Pod Insights The MeatEater Podcast Ep. 868: Clay and Bear’s Alaskan Coast Black Bear Hunt | 12 in '26 About this episode Clay Newcomb gives behind the scenes details and answers viewer questions about the Alaska boat-based black bear hunt feature in the new film for the MeatEater “12 in ‘26” film series. Both Clay and Bear Newcomb hunt black bears along the Alaskan coast–Bear with a modern rifle and Clay with a primitive self bow.
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Transcript 14,090 words · 7 speakers
Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
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1:53 Speaker 03 This is Bear Newcomb's first time to Alaska. He's 19 years old. I really think it's going to impact probably the rest of his life. There's just some landscapes in the world that just seem to just grab you. It's hard to describe. This place is like exotic and wild and dangerous and beautiful. It just has a whole different vibe. That's what's so incredible about Planet Earth is you go different places and you bring something home with you that's unique. I'm really excited to see what Bear brings home.
2:32 Speaker 03 Hey, everybody. This is Clay Newcomb. And the clip that you just heard is from our film, Southeast Alaska Boat Based Bears. That's on the Meat Eater YouTube channel. And it was, this film's about when me and my son Bear John went to Southeast Alaska last spring, 2025, and hunted with our friend and outfitter David Bennett's on his big old crabbing boat and shrimping boat, the Sandpiper. It was an incredible hunt, an incredible time. And it's episode three of Meat Eaters 12 and 26. And this, what you're listening to, what you're watching, so there's, there's a video
3:12 Speaker 03 of this on Meat Eater Podcast YouTube channel, but you could also listen to this on audio. If you're listening to this, this is the companion podcast where we're gonna give behind the scenes. And like I said before, there's only so much that a video can show. I mean, imagery is beautiful and powerful and you can see, but there's just so much that goes on behind the scenes. And that's what we're going to talk about today. I have with me my main sidekick, Josh Landbridge Spillmaker, and we're about to talk about this whole hunt with Bear, which was really special. I mean, kind of the key features of it were, first of all, Southeast Alaska, which is just a phenomenal place.
3:57 Speaker 03 I mean, anybody that loves wilderness, hunting, epic landscapes, I mean, Southeast Alaska.
4:04 Speaker 04 Yeah.
4:04 Speaker 03 Rivals any place I've ever been on planet earth, number one. Number two, what was cool about this film was I got to go with my, with my son. Bear's now 20. At the time, he was 19 years old and it was his first trip to Alaska. There, there, I've heard somebody say it. People have said it since they saw the film, but there's a pretty famous quote about somebody saying, don't go to Alaska when you're young.
4:27 Speaker 04 Oh, really?
4:28 Speaker 03 Yeah, they, they're like, don't go to Alaska when you're young because everywhere else you go after that will be, you know, a lesser place. I mean, that's kind of the,
4:37 Speaker 04 Right.
4:38 Speaker 03 The, the idea and, and obviously the intent of that.
4:42 Speaker 04 So you've ruined your son, basically?
4:43 Speaker 03 Well, really what the guy's saying is that Alaska is an incredible place and you should go. But I took Bear John there for the first time and it was, it was, it was really awesome.
4:55 Speaker 04 Well, great. Well, this is, uh, like Clay said, this is a companion podcast. If you haven't watched the film, go to YouTube, search, uh, the Meat Eater channel and watch the film called Southeast Alaska Boat, Boat Based Bears. And, uh, you'll, uh, you'll get to see the film and then get to follow along with what we're talking about today. Also, um, if you're listening to this podcast on one of our audio platforms, know that there's a video of it on YouTube as well.
5:22 Speaker 03 Yeah.
5:23 Speaker 04 Come enjoy the video of this companion podcast, but, um, we've got some great clips. Um, you know, you kind of mentioned Alaska and that it's, it's a special place. Uh, is there anything specific, Clay, that, that makes it a special place specifically for hunting?
5:38 Speaker 03 Well, just the, I, I said early in the film that it's, it's arguably the best place in the world to hunt black bears for, for numbers of bears that you're going to see. And for even size of bears. I mean, for, for many, many years, the biggest bears, black bears in, in North America, in, in the world, black bears are endemic to North America. They only live here. Was on Prince of Wales Island, which we were hunting. Within a hundred miles of Prince of Wales Island.
6:08 Speaker 04 Okay, okay.
6:09 Speaker 03 Um, so the bears there, big, have big skulls. Bears are measured by their skull.
6:15 Speaker 04 Right.
6:16 Speaker 03 So that's not necessarily weight. The biggest bears, weight-wise in the world, are typically in the southeast. North Carolina. The, the growing seasons are longer, but for skull size, southeast Alaska has big bears, so bears just get old there.
6:31 Speaker 04 Okay.
6:32 Speaker 03 I mean, it's, southeast Alaska is a, is a rainforest. They get over a hundred inches of rain per year. And that's one of the biggest challenges of hunting there, but it also makes for this like incredibly productive and rich environment that just causes animals to, to, bears to grow big. And it's partly because, well, southeast Alaska is, is not, I mean, it's sea level.
7:00 Speaker 04 Right.
7:01 Speaker 03 It is far north.
7:02 Speaker 04 Right.
7:03 Speaker 03 But like, it doesn't have really extreme winters. So the bears actually stay out of their dens, you know, typical to, to what bears in the lower forty-eight would. Like, okay, now a bear in the interior of Alaska would be sleeping for as many as, as much as six months of the year.
7:23 Speaker 04 Wow.
7:24 Speaker 03 In my bear book that's coming out spring of twenty-seven, we cite the longest hibernating bear ever recorded by science, which it was in Alaska.
7:35 Speaker 04 Interior Alaska.
7:35 Speaker 03 Okay. I'm not gonna give that number. You're gonna have to check the book out. But it was incredibly, it was, it was more than half of the year. The bear was hibernating.
7:44 Speaker 04 Wow. But these bears just-
7:45 Speaker 03 That means smaller bears.
7:47 Speaker 04 Right, right.
7:48 Speaker 03 They're just out less, they're eating less.
7:50 Speaker 04 Right.
7:50 Speaker 03 These, these coastal bears are out for longer and they grow bigger.
7:56 Speaker 04 And they're eating primarily?
7:59 Speaker 03 I mean, they're eating a lot of vegetation, but in the early spring, there, the, the, the woods, the berries haven't produced yet. I mean, think about the, the cycle of the spring. It's winter time, there's no berries.
8:09 Speaker 04 Right.
8:10 Speaker 03 Vegetation has to grow and then berries grow. So like midsummer is when berries, through the end of the summer is when berries and stuff come out.
8:17 Speaker 04 Right.
8:18 Speaker 03 So, early spring, I said it, southeast Alaska has really big tide swings, which means, and I, I don't understand the science of it, but- There are places where tide swings are much less.
8:31 Speaker 04 Okay.
8:31 Speaker 03 So like the water would go down like say a foot or two. It would expose just like small amounts of the shore every day. Man, in parts, we were seeing places where the tide would push out like hundreds of yards daily.
8:47 Speaker 04 Really?
8:47 Speaker 03 Yes.
8:48 Speaker 04 Like in Daily?
8:49 Speaker 03 Daily.
8:50 Speaker 04 Wow.
8:51 Speaker 03 Like multiple times per day. It would, the, the, the edge of the water would be way up there and then four hours later, the edge of the water would be hundreds of yards.
9:00 Speaker 04 Well, you mentioned the difficult, at one point you mentioned the difficulty of getting to the shore without, you know, without having to get water above your boots.
9:07 Speaker 03 That's one of the biggest challenges that like somebody like me who wouldn't know just the ends, I mean, I've been there several times, but still like the ins and outs of how to navigate that country.
9:18 Speaker 04 Mm hmm.
9:18 Speaker 03 Anytime you go to the shore, you gotta be thinking about the tide.
9:21 Speaker 04 Right.
9:21 Speaker 03 Because
9:23 Speaker 03 if, if you get out of the boat and you're gone for an hour, you could come back and your boat could be on dry land.
9:28 Speaker 04 Yeah.
9:28 Speaker 03 And you'd be sitting there for six, eight hours, whatever the, the cycle is.
9:32 Speaker 04 Mm hmm.
9:33 Speaker 03 And that, it might be the middle of the, the night before.
9:37 Speaker 04 Wow.
9:37 Speaker 03 You know, the tide comes back in and then you can't drive in the night. So there's, there's all kinds of challenges and that's probably
9:45 Speaker 03 the biggest thing that stands out to me when I go there and, and honestly,
9:51 Speaker 03 why be going with somebody that's a veteran like David Bennett or?
9:55 Speaker 04 Right.
9:55 Speaker 03 I mean, to, I don't even know that I would have enjoyed it if I had gone by myself because of how treacherous it is.
10:02 Speaker 04 Yeah.
10:02 Speaker 03 I mean, you're, you're on big water. We were crossing like this big channel that took, you know, I don't, I don't want to say multiple hours, but huge channels like out on like big open water and like these small skips. Just
10:21 Speaker 03 which to me is scary. Cause if you go down, you, you die.
10:25 Speaker 04 Right.
10:26 Speaker 03 Like I, I don't want to jump ahead, but like you asked, I, I, in that intro said Alaska is like scary and exotic. And it is to me. That's like the top of the list. Like if I were just listing the things that stood out to me on any hunt in Southeast Alaska, it's, it's a little bit of fear. And that made this be me. But I mean, just like being on that big water and so many times I've been with Steve Rinella, I've been with David, been with others, and I always ask the same question. We'll be like a quarter mile from the shore. Like you just feel like you could just like jump in and just like swim.
11:01 Speaker 04 Right.
11:02 Speaker 03 And I say, if we went down right now, would we survive? And everybody's like, no, you're dead.
11:09 Speaker 04 There's a high potential for risk there.
11:11 Speaker 03 It is. And those guys just don't think a thing about it. I mean, it's just every, they just go.
11:17 Speaker 04 Wow. Wow. Well, we've got, uh, we've got some great clips coming up. We've also got some questions and comments from, uh, our audience who've watched the film and left comments on social media and on YouTube. So without further ado.
11:31 Speaker 03 Let's do it.
11:32 Speaker 04 We're gonna jump into our next clip.
11:35 Speaker 03 So we're hoping to do some shrimping, a little crabbing this week. Eat some good food.
11:46 Speaker 03 We're gonna get back into a little, a little cove that's secluded from the wind. And we're gonna anchor, we're gonna set out our pots. And then this afternoon, we're hoping to do some bear hunting. This bear hunting with weather like this, it's, it's really only gonna be good probably the last couple of hours of daylight, but the days are long. It's middle of May, but maybe we'll catch some shrimp.
12:16 Speaker 03 Oh yeah. We got some shrimp. Looky there. Sweet. Wow. Those are a lot bigger than the others.
12:26 Speaker 03 You know, there's some meat on that one. Good. Dunging this crab.
12:37 Speaker 03 Look at that guy. Go ahead, you cut up some more bait bear, re-bait these.
12:47 Speaker 03 He got lots. Good little head runs over. To an inland-er like me, the availability of this exotic protein is wild. It is one of the coolest parts of being with David on the sand pipe. Seafood, Dungeness crab and spot shrimp are a rare delicacy. But we'll need full bellies for the long afternoon hunt.
13:11 Speaker 03 Man, that's good.
13:16 Speaker 03 We're crawling around the bottom of the ocean about two hours ago.
13:23 Speaker 04 So for guys here in Arkansas going to Alaska, tell us what it was like to be able to add that as part of your trip.
13:33 Speaker 03 Have you ever been to Captain D's?
13:36 Speaker 04 Once or twice. Yeah. Is that what it's like?
13:38 Speaker 03 Oh, it's almost as good as Captain D's.
13:42 Speaker 04 That's the only thing we have to relate to here in the southern.
13:44 Speaker 03 Captain D's, you get their like seafood combo platter and you get an actual like shell of a crab.
13:53 Speaker 04 Yes.
13:53 Speaker 03 Like a real crab.
13:55 Speaker 04 Yeah.
13:55 Speaker 03 Captain D's.
13:56 Speaker 04 So this video is sponsored by OnX and Moultrie Trail Cameras, but not by Captain D's.
14:02 Speaker 03 Not by Captain D's. You know, that was always one of the things, I've known David for a long time and follow him on social media and we've been friends for over a decade. And that was one of the most intriguing things he always showed pictures of was his shrimp and crabbing. He, David's a commercial crabber, catches Dungeness crab. And that's what that boat primarily is used for. And yeah, it's, it's a lot of work, you know, it seems to me when I watch this, any of these videos.
14:40 Speaker 03 You know, just like shows us just like pitching a pot in the water and coming back and shrimping it. Like that was hours long work.
14:48 Speaker 04 So you guys pitched those off like in the morning and then went back in the evening and got them?
14:52 Speaker 03 Yeah.
14:53 Speaker 04 Was that, was that?
14:54 Speaker 03 We, we let them sit for a night.
14:56 Speaker 04 Okay, overnight.
14:56 Speaker 03 Yeah. So we put them out the first day on the way into the bay. And the logistics of the thing, I said it, but you can't just park that boat.
15:07 Speaker 03 Out in like the main channel.
15:08 Speaker 04 Right.
15:09 Speaker 03 And sleep. I mean, the water just gets too crazy.
15:12 Speaker 04 Right.
15:12 Speaker 03 And so you gotta find this like, we found this, David knew it, this little secluded cove that that was really tight and just like kept you, you know, away from the wind and stuff. And so we would, on the way there, we dropped our shrimp pods.
15:28 Speaker 04 Okay.
15:28 Speaker 03 And there are real specific rules about, uh, non-residents shrimping and, you know, orig- in the original cut, we had this whole section about the legality of us catching shrimp and how many we could keep and all this.
15:40 Speaker 04 Okay.
15:40 Speaker 03 We ended up cutting it, but you know, there's, there's a lot of regulation. You have to report to the Alaska Game and Fish how many, how much shrimp that you catch.
15:48 Speaker 04 Okay.
15:49 Speaker 03 It's pretty wild. Like they're keeping track of all that, you know?
15:51 Speaker 04 So he's got a log of all that?
15:53 Speaker 03 Yeah, yeah. And so we, we submitted all that.
15:56 Speaker 04 Did you guys eat shrimp and stuff every day?
15:58 Speaker 03 No, not every day. We, we had two big cookouts.
16:01 Speaker 04 Okay.
16:02 Speaker 03 Where we ate Dungeons crab and shrimp. Yeah, I'll be honest with you. What I realized was how critical hush puppies, french fries and coleslaw are because we had all this incredible first rate seafood and I was kinda like, hey man, where's the, where's the carbs? Where's the coleslaw and the potatoes? You know?
16:21 Speaker 04 Yeah.
16:22 Speaker 03 I can't complain. It was, it was really great.
16:25 Speaker 04 Uh, cut Kamishika Xbox.
16:29 Speaker 03 This is a YouTube commenter?
16:31 Speaker 04 This is a YouTube commenter and said, I wanted to see more of the cooking on the boat. The meals looked amazing.
16:36 Speaker 03 He, he basically boiled all that. He had a propane cooker and a big pot.
16:40 Speaker 04 He seasoned it all? And I mean, was it pretty just straightforward?
16:43 Speaker 03 Man, if it, if we'd have been in Louisiana, he, we would have, uh, he seasoned it some, but it wasn't heavily seasoned.
16:50 Speaker 04 Yeah.
16:51 Speaker 03 It's pretty just like.
16:52 Speaker 04 Shrimp were huge.
16:53 Speaker 03 They were.
16:53 Speaker 04 Yeah.
16:54 Speaker 03 You'd be surprised how much they cooked down though. Like those, those spot shrimp would be as long as your hand. Like it, I mean, for real, that long. And but when they would cook down, they would be like that long.
17:06 Speaker 04 Oh, really?
17:07 Speaker 03 And you know?
17:07 Speaker 04 Yeah.
17:08 Speaker 03 Big as your thumb.
17:09 Speaker 04 Yeah.
17:09 Speaker 03 You know, bigger, a little longer, but yeah.
17:13 Speaker 04 Cool. Well, um, let's, uh, let's go to our next clip here.
17:27 Speaker 04 For those of you on the audio platform are watching a video of Clay shooting the self bow on the deck of the boat.
17:32 Speaker 03 This Osage came off our property, but I made this bow last summer. Killed a couple critters with it, but it's got copperhead skins on the back there, some turkey feathers, pronghorn. Osage orange is the king of North American wood for making bows. This is the most primitive archery tool. I mean, we could have used like a sinew string. This is a modern string. Our broadheads are gonna be modern metal broadheads, but the actual bow itself is as primitive as they come. It's one piece. It's called a self bow. And a self bow means that it's, what does that mean? It relies on itself for strength. Yeah, it doesn't mean that you made it.
18:16 Speaker 03 A self bow means that it relies on its own self for strength as opposed to a laminated bow. And this thing is, this is, this thing will kill any animal in North America, period. But you're, you're limited. I mean, you need to be close. And I'm gonna try to be within 10 yards. And so it's gonna take probably a lot of stalks. We're gonna have to try to find the right bear that's doing the right thing, that's in the right place. And then Bear with his rifle, looking for a big one.
18:53 Speaker 04 Yeah.
18:56 Speaker 04 So, in the film you mentioned the hunter education requirements for Bear. You're hunting with the bear, the bow that Bear made. Mm-hmm. Now, was the original intent for Bear to hunt with that bow? Yes, it was. Okay, so tell us about that. So...
19:15 Speaker 03 Bear Newcomb and I were headed to Alaska, both of us with our self bows that he made. We were gonna do, we were both gonna hunt with him. And on the way there.
19:24 Speaker 04 So you had two self bows?
19:25 Speaker 03 We did.
19:26 Speaker 04 Okay.
19:26 Speaker 03 And on the way there, I woke up like in the night, just like my eyes just like sprung open. And I remembered from like 10 years ago when I bow hunted in Alaska, I had to get a bow hunter's education course and card to be able to bow hunt in Alaska.
19:44 Speaker 04 From the state of Alaska?
19:46 Speaker 03 Not from Alaska, but just like a certified bow hunter education course.
19:49 Speaker 04 Okay.
19:50 Speaker 03 I was able to take it here in Arkansas, but you get this card.
19:53 Speaker 04 Okay.
19:53 Speaker 03 And it's good, you know, all the states honor it. And I realized that Bear didn't have that. And so I go, Bear, you, you can't legally bow hunt in Alaska, which is just such a technicality, but, but obviously we, we had to honor it. And so we were able to get, uh, we actually borrowed that 6.5 PRC from Yanis Putellas.
20:21 Speaker 04 Okay.
20:21 Speaker 03 Just like at the last minute.
20:22 Speaker 04 Okay.
20:23 Speaker 03 Send it up there. And so, yeah, Bear was really bummed. But it ended up working out good. I wish I could have shot the rifle and Bear could have bow hunted though.
20:33 Speaker 04 Right.
20:34 Speaker 03 You know?
20:34 Speaker 04 Yeah.
20:35 Speaker 03 Because it was just way harder than I thought it was gonna be. It just, uh, I mean, well, we can, we can get into, I wanna, I wanna say something else about that clip. Misty Newcomb, my wife, keyed in on this comment. Uh, this guy tagged that section and he said, typical dad move. Son builds a bow with his own hands, dad explains. There were a couple of people that were like, my goodness, Clay sure talks a lot, you know? And, uh, Misty loved those comments. She was spreading them, she was like showing everyone.
21:12 Speaker 04 She was reposting those.
21:13 Speaker 03 She was like, oh yeah, I mean.
21:16 Speaker 04 So in the, in that same vein, tell us a little more about that bow.
21:20 Speaker 03 I would gladly tell you about Bear's self bow that he made.
21:23 Speaker 04 How many pounds was the bow?
21:25 Speaker 03 The bow was 50 pounds.
21:26 Speaker 04 Okay.
21:27 Speaker 03 Which is, um, you know, just about the right weight. And I had some people say. Oh, that bow's way more, you, you could shoot an animal further than that. And you absolutely could.
21:40 Speaker 04 Right.
21:40 Speaker 03 That was like a self, self-induced, uh, regulation of my own. You know, I just knew for my proficiency and I have hunted with a traditional bow enough to know that I just wanted to be inside of 10 yards. Honestly, I wanted to shoot one at five.
22:00 Speaker 03 Um, and so I just in my mind, just committed to that. And it was harder than I thought. And, and I just felt like there was going to be more terrain features that would help us get close to bears. That's what I thought.
22:16 Speaker 04 That makes sense.
22:17 Speaker 03 And I found a lot more of these bears just on these like wide open beaches. There were, there was, there were sections of where we were hunting that was like real rocky. Like big bluffy stuff like on the ocean, but it was first of all, why would a bear be there? The beaches where there was all this grass.
22:38 Speaker 04 Right.
22:38 Speaker 03 And the, the low tides where they were coming out to feed on mussels and different stuff. Like that's where they wanted to be. So we were trying to find one like up in the rocks, but we just never truly did. Well, you'd see them, but, but then the wind might be blowing so hard that like you couldn't get the boat up there without, without problems. And so we just kept making stock after stock, but.
23:07 Speaker 04 So, you know, you, you talked about the gamut of, of hunting, you know, modern versus primitive, you know, most modern would be a, you know, a rifle like, like that, a precision rifle like that with a scope. All the way to, you know, like, you know, kind of down the list would be like a compound bow and then like a recurve.
23:29 Speaker 03 Yeah.
23:29 Speaker 04 And then you've gotten all the way to a self bow, which is, you know, homemade, one piece of wood.
23:36 Speaker 03 Right.
23:36 Speaker 04 Tell us, you know, for, for those who wouldn't have a lot of knowledge of hunting with primitive weapons, like what's the motivation in doing that? Why, why limit yourself? Why use something that wouldn't be as effective as a rifle? What, what, why those self-imposed restrictions?
23:57 Speaker 03 So everywhere that I've ever bear hunted. To me, the landscape and the numbers of bears and the numbers of opportunity kind of dictate what kind of weapon I'm gonna use. I've hunted out west in Montana, spot and stalk before. And you can go out there and hunt for a full week and just see a handful of bears and maybe get one opportunity. Okay, I would never dream of taking a self bow there.
24:24 Speaker 04 Right.
24:24 Speaker 03 Cause it's, I mean, in my experience, I think I've been to Montana seven times and hunting the spring for like a week at a time. And typically on average, I get one to two opportunities at a bear in a whole week. You know, so.
24:40 Speaker 04 Yeah.
24:40 Speaker 03 Southeast Alaska, I knew we would see multiple bears per day. What the, I don't know how we didn't say this in the film, but one day we saw 19 bears.
24:50 Speaker 04 Wow.
24:51 Speaker 03 Couple, a couple of days, we didn't see any bears because it was just raining and we didn't hunt.
24:55 Speaker 04 How, how many miles of coastline would you say that?
24:58 Speaker 03 David Bennett is a wild animal in that skiff. He would drive, I'm telling you, we, we were in that skiff sometimes for, I don't want to exaggerate, but I want to say 12 hours. I mean, like driving.
25:14 Speaker 04 Wow.
25:14 Speaker 03 I mean, we were going 50, 60, 70 miles. I mean, like.
25:20 Speaker 04 Wow.
25:21 Speaker 03 It, it was more than I wanted. I hope David doesn't watch this. David, I love you so much.
25:27 Speaker 04 The stories you told me about David Bennett is that dude is hardcore.
25:30 Speaker 03 He is, he is a veteran Alaskan hunter in God and just relentless. Like that first day, you know, when, when I said it was just pouring rain and cold. And we got in that boat and we're, went on like a six hour afternoon run.
25:46 Speaker 04 Uh huh.
25:47 Speaker 03 I, I, and I was like, did you expect, are you surprised we didn't see a bear? And he was like, no, I didn't think we'd see one. I mean, what I wanted to say was.
25:54 Speaker 04 So I just wanted to spend six hours.
25:55 Speaker 03 Like, well, why didn't we stay in the boat and drink coffee? I mean, I'm usually on a hunt, the one wanting to go. And I would much rather have a hunting partner that was wanting to go rather than one you were like dragging around. I mean, that's kind of a, to me, a, a requisite for a good hunting partner, somebody that just wants to go.
26:16 Speaker 04 Right.
26:16 Speaker 03 Cause we all know, I mean, man, I can tell you, success in hunting is, is all about just going. I mean, we all know people that, that, that. Maybe just don't have quite as much drive and they enjoy hunting for different reasons.
26:32 Speaker 04 Right.
26:32 Speaker 03 And just being there and the experience, but David is, David's hardcore and we spent some brutal days in that dang boat.
26:42 Speaker 04 Yeah.
26:42 Speaker 03 And, and he was used to it. I mean, it's just like, if you went mule riding with some of these guys that I ride with over here, we might ride, we might ride for 12 hours and maybe we don't think much of it.
26:54 Speaker 04 Right.
26:55 Speaker 03 You take somebody that's not been on a mule much and they would be going, holy cow, how do you do it? Same way being in a boat on that water, cold, wet, windy. To me, it was like that. It was just like, holy cow. And I mean, film can only show so much. The other thing is that I kept talking about bad weather and like every scene it opened up with me going, man, the weather's great.
27:19 Speaker 04 It's true. It's true.
27:19 Speaker 03 I thought about that. I mean, obviously we only filmed during good weather.
27:23 Speaker 04 Right.
27:24 Speaker 03 So in eight days, you saw all the windows of good weather.
27:28 Speaker 04 Yeah.
27:28 Speaker 03 If that makes sense. I mean, there were, there were, I think two full days that we pretty much lost. And then even on those good weather days, there would be periods that it would just be bad weather.
27:42 Speaker 04 Yeah.
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30:15 Speaker 04 Mr. Spacely 3021 on YouTube said, I guess when you get to Clay's level, you try to make the hunt as difficult as possible for the thrill of it. Is that your motivation of?
30:25 Speaker 03 No, I didn't finish what I was saying about why I chose what I chose. I knew in Southeast Alaska, I would have a lot of opportunity and I just felt like it would be the place to get really close to bears. And I wanted to, I mean, I used to, for seven, a little trad history, for seven years, probably from 2015 to 2021 or two, traditional archery was my primary weapon. Like I didn't always, sometimes I rifle hunted, but that was my go-to thing that I brought.
31:04 Speaker 03 Killed multiple bears, killed deer, killed, I mean, I had success with it. And then, man, just to be completely frank about it, it was so much work and so hard that I just kinda was like, hey, I did it.
31:20 Speaker 04 Yeah.
31:20 Speaker 03 I think I'm gonna go back to the compound. And it's kinda funny, inside of hunting circles, you'd have people that would be like, oh, you know, he shouldn't have done that, or a sellout, or something. Man, I don't view it, I used to would have.
31:33 Speaker 04 Yeah.
31:33 Speaker 03 I've also learned that it's kinda problematic to have opinions about hunting.
31:40 Speaker 04 Yeah.
31:40 Speaker 03 Because people can disagree with you. But, I mean, I grew up with a very exclusive mentality about bow hunting being like the superior way to hunt. And I just don't, it's just not true.
31:55 Speaker 04 Yeah.
31:55 Speaker 03 I don't believe that anymore. There are times when I love to limit myself to the extreme. And then there are other times when I'm like thrilled to be out there with a rifle.
32:04 Speaker 04 Right.
32:05 Speaker 03 And so, that's just the way I think about it. And I wanted to use that bow because bear had made it.
32:12 Speaker 04 Mm-hmm.
32:13 Speaker 03 I wanted to, I mean, really, that was honestly why I did it.
32:15 Speaker 04 Right.
32:16 Speaker 03 Like, if I had just gone with somebody else, I might have taken a compound, or might have taken a rifle. I just wanted to kinda honor bear.
32:26 Speaker 04 So you limited your range to the self bow to 10 yards. Had you had a compound, what would be the difference between shooting the primitive bow and the modern bow?
32:35 Speaker 03 I would have killed a bear probably on the first or second day.
32:38 Speaker 04 And effectively, you could reach out how many yards?
32:41 Speaker 03 I mean, that's, again, a subjective question, but I would have shot a bear for sure out to 40 yards.
32:49 Speaker 04 Yeah.
32:49 Speaker 03 And I mean, you know, I've killed animals.
32:50 Speaker 04 And you had many opportunities.
32:52 Speaker 03 I wouldn't say, I don't want to exaggerate how many of the 21 stalks, but I was within 30 yards of that seven foot bear on like day five.
33:02 Speaker 04 Yeah.
33:03 Speaker 03 I was within 40 yards of several of them.
33:06 Speaker 04 Mm-hmm.
33:06 Speaker 03 You know, that were. So, and I said it, it's kinda not that hard to get to 50 yards.
33:15 Speaker 04 Right.
33:16 Speaker 03 To close the distance inside of there, you, you've gotta do a lot of things right.
33:22 Speaker 04 Yeah.
33:22 Speaker 03 And I, man, you, you see your weakness when you are exposed that much to stalking. I mean, I've never stalked that many bears in a week. And so you learn so much and, and boy, there's, there's a lot of different skill levels.
33:41 Speaker 03 David was critiquing my stalks, you know? I mean, he's.
33:47 Speaker 04 Does he primitive hunt?
33:48 Speaker 03 He doesn't.
33:49 Speaker 04 He does bow hunt?
33:50 Speaker 03 He, he exclusively bow hunts.
33:52 Speaker 04 Okay.
33:53 Speaker 03 And most hunting in Alaska is spot and stalk. So, I mean, he's a master, I would say. I mean, he, that's just the way he hunts.
34:01 Speaker 04 Right.
34:02 Speaker 03 I'm probably proficient. You know, most of my hunting for archery stuff has been out of a tree stand or ground blind. I mean, we don't do as much stalking, so I don't claim to be the best spot and stalk hunter in the world at all, or that's a dumb way to say it, but I mean, I like, I don't, I, it's not like.
34:24 Speaker 04 Let's just say you're the best spot and stalk archery hunter in the room.
34:28 Speaker 03 Well, you're probably pretty good, Josh, but.
34:32 Speaker 04 Well, great. Well, let's watch another, uh, quick clip here.
34:37 Speaker 05 This is a not fun part of Southeast Alaska, just rains all the time.
34:42 Speaker 03 I was so cold right there, I thought I was gonna die.
34:44 Speaker 04 Really?
34:45 Speaker 05 I'm serious. We didn't see a bear? No? Really? It's cold and wet, like, I tell you, I think I'm scared. I just don't like the rain.
34:57 Speaker 05 So I'm trying to do the best I can to waterproof these fletchings.
35:03 Speaker 03 That didn't work at all.
35:04 Speaker 04 Really?
35:05 Speaker 03 No.
35:05 Speaker 05 We're gonna be in some serious.
35:06 Speaker 03 David laughed at me when I put that on and, and it didn't really work.
35:11 Speaker 05 If I was using.
35:13 Speaker 03 You know, just modern archery equipment. I would be using veins, which are plastic fletchings. But these are, uh, these are real, real feathers. And they'll get matted down if they get super wet and it affects air flight. But this little magic powder will help a little bit. May have to do it a couple of times over the trip. I was a little bit worried we were gonna get stopped by the Coast Guard and they were gonna see this little Ziploc bag of white powder.
35:44 Speaker 04 What was that? What was that stuff?
35:45 Speaker 03 It's like a Teflon powder. It's made for archery equipment.
35:49 Speaker 04 Okay.
35:49 Speaker 03 Perhaps in like a drizzle, it would, it would keep your feathers.
35:53 Speaker 04 Right.
35:54 Speaker 03 Up, but just in like non-stop downpour, it really didn't do that much. And that, that's another reason why I wanted only 10 yards.
36:04 Speaker 04 Right.
36:04 Speaker 03 Because air flight at longer distance becomes exaggerated by things like if your feathers are matted down or whatever. So like, that was another reason I was just like, I'm probably gonna be shooting a bear with wet feathers.
36:18 Speaker 04 Right.
36:18 Speaker 03 I wanna be close.
36:20 Speaker 04 So the, the, the weather definitely came into play. I mean, that, that limited your, the amount of time you could hunt.
36:27 Speaker 03 That's right, yeah, for sure.
36:28 Speaker 04 Okay. All right, let's watch this next clip here.
36:33 Speaker 03 We spot a big bear on the shoreline. Sometimes they're stationary and feeding and they're just staying there, but a lot of times they're traveling and this one is moving. We make a move to intercept it.
36:48 Speaker 03 They left me at the boat. They were like, you stay at the boat, young man.
37:01 Speaker 03 Man, that was crazy. Big bear.
37:06 Speaker 03 I don't think I've ever shot a bear in such a pretty place.
37:12 Speaker 03 That was wild. I saw the whole thing holding the boat down there. Think we got him. Golly, it looked big. Yeah, he looked huge. He looked huge. Did you get a good shot? I think so. You find him? Yep. Yep. Oh, man. Alaskan bear, man.
37:32 Speaker 04 Dang.
37:34 Speaker 03 Man, these Alaskan bears have some big old pads on their feet.
37:39 Speaker 04 Yep.
37:44 Speaker 04 So, a big bear there?
37:46 Speaker 03 It was.
37:47 Speaker 04 What did the bear square?
37:48 Speaker 03 The bear squared six foot six to six foot eight.
37:54 Speaker 04 Okay.
37:55 Speaker 03 I can't exactly remember, but it was a, it was a top shelf bear. I mean, a seven footer is like, big.
38:07 Speaker 04 Yeah.
38:08 Speaker 03 In all, you hear, oh, yeah, let's get on this, how big bears are. So, for years, I had Bear Hunting Magazine and, and for a decade, like, bears were my entire world and people writing about bears, talking about bears. And I was amazed at all the people that always talked about seven foot square bears. And the square of a bear is you take a green hide, like a freshly skinned hide. Stretch it out, measure from the base of the tail to the tip of the nose. That's one measurement.
38:38 Speaker 04 Right.
38:39 Speaker 03 And then measure claw to claw on the front arms of the bear. Take the average of that number. So, add those two together, divide by two. That's the square.
38:48 Speaker 04 Are they typically close?
38:49 Speaker 03 Yeah, yeah, usually. They are. And I've, I've always been amazed at how many people told me that they had killed seven foot bears or seen seven foot bears. The only, I've seen like with my own eyes in a camp, and I, I used to hunt a lot in Canada and would be at camps where multiple bears per week were being killed. And I have personally only seen with my own eyes, maybe two seven foot bears that were killed. So, they're incredibly rare.
39:23 Speaker 04 Wow.
39:24 Speaker 03 It's, it's kind of like a typical 170 whitetail. It's like. There's just not that many of them. And maybe people say, yeah, it's a 170, but really when you scored is 163.
39:35 Speaker 04 Right.
39:36 Speaker 03 You know, so I find that to be with bears. And so when I say that a six and a half foot square to six foot eight square bear is top shelf, I think that's pretty accurate. That bear, so we, when we checked it, we sent the tooth, they took a tooth. And Alaska Game and Fish does a really good job. They sent bear a letter and that bear was 15 years old.
40:00 Speaker 04 Tell me what the name of that process was.
40:02 Speaker 03 Cementum annula. It's so, you know, they tooth, they, they give tooth age estimates on tooth wear for deer. Like you just kind of look at a jaw and guys give estimates and we all know that those vary in accuracy, but cementum annula is basically like they cut a tooth in half and look at the annual growth rings like a tree.
40:24 Speaker 04 Okay.
40:24 Speaker 03 They diet, look at it under a microscope. It's done at a professional lab. Me and you could take the teeth of any animal that we wanted. You could pull one of your teeth and we could send it in to have it cementum annula aged.
40:39 Speaker 04 Okay.
40:40 Speaker 03 At the Matson Lab in Montana. But Bear's bear was 15 years old. Somebody made a good comment. They were like, bear and that bear were almost the same age.
40:50 Speaker 04 It's true. It's true.
40:52 Speaker 03 Another thing that's interesting to me is that if you'd have told me bear was going to kill a 15 year old boar, I would have been tempted to be like, oh, man, I better be a Boone and Crockett animal. I better be seven foot square Boone and Crockett. And bears are just like people. Me and you are about the same age, but like I'm just smaller than you.
41:12 Speaker 04 Right.
41:13 Speaker 03 Uh, smaller frame. Bears are the same way. So that bear wasn't getting any bigger.
41:17 Speaker 04 Okay.
41:17 Speaker 03 And, and.
41:18 Speaker 04 Would that bear have changed skull size over the years?
41:22 Speaker 03 I've debated that with so many people, talked to biologists all over the country. And I don't think anyone really knows the full answer. It's, but like a bear, like is your skull getting bigger with age?
41:36 Speaker 04 I hope, I hope my brain is getting bigger.
41:39 Speaker 03 Your ears are and your nose.
41:41 Speaker 04 My ears and my nose are. Then my mustache.
41:44 Speaker 03 That, that's actually fact. I wasn't, um, you know, poking fun at the size of your ears.
41:48 Speaker 04 They score land bridges by the size of their mustache.
41:50 Speaker 03 Yeah, size of their mustache. Um, it's possible that. A bear could calcify parts of its skull and get a little bit bigger, but really I've never had a biologist tell me and like, science isn't necessarily trying to understand the answer to that because there's not a big reason for it. So I don't know if they get bigger. They obviously get bigger up until the time they're fully mature. The biggest bear that I have ever killed on the Boone and Crockett scoring system was six years old. The bear weighed 360 pounds and had a 28 16 inch skull. Okay. That's a Boone
42:28 Speaker 03 and Crockett skull. And I have also killed more than one 500 pound bear that did not score Boone and Crockett. That was much older. I've killed an 11 year old, nine year old, and another older bear, and none of them scored Boone and Crockett. The six year old bear scored Boone and Crockett. So it's genetics.
42:50 Speaker 04 That was 140 pounds lighter.
42:52 Speaker 03 Yep.
42:53 Speaker 04 Wow. Interesting. We had, we had an Instagram question talking about, how did you get the meat back to Arkansas?
43:03 Speaker 03 So David has a commercial freezer on the Sandpiper. We quartered that bear up, put it on there and then put it completely frozen in ice chests and just had it shipped back to Arkansas. So in, in the town we were in, they ship a lot of salmon.
43:22 Speaker 04 Okay.
43:22 Speaker 03 And so there were commercial companies that shipped frozen goods. So we took it to this place.
43:30 Speaker 04 Okay.
43:31 Speaker 03 And they packaged it.
43:33 Speaker 04 They shipped whole quarters?
43:34 Speaker 03 Yeah, just shipped it right here.
43:36 Speaker 04 Okay.
43:37 Speaker 03 Yep. Pretty wild.
43:38 Speaker 04 Awesome.
43:39 Speaker 03 You can also check a, a, a cooler. You know, duct tape the cooler. I mean, it's not cheap. It's never cheap to do that, but yeah, it was good.
43:50 Speaker 04 Do you know how many, approximately how many pounds of meat you got?
43:52 Speaker 03 I don't even remember.
43:53 Speaker 04 This quarter's been. Okay. Well, let's, we got another clip here. Quickly following that bear kill.
44:00 Speaker 03 So these are some stone knives. This one I made, this one a buddy made me, but these are flint knapped and they're razor sharp. But this is what people would have skinned animals with for long before we got here. And so we're going to try them out on this bear.
44:23 Speaker 03 It's believed the first humans to come on to the North American continent passed through southeast Alaska, and without a doubt, they used stone tools to kill and butcher game. In a world where a lot of young people spend a lot of their lives behind screens, I'm glad to see Bear John interested in primitive hunting technology. I'm grateful for steel blades and technology, but I think skinning a bear with a rock can put the modern world in perspective.
44:54 Speaker 04 So, tell us what that was like. So, using this, do you feel like, how effective were they? Were they, I mean, did you find yourself at a significant disadvantage using the flint nap knives over a modern steel knife?
45:06 Speaker 03 Yeah, I would say if you characterize it like that, it would, it would take a lot longer to use a flint knife, it just would've.
45:14 Speaker 04 But still effective?
45:15 Speaker 03 It, it works. Like, if it's all you had, you could absolutely skin it.
45:19 Speaker 04 And those were flint?
45:20 Speaker 03 Yeah.
45:21 Speaker 04 Those blades were flint?
45:22 Speaker 03 Yeah, yeah. And, and they can re-sharpen them. So, we did a video a couple of years ago where we, me and Steve Rinella and Ryan Callahan and Spencer Newhart skinned an entire bison using stone tools. And we had a guy there that was sharpening them for us as we went. And, because they get dull just like a knife.
45:43 Speaker 04 Sure.
45:43 Speaker 03 And you're, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, nap it, get it sharp again. And, I mean, it probably takes twice as long, but I mean, that's not that big a deal. Like, if it took you like, an hour to skin a bear, it would take you maybe two.
45:56 Speaker 04 Yeah.
45:57 Speaker 03 And, and again, the video can't show everything, and we weren't trying to be, we were trying to show exactly how it happened. You see a picture of David helping him skin that with a, with a regular knife, and David did.
46:10 Speaker 04 Yeah.
46:11 Speaker 03 Like, we, Bear just was, jumped in there, and it was getting dark, and we had to get back to the boat before dark, and so we had some time constraints. So, we didn't, I didn't want to be like, I mean, I guess in some ways you might think, well, he skinned the whole bear by that, with that, but David actually helped him, you know?
46:29 Speaker 04 Yeah.
46:29 Speaker 03 But you absolutely could, if all you had was a flint knife and a way to sharpen it, you could skin any animal in North America. People have been doing that for longer than we had steel. You know, that's, that kind of blows your mind when you think about it. How long have we had steel as humans? I mean, a couple thousand years.
46:47 Speaker 04 Right.
46:48 Speaker 03 You know, that we were using. I mean, we were using stone technology for who knows how long.
46:57 Speaker 04 Yeah.
46:58 Speaker 03 Way longer.
46:59 Speaker 04 Yep.
47:00 Speaker 03 We've had steel and humans survived. They lived, they ate, they butchered meat. We know that. I mean, it's pretty kind of a neat idea. And I really bear, it is cool that he is focused on those things. Speaking of that, I actually didn't even mean for this to happen, but I was, we had a big rain last night in Arkansas. And I was wandering around the mule pasture this morning and picked up these stone tools out of my front yard. These are broken stone points, airheads, or you know, addle addle dart heads.
47:35 Speaker 04 Wow.
47:36 Speaker 03 That were in the mule pasture this morning.
47:38 Speaker 04 Napped by someone a long time ago.
47:40 Speaker 03 Evidence of ancient bow hunting right here where we're.
47:43 Speaker 04 Amazing.
47:44 Speaker 03 Recording this podcast.
47:46 Speaker 04 So what was it like getting to watch Bear kill that bear from a distance there and just seeing him do that? It had to be pretty rewarding and fulfilling.
47:57 Speaker 03 Oh, yeah. Yeah, it was cool.
47:59 Speaker 04 You know, you've got four kids and they've all at times hunted, you know, different, differing levels of engagement and passion about hunting. But watching Bear do something that you're also passionate about, man, that's gotta be, gotta be cool to see.
48:15 Speaker 03 It, it really is. And I, it may seem like this was all planned for Bear to just be a really passionate hunter. But it really wasn't. I mean, we never like made our kids, you know, follow these passions that I had.
48:34 Speaker 04 Right.
48:34 Speaker 03 We just kind of took them. It was a major part of their life. And Bear is, of the kids is the one who's kind of taken it the furthest so far, you know? But all the others like to hunt too.
48:49 Speaker 04 Yeah. All right. Here's our next clip.
48:55 Speaker 03 Bear didn't believe in whales. He hadn't seen one first before he believed it. Didn't believe them. He just wasn't totally convinced. There's a giant fish that just jumps out of the water. A mammal of all things that suckles its young with milk. This is ridiculous. But now we believe. They're right there.
49:19 Speaker 05 Wow. This was a humpback whale? Yep.
49:22 Speaker 04 This was so crazy. I would have given anything to bring one of those rib bones back.
49:27 Speaker 03 If we pick it up?
49:28 Speaker 05 Yeah.
49:29 Speaker 03 We just can't take it home.
49:30 Speaker 05 You can't, you can't keep them. I mean, they're just gonna get. Tore, oh, like, yeah. That's a rib bone? I guess, yeah. One world have real.
49:40 Speaker 03 Looks like a dinosaur.
49:43 Speaker 05 Yeah.
49:44 Speaker 03 Wow. That is wild.
49:46 Speaker 05 So you said, David, that for a year and a half after this whale died,
49:54 Speaker 05 the, the wolves, eagles, and bears were just having a heyday over here. Yeah, it lasted a long time. It was a soupy mess. You can see the bears. Yep. Look at how chewed that, look at that is. These are, these are all teeth marks.
50:10 Speaker 05 And what? This is the skull. Oh, yeah.
50:15 Speaker 05 Look, that's like the.
50:18 Speaker 04 I wonder if I got that name right.
50:24 Speaker 05 How's that for vertebrae?
50:27 Speaker 03 Wow.
50:28 Speaker 04 That's, that's unbelievable, that vertebrae.
50:31 Speaker 03 I'm a believer. Whale's real.
50:36 Speaker 04 So tell us more about that. I mean, that's, that's unbelievable.
50:40 Speaker 03 Did I get the, the name right? The Magnum Foreman? Magnum Foreman? I was, I was, for those of you who aren't watching, I was looking at the skull of a whale and like the hole in the back of the neck, like where the spinal column comes into the, to the, to the skull. I believe it's called the Magnum Foreman. Um, that was, I mean, almost one of the highlights of the trip for me. I don't, I don't really know why.
51:08 Speaker 04 Foreman Magnum.
51:10 Speaker 03 Oh, Foreman Magnum. I reversed the words. David said that that.
51:16 Speaker 03 Carcass for like, did I say two years?
51:20 Speaker 04 Year and a half.
51:20 Speaker 03 Year and a half?
51:21 Speaker 04 Yep.
51:22 Speaker 03 Was rotting and just, I don't know if every time you drove by there, but like, that's where the bears were. And he actually let a client shoot, as I remember it, a client killed a bear close to there. And after he scanned it, he said, I'll never do that again. The smell was so putrid.
51:42 Speaker 04 I can't imagine.
51:43 Speaker 03 And the bear had just been-
51:44 Speaker 04 Think about rotting meat for a year and a half.
51:46 Speaker 03 The bear had just been all over it. He said that even the, the bones, after all the flesh had been gone for a long time, still smelled terrible.
51:55 Speaker 04 So how, how long ago had that whale-
51:57 Speaker 03 I, I couldn't tell you. Probably-
51:59 Speaker 04 Three or four years, probably.
52:00 Speaker 03 Three or four years. And you could still smell a little bit of that bone.
52:05 Speaker 04 Unbelievable.
52:06 Speaker 03 That how, but yeah, there, there were humpback whales all over the place. I mean, just every single day without exception, we would see humpback whales.
52:17 Speaker 04 How close would they be?
52:18 Speaker 03 Well, you'd just be driving your boat and they would just pop up. You know, sometimes we were seeing their spouts. They, you see the spouts of water that goes up, you know, 10, 15 feet in the air. You can see that from like a mile away. You just see, but then just randomly you're driving and one just pops up like 50 yards away or, or maybe, maybe you see him and you're going that way and you have to kind of drive by him just to get where you're going, you know? And, um, yeah, pretty incredible.
52:48 Speaker 04 Well, that's, uh, that was really interesting to watch on, on the film.
52:54 Speaker 04 Okay. Here's, here's one of the first-
52:56 Speaker 03 I'm still bummed about this stalk.
53:00 Speaker 04 Watching Clay stalking a bear and then all of a sudden he takes off into the woods.
53:05 Speaker 03 It's embarrassing to watch yourself run in waiters. Winds swirls, the bear winds me while he's inside of 10 yards, but still quartering to me. And when he spooks, I opt to chase him and try to run him up a tree. It actually works, but I just can't get a shot. He was about eight yards, but still didn't get a shot.
53:29 Speaker 04 Such as trad hunting. So was that a spontaneous move? Was that something you thought, hey, if I see a bear and he goes in the woods, I'm gonna chase him?
53:38 Speaker 03 It's kind of just in the bag of tricks of...
53:41 Speaker 04 You've done that before?
53:42 Speaker 03 Yeah. Yeah. And it's worked before too.
53:49 Speaker 03 So, we weren't able to show that whole stalk. That stalk was money, okay? Right at dark, we see this bear just trucking down the wood line. We're able to get way in front of it. I'm able to get out, walk down the wood line towards it, duck deep in the timber, and he had just been walking down the wood line for a quarter mile, just right on the edge. And I get tucked in behind this tree and just am waiting for him and peek out and here he comes. He's been walking for a quarter mile. The wind, basically, when he got 10 yards, just kind of swirled. I mean, just like inside of this small perimeter of a human.
54:30 Speaker 04 Right.
54:30 Speaker 03 And in that kind of turbulent environment with like waves and water and the wood line and the open area, like you just, it's hard to predict what the wind's gonna do. I was on the downwind side of it. The wind's hit me in the face. But when he got, he was inside of 10 yards but quartering to me.
54:50 Speaker 04 Okay.
54:50 Speaker 03 Right? Cause he's walking towards me.
54:52 Speaker 04 Right.
54:52 Speaker 03 So I mean, like, he's in range, but I can't shoot him. He's gotta like come past me, or at least get even with me. Cause with that trad bow, you don't want to shoot one quartering to you. Gotta be broadside.
55:02 Speaker 04 Right.
55:03 Speaker 03 And so he gets like, right at 10 yards and makes a, and kind of throws his head up, and I'm just like, no! And he makes a loop. And basically, I knew that it was busted, but he was so close, I thought, maybe I can run him up a tree.
55:19 Speaker 04 Right.
55:20 Speaker 03 And I would've shot him out of a tree, you know? And basically, you can't see it, it's so dark, but he jumped up on a tree. You could see it in the video if you stopped it.
55:30 Speaker 04 Uh huh.
55:31 Speaker 03 The bear is, has his head out from behind the tree looking at me, and I'm... Very close to him, but all I can see is his head. He's like around the tree and then he ended up not running up the tree, but running off. But originally he jumped up on the tree when he saw me coming and I was like, what is this guy doing? And then he took off and so it was over. But in British Columbia, one time I stalked the bear, actually through a culvert. It's on the old, it's on the bear grease channel.
56:00 Speaker 04 Okay.
56:01 Speaker 03 There was a bear. There, there's this big road, this big like commercial gravel road for log trucks. Okay. Imagine a four foot culvert underneath this deal. I'm watching a bear feed right beside the end of a four foot culvert that has water running through it, coming away from the bear. I sneak up on the other side, walk through the culvert. The air is pushing down with the water and I basically poke my head out and there's a bear like five yards from the mouth.
56:37 Speaker 04 Wow.
56:38 Speaker 03 And I, I wish I would have taken the bear. It was a boar, but it was young and it was early in the hunt.
56:43 Speaker 04 Right.
56:43 Speaker 03 And I, and I've got my trad bow. This is British Columbia several years ago and I see the bear and I'm wearing a GoPro on my head. You can watch it on YouTube.
56:51 Speaker 04 Wow.
56:52 Speaker 03 And I just go, hey, bear. And it looks at me just coming out of the culvert and just takes off. And then I just chase it and it goes right up a tree. And I just stand there.
57:02 Speaker 04 Wow.
57:02 Speaker 03 But anyway, so that, that can work pretty good chasing them. I've never killed one like that, but.
57:09 Speaker 04 Yeah.
57:09 Speaker 03 It works.
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59:24 Speaker 03 More clips everyone.
59:25 Speaker 04 More clips.
59:26 Speaker 03 Would prove to be difficult.
59:27 Speaker 04 We're going to be watching.
59:28 Speaker 03 That's a three-legged bear. Primarily had to do.
59:30 Speaker 04 Really?
59:31 Speaker 03 What? Look at him. Not bear eyes. You see him?
59:33 Speaker 04 Look at that.
59:34 Speaker 03 He's missing a front left leg.
59:38 Speaker 04 Well, for our listeners right now, we're watching kind of a montage of.
59:43 Speaker 03 Man, it took us an hour.
59:44 Speaker 04 A few of the 21 different stalks that Clay did on bears.
59:50 Speaker 03 Hard to stalk, but this part of Alaska doesn't have a ton of grizzly. I find black bears easy to stalk within 50 yards. The bear finally breaks the 10 yard mark. This is the good one. Seven yards, but now he's facing me and he's way too close. I can't move. I try to shift my weight to get in better shooting position. And he hears me, sees me, and finally spooks. This was a big bear, probably nearing the seven foot square mark. And once again, I got to inside of 30 yards, but just couldn't close the distance. I'm starting to doubt if I can make it happen.
1:00:32 Speaker 04 21 different stalks.
1:00:33 Speaker 03 Mm hmm.
1:00:34 Speaker 04 21. So after, over the course of how many days?
1:00:39 Speaker 03 Eight days. Well, bear, bear hunted kind of two days, so really six days.
1:00:44 Speaker 04 Okay.
1:00:45 Speaker 03 Seven days. We'll, we'll give bear one day of full stalks.
1:00:48 Speaker 04 Of those stalk, I mean, from those stalks and, and being in a place that's unique for hunting bears. Tell us some of the things that you learned and maybe some things that you would have done differently.
1:01:00 Speaker 03 Yeah. Number one, I would have planned on wearing some type of moccasin. You almost had to wear rubber boots because it was so wet.
1:01:11 Speaker 04 Right.
1:01:12 Speaker 03 But I started carrying some little stalkasins, little, little, little shoes that you put on. But it was so late in the game.
1:01:23 Speaker 03 I never, I actually never used them. I, I would have used them a lot more.
1:01:26 Speaker 04 Mm hmm.
1:01:27 Speaker 03 It's very hard. Those bears were hearing me.
1:01:30 Speaker 04 Really?
1:01:30 Speaker 03 Yeah. And, and I had a cameraman with me, like right on my heel. So it's like two people walking and those bears heard us probably. Thirty percent of the time. And again, they wouldn't have heard us, like if you were just trying to get to thirty yards, you'd be okay.
1:01:45 Speaker 04 Right.
1:01:46 Speaker 03 From thirty to ten.
1:01:47 Speaker 04 Yeah, there's a lot more you hear in ten yards that you don't.
1:01:49 Speaker 03 And they can hear, they can hear so good. They just hear, they hear so well. And, you know, a bear is not a prey animal like a deer. So they don't have quite that response, but they are very concerned with other bears sneaking up on them because they'll kill them. I mean, it was grizzly country too.
1:02:09 Speaker 04 Okay.
1:02:10 Speaker 03 Like.
1:02:10 Speaker 04 Did you see any grizzly bear?
1:02:11 Speaker 03 No.
1:02:12 Speaker 04 Okay.
1:02:12 Speaker 03 No, not a lot of grizz. But I mean, it was in bounds for grizz to be, especially on the Alaska mainland side we were on. And so bears hear very well. So your feet. Number two, the wind, there's just nothing you could do. You're just at the mercy of the wind and where you could park the boat. And again, getting inside of thirty, forty yards, the wind would typically stay pretty good. But in, in that inner cone, you know, inside of thirty, even if the wind's hitting you in the face, like, we've all felt it when the wind is blowing consistently and then it stops.
1:02:49 Speaker 04 Yeah.
1:02:50 Speaker 03 And there's like a little bit of a drag and the wind just kind of eddies. And man, it just got me almost every time.
1:02:58 Speaker 04 Really?
1:02:58 Speaker 03 Like, now, we may talk about the successful stalk, but the successful stalk had two things going for it that the other twenty stalks didn't have. Okay? Number one, that bear was within twenty yards of a creek. That was.
1:03:14 Speaker 04 Let's actually, we, we have that coming up here in just a second. Let's save that one. But anything else that maybe you would have specifically done differently besides the stalkersons?
1:03:24 Speaker 03 Man, David, David Bennett's has guided hundreds and hundreds of bear hunters. And he says the thing that most people do is they're too slow.
1:03:36 Speaker 04 Oh, really?
1:03:37 Speaker 03 Yeah, he said, he said, on this kind of hunt, volume is what he finds that kills bears. And he would rather you get out of the boat and just do the boldest move possible.
1:03:48 Speaker 04 Really?
1:03:48 Speaker 03 Yeah. Do the boldest move possible, and if it works, it works. If it doesn't, it doesn't. What I was doing was getting out and like, just like trying to be like, this is the stalk. I have to give it my everything. And we'd end up spending an hour on this bear that was probably going to be blown whether I took my time or I didn't. Does that make sense?
1:04:12 Speaker 04 Yeah.
1:04:13 Speaker 03 And so David is just, was just like, Clay, you're too slow. You know, and I'd be like, you think? And he'd be like, yep, you just, he said, why did you try to get up in the woods and sneak around? I was like, well, I didn't want him to see him, see me. And he was like, he wouldn't have seen you if you'd have just laid low and just like walked straight towards it. And so, but again, it's like taking instructions from a pro basketball player when you're playing in the G League, you know? It's like, um, that's the way I felt. I really was humbled. Not that I thought that I was going to do good.
1:04:47 Speaker 04 Right.
1:04:47 Speaker 03 I don't mean it like I had high expectations for myself, but it was harder than I thought it would be. And I mean, I've stalked plenty of bears.
1:04:56 Speaker 04 Joe Etlinger 3423 says, Clay, there is no rule in bow hunting that you have to stalk every animal to the point of failure. If 30 yards is the closest you can get, just stay put and see if he comes your way. Seems like you may have learned that one on that, that on the one that went up the tree.
1:05:14 Speaker 03 Joe T. Linger 3423, that's a, that's a good comment. I understand what you're saying. You don't have to like push, push, push until the animal spooks. What Joe doesn't understand is the constraints that were bigger than just what you see on the film.
1:05:32 Speaker 04 Yeah.
1:05:33 Speaker 03 Like, like-
1:05:34 Speaker 04 Hard to get a full picture by a 48 minute film.
1:05:36 Speaker 03 Well, and just like what David was saying, he was like, Clay, don't mess around. Just get in there and try to do it. If you spook one, no big deal. We'll go on to the next one. And eventually you're going to find the one that's just right. So I see what he's saying. And in some cases, like, if you were in a place where you were going to see three bears in a week, you better do what Joe Linger 3423 says is don't push it. Just get to where you can get and then just wait.
1:06:03 Speaker 04 Right.
1:06:04 Speaker 03 Yeah. I probably could have done that. This was a volume hunt, though.
1:06:07 Speaker 04 Sure.
1:06:08 Speaker 03 And there was also a timestamp with David sitting out in the boat navigating the tides.
1:06:13 Speaker 04 Okay.
1:06:14 Speaker 03 You know, he would pull me, most of the time, he would pull me up, I would jump out, then he would go back out because the, the waves are just like slamming the boat.
1:06:24 Speaker 04 Right.
1:06:25 Speaker 03 So he's out there just like, you know, like messing around, waiting for me. It's not like I had three hours that I could see what the.
1:06:33 Speaker 04 How long, how long did some of those stalks last?
1:06:37 Speaker 03 Well, I mean, a couple of them lasted two hours. Most of the time they lasted 10 minutes.
1:06:42 Speaker 04 Okay, okay.
1:06:43 Speaker 03 Yeah.
1:06:43 Speaker 04 Um, Offroad Tech Double Zero said, "Great episode. The Alaska shows are full of amazing scenery, except Clay's butt."
1:06:53 Speaker 03 Ah.
1:06:54 Speaker 04 There was way too much of it. Must remember, stalk hunts equal watching butts.
1:06:58 Speaker 03 Hey, brother, you ain't wrong. That's the first thing that I noted when I watched the draft. I was like, wow, this is like feature.
1:07:08 Speaker 04 Clay was watching, he's like, "Does this stalk make my butt look fat?"
1:07:10 Speaker 03 The feature length film of Clay's butt. I am so sorry, people.
1:07:15 Speaker 04 All right.
1:07:16 Speaker 03 He ain't wrong.
1:07:17 Speaker 04 Well, we've got one more clip here we're gonna show.
1:07:23 Speaker 04 Clay's butt.
1:07:24 Speaker 05 The bear is tucked in behind this fallen tree, which offers some great cover to get close. He's just feeding on grass. And there's also a running stream really nearby that covers my sound. This is perfect. This is what I've been waiting for.
1:07:59 Speaker 05 I hit it right where I was aiming.
1:08:04 Speaker 03 You aimed in the wrong place, Clay.
1:08:06 Speaker 05 I got on the other side of that tree.
1:08:10 Speaker 05 Bear was laying down right there. Air hit right where I was aiming, but it didn't go in very deep.
1:08:23 Speaker 05 Oh no.
1:08:26 Speaker 05 It's not good.
1:08:31 Speaker 05 It's not good at all.
1:08:34 Speaker 05 David, I don't think it penetrated past the broadhead.
1:08:38 Speaker 05 I felt like I hit him right behind the shoulder, but I must have touched the tip of his shoulder. His elbow must have been back because it broke that broadhead.
1:08:49 Speaker 05 And I mean, we're going to come back in the morning and look. But that bear is not mortally wounded.
1:09:01 Speaker 05 And that was my biggest fear. And that is why I limited myself to 10 yards. And I hit right where I was aiming.
1:09:12 Speaker 05 And so I don't know what to say other than
1:09:17 Speaker 05 I messed it up, but that's just part of the game. I think that bear will be fine. It's a bummer to hit a bear and not recover it, but my hunt's over. Such is the drama of the self bow.
1:09:34 Speaker 04 Hmm. So kind of walk us through that thing.
1:09:39 Speaker 03 Well, so that stalk was so good. And it took, it took 21 stalks to get one that was just perfect. That there was a fallen tree that completely shielded the bear from anything going on the direction I was. Okay. There was also a stream that flowed out into the ocean there that did two things. Flowing water typically pulls air currents. So my wind was kind of like going out on the water. You know, you'd puff and it would just be going out of the water by that, by that little creek. That creek was like 20 yards from the bear. And then number two, it was loud, the sound of that water. So, I mean, it was like the perfect start.
1:10:24 Speaker 03 So I just peek out around that tree and that bear is there 10 yards.
1:10:30 Speaker 04 Was it a good bear?
1:10:31 Speaker 03 It was just a. Average male bear. I mean, we know because the bear got killed.
1:10:37 Speaker 04 Right.
1:10:37 Speaker 03 Like two weeks later. And I was told that it was like, you know, just a decent, younger type boar.
1:10:47 Speaker 04 Right.
1:10:47 Speaker 03 Probably a 200 pound animal.
1:10:49 Speaker 04 Okay.
1:10:49 Speaker 03 You know, it wasn't a big one.
1:10:51 Speaker 04 Right.
1:10:51 Speaker 03 And I wish we could have got better footage of the actual shot, but we were so worried about spooking game.
1:11:00 Speaker 04 Right.
1:11:01 Speaker 03 Dirt was.
1:11:02 Speaker 04 Being so close. Dirt myth was your camera?
1:11:04 Speaker 03 Yeah, Garrett Smith Dirt Myth was my cameraman and he just did the best he could without, you know, having to get out further than me and like spook the bear. And as I watched the film, I said it like three times and it could come across as me trying to make an excuse and maybe I probably was, but I was like, I hit right where I was aiming. I hit, I mean, I kind of kept telling myself, well, I hit where I was aiming. Well, I mean, I aimed in the wrong spot then, you know? And I've, I've said this for years and it's hard to compensate for, but on a, on a shorter haired animal like a deer, okay? A deer has, you know, this like half inch to one inch fur. You can see the contour of that animal. You can see a shoulder.
1:11:49 Speaker 03 A black bear is like shooting at a black trash bag that's been blown up like a balloon.
1:11:53 Speaker 04 Yep.
1:11:54 Speaker 03 You don't see the contour of its body quite as much because of the longer hair. Okay? Number two, the difference between shooting a bear and shooting a deer is that a bear has a lot more ability to contort its body. And what I've always told people is a bear can make itself into a C. Like envision a bear being broadside.
1:12:17 Speaker 04 Right.
1:12:17 Speaker 03 But his butt and his shoulder are closer than to you than the middle, like his last rib, like the middle of his body. It's like a dog. He can like curve his back. A deer really can't do that.
1:12:28 Speaker 04 Right.
1:12:29 Speaker 03 Think about that.
1:12:29 Speaker 04 Uh huh.
1:12:30 Speaker 03 So when he's, when that bear is like curved like a C, if you're aiming.
1:12:37 Speaker 03 Like, kind of where the vitals should be at this black trash bag that you can't see much contour on, you will hit his shoulder.
1:12:45 Speaker 04 Right.
1:12:46 Speaker 03 Does that make sense?
1:12:46 Speaker 04 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
1:12:47 Speaker 03 Like, it folds in.
1:12:48 Speaker 04 Uh huh.
1:12:49 Speaker 03 And so.
1:12:49 Speaker 04 It narrows the, the, the picture.
1:12:51 Speaker 03 So you could actually shoot in the place that on a 3D target you would shoot, but if that bear is cupped toward you in a C, you're gonna hit its shoulder. And, and that's what happened. Like, just in the moment, I wasn't able to see that that bear was actually, maybe just slightly cupped.
1:13:07 Speaker 04 Right.
1:13:08 Speaker 03 And like, I always say that a bear can do so many things that a deer can't. A bear can sit on his butt. That bear was actually laying on his belly when I first saw it. Like, laying flat on its belly with its paws flat on the ground like this.
1:13:20 Speaker 04 Really?
1:13:20 Speaker 03 Chomping grass. I mean, just, and like, if I had come up and that bear would have been like that, that shooting target would have been compressed and, and different than if it was just standing there with like its ribs kind of like, fully extended, hanging down. So, most people, including me, mess up on a bear when a bear is doing something unusual. And, and it's not like he was, he was just standing there broadside in my mind, and I just whoop, and just hit that shoulder. I knew that a lot of arrow was sticking out, but I actually thought that everything was okay, because, you know, I'm telling myself, I hit right where I was aiming.
1:13:59 Speaker 04 Right. Do you feel like you're, did you feel like you're, you had a full draw? You feel like all the shot was okay?
1:14:05 Speaker 03 I mean, that's where any traditional archer will tell you, it's easy to, what they call short stroke, when, when you're in the heat of the moment.
1:14:15 Speaker 04 Right.
1:14:15 Speaker 03 Where you're just like in such a hurry, you don't like get your full extension. I don't know. It's possible. I mean, I was so, Josh, being inside of 10 yards and, I mean, I had time and I, I walked through my shot sequence consciously. I was like, bow arm up, focus on where you want to hit, draw to your anchor point. I mean, I did everything, but.
1:14:38 Speaker 04 Yeah.
1:14:39 Speaker 03 Who knows?
1:14:39 Speaker 04 Yeah.
1:14:40 Speaker 03 I, I think so much of human memory is flawed.
1:14:43 Speaker 04 Right. It's true.
1:14:45 Speaker 03 I mean, I.
1:14:45 Speaker 04 It's true.
1:14:46 Speaker 03 You know, like, even me saying, I hit right where I was aiming, it's like, I wish the foot, the foot, you cannot see it. You cannot see the arrow in the footage. I don't know why. You just can't.
1:14:57 Speaker 04 Yeah.
1:14:59 Speaker 03 Who knows if I truly did? I do know I hit the shoulder because we know that for a fact because a couple of weeks later, and this is maybe the most bizarre part of the story. So we go check Bear's bear with Alaska Game and Fish. You have to take the animal actually to a biologist that pulls the tooth, that takes a hair sample, that does all this stuff. And so we're talking to him and you know, and, and I'm like, man, I shot one and got away. You know, I mean, I told him. And, um, and so David knew the guy that we were with really well.
1:15:35 Speaker 04 Right.
1:15:36 Speaker 03 And a couple of weeks later, David sends me a text message and said, found your broadhead. And I'm pretty sure some guys from Texas killed that bear with a rifle.
1:15:45 Speaker 04 Really?
1:15:45 Speaker 03 Yeah, yeah.
1:15:47 Speaker 04 And they pulled the broadhead out?
1:15:48 Speaker 03 They, they just were skinning it and found a broadhead and thought it was interesting. And when they took it into the game and fish, they were like, hey, we found this. And the guy was like, I think I know whose that is.
1:15:58 Speaker 04 Wow.
1:15:59 Speaker 03 You know, I was, I, I almost, you know, part of me didn't want to tell that part of the story. Because I mean, animal, the, the ethics of, of just the, the treatment of animals. It's not the right words I'm saying there, but I mean, you don't want to shoot a bear and not find it.
1:16:20 Speaker 04 Right.
1:16:20 Speaker 03 You don't want an animal running around with a broadhead.
1:16:22 Speaker 04 You guys went back the next morning and looked for it.
1:16:24 Speaker 03 Oh, we did. We, we did. We went back the next morning and looked for it. Found nothing.
1:16:29 Speaker 04 Yeah.
1:16:30 Speaker 03 You know, and, um, the bear was fine, except for he got shot by a guy from Texas.
1:16:39 Speaker 03 You know, so, so, um, uh, I, I, I don't know if it's from Texas. That's what I remember being sad, but, uh, so that's the story.
1:16:49 Speaker 04 Well, that, that was great, man. The film was fantastic. And, uh, we, uh, another comment here. Did you feel fortunate the bear ended up okay after you hit it? And also I didn't see any firearms on your stalks as a safety backup.
1:17:07 Speaker 03 Man.
1:17:10 Speaker 03 I've read that comment and nobody carries firearm backup on black bear hunts. And when I say nobody, obviously there are exceptions to that rule.
1:17:22 Speaker 04 Right.
1:17:22 Speaker 03 But I would say 80% plus of people hunting black bears are not, if they're bow hunting, are not carrying a firearm backup.
1:17:31 Speaker 04 Mm hmm.
1:17:31 Speaker 03 Now, if you're hunting in grizz country, you probably would. There's been times when I've carried a pistol almost just for the fun of it.
1:17:39 Speaker 04 Mm hmm.
1:17:39 Speaker 03 But I would say 95% of my black bear hunting, I've never had firearm backup.
1:17:44 Speaker 04 Mm hmm.
1:17:45 Speaker 03 Grizz, totally different story.
1:17:46 Speaker 04 Yeah, yeah.
1:17:47 Speaker 03 Um.
1:17:47 Speaker 04 Much more aggressive.
1:17:48 Speaker 03 So just, it's just, it's just not.
1:17:54 Speaker 03 You're just not going to be attacked by a bear while you're hunting them. You might be attacked by a bear while you're at your camp, you know?
1:17:59 Speaker 04 Yeah.
1:17:59 Speaker 03 Wants to eat your food, or you run into a sow with a cub while you're out hiking.
1:18:06 Speaker 04 Um, another comment here. Uh, he says, Caleb Allen says, just finished the episode, still can't believe what happened to Clay's arrow. Do you think maybe the constant moisture may have weakened the wood at the broadhead point? I would have imagined that even the self bow with that type of broadhead would have struggled to get. I can't imagine even with a self bow that that type of broadhead would have struggled to get more penetration.
1:18:32 Speaker 03 Yeah, that's a good point. I don't know. I don't think, I don't think wet wood necessarily means weak wood if that, if I'm understanding this comment. It's possible though. Definitely the water on the string and water on the feathers would have slowed the bow to some degree.
1:18:48 Speaker 04 Right.
1:18:48 Speaker 03 But again, that's why I was limiting myself to 10 yards.
1:18:51 Speaker 04 Mm hmm.
1:18:51 Speaker 03 Because I felt like at that distance, it really wouldn't have mattered. I mean, the bottom line is I hit the shoulder.
1:18:58 Speaker 04 Right.
1:18:58 Speaker 03 And, and with any, I mean, even with a compound, if you hit the shoulder, potentially you're going to have problems.
1:19:07 Speaker 04 And so hitting that, hitting that animal ends your.
1:19:11 Speaker 03 It does. There's legality of such is different in many states, but in Alaska, if you draw blood on an animal, that's your, that's your tag.
1:19:23 Speaker 04 Yeah.
1:19:23 Speaker 03 And, and in most places, and in most people that I've been around, even if that's not the law, that's typically the way that I would manage something.
1:19:33 Speaker 04 Yeah.
1:19:34 Speaker 03 If you have, if you have one bear tag and you wound one, just. Check your tag.
1:19:40 Steven Rinella? Yep.
1:19:40 Speaker 03 You know.
1:19:41 Steven Rinella? Yep.
1:19:42 Speaker 03 Um, that, I, I wouldn't, I would say most of the time, that's what a lot of people would do anyway.
1:19:49 Speaker 03 Man, thank you guys so much for watching this companion podcast for Meat Eaters 12 and 26 film. This is episode three of our Southeast Alaska boat based for bears. Check it out on YouTube. If you haven't watched it, please go watch it. It's a, it's a lot of action. I tell you what, it's a lot of action and um, it was a really special time to get to spend that with uh, my son Bear John and uh, man, I, I hope you guys get to get out and hunt this spring. And thanks so much for checking this out.
1:20:33 Steven Rinella? If you spend a lot of time outdoors, you got dogs, you got kids, you know how hard it is to keep the floor of your rig clean. A thing we do in our, in our little fleet of vehicles that I have at my household, if you go look, open the door on any one of them, they all got WeatherTech. We get a car, we throw the mats out and put in WeatherTech. Cause that way, when there's a mess, it's like your kid's fault, your dog's fault, it's the weather's fault. Doesn't matter. You take them suckers out and hose them off and you're back to being good as new. I'm telling you, if you got a vehicle, put WeatherTech in there, you're gonna be happy you did it. And check this out, American made floor liners and cargo liners. Okay, they laugh in the face of all weather. Go take a look for yourself today at weathertech.com.
1:21:13 Speaker 03 This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. You know those little promises you make to your future self? Tomorrow I'll put my phone away earlier or stop rehearsing arguments in the shower. Tomorrow I'll stop saying yes to everything or stop overthinking that conversation. Most of us aren't trying to become completely different people. We're just hoping to feel a little better every day. That's what's great about BetterHelp. With them, better is personal. It's matching with a therapist who gets you and having someone in your corner. Better doesn't have to come from major victories. It can be from the small habits you create and how you honor your needs on a daily basis. So many of us are great at prioritizing even the smallest things for our loved ones. But what about ourselves?
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1:22:19 Steven Rinella? A few weeks into hunting season, you usually have a pretty good idea of what gear is working and what you wish you had. That's where Tractor Supply comes in. Maybe you need another trail camera for a spot that's heating up, warmer layers for a cold front rolling in, or a cooler for when everything finally comes together. Whatever the season throws at you, Tractor Supply has the gear to keep you in the woods. Stop by your local Tractor Supply or shop tractorsupply.com.
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