Blake Shelton is already a country music superstar, but singing isn’t his only passion The Oklahoma native reveals his favorite two things to do, when he isn’t on stage, are to go hunting and fishing, even if he might not be the best at it, at least not yet.

“Hunting and fishing is one of those things I’m never going to master,” Shelton tells Hook and Barrel. “I’m never gonna dominate the hunting and fishing world, and 99.9 percent of the time I’m gonna lose. I’m gonna fail. And that’s what keeps me hooked.”

It’s the one that keeps getting away that keeps luring Shelton back, again and again.

“There’s a love to the mystery of not knowing what’s out there, not knowing what fish might be under that log,” Shelton admits. “If I don’t know what’s there, it could be the next world record!”

Shelton has the same passion for hunting, something he has enjoyed since he was a kid, watching his older brother and cousins excel at the sport.

“[Deer hunting] just had me. I was so into it,” Shelton, who caught his first buck when he was just 16 years old, explains. “The thought that these things were out there, and you could see their tracks every once in a while, but you never actually saw a deer. So, I became obsessed with deer hunting.

Shelton now calls both Los Angeles and Oklahoma home, since marrying Gwen Stefani. While he feels comfortable in either city, it’s Oklahoma where Shelton wants to spend most of his time.

“It’s 25 years now since I had my first song on the radio,” Shelton shares. “And I’m sitting here, feels like a hundred years later, wondering how many more hours I have to be in Los Angeles before I can get back to Oklahoma and start setting my trap lines.”

Shelton has Tracy Byrd at least party to thank for his ability to pursue both a career in country music, along with hunting and fishing. It was when Shelton was watching Byrd’s Weekend Outdoor show on TNN that he realized he didn’t have to sacrifice one passion for the other.

“I was the guy that basically had already figured out what makes me happy by the time I was 14 years old,” Shelton says: “It’s country music and fishing and hunting. I saw [Byrd’s show] and remember going ‘Oh my God! You can be a country singer and hunt and fish? Those are my two things!’”

Shelton won’t have much time for hunting or fishing for the next several weeks. The Grand Ole Opry member is embarking on his 2025 Friends and Heroes Tour later this month, joined by Trace Adkins,  Craig Morgan, Deana Carter and Emily Ann Roberts.

“It’s the most fun I’ve had, from a concert standpoint, in my career,” Shelton says of his tour. “I open the show and perform, then throughout the night these other artists will make an appearance. It’s really like a music festival all crammed into one night.”

Find all of Shelton’s music and tour dates at BlakeShelton.com.