Going ALL IN!

0:00This episode of the Flush Podcast is brought to you by OnX Hunt, Waltons, Hoxie Native Seeds, the Minnesota Horse and Hunt Club, HuntFishSD.com, Rufflin Kennels, Black Gold Dog Food, and by Game Virtual Shooting Simulators. Today, I'm talking with a man that's gone all in on life in the upland world after growing up as a non-hunter. Kang Yang is my guest. We've had him on the show before, but it's been a few years and a lot has changed since our first conversation. He's now a PF Chapter board member, a Minnesota Backcountry Hunter

0:31and Angler board member, a DNR R3 council member, partners of the outdoors for all, and somehow Kang still has time to mentor new hunters. He has the energy and enthusiasm for the outdoors that I hope rubs off on us all.

0:56Welcome to another episode of the Flush Podcast. I'm your host, Travis Frank. Big Al is our producer. Kang Yang is my guest today. Kang, thanks for making time to join us in the roost. That's what we call this place here. The roost 2.0. The roost 2.0. Big Al over here hiding behind the camera. He's... One day I'll have my own camera. One day. Maybe not. He put us in this box.

1:27I want to put you in a box. I wish people could see... I wish people, guests that come in could see it, but it's kind of funny because people think this is the whole room over there. That wooden paneling is the actual wall. If you watch our podcast now, which... Thanks, Al. You're doing a great job, Thurman. But we are literally in a half a box. Yeah. There's two walls up here behind us. It's an impressive half a box. And it's got some mounts right here. Scott Franzen shot this tiny rooster. And so that's mounted. I actually did harvest these quail.

1:58Beautiful picture of a dog in the background. Not just any dog. The dog. The Daisy Frank. We got to jump right into it because I actually read a comment that was left on our Spotify. Not our Spotify. On the Apple podcast. Somebody said 23 minutes before they finally got to something useful. I thought... Yeah. I know what you're talking about. I just read that the other day. So let's not. No messing around. No foreplay. No foreplay. Just so you know. We're just going to jump right in. I don't think it was something useful. I think they were referring to somebody actually on the

2:30show. What do you mean? Well, no. All I know is we babbled for quite a while. We did babble, though. But here's the thing, okay? It's not hunting season right now. No, it's not. And I've talked to several of our listeners out and about. And I ask them, what do you enjoy or what keeps you coming back to our podcast? Because I don't know what the heck I'm doing here. Hey, by the way. I don't know what somebody wants to listen to. I see things in the news or I find something interesting. We're going to talk about it. But I have guests with great stories. We're

3:02going to talk about it. But a lot of times they'll tell me, they say, well, I kind of just like some of the stories that you guys tell, like when you take your kids hunting or fishing or whatever it might be. And I go, even during the off season, they're like, yeah, it just kind of keeps the fire going a little bit. I like the stories. So I guess that's why we wax a little bit at the at the beginning before we dig into. They weren't saying, by the way, they were saying the first essentially from Kurt. And then we got three of them on the next 15 seconds. So my guess is somebody that knows Kurt and Kurt says essentially a lot because I'm thinking back to the episode.

3:35Oh, and Kurt didn't say essentially a lot. Oh, OK. Well, I thought they were just saying they did 23 minutes for me to get to a point that was worth listening to. Because I was going to say, we brought them in pretty quickly. I don't remember. I don't know. That was a long time ago. We've done a lot since then. King, when is the last time you've been on this podcast? Do you remember? I don't. I had to look it up. I think it was like four or five years ago. OK. What was that like for you coming in here? Were you nervous? Oh, I was so nervous. Seriously? Yeah. So nervous. Why? I don't know. I'm speaking with Travis Rink. Stop it. Knock it off right now. Seriously.

4:08Nerves are gone now, though. But was it just the fact of turning on a microphone and what you say is recorded and people can listen to it? Yeah, that and absolutely like just speaking with you. I mean, everyone knows Travis Rink. Oh, my gosh. I was reading an Upland bird hunting forum the other day. Just because I was on a rabbit hole. I was like, I wonder what people say about the flush. You know, just because. Uh-oh. Do I want to hear this? They were good and bad, but there were a lot of people defending you. But but there were a lot of the comments were from like 2022 and stuff. And they're like, oh, those flush guys, they go hunt on private land and those birds are all stocked and they don't actually.

4:42And then some of the comments were like, well, you know, I did an episode with Travis Rink and Scott Franson and they were hunting real birds. And it was funny reading the comments from people that were like, it's all scripted. Oh, it's not scripted. We hunted. Yes. Kang knows firsthand. Kang and I filmed an episode together. When was that? How long ago? Yeah, that was five years ago. It's got to be more than that. Yeah. You had just started hunting. Yeah. And the essence of the story was your story becoming a hunter after being a non-hunter. Yeah. An anti-hunter. Yeah. Actually.

5:13And you've probably told that story dozens more times, maybe a million times, because when somebody like you, who's on the other side of what we love so much, changes, people want to know what, what did it, why? And for you, it was your dog. Easy, simple. Yeah. Yeah. And I was at a boat launch just two days ago, and the water inspector from the DNR that makes sure there's no invasive species on the boat, and I had my dog with, and it was just her and I, we got up early in the morning, and she's like, oh, is that a bird dog?

5:52And I was like, oh, yeah. And so I opened the kennel, and she came out, and she goes, I just got a Vizsla. And I was like, really? And she goes, yeah, I'm going to start hunting, too, because I want to do what she's bred for. Nice. And this was a lady who has not been a hunter, so I was like, oh, my gosh, yes. We need to get her on the podcast. Yeah. Well, we'll see what happens. Her journey has just begun. Yours has now been going on, Kang, for nine years. Nine years, and it feels like it was just yesterday it started, I swear. Well, I know, and that's the thing.

6:22When we were walking out there, I still remember the frozen ice crystals on the grass, and you, this is funny, because you might remember this. Maybe not. I'm sure when the camera shows up, there's pressure. You probably feel that, right? And so we go to this spot that you hunted earlier in the season, and you're like, yeah, this hillside here is where we're going to walk. And I remember looking at you saying, Kang, there's no pheasants here.

6:50What do you mean? And I'm like, there's no pheasants here, because all the grass is laid flat, and there's ice over the top of it, and there's snow on top of it, and there's nowhere for the birds to hide. And you said something along the lines of, they were all over in here in October. Yeah. So welcome to late season hunting. And we did find birds, and it was a lot of fun meeting you, and it was an honor to share your story.

7:21And thank you for being willing to do it back then. Yeah, yeah. I learned a lot that day, by the way. We do every time we go in the field. That's the whole point. I mean, that's really our goal of this podcast, of this TV show, is it's real. You know, it's funny that you looked up the forum over there, Al. It just popped up. People ask that all the time, because we film Minnesota Bound, we film Do North Outdoors, we film Dialed and Angling, we film Rooster Tales, we film The Flush, we film all kinds of TV shows. And people think, potentially, people think it's all staged and scripted.

7:55Like, I'll have people that are like, so do you write it out before you arrive? And I'm like, no. We have, like, ideas. Like, I know that I'm going to go and walk in a field with a guy named Kang Yang, who was an anti-hunter, and now he's a hunter. And I know the backstory, but until we go out there, you know, we hunted, I think we're on public land. Yep. And we hunted all public land, and those birds have been chased for a couple months at that time.

8:26We have no idea what we're going to get into. You don't even tell people the questions when you interview them before you ask them, right? No. It's just like this podcast. I start asking questions about, you know, when did you get started hunting, and what was it, and why? If you listen, people will keep talking. Yeah. That's a given, and a lot of times you ask two questions. Like, here's something I learned from an Emmy award-winning producer from NBC about 15 years ago.

8:57He said you ask two questions, and then you let them talk, and you have to ask them together, because otherwise somebody who's nervous will just give you a one-word answer. Yes or no. So, you could say something like, Kang, how old were you when you got started hunting, and why did you start hunting? Go ahead, answer. I was, I don't know how old I was. I was 27, maybe, and I started hunting because of my dog, Kaya. There you go. Yeah. See, and there, you just start getting people talking, and then you say, well, where did you get Kaya? Yeah.

9:27I got Kaya from my cousin, and who was breeding them, and yeah. And what kind of a dog is Kaya? She's a German white hair pointer. Okay. Yeah. All right. And you were an anti-hunter before this, but why? Yeah. I just loved, I mean, loved being outdoors, loved nature, right? Cared for all the ducks and the animals in the backyard. You didn't want to hurt them. Didn't want to hurt them. And then, yeah, that changed just because I had a dog, and that was what she was born to do. And so, that was kind of my gift to her.

10:00My gift to her is making sure she goes out there and lives to hunt. So, anyway, back to the producing side of it. It's like, when we're out there, I ask you these kind of questions, right? Yeah. Well, then, obviously, I take that, and I use the footage that we get when we're out there hunting, and things happen that you don't know. It's a wild bird. It's weather. It's all unscripted, all unpredictable. Yep. And that's really the essence of our television shows, and it always has been, is that we just want to go out and try to capture it as it really happens out there.

10:31And, yeah, there's no planting birds. There's no... That was the funny part when people were like, oh, they're planting birds and stuff. Okay, like the Hank hunts. You go on private land for the Hank hunts, right? Scott? Or he goes to... Well, we might hunt on private ground. We might hunt on public ground. We might do a mix of both. But they're wild birds out there. Yeah, they're not planting. Yeah, they're not planting birds. The Hank hunt goes to...

10:58Brown's Lodge. It was out last year. Brown's Lodge the last couple of years, because there's got to be a lodge that can accommodate like, whatever, 10 to 15, or however many hunters are part of it. Hunters with their kids or their wives. Yeah, food and all that stuff is included. But they have a bunch of different properties throughout their county or whatever. And so those birds are, I guess, I've not been to any of those ones, but I guess they're as wily and wild as any of the birds that we're potentially going to chase, but a lot

11:29of them out there. They just manage the land really well for them, just like a lot of landowners do. And so sometimes, you know, like I'm just working on a couple of flesh episodes for the TV series that's about to kickstart here in just over a month now. Oh, God. I know. Already, huh? Yeah, exactly. And, you know, there's really good stories about people that give a whole heck of a lot of crap about the land and wild places and wild birds. And they've done something to bring it back on there where they can influence it.

12:02So sometimes our stories take us there, but usually it's public land, wild birds. And that's really the essence of the flesh, but definitely unscripted. And Travis doesn't cancel even when there's a ice storm that didn't happen before. That's right. Oklahoma, what, was it two years ago when you were in Oklahoma and it was like blizzarding while you were driving? You called me while you were driving home. I was like, yeah, I'm sitting, it's snowing pretty hard. You're like, yeah, I'm going 10 miles an hour down the freeway in Oklahoma. So everyone's like, oh, it must be great.

12:33You go hunting for a living. And I'm like, well, sort of, um, that particular week, we spent 40 hours in my truck. Yeah. Cause you couldn't go, you couldn't drive the speed limit. It was snagged around. Between there and back, we got stuck in two different storms and we actually added it up. We spent 40 hours, my cameraman, Ryan, in my truck on both sides of filming the TV show down there. But, um. Always an adventure. Yeah. What is, King, nine years now, you've been hard at it.

13:04Like, hard at it. If anybody's following your social pages, they see you out there. You're giving it 110%. I love it. Every weekend. I love watching your journey unfold. You are no longer a rookie. You are a wily old veteran. What is your worst hunting story? Does it pheasant related or? Anything at all. It sounds like you've got a couple. He's got a couple for every different species. The first one that could come to mind was my turkey hunt. Is it last year? I think it was.

13:35Yeah. Last year. Okay. Hunted seven days straight for a Tom. Right. And public land. And couldn't close the deal. And then on my last day, after work, I went out. Called. Called a couple, you know. A couple of Yelps. And then this Tom answers like. Box call? Slate call? Mouth call? Slate call? Okay. Yep. Slate call. Just a couple of Yelps. And he responds. Very distant gob. I'm like, all right. He's probably going to, you know. Maybe that's the one. And I called another couple of Yelps. Nothing. And all of a sudden, here he comes just dead silent.

14:06Strutting, right? And I'm like, all right. Tell me you forgot to load your gun. Nope. Okay. And I'm doing no blind, you know, like running gun, right? Yeah. And he comes into the decoys about 35 yards. And I pull up. You know, turkey's great eyesight, right? Yeah. And he looks at me. And then he starts putting and running, like walking away. I shoot at it. And this bird like doesn't go down. This is probably the first turkey I've ever like tripled, I would say. Right? And he, at first I thought I missed.

14:37But then he ran, thankfully he ran back towards me. He ran right behind me at 10 yards. I shoot him like two times at 10 yards and missed. And so now this turkey's booking down this, like these woods, like these pine rows. And I'm booking after it. And I'm not most in shape guy right now. So I'm just huffing a puppet. Well, you were by yourself? Yeah. And I'm like, there's no ammo left on me. I only brought three. Oh, no. I know. So did you keep the gun in your hand as another weapon?

15:08Or did you go? Yeah. So here's the deal. So we run like maybe 50 yards and he runs into a tree. And then he like, he's like crippled right now. So he's like confused and he runs back out and towards me again. And so I grab a stick on the ground and try to whack it with my gun in the other hand. And the branch breaks because it's rotten, of course. And so I missed the turkey again. And he just ran right through my leg. He hit you? No. Yeah. He runs. Yeah. He runs right through my leg. Why didn't you grab him? I was trying to hit him first.

15:39Oh, my gosh. Your instincts didn't get you to pounce? Nope.

15:45Okay. So then he runs another 60 yards into like a brush pile. This poor turkey, by the way. I know. I mean, as a hunter, I can feel for you because you want this to be a quick, clean, ethical kill, right? Yeah. But now you're responsible for this wounded animal. Right. That turkey's resilient. You got to give it some credit. Hey, turkeys do not sleep on a top turkey. They will mess you up. I saw a guy shoot. I mentored a youth. He shot a turkey at 20 yards. Yeah. Bird dropped dead for like 15 minutes. I'm like, don't spook the other birds.

16:16Let's just watch the other toms and we'll let the other toms walk away, right? Yeah. And this tom gets up from the dead and like flies off like 200 yards. Okay. I want to hear the end of your story, but I got another one like it. I was talking to a guy last week about we were talking turkey hunting and we got into these all kinds of stories like we're doing right now. He told me this story about this deer hunt many years ago with the landowner who had since passed away. And he's like, oh man, because we were talking about all the different racks and the mounts and things like that.

16:46And he goes, this one here. He goes, the funny thing about this story, I'll never forget it. He goes, blank, I'm not going to say his name, shot this buck during this drive and we go up there to gut the deer, gut it out. And then afterwards we came back and finished the walk. And he said afterwards, when we came back to look to see where, you know, we were cleaning

17:17the deer up and everything, we looked to see where the entrance and exit wound were on this buck and it was a big one and they didn't find any hole anywhere in the deer. What they found was where it hit the side of the antler, the shot did, and knocked a chunk of the antler. It knocked the buck out. It didn't actually kill the big buck. It just knocked them out. They happened to walk up and gut it while it was knocked out.

17:51Otherwise, if they would have kept walking and finished the drive, most likely this buck would have gotten back up and walked away on them. How do you feel about that though? It's like, okay, well, I didn't actually shoot a buck this year, but I did kill a buck, you know? I mean. Is that even legal? Yeah. Oh, a hundred percent. I mean, they shot it, it went down. Yeah. You wouldn't have thought twice. You walk up and obviously they took the vitals and things out of it when they gutted it so that it could not wake up.

18:22But like, can you imagine? Yeah. That's crazy. That's right. That's crazy. I have heard of another hunter have a buck or a deer get up while gutting it and take off running. Oh my gosh. I know. So anyway, back to yourself. Back to the turkey. 60 yards away now. 60 yards away now into a brush pile. I ran over there and now I pounce on it, right? Now I'm trying to pounce on it. Oh man, they got big spurs. Yeah. But there's brush sticks everywhere. So I'm trying to like pull it, you know, pull it apart and then pounce on it and it

18:52runs out. And then so I chased it for another 20 yards and finally I was able to jump on it and dispatch it. Dispatch it. Yeah. Quickly grabbed his neck and just rang the thing out of it. I bet you were just soaked in sweat. Oh yeah. The first thing I thought of was I need to get on a treadmill.

19:10Oh man. What a story. Because it was not easy. You know what I mean? And it goes back to what you said. Like I hate crippling an animal, right? Right. Like I, I mean, I could have, I could have easily said, okay, well, it's still alive. Missed it two, three times already. It's gone, right? Somebody, okay. This is because either the listener right now is going to go one of two ways. They're going to say good on you for doing everything in your power to make sure that bird didn't walk away wounded and then die a slow, painful death. The other part's going to say, what in the heck is this guy doing?

19:43You know, but like I'm with, I'm with the side of you doing whatever it takes to get this bird down. I could tell all kinds of other stories where it's like, you're talking a millisecond, an inch sometimes in a quick, clean drop or a buck or a deer or whatever it might be. And we owe it to them to make that end really quickly. And nobody wants to see any, any wild animal suffer.

20:14Yeah. I mean, especially you. I mean, look at you grew up. Could you imagine 12 years ago, you listening to your story right here today? I'm like, I'm really like, that guy's crazy.

20:27So have you been on the treadmill? Yes. I've been taking his walks. Yeah. Even the off season. Okay. So, um, well, I've heard how many miles up on bird hunters walk. So I can imagine you're pretty in shape during the off season. Yeah. Our cameraman don't like going out with me. Like Aaron Octonbert's got the steel shoulder. I want to see what's on the other side of the mountain. And I'm not talking the mountain in the foreground. I'm talking the mountain in the background. Okay.

20:57So then what would, if that's your worst story, what's your best? Oh man. I, so I'll do my, my best duck hunt. I'll do a duck hunt. Okay. It's probably last year, North Dakota. My first time there. Shout out to my friend, Johan, BGE. He took me out. Yeah. We just crushed it. We, I mean, it was just textbook hunt, right? Like you scout, see the birds, where they're feeding, set up to the next day and in your face. And that's amazing. It's so amazing.

21:27Like it's such a different experience. I mean, I've hunted ducks for seven years now in Minnesota and you know, I'm shooting over sleuths, setting up decoys, calling them in, all that stuff. But to hunt them in a dry field like that in North Dakota is pretty cool. Yep. Yeah. Yep. I would always, we'd go for, let's say five, six days. And if I had one good field hunt for mallards, that, that was like, I made the trip. Yeah. You know, I'd scout for two days looking for that field, three days, whatever it took to find that spot on the spot.

21:58Yeah. And when it happens and it all comes together, it's like, that is what you just remember. Yep. And would that be a highlight of your season last year? Yeah. I'd say, yeah. It's so, it's crazy too. And it was probably one hunt. One hunt. Yep. And it was so funny because I remember driving out there and we see gadwalls everywhere on these sleuths. And like, do we, I was like, yo, hon, we got to set up. We got to set up. He goes, no, we don't want those. We want mallards. Yes. Yeah. And then I'm like. In a dry field. Yeah. And there was a way in a dry field and it's like shooting light and ducks are literally landing on my blind. Yep.

22:29And I'm like, yo, we got to shoot them. We got to shoot. And he goes, no, it's too dark. Wait till we can pick out the green heads. You know? I like this guy. Yeah. Yo, hon, he's the, he's the BGE. I call him best guide ever.

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26:05So, I mean, I've got a couple of different, I can remember three different hunts where we had the tornado on us where it's so many thousands of birds in the air coming down to land in our spread that you can't even like hear yourself think. It's so loud. The ducks are so loud. And when you experience that, you never forget it. Yeah. You never do. And for you, being on the spot on the spot like that, you've probably never seen ducks like that in Minnesota. Nope. I've never. Yeah.

26:35I've hunted them a lot in Minnesota. I know you have. I know. So, I'm assuming you're going back this fall? Oh, yeah. It's hard not to. Once you experience that, it's hard not to go back. Did you mix in upland hunting while you were there? Yeah. And that was very interesting, too, because here you're tackling like cattail sloughs and, you know, CRP and nice green grass and stuff like that. And that's, you're finding pheasants scattered. But over there, you have that, you know, you have CREP or CRP up there, too. But we actually hunted a WPA first. It was just a tiny cattail slough.

27:06And out pops like 20 roosters. And I'm like, what is this? This would never happen in Minnesota. You know what I mean? Like. Welcome to North Dakota, homie. There's just 20 roosters in a cattail slough. Like, what the heck? Yeah. Right. I mean, there's different topography throughout the state. But yeah, I just absolutely love getting out into the western side, more of the prairie, the short grass prairie. Yeah. And the habitat is not what you see in Minnesota, where you grew up. Yeah. Where you learned to pheasant hunt.

27:37I mean, when you and I went, we were in cattails. Yeah. And I mean, that's just at certain points of the year, that's where they go. But they don't have a lot of that in certain areas in North Dakota, Montana, certain parts of South Dakota, too, where you get these smaller draws. And it's more of a, like, sort of you're walking and the pinch points and different things like that where they'll end up holding. But it's beautiful to watch your dog. Yeah. So beautiful. And yeah, because they're covered. You can see them.

28:08Oh, yeah. So you've told us a turkey story and a duck hunting story. But if you had to pick any kind of hunting, what would it be and why? Still pheasants. Yeah. I mean, just the cackle. The challenge of it either. It could be, it could run, it could flush, it could hold and sit. You know, you never know. You got to have a good bird dog. Yeah. You know, I feel like so. So do you think you've helped Kaya or would you say Kaya, your bird dog, has helped you more in life? Oh, she's definitely helped me more in life.

28:39Yeah? Why is that? I mean, just opening my eyes into, you know, the hunting world, first of all, and just being there to encourage me to explore, right? Like, I don't think I would have hunted, traveled to North Dakota, Iowa, all that stuff if it wasn't for her, right? And so, yeah. And just, I just, I remember starting early on, it's just like, okay, we got to go, we got to go, we got to go. Like, I'm, you know, you follow me, we'll go this way. But now, like, she's older, you know, she's more mature. Like, I'm more mature. She's nine years old now?

29:09Yeah, nine years old now. Okay. I've learned to just kind of take a step back. Like, we're just going to. I don't believe you for a second. I know how your dad, you told me how your dad hunts and he's a man on a mission. And that's, that's genetics that got passed down to you. So, was your dad a hunter, like, your whole life? Oh, yeah. He hunted since he could walk. But he's very much after a limit. Yeah, after a limit. And he's still to this day. Yeah, still to this day.

29:41So, a hunter goes through different stages in life. And the first stage, Al, look this up. The five, I think it's five stages of a hunter. It might be four. The first one is essentially your first. Five stages of the hunt, hunter, hunt, fair, chase. Okay, read the first one. All right. Shooter stage. For many who are introduced to hunting at an early age, our satisfaction can be as simple as just being able to see game and get a shot. Skills in the woods, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Then the second stage.

30:11Limiting out stage. The satisfaction of just seeing game and getting a shot is now not enough reward. These are replaced with the need to bring home game. And not just one, but a limit of birds are filling a tag. Dude, so before you go to three, four, and five, and then there's actually another stage here that I'm going to tell you about. But your dad is still in stage two. Oh, yeah. Why is he still in stage two after all these years? How old is he? He's like 56. Okay. So, he's probably been hunting for 40 some years. Yeah. He just, he hates wasting money and wasting time.

30:42So, he's like, we're going to- It's about to meet. Yeah. Well, if we're going to drive three hours, let's not waste our money and time. Like, let's get as much as we can. I mean, I can kind of understand, you know- I can kind of understand that. Okay. But then go to stage number three. All right. Stage three is trophy stage. Shooting opportunity and quantity of game are replaced by a self-imposed selectivity. You want the biggest- In the pursuit and the quality of game taken begins the Trump quality. Number four is how you take it. And that's going to be by the means of which it would be like, you want to take it with archery

31:13or you want to take it in a certain way. And then number five is the- Sportsman. The sportsman stage. And that's where it's about the whole experience. And it's not about necessarily getting a bird. It's about just the hunt itself, being out there. Is that what you'd say you're in, Kang? No. I'm going to say Kang is actually- I'm going to jump in here. So I was speaking at a banquet and I referenced these and I said, there's a sixth stage that people forget about. And that's the, I'm going to give backstage.

31:46Or no, I called it the, it's not about me stage. That's a good one. They should add that. I know. The Travis Frank stage. The sixth stage is the, it's not about me stage. That's a stage where you want to do something to make that place better. Yeah. You want to do something to bring other people out there. It's not about a limit. It's not about a trophy. It's not about how you get it. It's not about your experience. It's about others now. Yep. That's a stage that needs to go on there. So you need to write, field and stream or whoever it might be.

32:17This one is- Tell them there's a sixth stage that you're missing out on. Yeah. Because there's a lot of people in stage number six. Kang, you got there really quickly. Oh yeah. This one is the Boone Crockett. There you go. There you go. Yeah. So the sixth stage is, it's not about me anymore stage. Yeah. And it's still about you. You're still out there doing it. But how many people have you mentored? Have you kept track? Oh man, I haven't. I mean, I've done like five or six learn to hunt events, you know, with like 10 or 12 participants

32:48in each. Yep. I mean, just on my own too. But that is more so than just the, a Saturday event. Yeah. Because you're literally holding these new hunters hands and bringing them out there into the field with you. Yeah. Yeah. To mentor a hunter is not a one day thing. Oh no, it's not. It's almost like a lifetime. Yeah. Yeah. It's a, yeah, definitely a lifetime. And like, cause you think about, it's like there's pre, pre-program or, you know, then there's program activities and then there's the post-program support, which, you know, a lot of people need help with.

33:18So, you know, like just the, it's just as simple as a text, right? Like, Hey, are you going to get back out this season? You know? Or, Hey, did you buy your license yet? Cause the season's coming up, you know, staying connected like that, you know? So you've done how many of these events? Like five or six of them. Okay. Who is, who are they through? Um, so these events are in partnership with, uh, trust for public land and, uh, trust for public land. Yep. With, uh, Minnesota backcountry hunters and anglers. Okay. Yep. So where are these people signing up to come out to the event? Yeah. Where are they from? Who are these people?

33:48These are, uh, young adults, uh, and then from the Metro from BIPOC communities. So, um, underrepresented and underrepresented communities, right. And really targeting people, uh, who aren't as maybe like shown on the outdoors, right. Or a scene in the outdoors. Right. And, um, and also pairing them with mentors who also come from, you know, underrepresented and BIPOC communities as well. Gotcha. So, I mean, you're getting people from non-traditional hunting backgrounds. They didn't grow up with hunting. Why do they show up to the event?

34:21Uh, that's a good question. So, I actually… You ever ask them? Like, what are you doing here? What, what got you motivated? Did you lose a bet? Yeah. You know, like, what is it? That'd be a good event to go to a podcast and ask, ask a few people. Well, yeah. I mean, it's interesting to, to hear. Your reasoning was a dog. What is, what are some of their reasons? Yeah. So we give up, you know, pre-survey questions and 90% of them have answered that they want to be able to sustain, um, sustain themselves through food.

34:51Like, you know… So food is a big… Yeah. Food is a big one. And a lot of them want to hunt deer. Actually, I was just talking to my mentee this morning. She's like, yeah, I want to hunt deer. I was like, oh, really? Like, okay. That's, I'm not surprised because like 90% of them too want to hunt deer. They just… It's more food when you pull the trigger. Right. Exactly. And venison tastes so good. Which, by the way, I was going to ask you guys, what, uh, is the best thing you've made this week? Because that opens up the door for me to tell you.

35:21Oh, he just said himself off what I made. I made the best summer sausage, venison summer sausage that I've ever made. Oh, yeah. I did see that video. Yeah, I saw that. I got to bring it in. I keep messing up every time. I keep meaning to bring in a log. But do you want to tell the story about how you were up all night because your smoker had some issues? I can do that. So I've got a smoker ready to go. We've got the recipe. It's a Walton's recipe. It's their H summer sausage recipe.

35:52You know it's good if it's a Walton's recipe. Yeah, that's one of their, um, that would be one of their, like, this is a traditional favorite for summer sausage. I added, um, high temp cheddar cheese to it. But not too much because I don't, I like cheese in my brats or snack sticks or breakfast sausage and things like that. But sometimes people can go overboard on cheese. So I was like, I'm going to do somewhere less than what I think it calls for. And I'm just telling you, I mean, the kids and I and my wife, we were all part of making

36:24it. It far exceeded my expectations. However, my smoker, the schedule was off on it. It kept telling me that it was at this certain temperature, which was too hot. So I kept opening the door on it cause it wouldn't lower, but it turns out that it, for like four hours, it was not doing anything, which in some ways there's a drying period. Like have you ever made summer sausage king? So there's a different stages of the different heat and smoke schedule. And then you want to add moisture to it.

36:55So in a roundabout way, I ended up just adding like the perfect amount of smoke to it. I dried it just right. However, it took me until 1.40 a.m. before I was completely done. You were pretty tired when you came to the office the next day. I was so tired the next day, but I was like, I made the best summer sausage of my life. It was so good. Anyway, enough about me. What is the best thing you have made lately? Cause I know you eat a lot of algae. Oh man. Yeah. I'm trying to think. I made turkey curry the other day. Did you? That sounds good. With your turkey that you got. Yep.

37:25My turkey that I got AC's in here. So yeah, it was good. All right. Um, if anybody wants that recipe, by the way, just send me a message because it's not hunting season right now. It's I'm going to eat everything in my freezer season and I have enough meat to make some snack sticks. That's going to be my last thing that I'm going to make. I made them last year, but I want to try a different flavor because there's a couple of really good ones. Beehive barbecue is out there right now. The Walton's beehive barbecue sauce. Oh my gosh. It's so good on beef. I don't know how it's going to translate to venison, but I want to try.

37:58Yeah. So I've saved just enough to do that. And then my kids want to do some jerky as well. So we'll probably just nothing better than a nice salty piece of venison jerky. I don't know what it is. Oh, just any jerky. Turkey jerky is my favorite. I haven't tried that yet. My kids go crazy over that. Every time they shoot a bird, I'm like, what do you guys want to do with it? And it's always turkey jerky. We make it all in one big batch and then it doesn't last more than like two days and all the birds are eaten. Like it's, it's really good. And that's the Walton's bold jerky.

38:28And that's, oh, it's so good. Nice. So turkey curry for you. Yeah. Turkey curry. Okay. Al, anything wild that you've eaten or is it like panchera or like Qdoba? I just, I eat chicken rice all the time. It's so easy and so good. And it gives me what I need, you know? From Qdoba too. He didn't even. I wish it was from Qdoba. My roommates, there's a quick story. Speaking of like Qdoba rice, my roommates used to work at Chipotle in college. So people can't see me on the camera, but I, one time I was like, yeah, you got, I love

39:02the white rice, the cilantro lime rice from Chipotle. Could you guys like bring me home a little thing of it? Like just expecting them to bring me like a normal Tupperware size container. No, they brought me the entire pan of rice from Chipotle. No, but then they decided to tell me, Hey, by the way, this goes bad in like a day. So if you want it, you got to eat it all.

39:22Poke bowls. Oh my gosh. Those are good. They're so dang good. And you can put all kinds of different meats in there too. I've been eating protein bowls from Cafe Zuppa. Those have been my thing lately. Nice. I had a green, a green goddess bowl with the cucumbers. This might be a segment that we need to add until we get to hunting season. It's like, what have you made this week? What's the best thing you made this week? Or we do a whole cooking podcast. We've done that before. We can do that again. Maybe we bring the cameras to your house while you're making, while you're making, while you're cooking some. Or cooking.

39:53You missed a great opportunity. We could have had an eight hour podcast.

39:59We're going to have to have the wall. We're going to have to go down to Walton's and do it in their studio while they're cooking. Yeah. Yeah. We, which by the way, that's still that episode of made for the outdoors that we filmed down there last year was one of the highlights of my year last year because I've always see, I love making wild game. Yeah. Love it. So I brought, I think, 25 pounds of venison down or maybe 50, something like that. And it's a professional kitchen. Yeah. I mean, it is a commercial kitchen down there to do whatever you want. Walk-in coolers, walk-in smokers. Nice. Like to be able to play around in that world for a couple of days to me was just like,

40:34oh, it was so cool. And John Tremblay, he does that every day. Every day down there. I'm like, you have the best job. You just get to make a bunch of meat every single day. He goes, oh yeah, best job in the world. I love it. Anyway, back to the mentor stuff. Back to the mentor stuff. Okay. King. So this, this mentee wants to go deer hunting, right? You guys were just chasing turkeys this morning. Yeah. Just taking and chasing this morning. Nope. No luck. She was in the program. I learned to hunt turkey program. During sea season, we were up in Raynard up in the area there chasing turkeys.

41:06She couldn't get one with her mentor and she reached back out and was like, can we go back out? I was like, yeah, I'll take you back out. So nice. Yeah. We went out this morning. No luck. Turkeys were acting funny. So being turkeys, being turkeys and smartest, dumbest birds. I know. Dang turkeys. Yeah. I thought you said pheasants were the dumbest bird. Well, it depends what I'm mad at that day. But no, turkeys are just such a gateway animal to get people into hunting. Yeah. It allows you the ability to be right there one-on-one with them.

41:38Yep. You're communicating. You're talking with a wild animal. Yep. They're communicating back. Sometimes they come running in and your heart rate is just pounding. Yeah. Sometimes they hold up. But if you stick with it long enough, there is usually going to be a chance for you to get a shot. And that's the beauty of turkey hunting right there. Tomorrow, that bird could come running full speed right into your call. But today, it makes you appreciate when the hunt goes really well, too. I mean, hopefully this mentee sticks with it. But how cool that she's continuing to do it.

42:09So did you see her at the original class that you held? Yeah. So our class is actually like a hybrid. So we do like four weeks online. Okay. They have to complete their hunter safety on top of that. And then we do like a range day. And then we'll do a happy hour just so that they connect with their mentors. Is it a one-on-one? Yeah. One-on-one. You only get assigned one mentee? One-on-one. Okay. So we keep it one-on-one just because the knowledge transfer and the communication is a lot easier when you have that one-on-one opportunity.

42:39Right.