#2059 - Adam Greentree
2023-11-08 02:43:44
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
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Hello, Andrew. Hello, Joe Rogan. What the fuck's happening? Everything.
How are you enjoying my country?
I'm loving your country, yeah. It was good. It's good to be back.
Yeah, you were here. You did another one of those wild backcountry elk hunts, which you haven't been able to do because of COVID for three years?
Four years.
Four years? Yep. Wow.
And five years since the last podcast.
Did you document the whole thing like you did the last time in your internet stories?
I did, yeah. Yeah, I tried to capture as much as I could. Sometimes it's hard because you're stuck in the moment, so the last thing you want is like a phone in your face, right?
Yeah, it does fuck with it, right?
Yeah, so I couldn't capture it all, but I tried to at least mention everything that I was going through, but there was like one stage. I just felt like I was in the war, and I actually slipped between two fallen down trees, and I nearly broke my legs, like straight across the front of my shins. Oh, shit. And it's like I didn't capture it, and I'm sort of hurting, so you don't get to see the whole story, but I reckon I at least give the people 80% of the story, you know?
What happened when you almost broke your legs?
Well, I was fucking rooted, for starters, like stuff, like this is day 26 or something like that.
What does rooted mean to your people? You do know what it means, right? Yeah, just guessing.
Rooted means really exhausted. Oh, okay. Like just, you're fucked, you know? Right. And I was coming back in the dark, you know, you're trying to conserve everything as you're going, so you're trying to use your headlight as less as possible as well, like you're out there for a month.
Right. So a lot of the times, your headlight, your torch, is turned right down, if it's on at all, so it's turned right down, and I'm coming back down the mountain to camp, pretty much stepped on one bit of deadfall, like a big fallen pine tree, and then slipped off it, and then there was another pine tree, only like a foot apart. So I went between the two of them, and all my body weight come over the top of it, and then, yeah, like I just remember, I like least bruised the bones, because it was hard to walk, you know?
Oh, boy.
But it's like at that point, you feel like the whole world's against you, right? Really, really tough trip, like. I think a lot of the over-the-counter guys went through that this year. It was a really difficult year for Elk.
Was that because of the heavy snowfall?
So I think because of Winterkill, for one, and then a lot of the other states are not doing any over-the-counter anymore, so that pushed more people into Colorado, and then Colorado shut down some units, and limited units, because of the Winterkill. So there was a lot of hunters jammed in the areas, I think the bulls didn't come down, so I think a combination of a lot of things.
Colorado's just reintroduced wolves, which is just...
It's such a shell game, because when there's like stipulations to reintroduce wolves, like Ronella's talked about this before, like they reintroduce wolves, and then the idea is when the wolves get to be a certain population, then they will allow hunting. But then the wildlife protection groups come in, and they sue to make sure that you don't open up wolf hunting. So then they only can issue depredation permits to ranchers. and people don't like the idea of hunting wolves. And I get that, but you shouldn't also like the idea of rampant wolf populations that are invading into people's communities and eating their dogs and threatening children.
Like the reason why Big Bad Wolf and Little Red Riding Hood and all that shit, there was a story, because they used to eat kids.
It was happening, yeah.
They ate people for a long fucking time, until people got wise and said, you know, we should probably kill these fucking things. And that's what they did for the longest time. And then the greenies got in, like, we need to bring the wolves back. And it's generally people that have zero experience with real wildlife predators. There should be a balance.
There should be grizzly bears. There should be mountain lions. It's not like anybody wants to eradicate those things, but reintroducing wolves, especially what they did with Montana, they took those big-ass Canadian wolves and brought them down.
Yeah. Well, like you know me, I do think there needs to be a balance. And I think people, hunters, are part of that balance as well, you know. Yeah. And I think a big part of that, you know, is keeping everything in check, you know.
So if the elk population's too big, then there should be more tags. Like, it's a really good system over here in that sense in America. And then if there's a winner, kill, like there just has been this last season, then, yeah, limit the tags and things like that. So, because I've been on a few hunts now where you don't feel comfortable shooting an elk because you're not seeing any. So it's just like, I actually don't want to shoot an elk here.
It doesn't feel right. It doesn't seem like there's enough elk here for me to be shooting them. And I experienced that in a few areas this trip. And I remember the last time I hunted, so four years ago, and Kimmy, my wife, actually said it to me, we, I think we hunted for 14 days and we hadn't seen a bull elk. And she's like, even if one steps up at this point, I'm not shooting it, because it doesn't feel right.
You know, and it's true, but there could be lots of elk in that area another time of the year, but hunting season starts, hunters go in and sort of pushes them out. So it's a little bit hard to say, but yeah, you don't feel right. You know, you want to shoot something that's in a good, healthy population.
And now, considering the fact that you are getting these over-the-counter tags, how do you know what units to pick?
You don't.
You're just guessing. Yeah. So are you going online and doing any research?
Yeah, it's a lot of research. Yeah. Hunting fool is super handy and stuff like that. Talk to the guys pretty frequently before coming up to a trip. And then sort of just leaning on the hunting community a little bit, you know, and you've got guys.
and this is what happened this trip, because I'm starting from fresh again. It's been four years. The spots that I used to hunt elk in aren't like that anymore, or they're limited entry now. So, and I didn't draw. So I am starting from the, you know, from scratch, from the draw board.
And then, so I sort of leaned on the hunting community a little bit and I had a few guys reach out. Well, I had actually a bunch of people reach out, which was really nice. And, you know, try this spot, you know, I hunted here last year. You're welcome to join me in this camp. So I had a lot of that, which was really nice.
But even those guys don't know, you know, like you think you've got an animal figured out, like, fuck, think again, you know, like, and, and that's, I think that's why I love bow hunting so much. And it's so, I've constantly got a passion for it, because you never actually fully work it out. Like as soon as you start thinking you've got something worked out, you're fucked. Like they'll change it up on you. And that happens to me every year and just about every species, you know, so you can go in there with as much knowledge as you like.
And obviously that helps. But at the end of the day, that's why it's so good, so appealing.
Well, you like a crazy hard hunt, but these are nuts. The ones that you go on are really nuts. Like the one that you did last four years ago, that you documented where you had that close encounter with a grizzly bear and you had a bad pistol.
Yeah. Fucking pistol. Oh shit.
Yeah. That was a terrifying encounter. The video of you with your gun pointed out where you can clearly see that the rounds not chambered. Cause it does, it literally doesn't fit in there.
Wasn't a good situation. No. Yeah. It's, it's, I've sort of fucked myself because I want to go to a place where there's just elk running around everywhere and stuff like that. But because I've done these hard hunts, now, it's like, I can't go backwards.
Like, and I'm not, I'm not lining myself up for a disastrous hunt, but like, I want it to be that tough. You know, like I don't want to go in on the first day and kill one. The trip's done.
What would you do if you walked in and you saw a 350 bull on the first day?
I'd still shoot it. Yeah, you'd have to.
I would. You'd have to, right? Well, you should never put this, the old saying, right? You should never pass up on a bull on the first day that you would kill it.
I don't agree with that. I know. No, I don't. Why is that? Because what are you, what are you in it for?
Well, you're in it to kill a bull. Yeah. There's also luck.
Yeah.
But I can't spit on luck.
Yeah. I think like day 27 broke me on this last trip. When I say broke me, it just, I just got to the point where I was completely satisfied. So I still didn't stop hunting. I was still going to hunt to the very last day of season, which was the 30th.
But you accepted your feat. But I accepted it. Yeah. And that's what I actually went out there for, you know, and I started thinking about, I'm not really here to kill a bull. Like.
that's what's pushing me and getting me to that point. But I'm here for the whole package, right? And like, like your time, poor, right? Yeah. Like you don't have a lot of time and there's a lot of hunters that don't have a lot of time.
Whereas I come over from Australia and I'm just like, I've got 30 days. Right. So, you know, and that's why I don't want to kill on day one or day two. I would, like you said, if something stepped up, I would, but it's not so much about the kill. It's that whole package, you know, and, and, and a big part of that package is breaking my own self down and getting past that point.
You know, and I did, I put a video up and I was like, I fucking cried, you know, and it's just like, and that's hard to show the people, but I do want to show the people that it's just not about the kill. And it is hard. And it's not like, oh, there's an animal. I stalked it. I shot it.
I killed it. I got the meat, you know?
Right. You're gone. You're going on like a vision quest.
Yeah. That's it.
Yeah. You're trying to find out something about yourself.
Yeah. I've got no interest in climbing Mount Everest. And I've said this many times before, but if there's a fucking animal at the top of it, I'll do it. I'll, I'll do it, you know, and I'll push myself to that limit.
You know? Yeah. I don't get the Mount Everest thing.
Yeah.
I've been, I've been offered to go with people multiple times. I'm like, yeah, you can have a good time up there.
It doesn't look like a lot of fun.
There's a reason why there's no houses up there.
There's like one selfie at the top and then you're coming back down. Yeah.
I mean, I understand it. It's, people enjoy doing things that are very difficult to do and I fully support them doing it. I just don't have any interest in it.
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. It's just not, not my thing.
Yeah. It doesn't float your boat.
No, not at all. And if I had 28 days to do what you do, I don't know if I'd do that. Because what, but I guess what you're doing is, I mean, you hunt so much in Australia and Australia is so game rich because there's so many invasive species in Australia. There's deer everywhere. There's stags everywhere.
You have so many pigs. It's, it's like, it's a great place to get your meat.
Oh, a hundred percent. Yeah.
It's a fantastic place to go.
I think there's 27 huntable species in Australia.
and there's like one or two of them that actually need a tag, and that's it. And then, and, and open season, on everything, you know, so there's, we don't have to wait for September to roll around to go and get some meat or have a hunt or something like that. Which is nice. It is. It's, it's frigging, awesome.
Yeah. But we don't have the system that you have in America either, which is, and it's crazy that Australia doesn't have it, because these animals are a resource. Yeah. And, and they're not, they're, they're not treated as a resource at the moment. We've just fully labelled them as feral animals.
And then it sort of just gives everyone the right just to kill them in any way possible. And that, so they, they're chopper shooting them. Well, they have been for the last few years. They just go around aerial culling them and they just shoot them and leave them there and the meat just rots on the ground.
Do they do that just to reduce population, to reduce the possibility of diseases?
Well, there's no diseases in any of our red meat animals that can be passed on to humans. So it's not so much for disease. There is a threat of foot rot, which they have in some parts of Asia.
But basically Australia is just saying, let's eradicate them. They want zero of these animals. Oh God. Yeah. Yeah.
And then so they, they shoot thousands and thousands of deer, thousands of them. And just like, this is just in a month, they'll shoot thousands of them and just leave them rot on the ground.
Do. they do it because they think they're a nuisance?
They do. Yeah. Yeah.
But they're delicious.
They are delicious. And they're no more of a nuisance than cattle or sheep. Right.
So things like that will like, or introduce species. Cattle and sheep introduce species. Shit, we've introduced species to some places, you know.
Are they talking about it because of erosion? Like, what are they saying? the nuisance is?
A big part of it's erosion. Yeah. Then damage to, like trees and fences and stuff like that. And, and that's true to a certain degree, but yeah.
But the benefit of the resource.
Oh, a hundred percent. Yeah.
Especially if you want really healthy meat, it's.
just, it's everywhere. Especially if there's people starving. Yeah. This is just shot and left. It doesn't make sense.
That's so crazy. Feels like we're living in the bloody stone age when they do that.
Yeah. It's just cutting off your nose to spite your face.
Yeah.
It's so stupid. It just, I don't understand why people would accept that.
Yeah. And as a hunter, you like, I get to see these animals up close, you know, and you realize that they are a beautiful animal and have a lot of respect for them. And then, so you see, when you see that happening, it is pretty upsetting.
Yeah. That's a bummer. So have you been there when they've helicopter shot them?
Yeah.
So you're out hunting? Yeah.
And you just hear the gunshots going off. Yeah. Oh God. There's a guy, a couple of guys in Australia that just filmed it. They're hunting on private property and the helicopter comes over and it's just like shooting right behind them and yeah.
And they don't care that you're there?
Nope. They don't care or they don't know. Wow. Yeah.
That's a bummer.
Yeah. It is a bummer. Yeah. It's pretty sad.
Why do they have that attitude about it? Why don't...
Because they're just labeled and pushed as a feral nuisance animal. and that's it. You know? And it's like it's... We don't have the same system as you do here, where it's like all the hunters that I meet here full cherish the animal and the meat.
You know? And they collect it all, you know? And it's not about like oh, you know, I'll just I'll leave that part. It's like how much more meat can we get off it? Right.
Can we trim a little bit more off the bone, you know? Right. And even I'm like that. I can't take the meat home. I always donate it, whatever animal that I harvest here.
But it is. It's like how much more can I get off it? What else can I take? You know? And it's because so much passion and everything goes into it.
Why don't they? let you bring meat back to Australia?
Customs is really strict in Australia. And because there's no diseases in our red meat, I think they're really, really strict that they don't want that.
Well, how are you going to get disease from a dead animal with frozen meat?
I don't know.
More stupidity.
Yeah, I don't know.
That's so stupid. I've heard that they do that with Africa. If you bring an African animal back to the United States, you can't bring the meat back.
Oh, OK.
Is that true?
Well, because I've never brought meat back into America. I've only tried to take it into Australia. But I know that it's a no-go. So, like I said, I've just always donated it.
But I think you can bring back meat from Australia.
You guys probably can, because, yeah, it's so clean.
I know you can from New Zealand.
Yeah. So we can bring a certain amount into Australia from New Zealand, but it has to be commercially processed and packaged, which isn't a bad thing still. But look, there's that many people with their hand up to take meat. Right. So it's like nothing goes to waste when we harvest it.
Well, it's the best meat.
Oh, it's amazing. Yeah. And once you get a taste for it, and, like I, don't even taste the gaminess to any meat anymore, because that's pretty much all we eat at home. But once you've eaten game meat and then you go and buy store meat and eat it, it's the blandest shit going.
I don't understand that term, gamey. I mean, I think when people say gamey meat and they're thinking about that, they're thinking about someone who has handled meat incorrectly.
That's spot on. Yeah.
They let it sit out in the sun. They didn't cool the meat off quickly enough. They didn't hang it. Yeah. They did something wrong.
Yeah. It's not prepared, correctly.
Yeah. It has to be something wrong. Unless you're eating something like a bear that's been eating a rotten animal, or I've heard people catch, they've eaten bear that have been eating nothing but fish and they're nasty.
Yeah. Okay. Yeah. That makes sense. Yeah.
Everyone's always said, like the tar in New, Zealand, oh, it's a smelly goat or the pronghorn here in America. Right. Because they do have that smell to them. But once it's prepared correctly, oh, it's delicious.
I think the thing about the pronghorn too is that you hunt them in the summer and it's very hot, and a lot of times people are dragging the carcass across the sage.
Yeah.
And they just don't take care of it properly.
Whereas it's just being quick with it. Yeah. Field, dress it straight away. Like even before photos. you can knock the stomach out and stuff like that, and then set it up right, get it as cool as possible, because you've only got to cool the temperature of the animal from what it was when you harvested it.
And then I believe it can up or down about 10 degrees and it's still fine. So it's just keeping it under that range.
Yeah. And somehow or another, just getting it to ice quickly. Yeah. Yeah. Having ice ready, having a cooler ready.
Yeah.
What do you do in terms of, do you bring a cooler with you on these 28 day trips? Because I know you actually cut a fucking toothbrush in half to save weight. I know you do a lot of radical shit to save weight.
Well, you have to, right? Every bit counts, including the bow and the accessories on it. So I'm shooting just carbon bows for the last 10, 15 years now, because that bow, a lot of the times, ends up on your backpack. So it's like what's the use of cutting a toothbrush down to a quarter? And you've got like toothpaste to brush your teeth like three times in the month.
Like you do all that shit and then you carry a big, heavy bow. Right. Unless you need a heavy bow to shoot. really well. Like.
obviously you don't want to step on your own feet like that. But once I kill, that's it. You're done. You're hiking the animal out because you can't get a cooler back there. Right.
And if you had a cooler in your truck at the trailhead and you're back there for 30 days, there's no ice back there anyway, or someone's going to steal it. Yeah. Been pretty lucky. at trailheads here in America. I've never had anything like that happen.
Well, most people are respectful.
Yeah, they are.
But it just takes that one.
It takes the one dickhead. Yeah.
Yeah. And there are dickheads out there.
There is, yeah. So look, the second I kill, I'm out of there. And if I'm way back, I usually try and I've carried them out before. I've had a buddy come in and carried them out. I've had a guy with packhorses ready on call.
So you kill, he comes in, you get it out. Or this trip, I had a bunch of friends and guys that sort of were telling me spots to hunt. And they were pretty much on call. And then, yeah, I sent them a photo. I dropped that bull, had the bull down, sent them a photo.
They were like, we're two and a half hours from the trailhead. We're on our way now. And then, yeah, by the time I field dressed it and prepped it, they rocked up with backpacks. And then, yeah, three of us carried it off.
That's nice. So did you give them the meat? Yeah. Yeah. That's nice.
Yeah. I donated it to a couple of families. that helped me. That's nice.
Now, this trip, so did you stay in the same place for 28 days?
I end up moving. So Kimmy, my wife, come with me for the first 15 days. And it was hell. Like day one or day two, we seen two nice bulls that were leaving the area. And then we never seen a bull in there again for 15 days.
And she actually had a bit of elevation sickness. We were climbing up one morning. And she started feeling sick. And we get all like we're way out there and we get way back. And we're climbing up this mountain and a gunshot goes like straight off in front of us because Colorado's got muzzle loader at the same time.
And that was about the point that she's like, look, book me a flight. I'm going to go home. It was one of the kids' birthdays. So then she went home. And we were already doing pretty radical stuff like back there.
And then I was like, right, fuck it now.
When you say a gunshot went off straight in front of us, like how far in front of you?
A hundred yards.
Was it shooting in your direction?
No, it was shooting to the side. But still, like that, shit happens, right?
Oh yeah. Yeah. People just shoot into like movement.
Yeah. But it was more to the point of, it actually wasn't about our safety at that point. It was more about, oh, the hunting's not good. Let's, let's shoot, you know? And yeah, so she ended up going home and then I was like, all right, I'm going to go pretty radical now and just fucking on a massive mission.
The muzzleloader thing to me is so strange.
At the same time? Or are you talking about just shooting a muzzleloader? Just all, all the time.
I get at the same time. it's weird, because why would you have a rifle and bow season? Bow season's quiet.
Yeah, that doesn't make sense.
But the muzzleloader thing in general, all it's going to do is prevent you from getting a good second shot. Because there's muzzleloaders that you can shoot that are good to hundreds of yards. So it's like you're not limiting the effectiveness, unless you're saying that you have to shoot iron sights. and then aren't you limiting the ethical shots that you can take?
You probably are, but how do you, how do you argue that? and then traditional bow hunting or even bow hunting? Oh, yeah. You know, because it does take time to get it off.
I'm not saying it should be illegal.
Yeah, yeah.
I'm just saying, like, what are you doing? Like, I would rather use an actual rifle. Yeah, and just like a really sighted in rifle with a great scope and, you know, a good round. Like a real rifle.
Yeah. I met a guy with a crossbow this year. Not while I was hunting. It was after the hunt was done. And he said he had a scope on his crossbow and he said it's accurate out to 140 yards.
Wow. As in like shooting a golf ball at 140 yards.
Well, if you've got to rest, that's the thing about a crossbow. You could sit it on a log.
Yeah, that's nuts. Like. how much further can we go with this stuff?
Yeah, that's a weird thing. I heard someone describe it like trans men or trans women competing against biological women. If you call yourself an archer.
That's a good one.
Someone described it that way. I think that's pretty accurate.
Yeah, and then the traditional bow hunters are probably saying that about me and you shooting a golf ball.
Yeah, sort of, but you know, the traditional thing is weird too. Like, I get it. I get all of it. But I think if you're going to shoot a traditional bow, you have to be a guy who's been practicing for a long time and you have to put a lot of hours every day doing that. Because it's essentially like you have to judge just based on how far you know an arrow drops.
It's all in your head. Like throwing a rock.
Throwing a rock. Yeah. Throw enough rocks. Yeah.
It's not even throwing a rock, because it's the same. It's like throwing a baseball.
Yeah.
You have to be really good at it.
Yeah, I did it for about three or four years, like pretty, like hard up. And the best way that I can sum it up is to be regularly successful. with a traditional bow, I'd have 50 shots every single day. And I'd have 25 shots for form, minimum. And then I'd have 25 shots, as in aiming.
And so you had to do that every day. So once you get time poor, like, it's really hard to keep that up. And I was successful in doing it. But the beauty of a compound bow was, like, even if I was flat out at work, once a week I could shoot. The bow stays sighted in.
Yeah. And you pick it up and away you go again. It's still hard. Like you're still fully handicapped. Yeah.
You know, so it's like it's hard enough without being like, okay, I'll go traditional bow hunting now. So I was just Northern Territory, Australia, like last month. And I had a couple of days with a compound and it was like I had a brilliant hunt, like done really well. And I was like, ah, stuff it, I'll go with the trad bow for the next couple of days. And so I hunted with the trad bow and shot a bunch of pigs and a buffalo and stuff like that.
And then, when I went back to the compound, I felt like I was shooting a sniper rifle. Yeah. Because the recurve is so hard, you know.
Well, I would imagine that it would help your compound bow shooting.
100% it does. Yeah. And so my effective range with a trad bow is like 30 yards. Ideally, I'm at 10 or 15.. So even having the stalk in that close with traditional gear and then having the compound and being at like 40, 50 and being just like, oh, this thing's done, you know.
Right. And shooting it, so.
Do you bring a lot of arrows with you when you go on these backcountry hunts?
On the Northern Territory one, I do. Yeah. This hunt? No. The Colorado one.
How many do you bring?
Five arrows in the quiver. That's it. Yeah.
What about for practice? Do you practice at all when you're out there?
Yeah, I think I took seven or eight. So I had a couple in the backpack this trip.
And because I shot a grouse as well, so I've pretty much arrows done, because usually you're shooting them off a branch.
And then I, one of the days I stacked it pretty hard, like, fell over, and hit the rest and bent the rest down or the rest shifted. Then I, so I had spare arrows to actually pull it back up and shoot my bow in the place. And luckily it just sort of ripped that grub screw down so I could see the position that I had the sit in and I had one shot and it was bullseye straight away. So, but I still wanted a couple of shots because of it. So.
Yeah.
But, like, you're going to shoot one bull. Right. It wasn't like I had a mule deer tag or another tag with me. It was just like. Right.
But sometimes you have to take follow-up shots. Sometimes things hit branches.
About five arrows in the quiver, you should be all right. Yeah. You should be. You should be. Especially if you're limited to a distance, you know.
Are you still using those two blade solid broadheads? What company do you use?
I use Kyuga Broadheads. Yeah. Yeah. So they've got a broadhead called a pilot cut.
Why do Australians use those?
Because they, like, how can you tell if you're not hitting the bone or not, right? Like, I watch these videos of these whitetail dudes shooting whitetail, and the arrow's hanging out of the whitetail this much. And they still kill it because they've got a broadhead that's fucking like 10 inches wide.
Well, they're using a mechanical.
Mechanical. It just expands and it opens them up. But, like, because we're shooting buffalo. So, I do that buffalo hunt once or twice a year. And then, like, some of our bigger deer, like the red deer, are pretty solid as well.
With a two blade broadhead, you can still split bone and punch all the way through the animal. You know, and it's like, if you shoot something in Australia using that sort of setup, like 70 or 80 pound bow, a good, like, micro diameter shaft, so there's no restriction on the shaft, actually passing through the animal after the broadhead, and a decent solid broadhead. If you're not picking your arrow up in the dirt somewhere out the other side, you're like, shit, where did I go wrong? You know, and it's like, so there's, there's hardly any, what we'd call, like, flag in an animal where the arrow's hanging out of it. It's like, punch straight through, hole in one side and out the other.
Like, that's what you want.
I just know so many people that have made shots with those little single bevel, small, tiny broadheads, and they just, you know, the animal will run so far. Whereas, if you hit it with a good two inch cut rage, that fucker's not going anywhere.
If you get past the bone, yeah, for sure.
Yeah, but if you've got enough horsepower.
If you've shot it in the right place, like double lungs, is double lungs. Yeah. So, if you've actually got double lungs, that animal's dead. You know, and it's just like, but there's pros and cons to it, for sure. Yeah.
Old, lack of blood trail. Whereas, you'll shoot something with your set up, and, and, it's a crime scene. Yeah. There's just, yeah, there's a pain to the ground, you know.
Cam Haines is shooting a four blade.
Is he? Yeah.
He's shooting a carnivore. It's like,
throwing a grappling hook. Who can argue with what Cam's doing? Because it's just shit just dropping everywhere around him.
Well, he wasn't forever. He would, he would go with a muzzy trow car. That was his thing. yeah. Three blade fixed head.
That's all he ever shot. And then, Wayne Endicott's, like, you really have to try these. And he had like a questionable hit on a deer, and he's like, shit. And then he saw the deer run 30 yards, and die instantly. Yeah.
And he's like,
whoa. Yeah.
And it's just because you're just opening them up. Yeah.
Inland Isles shooting the rage, that trip with you guys. And, I made like a pretty average shot. Like, I'd expect the animal to probably run a hundred yards, before he pulled up and dropped. And it was just like, he ran 20 yards and just dropped. And I was like, wow.
And got over there. And yeah, pretty much already field dressed him and everything. You know? Yeah. Hmm.
Yeah.
It's, uh, that's the weird debate amongst bow hunters. Yeah. Fixed blade or mechanical.
When I really got fixed on a fixed blade, was, called this big red stag in. Like, he come down through the, the mist, like couldn't even see him. Just, couldn't even see him. And I could hear him up there raking a tree, like in the rut. And then started calling, and hearing, coming down the mountain.
And he sort of come, come, slightly angling on, but pretty much facing me. And I was like, like, shit, I'll wait for him to turn. And he was pretty much going to come straight over the top of me. So I thought, oh, I can slip it in there. And as I shot, he turned.
So I hit him right on that bone, that front leg bone. And it split the ball joint of the leg bone, like straight in half, um, angled down. Went in through a rib, through his heart, out through another rib, and into the bottom joint on the far side leg. And like, it just dropped you on the spot. It pinned his legs together.
Obviously, died pretty much instantly through the heart. And, like, took all the meat out, deboned. it, thought I'd keep all those bones, and boiled them out. And, so it split four lots of bones to go through that stag. Otherwise, I was just wounding it.
And it was from that point there that I'm like, I'll never shoot anything else. And I don't have to change, like, from shooting, you know, um, goats or deer, a small deer, to shooting a massive buffalo. I don't change my setup. You know, so the arrow's always at around 550 grains. The broadhead's the same.
I can resharpen them. So you talk about these long trips, and trying to save weight. I don't carry spare broadheads or anything, because those broadheads, like, they'll pass through an animal. They'll hit a rock on the other side. You pick it up, you file it off.
They'll be gone. And then, you know, you get it razor sharp, so it's shaving hairs again, and away you go. You know, that's why I like the setup. But every now and then, I'll have limited blood trail. I'm like, shit, I should be shooting a big, expandable broadhead.
But I don't want to change.
I get it. Yeah. Yeah. It's that six in one, half a dozen in the other.
And it's like, that's, like nearly American hunting culture. And the two blade fixed broadheads, like, Australian hunting culture.
That's why I ask, because everybody over there uses those.
Yeah. Yeah. We're getting that way. There's a lot of people shooting those broadheads now. like, you.
guys had release aids and sights, like, 10 years before. Australia would go to it. And if you shot sights and a release aid, you're a fucking pussy. Like, in Australia. shit.
You're a pussy? You don't know where you're shooting? Exactly.
And then, I was hunting with an old friend of mine, John, and he had a release aid. And I'm like, what's the big deal about those release aids, dude? And he's like, well, have a shot of my bow. And like, we're just sitting around camp.
You were shooting fingers?
Shooting fingers. Like, always shooting fingers.
With a compound?
With a compound, yeah. And open sights. Like, that's all anyone's done. Just instinctive. Timber arrows, dude.
It was insane. Like, you had to spine, test and check all your arrows and like, twist broadheads to get them right and glue them on and stuff like that. And he was one of the first sort of technical, what we'd call a technical bow owner in Australia that I knew. And I remember him shooting, and it was just like, seriously, like, golf ball size at 20, 30 yards. Like, every time.
I'm like, how the fuck can you do that? Because, you know, our arrows sort of had a spread of at least a tennis ball, or slightly bigger, you know? And then I shot with his release aid like four or five times, and I'm just like, holy shit, what am I doing? Right. Because it's just like, pinpoint, pinpoint, pinpoint, you know?
Just a minimal amount of movement on the back end.
100%. And the same release every single time. And it's like,
I don't understand anything about archery. It's just one little tiny movement one way or the other. as it translates, 80 yards ahead, could be a foot and a half.
100%. Yeah.
Which is just so nuts.
And it comes down to so much. The bow. tune, your sight, your release, the arrow, how straight the broadhead is. It's just, there's so much to it.
What release are you shooting these days?
So, now I'm shooting a spot hog. I'm not a techie guy, so I don't even know the name of it.
You're shooting the Cam Haines one?
Yeah, like a Cam Haines one.
The whippersnapper? No, the wise guy.
The wise guy, that's it.
the purple one?
Yeah. That's a good one. I had a hunt in New Zealand and I had a release aid that I'd been shooting for 10 or 12 years jam up on me on a big red stag. I called this big red stag in and pulled the trigger and it didn't go off. And then, because I pulled the trigger and it didn't go off, I looked down like, what the hell's going on?
And then it went off and it shot between this red stag's antlers. Like, I'm lucky I didn't hit him and wound him. And, like, I only need to fail me once and I'm like, okay, I'm not doing that again.
Did you get grit in it or something? They,
they actually changed the metal material that they were using.
Is it Carter that we're using?
Yeah, they changed it. And, I've had two since and they've both done the same thing. They get jammed up. And, like, you'd see, the amount of hunting I'm doing, I'm going through water, I'm going through dirt and grit, I'm going through crap and it's just like, like properly locked up where it's holding under 80 pounds without letting go.
and then, so I mucked around up at my farm, like I can shoot out to, however distance you like. I'm up at the farm and then I was trying to get it to go off and I still couldn't get it to go off. And then, so that's why I changed, because that wise guy has got very limited moving parts in it. Yeah.
It's the most simple, really.
It is, yeah. So I bought three because I, now I keep one in the backpack. so I've just like cryovacked it, so no crap can get in the backpack and it's just in the backpack sitting there waiting as a spare.
Also, if you just breathe on that thing, it goes off.
Oh yeah, it's sweet as.
It's so hot.
Yeah, I love it, and it's either loaded or it's not. Yeah. So yeah, I really like that.
It's very simple.
I like the belt buckle, though.
Better than the boa?
Yeah, so I got the boa one, and I don't like that. you don't know that it's in the same position each time. Right. Whereas the belt buckle, I've got a mark on mine. You know, we talk about the littlest things, help.
Yeah. So I've actually got a mark on mine, so I know what one to do it up to each time. and yeah, it's sweet. The only thing.
that people don't like about the Wythe Guy is that it's so hot that you can't get a surprise release because you're essentially, if you touch it, it's going off. Yeah,
yeah, but I've always shot like that and I don't want to change. Like I, let's just say a deer busts out of the brush and runs past me. I want to be able to punch it, what you would call punch it. It's like I'm on bang. You know, whether you're leading it by a foot or whether it's going slower and it's a couple inches.
you're leading it by whatever. I've always liked shooting that.
I've been thinking a lot about that. You know, because I've talked to Joel Turner and he brings you through, you know, that whole shot IQ process. I think you can shoot a release and make it go off, but you make it go off while you're in control of all your faculties and you're not panicking, and you have a shot process. I mean, if I have a hinge and I pull it back, for people that don't know what a hinge is, a hinge is a release that you don't have a trigger. You're just rotating the release and eventually it goes off.
Well, sort of, because it gets to a click and the click is saying, hey, we're real close. It goes click, it gives you an audible click, and what that is is to let you know that this release is about to go off and all you do is pull and it goes off. How is that any different than keeping your shit together and putting a finger on it?
Yeah, yeah.
What I think it is is a lot of these people, first of all, in the target archery world, that's a different world. Like, you're standing still, there's all these people watching you, you have a target, it's a bullseye, it's a circle and another circle is an X in the center, and all you're trying to do is make this absolutely perfect shot into the X. and you have all this time to set up and relax, and that's not the same thing as bow hunting.
Yeah.
Bow hunting is a very different thing, and I think the anticipation of the moment and the extreme anxiety that comes with the animal being, it's really about managing that anxiety. It's not about whether or not you can make a trigger go off, because you can make a trigger go off and still have perfect form and shoot a perfect shot. Remy does it, Cam does it, you do it. I just think it's experience.
I think, because there's some people that are really good on paper but they're not good hunting, and a big part of that is that I try not to think about it because I don't have a shot process.
But you also shoot animals more than almost anybody alive.
Yeah, so I think I don't need a shot process and I don't like to think about it, because that's when I think I'll fuck up. Right now, I'm just doing, I'm doing, that's it. Right,
you're doing it and it works.
Yeah, and that's why I don't want to change either. Right. because I do see heaps of people go on the back, tension and stuff like that, and I tried one years ago and I missed an animal straight away. so I'm just like, yeah, fuck that, it's done.
Yeah, it's one of those things where they say you have to get worse before you get better.
Yeah.
So you do that.
I don't want to get worse before that, I just want to do it anyway.
I practice with a hinge, I've hunted with a hinge, but this year I hunted with a thumb button and I just had it set pretty hot and I executed a perfect shot. Yeah, nice. But I went through a thought, I have a process in my head and you know, I'd also had the luxury of having one elk hunt. that was just a couple weeks before that, where I shot a nice elk and also I shot a pig a few weeks before that.
no monkey on your back. Right,
you have experience, and I think a lot of people drawing on an elk in September is the first animal that you've shot in at least a year.
I don't know how they do it. I seriously don't know how they do it.
I think that's where target panic comes from. It comes from the uniqueness and the novelty of the experience. You're overwhelmed, like, this is the moment you've been preparing for. Instead of like, oh, I've been here before. You know, have you ever seen Remy shoot an animal?
It's like, he's been there.
so many times. He's just rock solid. Remy just does it.
He puts the pin on it and, you know, hits the trigger and it's a perfect shot and he knows what he's doing.
Yeah.
He also shoots a two blade.
A guy said to me, he's like, oh, only one percent of over-the-counter hunters are successful and I'm like, yeah, but they probably get to hunt three days in the season. Right. How often do they even practice? Yeah, I'm like, I just did 10 years of hunting in a month, you know, and it's just like, and I came from a hunting rich environment. Right.
Like, I'd just come back from the Northern Territory, Australia, and like, had like, loaded up big time, and I'm just like, so all that pressure's off. but then, when an elk bugled, I went to shit still, because I'm just like, there's so much, not pressure, but it's just like, I wasn't saying anything. so it's like, this is your one opportunity or you're about to fuck it, you know, and it's just like, so there's all that pressure. so I don't know how American hunters do it, unless they're coming off the back end of other hunts.
that's the one percent. Yeah. That's the one percent. Yeah. I've thought about this a lot because I'm very attracted to things that are very difficult to do and I've always tried to figure out why are they difficult, like, why are certain things difficult?
and a lot of it boils down to psychology. A lot of it boils down to the way your mind processes that moment. and there's something about bow hunting that is so unique in that every situation is different. You can have similar situations, oh, this is in a meadow, it's 60 yards, I've been here before, I know what to do, it's a minimal amount of wind, I don't have to worry about wind drift, I can handle this, but then there's, you know, like Cam shot this elk at two yards this year and he was crouched down on a trail, he came to full draw, he expected the animal to go, like, past him. where you get a broadside shot, it's like right in front of him.
Yeah. So now he has to figure out what pin to use, because, you know, the arrow comes out.
He's shooting at two yards with a 50 meter pin.
You have to, that's what you have to use. Yeah, you have to use a 50 meter pin. That's literally what you have to use, because the arrow's not coming, it doesn't hit its apex for quite a while, so when it comes off the bow, it's coming off low. So if you shoot a 20 yard pin on an animal that's two yards away, you're going to hit it crazy low.
Yeah, yeah. Nuts, isn't it?
Yeah, it's so counterintuitive.
I love the idea that there's no two the same. Yeah. Like there's, really, there's no two animals the same, there's no two situations the same. They might be similar, like you just said, like same yardage, and that. There's no two that react the same, and it's just, I think that's a big part of the appeal in hunting.
Yeah. You know, is a part of that, you know.
Yeah, you're. essentially, every time you're doing it, you're getting an education.
Yep, yep.
And that's why a guy like Cam or a guy like yourself or Remy is so successful because you have so much education. Whereas for a new person, the learning curve is so big. So when they say that 1% are successful, I'm surprised it's even 1%.
Yeah.
Out of 100 guys, how many of them prepare properly?
Yeah.
How many of them are out there really getting after it?
I definitely know there's more hardcore guys out there now. Than ever before. Ever before, because, like some of those places are 14, 20 miles into the back country. Mm-hmm. And you see, I used to seem to just get to five or six miles in the back country and I wouldn't see anyone.
Right. Unless I were on horses or something like that, you wouldn't see anyone. This trip, I was further into the back country than ever before and I've seen 10 times as many hunters as ever before. Wow. So maybe we should stop talking about the back country, aren't we?
It's too late.
We've romanticized it. And fit dudes. Yeah.
Like carrying in proper camps, dude. Yeah. There was one morning I got up, just had this massive snowstorm, like two days before. I'm like, this is going to kick the elk off. This is going to be sick.
And I'm way back there. There's no human footprints or anything like that. No frigging elk footprints either. at that point. And like by the time you get back to camp, cook dinner, you're in bed pretty early, like two hours, you know, after dark sort of thing.
And I'll say the word again, you're rooted, you know, so, like you put your head down, you're fucking fast asleep, two seconds flat. And I get up in the morning and it's like dark still and I climb out of my tent and there's like this light colored blob, like just across from me. And I'm like, what is that? And then I, like, I start walking closer to it and it's a dude set up a tent like right near me, like 50, a hundred yards from me. So he hiked in in the pitch black of night, dude, and set up his tent there.
And then, so I went back in the tent and I'm like, shit, like I've got company. Like this is, it's competition back then. You know, there's no elk around. So last thing I need is another hunter like pushing in on me.
Did he know you were there?
I don't know. If he walked in in dark, on the dark, I wouldn't think so. But the other thing was it was blowing a gale and it's like one of the only flats and it's sort of like on a little saddle on the mountain. So it's a limited amount.
of places to...
Yeah, yeah. And probably slightly out of the wind there compared to where he'd walk from.
Was he cool?
Well, I don't know. I didn't hang around to talk to him. You know, like you're in the zone. Right. And that zone's wild.
So the last thing that you want to see is someone from civilization, right? Right.
But occasionally, you know, you might run into someone like yourself. Like, hey, what's up?
Yeah, but they fucking notice me and then they tell their friends and they think I'm in a bomb spot. So then all their mates hang out and come in as well, you know. So he's trying to keep a low profile back there. Right. And, yeah, so then I just made me coffee really quickly and I was like, I'll go and sit on.
that. There's like a rock that I wanted to sit on. It's a perfect glassing point. That's why I camped in that spot. And then, so I made my coffee and looked up and he's walking up to the rock and this dude goes and sits on the rock that I wanted the glass from.
So then I just hightailed it like in a completely different direction. You know, and it's like, hey, well, both they're not looking at elk. There was stuff all back there, but those sort of guys,
they're out there now.
When did that change?
When me, you and Cam and the other guys started talking about fucking backcountry hunting. Was that one of those podcasts? I don't know. Probably. Was it COVID, dude?
Everyone started realizing, like, fuck, I better start looking at defending for myself.
Yes. I think defending for yourself and being able to gather food, that's a big deal.
Yeah, I know, during COVID I just got swamped with messages like, how do I start in bowhunting? Like, how do I get a start in it? Like, I want to go? and because like that, like it's one of the most amazing things there is that I think people are missing out on is going and harvesting your own meat. Yeah.
You know, and I say it all the time. It's like, I hate being labeled as a hunter. Like, I'm just, we're just human. And like, I really do think hunting's a big part of being a human. I don't think everyone can do it.
You know, and I don't want everyone to do it. because look what I'm having a bitch about right now. Like, you get to a trailhead, there's 30 other cars at the trailhead and it's like rough, hard country and there's 30 other cars there. Most of those cars have multiple people in them. So there's that many people, you know, sort of walking around in the wilderness.
You just gotta go deeper.
You do.
Or find spots that they don't know about. But that's the thing about you coming over from Australia,
that's not really an option. It's not, yeah.
Like, there's a lot of guys that spend so much time scouting.
Yeah.
And so much time e-scouting. Like, they're looking on, you know, Onyx Hunt.
I'd be better next year, if that makes sense, because I've already done so much land and walking this year that it's sort of, oh, there's no sign there, there's no sign there, there's no sign. Even older sign, you know, like, I've constantly taken note of, like, the trees that have been nibbled at by the elk in the winter. So they winter there. Or where there's a shed antler, you know, you've sort of taken all that sort of thing in and, there was heaps of hunters there. so stay away from that.
Oh, there was bugger all hunters there. So, as long as I get the follow-up up next year, I think I'm better off.
Right. So next year you'll try to do the same sort of situation.
Yeah, but it's that whole, I'm trying to make it harder. I don't want to go backwards. So, like,
So you'd rather have less information and make it harder?
Sort of.
Because you want to learn on the spot?
Yeah, yeah.
You just like punishment. You're a glutton for punishment.
The big thing I want to do next year is walk from the very start of the season to the end of the season. So just walk one way. And it's hard to find a mountain range that you can do that. Because if there's no elk, you keep traveling. Right.
You know, and you run, you run out of country, basically. So, like this year, I did just short of 500 miles. But if there was game, Right. I might have only did 100 miles.
Or 10..
Or 10, yeah. But because there was no game, like, literally, like no prints on the ground, that it's like, there's no use staying here. Pack up camp and move. Right. And then I end up walking so far that I walked out to a highway at the end of the unit and called a friend.
and it's like, hey, is there anyone that can pick me up? Because my truck is like seven days walk away. And then, so yeah, his dad knocked off work and, like absolute legends. That's pretty cool. His dad knocked off work, drove like three hours to where I walked out, picked me up and then dropped me back to my vehicle.
Wow, that's a nice guy. You owe that dude. Yeah,
I do owe that dude.
Send him a boomerang or some shit.
I'll take your buffalo hunting. Yeah, there you go. Yeah, I'll do something like that.
Yeah,
they're bad too at the moment.
Are they bad in Australia?
Yeah, they just seem to be more regularly everywhere.
Yeah, are you allowed to hunt them there or are they protected?
I think you can get a permit.
Isn't that funny? You shoot deer out of a helicopter, but these fucking monsters.
that eat kids. Tell me about it. What the fuck? so it was about 12 years ago now. We went in the community, so like an aboriginal community, and they had had kids taken.
Right? And that's their only water source, and they had had kids taken out of that water source. Pretty sad. Yeah, it just drives me crazy. Yeah.
I just don't understand that. Kill those fucking things. I'm not saying kill all of them, but kill everyone. that's around people.
Management, right?
Jim Shockey was on the podcast a while back and he was telling a story about how they had actually hired him to go to Africa to hunt crocodiles, because there were so many crocodiles that were taking people in this village and they would set up stakes in the water so that the crocodiles couldn't go through the stakes to get to them. but they figured a way around the stakes and this woman, while he was there, was washing clothes and she got jacked.
Wow.
Yeah, he said everyone there was like missing a hand, bite taken out of your leg. He said it was just an epidemic.
And that's like their everyday life. It's nuts, isn't it? These are big,
big, 18 foot, 19 foot crocs.
Yeah, shared enough and everyone's food. Yeah,
just giant African crocodiles, which are just the most terrifying animal in the world to me, because they can lay there underwater and you don't even know they're there, and then they jump up and get you and they're so fast.
Did you ever see the video that I'd done in Northern Territory?
Is it online?
It's online.
How would Jamie find it?
I think I pinned it to my Instagram and I sort of talk people through it like after, obviously. I'm not talking when I'm walking up there. So I'm going up there and there's like all these little water holes as it's drying up and there's all these pigs laying on like two or three water holes that way and no pigs laying on a water hole this way. So I'm like, oh, that's a bit sus already, and then I just seen it, dude. I could just see its eyes above the water and the back of its tail.
Oh, this is it.
So there's a small water hole.
Yeah. Right there on the bank, you can see a big saltwater crocodile. You can see his snout, his eyes closest to the bank, and then you can see like the ridge of the front of his tail.
Oh, God.
I actually watched him come from the center of that billabong there right at the edge, when he noticed the line that I was taking to the edge of the water. Watch this thing sink away. Fuck. But, yeah, you can see he's probably hunting me here. You'll see his eyes and snout just disappear under that dirty water.
Look how slow he drops away.
And he's doing that to try to get you, and you're walking close to this motherfucker.
To just lunge forward and have a crack at me. So, he's ready to go.
How far away are you from here?
Oh, 10 meters maybe. Why?
Oh my God, look at it. It's getting ready. Look at its tail.
I know they're called a saltwater crocodile, but they should be called an all water crocodile because they live in all water. I just threw that stick at him just to let him know that. I know you're there and a little bit of a fuck you too.
Jesus Christ, those things are terrifying. Look. He's grabbing you.
and dragging you into that water and then twisting and tearing your limbs off. Oh. Out of nowhere. Oh.
Bro.
You could take him. Joe. You could take him.
Fuck all that. I would take him from a distance with a 300 windmill. Oh,
they're so prehistoric. Fuck those things. But like, so that croc's probably never seen a person before. Probably. And there's nothing else getting around there.
that's walking upright like a human. but I was still food. I was still on the menu.
Everything's on the menu.
Completely on the menu. Yeah. Whereas if you see a lot of other animals in nature that have never seen a person. You're not on the menu. No.
You're so foreign that they just want to get the fuck out of there. Right. And he could have sunk down and turned around and sunk into that water. I would never know that he was there. but instead he's like fuck, food, sweet.
Yeah. Let's have a crack, you know. Yeah. So, but that seems more common at the moment. I don't know why, if the population's getting too high.
but you used to get around and see, like a salty or two every now and then. A saltwater crocodile every now and then. but nearly like hard to find. You know. Certain river systems not, but like tucked away water like that, whereas now it's just like every fucking waterhole has got a croc in it.
So, we just bought a property up in the Northern Territory of Australia and it's got a beautiful big lagoon on it and Kimmy's like oh fuck, that's going to be sweet for swimming. I'm like. that's the wrong state of Australia, you know, because the top of all, the top of Western Australia and all of Northern Territory and the top of Queensland, that's where the crocs are. Saltwater. crocodiles are in that district.
And they're deep inland.
Yeah, they can be. Yeah, so, and this property that we've purchased is inland as well, but they get pushed in there like the Northern Territory, will have a big wet season, water will rise like over the top of the land and everything like that. water will rise and those big salties can move into a little water hole where they've never been before. So, you might have a property and be like, nah, this water's sweet, and then the next year there's a big salty in there.
And they can go for a year without eating.
They'd be freaking desperate if they did. Like. you're definitely on the menu if they do that.
I mean, that's just an extraordinary animal. I mean, evolution just has honed those motherfuckers to a razor's edge.
Oh yeah. Yeah, I think I told you about the story where, like I shoot a big boar pig and, like the arrow, zips through it and it just dropped over onto the riverbank and I walked over there with another arrow just to see if I had to follow it up. And so I walked up and, like, I'm like a meter above it. Anyway, I was just on the side of the water, like not in the water, just on the side of the water, and it was just like in the final stages of its life. And I looked down and put my second arrow away.
like it doesn't need another arrow. It's sweet. And I looked down and put the second arrow away and just heard the water erupt. And this big saltwater crocodile come out, grabbed it. I can still see it in slow-mo.
Grabbed this pig like, threw it over in the water and then started swimming away with it and actually took and it was a big boar pig actually took it underwater for like 30-40 yards and then come back up with it. And then another big salty was trying to get it off that saltwater crocodile. Now, if that pig was already dead, I would've just jumped straight down the back the bank and I would've been right in the line of fire. Oh boy. And there's two of them.
That's how quick it happens, dude. It's just like they're just sitting there waiting. I had another trip. I love these crocodile stories.
because they're so fucked up. I fucking hate them. They make my skin crawl.
Me and Kimmy did like 120 kilometers across, like inland Northern Territory. and um, it was funny because you know when you're in society like back at home. you've got all the different things going on, whether it's bills, kids, you know just a thousand things going on, work and stuff like that. and Kimmy really enjoyed that trip because all you had to worry about every day was water food where you're going to camp, but with water comes fucking crocodiles, because you have to go down and collect the water. Like we're walking 120 kilometers.
you can't carry enough water for 120 kilometers. you literally fill it and it's stinking hot. so you're filling your water bottle up multiple times a day and I'm like you stay back here and I'll race down watch the bank where I fill the water up at. and because you're looking over this water hole, like even with binoculars glass, you can't see a croc anywhere, like during the daylight, like you can't see a croc anywhere, and I go down and I'm fast, like I don't muck around down there. you go down, you scoop up the water and it's dirty water.
you can't drink it. then you take it back up the bank, away from the crocs, and you filter it up there from one water bottle to another. so anyway, I race down there, I scoop up the water. I'm half way back up the bank, like way away from the water though, and Kim's like look behind you and I turn around behind me and big salt water. crocodile eyes come up straight behind me, like that's how quick they are.
I went down, scooped the water, got away from there, right where I filled up the water. crocodile eyes come straight up. they're just on to it. they're probably looking at you the whole time, but you just can't see them. but at night time you'd shine a torch around, and it's just like red eyes everywhere.
so during the day there's like you can't see a croc, and then you shine a torch in a water hole at night and there's just eyes everywhere.
do you feel safe in a tent?
yeah, because they only come so far at the bank. so this last mission that I did with a couple of friends. we had no choice but to camp within like 20 yards of the bank, but it's a high bank and the salt water crocodiles were trying to come up that high bank every night. so we ended up running fish and line, you know, like 3 or 4 inches off the ground and like tying tin cans and like whatever we could, that would make noise across there, just so you'd hear them coming up overnight.
so that's uncomfortable for some sickening reason. I still sleep, fine, but that's really uncomfortable. but generally you're 100 yards up the bank. they won't come that far unless they're really desperate. so I had a buddy tell me that he'd had crocs travel 200-300 yards up a bank and they took his dogs off a chain.
like they actually ripped the dogs off the chain where they were locked up. but he was like camped there for weeks and weeks sort of thing. so the crocs were patting their heads and that sort of thing. and that's what they do, and that's why you don't fill up water at the same place like twice in a row.
do you know anybody that's ever gotten attacked?
I know people that have come bloody close. I don't know of anyone that's been attacked, because they're fucking dead.
great way to get rid of. it's not fucking worse than here. bears are walking across land. at least that danger there is at the water.
yeah,
it's right at the water. so if you go down.
yeah, but you need water.
yeah, but
and they could be an inch offshore.
they can be, and then generally I'll try and fill up water behind a tree, so there'll be a tree right on the bank and I'll stay behind the tree and try and fill up water and then I had a.
you can dodge.
yeah, I had another one. I tagged you in it, but I know you hate that shit, but I'm like fuck. I'm tagging you anyway and I'm walking around at night with a torch and like walking through like ankle and knee deep water trying to spot barramundi, and I was trying to debunk the myth of saltwater crocodiles. and freshwater crocodiles won't live in the same body of water, you know, and that's so that people are like oh, if you see freshwater crocodiles, there's no saltwater crocodiles. well, I know that's bullshit.
is the freshwater crocodile smaller?
they're smaller, they're not aggressive like that. they can be territorial. they won't eat us for starters. so a freshie might bite ya, but he'll let you go, whereas a salty will bite you and hold on to you and fucking eat you, you know. and then so I'm going around this torch and I'm seeing all these freshies, freshwater, crocodiles everywhere, and then I hear something moving up, like there's sort of rapids below me, and I hear something moving through the water and I'm like, oh no, that's not a fucking freshie.
and I turn around and start walking down there and shine the torch. and yeah, it's a big salty and he's like coming straight up the water towards me. and yeah, so fucking, they do live, they do co-exist with each other. so if you see a freshie, don't think you're safe and jump in for a swim. there could be a bloody salty in there too.
so is that just a lack of people traveling in their area, and so they've developed this.
I think so. I think probably anyone that lives in the NT knows it's a myth.
you know.
but maybe tourists and that don't you know, and it's like they're horrible names. right, saltwater crocodile lives in fresh water as well, but a freshwater crocodile pretty much just lives in fresh water, as far as I know. yeah,
there's a place called car hills, crossing up in the northern territory, heading out towards a part of Arnhem land. it might be actually the border of Arnhem land and there's so many saltwater crocodiles on that crossing and people come unstuck there all the time because it's tidal right. so they'll try and drive across there with a car and their car will get washed off and they've got to swim back to the bank of all these crocodiles in the water. so it's pretty sketchy. but I still feel like Australia is safer than hunting bloody Wyoming or somewhere or Montana because of the grizzlies, and they're actually on land and can come to your tent anytime they like yeah.
there's been a lot of discussion about removing them from the endangered list and putting tags on them, which they really should do. there's a lot of places where they're overpopulated. I know they're talking about that in Wyoming and there's places in Montana where they're trying to have that discussion. but again you deal with these wildlife activist groups that don't want you doing that, so there's litigation and lawsuits and.
it's a hard push, isn't it? because you don't want it the other way, where everything's just getting slaughtered.
of course.
so there has to be a bit of a fight back, but there needs to be some sort of middle ground where it's like oh shit. this is actually going to be better for the elk and deer population and people population, and probably better for the bears as well. the grizzlies just wipe out the black bears.
the problem is that these people, that are the wildlife activists, they do not like hunting in any way, shape or form, and they don't want to give up any ground. I'm going to send you this, Jamie, because this is pretty crazy. a friend of mine filmed this in.
California
a wolf.
that is near Bakersfield.
oh wow,
yeah, and he doesn't know how it got there, and he suspects that someone released it there. but this was, you know, this is right off of. you know, a mile or two off of highway 5, which is just bananas, that this thing was there.
not a husky is it?
no, it's a fucking wolf. I'm going to send you this, Jamie.
I'd fucking love one.
here you go, Jamie, so this I'll just send it to you. so this friend of mine filmed this from the side of the road a couple of years ago, and they think that it's very possible that someone you know, some rogue activist group, just decided to start releasing wolves.
oh, I'm sure it's happened multiple times. oh smugs.
yeah, so this is in.
what a beautiful looking animal.
amazing animal. look at his eyes. this is in central California and you can see he's on cattle land as a. you know they're filming it and the wolf's aware they're filming it and they see a cow.
oh the cow's chasing it.
the cow's like what are you? the cow has no idea, no idea what a wolf is never seen one before and all of a sudden there's a wolf there.
I'm sure that's happened multiple, multiple times.
I'm sure there's a lot of people that think the wolves should be everywhere and they don't have cattle and they don't have, you know, dogs. they don't live there and they just.
and they look beautiful. so people are like you can't shoot them, you can't hunt them. it's just like we've spoken about that a few times, where it's like if it's a pig or something ugly. it's like yeah, hunt them as much as you like and then it's a beautiful deer and it's like you can't shoot that. I know it's like come on.
my own agent said that to me. she was like you should shoot pigs because they're ugly, and I'm like that's so crazy.
I've got the same feelings towards a pig as a beautiful deer, and they're good feelings. you know and it's like you as a hunter. you understand this as well that it's not like you know. nah, shoot it, I want to kill it. you know, it's not about that at all.
no, they're all cool.
they are. they are.
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