In this episode of the Epic Outdoors Podcast Jason Carter and Adam Bronson talk with Zac Griffith about his recent experiences in the field. This past weekend Zac was picked up by a Medivac helicopter after an accident in the hills. We wanted to hear the story direct form Zac so invited him to participate in the podcast. This episode also features several stories from Adam Bronson with broken backs, broken legs, and heart attacks. Just a reminder to be safe and be prepared while out in the field.
Disclaimer: this podcast has been transcribed from the original audio and likely contains errors. This transcription does not reflect the views and opinions of Epic Outdoors LLC. Please consult the original audio with any concerns.
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My body shut down. I blacked out.
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We had to get him life flighted off the mountain. Turned out he did break two or three vertebrae in his back and,
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And my whole back of my hand has blood running down my fingertips.
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Anything to do with Western Big Games.
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Welcome
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To the Epic Outdoors Podcast, powered by Under Armour.
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Hey everybody. Jason Carter here with the Epic Outdoors Podcast. Got Adam Bronson, who’s also an epic outdoors partner here with us, and we got a super special guest with us here. Zach Griffith, how you doing, Zach?
00:00:36:18 –> 00:00:40:05
I’m good, guys. I appreciate the opportunity to let some air out.
00:00:41:09 –> 00:01:22:23
Okay, sounds good. We’re, we’re super excited to get started on this with you. Before we do, I, I, you know, I do wanna take a minute and thank Under Armour for the sponsorship they give Epic Outdoors and some of the different pro programs that we’re doing with them, including, but not limited to this Epic Outdoors podcast. So super appreciative of them and, and all the support that they give our hunting industry. So anyway, I know there’s been some things happening in your life recently, Zach. We do want to get into that pretty heavy here in a minute. But maybe to kind of tee it up, just maybe give us a little bit about your background, like where you grew up and, and kind of how you got to where you’re at today.
00:01:23:20 –> 00:02:11:11
Okay, man, I, so I, I grew up in Salt Lake. I was always, you know, just the typical Utah rifle hunter hunted two to three days a year and consider myself hardcore. I moved to Phoenix in 2005 and moved into next to a guy that’s probably one of the best bow hunters I’ve ever met. His name’s Matt Linquist. I’m sure you know him well. You bet. And I learned real quickly that I didn’t know a damn thing about hunting, especially bow hunting. And luckily he was humble and, well, not humble, but, what’s the word? Willing to share some of his knowledge. Yeah. On me. I, I was the humble one ’cause I got humbled. So Matt kind of opened my eyes to glassing with fifteens and, and, you know, bow hunting spot in stock, and showed me that it could be done. Just, just basically like, you know, he, he, he gave me the keys to the truck and said, good luck.
00:02:11:11 –> 00:03:07:17
You know, and I, I think from there I just kind of developed my own obsession, passion, confidence, et cetera, from my own hunting field experience. You know, I, but he got me, well he, my dad of course, lit the fire. I would never wanna take away, diminish his role. But Matt kind of got me bumped up a notch. So moved back to Utah a couple years ago. I’m a passionate bow hunter. I’m absolutely addicted to fitness and taking selfies of myself in the gym and just have zero filters to saying that I believe wholeheartedly that there’s a correlation between your physical preparation in the off season and, and how fulfilling, enjoyable, and successful your hunts can be. I’m not advocating that everyone needs to use self tanner and wear tank tops and Right. You know, go to the gym. But I’m saying, you know, at, at some level, if I can nudge guys to just get in there and, and, you know, make any type of improvement whatsoever, how is that ever a bad thing?
00:03:07:21 –> 00:03:51:02
So, you know, does it make me a better hunter? Yeah. I, I’m still not a good hunter, but it stepped me up from where I was. And that’s the key. It’s all of relative to the individual. We’re not competing, even though we’re all a bunch of alpha males, your success in the field does not deteriorate or take away from my success in the field. And that’s the problem. I think guys are insecure and sometimes they feel like, you know, I’m saying I can hike further than you, so I’m a better hunter. And no, I’m saying I’m a better hunter than I was yesterday. It has nothing to do with somebody else. So that’s kind of my, oh, I guess my, my platform in general is just train, take care of your body, hunt your butt off, smile the entire time, stay positive. You know, I just, I just try to avoid negativity like the plague. So
00:03:51:15 –> 00:04:03:08
Yeah, I think you’re right, a hundred percent. Like everybody has their niche, you know? Sure. And kind of what keeps me cranking and, and going is totally different than somebody else. But there’s not a right or wrong in this industry.
00:04:03:22 –> 00:04:48:08
Never. I always say Jason, I think, I think if you’re smiling, you’re doing it right. And, and it’s, it’s unique to the individual. So it’s like, what floats your boat is one thing, or what floats mine is another. I’ve, I’ve actually talked to good buddies like Sean Morgan, you know, and he, he’s, he’s an elk and mule deer guy. I don’t think he’s killed an antelope or a, a cos deer or an aud dad or any of these other critters that I’m obsessed with. And you know what, he loves doing what he does, and I don’t question that, you know, to each his own. It’s just like, celebrate each other, you know, for being individual and, and, and, and for having their unique background and life experiences that mold their, their character and their, and their whatever drives them to just keep going. But at the end of the day, we’re, we’re all just hunters, you know? Like, just have fun with it. It’s supposed to be fun.
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So what do you do in terms of, I guess you can’t, we all know that you can’t just get paid to hunt and fish. You know, we all maybe think we wanna do that. What do you do on a, on a daily basis? I mean, I, I don’t know you very well, Zach, obviously, maybe at all. So tell us a little bit about what you personally do versus, you know, hunting being your passion and hobby, if you will, but what do you do in terms of employment and things like that?
00:05:16:11 –> 00:06:00:17
Yeah, sure. I, I’m actually a loan officer. I do VA refinancing, so I work up in Lehigh, Utah for a good buddy of mine that’s a hunter and Jason Yates. And I’ve just had a, this is a great job for a guy like me that’s flexible with hunting schedules. It’s a heavily commission based job, so you obviously get, you know, you reap what you sow. And I’ve always been self-employed my entire life and self-motivated. So these types of jobs i, I tend to thrive at. But I, I do really enjoy working with veterans. They’re a different class of people. They’re extremely respectful, they’re very prompt. They’re up early, like me and I can get a lot of things done before seven, eight o’clock in the morning. And it’s just, it’s a great job to fit my personality lifestyle and obviously financial goals.
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You bet. You know, and Jason, I know him. He’s a hardcore hunter. I just barely kind of got to know him a year ago or so. He’s always, you know, spoke highly of you. And so anyway, super good guy. I know he’s gonna be hunting, doing some hunting himself quite a bit this year, so. Oh, yeah.
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Yeah. He’s a monster. He gets it done everywhere.
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Yep. So anyway, I know you kind of came out with this little video series, the hit list. It was kind of cool. I didn’t know a lot about it. Of course, you, you know, you came over to the, to my house and videoed a few things and it was kind kind of cool. I had to, you know, check out your website and see what the heck it was about when you first hit me up. I just hadn’t really known much about it. Of course, I think it was kind of in its infancy at the, at that moment. But it was really a cool spin on kind of the social media. You know, not a lot of guys are doing that kind of thing, of course, quite a bit of YouTubeing going on, but this was a total different angle on all of that. And I, I’ve enjoyed some of the different hit lists that you’ve done.
00:07:00:15 –> 00:07:46:22
No, I appreciate it. It’s, it’s something I’ve always loved to do. I’ve relish just like checking guys’ stuff out and looking at their setups and seeing their bows and seeing their, their trophies, and seeing their sheds, and seeing their grandpa’s first buck. And there’s just like this, I’ve always had that, I love it. I love cruising over to people’s houses and seeing their stuff. And I thought, wow, what an easy way to just kind of show guys off that aren’t really, they’re not like vocal. Like most of the guys, Jason, are like, you, you get it done. You don’t, you don’t go out there and post selfies. You get it done. And, and people know that, but I don’t think many people realized how successful you are. And I was like, dude, I wanna see his stuff anyways, so why would I not capitalize and film it and show everybody how badass Jason Carter really is.
00:07:47:05 –> 00:08:30:20
Yeah, no, I, I appreciate that. I mean, I’ve definitely, you know, worked hard at it. Of course, my wife’s given up a lot of time and days in her schedule and to, you know, to allow me to go do it. And, and, you know, nothing comes without sacrifice, of course. You know that. So anyway. All right. So you, you grew up, we know you’re, you’re kind of a, you know, a lone guy, but I don’t know that that’s what truly drives you, you know, it seems like, of course you’re heavy on social media. I don’t know when you started that, but it, but you’ve got a quite a huge following. And anyway, maybe, you know, is that, are you always gonna be in, in lending or is it something where you’ve got a plan with this social media or, or do I dare ask?
00:08:30:23 –> 00:09:25:02
Well, no, that’s fine, man. I’m, I’m, I’m one of those guys. I’ve just, you know, I I just kind of go, it sounds kind of very responsible, but I am kind of day to day with everything. I just, I’ve, life’s handed me a few curve balls, like anybody, and I’ve learned to just kind of just roll with it. And so this job is absolutely a career. It’s something I should do till I’m 75. It’s a fulfilling job. It sounds cliche and cheesy, but I actually love to work here and I feel like I’m helping guys out. And I feel like it’s a good thing the hunting wise, you know, I’ve never put all my cards into the summit, my social media game. It’s always just been a hobby for me. It’s always, I’m absolutely monetizing it in every way possible and trying to establish, you know, financial relationships and, and other avenues to hunt more, essentially. I mean, every, every nickel I drive or, or, you know, create from Summit, I’m gonna roll right back into Hunts. So that’s, that’s what it’s for. Tell
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Me what Summit is. This is Adam.
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So Summit, summit Productions, I started Summit Productions L L C, and it started off I was gonna make a D V D set. I didn’t care about actually making a big profit. It was more just about recouping costs and expensing, you know, just like any business just getting, getting started. So I, I, I did that for a couple of years and then I got audited, of course, ’cause I wasn’t showing profits or income in general. And so the I r s says, this is hobby related, we’re gonna, you know, back charge you all of your deductions, et cetera, unless you make this a viable business. And so that’s when I said, okay, I gotta ramp this up. So build a website, create an apparel line, trademark some, some lo logos and branding and tried another avenue. And then luckily between that sponsor relations, YouTube, rev, you know, all of that stuff.
00:10:12:03 –> 00:10:48:05
I’ve just figured out little ways to monetize and create an aggregate of income that’s, you know, it’s derived from a lot of sources. Unfortunately, you know, this as well as I do, there’s no handbook on how to create income in social media. It’s almost like this, this brand new developing flower that like, there’s just so much opportunity, but at the same time, there’s no proven methods or, you know, no one to follow. You’ve gotta kind of just go at it and say, oh, crap, that worked really well, like, or that didn’t work. And that’s kind of where Summit is because become, it’s my, my social media platform slash brand tax
00:10:48:05 –> 00:10:49:17
Write-offs, you call, its all that
00:10:49:25 –> 00:11:05:02
Tax write-offs, printing money. Yeah. I mean it’s, I supplement partnerships, all these things that I do anyways. Yeah. I’ve learned to just say, you know, I’m gonna pay for supplements. Why don’t I find a good supplement partner and, and actually use the product I believe in, et cetera. You know, that’s kind of where that’s all derived from.
00:11:05:06 –> 00:11:26:26
Well, that totally makes sense. I think it’s, you know, kind of smart on your part. And you’re right, the social media thing’s fairly new, you know, really new, you know, to me, but fairly new I think overall. And who knows where it’s gonna head and lead. And that’s why, you know, your hit list thing was interesting. Of course, we’re doing these podcasts. I didn’t even know what a podcast was until probably Christmas time, you know? Amen,
00:11:26:28 –> 00:11:27:05
Man.
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Amen. And so all of a sudden here we are doing ’em, and of course, huge, huge, you know, support for that. And so how about the sponsors? Like, are you starting to develop sponsors and where you actually gonna to move forward with this pretty heavy and you’ve kind of got a plan of attack on that for the social media? Or is the social media just something to help supplement, you know, the hit list or, or, or, you know, traction to that, or what are you thinking?
00:11:51:25 –> 00:12:41:28
You know, I just kind of roll with it. I, I feel like partnerships for me are far more about belonging and being appreciated than they are about a check. Yeah. You know, I, I’ve, I guess it’s an ego thing. I, I, I want to be a part of, of these brands that I’m so proudly representing. I want to be able to give my feedback. I want to be able to give my insight. I want them to say, Zach, what do you think? And the reason I feel that way is just I feel like I, I get out there and grind, and I feel like I have some invaluable insight to product improvement slash development. And so those are my partnership relationships are far more about that to me, because I have a job. Sure. I have an income, I have a, my bills are paid. This is, this is more about like deep down, deep rooted passion and Sure. Absolute obsession with having fun out there and improving my success rates and helping others do the same. Yeah.
00:12:42:11 –> 00:13:11:16
Okay. Well, that totally makes sense. I, you know, and, and who knows what’s gonna come with all, and that’s the same thing here at Epic. I mean, we have the magazine, and of course we have a membership, and, but we add to it, we’re doing a little bit on YouTube. And mostly the social media thing for me was there was big animals out there being killed. And I wasn’t aware of ’em because people put ’em on social and assume that everybody’s seeing them because they’re out on social. And so, you know, I wasn’t seeing them and I’m like, crap, I freaking want to see these deer, you know, and elk.
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Yeah.
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But I do want to, I don’t want anything to slip under the radar. I mean, people are posting trail cams and all that kind of stuff. I wanna be a part of that. I wanna see ’em. And, and of course, you’re, you learn, it’s just part of the, you know, another media, whether it be a magazine or, or social media outlets. It’s just awesome to be able to see all that stuff. And of course, you’re, you’re taking it to a whole different level with, you know, is like figuring out how to monetize that. And there’s probably a hundred ways that we’re not even thinking of, you know, to be able to do that. So well
00:13:41:25 –> 00:13:59:00
In retrospect, we’ll all look back and say, why didn’t we think of that sooner? But at the end of the day, I, I feel like all of us are just driven by passion more than money with this. And I think that’s why it’s slowly evolving as opposed to, you know, when you gotta grind to pay bills, you get things done that day with this. It’s like, yeah, I’ll try that out for a month or two.
00:13:59:09 –> 00:14:32:28
Well, so I appreciate that background. That gives us a lot of, you know, groundwork. So now, you know, part of the reason we probably called you today is, well, the other thing is, we’re up here working our guts out this morning, early in the morning and can’t help but but hear about or see about an incident that, that you’re involved in. This last, I guess it was the last week, I don’t know exactly when it was Zach, but, and you’ve obviously been through it in a few different ways. But tell us, I guess, briefly about incident you had on the mountain here, I assume in the last week or so, right?
00:14:33:13 –> 00:15:12:26
Yeah, it was Saturday, man, you know, Utah had a shed delay this year. There was super, you know, late storms the winter were, the winter ranges were smashed, deer were hurting. And they just said, Hey guys, shut down. Sheds till April 1st. So I, I’m normally up looking for sheds and watching ’em hit the ground. And I, that’s always been my way. I stand back. I don’t push deer, I glass ’em across the canyon, but I’m looking for specific bucks in my general garbage quote unquote public unit that are my special deer that I’ve been filming and having a relationship with. I, I’m not a shed guy. I like picking up sheds off of deer that I personally have chased. And these are not 200 inch Jason Carter type deer. These are one seventies, but they’re six or seven year old bucks that I have history with.
00:15:12:26 –> 00:15:55:04
Sure. So I have a passion for that. And so this year I was cooped up till April 1st, got out April 1st, had a great idea where to go. I found a matchy set on about a 180 5 inch buck that I’ve been trying to kill. That’s just, it, it blew my mind. And ever since then, since April 1st, I’ve been hitting it three to four days a week. And I’m covering country that’s just, it’s just rugged, nasty stuff. Even though I’m familiar with it. It’s just big, rocky, you know, desert high country. So this last weekend, just a typical lapse in judgment. We’ve all been there Saturday afternoon after work. I said, I’m gonna go up and look for sheds. I got, I got a few hours, my dad, and I’ll burn up there, he’ll go up one road and I’ll go up on top and go up in the nasty stuff.
00:15:55:04 –> 00:16:39:23
There was two fingers I’d missed. I didn’t have time to get to. And I, they were literally four hours, three hours back there. But I thought, okay, if I pack light, I can get up there in two hours and just check those. They’re just knobs. I mean, literally go 50 yards, 50 yards, 50 yards, and I’m done. So it was, I had a very, very, the plan was clear, thought I’d pick some up on the way. But anyways, I just leave my pack at the truck. I’ve got an XO Mountain, 5,500. I wear it religiously. Every video I’ve ever made, I’m wearing this big frame pack full of camera, gear, water, food, supplies, trekking poles, jackets, you name it. I’m a, I’m a Sherpa. I always over prepare. I’ve been teased about it since the beginning of time this day, ironically, I said, to hell with the pack, I’m going light and I wanna burn up there.
00:16:39:23 –> 00:17:24:14
So I took my little hip Spaniards, I have, they’re like a fanny pack that ties around your hips. I threw in some water bottles. I put three on each side. So I’ve got six bottles of 16 ounce water. I started hiking at about three o’clock, about 6 45 I would say. I got to the top and I was zigging and zagging the entire time. So I wasn’t burning right up the ridge, but I was just covering country. So I’m four hours into this hike, I find a big brown, big single, big old heavy buck I’ve been looking for. And I got extremely emotional, extremely excited. And I was filming the whole thing and showing you guys. And the second I picked up that shed, I, I switch flipped, I, I left my pack, I left everything right there on the shed. And I said, okay, I’ve gotta go up that left ridge.
00:17:24:24 –> 00:18:05:14
Well that left ridge is south facing, and the snow had been melted off of it for months. And so I figured that’s where the deer would be. So I dropped off the top and started side hill and kind of spider manning across this cliff face. It’s not super high, but it was, you know, it took all fours to get across it. I’ve done it with a gun and a pack before. It’s not like it was that risky. But what happened was, I, I reached up with my left hand to kind of just navigate to the, you know, laterally. And when I just put my forearm and pulled that whole rock, which was as, from my knees to the top of my reach. So probably four or five feet tall, just a giant slab of rock started pulling off the hill. Yeah. And I turned and put my hand up to stop it.
00:18:05:14 –> 00:18:53:16
And within a mil, you know, millisecond knew that it was going. So I turned and just jumped blindly off the rock and turned around. And that rock hit me right in the forearm and landed right on my thigh. And I thought the second it hit me, I just dislocated my hip or broke my femur because it absolutely, my thigh took 100% of that rock. Yeah. My arm just got scratched. ’cause it was up there kind of like blocking my face. But my leg just got stomped. I mean, it felt like a sledgehammer. Yeah. So I start hopping in circles, cussing the storm up, and I said, okay, okay, okay. That’s okay. I can put weight on it. It’s okay. It’s just, it’s just, it’s just bruise. It’s just a dead leg. It’s okay. And I, I’ve still got adrenaline from that big shed I just found. And so I start kind of just hobbling up the hill looking for more sheds. Well, I picked up six, like in 50 yards. You know how that is Just, this
00:18:53:16 –> 00:18:55:02
Is after, this is after, this
00:18:55:02 –> 00:19:24:08
Is immediately after Jason. Like, I’m still like, I’m still not thinking. I’m just like, okay, I’m good. The didn’t break my leg, I’m fine. I grabbed, I reached down to grab this matching set of little four by fours, and there’s little, little kickers on ’em. It’s a little 16 inch buck with kickers. It’s cool as hell. I reached down to grab it and my whole back of my hand has blood running down my fingertips. So I was like, oh geez, my arm’s worse than I looked over. And there it is. I’m cut from my tricep to my forearm. It’s, it’s about eight inches long and I can see the bone all the way down. So I said, okay,
00:19:24:08 –> 00:19:49:12
So let’s see, let’s see. So just not, not to slow your momentum down ’cause you’re cranking it and I, and it’s, and it’s an awesome story. But, but you’re, I mean, you’re videoing So I, what I’m seeing on YouTube, like you’re videoing this and I see you reach down and grab these sheds. Of course there’s blood on the sheds. I mean, was this live, is this the point on the video? Like, are we talking about that exact point? Or did you pull out the camera after?
00:19:49:12 –> 00:19:49:22
Yeah, it was
00:19:49:22 –> 00:19:52:01
Right after. Right after. It was right after. Okay. Alright.
00:19:52:23 –> 00:20:14:00
And, and Jason, I, I have the, now that I’m watching this video, in retrospect, it’s kind of surreal because I don’t remember, I don’t remember filming. I don’t remember taking the time to, to vlog it. It was like, yeah. It just shows you how outta whack my head was. I’ve got an arm that needs a, at least a, a pressure, you know, a bandage. It’s some level I don’t need maybe a,
00:20:14:11 –> 00:20:31:07
Well, it’s like, it’s just too, it’s like almost like an immediate response for you just because you’re doing this basically for a living. And so you’re videoing everything you’re doing. And so it’s a natural reaction. You may not remember it, but you just video your whole life. You guys are videoing yourselves all the time. It’s
00:20:31:07 –> 00:20:36:13
All I do. Yeah. And so, and it’s natural to me now. It’s like, oh, I gotta grab my camera every, oh, this is a good camera moment.
00:20:36:18 –> 00:20:37:12
Yeah. Right. So
00:20:37:12 –> 00:21:02:20
That’s what, that’s what happened. And you can see my countenance, if you look at the video, my face is white. Like, and I’m talking two minutes after this happens. I’m already pale. So I’m just not paying attention. I’m not thinking my arm was bleeding really bad, but I was so excited about my sheds. Yeah. You know, I thought it was like, kind of funny. Like, I’m like, it’s my arm. I’m not gonna die. You know, a classic old, you know, Utah line. It’s, it’s a long way from your heart buddy. You know? You’re fine. Yeah. Walk
00:21:02:20 –> 00:21:08:19
It off. Walk it off buddy. Walk it off and go find six. Find another six sheds. Thank you. That’s what happens. You’re right in the middle of
00:21:09:09 –> 00:21:35:08
All of this emotion. I’m not thinking blah, blah, blah, blah. Well, the bottom line is, man, I had my leg amputated when I was 20 years old at Lake Powell. I got hit in a jet ski accident, tore my left leg right off bones were exposed. I was in wheelchair for months. I have skin grafts and or orthopedic rods and my legs were, so when I see my own blood, anyone that knows me, whether it’s a broad head cut or a needle prick, I pass out. Yeah.
00:21:35:12 –> 00:21:35:20
Yeah.
00:21:36:08 –> 00:21:40:22
Blood. My own blood freaks me out. I have doesn’t bother you. Life doesn’t
00:21:40:22 –> 00:21:41:13
Bother you with animals,
00:21:41:26 –> 00:22:04:06
Just you. No, not at all. No. And that’s a good question. It’s not about gut. It’s, it’s my own blood and I can feel it leaving my body. And the fact that I cut my arm like I did and didn’t go into that mode, it just shows you how out of, out of touch I was. ’cause normally even my wife will tell you, I mean, I’ll skin in a buck and I’ll cut my fingertip and I’ll have to sit down and take a breath. ’cause I’m just, I can’t control it. Yeah. So my body does not like to bleed.
00:22:04:10 –> 00:22:12:12
So you were, so let’s see. You cut it, you basically said you could see the bone, like the bones or whatever, you cut deep enough into the bone or whatever. Oh
00:22:12:12 –> 00:22:32:18
Yeah. It just, it just like a, like a dull hatchet just chunked me right in the elbow. So basically the bonies part of my elbow got cut open, and then my tricep was just really needy. I could see the muscle tissue in there and I knew it’s gonna need a pile of stitches. And again, I, I’ve been cut before, man. I mean, it was like, okay, this sucks, but let’s keep, let’s go get some more sheds. Yeah.
00:22:32:18 –> 00:22:33:08
Right, right. So
00:22:33:08 –> 00:23:12:01
I grabbed the sheds, my legs throbbing like a mother. I called my dad. I’m like, look dude, my dad’s down eating a hamburger in town. He just, my dad typically, he quit after an hour and went back. Yeah. So he is just waiting for me. I said, dad, I’m hurt, but I’m fine. So I’m heading down this ridge, you know where I’m at. I’m up in the rocks. I’m above that spot where we gutted that buck that one time, you know, typical family. Yeah. This is our stomping grounds. Yeah. My dad says, cool, keep me updated. I said, I’m gonna be slow. I am. And I’m, I’m extremely sore, but I’ll just hobble down the hills. Sure. You know, two, three hours tops. So anyways, two hours into the hike, I’m outta water. I’m still bleeding. I haven’t dressed my wound yet. I
00:23:12:14 –> 00:23:16:11
So you’ve hammered six 16 ounce water bottles. You’ve, I mean, they’re, you
00:23:16:11 –> 00:23:59:10
Hammered them, they’re gone. Yeah. I hammered ’em. I, I I, I covered some ground, man. This was, it was a lot, you know, three or 4,000 vertical and probably four miles back. So it was a pretty good hike. So I got around 7 30, 8 o’clock. It’s almost dark. And I start realizing I’m not going very fast. And sure enough, my brain and my body starts telling me, dude, you’re about to pass out. And the second that happens to anybody that’s been there, you have zero control. Yeah. Zero control. It’s, it’s like, I, I can’t stop this. Yeah. I’m a tough guy. And I’m on the side of a mountain and I’m, I’m gonna fall down. And literally I woke up, I don’t know if it was five minutes, I don’t know if it was 15, but I was face down in a bush bawling my eyes out and laying in my own vomit.
00:24:00:09 –> 00:24:45:15
So I wake up and I said, okay, I’m hurt a lot worse than I thought I was pre-med. I went to, got, got into, you know, went to do dental school. I understand physiology. I’m in bad shape. You don’t pass out from a, a, a little bit. Right. You, you pass out from blood loss, dehydration, shock, whatever. And I literally couldn’t get my phone outta my pocket. I was shaking so bad. So I called my dad. I said, dude, this is, this is bad. I’m a long ways from where I said I’d be, I’m outta water. I’m dehydrated. I have no trekking poles. I think my leg is either broken or my femur or something is dislocated, et cetera. I might be bleeding internally. I have no idea why I’m passing out, et cetera. Well, I made it about 50 yards further and w was completely, my body shut down.
00:24:45:23 –> 00:25:41:22
I blacked out. I called my dad, called my wife. I said, dad, this is, this is a scary. And I mean, I’m, I couldn’t stop. I was, my eyes were watered up. I was dry heaving. It was just convulsing. You name it. I, I just, I just, a combination of a whole bunch of factors came together and they absolutely leveled me. And there was nothing I can do. My dad finally got up to me an hour later, I would say he just kind of zigged and zagged and crossed my path. And both of us said that, you know, this is too much. The we’re too far from the truck. I can’t, I we don’t have, he, my dad didn’t have water. No. There’s just nothing. No, we’re not getting you off this mountain. And by the time the paramedics get here with the gurney, you’re, you’re an out another hour and a half. And he said, screw it. Let’s, let’s call the life flight. And at the time, I didn’t have any say either way. I was out of it. My dad said I was having panic attacks, I’d pass out. I couldn’t breathe. I mean, the whole night was a blur. But
00:25:42:05 –> 00:25:44:14
How late’s it getting in the evening by? Is it dark?
00:25:45:08 –> 00:25:57:03
Is it dark? Oh yeah, pitch black. Yeah. Oh, no, no. I, I quit hiking way at dark. Okay. So it was out maybe an hour after. And guys, I I, I’m, I’m very aware of what a life flight costs, you know.
00:25:57:06 –> 00:26:06:05
Well, I was gonna ask you that. I’m a, I just didn’t wanna, now that you’ve teed it up, I mean, I’m not aware of it. Like, is it, what is it, 10 grand? I I don’t know, five grand. 25.
00:26:06:05 –> 00:26:27:03
Yeah. My Lake Powell 20 Powell. Yeah. My Lake Powell amputation when I was 20 was in 2000. It cost us 29,000 to go from Lake Powell to Flagstaff Medical. So I’m telling my dad, you know, or I’m in my head thinking this is half that I would assume. ’cause it’s to salt, you know, university of Utah. Yeah. It’s the last thing I wanted to do, man. I, I’m a cheapskate
00:26:27:11 –> 00:26:37:04
Not to know where your, not to know where your shed spot is, but are we talking like they would land and like coast right down to the hospital? Or is it a, you know, an hour flight or half hour? I mean,
00:26:37:22 –> 00:26:44:18
I, I believe it, I would guess at a chopper speed. I mean around a hundred miles an hour. I bet you could get to Utah in 20 minutes. 20
00:26:44:18 –> 00:26:48:25
Minutes. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And this, is there a flat spot up there? They can land like you?
00:26:48:27 –> 00:27:37:05
No, Jason, that helicopter pilot is a, he’s a Jedi. I don’t know how he landed where he did the, the truck, the, the, the feet were on a 45. I, it looked like he landed on a side hill. Wow. And they had to still come up to me a few hundred yards to gurney. Me and I, I can remember, I mean, they jabbed that morphine into me so quick and shut me down. And I was back braced. They didn’t know if I had neck trauma. They thought my leg was dislocated. Wow. I mean, it was, you should see how swollen it is. It’s just silly looking. No one knew what was going on. And it was just a matter of like, I was helpless, I was scared. And I said, dude, this is, this is outta my hands. My dad is a, a a grown, smart, intelligent human being. And he, he said, we’re calling a helicopter. This is not, this is serious. And that was it. To hell with the money. Get you and Jason. I would’ve paid 50 grand on that mountain to get off of it. I was,
00:27:37:06 –> 00:27:37:25
Holy cow.
00:27:38:11 –> 00:27:39:06
I was in a dark place
00:27:39:19 –> 00:27:44:06
And I got my ass. Is it something, do you have insurance? I mean, is it something an insurance would co would cover or? Yeah, I’m
00:27:44:06 –> 00:27:47:11
A self-employed guy, so, you know, I’ve got a major medical plan. I’m
00:27:47:11 –> 00:27:47:18
Sure I’m
00:27:47:18 –> 00:27:52:22
Gonna have to sell some quads or one of my kids to cover it, but Yeah. Yeah. It, you know, whatever. But it’s worth,
00:27:52:29 –> 00:27:55:06
You can have more kids. Yeah. Agree.
00:27:56:01 –> 00:27:56:18
I’ll, I’ll make
00:27:56:18 –> 00:28:00:02
Another one. Come on you just, you just said that. Oh well hey,
00:28:00:04 –> 00:28:02:06
We’re just, you might wanna go back and cut that part.
00:28:02:23 –> 00:28:08:18
Alright. We’re having fun, that’s all. So I’m not talking about selling your firstborn on this deal. Okay.
00:28:08:26 –> 00:28:12:02
Don’t, well, it’s not my firstborn Jason. I’ve got three so I can sell any
00:28:12:02 –> 00:28:12:22
Of those. Oh. All.
00:28:12:22 –> 00:28:14:04
Maybe the second one all.
00:28:15:21 –> 00:28:19:28
So, all right. And so do you remember getting in the chopper
00:28:21:03 –> 00:28:27:23
Part of it? Yeah, there was a, one of the medics was a, a shed guy. And he said, dude, that’s a big brown, nice job.
00:28:29:01 –> 00:28:29:10
Like,
00:28:29:24 –> 00:28:55:26
It’s weird. If you’ve ever been in a, a really serious situation, you remember blips. But a lot of it’s a blur. And I’m telling you, it’s really strange. Like it’s a flash. It’s almost like a psychedelic trip where I, it’s happened to me twice. And both times were very similar but very different. I mean, you just, you remember tidbits, but you don’t remember much. And I just remember that guy was really, really cool. And I, I just remember obviously once those drugs kick in, everything just, you know,
00:28:55:26 –> 00:28:58:01
Everyth gets good, started chirping everything. Everything. Everything’s
00:28:58:01 –> 00:29:09:10
Good. I almost started crying because I was so calm. I was like, oh my gosh, it’s finally like, I can just, I can, I’m gonna make it. I’m just gonna breathe. You know? And it was, yeah. That’s all it took and yeah. You know. Yeah.
00:29:09:10 –> 00:29:12:08
Anyways. Did your dad get a ride with you or did he have to keep
00:29:12:13 –> 00:29:14:18
No, those choppers are bare bones, but
00:29:14:18 –> 00:29:16:22
Double your price if you do that. Yeah, probably.
00:29:18:06 –> 00:29:59:07
Holy cow. Well, so we’ll come back to that. I know Adam, so Adam’s on the, well right here with me, you know, and he guides some of these sheep hunters and stuff. And, and he’s had a couple of life flight experience. I just wanted to maybe invite him to, you know, tell us a story or two and just kinda, you know, how they’re similar and, and whatnot and, you know, know that you are dealing with some serious stuff out there. Whether and maybe a guy thinks about, I used, you know, I need to buy some more minutes on my sat phone, but, you know, carry a sat phone or spot unit or something like that. And anyway, but, but tell us about it a little bit. I you’ve experienced everything from guys having a heart attack to
00:29:59:21 –> 00:30:40:29
Yeah, I’ve had a few of these and they’re not fun to go through. One of them, we were down on the Henry’s scouting deer in the summer, so it was, I don’t know, July or August. And a good friend of ours rolled, rolled his four-wheeler over the top of him. And you know, we, he was mostly disoriented, but we could tell he had some internal issues and he wasn’t moving. We figured, didn’t know if he was paralyzed temporarily, whatever. But it was the point that we had to get him life flighted off the mountain. Turned out he did break two or three vertebrae in his back and, and yeah, it was broke his back. Yeah. Broke it. And like four or five spots, you know, vertebrae wings. I don’t know what all that means. It’s not like he severed his spine. He’s, he’s fine. He is recovered.
00:30:41:09 –> 00:31:35:11
I’m sure he is gonna have a bad back when he gets older. But he survived. And then I did have another one, a sheet punter. We were, we were actually stalking a ram to kill it. It’s about a thousand yards away. We’d already covered about two miles to get to there. And we’re stocking the ram in a canyon and walked around little rock shelf. And my brother went around and Hunter was between me and my brother. And he, when he walked around, it was just like an elevator, this slab of slick rock, about five feet long and about two feet, two feet thick, broke and just fell like an elevator. And he went with it, Jesus. And he fell 15, 20 feet straight. And I saw him whiplash and hit his head. And that was my first reaction. I thought, geez, he hit his head hard and then rolled over and we’re just standing there kind of in shock looking down at him, realizing, did we get away with this or are we in a bad spot?
00:31:35:17 –> 00:32:25:13
No. And he lifted his leg up and it’s just dangling turned 180 degrees the other direction. And our heart sunk. ’cause you know, he’s got once in a lifetime desert sheep hunt and just terrible fracture in his leg. And we knew it was over and we’re miles and miles from anywhere. And I, I, you know, you make the sickening call, you get a, get a the same helicopter from Page Arizona to come pick us up and flew him to, I think price at the time. And then they got him to Salt Lake. But yeah, you had a lot of plates and pins and stuff put back. Holy cow. And it was like, I remember kinda like what Zach said, you know, a guy joked around and said, Hey, that’s a nice brown. I remember the guy landing there and the Red rocks to Southern Utah. And these pilots, maybe they don’t, I don’t know, maybe they don’t get out on many of these missions, but he massed us. If we were hunting moose down there in southern Utah,
00:32:25:27 –> 00:32:26:23
It’s a hundred degrees.
00:32:27:05 –> 00:33:08:25
Oh it’s desert sheep. And I, you know, if I’d have been not as shook up with sending my hunter away, you know, and I’d have maybe been a little quicker on my feet and said, no, you know, it’s caribou down in this country, you know, but, you know, brutal. It was one of those days that, you know, fortunately, you know, we did get a, the wildlife board was gracious enough to grant him the tag extension for next year. He came back, killed the Ram Grand slam Ram on his birthday the next year. So it was good. I did have another client. I’ve had a lot of clients, so I don’t want to turn any way anybody away from everyone. Every that goes, goes with you has got a problem. Yeah. I don’t want, there’s a guys, this is like, you’re one in a hundred. I’m just, the odds are not in your favor that you’re gonna have something bad happen.
00:33:08:26 –> 00:33:49:29
But I’ve had a few, we’ve had another client kill that stalked ram killed an awesome ram. It shot it and it was gonna be a hike to get over to it. Told he said, Hey, well let’s, I wanna tell my wife. And I’m like, okay. And we didn’t have great coverage there, so I said, I’m gonna hike out and try to get ahold of my guys. Tell ’em we’re done. So we walked about 2, 3, 400 yards over on Ridge where Gu bit of service didn’t even, hadn’t even walked over to his ram yet. And anyway, we regrouped about after about five minutes and he’s sitting down on their rock, his head’s down, he is pure white sweating. It’s, you know, early nove, mid-November. So it’s cold, it’s first light in the morning. Well he’s sweating profusely and, and pale white. And I said, you’re having a problem?
00:33:50:02 –> 00:34:30:16
He goes, oh yeah, I’m having a heart attack. And I said, is that, are you for sure? Or did you just eat something bad for breakfast? Or, and, but I knew, you know, ’cause you’re in a spot that you know, this is deadly. You, you’re deadly. When the guy’s having heart issues, upper sixties, it’s not like it’s, you know, a 20 year old saying, ah, I’m just lightheaded and I’m not feeling good. I drank too many or monsters this morning or whatever. It’s like he’s in trouble. And I said, well, we’re not gonna go over the round. We gotta get you off the mountain. He goes, Hey, that’s what we need to do. And he, I, I said, well, we’ve gotta at least get you off this side hill because if we gotta get you off the mountain and helicopter, whatever, we’re gonna have to get you down a little bit.
00:34:30:26 –> 00:35:14:26
But I says, the minute you start having problems, I’m, I’ve got the sat phone right here and I’m calling a helicopter. Well, we, we, fortunately one of my guides was carrying aspirin. I don’t carry aspirin. What I do now. You should, you should I do now Aspirin’s kind of one of those old school drugs. Yeah. You know, when you didn’t have anything out. Ibuprofen, Aleve, all these newer over the counter things. Most people carry Lortab now. Yeah. Or something hard. Yeah. From when they had a root canal. Right. They have a root canal. You keep a few extras, you know, you don’t take them all, save them. But anyway, you know, he had ’em and it was amazing. Within, literally we put ’em, he just sucked on him and within two to three minutes he started feeling a little bit better. But it’s not like an aspirin makes a heart attack, go away and yet go climb the sheep mountain again.
00:35:14:26 –> 00:35:41:22
You know, we knew how to get him off. Well we limped him down to the truck and once we got him the truck, I said, yeah, all right. Told my guide, get him to town. Which this was in Nevada. Get him to Mesquite. You could get him there. You’ll get him there faster than a helicopter could get deployed and pick us up. Yeah. But he drove him there. They threw him the ambulance, reds and blues up the canyon to St. George. He spent three days there. So as soon as he was in the truck going away, I had a very sobering re realization. I’m by myself
00:35:41:27 –> 00:35:42:20
With a dead ram.
00:35:42:23 –> 00:35:43:29
With a dead ram. And
00:35:43:29 –> 00:35:44:12
You didn’t have a
00:35:44:12 –> 00:35:55:12
Tag. And I don’t have a tag and my hunter might be dying right now. I don’t know. Geez. And so I had to walk up there. I did take some, I did some selfies, Zach. I did. ’cause I was by myself.
00:35:55:29 –> 00:35:56:19
Impressive.
00:35:57:02 –> 00:35:57:08
You
00:35:57:12 –> 00:35:59:13
Probably didn’t have a stick though, Zach. You didn’t do it right?
00:35:59:25 –> 00:36:15:20
No, I had a how do not, I had a makeshift tripod on my pot pack. But I, anyway, and it was kind of, I didn’t know whether I should smile on the pictures. It wasn’t my ram, but I’m thinking, well maybe, maybe somebody will Photoshop him. I didn’t know what to do. It was just kinda like, you know, you gotta honor the animal and take some pictures of it. ’cause it’s
00:36:15:20 –> 00:36:16:08
A 40 inch or
00:36:16:08 –> 00:36:28:11
2 0 40 inch desert sheep giant. Wow. So I did that, took care of it. Got off the mountain and he didn’t see his ram until the parking lot of Dixie Regional me Medical Center. Like two days later when I got it there, I had to go to or Well, it seems
00:36:28:11 –> 00:36:32:13
Like it plugged. Yeah, you got it checked in and they already knew you were probably coming. Yeah.
00:36:32:15 –> 00:37:13:06
They’d heard dispatch on dispatch. They’d heard the whole thing about, we’d called in and said, Hey, this is the road we’re coming on. If we have a problem, we’re gonna call you this. You’re gonna have to come and land on the freeway. So anyway, don’t mean to digress too much, but the point of this is crap can happen. I’ve had some serious stuff with some hunters and it’s not fun to go through and we learn from ’em. I never go anywhere without sat phones. Me, dad, brother. We all carry satellite phones all full of minutes all the time. I know there’s other, other things, spot units, different things like that. There’s a lot of technology out there. Fortunately, it sounds like Zach, you had cell service at least, which, you know, in this instance, you weren’t too far away from least getting ahold of somebody.
00:37:13:28 –> 00:37:14:18
Yeah, exactly.
00:37:15:06 –> 00:37:26:15
What would you do different? You were talking about that it was all, it was your fault and you’ve learned from it and all these things like, well, how is it your fault? Like, what would you do different? What, I mean, what, what can you take away from what you’ve experienced?
00:37:28:20 –> 00:37:57:11
Just, just, just always hunt and hike. Like you’re gonna stay there for, you know, the night minimum. I just, there’s no point Not to, how many times have you spotted a big mule and left your pack? I’m gonna go stocking without it. Then you get out there like, damnit, I need my water. Why’d I do that? Like yeah, we pack our packs for a reason, guys. Like Yeah. You know, we forget that because we’re, we go out so, so, so confidently, so oftenly and everything works out. But at the end of the day, like we prepared for the worst case scenario, which shouldn’t happen very often. Or
00:37:57:11 –> 00:37:58:13
Should have prepared. Right.
00:37:58:18 –> 00:38:06:25
Should have prepared for. So, you know, I, my my point is this, it’s just don’t ever look for reasons not to be prepared. You know, just, just take it. Well
00:38:06:25 –> 00:38:55:17
You, I mean, again, I don’t, we may have met Zach. We, I don’t think we have. If we have, I apologize, but I know No, not at all. From what, what I’ve seen, and a lot of it’s been just recently, I know you, you’re way into fitness. You work out a ton. You’ve said it earlier in this podcast that that’s a huge motivation in your life and all that. So I, I mean obviously in a situation like this, none of that mattered. I mean, you’ve, you’ve, you’ve got hurt. And when I say it didn’t matter, I don’t wanna mean make too much light of it, but I mean maybe it would’ve been worse if you weren’t as physically fit or whatever and trained like you do. But there’s certain things, it doesn’t matter what you, what condition you in, how much you’re benching or squatting, crap can just go wrong. Am I right?
00:38:55:22 –> 00:39:52:05
A hundred percent. A hundred percent. There’s no, there. I I made a, a disclaimer video after. I mean, this is kind of how I communicate. Jason just mentioned to that, you know, like I, I film everything. I just, you know, if someone asks me a question, I make a video to respond. I don’t write a letter. You know what I mean? Yeah. It’s, it’s the new age. And a lot of people said, was it your diet? Was it your supplement company? And I said, no and no. Like I ran outta water. I I I lost two units of blood. Yeah. What else do you want me to say? Like, yeah, I don’t care how ripped you are, don’t care how prepared you are. I don’t care how many times you’ve hiked that ridge. I’ve hiked that ridge 40 times and I killed deer. I’ve killed deer with my bow on that ridge. Yeah. Like it’s my, it is my, it’s my stomping grounds. Yeah. And I’m telling you guys, I got humbled. I just got taught a lesson and I’m so grateful that I could go hunt still and still reli, you know, get back up there because I, I very easily could have gone the other way. And I have no problem admitting that.
00:39:52:12 –> 00:40:18:08
Yeah. Well and I think too, it’s like, you know, to me, I don’t even know like as much as just not looking for sheds like, you know, tourniquet that thing off and get off the mountain and, and of course you’re still, you know, kind of dealing with the sheds and still taking videos and all that kind of stuff. And at some point, I mean, no matter what was in your pack, I think more or less you, you know, maybe the takeaway that I’m taking away from it is, is to get off the mountain.
00:40:19:09 –> 00:40:56:18
Yeah. You know, Ja, if I’d have had a partner or a buddy with me or my wife who’s always faithfully Yeah. My wife gets around up there. Yeah. Any one of them would’ve said, Hey dude, do you not see your arm? Yeah. Do you not see stop. Yeah. Get, get everything figured out. Don’t slow down. And, and that’s, I needed that outside influence. I, I just, I wasn’t seeing clearly. And, and that’s why the video itself is, is kind of creepy for me because I, I, I don’t remember any of that crap. And I don’t remember acting that way and feeling that way. That just proves to you how out of it I was. And I, I wasn’t gonna even post the video or I, I could have swept this under the rug guys. Like no one knew it happened.
00:40:57:20 –> 00:41:04:01
Well and I could see, I could see taking your wife up there, but I can’t see really taking a buddy. ’cause then your buddy’s gonna compete with you for the shed, Zach,
00:41:04:04 –> 00:41:05:04
He’ll find all the browns.
00:41:05:19 –> 00:41:09:01
I mean, you know, and he’s gonna probably tell his buddies and now it’s not your original one.
00:41:09:15 –> 00:41:20:23
That’s why I love my dad. He’s like the best hunting partner ever. ’cause he will not kill anything. He doesn’t like to kill deer. And he just literally, this goes everywhere I go, but doesn’t ever kill anything. So it’s like having a buddy that to use. That’s the
00:41:20:23 –> 00:41:22:13
Perfect buddy. Zach. It’s the perfect
00:41:22:13 –> 00:41:24:13
Buddy. He’s the wing man. I call him the wing man.
00:41:24:24 –> 00:41:30:17
Hopefully, hopefully these pilots and you know, these guys that came and got you. Aren’t hunters aren’t shed hunters?
00:41:30:18 –> 00:41:31:24
Well, well one guy was, yeah.
00:41:31:24 –> 00:41:33:03
He knew you had a brown, he’s already
00:41:33:03 –> 00:41:35:05
Already crushed the place. You’ve been back for
00:41:35:05 –> 00:41:45:14
That, for that 20 minute flight that you had with him, you and him probably had a heart to heart say, now dude, I don’t wanna see you here again. I mean, just take me home safe and let’s forget this ever happened.
00:41:45:16 –> 00:41:53:29
The guy’s like, not only do you owe me 29,000, Mr. Griffith, you now have lost your shed hunting spot and I’m gonna go crush the place while you’re in the hospital. You guys, he had give,
00:41:54:05 –> 00:41:58:12
Give your sheds or I’ll put this on my social media where you work. He had
00:41:58:12 –> 00:41:58:22
Me under
00:41:58:25 –> 00:42:03:22
Medically induced coma too. So he was able to get a lot of info out me that my normal state of mind would
00:42:03:25 –> 00:42:04:19
Go out. Oh,
00:42:04:22 –> 00:42:09:07
Who knows what you told me. He who knows what you told him. Yeah. You don’t even know what, he gave me
00:42:09:08 –> 00:42:12:11
A cocktail special. A special cocktail to get me talking.
00:42:13:10 –> 00:42:13:29
Oh geez.
00:42:14:07 –> 00:42:28:28
So they got you back to, I guess you said U of U medical Center. Maybe I misheard that. Yes. Yeah. But then you got put back together, it was obviously night. So you spent the night there and they patched you back together and, and you’re doing good. Just
00:42:28:28 –> 00:42:59:24
Fluids. Yeah, fluids. I don’t know if I was transfused at all. I, I just, you know, they fixed my arm. They, they recognized the leg. They x-rayed my femur. They x-rayed my rib cage. They x-rayed. I did a cat scan. Geez. I mean it was the, the bill on this thing is gonna be through the roof, but at the end of the day, like, I guess, you know, they have to take those precautions. ’cause I, none of us really knew what had caused it. Well we now, now looking back, it was just a combination of a whole bunch of little things. Yeah. Piled up and made it into a really bad mess.
00:43:00:11 –> 00:43:16:13
Wow. Well that’s crazy. A little on a little side note, this keto diet, like, I didn’t even know how to spell keto. I really don’t still know how to spell it. Somebody explained it to me. It was basically just Atkins, which I really get Atkins, you know, that was kind of my era. But we
00:43:16:13 –> 00:43:16:26
Like meat.
00:43:17:06 –> 00:43:17:29
Yeah. Just meat.
00:43:18:26 –> 00:43:19:05
Meat
00:43:19:05 –> 00:43:26:24
And green stuff. But anyway, how’s it going? You still on it? What, what? Give me the lowdown real quick.
00:43:27:03 –> 00:44:29:00
Yeah, sure. As, as crazy as it sounds to most people, I’m absolutely fascinated with diets and how my body reacts to ’em. So I use myself as a, an experiment and I control the variables. And I’ve literally just tried diets. I’ve, I’ve done bodybuilding competitions, so I’ve cut my body fat down into this five, 6% range. Yeah. I don’t know if I’ve ever in that lane. I just think it’s fascinating. Yeah. So the keto diet’s one I heard about and I heard, you don’t have to eat as often. And I said, well, that could be really good for hunting because I’m that guy that has to stop every 45 minutes and nibble on something because my blood sugar’s outta control. Yeah. So I, I got into keto just, you know, for for, for just all just state of being. It’s not about losing weight. I, I don’t need to lose weight. I’m, I’m on that. On top of that, it’s more just about being healthier, eating less often. They, they said there’s some cognitive benefits and brain function, digestion, you know, anti-inflammatory. I mean, it just sounded fascinating. And so I had never eaten a diet like that guys. I’ve always been the rice, broccoli and chicken guy. That’s just the bodybuilder diet.
00:44:29:05 –> 00:44:32:29
What’s the basics? What’s the basics of it? ’cause I’m die maker. So
00:44:32:29 –> 00:45:26:10
The keto, keto, no. Yeah, the keto diet is actually, it’s derived in the 1920s, it was used to treat epileptic kids that weren’t responding well to medication. So they, they figured that somehow blood glucose levels were directly correlated with epileptic, you know, outbursts or whatever. So they, they removed sugar, they removed carbs from their life and they, they fed these kids. The, the actual protein, the Mac or the macronutrient breakdown was 80% of their caloric intake came from fats. 20% or 15% came from protein and only 5% from carbs. And they saw amazing response. Their, you know, their whatever their, their, their, the occurrences and their, their epileptic conditions were minimized. And that’s, that’s where it came from. Then this John Atkins guy comes through in the, in the nineties and basically a marketing genius just takes an existing diet platform and Justt adds his name to it, kind of reinvented the will, if you will.
00:45:26:13 –> 00:46:34:25
But it was, the Atkins diet was a lot less regulated. It wasn’t as restrictive. It was almost like eat whatever you want as long as it’s not a carb. Yeah. The keto diet is something where you do need to measure and monitor what you’re eating and where it’s coming from, but it is extremely high fat, very moderate protein and very low carbohydrate. Yeah. Once your body gets into ketosis or becomes keto adapted, as they, they say your body no longer recognizes carbohydrate or sugar as a fuel source. Yeah. Because it’s been deprived of it. So what it does is your liver immediately starts to convert fat into fatty acids. Yeah. And a byproduct called ketones. Yeah. So the ketone is the keto, that’s what that is. And that’s an energy source, just like a carb is, but it’s derived from fat. And for some reason, your body, and I’m personally feel this way, your body does better, is more efficient. All of everything I can possibly think of is improved with this diet because I believe that we are historically an evolutionary keto eaters. The cavemen didn’t have rice and beans. Right. They had rotten flesh, they had
00:46:34:25 –> 00:46:35:10
Crickets,
00:46:35:10 –> 00:46:39:05
Meat seeds, and not just gonna go to California and grab some rice out of the patties, you know? Yeah, exactly.
00:46:39:05 –> 00:47:12:04
There was no banana trees And Utah, these guys were eating crickets all summer. Right. That’s what we ate. Protein nuts. And the keto diet, if you look at it, it’s just, it is, it’s, it’s of the earth. It’s nuts, it’s meats, it’s fats, all of the things you need. And what’s amazing about it for, you know, to sum it all up, you, you literally do suppress your appetite. So I eat a big breakfast and then I eat dinner and I maybe nibble on some almonds during the day. And that is not normal. So that’s an awesome way for hunters. ’cause you’re cruising around. You don’t have to stop and eat. You can, you know, it’s, it’s just more efficient. Yeah.
00:47:12:08 –> 00:47:18:06
Well you gotta remember, you know, back in the day, those people’s life expectancy wasn’t as long as ours.
00:47:18:27 –> 00:47:19:20
No, that’s a good point.
00:47:20:27 –> 00:47:21:10
That’s
00:47:21:10 –> 00:47:21:23
A great point.
00:47:22:18 –> 00:47:23:23
They bake too much fat.
00:47:24:16 –> 00:47:28:24
42, they couldn’t brush your teeth. I mean, an abscess tooth or something could kill you back
00:47:28:24 –> 00:47:30:18
Then. Then. That’s, that’s good point. You could get a, you could
00:47:30:18 –> 00:47:33:06
Get That’s a good blood poisoning from a blood abscess
00:47:33:06 –> 00:47:46:12
Tooth. That’s right. So anyway. Well, well it’ll, I’ll never probably be able to do that. ’cause it’s sounds like a lot of work. And I’m like, the Atkins is like, eat meat. Okay, I get that. Like, that’s really Yeah, freezer’s full. No problem.
00:47:47:13 –> 00:47:49:06
Yeah, I got plenty of that. So,
00:47:49:06 –> 00:47:49:16
Yeah. And
00:47:49:16 –> 00:48:13:25
That’s why he was so successful is because he simplified it. It’s just the ketosis part of it. If you really want to get into that where your body’s more efficiently running on a different fuel source, you kind of have to be a little bit more restrictive with your dietary, your intake, you know? But, but at the end of the day, you know, every diet, you know, the best diet out there is the one that you respond best to. So you’ve gotta just try, try ’em all and find a happy medium. You know,
00:48:14:06 –> 00:48:19:05
I don’t wanna tell you the diet we’ve been on right now, it involves white monsters and
00:48:19:24 –> 00:48:23:14
Monsters, rock stars, mountain Dew and Diet Coke. That’s so bad for you
00:48:24:05 –> 00:48:32:02
Too. Early morning mornings so bad, you know, for multiple weeks on end. But we’re alive and, and we’re almost got light at the end of the tunnel, which is why
00:48:32:02 –> 00:48:34:24
We just been doing a lot of our magazine research. Yeah. Stuff. It’s been brutal. But,
00:48:35:08 –> 00:48:59:02
But tell me, I guess before we wrap things up here, Zach, I mean, it seems like you’ve experienced, I dunno, backlash for whatever lack of word there is regarding this instance. And I know you said you just about didn’t post it. Tell us, I guess why you did and what you can say about the haters that that’s, you know, for just lump ’em into that term, I guess. Because I don’t know what else to, to call. Yeah, I don’t
00:48:59:10 –> 00:48:59:26
Feedback haters
00:49:00:11 –> 00:49:14:13
Well, whatever follow feedback. Well, they’re, they’re love, they like and love and follow, I guess. But yeah. But tell us about that, I guess in terms of why you posted it and why you felt it was important too and and your response to them.
00:49:14:27 –> 00:49:54:26
So my, my post was, you know, as cocky and as arrogant as my delivery may be, sometimes I’m actually a humble guy. I can recognize my shortcomings and I can recognize mistakes and I have no problem admitting them because I feel like part of moving on is just, it’s almost like penitent. You just gotta get it out there. Hey guys, I screwed up. I’m gonna, I’m not gonna do it again. I feel like I, you socially admit to a commitment to change. I feel like you’re more accountable because you feel like more people are gonna pressure you to do it. So I’ve always been that way. Whether I’m gonna go to medical school or I’m gonna start a diet, I always like to tell everyone and make an announcement so that everyone knows that I’ve committed. Sure. And with this, for example, I completely screwed up.
00:49:55:06 –> 00:50:39:06
I, I, I put other people at risk. I put my family at risk. I stressed people out. I, I, I was not prepared. I made a bad decision. I absolutely, without a doubt screwed up. And I wanted everyone to know that I had done that. And my whole motive behind it was to A, never repeat. And b hopefully at some level, nudge guys to be a little bit better prepared and possibly prevent something similar from happening in the future. Sure. It, it was never a, a, a platform for empathy or attention. When guys derive that or decipher that from my message, I just, I just wanna choke ’em because it’s just not how I am. Yeah. I can get attention other ways. That’s not how it works for me. I literally got shocked, you know,
00:50:39:06 –> 00:50:44:22
But you, you gotta agree. There is no bad publicity when you’re in the social media world. You know,
00:50:44:29 –> 00:50:50:28
There’s not Jason. But as much as it’s hard for you probably to believe I’m actually extremely sensitive, man. Yeah,
00:50:51:01 –> 00:50:51:10
Yeah.
00:50:51:25 –> 00:50:55:01
I, I don’t understand why everyone’s just not happy and positive. I don’t get it.
00:50:55:13 –> 00:51:14:01
But Zach, you gotta understand, let’s say you have 60 comments, you know, 10 of which maybe like on the line you have 68 some odd thousand followers. I don’t even know, you might even be up over 70 the time we, you know, I don’t know. But that’s not like percentage wise. I mean
00:51:14:21 –> 00:51:15:00
Yeah,
00:51:15:00 –> 00:51:17:04
You’re right. You know, come on. I mean, it’s not that bad. You’re being,
00:51:17:04 –> 00:51:24:25
You’re being analytical and that’s how you I should be, but I am emotional about it. So even the one guy, it’s like, why bro? Yeah.
00:51:25:02 –> 00:51:25:18
Why, yeah.
00:51:25:20 –> 00:51:30:23
Where, where, where are you getting, where, where are you getting the energy in your life to publicly attack
00:51:31:11 –> 00:51:31:14
Somebody else?
00:51:31:18 –> 00:51:37:04
Yeah. Or, or take the time to post a meme. It’s like, dude, you’re such a, you’re such a coward. Like Yeah,
00:51:37:07 –> 00:52:11:07
Yeah. No, I understand. But you’re, you’re gonna, you know, you’re gonna get more of it because you’re in that social I Well, social media gets, you’re in the realm. It gives everybody a voice, everybody. It does. And you know, some people just get up angry, you know, in the morning and, and so, you know, and you’re kind of in that, you and Rocky, I mean, you know, I talk to you at length when we were doing the hit list stuff and just, you know, it’s kind of what you kinda want to do is put your, put your life out there, you know, for the public to see. And when you do that, like you do, open yourself up for every little critical, you know, portion of your
00:52:11:07 –> 00:52:15:14
Mind. No, I appreciate that. It’s absolutely true. And I have to learn to stomach it, period.
00:52:15:25 –> 00:52:22:16
Well, is there anything else that we’re missing that maybe we should, you wanna talk about today’s Friday? It’s kind of a nice day out there, really,
00:52:23:09 –> 00:52:51:25
You know, not necessarily I, I’m honestly just completely honored and stoked. You guys had me on. I I think you guys are top tier. Like you guys actually walk the walk and there’s no one out there that does it better. And I, you guys, you, you made it sound like you kind of half-ass your YouTube content. But I’ll tell you right now, your productions are some of the best hunting films for point of view. And just realistic, this is how it goes down. I’ve watched every video you guys have posted, so, I mean, hats off. I I freaking think your content is top tier man. So,
00:52:51:29 –> 00:53:45:18
Well we, we sure appreciate that. We’ve, we’ve worked hard at it. And Chris Peterson here in the office, he, he’s actually, you know, kind of mans the podcasting too. He’s just got a super good talent for, you know, videography work, production work, all of these kinds of digital type stuff. And we’re Sure, sure. Lucky to have him on board. And, and I don’t know, it, it’s just, we’re just out there another dimension of, you know, what we kind of do Yeah. Add to it. Yeah. We’re just out there trying to harvest good animals and, and work hard at work hard at doing it. Of course, this, this time of year we’re just super jealous of you guys going out and shed hunting even though that particular trip wasn’t so great. We, you know, this office hasn’t been so great for the last five months, I’ll tell you that right now. You know, so anyway, we’ll, we’re gonna start finally being able to, you know, see the light of day here in the next week or so. So it’s, we’re kind of excited about that, but
00:53:45:27 –> 00:53:49:17
Well, the deer, they’re putting their horns on for ’em for you too, so you good
00:53:49:17 –> 00:53:50:20
To hear. Good to hear. Because I wouldn’t know.
00:53:52:23 –> 00:53:53:26
Take your word for it, buddy.
00:53:54:05 –> 00:54:00:00
Yeah, my time’s coming though. Our time’s coming. That’s right. Gimme about June 15th or July 1st, and we’re
00:54:00:00 –> 00:54:02:24
Just waiting for those sheds to turn wise so we can see him a little better, Zach.
00:54:02:29 –> 00:54:03:19
That’s all right.
00:54:04:15 –> 00:54:33:16
Hard to see a button out there. We wanna make sure the whole shed’s white, so. All right. Well we appreciate it buddy. Glad everything turned out well. Thanks for taking a little minute of, of your time to spend with us today. We usually are pretty serious content on our, on our podcast, but you know, as we come kind of toward the end, we’re gonna have a lot of different hunters on and talk about a lot of different, you know, experiences we’ve had and maybe even talk about specific animals and hunts and whatnot. And so won’t just be state derived and Yeah.
00:54:33:17 –> 00:54:43:04
A lot more lighter fun or exciting scouting hunts and stuff like that coming up too. So should be great. Appreciate your time today, Zach. Thank
00:54:43:04 –> 00:54:44:16
You guys. I’m honored again. Thanks.
00:54:44:16 –> 00:54:45:26
Alright. Right buddy. Have a good weekend man.
00:54:46:06 –> 00:54:47:12
Likewise. Alright, talk
00:54:47:12 –> 00:55:10:25
To you later bit. Well Adam, as you can tell, like, I mean, you know, Zach’s experience and some of those experiences you’ve shared and of course you, and I’ve been out in the Escali desert dryer and dry run outta water and can’t find a, a water hole and I mean head on. I did that with my dad too, out in the middle of the escali deserts kind of some crazy, well that was actually San Juan desert sheep hunting. But anyway, that, you just never know when that stuff’s gonna happen.
00:55:11:08 –> 00:55:25:02
Yeah, I remember that trip with you in June. I don’t know what we were thinking. You had a tag that year, wasn’t it? Yeah. You had a tag and we just thought, let’s go, you find out in late May, Hey, got a sheep tag, let’s go. And it hadn’t rained for probably three months. Yeah.
00:55:25:07 –> 00:55:27:01
And some of the water holes that were, you know,
00:55:27:03 –> 00:56:27:01
Sand pots Yeah. That I had, that I, yeah, they were just taha just, you know, pothole. They were dry and we banked our whole trip on having water there and we pushed all afternoon to get there. And remember we got there and it was maybe two in the afternoon. Yeah. Brutally hot. We were outta water and we realized we’re we gotta go out, we gotta get outta here. Yeah. ’cause you don’t have enough energy and time to go search for the next one. But anyway, not to digress, but yeah, things can happen. I, I shared a few during the interview with Zach that have happened to me personally. It’s, it’s not fun when you’re in the middle of it when something’s a, a crisis. Yeah. You know, I’ve had, like I said, some pretty serious ones that have made me now prepare, carry a sat phone. I’m serious on every hunt. We, when we can’t get ahold of each other on cell phones, we use ’em for just phones sometimes. Yeah. But it’s a nice peace of mind. I mean, I know your wife, I’m sure as well as mine, we, they like to know that, hey, there’s some way that, ’cause they don’t That’s true. We don’t leave a note on the kitchen counter every time when me and I go out. No,
00:56:27:14 –> 00:56:27:24
We’re
00:56:27:24 –> 00:56:29:14
Going out way too many times. Well,
00:56:29:14 –> 00:56:32:12
And the other thing is my cha my planes change. Yeah. You know?
00:56:32:17 –> 00:56:32:25
Yeah.
00:56:32:25 –> 00:56:35:07
While you’re out there from half hour to a half hour, I mean, I don’t know where’re
00:56:35:07 –> 00:56:46:24
Gonna go, you go somewhere and someone’s parked in the canyon like, well, I’m not going there you go somewhere else. But anyway, just, just use good common sense. Go order, you know, don’t, don’t exceed your limits, things like that. Yeah.
00:56:46:26 –> 00:56:48:10
So. Yep. I agree. So, good
00:56:48:14 –> 00:56:49:12
Reminders, things like this
00:56:49:14 –> 00:56:57:12
Can’t, can’t be too prepared. And sometimes there’s just gonna be stuff that happens that you just can’t control. And it is what it is and it’s not gonna stop us from going out and doing it. No,
00:56:57:14 –> 00:57:02:05
No. So be prepared, you know, take care of yourself and keep crushing it.
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