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Brenda Valentine, First Lady of Hunting and the National Spokesman for the National Wild Turkey Foundation.

Bruce:Welcome to another episode of Whitetail Rendezvous. And ladies and gentlemen, you are in for a treat, because today, we have Brenda Valentine, First Lady of Hunting and the National Spokesman for the National Wild Turkey Foundation. Brenda, welcome to the show.

Brenda: Well, thank you very much, Bruce. I appreciate you having me as a guest.

Bruce: Well, in the warm up, we talked about a couple of different things and I really wanna jump right into what you said about conservation and how important that is. It’s just not only the harvest or the kill, it’s about what we do to promote the conservation of our land and the critters that live there.

Brenda: Well, first off, conservation is . . . that’s a broad subject. But it is basically up to us hunters. Farmers and ranchers are great conservationists but it is we hunters that have paid for the wildlife restoration, our game management plans and so much of the set aside lands for the habitat that we have now through our tax money, through our efforts and through our non-profits. The National Wild Turkey Federation, the Quail Unlimited, Mule, Deer Foundation, Rocky Mountain Elk, Duck Summit. All of these groups, special interest groups have a common format of conservation for wildlife. Whether that means a good habitat for them or restoring numbers into places that have previously not had good populations of whatever species. As hunters, we need to have a mindset that, yes, we hunt but that hunting is also a proven means of conservation. We limit our self on the number of animals we take. Through our monies for the privilege to do this then we are also giving back and putting back. It makes you feel good then about being a hunter and helping provide the things that are needed. So we do have huntable numbers of wildlife all over the country.

Bruce: You’ve mentioned all lot of conservation groups. And listeners, if you’re not involved with you local conservation groups, just pick one. Yeah, the banquets are fun and everything but get involved and found out really what they’re doing in their area. There’s many of them.

Brenda: Folks would be astound . . . I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to talk over you.

Bruce: No, but go ahead. Go ahead.

Brenda: Folks would be astounded if they knew how much land improvement as far as in the west, a lot of it is about providing water sources for arid areas for wildlife. And in the east, it’s heavy into providing nesting habitat and food sources and whatever is lacking in the area. So much of this is volunteer work from everyday folks, me you, people that care about the wildlife. People that want to preserve this for many, many future generations. We feel that this movement is bigger than any one of us. I can’t get out here single handedly and change enough habitat to impact the survival of wild turkey or whitetail deer or quail. But my contributions as far as time, involvement . . . speaking up for it, just being a pro conservationist can. Maybe I can influence other people to get involved and care about our wildlife. I come a time when there were very few turkeys. There was not nearly the number of whitetail deer that we have now. And I personally feel like I’m living in the good times as far as the hunting is concerned, as far as taking a little drive in the afternoon and seeing whitetail deer all over the place. And hearing turkeys gobble early in the morning. My father never heard or saw these things. So we’re on the right track. It just means keeping your nose to the grindstone and continuing to work toward that.

Brenda, let’s talk about It’s Your Hunt. And some of your hunts, that one you shared with me at Judd Cooney’s Iowa Trophy Whitetail

Bruce: Brenda, let’s talk about It’s Your Hunt. And some of your hunts, that one you shared with me at Judd Cooney’s Iowa Trophy Whitetail. But more important than that, our listeners, they think they need to have a buck that scores or the biggest buck in the town. And I call it the joy of the hunt. When you find the joy of the hunt, it doesn’t matter if you take a doe, a cow elk, or a smaller buck because it’s your hunt. Expand that a little bit. Weed in some of your hunting tips and lessons learned.

Brenda: Well, my theory is that I never want to reduce a successful hunt, an exciting and fulfilling hunt down to a number. And that’s the reason that I don’t score my whitetail bucks or my elk or anything like that. If someone else wants to score it, that’s fine. But it doesn’t matter to me if it makes a book. In fact, I’ve never entered things in books. I may have a outfitter that has entered an alligator or something like that just to be able to promote his outfitting business. But as far as me personally, I don’t care what it scores. I’m more interested in age usually. On my own property, I try to take more mature animals just because I’ve been on this program of trying to let bucks reach their potential. But as far as ruining my hunt, if I was after the same deer for a week and I finally got a chance at it, it may be a deer that, maybe it’s what most people would consider a cole buck that I felt needed taken from the herd. The hunt would be just as tough. And when I got that deer, I would feel just as rewarded and excited, even though it would not be a trophy in anyone else’s eyes. Or maybe an old doe. Maybe I’m wanting to donate meat to our local food bank, take some to the needy. And if I’m able to bring in meat for that then that’s the purpose for the hunt. And it has nothing to do with the score or the size or the bragging rights on it.

I see so many people on Facebook that are apologizing for their buck. They’ll say, “Well, it’s only a four point,” or, “It only scored 120.” Don’t apologize for it, be proud. You’re a successful hunter. So you owe no one an apology. If you hunt fair and legally and you’re proud enough to take that animal and utilize that meat then you should be proud of it no matter what the score is

I see so many people on Facebook that are apologizing for their buck. They’ll say, “Well, it’s only a four point,” or, “It only scored 120.” Don’t apologize for it, be proud. You’re a successful hunter. So you owe no one an apology. If you hunt fair and legally and you’re proud enough to take that animal and utilize that meat then you should be proud of it no matter what the score is. You cannot compare every part of the country. People in Florida are probably not going to shoot bucks that have the same amount of antler score as someone in Wisconsin or Iowa. So it’s not fair to compare yourself to them. You can only take what is available in your area. So I’m quite leary of doing the score route. I hunt for myself and for the hunt itself, not for bragging rights on how many inches of antler they have.

Bruce: Let’s just stay on that thought process. And talk about what you shared with me in the warm up that nobody knows everything about hunting. Now, listeners, this lady, she’s been some places and she’s done some things, and she shared with me, she said, “Bruce, nobody knows everything.” And every time I go out, I learn something new. So Brenda, let’s talk about that.