Episode 46: Interview with Kenny Thompson of Basys and Team MO-KAN

Narrator 00:00:04

Hello and welcome to the WWIA podcast.

Narrator 00:00:08

We're honored to have you join us in our mission to bring honor, connection and healing to America's combat wounded Purple Heart heroes.

Narrator 00:00:17

If this is your first time listening to this podcast, we welcome you.

Narrator 00:00:21

If you're a returning listener, thanks for coming back.

Narrator 00:00:24

Please be sure to tell others about our podcast and leave us a review if you're enjoying what you're hearing on this latest episode of the WWIA podcast.

Narrator 00:00:35

WWIA founder and CEO John McDaniel welcomes a longstanding friend and supporter of the foundation, Mister Kenny Thompson.

Narrator 00:00:43

Kenny is a part of Mighty Team Mocan, an exceptional group of supporters who have been honoring and serving our combat wounded veterans through two outstanding annual events, the MoCan Ducks, Bucks and trapping event, currently in its 15th year, as well as the Mocan catfishing event, now in its 7th year.

Narrator 00:01:03

Kenny is an avid and seasoned outdoorsman, having hunted and fished since he was a young boy and has traveled across the globe in pursuit of his bow hunting passion.

Narrator 00:01:13

Kenny is also an integral part of the leadership team at basis, a leader in the payments processing industry and currently serves as executive vice president of partner relation.

Narrator 00:01:24

We are honored to spend some time with Kenny and hope you enjoyed getting to know more about him and his story.

Narrator 00:01:30

Let's jump into the conversation with John and Kenny now.

John McDaniel 00:01:38

Hi, I'm John McDaniel, founder and CEO of the Wounded warriors in Action foundation, and this is our podcast honor Connect heal.

John McDaniel 00:01:46

So today I have a very special guest with me, Kenny Thompson.

John McDaniel 00:01:51

And Kenny, welcome to the program.

Kenny Thompson 00:01:53

Thanks John.

Kenny Thompson 00:01:54

Looking forward to it, Mandy.

John McDaniel 00:01:56

Yeah, me too, man.

John McDaniel 00:01:57

We're looking at each other big.

John McDaniel 00:01:58

We can see each other on the Zoom call, but you can't see us, but we can see each other.

John McDaniel 00:02:04

And we got big grins on our faces because Kenny and I have hunted together and known each other for.

John McDaniel 00:02:10

I probably first met you at the first or second time that you guys ran Mocan, but everybody was new to me at that point.

John McDaniel 00:02:18

But MoCan, the event that you and your amazing team support, is on its 15th year.

John McDaniel 00:02:24

Can you believe that?

Kenny Thompson 00:02:24

It's insane.

Kenny Thompson 00:02:25

Yeah, it's insane.

Kenny Thompson 00:02:28

Seems like yesterday.

John McDaniel 00:02:29

And so I asked Kenny to be on the program because, one, he's a great american.

John McDaniel 00:02:35

Two, he is just somebody that I'm fond of.

John McDaniel 00:02:38

I met his father and hunted with you guys on your property a few years ago and you have just an amazing chunk of terrain there that supports the Mocan Missouri Kansas ducks and bucks event.

John McDaniel 00:02:53

And I was fortunate enough you honored me by inviting me to your property.

John McDaniel 00:02:57

I got to meet your dad, actually.

John McDaniel 00:02:59

Hunted with your dad and shot a deer on your first time out there.

John McDaniel 00:03:04

Just a beautiful Missouri buck.

John McDaniel 00:03:06

And I'll tell you, it was a phenomenal experience.

John McDaniel 00:03:11

You got a great family.

John McDaniel 00:03:13

So tell us a little bit about.

John McDaniel 00:03:16

Tell it.

John McDaniel 00:03:17

Let's.

John McDaniel 00:03:17

Let's start with your property.

John McDaniel 00:03:19

You know, we were just chatting about that.

John McDaniel 00:03:21

You're.

John McDaniel 00:03:21

You're.

John McDaniel 00:03:21

You're.

John McDaniel 00:03:21

You're a big hunter.

John McDaniel 00:03:23

Yeah.

John McDaniel 00:03:23

I see pictures.

John McDaniel 00:03:24

You've hunted all over the.

John McDaniel 00:03:26

I say the globe, right?

John McDaniel 00:03:28

I mean, you really.

John McDaniel 00:03:29

You're.

John McDaniel 00:03:29

I mean, you are a hunter.

Kenny Thompson 00:03:30

A bow hunter.

Kenny Thompson 00:03:31

Yes.

John McDaniel 00:03:32

A bow hunter.

John McDaniel 00:03:33

Yes.

John McDaniel 00:03:34

All right.

John McDaniel 00:03:34

A big time bow hunter.

Kenny Thompson 00:03:37

I enjoy it thoroughly, my friend.

John McDaniel 00:03:39

Yeah.

John McDaniel 00:03:39

And you got some amazing animals on your, on your property.

John McDaniel 00:03:42

So tell us, tell us a little bit about what's going on at your property.

John McDaniel 00:03:48

I mean, what do you guys call it?

John McDaniel 00:03:50

You said it.

John McDaniel 00:03:50

We call it the cabin.

John McDaniel 00:03:51

Tell us about that.

Kenny Thompson 00:03:52

Yeah.

Kenny Thompson 00:03:53

So we have just shy of 300 acres on that farm, John, and it's.

Kenny Thompson 00:03:57

Purchases it back in 1992, built the cabin a few years later.

Kenny Thompson 00:04:01

Now we have the barn and all the toys and the equipment that it takes to actually do what we want to do up there.

Kenny Thompson 00:04:10

So we manage it exclusively for wildlife.

Kenny Thompson 00:04:13

So primarily deer and turkey.

Kenny Thompson 00:04:16

But it's a.

Kenny Thompson 00:04:17

It's my little slice of heaven.

Kenny Thompson 00:04:18

So I can.

Kenny Thompson 00:04:19

I can get there in 22 minutes from my garage to the, to the gate.

Kenny Thompson 00:04:23

And.

Kenny Thompson 00:04:23

But it's.

Kenny Thompson 00:04:24

You've hunted it.

Kenny Thompson 00:04:25

It's.

Kenny Thompson 00:04:25

It's.

Kenny Thompson 00:04:25

It's so hilly.

Kenny Thompson 00:04:26

It's, you know, timber and creek running through it.

Kenny Thompson 00:04:29

It's.

Kenny Thompson 00:04:30

It's.

Kenny Thompson 00:04:30

It's a little oasis.

Kenny Thompson 00:04:32

And it drives my wife nuts how much time and money I spend up there, but.

Kenny Thompson 00:04:36

And I'll be up there thinking I'm away from everything, and she'll call me.

Kenny Thompson 00:04:39

And it's 22 minutes.

Kenny Thompson 00:04:40

You can come home and take care of whatever it is.

Kenny Thompson 00:04:42

But it's.

Kenny Thompson 00:04:45

It's a special place.

Kenny Thompson 00:04:46

And that's one of the greatest things about connecting with wounded warriors in action is being able to share it with new friends every single year.

John McDaniel 00:04:57

Yeah.

John McDaniel 00:04:58

Well, we appreciate you doing that.

John McDaniel 00:05:01

We certainly, certainly do.

John McDaniel 00:05:02

And something about the bucks up in Missouri.

John McDaniel 00:05:08

Of course, I hail from Wisconsin.

John McDaniel 00:05:10

There's big deer up there.

John McDaniel 00:05:11

We got a little chunk of property we call Camp Hackett.

John McDaniel 00:05:14

But that's hardwoods.

John McDaniel 00:05:17

I mean, it's northern Wisconsin.

John McDaniel 00:05:19

And, you know, there's very little ag, where we are.

John McDaniel 00:05:22

You guys have, you know, I think your property has got a fair amount of agriculture surrounding it.

John McDaniel 00:05:28

Of course, you got a good mix of hardwoods and of course, you've got a water source there.

John McDaniel 00:05:33

All the things that you need to kind of create a wildlife paradise.

John McDaniel 00:05:36

But it just seems to me like the bucks that you guys, I've seen the pictures, you know, the bucks that you guys have hanging around are just monsters, man.

Kenny Thompson 00:05:45

There, there's some big boys and we got, we got a couple big boys on camera this year too.

Kenny Thompson 00:05:49

So it's, uh, it's shaping up and it's been a phenomenal year for, you know, for wildlife.

Kenny Thompson 00:05:55

So we've had ample moisture up where we're at.

Kenny Thompson 00:05:57

And like I said, we planted the food plots in spring this year, which is typically something we've never done, but they are looking incredible right now.

John McDaniel 00:06:07

Yeah.

John McDaniel 00:06:08

And you've got all the implements, the tractors, the discs, the sprayers, everything.

John McDaniel 00:06:12

And so you did you have to learn how to do all that like I did.

Kenny Thompson 00:06:16

I grew up on, on a farm my whole life.

Kenny Thompson 00:06:18

So I spent 18, 1920 years just doing everything I possibly could to get off the farm.

Kenny Thompson 00:06:27

And I've spent the rest of the time trying to figure out how to get back.

John McDaniel 00:06:32

I'll tell you, there's nothing else like it if you ask me.

John McDaniel 00:06:35

I didn't.

John McDaniel 00:06:35

I grew up, I grew up adjacent to a farm in the country, but I am definitely not a farmer.

John McDaniel 00:06:41

I didn't grow up on a farm.

John McDaniel 00:06:42

But, you know, when I got that, that property and I, you know, the, the habitat bug bit me, if you will.

John McDaniel 00:06:50

You know, like it does once you figure out, like, I actually made that grow and look at that and they're eating it.

Kenny Thompson 00:06:58

Yes.

John McDaniel 00:06:58

Holy cow.

John McDaniel 00:06:59

You know, and then you figure out, oh, they like to bed in that.

John McDaniel 00:07:02

Just don't, leave that alone.

John McDaniel 00:07:04

Just don't touch that.

John McDaniel 00:07:06

That's where they're gonna, that's where they like to sleep, you know, sort of thing.

John McDaniel 00:07:09

And, you know, and then making these micro adjustments and then, you know, investing all this time and energy and getting your ph in the soil, you know, proper and, and all that.

John McDaniel 00:07:19

And, but one thing you can't, you can't predict and you, you know, is rain, you know, and you got to have.

John McDaniel 00:07:24

That's one of the key components to getting stuff to grow.

John McDaniel 00:07:29

But when everything lines up and it works out like it sounds like it's doing for you this year, you know, there's just nothing like that feeling.

John McDaniel 00:07:36

It's a great feeling, isn't it?

Kenny Thompson 00:07:37

Yeah, it's there.

Kenny Thompson 00:07:38

There's definitely an art and a science to it, but I.

Kenny Thompson 00:07:41

Yeah, and it.

Kenny Thompson 00:07:42

The amount of time and money I spend up there, it's insane.

Kenny Thompson 00:07:45

If you actually looked at it, I could, you know, feed my, feed my family lobster every day and I'd be ahead.

Kenny Thompson 00:07:50

But labor of love and I absolutely, I enjoy it.

Kenny Thompson 00:07:57

And as, as more of the gray hairs sneak into my little so called beard, it, uh, your perspective on things change, and it's, it's even more fun sharing it with folks and, you know, getting.

Kenny Thompson 00:08:10

I've got a close friend of mine, Dave crosswide.

Kenny Thompson 00:08:13

Hank you've met from St.

Kenny Thompson 00:08:14

Louis, a college buddy of mine that bow hunts with us, but he's the consummate deer hunting pal.

Kenny Thompson 00:08:19

He comes over, he works his ass off, he cooks, he cleans, and he doesn't shoot any of the big deer.

Kenny Thompson 00:08:25

So it's, he's a great guy to help with.

John McDaniel 00:08:28

It's like, yeah, I saw scrubby again.

John McDaniel 00:08:31

I think I'm going to take him tonight if he walks by me, you know.

John McDaniel 00:08:34

Gotta love that guy.

Kenny Thompson 00:08:35

Exactly.

Kenny Thompson 00:08:35

It's good stuff.

John McDaniel 00:08:36

That's, that's really cool.

John McDaniel 00:08:37

And your dad is such a wonderful person, you know?

John McDaniel 00:08:40

Tell me about your dad a little bit.

John McDaniel 00:08:42

I, you know, I sat in the deer blind with him, and so we didn't get a chance to chat a whole lot because we were trying to be quiet, but I just think he's a fascinating man.

John McDaniel 00:08:54

And I remember him fondly being the classic patriarch of the family, a soft spoken man.

John McDaniel 00:09:07

But I'd like to hear your cut on your dad, because when I mentioned his name, your face lit up like a light bulb.

John McDaniel 00:09:14

Pray someday that when, you know, my, somebody mentions me to my boys, the same thing happens.

John McDaniel 00:09:20

I mean, you, you got a, you got a grin on your face, like now.

John McDaniel 00:09:23

Like a rat eating an onion, man.

John McDaniel 00:09:25

I love it.

Kenny Thompson 00:09:26

I love it.

Kenny Thompson 00:09:27

He is, he is a good, he's a, he's a man's man.

Kenny Thompson 00:09:31

I mean, you know, 82 years old, still is like the energizer bunny.

Kenny Thompson 00:09:37

Worked for the railroad his whole life.

Kenny Thompson 00:09:38

And I, you know, never, never made a tremendous amount of money.

Kenny Thompson 00:09:43

But he, you know, coming from a, you know, the time that he grew up in, in the forties, you know, he was a depression baby.

Kenny Thompson 00:09:51

And they, I mean, they cherish every single thing that they've ever been blessed with.

Kenny Thompson 00:09:56

And he has instilled that in me.

Kenny Thompson 00:09:58

And he's the reason I hunt.

Kenny Thompson 00:10:00

I mean, I've got two brothers.

Kenny Thompson 00:10:02

They, they may hunt for a week under two in the year.

Kenny Thompson 00:10:05

That's it.

Kenny Thompson 00:10:05

During rifle season, he, he bought me my first bow after an elk hunt out in New Mexico.

Kenny Thompson 00:10:11

And it was my last rifle hunt ever, back in 2009, I believe.

Kenny Thompson 00:10:15

And both of our guides had just gotten new bows, and they were.

Kenny Thompson 00:10:19

We would get back in.

Kenny Thompson 00:10:20

Into camp in the afternoon because it was hot, and they would go out and shoot their bows.

Kenny Thompson 00:10:24

I had a bow growing up.

Kenny Thompson 00:10:25

Never killed anything with it.

Kenny Thompson 00:10:26

I, you know, just target.

Kenny Thompson 00:10:28

And I would go hunting thinking I was a good hunter.

Kenny Thompson 00:10:31

And I'm watching these guys shoot a water ball at 50 yards, and I couldn't fathom that with.

Kenny Thompson 00:10:36

With a bow.

Kenny Thompson 00:10:37

And so I picked it up and shot it a few times and told my dad, I said, this is.

Kenny Thompson 00:10:42

This is the direction I'm going to go into.

Kenny Thompson 00:10:44

And fast forward the following spring, he's asking me, you know, we went down and looked at bows.

Kenny Thompson 00:10:50

He wanted to go to the bow shop with me and shot all these different bows.

Kenny Thompson 00:10:53

And I was like, damn, they're.

Kenny Thompson 00:10:54

They're expensive.

Kenny Thompson 00:10:55

So I kept putting it off, and finally he's like, you can't just pick up a bow in November and go hunting.

Kenny Thompson 00:11:03

There's a lot more practices involved with a bow.

Kenny Thompson 00:11:05

And I soon realized that.

Kenny Thompson 00:11:07

But he.

Kenny Thompson 00:11:08

He found out which bow I liked and bought it.

Kenny Thompson 00:11:12

And we go up to the cabin, turkey hunting.

Kenny Thompson 00:11:14

One day, it was middle of the week, and we come in and had a cup of coffee, and I'm like, I gotta get.

Kenny Thompson 00:11:21

I gotta get back to work.

Kenny Thompson 00:11:23

He's like, well, there's something in here.

Kenny Thompson 00:11:24

I think it's yours.

Kenny Thompson 00:11:25

I'm like, it's not mine.

Kenny Thompson 00:11:26

It's gotta be my brother's or something.

Kenny Thompson 00:11:28

And he's like, no, I think it's yours.

Kenny Thompson 00:11:30

And he had bought me that bow, and I.

Kenny Thompson 00:11:33

I.

Kenny Thompson 00:11:33

We joke about it, but it was the most expensive present I've ever received.

John McDaniel 00:11:40

What was it?

John McDaniel 00:11:41

Do you remember that?

John McDaniel 00:11:41

Well, of course you remember.

John McDaniel 00:11:42

Yeah, yeah.

Kenny Thompson 00:11:42

It was a Matthews z seven extreme when they went to the.

John McDaniel 00:11:46

What year is that?

Kenny Thompson 00:11:47

2010.

Kenny Thompson 00:11:49

And.

Kenny Thompson 00:11:50

Yeah, yeah, crazy.

John McDaniel 00:11:52

I got an.

John McDaniel 00:11:52

I got an old MQ, too.

Kenny Thompson 00:11:54

Okay?

John McDaniel 00:11:54

Like second generation Matthews, but it.

John McDaniel 00:11:57

I don't shoot.

John McDaniel 00:11:58

I don't shoot it anymore.

Kenny Thompson 00:11:59

That.

Kenny Thompson 00:11:59

My wife especially likes to joke that buzz cost me about a million dollars, probably now with adding on to my room, game room, and all the trips to Africa and Alaska and Canada and Florida.

John McDaniel 00:12:14

I've seen the photos of you guys in Alaska.

John McDaniel 00:12:18

Weren't you guys like.

John McDaniel 00:12:20

I mean, weren't you brown bear hunting.

Kenny Thompson 00:12:21

With that thing, too grizzly hunting.

John McDaniel 00:12:24

Did you.

John McDaniel 00:12:24

Did you.

John McDaniel 00:12:25

I beg your pardon, but did you kill one?

Kenny Thompson 00:12:27

I did not.

Kenny Thompson 00:12:28

But I did nothing get killed either.

Kenny Thompson 00:12:30

Which is a better story.

Kenny Thompson 00:12:32

So we're, we're hunting grizzlies up 4 hours north northeast of Anchorage, up near the wrangle mountains.

Kenny Thompson 00:12:40

And it, it was, it was the craziest hunt I've ever been on.

Kenny Thompson 00:12:44

We were in to kill this big, big grizzly.

Kenny Thompson 00:12:47

And my guide, this was day four, my guide would tell me, show me pictures of bears they've had on cameras on different baits we went to.

Kenny Thompson 00:12:56

And he would not show me this bear.

Kenny Thompson 00:12:58

So I knew he must be a decent one.

Kenny Thompson 00:13:01

So he's like, you'll know him when you see him.

Kenny Thompson 00:13:03

And literally 4 hours after being in there sitting on the ground in a makeshift, you know, just ground blind with, with logs and limbs around us, sitting in two little chairs.

Kenny Thompson 00:13:14

And here, here she comes.

Kenny Thompson 00:13:16

And here he's following her.

Kenny Thompson 00:13:18

And she was massive.

Kenny Thompson 00:13:20

Walked up and rubbed her shoulder in against one of the logs we're sitting behind.

Kenny Thompson 00:13:24

So I was within 3ft of this bear.

Kenny Thompson 00:13:26

I, and then here he comes and does the same except for he comes in, follows the script.

Kenny Thompson 00:13:31

I've got my bow in my hand ready to go, trying to find a time to draw and slip an arrow in.

Kenny Thompson 00:13:37

This bear takes about eight steps and then smells us and turns around and comes right back to us.

Kenny Thompson 00:13:43

My guide, I see him out of the corner, my, sitting behind me trying to reach for his gun against the logs on our side.

Kenny Thompson 00:13:49

And finally when that bear got, I don't know, I could touch him with my arrow.

Kenny Thompson 00:13:54

And he was massive, just snarling and knew we did not, he did not want us there with his girlfriend.

Kenny Thompson 00:14:00

So finally my guide grabbed the gun and pulled it up and he wheeled off and he's like, stick her.

Kenny Thompson 00:14:07

And I'm like, I don't want her, I want him.

Kenny Thompson 00:14:09

And he's like, be ready if she's here.

Kenny Thompson 00:14:11

He's coming back.

Kenny Thompson 00:14:12

And 20 minutes later he finally gets her out of there.

Kenny Thompson 00:14:15

And we never got a shot.

Kenny Thompson 00:14:16

But it was the most insane thing I've ever done in my life.

Kenny Thompson 00:14:20

I set my, and I'm fine.

Kenny Thompson 00:14:22

I was calm, cool until it was over.

Kenny Thompson 00:14:25

And I set my bow in my lap.

Kenny Thompson 00:14:26

My arrow is just sitting there just going on the, on the rest, I'm like, okay.

Kenny Thompson 00:14:33

I set it down and then all of a sudden my legs start shaking.

Kenny Thompson 00:14:36

My, my core is just, I thought I was going to have a heart attack.

Kenny Thompson 00:14:39

I was like, that would be a cool story if you had to go.

Kenny Thompson 00:14:42

I got, he got eight.

Kenny Thompson 00:14:43

He got eaten by a grizzly bear.

Kenny Thompson 00:14:45

Not that he had a heart attack and craft his pants after the.

Kenny Thompson 00:14:49

So it was my guide, who's the outfitter, actually said he, in, you know, 17 years, never experienced anything like that.

Kenny Thompson 00:14:57

And so it was one of those ones that got away, but it was probably ten times cooler story.

Kenny Thompson 00:15:02

So.

John McDaniel 00:15:02

Oh, my.

John McDaniel 00:15:03

How big do you now that was it.

John McDaniel 00:15:05

The male you were after, the male?

Kenny Thompson 00:15:07

Yeah.

Kenny Thompson 00:15:07

Yeah.

John McDaniel 00:15:08

Okay.

John McDaniel 00:15:08

How big was, how big was the boar?

Kenny Thompson 00:15:10

He was big.

Kenny Thompson 00:15:11

He, my guide said he would have been top three that they've ever killed up there, so.

John McDaniel 00:15:17

But this is an interior grizzly, right?

Kenny Thompson 00:15:19

Correct.

John McDaniel 00:15:19

So, yeah.

John McDaniel 00:15:20

Okay.

John McDaniel 00:15:20

Up in the wrangle, Santa Lias, he.

Kenny Thompson 00:15:22

Said he would have gone nine foot.

John McDaniel 00:15:24

Oh, my God.

John McDaniel 00:15:25

Easily.

Kenny Thompson 00:15:25

So.

John McDaniel 00:15:26

And we killed a couple buddies, killed.

Kenny Thompson 00:15:28

You know, smaller ones, seven footers.

Kenny Thompson 00:15:30

But after seeing that, I, uh, I wanted to hold out for him, but we never got another shot.

Kenny Thompson 00:15:36

So.

John McDaniel 00:15:38

Wow, that's a great story, man.

John McDaniel 00:15:40

I'm glad, I'm glad, I'm glad it ended the way it did because you know that as, you know, that, that, that bear right there doesn't play that in a black bear.

Kenny Thompson 00:15:49

No, no, no.

Kenny Thompson 00:15:50

So.

Kenny Thompson 00:15:50

And we had an opportunity on another bear.

Kenny Thompson 00:15:52

It wasn't as big the, the last night right before dark.

Kenny Thompson 00:15:56

And so, I mean, it was 1130 at night or whatever, and I, uh, I screwed that one up.

Kenny Thompson 00:16:01

So here you come in.

Kenny Thompson 00:16:02

We were sitting at a tree stand this time, and I go to pull my bow up between my legs and my release hits the stand, and, and that was all she wrote.

John McDaniel 00:16:12

So, yeah.

John McDaniel 00:16:13

Yeah.

John McDaniel 00:16:14

That's one thing about bow hunting, that I'm a, you know, I'm an, I'm an avid bow hunter.

John McDaniel 00:16:18

Always happen.

John McDaniel 00:16:18

I mean, I love it.

John McDaniel 00:16:20

Um, but, uh, you know, the, the margins for error, you know, so slow or slim, rather, you know, that, you know, it's, it's unbelievable.

John McDaniel 00:16:33

And when you, when you think about pursuing difficult things, you know, the pursuit of the difficult archery, a big, big game hunting, you know, archery with archery equipment is in that, you know, is in that arena.

John McDaniel 00:16:51

And then certainly going for dangerous game animals like grizzly bear with it puts it at a whole new dimension.

Kenny Thompson 00:16:58

Yeah.

John McDaniel 00:16:59

And twist.

Kenny Thompson 00:17:00

But, yeah, it's a, you know, big risk, big reward.

Kenny Thompson 00:17:03

It's, I mean, just obviously a very sadistic personality that you have to be to be a bow hunter and sadistic slash optimistic, I'd say, because every day is probably, there's a 2% chance of success, but every day you're thinking today's the day it probably isn't, but, yeah.

John McDaniel 00:17:22

Well, I mean, I've hunted up at our property in north woods of Wisconsin for 18 years and never killed a buck.

Kenny Thompson 00:17:31

Oh, wow.

John McDaniel 00:17:31

What does that tell you?

Kenny Thompson 00:17:33

That's probably average statistics right there.

John McDaniel 00:17:35

Yeah.

John McDaniel 00:17:36

But to think that I'm going to go up there in the northwoods on a large parcel of property with all the preds, the wolves, the bear, etcetera, you know, and, and get one of those monsters, I've let several walk, you know, I'm not interested in shooting a basket six or a basket eight, you know, that's not why I'm there.

Kenny Thompson 00:17:54

Yeah.

John McDaniel 00:17:55

You know, and I do take deer, you know, for my family.

John McDaniel 00:17:58

I take one every other year, usually, and, you know, doze.

John McDaniel 00:18:02

But, you know, I've, you know, I've been doing this for a long time, so I'm not, I'm not interested in anything.

John McDaniel 00:18:09

But one thing, you know, I know exactly what I'm looking for.

John McDaniel 00:18:13

And, you know, I, that's like, on my bucket list, believe it or not, is to, with, with my bow is to knock down, you know, one of those big monsters that roam around out there.

John McDaniel 00:18:23

But they're smart, they're hard to get to.

John McDaniel 00:18:25

And, and if you think you're going to, you know, go up there in a weekend and do that, you know, well, you know, as my buddy likes to say, I hope you brought your lunch.

Kenny Thompson 00:18:37

You know, it's so true.

Kenny Thompson 00:18:40

I.

Kenny Thompson 00:18:41

Our last hunt, the dead, that dad's probably going to go on big hunt.

Kenny Thompson 00:18:45

We went down to west Texas.

Kenny Thompson 00:18:46

We were 9 miles off the mexican border, 3 hours southwest of El Paso, and we were hunting odd ad in the Chiante mountain range.

Kenny Thompson 00:18:58

And the outfitter kept telling me, you're not going to kill one of these with a bow.

Kenny Thompson 00:19:03

You don't understand.

Kenny Thompson 00:19:03

I was like, well, what are my odds?

Kenny Thompson 00:19:06

And he goes, less than 3%.

Kenny Thompson 00:19:08

I'm like, perfect.

Kenny Thompson 00:19:09

And he couldn't understand that I was, and he, you know, everybody rifle hunts him, and I'm like, I'll pay you the same amount.

Kenny Thompson 00:19:18

I want the opportunity.

Kenny Thompson 00:19:19

And so after day three, he bet on a five day hunt.

Kenny Thompson 00:19:23

He bet my guide that hunt, a free hunt if we got it done.

Kenny Thompson 00:19:27

And my guide was more excited.

Kenny Thompson 00:19:28

So I finally, I finally got one at 62 yards on the evening of day four.

Kenny Thompson 00:19:34

So, you know, coming down to crunch time, and, I mean, the jubilation and the celebration afterwards, my, my guide, this kid was more excited than me because he got a free hunt out of the deal with his bow.

John McDaniel 00:19:45

So cool.

Kenny Thompson 00:19:45

Yeah.

Kenny Thompson 00:19:46

First person to ever do it with a bow.

Kenny Thompson 00:19:47

But most people don't even.

Kenny Thompson 00:19:49

It's not that I'm some extraordinary bow hunter.

Kenny Thompson 00:19:51

It's.

Kenny Thompson 00:19:52

Most people don't have the patience or the gamble or their bet, so, yeah, it was fun.

John McDaniel 00:19:59

Yeah.

John McDaniel 00:19:59

That's a funny critter there.

John McDaniel 00:20:00

We hunted them many, many years ago with the foundation out of, uh, out of near Roswell.

Kenny Thompson 00:20:06

Oh, yeah.

John McDaniel 00:20:07

Yeah.

John McDaniel 00:20:08

And, uh, we.

John McDaniel 00:20:09

We all tagged out.

John McDaniel 00:20:11

That's a.

John McDaniel 00:20:11

It's a.

John McDaniel 00:20:12

That's an interesting critter.

John McDaniel 00:20:14

You know, I mean, they're so cool.

Kenny Thompson 00:20:17

Those chaps coming out of the Rocky Mountains and just.

John McDaniel 00:20:20

Yeah.

Kenny Thompson 00:20:20

Yeah, they're.

Kenny Thompson 00:20:21

Have you hunted the gemsbuck or oryx out there in New Mexico on the missile range?

Kenny Thompson 00:20:26

That's.

Kenny Thompson 00:20:27

That's on my bucket list.

Kenny Thompson 00:20:28

That would be fun.

Kenny Thompson 00:20:29

Yeah.

John McDaniel 00:20:29

Yeah, no doubt.

John McDaniel 00:20:30

Okay, so let's.

John McDaniel 00:20:33

We talk about that stuff all day, all day long.

John McDaniel 00:20:35

But let's talk about your involvement, you know, with the foundation.

John McDaniel 00:20:41

We said, you know, earlier, you know, you.

John McDaniel 00:20:43

You know, you support one of our most vibrant chapters there.

John McDaniel 00:20:48

Mocan, which, by the way, is done this year, will be the 15th year that you.

John McDaniel 00:20:53

That you guys have put this on.

John McDaniel 00:20:54

Brian Roderick and his team have put this thing on, you know, Terry Supple and all those great Americans, you know, that they're putting, like, for 15 years, they've put, you know, I think, ten combat wounded Purple Heart recipients out there in the ducks and bucks event that you guys have.

John McDaniel 00:21:14

And it's every year.

Kenny Thompson 00:21:16

Yeah, every year.

John McDaniel 00:21:17

I mean, every year.

John McDaniel 00:21:18

And now the, you know, the Department of Natural Resources involved, so there's a trap line component to it, you know, and then they started, about seven years ago, they started a catfishing event.

John McDaniel 00:21:32

So, you know, what an amazing opportunity for our heroes, and it's probably our number one requested event.

John McDaniel 00:21:42

Everybody, you know, I don't think there is anybody that doesn't want to go to Mocan.

John McDaniel 00:21:47

I mean, they kill more ducks than polio's killed people, you know, and just all the.

John McDaniel 00:21:53

I mean, everybody gets.

John McDaniel 00:21:54

I mean, you go out there and you guys killed trophy animals, you know, trophy whitetail deer.

John McDaniel 00:21:59

And that's just never happened at, you know, at our camp up there in northern Wisconsin.

John McDaniel 00:22:04

So I know how difficult it is, but you guys got guys up there that have been preparing their.

John McDaniel 00:22:11

This spot for a hero.

John McDaniel 00:22:12

They wouldn't even let their brother hunt it, you know, seriously.

John McDaniel 00:22:15

And they're like, no, that's all right.

John McDaniel 00:22:17

We're saving that for the heroes, you know, and.

John McDaniel 00:22:19

And then a, you know, combat wounded guy, they don't know, you know, they escort him to their tree stand, you know, and sit there with them.

John McDaniel 00:22:24

And, you know, sometime that day, you know, they're going to knock down a, you know, a world class, you know, Missouri or Kansas timber buck.

John McDaniel 00:22:33

And it's, it's really, it's really quite incredible.

John McDaniel 00:22:36

But, you know, so you've been, you've been supporting that with your own, your own land and your family, and that's phenomenal.

John McDaniel 00:22:42

But you work for a company called basis, right?

Kenny Thompson 00:22:45

Correct.

John McDaniel 00:22:46

And you guys just did a monster fundraiser and raised over $10,000 to support our heroes.

John McDaniel 00:22:55

And I wanted to publicly thank you for that.

John McDaniel 00:22:58

I know your leadership was 100% behind it, but please tell us about basis and then tell us a little bit about the fundraising activity that you did.

John McDaniel 00:23:12

I'd love to hear it.

Kenny Thompson 00:23:13

Well, it's something near and dear to my heart.

Kenny Thompson 00:23:17

I was the very first employee at basis 21 and a half years ago.

Kenny Thompson 00:23:20

And our CEO and founder, Brad Odo, has become one of my best friends, his family.

Kenny Thompson 00:23:26

You've met his dad actually, at an event.

Kenny Thompson 00:23:29

And that's probably one of the biggest things that I.

Kenny Thompson 00:23:32

So we offer.

Kenny Thompson 00:23:34

We started in a closet at one of our sister companies almost 22 years ago.

Kenny Thompson 00:23:40

So we do payment processing.

Kenny Thompson 00:23:42

So very glamorous.

Kenny Thompson 00:23:44

Credit card, debit card processing.

Kenny Thompson 00:23:46

We work with banks across the country, we work with software partners across the country, and we process for their customers.

Kenny Thompson 00:23:52

We have many direct accounts and enterprise level accounts, but we never set out to be the biggest.

Kenny Thompson 00:23:58

But we're, I don't know, top, top 30 processor in the country as far as volume now.

Kenny Thompson 00:24:05

But we really excel in that card not present space.

Kenny Thompson 00:24:08

So like think e commerce anytime that there's a transaction without the card being present, especially in the b two b circumstances, that's kind of our bread and butter.

Kenny Thompson 00:24:19

So we're top 15 in that space.

Kenny Thompson 00:24:22

We're the largest family owned processor.

Kenny Thompson 00:24:25

We've not sold out.

Kenny Thompson 00:24:26

We've never taken an ounce of private equity or joint venture money, which is probably couldn't do it today.

Kenny Thompson 00:24:34

Nobody could do what we did 20 some years ago.

Kenny Thompson 00:24:37

Today, like I said, we've morphed into a technology company so we can integrate our payments into virtually any platform out there, software, what have you, and we've got really tech heavy.

Kenny Thompson 00:24:48

So we had a tech team of probably two people, two and a half, three years ago.

Kenny Thompson 00:24:53

We have 47 on the product technology team, and they're doing some crazy things.

Kenny Thompson 00:24:58

So we've hired a lot of really, really smart people and it's been a fun ride.

Kenny Thompson 00:25:02

And in a way, it feels like we're just getting started.

Kenny Thompson 00:25:05

So we can make, you know, we can take care of people better than the big boys and give them the same or better pricing.

Kenny Thompson 00:25:13

So it's a fun, fun spot to be in.

Kenny Thompson 00:25:16

It's fun spot to be in now that we're actually profitable and debt free so we can make decisions.

Kenny Thompson 00:25:23

We're very, very big in the philanthropic circles.

Kenny Thompson 00:25:29

We love to give back.

Kenny Thompson 00:25:31

We've been so blessed and fortunate, what we've done the last 20 some years.

Kenny Thompson 00:25:35

So we give all of our employees, we have almost 200 employees now.

Kenny Thompson 00:25:38

Everybody gets dollar 500 to donate to a charity of their choice.

Kenny Thompson 00:25:42

We've got approved charities like I think twelve different charities today.

John McDaniel 00:25:46

Awesome.

Kenny Thompson 00:25:47

And I fought pretty hard to get, to get WWIA in there.

Kenny Thompson 00:25:51

So that's where the money came from last year and I'm hoping we can increase that again this year and just get the word out because it is something, it goes back to, you mentioned Roderick, but you know, from Brian and Lance and Brad and Doug and Terry, Kyle Evans is who personally his wife, God bless him, they do a lot.

Kenny Thompson 00:26:15

And I don't know how Kyle gets it.

Kenny Thompson 00:26:18

Makes it happen on that whiteboard that they have up in Napier, keeps everybody lined up.

John McDaniel 00:26:23

It's what we call a sync matrix.

John McDaniel 00:26:26

Yes, synchronization matrix.

John McDaniel 00:26:28

You know, and it's complicated and why.

Kenny Thompson 00:26:30

You know, I'd call it smoke and mirrors, but it's, it's so what they've done.

Kenny Thompson 00:26:35

And yeah, I, I was probably in my dad, it was, my dad was the hardest one to, to convinced that we got to become a part of this.

Kenny Thompson 00:26:45

And he's like, I know how much time and effort you spent up there and, you know, you've got these guys, you really want to bring in a couple hundreds to possibly, and I'm like, after I went to my first banquet twelve years ago, I like, yes, I want to be part of this.

Kenny Thompson 00:26:58

And now I couldn't get dad to say no.

Kenny Thompson 00:27:02

So it's, we've both enjoyed, obviously, dad, my dad is the one that gets to spend the time with our new heroes every single year.

Kenny Thompson 00:27:10

And I have, he likes that I have to babysit our buddy Jake whipkey Jake after the very first time.

Kenny Thompson 00:27:18

So Jake was my very first hunter ever.

Kenny Thompson 00:27:21

And he said, I know all about what you guys do up here, and with all due respect, Mister Thompson, I'm not going to come up here and just shoot an average buck.

Kenny Thompson 00:27:31

He said, if you'll give me permission to just take one of the hit list guys if I see him.

Kenny Thompson 00:27:36

And so I showed him the three or $4 we had on our hit list.

Kenny Thompson 00:27:39

The only one that I'd none of us had ever seen on the hoof, uh, was a deer called Narles Barkley.

Kenny Thompson 00:27:45

He was an old, probably six and a half year old deer that was just on his way down, but he mass and wide and just a stud deer.

Kenny Thompson 00:27:55

And that's the deer.

Kenny Thompson 00:27:57

Jake got that first.

Kenny Thompson 00:27:58

That first trip up, so it couldn't have happened.

Kenny Thompson 00:28:02

It couldn't have wrote a better script, so.

John McDaniel 00:28:04

Wow.

Kenny Thompson 00:28:05

Then I was hooked.

Kenny Thompson 00:28:07

Yeah.

John McDaniel 00:28:09

That's phenomenal.

John McDaniel 00:28:11

I appreciate you sharing all that with us, and thanks again for what basis is doing for the foundation and other charities.

John McDaniel 00:28:21

It's really great when you work in an organization that has a culture that people enjoy and thrive in.

John McDaniel 00:28:32

I was on your website, and I saw your CEO and.

John McDaniel 00:28:38

And under the about tab, and, you know, there was a video of the employees, you know, talking about what life is like at basis, you know, and they all have smiles.

John McDaniel 00:28:52

They're all relaxed.

John McDaniel 00:28:53

I mean, you can tell.

John McDaniel 00:28:54

I mean, you can't make that stuff up.

Kenny Thompson 00:28:56

No.

John McDaniel 00:28:57

You either have that going on or you don't have that going on.

John McDaniel 00:29:01

That's corporate culture.

Kenny Thompson 00:29:03

It's.

John McDaniel 00:29:04

That's a leadership thing.

Kenny Thompson 00:29:05

Thank you.

Kenny Thompson 00:29:06

And it's.

Kenny Thompson 00:29:07

It's harder and harder.

Kenny Thompson 00:29:08

It was really easy when we had ten people and 27 and then 50 and with 200, it's.

Kenny Thompson 00:29:14

It's difficult.

Kenny Thompson 00:29:15

So that's kind of my adjunct title is chief.

Kenny Thompson 00:29:17

Chief culture officer.

John McDaniel 00:29:20

I couldn't agree with you more, man.

John McDaniel 00:29:22

That's what I say all the time is like, well, senior leaders don't, you know, need to be spending time and have their finger on the pulse, and there's ways of doing it.

John McDaniel 00:29:30

Okay.

John McDaniel 00:29:31

You know, of understanding, you know, where we are, where.

John McDaniel 00:29:34

Where is this?

John McDaniel 00:29:35

Is this culture what I want?

John McDaniel 00:29:37

Okay.

John McDaniel 00:29:38

And.

John McDaniel 00:29:38

And when you.

John McDaniel 00:29:39

When it needs to be adjusted, how do you adjust it there?

John McDaniel 00:29:42

I mean, that right there is a.

John McDaniel 00:29:43

Is a leader task, and so you hit it right on the head, if you ask me.

Kenny Thompson 00:29:47

It's.

Kenny Thompson 00:29:47

It's our.

Kenny Thompson 00:29:49

It's our, you know, our competitive advantage.

Kenny Thompson 00:29:53

So we're dealing with, you know, the top, the big five out in our industry that are all publicly traded.

Kenny Thompson 00:29:59

Not that theres anything wrong with that, but they have to make decisions based on next quarterly profits reports.

Kenny Thompson 00:30:06

We can make decisions to take care of our partners and to make our partners look good to their customers, which is what weve been doing for 20 years.

Kenny Thompson 00:30:14

And now we just do it at a little grander scale, and it still pays big dividends.

Kenny Thompson 00:30:19

The golden rules still in play today, and most companies dont realize that, I dont think.

Kenny Thompson 00:30:25

Yeah, it's been fun.

John McDaniel 00:30:27

Well, good.

John McDaniel 00:30:27

Yeah, good on you.

John McDaniel 00:30:29

So what?

John McDaniel 00:30:32

I mean, I'm just curious.

John McDaniel 00:30:34

I mean, I don't want to have you say something you're not prepared to say, but I mean, how much longer are you going to be at this before you're free to take your sneakers and throw them up on the wire?

Kenny Thompson 00:30:46

That's a great question.

Kenny Thompson 00:30:47

That's the million dollar question.

Kenny Thompson 00:30:50

My partner, our CEO, is basically never.

Kenny Thompson 00:30:54

We've set up some things and we've got a pretty lofty goal ahead of us.

Kenny Thompson 00:31:00

We're looking at double the company within the next two to four years, which is insanity the size that we've gotten.

Kenny Thompson 00:31:07

But we think it's very doable and it's kind of a fun, new little challenge.

Kenny Thompson 00:31:13

Unlike back in the year six, seven, eight, where we still hadn't turned a profit or we weren't profitable because we were putting all of our money back into growing the company and taking care of our customers and our partners.

Kenny Thompson 00:31:26

So it's kind of a new challenge, if you will.

Kenny Thompson 00:31:31

It's that bow hunter mentality again.

Kenny Thompson 00:31:33

It's like, let's see if we can do this.

Kenny Thompson 00:31:35

And I probably will never go away in entirety, but as you know, I live in Florida now and spend a lot of time down there and I can.

Kenny Thompson 00:31:46

Covid taught us that we can work from anywhere.

Kenny Thompson 00:31:49

So, like, we're having this conversation today.

Kenny Thompson 00:31:52

It's no different.

John McDaniel 00:31:53

Yeah, well, I know when we were in the pre show, as we were chatting, you know, you told me you're in the panhandle.

John McDaniel 00:32:00

I was like, what?

John McDaniel 00:32:01

You know, I knew, I knew you had, at least I thought you had some property there, but I didn't know that you were, you know, hot bunking.

Kenny Thompson 00:32:07

Yes.

John McDaniel 00:32:08

And that's so cool because I was telling you earlier, you know, my boys and I just love the panhandle and we were up there frog gigging and apalachicola.

John McDaniel 00:32:19

Have you been to Apalachicola?

Kenny Thompson 00:32:21

Not yet, but it's on my wife's list.

Kenny Thompson 00:32:22

She wants to take a the day trip over there.

Kenny Thompson 00:32:24

Go.

John McDaniel 00:32:25

Yeah, you're going to love it.

Kenny Thompson 00:32:26

Yeah, it's like an hour and a half from us, probably.

John McDaniel 00:32:28

Piece of cake, man.

Kenny Thompson 00:32:29

Yeah.

John McDaniel 00:32:30

And, and it's really, really wonderful up in there and lots of opportunities for, for sportsmen.

John McDaniel 00:32:37

Um, but, yeah, you know, that I always wondered, you know, they call it, you know, the forgotten coast.

Kenny Thompson 00:32:45

Yeah.

John McDaniel 00:32:45

Like, and I was like, or the hidden coast or something.

John McDaniel 00:32:48

Like that, you know, and, and, and every time I've been up there, I'm like, I can't believe how underdeveloped it is.

John McDaniel 00:32:57

I shouldn't say that out loud.

Kenny Thompson 00:32:59

No, let's keep this a secret.

Kenny Thompson 00:33:00

Let's edit that right now.

John McDaniel 00:33:01

We don't.

John McDaniel 00:33:02

Yeah.

John McDaniel 00:33:02

All right.

John McDaniel 00:33:04

No, it's true though.

John McDaniel 00:33:05

It is, right?

John McDaniel 00:33:05

I mean, I was blown away by how much property there is available.

John McDaniel 00:33:11

I mean, just, I'm sure a lot of it's state, you know, maybe it might be state or county or federal land, but it just feels to me like Florida should feel.

John McDaniel 00:33:23

I don't know how that sounds, but it's really, really nice.

John McDaniel 00:33:28

I love it up there.

Kenny Thompson 00:33:29

That's probably the greatest thing.

Kenny Thompson 00:33:30

About 30 days.

Kenny Thompson 00:33:31

There's a 24 miles stretch on the coast.

Kenny Thompson 00:33:37

It's still underdeveloped for Florida standards.

Kenny Thompson 00:33:39

No high rises.

Kenny Thompson 00:33:40

You can't be more than 54ft high or something.

Kenny Thompson 00:33:43

There's no chain restaurants.

Kenny Thompson 00:33:45

Eight little communities that all have a different vibe.

Kenny Thompson 00:33:47

So we're in great and beach.

Kenny Thompson 00:33:49

Our house sits in a little subdivision that is completely surrounded by, by a state park or state forest.

Kenny Thompson 00:33:57

So it'll never be developed around us.

Kenny Thompson 00:33:59

On the other side where we walk across the street, you know, 38 to walk to a beach.

Kenny Thompson 00:34:03

It's state park.

Kenny Thompson 00:34:05

And it is like old school Florida.

John McDaniel 00:34:09

Yeah, I love it.

John McDaniel 00:34:10

We, we took our trailer up there, the boys and I did, and, um, you know, I was just, it was an advanced reconnaissance mission, you know, which I do a lot of, you know.

Kenny Thompson 00:34:20

Yes.

John McDaniel 00:34:20

You know, just, you know, because I'm like, hey, not just for me and my boys, but for the foundation, you know, I might find like, hey, I had not, honestly, I had not, I'd frog gigged as a kid, you know, I'm, and we, my boys and I bow hunt, bow fish all the time, like every day.

John McDaniel 00:34:40

I mean, we live on the water.

John McDaniel 00:34:41

So there's all.

Kenny Thompson 00:34:42

I'm gonna have to come down there and join you on that.

Kenny Thompson 00:34:45

Oh, yeah, I've only done it once.

John McDaniel 00:34:46

Oh my God, it's so much fun, man.

John McDaniel 00:34:48

I mean, we just have a hoot and, and there's one, there's a couple of species, well, one in particular that's unregulated, meaning you can shoot as many of them as you want.

John McDaniel 00:34:59

And the same thing was like bullfrogs, you know.

John McDaniel 00:35:02

What's the bag on this?

John McDaniel 00:35:03

The guy goes, bag?

John McDaniel 00:35:05

Yeah, there's the bag.

Kenny Thompson 00:35:06

As many as you can carry.

John McDaniel 00:35:07

He just looks at me and shakes his head like, don't, don't ask stupid questions, dude.

John McDaniel 00:35:11

I'm like, okay, Roger, though, well, I.

Kenny Thompson 00:35:13

Don'T know if you're.

John McDaniel 00:35:13

We're in Florida.

Kenny Thompson 00:35:14

I don't know if you remember this, but you hooked.

Kenny Thompson 00:35:16

I think you hooked me up on my gator hunt down in.

Kenny Thompson 00:35:20

Outside of Fort Myers.

Kenny Thompson 00:35:21

I think you gave me a couple places and to look into, and.

Kenny Thompson 00:35:24

Oh, my God, we had a hoot on that deal.

John McDaniel 00:35:26

Yeah, I know.

John McDaniel 00:35:27

It's so great, right?

John McDaniel 00:35:29

So, anyway, one of the species here, that you can shoot as many as you want.

John McDaniel 00:35:32

We don't, because, you know, a couple of them go a long ways, but I, um.

John McDaniel 00:35:36

The the cownose ray.

Kenny Thompson 00:35:38

Really?

John McDaniel 00:35:38

Yeah.

John McDaniel 00:35:39

And they taste like scallops, and.

John McDaniel 00:35:42

And the.

John McDaniel 00:35:43

And the heads that.

John McDaniel 00:35:45

That you take that, you know, use all.

John McDaniel 00:35:47

We use all of it, you know, minus the entrails.

John McDaniel 00:35:49

You know, you don't do anything with that.

John McDaniel 00:35:50

But, um, the head is the best bait for big shark that there is.

Kenny Thompson 00:35:56

Really?

John McDaniel 00:35:57

Oh, yeah.

John McDaniel 00:35:58

You.

Kenny Thompson 00:35:59

Can we.

John McDaniel 00:36:00

I'll tell it.

John McDaniel 00:36:00

I'll tell you this story real quick.

John McDaniel 00:36:01

I wasn't planning on telling it, but I'll tell it now.

John McDaniel 00:36:04

So we had one of these cow, you know, of the head of a cownose ray in the freezer from last year and one of the ones we didn't use.

Kenny Thompson 00:36:14

And, like, how big are we talking for this head?

John McDaniel 00:36:17

Uh, they're.

John McDaniel 00:36:18

Okay.

John McDaniel 00:36:19

So the size of a small cake.

Kenny Thompson 00:36:22

Oh, wow.

John McDaniel 00:36:23

They're pretty good size.

Kenny Thompson 00:36:24

Yeah.

John McDaniel 00:36:25

Yeah.

John McDaniel 00:36:25

These things are dense animals, man.

Kenny Thompson 00:36:27

Huh.

John McDaniel 00:36:28

And they.

John McDaniel 00:36:28

When they come through, they come through in hoards, like, just like a flock.

Kenny Thompson 00:36:33

Okay.

John McDaniel 00:36:34

Yeah.

Kenny Thompson 00:36:34

And are you catching them?

Kenny Thompson 00:36:35

Sticking them.

John McDaniel 00:36:37

Sticking them.

Kenny Thompson 00:36:37

Nice.

John McDaniel 00:36:38

Yeah, that's the whole point.

John McDaniel 00:36:39

Okay.

John McDaniel 00:36:40

Yeah, run it.

John McDaniel 00:36:41

Run an arrow through them, and then let the fun begin, because we're doing it on.

John McDaniel 00:36:45

We do it on the flats.

John McDaniel 00:36:46

They can't go down.

Kenny Thompson 00:36:47

Oh, wow.

John McDaniel 00:36:48

Yeah.

John McDaniel 00:36:48

So they go everywhere.

John McDaniel 00:36:49

It's fun.

John McDaniel 00:36:50

Oh, yeah, it's fun.

John McDaniel 00:36:51

It's fun.

John McDaniel 00:36:51

The boys are just crazy over it.

Kenny Thompson 00:36:53

You know, that's awesome.

John McDaniel 00:36:55

But.

John McDaniel 00:36:55

Because now you got hand line them in, you know?

John McDaniel 00:36:57

But anyway, so we get this.

John McDaniel 00:37:00

We get this cownose rain this head, and we go out.

John McDaniel 00:37:04

The boys go, dad, we want to go.

John McDaniel 00:37:07

We want to go sharking, you know, and I go, okay, let's do it.

John McDaniel 00:37:09

So we load up the boat, go out there, got this, you know, got all the chum and everything.

John McDaniel 00:37:13

We go out by this big marker out there in the bay, Tampa Bay.

John McDaniel 00:37:18

And we anchor up, and I start chumming, and.

John McDaniel 00:37:23

And then all of a sudden, Dylan, who's at the front of the boat.

John McDaniel 00:37:26

We were probably into it maybe an hour.

John McDaniel 00:37:28

And Dylan, who's up at the front of the boat, turns around and looks at me with his look on his face, like he can't talk, like he wants to say something, but he can't.

John McDaniel 00:37:37

And then he goes, shark.

Narrator 00:37:39

Dead.

John McDaniel 00:37:40

Huge shark.

John McDaniel 00:37:41

It's as big as the boat.

John McDaniel 00:37:42

And I didn't see it.

John McDaniel 00:37:44

And I got as an 18 foot flat skiff, but we're anchored up, and that kid knows what's what.

John McDaniel 00:37:52

He's ten years old, but he knows what's what.

John McDaniel 00:37:55

And just the look on his face.

John McDaniel 00:37:56

I didn't see the fish.

John McDaniel 00:37:58

Well, anyway, about literally, like maybe 15 seconds later, one of the rods goes off.

Kenny Thompson 00:38:05

But.

John McDaniel 00:38:06

And it's just.

John McDaniel 00:38:07

It's sizzling, man.

John McDaniel 00:38:09

And I grabbed the rod, and I figure it's gotta be this.

John McDaniel 00:38:13

It's gotta be this shark, right?

John McDaniel 00:38:14

And so I grabbed the rod, which is not typical in the bay.

John McDaniel 00:38:18

Now, you get closer out there to the gulf, where, you know, where the bay meets the gulf, it's good chance of getting into a real big shark if you want to do it like hammerheads, when.

John McDaniel 00:38:28

When, you know, when the tarpon around that brings a lot of big hammerheads in.

John McDaniel 00:38:34

But.

John McDaniel 00:38:35

So this.

John McDaniel 00:38:37

This turns out to be a bull shark, right?

John McDaniel 00:38:40

And a big bull shark.

John McDaniel 00:38:41

And he grabs this thing, and I hooked him up, and I could feel the weight of it.

John McDaniel 00:38:46

And I'm like, that is a big fish.

John McDaniel 00:38:48

And.

John McDaniel 00:38:49

And I'm holding.

John McDaniel 00:38:50

I'm getting ready to pass the rod over to the boys because that's what I do.

John McDaniel 00:38:53

I make sure he's hooked up.

John McDaniel 00:38:54

And then they fight this fish.

John McDaniel 00:38:56

Well, there was no stopping him, no turning him, no nothing.

John McDaniel 00:39:00

He.

John McDaniel 00:39:00

He was.

John McDaniel 00:39:01

Went straight for the.

John McDaniel 00:39:02

The structure, you know, with this bit.

John McDaniel 00:39:05

There's a big tripod structure out there that's got a communications tower, and.

John McDaniel 00:39:09

And that's where we were near.

John McDaniel 00:39:11

We were about a hundred yards away from the thing set up, and it went right for that thing and ping.

John McDaniel 00:39:16

You know, it was over just like that before it even started.

Kenny Thompson 00:39:18

Oh, my God.

John McDaniel 00:39:19

But, yeah, so, yeah, we have some fun out there.

John McDaniel 00:39:22

We love it.

Kenny Thompson 00:39:23

That is awesome.

Kenny Thompson 00:39:24

I've never done anything like that.

John McDaniel 00:39:25

Yeah.

John McDaniel 00:39:26

We'll have to get you out there.

Kenny Thompson 00:39:27

Yes.

John McDaniel 00:39:28

Well, listen, I'm going to give you a last whack at the pinata here, buddy.

John McDaniel 00:39:36

If you have any saved rounds or anything that you'd like to share with us.

John McDaniel 00:39:42

Would love to hear from you.

Kenny Thompson 00:39:43

Oh, dude.

Kenny Thompson 00:39:46

I started making a list, but, I mean, obviously we hunted with you.

Kenny Thompson 00:39:51

Jake was my maiden voyage with hunting through Mocane.

Kenny Thompson 00:39:56

Jake Whitkeep.

Kenny Thompson 00:39:58

And I mean, from Danny White to Mike riles, Nate shoemaker, Brett Bondarin.

Kenny Thompson 00:40:04

Gabe hunted with us last year.

Kenny Thompson 00:40:07

Oh, yeah.

John McDaniel 00:40:07

Fierosteven.

John McDaniel 00:40:11

You're cherry picking, and you're taking all the good dudes as you should.

Kenny Thompson 00:40:15

I.

John McDaniel 00:40:15

You know, I mean, that.

John McDaniel 00:40:16

You know what?

John McDaniel 00:40:16

Because they.

John McDaniel 00:40:17

Anyway, I haven't had a bad one.

Kenny Thompson 00:40:19

So I don't know.

John McDaniel 00:40:20

They're all.

John McDaniel 00:40:21

Those are all.

John McDaniel 00:40:21

Those are all top notch dudes.

Kenny Thompson 00:40:23

Good dudes.

Kenny Thompson 00:40:23

And I still talk to them somewhat regularly, which is the cool thing.

John McDaniel 00:40:27

Well, that's the good stuff, right?

John McDaniel 00:40:29

I mean, that's.

John McDaniel 00:40:30

That's.

John McDaniel 00:40:30

That's the good stuff.

Kenny Thompson 00:40:31

You know, in our little Mocan video, it's like these guys come as complete strangers, and how they leave his family three or four days later, you can't fake that.

Kenny Thompson 00:40:40

And it's just good dudes meeting good dudes, and they all have a common, common bond and theme, and they're all good Americans.

Kenny Thompson 00:40:49

And the your honor, heal and connect motto is couldn't be better.

Kenny Thompson 00:40:57

I mean, with the 20, the 22 a day that veterans that we lose, it's kudos to you, my friend, for doing what you've done and starting a movement like you have, brother.

John McDaniel 00:41:11

Thank you, man.

John McDaniel 00:41:13

It's just every day.

John McDaniel 00:41:17

Of course.

John McDaniel 00:41:17

I'm just coming.

John McDaniel 00:41:20

You know, we were scheduled to do this last week, but I had the.

John McDaniel 00:41:23

I had the COVID number four for me.

John McDaniel 00:41:25

Thank you.

John McDaniel 00:41:27

Yeah, so.

John McDaniel 00:41:29

But good thing I got that vaccination, you know what I mean?

Kenny Thompson 00:41:32

Thank God we still have you with us.

John McDaniel 00:41:35

I know, man.

John McDaniel 00:41:37

You know, I'm like a cockroach.

John McDaniel 00:41:38

I'm just hard to kill.

John McDaniel 00:41:39

I just keep coming at you like, oh, there he is again.

John McDaniel 00:41:43

But I, you know, is gone for a few days out of the office, and I come back, and there's a pile of things for me to sign, and that's not atypical, but these are all thank yous, recognition rewards, and things like this for people that have supported the cause.

John McDaniel 00:42:07

And we have a full time person now, Caitlin, that does all of our thank yous and recognition awards and things like this.

John McDaniel 00:42:14

She's busy, very busy.

John McDaniel 00:42:17

And so here I am, day one, back in the office.

John McDaniel 00:42:21

Course, yesterday was a holiday, and I'm signing these things.

John McDaniel 00:42:25

I read them all, sign them, take the time to do a little note.

John McDaniel 00:42:30

And I just paused there for a minute, and I was like, this job, I've been doing that for 18 years of personally signing every single, everyone.

Kenny Thompson 00:42:40

Yeah.

John McDaniel 00:42:40

I mean, if you gave us money or support and you just, and you're get, you're getting, you know, you know, I'm signing something for you, you know, and, and I say, you know, when this, when this starts to get old for me, I'm going to stop doing this job.

John McDaniel 00:42:55

I'll look at you.

Kenny Thompson 00:42:56

I've got a few sitting here on my desk.

John McDaniel 00:42:58

Yeah, exactly.

Kenny Thompson 00:42:59

Along with one of our.

Kenny Thompson 00:43:00

Can't see it with me sitting here, but.

Kenny Thompson 00:43:02

Oh, yeah, one of our little auction items from, from the can event.

Kenny Thompson 00:43:07

My american flag.

Kenny Thompson 00:43:08

Yeah.

John McDaniel 00:43:09

Well, anyway, I'll tell you, I'm just humbled by it.

John McDaniel 00:43:12

Okay?

John McDaniel 00:43:13

And that's by the point, you know, wasn't me signing paperwork.

John McDaniel 00:43:16

But the point is, is that I, you know, overcome, you know, as I was reflecting on, you know, the beginning of this thing and the genesis and, you know, and I'll say this, you know, you know, Brian Roderick and, you know, of course, you know, he's got a great supporting cast.

John McDaniel 00:43:36

You know, Doug was there, you know, the lance, you know, eventually Bradley, you know.

John McDaniel 00:43:44

And so here we are.

John McDaniel 00:43:46

It was those three, the three horsemen of the apocalypse, me and Jake and some heroes in a hotel.

John McDaniel 00:43:51

First time at Mocan 15 years ago.

John McDaniel 00:43:54

And Brian, you know, I think we hunted that day, or maybe it was the last day, I can't remember, but it was during the event.

John McDaniel 00:44:05

The heroes got checked in their room, and Brian's like, come out.

John McDaniel 00:44:10

Come on over here.

John McDaniel 00:44:10

I got something for you.

John McDaniel 00:44:12

I'm like, okay.

John McDaniel 00:44:13

So Jake and I saunter over to his truck.

John McDaniel 00:44:17

It opens up the back of the truck, and he pulls out this bank bag, and he hands it to me, and I'm like, I didn't, I didn't say anything.

John McDaniel 00:44:27

I mean, I looked at Jake, I looked at the bag, I looked at Brian, I opened it up, I zip, and I look in it, and it's stuck.

John McDaniel 00:44:34

Stuff full of cash, full of money and checks, and I zipped it back up, and I handed it back to him, and I said, I don't know what this is, but he's like, that's for you.

John McDaniel 00:44:48

I go, what do you mean, that's for me?

John McDaniel 00:44:50

Goes, we raised that for you.

John McDaniel 00:44:52

And I was like, I'm probably started, I mean, I probably started blowing snot bubbles, man.

Kenny Thompson 00:44:58

Yeah.

John McDaniel 00:44:59

It never happened.

John McDaniel 00:45:00

That was the very first time.

Kenny Thompson 00:45:02

No kidding.

John McDaniel 00:45:02

15.

John McDaniel 00:45:03

Swear to God, 15 years ago.

John McDaniel 00:45:06

The very first time anybody handed me money from an event.

Kenny Thompson 00:45:10

Oh, wow.

Kenny Thompson 00:45:11

That's awesome.

John McDaniel 00:45:12

And, and, and, yeah, awesome.

John McDaniel 00:45:14

So, I mean, I.

John McDaniel 00:45:16

Mocan has been, obviously been leading the way in many, many ways.

John McDaniel 00:45:21

But when you start adding up, here's the equation.

John McDaniel 00:45:25

Like the secret sauce, it starts with some super high quality people whose names we've already mentioned that have an idea and say, you know what?

John McDaniel 00:45:35

We're going to do this.

John McDaniel 00:45:37

It starts with that idea and high quality people.

John McDaniel 00:45:40

And then on top of that, you have to superimpose an opportunity where we can go pursue wild game and do that in an effective and efficient manner in a place that doesn't have to necessarily be teaming with game, but whether it provides good opportunities for our hunting and fishing exploits.

John McDaniel 00:46:04

There's that piece.

John McDaniel 00:46:06

The other piece is critical to it is this idea of community engagement.

John McDaniel 00:46:12

You know, it takes a team, right?

John McDaniel 00:46:16

And now you got these leaders who are building this team, all for a cause to help our nation's combat wounded, you know, and there you go.

John McDaniel 00:46:25

Not now.

John McDaniel 00:46:25

You've got the components, all the components for, you know, to be successful in that space.

John McDaniel 00:46:32

And you guys certainly are.

John McDaniel 00:46:33

You've been knocking out of the park, and I just.

John McDaniel 00:46:36

I know I couldn't be more proud of you and, and that entire team.

John McDaniel 00:46:40

It's really amazing.

Kenny Thompson 00:46:41

Well, thank you, sir.

Kenny Thompson 00:46:42

And obviously, the feeling is mutual, so it's crazy to you just kind of reflected on it for a second.

Kenny Thompson 00:46:49

But the ripple effect that you started.

Kenny Thompson 00:46:51

What did you say?

Kenny Thompson 00:46:52

18 years ago?

Kenny Thompson 00:46:53

Yeah, I mean, you have to sit back and kind of pinch yourself at times to see, oh, my God, the people that you've positively affected.

Kenny Thompson 00:47:04

I mean, one of our hunters that I still talked to all the time basically told me that I had.

Kenny Thompson 00:47:10

I felt like I had zero purpose in his life.

Kenny Thompson 00:47:13

And that weekend opened my eyes that there's actually people that I had no idea actually cared.

Kenny Thompson 00:47:20

And it.

Kenny Thompson 00:47:21

That's pretty powerful.

Kenny Thompson 00:47:23

And it's.

Kenny Thompson 00:47:24

To let somebody come shoot 160 inch buck off my place seems like a pretty small thing to do.

John McDaniel 00:47:30

So, buddy, I gotta tell you, you just, you just touched on it right there that, you know, and, and I got goosebumps when you said it, you know, and, you know, these guys and gals that go off and, you know, and wearing our country's uniform and into combat someplace and, you know, defending freedom and executing the orders that are issued to them in, you know, to accomplish those, you know, our national objectives, whatever they might be, you know, you know, and then they get wounded and they have to, a lot of times, take off their uniform because their service, they can no longer serve their country.

John McDaniel 00:48:09

So the one thing that they really wanted to do, they no longer can do, and they have to leave it, and that leaves a huge void in their life.

John McDaniel 00:48:19

Now they're back in the block, and sometimes they unfortunately turn to drugs or alcohol or then they have financial issues, either not being told, you know, what to do, when to do, and how to do it, and that their team is gone, and then they start drifting and then bad things start happening.

John McDaniel 00:48:36

Right.

John McDaniel 00:48:37

But to have people like you and your community open their homes, their hearts, and give of their resources to people that you don't know and have never met before, and who've done this for their country and come back and now you're doing this for them, you know, you know, it must be a feeling like no feeling they've ever had.

Kenny Thompson 00:49:04

Whatever they get from it, I don't think touches what we get from it.

Kenny Thompson 00:49:07

Just the conversation I've had with my guys up here that are involved.

Kenny Thompson 00:49:11

And just the hug I get from Jake every single year when he pulls in down the lane to the cabin is, I mean, I couldn't, I couldn't put a price up.

Kenny Thompson 00:49:22

I wish I could bottle that up.

Kenny Thompson 00:49:24

That's no lie.

Kenny Thompson 00:49:26

It's.

Kenny Thompson 00:49:27

And you touched on it there.

Kenny Thompson 00:49:28

And that was something I didn't understand for.

Kenny Thompson 00:49:30

For a number of years that I guess I didn't understand the magnitude of what these guys and gals are going through.

Kenny Thompson 00:49:37

They're part of a team, and that team is taken away.

Kenny Thompson 00:49:39

And everybody that I've met is like, with the exception of one.

Kenny Thompson 00:49:44

And he had a very valid reason why.

Kenny Thompson 00:49:45

He was like, I'm done.

Kenny Thompson 00:49:46

I'm good.

Kenny Thompson 00:49:47

They all wanted.

Kenny Thompson 00:49:48

They could all, if they could all go back, they would go back immediately.

Kenny Thompson 00:49:51

And some of, some of the things these guys have done to get, you know, to get wounded in combat, I mean, shit, it makes my bear story look, look tame.

Kenny Thompson 00:50:00

And they, 95% of them all are like, I wish I could get back there, you know, tomorrow.

Kenny Thompson 00:50:07

So I know they're excellent human beings.

Kenny Thompson 00:50:10

To have shows that somebody does care for them, because I think it's kind of, it's kind of questionable at times with our national political landscape today, so.

John McDaniel 00:50:22

Yeah, well, that's the.

John McDaniel 00:50:23

Well, that's the thing is, you know, we're doing something.

John McDaniel 00:50:26

That's what.

John McDaniel 00:50:26

That's the, that's one of the great little voids, you know, that charities can fill.

John McDaniel 00:50:31

Yes, they really can.

John McDaniel 00:50:33

And, you know, it's, the government can't do it and should not do it.

John McDaniel 00:50:43

When the government gets involved in things, you know, I'm going to go off.

John McDaniel 00:50:45

I'm not going to go off here on a tirade.

John McDaniel 00:50:48

But, you know, when the government gets involved, we need government, okay?

John McDaniel 00:50:52

And it's really good for certain things like national defense and funding it and all of this, you know, the instruments of power that, you know, we need to have control of and dominate in space, in that space, but we don't want them involved in things like that.

John McDaniel 00:51:10

They can't do something like this.

John McDaniel 00:51:12

So there's this space here that is a small space, but we can fill that with a lot of goodness, and we can use the government's help, and it does help us.

John McDaniel 00:51:25

The government does provide some limited opportunities for charities and veterans in the way of grants.

John McDaniel 00:51:32

So I think they're doing what they reasonably can, but the rest of it is really up to our society.

John McDaniel 00:51:39

That's what we've got to do.

John McDaniel 00:51:40

Right.

John McDaniel 00:51:41

We've got to fill that void somehow.

John McDaniel 00:51:43

But, you know, yeah, it is.

John McDaniel 00:51:45

It's.

John McDaniel 00:51:45

It's an honor and it's a privilege.

John McDaniel 00:51:46

And I do pinch myself.

John McDaniel 00:51:49

And I'm reminded, you know, when we were, you know, at the height of.

John McDaniel 00:51:54

And we're still engaged in the global war on terror, that's, let's, let's be honest about it.

John McDaniel 00:51:59

But in the, in the height of these things, when I was at special operations command here in Tampa as my last assignment, and it was zero, five, six, and seven pretty tough years for the home team, and that's when a lot of these guys got wounded.

John McDaniel 00:52:19

And so we were hiring some of the brightest minds on the planet it to help us understand how it is that we're going to be successful in the global war on terror.

John McDaniel 00:52:35

As the global synchronizer of this operation, as SOCOm got tagged with the global synchronizer of the Gwat, if you will.

John McDaniel 00:52:45

We're just trying to wrestle this thing to the ground and figure it out.

John McDaniel 00:52:47

And we were bringing in all these 100 pound heads from Harvard and Princeton and Yale and these really smart people that were telling us about, we were learning about the ideology and formulating our plans on how we were going to defeat them.

John McDaniel 00:53:03

Yada, yada, yada.

John McDaniel 00:53:04

And so one of the things was this idea.

John McDaniel 00:53:10

Ideology defeating an idea.

John McDaniel 00:53:13

Well, I don't want to get too deep into this, but it's hard to defeat a good idea.

John McDaniel 00:53:21

The terrorists have a lot of bad ideas.

John McDaniel 00:53:23

It's unfortunate.

John McDaniel 00:53:24

It's really hard to defeat bad ideas when somebody's that committed to it, too.

John McDaniel 00:53:27

Right?

John McDaniel 00:53:27

That's.

Kenny Thompson 00:53:27

Amen.

John McDaniel 00:53:28

Right?

John McDaniel 00:53:28

That's amazing.

John McDaniel 00:53:29

I mean, they're just as committed to their.

John McDaniel 00:53:31

They got bad ideas okay.

John McDaniel 00:53:33

Those are some of those really bad ideas, and they've really twisted and contorted a religion, in a sense, but it's also equally as hard to defeat a good idea.

Kenny Thompson 00:53:46

Oh, yeah.

John McDaniel 00:53:47

And when you have a good idea with the commitment, other people start grabbing it and running with it, then you know you've got something.

John McDaniel 00:53:55

It's hard to.

John McDaniel 00:53:56

It's hard to beat defeat bad ideas, but it's equally as hard, if not harder, to defeat a good idea when people are committed to it.

Kenny Thompson 00:54:04

You came up with a good idea, my friend.

John McDaniel 00:54:06

Yeah.

John McDaniel 00:54:07

Well, thank you very much, and I'm honored that you and your team there have grabbed onto it.

John McDaniel 00:54:12

And I thank you again for all that you've done, and I look forward to seeing you in the woodline.

John McDaniel 00:54:18

Yes, once again.

John McDaniel 00:54:19

Someday, I hope, maybe on the water, man.

John McDaniel 00:54:22

I mean, we're gonna be like.

John McDaniel 00:54:24

We live in the same state.

John McDaniel 00:54:25

I know.

Kenny Thompson 00:54:25

Let's.

Kenny Thompson 00:54:26

Let's.

Kenny Thompson 00:54:26

Let's make that happen.

Kenny Thompson 00:54:27

Like I said, I'll be down there after Christmas through march, so.

John McDaniel 00:54:31

Okay.

Kenny Thompson 00:54:32

Let's.

Kenny Thompson 00:54:33

Let's find a way.

Kenny Thompson 00:54:34

I'll come.

Kenny Thompson 00:54:34

I'll come down and go hunt some sharks with you.

John McDaniel 00:54:39

Yeah, man.

John McDaniel 00:54:39

Let's do that.

Kenny Thompson 00:54:40

Yeah.

Kenny Thompson 00:54:41

That would be phenomenal.

John McDaniel 00:54:42

All right.

John McDaniel 00:54:43

You got it, buddy.

John McDaniel 00:54:44

Thanks for everything you do.

Kenny Thompson 00:54:45

Hey, thank you, John.

Kenny Thompson 00:54:46

I appreciate it.

Kenny Thompson 00:54:47

But it's very fun being a small part of this organization.

John McDaniel 00:54:54

You're a great human being.

John McDaniel 00:54:55

And please thank your leadership and all the folks at basis that did a great job raising all that money.

John McDaniel 00:55:05

We genuinely appreciate it.

Kenny Thompson 00:55:08

You bet.

Kenny Thompson 00:55:08

It's our pleasure, brother.

John McDaniel 00:55:10

All right, Kenny, I'll talk to you later.

Kenny Thompson 00:55:12

See you, man.

Kenny Thompson 00:55:12

Bye bye.

Narrator 00:55:17

Thank you for listening to the WWIA podcast.

Narrator 00:55:21

To learn more about the wounded warriors in Action foundation and how you can get involved, please visit our website@wwiaf.org, or follow us on social media, on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Narrator 00:55:37

If you'd like to comment or offer feedback about our podcast, or if you have a suggestion for a future episode, please email us@podcast.org.

Narrator 00:55:49

thank you for your support and for helping us honor, connect, and heal our combat wounded Purple Heart heroes through the power of the great outdoors.