Yep

... and, you know, dissecting cover, and then putting it all together with your dog.

I mean, that is, is a big part of it.

But the people you're with, um, the, the real, uh, thrill of it sometimes to me is overcoming the challenges, and I just really love having to figure it out on my own.

I've always been that way.

I've always loved that aspect of the hunt.

And so eating a bird at the end of the day.

Mm-hmm.

Oh, yeah.

You know? It's so much different than if I were just going out there and, yeah, I'm gonna hold that bird in hand and then put it in my vest and, you know, appreciate that moment.

But when it's with the kids, it's a real celebration.

We accomplished something great that day, and that can be it.

If we want to call it right there, we did what we came to do.

We may leave them wanting more, and that's a good thing.

I believe the worst thing we can do when we're getting the kids going and out there hunting or fishing, is that we can spend too much time and we end up leaving them with, uh, "It's too hot," or, "I'm too cold," or, "I don't want to do that again.

Right.

And then obviously the the moontail jig came out and i was like huge fan i'm like i gotta try it the action that you get out of hair versus plastic is totally different what's your favorite go-to like snapping presentation i i know when it comes and the reason that i'm so pumped about the echo hair jig is the fact that it has that aspirin head design just like the moontail

Yeah, so it depends on the day.

Sometimes when they're just really going, you can just rip it up.

But the thing is, when you rip the rod tip up, you cast it out, close the bail, it sinks down pretty quick.

It's heavy, right? So you get down there quick, depending on how deep you're in.

I keep my rod at about 9 o'clock.

And you feel it settle on the bottom, reel down the slack, and you rip it up about 3 feet.

They have a wide spectrum of colors.

And then obviously the the moontail jig came out and i was like huge fan i'm like i gotta try it the action that you get out of hair versus plastic is totally different what's your favorite go-to like snapping presentation i i know when it comes and the reason that i'm so pumped about the echo hair jig is the fact that it has that aspirin head design just like the moontail

Yeah, so it depends on the day.

Sometimes when they're just really going, you can just rip it up.

But the thing is, when you rip the rod tip up, you cast it out, close the bail, it sinks down pretty quick.

It's heavy, right? So you get down there quick, depending on how deep you're in.

I keep my rod at about 9 o'clock.

And you feel it settle on the bottom, reel down the slack, and you rip it up about 3 feet.

They have a wide spectrum of colors.

Go ahead, Casey

... we have to strike that balance all the time, right? With every single, you know, acquisition press release and everything that we put out.

It's like, how do we balance celebrating this without, without kinda going too far and, and pointing people, you know, directly to it or, or giving it too much attention, right?

Yeah

... uh, to a complex down in Iowa.

Um, I struggle with that a lot, but at the end of the day, um, if we're gonna communicate the, the things that we're doing on the landscape and land ac- land acquisition and, um, you know, access to private lands is a big part of that, um, we have to be able to, to tell that story.

Yeah.

It, it is interesting the difference I'm starting to notice on, uh, CRP land that is like they did it 80% of the job and they did a B, they did a B level job.

Uh, which isn't...

It's not bad.

I'm not complaining.

I'm glad it's there.

To, um, the people who put the extra 10, 15, 20% of the effort or money or work in, and it's like a big difference.

It's beautiful

birds, whether it's chucker or, I mean, Bob whites or what, what have you, but, but how, how is that a relatable skill? I mean, have you noticed when you go from virtual reality into the field, do those, do those practices that you find in virtual translate to real world success?

I think so.

I really think, you know, Phillip, you mentioned it shows your misses and it helps you kind of wrap your head around, you know, when a clay pigeon is flying away.

My kids are really young, so they've been using it and they can see, you know, first off, I've got a wooden stock that is the same feel and everything as a real gun.

So I get to help them shoulder it and you can adjust it to their length, which is helpful too.

So then they're comfortable shouldering it.

They know to put their cheek on it.

So when you talk about and you've seen so many diverse terrain and agriculture and topography, what is one of the biggest determining factors? If someone wanted to grow their upland population, what are some of the determining factors that guys and ranchers and farmers need to look at to improve their habitat?