Brad Goes Pheasant Hunting

Alright, guys.

Today on It's Alive we're out here in Maupin, Oregon

and got our buddy Elias from Olympia Provisions

and today we're gonna be doing a little

pheasant and chukar hunting.

So, eyes on the field, Vinny, let's get moving.

Let's get out of this thicket mud.

Oh, mud patch!

Elias, how the hell you doin'?

[Elias laughing]

No birds in there, bud.

Took a look see did you? I flushed them out,

don't worry. [Elias laughing]

[upbeat music]

Yeah, we're gonna warm up doing a little bit

of clay bird shooting.

Its been a little while, I grew up hunting.

Really excited to be back here

with Elias to bring me out hunting with his dogs.

But before we get out into the field,

the right thing to do is to warm up on some clay bird.

Beautiful.

You really gotta be comfortable, get some practice,

be comfortable shooting the gun.

We're not trying to wound birds,

we're trying to give them a real quick kill.

So we're gonna dust, you know,

dust off some of the guns here,

and get me oiled up, and we'll head out into the field, huh?

Let's do this.

Load that bad boy.

Alright Vinny, can't stress enough gun safety, bud.

You know, like, I know we have a lot of fun on this show,

but all jokes aside, this is a serious thing.

And I mean, safety first.

We're out here having fun, trying to get, you know,

delicious birds to eat but at the end of the day

it's all about safety, so you stay behind me alright, Vince?

Alright, we're going for a double.

See if we can nail it.

No pressure.

No pressure at all. With the camera,

three people, I mean-- I don't care.

I don't wanna talk your ear off

or anything like that, just let me know.

Pull.

[Elias] [gun firing] Can't teach that.

[gun firing]

One got away. That's alright, though,

that's a hell of a start right here.

[Brad] Grab a couple more shells.

Hey, bud, how we doing?

[Brad] Pull.

[gun firing]

[Elias] You can't teach that!

Woo, was that one two in one?

Get two birds down at once there, Vinny.

[Elias] Is that how you do that?

I mean it's a-- I don't even think we need

to go pheasant hunting. If it was a four 10

it'd be a little more impressive, but.

[Elias] Yeah you know a 12, whatever, you know.

[Brad] Pull.

[gun firing]

I mean. Well,

these clay birds are flying mighty nice.

[Elias] I tell you what, that might be some

of the nicest toss spray. Yeah.

That has ever-- You might be

one of the best clay bird tossers

I ever seen. Lot of people are talking.

[Brad laughing] Lot of people getting

on them webs right now.

Might be the best-- Wow, that E,

In the biz. One hell of a sausage maker,

but have you seen him toss some clay lately?

My god, those are lofty.

I know a little thing, Vinny, if you notice, you know,

this comes from years of experience.

You always keep your finger off the trigger, eh?

This ain't a gun safety class, but.

Spacing these ones out a little bit.

Don't even tell me. [Elias laughing]

Alright? You don't need it.

You don't need that help. I don't even wanna say pull.

I don't even wanna say pull just do it.

[gun firing]

Tell you what. Ah, I needed one more shot

I had it! [Brad and Elias laughing]

You wanna shoot, Elias? Yeah I'll shoot.

[Brad] I'll pull for you.

See what we got here. You tell me when.

[Elias] Go ahead, pull.

[gun firing]

Oh, he's nasty!

[Elias] Still got it, folks.

Pull.

[gun firing]

That was good-- That one.

That was good. That was in my wheel house,

too, there's no excuses for that.

[Brad laughing]

Do we have to go bird hunting?

Can't we just do this all day?

[Brad] [laughs] I know!

[Elias] Pull.

[gun firing]

Aw, he ol' miss! Loving it.

Alright, I'm ready. You ready?

Do you want one more round? Yeah.

Let's do this. Pull.

[gun firing] Yes.

Oh, can't teach that, can't!

We're going Tom Berenger here, one shot, one kill, Vinny.

You know the story. Stick with us.

Pull.

[gun firing]

Ah, threw that one. It's those singles.

Hit the wrong-- It's those singles!

[Brad laughing] It's those solo ones

that'll get you. I clicked the wrong,

the wrong trigger.

I'm feeling good, we warmed up.

We let that one live, but no big deal.

And, yeah, now we're gonna go meet up

with a couple friends, what's their names?

Leather and Utah?

Elias, go ahead. This is Leather.

He's my old one, stay, bud.

You stay, stay.

Okay.

He's five and he is so missing fun.

I've never had a dog or met anything

that has like as much drive as this guy.

Wow. I've never seen him,

I've never ever seen him stop hunting.

Look at him already working. Oh yeah, it's on.

That's Utah.

Utah, give him two, get him.

[rock music] Whoa!

[Elias laughing]

They're excited.

So yeah, Elias, I mean I was fortunate enough

to grow up bird hunting and, you know,

we had a bird dog doing it with my dad.

And I just wanna point out to folks

that they love to do this. Oh my God.

And you guys, I mean, we train them,

but like it's in their DNA, right?

I mean this is what they live to do.

Yeah, like I can't take them to any dog park in the world

and make them as happier as I am

just having them run at the scent of bird.

Like they lose their crap.

You'll see when they get out there,

you couldn't make them do this stuff.

Like that's all they wanna do right now

is get out there and find birds.

And then you'll see as you watch them hunt,

it's just in their DNA. Right.

You can't teach them to hold still like that

and then to wait for the birds, and it's so exciting.

I mean, going out, harvesting your own food

with dogs that you've trained,

and the nuances between the places

that you're gonna find the birds,

and how the dog hunts terrain and everything like that

it's just so darn fascinating. Absolutely.

Watching the dogs do what they're made to do.

You know it's easy and we all do it

and I'm glad we can to just go buy, you know,

a package already cleaned up chicken or something,

but to go out and do the work yourself, you know,

there's a certain type of attachment to it.

Absolutely. You know?

And like you really appreciate it.

And especially when you earn it,

it's like anything, you know,

I've said this before. Absolutely.

And also you can go buy any kind of chicken

in the world and taste it, right?

You can spend that money for it,

but these birds you go out and hunt

in these crazy corners of this country

and you find them, that's the most nuanced,

delicious meat I've ever tasted

in my life. Right, well they're eating

what they're meant to eat. Exactly.

They're out there-- Living their crazy lives.

Living the way they're meant, you know?

They're not cooped up in some pen their whole life.

Uh-huh, but yeah so the dogs are gonna

go and point, they'll run out,

keep your barrel open, broken.

Dog goes on point, we can close the gauge,

keep your safety on, we'll see what happens to the board,

get close to it, bird flushes, drop your--

[Brad] I mean, I'm familiar, but when you say

the dog goes on point? Oh yeah.

What's that mean? So when the dog smells,

in an ideal world, everything they lock up.

So they can run out in front of you,

get into the wind, and they're gonna show you

where the bird is. Point right to it.

Stop. They lift the foot

sometimes? Oh yeah,

we're gonna get some classy, these little gentlemen?

Classy dudes.

Kennel, good boy, stay, Leath.

You're going hunting, yeah.

We'll be back for you, pup.

[jazzy music]

Yeah I mean I think it's always a good rule of thumb,

good observation there, Vince.

Even though, I mean, it's clearly, it's unloaded,

but it's just you know it's like a muscle memory.

You just wanna always, even when it's completely unloaded,

dead, you gotta always respect it

and treat it as though it were a live weapon.

Absolutely. And 100%

if it was ready to fire.

Safety always on and, you know,

when we're ready to go that's what's nice

about having these dogs, too,

for the most part you kinda get a little bit

of a warning. Yeah.

Don't even engage it until we're ready.

If something bumps up and it's at all--

We'll go get it. We got so many other birds.

We'll refind them, the dogs'll do the work.

If they overrun something and we ain't ready,

we don't have to worry about getting too many birds.

Right, right. Safety is the point.

[Brad] So Elias, what kinda birds are gonna be out here?

[Elias] So we have, this is a preserve,

so they have hen pheasants, rooster pheasants,

and chukars. And chukars.

What's a chukar? Chukars are

Himalayan partridges.

Easy, hunt it up, alright.

There he goes.

See how we do.

I instantly get nervous. I know, I know,

I know. As many times as you do it

you're like, oh I'm gonna blow this.

[Brad] Oh I know.

[Elias] Watch how intense, when he smells it.

You always wanna run your dogs,

which is tricky right now, you wanna run them

into the wind. Into the wind.

Leather, here! And you run them

into the wind so that they pick up the scent.

Exactly, the scent cone.

The birds are here, the wind comes out.

As it gets further out, they get in a cone.

He'll start finding them and start tailing.

Leather!

[Brad] That dog's working beautifully.

[Elias] Yeah he runs pretty good.

Oh, easy, whoa!

You shoot at a window.

I get 12 o'clock to, what is over here?

Nine. Nine, thank you.

Okay, cool. You get 12 o'clock

to what's over there? We'll go to four o'clock.

Whoa, that's a point. Okay.

Whoa, whoa. Now close.

So I'm just gonna stand on this trail here.

[Elias] Stand on this trail,

I'll go moving in, whoa, Leather.

Yep. If they fly behind them,

let us go. Yep.

[Elias] Let's try not to look like idiots.

Beautiful point, Leath. There's a bird

in that shrub there. In the sage?

Whoa double, okay, double chukars.

Easy, bud.

Hope, whoa.

[guns firing]

Yes! Woo!

[Elias] That's how you do that!

Was that a hit?

Fetch that up, here bud.

Good boy!

[Brad mumbling]

Good job, sir, good boy.

Good fetch! Good pup!

Good fetch. You got one more, Leather.

[Elias] Good boy, dead bird.

Good boy, bud, we got a double.

Alright. That's just how you do that.

That's it.

At the end of the day everyone hates--

Leather! You know,

the industrialization of food,

and these big factory farms that're just cranking out

super unhealthy, you know what doesn't look like this?

Is a factory farmed chicken. Yeah.

You know?

And I mean it happened for a reason

and I'm glad that the momentum is kinda

shifting back away from that.

And, you know, not everyone can go out and hunt,

but if you can, man, this is, in my opinion,

one of the cleanest ways to consume meat.

100%. And you know

and you're out here, it's not just the meat,

you're out here with your friends,

and you know with the dog, and the beautiful nature,

and for me it just really ties you back into your food.

100%. And--

And it's regiving, you're out here,

it's gonna regenerate, you have a chance

for these birds to repopulate and come hang out.

And I mean in these preserves to hunt

are amazing for people like you know

when you come out all the way from New York

and you wanna go out to Oregon and hunt,

if we were not on a preserve and hunting,

we'd be hunting 10 miles and we might see three birds.

This is a good way to get people back into hunting,

or if you're interested, go to a preserve.

Ask, you know, they always have trainer

and dog handlers out there,

and then just see if you love it.

See how hard it actually is to teach these dogs

and catch these birds.

But cool, carry on, I'll throw this here in my,

this here bird bag area in the back, Filson, thanks bud.

[Elias] Leather, Leather! [whistling]

We got a big crowd to look good in front of here today, bud.

It could be running on, too. Yeah, totally.

Another thing with these birds, Vinny go over here bud.

Another thing with with these birds, man,

they really they'll run on you like turkeys, you know?

Flying is kind of their last resort of defense, you know?

But like if they can get on the ground

and just they run like chickens, man.

[Elias] Oh I got a chukar in front of me, Leather, here.

See if he, there it is.

Whoa, good point, bud.

Whoa.

Ready for this Brad?

I can see you. Not even moving.

[Elias] What the hell, there we go.

[gun firing]

[Brad] That one got away!

[Elias] Leather, hold on!

Leave it!

You know I'm fine with that, you know?

It's only fair, you know?

The thing outplayed us.

Hypothetically you could hit them all,

but it's almost-- Always another bird.

I almost kinda like when one gets away.

That's a point. You know?

As long as you get something first.

That's a point. Back on?

Oh Vinny, enough of the interview.

[Elias] Whoa.

Leather, leave it!

Is that two in a row we've missed?

[Brad] Yes, sir!

I didn't even see it, didn't count.

I fell.

[Brad and Elias laughing]

Fat, sweaty, Greek dude falling down, no big deal.

Sorry about that.

Sorry your dad's an idiot.

Found some mud though, didn't you?

Perfect [laughs].

So at a young age, at least my approach, is

like you get these dogs at three months old.

And then what I like to do is get them out

into this country and let them run.

If I see a quail, covey of quail, on the road

I let the young dog out and then you just like

build this drive they get.

They smell it and something's in them

that just charges up, right?

And they're like, oh my God the best thing ever.

You just like get it into them,

and this is the greatest, and then they come back

to the car and you give them a stick

of Olympia Provision salami.

[Brad laughing] [cash register dinging]

Making everything just so enjoyable.

Just so there's now way, you know,

back in the old dog world they would just

try to beat the rules into them,

and obedience, walk next to you, everything.

To me, the dogs I like to hunt on

are the ones that have personality, right?

They just run out there and you can literally

see them being like this is the greatest thing

that's ever happened to me.

Leather!

Hey!

[blowing whistle]

He's like [beeping] what's up with this camera stuff, Pops?

[Brad and Elias laughing]

Yeah he looks good for his first time out.

You kinda stayed in shape, huh, like me?

[Brad laughing] 'Bout average right there.

Then once you get them all super jazzed up,

then your whole goal is to teach them to stop.

You teach them the three commands

you gotta teach a bird dog is here,

which is harder than you think.

Right. Like the second they hear,

they should come back.

Whoa, that's when they, you should say whoa,

whenever and they hear the word whoa, they should stop.

And then out.

Get out there.

And then the whistles are great.

[whistle blowing]

[Brad] What does that mean?

Circle back? Four whistles

should be coming back, which he did.

Good boy. Usually what happens

if they go out of sight, four whistles is eye contact.

They come up 'till they see you,

or the orange, and you spot them, then they go hunt.

If you hear four whistles and they don't come back,

they're on point. Dog's smarter than me.

[laughs] He blows my mind every day.

Good boy, you're doing so good, we're idiots.

We're idiots. I know that.

We're idiots!

Yeah, good boy. Oh yeah.

[Elias] Let's slow it down for you.

Oh you needed that.

[Brad] These dogs, they'll run

and work until they fall down.

[Elias] Yeah you can really,

this type of terrain, when it's this dry out,

you really gotta pace them 'cause they will.

They just wanna please you.

They wanna please themselves.

Easy, bud. Oh a deer.

[Elias] Where at?

Oh, rad! Bunch of them, black-tail?

[Elias] No, mule-ies.

Whole bunch of them. Yeah.

That's what I wondered, that's what he's smelling.

Boy, that's a nice little herd, huh?

That's why we come out here, nature.

Staring contest, you, me, remember that?

[Brad laughing]

Alright, he's on point. He's on point?

[Elias] Whoa, there we go, here we go, no missing.

No misses. Back on, Brad.

What's that thing-- Easy.

[Brad] You always say, Vince?

It's like clear head, open hearts, or some [beeping]?

[Elias] It's right there, pheasant rooster.

[Brad] Yeah?

[Elias] Oh it's moving. [Brad mumbling]

It's moving.

We'll go back. Whoa, Leather, whoa!

Whoa. There he goes.

We didn't have a shot, you know?

I'd rather try it again--

Oh 100%. Than force a shot.

[Elias] Yeah don't ever.

If it's-- Point.

You know it's painful to watch, you know,

one of the birds fly away like that.

Especially a big, old rooster pheasant,

but we didn't have a safe shot

and, you know, it's always a good rule of.

You know you can always go hunt more, you know?

I'd rather not take a shot then throw some risky shot

out there, I mean, that's not even an option.

[Elias] Get that.

[Brad] No shot.

Hey Elias, I can't help but notice

you keep picking up shells. Yeah.

[Brad] We're not doing a lot of shooting.

But I notice you're doing the right thing

just picking up other people's.

[Elias] I just can't believe people

could come out to a place like this

and be like eh, [beeping] it. Yep.

[Elias] Yeah what this place needs

is a little garnish. Right, right.

Litter. Little manmade plastic.

That'll tie it all together. Just 'cause other people

wanna be dirt bags, you know, doesn't mean

we need to be, Vinny.

Pack in pack out, anything you bring with you

you bring home, you know?

Man, this'd be so hard without a dog.

[Elias] Oh my gosh, it's just not,

imagine the exercise it'd be like to do this, disgusting.

[Brad] I don't know if I ever told you,

but I probably did, you would appreciate it.

So when our bird dog passed away--

Yeah? My dad took the tag

off the collar-- Oh.

[Brad] Traced it onto the stock of the gun.

Aw. Chiseled it out--

Get out of here. And then riveted it on to,

the dog's tags on the thing. Aw, God.

He loved that freakin' dog. We gotta get

your dad out here. Oh, we will.

Straight ahead of me. Leather, whoa!

Do not move, whoa.

Yeah, rooster. Pheasant rooster, get him!

[gun firing] Yeah, Brad!

[mumbles] pheasant!

Wow, good boy, Leath!

Good boy! Good boy.

He's like this is hot, here's your bird.

Good boy, pup. Good job.

Gun open, safety on, beautiful.

Smaller one. Yeah.

But one nonetheless.

And look at this, they got these spurs on them.

The male, this is a male pheasant.

Some call it a cock bird, some call it a rooster.

That's it, beautiful thing.

Delicious.

Good shot, too.

Killed it instantly. Yeah.

At the end of the day, the last thing you wanna do

is wound these animals. Yeah.

You don't want the animal to suffer

no matter what you're hunting.

No, exactly, you're just not doing it for sport.

God, it's pretty out here. It sure is, man.

Vince pack it up, we're moving out west.

Oh look, a little tornado.

[Elias] How you smell?

Was it a bird? See that thing?

Little dust devil. Little dust devil!

[Elias] Dust devil. [Brad laughing]

We got a pheasant right here. I see him running!

In front of you? Yeah.

Leather, whoa.

[Brad] Flying down the road. [gun firing]

Oh, mama!

Leather, leave it!

Oh I thought you were a bird [laughs].

[Brad] Here.

Grab, oh that's a nice one. Yeah, nice shot.

[Elias] Whoa, buddy. [gun firing]

[Brad laughing]

We both shot that one. Yeah.

That one came up in my feet, was scary as hell.

Head up, Leath, head up.

He's like it is hot and you want me

to put a hot bird in my mouth?

Beauty, that's the keeper right here.

That thing's heavy.

Leather!

Aw it's a gorgeous, Leather, here!

[Brad] Aw man, look at those colors, Vince.

Look at that. Gorgeous.

Those feathers, such a beautiful bird.

It's so undeniably delicious.

So delicious.

There you go. Oh, is he on?

[Elias] Yeah, oh.

[gun firing]

That was that turkey. Yeah that thing

is afraid of us, it's flying like at a mile away.

That was that bird, though. Yeah, definitely, he's big.

That is the rooster. Ah the Moby Dick.

[Elias] Ah, the one that got away, classic!

There's a hen!

Where? He's getting it.

I think he got it. Good boy, Leath!

[Brad] Dog's hunting better than us.

[Elias] Yeah, he's like sick of our shit.

[gun firing]

He's down, I got him.

[jazzy music]

Alright, cool, so we took a little break.

We're gonna swap dogs.

Leather's gonna be getting some water.

You know he ran hard, and we're gonna pick up Utah.

That's gonna be, oh what's that Vince?

What's on my head?

You ever hear of a little something called goobalini vision?

Listen, we're gonna get them birds.

Alright, we're gonna be a good boy,

and we're gonna get them birds.

And you listen to Papa, alright?

You be a good boy.

Oh my God, I wanna kiss him [laughs].

[Elias] [laughs] He's heartbreaking.

[both laughing] He's like enough of this talk!

Kay, bud.

[Brad] Doggy vision!

That thing ain't gonna work.

[Elias] Right here, whoa!

[gun firing]

[Brad] One's down.

[Elias] Fetch, bud, can you do that yet?

Show us what you got.

Look at this guy. You wanna let him get it?

Let him see it? Yeah.

Come here, bud.

Utah! For the sake

of the viewer here, why do you wanna, like,

present the bird to the dog?

So he knows that it's not only to find it.

Good boy!

Yeah good boy! Dead bird, good boy!

Good boy, that's yours.

[Brad] I remember my dad doing that

when he was training the dog. Exactly.

As much as you can get that stuff in them

and make them stoked to do it.

Good boy! Turn it into a game.

Dead bird! That's a good, young boy!

That's a point, whoa.

I'll try to get him out this way.

Cool. Whoa.

I see him, he's right in front of you.

Whoa. Right underneath

that pine tree. Whoa Utah, good boy.

Whoa. Look at that cock bird.

There he goes.

[gun firing]

[Elias] Good shot.

Get it, Ute, good boy, good boy!

Get him super praised. Good boy, pup.

Good boy. Get him super praised.

Yeah, good boy! Good boy!

[Elias] Yeah he's doing it, the little guy, huh?

Yeah he's doing alright.

Don't let your mom know about this.

Whoa. [Brad mumbling]

I don't know if that was that hen.

This is birdy as hell, huh?

[gun firing]

[laughs] I think you hit it. Think I got that one.

Yeah. Fetch it, bud.

God, that'd be good, I can't get that.

Bring it to Dad, here.

[Brad] Oh yeah.

That's that turkey that flew away.

That feeds a family of three right there.

That thing's huge, so beautiful.

[jazzy music]

Sound speed.

You know what that means? Nope.

Me neither. [both laughing]

So Elias, I mean, I grew up, you know,

my dad kinda we'd go bird hunting,

and that was just kinda something that we did together,

you know, when I was a little younger.

It was, at first, it was kind of annoying,

like oh we're gonna get up early and this and that.

But like, and I got out of it for awhile,

and now man I'm just really being drawn back into it.

And you know I never got to ask you,

like, how'd you get into bird hunting?

Yeah, my family, you know my father came from Greece

and this was definitely like a way to get meat.

Right. Up before sunrise

every single day off we were hunting.

Doing it to fill the table. Yeah.

You know my dad took it very, very serious.

And it is, it's like-- It is serious.

It's an escape from whatever you have to do,

the sport and the activity of hunting.

But if you're in it to actually, like I am you know,

fill the table, and get a lot of meat,

and eat these amazing birds that you can go find here.

Whatever it is it's amazing.

So I've hunted I think, you know, since I was a kid,

just like you, then I took you know

got distracted with high school.

Yeah same exact happened to me.

And then you go out one more time

and it's just in you, all of a sudden

you're just-- I'm hooked, man.

Yeah get back out there, watch the dogs work.

What was one of your favorite dishes growing up?

Like how'd you guys cook them?

You know my dad Greek, we'd make avgolemono.

Yeah got that. Have you ever had that?

Like Greek lemon custard-- Yeah.

With rice, but we would take the game birds,

make the chicken, or the pheasant broth, game bird broth,

pull the meat off of it, thicken it with lemon custard,

dill, lemon on top of it, cold feta and olive oil.

How good is that? That's, dude.

How good is that wild game like stock?

It's heaven! It's unbelievable,

right? I mean-- You can't, and that's

the thing it's you chase these things

and you start tasting, you start noticing the nuances.

You shoot a grouse in the cascades

that's full of berries, you take it home

and it tastes sweet like berries.

It's got a whole-- You shoot a chukar

that's been in sage and sheet grass

and it has this unbelievable sage flavor.

You can't buy that. Right.

Yeah I gotta thank you again

for bringing us out here, man. No it's the best.

It's such, for me, it's just a beautiful way

if you're interested in hunting,

and I mean let's face it, not everyone can hunt.

Or is in a position to.

I still go to the supermarket

and I still get that clean chicken.

And there's nothing wrong with that, you know?

But there is something really special

to going out and hunting and gathering food on your own

that was wild and bringing it back

and feeding your family and friends with it.

And there's just something to really be said about that.

We're gonna head out and we're gonna do one more push,

try to get a few more birds,

but after that you guys should tune in.

We're gonna do a part two where we're gonna go back

to Elias' house, we're gonna dress these birds,

we're gonna cook them, make a meal together,

and show you all that good stuff.

So, thanks for joining, guys.

We're gonna do one more push and hey, bon appetit.

Oh that's good.

That man is a pro these days, huh?

Brad Leone. Lee-oh-nee, it's cool.

A lot of people forget. Lee-oh-nee.

Nobody pronounces the E. It's cool,

I can't pronounce anything.

[Brad and Elias laughing]

I could do this all freakin' day.

Oh yeah, easy, every day. Every day.

[grand orchestral music]

Hey, bud.

I mean just like I keep saying this over and over

I feel like in different episodes, but like.

You know, at the end of the day.

At the end of the day.

At the end of the day.

At the end of the day.

At the end of the day.

You know, at the end of the day.

But at the end of the day.

You know, at the end of the day.

The end of the day, you know, someone's gotta do it.

[jazzy music]