knew that I had post-traumatic stress back in early 2000, 2001, but they withheld it from me. And so then, when I got back in the second time, yeah, the medical system started figuring out that, that I had PTSD, and then that started a whole other process. And, yeah, the medical system started figuring out that I had PTSD and then that started a whole other process. When I got out in 2013 in Calgary, started the whole process of going through the intake process of Veterans Affairs and then another six years of treatment for my post-traumatic stress and then going through the whole re-education benefit with Veterans Affairs and getting a master's degree and then at the end of the six years they basically determined that I couldn't work anymore in a traditional role.
Speaker 2:But I was young enough at the time to do some volunteer work and one of the things I found while I was going through my treatment I got back into hunting and I got particularly into bow hunting, and where I live west of Calgary we have a really long bow season and we have some great opportunities to bow hunt and one it was easier to get private land access from landowners when you do archery, and that started a great relationship with a number of ranchers that we have here. What I found was really therapeutic. I started using all the skills that I'd learned in the army that I couldn't use anymore in the army but now I could use with them to hunt elk and I have a real passion for hunting elk and started using all of those skills to try and close distance on an animal. You're using your sense of smell and your hearing and even all the stalking skills that you would use in the infantry to close with and destroy the enemy, but now you're using it to try and close with on a, on a bull elk, which are far smarter and more intelligent than any human you would probably have to hunt.
Speaker 2:And yeah, and just thought it was really therapeutic. And I found archery in particular really reinforced the grounding and mindfulness techniques that I was learning while I was going through the operational stress injury clinic in Calgary. And, yeah, I just found there were so many benefits one from being out in the outdoors, but two the archery component and then adding in the hunting component. So I was finding on the latter end of my treatment I was like wow, like I'm feeling really good about being outdoors, but I didn't have another veteran that I would go hunt with, so it was usually I was out by myself and my wife didn't always like that, because we live in an area that has a high concentration of grizzly bears and uh. So it's actually nice to see that the grizzly bear hunt in the limited aspect is coming back to alberta yes, yeah, but uh heard about that yeah, so um
Speaker 2:so the basically federal affairs decides to permanently retire me, and so my wife said, hey, why don't you look for an organization to volunteer with that uses hunting and the outdoors as a form of therapy? And we looked across the country and there was nothing. You look south of the border and there was all kinds of different veteran organizations out there. So my wife was like, well, why don't just, why don't we start our own? So we incorporated in december of 2018 and started our first season of the veteran hunters in 2019 and uh, wow, it's been uh, it's been a wild and crazy and very meaningful almost five years since and we are now in seven provinces, volunteers across the country, and we've put almost 400 veterans and now first responders through our program, the bulk of which come from Alberta. Alberta is one of the most populous provinces for veterans, but we're in BC and Alberta and Manitoba and Quebec and New Brunswick now with Sean and Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, and it's just great and it's been a good therapy for me as a former officer now being able to serve my soldiers again, and it's just been a great experience for us. It's become a lot more work than what I thought.
Speaker 2:Fundraising is not easy in this country. We thought for sure, well, we're the only veteran organization that's almost coast to coast in every province. We thought for sure, the hunting industry, it'd be no problem to find funding. And it's not. We've got two great industry partners Vortex Canada has been a partner with us from the beginning and Bass Pro Cabela's their outdoor fund. They've been huge supporters and actually Bass Pro gifted us with a side-by-side last year and yeah, no, I was totally shocked and surprised. They had a fellow who won it as part of a grand prize in one of their stores and he donated it back and he wanted to go to a veteran organization and they immediately called me up and said, hey, you want it. I'm like, yeah, we'll take it. Awesome, thank you. Um, I get goosebumps still thinking about that call.
Speaker 2:Uh, yeah, it was, it was, yeah, it was awesome and, um, and the alberta government has been really great to us. They have a really good surplus program here where they'll donate surplus equipment to non-profit organizations. So last year the Fish and Wildlife Division actually donated one of their surplus trucks to us. So it's fantastic. It's basically a truck that's designed for hunting. It's got winches in the box and in the and in the front and so for hauling up elk, uh, in january, it's uh, it's nothing better and uh, and then this year, um, they donated another side by another side by side to us, um, as well.
Speaker 2:So, you know, slowly but slowly but surely, we've been finding some great partners and building some political capital. And then recently we were invited to go to Ottawa, meet with Pierre Polyev and participate in the Conservative Party's Outdoor Symposium, and they're the only party that has a hunting and fishing caucus. So they brought in, yeah, so they brought in conservation groups from across the country and and we're really we're the only veteran uh conservation organization. So it was great to be asked to come and talk about, uh, some of the issues that pertain to veterans and and being in the outdoors and um, yeah, so five years has just gone by like crazy and the organization has grown and and again, you know, one of the things we continue to struggle is to try and find funds because you know it's an all volunteer organization.
Speaker 2:But I still want to be able to reimburse my volunteers for the expenses. You know that they incur volunteers for the expenses. You know that they incur. And, like any nonprofit, you know things cost money Right, so, um, but yeah, so that's kind of five years in five minutes. So there you go.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that was great. Well, first of all, todd, I'd like to thank you and Sean, who's sitting across from me, for your guys' service in the Canadian military Also. I mean, I think it's great how you started this and how you are helping connect veterans and guys that are more like-minded, I guess, than some of us regular civilians, and that you guys can connect better. If someone is looking to donate to your organization, where would be the best way to do that? You guys have a website.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we have a website. If you go to wwwtheveteranhunterscom, scroll down to the bottom and you can fill out a donate form there and basically it'll go through PayPal for the donation. Certainly, you can do an e-transfer to us at info at theveteranhunterscom. But if you're a spouse of a veteran or a spouse of a first responder, drop us an email at info at theveteranhunterscom and we'd be more than happy to share more about what the organization is doing and how we can help you.
Speaker 2:And one of the most important things that we do is the hunting is just a I call it the hook, like it's the guy or the gal, because we now have ladies participating in our hunts and they're great to work with. My wife will come out and help the ladies with the hunts. They've been great students Really working with the lady veterans or the lady first responders. They want to learn as much as they can and we saw a couple of ladies one in BC, one in Alberta last year and they have harvested some great animals in the last year and they're first animals. So it's great to see lady veterans connecting with the organization and hopefully, down the road some of them will be able to be hunter hosts with our organization and then, and hopefully down the road, some of them will will be able to be a hunter host with our organization and then lead other ladies, and that's one of the things we always look for is we were like I was saying the hunting is just a hook.
Speaker 2:really it's all about that peer-to-peer connection and peer-to-peer healing and we'd say, really, that the therapy begins in the truck, really that the therapy begins in the truck and it's that removing the barriers to getting a veteran or first responder who has, you know, some kind of operational stress injury and they feel more comfortable connecting with someone who's walked, you know, through the journey that they're going through now.
Speaker 2:So every one of my hunter hosts and volunteers with the organization has themselves gone through their own PTSD journey, and so we try and remove any of those barriers. And then, when someone applies for one of the activities that we have, whether it's a hunt or a fishing trip or one of our non-hunting activities, we try and do as much as we can to tailor the experience to what the person needs. And then when they leave the then they leave the hunt or leave the fishing trip they're leaving with a, with a phone full of phone numbers, right, so they I've got guys that text me or you know guys, I'm sure they're texting sean now after he's, you know, done the first time. Uh with them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's not about the harvest, it's about the experience, right well, um, we've had some lottery.
Speaker 2:yeah, it's all about that camaraderie.
Speaker 2:And then you know, I've had guys come out from ontario to hunt elk here in alberta and alberta is one of the few provinces that gives a really good experience and ability for non-residents to come out and hunt. And we've had guys come out from ontario a few times and, uh, and I've run my house in the fall like a hunting lodge and uh, so these will stay and uh, we'll hunt elk and they'll think they want to go home with the, you know, with a bull or a cow elk. But they get in there and that and the elk herd gives them that total experience. Where I've immersed them, you know, in, say, 600 elk are walking around us and we're bugling, they're bugling back and the guy thought he came out here to harvest a bull elk but yet he finds the healing is all in that experience, that immersive experience that that elk herd has shared with them and that's all he needed, but in some cases he didn't know about it, has shared with them and um, and that's all he needed.
Speaker 2:Um, but in some cases he didn't, he didn't know about it. And there's all science actually to trauma therapy in the outdoors. Um, we were fortunate conservation magazine here in Alberta did a whole article about us and found some doctors that basically put scientific terms to what we're doing and validating what we're doing as an organization that that helps people and um, yeah, um so no, that's, that's great, that's great.
Speaker 1:You said you mainly, you prefer to hunt bow I do.
Speaker 2:I'm not against uh hunting rifle, I just find I like to make things harder for me. So it's interesting like I have yet to harvest a bull elk, but I've helped like 14 guys harvest elk oh wow, that's pretty good guiding yeah, yeah, and you know what, like we have some incredible numbers.
Speaker 2:Like I'm a big analytics guy and from my time in the army I cross trained in intelligence, so I like looking at raw data and so we'll do um and uh. I'm sure sean's getting getting immersed in kind of like my paperwork side of the of the organization, but I'm always bugging the guys. Okay, I need your, make sure you're putting into the spreadsheets and that kind of stuff, because the analytics are really it's really fascinating when we look at the end of the year and we look at how many people we've put through the organization, how many people we've put on animals, how many that have harvested or not harvested, like we're getting. You know we're putting more people through our organization probably than some outfitters do that we've been able to establish here with some of the larger landowners. We're able to provide people with some really immersive experiences with animals. Yeah, there's two properties that I can take guys on here that are private and we can pretty much hunt every animal except bighorn sheep on those properties and or we'll actually see.
Speaker 2:You know different species of animals and I've been fortunate just to be able to sit there and watch.
Speaker 2:You know mule, deer, bucks fighting, and watch big white tails come through and then the elk herd will come through. And I've started to become a student of animal behavior because it's interesting to see you watch certain species how their ears, move their heads, they're listening for each other and there's kind of a pecking order. When you're looking in the oat field and you're waiting for the elk to come through and there'll be the last kind of animal to come through, the coyotes will start, usually, start, get everything going and the mule deer will come through, um, and it's interesting to see experiences and be able to share that with guys and tell them about, like, what's going on and and teach them about some of that, share some of that behavior, um, which may be why I haven't harvested my bull elk yet, because, um, they've just shared some great experiences with me. I, I mean twice I've been surrounded by 600 elk. The last time my wife and I and, yeah, it's, there's nothing like it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's amazing. You guys have absolutely great hunting in Alberta. Just the amount of species that you have. What's your bow setup? Just out of curiosity, what are you shooting?
Speaker 2:So I shoot a Bowtech Carbon Icon.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:I've had that. Yeah, I bought that back in oh, let me see, Anyhow while I was going through treatment. So I don't know, 2013, 2014. There's some good lessons learned on the archery thing. Initially, I bought a used bow from a buddy of mine and he thought, hey, we're similar stature, it should work for you. And no, that's not the case, yeah. So I ended up buying a new bow and didn't realize, you know, coming to the military, like they just give us stuff and we make it work, Right. So I was like, oh, that's a bow, I'm going to make it work. And couldn't make it work after outside, you know 20 meters, so I shoot in meters. It's carry over from my time military.
Speaker 2:Um yeah and uh, and so I ended up getting, uh, Carbon Icon. It's great, I've got it set up. It's 65 pounds right now. Draw weights I've used it in Africa.
Speaker 2:I've been fortunate. I have a friend who's been to Africa twice and befriended the outfitter that we went with. He visits us usually every January, robert, with Royal crew safaris. Uh, he's a veteran actually himself. Um, served during, like during the bush wars in South Africa. Yeah and uh. Yeah, it's interesting to me. Like a lot of them, especially if you, if you're a white guy living in South Africa, um of them, especially if you're a white guy living in South Africa, you would have served in the South African Defense Forces back in the day, and so it was great to befriend him. He's got a great hunting property and I think I've harvested more animals in Africa with my bow than I have in Canada.
Speaker 2:You know this as an aside I've learned so much about hunting from being in Africa that I've been able to apply here, especially when it comes to wind, like it is everything, and you know what. You'll hunt in jeans and a khaki shirt, and there's sometimes I'll do that. My son and I will head over to one of the ranches here to chase elk and we'll just jeans and like, uh, you know, a camo sweatshirt or something. Um, cause it's all about the wind. Yeah, and that would be my biggest lesson to people is to save your money. Put it into a good bow, could it put into good rifle and good optics?
Speaker 2:Um, and if you, if you hunt with the veteran hunters, we can probably give you a good deal on vortex optics too, and uh, but uh, yeah, save your money and put it into that kind of stuff and into your tags. And especially like you're a trades guy and you've got those padded knees and your trade pants I've got sons who are tradesmen. Yeah, just wear what you wear to work, work after. Just wear jeans. It doesn't, like I said, it's all about the wind and um um, Do you believe in the scent eliminator stuff?
Speaker 1:I don't. I'll tell you I don't.
Speaker 2:You know, I've tried.
Speaker 2:I've tried, yeah, I've tried that in the past. I've even, you know, washed my clothes with you know, unscented detergent. Yeah, but once you wear it, you know you got your smell on you. So really, it's all about the wind and being patient, like there's times where we've gone to hunt elk on the ranch and the wind's not in our favor and we're like you know what, we're just going to sit back and observe and see what comes, because the wind's just not working. And it's a lot about just being patient and just not busting out your animals If the opportunity doesn't present it. That means you just get to hunt another night. Make sure you clear it with your wife. But, yeah, I'm all about really save your money for the stuff that's meaningful, that helps you harvest harvest an animal.
Speaker 2:Now, you'll see on our, you know, on our YouTube channel and when we were shooting the TV show, like I'm wearing, I'm wearing Sitka stuff, right? So, um, there were some, there were some contractual obligations with wearing this stuff, don't get me wrong. Like that Sitka stuff I'm wearing um is some of the best, um, best clothing I've worn, especially that Gore-Tex jacket and the camo is perfect for the open plains that I predominantly hunt. But you know, yeah, save your money. You know, unless you've got money to spare, yeah, you know. Unless you've got money to spare, you know yeah.
Speaker 1:So Todd, sitting across me right now is Sean and he has taken, he's working on your New Brunswick chapter, I guess kind of thing for the veteran hunters. Did you guys want to say how you got connected? Sean in your military service? Do you want to kind of you got connected or sean in your, your military service? You want to kind of touch on that a little bit?
Speaker 3:uh, sure, um, I joined the army in 1990. I joined in the armored corps. I was on tanks for six years and then I changed over to become a vehicle tech or a mechanic and I did that for 20 years. So I had 26 years combined service. Um, I retired in 2017 and I was always looking for something when you retire out of the army. That's it, that's all. You've been immersed in this culture for so long, and then when you drive out the main gate, it's all done. So you're always craving for something and you go back to the base and then you know you see your friends that you worked with and then you know that sort of filters off and you're, you don't go back to the base anymore and you know you're not talking to the same guys that you used to talk to about the same stuff you used to talk about. So I was always looking for something. So, fast forward a couple of years, I was watching a free thing of the Sportsman's channel and the veteran hunters was on. Well, let's watch this. Oh, let's Google it in YouTube and see what happens. Well, look at that. There's a few more videos, let's watch that. Oh, there's some podcasts, let's listen to that. So, anyway, so I started going, you know, investigating a little bit. This would have been October or November month last year, and so I reached out and understood that there wasn't anybody in New Brunswick. And I just recently, recently got my guide license and I, you know, I I found Todd's contact information. I reached out to Todd and said you know, I'd like to bring the veteran hunters to New Brunswick. I'm located next to one of the biggest army bases in Canada. There's a big veteran uh um population in the area, in the Fredericton or Mukdo area, uh, and I think I thought it would be just a good fit.
Speaker 3:I'm in the woods Anytime I can get a chance to get into the woods. I'm doing something, I'm I'm baiting, I'm scouting, I'm looking, I'm I'm hunting. I'm just an excuse to get out in the woods and see what's there. There's so much opportunity to see things when you're in the woods. Uh, I've seen so much Um and, like Todd says, it's to me it's therapeutic. Oftentimes I'm out there all by myself. That's okay. I'm not thinking about anything, I may, you know, my mind is stopped because now I'm focused on looking for animals or, uh, seeing the tracks and following tracks and whatnot. Um, and you know, I, like I say, I reached out to todd and uh, one thing led to another and I was uh scheduled to take two bear hunters out this spring. I took them both out and we were successful on the first night, or first evening, I guess.
Speaker 3:Both hunters both hunters on the on the not on the same day, but okay on separate days, but on the first hunt, yeah, yeah, it's pretty good.
Speaker 3:And the look in their face I didn't harvest a bear this year. I didn't need to because I saw them and their expression when they got their first bear uh, and all the events that led up to that. You know, we went out, went out scouting, we went out baiting. They were part of the whole process and, like Todd said, you know, it starts right in the truck. Hey, how are you? You're already connected. You know it's not awkward. There's no awkwardness when you're meeting a brand new veteran or first responder because you share something there, you know. And when you shake the hand, uh, it's a familiar handshake, uh, and that just makes everything work so much better and lets people open up a little bit easier. You know, cuts down the barriers and, uh, you know, like Todd said as well, uh, it's not about the harvest, it's about the, the, the, the whole package, um, and it's, I'm really enjoying it yeah, I mean a lot of the guys that you take out, have they hunted before?
Speaker 3:this is question for you, sean and todd yeah, the two guys I took out this spring, both of them had hunting experience. Neither one of them had ever hunted a black bear.
Speaker 1:Okay, so I was able to, because I mean, that's a great thing too is that you're connecting with fellow veterans and all that, and also you're getting more people into the hunting Absolutely, and that's another voice for us hunters.
Speaker 3:That's right and not to go on a tangent here, but at some point we have an obligation. If we're proficient in hunting and I'm not proficient in it, I'm learning every day. Um, there's a time when you need to pass those skills and that knowledge onto somebody else, and not saying that the guys that I took out didn't have any skills or knowledge Uh, they certainly did, but you know they didn't have any skills with bear hunting. Now they do. You know, one guy has set up his own bait now and he's bear hunting and he wants to take somebody out. He's, you know that motivated him to do something with the knowledge he gained.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we get a lot of tags.
Speaker 1:Oh sorry, todd Go ahead.
Speaker 2:We get a lot of veterans or first responders, you know, contacting us and say, hey, I haven't hunted before, I've got my pal or I've got my bowl and um, and so it's it's. It starts with them guiding them through the one, figuring out the bureaucracy of how do I apply for tags or is it a general tag, especially when we're talking elk and um, removing any of the confusion that's there and uh, and then just basically teaching them. We'll teach them as much as they want Everything from how do I, you know, get my hunter education and get my licenses to? You know, can you help me harvest an animal? And then what do I do? It's funny, I I love this part, like when the guy drops the elk on the ground and then he looks at you and he's like, now what? And I start laughing and I'm like get your knife and uh, and then we'll work, we'll talk them through there. And actually on our website, if you go to kind of our learn section there, a few years ago my youngest son, michael, when he harvested his first bull elk, we actually had a camera with us. So we're like, hey, let's quick start filming, so one of our civilian volunteers and we'll use civilians to help us out. Some of the civilian volunteers I have here are really experienced hunters and they'll help me out and tag along just to help provide some of that additional experience and guidance and direction, especially, and in this case, tim's on film basically talking my son Michael through on how to dress out, um, this bull up, this bull elk, and so we have that kind of the resource for people to to uh, to look at and uh and then so then we'll do the same with people who come out uh with us and then uh, and if they want to learn how to process your own animal, I have the time to do it. So I process our entire family of animals because all my kids hunt and I can't wait to actually take my grandson on my back for the first time. That's going to be fun Working on the next generation of hunters in our family.
Speaker 2:But these days are like a lot of veterans and first responders. They're looking for that protein to feed their family. And you think about, like your Alberta residents, last year, you know, an elk tag general tag was like $39.95 and then taxed a few dollars more this year and then it's a couple bucks for that bullet. That's a pretty cheap 150 pounds of meat if you prostrate yourself. And we were fortunate last year we were able to donate some elk meat to the Veterans Food Bank of Alberta.
Speaker 2:We're fortunate here in Alberta that we can do that and we're now kind of we have a significant cow elk problem on two of the ranches that we have here. Like we're talking like 600 cow elk that pretty much have that have been born, raised and will die on these ranches, and we've been working with the province and landowners and so the province started allocating tags to veterans that all take out on mentored hunts and to help reduce the size of these herds, and you can take two cow elk on those tags and so guys will sometimes will donate one of their animals back and then we work with a butcher to get it butchered and then donate it to the food bank. And we're fortunate that we're able to do that here in Alberta and it's just, yeah, it's just a great, great experience and it was great to be able to have, you know, sean, come on board and connect with us and, um, now we're able to provide some opportunities for guys, uh, for guys in New Brunswick.
Speaker 1:So yeah, well, like I said, I think it's great that you guys kind of killing two birds with one stone, you're helping fellow veterans and then just that's more people getting into the hunting industry, more people buying tags and telling other people about it, and just with all the anti-hunters out there, it's just us kind of fighting back a little bit too, and it helps a lot.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, it's great when we talk about conservation and hunting as a form of conservation. You know working with being able to work with landowners here who who have a problem with with sizable elk herds and um, and being able to take people there and help reduce the number of elk on a property, because these elk are eating their you know eating their crops and are pushing you know, know, putting pressure on their, their beef herds, and and then you know working with the province to say, hey, we've got the access to the private landowners.
Speaker 2:You know, we can help reduce the size of these herds by by by taking these veteran mentored hunts onto these properties. And we started with it last year and, like we shot 10 cow elk last year and you know we kind of need to shoot like one to 200, uh, to start making a dent into this. Um, but uh yeah.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, no, that's great. Uh, is there any other way for people to uh veterans and uh other people to donate hunts or anything like that, to reach out to to your organization, just online? And?
Speaker 2:yeah, like we like we uh. Um, one of our most recent uh youtube episodes and and you know, I encourage people um to go check out our youtube channel it has all our past seasons that we aired on sportsman's channel and that was a great relationship they they donated their time to us for free. Uh, we just had to provide the content. Um, and there's some new, really, really cool uh videos on there. I filmed an antelope hunt took me 11 years to get that tag, but we actually have some rare footage of two antelope bucks sparring with each other. Um, we've got some just amazing footage in some of those episodes that did extremely rare opportunities and but one of the episodes that we shot most recently when we put up we filmed it last year and we worked with Lady Judy at Big Grass Outfitters in Manitoba for black bear hunts and what it was was she offered to provide us food and accommodations. Um, we used, uh, our own tree stands over bait that uh, my guys in manitoba at the time had set up, and and that was a great opportunity for us. So that's one of the one of the issues is kind of is logistics right for guys like sean or now myself or other parts of the country is that we may not necessarily be living where we're hunting, but if there's outfitters in the area and they're able to provide opportunities for us and if we can promote them and what they're doing, it's a win-win for everybody.
Speaker 2:One of the unique things about our organization is that it's a peer leading a peer through the activity. So you know, we've had outfitters contact us and say, hey, I want to donate a hunt for a guy to come and hunt with me, and we're kind of like that'd be great Love to. But our model is that you know I'm going to send a hunter host with that veteran or first responder and they're going to accompany them through the hunt. Um, and so you know that's one of the caveats we have is more than happy to work, to work with, uh, you know, outfitters on different opportunities. But just keep in mind that we will always need to make sure that we send a hunter host with that veteran or first responder who's going on that hunt.
Speaker 2:In some cases that's going to free up a guide for an outfitter and that was kind of one of the models I learned from my friend in South Africa, rob Birch, was that I had a guide with me through my entire experience. In fact, the first time we went, we were in Africa for like 17 days. We had the same guide for all like 17 days and he toured us all over and just basically, you know, I knowingly adopted a similar model to what we're doing. It's just kind of like that, that reassurance having your buddy there, because when you're, you know, I mean Sean was an armored guy, right, so there's three other guys in that leopard tank with him, right.
Speaker 2:So he's never, he's never without another guy. And then I was an infantry officer, right, so I've always got like 30 to 40 other soldiers with me all the time, right. So the idea of sending a guy out on his own, putting him in a tree, is just kind of foreign, a foreign concept to us. Whereas, you know, we put you in a tree stand, your hunter host is right there next to you, so we make sure we buy, you know, extra extra large, extra wide, uh, two-man tree stands, and that's why it's great having partners like basketball capellas that can, you know, assist us with some of that stuff.
Speaker 1:So yeah, absolutely yeah. No, uh, todd, like I'd really like to thank you for uh taking time out of your day to come on the podcast, and I was talking with sean before about this that, uh, I'd like to donate a hunt and, sean, you're obviously welcome to definitely come along and even bring your brother-in-law and I'd like to donate a hunt for a I don't know if any of you guys have done this yet a snowshoe hair hunt with beagles, the dogs. It's a lot of fun that would be fun it's uh.
Speaker 1:You don't have to be quiet, you don't stay very still. It's action and uh, it's. It's a great way to uh. You know you can talk throughout the hunt and hang out with everybody and it's it's a lot of fun a lot of fun so definitely this fall and have accommodations oh, perfect, certainly appreciate that.
Speaker 3:Yes, absolutely Absolutely. I hunt them all live.
Speaker 2:It's kind of like a winter pheasant hunt out here.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's great, Thank you, I appreciate your generosity and no thanks for having us on and it's, you know, like I said, it's great to have Sean in New Brunswick and be able to provide the opportunities for people. I mean one of the you know, two barriers that we have to being able. We have no shortage of participants. In fact, last couple years, unfortunately, we've had to actually, you know, say no to people because of either inability to fundraise, but also we're always looking for good volunteers and so you know the number of volunteers we have kind of limits it. But, for example, I mean, I probably last year I probably hosted like 25 guys last year, uh, here in alberta and uh, but I'm, I'm really close to where we hunt. In fact, actually I can probably I can hunt out the front gate of my house if I wanted to, but I don't typically, but anyhow.
Speaker 2:But yeah, we've got some just great relationships with landowners who have really opened their hearts and their homes and their properties to us and it's become a great relationship here. And I wouldn't be as successful as we are, say, here in Alberta, with some of our elk hunts, if it weren't for the generosity of these two landowners and just really I don't know, for the whole hunting season. I'm pretty much their game warden, I'm pretty much there every day and now one of my sons actually works for one of the ranchers. So, um, yeah, it's just been a great, great relationship and, uh, and I'm sure you know, sean is making the same connections there in new brunswick.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, um, with fellows like yourself yeah, yeah, no, like I said, I'm looking forward to it and that's uh, that's kind of why I like the small game. Hunting is just the fact that I like being able to talk and having to be quiet in a tree stand and just the social aspect of it and everything, and I look forward to whatever veterans you have come out. Absolutely yeah, we'll talk offline and we'll get that sorted out for sure. Yeah, it'll be a lot of fun.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I need to get out of my office more and travel across the country and spend more time with my, with my guys. It's uh um once we talk about more volunteers, but when I'm hosting, when I'm when I'm hosting 25 guys uh, a hunting season, they get uh it's about time I got room. Awesome, thank you.
Speaker 1:Alright, thanks for coming on.