Well, hello there, ladies and gents Robert Sykes keto
Savage.com. And today I have special guest
dr. Brooks tiller on the line, he is
a hunter. He is a ketogenic athlete.
He is just an all-around cool, dude.
And we talked all about hunting. It's it's fun for me to be able
to bring someone on the show. That is an avid Hunter
themselves because then we could just sit around and talk.
Like we're at a campfire, we talk about hunting stories, talk
about how to cook the right venison.
It talk about it. Also, if you like hunting, if
you like the outdoors, if you like truly living.
And the, you know what, I actual Paleolithic lifestyle would be
and take pride in knowing where your food comes from, then this
is your episode. So without further Ado, sit
back, relax and enjoy the conversation with dr.
Brooks teller and we're live.
How are you sir, man? I'm doing great.
I'm doing great router. How are you?
I'm doing good, man. I'm doing good.
I'm excited to talk because Well, for a lot of different
reasons but you are all about hunting and I'm all about
hunting, but I don't really have.
There's not a whole lot of opportunities for me to just
openly talk about hunting on my platform as it is currently, but
I'm trying to change that. So let's just shoot the breeze
minutes. Talk about hunting man, that's
that's what I love and, you know, a health and fitness world
is were kind of you're at. And I'm just trying to blend the
hunting world and health, and fitness world.
And just get as many people out there hunting as we can, I think
it's like a match made in even when you look at it, I mean you
look at the ketogenic diet you know paleo diet carnivore diet
most of us are eating quite a bit of meat and there's this
disconnect oftentimes between the meat you're eating and where
that meat comes from and I feel like people are starting to
recognize that and actively you know, learn more about you know,
agriculture regenerative farming trying to get get you know local
local contacts with them get their meat from people nearby
and since as opposed to going just the mass A feedlot beef but
hunting is like the crème de la crème.
That's where the the most nutrient-dense meat is and I
don't know I feel like the more we can bridge that Gap with the,
you know, Health Nutrition, keto carnivore space without actively
going out and getting your own food.
I feel like that's that's where it needs to go.
I believe so and you know for me it's really about being involved
in every step of the process and you know if we get a burger at a
fast food joint, Point. There's possibly 300 different
cows and that one Burger. But if you go out and get it,
it's it's actually probably cost you more than any meat you buy
at the store. But on top of that, I'll beat,
you know, where it comes from. There's a story behind it.
And does that sense of Pride that comes with gaining that
meat and enable to know what it's on your table?
If you're feeding your family you're feeding yourself, we want
the healthiest, we can get I want an animal who is Live the
life that it was designed and made to live and it lived that
life the way it was supposed to not, you know, not just a
feedlot and hoping that, you know, it survived a couple of
years after getting pumped, full of a bunch of junk.
Hmm. Totally man.
And not only that, but when you, when you go out and you you hunt
and you harvest an animal and you you're the one that's
processing that animal, you know you're the one dragging it out
of the woods, whatever you're doing.
You're going to be pretty hard pressed to throw any of that
meat away. Like you want to salvage as much
of it as possible as you possibly can, when your, when
your skin and processing it, but then after you've cooked it and
you're eating it, you're not likely to throw a bunch of it in
the garbage bin like I hate food waste.
So if you're hunting, that's like the best way to minimize
that. I feel I believe so and because
you're you're in control of it and, you know, you can go
through and you can take the heart out, you can take the
liver, you can take the kidneys, you could.
Any part that you wanted the tongue, whatever it may be.
And you could use that as well as using all the muscle meat
that you're going to get and you can take the bones and you can
make bone broth out of it. And you can even if you wanted
to go, as far as you can take the hide and you could tan the
hide and you can make something out of that.
You could just take it as far as you want it.
To almost like you mentioned that Paleo lifestyle people talk
about all live like a caveman will like a caveman didn't just
you know take one big Chunk of steak and eat it.
Like, he ate every ounce of the food that they could get they,
and when you're out there hunting, you're taking that
animal, and it's a very intimate process.
It's nothing that I ever take for granted, there's nothing
about it that. I I ever ever take with like a
grain of salt if you I never think about it lightly.
I mean, you are taking a life and it's that intimate intimate
moment that, you know, that like, I'm making this shot, I'm
going to make the most ethical shot.
I want this animal to never suffer because this animal is
going to go home with me and feed my family, and whether it
be a bird, a squirrel, or a deer, or an elk, or whatever,
maybe or even is a fish. Shhhh.
I want that animal to not suffer, you know, because I mean
it's an animal that suffers could have, they, you know,
there's things stress hormones that come through that could
actually make the meat not taste as good.
And I want that animal to, to be able to feed my family and to be
able to enjoy that. So that I can look back.
And I can give thanks that. That animal gave its life.
So that me and my family can have life and it's never
anything. I'd take for granted is I've
always appreciated and I think that that's one thing as a
hunter. We see these trophy shots and if
you're not a hunter that's probably what you see on the
news is the trophy shots or whatever.
And that's not what hunting is all about.
Hunting is taking that animal. And for me, some of the, you
know, my trophy shots is really the food that's on my plate.
It's not how big the animal is. When I'm in the woods, it's did
this animal feed my family and I think that's one of the things
that the misnomers, in the news that we see is they call this
person killed this, you know, you see the it's kind of like
anything. You see and hear about the bad
apples and, you know, the hunter who illegally takes a monster
buck, you know, might shoot a monster buck in a mall that wash
across the mall parking lot or something like, you know, that
that guy like, you know, he shouldn't be hunting anyway.
Like, you know, you should just, you know, you Consider your
lifestyle for that, you know, like what are you really doing
with your life? If you're going to shoot a, you
know, around a bunch of people. But for those who that those are
the ones that make the news. But for every one of those
you've got so many people that are out there doing the right
thing. And if anybody wants to learn
how to hunt, it's about finding those people that are doing the
right things and ethically morally doing it for the right
reason. 100% agree, man. I mean, I don't really care too
much about the size of the array.
Rack on a deer, you know, like if you, if you happen to get a
big, dude, you got more me bigger body, dear and then I'll
sometimes Mount that deer like as a memory for that entire
experience, but that's never the Pinnacle, that's not the
priority. And I mean, my, I'm always going
out in the field, hunting meat. I meant my goal is to fill the
freezer for the coming year because I mean, honestly, every
like when I did my contest prep, this year, every single meal,
every single day, contained meat that I had killed.
I mean that's a lot of That's something I'm proud of because
I'm supplying my energy with high quality food that I process
myself, that I cook myself that I killed myself and that is a
hell of a lot more rewarding than Iraq sitting on the wall,
especially if that's all it ever is.
You know, a lot of people do hunt just for the trophy and
that that tarnishes what hunting is all about.
It's unfortunate, but it does exist, and it's sad to think
that, you know, people see that and that alone.
Oz ways them away from the art and sport of hunting because
there is so much more to it than then.
I totally agree and you know it's one of those things that I
know that you're big on you you know working hard do the hard
stuff and that's really what I'm all about me and my hey you got
to do the hard things and it really makes those hard days not
so bad. That may be coming and in a
hunting is hard work and you know if you go to the grocery
store, you're seeing if we're going to get the high quality
meat. We may pay seven eight, if it's
ground meat. You know, we may say seven,
eight, nine dollars a pound or if it's Stake.
It could be 20 bucks a pound, but if you really look at the
cost that's going to go into hunting, you're probably going
to actually spend more per pound potentially that then you would
have the grocery store. And what's funny is, I found it
that my Hunting Buddies and myself my family.
I'm more likely to call somebody up and say, hey man, I've got a
big deer roast cooking. Y'all want to come over and have
some hmm, But if I just go to the store and get a roast.
I'm I'm not as apt to say hey won't you all come over.
It's just the you know for me it's just a garbage is just food
but if it's you know if it's I take that pride and I got Manuel
this Something that I can share that I've been able to get from
the wild and I'm able to share in his eye that you just kind of
like if you have a Lamborghini You're Gonna Let somebody borrow
it. But if you have an old beat-up
pickup truck, you're never gonna let me borrow it.
If that's the, kind of way I look at it and just because you
want someone else to enjoy that deliciousness and just enjoy
that meal with you totally angry, man.
Totally agree. So, another thing like, this is
something that doesn't even get talked about it, really, but a
lot of people look at Hunting as as a selfish thing, it's just
for the hunter but like there's so much that goes into the sport
with a benefit to the wildlife population herds themselves.
I mean, my dad's a wildlife biologist and the reason that
there's a Game and Fish Commission, that puts a hunting
season out in the first place, is to manage that population so
that it improves over time. Instead of become overrun and
decreasing quality. oh yeah, and it's one of those things I guess
the the anti-hunting Population or groups, they put a lot of
their money into just fighting the hunting.
Whenever when it comes down to, if you look at any of the
wildlife, organizations, any of our license that you buy any of
the Raffles that you may put in for the drawers that you put in
forward to get a tag and even another, you know, organizations
a lot of that money goes back to conservation and every That you
buy outdoor equipment, you know, we could be camping equipment,
hiking equipment, even guns and ammo.
There's a portion of that money goes back to conservation.
And you know, it's just one of those things that Hunters at
their core are conservationist and a lot of people look like
Teddy Roosevelt. And you look at Teddy Roosevelt
and depending on how you want to view him.
Like, oh well, he went out west and just killed a bunch of
Animals but the thing is that he didn't just kill animals.
He killed them, you know, he would study them and here
appreciated, the fact that he wanted to pass that on to others
and and he educated others on the animal mean that he didn't
just kill them and leave them laying.
You know, they use that meat and they use everything and they
studied them and a scientific way.
And so, as Outdoorsman as just people that want to be outside
whether you've used want to hike and bird watch and you just You
know, look at the flowers and for if you want to forage
mushrooms, whatever it may be, part of the reason that we have
some of this public land and that we have the animals around
is because we have that conservation aspect built in to
all of our outdoor organizations. 100% man, 100%.
So I want to kind of rewind a little bit.
What? What got you into this sport in
the first place? Like, will you just did you grow
up? I'm like, did your dad, teach
you how to hunt or have to have that all?
Come to be for as long as I can remember.
I have been, it's been part of my life growing up.
My dad, my granddad hunted. That's how we fed our family and
y'all remember during deer season, my granddad, he had it
all set up and you would you go over there and be my dad?
And my granddad, my uncle's and you would kill a deer and
everybody will. It was a family thing.
Everybody chipped in everybody. Dawn cutting up the dear.
You know, somebody might be gutting, a deer and somebody
else is skinning a deer. And somebody else is cutting up
the meat and somebody else's packaging the meat and it's just
like this. It was almost you know, of a
quote unquote Factory but it was just all of our family just
working together and we put that meat together and throughout the
year, somebody may have killed for Dear.
Somebody may have killed one deer, but throughout the year,
if somebody had a little extra meat, they would give it to
somebody who maybe didn't have as much.
Much or, you know, when we would share with other family members
that didn't hunt, and so for me, ever, since I was little, it's
been a process of just, this is how we provide for our family
and I mean, we would rabbit hunt squirrel hunt.
We would, you know, hunt birds, whatever it may be.
But part of it was just the being outdoors.
We would we spend our summers fishing.
And, you know, it was just like that time of this.
This is the, the nature. This is, you know, God's Brett.
Give it. Give us all this greatness that
we can experience. We can just enjoy this.
Let's just in, you know, enjoy it for all it's worth and, and
in in that, you know, my granddad taught, my dad, my
uncles, and they all talked me, and it's just been a passing, it
along. And I had that experience of
just having that Mentor worship I love it.
I think that is something that is done for having me.
Those people pour into me and just share me.
Yeah, absolutely. Do you feel like the like that
people are going that direction now, or do you fight?
That's something that's starting to kind of taper off.
I think that people are starting to get back to that especially
with some of the stuff that we've gone through with people,
not able to find meat in the store.
And people want to be a little more self-sustaining.
I feel that people are now. Alright, how can I make sure to
feed my family? And we've always thought that
you work a job, you get paid money, you go to the store, you
buy the food and that's it. But I think people are into
case, I think they're going to be a little more self-sustaining
so that they can provide. And I think there's also folks,
They're looking like we talked about, they're looking at how
the food, how their food is is raised and, you know, we are
what we eat, but more than that, we are what we eat.
Has eaten. Yeah, very good.
You know, when I look at it is like, if you look at a deer
running through the woods, it's graceful, it's powerful.
It's fast, it's strong, it's lean.
Or you look at a cow eating in a pasture like they they don't
move very much. And while the cow may have a lot
more meat on it, that deer I just feel like if I'm going to
become something, I'm going to eat that deer.
I would rather become more like that dear then the cow.
And for me, I think there's a lot of people that are looking
at that and want to have that responsibility of, you know,
instead of having someone else. Kill a cow and then me get it in
a package. Let me go out and harvest this
animal, let me raise a chicken, whatever.
Maybe let me do the process of from ground up and I think
that's a little bit of a surge coming on.
Now, you know, they say that as Hunters, the average population
has been increasing every year and the number of license bought
has been decreasing. But I I've seen a little bit of
a surge in the younger population especially those
Involved in the health and fitness that are wont to be
healthy. They want to eat the healthy,
good food. And that's what they're after,
and they realize they've got this Wild game running around
that, like, I would rather be like a deer or an elk, able to
come out in two seconds that, you know, then a cow that's just
munching on clover in the pasture.
So, I think that's one thing that's really beneficial that
people are seeing this little Surge and they're getting more
involved in. And now, Days with the internet,
with the programs that are out, there's more opportunity for
people to learn from experienced Hunters, who are doing it for
the right reason. I totally agree.
I feel like it's interesting to see because I feel like a lot
of, you know, parents aren't necessarily teaching their kids
at home because that's kind of I think that's become less and
less just the tradition, unfortunately.
However, I feel like because of social media, Influencers.
And all the hype that that is, you do have some very
influential people. I mean like you got Rogan that's
getting into bow hunting now, the go research, bow hunting and
millions of people. Here is podcast and I hope that
sounds like something about when you get into.
So you have these big influencers that are kind of
showcasing and Paving the way for what's possible.
And I feel like people are starting to see that here, that
and look at it in a positive light again.
And that's exciting to me because I feel like that, that
could be leading to that Surge and that can scale.
I believe so, and you mentioned Joe Rogan.
And well, I think one of the best podcast about the hunting
that he did, was actually with Russell Brand who's a vegan.
Mmm. And it was really interesting to
hear them and it was eye opening for.
A lot of people that you've got this guy, who is now a hunter,
having a conversation with a vegan and they're able to agree
on, you know, Rogue is like, hey, I hunt because I want
someone on meat comes from and Russell Brand who's a vegans.
Like, okay, I understand that but you It wasn't like a you
know they're arguing about the legals and the rights and you
know, just the animal feel this or whatever.
But it was one of those things where, if you're going to eat
meat, yeah, go get it yourself and it was a really interesting
idea. And I think for anybody who is
into the ketogenic or the carnivore space, where you're
interested in this stuff like you know, he had some good
points of how you can talk to someone who maybe have
completely different views than you.
But still be able to agree and I think that's as an Outdoorsman
as a hunter. You know, I do get some attacks
on. Why do you hunt just go to the
store and get meat and for me, I think that it helped me just to
have a good few points of like, hey well this is why I do it.
And I think that if, you know why you do Something then you're
better able to explain it but then I mean if you know why you
do it, you can explain it to others and you can share it with
others. 100%. I feel like at the end of the
day, a lot of what the vegans want is pretty similar to what a
lot of the hunters want. I mean, we all take care to
like, improve the wildlife population conservation, like we
don't want to see suffering. Like a lot of those Visions are
pretty well, you know, hand in hand in the line with one
another, there's just this disconnect because, you know, At
first glance there seems to be a pretty profound stark contrast.
But if you have a, you know, intelligent conversation and
treat each other with respect, like adults, then I feel like
there's some common ground there for sure.
Oh for sure. And I've had conversation with
vegans and friends who work with vegans and it's interesting that
there's a few folks that call themself vegan hunters.
And what they're saying is like, they're a vegan, except they
will eat meat that they have actually harvested themselves
and it's an interesting concept. Yeah, I mean it makes sense
though. I mean like if I mean I'd
rather, yeah, I could totally get behind that.
I can call myself a vegan Hunter.
Exactly. Hmm.
I like that. I like that.
So, what about key demand? I had, you get an Aikido and low
carb and have that kind of come into play.
Well, I was, it was, it's been several years back and I'd
always been kind of low carb and I've been tweaking with things
and I'm always, you know, as an athlete just I try something,
how does it make me feel? Am I performing better?
And I just started kind of diving into the keto space and I
got the call to be on American Ninja Warrior.
And about a week before the actual going on in the going to
the show and be recorded. I rolled my I was doing the
crazy trick that I probably shouldn't have been doing trying
something crazy and rolled my ankle severely and it just
swelled up. And it was interesting that I
had just recently went gone to a very ketogenic diet and the
inflammation within a week. I was able to perform and, you
know, get to be on TV and everything for American Ninja
Warrior. Where I know that if I'd been
eating, a normal sugar-laden chemical-laden diet, like that,
inflammation would still be there.
And there's no way I could run across, you know, some of these
crazy things on the show. And after that, I was like,
there's something to this. And I just kept diving in, you
know, diving in more diving and more and it's found podcast like
you and Danny Vega and different ones where we can.
I could learn more about how to actually do this and it just fit
in perfectly. With my lifestyle as an
Outdoorsman and I was like, oh I go out, I get venison, I get L,
could get deer turkey, whatever. Maybe I can get these things and
they are a ketogenic Primal food, and it just made perfect
sense. And fit in perfect with my diet
with the way I live. But also, it helped me in the
way I feel and I'm somebody, I'm an add kind of guy.
I've got 100 ideas at all. Times.
And I noticed, as I do, more into the ketogenic, as I got
more into ketosis, I would wake up energized.
I would wake up and it's like my brain was almost on foul on
fire. I can tell, you know, my skin
felt better. My skin look better.
My hormones are more balanced. How do you know?
It wasn't feeling as wonky. I was feeling better and I
didn't have that blood sugar. I could go, I could go hunting
and I could not I can just carry, I just Some water and
that's about it. And I can go all day and I would
not have the crash. I would not have these things.
I could fat, you know, you'll go more into a fasting component.
So it was just all these benefits just piling on top and
I was like, something about this is is right and finding more and
more about the ketogenic diving more in and with everything that
I learned through Medical School, wasn't necessarily
matching up with what I was experiencing as like.
Oh, you're supposed to eat like every 3 hours, you know, Do you
know doing all this other stuff and but as you go dive in you
like, okay, there's something to this.
And once you experience it it was like all right, there's no
doubt. This is helpful and through that
I've been able to help a lot of other outdoorsmen get better and
be able to spend more time in the woods without having to
worry about, oh, I've got to get back home to eat oatmeal or I
got to get back home to get a muffin because I'm hungry or I
got to carry a Little Debbie's in my backpack and instead Is it
go? I can go and sit in a deer stand
for eight hours or I can go on a hike for a couple hours and not
have to worry about bringing a bunch of snacks, totally man.
Like when you look at hunting to the lens of it being a extreme
sport which it has every right of being deemed as an extreme
sport depending on what comes out perfectly.
I mean, I look at like I interview endurance athletes, I
interview body, butters, I interview everybody that's doing
the ketogenic diet and I can hear how its benefited their
performance. When you put that through the
same scope from a Hunting standpoint.
I mean if you're doing like a like, like a, like just go to
the opposite, you know, crazy extreme so you're getting
dropped off in Alaska and you're spending a week in Alaska going
after Caribou or moose or something.
I mean you're gonna have to carry significantly less food.
You're going to have much more sustained energy, you're going
to be able to recover faster, you're going to be able to
function better on less sleep. I mean, all the things that you
would want to be able to do as an elite Hunter, you can do it
in much more optimized state Yuki to adapt.
You said the main word Reds are optimized.
And you know for me this past year, I went on a, you might
call it extreme hunt. I was in the Sawtooth mountains
in Idaho and we went, it was a public land archery hunt for
elk. And I mean, your chances of
killing an elk with a bow and arrow is slim to none.
And then you add in its archery season.
Season, and you've got four people with you, and you got
kind of crazy. But before I went out there, I
made sure. I mean, I was super strict on my
Quito and in out, there, I'll go and give a plug for the keto
brick. Because I took, I took a about a
week and a half worth of Quito bricks with me.
Hmm. And, you know, and that's me
three key to Bricks that's about 3,000 calories.
And, and it's less than a pound. And whenever you're hiking Ten
miles up into the mountains before you ever set up camp,
like every ounce matters, like you're weighing everything and
whenever I go I gotta carry all my food with music.
Oh, I can carry, you know, ten pounds of Quito bricks.
That's 10 days. Worth of food.
If, if I have to like nobody else that I was with, could say
that their food weighed less than 10 pounds and they had
everything they needed. And so for me, it was, you know,
there, There were other things that we had with us.
But going out there that was a big factor in being mentally,
alert being prepared for no matter what happened.
And we're day for, we've hiked 20 miles a day looking for elk
and we spent all day just trying to get in position for an elk
and when it comes time to get that shot off, You're sneaking
within 30 to 40 yards of an elk and you have to be mentally
ready. No matter how tired you haven't
slept, you've been sleeping on the ground, whatever it is.
But you had to be mentally prepared and they being in a
ketogenic State. Helped me tremendously just to
be laser focused on what I'm doing and to be energized and be
mentally focused on right there, in that moment of putting the
shot on that, I needed to get that meat.
Back to my family. Yeah, and and that's that's not
easy man. Like a lot of people I think
they think of hunting is just like sit in your truck left
waiting for something to come across or like sitting in a deer
stand all day and that's like a different type of difficult, leg
of you're sitting in a deer stand all day.
I mean, that's patients and there's a lot of discipline to
goes involved with that. But doing like a spot and stalk,
like hiking across Mountain mountainous area.
I mean, that is freaking tough work.
I did that for the first time this past year on a mule deer
hunt in Washington. And I have, I don't know.
Be like 50 or 60 pound pack on and man I got my butt whooped.
Like I don't I don't think I could have done it had, I not
been key to adapted because that were just been one more food.
I had to carry. I was already carrying a heavy
bag, but I mean, that is freaking brutal.
Intensity. Like that, that wrecked me just
as much that Marathon. I ran.
Yeah, I mean I think we, one of the guys with us it was film and
he had a Apple watch and he was tracking.
And I think the last two days we hiked In miles with a hundred
pound packs getting the meat out of the off the mountain and it
was interesting to see like you know guys having to stop and get
a little granola bars and stuff and I was like, dude I got a
one-kilo brick in my pocket and I'm good for the day.
I can make it, you know? And it was and once again that
fasting side, I go, if you're out there in the mountain and
you're chasing those elk and you're in a spot, you're like
all right it's eight miles back to Camp or I can just camp out.
Right here, make me a little bunker and then in the morning I
can get back after the elk. Well, that's cutting 16 miles of
walking off but you may not have the food with you and that may
be the determining Factor, but hey, I'm keto adapted.
I can fast for another, you know, for another couple hours I
can sleep tonight. I can get everyone's welcome to
morning. I'll worry about getting food
tomorrow. I can go a day or two without
food if I have to, and not worry about like that, blood sugar and
all that stuff that comes with a normal diet.
That's a huge Point, man. I mean, honestly, when you look
at back, you know, Human existence evolutionary speaking,
100,000 years ago? I mean keto adaptation is just
an evolutionary adaptation to being able to, you know, pursue
game and get a kill in and get food when food is scarce.
So like that's just perfectly, you know, in line and
representative representative of what we're doing today with
modern day, honey. Exactly.
And I mean, trust me if I'm if I'm in the woods and I see a
blackberry bush, I'm going to grab a couple and eat them, but
once again, those blackberries growing in the woods or not, as
sugar-laden as the ones you're going to find in the store.
And that's exactly what our Primal ancestors would have
done. You know, they're like, all
right. Now, there's a handful
blackberries as keep going. Until we actually find some big
animal, we can hunt down but they would sustain on those
little bitty. Like, if you would use a little
sugar, Snips but it's not enough to really kick you out of
ketosis. If it's just a handful of wild
blackberries or blueberries, whatever, maybe, hmm.
And taking a lot of times, you know depending on what season
you're in. There's no there's no barriers
to be a fan. Anyways, so you pretty much
right in fasting. Exactly.
So we got season coming up here soon man.
When does bow season open where you're at?
I guess September probably yeah, it's September, I'm in
Tennessee. So it'll be September whenever
bow season opens up and then we've got we We have a lot of
deer in Tennessee. So thankfully, we're able to
actually take a lot of doze, which, you know, in a lot of
places you. Nobody's looking for the big box
like, so for me, it's about food.
So I'm looking for a big mature, doe to walk by and especially
archery. And I'm going to take a couple
of those early and make sure my freezer is full and, you know,
and try to get family and friends out, especially whenever
we get into more of the gun season, just because it doesn't
take as much practice with a gun.
Can get other people involved that way 100% man.
I'm actually going out this weekend to my family farm.
I'm gonna do some Scouting Around kind of, make sure my my
spots all good to go for season but I've got the bow dust it
off. I'm shooting regular again.
Trying to get practiced up on that.
Yeah. Bow season be here for, you know
it. Yeah.
And I think for anybody, I mean Archer, he's just a great thing
to get into and when it comes to the fitness side, you know, your
heart rates going and if you never I never shot your bow
while really tired or after a good hard work out.
I get that's it's going to be a different thing that you're
going to experience and even now the summer time you go out and
go fishing and you can get some great meat that way to 100% man.
So what about let's talk about cooking because a lot of people
they don't have no clue how to cook wild game, because it's a
little bit different than cooking, a big old fatty ribeye
right, you know, and that's one thing about wild game.
It is leaner And a lot of people, if they've ever had Wild
game, like, man, that just tasted terrible, it tasted
gamey, one of the reasons why is because we don't cut it up the
same way that we do like say a cow and it with if it's a cow or
hog or something like that, you know that that fat is gives us
that buttery flavor when it comes to Wild game.
A lot of times you want to cut that fat off the fat is what
will tend to give it the gamey flavor. and just you know, and
even if we compare say beef to venison, you know, venison does
have less calories and a little bit less fat, but it does have
more protein and it has more vitamins and minerals in that
same amount but in that you know so then as it being a ketogenic,
adding the fat in so, you know, you can add the fat end through
just, you know, whether it be, you know, bacon, coconut oil,
whatever that you want to cook with that, or just, Tad an
avocado with it. Is one of things I love to do is
have, you know, venison with avocado and and that's just a
delicious meal right there. But one of the gaming part often
comes from not taking the fat off properly and having too much
fat in that meat. And so if you're making a
burger, that's when you can mix in some of the that, you know,
the the innards delivers, the hearts, things like that.
And you can add in maybe some bacon fat, which will give you
that little extra fattiness and make it a little Bacon taste.
But when it comes to cooking, it's all about.
Making sure that you're not overcooking it because it you
know, it will get chewy and even tough because of the lack of fat
like we would a cow. So you just kind of have to take
it a little bit and for me I still experiment with things I'm
like all right you know man ribeye was really good this way.
Well, I've got this deer steak. How can I cook it?
So, it tastes kind of like that ribeye and I've got to tweak
things. I cook, it may be a little bit,
lower a little bit slower, use an insta pot, use a Crock-Pot,
you know, use the oven and I'll cook it a little differently and
different ways of making it better and getting the flavor
where I want it. So that it's more palatable and,
you know, for me it's just it's there's a ton of recipes ton of
cookbooks out there for Wild game and just finding one that
Fits what you're looking for is is the best thing to do.
So what's your like, if you could pick any cut on a deer?
For instance and any preparation technique?
What would you what you go to? I mean, probably most, most deer
hunters, replace a the tenderloin, to the back strip
and for me, it's it's a lean cut of meat.
So I will often take that tenderloin and I will take some
bacon and I'll get the bacon about Cooked.
And then I'll wrap that bacon around the tenderloin and cook
that tenderloin on the, on the stovetop.
And in a cast iron skillet for just about three or four minutes
on each side and then stick it in the oven for at about 350 for
about 5 to 6 minutes, take it out, let it rest a couple
minutes and then I'm cutting into a about a medium medium
rare steak with nice with some bacon around.
And it and it that that gender was just so I see it's almost
like a filet mignon if you will and it's so delicious.
So amazing. That's probably my top, you
know, for especially sharing it with someone else who's never
had anything but, you know, beef.
And I think that's one of these I would share with them first,
but, you know, then I like to get into taking the heart and
cut the heart up into little bitty pieces.
Mix it into like a chili and you can even mix it with other
Either beef or ground venison, do that?
And I mean, it's hard to beat elk my wife, she's a cook up
some milk steaks, and this kind of the same thing.
Just a few few minutes on each side and then stick them in the
oven for a few minutes and they're about medium rare cut
into them. And that's one of the best
pieces of meat that I've ever had.
Yeah, it's definitely hard to beat, man, I love you cuts that
most people, you know, discarded don't really put very high.
Don't have it in high regard, but like a, like, the shanks
I've been loving venison, Shanks.
I've got a freezer full of them and I would like an osso buco
with them and those shoot man. I'd be, I'd be hard-pressed to
pick like a tenderloin over those.
Like, if they're done right there, pretty damn good.
Yeah. Yeah.
I mean, that's the thing is you and it's all about, you know, in
some people like the ribs, you can smoke them and, you know,
some people discard the ribs because I know there's not much
meat on there but, you know, to respect that Get ribs.
You smoke them up. There's that's some good meat
right there. And then there's a lot of things
that you can you can gather. And I used to memorize Granddad,
I would be cutting up meat and, and I was like, oh, none with
this and he's like, isn't let me see that?
And five minutes. He's got a pile of meat bigger
than what I had and I thought I had everything off and doesn't
you know like okay you know and it's one of those things where
you know, once again we live maybe in a world of prosperity.
We're like out, we just take the big chunk and throw the rest.
Out of it out. Whenever some of these
Old-Timers, they remember those days whenever they had no food
in there, getting every little bit off and any of that, you
throw it in a crock pot and make a stew out of it.
And it's going to cook up nice and tender and it's going to be
delicious. And most people are not going to
tell the difference between, you know, if it's a cow or if it's a
deer, if it's done, right? And you told a few spices in
there and it's delicious. 100% lot of times I'll do is I'll get
like these chunks you know something that I couldn't make a
steak or something out of and then I'll, you know, grind it,
but I'll grind it with like a 75/25 grass-fed beef and I'm
able to basically make an 85/15 ratio or something out of it and
that way I can stretch it a lot farther and it just is freaking
delicious. You get all the nutrient
benefits that you would from the wild game.
Oh yeah. And that's the way to do it.
I mean, like you said, it's just you, you're stretching little
bit further and you're making it a little more may be palatable
to introduce other people. Absolutely ma'am.
Well, cool deal. What's the what's the thing that
people need to be doing if they're wanting to get into
hunting? But don't know where to turn.
Where do you? Where do you point people?
Well, I mean, I have my sight, and I have my podcast.
I help you under. So we're, you know, we talk
about health, we talk about Fitness to talk about hunting
and your gracious enough to come on there and I really appreciate
that. But, you know, for me, I try to
just share it through my website, through Instagram,
through Facebook, and all that stuff.
We're all the social media channels, but there's a few
places that are probably more equipped than even me and the
qdm a, which is the quality deer management association.
They have a great Field to Fork program and they're in several
States. So if you just look up the Cutie
Ma It would afford, you're going to find their program and you
find out where it is and they take people in their first hunt,
that's what they do. They go to farmers markets and
they help. They'll actually cook up.
Venison is share it with people and they will take you on.
They'll get you set up with a crossbow.
That's it. Get you set up with camo and
don't take you on your first hunt.
Don't hey, this is we're doing and they'll bring everybody
together to butcher, it to cook it up.
And then Q, May guys are awesome.
There's a lot of information online.
Some places I worked. With that provide great info
like mossy oak. They have a lot of great
information on. They have a video series that
they're on their app, where they do, how to cut up a deer, how to
prepare a deer, how to cook it in different ways.
So they make sure you get the best out of it.
So there's things like that. But, you know, the biggest thing
is, don't be afraid to ask questions.
If you whenever you were getting into keto, you got you went to
dr. Google and typed in what is
Quito? How do I do keto?
What can I do? How can I make keto ice cream?
Whatever you were looking for? You went there and asked and
then you may have had a friend who was into the into kito's,
their God, you're asking them questions.
So don't be afraid to ask questions because if you don't
ask a question you're never going to know the answer and so
whenever if anybody ever hits me up saying, hey I want to learn
how to hunt and but they're in Oklahoma.
I'm like dude you're long way away from me and it but I'm able
I'll drives Oklahoma, take you on a hunt if you're able, you
can come to me and Hunt. If if all we can do is just
through the through the magic of the interwebs.
We can talk back and forth and I can share with you here's where
you need to go to get a bow. Here's how you here's what you
need to look for Ike. I'm going to give you as much
information as possible and there's so many people out there
that can do that and all you have to do is just I mean said
you look up on Google reach out to somebody who maybe if you see
them. On Facebook or Instagram, who
shares a recipe of wild game reach out to them.
And 99% of the people are going to say, oh, yeah, this is how I
do it. Or I'd love you to come with me.
And I know that you've done that with several folks, in the
ketogenic space that you've invited them to come hunt with
you and opening their eyes to what they can do.
And just it's all about asking, questions be humble about, I
don't know what I'm doing, but I want to know more.
And if you if you keep that in mind, I mean, because I'm still
learning every single day about hunting about the outdoors about
the way that turkey and deer and Elk the way they move this year,
was my first real elk hunt, I went and I asked him.
I said, do I need to learn how to call and the guy that I was
going with? He said, if I see you touch a
call, most slap it out of your hand and and, and rightfully.
So because if I'm making a racket out there and he knows
what he's doing, I'm going to scare the elk off, but while out
there, he taught me how to call an elk.
Hmm. And so it was like, okay, I'm
out here. I'm watching you, I'm learning.
And then whenever I left, he's like Alright.
Here's the stuff now, go practice.
And so it's one of those things where you can ask questions and
just tag along with somebody just get outside and observe and
just see what they're doing and but reach out because most
people that love the outdoors are going to share it with you.
And right now, Now, I know that there's some crazy times with
people that are going out and they're wanting to be more
self-reliant, and I think it's a great thing that as if you are
an Outdoorsman invite other people, if you want to know, ask
somebody, how can I go with you and learn how to hunt?
I love it, man. I mean, I've always talked
highly of like the keto, space the keto Community, because
everybody is so giving and like they're in it for the right
reasons. But honestly, the same is true
with the Hunting Community. I mean, everybody's just always.
So, Willing to give them any information or knowledge, the
hand they're willing to like let people borrow their gear.
You know, show them a spot to hunt.
I mean there's some people that want to get a hunting but they
come up with these excuses. Like they don't have land or
they don't know how to shoot a gun.
But I mean that's all easily worked out.
I mean, there's public land, there's people that are more
than willing to let you harm their private land.
You can borrow Weaponry. I mean, you can do whatever
needs to be done to make it happen.
You just have to put in a little bit of leg work but it's so
worth it, man. Like the the fruits of your
labor of putting in that. Legwork far outweighs the time
it takes. I mean you just it's like
anything in life you put in the work and the reward is just it's
just there man. Yeah I mean you get what you put
into it was Life Fitness whatever you know and the way I
see it, even if you don't know anybody that hunts if you're
having to go it all alone. Even if you say if you don't
have a weapon, if you don't have camo, if you don't know a thing
about hunting but you want to learn, you can go to the woods
and say, hey, Can I sit here and see a deer today?
Can I sneak up on a turkey? Whatever.
Maybe if you do it and you get out there and maybe you mess up
and you spook a turkey spooky dear.
Well, you've at least done something and now you've learned
from it. Even if it may have been the
wrong thing, you learned from it.
And, you know, and I think that once you get out there you just
it's one of those things. It's like a bug bites, you and
just, you know, when you see the sun come up and you see nature
just wait. Up.
It's something that you do realize like this is the place
to be. Totally agree man.
Totally agree. Well where can people go to find
out more about you and follow along man?
Yeah so Dr. Brooks tiller dr. Brooks tiller.com is a main Hub.
The website. I'm dr.
Brooks tiller on all social channels.
The healthy Hunter show is podcast.
That will be interview, leading Fitness folks Outdoors Amin
people who are just in in that space who are into fitness and
health as well as the outdoors. So those are the places to find
and any time anybody has any questions just you can hit me up
whether it's a recipe or anything about the outdoors,
foraging food, anything of that nature, feel free, just hit me
up because I love talking about all this stuff and we'll be glad
to help and that's that's what what I'm here for.
That's my that's my In life, and it shows through, man.
I mean you and I definitely to get a hunt orchestrated
together. I think that'd be, that's the
cool thing about hunting. Like you get like-minded people
together, like you start collaborating.
You idea to start flowing. It's like, it's hard to beat
like the conversation that camaraderie that you can share
sitting around a campfire. After a hard day in the field is
hard to beat. Oh man, I've told so many people
about the benefits of the key to a brick and what that did for me
whenever I was trekking up and down mountains and just being
able to spend time. Time with you.
In the woods would be amazing. We could.
I mean, who knows? I mean you might guess the woods
on fire with some good ideas. Well shoot me, let's do it right
now. You got me all hungry.
So I'm gonna go defrost tenderloins and sling.
Some arrows. Yeah man, I got some milk
Stakes. Getting ready to cook, too.
So I'm gonna after I shoot some after I shoot in the backyard
with the kids, I'm going to cook up some steaks.
So we're good. Sounds good, man.
Will you enjoy those steaks and keep in touch, brother?
Appreciate it, brother. Take care.