120 yards is insane in anyone's book though.
So do what Lee did. Take huge risks, work your ass off, and you can have the same thing. No one gave it to him, he just did what it takes to achieve big things.
Aaron
Share this post on social media: 7 June 20, 2014 By Jake Dybedahl
We had the opportunity to talk with Lee and Tiffany Lakosky, the stars of Crush with Lee & Tiffany on Outdoor Channel April 11, 2014. The interview was conducted by Jake Dybedahl, Tom Kacheroski and Jeff Snyder of Sportsman’s Guide. Read what America’s favorite hunting couple had to say about the outdoor industry, their most memorable hunts, plans for 2014 and more.
Can you give us some history on where you’re from and how you got started in the industry?
TIFFANY: We’re both from Columbia Heights, Minnesota. Both of us grew up there, born and raised, and then about 11 years ago, we moved down to southeast Iowa, where Lee had bought some land. And how we got started in the outdoor industry – go ahead, Lee.
Tiffany and Lee on their wedding day LEE: It kind of fell in our laps. We never actually tried to. I was a chemical engineer and Tiffany was a flight attendant, and I just loved hunting. We always would film, had a camera with us all the time – not to film each other; just to film the deer and wildlife coming in. After doing that for a few years we went to the ATA show and met Michael Waddell and the Drury boys and Don and Kandi Kisky and Jay Gregory, and then we just hit it off as buddies with all those guys.
TIFFANY: And you had been writing articles there for a while, too.
LEE: Yeah, and I’d been writing articles for a few different magazines. We had just bought our first farm, which was in Kansas, and we went turkey hunting down there with Michael Waddell. Then they filmed some of the turkey hunts for All-Stars of Spring, so we got to see how they did all that, and then David Blanton asked us if we would want to start filming some of our deer hunts for Monster Bucks. The first year we did, we had a great year.
TIFFANY: Probably our best year ever. LEE: I know. I shot a 196, a 174, and a 170, and this was Tiffany’s second year of hunting ever – because she didn’t hunt before we met and she shot three bucks as well, 150s and 140s. Just really good bucks for your second year ever even hunting. We never asked for any money for it or anything like that; we just did it for fun. We were just thrilled to be part of it.
Was that bow hunting or firearm hunting? LEE: Bow hunting. Tiffany had never even shot a gun probably until the fourth year of doing our show.
TIFFANY: And if you ever saw my first goose hunt or duck hunt, you would know that. Terrible. (laughs)
LEE: Right. We were just doing it for fun, and then about our third year into doing video stuff on Monster Bucks and different stuff with Don and Kandi Kisky, a couple different companies came to us and asked if we’d be interested in hosting a show for them. Scent-Lok gave us a great offer; they let me do it the way that I wanted to. I didn’t want it to be just an infomercial for a product.
TIFFANY: And it did work out perfectly, too, because right at that exact time, Lee had quit his job up in Minnesota because he just wasn’t happy, and he’s like, “I don’t want to do this for the rest of my life. I don’t want to live in a city.” It actually worked out perfect that I was a flight attendant, because when he called me, he’s said “Uh, I just quit my job. Do you want to move to Iowa?” I’m like, “Yes!” So we literally picked up and packed up that week, and a couple weeks later, that’s when the phone call came about “Do you want to do a show?”
LEE: We did, and 10 years later, we’re still here
What do you think makes your TV show different from all the other TV shows out there? Other than you’re a husband and wife team.
TIFFANY: I think it shows us having fun and just being ourselves. Especially for me, I’m not going to be something I’m not. You’re never going to hear me going, “You need to do this because of this.” I’m not any whitetail expert whatsoever, but I’m out there all the time, so I’ve learned a lot over the years. I think people like to watch our show because they like to see us having fun, because really, what do we all hunt for? To have fun. I think that for a while there, people really weren’t showing that.
LEE: I think a lot of the success has been just the humor and stuff in it, but also just really good, solid deer management. We go to very few outfitters, especially for deer. Nothing like that. So every deer you see is just something that we started from scratch. It started on farms that we bought and started managing.
If you shoot a deer at our place, it’s on a food plot that we dozed out and planted everything. It’s more rewarding for us that way.
How many days a year do you two hunt? LEE: About every day that it’s open. We start August 16th this year, and we’ll hunt basically every day till January 10th, other than there might be a few travel days in there. But we hunt basically every single day. After January 10th, then we’ve got shows. You’ve got ATA and SHOT Show and all that kind of stuff, but then we have a place down in Arkansas, so we duck hunt every day in between.
TIFFANY: We also both have dogs now, who are all trained by Tom Dokken…so we get them out as much as we can. That has added a lot more hunting onto our schedule than we used to do. Lee and Tiffany snap a “selfie” while turkey hunting
Are you filming all the time?
TIFFANY: If we’re anywhere out hunting, it’s always filmed. I’ve actually never shot anything that’s not been on film. Is that not the craziest thing ever?
Tiffany – What did your friends and family think when you said you were going to be a professional hunter and TV show host?
TIFFANY: I remember when I had first started dating Lee, and it was so funny. My dad had died a long time ago and it was just my mom and I at home. I told her one day I was going to shed hunt. She’s like, “What’s that?” I’m like, “I don’t know. I don’t have any idea.” She’s like, “Well this must be love.”
Once I started to just do a lot of this stuff in the outdoors with Lee – some of my girlfriends were wondering what in the world I was doing. Once they kind of got used to it, they would say “Good luck! Call me if you shoot anything!”
I also worked for the first three years that we did our show, because it takes a while for everything to come out. Overall, It was pretty accepted as a whole. But everybody was caught back a little bit. I remember I was like, “I’m going deer hunting,” and they’re like, “What? You don’t deer hunt.” I’m like, “Well, I do now.”
Do you think it encourages more young women to hunt when they see someone like yourself on television?
TIFFANY: I like to think so. We do so many appearances and types of shows and we have young girls and women that have been married 25 years and they’re showing us pictures of their deer and their turkeys when they come through the line. So I definitely think it’s helped.
LEE: Oh, definitely. It’s probably easier even for me to say, because I get so much of it. Husbands and fathers that will come up to me and say, “Man, thank you so much for the show,” because they have their young daughters, and before, they never really had anyone to look up to. It was always like “Hunting is for guys or for tomboys” or whatever.
They said now they see Tiffany, who can still wear fingernail polish and jewelry but still hunt. So they finally had a good role model that they could see that “Hey, it’s not just for guys.” So I hear that a lot from these kids’ fathers, just thanking us for that. Now they’ve got their daughters out hunting with them, where they really couldn’t get them out before.
Is the industry doing enough to get kids involved? They have the National Archery in the Schools Program now, and it sounds its just been a huge success.
LEE: Oh, it’s been huge. We’ve worked on that several times.
TIFFANY: That’s a great example. One of my little cousins who is in ninth grade started a Trap League with his dad. Nobody thought it would be a great success, but they had 55 kids sign up!
LEE: I’ve trapped my whole life.That’s the way you want your kids to be. You want them to respect guns. When you know them and are familiar with them, you’re not going to have any problems.
Do you have any tips that you have learned along the way that can help people hunting for the first time find early success?
TIFFANY: That’s actually an easy one. #1, if you’re married, don’t have your spouse be the one who teaches you most of the time. #2 is, especially if it’s just bow, go to your local archery shop and get set up with the right equipment right off the bat, and I tell you, if you’re successful right away, you’re going to want to shoot.
LEE: I think bow hunting is the way to start because it has an early season, you’ve got nice weather, a longer season and you’re out in shorts. When you go during gun season, it’ll be cold.
If you get them shooting right with the right trainers and right techniques to begin with, it’s so easy. You start with that, and then you go out hunting and start with success.
Over the years, you have had some amazing hunts, but is there one that sticks out in your mind as the most memorable?
TIFFANY: That’s a hard one to answer, but the one that’s probably most memorable right now is Lee’s sheep hunt that he just came back from. I wasn’t even hunting with them; I was just there to be along for the ride on that hunt. It was just absolutely amazing – just to be able to watch it all transpire.
LEE: That was mine, too. People ask us that a lot, and for the last couple years, both of our answers are always when her mom shot her first buck. That is one of our most memorable, for sure.
But I just shot this desert bighorn sheep a month ago, so it’s fresh in our minds. It was out on Tiburon Island. The outfitters that we were there with said they’ve never had anybody shoot one with a bow. They’ve had people try, but it’s just so difficult.
We know you love to shed hunt, have you been out this year?
TIFFANY: Oh yeah. Absolutely. That’s one of our favorite things to do, especially now that I have my own dog. We shoot, every day that we’re home, between the shows and everything, we’re out shed hunting.
LEE: Normally we’ll find 350, 400 sheds every year, and this year a little less than that. I haven’t actually counted them this year, but I’d guess maybe 250 to 300.
We just lost so many to Bluetongue this year that there are just not as many bucks around, and then we had snow cover for such a long time. It was fun, though, those days that we went out.
Speaking of your dogs, how do you care for your labs? Do you treat them like your kids?
LEE: Oh my gosh, yes. Me, yes, but for Tiffany, absolutely yes. (laughs) They sleep in bed with us. She cares for those dogs more than most people do for their kids.
TIFFANY: Our dogs have very, very good lives. When we travel places and they come with us, they’re in their own bunk on the bus. We haven’t had kids yet, because we can’t be gone all the time and be the parents that we want to be. Fortunately, my mom’s home all the time and can help take care of the dogs.
Who has the better success rate while hunting?
TIFFANY: I would say the better hunter is Lee by all means, but who has the better success rate? That’s kind of up in the air.
LEE: It depends. On whitetails, it’s about even. Because we have specific deer we want to shoot, and it’s not really at all about numbers for us; it’s did you get the deer you’re after, make sure it’s five years old, all that kind of stuff. But when it comes to elk and others like that, I probably have a better success rate.
TIFFANY: Lee’s has so much more experience, especially on the spot-and-stalk stuff. Now, I’ve gotten a little bit better just these last few years. I feel like they’ve probably been my best few years. I’ve really gotten more confident with myself and my hunting ability.
What has been the most difficult part of your success in the hunting industry?
LEE: Boy, I think the most difficult part – I know for Tiffany, for her, even more so than me, is just never being home. All the things that people take for granted – most people are like “Ah, I got to go mow the lawn,” and it’s a bummer for them, but for Tiffany, she loves to mow the lawn, but you hardly get to. Just the little things that you wouldn’t even think of, just the sacrifices that you make.
We would also love to have kids, and we still hope that we will. But you’ve got to be responsible parents. That’s the most important job you’ll ever have, so you’ve got to take it seriously. While we’re doing this and being on the road so much, we can’t be the parents that we’d want to be. So you make a lot of sacrifices for doing what we do. A lot of it is fun, but a lot of it is exhausting.
TIFFANY: During the hunting season, every once in awhile I do have an all-out meltdown, because there’ll be so many men around here, my house is a disaster. I mean, it’s just all chaos.
LEE: How many people’s wives would put up with people in their house all the time? Since we’ve been married and lived here, Tiffany could not get up in the middle of the night in her underwear and go get a drink of water from the refrigerator. There’d be guys piled on the couch.
TIFFANY: You know what’s funny, when I have a meltdown, it’ll be over the stupidest thing. It’ll be like when they keep shoving garbage in the trash can. I’m like, “Really, you guys? Do you really think anybody, one of you out of the ten that are sitting here, maybe could’ve taken that out? How long are you going to wait for me?” So it’ll be something like that that I have a meltdown over.
LEE: It’s so much better now, but it’s taken us a lot of years to get the right group of people and people that you mesh with. And people would always say, “Oh, Tiffany doesn’t even cook?” and you get guys that’ll come, like cameramen, “Oh, what’s for supper?” I’m like, “What do you mean – why are you asking her? She’s been out the same time as you have, working harder than you have. What are you making for supper?”
TIFFANY: We have a great team. Now they really realize it is all of our teamwork that keeps everything really going smooth. And they figured out quickly if I’m happy, then the entire house is much happier.
What’s next for you in 2014?
TIFFANY: We’re competing in the Shed Dog Trials in Northfield, Minnesota starting tomorrow, and I’m running both dogs now because Lee is out of commission. As far as the immediate future goes, you’ll start seeing a lot more bird hunting from us, just because we have our dogs, and they’re just phenomenally trained. We have some great stuff this year coming out.
LEE: The whitetail stuff is always our staple, but we have just found our love for Western hunting in the last few years. We do four weeks straight of elk hunts, and we’re going to do it again this year. And then, of course, I had to go sheep hunting one time – people tell you that you go one time, you’ll be hooked, and I am 100% hooked on sheep hunting. We’re also getting back into duck hunting. I really do love the upland and waterfall hunting as well.
This guy is self made... He did this all on his own, and took alot of risk..........
I watched him and his wife, at a deer show. The line was long long long. They stood there and smiled and spent time with every person, mostly young, all day long........
"Well Joe I took that 120 yard shot at the 150 buck cause its all I had"
What you state is not a possibility, it is a certainty.
Did from the first but due to incredible marketing they were able to suck many people in.
Be honest. Without Tiffany would you have watched just Lee?
-Joe
When they were at Deer Fest recently in WI, the lines to see them were quite long.
I saw them at a show a couple weeks ago and the perverts were lined up for 100yds trying to get a picture with her.
This^^^^^^^^
There are enough people trying to take our privileges away and we don't even have to look outside the very group of people that keeping the sport alive to tare down the same very people.
I don't think much of baiting bears and deer. But hey it's your deal!! It's not illegal so leave it. Not for you cool, move on. Saw the same on AT it's just dumb already.
They are living what many would consider the dream and like or not if you had similar opportunities hunting show and all you would jump on it.
Ethics are critical no doubt but they vary! Good luck all.
Some would, some would not.
The other week I had Melissa Bachman in my booth for a while. She said that she had 43 (I think that was the number) of hunts booked for this season. That's not fun - that's hard work!
that said I don't really watch hunting shows anymore so I haven't seen theirs in a few years. however if I seen any of you guys talk about my wife the way you talk about his id probably be put behind bars. for crying out loud some of you need to grow the hell up man. She is not some piece of meat that you talk about like you do.
I really know nothing about them but cut them a little slack. They are doing what they love and making a living at it, you have to at least respect that. if you don't like the show don't watch it.
michael
that said I don't really watch hunting shows anymore so I haven't seen theirs in a few years. however if I seen any of you guys talk about my wife the way you talk about his id probably be put behind bars. for crying out loud some of you need to grow the hell up man. She is not some piece of meat that you talk about like you do.
I really know nothing about them but cut them a little slack. They are doing what they love and making a living at it, you have to at least respect that. if you don't like the show don't watch it.
michael
To the contrary: Because we're under the microscope, we need to make sure we remain ethical hunters.
And I don't care if you can hit a dime 999 times out of 1000 at 100 yards. Accuracy has almost nothing to do with the ethics of long range shooting. It has everything to do with the fact that animals move, targets do not.
The longer the shot, the higher the odds that a perfectly fired arrow will end up wounding an animal due to movement. In my book, 100 yards shots only have a place as a follow up shot on a wounded animal.
I'm a good shot with my compound and there's shots I won't take that I know I'd absolutely drill - provided the animal doesn't move.
I dont buy the "we're all on the same team so look the other way" argument. Peer pressure can be a force for good if it steers the proper way.
As far as the show, I don't watch it for the same reason I don't watch most of them. As a western hunter, white tail hunting shows are boring and all the same.
Would I like to sit in a tree stand all day and shoot a 170 inch WT? I sure would! But to watch it on TV doesn't catch my interest like watching a guy bust his butt through the mountains for days in gorgeous country and end up shooting a bull that wouldn't even make P&Y.
My roomate up here had a hunting show on last night. The guy was hunting deer with a ML and the guy must have been at least 400 lbs, maybe 450. He was so out of breath by the time he got up to the deer, he could barely talk. I felt more sorry for the guy than I did for the deer... and the deer was dead!
I just cant relate to this stuff.
I've got one thing to say to the producers of WT hunting shows: You all look the same to me, you're lazy, and you stink!
The girl can shoot too!
No way in the world would I want that job, to much time on the road etc. But I'd love to hunt with them, heck even doe management. How about it Tiffany? Care to take my wife bow hunting? Take a rookie, get her a good chance at a doe, I'll tag along just for fun!
Try shooting your own bow that far and count 1 1000s.
I shoot that far. Four seconds sounds about right.
That said, I have generally enjoyed those guys. Maybe it's that their age is not to far off mine (I'm 40), or that it's a husband and wife (I hunt with my wife often) or maybe that they are from MN (my wife is as well). Could also be that they seem to just enjoy what they are doing.
If I sat down for a cup of joe with Lee, or if he PM'd me after this post and asked the misses and I to come out for a hunt, I'd do it, and be excited about it. I'd have no issue asking about that shot, and noting that I found it about impossible to believe it was a good thing to try, much less put on TV.
That, is a damn long way to shot an arrow at an animal.
I once had a perfectly placed arrow completely miss a deer at 35 yards that jumped the string and that wasn't ducked, that was turning away from the arrow.
You see these hunting shows where guys call in elk and shoot at alert elk at 60 yards and I see so many gut shots from the elk moving forward. The farther out you go, the more chance there is for a bad shot irrespective of how good you are.
The internet jockeys that claim they can do it comfortably are nothing more than a joke. funny thing is they don't know how many folks are laughing at them....................
The hate on here goes is overboard.
I see yucking it up and big kumbayas to fellow bowsiters who point blank have not killed much and albeit very much for their years of bowhunting.
Most would give their left gonad to be where Lee is at his relative young age without the blonde.
I do not watch the show because everyone in the business wants to be on the show.
I am glad that the thread evolved back to shot distance.
"I don't even think Tiffany is pretty...."
Heard that many times from many people....then I get to see what is (or isn't) on the arm of the folks sayin' that and have to shake my head. Amazing they kill anything at all with such eyesight.... like guys saying they pass on 180 bucks all the time cuz they just don't eat as well....
IMO she has done far more for women in the sport than nearly anyone (well, Nancy Pelosi maybe...) mostly because of the publicity and exposure she gets compared to women bowhunters of the past, and secondly because she talks and acts like a good many younger girls do in this day and age. They can relate. And that's a great thing. I see absolutely nothing wrong with promoting her, far far better than many of the "country girls" you see out there twerking away young girls are looking up to. Do see a fair number of curmudgeons here though.... need to lighten up and actually haves some fun....
I don't think I'll let any of those with so much pent up envy hunt on my 6000 acre farm..... heheheh....
As others said if you dont like their show change the flippin channel!
As for 100 yards being unethical the only thing keeping 99% of us from taking that shot is our family going about 4 days without food!
Lee took the shot and missed I dont recall hearing about a follow up shot at that distance? It sounded like to me he realized he was out of his element and moved closer?
I heard that ram scored 114?
PS my wife didnt have to buy her set!!!!
That's 100% true, but still apples to oranges as "sport hunting" does not necessitate the same level of "importance" that keeping one's family from starving does. I wouldn't eat my dog for fun either. But if we were starving, she'd be a hot dog.
when you open Pandora's box, this is what you get
and BTW I shoot a compound
They all play into that "instant gratification"
BUT..... It goes to prove that if a person has a great place to hunt (Lecosky farm). Trophy deer can be killed on a regular basis. Lee said it for himself; "Tiffany’s second year of hunting ever – because she didn’t hunt before we met and she shot three bucks as well, 150s and 140s. Just really good bucks for your second year ever even hunting."
Cmon...That is just absurd. Tiffany has not had enough time to learn and make mistakes like the majority on this siteand she has. At that time she has 2 P&Y's in the same amount of years hunting?????????????.
"If only I had what they had i could do what they do" mantra.
let's modify it say " If i did what they did i could have what they have and i could do what they do"
My question is was there ever a high spot with this show...
Hunting 50 plus days a year when the average guy is lucky to hunt 20 means that she hunted for 24 to 30 years with some of the best teachers on the planet!
I like her and I like her attitude.
Lee is very likely more deadly at 120 yards than I am at 50. And Tiffany is definitely WAY better looking than me.
I'm also sure that many folks would be way madder at him if he had center punched that ram and had a one shot, clean kill. And it could only be made worse by using a Rage.
And I have no problem with him talking the shot if he practices at those ranges and knows he can make it.
or grandkids.... sigh....
dumbest comment ive seen all morning. That is like saying I dislike Obama because he is black!
I don't like or dislike them, but if I did dislike them it would have nothing to do with their success- that's absurd.
ive not seen one comment here that said they were upset with their success-
michael
or, maybe, and this is just a big maybe- maybe people really think taking a 120 yard shot with a bow is not only ignorant and unethical, but airing it on tv is massively horrible for the sport.
I have rifle hunter buddies who have never picked up a bow in their life, yet every elk, deer, and anything else they find dead they say is archery shot and the hunter couldn't find it. Does something like this 120 yard shot help, or hurt archery hunters in the long run? I didn't see the show so I cant say much about it, but if he said it was 120 yards I have to believe him. Was he proud that he took the shot yet missed? Would they have aired it if he gut shot it?
the show that really turned me off to hunting shows is that ralph and Vicky show. I know at one point they were on this site, but one of them, I think it was her, took a shot at a moving grizzly at some crazy distance and they acted like it was an every day thing. those two have to be the most annoying human beings alive
now as far as most of us wishing we were in the position these guys were in, well speak for yourself. First of all before you make any decent money, and decent is relative here, you are going to be living on slave wages for years. second of all, I guided bear hunters and fishermen before when I was a kid. The last thing I want to do with my outdoor passion is turn it into a stinking job-
michael
That kind of rings of jealousy.
I have more than 6,000 acres of private farm lands to hunt I sure don't kill their kind of deer, especially not every year.
As far as the shot taken on the ram goes---I would not take it, but I am not Lee, cannot shoot anywhere as well as Lee, and certainly was not in that situation. He obviously feels comfortable taking that shot on that particular animal and did so.
As far as what Lee and Tiffany say and do on their show? It is a bit goofy at times, without a doubt, but then again, we are all a bit goofy at times. -It is kind of a breath of fresh air at times seeing two people who care so much about one another having a good time vs. this other stuff out there where the TV hosts are acting like they are either going to war against an animal and beat their chests like apes when they finally get one on camera or try to make a certain hunt into something any educated hunter knows better of. To each their own I say---you don't like hunting show "x", don't watch it. I know the Lakoskys do not get endorsements on accident.
They remember hunting is supposed to be fun and serious all at the same time!
Except, I really don't think any archer should take that shot.
Back off, it's OK if you aren't getting all of the attention.
Go back to shooting robins, or whatever other game law you want to break that day.
Nice grammar and spelling though, when you want to.
Now go bowkill an elk so you can become a self-confessed expert, like they guys who've killed their first turkey with a bow. :-)
Heroes? really?
I agree sounds like a desperation shot, but not sure what his abilities are. Way too long for me.
let them shoot at a 120 yard deer
let them, shoot at a 20 yard deer
i guarantee you there will be more deer wounded and lost at 20 than 120.
there will be more deer missed at 120, but more wounded at 20
Jimbo's Link
Jimbo's Link
But a 100+ yard first shot at a big game animal with a bow...now that is very much indicative of poor hunter ethics...and then to televise it representing bowhunters...now that just isn't a good thing...one might even say it is downright stupid. Kind of hard to argue with don't you think?
Maybe, but by and large, Hunters and Country Folk are pretty saavy.
Just ask the Dixie Chicks how things are going lately.
"Kind of hard to argue with don't you think?"
Did he make the shot?
Ronald Reagan said "Never argue with success".
There is probably not 5 out of 100 bowhunters who would have taken the shots I took...much less made them. And if they made them they wouldn't have recovered them. That's because I don't setup for failure I set up for success. My whole approach was for quick close shots through tight Windows at bad angles. And by the way, I hit one that I lost to coyotes because the circumstances did not allow for a nite recovery I waited until morning and they had him by then...big surprise...I violated one of my rules and it cost me. Another hit was killed later. So no lost deer for me...sorry to dissapoint...I don't operate at celebrity level...nor 3D shooters level. I just kill stuff...over and over. Boaring ain't it. HDYLMK
my answer to the last question you asked on your most recent post:
NMNTIDP
Some of us just don't need to kill an animal that badly, so I will take my 100 yard shots with a rifle. Over the years I have learned through a few bad experiences, some my own and some of other hunters, and I limit the shots I take to the ones I have a lot of confidence in...and it works.
tonyo6302 - no he missed, he did make a closer shot at the same animal later though, according to ChipT, the original poster.
