#431 Warriors Never Give Up – Brett Bastian

October 4, 2017

WTR 431BB | Warrior Hunter

 

As a warrior and a hunter, Brett Bastian believes that God called us to step out of our comfort zone to do more. This is the main reason why he started Warriors Never Give Up with Dustin Sperlich, a fellow combat veteran. Warriors Never Give Up is a God-inspired volunteer non-profit organization that offers outdoor adventures for combat, deployed, or service-connected disabled veterans. WNGU aims to provide a place of relaxation, hope, and family to their participants. They believe that the hunt brings people together, but the Spirit changes their lives when least expected. They are dedicated to changing the lives of the nation’s heroes one outdoor adventure at a time.

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LISTEN TO THE PODCAST HERE:

Warriors Never Give Up – Brett Bastian

Here in Whitetail Rendezvous, we love helping veterans, promoting teams that are out there helping veterans and volunteering. These people aren’t paid. One of the guys that I’ve got on the show is Brett Bastian of Warriors Never Give Up and Cofounder of Warrior Arrow. What’s that all about? That gives you an opportunity to support Warriors Never Give Up because what Brett found and a long time ago is he wants to give back. He wants to help those people that are struggling right now. It was awesome to hear about the testimonies on how his little group out there in Dakotas has changed people’s lives.

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We’re heading up to Dakotas and we’re going to meet with the Cofounder of Warriors Never Give Up and Warrior Arrow. Brett, welcome to the show.

Bruce, thank you for inviting us to Whitetail Rendezvous. We’re looking forward to an amazing day.

Warriors Never Give Up, you have cofounded that. We all know that there are veterans out there that need help and this is one of the energies that are doing that. Let’s talk about that.

In 2013, God inspired me with the idea to give back to my fellow veterans. I shared that with two gentlemen, Karl Kreutzmann and Brad Martin. In 2013, we formed Warriors Never Give Up. It is a God-inspired volunteer organization. We provide outdoor adventures for combat, deployed and service-connected disabled veterans. What makes us different is number one, God’s our chief sponsor. Number two is we’re all volunteers and none of us has a paycheck. Number three, we take on all heroes on all wars, so we don’t leave anyone out. The only criteria is being combat deployed or service-connected. We became a recognized nonprofit in 2014 with the Federal government.

You had to have some framework. You’re sitting out in the deer blind or at a quick trip getting gas and said, “I got to do this.” Let’s talk about how it became what it is today.

My affinity for the wilderness is quite simple. That’s a place for me to find peace and comfort to be able to shut down the busy life of a medical practice that I work as a physician assistant neurosurgery. It’s my outlet and wilderness is my therapy. During that time, it’s relaxation and taking the environment. During bowhunting, God gave me this idea, “You need to do something more for your fellow veterans than what you’re doing right now.” The idea was inspired like that in a bow hunting tree stand.

That’s great because we all get to that place out in the woods and the hunt is on or over. It could be in five seconds, but all the rest of the time, we’re out there and enjoying what nature has for us or throws at us. That’s interesting that your thought for Warriors Never Give Up came there. What did you do next?

The reason why we go to the outdoors is quite simple. There’s some real significant healing that can occur when we get people out to nature and get away from their busy life. The design of our outdoor adventures, which are hunting and fishing adventures, is for our veterans to step back from those daily struggles that they’re going through, to take a knee and to connect with other veterans that have similar experiences. For a small period of time in their life, let them be themselves. Since 2014, when we became a registered nonprofit, we’ve served over 300 veterans. I have twelve pages of testimonials, which proves that our model, healing heroes through the outdoors, does occur and we’re proud of that. We’re approaching as having the most events, most money raised and 2018 is even bigger than 2017. Going forward with the organization itself, we’ve got a strong board of directors. To me, the sky’s the limit with our generous sponsors and our giving donors. I believe the sky’s the limit with God in control of what we can accomplish. Especially giving back to the men and women that fight for our freedom and the sacrifices that they’ve gone through.

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Across the United States, there a lot of organizations that are “similar” to yours. Why do you think over the last few years of people said, “I’m going to go out and do it?” There are some full-blown businesses that are taking care of the veterans in the woods and stuff. It’s many like you and your board that says, “I’m going to do this. I’m not going to take any money. I’m going to give free of my time.” Why do you think across the country, people are doing that?

The United States, as a whole, is a country that is proud of how it was developed and is proud of its veterans. If we go back 50 years, one of the things that we do through our organization is when we host Vietnam veterans, we make sure that we welcome them home. I will physically line up the Vietnam veterans and I will line up all the volunteers. We will walk through a line and we will shake their hand. We will say, “Welcome home, sir. Welcome home, ma’am.” It’s important that we learn from our past, nearly 50 years ago and the way our veterans were treated in Vietnam, and use that as a learning tool to give back and to inspire our communities. Whether it’s for veterans or other things that people are passionate about. We’ve learned from our past and people were patriotic and passionate about trying to do something for someone, whether it’s veterans or other organizations within their community.

I can remember in the ‘60s when the people were coming back from serving and I was on the coast guard. I never went to Vietnam and I never left the United States. I did my thing and I went back to college. Many of my buddies came back to college to enroll there. It was interesting to sit around the coffee table, playing Euchre or playing cards, and talking about stuff on how different everybody’s framed it. We were lucky because we went back to school. It was interesting, to say the least, but it was still the environment where we were all together and we were supportive of each other. It was an interesting time for me. I was thinking back to my time and I didn’t get that pushback. There were some protesters. There were some of this and some of that, but I never got the feeling as you explained. Some of those guys and ladies were never welcomed back. They were disdained. It was ugly.

Some of the stories that they tell about being spit on and called baby killers, I can tell you that I have one of my friends who is a Vietnam veteran and he was a combat medic in Vietnam. They would take their uniform off before they got off the airplane when they arrive in the United States. As a veteran yourself, that’s got to be a low time in your life to take off your uniform that you were proud to wear to fight for your country because of what other people might say or do to you. I know that that affected a lot of people. We had a Pro Am Fishing Trip and one of the Vietnam veterans got up and spoke on behalf of himself and the other Vietnam veterans. He broke down and said that within the last 50 years, this is the first time he’s been thanked for service. That happened at that Pro Am Fishing Trip when we walked through that line, shook his hand and welcomed him home. What a relief that must feel for those veterans that harbor that anger and harbor that resentment towards how they were treated.

That’s what we’re about. We want to give back and we want to uplift someone’s spirit. We want to provide them with some hope, healing, and rediscovery of their life in the event that might help change something like that. I know for a fact that that changed his life because his wife gave me a testimonial about it. Those are powerful things that help lit and fuel the fire for our desire and passion to give back. It’s quite pure because we don’t make a dime off of it, which is cool. We’re proud of things like volunteer and God-inspired. On average, we give 94% or more back to support the mission for every dollar that we raise. That means we have less than 6% administrative costs.

Even prouder than that is we’re a platinum level nonprofit through GuideStar, where they rate nonprofits. Those are the things that we’re proud of. There’s been a lot of abuse over the years with nonprofits saying that they’re doing things, they spend frivolously and they don’t do exactly what they say. We’ve had to be patient on what we’re trying to accomplish. We’ve had to prove ourselves along the way and we’re going to be okay with that because it’s all this patient and purposeful timing. Fast forward, we have the most money raised and most participation with over 300 veterans and their families. It’s cool.

I want the thousands of people that follow my show across North America to do your simple welcome home and thank you to the Vietnam veterans, specifically.

Men and women that fought for our freedom nearly 50 years ago, I want to welcome you home. Welcome home, both of you, men and women from the Vietnam era. If you were a combat-deployed or service-connected disabled veteran, we want you to participate in our outdoor adventures. We want you to feel welcome and we’re honored that you fought for our freedom a long time ago.

How do they get in touch with you?

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You can go to our website at WarriorsNeverGiveUp.org. If you go to the bottom of the website, we have a promotional video. It’s a cool promotional video that outlines what we do and also there is a segment from the Vietnam veteran who explained how he was finally welcomed home. On the bottom, there are three tabs. If someone wants to donate money, they can donate there. If they want to volunteer for what we’re doing, there’s a volunteer online application. For those applicants that want to participate in either a hunt or a walleye fishing trip, they need to get to and from the event, but we take care of everything else once they’re there. They can fill out that online application as well.

Who’s qualified to apply for a hunt or a walleye fishing trip?

Anyone that’s been deployed, has been in combat, or has a service-connected disability can apply for our outdoor adventures.

That’s a place in the country, is that correct?

Exactly. As long as they can get to South Dakota unless we’re hosting an event somewhere else. We have hosted events in Kansas and Missouri, but as long as they can get to South Dakota and have a valid hunting or fishing license, we take care of everything else once they’re there. We don’t provide travel expenses, but we will make sure that they have an amazing time once they get to the event.

If a sponsor, somebody that’s making some good money from the hunting industry, if they wanted to say, “I will cover five guys and girls to go to South Dakota,” how would they do that?

They can go to our donate page and they can fill out the application for that. We have a tiered system, platinum, gold, silver and bronze level. Within that tier, there are specific things that we give them. For example, someone that is our platinum sponsor, that’s a $10,000 or more sponsorship. They’re going to get recognition during our Pro Am Fishing Trip. They’ll have their commercial air during the Pro Am Fishing Trip, which airs on the Nikco Sports network. They’ll get their name recognition for the event itself and then we have a whole other list of things that go along with each tier. The best way to do that is either fill out that application or they can contact me directly at (605) 310 – 8330. I’d be happy to email them some information and get them involved.

I know some people say, “I’ll sponsor ten people to go to this event.” They’ll write that check. Let’s say it’s $5,000 and it’s specifically for travel for this many people or sponsors it. I was wondering how somebody gets online and thinks, “Maybe I should get involved.” There are a lot of ways to get involved when you’re in the organization.

Absolutely. We need volunteers. We need hands and feet to do the work of God. At our Pro Am Fishing Trip, there were probably 50 people that were involved in that event alone, let alone the people that were the main portions of that, which were our professional walleye fishermen. The family that hosted that event have 88 American flags lined up along a gravel road that came to their house. Can you imagine what that would feel like as yourself being a veteran and being participating in that event? It was powerful. My fishing buddy was a 93-year-old Purple Heart recipient from World War II that was shot in 1945. He and I got third place only because of him. He caught a 28.5-inch walleye and a 23.5-inch walleye.

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Those are nice fish.

Most people will never catch a fish like that. He caught two in one afternoon. It was unbelievable.

Where do you fish?

In South Dakota, we primarily fish the northern lakes and the river. We have some private slews that we fish as well. Essentially, when we host these events, we leave it open to the professional walleye fisherman that we partner with Lake Area Walleye Club. They’ve been gracious enough to donate their boats and their guides for the day, their professional walleye fishermen and women. That’s one thing that changed because in the beginning, Warriors Never Give Up was about hunting. Our passion was the outdoors and hunting. My buddies and I are best in hunting. They like deer hunting.

In 2015, a couple of these guys from the Lake Area Walleye Club approached me, Dan Geiken and Mike Dorris. It’s our connection with Dan’s wife who I used to work with and they wanted to learn a little bit more about what we’re doing. They have become on fire with our mission and our passion. They single-handedly have changed the outlook of our organization because not only do we provide fishing or hunting, but we also now provide fishing opportunities for others that probably shouldn’t have a gun. It has single-handedly changed the outlook forever. Those people are passionate. It’s founded like yourself. You are passionate about what you do. It’s fun to connect with people that have the passion and the same type of passion for yourself and for what you’re trying to accomplish for your fellow veterans. When I met those two, I knew that they were going to be an amazing partnership and they were going to do some amazing things. That fishing group has changed the outlook of this organization for the rest of its life and that’s darn cool.

I’ve been fortunate to fish a lot, both saltwater and freshwater. We’re up there and we’re fishing. We got somebody who knows what they’re doing and there’s two of us. What an opportunity to get in and talk about stuff. I said, “A deer hunt takes maybe five seconds. The buck is in, you shoot the buck and the hunt’s over,” but it isn’t. That’s just the period. That’s just the exclamation point because the time we spend in the tree stand is more meaningful, at least to me, and I notice to you, Brett. How do you interact with the veterans, either on a hunt or in a fishing boat?

I can tell you an experience from a Pro Am Fishing Trip. The event was full and there was a gentleman that was on the list that didn’t contact me, so I filled his spot. A week before the event, he calls up and says, “I need to know where to send my paperwork.” If you can imagine, I’m on vacation and I’m frantic because in the back of my mind, I’m saying, “I filled your spot,” but I felt God talk in my heart saying, “Brett, you’ve got to find a spot for this guy. He needs to be here.” I called Mike Dorris from the Lake Area Walleye Club and I said, “Mike, there’s five days before the Pro Am. I want to let you know that this guy needs to come. I don’t know why. Can you make it happen?” He says, “Brett, I’ll take care of it.” Who’s going to find a professional walleye fisherman within five days? He did it.

Interesting enough, the guy that had him in his boat came up to me after the event was over and said, “Brett, he needed to be here. There are things that he got involved with other veterans. With the things that I’ve heard, he needed to be here.” I said, “Darren, God told me he needed to be here. I had no idea why.” Darren didn’t know this. I didn’t talk to him about that. There are things that occur, whether it’s after a walk when we do a pheasant hunt. Maybe it’s back in the lodge when everyone’s relaxing or maybe it’s when they connect with that other buddy of theirs that has had a similar experience.

Not everyone talks. Some of the things that they’ve gone through are painful and they don’t want to relive that. Those that do talk about it, there’s some significant healing that goes on. It gives me goosebumps and makes tears in my eyes to even think about this gentleman. If you don’t go on your gut instincts on some of these things, you could miss out on an opportunity to save one’s life or maybe to make a difference in one’s life. How cool is it to have someone come up to you afterward and go, “He needed to be here,” and then you go, “Yes, I knew that. I didn’t know why.”

The United States as a whole is a country that is proud of how it was developed and is proud of its veterans. Share on X

I talk about my grandkids all the time that God is our compass. He’ll put us in the right direction if we listen. If we don’t listen, it’s like everything else. If you have kids and they don’t listen to you, you go, “How is this going to work out?” Sometimes, I know God goes, “You’re going down that road? Really?”

As I tell people, I bear a lot of scars of my past and some of those are scars or reminders or things that I don’t want to do it again. That’s the beauty of being out in the wilderness. That’s where you take that compass and you take all those other factors that cloud your thinking, the business of life and all those things. It makes you aware of God’s voice and the opportunity to uplift that spirit to say, “You can do it. You have that gift.” It takes to do whatever it is in your life. I believe we all have that power and it’s just a matter of whether we choose to listen to it or not, and then act upon it.

I can shut my eyes right now and I’m on the Buffalo County. The creek comes in. I’m sitting there and I’m watching beavers, ducks, and deer. There are turkeys on the ridge behind me and I go, “Are you kidding me? You can’t make this stuff up.” You’re sitting there and the wind’s blown or the storm comes through. It doesn’t matter. You’re participating in something, but also you’re sitting there watching it all unfold. To me, it’s miraculous. I’ve been in the woods since I was ten years old. I’ve seen some neat stuff, but I think back to that one place, that tree stand, everything that was going on and go, “God did it for me. He made this whole thing out for me today.” Put your arms around that or put your head around that, you go, “Are you on drugs? Are you smoking the Colorado wacky weed?”

For the readers, I’m not on the Colorado wacky weed. We’re telling a story and we’re both part of those stories. You take that part and then you take people that have got some issues. I had a friend here in Colorado, I would not take him to the range. I would not put a loaded gun in his hand. He’s asked me once a month, “Let’s go to the range.” I go, “You know that I’m not going to do that and you know the reason why.” He goes, “Yeah, but.” I go, “There’s no yeah, but.” Fortunately, he’s moved and his life is good now. If you’re sensitive to that, that’s the reality. Brett, I’m sure you got hundreds of stories like that where people are in a dark place on one end.

That brings up a good point. I have seven combat veterans that are participating in one of our pheasant hunts. One of the gentlemen that are coming with them is the brother of a soldier that committed suicide due to PTSD. He’s going to reunite with the other soldiers that his brother served within Iraq. It’s going to be a powerful event. Those things are real. PTSD does exist and traumatic brain injury does exist. People do kill themselves, one veteran every 65 minutes. It’s evident here in South Dakota. It is across the country. What’s a more powerful thing than to bring the brother of a young man that killed himself because of his service to our country and reunite him with his comrades at a pheasant hunt? I’m getting goosebumps just thinking about it and the life-changing event for everyone involved, not just as the veterans, but the volunteers. Any participants that’s going to be there, whether it’s a volunteer or a veteran that is going to be powerful. It probably should be on TV.

Hopefully, it films those portions that you can. Readers, this is what Brett does. This is what Warriors in the Woods do. I’m thinking of those guys that are in Michigan. I have a good friend that’s about with them, Kenny Maynard. There’s a beautiful story.

I love that guy.

Do you know Kenny?

He’s a good buddy of mine and they’re doing some great things out there. I’m hoping to get those three guys up to one of our events.

WTR 431BB | Warrior Hunter

Kenny shoots the bow with his teeth because his left arm doesn’t work. Go back and type in Kenny Maynard Whitetail Rendezvous. You can hear a portion of his story. It’s like the situation with you. This guy needs to be here. His wife, Courtney, told him that he needed to be on my show because he wouldn’t talk to people.

He’s cool and good that he got fourth overall and first in his age group. That’s powerful with your teeth.

He’s shooting with his teeth. Go look up Kenny Maynard on YouTube, he’s out there. I think of him as one person that I’ve connected with and that little bit, you go, “We’re going to take this away from Whitetail Rendezvous and we’re going to get into the heavy discussions, the meaningful ones.”

He’s a prime example of a true warrior. Not only did he serve our country bravely, but he’s stepped it up and he has one of our arrows in his quiver. He’s proud to be a Christian. He’s proud to support the Warrior Arrow and what the meaning is. He truly is a warrior spirit that we’re looking forward to joining our team.

His growth has been outstanding and it’s unbelievable. I’d say a little bit of a story about Kenny Maynard. Every single one of you knows Kenny Maynard or somebody that’s been beaten up or broken mentally or physically and you have the opportunity to buy him a cup of coffee. All you have to do is extend a hand and say, “Let’s go get a cup of coffee,” and see where it goes. Don’t jump in there unless you’re going to follow up. That’s the other thing. If you jump in that pool, you’ve got to follow up on the person. It isn’t like, “That was nice. I’ll see you later.” You got to walk alongside of them. It’s a huge responsibility in my mind. What do you think about that, Brett?

It’s much like what God does for us. He walks alongside us and he doesn’t leave our side. He lets us make decisions that we shouldn’t probably make some time, but he’s cheering for us along the way. The same thing that you can’t be cheering from the sidelines. You’ve got to be an active participant no matter what you’re doing. If you want to make a difference, you’ve got to get in the game.

It doesn’t take a lot of money. It takes some time. Forget about the money part. You always can find the money, but it’s your time that you’re going to invest in other human beings, lady or guy. There are many people that need that. As Brett and his crew are doing, it’s tenfold that they’ve got some good things rolling along. How do people get in touch with you again?

It’s WarriorsNeverGiveUp.org. They can go to our Facebook Page at Facebook.com/WarriorsNGU. We do have this new arrow called the Warrior Arrow. Kenny is a prime example of that warrior spirit. They can get that at WarriorsNeverGiveUp.org/Warrior-Arrow. The Warrior Arrow is designed as a symbol of sacrifice. It’s meant to be held in the quiver and it is a shootable arrow. We’ve partnered with Linear Archery and Element Arrow to provide this arrow. We’ve got Bohning Blazer Vanes on it and it comes with a Warrior Arrow certificate. May I read that certificate?

Sure, yes.

If you don't go on your gut instincts on some things, you could miss out on an opportunity to save or make a difference in one's life. Share on X

“The Warrior Arrow is a symbol of strength, honor, faith, commitment, integrity, respect, courage, love, forgiveness, freedom, eternity, and self-control. Keep it in your quiver as a reminder of the bloodshed for our freedom by the sacrifices of the men and women warriors of this great nation. As the greatest warrior to ever lived, Jesus Christ and His sacrifice on the cross for our salvation eternity. It’s time to uplift the warrior spirit in each of us and start a revolution of change across the great nation. Our God, our country, our community, and our nation’s heroes need us to stand up and fight.” We have Jeremiah 20:11, “But the LORD is with me like a mighty warrior, so my persecutors will stumble and not prevail. They will fail and be thoroughly disgraced. Their dishonor will never be forgotten.”

In each area, we have two versions. We have a pink version and a regular red, white and blue version. We have two bible verses on it. Kenny is a prime example of that where your security carries this and this is a quiver. He was proud to support the arrow. What’s neat about the arrow itself is that it’s a $25 donation to Warriors Never Give Up per arrow. All proceeds go back to Warriors Never Give Up minus the cost of the arrow fletching and the wrap. We don’t make a dime on it. Once again, the Warriors Never Give Up is an all-volunteer organization.

My buddy, Dustin Sperlich from Hunts End Outdoors, is a combat veteran who served in Iraq from 2007 to 2008. He initially came up with the idea of the fundraiser arrow and I came up with the Warrior Arrow. We brought our ideas together to create the Warrior Arrow fundraiser. What a more powerful opportunity to share the story of Jesus Christ simply by the arrow itself? Also, remember that sacrifice. There have been 1.2 million soldiers that have been killed over the years to fight for our freedom. If you put that in perspective, there’s only 1% of our population ever served our country. There are currently 22 million veterans across the United States. Here in South Dakota, there are 76,000.

What more importantly could we do than all of us grab an arrow, put it in our quiver, and remember as a sacrifice, not only for the men and women that fight for freedom but the ultimate warrior, Jesus Christ? This thing, I hope it goes viral. I hope we can get 1 million quiver or 1 million arrows. What a more powerful statement we could make and also raise money, at the same time. I couldn’t be prouder of Dustin and myself on what we’re trying to accomplish with this arrow. It’s been cool. It’s become a little ministry that I hope someday to go around the country and talk about what it means to uplift the way your spirit. Let’s see if we can uplift men and women warriors across this great nation. Instead of fighting, maybe we can all come together, love each other and respect each other.

Thank you for sharing that. Let’s talk about whitetail hunting in the Dakotas. I noticed Boomer Bucks. I’ve had some great guests there. I had a Nick and Kelsey Deutz out of Fargo, North Dakota and they take some big bucks out of North Dakota.

Whitetail hunting is awesome. John Stallone from Days in The Wild, I won a contest with him. It was a Coues Deer Hunting contest. I had to get to Arizona and he would take me out for five days. I’ve learned some things that I was doing wrong this whole time and no wonder because I haven’t backed a big buck yet. I would take a couple of small bucks and a couple of does, but I’ve been doing a lot of things wrong over the years. I’m 49 and thank God I won that contest. John had me come out and that guy is a machine. If you want to talk about a hunting machine, that guy lives, breathes and eats hunting. He is a hunter. I learned from him.

Hunting in the Dakotas, my passion is bowhunting. I’ve got a back injury and a couple of shoulder injuries. I’ve run away from sitting in a stand to do some spot and stalk, and some ground blind hunting. When I went out with John to do the Coues deer hunt, I took my crossbow. The problem is we did a lot of walking and it was painful for me. I went back and bought a used Mathews Heli-m. I went back to start shooting a regular bow again. I’ve got an application into the Crow Creek Indian Reservation to shoot some monster whitetails. I hope to do a little spot and stalk there. I’m taking my son to New Mexico with New Mexico Arrowhead Outfitters and we’re going to do a mule deer hunt with a rifle. He’s never been able to hunt before since we don’t own land. He’s a senior this year, so I decided to treat him to a mule deer hunt in New Mexico. I have some private land north of where I live here, so I’m hoping to do a little whitetail hunting there as well.

I know John. He was from Idaho and he got a bow. He’s got 4 or 5 tags. He’s going to be hunting all fall. John does hunt. Check him out on Whitetail Rendezvous. I was on his podcast also. What did he teach you? What are some of the nuggets that you can share that was like, “I was messing up and I didn’t know I was messing up?” What are the tips that he gave you?

First and foremost, you have to have patience and you can’t rush things. One of the things I learned from him is that you need to get up early, you need to get where you’re at, and you need to be patient. You shouldn’t be rushing things. The second thing is that he is a glassing machine. He can see things that I’d never thought existed. Having said that, it takes a good set of binoculars or a spotting scope and it takes a stable base. You’ve got to have a tripod, you’ve got to be on the ground, and you’ve got to be patient. You’ve had to scan the area and if it looks like something, you got to go back to it.

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There are many things I learned from him like being patient and stand after it. If the first stalk fails, get back on the horse and try it again. Even though I didn’t get a chance to shoot, I had an amazing experience and the lessons that I learned will be with me for the rest of my life. It will definitely make me a better hunter. Be patient in what you’re doing, don’t rush things and make sure you get some good binoculars or a good spotting scope especially if you’re going to do a spot and stalk type of hunt because you will miss things if you do not have good binoculars or good spotting scope.

I’ve been able to hunt with a bunch of different stuff, so I’ve got some good optics. I’ve started taking my optics when I went back to Wisconsin and set up on ridges where I can see a long way. I was sitting there and observing. Some guys have observation stands and they can do it that way, but you’d be surprised if you sit in one place for 6 hours to 8 hours on how much you are going to see.

It’s a lot of things that you miss.

There’s no question about it. I’ll just say, “Why is that buck moving along that ridge? Where is he going to go?” All of a sudden, a couple of hours later, he’s back the opposite way and you go, “That’s his main funnel and his travel crater.” Once you figure that out, then you’d say, “Where do I need to be to intercept him?” Glassing is the most important thing you can do as any hunter and I’m just going to put that out there. I firmly believe any type of hunter, no matter what you’re hunting for, glass and glass some more and don’t move. Don’t hike the mountains and say, “I’m going to put ten miles today.” You can sit on it on a ridge, especially in the Rockies, and you can see twenty miles. You can see those ten miles. With glassing, a couple of miles is nothing. You can tell age, sex and everything. Those are my two cents, correct?

Yes. Repetition is a master of success. Those guys practice long-distance shooting to make them more competent at short distances, but also at long distances. One of the other things I took away from that is not be afraid to practice long-distance and get comfortable with it. If you’re not comfortable, you shouldn’t be shooting. You have to have a comfort zone of whatever that is. My comfort zone at this point is up to 40 yards. I can assure you that those guys practice faithfully that much longer distances and that builds confidence. I don’t think they’re afraid to take a shot and believe that they’re going to hit it because those guys are amazing shots. All I can say is that dude’s amazing.

You mentioned you’re going to an Indian Reservation. Do you get a permit there?

Crow Creek Indian Reservation is over Fort Thompson in South Dakota. You do have to have a tag. I’ve applied for that and waiting to hear back from that. I’ll hire a native American guide who happens to be a combat veteran that I’ve met. This guy has the same story. He went to the School of Mines here in South Dakota and ended up becoming a veteran. He was a helicopter mechanic. He became homeless and he’s back on the reservation doing some powerful things. I was able to meet him through Warriors Never Give Up. We’ve become friends and I’m going to hire him to take me out if I draw that tag. It’s going to be one of those learning experiences.

How many opportunities do you get to take where you get to meet someone and you’re like, “That was cool?” No matter who it is. Along the way, with Warriors Never Give Up, certainly in my life in medicine and in my life and hunting, I’ve met some awesome people. I’m looking forward to that. I hope I get that tag because of the things that I’m going to learn from someone that went to the School of Mines, which is this prestigious college in South Dakota. He was in the military, got deployed and then became homeless. Now he’s back up on his feet. He’s talking about God and how God has been a part of his recovery. That’s going to mean the world to me to be able to have that opportunity to share that relationship. I could care less if I shoot something at this point in my life. I love wildlife photography. I like shooting, too. Don’t get me wrong. If it presents itself, I want to bag a trophy, for sure. More importantly, that potential relationship that can be developed and the learning from that is going to be huge.

That reservation, is it East River or West River?

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That would be the West River.

It’s a little bit of a drive from where you are.

That’s not too far. A couple of 2 or 3 hours, I can get there.

What type of whitetails do they have on the reservation?

He’s assured me that if I get a tag, I’m going to get an opportunity to get a 140 to 170 class. I know that’s quite a range, but nothing’s guaranteed. He said that he had seen some big bucks. That would be super cool.

Is that rifle or archery?

This would be a bow. I primarily am a bowhunter. I hunt in New Mexico and I am doing a rifle because my son doesn’t bowhunt. He does have a bow, but he doesn’t bowhunt. My passion is getting out in the wilderness, pump in it and see what happens. Taking the elements as they come and close the gap. How cool is that to see something from a mile away and try to get within 50 yards? That’s cool. My love is bowhunting. I can’t get around as much as I like to, I’m looking forward to the opportunity if it presents itself.

I know you got a huge laundry list of people in your crew and people that touch your life. Take a moment to give shoutouts.

First of all, Dustin Sperlich from Hunts End Outdoors, he came up with the original design of the Warrior Arrow as a fundraiser and then I came up with the name. We brought our stuff together and he’s been instrumental. He’s a pastor by day and he’s trying to start his own hunting show as well. He has a small archery shop out of his home in Iowa. I want to give a shout out to him. He’s one of my military brothers. Also, he’s a brother of this journey of the Warrior Arrow. I can’t say enough about that guy serving our country, 2007 to 2008 in Iraqi freedom, and then many other men and women that have fought for freedom, whether it’d be on US soil or soil overseas.

WTR 431BB | Warrior Hunter

Also, we have an amazing board of directors. I can’t thank enough what they’re doing and the things that we’ve got going on. Without them, none of this is possible. The volunteers, the same thing, without them, none of this is possible. People like the Lake Area Walleye Club, Dan Geiken, who’s now on our board of directors, Lake Area Walleye Club has changed how our organization is going to be for the future and its future success with the walleye fishing and the professional walleye fishermen and women that come and help out.

I can’t thank them enough and there are too many other people, but those are the people that come to my mind, Karl Kreutzmann, Brad Martin and other cofounders. We’ve been blessed by the generosity of many people. We’re doing some cool things and I can’t wait to see what happens with the future with 1 million arrows and 1 million quivers. Wouldn’t that be cool? There are a million opportunities to share this story of Jesus Christ as well. That’d be 1 million lives saved. That’d be awesome. I look forward to what’s happening next. I shared a story before with the seven combat veterans that are coming with a brother that committed suicide. That stuff’s real. People may want to hide from that, but PTSD does occur. The traumatic brain injuries do occur and one veteran does kill themselves every 65 minutes. I can assure you of that.

Brett, on behalf of thousands of followers across North America, including Kenny Maynard and John Stallone, thank you for bringing Warriors Never Give Up to Whitetail Rendezvous. Thank you for sharing. Take a look, get out, buy an arrow and put in your quiver. It’ll help you remember. Thanks, Brett.

Thank you for having us. We appreciate it.

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We’re going to head up to Northern Minnesota. By Northern Minnesota from where Dillan Porter is, you can see the Canadian border. Dillan works for his dad, Steve Porter and they grow trophy whitetails. His dad got into the business a long time ago and now, it’s grown. Even more important than that, he’s got some tips and techniques about using deer urine. He’s going to knock your socks off with some insights that maybe you haven’t thought about. The other thing Dillan is doing is Minnesota Monster Buck Classic and it’s going to be a big buck classic. He’s going to have some of his dad’s deer on display. They take live deer and they display them at this sportsman show.

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About Brett Bastian

WTR 431BB | Warrior Hunter“Veteran’s Day 2014 was like no other; a pheasant hunt with other veterans was a life-changing event for me that could not have been possible without the vision and mission of Warriors Never Give Up. This day is a day that will be engrained into my memory forever. The ability to connect with veterans of past conflicts, some with similar disabilities and struggles, is not something we get to do every day. Their motto: Heroes, Hunting, Healing is more than words; it is a lifestyle for Warriors Never Give Up; an organization that I am proud to be a part of. The ability to change our heroes and veterans lives one hunt at a time. I can’t ask for much more than that.”

Warriors Never Give Up began by utilizing our passion for the outdoors to serve our nation’s heroes, but God called us to step out of our comfort zone to do so much more. Our intention of this organization and its outdoor adventures is and always has been to provide a place of relaxation, hope, family, and a break from life’s daily struggles. However, along the journey, we soon realized that a bigger piece of God’s intention was missing. Throughout the transformation of this awesome and amazing journey, it became obvious that God’s calling was not only providing a place of mental and physical healing, but also a place of spiritual healing. We take pride in our mission of touching the lives of each and every volunteer or participant knowing that our chief sponsor, God, is in control.

The hunt brings us together, but the Spirit changes the lives of our participants when we least expect it.
The simple idea that began over prayer and coffee has spread like a wild fire in becoming a recognizable non-profit veteran service organization that we take pride in.