Ep. 927: Brent's Manitoba Moose Hunt | 12 in '26

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We're 154 kilometers from Thompson, Canada, where we're going to stay the night. In the morning, I'm going to catch a float plane out with Craig McCarthy with North Mountain Adventures. And we're going to see if we can't get a moose hemmed up here in northern Manitoba. It's a very remote place. It is as wild as wild gets in North America. It's hard to believe that this is really taking place. And I don't know if I'll fully realize it until we get in camp. But I'm a long ways from home. What you just saw was a clip from Hunting Bull Moose in Manitoba, my 12 and 26 films sponsored by Moultrie and Onex. And what we're doing now is the companion podcast that's going to answer some questions and maybe show some things that, you know, that didn't wind up in the final cut. And I'm joined by my good friend, Josh Landbridge Spillmaker. Well, I'm excited to be here, Brent. I really love the film. It was, it was, uh, did a great job capturing, not just the hunt, but all the surrounding things to go with it. The scenery, the camaraderie, everything about it. It was just, uh, it was a information overload for a little while. I'll say, I'll say, but we're, uh, we're really excited to, uh, to do this podcast because, uh, we're going to be doing a lot of stuff. We've got some great questions from some of the viewers and, uh, we're going to give you an opportunity just to, you know, it's hard to catch a, how long was the hunt total? Oh man. We were there for like, I think the whole trip was like nine days. Okay. So it's hard to capture all that in 42 minutes. Correct. And so, uh, we're going to give you an opportunity just to tell us more than we could see in the film, but, um, it's a pretty different kind of adventure for you growing up here in Arkansas. Yeah. Um, early on in your career, you spent a lot of time. Um, documenting other people's hunts and you kind of go into that in the film, but, uh, this time you're the, the guy carrying the rifle. So, um, before we, uh, we're going to, I've got a couple of questions for you before we, we kind of dive into it. Okay. How did this kind of come about? How did you get, uh, how did you like, Hey, I want to go to Manitoba and hunt. Man. Uh, it all started like in February a year ago. Okay. And Garrett. My boss calls me and he says, we need to come up with an idea for a project, some, some, some film projects that we're going to film throughout the year. And I need, what's your dream hunt. And I'm like, I don't know. I'll think about it. Oh, I got it. I mean, it was just that, that was how, that's how it went. I said, I want to go shoot a moose and, and, uh, Northern Manitoba with Craig McCarthy. And now the response I was waiting here was like, uh, how about we go to Manitoba? I thought we'd do something in Missouri, you know, a little closer to home, but Garrett's response was okay. Get ahold of Craig and let's start working out the details. And I'm like, say that again. And then from that, it just went from initial meetings with Craig and a producer. And we just started getting the ball rolling and making a plan and it came to fruition. That's incredible. Yeah. Um, what was, what was kind of different about you? You know, I know you filmed quite a bit in Canada, you know, not necessarily in Northern Manitoba, but you've filmed a lot in Canada. How was it different preparing for this, knowing that you were going to be the shooter? Well, to me, being a cinematographer, which I don't claim to be, I was a cameraman and I think, I think there's a difference, you know, but prepping myself to go film a hunt like that. I just had to get the mindset that, that I'm always working. Right. That, you know, the hunt is not when you leave, walk out the camp door or the tent or whatever, with a gun in your hand, when you're there to document the whole hunt, that's all of it. So, you know, you've got to be on the ready. You got to, you're the first guy up in the morning. You're the last guy to go to bed at night. You're the last, most of your meals are going to be cold because you're filming everybody else doing all that kind of stuff. So it is a totally different situation that, that you had to prepare for is you just got to get your mind, right. That. If it don't happen on camera, then it didn't happen, right. You know, that's the way you got to look at it. And I want to think, I can't remember exactly Josh, but I think Dave Gardner shot like 20, Dave Gardner was your cameraman. He was my cameraman on this. It was me, Dave Gardner and Craig McCarthy in this, excuse me, videographer. Yeah. Cinematographer, cinematographer. Yeah, for real. And, but I think it's like 26 hours of video. Wow. Or film that he shot, you know, and they condensed that down to 42 minutes. I mean, that's, uh, uh, it's incredible. Incredible. Well, that's awesome. Well, uh, let's, uh, let's go ahead and dive into, into another clip here. Okay. Man, the amount of stuff it takes to do this. This is monumental, especially if we're trying to document and film like this. It's already going to be a good trip regardless. So a lot of folks are ready to go, me included. They're Arkansas. Woo pig suey. It's been a long time. No sea. Hey, brother. Good to see you. You too. Great. That's a great clip. Uh, one of the things that I noticed right away was how remote this place was flying in and out. Um, no roads, road systems. I mean, you, you fly in, live out of camp, um, and your boat becomes your primary way of getting around. Um, and then the whole process that goes into loading these planes and getting everything off. And, um, what, what were the logistical, what was the logistics of putting together a hunt like this? I mean, you think about, uh, there's always been in this business and I learned it very early that you're either hunting or you're filming a hunt and that is tow two totally different things. If you're just hunting. You're just going to, you capture what you capture. If you're trying to tell a story, then you've got to film everything. So there's going to be equipment and batteries and camera batteries and stuff that are going to take the place, maybe of clothes of other things that you wanted to bring. I want to bring, you know, X, Y, Z, but you don't have room for it. And you've got to make a choice between clean underwear and batteries, batteries are going to win every time. And you're just taking a, you're taking a bath in the Creek, you know, in Washington. You're washing your clothes in the lake and that's that, that kind of stuff goes into it. And it goes into the whole thought prep process of, okay, maybe I can wear a pair of britches for three days. Right. You know, and, and I actually did a podcast about it, about when I came back about the things that I would have done different. And I, I took way too many clothes and I would take, I would cut that back and just, you know, washing the wash in the, in the lake, rinse off, dry it, let it air dry. And then go that route. But you really prioritize the things that you need to document, because if you run out of lens wipes, or if you run out of batteries, or if you run out of. know your b camera you got more than one camera there if you run out of things to document that i mean you it's not you don't you don't call up fedex and have them ship you another one in run down to best buy yeah because you know from where we took off there in thompson we were in that flow plane for another two hours before oh wow oh yeah it was out there you know not in a straight line we went to several other camps and dropped some stuff off but it was you don't just if you don't bring it if you don't have it with you you don't have it right right so and usually one is none and two is one so you you usually you're doubling up right so you can be sure that you have necessities so one of the things that i know and love about you brent is that you are you really value relationships tell us how you met craig oh man i went up on a bear hunt with craig and and his wife mel and their their place i remember that yeah north mountain adventures there and i guess it's kind of in the bottom third of manitoba there and um their family uh craig melanie hayden and kirsten they're they're just man they are just an ideal outdoor family they they're they're hosting that they have there and the places they have to hunt is just beyond anything and they're just good down-to-earth people so we hit it off you know right from from the get-go the only our only difference is you know we talk different and they have an accent and i don't but we just became good friends and then when this the opportunity came up to be able to go on a moose hunt there was one guy that i wanted to do it with yeah and that that's how it happened that's really cool that's really cool um so when you're when you're this remote you said you're out there for nine days um what is a what does a typical day look like when you're out there hunting well hunting moose man you you you get up pretty early uh i mean it's not like a duck hunt where you're two hours before daylight you get up right before daylight and kind of get a bite to eat and you let the you want to get some daylight where you can you can see the shore you know when when you leave the camp you get out and you go and we're going to different spots along the shore and if weather's right and it's and uh and you can see uh you know you may be able you may spot a moose before you ever set up to call one now we didn't didn't see him uh the first two or three days we were there uh so we would just go to different spots along the lake and call and we'd set it in one spot and i talked to even in the film i'm talking to craig about it you know asking him how long he likes to stay in one spot after we do a call and it's right i would think you know 45 minutes you know or but he's like no two hours and it's the way those those bulls react to a call is just so slow and methodical yeah they can hear it a long ways but they're usually not just okay i hear a cow come running over there no he's just going to start easing his way that way and he may be a mile away from it or more right and just start easing his way and you were there what what time what time of year that was in uh late september okay is that is that like peak for the rut i think it's the kind of toward the end of it okay because everybody i thought we were the last hunt uh for that um for craig's outfit up there his father's outfit up there so and anytime i was talking to someone they'd say oh you're going to when you're going to hunt this moose and i'd say oh we're leaving i think it was like the 18th or 19th of january so our september or something like that and they're like oh you're going late i'm like golly that seems early yeah yeah but you take into account the the weather up there and in october as opposed to how it is down here you know quite a difference so it was a tail end of the rut but bulls were really active and and as you can see it paid off yeah well so um you you traveled with your rifle on several different airplanes there's a scene in the in the in the film where you want to go just check your zero on it yeah um what what uh a lot of questions about what cal what rifle you were shooting what caliber and why was it important to you to check the zero yeah i think it's important to me to check the zero but i think it's important to me to check the zero because i think it's important to me to check the zero but i think it's important to me to check the zero but i think it's important to me to check the zero but i think it's important to me to and you can actually in canada uh in manitoba that is you can hunt the same day you fly in oh as long as you don't use that aircraft to you know spot anything which we didn't see anything but you can uh it's legal to do that so as soon as we got settled in camp i mean they push record and we started we started hunting right then awesome awesome where uh what distance did you have your rifle zeroed in at i sighted it in it was i could shoot out to 700 yards on matt's course and we shot 100 if it's good at 100 matt said it's good at 700 and i shot both at his house and that was what we did there based on the ballistic calculator yeah based on all that we did it there once we got into camp and it was good to go awesome well that's cool um let's uh let's go ahead and you all right we're going to go ahead and hit this next clip we talked about this earlier and i've heard you explain it to other folks or talking about going and calling and then like at night and then leaving and coming back to that spot is that more it's like putting bait out yeah pretty much unless he's right there he's not you're not going to get him right away but he could be two miles and if it's dead calm and he hears you he'll and moose aren't fast you know when they're coming he'll start grunting and slowly make his way there so we leave in the morning he's probably coming if he heard you right and then when we go back in the afternoon or the next morning um he's probably like within a couple hundred yards of where you were calling from what's your picture perfect weather for calling moose in the rut what are you what are you looking for below zero temperatures and dead calm celsius yeah so 32 or under yeah and no wind yeah yeah so 32 or under yeah i think that's pretty good so we're going to go ahead and hit the next clip and then we're going to go ahead and hit the next clip so we're going to go ahead and hit the next clip so we're going to go ahead and hit the next clip and then we're going to go ahead and hit the next clip you trust the guide. I was a duck guide for so long that I knew not, if I've got a client with me, I'm not going to tell him something that's not true. You've got to be honest because in the course of being in the wilderness, being outside, dealing with nature, the truth is going to come out. So I had to do nothing but trust what he said. And, you know, I would be thinking, oh, we need to get up and move. In my mind, I'm thinking we should get up and move. Right. The next thought would be, I should pay attention to Craig because he does this for a living. Yeah, exactly. He gets us wrong, he doesn't get paid. Right, exactly. So, I mean, you never guide the guide and that's something I always keep in the forefront of what we're doing. And I'm trying to learn, man. I learned so much from, you know, being a turkey hunter or a whitetail hunter, you got to be patient a lot of times, you know. But I learned. Patience from him up there, especially when you're making a call that could have an effect 24 hours later. Sure. That was, it was really cool to see. So Craig mentioned, you know, his ideal calling conditions were, you know, zero degrees Celsius, 32 degrees Fahrenheit, dead calm. Why those conditions? Obviously the dead calm makes sense. I think it's the sound carries and it's, they seem to be active during that time, you know, during, with that temperature, they're most active. And obviously with this, the sound will go not just downwind, but in every direction. Now, was that from your first day hunting? That was. Okay. So first day was just call and wait. Yeah. Call and wait. Okay. We got there that afternoon. We went over and across the lake. We never hunted that side of the lake again because of the wind. We were facing into the wind there and we were right on the edge. We had the lake right at the behind. The edge. We were calling across that tundra or whatever technical term that is for that, that part of Canada there. And they had, um, you can see forever, but I mean, in that also in that instance, I mean, you can see that the wide open country, but something big as a moose can just all of a sudden just slip up on you, you know? So it was. Now, is this private land or public land? It's all public. It's all public. And I'm not sure if it's native land or whatever, if they have a lease or, or whatever it is, but it's like a concession that, that they hunt up there. So, I mean, they're the only folks allowed in that part. Like, give us an idea of how big of an area you were hunting. As big as the world is, as big as outside. I mean, there was thousands of acre miles of, of what unnamed lakes and unnamed rivers. Just wilderness, absolute wilderness. And it, from the time you left Thompson in that airplane, that float plane flying at little over 3000 feet. Once, once those, that's still part of civilization got behind the aircraft. There was, I mean, there was nothing and it looked like it went on for absolute ever. I've not spent much time in the Canadian wilderness like that, but that's what everybody says is just, it feels like you're, it feels like you are a. You're a million miles from home and really you are uninhabited planet. Absolutely. And you're smelling, you're breathing air that it's never been, nobody's breathed. It hadn't got to Arkansas yet, but the time it gets to Arkansas, they've been, folks have been breathing it all over the country. Breathing something that's been inside someone all over North America. And it's just a, a feeling it's just all encompassing, really. It's a little, it's, it's, if you like details and I love the details in places that I go and I, the small things and it's over, it's, it's overwhelming. It really is. Yeah. Yeah. That's cool. Um, let's, uh, let's hit the next clip. Okay. Normal on a foggy morning. I just lay up until the fog clears or no, I think it's just, uh. It depends where you are, if the bulls have cows with them or not. Okay. It's how moose hunting is. It's just like you could see nothing for days and then all of a sudden there's moose over the place. Famine to feast. Yeah. It's just, uh, the way it goes. Oh, he's seeing something. Wait, I think I see a bull look up in the green over there. See up in the green, up high, definitely a moose. A hundred percent. We're going in there. Yeah. We got time. Oh, I see him. He's, he's to the left of the tree down lower. I'd stopped in seven minutes. Yeah, they just disappear. Now that was that the second day or was that, that's the first day there. The very first day. Yeah. We were coming back, uh, from where we were set up across the lake in Salt Lake. I saw that he saw that moose and it's hard to see it, man. I don't know that if you could even put a pause on it and zoom in on it on your phone or your computer, whatever you're watching on and see that moose, but he was there and you could see the paddles on him and he had a cow up in there and that spot right there where eventually I shot that moose from probably another 40, 50 yards around that bend down there's where I found where we were sitting when I shot that moose. But. Something that impressed me about that was there is nobody within miles and miles and miles of where we are and Craig says, we got seven minutes and buddy in seven minutes, we were packing up and gone at five minutes till when we didn't have anything close enough, we were unloading and just standing there watching just to see what would happen. And there's nobody that would have known, but me and Craig and Dave. But it's by the book, man. I love it. Yeah, that's awesome. They're just got to appreciate guys like that. Absolutely. I mean, the integrity is what stands out. Yeah, yeah, 100%. I can imagine cruising up and down the lake there. You're you're probably every brown spot is a moose. Yeah, I saw this. There's one stump I tried to kill for six days up there that I kept seeing through those binos and that's got to be a moose. No, it's still a stump. What's a legal bull? Is there a is there a size requirement? I think it's got to have like four on the front, I believe. OK. And then I'm not exactly sure. I mean, we talked about it, discussed it then. I don't remember now what it was, but it was. It's just incredible to to be in those places and to be able to see that much. Right. And know that, you know, behind. How difficult was it to see one? Well, it turns out it got pretty easy. The longer we stayed there, the more we saw. And. But you just didn't see them like Craig's described. He said, man, we're allowed to come around the corner and they'll just be, you know, walking up and down the bank. Right. Way down there, you know, across the lake. You'll see them over there. Now, when we start seeing them, we just rolled up on them. And there they were. Really? Yeah. Just as unconcerned with. Over the course of the hunt. How many moose did you think? Do you think you saw? I think we saw five different bulls. Including the one now, uh, been four bulls and then one that had the cow with it. Okay. Okay. Now that's including one of the bulls that I killed. Wow. That I, I would've thought you would've seen more, but that's, uh, pretty amazing to see those. Well, you saw what you see is where they were in fresh tracks and evidence of them. And yeah, and you really got to play the wind up there, man, because I mean, one of the only creatures on the planet's got a nose bigger than mine. And it's, they can mind. I'm the other me and you, and you got, if you don't play the wind, right, they're gone. That's what I was wondering too, because was that something you had to manage? A hundred percent. I mean, you, you looked at wind direction. We walked outside and we got in the boat determined 100% where we were going that day. And it also, the main thing it determines where we weren't going to go, right. We're not going to go in there and just dust. This area was sent when we know that there's moose in this and we'll, we'll wait until. Was it pretty wild? Was it pretty windy when you were there? Uh, at times it was more than not more than not. And there was a couple storms that blew through and it was raining. I can remember, I can remember sitting in the, in the cabin and we had a Starlink system up there. So we could, I called home and I was talking to my wife on the, and it was just raining, man. It's raining so hard. Water's coming in on the floor and we're picking stuff up and setting it on tables. I told her, I said, it's coming a storm. There's water in here. My stuff's getting wet and I can't think of any place. i'd rather be right now than right here it was just that much yeah fun yeah you know so yeah but there yeah it was windy it was windy and it just played a lot but you really had to be smart about and just take your time you know it's not a it's a marathon not a sprint right and every day that every day that you're there you're learning more about the environment more about what the moose are doing by the tracks we're seeing and just you know playing the hands that were dealt interesting um as you as time went on you kind of picked you you there was a scene in there where you talked about is that you were asking him is that a moose and he's looking he's like i don't think so and he said it looks like two eagles what what was it it was two eagles okay yeah eagles up there are buzzing around like hummingbirds birds here they're just everywhere and it was way across the lake and they were sitting close far enough apart from each other or separated enough that you thought yeah resembled paddles right because that's what you're looking for and you know craig said you got to look for those paddles you see the paddles and then you'll see the moose so that was to my untrained eye that's what i was looking for and then we looked and saw oh that's uh those are eagles there okay and right after that is when we i think first yeah we first got in there and saw where those moose were eventually where i would wind up killing one okay all right for me it isn't really fall until the mornings get cold the grouse start flushing velvet starts coming off those buck antlers garden season winds down and i start getting really excited about getting my kids into the woods if you are a mountain dew fan it's also time for you to stock up your cooler with some dew for all the fall action born in the foothills of tennessee mountain dew is an american original powering good times since two brothers created the beverage about three quarters of 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with chaos or clutter or stress sign up and get 10 off at betterhelp.com meat eater that's better h-e-l-p dot com slash meat eater all right let's uh let's move on to the to the next clip we've got a two-minuter here and i think it's a good one oh everybody found a comfortable place on the log and sat down we were like a bunch of crows sitting on the light line and i had my ballistics calculator out on my phone i was ranging different places and just really passing the time because i didn't figure we were going to see anything until late and all of a sudden craig said oh my gosh there's a bull how far that's a shooter brent how far is it 460. winds right on pretty well 2.3 you ready yeah hey shoot him again oh he's hurt where's he at he's he's butt facing him he turns one way or the other i got him i can poke quartering but he's hard quartering pretty sure you hit him there's no doubt hit him again he's going down there you go he's going down i can't see him holy man weapons on safe oh buddy i think you put three in them that's a good bowl i love it man i get to chills every time i watch that i i get to chills every time i watch that craig was so excited and i was so excited it was uh uh it was overwhelming yeah 100 overwhelming and that whole sequence there when we got there uh it was early it's like 2 30 3 o'clock in the afternoon and that that's the same point you recognize from where we were the day before and when we got there i said uh you know the wind's blowing uh and it was kind of warm he said they're probably not going to start moving until later unless they're following a cow he said but it may be warm enough that they want to come get a drink of water to cool off so we just set our stuff up got comfortable dave sat down with his camera craig sat right beside him and i sat down on the other end of this log and i've got that ballistics calculator out and i'm thinking okay if craig calls out 500 you know i'm poking it in there and fine and and because i i messed with that scope enough matt and gave me a crash course on it and we shot round after round after round and he's calling out different distances and i'm doping it in there so i was very familiar with with the process and was very comfortable with it and so i'm just sitting there for nothing better to do than pass the time because craig says you know you might see one but it's probably going to be late you know when it kind of cools off right and then all of a sudden he jumps up and runs by me and says there's a bull right there and if he's a shooter that time he's running around and he's going to be like oh i'm going to be like oh i'm going to be like oh i'm going to run him back over here to get his binos and stuff dave gets his camera stands up i don't know what to do so i just kind of run around in circles there for a second until craig got back and we got on the gun and and the rest of it was you mean you saw it happen and when uh there was he called out the distance to me twice and because the first time he says 460. well i dialed it in and i said how far because i i get off the scope and i look and i can see him right i'm like there's no way that thing's four it's way closer than that he's because he's huge you know i can see him and he said 460 twice is what he said 460 twice i'll never forget it okay i trust him you know and i i got back on the scope and when i turned it loose it when i shot i thought i'll be able to hear it hit him i shouldn't be able to and it seemed like it took forever but wham you can hear it you could hear it you and on the video you could actually i felt like i could hear it on the video 100 you can and then if you look you can see it actually go through him oh and hit the splash the water on the other side okay so he took the first round right in the ballroom behind his shoulder on the right side and the other two uh i wish we would have got a photograph of it but the other two you could have covered up with your fist really yeah i mean right in the zero wow and that's incredible it was just like he didn't flinch i mean he just walked right up on the bank and laid down and died man it it was incredible it was incredible to see that just that huge animal i i was amazed that how little he moved after that first shot yeah i mean just like he didn't know what hit him but he wasn't too concerned about it at the moment he just soaked it up man and he got two more and he i mean he didn't limp he didn't do anything i mean when it hit him he moved but as far as like shaking or anything like that he just he toted all three of them up just plumb out of sight now you you spent many many years in law enforcement um working with swat what are what's your background with firearms oh well i was also a firearms instructor okay i taught at the state swat school down at camden when they would have special classes down there for swat personnel so you're very familiar with long range shooting how to handle firearms i somebody you we had a guy that commented hey i appreciate hearing brent you know full of excitement but the first thing he says is weapon on safe oh he's just letting everybody know yeah that's a that's a weapons instructor right there yeah i think that's just a force of habit which is a good habit to be absolutely um what were those feelings that when when craig said there's a bull man it was just i mean i the whole time that whole hunt i was thinking about how you know it's a grand adventure for sure but it's also my work there's a lot of responsibility uh to that encompasses my portion of it you know that that's always why i talked about being the camera guy you know win or lose right if the camera if the camera's recording i've got all the shots whether or not the hunter misses or not right now i'm in front of it now it's all on me right i know dave's getting his part can i hold up my end of the board i'm gonna hold up my end of the board bargain and that's where the pressure comes from and i mean but it is part of the story had i missed him had i made a terrible shot it had just been part of the story luckily i did and i put three good ones in him and it was it was absolute euphoria really what when did you see it immediately when you came around the bushes were you like oh there it is when when craig said there's a bull over there and i'm sure you were full of adrenaline when you walked around those bushes did you immediately connect with him oh yeah i mean we you could see down the river from where we were sitting i didn't have to walk out okay from where we were sitting when he when when craig ran past me fast enough to set the grass on fire you know i didn't know if it was something after him or or what should i keep up with him or outrun dave right what's going on and he said there's a bull and you know a good bull right there and i looked down there and immediately it was like it was like a painting wow he's what he's knee-deep out in this river and just slowly walking out there and the sun shining on him and there's the water the ripples are lit up uh from the sun and this thing is it looks like a movie i'm getting chills now josh is thinking about it it was one of the most beautiful things i've ever seen i mean the sky was blue it was it was absolutely unreal it looked like it looked like a film wow wow and when he said 460 you immediately went into i gotta trust him yeah my first thing was there's no way but he said it's 460 and i made him or i asked you know i'm i'm how far i'm wanting him to you know to make sure that's what it is confirm you know and he confirmed it 460 twice and i'm like well that's how far he is and i i love that you kind of had more or less immediate feedback of whether that animal was down or not i mean it was clear he was going down well i didn't see it that way okay craig says you got him he's going down and i'm like bro that thing was walking last time i saw him of course craig's looking at a lot of he's looking at right he's seen moose move that are shot good he's seen moose that are walking that are shot not good right but i mean his confidence was overwhelming but it wasn't for brent right when he walked out of sight as far as i was concerned that moose is still walking because you shoot a deer and you think well he's in trouble you know you can kind of tell but i didn't i didn't know what to look for and to me it didn't like he was moving any faster or any slower than when he walked out before i ever shot him the first time okay so did you wait or did you guys go immediately after 14 days we waited right there in that spot is what it felt like i think it was 25 minutes okay because i was checking my watch right and we got in the boat and went down there and i when he walked out of the river and walked up on the bank out of the river he walked right past a rock that was sticking up it was about the size of a basketball but it was right on the edge of the bank the flat bank where and i think it was maybe two feet from the from the edge of the bank down to the water and just cut banks straight and there's that rock was right there so in my mind when i saw him i logged that in there and i think that that's where right that's the trail i'll look and start looking for blood right there yeah and we just started to float down there okay and well we've got it we've got our next next clip coming up i so you sat there for 25 minutes i can't imagine it's the longest 25 minutes in my life i can't imagine yeah it was it was absolutely brutal well let's uh let's watch this next clip here he's laying right there right through here brent just see the horn 15 feet oh my gosh he's right there what an absolute monster i don't know what to say it is incredible absolutely incredible beautiful fronts on them there ain't nothing bad about it oh my gosh i don't know what to say i'm just thank you for the effort thank you thank you for your friendship man thank you guys this was all a really a success absolutely can't believe it i just can't get over how big they are man i mean i've seen pictures of steve once steve's killed clay and all you see it i've seen a jillion yeah pictures i've seen you know one that y'all have taken but the body on these things is just incredible and it's just incredible to me to see what it's like to be a part of the human race the day that that i killed a moose i i was absolutely not prepared for what that was like that adrenaline dump was unlike anything i have ever seen because i glanced down the river before i went back to get my rifle and i could see him standing in the river and it looked like a dinosaur it was the it looked like a school bus with antlers it was huge it looked like a school bus with antlers it looked like a school bus with antlers it was huge it looked like a school bus with antlers it was huge awesome uh i'm no i'm no expert on moose but it looks like a big one man i was looking the way he was moving when he stepped up out of the river onto the bank and i just seen his high end in going in into the bushes you know that was the end of it i'm expecting this thing not to be where he was because he was literally 15 feet over the bank from the edge of the water really yeah we so he literally walked off and just he walked up and just and laid down and was dead as a hammer when we got there but i was looking past him i was looking over him and dave is sitting if you can obviously see in the boat dave's the cameraman he's sitting in the front of the boat and he's facing back and shooting back towards me and and craig and i'm i'm looking hard and craig says there he is well i'll i look over at dave's face and he starts smiling he looks back at these he's back on the camera so dave sees him i know i can i know dave i can tell he's like man we got him yeah and craig's like there he is and i'm like no he ain't i can't see him i cannot end this hunt until i can see this moose right and i'm looking further and when he said 15 feet i thought 15 feet and i looked down and there he was and the wide open how i could not see that moose i don't know must have felt a tremendous sense of relief oh gosh i mean you can see it on your face i mean you kind of you kind of gasp a little bit there oh i did 100 i did and you know it's that's one thing that i love about how we film these things it's there's there's no way i could have recreated that right you know uh if if dave hadn't got it it wouldn't have gotten got right but he did yeah and it it really shows the raw emotion and just overwhelming relief that what we came there to do we did so walking up on this animal expectations versus reality i was not prepared i have killed deer before i've been after bears and when you get to him you're like ah man he's good he's nice i thought he was bigger i thought he'd be a little bigger you know yeah you know and not no disappointment or anything like that that thing got bigger the longer i sat there and looked at it it was not i had no comprehension of it i've seen moose one other time uh and i was in alaska and as if saw him across a bay so he might as well been a horse in a pasture right you know so i had the i was not prepared for how big they were any idea like how much that thing weighed craig estimated to be 12 to 1400 pounds holy smokes i know that when we when we skinned and processed him i brought all the meat back we stopped in a craig's cousin i actually got a place in uh outside of winnipeg and we dropped the meat off there but i brought the back straps home okay and the back straps i had two soft coolers one of them weighed 51 pounds and the other one weighed my other one weighed 49 so i brought home with me a hundred pounds of back strap of back strap holy cow yeah it was over 600 pounds of procession weight and i was like oh my god i'm not gonna be able to do that i'm not gonna i'm not gonna be able to do that i'm not gonna be able to do that i'm not gonna be able to do that me and my neighborhood and family and friends are still eating on not your friend josh though you will before you leave here um so what what you know you could tell by the look on your face when you finally see it just this massive sense of relief excitement elation satisfaction all wrapped up into one when you walked up on it what were the top three things that you thought when you walked up i was just grateful yeah and that is that the top three things that i felt was was grateful every all three of them grateful grateful i mean it was uh from the opportunity that i have backed my way into for this career that i never would have dreamed of having to the people that made all that happen you know and it has been i pulled a trigger and i pulled a trigger and i pulled a trigger and i pulled a trigger and i pulled a trigger and i pulled a trigger and i pulled a trigger but i had the easiest part trigger but i had the easiest part trigger but i had the easiest part right you know um from everybody that that saw right you know um from everybody that that saw right you know um from everybody that that saw that film to the people that work in the retail that film to the people that work in the retail that film to the people that work in the retail stores that under this umbrella that we all work stores that under this umbrella that we all work stores that under this umbrella that we all work for everybody plays a part in that yeah and i'm for everybody plays a part in that yeah and i'm for everybody plays a part in that yeah and i'm grateful for every one of them and it truly is a grateful for every one of them and it truly is a grateful for every one of them and it truly is a um a blessing to be the tip of the spear um a blessing to be the tip of the spear um a blessing to be the tip of the spear to tell these stories and but it all it's to tell these stories and but it all it's to tell these stories and but it all it's all possible because of everybody all possible because of everybody all possible because of everybody behind the camera that's they do behind the camera that's they do behind the camera that's they do everything yeah and it was an absolute everything yeah and it was an absolute everything yeah and it was an absolute physical and literal thought of physical and literal thought of physical and literal thought of while i was there you you kind of while i was there you you kind of while i was there you you kind of immediately express your gratitude to immediately express your gratitude to immediately express your gratitude to craig and craig and craig and the other guys why is that important to the other guys why is that important to the other guys why is that important to you oh it's just important you oh it's just important you oh it's just important this is never this is never this is never i love being the center of attention and i love being the center of attention and i love being the center of attention and talking to a room entertaining a room talking to a room entertaining a room talking to a room entertaining a room full of people full of people full of people but my least favorite subject is me but my least favorite subject is me but my least favorite subject is me right right right i'm just uh i'm blessed to be where i am i'm just uh i'm blessed to be where i am i'm just uh i'm blessed to be where i am and have this platform and have this platform and have this platform but i think it's it's not to tell but i think it's it's not to tell but i think it's it's not to tell brent's story it's to tell brent's story it's to tell brent's story it's to tell everybody's story right you know and everybody's story right you know and everybody's story right you know and everybody has a part everybody's got a everybody has a part everybody's got a everybody has a part everybody's got a story and everybody's story story and everybody's story story and everybody's story needs to be heard and i enjoy telling needs to be heard and i enjoy telling needs to be heard and i enjoy telling my part of it but my part of it but my part of it but my part of this story is just a part of my part of this story is just a part of my part of this story is just a part of it right there's a lot of parts and you it right there's a lot of parts and you it right there's a lot of parts and you know everybody plays a part in it that's know everybody plays a part in it that's know everybody plays a part in it that's one of the things i really i really one of the things i really i really one of the things i really i really appreciate about you brent is just appreciate about you brent is just appreciate about you brent is just your your sense of of gratitude your your sense of of gratitude your your sense of of gratitude appreciation appreciation appreciation um you're a humble guy and based on um you're a humble guy and based on um you're a humble guy and based on all the the comments that i've read on all the the comments that i've read on all the the comments that i've read on social media and youtube it's pretty social media and youtube it's pretty social media and youtube it's pretty obvious to everybody else so i obvious to everybody else so i obvious to everybody else so i appreciate you being a being a model of appreciate you being a being a model of appreciate you being a being a model of that so that so that so yeah what's it like yeah what's it like yeah what's it like processing an animal that pig took us processing an animal that pig took us processing an animal that pig took us two and a half hours to get him skint two and a half hours to get him skint two and a half hours to get him skint and quartered up and quartered up and quartered up uh which is you know fairly quick for uh which is you know fairly quick for uh which is you know fairly quick for something that yeah big and the pack something that yeah big and the pack something that yeah big and the pack out like i said man was out like i said man was out like i said man was it was it was it was pick up a load of meat pick up a load of meat pick up a load of meat take four steps and load it in the boat take four steps and load it in the boat take four steps and load it in the boat right i mean it was just so easy right i mean it was just so easy right i mean it was just so easy uh it was uh it was uh it was skinning the bear skinning a deer you skinning the bear skinning a deer you skinning the bear skinning a deer you know times 10 and uh easy as far as how we handled the meat easy as far as how we handled the meat how it is to to skin one you know laying down it's a lot easier skin a moose laying on the ground it is a deer to me oh really yeah i think so just because it's it's so much bigger you got a bigger handhold and between you know dave did some film and then he set the camera up and he jumped in there with us so it took three of us two and a half hours of solid skinning and cutting to get it wow get it out and get it in the boat wow and i'm not sure i don't know what the next clip is but um the highlight of that whole thing or i wouldn't say the whole thing but one of the top highlights of it was when we got that moose back in the boat and we were headed back towards the cabin as probably a mile and a half i think what time of day did you shoot it oh it was probably three o'clock in the afternoon okay so you guys are going yeah it's late into the evening late into the evening of time we get there so time we get loaded and everything done skint all the rib meat neck me everything cut off and loaded into the boat and left there we had our headlights on in the boat and we start heading we've got 20 minutes you know of motoring to get back to the cabin i turn my dave of course he didn't he's filming i turn my light out craig turns his light out and then it's too dark to film but the our way is lit up by the the northern lights and i was sitting in the back and dave was sitting behind it was sitting right there beside me in the northern you can see that moose the moose antlers and on the bow of that boat up there and then the northern lights up above it and that's how we what lit our way back from where we skint that moose to our cabin and it was unreal it was so the emotion was i mean it yeah it brought tears to my eyes how beautiful it was to be in that place in a place like that with two of my good friends and do something like that and share that with them it was right man overwhelming is a theme from the time i got there to the time we left and anytime i think about it and i'm not sure there has been a day go by that i hadn't thought about one portion of that trip or the other i mean that not to put it cheaply but that sounds epic it is it was it was you know outside of something with my children or grandchildren it was the event of a lifetime for me that's incredible um is that the longest shot on game that you've ever taken a hundred percent you know growing up down here in south arkansas um you have a scope on a rifle but any place i we were hunting i hunt in the woods right you know and i don't um i never had a shot more than 150 yards you know and and i like to bow hunt so i hardly hardly ever hunt with a rifle anyway right and so that was by far and that's what was so important to me to to be prepared when i got there is shooting with matt and getting comfortable and dialed in with that scope and and changing distances that you know with a quick call out and swapping to different targets and putting the dope in the in the right in the scope and you mentioned dope a couple of times tell our our listeners and viewers what that means well it's just the you know those scopes they've got dials on them and turrets on them and they're numbered and for wind and for wind and then elevation you know left and right and up and down uh depending on what those factors are you can put that into a what's called a dope calculator on your phone an app you just put on your phone and then if it's coincides with the turrets on the scope and it tells you where to dial them in so that you're shooting for distance and and wind correction dope is a dope is an acronym for data on previous engagement and so you're using correct ballistics and from a known target from a known target and uh you know based on your round and your rifle yes the the velocity of that bullet you can calculate if it's zeroed at a hundred you can calculate how far you need to click for elevation yes way way smarter than me and it works really well and though like i said you know i made three good shots on that but i had real good equipment and real good information working in there yeah really all i did was control my try to control my breathing as you can hear in that clip i tried to settle down and you did a good job because i was like well brent's huffing coming around that corner and then i heard you just kind of calm down and i just had to because he was dancing around in there like he was at a disco until i got it what power scope is on there do you remember Yeah, that is a 3x18x50, I believe. Okay, okay. Yeah, so it's pretty stout. We're all saving for something, whether it's a trip, a concert, or upgrading your car. OnePay is the banking app that gives you more for what matters. Earn 3% cash back on up to $150 in monthly spending when you choose categories like Walmart, gas, or dining. So you're rewarded for what you already buy. Plus, with high-yield savings, your money keeps growing. You can even turn on roundups with your OnePay builder card to save a little more with every purchase. OnePay is the banking app trusted by millions of Americans. Download the OnePay app or visit OnePay.com and sign up for free today. OnePay is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services provided by Coastal Community Bank or Lead Bank, members FDIC. Cash back is earned as OnePay points, redeemable into a OnePay deposit account or other available options. Individual reward details can be found in the OnePay app. See OnePay rewards terms at OnePay.com forward slash rewards dash terms. If you're hunting with a crew, OnX hunts location sharing, puts everyone's live position on the same map, updating every five seconds. This isn't spying. You log into it. You're out on a hunt with your buddies, or in my situation, I'm out on a hunt with my kids. Put it on there. Everybody. You guys have heard me talk all about Montana Knife Company for a few years now on the podcast. Hands down, these are my absolute favorites. If you want to learn more, go to MontanaKnife.com/MKC and click on the link in the description to find out what's going on in Montana Knife Company. I've got a massive update for you. People have been asking for this forever. MKC finally did it. I've been asking it forever. The wait is over. They're launching their very first folding knife. It's called the Montana. It's going to be dropping very soon. I'm telling you right now, these things are going to sell out fast. If you aren't ready, the moment you get it, the moment you get it, the moment you get it, the moment you get it, the moment you get it. If you aren't ready, the moment they go live, you're probably going to miss out. So here's what you need to do. Get over to MKC.com right now. Make sure you sign up for their email and text message notifications. So you get the alert the exact second the knife drops. Montana Knife Company, working knives for working people. That's MKC.com. I can't wait to check out one of these folders. Okay. We've got another clip here. Here it is. Oh, sweet. This is yours, Tim. I wish you'd been here with me. My older brother, Tim, took me hunting when he didn't have to, when I was more in the way than anything else. The only thing that would have made that moment better was to have watched him do what I just done. It's a long way from the hayfield in Bradley County, where I live. It's a long way from the hayfield in Bradley County, where I grew up, to right here. Yeah. It's a good place to be, man. Yeah. Thank you. Anytime. I put that in there just so you could get choked up. Trying to get me. Man. Your brother, Tim, has been a real fixture in your life, as long as you can remember from the stories you told. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, what did Tim teach you that kind of came through in this hunt? Man, he has taught me so much stuff that comes in my everyday life. He's probably the most forgiving person I know. And he can look at a situation where I'm ready to grab a hammer and start tearing stuff up. And he's like, "Just sit back a minute and let's reevaluate what we really need to do." There is no one that I know or have ever heard of that has more integrity than my brother. He's always doing the right thing, whether it's the easiest thing when it's not the easiest thing to do. And he is an example of what a brother, and a friend, and a father is. And he is a good man. And I talk to him every day. And I haven't talked to him today, and it's absolutely driving me nuts. Because since you got here, it's a normal time that we call back and forth and talk. Right. So, I'm ready for you to get out of here, Josh. So, I can talk. We can see if we can pipe him in. Yeah. Yeah. But he is an example of what a brother and a friend, and a father is. Right. And I talk to him every day, and it's absolutely driving me nuts. Right. So, I can talk. Yeah. Yeah. But he is my buddy. You know? And we're tight. How would that moment have been different if Tim had been there? That's the only thing that would have made it better. I mean, that was literally, I would have loved him to die. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. been there it would that's the only thing that would have made it better i mean that was literally i would have loved to have seen him do that he is he's the guy he's eight years older than me and when i was just little he was taking me everywhere and he decided when he was 16 and i was 8 or 14 and i was 4 or 6 you know he's like i want to grow up and be a trapper in alaska me too i wanted to do whatever he did you know and i wanted to put a track if i wasn't putting a track in my dad's tracks i was putting one in tim's you know and everything that we just seemed to be so close and it would have been the culmination of all the things that i have been so blessed to do to be able to share that with him and watch him do that that's the only thing that would have made it better yeah yeah um you know i think there's been opportunities you know i've i've talked about on bear grease just about i didn't grow up hunting and clay and nukem is the one who kind of taught me how to hunt became a friend and a hunting mentor yeah how valuable is that to to take younger people or people who haven't had that experience it is it's the only way we keep this going that's how valuable it is yeah you know if it stops with one jump it's going to be the only way we can keep this going you know if it stops with one generation it's done forever you can go it's easy to go back and count the generations that that got us to this point but the responsibility is on us now to keep it going and to show it to the next folks and there's i have always said you share a tragedy with someone you can cut that sadness by 50 percent you share a joy with someone and it multiplies it. There's no end to the number that you can do that will multiply. And that's, that's what we got to do. And that, that's how valuable it is and how important it is. And we want to keep doing these kinds of things and having these moments and sharing them. We, we got to share them and, and share, sharing them with the folks that are not already exposed to it, get somebody else in a position to do the same thing. And it's, it's, it's vital. And I, and as a kid, I probably never thought about that. Sure. As a young man, I didn't think about it as much, but now it's at the forefront of a forefront of a lot of the things that I do. I think, I think it, it has so many benefits, you know, relationally and, you know, just learning the sport and the ethics behind it, but even just basic health being outside, being in nature, being in the sun. I mean, there's so many benefits all the way around. And if you can take, if you can take someone and teach them that and teach them the value of hunting ethically and harvesting organic meat. And I mean, it, that it pays dividends. No, we were watching, uh, we had a premier party. I actually saw the two rough drafts before the final version came out in the final version. We waited until that night to watch. And I watched it over friends of ours, friends and family. We all gathered up at their huge television, you know, like a movie theater. And we watched it, but before we watched it, we, we had moose chili from that moose, you know? That's awesome. And so it was that moose responsible, not only for the entertainment of the evening, but for feeding everybody at the table, you know? So it was, it was, it's a, it was a very special day, a very special thing to see that come out and, uh, to have the, the story in there showing, showing my dad and my brother, it was, um, it was a special, special moment. That's awesome. Let's, uh, let's move on to the next clip here. Backstrap and moose heart. That is the first combination of that I've ever had. Ready? Man, it was so tender. Yeah. We've got some back straps too. Yep, there, I'll cook all the meat. the heart and then we'll tie into them. We've got a picnic tomorrow with all this meat we got. That gum is good. Well let's go catch a fish. Heck yeah, maybe some walleye for supper. Oh, there he is. Oh, we found one. Come here little fellow. Let's get back out there to your grandpa. There we go. That's a good one. There he is. That'll be a little treat for supper tonight. He'll eat good. I'm guessing him 15 pounds. Yeah, right on. Don't you think? Yeah, for sure. 14 at least. My fish, I say how big he was. That's right. So I'm a little jealous of that moose meat. It looked pretty tasty. Yeah. Was the heart good? Oh, fantastic. And I've eaten deer heart before. I had never eaten a bear heart, believe it or not. And I may, if I'm fortunate enough to get one this year, I'll try it. But that moose heart, there's some. How big was that moose heart? As big as about like a volleyball. Wow. Close to a volleyball. It was humongous. And I've got some photos of it, you know, of me holding it. And it's just unreal how big that thing is. Wow. But we, I brought, I mean, I had to bring some of it home. We were there for, I think, four more days, three or four more days where we could, and we ate, from the time I killed that moose, that's what we ate, moose and something every night from then on. Right. And we still didn't eat all that heart. Really? Oh gosh, yeah. It's huge. Wow. Absolutely huge. What did it taste like? I was expecting, and I like liver. Mm-hmm. I was expecting the texture of an organ, like a, like a gizzard or a liver, but it was just tender. It was absolutely tender. And it was, there was no, people say, and I'm not a fan of the phrase game. Right. If it's something tasting gamey. I mean, coon tastes like coon, fish tastes like fish. Right. Deer tastes like deer meat, you know. Beef tastes like beef. They compare everything to beef, but it's, I mean, it is what it is. There was no, there was no strong taste to it. Right. No iron taste like you would kind of get with, like you can eat with liver sometimes. Uh-huh. You get kind of an iron taste to it. It was, it was just really good, man. And, and we- Did it compare to any other game that you've had? I don't know that I would be able to say, oh, that's moose heart. Right. But I took a bite and a blind taste test. It just tasted like good seasoned beef. Good seasoned fried meat. For those who have never experienced it, what's the feeling of eating meat that you harvested that day? It's hard from that day. It just, it never gets better than that day. It's like fish. You know, I'm not a, I love fish. I'm not a big fan of eating trout. They don't just don't- I'm with you. They don't taste that good to me. Yeah. But you catch a trout and you cook it on the bank of the river. It's the best thing you've ever done. Ever eaten. Yeah. And it's all got to do with the environment and where you are, you know, and who you're with. The experience. Yeah. The experience. Okay. Here's the big question. Fried fish or moose? Man, I asked Craig that. He said moose. And I probably have to tend to agree if it's fresh moose because of the environment, but you bait a trap with a fried fish and you will catch me every time. Did y'all, did y'all catch walleye? We did. And that was one thing we didn't, Dave was changing out a battery or something. Man, we just kept fishing. We were like, Dave, you're on your own. We're fishing. We're fishing for supper, buddy. And we didn't get that or it didn't make it into the film, but we did catch some walleye. Walleye's great eating. Oh gosh. Yeah. But the pike up there, I mean, that's the, we call that a jackfish down here, but the jackfish we eat down here ain't like those up there. That cold water, man. Good clean tasting. Oh gosh. It is so good. Yeah. It's great. Oh, that's awesome. So we've, we've got a couple comments I wanted or comments and questions that I just wanted to ask. I just want to kind of run by you here. Okay. We have, I'm not going to try to say all of these names from people who made comments, but Aaron Song 3913 said, I heard that moose is the most tender meat. It doesn't matter how old they are or young. They taste very tender. I don't know how things taste tender, but the, was the backstrap tender? Yes, it was. And the longer it, the longer we had it hanging in camp. The more tender it got. Did you leave it up the whole week? We did. We left it up for, I think we were there three more days after I killed that. Okay. After I killed that moose and it got. Yeah. What day did you kill it on? I forgot to ask that. It was like the second full day of hunting, but like the third day that we were there. Okay. And, uh, it was nice and cool there. Oh gosh. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Um, Jordan Pollock, 9004 said only one question. I got, why are they putting quartered meat into plastic bags? That was get it out of the boat, cross the Sandy beach up to the place where we had it laid out to cool. It didn't stay in plastic bags. All right. Um, few more questions. Did you like that style of hunt or would you prefer a spot and stalk? I, you know, I would like to do the spot and stalk. It would be hard to do that in that country there because of the limited visibility. Um, but, uh, that's, I mean, that's going to be my favorite cause it's the only way I've done it so far. I've been on one moose hunting trip and killed a moose. So that was, that would be my preferred. Would I like to try it? Absolutely. And I'd like to try it. My next one was archery. Okay. Okay. Um, Quinn Scott said, what's a big thing that you took from behind the camera to being on camera? That's a great question. I think one of the things that I learned the most was patients being a cameraman. You're always wanting to stretch that shot out as long as you can. You know, you think about a, like a whitetail hunt. If you just showed the kill shot on a whitetail hunt, like an archery hunt, that video would probably be, it'd be stretching to do 30 seconds. Right. You know, from start to finish. Right. From the time you see them. And as a cameraman, you're wanting to milk that time out to be able to tell that story. So I think patience is, is an extra sense of, of patience would be what I took from behind the camera to in front. Because I'm, I'm thinking about it, but I'm also thinking about what Dave's looking. Right. Looking at, you know. Am I giving him time to get set and everything? Right. Cause he's, I mean, he's a professional. He's, he's two steps ahead of me where I'm at on, on that part. But it is conscious in my mind, especially if you're filming a hunt, the, the time that it takes to get it right. Right. Okay. Great answer. Um, you know, you've, you've had that moose meat of quite a while now. Um, Ethan Kenley said, what's your favorite recipe you've made with your moose meat? Man, we ground, we have a bunch of it in burger. Uh, we have made meatloaf and tacos and burgers and everything you can imagine, but probably my favorite is probably chili. Okay. The chili is good. The steaks are great. I'm, I'm not saying the steaks aren't good. They are absolutely fantastic. You chunk it up like into stew meat. No, it's. Or you grind it. Grind it. Okay. I had it ground like burger. Okay. And, uh, um, but we did have some stew meat done and I've done recipes with that. And I gave a buddy of mine some of that. Yeah. Yeah. I gave a buddy of mine, uh, a tri tip and he fixed it and off of that moose. And he said it was unbelievably good. And after he told me that I thought, dang, I shouldn't have gave it to, but it was, uh, it's, it's been really good. There's been no way that we have fixed it. That hadn't been good. And literally anything that you would do with beef or deer meat, you can do with this. Okay. It's, it's really good. Broad question here. But. But, um, we've got a comment that says, what's the best part about moose hunting. I can only, I can only attest to this trip because I've only been once. I was never a cameraman on another moose hunt. I mean, this is, this is my experience. And the best part about it was, was being there, sharing it with my friends. It was, you know, on a, when I go bow hunting, I'm usually by myself. Right. Unless it's a, a filmed event. And I come back and I'm like, man, Josh, I wish you'd have been there. Yeah. And saw this. Yes. You know, it may have something, not even anything to do with the moose. It may have been two squirrels fighting. Right. It fell out of a tree, but on that hunt and to this, to this very moment. Yeah. Right. It fell out of a tree. moment right now i can pick up my phone and text dave or craig and say hey remember when this happened you know how cool is that so i think that's probably my best part absolutely well we've got one more we've got one more clip here we want to show i hope no one asked which had a bigger effect on me the moose or the lights because the answer might surprise them quick clip but uh the northern lights you you talked about there in that clip don't if someone were to ask yeah tell us what that meant to you like what what did it do you you talked about the being on the boat and seeing that and that being your your your light that you follow home back to camp but um it clearly did something to you you know from a little when i was a little boy i was reading uh adventure stories from in seventh grade i was reading peter hathaway capstick you know death in the long grass about big game hunting in africa and before that i was reading jack london and adventure stories in alaska and they talk about the northern lights and to me that would have been as foreign as listening to neil armstrong talk about walking on the moon something that i would never have dreamt i would have got to see and that has been over a lifetime you know i'm 60 years old and i've been thinking about that since i was 10 and then to be there and to look at it with my eyes there is no way dave's camera could capture yeah all the things that went into that and it was an easy answer for me the the northern lights were a bigger had a bigger impact on me than that moose did because i will eat that moose and it'll be gone mm-hmm and then there will be no more moose but those lights will be in me forever and it was amazing to sit there and think that the same creator that made those lights made me so it it made a very significant it was a very significant moment for me to sit there and see that and it was it has been so good every every bit of it yeah i think about them now and i can't quit smiling about it yeah you know it was they were you asked a question we talked when you first got here about a lot of the clips that you see of the northern lights are sped up so you can see the movement right you can see the movement in them if you're just sitting there staring at them but it is almost like you could hear them it is an overwhelming experience to sit there and see that it was for me you know and i'm a i'm a detail-oriented person where right i try to pay attention to everything except when alexis tells me to do something apparently i'm not very good at that but it was a very easy answer that had the biggest impact on me and it was all good man that's great any final reflect reflections on the on the trip there was nothing bad about it you know it's hard going from getting all that stuff up there and all the logistics that went into it i can't tell you how many meetings we had meetings after meetings after meetings on prepping and planning and i knew once i got there we got feet on the ground why we had so many of them because it is such a big undertaking but just the whole experience whole uh i would there was i had there was no detractors even the long drive you know we dave and i flew into winnipeg and then drove like 10 or 11 hours to the northern part of manitoba to catch the float plane to go in there to where craig was so i mean it was once we got i mean it was katie bar the door you got to go yeah you know you got you got to load up and and drive and then i mean it was effort it took effort to get there but every bit of it was fun every bit of it was you know new and refreshing and i got to share it with my friends and it just made it so good it was uh it will be with me forever and i hope to get to go back and do it again soon you know with the in a different place or with craig or whatever i won't go with the bow and yeah and just get that much closer yeah well thanks for sharing the film with us and and uh and talking with you all about it thank you very much for watching and and uh and talking with us and and uh and talking with us and and uh and talking with me and and talking with me today i appreciate it thank you for being here josh i appreciate it thank you all for being here if you haven't seen it yet check out the 12 and 26 manitoba moose hunting episode that i did there on the meat eater youtube channel uh it's been a it was an absolute pleasure to do and i appreciate it and send your comments in anytime you see one of these when we do one of these companion podcasts your questions can get answered right here on the air thank y'all for watching and y'all be careful thanks everybody hey let me tell you when the hunt is over the work isn't over you've still got all the grinding stuffing slicing and sealing turning your harvest into meals takes the right tools lem products offers grinders stuffers slicers dehydrators vacuum sealers and more for hunters and home meat processors for more than 30 years lem has been helping people bring their harvest from field to table visit lemproducts.com and use promo code steve 15 to receive 15 off plus free shipping that's steve 15 at lemproducts.com if you're thinking about building your credit the one pay builder card might be a good idea if you're thinking about one of the smartest ways to start one pay is the banking app trusted by millions of americans and with the one pay builder card there's no credit check and no monthly or annual fees just a simple way to start building your credit history with everyday purchases use it to help build credit history and reach real milestones like buying a new car or purchasing a home big moments all starting with small consistent steps get started simply by making everyday purchases with the one pay everyday purchases with the one pay everyday purchases with the one pay builder card download the one pay app or builder card download the one pay app or builder card download the one pay app or visit onepay.com today 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