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Oct. 23, 2024 - The Joe Rogan Experience
03:03:12
Joe Rogan Experience #2216 - Luke Bryan
Participants
Main voices
j
joe rogan
01:04:00
l
luke bryan
01:53:55
Appearances
Clips
a
aaron rodgers
00:02
j
jamie vernon
00:05
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Speaker Time Text
unidentified
Joe Rogan Podcast, check it out!
The Joe Rogan Experience.
Train by day, Joe Rogan Podcast by night, all day.
joe rogan
Hey, what's up, Luke?
luke bryan
This has been a long time in the making.
joe rogan
I need to thank you for taking care of my family when they came to see your show.
luke bryan
I hope they had a great time.
joe rogan
They had a fucking fantastic time.
But it was also, my daughter was like freaked out because she was going to the show.
She didn't know she was going to get to meet you.
And her friend didn't know they were going to get to meet you either.
luke bryan
So we were able to keep that a...
Keep that a good little secret to them.
joe rogan
Yeah, it was cool.
They had the best time.
They came back beaming, so thank you.
luke bryan
Well, Vegas, you know, that was wrapping up Vegas, so yeah, that was a fun two years of residency there.
joe rogan
Did you do two years there?
luke bryan
Yeah, I did two years, 26 shows per year.
Dude, man, like...
joe rogan
Vegas will take a little piece of your soul.
Just a little tiny piece every day.
luke bryan
Well, the thing about it is, like, all of that...
Get to Vegas and like, you know, you run to the craps table or blackjack table your whole life getting to Vegas.
Dude, I got all that.
I'm like, I get to Vegas, I'm like, man, let's just sit in the room, watch a little sports, and I got the gambling out of the system.
joe rogan
Well, that's good.
Did you used to gamble a lot?
luke bryan
You know, I've always been...
I've never been a sports gambler.
My dad...
But my dad raised me to kind of be a poker player kind of kid.
He was like a...
I mean, I used to joke, if my dad didn't play poker, we'd have never had Santa Claus.
I mean, he was just a crazy little poker player and like a little pool hustler.
And then...
joe rogan
Oh, so he was all in.
luke bryan
Well, so one of my dad's famous quotes is, so he flies me out to Vegas when I'm 21 or whatever, and man, we were in college, and I took like 300 or 400 bucks with me, you know, just broke as shit.
And, uh, two hours into the trip, lose my money.
And, you know, this was like, well, where we still had truck phones.
You know, I'm not even sure we were, like, toting.
No, we certainly didn't have, like, the Motorola Razr where he could just call me.
So...
He just goes looking for them, and he calls my hotel room, and he's like, boy, what you doing?
He's real southern Georgia.
I said, I lost all my damn money, and hell with this place.
He goes, well, you ain't going to win it back in the goddamn room.
So, I mean, once you have that mindset in gambling, certainly, I mean, when that's your dad going.
And so that's been a famous saying when my buddies, you know, when they're down and out, down two or three grand, and they're pouting over at the bar, you know, you're not going to win it back at the goddamn bar.
But I did.
I went through phases where, you know, I never really got financially behind when I didn't have money.
I would just...
I controlled it pretty well.
And I did my two years out there.
I never really had any big beats or anything like that.
But I do love to just...
Man, I love to just sit there, have a drink, have a cigar, and watch Dyson Cards.
Because you're just not...
You're just sitting there and your mind's checked out.
It's like...
No different than going to the driving range and hitting golf balls or sitting on the bank fishing or sitting in a deer stand.
But I got out of there.
I got all my gambling, at least for now, out of my system.
But it was great to meet your kids there.
joe rogan
I really appreciate it.
They really enjoyed it.
And like I said, they were just blown away.
Meeting you, they were like...
luke bryan
Well, it was a fun show because we got to really do a lot of bells and whistles out there that aren't available on normal shows when you're out touring and stuff because you're having to take down stuff, be real mobile out there.
We put a lot of stuff in the room.
joe rogan
Well, that's nice.
That's one good thing about the residency.
You know, you're going back to the same spot over and over again.
luke bryan
And we had our routine.
I mean, I had my room and, you know, about 6.30, I'd hop in the shower, run down there and get on stage about 8.30 and knock it out.
And 10.30...
Somewhere at a craps table.
joe rogan
I'm lucky I don't gamble.
I don't do it.
luke bryan
You never got into sports?
joe rogan
Nope.
Nope.
I used to bet on fights.
Back in the early days of the UFC, I used to bet on fights, and one day they made it illegal, but I already stopped doing it, because I was like, this is probably not a good thing for me to be betting on things I'm commentating on, because I can't affect the outcome.
luke bryan
Right.
But it's still quite close.
joe rogan
I also sometimes know some shit.
This has been a bunch of times.
So one of my business partners, I would tell him what to bet on.
And we were at like 84% at one time.
It was crazy.
For like six or seven fights in a row, six or seven fight cards in a row, we were at about 84%.
Because every now and then, they would have these guys that were coming in from Japan.
Or from Russia.
And the oddsmakers didn't know who these guys were.
And I was like, oh, Jesus Christ, bet the house.
luke bryan
And you already were studying them for years.
joe rogan
So I knew everything about these guys.
I'm like, Jesus Christ, bet the fucking house.
luke bryan
Lay up.
joe rogan
Yeah, there was a few.
Like when Anderson Silva came into the UFC, I was like, bet the house.
Bet the house on the Brazilian.
Whatever you I go throw it all at this guy.
You can't fucking lose.
Because when he came into the UFC, he was like in his prime.
And I got to see him evolve in Japan and then later on in England.
And so when he came into the UFC, I think he was a favorite over this guy, Chris Liebman, who's a really tough guy.
But I'm like, whatever the odds are, fucking throw it all at that guy.
luke bryan
I bet y'all.
Were you betting with them too at that time?
joe rogan
No, I wasn't betting.
I had already stopped.
It was like, I could get in trouble.
luke bryan
Don't get in any trouble now either.
Don't lose the gig.
joe rogan
Well, now the UFC made a law, and it was real recent, like two years ago.
Up until like two years ago, all staff, anyone could bet.
Now no one can bet.
luke bryan
Really?
joe rogan
Yeah, because there was a scandal.
One of the trainers apparently was involved, allegedly was involved, knew about an injury, and then it turned out there's probably some other bets that are a little shady that perhaps allegedly people were involved with, so they're like, okay, we've got to put a stop to this, which is too bad.
Because it was fucking, it's nice to know.
If I was unscrupulous.
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luke bryan
I had a little, so I went my whole life, no sports betting.
Through college, I'd walk in and my buddies back then, they'd spliced eight TVs together and they got all their notes.
And I'm like...
And I'm like, dude, no wonder you're fucking, you got all D's and you're about to get shipped out of college.
But I survived all that and me and a buddy, we started picking two games a week.
And we would load up.
And this was like six years ago, five years ago.
So I would load up like $20,000 a game.
But I was strict, and I had my deal.
And we'd like bet.
I mean, just take Alabama and the points in the first half.
You do that.
Most of the year, I mean, it was 80%.
So we did well.
And then my buddy moved away from me and we quit talking about it.
And then I went rogue for like two years.
I was betting like Utah State at, you know, the West Coast game, midnight, just throwing bets in.
And I was like, man, I'm out.
unidentified
So I'll stop.
joe rogan
Did you see uncut gems?
luke bryan
Yes.
Dude, that movie tripped me out.
joe rogan
I think it tripped everybody out, though.
What a great movie.
luke bryan
Especially if you've dipped your toe into that world of like...
And I've got buddies that do parlays.
I'm not even sure I even understand the inner workings of parlays now.
And teasers and all that.
I'm so removed from that level of sport.
So-and-so's going to get four layups at the half.
Man, that's opening up Pandora's box there.
joe rogan
It is, and you've got to think there's people that are involved.
There's been scandals where referees were involved, where referees were making calls they shouldn't have made, maybe calling fouls they shouldn't have called, and people getting paid.
There's so much money being thrown around, and the average referee, what do they make?
luke bryan
Hey, dude, so I saw you at the—I'm a giant Georgia fan.
And I saw you, obviously, on the sideline on Saturday, and just, man, some of those calls.
joe rogan
Yeah, there were some bad calls.
luke bryan
It started getting weird.
joe rogan
We actually left after the first quarter and went to see M&M. So we had an epic day.
We saw the first quarter of UT, Georgia, and then jetted and went to M&M at the racetrack.
luke bryan
Oh, the Formula One?
joe rogan
Yeah, M&M played in front of like 150,000 people.
It was fucking wild.
luke bryan
I mean, what a weekend for Austin, too.
I mean, because I had buddies...
I had buddies that were like, why are you not coming?
And I'm like, man, I've had to be me all year, and it's like the weather's chilly in Nashville.
My boys want to go deer hunting.
I'm going to take them deer hunting, sit on my back patio, and scream at the TV. But it got a little dicey there on the back.
I was like, oh, it was weird.
joe rogan
Yeah, well, just the energy.
There's so much anticipation for a game like that.
luke bryan
You can't replicate it in any other...
I guess those big...
Global Brazil versus Argentina or whatever.
joe rogan
We had some friends from England who had never been to an American football game before.
luke bryan
What was their take on it?
joe rogan
They were blown away.
They're like, oh my goodness.
Oh my goodness.
This is madness.
I'm like, this is Texas football.
luke bryan
It's so fun though.
joe rogan
They get serious here.
luke bryan
It's crazy.
joe rogan
I got to shoot the cannon.
Boom!
luke bryan
Did you shoot it through the Georgia shirt, that one?
joe rogan
Yeah.
luke bryan
Oh gosh!
joe rogan
Maybe I gave you bad luck.
luke bryan
You hurt my heart.
joe rogan
Maybe it was bad luck because they lost.
Maybe what?
Maybe it's a fucking rude thing to do.
luke bryan
Yeah, man.
It was a good win for George.
And like I said, both those programs are just so incredible.
joe rogan
It's when you're watching it behind the scenes.
You know, watching how much organization there is.
It's incredibly complex.
luke bryan
Through the years, Kirby and I have gotten to be Pretty good buddies.
Kirby can't be buddies with anybody because that job requires...
I've never seen a requirement of a job more than being a college.
joe rogan
It's probably like being a president.
luke bryan
It is, and so I don't text Kirby during the season, really.
I know he, and man, just watching what those guys go through trying to manage these big programs like that.
I mean, and when they're not coaching, I mean, dude, they are politicking.
joe rogan
Yeah.
luke bryan
I mean, they got to go to the steak supper for this touchdown club here.
You know, so man, it's a wild ride what those dudes go through.
joe rogan
And when you think about gambling with calls, like bad calls, that has got to be...
Imagine all your money's on the line, and you see some horrendous call, and you fucking...
luke bryan
See, I'm out of that.
And I didn't really get into that heavily, even when I was betting regular games.
But man, it's freedom.
Man, I just watch the games with freedom, and I don't get in, you know.
joe rogan
I'm good friends with Dana White, and Dana, he's a real degenerate.
luke bryan
I love how big...
That's the best way to describe...
joe rogan
Oh, he'll describe it that way.
luke bryan
I get it from him.
Like your big horse racing guys, their adjective of themselves is, I'm a degenerate.
That's the first thing they say.
joe rogan
Well, Jamie and I went to visit...
We went with Shane Gillis and a bunch of other guys.
We went to visit Dana while he was gambling.
When we got there, he was down $600,000.
And I was like, what is happening here?
jamie vernon
I heard him say he learned how to play back rap because you can bet more.
unidentified
You can bet like 500k a hand or something or crazy like that.
joe rogan
That's so crazy!
I was getting anxiety just sitting there watching.
And so then Taylor LeJuan came over and Dana and Taylor have this deal where Dana teaches Taylor what to gamble and how to do it.
They're down $120,000 in what?
Five minutes?
Five minutes.
Five minutes are down $120,000.
And I'm just sitting there going, what the fuck, man?
Look, Dana's rich as shit.
luke bryan
Obviously.
joe rogan
I know Taylor is wealthy, but there's like a level where you could lose $125,000 is $125,000.
luke bryan
Well, yeah, I mean, I've learned kind of like, if you're betting $1,000 a hand, you can get down $50,000.
joe rogan
Yeah.
luke bryan
Like, quick.
But when you transition to that...
$30,000, $40,000, $50,000 a hand, you'll be down a million or two.
And I say, because I've watched some other buddies that bet on that level, I'm talking about like 15-hand swing is an $800,000 swing.
And I'm like...
But that's the scary part about gambling when you don't have much money and you grow into some money, but your level of what you want to press, your anxiety level and your endorphins and all that, it grows with your wealth.
And man, next thing you know, you're...
joe rogan
Well, that's the only way they get their fix, too.
They can't pay $20 a hand.
luke bryan
Yeah, right.
That goes away.
Well, it's like the whole...
There's a lot in society that...
I think we're preyed upon with that thought process, gambling and a lot of it.
joe rogan
Dopamine hits.
luke bryan
Right.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And then once one level of the dopamine levels out, then you go to the next one.
joe rogan
Yeah, it's hard to watch.
Forget about doing it.
It's hard to watch.
I don't get it.
luke bryan
I'm glad I don't do it.
I always have fun with it.
I mean, I've always had fun gambling, and a lot of times I'd take my band after we get off stage, and we'd have one band night, and I'd, like, set them all up with some chips, and I've gotten at a craps table where I can kind of manage everybody's bets, and I'm like, don't do that now, wait, wait, and it's kind of like the, you know, steering the mothership, and we had some great nights, you know, Just laughing and cutting up and cheering.
Like I said, one guy walks up and everybody rubs his head for good.
It's just camaraderie at the craps table.
I gambled so much at the craps table.
My last night, they let my craps team that dealt me all the craps come on stage and we celebrated together.
I'm out there, like I'm playing, and I look at my, you know, because they work in teams, you know, and my team comes out on stage, and dude, I was roaring laughing.
I'm like, yeah, so.
joe rogan
That's hilarious.
Look, I know people have a problem with gambling.
I think it should be legal, but it can get away from you.
luke bryan
Yeah, well.
joe rogan
But that's like a lot of things in this world.
Alcohol, there's a lot of things that can get away from you.
It doesn't mean it should be illegal.
luke bryan
Right, well, Lord.
joe rogan
It's just weird that it's only legal in a few states.
I think that's expanding now.
I remember when online gambling was illegal.
luke bryan
Oh, yeah, and then...
joe rogan
It wasn't that long ago.
The early days of the UFC, online gambling was illegal.
luke bryan
And then, you know, because we're obviously southeastern Tennessee Bible Belt, and I don't know, but there's certain states.
I guess Tennessee is a legal gambling state, because...
Or maybe George.
I can't tell.
I have to talk to my nephews, all of his buddies, and see if they're on the little apps.
But, man, they'll go sign their buddies up to get the $200 free.
I mean, they got all kind of a racket.
joe rogan
Yeah, well, and then also people would go to Indian reservations.
That was the big thing.
luke bryan
Right.
joe rogan
Which is also crazy.
Like, gambling's illegal.
luke bryan
You gotta pay the Indian reservation tax.
joe rogan
Right.
luke bryan
You know, you gotta pay your 50 cent to do the dollar bet.
joe rogan
Yeah.
luke bryan
Do that math.
joe rogan
Yeah, and you only have to be a small percentage Native American to get a piece of that.
So there's a lot of millionaires just hanging around that casino, just enjoying it.
But if you've got a place like in Connecticut...
luke bryan
Oh, Mohegan and all that.
They're great places.
Typically, on my way kind of...
The Mohegan, I'd go play there a couple years.
One night I did three nights there, and dude, I'm getting off stage, just sitting there gambling, and I'm like, am I coming out ahead on this gig or what?
But I think I got out of there making a little money.
joe rogan
Yeah.
It's weird, though, that you could do that legally.
luke bryan
Well, then even in Tennessee and Tunica back in the day, you just put a barge on the Mississippi River and you can gamble.
It's like, what is that all about?
joe rogan
Right, that's that show Ozark.
luke bryan
Right.
Yeah, well, totally the same premise, you know.
It's like, put a barge on the river, and now let's take all these people's money.
joe rogan
Yeah, my buddy Johnny, he was a pool hustler.
He used to call people riverboat gamblers.
When guys would just go off, and you know a guy was a gambling addict, you'd just trick him into a game.
He's like, you guys are a riverboat gambler.
luke bryan
Yeah, that's the two analogies.
Degenerate or riverboat gambler.
Be careful of all of them.
joe rogan
It's just always been funny to me that Native American reservations are essentially a country inside the country, and they can do whatever the fuck they want.
I was just reading about this Colorado wolf deal, where they've relocated wolves to Colorado, and the Native American reservation let them know, the moment those wolves get onto our land, we're flying over in helicopters and gunning them down.
luke bryan
I elk hunt every year in Colorado.
Is that where you've done?
joe rogan
I've done Colorado.
Most of the years I go to Utah.
luke bryan
Well, first of all, Cam Haynes and I, we've got a connection with Cam.
Just love that guy.
So when I saw Colorado do that, I was like...
It's just like, what are we doing, guys?
joe rogan
Well, whenever you have biology that's getting voted on by people who don't understand it, it should be decided by wildlife biologists.
That's it.
That's the only people that should decide whether or not things like that happen.
luke bryan
Well, we can really dive into this and let's do it.
My thing is, We are so governed in the world of wildlife biology through the states and stuff, they're not going to let humans ruin animal populations, I don't think, anymore.
joe rogan
No, of course.
luke bryan
If anything's going to happen, they're going to mess it up and let animal populations get too big.
Right.
I was, and I don't know who to name or whatever, but I was with some guys with Wyoming, and we're talking about grizzly bears.
And I said, man, you know, because they brought up grizzly bear problems, and I said, well, what is the deal?
And they said, well, there's 1,400 to 1,500 grizzly bears in Wyoming.
There needs to be 500 to 600. And five of the 1,500 are only hunting humans.
Like, have totally...
unidentified
But there's not that many human deaths.
luke bryan
Well, in Yellowstone, if you pay attention, there's about two or three that get...
joe rogan
Right, but those 500 grizzly bears that are just hunting humans...
luke bryan
No, five.
unidentified
Oh, five.
Five, not 500. So there's five grizzly bears...
luke bryan
Right, there's like five grizzly...
Sorry, this probably won't be the first time I... Jesus Christ.
That is a high-up biologist in Wyoming telling me that.
And I'm like, well, why won't they let y'all go in there, let some hunters, think about the, you can do the math chart, do a $30,000 grizzly bear tag, do a $20,000 one.
They'll go for that.
joe rogan
Yeah, for sure.
luke bryan
Go in and let it, manage it right, but there's one federal judge that's got it all shut down.
One judge.
joe rogan
That's so crazy.
My friend went moose hunting, said he saw no moose and he saw 12 grizzlies in Wyoming.
luke bryan
I went on a bear hunt in Alberta, and there's so many grizzlies now, you can't even go.
It was through Cam's people.
joe rogan
John and Jen.
luke bryan
Yeah, I saw them recently, and they've had to move.
joe rogan
Yeah, they move areas.
Yeah, they have abandoned areas because they're overrun with grizzlies.
They sent me some trail cam pics that are terrifying, like little school buses.
They look like school buses.
Like the size of these fucking grizzlies.
luke bryan
Was it you that was talking about they were trying to determine a male grizzly versus a male gorilla and who would win?
joe rogan
I think I'm on team grizzly.
luke bryan
Me too.
joe rogan
Because they eat things and kill things every day.
Gorillas just, they fight.
They just like, they puff their chest out and they mostly eat grass.
luke bryan
Well, but when you think about $30,000, $40,000 per grizzly and then the guiding fee and then the taxidermy.
joe rogan
Yeah.
luke bryan
Think about the taxidermist.
joe rogan
And then the Pittman Roberts, people need to understand, all the gear, everything, 10% of that goes to wildlife management.
All of it.
luke bryan
And then at the end of that, nobody's going to let the grizzlies get...
joe rogan
Exterminated.
Right!
They're overpopulated now.
luke bryan
And then when you look at the population, how beautiful the elk population is in Colorado, and how amazingly managed it is in Colorado.
For public hunters, for a guy like me that can go get an over-the-counter tag, I think they're probably going to wipe out over-the-counter tags for out-of-staters.
joe rogan
They're going to make it a draw tag.
luke bryan
And then, now the wolves get to eat them, and I don't get to bring my elk hunting money in and give it to them.
Right.
joe rogan
I don't get it.
Well, the thing is, they always say that they're going to get to a certain level of the population, and then they're going to open it up for management.
But they don't.
luke bryan
Wolf management?
joe rogan
Yeah.
But what happens is people sue.
And the wildlife, you know, all the people that love wolves, they sue.
And when they sue, they stop the hunt, and then it has to go to court, and it has to get decided.
And if you get a radical judge, like this judge that you said that's in Wyoming...
luke bryan
And these are all...
Things that people in the know are telling me, so Lord, I don't need a judge somewhere in Wyoming like pulling my...
joe rogan
No, you're probably right.
You're probably right.
Everyone that I know that hunts there says there's a lot of grizzly bears, and it's concerning because you don't see all of them.
If you see a lot of them, there's a lot more than you don't see because most of them are not just out in the open hanging out with you.
Most of them are deep in the woods.
luke bryan
Well, and so I went on a...
I went on a salmon trip up in British Columbia.
99% of your interpretation of a grizzly is this big old fat chunky thing.
Well, so we're flying in on these helicopters to go...
The salmon runs that are running up into the mountains of British Columbia, and it's an amazing trip.
You fly over in the helicopter, you look down, you see the huge schools of salmon, you take your fly rod and you go catch them and drink your beer.
Well, the helicopter pilot was like, hey man, we've seen some grizzlies.
In the area, just...
And, you know, at the time, we're like, man, this is all part of the...
joe rogan
Experience.
luke bryan
Yeah, it's like, get us kind of going a little bit.
Well, we land, and the night before, we didn't fish that day, so we'd flown in and drank some wine, and, dude, you know, my eyes are, like, fuzzy, and we're fishing, and I tell my guy, I'm with him, like, hey, I'm going to go to the helicopter and get a beer or something.
And, dude, I get there, and I pop my beer, and I'm like...
I look down the river, and I'm like...
Fuck, that is a fucking grizzly coming toward my buddy.
And I went, Jay!
And dude, it was slim and like a damn...
It was lean and like a greyhound.
Not...
I wouldn't say lean, but it hadn't got all fat on salmon yet.
Well, it comes down the bank...
And jumps in, and we ease back to the helicopter.
We look back, here comes another grizzly, literally 30 yards from us.
And I'm like...
We get there, and I had left my beer on the bank, and my grizzly sticks his tongue in my beer, and then he jumps in the river.
I run, grab the beer, drink.
I'm like, grizzly spit!
Anyway, the helicopter pilot goes.
joe rogan
You did not drink a beer after the grizzly.
luke bryan
I had to sip of it after.
I had to!
joe rogan
But that's, like, what kind of trichinosis?
Wild shit are you going to get from that?
luke bryan
Some berry infection or salmon infection.
joe rogan
Yeah, some moose ass.
luke bryan
So listen, dude, we get on the helicopter and the pilot's like, man, they're getting too comfortable.
We take off, fly a mile down the river.
I'd already had my fly rod together.
I never broke it down, so I sat it in the little basket, and we land.
I take off about 200 yards, start fishing, and I had to slide down this 20-foot cut bank where the river had cut the bank.
I look across the river, and here comes a grizzly bear galloping on the other side of the river.
And I'm like, well, I've already seen the other two mature ones.
And I was like, well, that's a baby grizzly.
I was like, that's cute.
Dude, that grizzly hits that bank on the other side of that river and jumps about 20 feet in the air and lands in that river.
It looked like a Volkswagen VW Bug hit that river.
I take off to the helicopter.
All my guys are like, get here, get here.
A mother and two of the babies were on my tail.
joe rogan
Oh my God.
luke bryan
And when I got to the helicopter, dude, ruined my whole trip.
I couldn't realize.
joe rogan
That's when it gets scary when you're on the mothers.
luke bryan
Oh, they're the ones that...
joe rogan
They fuck everybody up.
luke bryan
In two seconds.
joe rogan
Yeah, they don't play any games.
When they have their Cubs with them, they don't take any chances.
Like, I'm going to incapacitate this dude.
Fuck him.
luke bryan
It is...
So that was my grizzly encounter.
joe rogan
I wish...
All these people that get to vote, unlike BC, when BC outlawed grizzly bear hunting, I wish all those people that experience...
You should have to experience what it's actually like there.
You should have to see.
You should have to see the population.
You see what it's like experiencing them.
These aren't teddy bears.
And for you saying you shouldn't be able to manage the population as wildlife biologists say it should be managed, you're putting people in danger, especially people that live over there.
luke bryan
The thing about it with me, now listen, I grew up deer hunting my whole life, ducks, dove, quail, and man, I always had a soft spot for bears.
And probably I still, it's not like I gotta go shoot bears every year.
I mean, whatever.
But when you find out, when you hear you are a hunter and there are When I met John and Jenny, and they were like, Luke, there are so many that need to be managed.
I was like, man, that's cool.
Let's go do a bear hunt.
Had a great time, and didn't get all heady with killing a bear.
I mean, I know guys in Tennessee, in Gatlinburg, Joe.
I mean, dude, they are darting black bears off second-story Holiday Inn balconies.
They're digging in.
I mean, they're digging in vending machines.
And I'm like, dude, it's just a matter of time.
Somebody's going to walk out their balcony and they're going to get got right there.
joe rogan
100%.
luke bryan
And they dart them and move them back into the Smoky Mountains.
joe rogan
You know what happened in New Jersey, right?
The governor ran on this policy of banning the grizzly bear hunt.
And he got in, or excuse me, the black bear hunt.
luke bryan
In Jersey.
joe rogan
In Jersey.
Jersey has the most black bears per capita in the country, which is crazy.
I'm going to send you something because I sent this to Cam last night because it's nuts.
This dude just shot the state record.
luke bryan
So it's back in.
joe rogan
Yes, it's back in immediately.
Because they had so many interactions.
luke bryan
Joe, my mother lives in Mexico Beach, Florida, on the panhandle.
joe rogan
There's a lot over there, too.
luke bryan
And they, like, trash cans turned over every day.
Crazy amounts in South Georgia and Florida.
joe rogan
Yeah, that's it.
So I have a photo of the bear.
Jamie, I'm going to send it to you next to the dude who killed it.
That's a good one.
Here, I'm going to send you this, too.
But look at that.
The size of that bear.
So this is in New Jersey.
This is New Jersey.
luke bryan
This is New Jersey.
joe rogan
That's a 770 pound bear in New Jersey.
luke bryan
I didn't know they were up there that.
joe rogan
They're dense.
Dense with bears.
I have a buddy who lives up there.
He sees them.
luke bryan
All the time.
So down in the furthest most southern corner of Georgia, Bainbridge, Georgia and all that, and then Mexico Beach, Florida, around Lake Seminole.
I mean, they're everywhere down there.
joe rogan
They're all over the place.
You got that photo of that dude laying next to it?
unidentified
Yeah!
luke bryan
Look at that.
joe rogan
Look at the size of that thing.
Now, that article says 800 pounds.
That's from Sever Broadheads.
It says 880. But the other article said 770. It looks...
It's big.
Whatever the actual size it is, it's big.
Look at that Sever hole.
luke bryan
Good shot, dude.
Well, it's...
You know, like I said, I'm not the...
joe rogan
That's a perfect shot.
luke bryan
I think there's healthy numbers of all of it.
And like I said, when I see...
You know, when you see...
I don't know.
Wolves and Elks.
joe rogan
Well, there's more than healthy numbers.
Okay, there it goes.
luke bryan
But you know what a hunter is.
joe rogan
770. Oh, gutted.
770 gutted.
unidentified
Whoa!
luke bryan
Ah.
joe rogan
That's what it is.
So they weighed it in at 770 pounds gutted.
So they think it was about 880. 880. Holy shit!
Holy shit!
luke bryan
Yeah, you see they got it in a slide.
They had to put it in a...
Well...
joe rogan
That's crazy.
luke bryan
Man, there's so many of...
joe rogan
And for people who don't know, people eat bear.
And bear's good.
luke bryan
It tastes good.
Well, and you know, the sad part about, I think, California, you know, the whole...
The gallbladder deal, I don't know much about that, but there was a black market for black bear gallbladders.
joe rogan
Yeah, in some cultures, they think it's medicine.
So they were killing black bears just for their gallbladder?
luke bryan
Yeah.
joe rogan
But I think that was overblown.
I don't think it's going to affect the population.
I'm just guessing, especially a place like New Jersey, how are you going to affect that population?
They're everywhere there.
You ever see the fights they have in Far Rockaway?
luke bryan
What's Far Rockaway?
joe rogan
Far Rockaway, New Jersey is like a nice suburb.
It's like a nice neighborhood.
Giant bears.
Jamie, pull that video up.
Giant bears brawling on this guy's front lawn.
luke bryan
Did you ever see the guy that filmed like the 10-minute grizzly fight?
joe rogan
This might be...
Oh yes, I did see that.
luke bryan
That was...
joe rogan
That was insane.
But that's where grizzlies are supposed to be.
This is in a fucking neighborhood.
These are big bears and they're duking it out on this guy's nice lawn.
They go tumbling down the stairs and they start fighting in the street and people are watching.
And they're probably fighting over trash cans.
luke bryan
Look at them.
joe rogan
So look at the size of these fuckers.
Imagine like you're watching TV and you're...
So these dudes, they duke it out.
This is like, Jamie, how long is this video?
It's like a ten minute video.
Six minute video.
So six minutes, for six minutes, these dudes duke it out.
They pile out into the street, they're biting each other, and this guy's filming from a car.
And you see it as it, like, trumbles down.
Like, yeah, pull it down so when they're in this...
So they come tumbling down the hill, you know, full UFC style, duking it out.
Passing by this guy's mailbox.
luke bryan
Look at him.
joe rogan
It goes on forever.
And they're out in the street.
unidentified
This is a nice neighborhood.
joe rogan
And you have huge predators in front of a Volvo.
What the fuck?
And this guy was trying to ban the hunt.
Hey, pal, there's plenty of these bears.
You should hunt them.
Because if you don't hunt them, they're going to hunt you.
luke bryan
Well, they're going to...
That's the thing.
I think it's no different than...
I mean, I grew up in South Georgia with gators.
joe rogan
Yeah, same thing.
luke bryan
You get one comfortable with you, man, and it's...
joe rogan
Not good.
luke bryan
It is not good at all.
joe rogan
What's the problem that we're dealing with here is ballot biology.
It's all people that are very emotional.
Most of them live in cities.
Before I ever hunted bear, before I ever hunted at all, I was like, kill a bear?
What an asshole.
You don't have to be an asshole to kill a bear.
And then you get it...
luke bryan
I was kind of the same way.
joe rogan
But you probably had more hunting experience than me.
I grew up fishing.
luke bryan
Well, I had whitetail hunting, and I remember a man, you know, being a 14-year-old kid shooting a deer and having remorse, but then you need to have that remorse, too, as a hunter.
You need to understand...
joe rogan
You're taking a life.
luke bryan
Yes, and you need to...
And I tell my boys that.
My boys have grown up in it seriously, and I'm like, hey, man...
Hold up.
joe rogan
Right.
luke bryan
Let's just don't run up to it, chunk it in the machine, just do a little homage.
Right, so go ahead.
But the remorse, go ahead.
joe rogan
The remorse is important.
It's a part of the experience.
You are now connected to the food that you're going to eat.
luke bryan
Right.
joe rogan
And I think that's what most people don't have.
And I think that's bad for us.
I think all of human existence has been wrapped around hunting animals, and we hunted them ourselves forever, and then we eventually figured out agriculture.
But when we hunted them ourselves, most of the time the humans were human, and we had this deep connection to this animal because this animal was going to sustain our family.
And they used it, they took the skin from it, and they made...
All kinds of things.
They took the tendons.
They made strings for bows.
luke bryan
And the fur.
joe rogan
Gosh.
Yeah, the fur.
I mean, it's what their clothes were made out of.
They ate all the organs.
They ate everything.
It sustained everybody, and that was how people lived.
And then when people stopped living like that, we got a little confused.
I know people that eat meat.
Like, my wife was at dinner with her friends, and they were from England.
And one of the friends said, where's your husband?
And she said, oh, he's elk hunting.
And the guy, while he was cutting a steak, made some sort of like, oh, that's atrocious.
Why does he do that?
And she goes, why are you eating meat?
You paid a supermarket hitman to go kill that fucking steak.
This is so stupid.
But when you're removed from it culturally, and England is basically removed from it culturally, there's roe deer there and there's some stags.
luke bryan
Stag, yeah.
joe rogan
But for the most part, England has a very small hunting population, and I believe bow hunting is actually outlawed there.
It's outlawed in a lot of places in Europe.
It's outlawed in Scotland.
It's outlawed in a lot of places.
So there's a deep ignorance as to what's going on and what it is, and then they have judgment based on these cultural norms.
And there's media depictions.
Media depictions of hunters in movies.
They're never the good guys.
They're always pieces of shit.
The hunters are always assholes.
They're always drunk.
They're always trying to kidnap women or kill somebody.
Right?
They're always torturing an animal.
There's always something where someone has to come in and fuck up the hunters.
Because hunters are portrayed as bad guys in movies.
luke bryan
Yeah, and then...
And listen, you know, the success rate of the proper ethical things always line up.
The success rate doesn't always go like you wanted it to.
joe rogan
Right.
luke bryan
But, you know, the fact that Hunters still are working every day just to keep hunting, and the fact that hunting is declining so bad.
joe rogan
I think it took a little uptick during COVID, because during COVID, people were like, hey, man, what if there's no food?
My buddy lived in Asheville, and he sent me a photo in the middle of the pandemic.
He goes, dude, there's no meat.
And he was going down the meat aisle.
He's filming it.
He's like, there's no fucking meat here.
luke bryan
One of the best...
Things that's just naturally happened at our house.
And my wife is, you know, my wife's, like, typical housewife, plays tennis, great shape, doesn't, you know, she kind of eats like a bird when she does eat, but man, she will call me and she'll go, hey, let's have elk night.
And, because we keep our freezer in my garage and I've got all my tackle in there.
And she has, through the years, understood Like, hey, I'm going to run out to the freezer.
We're going to do taco night.
I'm going to throw all the elk meat in the sink and start thawing it.
And man, over the last five years...
I've woke up and we haven't had beef, cattle, and hamburger, tacos, spaghettis, bolognese.
We haven't eaten it in five years at my house.
It takes you a minute to go, hey, put it in the freezer and then plan your dinner.
We all get busy with kids and stuff like that, but I'm so proud of her that she'll call me and be like, Hey, I'm going out to the freezer.
Do you want me to get these elk tenderloins?
Because by the time me and my...
I got three children that go out there with me now, and two or three of us will get one.
I mean, we got enough meat.
Like, it's awesome that...
joe rogan
It's the best food.
luke bryan
It's...
joe rogan
So good for you.
luke bryan
Man, when you pat out an elk patty hamburger, like, your hands have nothing on it.
joe rogan
Right.
luke bryan
Like, I mean, you could take beef patty and just like...
It's just like...
joe rogan
Fat grease.
luke bryan
It's like caulking.
joe rogan
That's also why it tastes so good.
luke bryan
Right.
There's a time and place for that.
But it's pretty cool that elk gets that.
And they still have to add a little bit of pork fat to elk just to keep it.
joe rogan
I give a lot of meat away.
And whenever I do, when I get texts back, I get excited.
People are like, damn, this is so good.
And it makes me feel better.
It does make you feel better.
There's something about wild game.
You get energy from it.
luke bryan
Well, yeah, and yeah, when you can go, like, we, at my place, at my deer place in southern Tennessee, yeah, man, we just, we make sure, man, I got a big walk-in cooler there, and if we're not going to take something in there, I put, I've got some red stag up my place in Tennessee.
I did a high fence down there, and so between stag and whitetail and elk, We're moving meat around and making jerky.
joe rogan
Are they roaring on your property?
luke bryan
They do.
joe rogan
That's the craziest sound.
unidentified
It's the best.
joe rogan
I thought the elk sound was crazy.
Elk sound is probably the craziest.
luke bryan
It's the best.
joe rogan
Elk is.
I'm used to it.
luke bryan
But the roar of the stag is bizarre.
joe rogan
It sounds like a lion.
I put one on my Instagram story, Jamie.
See if you can find it.
There's a dude just staring at the camera roaring.
I hear, rather, Argentina is a great place to go.
I hear they have a lot of them down in Argentina.
luke bryan
We...
It's interesting because Tennessee is very, very strict on their whitetail.
joe rogan
Here he is.
Listen to this guy.
Imagine if you were some dude and it's like a thousand years ago and you don't know what the fuck that is.
You wandered into the woods.
luke bryan
So my 14-year-old has been going to Colorado with me since he was five or six.
When they're that little, obviously they can't bow hunt, but we would get an elk down and I'd let the boys hike up with me and pack the elk out.
One day we had another hunter with us going to get an elk and my two little ones were And I said, well, we had an elk bugle.
I said, hey, boys, stay right here.
And they're six and eight.
And we went up the hill, and I could keep, well, Tate, right before I walked off, he goes, Dad.
Are they going to kill us if we sit here?
Because those elk bugle, I mean, you can feel their bugles in the woods.
And I said, no, son.
joe rogan
Feel them in your chest.
luke bryan
So we went up and tried to call this elk in.
And then some elk did actually cross in front of them.
And there's six and eight just sitting there, this big herd of elk coming by.
And we'd come back.
And I was watching.
I could see them sitting down there on this tall log that I put them on.
But I got back and they were like...
I mean, you know, having your boys, I mean, that's what I live for and to keep the, you know, and I just wish we could create a narrative where getting your children doing that will, I mean, I don't know.
joe rogan
Well, hunting is a very difficult entry.
It's very difficult.
luke bryan
It is.
joe rogan
If you're a person who's like listening to this, like I've never hunted before, but I'd like to learn how to do it.
Good luck.
It's very hard to do.
luke bryan
You're right.
joe rogan
Very, very hard.
It's very hard to find someone who's going to teach you, who has the patience to show you what to do.
If you've never shot a rifle before, it's very hard to understand, like, what is the difference between a.300 Win Mag and a 7mm?
luke bryan
That is the tricky part, really, with all outdoors.
If you could bridge the gap between...
All parts of urban life and allow urban life to find a place to go.
But we went through a phase in outdoors where landowners were like, if you hunt my land and you twist your ankle and break your leg, you're going to sue me, so no, you're not allowed to come hunt my land, so all the deer will get overpopulated and eat all my crops.
So I think now states, I think Tennessee has put a law into where some of those getting sued...
Well, what I'm saying is that feeds people's...
Inability to go find somewhere to hunt, too.
So many people don't have a 50-acre farm.
They can't afford it, but they want to go hunt.
I just hope the hunting community and even the whole outdoor community can make it more accessible and landowners.
I had this little lady that...
I wanted a turkey hunt.
She had 60 acres that bordered like a 300-acre track of mine, and I was like, ma'am, when I'm out hunting and some of my turkeys or our turkeys may cross onto your property, do you mind if I go?
And her house is a mile away from, or it's 50 acres, it's probably 400 yards.
She thought my shotgun was going to shoot through her house and kill her.
And I had to spend 45 minutes.
And she grew up in Tennessee, in the country, and she doesn't understand that a shotgun is not, you know.
And so, man, the education of it all, just the bridge and the knowledge of it gradually gets worse and worse.
But the need for it gets greater and greater.
And I tell my children all the time, I'm like, boys, There is no drug in the world.
And I'm not a, you know, I'm a pretty straight guy, never done much of that, but I said, I got a lot of crazy buddies that have, and when a big elk's walking in, or a big whitetail, or you hook a big fish, the adrenaline from that, no drug will replace it.
joe rogan
Nothing's like it.
I've done some wild shit in my time.
luke bryan
I've seen the documentation of the wild stuff.
joe rogan
I've done some wild shit.
I'm gonna send you a video, Jamie, of something that happened last week.
So this is the best example of that.
This is the best example of that.
We had this elk, and he was out at about 50 yards.
We'd snuck in on him.
He was over the ridge at 50 yards.
We could see the tips of his antlers moving around.
I had my sights set at 50 yards, and as my friend was calling him, my friend was at a tree that was about 20 yards from me.
He came right into our lap.
So it was one of those things where I had him range at 50, and then I see him coming in.
He's coming in.
I range him again at 40. I dial him in.
I'm like, oh, shit, he's coming into our lap.
He just kept coming in.
Watch this video.
Do you don't have any yet?
God damn.
Modern technology.
It didn't make it through?
Oh, it's still going.
Hold on.
jamie vernon
Pressing it to send it through iMessage.
joe rogan
Oh, is that what it is?
Okay, let me...
It said it went through.
Did it go through?
Okay.
Bust out those cigars.
luke bryan
You want a little heavy or a mild?
joe rogan
Whenever you have.
Here it goes.
Check this out.
Listen to this.
Listen to this when he comes over the hill and gets angry.
Like when I heard that, I was like, uh-oh, here he comes.
So right now he's about 50 yards.
luke bryan
What's your heart doing right now?
joe rogan
Right now I'm pretty calm because he's at 50 yards.
luke bryan
Right.
joe rogan
But now I'm realizing he's not going to stop.
So I range him again.
Now he's at 40. Oh, God.
He pauses for a second.
He's staring right at me.
I have to stop.
luke bryan
Oh, yeah.
So you're off to the right.
joe rogan
I'm off to the right and I'm pressed up against a tree.
Full camo.
Hiding.
In plain sight.
So now he's moving out.
So now I'm like, oh, shit.
I'm moving my sight to 20. So now I move my sight to 20. And I'm trying to figure out a time to draw.
So right here I draw, that's when he turns.
unidentified
He needs to see some movement.
luke bryan
That's another one bugling.
Perfect.
joe rogan
That was it.
Boom.
There's so much nerves, and so much anxiety, and you're ranging him, and he's coming in, and you think he's going to be at 50, but all of a sudden he's at 20, and then it's like, don't punch the shot.
Relax.
Execute a perfect shot.
luke bryan
Well, here's the beauty of all that in the outdoors.
You know, when you...
Here, these are mild.
They're good, though.
Okay.
Man, when you kind of conquer one level of fishing or hunting, then there's another one you can go learn the space in.
You know what I'm saying?
You can go...
joe rogan
Right.
luke bryan
And what I say is, like, I just...
I mean, from the elk hunter that I was...
The elk hunter that I was 10 years ago, like, took so much work...
To even get from a 10% knowledgeable elk hunter to a 60%.
Now, I can watch that elk react to everything and know how that elk's reacting because I've done it for 11, 12 years now.
And I've taken my boys.
So when you get tired of whitetail hunting, and whitetail hunting gets rudimentary, Then go try to dig in and take it to the next level to challenge yourself.
That's what's so fun about...
Like, when I got...
I was always a bass fisherman.
Always a bass fisherman.
Never a fly fisherman.
Well, then I got into fly fisherman, and that became the new seven-year challenge that I... You tie your own flies?
I can now the little...
I can tie big streamers.
joe rogan
Right.
luke bryan
But, like, the little bitty...
joe rogan
Where you gotta get, like, goggles on and shit.
luke bryan
Oh, yeah.
unidentified
I... It's a real art form.
luke bryan
Totally one of the most rewarding things you can do is make your own fly and trick a big-ass fish with it.
joe rogan
My only problem with fly fishing is a lot of it is catch and release.
And I'm like, it's fun.
I know it's fun, but you're basically just fucking with fish.
You're just fucking with them.
Like, I could have killed you, bitch.
You know?
luke bryan
Well...
joe rogan
I get it.
I get it.
luke bryan
The handling of the trout, like when I was, you know, I grew up bass fishing, and we're like, and the bass flies out of the water.
We'd grab it, and, you know, as kids, we're like, ah!
You know, you catch a trout, and it's like a...
Majestic creature.
Yeah, it's like a team in the delivery room comes in to hold the brand new baby.
Heck, they treat newborns.
They're slapping newborns around and getting their lungs going before you mishandle a trout.
But the whole mystique of trout and all of this stuff is just...
Man, it's outlets for all of us, you know?
I mean, I remember when I moved to Nashville, man, my dad, he kept me fishing and hunting, and he wound up being a pretty dang successful business guy, and he told me, he goes, dude, when you move to Nashville, don't forget to take time to go do that stuff.
And, you know, for about two or three years, Man, I didn't.
I was focusing on my career.
But now as I roll out, you know, as I'm kind of...
joe rogan
Established.
luke bryan
You know, man, it's been the highlight.
The fact that three boys landed in my life, like, you know...
My wife's like, it's not even fair that you have, because I can always use one of them.
I was like, well, baby Bo, you know, he's really been stressed at school and he wants to hunt this evening.
She's like, I know your game.
I know your game.
joe rogan
Well, we're so lucky in this country, too, that there's so much places that are public land.
That's another thing that Europe doesn't have.
I mean, that's what Robin Hood was all about.
People think Robin Hood was steal from the rich and give to the poor.
No, it was about hunting lands and hunting rights.
People were starving and the king had all the land.
And there was all these deer, and Robin Hood would go out and whack deer.
Like, that was the story about Robin Hood.
It really wasn't about stealing money.
It was really about hunting rights.
luke bryan
Right.
joe rogan
They don't have that over there.
luke bryan
I didn't know that.
joe rogan
Yeah, but that's why it's so fucked over there.
That's why they don't have this attitude about it.
luke bryan
And that's why, you know, you hope...
The whole education of hunting and landowners and conservation of the animals and all the land ties into where, you know, landowners need to...
Have a better understanding of, man, give this old boy a break.
Give this guy that just knocked on your door and asked permission the good old-fashioned way.
Man, give him a break and let him take his son or go hunt.
And don't hoard your 15,000 acres to your dad.
joe rogan
But hopefully he's a good guy.
That's the problem also is that assholes ask for permission and then do something stupid and Dude, I had a guy shoot a stag.
luke bryan
The first year I put my stag in my fence, shot him right off the road.
unidentified
Really?
luke bryan
Left him.
Man, you talk about pissed.
joe rogan
Right off the road.
Just shot him and left him.
luke bryan
Shot him and left him.
joe rogan
Yeah, see, there's people like that out there.
luke bryan
It's the bad apples, you know.
They're out there.
joe rogan
How could you do that to a stag, too?
God, that's so awful.
luke bryan
Yeah.
joe rogan
And the meat is so sensational.
To know that that meat is going to go to waste, that's so crazy.
luke bryan
Man, I don't know.
You know, I guess enough whiskey and an old back road and a raffle, you'll...
joe rogan
Shitty education, bad childhood, all of the above.
luke bryan
Well, but...
joe rogan
Yeah, all of the above.
luke bryan
But yeah, I mean, I look at I've got Till, my nephew, he's lived with me since he was 12, and then Till's 22 now, and Bo is 16, and Tate is 14. And Till was 15 when he killed his first elk.
The rule has been, if you can pull 55 pounds, you're ready to hunt.
And so Bo is a lot bigger than Tate.
When he was 13 and 14, he said, Bo, my 13-year-old killed a full-grown elk at 13. Whoa.
joe rogan
With a Bo?
luke bryan
With a Bo.
unidentified
Whoa.
luke bryan
Totally the friggin' most badass thing I've ever seen.
And then...
joe rogan
Just to be that young and be able to execute the shot.
luke bryan
Dude, he did it, and he earned it.
And like I said, I've been hiking him up those hills.
That's what another...
Like, the hunting and the killing is...
Man, when you pack out a damn 800-pound animal...
The first time I packed my elk out, dude, when I got to the Polaris, I mean, I was like...
I was sobbing, like from exertion, like delusional, because we took a wrong turn, we hit a big Aspen blowdown, and I had to tote the head and the cape out, and I had to walk over blown-down Aspens with that cape.
And once we got 500 yards into the blowdown, And man, we got to that buggy, and all the elk hunting guys, they're the toughest dudes.
joe rogan
Oh yeah, they're doing that all year long.
They're grizzled.
luke bryan
They're the toughest guys.
I tell people, man, if I get called to a serious...
If I get called in in a serious war, I'm calling my elk guides.
That's my first call.
But it's, you know, and I didn't grow up ever thinking I'd have the opportunity or the ability to go hunt elk.
But once you start doing it and...
But, you know, man, this week I killed...
Thursday I killed my biggest whitetail I ever did.
And, man, I was so...
I'm so...
I'm overwhelmed by killing it.
I don't even know if I've enjoyed it yet because it kind of happened fast.
But it's just so fun.
joe rogan
Do you have a picture?
How big is it?
luke bryan
It was big.
I didn't post it because it's obviously in my high fence.
But man, this deer was born in the fence.
In Tennessee, you can't bring any genetics in.
You can't do anything.
Whatever herd you have...
joe rogan
Wild herd.
luke bryan
Whatever wild Tennessee deer you have, you have to grow them.
And man, this deer, Joe, when he was two years old, we were like, what in the fuck?
What a UFO ship dropped this off in here.
He started with huge mass, different looking genetics, and we watched him for, we grew him for, we feel like he's five and a half.
joe rogan
Whoa!
luke bryan
Dude, we are over the moon.
joe rogan
Don't say a stag.
luke bryan
I know.
joe rogan
That's a huge deer.
How big is your property?
luke bryan
I guess altogether it's probably 1,200 acres in the fence.
joe rogan
So that is much more space than a deer would ever travel in its natural life anyway.
luke bryan
I'll put it to you this way.
We put about 18 red stag in there.
We don't know how many there are.
joe rogan
That deer might have got fucked by a stag.
luke bryan
I think he might have.
joe rogan
I think his mom.
luke bryan
Yeah, he might have crossed.
A hybrid, yeah.
That might be a hybrid.
Dude, we will ride around.
We have too many stag, and we'll try to thin them out.
Joe, we can't find them.
Like...
Literally, like, we'll spend a day.
I'm like, hey, grab the rifle.
We're going to pull up here, walk this bottom.
Can't find them.
There's 60 of them in there.
We hunted them for four days this weekend.
We killed two.
So 1,200 is, I mean...
joe rogan
It's much larger than a deer would have in its natural realm.
luke bryan
Yeah, and I, you know, listen, I mean, there are a million ways you can criticize me for having the high fence, but, you know, I have low fences that we bounce back and forth on the low fences.
Because that's fun as hell, too, to not know what's walking in.
But the main thing is, I wanted my boys to have the ability to manage deer and grow them.
I grew up, I love South Texas.
Big, big, I love South Texas deer hunt.
But I learned I leased a South Texas place down here.
And then I learned having young children and my schedule, man, to go own a South Texas ranch, commit that much to a South Texas ranch, and get five days there wasn't my thing.
So my high fence in Tennessee is kind of like my little ode or my little homage to my love for South Texas whitetails.
joe rogan
So you can keep it close?
luke bryan
Keep it close.
It's 55 minutes from the house.
joe rogan
Oh, that's nice.
luke bryan
And it's a retreat.
I get down there.
You know, Starlink has ruined us because now we have internet.
But before that, man, we'd pull in the holler down there and you'd have to drive up to the hill to make a phone call.
But, oh, Elon saved us on that.
joe rogan
Yeah, the new Starlink's wild.
It's the size of like a notebook.
luke bryan
Well, what was funny is the first time we saw the satellites come over, we were at elk camp.
You know, my nephew, Till, he's 21, and we're all liquored up, and my nephew, he goes, Guys, I know we've been drinking all day, but what in the hell is coming toward us right now?
And we were like, and then we had one guy in the group was like, God damn, that's Elon Musk!
And we watched it go over and we were like, wow, what a, what a...
joe rogan
It's amazing.
We used one in Utah for the first time this year.
So easy to set up, set it up in like five minutes.
luke bryan
We did it too.
joe rogan
And then we're online, YouTube, whatever you want.
luke bryan
I mean, my wife, when I went to elk camp, my wife was like, all right, I'll hear you, I'll see you, I'll talk to you in six days.
First day, elk camp, set the Starlink out, FaceTime, hey baby, how are you?
joe rogan
It's crazy.
luke bryan
Yeah.
joe rogan
My buddy was deer hunting recently in South Texas, and he said on three different occasions in the week, their deer got bumped by illegals.
He said it was crazy.
He said illegal aliens just moving through the ranch.
He said they have, you know, a swarm of them every day.
luke bryan
I hunt South Texas every year, and the ranch we went to last year...
At any given moment, you can drive and pick up 50 backpacks.
They just...
That ranch looks like...
And I hadn't been...
This ranch was closer to the border than I've ever been.
And there are piles of backpacks and tarps.
You know, they'll take tarps and put the tarp out.
And they'll wait in the day, and then they get picked up at night, typically.
But when they get picked up, they chunk their backpack.
The ranch I was at, they have to have a full-time team of people just going around picking up backpacks and keeping trash off the ranch.
joe rogan
My buddy who has a ranch in South Texas found a dead guy.
Found a guy who ran out of water.
Just died on his ranch.
luke bryan
It's heartbreaking because, dude, I can't imagine having to walk through that brush to get to freedom.
joe rogan
Right.
luke bryan
And not knowing where you're going.
Not knowing where you're going and probably you have kids.
joe rogan
Yeah, yeah.
luke bryan
Dude, when I leave South Texas, I'm pulling cactuses out of my ass for a month.
joe rogan
Yeah.
luke bryan
Especially if you do, you know, you go rattle for them and stuff.
joe rogan
Forget about rattlesnakes.
Forget about everything else that's down there.
luke bryan
And water, yeah, when you think about, man, you get your water rations.
joe rogan
Yeah.
luke bryan
You miss that?
joe rogan
Yeah.
You could zig when you should have zagged and you're not going to run into water, especially down there.
And it was in the summer, so, you know, 105 degrees outside.
This poor dude just died.
And they found him.
luke bryan
Well, every ranch...
Every ranch I've went to, the ranch owner, you know, they're encountering two deaths a year, 15 to 20. Most of the time, they come up to the main headquarters needing water, and when they get to you—or that's been my experience with talking to ranch managers down there— They're very, you know, they're not, I don't think they're there to create any problems.
They're just like, hey, you know, we need some water.
joe rogan
The vast majority of them are just trying to get a better life.
luke bryan
Get a better life.
joe rogan
And we would be doing it, too.
Could you imagine if you live in a third world country and you had kids and you realize you can get to America and you get a good job and you got to figure out how to do it?
Yeah, I would do it.
We would all do it.
We would all do it.
It's just the craziness of not knowing where you're going in South Texas, which is so vast.
I mean, I think it's one of those things where people talk about it.
It's almost like talking about space.
You know, like, oh, the galaxy is 200 million stars or 200 billion stars.
It doesn't make sense because it's like it's too big for you to understand.
If you had to walk through South Texas, it's South Texas.
Texas itself is bigger than like multiple countries in Europe.
Yeah.
luke bryan
Well, I think, you know, and even imagine before, like, the oil booms and oil rigs and stuff like that.
Now they have a little bit of visual lights to walk to.
joe rogan
Right, right.
luke bryan
I mean, man, I couldn't imagine.
joe rogan
Yeah.
luke bryan
Just striking out.
joe rogan
Just taking a chance.
luke bryan
Crossing the Rio Grande.
joe rogan
Hoping.
Hoping.
Or maybe you'd gone with someone who went through it before, and they have a vague memory of what's the best way to get to a creek.
luke bryan
I don't know.
I mean, you know, we've been there and, you know, the guys, they open box blinds, you know, the deer hunting towers and there's a family sleeping in the box blind.
Man, you just got to feel so sorry for them.
Yeah, for sure.
15, 16 years old, processing Cubans where it's so bad that you're going to fucking piece together a raft, and you're going to give it a go for Miami.
I remember being 16 going, how bad must that be?
How bad must that be?
joe rogan
Pretty fucking bad.
Their case is a little different because they're running from a communist dictatorship.
And they were like, that's why the most Republican motherfuckers in this country are Cubans.
Cubans go hard.
They're like, we've seen what all this socialist horseshit comes down to.
And it comes down to government control over every aspect of your life, and they enforce it with violence.
They enforce it with guns.
It's not as simple as everybody just gives up whatever they have, and now everybody has an equal amount.
That's all nonsense.
That's the hook.
But the reality is, the government controls everything, and you are fucked.
And they always live in big-ass houses, and they eat great food, and everybody else is barely getting by.
luke bryan
And it's everywhere.
It's from Africa to Cuba to...
The whole African...
joe rogan
Yeah.
luke bryan
That whole...
joe rogan
Have you ever hunted in Africa?
luke bryan
I haven't, but I know I will.
I can go on this show and say, man, I'm not one of those guys that's thinking about an elephant or lions and all that.
I love to bow hunt, and I like plains animals, your kudos and all that stuff.
When my boys get a little older and we can do a proper two-month...
Currently, sports and my children have ruined my hunting life.
Well, because my boys are going to play all the sports, but when we can get a...
I'd love to do them a gap year, and let's go do a true safari.
And when I say safari, that doesn't mean I want to go, like, hunt 60 days.
I want to do, like, your...
I want to see all of the Serengetis and all of the animals and take in the animals for a month and have, like, the wives and the girls and the girlfriends, and we sit out there and do the safaris.
But then I want to carve out two or three days where all the boys go...
You know, go get the true planes game.
joe rogan
Yeah.
luke bryan
And I would love...
Man, I tell you, it's a pretty cool story.
My pilot, my lead pilot is South African.
And during COVID, man, he couldn't...
His mother was dying, and he couldn't get down there to tell his mother bye.
And at this point, I just kind of got to know AJ. And, man...
I've always heard that South Africans are pretty badass dudes.
And at the time, I was learning that A.J. is a pretty badass dude.
I didn't all together know it, but...
Well, he got with me and he goes, Luke, man, it's still...
I cannot get into South Africa.
It may have been his mother or his wife's mother, but I called some local guys, some local Congress guys in Tennessee, and they granted him permission.
To get down there, and they got to tell either his wife's mother, well, he comes back and he's like, Luke, I now owe you a Cape Buffalo.
unidentified
Ha ha ha!
luke bryan
And I was like, what?
He goes, my family has a big ranch.
We're overrun with Cape Buffalo, and you now have one of my Cape Buffalo.
So, dude, he is going to fly me down there, and I'm like, and that's just kind of the way he's wired, but, you know, he's going to help us with some safari stuff.
joe rogan
Don't they call them the Black Death?
luke bryan
Yeah, now they are bad.
Yeah, you don't just go running up to them.
joe rogan
Yeah.
luke bryan
Like with your, not your shit together.
joe rogan
That's a big animal.
That's like an 1800 pound animal, right?
luke bryan
Maybe bigger.
And like...
joe rogan
All muscle.
So Cam and Adam Greentree, they went up to Australia.
You know, Australia has like an infestation of Asian buffalo.
They have, I forget which type of buffalo it is, but invasive.
So someone introduced it, like all the animals in Australia, a lot of the mammals were introduced and they have no natural predators.
So they have these buffalo up there everywhere.
Cam said he shot one, and they went up there with no food, and they went up there to live off the land.
They're drinking out of fucking crocodile lakes, like literally bathing in that shit, filtering water, eating whatever fish they caught.
luke bryan
It's Cam's new version of pushing himself.
I think it was Adam's idea.
joe rogan
He's a psycho, too.
So the both of them are perfect together.
So he said he had one piece of buffalo in his mouth for a half an hour just chewing on it.
He said that's how tough they are.
He said it took forever to eat that thing.
luke bryan
The true form of, like, yeah, no, that's even a whole other level of true organics when it takes you, you know, when your jerky's jerky right out of the, you know, right in the field.
joe rogan
Yeah, well, there's no dry-aged buffalo out there.
luke bryan
Did you say I was a taste of it?
joe rogan
I mean...
luke bryan
Because most plains animals in Africa, historically, they say are far beyond our plains animals as far as the meat.
Like your kudos and your...
I mean, I'm drawing a blank on all the plains games.
And like I said, this is stuff that I'm like...
Totally elementary in, because I just don't know much about that whole African thing.
joe rogan
It seems like the things that the big cats want to eat are all delicious.
luke bryan
Right, yeah.
joe rogan
Like I shot a Neil guy a couple years ago, and tigers eat them.
luke bryan
Right.
Did you ever eat the Neil guy?
joe rogan
Yeah, it's delicious.
luke bryan
And the meat is like an even more vivid red color to it than even our elk and stuff.
joe rogan
Well, it's all delicious.
My favorite is still elk, but another one is axis deer.
They get hunted by tigers, and they're some of the best tasting animals alive.
Axis deer are delicious.
I think cats are smart, just like bears are smart, too.
Salmon's delicious.
luke bryan
I'd sit there and pick them off.
joe rogan
They know what they're doing.
luke bryan
Well, have you done Africa?
Are you going to do it?
joe rogan
I would like to.
I'd like to go over to Africa just to see it.
luke bryan
So you really got it.
Cam, was he kind of your catalyst?
unidentified
Oh, yeah.
luke bryan
And God, I mean, it's like you had Michael Jordan teaching you how to play basketball.
Yeah, Michael Jordan teaching you how to shoot free throws.
It's so fun, though.
I tell you, man, I dove hard into duck hunting, and you talk about learning to blow a duck call.
And when you think you know how to blow a duck call, and you get next to somebody that blows a duck call, and you blow yours, and the room starts laughing at you, like ridicule, like, take your duck call off.
And put it in your bedroom and leave it when we go hunting.
And I'm like, dude, I've been working on this fucking thing for four years!
And they're like...
And it's so funny, but...
joe rogan
It's like elk bugles.
luke bryan
Yeah.
joe rogan
Like someone who sucks at bugling.
Like you hear them, you're like, what the fuck was that?
luke bryan
I mean, it's like you walking in with a tutu on.
joe rogan
Yeah.
I love duck hunting, too.
I've never done it, but I love the idea of it because you're sneaking.
You're hiding.
You got fake ducks.
You got the whole deal.
Some people have ducks that even have flopping wings.
luke bryan
Listen, man, let me tell you something.
Dude, I got given a chocolate lab about eight years ago.
And here comes this wormy-ass chocolate lab into my home, you know, scrawny.
And since then, oh my God, that damn animal has thrust me into duck hunting just so I could take him duck hunting.
And man, it is...
joe rogan
That sounds like the same excuse you used with your kids.
luke bryan
Right, my kid, yeah.
joe rogan
I have to go for the dog!
luke bryan
Yeah, for the dog.
joe rogan
The dog needs some duck hunting in its life.
luke bryan
But man, and my wife is...
This dog, man...
This dog can open every drawer in our house.
He can open Frito-Lays with his...
He can smack Frito-Lays open and eat them.
He's pushed a porcelain pound cake, a pound cake on a porcelain island off onto the floor, ate the pound cake and the porcelain dish, and Like, x-ray, 100 shards of porcelain in his stomach.
The vet's like, put that fucker out in the yard, and if he makes it, if he lives, call me back.
He lived, and now I have duck hunting properties, and my boy, you know, we're in the house blowing duck calls.
My wife's like, you know, I mean, my wife's like, four boys in the house, all of them blowing duck calls.
She's like, man, one day, yeah.
joe rogan
So do you have one of them setups where you're hiding in one of those shacks that's underground?
luke bryan
We have elevated blinds that are brushed in and some brush, and then we have pit blinds that are, you know, when you get down in a pit blind...
joe rogan
And then you lift it up?
luke bryan
Yeah, you're right along the water level.
And then...
You know, there's experiences where you wade in the woods, and they come down in the woods, and man, it's just...
The thing that really makes duck hunting kind of like when you're in a blind with your...
Let's just say you got your buddies from way back, and there's five of you, and you're sitting there smoking cigars, and you're in the blind together, and it's very social, too.
Drinking coffee, it's...
You know, 15 degrees, coffee, cigar, you know, and everybody's like, shh, shh, shh, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, and you work the ducks, they light in front of you, kill them, the dog gets them, brings the duck back, you look at the duck, and you're just like...
Just have a big ol' toke on your cigar, and you're like, yep, this is pretty good shit right here.
joe rogan
Are you good at cooking them?
luke bryan
Yeah, man.
You know, the thing about it, when you do, you know, your grain ducks, your ducks that feed on your rice and your corn.
You know, like a diver duck that eats essentially minnows.
Yeah, you don't want to eat that.
And geese.
You find somebody that can cook a goose.
You know the story about how to cook a goose?
joe rogan
No.
luke bryan
Well, you get a big pot and you put a bunch of water and then you put a concrete cinder block in there and you boil the goose and you pull the goose out and eat the cinder block.
But some people can make a speckled goose.
Speckled bellies are good.
But like a mallard and a wood duck, oh man, a wood duck with jalapeno and cheese and bacon wrap, which nothing's bad when you do that.
joe rogan
My friend Jesse Griffiths, he runs this restaurant out here called Dai Due.
luke bryan
Is it?
joe rogan
It's fantastic.
And he serves a lot of wild game.
And Jesse came on this hunt with us with Steve Rinello down in South Texas.
And Jesse cooked some diver duck.
luke bryan
Was it good?
joe rogan
It was fantastic.
luke bryan
Whoever the hell Jesse is.
He's a wizard.
Well, that's great.
joe rogan
He's a real chef.
luke bryan
So Ryan Seacrest, he's like, hey, man.
joe rogan
Ryan Seacrest, the radio guy?
luke bryan
My guy, yeah, at American Idol.
And Seacrest goes, hey, I've got a...
You need a light?
unidentified
Yeah.
luke bryan
He goes, dude, I booked this at EMP, 11 Madison Park.
Number one, at the time, number one restaurant in downtown.
You know, Adam was...
Ryan was taking me and Katie and Lionel to dinner, and I've never been to certainly the number one restaurant in the world.
They take us a tour of the kitchen, and dude, they have ducks, walls, because all of your French cuisine, really the centerpiece is duck.
That's like the...
joe rogan
Duck fat.
luke bryan
The ducks are the real big part of French cuisine.
Well, dude, I see these...
I see all these ducks and I'm like, what are y'all doing here?
He goes, man, we're aging them.
So they get these.
Now they're getting probably there.
They're getting farm-raised, organically grown ducks and they age them with the guts in them.
joe rogan
Yeah, I've heard of that.
I've heard people do that with pheasants, too.
You hang them by their neck.
luke bryan
The enzymes of the guts pull stuff out of the meat.
joe rogan
Well, it adds a flavor to it, apparently.
luke bryan
But it sketches me out.
Well, here's the tricky part, because...
Dude, I don't even know if I enjoyed my meal because I picked the chef's brain because I wanted to figure out a way to take my mallards and all my ducks I killed and age them properly.
But what you do got to worry about is when you shoot them, you know, you're shooting, the guts are going through kind of in the meat a little bit.
joe rogan
If you shoot them.
unidentified
Right.
joe rogan
That's different than an organic one.
luke bryan
You know, I haven't got that good where I all headshot them yet, but...
joe rogan
No, when these guys are aging them, what's the temperature in the room?
luke bryan
I think it's just above...
They're not freezing them.
I think it's however you would dry age a cow.
joe rogan
So like 40 degrees?
luke bryan
Probably 40 degrees and 13, 15 days with the guts in them.
Wow.
joe rogan
15 days with the guts in them.
I've heard that people hang their pheasants until their heads fall off.
And that's when they cut them up.
Who figured that out?
Who was the bold bastard that took that 15 days?
luke bryan
It's the guy that ate the first oyster, right?
joe rogan
The guy who drank out of the puddle.
luke bryan
Right.
Yeah, and it is fascinating in pheasant.
And when you look at pheasant and quail and chuckers and Hungarian partridge now, you're talking about the end all of wild game.
In my opinion, the top of the...
joe rogan
That's what you like the most?
luke bryan
Well, I think when you look at the pheasants, you know, they call them prairie chickens, and they're beautiful.
The meat's a little whiter and less gamey.
joe rogan
Have you had sandhill crane?
luke bryan
Yes, rib eye of the sky.
joe rogan
I haven't, but it's crazy to look at it.
It does look like steak.
It's a red meat, a deep red meat, and it's a bird.
luke bryan
And, you know, they're wild little creatures, too, man.
You know, when you take your lab sandhill crane hunting, you've got to fit them with goggles.
joe rogan
Because they poke her eyes out?
luke bryan
Yeah.
joe rogan
Whoa.
luke bryan
And then, I just got in a golf course property down in Florida.
And we sold our beach house, and then we're kind of migrating to this place.
And I fly down to the tour of the property, and I'm like, dude...
What are y'all doing with all these sandhill cranes?
And they're like, what do you mean?
It's like a golf course guy.
And I said, dude, that's the rib eye of the sky, bro.
He's like, he looked it up and you can't shoot sandhill cranes in Florida.
unidentified
What?
joe rogan
Somebody call the governor.
luke bryan
Everywhere.
joe rogan
Really?
luke bryan
Everywhere on this property.
joe rogan
You can't shoot sandhill cranes in Florida, but you can shoot alligators?
luke bryan
Unless they're lying to me because they're scared I'm going to have a psychotic episode and go running out through the golf course with the guns.
joe rogan
Maybe it's just the area where you're at.
luke bryan
You couldn't shoot sandhill cranes.
They may be protected in certain counties.
But, you know, even in Tennessee, Florida Center is protected under the federal...
joe rogan
They're protected under Federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
luke bryan
Look at that shit.
joe rogan
Wow.
State rule, blah, blah, blah.
Intentional feeding of sandhill cranes is prohibited.
So you can't hunt them.
luke bryan
Well, in Tennessee, there's a couple guys that guide them, and I think it's a draw tag.
You can put in to draw a sandhill crane tag, and then, man, they make a very distinct...
Something like that.
And, dude, you can hear them, and I'll hear them coming over my farm.
And, God, if that's the wrong noise I just made, I'm going to get...
joe rogan
Sounds good.
luke bryan
I'm going to...
You got it?
unidentified
Whoa.
luke bryan
I love this guy.
I need me one of...
That's them.
Wow.
joe rogan
Look at all of them.
luke bryan
Yeah, that's...
You hear that?
joe rogan
Yeah.
What a fucking cool animal.
They sound like something from Avatar.
luke bryan
See those beaks?
joe rogan
Yeah.
luke bryan
Those are Labrador retriever blinders right there.
joe rogan
How do you fasten the goggles on a dog?
luke bryan
Man, oh God, here he goes.
Oh my gosh, this is like the great Sandhill Crane goggles for labs.
This is going to be great.
joe rogan
How does it secure on?
I'm thinking about a dog's face.
luke bryan
I guess you've seen those dogs in those side cars on the motorcycles.
Probably that rig.
joe rogan
I don't think that's the same.
luke bryan
Yeah, that's like an Aspen.
joe rogan
That's two dogs being silly.
luke bryan
Yeah, so in Tennessee, you can hire a guy, and he'll take you, and they'll kind of get them coming into an area, and I think you can.
joe rogan
There you go.
Oh, there it goes.
luke bryan
There you go.
joe rogan
Oh, wow.
That's crazy.
luke bryan
Now, those look like, I think those are snow geese.
Snow geese are probably the same.
joe rogan
Look at their goggles all scratched up, too.
luke bryan
Yeah.
No, those are Sandhills.
joe rogan
Wow, that's crazy.
Dogs need to have their eyes protected.
luke bryan
Yeah, so when you get...
Yeah, well, you've got your golden, but man, if you get your lab, oh man, beware of that, because you will get hooked.
joe rogan
Oh, I'm sure I would be.
Also, I love duck.
Duck's delicious.
luke bryan
Oh, on the grill, marinate it properly for...
A day or two playing on it.
joe rogan
That's what Jesse does.
That's the difference.
luke bryan
You've got to plan on it.
joe rogan
That's why he does the diver duck.
I'm telling you, this diver duck was sensational.
luke bryan
And that's what you've got to watch in all wild game is, man, plan it.
joe rogan
Preparation.
luke bryan
Get it marinated and, man, you just can't beat it.
joe rogan
Yeah, you've got to know what you're cooking, how to cook it, especially if you're cooking something that has low body fat.
You've got to make sure you cook it nice and slow.
That's one of the great things about things like a Traeger.
You can just set it for $2.65.
luke bryan
Best thing in the world.
joe rogan
Leave it.
The new one's fantastic, too.
Everything comes out so smoky and delicious.
luke bryan
Man, my dad, 4th of July...
I think he was drunk and hated us on 4th of July because he stayed up smoking the Boston Bud every night.
You know, I remember my dad, man.
He'd have that old charbroil out there, and he'd get up with his vinegar and all this shit, and he would wake up all night, night before the 4th, and smoke them butts, man.
But now you just walk out, put that thing on 220 at about 8 p.m., wake up at 8 a.m., The app tells you if you're low on pellets.
I know!
It's like, what are we doing here?
unidentified
It's crazy.
joe rogan
It's so much easier.
There's something that men are attracted to, like, cooking over wood, though.
Like, an actual fire, charcoal, and wood.
luke bryan
Well, and we're in the heart of it in Texas, you know, right here.
I mean, these guys take a damn...
Propane tanks.
They glue four propane tanks together and...
Have a smokestack.
And the guy that...
What's our guy that does our charity event?
Oh my God, I can't believe I'm...
I'll come up with him, but...
Mark, text me Meat Church.
Have you met the Meat Church dude?
joe rogan
Oh yeah, I've met that dude, yeah.
luke bryan
Yeah, yeah, he comes and...
joe rogan
He's got some awesome rubs.
luke bryan
He's got all that, but then what's funny is...
Yeah, he pulled up to our charity event with this big smoker.
And man, I'm like...
This is like Elon Musk...
Style engineering on this thing.
It's pretty, you know, and man, you know, they get out there and, yeah, they'll look at me and you doing Traegers and we're, that's about like us, that's our version of having a tutu on.
joe rogan
It is funny, because people want to do it all themselves.
The offset smokers.
Like, have you ever gone to Terry Black's here and see the lines of the offset smokers?
Terry Black's is the number one barbecue place in the country, probably in the world.
They cook more volume of barbecue than anywhere else on the country.
And they have just line after line of these giant propane tank smokers with briskets and beef ribs and spare ribs.
luke bryan
When I moved to Nashville, being a South Georgia boy, I'd never even heard of brisket.
unidentified
Really?
luke bryan
We only knew pork barbecue.
So when I moved to Nashville, and then there's some dude there with a Texas brisket restaurant in Nashville, I'm like, what are they talking about brisket?
And this was 2001 I moved to Nashville.
This is how insulated you could be in your own...
You know, as we talk about the ways of the world changing, I mean, it's like, dude, I lived in a section, and everybody, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, they didn't, brisket was like...
joe rogan
I think brisket was originally a German thing.
I think it was like with the sausages, like there was cuts of the meat.
Well, the smoker thing came certainly from German immigrants that came to Texas.
That's where the origin of the barbecue out here is.
And then the brisket was like cuts that nobody else wanted.
unidentified
Right.
joe rogan
So they figured out a way to take these cuts that nobody else wanted and turn them into something delicious.
They just had to do it over time, and now it's like a preferred cut.
You know, if you go to Terry Black's, the brisket's sensational.
luke bryan
And they're probably cooking, yeah, the preferred cuts of, like, which cut of the brisket would you like, not the old...
Flank meat down there, you know, you can probably get the ribeye and all that.
joe rogan
I think it's all just how long you cook it for.
How you do it, what temperature.
And they wrap it, and then they unwrap it, and they spray it.
Like, they have it down to a science.
And then at the end, it's like, the key is you want to be able to fold it over your finger and not have it break apart.
Just get it to just where it folds over.
luke bryan
See, our deal was just always smoke a big pig, you know, smoke a pig, you know.
You know, not the one as big as this table, but, you know, about that long.
joe rogan
100-pounder.
unidentified
Yeah.
luke bryan
And walk up there on the family reunion, and all the women were grossed out, because, you know, you're just pulling the big pig, you know, the big, you know, you can pull that meat off a pig, it's like that, so...
We're getting hungry, Joe.
joe rogan
I know.
That's the good thing about wild pigs, too.
They're always available to hunt.
One of the great things about Texas...
It's not good if you're on a ranch or if you have a farm, but if you're a person who wants to hunt, you can hunt wild pigs 365 days a year and always have sausage.
luke bryan
Our place, me and my best friend, we've got a quail hunting place down in the heart of South Georgia.
A ton of swamps.
Dude, we were...
Which you know all the math, and I'm sure you've brought it up on how many sow pigs, you know, they'll kick off 30 pigs a year annually.
joe rogan
They can, yeah.
luke bryan
And then we would have them roll through our front yard $30,000 damage a night.
joe rogan
Yeah.
luke bryan
And for anybody out there listening, if you have this going on, we mounted lights in all the trees around our whole lodge.
And you flip them lights on, and we haven't had one wild hog root up our yard since.
unidentified
Really?
luke bryan
They will not come around those lights.
It's a great tactic.
joe rogan
That's interesting.
luke bryan
Yeah, and when somebody told him, you know, some good old boy told him, and he was like, man, we'll try anything, because...
You would walk out there and it looked like 300 landmines went off.
And the night before, our yard looked like Augusta.
joe rogan
Yeah, it's crazy, isn't it?
luke bryan
I mean, they're bad little dudes now.
joe rogan
They do a lot of damage.
I mean, in Texas alone, it's millions and millions of dollars of damage of crops every year.
They shoot them out of helicopters here.
You ever done any of that?
Have you?
luke bryan
It is...
Man, it is.
joe rogan
It's the most unfair type of hunting that's ever existed.
luke bryan
Man, if, you know, I don't know, you know, my children, I took my boys.
And somewhere there's a, you know, I hope he doesn't hear, but there's a Navy SEAL Marine recruiter, because my sons are ready for warfare after doing that.
I'm like...
But, you know, the guy that we took, you know, he's got a big, beautiful high fence, and, you know, if you fly around him, man, you can, you know, he has to thin him out every year.
joe rogan
Yeah, you have to.
luke bryan
But it's so fun doing it out of a helicopter, you don't want to thin them all out, because you keep wanting to, you know, you keep wanting to do it a little bit, but...
But you haven't done that yet?
joe rogan
No.
No.
I'm still...
I just mostly bow hunt them.
luke bryan
Well, you know, our pig stuff in Georgia, man, it's fun because you can go on a deer hunt, shoot some deer with a bow, and then we'll take a rifle and late in the evening the hogs will come out.
joe rogan
I know a lot of guys shoot them at nighttime, too.
luke bryan
Yeah, yeah.
Like thermals.
We have guys with the big trap doors that trap them and stuff like that.
Yeah.
I mean, they're probably the number one, you know, wildlife.
I never will forget, you know, right when, like, maybe iPhones come out and you get your iPhone news updates, and then I never even knew what the magazine, like, The New Yorker was, or, like, The Guardian and all those things.
Well, The New Yorker, I'm scrolling through, and I see feral pigs, and it was this huge article done by a guy.
Maybe the editor of The New Yorker.
Man, he did a great job with that article and just went through...
And this was 15 years ago I read that article about the feral hog problems.
And you would think...
I don't know.
I would think The New Yorker leans quite left.
But the fact that this guy wrote the article from a perspective of...
Huge problem, need to be dealt with, was a pretty badass take on it.
joe rogan
Well, once people see the sheer numbers, they're so overwhelming that you go, wait a minute, how...
How are you going to stop this?
How are you going to stop it from multiplying continually every year?
Well, you're not.
You're not.
There's places that you're not going to get to.
luke bryan
There's too many of them.
In Georgia and these swampy deals, you can't helicopter them there.
So that's when you get these old boys with their dogs and they run off in the...
That'll help.
joe rogan
But even then...
luke bryan
Here's another thing.
You think about this.
So when I start my high fence, the year that I started it, our turkey population in Tennessee, which it's been going through hell, and you'll hear this, The turkey population in Tennessee was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen.
I mean, eastern turkey hunting, one of the most beautiful things in the wildlife that the state of Tennessee has.
And my turkey population is amazing and still is, but we hired a guy and he put 110 traps out.
110. And night one had over 100 varmints.
Coons, possums, armadillos in the traps night one.
joe rogan
So they're just killing all the turkeys.
luke bryan
They eat the eggs.
joe rogan
Yeah.
luke bryan
You know, a turkey lays 12...
I found this out this year.
If I can get a couple nuggets that you haven't learned yet, that's kind of the goal for the day.
Turkey does not lay their eggs all at the same time.
joe rogan
Really?
luke bryan
They lay their eggs one day at a time.
They lay it next to a water source.
They go to the water source, hold the water in their mouth, Drip the water on the eggs periodically, using the water to hatch them at the same time.
Because a hen turkey, if she had to hatch, all the eggs hatch at the same time.
But if she had to hatch them for 12 days, she could never keep them corralled properly.
unidentified
Oh.
luke bryan
So she manipulates with water.
And if I'm wrong...
Now, this is a biologist that told me this.
I heard this this year.
Totally blew my mind.
So in the nest, and I've walked up on them, they got 12 or 13 of them sitting there beautifully.
And whatever that hen does, she manages those eggs to hatch at the same time.
joe rogan
Wow.
luke bryan
And maybe...
Now, like a tortoise, I guess, or a beach turtle or whatever.
You know, I think they...
They spit them all out that night, but a hen turkey does not.
So one armadillo rolls by that nest.
joe rogan
That's a wrap.
luke bryan
That's a wrap.
She just lost them all.
So there was a big study that went on in Tennessee about the decline of the turkey population.
joe rogan
So what do they do about that?
They try to hunt environments?
luke bryan
Well, first of all, trapping now is so rare.
The art of trapping has gone down quite a bit.
Oh, and I'm not even bringing up coyotes in Tennessee.
So, yeah, if they can loosen up, Tennessee can loosen up their trapping laws and make it more available, and you just got to thin out those...
You know, armadillos in Tennessee, you would have never...
Man, we woke up, and we can ride around and shoot 30 a night.
joe rogan
Really?
luke bryan
Armadillos.
30. Don't they carry like crazy plague diseases?
Man, I wouldn't recommend touching them, you know.
They say they do, but that's...
People eat them?
I've never heard of that, but you probably can find somebody.
joe rogan
They definitely eat raccoons.
luke bryan
They definitely eat raccoons, and definitely, I don't know about possums, but if you're eating a possum, your ass is hungry.
joe rogan
You're very hungry.
luke bryan
But raccoons, I mean, in Georgia where we grew up, had several old-timers, man.
They'd get them a coon, and it was always kind of a party deal.
joe rogan
What does raccoon taste like?
luke bryan
I never had.
Well, we got an old buddy down there.
He's like, you know what bald eagle tastes like?
Owl.
So I guess you could say, Racky, you know, I had a buddy of mine tell a game warden that joke.
It didn't go over well.
joe rogan
There's a lot of shit that people eat that people would go, what?
luke bryan
Yeah.
I mean, when you're talking about...
I saw somebody do the pig deal with a full gator.
joe rogan
Oh, I've seen that before.
luke bryan
And I hadn't done that.
I've had gator tail, but I hadn't had...
joe rogan
Yeah, they'll take a giant smoker and put a gator in there.
luke bryan
Put the whole thing on there.
Yeah.
And they skin it and all that.
joe rogan
Put an apple in its mouth.
luke bryan
Yeah.
You know what's crazy in Georgia?
There's a place, rural...
So all the chicken farms down there, huge chicken farms, all of them.
Well, what do you do with the chicken carcasses?
Well, I mean, there's a lot.
They used to grind them up and feed them back to chickens, but some of them would get...
Well, they feed them to gator farms.
joe rogan
Oh, wow.
luke bryan
They put them in a limb shredder.
joe rogan
Oh, wow.
luke bryan
Now, you talk about the most foul smell on the planet.
Go into a Gator Farm warehouse.
Joe.
Buddy.
joe rogan
Just rot.
luke bryan
Nothing can replicate.
Maybe the Sir Strauman Challenge can replicate, you know, the whole Sir Strauman joke thing.
What's that?
You've seen where the guys pop the lid on the Swedish fish?
joe rogan
No.
luke bryan
Oh, Joe!
Sir Strauman?
joe rogan
What is it?
luke bryan
Oh, we did it at our deer camp.
It's like an aged, sweetest fish that's rotten in a can.
joe rogan
It's aged?
luke bryan
For years.
Like a sardine.
And so, yeah, the Sostramon Challenge.
joe rogan
Look at this guy's face.
luke bryan
Dude, we popped that thing.
joe rogan
So people fish with them?
They use it for bait, like for catfish or something?
luke bryan
Look, people eat that.
joe rogan
Oh, foul.
luke bryan
And if you can stay in the room with it...
joe rogan
Have you tried it?
luke bryan
No, I was outside 15 yards from it, throwing up in the flower bed.
joe rogan
Alright, we've got to order some, Jamie.
Order some.
luke bryan
I'm glad I didn't get you...
joe rogan
Might eat it on Fight Companion.
Well, Denver's on the verge of passing a no-fur law.
So if Denver passes a no-fur law, what are they going to do about cowboy hats that have beaver skin lining?
And then if you're going to say no fur, how are you going to say no fur but you're allowing leather?
So skin is okay as long as you take the furry part off.
Is the furry part what's offensive?
You know what you'd fucking, the chaos that would ensue if you outlawed leather?
Everybody's belt is illegal.
Everybody's shoes are illegal.
Air Jordans are illegal.
luke bryan
And they're calling it illegal.
joe rogan
Illegal.
Yeah, they're trying to pass a law.
They're trying to pass a law where they ban fur.
luke bryan
Sorry.
joe rogan
They've done it before.
I mean, they've done it in other places.
luke bryan
But where does it, like I said, where does it, Joe, I'm at with America.
joe rogan
It just keeps going.
That's the problem.
luke bryan
When I'm an American idol.
joe rogan
It never fucking ends.
luke bryan
When I'm an American idol.
No.
It never ends.
joe rogan
It's never going to end.
They're going to keep pushing.
It'll get to you can't eat meat.
It'll get to it has to be lab-grown meat.
It could get as crazy as you could ever imagine there's animal rights people that would like to push in that direction.
And you would have never thought this would be possible, but you would have never thought that you would have biological males competing against females in high school sports.
And that's everywhere.
And if you complain against that, you're a bigot.
You're seeing the craziest of crazy thinking.
There's people that think the pedophiles are minor-attracted persons, and they'll talk about this as university professors teaching classes.
It's been recorded.
People have seen it.
It's not everywhere, but it's enough where you go, I see where this goes if it keeps going, because none of this shit existed 20 years ago.
You go back to 2004, there was none of this shit.
Nothing.
A transgender person was a rare person with gender dysphoria.
It was very rare, and there wasn't a lot of hatred towards those people.
It wasn't a thing that people worried about.
Now there is, because everybody's like, what the fuck?
Why is this in schools?
Why are you having them?
There was a recent pool tournament where it was a women's pool tournament, and in the semifinals, it's two trans women competing against each other.
Two men, two biological men that wear lipstick, competing against each other in a women's tournament.
It's fucking crazy.
So I would have never thought that would be possible.
So it can get to a point where there's no meat.
It can get to the point where meat, there's this demonization of meat.
You keep hearing about it all the time.
Meat is the number one source of carbon.
It's fucking complete total horse shit.
It's not even number two.
It's not number three.
It's not even fucking close.
luke bryan
Cow farts.
joe rogan
Yeah, it's the dumbest shit ever.
And by the way, All of that is factory farming.
Regenerative farming is actually carbon neutral.
If they don't sequester carbon, it's actually good for carbon.
There's a whole reason why there's a balanced ecosystem of cows eating grass, and the grass...
Fermenting in their stomach and then creating manure.
luke bryan
That regenerates.
joe rogan
Yes, regenerates.
It's carbon neutral.
It's actually good for the environment and everything feeds off everything.
There's a system that nature has evolved for millions of years.
That's the normal way it's supposed to be done.
And, you know, we're just living in a crazy time.
luke bryan
Yeah, when you think of Denver and Colorado and the outdoors, man, you've got to appreciate everybody's opinion of, you know, I mean, it's a so old term, the granolaist, but it ain't granola no more.
I mean, it's...
joe rogan
They're getting a lot further than granola.
Granola used to be normal until they...
See, the thing is, those people were weird and rare, and they were tolerated.
But then they got online, and say if there's only ten of them in this town, five of them in that town...
Well, now there's hundreds of thousands of them collectively in the country, all as a group.
And then they think that they're activists.
So they think that they're doing something good.
So then they start saying things like, no fur in Colorado, pass this bill.
And you start saying, no meat, no more meat, no one should have meat.
What are you going to do with these cows?
What are you going to do?
Are you going to go around castrating all those bulls?
What are you going to do?
How are you going to control the populations?
Are you going to let them go extinct?
Are you going to castrate all the bulls?
Or are you going to let some of them breed?
How are you going to make this distinction?
Are you going to bring in wolves to handle them?
What are you going to do?
What the fuck are you going to do?
What are you going to do with all those people that work at the butcher shop?
What are you going to do with all those people that work at the meat processing plant?
What are you going to do with all those people that have been transporting meat back and forth?
What are you going to do with all those jobs, all those families, all their income, all their businesses that they've had for a hundred fucking years?
What are you going to do with that?
These people have the most minimal understanding of the system that they're trying to influence.
They don't know what the fuck they're doing by releasing wolves.
They think, wolves are beautiful!
luke bryan
Yay!
joe rogan
You see the governor?
He's releasing the wolves.
He's like, yay!
He looks so happy.
luke bryan
Yeah, they're going to be saying yay when they're down.
I don't know, dude.
joe rogan
The dog's getting eaten.
luke bryan
Dog, everything.
Dude, let me tell you something.
joe rogan
Well, not only that, they brought in wolves that had a history of killing cattle.
The wolves they brought into Colorado.
luke bryan
It's no different than the grizzly focusing on humans.
Man, I live just south of Nashville.
We've got 180 acres.
I've got neighborhoods all around us, man.
About every now and then, email goes out.
Little Fluffy's gone.
joe rogan
Coyotes?
luke bryan
We put six coyote traps out on my farm.
One night.
Six for six.
joe rogan
Wow.
luke bryan
And let me tell you what else is a little vicious son of a bitch.
A fucking otter.
joe rogan
Oh, yeah.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Otters will fuck you up.
luke bryan
Let me tell you, buddy.
Those things are...
I mean, Joe, I'm so...
Like I said, my brain is bass fishing and all this stuff.
Man, we'll have otters come up into my bass pond...
joe rogan
And fuck those bass up.
luke bryan
I'm talking about...
They're fucking gone, the fish, in three nights.
The fish are gone.
And the otters...
Eat one and play with the other ones that they kill.
joe rogan
Wow.
luke bryan
And, like, you go by my lake.
Like, I have an all-female bass lake at my house, which this is a whole other fun deal.
They will roll through there and eat my all-females and just throw them up on the bank.
There's carcasses.
joe rogan
How many?
luke bryan
Oh, you get four otters in your pond on a 17-acre lake.
They'll eat 20 bass a night.
The problem is you don't know you've been got until you've been got.
joe rogan
Wow.
luke bryan
So Joe, to grow a 10-pound bass is about $3,000.
And think about it.
I've been loving on these damn fish.
I've been walking out there, making sure they're happy so we can all catch them.
And then damn, damn otters roll.
So if you have an overflow, a spillway on your farm, and it runs through your farm and dumps into a major river body of water, and that otter swims by that water dumping in that river...
He is up that river.
He's up that spillway into your lake, and he has got you.
unidentified
Wow.
luke bryan
And we'll put traps out, dude.
And man, they just keep coming.
joe rogan
Wow.
luke bryan
Keep coming.
And I'm talking about otter pelts.
I mean, like the prettiest thing you've ever seen.
joe rogan
So do you turn them into coats or anything?
luke bryan
I mean, we've got enough where, you know, we've got them skinned out in freezers and rolled up in our freezers.
And my farm guys, I mean, I think they're...
But you know, the sad part is the market for that should be an amazing market.
But I think, because everybody's scared to say they got a damn otter pelt.
joe rogan
Yeah.
luke bryan
You know, but...
joe rogan
Yeah, fur.
Fur's got a bad name.
If it's got hair on it, leather's fine.
luke bryan
None of it's fine.
joe rogan
But leather's fine with people.
No one has a problem with you wearing cowboy boots.
Nobody gets mad.
Yeah, see?
Leather.
Nobody gets mad at leather.
All that is is fur with no fucking hair on it.
It's the same thing.
It's weird.
luke bryan
But damn otters, man, them little rascals, you know, they...
I'm building a lake at my place in Georgia, and it's right on the Flint River.
joe rogan
You're running wildlife management.
luke bryan
I love it, man.
It's so fun.
It's so damn fun.
It's four hours of my day.
joe rogan
And it also cleanses your mind, right?
luke bryan
Totally.
joe rogan
Just like hunting.
luke bryan
It's totally...
And it is not for myself.
You can't...
My enjoyment is to watch...
My children's friends come enjoy it too.
My sons will bring a buddy home from school.
And next thing you know, Tate and his 13-year-old buddy are shooting bows in the front yard all weekend.
And this kid, who doesn't have a dad that hunts...
Or has the ability, next thing you know, I got one kid, my Tate's buddy James, his eighth consecutive weekend at my house, hunting.
Just loving life, shooting bow and arrows.
joe rogan
Did you show him how to shoot correctly?
luke bryan
Got it all, got him dialed in, he shot his first doe this weekend.
joe rogan
Nice.
luke bryan
Just so fun.
When you meet these guys, they don't let anybody else enjoy it.
I don't like those guys either.
I love to enjoy it with people.
The bass fishing thing is a blast.
My lake in Georgia is going to be about 35 acres, and I think we'll do an all-female lake down there.
joe rogan
Why all females?
That way they can't breed.
luke bryan
Your females are your trophy bass.
joe rogan
Right, the big fat ones.
luke bryan
The big fat ones.
joe rogan
But don't they have to get pregnant to be really big and fat?
luke bryan
You put them in, and they don't have to be pregnant.
They just have to have the big eggs, and when they lay them, they just have to have a male not fertilize them.
joe rogan
That's right, of course.
luke bryan
So if you get a male in there, Then you have a natural, thriving...
joe rogan
He'll eat the babies, too, though, right?
luke bryan
A male bass will forage on themselves.
But male bass...
Now, I have three lakes that are naturally...
Their own ecosystem, where we have to, you know, I've got an 82-acre bass lake that we have to catch 3,500 pounds of bass a year just to keep them from not choking themselves out.
unidentified
Really?
luke bryan
Oh, yeah.
joe rogan
3,500 pounds?
luke bryan
100 pounds.
joe rogan
So what do you do?
Just call your friends?
luke bryan
Dude, we have bass roundups, and we get out there, and we catch them, and we'll load up coolers and take them into the little towns and give them to people.
I mean, it becomes a problem.
joe rogan
It's a weird thing with largemouth bass, too, because a lot of people don't eat them, and yet they're delicious.
luke bryan
They're great.
They're great.
joe rogan
They're basically the same as bluegills.
luke bryan
Well, bluegills...
You know, like, all the bluegills at my lake, we feed them pellet food so they'll get big, so the bass will eat them, so the bass will get big.
And you don't want to go eat a bluegill that's been parked under a pellet.
joe rogan
Yeah.
luke bryan
But...
A little wild bluegill stream or a little natural creek where I grew up in Georgia, like shell crackers and bluegill that eat like a cricket or that are eating live stuff.
You fillet one of them real small creek or river bluegills.
joe rogan
Fry them up.
luke bryan
Oh, nothing better in the world.
joe rogan
And bass is similar to that.
luke bryan
Oh, bass.
joe rogan
It's a nice flaky white meat.
luke bryan
Flaky white meat, get you a three or four pound bass, fillet it like a red snapper.
joe rogan
But people like catching them so much, they want you to release them.
luke bryan
We spent our whole life, my dad would catch bass, we would fillet them, he'd put them in a Pyrex dish, sauté them, bake them, and then broil them on top, and we'd eat large mouth bass.
You know.
You could either have salmon croquettes that stink up the whole house.
You know, where you knew your mama was cooking them, or you can have fresh bass, you know, so we grew up.
joe rogan
But isn't it a weird animal, or weird fish, rather, that a lot of people don't eat, but it's good to eat?
luke bryan
Well, you know, you wouldn't want everybody fishing your big reservoirs.
Like, Texas is the best big bass lake reservoir state in the country.
You wouldn't want everybody out there keeping them.
You know, you want to practice...
You want to practice catch and release on your big public reservoirs.
joe rogan
Right.
luke bryan
But, you know, when you've got a private impoundment where, you know, you want to keep your bass.
Because your bass, you'll wake up.
Let's just say you've got a nice, brand-new bass lake you built, 10 acres.
You stock it.
You spend 50 grand to put your bluegill, all your fish in there.
Then you just don't ever catch them.
Well, then in five years, you've lost it.
Right.
joe rogan
You have to manage it.
luke bryan
Yeah, you're done.
Your lake's done.
Your three-pound bass didn't have enough fish to get to four pounds, and then he missed a year of growing, or she missed a year of growing, and then you just put a $50,000 investment in your bass lake.
And then you're out.
joe rogan
Right.
luke bryan
You might as well drain it, start over.
joe rogan
You know what I'd really like to do?
Get a place in the north and have a lake with pike in it.
I think they might be my favorite thing to catch.
Because they're so ruthless.
That's such a ruthless fish.
luke bryan
An animal.
joe rogan
A fucking dinosaur.
luke bryan
A killer.
joe rogan
They look like dinosaurs.
First time I caught a pike, I'm like, why isn't this like the most exciting thing to catch?
They fight hard?
luke bryan
Or a muskie.
Jesus.
joe rogan
I've never caught one of those.
luke bryan
Me either.
joe rogan
That's the fish of 10,000 casts?
luke bryan
Yeah.
See, I'm not that dude.
Now, I'll wait and hunt a...
You know, I'm not a...
Like, I don't have to have the biggest, best animal my whole life.
Like, I don't...
You know, some people, they're like...
joe rogan
They get into numbers.
They're size queens.
luke bryan
Yeah, or score.
I'm not that guy.
I'm unexperienced.
Let's have fun.
Let's see a lot of animals.
Let's catch a lot of fish.
Let's keep a lot of action.
Let's keep the kids engaged.
You know...
When my boys were four and five, you don't want to take them out there on their first three bass fishing trips and you burn them in the hot sun and they catch one fish.
You want them engaged and get them going.
Pike and all that, that stillheading, that northwest stillheading.
Catching one, man, I don't, that's just, I hadn't done that.
I can't do that.
joe rogan
That's a release fish too, right?
luke bryan
Oh, those are, those are the, yeah, those are high on the list of, especially like C-run steelheads.
You know, you have, you have some that are kind of locked in, you know, locked in the reservoir locked.
But you get those, those big C-run steelheads and they really hold them.
And they should hold them in high regard.
You shouldn't, You need to leave those alone and let them come and go.
joe rogan
Yeah, but then why are you catching them?
You know what I'm saying?
Why are you fucking with those fish?
Because that's...
It's a little bit of that.
I get it.
It's fun.
I'm not opposed to it.
I get it.
But if I catch fish, I like to eat them.
That's the whole reason why I'm catching fish.
luke bryan
You know what?
joe rogan
That's why I like to catch walleye.
luke bryan
I would still say you're in the majority.
joe rogan
Yeah.
I think that's how it should be.
I mean, imagine if you just run around shooting deer with tranquilizer darts.
Look, I got them.
A little weird.
A little weird.
luke bryan
Yeah, I've seen some.
joe rogan
Just to prove that you did it?
luke bryan
Yeah, you know, and they make bumper tips on bows.
You can doink deer in the ass and run them off.
And they're like, why are you doinking a deer in the ass?
joe rogan
It's a little weird.
It's like they make those club heads so you can shoot squirrels and birds.
Yeah.
luke bryan
Well, you know, man, listen, dude.
I grew up, you know, my little town in Leesburg, man.
I mean, every year I got a pellet gun for Christmas.
And I got a full...
Camo onesie, or a coverall, and dude, I'd put my new pair of Chippewa hunting boots, I'd put my new set of coveralls on with a camo pattern, I'd hit the neighborhood walking around with a pellet gun shooting the neighbor squirrels.
And, you know, we'd eat them every now and then.
This little old lady, Mabel Coxwell, we'd skin them and she'd fry them with some wild rice.
joe rogan
It tastes good.
luke bryan
If you cook a squirrel and do it right, man, it ain't nothing wrong with a squirrel.
joe rogan
Isn't that crazy that most people don't know that?
luke bryan
Right.
joe rogan
Squirrels are delicious.
Squirrel hunting is very popular in parts of the South.
luke bryan
Squirrel dumplings.
Instead of chicken and dumplings, squirrel dumplings.
You know, you get a squirrel and clean it right and brine it.
For the night and cook it with dumplings and put some onions and celery and all that and you're off to the races.
joe rogan
People think of them, they have like fluffy tail privilege.
luke bryan
Rats with tails.
joe rogan
Because you see a rat, rats have those slimy tails and people are like, that's disgusting.
And they see that fluffy tail like, aww, so cute.
Not much different.
You know?
luke bryan
Well, the fact that, you know, the fact that, yeah, I could run rampant at nine years old through the neighborhood riding my Honda 50 motorcycle, you know, through people's backyards, you know, chasing squirrels, and everybody's like, thank you, that damn thing's been in my attic chewing up my Pink Panther insulation for...
joe rogan
That's rural life, right?
Well, that's people that understand what's going on.
That's the difference between a neighborhood in Manhattan.
People are like, what the fuck is this guy doing?
We need these squirrels.
If they caught you in Central Park with a pellet gun, you'd go to jail.
luke bryan
First round ticket.
Do not pass go, do not click.
joe rogan
If you break into a store and rob it, nothing will happen to you.
They'll let you right out.
But if you get caught in Central Park shooting squirrels and eating them, you're going to get in real trouble.
It's wild.
We live in a wild world.
It's a very strange, distorted version of what human beings have been experiencing for most of history.
luke bryan
I mean, nothing is wrong with hunting a little bit.
joe rogan
Especially when 95% of the world eats meat.
It's a stupid argument.
luke bryan
Well, and I think it's all trendy, too.
I think the beauty is now the education of...
I mean, you look at how great carnivore diets are being.
I've never done a big old carnivore.
Have you ever done a big carnivore?
joe rogan
Oh, yeah.
luke bryan
Did it change your life?
joe rogan
Oh, yeah.
That's mostly how I eat.
luke bryan
Great.
joe rogan
I eat fruit and meat.
Great.
99%.
I fuck around.
My daughter likes to cook cookies.
I had a big-ass cookie the other day.
It was awesome.
I mean, I'm not ridiculous.
I'll eat other things.
I'm not religious about it.
But most of my diet, like 90% is just meat and occasionally fruit.
Fruit before I work out.
Fruit sometimes after I work out.
But mostly it's just meat.
luke bryan
Well, you know, like I said, the best thing about what you do here is you give everybody their platform to talk about their way.
joe rogan
Yeah.
luke bryan
And, you know, your platform is enlightening.
I mean, you know, dude, I've never, you know...
I was around some dude that was talking about, you know, microdosing mushrooms and all that.
Dude, I never saw a drug.
I never saw a drug...
unidentified
Until I was 30. Did you see moonshine?
luke bryan
Saw moonshine a lot.
joe rogan
That's a drug.
That is a fucking drug.
luke bryan
Well, you're right.
I mean, you drink a half jar of mason.
joe rogan
Oh, yeah.
You're going to die.
That's the crazy thing about alcohol.
luke bryan
It gets the past.
joe rogan
We are having nicotine right now.
This is a drug.
luke bryan
And when I have these...
joe rogan
It's a nice cigar, by the way.
luke bryan
It's perfect.
joe rogan
It's very good.
Very mild.
luke bryan
And, man, I was 39 years old before I did any tobacco.
joe rogan
Really?
luke bryan
Never dipped.
My dad kept Levi Garrett, Taylor's Pride, you know.
The only time he wasn't chewing meant he had a life insurance policy.
He had to get blood work and didn't want to fail his life insurance policy.
But I was 39. My mom, you know, my mom's a character.
She, you know, but never did tobacco, never dipped.
I put one dip in one time and threw up outside my high school.
This old boy threw me a dip in, and dude, big old Kodiak, and I threw up outside the high school gymnasium and missed my...
5th and 6th period, and I was like, dude, I don't need that.
joe rogan
Remember those bricks, those squares of chewing tobacco you bite a chunk off?
luke bryan
Oh, you can just – oh, although – and what I was getting at is I was sitting – we were celebrating an album release.
I was 39 years old and one of my best buddies brought a nice Davidoff Churchill cigar.
are.
And any cigar I'd ever done...
Now, I had smoked a cigar, like, in Vegas.
And most of the time back then, you know, I done drank a Handle of Crown and smoked a cigar.
And you wake up the next morning, and you're like, you know, your life's over, essentially.
Well, it's probably the Handle of Crown.
Well, we smoked that cigar, and I sat in my rocking chair.
And just smoke that cigar.
And I was like, man, this is kind of...
joe rogan
It's kind of nice.
luke bryan
This is kind of like therapy right here.
joe rogan
All these people smoking cigars aren't stupid.
There's got to be something to it.
luke bryan
And they're chilled out.
joe rogan
Yeah.
It's a nice conversational thing to do.
luke bryan
They are chilled.
They are universally...
joe rogan
Yeah.
luke bryan
Chilled out.
joe rogan
But it's a drug.
luke bryan
Oh.
joe rogan
It's a drug.
luke bryan
Yeah, let's don't.
joe rogan
It's a drug.
We're drinking coffee.
That's a drug.
The problem is, there's a lot of drugs.
And some of them are really fucking bad for you.
luke bryan
Here's the deal.
And I'll call my buddy every now and then.
And he was my buddy that bought me the cigar.
He was a lifelong Copenhagen and cigarettes here and quitting.
And I called him.
I'll call him periodically.
And I'm like...
You asshole.
I'm stopping at a random cigar shop.
I've gone four days without a cigar, and I'm riding down the road, and I determine right now I need one.
You know, you weave across four lanes of traffic, find a, you know, and the next thing you know, you're smoking a grocery store, I mean, a gas station cigar to just, but hey, it keeps you, keeps the head clean.
joe rogan
I like them.
Like I said, I think it's one of the best things for conversations.
luke bryan
And I don't think you need to smoke 12 of them a day.
joe rogan
No, I don't think so either.
But I know people who do.
I know people who just go one to the other.
They just chain smoke cigars.
luke bryan
Now my mother, dude.
Salem Ultralight 100. It's three packs a day.
Whoa!
Four Bud Lights a day her whole life.
Four Bud Lights.
joe rogan
Every day.
Is she still with us?
luke bryan
She's with us.
joe rogan
Damn, that's the thing that always gets people.
luke bryan
Dude.
joe rogan
They're like, maybe I should quit.
Hold on.
Look at Lou's mom.
luke bryan
Listen, my mom, man, dude, she, Joe, she's curbed the beer a little bit, but she'll drink her couple O'Doul's, but she's going to have her one or two Bud Lights.
joe rogan
Every day?
luke bryan
Every day.
She's going to, three packs, but she's like the...
You know, it's like, if she's walking in to the Dillard's or to the TJ Maxx, she's like, oh my god, I'm walking in.
joe rogan
Take a couple puffs.
luke bryan
Take a couple and hit, you know, litter the parking lot.
But she'll pan fry a ribeye in butter.
Pan fries a ribeye.
joe rogan
That's probably what's keeping her alive.
luke bryan
Pan fries a ribeye, fries some shoestring french fries.
And that's her damn meal four to five nights a week.
Four.
76 glorious years.
joe rogan
That's probably why she's healthy.
luke bryan
And is ready to chew my ass out at any moment.
joe rogan
And how many cigarettes do you think she's down to a day?
luke bryan
I hope she's probably at a pack and a half.
But man, when you do the math, when I used to sit her down and do math, you know, her and my dad were married 32 years and divorced, and so when she went out kind of on her own, I'd sit her down and do the math on four Bud Lights, two and a half packs of Salem's, and four pan-fried ribeyes.
That becomes a damn number annually.
joe rogan
I think the ribeyes are fine.
Leave her alone with the ribeyes.
luke bryan
You know what?
But through the years, I've gotten Miller Lite endorsements.
I would get Miller Lite.
I'd be like, Mama.
There's a Miller Lite truck pulling up to your house.
It's going to deliver you a pallet of Miller Lite.
Just try.
Just try to fall in love with Miller Lite.
joe rogan
Right.
luke bryan
Nope.
joe rogan
Bud Light.
luke bryan
I'd get home two months after the pallet got there.
There the pallet sits.
Calling my buddies.
Hey, boys.
joe rogan
A lot of people had a personal crisis when there was the Bud Light boycott.
There was a lot of people like, I don't know what to do.
I don't know what to do.
When Kid Rock shot that Bud Light...
luke bryan
And then he kept selling it in his bar.
joe rogan
We drank some.
We drank some on the podcast we did together.
luke bryan
Yeah, and I love him.
joe rogan
He let it go after a while.
He did.
luke bryan
I love him.
He's been a damn good buddy of mine and has come to my charity event.
joe rogan
He's a wild boy.
luke bryan
He's awesome.
joe rogan
I love that dude.
He's a lot of fun.
luke bryan
He's awesome.
But when I saw him do that, I was like...
joe rogan
Oof.
Imagine being the CEO of Bud Light and seeing that.
Like, oh no.
Kid Rock just shot our beer.
luke bryan
With a fucking automatic.
joe rogan
And was like, fuck Anheuser-Busch.
Like, no!
And, I mean, that alone probably cost them billions of dollars.
Just having him do that.
luke bryan
Yeah, when our beer is political, we're like...
joe rogan
Not just our beer, but Bud Light.
Bud Light, the beer that sponsored more boxing matches, more sporting events, more people have been drinking Bud Light.
I mean, think about all the people who swear by Bud Light.
Post Malone's always drinking Bud Light.
luke bryan
And then, you know, my wife's dad is a Budweiser fucking 12-pack a day dude, man.
And, you know, he had to...
He had to hear a little shit from his buddies about it.
joe rogan
People getting fights in bars.
I have a friend who owned a bar.
We stopped carrying at the mothership because nobody was buying it.
We stopped carrying Bud Light because nobody was buying Bud Light.
luke bryan
Have we checked on where it...
joe rogan
It's come back.
luke bryan
Fully?
joe rogan
No, I don't think so.
I think there's a bunch of holdouts that are always going to go, fuck those liberals, forever.
But the lady who came up with the idea is gone.
The whole marketing team behind, they're all gone.
Anheuser-Busch is an American company that has employed American people forever.
It's a great company.
They just fucked up.
They get caught up in the mind virus.
luke bryan
Anheuser-Busch taught us that beer is wonderful for Christmas, and Clydesdales and Dalmatians are the equivalent of Jesus and Christmas.
joe rogan
Remember those Bud Light guys, the Real American Genius guys?
luke bryan
Remember that?
joe rogan
Real American Genius.
They had great commercials.
luke bryan
Dude, I would cry over the Dalmatian Clydesdale commercial.
You remember the little puppy?
joe rogan
Yeah.
luke bryan
He's riding on the Clydesdales.
joe rogan
Find that, Jamie.
luke bryan
Oh, shit.
It's like a friggin' Hallmark.
joe rogan
You would never think that that company could get taken down.
But that just, I think that was good.
It was bad for Bud Light, but I think it was good.
Here it is.
Let's see it.
We're gonna get all sweet.
luke bryan
Here we go!
unidentified
Oh, the little puppy.
luke bryan
Listen to that music.
unidentified
Well, I know I'm gonna be young.
I'm gonna be the man who wakes up.
joe rogan
Aw, little puppy got out.
Aw, poor puppy's lost.
This is for beer.
This is for beer?
luke bryan
Yeah.
joe rogan
Poor little puppy.
luke bryan
Wow, what a commercial.
Who...
We need to find...
Oh, God.
unidentified
Wolves.
luke bryan
wolves there in Colorado.
unidentified
The horses saved the puppy from the wolves.
joe rogan
Have a bud.
Very effective commercial, you know?
Real quick, you're happy.
luke bryan
Yeah, and then there's the one where it's a Dalmatian, too, that grew up and then got to the old Dalmatian, and the little, you know, they're riding, and the young Dalmatian sees the old Dalmatian, and I think the old Dalmatian kicks the bucket, and then the new Dalmatian takes its place, and then you're like, oh my God, it's the best thing ever.
joe rogan
Yeah, and that company got taken out.
By having a transgender woman on their can.
But it just shows you how prevalent this whole mind virus is that it even got into Bud Light, which is just bizarre.
But the lady who's responsible for it all basically shit on the entire customer base, you know, saying that they have a fratty sense of humor and we need to update it, make it more inclusive.
And like, do you I don't know what you're saying.
You're alienating all the people that buy it and love it and counting on people who don't buy it and love it to start buying it and loving it.
And maybe that'll work, but you just alienated everybody who buys it and loves it.
It's the dumbest poker move of all time.
luke bryan
The worst.
Is it a drumless move?
Well, you know, when you look at country music, too, I mean, with country music, I mean, it is what it is.
There's things that it is.
And you gotta love on what it is.
And then you gotta grow it, too.
I mean, there's sensible ways to grow it.
joe rogan
But it has to be up to the artist to just express themselves honestly.
And if the artist is a country artist that has a different perspective, let that be.
But leave all the rest of it the way it is, too.
luke bryan
Buddy, with every successful music artist that's ever lived, they may have faked you out, any genre, but country is even, country's tough.
Because once you show any unauthenticity, buddy, you're done.
You're done.
joe rogan
I can imagine.
luke bryan
Like, dude, I mean...
Yeah.
Like, dude, my biggest...
Man, you know, I got...
My thing was tight jeans.
You wouldn't imagine me wearing tight jeans on stage.
How much that pisses people.
joe rogan
Well, it's because you're handsome.
That's part of the problem.
You're a good-looking guy up there with tight jeans.
luke bryan
Shaking ass.
joe rogan
Shaking that ass, showing that bulge.
Get out of here.
luke bryan
Dude, and then I'm like...
joe rogan
Bring back Merle Haggard.
What the fuck is this?
luke bryan
So, Joe, you know, one thing, you know...
My biggest hurdle ever in my career, and it still breaks my heart to this day.
You know, back when I... My only way to...
Your only way to make it in music is you've got to stop people's eyeballs on you.
You've got to grab them.
Vocally, visually, musically different.
You've got to get them to stop for two seconds and go, what is that fucker doing right there?
And when I came out with Country Girl Shake It For Me on the CMA shaking my ass, I mean, I had to do it that way.
In my opinion, I had to go, this is my moment to show Country Goes Shake It For Me, and I'm the guy that dances and don't give a damn, and let's have some fun and come along for the ride.
And it was amazing.
It was amazing.
You know, the fact that I'm a Georgia boy at the time, and I was talking to Texas people, I was talking to everybody.
Well then, at some point, a label for me became Bro Country.
Had you ever even heard that term?
joe rogan
I did.
I did because of you.
Yeah.
luke bryan
Well, so I heard it, and I'm like, well, bro country.
Well, then I started seeing the people making fun of bro country, and I'm like, this is kind of fucking pissing me off.
And then me and some other artists start getting looped into this bro country phase.
Well...
When I was in my form of coming up as an artist, and I don't even know, we don't have to live on this long, but you'll be amazed, dude.
So, I would go play.
I made my way by going to Georgia and playing Georgia College Towns.
In the southeast, and even I played Auburn a little bit, Auburn, Alabama.
And that school, I always wanted to break into Auburn and Tuscaloosa because I was always a Georgia artist.
Well, I started branching out.
Well, dude, I'd get done with a college party.
I'd walk off stage.
The first thing that would happen is, you know, three, six, nine, damn she fine, give it to me, give it to me one more time, get low, get low.
I mean, and right when my set got done, hip hop, The vibe went to a nightclub.
And I'm standing, I done walked off stage, went to the bar, ordered the beer, and watched everybody that just let me play Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, all the classics, my couple of new songs.
And I was like, well, man, this is...
Nobody's got a fucking problem with this.
This is...
We're all together in this good time.
So when I did Country Girl Shake It, for me, that made that tie.
joe rogan
Crossover.
It combined them.
luke bryan
It made it tie to a little bit.
And then Jason Aldean had his...
She's country...
Fucking biggest song.
When I heard...
I mean, at the time, when Jason and I are buddies, he does She's Country.
I do Country Girl Shaker for me, and me and him are like...
We're like, this shit...
Our lives are...
I mean, I toured with Jason one year, and he broke all of Elvis' indoor records.
We did it for two years.
I was the opener, and Jason was the headliner, and people, and rap was, we were playing rap before the show, and everybody was in, well, then Bro Country comes along.
Dude, I wake up on the bus one morning, and I got this interview.
Sitting there drinking my coffee in my fucking underwear, and this dude calls me with Hits magazine.
And he goes, well, Luke, you know, man, this broke country thing.
And I said, well, hold up, buddy.
Here's what this is.
And I said, and man, I did this, and I made one fatal error.
And at the time, Joe...
No one hated my ass.
I believe that.
I mean, because I was coming to Billy Bob's, playing...
Well, I had Texas.
I'd go to Bozeman, Montana and play Country Girl Shaker for me.
I'd go to everywhere.
Well, and I said, man, I don't know how to be an outlaw.
I'm not an outlaw.
I'm a college dude that played frat parties for country music.
I was like, I fucking did not go sit in a prison cell like Merle Haggard and write songs about guys going to death row.
And I didn't go to Folsom Prison.
And man, I listed all that.
I was like, I'm not like Willie Nelson.
I don't do Willie Nelson.
They're outlaws.
And I said, if it's bro country and that's what I'm labeled as, I said, and where I fucked up, as I said, I haven't spent the night sleeping on the street.
And I didn't say, like Johnny Cash's song, Sunday Morning Coming Down.
That's what I meant.
I just didn't tie it.
Well, that dude took that article and said, Luke Bryan says outlaw country people are basically...
Drug addicts that sleep in the street.
And man, I pissed that whole...
The way they manipulated that story, I lost that whole crowd right then.
unidentified
Wow.
luke bryan
Broke my heart.
And I think Waylon Jennings' daughter went real public with being...
I mean, she was fucking mad at my ass.
And dude, she went on there going, you know, Luke, my dad never laid.
And I never meant that.
I just meant...
Yeah, Waylon was in there too.
But we all know what all those guys are because we got to watch all the documentaries about those guys.
And we got to be students of those guys.
joe rogan
Well, that's the problem with interviews.
First of all, they're trying to get you.
luke bryan
Well, your interviews are the beauty.
And no one's gotten popped more than you.
Because they'll take our...
Man, I hope we sit here and bullshit for three hours.
But they'll take your five minutes.
joe rogan
Right.
Out of context.
luke bryan
And now they'll AI you.
joe rogan
That's happened a lot.
luke bryan
So what happened, man, that thing started growing.
And man, I had motorcycle gangs wanting to burn my house down.
When you get misrepresented in...
That type of deal.
And then the subcategories of articles, then the article of the article of the article.
joe rogan
What year was this?
luke bryan
Man, I don't know.
joe rogan
It was probably 2012 or 2013. So this was when social media was not as impactful.
luke bryan
It was becoming...
joe rogan
Was YouTube even around then?
luke bryan
Yes, and clickbait, the world of clickbait was getting rocking.
So what I did is, man, I called Waylon Jennings' daughter and said, I said, ma'am, I just forgot to say, like the Kris Kristofferson song, Sunday Morning Coming Down.
That's all I meant by that.
And I think she said, I called, I text Willie.
He sent me the best reply.
He goes...
He goes, it's okay to step on your dick, just don't stand on it.
I called Jessie Coulter, and she goes, Luke, what did you mean in the interview?
And I told her.
And she goes, Waylon stopped doing print interview.
But by then, the narrative started.
And since then, I can always tell that if that one little thing, I probably would have kept that whole base.
And then the, oh my god, he wears tight jeans and he must, you know, he must homosexual on the side, you know, as I'm posing with my, you know, my all-American family.
joe rogan
I think it's probably a thing also they think Hollywood has invaded country music, which is always a big threat because there's so much money in country music that they think these Hollywood executives that don't understand or appreciate real country Are going to come in and make something inauthentic.
So then they hear you saying that, get misrepresented, and then they take it as a part of all of that, right?
luke bryan
Joe, so my album came out.
I worked on an album for three years.
It's called Mind of a Country Boy, and I put it out like 1st of October.
And I didn't want to put the damn album out.
Because the reality is I'm not at the height.
Every artist hits their peak.
You know it.
I mean, I sold out.
I was selling out football stadiums first day.
Three or four years I did it.
I know that's my peak, probably.
I know it is.
Fuck, I'm not going to even say probably.
I'm a realist.
Well, so we put the album out, and I said, you know what?
No albums sell...
Nothing sells anymore.
So I knew there was going to be a negative take on the album.
I knew something negative would come by me putting the album out based on it may not sell.
And it sold what it did.
It did what I thought it'd do as me being the artist where I'm at in my life.
joe rogan
Especially in this world of streaming.
luke bryan
Right.
joe rogan
Nothing's buying anymore.
luke bryan
Nothing's buying.
Dude, I did 40 hours of all the stuff.
joe rogan
What's happened is, because of online advertising being the primary source of income for news, they have to do clickbait shit.
They have to distort things.
And then they have editors that don't give a shit about anything other than the bottom line.
So you get a writer, even if the writer's a good person.
I've had writers that I know have written about people that I know, and they told me that their editor came in and changed things.
They told me their editor came in to deposit things up.
luke bryan
Because the editor's ass is about to get canned.
joe rogan
Yeah, exactly.
luke bryan
Because his company just got bought by a big conglomerate.
joe rogan
Exactly.
That's why artists should just stay away from that shit.
luke bryan
Well, and I knew it.
What sucks...
Dude, you know it.
You know when you're getting baited.
You can see it coming a mile away.
joe rogan
You have to film everything you do, every conversation you have with someone.
You should film them all so that no one can take you out of context.
And then if anything goes wrong, say that guy's full of shit.
This is what I said.
luke bryan
And then I did.
joe rogan
And then maybe even make a video.
luke bryan
I did.
joe rogan
And those people should be shamed.
I hate it.
It's a terrible, evil, ugly thing you do.
You crush people's perspective.
You change how the world looks at people just for clickbait.
And it could genuinely affect someone's life and career.
luke bryan
Dude, man, listen.
You know the deal.
I mean, I grew up in South Georgia.
And, you know, we've raised our dang kids, like, colorblind.
It's so awesome.
I'm so proud of their colorblindness.
joe rogan
Isn't it funny that that is a negative thing to say today?
That people don't like that idea?
luke bryan
Did I just say something negative?
joe rogan
Yeah, there's a lot of people that don't think you should be colorblind.
They think that that's a lie.
luke bryan
You should think that way.
joe rogan
That was what we were all working towards until about 2012. Have you ever seen the numbers?
I'm going to send you this, Jamie, because this is what people need to understand.
A lot of what we're all experiencing is manipulation, and a lot of this manipulation might not even be from our own country.
A lot of this manipulation is what happens when you have foreign entities that are manipulating people Oh yeah, that's it.
Thank you.
Look at that, Jamie.
You're the best.
Yearly mentions of prejudice in popular U.S. news media outlets.
Now look at what happens.
Look at this crazy spike.
So you have everything from 1970 until you have like 1990. See, what's going on in 1990?
Between 80 and 90, you have cable.
Okay?
So now you have people that need more eyes on their shit.
So you have Fox News.
You have a lot of this...
People get a little bit more jazzed up.
Look at transphobia.
You never even heard what the fuck that was until 2010. Look how it just jumps up in 2020. 1990 didn't exist.
1980 didn't exist.
Islamophobia, same deal.
Anti-Semitism.
Scroll all the way up to the top though, Jamie.
Look at racism.
Racism is essentially fairly steady until around 2012, and then it goes on this wild ramp straight up.
The New York Times from 2010 to 2020, it goes up 712%.
Los Angeles Times, 756%.
It just skyrockets all the mention of racism.
Why?
Because no one wants racism.
No one wants to be racist.
Everyone's scared of being called racist.
And all the race hustlers love to call people racist.
So it becomes a commodity.
So people start trading in racism.
And this idea that you shouldn't be colorblind and that you should recognize race.
You should recognize color.
Stop!
We were on a good path to what Martin Luther King said, judging people based on the content of their character.
We were on that path.
And social media and manipulation fucked us.
And hopefully we realize what happened now and I think there'll be a downward trend and people will sort of like wake up.
And I think that's one thing that is balancing out right now with the internet is enough people realize they've been manipulated.
So it's starting to like calm down.
A lot of this woke shit starting to die off.
And people are coming to their senses.
Like everybody just woke up from a fever dream.
But as far as your situation and dealing with the media, don't.
luke bryan
Oh, I know.
joe rogan
Just don't.
luke bryan
But when you're so dang, you know the deal.
joe rogan
You're naive.
You're a little bit naive because you're a nice guy.
But it's because you're a good person.
That's why you're naive.
luke bryan
You assume other people are good people.
Man, what's amazing is when I'm on American Idol at that desk.
And I've been doing it for nine damn years.
And I have cried with everybody.
When those kids come in, they are...
Everybody walking through that door is a microcosm of America.
And, man, I've sat there and loved and loved and learned.
joe rogan
Do you enjoy doing that, like seeing new talent pop up?
luke bryan
Nothing is more amazing than watching a broken kid that's been told they're not good.
And they come from everywhere.
It could be the man.
The craziest thing is the is the is the kids that were raised in the homes of doctors that the doctor family can't wrap their head around my child wanting to go try this fucking music thing.
What?
We're doctors.
We're doctors.
And man, when they branch out and the family gets behind them and then they go and follow their dreams and man, it's really...
It doesn't get old.
I mean, listen, it's a fun chair to be in.
It's a fun chair to be in because that door opens and it's a life that comes in and you don't know what the hell.
We have a note or two, like, just lost their father to cancer three months ago from a small town.
But other than that, man, we don't know what they're going to do and how they're going to react.
And it's pretty cool.
I mean, you know, when I had just moved to Nashville when American Idol was...
Just, I mean, 40 million viewers a week.
And the tone in Nashville is, that's the cheap route to get famous.
Because I came up through, you've got to play a thousand nightclubs.
You've got to go through, you've got to meet the record labels.
You've got to do the radio.
You've got to go meet everybody at radio.
So the whole town of Nashville was like, well, it's not totally fair that they just pop on TV. And skip all the...
But now, I mean, now, all that's gone, which is great.
joe rogan
Well, here's an example.
Oliver Anthony.
luke bryan
Totally.
joe rogan
Oliver Anthony has one song he releases.
It's the most...
Pull up that song.
Because this fucking song, this dude releases it.
It's just a camera and him with his guitar.
luke bryan
When I heard it...
I was like, holy shit, that's fucking amazing, and holy shit, that guy better have some songs to come behind it.
joe rogan
Yeah, well, he's a talented motherfucker.
unidentified
He is.
joe rogan
A very, very bright man.
luke bryan
And it's what life should...
unidentified
Listen to that.
Bullshit play so I can sit out here and waste my life away.
Drag back home and drown my troubles.
luke bryan
Damn shame.
Listen to that.
joe rogan
This dude was selling equipment.
He'd never even done a concert.
First concert he does is like 18,000 people at a state fair.
And he's as genuine as you can.
luke bryan
You've had him on here, correct?
joe rogan
I had him on here and I actually gave him advice.
luke bryan
How did he do?
joe rogan
He did great because I gave him advice before I met him because he was in the middle of all this and he goes, hey man, he goes, can I talk to you?
So we talked on the phone.
I'm like, what's up?
He's like, man, I'm getting all these offers from all these people.
They want to buy this and buy that.
They want to give me seven million dollars if I do this and sign that.
I said, stay independent.
I go, you have talent.
Everyone's saying I have to act now.
I go, fuck those people.
I go, you don't have to act now.
That's famine thinking.
I go, you're talented, man.
I had heard a couple of his other songs as well.
He's fucking talented.
And he's genuine.
And I go, you can't fake that.
Just stay independent, man, because they're not going to offer you anything.
The reason why they want to give you a lot of money is because they're going to make way more than they're going to give you.
That's the only reason why they want to give you money.
They want a piece of you before you become one of the biggest stars in the world.
And then they own a chunk of you forever because they gave you $7 million when you didn't have any money.
They go, just bank on yourself, man.
luke bryan
Yeah, and the beauty of...
Idol is...
And guys like this, there's so many avenues now.
You can go the old-fashioned route.
You can go the quick route.
You can go the idle route.
You can go stream on...
You can go video yourself on all your social platforms, and the right song can blow you up.
And then you've got to go do the real work.
joe rogan
You've got to do the real work.
You've got to have other bullets in your chamber.
luke bryan
That's what we tell the kids on Idol now.
I think when Idol was really, really, obviously, when Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood won, and even people after that, they went their ass to work, too.
joe rogan
It's an insane opportunity.
luke bryan
These kids on Idol now, they love seeing their social media platforms go up a thousand percent, and it's worth it.
There's going to be bumps in the road, and there's going to be a group of people saying American Idol may exploit these kids.
Man, I'm in the back, I'm behind the scenes on everything, and man, we won't, you know, they won't, when we get a kid that we love, man, we sit around, we go to dinner, and we talk about that kid and love him.
And I think, you know, these kids leave it going, man, that was a great experience for them.
I hope so.
joe rogan
I'm sure they do.
And it is an insane opportunity.
If you want to be a professional musician and you want to make a career out of it, it's one of the most unbelievable moments.
luke bryan
You've got to do your path.
My path was my path and it was unique to mine.
And because yours is different, that don't mean I need to hate you for it.
joe rogan
There's a lot of that shit with comedians today, too.
luke bryan
Oh!
joe rogan
Because a comedian will have one clip, or he's doing some crowd work, or one clip of one bit that everybody loves, and then all of a sudden he's selling out, and everybody's like, that guy...
luke bryan
And he only had one good joke.
joe rogan
Yeah, he's only been around for three years.
But so what?
Let him run with it.
Let him run with it.
You know, we're living in a new world.
It's like the song.
It is a new world.
luke bryan
Why wouldn't we all want someone else to win?
joe rogan
Right.
luke bryan
What is wrong...
What's wrong with people winning?
It's like you have figured out how to feed yourself with a guitar.
You've figured out how to tell jokes and make a living.
And you know, like I said, dude, I won't even post my damn deer I killed.
Because I don't want to get online and be there with a glass of wine at 3 a.m.
and start motherfucking people.
Like, dude, I want to kill them.
And like I said, you get over it, you get over it, but man, it pisses you off.
joe rogan
I don't read anything.
I tell everybody, don't read anything.
Don't read anything about you.
Just don't.
Don't read the good stuff.
Don't read the bad stuff.
luke bryan
I do good with it.
I mean, hell, I'm sitting here with a 48-year-old man.
My shit's in the bank, but it still makes you mad.
joe rogan
It still makes you mad.
It doesn't matter, even if you're undeniable.
It doesn't matter.
It's a human instinct to read negative things and get upset.
Because humans always had to worry about threats.
And if the threats were other tribes or predators or whatever...
luke bryan
You had to attack that threat.
joe rogan
So we're mentally conditioned to look for threats.
luke bryan
Fight or flight or something.
joe rogan
If you have a hundred people who love you, but one that hates you...
That one is the one you're going to think about.
You're not going to think about all the people that they say you're awesome.
You're going to think about that one that hates you.
And then you have to think about the kind of people that post comments.
Most of the people who post comments are miserable people.
Not the positive comments, but the negative comments.
luke bryan
I started a thing, you know, and I know you've got people in your world where...
Man, you know, there's assholes and you'll huddle up and you'll spend an hour talking about how you can't believe how big an asshole that person is.
joe rogan
Yeah.
luke bryan
And I'm like, guys, we're 15 minutes in on talking about this person being an asshole.
joe rogan
We wasted 15 minutes of our life.
luke bryan
We wasted 15 minutes on us trying to figure out why can't they stop being an asshole?
joe rogan
You basically wasted one one-hundredth of your day.
On somebody that sucks.
You only get 100 of those 15 minutes in a day, and you wasted one talking about a shithead.
It's a mess.
But it's a normal thing that people do.
You just gotta not do it.
You gotta realize that this is a new world.
luke bryan
And I've gotten conscious where when I see other buddies doing it, I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
joe rogan
Get out of there.
Yeah.
luke bryan
Man.
joe rogan
I recognized it when I was on television before social media.
There was a thing called, there was these Hollywood magazines, like Variety and the Hollywood Reporter, and I would always call them the Devil's Rag, because I would get to the set of the TV show and everybody was reading the Devil's Rag.
They were all like, oh, I can't believe they're number two.
We should be number one.
We should be right after Friends.
unidentified
Oh.
joe rogan
Everybody was upset.
And I was like, you guys are, I'm on TV. I don't know what the fuck is wrong with you people.
I'm on television.
I can't believe I'm on TV. You guys are upset that we're number 30 instead of number 2 or whatever the fuck it is.
Can't we just appreciate the fact that this is back when there was only like five networks.
Can't we appreciate the fact that we're one of the luckiest human beings that have ever lived?
We're on a fucking television show and yet you're reading these magazines.
And it's like, is it Thomas Jefferson who wrote that quote, comparison is a thief of joy?
But whoever was that?
Was it Jefferson?
I know we know who it is.
We've read it before, but that quote is so accurate.
Comparison.
That's why billionaires...
I know a dude is worth like a billion and a half dollars, and he thinks he's broke because he's friends with like Jeff Bezos.
luke bryan
I do not get into that.
You cannot get into that world.
joe rogan
You can't win!
unidentified
You can't win because you're in a crazy fucking numbers...
joe rogan
It doesn't mean anything.
You're not even enjoying what you have.
luke bryan
So my wife, for her 40th birthday, man, I surprised her and I rented her.
Never done anything.
We rented like a 120-foot boat and took all our college friends down to St. Bart's for New Year's.
Have you ever heard of this scene?
joe rogan
No.
unidentified
Dude!
joe rogan
Is it crazy?
luke bryan
Joe, so first of all, I mean, this boat that we got is a 120-foot Westport.
Beautiful.
We get the same boat.
I didn't know what the fuck we were doing.
joe rogan
Oh, you're in the yacht world.
Okay.
So you're entering into these worlds of 200-foot boats, 250-foot boats.
luke bryan
The oligarchs.
joe rogan
Yeah, okay.
Yeah, I've seen that before.
luke bryan
And it's in St. Bart's and they all float there for New Year's.
joe rogan
And it's all dick measuring contests.
luke bryan
Dude.
And my captain of that little boat, which that boat looked like, our boat that we were on looked like their shuttle boats.
joe rogan
Right.
luke bryan
And my captain, I said, did you ever pilot one of those?
He goes, oh yeah.
He goes, I said, what were they doing on there?
He goes, looking at the other boats, wondering.
I was on a fucking billion dollar yacht and pissed at the other billion dollar yacht.
joe rogan
Yeah, that's real.
They're all in competition with each other and they're all hating.
luke bryan
You know, and I'm entering in, yeah, you just got to get your little world, like my little world now.
Keep it tight.
My little Tennessee hunting world, I tell people all the time.
They're like, come on down to my ranch.
I'm like, man, I got my little deal.
joe rogan
Yeah, it's enough.
Stay sane.
Keep it tight.
luke bryan
What are they doing on that boat, Captain?
joe rogan
Isn't that nuts?
Imagine being on a 250-foot yacht, looking at the dude on the 300-foot yacht, going, God damn it.
I got to upgrade.
I was talking to a dude who pilots yachts, and he was telling me that they always want to sell them.
They always want to sell them and get another one.
He goes, all these yachts are always almost for sale.
I go, how come?
He goes, because they always want another yacht.
They always want a bigger yacht.
It's a trap!
It's a giant trap!
Imagine having all that money, you're not even appreciating it, because you're worried about making more?
Remember when we were kids?
If you said, like, what would you do if you had a million dollars?
Meh, it'd never work again!
I'd fucking just...
luke bryan
Well, you know, I remember dreaming.
Did you lay in bed and just be like, I remember dreaming about trying to do it and how I was going to...
joe rogan
How you going to get rich?
luke bryan
How am I going to get...
I wouldn't say rich.
How am I going to be able to have my own bass pond?
joe rogan
Right.
luke bryan
Because I would have to call other people and get permission.
joe rogan
Right.
luke bryan
And that dude, the anxiety of calling an old farmer.
joe rogan
Right.
luke bryan
Going, hey, you know, Farmer Johnson, can I go fish your bass lake?
I don't know, Luke.
Not today.
I'd be like...
And so, I remember doing that, and then when you start achieving it, man, I still, I mean, I don't think I'm living in that world of, like, the other digging.
You know, I think you can for a minute.
joe rogan
Yeah.
luke bryan
I think you can for a little bit.
joe rogan
But it's a trap.
luke bryan
It is a trap.
joe rogan
And the problem is it's all numbers.
It's like, you know how dudes are crazy with deer?
Like, I want a 200-inch deer.
200-inch mule deer.
luke bryan
You can't do that.
joe rogan
I want a 400-inch elk.
They get crazy with numbers.
I talked to this dude who worked on a ranch, and they have a big elk on this ranch, and he said, sometimes the hunters are really happy with an elk, and then they'll put a tape to it and measure it, and it's 396, and they get bummed out, because it's not 400. I'm like, those people are sick.
You should never have them here again.
You should ban them.
They should never be allowed to be here again.
That's a sickness.
But that's what happens with these people with everything, man.
I never had a dream of being wealthy.
It was never a dream.
It was never even in my imagination did I ever think I was going to be rich.
I never even thought about it.
When I started doing stand-up comedy, my dream was to be a professional, because I always had jobs.
My dream was to be able to pay my bills with comedy.
I looked at all the dudes.
luke bryan
That was...
Now, my dream...
Let me make sure I didn't steer you wrong on that.
My dream was to do these things out of being driven.
Like, when I moved to Nashville, I wrote on a chalkboard, write a number one song.
You know, win a CMA award.
joe rogan
Oh, you had a vision board?
luke bryan
I had a little vision board.
unidentified
Nice.
luke bryan
But I didn't understand, I didn't really comprehend the money after that, because I didn't know it.
And I didn't know, like...
Like, people are like, I'm a big Georgia Bulldog fan.
And they're like, did you go to Georgia?
And I'm like...
Buddy, me going to the University of Georgia when I was 18 years old, I mean, I barely, my dad barely got the money for me to go to the community college 12 minutes down the road.
So going to Georgia didn't...
joe rogan
Wasn't even a thought.
luke bryan
I didn't even put it in there.
unidentified
Right.
luke bryan
So, go ahead.
joe rogan
I'm just saying that when I see people, that's all they care about is the money.
And then they're always thinking about the richness and the money.
I just think it's a trap.
And the problem is, if you're always comparing yourself to other people, you're not going to enjoy what you have.
You're not going to enjoy this experience, temporary experience of life.
luke bryan
Right.
Because it is temporary.
joe rogan
It's so quick.
I'm 57 years old.
How the fuck did that happen?
All of a sudden, you just keep getting older.
And then, you know, one day you're dead.
And I bet on your deathbed, you're like, how did it happen so quick?
How did it happen so quick?
What are you doing with your time?
And are you enjoying it?
And I think you need things outside of what you do that you love.
And like for you and I, I think it's hunting and the outdoors.
Because I think it balances you.
I think there's something very spiritual about it.
I think there's something just being in the woods.
It's a very spiritual experience, like a real spiritual experience.
I think it's like a vitamin that you don't know you need until you get it.
And when you get it, you feel better.
When I'm out there, I feel better.
I just feel better.
The air is cleaner.
I feel more in touch with being alive.
It just feels better.
And I'm not thinking about anything else.
If I'm elk hunting, I'm not thinking about...
Jokes.
I'm not thinking about podcasts, guests.
I'm not thinking about jack shit.
I'm just thinking about what I'm doing.
That's it.
And it's very difficult to do, and you have to really focus, and you're thinking about it, and you're always trying to improve, and that alone is good for your brain.
luke bryan
It's good for your wife.
I lost my brother and my sister, and my sister's husband passed away.
I lost my brother at 26, my sister at 39, and her husband died at 45. Man, it is present.
The daily appreciation of this deal is visually present.
joe rogan
Isn't that crazy about people though?
It's like you almost need to lose something to be able to appreciate what you have.
luke bryan
Well, and I tell people, man, you know, you meet, I tell people, man, really be careful because if you make it to 80, you're going to get popped with something.
I don't think you can get through this thing Like some kind of a disease or something?
No, no.
I'm saying you're going to lose something.
You're going to lose something, dear.
You're not going to get through A to Z without really a hard loss.
joe rogan
No, that's just a part of life.
luke bryan
But some people, man, they're just...
Delusional.
They just...
joe rogan
Well, they're delusional, and then a lot of people are medicated, too.
So they don't even know what the fuck is going on while they're living this life.
They're living this life under the influence of the pharmaceutical drug companies, and they're just floating through life in a haze.
And they don't even know what's happening while it's happening.
And then they get to the end.
And then what'd you do?
What'd you do?
Did you help people?
Did you make people feel better?
Did you inspire people?
Did you enrich people's lives?
What'd you do?
You know?
And then you have to realize, like, God damn, I wasted a lot of time reading comments.
luke bryan
Thank you!
Thank you for doing that!
joe rogan
I wasted a lot of time getting mad at assholes.
luke bryan
I don't do it bad, though.
That's what's funny.
I don't do it bad.
joe rogan
Everybody says that.
Everybody says they don't look at their phone.
They go, let me see your screen time.
Like, six hours?
unidentified
Six hours.
joe rogan
Jesus, bitch.
What the fuck are you doing?
luke bryan
Oh, Lord.
Yeah, man.
I mean...
joe rogan
Well, we're all—this is a new world, too, in terms of that.
I keep saying this is a new world, but this really is a new element to our lives, is this social media element.
And I think there's not a lot of stuff that's written on it where people understand how to manage it.
luke bryan
We're learning real time.
We're the lab rats.
joe rogan
We really are.
Especially our kids.
Our kids really are the lab rats.
The kids really are.
And not just that, also access to violence.
They see so much violence.
They see so much online that's horrible.
luke bryan
I think about this all the time.
I would go stay with a buddy.
At his house, and he go, man, I rented Faces of Death.
joe rogan
Remember those?
luke bryan
I wouldn't watch them.
I'd be like, man, my parents told me not to watch that.
He go, what?
You don't want to watch this guy get electrocuted?
And I'm like, fuck no, I don't want to watch a dude get electrocuted.
unidentified
Dude, we're watching people...
luke bryan
We're watching people...
joe rogan
Yeah, if you're on Instagram, you're seeing people dying.
luke bryan
Every...
joe rogan
Every day.
Every day I have friends that send me horrible shit.
luke bryan
I mean, legs breaking.
joe rogan
Oh, yeah.
luke bryan
I mean, I remember Joe Theismann.
When Joe Theismann broke his leg.
Dude, it like shut the country down.
joe rogan
Yeah.
I know, now that's nothing.
luke bryan
And now it's like...
joe rogan
That's nothing.
I watched a dude on a diving board and his foot fell in a crack and the diving board had an opening in it and he went forward and his knee stayed in the same place and it just snapped his leg the wrong way and he's screaming, hanging from a broken leg.
That's just one thing I saw today.
luke bryan
I thought you don't do that!
joe rogan
I watch things on Instagram.
I just don't read comments.
But me and Tom Segura, we send each other the most horrible shit every day.
It's ridiculous.
But some days he sends me things I don't even look at them.
I'm like, not today.
luke bryan
Oh, I can see it coming, but I do love...
I do love the funny, comical aspect of it that gets me and a cup of coffee dying, laughing at some person being a goofball.
joe rogan
Or memes.
Some memes are some of the best.
luke bryan
They got us, though.
They got us.
joe rogan
Yeah, memes are some of the best comedy out there.
And it's just random people create these funny things.
There's a lot of funny people out there.
luke bryan
What's amazing is we've gotten to where we can see the meme happen and predict the meme and the memes on your phone the next day.
And you're like...
joe rogan
Within hours.
luke bryan
Oh, yeah.
joe rogan
They're so quick.
And memes are weird because a lot of times you don't even know who made it.
You're sharing it.
Somebody sends it to you.
You send it to other people.
Like, who made that?
Who's the wizard that figured this out?
It's a fucking hilarious stuff.
luke bryan
It's like a meme factory.
joe rogan
Well, it's like jokes.
Remember jokes like, you know, two guys walking to a bar?
Those jokes?
Who fucking wrote those?
We don't know, but some of them were bangers.
luke bryan
And they spread.
joe rogan
They just spread.
Spread across the whole country.
But somebody had to be the guy that sat down and tells the story.
Two guys walking to a bar.
And then, you know, it's everywhere.
luke bryan
Well, I mean, there's a million places we can go, but...
You know, you look at...
Yeah, I mean, the damn children, my kids, I mean, we're yelling at them every day, get up, get off the phone, get outside.
They do a good job, but man, I think it's just, it's a part of their deal.
joe rogan
They're being influenced by things far beyond our control and way different than anything that any other generation has ever experienced before.
luke bryan
Like my son, he's a 16-year-old quarterback.
And man, he watches all these other quarterbacks.
Hell, there are 14 recruiting download sites.
And my son's like, that dude right there is the greatest quarterback in the country.
I said, well, how old is he, Bo?
He's 15, Dad.
I'm like, Bo, we don't know what that little shit's going to be.
What are you talking about?
He goes, well, Dad, he's a five-star and he's 15. I'm like, Bo, your dad, when I moved to Nashville, I was a one-star country singer.
If I'd had a rating next to me and probability of me making it, yeah, it would have been a one-star.
I worked myself into, hopefully, a three-star recruit.
And he's looking at me like I'm crazy.
And so one of those kids...
He played them.
Now, my son's not starting.
He's backup quarterback to a great quarterback.
We played them and we beat them.
We get down.
He gets home after the game.
I said, what'd you think about your little savior there?
He goes, he's still the greatest quarterback of all time.
unidentified
I said, Bo, he lost the fucking game!
luke bryan
He's 15!
Son, let's let life happen before we anoint.
joe rogan
Just be inspired.
Be inspired by other success.
But don't take it too seriously.
And also recognize that kid might start getting laid and throw it all away.
luke bryan
Exactly.
He don't know what's going to...
joe rogan
Yeah, you're 15, you don't know what the fuck's coming your way.
luke bryan
You don't know one, yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah, you're running into some Russian chip in your English class.
luke bryan
Yeah, some new Russian exchange student that needs an English tutor.
joe rogan
Yeah, and then all of a sudden you don't have any sperm left in your body and you're dehydrated all day long.
luke bryan
Yeah, you're getting electrolytes on the sideline.
joe rogan
You're not doing any off-season running or lifting.
You're busy.
unidentified
Oh, man.
joe rogan
Also, people just, they lose the focus, you know?
And sometimes they get pushed too hard by their parents.
There's a little bit of that, too.
The kids rebel.
They don't want to do it anymore.
Anything can happen.
But that's what's fascinating about life, is that it's all open.
luke bryan
Your daughters are how old now?
unidentified
28, 16, and 14. Yeah, the 16 and 14, man.
joe rogan
The 16 and 14 are going through a totally different experience.
The TikTok, all girls.
luke bryan
Yeah, but girls are way, I mean, I just...
joe rogan
They're way more influenced in a negative way.
luke bryan
My heart aches for girls in this...
joe rogan
Well, there's some alarming statistics about the growth of social media from like 2009, where you see girls with self-harm, all sorts of psychological conditions, online bullying...
Because girls are fucking vicious to each other online.
Boys will run into each other and punch each other in the face.
But girls will attack each other's character, and they're reputation destroyers.
And they love to make up stories about girls, and be mean about girls, and talk shit about the way girls look, and the way girls dress, and the guys girls are dating, and they do it to each other.
It's unfortunate, but that's what gossip used to be.
Gossip used to just be talking, though.
It's like a normal thing where girls get around and talk, but now they talk online.
And when they talk online, then other people read it.
And you're ruining people's lives.
And you're ruining little girls' lives.
And suicide is off the charts.
And self-harm is off the charts.
And mostly young girls are getting affected by it.
luke bryan
When I have my 14-year-old go, Dad, I'm anxious about this.
I'm like, I didn't know the word anxious.
joe rogan
Right.
luke bryan
I didn't know the word anxious until I was 35 years old.
Right?
joe rogan
Right, right.
It wasn't thought when we were kids in high school.
luke bryan
It wasn't processed as anxiety.
It was processed as like...
joe rogan
Life.
luke bryan
Yeah.
joe rogan
You get nervous.
luke bryan
Yeah.
I mean, yeah.
I got a big test.
My stomach hurts.
I got to go take a shit.
joe rogan
Right, right, right.
luke bryan
Yeah.
joe rogan
Right.
Now it's the thing they think about all the time.
And the problem with that is Abigail Schreier wrote a book about this.
You focus on your problems, your problems oftentimes become bigger.
When you think about things like anxiety, guess what?
It makes you more anxious.
It doesn't help it.
It actually has the opposite effect.
It's a weird world, but they're going to be okay.
We're all going to be okay.
We're just going to have to adjust and figure it out on the fly.
It's just this adjustment is bigger than any adjustment that any generation's ever had to make before.
aaron rodgers
But it's also like, look at things like Oliver Anthony.
joe rogan
Good comes out of it too.
luke bryan
Yeah.
joe rogan
You know, Jelly Roll.
luke bryan
Jelly Roll, Jesus.
joe rogan
Love that dude.
luke bryan
Best thing ever.
joe rogan
He's one of my favorite human beings ever.
luke bryan
Best thing.
joe rogan
He's such a fucking sweetheart.
luke bryan
Best thing ever.
joe rogan
When that guy sang that song, Save Me, and everybody was like, what is going on?
This fucking ex-con with tattoos on his face with a voice like an angel.
luke bryan
Best thing ever.
joe rogan
Incredible.
But this is all possible today, too.
So you got good and you got bad.
It's just you got to navigate the waters.
You got to know where the rocks are.
Steer that boat, young sailor.
luke bryan
You know, what amazes me is, man, what breaks my heart is when people think they're all alone in their thing that's hanging up their life.
joe rogan
Right.
luke bryan
Right.
When you meet somebody, and it's all scaled way differently.
Like when you meet, you know, I've had people, you know, when you grow up in a country music band and you're on the bus for hours with buddies and everybody goes, they got their own life, and then, man, you find out...
I had one band member almost kill himself over something that if he'd have just had somebody say, man, I have that too.
joe rogan
Right.
Right.
luke bryan
And he would have not felt alone.
Right.
joe rogan
Right.
luke bryan
And people have got to quit, like, thinking that they're the only ones that have gone through this thing.
joe rogan
Yeah, well, that's why you need people that you love.
luke bryan
Yeah.
joe rogan
That's why you need friends.
luke bryan
See, my household was a man.
We sat at the dinner table, and dude, it came out.
I'm talking about...
Well, that's good.
And then, but my wife's household was, man, they, you know...
unidentified
Bottled it up?
luke bryan
They bottled it up, and it all worked, and we don't know who came out better, but me and my wife, you know, we work on, like...
I mean, like, my wife never saw her mama, like, in the shower...
Like, just showering, you know, like walk through the house naked.
I mean, hell, we had one bathroom.
It was like we were a bunch of damn naked idiots running around trying to get to the bathroom.
And my wife's like, yeah, my mama did not shower with the door open.
And I'm like, or, and I'm like, really?
She's like, I'm like, you're kidding me.
Never once.
I'm like, just, that's kind of crazy.
joe rogan
Well, when you have daughters, there's a certain amount of time where you can't be naked in front of them anymore.
Once they hit four or five years old, you're like, okay, that's a wrap.
luke bryan
My 16-year-old, so my beard, we're living in our guest house right now because we're doing some work to our main house.
Our main house had stuff that just kept happening, and we were like...
We're moving out, and when we move back in, have it all fixed.
So we got a 22-year-old, a 16-year-old living in the same house.
When my wife stored all of my bathroom stuff, it's in a box somewhere on my shaving gear.
I run into my son's bathroom, my 16-year-old, and I grabbed his beard trimmer.
I grabbed his fucking trimmer sitting there, and I shaved my beard, and I'm all up under my nose.
joe rogan
Do you smell bald hair?
luke bryan
No!
unidentified
No!
luke bryan
I get in my truck, and I'm driving down the road, and my son gets home from school crying, laughing.
What?
Dad!
You shaved your beard with my ball trimmers!
And I was like, you little shit.
First of all, I'm like, what in the hell?
16-year-old manscaping?
What the fuck's going on?
joe rogan
It's a new world.
luke bryan
I know!
I'm like, dude, I never imagined you had...
I don't even think he's...
You know, whatever.
It's so fun, man.
These kids.
God, it's so amazing.
Dude, we were elk hunting, man.
My 14-year-old, we got this really cool...
When we go elk hunt, we got to wade across a river to get to our elk spot.
And the first couple years, man, we didn't know.
We just stripped down to our underwear and hung our boots and all our gear.
And walked underwear, and dude, it was kind of like, we're really men, you know?
joe rogan
Right.
luke bryan
And so Tate and Bo, the first time, I would put him on my shoulders and walk him.
Well, then, after two years, we were like, dude, let's go by and get, like, eight pairs of waders and sit them on the bank, and we'll leave the waders, and everybody's like, that's a damn good idea.
I'm like, yeah.
I mean, how many years does it take y'all to understand and go get some damn waders?
unidentified
Right.
luke bryan
So Tate, for the last three years, I've towed him across the river, and man, I looked at him the last day of the hunt, and this was Tate's year to try to get an elk, and he actually, Dad, I kind of messed up the elk hunt.
I moved and spooked the elk.
Which was great, because he realized that just because you're Luke Bryan's son, you don't get the damn elk.
And I said, hey, I said, I want to tote you across the river.
I said, you're growing, and this will probably be the last year.
So I tote him across the river, and then on the way back, he goes, hey, Dad, I want to wade it by myself.
And, man, he...
You don't realize how much your kids really are watching you, but we're sitting on the bank, and he's watching me, and I sit my bow down.
He takes his bow and sits it down, and he watches everything I do, and it was the cutest thing ever.
I haven't even told my wife.
So every year, I take my boots, and I tie them in a knot, and I... And I hang them and throw them over my, because we're toting gear, and I throw my boots over my shoulders so they don't get wet.
And, man, I looked at him, and he's sitting there tying his little string.
He stands up and throws them boots.
Man, watching your kids just absorb it is just, you know, it's pretty damn special.
joe rogan
Sounds like you're having a beautiful life, my friend.
luke bryan
Well, it's, uh...
joe rogan
It really does.
luke bryan
Kids make it.
joe rogan
It really does.
It really does.
Luke, thank you very much, man.
This was a lot of fun.
luke bryan
I hope we...
How long was that?
joe rogan
More than three hours.
luke bryan
Was it?
joe rogan
Yeah.
Yeah.
luke bryan
Holy shit.
joe rogan
Yeah, it's 4.30.
luke bryan
Three hours.
joe rogan
There it is.
Mind of a Country Boy.
Listen or download now.
Look at you, you handsome bastard.
luke bryan
Well...
joe rogan
Fucking tight jeans.
Look at you.
luke bryan
Tight jeans.
Everybody hates me.
joe rogan
They don't hate you, man.
Just don't read the ones that do.
luke bryan
Oh, shit.
joe rogan
Appreciate you, brother.
Thank you very much.
unidentified
Love you, too.
joe rogan
Love you, too.
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