SPEAKER_01: 0:14

Hey Brian, welcome to the podcast. How are you doing today, sir?

SPEAKER_00: 0:18

Really good. Thanks. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_01: 0:20

Man, I'm glad you're on here. I cannot wait to talk about Wildlife Partners, all the amazing things you guys got going on, your association with the Houston Safari Club Foundation, the convention coming up. But you know, at the very beginning, I'd love to give a little introduction to all the listeners. So if you wouldn't mind, maybe tell me a little bit about where you grew up and uh, you know, your love for the outdoors wildlife. And uh, you know, then we'll kind of dive into your work with wildlife partners.

SPEAKER_00: 0:44

Yeah, I grew up in uh San Antonio, Texas, uh with my brother Chris. We uh moved here in 1984. And I think, you know, my love of the outdoors probably originated with a fishing pole and a baby gun. Uh, you know, we had a pond in our neighborhood, and uh I just couldn't get away from hanging out there all the time. I just liked going fishing and hanging out with my kids. Back in the 80s, it was a little different world, you know, it was kicked the kids out and come back at dark. And uh we, you know, had a BB gun that we stashed in the bushes that our parents didn't know about. So hunt hunting birds with a BB gun and fishing at the neighborhood pond was kind of the introduction. And um, you know, later in life I got into a little bit more extravagant hunting, if you will. And I really enjoy bird hunting, but uh my my happy place is Alaska and uh I've been to Alaska several times and killed just about everything you can kill there, and I'm looking forward to getting back there next September.

SPEAKER_01: 1:37

Nice. Well, what what uh specific area in Alaska do you uh go to the most?

SPEAKER_00: 1:43

Well, I hunted with uh Rob Jones um just outside of McGrath uh in the Revelation range. Uh hunted uh sheep and uh caribou and I killed a moose there, and then I've hunted with Sam Beegis down uh near Cordova. Uh hunted uh brown bear, black bear, uh mountain goat, and then I've also hunted out on Nunavak Island, I killed a muscox there.

SPEAKER_01: 2:08

Oh wow, man. Uh uh that is the one state I have not gone to yet, and I am counting down uh the time that I can actually get out there and explore. It has been like it's kind of that that golden thing. Like one of these days I'm gonna get there, so I cannot wait.

SPEAKER_00: 2:24

Well, I wanted to it's worth the time. Oh now it's definitely worth the time to do that.

SPEAKER_01: 2:31

I cannot wait. Well, you know, I I know you kind of had a history uh, you know, working in the oil and gas world um before you kind of started and co-founded, you know, wildlife partners. So, you know, we'll kind of jump into that step of how you ended up, you know, creating this and tell us a little bit. I mean, it's a hugely innovative wildlife conservation company. You guys have so many things going on and things you offer, obviously, the world's largest uh breeder and broker of exotic wildlife, uh, well, at least in the U.S. here. And I mean, there's so many different transactions, things you guys have done uh and worked with people all around. So I just kind of want to give people a little introduction for those who may not be familiar uh with the company and kind of what you guys offer, and then we'll kind of dive into some details from there.

SPEAKER_00: 3:17

Yeah, so um we we are a breeder of exotic wildlife, but we we've really functioned in two capacities. One of them is we work with about a thousand landowners in the state, where we provide consulting, we supply them with the animals, and then we buy all of their production. Uh, but the other side of our business is that we recognize there's lots of people that love wildlife and love conservation and really love tax advantages. So we created a product where people throughout the United States that don't necessarily own real estate in Texas can participate in the industry. So about half of our business is people that don't live here, and the other half is people that have ranches here in the state.

SPEAKER_01: 4:00

Well, talk to me about how those people who are outside uh of the state or just non-land owning uh individuals are able to get in there and work with you guys. What does that look like? What's that model?

SPEAKER_00: 4:12

You know, so one of the things I realized as I was um getting involved in the wildlife business here in Texas is that most of the landowners, they were not educated at all about the tax aspects of breeding non-native wildlife. And in fact, they weren't taking any deductions whatsoever. They were just spending money that was after tax money to do something that they enjoyed doing. And whether they had success or failure with it wasn't relevant. They were doing it because it was kind of cool. And so what I discovered is that the animals that we breed, they're all designated as livestock. So a kudu, a cape buffalo, a bongo, a giraffe, a grants gazelle, Thompson's gazelle, doesn't matter what it is in Texas, they are designated as livestock. And the IRS recognizes them the same as they do a cow. And so as a result of that, they are they're tax deductible. And there's been two tax bills that have been put forward. One of them was the 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act, and the most recent one was the Big Beautiful bill, both of which made these animals 100% tax deductible the year that you buy them. So for people that don't own real estate, we form an LLC, and that LLC buys animals. But the problem is those people don't have anywhere to put them. But my brother and I own a lot of real estate. So what we do is we're basically a VRBO, you know, we're we're a vacation rental for non-native wildlife uh from all over the world that other people own. So we have about 12,000 acres. So an LLC, they let's just say it's an$11 million LLC, we'll allocate 600 acres to housing the animals that they own. But the benefit for them is they're getting all those tax deductions in the first year. We then provide the services of keeping track of the animals, making sure they're eating and they're healthy and they're reproducing. And then we sell all of their offspring on their behalf and they get distributions in the mail as the result of that. And those distributions are all long-term capital gains because we hold the offspring for a year before we sell them. So um it's a very unique investment model. But it the clientele is not unique. There are thousands and thousands of people in this state that love um being a part of the wildlife industry. And because the industry is focused in Texas, it's very easy to get in if you own real estate. But the personality related to who likes doing this, they're all over the United States. They're everywhere. No, no different with people that are a part of Houston Safari Club or any of the other Safari Club organizations. Texas doesn't have a stronghold on people that love wildlife conservation. And we certainly don't have a stronghold on people that like tax deductions and making money. And so that that's really what our business is about.

SPEAKER_01: 6:59

Well, I mean, and like you were saying, too, there's the buying and the selling of exotics. You got uh obviously the capture services, ranch consulting, uh, land management improvements, fence construction. There's so many different aspects to that. And I think that one thing when people hear the idea of these exotics going around, they don't really appreciate maybe that in Texas, obviously, we have um quite an area and habitat that holds very healthily these different exotic animals. And in some cases, there are sort there are certain uh exotic species here in Texas that there are more of here than there are in the other areas of the world combined. And that has been something that has safeguarded uh the protection of these species. And I think that is a thing that some people think, oh, you know, the hunting aspect or, you know, whether it's a the the livestock aspect, we are helping to keep some of these species around by having these types of uh industries and services here, which uh I'd I'd love for you to kind of touch base on uh from your experience, if you don't mind.

SPEAKER_00: 7:58

Sure. Yeah. So I'll I'll just use one species as an example, which is a Damagazelle. And most people that have hunted Africa have never seen a Damagazelle. Um and it's because they're critically endangered. There's probably less than 50 of them left in the wild, and they're all in places where we don't go hunting because it's not safe. And so we don't see them, you know, as hunters. And, you know, it's it's very interesting. The the zoo community is where our animals have originated. Zoos breed animals, and when they run out of space, they send them to Texas. And so historically, the zoo community has done a really, really great job of gaining credit, they mean credit for conservation of various species. But to kind of put this species into perspective, throughout all of the zoos in the United States, there may be a hundred Damagazelles. There's about 2,500 of them in the whole world. So a hundred sounds like a lot. That sounds like a big number. Well, my my company has 250. So our company alone, not taking into consideration all of the landowners that we work with, we hold 10% of the world's population of this species. And when you start looking at all of the other landowners that own these animals as well, you're you're looking at somewhere north of 2,000 Dhamma gazelles are under the control of conservative, passionate, hunting people that love the outdoors, that love wildlife, and they're breeding these animals for multiple reasons. One of them is that they like them. They're cool. It's pretty cool to own one of the rare species in the world. But the biggest driving factor to this is that there's a financial model to it. They can go out and spend a hundred grand buying domagazelles and they can generate$30,000 or$40,000 a year of income strictly from selling the babies. They don't even have to wait until the males grow up and become, you know, a trophy. They can generate that income when the animal's a year old. So, because of this financial model, you know, it's always been said in the hunting community that when you give something value, people take care of it. And the hunting model in Africa and many other places, it revolves around giving value to animals that would otherwise be a nuisance because they would, you know, decimate lives, they would decimate farming areas and other type things. But when you give them value, people go to great lengths to protect them. So you see lots of land in Africa that's been conserved for the purpose of hunting because people from America are willing to go pay to go hunt. And it's no different with the animals that we breed here, whether it's a grevy zebra or a Kenyan mountain bongo or an Attics or a Domagazelle. These animals are given value as the result of our tax code and as a result of the marketplace that's developed here in the United States. And a small portion of it revolves around hunting, but a large portion of it revolves around dragging rights. You know, I got cool animals on my property. And, you know, we love seeing the animals born and we love seeing them grow up and we love being a part of the whole process. But but when I reduce my tax bill and I get a check in the movie, that much better.

SPEAKER_01: 11:24

Yes, indeed.

SPEAKER_00: 11:29

That was almost like an infomercial, and it wasn't meant to be. The the truth is that you cannot deny the financial benefits of doing this. And that's the reason we have 10% of the world's population, and it's the reason why Texas is holding 2,000 animals out of 2,500 that are critically endangered. It's it's not just because we think they're cool, it is the financial model that drives it.

SPEAKER_01: 11:56

Well, I think it it's well said, and I think that gives people kind of a good understanding of, you know, there is those those things, the legacy of conservation that's there, but also the ability to uh make money, save money, and be able to have business that comes with these things to be able to, you know, kind of give that whole 365, you know, 360 view of it all. What you what you can do, how you can be involved. And I mean, it's just amazing to see all these incredible creatures and knowing that if we didn't have these types of business models around, we might not have those animals around. And so I think that's a a huge win all around. Um, you know, just when I was thinking about you your connection there uh with the Houston Safari Club, tell me about how you guys got involved and what is important to you about being a part and and a partner with that organization. And yeah, just love to hear your thoughts on that.

SPEAKER_00: 12:49

You know, um, I think that in 2016 thereabouts, um, we we attended it may have been a crawfish boil or a uh one of the the sporting clay chutes or something like that. I don't remember exactly what the what the beginning was, but um around that time we became a corporate sponsor and we started coming to the show and exhibiting at the show. And um we met John Pepper um and and his business partner and um really just uh got treated quite well. You know, people were very inclusive and uh they were very curious about our business model. There may have even been a little skepticism initially. Um but I think as time went by, um, I think that people within the organization realized that not only did we have a great idea, but that we were doing something that was worthwhile, not just for wildlife, but for the people that own them. And we've attended every convention and lots of events, and we've been a sponsor. And um, Joe Bitar has been great to work with. And we we just, you know, we love the organization and we love the membership. You know, when we come to the convention, um while it is the the smallest of the three conventions we we go to, it's the most intimate. We we have the best conversations. Um we get the opportunity to really sit down and kind of take a deep dive into what we do. Whereas at some of the other shows, it's just mind-boggling of people, you know, with this question or that question. We don't really get to be attentive. And and I think that the intimacy of the show really brings out the best of um not just the vendors that are there, but also the clientele.

SPEAKER_01: 14:33

You know, that that's that's a great point. And I think that's something that a lot of my other guests and uh people who are, you know, whether they're sponsors or partners, have always talked about that ability of being able to get in and and actually have some good time with the vendors and be able to talk about their experiences, find uh a hunt that's right for you, or a a you know, potential business relationship, as in your case. And that's something that, you know, it it's you do have that time, you do have that ability, and there's so many different things for those to experience. Uh, one thing that I've been asking people who have been going uh for quite some time, as you have, is for you know, those people who might be first-time visitors, uh, people who are are thinking about going to the convention for the first time, uh, what was it that you would maybe talk to them? And I know you kind of touched on it a little bit here, but what was uh are some things that you would tell them and uh maybe kind of paint that picture of what they would experience uh coming to the Houston Safari Club convention for the first time?

SPEAKER_00: 15:29

Yeah, you know, it's interesting. I wanted to go to Africa for a long time and I was nervous about going. And really what I was looking for was I just needed somebody to tell me, Brian, it's gonna be okay. We got your back and it's gonna be fine. You know, you have all these thoughts in the back of your mind about if you're gonna be safe and if everything is gonna be okay. And the deal is when you go to these other shows, and we're sponsors of the other organizations, but when you go to these other shows, it is just so overwhelming. And the last thing you want to do is ask a stupid question and look like an idiot, you know, if you don't know what you're talking about. It's like, I didn't even know where Kenya was on a map, you know, I didn't know anything about what what farm, you know, what what farming wildlife was in South Africa. Like I didn't know anything about any of this stuff. And so, you know, you there's an intimidation factor of walking into a booth when you're a novice, not knowing what questions to ask, not really knowing what you're looking for, and and really not knowing what a good deal is from a bad deal. And so there's this vulnerability that comes into play of, am I gonna get ripped off? You know, am I gonna get to Africa and find out that I went with the wrong person? And what what I like, I think, most about the Houston Safari Club is I never have felt that kind of pressure. Um, it's a it's a it's an environment where it feels like it's okay to be an idiot. You know, it's it's okay to not know, it's okay to ask a question. And and because there's not, you know, 20 people walking by a booth at any given time, I think the exhibitors that are there are willing to take a little bit more time to hold your hand, to answer questions that you don't even know to ask and to provide a little more insight into what you're getting into. So, what I would just say, if if you're a newcomer and you've never been to Houston Safari Club and this coming year is your first time to show up, walk in the door and talk to people from Alaska and talk to people from Africa and talk to people from New Zealand and talk to somebody from every different place that you can think of, whether it's fishing or whether it's hunting, and just tell them, I have no idea what I'm doing. I don't know anything about how any of this works, but God, I love the outdoors, I love hunting and fishing, and I really want to cut my teeth and I don't know where to start. Can you help? And what you'll find is people that are willing to take the time with you and they'll they'll hold your hand through the process and they'll they'll give you the opportunity to get comfortable enough to make a decision. Um, and and it's just it's a it just feels like a there's less pressure um uh in the environment than what what I feel. And I and I'll equate it to this. When when I go to, you know, whether it's Atlanta or Nashville, I feel like I'm working. Like I feel like it's work. I'm working there. It's a job and I'm working. You know, when when I'm at Houston Safari Club, I feel like I'm hanging out with my friends. You know, I feel like I can joke around and be silly and be goofy. And it's just a more lighthearted environment. And um I I encourage anybody uh that is looking to take the time to get a little educated and find more out about the hunting and fishing community and the art and all the cool things that are there. It's a great place to go. And it's a great place to bring your kids because they too can participate and kind of get to feel the lay of the land uh without having to go to Nashville for four days or, you know, it's it's a great, it's a great place to expose your kids and and newcomers to to hunting and fishing.

SPEAKER_01: 19:05

That that is really well said, and I think it really sums up that experience. And I love that you mentioned that about like the kids, because it is a family-friendly show. There's something for everyone there, and I think there is a lot to explore, a lot of amazing people in that kind of family-friendly uh you know setting, it's just a real relaxed environment to where you can you can be able to spend that time you need to learn more, figure out what's going to be uh the best avenue of approach for any of the places you want to go out and visit and maybe hunt and experience. I mean, there's it's it's really, I think you sum that up uh quite well. Um, for those who are are interested in learning a little bit more uh about wildlife partners and you know, maybe getting involved, uh having a conversation with you. I was curious if you can just go ahead and maybe uh, you know, give some websites and socials where people can kind of get a little bit more information and uh maybe take that next step.

SPEAKER_00: 19:56

Yeah, so one of the other things I did want to mention, you had talked about our consulting business with landowners and uh all these other services that we offer. One of the things that we just started doing is um my brother and I got certified to do continue education for CPAs. So we what we've learned is there's lots of people out there that have CPAs that are great at getting their taxes filed, but maybe not so great at giving them strategy on how to maximize their tax benefits. So we've recently started doing seminars for CPA landowners. I did the first one at Horseshoe Bay maybe two weeks ago. There were about a hundred participants. Um, and it was eight hours of tax talk, which you would think would put most people to sleep. But everybody was very engaged. It was very helpful, I think. Um, and we're now doing uh one hour webinars where you can get your CPA or you can get on and learn about how to do some of these things. Um, so if you go to our website, it's www.wildlifepartners.com. Um, there's everything you need to know about the events that we host, the company itself, um, really all the things related to our company. Um, the other thing you can do is go to what is referred to as exoticauction.com. It's a website where we sell animals. The website right now is down. We're getting we're gonna launch it later this week. It's been something that we've had up for a couple of years, but we just made a bunch of changes to it. So it's kind of a new revamped look that'll be coming out later this week. But if you own a ranch and you're looking to buy animals um via an online auction, uh you can go there. It's exoticauction.com. So my email address is Brian at WildlifePartners.com. If you have any questions related to PAC or what you're doing on your ranch or species or things related to this environment, we're happy to help any way we can.

SPEAKER_01: 21:48

Well, wonderful. Well, thank you so much for joining me today, for letting us know a little bit about wildlife partners, um, taking a deep dive in there and looking forward to uh spending some time with you at the Houston Safari Club Convention. Again, everyone, that's January 23rd, 24th, 25th, 2026 in the woodlands. And uh make sure you go and check out Brian's booth and say hello when you get a chance. Thank you, Brian, and uh looking forward to hanging out sometime soon and talking more about arrowheads and artifacts.

SPEAKER_00: 22:16

That sounds great. I'll look forward to it.

SPEAKER_01: 22:18

Cheers. You take care.