- When moving through the field,
you're either here,
or you're here at all times.
Never here, never down here.
- Okay.
[upbeat music]
My name is Ashley Taylor.
I am a native Texan.
I've lived here my entire life.
Okay. - You now have
a live loaded gun. [takes deep breath]
- I have a background in education,
and prior to what I do now,
I was a principal.
Oh, geez, okay.
I've never even shot a shotgun before.
- Pretty good. - All right, I did it!
Oh, well, that's new.
I am excited about giving it a try,
and it's just something completely outside of
anything I would ever do prior to this.
[upbeat music]
- I'm Josh Crumpton, at Spoke Hollow Outfitters.
So, in my thirties,
I was pretty interested in the sustainable food movement,
which, in a roundabout way, led me to hunting.
[upbeat music]
As I got into it, I realized that
I really had a fuel and a passion
for introducing people to hunting,
bringing new people into the outdoors.
[upbeat music]
Sometimes the bird is gonna fly right into our face.
You're gonna go to shoot it like this,
it's gonna come, go over your head.
Instead of doing this,
you get in the process of doing this.
[upbeat music] [dog whining]
- That makes sense to me.
- Then I'll turn this over to you.
- Okay.
[upbeat music]
Well, I guess, too, that you have to know
what birds you're allowed to shoot too, right?
- JOSH: And when you're allowed to shoot them,
and when you're not.
- There's so much more to it.
When it comes to hunting, I really have no background,
really no experience.
Oh God.
[gun firing]
They were right in my face.
[upbeat music]
[gun firing]
Aw, it just, again, it just happened so quickly.
Oh, there he is.
Oh God, it's right there.
[upbeat music] [Ashley laughing]
- Line 'em up.
[upbeat music]
- I don't wanna shoot that way.
I gotta be ready.
- JOSH: Working with Ashley's been fantastic.
- I don't wanna miss the bird.
- JOSH: A lot of times we get people who come out,
and, in one day, we cram in a lot.
We go from clay shooting to into the field,
to shooting birds.
Good boy.
But working with the stewards program,
and having Ashley as a mentee,
has given me an opportunity to,
really, over a few months,
really talk about the dynamics of shooting.
Do it! [gun firing]
Nice, there it is, yes!
- Yeah!
- Good job.
Nice, Sally, here.
Sally, here.
- Oh my gosh, I did it.
- JOSH: Dead bird.
Arby, dead bird.
- Here, sit.
Sit.
- JOSH: Tell him sit first.
- Sit.
- JOSH: Hand on it.
[dog panting] - Good boy.
- You can tell it's a hen because--
It's gonna be really cool
to follow Ashley through this season,
and watch the challenge get turned up each time.
[Ashley gasping]
- I have a bird in the back.
[upbeat music]
I am so excited right now.
Yes!
I wanna keep going.
- JOSH: You wanna keep going?
- Yes, I love it.
[upbeat music]
♪ ♪
Ready?
Follow me this way.
Arby, come on.
Get used to this idea of keeping track,
mentally.
- ASHLEY: All the moving parts, yeah.
Last year, my sister went on a mentored hunt.
And on the hunt, she was talking about
how it completely changed the way she viewed hunting,
and viewed hunters, and so, I really wanted to be
a part of that.
I wanted to see what it was like.
- JOSH: We got the dog on point in front of us.
- ASHLEY: Okay.
- Keep moving. - Right there?
- JOSH: Keep moving right there.
Now call him.
- ASHLEY: Oh, there's two right here.
- JOSH: Okay, now call for Arby.
- ASHLEY: So, they're gonna go that way,
or at my face?
- JOSH: Maybe at your face, but I'm gonna get down.
Go ahead.
You're in charge, boss lady.
- All right.
- Say the magic words.
- ASHLEY: Arby!
[dog panting]
[gun firing]
Nice, hee hee!
That was awesome.
Tell him "dead bird."
- Dead bird, Arby.
[dog panting]
Heel.
Sit.
Good boy.
Drop.
Good boy.
[upbeat music]
- I work with Stewards of the Wild.
We've volunteered our time, provided our dogs,
and helped this mission to get more adults into the uplands.
[upbeat music]
- What a day!
[upbeat music]
♪ ♪
I'm excited, I'm nervous.
[upbeat music]
- Nothing new out here
than anything else we've done before,
just more challenging.
Let's go get your bird.
So, we're gonna walk from here
all the way along that cliff van behind us.
[upbeat music]
- This is super humbling.
- I got birds above me,
and I got one single peeled off below me
that Ashley took a couple shots at
that we might be able to run that thing down.
Over.
- I was just like, oh my gosh.
This hunt was so different
because we were always on the move.
You have to be ready to move quick.
[upbeat music]
- Do it again.
[gun firing]
There's a lot of youth programs out there,
and youth programs are critical,
but there's not enough
adult-focused programs like this.
Yoo-hoo!
These are adults that have families,
Ashley has kids,
and these are also adults
who can immediately start to support conservation efforts.
And now, she's out there to support and grow the mission.
So, we recruited one more person.
- ASHLEY: And I feel so blessed and so grateful
to be a part of this.
[upbeat music]