Why Ethical Hunting Could Be Saving Wildlife

There's a zebra, you know, and yeah, there's herds of zebra, Austria.

In Texas? Will it be these ranches? On these ranches. Oh my lord, I had no clue.

“And many didn't, and quite frankly, I didn't know when I moved down there to start running a ranch”

to just do the management side of the thing that all this existed and how much honey played a role into it, not only to keep the genetic diversity, but to fund it. Matt to Colby is a dedicated strategic and purpose-driven wildlife biologist and the founder of Tech Outdoors. Guided by a deep commitment to conservation, he helps outdoor enthusiasts engage in ethical hunting experiences, creating a lasting legacy of sustainable wildlife management and environmental stewardship.

There are plenty of elephants that will never be hunted.

There are plenty of different subspecies that elephants that are protected, but then there are also other elephants that are not, and they're thriving. And to the point where they're invading on us as a human, and it's becoming a safety issue. That's where you see these harvested. It's not a free for all in any state where you can just go harvest whatever you want to harvest.

I'm they do have the restrictions and bag limits, but the information coming back is through the hunters and the biologist that say this is what we're seeing. They're the ones that are out there in the wild. They're the ones that are out there on the ranches, on the farms,

with the wildlife, and they see what's happening because the hunter does not want this animal to go away.

I believe that is what truly just our passion and my guys and myself,

“that's what really makes us stand out from our competition.”

Nice. There's our care and love for it. I can reinvent from all over, until I win. The living your legacy podcast for those who live to leave a legacy. Hey, welcome back everyone to another episode of "Living Your Legacy" podcast where we have the privilege to have conversations with some of the best

entrepreneurs and business leaders and people and leaders in their industry. We have another special guest today. Does some outdoor stuff need all the techs in and yeah, what's your name? Where are you from and what's your business? My name is Matt Tukovik.

I am from Fredericksburg, Texas and my business is tech outdoors. We do wildlife consulting and outfitting. Wildlife consulting and outfitting.

“So what kind of wildlife consulting, what's that mean?”

Yeah, no, great question, and that is the question, right? When you show your wildlife consulting, no one knows what you do so they stop asking questions. I don't know, like how to talk to gears. Yeah, that's right. That would be the question, what's your perception on what it is? Yeah, I don't know. Wildlife consulting, how to kind of be out in the wildlife for our

X amount of days, I guess. Sure, so what wildlife consulting is and especially when it portrays to us are there are so many different species, both native and exotic down in Texas and they have to live, you know, they need to thrive and that's where we really come in is how to work with landowners, how to work with the environment and stuff to make sure these exotic animals can thrive with our native

animals and not push them out and then we do other things that go way more in detail with it as far as trying to get them back into their native lands if they're endangered or threatened or something like that. Okay, so you're like almost like environmental surveys before they put up a new building or office. So it is one aspect of what we do, yes, we have been called before to do environmental survey studies, whether it's a nesting of a certain bird or what is

there to go in. We do that. It's probably not the biggest thing that we do is definitely not the biggest thing we do. Yeah, a lot of what we do especially in Texas with having so much land down there and so many successful people coming down there to purchase large pieces of land is the Colis and they want to see these exotic. They want to help. They want to be in the conservation in it and the hunting side of it as well and that's one thing that we do is we bring the two together.

Okay, we bring the we manage a lot of this conservancy through hunting. Draws in a great revenue source to the landowners which can continue to allow them to have either bigger herds or healthier herds of certain species or more species. All right.

for our business would be the consulting and the hunting together. Yeah, they really can't be

done without each other. They could be done. We don't do it. Because they need to sustain the amount of wildlife there in order to to find, right? That's correct. And without one, you won't have the other. Because if you don't have the hunting, then you come into where they're not diversifying in genetics. They're overpopulating a lot of diseases come up and then it affects the animals and the plant life and the thing. So you're like a dude at Yosemite that says bring back the wolves.

That's right. Yeah. That's right. But if we need to do it in a way that that helps, you know, because too many things are wrong. So we monitor both sides and so we're not constricted the way that when you bring back the wolves, you're definitely in the in the government side of

things on that. So we're a separate entity of that all together. So we have a little bit more

freedom to not have to go through all the loopholes that they have to go through. Of course. So then is your company the one saying, because like in Connecticut, like you're allowed to hunt deer, right? And there's like deer hunting season, okay? And they say, okay, where we can, you know, hunt

“X many deer per year, whatever, right? And you need to get your license to yourself. So are you saying,”

okay, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not a hunter. So I don't know what they're hunting down there. But are you the guy that, you know, recommends how many deer per year or whatever species that they can hunt? Yeah, great question. And so there are over 50 species on some of these ranches. So that can get very complicated. But to answer your question directly. So I can Connecticut, that is, that is governed by the state of Connecticut of what their season. Not only their limits. Yeah, the fish and wildlife

or whatever they're, they call it, they're in Connecticut. And that, that is governed by them. And that is the way they get their information is through the hunters of what they've harvested, what they've reported. Yeah. And so they govern that. Well, in Texas, Texas Parks and Wildlife also governs a lot of our native species on the seasons of when we can hunt them and what our bagglymets are. And that's your, that's your total amount that you're allowed. It's not a free

for all in any state where you can just go harvest whatever you want to harvest. They do have the restrictions and bagglymets. But the information coming back is through the hunters and the biologist that say this is what we're seeing. They're the ones that are out there in the wild. They're the ones that are out there on the ranches, on the farms with the wildlife. And they see what's happening because the hunter does not want this animal to go away. Yeah. The hunter wants

to be able to do this and pass this on to generations. And they want to do this as a camaraderie with their friends. They want to do this as something they've done with their fathers or grandfather's or aunts or animals or however, well, it's growing up. Hunters are hunters. Hunters are hunters. It's just no more hunting than what are they, right? That's right. They're going to be like Zoolander, like I be like, who am I? But you also talk about kind of like, I mean, tech outdoors,

“is it got to be some outdoor tech and gearing them up, right? So that's the half of the bus?”

Yeah, that's a misconception. We definitely spelled it T.E.K. based off of my name when I was playing rugby. Oh, was tech. Okay. We're definitely not T.E.C.H. I wish I was a little more. I was a rugby. Rugby. Rugby, where'd you grow up? So I grew up in Kentucky, a little town called Keraltons in Kentucky. And I football is big down there. What happened? Well, so in Kentucky, it was a big basketball, but I played football. I went on to Eastern Kentucky University to walk on and play some football

there and then ended up seeing these boys play rugby and went over to it and fell in love. You were like, yo, you're in the real man without the hat. That's it. Those pads down, right? They are, they're a little wilder. I still talked to these boys today. Yeah, yeah. Even today, the camaraderie we built in in. When it comes down to the rugby sixes and like, oh, come on down. Yeah. We still get together every year. We called Hooligans and Hobbes.

Okay, so we called you tech. They did. They called me tech and that's where tech outdoors started. All right. Well, it was just an originality of how to name a business. Right. I was young. I didn't didn't understand certain other words wouldn't it better. Yeah, yeah. But, but we have what we have.

“I think it's perfect. It's like, you know, it makes you, it draws you in more, right? And so talk”

about, you do the consulting. Yes, sir. And then the second half of the business, uh, talk about that.

Yeah, so second half of the business would be the hunting side of it. We, we entertained, it's an entertainment business, it's truly what it is. We, so is there a brick and mortar part for there is any gear? And so tech outdoors does not have a brick and mortar. Okay. Um, tech outdoors, we operate on 21 different branches throughout the state of Texas. Okay. We also travel to Alberta, Canada.

Yes, it is. And that's why I say it's an entertainment business because we manage the expectations

of what they have. Not, not them, manage in our expectations of what they should have. We want to, if you were to call me and say, look, I'm new at this. I want to come out and I want to do a hunt. I don't know what to expect. Okay. Well, what do you, what, what are you envisioning? What are you, what are you seeing? And we want to make sure we're the right fit for you. Yeah. Um, because we do focus on conservation. Yeah. We do sustainable hunting. We, it is, it absolutely is sustainable hunting.

And we, and also the ethics behind it and the safety of it. Or if that is what we truly stand behind, we love when we have youth in there. So for all the nonhunters out there, you're the guy that's we want that kind of guy behind the hunting licenses and bringing people on the hunt because it

sounds, it sounds amazing. Sustainable hunting. You want longevity for for your sport, right?

100%. I mean, that's legacy, right? Whether it's, whether it's this or whether it's whatever it is,

“you have to have that long-javity. Yeah. And you have any proof. So you guys do in per year,”

you said you run 20 ranches out in Texas? Yes, sir. So we, we operate, uh, Texas allows us to operate year round. And it varies. We Texas allows you. I mean, the weather allows you. The weather allows you, that's right. Well, and so when we talked about the season limits as well. Okay. So some of the exotics do not have seasons. We have to manage that as biologist, as stewards of the land, as, as conservation. We have to do our own management on that because the, the state does not.

And you do like that. There's 50 species, right? There's over 50 species. All right. Let's talk about some of these species that you guys are hunting. Okay. So some of the species that we're hunting, uh, one of the most popular would be the access deer in the black buck and a low. Both of those are out of India. They're still don't well in India, um, but they thrive in Texas as well. All right. And they're absolutely beautiful and they make great table fair as well.

“Okay. So good venison. Good venison. It is. It's, it's, uh, it's actually great venison.”

My never used to give us venison. Okay. Yeah. It's a different taste. It's, uh, back in the

day, and I'll, I'll miss quote if I try to quote you are quote to, uh, when it was, but Neil got an allope for brought in to South Texas on the King Ranch, which is a big ranch, huge, and biggest ranch in Texas. Okay. Um, and they were brought in to replace the cow. How big is big biggest ranch in Texas? Oh, I'd be lying to you. It's, um, it's a size of some states. Yeah. Yeah. It's a kinetic. It probably so. Yeah. Especially it's huge. I mean, there's, there's different

parts of it. There's different, uh, just different animals to ride better on it. But the Neil guy and a lot did amazing down there. Yeah. There, there are big, large, 600 pound and a lope. Um, and a lot of times it restaurants, if you see an allope on the menu, it's Neil guy. Okay. That's what it is. It's a leaner, and it was to replace the cattle. Well, we couldn't domesticate the Neil guy like they thought they would. So now they run wild and free, during parts, throughout parts of

Texas. And that is not our goal is to have exotic running wild and free. Yeah. But it is a negative side of what happens, right? And so there are management practices in place right now. Oh, well, they try to control invasive species. Well, that's right. Just like you guys hear in Miami, have your go on as your Python and stuff like that. You don't think about it. You know it, and, and I get why that started. You have people in the pet trade that love their animals just like these

ranchers, love these exotics. You know, they may have kept it the here, here locally, they may have kept it indoors where we keep it on larger ranches. But then eventually they said, while things

“got into big, yeah, why can't I can't just guard this thing, I need to let it go. And I think they're”

doing best for the animal, which they may be for the animal, but they're free, not, yeah, they're be free, but they're not doing best for the environment for the other species that are around. And so that's something that we can troll down there just looking at larger animals. They had good intentions, right? You're in tension, yeah. And while it'd be free, Texas, you're on vacation, you know? Yeah. It's been a good time. Thanks buddy. But then it's like they weren't really thinking.

Well, and we have, we have such great, um, there are so many people out there and, um, with, like our company with tech outdoors and the state, they, they really do a lot to, uh, manage those, and it's, it's a little easier to manage something like an ill guy than it is a boa that goes into your Everglades and who's out there, right? The private landowners that a lot of these are on and those private landowners put out a lot of their own money to raise these animals and to, you know,

because one of the things that's unknown, it's like some of threatened and endangered species. You know, without those, they wouldn't be doing as well as they are now because of some of the landowners in Texas and because some of the conservation things that we implement while we're down there to help create that genetic diversity back in their home land. Yeah. Okay. Is that the

probably the prominent. Uh, white, white tail are doing great down there. They co, uh, they co-ah have

“at these properties with the exotics, but it is something that we manage down there. Um, that far south”

Texas, uh, we're, we're more centrally located, uh, but that far south Texas. Uh, Texas. Uh, Texas. That's right. There's so much about Texas. Great. Uh, but down there in south Texas, the Neil Guy and Alope would be it. When you get more into our area, you have a, a big variety of your Kudu, your stable, um, the ones we talked about, your black buck, your, your, um, axis. And then things that are more recognizable to people or you'll be going like, there's a zebra. Yeah. You know,

and yeah, there's heard the zebra ostrich in Texas. Will to be these ranches on these ranches. Oh, my Lord. I had no clue. And many didn't, and, and quite frankly, I didn't know when I moved

down there to start running a ranch to just do the management side of thing that all this existed

and how much honey played a role into it. Yeah. Not only to keep the genetic diversity,

“but to fund it. And that's what really keeps a lot of this going is is, uh, the hunters and being”

able to fund it because the landowners have great, but when you purchase those 12 different, uh, of one species and then all of a sudden you turn around and there's 40, what are you going to do? Yeah. You know, now it's getting a lot to supplemental feed, make sure that you're laying, because when you do these things, you do need to put up the proper fences. And we're talking, um, Jurassic Park. We're talking Jurassic Park here, baby.

We're talking some of these ranches. We'll be a few hundred acres to several thousands of acres. Okay. Yeah. Um, in there that they're doing in it, and that's where we come in. And we say, okay, your property is excise, and this is your rainfall and what you can sustain, what your carrying capacity can be to not, um, get rid of your native wildlife. This is what we suggest and how we're going to manage these populations, these species.

Because it all comes down to, it's their money. It's the landowners money. And we want them to be happy with what we're doing. We want them to see the results that they're anticipating. And that's where we come in to really make sure that that's happening and to do so is to have guys like you down, to have people that have hunted before or have not. We do a lot of corporate retreats as well, where there's no hunting. There, but there's some outdoors

in it. There's seeing these animals, whether we go pet a giraffe or just see zebras in the distance or the access or the, there's Kate Buffalo now. They've just introduced the white rhino, which is

endangered, which will never be for hunting. It's in Texas. Okay. Uh, it'll, it'll never be for hunting.

It's, it's strictly conservation. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But the same individuals that are putting their money up for these hunting operations are also funding this as well. Okay. Okay. Wow. I had no clue until clue. So there's white rhino in Texas. Yes, sir. Wow. Okay. So real quickly, right? Talk about the, the competition, right? And kind of what makes you guys stand out from the competition. Yeah. What makes us stand out from the competition? Because

there's a lot. Isn't there is a lot. There's a lot of competition in Texas. What do you guys do to make yourselves stand out? Yeah. What we do is we have, we, we lead with conservation. We lead with the ethical and we lead with the safety. We also lead with building those relationships between our customers, more as friends and family. And, and we do it naturally. You know, with sharing, not just myself. I mean, I don't do this by myself. I have a great crew. Yeah.

We're on, I'm going in my 20th year. Some of my guys been with me 19 years, 16 years. Okay. Some of them started hunting with me when they were young and are now fully on board with us as well. It's family. It 100% is family. And, and we tell people, especially when we bring them on, is that you're coming apart of our family. You're coming apart of our team to be this. And I believe and you're the cool uncle. And I'll be the cool uncle. Not all the time. But I believe that is what

“truly just our passion and my guys and myself. That's what really makes us stand out from,”

from our competition. Nice. That is our care and love for it. It's that you're doing core crit trips, you're doing private trips, family stuff, individual. And then we also do some things for charitable, whether it, you know, be wounded veterans and things like that. We, we do that. Now a lot of that is again on the landowner because we don't own the land. Yeah. We just help manage it. So we have to go through the right steps to make sure that the landowners are okay with

it. We absolutely put our services in there and beloved to do those type of things. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And you guys are helping them out too by giving them accounts and all kinds of information

because, you know, one of the things is it's neat to go out there and explore and look through

the wildlife or drive through a ranch and see some animals. You've only seen a portion of it. Yeah. Because you were there when you wanted to be there. We're there when the animals want to be out. We're there. It's, it's something. And it doesn't mean we're physically there. We have cameras, the camera systems that they have out now are fantastic. So we monitor them. Gotcha. Usually every day I wake up over 3,000 photos or videos on my phone. Wow. That we go through

just, it'll tell us a lot about what has happened over the night. But again, that is one little small area that that animal had to walk in front of. So there's a lot that goes to it that even I didn't know when I started doing this. I went down there thinking Texas, let's go. Let's try this out. Yeah. And it's open such a great world for me. It's the, I'm thinking, I'm getting visions

“of the circle of life in Texas. It is. It's, you know, we're not far off the line getting here, right?”

Like the circle of life. It's a true thing. We like to say it as a punchline, but we don't, we don't feed into it no exactly what that means. But it's true. And you see that what's, what's awesome is this has led me to go over to Africa. South Africa and see how parallel it is there. Yeah. Yeah. The government's different. Things are ran differently. But those that own the ranchers, the concessions, as they call them over there, they have such passion just like

our landowners back in Texas. Okay. They have such a love for what they are doing over there to manage. They manage a little talk about us. Like, calm some of us down because some of us are flipping through the airport magazine or, we're scrolling or whatever. And then there's a picture of some dudes with some, some big lion or, I don't know. Like, you just see some of these hunters, or maybe the Vice President, no, the Don Jr. Right? He's got the elephant tail, right? Sure.

So talk us about that, you know, maybe you can calm us down because we only see, oh my god, the animals, right? But you're talking about this whole ecosystem, circle of life, and sustainability, right? That elephant had to come into it because there's been numbers or whatever. But talk to us about that for some of us that don't really know. Absolutely. And that really is a

thing that I didn't always know. And it's something that I've learned over time. These animals,

especially when you see the elephant, it's typically a new sense element elephant that has invaded into a village. Okay. That has either caused death or has the potential to. And it doesn't always have to be death of human life, but it could also be to the, their sustainable food, you know, they'll walk through the fences, they'll tear up things, they'll tear up their crops. And so they've been destructive, and many times there's so many different ways to try to

shoe them off, if you will, or try to relocate them, but you can't just grab it elephant relocated. When you're talking about something of that size, it doesn't just go to elephant, but many

times these elephants, there are plenty of elephants that will never be hunted. There are plenty of

different subspecies that elephants that are protected, but then there are also other elephants that are not. And they are thriving. And to the point where they're invading on us as a human, and it's becoming a safety issue. That's where you see these harvested. But you don't see that report of where

“we got to this point, right? Of those things. And that's what's happening when you see that.”

What you also don't see on that is it's, it's not inexpensive to harvest that elephant. It is pretty costly to that hunter. Well, that money doesn't go all to the landowner. Yeah. It goes to conserving the rest of the elephants that are alive. It goes to finding a way to get them into new places to where they're not being invading in with the humans in a negative impact. And that's where a lot of it that I think we do a bad job, a poor job as a hunter,

is expressing that look, it's kind of hidden. Well, no one wants to know what you paid for that animal. Well, you know what you maybe you do, because we need to come to that full circle. You need to know that this was extremely expensive for that hunter, whoever it may be to harvest that animal. Yeah. But that that money went to save many, many more. And not only of the elephant, but other animals that are affected in its environment.

That will be that it creates new habitat or it, it translocates them to different places.

“And I think that's something that we've really missed out on the hunting world”

is getting that information out there, because a lot of times as someone that's a non-hunter

than I'm like, why? Why would you have taken that photo? Why did you choose that photo to publish?

Like that's not flattering. And so I get it, I get angry. I get upset at like that's,

“I get the purpose a little more. But I think a lot of times we have the same goal,”

but we're coming out of from such different angles that it's hard for us to see that we're out

for the same thing. Yeah. I mean, even some of the hardcore animal lovers, they might have to put

their dog down because of, you know, some depilitating diseases or something, right? They don't want to, right? Yeah, absolutely. But yeah, I mean, I'm definitely open to what you're saying and it's good to see the other side of, you know, the hunting industry or whatever. No. And it's good to share it.

And I appreciate that. I think if more of us and the hunting side as well, it isn't one sided.

I mean, this needs to be all the way around. Yeah. I think if more of us are open up to see the other viewpoints that you realize that you're after the same goal. And that's the good side of

“capitalism, you know? So you have to make money in order to spend money on stuff like conservation”

or whatever the village needs or whatever those, you know, safari guides need in order to manage everything. I mean, it takes money to do those kinds of things, right? Absolutely. So yeah. I mean, how do people find you? So they can find us various different ways. We're on all the social media's tech outdoors, which is the TEK outdoors. Gotcha. That is also the dot com. That's our

“website on Instagram. It's tech underscore outdoors and then on Facebook. It just tech outdoors.”

But you can find us. You'll see our logo. It's a white tail deer with the tech outdoors on there. All right. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. No. It's been a pleasure to talk to you and learn and that's what we do. We keep an open mind. We learn and we get the privilege to talk to a lot of great business leaders and now hunters and, you know, someone behind the circle of life, people. All right. That's it. All right. Well, yeah. Thank you for joining us and thank you guys for joining us. If you

want to tune in to more of this like interesting talk, then tune into his episode and yeah. We'll see you again. Cheers, everyone.