Ducks Unlimited Podcast

Matt Harrison: Hey everyone, Matt Harrison here with the Ducks Unlimited podcast and we are back today and we have a very, very, very special guest. We have former NFL player, former Super Bowl champion, Mr. Derek Wolf. Derek, it is so great to have you on.

Derek Wolfe: It's my pleasure, man. Really, it's a great honor.

Matt Harrison: Awesome. Yeah, we're going to jump in and we're going to talk about all things hunting, all things sports, and we're going to have a great time discussing that. But before we jump into those questions, Derek, will you give our listeners just a little bit of a background about where you're from and kind of your introduction to the outdoors?

Derek Wolfe: Yeah. So I grew up in Northeast Ohio, right there where West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio all meet. So hunting was like, we got the first day of deer season off from school every year. We had drive your tractor to school day. So I came from a pretty country. I lived in the inner city a little bit, but my stepdad was from the country. Wow. I lived in the inner city till I was like 11 or 12. And then we moved to the country, back to the country. And it's right along the Ohio River. A lot of deer hunting. It's football, hunting, and wrestling. That's the three most important things in life up there. So that's where it started for me. My stepdad would take me out when I was a kid. You know, he was, he wasn't like a great man and he didn't treat me very good, but you know, he did introduce me to the two things that I had ended up loving the most, which you can see behind me, hunting and football, you know, um, and he introduced those to me and you know, he didn't, he didn't really support me through it, but at least he introduced it to me. And, and, uh, you know, the hunting, the aspect of hunting for him was just to kind of set me under a tree and tell me not to move, you know, stay there. But I enjoyed being out there and I enjoyed going out and kicking the brush for him, trying to get rabbits and pheasants to fly and stuff like that. Obviously, I've been on my own since we stopped hunting together when I was like 11 or 12. We only had to go a couple times. I was lucky enough to live in an area where other people did hunt. And I picked up a bow. I picked up a bow with one of my buddies and his older brother had a hand-me-down bow that I could shoot. And I picked it up and I shot it the first time. I was like, I'm addicted. I was like, at 12, 13 years old. Killed my first whitetail buck with a bow at 13. I killed my first turkey that year too with a shotgun. it just kind of carried on. And then in high school, it was one of those things where, you know, during the fall, if you got a little bit of time off, you'd sneak out and try to shoot something. But, you know, it just didn't really happen. You have to put the time in and I just didn't have the time to put in. So I kind of took a seat, a back seat while I focused on this. Let me, let me, let me master this thing real quick. And at this football thing and focus on that. And then I went to college, went to Cincinnati on a full scholarship and, you know, I'd still love to fish. I love being outdoors, so we would find things to do. Just hunting was just not going to happen because there was no time. And then when I got to the NFL in the off season, I would get to go do some pig hunts in Florida and stuff like that. And then finally, in 2018, I went on a hunt. And in 2019, I went on another hunt in the off season. And then I went down, I got picked up by Baltimore. And Baltimore County has some of the best deer hunting there is. Really? As far as numbers go. I'm not talking, you're not going to kill a lot of giants up there, but they got 120, 130 inch deer all day. I mean, you kill three bucks and you can kill unlimited does. So when I got there, we were, it was COVID. So the, uh, the meetings weren't in person anymore. So we were just doing our virtual meetings. So I just, I figured out that, uh, I was like, I don't like hunting from a climbing, a ladder stand cause it sticks out. These, uh, climbing stands are too big and I stick out in these things. Uh, so I started I picked up saddle on really and from a tree saddle. Yeah, because it just hides my profile better So I would just pop open my bino harness and put my phone and put my headphones in and just that's how I did my meetings I shot a bunch of a lot of shots. So many of those while you were meeting Yeah, while I was in meetings because a lot of them you don't have to say anything. There's nothing to be said, you know They're just going over Game plan stuff. So and there's only so many ways an offense line They're not putting anything complicated in either because they can't meet either. So it's like you know, especially when you're playing teams that you've already played once that year, you know, in your, in your division. So it's just, and a lot of these teams I'd played for, for years while I was here in Denver too, cause it was all AFC teams. So I already knew what we were doing and I knew the defense, but I was listening, you know, just in case it was something I didn't, I needed to know, I would, I keep a little pen pad with me so I could write notes if I really need to. That didn't happen often because I just, I knew Yeah, I was hunting. They didn't care. Coaches did not care. They thought it was hilarious. You know, yeah, the G our GM was actually like hooking. The GM of the team was actually hooking me up with like good hunting spots, landowners and stuff. Oh, he was awesome. He put me on one of this, one really good spot that was like, I never seen anything like it. Only one person hunts this like 400 acre. Oh my goodness. Spot. And he was like, he's like, dude, there's deer everywhere. He's like, I need help killing them. So that's how I got back into it and then retired. And then I played 2020, 2021, and then retired after that season because my hips were just had enough and my brain had had enough. I was tired of being away from my family, and then I decided, I was like, you know what, man? I was like, I got to have something to look forward to when September gets here. So I'd always dreamed of elk hunting as a kid. That was just a dream. You know, just chasing bugum and bulls with a bow. It seemed so out of reach for a kid, you know, that poor kid from Ohio. I didn't even fly on an airplane until I got to college. I didn't leave Ohio, but that little tri-state area, I never left. I never got out of there. So that was everything. Little Appalachian towns were all I knew. So to pay a couple thousand dollars to go hunt elk would just seem like something crazy. But now I'm retired, I'm older. I didn't understand any of this stuff that was going on. I didn't understand the draw, because I just wasn't paying attention to it while I was playing. I just thought, oh, we're out West. You could just get an elk tag. I live here in Colorado. I just get a good tag no matter what. And then I found out that is wrong, very wrong. So I cut my teeth over the counter for a week and didn't see an elk, but I covered like 100 miles. You put in the time. Yeah. I mean, there was one day I did about, I did like two miles straight and never touched the ground on this blowdown. All this blowdown was so bad, I never touched the ground. I don't know what I was thinking about going up in there. I had figured out all these on X maps and stuff and was like, Oh, this looks like a good spot. I don't know what the hell I'm doing. Let's go. Yeah. So, but my wife had gifted me, um, for Christmas that year, a landowner voucher down in New Mexico, unit 34. So I got to go do that after that. And I was like, Whoa, this is awesome. You know, it was like, I remember at one point I complained, I said, man, there's too many bulls in here. I don't know what to do. There was too many. There was like four of them sounding off, like right around me. And I didn't know what to do. I was like, I don't know which, I don't know what to do. I don't know where to put myself. So we just set ourselves up in a spot and started calling them. And on the fifth day, finally, I mean, I did, I put the work in on that one too. I did 80 something miles in four and a half days.

Matt Harrison: That is unbelievable.

Derek Wolfe: of the industry and for outdoorsmen. That's all outdoorsmen, not just boat hunters, not just duck hunters, not just turkey hunters. We're all outdoorsmen. We have to stick together. So I feel like that's kind of my purpose here. You don't see a lot of celebrities. I say that with quotations because I don't view myself as a celebrity. I'm just a dude playing football. I still get shocked when people want to have a conversation with me. It's still like, well, I don't feel entitled to that at all. It's a great honor. There's going to be a day when nobody wants your autograph. That's why I sign every autograph that comes my way. I don't ever turn anybody down or I don't turn a picture down because you never want somebody to meet you and be like, man, that guy sucked. He was an asshole or he didn't give me the time of day. So I try to treat everybody how I would want to be treated if I walked up to them. And that's why I love this industry because I came out of football and was missing that family camaraderie, everybody in it for one goal and one singular thing, but there's still competition in there. And that's what this industry can give you.

Matt Harrison: Well, that's awesome, especially to hear, you know, where you're from, how you got started. And a lot of that relates to me. I'm from, born and raised in central Mississippi and super small town, exactly how you said. It's sports and it is outdoors. Like that is where I was raised. I didn't get on a plane till later in my life too, till I really started, you know, working and traveling. And it's really cool to see how, you know, you're, We're thousands of miles apart, and yet it still relates to both of us. So it's really cool to see how sports and outdoors, how it collides, and just the backgrounds there and the time. You were talking about how you just didn't have much time in college, but you still wanted to get outdoors, and that's what you were passionate about, and it's what you love. And it's what you came back around to, which is really, really cool to see how you can't just give up on a passion like that. So that's awesome to hear how you got involved with that. Moving on, I want you to talk a little bit, Derek, about your, not only your duck hunt with Ducks Unlimited, which was this past year and y'all had a great, great hunt. I was able to watch the episode. It looks like y'all had a wonderful time. But how did you get involved with Ducks Unlimited? When was kind of the first time you heard about Ducks Unlimited and our mission? So if you can just elaborate a little bit on how that relationship started.

Derek Wolfe: So, so first of all, everybody knows what Ducks Unlimited is. If you ever, if you have ever turned on any kind of hunt show, anytime, anything, you've seen Ducks Unlimited and, you know, and that's, I've always, ever since I was a little kid, I knew what Ducks Unlimited was. So there wasn't something, I didn't know what it was, but, um, you know, the story goes, um, there's a guy named Lane Walter and I met Lane through a guy named Omar Avila, who goes by Crispy. Um, you know, I don't know if you know who Crispy is, but Crispy, he's a, he's a wounded vet. And Crispy and I became friends because when I was in Baltimore, and if I wasn't hunting, because like I said, I was out there with my family, I was playing Call of Duty. We became friends playing Call of Duty. And then we decided we were going to do a turkey hunt together, and I was flying out of Denver, and so was Lane. And that's how Lane and I met, was on that turkey hunt. Um, from Lane, everything else had come from Lane because we just like hit it off. He became a really good friend of mine. Um, he produces my podcast every now and then he does, you know, he does now that I have Iron Clyde producing now. So that's, it's, I don't really, I could do it myself. I don't need somebody doing it. But he's been just such a huge help in this. But he reached out and was like, hey man, Ducks Unlimited wants to do a duck hunt. I was like, yes, immediately. Yes. You're in. Hell yeah, because I know it's going to be in a good spot. I know we're going somewhere good. And he was like, all right, cool. So he set it up. And then I didn't find out till the night before that it was on a golf course. And dude, I was so jacked up. I got so fired up. I was like, can we only get to do one day? And he was like, yeah, we're going to go one day. And I was like,

Matt Harrison: Because every time you ride past a golf course, there's either geese or ducks.

Derek Wolfe: There's always. There's geese, ducks, elk, turkey deer, turkeys. Everything you want to hide is on a golf course. Just ripping up their golf course.

Matt Harrison: Let me come take care of it. And that was really cool to see, you know, a lot of people, you know, maybe like, wow, y'all are hunting on a golf course, you know, and of course there was permission granted for that, but it's really cool to see in the episode how y'all set up and how y'all went about that hunt. You know, it was such a successful hunt, but just not many people can say that they shot limits on a golf course. Quick, too. We did it quick. Yeah.

Derek Wolfe: I had to get out of there quick. I wish I could have stayed longer because I was having a good time, but I had to get out of there and we limited out so quick. I was like, oh, okay. You got time. I got time, but we were sitting right on top of a sand trap and had a nice little spread out there. It was just so much fun, man. I had a blast.

Matt Harrison: That's awesome, and you can tell in the episode, and if y'all hadn't watched that episode, be sure to go and watch that. It's a really, really cool, awesome hunt that Derek was able to attend, and you know, it's great footage, and it looks like y'all just had a wonderful time. But one of the things, Derek, I heard you talk about in that episode was… passing this down to future generations, the conservation, the camaraderie, the whole nine, you know, how important that is to get younger generations involved, passing it down the line. So can you talk a little bit about what that means to you and how important that is to you to get people involved in conservation?

Derek Wolfe: Yeah, it's, well, think about it, man. Where would I be right now Even if I did make it to the NFL, what would be my purpose? I had a purpose when I came out of this, which was to focus on the outdoors, to be in the outdoors. And that gives me the mental clarity and the reset that I need to be a functioning father and husband. It is so good for my mental health. Now imagine if nobody had introduced that to me. I would have never done it. It's not something you just go do. Exactly. Bingo. Some people do it. You don't just wake up one day and be like, you know what? Like I think I'm gonna I think I'm gonna go hunt because it's not late.

Matt Harrison: That's not how the freezing cold and stand in the water Yeah, good luck.

Derek Wolfe: You know, I mean you're gonna hate it cuz you're not gonna know what the hell you're doing You're gonna get out there and be like I have no like you gotta have mentors that teach everything I learned I learned I love being around all I love being in like a What I love most about duck camp is there's always an old always always an old got a thousand different stories They got a thousand stories, they got the best jokes, and they tell the same joke every damn day.

Matt Harrison: Every day, and you still laugh every time.

Derek Wolfe: You still laugh every time. I heard you tell that joke three times now, and I'm still laughing.

Matt Harrison: It's like they never even thought that they told it the day before.

Derek Wolfe: No, they forget totally that they said it. But those old timers, you learn something from them. The things that I've learned from these old timers, I'm always learning. I don't know shit when it comes to hunting. I've only been in this a little bit, fully focused on this. And I don't get to put the kind of time in to go out and scout and do all this other stuff that guys get to do. But I'm lucky and blessed enough. and grateful for the people around me because I got people that will go do it, you know? And they'll let me know. They don't keep it a secret. They give me little tidbits and I'll still screw it up.

Matt Harrison: If you're not messing something up, though, you're never learning.

Derek Wolfe: I mean, when I got into the saddle hunting, it was like, you want to talk about a disaster? It's like a yard sale out there in the woods. You know, deer coming through here. I got ropes and shit everywhere. I had taken off my whole base layer because I was dying, sweating.

Matt Harrison: And how tall are you? I'm 6'6". 6'6", up in a tree in a saddle. I can see it now.

Derek Wolfe: 300 pounds up there, swinging around.

Matt Harrison: Trying to get a deer to come in.

Derek Wolfe: Trying to get a deer to come in. This is so silly, but it works. It works.

Matt Harrison: You made a really good point there, Derek. You said, you know, not many people just get up and just say, hey, I'm going to go try this. Yeah, don't get me wrong. I'm sure that there's been some people say that. But that's a great point of saying how important it is for us to get the youth and older, not just youth, but to get people involved in this and show them the ropes. Because my- Exactly, you said it. Yeah, I had a papaw who thankfully at a very young age showed me the outdoor side of things. He was a huge deer hunter, he loved to deer hunt, and me and my brother, like, all we wanted to do was take 15 bags of chips and break every stick in the woods and run off every deer. But exactly how you said, he was there to teach us and to show us, and if you don't have that, Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of people out there that have learned on their own. But it is so much easier to find somebody to help you get involved in the outdoors and to show you the ropes exactly how you set it. And without that, the future generations are just missing out on such awesome opportunities from us.

Derek Wolfe: Well, you know, it's also because when you said it perfect, you have, it's not just about bringing the youth into this. It's about, you know, that's an important piece, but if we can find guys that are like in there, you know, you might find a guy that's anywhere from 19 to 50 who has never hunted, right? Exactly. And if you can just, cause I say 50 because I'm what the next piece that I'm going to say, I'm not saying you can't, you know, I'm just saying, Uh, when it comes to like physical fitness, right? Like a lot of people after 50, like they, you know, they, they stopped doing like group workouts and stuff like that. Like they don't want to, they just don't want to do that. They do their own thing. Um, and, but I, but what I'm saying is that there's, there's programs now with mountain tough. Um, I work out, I work out at a place called Rocky mountain strength with a guy named Zach Patron, who, It's a great gym because you can do whatever you want there, as far as going in and you can get out of it what you want, be a part of a group. And it is like bow hunting and hunting and mountain hunting related, right? So it's like now you got guys coming in that have never hunted before, but now they're like, man, I picked up a bow and I'm shooting a bow now. You know, I'm really interested in this, you know, and it's some, it gives them something in like a healthy hobby, you know what I mean? You know, instead of, instead of chasing a bottle or chasing, you know, you know, especially with kids, man, like you worry about these kids with the video games, you know, that's their like video games. Okay. There's a, there's a time and a place for it, but these kids get obsessed with it. Right. And then they don't want to go outside. They don't want to go outside. They don't want to do anything outside. But if you take them outside, yeah, I get it. I don't want to just go on a hike for no reason. Especially at that age. Now I'll do it because I'm older and I can appreciate being out there. But if you teach a kid how to shoot a bow, how to shoot a rifle, how to shoot a shotgun, get them out there. Get them interested in it because I guarantee you get one of them thunder chickens coming in. 13, 14.

Matt Harrison: Oh, dude. It'll make a grown man just shake.

Derek Wolfe: Oh, make you lose your mind. Put the voodoo on you.

Matt Harrison: I gotta tell this quick story real quick. Just talking on that, man. Just the excitement, you know, and this is what this is about. You know, I was able to harvest a turkey a couple weeks ago in Mississippi and talking about just the energy. My brother, you know, we both played college baseball. We loved it. Just loved to compete, loved the sport, but we also loved outdoors. My brother don't get worked up for much, you know, but we had a turkey man. It's exactly what you said. He was just hammering, hammering, hammering, and we were just right behind a little bitty knoll and you couldn't see the turkey. But you knew each time he gobbled, he got closer and closer till it finally got to the point I said, he's here. And my brother, we're sitting up against the pine, probably this big, and I can promise you the top of the pine was doing this from him shaking. My brother's just sitting over there, he's like, Matt, I don't think I can do it. I was like, Michael, just calm down, you're gonna make me start shaking. But you know, just that, getting the youth, getting the older people, getting every walk of life, that experience. Like, you know, you know it more than anybody. You know, before you ran out of that tunnel for the Super Bowl. I, of course, I've never done that. I can't imagine that. Can't even fathom that. But just the excitement, the energy that people don't experience unless they get shown or unless they're taught. And that's why it's so important for us as outdoorsmen, as conservationists, to pay it forward, to show them, and to show them the ropes. And so, you know, there's nothing like it, you know. It's truly, truly our responsibility. It's our responsibility. If you call yourself a conservationist, outdoorsman, or hunter, or fisherman, it is our responsibility who show them how it's supposed to be done.

Derek Wolfe: Absolutely. You know, you know, that's the other thing, you know, you talk about me running out of a tunnel or sacking quarterbacks in the, in the Super Bowl. And, you know, like I, I always think people think, you know, I think about this about one play. There's one play in my career that really stands out because it's an AFC championship game. So that's the game right before the Super Bowl. We're playing the Patriots. We're only winning by two points and they're driving on us. And I, I like ran, I like, I did, I just, I had to just put in so much effort to make this play happen and I got him. I got Tom Brady. Bro, you sacked Tom Brady? I sacked Tom Brady a lot. But I get him in the AFC championship game and I jumped up and stood over him and howled. And it was like, the energy from the fans was, I mean, it was so loud right before the play. It was like, I don't know. You know when the music is so loud that you can't even hear the music anymore? That's how it is when all that sound is like directed right at you in the stands. It is like, it's just, you're just vibrating at that point.

Matt Harrison: Did you just feel like you were floating?

Derek Wolfe: Like, I can't even fathom. Yeah, you do. You just feel like you're floating. And, and that like, that, but that's, it's short lived because it's like, all right, next time. Yeah. Like we run off the field and it's like, you know, I mean, we're back on the field, like it's, you know, but I, what I, what I try to tell people is that, You can get that same feeling because you know what felt even better than that? What had an even bigger rush than that? A 900 pound bugling bull at 40 yards. And then you just let an arrow go and you hear it whacking in both lungs.

Matt Harrison: I've never experienced that, but that's one of my bucket list, and I can't imagine.

Derek Wolfe: That feeling, that feeling of when I, like, because it was different from anything I'd ever felt before, but it was something that I, it was almost like when I held that trophy up. So when I was seven years old, I watched Reggie White carry the Super Bowl trophy above his head for the Green Bay Packers, and he had his shoulder pads on, and he put the championship t-shirt over his jersey. And I was like, and he ran around the field with that. And I said, man, now that's, that's what like, that's what gave me the bug was like watching that. You know what I mean? And then I got to do it. And that feeling of like, oh, I did it. Like it happened. That's how it, that is the exact feeling I had when I walked up and put my hands on that bull. Because when I shot him, You know how it is. You have an elk on it, I don't know, but when you do it, man, it is like, it almost happens. It almost happens. They almost come. They decide they're not coming. And it's like, well, this one sounded grown, but he comes in and he's just a dink, you know? So it's just all this stuff goes on and you're hiking and hiking and working and trying to get, you know. And it's like when it finally happens, it's the same way that football is because you hunt the quarterback over and over and over and over. And then finally you get it. And then it's like you do all this stuff to just make one moment happen. Right. And especially with elk, because you might you might 364 days. you had been working up to that one moment and then you made it happen, right? It's unlike anything else that you could do in life. And then you can get little, there's little pieces of that that you can get, right? So like I had never really been goose hunting. And the goose hunt I did do was like kind of shitty and we didn't really see a lot. So when we did that golf course hunt and those damn things come in there like a A 747. They come in there like a 747. And you're just like, oh, wait, wait. It's crazy because you're like, you want to go, you want to go, you want to go. I want to shoot, I want to shoot. But you're like, wait, wait, wait. And it's like, all right, kill it. And then everybody jumps up and it's like, boom, boom. It's just absolute madness. You know what I mean? And then the dust settles and there's maybe like three birds dead.

Matt Harrison: And you're like, come on, guys.

Derek Wolfe: So that's, that's, you get that, like, that's the feeling. So anybody that's done it, that, that thinks like, oh man, I wonder what that's like to, to go out there and sack a quarterback in the NFL or to have a big, make a big play in a big game, you know, or run out of a tunnel. There really is no, like, to come out of the tunnel, like, I felt like I was in the WWE when I come out of that tunnel. I come out and I, and I'd wait, I knew exactly, especially for a home game, because I knew exactly when the, the Pyros would come out. So I would like get up to the Pyros and then Oh, like how I would, how they would come up and then I'd run out, you know, and that, that was great. But when you make a play, cause it's like this buildup. Cause rape, like, especially on a third down play, the crowd, like a home crowd and a playoff game is so loud. It's so loud that it's vibrating. Like you're vibrating. You're just like, so you can either like, you have to hyper focus so hard on that one moment. It's the same way when you draw your bow back. Like when you draw your bow back on an animal, you're so like, there's no room to like, can't make a mistake because this, this little mistake at four, by the time that arrow gets to 40 yards might, you know, so it's the same way with, with football. I can't, I can't take a second to think I have to just be there. You're like totally in the moment. And that's what it feels like when I'm bow hunting or when I'm any kind of hunting, especially like on a, even a turkey, cause you can't even blink. Like they'll see you blink. Literally. So you're just like, oh shit. When I'm in a tree stand and a doe walks by me and she starts acting weird. So that's like, you know what I mean? Exactly. It's like you're just dead still. And you're like, I can't move. And you're so focused on like not move. Don't breathe. Don't breathe.

Matt Harrison: Don't even breathe. Don't blink. Don't move.

Derek Wolfe: Then, like, somehow everything starts itching whenever that happens. So, you got itches in your nose and itches in your… I know, literally.

Matt Harrison: Your throat starts drying up.

Derek Wolfe: You gotta sneeze. I gotta cough. Why do I have to cough so bad? Like, oh, I've had to pee. I've had to pee for two hours. Why do I gotta pee so bad? You know, like, that's… But that's, like, that's why it's so much fun because if you screw it up, you can learn from it. Yeah. And then it's like, then you can go to the next one. And then these stories are what you hope to inspire the other the other people that want to get into this. And I'm talking about with kids, I really would like to find programs that can help kids that would never be introduced to the outdoors. I think there's a lot of good that can come from this. And it teaches you a lot about life. You learn a lot about life. You have a lot of time to sit and think. And that's the thing, man. You don't see these kids. These aren't the kind of kids that are going to go do outdoors. People in the outdoors industry are some of the best humans I've ever met. Same with the kids. Like when I was growing up, those kids that were like diehard hunters, they didn't even want to play football because they just wanted to be in the outdoors. They were some of the best friends that you could ever have because they'd always be there for you. And that's the way that it's been coming out of the NFL is having so many good people in this industry to help lift me up out of the darkness that I fall into sometimes.

Matt Harrison: It's just great. I wish every person could experience that. You wish you could just bottle that up and give it away. That's why I'm so passionate about doing what I do is for future generations. I want them to get involved. But when it comes to sports, when it comes to hunting, when it comes to outdoors, there's doing it, and then there's doing it the right way. Will you talk a little bit just about how important it is to do it the right way and not just, you know, when you're teaching these, when you're teaching anybody in the outdoor world, teach them the right way of hunting, of enjoying the outdoors. Will you just kind of elaborate on that a little bit?

Derek Wolfe: Well, yeah, because it's not even just about like, what is the right way to go and make a kill, right? What is your purpose for doing this? Why are you out here, right? Because at the end of the day, you're taking a life, right? And you want to make sure you do that in the right way and in an ethical way. And you want to make sure you're doing it for the right reasons. Make sure you're not just out there bloodthirsty. Because that's what the unfortunate side of this is that there's, as much as we love this, there's another side that absolutely despises our way of life. Because they can't stand, they can't stand that a human would want to take another, an animal's life. It's something about, they're wired different than we are. And that's okay, they can be that way. I feel like you need a good balance. That's why it's so important for us to do things the right way, because that side is looking for any reason, any reason to try to take it away from us. They're working every day, they're raising money every day to try to take our privileges from us. Because hunting isn't a right, it's a privilege. No, it really is. We live in the greatest country on this good earth, because there's no other country that gets to hunt the way we get to hunt. There's not. Show me another one. They're not. They've been out, they've been overhunted, and their conservation models are now to where you can't do anything. There's some places, when I say country, I'm talking about North America. The North American model of conservation, that is the most important thing to preserve because it is the gold standard and it works. We've brought animals back from damn near extinction to where now there's a season on them where you can hunt them. So that shows you right there that it works. And that's what's most important is preserving that mentality of like, look, I'm going to do it the right way. And the right way means I'm going to do it lawfully, I'm going to do it ethically, and I'm going to do it for the right reasons. And I think if you can keep those three things, you can keep your integrity as a hunter. Because that's the one thing I do love about this industry is Once you do some poaching or do some bullshit, they check your ass on it. You're shunned, you know what I mean? Because you're giving us all a bad name. And it's the same way in the NFL, man. Most of us in the NFL, we're good dudes. But there's those couple guys that gives us a bad name. When I met my wife, she was a waitress. She was a high-end waitress in Vegas. And most athletes are just entitled assholes. She just she felt like that was probably how I was going to be too. And then she met me and realized I wasn't. And I was like, I understand what you think because I've been out with these guys where they think they're entitled to something just because of who they are. And you know what I mean? At the end of the day, man, we're all the same. All I do is play football. It doesn't make me any better or worse than anybody. So what I hope people can judge me on is my character. And I've learned a lot of good character traits from being an outdoors kid and as an adult now, even picking up traits from these old timers, things that they say to me, that sticks with me. I think of some of the stuff that's been said to me about hunting the wind and stuff like that. I would never think that. I'm always like, what's the best camo I can get? And these guys were like, that camo is bullshit. You don't need it. They're like, that camo is bullshit. You don't need it. You hunt the wind. They used to kill, I mean, these old timers in Ohio, they would kill some of the biggest whitetail. They'd do it wearing jeans and a flannel, smoking a Marlboro Red, cracking a Stroh's. Like these dudes did not care about camo.

Matt Harrison: It was like, hey, if the wind ain't right, I'm not hunting it.

Derek Wolfe: And it worked. And it worked. And I'm talking like some of the biggest whitetail that I ever seen out of there were all by these old timers that they hunted. When they would wake up in the morning, there was this guy on his farm. He'd wake, he killed, I mean, every year he killed 180 inch deer, every year. Oh my goodness. every single year. And he would wake, he'd wake up in the morning, he had a feather outside of his window. And if that wind wasn't blowing right, he wouldn't go. Really? And he said, it cut my hunting time in half. He's like, but I wasn't blowing the deer out of there. Wow. Because if you walk back there when that wind's blowing the wrong way, they all smell you and they all leave and they're not going to come back for a couple of days. So that's that I remember him telling me that and I was that stuck with me Yeah, because I'm stubborn and I'll be like, oh Then you realize it's not working like he's got might have been right Yeah, you know that just hits the the nail on the head with talking about doing it the right way, you know It's it's just so important

Matt Harrison: And the older I get, too, the more, you know, it even just makes even more sense, more sense. You know, when you're young, you may not understand everything that you're supposed to of, hey, look, just because you go hunting and you don't have a successful hunt, quotes, you know, I didn't harvest a turkey, or I didn't kill a bunch of ducks, or I didn't do this, or I didn't kill an elk, or whatever it might be, that doesn't mean it wasn't a successful hunt. You know, and the older I get, the more I just enjoy going and spending time turkey hunting with my brother. Hey, if we got a close encounter with a turkey where one hung up at 75 yards and he gobbled his head off and I learned something, I learned it and that was a successful hunt to me. And that's doing it the right way. It doesn't have to be, and don't get me wrong, of course I want to, every time I go have a successful hunt is in terms of I want to kill a turkey or I want to shoot some ducks. Of course, who doesn't? That's the goal.

Derek Wolfe: But for me, here's the way I look at it, right? What is a successful hunt, right? There's gotta be three things on a hunt, right? There's three things that I always think about on a hunt. Were the people good? Was the food good? And was the hunting good, right? If you can't have, you have to have two of those three, right? So the hunting could suck, but if the food's good and the people are good, it's a great hunt. If the food's good, the people suck, and the hunting's good, Okay, fine. It worked, right? But if you have shitty heart and shitty people and bad food, I'm never coming back.

Matt Harrison: I'm never coming back. No doubt. It's funny and we laugh about it, but that's the truth. You know what I mean? I can't tell you how many hunts I've had where I have came back empty-handed, but have a smile from ear to ear. Actually, probably the most, you know, it's like Michael Jordan said, you learn more from your losses than you do your wins. And I believe in that. wholeheartedly. So when I come back empty-handed, normally I'm like, what can I do to get better? What did I mess up on? How can I correct it? And how can I not do that the next time? So doing it the right way. That's doing it the right way. It's learning. Want to learn. Enjoying being out there. Enjoy what God has given us.

Derek Wolfe: supposed to be him. I remember so much first, the first year and into the end of the industry. Um, good friend of mine, Levi Mayfield, it does my camp, my camera work for me. Um, he is a hell of an outdoorsman, hell of a hunter. And he's like good. He's a good man. And he does everything by the book. Like he is, he's like, look, I don't think you should do it this way. Like, this is not that I guess he's like black and white. Yeah, we should make sure that you're allowed to do that. And that's just how he is. And he could call turkeys like you never see. But I remember one day we were in New Mexico and the bull that I had been after, the satellite bull came and just blew it out, just ruined it. And I got pissed and I just started, I was like kicking his bush. And I was like, it was like, I was like, I was having like a tantrum because I was so frustrated. And he came over, he's like, I mean, he's just little. He just, he's just a little dude. He comes over and he grabs me by my shirt and he goes, hey, he goes, he goes, are you having fun? And I was like, well, yeah. And he was like, well, then why are you so mad? He got on my ass. He's like, you're supposed to be, this is for fun, man. You're supposed to be having fun out here. He's like, your take, you're like, and it's because I come from the NFL where it's such high pressure to succeed. I'm not used, like now I'm in a somewhere where I don't know what to do. I did everything right. If I do everything right on the field, it's all right, it's good. But if you do everything right in the field, the field of the outdoors, you're out there on a hunt, you do everything 100% right, if that animal does everything 100% right, you're losing 100% of the time. Because they need to screw up just 10%, just 3%, 4%. But if he does everything right, and then there's all these outliers that happen with other bulls and other ducks. When you're hunting ducks, you could do everything right, but one of those ducks decides, I'm not coming in here. And they all decide, you're not coming in here. And it's like, no, what happened? Like, you know, and that's where it's like, you could do everything right. But you need, you know, some people call it God. You need this divine intervention to happen sometimes for these animals to do what you want them to do. Because you can put yourself in the perfect position. Perfect.

Matt Harrison: And it's going to work out.

Derek Wolfe: You can use a trail cam and have a deer pattern and be like, he's coming through here with this wind and this temperature at this time every single day. And then the day you go in there, something ain't right. He knows something ain't right.

Matt Harrison: And he'll just skirt you.

Derek Wolfe: He'll just skirt just a little bit out of bow range, you know, just a little bit out where you're like, what the hell happened? Like, how did this happen? You know? Yeah. And that's just like, that's why you, that's what keeps you coming back. Right. Is, is getting frustrated. Right. And instead of getting frustrated and be like, I quit throwing a tantrum, it's getting frustrated and be like, well, how can I, now I want to win next time. How do I win? And then, you know, and then every time you go, you learn something different. You know, I, I was unsuccessful on a, on an L cut this year in New Mexico down in, um, unit 16A, which is like a coveted unit. I'm talking, they give a hundred tags out. It is like, The bulls down there, like you see a 330 bull, you don't even blink at it. I'm talking huge bulls. And I was after this one bull for three days straight, but so were eight other people. Everybody was on this bull. So he was just like, and these bulls, they're all, you know, they're all rutted up. They don't, hey, they're not paying attention to any of that. They're just following the cows around. So the cows are all worked up all the time because people are always messing with them. And he's got like 200 cows with him. And then there's like five or six satellite bulls in this herd. And they just like are all herded up and running around and acting crazy and fighting each other. This one bull is just kind of like, he's the herd bull. And he's like, I mean, he was just the biggest bull. He was so much bigger than these other bulls that were big bulls. And I had him bedded at 150 yards, did everything right that day. Eight miles I followed him. Eight miles through some of this nasty, rocky, just garbage. Get embedded at 150 yards, embedded facing away, wind's blowing in my face. And there's these two cows that need to keep feeding. And they're almost, they're going to do it. They're doing it. They're just doing it real slow. And I probably needed like another 10 minutes for them to get over there. They all jump up and everything leaves and runs off. And here comes a guy, here comes a guy walking through with his arrow knocked and the wind is ripping at his back right into those elk. And he's looking around like, where'd the elk go? Are you serious? Dude, it was like the most heartbreaking thing. But that just shows you, I do everything right. Everything right. And then not so long after that, I get on him again and I find out where he's going. I try to cut him off, right? I cut him off. And I'm like, okay, where is he? I turn around and look, he's 100 yards above me, just kind of strolling across. And I was like, if I would have been, I missed it by 50 yards. Something made him decide, I'm gonna go up a little higher instead of coming down. All of the other elk could work down, walked right by us pretty much. And then he was up there 100 yards. I mean, not even 100, like 90 yards. It was just too, the sun was in my eyes. It was like, I'm not gonna shoot. That's where I had to like, I had a bow in my hands. If I have any kind of firearm, that bull is mine. You know what I mean? But that's just like, hey, we did it the right way. I could have knocked an arrow and swung one at 100 yards. Maybe hit him, maybe not. You know what I mean? At that angle and with what was going on and the wind and everything, who knows? But that's where I had to make an ethical decision of like, is this ethical, right? And I have so much respect for these animals that I don't want them to suffer. I don't want to stick one in the guts and make him suffer. I don't want to stick one in the spine and make him suffer, or in his back leg or something. I just don't want that to happen. So I'm going to make sure that if I'm sending one, it's going to be a good shot.

Matt Harrison: But, you know, you probably learned so much in that hunt that now it made you a better hunter, an outdoorsman, you know, and that's what it's about. But last question here for you, Derek, okay? I want you to talk about what would you tell people who are wanting to get more involved in the outdoors and conservation? How would you encourage them? How would you go about just telling them how you did it and what it means to you? How would you go about encouraging them into getting started?

Derek Wolfe: I would start by reach, I would reach out to people that are already doing it. Reach out to find little, find groups of guys that are doing it, you know. Find a friend and be like, hey, let's get into this, you know. Or go to your local archery shop. Go to Cabela's and talk to those guys. Somebody's in there that'll take you. Yeah, you know, you can find, yeah, you can find, you know what I mean? You can find ways. Go to, you know, we just had the Mile High Hunt and Fish Expo. Could have came to that and walked around. You'd have found a bunch of guys that would love to take you. You know, there's all kinds of ways to get your little entry into the outdoors. And it starts with reaching out to the people that are already doing it. And that's where it starts. You know, even just getting your license, getting your hunt. I suggest you all go get a hunter safety. If you haven't done it, go get a hunter safety and get that. Because guess what? While you're in the hunter safety, there's going to be other people taking the hunter safety. Exactly. And even if you're an adult, somebody's got their kid in there. And they're like, oh, yeah, you're getting in a hunt, you know? And then who knows? If you're a good dude, they'll take you. They'll invite you to come hunt with them. If you suck, I'm not going to tell anybody if you suck, but if you're a good dude, I'll invite you to come with us. Let's go. I just got a good friend of mine from Vegas into hunting and he's like full blown now. Full blown out. And it's funny because I took him on a prom horn hunt. And it was like, Bottenstock style, miserable. And he was like, dude, this is awesome. And I was like, this sucks. And he was like, no, this is awesome. I was like, this is terrible. What are you talking about? That's awesome. But he had a blast. He loved it because he was like, oh, we almost had him. We almost had him. Like, we weren't even close, dude. He's like, well, he's only like 300 yards. I'm like, I have a bow in my hand.

Matt Harrison: But just wait till he connects and then he's really going to be.

Derek Wolfe: And he did. He ended up- Oh, wow. They had a depredation cow tag that they had down there, that area. And one of the farmers was like, hey man, you want to kill an elk? And he was like, well, yeah. So he went out and did a cow elk hunt and spent a whole day chasing these cows around and finally got one. And he was like, dude, I'm full blown at it now. full-blown addict.

Matt Harrison: And that's awesome. And say you introduced him to that. Now, who knows who he'll introduce and lead into outdoors and conservation itself. That's truly what it's about.

Derek Wolfe: That's what it's about. And it's the camaraderie, the brotherhood, and the sisterhood. And what I love most about this is that anybody can do it. Anybody. Anybody. Anybody. I'm taking a guy with cerebral palsy at the end of the month on a turkey. Wow. That's awesome. And it's just like anybody can do it. The National Wild Turkey Foundation is going to help me with that. That's awesome. So I'm looking forward to that. It's going to be a good time. And then the other thing in this industry is that women are crushing it. So go ahead and give it a try. I highly suggest that anybody that is even considering it, give it a try. I'm taking my wife on her first turkey hunt this year. She's finally like, okay, I'll do it. I'm like, all right, let's

Matt Harrison: Let's go. Well, Derek, man, we cannot thank you enough for just taking time out of your day to be able to come on and talk to our listeners about what the outdoors and conservation means to you. It's been such an honor for me, and I know to our listeners as well, for taking time and sharing that with us.

Derek Wolfe: Yeah, thanks for having me, man. It's always a good honor to work with you guys.

Matt Harrison: Absolutely. And thank you so much to all of our Ducks Unlimited podcast listeners, and thank you so much for being a huge part in wetlands conservation.