Don’t miss this podcast and make sure to check out Lucas and the links we speak about here:

https://www.lucashoge.com

https://www.hogewild.com

https://www.instagram.com/lucashoge

https://www.artistryalliances.com

Past African hunting Silvercore Podcast episodes:

https://youtu.be/E6V0CQFKHxI

https://youtu.be/A4otM3yZ9p8

Transcript

[00:00:00] Travis Bader: I'm Travis Bader, and this is the Silvercore Podcast. Silvercore has been providing its members with a skills and knowledge necessary to be confident and proficient in the outdoors for over 20 years. And we make it easier for people to deepen their connection to the natural world. If you enjoy the positive

[00:00:30] content and we provide, please let others know by sharing, commenting, and following so that you can join in on everything. That's Silvercore stands for. If you'd like to learn more about becoming a member of the silver pork club and community, visit our website at Silvercore.ca.

[00:00:52] Today, I'm joined by a man whose musical talent, persistent drive and infectious attitude has opened up adventures worldwide, including being a number one billboard charting country artists, and the host of the sportsman. Channel's hit show Hoag wild. Welcome to the Silvercore Podcast. Lucas Hogue. 

[00:01:11] Lucas Hoge: How's it going, man?

[00:01:11] Thanks for having me. 

[00:01:12] Travis Bader: Oh, it's awesome. So, you know, we've been talking back and forth for, for a while here and I'm so glad we're able to make this one. But before we even get through. Yeah yesterday. You're what grand Ole Opry. 

[00:01:26] Lucas Hoge: Yeah, man, I, I, every time I get invited to play the Opry, it's just like, it's just an honor all over again, you know?

[00:01:32] And, uh, it was a great lineup. My buddy Craig Morgan was playing Gary Luvox showed up, uh, Travis didn't. Drew Baldrige you name it. It was just a bunch of great, great people. Megan, Patrick, from up there, she's a Canadian up there. Who's killing it. And, uh, so it was great. It was great to fund, uh, to share the stage with everybody and finally hang out backstage without COVID restrictions, right?

[00:01:53] Travis Bader: Yeah, I guess so, man, that's been a few. Yeah. That's a hell of an accomplishment being a being asked and reinvited back to, uh, play the Opry. That's, uh, you know, not many people can put that feather in there. Yeah. That's 

[00:02:04] Lucas Hoge: uh, thanks man. Yeah. I had my Opry debut back in 2017 and uh, I got to debut at the Ryman auditorium, which is the original, uh, grand old Opry.

[00:02:14] So it's the mother church of country music. So it was really cool that night. And then I've been invited back for pride. Maybe 10 different times now. So, and last night was really cool because it was kind of a double, it was, uh, we were benefiting conservation aid for NWTF, which is a national Turkey, wild Turkey Federation here in the states.

[00:02:33] And, and, um, and it was just cool. We were raising money for conservation, getting to play country music. I mean, it doesn't get better. 

[00:02:40] Travis Bader: Well, when I'm looking at all the different things you've done. So you're, you're a musician, you're an avid outdoors. When you're philanthropic, you do a lot of charity work.

[00:02:49] You're an entrepreneur. I mean, you've got your own TV show and this isn't your first home. I don't work with NASCAR and Sunday night football. And I'm looking at all these different avenues where we can kind of go. But from my perspective, when I look at you and the accomplishments and the drive that you have, I'm selflessly kind of looking at it and wondering, you know, like what, what do you define as success in your life?

[00:03:18] Like if you were to say, look it, this is what success is. What would that. 

[00:03:22] Lucas Hoge: Well, that's a great question because I get that question quite a bit and it's different for everybody. Right. You know, it kinda stint, uh, back a few years when you know, you're out there, two are in it, this was before the TV show, but you're two or, and you're grinding like crazy.

[00:03:35] And you're having a lot of success with what you feel success. Right. And you have everybody coming up to the autograph line or whatever. And they're like, man, I can't wait until you make it or it can't wait until this happens for you. I'm successful at exactly what I'm trying to do. I'm, uh, you know, I might not be the biggest country music star in the world, like Garth Brooks, but man, I have been able to do that.

[00:03:55] You know, for my, basically most of my life and not have to pound nails as a contractor anymore. And, you know, I, that's what I did to support my music habit until the music took off. And to me, that's what success is all about. Being able to do what you love every single day and make a living at it. And to me, that's success.

[00:04:15] I don't care what industry you're in, as long as you love what you're doing. And that's the dream that you've been striving for to me, that's. I love that 

[00:04:22] Travis Bader: definition. You know, it's not the actual achieving of the goal. It's a process of loving what you're doing as you work towards different goals. I, I do enjoy that.

[00:04:32] Exactly. Now you've got a bit of a family background, I think when music that father and brother was it or were into music, is that. 

[00:04:42] Lucas Hoge: Yeah. Honestly, everybody in my family is super talented when it comes to the music side of things. Uh, um, my dad obviously was the singer in the family and my mom was a very natural at writing short poems and short stories for kids, children's books and things like that.

[00:04:56] So that writing kind of, I guess, stemmed from her and the music stem from my dad and my brother, uh, definitely took on and he's got a band back home to some of my old band members are playing for him and I'm the youngest of four. And, uh, My sister's both saying in high school and my oldest sister was in the pageants and stuff.

[00:05:13] So it was all about entertainment, right? 

[00:05:18] Travis Bader: Oh man. So you've been doing this basically all your life, then the music side anyway. 

[00:05:23] Lucas Hoge: Man, it feels like it started at a young age playing the drums and then quickly, uh, gravitated towards guitar and piano and things like that. And finding instruments that I could carry around easier than the whole truckload of drums.

[00:05:34] Yeah, totally. 

[00:05:35] Travis Bader: Yeah. That makes it difficult. Well, I mean, we're talking before and you're saying, you know, your, your guitar is basically been your passport and it's taken you all over. Can you talk about a few of the adventures that your guitars take 

[00:05:49] Lucas Hoge: one? Absolutely, man, honestly, it's it started the day I left Nashville or not Nashville, not Nebraska, my little hometown at 44 people.

[00:05:58] And I didn't know a single soul in Nashville when I moved and I loaded up my old truck and with what worldly possessions I had and my guitar and I, I moved to town and just start banging on doors and not taking no for an answer. Literally, uh, taking advantage of every opportunity that would come my way, you know, and, and, uh, finally it started kind of picking up with writing circles and things like that.

[00:06:21] But until I started touring and playing out a lot more with big bands and stuff like that, and going and meeting some of these people out on the road, They would be find out that I was quickly a hunter and outdoors man that I love to do and whatever, and it didn't take long for him to start inviting me to plays tonight.

[00:06:37] I told him straight up, I was like, don't invite me if you don't mean it, because I will show up on your doorstep. 

[00:06:42] Travis Bader: So, so you found that background at hunting and fishing. It actually opened doors for you. 

[00:06:49] Lucas Hoge: A hundred percent, a hundred percent because I would, uh, I would sing songs and write songs I still do about, you know, growing up in the outdoors and love the outdoors and not everything about it.

[00:06:59] And a lot of these, um, I guess you want to call them high rollers would come to town and I'd be sitting up there on a stool, you know, and, and just playing my heart out. And they'd find out through my stories behind the songs that, you know, I loved, you know, hunting and fishing and all that stuff. They'd come up during breaks and we start talking and that's when they started inviting me to all their hunting adventures.

[00:07:19] And I'm like, man, this is, this is what's up. This is cool. It's a lot different than growing up, hunting white tail and Turkey in Nebraska. 

[00:07:26] Travis Bader: So is that something that was just a family thing that your family would hunt? So you got into. 

[00:07:32] Lucas Hoge: Yeah, my dad and his brothers, um, would go out every opening day for pheasant season in quail.

[00:07:37] And it felt like it was a holiday because whether it landed on a school day or not, we were, we were taking that day off, you know, and going, and, and to this day they still go out, you know, um, and pheasant hunt on opening day. And my brother goes with them. I haven't had the opportunity to go since I've been in Nashville so long, um, opening days hard for me to get back to, but, uh, we're trying to strand and get back to doing some more stuff.

[00:07:58] I got 

[00:07:59] Travis Bader: to imagine it's gotta be difficult for you to organize your life with all the different things that you're doing. I mean, just looking at some of the charity work that you're doing and some of the, I mean, like you do your singing, are you still doing, uh, performing for the troops? Is that something you.

[00:08:15] Lucas Hoge: Well, I was until COVID honestly, um, I was going overseas. I started going over in 2009 to perform for our troops. And, uh, we'd been to Iraq, Kuwait, Kosovo, Pakistan, Afghanistan, um, parts of Egypt, um, Jordan Nigeria, Northern Africa, Djibouti. I mean, you name it. We've been there. We've had to go to. I mean, I'm sorry to hear that.

[00:08:38] Somebody's got to do it. And, uh, we were, I was the first, uh, band to go up and tour with, for the coast guard in Alaska in over 20, I think it was 21, 22 years. Nobody had gone up there to visit the coast guard in Alaska because there's each little guard. Shack is only got anywhere from like two to three or four people, you know?

[00:08:57] And I was like, man, I want to go up there. And the USO jumped on board. So we did a little USO troop tour to go hang out with the Coasties in Alaska, which was. Man we've been all over this, this God's great planet of ours and seen some stuff that we shouldn't see, but, uh, being able to go over there and look our service men and women in the eye and tell them, thank you.

[00:09:13] On behalf of everybody back here, that would love to go over there and say the same thing. Um, it's just a great honor. And, and the cool thing about last night, wrapping it into the opera former. So every year when I go over to play for our troops, I'd take a, I don't know if I've got one laying around here.

[00:09:27] Backstage passes, all access backstage passes, right? As I probably take over a thousand of them and I give them out to all the service men and women that I come across. And I say, okay, when you get back to the states, if I'm doing a show near you or wherever you want to come bring that to the front gate, and I'm going to get you in.

[00:09:44] And one of the guys that I met over there, I think back in 2018 or 19, brought those passes to the Opry last night. And we were like, come on in, you know, it was just so cool. You know, it was, it's really cool for that to happen. So those are just some of the things that we love doing while we're over there playing for.

[00:10:00] Travis Bader: That's amazing. You know, I, I heard a story one time. I think it was about a, a, a very special microphone. Uh, it might've been attached to an M for, 

[00:10:09] Lucas Hoge: uh, oh, I was a crazy story, man. Uh, we were, we were over in Afghanistan. It was Iraq, I think. Pretty sure it was, we were downrange in Afghanistan and we were.

[00:10:21] Everywhere we go, we're in Blackhawks and we call it , which is all the Ford operating bases that usually don't get to see internet entertainment. And, you know, it could be anywhere from 150 troops on the ground to less than that. And they're still eating MRAs. You never know what we're going to pop into because it's just a guitar in my back.

[00:10:38] Some friends of mine from that, the Western industry, they go over there and we're in these two black Hawks and. We had to auto rotate down, but technically crash land in this space that we were not supposed to be at. I believe it was called camp stone at the time. And, uh, there's so many cool elements that are part of this.

[00:10:56] I'm going to try and condense it as much as I can, but we, we land, we land at camp stone and the, our tour leader, his name is Robbie powers, who was a retired army and a. I went through hell over there, you know, so much stuff. But, uh, anyway, we land a capstone and he sees this Memorial, right? When we start walking over to the defect, which is the dining room.

[00:11:21] And he starts breaking down just like instantly. I'm like, dude, what is going on, man? He's like, I don't know why we crashed, landed here or whatever, but this camp camp stone was named after his CEO that was killed in action when he was over there. And he had no idea. And so Stoney was his name and they named the whole camp after his CEO that was killed in action over there.

[00:11:43] And, um, so that just started small, you know, small world, small world just kept getting tinier and tinier and I'm sitting in the DFAC and this guy, uh, comes up to me. You know, after I do this little shit, well, sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself. But so we go to the defect, we have dinner, we come back out and they're like, Hey, so I see you got a guitar.

[00:12:03] Do you want to do a little concert for us? I'm like, yeah. Where do you want me to set up? They're like, Anywhere you want, because we don't have stage, we don't have lights, we don't have PA I'm like, all right. But then this, a bunch of guys start scrambling around and they pull up all the up armored vehicles.

[00:12:16] The humpies, the Amwraps and they kind of do a half moot circle around the defect. And this guy throws a, a pallet down on the, on the ground and the dirt. And, uh, they find this like makeshift old speaker and they hook it up to the batteries of the home fee. And this, this soldier, literally ejects is a magazine and ejects a Carter's out and tapes, a microphone on the info and he's holding it.

[00:12:41] And that's my microphone stand for the evening flight, probably 45, 30, 45 minutes, whatever. And it's just dark and you see silhouettes of all of our, our troops out there with all these up armored vehicles. It's just a cool thing. Yeah. And then after the performance, this, this. Marine walks out of the shadows and he's coming up to me.

[00:13:00] He's like, Hey man, do you know Steve Holly? I'm like, yeah, I know Steve always. He's like his good friend, whatever. And, uh, we started a quick conversation and, and he's like, man, if you guys got to do anything since you've been downrange over here and I was like, well, you know, just being over here, hanging out with you guys, you know, what's cool for us.

[00:13:16] He's like now, have you got to do anything? Cool. Blow stuff up. He's like, yeah. Have you blown anything up yet? And I'm like, no. And anyway, he was one of the head guys at the interior base of that base, which is a Marine special MARSOC basis. Marine special forces. Invited us to come out and we loaded up this old truck and all of their ammo and their grenade launchers.

[00:13:38] We just went out outside that wire and we're just shooting into the mountains that some of their targets out there. And man, we just had a blast at this place. And so it was fun, man. We've kept in touch with a lot of those guys and, and, uh, we were able to fly them into Vegas and, uh, for NFR and DECA mountain cowboy attire and, and just have a great.

[00:13:57] Travis Bader: That's amazing. Well, when we spoke earlier, you're talking about wanting to put a very positive face on hunting and to try and shape. I don't know if it's reshaped the narrative or shape the narrative if I'm out of. 

[00:14:13] Lucas Hoge: Yeah, you're absolutely right. And when it comes to changing the narrative, it's like, it's, it's hard to do, obviously in the.

[00:14:21] That we're in to the outsider. Right. So I'm always trying, I don't, I don't, I try and take the kill shot out of my show, just, just because I have a lot of, um, people that are crossing over from my music world to. You know, the outdoor industry, I'm trying to bring my audience over as much as possible. And there's a lot of those people that might be turned off to a show where they're seeing the Killshot or things like that.

[00:14:46] So it's just something that I felt a desire to do personally as well. It's like to honor that animal. I don't always want to show the kill shot, um, for that we'll go right up to it and then we'll see the harvest. You know, it's like, we don't necessarily need to see the animal drop or, or suffer in any way, shape and form.

[00:15:04] So I try and take that out right away. Um, but the biggest thing is. The stigma that a lot of the outsiders of our industry looking in don't understand what we do. So if I can take those little trigger points out as much as possible to where that I can actually break down a barrier to have a conversation with somebody that doesn't understand our industry, to me, that's.

[00:15:27] Right. Because a lot of times when we can just have a conversation, instead of that person being instantly triggered, oh, you showing this, you're showing blood, you're showing guts, whatever. I'm like, well, no, that's not what we're about. You know, that's part of the harvest of the animal that we're trying to do.

[00:15:41] And to be able to have those conversations, it really matters because I mean, I've had conversations with people that, that were like strictly nothing to do with hunting and can't believe you'd kill animals, all this things like that. I'm like, well, let me tell you what. And I tell you why we are the people that are keeping all of these animals intact so that you can enjoy them as a spectator, right?

[00:16:02] Because of us and somebody, because they realize that they don't man, 

[00:16:07] Travis Bader: they don't north American model of conservation, which is just founded. Hunters. 

[00:16:12] Lucas Hoge: Exactly. And organizations like NWTF and safari club international, and the mule built all these amazing organizations that like, if it wasn't for NWTF, there were probably hardly any turkeys in this country right now, because it started, I mean, the numbers, when I've heard them yesterday were like staggering.

[00:16:29] They started with like a few thousand and now there's hundreds of thousands. If not millions of birds for joy, you know, because of a hunting organization and hunters protecting these. 

[00:16:40] Travis Bader: You know, whenever somebody gets into the whole anti-hunting or I'm just not into whatever, it might be a talk. If they are, let's say a vegan.

[00:16:50] Fair enough. I can, I can understand their viewpoint, but if they actually eat meat, I always have a very difficult time seeing what the correlation is because. If you're filling your freezer with meat and you're just putting the dirty work onto somebody else, or you're doing it yourself. And it's the enjoyment of the process of being outside the harvesting of the animal that pulling of the trigger or letting loose of the, uh, the, the string on the bow.

[00:17:14] There, that's a fraction of a second of what the exact day or process is 

[00:17:19] Lucas Hoge: exactly. And that animal had so much. Living up until that point than any animal that was basically living in captivity to just to be harvested and then put in its store and sold. It's like this and we'll have the best life in the world.

[00:17:34] And now it's having, it's feeding us and it's nourishing our bodies and it's strengthening a herd because it's sacrificed. I mean, it just goes on and on and on is compounded conversations that could last 

[00:17:45] Travis Bader: forever. Oh, totally, totally. And you know, some of that we're preaching to the choir here, but right.

[00:17:49] Yeah, 

[00:17:50] Lucas Hoge: exactly. 

[00:17:52] Travis Bader: You know, so, all right. So you came from small town or humble Nebraska, Nebraska over to, to Nashville, into the big smoke. Not really knowing anybody as you're going in there. And you started swinging a hammer and doing construction work, which is, I think you were working some, maybe temp jobs and trying to find work wherever you could.

[00:18:15] But the part that, from my perspective, I find really interesting is you said, forget that. Why am I swinging the hammer for other people when it's, I'm now tied around their schedule. I'm also trying to build this. What did I just go ahead of me pay my own business? Yeah. Is that basically how the other thought 

[00:18:35] Lucas Hoge: process went?

[00:18:36] Uh, pretty much, man. I started working for, uh, other great contractors in town and, and thank God I was able to get hired by him because you know, the stigma of a musician coming to town, a lot of times you can't get hired because of the fact that you're a musician and trying to do the dreams and all that stuff, because they're like, oh great.

[00:18:52] He's just going to work for a few weeks and quit now. But, uh, I worked for him as long as I possibly could until. You know what I need to do something bigger and better to, to elevate myself so I can get to my next goal. And that's when I was, I was just, you know, working for a great contractor here. I was a superintendent, you know, I had a company, truck and benefits and all that stuff.

[00:19:12] And I met my now wife at the time. And she's like, you got to decide whether you came to Nashville to. Build houses or build your dream. And I was like, okay, I quit now, but it was easy for me to pivot and still have my construction stuff going because I was doing, you know, my solo stuff with construction and doing like remodels and small jobs and things like that to continue to support, you know, my life actually, and, and build a home actually in Nashville.

[00:19:41] That was the first. No kidding. 

[00:19:43] Travis Bader: So have you, have you maintained that construction business as well? Or have you just gone? 

[00:19:50] Lucas Hoge: No, man. Now I got to a point probably about, I want to say 10 or 15 years ago where I was just like, Yeah, I just can't do it all because I'd get up at five o'clock in the morning, work until five o'clock at night, take a quick shower, be playing downtown and right in downtown, do songwriter nights and recording.

[00:20:08] And I was like, man, I'm going to get old really fast. I keep this no kid down. And uh, thank God. Cause she's an amazing business woman as well. And she's just so great. Yeah. My wife, Flor Lynn, she has a company called artistry alliances that she started in 2020, and it's just taken off like crazy, but. She does sponsorships and things like that for artists and TV, personalities, and pro athletes and builds brands together.

[00:20:34] And she's great. Yeah. 

[00:20:36] Travis Bader: I was looking at, I was looking at that website actually, I'll put a link to it in the, in the description, as well as the link to all the things that we've been talking about here. So people who are listening don't have to be jotted down right away. They can just right. Click on it either on the podcast or on, on YouTube.

[00:20:51] Cool. But yeah, I mean, You got a family of entrepreneurs and it seems like, you know, people will look at somebody who's successful and they'll say, wow, how did they get there? I want, I want that. They'll say, and they'll overlook all of the five o'clock in the morning and working several jobs and all of the difficulties and everything that you had to give up in order to be able to get to where you are right now.

[00:21:18] And that process in between. As well as the process between now into where you want to see yourself in the future, those are the two points that really, really interests me were a person currently is fair enough, but how did they get there? And what was that approach, that thought process and some of the, the struggles that you had to endure and overcome, because that's, that's something that I think is relatable to absolutely everybody, whether they're.

[00:21:46] Whether their aspiration is, is doesn't matter where it is on Fortune's wheel or on life's ladder there. And so what, w what is, uh, how, how would you define your process? 

[00:21:59] Lucas Hoge: Man? My process was literally. Uh, survival, honestly, because I knew that Nashville was where I needed to be in. Want it to be, um, more than anything in the world.

[00:22:10] Sorry, I'm going to plug this in it. Right. Plugin came on down. I want us to crash and, uh, it was literally, it was survival and I would, you know, holidays would come up and I. I can't go home. I can't afford to go home. I don't have $20 in the bank, you know? And, um, my next job doesn't pay out for another two weeks.

[00:22:27] So it's like, how am I going to stretch this out? Or I just, you know, it was literally, it was survival based. And until those times, and I still sacrifice, you know, moments of, do I get to go home? Should I do this gig? Should I, what should I do? You know, those kinds of things. So it's just a. Prioritizing or organizing your life so that you can be successful in what you do would still enjoy, you know, life itself, because you don't want to just burden yourself with, oh, I'm going to get this next thing, this next thing, this next thing.

[00:22:57] At some point you hope to get to that point where you're like, okay, that can go. That can slide because I want to have more quality of life with family and enjoy them while we're all together still. And those kinds of things. So it's, it's. The give and take and struggle, but literally it was sacrificed and, and, uh, survival all the way up until the point where you're like, okay, I can let that, I don't need to do that, but go back and do this, you know?

[00:23:22] So it was just really that kind of thing, mentality more than 

[00:23:25] Travis Bader: anything you always know in your head that you're going to be successful at anything that you put your mind to essentially. I 

[00:23:32] Lucas Hoge: mean, I, I guess I did, but it wasn't, like, I just knew that I had. Make it six succeed to get to the next thing. Right.

[00:23:42] And, uh, whether I crashed and burned, it was like, well, try something else. I'll do something I'll pivot here and do that. Something is just like, this is what I've always wanted to do is sing and make music and be in the outdoors and, and, uh, thank God. It all panned out the way it's looking. I mean, we're still on an upward spiral 

[00:24:04] Travis Bader: along the journey, you know, people say, uh, and that.

[00:24:08] I look at people who would say, oh, I would have had a business, but for, or I would have been successful, but for, oh, it was the, the economy crashed back around oh eight or it's because of COVID or whatever it might be. And I don't know if I'm ignorant in my approach, but I've always had the mindset of really, if it is what you want, you will get.

[00:24:29] Yeah. When you, when you achieve that goal and look back whether the ends justified the means maybe they did, maybe they didn't, maybe, maybe you sacrifice so much to get there, but if it is something you truly want, you will get there. Yep. And I, and I think, sorry, go ahead. No, no, 

[00:24:45] Lucas Hoge: continue. 

[00:24:45] Travis Bader: Continue. Okay. And that's where I, when I'm asking what, like, uh, what does success look like to you?

[00:24:51] And that's in my thinking. If success is based on a final goal, then you're always going to be chasing that next goal in order to be successful. But it is based on the, on the process. Um, then, then you'll successful follow you essentially every day. And that seems to be what I look at your career and what you've been.

[00:25:14] Man, you just seem to love what you do, unless you're a really good actor. You absolutely love what you do. 

[00:25:20] Lucas Hoge: Trust me. I'm no good at acting. I'll leave that to my wife. She's really, she grew up in that world. She's better at that than I am, but, uh, yeah, it's, you know, it's that give and take thing, man. And I'm not gonna say there's not a ton of bumps and bruises to get started in the long way.

[00:25:35] I mean, everybody goes through them and I've been taken advantage of when I first moved to Nashville a ton. But if you let those kinds of. Bring you down, you're never going to do anything. You're just going to recluse into your house and, and, you know, be a hermit and let everybody take advantage of you and let them scare you out of submission.

[00:25:52] And that's just something I wasn't able to do. It's just mean like, okay, so you needed that money more than I did, so, okay. You can steal it from me type of thing. You know, you took it, you kind of stepped on me to get to that. Uh, I can't live with myself to do those kinds of things. So you go ahead and do that.

[00:26:09] And, and that was the thing that I, I prayed about the most was, you know, I wanted to be surrounded by people that were going to elevate me and I could elevate them and, and good people, you know, and that's what I still pray about today. It's like, you know, I just want to be surrounded by good people and life is too dang short, not to, uh, be surrounded with good people and love the people that you're around.

[00:26:31] So I continue to, you know, kind of. Pull the weeds out of my life. And you have to do that. Whether, whether it's the wrong thing or the right thing, you kind of got to pull the weeds that, you know, those people just bring you down when you're trying to come to them with some, Hey, I'm real excited about this.

[00:26:48] And they constantly are like chipping at you. See you later, you're going to pull that weed fast. You know what, if somebody can, you know, that you can all support each other on the way up. And that's the thing. There's so many people. That won't support you or they think that, well, I need it. I need that more than you do.

[00:27:08] Or it's just the people that tear people down, man. There's enough to go around in this world for everybody. 

[00:27:14] Travis Bader: You're in such an industry too, that you probably see a whole absolute ton of it. And you know, there is a, what is it Vaynerchuk? He says you can have the tallest building. There's two ways to do it by building the tallest building or tearing everybody else's down.

[00:27:29] Right? Which one you want? 

[00:27:31] Lucas Hoge: Yeah. 

[00:27:33] Travis Bader: Yeah. That's exactly that process of weeding and picking out for your life and finding positive people to be able to surround yourself with is part of the reason why I started this silver horror podcast, because the hunting industry, the firearms industry can be absolutely wrought with a negativity and a social stigma surrounding it.

[00:27:54] If that's where you want to put your attention. And I found myself in an area where. There was a lot of negativity and there was a lot of, and I was constantly dealing with it and I was, I'm a consulting subject matter expert for a number of different law firms and for, and so obviously the things that come in are going to be negatively based and then we'd post things up on social media and people would be cutting it down.

[00:28:17] And, and I found slowly, but surely it kind of starts to shape, uh, your own perspective and your own life, right. By creating, let's say the silver Corp podcast. By having something like whole wild, where you can surround yourself with positive people who are doing what you're passionate about in the industry.

[00:28:38] I think that's one of the ways that I think that's one of the biggest ways that we're able to elevate the industry in general and just shut that white noise off and hold the nice. Yeah, 

[00:28:50] Lucas Hoge: I completely agree with that, man. I completely agree with that philosophy and I'm going to butcher the quote and I'm going to butcher who quoted it, but I think it was mother Teresa when she was like, you know, don't invite me to a war rally, cause I'm not going to.

[00:29:04] But he'd invite me to a peace rally. I'm going to be there every single time. I'll be the front one on the lines where if you, if you promote what, you're, what you want to happen, as opposed to promoting the negativity that's happening, it's never going to win. You're always going to get more negativity.

[00:29:18] You're going to be promoting that instead of like, I'm going to promote the love and the joy and the fun and the comradery and all that stuff. That's what I want. Right. So why wouldn't I be talking about that? 

[00:29:28] Travis Bader: Absolutely. Talk about us, surround yourself with. I noticed talking with others who are in the film industry or in the music industry.

[00:29:36] And sometimes I'll see that people have two different. And they've got their public facing persona, their entertaining persona. I think I remember bear Grylls said he's got a BG and bear. Right. And when he's with his family, he's bare. And when he's out doing crazy adventures and Eaton, who knows what well that's as BG.

[00:29:58] Right. Do you find that you kind of find the same thing that there's a Lucas hole in LA? 

[00:30:09] Lucas Hoge: Yeah. I mean a little bit, I guess when it comes to your family, you kind of let your guard down a lot more because they're family, you know, and you know, when you're, when you're with on the entertainment side, it's like you have all these.

[00:30:22] Barriers up a little bit, because you don't want somebody to capture you saying something stupid or saying this or something that with your family, you say stupid crap all the time. Right. And you don't care about it, but you know, with the, with the way people are recording everything and doing stuff, you kind of keep those little barriers around you a little bit when you're out in public.

[00:30:40] So yeah. Yeah. 

[00:30:44] Travis Bader: I get, 

[00:30:45] Lucas Hoge: you know what?

[00:30:49] put a mask on a 

[00:30:50] Travis Bader: computer. I catch it through the screen here. Oh my God. Excuse me. I'm sure I'm getting over. COVID even though I tested negative rest of my family tested positive. So who knows how that works. And I've actually been asked to speak on a, uh, a live cast tonight on the current situation over here in Canada with a truck 

[00:31:13] Lucas Hoge: rally.

[00:31:14] And how's that going up there by the way? 

[00:31:16] Travis Bader: It's interesting. It's interesting. I'm seeing bleed over into the states as well with, uh, 

[00:31:22] Lucas Hoge: we're supposed to, yeah, I think there's going to be a big truck rally starting here in the next couple days. Yeah. A bunch of truckers here in the states are heading to the Capitol.

[00:31:31] So we'll see. I hope so, man, we need something for us to stand up and fight back. So I agree, 

[00:31:37] Travis Bader: you know, it's from a social science experiment. I find it very interesting. Just look looking at how people can just, just so human nature is and how people act and how quickly people will capitulate or give up rights and freedoms.

[00:31:51] It's and how scared people can be to actually speak out because of these, of the social norms. Yeah. 

[00:32:00] Lucas Hoge: I think if it, if there wasn't all the social media platforms, more people would have spoken out a lot sooner, but you see everything that goes on social media and how people just get bombarded with negativity and just destroyed lives because they say one little thing.

[00:32:17] I think if it was, you know, all that. Delete, we could have been back to normal a long time ago. Oh 

[00:32:23] Travis Bader: yeah. You know, and I see you on, on Tik talk and you're on social media. 

[00:32:30] Lucas Hoge: Oh, gosh, man. Not because I want to it's because I 

[00:32:34] Travis Bader: got to do it right. It's if you want to be able to connect to the masses, you have to know how they're talking and what they're talking about, right?

[00:32:40] Yeah. 

[00:32:40] Lucas Hoge: You try and get one little thing, like your music stuff to pop off, you know, and do really good. And it just kind of does this, this stays plateau, but then you do some stupid. Video about absolutely nothing I did at Cobra, Kai, cause I'm a Coke Khalfan thing and I did a stupid video and that thing popped off.

[00:32:56] I was like a million, some 0.3 million views or something. I don't know what it is. It's all about what? Oh man. 

[00:33:05] Travis Bader: It's funny way. It is. The people are communicating. Yeah. I heard something about. W what was it over here? Tick talk is people dancing and doing goofy things. And apparently in China, the algorithm rewards people who are inventing things or who are doing something that said a worthwhile essentially, 

[00:33:26] Lucas Hoge: right?

[00:33:27] Yeah. What a concept. Okay. Rewarded for doing something worthwhile the thought that's 

[00:33:34] Travis Bader: great. Is there any dancing in there? And I forget, I'm not interested. Oh my gosh. So with the. Do you find on a whole wild, do you, are you catching heat for being the face of a, of a popular hunting 

[00:33:47] Lucas Hoge: FIM? I'm not listening.

[00:33:51] You know, I, I love what I do and I want to share it with the world. And, and there's so many people that are like, man, I can't believe you get to go and do this. I'm like you can't do. And that's the thing I want to show. Cause I'll be, I'll be doing some pretty. I call it some white glove hunts and some pretty cool things where I'll be like, I'm going to yacht and in the Virgin islands and we'd have a captain and a chef, but I'm like, they're my friends.

[00:34:14] So I think cost me anything to go. Yeah. I just know people in the right places and you can hear the same thing and literally you can rent a yacht, like a full, like a four-bedroom yacht in the Virgin islands with a captain and a sh and a crew or chef. A family of four or six for the same price that it would cost you to go to it.

[00:34:34] Like a big theme park here for a weekend. Oh, I'll tell 

[00:34:37] Travis Bader: you where my money's going. 

[00:34:38] Lucas Hoge: Thank you. Right. I can go straight to the blue waters of the Caribbean baby. Oh 

[00:34:43] Travis Bader: yes. Hell yes. Well, you know, it's not always blue waters. I mean, I, I watched you out and I think it was Montana there on an. Yeah, it looked, uh, Bella kind of interesting.

[00:34:55] Lucas Hoge: That was crazy was supposed to be this like great, you know, hunt and, you know, sleeping in wall tents. And that's, I love that stuff. I grew up, you know, hunting hard, you know, and, uh, it got really hard because as soon as I start driving from Nashville, we got to. South Dakota and man, the snow and I started and I was white knuckling it the whole way.

[00:35:15] I'm driving a sprinter van and trailer loaded down. Cause I'm going to be out for like three weeks. I'm like, I got everything I need from the mountains to a bird hunting Montana and to down do a Gator hunt and Louisiana all. So I'm like white knuckling. I see tractor trailers getting turned over in front of me and people just going too fast and spinning out and I'm like, I'm going like 30 miles an hour or 25.

[00:35:35] It took me three days to get. Sioux falls to great falls Montana, and it should have taken me like less than a day to get there. And I'm just like, I'm going to, I'm going to survive this crazy concept. And we get there and the snow just, just pounds us go from like just a flurry to. What was it? 48 inches of snow overnight.

[00:35:59] We're packing in and our hip flexors are killing us and we took three days and just sitting in Waltons chopping wood, just to be able to stay on the mountain. That's hard hunting. 

[00:36:09] Travis Bader: Damn 

[00:36:11] Lucas Hoge: well. It was a blast 

[00:36:12] Travis Bader: though. I think you're going, you got some crazy African adventures coming 

[00:36:16] Lucas Hoge: up, don't you? Yeah, I leave next Tuesday.

[00:36:19] Have you been there for. I've been to Northern Africa. I've now been to South Africa. So I'm looking forward to seeing pretty Africa as opposed to the not so pretty Africa and north Africa. And, uh, yeah, it's going to be fun. We're going to be. Probably the first three or four days and do like, just to kind of a shutter bug safari for my wife and I, and then my camera guys and the crews show up, um, like around the 1st of January, February, March.

[00:36:45] Right, right. And it will be there till March 11th and, uh, doing Plains game and things like that. So, yeah. Good. I actually, what a lot of people don't know which I'm going to try and bring to light is the fact that the hunting industry is what kind of keeps South Africa or Africa in general alive, you know, over there, it's fun.

[00:37:05] It funds a lot. I mean, millions and millions of dollars for the locals over there and for conservation and what a lot of people don't understand when. For lack of better words, it's kind of the snowflakes get involved and they're trying to stop this and that they don't understand. These hurts are getting so big over these last two years, because none of us hunters have been able to go over to help keep these herds under bay that they're taken over again.

[00:37:31] You know, and a lot of these little tribes are getting ran into with like herds of animals and they're not equipped to hunt like that anymore. You know, they really aren't. It's been devastating on the industry over there. So it's great that they kind of opened the borders back up for us to come 

[00:37:49] Travis Bader: back. No kidding.

[00:37:51] I know you're going to try and paint that whole picture and get that for me. So alongside of the adventure. 

[00:37:56] Lucas Hoge: Sure, absolutely. Absolutely. We're doing a big rhino conservation piece as well. So Tam safari is the one that's bringing us over and, um, they have a whole rhino facility on their property where they rent.

[00:38:09] Baby rhinos and put them back out in the wild and they do this protection thing where they actually harvest the horns that you know, that the big horn on the rhino and, you know, let them grow again and all that stuff so that they're trying try and take out the whole ivory. You know, poaching thing. So it's like, okay, we've got plenty of ivory, all plenty of that stuff on hand.

[00:38:33] No need to go out and just poach these animals, if you want it here, type of thing. And there's so bad, the poaching is just rampant over there. So it's, it's, it's cool to be over there and witness all that and help bring the story to life. 

[00:38:47] Travis Bader: You know? Oh, I did a podcast actually. I did a couple of podcasts.

[00:38:50] Good friend of mine, Darren Mon. I did one cause he was a professional hunter over in Africa. He's a Rhodesian Zimbabwe individual. And, uh, he's also the body guard for Oprah Winfrey and it hurts for some time. Yeah. Some pretty crazy stories that he, uh, that he had there too. But, uh, anyways, talking about how the hunting industry really supports Africa and an ecosystem, and many of the animals are alive because of the hunting.

[00:39:21] Absolutely. And, uh, then I get a message from him a couple of weeks ago and he said, We're going hunting. We're going to go over to Africa. I'm setting it up. So I'll, uh, I'm excited. I'm going to see what it's all about, but I'm going to watch your show first to try and get a bit more flavor about it. Maybe try it afterwards about the, uh, the duties.

[00:39:40] Lucas Hoge: Yeah. Yeah. And the, my camera guy has been over there. Like, I don't know, eight or nine times filming for other shows too. So it's really cool to have a native, you know, a veteran guy that's going over there and to film with me as well. So I'll be, I'll be able to capitalize on a lot more stuff. So, 

[00:39:55] Travis Bader: so what takes priority in your life?

[00:39:56] Is it going to be your. Music career or is it going to be the, the showed? And when I say show, you've done more than one show, I mean your animal conservation show 

[00:40:05] Lucas Hoge: as well. And yeah, I mean, honestly they go hand in hand one feeds the other. Um, because every time I do a sh uh, one of my, uh, hook wild episodes, I try and tie it in with.

[00:40:17] Either a concert or some sort of a music element. So like when I'm in Africa, I've got a concert over there that I'm doing and raising money for the Amy Bell foundation, which they build schools for the children over there, um, which is going to be really fun. It's a small little kind of a bar. And, uh, I want to say chronic, uh, Africa.

[00:40:37] Um, so the seating is all like hay bales and stuff. It's going to be awesome. It's gonna be so much fun. Just need a guitar and we're going to raise the money and hope. And do some stuff over there with the Amy Amy Bell foundation. And I kind of try and do that anywhere I go, you know, like when we were just down in Dominican Republic, uh, shooting an episode at Casa compo with some good friends of mine, uh, there was another organization down there that I was able to do a concert for while I was there.

[00:41:01] So it's like, it all kind of happens to, to tie in pretty, pretty seamlessly. Isn't 

[00:41:07] Travis Bader: that amazing how much you get back? 

[00:41:10] Lucas Hoge: Absolutely man. Amen. I started giving back. I mean, my wife was a huge advocate about that from the beginning. And she started putting me in touch with, uh, we started going down to Mexico, to Puerto Vallarta and, uh, I would do a concert on the beach and we'd raise money for this organization called hook the cure.

[00:41:27] And, um, it was all benefiting cystic fibrosis. Okay. I started doing that. I didn't, we didn't know a soul going down there, but we turned into just, wow, it's a family reunion. Right. Everybody comes back every year for the last 10 years. And it's Orel Hershiser and Rick Honeycutt and Matt young from the Dodgers and, you know, just great people.

[00:41:45] And we just became really solid friends. And now it's like opened up so well, I have them on as guests, as celebrity guests on my show, they were, were the ones that went to Dominican with me. And it just, you know, it just compounds itself. You know exactly what you said. Give back, you get. 

[00:42:00] Travis Bader: Absolutely. Yeah. A hundred percent of what you get out of life is what you put into it and what you, what you're willing to give up.

[00:42:06] But I think there's a, I think there can be a, uh, a difficult part there for a lot of people. It sounds like you've got that one squared in the giving back. There's going to be a lot of takers out there and being, being able to identify where to give your time and efforts and energy and w who are essentially the vampires who are just going to continue leaching.

[00:42:28] Lucas Hoge: Oh, yeah, man, we get calls every day about organizations. How can you do this? Or can you donate this? And I'm like, I don't, I started out like, I don't have money to give, and that's not the gift that I like to give. I give my time. I give my gifts, um, to whatever those can benefit you. I would love to help out.

[00:42:48] But right now, If they're like, Hey, can you give a hundred thousand dollars? I'm like, no, I probably can't. I'm just going to be straightforward with it. If you're asking for money, it's probably not going to happen. But if you need somebody to come help you raise some money, I'll be happy to do that. You know, those kinds of things.

[00:43:06] Um, and I, I can help out that way, but, you know, it's, you just have to weed through them and hope that you're doing the right thing for the right organization. You know, you 

[00:43:16] know, 

[00:43:16] Travis Bader: people will say, uh, It's not personal, it's just business. And I've always been a very, very strong believer that all business is personal business is based on relationships, which are, are, uh, cultivated over time based on trust and past history, because the best person.

[00:43:37] Predictor of future performance is past performance. So from my perspective, business is very much personal and being able to surround yourself with the people who you can trust and you share the same core values that you do. Yeah. Uh, seems to me anyways, I, I don't have nearly the accolades that you do, but within, within my small realm of what I do seems to be the driving force to where I find my success.

[00:44:05] W would you. 

[00:44:07] Lucas Hoge: I'm a hundred percent right there with you, man. I always say that you're never really going to hard work your way to the top or to success. You're going to connect your way to it. And, um, you know, that's, that's been my philosophy too, and try and never burn a bridge and, and you try and make sure that everybody you meets not a stranger until they make it that way.

[00:44:27] And it's just, you know, that's what it's all about. You know, just connecting it. 

[00:44:34] Travis Bader: Excuse me COVID again. Yeah. We just got a new hunting dog, man. Yeah, actually it was not too far from where you grew up was in Kansas city, Missouri. Oh yeah. And a three and a half hours. I Googled it and I was like, that's about three and a half hours, but yeah, we're my wife was going to fly down there and she, uh, ended up having to cancel the ticket.

[00:45:04] And because she got COVID, she was fine. Didn't realize it and just tested positive. But luckily we were able to find another family that was picking up dogs and they drove it all the way back to Washington. And once the quarantine was over, it could go down and pick it up. But, uh, it's great. Yeah, that was, um, yeah.

[00:45:22] Anyways, talking about COVID and the different effects that has, it looks like in the next couple of months, that's probably most of this COVID going to. 

[00:45:32] Lucas Hoge: Yeah, I think they're done manipulating this, the masses and they're, so they've slapped us around long enough to where okay. No more slaps. Well, and that's had your punches, 

[00:45:44] Travis Bader: but I think it was a really important thing to happen because I think people needed to be pushed so far in order for the push to kind of come back.

[00:45:53] Lucas Hoge: Yeah. To keep these, you know, for lack of better word politicians in lines and know that, Hey, we put you in this place, we put you in office for a reason, and then you take advantage of it. We need to get it back. 

[00:46:06] Travis Bader: You know, one area where I found that COVID has really helped. And I don't want to take up. I know you're really, really busy there, but no, no, no.

[00:46:12] We're good. Okay. Good is in. The hunting industry. I found the demand and people wanting to learn how to hunt or to help be self-sufficient or forage has just, at least in Canada, I found it just SkyRide. 

[00:46:27] Lucas Hoge: Oh, the outdoors industry here has just exploded. I mean, you can't keep things on the shelves. Um, you can't find ammo.

[00:46:35] I mean, Remington ammo is one of my partners and I have a hard time ordering. Good for Remi. Yeah. Oh yeah, absolutely man. And it's just those things and you see a lot of new brands popping up that are already super successful, you know, so it's, it's it, wasn't a good, there are have been some cool elements that have happened.

[00:46:56] You know this craziness, but, uh, I wish it didn't have to have a happen. I 

[00:47:01] Travis Bader: absolutely hear you. Have you found that it's affected, um, uh, the show, at least in viewership, more people wanting to learn essentially? 

[00:47:10] Lucas Hoge: Yeah. The first season man was awesome. I think. Like 3.5 million viewers out of the gate, which was really cool for a Sportsman's channels show.

[00:47:20] And, um, obviously everybody was in the house and everything was great, but the viewers have been great for season two and really looking forward to season three is going to be the best yet. So we're just having fun and going to keep putting out hopefully great content that people are going to want to see.

[00:47:34] And, but yeah, I definitely, uh, COVID has, has, uh, given me more time to focus on the show because I haven't been able to tour as a musician. As much because of it, which is a downfall. But, uh, I like, again, I keep trying to tie, uh, concerts into episodes as much as I possibly can. So 

[00:47:53] Travis Bader: that's what amazing, well, you know, I'm, I'm conscious of time constraints here.

[00:47:58] Is there anything that we haven't talked about that we should be talking. 

[00:48:03] Lucas Hoge: Man. I don't think so. We covered a lot, man. We want to get stuff. I've got 

[00:48:06] Travis Bader: ADHD. I'm kind of all over the board, but, uh, I have to, 

[00:48:11] Lucas Hoge: oh, absolutely. I'll be thinking about one thing was like squirrel a, what are we talking about here?

[00:48:17] Travis Bader: It's an interesting way to live a life that's for sure. Yeah. Is there anything that people would be surprised to know about you? 

[00:48:27] Lucas Hoge: I don't know, man. I guess if they've watched hog-wild they'll know that I. Pretty much came from nothing and, and doing what I love to do. And you know, I'm not the richest guy in that world.

[00:48:38] I'm not the most famous guy in the world, but man, I have to feel like I'm one of the most successful guys in the world because I love what I do day in and day out. And when you, when you have your own business, It's like what you said, you know, nobody knows what goes on. They just see what we put out there.

[00:48:54] But when you're working for yourself, you get up early and start the work until you go to bed. I mean, it's like, you never shut it off. I mean, you're always working. You're always on the phone. You're always trying to do something and work and deal. So you're working 10 times harder than you ever would have had you had a nine to five job, you know, and, uh, but it's so much more rewarding because you're the one you can make your own schedule, do your own thing.

[00:49:17] And. And builds whatever you want it to build. You know, that's, that's what I love doing. And seeing my wife doing it too with her new company is really, really cool and just killing it. And I hope that other people are taking advantage of that too. And I think that's another thing that if you want to call it good.

[00:49:36] Came out COVID was I think a lot of people, since they didn't have to go to their nine to five step back and they're like, man, I don't like what I'm doing. I'm going to do something else. Right. You know? And so many of my friends have done just that. They're like, I'm going to start my own business or I'm going to figure out how to do this myself and blah, blah, blah.

[00:49:53] And I'm like, dude, that's awesome. Congratulations. You know, what can I do to help? I'm just giving you a thumbs up along the way or a slap on the ass. Cause good job. 

[00:50:03] Travis Bader: Ugly, man. I love that attitude. Absolutely love that attitude. Well, like I say, I'm going to be throwing links up. We'll put a we'll chat a bit off air as well.

[00:50:12] Anything else we want to kind of throw in, but uh, cool for the listeners. Check it out. Check out Lucas Hogue. Hog-wild sportsman 

[00:50:21] Lucas Hoge: channel. Yeah, man. There's no DS and no use in Hogue. It's H O G E it's hog with an EU Longo. Yeah. 

[00:50:34] Travis Bader: That's easy way. Every time I look at it, it's like hug. Well, no hogwash. Don't don't say hog-wild, don't say hogwash.

[00:50:42] Lucas Hoge: I get it more than you can imagine. Oh, 

[00:50:43] Travis Bader: I believe it. I believe it. Thank you so very much for being on the silver Corp podcast. I really enjoyed our cover. Yeah. 

[00:50:51] Lucas Hoge: Likewise, man. Thanks for having me on and we need to keep in touch and we'll do this more often.