At a book. If you'd like to be able to listen to the show
without ads and have full access to bonus content, that's an option. To
find out how, please go to Dogmanencounters dot com Forward Slash Podcast. Tonight's
guest is Cam Caim. Welcome to the show. Appreciate you for having me
big thanks Man, Well, thanks for being here. We appreciate your time.
Cam. Please give us a brief bio on yourself now. I'm thirty
one years old, father three beautiful little girls, beautiful wife. He was
a nurse. I was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and lived there until
I was probably right at eight years old, saw something that no kid or
adults should ever see, and my parents had a yard sale packed everything that
we need to take with us. Me and my one born little sister at
the time moved us here to north central Mississippi, where I've lived since.
Lived in a rental house Dad and Grandpaul built as a house that we lived
in for years and years on the property where my experience was. I was
a bad kid. I found things that mid teens younger age that molded me
into the man I am. I found through the Adalysta's Defenders program, which
was a bad kids program that I was in with a friend of mine,
as we were both bad. We loved to watch fights and loved to talk
about it. And we were in there yammering in class one day and this
guy named Joel who ran the program, said, Hey, man, y'all,
don't want to sit here and listen to us tell you how bad a
kid you are. Then I got a buddy who trains at a couple of
fights, and he can just go and go and go to him for two
hours every hour many days, and h he just beats you up and puts
you through the ringer instead of having to come sit in this classroom and hear
about yourself. And we did that, and uh, my buddy didn't stay
in it too long, but I loved it for the first second. My
dad, coincidentally, from the time I was born, I guess my dad
was fighting and putting on fight shows, back when it was referred to as
human cock fighting, when it was frowned upon. But he came to watch
me one day and I told him I was training. He's like, yeah,
right, you know, And he came and watched me and trained with
me one day and first time he ever told me he was out of me
in my whole life. He's like, but I can't believe how far you've
come and how you stuck with it. Yes, that and the other,
And that was our bonding point. I'd never really had a great relationship with
my dad until then, and that was that was our thing. Man.
He was my coach, my manager, everything, and just being involved in
that. And once I got good to a certain degree and a little older,
a little more responsible, I taught children, which teaches you a whole
other level of responsibility of teaching two kids wrestling with each other. Hey,
I know you're wrestling, but please be careful and I don't hurt each other
because it's a dangerous and man, through all that, I am the man
that I am today because of that, I've done a lot of things.
I can train horses, love horses. I was a chef for ten years.
I worked in a pretty high end restaurant here in the city that I
live in. And I started a small business on my own here recently.
Not doing any of those things coincidentally. But I love the hunt. I
love the fish, always have always, as will. My family owns a
pretty good plot of land out on the highway where I grew up, and
you know, it's where my experience happened, and where I spent all my
time running barefoot as a dirty country kid who went to the county school,
you know, running barefoot through the hills and dollars of my family's property for
years and years. Man, it's out there barefoot with the dogs doing what
kids, you know, should be doing all the time. And you know,
like I said, running around the woods my whole life. My experience
or my encounter didn't really discourage me from loving the outdoors. Man, I
don't. I don't know if there's anything that could. You know. Of
course I look over my shoulder, hyper vigilant all the time, but I
still do what I love. I love the duck hunt. I don't get
but fever anymore, but I still love when the big butt walks out in
front of you. And you know, fishing, I guess fish is a
little different than those those things are. And I saw other than being a
dad and and ah, just doing random dad knowledge at my kids at the
house. You know, those are my Those are my hobbies. You know,
well, those are great hobbies to have. And it goes with that
thing. I'm so glad to hear that you're still able to head into the
woods, especially after how horrific the encounter you had was you. Thank goodness
you can still do that. Yeah, yeah, man, I love it.
I don't know what i'd do without it. I don't care to play
video games or or watch TV at this point in my life, So I'm
blessed to be able to still go do those things. Yes, you are.
Yeah, there's nothing like spending time in the woods. Kim. The
reason why you're here is your dog, Dallas saved you from a dogman attack
that just might have cost you your life if you wouldn't have intervened. Please
tell us about Dallas. Man. He was a he was my best friend.
Man. Man. He was a big dog. He was huge.
He's kind of dog that everybody's who won't man. He was big, imposing,
but just a big baby. Man. My my daughters, all three
of them, yeah you know, eleven four two, we're uh, and
they were all about Dallas. They loved him. I loved him, my
wife loved him. Everybody. I don't know if Ivor introduced him to somebody
who didn't love him. After getting over the holy Craft, that's a big
dog, you know factor. But Dallas was a three year old one hundred
and thirty six pound American bulldog. I got him sent off at some point
to uh, you know he's big, and yeah, he never met any
harm. He was just kind of rambunctiously slightly hard for my wife to handle
when I wasn't around, because you know, all he wanted was attention and
love and did rise and his tail could break glass or that he could knock
kids over if he wasn't paying attention. So we sent him to some guys
in California that did a lot of tactical training with him, and they did
an outstanding job. Outstanding. He was a soldier. I mean, he
was always like he'd defends you. There's those dogs that will defend you without
training. There they're one in ten thousand, and anybody who tactically trains dogs
will tell you that that's that's a quote. One in ten thousand is a
quote from somebody that I know that trains dogs. But when I got him
back, I went to get him and you know, I spent two days
there with them. They were bringing me up to speed on his commands and
how to handle him, and how this and how that pretty much explained to
me that you know, he's still himself, he's still doubts, he's still
your dog, he still loves you. But he is essentially a walking gun.
If somebody hauls off and punches you in front of him, he is
going to bite them. He is trained to do so, and he doesn't
mean anything by it. He is a protection machine. At this point,
was like, but you know, as long as there's no you know,
things like that going on, he'll be the same, rolling around on his
back with his wiener in the air, Panton being happy type of dog that
he always has been. And he was, man, he definitely was.
But it was so amazing. I could Vic, if you and I were
to stand in a field together, you man Dallas, I could tell you,
Vic, strike out, strike out, running that way, whichever way
you want. Say. So you me and another guy with Dallas, you
could strike out one way. I could let you get ahead start. I
could send him to you, and he's gone track to you. He's gonna
come and he's gonna hit you. Well, I could wait till he got
ten feet twenty feet, however close. I want to let him get to
you, and I could immediately in the midst of pursuit, I could redirect
him with the command, with a verbal command and send him straight to another
target, or recall him completely. I mean, he was dude, it
was I can those folks at such an outstanding job. I cannot sing their
praises and I'm not gonna name him on here because i don't know if that's
that's okay or not. But they did an outstanding job. And he was
still my best friend. You know, he was still Dallas. It was
still my buther man, still the dog that my that my children loved and
cherished. And it just made me that much more comfortable with, you know,
not being home sometimes because at points I had to travel for work.
I wasn't always in the line of work I am now, and I traveled
and built storage units and I found myself as far away as Wyoming sometimes.
And you can't put a price on knowing that, yeah, yeah, somebody
might try to break in my house, but uh, they'll get in and
they won't get out. My family will be just fine. He was my
family's protector, my best friend, my big bubble man. I was my
homeboy. Dallas was a true hero in every sense of the word. Cam.
Yeah, he really was. And the listeners are going to understand why
I say that when they listened to you, suare what happened that night?
Unfortunately? All right, Cam, in your own good time, Please tell
us about your encounter now, Please take your time and give us every last
detail that comes to mind. Please remember, if you need to take any
breaks, we'll do that. That's not a problem, all right. So
this land that my family owns that I grew up on, it's a farm.
It's not as much farm as it used to be. Speak cows,
horses, chickens, pigs, all kind of stuff. Nowadays just chickens.
My grandparents hold. They don't fall with a lot anymore. But my grandmama
had brought it to my attention that she'd been losing a lot of chickens,
which yeah, there's coyotes everywhere and always had been coons, all kind of
stuff, bobcats, whole bunch of bob pants, diggings, And she had
brought it to my attention that they had been losing a lot more chickens,
and they've been getting stirred up and not land. My grandmama hadn't bought had
store bought eggs in thirty five years. I mean, every time I go
over there to see my grandparents, I leave with a carton or two of
eggs. They're homegrown, if you will. And you know, she's in
contact, good contact with the neighbors to the right, the neighbors across the
highway and the people who bought and lived in the house that I grew up
in. To the left, people across the street. It's an elderly couple,
not the same age as my grandparents. And they had these two dogs
that I had known for years and years, same Joe Bob Buddy. Both
of them are pretty old and Uh they had both at the same time,
just Gonne missing, which you know could have been crazy, as it would
have been for both of them at the same time to go missing and you
know, go die from old age. Not crazy, but it's this possibility.
But there was a fellow to the right of my grandparents that I went
to school with. I call him Jason, and uh lives in this house
at the back of my grandparents, Passion with pond Is and Uh my dog
who I'd had years ago, was short dog. He had gotten loose.
They had a female and heat, and he sided with litter of puppies with
this guy's female and he still had too. And I don't know if dogs
have twins or not. These puppies weren't identical in physical stature, the way
they you know, the coloration, their tempering, everything about them. They
were inseparable. And these dogs weren't. Man it wasn't but a handful of
years old, you know, five, six years old, and they both
went missing at the same time, in the same time, and uh,
you know, all this to me, of course, as it normally did,
says coyotes, because my grandparents had I remember at one point, you
know, being that little kid that ran around in the woods. I mean,
I had a pack of dogs with me. They had nine dogs,
lest most I ever remember them having it one time. They definitely had nine
dogs, and uh, you know those dogs, A couple of them were
big, and they would go kill kyotes. They'd go out and find a
pack and kill one or two of them and bring them in the yard.
I remember specifically one morning I came outside, you know, this is I
was young. I spent the night at my grandparents' house and me and my
grandpa were gonna go fishing. I'd come out in this big, big black
lab great day mixed name. They called him j R. They are had
had a dead coyote out there in the yard and was hunching it. And
that was a weird but kind of funny sight at a young age, because
I knew there were coyotes, but that was a that was the first for
me. But animals going missing normally under an armed circumstances, especially here where
I am, it says coyotes got it written all over it. So I
told my grandparents that, you know, hey, I'm gonna go. I'm
gonna get my buddy Tyler. Uh, it's my ride or die hunting fishing
partner, that's my dude. Man. We've been through it. We've been
jumped by packs of hogs singular not multipacks holls. We've been jumped on a
hall hunt before by pack that it was there. Man. We've we've shot
code as that we had to go out and finish off in the field because
they weren't dead. Me and him went up to a buddy's place in Canada,
went on moose hunt and uh, we called this boy moose in and
man, he sees me and he charges me and Tyler's shot this thing quartered
him perfect, blew his front left shoulder out at eight yards from me,
front physically from me at eight yards. Tyler is a game time performer,
and he is a crack shot. He's everything you want and a buddy and
a hunt buddy. So uh so I called him, hey, man,
we've got blast of yoak. Is he ready? And he's like, yeah,
oh yeah, let's do it. And uh man, Dallas hasn't been
out on an excursion of any kind with me in a while. And he
loved to man, He loved to follow the four wheeler. He loved to
go on the boat. So, uh, I bring him with us,
and we up out there one night and part between the chicken coop and the
barn, and uh, chickens seemed all right that night. Then, Uh
it was quiet enough up there that they none of them were in distress.
I didn't hear much clucking when I when I pulled up, and uh,
we go get the full whether load. The rifles had a little box with
my slim JEMs dedicates and such, and uh we strike out. And I
believe when I in the pre interview, when I told you it was a
ten minute ride on the full. I was mistaken. It's a ten minute
walk. It's about a three minute ride on the full. Whether back to
where we're going, and uh, we strike out. We make the back
pasture. You know, within a few minutes that I was following his tongue
hanging out, just loving it, doing what he does. And uh we
get set up and put the call out in the middle of the field,
and uh, man, it goes. It couldn't have gone any better.
We're three, maybe three and a half hours in and man, we've uh
we've dropped eleven coyotes and you know we could we could hear some you still
hear some way off in the disc. I didn't know if we're gonna be
able bring him in. And it's been a left shooting, and uh we
had plugged him, plugged him. I was really proud of us. Man,
not one of them, not one of them made a run. We
dropped every toady we shot that night right there on the spot. None of
them turned to pull the bullet out like they'd been stung by nothing. Every
one of them dropped dead right on the spot. So, uh, I
believe we had left two out there. I went and got one, and
uh, it was on my way out to get the last one, and
uh, Dallas loses it and he starts parking, and uh he had I
wouldn't say separation anxiety, but he really really had a problem with it.
Whenever I would leave, no matter where I was going, whether he thought
I was coming back or not, he didn't want to ask. That was
my buther. I was his daddy. Man. He didn't want me to
go anywhere. So he loses it and starts barking, and man, he
had this big, booming, intimidating part. Man. That was one thing
that folks who trained him in California did not have to do. They do
this thing called building the bart. If your dog isn't one of those that's
gamed and just and just ready to learn, I mean sometimes they have to
build the dogs, literally build his bark. Dallas did not have that problem
at all. He's booming, and it's all in this pasture where and I
guess I should have described this. You go down this big hill and you
open up to the pasture and you're looking at probably what you can see when
you're looking down this hill, there's probably eighty yards of past year well,
right towards the back of it is my box stand raised up box stand.
It's about twelve feet tall, and then down the pasture goes down. It's
total end to end. It's probably two hundred and fifty yards or so.
A big tree in the middle of it. Past is probably seventy yards across.
I'd say, and I'm out there, you know, a little ways
out, and I don't remember how far the shot was, but it's last
Cody, you go pick him up. Dallas goes crazy and I turned around
to till it because you know, they were obviously still Cody's huh. And
I didn't have to scare him because if they weren't but a couple, they
weren't coming in with his name, you know, with embarking like that is
what happened. I turned around Tyler and I was like, hey, you
clash, and I told him a stalis leave it, and he would not
have it. What have it? Man? So I turned and he's looking.
It was also he was looking past me. So I turned and I
look, and I'm looking way down the range towards the far end of the
past year that butts up to the there's a big gravel company or property butts
up too, and I'm looking down there and I can see almost to the
fence even my hoesight, and good, it was really bright that night.
Move went full but there's plenty light. Perfect and uh, honestly, we
might could have made some shots without thermal scopes. Irresponsible, that would have
been just that right. So I take a look and then it's it's something
moving. But at that point we blasted coaties and you know, in my
mind it's it's maybe a haul, and maybe it's two coties next to each
other, or you know, a big buck. And after a second,
I was like, nah, it's definitely not a big book made it down
over there. We've fired eleven rounds, you know, between two high powered
rifles carrying a buck anywhere near here. Right now they're gone, and uh,
you know, if there was one bedded down in the thicket where they
did bed down over to our right. Occasionally, I was like, now's
he's out of here, so I'm dragging back and get back over here.
And this is you know, he calmed down when I came back to him,
So for a second I figured maybe he had seen what was down there,
but maybe it was just hey, daddy, come back. You know
where are you going? Don't leave me here with Uncle Tyler. But I
asked, illis man's what's down there? Can you see anything? He pulls
his rifle up, pulls up to forty three and uh he's looking through his
thirm and he's like, ah, something down man, looks like it might
be a little big. I don't know what it is, and uh,
let me see. Hansley is gone. I take a look, and again
I can't make it out. I can still so I can see about the
same thing I could, except it's thermal now and uh whatever. So that
was calm down, and he's pulling my leg. He's this big baby.
Hey, Daddy paid attention to me. You know, I warned you.
You know, hey, give me some love. Man. I take an
egg and I'm like, hey, man, can shut up, blockhead.
And we're trying to say Grandmama's chickens can't be making all that racket, you
know, something like that, and Tyler looks again. He takes his scope
of his again, he's like, whatever it is ain't down there. That's
tie told thus more times to be quiet. So uh we go and we
get back prone and we're laying almost up under my box stand, and uh,
Dallas would lay down. It wouldn't like that, which was not like
him. But you know, it wasn't a big deal when like he was
kind of colder to the full wheel, or when he was behind it just
a little bit where we had made him sit, and Uh, I was
like, hey, whatever, man sit there, no matter to me.
Well, I don't know a minute or so, however long goes by and
I hear something. I'm sorry Dallas was doing. I don't know if anybody's
ever seen. It's not just bull breezes to do it, but they do
it a lot like if you've ever seen your dog tried to pinpoint where something
is that they hear, they stopped there their painting and they'll they'll close their
mouth and get real quiet, and they'll no onder the look. They'll turn
their head, they try to get a lock on it with their ears.
And he was doing that. Well at that point, I didn't hear anything.
So I looked over Tyler the quin, I say, man, do
anything. It's now well about that time up and again we're laying under this
box stand looking down range. We got the whole whole pasture almost in front
of us. There's twenty or thirty yards back behind us that we weren't using.
The shooting that was about that. But uh, man, something comes
through the leaves up on top of the ridge. It's twenty one hundred probably
closer to one hundred and fifty yards up the hill, up up the hill
to our left, and uh it's not moving terribly fast, but it's absolutely
coming in our direction. And in my mind, yeah, my Grandpa said,
have horses anymore. But I was sitting there thinking what it could be,
and I was like, oh, dear horse, you know way man
horses. Well, uh, it doesn't take but a few seconds. It
makes that distance and it stops right back inside the tree line. Can't really
make it out, just quite, but there's enough light where I can see
an outline and it's man, it's big, like it's really big, and
I can hear pint and first second I thought it was Dallas, but I
looked over at Dallas has his mouthwood, he's doing that listening things. And
uh, now I look over at Tyler and he's transfixed. Dude. Where
both just kind of dumped out of it with the system. Man, it
moves out just a little bit more still inside of the tree line, but
the light catches it. And no, Joe, this is you laugh at
me if you want to. But I had a reason and I'll explain it.
I'm like, that's a hyaen that is wait, sorry, And to
explain that. There was a family that lived not just directly across the highway,
but across the highway there was like a like another road. It was
across the highway to the right. Well. I used to run down this
road and one day one morning when I was jogging, I was younger,
this was years and years ago. I'll run down this road and they always
had beautiful horses over there, beautiful horses. And one day there is an
entire herd of zebra in the field. It's like thirty zebra. And I
stopped and was like what these folks. I was like, man, some
folks just got more money and they know what to do with I guess anyway,
my rationale in that moment, you know, because when people don't understand
this, but your mind, the human mind will absolutely do everything within its
own power subconsciously to yourself to rationalize something. If you can't consciously sit there
and rationalize what it is so in my mind of like these idiots have bought
behind with their exotic animal time, and that that is what's gotten loose and
has killed people's dogs, and that might be what's been disturbing my grandmama's shickets.
And uh, man, I swear I was fishing to turn and tell
Tom because I mean, you know, even in that moment, that was
ridiculous to me. But like I said, your mind will rationalize, and
that was all I had at that moment. But I turned to look at
Tyler, and man, he's he's wide eyed, like legitimately wide eye.
And I turned back and as soon as I turn back, I see it
raise and I didn't take me a half second draws, but it stands on
two legs. It stands up. And I glanced back at Tyler for just
a second, and dude, he is you know, we're both grown man,
and man, I fear nobody learned to fight properly at a young age.
Taught me not only that you don't have to fight, you know,
there's there's a way around violence, especially when you're confident in your in your
ability to handle it. But man, it, you know, I just
got it. Gave me this real sense of of you know, steely confidence
in myself and everything and everything that I do. But man, right there
in that moment, I knew Tyler was afraid, and I dare say that
I was afraid to nervous. I believe the word I used to Vic was
nervous, and the preview, I'll go ahead and admit that I was.
I was a little scared. And you know, it's lots of I've heard
lots of lots of people on Vic's show because I discovered the show, and
that's what gave me the the idea that, hey man, this is an
outlet where people will believe my story, where I can tell it without feeling
like a fool. But man, it's uh. I loved Wear Wolves and
they were terrified. They scared the crap out of me. But man,
and Harry Potter, the third Harry Potter movie, when that Wear Wolves,
when Professor Loupan turns into the world, I mocked that it didn't look real,
you know, it didn't look like scary movies that I had seen.
And I made fun of that, but that was because I had seen lots
of them, and I loved Van Helsing. I loved an American Werewolf in
London. My dad let me watch that movie when I was young, and
it scared the crap out of me. But you know, it was still
good, Bad Moon and sud I mean, I loved them, but uh,
you know, right right there in that moment when that thing stood up
like it did and I realized that it was indeed bipedal, I knew exactly
what I was seeing, and my mind didn't have to try to rational any
longer because I had been through that phase thinking it was eye, you know,
because the it was just stamp so weird. It was on all fours
at first, so strange looking. But then man, I knew exactly what
I was looking at, and uh man, it was just like that's not
real, Like that's not real, but it was real, and uh,
I mean, that's that's just not something you're ever mentally prepared to deal with,
you know. I mean, if somebody could have told me that that's
what it was and it was coming, and I still don't know how I
would have processed that. But man, this thing it was huge, huge,
man Like, so it walks out and I have a gauge of how
big it was. Somewhat it walks out. I'm sorry before it walks out,
I told Tyler, because we're standing at this point. We are standing,
and I've got a hold of Dallas's rope and his least. But before
I had laid down, I had tied like a loose square knot onto the
back rack of the full wheel. Well, we stand up and I looked
at Tyler and he said, dude, what is that. I didn't have
a chance to answer. I mean, I guess I had a chance answer,
But all I told him was, dude, if that thing makes one
move towards us, I want you to shoot Afower's got he's got two forty
three at bolt action two forty three. It's you know, it's decent deer
rifle and stuff like that. You don't ever ever take into account that you
might have to shoot something like that, something so large, because we're in
Mississippi, we don't have there are black bears, there are very few and
far between. Population is increasing, but you don't count on when you go
out having to shoot a black bear or anything of comparable size. Well,
my rifle, which was the rounding three to eight, my grandfather gave me.
It was his. You know, it's forty years old. It's a
perfect condition. I'll pick it up. And uh, man, this thing
turns and walks out to its left, all right, And it didn't close
any distance between us. It was it was almost like not I would say
curiosity, but I don't. I'm not sure if something that that sinister evil
can have true curiosity, to be honest. But it walks out. And
this tree that I mentioned way back in the middle of the passion, there's
a branch hanging down off this tree that I know for a fact. It's
between seven and eight feet tall. And this thing was on par with that
branch, absolutely on par with that branch. And look when it stood up,
Dallas lost his lost his wig. Man, he goes to bark in
an acting pool. Well, it walks out, and Tyler told me once
it stopped, and it seemed like forever had gone by. And really,
man, I mean it couldn't have been. It couldn't have been twenty seconds
or so realistically thinking back on it now. But I heard Tyler he say,
man, yeah, I'm sent around at this thing. And he was
nervous, like his voice was shaken. He said, can I'm fix to
send around at him? I was like, no, no, And before
I could get it out, Tyler shoots and he drills it in the chest.
It was high on the left. He was aiming for the hert or.
I guess where he thought the heart would be on a human because through
this thing it's I don't believe it was as human like as most people,
and its physical structure as lots of people that I've heard give accounts of,
had big shoulders, long arms that were definitely longer from elbow to the end
of its fingers, which it was absolutely fingers, so so strange. Man.
Even now I've been there and done that scene, it process all that.
It's fingers. There's no other word for fingers on a hand had pause
and I can't tell you if they were three inches or four inches or how
big, very big yellow eyes. If you've ever seen Supernatural, I just
love that show. In the beginning, the demon that killed Sam and Dean's
mom, his name is is Azel. They referred to him, I don't
know. I don't remember if they didn't know the name or what they referred
to him for the first long shoe as yellow eyes. Man, those were
the same exact eyes. And as I'm realizing this, I realize that the
moon is like quartered to this sting. It's not, and it's not in
his face. The eyes had like almost a shine in and of themselves,
and uh, man, Tyler blasts the stain. Dude, he blasts,
and as soon as he did, I dumped all five rounds. I hit
him twice. I know I hit him twice. I heard it. But
uh he struck out, And man, it was so fast. Dude,
he made the tree line so quick, and he'd probably come I say,
he might have come out twenty five yards between, because this tree isn't dead
in the middle of this pasture. He probably made it, I don't know,
twenty twenty five yards from the tree line to this single tree that he
walked out to. And when we shot him, he runs back to the
trees and he's fly. Hear it side because you know, it's the very
beginning of December, and even here in Mississippi it's still warmer. There.
There's still a bunch of leaves on the ground. They're not all dead yet.
There's still leaves on the trees. You can see through a lot of
it, but there was plenty of groundcover, and he slid right through it.
I heard him, Tyler, and I'm not going to use the exact
words that I used because they were experts involved. But I turned around and
I pussed Tyler like a dog for about two three seconds for sud I thought.
I tried to tell him not to. We hops on the four with
it, and he and he starts it up and he turns the lights.
He's fun. He stands around and as soon as the lights hit this thing,
man, it will I'm talking like shoulders back rules. And it was
not the how this raspy how that I that I've heard about. I mean,
I if that's what you call it, that's not what I would have
called it. It was so loud, man, it was deafeningly loud.
And uh man. As soon as it does that, Dallas loses it again.
He loses it again. I don't remember at what point he stopped.
I guess the gunshots kind of kind of shocked him a second and he'd stopped.
But as soon as it does, he does it again. Dude.
I had as soon as my as soon as I had emptied all around out
of my three o eight, I don't ever have used my farrest, but
I dropped it and in my in my I was wearing my my duck hunting
waiters because when I go hunting, I like to wear them with thermal underneath
them, because they're just as warm as my coveralls. But they don't give
you that swishing sound like my coveralls, just like you're wearing a windbreaker or
something. They're much quieter, and I prefer those. And they have this
really nice front chest pocket that works really well as a whole stre I had
dropped that Paul my Smith and Wesson forty, which is putting the nag one
in the chamber, and I hadn't fired around of it, did not shoot
around out of it because the thing retreated created distance between us, even though
it stops. Well. Man Tyler's like, dude, we got to get
to the truck. He turns to me, and he yells, we got
to get to the truck. I picked it with one arm. I picked
Dallas up. I had slung my three weight over my shoulder best I could.
I'm holding a pistol on my right hand. I've got Dallas in the
left hand, and I as quickly as I could undone. Thank god,
I left that square knot semi loose, and Dallas would have had to snatch
that rope in order to you know, to sense it. I reached down
on and do it. I picked him up and I get on the floor
that I told Tyler, and I mean, I've got a hold of him,
man, because I'm gonna tell you right now, dude. Man,
Dallas, like I said, he was a soldier. He was ready for
war at any and all the time. Man, if you threaten somebody,
he loves it's it's not good. Tyler tells me that we have to make
it to the truck. Well, at that point, I ended Dallas's rope
and I hop on the four wheler with Dallas and my pistol, and I
was like, hey, man, go don't look back, don't stop,
don't slow down. And he says, wait to do hold camp. He's
leaving. He's leaving. Look, he's hot, teling, He's out of
here. He's gone. I turn around and this thing is I mean,
he's he's blasting up this hill. He goes out of sight really quick,
but we can still hear it. Well, he's crossing over the top of
this hill. And I know exactly like I said, unless he went over
the top of the hill and immediately turned and went somewhere else in the direction
he was going. He was headed straight for the pine tree thicket on the
back of our property, where I've got a couple of lock on your stance,
I know exactly where he was heading. Well, we're we touch our
breath for a second. And I turned to Dallas and then I hugged his
neck because dude, and and and a few of those moments, you know,
it was my self preservation instincts for really what was going. But it
did absolutely cross my mind that, hey, you cannot let Dallas get loose.
That would have been at man, He's Dallas is a big dog.
He was a bad dude, you know, he was a soldier. But
man, there was no way in the world that he could have hung one
on one to sting. And there was probably no way in the world that
I could have saved him. And that was that was terrifying. That was
true terror. I mean, that's just you know, but man, that
was you know, and in my in my relief, I just yeah,
I hugged and was like bah blah, love you, thank you, you
know, I mean, he was he was ready to let it down for
us. Man with with no hesitation. He was so game, so ready,
and uh, I was like, dude, I would die for you,
bro, I love so much. And uh yeah, man, Tyler
did. It wasn't a lot said, you know what I said in that
moment. But after a few seconds, soon we agreed, like, hey,
let's let's go. Let's get out here quick. Man. We left
every single one of those eleven coyoders we had. We had kind of kind
of a pile like right there by us, like kind of not under my
standings, we had been laying almost up under it. But uh, we
left every one of them everything one of them, didn't didn't bother with him,
didn't think about him again, nothing, And uh man, we get
on the flow and I'm old Dallas. You know, he followed us on
foot on the way end because he loves too. But man, there was
and I know at this moment, this thing is going so there's no way
in the world that that it's going to come back in my mind at that
moment. But I was also there's also no way in the world that I
was going to let him go and let him follow us on foot, because
man, if that thing were to show up again. He made a b
line for it like there was. I wouldn't have been able to stop him,
nothing like his you know, I couldn't stop him when he was barking.
And as training is, that normally was not a thing. If I
if I say leave it, that was it. That was it into it
anyway, we uh man, we make the hill that comes down into the
pasture. We break into the tree tunnel. And that that tree tunnel has
always been kind of creepy. I always had to go through it going to
or from my favorite stand, and uh man, that night it had never
been so creepy is that night? And and I bet we're on a four
where there's two of us, a big dog and a couple of firearms,
and you know, du that was just you don't ever expect something like that,
and you don't recover immediately from something like that. So man, I'm
my head's on a swivel. I got a firm hole of Dallas Tyler's flying.
We break the tree tunnel, we make the ridge that's up the hill
from the old hay barn, and uh we're we're coming up on I can
see and you know, this is just a couple of minutes. There's not
much time between the between these at all, and uh, I see the
old chicken coop, which is kind of like the marker that she's broken past,
all the buildings and structures my grandfather has up on the front of the
property. Well, I can see my truck. We're within I believe.
I think it's probably closer to forty yards. I believe I told Vic and
the pre interview we were sixty yards out. I believe it's probably closer to
forty. And we break through the tree tunnel, hit that ridge and we're
coming past the old chicken coop and man, out of nowhere, I hear
it again and it's right there that war and dude, my ears rang,
and man, that was that was it for a second, because next thing
I know, Man, everything's everything's muffled, like my hearing's muffled. I
can't really see my visions. Boy, and I'm conscious that the left side
of my face is on the ground. And I hear what sounds like two
dogs fighting, and I hear Tyler screaming, and right then I realized immediately
that oh my god, no, Dallas is tied up with this thing.
Man. So I've reached around for my pistol. I can't find it.
I can't hardly see either. But I'm sweeping through the dirt and I cannot
find it. So I stand up and I managed to make my feet and
man, I turn around and I look and and uh and this thing has
this thing has Dallas. Oh, and this thing has Dallas in his hands.
And he's not fighting anymore. Man, he's done. And uh,
man I was he had rolled my bell. Man, he had rolled my
bell. And I found out. I found out later. I just talked
to Tyler not too long before this interview. But man, he had knocked
me out. I was completely unconscious for several seconds, like ten seconds or
so. And when I hit aggresses the thing, it hit me directly,
like he slammed himself into me, rolled the wheeler. Tyler falls, eye
fall. Then he knocked me like ten feet. He knocked me a good
ten feet, man, and he was almost on top of me. He
was almost dead on top of because Tyler, he didn't touch twer. Tyler
just kind of fell and spun and landed on his butt. Tyler looks,
and this thing is almost on me, and Dallas comes from no. As
soon as his feet hit the ground. Dallas comes from nowhere, and I'm
like a missile. Man. He latches on up underneath the left side of
this thing, up under its ribs and just gets a mouth full. And
man, it turned and slung him and slung him and it went, couldn't
get him off. It reaches back with both hands and grabs him and snatches
him and just snatches him off. And and uh, Tyler said it bit
him, grabbed him and picked him up, and it sank teeth in him
twice. Man. About that time, I guess is when I was getting
up and uh man, this is the first thing that I see, Man
is Dallas, and he's duty. He was not fighting anymore. That sound
was gonna. I'd heard them clear as day fighting. I mean, if
you've heard two dogs fight, it's pretty brutal. But uh man, he
was done. Man, he wasn't fighting anymore. And right there in that
moment, Man, I was shocked, was the first thing, because I
mean, in being dizzy, I mean, he had knocked me completely out
and my bell was still wrong. But man, on top of everything,
what came through really really fast, Man, I got mash like I was
in a rage, just completely overcome with rage like I have never felt in
my entire life. In the pre interview, I told Vick about one instance,
which I want the vulte here because it's you know, stupid, But
there was one time in my life when I felt that type of this absolute
hatred and anger. But man I, Man, I streamed at that thing
and dude, we're I mean, we're twenty feet apart, me and the
thing, or look at each other dead in the face. We're twenty feet
apart. And you know, there's there have been times when I've been listening
to people come on Gates platform and they say things like this thing communicated with
me telepathically, or it it it uh, it gave me this feeling of
dread or despair or anything. Man I didn't. I didn't get that this
thing didn't communicate with me telepathically. But man, we're directly look at each
other and each other. I was staring each other down and it was almost
like he was saying, come on, boy, come on boy, come
closer. And I did. Man I, Dude, I didn't have a
gun, I didn't have anything. I had nothing but what God gave me,
man, and I was I was gonna do everything. I could.
I don't know. Hey, Kim, let's take a break. Let's take
a break. You know you're fine. You're fine. We'll be right back,
all right, Cam, take your time, there's no rush. Whenever
you're ready, please continue. Uh yeah, Man, I turned this guy
him, and it was looking at me and it was almost like it was
saying, you know, come on, boy, like it was challenging me
or something. And uh and I screamed and I struck out. And like
I said, I didn't have a gun. I didn't have nothing, don't
have anything, and uh, eydsight, man, i'd have died right there.
You know, I didn't stand a chance. But man, he had
my bubble, man, dude, and uh, you know I had to
do something. I struck out. Man, I struck out towards him,
and I'm screaming at him and he's looking at me in my face like we're
we are. We never took our eyes off of each other, not for
not for a second. And man, as I get closer, dude,
heah yim yah. Man, he raises Dallas up over his head and swams
him and man, I heard him break, man like, and I knew
I knew he was gone. Man, I knew he was gone like there
was you know, but when you're you know when you're and I you know,
I only speak from that one that experience, but when when you're that
mad man, it didn't stop me, Like, it did not stop me
at all. And uh, I never broke stride. I was still on
my way there. And man, he's let go of Dallas. He's on
the ground and he's still looking at me. He never stopped looking at me.
And like I said, it never occurred to me when I was going
to do or what I could have done or couldn't have done, or that
I was probably gonna die. But you know, I get. I mean,
I'm dude, I get within ten feet. There's no way I wasn't
within ten feet. And from behind me, manoo, Tyler had found my
rifle and I don't know where it was because I never saw it. I
never saw my pistol, I didn't see anything. I saw the pool wheeler
when I stood up, and it was upside down, like several feet away.
But uh, Tyler had fired every single round out of my rifle from
the hip and hit this thing five times, every single one. I Dude,
Tyler almost shot me. He really did. He almost shot me,
and you know, still thankful for it, I guess. But uh,
man, this thing that kind of it didn't how but it was it was
kind of like that roar. It was like a screech with that roar.
Man, And uh, I knew he hurt him. I knew he was
hurt. But man, it turns and it runs, and I'm you know,
I'm still in a fit of rage. Man, I'm still just uncontrollably
angry. And the only thing in my mind, you know, it's stupid,
as as idiotic as it was. It did not occur to me in
that moment that it was just that. But the only thing on my mind
was that I was so mad that he was going to get away. I
was not going to ca There's no way in hell I can catch him,
no way in the world. And uh, I screamed and I called him
a coward. I called I can't say everything I called him, but I
told him to come back. I screamed at him, man, and he
you know, that thing never checked up. He was gone, and uh
and I turned around and Dallas is on the ground. Man, he's still
there in that one spot. And I knew he was gone. I knew
he was dead, man, but uh, I'll run to him and I
put my hand under his head and I'm picking the head up. Man.
He was bleeding everywhere and uh uh you know at that time, I guess
my adrenaline don't was gone, and all that being so mad was kind of
starting to subside, and I just screamed. Man, I screamed at the
top of my lungs. And that's that's the last thing I remember. If
I woke up on my back with Tyler. He had his hands under my
head holding it up off the ground. My nose was bleeding. I passed
out and uh passed out and hit my face on the ground, and Tyler
told me, he was like, man, you need to be still.
Throw your arms breaking and uh it turns out it was was broken. Took
places and uh he had taken Dallas. Let me lay in there. Let
me lay in there, taking Dallas and put him in the bed of my
truck and fished my keys out of my chest pocket and uh, and he
helped me out. I walked to the truck, Dallas, is he's in
there. He turned the cab the bed light on and he was still there.
Man was you know, those those few feet to the say few fit
powerful west to the truck. I had some hope that maybe he'd have his
head up looking at me. When I got to the truck. He wasn't.
Man, he was gone, and uh he was so broken, man
everything. I didn't even want to touch him. But uh, Tyler ed
he had, I guess at some point picked up my pistol and he brought
it to the truck and set it on the tailgate, and uh, I
was rubbing Dallas is here? Many yeah, man, all over again,
all over again, just that quick, as soon as as quick as it
happened first time, I was mad all over again. Man. I snatched
that pistol and I racked one, which you know, in hindsight, there
wasn't anything in the chambers at first shot. I would have gone to shoot
if I had to defend myself. There wouldn't been anything there. And I
strike out, and I'm walking straight because I didn't know where he went,
but I know that he cut off through the trees that that lead. You
know, we took a trail down to that pasture we ran and uh,
you know, if there was a spot a trail through these trees, that
would lead straight back to that passion. He had gone right back down that
way, as you know, as as best as I can remember. And
uh, I sensed that pistol and I struck out walking and Tyler was hollering
for me. He's I can't stop, damn come here, stop and then
he ran up behind me. And you know, my, my, my
waiters that I wear, and they've got the shoulder straps, like the dope
crow shoulder straps. And he walked up and he grabbed it and I turned
around. I smacked his almost like get the off meat, and uh and
he let me go and I made a few more steps and he hollered me.
He's like you want, He said, you want? You want your
daughters and he said you want your daughters to lose their daddy in Dallas,
both in one night. And uh, man, I stopped. H this
is lost, man, I cried, and uh, you know, there's
not really my GUH told do I guess? But uh, yeah, I
took a minute. We took a minute, and uh that wer helped me
in the truck, and uh, you know, at some point I'd realized,
like, hey, I'm gotta go, I'm gotta go, tell Grandpa,
I mean, we're at the bar and we're not far from that this.
If my grandpa had been outside, he'd heard everything at this point,
and it's like one o'clock, you know, one thirty in the morning,
and uh, we were really close to the house, and I know that
thing it headed the other action, But that was not what my mind was
saying. You know, I had to go until grandparents said, hey,
there's there's a werewolf running around in this place, because anyway, at that
point in my life, I'd never even heard the term dog man. This
was a weird wolf. And my grandfather to explain, this is a very,
very no nonsense, stern man amongst men, earth shaken type of man.
People move out of his way because he's coming through. But uh,
you know, his first and only grandson. You know, he's got a
soft spot for me. But I knew that he was gonna custom me like
a dog for waking him up. At that time. We pull up,
I mean, we're we're one hundred and fifty yards in the house, went
all the where all that happened, and we left the fore wheeler there and
we pull up and I get out and I knock on the door, and
my arm is throbbing at this point, and uh, I've got blood all
over me. Tyler's just kind of like, you're right, that feeling where
you try yourself to sleep and you're just no, you don't feel like smiling
or frowning or anything. Man. Tyler's just standing up, leaning against my
truck. And while I land and uh, I knock on the door,
Grandpa comes to the door and is freaking underwear and he cuts me for a
second, said, bore you rise, what time it is? And you
know he could see that I was shook up. Grandpa with his clothes on,
I need your help, and uh and say anything else. He went
in for seventy five year old man. He got dressed really quick, and
uh, I told him what had happened. He believed me. He the
first time around. He believed me. I didn't have to go back and
reiterate like Grandpa and being serious. I'm not joking at none of that.
He absolutely believed me, and uh, he said, where's Dallas took him
around the back of the truck and we looked at him. Tyler said,
hey, man, yeah, we've got to get you to the hospital.
Grandpa is like, hell, y'all go and take my truck, and uh,
how you take him to the hospital. Like now, man, I'm
sorry, that's uh. And he told me, he said, he said,
I'll go and I'll take care of Dallas. I go burying. Yeah,
right, I appreciate it, but that's that's my dog and I'm gonna
bury him. I got another dog, Barry. He's buried right next to
Roscoe, right next to my other bulldog that I had before him. And
Uh, I was absolutely not about to let my grandpa. I don't care
if he's my grandpa and I'm a grandson or not. He could have said
anything he wanted. No way, he was fixing to go out there in
the woods by himself and be digging a hole right then at that time.
And he knew that he was gonna talk me out of it and say sorry,
let's let's go. I go get my pistol. He went and got
his pistol, and uh, we get my truck and we ride back there,
and uh. And that was the biggest hole I've ever dug in my
life. And so many ways, man, there's a whole in my heart,
the whole and everything that I've got. Man, that was you know,
that was a piece of me. And uh we spend you know,
forty five minutes digging this whole around his hearts crap, and uh, Grandpa
finally, hm, it takes me to the hospital and uh I put plates
and screws in my arm, put me in cast and uh that's uh my
story essentially. Yeah, but uh, I'm gone. And I talked to
Vick about this when I first actually spoke with him on phone, and blessed
the guy. He let me tell my story and I cry like a baby.
I'm sorry. I've tried to not lose it this time around, because,
like I said, my emotional distress is not anybody's problem but my own
to deal with. But man, that was a that was my best friend.
Man, that was the best dog ever had in my life. And
uh, I harbor no illusions, man, but that I would be here
if he hadn't have been with me that night. I thought some crazy things
like, man, if I would have left Dallas at the house, you
know, he'd still be here. Well, you know, I'd be dead
probably, And then I thought it didn't last very long because it was it
was irrational and stupid. I was like if Tyler hadn't shot, Dallas will
still be here. I don't know that. I wasn't his fault. We
were out there shooting guns and you know, throwing out Kodi calls and that's
that's probably what drew him in. I heard him or whatever. Uh.
I've had lots of thoughts about that night, what could have gone differently,
how this could have worke, how that could work. But the bottom line
is that, you know, I'm here in my h My children have a
father because because my best friend came his life and I'm here, you know,
I'm breathing unfortunate and I've still got his daughter. Man, I've got
a pump of his. She's uh, she's about grown now. She's a
great dog. She's every bit of her daddy's fuck man, she's her name
is Breed and she's uh. And she's been the bandaid on the bullet hole
from all from my little girls, because I had to go home and tell
my girls that Coyote's got there, got their puppy. And that was a
straight live man, you know, And I'll forever have to a lot of
my kids, you know. And it's uh, she's such a double head
sword man, you know, I can't even tell them the truth. I
want to. But last night I told my wife because I told her the
same story, man, And it wasn't much. I kept in as short
as I can keep it, because I mean, I'm not one to lie,
and it wasn't fun. I'm not proud of it, but I told
her. I started to tell her last night and by you know what I
told you happened to Dallas? You know, he that's not the truth.
She said, what do you mean? Are you lying to me? He
yeah, But I just you gotta understand that it's not I didn't want to,
and I feel terrible for it, but you got to know because I'm
not gonna take Avery hunting with me. She's she's been asking to go to
go hunting with Daddy for a while now, and uh, man, there's
just no way. There's no way in this world, this or the next
world. And then I would ever take her out into those woods. I
myself is like you. As soon as I was out of my cast,
man, as soon as it was gone, I went out and I sat
in my hunting season as well over and I went and sat in my stand
and waited on that thing and hoped to pray that he would come out,
and you know, foolishly so because I'm I probably died, and like Vick
said, that else would have been gone for nothing. But uh man,
there have just been so many thoughts in my head for so long about putting
a bullet in this thing that took my took my boat man for me and
from my family. And uh yeah, I'm just grateful for this opportunity to
tell the story, because man, I say something that I'm told, I'm
told anybody really, like my grandfather knows, Tyler knows. And you know,
my wife, I couldn't tell her everything. I didn't want to tell
her everything, and if she doesn't ask, I'm not gonna finish telling her
everything. But I told her this is what people referred to as a dog
man. And yeah, she told me she didn't know. She wanted to
know everything. She said. I mean, but I stressed to her,
like you know, I'm here, you still got me, and the girls
have still got me, because now it's went with me that night, I
mean, Tyler could have both died. Tyler's got too beautiful little kids.
They are like my niece and nephew. You know, I love with all
my heart. I'd give my life or take somebody else as if it meant
that I could, you know, I could save them from an ounce of
pain, you know, and they've got their daddy because because because Alas was
there with us, Kim. I know this is so hard to deal with.
I mean, we're not even a you're removed from having that experience.
It's gonna take some time for you to come to terms with this when you
consider how traumatic this experience was. But I want you to remember something anytime
you think about what happened that night, and of course when you think about
losing Dallas the way you did, there's something I don't want you to ever
lose sight of, and that's the fact that obviously he was your buddy and
he was your companion, but most importantly, Dallas was your personal protector.
And if you could have frozen that attack and had a way of taking Dallas
off to the side to get his two cents on what was going on and
what he was risking, he would have told you. If you had the
ability to talk with him, and he had the ability to talk with you,
he would have told you that he knew full well what he was risking.
By doing what he did, biting and attacking that dog man. But
I'm sure he also would have told you that even though he was risking his
life by attacking that dog man, he wouldn't have it any other way.
Whatever was required to protect his daddy, he would do, even if it
meant dying for you. Let's not lose sight of the fact that he was
one hundred and thirty five pound American bulldog. He was built for war,
for Mortal Kombat. If you could have asked him, Dallas, if you
had to choose the way that you went out the way that you died,
what way would you want that to be. I've gotten no doubts whatsoever that
he would tell you that he would want to die protecting his daddy. Die
by saving his daddy's life, And that's what he did. He saved your
life, just like you already know, by doing what he did. I
know it's so sad thinking about him passing the way he did. But in
time, if you can steer that towards pride. But I know you're already
proud as all get out of Dallas, and you should be, but I
hope you can in time focus more on the pride you feel for the fact
that your personal protector, Dallas gave his life protecting his daddy. Again,
Like I said, I know, it's not easy. You're still working your
way through all this, but if you can work towards that goal, that
is going to help tremendously when it comes to your ability to deal with this.
Does that make sense? Yeah? Yeah, I mean, I mean,
you're you're absolutely right. I just I mean, there's yeah, there's
no two ways about it. No, I'm being sure proud of you,
man, I mean there's I mean, they might not have found me,
you know, I might. I mean, I don't know what, I
don't know. I know I didn't have the the experience that I hear lots
of people were count where this thing showed up and acted stoky and then as
they thought they were fictionally get god, it was it was gone. But
you know, regardless of how it went, you know, I mean,
it was like I said, I hadn't taken him with me anywhere in a
while, and yeah, it was that night. I was like, all
right, well come on, load up, and you know, load up
to him. Those are the magic words, you know, you say,
load up that dude, be in the truck fashion. You can change your
mind and tell it. No, I mean you know, but uh no,
I mean you're You're one hundred percent right, and there's no there's no
two ways about it. And I'm very I couldn't. I could be more
proud of him, and it's it sucks to have pride in the sentence because
you've got to be proud of him and he's not here to tell him.
But you're you're absolutely right, and thank you for your words when it means
more than I can tell you. You're welcome, and please know the side
of the fact that you're going to see him again. You will, You'll
see him again. Yeah, sure, so I really do. You will.
He'll be waiting for you. Well, Kim, I've got so many
questions to ask you it's not even funny, But we're out of time.
Would you be open to coming back to do a live stream where I could
ask you those questions and also that way the listeners in the live chat could
ask you their questions as well. Yeah, man, I'll be willing to
do that. Sony thing anybody wants to know is fine, definitely, Okay,
good. Well if that's the case, Well, next Friday night at
nine pm Eastern time eight pm Central work for you, I think, so
I won't say why not. Okay, great, Well if that's the case,
then yeah, we'll just come back next Friday night and we'll do that
live stream then. But in the meantime, if you need any help by
all means, please let me know because I'll always be there for you.
It means more, and I can tell you, buddy, I appreciate it
so much. Oh, you're welcome. You know. Like I told you
before, you're not alone in this. You never will be. But having
said that, try to have a good night. I know it's easier said
than done, but try to have a good night.