The Hunting Stories Podcast
Ep 067 The Hunting Stories Podcast: Charles Whitman
Get ready for a captivating journey into the wild with Charles Whitman, the president and founder of Howl for Wildlife. Originally honing his hunting skills in Michigan, Charles now resides in California, where he continues his passion for hunting and advocacy for wildlife conservation.
Allow Charles to guide you through the thrill of the hunt, as he shares his pursuit of an elusive black-tailed buck and the adrenaline rush of his bear hunting adventure. You'll be on the edge of your seat as Charles recounts his near encounter with a rattlesnake and the subsequent struggles he faced. His experiences with a recurve bow during a pig hunt and his ability to get close to the pigs are a testament to his skill and stealth. His riveting hunting stories are not only engaging but also educational, providing valuable insights into the world of hunting and conservation.
However, it's not all smooth sailing. Charles candidly shares his mishaps and lessons learned, his account of a boating mishap serving as a stark reminder of the importance of safety in outdoor activities.
Throughout the episode, Charles's love for hunting, his respect for nature, and his commitment to wildlife conservation shine brightly. So tune in, and let Charles transport you into the exciting world of hunting and wildlife conservation.
Instagram
Howl For Wildlife
Charles Personal
The Hunting Stories Podcast
https://www.howlforwildlife.org/
Hunting Stories Linktree
Get ready for a captivating journey into the wild with Charles Whitman, the president and founder of Howl for Wildlife. Originally honing his hunting skills in Michigan, Charles now resides in California, where he continues his passion for hunting and advocacy for wildlife conservation.
Allow Charles to guide you through the thrill of the hunt, as he shares his pursuit of an elusive black-tailed buck and the adrenaline rush of his bear hunting adventure. You'll be on the edge of your seat as Charles recounts his near encounter with a rattlesnake and the subsequent struggles he faced. His experiences with a recurve bow during a pig hunt and his ability to get close to the pigs are a testament to his skill and stealth. His riveting hunting stories are not only engaging but also educational, providing valuable insights into the world of hunting and conservation.
However, it's not all smooth sailing. Charles candidly shares his mishaps and lessons learned, his account of a boating mishap serving as a stark reminder of the importance of safety in outdoor activities.
Throughout the episode, Charles's love for hunting, his respect for nature, and his commitment to wildlife conservation shine brightly. So tune in, and let Charles transport you into the exciting world of hunting and wildlife conservation.
Instagram
Howl For Wildlife
Charles Personal
The Hunting Stories Podcast
https://www.howlforwildlife.org/
Hunting Stories Linktree
Howdy folks and welcome to the Hunting Stories podcast. I'm your host, michael, and as usual, we got another good one for you today. Today, we actually connect with Charles Whitman. Charles is a hunting guide businessman, but he also is the founder and executive of Howell Football Club. If you're not familiar with Howell for Wildlife, you need to be. They're basically making all hunters advocates for the thing that we love. I'm not going to go too deep into it here. We're going to let him go ahead and kick off some crazy stories that were really fun to listen to, but please pay attention near the end, when he starts to go into a little bit more about what Howell for Wildlife is. I'd like y'all to check out his Instagram, as well as their website and everything they're doing.
Speaker 1:So, that's well stopped. Now let's get this thing started and let Charles tell you some of his stories. Thank you All right, Charlie. Welcome to the Hunting Stories podcast. Sir, how are you doing?
Speaker 2:Good Thanks for having me on, michael. Yeah, man, yeah, I'm excited to have you.
Speaker 1:I see Nice to meet you as well. I think I told you beforehand, I've been following you guys for a while and you know I just recently I'm about to hit the Elkwoods I'm literally leaving for Colorado tomorrow and I saw a post that you did and I was, like you know, I got to get this guy on and because what you do is different than what we do, but I thought it would be fun to have you on tell some great stories and then it'd be really important to share what you guys do at the end of the episode or a little bit at the beginning. So why don't we kick this thing off right and just start by letting you introduce yourself, so that people that don't already know who you are know who they're hearing some stories from today?
Speaker 2:Yeah, sure, my name is Charles Whitwam. I am. As far as the hunting community is concerned. I'm the president and founder of Hall for Wildlife. We basically simply we try to get hunters to be activists. We let them know about the issues and try and get them involved in a pretty efficient, easy way. So that's what we do there.
Speaker 2:I have a business here in California besides that, like how I actually make my money, how I actually make my money and I also guide a little bit, sometimes a little more than others. I hunt all the time. I live in California now. I grew up in Michigan. My dad was probably one of the earliest bow hunters. He started bow hunting in the late 50s. Oh wow, and I have his first recurve, one of his recurves. I'm guessing it's his first, I'm not sure, but yeah, so I've always been around hunting for my whole life. It's the thing that I am best at and it's what I think about the most and it's what I spent most of my time doing. I'm, I am addicted to it. I guess you could say it's just I absolutely love doing it. It's, it's fantastic. And, living in California, people might be surprised. There's actually actually a lot of hunting here and species you can't hunt elsewhere, and interesting seasons, so I go out of state, but I do love hunting here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I've heard there's some some great hunting in California, but I don't know. Maybe maybe I heard this wrong and maybe you can correct me, but it's not great for non residents. But if you live there, you got some pretty decent opportunity.
Speaker 2:I mean depends on what you want to hunt. It's. It's got to be some of the best black bear hunting. I mean I don't want to give away, you know, hey, no, no, you're right, don't, don't hunt here. No, there's. There's more black bear, I believe, in California than in the other state in the lower 48. A lot of black bear hunting here and they're acorn fed blackberries and they're black bears and they're eating berries or they're in vineyards Fantastic eating bears, giant bears, those coastal fish tasting bears, but exactly, yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but there's really high on my list. I have a bear tag this well this year as well. Basically, my plan is hopefully put down an elk and then sit that carcass until a bear comes by. So yeah, I might get my first bear this year.
Speaker 2:Where are?
Speaker 1:you. So I am normally out of Colorado, but I recently moved to Texas and right now I'm in Texas. Okay, I'm going back home. I've been in Texas, or I've been in Colorado for the last six weeks, came home for a week basically to bring my family back down here to our house and then shooting back up for a couple more weeks to hunt elk. I'm actually going hunting with Jermaine Hodges, if you're familiar with him.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah him and I are heading out Can't say the unit, but for about 10 days. He's given me his time to. He's going to call for me, which is pretty exciting.
Speaker 2:That's super cool. So my partner, the vice president of Howell, John Stallone I'm pretty sure he's friends with Jermaine he hunted well, I know he is, I know he is, and I think they elk hunted together last year, I believe it.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Jermaine is beyond helpful man beyond helpful. He's willing to help anybody out. Well, it may not be true, but he's willing to help a lot of people out. So, but cool, charlie. Well let's. I mean, I know we came to you after a long day at work, so hopefully this is a little therapeutic for you. But let's talk some of your stories. Why don't you set the stage if you have one in mind that you want to kick it off with?
Speaker 2:Well, recently. So I started hunting in, or this year. You know I was hunting in Arizona and that is like December, january for the rut, right? So in January I go out there every year. I guess this is my third year, I think, going out there, so I can't say every year. I got an awesome mule deer out there, public land over the counter, I got a Havilena, got turkey. Here in California in the springtime I'm always wild pig hunting. I love wild pig hunting, like one thing about California and it's different than any other state. It's different than hunting wild pigs in Texas or whatever.
Speaker 1:How so.
Speaker 2:They're in the mountains, I mean, at least where I hunt them, they're a completely different animal. You know, obviously we can't bait them, there's no feed stations and all that. So it's a pretty true spot and stalk hunt and I don't think a lot of people understand it. You see, you know you see people hunting pigs on TV and stuff and it's cool. But here in California, say, like in Mendocino County or in Humboldt or whatnot, it is, I think, one of the coolest hunts on the planet. I mean, these things are like werewolves roaming around out there. A lot of times they'll have real thick hair and long hair, got those kind of Russian characteristics, but it's just where they live and how they live.
Speaker 2:They've become one of my favorite animals to bow hunt by far and honestly, the easy part. Once you see pigs, I think it's easy once you get eyes on them, but you got to find them. I honestly think that spotting, say, black tail deer or any deer and putting a stalk on them and getting an opportunity is easier than actually hunting a free range, public land, wild pig in the mountains. Interesting, I really do and I've done a lot of hunting on them. I mean I'm kind of obsessed with hunting pigs. But no, it's a cool, I can't say a species, but it's different. In California for sure, 100% different.
Speaker 1:I've run around after hogs a few times here in Texas and I'm not a big fan of sitting blind, it's just, but it's what people do out here, so I've partaken. But then I've also just been like I just want to walk around and I've spooked plenty pigs, and I imagine they're super hard to hunt, especially in mountains. Like I'm just, you know, rolling through a bunch of plants that want to kill me, not necessarily any elevation or anything like that, and so it's, it's fun, but it's, I'm sure it's very different.
Speaker 2:It's year round, of course, which is great. We do have to buy a tag for each one. That's changing next year. We can just buy a validation and then you pay 25 bucks. You'll be able to kill as many as you want. So that's cool. But our archery season for for blacktail deer so we have Colombian blacktail here. There's a lot of hybrids and all that, but we actually have true blacktail here. You know, like you're going to find in Oregon or whatnot, a Colombian blacktail.
Speaker 2:Okay, that archery season for a zone you know we have A, b, d, c, whatever for a zone starts in July, which is pretty crazy. It's got to be one of the earliest seasons in the country, right, this year it started July 8th and we're out hunting blacktail and velvet. So I guess I can start with that Opening day. You know got super lucky. We've had a tremendous amount of weather this year and rain in California, which is which is big for California, and I think it kind of pushed back. Basically, what I'm saying is that the deer were still growing all throughout July and some of them even right now maybe not right now, but I know five days ago.
Speaker 2:Some of these blacktail deer in zones where they're typically hardhorned already, are still in velvet, and it's got to have something to do with the weather that we had this year. I don't think I've lived here long enough to have seen that before, you know, but that has to be it, because it's a market difference this year. So, anyways, I got a great buck opening day. I think it was 53 yards, something like that. With my bow made a great shot. The buck was a four by three, but clearly still growing. I mean, you know, once I got up to it I'm like, oh man, there's a lot of growth left. I mean, there was like a month behind. That's so crazy.
Speaker 1:We've had in Colorado. There's been a ton of moisture too, and I'm wondering if that'll affect the elk season at all, if they've shed their velvet or not, because it's one of the wettest years in, from winter all the way through spring. It's just constant rain in Colorado.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't know. I mean I think you normally get. I mean we have severe droughts here, right? So it was a big difference out here. I guess I would say but yeah, I mean, I don't know, I guess you'll know in a few weeks, right?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'll know on Saturday when I hit the woods.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I love hunting Blacktail. I'm trying to remember how many. Let's see. This was the evening I had a few chances in the morning. It's a great hunt and what was really different about this opening week was that well, the opening at least four days. It wasn't actually hot. So, like I said, our season starts in July. It's been over the years. I can think of where it was 107 degrees. Right, we're in the mountains, everything's dry. We got these. They're called beggars lice. They're just burrs on these weeds that grow in grass.
Speaker 2:I mean they're all over you. It's just disgusting ticks. This year I think it was like 73 degrees or something. I'm like what is going on? This is incredible.
Speaker 2:Opening morning I was cold. I'm like I need another layer, which is unheard of for here, but I love it. I hate the heat, I love it when it's cold, but I just remember sitting there, glass going up, actually cold. So anyway, that evening I was just sitting in a spot that just looked good, you know what I mean. You're like, yeah, this looks good, I'm just going to sit here and be patient, and I had my tripod set up and my 15s probably glass and somewhere.
Speaker 2:And then I look over my binoculars and probably 100 yards away, here comes this buck, just kind of getting up from wherever it was bedded and coming in the feet, I guess. And so I got my eyes on him, because I'm kind of in the open, I guess, until he goes down in a little canyon and then I can move. That's basically what happened. He kind of hid himself from me, Not knowing I'm there, of course, but they worked out to my advantage and I slid down into this little canyon and actually another buck I had seen had walked up to him and they kind of smelled each other and then he took off on the other side. He just walked over on the other side out of sight. So the wind is pretty good, it was just perfect, it felt good, and I think it was probably an hour before dark. You get kind of that. You can start hearing the insects and all the nighttime stuff starts coming out, little breeze.
Speaker 2:So I'm down in this little canyon, so basically I have to go up to one ridge and he should be the last place. I saw him probably on the other ridge feeding, so I'll have a little cross-canyon shot, not far, just some little rollers really, and he's feeding in some manzanita. So I'm just telling myself well, I need to slowly get up to the top and just kind of grid as I'm walking up so he doesn't catch me. You know what I mean. I need to go super slow. I'm honestly thinking about when I hunt out here. Well, when I hunt anywhere, like how does a mountain lion move? And it's insanely slow, and that's seriously how I still hunt a lot, and so I try to just scan the entire area with my eyes left to right, whatever it is I'm looking at before I take another step.
Speaker 2:So it can take sometimes a really, when you're in that zone, the red zone, whatever, that can take a long time, but these things can see you. I mean obviously right, and so I'm going super slow and finally I'm like, oh my god, right, there it is. And it's broadside, here it is opening day, perfect. I'm pretty settled. I'm not crazy excited. I think one thing I like about kind of stalking in on an animal is you get to sort of expend that energy a little bit as compared to being in a tree stand, and a tree stand I think is the most exciting Kind of encounter you can ever have, because you have to sit. Still they sneak in. You don't like. That's where buck fever was invented.
Speaker 2:I don't really get it if I'm like sneaking in. I don't know what it is, but made a perfect shot and so I know.
Speaker 1:I hit it right.
Speaker 2:We always have doubts. I see the buck disappear and then I'm just sitting there and then I see this buck, from where this buck just disappeared that I shot. I see this buck walk up this hillside and its head is behind these branches so I can't really see its antlers at all. It's standing there and I'm looking at it. I'm like what the heck? I don't see any blood. Is he going to drop right here? And it's just sort of standing there, takes a few more steps. What the heck is going on? I'm glassing it now. I don't see any blood. I hit it broadside. I'm sure it was a pastor and the buck just walks off. I'm like no way, I was told. I'm like, no, I know I hit it, I heard it hit. Maybe that's the other buck that earlier I'd seen where they had crossbites. So I go over there and, seriously, 15 yards from where I shot it, there's the buck. He just jumped up in the air and rolled down the hill and he was dead right there. So that was the other buck.
Speaker 2:I'm sitting there going no way. Am I losing this buck? Like, where did I hit it? Did I miss you start having all the doubts and stuff and in the excitement sometimes you think you did things differently than what actually happened, I guess. But no, so that was a great start to the season with that black tail.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. It actually reminded me. I don't know why it reminded me, because they're not all that similar stories, but I got a quick story for you. This was I don't want to say 2021 or something like that and I actually have a Mule Deer tag. I'm Elk hunting, but I got a Mule Deer tag because it's a 50-50 shot if I draw it as a second choice, so I still get my points in Colorado and then I also get the tag, so it's a win-win. By the way, going up to the season, put up cameras. We have Elk every day on camera.
Speaker 1:We have bears, we have foxes, we have deer, we even have antelope over 10,000 feet, like on every camera. We have just animals, animals, animals. We go in opening day and check our cameras and there's nothing, not one critter on that camera for like a week before. And so we're having a tough hunt. By the way, it's the last day of our hunt and we're sitting there glassing. This is kind of where your story reminded me of this.
Speaker 1:But we're glassing and we see just a Mule Deer doe and I'm like that's OK, it's meat, let's go. And so we kind of start chasing after this doe, drop down this hillside and it's pretty clear and wide open and she jumps behind some trees, like let's get behind the trees, see where she goes and the game plan from there. And while we're walking down, another doe coming the other direction, just walks right up and now it's a hillside with nothing, not even grass, just like a rock hillside, and it's looking straight at us. I'm like, oh god, just standing there. It's early morning, so the sun is just bright on us. There's no hiding whatsoever and the deer goes, just stomps, huffs a little bit, ends up deciding to go somewhere else. It runs off into the only trees that are maybe 200 yards away, and when it gets there we hear it spooked up another couple of deer and so they all get up. And so now we've got multiple does.
Speaker 1:I'm like, ok, well, this isn't so bad. But one of them's coming right at us and it's just walking towards us, walking towards us, walking towards us, and I'm like I can't pull back on my bow with it. Staring at us, it's like curious, and eventually gets to the point where it's maybe 15 yards. It walks from 100 to 15 yards just right in us and my buddy's standing right behind me and he's like let me pull back.
Speaker 1:I was like I'll use you as cover. And I'm like don't use me as cover to pull your bow back. I don't want to be in front of you. If you didn't make any kind of mistake, I'm like just wait, we'll just wait. Eventually it lowers its head and I pull back. That spooks it. But it runs behind the only bush and then right back up to 15 yards, instead of to my left, to my right. And so I'm right there, full draw, and I look at my peep and my peeps turned completely sideways, just completely sideways to the point that I couldn't see the deer, let alone its vitals, like it just completely blocked my vision. I was like I have no idea what I'm looking at, I have no idea where my bow is pointing, and my buddy's like come on come on.
Speaker 1:He has no idea, because he's directly behind me and this deer just sort of wanders off, and so it's just. Your story reminded me of that, but it was a lesson to myself to always check my peep, because I don't know if I've shot my bow that season. But you're multiple deer and then you're being like oh no, like what's going on here. It just reminded me of my story, which was way less successful than yours.
Speaker 2:Always something.
Speaker 1:Recently.
Speaker 2:I haven't. I've had fantastic luck with my bow and my peep and all that, but I can relate to all that. I've got to owe a lot of it to West Coast Archery Shop. They honestly do a very good job at tying everything in and just paying. They hunt all the time, so they get the hunting scenarios and what happens to bows and stuff when you're carrying them around and all that crap. So I think that really goes a long ways because they are actually hunters themselves, not just shooters. Yeah.
Speaker 1:I think that's important. The bow shop that I set that bow up for they've since gone out of business, but they also, it turns out, I was shooting with arrows that weren't spined correctly. They were too much bend in them. So I went actually to a different shop, bought a new bow and then showed them my arrows and they're like no, we will not let you shoot these arrows out of that bow. It's basically dry firing. And I'm like what are you talking about? I've been shooting these arrows out of my other bow. They're like we're amazed you're alive. Like you shouldn't have been doing that. And so I did my own research and was like oh yeah, these guys are right. Like I was drastically underspined. So getting a really good bow shop is really really important.
Speaker 2:Oh man, and my peeps never turned sideways since. Yeah, right, yeah, no, it's amazing the difference between bow shops and I can. I'm so hard on stuff I've had. I mean, it's not always a bow shop's fault, but I've broken so many bows and cut strings and had my release out of sync or my arrows. That whole process of getting the right arrows and bear shaft tuning and we can fix blades. I mean, you name it. It's a process. It's definitely not something you can do in one day, it's not easy, and it definitely helps to have people around that really know what they're doing. That's for sure, absolutely. So what I mean?
Speaker 2:Man, I got into a recurve hunt. I think I was saying earlier, my dad was in the bow hunting and I have his first recurve from the late 50s and so I've been kind of getting into that. It's so hard. I mean, dude, I'm the worst recurve shot, but I'm pretty good at getting close. So I'm like, well, if I can get within 25 yards, that's a cool challenge. And if I am within 25 yards and I have a recurve, well, I can make that shot Anything. Over 25 yards I'm no good, but the part of the fun for me is just get the 25 yards.
Speaker 2:If you do that maybe you'll have a shot. So I've been able to do that a few times that actually this turkey, you see there I got that mounted because that was the first animal I shot with that recurve, which was like I was probably more excited about that than most other animals, just because I got the recurve Right, I mean, you know.
Speaker 1:Also, that's what your dad used, right, so it's like yeah, yeah, the dad's footsteps.
Speaker 2:That was just like what an accomplishment. No blind. No, did I have a decoy? No, I didn't have a decoy. I had a decoy, but no blind, which is hard, hard anyways, even with a freaking compound without a blind, those suckers just pick up everything. But it was just, it was my day, it wasn't its day, it was so angry. It just actually came in with another turkey and I mean, they just came rushing in, they were mad and it just worked out, you know, and I got him with the recurve, which was cool, and since then I've taken a couple of pigs, couple of wild pigs, with the recurve, which is that's just a whole new level, I guess you know, like using using the recurve and not having the sights and make a shot. I've missed a couple of times.
Speaker 2:I'm sure, and I've and I've and I've taken a few and I oh man I almost got a meal deer with the recurve in South Dakota.
Speaker 2:I just I was 15 yards. It was so windy in South Dakota in November. That's the one thing you can count on as the wind so you can get close. And the buck wasn't something. It was nice three by three, but I was like I want something bigger with my, with my compound. But I'm going to go back and get my recurve. I had it like I don't know down the creek or wherever my stash was of stuff. I'm like I'm going to go get my recurve and if I can get close enough to get this with my recurve, like I'll do that all day, like that's no problem.
Speaker 2:And I was 15 yards and what's crazy is just no shot. You're 15 yards away and no shot. And then he had a bunch of doze around him. He was not really. He was kind of in this little, kind of a little thick of the trees on a hillside and it's pretty hilly there. It's in the, in the brakes, the Cheyenne River brakes basically. And so the wind was good. I mean it was blowing in my face, so that's good, right, it's just staying out of sight.
Speaker 2:And I had some good training to work with and I'm like, man, if I can just get to that bush right there, there's no way I'm not going to have a shot. Well, I finally get to the bush, still don't have a shot, because it's just through a couple things. I need him to just kind of stand up, readjust, you know, do the things that, do the little things you need them to do to get that shot. And but it never happened. And what's crazy is, I think somehow I mean talk about going slow I was crawling for so long it was probably almost two hours and probably only went 25 yards I'm guessing it was probably something like that and never had that shot. But anyways, I'm going to try.
Speaker 2:But recently, last week it was last week or two weeks ago I got done guiding early. I was guiding some new hunters who were trying to get their first black tail and they got their first black tails, which is cool. I'm like well, I'm going to go, but they were going to do a pig hunt too. We did pig hunt, we were on a bunch of pigs, but you know, they got me. And then now they're tired or whatever else. They're like hey, we're going to go home a day early. I'm like, really, because we're just getting on the pigs and I'm telling you, if you guys stay tomorrow morning, because we're just figuring out these pigs, I think we're going to see the pigs in the morning. I'm like we can't. We got the hotel and it only goes till the morning, so we have to wake up at 3am with all of our stuff and come meet you and I'm like all right, all right, I get it.
Speaker 1:They're happy they got their deer. Poor planning and, if you ask me but yeah.
Speaker 2:So I tell them I go, I'm going to wake up in the morning, even though I'd love to sleep in, because these days are 16 hour days or so and it gets dark at nine and it's light at six, whatever it, whatever it ends up being, it's a long time from when I have to wake up and when I actually get to bed. I'm like I'm going to wake up and I'm going to go here and I'm going to text you guys because I think it's going to be good, because we just kept getting. We're kind of figuring out that it was a new place for pigs and I didn't realize there was that many pigs there and we just kept running into them, running into them. So, anyways, the next morning I get up, grab my recurve, I go to the spot where we were sitting the evening before, the same spot. I look on the opposing hillside. These guys were rifle hunting, so should have been easy. I look on the opposing hillside and there's just this giant bore going up the hillside and I'm like, oh man, this is hilarious. Of course it's right there. And I'm starting to make my way up because I'm going to try and make a play on this bore.
Speaker 2:And I start to make my way up to the tree on top of this hill that's overlooking this nice valley, and we've cleared out all the leaves and stuff so we're not making noise, and got a little spots to sit. And as I'm walking up this hill to get there, I can hear something in the leaves, in the madrone leaves, which are the loudest things in the entire world, and I'm like, all right, there's either a pig or a bear up there, and so I'm just kind of sitting there waiting the wind is good, and I finally see kind of the silhouette and this thing's so big. At first I'm like, shoot, I don't even know what that is. Is that a bear or is that a pig? It's a pig and it's just milling around and starts walking right down to me and I can see this sucker and I'm like, oh my God, this is a pig, this is a big bore. I got my recurve and he's just walking right down to me.
Speaker 2:I got my backpacks to on. I like to have that stuff off, if I can, just more comfortably, you know, whatever. Yeah, honestly I can't. I don't remember if I took it off or not. I can't remember that. I remember wanting to take it off, but I think it was walking. It ended up getting on this trail and walking right towards me so but he's like he's an all-in-there. So they kind of turn every once in a while. And he turned just right and I let him have it and it's probably like 15 yards away with my, with my recurve, and man, he just bolt sideways and at that point I mean that's where it can kind of get dangerous, because they're going to run downhill and they will just take you out. You know they're really not that dangerous, but if you get him in a spot like that it can be pretty bad. Or if you have dog something or whatever.
Speaker 1:But anyways, how big was this pig? Or did you actually get to weigh it, or could you bump it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I had to pack it out, I mean. So I mean he had three inch cutters. He's probably based on some. He was more than 265 for real.
Speaker 1:It's a big pig.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean for a wild pig that runs around in mountains. I mean, that's a really big pig because they're fairly lean and it's also the summertime and man, he was all just busted up. He'd been doing all kinds of fighting, but that was cool and yeah. So there it was. I'm like, yep, I can't wait to tell these guys what happened, because they would have got their pigs.
Speaker 2:But the day before we were in this thick, thick, it was all like it was all medrones, basically medrones and oaks, and we were waiting and I was like I was like 1130. I was like, hey, I'm going to go down this trail, you guys stay here. It was so hot. I'm like I don't want to wear you guys out. If you don't need to, I'm just going to look ahead here.
Speaker 2:I go about 100 yards and I hear all the squealing and fighting, so I run back to them. I'm like, hey, we got pigs, let's see if we can, you know, get on them. We get above them and for about three hours it really, I think it was like from 12 until three. It was one of the coolest experiences and this was what I love about pigs is that they're vocal and if you get on them where they're comfortable and they're either a hot sow or whatever else. You get to hear the craziest stuff. So for three hours we sat above them and somehow the wind for three hours was in our favor, which is so tough with pigs. But we heard them fighting and moving back and forth and like hitting each other and rubbing themselves on trees and making they make they whistle and they you know just all kinds of crazy noises that they make. But for three hours we never had a shot. We could see their legs, we could see their tails. Every once in a while I could see it was so thick and we couldn't get a shot in any of the openings and it was impossible to sneak to them because it's just potato chips everywhere, like you can't take a step without it. Just it's ridiculously loud.
Speaker 2:So it's a cool experience, but it was, oh man, it was just cool to sit there and then we got to the point where we ran out of water. It was 100 degrees at this point and the one guy was like I'm feeling lightheaded, I'm like, yeah, let's go right now because we're going to pass out, like we've just been sit. It was in the shade, but you're sitting out there and you still got all your hunting crap on. It's just hot, you know, I'm like let's go back, we'll find them again. And we did. We just never had another chance at them. But yeah, that was cool to get that pig and then. So I did the gutless method on it and packed them out, took pictures and stuff.
Speaker 1:What did the boys say when you showed them the photos?
Speaker 2:Well, they actually were like. They didn't believe me. They were like whatever, who took the pictures? Because I have like a little tripod I'll set up on the ground and actually what I do is just set it to video and then I'll go back later and take screenshots. Gotcha, that's how you take like solo pictures and you can. It's great, like you can actually get really good pictures like that. You frame up the animal real quick and you know on the little tripod and make sure there's enough height, you know behind the animal to get the picture and stuff, and you can get some great pictures like that. And that's actually what they said.
Speaker 2:I'm like, no, this is what I do, like this is how you do it. And I'm like don't you recognize? This is where we've been sitting for you know two days. And they're like what the heck? So I'm packing that out. I got my recurve and I always do stupid stuff, so the recurve quiver isn't. I got these big you know kudu point broadheads in the quiver. I was like adjusting the bow and I'm used to my compound and I'm just like kind of toss it up and catch it in a different position or whatever if I'm trying to readjust and I have a complete all the meat in the hide of this pig in my kufaru and I caught my middle finger on the broadhead and like instantly, I just grab it and I'm like, dude, come on this again.
Speaker 2:You know like I'm always doing like this was a perfect day, so I'm just squeezing the heck out of it so I'm not bleeding everywhere and my Jeep isn't too far away now. So I got a whole pig. I got my bow sort of on me. I'm holding my middle thing. My blood isn't squirting out everywhere. I looked to my right. In three feet away is a coiled rattlesnake.
Speaker 1:Oh God.
Speaker 2:And I'm like all right, I'm just going to die right now. What is that? So I'm like, okay, like for real, don't do anything stupid right now, because I'm kind of on this, it's a big piece of like bark or something. It's like 12 feet long of bark and it's kind of on this angle that after that we've been stepping over for three days. Apparently there's been a rattlesnake there which I've been looking for. But I'm like you know, now I'm thinking like, oh my God, how many times do we have our foot right there, you know whatever. So I'm like all right, don't slip on this log, because it is slippery and I need to just get across it and get to my Jeep and I'm going to come back and I'm going to whip this rattlesnake's ass. After I wrap my finger, I get to my Jeep, the first eight kits there, and I just wrap everything super tight and I'm like, dude, this is like it's a bad cut, you know.
Speaker 1:So how deep if you had to get? Like I don't know if you know, but it's.
Speaker 2:I mean, I needed stitches.
Speaker 1:Okay, so pretty good.
Speaker 2:I didn't have time and it was, I guess. Thankfully it was sort of closer to the tip. I'm looking at it now because it's just sort of closed. Finally, it was a problem for the next few days, like it just would just open back up, which leads me other story. So I wrap it up, I grab my shovel and I'm like dude, I'm killing that rattlesnake. I go back and I kill the rattlesnake. So get back to my Jeep. Now I got to pack everything up with like one hand because it just you know what I mean Like can you have your hand wrapped and everything else.
Speaker 1:So the whole one hand, squeeze kind of thing, trying to stop it from bleeding.
Speaker 2:So I got like a camper, that I have a cab over camper on the truck, all that crap to load up and I'm like I know this is going to be a pain in the butt and it was the whole time. It just keeps opening back up and I got to redress it or whatever I finally get out of there. And it's a long ways out and I'm flat towing my Jeep with my truck and I got the cab over on and so I'm going nice and slow and everything. I get out sort of, to the main mountain highway which is super windy, coming down the highway, talking on the phone and just outside of town.
Speaker 2:Thankfully it happened. I mean, if it was going to happen, thankfully happened where it did my water pump goes out. Now I'm flat towing and I'm driving and when your water pump goes out, your belt well, my belt came off. So I got this duly, all this weight and Basically I lose power steering and, like the brake booster is, I'm like, oh, I don't know what's going on. You know when it happened. Holy crap, I'm going downhill, what happened to my brakes, and I can't steer no power steering on this freakin ten thousand pound truck, while telling that's typical for me, like always.
Speaker 1:With a busted finger dude all the time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I pull over, everything's fine, trying they Figure out, alright, I don't have a belt, you know, and the routing it's a newer truck and the routing, the map that it's usually like under the hood and how to route a belt, it's not there. So I have no idea how to route it. I. I have hardly any service at all, so I can't, like it won't the internet will load up. So most of stuff I can fix on my own. And, dude, I tried fixing this thing, of course, with my finger and my hands are all in there. And you know the newer trucks, there's no room, dude, I am like now my forearms and everything is just Bleeding. It's a hundred degrees outside. So I'm like, all right, how far can I get this truck without a belt? Like screw it, dude, I'm gonna go to town and I think town, like the start of town, is about two miles away. I Gotta worry about it overheating. I need to pay attention to that starts doing that.
Speaker 2:I was pulled over, you know. So that's what I do. And I Get the town and then there's a restaurant. I pull on the parking lot, I just turn it off. I Get on the phone like, hey, you guys open, yep, oh, so five, whatever. I'm like all right. Well, here's what happened. I Know it's probably gonna take a few days or whatever you the order, whatever you need to order, but I'm not sure what's wrong, but one of the pumps or something went out, I don't know. So, anyways, took me about an hour to go about three miles. I have to keep shutting it off and then stop and wait, you know, finally made it there, rolled it in, disconnected my Jeep, got all my crap like that I would need Into my Jeep, which is you can't hardly fit anything in a Jeep, but thankfully I had it because I wouldn't have another vehicle.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I tell, go to the hotel, turn it on 60, put the cooler in there with the pig and and all my crap. And because this happened, I'm like, oh man, I get to go to this other ranch that's further north. I'm done guiding. The other guy that's up there is done guiding. And this is a new ranch that the the outfitter. He's like, hey, there's a bunch of bear here, and the landowner, you know he'd really like some bear taken out. And I'm like, well, I got nothing but time now. So they get a bear With my recurve.
Speaker 2:Now I know that's completely out the door because of my finger. So I'm right-handed and the cut is right in my middle finger. I'm like I can't shoot free. It just won't feel right and I'll have this big bulge with my Dressing and all that crap. So, whatever, I got my compound though with me. That's pretty cool too, and who knows, I might not even see a bear right. So I'm Dog tired. I mean right up guiding for four days, maximum five hours of sleep at night, and you got the pressure of clients and all that kind of stuff, everything it's. My truck breaks down. I'm on the side.
Speaker 1:You know all this all that, all that stuff that goes wrong is exhausting all that stuff and you just had it one after another. But yeah, I get it.
Speaker 2:So my, my Jeep is like loaded like the Beverly Hillbillies. I mean just everything I need the hotel unload everything in the hotel. Tim calls me. He's like you coming up from my kid. I gotta take a shower and I'll be up there. It's about an hour and 15 minutes away and I Do all that. Get my Jeep, drive north and it's like the best drive of my life because I'm just like screw this, like it sucks, like it's always something that has to happen, a truck or this or whatever. I'm always so tired it just gets frustrating. But it was like the best drive. It was the Like warm evening, air, a minute Jeep with the top down and all that. So that feels cool, right, and I think I have my air pods in, I'm listening to like Sturgill Simpson or something and I'm just Out loud going down the highway and it felt so good, it was amazing. So Like I remember it specifically just being, I just felt Like a awesome sense of freedom and yeah.
Speaker 1:I think we've all had those drives before. I can think of a couple in my history. Well, I'm like I remember one time looking in the rearview mirror and just seeing the mountains and being like this is pretty sweet, this is a good moment right here. So I think that's just human nature, man, but that's cool that it happened after all of that other stuff.
Speaker 2:So I get up there there's probably seven, okay, yeah, and I'm so tired and, like Tim, you know, he wants to talk and do all this stuff. I'm like, all right, you know, I'm just tired, dude, you know, and he wants to drive me around this ranch. He's super excited, it's a new ranch.
Speaker 1:Tim's the outfitter like 6,000 acres.
Speaker 2:What's that?
Speaker 1:Tim is the outfitter.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I'm Lockwood and Lockwood hunting services, by the way, so Drives me around. He has to leave because he's got a guide, a deer hunter, at another ranch the next morning. So Brian and I the other guy, I stay at his camper. Now, of course I should have went to sleep, brian, and I stay up to like one in the we. You know, I'm no, I just shoot myself in the foot, all whatever. We stay up to one in the morning. I think we still got up at five something and Like let's, let's get up. And he'd shot a pig the day before. He'd wanted to get get a pig and there's just pigs all over the place.
Speaker 2:Giant bucks, laytonville, it's a Mendocino County. It's one of the best areas to hunt anything in all of California. It's Unreal. One of my favorite places, for sure. So it's like, hey, let's go check out this spring, all right, it's like we're seeing bear everywhere. Like, really, you're just seeing bear like Driving around. You know, weird, that's kind of weird. He's like, oh, like with the client he had, like he's like I don't even know how many bear we saw, just driving these roads and see if you bear ever. All right, so we start sneaking into this spring and I see a bear. Think we got about 42 yards away. The bear has cups.
Speaker 2:Okay, that was cool we turn Showing me some different areas, whatever, and then so he's got a pig on the ground, my, my pig. I'm like it's okay, it's in the hotel. I got it on ice and I got the AC on 60 still, and it's right, the coolers are in front of the Right, in front of the AC.
Speaker 1:I got a quick question for you about your pig before we go into the bearest part of the story. But you said you packed out the hide. Do you usually pack out the hide on your pigs and if so, what? What for well?
Speaker 2:Actually, no, I just packed out the head. Okay, got it if I'm gonna get what do?
Speaker 1:I was like what do I not? Know, I can kill a high, get the hide out. But I was curious. If it was just curious.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, this one was just the head. The head Is it good? Really good bore. But yeah, I mean, if I'm gonna get it mounted, I guess, then you know, then I'd pack outside, got it.
Speaker 1:Got it. That makes sense.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so Brian's got his pig in a skinning shed that's in the, it's in the, it's in the shade, really nice, you know. But we got to get it on, nice, you know, at a certain point. So Like, hey, let's go to town, let's get your ice. I don't know what I'm going to do because I don't have a cooler. Yeah, my coolers. I didn't plan on hunting, I didn't. I didn't have a cooler, right. But all this happened. So I'm like I don't care, I'm gonna figure it out, I'll get a cooler. Nowhere in town has a cooler. Nowhere, even close, has a cooler. Brian's got a little bit of room, but he's got a fridge in his trailer and I'm like well, the fridge works right, we can take out all the, we can take out all the, the shelves if we need to. And he's like oh yeah, I never thought about that, it's a full-size fridge. Be like oh yeah, I never thought about that, it's a full-size fridge, right.
Speaker 2:So we go to town to get his ice, come back, take care of his pig, make sure it's all good and let's go out bear hunting game. So we go out, spot a bear. It's like 11, 30 in the morning, hot, which actually it's. It's not bad that it's hot, because Bears need to move. They need to go to water, whatever else you know. So the heat can can mean movement. Sometimes the bear disappears, you know, don't know where it is, and we're just kind of sitting there like, well, what should you? I'm like, I was like you know, I'm just gonna sneak over there See if I can find it, see if I can hear it. I Don't know, probably didn't go, it's not like running away or anything like that, but it's probably not that far away, probably eating on some acorn. Eight green acorns are falling all over the place.
Speaker 2:So I'm playing with the wind and the wind's just nuts. I'm like this is and I'm like going across this open Field, it it's so hot and Plus, right, I'm still again super tired, which is just like I I get to kind of this ridge and that the wind is Consistent. Once I get to the ridge it's not swirling anymore. So I'm like, all right, well, I'm gonna like kind of head in the direction of when, when we'll just see what happens. So I, I start getting close, I turn my GoPro on. It's like I'm gonna try and GoPro this and turn my GoPro on and I Get pretty close to the. You know kind of where the oak trees start and the wind is like going from my right shoulder to my left. But I'm looking this way so I'm like, well, that's good if that's where the bear is. I Get a little closer and I can hear something and I'm like what am I hearing?
Speaker 2:I got sounds like something's eating, like just Like that. So now I start getting like, all right, how close I might have this bear. And I got a bow. You know, we just started thinking like it's kind of weird when you're close to animals like that, right yeah, and I see this like black stump, you know, and I look and I'm like holy crap, that black stump just started moving, like that's there, range it 40 yards.
Speaker 2:Bear sort of like. I was kind of behind this tree so he might have heard like a step that I took and he sort of like looks. Then he doesn't. I'm like he's broadside, like this is it? I've already arranged him. He's 40 yards. Smoke him, man, he just Lips in the air and I can basically just hear him rolling down the hill. Now, from past experiences I know, you know Well, it can take a while to See blood on a bear because of their hair and everything it soaks up the blood and all that. So I just take off running in the direction of the bear and Because I can hear it, so I'm, you know what I mean, I'm not going in.
Speaker 1:You're not. We're going to walk up right on it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, gotcha. Um, it's down in the creek and you know, those suckers are tough. I'm like I got more arrows and, uh, I'm just like it's not going to get away because bears getting away there sucks, dude. It's you're in deep canyons, you can't drive in, it's you're packing them out. You know what? I Emptied my entire quiver and no way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, how many arrows did you have with you?
Speaker 2:Or more.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:I've total, I mean in between that I mean you only went 30 yards or whatever. But I've heard crazier things, you know, and I've lost bear. For him, this bear is not going to go anywhere, because this is just too perfect of a story. The bears down and uh, I have a little bit of cell service because Brian's you know way back where he left me. And uh, and uh, I called him.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I called him and I'm like bear down, he's like what? I'm like, dude, bear down, just get to where you last saw me, where I came to the ridge, and you know I'll, you'll be able to see me. You know, whatever We'll, we'll figure it out. And uh, I go over to the bear and I didn't know the bear was that big and he ends up being I shot a really nice bear last year, um in uh, in covalo, which I thought would probably the biggest black bear I'm ever going to shoot. And uh, so I'm walking up to this bear and I'm like, and you know, hey, walking up to a bear, I don't walk up to it like I do a deer. Yeah, it's like, hey, that's a bear.
Speaker 1:I mean, you want to know it's dead for throwing rocks or something from 30 hours or something 100%.
Speaker 2:It's just a little. It's a little weird coming up on animals like that Just is. I think that's natural right. So, yeah, taking my time, I'm like holy crap, this is a big bear, really big bear.
Speaker 2:Anyways, we, uh, you know, bone it all out. I do take the whole hide and the head and all that. It took us. Uh, oh man, it took us a number of hours and then we had the. The pack out wasn't that bad. It was super steep. It wasn't that bad. Um, distance wise it was super steep, but I'm sure happy he was there to help me with another pack. Um, it was cooler down in the creek, had good shade, had good river rock to put the meat on. So it's amazing how fast meat cools down when you have a area like that, even when it's when it's a hundred degrees outside.
Speaker 2:Uh, we uh tried moving it around for pictures, which was which was tough. Now, this whole time, by the way, my finger is just bursting, oh, the last you know evening and into today and all that I'm trying to grab the bear and like my hand, just like a pimple, just like just blood. So I'm constantly redressing that. And you know, here I am with an open wound and bear blood and you know, you just start thinking of stuff, trichinosis and all that kind of crap you can get or whatever. But, um, now we got it out. Uh, I, uh, you know, green-scored it, I think it's probably just under, it's going to be just under 21 inches, which is insane you know, huge freaking bear.
Speaker 2:Um, so yeah, I mean that's my uh, because you know, I made a bad situation and just took advantage of it, got the biggest biggest in my life, for sure, with the recurve and definitely the biggest bear in my life with the with the bow, and even filmed it, you know, even got it on GoPro and stuff, and it was just uh, I mean, what do you say? It's just like I was. You know, it's a high when you, when you just have those things like that, that that happened. And now I'm on my way home and you know, tim, tim came back up, his deer hunter got done the first day. So I'm like all right, cool, can you bring me a cooler and at least one or whatever? And um, they had to go back down. So it's like all right, and then we'll meet at Walmart and then I'll go on the Walmart and I'll buy two more coolers.
Speaker 2:You know, it all worked out, though kept the meat cool. Um, had some meat in a, in a fridge, and you know whatever we had to do, we made it and uh, then I, you know, finally get home, my truck was done the next day, hooked it all up, all good, and then I think I slept for two days. Oh, I'm sure I had a hunting hangover. I mean, usually every time I go hunting, um, I can't do anything the next day. I'm like seriously hungover, I'm just tired, exhausted, wiped out, um. So I probably slept for two days and then, uh, yeah, and then I'm ready to. You know, I got to get back to work, do a bunch of stuff, ready to go hunting again. My wife wants to go hunting all the time. Uh, we're going to go this weekend, actually with my son and my wife.
Speaker 1:We're going to go, which is great. What are you hunting for?
Speaker 2:Um, I'm not hunting, I'm done. But they're hunting for, uh, I guess, whatever uh, but we're going to focus on black tail gear, but it could be big or bear, all everything's in season. Um, so they're going to go uh with me up to a spot that I, that I hunt on generally, and then I'll be in Idaho soon. Hot milk. Um and the awesome for whatever September that's amazing, Charlie.
Speaker 1:Your your story, the, from start to finish, like you could have just told the story about the hog and guiding and the guys bailing early, and then you killing the monster hog, and that would have been a great story right there, Uh, but it just kept going. You know from a slice in your finger, the truck, the bear, everything about that story, the rattlesnake I don't want to forget the rattlesnake. Uh, right, that was a great story, man, Thank you for sharing. I uh, and I think one of my favorite parts was your little like moment of Zen, just driving your Jeep with you know, like the what do you say? The Beverly Hillbillies, just driving it to the next spot.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:That's, that's great man. That was, that was awesome. Um, well, I'm not going to stop you, but if you want, if you have more stories you want to tell, feel free. Um, or we can tell the people a little bit more about how for wildlife and wrap this thing up. Man, I don't want to take up too much of your time because I'm sure you could use a break.
Speaker 2:I can tell you sorry, which is funny and it's it's making fun of myself. So when I first Hunting pigs in California, uh, it was on public land and I had the two um you basically have to boat in. So I had, like a John boat, put it in the back of my truck with the motor Unload and then you can boat into these camp in boat, in camping areas, but you have you got to boat to them to get to it and it's super steep. What are the coolest places I've ever hunted? I mean just wild to get a boat in, right, but this place has got pigs everywhere.
Speaker 1:So this is it like an island, or is it just the only way to get to public land or something?
Speaker 2:is pretty much the only way to get to it.
Speaker 2:Um, okay got it for the most part, definitely to get to the best part in the biggest areas you got to boat in, okay. So, uh, this time my wife is with me and my kid, um, we set up like a big tent. I think I even had my dogs. But I wake up early, I go hunting, didn't see anything or whatever. I'm my first hunt. And then I come out and, uh, I get in my boat and I'm just acting like an idiot, like that's just, you know, spent my boat around on the lake. I mean, there's nobody out there, like it's, you know, it's not going to hit anybody or whatever else. But, yeah, I, of course I'm not wearing my life preserver and I don't have the the shut off. Yeah, um, you know the little cord, so if you fall out, it shuts you down.
Speaker 1:Kind of like a treadmill or whatever, where you clip it to your shirt. That's that Right.
Speaker 2:So, um, I'm out there, just however fast that thing will go, and I'm like swinging it to the left and you're kind of like planning across and then swinging. Right Now I don't know if I hit something I could have Maybe there was a log in the water I go flying out of the boat Like it's cold, it's really cold and the boat keeps going because you're off right. Well, it's kind of like going in circles and it comes back at me. Um, and speaking of go pros, my go pros on my head, I've actually lost it. It's at the bottom. If somebody finds it at the bottom of the lake, they're going to have the most hilarious footage. Actually, I didn't. I didn't have it on, but I have good footage of hunting on there from different stuff. But it wasn't on, I just I think I had.
Speaker 2:But anyways, I'm out of the boat. No life preserver in the middle of this pretty big lake. It's like it's probably 36 degrees outside. My boat's trying to run me over. It finally swings hard enough to where the gas tank which is in the back, like on the rear bench seat. It goes flying off, basically cutting off the fuel line. So eventually the the motor runs out of fuel. I try to get back over to it, but I can't get back in the boat because it's just like the boat's taking on water. I can't bring myself over the the top of the boat to get in it, and it worked out. But I see another boat a long ways off on the shoreline. Some other guys must have been out there hunting.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I'm I'm stupid, like I have on my favorite boots. I'm like I'm not taking off my boots, I'm not losing these boots. I'm going to swim all the way over there with all my crap on. Now I found my seat cushion floating. It's a good thing I found that and just put it underneath of me like right here and I'm like kind of just doggy paddling and I swear I'm like I don't know if I'm moving, I don't know if that, if I'm getting any closer to the to the shore at all.
Speaker 2:I remember thinking that and I'm like I have the you know wall, you know layer, uh long underwear on or whatever. So I'm not feeling cold, but I'm like I've got to be cold. I mean this can't be. I'm probably just in shock or something or whatever, because it's cold outside in the water, just certainly cold. It's the middle of winter. Anyway, I finally get to the shore and by the time I got to the shore I am exhausted. Never saw, sure nobody else out there, and I'm like my plan is to steal this boat out. What else am I going to do?
Speaker 1:Right, oh yeah, you got to live.
Speaker 2:So I think I took off some of the wet stuff I had on because it was too wet or whatever. I might have left it on shore, because I'm like these guys, they don't know who I am or I got to leave them something or whatever. So I get in their boat, it starts and I go back to camp and it's probably maybe it's nine in the morning or something like that, and I open up the tent and my wife is like what's wrong? And I was just like there was an accident. And she's like somebody got shot or something or whatever. And then she looks at me and she's like why are you all wet? And I'm like I just was overboard. And she's like, oh my God, like you're in shock right now or something, or hypothermic. So she starts taking all my clothes off and drying me off and turn on like a buddy heater or something like that to warm up. And I'm you know I'm warm enough. I'm like, hey, I stole a boat. I'm like, well, I had to, you know, to get here, to get back, because we came here with it's out in the middle of the lake. So it's like, oh my God, I'm like, so you have to go with me because we have to rescue our boat and then bring it back Because we had a. She had another boat. We had to come out in two boats because we're just have John boats Got you there. I'm like we have to go get in yours and I got to bring this boat back to these guys. I stole the boat from. We do all that.
Speaker 2:I go back to the shore and the guys are standing on the shore. I'm like this is going to be hilarious. Pull up in their boat and they're just like standing there, they're cool. But I'm like hey, I know this looks weird, but here's what happened. And and they're like what's funny about this? I'm telling the story and they like they're totally cool, they get it.
Speaker 2:So I used to make a lot of YouTube videos and stuff and they're like aren't you the guy that makes the videos out here? And I'm like crap, all right, so that's who I am and I'm the idiot out here who's killing myself on the lake and stealing other people's boats and all. I'm like yeah, that's me. And they just laugh and they're like dude, it's just, we're glad you're safe. This is hilarious because we watch your videos and that's like you know probably why they were hunting out there. So I don't know why. But there's just this crazy story. It was totally my fault. We rescue the boat. We can't get it because, like, the flange is broke or whatever, but thankfully we had the other boat but we could still tow it in. So we loaded up all the crap and that thing and Toad everything in and then, yeah, since that day I I never not wear a life preserver and not I always have the that safety cord on, because that could have been, that could have been really bad. Oh yeah, you still do donuts in the boat.
Speaker 1:I was actually waiting for you to do some donuts in the stolen boat.
Speaker 2:Well then I'm just then. There's just something wrong with me, more than there already is. But yeah, no, that was a, that was a while ago, but that was a funny story. That was. That was pretty scary. That's amazing, that's amazing.
Speaker 1:I could just imagine that those guys too, this day I don't know how long ago that was, but they're. They're still telling that they're like you want to hear a hunting story? How about this one time Somebody stole our boat.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, 100%. And I I think they know it was kind of a small community of people out there, so now it's like I'm the guy doing this whole thing and they're like, yeah, we got a story about that guy. Whatever, I do all kinds of stupid stuff, but that was definitely one of them and I I learned a lot from that one. Just I don't know, I don't know, just acting like I was invincible and oof man. That's a wake up call.
Speaker 1:I'm sure. I'm sure If it weren't for the fact that it's your story and you're telling it to me, I think that would have ended. I would have thought that that would have ended in a lot of different ways. So glad you're still here, charlie, and I'm glad it's now something you can laugh at, because it that could have gone bad.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. No, it's a. It was like that was a funny story, but yeah, that's it. I mean I got all kinds of hunting stories, but but those are the ones that that came to mind, and Perfect it's recent ones, so that's awesome.
Speaker 1:Well, I appreciate it, man. This was a lot of fun, um, I I loved all of the stories, um, and I am like one of my favorite things is telling these stories to my friends that know that I do this podcast and I'm going to have a lot of fun retelling some of these stories, um, let alone just publishing this and letting all the listeners here, and I'm sure they'll enjoy it as well. So, thank you, uh, but what do we? Uh, why don't wait? Well, why don't you tell us a little bit more about howl and then, of course, where the people can find you? Um, cause, what you're doing is is great. I know that I've taken advantage of, like the, the easy submitting that you do so that we can reach out to our uh congressmen and senators and stuff like that. So why don't you go ahead?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so, uh, howlforwildlifeorg that's a website, um, howl underscore or it is uh where you'll find us on Instagram. But, um, we are certainly completely different and on the cutting edge, um, when it comes to the space that we work in, which is uh kind of online advocacy mixed with getting involved in commission meetings. That's where, you know, probably most of the wildlife decisions are made and for some reason, it's like completely avoided by sportsmen commission meetings and uh. So we've been really successful at uh, getting people involved in that, in that process, and most of it's about, you know, education and helping you feel comfortable with what to expect, and then, um, getting you prepared for, um, you know, for the process which is talking basically, and you know, giving your story. But that's been super successful and we've really I'm about a year and a half in now, I think, maybe over a little bit over a year and a half in with howl and uh, we have some amazing partnerships and that's just starting. So it's it's, it's cool. There's a lot to look forward to.
Speaker 2:Um, and then me, you know I don't I don't post anything hunting on on howl, you know, like personally or whatever else, but um, I do have a page where you can see all my hunting stories actually, and that's basically all I use it for, like, I don't use it for anything else and, uh, that's a shadow trekker adventures and that's on Instagram, okay, but that's where all my my hunting stuff is so awesome. It's a good. It's like a uh, a reprieve. Uh for me, like, I like there and hey, here's hunting and funny me, nothing to do with my job or hunting or, or, or howl or anything like that. It's like a, it's like a good escape.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's awesome and well, I will uh, I'll put links to everything in the show notes and, like I said, definitely give howl follow on Instagram. Um, you got, you've made me aware of multiple issues that were going on in the sportsman community that I had no idea about. Um, I've hunted Washington, Texas, Colorado, Wyoming, and um, I basically try, and anywhere I've been, I try, and you know make sure I have a good, a good game. I try, and you know make sure I follow up on whatever you're posting, and you're posting from all over the country, or or or issues all over the country. So, thank you for what you do, Thank you for your stories. Um, specifically for today, I had a lot of fun. Hope you did too.
Speaker 1:And um, yeah man, hopefully we'll get you back sometime in the future to tell some more and hopefully you know you don't drown between then and then I won't.
Speaker 2:I got it. I don't want to drown.
Speaker 1:Perfect, charlie. All right, well, thanks again, man, I appreciate you.
Speaker 2:Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1:All right, guys. That's it. Another couple of stories in the books. Again, I want to thank uh Charles for coming on the podcast. We couldn't have done it without him. Uh, he had some amazing stories from that sort of marathon story he kicked it off with with the bear, the hog, the messed up finger, the truck all of that combined, just a crazy story. But then he went and told us that gem, um, where he fell out of the boat and was stealing other hunters boats. Uh, I, uh, I've thought about his stories a lot since he told me these and I laugh every time.
Speaker 1:So, charles, thank you, of course, for telling those stories and sharing with me and my listeners. Um, as for you listeners, thank you guys for tuning in. I really do appreciate it. Um, please, uh, make sure you follow us on Instagram and give us a review on whatever you're listening to this podcast right now. The more reviews we get, the more followers we get, the more shares we get, uh, the more people will hear about us and reach out with some crazy stories to tell. Um. So that's it, guys. Thank you again. I appreciate all of you and get out there and, you know, make some stories to your own, so we'll see you around.