EP 129: A Hunting Obsession with Brendan Burns, KUIU. In this episode of The Epic Outdoors Podcast, Adam Bronson of Epic Outdoors talks with Brendan Burns Co-CEO of KUIU. Adam and Brendan discuss gear and some of the newer products from KUIU. They transition talks to hunting and share some of their most cherished hunting memories including Brendan’s recent hunts for giant Brown Bear and Grizzly.
Disclaimer: this text was produced through an automated transcription service and likely contains errors. Please listen to the original audio for exact content.
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I am really hung for the biggest bull I could find.
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My first awareness of Brendan Burns has always been some of your giant bulls that you started taking in, in your home state of Montana.
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They’re a dangerous animal, there’s no doubt about anything
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To do with Western big Games.
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Welcome
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To the Epic Outdoors Podcast, powered by Under Armour. Hey everybody. Adam Bronson here at the Epic Outdoors Podcast. Got a great friend and guest with us today. We’ve got Brendan Burns, the Co c e o of q u. He’s gonna join us. How are you doing today, bud? Doing
00:00:33:23 –> 00:00:37:23
Great, man. Appreciate the opportunity. Glad to be on and yeah, we’re looking forward to today.
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You bet. Well, we’ve got a lot. Usually when you and I get yaking, it’s mainly about hunting stuff and we, we wanna do the majority of our podcast about that here in a bit. But let’s, you guys have had a couple of new launches, product lines, one with the Katana and the other one with your new pack, harness and suspension system. So seen a bunch of that on your, on your website, YouTube stuff as well as your Instagram and things like that. But I wanted to give you a chance to, I wanted to ask you, I guess, a little bit about that. Let’s start with maybe the Katana series of, of clothing and gear. How was that hatched? And maybe tell us a little bit about why. I mean, you guys have had a, have a great product line, a lot of different, both, you know, synthetic and merino type layers as far as your, your, your tops and then obviously your pants systems with your tax and guide guide pants, guide pro pants and things like that. Why did we, where did the, how was the Katana idea hatched? Why did you feel there were still a niche or need, or how was it maybe suited a little bit differently than some of the other products you guys already have? Let’s talk about it from that angle and then talk about actual products that you actually have in the Catana series.
00:01:55:29 –> 00:02:43:14
Yeah, yeah. The Catana for us is, and it was, this was really kind of, Jason Harrison’s one of his last big passion projects. He really worked on this for a long time, and it was obviously in the works for a while, but the Katana is a nylon based product, and it’s basically a, a prime flex nylon. So it’s an, it’s got stretch, but it’s got enhanced durability or some of the other stuff. And it’s not really a line. What we added, we, when we added durability in that, that basically we, we added these lines in for durability. So for example, like the catana stretch woven pants, it falls in between the, the tron and the attack pant. And it’s just a, a lighter breathable, but slightly more durable pant that, that you can use in the desert or, or anything else.
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So more durable than the tron, you’re saying?
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Yes. More durable in the, the Tron lighter than the attack. It really, we tried to target everything that would fall in an actual certain spot.
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Yep. Gotcha. So what do you, what products are you making in that material? That Katana material?
00:03:02:20 –> 00:03:48:18
Yeah, so we, we looked at kind of where we had holes in, in the, in the entire KU system and, and where enhanced durability with this prime flex nylon would add to it. So we’ve got a, we’ve got a gator that falls in between our screw Gator and our Yukon Gator. It’s, it’s a little bit shorter, it’s a little bit lighter, really easy to adjust. We’ve got a, the stretch rolling panel we just talked about A three DX E F X hybrid jacket, which is a really cool piece. It’s, as you’ve seen in the last year or two, we, we’ve also went a lot into some hybrid stuff where basically it’s putting the perfect fabric in the perfect places. You know, like, not, not everything is, not every fabric is perfect for all situations. I mean, if that was the case, I mean, denim’s great, but I’m not sure denim shirts are the key.
00:03:49:04 –> 00:03:49:18
No, I mean,
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You still see ’em every now and again, but you know what I mean. But, so it’s really about putting the perfect fabric in the perfect place as you build these products. So the three D effects hybrid jacket, the Katana hybrid softshell jacket, which is, you know, a little lighter under the armpits, different materials. And then with, and then the storm shell and Storm Shell pan and Storm Shell jacket is, is basically a, a more durable backpack version than the backpack ringer than the, than the Chuge not quite as heavy as the Yukon. And it’s performs a little differently. Like it’s, it’s not gonna like can places where you have a lot of contact really brush bust and you, you know, it’s just, it’s just got a different, it falls in between the Chuge and the Yukon, if you’re familiar with their
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Line. Gotcha. So your pants and your top, how do you, you said it’s a little bit more in between the attack pant, which I’m very familiar with. I probably use the majority of, of, of the time myself. You know, I use the Tiburon stuff on, you know, a lot of my scouting stuff, frankly, early on when I’m really active, that stuff’s very breathable, very lightweight, obviously. But like you’ve alluded, it’s, it’s built that way for a reason to keep you a little bit cooler when it’s really hot, which is when most of our scouting occurs, you know, this time of year, you know, July, August, you know, even into the early season bow hunting stuff. I’ll wear that then. But then whenever, whenever that switch starts to get flipped, you know, I, I’m a cold person. I’m a, I’m a tall, lanky dude, skinny guy, and I get cold quicker. So that stuff for me, the, the Tiburon, I usually put it away fairly quick in the year. That’s, other people are a little bit different than me, but I use a lot in my scouting stuff and early, early season stuff. So this katani you’re feeling, you know, is, you know, that synthetic version, you know, durability, you know, doesn’t have all the pores like the teron gears made west. Yeah, it’s
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A little bit heavier. Yeah. Still, still breathes incredibly well, really great wearing pan, but just got that added durability, especially for you guys down there in like the desert type situations. Yeah. I mean, Theron pan is like not wearing pants. Yeah. It’s, those, those things are incredible. Yeah. But they’re obviously very, very light. And so that just adds a level of durability to, to our pan line. And like I said, it falls perfectly in between. And that’s, that’s what we’re trying to do with everything we release, is to, to put it in a lane, make sure that it’s, we don’t just build stuff just to build it. We build it because it’s got a, it’s got a place and, and a function that, that falls in during your year. I mean, it, you know, one of the questions you get asked all the time is like, oh, what’s your best pan?
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And, you know, everybody wants, you know, a magic, you know, a magic bullet. Yeah. That this the best of anything. And, and it really doesn’t work like that. I mean, the, the whole layering system is based on, you know, exertion, temperature, your personal preference. That’s why we make so many different things is that you, you try it all out and see what works best for you is, you know, you know, again, that’s, it’s basically just giving you more, more arrows and quiver to Yeah. To allow you to, to, you know, however you function and however you like to use it, whether it’s hot or cold or Yeah. Really to filling in those layers. So,
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So if I was asking you, I guess personally with some of your hunts that you foresee yourself doing this fall, when do you think you would, you would use this system, the Katana stuff, or on watt hunts or in what month or temperature range do you think you see yourself? That’s what I’m gonna use here. That’s what I think that fits my niche there best. Again, not trying to say that that’s how everybody should think about it, because like you’ve alluded, there’s personal preferences. I have certain stuff that I wear that’s just my favorite stuff. You, you know what I mean? And everybody has that. It fits you well. Ride John well moves you with you. Well if you’re, you know, a bull hunter versus a rifle hunter, some of those types of things come into play. But with Katana, where do you fall see with your personal, like when are you gonna put that in your pack versus maybe your attack system and, and and Marino or, or different things like that?
00:07:51:16 –> 00:08:30:13
Yeah, I still wear Marino as a base layer all the time on all my stuff. But like op panel we’ll use in, in September here in Montana. And some of the, you know, one of the classic, I’ll tell you, I’m, I’m exactly, I’m this, this pertains I’ve two sheep hunts coming up back to back. I’ve got Canal and the N W T July 15th. I actually leave on Friday and then I’ll be hunting where you hunted last year at ultimately this, this fall as well. So I’m, I’m bow hunting at Canal and I will be taking the chew catch on this trip ’cause it’s a little bit quieter. It’s a little bit lighter. I’m not anticipating any, I mean, I hope we’re not gonna have horrible weather, but you know, it’s July 15th, it’s the middle of summer, you plan on it. There’s four hours of darkness total.
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We’re really gonna be basically hunting around the clock all day long. Yeah. Yeah. And then gonna jump right in that ultimate Tuly home, which I will take the Catan or Storm Shell versus the Chew guys. ’cause it’s a little more durable. I mean, I, I actually just saw your video from last year hung sheep and that is some godforsaken, nasty rock infested, you know, brush like it, that’s really kind of an unforgiving place where you can add some more durability. Yeah. You’re not probably moving an incredible amount of country. You’re probably not gonna walk a hundred miles. And when you’re in a spot, you’re in a spot and your key is to stay dry. So that’s, that’s a classic example of, you know, the one that chew guys is gonna breathe a little better. It’s gonna be a little quieter, obviously when Bohan and the Katana is gonna be a little, is gonna be, you know, they’re both waterproof obviously, but it’s, it’s gonna move moisture with a lower level of exertion and it’s gonna be a little more durable. Gotcha. Still a backpack. So
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Not quite.
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So those, those are two different places where I would, I would take the Gotcha set and, and, and it kind of works throughout the line that way. Gotcha.
00:09:31:05 –> 00:10:03:05
So like you’ve alluded, the, the Yukon stuff is more, you know, I don’t wanna put pigeonhole that into a certain, a certain kind of hunt only, but more for the just brutally extreme, or the way I liken it to a lot of people have asked me about that. Most people I’ve, I’ve told them I’d go with the chew chuga over the Yukon if you’re going up there on, on one Sheep Hunt, you know what I mean? Versus if you were a, an Alaskan sheep guide, go with the Yukon. ’cause you’re gonna use it week after week for two months straight. You know what I mean? Versus Yeah,
00:10:03:05 –> 00:10:42:10
We, we built the, the Chuga is, is twice the way, you know, same, same, same waterproof twice the way it’s just built to be super drill reinforced, bought reinforced knees, extra pockets. And it just depends on how you like your rain gear as well. I mean, most of the time when I ever have trashed rain gear, it’s definitely not hunting. It’s, it’s doing something like loading gas into a boat or with horses or anything on. But, you know, the guys up north, you know, and, and, and the, the Yukon really falls into kind of a dual purpose too. There’s a lot of guys that run that as just their outer jacket period. You know, they just have an insulation jacket and then the Yukon. Yeah. And it’s kind of a dual purpose because of the weight. So again, it’s just all stuff that depends on your personal, find your niche
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Preference, your Yeah,
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Yeah. You find your niche on, on how you wanna do it. And again, it’s, it’s, a lot of this boils down to, you know, again, personal preference, exertion, temperature, what you’re expecting to do. I mean, if you’re, if you’re guiding every single day for 90 days straight, I would definitely go with the Yukon. Yeah.
00:10:59:17 –> 00:11:16:12
That’s what I’ve told people as well versus this other stuff. It’s sounds like the Katan is just a, a step up in durability from, from the chew ga, but you don’t get all the extra added weight and things like that that you get when you go to the Yukon stuff, things like that. So.
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Correct. Yep.
00:11:17:29 –> 00:12:15:14
Awesome. Well that’s some great looking gear. You guys have a great, you know, some of the information again on your Instagram, on your q you official Instagram as well as your website for that. Let’s talk also about your new PAC suspension system there, you guys, that’s just a very new release here in the last couple of weeks, I believe. You know, I’ve used Pax back from the original, I mean, I still have the original. Yep. The original Brown, major Brown 6,000, still have that pack. I, my, my son uses it, you know, more than I do because like you said, you’ve had a couple of different upgrades since then to the Icon Pro, you know, the Ultras. But let’s talk about why, why, I mean, it might be some, some natural easy answers to that, but, but why, why did you guys feel the need to make some advancements or upgrades, if you can call that into your harness and suspension system to your packs?
00:12:16:21 –> 00:12:58:14
Yeah, we, we felt like makings. We, we’ve been working on ’em for a while. We went about this a little different way. We, we kind of approached everybody that didn’t like something about our pack and, and you know, looked at like, what don’t you like about it? We, we had two things. We’ve upgraded our suspension, it’s a new pro suspension and basically our real focus in the pack system has been modularity. And it’s the perfect, and, and the way I can best describe the modularity is like, we feel like you can buy a lot of different packs, but you need seven or eight packs in a different year. I mean, you’re scouting right now in the summertime to all the way you’re headed for a stone sheep hunt where you need a 7,800. I mean, there’s, there’s, and sometimes you’re just you and a client on a day gonna pack one ram out. Sometimes you’re going overnight or
00:12:59:13 –> 00:12:59:19
Yep.
00:12:59:22 –> 00:13:42:24
You need a lot of d if you’re, if you’re hunting year round, you need a lot of different packs. Well, our, our frame and suspension is built now is built to, is built for the best modularity, meaning you have a perfectly fitted frame and suspension built exactly like you, like, you like it. And we’ve made it to where with 10 clips and two minutes you can pop any bag on. I, I actually leave my bags fully packed and it takes me less than two minutes to swap bags out on my, on my suspension and frame as of right now. So it just allows you to be more versatile and, and you use the perfect pack at the perfect time. The pro suspension, we really focused on, on fit and function, basically making it to where it will fit more people, more different sizing, more adjustability and more comfort.
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There’s a lot of people love the old system and there’s nothing wrong with it. We just feel that these upgrades will allow it to fit more people, be more comfortable and then added some stuff that, like in the, in the shoulder system, the suspension system where it’s a little more breathable and, and a little more comfortable. And, and we have, you know, when it comes to modular, we have apex shoulder straps now, which are three times the foam. If you’re hauling really massive loads, it’s, you know, at the end of the day carrying weight at some point in time when you have so much weight on you, it’s just nice to have something a little more padded. So we just, we have added all that stuff into where you can kind of pick and choose your system as you use it. And, and really with one frame of suspension, you’re, you, you, you can attack the whole year, everything you need.
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I mean, I’m, I’m, I’ve got my pack and everything set up for the Ultimate two hunt, and I will, I will literally just pop, pop it up, pop my frame of suspension out and go to my other one for the next hunt. So, you know, I’m gonna go set some, I’m gonna go do some scouting tomorrow, go finish breaking some boots in and I’m gonna take a 3,600 Yep. Tomorrow with big glass, go do some glass. And it just, it just allows you to move freely between, between the different packs and, and, and out of comfort. So, and we have, we have 18, we have five new bags, 18 50, 2300, 30, 600, 6,000, 7,800, which we still kind of falls right in on, you know, half day hunt, day hunt, day hunt, maybe overnight with some big optics, couple four or five days, and then your 10 day unsupported cheap hunt. So kind of filled everything in.
00:15:17:23 –> 00:15:32:12
Yeah. So with the added versatility in your, like you said you alluded the shoulder strap. Do you have that one or two? Is there like two options there that you can get on the shoulder strap or how many, how many got
00:15:33:06 –> 00:16:38:05
Yeah, every, everything is compatible in our entire system. So I actually, right now we have three, we have the ultra, we have ultra shoulder straps, we have pro shoulder straps, and we have the Apex on the waist belt. We have the Ultra and the the New Pro, which we feel like encompassed everything from the Icon Pro and, and has made it more adjustable, more custom fit. Like we, we definitely feel like you’ll, people will, will really relate more to that one. We’ll, we’ll find more comfort in that. And then, yeah, I mean it’s the same frame we’ve always used. It’s all compatible If you already own an icon Pro, the new pro suspension and the new pro bags will clip right into it from 2017 and there’s a conversion kit earlier even. So yeah, we, we’ve, we, we didn’t, we didn’t want to reinvent the wheel. We, we feel like our carbon fiber platform for weight for both flex and vertical stiffness is, is gonna be pretty hard to beat. So we just refined that and, and, and really, like I said, we, we really went and and asked, you know, what, what don’t you like? And that’s how we went about this one. And so it’s been a, it’s been a really good That’s good. I’m, I’m thrilled with it. So
00:16:38:07 –> 00:16:46:03
Yeah, I’m looking forward to putting, putting mine to use not as soon as you, it sounds like you’re leaving this Friday, huh? July 15th?
00:16:46:03 –> 00:16:55:14
Yeah. On Friday. Yep. July 15th. That’s one nice thing about N W T is it gets Oh yeah, summertime started early. It’s funny. People are like, what do you got going this fall? It’s like, it’s the summertime.
00:16:55:26 –> 00:18:00:29
Yeah, that’s right. So, well that’s great. Well, before we move off the pack and let’s talk about, let’s talk about that, some of the hunts and that, but anything else you want to add on, on the Katana and, and Pro Pack? Everything’s online, it’s in stock. There’s, again, there’s some tutorials I know you have on your website. I don’t wanna spend a whole podcast on it. We just wanted to make sure that listeners knew that you had some new products out there that I’m looking, I’ve got ’em ordered. Looking forward to getting that 7,800 pro pack system and putting it to use on a couple sheet hunts of my own this year, in addition to probably the 6,000 on the bulk of what I would pack on my guided sheet pumps. Even if I am, you know, not anticipating, staying overnight. That’s the, that that 58 to six is what I carry all the time. Just so that, you know, a lot, lot of times you’re carrying more gear than you maybe need to because maybe, maybe the client wants you, you take a little load off of them. Or if you kill a sheep, you don’t, there’s no, there’s no leaving it. You wanna be able to bring it all off, you know, with you take the whole thing out.
00:18:01:02 –> 00:18:01:10
Yeah.
00:18:01:13 –> 00:18:02:10
Life-sized tape.
00:18:02:10 –> 00:19:04:07
That’s why, that’s why the bag. Yeah. That’s why our bag selection is what it is. And we, we feel like it really falls into everything you could possibly use again from, you know, you’re taking one trail camera out for two hours to go Yep. You know, drop something off and do a big fast strike to, you know, 14 day unsupported Sure. Patalia coming up, you can carry it all. So that’s, that’s why we filmed, we also introduced our strong fleece series two, which is along the lines of Catan, it adds durability and water resistance to the mid-layer line. We’ll check those out. Ones like two 60 and one’s a two 10 weight, just adding some more options in. So yeah, I mean everything we’re doing is just, is, is really gives the customer the, the ability to fill in, you know, some guys like depending on, you know, again, exertion, what you’re hunting, temperature, how your body runs, physical activity, all that stuff. Yeah. So just, just adding stuff into the line. Not, not necessarily anything that runs over the top of each other, but things that fall into, into definite Yeah. That can add in. Yeah.
00:19:04:07 –> 00:19:09:05
Well, what’s been very obvious, you know, we’ve been with you obviously from, from the start,
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Literally day one.
00:19:11:08 –> 00:19:58:25
Literally day one. And, but you know, I still have some of that stuff. I have some of my original Marino, you know, and, and bias just because it’s, I don’t know, it’s a little sentimental, I guess. Good guess to some it’s still good. Yeah, it’s a little sentimental. You know, I got my boy, he’s, he’s roughly my height now. He doesn’t, not as big as me. He is only 14. But I mean it’s, he’s, he’s wearing, you know, his own stuff plus my stuff. And, and what I see over the time is, like you said, the gaps that have been filled is what’s really year by year you guys have filled in that the, the gaps so to speak, versus you, you know, you had an, a pair of pants, you know, two merino tops, you know, a guide jacket and a and a down coat, you know, or the synthetic spin drift back in the day, you know, brown one.
00:19:58:29 –> 00:20:27:01
Yep. You know, I mean it was, that was it. And like you said, you guys have done an amazing job and a lot of it fill the gaps. And a lot of it’s based on the fact that when you or Jason or your crew or a lot of guides and outfitters or just hunters in general go on hunts. I, I suppose a lot of it’s born out of man, I I could use this, you know, just a little bit different, different something. I imagine that’s how a lot of these have been born, right? These ideas, concepts,
00:20:27:01 –> 00:21:19:00
We, we are absolutely customer guide, outfitter print. Like the feedback is where most of it comes from is, is you could use this or, or personal experience. I mean, there’s a lot of times where you go, man, that this could be a little better. And and that’s where, you know, our development cycle and everything really, really comes into play is we don’t take anything personal. If it needs to be fixed, we’re gonna fix it. And, and there’s just, you know, yeah, there’s, there’s a lot of improvements that have come from feedback cl like yourself and, and lots of guys that like, especially on the packs or where, you know, and, and our new bag design on our, on our pack is one classic example of, you know, our, our old bags, they’re, they’re great. The spotting seal pockets are, you know, all we kept some of the things they’re saying, but we’ve allowed, we’ve got a new zipper on each side that allows you to access your rain gear or kind of your important stuff while your pack’s fully loaded.
00:21:19:12 –> 00:21:41:25
And that was just one of those things, like, you should not have to unbuckle your entire pack to get to the stuff that you’re using all the time. And that was one of the things we went into, like, how can we solve this problem? And that’s, that’s what we have with the new prop is you can always access your stuff that you need right away without, without taking your pack apart. Yeah, absolutely. And, and they could check that out all, all online. We’ve got some tutorials and yeah, I think people are really gonna really like the new system.
00:21:42:17 –> 00:22:59:12
Well I, I, I know they will if anybody that’s really, really into gear, not, you know, and I don’t want to make it sound like if you’re a casual ca take your gear casually, however you wanna word that, that you’re not gonna enjoy KU gear because you will, it’ll probably be more than you ever thought you would need, but that’s always better. But for somebody that really is scrutinizing on their gear, just want to add my, my 2 cents to it, that it’s you, you don’t find yourself lacking. You really don’t. There, there’s something for everybody. I always find a piece or two of something that I wanna try each year, whether I feel I need it or not on seeing something at one of the shows that you guys have that feels different, that I feel, you know, and, and it sometimes it’s not even anticipated or expected that that’s gonna be my favorite jacket or piece, but I’ve got those and, and I, I, I wear ’em. I’ve got certain things that I, I wear all the time and my son will say, why are you wearing that? I says, ’cause it’s, I’ve, I’ve been there, done that in this thing. And I just, I dunno, stuff, stuff feels good. And I appreciate you guys always, always looking at, you know, obviously there’s technology advancements that obviously make some of this stuff possible as well that wasn’t there, you know, six, eight years ago. But, but just from a, a practicality standpoint, filling in the gaps, like you said, I appreciate it. So
00:22:59:15 –> 00:23:50:26
Oh yeah. Yeah. It’s, it’s, it’s fun. Like, it it’s always a combination of like fabric, fabric and technology don’t solve everything. Yeah. There’s, there’s a lot of things that are, are, are functioning as well. And so we are always looking at both. I mean, you know, you want to increase performance, decreased weight, increased durability and increased function. I mean, and some of the things, whether it’s, you know, some of it like the catana is, is new fabric that was not available when we started and some of the things just are just flat smart, like our full zip long underwear. I mean, if you’re not using those, you are literally missing out. Like you should not have to take your, your boots and strip down to take your long underwear, get outta your long underwear every morning. Like it’s an incredible thing that, you know, came about from just being tired of having to strip down and decide whether you’re either cold in the morning or you’re gonna be warm in the afternoon. Like it’s just, it just solves the problem and that’s the stuff we love.
00:23:51:06 –> 00:24:34:01
Yeah. Yeah. That’s a great example right there. ’cause yeah, we fought that our whole lives. It’s like, yeah, you end up just roasting, I’m gonna hike but I’m gonna have to take more breaks ’cause I don’t wanna sweat my guts out ’cause I don’t wanna take this off because it’s too cold to not wear it. But I don’t wanna sweat the whole way up. You know, there’s a lot of different, you know, practicalities issues like there, but I appreciate it. And let’s talk a little bit about hunting. I guess you’ve alluded to the fact you’ve got a little bit of scouting to do. You, you know, you seems like our, my first awareness of Brendan Burns is, has always been some of your, the giant bulls that you started taking in, in your home state of Montana. And that sure hasn’t led up and that’s obviously not just been limited to Montana.
00:24:34:01 –> 00:25:50:08
You’ve killed some giant bulls in other places as well, but you’ve, you’ve been dialed in for years it feels like on Giant Bulls last year, killed a couple more giant bulls, 3 75, 3 85. And if I’m shortening it by a few inches, sorry, I’m rounding, I’m rounding to round numbers is all but a couple, you know, a book typical and I think it was a book non-typical, if I’m not mistaken, that one from California, A book typical from from Montana. But anyway, what do you, I mean, I know you’ve got either bulls you’re looking for or hoping to find, you’ve alluded to the fact you’re heading out scouting, maybe throwing some cams out and getting them finishing up while you’re gone for much of the next, I guess three, four weeks after that hunting sheep. But what’s, what’s Montana looking like for feed and elk? And I’ve always said that, you know, Montana system I guess for everybody, but, but obviously with a, with a non-resident cap limitation, getting a special tag on top of the general is not, not not a guaranteed thing. It’s a three to five year wait for a lot of Eastern Montana units where it’s, you know, most ti most cases for isn’t, it’s an every year, every other year thing, but geez, what a lot, what, what a lot to look forward to. I, I assume things looking good up there, moisture wise, feed wise, things like that.
00:25:51:07 –> 00:26:45:05
Yeah, I mean we, we don’t suffer from the the rain like you do. Like, I mean, when, when people ask like, you know, it’s a wet year, should it be good for horn grove and you guys literally don’t live and die by it, your elk are affected by they cannot get a drink. Our elk can always find water. So yeah, it’s looking like a good year. This is, I I did kill, I believe we, last time we got on a podcast I talked about a bull that I passed up in 17. Well I ended, I ended up barreling that bull in 18. It was the same bull. I mean I got like any grossed a little over 3 89 of 3 75. Just a, just a beautiful bull that it was almost identical year to year from what I, I got him, this is actually the first year in a long time. I don’t have a particular bull that I’m hunting, which I’m, I’m actually really looking forward to. Yeah, the bull that I killed last year was the dominant bull in the area for three years. He kind of ran everything and I finally, you know, I I I passed him up in 17, killed him in 18. And so I’m, I’m looking forward to what shows
00:26:45:08 –> 00:26:49:12
Up or turn up blows up or moves in or just surfaces this. We
00:26:49:12 –> 00:27:27:05
Just, trail cameras just basically became legal in Montana. I’m not running a bunch of ’em or anything, but it’s, I’m, I I’m, it’s kind of a new yeah. Thing. I have 10 of ’em. I’m messing around with ’em a little bit. We’ll see if I have, haven’t I’ve yet to take a solid picture of anything with a trail camera yet. But it’s kind of an interesting thing and it’s just, just good to, you know, good, I’m busy for the next month and half and yeah, it’s fun to just, just go out and see if that will will be something that adds standing. I don’t think it’s gonna take away from the traditional scouting and, and all that. And a lot of the bulls that I’ve hunted, you know, summertime scouting doesn’t mean anything. Wintertime scouting, picking up horns doesn’t mean anything. No. Because they just flat move when it comes to the ru’s. So
00:27:27:07 –> 00:27:39:10
That’s, yeah, let’s talk about that slightly. I mean, if I’m not mistaken, I mean, and I know you’ve killed a, a couple rifle bulls in, you know, like Wyoming or I think, was that California bull last year rifle? I don’t even know. I think it
00:27:39:10 –> 00:27:53:00
Was, it was a rifle. Yep. But, and that’s the first guy that, that’s the first guy that all kind of been on it. Yes, actually yeah. It was, it was a spot that was already, we, we basically had to go hunt the Yes. Down there. Yes. It was a, it was a cool hunt. It’s definitely something different. It was a, it was a neat experience. Cool.
00:27:53:09 –> 00:28:45:29
Double swords. Yep. Or kickers off the swords. But, but yeah. For you, the Montana archery hunt, tell me, we talked a bit a little about in the past, but how do you, and I know it’s hard because every bull’s been different, but how do you normally kill ’em? And what I mean by that is most people, and I’m not one of these guys, most people just want to hunt the best time in September when they’re screaming their guts out and all that. And to me, I’ve never, I’ve never with elk really cared that much about that. And having ’em be vocal. There’s definitely units in Utah, you know, maybe like a boulder or certain places where vocal elk most definitely make a big difference. There’s other places and, and a lot of the units in the southwest Nevada, you know, northern Arizona and parts of Arizona as well as southern Utah where glass spot and stalk intercept.
00:28:46:08 –> 00:29:27:15
I know the bulls living here, he’s kind of with cows, but he’s not. That’s how I’ve, I I’ve hunted more like mule deer techniques, hunting elk, more than just calling elk and hoping I can call a big bull in because usually the bull that you really want to kill is not, not that easy to just ever gonna call ’em in, especially when he gets cowed up. So tell me about, I guess the timing of when you have maybe been most successful. And I know a little bit of that varies year to year with weather and things like that, but what phase of, of archery hunting out do you have you had the most success? What phase of the, of the season or the rutt if you want to kind of, you know, wrap that up in one kind of top.
00:29:29:13 –> 00:30:06:25
Yeah, it’s varied. I actually, last year, I, I think I killed my elk on the, on the 3rd of September, which is the earliest I’ve ever killed one. And it was, i i it, it was a funny deal. I believe we talked about on the podcast a year ago. Like it was a, it was a really dominant bull. Like he had all the cows early, like by August I think I found him. Wow. August 28th he had 50 cows. Yeah. And this, this dude rutted early. He was strong handed on everybody else and he was, you know, so you, you kind of go when you find him. I, I don’t make plans in September or the first 15 days of October. My, my, I I don’t like to have a bunch of different elk tags. I like to have one tag and I go until I find I, I spend 95% of my time hunting the bull that I want to kill.
00:30:07:03 –> 00:30:47:23
Yeah. Looking around as I’ve gotten more picky or, and I wouldn’t say I’m that picky. I mean, in reality, like I’ve had, I’ve had a great run out of late and it kind of goes in cycles, but I’m, I’m really hunting for the biggest blow I can find. You know, I spend a lot of time trying to find him and you know, after 15 days of hunting, it’s the biggest blow I can find. That’s, that’s the one I’m after. If he’s, yeah, if he’s three 50, he’s three 50. If he’s 400, he’s 400. But, you know, I’m, I’m really, you can only kill what you can find. So I spend as much time as possible just looking for what I’m, what I’m looking for. I tried to look at everything and you know, there’s, there’s some years, like two years ago, I mean, I would normally never pass a 380 inch bull up, but I was hunting a bull that was almost three 90.
00:30:48:08 –> 00:31:34:03
That’s the only reason I passed this bull up. Yeah. On a normal year, you been number one. And, and so there’s, it, it, there’s no real set thing like, hey, I’m looking for a boomer or I’m looking for this giant, like yeah, whatever. The biggest thing I can find is I, I truly enjoy hunting elk. I love hunting specific bulls. So timing, you know, they, they’re all, they all have. The more I hunt big bulls, the more it’s very obvious they all have different personalities. Like yeah. Example the well last year was just absolutely as aggressive and mean and dominant as you could po I’ve never seen a bull that was, I mean, there’s nothing would get near this guy. I mean, the bull I had killed in 17, this will be a little bit confusing, but the bull I killed in 18, beat the hell out of the bull that I killed in 17 and the bull in 17, I was scorer him by 10 inches.
00:31:34:03 –> 00:32:11:17
But he was just smaller bodied, less dominant. And, and that’s what took me so long to kill that bull before. So one last year, man, when I found him, and he was with, he had 50 cows first, you know, 28th of August, and, and he never left them. He, I mean, even if they got spooked or something or went, went a different direction. He was always with them. It was pretty easy to figure out. I ended up cutting him off, headed for water and, and shot him the first first move I put on him. Wow. And I could’ve killed him the year before the same way. ’cause he was, he was pretty predictable. Like he wasn’t leaving those cows. They, they all have kind of different personalities. Some are wanderers, some some are home bodies. I just, one thing I don’t do is call very often now.
00:32:11:17 –> 00:32:55:05
Yeah. I have called a few bulls in every now and again. And, and, and there’s a time when, you know, bulls all by himself and he’s wandering and calling and like, he’s primed to be called in. But I generally just don’t, I don’t like to let him know I’m in the area. I mean, I think that that that calling type encounter for me is, there’s, there’s only two ways it’s gonna play out. You’re either gonna kill that bull or you’re gonna scare him to death. And the second part of that equation, I do not like, I would rather put a move on something and, and, and have it not work out and have another crack at ’em later versus, you know, the calling thing is, I don’t think interactions with humans are that uncommon for elk. I think interactions with humans who are trying to sound like elk scare the hell out of ’em.
00:32:55:07 –> 00:33:30:14
Yeah. Because it, it, it’s, I, you know, they bump into people all the time and, and you see ’em when they get winded or moved or whatever, and they don’t necessarily pull country. But man, if you call one in and it just goes south on you and you don’t get ’em killed, no. Good luck. Yeah. They come out of their skin and you might never see ’em again. So I, that’s just not an outcome that I, that I’m willing to, to, to be involved in. So I just, and again, I think you lean towards style. I, I’ve grown up hunting alone the whole time. I rarely have anybody else I’m hunting with. So calling’s not that conducive when you’re hunting alone. Yeah. So that’s, that’s why we lean
00:33:30:14 –> 00:33:59:16
That way. That’s right. Well, and also you gotta have, you gotta have country, I mean, we’ll both concede that you gotta have some glass old country or semi-open country, you know, that you can actually move glass, spot stop, inter intercept, things like that versus just to see a timber, because we all realize in a sea of timber, you either sit in water, you’re still hunting around, you gotta try to make something happen. Your options get definitely get more limited. So it’s also the type of country which, you know, the whole
00:33:59:26 –> 00:34:05:27
Absolutely. I mean there, there’s guys, yeah, there’s guys in north Idaho that would call what I just said as nuts. I mean those guys
00:34:06:02 –> 00:34:08:21
Yeah. Like how would they hunt one specific bull on a sea black timber.
00:34:08:25 –> 00:34:47:04
Yeah. Those elk are very vocal. The stuff I hunt is like open broken country, low density elk. And I think they recognize each other as well. I mean that’s, oh yeah. I don’t think they get fooled by like, oh hey, there’s a new guy in town. I don’t think so. Yeah, I think they all know each other’s voice, especially old bulls. I mean, you’re talking 10, 12, 15 year old bulls sometimes where they can recognize each other’s voices. And especially in that open country, they’re definitely more visual. They kind of sneak around until they can see something, then maybe it’ll come in. So I think it just boils out a bit, the type of, you know, you lean towards what you’re good at. Yeah. And well, yeah, I mean I couldn’t call it elk if you had a phone, so it’s, yeah. That’s, that’s not something I, well, I
00:34:47:04 –> 00:34:58:13
Do, you grew, you know, that’s where you, I mean, grew up hunting elk in that situation. Nobody can argue with your success. Stick with it. Do you have any other elk tags this year besides your Montana tag? Nope,
00:34:58:13 –> 00:35:15:19
Just Montana. Looking forward to what I can turn up. Like I said, this is the first time in a long time I did not have any specific bull that I’m, that I’m, that I’m hunting, which is, which is a cool place to be in. Like, we’ll, we’ll see what shows up. Oh yeah. Don’t have any, you know, the last two have been great. Big we’ll, we’ll, we’ll see. I’m sure there’ll be something show up. Oh yeah.
00:35:16:16 –> 00:35:17:03
I’m sure you’ll
00:35:17:03 –> 00:35:33:29
Couple new spots that I’m, I’ve got a couple new spots that I’m checking out and yeah, I’m, I’m just looking forward to, I enjoy hunting. Yeah. I don’t really have any pressure to fill a tag anymore at all. They’re, they’re, it’s almost more of a pain once you gotta take care of ’em. So I, yeah. I’m really enjoying just, just looking.
00:35:34:08 –> 00:35:58:14
Kill a good one or chase a good one. Yeah. Until its season’s over. That’s it. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. Well, let’s talk about sheep too. I know that’s something you and I probably spend more time than anything talking about just yaking or texting or whatever. And you’ve alluded a couple of the hunts you got going this year, first off, in n w t taking your bow only. Is that right? Yep. Bow only. So it’s either gonna happen or it’s not. Yeah. With a bow,
00:35:58:20 –> 00:36:16:07
It’s gonna happen or it’s not. Yeah, I mean, I, I, like I said, we’ll, we’ll see how it goes. I’m, yeah, the doll sheep has been my nemesis. I, I’ve got about 50 something plus days hunting with the bow sheep with the bow, and I’ve had one good opportunity. I’ve been pretty picky. I have passing Rams up, but
00:36:16:14 –> 00:36:17:07
Have you, I
00:36:17:07 –> 00:36:24:14
Wouldn’t say a ton of them. I’ve, I’ve had some, I I’ve just generally not had great luck on doll sheep with a bow and yeah. I’m looking forward to it. And
00:36:24:18 –> 00:36:33:18
Have you done any of them sheep? I’m sorry to cut you off, but have you done any, is this the first hunt that you’ve taken? Only a bow for DOL sheep.
00:36:35:09 –> 00:36:43:12
Yeah, this is, do you think it’s Yeah, I get, I mean, I, I, I killed a ram on the last day. I bought Plume on day 10 and just with a rifle.
00:36:43:13 –> 00:36:43:22
Yeah.
00:36:43:22 –> 00:36:47:07
But I mean, there’s always been a rifle there and, and we’ll see, like I said, there’s,
00:36:47:11 –> 00:37:31:08
And I’m not saying that makes the difference, but you and I both know I, I’m the same way. I’ve not done that yet. I’m not to that point yet for, I guess just a, I mean, I’m not killed enough sheep and I’m not trying to say like, I need to kill a bunch before I try one exclusively with a bow, but I, there, there’s a lot riding on it, obviously, both from a time, a financial standpoint, just being in that position to hunt sheep. You know, I, I’m not feeling like, I mean, I don’t know that it ever will be one that I can, you know, play around with, but what, where I’m going with that is, I really think there’s something to that. We all know that there’s people that take that I’ve, I’ve friends that have taken both the bow and a gun and they’ve asked me back and forth, I’m sure you’ve talked to dozens and dozens.
00:37:31:25 –> 00:37:59:17
And generally what I tell ’em, if, if you want to kill it with a bow, you better just take a bow just to, just so that you’re all in because you’re always gonna have that, that fallback. And, and I know that even with myself, that the times that I, you know, I’ve gotta tag this year for myself that, that, that might, you know, that could play in, but I know if I’m gonna kill it with a bow, I’m probably gonna have to just leave the gun at home. So Yeah. I’m excited to see how you do up there. Yeah.
00:37:59:17 –> 00:38:04:25
My two, I, I, I’ve killed Rocky and a stone with a bow and both of ’em, I did not have a firearm
00:38:05:21 –> 00:38:07:20
With you. Yeah. You know, and not option.
00:38:07:26 –> 00:38:40:16
Yeah. It wasn’t, wasn’t an option. I think that’s, I think it’s probably the best way to go and, and I’ve killed four to all sheep, all Rams now, and yeah, I’m, I’m actually enjoying sheep hunting more than I ever have. I mean, this is, this is a really cool trip in N W t. My ultimate goal, whether I hit it or not, but I, you know, it’s not really based on Grand Slams or anything like that anymore. Like I’d love to hunt every area in N W T and every area in the Yukon and, you know, I need a Brooks Range Ram, so I was like, I’m really loving Yeah. Just hunting new country and with new people and this is gonna be a really, really cool trip. And we’ll see how it goes and yeah.
00:38:41:11 –> 00:38:42:11
That’s awesome. It’ll be,
00:38:42:23 –> 00:38:43:23
It’ll be fun. Yeah.
00:38:43:29 –> 00:38:49:05
You going with anybody else from the Q team or is it just you as far as on that? Anybody Paul,
00:38:49:23 –> 00:39:10:00
Paul and Matt are, the camera two cameramen are coming with us and then I’m hunting with, with with Glenda Road. Yeah. Who’s an outfitter there. And then my buddy Johnny Ker is coming up to come as well. So it’s awesome. Should be really fun. And we’re gonna hunt some country we haven’t hunted in a little while and so we’re, I’m really looking forward to it. And it’s totally new for me. New area. Yeah. And then
00:39:10:19 –> 00:39:12:14
Been to Alaska. Yeah, I thought I was on
00:39:12:14 –> 00:39:17:22
The 10th. Yeah. I thought I was a pretty lucky guy this year until I, I mean, man, a stone in the desert in one year. You’re
00:39:18:14 –> 00:39:18:23
Well
00:39:19:17 –> 00:39:21:00
You’re luckiest guy. I know now.
00:39:21:08 –> 00:40:07:17
Well, I, I, I feel lucky and, and like I joke with my wife, it’s kind of first world problems to have juggle things around sheep hunts. I get it. I, I get it. But you know, after, you know, 24 years or whatever, you know, they had to gimme a tag in my home state. And so it, it, I am very blessed and luckily and grateful that I didn’t pick grateful that I grew up with a dad that exposed me to desert sheep. And of course, being from southern Utah, that was the once in lifetime species that I, you know, chose from the get-go. We residents have to choose one of them. I’m sure glad I picked that at the time I did. I thought it would probably be the first and maybe only sheep I’d ever get, I’m gonna put in for desert sheep, you know, this is outta high school, you know, early, you know, late, late teens.
00:40:08:10 –> 00:41:10:25
And it just, the way stuff works out, you can’t predict it. It’s end up gonna be my last ram that I need on this, you know, for all for North American sheep. So I’m very excited about that and have kept my schedule much more open, both from a guiding standpoint as well as other personal hunts that has, that’s been the challenge. That’s been the first world joke that I’ve got. Have to, you know, get rid of some of the deer hunting opportunities that I’ve had or land or tags that I’ve secured just to really focus on it and really don’t, when it’s all over, don’t say, I wish I’d actually not had as many hunts or deer hunts in Nevada or Utah or Colorado. Different things in the way. So Yeah, I, I’m lucky, although the one I did draw, they pretty much had to gimme a tag, but I’ll sure take it. Yeah. But yeah, I start August 1st. So in between kind of you, I guess you’ll come home from M W T for a bit and then you’re gonna go to Alaska where I went last year and that’ll be fun. I know you’re taking another individual from Q U there, you both, I guess, be hunting there together. Is that right? In Alaska?
00:41:12:04 –> 00:41:50:13
Yeah, we’re gonna go up at, yeah, we’re gonna see how, see how that goes, see if we can fall and see if you left anything good up there. It’ll be, it’ll be fun to check out. So. Well that was, yeah, that was really cool to watch, watch your film the other day and, and just kind of see the footage and you know, I, I’ve looked at that stuff on Google Earth and I’ve been reading about that area since I was a little kid. Man. I mean, I let, like, you know, you, you talk about the slang for and some of the sheep that have come out of that kind of country and to, to, to actually, like we booked this four years ago. So it’s, it’s takes a long time to get there. I’m really looking forward to, and there’s just something about being on the ice about the glacier country, like it’s just different. It is,
00:41:50:13 –> 00:41:51:04
It’s, yeah, I’m really
00:41:51:04 –> 00:41:51:20
Looking forward
00:41:51:20 –> 00:42:29:05
To it. It’s one of those places that’s been last year’s my third time there and, and like you said earlier, part of sheep hunting for me, it’s obviously the animal and the respect you have for hunt sheep and the different species of them, but it’s also the places you get to go. And so in my mind, I even talked to you about it, I, I just about, if you remember I was talking to you about going along with you and Jason to Yukon with Chris. You had a, an opening there. I just was, when I was looking to go on another one, I’m like, I wanna hunt. Part of it is you wanna hunt where there’s big rams obviously, but you also wanna hunt something different. But I ended up just, just settling back there for, for I guess the variety of reasons.
00:42:32:02 –> 00:43:30:06
But overall I, you know, I’m, I didn’t don’t get to see different country when you hunt the same place. But I guess I really can’t argue with the result of how that thing unfolded last year and killing the ram that I did for lucky to do that and probably plan on going back every four years just simply because of that. The odds are, you know, you gotta hunt where they are. And not that I’m hunting an inch, I was, I’m just hunting sheep, but I’m also hunting an area like you’ve alluded, when you go there and you see those mountains, you realize Montana’s a little bit different than Utah. But we don’t have mountains in Utah. When you go up to to Alaska, whether it’s the Chuga or the Wrs or even part of the Alaska range, you realize we really don’t have mountains. We have little mountain ranges, you know, in, with valleys in between. They just have some of the most angry unending series of mountain ranges that there are. And it’s, it’s pretty awesome. You feel very small, very small in the universe when you get up there. Yeah.
00:43:30:06 –> 00:44:26:18
There’s, there’s something about getting dropped off knowing you cannot walk out, which I, I I tell people all the time, like, yeah, there’s something about getting dropped off where there’s no way out that changes what you’re doing. And, and I really love those hunts where it’s like, you know, there’s, there’s only one way in and one way out and and you’re not walking out of this place. And that’s, that’s one of those, I love those unsupported hunts where like, you gotta have everything dialed and Yeah. And that’s cool country and I’m, I’m looking forward to it ’cause there’s some great rams there. It’s, it’s, you know, there’s iconic places you wanna hunt all sheep and you know, the atch, the McKinsey mountains, the wrangles, you know, that like of course hopefully we all get to hunt ’em all, but that place right there is gonna be, is pretty special. And, and it’s not, I mean obviously you killed the giant rim last year, but there are bigger and there are smaller, like you could literally kill, you know, the biggest sheep in North America, decades in that
00:44:26:18 –> 00:44:27:11
Country. You could
00:44:27:15 –> 00:44:41:02
Borders the borders some of the biggest un hunted places on the planet that hold the biggest genetics for Dhe. Like that’s, that’s kind of the cool thing about it is you just never know what you’re gonna run into. And, and it’s a real, it’s a real hunt. So I’m really looking forward to it.
00:44:41:14 –> 00:45:56:26
Oh, that’s awesome. Well, while we’re on the sheep thread, I mean, I don’t know, tell me, I mean, you got started probably roughly the same time I did, I think he went with, with Mike Litson in the Alaska Range. But how would you des describe your sheep hunting conversion? I mean, I know to some extent being in the industry that you are, you, you know, when you jumped on board with Jason, when he started q you from the start, you know, the gear you make, the people you associate with when you’re trying to market your gear and all that, all things lead to sheep and sheep hunting places. But still, I run into people every year even that have tried sheep hunting, even a sheep hunt in a place that I thought would be is, is still a dream of mine. And they just don’t, I don’t know. They don’t, yeah, it was fun. But yeah, I don’t know if it’s for me, so it doesn’t, it’s not a given just being immersed in, you know, a sheep, you know, we’ll call it q you, you know, a a a hunting gear, but obviously very niche to mountain hunting. And so you might say that’s totally natural for you to just like sheep hunting. But talk about, I guess why you feel, what you feel sheep, how, why sheep hunting does it for you.
00:45:58:07 –> 00:46:36:13
Yeah, I’ve been into it and I don’t even know why I grew up, you know, here in Montana and, and I used to watch a lot of these rams that came out of the park by Gardner that was like, I thought those were big sheep and we had a, you know, and I, I I don’t know what, you know, if the elk and sheep were the two things that I just didn’t know anybody growing up that knew that much about ’em and just kind of started diving into it. And my dad drew a tag in 2001 in in Perma, which was a, one of the premier areas back then. It’s since not, it’s kind of died off, but, and I remember being up there and just my dad killed it. We killed a beautiful ram. It was an awesome hunt, but I, I remember looking at the sheep going, I don’t know what I’m looking at.
00:46:36:21 –> 00:47:15:07
And yeah, the next time, and I, I really just, you know, I was 21 or two at the time and I went, you know what? If I ever get an opportunity to do this, I wanna know what I’m looking at. I mean, we killed a sheep. It was, it was younger than we thought it was. I couldn’t have told you if it was one 60 or 180. Like I, I, and I just, it struck me at that moment, like, I really wanna learn and know what I’m looking at. So if I ever have an opportunity, which 15 years later I did, I knew exactly what I was looking at, which, which, you know, was a long path to get to that point. I just wanted to learn more about it. And then, you know, I mean, you just, I guess, whatever, you know, I mule deer guys would say the same thing.
00:47:15:08 –> 00:47:53:07
I mean, there’s those old time mule deer guys with these stories about big bucks. And I, I’ve just leaned towards that with, you know, my buddy, my, my mentor in sheep hunting was a guy named Ray T who passed away a year ago. And, and you just being around those guys, you go like, man, that, that’s just an experience that it stays with you their whole life. And so I’ve, I’ve been unusually lucky. I’ve, I’ve really hustled hard to get on some haunts. I started guiding to, to just to get opportunities to look at sheep and be on sheep. And it’s morphed into more than I ever could have could’ve thought it could be. And I, you know, I, I’ve had some opportunities with the job, but I’ve also, you know, I, I plan book a hunt.
00:47:53:12 –> 00:47:54:02
You make your opportunities,
00:47:54:02 –> 00:48:26:25
Opportunities. I plan on book every, every three years. I save money to book my own hunt every three years. My first grand slam, I hustled the entire thing myself. Had nothing to do with work. And, and a little luck, you know, I won a stone sheep hunt. That’s, that’s pretty awesome. I, I, I drew Montana, I traded for a big one horn ram, and I got on a cancellation, my first one to lip. And so I, you know, just, I just, you make it work. It’s just really a lot of fun. And the, the more I’ve been able to do it, the less pressure there is and the more the actual more fun I’ve had doing it. And yeah, just one of those things that’s always gonna test you.
00:48:27:01 –> 00:49:07:05
Yeah. Well, I, I echo a lot of that, you know, my, like I’ve alluded, I grew up in southern Utah, red rock country, south of Moab, little town, Monticello, you know, desert sheep and big elk and big deer is what we had. And you know, that’s what you, I guess you’re the allure of, I remember my dad taking me down in a spot called Red Canyon on the south San Juan put me up on a big boulder while him and a bunch of other folks were gonna sneak up on this big bunch, bunch of sheep. And I don’t know, I had to have been four or five years old. And I, I guess I stayed, put, stayed put. ’cause he, he picked me up off the rock. But I remember while they went up there and bumped the sheep, they ran right down to me.
00:49:07:05 –> 00:50:00:13
And I’m this little kid on this giant boulder, in this tice slope with a sheep, right, right. By me, of course, I, I know I didn’t have binoculars. This would’ve been the, you know, late seventies, you know, or maybe 1980. And I just remember how cool that was to have these sheep down there. And I just hunkered down and watched them come down to me as they were looking behind them at where they had spooked them and just thinking, this is cool. And, you know, one thing leads to another. I I start a, a biology field in, in college. And when I applied for graduate school at Utah State, got selected by a, a, a major professor that, that had funding for a desert sheep and water study in the grand staircase in southern Utah. And I landed that I could’ve, I could’ve got picked to do Coyote wolf study in Yellowstone, which other students there were doing at the time.
00:50:00:18 –> 00:51:06:24
I, I just got lucky to have a graduate study for two years in on the ka peritz plateau, which really pretty much engrossed me with all things desert sheep. And it’s just the doors that got presented then got lucky enough that as soon as I got done with that project, I got hired as the biologist for that exact area. And, you know, just one thing leads to another and, you know, your, your, your fascination with sheep starts. Everybody has a starting place. And for me, you know, when I left, when I left state employment, you know, and, and the thought hit me of, ah, maybe I ought to get my, get a guide license so I can actually hunt sheep. Because like you’ve alluded your dad drew, and then if you just set back and waited for the next, you know, rocky hunt or desert hunt that you’re ever gonna go on. I mean, you only drew three or four years ago, you know what I’m saying? If you don’t make something happen, it’s probably not gonna happen. It, it isn’t. You know, some people, we talked to ’em every year here at Epic Outdoors, but, you know, I drew a desert tag last year and I got a you this year. I mean, there’s, there’s those guys, but for the most part, pretty
00:51:06:24 –> 00:51:07:08
Rare at all.
00:51:07:16 –> 00:51:50:05
Yeah, you’ve gotta make some things happen. And the thin horn stuff up north, you know, you know, all of us non-residents are gonna have to make something happen when, when financially and time and physically and family situations and working all that line, you gotta put some money on the line. And like I said, it was 2000, I think it was like 2006 or oh seven for me. I remember the first five grand I put down towards my first doll sheep hunt. It felt like at the time, even though I had my wife’s blessing, I’d talked about it for four or five years. We were dirt poor. I was probably 30 years old. I don’t know what when I was at the time, but it was maybe 33. And it felt like the last dime I had to my name, I was so scared to put that, you know, five grand.
00:51:50:05 –> 00:52:32:10
And it was a cancellation hunt, five grand. It was at the time, you know, mid two thousands. It was, you know, in the time where, where I was in life, it was just one of those things that I, I’d worked a lot for, saved a lot for when the opportunity came, came, I jumped on it. But it was, it, it was something now that I look back on to the, all of these things, the graduate school, my time as a biologist, you know, starting to guide sheep hunters as a means to just hunt sheep more than, let’s face it a handful of times in your life was, is all. I didn’t foresee myself, you know, when I was a kid, I’m gonna become a sheep hunting guy and I’m gonna be off things sheep. I didn’t think of that. It just kind of happens and it’s hard to explain. Well, you gotta,
00:52:32:25 –> 00:53:22:06
You gotta put some work you won’t accidentally end up sheep hunting it. So I, I think one of the reasons I really enjoy it is that it takes effort. It takes sacrifice. I mean, you talk about the five, five grand in 2008 when I went to, on my first doll sheep hunt, I left a guide with more money than I had in the bank as a kid when I, when I went home. Literally, yes. He had more, he, I left him with more than I had in net worth going home. And it’s like that was that the smartest thing to do? Probably not at the time, you know, economy was tanking. Yeah. You I was unemployed at the time. Yeah. I was unemployed at the time. Economy had tanked. And it’s just like, well, you know what, you’re not gonna look back and go like, I should have put it in a 4 0 1 k and that, that, you know, you’re not just, you’re just not gonna accidentally end up hunting cheap.
00:53:22:06 –> 00:53:58:26
And that’s why I love it because it’s just, it takes some sacrifice. You have to plant like even, yeah. None of it comes easily, even even the, even the really expensive ones. But it’s a lot of money no matter how much money you make. I mean, I guys that are far wealthier than anything I’d ever see, even them, it’s, it’s a big, it’s a big, it’s a big nut to crack. So, but the things that you look back on and that you love the most are the hardest. Yeah. The most sacrifice that, you know, again, I, you know, your deer tag every year that you get as a general tag doesn’t mean nearly as much as your one doll sheet pine opportunity. Yeah. And for whatever reason that is. So, yeah. Well,
00:53:58:26 –> 00:54:50:10
And, and maybe this was like for you, you know, that first hunt, which, you know, you never know if that’s your only doll sheep of your life. Like you said, it feels like the chips are the center of the table. And here we go and you know, here we are, you know, you’re 10, 15 years later, whatever it is, and you’ve hunted dolls a few more times and gonna go again this year. So it wasn’t your one and only, but, but it feels, everyone that I go on, even this, this other one I’m gonna go to BC on this year feels like, oh, this is probably gonna be my, my, you know, I’d never thought I’d go hunt another stone sheep just doors open, opportunities open and something I didn’t feel like I could pass up. Just like every other sheep hunt that I guess you and I maybe try to go on, is when an opportunity hits you in the face, you just go and you don’t know, I, I’m, I’m viewing this and this probably my, my only other stone sheep hunt.
00:54:50:24 –> 00:55:40:23
Maybe it’s not, but I’m treating it like that and moving all the chips to the table, not just from a, Hey, I wanna kill the biggest ram in North America, just that I’m gonna be physically prepared. I’m re I’m ready to go. I’m going to an area I feel is, you know, not getting hunted maybe as hard as it can or should or would or could. And a Joe Blow guy off the street, like, like myself might kill, kinda like the place in Alaska might kill as good a ram as anybody in North America. And not that I feel like I’m spoiled and only need a good ram. I’m not going up there with any preconceived notions of what I’m gonna bring home. But when I see the ram that I want, I’m gonna know it. And you know, if that’s the last stone sheep pun I ever get to go on, for whatever reason, we can’t foresee. But when you can do stuff, just move the chips to the table, center of the table and go for it.
00:55:42:05 –> 00:55:49:05
Yeah. It’s, I I tell you, I’ve, I’ve had more opportunities than just about anybody I know. And, and, but they all feel pretty special. Like, yes,
00:55:49:16 –> 00:55:49:23
You
00:55:49:23 –> 00:56:21:17
Never, you never get up to a ram you’ve taken, or, or you know, I mean the majority of sheep I’ve been on have been other people’s homes. And I, yeah, if I don’t have a sheep hunt for myself, I’m going with somebody else no matter what. If I get a plane ticket, whatever I gotta do, they all feel special. And, and then when you do get a, you know, an opportunity for yourself, or like in 15 when I drew a rocky tag or man, those ones are, you know, you can truly appreciate ’em. ’cause you realize over decades how rare those opportunities are. You do hear about people drawn twice or winning, but that generally doesn’t happen to guys like us. It
00:56:21:17 –> 00:56:21:21
Doesn’t,
00:56:22:00 –> 00:56:33:04
I mean, or to many people. I mean, it’s such a small percentage of people that get those opportunities. So yeah, you just take advantage when you can. And yeah, you never know when, when you’re, you know, yeah, they’re,
00:56:33:05 –> 00:57:19:25
Yeah, you have bad luck or whatever. You, there’s people all the time and there, you know, we’re in our forties, you get bad luck and blow out a knee back, you know, whatever, and then you’re set back for five or 10 years and then age is catching up on you. I mean, just when, while you can do stuff, whatever it is within reason. And, and I will put, put that, ’cause my wife listens to these podcasts and she, she knows everything I do. Both of our eyes are wide open going into those. But when you can do stuff, do it. Just, just don’t put put it off. I mean, we’ve talked about that ourselves. I mean, you’ve alluded to, to Ray and others, you know, I’ve had some sheep clients the last five years that have just had some just been dealt some bad cards of life.
00:57:20:02 –> 00:58:12:05
You, that’s a simple way you can put it. And if they hadn’t have done some of the things that they had done when they did ’em thinking, you know, that they had plenty of time to do ’em, it’d been too late. You know, it would’ve been, you know, had a client last year and that yeah. That became deal, that became painfully obvious during the course of that hunt. You know, he passed away three and a half months after he killed his ram. And so it just, you just don’t know. And you know, something means something to you. Go for it. Do it within reason. Don’t, don’t compromise your family, don’t compromise your job. But, but if you wanna hunt sheep, you just gotta say, there’s, there’s a way I’m gonna do it. And, and like I said, I, I look forward, like you said, to, you know, the dozen or more clients I get to take every year, you know, it wasn’t, I didn’t in intend to get into sheep guiding as, as, hey, I want to, I wanna guide a lot of sheep hunter.
00:58:12:06 –> 00:58:49:17
I just wanted to hunt some sheep. And now it turns into, frankly, more than I can frankly add to my schedule. Every year we end up turning clients away, regrettably, just for timing or situations with what I got in our schedule. And you know, you’re not gonna take somebody if you’re not gonna do their hunt as good a justice as you would on your own hunt. But I know you’ve been on a part of a bunch of special rams, not just in Montana, but in, you know, other places as well. Whether it be Mexico, whether it be New Mexico, whether it be California, they’re all, they’re all, I don’t know, if you do it, you’ll figure it out. Yeah. They’re all, most people figure it out. Yeah.
00:58:49:17 –> 00:59:33:12
They’re all pretty special. And yeah. And it is funny, you get to a point where, like you said, with the time I basically, aside from a couple Rockies a year, I, I don’t hardly guide anymore. I don’t have the time with the work. And that’s, yeah, it is regrettable, but you, you make the best of it. And yeah, I get on everyone I can, but yeah, I’d love to. I’m hoping, I’m hoping you kill a great big old, great big old desert down there and, and yeah, your stone sheep hunting will be, will be awesome to see what you get, what you can turn up. And that’s what the, the stone sheep hunting is such a fun thing thing because you know, there’s just not that many of ’em, but you just never know what you’re gonna bump into. Yes. You wanna talk about nobody’s got them prec, scouted, nobody’s seen something. No. There’s flying doesn’t help like you got
00:59:33:12 –> 00:59:34:29
Going in timber. Timber in places. You gotta go
00:59:34:29 –> 00:59:36:19
Dig one of those things out. Yep, yep.
00:59:37:11 –> 00:59:50:23
That’s right. Well, let’s talk also about before we, you know, we can’t, you’ve killed a couple. I know you’ve killed a, I don’t wanna say a handful, but three or four brown bears. It feels like that I know about two
00:59:51:03 –> 00:59:51:10
Two
00:59:51:10 –> 00:59:55:07
Really? Okay. Maybe the others are griz and Brown Bear. I lumped some
00:59:55:07 –> 00:59:56:26
Grizzly and two brown bears. Yep. Okay.
00:59:57:27 –> 01:00:50:08
But, but you killed it. Just a, just a tank last year, brown bear with Lance Kronberg and his crew and you know, we, when we ran your ad in our, in our magazine Epic Outdoors, which is just within seconds of post arrow release and you hunker down and, and your trademark No, no hat, you know, I guess your blonde hair did, your blonde hair did blend into the, to the yellow grass there at that time. But that was a pretty epic picture. Got a lot of guys ask us if that was legitimate. And I’m like, yeah, you wanna see the YouTube video, just go to Q U’S website and watch that. And I’m sure I know you and I joked about that too. I’ve watched it many times, you know, of course me and my boy have watched it together and what an epic hunt that was to come together and what a, just a giant bear.
01:00:50:10 –> 01:01:35:16
And tell me, let’s talk a little bit about these giant bears, you know, and this year, I don’t know how much is out of the hat, but you killed it just a giant grizzly as well this spring. And so tell me what it is about these big bears that seems like you’ve got, I don’t wanna call it a new ’cause it, ’cause it obviously isn’t a new, I guess, desire to hunt these giant bears because if you’ve watched the video on your, on your brown bear, that’s something that was fostered years and years ago. But tell me, I guess after we just got done talking about sheep, how do these bears fit in and what is it about them that’s, I mean, you’ve obviously killed a couple of giants in this last year and a half, but what is it about them that really trips your trigger?
01:01:36:09 –> 01:02:24:07
Well, yeah, the bears are, I I would say if, if we’re talking about an Olympic podium, the, the bears have slid into, onto the podium now, like big bears, elk and sheep are, are what I love to hunt now. And, you know, and the, the bear thing is honestly, it’s one of those things until you see one and actually get to put your hands on one, like you can, you can look at those photos, you can look at videos, but until you actually grab a hold of one, you, you just can’t imagine how big they are. They’re like, it’s shocking how, how enormous they’re, I I I love hunting anything in Alaska. And, and yeah, they, the, the bow hunting and brown bears is, I guess why I love it is ’cause you just, you just can’t fake it. Like you have to be contained, you have to be the mentality that it takes to hold your composure.
01:02:25:08 –> 01:02:58:16
And I didn’t always have that. I mean, I, I messed up on one in 2003 and I thought about it for a long, long time and yeah, it’s just, you, you can’t fake that one. You just gotta go do it. You don’t know how you’re gonna react. But it’s, it’s just a, it, it, it just stirs something in you to chase a giant predator like that where, you know, at the end of the day, that thing can beat you. It it can maul you, it can, like they’re a dangerous animal, there’s no doubt about it. They’re scary up close. But to take one of the bows, you know, that’s, that’s kind of where man, that’s where that’s the
01:02:58:16 –> 01:02:59:00
Pinnacle man.
01:02:59:01 –> 01:03:50:23
Oh yeah. I, I enjoyed, that’s where the, I enjoy the challenge and I enjoy, I thoroughly enjoy how I react in those situations and just knowing how you’re gonna react like anything. And, and it’s, it’s funny, you know, I mean like, I I it’s a combination of things too. I mean I, you know, I couldn’t do that unless I knew that the guy backing me up had it totally covered. I mean, when, you know, like Lance and I have a really close relationship. I know he is got me covered, and when you get in that type of situation, you have to absolutely trust who’s got you backed up. And it allows me to freedom to, to to, to make a move or to get on one of those big bears and, and make it happen. And, and sometimes it’s not gonna work out, you know, but they’re, there’s just an incredible thing to hunt. I mean, I think people look at those and go like, you know, like there’s some kind of cartoonish thing or like, they are an absolute, just, that’s the biggest land predator planet on the
01:03:50:23 –> 01:03:51:06
Planet. I mean,
01:03:51:17 –> 01:04:03:11
They are, they, I mean if you see a, it, it’s amazing to think about, but like a brown bear is the big, is the largest land predator on the, on the planet. If you see a brown, a, a, a brown bear that’s the size of a tiger or a lion, it’s a dink,
01:04:03:13 –> 01:04:03:29
It’s a dink.
01:04:04:26 –> 01:04:31:16
That’s how big they are. They are the biggest me eater that’s out there. And they’re, they’re just, they’re, they’re, it’s, it’s an incredible, it’s not just, it’s just incredible to see ’em. And you know, they’re old and they’re giant. Like I said, if you ever get a chance to see one in person, it’s shocking how big they’re, and it’s just an incredible hunt. It’s, the elements are, you know, it’s horrible weather generally, and, and they’re just pretty rare, you know, so it’s pretty, it’s, it’s just a fun, fun deal.
01:04:31:23 –> 01:05:17:20
Well, I, I, you know, I’ve talked to Lance many times about possibly putting something together, but I just, for whatever reason it, maybe it is because I haven’t had a close encounter or an up close and personal encounter or something yet to really, you know, which is sometimes what it takes like we’ve just talked about with sheep. I mean, frankly, you start having some close encounters or something that, that then your mind almost romantic romanticizes about what that event really was and what you want the next one to be like and all that. I haven’t had that yet, so I haven’t had that, I haven’t booked a hunt for a, either a big grizzly or, or a brown bear yet. I assume that will happen at some point for me in the future, but I haven’t, but, but watching your video, you know, there was some pretty cool moment.
01:05:17:20 –> 01:05:58:02
There was some pretty rawness there. I guess when you let the arrow go, your initial reaction was to turn and you know, you did it, you know, I did, I did. And you look back at the crew at Lance and of course he wasn’t watching you. He’s watching a bear with an arrow in him, but, but, and then you turn back and then you kind of crunch down and then he starts running away, you jump up again, but they’re like, oh shit, I better turn back and I better make sure this thing’s not coming at me again. It was, it was a pretty cool two or three back and forths, you know what I mean? And, and I’m sure you had the emotions were just hitting, you’re like, I did it. I know I center punched it, but yeah, he’s not down yet, but I want to celebrate with my crew and all. I better hide, you know, it was, it was all that running 50 miles an hour, you know, within about,
01:05:58:02 –> 01:06:18:29
Yeah, it wasn’t really, it, it was funny how it, how it happened is Lance told me to go, we both simultaneously said go, it was, it was in a pretty, you know, he was down off the beach there and he was on the beach and I was on the top and it, it was like, it was obvious I had to, you know, I needed to just make it happen quickly and, and I actually wasn’t celebrating. I told Lance, I will let you know if I hit him good if, if I don’t hit him good. Yep. Because it
01:06:19:25 –> 01:06:21:06
Like that situation it seems maybe Yeah,
01:06:21:08 –> 01:06:27:18
Now, now that when you, when you go back and watch it now knowing that, like I told her, I said, I’ll let you know if I that I hit him good. I just wanted to confirm that’s
01:06:27:18 –> 01:06:28:14
What that was about. You’ll
01:06:28:14 –> 01:06:31:24
Know, that’s why I get pretty animated is that I got him and
01:06:31:27 –> 01:06:32:18
He’s gonna die. Yeah.
01:06:32:20 –> 01:07:05:11
And in that, yeah, in that scenario, if I don’t let Lance know that I got him good, when that bear turns around and comes up the bank, if he doesn’t know it that I hit him, good gonna, he’s gonna blow aways gonna shoot. Yeah. And, and he should, I mean in all, in all likelihood, and that’s the thing that I think people don’t understand about, about those big bears and those kind of encounters and, and, and especially with archery is, you know, you’re asking a guide to make a decision based on a different angle on something. I mean, you’re talking, when you let an arrow go, you know, he’s gotta make a decision in a split second based on a different angle, based on what he thinks you saw. Is
01:07:05:11 –> 01:07:22:22
That a lethal arrow or not? Yeah. And and my guy, the, the bear’s gonna get away wounded, I got shot bear or he is going to worse, he’s gonna turn and we’re gonna have a problem because there was no cover on that hunt. And, and for everybody, no, doesn’t know this hunt we’re talking about, go to your website, check out this Brendan bear
01:07:22:22 –> 01:07:40:17
Yeah’s, it’s called the Footsteps of Giants. It’s on Kuku and yeah, it’s just, yeah, it’s awesome. Go check it out. It’s, it’s pretty cool. And like I said, it’s a, it’s just, it was just a thrill. But yeah, the, the thing about the hunting, those kind, like I said, I just aired a, a really big grizzly bear with Lance. Yeah. About a month ago was another, it’ll be coming out and fell another incredible encounter.
01:07:40:17 –> 01:07:46:23
Tell us a little bit about that. Unless you don’t want to spill the beans too much. It was, it, it was a giant, it was awesome bear and that was a, yeah,
01:07:46:23 –> 01:08:29:22
Eight foot nine really big bear, similar situation. And, and, and again, I’m just, I’m, I’m you, you know, it’s kind of one of those things when you find somebody that you can hunt with, that you both are kind of on the exact same page and you don’t have to say anything. You just kind of know like you’re, you’re thinking in the same way. It’s a pretty cool thing because that’s, Lance and I have hunted together enough and he, you know, it, it’s like I said, I it gives you the ability and, and, and Lance may not be that guy for you. You know, there’s, there’s a, there’s a lot of really good ground brown bear guys out there or grizzly bear guys that, but when you find somebody that you’re on the same page, it sure makes it a lot easier. And similar deal. Just got, got a little bit of free rein and, and made a big pretty good move on a, on a really big bear and ended up that air ’em at 22 yards.
01:08:29:22 –> 01:09:13:23
And yeah, they’re, the grizzlies are, they’re a little bit different than brown bears. They’re definitely got a spicier attitude to towards ’em. They’re, they’re a little, they’re a little meaner initially, I think it’s a little hungrier country that they live in. They’re not as much of a scavenger. So yeah, they’re, yeah, it was pretty cool. They’re, again, I, I just, I really enjoy, you know, you, you see people how they react and some react well and some don’t. And, and at the end of the day, if you, you know, I, I love hunting ’cause I, I wanna know how I’m gonna react. I I, I do this ’cause it’s a challenge and, and pushing yourself to the edge where it does matter. It is a lot of pressure. It is something that could go bad and you wanna see how you perform in that situation, whether it’s athletics or playing
01:09:13:23 –> 01:09:15:11
Or anything. I was gonna say, I was say it’s a, like,
01:09:15:11 –> 01:09:17:15
It’s a high, it’s high level stuff and and it’s
01:09:17:17 –> 01:10:05:20
Very like athletic. Yeah. It’s a lot like a game seven of, you know, something n b a finals or World Series. I mean, in a way it’s like this is all the preparation, all the shooting, all the gear, all the everything. Here it is. And there’s a lot that can go. You’re right. And there’s a lot that could go really bad, you know, and, you know, failing is, is not just a big buck or bull wh engine. He blows out this is a, this is a situation between you and, and your guides and your crew and everybody else there. So that’s awesome. I mean it’s very, it surprised me a little bit when, when you got home and you hit me. I, you know, for me killing the kind of bears that you just did, I would feel like can’t get better. And it may not, and I’m not saying that if you go hunt bears again, it’s like I’m trying to top both of those in size or whatever.
01:10:06:11 –> 01:10:49:17
But I, I was a little surprised that you said that you’re probably, that’s gonna be on your schedule for every year for the near future. Because for most people it feels like you kill a giant brown bear, a giant grizzly. Especially with a bow like I did it, you know, that’s the pinnacle. I can’t get better. And I would argue that a couple of those two bears you just shot it probably can’t or likely won’t, you know, in terms of just how they all happen and the size of bears. But what is it about, I guess you want to keep, keep hunting them. I mean, you’ve talked a little bit about it, but it feels more like, I dunno, for sheep or big deer, for me it’s like I can never get enough. It feels like if I check those off on a big, big brown bear grizzly with my bow, it’s like, man, I did it. But, but sounds like man, you’re ready for more.
01:10:50:28 –> 01:11:30:00
Yeah. It’s just, it’s the challenge and, and it’s the adventure. It’s the area, you know, I mean I I I would like to hunt, you know, a a a a Brooks range grizzly and you know, some of the other ones see some of those other, other bears and, and reality I like. Yeah, it’s kind of funny. I don’t have really checklist stuff anymore. Like I need to get one. I’m not collecting animals or anything. I’m, I’m collecting adventures and, and really cool country and, and, and big stuff. So it’s, it’s just, it’s a heck of a challenge. I was actually second shooter on this one. It was pretty, pretty interesting, huh? I got invited as an add-on. I was second shooter. We got my buddy Will’s son killed a, killed a really big bear about eight hours before I, I got a chance to stalk this bear.
01:11:30:00 –> 01:12:15:24
So I was actually second shooter with a, with a bow. I was just kind of an add along. So it was, it was just really cool and yeah, it’s, it’s, it’s just, there’s not a lot of guys that have done it and, and it’s fun to, it’s just really, it’s just really a challenge to, to really control yourself and, and you know, and bear hunting. It’s like, it’s so hit or miss too. And we could have literally gone 10 days without seeing one or you could, there was a hot sow in the area and we had a couple of big Bos come strolling through and you’re in the right place at the right time. Just like anything. And yeah, it’s, it’s, that’s awesome. It’s, it’s, it’s very cool. I hope everybody gets a chance to do it. It’s, it’s, it’s definitely misunderstood and it’s a real adventure. Like, it, it looks from the outside, it is like, man, that’s crazy. Like it’s, it really is an adventure. It’s, it’s worth doing. Very cool.
01:12:15:29 –> 01:12:30:29
You know. That’s awesome. Well, what else we’ve, we’ve talked about, well if you’re bear hunt, you just got done doing, you got a couple of sheep hunts and an elk hunt planned for this year. Anything else on tap for 2019? We need to be looking forward to a report on
01:12:32:01 –> 01:13:07:25
Yeah, we, I mean just work as far as hunting wise, anything that’s gonna fill me out pretty good. Yeah, that’s good. You know, there’s lot of, lots of work. We got some, got some really cool new products coming at KU and some, some new stuff coming. So q and I out for that and yeah man, just, just staying after it. Just keeping, keeping the focus and yeah, enjoying the hang and yeah, take my, take my son out this fall a few times hopefully and my daughter’s about four now, just about to turn four. She’ll be ready to go on a little trip. So yeah. Awesome. Aside from the big trips, just trying to trips, trying to get the next generation addicted like I am,
01:13:07:27 –> 01:13:57:04
Balance it all out. Yep. Family, wife and home state stuff there. That’s awesome. Well we sure look forward to, you know, some of your adventures. We usually see about, see ’em, see about ’em on Q’S website or Instagram or things like that. The ram hustles is not the most actively poster on Instagram, but that, that’s funny. You probably have more followers than anybody I know with zero posts. So that’s that. And maybe that’s kind of a feather in your cat, but it’s, I chuck that every time but, and I know you don’t keep track of that, but I chuckle every time I, if you comment on something mine or something like that, I’m like, God, he probably has more followers than anybody I know is zero posts. But it’s awesome. And wish you the best on a couple of those hunts. I know, I, yeah, same to
01:13:57:04 –> 01:13:57:07
You man
01:13:57:26 –> 01:14:46:17
In three about trips. Yeah, I am. I am too. So it’ll be fun to compare notes when we get home and, and I’m sure we’ll do a podcast from you with you later this fall about just how everything ended up. Couple sheet punts there. I know we’ve got some other things we’re working on with you guys at Q u along with Justin Schaeffer. Yep. Kind of a wounded warrior hunt that we’re putting together with you guys that will be correct highlighting here later on this fall. So looking forward to that. We appreciate your support of us. You guys, like I said, we, we’ve known you from day one. Literally we knew Jason prior to day one, KU obviously back in the form his former life as we’ll call it in our former life where Jason and I were at the time. But appreciate a partnership.
01:14:46:17 –> 01:15:29:04
We’ve been able to be a part of love more than anything just relating to and talking hunting and things like that. And I think our listeners, you know, it’s pretty apparent talking to you about your drive, about doing things that are hard. I, you know, there’s some hunts that we go on, you and I both know that are, that are easy and then that’s others that you know, that are like, well this is, this is gonna, you know, get up the game to try to make this happen. And yeah, I think there is, you know, at various stages of hunting life, you know, you go through different motivating factors of why you go and do what you do and yeah, I think we’ve talked a lot about that today and, and wish you luck on some of your hunts along with some of those that you’re going with this year.
01:15:29:21 –> 01:15:50:00
Well, same to you. I’m looking forward to seeing you. How turn till how all your stuff turns out this fall and yeah, any need of the, any questions anybody has about any gear or anything hit hit me up anytime Brendan be at cu you or, or get the customer service or anything. Yep. We, we appreciate, appreciate the business, appreciate the opportunity and thanks very much. Okay, man,
01:15:50:01 –> 01:15:52:01
To you guys soon. All be safe. All right. All.
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