EP 203: Nevada Deputy Director Jack Robb

Let's talk about Silver State. There's a lot of different options to choose from. What a great elk state. Unbelievable. Managed for quality. That's our main point is to have a quality experience with quality animals on the landscape. Anything to do with Western big game.

Welcome to the Epic Outdoors podcast, powered by Under Armour. Hey everybody, Jason Carter, Adam Bronson, Chris Peterson coming at you from Southern Utah. Chris just barely put on his headset. How you doing, Chris? I'm great. Are you? Yeah. Saw you guys posted your little video clip of you asking the little gal to marry you. We got that back. If she said no, you didn't publish that portion. If she said no, I buried it and never lived again. Don't think she'd say no. But anyway, that was pretty awesome. Good for you guys. Before we get started, we'd like to thank Under Armour. We appreciate them and their support here at Epic Outdoors. They've been with us from the start. Bronson. That's like December of 16, official with the mag. With the mag, yeah. A few years prior to that with a license app service. But we're in volume technically six, I guess. We just finished. Volume six. Volume six.

Issue five. Five. A couple days ago. Which means the May magazines at the printer covering Idaho, deer elk antelope. Yeah. Wyoming. Wyoming. Deer net. Washington. Washington. Washington with sheep gulp. Iowa. That's right. One of our favorite states that we've never been to. But Bronson, you're going to be going there. I think so. We'll see. And I've got a load of points. Everybody should be applying for points there. I've been sitting on four points for about ten years. Okay. So time to use something. Anyway, we'll see. We'll see. We'll come first of June if I've got any time left in the fall schedule. Winter schedule. Which today, would you guess, today I think you're overbooked. Nah, I think I've got time. Okay. That's my, that's my. Let's call it your ten and a half hunt booked. I don't know. Is it a full hunt? I don't have that money. I don't have that money booked. I don't have.

No, you're a pretty busy boss. I've got a Utah general right now, Carter. Okay. I mean, a lifetime license. Okay. So yeah, it's guaranteed. You and I both do. Yes. Okay. It's one of my favorite tags. So don't know where the ten and a half are coming from. Well, I don't know. I, is a Iowa white till a full hunt? That's all I'm saying. Can I get a, will Jana buy off on that? That's a half a hunt. Yeah. What does Becky think about Iowa white till? I don't know. It doesn't matter. It's days gone. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if it's a once a lifetime desert sheep. It doesn't matter. Counts against you on the calendar. Yep. You know, speaking of calendars, Chris, just a little advice from Adam and I. Okay. If you ever do anything noteworthy, praiseworthy of good rapport, mark it on the calendar. That helps you in the fall. Okay. Okay.

Mark it on the calendar because you're going to forget. Yeah. And then when you're arguing, because you're going to argue. I don't care who you are. Okay. You're going to argue. And she's going to say, Chris, you're going to stay home because you've been gone a lot. When the last time you were here did something with us? You point.

That's it. That's it. Go look at the calendar. I can't remember. It's been a little while, but it is on there. That's what you're going to do. Okay. Okay. Hey, Bronson, how about this cover shot on the May issue? Yeah. It's like one of our ruin it. Other than the QU, which is obviously 21st century hunting gear, it looks like a throwback pick of just a buck from like 50, 60 years ago. Oh. That's what it reminds me of. So by the time, Chris, I don't know when you're publishing this, but the e-mag will be live. Yeah, it'll be. By the time. All right. It's probably two days. Yeah. All right. Well, it's an Idaho buck, everybody. Go look. You're going to want to look. Get a sneak peek. This thing broken is 250s, 250s, and put together would have been mid-270s. Wow. It's a disgusting pick. Giant buck. Anyway, Bill Knisley, what a great guy.

He's been a member forever, and he's hunted that country forever. If anybody ever, I don't know if anybody ever earns one or deserves one. Right? Do we? I mean, sometimes we like to think we do. Sometimes you do, but he's repeatedly. He, if anybody has, has. Yeah. How about that? That's right. Anyway, what a special deer. You'll be able to read all about it in the May issue. Bronson said it was volume six. Let me read here. Oh, yeah. Volume six, issue five. May 2021. All right. Well, we kind of wanted to talk about a few things.

I've got a few things for you. But first. Well, go ahead. Dive in. I just want to give another shout out to one of our sponsors, Hoyt Archery. Brought them on as a new advertising and partnership with them here in the last couple of months. Appreciate them. Hoytarchery.com. Got a new bunch of bows out. Both the Ventum and the Carbon RX5. Mine's actually getting tuned. So yours is here. It's already being sent to our good buddy, Bobby, in California to be worked over, added to, fine-tuned, and sent back. That's right. It's being done, and yours will be done soon. But anyway, I want to give a shout out to Hoyt Archery. Make awesome bows. If you're looking to upgrade this year, you probably better get on these bows, you know, just due to their demand and due to probably COVID limitations. Supply chains, like it's happening everywhere. You're going to want to get something.

Work with your local dealer to get something on order if you're going to want it for this fall. But appreciate Hoyt and Hoyt Archery. I don't understand the COVID demand, so let me just throw this out there. Jeff John, he does plumbing, right? My brother-in-law. Okay. Sends a picture of a warehouse full of hot water heaters. Full. Okay. Okay. I don't know how many 50 are in there. It feels like there's 100, 150. I don't know. And he's like, can't have too many. Well, is that his? That's his. For his business, right? Because you can't, like, put plumbing in a house and then not close it out and get paid unless there's a hot water heater in there. And if there's no hot water heaters because of COVID, I mean, hot water heaters are becoming like toilet paper.

Or is he just a good, is he good at managing his, the houses he's building right now and the demand of one, two, three, how many he's finishing a week? No. I haven't finished. No. I haven't finished. He's not doing that. Go ahead. Okay. He's just buying them like everybody is. He's a hoarder? He's hoarding. He's buying them like we're buying optics because we're afraid we're not going to be able to get anymore. And so then how many businesses do that? I don't know. Let's see how 50. In their world. In his world. Let's say there's 50 plumbing companies out there. It's ammo. It's reloading supplies. It's guns. It's chips, pop. I don't know. It's everything, Bronson. Monsters. Trucks, tires. Right? You can't buy enough stuff. You always think in the back of your mind, this is food storage even if it's not food, even if it's hot water heaters. Whatever.

Anyway, here we are talking about bows and it's the same thing that's going on. I guess that's my point. I guess. They're behind. And if you want a bow, don't hold back. And when the new ones come out, they're popular of anything. Let alone in a COVID environment. That's right. All right. Speaking of ways to get through a COVID environment, Carter, I want to bring up something for you. Why? Why me? You decided. Come on. And you're. Let's discuss your sobriety real quick. Come on. From monsters. You. I don't know. I don't know what triggered it. I really don't. Maybe you could offer some. Or some. But you had. Something clicked in your mind. You had a bad dream maybe. That it caused problems. Problems. And the next morning you came cold turkey. And you were off that stuff. You couldn't look at it. You couldn't look at it. So here at Epic, we put in long hours. Okay. And there were some.

A few days I didn't feel like I was clicking on all eight. I was like, you know. I'm going to just see if this is messing with my mind. I don't know if like the. The electronical.

Electrical pulses were pulsing right. I don't know. I was just nervous. I was like, we're a. Getting older. Okay. Is that what you were going to say? Yeah. Okay. Just had a birthday. And we're getting older. And I'm just like. I'm like, I'm going to go clean. And I went off. Clean the blood. I went off of it, right? Clean the blood. For a week. He was on the wagon.

And. Then he fell off the wagon. And it's been an amazing experience. I'm back at it. But while I was there in the. In that week. I looked over like at three in the afternoon. And I look at you. And I'm like. And you were popping another one. And I'm like. Hey. How many is that? Is that two? And you look over at me. Sheepishly. Well, and it was. Because it was such a strange question. Because when we work these weeks. When we're. The real. Researching right in the magazine. And you know. It's. There's a lot that goes on really early in the morning. By the time you get eight o'clock. You're ready for lunch. Okay. Not breakfast. Okay. You're. And then by two or three. You're ready to be done for the day. And you're not even close to done. So it was round two. Yeah. And you looked at me. As if. As if. I was. Bonging this stuff over here. You can't. Yeah. I mean. And I. And I felt like.

Here I am. A kind of. Half. Needing one. Half. Jealous. Jealous. And I'm like. Have some respect for your body. That's what he said to me. This is on his week of sobriety. During the week of sobriety. He lectures me about. Giving my body. Well. And give respect it deserves. I'm just like. Is that. Is that your second one today? And he goes. Yeah. And I'm like. Have some respect for your body. So here it is. Two thirty in the afternoon. And Carter's in here with his number two today. And so. And I haven't had one. I haven't had one. You're making me podcast today. And I'm like. Let's take one more day. So. Hey. And I'm just. I'm in that groove. I got a good night's sleep over the weekend. I'm with you. And I'm just like. If I don't need one. I'm not going to drink one. I'm going to try that for a couple days. But I'm not. I'm not. On the wagon. I'm not. I'm not declaring anything.

I'm telling you. I'm telling you. May's coming. And it's. I'm changing my life. Yeah. I'm changing my life. Water and Gatorade. Hey. And we're working out. Exercising Bronson. Starting to golf. Well. I don't know if that's exercise. Is it? I don't know. Hey. Do you go in a cart? Sometimes. Okay. That's what I thought. But you still swing a club. Yeah. 80 or 90 times in the morning. That's a good point. Oh. Anyway. Probably burning some calories. More so than what we've been doing. Anyway. So what we did want to talk about today. Bronson. Let's talk about Silver State. Okay. Is that where you're going? Yeah. I guess. Cowboy State. Silver State. Big Sky State. I don't know. Gym State. Beehive State. Whatever. Sunshine. Sunshine State. Cactus. What's Arizona? Cactus State. Land of Enchantment. I was going to bring up. Land of Enchantment. What's Colorado? Forest. Tree State. I don't know.

Wolf Lover State. I don't know. Chris is about to find out. What is it, Chris? The Grand Canyon State. Oh. Duh. What was Colorado? Colorado Centennial State. I don't know what that is. What was that? Was that 100 years? I'm not sure what that's supposed to mean. We used to save those centennial, what were they, quarters that were 1976s? Oh, yeah. Anyway. Anyway. Wow. We're old. Yeah. Well. We used wheat pennies when we were young. I like the wheat years. The wheat pennies. Remember those? Yeah. Yeah. I still have a bunch. Yeah. I mean, they're probably worth a penny. They're still worth a cent. I mean, they're not. Yeah. Anyway. Like a $2 bill. There's nothing special about them. But, yeah. Let's talk about Nevada today. So, let's talk about Nevada. Nevada, it's coming up, man. You're going to be applying deadline by May 10. So, it's a very popular state.

I mean, probably one of the most popular ones. We do. Nothing's like Colorado. But, we're done talking about that. Yeah. But, Nevada's big list of species. Chris, who brought up Colorado again? Adam did. I'm just trying to use it as a comparison of another popular. I thought he was tired of it. There's a lot of good going on in Nevada. The good thing about bringing it up now is nobody can bring it up back. That's a good point. Hey, speaking of Colorado, draw results are coming out tomorrow. Yeah, by the time you listen to this, sheep and goat results should be out if they're on schedule. Even though they extended the deadline for three days. Hopefully, we get drawn. Well, anyway, there's a lot going on in Nevada. It's very minimal to apply. Having said that, it's not cheap either. You do have to buy the non-refundable hunting license for adults, non-residents. It's $155.

And then a per-species minimal application fee. And you can crank out five choices, all five of which are valid before it's time to apply. Kind of cool. Nevada has quite a few changes. They brought on some archery desert sheep options. For residents, when we heard about that, we perked up a little bit. Just because Nevada gives a lot of desert sheep tags. And they're looking for ways, it seems like, to split seasons in certain units. More skews, Bronson. To get more hunts. More people in the field without. Because they're bursting at the seams in many places with sheep. And they are offering some resident-only desert sheep options for archery this year. With possibly, see how well it goes. Maybe something in the non-resident future. Well, definitely. That's what they're considering. And if they give enough tags, why, maybe they'll do that. So, pretty awesome.

There were some unit adjustments. Dude, we're no longer able to apply for Spring Mountains at 262 country. No, that's a bummer. We did get to add a couple of the arrows in the bears, 244, 253, which haven't been in recent memory. It's been a long time. Pretty fun to change it up. So, you knew things to talk about. They're not maybe half next-level giants, you know, like they did prior years. But it's definitely good. In general, Nevada's moderate a little bit. They've had some brutal summers. They've lost some sheep, frankly, in some units where they rely heavily upon water. Still good numbers. No question about it. But they're not cranking out quite as many, we'll just call it, mid-170s plus ramps. That's getting really picky. Almost any desert sheep is a great desert sheep, and it's a must-apply for state. California bighorns, not a whole lot of change.

Tweaking some units, but five units available for non-residents. Five choices on the application, put all five down. That's right. Pretty simple. Well, you know, lots of great, you know, I say lots. There's not a lot of non-resident tags given as far as elk are concerned. But there's a lot of different options to choose from. And what a great elk state. Unbelievable. Managed for quality. Like our buddy Jack says, Nevada puts out a quality product. They take pride in putting out a quality product, and they view the hunter as the customer. Pretty awesome. Well, we say it quite often to people as we consult with them. You know, Nevada's literally a once- or twice-in-a-lifetime elk state for a non-resident. By the time you draw, accumulate points enough to, you know, it's a squared bonus point state. You can't really predictably know when you're going to get drawn.

They just square your points. That's how many times you get thrown in the hat, so to speak. You can't predict it. So we generally stick to the type of hunts that we really want because once you do draw, it's a seven-year waiting period before you can apply again. So then you get going again. It's, you know, most people, most people wait 15 to 20 years for elk tags. Isn't that a rough mess of people I know that wait longer than that? Oh, longer than that. But 15 to 20 is not out of the question. And so if you're waiting that long on average, and then you have to wait seven years of a waiting period before you can start the second time, you're looking at maybe one elk tag or two in your life. So they don't have a lot of units that you can say, I just want better odds. I'm fine with 260 to 300 inch gold. There's no such thing as better odds in Nevada. There's so few attacks. That's right.

Even the, quote, lesser units, you're still hunting 320 to 350. And even, hey, how about our hunt winner smashing a freaking 3.7 bull? That's right. In that northeast corner. That's right. So they really don't have a way to play the odds too much except for some weapon preferences. But then again, the archery is still tough odds. Just as bad because you get to hunt the rut. But I think you brought up a little key line. What did I do? Well, when you said, make sure like whatever you apply for you really want. You know what I mean? And we've been talking. If you've overthinking Nevada too hard. But we've been talking about that. Like, it's one thing. Like, the tag game is kind of exciting. Huh, I got a. I got something nobody's talking about. Statewide antelope tag in Colorado. I don't know. Like, you know what I mean? What do you got? Okay. Yeah. What have you got? So you beat the system.

Where are you going to hunt? Congratulations. Congratulations. I mean, just be careful what you. Sometimes just the game. Just the application game and tag acquisition. Feels like a win of monumental proportions. Okay. And it is. Then what? Now you got to go make good on that. You have to spend some money on gas, outfitters, time away, whatever. You mean like some of those archery hunts that have been about August 15th to the 31st? Okay. Like some of those. You got one. The elk archery? Yes. Oh, yeah. Those are some examples. Like, what do you got? Be careful. Okay. What I got? Velvet bulls. I got a pre-rut archery hunt. It's going to kick my butt. For velvet bulls. In 95 degree weather. I don't know. But having said that, incredible animals. But like we were saying, just in general, not even Nevada. Just in general. Be careful what you get.

Make sure you're wanting what you actually apply for. Yeah. Don't get too caught up in beating the system that your end result is you got something and now you're like, oh, my points are gone. Nobody's talking about that and I got it. It seems like you had an elk tag last year in Arizona. Yeah. I tried that. What did you do with it? There's this thing called point bar. That's my point. And I did the same thing. When you're looking at it, not for elk in Arizona last year. I want to make that clear. But in general, I've done plenty of those kinds of things where you're like, okay, I've got this tag. And the excitement wears off and now it's like, all right, do I really have time to do it? Hey, so, and we love deer in Nevada. There's a lot of options, incredible opportunities. Deer's a different story. You can go every year. No waiting period for deer.

They've got archery, muzzleloader, late archery in some units, one or two or three rifle hunts, mostly one or two in most units. If you aren't quite as picky, if you just stick to south, east Nevada, Lincoln County, White Pine, you're going to probably wait a while. That's right. If you just stick for the very best. And I've got a buddy with 20, I want to say he has 26 points. I don't know. Let's call it 25 to 7. I don't know exactly what he has, but I'm telling you, he is waiting for the best of the best. Super tough. Can't get drawn. And then there's been other guys with 20 points, 15 points or whatnot that have drawn. And so, anyway, I think there's, Nevada's one of those things. You can go out on a limb. Bronson, we talk about it in the publication. There's a couple of new units.

I don't want to say new, but let's just say new in our minds as far as being considered an opportunity to kill a big deer. And they're a little easier to draw, quite a bit easier to draw. Go try them if you've got 10 points or less, especially five points. But 10 points or less, what do you get? And if you're a rifle hunter, go to the early hunt. Yeah, that's where the bulk of the rifle hunting takes place, the 5th to roughly the 20th of October. But that's how you get drawn. It's kind of like a Colorado second season. You get drawn there faster than waiting for the late hunt for a fourth season in the same unit. That's probably not worth your time if you're in low point range chasing. So we all view Nevada. We love applying to Nevada, another great feature. You can apply and you can go online in your account. Plug and play. Yeah. Right up until May 10th. No extra fees. No nothing.

Every state should do that. I love it. If you're not, if you can apply on May 10th and be in the draw, why can't you change all of them up until May 10th for no fee? I agree. In your account online. I agree. It makes no sense. It's so awesome. And sometimes I'll go in and change my, like, bi-weekly. Well, you sleep, right? Yeah. You fall off the wagon. You feel differently. You're going to apply differently, right? Yes. Some days I'm like, yeah, August 10, I'm going to be in Nevada archery deer hunting. Come heck or I have water. I come in and get aggressive with my choices. And then the next day I have a reality check and realize maybe be careful of what I'm applying for because I'm really going to might get it. You remember, be careful with what you want. And all of a sudden, Nevada now starts in mid-March. But it goes until May 10th. So you've got almost a two-month application period.

There's a lot that can happen with other states, results. We're talking about Colorado. Rain. New Mexico. Rain, which, you know, right now in a lot of places in southern Nevada, it's been pretty dry. It's been fairly dry. And it's in a key period right now. That's exactly what happened last year right now. And it didn't rain anymore and we saw it happen. So you could wait, but at least get applied. Then for some reason, I always think about this. I'm going to apply now because what if something happens to me and I'm on my deathbed? I want to make sure I'm at least applied. Yeah. Because what if I can't get back to the computer until May 10 or 11? Right? So anyway, just get in there. And then, hey, if it gets dry in whatever units you're choosing or something changes or whatever, then you can change it up, do points only, do only the best of the best, whatever. That's right.

And everybody should be applying for points. Very minimum supply for points. They also got, I mean, their deer, their elk, their sheep, their antelope are good. There's nothing of average or poor quality in about it. My son would do an antelope, a regular non-resin tag over there, smashed a freaking good buck. So what if we just give our buddy Jack Robb, deputy director in Nevada, a holler, see what he's doing today, what he's been up against. See what battles there, fight wars there. He's been fighting the black bear battle, the predator contest battle. I mean, there's been not a lot that he doesn't see or come across to his desk. I'm sure he'll have nothing but time on his hands to come onto the podcast and visit with us. Let's see if he answers. 50-50 chance. You get the text that says, I'm in a meeting.

This is Jack. What are you doing? Oh, just having a great day here in Nevada. Great day. Let's see. I can't tell if you're being honest. It is a Monday, so we don't know. Yeah. If you're just wondering if you're fighting the predator contest fight or what you're doing. No, we're just trying to live through another legislative session and keep our head above water. So that's been the bulk of our time spent lately. Our legislature only meets every other year. Really? I didn't know that. Did not know that. Yeah. Every other year for about five months. So we're putting the grinder pretty hard for a five-month period every year, every other year. Interesting. See what comes out. That's interesting. I did not know that. I didn't know. I figured all states was two to three months every year. So they save up bills, proposals. I mean, yeah, they come at you hard when they get that five months.

Is that what you got going on in the background, I can hear? Yeah, that's about it. Hey, so what is going on there in Nevada? I know you've dealt with a lot of different things. Is there anything interesting at the legislature? Anything crazy going on? I know, of course, we've got this year's applications and some of the different units and whatnot. But kind of overall, is there anything? State of Nevada? The only bills we currently have down there that are agency bills, we're trying to come up with an electronic big game tag option. And to get there, we need some legislative changes. And then some small changes for senior citizens that are residents of the state of Nevada. The requirement for how long they have to live here to get that reduced license. We're trying to shorten that to simplify things. But besides that, everything's pretty good.

Other people have good ideas for Department of Wildlife every time that they try to bring forward. And we've been avoiding most of those this year and doing all right down there. So it just takes a lot of time. Yeah. Well, and some things can impact you greatly. Some things you want. You've got to get sponsors on board to get stuff passed, like you said, to prove some of the language, get it cleaned up and whatnot. But it's just a necessary part of it, I guess. It's not all just guzzler projects and issuing tags and, you know, all that. But regarding that, what, if anything, is new and noteworthy in your mind? Jason and I have talked a little bit about Nevada today already. And we talked about, you know, the long application season. It runs clear until May 10th.

We love, Jack, your ability in Nevada to be able to change your applications right up until the deadline if something changes in your mind or you just sleep different. Jason gets up the crook in his neck, can't draw his bow back. He's got to go change from archery applications to muzzleloader and rifle. Hey, I love that feature. Yeah. I love it. And, Jack, a lot of this comes from you, I know, especially like the application season date of being clear until May 10th. It's starting early. I mean, you know, you and Tony have been working hard on that kind of thing and made a lot of change there. And we're trying to – we've talked about it before, the Western big game dance that everybody plays every year. And you look at when other states open up and when their results are released, and we're just trying to find that spot that we can get results out

and people can still make moves to get to other states. But then we're behind other states, and people can make informed decisions whether they want to come to Nevada or buy bonus points that year.

It's the dance everybody plays every year. Well, we talked about that, that, you know, it's nice because as non-residents, we play a lot of different states. And, you know, you guys have made it to where we can – you know, it's kind of nice to – you get a few draw results. If we're absolutely slammed, we could do points or whatever. But at the bare minimum, we should be doing points. What I like is your guys' kind of overall theme is that you want to produce a quality product. And your product is your big game animals and maybe small game too. But, you know, that's kind of the product. And you guys are doing a great job at managing wildlife and whatnot and actually care about it. And I would say every state does, but it just feels a little – there's a little different feeling about it. We manage a little bit different than most.

And if you look at our big game, specifically mule deer, we manage for $30 per 100 does. That's what we manage for. But then we take those recommendations to the Wildlife Commission, and they have final say on our quotas. And even though our $30 per 100 does is very conservative when you look at other states, our commission has historically been even more conservative than that. And we have some units that are post-season buck ratios are $35 to $40 per 100 does. And a lot of other states are running 10% to 15%. Yeah. Our elk, we're looking for a third of our bulls being – with that 15-inch main beam when people turn it in. And that means an 8-year-old bull and older. And with those two things in mind and this prolonged drought we have going on, our department is looking at backing off on some of the recommendations on both elk and deer.

We haven't seen the recruitment the past couple of years, and people go, oh, then we want to avoid Nevada. And I'd say the years we back off are the years you really want to come because those are the years you're even out there with fewer people as competition, and you get an even better Nevada open area experience without too many hunters. Well, I think it's tough. You've got to balance the budget, and you've got a fine line there. You guys – I mean, you're an arid state. Just by nature, you don't have – it's not like a mule deer factory per se, although I love your state and we've harvested a lot of your bucks. We appreciate that, Jack. But having said that, just for what you guys have, just do a phenomenal job and then balance in the budget, selling tags. You want to sell tags. And so I think there's a fine balance of saying, hey, we are in a drought, but we also need to hire people.

We have to pay wages. I mean, there's a lot that goes into wildlife management. And I'm glad you bring that up because we – our sportsmen, our Nevada sportsmen say that on a regular basis. Nevada, they're just selling these cow elk tags for revenue. When we did our license simplification, Tony and I, our director, sat down and looked at our fees, and we could have raised a little bit of money on each tag, and we didn't. But when you look at our overall budget between PR, DJ, license sales, what our NGO community brings to us to help us do projects on the ground, it's vital for wildlife. Our tag sales, we will never look at tags as dollars. Tags we see as opportunity. We will find our dollars in other ways. We will not say, God, we need a couple more cow elk tags because we need the money. That's never been a conversation at this agency. It won't be. We'll find our money other ways.

We truly will. So that's our main point is to have a quality experience with quality animals on the landscape. Yeah, we've talked about that before we got you on the air today, Jack. Just with when you get something in Nevada, it really feels like when you get a tag, you're obviously a sheep tag or goat tags for residents or whatever, but deer, elk, you know, even antelope, you've really got something in Nevada. It's something worth sinking your teeth into. And not to say that everything's just an elite trophy unit, but in general, like we talked about, there's no easy-to-draw elk areas in Nevada for just 260 to 290 or 300-inch bulls. That's not really how Nevada manages their elk herds. There's 320 to 350 bulls in every unit, and, you know, better than that in some as well. So when you get something, you really got it. And so, you know, a lot of choices, the five choices.

You know, we got a long application period. One other thing that I don't know if you are willing to go on record yet, but you've been having kind of a fun event. You've called it, I think, Midnight Madness. Are we doing that for the second year in a row, Jack? Midnight Madness? And we're going, without a doubt, we're going for year two.

There's no doubt in my mind. Tell us why, because there's, I mean, it's pretty awesome. We talked about a minute ago when we talked about being able to change your applications. That seems to me like just a no-brainer. If somebody can wait until the 10th of May and apply, and their choices are in the draw, why can't me either deploy it April 5th or 10th, change mine up until April 10th with no repercussions, you know? Obviously, they can in Nevada. We're just saying, why don't the other states follow suit? They either don't let you, or you've got to withdraw your whole application and resubmit it and pay another fee and all that. Or in a lot of cases, they just don't let you do it. So then there's the draw results. A lot of times, it's just this cloak of mysteriousness out there of what and when and how this is not the case in Nevada. You know, it's going to be. It's a celebration.

That's right. It used to be the Friday going into Memorial Weekend, which it's not really lining up always with that now with some of the differences in, you know, application deadline. But I think, is it set for May 26th-ish, somewhere right in there? Well, the commission meeting to set all the quotas are 7th and 8th of May this year. Our application period closes on the 10th. I would encourage everybody to get in, do their applications, and then if they need to change their mind, it's an easy change. You can just click on the, if you get into your species, you click on the box of where the species are. You can move it up and down. You can change orders. You can delete, add, whatever. But then you're 99% done. So I'd encourage people to get in and get at least started.

10th, 11 o'clock, we shut down the application period. And as soon as we shut that down, we start doing sample draws. We make sure all the business rules are applying correctly. Everybody's bonus points are being applied correctly. And then we have about a two-week turnaround. We'll do the draw. We're anticipating Monday the 24th, about 8 a.m. local time, 8 to 8.30 local time in Reno. We're going to display that on YouTube as we historically have. It's boring, Jack. It's so exciting. It's boring. We sit there and stare at a computer. Pretty soon the guys get bored and walk away. I'm going to tell you, it really worked out well last year, and we're going to try to expand on it. There's a lot of questions sportsmen have, and we do live questions and answers during that period. And it really did pay off last year, and it answers draw a sequence. It answers a lot of things.

Well, I think that's kind of cool. So, you know, you're doing that. You don't have to do it. It's not like you're going to gain more sales or license revenue by, you know, having people apply after they do the question and answer. For all intents and purposes, you don't need to do the question and answer session. It's over with. The draw is occurring. And so I think that's another testament to you guys reaching out to your customer, the hunter, and, you know, answering questions, just doing things, you know, out of the ordinary. It's outside the box. You're treating it like a privatized business. You're treating them like they truly are a customer. They are a customer. That's what keeps the doors open. That's what allows us to do good things on landscape of wildlife.

With that draw, you know, with the draw going the 24th, 8 to 8, 30 a.m., local time here in Reno, those results will be out. We want to make sure everything is solid on that draw. So we'd really run it through its paces with built queries, making sure, like I said, that in our test draws, business rules are adhered to. Everybody got their bonus points. And everything that's in place needs to stay in place. So I'm expecting 1130 and midnight on the 25th. Results will start hitting.

And we had some frustration last year, Midnight Madness, because everybody thought they'd tune in at midnight and it was just going to see it on their account. Midnight Pacific time or something. It was like 1 a.m. our time. Very frustrating. Yeah. Yeah. I'm sure it was. But when we hit the button, it's an algorithm, and it goes out and it charges credit cards first. And then it updates accounts and emails get sent. 2 a.m. Pacific time? Yeah. It's going to take two hours or so to load that in. But I can tell you, you're going to see it on your credit card first. Bingo. So instead of sitting there hitting refresh, refresh, refresh, watch your credit cards. I think Bronson sets alerts. Anything over $100, he sees it. It's pretty simple. It hits me a text. I'll be checking out when I go apply for a Nevada. I'll check out, and before I save my receipt, I'm getting a text, man. I just got hit.

So if that wakes me up in the middle of the night right then, it's going to be good. Hey, Jack, is there any way we can – do you ever have any anti-hunters apply? Like, can we kick them out of the draw before we actually publish the results? I don't know if we do or not. We need to figure that out.

I guess if they're born after 1960, is that the date? Have a hunter ed card? Yeah, they better have a hunter education card. We should look at – anybody with the email address of PETA.com, we should be kicking them out, Jack. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. On the hunter ed thing, if you've applied in Nevada before, you're good to go. Yeah. If you want to get in this year, please come in early, get your hunter ed cards. They have to be certified, so we have you scan them on your phone, send them to us. Yeah, but, Jack, I mean, non-residents can take a course in your state and not even do the field day, right? Without a doubt. Online only. So anybody out there with kids, if you're listening and your kid needs a hunter ed card, do it online in Nevada. It counts in all of these states. You don't have to be a resident in Nevada to take their course, right?

That is correct, and we would encourage anybody to take our course. It's a good, solid course that we truly believe in and will keep you safe in the field. My son, well, he wanted to start applying his girlfriend for points across the West. Anyway, I said, go to Nevada and do it online. Sure enough, they did it. So she's got her hunter ed card in Nevada. Well, anyway, that's awesome. I think there's a lot of things going on, like Bronson was talking about with elk, and I think it morphs over into all the species. But there's a 350 bull in each of these units. Adam and I were up early the other morning cranking on the mag, and we're like, just think about it. I mean, we're careful in the magazine. We paint a very realistic picture for the average hunter in, you know, what you're going to see, 320, 330 bulls, 340 bulls, 350 plus.

And we try to paint that picture, but honestly, you could kill a trophy bull in any unit. And that's just rare. And I think it's that way, you know, for most species, I know you guys had some quota recommendations coming out, and it sounded like, and Jack, you can, you know, you don't have to elaborate perfectly. Obviously, the commission meeting's coming up. But it sounds like you're going to give a few more tags in some of these units, maybe a few less here and there. But generally speaking, you know, in regards to desert sheep, about the same number of tags you had in the past. Yeah, we may be down a couple percent on our deer and elk. So, desert sheep, it's going to be, most units, fairly steady. And I'm going to, you talk about quality in a lot of units. I looked at it the other day.

We harvested, because you have to check in your sheep when you take one, 29 rams that over 168, doing a crock of score. So, 29 rams. But the main thing that I want to point out, that came out of 15 different units. So, a sheep tag in Nevada, there's a chance of stumbling upon a great big ram in a lot of units. I know a lot of people look at the Muddies and McCullows and the Bears, and they think that those are the only three places that have big sheep. And I can tell you, there's big sheep everywhere. I'd rather have a sheep tag in my pocket looking for a big sheep than sitting at home, still waiting for one of those three units. I like it. Load up your five choices. Well said. And I can tell you, with some of our drought conditions, we have populations that are 100% reliant on artificial water guzzlers. And we flew into some of these guzzlers last time as many as four times.

We moved in excess of 100,000 gallons of water under a helicopter last year. And when we see that type of impact water-wise, we know that the vegetation isn't getting water to grow more feed for the animals to survive. So, we're actually going to up a few quotas in some of these areas, trying to, you know, reduce the impact of the animals on the landscape and make it for a healthier population going forward. But with that being said, the area that we're going to raise some of the tags in, we're averaging over a seven-year ram on all the rams harvested over the last, you know, 10 years. So, it's not like we're going to have a biological impact on that one population. We're just trying to reduce the numbers. But we know there's a ton of old age-class rams in the muddies. And there will be a few more tags this year, which means more opportunity.

But we do think the best thing we can do for the animals is reduce that population a bit. I think you said, if I'm not mistaken, you actually spent time in the muddies yourself. And I think that's impressive and adds to your credit of, you know, what you guys are recommendation. You've seen it with your own eyes. And it's not something you're managing just from, you know, a formula on a computer spreadsheet or paper that you guys are actually in the field doing it. And you yourself spent time. I may be wrong, but wasn't it in December there? Yes. I have an addiction for chasing sheep. And a very close friend of mine drew a sheep tag in the muddies. And there's a good number of tags in muddies. And people go, God, I don't like that place because it's just so busy. Well, it's busy the first three, four days of the season.

We waited two weeks, went down there, and we only saw one other hunter in the field. And that was when we were in our side-by-side. We passed them on a main access road on a side-by-side. And that's the only time we ran into people in the field. So don't look at those numbers of quotas and go, man, it's just going to be busy down there. It'll be busy right at the beginning. But if you wait a little bit, you can go in and have a quality experience. And we just saw ram after ram after ram in that unit. There is not a shortage of rams, without a doubt. And we're just trying to increase the take a little bit. We're going to try to give some sheep to Utah this year again. We'd love to give them 50 to take that additional impact off that habitat until we get some moisture to bring things back a little bit. Yep. We're just looking for a release valve.

And trapping transplant has been a good release valve. And we'd love to give some to Utah. We're currently working on that as we speak. We'll take them. Well, and our experience has been the same as what you've said. We've, Jason and I both have spent time down in Nevada on the openers, a week into the opener, two weeks in the opener and beyond. And you're right. When you get a 40-day desert sheep season, everybody's there. You know, it's around Thanksgiving or the week right before that starts. So there's usually a bunch of help, bunch of people out. And a week or 10 days into that, it's just you're back there to just enjoy in the desert alone and with a few other hunters as any other normal unit in Nevada is. You just, when you draw a once-a-lifetime tag, it's hard to scroll social media and see all these big rams pop up. And you're waiting to have your turn or something.

So I can understand why people go out the first weekend, but you're totally right. It's not necessarily. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, there's some tremendous rams taken after that first weekend every year. And just because one was taken that opening weekend doesn't mean you would have been in the right spot at the right time. And I'd rather be out there by myself enjoying it. And there's that opportunity to exist on multiple species throughout the state. Well, anything else we've missed, Carter, Jack? Anything that we maybe didn't hit as a highlight for this year? I always like talking about deer.

Jack, where am I going to find a 200-incher? Jason, what kind of question is that? I don't know. Hey, you never know what the answer is going to be. Hold on. Let him answer. Go ahead, Jack. My answer is you've found more of them in your lifetime than I have in mine. Maybe I should be asking you. Great answer, Jack. And that's why I thought it was a dumb question. Hey, Jason, if you were me and you were sitting on six bonus points, where would you go? I'd go to your hometown, Jack. Go to Tonopah.

That's part of the problem. No. I was waiting for that Tonopah comment to come in. We love Tonopah. Hey, anybody out there listening, if you haven't been to Tonopah, Google it. And then you may or may not want to go. What do you think, Jack? I was down there over the weekend. I'll be down there two, three more times before Memorial Day weekend, without a doubt. I'll tell you one thing. Might be looking for some sheep to see if we need to change some of my friend's application strategies. Yeah. One thing we love about Nevada is you can drive. Bronson, you've done it. I've done it. We go out and predator hunt with our kids or whatever. But you can drive for hours and not see people. Like, it's one of the last places on Earth it feels like you can go out and just have a crazy wild experience. Be somewhat alone. Yeah. That's right. Yeah.

A few years ago, Calcumai has to come to Nevada every year in August to do a presentation of the big game application period. And basically a state of the state. And we had a meeting in Caliente and we were going to come back to Reno and work a few more days. And we went from, you guys are familiar with this, from Alamo up to Warm Springs. From Alamo up to Warm Springs. And we were driving and the Calcumai guy was driving. I said, hey, Scott, you need to put the car in the middle of the road, straddle that center line. He goes, but there may be oncoming traffic. I said, well, you can see it for 15 miles and I can tell you there's nothing coming out. It's safer in the middle of the road. Spinometers should say triple digits. When you can drive down a highway in the middle of the road and not have to worry about anything, it's a good place to be. How many times have we made that trip?

And I don't know. Do you ever get pulled over out there? We tend to hit some high speeds out there because there's nobody out there. You know what I mean? Well, I'd like to say I never get pulled over, but I'd be lying to you. Yeah.

They sneak up on you right when you get real comfortable. Yeah, that's right. Well, I like what you were saying. There's a trophy ram in any of these units. Same thing we've talked about elk. Same thing for deer. Bronson and I, we take in a lot of photos. We take in a lot of, you know, customer comments and whatnot. And antelope as well, like Adam's saying, it doesn't matter where you're at. I've seen some big old bucks and no-namer units, you know, near Reno and not even the named units right there with the late season dates. I mean, we're talking the no-namer units. And it's just impressive. Anybody that's willing to work hard, there's something out there for anybody at any point level. So, hey, man. Huge proponents of people applying. Obviously, you've got some different programs. You've got the silver state tags to apply for. You've got the PIW tags, the dream tags.

I mean, there's a lot going on as far as not just the regular state tags. You guys have been creative in these other programs that allow guys pretty cool opportunities with, you know, a wide variety of season dates, some of which are three or four months long. Some of them are any open season date like the dream tag. Anyway, you want to comment on some of those opportunities as well? Those are great opportunities. And we've talked about it before. How many years do you get to apply? And how many years are you going to be able to hunt as hard as you think you can hunt? And if they give you multiple opportunities to get into the game, you need to get in. PIW, Silver State, Dream Tag. But you bring up a point of new ideas on how to get people into the field. You guys are well aware that you can return a tag in Nevada up until the day before the season starts. Yeah.

But we only reissue the tags that come in 14 days and sooner. If we want to, if somebody checks to be an alternate, and I'd encourage you to check to be an alternate because we're going to give you a two-week at least window to be ready to go on to your hunt. Yeah. But those tags from 14 days down to the day before haven't been reissued in the past. And we have about 1,100 of those come in a year. 1,100. Wow. Two years ago, we had 11 desert bighorn sheep tags come in and one Rocky Mountain sheep tag come in. Last year, we had nine bighorn sheep tags come in during that 14-day window when they don't get reissued. This year, starting sometime in August, we're going to have first come, first serve. And those tags that come in in that window, they don't get reissued to an alternate, are going to go on to a first come, first serve list.

And with that first come, first serve, you have to be logged into your account to get it. If you see it, you put it in your cart. We're going to give you a five-minute time to get checked out. But if it's in your cart, it's yours as long as you can check out with a valid credit card. As long as you can check out. Now, to make it fair to everybody, you have to be logged into your account because we don't want, you know, people to come up with a computer program that can go out there and search it and then send out notifications. So, with that being said, when we receive that tag, we're going to have some process time and then we're going to give it to Calcumai. And then Calcumai is going to put it out in a random time. It could come out at 3 in the morning. Oh, gee. It's going to be. It's 3 a.m. at the store.

It's going to be randomized. I can tell you, when we give them a tag, it's going to say, okay, this tag's getting put out in an hour and this one's getting put out in 37 hours. Wow. We're going to be issuing tags of seasons that are open. But it's going to be that buyer's choice. So, during the season. During the season. Archery hunt's going on. You're having a tag return. Yeah. A guy turns it in on a Thursday or Friday and his hunt starts the Saturday or Sunday, whatever. They're not going to be able to process and get it on there until at least Monday, Tuesday, or next week. And so, there's going to be some open seasons. And just to clarify, these are hunts.

Your bonus points and waiting periods, they're going to apply? They apply. Just normal. They're going to take them from you, right, Jack? Yep. Without a doubt. Bonus points, waiting periods. If I get in there, I harvested a desert sheep a couple years ago. If I get in there and I see there's a desert sheep, I'll be able to see it, but it'll be gray shaded. It won't let me click into it in my account. Because you'll be on a 10-year wait. Because I'm on the 10-year wait. But, say I go on there and I see it on my account. I could call a friend and they could try to get it in their account. They're not going to. There won't be enough time. I don't think there's going to be. But, on the randomized stuff, say I'm not in a waiting period and I want my son to have that tag. I go on there and I see it and I put it in my account. I call my son and say, hey, you've got to get ready.

I'm going to dump it out of my cart right now. Whoa. Tactic. There's a tip in tactic. Is that going to happen? No. Okay. No. We built into the system that when it dumps out of your cart, you hit the five minutes, it re-randomizes that time clock again. Oh, okay. So, don't try to play the system that way is what we're saying. Don't try to play the system. You guys have thought of everything. Hey, we've tried to. We really have. We're trying to keep it somewhat fair, I guess. I mean, it's random. You've got to get rid of these tags. These are 900 to 1,100 unused tags that, in some cases, maybe not the sheep, but in others, if it's cow elk or bull elk or deer, you're not allowing that harvest that you have already allocated. It affects managing wildlife. You end up issuing tags that never get used.

Anyway, what a great opportunity. And residents and non-residents are all viewed equal on these, right? Other than the price of the tags. But as far as getting them, it's not like a resident turns in a tag, only residents can apply for it. It's when a tag in this 14-day window comes up. Anybody can get it. Whoever surrendered it, it's whoever gets it. It's not resident and non-resident specific. That is true. It's a free-for-all at that point. So, it should be exciting. We're looking forward to it. So, I think we're going to have enough traffic to the site. Maybe we should start selling some banner ads on it. Yeah, maybe we can think of somebody. Throw Epic on there. We know business that might be interesting. Sell some optics or something like that. So, Jack, in layman's terms, we just want to spell it out.

If there's 14 days or more before the season starts, you throw it out to an alternate. Anybody that clicked on the alternate, right? If there was no alternate, then fine. You'll go to first come, first serve. If it's within 14 days, let's say 13 to whenever the season starts and during the season, then it's on a first come, first serve basis. Everybody's eligible if you haven't incurred a waiting period or you don't have a tag in the main draw already. Correct. And you can check out at a non-resident price for non-residents, resident price for residents. You're going to lose any points that you had, and you'll incur any waiting period that is applicable. Which is like sheep and elk and antelope. That's it. Non-deer. Exactly right. Nope. Kind of exciting. I couldn't have said it. So, about 14 days, I guess, prior to the archery deer hunt. I mean, so that's whatever, July.

End of July, technically. That could start August 10th, so 14 days prior to that. You could, at some point, that'll all be on your website. The link will be there. You can refresh, keep refreshing. Going to be a lot of unproductive people from the end of July through, let's say, November, checking that at work. The incentive for some people to return their tags is they get all their points back plus one if you applied in a single application. Right? Exactly. And so, up until when the season starts. So, there's people that are going to be doing this. Maybe they're going to be pre-scouting. Whatever. Maybe they can't go. Maybe something comes up with their family. Whatever. Something happens. They return tags, which is going to happen. Guaranteed, lots of them. And who knows what's going to come down the pipe. They're special tags.

Some of these guys, Jack, have 20, 25 points, let's be honest. And if they can't make the most of it, or they don't find the deer they want, or antelope, or whatever, they're fine to eat the tag fee and return it. They're good with it. And so, you're going to see some pretty special tags come available. Definitely so. And when that opportunity comes up, people need to be prepared to go into the field. I mean, we have some very short seasons. You know those late seasons. They're 10, 11-day short seasons. Well, you guys call them short. You guys call them short, but we know states with five-day seasons. So, yeah. We're going to have, when that tags up, it's going to show how many days are left in the season also. So, you're making an informed decision. Yeah, you're attesting. I will take this. I will buy this. I will lose my points. I know I have four days left to hunt, or whatever. Yeah.

So, well. That's how that's going to work. Well, appreciate you being, you know, thinking a little bit differently or outside the box or just making a solution is basically what it is to reissuing 1,000-plus tags a year, it sounds like, that have not been used at all. Just, you know, yeah, you got the permit fee from the first guy, but nobody got to go harvest the animal. And, you know, it's kind of the same thing. The Silver State, the Dream, PAW tags. They're just, these are fundraising mechanism tags, all with earmarked funds in different categories. But, granted, the big upside if you win, but all just unique opportunities in Nevada. So, appreciate you bringing up that first-come, first-served thing, too. There's some archery sheep, desert sheep opportunities. You know, we visited about that a little bit. And maybe, if things go well, maybe non-residents will have a tag down the road.

Definitely so. And we targeted those areas that the sheep weren't relying on those artificial waters, that there were some natural waters. So, it'll be a harder hunt. If we targeted those areas that was just artificial water, it could make the hunt a lot easier. Yeah, you'd just have blinds stacking on guzzlers. It wouldn't, it would be. And that's a good way to hunt. Some of that country, they're relying on water. But you're also wanting it to be a sporting opportunity. Yeah, so, we're dipping our toe in the water. And if it works out all right, we'll throw in some non-resident opportunity in the future and see where that goes. And on our applications, you can apply for elk and deer and everything, muzzleloader, archery, and rifle on the same application. So, going forward, you could put in rifle for the first few choices and then put in archery for,

unless you're in a diehard archer, that might be your first choice. But you can mix it up. Well, and I think also you're offering non-residents the opportunity to draw muzzleloader, antelope tag, and, you know, adding a lot of resident opportunities as well. So, obviously, that's worked out well for you. And Adam and I like to call it more SKUs in the business world. There's just more opportunities, more options to put down as one of your five choices. Definitely so. All right, Jack, is there anything we're missing? Like, I know I didn't get far from out of you where to apply for deer, but anything else that you want to offer? Neither did Jack get any good advice from you, Jason. I told him to go to Tonopah. He knows that country. Oh, okay. Bronson, we've always said it. Go in your backyard. You should hunt where you are close to home and you can hit it hard and scout hard.

What do you think? Where you're comfortable. That's right. Yeah. Yes. The only other small change we made this year is gender-specific draw. We're going to be drawing all the male species before the female. Like on the desert, the desert bighorn, ram, and ewe stuff, right? Because a guy could draw a ewe tag, and it kind of kept him from drawing a ram tag in the past. It could have happened. It would have been so rare, but it did make so people didn't put in for that ewe. This year, we're going to draw the rams before the ewe, the bulls before the cows, the horns longer than before the horns shorter. And we're actually seeing an uptick on some of the female species applications this year because of that change. But just trying to spread out that opportunity to multiple people. Well, I think it's awesome.

There's a lot of guys out there just wanting to have a tag, just, you know, kill a cow or anything and whatnot. So, anyway, and that gives us, you know, hunting opportunity. It helps you guys manage wildlife populations and whatnot. And so, I think that's a nice change, actually. People don't want to be kicked out of the draw. They would, I mean, obviously, most guys, hunters, gals, whoever, would prefer to draw, you know. Buck, bull, ram, billy, whatever. That's right. Yeah, first. At least be considered for that first. And then, especially if you're a Nevada resident, I mean, I realize there's still fair amount of non-residents. Probably do cow elk and all that. But if you really understand how they're doing the draw, there's nothing holding you back from putting in for a cow elk tag somewhere.

Or if you're happy or want to view desert bighorn for a collection, I guess do it now that you know that you're not being kicked out of the draw from your ram hunt. So, Carter, there you go. I agree. Carter, you've killed two desert bighorn rams. How about a ewe to go right between them? No. How come? I don't know. It feels – I'm fine with people doing it. I think it's a valid management tool. But I don't know something about killing moms. I don't know. Just not my thing, but there's a lot of guys that do it, and I'm totally cool with that. Yeah. All right, Jack. And it – when we do that, and I want to – just two seconds on that. When we do that on our elk, it's because we have management objectives. We have to keep those numbers under. Oh, yeah. If we do it on sheep, it's for biological reasons. Numbers, yeah. Disease, density. Yeah.

Adam, you understand density-dependent and disease opportunities and carrying capacity. We don't do it. Like I said at the beginning, it's not for the money that those 10 ewes bring us. It's not going to balance anybody. No. But it could make a difference in keeping a healthy population on the landscape. So that's the main point of it. Great. Well, we appreciate you, Jack. You know, all the hard work you guys are dealing with over there in Nevada. There's times I know you're not dealing with some fun things like, you know – Political things and all that. Yeah, a lot of – Part of the job. Black bear, predator, whatever. There's just a lot that goes into it. But anyway, appreciate it. I couldn't work at a better place. So I'm still just so happy to be here. Well, thanks for taking a few minutes with us today. We appreciate it.

We'll probably give another shout-out to you prior to now on the deadline. But I wanted to get this podcast out for everybody to listen to, to, you know, talk with one of the top dogs about the highlights of Nevada. That's right. We covered it in our April magazine. Jack, I think you read that magazine even. I did. And I was – I called Jason. I said, boy, I'm really impressed with the detail you guys put into these. I truly am. And knowing the areas and the state as well as I do and reading it and the accuracy of the information that you guys put out, you guys are spot on. And you represent it well, and I can't thank you for the help. Awesome. Can't thank you enough for the help. You bet. Well, we appreciate you as well. If there's anything we can do for you, let us know. We'll keep plugging along and encouraging people to apply and helping people.

Everybody out there, if you're listening, you can refer to the Epic Outdoors, April 2021 issue. Can't believe it's 2021 already. Anyway, we covered the entire state of Nevada. If you have any questions, give us a call. Adam and I. Wyatt, Devin, everybody here at Epic Outdoors is willing to help you. 435-263-0777. Get on www.endallicensing.com. www.endallicensing.com. That will take you to Calcomize's site where you can get on, get into your account, and apply. Thanks, Jack. Appreciate your time. We'll let you get back to the other irons in the fire, but we really appreciate your time today. I really appreciate you all. Talk to you later. Thank you. All right. Good. I'm glad you brought up that first come, first serve. That was a change, and it's going to be interesting. It was just basically for all you people that had that stripped from you for Colorado for this year,

that once again I mentioned the word Colorado. But guys, come on. I've got to say that again in my life. I can't just swear it off until next app season. His mind is right back in Colorado. No, I'm just saying everybody's gnashing teeth because Colorado did away with this. Nevada's bringing it back. So Colorado's now having an announcement. This is when we're putting them all online. I think Wednesday's at 10 or 11 a.m. Yeah, so they didn't totally do away with it, but it's not as. But there's no, in the middle of the night, no randomness. No, I was there at 3.30 on a Friday and got attacked. They're going to come out with a list and say it's a free-for-all starting at 10 a.m. on a Wednesday. Every Wednesday. And everybody's on there at the same time. And so Nevada's just going to be randomness, I guess, guys. There we go. There's going to be some guys. Midnight madness. 2 a.m. madness.

3 a.m. madness. But you know what? You can program a computer to do anything. It's not like Kalkomai is going to be sitting awake wondering, oh, let's just throw this tag out there. They're going to program it. Don't you think? Yeah. I think they're going to have fun. A desert sheep tag, 3.34 in the morning. I don't. Who's up? Who's up? Who's up? Some crazy night owl is going to be getting a sheep tag. So anyway, have at it. It's going to be awesome. It's going to be fun to see how this plays out. Just, again, there's a lot of evolving things that happen in these different states, a lot of changes. We're staying on top of these things. These are opportunities. They provide opportunities to get tags, and that's what we're all about here at Epic Outdoors. So anyway, Bronson, as far as getting tags and hunts, why don't you kick us off with our newest membership drive?

The summer membership drive? I don't know. Spring, summer? What do we call it? It's the spring summer because we're kicking it off late April, but it has a very short window. The deadline, we always do this twice a year, mainly just to generate some excitement, but we use it as a marketing tool for building a membership base. This is obviously a company like ours that went from literally zero, hey, we're open for business, to you've got to generate members. And we're a hunting-based business. Hunts add excitement to that. And so we have added every year a little bit more to this. A little bit more, Bronson. We're giving away a desert sheep. Ding, ding, ding, ding. A little bit more. We just got done talking about it with Jack, the desert sheep options in Nevada. But for all of you, which there may be many of you, we've not done a desert sheep before.

If you need one for a Grand Slam, for the first round for a Slam, second, third, fourth, it doesn't matter. We're going to give one away. Everyone needs one. That's right. What do you mean? If you want one, need one, we've got one. And this is on a specific ranch that we've been to. I've actually been there. I've seen the sheep. This is no fences. This is free range. This is as legit as you get in Mexico. Bronson, they've probably got a bobware fence somewhere. A three-strander. Yeah, but you know what I mean when I'm talking about it. No high fences. So down there in Mexico, there are high-fenced opportunities down there. Not taking away from people out there doing it. Just saying. This one is free range. Total. If there's a fence, it's a low fence. A lot of opportunity down there. And we didn't just pick any hunt, Bronson. This is somebody we know.

In fact, with Roberto Noriega, super good guy. He helped me basically on my first. Some other. A lot of. Spent a lot of time traveling through the border with him, dealing with my gun permits and different things. You've gone down there, hunted his ranch. I mean, he's a good, like a good person. That's right. Good guy. His own personal ranch. So he has a very big vested interest in the quality that he's got there. This is a 10-day hunt. We bought the first hunt of the year. They've got a long, you know, from the end of November through March that they can hunt their sheep down there. We bought this for, you know, the first part of December. First hunt of the year. But it's the first hunt of the year. We've had members buy and book hunts through us on this hunt. Gone down, killed rams up to 180 inches. Just, he's got great potential. It's not from a physical standard. It's sheep hunting.

But it's not a backpack grinder. Anybody can do it. As you go. Most people can do this if you're in somewhat physical condition. You're going to have an opportunity to kill a record book caliber ram or better. And Roberto will tell you, if you don't, I'll bring you back. But that's, I don't know how often he's ever had to do that. It's just what he says to reassure you that, oh, you're going to kill a ram. So that's the first hunt. Probably the sentinel hunt, since we've used that word for mentioning. We've had members kill 179 to 180 inch rams. We have. Like, I mean, recently. Oh, yeah. We have. That's what I said. This is legit. We're personally familiar with it. We wouldn't buy the hunt if we weren't comfortable with it. This is going to be, again, December of 2021. This fall. This winter, I guess, what you want to call it. So that one's kicking it off.

I want to just say one thing, okay? Sometimes guys might say, did these guys really pay $55,000 for that hunt? Okay, we really paid it. We really paid it. He does not need help selling his hunts. He's full every year. And we preserved this, you know, in advance. We actually thought about doing it last year. And then, you know, this little thing called COVID-19 got in the middle of stuff. And you couldn't travel places. And you're dealing with the border. And so it just caused us to put it off a little bit. But this is 100%. I would go there if I had money to spend or go with any of my family members to go hunt this ranch. My women, children, I would take to this ranch. And I mean that. This is not just to sell tickets for a hunt. But if you, you know, take our word for it, I guess, is what I'm saying. We've been there. A lot of people have been crossing the border successfully.

This isn't like, am I going to be able to go? Maybe I won't be able to go. This is not the case. You're going to be able to go. That's right. Yeah, they have all this last year. So great opportunity there. Desert sheep. On all these options, you can either refer somebody, join Epic Outdoors, refer a member. If you're a current member and refer a member that joins, you'll get a ticket into the hunt of your choice for referring them. And the new member will get a ticket of their choice. Or you can simply purchase tickets with the varying ticket packages. Let's talk about another hunt. Online even. All right. So the next hunt up, we've got an Alaska grizzly bear hunt with Freelance Outdoor Adventures. Lance Kronberger, super good friend of ours. We've known him since we were kids, Bronson. Yeah, we were all kids together. Yeah, we were. He's a killer.

Anyway, spring grizzly hunt in northwestern Alaska, 2022. So anyway, June 1st to the 15th. It's kind of a backpack hunt. You'll be flown into remote country and you'll be spiked camp from there. What an awesome opportunity. We've sent guys there. Again, one of these guys that doesn't need help. I think it's, Bronson, we try to buy hunts that we want ourselves the best of the best. There's no question Lance is one of the best. That's right. Absolutely. No question our hunt winner last year, the one that killed a great boar on his hunt. And there'll be a great opportunity next spring, next June. There's nothing like an interior grizzly, especially a giant one. They're, I don't want to say they're mean. They're awesome. They're something to behold. Super, super amazing trophy. Anyway, we bought it. You're going to go on it if you draw. So anyway, make sure you get your ticket in the hat.

Back again by popular demand. We talked about Nevada heavily today, but we bought another hunt with Deadline Outfitters, Holby Gartner, one of our good friends up in northeastern Nevada. This is a Nevada 076 through 081 elk hunt. This includes the unit wide. This is good for all units within that cluster. Unit wide landowner tag within the season of your choice. This is a six-day hunt that we also have paid and booked for the guide fee with Holby. Within the season of your choice, either archery or muzzleloader or rifle. You do have to choose. This is not open-ended like the mule deer that you can hunt them all. Choose your season. You have to choose your season. But every year, you know, Holby harvests some great bulls for his clients on both the Idaho and the Nevada side of the border here. In fact, last year, our hunt winner killed a .370 class bull on this very hunt.

The one that's on. I think the bull is photoed in the ad. It is. It is. This is a $17,000 value. This isn't smoke and mirrors. This is a landowner tag that we bought and the guide fee that we bought. You're going to go on that. And this is for this year, 2021. We didn't trade these things out. I'm telling you, we paid it. It's unbelievable. Great opportunity. Just like you said, Bronson. 076 to 081. Got some incredible bulls up there. It's a lot of fun. I've hunted up there myself. So anyway. All right. Jumping into Colorado mule deer course. Bronson likes to talk Colorado. Let's do it. Here in Unit 68, 2022, third season. That'll be November 12th to the 18th with a rifle. We've booked it. You're going to be able to go on it if you apply and draw. This is with Clay Hill. Hill's guides and outfitters. Super good guy. One of the best of the best in the state of Colorado.

So you'll be going next year, 2022, if you draw it. Just an incredibly late season date. Of course, that happens this year and the next year is one day earlier. A lot of people get caught up. This is the only great year to ever hunt Colorado in 2021. I'm going to be hunting it until the day I die. How about you? That's right. Okay. All right. This includes the landowner tag, like we said, unit wide for units 68, 681, and 682. Includes the guide fee, food, and lodging. Pretty awesome. Clay has the access to the best private land as well as all the public ground within the units. One of the very few opportunities, as a lot of you know out there, hard to find an outfitter that's licensed in all of the units, wherever you're talking about. It's just tough to be licensed and deal with the forest use permits and BLM use permits. He's got it all squared away. He knows what he's doing.

Killing some incredible animals. Arguably, last year, Bronson produced better than any of the other units. For most of us up here in the lower 48, come January, it's kind of a cold, miserable time of year. If you want to get out and get away from that, we've got another January of 2022 Sonora, Mexico Cous Deer Hunt with Rancho Benito Trophy Hunts with Kuko and his crew down there. Awesome opportunity. This hunt is for January 3rd to the 9th, 2022. Kuko and his team will meet you in Tucson, Arizona. You can drive across the border, have all the paperwork permits and all that to help you get there safely, no problems. Be hunting on great ranches down there. They typically average 105 to 115 inches, depending on the year. Last year, we gave one of these away. Again, the hunter crushed 120 inch buck. 120 inches. Just a stud. And a great opportunity there to be able to go down there.

You may have, since we are giving this hunt away in June, again, the deadline to buy or enter for all these is June 20th, which happens to be Father's Day. Okay. Since you know that then, you would have the opportunity, if you want to bring a family member, it's likely that Kuko and his crew will have somebody to be able to, an opening still on that hunt. So, anyway. Great opportunity next January of 2022. And I can't believe it. You'll be able to look at the photos. I think we've got five giants in there. We're representing this hunt in the ad. I mean, this is not a joke. Just an average Cous Deer Hunt. Legit. So, anyway. Hunt winner did end up buying a pair of 15s from us, Bronson, by the way. 15 SLC binos and went down there and used them. Of course, Kuko did as well. Anyway. Smashed an absolute giant. Appreciate him. His participation in our membership drive. All right. Moving on.

We've got a 2021-2022 Utah mountain lion hunt with really good friends of ours. Hunter Mecham. His dad, family, whatnot. They're based in southern Utah. They're known for their well-trained hounds. Proven bloodlines, Bronson. Some of the best of the best. Got a great reputation for that. Anyway. They're pursuing these lions on horses and mules. Scenic southern Utah. It'll be an incredible opportunity. These guys know what they're doing. They've done it for years. And we appreciate them letting us buy a hunt from them. So, just an incredible opportunity. If you need a lion, this isn't just going to be a lion hunt. This is going to be an entire experience. Super good guys. And these people, Bronson, I don't know. You're going to be bear hunting with them soon. Yeah. We'll be doing that. But this is kind of an old school. You know, they love to saddle up.

They love to just get on the horse and mules and ride and let the dogs work and watch them work. You're going to learn a lot with these guys. It's a unique opportunity. It's not just hanging your head out the window of a truck. It's a little bit different type of a lion hunt. We thought we'd mix it up. I've given away lion hunts before. Rotated around. But the Mecham McLean and the Hunter Mecham Outfitters are awesome crew. They're killers. That's right. They're killers. All right. Moving on to the, I guess, package number seven. We are actually giving away an optics package as an individual item this year. This is a seven-piece optics package given away by us. Epic Optics. Good for, you know, all the Western hunting needs. This includes a Swarovski 95mm spotting scope objective, a BTX eyepiece, as well as either an ATX or an STX spotting scope eyepiece. That snaps onto that 95.

That's right. Also have a Leica 10x42, 3200.com range-finding binoculars, a Vortex Razor UHD 18x56 pair of binos, a Vortex Summit Carbon 2 tripod, and a Zeiss Conquest V4 6-24x50 rifle scope. So all of this adds up to the price tag of $13,500. These are not cheap. These are not knockoff. These are not black market. These are out of the box. You mean they have a warranty? Yeah. We bought them all. We wrote the check for them all just like we do everything else. But we're giving this away as a ticket that you get for either joining or referring somebody or tickets you decide to purchase there. So that's the seven packages. Well, we had a lot of demand. We had guys wanting to get tickets in for the optics besides what we've been doing, which is the bonus option. Yeah. We gave that away as a bonus option last time.

And this time we thought, let's put that as a ticket item and replace the bonus item with a 231 tag here in Nevada for Mule Deer. Just an incredible opportunity. We're back at it. We did it a year or two ago. I want to say two years ago, Bronson. Time is flying. We did it a few times. Yeah. Okay, where we give a 231 tag as a bonus ticket item. You can go on that hunt. We don't care. It's fully transferable. Sell it. Give it to your buddy. Whoever. Whatever. Just know that that tag's worth $13,000. So anyway, that's a tag. You can use it for any season within Nevada starting August 10th with the archery ending October 31st with a rifle. So you can hunt every single day if your schedule allows it. And if you have a muzzleloader, archery, or rifle equipment, feel good or competent with any of those weapon types. So anyway, you can hire somebody if you want. You can go self-guided.

It's largely public. I've hunted up multiple times. There's been some amazing animals taken. Giants, actually. So just an incredible opportunity there. What a great value. Anyway, so if you end up purchasing a $500 ticket package, you're going to get your name in for a 231 tag, and you may win there as well. Again, fully transferable. Do what you want with it. You know, a lot of guys hunt it. Just a great opportunity. We love giving them tags, hunts, knives away. Of course, Bronson, we didn't even talk about that. Anybody that purchases 10 tickets or a 30-ticket package gets a free knife, Epic Outdoors. That's right. All that's on our website. You can read more about this either in the next magazine that's going to be coming to you in the next couple of weeks or on our website at epicoutdoors.com. Again, it will be opening here by the time you probably hear this podcast.

It'll be up and live. And the deadline to either join, refer, or buy entries is Father's Day. What a nice day. You know, we probably want to do that. Treat yourself. Yeah. There you go. I don't know. So, June 20th. That's right. So, a couple more just quick shout outs. We want to appreciate those folks at MOA Rifles. If you're looking to buy a new rifle for this year, MOA Rifles should be a consideration for you to call. Give them a call for a private consultation at 541-526-1820. I've got a great rifle one of theirs, 6.5 PRC. Love it. Had great success with on some of my sheep and goat hunts. Absolutely love it. They also produce rugged ridge outdoor gear. A couple key pieces of gear that I always have in my pack there is their Gen 2 Extreme Bipod. Carbon fiber bipod that's in my pack all the time as well as their Extreme Rear Support System for the rear support of the gun.

If you've got a prone out and you need something like that, I've got them both. So, check them out. MOARifles.com or RuggedRidgeOutdoorGear.com. Lastly, Outdoor Edge knives. What a great opportunity. Jason mentioned them a minute ago. Another way to get an Epic Outdoor Series knife is through our giveaway. But, been a great supporter of us. Yeah, we appreciate them. They make a lot of quality products. A lot of different knife options and whatnot. Removable blade, razor sharp knife. Never have to worry about an edge. Just replace the blade when you do. So, anyway, great opportunity. You can go to OutdoorEdge.com. Check out their products. Order something up. Go from there. We're giving them away. Actually, the ones we're giving away are etched with our logo. It's pretty awesome. Of course, I may be a little biased. I think that's it.

We've got a couple cool podcasts on deck here in the near futures here. So, as we start to get out of. Yeah. What? Remember, it's on your whiteboard. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Got some great ideas written down. Got some fun stuff. But, stay tuned. But, appreciate you listening to this Epic Outdoors podcast. Hope you learned something today. Hope you, you know, if you didn't, I guess, the magazine's there to be able to back up what we talked about. If it was fast and furious. But, we appreciate you listening. And, I guess, let's go back to work. Go back to applying. Have a good day, everybody.