Canines are our passion.
They are our addiction.
They are our way of life right down to the very core and without them we would be lost.
The canines of this world really are something to behold.
They assist us at work, they accompany us at home, and they perform for us in the field.
No matter where we go, they are by our side.
Canines really are a ride or die, and for that we are grateful.
This podcast will showcase working canines of various breeds and disciplines as we search
for those canines and their handlers who are always striving to be the best at what they
do.
Those who are always grinding.
Those who are always pushing the limits.
Those who are always dogging.
Join us on our adventures as it is sure to be a wild ride.
I'm your host, Bryce Matthews.
And I'm your co-host, Stephen Basham.
And this, this is Semper Doggen.
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any questions you may have.
Welcome, welcome, welcome guys to another episode of the Semper Doggen podcast.
I am your host Bryce Matthews and we are joined by the ever ugly Stephen Basham.
How are you brother?
Ever beautiful.
You know, this should be a video version so that I appreciate the beauty of what the silver
and gray just brings.
Oh yeah, you're rocking it alright.
Guys tonight we are going to sit down and this episode is going to be for the new competition
hunter.
It is going to be for the old competition hunter.
It is going to be for anybody who is interested in an equipment upgrade or swap.
This episode tonight, Basham and I are going to go through everything that we are using
on a nightly basis.
Where you can get it, the pros and cons of each thing, kind of like a little product
review just kind of of what we are using.
So we just got back from Automoaks and while we were there we were not able to sit down
and record with anybody.
It was the busiest week of my life.
What about you Basham?
I did not have a free second.
Man if you read my post on Facebook, I didn't know that Basham's handyman service was going
to be employed at Automoaks because man I got up there and from day one everything was
going wrong with everybody's camper and had electrical issues.
Jeffrey's camper kept popping the 30 amp breakers which it is a 50 amp trailer anyways but his
most trailers are 50 amp but his was really like every few minutes was popping a breaker.
So I ended up going to the store and getting enough stuff material to make him his own
outlet for his camper and then everybody else because it was hot.
They were popping and then his slide outs wouldn't work so I had to troubleshoot and
find out why his slide outs weren't working and then Mark and Tiff's door wouldn't shut
so I was over there working on that.
Man it turned into like a handyman service.
Yeah between working on campers, getting the wedding dialed in where it needed to be, you
and I trying to get things ready for the hunts and then trying to help everybody get stuff
ready for the show.
Then the storm.
Yeah then that storm came through.
The storm.
There was a devastating storm that came through guys.
If you didn't see any of my pictures, they were probably just on Snapchat but there was
a storm that came through and it literally looked like a mini tornado came through Richmond,
Indiana.
The tents just absolutely wadded up like your pop up tents.
They were wadded up.
They were thrown on top of campers and on top of trailers.
There was stuff flipped upside down.
It was just, it came through and wreaked havoc.
Dogs running loose.
Yeah, Basman Eye, we caught a dog running loose through the grounds there that had broke
loose from its tie out during the storm and heading towards the road.
So guys we just did not get a chance to sit down and record but what we did get a chance
to do was kind of walk through the grounds, just chat with people, spend time, fellowship,
have some camaraderie.
We looked at some of the new gear that's out, looked at some of the old stuff that we've
been using for a long time, the tried and true, and we kind of thought it would just
be a nice time to sit down here and talk about what we're using on a nightly basis.
So that's what we're going to do tonight, Basham.
Is there anything else that you want to cover tonight?
No.
You can just kind of start off, because I know you've kind of changed it up on me a
little bit.
There for the longest time you had the vest that you had special ordered and special made
and I've noticed, actually I was going to hit you up on that.
I noticed here lately you've deviated from the vest and now you've went to the little
belt.
Yeah.
And actually I think you noticed that, well, you didn't notice because I stayed in the
truck, but I've kind of done the same thing.
Yeah.
I saw it one night when we went pleasure hunting.
I saw that you had on.
So yeah, a little military belt.
It's got, you know, it's got a first aid, it's got my other pouch and then it's got
a pouch for my Garmin and a pouch for my thermal.
Yeah.
All right.
Well, we're going to get there.
So let's, let's start from the bottom.
Let's break this down and do it in a format of, let's talk about the product and one thing
that you like and one thing that you would change because I can think of something that
I would change with just about everything that I have.
If it were a perfect world.
All right.
Let's start with the boots.
Okay.
What are you rocking?
Right now and I, I was I won't mean actually I wanted to get the names of them, but on
the inside, on the inside of it, it's worn off.
So I can't really tell you, I know they're lacrosse, but I don't know exactly which lacrosse
they are.
Okay.
Cause I can't remember.
I've actually believe it or not, which, you know, I mean, I hunt pretty hard.
So my problem has always been with the boots to be honest with you.
So I'm a big dry shot fan.
I love the dry shots just because I like the bulkness of them.
A lot of people don't like them because they're heavy.
The kind of the same with the Quattros, but the dry shots I like because man, they've
got some grip on the bottom.
If you've ever looked at the tread on the bottom of the dry shot, I mean, it's like
full wheel drive.
So it gives you, it gives you a good grip.
Problem really doesn't really stem much with the boot.
Like I don't really, a lot of people have problems with the boot splitting and stuff
like that.
Mine's more with the, with the chaps, usually within five to six months, four months, sometimes
pretty starting to tear apart from the, from the boot.
And I just half the time I just ended up pitching the boot instead of, I should go get it fixed,
but just pisses me off and I ended up going to get new boots.
But right now I'm rocking lacrosse is like I said, I'm not sure which ones they are.
They're the lightweight ones.
So they don't have insulation on the inside of them.
And then obviously I cannot, I know you're the same way.
I cannot wear boots anymore without my booties.
Yep.
Those are the, those are the Bama socks he's talking about.
So I am wearing the Bikina step light pro boots.
Okay.
Those are the boots that I prefer because they are super lightweight.
It's almost like having a tennis shoe on the other thing.
And I'm going to give you guys a little more detail on this boot cause I'm a big fan of
it.
So the Bikina is one of the only boots on the market that is a one piece molded design.
There is no sole glued onto the shell of a boot.
It's all molded at the same time.
So you, when Bashton talked earlier, you know, a lot of guys have issues with souls and boots
splitting and doesn't happen with the Bikina because there's nothing on the bottom to come
off with.
There's nothing that's mated together.
So the, the Bikina boot, like he talked about the tread on his lacrosse is these are the
same way.
They have absolute meat hooks on the bottom of them.
They are very, very sturdy.
They have good deep traction and you can really get some traction going up a muddy bank.
So big fan of the Bikina boot and I'm rocking the Yoder nylon Bushmaster chap.
And I will say that, you know, me, I always have everything of mine customized.
Like everything I do is custom and I do it for a reason because I'll, I'll use what's
on the market and then I'll pick it apart and I'll, I will tailor make it to however
I like it.
So me being a shorter fella, five foot nine in stature with these little bitty legs, what
I have found here in Indiana is that trying to cross the amount of fences that we have,
I was ripping the insides of the chaps out on the standard, um, the standard chaps to
have like the wicked chaps, um, maybe the five star chaps, you know, whatever, there's
some of the thinner materials.
So, so I called Yoder and I had them put the Bushmaster chap, which is the thickest chap
that they make right below snake chap, um, on my boots.
So just to help with that issue, they don't get caught on the fences as much whenever
I'm crossing limbs and logs, they just don't rip as bad.
So I'm just trying to help myself get a little bit longer life out of those chaps.
Um, it is a little bit hotter, but I'm willing to sacrifice that, you know, um, if I can
get a longer life out of a pair of chaps, cause they're about $185 for a boot and chap
combo.
So if I can get a little bit, that's any of them now.
Yep.
So the one I'm, I'll be honest, probably my favorite ones and help me.
I know dry.
I don't know if dry shot does it or not.
Um, who makes the half boot?
So dry shot, uh, does make a half boot that kind of goes up to the side, like the up to
your calf.
Yes.
Those.
So I wore those for about five or six months.
I got them from Jake Reineger and I absolutely loved those as far as like slipping them on,
slipping them off.
You know, I didn't have to worry because you know, me, I hunting shorts a lot.
And so I'll, I'll know knee socks, you know, so that way it's not rubbing on my calves,
but with those, uh, half boots, I could just wear a regular boot socks and it was really
nice.
I liked those.
Yeah.
So the, my one complaint with the bikinis is that, like you said, what you're rocking
through the crosses, they are not insulated.
So in the winter time, God, my feet freeze.
Um, and that is worth wearing a Bama sock on the inside of it.
Guys, if you haven't, if you haven't looked into the Bama socks, check those out.
If you guys have like feet that sweat real bad, like myself, those Bama socks are great.
They're moisture wicking socks.
So what they do is they draw the moisture away from your actual sock.
And when you get done hunting, it's like voodoo magic.
You'll pull your foot out of this boot and that Bama sock will be absolutely soaked in
your regular cotton sock or whatever your wool sock, whatever you want to wear is dry.
So it keeps your feet dry.
Um, and then in the winter time, best part of in the winter time, it does offer a little
bit of warmth there too.
What's the best part of the Bama socks?
Artist, what for you, what is the first thing to go in a boot?
The sole, the insole.
Mine is the mind's the heel.
If I don't, before Bama socks came along, I would go through boots like crazy because
the back that in socks.
I used to have to double up on socks because I would wear the heel out of my sock.
I mean, I would get blisters on the, on the heel of my, my foot because if I wore one
sock because by the time the heel of the boot wore out, it was wearing my sock out.
And then all of a sudden come the Bama sock.
And now I mean my bash and boom, I get a new pair and there I go.
Instead of wearing a pair of boots out or a pair of socks out, you know, I've got those
Bama socks.
Yeah.
Um, so yeah, that's my only complaint is I wish I could find an insulated version of
that boot that I could order for the winter.
And I might look into that.
They might make it.
I just haven't, haven't come across them yet, but I might have those custom made.
Have you tried the dry shod?
I have, I have tried the dry shot.
I don't like them.
They're so heavy.
The dry shod, the quattros, they're all heavy.
And when you're walking through mud and snow, I mean, you might as well have a 10 pound
dumbbell strapped to your foot in my, and we know how you are with Charlotte horses.
Oh yeah.
I get cramps like absolutely crazy.
I got a cramp earlier today, literally walking down a sidewalk.
Why?
Why does that happen to me?
I don't know.
Right in my calf.
It was awful.
So yeah, I try to keep stuff lightweight.
Okay.
So let's move on up.
Moving on up.
And I think this is probably where we both go to the belt now.
As you alluded to earlier, when I first started hunting, I struggled to find a place to put
everything.
I wanted things in a convenient location.
I wanted things easily accessible.
I wanted things secure where they weren't going to fall off.
So what I did is I actually got this from Shane Maxey.
You guys who have been around for a while, and especially in the red bone breed, you
know, Shane, I worked with Shane over at General Motors for several years.
He was a, he was the pipe fitter on one of my press lines and I was talking to him about
this.
I'm like, dude, I can't figure this out.
And he said, Hey, he said, check into this vest.
He said, you can buy the vest on Amazon.
It's got Molly attachment and Molly comes from the military.
It's an acronym M O L L E.
I forget exactly what the acronym stands for, but basically it has a series of straps and
loops that you can weave together and put, put things where you want them and they stay
secure.
So you buy the vest and then you buy your specific pouches.
And so I made my own vest.
I had my phone on the front of my chest.
I had my phone, my handheld receiver from my dog that I was running at the time, two
big pockets, which held my leads, my scorecards, pencils, squalors, I had a water bottle pouch,
a thermal pouch.
I had a carabiner clipped onto me with like a little safety light, a sport dog safety
beacon.
I had all kinds of stuff.
I had all this stuff on my, on the front of my vest and that's what I wore.
And I wore that for years and it, the biggest problem was it was heavy and it was hot in
the summertime.
So in the last two years I have migrated, no last year, the last year I have migrated
to wear in the competition belt.
The belt that I wear is, it's a froggy bottom belt, you know, made by our title sponsor,
Froggy Bottom Outdoors.
Yoder nylon makes these with our name on them.
And it is a, it's a one and a half inch thick nylon belt, which I just put around my waist.
It doesn't go through your butt loops.
On that belt, I have a, on the left side, I keep a big versatile catch all pouch.
In that pouch, I keep two Kuhn squalors.
I always have two.
I'll get into which squalors I'm using.
Two Kuhn squalors, scorecard, pen, toilet paper, an allergy, like an inhaler type deal.
I think that's all I have in there.
Then on the, still on the left side, I've got two water bottle pouches.
I keep one for myself, one for the dog.
Then on the right side of that belt, I've got my thermal pouch, my Garmin pouch.
I run a monocular, a Vortex monocular.
I can get into that in just a minute.
And then, yeah, that's it.
That's all I keep on that belt.
So my lead goes across my shoulders.
So everything that I need that was on that vest is now in a belt form.
And it reminds me of a police duty belt.
I like it because it is not hot in the summertime.
It lets my upper half of my body breathe.
Everything stays where it needs to.
I run that belt very tight.
Everything stays on the left.
It needs to be on the left.
What's on the right is on the right.
I can bend over with no issues with that vest.
It was very hard to bend over and get under things.
When I sit in my truck, everything's on the sides.
It's worked out very well.
And I can wear it in the wintertime too, even if I'm wearing a big coat.
So that vest, if you had to wear a big coat, the vest was very bulky to get over the coat
and it was cumbersome.
And it was uncomfortable, honestly.
The belt, you can wear whatever you need to.
So big fan of that belt.
Are you wearing about the same style?
Yes and no.
So I wore the typical coon hunting vest that everybody sells.
The mesh with a few pockets here and there.
And then for Christmas, the kids got me the Molly belt.
And so I switched everything to the Molly belt because it allowed me to carry more stuff.
So kind of the same thing as you.
On the right side, I've got a kind of a catch all pouch.
So in that catch all pouch, I've got a couple extra Garmin batteries, handheld batteries
that I put in there.
I've got my map cards.
We've got a few pins that I keep in there and a smaller antenna for the Garmin.
Oh, and I do keep a long range antenna in my catch all pouch.
Forgot about that one.
Yep.
So I've also got in that same pouch, I have a Gerber.
Just a regular Gerber with knife and all that other stuff, multi-tool.
So my pouch, the way it's set up is it's got a big pouch.
On the very front of it, it's got a little pouch.
And on the ends, it's got two little bitty pouches on the ends.
In the back end, I've got my toilet paper.
In the main pouch, I carry a bang bang in the main pouch, my self-defense weapon.
I keep that.
What else do I keep?
I keep bullets, 22 bullets.
Always keep a little bit in there.
That way, if I do grab my gun to go shoot one out or something like that, I don't have
to be looking for them.
I know that if I ever run out in my clip or if I get out there, you know how it is.
You get out there and your clip's empty.
I've got a few in my pouch.
So I carry two coon squalers on my carabiner around my neck, but I also carry two extra
ones inside my pouch, which we'll get into which ones we're using.
Moving on back, I've got my first aid kit.
I've got a quick clot.
I've got compression bandages.
I've got Benadryl.
I've got Tylenol.
I also went and got a collapsible bowl.
I got that back there.
And then I've also got alcohol spray.
And I'll get into why I use alcohol spray in a minute.
Moving on over, I've got a water bottle carrier right next to it.
I've got another water bottle carrier that I use as my thermal holder.
And then right next to that is my cell phone holder.
And on the outside of the cell phone holder, it's got another Velcro strap.
And that's where my Garmin sets.
Yeah, it's your I mean, you're packing quite a stuff, quite a bit of stuff onto that belt.
Sounds like yours is a little more in depth than mine.
Yeah, but you really don't notice it.
Like once you snap it on, it's not like I know it sounds like to the sounds like, wow,
man, he's carrying so much stuff.
Oh, and then the big pouch, I have an extra lead because you know how that goes.
You just never it's just an old actually it's a University of Kentucky Wildcat just roll
up lead that I just shoved down in that big pouch.
It's just you know this, we're always out there.
Nine times out of 10, you know, especially for me, like I'm down in the bottoms and you
hunted down in Yankee town with me before.
How hard would it be to trip and fall and one of those nubs go right through, you know,
right through your rib cage.
I mean, just anything.
I mean, you know how bad it is down there in the bottoms.
And so you're out there at three o'clock in the morning all by yourself.
And I try to have a little bit of everything, you know, from like I said, my Gerber to my
gun to you know, just anything that I might need.
I've even got a roll of fish in line in there because you just you just never know.
Yeah.
So let's let's kind of dive into some of the specifics on the belt.
So we are on the belt as far as the tracking system.
We are both rocking the Garmin tracking systems.
Yes, I have.
I have a Garmin 300.
I what are you running?
It depends on what I'm doing.
So just me personally, I feel that the Garmin that the Alpha 100 pick up better, have better
luck with the Alpha 100, the old 100, then I have the 200 or the 300.
Now that's when I'm competition hunting.
When I am training, I cannot stand an Alpha 100.
It is horrible.
And I've described this many a time.
So I'll just give a quick synopsis on why that is.
So on the two and three hundred, you've got a dog in there six hundred yards and say he's
running a road and you're like, I'm going to bump him off that road on the two or three
hundred.
You go to bump him and you realize that you're controlling a different color.
So you need to scroll through the dogs to get the right color so you can bump him.
And so all you've got to do is scroll on the right hand side and the maps don't move on
the 100.
Say I'm on dog a, but I need to be shocking dog B. Well, I've got to go and I've got to
switch to dog B. Well, when I switch to dog B, it automatically takes the map back to
where I'm at.
So then I've got to scroll on the maps back over to make sure that he hasn't jumped off
of the road.
And it's just it's just harder when you're running, which, you know, I run multiple dogs.
So when I'm trying to run multiple dogs and train on multiple dogs, the 100 just doesn't
just doesn't cut it for me.
However, the 100 for me picks up better.
So that's what I use in the competition.
Got you.
OK, so we're both running Garmin tracking systems.
I'm just going to go around my belt here.
So start with the tracking systems, the Garmin next behind that is the thermal.
I am running the AGM Taipan 15 384.
We're running the same thing.
I've got a 25 and love it.
Absolutely love it.
The Taipan 15 to me and me and you have been avid on all of these different thermals, all
of these different thermals, the 25.
I absolutely love.
I think it's the best one out there.
The 15 works just as good.
It's not quite got the picture.
I think the 25 is a hair better.
But the convenience of the 15 really won me over.
It's so easy, comes on quicker.
It's just simpler.
So that's what I carry.
Yeah.
It's something that I would pick apart on the 15.
I do.
I do love it and I don't need the great picture quality.
I just need to see a ball of heat.
I don't care to count whiskers and all that good stuff.
I just need to see heat.
So the 15 for me is the best bang for the buck.
What I would pick apart on it is I've been using it for about two years now and the battery
life on it is starting to suffer.
You know, I used to get two almost three weeks out of a charge and now if I'm getting three
or four nights, it's that's good.
So I'm having to charge it a lot more frequently and I'll notice like the weather conditions
play a big factor in it.
If it gets real cold and I leave my belt out in my truck overnight, the next day it's zapped.
So you know, two years into it, the battery is not holding up like I would wish that it
would.
Yeah.
And the second part about those is there's really no way to get a new battery for it.
So right.
Because it is an enclosed unit.
So yes, going back around the belt, I'm running a monocular and I don't know of a lot of people
you're giving me a crazy look there.
I don't know of a lot of people that run these.
The reason for this and maybe I'm giving away a speed speed, what do they call it?
Speed secret in racing, you know, something you don't tell a lot of people, but I'm here
to help anybody any way that I can.
So the reason I run this monocular is in PKC professional kill club, you are allowed to
use your phone to score a tree.
You are allowed to take a picture up in a den, take a video and score off of that.
That is perfectly legal.
So you're talking about a, a, a borescope.
Nope, nope, nope.
This is a monocular that just as just like, just like a, a binocular, you know, like a
set of binoculars.
This is a single monocular.
It's called the vortex solo and I'm running the eight by 36 power made by vortex.
And the reason that I do this is even in a tree and I had this conversation with Shane
Patton before I went out and spent the money.
They're about 170 bucks.
I talked to Shane Patton, director of PKC before I did this.
And you, if you have a coon in a tree and people are like, no, that's not a coon.
That's not a coon.
You're allowed to take your phone and zoom in and take a picture.
Right?
You can do that with this monocular.
You can amplify and get a clearer picture on your phone.
You basically take a picture through the monocular and you can take a crystal clear picture at
the top of a tree and you can easily see that that is a coon.
The other thing that I like is, you know, if I go out to the woods and the, the thermal
is dead because it's happened a couple of times, got there and thermals dead and like,
I just, I don't know.
It's thick up in the leaves.
I think it's a coon.
It's not looking at me.
I don't, I think it's cool.
I don't know.
You whip that little monocular out.
It literally fits in the palm of your hand.
It doesn't weigh anything.
You can look up in that tree and you can tell right away whether it's a coon, very crystal
clear vortex has lifetime warranty on all of their optics.
So big fan of vortex company, um, like what they have.
So that is why I'm running that vortex for a couple, for a couple of different reasons.
Like I said, I, a lot of people don't wear, don't use them, but, um, I put some thought
into that before I spent the money on that.
I got one for you.
So, uh, he's running a monocular.
What I run is a bore scope.
It's got a 36 inch whip on it.
It is made by Klein.
Um, so electrical tools.
Yup.
So what we use it for in electrical field is just shoving it down a pipe, you know,
to see where an obstruction or something like that is.
So what I use it for is, is you have an app on your phone and once you Bluetooth to it,
the picture it's got a light.
Now what I did was, is the light wasn't bright enough.
So I went and bought a little pencil led light that is just phenomenal.
I think it's like 1200 lumens or 1500 lumens and I taped it to the end and it's got 36
inch whip on it.
And so I can shove it up in dens or whatever.
And if, if I can find that picture on that phone, guess what?
Plus it up.
What's it up?
Yup.
So you guys, guys, you don't get your registries confused here.
You are allowed to use that in PKC and I believe pro sports only.
Yes.
PKC and pro sport.
Yes.
Yup.
The United Kennel club, UKC, you are not allowed to use digital scoring devices or mirrors,
anything that must be seen with the naked eye.
Yes.
So depending on which register you're hunting depends on what tools you can use.
And these are all tools of the trade.
And if you guys want to get deep into it, I mean, there are other tools out there that
people have used and tried and I, everybody's tried everything under the sun.
This is just stuff that is easy to carry on you.
Yup.
Okay.
So let's go into, into my main pouch here.
Squalers that I'm running.
That's where I keep them.
I am running a Phoenix squalor by tier one custom calls.
I was on a cast with Tyler Compton at autumn Oaks last year and heard him squalor Coon
around in a tree with that Phoenix.
Very, very impressed.
So I picked up one of those.
I also, I actually picked up a couple.
I keep a, I keep some squalors in my truck too.
I don't know.
I like to hoard stuff.
So I've got a Phoenix and a pinnacle both in the glove box, my truck, big fan of their
squalls.
The other one that I'm running in my pouch right now is one that I just found at autumn
Oaks.
Yes.
If I forget the name of it, I want to say it's a G.
T. squall possibly.
I'll take a picture of that and put it on my social media because I like, I did not
end up going out there and getting one.
Yes.
So, so the way autumn Oaks is set up is that you guys have like this, these vendor barns
where all these people are set up and they're all selling stuff and nine times out of 10,
they've all got the same stuff.
And I was driving around on the golf cart out in the middle of a grass parking lot and
there was an old boy set up on the tailgate of his truck with a little 10 by 10 pop up
in a table and he had some squalls for sale that he had made.
And I stopped and talked to him and was just kind of, you know, shooting, shooting the
crap with him and got to not to know him a little bit better.
And I was like, well, I said, let me hear one of these squalls.
And he blew into this thing.
I was like, Whoa, like that sounds really nice.
And he was like, yeah, I appreciate that.
You know, and I was like, well, how much that cost?
And he said $35.
And if you guys know the price of squallers right now, they're ranging anywhere from 50
to a hundred bucks.
I mean, you name it, you can pay, you can pay more than that.
You can pay a couple hundred if you want.
So the way this squall sounded for 35 bucks, handmade by a guy, every one of them was unique.
Everyone of them is different.
He turns them all in a lathe.
I bought the, he had wood versions and acrylic.
I ended up buying an acrylic version.
I like those a little bit better than those wood, the wood calls these days.
So yeah, I just thought it was nice, you know, to support the small guy out in the middle
of the field.
I believe it's a GT.
I will check and see if it's even stamped on the car.
I don't even know if he has his, his logo stamped on the call.
But I was a big fan.
So I went back and I showed it to you, you know, blew it and let you blow it.
And you're like, man, that sounds pretty nice.
So I wish you would have bought one.
Yeah, it sounded pretty, I know I should have didn't get around to it.
So I am running the competition lanyard that has the pinnacle and the Phoenix with the
stopwatch.
So that's from tier one, correct?
Oh yeah, from tier one custom calls in my pouch though.
I do have a JC call, um, Kuhn's squalor and an eye opener.
So I just, I kind of, I kind of rock them all.
Yeah, I've, uh, I've, I've not had, I've not had great success with the eye opener.
I seem to have more success with a, with a call that has a deeper pitch to it.
I opener is very high pitched and I don't know if it's the way that I use it in which
I haven't had good success, but I seem to find more Kuhn's with calls that have a deeper
throaty or a growl to them, if that makes sense.
And see that's where I'm the opposite.
So and I had it there for a little bit, um, because I've got two competition, uh, lanyards,
uh, the exact same.
And on my old one, I don't particularly like the Phoenix.
I like the Pinnacle.
So I switched, I switched the, um, Phoenix out with on my old one, I switched it out
with the JC call and with my new one, I switched it out with the eye opener.
So I have, I have the right now, I need to switch it out on this brand new ones.
I've got three, but the one that I was just running before this weekend, it's got the
Pinnacle and the eye opener on it.
Gotcha.
So yeah, I mean the squalls, they're a big deal.
You know, you can find the Kuhn's with your thermals.
That's fine and dandy, but if you don't get that thing to look at you, it's hard to get
them scored sometimes.
So what squall you're running is very, very important and they're just like duck calls.
They're just like anything else.
Everybody has their own preference on what they like.
They're a dime a dozen.
I do want to put a challenge out here to the listeners though, and this is where I need
some help.
One call which I have looked for and looked for and looked for and have not found is a,
it's a squaller that Dan Canerium showed me at red bone days.
Dan came over and sat down at the, at the froggy bottom outdoors booth where I was working
and he was, uh, he bought a vest off of us and he was swapping things over and I said,
Hey, let me see that squaller you got over there.
It was something I'd never seen before.
It was a black 3d printed, a plastic squaller, and it almost had a, um, it had sphere at
the end where your mouth, where you blow into, it was a sphere.
And then on the body where you hold onto it, it was, um, spiraled almost.
It was, but it was, it was done on a 3d printer and the reason that I liked that was the lightweight,
the lightweight of it.
It felt like a feather in your hand and it had a great unique sound the way that it was
made.
I don't know if anybody has seen those 3d printed squalls that I'm talking about, um,
or knows anything similar, let me know.
Um, I want to know where to get that because I will purchase one.
So that's where I'm at on the squalor's and let's go to the next piece and this one's
probably the most important for Bryce Matthews.
What's that?
The dog lead.
Oh, the dog lead.
Um, tell me what, tell me what you're doing.
Go first.
So I'm just, I have to use a cable lead.
I have to, um, I prefer the little, the little leather leads, the little round ones.
Um, that's what I prefer, but I just, I have too many dogs that eat through them.
So you know, I have switched to the all cable lead, the all cable leads though.
They hurt my hands a hundred percent when a dog is pulling, they hurt, they hurt my
hands.
Don't like them.
Why you smack them upside the head with the name freaking snaps.
So they just stopped pulling.
No, no, no, don't like them.
Not a fan, not a fan.
Yeah.
That's what I use.
Well, the ones I use are the ones with the, uh, it's a cable with the little, um, uh,
no, the plastic, the silicone stuff around it.
That's what I use.
Yeah.
So plastic and guys, we can get into a three hour debate on dog eats.
I agree.
That plastic rubs on a tree, gets caught on a fence, whatever.
And then it rips and then you're, it's just a mess.
We all know.
Let's, let's hear about it.
You want to hear about my prize possession?
Here we go guys.
Good Lord guys.
Let me tell you a little story.
Once upon a time when I first started coon hunting.
Okay.
I won't go that dramatic.
I do have, you might as well because I mean, anybody that knows if we need to get Nikki
on here, the amount of times this man has left his lead had to have it mailed back to
him that only had one drive, had to drive an hour back to the woods to find his lead.
Like it's never ending with this guy.
We were up at autumn Oaks and this guy was going rampant.
We were supposed to leave the clubhouse Thursday night at seven 30.
This guy is running around like a chicken with his head cut off.
I can't find my lead asking everybody from Andy.
You guys had my lead whenever we took wedding pictures.
Where's my dog lead?
And he was, he was about to have a conniption cause he cannot find his prize possession.
Yeah.
So, so this lead that I have and that we're talking about, this is a very special lead
to me.
Um, when I first started coon hunting, I tried all these other leads.
I tried the betas and the cables and the leather and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
And I just, I hated them.
I didn't like them.
I could pick apart all of them.
There was a gal down in North Carolina who put a post out saying that she was going to
be making, um, these paracord braided leads and Jordan Crump is her name.
Jordan made these leads, um, very thick, very sturdy.
They are paracord on one end and they are chain on the bottom.
So I reached out to her and had her, had her make me one.
It was a very reasonable price.
She shipped it to me.
And the moment that I felt that lead in my hand, I knew that was it.
That was the end of it for me.
It was a match made in heaven.
It fit my palms.
I was able to caress the paracord.
It felt great.
Are we talking about a dog lead?
So this lead guys has been from that day, and this is not an exaggeration, from the
day that I got that lead, I have not used another lead.
I have not snapped another lead on a dog.
This lead is going with me for going on, I want to say eight, seven or eight years now
that I've used this lead.
And um, it's great.
It is to the point where the brass snap on the end is literally getting ready to wear
and have, it's getting ready to break where the brass has rubbed on the D ring of a collar.
It's getting ready to break.
So at Autumn Oaks, I actually bought a new brass snap and I bought a new S hook and I'm
going to have to, I'm going to have to doctor it because I'm getting ready.
It's getting ready to break.
Um, so I'm going to put a new brass snap on it.
I'm going to put a new S hook on it and my lead will be back to normal, back good as
ever.
Um, yes, Basham was not lying whenever he said that I had to have that lead mailed to
me.
Both of these events were because of Basham.
I'll have you guys know the first one was down in Kentucky, um, or Tennessee at the
PKC world qualifier.
I had to run into the user restroom real quick after a hunt.
Basham was in a hurry.
I said, Hey, grab my dog out of this guy's box.
Most people grab a dog out of a box with a lead.
Basham just grabbed the dog and he left my lead sitting in the bed of this guy's truck.
So he was nice enough.
I reached out to him on Facebook and he got my lead out of the bed of his truck and he
mailed it to me from Tennessee.
I figured as special as this lead was Bryce would not just leave it laying in the back
of the truck.
We had an emergency situation which called for no time for me to mess around.
You had to get the dog in the lead.
Um, the second time Basham and I were pleasure hunting, uh, down in the bottoms, we went
to take a picture, um, with the dogs and some of the coon that we'd harvested that night.
Basham throws my lead off to the side so that's not interrupting the picture.
I don't think it was me that threw through the dog lead because I'm not, I'm not a big,
uh, if y'all haven't noticed, we've got a bougie one in the group and it ain't me.
So the pitchers and everything has to be perfect.
His hair has to be perfect.
He's got to have his blow dryer and you know, his hair straightener and all that, uh, his
boot dryer.
You guys ought to see his freaking setup.
I mean, ask Nikki, this guy packs and it's like, look, watching a 14 year old girl pack.
I mean, it's, it's ridiculous, but, uh, I still don't think I'm the one that threw the
dog lead off, but I will, it's your story.
I will let you tell it how you want.
Thank you.
I appreciate that.
So Basham threw my lead off.
We, we take this picture.
We put the dogs up, we drive all the way back to where my truck was at, which was an hour
from this place.
It is two in the morning.
I go to move my dog from Basham's box to my box.
I'm like, Hey, where's my lead?
And he's like, uh, probably in the grass.
We took a picture and I said, well, you know what that means, right?
And he was like, don't tell me what I think you're getting ready to say.
I'm like, Oh yeah.
I said, get back in the truck.
I said, we're driving, you know, even pulled up into the gas.
Yeah.
Quentin, my buddy Quentin glow, he pulled up.
He'd had a big night out at the casino with his wife.
They were having a little date night and Quentin knows all about how I am and how particular
I am and Quentin just kind of laughed and he goes, yep.
See you guys later.
So at two in the morning, Basham and I made the one hour truck back to the woods.
We backtracked to where we were at, took where we took the picture, found my lead and got
back, drove another hour back to my truck.
So we got back about four o'clock that morning.
Thanks to this lead.
What about the two people down there in moon seats?
Oh yeah.
Guys we're down here in the middle of nowhere.
The absolute, there's not a house of nowhere.
There's not a house within 20 minutes.
I mean, there's just not, it's, it's in a flood plain.
It always floods.
There's not a house.
Also then like 15, 20, but yet we stumbled across two people on a golf cart in moon suits.
Literally.
It was freezing cold that night.
And we say moon suits, like they were both wearing like same.
They looked like the Michelin man.
The good year tire Michelin man.
What is it?
The good, you know, they were silver, like they were shining man and they were shiny.
They're like marshmallow suits and they're riding around in this golf cart.
And I'm like, how are they not getting stuck?
Like where they're at and they're just cruising and they, they pull up on us and we're like,
what is this light?
Like there should be nobody down here and here.
These two people are like, oh, we're just out looking at the sky.
Like, okay.
Yeah.
Okay.
All right.
Whatever.
Carry on.
So yeah, that was an interesting night.
Okay.
Enough about my precious lead, which I'm getting ready to have the doctor up.
I will, I'm excited to get that back in working order.
Cause I'm afraid at any point in time, like if spot where the ink on it at a tree snap
gone broke, and then there's a, there's just a rule violation or something dumb.
So getting ready to fix that.
So moving on up to the last thing, the light, your, your Coon light.
This is where me and you differ.
I do not have a favorite.
I can't find one.
I just can't.
I've been through them all.
My favorite light of all time.
And I believe it was either bright eyes or superior that made it was the all American
that Ashley Gunthree.
That was a, that was a superior light.
Yeah.
It has held up the law.
My problem is holding up.
They just don't.
I go, I go eight, eight, nine, 10 months and they just, they don't hold up.
Like they, if I'm not charging it every like on a double, double cast, you know, by the
time I get to that second round, it's already starting to go dim.
And I just, I have not found a light yet that I like.
Okay.
So I have, and this is where I said I customize everything.
This is another instance.
So I was in the same boat.
I went through all these lights.
I didn't like the way they felt.
Didn't like the weight.
Didn't like the switch set up.
I can pick apart something in a heartbeat.
Had the bright eyes, had the superior, had a, had a hellcat.
I had the, I had an all American hated the all American, which is funny.
You and I are different.
You love it.
I hate it.
See, I love.
So had had them all had had the old belt light.
You know, that was the first light that I ever hunted with was an old belt light.
Oh yeah.
I mean, obviously.
But, but where I've landed.
My favorite belt light, to be honest with you was the sunburst Eagle two plus two.
When it looked like you were a suicide bomber with a little bitty battery, he's all the
way around your waist.
Yeah.
So, so where I landed was on sunspot and I got ahold of a sun spotlight, tried one out
mainly because the switch is on the head and not on the back of the battery pack.
In the winter time, I liked to wear a hoodie a lot and I was tired having to reach in my
hoodie, turn my light on, turn it off, blah, blah, blah.
Very picky.
That's yes.
I know I'm bougie.
I understand that.
So found the sun spotlight.
I liked the color of the main beam.
There my biggest issue with the all American is that it is a very bright white led.
I cannot see with that bright white to me and my eyes.
It reflects off the leaves.
Can't see.
I need a yellow natural main beam.
And to me, the sun spotlight has the most natural main beam on the market.
So went through one of those, used it for a long time and still, even though I liked
the light and it was my favorite light, I was, I picked it apart.
What I have done now is I have customized a light.
I got ahold of Michael Rosenman, owner of sunspot.
And I said, Hey, Michael, I said, I like your product.
I like everything about it, but a couple of things I want to switch.
Can you do it?
And he said, absolutely.
So I am running a custom light from sunspot.
It only has four clicks, which is my biggest gripe with all the other clicks.
They have like 10.
My light one click forward is a high walk.
The next click forward, high beam.
One click back is high red.
Next click back is high amber.
That's it.
That's all I've got on that light.
Four clicks, four settings with a laser.
I don't need that low light stuff.
I'm not a fan of it.
If I need to damn a lot a little bit, I'll put my hand over it.
Like I don't need two clicks of red, two clicks of amber, two clicks of walk, three clicks
of spot.
I don't need all that.
It's just more times that the button has to turn.
It wears out the rheostat.
Where's that?
It's just, I don't need it.
I'm a simple man when it comes to that.
So that is what I'm running a custom sunspot light.
That is the one of the only lights on the market that has a lifetime warranty on it.
Anything that goes wrong with it, you pay the $10 shipping to get it down to Arkansas.
They fix it and they pay the shipping back to you.
So for 10 bucks lifetime warranty, I'll take it.
Now I'll tell you one that I, I'm going to be honest with you.
I am looking, I'm probably going to try it.
And that is the K light.
And I'm going to tell you why.
Oh, I've seen a bunch of posts about that yesterday.
No, no, no, no.
Has nothing to do with the brightness.
You know what I like?
The battery pack tells you where the battery level is.
It does.
Yeah.
Yep.
Um, how many times have you been out with your light and you're like, all of a sudden
just boom, you're like crap.
What the heck happened?
I didn't even know my light was going down.
You know, with the 5,100 head back in the day, it shows my age.
You could see it dim down and it dim all the way down to it was dead.
These led lights, they don't give you no warning.
Nope.
It's over.
They actually, there is, um, and I saw this at autumn Oaks last year.
I didn't see it this year, but I didn't look for it this year either.
There is an adapter.
The yes, you can plug into the charging port and it will tell you the percentage.
Um, so, but yes, the K light has a button on the back.
I think it's a button.
You just press it and it tells you like one through four, like how many bars you have.
Yep.
So yeah, I do like that.
Big only gripe.
Here's my only gripe with every K light I've ever seen before.
The bright spot is so freaking small.
Very narrow.
And I, it's very small that I just, I never could get past it.
Yep.
That was my one gripe.
Yeah.
Well, I've seen a bunch of posts lately, um, yesterday specifically where people were talking
all about that K light that they come out with at autumn Oaks.
The new one.
Yeah.
The new one.
Yep.
So, all right.
Well, that covers it head to toe, I think.
Yeah.
So, I think that's, portion guys, we could, we could go in deeper and talk about this
and that and the other and other stuff that we've tried.
But, uh, you know, we're already hitting, hitting our mark on our, on our podcast here.
And we appreciate everybody that tunes in and listens to us.
Week in and week out and continues to support us, uh, in what we're doing.
It's nothing fancy.
It's nothing, nothing groundbreaking.
It's just two guys being friends, having a good time, just continuing to enjoy the ride.
I appreciate everything you do, Bryce, uh, for all of this.
He, guys, he is, he's the man that kind of makes this thing go.
I just sit here and talk and, uh, he's the one that still edits it and does all of that.
Um, and, uh, appreciate what you do, buddy.
Yeah, man.
Anytime, you know, we can, we can definitely make a part two out of this.
I mean, we can go all the way into, uh, dog boxes and the trucks and the foilers and the
side by sides and everything else that it takes to make this sport go around and make
your life a little bit easier.
So, um, guys, like I said, I just thought that this was a very fitting, fitting deal.
Um, seeing as how automobiles just got wrapped up and just looking around at all the vendors,
what they were selling, some of the different things, what people were buying, what was
hot, what wasn't hot.
Um, this is what works for me and Basham.
This is what works for us.
If it can help somebody else, great.
That's what we're here to do.
Uh, especially somebody who's new getting into it and they're just like, man, what all
do I absolutely need?
So that, that was, that I have described are my bare necessities.
That is what I have to have when I go to the woods.
Um, anything else, I guess, is a bonus or a plus.
So it's there.
Well, I've got a competition hunt to get to, so, uh, we will go on ahead and sign off guys.
And uh, Bryce, so next time they go, absolutely buddy.
Good luck tonight, guys.
Thanks again for listening.
Thanks to our sponsors, Froggy Bottom Outdoors, Never Satisfied Off-Road.
We appreciate them and everything they do for us.
Uh, if you guys have a chance, head on over to their websites, give them a light, give
them a follow.
Um, you know, support those who support you.
So Basham, good luck tonight.
Uh, I'm going to get this thing wrapped up here and get it out to the listeners and we'll,
uh, we'll catch on dog on Tuesday, next Tuesday.
Yes, sir.
We'll listen to it on tomorrow morning.
All right.
See you guys later.
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