Have you ever wondered what it takes to become a true outdoors woman? Join Josh Crumpton and Kayla Lockhart for an insightful conversation with Rebecca Jones, Chief People Officer for Orvis, as she shares her journey of becoming a fly angler, hunter, conservationist, and outdoors enthusiast. From growing up fishing in Australia to learning the art of hunting and connecting with nature, Rebecca's experiences offer a unique perspective on the philosophical aspects of hunting and fishing.
They discuss the importance of having the right gear and equipment for hunting and fishing, as well as the unique challenges and amazing moments that come with each activity. Rebecca shares how her freshman upland season taught her the value of being comfortable in the field and the significance of hunting with other women.
We also discuss the juxtaposition of hard work and the finer moments in life, such as toasting with champagne after a successful hunt, and the importance of rituals and traditions that honor the experience. Don't miss this engaging conversation with Rebecca Jones – we promise you'll walk away feeling inspired and deeply connected to the great outdoors.
Find Josh on Instagram or Twitter.
Presented by:
Spoke Hollow Outdoors - find them on Instagram or Facebook.
For more great BunkHaus content, check out:
BunkHausPodcast.com | Youtube | Instagram
Have you ever wondered what it takes to become a true outdoors woman? Join Josh Crumpton and Kayla Lockhart for an insightful conversation with Rebecca Jones, Chief People Officer for Orvis, as she shares her journey of becoming a fly angler, hunter, conservationist, and outdoors enthusiast. From growing up fishing in Australia to learning the art of hunting and connecting with nature, Rebecca's experiences offer a unique perspective on the philosophical aspects of hunting and fishing.
They discuss the importance of having the right gear and equipment for hunting and fishing, as well as the unique challenges and amazing moments that come with each activity. Rebecca shares how her freshman upland season taught her the value of being comfortable in the field and the significance of hunting with other women.
We also discuss the juxtaposition of hard work and the finer moments in life, such as toasting with champagne after a successful hunt, and the importance of rituals and traditions that honor the experience. Don't miss this engaging conversation with Rebecca Jones – we promise you'll walk away feeling inspired and deeply connected to the great outdoors.
Find Josh on Instagram or Twitter.
Presented by:
Spoke Hollow Outdoors - find them on Instagram or Facebook.
For more great BunkHaus content, check out:
BunkHausPodcast.com | Youtube | Instagram
Welcome to the Bunkhouse podcast broadcasting from the confluence of outdoor recreation and nature connectivity. I'm your host, josh Crumpton, founder of Spokalo Outdoors and the Los O'Vallé food truck. My life as a rancher, guide, foodie and conservationist has provided the opportunity to meet some really great people, and the Bunkhouse is where we get to introduce them to you. In this episode, i'm joined by my good friend, kayla Lockhart, fly angler, hunter, mentor, conservationist, outdoors woman and all around badass. In this episode, we visit with another good friend, rebecca Jones, about West Texas women who hunt body waxing, killer cacti, dinosaurs and great gear. It's going to be a good one, so buckle up, buttercup, and let's get this thing started. Well, here we are in the Bunkhouse.
Rebecca Jones:We're here.
Josh Crumpton:We're doing it again Another show, this time with Chief People Officer for.
Rebecca Jones:Orvis, so fancy that title It is a name.
Josh Crumpton:It's a very, very exciting title. I don't really know what it means, but hopefully we'll find out a little bit today. Rebecca Jones, who also happens to be a good friend of mine. We've become good friends this hunting season.
Rebecca Jones:We have.
Josh Crumpton:Yeah, i've enjoyed our time together and joined by cohost Kayla Lockhart.
Kayla Lockhart:I have replaced Daven for the time being.
Josh Crumpton:Oh, did you hear that, daven, my drinks are extra stiff and real shitty but you know, i try my best.
Kayla Lockhart:No, I'm excited to be here. Thanks for letting me co-host for a minute. Yeah, I guess the last another perspective on your eyes is chatter. I'm excited.
Josh Crumpton:Yeah, the last show we were on, we like said goodbye to you and we're like we'll see you in fall.
Kayla Lockhart:And here I am. You're still here. I'm like glue baby. There's no getting rid of me.
Josh Crumpton:So this is three weeks later that we're recording this and she's still on the ranch, still in the same outfit. I haven't changed. And still on the ranch. Oh, my goodness, no, we're absolutely, it's worked out well. We're all here Like we all converged at the ranch for different reasons. You know, this weekend Kayla was out to do an event with us. You were out here. What brought you to the Hill Country?
Rebecca Jones:I was here for a grits women's clay shooting event. Oh yeah, i know It was great, and then I was here And then I came up this way to go fishing. So it's been a. It's been a shooting fishing kind of a weekend. Wow.
Kayla Lockhart:Yeah, you're on the wrong weekend.
Rebecca Jones:Yeah, that's right.
Josh Crumpton:That's a lot of your weekends and you're doing, you've done a lot of that this season. Yes, shooting and fishing and really over the past year has been a year, not even.
Rebecca Jones:Not even I didn't start my first bird hunt until mid-September 22.
Josh Crumpton:Wow.
Rebecca Jones:So it's not even eight months.
Kayla Lockhart:Oh wow, So you're still hungry and enjoying it all Very hungry The freezer is nearly empty.
Rebecca Jones:I love very hungry.
Kayla Lockhart:This is the end of season in your freezers.
Josh Crumpton:Empty. Yes that's because you're an upland hunter and our freezers always empty.
Kayla Lockhart:It's the elk hunters that have all of the meat in their freezers.
Rebecca Jones:That's a good point.
Josh Crumpton:They're the ones who get all of that. So I am super stoked to have you here. I'm super stoked to have you in the bunkhouse the newly finished bunkhouse It's really cute, you did it. Yeah, you came and saw it when it was. I don't know it was under construction.
Rebecca Jones:There was somebody putting drywall and out the back there. Yeah.
Josh Crumpton:So hunting and fishing. How did you come to hunting and fishing? That's where I'm going to start this, because I want an understanding. When I met you, it's eight months.
Rebecca Jones:Yeah.
Josh Crumpton:But this has all been like. this was a choice and you jumped in with Buffy.
Rebecca Jones:Yes, Yes, absolutely. It's a good journey. I'm going to make it as quick as possible, because I could probably talk about it for a few hours or three weeks.
Kayla Lockhart:I mean, I could still be here in three weeks talking about this. You never know.
Rebecca Jones:No, but it's a good question. So I'm Australian. What Surprise.
Josh Crumpton:I could never have guessed. You didn't know It might get it was cracking.
Rebecca Jones:That's a good one, yeah, so the accent's getting a little diluted, so I'll try to put it on. I noticed because for a minute I was like she's Australian right. Yeah, in the car, but yeah, i mean we just met, sorry.
Rebecca Jones:It's Australian. Yeah, so I grew up fishing. I mean, this was sort of conventional fishing, something that I did with my parents. I lived in Florida for 15 years when I got here to the USA And so we did a lot of water sports scuba diving, spear fishing. You know, my husband and I would go and do sort of you know, just go out on the boat and go fishing.
Rebecca Jones:So this was I mean we only got to Dallas in. We moved to Texas in 2019. So for the 15 years prior to that, you know, i was living in Miami and enjoying a water sport life that included fishing. So that's that sort of that concept. Nothing new, except for the fact I'd never, ever, i don't think I'd ever even seen a fly rod.
Josh Crumpton:That wouldn't be too far of a stretch to say that Can I congratulate you on deciding to leave the US and join the greatest country ever, texas, texas.
Rebecca Jones:Yep, yep. I'm still waiting for my Texan passport to arrive.
Josh Crumpton:But you know most of us are outlaws. We don't have them. That's the secret that nobody knows. That's it. That's it.
Rebecca Jones:Yeah. So I mean, ended up here in Texas. but you know there was sort of this giant crisis going on at the time which was, you know, kind of keeping us all confined to the indoors. But in all of that time I actually switched jobs, didn't switch careers. I've always been in the people business. I actually human resources is a part of my job that rolls up under my oversight But I sort of, you know, kept careers but changed companies and industries. So I went from the beauty industry, body waxing.
Josh Crumpton:I could tell you anything you needed to know about body waxing, but that is not a conversation for today, ladies and gentlemen.
Rebecca Jones:But I ended up leaving that company and going to a company called Orvis, which many people will know as a fishing, a fly fishing and wing shooting organization. At the end of the day, it was all about customer service great people, so, you know, made total sense to be able to make that transition. But the interesting thing was, when I joined the company, i had never held a fly rod before, had never picked up a shotgun before. These were two things that were completely different, foreign from anything that I'd ever thought about. I didn't even know if I lacked guns. To be honest, i just I wasn't sure about any of the space.
Rebecca Jones:You never shot a gun I shot a handgun before, but that was, that was kind of it. I mean, i lived in Miami.
Kayla Lockhart:Oh we'll get to that story later. Yeah, yeah, all right, or maybe not.
Josh Crumpton:By later. if you buy later, you mean never. Yeah, the podcast, yeah probably.
Kayla Lockhart:That's the subscription YouTube channel one.
Rebecca Jones:It was. It was pretty neat because actually the first weekend I joined Orvis, your sunglasses just fell on the floor. That's what that was.
Kayla Lockhart:The Reasor's video Oh yeah, invite me see what happens. That's all right. There they are. She's just so funny. It's life, i'm a full body lover.
Rebecca Jones:So I joined Orvis and the first sort of my onboarding, my first week on the job, i ended up going to one of the grounds that we have in Santa Nona up in New York and was booked into a lesson a shooting lesson up there, a clays lesson And yeah, in done, hooked, hooked. It was great, you know, i mean she was. I had a female instructor who spent an hour with me and she had me breaking clays, probably within sort of 10 minutes of being out there.
Josh Crumpton:So it was so awesome Super empowering.
Kayla Lockhart:What a cool, unique experience. It was just great. Not everyone gets that experience right off the bat. Yeah So she is a woman too. I'm sure you can really, but yeah, that's really special, that's cool.
Rebecca Jones:Yeah, it was neat, and so I think that was this kind of awakening to the potential of the sport. Right, i mean, shooting is an Olympic sport, to be very clear. I wasn't looking at that down the horizon, but I mean this is a sport that's out there, it's big, it's, you know, it's mainstream, and so I think that was really interesting to kind of get into that side. And then, you know, the awesome thing about Orvis is there's tons of schools. So I kind of enrolled myself and all the schools took full advantage, and but you know, it was interesting because by this time it's summer And so we kind of switched lanes a little and spent a lot of my first summer there doing a lot of fishing. So by the time we met and we got introduced through, i mean, i'm already answering questions.
Josh Crumpton:Yeah, i know you're just sorry. I'm like I'm gonna kick back. No, this is great. This is great I'm getting paid right now, and I'm just kicking back.
Rebecca Jones:I'm just going to interview myself Drinking my Topo Chico.
Rebecca Jones:We met through. You know, it's funny because I was. I was looking up, I was, you know, trying to find something that would help my shoulder. You know, I wanted a shirt that was really cute, that had a hatch on it, and looked up shooting shirts, Texas, and found, you know, a very dear friend of ours, Amber Hayes, who owns McKenna Quinn and just adore and love that woman so much, And so that's how I ended up getting into the upland side. I mean it was, it was through her.
Josh Crumpton:Oh really, you were looking for a shooting shirt, not for upland hunting, oh I wasn't looking for upland hunting, i was looking for a shooting shirt With a shooting pad. Yeah, to go to the clay's course.
Rebecca Jones:I just wanted a little, you know little cushion for the cushion up there. And then I went down the rabbit hole. I mean I went down the rabbit hole, i mean that was kind of crazy And then then just got. It's just amazing. You look at this, you look at that, you look at that and kind of just ended up on this entire, you know journey and pathway that started with the dove hunting And that's it.
Josh Crumpton:It starts with dove and there's a ton of things that happen next. Yeah, the TWR stewards.
Rebecca Jones:Yeah, no, so it was the. It was the TWA Women of the Land program And they took 20 women who may or may not have picked up a shotgun before, or most of us had never done any bird hunting, wow. And we went out to Albany. They paired us with great mentors Mentorship's a huge thing And I hope we talk about all that. Paired us with mentors, put us out in a field and good luck, and now they give us some help.
Rebecca Jones:You know, and it was, it was really neat to to to get a bird clean, a bird eat a bird, Very exciting.
Josh Crumpton:Yeah, so you clean. You cleaned your bird.
Kayla Lockhart:That was it.
Josh Crumpton:Yeah.
Rebecca Jones:And that was that's always been the interesting thing about the hunting that I've done. for the most part of the very intentional programs I've done have always been tried to have been sort of as full circle as possible And that's something I actually learned with with a TWA Mentored Hunt that I did. They were very emphatic about whatever you harvest, you have to clean and you know I mean process to a point.
Kayla Lockhart:But you have to, you know you have to process it.
Rebecca Jones:You, you have to process it. Yes, that's the way.
Josh Crumpton:I didn't, I didn't harvest my room.
Rebecca Jones:So I don't clearly.
Kayla Lockhart:I don't need to clean that. It was like the hunting and everything Yeah.
Rebecca Jones:But I'm, that was a good one.
Josh Crumpton:Yeah, So I know that was a lot of stuff there, but you've done that's how I kind of got in several different female focused outdoor hunting programs that I know of.
Rebecca Jones:Yes.
Josh Crumpton:And what I have noticed is particularly shooting industry. We can talk about fishing industry, but shooting industry there is not. A lot of stuff that is developed for women, including the guns themselves, and you came in very intentionally seeking, you know, gender specific education and camaraderie and community, starting with the gun you shoot. Tell us about the gun you shoot, because it's really pretty.
Kayla Lockhart:Yeah, it'll fall. Oh it's pretty, It's so pretty.
Josh Crumpton:It's in my car. You can see it. Yeah, you can see it, it is gorgeous.
Rebecca Jones:Yeah, so, very intentionally and to be very clear, i've never had an issue hunting, shooting, fishing, anything with men. Men have been wonderful and supportive and answered every question. So this wasn't about you know there's a lot of things I could say it wasn't about. It was about it was sort of really just I did want to focus on a women's experience, definitely, and so that's been a big deal. But it started with trying to find a gun and I'm sure you can't really tell because I'm sitting here. I'm not going to speak for you, kyle, I'm sure.
Kayla Lockhart:I'm just a little hobbit over here, You know sure.
Rebecca Jones:And the first couple of you know, sort of you know firearms that I'd been using were men's lengths, so 14 and three quarter lengths of pull. I mean, i'm stretched out really trying to, trying to get my grip on that And I did a. I did a gun fit At an event I was at. I'm like, oh, what the heck, i'll do the gun fit And they had sort of one of those I can't remember what they're called Trygun, trygun, that's exactly what it was called. They fit it perfectly to me And it was like night and day. That's when it clicked you.
Rebecca Jones:And I'm like, oh my goodness, if I can have this thing that actually fits me. And so there's a couple of manufacturers that make female specific guns, and I was. I was connected with Siren, so Siren works with a couple of different groups, but the gun I ended up going with was a Garini, a Caesar Garini. That was. You know, siren is, the is the umbrella that kind of pulls all that together. And so I have this incredible Julia. It's a sporting clay's gun. I did my entire upland season with the sporting clay's gun Yeah.
Rebecca Jones:Yeah, I mean I built some muscles carrying that.
Josh Crumpton:Do you have plans to change that? I'm going to get a field gun next season which is going to be about two pounds lighter. Which makes a difference. Yeah, yeah.
Rebecca Jones:Huge difference, But anyway, I mean so it started with that. I thought it was really important to have the right equipment and gear, And I know that's something just you feel passionately about is like the gear. You don't have to have everything all at once, but I figured a gun that fit me.
Kayla Lockhart:That's a good start.
Rebecca Jones:That's a good start, great. So I know a cute shirt with a hat on The pad, The pad Well no and a shirt that fits you, because A shirt that fits.
Kayla Lockhart:You want to be comfortable too. Yes, because it's strange, especially for upland.
Josh Crumpton:And movement in the field is key. I mean like being not just comfortable, but like when you're upland hunting, you're walking for miles and miles And then, and you'd put all that work in for the moment of a shot, that is, seconds, you know in seconds, 15 seconds It's 15 seconds of action with lots of walking in between Sounds exciting, right. I guess, everybody's so excited. You're going to walk all day, it's true, like my first upland.
Kayla Lockhart:I just borrowed gear from a guy that I'm friends with and it was all guys that I went with And I just remember waking up that morning and telling myself like you can't slow down, You have to stay with them because we're flushing, you know. And I just remember that fear as like I'm smaller than them I'm not. I borrowed gear, I was their guns, their clothes even was what I was wearing, And they're definitely a little bit bigger than me, Yeah, But I just remember just like being so like muscles I didn't even know I had were hurting. Yeah, I was just like don't you have to stay with them? And I put that pressure So I feel like it's. I would have loved to have an experience. I've never hunted with females before.
Rebecca Jones:Oh my gosh. So so 80% of the people I hunt with are women.
Kayla Lockhart:Oh man, Which is kind of really another woman I get to meet through Josh. I appreciate you, See, see this is this.
Rebecca Jones:Is it So great We're going to have to get together. Yeah, we're going to have to talk about some dimes You guys are going to hunt. I would love that It's going to happen And I, you know, my first hunt.
Kayla Lockhart:I got a chucker and a quail. I'm so grateful, but it was definitely like a, an exhausted, and after I got the one, i was like, okay, that was a lot of work, but it was amazing, it was very rewarding by all means, and I just gripped deer hunting, only that. So it was a different transition. But, yeah, it would have been amazing to have that experience with females though. Yeah, and I think it's one person that understood the beginning stage.
Josh Crumpton:Well, having a gun that fits and having the clothing that fits, i mean it's.
Kayla Lockhart:I was very uncomfortable.
Josh Crumpton:Millimeters of off, you know an eighth of an inch off on how the gun fits you. Translates into feet on where the shot placement is out in front of you And you know, it seems that so much of the hunting fishing world at one point in time was just paint it pink and call it a call it female.
Rebecca Jones:Yeah, it's pink, that'll be great, and then we're going to charge you more for it.
Kayla Lockhart:Pink taxes Real.
Rebecca Jones:Yeah, yeah.
Josh Crumpton:And now it's really cool to see that the industry is evolving and changing and responding to a demand that has been there for a long time because women have been doing these sports for a long time.
Rebecca Jones:Oh, absolutely Yeah. The stories might not have been told, but they were there. But it's happening. They're there, yeah.
Josh Crumpton:That's right And it's cool, and it's cool that you on your path found these these programs, including Amber, who hosts really great events.
Rebecca Jones:Amazing. Yeah, no, that's it.
Josh Crumpton:And yeah, you and I met on a pheasant quail hunt on like a muddy morning.
Rebecca Jones:A muddy raining morning, i think it was going to be. can't nobody else turned up except Amber and I?
Josh Crumpton:Yeah, that's true. I almost didn't turn up, you almost did.
Rebecca Jones:It was going to be Amber and I in the field, i know, and maybe Matthew too, probably just going to be in the three of us.
Josh Crumpton:Matthew would have been there. He would have been there, i know it, but it was fun because it was like four wheel drive that morning. Yeah, i mean it was.
Rebecca Jones:It was muddy, i mean, and I mean I didn't think my hip flexes have ever been that socks is through the grass, the mud, yeah, the wet grass We got some ground We did.
Josh Crumpton:I think what I think was fun about that was because it was challenging. You know, where were you sort of in the space?
Rebecca Jones:Because I, you know, we just met, so you had done a dove hunt You had done a deer hunt which is nothing to do with upland, of course, but I had done that I had been out to, because I think we met in November, November, early December. Yeah, it was one of the one of those December, early December. Yeah, so it might have even been only my second field hunt, because I think we had a board meeting out at Joshua Creek Ranch And so that was in November, and so that's, that was really my first in the, and then I did something in New York to actually up at up at San Ano.
Kayla Lockhart:I'm like going through my lips, okay.
Josh Crumpton:Maybe it was like the third of the. Anyway, it was early. What'd you hunt in New York?
Rebecca Jones:Pheasant, pheasant, yeah, yeah, okay, yeah, well that was a challenging hunt.
Josh Crumpton:I mean, it was a preservative.
Rebecca Jones:But it was a challenging, but it was different to any of the other ones that had already done Because we weren't following a path, which can happen often in preserved bird hunts. You're sort of you can be following a path, and for a lot of reasons it's part of the educational process as well. So this was kind of nice because it was that first time really starting to get off the path, literally and figuratively. Right, it was difficult and we went into the woods a little and then we went down to a creek bed a little and then sort of it was topography.
Josh Crumpton:It was pretty neat. Yeah, that's kind of I live off the path.
Rebecca Jones:Yeah.
Josh Crumpton:That's your zone. I'm off the path.
Kayla Lockhart:You just say Yeah.
Josh Crumpton:But we had a great lunch afterwards. Yes, really fun.
Rebecca Jones:Oh, yeah, yeah. Well, that brings up a whole other conversation. At some point we need to talk about the juxtaposition of hunting and find the finer things in life, so I don't know where that comes out.
Josh Crumpton:Yeah, the reward at the end of the hunt.
Rebecca Jones:I think that was a really nice opening experience to sort of say, yeah, you can go and get muddy in the field And then we're going to sit down and drink champagne and eat nice food.
Kayla Lockhart:Yeah, whilst overlooking this view and ballet, i'm like, i like this guy He knows how to do this. I feel like when you work hard to you appreciate it so much more too. So even if you were to just jump into that finer things it'd be good. But, like man, when you transition it that way, it's definitely way more grateful and appreciated, i guess.
Josh Crumpton:Definitely Well, and I think the thing about hunting and you know this will be interesting to get your perspective, both of you guys. One of the things about hunting is going back through the history of humanity. From my perspective is least is that it's at the end of it. You're celebrating the hunt, the victory of the hunt, and at one point in time that meant the survival of the people.
Josh Crumpton:You know, now it's not the survival of the people. Now we celebrate in a different way because we can always go to the grocery store and stay alive. But honoring the tradition I think is part of that celebration at the end of the hunt.
Kayla Lockhart:Yeah, i do believe that everyone longs for that connection of you know, wherever that means, to whoever, but like having that skill that you did and conquered and challenged yourself for, like I mean, that's kind of what life is all about.
Rebecca Jones:Yeah.
Kayla Lockhart:And at least I feel like a lot of people relate to that. Whether they do it or not, you know, you can't help but recognize that that is where we came from and what we all you know, evolved from.
Rebecca Jones:But yeah, that's interesting. I'm going to give you controversial here for a second.
Kayla Lockhart:I'm just not going to be that controversial.
Josh Crumpton:I was waiting for when it was going to come. No, no, no, no this is not really.
Kayla Lockhart:This is what a real conversation could be.
Rebecca Jones:That's why it's been a bit harder for me to take to fly fishing.
Kayla Lockhart:Oh yeah, because it's. It's a catch and release sport, i mean, it's up to whoever, so it's all.
Rebecca Jones:It's all about perspective and all of those sorts of things. But having having treated fishing as a hunt process, so I used to do a lot of spear fishing on breath and that's how, and we never took more than we were going to eat, i mean, that was sort of a really big deal. And then suddenly to get into fly fishing and I'm like you want me to throw this back? No, no, no, i know how to clean it. I can. I can get it ready for No, you want me to? Yeah, okay.
Kayla Lockhart:I can see that And I would argue that I couldn't compare the two because they're not on the same projection. Whereas fly fishing to me is, it's a sport that helps me in a meditative way, mental health way, And that release is almost like a full circle thing. It's healing to me to release them back, Yes, It gives me that like I'm able to be a part of this, able to tie something that replicates something you eat and able to trick you to eating it. And then that release. It's like I was connected, Whereas you still get that connection.
Kayla Lockhart:And there is that with hunting, but you're doing it more for I guess the your goal is to kill it. That's your goal. My goal is to trick this fish to eating this fly that I tied. Yeah, And I want to release it so that and I also, you know, we could go into management and fisheries and verse hunting and all of that if you will, Whereas you know there's definitely a lot more voice of advocation for hunting and and what game?
Kayla Lockhart:I guess you could say versus, you know, steelhead and salmon that are dying and stuff, or wild trout, whether they're native or non-native, Like we could go with all miles down that avenue, but that's where I view the differences, And I think that you can get so much out of the two for different reasons, And so if you want to kill, I mean why do it the hardest way? Just get it some bait or conventional? But? but hunting is challenging too, though, So they both have the challenge that instills in a thing You Yeah. So it is an interesting thing that I. I find it's hard to have full on comparisons too, but they have similarities for sure.
Josh Crumpton:Yeah, fly fishing, the concept of catch and release. you know I I'll say something that may or may not be. I'm, i'm going to keep more fish this summer. I'm going to eat And I think that's a good thing.
Kayla Lockhart:I recognize too. Like you know, when I go home I'll I'll fricking have a ringer full of crappie in Minnesota and I catch them on a fly right Cause I think it's fun, i like the fight on it, i like to like have these my little poppers, and I enjoy casting. I love that feeling of it And I'll keep all the crappie and we'll do a fish fry for dinner.
Josh Crumpton:Like crappie. So good Delicious I love them.
Kayla Lockhart:They're delicious And I think at the end of the day, it it all depends on what the species is, and you know, obviously I'm looking at the regulations and all that and what you're allowed to keep, blah, blah, blah blah, but I live in. Oregon. So I think that my perspective, because I fish for salmon and steelhead that are a dying species it's, it's harder Even to me. I didn't touch a spay rod once last year because the, you know, closes the rivers and all that stuff. So it's, it's a little complicated with fish.
Josh Crumpton:Yeah, it depends on where where you're at and you know what the resource can handle.
Kayla Lockhart:Yeah, exactly, and I think that goes with anything Yeah.
Josh Crumpton:And I think with bass in Texas, like there are places in Texas that texts parks, my apartment is like please keep the bass, eat the large, eat the large mouth. That's the thing. Is the fish.
Kayla Lockhart:There's too many, right And when fly fishing was originally you know way back history. They kept the fish. I'm not educated enough to know when that transition happened, where it became solely a sport because Yeah, i mean either.
Josh Crumpton:So that's another podcast.
Rebecca Jones:Well, when, maybe for guides, when it became a business.
Kayla Lockhart:Yeah, i mean definitely, when it became a business Yeah.
Rebecca Jones:That's, that's big and huge. I hear that a lot. I mean it's, it's, it's a renewable. I mean it's not really renewable resource, but it is because you know. I mean you take them all out, you affect all of that. It makes it a lot harder to keep going down the river.
Josh Crumpton:You know, as a guide, as a guide company, you know I'll say that. You know. I mean there's a lot of places that you go where it's like, yeah, that fish is That fish. His name is Jim.
Kayla Lockhart:Yes.
Josh Crumpton:And he lives under that rock.
Kayla Lockhart:He lives under that rock.
Josh Crumpton:And we're going to come around and you're going to catch him right about now. Right now.
Josh Crumpton:Nope, you missed him, you didn't set the hook But, and so that's definitely part of it, and it's interesting on the Guadalupe, here, underneath Canyon Dam, on the tail race, we there are many people who are guiding down there And I have an interesting conversation with a lot of guides, for, you know, popular, unpopular, i don't really care. My take this is my opinion on it is it's a stocked fishery. Oh, it's stocked by the state. Now the guides that are down there are like all catch and release and out of respect to the people that I work with in the community.
Josh Crumpton:We catch and release as well. But I have people who ask me can I go catch those fish and keep them? And I'm like, well, not on our trip.
Josh Crumpton:But, but if you want to go back down there and catch and keep fish, here are the regulations for doing it, and people get mad. They get the guides, get mad at people And I often have to remind them. Listen, this is a stocked fishery and part of it is stocked by GRTU, you know, which is the local chapter of Trout Unlimited, and part of them are stocked by the state And the state tax dollars that are going to stock those fish are being put in there specifically for people to be able to come down. Enjoy the research and take those fish home.
Rebecca Jones:Not so that we can have a business on the river. Yeah.
Kayla Lockhart:Yeah, yeah, that is the majority. I mean that's why hatcheries exist is so we can keep the fish and eat them.
Josh Crumpton:Yeah, keep them and eat them, and I think that's an important thing. You know, i think that there are many people who are like let's not have those stocked fish go into these fisheries, let's not do that, and that's a whole. That's a whole can of worms For another time, but the reality is that one of the outcomes of being able to keep the fish is that makes fishing a thing that helps to connect you to your food source.
Kayla Lockhart:Yes, i agree with that. We have been you just connected with that. In general, yeah, life.
Josh Crumpton:Which makes you a better human I think makes you a more whole, a more whole human. More it makes you more human.
Rebecca Jones:Should I say Yeah.
Josh Crumpton:And you know like what was your first? dove was dove the first thing you ate after shooting as well?
Rebecca Jones:Yeah, dove was the first? Yeah, because I actually got dove. Incredibly, they're fast little critters, but got some dove, took them home, cooked them. I mean, my five year old had her first dove as well, which was really exciting.
Josh Crumpton:Yeah, that experience, what was that like sort of at a core, emotional, human level? Did it impact you?
Rebecca Jones:Yeah, absolutely. I mean I provided food for my family. I mean at the most basic level.
Rebecca Jones:It sounds so simple, but it's incredible though, yeah, being able to do that. It was really neat. It was knowing that I had the skills and the know how to be able to go and do that and to bring it home and to sort of I mean it was a big deal. We all stood in the kitchen and looked and I retold them the story and how it happened, and my daughter's super obsessed with it all. It was great. And then and that's what we ate, i mean four dove don't go far.
Kayla Lockhart:That's like the first quail I had. I was like quail poppers. Is that a thing? It was great.
Josh Crumpton:The difference between fishing because you did spearfish, you had done that. You had acquired your own food, processed it from the ocean. Was it different from the sky, from a non water living species?
Rebecca Jones:Yeah, no, it's interesting, i think the first time I cleaned the bird. there might even be some pictures from that, of some kind of look of horror in my face that was sort of captured in the moment of you want me to put my hands where You want me to put my thumb where Under there and do what?
Rebecca Jones:Okay, well, we're going to give it a try. And it was sort of a little raw, which is different, because I don't know I mean I'd been fished, just sort of I don't know There was something about the birds that felt a little closer to an animal that might build a relationship with me.
Kayla Lockhart:Yeah, there is that aspect. Yeah, i mean, there's birds out there that can speak, so you know, yeah, and so the fish side was a little tough.
Rebecca Jones:So, you know, i mean there was a very strong emotional side of you know, when I learned to clean my first fish and to know I could catch fish and clean it and cook it and all of that, that was kind of always really, really neat, and so that feeling was very similar. But there was something primals probably a very overused word in the space but there was sort of something that just felt even more raw, I guess, about the bird side of it And honestly, I mean, in a lot of ways, a bit more accessible too. I mean to kind of go and do the fishing that we were doing. We weren't standing on the side of the bank, we're out, you know, on a boat and you know, you got to know your coordinates and where you're going.
Rebecca Jones:A lot and bigger investment of gear and time, which is usually the opposite, because you think fishing is typically a lot more accessible. But it's all what you're doing. It depends What type. Yeah.
Josh Crumpton:How about deer compared to which Kaila's done Yeah, so I want to hear both of your guys' perspective.
Rebecca Jones:It was neat. So in my rabbit hole of what goes on in Texas, in the in the upland and hunting scene, i discovered the Texas Wildlife Association's adult mentored hunt program. So I signed up for it and ended up getting opening weekend, you know, in this really awesome ranch down south of Elvade, matt Hughes and the team that puts that together. I mean it's really, it's just remarkable. I mean they do 18 to 24 hunts a season and it's bringing all of these people in who've in often cases in my case had never even shot a rifle before. So for me it was about the education. It was about sort of, yes, getting a deer and learning how to dress that and being able to take it to a process so I could get it put in the freezer. I mean, you know, i was so excited I bought a cooler. I mean I was confested, yeah, i'm gonna buy a cooler so I can get this thing home And I'll, i'm gonna buy a stand-up freezer to put in my garage.
Josh Crumpton:That's how confident.
Kayla Lockhart:I'm feeling This is a lot of commitment. I was committed, I mean freezer, I got the cooler.
Rebecca Jones:And you're like, and I'm getting one.
Kayla Lockhart:I'm getting one.
Rebecca Jones:I'm getting one, and I mean amazing because they put it on. They made it very accessible. A lot of the barrier of entry to a lot of these sports is the financial commitment And even sometimes even with the means, sometimes you don't know if you're gonna like it or enjoy it, and so I think there's a lot about accessibility is just figuring out if you even like something, to then figure out how you're gonna invest and make it happen. So it was really neat. You know it was three hunts. The first hunt, you know it was great in target practice. I got it, you know, right on in the practice. And the first hunt, i had a deer lined up and this like overwhelming rush of emotion And oh my gosh, what am I about to do? Can I do this? This thing? it looked at me.
Rebecca Jones:I'm so far away and there's no way this thing's looking at me. But it was this sort of this rush of emotion And I'm like oh, oh, and I sort of I had to sit back and stop and it didn't happen. And then I got one on the second hunt and the third hunt I got another one.
Kayla Lockhart:So we're on a roll after we sit. I think that's a good thing to talk about. Nobody talks about that stuff and the motion that are attached to it.
Rebecca Jones:Well, that's it. And so the first one I got I mean, when I went down it wasn't a great shot I learned very quickly on the first one you want to get as good as of a clean shot as you can because you want it to fall where it is and you don't want to cleaning a gut shot deer is not fun. So that was a very important first lesson. You got shot, yeah, the first one, oh boy. But then when I and it didn't go too far, but I found that we tracked it through the bush and I saw it and I'm at first into tears.
Josh Crumpton:You did. Yeah, I cried. I'm like I got you, Let's get real.
Kayla Lockhart:We all have cried Like is that just real?
Rebecca Jones:Yeah, it was so emotional, but to just to guess real What part made you cry specifically?
Josh Crumpton:What was the like? do you remember the thing? I can tell you the thing.
Rebecca Jones:The thing for me was realizing that it probably had a little baby somewhere and I had deprived a family to feed my family. That's what set me off, which could be different for different people.
Josh Crumpton:And I sort of have to.
Rebecca Jones:I kind of have to get over that, because it was a doe and it would have been at breeding age, and so you know, that's really what sort of set me off was knowing that. You know, i didn't know if it had a baby somewhere, so that was really sort of tough to get through and to move through, but you know. but that, yeah, i cried for a little bit there.
Josh Crumpton:Did you cry in the first year that you were a part of shooting? Yeah, how old were you?
Kayla Lockhart:Eight years old, oh my gosh. And I was. I'm of only sisters, And so I just was the only one that my dad was like oh you, you'll do it, OK, cool. So I'd go to deer camp with my family. But, Lockhart deer camp. That's right Just down the road, northern Minnesota. I took the. I mean I was like I was crying before I even pulled the trigger, like I was there, i was shaking, had my dad yelling at me and took the shot And I just remembered wanting to run at it right away And my dad was like don't effing move, because we were in a deer stand in Minnesota And it's you just kind of wait around a lot of waiting, but yeah.
Kayla Lockhart:Yeah. So we waited and I got to it And I was just like panic attack. I had like a full blown panic attack with it. Like I was full on crying because I mean, it's hard to my first. I was so young, like I'm not emotionally developed, so my experience was definitely a lot different in that aspect of it, because I you know, it was a lot of emotions I didn't even know existed And I didn't know how to process.
Kayla Lockhart:It was so And it was emotions that I never even, you know, knew how to navigate still probably don't, but anyways, but yeah, and I just remembered feeling like it was like an out of body experience and just being like super proud of myself because I did what I wanted to do, i did what I was there for, but then also being like whoa, i just can't believe I did that. I didn't know I was capable of that. What does that even mean? What is all this? And then I'm like and then I was crying because I was like he's going to make me have to clean this And this is a lot bigger than me. It's going to be a lot of work And that's. That was the old the cycle of it.
Josh Crumpton:That's like a lot of things to get dirty.
Kayla Lockhart:I was having a lot, but it's crazy, like I mean. I still like I can remember it, so vividly It was like you know whether that's trauma or not. No, i'm just kidding.
Josh Crumpton:I'm still working through it. No, i'm just kidding, i'd like to go back and clean my room now instead.
Kayla Lockhart:But it was. It was something that was, you know, i felt so connected and raw and vulnerable and all those things that you don't get experience a lot in life. You know, especially as I get older, I appreciate those moments too because it does. It gives you a lot of strength mentally too and teaches you so much about what you can handle mentally and what you're capable of. And you know, i definitely can sympathize for the animals Absolutely.
Kayla Lockhart:When you said that, i felt that too, I've 100% and I think any hunter kidding themselves if they haven't thought that way. Any empathetic person at least, or compassionate person would. But at the end of the day, like you, still are appreciative of the animal And you know my dad is a good human and has always taught us to. You know, take him on a silence and appreciate the kill and have a full understanding that you know we don't have to do this, which you know by all means we can go to the grocery store And he has totally taught us that as a kid. I'm grateful for that.
Kayla Lockhart:But he also taught us that it's not a bad thing, because a lot of people can make you feel shameful of killing animals, for sure, i mean, he never navigates that And there is no shame in it by all means. And I think that everyone navigates it a little bit differently. But for me it was a full circle where I was like very sad to very happy, all those emotions wrapped into one, and it's beautiful that we're able to do something like that that can give us all those emotions, cause I don't think there's anything that can compare that. Yeah, it's pretty cool.
Josh Crumpton:I think there's a couple of things. When I shot my deer, I cried my first year And I think a lot of that was one of the things that you were mentioning, kayla was as you walked up to this deer And there's this idea that I think in our brain we are conditioned to avoid death. It's part of our survival instinct, like we don't wanna be near around or by death, and we have, as a society, positioned ourselves so far away from it now So true.
Josh Crumpton:That we're not as good at dealing with it at all anymore. At one point in time, when we were closer to the land, I think we probably a little bit more accepting of death, a little bit understanding of the cycle of life and death, and had a better relationship with it than we do now, and when I shot a doe and her fawn had been nearby, and so that was definitely.
Josh Crumpton:I remember looking at the eye, and I remember looking at something that was so newly dead that the eye still had life in it, but the body didn't right, and that made me. I didn't ball, but I shed quite a few tears And I think, rebecca, you said something that I think hits the nail on the head that you deprived something of its life to feed your family and give them life And I think they're such a healthy.
Josh Crumpton:I think that's probably in modern hunting. We talk about conservation, but conservation starts at some sort of foundational understanding. Conservation is something that is an act, right, It's a thing that you do but behind that needs to be a philosophy and an impetus for the act.
Josh Crumpton:And I think with hunting, even a little more than fishing, even to some extent with hunting, you are faced with our position in the world. You are, you have a deep understanding that when you eat meat, something dies, Something goes away forever. If you take it at that level, if you look at it and you internalize and understand what's really happening, you go. something has to go away.
Josh Crumpton:for me to be here And I think sometimes that's the core basis of conservation is understanding that give and take and having that real relationship with your food that is more healthy than getting a big Mac in the drive through You know That definitely won't drive conservation. A big Mac in the drive through Won't say like, oh my gosh, it's important And now I need to give back to make space. I think that's important for people. I always encourage people hunt once in your life, you know, just to get that understanding And then you can carry that to hold the factory farm institutions which we need to a higher standard, you know.
Josh Crumpton:Which makes a better start.
Kayla Lockhart:Yeah, until you have that connection, you don't have the motivation to have that perspective. I feel like And fishing.
Josh Crumpton:Never gave fishing, didn't ever give that to me. Actually, i don't. I think it's. I think you're right. Like fish, we don't. What is it called? Anthropomorphicize them? I honestly didn't have it either growing up. Is that?
Kayla Lockhart:the word.
Rebecca Jones:It might be sounds like it.
Kayla Lockhart:And I didn't either.
Kayla Lockhart:It wasn't until I moved to Oregon until I felt that, because I was in the culture where, you know, rivers were closing because these fish are not returning, and that's the thing is is like it's for the most part, we're pretty fortunate that the fish are resilient and like gonna come back or whatever, and they're not dying. But like I never felt that in Minnesota ever, and I you know fish, warm water species growing up and we all you know we were abundance with it And so it didn't take going until I went to the Northwest, until I felt that For salmon and for trout and for particularly for salmon in specific.
Josh Crumpton:You know it's just beyond. It's beyond the fish right, it's beyond. It's beyond the political. Yeah Well, i mean there's a lot of reasons, but I mean one of the things that I that I finally went and all clicked for me was salmon for fish conservation, with fish, And it clicked for me in the idea that salmon is a critical nutrient source. For all the things going up, they are a keystone to the environment that they live in.
Kayla Lockhart:For sure, and that's exactly what I mean. I witnessed it on some of the rivers I fish. I've only been in the Northwest for eight years, but I witnessed the river dying and how it affect the entire ecosystem within where it was. And that is I mean. You'd be blind if you wouldn't see that And you'd be the most least empathetic person if you didn't want to advocate. That's essentially why I started being on that conservation trail was. Was the Northwest Rest in peace? No, i'm just kidding You.
Rebecca Jones:I'm sorry, sorry guys, well guys, hey, how are?
Josh Crumpton:we doing, we're going to get back up, yeah, no, i mean so you know it's important.
Kayla Lockhart:No, it's, it's true. Outdoors can be an engagement and emphasis for change.
Josh Crumpton:Yes, You killed and I, like I used the word killed, okay that's fact. And then I, i'm like you killed the deer and then you harvest the meat.
Kayla Lockhart:Yes.
Josh Crumpton:So you've harvested this meat.
Kayla Lockhart:Do you enjoy hunting more than harvesting, or do you find beauty in both?
Rebecca Jones:for you personally, i like I mean I'm good with the whole, i like the whole thing. To me It's sort of it's hard to have one without the other, and so even when I've gone to preserves, where the whole point of spending the money that you spend there is someone else does it for you I've always been very active in You've got the whole full circle of schemes. Hey, yeah, like can I come and help or can I watch, or if you're not going to let me do it.
Rebecca Jones:for some strange reason, can I have a full circle of schemes? Yeah, because you know I really want to use them in a fly right Yeah. So so you know, for me it's, it feels like you know that's really important to have that sort of that full cycle. So I couldn't say it's one more than the other.
Kayla Lockhart:Yeah, you can't have one without the other type of thing. Yeah, absolutely.
Rebecca Jones:Absolutely So. Ooh It's on going somewhere. I guess it must be outside. It's the peanut gallery.
Kayla Lockhart:It'll be up here? I don't know.
Josh Crumpton:I don't know, i don't know, but I don't know, i don't know, i don't know. Well, we'll just keep moving.
Rebecca Jones:We can just keep moving.
Josh Crumpton:As long as we haven't lost a camera. I think you came. We hunted together in Wimberley and then, we went. I want to talk about West Texas.
Rebecca Jones:Oh my gosh, can we talk about West Texas? Because it was on that hunt You got me so pumped for West Texas, and about being so scared, because every person I ever speak to is like, oh, why do you go hunt wild birds? Like, don't be surprised, if you don't see them, you probably won't shoot one. I mean, everyone was really. They weren't trying to put me down, they were just trying to manage expectations right.
Rebecca Jones:Really trying to manage it. I'm like, oh, this sounds difficult. But then you got me super excited about just sort of the progress of it all. And I'd already booked in to do a bob white quail hunt with Daryl Smith out in Georgia and which you know it turns out very different birds, very different guns, very different shells. I mean I would have turned up with, i would have turned up with a 28 gauge and eight, an eight shot, which turns out in West Texas. That's not going to get you far.
Josh Crumpton:It tickles them.
Rebecca Jones:It tickles them, they get tickled by it.
Josh Crumpton:That's cute, that's nice. What else you got? Did you feel something? You're muted town. He must be muted town.
Rebecca Jones:This is how conservation is going to happen. Rebecca's here with her eight shot.
Kayla Lockhart:We're going to go forever.
Rebecca Jones:So yeah so. So I definitely sort of started on that, that. But you know, as I found out, it was going to be different. But I got so excited about the possibility of West Texas and, oh my gosh, it didn't disappoint.
Josh Crumpton:I think I was like you're going to need chaps. Yeah, you're going to need. We talked about I mean, we talked about a lot of gear. You did a pretty big gear build.
Rebecca Jones:Yeah, didn't you come out there?
Josh Crumpton:Yeah.
Rebecca Jones:Yeah.
Josh Crumpton:Five shot, eight It was six, it was six, it was six shot It was six and it took me all season to a mass.
Rebecca Jones:Enough six shot because I don't know what happened last season. But good luck trying to find any ammunition anywhere, you know. When the season's done, the shelves are full again.
Josh Crumpton:Yeah, I start buying.
Kayla Lockhart:Yeah, yeah, it's a good idea, but yeah, it's also be a line of just people for like the shells or the shells?
Josh Crumpton:Yeah, that's wild. I've never bought a state shell Yeah.
Kayla Lockhart:When it was like over COVID, there was like a big fucking oops, sorry.
Josh Crumpton:You're fine.
Kayla Lockhart:But when it was over it was really hard to find anything. Maybe it was just the Northwest, but no people were thrown about it at state sales And I just go to state sales for other aspects, but it's good to know, Yeah, They are there and lots I mean majority of the time I find some.
Josh Crumpton:So West Texas, and this is going to be good, because Kayla hasn't been to West Texas and I keep trying to get her there And it's funny, i've only ever done wild bird printing.
Kayla Lockhart:So my expectations are already low.
Josh Crumpton:Wild bird hunting is a lot of walking and not a lot of birds.
Kayla Lockhart:quite often I was walking a lot.
Josh Crumpton:Did we meet at the gauge? Did we meet in town, or did you come? We did.
Rebecca Jones:We met at the gauge first. That was the thing.
Josh Crumpton:So we met at the gauge and West Texas is living room, living room basically.
Rebecca Jones:Yeah, super fancy. I'm kind of I didn't even know what was going on out there. When I get to this little town I'm like this is lovely, what is this place? And there's a bunch of art galleries 20 miles down that way. What's going on out here? I thought we were in the desert. Oh we are, and we're at 5,000 feet, i mean it was.
Josh Crumpton:It was kind of dry out there Very yeah, very much so, and we have a cocktail Yeah.
Rebecca Jones:Had a cocktail, got the car and then started, and so there were four of us I mean including Amber, it was four from five, including you, of course And car car trained out to to the ranch.
Josh Crumpton:Yeah, yeah, what was your impression? Cause it's, it's mountains. Yeah, what's it look like?
Kayla Lockhart:described to me, cause I've never been. Well, it is. It's it's mountains, it's like high desert terrain, i'm assuming Yeah.
Rebecca Jones:I guess that's, that's the way to say it, and it kind of it looks scrubby. I mean it looks like scrub, which which I'm sort of using, maybe Australian references there. But it looks like scrub, and then you kind of really look at it And you're like, oh, everything there is trying to kill you, yeah, oh.
Kayla Lockhart:I feel like I was just.
Rebecca Jones:Texas.
Josh Crumpton:No, i'm like Oh, i'm Australian, i feel like I'm right at home, Yeah.
Kayla Lockhart:Like Oh, and you've got really dangerous snakes and all of that, yeah, we got this.
Rebecca Jones:Um and then and then sort of you know, pulling in and getting, getting and sort of seeing the house up on the bluff up there, and it was just really just exciting, just so exciting.
Rebecca Jones:And then pulled up and sort of saw the vehicles, the bird vehicle, i mean the bird vehicles the rigs and and they've got these you know office chairs welded onto the front of the, the front bumpers, and then it's this multi-layer And I took a photograph and I you know my sister had seen, she saw it back in Australia. She's like What are you hunting dinosaurs?
Kayla Lockhart:I mean, it looks like a big dinosaur.
Josh Crumpton:Yeah, look like a big.
Rebecca Jones:Jurassic Park sort of ring.
Josh Crumpton:I'm like Oh no no, no, no.
Rebecca Jones:We're going after these little birds And they're about, you know, this big. Oh, my God, that's that. That seems like it's a you know really intense there. That's amazing, but um but it was, it was really it was. it was kind of cool and it was nice and surprising and very exciting, and you know I'm just just pumped.
Kayla Lockhart:How long was the trip? in general, Three nights two days, yeah.
Josh Crumpton:Friday through Monday Yeah three nights, two days, and for me, i think, one of the most exciting things is people's excitement about being there because it is an adventure And it's, you know, it's fun when we have people here in Wembley. I love the preserve hunt, i love getting to teach, i love getting to experience that, and that was an adventure Like it was muddy and rainy and we got to do all the stuff.
Josh Crumpton:but it's really fun when somebody comes out and trust you with three nights and two days of their life, Like I'm handing over, especially never going there. Yeah, i'm handing over and I'm trusting that this is going to be a good time and I'm going to enjoy myself and I'm not going to feel like I just wasted three days and two nights, a couple of days. And you know, and, and it's significant, it's an investment of money to be out there too. So I'm.
Josh Crumpton:I'm always honored by the trust that people put in us when they come out there, and then I'm always so. it feeds my fire when people are excited and stuck Both of you guys get really excited about this.
Rebecca Jones:Oh, we got to like, we got to connect to get high energy excitement over things You can definitely hear when I've hit my target.
Josh Crumpton:Oh, which we have it on video. Yeah, we're going to be some videos, oh, yeah, oh yeah, this is going to have bumps on that one.
Kayla Lockhart:I mean, that's, that's what makes it fun. It was a fun. Yeah, come on.
Rebecca Jones:But it was. it was great And you know and I mean I knew it was going to be hard My expectations were low and but I got. we did four hunts. I got birds on every hunt. You did.
Rebecca Jones:I got birds on every hunt and and we saw, proportionately, we saw a lot of birds. But when you're running, running, running after these birds that are running, and you suddenly get to the point and you lift them, you're like, yeah, now I'm like, oh, okay, now I know, i know I'm really ever hits them because good luck, you know you don't have good instinctive shooting. You know skills.
Josh Crumpton:That's where gear matters, that's where training, gear and training. You spend time on the clay course and that's where gear matters The right footwear, having chaps, having gators, having a good brush jacket, you know, carrying a shotgun. That's, that's light, that's two pounds lighter.
Rebecca Jones:The one you'll have next season. Yeah, be doing it with your sporting clays gun at eight pounds All that stuff like matters And when you run literally sometimes at a sprint yes having a lot of that gear actually for safety is really important, but
Kayla Lockhart:then also for the exertion of the energy to actually make that pay off To be able to make it happen. So it's worth it all that way.
Josh Crumpton:It's like permit fishing. It's like permit fishing.
Kayla Lockhart:Oh man.
Josh Crumpton:You know like hustling, like flats permit fishing.
Kayla Lockhart:Yeah, like in the water.
Josh Crumpton:Not on the boat. Not on the boat. Yeah, in the water it is Hustling.
Kayla Lockhart:I will say those little Mayan natives can tread water like it's their, like nothing, And I'm like this water feels like it's 20 pounds against me and I can't run after it. And you just see the tail like okay, bye, I'm still like give it up.
Josh Crumpton:It's like the permit of the birds. Oh, yes, it's, can we? I'm going to write a book starting tonight, the permit of the birds. But but.
Rebecca Jones:But it's. It's the gear to be safe, but then it's also having the gear for when things go a little wrong. And you remember I need a. I need a cactus pretty solidly.
Josh Crumpton:Oh yeah, you did Yeah.
Rebecca Jones:And we had to do some, some well. Actually, I've had a couple of good falls.
Josh Crumpton:You did. You had a second fall.
Rebecca Jones:I did a real good second fall on that one, that was. That was very bloody, that was a lot of blood on that one. But that one with the. I mean I thought I'd completely I don't know. I thought I'd, i thought I'd split my kneecap.
Josh Crumpton:You were like limping, i had to, i had you were on my shoulder on the way down, the way down.
Rebecca Jones:And then we realized there were five or six really really deep cactus thorns that it took a while, like a half inch.
Josh Crumpton:Yeah, it was like it, just like you know, right in and sitting right underneath the kneecap Trying to kill you.
Rebecca Jones:Yeah, you guys said that was there was a lot of T, tweezers and Oh Anyway, but after that we're all out. I'm like, oh, it's great, let's go, let's go.
Josh Crumpton:We got it on the bird after. That's right. Yeah, yeah, and this is kind of one of the things about celebrating that you, you know, want to talk about is it's like we had, you know, a toast.
Rebecca Jones:Yes, Actually, that's my most favorite part.
Rebecca Jones:Yeah, Tell us about the yeah So this is we, we, we, we've talked, i think we, we. This has happened a few times actually in all the hunts that I've done with you and I just love it so much. But it's this juxtaposition of this sort of like really rough and out in the scrub and cactuses are trying to take you down and and, and then at the very end we're sort of like okay, we're done, we finished our day, let's go somewhere really beautiful because the sun's about to set.
Rebecca Jones:Oh, here's good, let's pull over here, and then out comes beautiful glassware you know, glassware, that's real glass, that's sort of you know out of the box and then great champagne, you know, or, or, or a bourbon or something that that comes out, and then there's just this really wonderful toast out of you know fine glass.
Kayla Lockhart:It's just it's, it's this really kind of yeah, luxurious sort of moment, you know, in the in the wild with these people that you're celebrating with and you know they're on the same level and, like that sense of community is there and you're cherishing that so much. I feel, like that I'm visualizing. I was there, can you?
Rebecca Jones:see the picture. I can see it. I like that. It's so nice. I got my little coupé with my champagne in it.
Josh Crumpton:Yeah, and it's a, it's a ritual, you know, and I think that those things are really important to both hunting and fishing.
Kayla Lockhart:having the ritual Yeah, and the traditions. It's all about the experience, yeah.
Josh Crumpton:The traditions and the rituals that, that honor the experience you know, and this the past eight months, has been like yes you know drinking out of a fire hose for you and learning all the traditions, all the rituals all the stuff.
Rebecca Jones:Well, I did another two hunts in West Texas after that. I mean, that place has got me real good, that place is me real good.
Josh Crumpton:It's the place. Yeah, i've hunted a lot of different places and I All right, i'm sold, i'm coming. Yeah, you do it, okay I think I think you guys should hunt together.
Kayla Lockhart:I would love to, yeah, and maybe here like a time or two before to get ready. Oh, yeah, yeah, okay, all right, i'm a big fan of you, You know.
Josh Crumpton:one of the things is now you're at the end of the season. The season is is over, unless you're going turkey hunting.
Rebecca Jones:Well, this is turkey hunting, So you know the season just kind of changes. So I finished up land just a couple of weeks ago and then then Turkey's up and I have a big game camp. Actually, i'm doing some more rifle and archery work next weekend.
Josh Crumpton:Oh, you are, So I'm going to go and learn to bow hunt.
Rebecca Jones:Oh cool, i don't know, we'll see how that goes. I mean, i don't know if that's going to be my thing, but then I like spearfishing, so who knows, maybe that'll be something interesting Well hunting's fun.
Rebecca Jones:But. But I think I mean birds and upland is is sort of the even after doing the like. That's my passion point for sure in the space. But um, yeah, and then, and then September will be here and we're going to grouse. This is going to be a lot of grouse this year, woodcock. I'm going to get a couple of grouse across the north there, so I know we got some good ideas.
Josh Crumpton:Maybe come fishing with us, oh yeah.
Rebecca Jones:Fishing. Fishing is well and truly underway. I caught my first carp the other day. Oh, i love carp.
Kayla Lockhart:I saw that. Oh yeah, on a fly run Yep, i love, i live for carp. I love them. That was cool.
Rebecca Jones:They're way smarter than people give them credit for, yeah, and everyone's sort of like oh they trash fish, why would you want to do that And I'm like well, because you can have a cult one. I guess that's why They run, they fight, they're smart.
Kayla Lockhart:I mean, they're so smart that they'll release a hormone that makes the other carp aware that there's danger involved, because they'll sense it through their go better.
Rebecca Jones:It's, it's, they're incredible fish I love carp Yeah, big family, it was a ton of fun.
Josh Crumpton:That's like catfish too, catfish are so smart, they are incredibly smart fish. In fact, they're one of the only fish that both they have the same thing, where they release a pheromone into the water, but they also feed and communicate by sound that that croaking, that they do they, they transmit danger to each other.
Kayla Lockhart:Yeah, they also eat your hand if you want to go noodleing for them.
Josh Crumpton:Yes, if you want to, if you want to noodle, they're, they're very friendly, they're very friendly. They will eat your hand.
Kayla Lockhart:I did that once, when I was a kid and my dad made me and I was like he's like sticking in the hole, i was like it just feels like hardgums, do you feel like on your journey so far, yeah, have you gotten what you came for for a hunting and fishing so far?
Josh Crumpton:You know.
Kayla Lockhart:It was evolved in the journey, I guess. Well, I mean there's.
Rebecca Jones:I mean I'm a total beginner. There's so much, i mean there's so much that I don't even know, that I don't know.
Rebecca Jones:I mean, I'm acutely aware of what I know. I'm acutely aware of what I know that I don't know, and then there's just there's so much more that I have no idea about. So I'm very much at the entry point, i would say. I mean, my goal was definitely to get out. I had a very specific goal to get on Wild Birds. That was the season, and I sort of again had put together a pretty specific set of experiences with people along the way, and so I accomplished that in terms of at least getting on Wild Birds, because now that's ruined me for a lot of other types of hunting which you know. My boss said that would happen. Thanks, simon. Yeah, you know so that I knew that would happen. But it's so interesting because now that and it's not that people never wanted to include me or invite me in other things, it's just it's tough And if they're not coaches or mentors or people that are in a space to be able to teach you right, they start to invite you and they understand that you have capabilities.
Rebecca Jones:So it's funny, after I finished doing the sort of the wild hunt, i started getting a lot of calls from people saying, hey, well, what do you think? Have you ever thought about Chucker? you know there's Wild Chucker here, or do you want to do this? And I'm like, wow, i mean, these sort of this is now because people are understanding there's a level of capability, but more so there's a level of willingness to learn and ask questions and sort of just really get after it. And so the door's open and you speak to one person and the next person and it's sort of the whole world really opens up. You find that community of it, yeah, exactly. And so that's exciting because because again, it still is about the ability.
Rebecca Jones:You know I don't really want to go after anything that wouldn't be consumable, so that's kind of pretty important, you know. So that's still part of it. It's not just out there for the sport at all. But you know, for me what I didn't really sort of, what I really didn't and this is really hard to do because you kind of there's a really important component you need to have for this is to go and do it by yourself. So what's the one thing that you really need if you're going to go out in the woods and the bush and do it yourself?
Josh Crumpton:If it's upland, you gotta have a dog, you gotta have a dog.
Rebecca Jones:And so that was the big thing. I mean, my goal wasn't to be able to necessarily go and do it by myself, because I learned pretty early You kind of need a dog And we weren't really in that. I mean, I'm not in that space necessarily right now, but as I think about sort of the progress and I, you know, meet dogs like Sally and Pip and Rowdy.
Josh Crumpton:Oh perfect, I've got three or four dogs here at the ranch. Take them. You're getting ready to head back to us. Why don't you just take one with you?
Kayla Lockhart:Take one to see how it goes, See if it fits. You know what I mean.
Josh Crumpton:Lose my number. Yeah, it's fine.
Kayla Lockhart:Well.
Rebecca Jones:Rowdy, he doesn't want me to leave, yeah, so that's kind of the big thing. And I think as I start planning different seasons out, i'm going to be paying even more attention to the dogs and figuring out I mean, we have a dog that would be. I mean he would be so depressed and sad if I bought another dog home. So we gotta navigate that. But that's a big part of figuring out how to do these things sort of by myself. But I sort of look at that as that longer term goal. So I'm very happy with what I'd set out to accomplish during this season And I've got a ton of different pathways for what it starts to look like. And you know, as we're talking about things that are coming up next season and then we're sort of talking way outside the box of how about? what is it? Tomogen in Alaska on skis? Oh yeah, that's right, that's what I want to do So bad.
Josh Crumpton:We should do that, like you know, late season Tomogen like in Alaska that would just be like that's on my mind, Isn't it cool?
Kayla Lockhart:to find these things in the outdoors. That can take you like to dream of these places and things and have the communities run by it. It's pretty cool.
Josh Crumpton:Well, they become goals. They become goals that are not.
Kayla Lockhart:And it's the challenge, is always there, like it never goes away.
Josh Crumpton:I love that about these sports, they're not career goals, specifically They're not, you know they're not specific body goals like a weight goal or a physical fitness goal.
Kayla Lockhart:It's a different type of goal. I don't really know the words that are accurate. Well, for me it's learning. I mean, it's just this acquisition of.
Rebecca Jones:Yeah, it's just sort of like acquisition of knowledge, and so I mean I'm consume information, and the more I can consume info that I can then take and apply and then, you know, learn something else. That, to me, is sort of saying that out loud right now. That's really the thing that kind of motivates me in all of this is learning something new and applying it. And then learning something new and applying it. I'm such a hungry learner. There's so many, there's so much opportunity. If you just got to be interested, yep.
Rebecca Jones:And that's what I want to be able to do is help people sort of open those doors to understand what it means. Like that's the impact.
Josh Crumpton:I'm willing to learn too. I mean because that was like one of the big things that hold up for me was was willing to learn, and we talked about this on a podcast with Kayla willing to. the willingness to learn in outdoor spaces sometimes involves the willingness to be vulnerable and say I don't know.
Kayla Lockhart:Yes And have no idea. I have no idea. You have to leave your ego at the door, check your ego at the door. Yeah, that's tough for a lot of us Not be afraid to fail, and Especially with your friends and your peers.
Josh Crumpton:Sometimes it's like you know.
Kayla Lockhart:I don't know, i think for me at least.
Josh Crumpton:I was afraid to look foolish for a long time in outdoor spaces.
Rebecca Jones:That's relatable.
Josh Crumpton:Yeah.
Kayla Lockhart:You know I'd get invited by people.
Josh Crumpton:Let's go to deer camp And I'm like, oh no, i got a thing to do.
Rebecca Jones:Right, yeah, well, listen, i've met a lot of awesome men in all of this who are going to be vulnerable and be like that, but overwhelmingly I found hunting with women that was kind of more likely to happen which is kind of why I ended up pursuing sort of a lot of this sport. you know around people, men or women, who were going to be a little bit more, at least, vulnerable about the learning and the asking questions. you know, absolutely, i feel like it's just safe too.
Josh Crumpton:It is safe, because that's how accidents get permitted, is being able to say hey, tell me how to do this the right way.
Kayla Lockhart:No, especially in that field. Give me that thumb stick. I got it all figured out. This is the right end right.
Rebecca Jones:Yeah, no, it's not. That's nothing. I put a shell in and it's disappeared, right, i can put another one in right after it.
Josh Crumpton:right, i pulled the trigger. It didn't go off.
Kayla Lockhart:I should just keep pulling it, but it's cool that you specifically you do, josh, just to send some compliments your way. But creating these conversations in the industry is how people start to be OK, being vulnerable and stuff like that. So the more people talk about it, the more it becomes a part of just the sport itself and the outdoor industry, which is so important, i think. Yep, that's it.
Josh Crumpton:Well, Rebecca, I am honored to be part of your journey.
Kayla Lockhart:I am so happy to meet you. I mean thanks for letting me sit. I'm sitting big down for a day.
Rebecca Jones:Yeah, down for a day Is it September, yet I know So I hope that.
Kayla Lockhart:Well, oh, oh oh oh, oh, oh, Something I have a promise for you.
Josh Crumpton:I got a promise that I'm going to make. So you said something early on and it stuck in my mind, mm-hmm, that you were going to teach me everything about waxing.
Kayla Lockhart:No, oh man, so, but I have some promise for us to see.
Josh Crumpton:Let me tell you that I'm going to teach you about waxing.
Rebecca Jones:OK.
Josh Crumpton:During our teal hunt. We're going to wax pluck ducks. OK, all right, it's a full circle, that your career is coming back to wax, back to wax In your hunting career. We're going to have wax again.
Rebecca Jones:OK, well, that's actually. Our next hunt is teal opening weekend.
Josh Crumpton:Yep, and we're going to do a podcast after it and talk about it.
Kayla Lockhart:I love waxing the ducks.
Josh Crumpton:We wax the ducks.
Rebecca Jones:OK, i love it. Yeah, it's happening.
Josh Crumpton:Thanks for being here.
Kayla Lockhart:That was so fun getting to know you too Well, thank you for having me.
Rebecca Jones:I appreciate the conversation. Good times.
Josh Crumpton:You too.