Shedding Light Hunting Stories Podcast
Love a good hunting story? This is the podcast for you. Each episode is a real story told from a real hunter. There may be an occasional name you recognize but for the most part this podcast features average joes just like you! Real guys and girls with real stories about their hunting experiences. Deer, turkey, elk, ducks...if there's a story to be told we will tell it!
Shedding Light Hunting Stories Podcast
Ep. 248 Thank God For Deer with Mike Russell
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Today Mike Russell comes on again to share about his 2025 deer season and how he was able to get on a slammer buck. But more than that we discuss what deer hunting means to us and how God can use it to help us grow closer with Him.
Video also available on YouTube at Shedding Light Outdoors.
Welcome to Shedding Light Hunting Stories Podcast, a show dedicated to the average Joe and their favorite hunting stories. I'm your host, Travis Williams, and I believe there's power in a good story. Life and faith lessons we can learn and apply to our lives. Thanks for joining us. Let's dive in. Hey guys, welcome to the show. Hope that you are having a fantastic spring. We are underway with our turkey season here in Ohio. You know, man, that's something I look forward to every year. If you listen to the last episode, it was a bonus episode. Uh, but I've gotten a lot of positive uh feedback about my um daughter. Uh Ansley came on the show and she had a lot of energy. It was a lot to handle. I wasn't prepared for just, I don't know if she had if it was a full moon or she drank a Red Bull before we got on there, but she uh she wasn't letting me get away with anything. She was making sure the story was told right, and we unpacked how she got her first turkey. And so if you didn't listen to that, very fun episode. It's only like a half hour long. Um, but that's the episode before this one. Um, meanwhile, just a quick update: my daughter Sayla, my youngest, uh, we've been out uh about three more times, I think, since then. Uh I called in a bird to about 80 yards, wouldn't commit on uh day two of youth season. Um this past week uh we went out and had a really close encounter where a bird was coming in hot. Thought he was gonna come into the exact same spot that um Ansley's did, and he got a hen at the last second, did like a 90-degree uh turn, and would not come into the field where we were. Um so you know, fun hunts. Um and then uh today went out with Nate Root and Travis Shire and uh just a crazy, crazy encounter, um crazy experience. Uh we saw Jake get shot. Um, I wasn't the one shooting. None of us were shooting. It was these guys that were hunting the farm that we didn't know were there. They they shot at Jake. But um, you know, it's just awesome. We got on a couple other birds, and so it's just a fun time of year. I really enjoy the time with friends and being out there, and it's just it's special. And uh, we're getting some good footage, getting some good memories. And uh, so yeah, it's been a good thing. Um, want to throw it out there that we still have some hats for sale, so if anybody's interested in a hat, uh go over to our merch uh site and you can pick that up. I'll be happy to ship it out, or if you live close, I can uh get it to you. And um, yeah, that's basically it. I tell you what, I'm always looking for guests. We have a few that are lined up. Uh got a couple down the road, and uh pretty soon I'm excited, uh, about a week from now, my co-host Jeremy Bougay is going to be coming here, and he's gonna be hunting for about two, maybe three days. Uh, we're gonna be doing some uh run and gun on some turkeys around here. So uh we'll probably record an episode of sharing what that experience is like, do a little collaboration with the video and all that. So I'm just excited for that experience. So um anyway, if you'd like to come on the show though, uh send me an email at sheddinglightod at gmail.com, or you can send a private message over on Instagram, Facebook, Shedding Light Outdoors. And we'd love to have you on the show and hear your hunting uh stories. Uh today's guest is a repeat guest. He's been on, I think at least once, maybe twice, uh Mikey Russell. Uh Mike uh lives up in uh my old stomping grounds, Monroe County, and good guy. Um if you know anything about Mikey, he is a deer killer. He has killed some big bucks, quite a few, been on a roll for quite a few seasons. Every year he finds a way to get on one. And last year he had to tackle EHD and still finding a target buck. Um Mike likes to target a buck, get on it, spend a lot of time figuring out the best times to hunt, and um he usually punches that tag um just about every season. So this time, though, this episode, uh, this interview is it was awesome because not only does he talk about just the fun and the adventure of getting the buck that he got last year, but we also talk about how deer hunting has taught him things about faith, which is what this show is all about. It it's taught him about his relationship with God, not just believing in a creator, but having a relationship with Jesus. There's a difference there. There's a lot of people that believe, oh, there's there's a creator, I can admire creation. Um, but there's another level, and that's what Mike uh talks about. He talks about this relationship with Jesus and how these things up here on the wall, uh these things that we chase, these amazing creatures, uh, what they can do and how they can help us in our walk. So I think you guys are gonna enjoy this. We get to a deeper level, especially toward the end. So I encourage you to hang around, uh get some great stories in between, and uh I'm excited for you to hear this one. So without further ado, here's Mike Russell. Hey buddy, where are you doing, man?
SPEAKER_00Just got in from a baseball game. Mason had a game tonight, so yeah. Yeah, we won. Yep.
SPEAKER_02Nice, dude. Nice. Yeah, uh turkey season has been tiring. I'm already tired. Like, I shouldn't be this tired. I don't know how those guys at hunting public do it. Like, day in, day out for the whole season. I'm just like, I need a break sometimes.
SPEAKER_00Right. Right there with you, I understand.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. How about you?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we uh youth season we killed three, and then um I took my son out Sunday, called in a flock for him, and he actually missed, but I told him that's not gonna be the first one. That's not gonna be the last one he misses. But then we got on some more, but uh just hard with the kid. I mean you found that out. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it was uh the blind made all the difference for us. It really helped a ton. And if you can just get them to come into the decoys, um that that was a game changer for us too, is having the decoy out there where they could just but that's that's been a challenge. So my my youngest, we've had a few encounters where they're coming in tight, but just couldn't get them there all the way. So uh it's fun, you know, give them that opportunity. And sometimes you also you're teaching delayed gratification, like it's not always gonna work on the first first go-around.
SPEAKER_00So well, it's good for kids, man.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. It's good.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, gotta work at it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. That is a good lesson to learn. Good lesson. I mean, it's something I think about like for me, like uh I didn't kill a turkey my first year going. Um, kind of had to learn. I started it. The main thing it taught me was I need to get with some people that know what they're doing. Uh so I got with a guy up your way. My dad uh was buddies with him, he was a good turkey hunter. He took me out and he showed me just one thing that he taught me has helped me call in so many turkeys, is the way I hold my striker whenever I do like a cluck. Kind of high up on the striker and make this really um you know, loud pluck noise along with the Yelp, and that that just little things like that that you pick up, you know, and that that's helped me kill a lot of turkeys.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Oh yeah, it's fun, it's a good thing to do with your friends. Like, I feel like deer hunting's like serious, it's a thing. I mean, not that you can't take your buddies, but like I feel like deer hunting's that thing that you zone in on your own, and turkeys are like, you got your buddies, you want to go?
SPEAKER_02I was thinking about that tomorrow. I was like, I could get a hunt-in before work, but who could join me? And do I want to go up there by myself? I mean, I enjoy it by myself. I'm thinking about it, but I'm like, eh, there's a couple buddies that might be free, and it gives me give me a chance just to catch up. And yeah, that's this morning we went out and we did it was me and my buddy Traff Shire and Nate Root, and we covered four miles and all on one farm, just a big loop going around. We got on multiple birds. I filmed a jig bean shoot, but it shot, but it wasn't any of us shooting it. It was uh there was actually a couple extra guys that were hiding that we didn't know about at the far end of the property. Normally a truck is parked like right there where you came in. Well, they had parked clear at the far end. We didn't see them, and we didn't know it until we saw their decoys. We're like, oh, we better get out of here. So we get we're moving. All of a sudden we see a bunch of jakes going across the field, and these jakes go right into their set. So I zoom in as one of those guys just way lays a Jake right by his tom decoy. So I was like, well, it's at least somebody's killing something.
SPEAKER_00So absolutely.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so well to give us an update, man. It's been a while since you've been on the show, and just want to say welcome back. And uh I know you got some dear stories and some things up your sleeve tonight, but just want to say welcome, give us a little update what's going on in your world, Mike.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I appreciate you having me back on. Um I guess you could say probably uh around uh a year ago from now, um my faith got stronger than it's ever been in God. I didn't have any any choice what to what to form a relationship with and want to do some stuff. And man I took it with me into bow season and uh had a good day in the bow season. I actually missed the deer I was after. That one hurt, but uh and get on another one and whatnot, but uh man just uh crazy how our relationship with God can come all at once, and mine came through white-tailed deer, honestly. Um the blessings, I'm so blessed. I have everybody's partial to their kids. I think I have the two best kids in the world. Everybody got their kids, but uh they're mine, I love them. And uh gearing up for for a uh hopefully a good deer season. I should have a couple good bucks to hunt. And um turkey season's been a blast so far. Like I said, uh killed three on youth hunt, and I got my son out Saturday and called in five. And uh I had to I told him let them separate. Well, by the time they separated, he was having a hard time getting on one. But uh buddy, I think gonna be the last one you missed. But uh he was tore up about it. But we got on some birds and I had a blast. That's that's all that matters to me. So uh yeah, man.
SPEAKER_02But beyond let's take a look at like last deer season as you're going into it. You know, you've had looking at the bucks on your wall, you've had a lot of success and you put a lot of time in. Um, you know, from what I understand, Mike, you typically are targeting one or two bucks, you know, like you're you're going after something with maturity, and that's something that gives you enjoyment. So kind of talk about you talked about like that low spot that maybe you were in, finding the Lord. So kind of wrap that all into like what's leading into the season, uh, what's your thoughts, what's the challenges you're facing, and and kind of bring us through what went down.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I was just uh I was just dealing with some life things, but uh you know, I always told people like I have people that tell me like you're obsessed with it, you're great up with it. I had somebody message me on Instagram and was like, my my wife thinks I'm ate up with deer. I was just showing her your Instagram and Yeah, um essentially, Travis, you know when I went through tough times, um my kids have always been my number one, but I always had deer. Like if there was ever anything that if I had a day like where I didn't have the kids and I I needed something to do to keep me occupied, it was it was always white-tailed deer. And um there's some people that think like deer seasons from October through January, you know, the the the good part of deer season, but like for me, like I'm just so ate up with it that it's 365 days without a year, and you know, I uh going into the season, the deer that I killed, I actually had him on camera through the summer, and uh had a bunch of velvet videos of him, and all my buddies are like, Man, you gotta shoot that deer. Well, I had a six and a half year old on camera that uh I had since he was one and a half, and I just watched him grow. He was never anything crazy. Uh he was a nine-point this year, blind in one eye. And uh I tried to get him for my son in the past, and this year he just sort of changed, like he would always rotate onto this one end of the farm. And I never I got him there a couple of times, but he was staying back in the sanctuary, so I had to make a move on him, and it was a big pine thicket. And my brother and I went in, we hung a set. I thought I had every shooting lane that I that I needed trimmed out. You know, I like on a pine thicket.
SPEAKER_02Those pine trees, they got branches sticking off from the can I pause for a second and ask a question? Okay, so something that we kind of skipped over last season was our whole situation down here in Southeast Ohio, EHD, right? So, real quick before you continue with that, how did the EHD, what did you experience with that? Like, how are you even on target? Like everybody else is like, all the bucks are dead, they're all gone. Like, how how are you wrestling with that whole epidemic that we struggled with here?
SPEAKER_00Primarily, I had this six and a half year old. Uh, we called him one-eyed bill. My son named him because like I said, he was blind in that one eye. I think he went blind in it when he was like four. That was primarily the only deer I was worried about. And then the buck I killed, I everybody was like, Man, you gotta hunt that deer. But like, I wanted to kill this bill deer. My my son actually asked me, and he said, Dad, will you kill Bill for me? Kill that deer, but where I had the blind setup, like we talked about blind settings with kids. Um, he wasn't coming over where I had him, where I had the blind. So uh essentially the two deer that I was focused on, um, they made it. The southern part of Monroe County, like where Jacob lives, down toward Washington County. I got some buddies that hunt Washington and Athens, and one of them actually he came up to Monroe County to hunt because he smashed. You know, like I didn't know Malaga Township, and like we found deer, but it wasn't nothing like the southern end of Monroe into Washington and Athens. Like um, don't get me wrong, we had deer die off, but uh I guess it wasn't anything that I was targeting to where I was like, man, he he died. No, okay, the deer I missed that um he was running with a three and a half year old that was going to be a giant, and I found dead by a pond. And um long story short, after I missed him, I had him for like a week and then he disappeared. And and years passed, you know, these prior five years, I had him non-stop. So I actually I I took people in with me to try to find him because like I just wanted closure kind of thing. And again, again, he wasn't a booner, he was just a deer I had a ton of history with, and he was big. But uh I never found him. I don't know if he's in somebody's garage or but like I said, the deer he was running with, I found dead by a pond. But man, we we combed everything and I never found him. So that yeah, we had we had die-off, but it wasn't when they though went down toward like the Marr Graysville area down into Washington and Athens County.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I I mean down by us was it was insane. I mean, just the amount that you'd find, the smell in the month of August, September was insane. You couldn't drive anywhere without smelling a dead deer. And then um one of my properties, I think they found over 15, 20 deer dead. You know, it's just it was just like almost surreal. Like, is this really happening? And then you felt like, are we ever gonna come back from it? And then already during turkey season, I've started to see quite a few deer. They're they're they're still around, they're resilient. So it's like not all hope is lost. But last year, I mean I actually came up to Monroe County, uh, actually hunted some public land up there, and I got on a pretty nice buck. Um, and so I just kept hunting that because I was like, you know, it's only an hour I can get up there and hunt, it's better than hunting around here. And a lot of my landowners down here, I didn't even have bucks on camera. They still didn't want me to hunt. They're uh so I got shut out of a few properties, you know. So it was just it was a different year. I'm hoping this year's better, but yeah, and so like you said, like parts of your county, it was it was still okay. So I'll kind of go back to where you so you have this encounter, you hadn't, you know, the limbs tr uh trim, so we'll kind of pick back up where we left off there.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so I was in there hunting that deer, and he had he'd been daylighting in the morning, but um, I was hunting on the edge of this cut cornfield, and I pulled in there to hunt one morning with uh my buddy, and he was going to video for me. And when I pulled in, there were just deer everywhere, and I was like, How in the heck are we supposed to get in? Do that, you know, like deer and cut cornfields in the morning, and when I come down the road um toward that farm, you could just see all of them standing out there, like the silhouettes of them. We went in and hunted and didn't see him, but uh I end up running into him maybe it might have been like November 11th, I think it was. And uh I turned, he came from behind me up out of this this thick hauler, and uh I could hear him back in there going nuts. And you could hear them snap, there's the limbs snapping off those pine trees, run-does, and uh one of those things, like I turned and he was on top of me. And then I of course he once I see him, he starts doing those long drawn out grunts, and I got my bow in my hand already because I'd saw him, and uh I had my camera mount on my bow. So I had to I had to just sit there and let him walk by me. Nothing against crossbow people, but man, I could have put a bolt in. I had to set it, not him get past me, and I said, You get off to my left, you're done. And uh he went off to my left and I drew back and I I shot and I don't know where the limb was on it might tell him where my arrow stuck in the ground and it was nowhere near him.
SPEAKER_01Like it happened.
SPEAKER_00So he comes back in that might have had him on camera that night, that morning, and uh he don't have a clue what the heck happened. And uh I had him for like a week, and then when I say he fell off the face of the earth, like I don't share deer information with very many people, but I know somebody that had him on camera. So I reached out to him, I was like, hey, have you had this deer? And I said, No, like we did have him, we don't know where he went. I figured he was just being a buck and you know, looking for the last dose that were to pop, but he he never came back. It yeah, it like crushed my soul. I just I kept running cameras, kept running cameras, kept running cameras, and at the time I didn't even realize the deer that he was running with that I wasn't getting him on the camera anymore. Um but they both disappeared at the same time. Um like I said, I found I found that I found the deer he was running with dead, but I couldn't find him for anything. And when we went shed hunting in there, I mean there were rubs, Travis, that were they they were huge telephone pulls, and I knew him. And uh they looked like they were I'm not gonna say fresh, but they looked like they were after December after November after I missed him. But uh I had no sign of him. I don't I don't know where he went, but uh yeah, that's the story of that deer. I wish I knew where he was at. Even if somebody had him in the garage, I'd go I'd just like to go see him.
SPEAKER_02But uh that's so hard. I think that's such a challenging part about what we do as bow hunters. Like, so we're trying to be private, we don't want people to know about the big bucks that are on camera. I try and be very careful about that. Not not that I'm great at targeting a specific buck, but it's just like you know, I I sometimes I like to tell people things and I like to share information, but stuff like that. I'm like, man, you can get bit on that. And so then whenever you lose a deer, you're like, do I even send or ask a question? Because then that might alert somebody. This deer might just be off in a hidey hole someplace with a doe for a while or you know, whatever. And it's uh that's the game you play, is like you're trying, but sometimes it's good to have those folks just to figure out what you know what happened to a deer that you know you had on camera.
SPEAKER_00So oh yeah, it's uh it's hard. I watch you, I share stuff with, but uh it's one of those things that I I was thankful for the I was thankful for the opportunity to hunt you.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00You know, those older deer they can teach you a lot, and I learned a lot from them. So I'd like to know if they'd be part of it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. So from there, you know, you have buddies start telling you about this other buck, or you know, you you are being encouraged to kind of switch gears. So kind of talk a little bit about what went down there.
SPEAKER_00I went back to the farm that that deer was on, and he wasn't on there. And uh they they had actually an oil and gas company ran a water line through there, and they were working in there, and I figured, well, they probably just ran your mouse. So I had a permission piece that was we'll say like a mile. And you know as well as I do, like a mile where you grew up and grazeville and whatnot, like it's not far, but when you look at it, look at the the topo maps, it's like it it's it's man, that deer covers some ground. I just I had permission to hunt this farm. I never I've never hunted it, but I was just trying to find a deer. And uh the camera went off, and I had a big deer, and I was like, holy cow! I sent it to my buddies. He's like, dude, that's that deer that you had in the summer. And I got to look and I was like, Yeah, that's that's for sure him. He was daylighting like nonstop, and uh I thought, you know what I'm gonna hunt him, I don't have a standing there or anything. I uh he daylighted on I think a Thursday morning, and I went in and hung a set. said I could in the four days after that. But kind of crazy I the way I uh the way I hung the stand I made it to where I could just pop up over this bank and be right into the tree. Like that I thought my access was perfect. Well I don't even remember that big snowstorm that rolled in in December. We got like eight you know I hung him on the front end of that and uh man the s it just the snow rolled in and I didn't see deer until like the last half hour. I seen like six days. I was like man that's crazy like you ever like go in the set and stay and you're like I'm gonna shoot that deer tonight. That's how I felt yeah um on top of about freezing to death um I didn't see him that first night well the second night that snow was it was so deep that I was like man I can't climb up over that bank.
SPEAKER_02There was a four-wheeler trail and I was like I'm just gonna go up this four-wheeler trail and uh I got up in there crawled in the stand and they started moving like two hours before dark and I was like I'm I'm gonna see him tonight and uh it gets like an hour before dark and I looked behind me down this creek bottom the people keep it mowed and uh there were four deer standing down there and I could tell that the one was like he looked like a cow man that's gotta be that deer and uh sure enough it was and uh he came in with a group of does bumped the does around and uh gave me a perfect shot I pinwheeled him and uh he didn't go far at all he actually tried to pull up the hill and I had a couple buddies with me and we s he got a little bit of ways up the hill then he turned and came back down my one buddy said he's he's done like don't have it in him to get up that hill and uh we found him a short distance later but you know you want to talk about access he came from behind me where I walked up in the evening before and I went up that four wheeler trail the second day because the snow was so deep and uh I believe wholeheartedly that he watched me walk in that opening evening and the second evening I drove past there 150 yards and I I came in from a different spot and I just think he saw me that evening before because honestly the weather conditions the evening before were you know the front end of a snowstorm and it was picture perfect come right out the bank right off the slogging road snow on the ground bumping does around and uh man I was going through it at that point in time and I can remember as he was coming in you think like through the years you kill a couple good deer with your bow that he quit shaking but uh did the he got about a hundred yards and I was like you gotta get it together man or you're gonna miss but uh I remember closing my eyes and I said please God I'm freezing please like when I drew back uh everything just left me it was just put it on him buddy I got you and uh it was it was perfect good good blood trail through the snow and uh if I'd have known that was the deer I was going to shoot I would have just killed him early season when all my buddies were saying hey go shoot that deer but uh I'm a deer but uh yeah you know I I look back and if I'd if I'd have killed him early season I'd have been bored November and whatnot so uh yeah worked out good um yeah a blessing man I'm I'm so blessed when it comes to deer and my kids and uh I like to work out I like the grind yeah you know wouldn't be fun if we killed him the first set so I like the grind so yeah those guys that go out and kill one like the first you know Saturday you know September 30th or something like that I'm like you know the rest of the season you're I mean that's awesome I mean I've never had that opportunity but it's just like you know I mean it's it's like killing a turkey on opening day or whatever it's like yeah it's cool it's nice but when you only in our state can get one one buck one Tom turkey you know it's it makes you think about it makes you think about the the moment and have you put in your dues and have you you know it just means more sometimes when you're out there experiencing that. I mean and for you I think it's also like finding the right one and being able to put yourself in the situation uh to to play the game you know I think that's that's part of it that you enjoy that you know Darren die yeah I know Darren Turkey assassin if you if you like turkey I've been trying to get Darren on the show for a while I don't think we've lined that up yet like he's always running about this time chasing turkeys all over the place so actually just text me I can reach out to him yeah man he's a his kids I I took like I took Mason out and he missed and I view Mason as somebody that uh he likes to hunt um Darren's kids are obsessed and they're absolute kids like I can remember like seven um seven eight years old turkey come in and Darren would just say shooting powder I thought all seven eight year olds are like that no they're not such a good family man um Darren's good people and uh he had a work accident and you want to talk about testament to uh not letting hard times eat you alive you know he actually if if you're not aware he lost his leg from the knee down and uh work there still ain't nobody around here to keep up with him chasing turkeys and he's been to get on. Yeah. So when you think back you know speaking of tough times and things like that you talked about how you know deer hunting um really helped you connect with your faith or connect with the Lord uh really specifically with Jesus you know and I love your shirt as I think about that yeah how how did that look for you what what was that process like how did um you know how does deer hunting and just time in the woods how does that uh help you in your faith Mike yeah you know like I I feel like everybody has something um you know obviously for you it would be your kids for me it would be my kids for anybody that's logical and thinking it would be their kids um it's like you have to have everybody has a hobby you know some people like to golf I can't golf I'm dumb um but uh just coming up in in the in the woods and being around deer and like my deer obsession it didn't start when I was a kid I mean when I was a kid turkey season was what it was about but uh I think it was a fall of 2010 Travis I I killed my first deer with the compound bow and uh wasn't anything special but at the time to me it was a he was probably 135 inch deer but at the time to me you couldn't convince me he wasn't 235 inches I mean he was and I knew I was actually I was out to out shooting the dough that day we had a big dough contest we were in and uh never had the deer on camera and I I just bought a Matthews and uh put a great shot on him he ran like 30 yards and piled up feeling the feeling I got that day you you can understand this you played football for my from Monroe Central for Jaser Costa there's there wasn't anything like running out onto a field on Friday nights and when I shot that deer and I saw him pile up it was like it was like that you know and um my my dad wasn't a big bow hunter and my dad my brother wasn't a big bow hunter um I sort of got into it and taught myself by making a lot of things I didn't know I was making them at the time but uh you know as life went on and life things happened and um I gradually be got more obsessed with them year after year after year.
SPEAKER_00And uh I think when we go through tough times a lot of times you have to turn to you know I don't know that the calling is the word what your calling is I don't I don't know if that's the word but I think it's something that means a lot to us. And uh dear deer meant a lot to me. And when I was going when I was going through it man like I said I I do it 365 days out of the year so maybe times that I shouldn't have been doing deer stuff deer stuff you know and uh I uh I learned so much by going through tough times and that being my my out my my go-to kind of thing and I just there were so many times Travis that it would all come together you or something you you'd shoot your target deer or whatnot through the years and if you can do that and think that there's not a God you know some of the stuff that I've got to see think that God doesn't exist that you you're crazy and um I I feel like there's a movement going on too like in our area where people are finding Jesus um the amount of people that are expressing their faith in God the NFL draft the other night and everybody everybody that got picked yeah my eye up to God I look to God and um I think there's a movement that that's going on in our area our area across the world honestly but yeah that was my big thing for deer is that I saw so many things happen that I I I knew if it's not a God you're crazy. But uh yeah I just they they they they consume so much of me but I uh I owe it to deer for that reason like I'm not don't I don't want this to be taken the wrong way but there are people that love deer hunting and uh people that uh put a lot of time in but they mean so much to me because of what they've helped get me through if that makes sense.
SPEAKER_02Yeah so I think it does I think you know we're blessed in a lot of ways to first off to live in a world and live in a country where we can go pursue passions. You know some places people are just trying to survive and it's like they don't like you say a hobby and they're like what's that you know what I mean like they don't have time for hobbies they're just trying to provide and for us it's like we we have we have those options and and not only do we have options we have tons of hobbies. I mean you can pick up anything if you want to I mean there's all kinds of things that you can get into that the Lord provides for us to enjoy I think and and I think there's a level which we have to control that sometimes because I think it can become so consuming that it can become an idol or something so intense that it becomes everything. But then if we put things in their proper place and recognize what they are and give God its proper place in them then extremely meaningful I I think because you're I think that you're learning while you're out there you're being in nature and you're getting to experience that you know it's it's um also just talk about like your friends coming to help you and text like that's part of what I love about any type of hunting is I have an elk hunting group I have turkey guys that I talk to I have guys that I you know with deer hunting you know text threads it's even a lot of times I'm doing that solo it's there's just there's a community that comes through it that you don't get in anything else and or at least not in anything else that I enjoy. So I think that that's I think you're hitting the nail on the head that God can use those hobbies and passions to kind of point people to to him and to a relationship with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00That's how I um I told somebody about EHD we were talking about EHD that's what made me think this that seeing some of these deer that were dying off like just a couple I saw are just absolute giants. I thought to myself like man that kind of deer could really change somebody's life like it's a shame that it got killed by a midfly um I I think like man there could be somebody that was going through a bad time and that that a deer like that could absolutely change it.
SPEAKER_02So like there've been times I like tried to wrap my head around it like man like it's almost it's almost surreal that that a life can be so gentle even a white tail you know um but yeah I uh like you like you said that I I Jacob your brother for for instance we might not we we talk about every day or text about every day every other day he actually texted me this morning said he was out turkey hunting with uh a Penn State wrestler he texts me and said he goes between me and this guy we have four uh state champ or four national championships or something like that in wrestling I was like uh I think that guy has all of them and how else can we get that opportunity yeah um how else can I get that opportunity like um I've developed a pretty good friendship with Ben Rising and um a lot of people know who he is and um invited me up for church uh Easter weekend they had an excellent service up in Millersburg and we went to that service and went back to his house and ate and talked deer and you know if it weren't for deer you know how would I have the opportunity to to know somebody like that and just like the opportunity that you know that Jacob had this morning to to take somebody like that out. I mean that that guy was he's a world renowned wrestler you know I can't I can't uh say enough about what you just said because it I mean I have a buddy coming in next week from Michigan Jeremy who's kind kind of my co-host on not kind of he is my co-host on this this show and he um he's coming into turkey hunt so I'm looking forward to like two days with him um my Australian buddies were making a trip to Australia uh Lord willing uh at the end of this year and so kind of spend time with Joel kind of spend time with Daniel it's like I don't have any of that you know those kind of experiences I mean I'll have some you know we like to travel but like to like have people come and be able to spend a couple days and just do that kind of stuff it's just like yeah it's the podcast it's deer it's all those things you know just the love of the outdoors amazing and I don't know if you've noticed it too like everybody's starting up you know hunting groups and podcasts and whatnot but the amount of uh requests I get or the amount of pages I see that are faith driven like like your last name outdoors now you see a lot of people bringing faith into into it I love it man I love it and I I told someone the other day regardless of how tough it's been on me or got on me um the difference between now and and the past is I'd never let my faith waver. I um sometimes sometimes you gotta go through hard times you know um and uh that's where I'm really thankful for dear because of like I said you know getting to meet people like Ben Rising and you're getting opportunities and um it all revolves I sat in his kitchen back in last summer and uh we sat there and drank coffee and we talked about God you know yeah and uh I I I just I I feel that when you have a passion for something like deer turkey whatever it is and you mix the good lord in with it it's a way I think what you're talking about too is what I've noticed and I talk about this a little bit on the show a lot a little bit at the time but I think so many people are longing wanting like desiring community and connection with other people and I sp especially just I would say I think a lot of guys struggle with that you know we we are so active in high school hanging out with our buddies and doing stuff throughout college and then we get married and we settle down and what do we do we go to work we come home to our wife we run our kids all over the planet and we rinse and repeat that over and over and over again and I think a lot of guys like they just don't have close buddies. They don't have people that they go spend time with people don't you know might they go to church but it's just Sunday morning and then they never see those people for another week. And so it's like I I think it's been built into us to like seek out and want to be in a relationship. Like the first problem in the Bible isn't sin. The first problem in the Bible is man should not be it's not good for man to be alone. And while it's kind of talking about marriage I think it's talking about just in general it's not good for us to be solo and so when I think about that I just think like it makes sense that whenever you have a passion for hunting you have a passion for the Lord if you can find a way to put those things together you know I mean I think about today uh Travis Shire we were friends in college but Nate I was on the line with him shooting Archer you know and I wasn't a great shot I was scared to death I was scared to do it but and then next thing you know this guy starts talking to me and he finds out what I do for a living we start talking about faith and he's like I got this idea for a thing called bows and bibles and here we are four years later and every Tuesday night we get a group of guys together and we open up the word of God we don't even shoot bows hardly at all we just open up the Bible and it's just like that that whole thing that you're talking about that's that that's community that's connection that's what people they say they don't need it.
SPEAKER_00Everybody needs it you know I was uh when I was hunting that six and a half year old deer and um again I'm so blessed I I hate to sound like I'm always going through something I'm I'm man I'm super blessed but uh I was going in to hunt that deer and he and my he and my faith in God were what was really like pushing me man I was just I felt like I'm like man this has to be like the worst week months of my life you know and I was walking in to hunt him and uh I'm walking in praying as I'm walking in I anybody that bow hunts they pray in the tree and um as I was walking through this field uh probably probably like 200 yards from my stand God just told me drop your knees and talk to me and if somebody would have been watching me from their tree stand they'd be probably thought what the heck are you guys doing? Because I was literally I was walking through a cut cornfield and uh I did I I laid my bow down and I dropped on my knees and I just I prayed and thing I found like I think the best thing with prayer is I think a lot of people try to do it all on their own or be this tough guy or I can get through it it's just part of life but uh you know with when when my faith started getting strong I never tried to pull that I'm a tough guy I can do this or whatnot um I took the total opposite route man and I got to the point now where um I'd never thought it if you'd have told me this a year ago I'd have told you you were crazy but uh I uh I prayed for somebody in the middle of the road a few months back. He actually uh I knew that he was uh the person was was dealing with some health issues um cancer I hate I hate that word and uh I said you care if I pray for you and this his son was in the passenger seat it's kind of crazy if I the whole story would be too long but essentially I I ran into him and I prayed for him in the middle of the road and he had tears in his eyes and I drove off and um like a week later I met his mom in the same spot and I pulled in I pulled off the pull off and she stopped there and she had mentioned that her son had told her that I'd prayed for him and in the road and she was she was emotional talking about it and uh I said well I mean I feel it's only right if I if I pray for you while you're here so um I did we pray in this when I say the same exact spot the same exact spot fast forward like a month later I run into that guy I pull on with that pull off there's coming up a hill you always run into the people on on this road so I pull off and he stops there beside me and I said uh well I gotta ask you how are things going he said like when I first found out I had a mass that was about the size of my my fist and um I've been going through chemo and it's shrinking. Ran into him recently and he said it's it's about the size of my thumb now. Nice that's awesome yeah essentially me praying for him in the middle of the road might not have done a darn thing but uh I believe in my heart that it did. Yeah you know and people people remember that too like all the big dear in the world travels for people are gonna remember that whenever You know, this life on earth is temporary. You know, eternal life's after this. And uh, you know, when when your day comes, I'm sure people might be able to say, Man, that dude used to kill big deer. But the story of, hey man, I that that guy prayed for me whenever I was when I was sick, or that that guy prayed for me whenever I was, you know, dealing with stuff. And uh, I feel like that goes so much farther. I actually posted a video on Instagram back when I was shed hunting. I found a shed in the same field that my son built his first turkey in. And in years past, I would have picked that shed up and I'd have been tracking on. I gotta find the next shed. You know, I gotta go find some big sign. There's gotta be a big angler in here. And I actually I got to the gate that he was setting against when he shot that turkey. I just turned around and looked back, and I was like, man, it's so much more than this. Like, I'm walking around doing this, I'm healthy. Um and here I am stressing out over a deer. So I've even took that different. And your brother, one of them, I've had people tell me, like, man, you need to start enjoying it. I think it was last year, maybe your brother texted me. And essentially said a roundabout way, you need to start enjoying it again, quit taking it so seriously. Like you said, we can we can become so obsessed with it that yeah, we we think the end goal is the gotta kill a big deer. Sure, sure, that's that's fine, and that's dandy, and that's nice, but you know, there's something that's be said about being able to walk through your tree stand, to climb into a tree, to come home to a warm house, food in your um, it's just a obsessed over it. And uh don't get me wrong, I love it, but yeah, that's a good my eyes have seen with white-tailed deer. 100% God is real, and white-tailed deer brought me so much closer to him. Like I said, when I thought of my knees that day in that field, I actually thought when I got up, because there were people hunting a neighboring farm, I actually thought when I got up and I was walking to my tree, I was like somebody was sitting on their tree stand watching me. They had to be thinking, you alright? I also thought once I got in the tree, if I run into somebody and they say, What the heck were you doing? I just say I was talking to God.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. So that's awesome, man. Well man, I I I appreciate you uh carving some time. I appreciate you um sharing that because I think I think that's so powerful and people need to hear it.
SPEAKER_00Well, you know, something too, Travis, is uh I feel like at any point in time when we go through something tough, it's easy to blame God. Or why are you doing this? Why, you know, why that? Like like it's uh like it's his fault. But I seen a thing the other day that said, you know, if you're in a burning building, all right, and you got a fire all around you and a door opens, a door opens and says, Come with me. This is the only way. Um does that mean you're rescued or does that mean you're saved? You know, so when we look at sin, you know, people think of sin of like it's some big thing. Um you ever been prideful, you ever lied, you know? Um we all sin every day. You know, I I think God could rescue us and God can save us, but at some point in time it's gotta be up to us. And you know, I'm thankful for your friendship. You know, I I think it was a year and a half, two years ago, I felt like I was bothering you every night, texting you or asking you to call and will you pray for me. And uh but it takes having a friend like that. The guy where if you're broke down on the side of the road at three in the morning, you know not only is going to answer the phone, but he's gonna come help you change your tire or or help you out. And um, I'm appreciative because I consider you one of those people. I appreciate that, man.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, thank you. Absolutely. Well, Mike, I'll I won't keep you all night. I know um now you're still are you still filming hunts, right?
SPEAKER_00Still filming hunts, yes.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so uh, I guess to kind of wrap up, tell us a little bit about uh that anything else that you um, you know, I I see your hat, any of those sorts of things that you want to share, you're more than welcome to. I follow your channel. Uh you're on Appalach and Chase, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I'm on Appalachian Chase. Um I mentioned I become good friends with Ben Rising and uh hoping that opportunity arises here soon. He and I talk a good bit, and um, you know, uh I d I do believe that you know maybe there's gonna be a time where I can move on to bigger and better things sometimes. Um I'm glad that it's just me and my own little channel where it's not as serious, and if I uh don't get my kill on film, it isn't any big deal. But uh had the opportunity to meet it, meet a handful of really good people just through um I'm no big wig. I just I like to go out and hunt and um had the opportunity to meet some good people that have some companies and have allowed me to you know use their companies one being rack fuel. Um I uh I've been using their mineral for a while and their inner Tom is just a great person, you know, really good person. I went and worked the uh Rackfuel booth with them up at the expo in Columbus. And same thing, man, I met two other people from Wisconsin, they're based out of Wisconsin. Uh in the midst of talking about Big Deer, one of the guys that I that I meet, he starts talking about God. We spent the better part of the morning talking about God and what what God's done for him, and you know, we shared our stories, which were a lot of a a lot of life, but uh yeah, just there's so many good people out there, Travis, that you can meet. And um, I'm thankful for those opportunities and I'm thankful for you know God's blessing. And I I love deer. Um I I'm obsessed with them, but at the end of the day, deer deer helped me form my relationship with God. And I I tell those people that come over and they stare at my wall and tell me about this deer, tell me about that deer. And I can go through my deer and say, you know, this deer I killed in 2010, he that one was the one that lit the fire for me, you know. 2017 that I killed, which um would be uh if you can see that deer at the anger hanging off. Um big big mature deer. That was whenever I really like I was obsessed with it, then I killed that deer and I was like, oh yeah, I'm I'm figuring things out. And then uh I can look at deer and say, This is when I started, you know, forming a relationship with God. And and I can tell you this I'm not saying that uh you can't have luck without without God. I think a lot of deer um luck comes into into play, but man, he hasn't let me down since I since since I made him my number one in my life. Um I think I think I've been lucky enough to shoot a good buck with my bow every year since 2018. But uh I guess if I could if I could leave this podcast with anything and leave leave our evening with anything, it would be that uh when I went through tough times I uh I always had deer. There was a time I realized that uh it was gonna take more than deer, you know. My kids my kids are number one. But uh my main hobby is deer when I'm not spending time with them. And if I had to pick between spending time with them and deer hunting, I'd spend time with them every day. But uh some of the stuff that my eyes allowed me to see, I was that you're crazy if you think there isn't a God. And when things got tougher, I was always guilty in the past of I'd get mad, get mad at God, or man, I'm out here trying to do good, and you know, these people aren't, and you know, they're coming up smelling like roses every time. But uh especially this past year, I ran into some really good people. Um honestly it all probably started whenever I started reaching out to you and calling you and having you pray for me and um and whatnot, and uh you know, sitting in someone's kitchen like Ben Rising and drinking coffee and talking about God. You know, a guy's got five, six, two hundred inch gear in his house, and we're talking we're talking about God. So um if I could leave this podcast with anything, it would be um I got a cross on my neck, week 137 for God, nothing shall be impossible. So if anybody listens to this, I just want them to know that you can't go through life without him. And everything that you think is so serious, like white-tailed deer, um it's not as serious as you think, it's as serious as you make it. But maybe let's be as serious about God as we are about things that um are materialistic, such as deer.
SPEAKER_02That's good, Mikey. Yeah, I appreciate that. Well, I I want to say thank you for coming on. Thanks for carving out some time tonight. Uh awesome job, and I enjoyed the the stories and what happened. Excited to hear how things go this this coming year for you. And uh I want to thank our guests uh for coming on. And if anybody's interested in coming on, make sure you just send me an email over checkbookemail.com.
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