1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:02,680 OK, welcome back everyone to Buying Local. 2 00:00:02,680 --> 00:00:06,280 I'm your host, Mike Nelson from 5 Towers Media, joined today by 3 00:00:06,440 --> 00:00:09,800 Jim Bruschak from I, I mean, I, I can't even say from 'cause you 4 00:00:09,800 --> 00:00:12,520 do many things. I, I guess today we'll talk 5 00:00:12,520 --> 00:00:15,640 about where we're, I'll let you talk about moreover, 'cause I'm 6 00:00:15,640 --> 00:00:17,640 going to mess it up and give a bad description. 7 00:00:17,640 --> 00:00:20,880 So, Jim, if you don't mind, give us an idea of who we are and 8 00:00:20,880 --> 00:00:22,120 where we are right now. Sure. 9 00:00:22,120 --> 00:00:25,000 My name is James Bruschak, author, storyteller, animal 10 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:28,800 tracker, cultural educator, all that kind of stuff. 11 00:00:28,800 --> 00:00:32,720 And right now we're at the Indochina Education Center, 12 00:00:32,720 --> 00:00:35,920 Greenfield Center, where we do pretty much everything that I 13 00:00:35,960 --> 00:00:38,600 do. We run courses here focusing on 14 00:00:38,600 --> 00:00:41,120 things like wilderness survival and animal tracking. 15 00:00:41,560 --> 00:00:44,600 We do school field trips here that focus on Northeastern 16 00:00:44,600 --> 00:00:48,880 native culture as well as group team building survival skills. 17 00:00:48,920 --> 00:00:52,040 We do youth camps here, focusing on all of the above. 18 00:00:52,440 --> 00:00:55,360 We do wilderness first aid classes here, wilderness first 19 00:00:55,360 --> 00:01:00,200 responder, and of course we still do martial arts programs 20 00:01:00,200 --> 00:01:03,400 here as well, everything from Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Jyokshan 21 00:01:03,400 --> 00:01:06,760 karate to Muay Thai. So a lot of things under under 22 00:01:06,760 --> 00:01:08,800 one roof. And of course a lot of 23 00:01:08,800 --> 00:01:12,320 storytelling coming from a family of storytellers as well, 24 00:01:12,320 --> 00:01:15,120 members of the Mohegan Abenaki tribe. 25 00:01:15,120 --> 00:01:18,280 So grew up hearing a lot of stories, learning a lot about 26 00:01:18,280 --> 00:01:21,600 that part of my family. And so this place in document, 27 00:01:21,600 --> 00:01:25,480 which means our land in the Abenaki language, we bring it 28 00:01:25,480 --> 00:01:27,680 all together. We bring all of the arts of life 29 00:01:27,680 --> 00:01:31,240 together, from storytelling, culture, survival skills, 30 00:01:31,480 --> 00:01:34,440 martial arts, all of those things grouped together in the 31 00:01:34,440 --> 00:01:38,280 idea of arts of life, things that all human beings have in 32 00:01:38,280 --> 00:01:40,640 our ancestry if we go back far enough. 33 00:01:40,840 --> 00:01:43,440 If you go back far enough, let me just this equipment it's 34 00:01:43,440 --> 00:01:45,080 been. It's been around the block. 35 00:01:45,080 --> 00:01:46,600 It's been around the block, yeah, as we're. 36 00:01:47,720 --> 00:01:49,240 Well, we are talking about survivals. 37 00:01:49,240 --> 00:01:52,800 That's true survival situations. Things aren't always. 38 00:01:53,440 --> 00:01:55,920 No, and that's, I mean, it's a great segue. 39 00:01:56,000 --> 00:01:58,120 And to be fair, I mean, it's funny because as you're talking 40 00:01:58,120 --> 00:02:00,400 about all the things, I mean, I've had the personal experience 41 00:02:00,400 --> 00:02:02,360 for a lot of that stuff. I've done the wilderness 42 00:02:02,360 --> 00:02:05,040 certification, I've done some of the survival training classes 43 00:02:05,040 --> 00:02:06,840 with you. I've done Jiu jitsu off and on 44 00:02:06,840 --> 00:02:10,560 here for years. I think I've got a, a solo Muay 45 00:02:10,560 --> 00:02:13,160 Thai course under my belt. I hope to get back to that at 46 00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:16,200 some point. And and I think Judo's got to be 47 00:02:16,200 --> 00:02:17,480 on the list too at some point here. 48 00:02:19,400 --> 00:02:20,840 It's just a great place. Thank you. 49 00:02:20,880 --> 00:02:24,640 I mean, you guys do a lot in the community, around the community. 50 00:02:25,200 --> 00:02:27,520 And now, of course, you also have the Alliance Center over at 51 00:02:27,520 --> 00:02:29,320 Wilma. We should probably give a quick 52 00:02:29,320 --> 00:02:32,000 shout out to that. Yeah, you know, kind of like one 53 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:35,120 of the main reasons it's taken me a little while to get back to 54 00:02:35,120 --> 00:02:39,840 our grown up survival classes is our our Jiu jitsu program, All 55 00:02:39,840 --> 00:02:42,440 of our martial arts programs exploded post COVID. 56 00:02:42,680 --> 00:02:46,440 Before COVID, we had a nice size, you know, school, you 57 00:02:46,440 --> 00:02:50,840 know, about 100 students total after so pre COVID, then post 58 00:02:50,840 --> 00:02:54,960 COVID we went over 150 and we're still climbing. 59 00:02:54,960 --> 00:02:58,680 And this facility could only house so much martial arts. 60 00:02:58,680 --> 00:03:00,600 It's in a different part of the building, but it's limited. 61 00:03:00,600 --> 00:03:04,880 And so we took a leap. It was scary 'cause we owned 62 00:03:04,880 --> 00:03:07,680 this facility and we found a great spot in Wilton Mall, 63 00:03:07,680 --> 00:03:11,080 rented out close to 5000 square foot just for our jiu jitsu 64 00:03:11,080 --> 00:03:15,000 program, which is our biggest. And we added another 150 members 65 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:18,960 since we opened there last year. So that's been a great success 66 00:03:18,960 --> 00:03:20,760 and things here continue to grow as well. 67 00:03:21,680 --> 00:03:25,800 But of course, in doing so, making that move allowed for us 68 00:03:25,800 --> 00:03:28,760 to come back and focus more on things we've done here 69 00:03:28,760 --> 00:03:32,720 traditionally, like the survival skills, expanding the camps and 70 00:03:32,720 --> 00:03:34,440 the other programs that we do. Yeah. 71 00:03:34,560 --> 00:03:37,000 And which I'm really excited. I know we're going to be talking 72 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:39,840 a little bit about the survival stuff that you've got coming up. 73 00:03:40,960 --> 00:03:42,760 I think fire building is going to be the first one, right? 74 00:03:42,760 --> 00:03:46,400 So, so, but before we get into talking about the survival 75 00:03:46,400 --> 00:03:49,280 classes that are coming up, I, I feel like we should touch on 76 00:03:49,280 --> 00:03:51,760 your background and what qualifies you right, to be able 77 00:03:51,760 --> 00:03:54,960 to teach these kinds of things. I mean, I know you can walk into 78 00:03:54,960 --> 00:03:58,960 Nadakhana and and see, you know, newspaper clippings of you and 79 00:03:59,120 --> 00:04:01,520 the rest of your family doing some really great cool stuff. 80 00:04:02,720 --> 00:04:04,600 Like I like there's you went to Africa. 81 00:04:05,040 --> 00:04:07,720 Yeah, West Africa. I was actually conceived in West 82 00:04:07,720 --> 00:04:11,200 Africa. Yeah, My dad during the Vietnam 83 00:04:11,200 --> 00:04:15,040 era was part of a government program where teachers would go 84 00:04:15,040 --> 00:04:19,560 to West Africa and basically teach in the English, you know, 85 00:04:20,440 --> 00:04:24,000 leaning countries. And so he was there as a, as a 86 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:26,440 teacher and he also was a track coach. 87 00:04:26,640 --> 00:04:29,080 And so he and my mom lived there. 88 00:04:29,080 --> 00:04:33,120 And I, my mom ended up coming home for me to be born, but I 89 00:04:33,120 --> 00:04:35,000 could have been born in Ghana, West Africa. 90 00:04:35,520 --> 00:04:40,000 And then years later my father and I went back to West Africa, 91 00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:45,360 to Mali, West Africa in in the 90s to do a research project on 92 00:04:45,520 --> 00:04:49,040 the Dagone people in Mali. And that was a fantastic trip 93 00:04:49,040 --> 00:04:51,360 that we did. So yeah, I have had experience 94 00:04:51,360 --> 00:04:54,000 in travel in the places like that, as well as Australia, 95 00:04:55,280 --> 00:04:59,040 parts of Mexico, you know, studying a different indigenous 96 00:04:59,040 --> 00:05:01,560 cultures besides someone here in the northeast. 97 00:05:02,400 --> 00:05:05,680 Now, I mean, obviously, and I, you know, I've said this on 98 00:05:05,680 --> 00:05:08,480 another podcast and not to sound like a fanboy, I think I said 99 00:05:08,480 --> 00:05:10,640 that the last time, but like, I mean, your family's really 100 00:05:10,640 --> 00:05:12,640 interesting. You know, everybody, it's not 101 00:05:12,640 --> 00:05:16,960 like I don't want, you guys don't necessarily have normal 102 00:05:16,960 --> 00:05:18,520 skills. We'll say I shouldn't say 103 00:05:18,520 --> 00:05:19,840 normal. That's like the wrong word. 104 00:05:19,840 --> 00:05:23,680 But it's like you, you, you, you don't necessarily you, you guys 105 00:05:23,680 --> 00:05:27,560 have a ton of skills and they're not common or average skills 106 00:05:27,600 --> 00:05:31,160 like your brother's language skills, your dad and his 107 00:05:31,160 --> 00:05:33,440 experience and all the things that he's done and written 108 00:05:33,440 --> 00:05:35,520 about. And it's just, it's wild to me. 109 00:05:35,680 --> 00:05:40,520 I so like as far as your your training or experience or 110 00:05:40,520 --> 00:05:42,440 getting into all the things that we're going to talk about today, 111 00:05:42,440 --> 00:05:44,720 whether it's tracking or fire building or survival skills. 112 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:48,480 Like how does one was that just that was just a normal Tuesday 113 00:05:48,480 --> 00:05:51,520 with your dad growing up or like so for. 114 00:05:51,520 --> 00:05:53,840 My brother and I, it really started with the stories. 115 00:05:54,840 --> 00:05:58,400 My dad, through A twist of fate, was raised by his grandparents, 116 00:05:59,200 --> 00:06:03,640 Jesse Bowman, who who had a great influence on his life, who 117 00:06:03,640 --> 00:06:08,120 was, although visibly native, was very ashamed of his Native 118 00:06:08,120 --> 00:06:10,000 ancestry. And his grandmother as well had 119 00:06:10,000 --> 00:06:12,840 mixed Native ancestry. But it was in a time when that 120 00:06:12,840 --> 00:06:14,320 wasn't something he would be proud of. 121 00:06:15,360 --> 00:06:18,600 He would, he would basically outright deny it when asked. 122 00:06:19,400 --> 00:06:22,840 And so my dad, because he was raised in such a way and, and, 123 00:06:22,840 --> 00:06:26,640 and learning a lot about the natural world and understanding 124 00:06:27,160 --> 00:06:32,280 connections like that, he really sought out the elders and wanted 125 00:06:32,280 --> 00:06:35,080 to learn things that his, especially his grandfather was 126 00:06:35,080 --> 00:06:39,240 too ashamed to teach him. So in college, he began to 127 00:06:39,240 --> 00:06:41,800 travel around and visit the various elders among the Hutton, 128 00:06:41,800 --> 00:06:46,560 Ozone, Iroquois people, Abenaki people, and gather stories and 129 00:06:46,560 --> 00:06:49,680 traditions and learn more about the things that he wouldn't be 130 00:06:49,680 --> 00:06:52,920 taught. And through that line, we are 131 00:06:53,080 --> 00:06:56,200 both Abenaki. We also have Mohawk ancestry. 132 00:06:56,600 --> 00:07:00,440 We also have Mohican Lenape ancestry, as well as a lot of 133 00:07:00,440 --> 00:07:02,800 Dutch and other European ancestries mixed in. 134 00:07:03,360 --> 00:07:07,920 And so my dad shared the stories with my brother and I first. 135 00:07:07,920 --> 00:07:10,800 So these were stories that connected us to this place, 136 00:07:10,800 --> 00:07:14,560 stories that are from this area, and really got us excited about 137 00:07:14,560 --> 00:07:17,480 learning more about the natural world through those stories. 138 00:07:17,720 --> 00:07:21,160 And my dad, who also had went to Cornell University, had a minor 139 00:07:21,160 --> 00:07:25,880 in zoology. He knew a lot academically about 140 00:07:25,880 --> 00:07:28,880 the natural world as well. So he would take us out in the 141 00:07:28,880 --> 00:07:32,040 woods, teach us things, learn about the various plants and 142 00:07:32,040 --> 00:07:35,640 trees and the animals. And so that was kind of the the 143 00:07:35,640 --> 00:07:39,680 first introduction stories and then physical time in the woods 144 00:07:39,680 --> 00:07:43,560 with her dad. And then in my teenage years, my 145 00:07:43,560 --> 00:07:48,000 dad had an opportunity for both of us to travel to Anchiota, New 146 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:51,640 York, to the Six Nations India Museum, where there's a program 147 00:07:51,640 --> 00:07:54,800 being done by a guy named John Stokes, who had lived for a 148 00:07:54,800 --> 00:07:56,960 number of years with the Aborigines in Australia. 149 00:07:57,560 --> 00:08:00,960 He was coming back to the United States and wanting to connect 150 00:08:01,080 --> 00:08:05,080 with different Native communities and help bring 151 00:08:05,680 --> 00:08:11,600 Native youth back to the natural world, regain a respect for the 152 00:08:11,600 --> 00:08:15,200 traditions, the stories. So of course, my dad was 153 00:08:15,200 --> 00:08:16,520 invited. I was invited, which was 154 00:08:16,520 --> 00:08:19,720 fantastic. And there was a number of Mohawk 155 00:08:19,720 --> 00:08:23,960 and other Native people there. And he really lit a fire in me. 156 00:08:23,960 --> 00:08:27,600 Like he made things that I'd heard from my dad seemed cool 157 00:08:27,600 --> 00:08:29,800 again in my teenage years, you know, and he had this cool 158 00:08:29,800 --> 00:08:35,799 Australian accent and he made stories seem cool because by my 159 00:08:35,799 --> 00:08:38,600 teenage years, my brothers, well, my dad always jokes that 160 00:08:38,799 --> 00:08:41,120 he would come to tell stories. And we started locking our door 161 00:08:41,120 --> 00:08:43,440 because it wasn't cool anymore to hear stories from your dad. 162 00:08:43,440 --> 00:08:45,760 None of the other kids in school were hearing these stories, you 163 00:08:45,760 --> 00:08:49,680 know. So John kind of gave me that, 164 00:08:49,680 --> 00:08:54,040 that that anchor and made me want to learn more about the 165 00:08:54,040 --> 00:08:55,880 things that I was kind of starting to be ashamed of. 166 00:08:55,880 --> 00:08:57,840 You don't want to be different when you get to, you know, 167 00:08:58,040 --> 00:09:01,160 junior high and high school. So he made it seem cool and 168 00:09:01,160 --> 00:09:03,240 eventually, you know, he taught me some new skills. 169 00:09:03,240 --> 00:09:05,320 I actually learned the bow drill fire from John. 170 00:09:06,080 --> 00:09:08,400 My dad got it right away. It took me a number of years to 171 00:09:08,400 --> 00:09:09,960 get it. And the bow drill, that's when 172 00:09:09,960 --> 00:09:12,840 you're literally you got the and you're put the string on a stick 173 00:09:12,840 --> 00:09:13,960 and you're trying to make. Fire. 174 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:16,760 You got it right away, you know, So it took me a few years later 175 00:09:16,760 --> 00:09:19,840 in my teens to finally master it and other skills. 176 00:09:19,840 --> 00:09:21,640 You really made tracking seem cool. 177 00:09:22,040 --> 00:09:24,880 And then he ended up inviting myself and eventually my brother 178 00:09:24,880 --> 00:09:28,520 to work as assistant instructors in New Mexico for a program he 179 00:09:28,520 --> 00:09:33,680 had founded called Hawkeye Training, which was for a mix of 180 00:09:33,760 --> 00:09:37,720 native and non-native youth to learn traditional survival 181 00:09:37,720 --> 00:09:39,600 skills. As well as as I mentioned, the 182 00:09:39,600 --> 00:09:42,520 beginning ideas of the arts of life, storytelling, 183 00:09:42,560 --> 00:09:45,600 understanding the culture and place mixed in with survival 184 00:09:45,600 --> 00:09:51,080 skills and martial arts. So that was really where I kind 185 00:09:51,080 --> 00:09:55,040 of decided this was going to be a part of my life, even when I 186 00:09:55,040 --> 00:09:57,600 was playing away at college, playing football folks. 187 00:09:57,600 --> 00:10:00,680 And I've had a lot of Ethica. Almost every summer I would be 188 00:10:00,680 --> 00:10:03,920 in New Mexico for a few weeks with John Stokes, the tracking 189 00:10:03,920 --> 00:10:07,120 project and and after college that kind of stuck. 190 00:10:08,160 --> 00:10:11,040 And I had an opportunity to travel with my dad to West 191 00:10:11,040 --> 00:10:14,920 Africa to do a part of research project writing about the Dagone 192 00:10:14,920 --> 00:10:17,400 people. And that inspired me even more. 193 00:10:17,720 --> 00:10:19,600 So I decided, you know what, I want to start teaching this 194 00:10:19,600 --> 00:10:22,480 stuff seems cool. And I started out teaching the 195 00:10:22,480 --> 00:10:25,200 survival skills. And people would always ask me, 196 00:10:25,400 --> 00:10:27,400 do you know the stories? I'm like, I know the stories, 197 00:10:27,400 --> 00:10:30,400 but I don't tell them, you know? And eventually sitting around a 198 00:10:30,400 --> 00:10:33,480 campfire at a wilderness survival gathering, I believe in 199 00:10:33,480 --> 00:10:37,800 Georgia, actually, I told the story I knew for my dad and they 200 00:10:37,800 --> 00:10:39,440 liked it. And they asked me if I'd do it 201 00:10:39,640 --> 00:10:42,320 the next night. And I luckily had a copy of one 202 00:10:42,320 --> 00:10:43,920 of my dad's books, The Window Go. 203 00:10:44,520 --> 00:10:47,240 So I had to refresh my memory of some of the other stories. 204 00:10:47,240 --> 00:10:51,600 And by the end of that week, I felt like, well, I can tell 205 00:10:51,600 --> 00:10:54,560 stories. And within a year or two, I was 206 00:10:54,560 --> 00:10:56,920 doing more storytelling than teaching the skills. 207 00:10:56,920 --> 00:11:01,000 But of course, they really go hand in hand and along the along 208 00:11:01,000 --> 00:11:05,000 the way met so many different cool people working for National 209 00:11:05,000 --> 00:11:07,200 Wildlife Federation at their summits in the summer. 210 00:11:07,200 --> 00:11:10,320 I ended up meeting Doctor James Halfpenny, who was probably the 211 00:11:10,320 --> 00:11:12,360 world's foremost scientific tracker. 212 00:11:12,360 --> 00:11:15,000 We've written a few books together on in the Scats and 213 00:11:15,000 --> 00:11:17,920 Tracks series years later after their first introduction. 214 00:11:18,440 --> 00:11:22,240 And he allowed, he kind of opened the door for me to go 215 00:11:22,240 --> 00:11:25,080 learn and play in his backyard, Yellowstone National Park. 216 00:11:25,600 --> 00:11:30,440 And so that connection allowed me to learn about track animals 217 00:11:30,440 --> 00:11:34,200 like wolves, Grizzlies, and and that has continued for three 218 00:11:34,200 --> 00:11:36,200 decades. I've been making trips out there 219 00:11:36,440 --> 00:11:40,360 and was just able to take my 15 year old daughter Ava out there 220 00:11:40,360 --> 00:11:43,080 this year and to experience some of the same things. 221 00:11:43,080 --> 00:11:45,520 There's nothing like getting on the track of a grizzly bear. 222 00:11:45,840 --> 00:11:49,040 I bet and. Knowing how to be safe in that 223 00:11:49,040 --> 00:11:52,280 environment and the only scare? Scare the crap out of me. 224 00:11:52,280 --> 00:11:55,360 Yeah, well, it kind of scared me because I thought my daughter 225 00:11:55,360 --> 00:11:56,680 would be more scared than she was. 226 00:11:56,680 --> 00:11:59,880 But she grew up, you know, hearing me about me going out 227 00:11:59,880 --> 00:12:03,400 there, right? And so I had the problem where 228 00:12:03,400 --> 00:12:04,920 she kept going too far ahead of us. 229 00:12:04,920 --> 00:12:08,400 She refused to wear bear spray. We had bear spray and as well as 230 00:12:08,400 --> 00:12:11,720 a a 357 backup I. Was gonna ask you if you were 231 00:12:11,720 --> 00:12:14,080 armed as well in the. One of the areas not in the 232 00:12:14,080 --> 00:12:16,880 National Park, but we were in the Seeley Lake area. 233 00:12:16,960 --> 00:12:19,560 We were travelling around with actually a good friend, former 234 00:12:19,560 --> 00:12:24,280 student Zach Clothier, who is now an award-winning landscape 235 00:12:24,280 --> 00:12:27,280 photographer and camera trap photographer I love. 236 00:12:27,280 --> 00:12:30,760 Camera trap he. Has phenomenal zachclothier.com 237 00:12:30,840 --> 00:12:32,720 check it out. I think I've actually seen his 238 00:12:32,720 --> 00:12:34,040 stuff. Yeah, there's, there's one. 239 00:12:34,040 --> 00:12:35,800 He won a big award with the bear. 240 00:12:35,800 --> 00:12:37,000 Grizzly bear. Oh my God. 241 00:12:37,000 --> 00:12:38,120 With the elk skull. Yeah. 242 00:12:38,480 --> 00:12:39,320 So. You know that guy? 243 00:12:39,640 --> 00:12:41,880 He's one of he was one of my students years ago. 244 00:12:41,960 --> 00:12:45,520 He went on a Yellowstone trip because for years after I made 245 00:12:45,520 --> 00:12:47,840 this initial connection with Doctor Halfpenny, I started 246 00:12:47,840 --> 00:12:50,840 bringing people from the east out and we would Co teach in 247 00:12:50,840 --> 00:12:52,840 Yellowstone tracking skills. Oh, no kidding. 248 00:12:53,000 --> 00:12:56,720 And Zach went on one of those trips and he loved it so much. 249 00:12:56,720 --> 00:12:58,640 Originally he was an Adirondack photographer. 250 00:12:58,640 --> 00:13:01,560 He ended up moving out there and now he is literally a world 251 00:13:01,560 --> 00:13:04,240 famous photographer. Legitimately, I saw that photo. 252 00:13:04,240 --> 00:13:06,320 I didn't even know camera trapping was a thing. 253 00:13:06,360 --> 00:13:09,720 Yeah, I saw that photo and I went and started buying camera 254 00:13:09,720 --> 00:13:12,040 trap gear so I could set it up because I was like, that is the 255 00:13:12,040 --> 00:13:14,400 most amazing and. He has a thing he wrote, like 256 00:13:14,400 --> 00:13:18,720 the book Yeah, on how to do it. And so we've been out several 257 00:13:18,720 --> 00:13:20,200 times. My partner Leah has been out 258 00:13:20,200 --> 00:13:22,120 with me as well. She had a great time tracking 259 00:13:23,600 --> 00:13:26,600 and so we went out this last year and it was like heaven for 260 00:13:26,640 --> 00:13:28,080 Ava. She grew up in 4 Wheelers and 261 00:13:28,080 --> 00:13:30,160 things like that. So we were 4 Wheeling in Seeley 262 00:13:30,160 --> 00:13:32,400 Lake up in the mountains. She had her own four Wheeler and 263 00:13:32,400 --> 00:13:36,440 visiting these camera traps and so we were in basically where 264 00:13:36,440 --> 00:13:40,280 that famous picture was taken OK of that grizzly on the elk. 265 00:13:40,280 --> 00:13:44,760 We went into that area to retrieve a camera and Ava kept 266 00:13:44,760 --> 00:13:47,160 getting way far ahead of us. So Ava come back. 267 00:13:47,160 --> 00:13:49,600 Well I could see a bear coming so that was a little scary. 268 00:13:49,600 --> 00:13:53,440 Luckily everything worked out OK and we ended up checking some of 269 00:13:53,440 --> 00:13:57,400 the cameras and he has cellular cameras to let him know if it's 270 00:13:57,400 --> 00:14:00,000 worth checking a trap because there you have, you know, dozens 271 00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:01,920 of these expensive traps out there. 272 00:14:02,200 --> 00:14:04,440 It takes a lot of time to visit everyone weekly. 273 00:14:04,440 --> 00:14:07,880 So set up cellular cameras. So we went and checked some of 274 00:14:07,880 --> 00:14:09,640 the traps. We saw a couple mountain lions 275 00:14:09,640 --> 00:14:12,840 and other things. And then we left and we're 276 00:14:12,840 --> 00:14:15,320 driving back because we're now going back to Bozeman with my 277 00:14:15,320 --> 00:14:18,520 friend Greg Ricardo, who also worked at the Tracking Project. 278 00:14:19,200 --> 00:14:21,240 And I get a call from Zach. He goes, you won't believe what 279 00:14:21,240 --> 00:14:22,920 I just picked up on the side of the camera. 280 00:14:23,720 --> 00:14:26,640 I go, what? Within an hour of us leaving, 281 00:14:26,680 --> 00:14:31,560 that same exact grizzly bear that is in that picture went by 282 00:14:31,560 --> 00:14:33,880 the camera that we had just been at. 283 00:14:34,160 --> 00:14:36,200 Wow. So it was probably in the 284 00:14:36,200 --> 00:14:39,440 vicinity while my daughter was walking a little too far ahead. 285 00:14:40,560 --> 00:14:43,400 And so that was a pretty cool experience and and still didn't 286 00:14:43,400 --> 00:14:45,840 freak her out. And later on, he also had 287 00:14:45,840 --> 00:14:49,720 pictures of three mountain lions on that Cam, actually on a 288 00:14:49,720 --> 00:14:53,600 nearby camera all together. Probably related. 289 00:14:53,600 --> 00:14:55,760 Yeah. So just really, really cool 290 00:14:55,760 --> 00:14:58,600 stuff. Well, and let me just stop it 291 00:14:58,600 --> 00:15:01,120 real quick just to explain to anybody wondering what a camera 292 00:15:01,120 --> 00:15:04,080 trap is. Essentially you take a digital 293 00:15:04,080 --> 00:15:07,680 camera like a Sony A600 or whatever it is and a motion 294 00:15:07,680 --> 00:15:11,440 sensor that triggers the camera when it goes off. 295 00:15:11,520 --> 00:15:14,200 And so he what he does is he puts these things out in the 296 00:15:14,200 --> 00:15:18,120 woods in areas that he thinks will have traffic and 297 00:15:18,640 --> 00:15:20,920 essentially just is able to get these photos. 298 00:15:20,920 --> 00:15:24,360 And the photo that James is talking about is like this wild 299 00:15:24,360 --> 00:15:28,160 grizzly that I don't know if it killed the elk or if it came 300 00:15:28,160 --> 00:15:32,040 across the elk carcass, but Zach just happened to have a camera 301 00:15:32,040 --> 00:15:34,240 trap on this thing. And you got to look it up. 302 00:15:34,480 --> 00:15:36,680 It is an amazing photo. And. 303 00:15:36,800 --> 00:15:39,360 He uses tracking to scalp the areas. 304 00:15:39,400 --> 00:15:43,240 He's familiar with the areas he also uses drones to look above 305 00:15:43,240 --> 00:15:45,400 at different. He understands topography and 306 00:15:45,400 --> 00:15:48,600 where animals might go. So we've we've had some fun with 307 00:15:48,600 --> 00:15:51,120 him over the years. I visited multiple visited him 308 00:15:51,120 --> 00:15:54,080 multiple times while out there and every time we go to his 309 00:15:54,080 --> 00:15:57,240 camera traps, there's there's something cool that we catch. 310 00:15:57,240 --> 00:16:00,400 So the neat thing is when I travel to be able to connect 311 00:16:00,400 --> 00:16:04,320 with people that you know that actually in some cases started 312 00:16:04,320 --> 00:16:06,640 here like Zach. So that's really cool. 313 00:16:06,640 --> 00:16:09,160 So I I will be out there again hopefully later this year. 314 00:16:09,160 --> 00:16:11,520 Amazing. Well, and and Leah got to go out 315 00:16:11,720 --> 00:16:15,320 three years prior and just outside of Yellowstone got to 316 00:16:15,320 --> 00:16:19,840 watch a huge boar grizzly bear in in a field basically 317 00:16:19,840 --> 00:16:21,200 fattening up. Just getting, yeah. 318 00:16:22,160 --> 00:16:24,000 So cool, that was great. And if you know how to act 319 00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:25,680 around these animals, you're fine. 320 00:16:25,720 --> 00:16:29,680 Well, that's what I don't get afraid in the woods at all. 321 00:16:30,280 --> 00:16:33,800 But bears do worry me. And, and like even up here where 322 00:16:33,800 --> 00:16:36,520 I mean Spire Falls is where we're all kind of living on 323 00:16:36,520 --> 00:16:37,880 Spire Falls mountain, so to speak. 324 00:16:37,880 --> 00:16:42,040 And there's a huge bear population, Black Bear I. 325 00:16:42,040 --> 00:16:45,640 Believe and black bears in general will are are pretty 326 00:16:45,640 --> 00:16:47,000 skittish. I've never seen that if. 327 00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:49,400 You make a lot of noise, they're usually gonna go the other way. 328 00:16:49,480 --> 00:16:52,600 The most dangerous animal is the one that's used to human beings 329 00:16:53,160 --> 00:16:55,200 if they've been fed by human beings per SE. 330 00:16:55,200 --> 00:16:58,200 And of course, in the national parks years ago, Yellowstone was 331 00:16:58,200 --> 00:17:00,400 one of the big examples where they used to allow you to to 332 00:17:00,760 --> 00:17:02,680 feed the bears. That's when they had the most 333 00:17:02,680 --> 00:17:06,079 attacks. So a bear in the wild generally 334 00:17:06,079 --> 00:17:08,960 will try to avoid a human being. So one of the things we teach 335 00:17:08,960 --> 00:17:11,280 people to do is make a lot of noise, especially in grizzly 336 00:17:11,280 --> 00:17:13,720 country, unless let them know you're coming. 337 00:17:13,760 --> 00:17:15,720 And most of the time they go the other way. 338 00:17:15,720 --> 00:17:17,760 I have. I have luckily never had a bad 339 00:17:17,760 --> 00:17:20,160 experience yet. We've had it where we did scare 340 00:17:20,160 --> 00:17:22,760 bears off by making noise and we had other times where the bears 341 00:17:22,760 --> 00:17:26,400 stayed safe distance, knew we were there, and then we were 342 00:17:26,400 --> 00:17:29,240 fine. So learning that healthy respect 343 00:17:29,240 --> 00:17:32,920 and most of the time at at at most we would carry a just bear 344 00:17:32,920 --> 00:17:36,240 spray, which actually is a better choice because if you 345 00:17:36,240 --> 00:17:38,720 wound a bear, it can become more dangerous. 346 00:17:38,720 --> 00:17:40,360 Oh no. Kidding, but having my daughter 347 00:17:40,360 --> 00:17:42,960 with me, it was more like, well if the bear spray doesn't work, 348 00:17:44,000 --> 00:17:45,400 it's always. Good to do what you got to do 349 00:17:45,400 --> 00:17:47,080 another. Option, but not in the National. 350 00:17:47,080 --> 00:17:48,640 Park but not they don't allow it. 351 00:17:49,080 --> 00:17:50,320 They do now. They do now. 352 00:17:50,640 --> 00:17:53,080 But I've never carried it in there, so just it's. 353 00:17:53,360 --> 00:17:55,840 I knew a guy that I knew him for a brief time. 354 00:17:56,560 --> 00:17:59,640 He dated a friend of mine, but he was a guy down in Alaska like 355 00:17:59,640 --> 00:18:02,280 a fishing guy. And he like bears left, right 356 00:18:02,280 --> 00:18:04,840 and center. And they're just on either 357 00:18:04,840 --> 00:18:07,240 walking through streams where there's bears all over the 358 00:18:07,280 --> 00:18:09,880 place, brown bears and they're or they're on these little 359 00:18:09,880 --> 00:18:11,600 boats. And I'm like, I mean, you're 360 00:18:11,600 --> 00:18:13,320 like worried. He's like, I'm like, are you 361 00:18:13,400 --> 00:18:14,640 armed? He's like, Nah, they don't 362 00:18:14,640 --> 00:18:15,760 bother. You brown bear. 363 00:18:15,760 --> 00:18:18,040 I mean, grizzly bears are a type of brown bear. 364 00:18:18,040 --> 00:18:21,080 Brown bears in general are more social because they're around a 365 00:18:21,080 --> 00:18:23,080 lot of other brown bears, which is plenty of food. 366 00:18:23,520 --> 00:18:26,600 Grizzly bears live in areas where food can be a little more 367 00:18:26,600 --> 00:18:28,560 scarce. They're more solitary. 368 00:18:28,560 --> 00:18:31,360 They're smaller, luckily, but they are the most aggressive 369 00:18:31,600 --> 00:18:33,560 because of that. You know, they, they protect 370 00:18:33,560 --> 00:18:35,640 their food and they protect the young. 371 00:18:35,640 --> 00:18:39,680 Brown bears on average are safer bear to be around the the brown 372 00:18:39,680 --> 00:18:44,040 bears proper versus grizzly which is a sub subset of brown 373 00:18:44,040 --> 00:18:45,160 bear. Pretty wild. 374 00:18:45,320 --> 00:18:46,920 Yeah, that's cool stuff. So. 375 00:18:46,920 --> 00:18:47,680 It is. It's. 376 00:18:47,920 --> 00:18:50,960 Really need to be able to pass on the knowledge to the next 377 00:18:50,960 --> 00:18:53,280 generation and of course I've been doing that with our kids 378 00:18:53,280 --> 00:18:55,920 here for years. But from the tracking to the 379 00:18:55,920 --> 00:19:00,480 survival skills and we've just had some really cool alumni come 380 00:19:00,480 --> 00:19:03,480 out of here. Some some go into wildlife 381 00:19:03,480 --> 00:19:05,800 fields. We have a few that have gone 382 00:19:05,800 --> 00:19:09,520 into Special Forces armed Rangers and Green Berets and 383 00:19:09,520 --> 00:19:13,440 things like that, that, you know, got a foundation here and 384 00:19:13,440 --> 00:19:16,320 they wanted to take it to another level in, in, in their 385 00:19:16,320 --> 00:19:18,960 professional life. So that's been really cool to to 386 00:19:18,960 --> 00:19:20,840 watch that. And then we have people that 387 00:19:20,840 --> 00:19:23,280 have become, you know, robotics engineers and all these other 388 00:19:23,280 --> 00:19:27,520 cool things, but gained their foundation here through our 389 00:19:27,520 --> 00:19:31,200 programs, whether it be our youth camps or whether it be our 390 00:19:31,200 --> 00:19:33,200 skills classes. Yeah, such as you. 391 00:19:33,840 --> 00:19:38,240 I listen, I, it's really funny because I, well, first of all, 392 00:19:38,240 --> 00:19:42,000 I, I live not far away and for, just for reference, we, we live 393 00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:45,400 on a farm and we've got, I don't know, like 45 acres, right? 394 00:19:45,920 --> 00:19:49,360 And a lot of it's wooded. And then that woods butts up 395 00:19:49,360 --> 00:19:51,720 against, I don't even know, hundreds of acres of other 396 00:19:51,720 --> 00:19:53,560 woods, right. So you can go out in our back 397 00:19:53,560 --> 00:19:56,160 and get kind of remote, we'll say. 398 00:19:56,960 --> 00:19:58,720 And it's one of my favorite things. 399 00:19:58,720 --> 00:20:00,840 Like right now, I really was just thinking this yesterday 400 00:20:00,840 --> 00:20:02,680 because now we're a few days after a snowstorm. 401 00:20:02,680 --> 00:20:05,560 I'm like, and the animals have now I'm like, I got to get out 402 00:20:05,560 --> 00:20:07,720 of the woods and start seeing what I can see out there to see 403 00:20:07,720 --> 00:20:10,880 what we got crawling around, see where the deer trails are, see 404 00:20:10,880 --> 00:20:13,440 how many coyotes and foxes. And but even just around my 405 00:20:13,440 --> 00:20:16,400 barn, because I send you every winter, I send you pictures 406 00:20:16,400 --> 00:20:18,920 because I'll find. I'll find tracks around the 407 00:20:18,920 --> 00:20:22,000 barn, then I'm worried about livestock and like and because 408 00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:25,000 of the the tracking class that we took like I can identify the 409 00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:27,560 difference between a a cat track and a dog track. 410 00:20:27,560 --> 00:20:29,680 Watch out for the weasel and. The weasel. 411 00:20:29,680 --> 00:20:31,200 Yeah, the. Dog tracks, especially the 412 00:20:31,200 --> 00:20:33,280 weasel, though more even more so than the fox. 413 00:20:33,280 --> 00:20:34,360 Those. Fisher yeah. 414 00:20:34,360 --> 00:20:36,800 Fisher Oh, man. But like, I, I think it was two 415 00:20:36,800 --> 00:20:40,880 or three years ago, I went out and found what looked like 416 00:20:41,800 --> 00:20:46,360 coyote tracks, like they were running through my, around where 417 00:20:46,360 --> 00:20:49,320 the animals were like, thank God, they're all in pens and 418 00:20:49,320 --> 00:20:51,480 like secure. But like you could see the 419 00:20:51,480 --> 00:20:53,600 tracks all around this thing. I was like, holy, I'm going to 420 00:20:53,600 --> 00:20:54,800 have to start standing and watch. 421 00:20:54,800 --> 00:20:58,520 But, but I do. And not just the tracking class, 422 00:20:58,520 --> 00:21:02,200 but the, all the, you know, the wilderness first aid, like all 423 00:21:02,200 --> 00:21:04,480 those classes I've taken here have been amazing. 424 00:21:04,960 --> 00:21:07,080 And I use those skills everyday. And that was one of the things I 425 00:21:07,080 --> 00:21:09,360 know we're gonna talk about the, the line up and the classes. 426 00:21:09,360 --> 00:21:11,440 And that's the other thing, though, is trying to help people 427 00:21:11,800 --> 00:21:14,600 understand, like, how valuable these classes are in everyday 428 00:21:14,600 --> 00:21:17,840 life, not just in a survival scenario. 429 00:21:17,840 --> 00:21:21,520 And you won't. When you take even a basic class 430 00:21:21,840 --> 00:21:25,680 and you pay attention and you obtain those skills, you look at 431 00:21:25,680 --> 00:21:29,000 the world in a different way. Someone does my fire making 432 00:21:29,000 --> 00:21:33,360 class, they're never going to look at cat tails or or 433 00:21:33,440 --> 00:21:35,240 different types of Birch or different. 434 00:21:35,240 --> 00:21:38,760 Types of Grapevine or Grapevine? Yeah, and and they're gonna look 435 00:21:38,760 --> 00:21:41,000 at it in a different way. Yeah, and they're gonna find 436 00:21:41,000 --> 00:21:43,880 themselves gathering as they're going along while they're hiking 437 00:21:43,880 --> 00:21:45,480 cause hey, maybe you're gonna need this. 438 00:21:45,480 --> 00:21:47,440 I don't throw out all my drying lint anymore. 439 00:21:47,440 --> 00:21:50,840 Yeah, exactly. Famous voicemail show that we 440 00:21:50,840 --> 00:21:53,400 learned to understand how that works too, all the way up to how 441 00:21:53,400 --> 00:21:57,360 to substitute those things with, with things in nature and tracks 442 00:21:57,360 --> 00:21:59,880 too, man, once you get in the tracks like you're doing sending 443 00:21:59,880 --> 00:22:01,880 me pictures and I have lots of friends that send me I bet. 444 00:22:01,880 --> 00:22:03,920 And once in a while it's something, something pretty 445 00:22:04,040 --> 00:22:07,560 cool, pretty cool. And so I always have a fun time 446 00:22:07,560 --> 00:22:10,720 looking at them and, and, and if you ever send me a track, make 447 00:22:10,720 --> 00:22:13,720 sure to give me a scale so I know how big it is, whether it 448 00:22:13,720 --> 00:22:16,240 be your hand or ruler. I love getting a cat track and 449 00:22:16,240 --> 00:22:18,760 someone asks if it's a cougar and there's no scale, right. 450 00:22:18,840 --> 00:22:21,720 It's a cat for sure. There's no scale. 451 00:22:21,720 --> 00:22:23,680 I need to know what what size it is. 452 00:22:23,680 --> 00:22:26,800 So a ruler's ideal or something that I can, yeah, cell phone, 453 00:22:26,800 --> 00:22:29,120 whatever. Yeah, cell phone, some of them, 454 00:22:29,200 --> 00:22:31,560 of course. Size reference how you? 455 00:22:31,640 --> 00:22:36,720 Can take the picture with so so as we talked about, you know, 456 00:22:37,800 --> 00:22:41,320 martial arts was gone so like gangbusters. 457 00:22:41,320 --> 00:22:44,000 So it kind of pulled away from some of the classes and skills 458 00:22:44,000 --> 00:22:45,360 development things that you're doing here. 459 00:22:45,440 --> 00:22:49,720 So many tournaments and just, you know, from my own training 460 00:22:49,720 --> 00:22:52,040 to, you know, I'll focus on my students training. 461 00:22:52,040 --> 00:22:55,400 Saturdays, we're doing a Sunday survival class series because 462 00:22:55,400 --> 00:22:58,280 our Saturdays are just jammed right now. 463 00:22:58,280 --> 00:23:01,080 And those classes are at the mall with the jiu jitsu program 464 00:23:01,080 --> 00:23:04,920 and they are because we have over 100 people come through on 465 00:23:04,920 --> 00:23:06,240 that day. Listen, I remember. 466 00:23:06,240 --> 00:23:09,120 Kids and grown. Ups before you guys got the will 467 00:23:09,120 --> 00:23:11,320 and location like I this place where. 468 00:23:11,320 --> 00:23:14,400 The park you couldn't park not. Only that though, it was like 469 00:23:14,400 --> 00:23:17,000 you would come in for a class. It was like an assembly line. 470 00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:19,120 It was like one class in, one class out, one class in. 471 00:23:19,120 --> 00:23:21,480 Because we would, I would come in for a class, there'd be a 472 00:23:21,480 --> 00:23:23,600 class leaving. As I was leaving my class, 473 00:23:23,600 --> 00:23:26,760 there's another class coming in and there's multiple. 474 00:23:27,440 --> 00:23:29,200 Classrooms. So it's like, you know, we first 475 00:23:29,200 --> 00:23:30,880 started with a little renovation, you know, we 476 00:23:30,880 --> 00:23:34,800 expanded our, our, our what was our track room into another 477 00:23:34,800 --> 00:23:38,160 room, which is a storage room, which gave us another 800 square 478 00:23:38,160 --> 00:23:40,400 foot of training. And we thought that was enough. 479 00:23:41,120 --> 00:23:45,640 And at that point we also had for, for during, at the end of 480 00:23:45,640 --> 00:23:49,360 COVID, we had cutting edge, now rising Phoenix Taekwondo. 481 00:23:49,360 --> 00:23:52,000 They were renting this rumor right in here because they lost 482 00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:53,920 their beautiful facility during COVID. 483 00:23:54,360 --> 00:23:57,560 So we rented out to them. So it got to a point then we're 484 00:23:57,560 --> 00:24:00,160 like guys, hopefully find a new spot soon. 485 00:24:00,160 --> 00:24:02,240 And they did. And then we thought we're fine. 486 00:24:02,480 --> 00:24:05,840 Within a couple weeks of them moving out of here, the lot 487 00:24:05,840 --> 00:24:09,440 filled right back up again. And that's when we realized we 488 00:24:09,440 --> 00:24:11,160 needed to start looking at another place. 489 00:24:11,160 --> 00:24:12,600 And we looked all over the place. 490 00:24:12,600 --> 00:24:15,000 We were looking at West End, but a lot of these places were in 491 00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:17,120 bad shape. They're really expensive for 492 00:24:17,120 --> 00:24:20,200 what you get, and I think it was Steve, Steve Zabala. 493 00:24:20,240 --> 00:24:21,800 No, it was me. Was it you? 494 00:24:21,840 --> 00:24:24,160 It was you. And Steve backed you. 495 00:24:24,280 --> 00:24:26,160 Both of you. Steve and I have actually been 496 00:24:26,160 --> 00:24:29,520 going back and forth to this. He, he, he says it's, it was his 497 00:24:29,520 --> 00:24:30,920 idea. And I'm like, no man, it was my 498 00:24:30,920 --> 00:24:33,280 idea. 'Cause you had checked it out. 499 00:24:33,360 --> 00:24:35,600 'Cause I was also looking for space for my office. 500 00:24:35,600 --> 00:24:37,080 Yeah. And I was like, you should check 501 00:24:37,080 --> 00:24:39,680 out the whip mom. Like their spaces for what 502 00:24:39,680 --> 00:24:42,200 you're looking for is so affordable? 503 00:24:42,400 --> 00:24:45,960 Yes, yeah, it was just under about $10 a square. 504 00:24:45,960 --> 00:24:47,280 Foot yeah. Shake that, Steve. 505 00:24:47,440 --> 00:24:50,480 Yeah, which you cannot touched that close to downtown. 506 00:24:51,000 --> 00:24:53,600 And I checked out several space there, spaces there. 507 00:24:53,600 --> 00:24:55,920 And I walked into one. I was like, man, this looks a 508 00:24:55,920 --> 00:24:58,720 lot like the Marcelo Garcia School in New York City, which 509 00:24:58,720 --> 00:25:01,840 my brother and I trained a lot at around the black boat years. 510 00:25:02,480 --> 00:25:04,320 And I was like, man, we could not afford this. 511 00:25:04,320 --> 00:25:06,680 And then they gave us the price. I'm like, man, it was cheaper 512 00:25:06,680 --> 00:25:09,800 than some of those places on West Ave. that weren't very good 513 00:25:10,000 --> 00:25:13,040 and was bigger. So we saved a lot of money on 514 00:25:13,040 --> 00:25:15,280 rent. We did spend more on mats and 515 00:25:15,280 --> 00:25:18,600 fixing the place up. But we are, you know, we have 516 00:25:18,680 --> 00:25:21,600 definitely cleared our expenses in the last year and the school 517 00:25:21,600 --> 00:25:24,840 continues to grow. And if you're interested in Jiu 518 00:25:24,840 --> 00:25:27,640 jitsu, we have up till December 15th. 519 00:25:27,640 --> 00:25:30,000 We may extend it. If you sign up, you get a 520 00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:31,920 freaky. So we have a cool little plug 521 00:25:31,920 --> 00:25:33,720 and of course we have our awesome programs here at 522 00:25:33,720 --> 00:25:35,760 Andakina. We have our Muay Thai programs, 523 00:25:35,760 --> 00:25:39,640 Kyoksha, karate, judo, and we do do some jiu jitsu still here, 524 00:25:39,640 --> 00:25:42,560 and the majority of it, except for the kids because they like 525 00:25:42,560 --> 00:25:45,400 to go back and forth between Muay Thai and Jiu jitsu, the 526 00:25:45,400 --> 00:25:48,480 majority of our adult jiu jitsu and a lot of our kids is at 527 00:25:48,480 --> 00:25:49,640 Wilton Mall. Love it. 528 00:25:49,880 --> 00:25:50,880 Yeah. So it's going great. 529 00:25:51,080 --> 00:25:54,520 So now that it's going great, you're stepping back into skills 530 00:25:54,520 --> 00:25:56,800 development. It's, it's been, you know, I've 531 00:25:56,800 --> 00:26:00,680 been wanting to, but I also get hired privately to do skills 532 00:26:00,680 --> 00:26:02,000 programs. So it's not that I haven't 533 00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:03,680 stopped doing them. It's just you get hired to go 534 00:26:03,680 --> 00:26:06,280 somewhere else and do it to a group and that always pays a 535 00:26:06,280 --> 00:26:07,760 little more too. But I'm like, you know what, we 536 00:26:07,760 --> 00:26:09,920 need to continue those skills here. 537 00:26:09,920 --> 00:26:13,840 People kept asking for them. So we decided to bring it back 538 00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:18,440 with these 3/3 and 1/2 hour courses where we take. 539 00:26:18,440 --> 00:26:21,600 You've done the full day courses or multiple day courses where we 540 00:26:21,600 --> 00:26:23,680 do a lot of things in a day. I love that. 541 00:26:23,680 --> 00:26:27,120 I love walking through the woods and you kind of learn based on 542 00:26:27,120 --> 00:26:29,160 what we find. I have a set idea of what you're 543 00:26:29,160 --> 00:26:30,720 going to learn. Definitely going to learn fire. 544 00:26:30,720 --> 00:26:34,440 Definitely learn some tracks, but when you key in on 545 00:26:34,440 --> 00:26:36,840 particular subjects, you can focus on them a little more. 546 00:26:37,280 --> 00:26:40,240 So we're kicking off at the Survival series where I take 547 00:26:40,240 --> 00:26:42,720 really a little more time than I would spend in a day on each 548 00:26:42,720 --> 00:26:48,200 subject in a shorter segment hyper focused on fire making. 549 00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:51,360 And the fire making we focus on in this first class at the end 550 00:26:51,360 --> 00:26:55,360 of January is key things you should know. 551 00:26:55,560 --> 00:26:57,640 You know you're not right away going to learn how to make a 552 00:26:57,640 --> 00:26:59,960 fire with friction, although at the end of the class people get 553 00:26:59,960 --> 00:27:01,960 a chance to try. It try do some bow stuff. 554 00:27:02,040 --> 00:27:04,480 At the end, they will do a group bow drill, so and they will get 555 00:27:04,480 --> 00:27:06,240 a coal and then we'll see how it works. 556 00:27:06,360 --> 00:27:08,840 But as a teenager, once again, I was younger and I wasn't very 557 00:27:08,840 --> 00:27:10,800 patient back then. It took me a long time to master 558 00:27:10,800 --> 00:27:11,160 that. Yeah. 559 00:27:11,600 --> 00:27:13,640 So we're going to start with, you know, something more 560 00:27:13,640 --> 00:27:17,480 obtainable like how to use one of these fire rods, right, to 561 00:27:17,480 --> 00:27:20,200 make fire. And what have you just said 562 00:27:20,200 --> 00:27:23,480 this, What have you just had matches, preferably waterproof 563 00:27:23,480 --> 00:27:27,880 matches, maybe not. What could you find in nature in 564 00:27:27,880 --> 00:27:32,520 all different weather conditions to have that ignite? 565 00:27:32,720 --> 00:27:35,160 OK, 'cause you might not have a high tech Tinder with you. 566 00:27:35,160 --> 00:27:39,360 Maybe you just have the striker. So what types of materials 567 00:27:39,560 --> 00:27:43,600 should you gather in the wild to make a fire and also what things 568 00:27:43,600 --> 00:27:47,280 should you take with you? And that's where it's really 569 00:27:47,280 --> 00:27:50,720 that's the focus and fire this time of year is is if not the IT 570 00:27:50,720 --> 00:27:53,920 depends on the situation, but it can be the most important skill. 571 00:27:54,200 --> 00:27:55,280 Yeah. So I. 572 00:27:55,720 --> 00:27:58,160 Mean like your car breaks down. Yeah, exactly. 573 00:27:58,160 --> 00:27:59,200 You're out in the middle of nowhere. 574 00:27:59,400 --> 00:28:01,560 Like what are you going to do exactly? 575 00:28:01,560 --> 00:28:02,880 And your car can only keep you so. 576 00:28:02,880 --> 00:28:05,400 Warm for so long that temperature drops. 577 00:28:05,600 --> 00:28:09,280 Many, many situations where if you have the ability to make 578 00:28:09,280 --> 00:28:11,600 fire, it could be the difference between life and death. 579 00:28:11,600 --> 00:28:14,120 And there's lots of situations like that in the Adirondacks. 580 00:28:14,680 --> 00:28:17,160 And so how to gather things safely, how to gather things 581 00:28:17,160 --> 00:28:19,240 legally. You know, Birch trees are one of 582 00:28:19,240 --> 00:28:21,800 the best things to gather from, but it's illegal in the park to 583 00:28:21,800 --> 00:28:23,400 gather from a live tree. But guess what? 584 00:28:23,400 --> 00:28:25,240 If it's a survival situation, right? 585 00:28:25,240 --> 00:28:27,400 And you're going to die, tickets burn too. 586 00:28:29,040 --> 00:28:32,800 So we also talked about that. There's, there's funny stories, 587 00:28:33,240 --> 00:28:37,440 survival stories locally, a few years ago, a kid, probably 20 588 00:28:37,440 --> 00:28:40,840 years ago, a kid was lost in the vast Skidmore woods where you 589 00:28:40,840 --> 00:28:42,800 can hear people in trains. But we won't get into that. 590 00:28:43,480 --> 00:28:44,920 But they learned one thing about survival. 591 00:28:44,920 --> 00:28:47,680 Stay where you are. So they stayed where they were 592 00:28:48,040 --> 00:28:50,040 for several days. They heard people, they heard 593 00:28:50,040 --> 00:28:51,600 trains. They stayed where they were. 594 00:28:51,840 --> 00:28:54,160 They had a lighter, but they didn't want to catch the woods 595 00:28:54,160 --> 00:28:56,640 on fire. Luckily, someone eventually 596 00:28:56,640 --> 00:28:59,240 walked close enough to them and they were rescued. 597 00:28:59,720 --> 00:29:02,800 So we get into kind of like, OK, you probably should have used 598 00:29:02,800 --> 00:29:06,800 that lighter. OK, if you hear people trains, 599 00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:09,320 that's a situation where you don't stay where you are. 600 00:29:09,320 --> 00:29:12,880 Staying where you are is great if people are going to come look 601 00:29:12,880 --> 00:29:15,480 for you. But I think it's there's some 602 00:29:15,480 --> 00:29:18,440 common sense in survival too. So we get into that kind of 603 00:29:18,440 --> 00:29:21,160 stuff in all our classes. There's exceptions to every 604 00:29:21,160 --> 00:29:24,160 rule, you know, and even in survival, you know, people 605 00:29:24,200 --> 00:29:26,200 emphasize shelter, fire, water, food, right? 606 00:29:26,840 --> 00:29:29,480 Really depends on the situation. And of course, shoot, if you're 607 00:29:29,480 --> 00:29:32,680 injured or have a medical condition, first aid, medicine, 608 00:29:32,680 --> 00:29:34,720 that's going to be the first thing in certain situations. 609 00:29:34,720 --> 00:29:39,120 But in the winter time, fire and shelter are going to be right up 610 00:29:39,120 --> 00:29:42,280 there top always gonna need to consider water, always gonna 611 00:29:42,280 --> 00:29:45,160 need to consider food, situational skills like first 612 00:29:45,160 --> 00:29:47,720 aid or of course, navigation, which is going to be another one 613 00:29:47,720 --> 00:29:50,440 of our Suntree series. Both how to use a compass to how 614 00:29:50,440 --> 00:29:54,120 to use the sun, how to use the stars, how to use the trees, how 615 00:29:54,120 --> 00:29:58,080 to use pretty much well dozens of things in the natural world 616 00:29:58,080 --> 00:30:00,240 that help you find your way beyond a compass. 617 00:30:00,240 --> 00:30:02,200 Which again not common knowledge these. 618 00:30:02,240 --> 00:30:04,720 Days no and everything bought Agps. 619 00:30:04,720 --> 00:30:07,120 How many people do you think could actually like out of 10 620 00:30:07,120 --> 00:30:09,560 people, how many people do you think could actually Orient 621 00:30:09,560 --> 00:30:12,800 themselves with an actual map? I've known people that are 40 622 00:30:12,800 --> 00:30:16,080 Sixers that don't know how to use a map and compass that's 623 00:30:16,080 --> 00:30:18,280 wild. Or they they came to a class to 624 00:30:18,280 --> 00:30:20,280 learn it to do a couple of the bushwhack ones. 625 00:30:20,680 --> 00:30:23,200 So there are a lot of people that spend time in the woods 626 00:30:23,200 --> 00:30:26,800 that don't even know how to use a compass, which is probably the 627 00:30:26,800 --> 00:30:30,080 most basic skill, much less learning how to read the natural 628 00:30:30,080 --> 00:30:32,920 world to know which directions which or even really know which 629 00:30:32,920 --> 00:30:35,840 direction they're going. So I think anybody that spends 630 00:30:35,840 --> 00:30:39,880 time in the outdoors should have us some skills. 631 00:30:39,960 --> 00:30:42,480 Yeah, I agree at least. Basically, and I get we all got 632 00:30:42,480 --> 00:30:45,440 phones and there's GPSS but technology fails. 633 00:30:45,640 --> 00:30:47,400 It does fail. And then what are you going to 634 00:30:47,400 --> 00:30:48,440 do? You're out in the middle of 635 00:30:48,440 --> 00:30:51,000 somewhere and your GPS. And I think they'll rescue you 636 00:30:51,000 --> 00:30:53,800 once for free, but I remember. They charged you after that? 637 00:30:54,240 --> 00:30:56,640 I think it was in the Adirondacks, but where a guy got 638 00:30:56,640 --> 00:30:59,640 rescued, bushwhack and whatever, cool. 639 00:30:59,680 --> 00:31:01,920 Like 3-4 weeks later he gets rescued again. 640 00:31:01,920 --> 00:31:05,160 He got a big bill. So this guy was just going out 641 00:31:05,160 --> 00:31:08,920 and putting himself in bad situations, which, of course, 642 00:31:08,920 --> 00:31:12,280 some of these survival shows, they've gotten better and now 643 00:31:12,280 --> 00:31:16,000 they're showing real skills. But you know, that idea of being 644 00:31:16,000 --> 00:31:20,760 in danger, sometimes people latch on to that idea but need 645 00:31:20,760 --> 00:31:24,240 to understand you should still have some skills when you put 646 00:31:24,240 --> 00:31:26,120 yourself in some kind of danger. Yeah. 647 00:31:26,360 --> 00:31:29,840 And so the Sunday Survival series focuses a lot on that. 648 00:31:29,840 --> 00:31:32,320 So we're starting with fire being in the winter time, you 649 00:31:32,320 --> 00:31:33,720 know, get this fire started, right? 650 00:31:33,720 --> 00:31:35,360 Ha, ha, ha. Leah told me she'd kill me if I 651 00:31:35,360 --> 00:31:38,800 said that. So yeah, so start out with 652 00:31:38,800 --> 00:31:41,600 something on fire where people have always have been cold in 653 00:31:41,600 --> 00:31:43,840 the winter time, you know, even in their own house when the 654 00:31:43,840 --> 00:31:45,880 propane runs out. Happens here at Indocheno once 655 00:31:45,880 --> 00:31:50,040 in a while, so start with that. And even though we're going to 656 00:31:50,040 --> 00:31:52,760 do it in the winter time, the same skills will work any time 657 00:31:52,760 --> 00:31:54,080 of year. Well, and it's got to be harder 658 00:31:54,080 --> 00:31:55,120 in the. Winter, yeah, that's why we 659 00:31:55,120 --> 00:31:57,360 wanted to do it in the winter time and it's a time when people 660 00:31:57,360 --> 00:32:00,400 think about staying warm. So we're going to really focus 661 00:32:00,400 --> 00:32:04,440 on key skills I think anybody should have around fire making 662 00:32:04,600 --> 00:32:07,160 and a teaser to a primitive method like the bow drill, which 663 00:32:07,160 --> 00:32:09,680 we will offer another course later in the year. 664 00:32:09,760 --> 00:32:13,760 Yeah, I haven't taken that yet. Yeah, making your own primitive 665 00:32:13,760 --> 00:32:15,760 fire kit and making a coal in it. 666 00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:18,760 So they'll be teased with it during the class and, and the 667 00:32:18,760 --> 00:32:22,920 tracking class the next month, we'll focus on, you know, key 668 00:32:22,920 --> 00:32:26,480 tracks that you might see in your backyard, you might see on 669 00:32:26,480 --> 00:32:28,240 a hike. And and that's going to be a 670 00:32:28,240 --> 00:32:31,800 little more of a recreational kind of focus, like it's just 671 00:32:31,800 --> 00:32:34,280 expanding your horizons to the natural world. 672 00:32:34,760 --> 00:32:39,400 But understanding tracks is a lot like understanding other 673 00:32:39,400 --> 00:32:41,760 things in nature, how to classify things, how to figure 674 00:32:41,760 --> 00:32:43,760 out the difference, how to identify different trees. 675 00:32:44,000 --> 00:32:47,360 It's, it's a survival skill. And of course, if you go back, 676 00:32:47,360 --> 00:32:51,880 well, still nowadays as well, But all of us in our ancestry 677 00:32:52,280 --> 00:32:54,840 had it where you know, some animals you want to track, they 678 00:32:54,840 --> 00:32:57,360 could help you find a meal in a survival situation. 679 00:32:57,360 --> 00:32:59,880 Other animals in certain parts of the world or even in the 680 00:32:59,880 --> 00:33:02,320 United States, you track the wrong animal at the wrong time, 681 00:33:02,480 --> 00:33:04,800 right? Instead of finding a meal, you 682 00:33:04,800 --> 00:33:06,400 could be a male. You could be a male, yeah. 683 00:33:07,280 --> 00:33:10,000 Especially for younger people. Maybe go the opposite direction 684 00:33:10,000 --> 00:33:12,000 on those and and. Believe me, when I've been out 685 00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:15,120 West and I find a nice fresh Mama grizzly bear track and a 686 00:33:15,120 --> 00:33:19,080 nice fresh cub track and it's going that way, I may not go 687 00:33:19,080 --> 00:33:20,240 that way. So why? 688 00:33:20,280 --> 00:33:23,840 You know, so that even nowadays tracking can keep you out of 689 00:33:23,840 --> 00:33:24,720 trouble. Yeah. 690 00:33:25,040 --> 00:33:28,040 I remember Explore a new world. What's the track that you have 691 00:33:28,040 --> 00:33:29,960 there? This is a wolf track. 692 00:33:29,960 --> 00:33:30,720 A wolf track? Yeah. 693 00:33:30,720 --> 00:33:34,160 This is a Western wolf, so a little bigger than our Algonquin 694 00:33:34,240 --> 00:33:37,520 Eastern wolf and you have the symmetrical toes, 4 toes in the 695 00:33:37,520 --> 00:33:41,400 track claws, triangular shaped heel pad and pretty much the 696 00:33:41,400 --> 00:33:44,040 same on both sides. Very close, although there is a 697 00:33:44,040 --> 00:33:45,880 lead toe. And that one up there? 698 00:33:45,920 --> 00:33:48,600 That is a grizzly. Bear, which is about the size of 699 00:33:48,600 --> 00:33:50,440 a small pizza. Yeah, and that isn't even a 700 00:33:50,440 --> 00:33:52,920 really big one, but that's a nice one with nice claws on it. 701 00:33:52,920 --> 00:33:56,880 So that one is from Yellowstone. So I have thousands of plaster 702 00:33:56,880 --> 00:34:00,120 casts of various tracks. So during the track class we go 703 00:34:00,120 --> 00:34:02,600 through a number of these of all different sizes. 704 00:34:03,520 --> 00:34:07,000 How do I identify the various family groups orders and the 705 00:34:07,000 --> 00:34:10,080 differences between them? The bear ones are wild because I 706 00:34:10,080 --> 00:34:12,960 remember, because that's what I was thinking about the plaster 707 00:34:12,960 --> 00:34:17,440 cast that you have and like some of the bear ones are like, you 708 00:34:17,440 --> 00:34:21,239 could see like the claws, the whole thing, the size of that 709 00:34:21,239 --> 00:34:22,600 thing. And it's like, wow, if that 710 00:34:22,600 --> 00:34:25,199 thing hit you, like you're going to be banged up. 711 00:34:25,320 --> 00:34:27,760 Exactly. And that's where you certainly 712 00:34:27,760 --> 00:34:31,159 like and one of the things we teach when you're trying to, 713 00:34:31,159 --> 00:34:33,120 when you're out West trying to tell the difference between a 714 00:34:33,120 --> 00:34:36,280 black bear track and a grizzly track. 715 00:34:36,560 --> 00:34:39,080 The claws is one thing because Grizzlies will have longer 716 00:34:39,080 --> 00:34:42,760 claws, but they dig all year, so their claws will start to be 717 00:34:42,760 --> 00:34:45,040 shorter by the fall time. So we also look at the actual 718 00:34:45,040 --> 00:34:47,480 shape of the track as well. So, but it's pretty easy to 719 00:34:47,480 --> 00:34:49,920 understand in our Western tracking classes. 720 00:34:49,960 --> 00:34:52,520 It's important to tell the difference between the two, I 721 00:34:52,520 --> 00:34:54,520 bet. Yeah, there's a number of 722 00:34:54,520 --> 00:34:56,760 different things you look at. Black bears. 723 00:34:56,760 --> 00:34:58,760 Nice grizzly bears. Willy G Yeah. 724 00:34:59,160 --> 00:35:03,480 Exactly. So we've got fire building in 725 00:35:03,480 --> 00:35:06,400 January, then we've got tracking in February. 726 00:35:06,400 --> 00:35:08,400 Exactly. So yeah, dates to remind myself. 727 00:35:08,400 --> 00:35:12,960 January 25th the Sunday 11:00 AM to 2:30. 728 00:35:12,960 --> 00:35:15,280 We have to take a little 30 minute break for lunch will be 729 00:35:15,280 --> 00:35:17,360 the fire making class. You doing those here? 730 00:35:17,480 --> 00:35:19,720 Yes, so we're going to do them right here in the backwoods. 731 00:35:19,760 --> 00:35:21,720 Nice. So we will start, everyone will 732 00:35:21,720 --> 00:35:23,600 start in here. We'll do some classroom work. 733 00:35:23,600 --> 00:35:26,400 Even with the fire making, have a bunch of stuff laid out on a 734 00:35:26,400 --> 00:35:29,360 table, examples of different types of Tinder and kindling and 735 00:35:29,680 --> 00:35:31,320 fire. Even high tech things you could 736 00:35:31,320 --> 00:35:34,280 buy and talk about them. Even practice a little bit with 737 00:35:34,280 --> 00:35:36,560 the steel rods because not everybody knows how to use it. 738 00:35:36,560 --> 00:35:39,120 If it's a really cold day, as you know from survival tracks, 739 00:35:39,120 --> 00:35:41,800 your hands are, you know, so I want you at least have a chance 740 00:35:41,800 --> 00:35:44,240 to understand the skill. And then we're going to go out 741 00:35:44,240 --> 00:35:48,080 of the woods after our short little lunch and try it out. 742 00:35:48,320 --> 00:35:50,880 Nice fire in multiple ways. Have the people gather the 743 00:35:50,880 --> 00:35:54,040 materials they need to do it. And the same with the tracking 744 00:35:54,040 --> 00:35:57,480 class, which is going to be on February 22nd, same time, 11:00 745 00:35:57,480 --> 00:35:59,640 to 2:30. We're going to be in here, have 746 00:35:59,640 --> 00:36:02,720 some plaster casts set out. Talk about the footprints, talk 747 00:36:02,720 --> 00:36:05,680 about the gait patterns, talk about the scat, the other thing 748 00:36:05,680 --> 00:36:09,280 animals do behind so key clues that could help them identify 749 00:36:09,280 --> 00:36:11,360 tracks. And then we'll go out in the 750 00:36:11,360 --> 00:36:14,440 woods and look for some. So a little classroom study and 751 00:36:14,440 --> 00:36:15,640 then field study. Nice. 752 00:36:16,280 --> 00:36:18,280 So I think it's always worked the best, especially in the 753 00:36:18,280 --> 00:36:20,800 winter time because there's nothing worse than sitting 754 00:36:20,800 --> 00:36:24,280 around and having me talk, you know, for 30-40 minutes you're 755 00:36:24,280 --> 00:36:26,600 standing still and it's, you know, 10° below 0. 756 00:36:27,000 --> 00:36:31,160 So I try to get past that part inside and then we go out and 757 00:36:31,160 --> 00:36:32,880 we're move and we're really doing the skills. 758 00:36:33,360 --> 00:36:35,840 I'd like to say we maybe we could hope for warmer weather, 759 00:36:35,840 --> 00:36:37,600 but I. Know it's good to have a. 760 00:36:37,600 --> 00:36:39,800 Cold we, we are well, it's, it's wild, right? 761 00:36:39,800 --> 00:36:44,200 Because last year I don't think we saw a single below freeze 762 00:36:44,280 --> 00:36:47,280 below 0 temperature. And now we hear our first week 763 00:36:47,280 --> 00:36:50,040 of December, we got negative. It was -1 the other day and I 764 00:36:50,040 --> 00:36:52,400 was going out to feed the pigs. I'm like what is this? 765 00:36:52,400 --> 00:36:54,320 Yeah, and we might be getting more snow this week. 766 00:36:54,320 --> 00:36:58,000 And I fly out to Vegas on Wednesday for the Nogi worlds 767 00:36:58,000 --> 00:36:59,880 and I'm like, I'm the snow plow guy here too. 768 00:36:59,880 --> 00:37:02,520 Oh yeah. Don kind of knows how to use it, 769 00:37:02,520 --> 00:37:04,640 but there's a little power steering issue right now, so 770 00:37:05,160 --> 00:37:06,720 hopefully he can handle it. But. 771 00:37:08,520 --> 00:37:12,240 So January, February and then still picking dates for 772 00:37:12,240 --> 00:37:14,280 navigation and. Other classes we've decided we 773 00:37:14,280 --> 00:37:16,360 clump 2. By the time we get up to the 774 00:37:16,360 --> 00:37:18,720 first class we will have the next two figures. 775 00:37:18,720 --> 00:37:21,280 Nice. And a lot of it depends on my 776 00:37:21,280 --> 00:37:25,000 schedule, my working around jiu jitsu tournaments and and other 777 00:37:25,000 --> 00:37:26,040 travel. Yeah, yeah. 778 00:37:26,120 --> 00:37:29,240 That I have and, and it's pretty busy this weekend. 779 00:37:29,840 --> 00:37:32,760 One of our top guys, Kyle, who just won the NOGI Pan American 780 00:37:32,760 --> 00:37:37,240 Championships at Blue in September, he's heading out, 781 00:37:37,240 --> 00:37:40,720 he's the number one seed in the NOGI Worlds in Vegas and. 782 00:37:40,720 --> 00:37:43,240 Is he really? He's #1 so nasty. 783 00:37:43,240 --> 00:37:48,640 So and I told him I won the pans as a brown belt 11 years ago and 784 00:37:48,640 --> 00:37:52,040 haven't done a big nogi event since. 785 00:37:52,040 --> 00:37:55,880 I've been a black belt, which I got my black belt 2015, so I 786 00:37:55,880 --> 00:37:58,160 said I'm gonna compete too, so I'm throwing my hat. 787 00:37:58,160 --> 00:38:00,440 In. Going against other other old 788 00:38:00,440 --> 00:38:03,160 guys, mostly instructors, so it's fun. 789 00:38:03,160 --> 00:38:06,680 So we will both be competing this Saturday and the Nogi 790 00:38:06,680 --> 00:38:09,120 world's flying out a little early to get acclimated so. 791 00:38:09,520 --> 00:38:11,480 Yeah, I'm excited for Kyle. He's a good dude. 792 00:38:11,480 --> 00:38:14,080 And he, I remember when he started a few years ago and I 793 00:38:14,080 --> 00:38:17,120 remember him saying like talk, I can't remember who he was 794 00:38:17,120 --> 00:38:18,640 talking about. He's talking about some pro jiu 795 00:38:18,640 --> 00:38:20,720 jitsu guy. And he's like, I'm going to be 796 00:38:20,720 --> 00:38:22,640 like that dude. And I was like, yeah, yeah, 797 00:38:22,680 --> 00:38:23,520 whatever, dude. Like. 798 00:38:23,840 --> 00:38:27,040 No, he was a former Long Island wrestler and and not all 799 00:38:27,280 --> 00:38:29,920 wrestling is a great pace, but not all wrestlers make the 800 00:38:29,920 --> 00:38:34,160 transition as quickly as he did. This guy was Kyle was mostly a 801 00:38:34,160 --> 00:38:38,560 guy for the first year, didn't do that much, no key, but within 802 00:38:38,560 --> 00:38:41,920 a year she got his blue belt within a year, which is fast for 803 00:38:41,920 --> 00:38:47,040 a competitor, and he went right out and won triple gold at the 804 00:38:47,040 --> 00:38:49,600 New Jersey IBGHF, New Jersey International Open. 805 00:38:49,960 --> 00:38:53,720 He won his ghee division lightweight and then the next he 806 00:38:53,720 --> 00:38:56,560 hit day, he had no key. He won the no key and then he 807 00:38:56,560 --> 00:38:59,720 went into the open class, which is where all weight class 808 00:38:59,720 --> 00:39:02,560 winners can go against it. He he, he submitted a super 809 00:39:02,560 --> 00:39:04,840 heavyweight. This guy's like 160 lbs. 810 00:39:04,840 --> 00:39:06,520 He submitted a guy well over 200. 811 00:39:06,960 --> 00:39:11,120 Listen, the day that I tested for my blue belt I did the noon 812 00:39:11,120 --> 00:39:15,400 class later on that day he was like A1 stripe white and tapped 813 00:39:15,400 --> 00:39:18,200 me out with an Ezekiel joke. He's been doing jiu jitsu for 814 00:39:18,200 --> 00:39:19,960 like 2 months. He he got it. 815 00:39:19,960 --> 00:39:21,880 Like I said, he picked it up very quickly. 816 00:39:21,920 --> 00:39:25,880 Yeah, and wrestling is a great base, but sometimes it takes a 817 00:39:25,880 --> 00:39:29,120 while to make that transition and he just instant. 818 00:39:29,120 --> 00:39:32,400 Oh yeah, and he's. For being a geek and he prefers 819 00:39:32,440 --> 00:39:36,160 Gee, but now he's #3 in the world right now and #1 going 820 00:39:36,160 --> 00:39:38,600 into the world's number one guy competing in it. 821 00:39:39,240 --> 00:39:41,600 And so he's pretty pumped. So it'd be fun. 822 00:39:41,600 --> 00:39:44,840 I I go off before him so I can get my matches out of the way 823 00:39:45,160 --> 00:39:46,920 and then I get to coach him and. Focus on coaching. 824 00:39:46,920 --> 00:39:48,720 Him, yeah, which is really what I'm going for. 825 00:39:48,840 --> 00:39:50,800 But hey, if I'm there, I might as well. 826 00:39:50,800 --> 00:39:51,960 Might as well get a match to get. 827 00:39:51,960 --> 00:39:54,240 On that podium too. Well, Congrats to Kyle. 828 00:39:54,880 --> 00:39:57,320 That's awesome. So if you want to learn more 829 00:39:57,320 --> 00:39:59,400 about survival courses, maybe they want to sign up or they're 830 00:39:59,400 --> 00:40:00,560 just looking For more information. 831 00:40:00,560 --> 00:40:04,360 Now where can they find that? Go to indakinacenter.org. 832 00:40:04,680 --> 00:40:12,520 Really easy spelling. Yeah, NDAKINNA center CENTE, 833 00:40:12,520 --> 00:40:15,600 r.org and dokinacenter.org. Perfect. 834 00:40:15,600 --> 00:40:17,040 And we also have an Instagram too. 835 00:40:17,040 --> 00:40:19,600 If you just look up and Dokina, you will find it. 836 00:40:20,080 --> 00:40:24,040 And of course our Jiu jitsu program, Saratoga jiujitsu.com. 837 00:40:24,160 --> 00:40:25,920 We made it a hard one. Exactly. 838 00:40:25,920 --> 00:40:28,160 And our our Muay Thai and other programs here. 839 00:40:28,240 --> 00:40:31,080 We're creating a new website for Saratoga Elite MA. 840 00:40:31,080 --> 00:40:32,920 But for now it's still our old website. 841 00:40:32,920 --> 00:40:38,520 Before we made the split, which is NEBJ ja.com and M jja.com. 842 00:40:38,520 --> 00:40:40,640 But a new website is coming. I keep saying that we're doing a 843 00:40:40,640 --> 00:40:43,040 photo shoot within the hour to fill in the gaps. 844 00:40:43,080 --> 00:40:44,920 Nice. Some more Muay Thai photos for a 845 00:40:44,920 --> 00:40:45,600 website. So love it. 846 00:40:46,440 --> 00:40:50,960 Well, thank you for having me come over and sit down the top 847 00:40:50,960 --> 00:40:51,760 man, I really. Appreciate it. 848 00:40:51,760 --> 00:40:54,560 Good to be on with you. And one time and I know, yeah, 849 00:40:54,560 --> 00:40:56,320 Steve's a good talker. You had Don on. 850 00:40:56,640 --> 00:40:58,000 I know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 851 00:40:58,280 --> 00:41:00,480 This is this is what your third appearance? 852 00:41:00,480 --> 00:41:02,680 4th. Second or third, something like 853 00:41:02,680 --> 00:41:04,760 that, yeah, it's focus on on different things you're. 854 00:41:04,760 --> 00:41:06,480 Regular at this point, you know. It's great. 855 00:41:06,480 --> 00:41:08,920 Let's get my brother on speaking the speaking the language. 856 00:41:08,920 --> 00:41:11,240 I know, I know, I do need to get Jesse on. 857 00:41:11,240 --> 00:41:13,720 Runs the School of the Abenaki at Middlebury. 858 00:41:13,720 --> 00:41:15,960 Yeah. So yeah, he's again and. 859 00:41:16,080 --> 00:41:18,280 He's a black belt in jiu jitsu too, just like my dad. 860 00:41:18,760 --> 00:41:21,120 And Kyokshen. Too, He is not Kyokshen, but he 861 00:41:21,120 --> 00:41:23,920 is very solid third degree Blackbone Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. 862 00:41:24,360 --> 00:41:26,840 Yeah, he did some Taekwondo back in the day. 863 00:41:26,880 --> 00:41:30,480 And wait time you were more the Kyokushen. 7th degree Blackbone 864 00:41:30,600 --> 00:41:33,000 Kyokshan Karate. Every time I run into Nino, 865 00:41:33,120 --> 00:41:37,000 yeah, Over at North Country, he, he's like, you know, he brings 866 00:41:37,000 --> 00:41:38,680 you up. He's like, tell Jim, I said I. 867 00:41:39,240 --> 00:41:41,720 That's that's where I said that used to be the biggest, baddest 868 00:41:41,720 --> 00:41:44,560 style in the on the block, you know, before Brazilian Jiu Jitsu 869 00:41:44,600 --> 00:41:47,120 came into the scene. But it still is a very solid 870 00:41:47,120 --> 00:41:48,840 style. A lot of our Muay Thai fighters 871 00:41:48,840 --> 00:41:52,600 also train in Kyokshan, especially one of our kids that 872 00:41:52,720 --> 00:41:55,520 just won the Muay Thai World Championships. 873 00:41:56,400 --> 00:41:58,360 He also has a brown belt in Kyochen. 874 00:41:58,600 --> 00:42:00,680 Oh, does he really? He's like 10 years old, right? 875 00:42:01,360 --> 00:42:02,360 He's 12 years. Old. 876 00:42:02,360 --> 00:42:04,480 He's 12 years old. He's a little kid, David. 877 00:42:04,680 --> 00:42:07,480 Snyder He's also took second in the States in wrestling last 878 00:42:07,560 --> 00:42:09,240 year. As I say, he's a badass in jiu 879 00:42:09,240 --> 00:42:12,200 jitsu. Won a few IBJF opens. 880 00:42:12,840 --> 00:42:14,440 Kids a beast. He's a little weapon. 881 00:42:14,440 --> 00:42:16,440 So he also has a kyochen brown belt. 882 00:42:16,640 --> 00:42:18,160 Nice. Cool mix here. 883 00:42:18,560 --> 00:42:21,000 Yeah, it is. Thanks for coming on, Jim. 884 00:42:21,000 --> 00:42:22,640 Appreciate it. Thanks everybody for listening. 885 00:42:22,640 --> 00:42:25,280 Of course, you can hear from us every week. 886 00:42:25,760 --> 00:42:29,160 Find us on buying local dot US of course, is our website with 887 00:42:29,160 --> 00:42:32,200 all of our local news articles for Warren Washington, Saratoga 888 00:42:32,200 --> 00:42:34,520 County. You can find our podcast on 889 00:42:34,520 --> 00:42:36,760 Apple, Spotify, rumble and YouTube. 890 00:42:36,920 --> 00:42:39,960 Make sure you hit subscribe like 5 star review all those good 891 00:42:39,960 --> 00:42:41,160 things. We really appreciate it. 892 00:42:41,240 --> 00:42:43,040 Six star review. Six stars. 893 00:42:43,560 --> 00:42:44,760 Throw a six star in there, buddy.