(upbeat music) - Hey there. I wanna talk to you about our show sponsors. First, let's highlight polite but dangerous tools. I've personally purchased three knives from Sam Curtis at polite but dangerous tools and later had them on the podcast. I use one of their super sharp nest mucks to skin out a bear just a few weeks back with ease. Use the discount code, all caps bowyer. That's B-O-W-Y-E-R in all caps to save 10% on your orders from polite but dangerous tools. If you wanna learn more about Sam and his creative process, check out polite but dangerous tools anywhere on the interwebs. Next up, we have Vuni Gear. We've officially partnered with the great folks at Vuni. A few months ago, I purchased the vertical tee from Vuni for Pig Hunt in Florida. After the hunt, I wrote Brian, the founder of Vuni to provide some positive feedback. And later, that led to a three hour long phone conversation. Then I tested the altitude pant and helios hoodie during my Manitoba bear hunt. I wore the helios hoodie for three days straight and was super impressed by the way the fabric maintained its form and lacked the tail tail odor of most synthetic materials. I'll be using the altitude pant and the helios hoodie for all of my early season hunts here in North Carolina. And I'm very excited to try out the insulation and rain gear during my Kodiak hunt in late October. Use the discount code BoYour15 at checkout to save 15% off all Vuni Gear. Check them out at vunigear.com. That's V-U-N-I-G-E-A-R.com. (upbeat music) - Hey everybody, welcome to the Bo Your Podcast. Today I got to sit down with my two pals, Chris Guadiz and repeat guest James Wood. Both of these guys are avid traditional bow hunters, but reside in completely different sides of the country. James lives in central Georgia where he hunts pigs and whitetails in the swamps. And in contrast, Chris lives on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, where he chases feral goats and jungle pigs in rugged terrain. But alas, the welcoming world of traditional archery provided a good platform for these two guys that partake in fellowship and a little hunting as they tried their best to harvest a variety of invasive species on the Hawaiian islands. My friend Chris has dedicated his life to service in both the Hawaii National Guard, where he serves as a state's senior chaplain in addition to serving in the chaplain service as a at the federal prison in Oahu. Earlier this year, Chris also joined the ranks of the chaplain's corner of for Compton traditional bow hunters. James our first repeat guest, and I'm sure you'll find that he's just an all around likeable fellow. In addition to being a recreational bow here outdoorsman and man of faith, let me know what you think about the show. I think you'll love it. I miss these guys already. They're a great group of fellas, and I hope to get in the woods with them soon. Remember to get outside, to get dirty, and learn something new. Now back to the show. - Good evening, and welcome to the Bow Yours podcast where we explore the ancient art of bow making, traditional archery, and the age old pursuit of wild game. Together we're gonna chat with masters of the craft to uncover the deeper why behind reviving the old ways in a modern world. Today I've got the honor of sitting down with good pals of mine, James Wood and Chris squatters. If y'all remember all the way back to episode five, I had James on here where we talked about chasing pigs in the swamps of Georgia along with chasing black bears that might or might not be running up a tree and the Appalachians of Georgia and a little bit of self bow skills. And James is back on the show up here. He just went on a hunt in Oahu and Molokai with Chris. And Chris, this is your first time on the show. So welcome, buddy. - Thank you. Just appreciate the opportunity to chat with my friends over here on our virtual campfire. It's good to see your faces. It's amazing what technology you can do to bring people together. And we, Matthew, I met you on via PBS and then you introduced me to James and we've become friends since then and done some hunts together. So this is just really cool to get together virtually. And around the campfire. - It is super cool. So for folks that I don't know, like I'm out here in Eastern North Carolina and James is down in Georgia. And Chris is all the way halfway across the world in Oahu right now. So we're covered and I don't know how many hours, six or so hours of time zone change. And we were able to all get on the same schedule lined up despite our busy lives with wives and kids and work and all that good stuff. So we're here, everybody give a bio here, but I just want to highlight the fact that, you know, through this networking piece and as much as I really want to shame social media, if it wasn't for that, none of us really have met, right? So James, you and I met through name either social media because Foster Kane was a mutual friend. - Yeah. - And I got introduced to Foster through Corey Hawk because I was looking for somebody to make you some good wood arrows and Foster was the man to get in contact with him. He had introduced us and then we linked up on the old Instagram. And Chris, as you mentioned, we met on the PBS forum as folks were saying, just saying hi. And then I had noted, hey man, I go out to Hawaii sometimes for work, what island are you on? And that went to an invite to come out and chase feral goats in the mountains of Oahu and fellowship and broke bread with the family and all that good stuff. As much as technology is a thorn. In this case, it was a bit of a rose. I just want to embrace that and highlight that. And then later on, you guys got together and where we'll go hunting. So it's pure magic, I love it. - Yeah. - All right, so we know that James is a veteran now. He's the first repeat guest on the Bow Your Podcast. We might start calling the co-host before long at this rate or charging him rent. So I know a lot of James's background, but Chris, can you give us a bio, you know, where you're at, where you're coming from, how long you've been using the sticking string and all that good stuff? - So we're over here living in Milani, Hawaii on the beautiful island of Oahu. My family and I just love to get outside. And I'm the benefit from being sort of the PE coach for my young boys who are homeschoolers. So we get to do all kinds of stuff like surfing and fishing and hunting, bonding, traditional. There's been a lot of fun here on Oahu, chasing the critters and chasing the fish and chasing the waves. It's just been a real blast to see my children grow in their independence. And they're becoming quite the bow hunters themselves, especially Gavin. I started bow hunting probably in my mid 20s or so when I was in a college in seminary actually. I married into a hunting family, my wife's from coastal Oregon and the Cusba area. And I really got a chance to start hunting with my father-in-law Bruce. And I think I've always been drawn to more traditional methods, fly fishing, in the bamboo fly rods and just love the longbow and never really got pushed into the compound thing. I've always been enamored with sticking string. And I remember back in my 20s, we took a trip up to the Seattle area and got a chance to go to the Glen St. Charles's store and his archery shop. And meeting him in person, I had no idea who he was at the time. And he took me into the shop and showed me around his place and showed me all the mounts and started sharing stories. And I'm just in awe of this guy and all the stories that he's sharing with me. And when we leave there, he gives me a signed book and a copy of his Delta. And it took a long time for me to really know the significance of that book. I've read it multiple times now. And it's just been part of my journey in knowing some of the traditional roots of those people that had started doing things the hard way. And we're still doing it that way. James and I, on Molikai were trying to get inside 20 yards on those axes here and that was a tough thing, but it's the most rewarding thing. And I've been running stick and string ever since, just really dove really hard back into it because my son Gavin decided he wanted to try bowing. He started out compound first and I finally convinced him to go to the traditional route. And he's been changed, he doesn't want to go back now. So that's our story. I work over here in Hawaii as a chaplain for the federal beer and prisons. And I'm also the senior chaplain for the Hawaii Army National Guard. Involved in ministry in those two institutions and just love getting outside. And as part of my de-stressor, I guess here you want to call it and getting away from things and getting up into the mountains and a peace and quiet up on those ridges up in Mikua Kao, which I know both of you know and see and understand now. - So that's all thanks to you, brother. I never would have found them. It wasn't for you and your generosity and fellowship. You're the chaplain for the penitentiary out there. The folks don't know this, but I always get a chuckle when you refer to your clients. You're like, oh, I've talked to my clients about this topic before, which always gave me a chuckle. And then with the Hawaii National Guard, but also you've got a little bit of a collateral duty with Compton's as well, right, Chris? - That's right. Both Matt Steed and I had just been selected as the co-chaplins for Compton traditional bowl hunters. And we've been doing this since about springtime this year. Brian Burkhardt and the board at Compton traditional bowl hunters saw fit to bring some chaplain into their ranks or chaplains into their ranks to see to the spiritual welfare of the organization. And so how we're gonna be doing that primarily is through our quarterly column in a Walk in the Woods magazine. That's the members of the magazine. And we've gone so far as to include our phone numbers and then our emails, our personal cell phone and emails to our members. So they have our contact information if they're going through some hard times or need prayer, they need spiritual counseling, or they just need a listening here. So that's something Matt Steed and I are pretty proud of being a part of. And we're just happy to serve. - Amen, yeah, I think it's awesome, Chris. I think it's very selfless of you and Matt to step out and while you might do this in the real world and your personal side as well, or even as your professions, that you take the time out to not only just write a blessing of fellowship or a message of fellowship and the quarterly Walk in the Woods, but also the fact that folks and members can actually reach you guys or for council or guidance or just probably just an ear to chew on a little bit to pick your brain if they're going through a tough time. And that's tremendously selfless, which I admire. I don't think I'll ever have that bone in me where I want to give out my phone number and email to folks because I'm a curmudgeon. But man, I love that you do and that you're so genuine. I can attest to how, I've never met Matt, but I can attest to how genuine your message is. And I'm sure James can too now after having spent some time with you on the mountain. Thanks for what you're doing and for your service. Still review time in the National Guard, but also in the federal system and more recently with confidence. And for those who don't know, Chris, Chris highlighted it, but his boy Gavin is a crack shot with the trad bow. And Gavin actually just got a self bow in his hands too, right? Yeah, so Jacob Silvie, actually I had won that on a giveaway on Jacob Silvie's Instagram and it was a right-handed self bow. And I'm a lefty, I'm cross-eyed dominant. I shoot left-handed, so I'm like, I could shoot this thing right-handed, but I decide, okay, this is gonna go to Gavin because he's right-handed and he loves that bow. It's silent death, man. That thing is super quiet. On a recent hunt, he took it out. Shout out to Jacob and that bow. That thing is so quiet at 20 yards. He'd let that arrow off and the goats didn't know the string even popped. They only heard the arrow hit the ground and didn't know exactly what was going on there looking around and Gavin happened to miss that particular shot, but. Yeah, that's really cool. And I think we're trying to look into, I need to get to some sort of primitive self bow class. We just, there's not a lot of that over here in Hawaii. Great, you're on what kind of woods we can use. North Carolina, I know we're not exactly neighbors, but between North Carolina and Georgia, I'm sure you can jump into somebody's shop out here and start using a draw knife on a piece of o-sage or hickory between James and I. Yeah. Yeah, I got some staves for you. Okay, all right. Just never use a draw knife. I wouldn't even know where to start. And I'd like to transfer that and apply that to some of the wood out here that we have that is available. We've got a lot of invasive species that might work. I don't know. So there's a lemon and one of the guava's out there is supposed to be a tremendous, maybe a strawberry guava. Yeah, strawberry guava, obviously, I've never used it, but it's supposed to be a tremendous bow wood. A good place to kill a pig, too. (laughing) Oh, yeah, that would be exciting. That'd be really cool. Of course, there are some really great bow years that are teaching seminars and courses like that, which I've chimed in on the podcast before, but yeah, wailing all the swift foot bows and the Corey Hawk, dear friend of mine, of organic archery has a beginner's bow year class, which I attended a couple years back. And then this year he released an advanced course and that's out in Omaha, Nebraska. And there's some other folks too, but those are some really good guys that are just masters of the craft. But I selfishly want you to come over here and hang out. So I got somebody to break bread with and probably run in the swamp and get eaten by mosquitoes with. I think both of y'all, I live right here in Georgia and I can go over to Al Chapman. He just moved 20 minutes from in about an hour and 15 minutes, I can be down there and hatch it bow down. So. Yeah, I think a Georgia trip. So that way we can frame out a bow and then we can go to the swamp and chase pigs. That's right, yeah. Yeah, we make the world jealous doing, that'd be awesome. All right, James, give us a briefer bio because you've been on here before, you know, at this point you're a veteran. So the world, you know, the worldwide blobs knows your voice and your face and all this good stuff with your YouTube channel. So give us a little tidbit about you and then lean into how you and Chris got linked up and your latest adventure. Yeah, I'm cheers old be 47 in November and been tread hunting for this is my fourth season. And the last year of my tread hunting was all 100% self bow hunting and I picked up when I was getting ready to go to Hawaii, I didn't want to pay all that extra money to ship that self bow in a long era to you. It's basically going to cost me more than it cost to fly from Honolulu to Mullica. I had one laminated bow left from Big Jim Mountain Monarch and I started shooting that thing. And as soon as I picked it up, I said, wow. This thing's amazing. What in the world's wrong with me to put this down and pick this self bow up type of thing. And Matthew hooked and I told Matthew and some of y'all already noticed, but Matthew, I was telling him I was going to Hawaii to visit my wife's family and I was going to do some hunting on a wahoo and try to work in a Mullica trip. Matthew did a literally like a text intro to me and to Chris and myself. And we took it from there and once I landed in Hahu, Chris and I hooked up three or four days later, I think. And we went back over to the area, I can't say it. Yeah. We went back over to the area, I can't say it. I let Chris say it. We went back over that area over there where the goats are and why and I. - I'm the same, I can't pronounce anything out there. - And every time as Chris says it, it's like natural and I feel like such a dunce. - Yeah, so up in the West side. Yeah, that place to the mountains. - Yeah, so over there on the leeward side. And so I met Chris at his house and we rode over there and started up that mountain and about halfway up. I said, boy, this ain't near as easy as it was when I was in the Marines and in the best shape of my life. - Yeah, yeah, but the whole time, Chris is every bit of five foot four and he's a mountain goat and he's so graceful and sure footed going up that mountain the whole time. And I feel like I'm an obese Clyde still trying to make it up. It's a heavy field free game. - He can go. I had the mountains over here in Georgia. Good bit the Appalachians. And usually from June, July, August, September on the mid October, that's primarily where I got time. That's where I'm at. But I hadn't been on any mountain hunt since October. And so we go over there where you literally start at sea level, not 1,000 foot or 1,500 foot. And about halfway up there, my calves was burning those muscles on top of my knees were screaming. And we finally get to the one little patch of shade up there and I, boy, I was shot. - Yeah, tell us, give us an imagery there, James. Tell us about how tall that grass might be or how loose those rocks are and how blazing hot that sun is when there's not a lick of shade. - Yeah, we've started up there probably about one, wouldn't you say, Chris? - Yeah, it was about one o'clock in the afternoon and we're trying to get up there for that evening migration of those goats and it was pretty hot. That was a warm day in July there up in real quick. Yeah, it was pretty brutal. - Yeah, as we starting up theater, a lot of memories come back to me like the check-in box and cutting through that little drainage. And Chris took an approach that I never had taken where we actually went over a ridge and went up, which I really, it's great, great way. But the video doesn't do that place justice. It shows a lot of, you do that video with that thing does. It is enlightening, but it really don't do it justice. So you got to watch every step. You take the grass is anywhere from needle, waist tall. I got a bad right ankle. So I was trying to be extra careful with every step. And just starting off with that kind of elevation change, when I hadn't done anything to really prepare for it, I thought I was in good shape 'cause I hit the swamp so much and walk a lot in that muck and that's humidity, but the gain into that elevation is what got me, my calves and knees were just on fire. - Yeah, it's a different stimulus, right? It gasped me pretty good up there. How do you do Chris, did you didn't have to carry him up there? - No, I didn't have to carry him up there, but we took a couple of rest stops and I'm nowhere near the Billy Goat that my son Gavin is, but I'm 54 and he's 16. He's got all his life to be all flexible and good joints and ankles. But Gavin is an nimble, you're like, he just, I don't know if that kid could twist an ankle if he tried, like he's very nimble out there. - That age was before I got to keep my body in shape or stand in National Guard, but I was often in puffing too, James, maybe just slow and steady wins the race, right? - Well, James, you gotta be doing better than me 'cause the last time I was out there, like I left, I went out there as part of a work trip and I left in such a, it was just discombobulated and I forgot my boots. I forgot, I think I forgot my pants and I ended up wearing basically I went to a store and the only thing I could find was like a focus store. So I got their boots, I'm using quotes for listeners and they were awful, my feet were killing me and I basically had the jogging pants on. It looked like I just rolled out, put on some pajamas and decided to go up the mountain with these guys in contrast to the first time I felt I was more prepared but this last time it was just unprepared and then Chris actually had to let me borrow some broad hits 'cause I realized I didn't have those on me either. So it was not my shining moment, but Chris saved the day. - Yeah, that was a, I needed that 'cause we were getting ready to go out there, right? My wife and I were weighing packages 'cause we had all going back to see her family, we were bringing deer meat and schoolers. So I'm standing on the scale and I was 187 pounds and she'd hand me a box. And that's how we just didn't try to keep it under 50 pounds but that was the first time in my life where I looked at the mountain and said, "Lord, help me get to the top of this." (laughing) - We prayed before we went up, James, we'll learn what was watching after us. - Oh boy, and I love that. I love the, I knew you guys would have such great fellowship with the introduction because you've got such big hearts, you're very spiritual. And I love-- - Once we-- - Heaven, what's that? - Once we split off and Chris went, now it's gonna go on up higher and Chris is gonna stay in one little area. Once we split off, I got up there and I said a couple more prayers, I promise. (laughing) - A lot of thank yous too, right? - Yeah, but anyway, got up there and boy, it was awesome. Saw a lot of goats and they just split us basically each time, I think. - Yep. - So when-- - How close did you end up getting into them? - The closest I got was probably about 60 or, but they were straight down below me. I had some coming right to me in this little saddle I was in, but they hung up on this big rock and the wind was just pounding me in the neck. Chris had texted me and said if you could, they slipped below me, if you could get back down to where we took our break, you might get ahead of them off. And I'm sitting here looking at goats in front of me and I was saying, why leave fish to find fish played in? But I was like, a wind's killing me right here. And as I started back down, when I started getting close to that rock, the wind shifted again. It's like it hit me in the back going down. So I just didn't, I could 60 yards was it. And even if I'd have had a, there would have been no recovery on those. But as I got back down and got situated, I was able to sit there and watch Chris up there make a stalk. And I got some video of it from a couple hundred yards. But that was pretty cool watching him. And they were having a big revival down there at the beach below us. So we're sitting up there listening to gospel music on this mountain. And I'm looking at goats and watching Chris make a stalk and the sun's sitting over my shoulder. They didn't get much better than that. - Oh man, yeah. And like when I was up there, I think it was with Gavin two times ago, I think it was in the spring when I was up there with your boy Gavin Chris. And I had some misubi that I got from 7/11. And I was sitting there with him. And it was already more than sunset. And I was like, man, I'm eating some misubi. We just got crushed on this mountain, but we saw probably 150 goats. And I'm watching a sunset and the Pacific Ocean is just roaring on the beach two miles away. And yeah, it's just astounding. So thanks for sharing that with us Chris. - Oh, absolutely. One of the things that always amazes me and I've been up there so multiple times now is just, I think a good word is the grander of that place, right? It's just the way when you get up onto those knife edges and it just the way it spreads out, you have that contrast between the blue ocean, the green mountainside and then maybe the sun setting with that blazing orange on the horizon. And it's just, it's cool just to get up there that high, which not a lot of people attempt because as you guys, it takes work to get up there. - It's gnarly. Hey, James, you know how I can tell Chris is the officer between the three of us? - How's that? - He uses words like grander. - Oh, yeah. (laughing) - Hey, when we landed in Molokai, he told me, he said, "Dya, you just hop in the front of the truck." And we had a, Jake pick this up and I'll show it. Jake, I said, "I know I'm supposed to be in the back, but Colonel Chris is letting me ride in the front." (laughing) - Oh, man. - Chris, you were able to make a couple of stocks that day on the goats though, yeah, or how that goes. - Yeah, I think the closest I came to was about 40 yards of them, it was really difficult. And then that place is in the number of eyes, especially when you're on the main herd, as they're just as wily as deer out there with their eyes and their noses. And when you get a bunch of nannies that are just on alert, it's tough to get in on them. The wind plays havoc sometimes with us up there. And it's hope in country. It's, you might have a little bit of a bump in the terrain that'll give you a little bit of a cover, maybe a couple of rocks here and there, maybe a little tiny bush, but that's about it. So it's really about playing those angles, getting above them and shooting downhill, which can be also a pain. I've missed several because of that downward angle, but it's tough and it's a cool challenge. It's inspired me. I don't know if this would ever happen, but I'd love to do a mountain goat hunt, a real deal mountain goat hunt like in the Rockies or someplace else and that sort of fought and stalk hunting. It just fires me up. It's cool. I think it's just one of the things that once you do it, it gets in your blood. - It really is being able to see such a vast expanse, watching, spotting the animals in your quarry from over a mile away at times, right? And identifying, playing your strategic moves as to where you should go, where you should not go, what side of the mountain was not going to be approachable because it's too steep and gnarly. Knowing the wind might move into a certain valley or hauler, as Southern folks would say. But also, as you mentioned, there's so many noses and ears and eyeballs out there and those goats are hypervigilant. They're very alert. So I haven't sealed the deal on one yet, but I feel like next time I just need to take a little bitty whack, seeding back and just camp up there overnight until I can come back down with some meat. - Gavin's got three goats down on top of us, where we got goose steaks, the three of us. - Yeah, man, he's doing great. - When I got home and got to reflecting back on, on those days we spent on Molokai and over on Oahu, one thing that really I reminded myself of was those animals over there in Hawaii that have one predator and as humans. - Yes. - All they have to watch out for is humans. So they are extremely keyed into, I think our movements, our profile is not like they have to watch for coyotes, cougars, wolves. They looking for one specific predator and that's us. And I do think that makes them a good bit harder and these animals have been brought to the island and hunted every sentence they were, you know, turned off and went feral, they've been hunted. So, you know, as, yeah, the ones that are surviving have been taught for generations and generation. And that area over there on Oahu, especially, there's basically one way in, one way out. Those goats pretty much keyed in on where the people are gonna be, everything's gotta go in your favor, especially with these treads, those. - Yeah, I want a group session talk strategy later because I feel like you do set yourself up for a disadvantage 'cause there's kind of one way to go up the mountain there, right? You'd split off to a couple of different fingers but I feel like you almost need to cross that big bowl and come in from there in the morning or something if you can camp out there or something. I don't know, it's not give away too many trade secrets to trade periods of our own success or lack of success so far. But yeah, it's really great. And then what the following weekend you fellas got on a puddle jumper and went to Molokai, right? - Yeah, yep, sure it did. That was great. - How did you come up with a plan? 'Cause I remember when James was getting to fly out to Oahu, he was like, "Oh, we might go to Molokai." And I said, "Oh, that'd be awesome, man. Chase Ax is here, something like that." And then all of a sudden I get a text message from one of you or both of you that said, "Oh, hey, we're getting ready to head out to Molokai "and Chase Ax is here." So, how did that idea come to fruition and then getting a kitchen pass from the boss ladies to go out there and party on? - I had a hookup over there that I talked about and I got a telling Chris about it. And anyway, Chris was gonna look after the flight. We were like, "Yeah, I think we can do it." He got time off. - Let's back up a little bit. James starts mentioning this thing about Molokai. I said, "Are you inviting me to go?" I was like, "Is that all my bucket list? "I'd love to go." And I think he said, "Sure be good "to have another trad guy with me." So, yeah, that's how it got started. - My wife had heard me talking about it on the phone, but I had never said, "Hey, "we're probably going to Molokai. "We're trying to go." And so, we were going to pick up a few things on a Saturday morning, I think. We were going to get a few things from the store. And I got a text coming from Chris the night before. I opened up and he said, "Hey, let me back up. "We couldn't find any tickets over there." The little island hop and plane was booked. Chris found a, as I'm sleeping, Chris found him. - Take a surfboard? - Yes, Chris, as I wake up that morning, Chris, I got a text from Chris says, "Hey, I hope you don't mind. "Somebody backed out and I booked the flights." And I was like, "Great." I said, "Right now we know we're going, "Oh, I got to do this call a cat." And say, "Hey, we're coming," you know. - Well, with the listeners, we need to understand that we've only got one airline that's servicing Molokai right now. It's remotely airline. And I think, James, correct me if I'm wrong, I think they only fit six, maybe eight people in those flights and they only do several runs a day. There's multiple events going on in the summer and people are booking their flights really early. And when James mentioned this, I went up on their website and there was no seats available for the entire month of July. And I just kept checking and checking all of a sudden there's an availability and I booked it. I said, "Okay, we're going." I couldn't even call James 'cause it was one o'clock, two o'clock in the morning for him and I just booked the flight. - Yeah, so I got up that morning and saw that and I'm like, "Yeah, we're going, it's going to happen." Was there a wait limit or anything like that for this flight or did you have any concerns about that? - They, I'm sure they ask you how much you weigh. It's a small plane, so I'm sure at some point they say, "All right, that's enough passengers and luggage." - Yeah, how many folks are on that plane? It's not like a, it's not like going to Alaska and you got a super cub or something, right? You've got, how large are aircraft is that? - It's an eight-seater, there's eight seats. - Eight-seater. - Eight-seater, twin-turbo prop. I think the one we flew back on was a single prop on the nose and I think the baggage limitations were just pretty, pretty similar to all airlines like 50 pounds. They charge you for a bo-case. There's some add-ons that they get you on, but for the most part, you bring a cooler, we brought a cooler over hoping to fill it. - Don't bring a styrofoam, don't bring a styrofoam too. - Yeah, and then I think they had plenty of room for our luggage, it wasn't too much of an issue. - Gotcha, and what airport do you land into there in Molokai? - There's only one, it's the Molokai airport. - Molokai airport, yeah. - Even checking in at Mooka-Laylee, you literally just like a open air-type of shelter there. Wind blows right through the middle, no doors. You just walk up there and lay your stuff on the scale and pay them what you owe them and sit there outside the gate. And when they tell you you walk right out there and get on the plane, take us. - Right on. - And did you all end up running a vehicle or did your guy, your charter guide or what have you, was did he pick you up from the airport? How did you get to your destination? - Yeah, he picked us up and took us right to their ranch and once he showed us around and gave us our areas to hunt, we probably had, I'd say, 1,000 or better acres that we were gonna be able to hunt for the next three days and we just played a perimeter. - The entire ranch is what, 3,000 acres? - 3,000, yeah. - Was some of it blocked off for rifle season or? - Yeah, they had some gun hunters coming in that weekend. - Okay. - So they gave us our own Polaris Ranger and said, have at it, holler at us if you need us basically. - Wonderful. Yeah, that's a lot of liberty to go out there on a big expanse of land and chase the wildlife. - It's a short learning curve, yeah, the one of you. - They did. Yeah, I think we did pretty good in the short time. I think if we had a couple more days if we could have really locked them down, but yeah, that's- - I agree. - Part of the challenge I think was, and I think that's what I really enjoyed about this particular hunt is that it's unguided and it forced you to learn the terrain and get out there and beat the bushes and the trails and figure things out. And that's one of the, that's the puzzle I like to you that really intrigues me and gets me going. - It all looks the same as big flats with these huge gulches and you just gotta, you wanna get in there and beat up? Well, but boy, I tell you, Chris said it right. If we'd have had another day, we learned enough that first two days, I believe with all my heart, if we had one more day, we'd a crack one 'cause we were getting close. We both had plenty of times inside of 20, 30 yards, but at least little movement. We'll set those things up. - So did you all get the hunting day? The first day that you landed was that a hunting day or? - Yeah. - Yeah. - And how many days have you spent out there total? - We had that evening we landed one full day and then on Sunday, we hunted until four o'clock and our plane left. What was it, Chris? - It was about eight. No, it was later after eight o'clock, I think, in the evening. - When we landed, I think we landed in Honolulu at eight, 30. - Okay, yeah, literally, yeah. - So you really only had about 48 hours or so to? - Yeah, we didn't have long to deal. - Wow, that's an accelerated adventure, fellas. That's awesome. - Yeah. - Chris, tell me about a couple of your stocks on these quick wooded beasts. - Well, let me just maybe set the scene a little bit because Molikai is a very, it's a lower-lying island and it's pretty arid. James described it in a way that it's like Texas, right? The Texas Hill Country, is that how you call it, James? - Yeah, yes, it's what it looked like. - And that scrub and then we also have the Kaby Treaty, which is a thorny, bushy tree, which I guess is like the Mesquite in Texas. A lot of briars, a lot of stuff that can just catch on your clothing. It's pretty dry with that red dirt out there. But then the wind is always constantly blowing. We have this Hawaii, we have the trade winds that are blowing East Northeast or Northeast, so that's a predictable variable depending on the terrain. But those access deer are crazy alert. James, I think you said it best. How did you describe them again? - They like trying to hunt a deer with turkey eyes. - Deer with turkey eyes, right? - Yeah, yeah, that sounds like a challenge. - Yeah, so I think the first evening that we got out there and Jake dropped us off on this particular hunt, and I just dropped into this gold cherry and he told us, just work your way up this hillside and we'll meet you at the top. - And what's amazing to me is those access deer and their hide and their camouflage pattern, they have these, sort of that deer colored, almost orange just hide with those white spots, almost like a fawn, right? A deer, white tail deer fawn. When they are in that particular environment, they just disappear. They just blend into the environment. They're really tough to see. You got to take every step that you clear, you got a glass and you got to make sure you've cleared that zone. Otherwise, pretty soon you're gonna hear them chirp or bark and you're busted with as many eyes as out there. So that first evening we got out there and I wasn't more than maybe 50 yards into this gold and I finally spotted them, but I had nowhere to move. Their eyes were scanning. It's almost like the does on the outside of their perimeter or they're setting scouts doing recon every on a 360, right? It was really tough to get in on them. I think James, you had better opportunities on that first night than I did, but it was cool to finally see them and get yourself a sight picture on what they look like and how to find them and then how to work that terrain. And some of these dry gulches there, there's a lot of really sandy areas where it's like a washout, easy to stock in those areas. But once you get up onto that lava type rock or in underneath those kiave trees where it's crunchy sticks and everything's brittle and making noise, it can be really tough. And so it's really methodical and tedious as you spot and stop through these areas. So that first night I got to maybe within about 60 yards of about 20 axis deer and just never could close the gap on them. And after that, I really didn't see too much. James, I mean, you had pretty good luck on that first evening. - Yeah, I was, I had one, I had, we were sitting there at once Chris went down, we went down, we went on up the Gulch on the Polaris, probably, I don't know half a mile or so and we're sitting there glass and those just herds of deer. Some of them were feeding, some of them were bedding. We probably saw 80 deer sitting there on one side, just looking across the other. So I dropped down in there to take me a bearing where I want to drop off and I dropped down in there and I'm holding that bearing going up the other side of that ridge, thinking I'm going to be way in front of those deer. And all of a sudden I blew up a whole wide of them, right? They were right there, right in the bottom, never saw those. But what I realized is I went on up, those kind of went in the direction where Chris was heading as I start going on up. There's more coming and but they're picking me off from a hundred yards and I'm barely missing saying the eyes these things. - Are they vocal as well? Like a white tail will snort on things of that nature. What is the alert that an axis deer makes when they know they picked you off? That bark, right? And they just did it. - Yeah, that's it. - And do you hear one go off or do you hear like multiple go off? And if there's that many deer out there, what is it? - It usually starts a chain reaction, but there's like a bunch of monkeys out there saying, "Hey, yeah, he's over here," type of thing. - I put it, he just put it. - Yeah, go ahead. - I had one come in and bark at me and I have on GoPro 21 minutes of barking. As the sun goes down, they just stood out there 30 yards or so and barked at me for 21 minutes and I just kept the camera rolling. - Oh man. - So James described these axes deer like deer with turkey eyes, but then I would, I'd add that they've got the speed of an antelope because when they bust out of there, when they bark at you, they're not like a white tail that kind of prances around and you can see the tail bobbing up and down. These guys put their head down and you can see they're just like speed goats going across this terrain and they're gone. And it was not uncommon, I think in those two days that we hunted to bust out groups. I, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, groups of 60, maybe even more on James with that, that picked us off at over 100 yards. - Wow, that's really incredible from that far out and you're out there, you're doing a stalk so you're obviously not just walking in and blazing in and do you attribute that more? What sense do you attribute that to more? Their smell, eyesight, like there's so many eyes, the wind. - I think their eyes are their best. I think they lean more on their eyes than anything. - Yeah, absolutely, I agree. - If we had to cover a lot of ground that we would separate each morning and say, "Hey, man, I found this one spot." The first evening we hunted a place we weren't gonna be able to go back to. So the next morning is when our learning curve began on the place we could hunt. So we had a day in three quarters for that. We were splitting up and we were hunting, trying to catch those deer coming from water to bedding and we were both finding and seeing a lot of deer, blowing a lot of deer out, had some close calls, but we were trying to put together a pattern but what I realized real quick in it is was slipping up on one of these things is gonna be darn near impossible. It's gonna take everything going your way and nobody's seeing you. Your best bet's gonna be to hunker down and I started hunkering down and that's when I started having some good close calls. I had one good close call where I actually bumped the buck and he, I was on one of those heavy deer trails. I bumped him. He's bounded out there about 25 yards, stopped, but I had no shot and as he come on out, I took a shot at him, deflected and went right in front of him. That's the only error I'll let go, but I was inside a 15 yards twice and couldn't even get my bow up, you know. - Oh man, just too many eyes on you, huh? - Yeah, they get in there on you and you can't see 'em. You can't hear 'cause it's hard to hear 'em. They're walking in sand and dust on these main trails and the trade winds are really loud. They cover up a lot of our noise but we can't hear it in me either. And all of a sudden you look up and there's a deer, but they're probably one already then come by him and that's what happened to me. I looked up and I see deer coming on. Oh wow, they're coming right to me. And when I picked my bow up hanging from the limb, there's one right here, just psh, psh. - Wow. Do you think that did you start changing your course of action to be more of a sitting ambush rather than spot in stock? Do you think that's gonna be more effective on the next round? - Yeah, definitely I would. What do you think, Chris? - Yeah, I think so too. And I think you just got to really figure it out. I think James really found those intersections in those trails 'cause there's hundreds of trails out there. It's not like in an area you go through maybe and say the white-tailed woods, you got these linear trails and then you might stumble on an intersection but there's intersections everywhere. The key is which are the biggest intersections, which are the areas that are just trampled down that maybe you can concentrate your efforts on. It's dry and air too, so water is a key source that they're looking for. That's another one of our plays. That particular morning, the first morning we hunted our archery area, I'm just trying to get to this gulf that I know I'm gonna be trying to get to the hunt and going through some of this open area and I see a large buck. This is a trophy buck, probably about 100, 120 yards out and he bounds off. And I thought I busted him and he was gone but he ends up coming around and he comes towards me 'cause apparently he didn't know exactly what I was, right? And before I know it, this thing's 15 yards away from me and all I'm seeing is this rack coming over to this little swale or this little ridge, I guess, that I was behind him and he's looking and I'm just trying to be a statue, right? I'm not even eyeballing this thing and I can just see him in my peripheral and talking about their eyes, all I did on my bow hand and string him was put a little bit of pretension on that string and on that bow handle and he busted out 'cause the wind was in my... We're talking about not even a centimeter's worth of movement and he caught that. Yeah, no side of my... - I'm not far away from him when he bolted out Chris. - Yeah, I was probably 15 yards from him. No shot, all I see is his head, maybe a little bit of his throat. I have nothing in the body to look at but yeah, just waiting for him to make a move and that little pretension on the string busted me out. It was cool to see one of those big bucks, trophy buck right at any of that. - This ever reminds me actually for those that are not used that are unaware of what an access to your looks like, especially folks on the mainland, they're used to a black tail, mule, or white tail. You mentioned like a fine, like a white tail, fine, but what does a grown mature dough or buck look like out there? - James, how would you describe that? - I would say they look like a kind of a... They're white tail-ish in their body but they have like horns of that ilk almost. They got one big long main beam that runs up a big one's 27 to 30 inches is what they call a trope, 27 and overs, a trope here. Chris, isn't that what they were saying? - Yeah, 27 over anything like 31, 32, 36 inches is a really big tall rack. It's the height of the rack, not the spread that they're looking at. - Yeah, that's from the base to the tip. That's from the base to the tip of the... And I'd say on a good buck, from what I saw several out there to inside spread, it'd probably be well over 20 inches. What would you say, Chris? - I would say, yeah, I'd say so. That tall and about red. - And regardless of gender or age, they all have spots still, right? - Yeah, they all have the third bucks and does with spots all over them, right? - But like a huge bond. And these, they get pretty good size bodies. You also got her. These deer don't have any parasites. There's no tigs on those deer. - Yeah, it's really good. - Yeah, so they're pretty healthy looking, eh? - They're extremely healthy. - Yeah. - But what they are, Chris and I both noticed, they're creatures of nature. That's the only weakness on them. And we discovered this a little bit late in the game, but we saw them working their way up in certain shaded pockets. I found some places over there, as I was walking around 300 to 800 yards from this water tank, that they bedding it so much. There's grass in it, well over built high. And this is the grass area, not those briars. And it will be down to the dirt and scat. Everywhere you look, everywhere. And I'm not just a spot here and there. I'm talking about an area 60 to 80 yards long, 40 to 50 yards wide, covered in scat. - But they've got the routine. - They have a habit. - I was videoing that scat with a GoPro going, look. Y'all just look at all this scat on the ground. And all of a sudden, right, 20 yards from it. - Yeah, those bedding areas are just crazy. They're bedding in almost like fine talcum powder. They're used so much. And then the basis is the trees. You can see they're all rubbed down 'cause they're trying to get up underneath the tree as close as they can. Besides as many, I've never seen so many deer rubs where antlers are being rubbed in James. I like a whitetail, but I've done some stuff in the alquids and some whitetail, but rubs everywhere. - So shed everywhere, shed everywhere. - Yeah, you can make your all, you can just have a collection and make a couple of chandeliers with all the sheds out there, I'm sure, right? - We can certainly said, we probably saw over 500 deer in that just those two days. Now, were they the same deer groups or packs? But if we counted up all the busted packs that we busted out of there, it was probably over 500 easily. - Yeah, I'm Margaret Richard Barnard. I think I was talking to James about it. I was like, man, we all go out there and we'll take a rifle. We'll shoot one for can't meet the first day and then we'll just eat access the rest of the week that we spend out there while we're carrying around our bows. And that would be give us like good power for the rest of the week. - We can eat good. - It can't meet right away and then we'll eat well throughout the week as we're struggling with our stick bows. But with a rifle, it wouldn't be no problem. - It's in the grocery shop and at that point, right? - Yeah, if I had to do it over again, then it I know where some of those key bedding areas are where they go from that water to those water tanks to that bedding. I would just get over there in them bedding areas and wait 'cause most of these big areas that are down to the dirt, if you were to get in the middle of it, you're probably gonna have a good shot but, and in the daytime, I'd sit on this, I'd sit on our small mulch and watch a cross and it's probably 100 yards across, 120. And you could see groups of any trade that put out a little bigger shade than normal, there'd be deer. So thick in it, you couldn't put another one in there. And I think I did a pretty good job of getting, I got some big herds of deer on camera and a lot of blowing at us and documented the whole thing as best I could. Hopefully people like it. - I think it's really good, James. I've watched, I've not watched part two yet, but I watched part one just a few days ago when it came out and I'll certainly post your YouTube and the show notes because other than this hunting in Mullica is the treasure trove of self-bovery and variety of skill sets and gear reviews and how to prepare for hunts, but also just chasing pigs in the swamp in Georgia is just whether it's with a recurve or a self bow or even your little Comanche self bow, Comanche inspired self bow two is super, super fun YouTube. - Yeah, I think one of the coolest things that during the midday hunt, so we were hunting all, we weren't really resting, we had such a little time. So even during the heat of the day, like James the same, we're focusing on those deer that are bedded and finding some shade, but where I really had some fun is dropping down into the big gulches over there and working through basically like a sandy wash and every step, these things are busting me like six, I've never been so humbled, right? They're busting you at 60, 80, 100 yards away. And, but you drop in there and the wind's blowing straight down the gulch and you can smell them, you can get a sense, your spidey sense goes up, you know that they're there, but you can't see them. Do I make this step, do I glass this area? Then now it's getting hot and you're getting tired and maybe you didn't drink enough water or whatever. And I'm starting to make mistakes. And that one mistake, right? I didn't glass that little corner, right? Or I didn't glass that little rock formation where there's got caves and overhangs very well. And I'm busting them out of there or they're seeing me. But I think that was cool is that game of cat and mouse as you're going through on that midday hunt, going through those gulches. I got to within about 20, 30 yards of them. But again, it's a game of inches, right? And game of timing. And it just, it needs to all come together. But that's why we like to do it, right? We like to get in close, right? - So we measure our success and getting inside that bubble, whether we kill anything or not. We get inside that bubble. That's a success to me with what we're hunting with, especially like we were over there. Just here it is, go get it, boys. And to figure them out and try to pattern them and get in like we did, I would consider it a successful hunt, even though we didn't put any meat in the bag. But I guarantee you next time we go over there, I think that we'll have a little... I think there'll be some arrows flung anyway. - I think there's something other than the fellowship aspects. It's the fact that I think it's in our DNA to seek adventure, right? We have, I think there's a phrase, I read a book, I think called by Alistar Humphreys. He's a Brit many years ago, but he coined this phrase micro-adventures. And it could be, hey, I'm gonna go on a 40-mile bike ride and maybe camp out at night and then come back home. Or I'm gonna canoe to the other side of the lake and camp out here, like you guys basically... It's been 48 hours on an island you hadn't been before and 100 a species you had not hunted before. And the fact that you got within 15 yards of a very hyper-vigilant, very notoriously difficult animal to hunt with a stick and string, it's a huge success. That's an adventure win for sure, right? And it was also a bit of a recon mission for next time. So James, it's been like 20 years since you've been on the island. I don't know how you're wifely, you get away with that. But are you now, does she have some leverage on you now? Oh, if you wanna go out to Moloka, you better take me to go out there again and then you go see my family. - No, that probably... - The problem now, the problem now is she's not gonna want me to go without her. (laughing) - Plain tickets are expensive. - I'll be back, no doubt about it, even if it's just the annual thing. That place, and I think Chris will agree with me. Two or three of us, four guys, be it probably, you know, for the bunk house, we stayed in, four guys, it'd be about the match she'd wanna take, but three or four of us could go in there. And I mean, we just had a mall, yeah. - Yeah, maybe spend a full five days out or something, yeah. - Yeah, I mean, it's the place we stayed in. I mean, I loved it, you know. - What you showcase on your video clips, fella, is it's just wild enough to feel wild, right? But safe enough to read, don't feel like you're just deserted, right? And it was really good. Now, who was the primary cook in camp? - We ate dehydrated meals or peanut butter gill in the house. (laughing) I wasn't sure if there was like a little old Hawaiian gal that was there like making soup and poke bowls or anything, or if the cook situation looked like. - It primarily was unguided and we had to bring our own food, but the family invited us up to the main house one evening. We had a great time eating some venison stew and some more. They're fried, some beef stir fry. I can't remember what else, but it was great. And so that kind of supplemented our dehydrated food that one evening, but yeah. - Yeah, it was just really, it really just self-sustaining. Do yourself kind of hunt besides them showing us around what the boundaries were. James and I, we were it. - That's so cool, man. I'm so jealous, but I'm jealous, but I'm happy that you guys got to go do that and partake and have a good four days or the course of a week out there. And it's such a beautiful area. I think the people are generally pretty warm and welcoming. And I don't know if there's a place that looks more beautiful on the planet. It is, I need to talk about how terrible it is so that more people don't go out there. 'Cause we know there are definitely enough humans out there on the mountain, at least on Oahu, but. - There's enough to sit between coast to California and Hawaii. That'll eliminate a lot of people from there. - James, how did your, the last morning go for you and what happened there? - Oh, the last morning we were there. I had a book. I was sitting there and all of a sudden I looked up and there's a book come right to the right of me. And once again, as soon as I picked my bow up, he blows at me and takes off. Gets over there and stands a while and that was a really close encounter. That was probably 12 yards, 15 max he'd come by. I mean, never saw it. - Was that the one in where all the trails intersected? Is that the one I came to? - Yes, and that's on the video I made too. Like I say, there's a triangle, right? You can see it plain as they a triangle, but. And then slip on up. I see a bunch of books bedded during this tall grass and I can see their antlers sticking up. And I'm 60 yards from them and I just pull out my phone 'cause I didn't want to move too much. And I'm videoed with my phone and the biggest one ticks me out. And he stood up, but as we were the last day, two hours from when we had to hike up and leave, we peek over, we started walking these smaller gulches, standing on the edge, peeking down in them, which would, if they're deer in there, that's a good way that would work. But all of a sudden we kind of peaked over one and some deer blew out and I'm standing there with my bow and Chris is right over there about 10 yards beside me. And there's four, don't know I'm there yet. 25, 26 yards and they're just branching the way, but I'm sitting there half draw forever. Just waiting and they finally blew out. But we had close calls. Chris had a real close encounter the last 30 minutes. I'll let you tell you that. - Actually, I'll back up to the morning. So one of the things I found is if we can find solitary deer, doe or buck moving around, that was a whole lot better than messing with 60 sets of eyes. I had seen this one doe that was down in this gulch and kind of in this ditch the morning before. And I figured she may come back there again. And so it was that morning of the last day, I'm working just ever so carefully up into this gulch and peeking down into this small little ditch. Basically, it was maybe about 10, 15 feet deep. And I come around the corner and all I see is that, it's the height of an axis deer. It's the white spots, it's clearly, but all I see is the mid body back to its tail. The head's totally covered by this sloping kind of burn that goes from the left to right. I come to draw on this thing at about 12 yards and it just did not look good. I was like, man, this is gonna be a good shot. I scooted a little more over to the right and still, the wind's in my favor, her head is totally covered. She can't see me. I take a second draw on it. Again, I didn't move enough and I'm still looking at the mid line shot. Maybe I would hit liver and I'm just thinking I've got to do better than this, right? And it was on my third step to the right, she busts. And I tell you, I sank down into those briars and my heart just dropped into my stomach and it was just so close, game of inches. But to be again, that close to those spooky deer and this thing and about 12 yards down into the dish. So mind you, I'm a left-handed shooter so I've got this burn going left to right and maybe James could have had a better shot. Turned the corner on that thing as a right-handed shooting shooter, but just that visual for me, that burn, it didn't sit well with me and I just needed that extra maybe six inches and it would have been a done deal, so. - Man, what a good climax though, tail end of the trip and you had a really close encounter of the misdists. - We were having, we'd get back to meet back up at the mid-day issue and boy, we were like two kids in middle school, just yeah, but boy. - It's only three stories, right? - Yeah, we were like, should we hang it up? Let's keep trying, our flight's not until this evening, so yeah, even at the last stock, we had seen that James had, we saw this huge herd and they were down into this Gulch and they, we busted them, but they moved back up across the Gulch and I had been there earlier. I said, I know where these axes they are going to come down if we bust them. We actually tried a little mini drive on James and he'd come around with the Polaris on all the way around the backside of this Gulch here to try and push them back down towards me, but it was probably me and I'll take the blame for it. I think I took one peek over this little berm just to get a visual where they were and they disappeared. I actually didn't see them disappeared, but James, you saw them clearly, huh, when they were busting up. - Yeah, yeah, as I'm, so I drive all the way around, it's probably a 20 minute drive around. I gotta go around and drop down and actually drive through this thing probably about a mile or so from where Chris dropped down and as I'm coming around at the lip of this big Gulch, I heard a deer, Chris, the thing. And I mean, they come within 10 yards of the Polaris. One of them, I thought he's probably injured 'cause he went off the edge, it was insane. If I'd have had a camera rolling like on that Polaris, that would have been unbelievable footage, but and then they kept coming. I'm sitting there waiting on Chris and here come another herd, here come another herd. It was, if you blow them out over there, there ain't no need to get disheartened 'cause there's gonna be more. It's not like here when you blow a sound or a hogs out or blow a deer out going in, you huntin' sober, so to speak, don't even worry about it, keep huntin' over there. - Man, it sounds, it just sounds dreamy. It sounds like you guys had a lot of opportunities regardless of how difficult they may or may not have been, but having a target-rich environment that proposes many opportunities and a relatively diverse terrain and ecosystem and being able to see this many ungulates in such a short period, if a 48 hour period is quite the experience, and I can only imagine that just even on that little plane ride on the way back, you guys were just tickled pink, known that you had to head back. But yeah, how did the wives respond? Did you just flood 'em with a huntin' story? And they were like, yeah, or how did that go when you got back? 'Cause I think that if I had that many encounters, I would get back and I would just wanna tell my wife how awesome it was in a certain point. She'd be like, I get it, you were hunting, it was cool. Let's change its subject. So how did that go? - Hey, Chris. - I think the first thing that came out of my wife's mouth was, did you get anything, right? Where's the meteor? - Well, she knows by now that especially the game that we play as traditional ball hunters, we're looking for memories, experiences, these close encounters with these beautiful animals that we hunt, and as I'm relating some of these stories to her, in fact, that the near, near, or I didn't even lose the arrow, but that deer, I called her, we saw a cell service and looked like, and I called her soon after that, and I was just, my husband, I'm sick to my stomach and I'm deep, deep with her. But if you reminded me that that was a good decision, right? He didn't want a wounded deer or a gut shot deer that now James and I are tracking for hours and hours at the last day of our life. But yeah, she's supportive. I don't know, James, what cell told you? - My wife's kind of numb, the hunting story, she hears some more. - That's good. It sounds like you all have good teammates. The ladies are still allow you to get out and be men and do these things. And regardless of whether you come home with something or not, they're happy that you were flourishing and becoming better humans, better men, better partners, better fathers, due to those experiences and nature. And I think that's obviously something that I'd share too where my bride is, there's certainly limitations where I need to keep my, my took us home, but she encourages me to get out because she knows I become a better person through it all. So I think we're pretty blessed. I think we all buried up in that case. - Yeah, out of all of us. - I think, I don't know, Matt, you still got a couple of young kids and Chris has a 14 and a 16 year old. I'm like the only empty mister, so. - That's true, yeah, mine are a little free to. - Yeah, mine are very much still needing a lot of attention. My eldest who's getting Ray turn 11 here later this week, me joined me in the swamp today. I think we were talking about this before we had record, but boy, the hurricane or I guess now tropical storm would come through and I dropped off about 500 pounds of cobbed corn for a bear bait site about 10 days ago, but we've had seven or eight days of just constant rain and we didn't get the storm surge that was predicted which is great, which means river and the intercoast will stayed within its banks. But the flooding, especially in the swampy areas, which were bone dry a couple of weeks ago, I went up there and all that corn was about eight inches underwater. At this point, so I don't know. I'm sure those giant rat, those bear size raccoons will probably just come out and start pulling them, pulling out of the water and getting their snacks and all that good stuff. I don't think it'll deter them too much, but we'll see. But the whole time, man, the mosquitoes, the yellow flies, everything else where we're getting us both and like he was being very stoic despite the frenzy of bugs getting on us. And I think like when the boys are together, they tend to like be bigger sissies about nature and thorns and bugs, but when they're independent and hanging out, they're always like so cool and just they persevere so well. I don't know why I'm going on this tangent, but if that's how my day's gone and I don't know, we've mentioned kids. So that was my deal, but it was a blast and I love this age that they're at right now. It's, there's not a lot, there's not as much. You don't have to be like the helicopter parent where you're constantly worried this thing's gonna happen. Look, they're gonna trip because they're a toddler, right? Where they're putting something in their mouth. Now they're just, they're cool little humans and they have their own personalities and the things that they like and this coming weekend here in North Carolina, there's a an archery shoot that I've only, I know a couple of the members, but it's called the Barefoot Traditional Archers and it's about three hours from here, which is why I'm a content one of the shoots, but I met up with some of the guys that eat early in the earlier month or so ago and it's like, all right, I'm gonna go out there. So my youngest this time is coming weekend. We're gonna go camping out there and go to the traditional archery shoot. Yeah, so that's my little attempt at a pivot to Chris because I know that you and the boys have some plans coming up this fall because I was told by Mr. me, Mr. Monty Browning that you guys might be making a trip. - Yeah, absolutely. So we're gonna be trying to plan a fall light tail hunt with Monty Browning and on his property over there and the rest of the crew from the Compton Traditional Bohener's first youth hunt at Plum Creek, we're all gonna be meeting together as a reunion and to get those young men back together to do a white tail hunt. So we're pretty excited, but I'm actually, we've adjusted fire a little bit and we're gonna be meeting up with James. I think before that hunt, James, is he gonna be able to show me around a little bit? I don't know how far it is from your place. - Well, Monty's down in South Carolina, right? - But yeah, he's got his place down in Georgia, actually, so. - Oh, it's in Georgia, okay. I couldn't remember. I know that I thought that he and Andy were in that family, but yeah, look. - That might be a good idea. - I'm around, it might be very doable. I think we, James, I think we looked it up. I think we're like 10 hours apart from each other, but that doesn't mean it's not possible. - Is that no, I mean, did he talk to October? - First week, toward the end of the first week. - Maybe the end of the month. - This is exciting, we'll see. - This is exciting for us, 'cause for me, this is redemption, or a redemption hunt possibly on white tails, 'cause I got to hunt white tails in Michigan when I was young and in seminary and never connected. There's a story in there for me to say for another day, but so I'm looking forward to getting back out there and of course Gavin had his misses on white tails at the Plum Creek Ranch and then also my youngest son, Gabriel, will be getting out too. So that'll be his first real, well, first white tail hunt. So I gave him a sighting on the tooth this time around. - Yeah, well, it's actually gonna be coming out with us too as well. - Man, that's awesome. That's really great. Man, you're raising them right, Chris. Like I vouch for that. - I think the traditional bony is very unique. There's a lot of other activities and sports out there, but this passion, this lifestyle lends itself to developing independence and develop then true character development for young people. I'm just glad that they're interested in it and we can use that sort of as a springboard for them to be better men in the future. - So it's a great, it's been a great community. Even out at you and Gavin obviously have got to talk to a lot of the gray beards and for lack of better words, legends with modern traditional archers, right? Monty Browning and Brian and some of these folks. I got to meet Monty for the first time I eat her and I had both boys in town. And it's right after he gave one of his talks. And then I said, hey, Monty, I wanted to say hi for Gavin. And he was like, oh, and then he mentioned that you guys are coming out to the farm and the fall and all that stuff. And he talked. So first of all, Monty Browning is a passionate storyteller for anyways, right? Like he's a super impressive storyteller, whether it's verbal or in literature. But the story and the passion and the warmth that he had when he was talking about Plum Creek and those boys that were there and young men in the future generation for this country, for this sport, for conservation, was very noticeable and there was a lot of depth to the things that he was seeing in his comments. It wasn't just, I like to take young men under my wing and it was he very much cares about it. And I feel like he is convinced or he is confident that these types of fellowship and mentored type environments are going to carry on. These are core memories for these young boys and future men. And I love that. And he took 20 minutes or so of his time to sit and just shoot the breeze with my two boys while I'm attending. And I was like, oh, I want to stop by in the morning because this was on the Saturday. So I was like, I'll stop by on Sunday morning before you pack up loose. And I want to get your books. And he's like, yeah, all right, I'll set some aside. So something happened. I can't remember what it was, but the boys' schedule for Sunday morning didn't allow me to go to Monty's booth at Eatar. And it was by the time I went into the vendor tent, he had already packed it and gone. So when we went to the Sunday, we went to a hotel and I went ahead and just ordered a book, the new Sunday book and ordered through his website. Didn't know me from Adam and I get a response back from Annie, his wife. This is a Matthew Monty remembers talking to you in your boys yesterday. He probably talked to 2,000 people on Saturday. He even remember talking to you in your boys on Saturday and he wants to know if he can write a personal note in this book. Like the man is about 75, 74 and a half, something like that right now. And he remembered, you know, a ding dong redneck like myself, my two handsome kids and the 20 minutes that we shared and he wanted to write a personal message in his book before he mailed it out. He did, he wrote a really kind message with a scripture and it says to the Morris boys and congratulations on your future moussin or something along those lines. But man, to highlight the kind of amazing people that are in this community. I don't know if I've ever been around a place that was just so welcoming right off the bat that I've talked on this podcast about mentors being in deficit, right? I think the traditional archer community, if you can't find a mentor, it's because you really haven't put forth the effort, right? I don't have a mentor for shooting, right? There's just nobody that lives close by and I'm a terrible virtual student. However, as far as being getting mentorship in the hunt and getting close and maybe fabricating bows, right? There's some great blowers that I can message anytime I need to. Right now I'm a text message or Instagram and they'll give me insight on making bows and James is one of them. And Chris, like we have such great bonding moments over faith and fatherhood. Like you gave me confidence that we're homeschooling our kids. What's homeschool starts here in two weeks because we had this set but picked in you and your wife's brain on the value of homeschooling, particularly today's new society, helped to reinforce the decisions that car me, my wife, and I had already made. And I see Gavin and Gabriel, what amazing young men they are. And it's just, there's something really magical in this community that, I don't know, I have not experienced elsewhere. I'm sure there's other niche things out there but this is it for me. - I think that I think really goes across the world. We've heard this in multiple types of podcasts and you go to ETAU, you go to Compton, Romney. There's just something special about grab the longers that stick to get. - All right, fellas, I won't keep everybody too much longer. - Sorry, that was Gavin. (laughing) - All right, what's that? Chris? - I know it's Gavin, colleagues. - Oh. - I want to say something before we get off of here. - Please, that's what I was getting ready to say. - Oh. - For you guys to have some call to action and closing your mark. - Just sitting here listening to you talk, I've never met Monty and, but I've got my good buddy, Al Chapman. He knows Monty and speaks very highly of him, Chris does, and you do, but that generation right there, those guys in that age group, are some of the greatest, those guys are unbelievable and traditional archery changed my life. The guys that God put me in contact with through these sticking strings, literally changed my life for the better. And then even God told Chris, sitting out there in Hawaii with him, you look at what's happened in my life since November. When I recommitted myself to God and cried like a baby and called Al Chapman on the phone and hanging around with Chris those days in Hawaii. I've known, spent three days, three or four days with Chris total. I feel like I got a best friend for the rest of my life. - Mm-hmm. - This stuff, the bond is unbelievable. And the values and stuff of these guys are great. Thank the Lord every day that I picked up on these tread, but wish I had done it years and years ago. - Amen. - I'm super proud for these young guys that are getting into it. 'Cause boy, I feel like I robbed myself of years, hunting with compounds for us. Nothing is just a compound, it's just different ball game. - Yeah, with a different team and not to say one's better or the other, but I can tell you, I feel a lot more growth and more, I feel like I'm flourishing more in this community. And maybe it's an age thing too, where I'm getting older. - Everybody, it's so small to people who make you quivers, the people who build you buy you fletions from, who you buy you broadie, call and get them on the phone. The boy, your world's small. Everybody knows it's just the close-knit guys and their values are pretty common core. It's unbelievable. - Yes, sir. All right, guys, a couple things I'd like to close here with is one, I try to encourage some guests to maybe bring up a call to action or some final words, whether that's getting out of doors, hunting, taking up a new task, it can be spiritual. So I could give each of you a couple minutes to give you a call to action. And then if Captain Chris wouldn't mind closing us in prayer at the very end of this year's show, if you don't mind Chris. - Yeah, so my call to action, I would say is definitely don't waste time in developing memories with your children or any of those youth that are really interested in traditional botany. As I said before, it becomes a springboard for teaching them how to be not only just better humans or better men and women, it's a platform where failure becomes a part of their growth. And this is real world failure. This is not just something that's on a video game that they can swipe and restart. And there's so many metaphors we can draw from this, not only just from the challenges of life, but then we can push that into spirituality. Whatever venue that is with this traditional botany, calling mentors out there to take some youth and show them the outdoors and show them, teach them about these things and give them exposure to the outdoors. I think this is very important in our world in today's society, despite all the technology. The ability to reach down and touch and feel these absolutely real experiences can change their life. So I guess that's my call and I'll close your prayer after James, so. - Thanks Chris. - I think I pretty much said mine a minute ago. But if you're on the fence and picking up one of these traditional boats, go ahead and do it. You won't regret it, find yourself a group to get involved with that's done. And somebody in that group will take you under a wing and show you the way. As long as you go in there with the right attitude and mindset, just be humbling. And somebody will take you under their wing, no doubt. - No doubt, you have to be willing to reach out and grab ahold of somebody that's willing to share it. Thanks James. All right, Chaplain, we're on you. - All right, let's pray. - Lord God, we're just so thankful for this community that we have as traditional bonners, the relationships, the friendships, the connections that we make even virtually Lord. We just pray a blessing upon each one of those families that are out there as they are mentoring their young people and developing the character of our young people. We're thankful that there's generations to come that will follow in our footsteps Lord. And we just ask for a blessing upon them. For each one of our families out there Lord continue to protect us, guide us. As we prepare for these fall hunts and these adventures that are out there Lord, may it always be a reminder for us and your divine providence in our lives. We thank you in your name, amen. - Amen. - Amen. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)
On this episode I sit down with my two pals Chris Guiadiz and repeat guest James Wood. Both of these guys are avid traditional bowhunters, but reside in completely different sides of the country. But alas, the welcoming world of traditional archery provided a good platform to these two guys to partake in fellowship and a little hunting as they tried their best to harvest a variety of invasive species on the Hawaiian Islands.Follow along for a hunt recap.
Find Chris at:
Instagram: @curlykoa77
Compton Traditional Bowhunters Quarterly Journal ‘Walk in the Woods’: https://www.comptontraditionalbowhunters.com/be-a-member
James:
Instagram: @woodsoutdoors
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@gunghobows
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