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Our mission is to take a stand for Christ while hunting from tree stands and enjoying God’s great outdoors. On every adventure, if you look for it, God will teach you something about Himself. That’s what we want to share, a show about awesome hunting and an awesome creator who made it all possible.
Speaker 1 0:00
The following is brought to you by the stand outdoors and is sponsored by steel pixel studios, white tail heaven Outfitters, hot frog print media and word FM you Hey, welcome back to the stand outdoors, the show where faith and the great outdoors come together. I'm Dave Baker along with the founder of the stand outdoors, Mike Hayes, and today we're talking with singer songwriter Hunter and Pennsylvania's own Turkey Slayer, Mr. Nate Hosey. Hey Nate, thanks for hanging out with us today.
Speaker 2 0:49
It's an honor to be here. I'm glad it finally worked out. I've been running like a maniac all over the place, and I'm glad it finally all came together. Now you might get a surprise guest from my little boy, Nash. He's watching Mario Brothers over there. He
Speaker 1 1:03
could
Speaker 2 1:03
appear on on screen at any moment. I'm warning everybody,
Speaker 3 1:08
that's great. I
Speaker 1 1:08
love it. I love it.
Speaker 3 1:09
I remember I met them over at wagon town chapel when you were speaking over there at that church. Or I met your two kids and your wife. It was great. And you got to meet my grandson. Ty, remember the genius with the with the Rubik's Cube, the Rubik's Cube?
Speaker 2 1:26
I've lost sleep over how fast Rain Man
Speaker 1 1:30
Speaker 2 1:32
speaking here. Just put him up there and let him do this
Speaker 3 1:35
in front of everybody. I know it. And people go, did you teach him that? I said, Yeah, you know. It was, No, I didn't. Yes.
Speaker 4 1:42
I
Speaker 2 1:42
mean, yes, it's due to my tutelage.
Speaker 3 1:44
Well, Nate, it's so great to have you, man, we've been watching you, you know, with headhunters for what, 15 years now, I guess.
Speaker 2 1:54
Man, it's crazy. Yeah, we're actually filming our 16th right now. So 16 years we've been doing it's been pretty an incredible blessing, and to be able to promote hunting in the outdoors in a positive light and and really, to think it's been 15 years on air, and it's just crazy. It's it's been an amazing gift from God, for sure.
Speaker 1 2:12
How'd you get how'd you get started Nate with that whole thing? How did it kind of come about for
Speaker 4 2:16
you?
Speaker 2 2:17
Meaning, Headhunters, yeah, hunting in general.
Speaker 1 2:19
Hunting in general.
Speaker 2 2:21
So when I was five years old, my dad, he used to be involved. He worked a lot in like, the printing business, and he had several associates and colleagues that would do a lot of bird hunting on the weekends during small game season. They'd hunt pheasants and grouse and Woodcock and work bird dogs. And my dad did not grow up a hunter,
Speaker 3 2:40
yeah, but
Speaker 2 2:41
my mom's father, my grandfather, they used to call him the grouse King down in Jessup, where they're from, he was a huge Hunter. So my dad had mentioned to him at one point about these friends of his that were doing these bird hunts, and he said, you know, at some point, if they invite you again, would, you know, you'd be willing to go? And my dad's like, I mean, yeah, we can go, you know. I mean, we can go anytime you wanted. So they ended up going, well, they started taking me at five. They got me a little Orvis cap gone. And, you know, I'd have caps, I'd be busting caps, and everything that took off. And my dad and my grandpa, yeah, they'd take me out. And, you know, my dad says, I don't remember as much, I guess, from then, I remember the excitement of we'd go to Jordan's diner every morning before we went. And I just remember being out there, and it was something I looked forward to every weekend. And my dad said, you know, rain, snow, shine, whatever. It didn't matter. I was going, you know, I'd be out there walking in a 10 inches of snow, whatever. Or, you know, on every day that they went, I was there until the end. And it really, it really kind of just instilled that passion in me at that time, not only hunting in general, but just being out there at my dad, being out there at my grandpa, being grandpa, being out there with the guys and my Uncle Dave, at the time has since passed. You know, those are some of the best memories of my childhood, you know. And from there, as I got older, you know, they didn't have the mentor program back then, you know, got to be 12, and I started hunting white tail with my grandfather. And was introduced to turkey hunting a guy named buzz Frazier. Called him my first turkey in the fall here in town. He's a local legend, you know, famous friend and two country certified killers, Bob and Butch.
Speaker 4 4:09
Yeah,
Speaker 2 4:09
Bob Casella, Butch, mother, Tessie. They got me into spring turkey. I mean, started taking me once I heard that gobble of a turkey, and that interaction was hooked.
Speaker 1 4:16
Oh, man.
Speaker 2 4:17
And really, from that age on, it's just been, it's been amazing what the Wild Turkey has given to me in my life. You know, we're working on something actually, that we'll announce this year, to give back for all that the turkey has done for me that, you know, being able to call it turkeys and different competitions and things like, It's put me in places and hunts and shared the woods with people I could, I could never have dreamed of. You know, it's been an incredible gift in my life. So it's, I'm very thankful to hunting in general, but especially the wild turkey. You know what? I mean, it's, it's been special for me.
Speaker 1 4:47
Well, bird hunting in general, don't you, once you get that feeling, there's nothing like it is. I mean, you're kind of hooked, if you can get into bird hunting, because that's what I started out pheasant with my we had the Baker Boys. We 11. Yeah, 11. The people spread out over the field, and we would just all go down and we would just annihilate it was unbelievable. It's that, yeah,
Speaker 2 5:06
there's something really special about it. And you know, especially if you're younger, like, it's not you're offensive, you're walking, you're taking brush. That's right where deer hunting, as we know, I mean not that you're not offensive and making moves or strategizing or getting Intel. But you know, a lot of deer hunting is sitting you're defensive, you're just waiting
Speaker 4 5:24
for him
Speaker 2 5:24
to roll through. And as a kid, I mean, that's hard to do. I know I take my little boys every chance I can right now, and they could do it, but I better have a lot of snacks and a lot of entertainment.
Speaker 1 5:33
That's right, that's right, that's that's the truth.
Speaker 3 5:35
Our crews and Nash, are they getting into the hunting? I mean, they've probably already gotten to Turkey a couple times, right? Man, I
Speaker 2 5:42
don't even want to boast about it, but I was telling somebody the other day. Now, again, we didn't have these programs, but they youth program here in Pennsylvania is incredible, and in a lot of states,
Speaker 3 5:50
this cruise
Speaker 2 5:51
is now eight years old, and cruise has taken eight deer and five turkeys. That's
Speaker 1 5:57
legit.
Speaker 3 5:58
Yeah,
Speaker 2 5:59
he just got his first turkey out of state. He shot one a few weeks ago in North Carolina for the youth hunt down
Speaker 1 6:05
there.
Speaker 4 6:05
So
Speaker 2 6:06
he is, Cruz is pretty lethal, and Nash is right behind him. You know, as you guys know, up here in PA The winner was long this year.
Speaker 3 6:12
Yeah.
Speaker 2 6:13
So by mistake, I thought it would be cool, and now it's an everyday thing. We started taking my mounts off the wall, and they would drag them with a four wheeler in the house. So they would shoot the mounts. And national starting to learn, my wife would hide behind the chair, and cruise would call, and she'd have to push the turkey mount out, and then Nash would shoot
Speaker 4 6:30
it
Speaker 2 6:30
for the right shot.
Speaker 3 6:31
Oh, my
Speaker 1 6:31
God,
Speaker 2 6:32
you could tell winter got long, but we had some fun. I have the videos on myself,
Speaker 4 6:35
so
Speaker 1 6:36
that's the next gen for you. Man, his boys, step up and take over. You just sit back and relax now,
Speaker 2 6:41
it's been the greatest blessing of my life to be able to have,
Speaker 1 6:44
I bet,
Speaker 2 6:44
our boys, and to be able to share the woods with them. I thank God all the time. I can't believe it's real. Sometimes when I'm out there, I'm just so thankful not about shooting anything, just being out there and seeing them in camo and, yeah, and being able to share that with them. And my wife has just been
Speaker 3 6:59
well with
Speaker 2 6:59
incredible
Speaker 3 7:00
with your schedule. I know there's a lot of guy when I married my wife, I heard I was a big fisherman down in Florida. I met her at Bible college, and we she made me a snowbird in less than two years. And when I moved up here, her dad was a big outdoorsman, you know, and he was a trapper and all that stuff. And he had, he had three daughters. I was, I was his first son, and he was only 18 years older than me, and so, you know, it's funny, because we have eight kids in my family, and I tell people that, you know, I was number six of eight, they still don't know I'm missing. You know, we come down every year, and where are you living around here? Yeah, but, but he took me out in the woods. We connected, and all of a sudden, we were going hunting all the time. I was a newly wed, you know, and then after a few years, Dottie gets pregnant and but, I mean, I really had to learn some things you know about I was just saying yes every time dad said, Let's go hunting here. Let's go to this archery shoot. Let's do this. Let's do that. So how do you, you know, we and we had to go through some, you know, some discussions, I will call them. But how did, how do you do it? With your music schedule, the hunting, you know, I know you brought your wife and kids to a wagon tower. It's great to meet them. But how do you, how do you do it? Tell us
Speaker 2 8:20
about, I'll tell you, you know, it's, I think, for any family man you know that hits home in what you're saying, right? And for me, especially over the last, I'll say, eight years since cruise, right? And with Nash as well, especially if they've as they've gotten older, like, when I'm home, just like, right now. I mean, I'm Mr. Mom all day, every moment that I have the opposite end of not having the the regular nine to five is when I'm home. I'm home, right? So I get to give them naps. I get to be Mr. Mom, and I want them to remember all of that. I want them to know that I was here fishing with them every day and napping with them and doing that, that all the dad stuff,
Speaker 1 9:00
right, right?
Speaker 2 9:00
That I'm honored to do the flip side of that, and the battle that I that I internally fight, and I think this goes to a lot of people in life. You know, life in general, anymore is expensive, right? So you've got to make a living, and you've got to have a strong work ethic. And we're all brought up to have this incredible work ethic and go out there and make a name for yourself and this and that, and I've thought about that a lot, and we've gone really hard for 15 years and different things. And as you look at the society, like the world that we live in now, everybody is running this race for relevancy, right? And it's a race that you can't win, no, like, you can only win the race that you're running and the race that we should be trying to win through Jesus,
Speaker 3 9:48
right
Speaker 2 9:49
through our race for Jesus, through our relationship with Him. And I've struggled with this, and I've thought about it, because, yeah, I get to do some amazing hunts, right? And I've, I've been. Incredibly blessed in my life, and I get to play some amazing shows, and I've stood on stages through tragedy. You know, music came to me through tragic moments in my life, and I've stood there, and I know that it's God's plan, because I would not be standing in these places if it wasn't right. You know what I'm saying? Like, I know it's part of his plan. So I keep the idea of the impact that I'm making along the way. It's not about I can care less if somebody thinks I'm a good hunter or not. I just want them know I love it. I don't care if they think I'm good at music or not. I want them to come in and fun and enjoy it and feel like they just got lost for a little while. Whatever was stressing
Speaker 4 10:32
them,
Speaker 3 10:33
right?
Speaker 2 10:33
And the balance of that is this, I was actually out with some friends this past week week, and it was a longer one that I do anymore. I don't do the real long ones anymore. I'm out, I'm back, even if I got to go back out, I'm out and back.
Speaker 1 10:45
Yeah,
Speaker 2 10:46
because the reality is, in this race of relevancy, number one, you're not going to win it. Whether you shoot the biggest white tail, the biggest elk, the biggest hair, it doesn't matter, because everybody in society is just wondering what's next.
Speaker 1 10:57
There's always another bigger
Speaker 2 10:59
one. Find
Speaker 4 10:59
that
Speaker 2 11:00
fulfillment. What are you going to do next? People are focusing on happiness in what's happening, and that's not where it is. Joy is within Jesus, within your faith, your relationship with him, but when it comes to your family, there's no greater success I've ever had in my life than my two little boys and my wife, right? So what I lose is the time, right? And time is all of our greatest gift. So the balance of that is just, you know, it's, I haven't been blessed with Tiffany. We started dating in eighth grade, in high school. You know, she's been chasing me a long time. Where is she? Is she in the next room?
Speaker 5 11:38
Finally crumbled. But
Speaker 2 11:43
she has never one time in my life. She knows my heart. She knows where I'm at. She knows she it makes my life the easiest that it could be. She is, she is the boss, and I call her, you know, because she is. She leads this flock, and she is the most godly person that I know, and it's a team effort, but there's definitely, I think, that I have learned over the years in not only the hunting world. I've been around the biggest of the big of the hunting world. I've I've seen the top of hunting mountain, the big, you know, you got a moon and Crocket, you got a big out, you got and I promise you, like happiness. Yeah, it's there for a minute,
Speaker 3 12:17
right? But
Speaker 2 12:18
there's no happiness like your faith. There's no happiness like your family, your friends, the people who matter to you. You know what I mean? We respect and appreciate all God's creation, but like, if you think, Well, I'm gonna go out there and be a pro Hunter and I'm gonna shoot a big buck, and everybody is going to know me, and then I will be happy.
Speaker 5 12:33
Wrong? If you think
Speaker 2 12:34
I'm gonna go out and play the biggest stage possible, and then I will finally know what it's like to be happy, you're wrong. You know what I mean? Because happiness can own the peace that everybody is searching for in life, whether they know it or not, can only come through Jesus. That's the reality of it, you know? And I pray to God every day that with when I'm doing even being here with you guys, this is proof to me that what I'm doing is right. It's not about the deer, it's about the impact. It's not about the turkey, it's about the impact. Sharing the woods, creating atmospheres of good for people, but there's definitely the struggle, no doubt, internally. When I leave and my little boys are crying, I'm ready to work at the lumber yard at the end of my driveway. I'm like, I'm ready to just work here.
Speaker 3 13:14
Keep you close to home. I know
Speaker 2 13:15
because I spend an hour down the road crying internally, saying, Am I doing what's right? You know what I mean, because you know what I'm saying. And,
Speaker 1 13:23
yeah,
Speaker 2 13:23
so there's definitely, I've had moments where I wonder that you know what I mean, but I I trust in Him. And there's been times in my life it's so funny. And I'll share this with you guys. I've shared it with a few friends this past I think all of us at at different points in our life, you know, you ask the question, you know, like, did I miss my opportunity? Did I miss this? Did I not take a chance I should have, you know, and music is so interesting. I'm getting ready to announce here, within the next week or so, I've been put on the biggest country music festival that I've ever been put on, coming up in June, and I'm playing June 20 at barefoot in Wildwood New Jersey on the beach, Saturday night, 7:30pm and then Post Malone is the headliner.
Speaker 1 14:09
Wow.
Speaker 2 14:09
And so it's a really big one for me. You know, there's a lot of big, big names. And when I was a kid, that's where my parents took us on vacation. Yeah, right there. I'm Maurice pier, and we stayed in ocean towers. We take our boys to Wildwood Crest. Couple years ago, we prayed on it. I was like, it'd be awesome to play. Awesome to play that someday with all our history here, and here we are in God's timing all these years later. And it happens, you know, and there's been so many moments like that where I feel God and where I question myself, like, should I have tried harder here? And this past September was a really cool moment for me. And there was a time, you know, when I was first starting out with music, that there were several people out there, big people, that were like, You should move to Nashville. And if you move to Nashville, you've got a really good chance of being in the circles that you could make. It doesn't mean you are going making, you know, it's a very difficult time, but you would be better off to be here. Oh, yeah, right. Then you would be in Pennsylvania, right? I elected not to number one. Montel's our home. My wife's an only child, not only my parents, but I don't know what her parents would ever do if I took I know what they do. I got an idea I would create depression for everyone.
Speaker 1 15:15
There's no doubt.
Speaker 2 15:15
And no matter where I go, you guys know, like, I got to travel. So, yeah, I might as well travel and they're home, you know?
Speaker 3 15:21
Yeah,
Speaker 2 15:22
so I had this thing going on, and I'm going back and forth, and I'm like, did I? Did I just, did I not listen enough this? And I was playing a show with Craig Morgan in Iowa, a show that just popped up. Nate, would you open up for Craig Morgan? We'd like you to emcee the night, etc, you know? I'm like, of course. And this, and again, I don't have a booking agent. I do all my stuff. So I always tell people, God's my booking agent.
Speaker 3 15:43
Like, that's right.
Speaker 2 15:44
And he puts them in the in these things, because, like, I don't have anybody hunting these. So I go up there and I'm kind of having, I'm saying, turmoil in a light way, like I'm not,
Speaker 4 15:53
I'm
Speaker 2 15:53
just, I'm just thinking in my head, like, did I do enough? Could I be further ahead? Could I, you know, all these things that I think all of us as people who provide and things you think it at certain times. So I go up there and I play a 25 minute acoustic set all by myself first, and I'm just having fun with this crowd. We're just having a good time. We're talking about life, we're talking about hunting, we're talking about God. We're just, we're just having a time, right? I'm just up there letting it go. Bless you, buddy. And when I got done, I walk off, and some people were telling me, giving me some information about what they'd like me to say as an emcee and different things. And this gentleman comes over to me, and he doesn't know it yet, and I'm going to tell him at some point in person. And he says, Hey, man, can I, can I talk to you for a second? I said, Sure. So he pulls me aside. He said, Hey, I just want to let you know that you stopped me in my tracks out there. He said, the way that you connected with everybody, the way you weren't ashamed to show your faith, the way you just enjoyed yourself and just had a great time. He's like, you literally stopped me in my tracks. And he said, I just want to let you know that I've seen everybody you know, and I want to tell you in a nice job you've done. And I didn't even, at the time, I didn't know who he was. I was like, man, thank you, sir, and I appreciate it. I, you know, I appreciate the kind words. So then he walks away, and a friend of mine tells me who he is, and he's this incredible producer, songwriter, artist out of Nashville that's been, you know, he's worked with everybody from Craig, more, matter of fact, was playing with Craig that night, and this guy is just an amazing man of God, but an incredible talent
Speaker 4 17:27
as
Speaker 1 17:27
well.
Speaker 2 17:28
So the next morning, I'm flying home, and I'm praying about us, and I'm thinking, like, that was a reminder to me, like to keep walking this path, because you're in this this season of like question, right? And then there's like, it's mine. It's like, God reminds
Speaker 1 17:41
you, right, right? It's
Speaker 2 17:42
never been about a record deal. It's never been about a song on the radio. It's never been about a booking agent. It's always simply been about what music gave to me, which was an outlet for people to be impacted, an outlet for people to come together and just feel good. Maybe they're stressed out about finances, maybe they're stressed about a turkey they can't whatever it
Speaker 4 18:00
is
Speaker 1 18:00
they can stress them about
Speaker 2 18:01
if I'm up there for 25 minutes or two hours, you forget about it in that time. And that's what God gave me with music. So this is almost done, so I feel it. Thank you God for reminding me that I need to do this. So we go to church, when I get back, and I told Tiffany, you know about this, and we go there, and the pastor's talking, and it's on a screen, it's like at one of the other campuses, and he's talking up there on the screen, and he's talking about how don't be afraid of these paths that God put in your life. And don't be afraid
Speaker 4 18:30
to be
Speaker 2 18:30
take risks. And if you have faith in it, and if you believe God put it in your path, don't be afraid to go for it. And it continued down that road. And I told my wife, I said, Man, I said, you know, I feel like this is speaking to me, you know, like what we had just talked about, what we just prayed on. And this is when it just got the craziest. He ends the service. He said, Guys, listen, I want to pray for everybody. Nate's going to come up and play a little music for us. Right now. We never saw Nate. I have no idea who Nate was, but as simple as that, Nate's just going to come up and play a little music for us, you know. And it reminded me of God saying to me, like and and for all of us to listen to the the simple things like this. Of it's, don't overthink it. Don't overthink these things in life. Just go up and play a little music. Follow his lead. He put this in your life. You're playing on these stages from
Speaker 4 19:18
two
Speaker 2 19:19
people to 10,000 people,
Speaker 3 19:21
right?
Speaker 2 19:22
It's in your path for a reason, and it's to spread His Word, you know? It's to create an impact through Him, and to give to people what music gave to you an outlet for a little
Speaker 4 19:31
while to
Speaker 2 19:32
get through something. You know what I'm
Speaker 1 19:33
saying? That's
Speaker 3 19:34
right? Yeah,
Speaker 1 19:34
you know, I think, I think Nate, it sounds to me like you're in that transition now between the hunting and the music. It's not so much about that, although it's important, but it's now the platform of presenting the gospel. Now, did you feel like you're in that transition now all those things are still important for earning money and doing all the things and getting the big buck and the Big Bird, but it sounds to me like you're in that transition now that you. You're thinking more about, well, how can this be a platform for my faith? Is that true?
Speaker 2 20:05
It's, without a doubt true. Obviously, it's always been, you know, it's always been there. And to be honest with you, for a while, I was really afraid to talk about any kind of my testimony thing. I didn't want to get I didn't want to get weird, I didn't want to get really emotional. You know, it's hard for me to talk about some of the things, and I was embarrassed of it to an extent, not of my faith, but of like, ever getting up there, and because I'm not, I'm not a preacher, right? So, like, I love to share my testimony now, but what I've realized along the way, when I finally went up and did it, when I finally just talked about it, was maybe somebody needs to hear it for me, right? Maybe somebody needs to see where I got up, and that's going to draw them closer to Jesus. So that's going to create them. And if there's anything I can tell you about my platforms, and maybe somebody could look at it. And I'm no mega star by any means, but I'm fortunate to have some really cool things, and maybe they can understand that my true happiness. When people say, Man, you live the dream, you get to play music, you get to hunt all over the country. I was like, let me tell you something. I do live the dream, but it's when I want but it's when I walk in my doors of my home,
Speaker 1 21:04
yeah? And
Speaker 2 21:05
I mean, it's when I walk into my house and I see my healthy little boys and my wife and all that God has given us, the happiness doesn't ultimately live out there. It's cool. It's great. And whatever you do, whatever your trade is, you should have passion for it, and you should do good, but understand, like I said, that race of relevancy that everybody's searching for could only be found through unconditional love. It can only be found through Jesus, through where you're irreplaceable. You know what I'm saying? Like, yeah, I can go out. I tell people the other day, I was like, Man, I'm going home. They wanted me to go hunt another play. I'm like, man, one more Turkey doesn't make my career. Like, I'm going home, you know, I'm going on seeing my family and and, you know, it's just that idea of like, you know, it's not about the next it's about getting home, appreciating all that we have. But yeah, I would agree with you, like, I want to give back to music and to hunting, all that that God has given to me through it, that's right? And it's, and it's, it's, it's definitely become about that, you know what I'm saying? And because if I think, if people could look at that and relate to that and understand that, listen, we get to do all these things. But if you want true peace, if you want true happiness, if you want to feel true love, yeah, that's right, and you there's only one place that that could be found, because all of this is transactional. Yep, there's there's another turkey collar, there's another yes, there's this and that. But the only place you can find unconditional love where you're irreplaceable is there and and if I could help you get there, then
Speaker 1 22:33
you're all in
Speaker 2 22:34
that's way better than beer Turkey or in
Speaker 3 22:36
a concert, and it is the influence that you have just this is so, so great, and to use it for the glory of God is, you know, Paul says, Everything we do, what our hands touch, everything we should do for the glory of God. And that's why we've, you know, created this ministry to stand outdoors because, you know, outdoorsman, they have a connection with God that a lot of people don't have because they're out in his creation. You know, Romans 120 says that God's clearly seen by the things that he's made. And so the man is without excuse, and they're in it every day, but a lot of times they don't know, you know maybe, about Jesus, or they don't know, you know anything about his word. And so we created this, the stand outdoors. We wanted to create Bible studies that would that would help these men out there in the outdoors to really get on fire for the Lord. Because it's amazing when, when, when you lead a child to Christ, there's like a 4% chance the whole family's attending church. When you lead a woman to Christ, there's a 16% chance, or 17% chance that the whole family is attending church. When you lead a man to Christ, there's a 94% chance the whole family is attending church. When I saw those statistics, it blew me away, and I knew I had to do something to try to help, especially the outdoorsman, who are already connected, to get them into the word because we've kind of passed it on to the wives. Thank God for that 17% you know, because we wouldn't have church anywhere,
Speaker 4 24:08
yeah.
Speaker 2 24:08
And plus, our wives are probably worried. They're probably just going to go because they don't want to see our temper
Speaker 1 24:13
tantrums. That's right. Hey, Nate, we're all about trying to get young hunters involved and people involved in hunting, because I don't know if you notice or can tell, but it seems like the trend is less and less are getting out there and and hunting anymore, it seems, unless you're come from a family of hunters. But what would you say to young hunters, or listening to our program that may be thinking, or even people that are just listening, going, I don't even know much about hunting. How would you encourage them to kind of get involved? Where's the first place to kind of start,
Speaker 2 24:41
man, it's cool, like, so a couple years ago, a few buddies of mine out of Nashville, we wrote these projects called the woods album, right we have volume one and volume two. We're actually working on volume three right now, and they're just songs that you crank up when you're heading to the woods. So there's, there's rock songs that are like, kind of AC DC, feel like, you know, you. Going out with your buddies, and you crank it up. And then there's, like, funny songs called deers Astor, and it's about everything that went wrong. We got Frick ticks coming out because, I mean,
Speaker 1 25:10
yeah,
Speaker 2 25:10
I said it at the church. I said, Lord understands, you know, why are they here? Yeah,
Speaker 1 25:15
and then,
Speaker 2 25:16
but then we have some that that cut right to the core of of us. And the very first song that I wrote with my buddy Randy Montana and Dan Isbel. It was called Why hunt. And the idea was, why do we do it, right, like and it's not about shooting anything. It's not about anything like that. It was simply, why do we do it? And there's so many great lyrics in that song. And one of the my favorite lyrics for people who are just getting into it before it goes in the chorus, which the chorus is, it's the way the good Lord speaks through the breeze in the trees. When I'm sitting in a white oak stand. I do it because it's in my blood. It's just a part of who I am. I find my way back to my roots every time I lace my boots and thank the Lord in the dark as the sun comes up, that's why I hunt. Well, leading into that, he says it's all about imagery, right? So like it's the sun coming up on a hillside, a propane stove and a pit line. It's a sweet 16 hanging over your mantle that your granddaddy gave to you. It's closing that cattle gate real slow, hot hands in your pocket when you're real cold. And
Speaker 4 26:10
this
Speaker 2 26:11
line is what I'm getting at, I can tell you, but you can't know. You won't know until you go,
Speaker 4 26:15
yeah.
Speaker 2 26:16
And that, that line right there is, I can tell you about it, right? I can tell
Speaker 4 26:19
you, but
Speaker 2 26:21
until you can come be a part of
Speaker 3 26:22
it, until
Speaker 4 26:23
you
Speaker 2 26:23
can get out there in the woods, I worried about shooting nothing. Just come out there, sit with me, talk with me. Listen to a turkey gobble, watch a deer chasing a doe. You know, whatever it may be. And I think with hunting is it starts with just getting out there, right? I can tell you about it, and we could tell you how amazing it is, but until you can go out there and feel the peace of it, right? And I'm not talking about shooting a thing like, I'm not talking about go out there, man, if you don't go out there and see, I'm talking about just go out
Speaker 3 26:50
Yeah,
Speaker 2 26:52
disconnect from your phone, disconnect from life, right? Go out there and just listen. I walk every day. I walk this morning, my wife, she walks all the time too. We love walking and listening,
Speaker 1 27:01
yeah,
Speaker 2 27:01
and like, just listening to God's creation will bring you peace in general. You know what I'm saying. And so I think that's where you start. For young kids, for people who aren't really into it, you don't have to be a world renowned Hunter by any means to get out there and enjoy it and love it for what it is, which is just peaceful. You know what I mean, get out there, be out in the woods, disconnect from the chaos of the world right now. I actually had an idea. That's very weekend. I had an idea for a song that I'm going to share with you guys, and hasn't even been public yet, but
Speaker 3 27:35
we get the
Speaker 1 27:36
exclusive
Speaker 4 27:37
So
Speaker 2 27:37
Lord willing. Well, I've talked to a few friends. We're going to work on writing it this summer, and, Lord willing, it comes out in the fall. So I'm hopeful that this conversation goes somewhere. But I had this idea, and the song is going to be called hunting, right? And so the song is called hunting, so people are going to immediately think of hunting and this and that it's going to be about, the story is going to be about a guy who's struggling, right?
Speaker 1 28:02
And
Speaker 2 28:02
he goes out there to the woods to get away. And as he goes out there, you know, the story will walk you through some of the things he's dealing with, some of the things he's going through. And ultimately, the hook of the song will be, you know that while I'm out here seeing nothing, I've realized that it's not a deer. I'm out here hunting, right? And it's the idea that he's hunting salvation. He's hunting for that relationship.
Speaker 1 28:31
I love, that with
Speaker 4 28:32
God. You know
Speaker 2 28:33
what I mean? So like, and it's, it's that kind of connection where hunting will strengthen your faith, and I think for anybody, for believers, if you're out there in the woods, you feel God. I love going to church, and I feel God in everywhere. I mean, I feel them everywhere I go. But there is something about the woods to people who grew up loving it
Speaker 1 28:52
agree
Speaker 2 28:52
that there's just such a connection out
Speaker 3 28:55
there
Speaker 1 28:55
to God. So much. Yeah,
Speaker 2 28:57
I can tell you what you can't know. Yeah,
Speaker 3 28:59
that's true. Do you, do you have, like, a certain because you travel, I know you probably have a home church. Do you have, like, a devotional, or something that you like to do while you're away? Or, how do you stay like, you know, with that connection with
Speaker 2 29:15
I really read a lot of different, you know, things. I have a devotional right now everyday joy and peace that actually our producer, scuba, his dad, was a part of of writing in some of that. And I always take time to read in the mornings. And really, I've gotten heavy into it, because I did get away from it for a while, and I've gotten used to just Ben on my phone and this and that. And I think even that sometimes is, is an is a problem. You know, cruising national, when can I get a phone? I was like, get a phone? I was like, somewhere in your 40s. Yeah, right, you know, because, although there's a lot of great things about it, my goodness gracious,
Speaker 3 29:49
it's,
Speaker 2 29:50
you know, like, there's a lot of it that's just noise, you know,
Speaker 3 29:53
give them a loaded gun, yeah?
Speaker 2 29:55
But I spend a lot of, you know, I spent a lot of time reading on my turkey vest. Matter of fact. I have a little Bible, you know, that I keep right here in my pocket, and I'll break out into that Turkeys get slow and just sit out there and read out in the middle of the woods. That's some of my favorite times to pray and do my devotionals during the slow times. You know, people I was on a podcast a while back, they said, What do you do? What's your downtime when, when the woods are slow? I said, I pray. You know what I mean? That's when I take my time
Speaker 3 30:20
to worship
Speaker 4 30:23
God,
Speaker 2 30:23
but I like to be versatile in that stuff too. I think there's a lot of good, you know, devotionals, and there's a lot of good different books, and, you know, a lot of good things online as well, you know, different influencers and stuff like that that I follow. And when I was growing up, I was raised Catholic, and
Speaker 3 30:40
me too,
Speaker 2 30:40
I was an altar server, all that stuff. So, I mean, I have a lot of appreciation for the Catholic religion. We go to lcbc right now. Lives changed by
Speaker 1 30:48
Christ.
Speaker 2 30:48
Love it. And my wife was raised Pentecostal. I was Catholic, and we came together. We decided to find a church for us both that we could grow in together and still go to, we still go to any of them, you know, we'll go with her parents. Sometimes go with my my parents, you know. And you know, we're for Jesus, so,
Speaker 3 31:06
yeah,
Speaker 2 31:07
we're all about it. I mean, like, you know, the versatility. So I try to do the same thing in reading and stuff. But you know, I definitely have a routine daily of, you know, thanking God and and all that stuff. You know, it's our teaching every day and ends each and every
Speaker 4 31:20
day. And
Speaker 2 31:20
I found myself a whole lot throughout the entire day.
Speaker 1 31:25
I think, I think that line you just said, I can tell you about it and take it out there. I think you should write a song about that until you go. I can tell you about it all day until you go. I think that'd be a good song. That'd be a great song. There's so
Speaker 2 31:36
much, there's so much ideas of that, like, because, like I said, I mean, you it's with so many things in life, man, you know you can't imagine until you go do something and really feel it for yourself, like you can't really imagine. And I'm fortunate some of my favorite things to do, honestly, I'm at the point too in my career where not only leading people to strengthen their faith and leading them to Jesus, where is my hope, but like honestly, just give them back. You know what I mean? If I go shoot a 200 inch deer, another turkey, great. I'm thankful, and I love it.
Speaker 4 32:06
You
Speaker 2 32:06
know what? Being able to call up somebody's first turkey and share the woods, that means more to me now than,
Speaker 3 32:12
Oh, I've been anything
Speaker 2 32:13
that I could do and given back to that kind of stuff, giving back to the outdoors. You know, a conservationist in the sense, I've taken a lot from the hunting and the outdoors and and making a living and stuff like that. So I really want to, I really want to do a good job of giving back
Speaker 4 32:30
to
Speaker 2 32:30
all that it's given me.
Speaker 3 32:31
Yeah, it's it. I even get a little more nervous. I think, you know, it get Buck fever when I got the camera in my hand instead, you know, with my grandson, my friends, my
Speaker 2 32:42
friend, Josette, we've started hunting together the last couple years. She's incredible. She's getting she worked for pennies for a long time now. She's working in the outdoor space. She's infatuated. She's obsessed with her again, and killed her first Turkey last year. This year, she got an Osceola and a Rio. She's excitement and how she's just enthralled all of it. But like my wife Tiffany, her all my buddies, my friends, they yell at me. They're like, stop fast talking. Me, you're fast talking. I'm like, know what's about to happen. Oh
Speaker 3 33:20
yeah, yeah, slow down.
Speaker 2 33:23
You're fast talking. I'm like, Well, you're not moving fast enough. You gotta move. I
Speaker 3 33:29
know. And with with a nine year old, you know, you can't do it real fast, but
Speaker 2 33:34
yeah, the intensity is where me, you or whatever, we're
Speaker 1 33:37
just doing it right, yeah, that's right, yeah.
Speaker 2 33:40
But with them, you're you want it to happen so bad, like you want it to happen so bad for them?
Speaker 1 33:46
Well, yeah, well, Nate, thank you so much for taking time out. I know we want to talk again sometime. If you had a minute, we'll try to these will come short. We
Speaker 3 33:53
got to make we
Speaker 1 33:54
got to do. But I just appreciate your testimony. Appreciate you talking to us and taking time out. And we will want to, we definitely want to hook up again, maybe come up and visit you sometime and check out, see you and appreciate you guys,
Speaker 4 34:06
and
Speaker 2 34:06
wish you life's greatest blessings.
Speaker 4 34:08
And yeah to
Speaker 2 34:09
everybody out there watching or listening, I appreciate it. And get out there, hunt them up.
Speaker 3 34:13
God bless you, brother. God bless you. All right,
Speaker 1 34:15
thank you. Talk to you soon.
Speaker 3 34:16
Bye, bye.
Speaker 2 34:17
You Ben. Thank you guys.
Speaker 4 34:22
You
Speaker 1 34:27
Ben, we would love to hear from you. We'd love to hear your stories. So please send us a note or question by going to our home page at the standout doors.com and hit the Contact tab. Also, we'd love to pray for you too. Leave your prayer request by hitting the Contact tab, or do you know Jesus tab?
Speaker 3 34:46
Yeah. Also check out our targeting the truth Bible studies. We have these Bible studies that include hunting videos. I mean, think about it, when was the last time you went to a Bible study and got to watch a hunting video? Well, that's what targeting the truth. Bible studies include you watch a video, then I share the three to five minute spiritual message at the end. But then you go into the five discussion questions. You have Leaders Guide. You have everything you need. You're so good right there to have a men's group. You know, you can download it. And guess what? Guys, it's all free. It's right there for you. Anybody in the stinking world that has a computer can can download
Speaker 1 35:30
this for free, and then we, you know, we want to keep it that way, because we want to reach as many people and the outdoor community as we can. And it's all found at the stand outdoors.com. Check it out. Hey, Mike, and I want to thank you for joining us today on the podcast. You can find it anywhere. It's in on Apple, Spotify, many other platforms. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe. Leave a review, share it with a fellow Hunter, and you can get all the details about our guests. Any links can be found on our show notes, and you can find us online anytime, day or night, 24 hours a day, free of charge, the standout doors.com. That's the standout doors.com. Until next time for my case, I'm Dave Baker,
Speaker 3 36:10
and remember, stand firm in the faith and keep targeting the truth.
Speaker 4 36:15
You.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai