EP 165: How to Optimize Your Hunting Season

I think we need to talk about a little bit like the kind of the planning and prep mostly thinking and planning actually I guess all things in planning preseason scouting is going to familiarize yourself with the unit anything to do with Western big game.

Welcome to the epic outdoors podcast powered by Under Armour. Hey everybody Jason Carter Adam Bronson even got John Peterson in the house today along with Chris Peterson keyboard John what are you doing here. Hey we've got an exciting announcement I'm just here to make sure you get the details right exactly why we don't want to screw it up that's right all right all right as we get started here we want to thank Under Armour for sponsoring this podcast working with us here at epic outdoors and sponsoring about everything we do they are the title sponsor if you want to call it powered by Under Armour I'm not as deep a voice as Chris when he does that he does a good job at it good job Chris all right as we get started we do want to talk about Under Armour for a minute other than just a mention at the front Bronson kick it off. I thought that's what John was here for. Oh John.

No I'm here to police if you guys do it right. Well we do. Who knows what's going to be said. No we've got a pretty awesome deal. Not very often you get 40% off somewhere and we've got some codes for podcast listeners for 40% off UA gear you've got to buy it at UA.com and they're for a one-time use up to $2,000. So load your card up up to 2k. Load your card up. Take 40% off. Take 40% off and check out. The first thing it just screams gimmick to me. I'm just telling you there is no gimmicks here. There's no gimmick. They expire at the end of June. Two grand you go on their website you plug them play and buy some codes. So I guess if there's a catch you've got to use them now. By June 30. By June 30th. End of June. Yeah. So you got them up. But once you get that code it's yours until you use it. So how do you get the code John?

You go to our website epicoutdoors.com right underneath the header at the top you'll see a button and it'll say get your code. You go there you just put in your name and there's one per household so put in your address. Can't load up on these and sell them on the black market at 20% off. Can't do any of that. One per household. I guess you could. I take cash. You're going to be tracked. Sell them on eBay. No. Don't do that. You also need a code. And to get the code you have to listen to this podcast. At least to this point. Yeah. At some point. Are you going to tell them the code right now? Yeah. So the code is EPIC UATEAM. All one word. No spaces. No hashtag. I like the hashtag but it's the hashtag without the hashtag. Yeah. Yeah. That sounded very simple. So this code you're going to go to epicoutdoors.com. There's going to be a place on there. A button. Right John? A button.

That you're working on right now. Yep. You're going to push a button. Push a button. And then there's going to be a code. You type in the code and then it's going to ask you all kinds of personal information. Social security number, date of birth, things like that. Right? No. No. No. No. See this is why I'm here. Very simple. What? Name. Just name. Address. Address. Email. Yeah. And it will immediately give you your code. Wow. That's right. And if you put that in there you'll get the discount code. Hard to believe. Promo code EPIC UATEAM. That's what you need to know. EPIC UATEAM. And we'd love it if you give us a shout out on social media. Use that hashtag as well. EPIC UATEAM. That'd be awesome. Get the code. Go on there and give it to your wife and tell her for Father's Day you want a bunch of Wow. That's a great idea. Yeah. It's coming up in June here. Hey.

It's the best day of the year. It's the best. It's the most underrated holiday there is. There's no question about that. Undercelebrated. Undercelebrated 100%. We need to get Jan in here quick. No. She's going to edit this thing. We'll see if it makes it. I mean Mother's Day you got to have like a freaking you know celebration. Careful John. Careful John. You got to make breakfast. And it's warranted. Careful. You got to give gifts. You're treading on tonight. I'm just telling you. If they say I don't need gifts this year. I'm tapping. That's a lot. They're full of crap. That's a lie. Yeah. Because afterwards you pay. They need gifts. It's just tips for you young guys out there. Diamonds and cash. Diamonds and cash. Get it. And then I got the double whammy because I married a French girl and French Mother's Day is not on the same day. Come on. Does she want to celebrate both days?

Absolutely. Who wouldn't? When is it in France? So it changes. Because it's usually the last weekend in May. Depends on how the women feel. So it's like two weekends in May she gets the middle one and then another one a week or two later. And it depends on the year, right? So whenever the bulk of the women feel good or bad, they need to be on June 7th or something. But it's right around there. But it's never the exact same day. Okay. Here's a question. Does the France Mother's Day ever line up with the American Father's Day? Because you're screwed if that happens. No. I am screwed if that happens. But no, it doesn't. Can you imagine? France Mother's Day lines up with the American Father's Day. Sorry, John. One holiday trumps the other. We all know that. They deserve it. They deserve all the accolades. This is true. They do deserve it. And I'm just saying there's a little inequity there.

No. Moving right along. Yeah, I'm not even going to go there. All right, John. So we got Epic UA Team. Go to epicoutdoors.com. The code is EPIC UA Team. You're going to get 40% off. There is a cap on these. There is a cap. It's a heavy cap, though. But when they're gone, they're gone. We can't make print more. They're done. They're injected in the coding of the website while they're last. That's right. If you listen to this near the time it comes out and you go on, you will likely get one. If you wait a day, you might not. Weeks or so, maybe not. Yep. Yeah. That's right. So anyway. Get them. Great ideas. All right. Moving on. What else are we going to talk about? That's awesome. Awesome giveaway, though. It is. Glad to do that for a partner. And it's a great time of year, Bronson. There's a lot of tags coming out.

People are gearing up and wanting to, you know, fill their closets full of camo. And at that, camo and or training gear. Time to work. Get ready for your hunts. That's right. Physically. Golf shoes. Oh, good point. I need another set. You're a golfer. Yeah. You were speaking of. Okay. First guy I've ever known that's out shopping for golf carts. Bronson. Huh?

But again. Hey. Again, we don't know a lot of guys that live on golf courses. I've done some. I've done the math. And it's going to pencil out. I paid. My time is. I have to plug. Always used to walk. Is there a special plug-ins? They all come with the charger. No side-by-sides on the golf course? No. You can't. 110. 110. Like you plug it into the wall. You don't need an electrician to come get you a golf cart charger like, say, a Tesla. No. No. Just charging your batteries. But yeah. Use it. Plug it in. Where you live on the golf carts, you could even charge, if other people wanted to charge their golf cart, you could. Lots of people. Provide that service. No. I'm not going to be like Walmart where it has the. Somebody runs out of battery. A little charger station. Bronson's out there with a jumper battery trying to limp them off the golf cart.

I mean, there's services he could provide by living in that location. No. I just like to golf. And because of time constraints, I tend to golf with a cart because you get done faster. You fly around. You golfing your dog. And on to the next thing. And we're getting older, Bronson. You and I are getting older. Like, just let's admit it. Well, it's mainly the time. We're finding ourselves. I like to go and do and get back to whatever else I'm doing. The ball joints in my truck needed to be replaced. I didn't do them. I'm old now. I don't want to do them. I didn't do them when I was young. I didn't. Well, I didn't. So, anyway. But, yeah. Lots to use those cards on. Whether it's camo, training gear, shoes to train in. It's that time of year. The ideal thing is to use them. Get your legs hard for the hunts. For camo. That's what they're designed for. So, anyway. Boots.

If you do want to see the, if you want to narrow it down to hunting, then you go to, what is it? UAHunt.com. Yeah. Pull it up for you. Just type in a keyword of a baron or ridge reaper or whatever, and up comes all this hunting gear. It's going to be awesome. And as time goes on, more and more gear will be available, and things change. That's a .com. That doesn't mean that's everything that they have available. That's just on .com. There's obviously stuff at Sportsman's Warehouses and other places where these codes are not valid. Not valid. This is only valid on their website. But if you don't see what you like, go on in two weeks. You'll probably see what you like. You know what I'm saying? So, all right. But you do have until June 30th as long as you can wait to use them. Epic UA team. You can get codes only here. It's the only place they're available on epicoutdoors.com. All right?

Anything else, John? That's it, man. All right. Go do good things. Get that link working. Get out of here. I don't like a guy looking over our shoulder and making sure we're doing right. Well, you were talking about socials and data bursts and blood type, and John had to step in. I know, and I'm glad he was here. Thank you for that. But that's enough. Okay. All right. Where are we at? What draws are still open? Let's go through the short list. It's getting shorter by the day. Well. It feels like as far as what's still open. We've got a deadline coming up on Monday, June 1st. That's for the non-resident deer and antelope. Which is. As well as resident elk deer and antelope, I believe, for Wyoming residents. That's right. All three. That's right. But that's coming up on the 1st. What do we got the next day? What do we got? California, June 2nd. Dude. Yeah. We're going to have Iowa.

The 7th of June. We got Idaho deer, elk, and antelope June 5th. And then we've got Arizona June 9th. Yeah. So we're. But that's. Then you're done. Then you're done. Then you're done. Those are from memory, Bronson. Hey, by the way. Disclaimer. Those are from memory. If we. Have no cheat sheets in here, but I'm pretty sure they're right. But they're 100% right. But if we blew it, we're not liable. That's right. All right. 2020. If you listen to this in 2021, those dates were only pertinent to the 2020 calendar. Podcasts live forever. They do. But the dates aren't always right. They do. Is that what you're saying? Well, we've had people call us. Think about it. And they've pulled up last year's magazine. And I don't know. This isn't right. And I missed the deadline. Y'all owe me a point. Okay. We'll pull a string.

Speaking of a point, speaking of an Arizona issue, let's talk about that right now. The hunting license issue. Yeah. You can apply with not having a valid hunting license. It does not red flag warn you. It pulls in a license number. You think you're good, right? Yeah. No. That's an old license number. Could be an old license number. Could be expiring even from the time when you applied and the deadline. You have to have a valid license on June 9th. The deadline day. That's right. It has to be valid then. Whether you bought one in February and it's still valid. Whether you bought one last June 10th and it's valid until June 9th this year, you're good. But don't be fooled thinking you're going to get a two-for-one if it just let you apply online. It's a two-step process there. You have to go buy a hunting license, save the number, and have that valid on June 9th. All right?

And you can do it now. You can do it now and plug the date in. That's what I did with my kid. I went on. Okay? He's going to turn 18. Or go apply them all right now. That's right. You can go apply them right now. And he's going to turn 18 June 12th. And I could go get him a license on June 9th. Or I could do it now and just call it valid on June 9th. He's good for a full year. Until June 8th next year. That's right. And so, anyway, as a youth. So, a little nuance there. Get the youth price. Five freaking dollars. And if you've applied already and you're not sure, you're like, oh, it didn't make me buy one. I guess I'm in. You need to go to their online license lookup, purchase, reprint option. And if it pulls it up, it'll show you when your license is going to expire. If it doesn't pull you up, Jason, what does that mean? Your license is expired. Yeah. And you can. Yes, that's right.

And you need to go buy it. That's right. That's right. Or you can go pull it up. And like you said, it gives you that old number, the dates. You can just verify. See it for yourself. And if you have 14 kids like we do, Bronson, you've got to go look them all up. And I look them up June 8th, June 9th, June 2nd. I'm stressed. You go. I try to look it up my family now. They're not pulling them up. And the reason it's not pulling you up is they have expired. There is nothing to reprint because they don't have a valid license, which means you've got to buy one and start that. I just do the starting date, June 9th, 2020. Goes until next year, June 8th, 2021, I believe. That's right. And there's a lot of guys like we've got, we beat it already to death. I don't want to keep talking about it. But there's a lot of guys that are going to come due on the 9th or the 10th or whatever

because they did it last year. They did it during the antelope elk application period, whatever. You're all good, clean, no big deal. Just make sure. Look it up. Make sure it's valid. That's all we're saying. And then look it up again and again and again because that's what we do. All right. So one deadline we did miss, and it's a very important deadline, Montana antelope. It's due to one. I just don't want anybody out there saying that we don't care about antelope or that we don't care about Montana. You've said that many times this year that you care about them. So we're not, I'm glad, I'm not even surprised that you found that tidbit to throw out to everybody. I just don't want to be called out. That's all. People call us out all the time. Speaking of next week, June 1st through the 5th, we're going to be a little bit of a 5th.

We're going to have draw results in Colorado for deer, elk, antelope, bear, moose. Did I forget anything? No. And they're going to be different days. They just kind of get them done when they get them done and trickle a species out. And the next day it's another one. It's kind of a weird, you can't just say Colorado results are out and go check them. And every day, we usually wait until Thursday, Friday to email the world because if you email them about elk. One result. And then they're like, I don't see my results for antelope yet. Did you forget us to play it for? No. They're coming out in stages. Who knows why they do it? They're Democrats. I don't know why they do what they do. Am I wrong? Tell me I'm wrong. Okay. Some of them are. Some of them are. Disclaimer. Some of them are. All right. Let's move on. Where are we at? That's it. We covered the draws that are still open.

But there's a lot of draws that are starting to come, or they're coming out. And so that's been on our front burner pretty heavy for the last week or two, it feels like. Well, another really exciting thing is there's some big credits on our credit cards, Bronson, from like, say, Wyoming Elk. Yeah. My wife didn't draw. I didn't draw. Happy day. Okay, sad that we don't have tags. Happy day. We got a credit on our card. I want to spend it somewhere. You might consider our membership drive. You might consider a raffle in a state, whatever. Or add in one of these other states that we just talked about. The Idaho Deer, Elk Antelope, if you didn't apply for Sheep, Moose, or Goat, that may be something you add. The Wyoming Deer and Antelope, maybe that's something you add if you don't have a tag. A lot of options.

Then there are also, as you start to get in about another month from now, you got some over-the-counter options, whether you're going to consider Idaho Elk and Deer, Colorado Elk. That's about it. Arizona Archery Deer. I mean, I don't know. Those are later on. There's some things out there, but... Utah. Utah General Elk. I forgot. Hey, we live in Utah. I can't believe I forgot that one. Utah General Spike. You even apply for the antlers. Anybody that has antlers questions, call out them here in our office. It's no. No, no, no. We take a few of those, and that's fine. It's just, you know, when you need elk meat, you put in four of them. If you don't, we don't. In a COVID environment, smart. Drop a bomb on a mom. All right. Let's, where are we at now? I don't know. Let's talk about something fun. Well, you know what?

We have had some consulting calls where guys have drawn tags, and that's exciting. And some of these guys, I think we need to talk about a little bit, like kind of the planning and prep. And I had a guy today call about deer in Nevada. He drew a muzzleloader tag. And we were talking about it, and I've spent the tune of 72 hours in a particular unit. And we killed a deer with my son and whatnot, and it was great. But, you know, as you go into a unit, sometimes, you know, you kind of get out of it what you put into it at times, especially on a muzzleloader hunt or archery hunt in Nevada. It's early season. They're in a summer pattern. Scouting is key. Scouting's imperative. Yeah. Right? Spent a ton of time. You know, he's also indicated they spent a lot of time in a unit that was a rifle season in October, and there's a lot of thick trees in that unit.

There was a lot of heavy water, as you remember. Late season, later in the year, and it spread the deer out and whatnot. And that scouting wasn't as productive for that particular season. Certain tags. And you might even look at that. Like, I talked to somebody today that had a muzzleloader Utah elk hunt. If you run a bunch of trail crammers, which you're going to do, it's fun to do and all that, but everything changes mid-September on these Utah elk units and a lot of elk units. Finding your bull and hunting your bull late September, early October. Wow, that's a lot to ask. So, preseason scouting is going to familiarize yourself with a unit where elk are, maybe where large groups of cows and calves are hanging. Finding one bull and killing one bull is sometimes tough. July, August, jumping to late September. Archery season, though. Like, archery season, they're starting.

They're coming in. They're wallowing. It's just, it's a great time of year, right? To scout a ton. Run cameras a ton. Yeah. So, our approach and our, maybe, way we consult people is totally contingent upon tags. Different tags. Archery, elk, even. August 15th, if I had a Utah elk tag this year, I would be there. I'd take the first week off of the season. I would. I'd take the whole week. And you would start heavy scouting June 1st. Yes. I would scout. Those bulls are built. Bulls are built early. You're hunting them like a mule deer for that first week to 10 days. That's right. Before they really start wallowing the end of August and start roaming. They start roaming. They start roaming. And when they start walking, that's a really tough time frame to kill them. Good luck. And then, at the very end, they start to rut. Yeah. So, you're back in the game. Very, maybe, unconventional.

A lot of people say, oh, I'm just going to hunt the last 10 days. Well, if you want to try to catch some bugling, things like that, that's true. But it's anybody's game. You know, the rut is soft, hard, early, late. Yep. Moon. There's so much involved. Yep. So, you know, and the same thing with deer and elk. A deer, like you said, muzzleloader and archery. Scouting sometimes doesn't matter. That's why we've talked about Colorado over and over and over, how we like to hunt mule deer in a few different states. We generally treat Colorado as the November, just show up and hunt state for us. Because you're not going to pre-scout a buck in Colorado to go there and hunt November. We're not. Scouting is going to learn little other than learning roads.

And we end up usually just going two to three days earlier, learning the roads then, and maybe seeing deer two to three days before your hunt that you can start hunting again. So, totally contingent upon the tag that you draw. But a lot of planning start to go on. We've got some resources here at Epic Outdoors. Our Epic Member Experience Database, which is a database of members that have said, hey, I'm willing to talk to other guys that draw a tag in Unit X or Y. If you draw that tag, feel free to give my number out to members, and we can do that. So, if you're a member of Epic Outdoors, you've drawn a tag, you're more of a self-guided guy, call us, and we'll send you a list of that. In return, you'll go on that list to maybe consult with people in the future. If you need guides or outfitters, Jason, I mean, we can help them out there too. Yeah, we've worked with guys for years and years.

Totally help you out. And it's not, okay, we all don't need to be guided. But there's times when guys that don't need to be guided hire a guide, and that's for the local knowledge. You get these tags once in a while. There's a, Bronson, you talk to a guy that drew a desert tag in the toughest unit in the state of Utah. Maybe the toughest, some of the toughest country, it definitely has some of the toughest country in the lower 48. I mean, other than maybe Frank Church or something. It's very, very similar to the severity of what that hunt can dish out. But just know, you know, A, that's what good consultants are for, is to help you prep on, is this hunt a good fit for you? You know, in the event you do draw it. And then B, what do you do after you've got the tag in your hand? How are you going to make good on that tag once in a lifetime tag?

Well, in some of these, even some of these elk guys we've talked to, they end up telling you what tag they drew. And the reasons why they pick it is just because, hey, I had enough points to draw this, and I thought I'd put him for it. And then they're like, wow. And it may have worked, and it may be good. You've got a tag. But make sure you make good on what you've got. Yeah, make sure you've got either time, resources, body, physically, gear. Which, when you start talking to some of these sheep hunts or even some deer hunts or things like that around the west, they're not all created equal. Sometimes it's too late. You've already drawn the tag. Utah, you're not going to get a point for this year if you turn your tag back anymore. You've got 30 days before your hunt to do it. Just like Colorado, you're going to get back your points that you had going into the draw.

But not going to gain that point. It's going to sting. And so hopefully they were really big about that in Utah when you applied. It was plastered all over when you applied people. But there's some of these that I think people, I've had a couple of sheep hunters that drew tag by accident, thought that they applied somewhere else and didn't. You're going to have to, you've got some real decisions on your hands. And maybe that's a situation where you go guide it. You lose a point, you lose 10 years, 20 years in some cases. I mean, a point in Wyoming for sheep is long. Oh, yeah. If you're on the bubble right now and you fill another sheep point off. Just things like that. The points are valuable. And then also to get started, you should, A, go to our website, epicoutdoors.com. We have the way to purchase maps. You can purchase unit-specific maps. I love that. They're 1 to 100,000.

Basically the same format as like a normal BLM map. Go onto our website, buy the map. And it's one piece of paper with the whole unit on it. You're not splicing four or five always on the seam. And it's on folded waterproof paper. That's right. It'll hold up. The regular BLM ones, they're paper. And the seams, they come falling apart. You open that 10 times and you've got problems. I've got some of those. They're relics. Yeah. There's some writings on there. They're hieroglyphics. That's right. But we got that on our website. There's a lot of different things you can use as resources to plan your hunts. And if you're a member of Epic Outdoors as well, like we've alluded, we get calls daily from people that have drawn tags, whether they're going to go guided.

And we can help put them in the right direction of somebody we know and trust that can make the best use of their tag and situation there. Or if they're self-guided, maybe we have firsthand experience, somebody in the office. If we don't, maybe close secondhand knowledge of it and can give you something. Or just bouncing ideas if you're trying to decide, hey, I'm weighing out. I've had a lot of guys saying, hey, I've got one scouting trip that I can do on a certain trip or unit that I drew. When should I do that? When should I schedule my scouting trip? I had somebody that wanted to go scout their deer unit in June. And I says, well, and their hunt was late September muzzleloader. And I'm like, they're not built yet. I wouldn't do that. See a cheater at the basal point. That's about it. And they're like, well, that's when I got the best time. I could make it work in early August.

I'm like, make it work in early August. That's when you're going to see a buck at its potential. Well, and we've seen Bronson between August 1st and August 10th, especially in Nevada. We've seen bucks that went from non-shooter to freaking monster. By the end of August. Ten days. Ten days. And I bring that up because of a specific deer. And that opener is the first opener. Sometime. Except for California. And it's August 10th for archery deer. So what a great time of year, right? Love that state for that reason. So anyway, grab your map. Drive around the unit. When we're going into a unit, there's like I was telling a guy on the phone, I hunted this unit for 72 hours. What do I really know about the unit? I don't have local knowledge. But what I do know is what I saw. And what I saw was feed, bitter brush, browns, burns. Yeah. And the wilderness country was full of thick trees.

I mean, that's kind of like thick freaking trees. Me in Arizona, remember I had a 27 a few years ago. Yeah. I had it for 15 minutes. What do you know about 27? I did tell them. Tell me everything you know. And we better be here for an hour. What kind of numbers did you see? How much bugling action? Would you go early or late? When did the bulls respond the best? Doing the best I can. I've just... I hunted for 15 minutes. I literally... Walked up the trail. Now having said that... Heard a bull raking a tree. Having said that... Bugled. He came in. I shot him. Like many of you, you've hunted long enough. You can go into a unit, drive around it, get a feel for it, then call these guys on our list. Well, and I did do that the week or two before. Remember, I think we did a podcast there. I'm down there and I got a feel for the unit overview of it. So I can talk that knowledge.

But we don't always grind something for 21 days, you know. No. And learn every nuance about a unit. But you're going to probably learn something, not to pound our chests or the chests of all of our members. You're probably going to learn something from them, even if it's about accommodations and where you should stay. 100%. 100%. Where the nearest gas is. All kinds of stuff. Yeah. Where you should be. You know, what portions of the unit do you think you hunt various times of the season? Some of these hunts are 30 days long. October 5 or November 5. Where are you going to be within that unit then? And there are going to be differences in a lot of cases. They migrate. So yeah, I think just grab your maps. Go do a runaround. Check it out. Go do your access points. Then make some phone calls. Hey, I seen some country that looked amazing. What about this? You know what? I felt the same way.

But when I went there, it sucked. There was no animals. For some reason, water, whatever. Pressure, predation. I don't know. There's things that happen anyway. Just saying. That's a good place to start. Buy your maps. Go do a runaround. Give our members a call. Give us a call. And you're going to start learning stuff. And then also just think. If it's October 1 or earlier, they're probably in a summer pattern. Deer. I mean. Elk. You got the road. You're going to have a rut. Elk. I don't even want to talk about it. Just drive and look at everything that chases your truck. You know what I mean? And shoot the biggest one. I don't know. All right. So anyway.

I don't even know why we got to that point. And then Elk. You know, Elk. Like you were talking about. I ran cameras. I had a muzzler tag. Multi-season tag. Utah. Southwest desert. Utah. The bull I killed, I got on trail camera two days prior. Like September 23rd. He came in with the cows. Never seen him before. You've been running cameras there for two months. That's right. That's right. Where did he come from? Maybe even Nevada. Who the heck knows? And so I guess that's to add to what you were talking about on Elk. You have a muzzler tag. You're tag. You're running all summer. It's probably not. You're probably not going to see the bull. Don't get your heart set on it too much. I mean. You know what's alive in the unit. And that gives you antler growth. Feel goodness. That's right. You feel good based on the. Hey, it's a good year. It was a good year. It looks like a bunch of big bulls.

I'm in good shape. Or I haven't seen a 350 bull on camera all year long in my unit. Yeah. Okay. That that's going to teach you something. First 320 steps out. I'm going to smoke him. You know. But Bronson, there's the other big bull in a unit here in Utah. Yeah. And he's on trail camera in the summer. He's on trail camera in the rut. And he's on trail camera in the winter. Of which are 15 plus miles of work. Pick up sheds. You never. Yeah. It's like. So if you have a November elk hunt. A September elk hunt. An August elk hunt. Those are different places. Completely different. Yep. And those are subtleties that you're going to find out through. If you're going to want a guided hunt. Or if you're going to go with a self-guided approach with a hunter that's hunted in your season. It's all about time and how to best use your time and prepare and get the most out of it.

These tags don't come around very often. Maybe ever. And make them. We're just trying to help you make the most of them. Don't undervalue your tags. Some of these tags I think we've talked to this week. People are maybe undervaluing what they have. You know you're talking. They draw an elk tag in Utah with one point. That's a $30,000 elk tag. All right. Or a desert sheep that they think they did the wrong unit. And maybe they did. But you drew a random tag on a desert sheep. You're not turning that back. You've got to make it work somehow. Get a crew. Family, friends, whatever. You know. Make priorities. Figure out. Like. Make it work. If you end up with a few draw tags or whatever. You're going to have priorities. Yeah. These are really important to me. Yeah. Let's give somebody a call. Should we real quick? I want to know. Okay.

What Shed Crazy Ben Denimani is going to do to prep for his hunts. Oh. Good call. All right. Do you think he's got anything in mind except for sheds? I don't know. Maybe where his next set of tires is going to come from. From the old tundra. What do you think, Chris? I don't know. Let's find out. Maybe mixing a mountain ops drink. I don't know if he's even thinking past the next mountain ops drink. I bet he's got some plans. Okay. Let's call him. I do. You think he's. You think he's thinking past the next mountain op shake? I do. Let's find out. We'll see what he has to say.

Hello. Did I interrupt drinking a mountain op shake over there? What do you got going? Dude, that's so funny. I'm actually supposed to have a call with him in a second. Oh, man. This call is way more important. You're on the Epic Outdoors podcast. They can wait. Oh, geez. On the podcast. I see how you guys are. Chris said, hey, you'd be more than one to just talk with us today. So we thought that's calling. Sure. Yeah. I'll bring some knowledge to this train wreck of a podcast for sure. Right on. Well, where's the next 200-inch pair of sheds going to be found? Give me the UPS location. Yeah. That'll be probably, you know, on the Wasatch Front.

Let's not bounce. They're in that good country. Yeah. You got some tags? This is Adam. You pulled any good tags we need to know about? I pulled a late archery elk tag in Arizona, which is a good unit but not a good tag. Wow. And then, let's see. I haven't really pulled much else. Kind of waiting on Colorado. When's that supposed to come out? Next week. We're just talking about that. And I wish they'd be early, but they're not. Did you do another muzzle or hunt? Or what'd you do? I didn't. I put in for a third season tagging unit that I've never been to. But I heard some rumors. And I'm going to go try and figure it out. A little more desert this year. What unit was it? I'll do a little research. Oh, yeah. I can't remember. I believe those numbers get a little fuzzy, you know. I'll have to go check your receipt if you can find it. I don't know. Yeah. Yeah.

I'll have to look back through the email and get you that information. I'll text it right over. All right. All right. Well, we'll probably find out right after it ends there in November. Yeah. Yeah. If I kill anything good, I'll tell you. We were on the topic of preparing for hunts. That's what we were talking about prior to your name coming up on the podcast this morning about what are we doing to prepare for hunts. And so Jason and Chris said, let's call Shed Crazy. Let's find out what his regimen is and what his preparation looks like for preparing for one of us. And I said, the only thing you're preparing for is the next shake you're going to drink. That's the only thing you're preparing for. Well, I'll tell you. What you have to do, like, it's a lot of thinking and planning goes into my fitness regime for the hunts. And mostly thinking and planning, actually.

I think it's all thinking and planning. And then I think, like, maybe the week before the hunt, I'm like, oh, shoot, I probably should have, like, actually done something. So they just thought about it the whole time. But I like to hike. I hike Molly's nipple a few times. Come on. You know about Molly's nipple. It's only slightly inappropriate. But it's a good hike. Well, there's a lot of them. Nevada has 14 of them. I mean, there's... It's either Nelly. Where the heck those names come from? I guess... It's either Nelly or Molly. I don't know. Oh. Just to clear the air, there's a lot of geographic locations with interesting names here in the West. Just to make fun. They're everywhere. I mean, it's all over. In Ben's defense. No big deal. It's the legitimate name of an actual mountain. That's right. Many of them. We didn't go south on the podcast. Anyway. Anyway. So, what do you...

Are you pre-scouting? I mean, you're out shed hunting like crazy. Of course, found a big old sheep there in Arizona, it seemed like. Yeah. Yeah. We stumbled onto one of those. And yeah, mostly shed hunting. And we're trying to get a beat on units we want to be in for the fall. And just seeing what happens. I know it's time to kind of start peeking at our bucks in Utah and see if there's any alive left in the stuff we like to hunt. I got a dedicated hunter tag in Utah. So, we'll see what that looks like. Yeah. Right on. Well, cool. Are you... You got some plans with the Mountain Ops crew and Chester and them? I mean, are you guys doing some group hunts? Sounds like a conference call. We're kind of putting that off right now. That's okay. I didn't really want to talk to them that bad. They're good. Yeah. They're good people. They make a good energy drink. I might do something with Eric.

We put in for New Mexico together and nothing panned out for us yet. But we may head down and buy some land under tags in New Mexico and see how that goes. I bought one through you guys a couple years ago and had a pretty good time. Good. Yeah. Right on. Yep. It seems like you did. You killed a nice bull down there. Yeah. Just to eat her. It was a good bull. Yeah. It was a good time. Well, any meat in this COVID environment. How's COVID affecting you up there? You've been out there hiking in the hills wearing a mask. What have you been doing? That's all I do is just take precautions. You know, it's safety first around here. You know, the governors of a lot of states said we need to stay off the public land. So I definitely followed those orders 100% to the T. Never went out and took advantage of the public lands being closed. So we just kept a tightrope on it.

But so far, the COVID hasn't been too big of a deal for me. Just hiking, you know, spending those hot days out in the sun, walking around. Perfect. All right, Ben. Well, is there any other little tidbits you want to share with the listeners out here about how to prepare for their hunts and, you know? Yeah. The best thing you can do to prepare for your hunts and get ready is get over and get you a shit crazy hat and a T-shirt. You know, like there's nothing that'll help you dress. Come on. This is going to definitely cut. Do you have the ones where, do you have the ones that sleeves are cut off? Like the wife beaters? I can pre-cut them if you want for additional cost. I think those might be hotter sellers than you think. I don't know. It might. Yeah. New SKU. New SKU. Crazy wife beater. Yeah.

That's probably a good idea, Bronson. You should be getting a kickback on any of the future wife beaters that he sells. Because I don't think that's a SKU. I don't think I've seen the SKU. I haven't seen it on the gram. So I don't know. Maybe throw it up there. We'll set you up a promo code. We'll use code Adam for 10% off. There you go. Wife beater Adam. Put it on there. Hashtag wife beater Adam. And if you have a, your farmer's tan is like halfway through your bicep and tricep. But if it's up on your shoulder, it's not really a farmer's tan anymore. So I mean, it's not. It's just, you know, you got a brown arm the whole way up now. That's the U-Tard tan. Yeah. There you go. The Larry the Cable Guy tan. How's that? Oh, geez. What a vision. Yeah. Great. Anyway. Well, there's an idea for you. Go and do good things. Okay, guys.

Well, if you come up with any ideas, just remember that we need to be having some kickbacks here. We don't do things free around here at Epic Outdoors. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Can't be doing that free advertising. I know all about that. Okay. Yeah. All right. Time is money.

All right, guys. Thanks for being a good sport. Okay. Have fun, fellas. Yeah. Always in. You never know what's going to go. No. Come out of the mic. So, Chris, you got a little bit of work to do there, I think. One thing I was wondering is if we shouldn't give UA a call real quick. Yeah. I just want to see what old Larkin's up to. He's kind of the go-to man. In the outdoor world. We've been helping, trying to plan some of his personal hunts out west this year. So, we're talking with him. He had a huge, long list. Yeah. Hunts that he wanted to do. Wish list over the next three to four years. So, trying to chip away one or two at a time. Yeah. Three. Maybe he can give us an update on UA and everything they got going. Let's see what he has to say. I don't know. He might not take my call. You never know. He's a busy guy. He might be in a COVID meeting.

Hey. What are you doing? What are you doing? First ring. Just driving and jamming, baby. Hey. Well, you're on the Epic Outdoors podcast, so don't swear, okay? I'm glad I didn't answer like I normally do.

Hey. What's wrong, boys? Nothing. We're just talking about UA and giving out just a few codes. We're just wondering what the environment's like over there in Baltimore and how things are going at UA.com. Yeah. Well, I can tell you this much. They've cooped me up for far too long. I'm ready to get out. Everybody's doing well. A lot of businesses are still shut down in Maryland. But Under Armour's doing good. The Under Armour family's doing good. Business is good. Appreciate everybody listening in and supporting our great partners at Epic. I'll tell you this much. We got some codes coming out. We got some RIDGE Reaper products online right now. And then we have some new stuff coming out in July. So obviously, we appreciate everyone's support and considering and supporting the brand. But this is just a small effort we're making because we know that everybody's budgets are tight.

A lot of people have been laid off and furloughed. And I think as we look at the outdoors being essential, providing food for our families, the least we can do is just give back to our community and make sure they know that we care in whatever way we can. So, yeah. That's freaking awesome, Jed. I appreciate that. And I know a lot of other guys will too. We've set it up how they can get their codes and talked about it on this particular podcast. Also, dude, you're planning hunts like it's your job. I mean, we've been cranking out. You have been cooped up. We've got a full-time guy just dealing with your hunts. Don't tell anybody. That's secret stuff. I don't need to be the outward face. I'm the man behind the curtains. Yeah, but it's still fun. Like you said, you've been cooped up. We've all been cooped up.

And we've got to think about fall and got to have a carrot dangling out there in front of us all. Something to look forward to. Yeah. That's right. Well, I can tell you this much. It's been – I've worked with you guys, Jason and Chris specifically, for almost 10 years. We're coming on that mark right now. Jeez. It's been that long. How did we make it? It's been that long. And I can tell you I'm very excited. I'm very, very excited for this fall. Long time coming. We've got some good trips coming up. We always have good trips. But just looking forward to getting in camp with the guys. Well, I think it's important for people to know that, you know, not only is UA making good gear, but they're out there doing it. You guys are out there in the field. You're wearing the gear. I mean, there's some crazy trips you're going to be taking part of as well as the other UA team members.

We just have to train a lot harder. When you guys hike in a day, I mean, that would take me across three state lines here on the East Coast. And what elevation are you living at? 275 feet? No, I think we're at like 20 feet where I'm at. A brutal day is 45 feet in elevation. Yeah, exactly. The waves crash on my back deck. Yeah. But no, we're doing good. The team's doing good. We're just – like you said, everybody's just trying to stay focused and positive right now. Well, we appreciate Under Armour being able to provide some of these promo codes that, like Jason said, we're announcing on this podcast to be able to give them away through our Epic Outdoors website, through partnership with you guys at UA, and to use them up by the end of June and, you know, pass some savings on to people to go buy some great gear, planning some of their hunts, and all that.

So appreciate you partnering with us and making that available to our listeners on the podcast. No problem. Thanks for throwing me on the spot and for prepping me in advance for this. I really appreciate that, guys. Just better. Just better that way. Just don't fire me, all right? It was Bronson's idea. It was Bronson's idea, and I was railroaded by a boat. Hey, I can't unblock his phone, Larkin, and call you. He did it. He did it on his phone. All right, guy. Be safe. Travel safe. All right, boys. Be easy. I'll talk to you soon. All right. Talk to you later. Bye. Oh, he's a good dude. He's a good sport. All right, Bronson. What else have we got to talk about, huh? Well, if you don't have a hunt, how about we talk about that? Because we're quickly going to be coming upon that realization for some people.

Like we talked about, Colorado, Wyoming, you know, Idaho, they're all going to be coming out here in early to mid-June. And if you're left without a hunt of any kind of hunt, you know, if you're left without a hunt of any kind or enough on your schedule, you've got a few different options. You've got landowner tag considerations, like Ben talked about, New Mexico for elk. Some of those will be coming out. They'll be coming out, too. Deer tags, which are a little bit different in Colorado. They're going to have to buy those direct from landowners. But that's another option there. If you need, you know, it may result that you need it in a, you know, a guided hunt. If you got some money set aside, you didn't draw anything, and you need, you know, a deer, an elk, or antelope, whatever it is. Shoot, sheep, goat, moose, whatever it is. Give us a call.

We can try to find the right hunt that you're looking for for the budget that you're in in these times. Like I said, it's all predicated on your schedule, your ability, your means, and everything like that. Just give us a call and see if we can work something in to get something on your schedule. Don't let another hunting season go by. If you can make it work, just don't let another one go by without going and doing something, having a great time. That's right. We've also got another way that guys can win hunts. It's our membership drive here at Epic Outdoors. It's never too late to become a member here. While the application season is largely behind us or coming at us right now, this is a 12-month membership. It'll be good from now until this time next year. If you put it off, yeah, don't worry about it.

You buy it now, you're going to still get all the next, you know, January through June magazines next year, so it doesn't matter. Even though a lot of that's over, like you said, we've got incentive right now. If you join, you get an entry for one of our awesome hunts there, doll sheep, a couple mule deer hunts, Nevada elk, coos deer in Mexico, barberry sheep in Texas. Colorado deer. Take your pick. Will you join, you get an entry for that, and also, like I said, all the membership benefits that we've talked about, some of those today as well. That's right, and if you're a current member, you can sure get another ticket in the membership drive for one of these free hunts by sponsoring your buddies. Tell your buddies about it. If they drop your name, of course, you'll be in there too, and you can also buy tickets. So anyway, go to epicoutdoors.com. You'll learn more.

It's right there front and center on the front page. Got until June 19th. Click your way to happiness and find you a great hunt. So anyway, as we crank forward, we also want to thank Stealth Cam for being a partner of ours. They got the new Fusion coming out. Haven't seen one yet. We've got a bunch on order. We've got a lot of cameras on order, Bronson. Hundreds and hundreds. So anyway, it's going to be important. We got guys picking them up daily here in person at our office, and we're shipping them out as well. As well as optics. Both. It's that time of year as well. Optics are flying out the door. Geez. Flying out the door. Summers are usually been a little bit lighter after the draws come out and things like that. May was always an enjoyable month. What happened? Oh, we decided to grow a little bit. Geez. It's good. It's kind of a natural. We've talked about that many other times.

But if you are in the market for a new rifle scope, new bino, spotting scope, whatever, give us a call. Leica, Zeiss, Swarovski, Vortex Dealers. Glad to help you out. Give you some great pricing over the phone. So phone number 435-263-0777 on that. If you're interested in upgrading something, you've got a great tag, you think it warrants newer or better glass than what you have, or just different glass, a different piece that you don't have, give us a call. We're glad to give our opinion on it. Okay.

This podcast is a little bit different. A lot of it is just that you've got deadlines coming. You've got deadlines going. You've got draw results coming. Good and bad news. Lots of planning and preparation, purchases for gear. So we just kind of wanted to cover all that. And as we continue to do that here, I want to throw a little shout-out to PhoneScope. I've done a lot of videoing with PhoneScope. I went out on the Outdoor Channel. A lot of the video that was on the Outdoor Channel was through cell phone capture video, capture through PhoneScope, where you can attach your phone to the optic you're looking through, whether it be binoculars, spotting scope, rifle scope, whatever. They've got it. Go to www.Phonescope.com. That's P-H-O-N-E-S-K-O-P-E.com. 1-800-790-4480. PhoneScope with a K. PhoneScope.com. They can do everything you need, and it's awesome.

If you didn't video it, it didn't happen. And so, anyway, you can prove it. And publish it. Enjoy it forever. Transfer it. Of course, phone to phone. AirDrop. That's the best way. Pretty much change the way we, you know, we've said this a million times. Why don't we think of that? Change the industry. Why don't we think of that? But, anyway, moving right along. If you're in the market also, you drew a great tag, or maybe you didn't draw any tags, and you think, hey, I am going to sit home this year, usually go on a guided hunt because of, you know, some of the restrictions, I'm not going to do that. But maybe you're looking to upgrade a rifle, or you have a tag that you think you want to upgrade a rifle. Give the guys at MOA Rifles a consideration. That's MOARifles.com, 541-526-1820. They've got ultra-lightweight, you know, the MOA Ascent rifle, which I have one of those 6.5 PRCs.

It's an awesome shooter. Can't have too many guns. I don't know. You just can't. You know what I mean? That's what we've told our wives for years, Carter. It's like a 401K. Yeah. A gun in the safe is like a 401K. Oh. Oh. So. Well, yeah. Okay. Let's bring it up to my wife right now. Let's call her, and let's see if she agrees. Okay? I want. But you ask her that question, not me. You ask your wife that. Okay. Let's do it. Let's see what she has to say. Let's see if she's sitting at her desk. She should be. If she's not, I'm going to be ticked. She might be on the phone with a client. So-and-so. Hello? Are you working? I'm always working. Are you working? Like right here? Like right here in the office, right? Right here in the office right now. That's what I'm talking about. Well, one thing we were talking about here on the Epic Outdoors podcast, which you're a

part of now, is the value of guns being a savings account for you and I. I made the comment. I made a comment, and Jason thought calling you was a good idea, but my comment was like a gun in the safe is just like a 401K. What's your thoughts?

I think. These are my thoughts. I think men in general, and hunters especially, are really good at making everything they want an investment. Okay. What's wrong with that? We are very invested. We're very invested, and we have lots of savings accounts in many different places. Every truck has a savings account. Most of them are tangible. Most of them are very tangible. There's a pair of tins in every truck. You agree? Yes. No. Not always. You're going to get your truck robbed. You're going to get your truck robbed. The deer head's on the wall. You're not supposed to tell people where your investments are. Your investments are supposed to stay private, remember? Oh, yeah. That's right. Don't talk about how many guns we have, but we have many. Let's talk about this, too. You were raised in a great family. Your dad believed that guns were what? He believed they were an investment. He did?

He did. He did? Oh, he's gone. He's an awesome guy. He believed that you couldn't have enough guns, that there was never a reason to quit buying guns, and still, he's buying guns in his 70s. And every dad is 100% correct, right? Not always. No. But I like that line of thinking, and I know your dad, Jenna, and he's a heck of a guy. Oh, I know. I know. Jason loves him, too. Jason loves him for his philosophies. He loves him for a lot of things. Well, here's one thing about Craig, and we should put him on the podcast one of these days. No matter what you do, he can spin it to positivity. He can find, there's a silver, there's gold linings in things that are otherwise not lined at all. That's kind of like Jenna's initial comment. I think men in general, especially hunters, they can, I don't know if she used the term justify, but. That's what I meant. Yeah.

You can justify guns in the safe, trail cameras, heaps of trail cameras in the corner. That's, that might as well be corn, bushels of corn. It's like food storage. It's food storage. It is food storage because those trail cameras provided meat for the family. Or if you needed to sell them on pennies on the dollar, if you needed to trade them at the farmer's market, could you? It's either that. Yeah. It's either that or a piece of gold. I mean, it's the same thing. People would trade trail cameras. With the lockbox, that's even pure gold. Did I mention that occasionally these investments come by delusion? I mean, you guys get a little delusional at times. That is only, that's your perspective. Maybe they don't exist. That's your, that's your perspective. And that's all we're, Jason wanted to call you on. That's your perspective. Okay. All right. Sounds good. Love you.

We'll talk to you later. Thanks, Jenna. That's enough.

I don't know if that gave you what you wanted, Carter. She gone.

I don't know if that gave you the answers you wanted, but there's some truth to what she said. But I do think. Swarovski is like money in the bank. I still stand behind the statement. Swarovski is like money in the bank. Well, all optics. It doesn't matter. Any of the optics we got. It's money in the bank. Think about it. Vortex, they got a warranty that's killer. That doesn't matter. It's money in the bank. It is. You run it over, they'll replace it. Again, you can't. I don't know what to say about that. That's right. It's safe. That's a safe investment. Right? And guns are too. And that's what started this, the MOA rifle analogy. Yeah. Where did we get off on that? I do have a little story. Oh, go ahead. Okay. Kids support this. Good. So, several years ago, I was, you know, a college kid running low on cash. And... This is probably a year and a half ago. I'm just teasing.

This would have been a lot of years ago. Ten. Ten. It's been a while. Well, yeah. It's a lot. Anyway, I had a pair of ELs. And I was planning on buying some new ones. Actually, I had already bought some new ones. Might have been when they were going like HD. Yeah, through the years. Ten by four twos. Yeah. So, I upgraded and I bought the newer version. Well, six months go by and I was in need of some serious cash. Come on. Yeah. I haven't even heard this story. Me either. I don't know where it's going. So, I was able to sell my old pair of ELs for the same price that I bought them for. Wow. This is years after. They have appreciated. Swarovski have appreciated. Yeah. It's true. Gained in value. It's true. Yeah. So, I didn't lose a dime. I got years of glassing out of them. And I was able to- Buy food. Make a house payment. Yeah. Come on. Buy food. It doesn't matter.

And the same things happen. I know, you know, in different phases, they come out with phase one of the spotting scope or SLCs or ELs. And then as codings and technology changes over, we're talking 10 or 15 year period. It's not every year there's monumental changes. It's nice to upgrade. But they went to HD and SLCs and then the spotting scopes. And yeah. So yeah, you want the best, the best technology, you know, all glass. It doesn't matter what. Money in the bank. And if you buy it right here at Epic Outdoors, you're going to buy it right because we give you a deal. Yeah. If you buy it right, you can sell it for more right. You'll be able to sell it for more right. If you ever needed to upgrade in five years, something new changes. COVID times hit you hard. Why? That's an investment. Let's call it a day on this particular podcast.

Hopefully y'all are enjoying a nice free COVID free afternoon. You're getting out, starting to scout. If you need some gear, call us. Call us with your tags. You need some info, call us. Yeah. Good luck. Need a little pick me up? Go get a monster. Go get a monster.