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The Hunting Stories Podcast
Elk. Bear. Hog. Turkey. Deer and More. Hunting Stories that will make you laugh or maybe cry; real life chronicles from the field.
The Hunting Stories Podcast
Ep 151 The Hunting Stories Podcast: Jake Walsh
What happens when neighbors spot you arriving home at midnight, covered in blood, without your wife who's normally always by your side? For Jake Walsh, it became the perfect storm of misunderstanding that culminated in one of the most memorable hunting stories you'll ever hear.
Jake's path to becoming a hunter wasn't traditional. Growing up surrounded by hunters who "put a bad taste in his mouth," he avoided hunting throughout his youth. It wasn't until adulthood when concerns about food quality and factory farming practices pushed him to seek cleaner protein sources. Armed with nothing but YouTube videos and podcasts—particularly Steven Rinella's field dressing tutorials—Jake taught himself how to hunt just five years ago.
What makes Jake's journey particularly fascinating is how quickly his passion transformed into innovation. Frustrated with traditional climbing methods for tree hunting, he developed the Bandit Climber—now a sought-after ultralight climbing system. His artistic talents led to creating Rut's Mini Mounts, hand-painted replica trophies that help hunters preserve their memories in miniature form. Both businesses were born from authentic experience rather than market opportunity.
If you've ever wondered about the unexpected places hunting can take you—from suspected criminal to entrepreneur—this episode delivers with humor, heart and genuinely useful insights about modern hunting culture. Have you encountered similar misunderstandings about your hunting lifestyle? Share your story and check out Jake's innovative hunting products at raccoonrigs.com.
Links:
www.raccoonrigs.com
Social tags:
@stealthyclimber
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Howdy folks and welcome to the hunting stories podcast. I'm your host, michael, and we got another great episode for you today. Today we're actually hearing from Jake Walsh out of South Carolina. Jake is a newer hunter, been doing it for about five years, but he's completely fallen in love with everything hunting, so much so that he's kind of made it his career in his life and he started a couple different outdoor brands to try and live his dream, which is super cool. And he reached out to me and said hey, I've got a great story I want to tell, and this is one that we have not heard on the podcast for sure. There's been nothing quite like this. So I'm going to go ahead and stop there, but thank you guys, so much for tuning in. I really do appreciate it. Now let's let Jake tell you some of his stories. Thank you, all right. Well then, we'll just kick this thing off, just a real short pause and we'll go. Welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 1:Okay, Quick pause. All right, Jake. Welcome to the hunting stories podcast. Brother, how are you?
Speaker 3:I'm doing great. Thanks for having me. I'm really excited to chat with you and talk your ear off.
Speaker 1:Yeah, man, I've been following you for a while. You do some pretty cool things and, to be honest, your message to me I don't know, like a week ago, two weeks ago was out of the blue and I could tell there was some excitement about it. I'm excited to have you on the podcast, man. But let's do this. Why don't you introduce yourself and what you do, background in hunting whatever you think is good information, and we'll start there. Sound good.
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, for starters, you're one of my go-to podcasts from when I'm painting, so I paint a long, drawn-out process, so I paint long, and so you're one of my go-tos, so this is great for me. I'm not going to listen to this episode, though, because I can't listen to myself talk.
Speaker 1:Yeah, this episode though, because I can't listen to myself talk. So, yeah, yeah, I don't listen to any of mine. I can't handle it. I can't handle it, but I understand where you're coming from. Um, as long as I mean, this is completely off subject. I mean I'm interrupting your introduction, but as long as I have you. Have you tried any of my new friday hunter's briefs episodes yet? What, any, any feedback there?
Speaker 3:yeah, they're like the five ten minute ones no, I don't click on those, because when I'm paying I need something that's an hour at least, totally fine.
Speaker 1:Totally fine, man, all right, I just figured I'd ask, all right To the listeners, if you guys are listening to those, give me feedback, tell me to turn them off, get rid of them all together, or whatever. Now, jake back to you, man, all right. Introduce yourself.
Speaker 3:I'm Jake the alias online is Stealthy Climber though I'm just a humble public land hunter here in South Carolina. I saddle hunt, primarily bow and rifle. I just hunt with the seasons um white tail, pretty much only Um. It's all I really got time for and all I can really get out there and go for. Yeah.
Speaker 3:I love white hunting so much I had a um, a non-traditional, uh introduction to hunting. So where I grew up, where I went to high school, um, the hunters that I knew put a bad taste in my mouth for hunting. You know what? Okay everybody in high school was drink beer, shoot deer, like that was it. And when I was hearing that in high school I was like I will never, ever do that. That just sounds terrible.
Speaker 1:Um and so everybody kind of, if you didn't start hunting, everybody knew those guys that kind of get put a bad taste in your mouth. So I didn't start hunting and I definitely knew some guys that I was like that's not my culture, that's not for me, but I didn't know the big picture of it and, yeah, it's, it's there's. There's a lot of different paths you can take as a hunter.
Speaker 3:So exactly, yeah, and that's so. I uh, I was completely turned off by it for a long time, all of high school, all of college. Then, as I entered my adult life, what really brought me to hunting was food, food quality. Me and my wife started looking into what we were eating, what we were putting into our bodies, what we were putting into our bodies. We got repulsed by factory farming, and so I uh I was like, you know, if, if we're gonna eat meat, we gotta eat clean meat, like we gotta support local farmers or we need to go get it ourselves. And so I that's actually how I got into hunting I uh wanting clean meat, and so I just taught myself how to hunt.
Speaker 3:Uh went out in the woods. I remember when I got my first deer it was a doe and I was trembling, I was super emotional, I prayed over the animal. It was life-changing for me and at that moment, right there, I knew this is the only way. Yeah, this is how we'll get meat with our family for the rest of my life. That's cool man, that's super cool.
Speaker 1:Actually, I tell people all the time I'm like hunters have a lot of more in common with vegans than people think, because it is that like that, don't like factory farming, one good quality food, like there's a lot of similarities there and if you actually get a decent vegan who's willing to listen to what you have to say, they'll be like no, I get it. Yeah, it makes sense. Um, but man, so what? I? So it's interesting that you did that. Like a lot of people don't jump into it without having any kind of mentor whatsoever and just jump into it. How did you sharpen that learning curve? Like, what did you do? Just jump out and get in there? Were you youtube? Like what? How did you prepare yourself for that first doe hunt?
Speaker 3:oh, shout out to steve ranella, meat eater. I watched so many of those videos. I watched, uh, steve Rinella's how to butcher a deer or how to field dress a deer. I probably watched that video 60 times before I went hunting, just because. I was like if I'm gonna do this, I need to do it right yeah uh, so yeah, a lot of YouTube, uh, I'd say.
Speaker 3:And then I started listening to hunting podcasts and then, uh, actually one of the the biggest videos for me was when, uh, cameron Haynes took Joe Rogan on his first hunt.
Speaker 1:Okay, and his other comedian buddy. I can't remember his name right now, but yeah, I know the video you're talking about.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I watched that video and I was just a lot of videos and so, um, coincidentally, me and my best friend, we both got into hunting at the same time, but for different reasons, and didn't mention it to each other until we were both like.
Speaker 3:Hey, I'm going to go hunting. And my friend was like wait, I'm about to go hunting too, you like hunting? Well, I was like no, this will be my first time, and it was his first time. So we kind of just, we didn't even mention it to each other. We, we both got into hunting at the exact same time that's crazy learning together, which was great that's super cool, man.
Speaker 1:It's nice to have a buddy to make a lot of errors with. That way you each make different errors and hopefully sharpen the learning curve. Yeah, funny thing about that steven rinella video. So when I was learning same path as you youtube podcast, just absorbing what I could, um, calder parks and wildlife had a really good program like learn to hunt. So you like go to these little meetings. Um, in the meeting where it was like processing deer, they had like a stuffed animal deer, which was ridiculous.
Speaker 1:Um, but then they just put on that steven ranella video and so like that's the first time I saw that was actually at a cpw like sanctioned event, and they're like here, here's how you do it. This is the best, best instruction you will get. So it's cool that you found that um, without having to have a, a state department. You know, send it your way, um, oh yeah, but that's cool, okay. So then you and you said it was your girlfriend or your wife were interested in the health factor wife.
Speaker 1:Okay, and what did she think? Was she interested in hunting as well, or did she just say go get me food, honey?
Speaker 3:um, you know, she was very at first she. She was totally on board, she totally understood. Yeah, but when I told her that I was going to go harvest my own animal and butcher my own animal and process my own meat, she started to get a little hesitant and but now where are you doing this well?
Speaker 1:Well yeah, she sacrificed a kitchen counter.
Speaker 3:I gave a moment plop deer on the kitchen counter and I thought her heart was going to fall out of her chest. But now she's super, she's the most supportive woman on the planet, and so now she actually helps out. I remember, after I've been hunting for a while, I was like you know what? I think it's time that you see where your meat's coming from too. It's one thing for me to go harvest it, process it, and then you get to enjoy it. So I tapped her in for to help me process a deer in our kitchen, and at first you could barely pinch it with her fingers.
Speaker 3:But after 30 minutes she was deep in there with me, you know, processing the meat, and about an hour into processing it she goes. I am salivating. She was like this is making me so hung and I was like that's, that's what happened to me too. So that's awesome, man. She, she's one of the rare women where she's like can you please go, you know, get another nice big buck to where we could have some more taxidermy on the wall.
Speaker 1:So that's amazing, man. I have a funny story. I plopped a deer down on my counter and it wasn't my wife, but our childcare provider turned the corner and was like what the hell are you doing? And the meat it was actually axis deer. And she's like are you just cutting up a bunch of tuna Cause? It was like that dark, beautiful. And I'm like, no, this is, this is deer. And she's like no way, that looks spectacular. So it's cool to have someone like outside of it, just like see the raw meat and be like, wow, that looks cool. Uh, how long ago did you start this adventure, man? How long ago did you start?
Speaker 3:hunting. Uh, it's been gosh how long it's been many years, you can ballpark it 10, 15?. No, I'd say five.
Speaker 1:Five, no way, okay, that's crazy. Okay. Well, so then I have another question for you. Eventually we'll get to the stories everyone, I promise. But you have I don't know exactly your involvement, but you have two outdoor brand companies. How did you go from not hunting five years ago to basically having like two product lines from two different organizations like what, what? Tell me, kind of like, the origin story of those, because I'd love to hear it yeah, so I'll preface preface this with um.
Speaker 3:I truly believe that in like the blood memory stuff and your ancestors lived on through. All of my ancestors on my uh, biological father's side were frontier men. They got dropped off in the wilderness when, uh, when this land was first being discovered and they were given, you know, a musket and said go figure out if we can live here so the hat is a family heirloom then? Actually I just recently like reconnected and met my biological father and started hearing these things.
Speaker 1:So, uh, unfortunately no family heirlooms but did he hunt or anything like that?
Speaker 3:so they are big hunters oh, interesting okay and so he. So he has two other sons that I've never met who just don't like hunting, hate it, and that broke his heart. And so I remember the conversation I had with him, one of the first conversations. It was very recently. He was like he said something like oh man, if only you could like chase your dreams. And I was like, well, if I could figure out how to turn hunting into a career dream come true yeah and the got silent and he went you hunt.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it was like the. The world got opened up for me that's amazing, man.
Speaker 1:That's cool that that was there.
Speaker 3:Um, yeah, that reminds me of this is.
Speaker 1:This is a funny story. I don't know if you listen to the Ted Nugent episode, but he had a kid that he gave up for adoption and then, like 20 years later he's like of course you know Ted Nugent, like his right wing, as it gets, this guy is a liberal chef in like New York City and they meet and they realize this. And then he's like well, you're into food, let me go get you some deer. And now this guy's an avid hunter. So it's like crazy how it kind of does run in the blood.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but yeah. So I mean I'm very fresh into it. I'm never going to say that I'm an expert by any means, but I love it. It's my entire life, it truly is. My friends laugh at me because they're like you know, something so new. Five years is very new in a life. Something so new is what your entire life revolves around.
Speaker 3:I mean I, everything I do revolves around hunting of some sort. And so, um, I had that passion and I just dove all in. I mean, I made it my life, I loved it so much. And so, uh, when you make something, your passion, and you love it so much and you're doing it every single day, you start to, you know, think of things that could make it a little bit easier or better and stuff. So that's how the brands were born.
Speaker 3:I mean, many mounts came from my father-in-law and I having a great hunting trip together, both getting two great bucks. And you know, mounts can only be in one place. Yeah, I desperately wanted his mount because it reminded me of the hunting trip we took, and he wanted mine, and so I thought of the idea of the mini mouse, and so that's how that was born. And then for raccoon rigs, I'm a public land hunter. I'm I'm hiking deep into the woods, uh, climbing trees, finding spots, and, um, I hate sticks and I hate climbers. Yeah, there's got to be a better way to do this, and there really wasn't. And so, after a lot of brainstorming and trial and error, I came up with rack and rigs and the bandit climber and now it's all I use and people who use it.
Speaker 1:It was wildly successful and now everyone who uses it are like this is the only thing I'll ever use to climb trees so that's cool, man, that's super cool they're both passion projects born out of me diving 100 into my, my passion of hunting yeah, that's awesome, and we will talk a little bit more about your companies at the end. I think we've gone pretty far here without actually diving into these stories, although you've given us some little tidbits, which is great. I'm going to say one thing, and then let's kick into stories and the one thing I wanted to toss out to you. I know that you just met your father, but if you want to capture some of his stories, I've offered this before.
Speaker 3:No one has taken me up on it yet.
Speaker 1:Either we can bring him on the podcast and you can interview him and hear his hunting stories from his life, or I can do it for you within, or I can be a fly on the wall. We can do it however you want, and this goes out to all the listeners as well. If you got an old timer and you want to capture their stories like I'd love to be a part of that, I think it's. It's easy to get in touch with younger hunters that have social media and things like that. It's that's um, older generation. They're not into podcasts, they're not into social media. So I need help connecting with that generation, everyone listening. Let's get some old timers on this podcast. Let's hear some stories that probably aren't true but have been passed down for generation. That's what I want. So, okay, but think about that. Jake Offers there. We'll talk about it offline, but, man, let's set the stage for your first story, man.
Speaker 3:All right. So I've got to give a lot of background to the story to make it make sense as to why it's such a meaningful memory in my life. So my wife and I went to Alabama to go do some work on some of her family land it was. You know, we're cutting trees or pulling weeds, just stuff like that. But we're in the middle of nowhere Alabama and, uh, I was doing some work. My wife wanted to, you know, take my dog out and around and I said, hey, please be careful, there's some rat poison in the barn okay I don't do not let him out of your sight, okay, okay, I won't, I won't, so I'm doing some work.
Speaker 1:They leave not 15 minutes later they come sprinting back inside screaming rut, ate rat poison I was hoping that would come up way later in this story, not immediately but, okay, I knew it was gonna happen otherwise you wouldn't have mentioned it yeah.
Speaker 3:So everything you know, drop everything. We're in the middle of nowhere, the closest store to get anything is an hour away, and so, thank goodness, my father-in-law is a vet.
Speaker 3:And so he kept a level head. Everyone was crying, sobbing, and I looked at him and I said, david, is my dog going to die? And he kept a level head and he said if we can get some hydrogen peroxide he will not die. Well, like I said, hydrogen peroxide's an hour away and so my mother-in-law hops in the car. She was probably going 130, 140 down the, down the back roads to get to the store. All we have is a turkey baster to get hydrogen peroxide down my dog's throat. Damn, if you could visualize that it might be the funniest thing you've ever seen in your life. So we fill up this turkey baster with hydrogen peroxide. My dog he's just clugging it, poor thing, down his throat. We give him the vomit up, some of the poison, but obviously not enough. So we're in Alabama, I live in South Carolina and my in-laws live in Florida, and so my wife decides that her and my dog are going to go to Florida with my father-in-law to where he can treat him. So that means I'm driving to South Carolina alone.
Speaker 3:And I want to give another detail. Me and my wife are almost inseparable. We never, hardly ever, leave this house without each other. Our neighbors see us all the time together. I drive back from Alabama completely alone. I get home around I want to probably say midnight, 1 am and I'm making a bunch of rackets. You know how neighbors are. You make a bunch of noise. They're peeking through the blinds. They see me get out of the car alone without my wife, late at night, after seeing us leave just two days prior. Yeah.
Speaker 3:So at this point, it's, you know, 1 am and I had been tracking this, my target buck for the season. I had been tracking him aggressively, been tracking him aggressively, cameras I put so many cameras out the weather, I had him dialed and so I knew that the next day was going to be the day that he was going to show up. If that was the only time. That was my window, and so I'm looking at my watch. I'm like, ah, it's 1 am, I'm just going to not sleep and I'm going to go into the woods, get set up early. I'm gonna.
Speaker 3:I'm gonna hunt yeah this is my, my best friend, who I referred to earlier, and I said, hey, I named the buck bandit. I know people are weird about naming bucks. Um, I said bandit is gonna go down tomorrow, I promise you. Uh, I was like I'm gonna go, uh, whatever, and he went. Well, I'm gonna go hunt him in the morning then and you know me and my buddy, we share spots, he's my best friend.
Speaker 3:I will never say like hey, don't go hunt this spot yeah but when you've been tracking a buck it's like a dagger to the heart when your buddy's like, well, I'm gonna go in the morning and he's gonna beat me there.
Speaker 3:He lives a lot closer yeah so I sat there and pouted all morning. I mean, I was just sitting on my couch pouting. He texts me, he goes, hey, I went to the spot, I bumped two does. They blew at me. Uh, another one came and saw me, blew off and I saw nothing. So I'm sitting there going. Not only did he go, he totally blew that spot out. That deer is nowhere near that spot anymore.
Speaker 3:So I'm sitting there, pouting, pouting, pouting. I think it's an hour drive to the spot that I I got him at. So I'm pouting and you know, I'm like you know what? I'm sitting here doing nothing. My wife's out of town, I got nothing to do. I'm not gonna kill anything from the couch. So I you. So I'm like, whatever, I'm out of spite, let me just go and try to hunt him. Anyways, I pack up my stuff, I head to the woods and I get there late because I'm angry. Nothing's going to happen. I get up in the tree, I probably get in the tree, I'm probably set up at 5 5pm, which is late, got it.
Speaker 3:That big buck walks out straight to me at like 5.15.
Speaker 1:No way.
Speaker 3:I'm not going to be here for 15 minutes. I mean, when I tell you I had him dialed. I had him dialed Biggest buck I've ever seen in person in my life Came right over the hill that I expected him to come over into my wind, I mean that should tell you how hard he was. Rutting into my wind, did not care. Yeah, I lined up, took the shot, dropped him. He did not move a muscle. But then he starts rolling down this. I mean we're in south carolina, there's, you know, there's some pretty good hills. He rolls down this hill and so I mean you can imagine I am through the roof, I'm sleep deprived.
Speaker 3:I am just I texted my buddy. I got him. It didn't matter, I got him, you didn't blow him out.
Speaker 1:Let me ask you a quick question about your buddy. I know you said you put lots of cameras. You had him just really you knew his patterns, you knew everything about it. Did your buddy put in that same effort, or was that you and then he was kind of coattailing? Or was he doing the same and you both working together he put out equal number of cameras. Or am I poking a wound here?
Speaker 3:That's the deer in particular All me, but I'm not going to take the limelight away from my buddy. I mean, we, we share all our cameras he puts in work. We, we share everything. Gotcha, I mean, that was just my, it was my dream buck. You know, I've been following him for so long, yeah, and but that deer all me, he just kind of swooped in there last second. I was so angry I was. You know, I would never tell him like hey, don't, don't go hunt him. That's my deer, because who would ever do that?
Speaker 1:yeah, plus, I mean, if you get to lay eyes on him, you know it's great that somebody puts him down. If it's not gonna be, you might as well, be him, but I'd rather.
Speaker 3:I'd rather it be my buddy. If it wasn't gonna be me, I'd rather be my buddy and not someone else. I was pouting, but I wasn't.
Speaker 1:You're a gentleman. I don't know if I would do the same thing if I put in all that work. You do feel like it's your deer but good on you and your friendship man, I appreciate it.
Speaker 3:Anyways, this deer is every bit of 200 plus and that is huge for South Carolina and I'm not exaggerating. I promise he was a monster and well, now I've got to get him out. I'm out there alone. I've got to drag him out. He's at the bottom of a hill. It's a pretty steep hill. I'm sleep deprived. It was ridiculous. So I started dragging him out and I thought I was going to die. I mean, it was. He was the heaviest thing I've ever lifted in my life. If he felt like he was a thousand pounds, yeah, I'm dragging him out. I get him. It takes me hours, hours to get him out. I get about halfway. My heart feels like it's about to beat out of my chest. I laid it up against the tree and I laid up against him and I looked at him and I said we're going to die out here together. There's no way I'm getting you out of here. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Of course I eventually did. Uh, it was all. It took me all night and, uh, I processed them or gutted them out in the woods, put the gut pile under, buried it under the dirt, all that stuff that you're supposed to do.
Speaker 1:How far back were you and what time did you get back to your truck?
Speaker 3:I couldn't tell you the exact distance I was, but I'd say a half mile, okay.
Speaker 1:Good distance. Dragging a deer yes.
Speaker 3:Straight up though. Yeah, um, and I have no idea what time I got back to my truck, um, but I you know I got them, and so I put them in the back, which I. I quarter them out, put them in my cooler. I stop at a gas station, I get ice poured over him. I cord them out, put them in my cooler. I stop at a gas station, I get ice poured over them. But during all that, I'm not being the most making sure everything's nice and clean. There is blood everywhere.
Speaker 3:My cooler is covered in blood. I'm covered in blood. There's blood dripping out of the back of the car, everything.
Speaker 1:And so I want you to remember I'm guessing where this is going.
Speaker 3:Okay, yeah, and so, um, I get home late at night I pop open the bag, I've got bloody knives, I've got a bloody axe. I've got. I'm covered in blood. There's blood dripping out of the back of my car and I've now I've got. You know, I can't leave it like that in the neighborhood, so I've got to start cleaning all this up. One of my neighbors, who I've never spoken to before this, ever, uh, at that point lived there for two years okay, okay, he lives like diagonal from me over here.
Speaker 3:Um, he comes out and he starts and it didn't click for me yet, but he starts interrogating me, hey, what are you? Doing. I'm like, oh, I'm just cleaning up my car. He keeps interrupting me. Oh well, what's all that? I was like oh, I'm sorry, this is. You know, I got some blood because I went and it cut me off again. Keep asking me all these questions oh, where's your wife? I was like oh, she's in florida. Oh, why is she in florida?
Speaker 1:and it still hadn't registered for me yet I murdered my wife.
Speaker 3:Yeah, um, and so I'm uh, eventually I'm like it clicks for me. I'm very sleep deprived. It clicks for me. I'm like, oh my goodness, this guy thinks I've murdered my wife. So I tell him like hey man, I I went hunting, I hunt, this is a deer, would you like to see the head. And he goes oh, I have guns, I have guns. I was like I know karate.
Speaker 1:I know karate. Stay away from me.
Speaker 3:I was like that's not what I was trying to say, that I went hunting and I have guns. I'm just trying to show you that this is a deer. This is not my dog, who haven't been around, and so eventually I show them the antlers and stuff and everything's blown over. But my wife didn't come back for many days after that. You know, drive from florida to south carolina it's not an easy, you know.
Speaker 3:You don't just up and do it yeah so, uh, after that got the, got the Euro mount going, everything. Well, my wife got home. Probably four days later. I paraded her around our neighborhood we I made sure that everybody saw her. I made sure that we walked past everybody's ring cameras. I made sure we walked past everybody's windows. My wife is alive yeah, so that that will forever be my favorite hunting memory, just because the highest of highs and the lowest of lows that's funny, man.
Speaker 1:It's funny that your neighbor was like I'm gonna go talk to this guy, rather than like if he thought you killed someone, like what's he, what's he going over there and what's he gonna do, you know, I tell you what if someone, if someone, pulls up across the street from me with blood dripping out of their car and they're covered in blood, the last thing I'm doing is walking over there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, being like howdy neighbor, like and not seeing, like there's certain things you always see that guy with and that's not the case right now, like not having your wife there. Yeah, I might have been like hello, 9-1-1. Uh, you know, just check this out, see what's going on here.
Speaker 3:It's got blood outside. You might want to come check it out man, that's crazy.
Speaker 1:That's crazy how.
Speaker 3:And your dog's okay, right yeah, he's totally fine he's actually the namesake of ruts mini mounts. He's, he's living life, right. What kind of dog? He's? A pit ski or a staff?
Speaker 1:ski. He's a. He's a Staffordshire terrier mixed with a Husky. Okay, cool, man, cool. Did you give your wife a little bit of shit for being like hey, be careful. And then immediately letting him eat the poison?
Speaker 3:I gave her a little bit, you know know after it was all blown over and he was fine, because I've never seen that woman cry so hard. Oh, no, when she was on the ground sobbing.
Speaker 1:So I mean that dog is her baby yeah, god, that's funny man, that's a great story. I about halfway through I was like, oh no, I know it's gonna happen. I yeah, oh no. And then I was just like curious, like how how far does this go like? Do you get arrested or something? So but I'm glad I worked out where it did. Um, did you actually? You said over 200 inches here. Have you ever gotten that guy formally measured? Is he the one right above you by chance?
Speaker 3:I said, I said over 200 pounds 200 pounds.
Speaker 1:Oh, I thought you had 200 inches, okay no, no, yeah, 200 inches would be.
Speaker 3:200 inches would be crazy. He's a very big eight point, especially for South Carolina. He's in the garage, I would show you. But no, he was a heifer. He was a chunky guy, not the biggest rack in the world, but big enough for me to be. You know, shaking over him whenever he came on my camera.
Speaker 1:Dude, every region has its, you know, its hogs that you just are so excited about, and that might be a 100-inch deer, that might be a 180-inch deer, but it doesn't matter. If it's good for you, that's all you need, right? Oh yeah, was that the first buck you had ever killed, or had you killed some before then?
Speaker 3:No him. Right here, right above me is my first buck I ever killed. That's a good buck man. Yeah, his name is Big Eight killed. Um, yeah, his name is big eight. Uh, and that was actually the hunt that I referred to earlier, where both my father-in-law and I had a good hunt. Um, it was. That was my book that I got and my father-in-law got a monster book puts makes this guy looks like a yearling spike.
Speaker 1:I mean it's crazy how does he compare to bandit?
Speaker 3:uh, he's smaller than Bandit.
Speaker 1:No, I mean your father's. He's way bigger. Way bigger than Bandit. Wow, okay, very cool. All right, man. Well, we didn't take up all our time, we got time left. What other stories do you want to tell? Do you want to tell that story with you and your father-in-law, or do you got something?
Speaker 3:else that one's a quick one. So, uh, that one took place in alabama. Uh, it was a a rough hunting season, unfortunately that that area in alabama where we hunt is kind of getting overrun with hogs, can't kill them fast yeah and so that's really hurting the deer population.
Speaker 3:so, uh, hunting there is getting pretty hard, um, but we had a really good season. I was sitting up, uh, on this nice edge Uh, and I think two or three days prior I had saw the buck that my father-in-law ended up killing in that spot. So I was actually there hunting that deer, um, but this guy came out and gave me no time at all. He came out full sneak nose on the ground just out of the brush. He got just to like mid-mass out of the brush and started backing up.
Speaker 3:I let, I let the shot go. He dropped in 20 yards. It was a dream come true. Uh, that was the first year I was shot on during that hunting trip, so after that you know I'm loosey-goosey everyone else everyone's hunting.
Speaker 3:I'm happy my buck's hanging yeah, walking with a chest puffed out, just like yep yeah, take a look boys, yeah, and so, um, you know, after that, my, my best friend was on that trip as well, and so after that, I'm letting everybody pick their hunting spots first. I'm like I don't care, my buck's hanging, and so, uh, my father-in-law being the gentleman that he is, he always lets us pick hunting spots first. I'm like I don't care, my buck's hanging, and so my father-in-law, being the gentleman that he is, he always lets us pick our spots first. He's like you guys are youth, I want you to go out and get some deer. And so me and my buddy, we pick our spots, and he just takes the last spot. He's like I'll go here, I want to watch it.
Speaker 3:It's beautiful there. It's beautiful there. Well, I'm sitting I'd say I'd probably sit in 700 yards away from my father-in-law for the for this sit and I hear a shot ring out, and I know my father-in-law, I know he's not shooting, unless it's a whopper yeah well, I hear the shot ring out, I immediately text him.
Speaker 3:Please tell me that was crab claw, which is what we named that book. And he doesn't answer me. He doesn't answer me. I'm like are you okay? Please tell me that was.
Speaker 3:Crab Claw. Eventually he sends me a text and he says found him and just sends me a picture. And just sends me a picture of the biggest rack I've ever seen. That's awesome. My hunt at that point is over. I do not care and I I'm running to where he is, uh, get there, help him drag it out. But in that process of uh helping him pull that deer out, which was just a mamm, we get a text from my buddy and he goes that was me.
Speaker 2:We look at our phones like what is he talking about?
Speaker 3:I'm like what he had shot. A nice buck too. No shit, not too far away, but far enough to where. In all that rustle of us pulling him out, we didn't hear the shot. So, my poor buddy, we didn't see the text. We're pulling that deer out. He dragged that poor deer out by himself. No one heard him shoot, no one was checking their phones. We were all cracking up because during that trip you hear a shot. Was that you? Was that you? Was that you? The one time he shoots, no one texts, no one hears the shot, no one checks it off. He's out there by himself dragging this deer back. I felt so bad for him that was great.
Speaker 3:That's awesome All three of us got it.
Speaker 1:Were you the only three hunters there, yeah, or were there more guys? Okay, and then a couple quick questions. Your father-in-law? Was he a hunter previously, or did he kind of jump in with it when you jumped into it? No, he's been hunting his whole life.
Speaker 3:So you know now that as we've gotten closer um, he's become pretty much my hunting mentor. You know I text him out questions. Um, yeah, he's, he's my pool of knowledge when it comes to stuff for hunting related, especially white tail. Cool, he actually took me on my first ever turkey hunt this past season hell yeah, hell yeah.
Speaker 1:Man, that's cool. I I imagined he had been hunting for a while. I was like, yeah, he'll only shoot a big deer.
Speaker 2:And I'm like, okay, he's he's been around a while, so that's cool, um and then I gotta ask stack rank.
Speaker 1:I know father-in-law had the biggest deer. Your deer's a very good deer. Was your buddy's bigger or smaller than yours? Slightly smaller, just a tad Alabama had such good deer? Is it that private land or was that? Uh, does he? Does he own some hunting property or lease it?
Speaker 3:yeah, so my father-in-law's family has a bit of uh. Yeah, it's actually timberland, but you hunt in it cool very cool man.
Speaker 1:All right. Well, that was a cool story and it's that's awesome that all three of you put one down like that.
Speaker 3:That doesn't happen that way often, man and it hasn't not happened since we have. Since then, we've gone two seasons without seeing a deer no way.
Speaker 1:Wow, well, you took all the males. There's probably none left. Well, they're on camera.
Speaker 3:Don't get me wrong, they are doing the top line in front of our cameras.
Speaker 1:But we can't. You seem to find them. That's cool. That's cool man, All right.
Speaker 3:Well, what are the stories? You got, man. I mean like I said, I'm a young hunter, there's not many big stories. I mean, there's stories that are big to me, I hold near and dear to my heart. But you know, most people have probably been like be like, oh, been there, done that. I'll tell you one more.
Speaker 1:Okay, Then I want to ask you some questions about your. I want to say it's a tree stand, but it's not a tree stand. What is it?
Speaker 3:It's a tree climber, it just it cracks me up. Uh, actually this'll be two stories in one. So you know I'm trying to do my part and you know, bring hunting into my family, into my bloodline. So I've been trying to get my little brother to come out and hunt with me, nice.
Speaker 3:And so, um, the first time I ever took him out there was this big, big, big pine clear cut that had just been cut, and then they replanted, so the pines were, I'd say, two, three feet tall across this big acreage out on public land. And so what we did is we just I went out there with him in the center of that thing, because it kind of bowls upwards where you can look down the whole thing we put a ground blind up and him and I just sat in a ground blind together. This is his first time ever hunting and I knew that there was a very large coyote population in this area, I mean very large, I mean very large, and so I was very eager to see how he would react once that sun tipped down and the coyotes just let it go.
Speaker 3:But we go, we're sitting in the ground blind, and when I tell you this was the most coyotes I've ever heard, ever, they showed out for him, they welcomed him into the wilderness for the show, it was 360. It sounded like they were maybe 30 yards in the brush just letting it go on yes and so I watched his face drop.
Speaker 3:he's, it's just for someone. He didn't have a weapon on him, he didn't have anything. I was, you know, it was only me. I just brought him along, and so I was like you know, how can I have a weapon on him? He didn't have anything. I was, you know, it was only me. I just brought him along, and so I was like you know how can I have a little bit more fun with this? After all, it is my little brother. I got to tease him a little bit, and so this we. We went far into this place to get it, and so it was probably like a 45 minute walk, and so on the walk back, I decided you know what, I'm going to mess with him a little bit. I gave him my Leatherman, which has a knife about this big, and I said hold this out for when the coyotes jump at you. If you need to, you can stab them. This poor kid.
Speaker 1:How old was he at the time of this trip?
Speaker 3:uh, I want to say 18, okay, yeah. And so this poor kid. He is walking with the tiniest little leatherman knight you've ever seen, and I'm in front of me and I'm biting my lip not to laugh. He is holding it out in front of him like this Every step fully extended, yeah.
Speaker 3:Every noise, every slight noise, a squirrel, a bird, shoot that knife towards it. He was jumping at everything and I was just behind him trying not to crack up. Eventually I told him that you know, you probably pretty much never will get a coyote jumping at you, and he was really upset.
Speaker 1:You know what you probably, despite telling him that like a coyote, could attack at any moment, he probably felt a little bit better having some way of defending himself, probably a little bit more confident back there just because of that, even though you were just laughing at him from behind. But that's a good big brother thing to do. That's important, right.
Speaker 3:It teaches them a lesson. Well then, in the past year, I've been chased down by hogs three times in the woods?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I've had that happen in Texas. It sucks.
Speaker 3:I hate hogs. Yeah. I hate them. I respect all animals. I hate hogs, yeah, but I've been chased down three times by them. Every single time it was close, it was, they were right up on me, and so I, you know, I tell them those stories because it's good for him to hear you know, and it's it's kind of like a you know, hey, your big brother's out there fighting off hogs.
Speaker 3:You know, it's a little, it's a little chest puffer story for him. And so I took him out another time and I set him up.
Speaker 3:He, he's a loud hunter man, he's so loud, so I try to put him a little bit away yeah I set him probably 200 yards away from me down the same trail, so it was close by and I put him up in a tree, used the bandit climber, uh, and then I kept on going to where I had some nice deer on camera and saw nothing that night. But I get a text from him, right as it's gray light, almost impossible to see, and he goes, there's something coming up on me and I was like, oh awesome, I'm hoping he can see a deer. I'm like, hold, still, it's probably a deer, and I saw a game show and I set him up there. So I knew I was like something. If something walks by, they're going to walk by right here. Yeah.
Speaker 3:And so I don't hear anything and a few minutes goes by and he was like the two of the biggest hogs I've ever seen just walked right underneath me. I was like I was like, oh, why don't you text me? And he was like I was Googling if hogs could jump or climb trees and so that's awesome. So I I rotate on the tree to where I can look back where he is, and I see these just two.
Speaker 3:They're big hogs. I, yeah, I gotta get. They were big. They're walking right towards me and you know, I don't. It was gray light, it was getting dark, so I already started climbing down the tree.
Speaker 3:At this point I am maybe like two, maybe two feet off the ground and so I'm just basically in yada, hanging there off this tree and so, um, I'm like crap, my bow is. We were bow hunting. My bow was already on the ground. I had my glock on my hip, uh, and I was like I'm just gonna hold still and hope these hogs I'd already been chased by by hogs three times like I hope these hogs don't. You know, smell me, come at me. Sure enough, they smell me. They come at me. Uh, you see they're squealing, they beeline for me. So I just pull out my glock and let a shot off to scare him. And that scared the snot out of my brother who was up in the tree, and so they, they run off. I give it a few seconds. I don't hear him anymore. I get down, I pack my bag, I walk to where he is. He has not moved an inch. If anything, he's higher up the tree, he's doubled his height.
Speaker 1:I was like you can come down now.
Speaker 3:He was like I was like you can come down now. He was like I was waiting for you because I was not getting down if those hogs were on the ground. So my poor brother.
Speaker 1:His, like Google research, was inconclusive. He's like I don't know if they can climb or not. I just got to stay up here, yeah.
Speaker 3:So he says he wants to, you know, actually go hunting this year, maybe get a bow, maybe get a rifle. So these, these, uh traumatic experiences haven't scared him away from hunting, so I'm hoping we can get him out there and get him a deer this year that's awesome man.
Speaker 1:So you put him 200 yards away from you without a weapon, up a tree, correct? Yeah, okay he must be loud okay I'm telling you he's loud yeah, that's funny. That's funny. I like that he googled whether or not pigs can climb a tree.
Speaker 3:I was dying laughing.
Speaker 1:Oh my god, I don't even know what to think for that. Whatever you're scared, you do dumb things. So yeah, uh, that's, that's a great story. That's the kind of shit I love to hear. Um, doesn't necessarily need to be like. This epic trip, right, just like a little anecdote about a dumb hunting buddy or brother or whoever it is doing something silly in the woods is so great, uh. But all right, jake, uh, why don't you tell us a little bit about, uh, rut mini mounts and bandit climbers? Is that what?
Speaker 3:it is sorry if I'm getting this wrong man but no worries, the company's called rack and rigs and yeah, it's called the bandit climber got it, oh so close.
Speaker 3:Okay. So for ruts mini mounts, uh, that one's really uh, it's really simple. Like I said, I wanted to find a way for people to be able to have their hunting memories close, easy, be able to share them, and so what we do with ruts mini mounts is we make replica mini mounts of people's trophies, so, uh, and we can turn. It's like if someone has a euro, we can turn their euro into a shoulder mount, a full body mount. We can turn. It's like if someone has a Euro, we can turn their Euro into a shoulder mount, a full body mount. We can do a racks that hang from your rear view mirror. Cool, um, we do them in single colors like gold or black, or we, most of the time, we paint them to be, uh, replicas, to look like the deer, get all the markings and stuff, and so that's been an absolute blast. Uh, we've done countless, and when I say we, I mean like me and my dog right yeah, countless species, um, all over the world.
Speaker 3:It really is done so well and I'm so honored because, you know, kind of like you, with this podcast you get to hear hunting stories, but with me and the mini mounts, every single animal that comes in. I get to hear the story about the animal because they're everyone's so happy to share, right. But then I'm modeling these animals to be exact, so I'm really getting in and seeing the details of these animals. I'm seeing, you know, scars on their body from fights or that's cool man yeah, I'm seeing it in such close detail.
Speaker 3:So it's actually I. I have to stop myself from getting attached to these animals because I spend so much time with them and I ship away to their rightful owner.
Speaker 3:I'm like I'm glad to see them go sometimes. So it's really awesome. Uh, I love, I love every single one. I love, love painting them, and so we and they're perfect. You know, we, they're mini mounts, so we range from, uh, five inches to nine inches. Okay, uh, we shoulder mounts, hero mounts, full body mounts, and it's just, it's awesome and they I shouldn't say wildly successful, it's wildly successful for me. You know more than one person doing it. That's successful. Yeah, yeah, I just have an absolute blast.
Speaker 1:I love it okay, what does someone need, like beyond you know, reaching out to you, but like let's say they sign up, but yeah, I'd like one. What do they, what do they send you to, like get this done yeah, so it's we.
Speaker 3:It's all on our website. Actually, all we need is a 360 video of the animal that you want done. Just set it up, get your phone out, record a video walking around it, and that's all I need. And then from that I model it, we process it out and then every single one's hand-painted.
Speaker 1:Cool, very cool man, all right, and then bandit stuff, the raccoon stuff.
Speaker 3:Yeah, which is the reason for that?
Speaker 1:yeah, and the shirt. I see the shirt too.
Speaker 3:It's good oh yeah, uh, I have like 18 000 of these shirts, so I don't even remember, realize I'm wearing them half the time. Um, yeah, so, like I said, I'm a I'm a public land hunter. Um, I'm going in deep. Uh, you know, I'm scouting hard and I, just when I first started hunting, I hated sticks and climbers it just I felt so heavy.
Speaker 3:I felt like a turtle walking around, honestly, with all that stuff on my back, and it felt loud. It just didn't seem right. Yeah, and so, you know, I was trying to be a ghost in the woods. I was trying to respect nature as much as possible. I wanted it to be like I was never there at all.
Speaker 3:And so, in my disdain for the sticks and the climbers, I started thinking of ways that I could get up and down trees easier, and I really wanted to be a minimalist hunter. I don't want to carry a bunch of stuff out there with me, I want the necessities and the necessities alone. Okay, and so I developed the bandit climber V1, which I was making out of my garage. Uh, every single one was hand-built by me in my garage, and so, basically, it's a compact climbing system to where you have the platform and you've got an adjustable rope that cinches to the tree. And so when you stand on the platform um, and you've got your saddle on when you raise your feet, the platform raises up and you tighten it, and when you stand back up, you're two feet higher, two, three feet higher, depending on the length of your legs, and so I was able to use that and, uh, I started posting them online, started selling them.
Speaker 3:They did extremely well. I mean, it blew me away the amount of people who loved them and said pretty much everybody who's ever used it said they'll never go back to what they were using before because it's lighter, it's faster, it's quieter, it's easier to use. And so you know, like anything online, you post something new in the hunting industry, you get a little bit of hate, yeah. And so I started doing these videos where I was addressing people's number one like oh, this is that. They're like oh, that looks so slow. I got up 20, I want to say 26 feet in a tree in two minutes and 30 seconds, ready to hunt. Yeah.
Speaker 3:That's lightning fast. And then I did a sound test, and so what I did is I recorded a video, undoctored audio, of me climbing up a tree with the bandit climber and I did a giveaway on Rucks Mini Mouse and I said whoever can tell me what is going on in this video, I'll give you free stuff. 6,000 people replied, commented and stuff. Not one person guessed that it was me with full gear, full backpack rifle climbing a tree. We got things like it was a deer eating persimmons or a deer.
Speaker 3:Of course it is yeah, and so that was also. That was great marketing for me. Yeah, um, and so we did a pitch black test where I went into the woods, used the bandit climber and my buddy filmed me on thermal pitch black going up and down a tree. I couldn't see the tree in front of me. The bandit climber was perfect.
Speaker 3:So, we did a lot of stuff like that and I think that kind of sealed the deal. People really started loving them, started buying them, and now we've got a bunch of people who just swear by the bandit climber and so, like I said, everything was built out of my garage.
Speaker 1:That's awesome.
Speaker 3:That's not sustainable. Obviously I was gonna ask. I was working non-stop. I was sleeping about an hour a night and that is not a joke. I mean, I was on the brink of death. My wife was concerned for me. She made me go to the doctor because I was like I was starting to like have some real physical problems from working non-stop, and so now we've got manufacturing being done and the bandit climber version 2 is just so sleek, so beautiful, it's even lighter, it's, it's awesome, and so that's what we're launching here soon, and I mean we probably get, I want to say, 5-10 emails a day. When's the bandit climber coming back out? No.
Speaker 1:That's awesome, man Congrats, that's super cool. Um how much? How much does V2 weigh?
Speaker 3:If you don't mind me asking you uh, three pounds, pretty much on the dot.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's crazy. And are there any other? Like, uh, beyond the manufacturing, switching from your garage to a formal facility? What are some of the other? I guess upgrades of V1 to V2?.
Speaker 3:So the V1 was steel with like adhesive grips stuck on it and end caps that were carbon fiber with thick rope. I chose this rope intentionally because I did sound tests and the thicker rope muffled the the metal sound, so it was dead quiet.
Speaker 3:The v2, it's really strong aluminum that were then heat treating so it's even stronger okay um, uh, it's got built-in grip to where you know you don't have the grip tape pretty much anymore. It looks sleeker, it's flatter and wider. So the the v1 was a steel like half inch pipe that was then cut with the end caps and the rope. This one is three inches wide, so you've got a lot of real estate to keep your feet on and it's very comfortable to stand on. And then it's got thinner ropes because there's no more need to muffle that steel sound. So it's got thinner ropes, which makes it even more compact. I tested the V3. I was actually able to stick it in my back pocket. I mean, it's 22 inches long so it's not fitting in your pocket, but you can stick it in your back pocket and walk.
Speaker 1:That's cool, man, that's awesome. So let me ask a couple questions. I've never used a climber, I've never used a tree stand, like just not the Western hunting, it's just not. Common People, I think, are starting to do it more, but when you're picking a tree, if the tree has, like branches coming off, you can't, you can't use it, right. You need like basically a clean I don't know we're gonna have to say it, but like a clean shaft up with no branches poking out, right uh, so it's.
Speaker 3:That's definitely easier.
Speaker 3:My, when I'm picking trees, I'm my criteria is I want to be able to hug it and touch hands and I always try to pick trees that have at least no like not a ton of branches. If there's one or two branches, I'll pick it. But that was one of the biggest concerns we got, too with the bandit climber. I was like, oh, what about branches? You can do it and it is still fast, but all you got to do is, uh, carry an extra tether with you for your saddle and you just unlatch and go up around the branches. But by all means, if you're using the bandit climber, just pick a tree with not a ton of branches. It's just gonna save you time and headache okay cool man, cool.
Speaker 1:well, yeah, I'm gonna check out some of the the videos, and I just followed the the bandit climber and all you guys on on instagram. I've been following ruts many amounts forever, but I'm gonna start checking that stuff out because's it's something I'm very interested in and I have a buddy's inviting me to do some whitetail hunting in Kansas, so I was thinking maybe I'd sneak up a tree for that.
Speaker 3:So oh dude, yeah Well, if you do, let me know. If you, if you decided that you want to try out saddle hunting, let me know. I will send you a bandit climber for elk hunting. And I mean, could you imagine me? You know a self-taught hunter who hunts whitetail on public land in the southeast. Seeing my product being used to hunt elk right west, I had to change my pants afterwards it was it was.
Speaker 1:Did he get one? Did he get one? Or was he just kind of showing that he he was trying that method?
Speaker 3:um, I don't know if he would have got one. I hope he would have sent it to me, but he never followed up.
Speaker 1:So that's cool, man, that's super cool. And you gotta get out west, man. There's nothing, it's. It's different, they're very different styles. They're both super exciting. I've done the sitting in a blind, obviously not the tree stands, but that's hard on your heart, man, it's hard on your brain and there's a lot of difficult aspects of it. But elk hunting is something totally different. You got to try it.
Speaker 3:I want to so bad. I mean it's on my bucket list. I feel like I got to pay my dues as a hunter. First Get a few more seasons in, a few more whitetail reps in and then maybe one day I'll get out west. But that is a dream of mine, yeah.
Speaker 1:Dude, pull the trigger. There's no time. The best way to learn is by getting out there and doing it.
Speaker 3:That's my opinion All right man, a backpack, a deer out or something, or an elk out. I'm your guy, I'll pay for my flight and I'll just I'll. I'll suffer with you and hike it out.
Speaker 1:There we go, man, there we go. Cool. Well, what, uh, where can people find you? Share your socials websites whatever you want, and then we'll, uh, we'll sail off into the sunset here together, buddy.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So the website's raccoonrigscom. That's got raccoon rigs and ruts many mounts under the same umbrella, um and on. There you'll find all the social media. You'll find everything there.
Speaker 1:So the website is your go-to to get all perfect man, and I will put a link to it in the show notes. Jake, this was fun man. I love talking to new hunters, um, especially ones that didn't kill their wife. This was entertaining episode. I appreciate you, man. Thanks again for reaching out and for being brave, sharing some stories with us.
Speaker 3:Yeah, thank you, and hopefully this coming up season I'll have even more stories for you.
Speaker 1:Hell yeah, man, hell yeah, all right, talk to you soon.
Speaker 3:Thank you.
Speaker 1:All right, that's it, folks. Another couple stories in the books. Again, I want to thank Jake for coming on the podcast and reaching out to me. I really do appreciate it. I've been a fan of his for a while and I'm glad to hear that he is a fan of the podcast. So, guys, please check out Rutt's Mini Mounts, check out Raccoon Rigs. He's doing some really cool stuff. I'm definitely going to check them out, because I don't have any experience in any kind of tree hunting and it's something that I really want to get into, and I've just basically been waiting to make my own mini mountain, and so I'm going to do all of those things so check out the links below.
Speaker 1:I appreciate it. Give us a like, a follow, share us with one friend, and that's it. Guys, get out to there and make some stories of your own.
