EP 235: Turkey Attack and Full Yeti Mode.

Doha's body condition, if she's in great body condition when she fawns or just after and or during. And they're putting a lot more stock into summer ranges and, you know, monsoon moisture, feed during the slate fall. Anything to do with western big game.

Welcome to the Epic Outdoors podcast, powered by Under Armour. Hey everybody, Jason Carter, Adam Bronson, the entire Epic Outdoors crew coming at you from snowy southern Utah. You know, Wyatt, how much snow did you have at your house? I had a few inches, probably about five or six. Okay, I heard it was six, but then the pessimist in Wyatt said there was nothing but dry snow on it really fast. Yeah, just a light powder. And at my house, I had nothing hardly. I had nothing to even shovel. How far do you guys live? It's like blocks. I would say a couple miles, right? Two miles. Mile and a half. Okay. I mean, I would never jog it to figure it out. I didn't have four or five inches. I did. I had four or five inches. Jeez. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. Well, anyway, there should be some good deer growing out there at Wyatt's Place. Mine, I'm a little bit of a drought, so.

In drought years, in drought years, Bronson, you hunt sheep, goats, antelope, and stags. That's right. Tell me I'm wrong. Well, we've had to do a lot of that in the last two years. I'm tired of shooting stags.

Hey, have you guys shot stags? Just tell me. Devon, have you shot a stag? I did. I've killed one stag. Was it a well-built stag, or was it just a real? I don't want to talk about that. What do you mean? Did it have the antlers beyond the years? It did, but it was a big two-point. Oh. Yeah. Hey, that's cool. Everyone needs a stag. And they don't taste the same, I don't believe. Bronson? It's kind of interesting. You ate a lot of that stag. It's kind of interesting, because in the bovine world, in the cattle world, we eat steers. Steers is what you eat. That's what gets butchered. I would say what we're eating most of the time. For sure. Steer. For sure. Or some old, dried-up heft. Yeah, why does a steer deer not taste good? I don't know. Well, part of it is where they come from. And there's a lot of stags in the crappiest environment. I think, yeah.

Poncegant one in the summer range probably does look like a steer. But some of these drought-stricken places. Nevada? The worst-tasting meat. We had stuff falling out of the bowels of that deer. Come on. Why do you say it that way? Well, it was unlike anything any of us had ever seen. Well, did you look around? The feed is disgusting. It was a rock. Pebbles. I think the key factor is age. If it was a yearling stag, it probably would taste good. Chris, the only way it would taste good if it was still sucking mama. I don't know. There's no – that is some disgusting stuff out there. It was the worst drought known to man. And this is coming from Archibald who loves antelope. He loves tasting antelope. Well, and if you can't get marinated jerky to taste good, it's bad. Well, yeah. Who did the jerky? I was like, whoever did this. But even looking at the meat, it didn't look good. No.

It looked like vegetarian meat. You know those vegetarian burgers. You mean like the Burger King and the veggie whopper? That's what it looked like. Didn't look right. But none of that stag – Bill Gates beefed, and you see he's like making synthetic beef or something. Is he? Yeah. Bill's at the lab. Yeah. They're growing it in a Petri dish. Between him and Elon. Hey, they own the world. Hey. Sounds for talking politics a little bit. No. No. Hey, just remember. Sheep, goat, antelopes, and stags. Okay. And I did shoot a goat in 2020. I did my part there. What else have you guys done? Antelope. We shot some horn game last year. Wyatt, Devin. Bronson, you're going to be hunting sheep and maybe even a governor tag. Let's move on to that subject. Bronson and governor tags. No. Go ahead, Devin. No. Tee it up for us. Well, Bronson brings these stickies, and this time I said, we'll have our own.

And we're going to write gov tag on our sticky. We've got lots of sticky notes because we're tired of you and having all the notes. So, Bronson, go ahead. Talk about the gov tags that you've been buying. Not sheep related at all. Right. That's right. Right. I'll give you that. Some states call any extracurricular tag that they sell a governor tag. Okay. Why? Because it brings more money. Well, probably just because the governor has to sign off on them. But in most states, a governor tag is like the one and only deer, elk, sheep. And you get to hunt the whole state before everybody, after everybody, and all of that. It's a pretty coveted tag. This is more like an area tag. It's just an area tag. Yeah. For a reindeer. Yeah. Lichen liquor. Yeah. Whatever you guys want to call it. Really? Call it a lichen liquor.

You see something stalling at auction, and sometimes you do things you don't know why until it's too late. Well, or you put in a bid, and then you forget about it. Yeah. Yeah. And then it went under your bid. You were actually willing to pay a bunch more. Well, a little bit, like $1,200 more. So, yeah. Three grand is not a significant amount of money. Even though you guys are putting me in some governor tag category, trust me, I am not. Hey, what was that prestigious elk tag he was bidding on a couple weeks ago as well? Which one was it? Oh, you lost track. No, I didn't. Yeah, there's so many. I honestly can't remember. He is. He's bidding like it's his job. What was that? You had the high bid for that premium limited entry elk unit over here in this corner. Yeah, that was another. That was in an in-person auction. That was a Poncegott elk tag.

And they didn't even have a bid, and it was going to not have one. So, I raised my hand just to. At what? $32.50? No, like $3,000 or something like that, just to get the bidding started. And you almost bought it. Yeah. And luckily, somebody in the back bid once, and they got it. And I'm grateful. I should pay them. That should be classified as a gov tag. No. Just pay us. Don't pay them. Pay us. It was just for an archery elk, and I guess, you know. Just to get the ball rolling. Sometimes it takes a. It's not quite a drought year, but you're going to be hunting sheep, and then now you're going to be hunting a lichen licker. Yeah. And maybe even. Lichen is always there in a drought, I'm told. What I think's funny is I have no openings in my schedule throughout the entire months of August and September. And by the way, I'm going to kill a lichen licker. Yeah. Yeah. Hey. Maybe. Maybe what?

Maybe it'll go well. Maybe it won't. I don't know. That'll be something to talk about when I get home from a two-week hiatus. But I must say, you paid less than even a drop cam, a lot of these drop cams. Yeah. Well, and I'm going to be up there anyway, so I saw something, and I thought, well, if I go a week early, maybe I can do this. That was my rationale, and I walked away from my computer, and the next day found out that what I had plugged and played with was good enough to seal the deal. Plugged and played with. Yeah. Speaking of plugging and playing. Speaking of the other governor tag. Years ago, you ended up with a governor's deer tag. And for a steal. 1900. This is once again. 1900 bucks. 1900 dollars. Which exceeded the value of either of our vehicles at that point in history. Probably did. And this is for a Kansas commissioner's. Which are now going for 35,000 to 55,000 bucks.

Bought one for 1900 one year. I was actually back in the day getting ready for the Henry's deer hunt and was calling the Kansas lady to get the list for the next year's tags when they're going to sell. Because we often would print that in like a January magazine or December. I forget. I was calling her for that to get the list for next year. What groups are going to have it? She says, oh, by the way, somebody had an antelope tag and just asked to have that changed to a deer. They still have to have it for this year. Make them an offer. I called the guy and said, well, it would take 1900 bucks if you did. I said, sold. That's how fast that happened. That sounds like a Tony Abbott deal here in Utah. Well, you just called and bought it. Well, hey, whatever. Hey, it was mid-October. The hunts. I'd already missed half the hunt.

I had the guy to hunt and then round up someplace to hunt in Kansas. Still crushed my 90s buck. Oh, and looking back on it. Chris went with me. That's a $50,000. It was freezing. It was cold. That's a $50,000 deer nowadays. Cold, cold. 30. Yeah. Yeah, so it was my one and only meal deer in 30s. Where can you get a 190s for 30? I'll pay it. No. I meant Kansas tags. Oh. Or 30s. Yeah, they are. And the 30s. I'm just saying. It's crazy. By the way, speaking of inflation, we're not going to let you get to your sticky notes. You know where I'm going.

KSL. KSL had a news release. Like, Utah's at like 10.4% inflation. We're both the national average. I bought- No, we're like the number one worst in the nation. I bought two ice cream cones yesterday. $20. Where? Come on. Wickenburg. Okay, first off, they were 20 bucks. Second off, you paid it. Well. That was a special day for McKenzie. Was this an anniversary? It was 80 degrees. Okay. There's only one ice cream shop, and I'm like, I want an ice cream. I was already committed when I walked in, and then I saw the price, and it's like, it didn't have everything added up, right? So $2 for a waffle cone, $8 for a sprinkle. And if you get swirl ice cream, that's another four bucks. So by the time we get checked out and it's all scooped up, it was $19 and change for two ice cream cones. And then they ask you for a tip. Where is Wickenburg? Either that or two gallons of gas. Yeah, cheap country.

Cheap country. Yeah. You went through Wicke up, and then down to Wickenburg. I was in Wicke up yesterday. I fueled up for $5.49 a gallon. The largest- Gas or diesel? Gas. The largest Nelson I once resided there. Remember? It did. He now resides about two rooms over from me right now. One office down. Yeah. He's about two offices. He's happy there. Yeah. He's happy there. Sometimes I'm not, but he is. He's always happy. We call him Mr. Mass. No, we don't. No, we don't. Well, we just did. Okay. I have a question for Jason. Well, why? Well, because you- Talk about Wyatt. You're coming after me for a minute. Wyatt's got plans. You're talking about inflation. You're talking about money and all that. And many of you people have probably heard on the podcast, Jason's disdain for Joe Biden because he hadn't had his federal tax refund come back from 2020 yet. It came back. It came back.

We announced it on the podcast, and within three to four business days, you got what in the mail? I got a check. Crazy Joe? Signed one? It might as well have been signed by Hunter. Hunter or Joe? Crazy Joe. And so, hey, the podcast works for getting out the word. It did. All right? All right? It did. We complained on a podcast prior about something else, and something showed up at the office, too. I mean, there's just stuff happens when you mention it on the podcast. So, anybody, if you've got any grievances right now with any company, corporations, or government entities- Say it out loud. Say it. Say it out loud. You're either going to be searched. You're either going to be followed for the rest of your life and shadowed by CIA, FBI, and other people, or you're going to get a check in the mail. Hey, it's significant, too. I'm happy. Good. Just teach you a lesson.

Don't prepay more than you're supposed to. You know what I'm saying? You're counting how- Because you might not get it back. It might go to Ukraine, or, you know, and not saying they don't need some things. I mean, there's good things that they do with our money, but there's not so good things either. There's been some escapades, probably. Probably. Hunter probably plug and play. But in this case, Jason- And then he made a deal, sold some stuff, and I ended up with a check. But in this case, you're happy with Hunter and Joe right now, in this case. Hey, I think- I think there's some positives.

I can't think of much. I always- Chris, I'm waiting for the one time we get a sound bite that you can use for the rest of our lives out of his mouth. I'm happy with Hunter. I like Crazy Joe. I just want something like that. No, I don't like- You could say I got some Biden bucks. Okay. But they were my own bucks. Okay. That they've been plugging and playing with. Yeah. Did you get the interest? If Trump was late, no problem. Did you? He's doing good things with them. Did you get the interest? You know, if you underpay, you pay them interest. If you overpay, did they pay you interest? No, they don't. I couldn't get it into the account fast enough. They said- My accountant says they're supposed to pay interest. I didn't look. I don't care. They said that? Yeah, he said that. Oh, I didn't know that. Over the course of a certain amount of time, yeah. They owe you some money. Well-

But I mean, so you could say I lent the federal government some money. Good. And now I got it back, and I'm glad. Good. Thank you, Hunter. Wow.

For giving my money back. Okay. Well, what's on the front burner? Tim and I have been working on some projects. Whoa. I do not want to know, Carter. And I'm not going to- Well, you know what? I'm going to deviate from your list again. But we have been working on some projects, Bronze. Epic Outdoors. We have. And certain government entities possibly getting an FFL. How about that? It's happened. It's a done deal, and we'll announce a little bit more in the very near future. We've got some exciting plans. It's just fun. I'm going to be selling some custom rifles. It's pretty fun. It is. Right? Yep. You guys want to- Everybody got quiet. Come on. I would like to say, tell the story about your application photo for your FFL license.

Bronson. I was quite worried about this process. Well, let's talk about where- First off, you have to back up way in advance. We do. Because we had our- We have storage units. Yep. And we had a mouse problem. And we won't talk about why, but there was a lot of mice in this unit. And all of our booth stuff, which is in plastic, it was still covered in a lot of Hantavirus- Hantavirus- The Hantavirus- Dust. Began over in our place. COVID probably began in that place. But anyway, we go to the Hunt Expo, and packing up from that in haste, which we're doing, we're just throwing stuff in. And somehow, Archibald and I both got- Something. Hantavirus- Hantavirus- In places we don't want it. Really? You're going to leave that open-ended? Well, my face. My eye. And my arms. We got hived up arms. We're back. Kangaroo-mouse- And the rest of us are looking at them like, what? Yeah.

Okay, you guys go take a break. We got this. Okay. Well, remember Goonies? I had to look it up, because I got called Elephant Man. I got called lots of stuff that night. Basically, Adam came walking in the office that morning and just yelled, hey, you guys. Hey. I mean, it was- I got home- My whole night driving home, it was luckily my right eye. It was against the window. It was dark, so I'm driving with Jason and Jana. They couldn't see me. We get home, hi, goodbye. I figured the morning it'd all be worn off. And I knew I had problems going on on the side of my face. Problems? It was swelling, and it was weeping, and I had a problem in my eye. Okay. Well, fast forward. I walked through the window, or the door of my wife sees me. She's like, what the freak? And I said, I don't know. I've got some problems. I've got some dander in all the haste leaving the expo. I've got giraffe.

Kangaroo rat dander. I've got dick dick dander. I've got giraffe. I've got something in my eye. Somebody brought something to the show. From a foreign land that I do not. My body is trying to purge. But you got it by packing up the booth. We figured. We assume. Okay. Yeah. And Devin? What is that next day? Same kind of thing. So I come to work the next day, and you guys all have your moment and say, what happened to you? And I reiterated. But that day is the day we go to get our fingerprints taken and our passport-type photos taken for an FFL license. And what did I look like? A scary individual. A guy you would not want to. Well, you would know. You got it bald. Black shirt. Bald. And he's got to look like I'm going to kill somebody. Like I just got punched. It looked like I got punched and had a swollen eye. And that's what I'm forever known.

So we had an FFL investigator gal come make sure who she was really working with. Because, you know, they profile. Well, I'm sitting. Let's put it this way. I'm sitting in the room. And she says, where's Adam?

I says, right here. Oh, it doesn't look like you.

Anyway, so I had to go clean out the storage. And I mean, I went out there with a. Go ahead. Go ahead. No. Go ahead. You went out because we moved our stuff from that to a different place. All the old magazines. But we had to clean out some of our stuff out of there. So that's usable. And what? For three or four days? What were you doing? Well, I took. You're not allergic to anything in your life. I'm not. I'm not allergic to anything. Okay. And I went in there. I blew it out. No face mask. It was a leaf blower. Yeah, leaf blower. I told you. I told you. You're going to wreak some. And then I did. I had a little backlash. I don't know. I don't remember. What was it? I can't remember. It was a little something. You were good for three days. That's all I know. Anyway. All right. So that was a long way of tailing everybody that we're going to have an FFL license.

Despite a crazy picture on your application, they don't matter. That's all we're saying. We are not going to manufacture firearms. No, we're not. We're not going to build anything. We're not. Don't have me build your gun because I can't build my own gun. So we're going to sell awesomely made guns by awesomely made companies that we want to work with. That's right. And whatnot. That's right. Stay tuned. Maybe some pistols. Yeah. I don't know. Various companies. That's right. I love pistols. But hey, we did learn a few things.

Like what? Did you guys, I mean, have you guys ever heard, guns are not registered to you personally?

Yeah. You would assume. Does that even make sense? And everybody thinks that the government has a list of every gun you've ever bought. That was like the biggest learning thing we learned to me. You know what I mean? So basically you get up, you have a background check and then, you know, and if all is well, then you fill out the paperwork here. Buy the gun, walk out the store and you're done. And you're done, right? And then you assume that that paperwork. You never submit that paperwork. That paperwork stays with the dealer. Sure. And basically the background check is just to get an authorization number that this individual is legal to buy it. And is not attached to a serial number. Buy this rifle, this shotgun, the pistol that he's standing in front of you right now to buy it. That's all it's for. Yeah. Not registering it for you.

So I went over it and over and over it with her like, okay, so is that. Relief for your wife. I kept, okay, well. Why? I'm not going to go into that out loud. But yes. Yeah. Because, you know, she owns a lot of things. And I keep thinking that there's going to be a government agent. Yeah. A knock at the door. And with a list of guns that I should have. Let's see. The judge.

What judge? Anyway. Judge, jury, and executioner. So it's very interesting there. You know, there is no such thing that, I mean, if they investigate a crime. And it was, let's say it was a SIG that was involved. They would go to SIG and they would say, this is the last known dealer. This is where it was sold new. And then they would go and look at their paperwork. And then they would contact that individual. And then there may be a dead end, right? Because there might have been a private sale. Or 14 private sales. Who knows, right? Very interesting. Like a huge. Wasn't it, Bronson? Was it eye-opening to you? Yeah. I mean, even though that one eye might have been shut. But for people that are nervous, it was monumental. But for a lot of people, it's just, yeah, it's cool information. Most people listening to the podcast, I'm telling you. Have a few guns.

And they think they're registered to them specifically. Yeah. And basically, you were just authorized to. You'd think the list is already made in the database over your life. And it just grows every time you buy a gun. No, not the case. No, it's just awesome. Anyway. So basically, to reiterate the process, because I was shocked as well. John, you came out a couple of times. And I was like, what? Are you kidding me? Yeah. So we are required, as an FFL dealer, to keep a file cabinet with the serial number and who it went to. Yeah. We do not give that to the government. Yeah. Back to the government. If they have, you know, an investigation, a specific gun that we sold. Well, they're going to come flesh you out. Then they come and look through the paperwork. No. Who bought that gun? And then they see this specific gun. Devin, you've dealt with this in the past.

You've obviously sold some firearms and things. I mean, does this sound familiar? Uh-huh. Yeah. Somewhat familiar. And there's an expiration on that file, too. What is it? 20 years? Yeah. So after 20 years, it's... Yeah. Then... Those records are gone. Well, they could be gone. So if it's a firearm that's that old, there's nowhere to trace it anyways. It would be probably untraceable. Mm-hmm. The other thing, Carter, the other monumental thing he thought was awesome is like, if you buy a gun that's built in like the 1800s, there's no serial numbers on it. He liked that, did they? Well, no. They said you don't even have to register. It's not considered a firearm, she said. Right. Okay. Yeah. Well, what's it considered? It's bad about that. It's considered a hobby. A relic? If there's no serial number, it's a relic. Well, if it's... And there are guns, I think pre-19... I don't know.

If there's no serial number and it's a recent gun, then that's a problem. I think it was after 1950 that they actually were forced to put serial numbers or something like that. I don't remember the dates. Anyway. Yeah. Meaning they're off the cuff, but we have all that. Anyway, if you have some old guns, bring them to me, not Bronson. Well, we're in a weird lull right now, it seems like. We're waiting for good news. Wyatt, what's new on the... What are we waiting for results-wise? We got New Mexico coming out here shortly, hopefully, and Montana for deer and elk. How about that? Yeah. Do you apply? We're in April and we're... Oh, yeah. We all applied. Everybody. I think. Mostly. Yeah, I think everybody. But yeah, just weird period. Lots out and not in, lot in yet. I'm ready to have some refund checks, a few of them. A couple of them. Well, I'd rather tag than a refund check.

I'd like to see some things. Instead of the refund check. But what else? What else front burner now as far as applications? Well, we're working on Nevada. Nevada? We've got a lot of Nevada questions, a lot of things going on there. Kind of fun. And of course, Wyatt, you've been working heavily with Lys and Sap. What do you got? You've been doing a little bit Nevada and maybe a little Montana? Yeah, Nevada. We've got Idaho sheep, moose, and goat coming up. We've also got Montana moose, sheep, and goat coming up as well. And we've got the moose guru here in our office. We do. Somebody's a max point holder. Very vested. Does a lot of research. Maybe even potentially had a live bull. That's a surface. That's a significant bull in Montana, possibly. You're going to smash. You're talking about him as the moose guru. You're the moose guru. I've killed one. Montana moose.

He's killed two species in his life. I've killed one. How can I be more of a guru than him? I've killed one species in my life. Who here has done the research for Montana moose? I've killed one species. With your dad. You're a long and fresh shy person. You've killed two, Carter. I have two moose. You've killed more or worse than me. I want to. Okay. Let me expand upon that. I have max points somewhere and I've never hunted them. That makes me an expert. Where? Montana. And what state did you do a lot of research on? Well. And why would you do a lot of research? Because I wrote a magazine about it. Maybe even a little more than normal. No. Why would you do that? Because I'm writing a magazine. I want the information good. We missed our calling in life. We could depose people like it's our job. I do it because it is my job.

Not because I have a vested, deep-rooted interest in Elsie's. I do. I want to become an epic lawyer. Elsie's, Elsie's. We could do an epic law firm, huh? Well. Building number five. Represent some wildlife stuff, maybe. I have a disdain for lawyers. I'd hate to see something come between us because you know my disdain for lawyers. So, if you want to become one, just know that. The guy told me he thought you were going to shoot him in the head. No. He did. He's profiling. He did. Once again, a bald guy. Adam hates him. And the guy was grinding on him, and he looked like his FFL pick. Once again, a bald guy's getting profiled as some evil doer. I don't like it. He was considering his estate plans. I don't like it. The benefactors of those estate plans. That's why I wear a hat a lot of times, because I get profiled a lot. Oh, boy. So, I mean, come on. Oh, boy.

So, any moose excitement things going on in Montana? No. It's a fairly blah state when it comes to moose. They've combined some units. Seems low tough. Combined some hunt codes. Yeah. So, there might be a little bit to talk about. It's all in the April mag, but it's not overall. Any special questions? Should we direct it to Bronson? No. No. Hey, if you can't draw in 20-something years, you're not an expert. That's a good point. I'm just saying. But you have the worst luck. You've hunted two. Hey. Wyatt's with his dad. He's been in on a couple. I mean, I've been in on one. Yeah. That's my own. Yeah. And so, I don't even. That's a significant pull. Well, yeah. Yeah. But, I mean, you've killed two. Two's more than one. So, two species. Good eating, too, Devin. It was good. Incredible. And he's turned the third tag back, right? Who? Oh, yeah. Oh, yes. This gets cut. Then he surrendered.

This gets cut. Wyatt, a heck of a point. This gets cut. The king of plug and play plugged and played a moose. A moose. Okay. Turn it back. Oh, boy. I just want to know this question. How many times did you modify, withdraw, and reapply your New Mexico deer application? Can you count? I don't know. No. Three, four, five times? I think it's awesome. I had my account open once when you were leaning through the window, and forevermore, I'm going to regret it. No. But I saw deleted, reapply, delete, reapply, whatever. I saw lots of plug and play. I don't know. States. I'm a sucker. A lot of eight or $13 fees, whatever it is. There was. And I'm a sucker for that. They make good money on me. Yeah. I love plug and play. One time, I was a deer guy. And the next minute, I was a coos deer guy. And the next minute, I was a mule deer guy. Back to the mule deer? And then I was a coos deer guy.

And then what? Two or three days ago, Wyatt, when he had you trying to look up, what's the deadline to submit the harvest report in New Mexico? Well, delete. Because you know that's the last minute to delete. Because you know after that day, you can delete. And it was too late, and he couldn't delete it one more time. No. That one day go, and then I was like, you know, I've got a full schedule. So anyway. And then these guys got me going to Montana. I don't know why. What do you mean? You got all of us. Yeah. We have a hawking building station. And why? Let's talk about that, Bronson. New. Well, the muzzle deer. Heritage season? Yeah. It's not that fun. Kind of cool. I mean. Boss. Kind of cool. Do you? Okay. For all of us that grew up in the days and that's all you had to shoot, how much did we kill with those? Well, I never had one. Yeah. Well. I started with the night in line. Okay.

Well, why do you think they're kind of cool then? If you never even used one. The season. The season. A season in December in Montana can be neat if you could hit something. After all the deer have been hunted with rifles in the rut. That's right. But there's some potential migrations, right? Have you guys checked the weather in northern Montana? Well, I don't know. It's mid-December. Why do you have to be such a Debbie Downer? I'm not. I'm just saying. You're dealing with something with exposed ignitions, flint or percussion exposed hammering systems, all right? Open sight.

Prone to failure. That's what all those guns were. Now you're up there in mid-November. Cotton patch and round balls. I was going to say, you have to suck on your cotton patch and try and get it to not freeze before you get the ball all the way down. Don't you think lead round balls should be illegal? It seems like that hurts people health-wise. I pulled those out of deer. My brother shot one. His first deer, I think, in that late muzzle back in Utah. We pulled it out of the deer. It was perfectly round except for a little circle on top where the ramrod had patterned it down. You could reshoot the ball, no problem. Wow. I mean- Well, it just seems like lead's not healthy for people. Condors? I just can't believe they're allowing us to- Condors, they eat them, right? Yeah. Eat a .50 caliber round ball. Please, eat that.

But humans, they're forcing you to use that projectile only and put it in your hands and that. What are you doing? Licking patches and putting it down in there? You're eating- Hey. I mean- When I was a kid, I put lead pellets in my mouth to hold them while we're shooting birds. Yeah. And I'm alive and healthy. Yeah. Better for it. Dang near 50. I ate lead paint and put lead pellets in my mouth. That's right. I mean- No. All right, but anyway, so those seasons are kind of interesting, and I guarantee you somebody will smash a giant. Elk or deer. Elk or deer because of some nuance, unique, interesting little migration pattern, weather pattern, whatever, that causes something to get good. I don't know what it's going to be. You'd have to have local knowledge to know that. Somebody's found a pair of sheds, and now this particular season is going to get them fired up.

This bull goes to a certain place that late to be, and it's going to be interesting. So if anybody has local knowledge of something giant, I'm going to be up there. Running the state hard. I'm sure your phone's going to ring off the hook.

Dale, tell Carter about another big buck. Chris, you're going to be up there filming us or else having a tag, too. That's the coldest hunt I've ever been on was northern Montana. Colder than Kansas? In Browning? Oh, 46 below. Is that Browning? Oh, with Garth. Yeah. Eyelids were just freezing. It seems like, dude, weren't you guys hunting sheep, bro? Oh, yeah. Yeah, you could hear your eyelids clicking when you blinked. What? Is that a thing?

Oh, because the lashes have, like, crossed. And then the inside of your eyelids where it's moist. I'll bet that the beauty salons, they make them clink like that. I mean, I'll bet you. There's some clinking eyelashes out there. No question. The only place I know you can get out of your car, walk into the gas station, and you're fine. And then about 30 seconds after you get inside, the cold hits you, and you're like, whoa. Really? Wow. Yeah, it sinks through your clothes, but it takes a second, right? So you get inside, and then it sinks through and hits you. I'm going to need some winter pyro putty. I'm going to need some winterized pyro putty. Well. All right. Well, all chest on the boys. They're awesome. Yeah. Yeah. And your phone scope. Good luck getting that out with gloves on, putting that on your thing. And could you imagine my little CR2 diesel gelling up there? Oh.

I'm going to be phoning a friend. Hey, bring your gas. Just never shut it off like they do up there in Alaska. They just run them. Run those trucks constantly. Well, I'm looking forward for dry results in the warmer states. Okay. Arizona, New Mexico, southern Utah, and southern Nevada. The older I get, the less I like the bitter cold. I can handle cold, but bitter cold, I don't know. The older I get, it's not as fun. Mm-mm. Anyway. I don't think it is either. Okay. That's why, well, I'm a desert guy. But you've signed up for it, so. Yeah. Here we come. Anyway, so. All right. Let's see. I want to. You need a hair up like Devin does for the winter. Throw the winter coat on? Yeah. Yeah. That bear's got nothing on him. Seriously. I want you to go back. Go back. Open up. It was the Nevada Magazine. Yeah. Open that thing up. Okay. What page? Just look at the two pictures. Which one? Where?

The first one. Nevada Magazine. His article. Oh, Archibald. Look at his two pictures. That guy turned full Yeti in three days. It's a five-day difference. Yeah. And look at that. It's a five. Five day. It's a. They had those Sasquatch hunter people from TV. All right. Page 18 and 19. Wow. It's like a time. Holy cow. That's what I said. Wow. He's even got a puffy on. That's an impressive beard. If you look at page. What are they, Jason? What are the two pages? 18 and 19. Page 18 and 19. That's a made. You look at the progression through the Nevada. Fall in Nevada. Yeah. Yeah. That's a man made for Montana. That's about a five-day difference. A woolly mammoth wearing a puffy. For all you guys that are. Yeah. That's like an inch a day. It was cold.

That's awesome. I never noticed that. The thing is. I just think he cultivates. You could say those were different years. You could say those were different years. Yeah. That was. Yeah. That was. Inches. That was different. Inches. Wow. That was three days. That was a rough couple days. I hurt my elbow. Still hurt. Still hurts. And he cultivates that. Just imagine the places that he's not cultivating. Really, Josh? You're really going to talk about landscaping. Really? They are not a sponsor. They could be. Jana may or may not cut that. Not sure yet. Sorry, Jana.

Leave it to Josh to take it to the next level. I never take stuff to the next level. How did that even. How are we at this point? It's because we have nothing to talk about. It's a lull in all the draws. We don't. We have a lot to talk about. There's so much going on. No, there's not. Kansas, Montana, Idaho, Nevada. Kansas. We got results coming out the wazoo. No, we don't. We already talked about the two pending ones in the next week. That's all there is to talk about. It's the most exciting. No, May is the most exciting month. That's true. But right now, we're in a bad gap. There's a lot of greenery going on out there. I've witnessed it myself. Wyatt, you've got a projection on the Poncecon that's next level. Things are greening up over there, that's for sure. It'll be good. There's some years that we don't see a new green blade of grass. We haven't. It looks good. Yeah. Much better.

I ran the length of the state this weekend, and it was looking pretty good. Yeah. And so what's your prediction? Just up by 15. Keep your tag? Yeah. Keep your tag. Yeah, I'm optimistic. Yeah. I mean, I feel like it's greener now than it was all last spring. Last year. For sure. Well, we got record heat. I want to. It kind of warm, green it up, and then we have these little showers that fed it. Yeah. So I've got another item on my sticky notes that I want to cover. But before we do, Josh, tell us about Idaho and some of the biology and what they're finding on the fawn. Oh, just some good fawn recruitment up there. Some of their collar studies up there, they're collaring fawns just like they do does and stuff just for survival purposes. And they're seeing high 80s and 90% survival on collar fawns. That's unreal.

And tell us a little bit about you and Adam obviously have way more experience than we all do. But what number makes it unreal? And when is it a concern? And why? Well, I don't, without knowing exactly theirs for Utah, that would be exceptionally high. I think adult survival for deer, adult does, is generally 84% range. I think that's kind of a Western US standard, I guess you could say. So, but fawn survival, generally, if it's 50 to 60, it's still the population. At least down here, it's considered stable. We don't grow until we get over 60. You're talking fawns that make it till now, March, April. Yes. After the winter. So they're all, they're nine months old. So they're healthy and pushing up to a year old. Yep. We're talking shooter bucks for this year. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Button bucks. Oh, yeah. It is. Porky spikes.

So if you figure, yeah, you're, I mean, that's a pretty big increase. That's braider bucks in Oregon. Braider bucks. But anyway, keep going. But no, so it was, that was good news. And obviously some of those places up there, it just makes you think a lot about down here in Southern Utah, how much moisture really does come into play with our deer herds and how important it is for us. Why? Like, and Adam, you chime in too, but what do you guys think as far as we had the monsoons and they were attributing it to the monsoons? Why? Well, I think a lot of it. Yeah. You start getting a couple things. Number one is the doe's condition. The doe's body condition. If she's in great body condition when she fawns or just after and or during the summer, she's in great body condition. She's producing more milk. So you're more apt to have both fawns because most deer will initially have fawns, whether

they both make it. That first 30 days is the highest, you know, vulnerable time for a fawn, you know, right out of the gate. But if she's in great condition, lactating well, she's got a great chance to be able to bring those two fawns up and escape that period of real vulnerability in that first couple months of life. Because everything, when they're real little, doesn't matter what it is. That's when they're most vulnerable to predators and anything. And so if she's in great condition, lactating, you got that. But also in real wet years, you've also got a lot of other things going on. You've got vegetative growth, which creates ground cover, which hides fawns. You've also usually get a lot more other things like mice and other things to doing well, to dilute predation just on in a drought year when everything increase the prey base. Yeah. Just, and I'm talking for coyotes and stuff.

There's probably the number one rabbits are cyclical, but you get like ground and, you know, mice, kangaroos, stuff like that. You get a lot in a prolific wet year. Everything's out there. So everything gets diluted a little bit more, not just keying in on, oh, I got a drought and a fawn's the only thing I can find. And it's barren landscape and they're not hidden as well. There's a lot of compounding factors that a good wet spring and summer can have on survival of fawns. And then you've also got to then get to the fall. And then you could get crushed by a giant winter and it negates everything that happened in the summer and everything that, you know, you know. So this year it didn't happen to happen that way. We had no winter really to worry about. And on, on the good, like a good wet year with monsoons and all that, when all this stuff

is set up, when we would call our fawns, they would weigh them as well. And you'd see fawns coming in 10 pounds heavier. Well, when you talk about a 60 or 70, 50 to 60 pound, 10 pounds is pushing 20% of the body weight. Yeah. It's huge. So it's not, 10 pounds seems like a minor thing until it's a 50, 60 pound fawn. Right. Right. Now it's 60, 70 pounds. Yeah. When you have fawns that are 30, 30 pounds compared to a fawn that's coming in 50, 60 pounds or whatever. Less vulnerable, quicker. Yeah. Yeah. And they, there's even a lot of studies done that show the health of the mother when she has, has the fawn or the elk calf still inside of her, the health of her. So if you have a fawn that's just fatter and stuff, she's going to give a lot more nutrients to that fawn. In neutral. So it's good. Yeah. It's going to set him or her up for the rest of their life to become. It's a genetically.

Yeah. Maximize genetic potential. That's like people. It's like if you have seven, eight pound babies versus a premium at three, four pounds without doctors, they're not usually going to survive. And, and, and in the real world, they don't for animals, you know, you have a, a smaller body weight, you know, less chances. Because she's stressed. She's stressed out and she's not as got as much to give. So a lot of factors go into it. It's interesting. And I think, I mean, there's, there's validity to good, solid big game management, but there's also validity and I've never really, you know, it's hard to wrap your arms around it because we can't fix it. You know, you know, it's something you, it's nature and it's, it's drought conditions or lack thereof. And, and the, and the, you know, the results of those, of those years. And then, and all of a sudden you can, I think we're getting better.

I think the States are getting better and we're getting better, you know, at understanding how droughts affect things in general. And even, especially, you know, antler growth courses, you have submissions. I mean, very simple. You know, we have a lot of submissions. You have obviously social medias and things. And you can tell when these drought years happen, you can see the difference. Whereas in 2020, there was no social media. Nobody was just, I don't remember hearing that many big bucks. Or 2000. Never understood what the, what, oh yeah, excuse me, year 2000. Or, you know, I mean, 2002 especially was super drought or 1996 or whatever. Never really could wrap your arms around the effect of drought on antler condition, let alone. Well, and I think, I think lately too, they've found a lot more and there's, they're putting

a lot more stock into summer ranges and, you know, monsoon moisture feed during the late fall or excuse me, the early fall, late summer, that kind of feed. Actually, they've almost started to find, you know, when they started doing a lot of these projects and stuff, you would see it on winter range and they always try to improve winter range so much. And a lot of that's almost shifted now toward summer ranges. If winter range, face it, the deer is not going to put on fat during the winter. They're just going to, they're going to continually lose fat every day throughout the winter until green up. But if they can improve a winter range so that they can minimize that to make that fat loss slower, then that's better. But they've also found that if they can come in heavier than they just, they have, you can lose it longer. You know, you have a longer period.

And so, so that's why I think you see a lot of projects now are going to be starting to look more. They're working a lot more with fires and stuff. That's why they've been so active with fire rehab back when, say like the Dutton burned and stuff. They really didn't have a program to. You just throw a seed out. Yeah. It was more erosion control stuff. And now it's, it's wildlife feed and obviously erosion control, but they put a lot, a lot of money into fire rehab because that's in a sense a free fuels project. But they're, they're putting a lot of time and energy into those to make those better. And that's where you're starting to see a lot of the impacts on a lot of these herds. But you have like Northern Utah and Southern Utah are completely different. You know, up there, it's more of a winter related survival. And down here, it's more of a drought related.

That's why the, the Fondo ratios, if you look at like Idaho, which is mostly a mountainous state, they do have high desert. But if you look at Montana, you look at Wyoming, which is maybe 50, 50, a lot of high desert, but a lot of mountainous. Colorado, definitely a mountainous state. Then you get Utah, the Northern half is mountainous and they'll have a lot higher Fondo ratios in general than the Southern end where we, Northern Arizona, Southern Nevada, our drought, our Fondo ratios can fluctuate so dramatically. And it is because of precip and vegetation and body condition drought, drought driven. So a lot of these other States, even though they're dry, they have so much mountainous summer range that a dry year in Colorado and the mountains, what does that really look like? I take that every year for where we live. Lots of green. Yeah. So always lots of green, no matter what.

And so, yeah, so I think a lot of that, you know, same with like Idaho, Idaho can, can have, you know, be super sensitive to extreme winter conditions as well as drought. I mean, you got a little bit of both that they're dealing with. And so anyway, kind of interesting. We've got obviously drought conditions continuing to persist down there in New Mexico. I know people are a little nervous about that state. So, yeah. We could definitely use more. And that's something Josh just said. It's kind of the opposite for us in the office in terms of our survivability. Right now, I could survive a lot longer right now if I started going without food than I could in about November when I'm leaned out. About right now, after being in the office for six months, I could live on water for a while. I could live just at the garbage we have in the cabinets for a while, regardless. A desk job.

And many of you listening that have desk jobs know that, hey, our survivability, it's like the opposite of going into winter. It's going into summer. I can live for two months right now just on water and a breadcrumb. You know, you get me in November, I could die real quick. I'm leaned out. And we're going to base our management of deer off that premise. So, all right. We hit the bait pile pretty hard. Yeah. Well, what do you do? The daylight's shorter. I knew we shouldn't have quit baiting here in Utah. There's lots of. Yeah. We're just unintended consequences. Not burning enough calories. That's what we do. Yeah. I hear Adam in there rattling the bait bucket and all the boars start gathering. Oh, the boars gather and then in come the sows. Yeah. Yeah.

It's just a reaction. Well. All right. Well, anyway. Just had to make a human correlation there. Yeah. Hey, it's very clear now. Thank you. You know, there's some changes coming down the pipe in some of these states. We were going to, you know, a lot of, a lot of, I don't know why. It feels like this year there's so much change coming down the pipe. Everybody's wanting to, you know, limit the non-resident exactly the same. 90-10 splits in every species and every situation. It feels like that's really uniformity has really come and it feels like. And it's going to have deep, deep implications when it comes to burning your points in some of these states like maybe Wyoming. Obviously for moose, sheep, and goat. Well, goat don't have points. But moose and sheep going into next year. And then if the deer, elk, and antelope happen next year.

It's going to have major impacts and may have to alter their whole application process, point system, and everything because you've got regular and special right now, preference and random. So you've got deer, elk, and antelope with four drop holes for non-residents. Tags in the pie being split already. And if you cut tags, there's going to be a lot of those that dry up to nothing. And you're going to have to have some changes. And everything's on the table as far as, you know, potentially adjusting the point system to, say, a bonus point system. We have more names in the hat up there in Wyoming, you know, and things like that. Squater, possibly. Yeah. Yeah. They'll, you know, same thing. Colorado's got some of that coming down the pipe. And obviously looking at, there's no, for example, I mean, antelope, you know, there's no non-resident quota limitations currently.

And so, you know, they're looking at adjusting all that. You know, even down to potentially a 90-10 split on elk, deer, antelope, and whatnot. Even turkeys, bear. I mean, things like that. And you're just like, okay, here we go. And what can you say to defend it? You've got an industry standard throughout the state. Yeah, it kind of is. And so, yeah, it is what it is. But what's going to really happen to some of these states like Wyoming and Colorado is, all right, if that passes, how are they going to, you're talking millions and millions. Fund the state. Fund the state of loss, yeah. So they're going to have to come up with that somehow. And whether that's creative other application ways or fees or increased resident fees, it's going to have to be a combination of a lot because, you know, and I'm not saying we haven't had a very fair share in Colorado. We're definitely not.

It's hard to see any change after you've invested time and effort and money into it. But change is happening. It's going to happen. It's going to continue. So we've been preachers of use your points. Hunt more often. You know, if you've got a lot of points, use them because changes like this can now mean that you're waiting a lot longer before you can even forcibly make yourself draw something that you thought was an easy tag to draw last year. And what used to be an easy tag to draw may become what you consider a one-in-ten-year premium experience. Yeah, you want to talk like the Kaibab archery in Arizona. I know. Well, no, I'm just saying. That's an 8, 9, 10-point deal now where it used to be over the counter, what, 10, 12 years ago? Oh, yeah. Now it's climbed up from 2, 3, 4, 5. Oregon over the counter for deer. Deer and elk, yeah. I mean, now you're talking about our Utah generals.

There's some of them this year people aren't going to draw with 5 or 6 points. Yeah, Wyoming general elk as well. All those easier to get tags. Wyoming general elk. Second choice. You used to draw that second choice as a special. I drew H as a second choice special. It's been a long time ago. It's interesting up there, and we know this, but I mean, those populations are exploding in a lot of general areas. Oh, the elk are phenomenal. And so how do you have more take with over-the-counter resident tags? Yeah. You know what I mean? It already feels like, I guess, give more non-residents. That's only the other way, because residents, everybody wants a tag now and can hunt them. That's right. So maybe they'll increase the non-resident quota for general. That would be one instance. And you're seeing some major conversations going on with the task force and whatnot up

there as far as general deer and potentially limiting residents. Maybe it's time. Yeah, maybe not in terms of a draw. As far as put them into regions like we all. Maybe not statewide. Yeah. And so then you end up, there's, I mean, these are significant, significant changes. And, you know, of course, you know, we've all seen the days when you increase a fee for a resident in any state, five bucks, I think the world's going to end. And, of course, they can change our fees like in Idaho and not do anything to the residents. Oh, you know. And nobody cares. And we just keep funding it. But some of these states, there's 70-plus percent of their funding comes from non-residents. And so it's, that'll definitely. They're going to have to, there's a, yeah, you get rid of something. You're going to have to make it up some other way.

And it's going to have to come from residents because you can't now charge non-residents or get the fees from non-residents when you're not letting, you know, near as many of them come, cutting them in half or something. And if there's, you know, no tags, let's say they, let's just say Wyoming leaves a point system the way it is. I mean, what would incentivize you to spend $150 for a sheep point? Dropout. What would incentivize you for the elk, deer, and antelope if opportunity goes away? Yeah. Other than the general, like we talked about, it's the only high volume hunt there is for tag numbers. I mean, after you use your points, you could say, well, other than the general, there's nothing I'm going to get in 20 years now, you know, or 30. But there's nothing that we're talking about that they aren't well aware of. They are well aware of all of these things.

And so we'll just see, you know, they'll take everything into account and do what's best they feel like for their state or a board or commission or whatever. And so anyway, kind of interesting. It's going to also make, you know, research even, I think, more valuable and knowing, you know, utilizing your points and, you know, even some of what we can just brush over as, you know, in our own minds on tags I've had as something that I can get on a somewhat of regular basis. People are going to value these tags and the opportunities of getting drawn, you know, fairly easily or whatever. I mean, I think we're going to put some value on some of those. Just a lot of demand on tags and hunting opportunities. And Devin, you probably see this too in the guided segment, the guaranteed tag segment with outfitters. And I mean, we talk about this daily about how hard it is to find really good openings

still at this stage of the game. It's April. Used to never be a problem until a lot of times, oh, book something in June or July once you knew you didn't draw anything. Well, those days, at least for temporary, they're gone. Yeah. New Mexico is a good example of that. People want tags after they are unsuccessful. Not looking good, I don't think. Tough. We do a lot of, we get a lot of landowner tags. We work our guts out at doing it. But it feels like there's an unlimited demand for a limited supply. It does feel that way. I agree. I talked to an outfitter yesterday that guides in Colorado on one of just the average units. He's booked out until 2025. Wow. For elk or deer? For deer. Wow. Yeah. And Colorado's example of that, you know when you're going to draw in Colorado because it's currently a preference point state. So you can predictably know when you plant it, which is good.

But there's no randomness. You know, you can't just apply for something and find out you drew and book an outfitter and go. You better have a guy picked a year or two in advance if it's a quality unit or you're not going to have an outfitter. And that's a whole other topic. They're an outfitter and the forest use permits and all that's really a bottleneck problem. How about the demand for antelope? Like the demand for antelope is mind boggling. I want to point something out. Carter has used two examples today of things. One of them was the Colorado antelope changing because he has 20-something points. He's very well aware of that. Now he's bringing up another antelope scenario that is near and dear to his heart. I'd just like to know it. It's no coincidence. It's near and dear. Although members have called me and said, it's just interesting to watch you change and

have a new species of interest. No, I don't have a new species of interest. But he brings it up a lot. You're the antelope whisperer now. Well, Devin's got me thinking that it's the most amazing meat on earth. My antelope is really good, yes. And a lot of people wouldn't feed their dog antelope. What was your question that you brought up a minute ago? Your change or something with antelope? I just find it interesting. Oh, hard to find. Devin and I, I mean, we were talking about it yesterday. You can't find antelope punts. You're right. You can't find them. In this stage. I mean, we've got outfitters. And even outfitters are, I mean, we texted for some openings yesterday. And the guy's reply. Yeah, it wasn't this way even a year ago. I mean, we have nothing open. Yeah, guaranteed tags and Mexico landowner tags. 20, 30 openings.

Now we're looking at zero point units that have always been zero point units. Guys could draw second choice. Yeah, like in Wyoming, right? We're talking about some of these areas have been trimmed a little bit quota-wise with some of the drought and eastern Montana and hard winter and drought. Trimming the quotas and second choice tags that were always second choice. And now you've got to maybe do first choice. Basically, if you've been doing it for 10 years, you probably won't go this year if you have zero points. Unbelievable. Yeah. So, anyway, same thing. We're seeing. How about moose? Okay, when I was a kid, Bronson. All the things. Another speech. Bronson, this is going to involve you. All the things that I get accused of loving. And he brings them up. Yeah. Yeah, because you had to point out the antelope. It pissed me off.

All right. So, anyway. But having said that, we're seeing moose hunts exceed the price of doll shoe hunts. Oh, you're right. I've never seen it. I'm just. In history, that's not really ever happened until the last year or so. Bronson, in 20, year 2000, whatever. I always say 2020. I don't know why it rolls off my tongue. But in, like, year 2000 and prior, couldn't give them away. Remember the combo hunts up in Canada? Oh, moose were just everywhere. Yeah. Moose, you could kill anything you possibly have. You know, here's a fistful of tags. Just do good things with them. I mean, that is. They were everywhere. Couldn't give them away. And now you can't find them. You don't even. The good ones are booked out two, three, four years for moose or combo hunts. Part of that has to do with what happened in Canada with COVID lockdown for a year and a half, roughly.

But now that things are flowing again, I mean, it's just not slowing down. And, yeah, you're right. You're seeing moose hunts that are mid to upper 20s pushing 30 in a lot of places. And that's the same price or more than many doll sheep hunts in Alaska. Yeah. Crazy. It's an interesting. Things are changing so fast. It's fun, though. I mean, I'm not saying that the reductions in non-resident tags is fun. But I'm just saying the change in and of itself is just, it's interesting. Yeah. We're living in crazy times. Just like the Montana changes, allows you to shoot a deer, hunt a deer, not shoot, shoot at. But hunt a deer with the most least effective North American weapon we've ever had. And you're all excited about it just because it's new. It's not the weapon we're excited about. It's the season. I know. But you've got to use something that was used in the Civil War. Pretty much.

How do you know? How do you know? Hey, read the regulations. It's not going to. Hey, there's been some people that write that stuff that don't even know what they're talking about. Who knows? Who knows if it's accurate? I didn't see it myself. Chris. I was just thinking along those lines, it's crazy just the change. Also, another outfitter in Kansas talking about it. There's in his area. In his area, since the inception of the point system, you had basically a guaranteed draw every year. And now he's saying you've got to plan out two or three years to draw the tag to apply with him. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. We've got Kansas Outfitters lighting us up, don't we, Wyatt, about the exact way to apply and just super nervous about not getting their clients drawn. Kind of crazy. Hey, how about Blaine St. James yesterday? He was doing squats with a gator. That was pretty awesome. It was.

But he must be down in Florida having fun. I think he's got ties or connections or is even fun down there originally. He lives in Colorado now. But Blaine St. James is St. James Sporting Properties. If you're looking for a ranch or recreational property, whether it be a place to hunt or just to retire or live on or have a little dirt, have a little ground, or you're looking at selling something, give him and his crew a call or check them out at sjsportingproperties.com. Blaine's a hunter. He lives out west. He's got folks that licensed and operate in Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. They're always got their ears to the ground, I guess, listening for, well, selling a property. Finding opportunities. And we actually had a client of ours buy some ground in Colorado through St. James and loves it. Had a great experience.

Now he's making his whole retirement plans around it. Especially his hunting plans. He's asking for some tags and whatnot. And so what a, I mean, a great find. A member right there, a good friend of ours, ended up buying some property through St. James and had a great experience. All right. Well, anyway, on to the next. We want to talk about Fierce, Fierce Firearms. You know, Devin, you were on one of their podcasts just recently. I was. You were. Talking about kind of what we're doing and a little about what they do. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, great, great products. We're happy to be affiliated with them and whatnot. Anyway, you can go check them out and see what they got going. They sell a little of everything. Devin, you've got some favorites. You, Wyatt. I mean, who else? Am I missing anybody? You guys smashed some animals this year with a Fierce Firearm.

Both ours are the lightest they make. The titanium actions, carbon barrels. Right? That's what yours is, too. Yeah. CTE. Good shooting stuff. Anyway, we're going to continue to work with them. We're happy to develop that, continue to partnership and develop that partnership. You'll be hearing a little bit more about them from us, as well as you can find them in the publication. Talked about it in the April issue and kind of debuted that. So, anyway, happy to be a part of them. Go check them out at Fierce Firearms. I also want to give a shout out to Hoyt. They've been a great sponsor of ours here for the last year, year and a half. They've obviously very well known with their boas over the decades and just awesome shooting. They can make any archer a better archer, better shooter. There's absolutely truth to that. It happened to all of us. I mean, we shoot their stuff.

And, obviously, we're not the guys that get something every single year. We know people that do that. And they probably are good enough to make good on all the changes they make every single year because they do improve. They've got a new what? We got the RX-5s last year. Now they've got 7s out. Well, Wyatt came in the office and said, I don't even know why you're using those. 7s are so much better out there. We're like, really? Do you have one? No, but I'm going to. It didn't go down like that. I said, I'm just hearing from guys that have the RX-7s that they're that much better. That much better. So much better they're taking a loss on a brand new bow and upgrading, right? I did hear that, yep. But that's something to behold. What that attests to is they're never resting on what they're developing, making something better. As technology and other things changes, Hoyt does too.

Nothing but the best. We appreciate their sponsorship of ours. And anything that we pursue this year, we'll be having Hoyt in our hands with the bow. That's right. That's right. And I also want to give a shout-out to Vortex. They've been one of our optics partners here since inception. They've been with us here at Epic Outdoors prior to that. But we also are a Vortex dealer. And maybe it's time we have a little spring. Bronson bundle? Bundle. I don't know. The Bronson bundle. Yeah. Well, I mean. It just rolls off your tongue and you're so vested in this and passionate. Fashioning. Well, that's the biggest thing he does every week is searches the optics room for the next Bronson bundle. Let's just talk a little bit about this. I like to move product. Let's put it that way. He does. I like to move it. And he's like, you know, Carter.

We need to order one. We might as well order 10 or 20. No. And then he can't get rid of them fast. Oh, my gosh. We got inventory coming out there. Let's get rid of this stuff. Then we get rid of it. Geez, let's order another 20. Those went fast. Yeah, you gave them away. Yeah, it has happened. What do you mean? Hey, that's how America runs. Exchanging goods and services. And it makes the thing run. Money needs to exchange hands. We've got enough in there that we have to put on an avalanche beacon to walk in that room just in case stuff were to fall on us. There's a problem. There's a problem. Janet goes in there with her little 110-pound frame. She's breaking a leg. Yeah, she might. Better tell somebody where you're going. But whatever. Let's do a deal. Let's throw a deal out there. Let's stress him out again. Let's go down to zero in inventory. That's fine.

And the other thing that's contributed to this is we've been taught, COVID has taught us to hoard, right? We're like chipmunks going into winter, right? You're gathering it all. Your cheeks are puffy. You're gathering it all because you don't know when you're going to get it the next time and when the next little something's going to happen. And you have a little spat between countries. And then pretty soon you're like, okay, we're going to have barges out here that we don't even want to unload. And we don't even want to unload. Yeah, they're floating. You've got a rare precious metal that something's made with. Who knows? I personally would have the National Guard unloading them. But hunters, hunters back there plugging and playing, not worried about it. Right. So consequently, we have great inventory of optics. And let's make a deal. Okay. So what are you going to do?

Well, let's skip away. We've got a good number of these Razor, the 27x60x85, both angled and straight, or like I like to call them, straight and crooked. You know, for people that like the angled ones, we call them crooked people, don't we? By the way, we do, Bronson, but we're outnumbered. I know we are, but we're old. They finally admitted it. We are. We're outnumbered. Yeah. Jason just converted, too. I converted. I did buy a Harpia. Yeah. I did, but it's the best scope I've ever looked through. Okay. Okay. But beyond that, beyond that. And direct all Harpia questions to Adam or Wyatt. But beyond that. But we have them both. We have plenty of straights, plenty of angled. We sold seven angled scopes like in a matter of two days. We always used to say it's about 50-50. No, it's not. And then you go through, it's not.

We do sell more angles than straights, and I will fully acknowledge there are benefits to an angled. Keep your tripod lower to the ground, less wind, vibration. You know, things like that. However, I like some of the other benefits of a straight. I can take my 15s off. It's pointing straight at the animal. My straight, I point straight red. Not adjusting your tripod. I don't have to adjust my tripod. Speed. Do things like that. Windel mounts. Windel mounts. Sometimes are harder. Sometimes hard to leave the seat of your truck. But it's heated seats now. I mean, it's amazing. When you're in your pirate ship. With a new land. With a telescope. New land. That's right. That's right. Observing Jupiter. Observing Jupiter. Observing Jupiter. Observing Jupiter. Serious satellite radio. We aren't hand-holding it. Play in a movie? Like a telescope. You probably watched a river close.

Jack Sparrow over here. These guys call us pirates because we use straight scope. But anyway. It's just. Whatever. It's Chevy and Ford. It's Coke and Pepsi. Pretty much. But if you can't. It's a little different than that. But yeah. It's a huge significant difference. I just like to be able to say I'm straight. I love to say. Yeah. I like that. That's a huge benefit. Rolls off the tongue. I'm a straight fan. Anyway. We've got plenty of those in stock. We've also have. You know. Vortex came out last fall sometime with this new Razor LHT 4.5 to 22 by 50 XLR rifle scope. They're incredible scopes. They're awesome too. They flew off the shelves very fast and then had supply chain problems. We've got a bunch of those back in. So let's say. Let's make a deal. On either one of these. We're going to throw in a Ranger 1800 range finder. Which is an angle compensating range finder.

It's great for a lot of different things. If you shoot yardage on your gun. Compact. Archery guys. Just taking an angle compensation for an archer. They're awesome. Let's make a deal for $15.99 for the Vortex Razor spotting scope. With the range finder and $14.99 with the Razor LHT XLR 4.5 to 22 by 50. And it includes the range finder. That with the range finder. We're going to throw it in there. $14.99 for that. So you pay for one and you get the other free. Free range finder. The Bronson bundle. Yeah. Let's get rid of it. The Bronson bundle. The more we sell, the more we lose. While supplies last. It's a great business thing. The more you sell, the more you lose. Hey. We're just. I'm glad John. We like to give. He's not the only vote. I am. I like job security. I want these in hearts and homes everywhere. Using this for the fall in the field. Okay.

What are they going to do on that shelf? Nothing. They're going to collect dust. Let's get them out there. Okay. Let's get them in your packs. All right. Let's do it. While supplies last. Should we give something away too? Just for listening. What do you got in mind? First listener. First listener to call in. Give something away. This is not live. Is there a 1,000 or is there a stock up? This is not a live podcast. You know that, right? First one. When this gets published, the first guy to call in. Okay. Well. That's. What do you think? What do you want to give? You. It's your idea. I feel like giving away something. You want to give something to yours? No.

Let's give away a stealth camera or something. What do you think, Chris? That sounds good. Let's give away a trail camera. What model would you like to give away? You have to be from Arizona.

I'm sorry, Arizona. I wish you could run cameras at least part of the year.

Maybe you could be from Arizona and just run it. Wildlife in your backyard. Just pay your kid to run it. Yeah.

All right. We'll keep going. Let's give it away. 45. Yeah. The 45 max, right? 45 max. Should we do it? Okay. Yeah. First max. What do they got to do when they call in? Just say, I want the free. Talk to Chris. I want the free trail camera. Talk to Chris. I'm calling about the free trail camera. I want the free trail camera. Right. All right. Okay. Sound good? First person to call. First person to call. Send it out the door. Plus, you know, the only thing they're responsible for is $100 shipping. Free shipping.

Just teasing. Free shipping. Shipping on us in the lower continental 48 and U.S. territories. No tax, because when you don't pay anything, you don't have to pay tax. How about that? And by the way, well, anyway, not going to go there. Not going to take it. All right. All right. Well, anyway. So, that brings us to the bonus. Usually, that's a hunt. A hunt story. What book? I've got one in mind, but for somebody here at the table. But I don't have to use it. I was just wondering, does anybody here, is there a hunt that one of y'all been on that we haven't discussed on the podcast? They might teach somebody something. Huh? A little something. Devin, you've killed so many game animals last year. It's disgusting. I'm sure there's something. I don't understand the question. Well, the last one at the very end, he hit me, and I had to tell my Idaho deer story in somewhat detail.

That was what we did last time. Just kind of a bonus, because a lot of times, we read the ads, we give away something free, which, Chris, maybe we do. And then that's the end of the podcast. Yeah, but I kind of wanted to give some bonus footage. Yeah. Let's go blast from the past. You know, blast from 2021. Oh, you want to go with Pollock's giant bull? I was going to go with the 400-inch bull. Let's do that. That's a good one. No, no, no. Okay, Pollock, you choose. We forgot before. Shanks. Have we? Shanks from 2021. Or your bull. You choose.

I was thinking about the Shanks story. I love the Misty Fjords. I love that. Dude, it was a long-range rifle. You set it up. You smashed him. Speak that deer's name at this table. We don't have to talk about Shanks in and of himself. Just the hunting story. No. Just the story. No. We need to hear Devin's is significantly better. He's told his. Which story? He's told his buck. What story do you want to hear? We want the magpies helped you find your buck. Oh, okay. That deer. That's a good one. Oh, and the coyote. Oh, and the coyote. Did we not cover that on a podcast? No. Okay. We never shared this. That was a significant week. People are going to think I'm weird. You are getting out of talking about Shanks. It's a great story. Smash and grab. Okay. All right. Keep going. Whoever's willing to talk, one of you talk, you've got eight to seven minutes. Seven, eight.

Oh, we're way past lunchtime. You're lucky. All right. Go ahead. This is my story of what? Which buck was this? You killed a couple in Nevada last year. This was the last day, basically. The second to last day. And I see this buck, and it is a nice deer, but I wasn't like, I've got to kill this deer. Is this from last year? This is the last year. Page 19. When you grew from boy to man over the course of 10 days.

Yes. Okay. You went from like a wedding picture, clean shaven, to grizzly Adams. No, that was in August. The antelope was August. That's a whole other. No, those were two bucks, 10 days apart, and you went full Yeti. Two deer. Ten days. Two deer were how many days apart? Josh is enjoying that you're telling a story. There were Sasquatch sightings in Northern Nevada. There was. Who cares about my face? Right here, you're not dateable. You're not dateable. You've got to go home and clean up. You can braid that. Here, you look clean. Braid it. Put some beads. But you see that bush? Yeah. He was bedded there, so I bedded him. Well, no. I saw him. Oh, not the beard. No. The actual bush. Okay, go ahead. Jeez.

You can't tell a story. You guys' presence. No, you can't. I'll stop. Anyways, I tell myself, if he's still there when I come back, I glass him up. How many are you dumping? I'm going to dump him. You mean like hours? I go up. I get up. Oh, yeah. You mean you had to make a stock to get there? No, I went up looking. Oh, there did. I let him go, basically. Okay. I had seen him before, 10 days prior, when I was a little more appealing to look at, apparently. Clean shape. Groomed. Anyway, so nothing happens. I come back, and I see him. I bed him in these bushes, and I'm like, okay, here we go. I'm going to go down. And I couldn't see the bushes for a minute, maybe five minutes, as I was going, and I pop up. Now, it's just a classic waiting game. I know he's in there. Like, is he really there? But you don't for sure know. It's wide open. Everywhere. I have 350 yards.

You want to throw around in there just to get him up. Oh, it went through my mind. And I think it might. And I kind of did. Yeah. I don't know about it. Okay. Yeah. So. But you were there for, you left for hours. Maybe an hour. And came back and maybe did a stock. So you don't know if the deer could be gone. What did you leave to do? Oh, no. I saw him go in the bushes. Just have a. Yeah, but then you left, you said, and they came back. No, this was just, I walked in. I left him for an hour. Okay. And then I came back, and I saw him right before he bed. Okay. Gotcha. All right. So I'm here. It's 350 yards. There's nowhere he can go. And I'm, it's like 10 in the morning. You know, I'm just. You got a long wait. Yeah. And I'm like, well. Even if it's a Texas heart shot, you're getting this. I can't see him. I'm picking him out. And then like two hours goes by, and I'm getting impatient.

Very impatient. And I see a magpie. You always watch the magpies. Flies on a doe. Flies on another doe. Landing on them. Eating ticks. Cruises down. Yeah. Eating ticks off their backs. Cruises in. Goes into this little tunnel of bushes and doesn't come out for about a minute. And I'm like, okay, he's in there. And two more hours goes by. I'm hungry. He's checking. I got a Vienna sausage. He's checking for ticks. That's all I had. I was starving. Vienna sausage. You were hungry. That's all I had in my pack. Stupid. Did you drink the goo? No. I learned that. Don't ever. Because some guys do that. If you're listening to this podcast, do not drink the goo in the Vienna sausage. That's a whole other story. What? Yes. Anyways. Devin has some amazing stories. Tune in next time. I mean, turkeys have chased this guy for 14 miles. On a four-wheeler. All right. We'll keep it.

So, I know the buck's in there. I mean, it's like 4 o'clock. It's almost. I mean, like, what is this buck doing? It gets dark at like 6 this time of year, right? No stretch. Get up. No midday stretch. Nothing. That I can see. There's nowhere he could go. And then there's this coyote. And I'm watching this coyote. He's about, I don't know, 100 yards from the buck. Where do you think the buck's at? Yeah. Oh, yeah. And so, I pop my mag out. I put an extra shell in. And I tell myself, I'm going to smoke this coyote. And the buck's going to stand up like, what was this? What happened? You know? No. Then I'll smoke it. And there's, mind you, there's nowhere he can go. He's dead. Boom. I hit the coyote. The coyote comes running by. You jack another shell. You're ready. I jack another shell. And I'm prone. Did you put one through the coyote? I hit the coyote. You hit it. He jumped, ran.

Look at the bush. Nothing happens. And I'm just like, what is going on? Like, he's in there. I know he's in there. And then I look over. I saw some movement. And this coyote's still moving. He's not feeling very good. And he goes to the bush. And he just stops. And I, like, he saw the buck. Made eye contact. And I'm like, how is this buck not getting up? Made eye contact. Like how close? Five feet? Oh, ten feet. Yeah. From here to that bear, probably. Chris's bear. And he turns and goes around. And another period of time goes by. And I'm starting to feel bad for this coyote. So I shot again. He takes off running by the bush. I missed him that time. Nothing happens. Tell and nose are at the same level. He's smoking out of there. And so now you're wondering, like, did I doze off for 20 minutes and this thing got out of here? He's there. You know what? Another hour. Because I doze off.

The magpie, man. I knew it. He finally came out. About an hour before dark. Smoked him. The buck? It was over. That's the end of it. That's the end of it. Yeah. It's a good story. It shows you how tight something to hold. How tight. When they live in that open country. Oh. And you were 350 yards. He knows he's vulnerable, though. He knows it. He's hiding. Right now I'm safe. He knows if he's in that bush, he's safe. And I had seen him a long time before that in the hunt. And in between that time, somebody had shot at him. And he had a bullet, like, burn all the way down his ribs. And it just barely hit his hind quarter. He deserved to live. I mean, he'd been shot at. He deserved to live. He probably did. And how many miles away did you see him prior to this? Oh, maybe two miles. But my friend had seen him in the summer about 35 miles north of where I killed him. Wow. Isn't that crazy?

Yep. When that happens, you start to think that you're not missing anything. Yes. I mean, I think it messes with you a little. A little, yeah. I think you're missing a few animals, right? But you're not seeing everything on the landscape. But it does make you wonder, you know, geez, we saw him here. And then we saw him here. 30 miles away, yeah. It's pretty cool. It's just deer that live in that country and are hunted that hard, they know. Well, it reminds me of those stories. They know what's going on. Colorado. They hold tight. And others, when you see a buck and you're like, oh, crap, there's some hunters right there. And you're just, like, locked on this buck he's going to blow. And you watch him walk by within 75 yards, 100 yards. And the buck's just laying there just watching. And you're like, okay, we got life. We got, and how many times that happened to us? I've learned it.

I've seen him go in quakey patches when I had hunters with me. Little quakey patches. Maybe 100 square yards. And I can't get them to come out. I go in and I can see their track. I'm jumping them. And they're running circles around me. They will not go to the open. Wow. Or you see them bedded. You're throwing rocks to get them out of the trees. And you have to hit them. They hold tight. It'd be fun to do a deer drive with you. It is. It's a good time. Well, tell us. Okay, tell us about the turkey. The turkey. Which one? Did you have one? Okay, I don't know. I thought there was only one. Wasn't there one that kind of chased you on the floor? I'm going to go back to the Google. Yeah, this is a long time ago. Wasn't there video? Wasn't there video? I don't. Could Chris, part of this podcast when we post on Instagram, post the turkey footage? Was that with your permission? I don't care.

Oh, Chris, you have to post this on IG. There's several. Yes. I've been attacked by wild birds more than once.

It all stems from, I went on a turkey hunt. I drew this good tag in Utah. First day I'm out there. That's probably when you became a concealed weapons permit, Homer. Yeah. It was the worst hunt of my life. And I thought, I'm never doing this again. These are just, I mean, I got whooped by turkeys. It's frustrating. And then I'm in the desert of Southern Nevada, just minding my business, looking for bulls. And I see this black thing come through the sage, paralleling my four-wheeler. While you're driving it? Yeah. I thought it was a porcupine because there's no turkeys out there. And it just, Jurassic Park, run. It's to the road. Hits the road and I'm getting my phone out because I'm like, there's a turkey out here. Do you remember this, Wyatt? This was in August. I do remember this, yes. Mind you, this is August. And it just charges.

So I film it and I was like, look at this bird, you know, it's a big old tom. Sharp spurs. And I'm like, this is why I don't turkey hunt. They attack me in August and they're the most elusive animal in the world in the spring. And yeah, there's some spurs were flying. Yeah, he wouldn't back up. No, he chased me for a long ways. And you got on your bike and you were going, right? Oh, yeah. And this thing's coming after you. Yeah. How fast can they run? Significant. At least 25 miles an hour. Were you going in reverse? No, I was driving. No, after he chased you. I can't remember the video. Were you backing up and he kept coming or did you turn around? No, I kept, I just drove. Forward speed ahead. It's a cool video. It's worth watching. I don't know if that's normal. No. No, it's not really normal. I didn't think so.

I've had him chase my truck in the spring, but August and try to spur you in the neck? It's not. Who does that happen to? Did they actually get close to your neck? Dude, he jumped this high. What was your facial hair? What was your facial hair like? I mean, maybe there was some attraction. Hey, was it getting dusk? Was he looking to roost for the night in a bush? There was plenty of roost trees. I was, yeah. It was an attraction of sorts. I thought there was a big fluffy hen on your face. It was wanting to fight. He almost got one.

Jeez. This is our bonus.

No. It's a different warrior chant than that. This is like the Maori haka from New Zealand. That's what he was doing, right? All right. There's video proof. It is good. Chris, you got to get it. If you're interested in the video, when Chris posts about this podcast, we'll put some footage of the Velociraptor turkey.

We good? Are we good? Do you have anything else on your yellow sticky note there? No. Well, that was kind of light. You didn't have much. No, I didn't. We had more on you. We had more on you. Yeah. I'm going to just walk in here with it in my head, and you guys won't be prepared for that one. All right, everybody. Go to lunch. Have a good day. At Epic Outdoors, we help you reach your hunting dreams, whether it's helping you to develop a long-term application strategy or finding the perfect outfitter for your next hunt. As a member of Epic Outdoors, you'll also receive the Epic Outdoors magazine and have access to the best hunting consultants in the industry, online tools, and more. To join Epic Outdoors, visit epicoutdoors.com or call 435-263-0777.

to join Epic Outdoors.com or call 435-264-0777. to join Epic Outdoors.com or call 435-264-0777. to join Epic Outdoors.com or call 435-264-0777. to join Epic Outdoors.com or call 435-264-0777. to join Epic Outdoors.com or call 435-264-0777.