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If you've ever heard something strange in the woods and wondered what it was, you're not alone.

Recorded live from DUX 2026, host Wade Shoemaker sits down with Cam Hale and Kyle Philson of the Expanded Perspectives Podcast to talk about hunting, outdoor traditions, unexplained encounters, and the stories that often come from time spent deep in the woods.

The conversation explores how Expanded Perspectives grew from a small podcast into one of the largest platforms dedicated to strange encounters and listener-submitted stories. Along the way, Cam and Kyle discuss the origins of the "Glimmer Man" phenomenon, mysterious experiences reported by hunters, Bigfoot sightings, and why so many outdoor stories begin in the darkness before daylight.

Just as importantly, the discussion focuses on curiosity, keeping an open mind, and understanding that not every outdoor experience has an easy explanation. Whether you're a skeptic, a believer, or somewhere in between, this episode is a fascinating look at the stories hunters share when the hunt is over.

Topics Covered
  • The origins of Expanded Perspectives
  • How listener stories shaped the show
  • The “Glimmer Man” phenomenon
  • Strange hunting camp encounters
  • Bigfoot stories and eyewitness reports
  • Outdoor folklore and unexplained experiences
  • Why hunters tell the best stories
  • Keeping an open mind about the unknown
  • The role of storytelling in outdoor culture

Listen now: www.ducks.org/DUPodcast
Send feedback: DUPodcast@ducks.org

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Creators and Guests

Host
Wade Shoemaker
DUPodcast Host

What is Ducks Unlimited Podcast?

Ducks Unlimited Podcast is a constant discussion of all things waterfowl; from in-depth hunting tips and tactics, to waterfowl biology, research, science, and habitat updates. The DU Podcast is the go-to resource for waterfowl hunters and conservationists. Ducks Unlimited is the world's leader in wetlands conservation.

Wade Shoemaker:

Because there's no weeds to get into with it. It's probably not real.

Cam Hale:

If if that's what you wanna leave. And if it makes you sleep better and think you can walk to your stand better at night, please keep leaving me. Yeah. It's hard. Because what's gonna happen is this year, it's gonna cross your mind in the middle of the dark when you're walking out there, you're sitting in the stand.

VO:

You're tuned in to the Ducks Unlimited Podcast. Conserving wetlands, restoring habitat, and working to fill the skies with waterfowl today, tomorrow, and forever. From field tested hunting insights to the biggest conservation wins across North America, this is your front row seat to wetlands conservation in action. The DU Podcast is proudly sponsored by Bird Dog Whiskey and Cocktails. Whether you're wrapping up a hunt with your best friend or kicking back with your crew, Bird Dog brings award winning flavor to every moment.

VO:

Enjoy responsibly.

Wade Shoemaker:

Well, we're here. We're live. DUX 26 again. We got Cam, got Kyle, expanded perspectives. I love that it's like I don't know if that's supposed to be like Washington crossing the bottom of the I wish y'all could see.

Wade Shoemaker:

I don't know if you how that goes, but it's I don't think they can zoom in on this. But this is an interesting thing. Anyway, Cam, Kyle, Expanded Perspectives Podcast. Got a book here called Clemmerman. We're gonna get into that in a minute.

Wade Shoemaker:

But I want you guys to tell these people a little bit about yourself. Fun fact that you've been around it forever, your whole family, but neither of you duck hunt.

Kyle Philson:

That's correct. Yep.

Wade Shoemaker:

Which is so wild.

Kyle Philson:

And this is the second time we've been to the expo. Last year was our first year.

Wade Shoemaker:

I don't I don't really have anything to say about that. I just think that's so wild.

Kyle Philson:

It's a wild partnership because you never when you start broadcasting, you never know who's listening.

Wade Shoemaker:

No. That's just

Kyle Philson:

And it turned out that Clay Beard was a big fan of our show and just he sent us an email.

Wade Shoemaker:

Okay. So there's the anchor. We got it now. And he was

Kyle Philson:

like, would you do a Halloween episode? Yeah. Like, I guess.

Wade Shoemaker:

I guess.

Kyle Philson:

And we did and it everybody loved it. I've heard it's like

Wade Shoemaker:

One of the coolest things.

Kyle Philson:

They've had us back every year now. So what now? Six years probably?

Cam Hale:

It's been yeah. Probably five,

Wade Shoemaker:

six years. So five, six years for the DU Podcast and halloween. How long have you guys been doing expanded thirteen years. Thirteen.

Cam Hale:

Yes. A junior hire. Every week for

Wade Shoemaker:

thirteen years. Well, so you guys probably never argue.

Cam Hale:

No. Oh, well, we've been best friends since the sixth grade. So already

Wade Shoemaker:

out None of it matters anyway. Yeah.

Cam Hale:

Over forty years. Life lifeless.

Kyle Philson:

Since when we became friends because we like the same topics. Of course, when you're the woods hunting all the time. Oh, but You hear all these wild stories.

Wade Shoemaker:

Yeah. Yeah. Like there's some things I can jab like like me and you, we can talk and joke about these things that you guys talk about, but I promise you there is some unexplained situations out there in the dark. There's a

Kyle Philson:

lot more than you know about. Oh, I hope so. I mean, a lot of people are reluctant to come forward with stories. Okay. But that's how our whole show evolved.

Kyle Philson:

So when we first started, we weren't we didn't have any stories. We were like sharing with authors, interviews and things like that. Then the the emails just poured in. Somebody would be like, I had the same thing happen to me when I was up early walking to the deer stand one day. And then that person will hear and you'll get 10 more.

Kyle Philson:

And then every time we come on Ducks Unlimited Podcast, you'll get a wave of new people. That's interesting, dude.

Wade Shoemaker:

So I mean, you guys been this thirteen years. You've been with DU for six and it all started out of nothing. Basically, just let's let's have some conversations because we're best friends and we'd like to talk to each other. Yeah. And then it went to these people calling in being like, hey, yeah,

Kyle Philson:

me too. That's what that whole That's book

Cam Hale:

exactly what it was. Wow. Once they found out that we were into the outdoors. Yeah. Right?

Cam Hale:

And then do all that, then it just kinda started flowing and then we just started getting on like you said, voicemails, emails, messages, just everything. Everybody sharing stuff. Because we always make the joke that like, if you've never been scared in the woods walking in in the morning or out in the night, you're lying. Yeah. I'm a liar.

Wade Shoemaker:

If you haven't, yes you have.

Cam Hale:

Yeah. If you haven't, you will. I mean, it's going you can't help but freak you. Because we're all just little boys that love being in the outdoors and

Wade Shoemaker:

big kids' bodies. We're way smaller boys into the dark. And when it's dark, yeah.

Cam Hale:

And you're sitting up there and then all these ideas and stuff we've talked about come back to your head. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's just the way it is. But everybody's had some sort of experience out there that is a little unsettling.

Cam Hale:

So that's kind of where it comes from.

Wade Shoemaker:

I love that. I mentioned you did, you guys duck hunt, but you guys do hunt everything else for the most part out of East Texas. You kind of do your thing there and tell us a little bit being from East Texas and that whole duck hunting scene has changed so much over the past forever, whether you know it or not, it has. Do you guys choose to just kind of hunt, stay local when you're doing the hunting thing?

Kyle Philson:

Well, there's not a

Cam Hale:

lot of duck hunting out where we live.

Wade Shoemaker:

That's true. Yeah. It was just like,

Cam Hale:

I mean, the guys that I know maybe going to Brazos River or something like that right out there because because we're right on the edge of where it starts turning into West Texas. So we just hunt white tail. So there's a lot of white tail pigs, turkeys, stuff like Yeah, we hunt a lot of that. And then of course we've hunted, you know, we go mule deer hunting, elk hunting, stuff like that, antelope hunts.

Wade Shoemaker:

Welcome to the Old Timer Minute, sponsored by Old Timer Knives. A few years ago, we went hunting. Was me and my two boys and my pebble. It was it was a four little four man blind we had set, and they hadn't killed a duck out of that blind in, like, five, six days. But pebble wanted to go hunt, and I was like, let's go.

Wade Shoemaker:

Wind's right. You know, whatever. And we went. It turned out to be a great hunt, man. You know, we we hunted, me and Pepa, my two boys, which me and Pepa were the only ones with guns, and we shot 11 ducks, you know, almost almost minus limit.

Wade Shoemaker:

But in that, we ended up shooting three Mallards out of one group and another Mallard. We ended up shooting, like, I don't know, four or five Mallards out of it, but 11 ducks total, and it was me and my pepaw and my two boys. And I watched pepaw dump two Mallards out of one group out of his own gun, you know, and then we shot him at seven yards. And I just could see, like, him just I mean, like a kid again, you know, in a candy store. I'll never forget that, and I will always hope it can happen again.

Wade Shoemaker:

And that's one of those things that you just never man, ever. And my boys and football, like, that I I don't think I'll ever top that. Visit the oldtimer.com. Very cool.

Cam Hale:

Very cool. Yeah. We've never that was always the joke that everybody gets a kick out of is we've never ducked on it.

Wade Shoemaker:

Yeah. They talk about it

Cam Hale:

and we're like, we're walking around here at the expo. It's amazing. The expo. This is one of my favorite places to come every year. Absolutely.

Cam Hale:

And I know nothing about it. I love everything.

Kyle Philson:

Look at

Wade Shoemaker:

all these things.

Cam Hale:

Yeah. I have no idea

Kyle Philson:

what half the stuff is, but it's cool to

Wade Shoemaker:

look at.

Cam Hale:

I walked by a place frog talks and bought pair of shoes because my feet were hurt. I mean, you can't get any better than that.

Kyle Philson:

I like the meat. They're camo. I'm rocking. I the meat and cheeses and the pickles. That's my favorite.

Kyle Philson:

And the guns. Yeah. Who doesn't like guns?

Cam Hale:

Who doesn't like meat, cheeses, and guns?

Wade Shoemaker:

I didn't even realize you bought the shoes. I know you talked about it earlier and I just didn't realize it. There they are. They're so nice. They're so new.

Wade Shoemaker:

Look at that. Yeah. Took his boots off and said, oh, my feet. He's tired of walking around.

Cam Hale:

Super sore. I love that. This this really is. We've gone to like a lot of the other hunting shows and things back in Texas. Yeah.

Wade Shoemaker:

But this is my favorite place to come. Favorite one. Yeah. Hands down. Yeah.

Wade Shoemaker:

Yeah. Yeah. So I wanna get into this book. This is something that's very interesting to me. We talked we kinda touched on it a few hours back.

Wade Shoemaker:

Glimmer Man. The details that I know are something I don't wanna I want you guys to kinda tell that from your perspective. Let's let's kind of go through that and I'll say this, if you've seen Predator, you know the idea, right? So where did Glimmer Man come from?

Cam Hale:

So man, I would say this has probably been ten years ago. Yeah. Back towards the beginning. Tenor, it was we'd started been doing it just a little while and we stumbled across like two stories. And basically those stories were people had seen something that looked like the predator from the movie.

Cam Hale:

And I don't mean the alien, the clear liquid looking version of it. And they were like, we don't know what this is. This is what we and they started calling it different things and nobody would ever really pick up like a name to stick to with it. Right? So we just inherently started calling it the glimmer man.

Cam Hale:

We had seen it called that before. So we just started just over and over and over when we would talk about it. Well then for like a year or two went by, there was nothing. And then all of a sudden you started getting a few more stories. And then a few more stories.

Wade Shoemaker:

Oh, me too stories.

Cam Hale:

Yeah. And then it starts with like all the internet just decided that we were the glimmer man. Yeah. And we just every story was sent in, all the emails, all of this all of this stuff is done. And since we've released the book, we've probably gotten that more or way more of the stories, new ones that have come in.

Kyle Philson:

Yeah. And leaving the names. See, like when people first started telling the stories like Cam was just saying, somebody would describe it as a ghost. Yeah. They would say different things.

Kyle Philson:

It was shimmering. It looked like cellophane. They're like, it always looks about six foot tall. It'll be in the trees sometimes. And they'll only see it for a few minutes, but they say it looks liquid and they would say one of the descriptions, it was glimmering.

Kyle Philson:

Yeah. So that's why we just kind of decided to call it that. But like you said, we would do get two stories and you'd tell those stories on the air and you'd get seven more and then it just kept snowballing. So that whole book is just a collection of people that have emailed their firsthand witnesses to something they can't For this guy. For the thing they can't For guy.

Kyle Philson:

It's almost always outside. There have been a few cases of them indoors, but almost all of them are outside.

Cam Hale:

The wildest part is if you dig into tell him the J Allen Hynek connection.

Wade Shoemaker:

Tell me which is what

Kyle Philson:

Are you familiar with J Allen Hynek? No. Let's He start was a UFO researcher and when he went in, he originally did not believe in UFOs. UFO what happened?

Wade Shoemaker:

Researcher, you said?

Cam Hale:

He was a researcher. Okay.

Kyle Philson:

And the more and more people he interviewed over the years, he slowly became convinced that the UFO phenomenon is a real thing. When I looked into who did the special effects for the predator in the movie, The Predator, his name was Joel Heineck. And I'm like, well, that's a weird name. And I looked it up and Jay Allen Heineck, the UFO researcher, that was his father. So I'm wondering if he somehow told his son about some strange sightings and that son decided to make the cloaking effect on the predator in the movie.

Cam Hale:

I don't know. Yeah. So you wrap your head around that.

Wade Shoemaker:

Well, they get click connects, you know.

Kyle Philson:

Yeah. It doesn't just happen to hunters. I mean, it's a typical story like I'm trying to think of one off the top of my head. There was a young girl like in her twenties. She was going to the University of Florida and there was a park nearby and didn't have a lot of money, but she would always take her dog for a walk in the park.

Kyle Philson:

And she said she was walking there one day and just typical afternoon. And then the dog, which is never scared, it always chases squirrels and stuff. It was like focused on something in the trees. And she was like, what are you looking at? And she just thought it was, it's a bird.

Kyle Philson:

And then she said she saw movement up in the trees and she was like, limb shaking. What is

Wade Shoemaker:

that? Oh. Not a squirrel. It looked Not a leprechaun.

Kyle Philson:

The shape of a man, but completely transparent. And it moved around before it took off. I mean, that's like a typical story.

Wade Shoemaker:

And it's just sightings like that and it's from Where was this at? Do you remember? Florida. Of course, it

Cam Hale:

was Florida.

Kyle Philson:

Yeah. Yeah. But they come from all over and

Cam Hale:

not just

Kyle Philson:

The US. We get them from all over.

Wade Shoemaker:

So what I mean, okay. Doctors, lawyers,

Kyle Philson:

police officers, pilots. What's like are

Wade Shoemaker:

these sightings all pretty similar? Like seen them for a minute and they rolled out because they, you know, got caught or is there is there any kind of crazy ones that were prolonged? Yeah.

Kyle Philson:

There never there never seems to be most of the times it's a one time sighting.

Wade Shoemaker:

Okay.

Kyle Philson:

And it doesn't seem like whatever it is wishes them any Harm. Harm. They just like it's something observing them and sometimes it notices that you can see it. It's kinda scary too.

Cam Hale:

Oh yeah. What are you trying to do?

Kyle Philson:

So it often when it notices that you notice it, that's when it decides to leave. But people have lots of things. Is it an extraterrestrial? Is it a demonic entity? Yeah.

Kyle Philson:

Is it a time traveler who's come back in time?

Wade Shoemaker:

Never would have thought that. Here we go. Attitude.

Kyle Philson:

Imagine if you had the ability to time travel back

Cam Hale:

to ancient Egypt, but you

Kyle Philson:

could remain invisible and walk the streets of Cairo. That's sick. Right? Maybe it's something like that.

Wade Shoemaker:

I would definitely do that. The one weird I'll factor.

Cam Hale:

That changes in the stories is some people report when they see them, like, let's say in the trees. The trees moving, the limbs are shaking. You can tell they're moving. You can tell something is physical in the trees. Other people report seeing no movement in the trees as this thing jumps rooftop to tree to tree.

Cam Hale:

So that is So the

Wade Shoemaker:

only that person is the only one seeing it is what you're saying. Yeah.

Cam Hale:

Lot There's been people But we

Wade Shoemaker:

did an instance where it's like us seeing it at the same time. Yeah. Right? If you see it and me and Kyle are like, no man. Right.

Cam Hale:

It might but we've had stories like there were two guys hunting, I believe in Oklahoma and had encounters where they were hearing something that seemed to be following them. And then they noticed it and could tell it was moving through the trees, invisible as it was. They ended up camping that night and the next day they get up and moving and it's still with them and it follows them till they leave. It ends up pursuing them after a little bit.

Wade Shoemaker:

I'm just trying to like wrap Right.

Kyle Philson:

Exactly. Listen, when we first started getting them, we thought, well, these are just like a one or two accounts. It's just a wild story. Yeah. But then when the people start sending you in and said, I can't believe someone else had the same experience I had.

Kyle Philson:

I've I saw it fifteen years ago and I never said anything because I just thought I was losing my mind. Yeah. Thank you for sharing Yeah. The story. It's like Yeah.

Kyle Philson:

Expanded perspective is a safe safe place for people to talk about

Wade Shoemaker:

The their name is okay. Expand your perspectives. Okay. That's all clicking now. Sorry.

Wade Shoemaker:

Took me a minute. But so It's like

Cam Hale:

a grenade. We just pulled a pin and throw it.

Wade Shoemaker:

Well, is like an an extended release grenade is what's going on, you know? But so just thinking about the guy pursuing or the glimmer man pursuing him all this stuff like he wasn't hunting him. No. You know, was he was he making sure whatever was around him wasn't gonna get him? You know, because we can we can

Cam Hale:

go ahead and open another can of worms. Other angles,

Wade Shoemaker:

but they could be protecting him from something.

Cam Hale:

That's a theory. Beating off their fear.

Wade Shoemaker:

Don't know.

VO:

Stay tuned to the Ducks Unlimited Podcast sponsored by Bird Dog Whiskey after these messages.

Wade Shoemaker:

I don't because this is stuff I've never thought about or ever believed in in my entire life. You know? Exactly. Now I I love you guys, you know, but, like, whatever, you know, I don't I don't know.

Kyle Philson:

Well, that is a theory and that's the best way to guardian angel.

Wade Shoemaker:

Yeah. Nobody knows.

Kyle Philson:

And we don't just cover just a glimmer man. No. Yeah. For sure. We cover any kind of topic.

Kyle Philson:

For sure. As far as the

Wade Shoemaker:

strength Do you have anybody ever call in and you're just or you talk to them and you get letters or however this comes in emails and you just kinda call b s quick.

Kyle Philson:

A 100%.

Wade Shoemaker:

You're like, this sounds way too fast. 100%. 100%. What's an example of something if you can remember? I know you've got gotta have a funny one that's fake.

Cam Hale:

Well, there's one that you you always think of. Well, there's a bunch of them that you'll have people send in.

Kyle Philson:

I think Gary Christianson one. The short version. The short version of

Wade Shoemaker:

this. How long what's the short version? Like five minutes?

Cam Hale:

Yeah. This is one of my favorite stories of all time. Took place in the Dakotas. Five minutes, you

Wade Shoemaker:

gotta go.

Cam Hale:

A buddy of mine, buddy of ours goes up. He was he'd gotten into the Bigfoot idea and researching and all this stuff. But he went up there to hunt pheasant with some family and had some family that lived up there. While he's up there, he gets a story given to him about a Bigfoot sighting that happened to a group of kindergartners years back. Like this is like thirty five years prior to him going up on this hunting trip.

Cam Hale:

They're like, you need to go ask, you know, this this woman about it.

Wade Shoemaker:

So he was like, that's pretty wild.

Cam Hale:

So he goes and he speaks to this lady. She starts telling him, hey, I was in kindergarten. We were all out on the playground and like everybody's out there playing. They hear something in the woods. Something comes out of the woods that is she says straight up Bigfoot, comes across the creek, pulls up a stump, throws it in where the kids are at.

Cam Hale:

The police show up, the police start shooting at it, drive this thing off. It was a whole big deal. He can't believe the story. So he's like, that's insane. Do you have any other classmates?

Wade Shoemaker:

She's like, oh yeah. She names them off.

Cam Hale:

Yeah. They go in he goes and talks to like three of her classmates after this. One of them finally goes, if you wanna know what's going down, you need to go talk to the teacher. She's still alive and you know, she lives here in town. So Gary goes to see her.

Cam Hale:

As he starts speaking with her, he's like, this is why I'm here. Do you remember this? And she was like, yeah, I remember it like it was yesterday. And he was like, what's the story with it? She was like, there is no story with it.

Cam Hale:

It was all for Halloween.

Wade Shoemaker:

Oh, wow. And he was like, what are you

Cam Hale:

talking about? She goes, you need to go talk to the principal. So he's still alive in town. This guy's in his eighties when they go to visit. Yeah.

Cam Hale:

Yeah.

Kyle Philson:

He just gets wild with it.

Cam Hale:

He goes to the principal, and the principal was like, yeah. Remember it. It was me. It was me. And he was like, told cops.

Cam Hale:

The cops got blanks. We set it all up to scare all the kids for Halloween. And Gary said, did you tell any of those kids about it later? He's like, no, it never crossed our mind. He goes, do you know there is a group of people in this town that were kindergartners that never camp and never go to the outdoors in their life because of that memory?

Cam Hale:

So Gary had to then take that story from them and go back. He went back to the people that still lived there from that class and explained to them, it's all a joke.

Wade Shoemaker:

Yeah. But they're not gonna like No.

Kyle Philson:

Their whole life, they thought Bigfoot came up there, the cops shot him.

Cam Hale:

Throwing stomps and roaring Scarred for life, dude. 100%. And that's

Kyle Philson:

what we say about our show and the stories that we tell is whether you really saw Bigfoot or whether you really saw the glimmer man or you imagined it, the effect on you is exactly the same whether it was real or not.

Wade Shoemaker:

Yeah. So Done for. Not going outside. You go out. Nope.

Wade Shoemaker:

Don't go in the woods.

Cam Hale:

How much? Seven years old and you have that happen at seven. I don't want Yeah. From Louisiana.

Kyle Philson:

Yeah. You've never heard the woolly booger.

Wade Shoemaker:

Oh yeah. Roolly Roolly booger. That.

Kyle Philson:

Yeah. Everywhere you go in this nation, there are stories and there are people that'll say, I swear I saw it. And you're like, well, who am I to say, no, you didn't. No, you didn't. You're a liar.

Cam Hale:

You live over there by the green You've seen all of By what? The green curtain. It's the second largest forest in North America. Kissatchee? No.

Cam Hale:

The green, all of the timber in the state of Texas down that east side

Wade Shoemaker:

Yeah. Yeah.

Cam Hale:

Yeah. Is the second largest forest in all of North America. I didn't know that. Yeah. Yeah.

Cam Hale:

Second only to Alaska. Didn't know that. So that's how thick you you know it.

Wade Shoemaker:

I've been seeing it.

Cam Hale:

Yeah. So who knows what's out there?

Wade Shoemaker:

Yeah. That's wild.

Cam Hale:

And if anything is, it's unsettling, right?

Kyle Philson:

You start talking about all

Wade Shoemaker:

kinds of wild stuff. It's funny. My dad's best friend, his name's David. He is a firm believer in Bigfoot. Like we'll go to like these places and we always laugh at him, make fun of him.

Wade Shoemaker:

But now it's just like, I mean, it's all in good fun. And he's like, I don't care. I'm going anyway. You know, it's just what it is. It's funny.

Kyle Philson:

And we just like the duck huddle, me and him have never had any paranormal experiences at all. Yeah. We like to

Cam Hale:

listen And to people's my belief in Bigfoot and all this stuff changes daily. Yeah. Okay. I'm like, it's impossible. I appreciate that insight.

Cam Hale:

Yeah. It's daily.

Wade Shoemaker:

Yeah. Because you're not You're dying on the like, no

Cam Hale:

way this thing is real. It's impossible. Like Nelly and stuff like that? Yeah. On any of it.

Cam Hale:

Yeah. And then there's other days where you talk to people. Like, I've talked to people that I used to hunt with personally that had experiences, that I've known this man for like seven years, and then he explains the experience that he had, and you're like, this dude saw something. Right. For sure.

Cam Hale:

Yeah. Like, it's So then then you don't know. And then you're like, well, I mean,

Wade Shoemaker:

I guess it could be.

Cam Hale:

It it is you're gonna get into the the weeds with it and then Oh yeah. You will come out with more questions than answers.

Wade Shoemaker:

Because there's no weeds to get into with it. It's probably not real.

Cam Hale:

It's That's what you wanna believe. And if it makes you sleep better and think you can walk to your stand better at night, please keep believing that. Yeah. It's hard. Because what's gonna happen is this year, it's gonna cross your mind in the middle of the dark when you're walking out there, you're sitting in that stand and you're gonna be like, I wonder and then the cold chills hit and you're like, oh, I can't wait for

Wade Shoemaker:

the sun to come up. No, dig it. It's funny like, because I had, when I was, this is probably, man, I'm 40 now. So probably twenty years ago, we were hunting. We hunt a lot of public back home, like public land and we do in the most, it's all duck hunting for the most part.

Wade Shoemaker:

And we were going down this place and you run down a trail and then you there's a high line, you take a left and you can there's or you can go whichever way. But if you take a left, there's some water you can hunt. We took a left and we were the first ones in there. Like it was a it was a rule. You couldn't be in there until 4AM and we were the first ones to leave at 4AM.

Wade Shoemaker:

Nobody else in sight, nothing at all. And we pulled in. I'm just kinda telling you a story. Yeah. Maybe you guys can be like, hey, it was this.

Wade Shoemaker:

But either way, we were rolling and there was a fire going in the woods, like not supposed to be kept set, like making a fire there anyway. So we show up and we're like, oh crap, we're not the first ones here, which happens. People leave early all that thing. But we get there and we're looking and we drove by and we didn't we we saw there were people like standing there doing their thing, whatever they were doing. We drove by it because that well, we're not gonna just go hang out with them.

Wade Shoemaker:

We're gonna go to the next spot and look. So we go down the next spot and we look and we turn around, we come back, fire is out. Okay, gone. So we're like, well, maybe they're gone. We went into our spot to hunt because we thought these people who already had this spot locked down.

Wade Shoemaker:

And then we go to hunt and daylight gets here and nobody else is out there. Not a soul. We go over there, there is a fire that burned, but nobody. And we didn't hear any anything crank up and leave. There was no boat that crank up and left.

Wade Shoemaker:

We hunted in and a half. Couple hours after daylight, we kinda got kind of spooky, you know, it's like, what in the world, what kind of seance stuff was going on here? And and that that's there's a

Cam Hale:

couple There's several Dude, I'm

Wade Shoemaker:

serious. Now I'm saying, oh, glimmer man was in the in the in the leaves behind me. You know, I wasn't looking for him then. I will be now, think. Unfortunately, now that I know what's going on.

Wade Shoemaker:

So like anyway, just things like that and having like whatever random animals that are red eyes and six foot tall looking at you at 04:30AM while you're standing in the water. You ain't got nowhere to go. You dead player. You know, ain't gonna you done.

Kyle Philson:

And it's even amplified words if you're in the woods with nothing.

Wade Shoemaker:

Oh, we got low the guns were loaded.

Kyle Philson:

I promise. Yeah. It's even scarier when you're just sitting there with a trad bow. Oh, yeah. It's dark.

Kyle Philson:

You're like, man, I'm not

Cam Hale:

very good

Kyle Philson:

with this thing in daylight.

Wade Shoemaker:

Well, the difference is I won't be. And he needs

Cam Hale:

to be real close to me.

Wade Shoemaker:

Yeah. Golly. Yeah. You got 15 yards and you're done for. Yeah.

Wade Shoemaker:

Oh my goodness, man. No. That's cool. I I don't know. I would I would love for you for somebody, one of you guys, like, walk me through what's going on on this sticker right here.

Wade Shoemaker:

Like, I see UFOs, Illuminati, Bigfoot, Aliens, Grim Reaper, Abominable Snowman. You're doing good. Looks like a gnome. A gnome. Yep.

Wade Shoemaker:

There's face items. A mermaid or

Kyle Philson:

Yep. Mermaid.

Wade Shoemaker:

Yep. Something looks like ant man in the back. That's the moth man. Moth man. Okay.

Wade Shoemaker:

Then we what is this? A gargoyle beside mermaid? Yes. And then what is this? Is this like Ivan the Great over here in the middle with the helmet on?

Wade Shoemaker:

Who is that?

Kyle Philson:

That's like Nordic explorers coming over here long before Columbus.

Wade Shoemaker:

Oh, then we got like is that pharaoh holding the

Kyle Philson:

flag of the Illuminati? An ancient Egyptian. Yeah.

Wade Shoemaker:

Okay. Then you got the Great Pyramids. You got the Loch Ness monster.

Kyle Philson:

Then Yeah. It's just a collage of all the crazy stuff we do.

Cam Hale:

All set up to the crossing the Delaware.

Wade Shoemaker:

Crossing the Delaware. Oh my goodness, man. So I mean, how did you come up with that?

Kyle Philson:

We didn't Actually a guy from Louisiana.

Wade Shoemaker:

Of

Cam Hale:

course. He made it for us.

Kyle Philson:

Of course. We didn't we didn't ask for it. He just made it and we were like, you can sell this thing, you can keep all the profits and they just made that logo for us thirteen years ago. Just a just a fan. Yep.

Wade Shoemaker:

Oh, thirteen like, oh, that was loud.

Kyle Philson:

Yeah. That's been our our logo for thirteen years.

Wade Shoemaker:

Day one day one kind

Kyle Philson:

of thing.

Wade Shoemaker:

Yeah. That's I love that.

Kyle Philson:

And of course, like I mentioned earlier, the show is morphed over over time. So in the beginning, we would just tell strange stories and then people would begin to write it in. And now that's almost exclusively on this. And every time we come on Ducks Unlimited, we get bombarded. Oh, yeah.

Kyle Philson:

Yeah. Because we've done several like Zoom call interviews and then we'd finally last, this will be the third time I think we've done in person.

Wade Shoemaker:

Mean, I think I'm gonna be with you all this year.

Cam Hale:

Yeah. This year we're gonna

Wade Shoemaker:

do about

Cam Hale:

I think we're gonna do a couple of them

Wade Shoemaker:

this year.

Kyle Philson:

I'm here for Halloween

Cam Hale:

and all that. Buckle up. It's going to

Wade Shoemaker:

be a little slimmer. Like you ever seen by with a toothache, they got that thing wrapped around? Yeah. I'm on tights, my mouth don't stay open the whole time.

Kyle Philson:

Yeah. And like two times ago, I mean, we did some stories and they went completely viral. I mean, Matt Harrison was telling me the hundreds of millions of views they received. Yeah, silly. So the emails just really pour in.

Wade Shoemaker:

That's crazy. I love that dude. I love it. Is there Look, I think we're getting ready to wrap up here, but I wanted to I wanna give you guys a chance like to leave a last thought, like expanded perspectives. Like I think there's a lot of, there's a lot of weight that that, that just that title carries a lot of weight, right?

Wade Shoemaker:

Especially with everything going on around us on a daily basis. But yeah, Cam, if you wanna, if you wanna start, what's the thought you wanna leave us with with the listeners? Start putting you

Cam Hale:

on the spot. No. No. No. No.

Cam Hale:

No. Don't dismiss the small things. Okay. No matter what it is. It doesn't matter what it is in your life or anything like that.

Cam Hale:

You people we've I say we've you always have something where you're like, man, where's my keys? Where's my keys? And you come back and they were right where you've looked three times.

Wade Shoemaker:

Yeah. Like,

Cam Hale:

did I look past them? You know what's don't dismiss the small things and then just don't be closed minded about it. Just it's okay to say I don't know. Yeah. I love It's fine to be like, dude, I have no idea.

Wade Shoemaker:

I love it. Because when you're looking for your keys, you're always checking the usual suspects as far as the places.

Cam Hale:

And then you come back and you're like, I just I was right here. They were right in the bowl and now they're not and now they are. I like that because man. It's little funny things.

Wade Shoemaker:

Pay attention to the little things.

Cam Hale:

Yeah. Just pay attention. Slow down and pay attention to the little things.

Wade Shoemaker:

Yeah. It'll keep you away from just always assuming the usual suspect. Good. I like that. I dig that.

Wade Shoemaker:

Very cool. Thank you. Kyle, what you got?

Kyle Philson:

I would say keep an open mind. That's why it's called expanded perspectives. I think we like to pretend that we know it all. Yeah. It just makes you feel better when you go to sleep at night.

Kyle Philson:

Yeah. There's no monsters out there in the woods.

Wade Shoemaker:

Or under your bed. Like, you

Kyle Philson:

know, don't discredit someone sighting because you don't know.

Wade Shoemaker:

Yeah.

Kyle Philson:

I think the world's far stranger than we know. And I think it's a lot more, it's a lot better now people feeling comfortable sharing their stories where, you know, a couple generations ago, those guys were closed lipped. Like your great grandpa wouldn't tell you anything

Wade Shoemaker:

because he would not gonna have people thinking I'm less of a man. Right, exactly.

Kyle Philson:

Well, because of the popularity of podcasting and things like that, think people are sharing a lot more. Yeah. So we're learning a

Cam Hale:

lot more.

Wade Shoemaker:

Yeah. And there's a lot of ways to be anonymous without, you know, people.

Kyle Philson:

Absolutely. That's what I was telling. If you don't want your name read, just make up a pseudonym. We don't care. Very cool.

Kyle Philson:

To share the message. I dig it. So I say keep an open mind, keep an expanded thought process and I respect people's sightings.

Wade Shoemaker:

I dig it. And again, I didn't I didn't know you three hours ago, four hours ago. Yeah. And now we're hanging out. We've been hanging out.

Wade Shoemaker:

I'm leaning forward trying to figure something, like, listen to all these things and understand and wrap my brain around it. And I'm looking forward to more conversations. It'd be good. I really

Kyle Philson:

The Halloween episode's gonna be good.

Wade Shoemaker:

I'm excited for it. Guys, thank you so much.

Kyle Philson:

Absolutely. Thanks. Thanks to you and everybody. This is great.

Wade Shoemaker:

We love it. Heck yeah. Till next time. That's it for this one. Thanks, guys.

VO:

That's a wrap for today's episode of the Ducks Unlimited Podcast brought to you by Bird Dog Whiskey and Cocktails. From post hunt unwinds to celebrations back at camp, delivers award winning flavor to every moment. Enjoy responsibly. Don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe, and check out ducks.org/dupodcast for more stories, science, and all things waterfowl. Guest opinions are their own and don't necessarily reflect those of Ducks Unlimited.

VO:

Until next time, stay fired up, stay focused, and stay tuned to the Ducks.