Ep 3. - Thank The Landowners w/ Wes David
https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-a2yji-16d7601
In this episode of Horrible People Podcast, we sit down with Wes David, a man who has worn many hats—from ranching and rodeo to mechanics and then finally professional fishing and advocacy. Join us as Wes shares his incredible journey, starting with his roots in the ranch and rodeo world and his eventual transition into outdoor TV and writing.
We explore how his love for the outdoors led to the creation of Fish the Wild West TV, a show that has evolved alongside the landscape of outdoor entertainment. Wes also sheds light on the importance of educating youth about outdoor activities like hunting and fishing, and the vital role conservation plays in sustaining these traditions.
From challenges facing modern hunters and fishers to the growing importance of community in the conservation of outdoor sports, this episode covers it all. Tune in to hear Wes’s unique perspective on how we can all play a part in preserving the natural world we love.
Check out Wes and Fishing in the Wild West TV:
Youtube | https://www.youtube.com/@fishingthewildwesttv7053
Online | https://www.fishingthewildwesttv.com/
Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/fishing_the_wild_west_tv_show_/
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Online | https://whywehunt.ca/horriblepeoplepodcast/
YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/@jennmcdonald
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00:00 Introduction to Wes David and His Journey
04:59 Transition from Rodeo to Outdoor Writing
09:57 The Evolution of Fish in the Wild West TV
17:55 The Importance of Youth Education in Outdoor Activities
24:00 Challenges and Changes in Hunting and Fishing
31:58 The Role of Community and Conservation in Outdoor Sports
Jenn (00:01.538)
Thank you so much for tuning into Horrible People podcast. I'm Jen McDonald and the horrible person that I'm speaking with today is Wes David. I met Wes about a year ago at the Caribou Outdoors industry show. It was a trade show for industry members, dealers, manufacturers, all that fun stuff. So yeah, Wes is a phenomenal advocate for the outdoor industry, outdoor community.
conservation, fishing, and he's got a pretty interesting past. So yeah, Wes, do want to give us a quick little introduction of who you are and where you come from?
Wes (00:40.092)
Well, thanks for having me, Jen. Yeah, my, I always, always hunted and fished growing up on a cattle farm, by square Alberta. I always hunted and fished, but, my mom and dad, my dad was a calf roper. My dad was a barrel racer. So I was always around rodeo. My uncles were Roy and Ron, David, Chuck wagon drivers. So I was forever around rodeo. I grew up.
with rodeo and cattle. And so I started riding steers at age six or seven. I graduated to the junior bull riding and then went into bull riding. I rode horses lots at home. You know, we did a lot of cattle work with the horses and stuff, but I tried it in the rodeos, but it's too far down. riding seems safer, but it was not. So I...
Jenn (01:10.411)
I love
Jenn (01:32.985)
yeah. I know.
Wes (01:37.736)
I went up through the amateur ranks as bull riding till I made it professionally. And that's all I did for a living from age 19 till probably I was 27. And injuries did end my career. I don't know if I retired. I wasn't good enough to retire. I just quit. when I was done rodeoing,
Jenn (01:51.969)
wow.
Jenn (01:56.622)
Hey.
Wes (02:07.304)
Unfortunately, mom and dad divorced and the farm was gone and I became a heavy duty mechanic. And I always loved hunting and fishing. Even when I was rodeoing, at one point I had like 27 fishing licenses throughout different states and provinces. Whenever I had time off, I would go fishing. hunting kind of fell to the back burner because all the finals and everything was in the fall and it overlapped the hunting season.
Jenn (02:14.454)
yeah.
Wes (02:37.692)
So if I was able to get out hunting, it was only for a day or two here and there. But once I was done rodeo and I definitely made time for both hunting and fishing, and I was fortunate enough to turn my passion of fishing into making a living.
Jenn (02:57.346)
Yeah, that's amazing. You've got the TV show and do you also do the outdoors writing as well currently?
Wes (03:05.288)
Yeah, so I got my start with outdoor writing. I was tournament angling, walleye tournaments, and I was doing pretty good with the walleye tournaments and I started writing, which isn't as easy as you think. Everybody, you I thought myself, I thought I had this is the greatest article ever. And I sent it into the magazines and I got a very politically
correct and polite, you need to work on your writing skills, kind of comments. So I joined the Outdoor Writers of Canada, and at the time they had like a mentor program, kind of like an apprenticeship. So through Word Document you work with a mentor, I worked with TJ Schwanky, and back and forth just working on my writing until I finally got a magazine.
Jenn (03:38.388)
Okay.
Jenn (03:47.461)
nice. Okay.
Wes (04:01.992)
picked up some of my work and then it progressed and the tournament angling was kind of growing at the same time. And it got to the point where I was writing for 30 different Canadian and US magazines. And at my height, I was writing, I wrote I think 102 articles in a year. And I mean, those articles are anywhere from 800 words to 2000 words. So, and then with that came...
Jenn (04:21.027)
wow, that's a lot.
Jenn (04:27.278)
Okay.
Wes (04:30.856)
photography because you got to supply your own photos. So I got into that and again, and I still write, I've stopped writing for a lot of magazines. I do about 25 or 30 articles a year now. And those are, the bulk of them are all fishing articles and I'll do some conservation stuff. lot of the conservation groups will reach out and we'll do, you know, I'll do different things with them.
Jenn (04:46.638)
Okay.
Jenn (04:59.736)
Good.
Wes (05:00.818)
But from that grew Fish in the Wild West TV. Yep. So they kind of grew together. the tournament angling, the writing. And I was coming home from, I was actually coming home from a tournament. I was working up north as a heavy duty mechanic and I was working in Fort McMurray two weeks in, two weeks out. So I had two weeks to hunt fish. You know, it was the best.
Jenn (05:06.923)
so the writing was before the TV show.
Jenn (05:29.847)
Yeah.
Wes (05:30.928)
I was coming home from a tournament and a production company reached out to me and said, would you be interested in hosting a fishing show? and I don't even know if they got all the words out of their mouth and I agreed. So yeah, that, and that's where it grew from there. the first year was with another production company and I quickly learned that, you know,
Jenn (05:48.047)
That sounds like an exciting offer.
Wes (06:00.296)
I did all the work but they got all the money. So I came home, I told my wife, I said, we now own a production company. I bought about $25 ,000 worth of camera gear that I didn't even know how to turn on. But found someone who did and I went out and we are now, next year we'll be fishing the Wild West TV's 10th season. We now air on
Jenn (06:03.02)
Okay.
Wes (06:26.99)
nine different networks, five in Canada, four in the US. And it's just been a really, really exciting.
Jenn (06:35.598)
I've had, it's been a crazy adventure and it's probably flown by like crazy 10 years sounds like a lot, but yeah, absolutely. Okay, so what kind of like writing did you offer then before getting into this? Was it sort of educational pieces on the fishing or more like awareness pieces?
Wes (06:39.846)
Yeah, lot of learning curves.
Wes (06:58.064)
It just depend on what the individual magazine was looking for. Some wanted adventure stories, some wanted tips and tricks type stories, and some wanted a blend of the both. And that would been, when I first started writing, was doing hunting and fishing. So it was just depending on what the magazine was looking for. Sometimes they were very conservation heavy.
articles and sometimes they were even just personal stories, you know and and and even even with Fish and Wild West TV and the writing I show you know, I love watching a hunting show and they show that they miss because that's the realities of Hunting fishing will show that I lose a fish. That's the realities of fishing. So I'd also blend that into to writing
Jenn (07:32.758)
Nice. It's a good blend.
Jenn (07:47.489)
Yeah.
Jenn (07:56.621)
Okay.
Wes (07:57.384)
You watch some of the the Bassmasters especially the shows and they've got 10 -15 rods up front and everything just always goes perfect. We don't edit that out. I mean you can't tell me those guys have never kicked a rod off the side, stepped on a rod, you know.
Jenn (08:12.559)
Yeah. And I like that because newer people get into it, watch this and they get discouraged because they go out and it doesn't go perfectly. So if they see, you know, all of the challenges you have to go through or the fish lost or the broken line or whatever, then they're like, yeah, it happens to the pros. It can happen to me.
Wes (08:30.598)
That's the truth. That's the realities of hunting or fishing. so that's what I showed in my, and still do, in my magazine articles. I still enjoy writing. It's just the time. I don't have as much time to write as much. And it did honestly, when I started backing out of writing so much, because I was pressed for time with my scheduling and stuff,
Jenn (08:45.292)
And then the, okay.
Jenn (08:51.135)
Yeah.
Wes (09:00.552)
I personally felt that my articles were starting to suffer. You know, just trying to rush through them, get them done, meeting deadlines, and editors get cranky when you miss a deadline. So I started backing out, and like I said, now I just do 25 or 30 articles a year.
Jenn (09:05.387)
Okay.
Jenn (09:12.983)
Yeah.
Jenn (09:20.972)
That's good, guess, to know kind of when it's time to let go of a little bit of that workload if you can't put as much of the effort into it or whatever the time I should say.
Wes (09:30.17)
Yeah, and it was hard because there's some magazines that, you know, took a chance on me when I was a new writer. And, you know, I felt loyal to them, but it just it just got to be too much.
Jenn (09:37.887)
yeah.
Jenn (09:42.766)
Yeah, you kind of grew in a different direction, I guess. So you were saying that you left bull riding at 27. What is the average life's like career span of a bull rider? Because I mean, I don't think they could go much longer than that, eh? With all of those injuries.
Wes (09:46.202)
Yeah.
Wes (09:53.648)
Yeah
Wes (09:57.736)
It all depends on the injuries you take throughout your career and that's the truth. I've seen some incredible bull riders last just a couple years depending on the injuries. And not only injuries, there's a lot of great bull riders out there that don't like the travel. You know, the traveling where you're, we used to go to 120, 125 rodeos or bull ridings mixed a year.
Jenn (10:10.904)
Okay.
Jenn (10:17.888)
yeah.
Jenn (10:26.401)
my God.
Wes (10:27.59)
and they just don't like to travel. Just like everything in life, some people have different goals. So, you know, home life might be different. A lot of great bull riders and cowboys that I know and cowgirls, you know, took over the family farm. So, roadie had to take a back burner and then it eventually burnt out and the farm was priority. So, to answer the longevity of a bull rider is just how bad you want it or and or.
Jenn (10:37.314)
Yeah.
Jenn (10:48.387)
Yeah.
Wes (10:57.656)
the injuries you take during your career.
Jenn (11:00.326)
Yeah, I bet. what kind of industries, industries, what kind of injuries did you get during this? Cause I mean, yeah, I love the rodeo. used to ride like horseback barrel racing and eventing. and obviously watched the bull riders and you see some of those falls and some of the injuries. It's just like out of this world.
Wes (11:18.448)
It's amazing, Jen, the human body can take a lot. And before I get into the injuries, bull riding is not a strength event. It's a reaction, just like barrel racing, it's like riding a horse. You're not gonna outpower a bull or a horse. It's a reaction sport. You gotta be strong enough to control your body weight and balance with one hand. Yeah, but...
Jenn (11:22.475)
I guess.
Jenn (11:42.73)
Yeah, like it's physical.
Wes (11:45.992)
Yeah, it's not a strength event, it's a balance, but 90 or 80 % of bowl riding or any competitive sport, especially individual sport, is mental. You've got to be mentally tough. Anyone climbs over the chutes to get on a 2 ,000 pound bowl and tells you, not that they're not scared, but they haven't, things run through your mind, they're lying to you. But you have to be mentally.
Jenn (12:12.227)
you
Wes (12:14.384)
strong enough to control those thoughts and put them out of your mind. Cause for every negative thought, why don't you spend your time on a positive thought? You know, like, yeah. So, what if this bull steps on me or hits me with his horns? Getting hit with the horns isn't a big deal. It's like getting hit with a baseball bat. You can get up from that. Getting stepped on is a big deal. Cause the ground doesn't give and the bull doesn't give. You give. Body parts give.
Jenn (12:16.748)
Okay.
Jenn (12:24.714)
Yeah, just readjust how you think.
Jenn (12:38.561)
Okay.
Wes (12:45.114)
So, you you can think about that or what if he hits me with his horns or steps on me, or you can think, what am I going to do with the money after I win or look at the belt buckle I could wear, you know, or, you know, it's going to put me this much further in the standings to go to the finals. So it really, what I learned from bull riding and rodeo in general on the mental side, I've carried with me throughout my entire life. And I truly believe I wouldn't be doing what I do now for a living.
if it wasn't what rodeo taught me. Like there was so much business and so much mental stuff I was learning that I didn't realize I was learning, but it carried over into my next life.
Jenn (13:19.32)
Hey.
Jenn (13:26.21)
of that experience I guess.
Wes (13:28.988)
Yeah, so I, back to the injuries thing. Four broken legs, couple of broken arms and collarbones. My shoulders, my shoulder. I've had surgery twice on my right, or three times on my right shoulder and once on my left. That was, that's what ended my career. My shoulders, like it got to the point where my shoulders were falling out just putting my t -shirt on in the morning.
Jenn (13:54.641)
wow, like dislocating and, okay.
Wes (13:56.388)
Yeah, and then the doctor said, listen, you're not leaving as much left here to work with. my greatest injury and what almost ended my career, and this is kind of a neat story. I was at a rodeo on Thursday and I was winning first or second when I left. Same thing on Friday, I was winning first or second or third. I went to four rodeos.
Jenn (14:02.796)
Yeah.
Wes (14:23.944)
in three days and I was placed in the top three of all of them. I went to a rodeo about an hour away from home when I was living on the farm, Drumheller, Alberta, and at the time I had the Buckingbull of Canada. I was 17, 18 years old, so I called everybody. Come watch me get on this big yellow bugger. I'm hot. This is gonna be good. Well, about four seconds into it, had great big devil horns.
and he threw his head back and hit me in the face. And it broke everything in my face from my nose down. But when I came off, I hung up, but I was now knocked out so I couldn't protect myself. So every time he would jump and kick, he would land on my back or my legs. And he broke both my legs, shattered my face, four ribs and one rib went through a lung. And I remember
when I finally came free, I was crawling. I tried to stand up and one leg folded. So I fell back down and I just kept crawling. Remember, my whole family's there. Kids from school, my friends, everybody's there. And all I could see was blood and blood was in my eyes. And I heard the crowd go, and I looked under my arm and he was coming again. So I just gritted and was gonna, there's nothing I could do. I had to take it. Well, someone grabbed me and drug me under the fence and.
Jenn (15:25.908)
God.
Jenn (15:31.384)
So you invited everyone.
Jenn (15:46.549)
Yeah.
Wes (15:50.638)
It all worked out, I guess.
Jenn (15:52.942)
Holy crap, I don't know to say if you got lucky or.
Wes (15:57.564)
Yeah, I don't know either. But while I was healing, my hero, my idol at the time was Lane Frost. Well, he was killed. So I'm healing. He was killed at Cheyenne Frontier Days. This happened to me in May and he died in end of July. And I said, okay, that's it.
Jenn (16:16.812)
while you were healing?
Jenn (16:20.986)
okay.
Wes (16:26.296)
I'm done. When I heal, I just want to get on one more bull, win or lose, stay on buck off, didn't matter to me. I just wanted to quit on my own terms. I didn't, I healed, exercise got back in shape and didn't practice nothing. I entered a, it was amateur rodeo, entered the rodeo and won the bull riding. I thought, wow, maybe I could just enter one more. So I entered one for the next weekend.
Jenn (16:52.898)
Yeah.
Wes (16:56.136)
and I went second. Well now I'm an 18 year old kid and I had about $1 ,800 in my hand. Well maybe this isn't so bad. So I carried on. My writing career carried on to there for roughly another 10 years.
Jenn (17:04.385)
no.
Jenn (17:11.784)
Wow. Yeah, that's where the mental strength really comes in after that.
Wes (17:16.776)
Yeah, I think as an 18 year old kid and that much money in my hand, was a little bit money motivated.
Jenn (17:21.512)
Yeah, I can totally see that. Absolutely. Money means a lot, like, well, it means a lot any, like at any age, but when you're young and you're starting to make money, yeah, it gets pretty addictive. my God.
Wes (17:32.422)
Yeah, yeah. So that's how I carried on.
Jenn (17:38.03)
That's crazy. Well, they always say like, if you fall off a horse, you got to get back on or you're going to be too scared. And yeah, it's good that you did get back on instead of just fearing it and shutting down right there.
Wes (17:49.456)
And truthfully, was mentally prepared. I was done. I just wanted one more bowl to quit on my own terms. So, but life's funny.
Jenn (17:55.822)
Yeah. And then 10 years later, yes, it works in amazing ways. you do a lot of work getting, youth involved into fishing and everything as well, right?
Wes (18:13.244)
Yes, I truly believe the future of hunting and fishing and trapping and outdoors lies within our youth. You and I can promote it, can go do it, but we do have to pass it on in a positive light to the next generation. And there's a lot more inner city kids.
Jenn (18:25.134)
Totally agree.
Wes (18:39.432)
that are, I believe, are not always getting the right information about hunting, about fishing, farming, ranching. And I've, and I can say this because I've been in both. The most conservation minded, the best conservation minded people out there are hunters, anglers, farmers and ranchers. And I can honestly say that without a shadow of a doubt. I think it was 2009, 2010, the winter of 2009 and 10.
Here in southern Alberta, there's big, terrible storms and heavy snow and all the mule deer and antelope went down into the coolie to get out of the storms, but couldn't get out. And in the spring of the year, they found massive carcasses, you know, that were just trapped down there. Well, all that was going on, the snow had crusted over and antelope and deer were...
Jenn (19:26.926)
I
Wes (19:35.08)
were stepping through the snow, breaking through and literally ripping the skin from their ankles to their knees. They wrote crazy amounts of stories about that, but they never once wrote about the farmers that were breaking trail for all these, made great big huge areas, put out round bales at their own expense for the wildlife. Not one article was, or maybe just a little 10 words on it. And I mean, that all comes out of...
Jenn (19:41.166)
That's terrible.
Jenn (20:00.938)
snippet.
Wes (20:05.24)
their own pocket, their time, their effort. But they didn't do it for the recognition. They do it because it's the right thing to do.
Jenn (20:12.492)
That's it. And while they're often vilified, mean, farmers even are often vilified, it would be nice to see an article showing and promoting this great act just to raise awareness.
Wes (20:22.63)
Yeah, and that's what I try to promote. That's what I try to educate to youth. You know that hunters aren't killers. know, fishermen aren't killers. This is part of our heritage. Canada, North America was built of hunting, fishing and trapping, farming and ranching. So I just, do everything I can and obviously different things have changed throughout the years, but I do everything I can to educate our youth.
I hold the Kids Can Catch event. I talk in a lot of schools. And when I first started talking in the schools, that's what really drove me to educate our youth is, you know, I had wildlife pictures there and I was in the city in Calgary, in a school in Calgary, and I had a picture of a gopher. And there was a dozen kids in there, didn't know, never seen a gopher, didn't know what it was. And I thought, holy hell, this is scary.
Jenn (20:58.274)
Yes. Okay. I've seen that.
Jenn (21:21.887)
Yeah.
Wes (21:22.22)
I so that's when I really step forward to do as much or more as I can to educate youth.
Jenn (21:30.498)
feel like now we're losing it even quicker. mean, the youth being connected with the wildlife around them, the realities of hunting, the realities of fishing. Do you find that there's a huge decrease in people getting into it, youth getting into it?
Wes (21:45.112)
well, one of the scary things first is I think more because it's not so don't not dominant but out and in a positive light, people not only kids, but people there, I'm sure they're convinced that the meat they eat comes from the grocery store. you know, they go in, they get it, it's convenient, it's right there. But
Jenn (22:06.338)
Yeah, for sure. Some of the conversations I've had.
Jenn (22:12.64)
No animals were harmed.
Wes (22:14.128)
I think during COVID, during COVID where, I mean, I talked to countless hunters that said, know, even people that didn't, you know, they didn't like wild game. All of a sudden they were asking if they had extra meat, extra sausage, extra pepperoni. Hunters didn't, you know, the meat scare and the meat shortage and meat prices didn't really affect hunters because they go hunting. So.
In Alberta, I know they had spikes in hunting tags, which is a good thing, but unfortunately, there was a lot of people that never hunted before. they just got a tag, say a general white -tailed deer tag and went out, but didn't really have a starting point. And not only with the hunting, but everything, asking permission on the land owner's land to go hunting.
Jenn (22:46.542)
Okay.
Wes (23:10.724)
I talked with some people that went hunting and they almost shot a mule deer because they didn't know the difference between white tail mule deer. was somebody, was another hunter that was with them. So I think that education out there is more important than ever before. And if we educate these people, they will be, you know, they'll carry on our tradition of hunting and fishing.
Jenn (23:20.94)
Okay.
Jenn (23:36.888)
That's how I see it. Absolutely. Yeah.
Wes (23:39.43)
So I think education is, I think all hunters and anglers, if they have a chance to help educate, promote in a positive manner to whether it be to kids, know, new hunter, whatever the case may be, it's our duty to educate and take it forward.
Jenn (24:00.022)
Yep, absolutely. In a positive light. I mean, I think accessibility is a huge thing too. Like growing up, I wanted to fish, but I just wasn't able to just kind of go out fishing on my own. So making it accessible for, you know, kids or even adults that want to get into it is big. And I think like the speeches that you do at the schools is huge because that's something that the kids really listen to. And I mean, I know whenever I was young, like years ago, you really...
Wes (24:10.386)
Great.
Jenn (24:27.352)
take those speeches home and you kind of talk about them and talk about them with your friends. So what kind of information do you offer to kids in those school presentations?
Wes (24:37.838)
if I'm going into, let's just say into a big city school, it's a bit different. You know, it's the very basics, and getting the point across that, you know, hunters don't go out and kill a deer and just take his antlers. That drives me crazy. You want to get me wound up? I, my, cause that, I don't know of anyone in my circle that I've ever crossed that just do.
Jenn (24:47.81)
You'd probably need a different approach almost.
Wes (25:07.556)
It's impo I'd never even heard of it. Now granted, if a small buck and a big buck walks out, I'm taking the big buck. You know, maturity, but not just because of antlers. It's a bigger body, it's going to provide more meat. So in the inner cities, I talk about that stuff. If you go to smaller towns, you know, especially agriculture towns, the bulk of them want me to talk about
Jenn (25:08.3)
Me either, no.
Jenn (25:16.249)
yeah.
Jenn (25:22.254)
It's not gonna live as long.
Wes (25:35.142)
Fish in the Wild West TV. Basically what we're talking about, how I went from professional bull rider to a heavy duty mechanic to owning a production company and a TV show. So they vary depending where I'm going, but they all have that positive, not touch, a positive hit of farmers, ranchers, hunters, and anglers.
Jenn (25:57.442)
Definitely, and I really, really like that idea of introducing the kids in the cities to that because that's where we're really missing the mark, for sure.
Wes (26:06.022)
Yes, I agree. And I will say this, I've had more, I shouldn't say, I've had an incredible amount of intelligent questions come back from kids, whether it be grade six and up, that wanna know and want to understand. So, you know, if they don't know what a gopher is, but at least they're asking the right questions to understand.
Jenn (26:26.86)
Yeah, I like that.
Jenn (26:32.93)
Yeah, exactly. It gets them interested and maybe they'll go home and try and research things on them on their own. Maybe they'll get a little spark of interest to get into it also. And it'll kill some of that rumor that happens that we just shoot the deer, take its head and put it on the wall, leave the meat to rot.
Wes (26:42.802)
Yeah.
Wes (26:52.806)
That's right. Yeah. So that's my goal with education is to, yeah, just promote us in a positive light, because we are.
Jenn (27:00.608)
Amazing. I think that's huge.
Jenn (27:06.282)
Exactly. We care so much. were like, honestly about the species.
Wes (27:10.056)
Yeah. And that's, I took that same philosophy with Fish in the Wild West TV. When I designed Fish in the Wild West TV, my goal was just to help people catch one more fish or to show them where to go or how to do it. we do 13 episodes, 10 of them, wherever I go, whatever I do, the everyday angler can do. The other three are what we call trips of a lifetime. So West Coast.
Jenn (27:22.221)
Okay.
Jenn (27:35.694)
That I like.
Wes (27:39.426)
a fly -in fishing trip to northern Saskatchewan or northern Manitoba, wherever the case may be. I believe every angler dreams, just like every hunter dreams of going to Alaska, every angler dreams of eventually doing a fly -in or a west coast trip. And so that's what we show, but ultimately the goal is just to help people catch one more fish.
Jenn (27:57.55)
definitely.
Jenn (28:05.654)
showing stuff that you know the regular Joe can go out and do.
Wes (28:08.548)
Yeah. you know, one of the, we did here in Alberta about three years ago now, four years ago, we did an episode at stock trout ponds. So I mean, very back to the basics, standing on the shoreline, casting out, you know, a little Jayhook with a worm on it and a bobber and just educating that way. had some kids with us and basically the show turned into how to teach.
parents and guardians to take their kids fishing. And I was actually kind of worried about the episode because I'm supposed to be this big fisherman and here I am standing at a four acre trout pond. It was one of our most interactive episodes we've ever done. I can't count how many emails I answered. So we are planning to do that again in season 10.
Jenn (28:39.931)
that's smart.
Jenn (28:57.762)
I love that. I'm gonna have to find that one.
Good. That'll be huge. yeah. People would love that for sure.
Wes (29:06.0)
Yeah, it was really good and was the one I was worried about.
Jenn (29:09.506)
Yeah, exactly. It always seems to be like that. It's something that's sort of a spur of the moment idea or something you're nervous about. just, everything goes fine. It takes off as a hit. Do you find your injuries affect your fishing? Because you said you had a lot of shoulder injuries.
Wes (29:17.042)
Yeah.
Wes (29:22.202)
No, sometimes I get a little, you know, my shoulders get fatigued. I just came from the West coast. We fished three days and I was fishing hell a bit in Ling Cod and salmon, Serengeti fishing charters. And we, by day three, you know, pulling them big hell a bit off the bottom, my shoulders were getting not sore, but a little fatigued. And if you notice towards the end of the episode, I've really got my arm.
Jenn (29:26.602)
Okay, sometimes.
Jenn (29:31.511)
Okay.
Jenn (29:37.218)
That so cool.
Jenn (29:50.328)
tired.
Wes (29:55.186)
that I'm holding the rod really tucked into my body to try to take that, you know, the, pull away. Yeah. And I kind of, there's times where I anchored my elbow on my hip, you know, just, yeah. traveling, I mean, with rodeo, I traveled a crazy amount. I traveled just as much now, but I traveled a little more class, you know, it's not four or five Cowboys jammed in a car or a truck.
Jenn (29:58.1)
Okay, the pressure off or okay.
Jenn (30:07.671)
Give you some support, I guess. Okay.
Jenn (30:21.476)
Yeah. A truck somewhere. Yeah. Eating at truck stops and sleeping at pay by the hour motels.
Wes (30:26.312)
Yeah, I get my own hotel room now. Yeah, so it's, I travel well, just as well. But as I get a little older, I don't recover from traveling as well. I need a couple of days at home to, so, but when it's, when you're on the go, like the US shows get nine, 10 months to do all their episodes. I get five. So our five months, it's flat out.
Jenn (30:41.644)
Mm.
Jenn (30:52.194)
You're going.
Wes (30:55.514)
And then in the late fall and winter months and stuff, it's all the trade shows. But at least with the trade shows, and I love interacting with people, and I'd be lying to you if I said it wasn't flattering when somebody recognized you or someone comes and talks to you. If you're gonna take the time to talk to me, I'll take all the time in the world to talk to you. But at least at those, you're there for three, four, five days. So it kinda, you're not on the road.
Jenn (31:11.982)
course.
Jenn (31:22.956)
Yeah, you're often kind of even sleeping like at the venue or close to the venue and, it's such an awesome group of people. Like the atmosphere is just amazing.
Wes (31:28.049)
That's right, yeah.
Wes (31:32.666)
Yeah, I agree. it's just a lot of fun. And where else can you go to one place and talk hunting and fishing and farming and ranch all under one roof? Look at the latest gear.
Jenn (31:41.698)
I know, with people that are as crazy about it as you are.
Wes (31:46.48)
Yes, absolutely. So it's one of my favorite times.
Jenn (31:48.578)
Did you say you were? Yeah, I know. we've got that another, like the caribou at door show again, coming in, coming up in October that I'm really looking forward to, cause that's a good one. You get to reconnect with all the people that you usually only talk to you over email or over the phone or you see on social media.
Wes (31:58.983)
Yeah.
Wes (32:06.056)
That's right. And yeah, so, and I'll see you at the Caribou Show in Edmonton. I go to Winnipeg, well, I leave on Sunday. We're going to Southern Saskatchewan to do the last episode of the 2024 season. Then I got to be in Winnipeg and I fly back. think I got a day home and then I'll be in Westlock at Westlock Power Sport and Marine. They're celebrating their 10th anniversary. So I'll be there. Bob Azumi and I will be there.
Jenn (32:18.2)
cool.
Jenn (32:36.181)
very neat.
Wes (32:37.134)
and then then to the caribou show and i forget i'm older jen i need my schedule i need i don't know where i am from there
Jenn (32:45.375)
I know, I don't even know like, I have everything written down in my agenda. I don't really know what I'm doing with my life ever. Are you getting out to do any hunting this season?
Wes (32:50.716)
Yeah. Yeah.
I am hoping so. wasn't, unfortunately I wasn't drawn for anything this year, but I'll have a general whitetail tag. And my nephew's sons, so my cousin, take, two years ago I started taking them hunting each year. We go for three or four days. And he's got a mule deer doe draw. So we're, he's 16 now. I started hunting with him when he was, I think he was 12 or 13. So it's kind of become a...
Jenn (33:01.934)
Okay.
Jenn (33:17.557)
sweet.
Wes (33:24.536)
little bit of a tradition and you know we go out together. My nephew and I, Lee, we're really close even named his son Wes so the Wes's go hunting together and that's the joys of passing it on. It's not just the hunting, know the hunt, it's the camaraderie and you know spending time with family friends whether you're successful, the hunt is successful or not.
Jenn (33:33.955)
Aww.
I love that. That's awesome.
Wes (33:53.393)
I've got equal amounts of great memories from unsuccessful hunts as I do from successful hunts.
Jenn (33:59.616)
Yeah. I mean, even just being out in the field alone or with someone else, but if you're out with someone else, you form a different kind of bond and like, you're kind of working together differently. Yeah, for sure.
Wes (34:11.824)
Yeah, and it's that's that to me is equally as important as filling the freezer.
Jenn (34:17.378)
Yes, exactly. You can't say it's an unsuccessful hunt because you always learn something and for sure. What kind of hunting have you been into? Because I mean, we don't really see the hunting side as much on your social media or on your show, but you're a big advocate for hunting or a big hunter, I should say.
Wes (34:22.79)
Yeah. Yeah.
Wes (34:37.692)
Yeah, I actually, I used to hunt a lot more. Now with Fish and Wild West TV and my production company is Bulls and Bait Limited. And we do a lot of other things, like lot of different production stuff. So it depends when I come off the water and what other projects are going on, how much I hunt. But I always plan at least a week or two weeks of hunting. I used to hunt a lot until my last...
Jenn (34:52.3)
Okay.
Wes (35:05.8)
Till my last two shoulder surgeries, like I can't draw a bow. I can draw a bow, but I can't hold it for very long without getting, you know, little bit shaky and even drawing it, I'm not as smooth. And so I decided to give it up one for time -wise, but two, if I'm not confident that I can make a hundred percent kill shot, I'm not going to. So archery, my archery hunting career ended first.
Jenn (35:09.514)
Wes (35:34.534)
And now it's just rifle. I used to do a lot of waterfowl hunting, but I have a pin now right in my shoulder, right where the butt of your gun goes. And two or three, even with a limb saver on and modern technology, after half a dozen shots, it starts to really irritate it. Yeah, so I do very, very little waterfowl hunting. I'm kind of a...
Jenn (35:41.323)
Jenn (35:45.134)
That has gotta be.
Jenn (35:54.21)
I bet just bouncing right off that spot.
Wes (36:05.124)
One shot hunter now.
Jenn (36:06.414)
Yeah, that that's fine. my God. Would you use like even if like a 20 gauge or something like that? I'm sure it's still gets after time.
Wes (36:13.062)
Yeah, but when it hits, it's like biting on tin foil. it's a sharp, terrible pain. I just, yeah. No.
Jenn (36:18.852)
my God. No, forget it. Not worth it. Absolutely. So what kind of big game hunting do you do then? like muleys and whitetail, or do you go for anything else through the season?
Wes (36:32.004)
No, last year I was fortunate enough to, take my biggest moose in Alberta ever. how it works is, is a good friend of mine. and he also does a lot of editing and camera work for him. Does pretty much all of it. Each year we always have our, our white tail tag. And then he, you know, if he's drawn for elk this year, we split it.
Jenn (36:39.959)
cool.
Wes (36:59.494)
And if I'm drawn for moose, like last year I was drawn for moose, so we split it. So we each have our whitetail tags, but we each have one big game, you know, like a moose or elk. And by going together, hunting together and splitting the meat, feed two families, you know, instead of just all going to one. So unfortunately though, neither one of us were drawn for an elk or moose this year, so we're just going for whitetail.
Jenn (37:03.154)
cool.
Jenn (37:19.211)
Yeah.
Jenn (37:24.908)
Okay, well that's still fun.
Wes (37:26.958)
Yeah, and I'll charge my cousin there Wes, let him go mule deer hunting. I'll charge him one back strap. Yeah, that's a pretty good deal.
Jenn (37:34.311)
there you go. That seems like a pretty good fee. I think that's okay. There's nothing wrong with that. You were saying your production company. Did you say bullets and bait?
Wes (37:44.338)
Bullton Bait Limited is the production company that owns Fish in the Wild West TV.
Jenn (37:45.934)
Cool.
Jenn (37:49.26)
Okay, so you started that to sort of produce and then out you, do you help with other shows?
Wes (37:55.922)
Well, with a TV show, have to have a production company like it. So that's the umbrella company. And under it is Fish in the Wild West TV, my outdoor writing. I don't film any other hunting or fishing shows, but we've done a lot of commercials. We've done a lot of Cam Clark Ford commercials. We've done a lot of tourism commercials. Like I'll make a Pampers commercial. It doesn't matter.
Jenn (37:59.313)
okay.
Jenn (38:17.6)
cool.
Wes (38:23.836)
the camera, that was the farmer in me. looked down at the cameras after the first season of Fish and Wild West TV and I thought those need to be working. So I started reaching out and now we're, that's exactly right. Yeah, we had cameras out on a Western last year on a Western movie being done. I had a sound guy out there. So like I said, it's.
Jenn (38:31.838)
I love that exactly. Machinery doesn't need to be sitting.
Jenn (38:46.173)
cool.
Wes (38:52.417)
diversify like a farmer and keep the gear working.
Jenn (38:55.754)
Yeah, exactly. Everything should be making money. That's awesome. well, thank you so much. Yeah, this was a really good eye opener for everything. Like the fishing that you do. And I really, really like that idea of going to speak to the, the kids in the cities because they need that education or awareness brought to them. Cause especially now, like in the media, you always see so much negativity, negativity towards hunting and firearms and the outdoors. So that's a huge eye opener.
Wes (38:58.256)
Yeah. Yeah.
Wes (39:23.74)
Yeah, I agree. And that is something even after I retire from Fish and Wild West TV, that is something I will keep up as long as I can, until I can't anymore. Cause I just, it's so important.
Jenn (39:34.274)
Good.
Yeah, I think that's a really, really big thing. think people need to, more people need to be aware of that and maybe get into that and offer that to cities and schools and stuff to help spread the word and point kids in the right directions that we can make, you know, educated and knowledgeable adults.
Wes (39:55.388)
Well, and it's a part of not only UNI's heritage, but our country's heritage. Yeah, yeah, exactly, their own heritage. And it's something that should be kept up.
Jenn (40:00.503)
Yeah, their own heritage.
Jenn (40:08.162)
Yeah, I totally agree. We can't let it die whatsoever. Amazing. Well, before I sign off, where can people find you online and on TV and on the internet?
Wes (40:21.2)
Yeah, so Fish in the Wild West TV. We're on Facebook, Instagram. I do very little SS. So I know we're a lot of places. You can go to our YouTube or you can go right to our website, Fish in the Wild West TV, and then click the icons and it'll take you right to us. Yeah.
Jenn (40:30.35)
That's your tag.
Jenn (40:34.091)
Yes, absolutely.
Jenn (40:42.134)
and they've got all the links there. That's perfect. Amazing. Well, thank you so much. yes. yes, definitely.
Wes (40:49.088)
or watch us on TV. Wild TV, Sportsman Channel, Canada. Yeah, yeah, and if you see me at a trade show, please stop and say hi. I can talk hunting and fishing all day.
Jenn (40:57.206)
watch on TV and go to the website.
Jenn (41:04.918)
Yeah, for sure. I can, I can, yeah, I can agree with that for sure. Like the first time I met you, it was just super easy conversation. Hey, how's it going? We talked hunting, we talked fishing. It was great.
Wes (41:19.056)
Yes, no, and I love it. I want to talk. Show me your pictures. Absolutely.
Jenn (41:24.726)
Yeah, it's always fun to talk fishing with somebody else that loves it just as much.
Wes (41:30.064)
Yeah, one thing we're coming to an end. Anyone watching this who's going hunting this year, once you're done your hunt, whether you're successful or not successful, go back, thank the landowners for the use of their land. If you are, and I hope you are successful, once you get your meat back, take them out some sausage and bottle of whiskey, whatever they like, take care of the landowners or they will take hunting access away.
Jenn (42:00.354)
That is a huge, huge one because that's a big problem I hear a lot of hunters talk about is lack of land access. And there's always, you know, that one bad apple that ruins it for everybody else.
Wes (42:08.08)
Yeah.
Wes (42:11.752)
That's right, 100%. I've got landowners that I've hunted for 20, 25 years and schedule pending, I've gone out to their branding, I've gone out and helped them build fence and 100 % know that's why I've been hunting there for 20 years.
Jenn (42:29.698)
Yeah, you've got to give as much as you take. Totally. well, thank you so much. I think that's a really good note to land on.
Wes (42:32.647)
Yeah.
Wes (42:38.46)
Well, thank you for having me, Jan. And thank you for doing the work that you're doing and getting this out in front of people.
Jenn (42:47.256)
I appreciate that. Thank you. I look forward to seeing you in October. See you then.
Wes (42:50.6)
Okay, we'll see you there.
