Bugle: How did you get into hunting?
Easton: I grew up in Florida, and there is a lot of deer hunting down there. Actually it’s funny. My dad or my grandpa—none of them ever hunted. So it’s just something I kind of picked up. Of course, I had my cousin, he hunted. So I’d go with him.

Bugle: That happens to many young people these days. Their parents aren’t into hunting but they want to get into it. Do you have any advice on how to start if you come from a nonhunting family?
Easton: Just get around people who really have experience and know what they’re doing. Like anything else you have to just watch and learn. It’s a skill that takes years to develop and get good at. I think of my cousin: he’s been hunting all of his life and things kind of come second nature to him.

Bugle: Hunting seems to have found you. How does that compare to how you got into music?
Easton: There’s a lot of great people out there. As far as singing and performing, it’s about getting out there and doing as much as you can, and it becomes second nature.

Bugle: Who are your heroes?
Easton: I love Merle Haggard, Keith Whitley and George Jones. I love traditional music. That’s what I grew up on. That’s my biggest influence.

Bugle: How did they shape what you’re doing now?
Easton: Their style of singing, the emotion they put in their songs and the instrumental styles of the music—all those things are pieces of the puzzle.

Bugle: So what’s the difference between the feeling you get when you get a good song in your head, coming up with some good lines, and going on a good hunt?
Easton: I don’t know that there is much of a difference—they’re both a rush. You come up with an idea and get excited about it. It’s like “All right! This is going to be a great song.” It’s not really different than when you get on the trail of something.

Bugle: So you’re going to get your new album out there in time to go hunting?
Easton: Oh absolutely.

Bugle: Traveling and playing music sounds like a dream job, but I’m sure there are times it gets old.
Easton: I’m very blessed to be able to go out and do what I love for a living. But it’s like anything else, there are certain aspects that are tougher than others.

Bugle: It looks like music will always be here, but holding on to elk country takes some work. What are your ideas about conservation?
Easton: I’ve gotten to go out and enjoy and experience the outdoors. And I think it should be preserved so future generations can enjoy the same thing, so there are healthy elk populations—not just for hunting—but for the ecosystem.

Bugle: How did you get your conservation beliefs?
Easton: It’s all about being ethical out there and teaching sportsmanship and good conduct and passing that down. It’s not only about hunting. It teaches life lessons, it teaches about responsibility and about being a good citizen.

Bugle: What experiences have you had with Elk Foundation volunteers so far?
Easton: Oh man, great people. I had on an Elk Foundation jacket when I was down home and one fellow asked, “Are you a member of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation?” It was just really cool because it really hit home. We’re everywhere.

Bugle: I think everyone is going to want to know: a bow and a guitar are both stringed instruments, which one is harder to use?
Easton: Heck, I don’t know. That bow is pretty tough—I’ll tell you what. When you get the fever out there, and one of those bull elk steps out on you, it gets pretty tough. You start second guessing yourself.

Bugle: So where do you feel more pressure, when you step on stage or when you’re out there looking at a bull at 30 yards?
Easton: Oh man, it’s both. It’s a rush. Both of them.

Bugle: You’ve dedicated a lot of your life to elk. Why?
Charlie: There’s something real special about elk. They’re the king of the deer family, and they’re just a magnificent animal. When they bugle there is something really special about that.

Bugle: Just what is Team Elk? Who’s on it?
Charlie: Team Elk, as far as I’m concerned, is anybody who belongs to the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. The RMEF is more like a family than any other organization I’ve ever been associated with. There’s no A squad or B squad on Team Elk. We’re all A squad.

Bugle: How important are the volunteers?
Charlie: The Elk Foundation wouldn’t exist without the volunteers. That’s the short of it. They’re the driving force. They raise a lot of the money. Their passion and commitment is unparalleled in any organization I can think of. They’re just a special group of people.

Bugle: Currently, the Elk Foundation has more than 180,000 members, and recently surpassed 6 million acres conserved. Is that what you and the other three founders pictured when you started the Elk Foundation 28 years ago?
Charlie: Ha. I don’t think we had a picture. We had a vision. We could see we were at a crossroads with subdivision, development and destruction of habitat. Nobody else was there speaking up for elk. There was Ducks Unlimited, and the Wild Sheep Foundation, but the elk is a special animal and nobody seemed to be doing anything with or for them. We just felt this was something that needed to be done. And fortunately, we had good timing and the right people.

Bugle: You mentioned subdivision as a challenge in the beginning. What are the big challenges now?
Charlie: There’s only so much habitat out there, and the world population is 7 billion or some ridiculous thing. On this old planet we’ve got to have room for everything, and if somebody doesn’t set aside a little bit or take care of a little bit for the wildlife, they’re going to get squeezed out. So subdivision is still a big concern as far as habitat is going. And we live in a time where there are going to be huge land transfers. As the older generations, especially from the ranching community, pass on, their heirs are faced with a real dilemma of having to subdivide just to pay the inheritance tax. It’s a real critical time when we can step up to the plate and protect a little of that. We’re here to give those folks the option of putting their land in a conservation easement. We’re here for them to talk about their options.

Bugle: So how have things changed since the first years of the Elk Foundation, and what were those first years like?
Charlie: It was starvation time. We were dying of thirst. It was tough. It would have been easy to give up in the first two years because there was no money—just money going out. We weren’t getting the membership.

You know you have an idea and you think it’s a great idea, but most people don’t want to bet on a horse that ain’t a winner. So they all sit on the sidelines waiting to see what’s going to happen. In the meantime, we were sitting there with our hands out like somebody on the corner playing a guitar with a tin cup, hoping someone would throw something in it.

Bugle: Even with the Elk Foundation as big as it is today, how do you get people to throw something in the cup?
Charlie: I was back East last year in Asheville, North Carolina. I was surprised how many people still haven’t heard of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. I think we’re getting our name out there, but there are so many other interests and nonprofits out there that everybody is vying for the same dollars. We’ve just got to tell a better story and toot our own horn a little more.

Bugle: So at the end of the day, what’s your favorite thing about being a member?
Charlie: For me it’s the people—the volunteers and the members. They’re just great salt of the Earth people. And we’ve got a great staff. I can’t say enough about how hard these folks work for the Elk Foundation.

Bugle: What are some of the places the Elk Foundation has been able to protect that stick with you the most?
Charlie: I think of the Thompson-Fisher conservation easement with Plum Creek. It’s 140,000 acres just right out my back door. It will go down as a landmark deal. Robb Creek always comes to mind, because that was our first one. But every one of them is important.

Bugle: How did you get into hunting?
Johnny: I grew up in a little town of 1,500 people in the foothills of northern California. I was only a year old when my dad was killed racing at Indianapolis back in 1959, so basically my mom raised my brother and me. When I was 8, I got my first .22 rifle. I always loved being outside, and I always loved shooting. Mom put me in touch with some friends who hunted, and I went with them. I shot my first deer when I was 13.

Bugle: Who took you out on the hunt when you got your first deer?
Johnny: I was with a friend, and it was just the two of us. I’ll never forget it. I had a shoulder injury, so my arm was in a sling. And how they hunted deer in northern California at that time was they got all these guys and they lined up and made drives through the brush. They’d have people set up at the perimeter so when the deer came out they might get a shot at them. The deer came right to us. I put my rifle up on a fence post, because I couldn’t hold the gun up, and shot a nice blacktailed deer. It was pretty cool.

Bugle: What’s it like to grow up in a famous racing family? Did you just know you were going to race cars?
Johnny: No, I didn’t, because my mom raised my brother and me away from racing. I didn’t get into racing until I was in high school. It was toward the end of high school and beginning of college when I decided that was what I wanted to do. My mom wanted my brother and me to get our college education. Once we did that, she supported [my racing] knowing that I always had an education to fall back on. So I started my racing career a little later.

Bugle: How have your ideas about conservation changed over the years since you first started hunting?
Johnny: Well, when I first started hunting I didn’t really care about it or think much about it, to be honest. That was a long time ago, and there were lots of places to hunt. But as I’ve grown older, conservation has made a big difference to me. We need to try hard to preserve habitat for all wildlife, and especially for elk.

Bugle: How did you start elk hunting?
Johnny: I first hunted elk on my uncles’ ranches in New Mexico. I would go out there when I was in high school every year. I just really fell in love with it. I’ve lived in Idaho the last 30 years and have elk hunted ever since.

Bugle: What’s the allure of elk hunting for you?
Johnny: A lot of it is being able to hike in the mountains, outside in the middle of nature. Oftentimes I get out there and hike an hour or two before daylight. I try to be at the top of a mountain or at least a ridge. I think the most special time for me is when the sun first starts to come up in the morning and daylight first starts to shine. If you can be into elk at that time and watch them as it starts to get light and hear them bugle—to me, there’s no experience like that. It’s just like a little piece of heaven.

Bugle: Moving forward, what do you think conservation groups should be doing?
Johnny: They have to lobby, and they have to have people in the right places. And they have to raise money. Buying a membership to the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation is huge. That $35 is money well spent. Hunters are not afraid to buy a new rifle, a new bow, or a new pair of boots. I think every hunter, every hunter, everybody who gets out there in the woods for any reason, ought to support the hunter’s cause of their choice—be it ducks, elk or deer.

Bugle: How long have you wanted to hunt elk?
Taylor: For years I begged Dad to take me. I just wanted to go out there and ride horses and pack elk out, just to go up in the mountains with him. But we never got the chance to go.

Bugle: Was your dad a big elk hunter?
Taylor: He loved elk hunting. He went out to New Mexico a lot with friends of ours. They would ride horses up to the top of the mountain and then they would stay there for weeks. I wanted to do that so much. I thought that sounded like the best thing in the world.

Bugle: What’s your first hunting memory?
Taylor: It was sitting in the stand when Dad would go hunting. I would get to go and watch and look through the binoculars. I spent a lot of years doing that before he even let me start shooting. I always liked being outside, so I would always follow him and be like “whatcha doin?” Of course, part of me was just trying to get out of cleaning my room.

Bugle: Tell me how you’re promoting conservation?
Taylor: We’re doing the Dale Earnhardt Land and Wildlife Legacy with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. It’s really a good opportunity to merge a different group of people into the Elk Foundation from NASCAR and people involved in racing. I think it will help open their eyes to conservation of elk and other animals. It’s a good combination.

Bugle: So what was it like to hunt elk in Montana? It sounded like things weren’t looking good until the last day.
Taylor: You always try to stay positive, because even if you don’t kill anything you’re always having a good time. You’re out there. You’re seeing them. I’m out where I love to be. I love being outside in nature and seeing all these wonderful animals. I’ve learned elk are extremely hard to sneak up on. In Montana, I was hip deep in snow and sagebrush, trying to climb up hills and get up on top of ridges in 50-mile-per-hour winds.

Bugle: Did you ever give the show’s co-host Brandon Bates a hard time?
Taylor: I gave him a hard time all week. There was always something to give him a hard time about. Twice on that show he tried to take a shot, and he didn’t have a bullet in his gun. So it just goes to show: We girls, we prepare for the hunt. We’re ready.

Bugle: Do you see any barriers for women in a sport that has traditionally been a guys’ thing?
Taylor: I think it’s definitely more mental than anything else. There is still the guys’ mentality that they are better outdoorsmen and they can shoot better and go up bigger mountains. But I think we’re getting to where more women are hunting and there are more on TV. We’re getting the word out that you can do whatever you want. All you have to do is go and do it.

Bugle: What are the major differences between elk hunting and the other hunting you’ve done?
Taylor: Endurance. You have to have it to follow these elk up and down mountains and through ridges and valleys. I had never done any spotting and stalking except on turkey hunts. This was a completely different experience. I was not prepared for it exercise-wise, but I pushed through it, and we made it happen.

Bugle: On the show you mentioned you learned a lot of lessons from your dad out in the field and that you apply them to life beyond hunting. What is one of those lessons?
Taylor: First, you need to be respectful of nature and all it has to offer. You know you’re not going out to just kill an animal. You’re going out to feed your family and preserve a species. You have to be respectful of what’s out there. You take that and apply it to life. You’ve got to be respectful to everyone around you, even if they’re not respectful to you. That’s a big thing that Dad
taught me.

Bugle: So are you applying his passion for conservation to your work with the Elk Foundation?
Taylor: Absolutely. I got the passion from Dad just for being outdoors. Everything from riding horses to hunting to farming to just being outside fishing and enjoying being there. And you can’t do that if you waste nature’s gifts. You have to conserve them, and that’s what we’re trying to do.

Bugle: Over the years, what has been your favorite hunt so far?
Walt: Probably the best time I had was when I took both my sons and my grandson up in Alberta. We spent a week up there in a cabin, hunting horseback in some big canyons. Being with my family, my boys and grandson was great. That’s the best part of hunting for me, the fellowship. It’s not about killing something. It was the hunt that was fun. My grandson got a big mule deer, but I didn’t even fire a shot.

Bugle: During your NFL days, how did you balance hunting, rodeo and football?
Walt: Hunting season and football season kind of clashed, but I didn’t go hunting during the season other than quail or dove hunting on a Monday. We didn’t go deer hunting until after the season.

Bugle: Did you ever skip out on a practice or a game to go hunting?
Walt: Ha. No. Never thought about it. Coach Landry, I mean you just can’t go. We had Mondays off and that was the only time we got to hunt during the season. That was it because the other six days you had a game or you were working out. So you had one day to do whatever. I don’t think anybody who ever played for Coach Landry even thought about missing a practice to go hunting.

Bugle: How did you get into hunting?
Walt: Well, I grew up in Lewisville, Texas, a town of about 2,000 people and never did go deer hunting; we couldn’t afford it. But we hunted quail and dove and rabbits. The first time I ever went deer hunting I was a freshman in college. I liked this girl and her father and brother took me down to south Texas.

Bugle: How did that go?
Walt: It was good. All three of us got a buck. Mine was an eight-point, not a real big eight-point, but for me it was a trophy.

Bugle: How did you adopt your hunting ethic?
Walt: My daddy instilled that in me. He said, “If you ain’t gonna eat it, why in the hell would you kill it?” He shot stuff to eat. He liked venison, and he loved elk. My grandson Case went hunting with him and me. It was the last day of the season and we saw a nice little eight-point. I said, “If you want to take that buck now go ahead.” He said, “You know, Grandpa, that’s a nice deer but just think how big he’ll be next year.” He wouldn’t shoot him, and I was proud of him.

Bugle: Most of us know the excitement of a good hunt but how does that compare to winning a Super Bowl.
Walt: Anytime there’s skill involved in any sport, if it doesn’t get a guy’s adrenaline pumping a little bit, he’s dead. If you see a big buck, your heart gets to pumping, and you have to calm yourself down. That’s the best part of it. That’s what makes hunting such a great sport. That’s why people get excited about it. The other thing is the camaraderie you have with the friends you go hunting with.

Bugle: So some similarities with football there?
Walt: Kind of. You don’t get hit. You know football is a contact sport and hunting is only a contact sport for the animal. At my age, that’s a good thing.

Bugle: Did you have the same feeling on game day that you have on opening day?
Walt: Yeah, if you don’t get excited when you wake up on game day there’s something wrong. And the same with hunting. We get up and go out to the deer lease in the mornings and I’m excited, but I like the outdoors. It’s not the excitement of hoping you’re going to kill something; it’s the excitement of being outside with your friends, with my grandkids and my sons. I have another grandson who’s six and he is a huntin’ idiot. He hasn’t been deer hunting yet, but we’ll take him.

Bugle: What role do you think conservation has in hunting moving forward?
Walt: Well, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation is probably the model for doing things right. I can see the way that the Elk Foundation is going, there will be hunting for years and years to come and hopefully my grandkids’ grandkids will be able to go elk hunting.

Bugle: So where would you rather be: on a horse, on the football field or out in the field with a rifle?
Walt: Well, it’s hard to say because I love all of them. I still love to ride horses and rope steers. The adrenaline gets to pumping when you’re back in that box on a horse and there’s a steer in the chute. It’s the same way with hunting. Like I said, if your adrenaline doesn’t pump, you need to find something else to do because you’ve got the wrong sport.

Bugle: When did you guys first go elk hunting?
Lee: We hunted together in Colorado on a pack-in horse trip on public land. It was the first time I had ever heard an elk bugle. I shot a real nice 6×6.
Tiffany: It was the first time I was ever on a horse. I would just hang on.

Bugle: How did putting that sight pin on an elk feel? Were you shaky?
Lee: Yes is the short answer. But that’s how it is for me with any animal. If I was going to shoot a doe, I would still get just as excited. But being in the mountains and hearing those bulls scream and having something as big as a horse come in—that was one of the most memorable hunts I have ever had.
Tiffany: I totally agree. I remember hearing that first elk bugle, and I almost threw up on the spot.

Bugle: How does it compare to whitetails?
Lee: I’m from Minnesota, and 99 percent of my life has been hunting whitetails. Hearing elk bugle is special to me because we don’t get to hear it and see it everyday. I’m thankful the elk rut is in September before the deer rut even begins, because it would be hard to choose which one to hunt.

Bugle: You’ve been married eight years now. How does being married and working together work for you?
Tiffany: We balance each other out on a lot of things. He makes me step up my game, and I level him out a bit on some stuff he takes so seriously. There’s no one I’d rather spend time with than him.
Lee: Tiffany is my wife, and she’s my best friend. I want her with me everywhere I go. It’s just more fun that way. We’re lucky that way. When I’m not around her, I’m just not that happy. Maybe everyone’s relationship isn’t that way.
Tiffany: Sometimes we might need a little break. The other day we came home to Iowa after 13 straight weeks of appearances, and we went shed hunting together. I really don’t like walking around for hours on end to look for sheds, but if someone is with me who I can talk to, then that’s okay. So we’re out the other day and I ask Lee, ‘So what’s your favorite color?’
Lee: I don’t know. I don’t have a favorite color
Tiffany: Everybody has a favorite color. Is it blue or green?
Lee: I don’t know. I’m not five. I like them all. Just be quiet.
Tiffany: If you’re not going to talk to me, why do you even want me here?
Lee: Well I want you near me. I just don’t want you talking. She talks to hundreds of people at seminars while we’re on the road. When we get home, I’m just thinking about planting, business, a million things. But sometimes I just don’t want to talk.

Bugle: You both hunted the UU Bar in New Mexico last season for an episode of Team Elk. How did that go?
Lee: Unreal. It was one of my favorite hunts of the entire year even though we never killed an elk. We saw lots of elk, but we knew what kinds of bulls live there and we were holding out for top-end stuff. It was without a doubt the most fun we’ve had on an elk hunt. To call in as many elk as we did, I just never had that successful of an elk hunt. I remember telling Tiffany on the second day that I don’t want to shoot one because I don’t want to be done. We stayed in a cabin at 10,500 feet in the middle of nowhere. It was right on a lake where hundreds of elk would come down every night. You couldn’t sleep because they were always just screaming.
Tiffany: We weren’t hunting together, but we should have been. I’m used to deer hunting from a stand, and I think I stayed back more than I should have. It seemed like I would get on some big elk that were out of my range but in Lee’s range. And Lee was passing up elk I would shoot that were right in his lap. Next year we’re going to hunt together.

Bugle: What was your earliest hunting memory?
Lee: I grew up hunting deer in northern Minnesota. I started hunting when I was 9 and didn’t shoot my first deer until I was 16 because there were so few deer in that area. I could count on one hand the number of deer I saw in all those years. It was tough hunting. The very first buck I saw was the one I shot. You can’t really learn a lot about deer if you don’t see any. When I started bowhunting, it took me seven years to shoot my first deer with a bow. Ten years ago before we started our show, I couldn’t pass up any deer.

My dream hunt was for moose, and Jim Shockey invited me along for a hunt. The first day I passed up a giant moose, but I wanted to see what else was out there. Even Shockey was like, “I can’t believe you passed that up.” But I’m not so much into the killing as I am into the hunt and seeing what’s here and looking for the best possible animal. We never shoot something just for a TV show. We shoot something that we’re proud of. We have too much respect for animals. I wanted to experience the Yukon, and on the sixth day I shot a moose that was bigger than the other one. It might be number three or five in the world. You can’t shoot a great animal if you shoot a good one first.

Bugle: Tiffany, if a boyfriend or husband wants to get his better half involved in hunting, what advice do you have for him?
Tiffany: The best advice is keep it light, fun and positive. And the gear has to fit. You’ve got to get them their own gear, especially for shooting a bow. When I first started I felt so much pride in shooting my own bow. You have to keep it fun, make it enjoyable. I hear people tell me they tried and just gave up. They say, ‘Well, we sat for 12 hours and we didn’t see anything.’ That’s not the way to go about getting people into it. You have to go out with friends and show them how much fun you have.

My mom is a great example. I didn’t grow up hunting, and my mom would actually take our hunting photos and cut out our faces because she didn’t want to see them with the animals. When we moved to Iowa, she started to come down and cook for all our guests. Then she started to see how much fun everyone was having.

About a year after that she came up to me and said, ‘I want to shoot a turkey and a bear.’ Lee and I were like, What? We took her muzzleloading, and she shot a bear. She couldn’t pull back a bow. She probably weighs 75 pounds soaking wet, she’s had breast cancer, scoliosis and arthritis. The next year, she shot a turkey with her bow, and she’s going out with us this year. She’s totally hooked.

Bugle: Anything to add on that one, Lee?
Lee: I worked at an archery shop through college. Guys would bring their wives in to the man cave (aka indoor range) and give her their hand-me-down bow. Everyone would be watching. They weren’t able to pull it back. They’d stick an arrow in the ceiling. Now they’ll never ever pick up a bow again. For Tiffany, within a week with some help, she shot beautifully, and within a month she outshot the pros at the shop. When a person shoots that well, it’s something they can’t wait to do. When it came time to go hunting two years later, I knew she could shoot. That wasn’t going to be a problem. Her first deer was a clean, quick kill.

Bugle: Tiffany, what challenges or barriers to hunting might women experience? How should they overcome them?
Tiffany: As a woman, there might be some confidence issues, and you have to let go of your inhibitions. You have to be willing to learn and make mistakes. A lot of folks come to see us through our appearances, and we love to meet people. A lot of daughters and women tell us they don’t have their husband or dad with them when they go out hunting. They’re out sitting in some other stand and not hunting together.
Lee: I was out there helping Tiffany because I had made all those mistakes myself. No one bowhunted in my family. I would talk her through it as I was filming. I’d tell her the yardage, and we used one sliding pin so she didn’t get thrown off. She always made nice clean shots and follow-throughs. Another thing, if it wasn’t a perfect set-up, we just didn’t take the shot because I didn’t want to turn her off of hunting.
Tiffany: I’m not a deer expert. I just got lucky. I married a guy who’s a deer nut, and we’re lucky to do a TV show. I think it makes me relatable to people. They ask me questions they might not ask Lee. They might bring up a time when I missed that deer on TV, and I tell them, ‘Heck yeah, I missed it. I just got so excited. Every time I miss something I try to take that experience and learn from it so I don’t make that same exact mistake the next time.’ And people are receptive to that.
Lee: Tiffany never portrays herself as an expert. She’s out having a good time. She shot a turkey the other day. She says, ‘Hey, look. He’s got good pokers.’ Those aren’t pokers, those are spurs. It’s just stuff that cracks you up, and women and girls can relate to her because she shows them that she’s out there having a good time, and you don’t have to be an expert on these things to do this.
Tiffany: I like being able to show people why we hunt. We’re trying to promote hunting, family and being together. From novice hunters to old guys, everyone can really relate.

Bugle: Let’s step back to the year 2000. Was there any clue that you guys would be where you are in life now?
Lee: Not a clue. There was no bigger fan of hunting shows than me. Like anyone, you dream about those shows, but you never think it would ever happen to you. We didn’t know anyone in the industry. We always did our hunting, filming, shed hunting for fun. I’d drive my $500 car down to Iowa just to look at deer, because I never got to see them in northern Minnesota. Iowa back then wasn’t even open to nonresident hunters. My childhood friend Paul and I would go to the Holiday gas station down the road. They had a hunting section in their movies, and that’s what we did all weekend. We made pizzas and sat down in my basement and watched hunting videos until 2 in the morning in the summer. When we could drive, we had some good spots to film deer and that was our life. We fell into this by complete accident.

I did some freelance writing in college and went to the Archery Trade Show on a media pass, which was like heaven. I took Tiffany with me. Michael Waddell, who was a camerman for RealTree back then, and I were the same age. I had bought a farm in Kansas after I got my job as an engineer and told Michael about it. He wanted to come down and hunt turkeys on the farm with me. Tiffany and I learned about filming cutaways, interviews. The next year we had just a phenomenal year hunting on film. And it was all in focus. I was on Monster bucks 10 and on the back cover. I was just thrilled to be a part of it. By the third year, people started talking on the Internet (mostly about Tiffany) and pretty soon a couple companies asked us about hosting a TV show.

Bugle: What’s next? Any hunting goals you have yet to achieve that you’re working on?
Tiffany: I want to shoot a moose with my bow in the next five years, maybe in the Yukon.

Bugle: Lee recently shot a massive moose. Any rivalry to get a bigger one?
Tiffany: No, not at all. The only thing we argue about is who gets to sit in the stand. We’re always saying, “No, you go.” I get just as much enjoyment when he gets a shot at a great deer.
Lee: So many people ask us, “Who shot the bigger one?” But it doesn’t really matter to us. I was so proud when Tiffany shot her first animal. I don’t care who shoots it. We’re married, so it all goes on the same wall. We get a lot of kids asking us how to do hunting shows, and we tell them just to stay in school. Anyone can hunt, but there’s a lot more to running a business. People always say to us, “I wish we could hunt all the time.” Well, I wish I could, too. There’s a business behind everything. My goal is to see us continually putting out a better product.

Bugle: Have you seen any changes in hunting since you started?
Tiffany: You know, one of the most rewarding aspects of all of this so far is seeing all the young girls and women coming through our line now. It used to be predominantly men, but now it’s easily 50/50. I love it when I see some girls straight from cheerleading competition still in their little outfits, and the next morning they’re going out turkey hunting. You really can do it all. You don’t have to be a tomboy. Even my little niece, who is as girlie-girl as it gets, is out there catching frogs, and she’s doing it in a tutu.
Lee: It’s really amazing how every year, we’ve seen progressively more women come up and tell us about how they recently started hunting. We didn’t get that in the early days. We didn’t think we were going to be role models, and we are thrilled that people come up and tell us how our show helped show them how fun much they can have.