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Justin Brady: This is the Iowa Podcast. I’m Justin Brady, and of course, we’re in the Jethro’s BBQ studio. Did you follow us on X or… We, we posted something on X. We’re like, “What is the big content area that we lack?” And someone said, “Outdoors stuff, like hunting and fishing and outdoors stuff. We haven’t– You haven’t done anything on that.” Well, whoever you were, I, I have a list I can probably check. We’re gonna check that box in a big way today. Outdoors Dan Young, host of the Outdoor Call radio show, and of course, how many dozen shows do you have now at this point, joins us in the studio. Thanks for coming

Dan Young: It’s my pleasure. Good to see you again

Justin Brady: Yeah, again, because, and we’re not gonna go into the full backstory here in inside baseball, but we used to be on WHO Radio, um, back to back. Yep. Many, many years ago, and so you warmed up the show for us, got the, all the listeners for us, and then we came in there and ran everybody away.

Dan Young: Nah, you did not. You two, you two did a good job

Justin Brady: you two. It was so fun. Um, okay, so basically, I am, like, as far as hunting and fishing and outdoors stuff, I’m gonna talk to you about all this. We might touch on at the end, like, any of the KXNO stuff’cause you’re over at KXNO right now. And I know you don’t have any insider information, but just your reaction to that. We might get to that later. But, um, before we do that, Jethro’s BBQ, love them. If you want to get $30 free gift card, go to Iowapodcast.com. Go to the top, hit that banner, and if you click that banner and buy a $100 gift card, they will give you a $30 gift card. We, of course, think that’s pretty sweet. Get a bunch of chicken wings. So summer, though, is, is, like, fishing season, right? This is the big, this is the big

Dan Young: this is the big- Well, there’s a lot to do. I mean, there’s- We should fish

Justin Brady: together, and you can see how terrible I am at

Dan Young: Oh, you’d be f- you’d be good. Nobody’s bad at fishing. It’s f- the i- the whole thing about fishing is to go out and just relax and unwind, let your stress g- reel off of you, no pun intended. And, and just, uh, if you catch something, that’s a bonus

Justin Brady: Yeah. So what is the, like what are the… I, I’m gonna ask two things.

Dan Young: Mm-hmm

Justin Brady: Maybe we’ll start it out for the pro people. Like, what are the best pro tips here in Iowa? Are there any, like, lakes you frequent? Are there river systems that you frequent? What are the big pro tips? And it k- kinda seems like when you’re talking to other fishermen, these are the things that constantly come up

Dan Young: Yeah, Des Moines River’s really good walleye fishing from Saylorville down through, you know, town, downtown. Um, and you get past that a little bit, there’s– You can really get into some nice, some walleyes there. Um, I always fish Big Creek, uh, locally, and I did okay there, and it’s easy there. You know, a lot of traffic, a lot of pressure on that lake, but you know, it’s easy access, quick, quick turnaround time. My favorite place to go fishing’s northern Minnesota. Uh, I, I’ve been going up there forever and, um, I can go up there in two or three days and get my limits and just, just have a nice time. And there’s– it’s such a big body of water. There, there’s not a, uh, a lot of congestion around you, you know, like a smaller body. So you, you know. The thing about some of the lakes up there, though, with the zebra mussels, that lake is not stained water anymore. It’s pretty clear. So you can’t, you can’t, uh, even with the forwards-facing sonar and some of the technology down there, you can find the walleye, but you cannot get… You can’t anchor Spot-Lock or Anchor Lock or something. You gotta back off them fish 15, 20, 30 feet. Otherwise, if you get too close, they’re gone, and that’s because the water clarity’s so clear from the zebra mussels being in there. You were– You– When the water was stained or looked green, you know, they couldn’t see you as, as good. Walleye can see really well.

Justin Brady: So is, is this a new thing? Like the water’s been

Dan Young: yeah, water’s been changing. It’s been changed for about s- uh, I wanna say four or five years. You know, don’t quote me, folks, but I’m, I’m, I’m pretty sure it’s about that time. But, uh, yeah, used to be able to just hit Spot-Lock and the vertical jig. I love vertical jigging for walleye. And, uh, I used to be able to just sit on them and watch them on my, uh, sonar, and I could sit there and watch them come up and grab the bait and, like a video game. Really? Oh, yeah, yeah. For– I, I– You know, and there’s a lot of, there’s a lot of controversy about using, uh, Garmins and Lo-La-Lowrance and Hummingbird’s, uh, forward-facing sonars and, um. You know, you can find the fish, but you can’t make them bite. That’s, that’s my, my back argument to someone that says, “Well, that’s cheating and stuff.” I mean, I don’t think it’s cheating. It’s another tool that you can use as an angler to get and locate fish. But you still gotta make them bite.

Justin Brady: So walk me through this. Why… Well, first of all, I remember, like, looking for fish on grandpa’s boat or something, and he was showing me a tool, and it almost looked like a 1980s video game

Dan Young: Yeah, it had a little, had a little arc Yeah,

Justin Brady: it was just a pixel

Dan Young: Yeah.

Justin Brady: And so you’re saying you can almost, like, watch them with

Dan Young: technology now, you can actually see them swim. You can see them come up and grab the bait. I mean, you can see struct- yo, it’s, it’s awesome. You can see structure. The thing is, I’m 62 now, and it’s like I’m constantly having to go on YouTube and, and just keeping up with the, the things. The- if you wanna, if you wanna get Panoptix or forward-facing sonar to work really well, you really gotta be changing that, the, the, the gain and the filters constantly to match the water conditions. And if you do that, you’re, you’re gonna see details that you’re just… It’s awesome. It’s just a lot of fun. My buddy, uh, that I go fishing with up there, he, I, first time I took him out and he saw that, he goes, “That’s the neatest thing I’ve ever seen, Dan.” And I said, “I know. It’s cool.” But then you can sit there and see them give you the fin and everything else when they don’t wanna bite, you know? So it kinda evens out, Justin. I had

Justin Brady: had no id- I had no idea things have evolved. It’s kinda funny that, like, to be a better outdoorsman, you’re, you’re YouTubing technology videos now a lot. Is this, is this also kind of a new thing?

Dan Young: t- it’s constantly changing. I mean, you know, I’ve been, uh, been doing this for, uh, you know, the shows, I’ve been doing the shows for, the radio shows for 28 years, and, uh, the TV shows side I think I’ve been on 26 years. But, you know, I, I’ve been bow hunting for 30, over 35, and technology’s constantly changing. Um, just, you know, I… For filming I use drones, drones. I mean, I- they got drones now. I just bought a drone the other day’cause I film 99% of the time on the TV show by myself. Um, and, uh, I, I got, I got a drone now, Justin. You can… I could take it and h- have it on the screen. It’s, on the drone itself there’s actually a little LCD screen and it’ll tell you what mode you’re in, and I can put it in follow, and I can just turn that drone on and lift it out of my hand, and it’ll go 10 yards this way, and I can actually take my hand and I can move that drone this way, this way, up, down. I can do this to make it go farther back, farther in. I don’t even need a remote anymore. I mean, it’s crazy, and you get 4K video out of that

Justin Brady: That, so this is interesting because for a long time you did radio where visuals aren’t really needed, and now you’re finding yourself doing more YouTube kind of stuff

Dan Young: Well, the T- I’ve had my own TV show for 26 years. Right. Yeah.

Justin Brady: didn’t… Did you produce and do this much detailed video work this whole time, or is this new?

Dan Young: Uh, well, you know, when I first started, the internet wasn’t around. Right. So I had to evolve as that became. But, you know, everything’s co- so content driven now. I mean, even the radio shows are content driven. You know, we live stream everything onto YouTube and to Facebook Live, and, um, I throw a Ecamm module up and, um, you know, I just, uh… That’s how we live stream the shows. But everybody wants to s- they wanna s- I don’t understand it,’cause I’ve always said I’ve got a face for radio. I, you know, I don’t… You know, I’ve been blessed to do a TV show for 26 years. But, uh, I just, uh, I, I… It’s just another medium that you gotta, you know, do

Justin Brady: I, I really briefly touch on the cont- you mentioned controversy over sonar. Is this b- just basically’cause people are more like, “It’s not very sporting. You should have to guess more often.” Is, is

Dan Young: tang- there’s that tangent some people think it’s, it’s, it’s cheating because you can locate more fish and you will catch or locate, uh, it w- it will help you catch more fish that you might not have caught before. But there’s no guarantee that that fish is gonna bite, even if you get on them. Like I said, I’ve been out, uh, up on Lake Winnie or up on Red or Cast Lake, and I found fish, but I couldn’t get them to bite. They just weren’t biting. Um, and you know, there’s some si- you know, there, it’s… That stuff’s so expensive. You know, and some people, it’s like anything. Half the time when people are griping and complaining about it, it’s’cause they don’t have it and they’re jealous. You know, and I don’t mean that in a disparaging way, it’s just, you know, there’s some things that I can’t afford that I’m jealous about. You know, I would love to have my own farm. Can’t afford it. Yeah. You know? So I’m very jealous of everybody that’s got their own farm. But I don’t, I, I wish them the best. I’m happy for

Justin Brady: Yeah. I would like to, you know, fly on a Gulfstream- Yeah to wherever I wanted a vacation and take a Rolls-Royce there.

Dan Young: Yeah, but it’s not like it used to be, you know, back in the’70s,’60s,’70s and stuff. I think, I think modern technology c- uh, electronics came out in the late, middle or late’70s or early s- late’60s or’70s is when f- te- uh, fish finders and all that stuff first came out. Um, and it’s just progressively grown in, in leaps and bounds

Justin Brady: Hmm. That’s, yeah, that’s, um… I, I– There’s no– I mean, if they really want to end the controversy or if they’re really scared of technology, they could sharpen some sticks and put pointy m- pointy stones on the end and then,

Dan Young: It’s, when you’re dealing with human beings, there’s always somebody that’s not, they don’t l- like what you say or like what you do or, you know, that you just, I learned a long time- It never ends it never ends. You just

Justin Brady: where is the best sp- so people who, like me, I’m, I’m probably one of the least skilled fishermen you’ve ever met. Like, where do people like me go to start? Like, how, what’s a good beginner path?

Dan Young: Uh, you know, Big Creek, Bar- Brushy Creek, uh, down at Quabby. Um, you know, you can go out to Saylorville. There’s some decent fishing out in Saylorville. You don’t need a lot. You can fish on the bank. You can bank fish and stuff. You can get a kayak. You can go out and get a kayak and, you know, you can just, uh, you can bobber fish. Um, you can do slip bobbers. Um, you know, there’s a lot of different things. If you want to catch a walleye and you don’t have, uh, money for electronics and stuff, you could either jig bite early in June, uh, uh, middle, early, late, middle May into June. A, a jig bite’s usually pretty good, a jig with a minnow tipped on it. And then… Or you can take a leech, um, and get out there and, and do a slip bobber, and once you find where the fish are, you know, that’s a very good method. Um, you can get a, a small boat and just back troll, you know. You can do crawler harnesses or, you know. There’s a lot of different techniques you can use to get on fish.

Justin Brady: Obviously… Yeah, go ahead

Dan Young: Yeah, you know, and, you know, uh, catfishing is very popular. You know, you get you some liver or chicken liver, some night crawlers. You get out there, cast it on the bottom and wait,

Justin Brady: Hmm.

Dan Young: you know

Justin Brady: Obviously one, and we’ll, uh, plug at the end here, we’ll make sure, it’s the Outdoor Call Radio Show, so obviously if people really wanna get outdoors, they should probably listen to your show more often and subscribe. But, um, one thing that the non-pe- See, I’m good at this because I’m like the non-initiated, so I can ask all the questions that the non-outdoorsy people want, and here’s one of the questions they were yelling in their headsets about, which is, “Hold up, he just said you can fill your tag, but what, what, what, do, are there different tag laws in like Iowa and Minnesota? Like, can we just go out and fish or do we need to let the DNR know? How does this work?”

Dan Young: for hunting you have tags. For fishing you have permits. Mm-hmm. So you, you have to have a permit to fish unless- Okay you’re, uh, unless you’re a disabled veteran. Um, I think I get f- I think I have free fi- lifetime fishing and hunting permits’cause I’m a disabled vet. Yeah, so you can, you can get into that if you’re an, a disabled veteran. Um, and then, uh, I should know this. I think at a certain age in, uh, seniors you either get a discount or you don’t have to… Just folks, always just look on the DNR for the regs and rules, and then that way you’ll always be… But if you’re angling, you need a fishing permit. If you’re trout fishing, you need a trout stamp. Um, you just, you, that’s all you do. If you’re hunting, every species of game has a different… You have your hunting license, and then you have to buy your sp- game specific tags to fill

Justin Brady: So let’s talk about that next because it’s not quite… I, I don’t think we’re in hunting season

Dan Young: Hunting will start, uh, dove season will start September 1st, and then after that we’ll get into the urban deer hunting programs, which normally start around the 15th or 20th, depending on the municipality. And then the state wide, statewide, uh, deer hunting will start October 1st

Justin Brady: And so you have to have a different, you mentioned, let me get this

Dan Young: Urban, ur- urban tags are different than statewide tags,

Justin Brady: Oh, really? So urban, so it’s like geographic too. So not only are you, like, getting a tag for the type of animal you’re hunting, but also the region.

Dan Young: On the program.

Justin Brady: On, uh, oh, so that’s all through the DNR website. It kind of walks you through it, I would

Dan Young: or the Polk County, Mis- Minnesota, whatever township you’re… that has urban hunting programs is where you’ll get your t- your permission and your tags and stuff

Justin Brady: And I’ve always wondered about this because hunters, um, like I have a, a friend who has a farm. Yeah. And he said, he’s like, “Sometimes hunters will just come knock on the door and say,’Hey, we saw a lot of, you know, deer or whatever on your property. Can we hunt your property?’” And I’m like, “W- do, do hunters just have to do that wherever they go? They’re just knocking on doors? Or like how does

Dan Young: it’s really, rare that that happens anymore because either the farmer’s already got people that are, um, already given permission to or they’ve leased it, you know, to hunting. Uh, leased it, like you, like I have a lease in southern Iowa. I lease 600 acres.

Justin Brady: Oh,

Dan Young: hunting rights in that area. Uh, and I do that so I know I’ve always got a place to go film or what. Um, when I get done doing the TV stuff, next year this, this is supposed to be my last year doing TV. So once that happens, then I’m gonna start bouncing around some of the state public hunting ground, and, uh, there’s some phenomenal public hunting. Um, and I can, since I’m older now and I’m, um, I’m semi-retired, um, I can go during the week and there’s not a lot of people around

Justin Brady: So you can… Okay, so there are tags, there are tags and regions, and then there’s also different properties you can hunt on, and some of them are public lands

Dan Young: Yeah, Iowa has what’s called, uh, wildlife management areas, and they have public hunting areas

Justin Brady: And so you can– If you do the wildlife management areas, obviously that’s open. But if you do the private areas, you have to go get permission from the

Dan Young: You absolutely have to get permission from the- Probably. Yeah, yeah. Don’t show up on Farmer John’s farm and just start hunting. That would not be good.

Justin Brady: the farm

Dan Young: Yeah, yeah. That’s, that’s illegal and it’s a crime.

Justin Brady: Inter- So yeah, this is… But it’s like, I think people look, they drive through Iowa and they’re like, “I don’t know where to go. You know, I have no idea who owns what property.” Are you

Dan Young: I’ve alwa- I’ve always told everybody, if you’re trying to get an access to a, a private farm, the best thing to do is contact that farmer’s family. You can go on OnX. OnX is a hunting app, and it’ll, it’ll show you every piece of property. Um, all… Like, here’s my farm that I got. It’s all mapped out. I d- I don’t even have to buy topographical maps anymore. It’s all on my phone. But it’ll tell me who the landowners are, and, and they’ll t- it’ll show me the boundaries. And you can… And I, what I would suggest, what I’ve always suggested is you, you contact that family six, seven months before hunting season. Send them a letter. Say, you know, “Hey, my name’s John Smith. I, my family, I, my, got my son and my daughter and I. W- would we be possible to access your property to turkey hunt or deer hunt or waterfowl? Um, here is our hunting experience. Um, I’m more than happy to sign a liability waiver.

Justin Brady: Wow.

Dan Young: and we will help pick up, keep the property cleaner than we find it, and we’re always glad to share some, whatever we harvest, uh, some of the harvest with you.” And if you do that, you’d be shocked how many people do get access, because 99.9% of the people don’t do that. They just go knock on the door in their camo, and that’s the wrong thing to do.

Justin Brady: Oh, re- so that’s not a good thing to

Dan Young: That’s not a good- Well, that’s rude. I, I wouldn’t

Justin Brady: Oh, I get it.

Dan Young: It’s, it’s not like it was 40 years ago when you could knock on the door and, “Sure, go and do what you want.” Now, you can still find some people like that, but then he’s gonna tell every- he’s gonna tell five, six other people y- they can do it too. So when you get out there and you start to hunt and you see tree stand, tree stand, tree stand, it’s like, “Okay, I see he’s letting everybody hunt.”

Justin Brady: Got it

Dan Young: But the, the bottom line is y- we should always be respectful to the landowners, to the farmers. God bless our farmers. And, uh, just, just show people that, you know, use your manners. And, uh, if you do that, you, you’ll have a better shot at getting on a piece of public or private ground.

Justin Brady: What, what is your favorite thing to hunt? Like, your favorite season that you just, like, geek out about here in Iowa

Dan Young: I’m a bow hunter, so I bow hunt everything. But, uh, turkey and deer are probably my two favorite things. Elk’s probably, uh, right there with them. I love elk hunting. Um, uh, bear, I’ve taken nine bears over the years. Bear’s meat’s very good, and it’s, uh, it’s a good protein, and, uh, I do enjoy that. But turkey and deer are probably my favorites.

Justin Brady: Bear?

Dan Young: Bear,

Justin Brady: Do you hunt bear with a bow?

Dan Young: every- Really? everything with a bow. Yeah. Yeah

Justin Brady: that’s kinda, that’s kinda cool actually.

Dan Young: I just, I just,

Justin Brady: you ever do just the knife and hunt the

Dan Young: You ever do just- No, no. No. I’ve actually had a f… I’ve had a, a 500 pound, uh, plus… In Colorado, we were elk hunting out in, uh, Walsenburg, and, uh, we were set up on an elk wallow. And I had a buddy with me, and we’re on the ground, and we just got a bow. And I got, I got my tripod and my camera, and I had a elk estrus cartridge running to get the bull elk to come in to…’Cause they, they got a great nose on them. They can smell a, a female for a long way away. But, uh, anyway, long story short, I, I saw something out of my peripheral, and I looked over it, and I saw something cutting down towards the water hole to wallow. And I’m going, “That’s not an elk,” and it turned out to be a big black bear, but it was, it was cinnamon color, color phase, and he was big bear. I mean, I’ve sh- I, I know b- I can judge bears pretty well’cause I’ve taken a lot of them. And he got within six yards of me on the ground, and I got my bow and my camera, and I did not have a bear tag, so… And he just kind of looked, and they don’t have very good eyesight, but they got great hearing and smell. They can smell. And he knew something wasn’t right, and I di- we just started going and he looked, and then he turned around and left. And I, I was glad, but that was a little tense’cause- Right,’cause-’cause that’s a big bear

Justin Brady: what, I guess for lack of a better term, what are the rules of engagement when it’s not a bear season and a bear’s like right on you? What

Dan Young: you’re gonna, you’re gonna have to defend yourself the best you can, but they’re gonna… Th- y- you’re gonna have to justify har- taking that k- taking that bear’cause, uh, they’ll, they’ll cite you every way to Sunday- Sure if you don’t h- if it’s not in season and you don’t have a tag, they’re gonna go after you.

Justin Brady: Yeah.

Dan Young: The, the game, the game wardens will.

Justin Brady: a lot of people starting to wear, like, body cams and cameras now? Not for, not for necessarily legal reasons, but just to capture the hunt and share things. Is this like

Dan Young: people been, since internet’s been out, Justin, people have been filming forever. Yeah

Justin Brady: Huh, that’s, yeah, that’s kinda crazy. Um, I didn’t, I w- I didn’t think we’d be talking about you taking out bears today. That’s kinda… With a bow.

Dan Young: don’t shoot- Is that- Yeah, I don’t take

Justin Brady: that as cool as it sounds, or is it just’cause I’m the uninitiated?

Dan Young: Uh, it’s just, it’s, it… They’re neat animals, you know? And they taste great. I don’t take anything unless I eat it. My family loves bear meat, and it’s a good protein, and they gotta be managed’cause they kill a lot of, um, baby moose and deer. You know, everybody thinks bears just eat berries and fish. They, they, they kill a lot of deer and, and, uh, moose calves too. So you gotta, you gotta manage the animals

Justin Brady: I think this, what you just said is a key thing that many non-hunters,’cause everything, ev- everything is always a debate now. Like, there’s the hunting and then, “Oh, we can’t kill animals.” But what’s so fascinating is when you get to know hunters and you understand what they’re doing, hunters play an absolutely critical role in, like, sustainability and agriculture and in, in, like, uh, water and land quality. Like, they play such a big

Dan Young: Honestly, nobody does more for animals than hunters. Hunters annually buy billions of dollars of tags and rev- gener- generate revenue that the DNRs and conservation departments go out and buy land acquisition and habitat, which gives the land– gives the animals more areas to thrive. They need food, water, and habitat, and, uh, the land is only gonna support so much life. That is called carrying capacity, and you get outside of that, of that management, then the animals get diseased. Uh, the, it’s… The, they suffer. So, uh, hunting is the only proven management tool that works, and, uh, hunters are vital to keep our, uh, our ecosystems going the way they should be going

Justin Brady: Is hunting, like as a sport, grow- would you say it’s growing in the Midwest right now? Is it kind of flatlining? Is it receding?

Dan Young: It grew in the… When COVID hit, there was a boom’cause it was the only thing people felt safe in doing was going out hunting or fishing- Really? to get away from everybody, you know,’cause of that stupid six-foot rule thing. Uh, you know, uh, but, uh, they, uh, they felt safe in doing that, which was kinda nice because there was a downtrend for people hunting and fishing. People were getting away from it, and that brought people back to doing that. Um, when people couldn’t go across the border because of COVID, that people that normally go hunt and fish in Canada started recreating in the Lower 48, which tags kinda got really hard to get. I used to be go cer- I used to be able to go certain states and draw a tag every year. Can’t do that anymore. Really? It takes, it takes you a couple years to draw now.

Justin Brady: What? Why is that? What

Dan Young: Why is that?’Cause people are, they’re g- they still are hunting in the Lower 48, and the demand is there. And you have some conservation departments, and I d- I’m, I don’t wanna get into politics, but, uh, some conservation departments, they are dropping the number of tags every year, which makes no sense’cause there’s more than enough hab- there’s more than enough animals there to support the, the funding of that. Hmm. Uh, it’s all political. Uh, just like the b- Really? Just in Minnesota. I’ll give you Minnesota for a prime example. There’s more bears in Minnesota than there’s ever been, but they keep reducing the amount of tags, and it’s political.

Justin Brady: Just’cause there’s like animal

Dan Young: They don’t… There’s a animal con- there’s animal rights people. There’s Native American factions that don’t want’em hunted’cause they’re a sacred animal to them. And, and I, I’m… Listen, I love the Native American people. I’m, I’ve got a little Native American in, in blood inside of me, and that’s why I always said I gravitated to a bow. You know? Yeah. It brought me to my heritage a little bit. But, um, I just think you, whatever we need to do that’s gonna be the best beneficial for the economy, for the ecological, and for the population of the animals, uh, and be good stewards is what we should do. Yeah. Politics shouldn’t be in

Justin Brady: I don’t– I’m, I’m not gonna claim I’m a historian or that I know a lot about Native American culture, but the things I do know about Native American culture is what you’ve been talking about. Like, uh, you know, when you take an animal, you respect the animal, you use every part of the animal, you do so, um, wi- you know, cleanly and suffering’s ba… Like, these are the things that I always learned that Native American culture, so it’s, it’s weird that there are different

Dan Young: some, there’s some factions that are- Sure they, they, you know, they want, they, they, they just don’t want you to do it

Justin Brady: What would you say, like, um, the best season is for you? Like, what’s the most exci- you mentioned that tur- I think turkey and, and deer s- deer are like your favorite hunt,

Dan Young: why t- What’s your, what’s your favorite? Season? Mm, I would say spring turkey season and the fall, October. When, when Halloween gets here, I’m pretty happy,’cause I can sit in a tree stand for 12, 14 hours and just watch the woods come alive. I mean, you get to see deer running, chasing, and I’ve always loved to rut. Um, that’s a great time of year. Um, but it’s all special. Uh, the older I’ve gotten, I’ve got far more… I’ve got far less sunrises ahead of me than sunsets, and, um, I just, I, I appreciate more the experiences I get now moving forward.’Cause I mean, I’m 62 now, and I got a lot of buddies that have g- that are gone already. You know? And it’s like you just don’t know when the good Lord’s gonna call you home, you know? So you gotta, you gotta learn to appreciate every… take everything in. And I’ve always said it’s, you know, whether you’re hunting or fishing, it’s about what you experience, the memories. And if you do get to fill a tag or, or throw something in a live well and take home to fry up and, uh, for a fish dinner, that’s just the gravy on the biscuit.

Justin Brady: Mm. That’s awesome.

Dan Young: Yeah

Justin Brady: The, um, remind– Well, I was gonna, I was gonna ask you another question, but, uh, there’s a thing I say with my, um, dad, which is life’s a minefield. Like, you can be walking through a beautiful meadow and all of a sudden a friend just gets blown up by a mine or someone gets an arm bl- It’s like it, it’s just you never know,

Dan Young: Yeah. You d- you don’t

Justin Brady: Get out there and enjoy the state that we’ve been given. It’s b- absolutely beautiful.

Dan Young: tomorrow’s not promised. You gotta- Yeah

Justin Brady: what is, what are the… I guess I didn’t hear waterfowl. Do you– Are you not a waterfowl guy?

Dan Young: I, I, I love waterfowl. I’m partially colorblind, and the reason I don’t waterfowl hunt is because I c- I would have trouble between a green-winged teal, a cinnamon teal, and a mallard. Oh. I don’t ever wanna shoot something that I’m not supposed to, because that would not be good for me. Yeah. And, um, but I understand the attraction for waterfowl hunting. It’s the same thing as turkey hunting. You’re interacting with that bird. You’re calling him. You’re trying to, you’re trying… You know, God programmed that turkey to when that go- turkey gobbles, the hens go to him. Mm-hmm. We’re trying to reverse that and sitting there, and get him to gobble and come to us. Yeah. So it’s the same thing with, you know, the waterfowlers. But, um, no, I just never got into that. Um, but, uh, it’s a wonderful sport. I’ve got tons of friends that do it. But you can’t do everything. Yeah.

Justin Brady: Yeah, for sure.’Cause it sounds like you’re more a bow guy than a firearm

Dan Young: like you’re more a bow hunter.

Justin Brady: Yeah. Which I think is so hard. It is so hard.

Dan Young: a little more difficult’cause you gotta get’em closer.

Justin Brady: Yeah, And trajectory, you have to understand there’s, there’s way more drop on a bow than there is a firearm.

Dan Young: yeah. Well, you can… I mean, there’s been plenty of times, Jon, trust me, I wished I had a muzzleloader or a rifle’cause I got a b- I got a beautiful buck out there at 220 yards and it’s like, “Oh man, why don’t I have a muzzleloader?”

Justin Brady: Do you just aim really, really high?

Dan Young: I would never. Farthest I’ve ever shot anything was 58 yards. Okay. That’s, that’s as far- That’s a good shot Uh, but I shoot a lot. I shoot every day almost. And, uh, I know where, I know my limitations are m- you know. But, uh, that was on a mule deer out in Montana, and out west, that’s not a long shot out west. You know, here in the Midwest that’s a long shot. But you just gotta, you gotta know where, where your skills are

Justin Brady: What are– You obviously, like I said, do a live radio show on KXNO. The time of that is

Dan Young: 8:00 to 10:00 every Saturday morning, yeah

Justin Brady: 10:00 every Saturday morning. Um, is it outdoor call?

Dan Young: Uh, the Outdoor Call Radio with Outdoors Dan. We’ve changed the name. It’s on WHO.

Justin Brady: on WHO is just the Outdoors

Dan Young: It was the Outdoors Dan Show, and then it was, uh, uh, Outdoors with Outdoors Dan. I mean, you gotta re- We, we change it up every- Yeah every s- every seven, eight years and

Justin Brady: Um, the reason, the reason I ask is because– Well, first back up. Um, like I said earlier, we had a show after yours, so when I woke up on Saturday mornings, I listened to your show. That way I’d have context on what to, like, do. You know,’cause when we come in, there’s this little crossover period where you have about two minutes, something like that, where I’m like, “Hey, Dan. How you doing?” “Good.” And you’re, like, getting your headphones put together, and we’re getting set up. It’s not a lot of time. And so what we wanna do is we wanna come right in the show and kinda carry your show onward. So I would use that for context, and I’d say, “Well, you know, Dan was talking about this,” and bl- So that’s, you know, I would… It was always my Saturday morning routine to listen to you and then come talk to you and then take over. It was, uh, good memories.

Dan Young: Yeah. Well, been very lucky with, uh, with Iowa. We- Iowa’s been really supportive over the years. We’ve great listeners and, uh, it’s, it’s been a great place to raise my family

Justin Brady: Um, what are the questions you’re getting now a lot? Like l- list–‘Cause you do a lot of call-in stuff too. So what are the big questions that keep popping up right now with the live audience?

Dan Young: Oh, I mean, r- this time of year, uh, everybody’s just kinda asking about, you know, outfitting, uh, you know, tree stand maintenance, you know. Um, I’m getting a lot of, you know, what do we need to do right now? Um, mock scrapes are a big thing right now. That’s…

Justin Brady: what?

Dan Young: So when, so deer communicate, uh, through scrapes. They actually take their hooves and they scrape the ground, and they’ll make a big circular, uh, piece of, uh, turned up dirt, and then they’ll urinate in that. Mm-hmm. It’s like their social media. Uh, they can tell who… They can tell, “Hey, uh, Jenny Doe over there has been here,” or Bucky Bucks. You know, they… It’s the way they, they communicate. Deer, deer, they will, they will smell the, the hormones or pheromones, uh, in that urine, and they will w- they will actively, uh, check a scrape all year. Most people don’t know that. Uh, it’s n- most people think it’s just during the breeding season from September through January, uh, end of first, uh, end of December. But they will do that. Um, m- this time of year, I get out there, and I go out, and I, I start my own scrapes. I get some synthetic deer urine. I’ll get, uh, little, uh, little scent dabs that’s got, like, uh, preorbital glands or an eye, eye gland, uh, nasal glands, uh, that’s got all the, that scent in there. And then I’ll dig out a, a hole, and then I’ll put that buck urine in there. And then I’ll take a, uh, a rope. And deer, I mean, within, uh, usually within an hour or two, I’ve got deer already hitting, uh, hitting them, and they come in, and they, uh, they sniff them. They check them out. Like, um, you know, there’s, uh, there’s a picture. The- Take a photo. The, there’s, there-

Justin Brady: Can I post these later? Yeah. I can post them.

Dan Young: yeah. There’s a deer hitting that, going to that scrape. Yeah, that’s funny. Yeah. Yes, there is. So I can actually… It helps me take an inventory, um, yeah, of what’s running around the farm.

Justin Brady: sure to post that.

Dan Young: post that. Like, there’s a doe and a fawn.

Justin Brady: oh yeah, that’s super cool. I’ll make sure to put those up. People listening or people technically watching on YouTube probably can’t see it either, so I’ll make sure to put those

Dan Young: So that just, that gives me something to do during the summer, and then I could go out and I can cut my shooting lanes where I hun- where I s- my stands are and check and make sure my straps are good. And, uh, I put mineral out all year for the deer in areas that I don’t hunt. I do that in sanctuary areas’cause in Iowa you can’t legally hunt in and around mineral or influence the travel of the deer to that mineral. You can’t do anything like that to be legal. So, um, but I do like putting that out there to make sure that the deer have the, the n- the nutrition or the minerals and everything they need to, to stay healthy

Justin Brady: Um, before I let you go, obviously appreciate you being here. Um, any, any thoughts on the KXNO thing? Because for those that don’t know, KXNO got rid of a ton, like a ton of people just a couple days ago. Any thoughts before we go?

Dan Young: Um, Sean Roberts, uh, is just a j- is just a super nice guy. Uh, Sean brought me back over to KXNO in January. They said that, “We really want you to get you to anchor Saturday mornings with Scott,” and, and I said, uh… And we worked it out, and, uh, Sean and everybody there that I worked with are just super nice people, and I’m sorry that they’re not there anymore. And, you know, Justin, I’m, I’m– I buy my time, so I’m not employed by KXNO. I, I do a contr- I do a couple year contract, and, um, I just, I was disappointed that the, the emphasis of more local programming was, is not there right now. Yeah. Because I think I’m an old radio guy. You know, I’ve been on, like I said, I’ve been doing the radio shows for 20 years. I cut my, my teeth on a small market station. Local radio is always gonna be magic. Uh, you know, and, uh, that, I was just a little disappointed when I heard it, and I think that’s the best way to leave it

Justin Brady: Yeah. I, I agree with you entirely. Uh, it, it makes me sad to see what’s happening to WHO KXNO because as you know, we were on WHO radio together, and I think l- I don’t know what it is, but there is something absolutely beautiful about live radio. Like directly into people’s ears, people can call in. There is, there’s nothing like

Dan Young: they wanna take ownership of the… They w- you know, they wanna listen, they wanna feel engaged- Yeah and they, they wanna take ownership of it. And, you know, I always tell everybody, “This is your show. It’s not my show. This is your show. If you got questions, you, you know, you want me to book a guest, get ahold of me, and I’ll…” You know, and I just did that the other day. I had a guy email me wanting to know what the nesting success was for the fa- the pheasants and, uh, the turkeys and the quail, uh, with all the rain and stuff we’ve had the last month. And I got Jimmy Coffion from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, he’s our turkey biologist, and we talked about it. You know, that’s the nice thing about local radio. You can have that relationship with your listeners.

Justin Brady: Mm-hmm. Um, and if people wanna build that relationship with you and listen to the shows, what’s the website, the most direct path to get to the shows

Dan Young: out everything I’m doing, just go to the, uh, outdoorsdan.com. I still have that, the outdoorcallradio.com. It’s the same website. But Saturday mornings on KXNO 8 to 10, I’m on the Outdoor Call Radio Network. They can download the app. It’s a free download. I own… That’s a radio station I actually own. It’s all hunting and fishing shows 24/7. I do a live show there every Wednesday at 5:00. Right now it’s Buck Talk Radio. Uh, and then when we get through deer season, we’ll switch it over to Turkey Talk. Uh, and then, uh, and then I’m, I host several podcasts, like one on, uh, deer management and food plots. It’s called The Healthy Herd. So, uh, but the Outdoor Call Radio app, uh, that’s on any of your devices and Alexa, or you can check out outdoorsdan.com for programming info

Justin Brady: I will say thank you to you because I learned a lot from you because I was listening to your show and I’m like, “This is not like the way I do it. It’s not like polished and high-paced and blah.” You’re like very casual. You shoot the breeze with guests. And I’m like, “What are you doing?” And then you look at the ratings

Dan Young: Yeah, we’ve always had pretty good ratings.

Justin Brady: “Oh, maybe he knows what he’s doing.” Like, you… Like, I think I told you this on the phone yesterday when w- um, I think it was yesterday, maybe it was last week. I was like, “You just bleed authenticity,” which I think is why you build such massive audience. So if you’re an outdoorsman or if you wanna get into the outdoors, absolutely. You said outdoorsdan.com?

Dan Young: can still go to Outdoors Da- Yeah, I, I, I, I kept all those to ma- make it simple. But y- you know, with the app, you had to have out- the outdoorcallradio.com too. Yeah. So but yeah, you can, you can access it that way or catch me on Facebook

Justin Brady: Outdoors Dan Young, thank you so much for coming on the Iowa Podcast. This was frigging amazing. I loved it.

Dan Young: My pleasure, buddy. Thank you. Good to see you