Inside the Austin Shop Joe Rogan, Cam Hanes, and Evan Hafer Quietly Own | Andy Stumpf

0:00 There were some cartel guys that wanted in on it.

0:02 Oh, they wanted you for transport.

0:04 Yeah, for sure.

0:04 When I say cartel guys, this wasn't like Juan Pablo in his suit in the mansion.

0:10 This was like a super grimy looking dude pull

0:12 up in an old Toyota and be like, "Hey,

0:14 I'll give you a,000 bucks to haul this in and whatever." We were

0:18 just dumb enough to do it cuz we we're thinking [music] we're entrepreneurs.

0:26 Today on change agents I am in Austin,

0:28 Texas at Archery Country to sit down with its owner Tyler Vandercult.

0:32 The facility which is also home to animal

0:35 art taxiderermy is co-owned by Joe Rogan, Cameron Haynes and Aen Hayford who is

0:39 the founder of Black Rocker Coffee Company.

0:42 All right.

0:42 So you have some relatively influential parts.

0:44 I do.

0:44 You have the Oracle of Hunting Joe.

0:48 Yep.

0:48 Uh Cam who he calls himself a hunter but he runs a lot you

0:54 know so he's like a marathon runner/

0:56 endurance runner savage [laughter] in the back country.

1:00 Yeah.

0:59 Uh micro SF also known as Evan Hafer

1:01 the shortest SF person in the history of SF.

1:05 So these are your partners now.

1:07 How do you see I mean how have you seen it change the shop?

1:11 If you were to look at the trajectory of what you have seen archery and hunting,

1:16 are you seeing it start to lever more and more and more?

1:19 Yeah, it's definitely as people find out it's

1:22 definitely growing and getting bigger and all that stuff.

1:25 I think a lot of it is like what we

1:27 were talking about earlier where I as in growing this business,

1:32 I've been a part of this now since 2016.

1:34 So that I didn't finish that part of the story.

1:36 Long story short, the the Steiners, we had another manager over there.

1:41 They were looking to get out.

1:42 They were like, "Dude, we need to fire the manager,

1:45 but if we do that, that means I got to come in and function.

1:47 I'm not doing that." He was like, "I'm out." So,

1:50 he was like, "I'm going to offer this to you first.

1:52 If you want to buy Archery Country, here's your price.

1:55 I'll even note it out." Like, they were like, "Dude, we'll help you out with it.

1:59 We know it's a running business and it does well.

2:01 We know it could be better with the right person in there.

2:04 You're probably that guy." Um, and if you don't want it, cool.

2:07 They were like, we'll sell it to somebody else.

2:08 So, I sold my filter company in 2016 and bought that uh in 2016.

2:17 So, that was how I came into that deal.

2:20 Fast forward through all of the fun stuff

2:23 that goes with trying to run that deal over there,

2:25 cuz that deal's been on a historic rise, dude.

2:28 Through we were I was put it this way was the best year we had ever done.

2:34 We broke $2 million in gross sales during and I was closed three months.

2:39 Tell you the city came and shut us down.

2:41 [laughter]

2:42 Tell you what you couldn't find in Montana was an outdoor recreational vehicle.

2:46 Shockingly enough, four-wheelers and motorcycles had

2:48 a banger here [laughter] in Montana.

2:49 Yeah, for sure.

2:50 Well, that was the way it was here.

2:51 We just It was something to do outside and you whatever.

2:54 So, we uh we had done really well during all that stuff.

2:59 Um, back to the original point is when I had bought that thing,

3:06 I had decided I was just going to try and build community and and grow it.

3:10 I knew what was wrong with it.

3:12 Um, I had fired kind of the top two guys that were in there.

3:16 We kept them for a while just to get our feet under us and then I was like,

3:19 "Hey, this isn't working.

3:20 You're not doing what I want you to do." Um, and I knew what I needed to do.

3:26 And once again, I was back in the stupid entrepreneurial thing where I was like,

3:31 it would be way easier by this point.

3:33 I've got some business acumen and I've done some stuff.

3:36 So, I could have gone to a lot of these companies and been like, "Hey,

3:39 throw me $150,000 a year and I'll run this part

3:42 of it or whatever and probably done better for myself,

3:46 but instead I was like, well,

3:47 I won't take a paycheck for a [laughter] couple years

3:49 and I'll try and really grow this archery thing." However,

3:52 the road to building one of the industry's

3:53 most prominent stores wasn't exactly smooth.

3:56 When CO slowed his air filter business, he did what entrepreneurs do.

4:00 [music] He adapted.

4:01 The adaptation didn't go as planned and eventually

4:04 landed him in a Mexican [music] jail.

4:06 In essence, I'm like, I'm going to just weather the storm.

4:08 I'm going to try and do this.

4:09 I believe in this stupid.

4:10 I should have stopped.

4:11 [laughter] I believed in it enough.

4:13 Um, so I weathered that storm.

4:15 Well, in the interim,

4:16 a buddy of mine [laughter] and me had bought like some goats and some cattle.

4:22 Yes.

4:22 [laughter] Here we go.

4:24 This is where she gets good.

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4:45 So, we start playing in this world of like just buying and selling.

4:49 And at the time, tell me what you told me before.

4:52 [laughter] You started an online goat company.

4:55 I'll get to that.

4:57 So, at the time, there was a thing uh in Austin it was called the Green Sheet,

5:02 but it's like any other town.

5:04 It was a classified ad section.

5:07 And so, this is exactly how this business happened.

5:10 I'm doing filters three or four days a week.

5:13 I'm like, "Dude, I gotta find a way to make more money.

5:15 I'm not making enough." So, that turns into uh I go with a buddy of mine.

5:23 Well, I see a guy in this green sheet thing and he's like,

5:26 "Hey, I'm looking to buy goats for 150 acres in Dripping Springs." Um,

5:33 and I'm like, "Yeah,

5:34 whatever." I read down there's another guy that's like selling goats.

5:38 I have 200 bore goats that are just eating me out of house at home.

5:42 I'm not buying hay for them anymore.

5:44 They're 60 bucks a pop.

5:45 So, I call the other guy and I'm like, "Hey, uh,

5:49 I got some goats for sale for $85 a piece." And the guy's like, "Done.

5:54 Bring when can you have them here?" And I'm like, "Uh, couple days.

5:58 Give me a couple days." So, I call the other guy and I'm like,

6:00 "Would you take $60 a goat on [laughter] your goats?" And I say the other guy,

6:04 it was me and my buddy James Stinson who's a buck wild dude.

6:08 So, we bought these goats for 60 bucks.

6:10 And in our mind, we were like, "Ah, this is great money.

6:12 We're going to sell a 100 goats and we're going to make, you know,

6:16 35 $30 ahead on them or whatever." We had talked the guy down, whatever.

6:20 So, we deliver them.

6:21 We had a trailer and all that stuff.

6:23 We made whatever we made, 5 to 800 bucks.

6:26 Wasn't very much, but at the time it was big money.

6:30 So, uh, I did that a couple of times.

6:33 And then I started getting phone calls for people being like,

6:36 "Hey, I'm in Oklahoma and I have bigger land.

6:39 I noticed you're always selling goats.

6:42 Do you do semi- loads of goats?

6:44 So, me being the dumb, I'm like I'm like, "Yeah,

6:47 sell semi loads of goats." [laughter] I'm like, "Yeah, I need a couple days.

6:50 We're putting together some stuff right now." So, I start calling everywhere.

6:53 Me and Stinson are calling all of these guys.

6:56 West Texas is where all the goats are.

6:58 So, eventually we sell a couple semi-loadads of goats.

7:01 In' 08, uh we were still doing this on the side.

7:05 We did it for probably 5 years.

7:06 So, I guess we started in 03 was when we technically got started.

7:10 Uh, we had gotten in with these guys

7:14 and there was a dog food company out of Mexico

7:19 that would buy any goat as long as it was alive when you got it to them.

7:25 So, we're like, cool.

7:26 Well, the sail barns always get rid of these things for like

7:29 nothing because they're assuming this thing's going to die any minute.

7:32 So they're like, "If we get $15 for this goat that's dying,

7:36 then it's better than it dying and now we got to pay the guy to go

7:41 drag it off behind the in the pasture or whatever." So we would buy all of them.

7:46 So when we put together 30 or 40 of them,

7:50 which you could do almost every week at most sale barns in central Texas,

7:54 we would haul them to Mexico.

7:57 So, the really short version of this story is

8:02 there were some cartel guys that wanted in on it

8:05 and we were like and and all they wanted was

8:08 when we were going across the border bringing stuff into Mexico,

8:12 bringing these lame goats into Mexico,

8:14 they were trying to get stuff into Mexico.

8:16 Oh, they wanted you for transport.

8:18 Yeah, for sure.

8:19 And it wasn't these weren't like this, when I say cartel guys,

8:23 this wasn't like Juan Pablo in his suit in the mansion.

8:27 This was like a super grimy looking dude that'd

8:29 pull up in an old Toyota and be like, "Hey,

8:31 I'll give you a thousand bucks to haul this in and whatever." We were

8:36 just dumb enough to do it cuz we were thinking we're entrepreneurs once again.

8:40 [laughter] So, long story short, it started getting weird.

8:44 We started bringing a gun with us.

8:45 Well, in Mexico, a gun is bad news.

8:49 Yep.

8:48 So, we got caught with bullets.

8:50 They didn't find our pistol.

8:51 They found a clip out of a Mini-14.

8:55 What did you just call that?

8:56 Clip.

8:56 bullet.

8:57 I mean a whatever, dude.

8:59 Be a professional.

9:00 [laughter]

9:00 What's it called?

9:01 I'm not military.

9:02 What's it called?

9:04 We're not in[ __] South Central LA.

9:05 I mean,

9:06 it's called a magazine.

9:07 Full clip [laughter]

9:11 magazine.

9:10 So, we had a easy [laughter] sideways.

9:16 Uh we had a we basically had a magazine with 10.

9:21 It's NATO rounds.

9:22 It's it's a mini 14.

9:24 So, and we would use it for if a coyote is chasing goats,

9:27 we'd pull it out and we'd shoot

9:29 at this thing trying to kill our goats and whatever.

9:32 So, in Mexico, they don't know 55 and they don't.

9:37 They're like, "How'd you get this?" They don't know

9:39 that in Texas you can go to an academy and buy Oh, yeah.

9:43 buckets of them, however many you want.

9:45 They're just like, "You held up a federal or how did you get these 10 bullets?

9:49 How did How did you get this?" And so,

9:51 we're like, "Dude, whatever." So in our minds,

9:53 we had always been taught or told you can bribe,

9:58 you can do whatever you need to do to get out of anything in Mexico.

10:01 So we had kept a couple thousand bucks between us tucked in our boots.

10:07 We laid out like the prettiest little turkey

10:10 fan of [laughter] $100 bills and we were like, "Hey, amigo." We were like,

10:13 "Hum that thing out in that field right there

10:15 and take that money and we'll vomit us back to America.

10:17 You'll never see us again." And like perfect English.

10:20 This guy's like, "No,

10:21 that's not the way this works." [laughter] And we're like, "Oh,

10:24 okay." So, long story short, we spent 4 days, 4 and a half days in Pedra Negris.

10:32 My girlfriend at the time had to come get

10:34 us cuz my buddy's wife was ready to divorce him.

10:37 It was a bad deal.

10:38 But we got out, they kept his truck.

10:40 We had a like a probably a 2-year-old Dodge 3/4 ton.

10:45 You remember those like 06 05 06 like Dodge 3/4 tons,

10:50 but they were the short box.

10:52 Good looking truck.

10:53 They set up real tall.

10:54 They were bad.

10:54 They were awesome trucks.

10:55 So anyway, they kept that and and basically we had to go back to like check in.

11:00 And the the attorney guy there was like, "Look, man,

11:03 they they're not buying time to see if you're going

11:06 to be cool and you're going to go through this probation period.

11:10 They just want your truck." Some guy's driving your truck

11:12 and they have noticed they're you're never getting that truck back.

11:15 So stop coming to Mexico and you path of least resistance.

11:19 Yeah.

11:19 Mexico jail ended goat dealer.com.

11:21 [laughter] After that we were we were done.

11:24 So but this whole time I'm still doing filter stuff.

11:28 So I'm doing filter stuff.

11:32 Well, another buddy of mine was doing taxiderermy at the time,

11:36 and I was doing like the goat stuff was maybe one day a week,

11:41 more like maybe one and a half days every two weeks.

11:44 Like we would make phone calls.

11:46 We might have to go drive there, we might not.

11:49 Wasn't taking much time.

11:50 So, I'm doing my three or four days a week of doing my filter stuff,

11:55 trying to do the goat stuff.

11:57 Uh, and I was doing tax dermy on the side.

12:01 I was guiding hunts on the weekend and I was

12:03 doing this type stuff on the side just for fun.

12:07 What started as a side hobby turned into a business.

12:09 Tyler is now an acclaimed taxiderermist

12:12 and works on animals from around the world.

12:14 All right.

12:14 Welcome to my taxiderermy studio.

12:16 Little office area.

12:18 All this back here is workspace.

12:24 Stag.

12:23 Yeah.

12:24 Red stag from Argentina.

12:27 And that's also a red stag, but from New Zealand.

12:29 New Zealand.

12:29 So you can almost tell the difference in a New Zealand stag and a Argentina.

12:35 This is like a big one for Argentina.

12:38 Huh.

12:37 I guess they just don't get as big.

12:39 This is a lot more elkish in the rack than the uh

12:41 Yeah, no doubt.

12:42 They don't crown out like they do.

12:44 But man, they It's wild, man.

12:47 New Zealand stags are on another level.

12:49 They're hardy, but also you pay for that.

12:52 I think you can go shoot one of these for like five grand.

12:54 Those are like 30 grand.

12:56 So, um, yeah, all stuff for customers.

12:59 Everything in here is somebody's waiting to get back from me.

13:04 [laughter] Uh, it's kind of This is where we normally do our work.

13:08 I had my guys kind of clean up today cuz I was like, man,

13:10 we need a place to sit down and actually have this combo that doesn't,

13:15 uh, just wreak of nasty stuff.

13:18 So, what is that?

13:19 That's a black buck analopee originally from India and now there

13:24 is a crap ton of them in the Texas Hill Country.

13:26 How about the one on the wall?

13:28 That is an Addex, another uh like exotic that came over here and lives here now.

13:36 And what was the flourishes?

13:38 What was the intent in bringing the exotics over?

13:41 I don't know.

13:42 But I will tell you this.

13:43 I know uh what it has turned into is year- round commerce because like I said,

13:51 you can hunt these things year round.

13:53 You can anything.

13:55 So the the cool thing about Texas is they're all introduced species.

14:01 So everything that's in here other than a white tail or like a turkey,

14:06 a wild turkey is something that you know you you can shoot.

14:11 There's no bag limits.

14:13 There's no nothing.

14:14 You can shoot them year round.

14:16 Um, and it brings a lot of guys.

14:18 Well, you know, one thing I've noticed owning this business, it's kind of wild,

14:22 is uh people if they don't if they're kind of a trophy hunter,

14:27 like if they want something for their wall,

14:29 they got a new house and they want something above the fireplace or whatever,

14:33 they'll start trophy hunting, what I call trophy hunting.

14:36 Well, if they go through a whitetail season and they don't get it,

14:39 I get the most amount of exotics right

14:42 after whitetail season ends and they're like, "Man,

14:44 I just completely struck out during whitetail season,

14:48 so now I paid for an exotic hunt and now I'm getting a black

14:51 buck where uh where my big white tail was supposed to go." But

14:54 yeah, uh like I said, this is where all the magic happens, man.

14:57 And has happened since uh' 05.

15:01 It's awesome.

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16:05 I'm 20 years into this business and this thing's kind of on autopilot.

16:09 Every year I've got a client base that comes and goes.

16:12 They I don't go out and look for new work.

16:14 I'm attached to a hunting place, archery country.

16:17 So, I got business.

16:18 If I want more business, I go over there and I say, "Hey,

16:21 I'm taking more shoulder mounts and European mounts

16:23 if y'all want them." And it happens pretty quick.

16:26 So, I've I've been fortunate in that this deal's always run.

16:30 The other deal with this This is not a business where I'm I'm never going

16:34 to be Scrooge McDuck swimming in my my money

16:37 and uh [laughter] laughing at all the

16:39 So, how well how did it grow then into you becoming a part of the archery shop?

16:43 Cuz these are the little steps.

16:44 I mean, you're in the same ecosystem, but it's starting to build on itself.

16:47 So, yeah.

16:48 So, this deal was blowing and going and I was doing it and all that.

16:53 I'm just in the grind.

16:54 And and days turn into months, months turn into years,

16:58 and you you I guess at some point you're just so

17:02 far in the grind that you're not thinking about next month's bills.

17:06 You're just like, "All right,

17:07 let's make this month's bills and then we'll start worrying about

17:10 putting money in the bank account and then we'll do do

17:12 this." And it just compounded to where I was I was doing

17:16 it and the filter company was doing good and I still owned it.

17:20 So, I owned the filter company until 2016.

17:24 Damn.

17:23 I sold it to my brother and another guy that came in and and they still run it.

17:28 They run five trucks here in Austin.

17:31 Um, still alive and kicking.

17:33 Started in 98 when I was a just a we lad.

17:39 Um, this deal's still going strong, too.

17:40 We got all the work we can handle in here.

17:42 Um, do you see it?

17:44 Not to interrupt you, but I was just thinking about this.

17:46 Because you've been involved in this so long,

17:48 are you able to see like a dad exposing

17:52 a son to hunting and then the next thing you

17:55 know the son is coming in on his own

17:57 with his own kids and you're watching it passed down generationally.

18:00 That's got to be awesome.

18:01 It's It's actually really cool to see and it's

18:04 something I aspire to cuz I got a 9

18:05 and 11year-old and I'm like dude it'd be really

18:07 cool to cuz right now we're doing all the first.

18:10 My son shot his first ear with a compound and I'm like,

18:14 I know one day I'm probably going to get to see

18:15 a grandson come in here and be like, look, I That's crazy.

18:19 Part of the secret to a business's success is

18:21 making the experience of getting into archery and hunting approachable.

18:25 It's a complicated and expensive sport,

18:27 but that's what makes his shop different.

18:29 Here's what I want people to see.

18:31 How approachable and easy it is.

18:33 You come into an archery shop, what can somebody expect?

18:36 How easy can it be and painless can it be to get into the sport of archery?

18:39 whether you want to hunt or not.

18:41 Yeah.

18:41 Super easy, super painless.

18:43 Hopefully my guys do their job and we

18:45 uh are the friendliest people you've ever met.

18:47 Let's do it.

18:48 So, yeah.

18:48 So, come in.

18:49 So, welcome to archery country.

18:51 We always greet everybody.

18:53 The reality is we always start this with like,

18:55 hey, how do you what's your end goal?

18:59 Is is target shooting, shooting with hunting with a loin cloth?

19:03 [laughter] Perfect.

19:05 I'll make you the loin cloth.

19:07 Yeah.

19:07 Uh so, it always starts off with that.

19:09 How's what's your end goal?

19:11 What are you trying to achieve?

19:12 All that stuff.

19:13 Um, here's here's here's what you're going to get.

19:16 I heard about this guy.

19:17 He has a podcast.

19:18 His name is Joe.

19:20 [laughter] He won't shut up about archery hunting.

19:23 He uses the word compound bow.

19:24 I don't even know what that means.

19:26 But what I want is what Joe uses.

19:29 I'll tell you what we normally get is the dude who walks in is like,

19:32 "Hey, uh, I'm just here looking for an 80 lb hoy." And I'm like, "Cool.

19:35 Have you ever drawn a bow?" And they're like,

19:36 "No, just want an 80 lb ho weight." Perfect.

19:38 tell you, man.

19:39 So, you've seen some Cam Haynes stuff, [laughter] huh?

19:41 And thanks to the prominence of people like Rogan and Cameron Haynes,

19:45 many new people have been getting into hunting.

19:47 I have a tuning room back in the corner back there.

19:50 We'll go look at here in a minute.

19:52 Um, and the tuning room is specifically where we're handing you

19:57 a bow [music] with an arrow and we're saying, "Draw that bow.

20:01 Shoot.

20:02 Yep.

20:02 Feel what it feels like.

20:03 Take three shots with it.

20:04 Put it down.

20:05 Draw the other one." And then once you've narrowed

20:07 it down into two bows and you're saying, "Man,

20:10 I can't tell if I like the Hoy better or the Matthews better," then we're like,

20:14 "Cool." So, we've eliminated everything else, go one for one.

20:18 Just boom, shoot it.

20:19 Boom, shoot it.

20:20 A lot of times it'll come down to something

20:21 stupid like I just like the way this grip feels.

20:25 Or I feel like I hold this one steadier or I feel [music] whatever it is.

20:29 That's the same as guns.

20:30 It is.

20:31 It is.

20:31 It's exactly the same.

20:32 So, a lot of it is is that we'll set them up and let them do that.

20:36 There there is the to use your vernacular, the redneck crowd.

20:42 Yeah.

20:41 They are the vast vast vast minority of hunters that I've ever encountered.

20:45 The other people that I have encountered to include

20:47 the the professional hunters are probably the most in this way.

20:51 And there are people who do trophy hunt,

20:53 but I know very few people who exclusively do that.

20:56 I know hunters who have been hunting long enough

20:57 that they're selective in the animal that they're shoot because

21:01 they're looking for something particular in their hunting journey.

21:03 But I don't know if I've met anybody

21:04 who cares more about the animals than hunters.

21:10 There's not.

21:10 You and I, you and I were in Utah

21:12 and this last elk hunting season didn't go great for me.

21:14 I pulled a shot back, wounded an elk, and like I

21:20 Well, it's probably like the 50th time I felt like quit quitting hunting,

21:23 [laughter] but I you feel horrible.

21:25 you feel gutted.

21:25 The last thing I want to do is actually extend the suffering of an animal.

21:29 For people out there who don't understand what the end looks like in nature,

21:33 I would say there's a little bit

21:34 of a difference in balance between suffering and longevity doubt

21:38 between how most animals die in nature,

21:40 specifically elk, versus when they encounter an ethical hunter.

21:43 For sure.

21:43 We're talking seconds versus Yeah.

21:46 you know, infection, fighting, starvation, the combination, all of those things.

21:51 No doubt.

21:51 I find that hunters and another thing that a lot of people

21:54 don't understand is that hunting funds most conservation in the US.

21:58 Like Montana, the tags are expensive.

22:01 Yeah.

22:00 But you can look at where it goes and it's

22:02 to pay the salaries of people who are out there.

22:04 Um, I was just at the airport before, uh,

22:07 the local airport where I keep the helicopter before we came up here.

22:09 And they were doing maintenance on a fishing

22:11 game helicopter and a fishing game airplane.

22:13 And the airplane is completely rigged out in antennas to track elk,

22:16 mountain lions, bears, grizz,

22:18 like all of the And they're up there

22:20 all the time seating fish into high altitude lakes.

22:24 Yep.

22:23 All of that stuff is funded by hunters.

22:26 That was funed by me and you.

22:28 Maybe not you down here in Texas cuz you [laughter] know it'd

22:30 be pretty sweet if we got to steal your Texas hunting dollars.

22:33 But it would Yeah.

22:35 It's crazy for us here.

22:38 I think a lot of it, at least in in this world,

22:43 is I'd say 95% of these people that have killed stuff in here,

22:49 um, have [clears throat] done it out of it was a, uh,

22:55 it was like a something that just happened.

22:57 They weren't they weren't actually hunting for a set of horns

23:00 or they saw something and they were like, "Oh, wow.

23:02 There's a big buck out there.

23:04 We're already hunting from for meat." Anyway, I know a lot of people, dude.

23:09 I mean, a lot.

23:10 I'd say 30 to 40% of my clients here and over there live,

23:15 me included, live off of the meat that we kill.

23:18 I I have not bought red meat.

23:23 Yeah.

23:22 In a sense of like if I want a ribeye,

23:25 every once in a while, for sure, I'll go buy a prime one ribeye.

23:28 If I'm grilling down, I want to do something cool.

23:32 Burger, uh, all that stuff.

23:33 I haven't bought it for 10, 15 years.

23:35 I mean, we we just it's we eat

23:37 it because I know it doesn't have growth hormones.

23:40 I'm trying to raise two boys to be healthy without

23:43 all the weird stuff that's going on in the world.

23:46 You talk to Brigham all the stuff and you're like,

23:48 dude, there's stuff in everything, micro plat, whatever it is.

23:51 I'm like, dude, I know where this animal was.

23:53 I know where that elk was at the desireette.

23:55 I know the Neil guy that I shot in South

23:57 Texas was out there for eight years living his best life.

24:01 and I roll up and bang and yeah, we're loaded up the freezer again.

24:06 But my point is is like a bunch of our customers over there,

24:09 that's it's a way of life.

24:11 And it's also cool because it's it [clears throat]

24:15 goes beyond that in that people will be like, "Hey, dude, you shot a Neil guy.

24:18 I've always wanted to try that." And they're like, "But dude,

24:21 I shot three blackbuck this year because my land is overrun

24:25 with them and we had to thin the herd a little bit.

24:27 Um, you want some of this and I'll trade you for some of that?" And we I have

24:31 that I got I got pounds of that right

24:34 now in my freezer that people are just like, "Hey, you want to try this?" Um,

24:38 hunters are the most giving pe the guys that I know.

24:42 They're all willing to help you if you're down on your luck.

24:45 We noticed that a lot during there

24:48 were people in the neighborhood that were like,

24:50 "Man, HB's picked over our grocery store." And they're like,

24:54 "Now what?" And I had a freezer full of stuff to where I was like,

24:59 "Dude, come over if y'all are like," they weren't struggling.

25:02 They still had frozen pizza.

25:03 They had other stuff to eat.

25:04 But they were like, "Man, it'd be nice to have something." And I'm like,

25:06 "I'm sitting on 75 lbs of meal guy meat.

25:10 I've got whitetail sausage.

25:12 I've got it." So I'm like, "Come over, dude.

25:14 I'll hook you up." For Tyler, the idea of [music] Archery Country is to make

25:17 people feel like they belong in the sport.

25:19 Often that means hours getting equipment dialed in.

25:22 It's all about just making you comfortable with the purchase, man.

25:25 At the end of the day, that's our entire job is to pick

25:30 something you're comfortable with, that you like,

25:33 that you're like, "Man, I'm I dig all this stuff." So, show me the tuning room.

25:37 I want to see what goes on in there.

25:38 Yeah, man.

25:38 So, the tuning room, we got uh the recurve section for people

25:42 who want to make their life even harder.

25:44 Yeah.

25:44 For those of you

25:46 Oh, crossbows.

25:47 Why didn't we start with this?

25:49 [laughter] It's uh pretty special.

25:53 So this is where all of the work happens.

25:58 Uh so all of these bows on this wall are pending work.

26:03 They are waiting on a string, waiting on something that's jacked up, whatever.

26:08 Working on them.

26:08 All these are ones that are done, ready to give back.

26:11 Got a little extra stuff in here to sell.

26:14 These are ones on layaway.

26:16 Um, the reality is my guys will spend most of their morning

26:20 in here and it's all 100% shoot it through paper.

26:26 If it tears, it's bad.

26:28 So, I can show you on this little thing.

26:30 So, when you're paper tuning something,

26:34 see how that one's got like a hole there, but it kind of goes over into this.

26:38 You're actually looking Let me see if I can find a good one.

26:41 See how that's like a perfect bullet hole?

26:43 There's a hole in the center and then there's the three lines for the vein.

26:47 The tear essentially means it's coming through at an angle, right?

26:49 The tear means it's coming through at an angle.

26:51 So it's exaggerated at distance.

26:55 So if it's coming out at 3 yards in here,

26:58 well at 25 yards, it's really kicking one way or another.

27:04 So we just make sure that this is it.

27:06 So, like I said, once again, it goes back to when you buy a new bow from us,

27:11 we'll give you um 5 hours of range time.

27:14 We tell you, put a couple hundred shots through it.

27:16 We'll take the bow back, we offer a free tune with it,

27:20 and all that means is we'll bring it in, we'll shoot it through paper again,

27:24 and sometimes the strings stretch,

27:26 sometimes you need to twist them up a little more,

27:28 take a little out of them, whatever happens, do that.

27:32 But the guys will work on them here.

27:34 um they'll tweak them however they need to tweak and stuff like that.

27:38 And then that's it, man.

27:40 This is where, like I said, the guys spend the morning.

27:43 And it's a it's kind of funny to watch cuz it's like a recurring thing.

27:46 So like all of these bows,

27:47 we might be waiting on strings and a tune if we do that.

27:50 So if we fix three or four of these bows,

27:55 each guy in the morning will come grab a bow and start tuning it.

27:58 Um, and so they're going back and forth from the workstations back there, um,

28:04 and all that, which we can go see the workstations if you want to go see that.

28:08 Check out where we work on them.

28:09 But yeah, this is where we shoot.

28:12 And then the rest of the shop is, uh, targets and stuff.

28:15 One of the cool things we've done here that I take pride in is,

28:20 uh, so we're a like a true archery shop.

28:26 And by that I mean I don't sell pistols.

28:30 I don't sell optics.

28:31 I don't sell crispy boots.

28:32 I don't sell Sitka.

28:34 I don't sell anything else.

28:35 I literally This is a bow shop.

28:37 So when you come in, you expect

28:40 the dudes to know what's what they're talking about.

28:42 Yeah.

28:43 What they're talking about know them inside and out.

28:45 And my guy my guys do.

28:47 Wow.

28:47 You have a bunch of releases.

28:48 Yeah.

28:48 Got a bunch of them open.

28:50 This is where the guys will press the bows to take the strings off.

28:52 If I've got multiple presses for any kind of bow,

28:56 um, we've got all the strings back here.

28:58 I've got all of the stuff on the back wall to adjust mods,

29:03 to adjust whatever you're trying to accomplish.

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30:13 Joe when he started coming in during like did he just show up one day?

30:19 Yeah.

30:20 Yeah.

30:20 You want to know what's crazy?

30:21 Have you met most of his team?

30:23 Have you met the team?

30:24 So, do you know Jake on the team?

30:26 So, Phil, the guy that Phil is normally with.

30:27 Ask Joe someday how he got his team.

30:29 Yeah.

30:29 Yeah.

30:29 I I know the story.

30:31 I actually [laughter] asked Phil that and Phil was like, "Well, funny enough,

30:34 my partner, he was like, "It was Andy Stump who got me the

30:37 I get a call one day." Joe was like, "Weirdos are hanging out by my studio.

30:40 Do you know anybody who carries guns?

30:42 And I'm like, those are my words, not necessarily his, [laughter] by the way.

30:45 I was like, yeah, I think I got you.

30:47 Yeah.

30:47 Yeah.

30:47 That's how that started, actually.

30:48 No.

30:48 And that's it was Phil's partner, right?

30:50 Yeah.

30:50 Dan Cerillo.

30:52 Yeah.

30:52 Who unfortunately passed away

30:54 uh a couple years ago.

30:55 Couple years ago.

30:55 Yeah.

30:56 Yeah.

30:56 And I think Phil has taken if I'm not mistaken.

30:59 Phil and his wife have kind of run whatever.

31:03 Phil's a good buddy of mine, too.

31:04 We hang out.

31:04 So, the first, not the first time,

31:06 but one of the first times they come in, Jake,

31:09 uh, the big marine dude that's always with Phil.

31:13 So, Jake works for me.

31:15 He was working for a gun company and they cut him loose.

31:17 And I was like, "D, he's a pretty cleancut guy and good.

31:20 Seems like a hard worker." So, I was like, "Hey, if you're looking for a job,

31:23 come work over here." So, Jake worked for me for four years.

31:27 And so one of the first times they come in, Phil's like,

31:30 "Hey, were you in Iraq or Afghan wherever they were,

31:33 Afghanistan, wherever they met each other?" They had

31:35 met each other overseas in like 04 or something.

31:39 It was it was back in the day.

31:42 And so Jake's like, "Yeah, I was there.

31:44 I was part of this whatever." So they're talking.

31:48 I don't think anything of it.

31:49 Well, like two weeks later, Jake's like, "Hey boss,

31:51 can we have lunch real quick?" And I'm like,

31:52 "That's weird." and he's like, "Hey,

31:54 so Joe's details looking hire." [laughter and gasps] And at the time I'm paying

31:59 him like $23 an hour and they're paying like seven whatever it was for.

32:05 And by the way, if they're looking to hire,

32:07 I might be looking for a job cuz it's it's peanuts [laughter] over here.

32:10 Anyway, so Jake hired on with those guys

32:13 and been with them ever since still with those guys.

32:15 it.

32:16 Um, yeah, Joe comes in one day and where I went right with Joe,

32:20 I've said this on other podcast was, um, I basically was like, "Hey, look, man.

32:26 I'm going to make this real easy." Uh, I I'm not a super fan.

32:30 I I did like him, but I was like, I like all your stuff.

32:33 You're cool, man.

32:34 Make this a safe place.

32:35 I was like, I'm never going to post that you're here,

32:38 that we're your bow shop, what we're doing for you.

32:41 I'm never going to take my picture with my arm around you saying, "Hey,

32:43 we're Joe Rogan's choice of whatever." I was like,

32:46 "Dude, here's my cell phone number.

32:47 Come after hours." Cuz dude, he would just get fandangoed when he

32:51 I've watched it happen at bow ranges.

32:53 It's brutal.

32:54 Like, like I It's making me uncomfortable.

32:58 I'm like, "Hey, dude.

32:59 Just come on, man.

32:59 He's not interested in your startup or whatever it is

33:03 that you're doing." So he started coming in and for years,

33:07 dude, I'm talking two to three years he would

33:11 come in and all I was was a yes man.

33:14 And by that I mean I like he would come in and be like,

33:15 "Hey, I want this new bow set up.

33:17 I want this site, this, and this, and this." And I'm like, "Yeah,

33:19 cool." And I knew what was screwing it up

33:22 at some of the other shops because they would be like, "You don't want that.

33:26 You want this." And that's not the type of guy Joe is.

33:30 Yeah.

33:30 No.

33:30 No.

33:30 So if you tell that to Joe, he's like, "Hey, I that's not what I said.

33:34 I said, I want the spot." Whatever.

33:36 You have my credit [laughter] card, right?

33:37 Yeah.

33:37 Shut your mouth, monkey.

33:39 Just do this.

33:40 And so I was like, "Hey, dude.

33:41 I'm never going to do it." Well, for years that's the way we operated.

33:44 And by that I mean he would call.

33:46 I would be like, "Yeah, sure.

33:47 Monday afternoon's fine.

33:49 Come in.

33:49 We're closed.

33:50 No one will be here.

33:51 We'll set up that bow.

33:52 You can shoot.

33:53 You won't get messed with." Whatever.

33:56 One day he comes in.

33:57 He's got new broadheads.

33:58 He's like, "Man, dude,

34:00 where can you go shoot like a pig around here or something, dude?" He's like,

34:03 "I want to try these before I go on this elk

34:05 hunt and all that stuff." And that's what kindled it.

34:07 We went and hung out.

34:08 And I was like, "Man, I got a little place an hour up the road." And he's like,

34:12 "Well, who's going to be out there?

34:13 Is it going to be weird?" You know, whatever.

34:16 Cuz I'm sure he se he's you go to a ranch and then all

34:19 of a sudden the rancher is there

34:22 and the ranch guy that runs it and everyone's like, "Oh man, you're cool, dude.

34:25 Let's go hang out." Whatever.

34:27 I was like, "It's us." I was like, "It's going to be me and you.

34:29 So, if you want to drive out there." So,

34:32 what surprised me about it was he didn't call Phil and them.

34:36 He just rolls up in his TRX one day and I'm like, "Oh, wow.

34:40 You're by yourself." And he's like, "Yeah,

34:41 it's just me." And I'm like, "Okay, cool.

34:43 Well, come on, man.

34:44 Let's go hunt." So, we'd go hunt.

34:46 Um, and that's how it started.

34:48 Dude, I never pushed the envelope.

34:50 I never tried to tell him, "Dude,

34:52 you should buy into my business." We never that never that never happened, dude.

34:56 I I was just like trying to be a yes man.

35:00 And that turned into at some point he's like, "Man, dude,

35:03 if there's ever a way to buy into this, man, it'd be fun, dude.

35:05 Let's try and grow something super huge here in Austin." Cuz for him, yeah,

35:11 Austin is now home.

35:12 And and he'll tell you that this is where I'm going to die.

35:15 This is where my family's going to live.

35:17 This is my town.

35:18 And that's why he built the comedy mothership.

35:20 And that's why he's building other stuff.

35:23 Well, here he was like, I just want to be a part of it.

35:26 He's not, like I told you before,

35:27 he's not interested in P&Ls and seeing what we're doing.

35:31 I think he just knows, hey, let's try and it'd be fun to grow something

35:34 together and make it substantial and make it something.

35:38 So, he wants to put like a mecca of archery here.

35:40 For Tyler, archery is more than a business or hobby.

35:43 It is a way to reconnect with life,

35:45 understand discipline, and re-engage with what really matters in life.

35:49 I think he wants to be able to drive something [music] or drive

35:52 people to something [clears throat] that's had an immense impact on his life.

35:55 And that's why I asked you, have you ever seen archery change people?

35:58 Joe Rogan number one.

35:59 But I've seen it change a lot of people.

36:01 A lot of the guys that come through um what it may it forced them to do

36:08 was really get serious about something where

36:11 in their life they've never gotten serious about it.

36:13 Like I have guys that come in and they'll practice

36:15 every day on their lunch break leading up to September.

36:18 And you'll see them in like July.

36:21 Every day they'll pay $75 for a monthly

36:23 membership and every day they'll have a sandwich.

36:26 They'll walk in eating and they're like, "Man,

36:28 I'm gonna go get my 50 shots in or whatever."

36:31 And I talked to one of those guys and he was like,

36:34 "Man, the reality is he was like,

36:35 "I've I've made a couple bad shots now with my bow

36:39 and it's eating me alive." And then they're like,

36:42 "If only I didn't know what that but I don't." Yeah.

36:44 [laughter] Well, full disclosure to anybody who has hunted for a while,

36:47 you've had that happen.

36:48 That's the worst.

36:49 It's the absolute worst.

36:51 Um, and you will never feel worse than that.

36:53 Like, I've not slept because I've hit deer wrong.

36:56 And I'm like, it's a white tail in Texas.

36:59 There is eight gajillion.

37:01 Like, when you buy a Texas hunting license, you get five deer tags.

37:06 Wow.

37:05 And that's what you get.

37:07 They don't care.

37:07 They're like, "Yeah, go shoot five deer tonight if you want to.

37:11 You got five tags.

37:12 you can blow them up, roll, whatever.

37:14 Um, it still makes you lose sleep and stuff cuz you're like,

37:18 "Man, I I should have done better.

37:20 I could have done better.

37:22 I should have waited for it to turn.

37:23 I got in a hurry.

37:24 Why did I do that?" You're mad at yourself.

37:26 But it where the the life-changing stuff comes

37:29 in is there's guys that wanted more of a challenge.

37:31 Well, then they get more of a challenge and they're like, "Oh, man.

37:34 I really got to you you can't just show up.

37:37 You can't put together a new bow one week before a hunt,

37:40 show up to a hunt, and be like, I'm ready to ready to roll.

37:43 It doesn't work that way.

37:44 And that's what's crazy about Joe and Cam and those guys.

37:47 That Cam specifically will train year round for the month of September.

37:53 He he literally runs and shoots his bow every day.

37:56 I call the way people live life art.

37:59 Like I wrote a forward to my friend [music] Cameron Haynes's book.

38:03 I and I one of the things that I said was that he practices

38:06 an art that very few people appreciate and it's the art of the maximized life

38:12 to go try and shoot three or four bulls in the month of September which

38:15 more power to him dude if that's what your deal is sick man go get it

38:19 yeah still come up with[ __] to say it's just tougher

38:25 yeah so it's uh you know a lot of people well

38:27 this would be kind of fun because a lot of people say

38:28 well if all I had to do was train and hunt I

38:31 could do that too I'm Settle down,[ __] I got a 95.

38:36 Also, I've seen it pull people out of a digital world

38:39 and get them more involved in the physical world.

38:42 Yeah.

38:42 Whether it's just the the tactile shooting the bow themselves or going out

38:46 and experiencing the nature that they're

38:47 only getting through swiping with their thumb.

38:50 Those are the people that I've seen a who get the most addicted to it,

38:53 but b have the most life-changing aspect of it.

38:58 No, that that's true.

38:59 And and also we've seen it a bunch with like kids programs.

39:02 It's it's literally a pandemic of getting kids off of iPads and stuff like that.

39:08 I I have kids that I fight daily cuz we're like, "Man,

39:12 you get an hour of screen time." And you'd be

39:15 surprised at how fast an hour of screen time goes.

39:19 And then they're like, "Well, I'm bored.

39:20 Can I watch this on TV?" And I'm like, "No, dude.

39:22 That's a screen.

39:23 Go ride your scooter.

39:24 Go ride your bike.

39:25 Go do whatever." Um, it's a pandemic, dude.

39:29 Kids, we're It's I I don't I want to see what

39:33 the next like 20 years is going to look like because,

39:35 dude, the like the like computer neck or whatever

39:39 they call it where they're just down here.

39:41 That's going to be a real thing, dude.

39:42 There's going to be need to be like chiropractors that are

39:45 solely functioning for that.

39:47 If you if you leave them to their brothers, dude, they're they're all in.

39:51 My my kids included,

39:52 and my kids love to hunt and shoot bows and do all this other stuff.

39:56 there's other kids that don't get off of it.

39:58 They get home from school and they're on it start to finish.

40:02 Um, and that's one of the cool things here in Austin.

40:04 So, there's a huge archery in the schools program.

40:08 There's a guy that started one here

40:09 in town uh that followed his daughter through.

40:13 She's now a senior at UT, but he started it when she was in elementary school,

40:19 middle school, high school, and then he went all in when he retired.

40:24 And there's I think 400 archers from 14 schools

40:28 in central Austin right here and an archery program.

40:32 And it all started with get the kid off of the screen.

40:35 And I know that's changing lives because now you have kids that I told

40:40 all those kids if you're in the area and you want to come practice,

40:45 it will never cost you.

40:46 So if you can talk your mom and dad into coming and driving you here,

40:50 you've got free targets.

40:51 Free.

40:52 You can come shoot for as long as you want.

40:53 you shoot all day for all I care.

40:55 Um, and you see these kids that it's it's now they're

41:00 interested in hunting and not because they come from a hunting background.

41:04 They're like, "Well,

41:05 it's kind of cool." And I watch these guys do it and they're I love Elme

41:10 or I love this because I had it up here one time and stuff like that.

41:15 And that's all they're doing.

41:16 They're just they're they're witnessing and partaking in something that they're

41:20 that's out of their comfort zone and then they're like, "Well, that's not bad.

41:23 I like that.

41:24 So, how do I get to that next step?" And that's where I see it.

41:29 That's where the real change is going to happen.

41:31 I'm hoping to change parents' minds, but man, kids right now, I'm like, "Dude,

41:34 you got to get like you got to get them off of screens." And like I said,

41:38 I'm preaching to myself cuz I'm it's super easy.

41:43 [laughter] You might not know this now, but like for me,

41:46 it's super easy on a Saturday to be like,

41:48 "Dude, I just don't want to deal with these dudes.

41:49 They're wrecking shot." Mine are 9 and 11.

41:52 They fight like two cats in a paper bag.

41:54 That won't change for that.

41:58 Yeah.

41:58 [laughter] But I mean, it's easy to be like, "Hey,

42:00 go take your iPad and y'all go do whatever you

42:02 want for 3 hours." And it gets you a break.

42:05 Um, it's your job as a parent to be like, "Hey, man, get off the screen, dude.

42:08 Go let's go let's go do it." It's my job to be like,

42:11 "Hey, there's Austin Archery Club.

42:13 Let's go shoot around out there." It's a It's a mile and a half,

42:17 two-mile loop through the woods shooting at 3D targets.

42:21 Texas has nice weather 11 months out of the year.

42:25 I actually had this conversation with uh oh, what's Donnie Vincent?

42:30 And he was like, "I spent 3 hours in the parking

42:33 lot before I bought my first bow." And he was like,

42:35 "I could not bring myself to come through the door." He was like,

42:38 "I thought the guy behind the counter was going to be like,

42:41 dude, what do you want?" And then he was going to be like, "Well, I want a bow,

42:44 but I don't know if I can draw 70 pounds." And then

42:47 he's just going to get embarrassed and just be like, "You know what?

42:51 I'll try another day." And then you just never come back.

42:53 So the That's not a 30 second pitch, by the way.

42:57 [laughter] Not even close.

42:58 Keep going.

42:59 Yeah.

42:59 The 30 second pitch editing.

43:01 Yeah.

43:01 The 30 secondond pitch is get make sure it's a shop you you're comfortable with.

43:06 get in there and talk to the guys behind the counter

43:08 because once you build a little bit of a rapport with people,

43:12 you're you're golden, man.

43:14 You're And that's the hardest thing.

43:15 That's the hardest step.

43:17 The first step's the hardest one to make.

43:20 Thank you again for listening to Change Agents in Ironclad Original.

43:23 I hope you enjoyed today's episode.