SPECIAL EDITION: Episode 24 The Code of Traditional Archery Audio Book - Sneak Peak

As a thank you to our listeners, enjoy a chapter from the new audio book, The Code of Traditional Archery and enjoy the extended version of "The Code of Traditional Archery," with never heard before commentary, with David Tetzlaff, the Co-Editor of "The Traditional Bowhunter Magazine." Enjoy as David Tetzlaff and I have a great discussion after the chapter!

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the Code of Traditional Archery, brought to you by Code of Dumb Archery and the founder Grant Richardson.

SPEAKER_01 0:15

Welcome to episode 24, a special edition of the Code of Traditional Archery podcast. I'm Grant Richardson, your host. Original intent of this podcast was to bring back traditional archery and bow hunting to an older era where hunting ability met Archer. And together the two formed a bow hunter. From the outset of this podcast, then writing a book expanding much deeper on my personal journey as a traditional hunter. I envisioned a platform that was focused on telling the real truth surrounding hunting. And yes, it certainly is focused on traditional bow hunting, both a process and success, but a journey that is often accompanied by failures and a steep learning curve that occurs when taking to the wilderness with recurve or longbow in hand. It for me has always been about connection to the wild spaces I hunted and the creatures there that it interacted with on a predator-prey level, not just about the harvest of wild game. I have seen things at play in the wild that some folks not familiar with this hunting method could not fathom. And as my good friend David Tetzlav says, my bow took me there. Indeed, this episode is a sneak peek at our newly launched audiobook version of the Code of Traditional Archery Book, a 12-chapter nonfiction piece that delves into the world of what I consider to be truly hunting the hard way, and the path I have used to walk alongside my ancestors and continue the rich heritage of walking that path of resilience I was raised in. From the beginning, we published the code. I felt that the book needed an alternative set of eyes, and I was lucky to have had Jerry Gallins as my editor for the print copy. His experience with both Traditional Bow Hunter magazine and Compton Traditional Bow Hunters magazine A Walk in the Woods was the expertise I needed to guide me as a writer. When E. Don Thomas Jr. graciously gave me a forward, I knew that I had hit my mark with what I was trying to convey, and I quote him now. Grant Richardson's new book, The Code of Traditional Archery, it may be easiest to begin by explaining what this book is not: a tally of trophy animals, a how-to text as boring as a bad college lecture. Granted, he does discuss some traditional archery practicalities, but in a way that I found thoughtful and intriguing even after shooting traditional bows for 70 years. In my favorite chapter, he recounts the introduction to bow hunting that he ought provided his young daughter, in addition to serving as a useful roadmap for others teaching their children about the outdoors. It is just a darn good read. Those familiar with the process, past, present, or future, or who maintain fond memories of a similar upbringing in their own past, will be delighted. It was there in Don's words. And that very line spurred me to begin the audiobook with some added context. I approached David Tetzlaff, the co-editor of Traditional Bow Hunter magazine, well versed in traditional bow hunting and the outdoors, and past president of the Florida Traditional Bow Hunters, and asked if he would be interested in providing a different take to the audiobook version of the code of traditional archery. By adding not just random commentary to the ending of each chapter, but getting into the meat and gristle of what hunting the hard way truly involves, and in doing so showcase the raw truth of the approach and nuances of hunting with stick bows. What we created is not just an audiobook based on the paperback of the code, but commentary that is designed to not only inspire but educate those not familiar with the campfire tribe that is traditional bow hunters' spirit and soul. My hope is that it will resonate with you as well. Enjoy this look into our audiobook and listen into one of the chapter discussions in this special episode of the Code of Traditional Archery Podcast. Chapter 5, Immersion, Grandfather's Heritage. I learned the art of hunting when very young. My father's dad, being an avid old school outdoorsman, influenced my appreciation for hunting from early on. Slow down was his motto. You'll miss out on what's going on right in front of you. Many of the lessons I learned from him still resonate to this day. I had twelve years of my young life with him until he passed on to the great hunting grounds. I am sure he cast a rising brook trout with a split cane fly rod and chases pheasant, grouse, and the beloved timberdoodle, woodcock, his favorite upland bird. He was from older stock and had many trades under his belt. He was an adept carpenter, welder, leathersmith, jeweler, master gunsmith, and decoy carver, winning several contests in both show and gunning categories. Apart from those pursuits as a tracker and hunter, he was a conservation officer and game warden for several years in our province of Ontario. Decoy patterns, half finished birds, and gunsmithing tools adorned his basement, while the odor of cedar and basswood permeated the air of his shop. Sketches, stencils of decoy patterns and wildlife, and the required posters of dogs playing poker adorned the old shop's walls. We spent most of our time outside that busy shop basement, walking just as the sun was rising. It was his favorite time of day. Fewer people about, he would say. It gives us time to see things before they hide from sight from the rest of the world. He had been walking that early fall with an old reeker my uncle had given him. I need to get used to the weight, he told me, even though the bow was feather light. I would get up quietly and amble my way downstairs to his room, wake him up and reach up for the book of North American birds he had sitting on his shelf. He would quiz me on different species and try to steer me away from the upland bird color plates, often not successfully. We would be out the door before anyone else. On this day, however, he was very intense and excited to show me something he refused to disclose to my eager pleadings. In the early fall dawn we walked down the path behind the house, stopping to quietly grab some frostbitten raspberries before my grandmother woke to scold us for eating what few were left on the bushes. Crossing the barren highway, we stepped into the government land, a series of large overgrown natural grass fields with a spring fed stream cutting through the middle, and a beaver pond at the far end bordered by a large sandy area, then hardwoods. As a child, my brother, cousins, and I roamed this area and often found broken pottery shards, arrowheads, and old tin pieces, as this area had been a trading point nexus for the Huron Wendat First Nations peoples. It was precisely the kind of area a kid born in the outdoors could ask for. He stopped at the edge of the hard woods, which ran out into a small meadow, then to a short ridge that flowed into the fields. Kneeling, he pointed to a small oak tree that stood alone across the field some one hundred yards away. Stay in the shadows and watch that tree, he said, while pointing to a large white oak, with leaves beginning to turn amber. After almost forty minutes and my young brain growing restless, he pointed again and said nothing. The area, however, behind the tree was moving, as if the branches were breaking free. I strained to see what was causing the movement. Outstepped a large buck that had recently shed its velvet. We watched the deer picking up acorns for several minutes before he tapped me on my shoulder and beckoned me to follow. Into the scrub we went, walking slowly along the stream that cuts through the middle of the land. The stream was a distraction for me. Brook trout still resided there in certain parts where ancient upwelds of cold springs brought respite to the vermiculated white finned haloed fish, and one could still catch them amidst the many creek chubs that resided there. I had seen my first wild ringnecked pheasant there one morning while walking alone on the gravel road nearby. The rooster strutted, picking at gravel before running off to hide in the tall grasses as I gave fruitless chase. I snapped back to my senses as branch whipped my face, instant karma for not paying attention to the lesson about to unfold inside the bush path. Once we were within seventy yards of the deer, he paused and beckoned me to kneel. Go get close to that deer, he said, not taking his eyes off the tree where the buck, still snatching acorns from the ground, was ambling about slowly. I stared at him. His silence answered me sternly, without words. I stood, bending low and began to sneak by him. He grabbed my leg gently. Stop, and pointing at the grass bending with the wind, stated emphatically, keep that grass toward you as you go to him. I understood, but doing so without being seen by the buck would prove difficult. I mostly crawled toward the deer, and when I popped up to get a better look, I saw the white tail flag of the buck running in great bounds back to the protection of the woodlot. I walked back to where grandfather sat near the creek, flipping crickets he had caught into the darkened waters. So how did that go? he said, not taking his eyes off the expectation of a rising trout to his terrestrial offerings. Not so good, I said. Grandfather laughed. Why say that? You got into easy rifle range, but if you want to fling arrows at them, you'll need to get into stone throwing range. This is the deer's ground. He lives here, and you must learn what your ancestors did to get close to him. He beckoned to the oak tree. You know where he lives and eats. Now work on making the wind your friend. Oftentimes she's a fickle foe, though, he said, with a warning tone and a smirk on his weathered face. I began to stand up. The last thing is to have a plan. He raised himself up and we began walking down the gravel road toward home. Planning is of great importance. Equipment is just the beginning, and the shot process you choose is the bolt that holds the entire mechanism for success in place from a weapons perspective. It is yours alone to develop for the situations you will encounter with your single string. The hunting piece, though, is the fabric of the entire process, and it's that very thing, that synchronous blending of hunting and shooting with a stick and string that demands so much of the user. Unlike other forms of hunting which require little prep and practice, like modern firearms, traditional archery requires understanding the nuances of the type of bow, matched arrows, and of course the method of hunting you have immersed yourself in. This includes terrain and weather knowledge and animals that inhabit the ecosystems in which you will pursue them. Much like the art of fly fishing, traditional archery requires you to develop an operating system that ultimately fits you and your tactics. One cannot walk into a store, grab a fly fishing kit, and begin to fly cast and fish without some constraints. Let's touch on that for a moment. The idea of a constraint means there will be barriers to success by learning through failure. Developing a hardy way of sustaining oneself through this process involves understanding of what we are truly capable of and facing down our ego simultaneously. Learning about the fly rod, line weights, how to cast, leaders, tippets, flies, etc. Developing the ability to read the water you're fishing and which flies to use. The presentation of said flies to the type of fish matters, right down to the entomology of the water's ecosystem and holding areas. All that leads us to a process that is refined over time. The final analysis is to choose the fly to cast to the fish. The same goes for the bow and getting the arrow to the desired target with accuracy. That analysis becomes critical when pursuing game with a stick and string. It separates the archer from the bow hunter, and it will cause you much introspection along the way. The steps in between the preparation weigh heavily in the principles of learning how to hunt close. The component to success is at times a steep ascent. It is inevitable that the teaching vector never stops and that growth never ceases. Being adequately prepared will give you an intimate knowledge of your equipment and how it functions in real time. That will help you adapt and evolve, refining your equipment's expectedness in real-time situations with confidence and without hesitation. I had the week off to hunt and had been sitting daily in a stand situated near a large creek. It was a classic wetland riparian habitat, an excellent stand for hunting the runs the deer used to navigate through the dense cover connecting that area to the higher uplands south of my location. It was an area only approachable by canoe. I slipped into the water, taking care not to let the limb tips of my reeker slap into the thwarts and began to paddle quietly to my destination. The sun was high in the sky by midday, but I had time to paddle quietly up the formal glacial runoff that was now a small beaver creek. I slipped the weathered green canoe across the old beaver dam, avoiding a sizable chunk in its center from a breach in its mass of sticks and mud. Surprised from its afternoon hunt across the dam, a mink stood on its haunches. It watched me paddle through the gap in the dam a mere feet away, looking like a sleek brown statue in the sunlight. I slid the old Sears canoe into the reeds nearby and, when close enough, quietly hopped to a log. A flight of blue winged teal suddenly buzzed my head. I watched them navigate the upper reaches like a fighter squadron on a mission, twisting in midair, showcasing the sky, blue patches on their wings. I wondered where they had been a couple of weeks earlier when I'd hunted the pond they were pitching into just upstream. Being careful not to move too quickly, I picked my way to the edge of the woods and noted several deer tracks leading toward my stand. It was an easy walk, slightly uphill, and one I'd mastered over the years hunting here. Today, though, I had a sense of urgency. The creek and pond would soon freeze as the forecast called for consistent below zero temperatures and snow, which would make the route, by canoe, impassable. The inclement weather arrived, forcing me to change my tactics, and after an hour of high cold winds, the tree stand felt like a ship about to keel in a storm. I climbed down to still hunt the nearby open areas, surrounded by tall stands of cedars adorning the nearby fence lines, hoping to encounter some whitetails. Although I had stocked this area prior and knew the terrain well, the wind messed with this decision as it blew north to northwest, dispersing my scent into the main bedding area and adjacent deer runs. The area tempted the senses as it slowly rose into upland habitat. It broke into openings encircled with remnant apple trees growing wild from the once cultivated farmland nearby. Its old cedar fences now hanging low and overgrown with young maples provided plenty of food and cover for whitetails. The trails that crisscrossed its landscape stood out like deer highways, and the sight of fresh tracks and scrapes I encountered as I snuck into the openings made my heart beat faster. I noticed the buck and the does immediately. However, I did not have a doe tag, and he was the first buck I'd seen that season. He stood against the skyline near a half-fallen fence rail and was silhouetted by the low hanging clouds as he slowly fed his way along the rise he was cresting. The fact that he was trailing four does in the wind direction made this plan problematic. The flat open terrain with sparse trees was an additional obstacle to getting within arrow range. Under the circumstances, five sets of eyes and noses would be challenging to defeat. I began to devise a plan to stalk him. My strategy would require some bold moves. I knew the prevailing wind was coming across the field and to my left. I watched them as they browse for several minutes. One older solo doe was the maiden of this bunch, and she was checking her back in the wind constantly. After an hour and a half watching them pop slowly in and out of the edge of the heavy cover. Sneaking along, I put my strategy into action. I opted to skirt them entirely to get ahead. If they continued to move in the same direction down the fence line, I could pop out ahead of them and sneak in for a shot as the buck appeared to be leading the far left edge of the group. It took an additional hour and a half practically of slipping in and out of the sparse cedars which dotted the terrain. At one point I spooked to Cubby of Grouse, who ran a mere feet from me, taunting me to loose a shaft at them, as if they knew they were not the target species that day. I knew the area would begin to close in at the end of the field I was following the deer to, so I began to force my way into the problem I knew was coming ahead of me. The issue was the large swaths of old cattle fencing, namely buckthorn, waiting for me at the choke point. So I opted to fight it as much as possible, and navigating it was painfully slow, inching my way to the edge of an old dried pond and watching as they began to bed down one by one. It now became a game of wait and see. At one point a sudden gust of wind at my back blew my scent to where the deer had been only minutes earlier. After several minutes, the buck stood up, walked to a small red pine, and began to rub his antlers, the brow tines shaving slim strips off the tree. He shook his head, sending the lower branches of the young conifer in all directions. Partially concealed, half sitting, half kneeling, I sat with my bow arm canted at a forty five degree angle to the clear brush. I hesitated to count his antler tines, not wanting to become fixated on his six pointed crown. Their bases and mass were a dark chocolate color, due in part to the dense pine trees he had no doubt spent much of his fall rubbing, the pine tar binding with his brow tines. As he turned to look back at the does, I tried to get a shot off by covering several feet in a crouch and gaining some ground in his direction. Moving slowly and ensuring I had good stability, I raised a short recurve, launching the arrow across the meadow to where he stood, preoccupied with picking a windfall apple off the broken ground. As I released the shaft, one of the does caught the motion and jumped several feet, but it was too late. I looked to see the buck faltering as he came to a halt next to a break in the fence line. The does were gone, running into the thick cover and darkness of the cedars, snorting and wheezing as they vacated the area. Several minutes later, I realized I had just taken my first spot in Stock Whitetail as I walked up to him and sat down to take a breath. Running my hands across his neck and onto his antlers covered in pine tar, a deep sense of appreciation flooded over the moment as I paused to reflect on the life he had led. The wind began to pick up, whipping at the nearby trees as they bent to its will. The skies darkened with the promise of incoming snow. It would be a long drag out to the canoe. With the sun dipping into the horizon, I began working on the deer and the task ahead. I had hunted that same area many times before and had been stymied by the wind or the deer's eyes as I snuck around in an attempt to accomplish what had just transpired. I had failed in each one of those prior attempts. The difference was in having a solid strategy and tactics work that piece of land, and the knowledge learned from the failure of those prior hunts. The learning process of the strategy hit home. Not everything had gone right that day. The wind had changed somewhat, and I was quickly running out of cover. The prior failure of rushing too fast, not checking the wind, and not being patient enough had educated me and taught me to slow down and focus. Ethics accompanied by the inclusion of patience and confidence in my kit had spurred me on. The challenges presented on that day were a path I had walked many times prior and had failed in as many times. If continuous success in bringing home game is the driver for you in traditional ball hunting, I will tell you you may need to rethink that attitude after a few hunts. That's not to say you won't be successful, but this method of hunting is significantly more difficult simply because you need to get close and get good at it. That takes time and some luck. Embracing that difficulty is part of the learning curve and I dare say the enjoyment. I see examples of folks all the time adding to the bow setup or drastically modifying how they shoot, or buying new camel clothes, thinking that will bring them increased success when all they need to do is get out in the woods and fields and hunt. Full stop. End of story. Don't get me wrong, it's your process, but I highly recommend keeping things simple for new folks getting into this sport. And once you've got a good idea of what you're doing shot-wise, add or subtract from your equation and your process. A common problem I see all the time is folks getting into shooting a stick bow and going down the bunny hole, a paralysis by analysis, before they get a baseline for themselves, a yardstick of some flight time by which to measure their own ability and become confident in that ability. It takes time, and I still shoot all year round to stay on point with it. I don't deviate from what I know will work for me. In other words, the basics. Know the area you're going to hunt and have terrain knowledge. Understand the habits of the animal you're hunting, its bedding areas, feeding areas, and movement routes according to the land and the season. Do your research and planning. It will keep you busy the entire year. Know your limitations in both shooting and positions, and ensure you're fully confident in your equipment. Shoot in the clothing you'll be wearing when hunting. Challenge yourself from adverse positions and ranges and add actual hunting shots into your practice so you can adapt and recognize good shot angles. I will only practice on quartering a broadside target so it is burned into my muscle memory to take high percentage shots and recognize them cognitively when they present themselves in hunting situations. That is the path of the traditional bow hunter, the process of true hunting the traditional way, the path to woodsmanship, scouting, and tracking that accompanies the code of traditional archery and walking the path of the ethical predator. For others, it is also a way of communing, centering, and connecting with our past. In any regard, and for whatever reason, this becomes an individual path and process. The lessons learned all those years ago from that first year have shaped into a memory of work and effort from my grandfather, which still resonates with me today.

SPEAKER_00 24:44

In this case, Grant, I'm envious because you had that as a child. So I didn't have that mentoring and this lifestyle that we live and breathe now. So I, you know, I had a father who, you know, trekked around Australia, Africa, South America, um, but I didn't have this. So when I'm reading your relationship and your hunting with your grandfather, you know, I can't, I can't help be jealous. So, you know, as we mentioned many, many times, this this learning curve, this adult late onset hunter, there's there's so much to absorb and relatively, you know, hopefully anytime in your adult years that you that you pick up or fall into this lifestyle that you have many more years in front of you, but there's just there's so much to grasp so quickly. And I think one of the things that especially with traditional bow hunting, that you can't you can't rush it. You can't rush it because it's gonna take time. It's gonna take time. You know, it took me four years to get a deer. Um, and it's taken other people their first hunt. And people have taken 10 years to get their first deer. So a lot of it is some of it's luck, some of its circumstances. There's all these factors. Also, you know, it's been brought up in so many podcasts. It's don't judge yourself, your experience by everybody in social media or the magazines, because that guy might have private property that is literally crawling with deer, and you could be some poor slob like me here in Florida, where you're lucky to see a deer. So you basically have to base your success and your enjoyment on your own experience, not somebody else's. And that that takes time to learn and also time to accept. And but when you do get to travel and you do get to go to places where you see more animals, um that just kind of solidifies more of a rounded experience that there are other experiences than your own. Um, you know, I've been to places where you can see many more, many deer in a day. You might not always get an opportunity, but you can see the animals. Um, so a lot of that is it's it's time, place, it's cultural. It's like you've had this opportunity to grow up in a multi-generational hunting family, and not all not everybody does, but those that do, you're blessed.

SPEAKER_01 27:20

Yeah, it's funny. Uh you ping me on something really interesting. I got my grandfather when he was at the end of his shelf life for hunting, because he passed when I was 12. So I like I had that time with him, probably following him since I was around three or four in the woods, and then till I was till he passed. And I will say this he was in that educator mode when I was really spending a lot of that time with him. I remember my father taking him out for a grouse and a woodcock hunt. And these were classic upland areas around that where he lived. And it was like, you know, stone fence lines covered with grapevines and hawthorn berries, that real New England type of, you know, uh, you know, gray sporting journal-esque cover property. And my dad said, you know, I said, Why did you guys come back so early because they took off together? And he said, We walked the first fence line down to the end. And he said, Your grandfather called over to me and said, Fred, I I don't have it in me. I think I'm I think I'm done. But he wasn't done that educational piece, and I got that part so heavily, you know, and I told that story in the book because it really impacted me. He knew that that buck and that chapter had been there for a long time. He knew he watched until the tail end of the summer, into September, October. He knew we were coming to we actually coming to fish for Steelhead. And he had his and he was almost had his bow with him that day, almost as a matter of fact. Do you know what I mean? Just to have that prop there, that present there. And and I thought, you know, he was really I I realized he was so eager to sh show me that deer. But he wasn't sure to show up when it did, and he had me try to sneak on it, and I blew it, of course. Because I was like squirrel at that age, you know, everything was distracting me. But you know, um and I try to do that same thing. I Rich Lopez in a podcast on recently asked me, Who could if you had could go back and hunt with anyone, who would it be? And I said, My grandfather in his prime, when he was in his prime to show him, hey, you know, I'm your grandson and look, it's still alive. This thing that you is such a large part of who you are on a personal level that he didn't share with a lot of other people, or I even the other grandkids. And he shared that part with me. And he didn't share the glory part, he didn't share the the grip and grin, and he didn't share the guts and the blood. He shared the process. And I ri I realized that now, you know, and I remember, you know, when my um my uh oldest son and I were hunting together the first time, and I was trying to control a lot of stuff for the first 15-20 minutes of that deer hunt, and I realized afterwards, this was first year bow hunting with Connor, and I said, I realized after 15 minutes, what are you doing, dude? Let him go. So I said, Where do you want to go? What do you want to do? And I started pushing that. And by the time I rolled into our youngest, I mean, that kid knows where uh everything is in our property, like and I mentioned it in our uh episode 21 of the Code Nutritional Tree Podcast. I mentioned it uh that's about to come out in the next day or so. Um it's it's a turkey hunt we participated in, but I let her lead the way all the time now because she teaches me walking in, and that's what he did for me. You know, he let me barge in and learn. And then, you know, I remember him saying, How did that go? Well, I wasn't so good, you know.

SPEAKER_00 31:15

Yeah, I think one of the other points you make, I mean, you've got a great story here about spot and stalk whitetail, which is fabulous, but um after that, you mentioned your observation of seeing folks who are maybe over-tinkering with their gear. Um, because actually, I you know, I just had the pleasure of interviewing at the professional bow hunter society bank with Chris Perino, who has taken all the big bears multiple times. Right, yeah, that all comes down to focus and confidence because he's taken all those bears, brown bears, grizzly bears, all that at 12 to 18 yards, every one of them. And I mean, if there's anything to zero your focus, it's that because you know, I just I mentioned because I recorded it on my phone and notes as we're talking for over two hours. But you know, I said, you know, you you mess up a whitetail hunt, you're still going home for dinner.

SPEAKER_01 32:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:09

You mess up a brown bear hunt, you could be dinner. So, you know, there's a lot of pressure there with time and money and the safety of your guide and yourself. But the the the take home from all that conversation with Chris was it's a lot of focus, but it's also the confidence in your gear and your shooting style. And I mean, playing around new things is fun. I mean, I don't if somebody shoots the same bow, arrow, broadhead combination forever, I'd I'd crawl out of my skin, just be bored half to death. So it's it's fun, but at some point, find what works for you. There's all kinds of side tinkering aside, then which is fun, but find something that works for you that no matter what, no matter what else you play with, whenever you whatever you pick up, you know when I grab this bow and this arrow that it's going where I want it to go because it needs to, it has to, for you know, all the reasons that are that would be a whole nother podcast discussion. But um, yeah that and and also along those lines, people are, you know, I remember somebody had asked the folks at Black Widowed, you know, how do they feel when they see one of their bows you know used for sale? Does that hurt your feelings? That's it could have been their dream bow. They they changed their mind, and you know, people, you know, I forgot which one of the guys it was, but they basically said, you know, people are always thinking that next bow is gonna make them better. Yeah, right. You know, at some point you might find that perfect bow and you've got to go through a lot of other ones, but um, you know, what once you do find that perfect bow, um, you know, it's it's fun to side tinker, but you've got to have to me, it's gotta have your go-to equipment. So, you know, for me, it's it's it's a Black Widow recurve. I played around with other stuff, shot other stuff, and at this point in my life, I'm I don't know if I want to spend the money cold turkey on something that I don't have confidence or or have shot. I'm I'm happy to be somewhere I can shoot somebody's bow, but you know, and it doesn't have to be widow, it could be any any boyer that you have have confidence in. And also it's it's you know, you mentioned the clothing, you know, the the the next flavor of camo is going to be better than that one. And yeah, everybody who's done this long enough knows that it doesn't, it just doesn't matter, you know. It's at the end of the day, it's wind, it's movement. Um, you know, I've just as an experiment, you know, because uh at one point gray was like a really big color a few years ago. You know, gray's the new camo, and you know, and I still have gray because I think it's good, it's good. Um, and plus, you know, there's kind of a a good rationale for solids in the woods. You can wear them other places, yeah. Right, you can wear you know, you can wear it to the to get an ice cream coming, you can wear it to the movies, you know, just as long as you you know wash it in some sort of soap detergent that's you know doesn't smell like regular laundry or whatever. But um, you know, that's the thing is um none of this stuff, this is a whole rabbit hole, but none of this stuff is getting any less expensive. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 35:13

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:13

I'm always gonna have some kind of camo, but now when I uh when I look at a new product, I'm thinking, where else can I wear that? Because I've got some really, you know, I've got Couyu, I've got Sitka, but uh you know, other than a few days in the woods, relatively speaking, where else what I'm also gonna do with this? And now I'm thinking my next, you know, my purchases does it make sense to buy something in solids. Um, because especially for somebody new coming into this sport, which I know that you speak to, I've I've spoken to, they're gonna there's gonna be some sticker shock. Yeah, 100%. And you can't help that. So you've got to consider I'm spending all this money, what kind of utilitarian purpose can I get out of this? And and you know, solids is a good thing. Also, you know, it comes down to you know, uh sticker shock, you know, custom bows are not gonna get any less expensive. But you know, start off with a moderate price bow. And if you like that, go to some custom boy and keep your moderate price one for your backup bow. Um, so there's there's so much to pack and unpack, but you know, that's why I I like this book. I love this book because you it's it's way more than hunting stories. It just gives everybody, whether you've been doing this 30 years or three days, gives you so much you know, food for thought about understanding this lifestyle and and and as much as what you put into it, as much as you get out of it, because it there is kind of this this push and pull. Um and I think the longer that you're in this, um, the more you'll realize this, you know, we're a subset within a subset, but right, yeah, there's a campfire here that we all share. And just just coming back from the professional bow owner society banquet, um, there's this passion for this lifestyle that it's just it's rare, it's rare to find. You know, I know most owners are passionate about what they do, but this traditional archery lifestyle, um, I I I dare you to find a, you know, and nobody's gonna be in lockstep 100%. We all have our favorites and differences, but yeah, you know, if you want a group of people who are so passionate and also people that are so generous with their time, yeah. And right, you know, for me, you know, uh, you know, the position I have as co-editor traditional bow hunter magazine, you know, it's I'm in a position where I get to interact with my heroes, and I know, yeah, and I say that carefully because my heroes would hate to be called heroes, right?

SPEAKER_01 37:43

Yeah, of course.

SPEAKER_00 37:44

Our mutual friend Don has said, you know, he hates the word bow hunting celebrities, even though he is one. But we and we've talked about this before we put that on those people, they don't. Sure, yeah. But when you when you meet these folks, you know, I've I've dealt with you know Nathan Anderson as one of our writers for several years since I had the position. He's the first guy to take the super slam of a longbow.

SPEAKER_01 38:03

Right, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:04

Nobody, nobody had done that. It's been that was done twice with a recurve, but he's the first one. But you meet him in person and you wouldn't know it, you know. Yeah, sure. In two seconds of meeting one another for the first time, we're talking about camera gear. So um that's that's the kind of the kind of folks that honestly are just folks, and I think that is so appealing. Um, this lack of ego that you find, um, and and folks that just go out of their way to to help you get into this.

SPEAKER_01 38:39

It's funny when I interviewed Don, uh, I was like 12 years old again. It was brutal. I I couldn't shut up. I cautioned, I stopped myself about 15 minutes in, let him do a bit of talking, but I was just yammering away for the little bit, first little bit. But it was so I felt I was talking to my grandfather again. You know, there was a there was this, I think his w his Griffin was behind him and his pointer, his older one, and you know, and it you know, it's it just so down to earth. Really, I can't say anything else. I was really lucky he gave me the time for that. And the preface he gave me for the book the forward I should say, correction, I I was what he wrote really was what it was all about. And I you know, Indy and I were out scouting for turkeys a couple weeks ago at our farm and just having a look around. The snow's left quite early here this year. Um and you know, she made a really good point. She said, you know, I love, she said, I love looking at deer tracks because it's telling me a story about where that deer was and what it was doing. And the deer wrote a story with its tracks, and it's funny, but I've never thought of it that way. You know, we all interpret things, we all love looking down and you know, and studying that no matter what it was, you know, and trying to wonder what it was and what it was doing and where it was going and all that other stuff. But she interpreted those footprints as a story, you know, you know, and I said in the latest podcast, I said, you know, um, you know, I let her lead the way. She knows where the hollowed ash tree is, where the sparrowhawks nest and the merl, the where the merlins are, right? She knows where, you know, the Broadwing hawk and the owls hunt. She knows that the ermines, the and the fox hunt up and down the fence line after rodents and red scrolls. Like she knows that she knows each little bit of each story, you know, of those creatures and its habits, and she learned it from hunting.

SPEAKER_00 40:41

And it's interesting that you mentioned stories because uh years ago I had a piece in uh Peterson's Bow Hunting, which is now just in the last month or so, is folded into Bow Hunter magazine. Um, but the original title for the piece was Stories in the Sand about an African trip and um following the Bushman on a leopard track to a kudu kill, but I ended up retitling Great Ghost and Golden Cats because it sounded better. And another hunter let me use a great leopard photo. He took it the out of his blind. But um, yeah, those are the things that when you're walking through the woods, just to slow down. And I think that's that's really interesting that you mentioned that. Um, because so much is just lost on the finality of what we're doing, you know. Yeah, they're dead turkey, and not those things that I think it's just that that message is being lost, and I think that message of enjoying the entire experience only gives more fuel to our critics. Yeah. That you know, you know, I know there's a lot of bird watchers, butterfly catchers, all this that enjoy the outdoors like we do, but who spends the most time out there? We do. And I think it's been lost far too often. Um, that it's those things that you notice or should be noticing every day. I mean, if you don't come out of the woods learning something new or seeing something new, then why are you there? Because chances are most times you're not going to kill something. So, what else are you getting out of that experience that you know honestly and make your day? I mean, one day down the big cypress, you know, I I didn't I didn't see a deer all day, but the highlight as soon as I got out of the track, and there's this little swale I had to walk over to get down where I had to it was you know time for hip boots, but there's a fresh panther track. Oh wow in the mud there. And it just that's a reminder. I wouldn't have seen that sitting home at the couch.

SPEAKER_01 42:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:45

But I was there and got to see a fresh cat track. So those are the things that you know, each and every time, just by observation, and that's that's gotta be, you know, if you're not enjoying the non-kill moments, then you're missing out on so much, and that's why it's gonna diminish your experience if all you're thinking about is antlers and not all the other things going on in the woods.

SPEAKER_01 43:11

The a funny thing about the spot and stock story. So I said at the end of it, the thing is that I failed and blown it so many times. It was a great area, but it was almost like a a once in a month chance you had, or you'd blow it right out for a while, you know. And um I enjoyed the experience of absorbing taking that deer and but then processing it and having it like if you ever come down and hunt with me down here, I'll show you it. It's this beautiful open space, it looks great until you hit the lower edge of this, which is an old massive river system, it's now just a beaver creek. But you still got to go through what grew up through that nice fertile ground when that was a glacial river, right? So you're going through this horrible dogwood cedar. Swamp, massive, everything. You learn to appreciate those drag outs, you know, because it takes a lot of work. You're not wheeling in with the truck and throwing it in the back and taking off. It's like all right, it's dark in 25 minutes. Can I do this? I gotta get into the canoe and then I gotta get across. There's no cell phone at that time, you know. So you know, and that's why I made a point. I really wanted to bring the readers into every chapter with that. That's why I mentioned the sidebars that I see, the teal and the all of that, because it's that I remember those things as vividly as I did the hunt. I remember, you know, where were those teal two weeks ago when I was sitting there with my dog on the beaver pond with a shotgun, you know. Where were they? They weren't there. Well, they're going so it's this education piece that you know, um that's constantly going on when you're out there. And I I love what you said at one point. My bow took me there. It's gotta be the cover of your book title, David. That's gotta be a great title, but but that's my point, right? Like, and I I I love the fact that you took that. I often wonder how much being around predators, you know, made David Tetz laugh into the hunter he was as well by being immersed with those big cats. You know what I mean? You know, I whether it did or didn't, I've always wondered how that because that would have been very interesting being around those, you know.

SPEAKER_00 45:31

Oh, yeah, I went, I went and trade working with the cats, you know. The the zoo stuff I could care less with, but working hands-on with the big cats, you know, it did it it, you know, you talk about a small community.

SPEAKER_01 45:42

Right.

SPEAKER_00 45:43

That's about as small as you can get, right? Yeah, you know, it's you, you know, it would be a a pinhead in a construction project of traditional archery, you know, it'd be like a nail head because there's only uh a handful of guys and a few ladies that you know at any given time. I mean, the the business is really over, but um, you know, I came in at you know the tail end of you know what was really the zenith of big cat training when you had the you know the the names in this country and you know some of my heroes I got to meet in Europe and stuff. But you know what what I got out of working with the cats is um a sense of patience because just as you can't learn to shoot a bow overnight, especially a traditional bow, you you can't train a bunch of big cats overnight.

SPEAKER_01 46:28

Right.

SPEAKER_00 46:29

You know, some some behaviors, if you're talking about multiple multi-cat behaviors, can you know take weeks and months to put a some a routine together, you know, it can take a year or two to train a good act, but just just a few behaviors and integrating multiple animals in those can take weeks or months. So, you know, if anything, that that taught me patience and taught me patience with other creatures, taught me patience with myself. Um, and if you and if you don't have that, um, I don't know how you're gonna be successful in this because you know you've probably as well. I've hunted with guys by nine in the morning, they're down. Yeah, you can't sit there.

SPEAKER_01 47:06

No.

SPEAKER_00 47:07

And yeah, and it and and it's not easy, and it's not supposed to be easy. But if if you can't spend that time, you're you know, it's gonna decrease your odds and also it's gonna decrease you know your your woods experience. And you know, the last thing I want is to have somebody down at nine o'clock wandering around the woods when animals could still be moving. So um, you know, it's a courtesy to other hunters to stay put if you're on you know public land and you know folks are nearby. You know, we have some national wildlife wreckages here that you have to remain, whether it's a ground blind or a tree stand, you cannot get down before nine o'clock. Right. Wow. And to me, that's being generous. I'd I'd have it, I'd have it 10. You know, sure.

SPEAKER_01 47:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 47:52

Um, so yeah, the cat thing taught taught me taught me a lot of patience, but it also made me want to uh read because when I'm into something, I want to know everything about it. So, you know, at one time I had an extensive collection of you know all the trainers that authored books. Um, I've since given it away, but uh to a circus fan friend of mine. But at one time I had like one of the biggest video collections of cat cat acts from around the world because when I'm into it, I'm into it. Yeah, but so I pretty much kind of that's a lifestyle thing that I've now traded for this lifestyle thing because I just I'm all in. If I'm into something, it's it's not 50%, it's 150%.

SPEAKER_01 48:33

You know, it's funny because Rich Lopez asked me, what would be the number one thing that Tritial Bowling has kind of I'm paraphrasing, taught you or been? And I said, you know what? Like nothing else in my entire life has taught me to problem solve on a whole other level because it's constantly putting you in check. And I said, I'm gonna offend a lot of rifle hunters, and I don't mean to, and I'm not offending them. It takes skill and breath control to take an animal at distance, at a long distance, and ballistics and wind and all that. I understand that, but it's not for me. So I'm not saying that I because you were asking about, you know, are you a two-seasoned hunter? I said, No, I'm not, not for big game, I'm not, because it doesn't put me in check the way traditional boning does constantly. Like the smallest error is you know, in the gigs up. You know, um, I had a guy ask me the other day about turkey hunting with the bow. How have you been successful? I said, Well, I've blown it a lot of times to be successful, way more than I've been successful, four times more than I've been successful. And I said, The best advice I can give you is to, you know, and I'm writing actually for uh one one of these pieces uh for TBM for you for you to take a look at. But my I said, you uh the greatest thing I can tell people if you're hunting turkeys from the ground and you're in a makeshift ground blind is to get you when you're practicing and shooting, practice moving like in micrometer motion, slow motion, like that Jim Carrey almost slow motion and getting into your draw and your anchor. Because like these birds have got that motion detection down like nothing else I've ever seen. And you think their heads behind a tree and you bring your bow up and they're gone. Because you know, and I said it in the podcast uh that we're bringing out in the next day or two. I said, you know, they just react, they've been doing that since they were Polts, and they're still if that Tom's alive in front of you, something tried to kill him a lot of times and didn't wasn't successful. So you're you're competing on the level of you're not as good a predator as some of those things out there trying to kill him. Trust me. So, you know, and if that put you in check, I guess I digress, but it's it's constantly putting me in check, and I I love that because it makes everything so critical against you, not the guy that's got the you know, eight by eight mule deer on the front of the magazine cover, you know, that was his self-competition, you know.

SPEAKER_00 51:06

So yeah, I just the the whole bow hunting in general, especially traditional bow hunting, that you I think you learn a lot more about animals. You know, I just read a piece in another magazine which I do enjoy, but you know, the author shot an elk at 413 yards. Okay, you're a hell of a shot. You know, I mean, you talk about ballistics and my eyes crossed. I'm just I'm just an instinctive bow hunter, you know. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, that's what I like doing. But you know, at a quarter mile away, what'd you learn about elk?

SPEAKER_01 51:39

Right.

SPEAKER_00 51:39

Yeah, and and that elk had no idea you were in the neighborhood. You know, um, you know, I haven't shot an animal with a gun in 12 years. I just I'm not, you know, and that hog, I you know, shot him up, you know, across a flag pond in South Florida, and the hog had no idea I was there, whereas I've messed up a bunch of opportunities at pigs and stick bow range, you know. But sure, I hopefully I learned something from those from those mistakes. But um, and and nothing against you know, gun hunting at all, because I I've done it. I don't know if I'll ever do it again. Um, I'd probably have a lot more venice in the freezer if I did. But you know, for me, I just it's I go to the woods for peace and quiet. And yeah, when I used to be on, you know, these management areas, these public areas, and there's and there's gun hunters, and you're hearing this gunfire all morning. It's uh I'm not going in the woods for that. You know, you can you can color me an elitist, but that's why I like archery seasons. The woods is it's quiet.

SPEAKER_01 52:42

It's quiet, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 52:43

And that's what you know, I want to hear nature. I don't want to hear this artificial bang, bang, bang, but that's just me.

SPEAKER_01 52:50

We hope you enjoyed that introduction to the code of traditional archery audiobook commentary. And as a thank you to our podcast listeners, we have a special offer pre-launch price for the audiobook. Now, I'm not sure how long I'm gonna offer this reduced purchase price, so hit the link in the comments and get your copy today. You can find this podcast on Spotify, iTunes, Amazon Audible, or wherever you listen to your podcast. And if you like what you hear, please leave a review. We appreciate all the positive feedback we've been getting from folks all over the world. Thanks for listening into this special episode. We encourage you to immerse yourself in the art of the stick bow. Shoot straight and walk with us, and I'm gonna do that.