05/29/2026
Your Friday Tidbit: The Blind
There is a movie I still haven’t watched yet that’s been on my list about the great Phil Robertson from Duck Dynasty called The Blind.
The title alone is powerful.
The movie tells the story of Phil falling deep into alcohol and eventually rising through faith, purpose, and the Lord before becoming known worldwide during the Duck Dynasty years.
It’s funny how casually the word “blind” exists in my world every single day.
“I gotta teach this dog to run a blind.”
“We need more water blinds.”
“That blind was rough.”
“He lined that blind.”
For those who don’t know, a blind retrieve is when a dog is sent to a destination they never saw.
The dog didn’t see a bird fall. The dog doesn’t know where it’s at. The dog simply has to trust the handler.
You send the dog. You stop the dog with a whistle. The dog turns around looking for direction. You cast the dog left, right, or back toward an unknown destination until the retrieve is completed.
Through water. Across points. Past old falls. Over roads and ditches. Through decoys, lily pads, wind, temptation, and confusion.
It’s one of the most advanced things a retriever can learn because it requires more than obedience.
It requires belief.
Not only do I have to teach the mechanics of go, stop, and cast at great distances…
I have to teach the psychology of believing in something they never saw.
I have to convince the dog that when I say:“Dead bird…”
…it means: “Trust me buddy, there’s something out there. Hang with me. Let’s go find it together.”
That’s what hooked me on Hunt Tests years ago.
The first time I watched a dog run a blind retrieve, I became fascinated. Not because the dog was controlled…
…but because the dog believed.
What became even more fascinating to me over time was this:
I could convince a dog to believe in something it couldn’t see…yet people struggle to do the exact same thing in life.
Until life gets heavy.
Until addiction weighs on them.
Anxiety suffocates them.
A relationship breaks them.
Failure humbles them.
Until a dream starts calling them somewhere else.
Suddenly they’re standing at the line of their own blind retrieve.
Being asked to leave one life…without being able to fully see the next one.
Then comes the hard part.
Trusting the direction.
Believing there’s something better out there even though you can’t yet see it.
Losing weight requires it.
Building a business requires it.
Learning to train a dog requires it.
Martial arts requires it.
Wingshooting requires it.
Faith requires it.
Everything meaningful in life starts with belief before visibility.
And then one day…after thousands of reps…thousands of “backs”…thousands of whistles…thousands of casts…
…you finally see something.
You see a dog that trusts you completely.
Reliable. Confident. Connected.
Then you notice something else.
You changed too.
You start believing in yourself more. You trust your decisions more.
You become stronger.
Calmer.
More disciplined.
More purposeful.
You realize that somewhere along the way, while teaching the dog to trust you…
…you earned the dog’s respect.
And while chasing your goals…
…you earned your own respect too.
But here’s the part most people miss.
It wasn’t really you running the blind at all.
The whole time…God was handling you.
Whistling you down when you got too far off course. Casting you when you needed direction. Stopping you from places you thought you wanted to go. Sending you toward places you didn’t yet understand.
Running you toward a better version of yourself that you couldn’t yet see.
Your job was never to see the whole field.
Your job was simply to trust the Handler.
Just like the dog.
Mike Vaughn
Phil Robertson "The Duck Commander"
Willie Robertson
Duck Dynasty
