In this episode Adam, Jason and John sit down with Brendan Burns of Kuiu and talk about Western Big Game. Kuiu has been a part of Epic Outdoors since the very beginning and they never seem to stop inventing new gear that changes the game.
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You are listening to the Epic Outdoors Podcast. Check us [email protected]. Hey everybody, Jason Carter. Adam Bronson coming at you from Southern Utah. Bronson, it is springtime. There’s a few snowflakes in the air. It’s Chia Pet. I don’t know if it’s springtime. Okay. I wouldn’t say that I’m a cold all day. Well, springtime with Yeah, it is a little chilling. We actually got a fan going on in here. It’s coming on March, but a couple days of felt mid fifties. It makes you feel that way. I know what you’re saying. Changed my life and then the next day it’s winter again. But we need a little bit more winter. We, well, we want it snow. We’re g greedy. Although I heard that snowpack, even though it was o it was good. Like there’s guys kind of complaining. It hasn’t been a good sled year, you know what I mean? Like over the top Good sled year. Well, I, but we have had some rain. We’ve have had a lot of rain and I don’t, I’m not a sled. Right. I’m, I’m a shedder and a hunter. Okay, alright. I big hunter and a gatherer I want. That’s right. What do you gather? What do you gather? Bone? What do you mean of different brands? Used to Big Gardener, didn’t you? Oh, gather. Yeah. Like Hunter and gather like, you know, I don’t even grow anything in No, no, I don’t.
00:01:25:24 –> 00:02:34:15
I don’t have many people at home that like, I like They don’t appreciate it, man. They just don’t appreciate it. They do, but but they don’t like what I like and it’s too much effort to grow. What I like for just me, I can jana’s a gardener in our house and that makes it so where I don’t have to be. Yeah. You know what I mean? So it’s self-reliance because I her, I live in an area where there’s deer and so I, I’d have to cage my whole backyard and it’s not worth it. I think it’s fine. There’s this, you know, keto diet. You just kill everything. Eat meat 24 7. Well right. Yeah. I don’t know. I could roll my vegetables out every day into the sun and roll ’em back under my garage every night so they don’t get eaten by deer. But I’m not gonna go through that. We’ve had some dry results come out Bronson, we had a lot of guys dryers on it. It was one of the best draws we’ve ever had and some amazing, a lot of these even antelope that are like worse than sheep odds in many cases. And one non-res tag seems like our guys got ’em. Yeah, it was, it was great. It wasn’t any of us who were around the office. No, but we’re excited nonetheless because it is the first, first state. But I’m no longer batting a thousand like I used to be.
00:02:35:14 –> 00:03:43:04
Yeah. So now, well now everyone you hit from now on takes a lot to make up for. Feels like nowadays you’re just lucky to buy tags or buy a hunt. It’s hard. You know, you’ve got theses Arizona go through the roof. Buy, buy an Idaho or an Arizona OTC. You feel like you’ve really Yeah, well when you’re won the lottery, put you in a little virtual waiting room and you feel like you, you finally got in and there was something to buy. You feel special. I saw there’s some house bill thrown out there. Don’t remember the, the number but proposing maybe moved out to a draw. Yeah, I would be fine with that. Idaho going to a draw. The amount of product productivity. Yep. Amount of productivity on December 1st and the workforce in the western US would go up dramatically. How about Colorado’s coming out with that little email saying basically, here’s the projection. If we were to limit non-residents or go to a draw for say, all archery elk in Colorado that’re normally OTC, they had a couple scenarios that you could look at there on their, some of their charts, which if you limited non-residents by, you know, down to 35 or 25 or completely or did it on the rifle hunt as well, how much that would equate to at a lost revenue in the millions. Lots of millions, tens of millions case. Crazy.
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But yeah, they’ve got some we’re calling ’em tentative alternatives for the five year season structure moving forward for forward for the commission to consider. Yeah. Those won’t be approved till May or June. So it’s not, you’re not gonna know anything this year before you have to apply by April 2nd on what next year’s dates are gonna be. But I would a gut feeling they’re gonna be earlier than they are now. They’re they’re talking about going back to kind of the pre late dates. Yeah. You know, so to the previous five year cycle. That’s right. Bring not have as big a gap between the first and second. That was the big thing that changed last time. Bring that nine, they lengthened that gap between first rifle elk and second season deer. They’re gonna bring it back up again and maybe lengthen out the third season to a nine day. Yeah. We’ll see Back to nine day. Maybe even talking about a few of those archery hunts being early, like starting mid-August now. Yeah. And have, and have the latitude possibly tool in their toolbox to have some first season deer tags in, in units that need to have to spread out harvest. Which that’s traditionally Ben Elk only everywhere pressure and, which could be incredible. Yeah. There might be some units at that. That might be awesome. Oh, it will be hunting like the 10th or 15th of the rifle somewhere. Deer that haven’t, yeah.
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I mean they normally get to September 30th and they’ve had five years to have 30 days off and now you’re gonna just be Waka Waka certain first gun on the unit, certain units. Yep. It’ll be good. It’s kind of interesting. Change is good. I just, change is interesting and it affect, you know, there’s all these intangibles. It’s hard to really quantify what the net result will be. Well, and you gotta, you’ve gotta be thinking about those things. You gotta be willing to maybe try something different or thinking about how is this going to affect it. Yeah. And and then we try to put it in words. Put it on paper, put it in the mag magazine. It’s really hard to do and you know, it’s an educated guess. Yeah. Nothing’s perfect. We’re right. We’re just, we’re just throwing stuff out there that we think might be a result, but you never know. Alright, Bronson, we got a special guest here. We got Brendan Burns. Yep. We’re gonna visit with of QU and you know, he’s very accomplished. Great guy, great friend of ours and you know, does a lot there at KU and has from the very beginning with Yep. With Jason Hairston. So employee number, I guess two behind Jason probably. Yeah. He might consider himself employee one ’cause Yeah, owner hires employee one. So maybe his employee one. Yeah. I don’t know. But he is and onboard with this forever.
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Love to talk hunting a new gear. Good dude. What you gotta say? Good dude. Really into sheep and, and is known for killing giant bulls. Let’s just, I think anyway, yeah, he even killed a giant last year. But let’s give him a holler and see what he’s got to say. What’s going on fellas? What’s going on? What’s on? How’s it going? Oh, we got pounded with snow last night, so I was Did you I was driving the, getting the old snowblower rolling. Have you been, you get dug out. How much did you get in Bozeman? Oh, we probably got, we probably got eight inches on the level and pretty, it was pretty wet snow though, so Yeah. I had the, got the old 60th snowblower out, you know. Nice. Yeah. You love these. Well I can’t really call ’em spring. Yeah. Down here. We’re flirting with that. Montana, you’re a month and a half away, but these later winter slash spring storms are usually a lot wetter. So you’ll take those guys. Kids are made for snow blowing burns. Well I got, I got this on the front of my ranger, a 60 inch on the front of my ranger, so I got a It’s dad’s toy. Yeah. Yep.
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Yeah, it’s kinda like, it’s kinda like the zero turn mower, like you can turn it over to the kids, but you know, I guess you get older at some point in time, you’re just like, man, I really like taking care of the grass and I like snowballing. I dunno why. Yeah. Kind of fun with the, compared to the equipment we grew up mowing lawns with and yeah, frankly, shoveling with the literal shovel is all we have when our kids, so it’s kind of nice to have a few toys I’ve been pushing. Can you guys hear me? Yeah. Can you guys hear me all right? Yeah. Yeah. Can you, can you hear us all right? Yeah. Good. I just, I I might have to take a a, a blow my nose breaker or two. You sick? I picked up, oh yeah, I picked up the, the flat Bri cough down there in Salt Lake. The Done Expo. Yeah. Flat brim cough. The pro the pro fest thrown up. You don’t have a, it falls straight from the ceiling and if you don’t have your ears tucked in and your nose covered by a flat brim, it gets right in you. Oh boy. Oh boy. I like it. We got the real Brendan today, bro. Yeah, he’s unfiltered. He’s had a monster I can tell. Yeah, I like it. Well, we’re gonna be Adam, this is gonna be, well Adam and Devon actually got sick.
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Well, well you started kind of, it was start stop and I attribute it to my strict regimen so it it, it bear, which it, which is a lot of, a lot of weird stuff that my grandma has told passed out over the years. Apple, you know, dark, dark purples and you know, of course all that. Well, it really did, it really did knock the hell out of me. Like I I’ve been, I’ve been pretty darn sick, so Geez. Yeah. Haven’t took a grip and I’m going back the other way. It just barely flirted after we got home. But I’m doing good. The, the expo’s one of the biggest shows now and where a lot of, you know, western hunters gather and whatnot, Brendan, but how did it, how did it go for you guys there at q You? Oh, it was good. Are we, are we on now? Yeah. Oh dude, we’re on. Oh, alright. Yeah, yeah. You, you’ve all, you’ve named a new virus. Yes. Oh no, it was, it, it’s good. I mean, it, it definitely, yeah, I mean, that’s funny that, that show I’ve had, I’ve said several times, like, I don’t think it can get bigger or what I mean like Right. Saturday was as, as, as busy as a show that, that reminded me of like Heyday Dallas Safari Club, which we haven’t seen in a few years. I mean, that was, you couldn’t get around in the aisles.
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Like it was fricking busy. Yeah, it was. Yeah. Is Dallas, do you feel like it’s smaller? The last, I think, yeah, it depends on the day. No, Dallas had been pretty busy, but I mean, there was just a, I I guess there was a couple years where, man, you couldn’t get through the aisles and maybe the show was a little smaller, you know, like, I mean, there were a couple days at the expo there. You, you couldn’t walk down an aisle without, I mean like you’re weaving and bobbing and there was just a lot of people there. Well, and that’s, despite them blowing out, that whole other wing is way big. You think it’ll spread people out. But with that, with that going on, it’s still busy. And it was busy Thursday and Friday. We knew it was coming. We knew Saturday was gonna be bad ’cause Thursday was busy. It used to be the slow day wasn’t that slow for us. Friday was really, really busy. Saturday was crazy. Sunday was all right. Yeah, we were, yeah, we’re, we’re busy at all the shows, you know, I mean, people, you know, obviously seeing customers that we only see once a year depending on the venue.
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And then, you know, just a lot of people wanna put their hands on new stuff we’ve launched and you know, just, just check in, see what’s, what’s new and try on some stuff and come by and bs and yeah. It’s just, I mean, yeah, the shows are fun and we got, we have a pretty cool crew now that are a mix of, you know, people that work for us and really dedicated customers and good friends that come out and do a few shows. So it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s, yeah, we got a pretty dial. It’s been a, it’s been a lot of fun. Pretty awesome. Tell us about, I guess some of the new stuff if, I don’t know if you wanna dive into that. I, I know you’ve got a lot going on. You guys are doing every, I mean, you guys are doing everything. You’ve got white tail waterfowl and then everyday stuff as well as what you would call on your website, all new hunting, which you know Yeah. Tactical. Yeah. Yeah, we have technical hunt and, and, and, and waterfowl and I, I, you can call it white tail. We, we refer to it in, in inside the company as cold and quiet. I mean, it’s not just whitetail. I mean, everybody kind of pigeonholes anything that’s very, very quiet to wear that you can sit segment in the coldest whitetail. But I mean, I don’t, I I, I love to hunt whitetail.
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It’s one of my favorite things out west here. But I mean, there’s, there’s a lot of, there’s a lot of uses for that that are, and it’s obviously gonna appeal to the whitetail hunter extensively. But I mean, there’s a lot of uses for what we do as well, whether you’re still hunting or, or early season when it gets a little cooler. So yeah, we got a lot of stuff and, and you know, we don’t really go into anything based on like, Hey, we’re chasing a market. We, we look at everything like, hey, if we can, if we can improve what’s out there through better fabrics, better designs, and the, the relationships that we built and the factories that we have and the design ideas we have, we go into it. And that’s kind of where waterfowl went too. I mean, we have, you know, our new welded bags. We’ve been working on that for a long time. I mean, stuff that’s absolutely, totally waterproof. I mean like throw it in the river and let it float down and pick it up on the other end. Waterproof bags. And, you know, the waiters was kind of a natural thing. We just got asked tons of time and we ended up with a really good rubber boot manufacturer that was building a better boot than anybody else was building.
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And we did a, a co-brand and a, a partnership with Sims, who’s obviously been known for building tremendous waiters for a long time. So like the, these things have come about of not like chasing markets, but more kind of organically through improving what we see out there and, and, and what our customers ask us for. Ultimately, it boils down to what our customer asks us for. And we, we, we make it no secret, we wanna be in every hanger in your closet and every hanger in your gear room. Yeah. And so when it comes to everyday apparel, you know, or making better and better and more stuff that you can wear every day that, you know, whether it doesn’t necessarily have a monster logo on it, but like, wear it to work every day. And, you know, tech technical fabrics have a, have kind of encroached into the whole life. I mean, you know, every time I have to wear jeans, I go, man, these things are just not that awesome. So whether it’s, you know, the, the waterfowl stuff or the whitetail stuff or, or every day or, you know, or really it’s no different than everything we’ve ever done. It boils down to fabrics and design, making it more comfortable for the end user.
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And so that’s, that’s kind of where we went with everything, is when we see a great fabric that would have multiple uses and or improve what we’ve already got or improve what’s out there in the market, then, then that’s a place we, we we went to. It’s, you know, it’s like us getting into women’s, you know, we just had so many customers that were women that were using the men’s stuff, and it was like, it became, it, it wasn’t really a a, a dive into a market. It became a more of a, a a, a development along fit. And, you know, we just thought we could, you know, make what we currently make fit better for them. And, and obviously there’s no no surprise, there’s, there’s a lot more women hunters, a lot more serious ones. And so that, that was kind of a natural thing of just getting, kinda wore us down. Yeah, well I was gonna say, it’s like if your wife nags at you around the house long enough, you’re gonna fix it. And when these ladies come to the shows for 3, 4, 5, 10 years asking you, where’s Mike stuff that fits me so I don’t have to wear my husbands backpack. You much paid for women. Yeah. You’re pretty much, you’re finally sick of listening to ’em every year. You’re gonna, you’re gonna make, you’re gonna give ’em what they want.
00:15:07:16 –> 00:16:05:05
And, and the week for their birthday Christmas, we knew about that was pretty unique in the fact that we have some very, very serious, what I would call like world class sheep hunters that just happen to be women. Yeah. Like Stephanie Lowe and Glenda Gro and like all the, the kind of the, the, the gals that I wasn’t really super involved in that because we, we sent it over to that like, I don’t know that much about women’s clothing, you know, and nor should I Come on. Come on, bro. Well you, you, you know, fabric more than you, you know, fabric. It’s just, it’s just tailored, you know? Yeah, yeah. It was, it was a, a exercise of fit and they did a tremendous job and everybody loved, you know, so that’s, that’s kind how everything’s went. And you know, like I said, the white tail, the white tail waterfowl thing is the same way as like we, we, you know, guys were using our stuff and it’s like, man, with a little tweak here if you added this in and the full line. And, and, and we, they’ve come up, but they’ve done a tremendous job of, of coming up with some great stuff. You know, I’m not, I, I’ve kind of gotten more into waterfowl.
00:16:05:06 –> 00:17:06:18
I would, I’m not by no means an expert on any level whatsoever in the waterfowl, but as my son’s gotten older, we’re, we’re, we’re hunting ducks in December quite a bit and having a good time with it. And I can certainly appreciate from the outside some of the designs that they’ve come up with and, you know, staying warm in the blind and, you know, stuff that’s designed specifically for the waterfowl. And it’s been a lot of fun. It’s, it’s, it’s fun to not have to worry about your gear. You just grab the stuff that, that you need and you’re gonna be warm and it’s gonna work well and, you know, it’s all well thought out. So, but yeah, that all the, all those new things that we’re into have just kind of, you know, generat and, and some from internally, you know, I mean, I don’t think a lot of people know that some of the best duck hunting in the world is down right. Close to our headquarters. Yeah, it is. You got duck clubs that are, I mean, California’s no millions of dollars lot, so Yeah. Yeah. That they’ve, they’ve written hit that pretty hard. So it’s been, it’s a lot of fun. You know, it’s just extending the season if we can, we can build more stuff and people want it and we can extend the season. I mean, not, you know, not everything’s a, a sheep hunt.
00:17:06:18 –> 00:18:07:00
You can only do those a few times a year and or elk hunting or mule deer hunt like you’re doing if you can, you know, I mean obviously we’re all outdoorsmen to, to be able to be comfortable out in the, out whatever you’re doing. Yeah. And even better when you’re wear it too yourself. Nice to, to nice to hear that you’re, you’re kind of into these whitetail you talked about. Well, I’ve actually always whitetail Montana. Well, you, Montana well you, you were just giving me a little bit of grief ’cause I know, I know. I’m starting to get into it. I kind of, dude, I, I’m not gonna lie, I am, I’m getting addicted to ’em. So I, I love hunt whitetails in Montana. We’re highly underrated. As far as Whitetails go, I’ve probably, in the last 25 years, I’ve maybe shot five or six mule deer total, but mostly, you know, I kill big whitetail buck every single year. I love hunting. I actually really love hu I love rifle hunting white tails on the eastern half of the state. I like to glass ’em up and hunt really open country and, and, and I love, you know, going in and busting out a big whitetail buck and, and dumping ’em with a rifle. That’s, it’s one of my favorite things I’ve found. I was a little kid’s. Awesome.
00:18:07:00 –> 00:19:12:06
Are are you naming ’em, I mean, I mean are you hunting white tails like you do elk with specific bulls? No. Or whatever I mean, or is it just more an opportunity hunt in the rut? Yeah, it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s not even during the rut, it’s just, it’s just really wide open country that have a lot of white tails and Yeah. Yeah. I just, I, I like going out and glass and, you know, finding, you know, a lot of like stubble type stuff and, and I mean, I’m talking no cover whatsoever where you’re glassing up, just little white rack sticking out of a little, you know, they’re animals kind of do funny things. They’ll find even if there’s a hill that’s, you know, seven inches taller, the next spot, they’ll, they’ll go to that little spot where they got a little advantage and and and post up. Yeah. And you know, I I, yeah, it’s, it’s a lot of fun. I I I, it was one thing I, I did a lot growing up and I, I love whitetail hunting. It’s not your traditional sit in a tree stand whitetail hunting. But it’s, and I’ve, I’ve killed some big bucks. I, I shot up 1 58 straight five point last year with my bow, geez. Ambushed him on, on the ground. And I’ve killed a couple in the one sixties in the last couple years with a rifle, basically a general tag, right?
00:19:12:18 –> 00:20:06:21
I mean, over, over the counter counter for residents. You get Yep. You get one, one deer in Montana, one deer, buck, buck, mul, deer buck, white tail, whichever that is. That’s what you get. Yeah. Cool. So you killed, you killed, you’re, you’re continuing to hunt big bulls, didn’t you kill another, you know, great bull also. Yeah, I killed it. Yeah. I got out, you know, it’s been, had a good luck run a luck. It’s continuing on. But I, yeah, I had a killed a really great bull this, this fall. Super heavy, big mated. It’s got a big crown point on one side. It’s a, it’s a seven by seven and in the high 70, I haven’t had it officially scored yet, but it’s like, you know, geez, high seventies right at three 80, but he is only 33 inches wide. Lot of bone on his head of It’s pretty cool. Yeah, I had my, I had my son with me. We had walked about seven miles that day, ended up cutting a herd off and I was hunting this particular bull for like 11 days before I got him.
00:20:06:21 –> 00:21:12:28
And my son happened to be with me and, you know, everything went right and he kind of whole herd came right to us and we kind of split the herd and they kind of bed, it started bedding around us and this dude came over and checked the cow at 50 yards and heart shot him and died right in front of me and with my kid there, which was pretty awesome. So that was, that was a pretty, pretty cool moment. So was that the first, well you mainly only killed those of the bow, so was that the first one you’ve had him there with you on Yeah, yeah. With the bow. Yeah, that was, it was, it was pretty cool. Yep. That’s, that is awesome. Wow. That’s crazy. Yeah. So there’s a lot going on at QU, you know, a lot of expansion it feels like, although I think it’s control growth that you’ve been doing. You guys have been expanding for quite some time. But we were looking at some of these different, you know, of course you covered the women’s line, but we’ve got the divide 4,500 pack and a 2300 pack as well as a ton of other stuff. And, and then, and then like you’ve talked about with some of the other gear and, and submersible thing, you know, duffles and things like that, but just feels like things are going really well at QU. Like where’s it gonna end?
00:21:13:03 –> 00:22:31:10
I mean, is there, is it something you guys are just going to continue the way you’re going and just keep growing and growing and growing and or what’s the, what’s the plan there? Yeah, it’s gonna grow. It, it, it’s, like I said, it’s pretty organic. It’s gonna grow naturally. I mean we, I know we, we, yeah, it’s been, we’re obviously expanding in everything we do, but it’s, it’s, when I say it’s definitely controlled in, in the fact that we control everything about the brand, about the, the experience that the customer has. We, we just opened our first, well, it’s our second showroom, but it’s our, it’s our first kind of standalone shop down in, in, in Dallas. And it’s, it’s kind of been, we, we just stuck with the same plan we’ve always had. And that’s, we want to control the customer experience. We, we want to control every aspect of everything the customer that as they interact with, with Kuo and it’s, it’s products, it’s the customer service experience. It’s, you know, that’s why we don’t have retailers. That’s why we have our own, our own showrooms, is we want to control that experience and make sure that every time somebody walks in or has an interaction, that they, they get that personal feel and, and, and the expertise that pe that C is known for. And it’s, it extends into everything we do.
00:22:31:11 –> 00:23:51:07
It’s always number one is, you know, we, that’s, that’s where we’re driving always. And yeah, the product side, I mean, yeah, we just launched the, the, the divide yesterday and that’s a, a, a super organization, kind of mid-size pack, like two to three day 4,500 unpack optics, heavy rifle heavy, very organized, kind of kind of pack. And we’re, you know, we, we’ve got a lot of that stuff coming on, on the, on the, on the, on the platform that we have that, you know, I mean that’s why we have a, you know, the, the bags are all interchangeable once you own a, a frame and suspension, the modular pack system, we, we have pioneered since day one. You know, having one thing that fits really well and being able to use it in multiple different places, multiple different sizes, multiple different hunts. And that’s, that’s just another, another piece to that puzzle. We’re obviously updating some stuff and continuing to improve, you know, based on feedback. And, you know, we’re 15 years, this’ll be the 14. Yeah. We’re 14 years into the, into the carbon fiber platform. It’s funny that everybody is all of a sudden coming out with a carbon fiber, whatever they’re doing. And, and it’s like we’re, we’re, we’re the experts in that. There’s no doubt about it. We’ve been doing it for 14 years. We have patents on it and everything else.
00:23:52:27 –> 00:25:10:05
And I, I’ve always said, like you, you see the industry leading towards a lot of carbon stuff now, which make me laugh ’cause carbon’s always been the answer. It’s twice as strongest as steel and half the weight of aluminum. And we’ve known that for 15 years now. So there’s still, you know, innovation o on that stuff that we’re, we’re, we’re, we’re working on and, and and improving. And yeah, it’s a pretty exciting time. And yeah, it just kind of feels like everything’s hitting. Products are really good. You know, customer feedback’s incredible. Absolutely. Number of customers incredible. We’re, you know, we’re just, things are good. Keep keep the hammer down. Yeah. Yeah. Keep people happy. Like you said, you’re, you know, even from the start, you know, we’ve talked about it a bunch, but from the start, your customers have have told you what they want, you know, and not that you do everything a customer wants, ’cause there are some bad ideas, but you know what I’m trying to say, the demand drives the need to improve gear, even your own designs over the years. And you guys have done been very well at doing that. So anything besides maybe that divide pack, we saw that launch, you know, you know, throughout social the last day or so. And anything else you want to hit highlight in terms of a new specific piece of gear that you think’s noteworthy that that pack’s pretty cool.
00:25:10:12 –> 00:26:09:24
I mean, Brandon himself is proud of, you know, that you would use anything. You’re Yeah, we got some stuff. We’re, we’re not big on launching stuff ahead of time. I, I get myself in trouble for that, but No, we’re not asking you to get fired. No. You might say something though, accidental. We, we, we have some, we had a bunch of stuff obviously from this fall, you know, whether it’s obviously proximity was a year ago and the encounter system and a lot of that stuff that’s that cold and quiet line that Yeah. You know, has a lot of crossover appeal on the white tail side. But you know, I wear it a lot in, in yeah. Like still hunting type situations and, and on all that. And yeah, we just, that’s the beauty of our model is that we, you know, we can come out stuff when we’re ready, you know, when it’s fully tested and ready to go. We, we, we come out with it and yeah, we got a lot of, we’ve had some updates. We updated the Yukon, just, just wanted to improve the rain gear, make it more durable. We did that this fall. Yeah, I’m trying to think. I, it kind of escapes me when we start talking about it.
00:26:09:24 –> 00:27:26:00
But yeah, lots of basically any, anything you possibly need, not only will we have a gear list and then, and, and, and the product for it, we can pretty much get you set up no matter what, no matter what your hunt. Hey, one question I get from time to time and even myself, I, I, I use the attack pat more than anything else. I mean, I do use, I do use other pants, but that’s tends to be my go-to, you know, my Tron stuff I use when it’s really, really hot. I use Tron a ton and it’s August for bow hunting or my sheep when I’m in September and it saw it. I use those a lot. But you know, you’re one cold snap away from that stuff that needs to be put away. But, but talk to me or listeners there, how do you, what do you, how do you talk through the ana pant with the attack pant? Because that one I get asked a lot and even myself, I have my, I’m partial to the attack and so I maybe haven’t given the katana enough of a try. I guess talk me through the differences of those. Yeah, so, so the in the line, like it’s tiberon katana attack would be like the a weight Yeah. Wise, I, I actually lean the other way. I wear the katana almost 95% of the time compared to i the attack.
00:27:26:02 –> 00:28:42:00
And a lot of it depends on fit. The katana’s maybe is is slightly lighter, a bit more durable. It’s a nylon base versus, versus the attack. It kind of depends on the fit for you too. But they’re, they’re similar but different, a little bit lighter. I mean, you know, the, the tron is incredible. Yeah. But sometimes you get into the stuff that’s, that just rips it apart. I mean obviously when you have a dot air type fabric there, there’s stuff you can only be so light and be so durable and, and the Katana is kind of a lighter along the lines. Not quite a tron, but it, it has a lighter, I would say wears lighter next to skin than the attack pan. But the attack pan is the number one selling pan for all around use. Yeah. In a hunting period. Yeah. Like it has more five star reviews. We’ve sold more pairs of attack fans than any other hunting pan that has ever been sold. Wow. In hunting. Period. End of story. Like there, I mean it’s, it is the hall of fame, absolute hall of fame pant in, in hunting. So Yeah. Well the reason I, you can’t really go wrong with either. No, you can’t. But I I, I haven’t have any members of my own family that they, they prefer the Katana over and, and I, and maybe it is, like you said, more of a fit thing.
00:28:42:10 –> 00:29:39:07
Maybe I’ve wor wore the attack for so long that I just like that feel better katana for me. Maybe it feels like it fits me slightly tighter in the same size. I don’t know if that’s the right way to put it, but Yeah, it could be. I mean, a lot, a lot of times the fit, they can even be built the same and your fit is slightly different based on fabric. Yeah. And that’s why we offer that stuff is we, we don’t, you know, we, we offer it based on, you know, we ca you know, this year we came out, you know, the new brush pant, which is Yeah. Been huge for us. And that was a huge improvement. And that was based on, you know, a better fabric that had a really light feel but had incredible durability, added some hint hip, some hip and inner thigh ventilation to it. That that thing’s been, I I didn’t know if I would like that pat or not when I started testing it. I I absolutely love that pan in tons of different scenarios. You down the probe brush band. Brush band, yeah. Use that in southern Arizona or Texas place where every branch snags you when you walk by it, you know.
00:29:39:12 –> 00:30:46:24
Well it’s, it’s a unique pan in that, that it’s, it’s, it’s heavy duty, very durable, but it wears, it feels lighter because it’s like slicker on the inside and outside it, it, it wears, it wears lighter than it feels. And, and then it, and it wears lighter than it kind of delivers on, on durability. It truly is a brush band. I mean, go through all the nasty stuff, it’s not gonna rip, but it, it feels like a lightweight pad and that’s why it’s been been a huge success. That’s a great, and, and you know, it’s a hybrid. It’s got the, the, the heavyweight fabric where you need it, but you don’t need the heavyweight fabric every single everywhere, the bow. And that’s where a lot of our, our pants are, you know, in that hybrid type design where it needs to be waterproof here, it needs to be brush proof here. It needs to be, you know, whether you’re lower legs or, or seed. I mean, that’s kind of everything we do is like, you should use the right fabrics in the right places and and you get a superior performance and a superior wear. Yeah. Well, yeah, that’s another example of something that kinda, you know, I, I don’t know if it’s been a year, but it feels like just within the last six months or year that popped up outta nowhere.
00:30:47:01 –> 00:31:48:15
’cause I’ve, you know, we’ve all, if you’ve hunted, well I don’t, I know you hunt Texas, Brennan, I hunt southern Arizona for COO in places like that where cat claw and I mean, everything’s grabbing, everything’s grabbing you and it’s picking and, and peeling your stuff as you’re going through it. And that’s, that’s the pant made for that. Absolutely. I mean, that kind of country. So, and I don’t know others, I mean there’s, but there’s some ultra lightweight, I mean like when you consider that, you know, I love the Tron. I mean, I, I would, I would probably choose to wear Tron everywhere. I just, you know, that’s what I, I was telling you said I can’t get out of the tib, I can’t get out the Tron stuff. Well, but I, we also hunt a lot of early season in August and in September. But I’m telling you that first cold snap they hit you in September, I’m still fighting it. ’cause I, I love and you got that and you, you remember Yeah, this has dots in it. Oh, it does. It’s time to grab, it’s time to grab the other stuff. It is, it’s great. Fairly though, I kind of, my, my year kind of goes, if I would, if I was to break down pants for what I kind of wear as the year, it’d be, it’d be Kiron Katana.
00:31:49:00 –> 00:32:52:25
I kind of go into the Tallis and like October, November type and then I go to the axis later, later. That’s, that’s kind of the four that fit me well that I like. And, and then in the middle there I’ll have some, I I wore the brush bands quite a bit actually even I wore ’em on Kodiak last year, which was, which was great. Wow. Yeah, because just all that stuff you’re busting through, you know, those, those, it was a spring hunt and it was pretty warm. But you know, there’s, there’s all those alders and stuff you’re just getting, you’re just getting pulled on everywhere you go. And I wore ’em on Kodiak and, and they were great. So it’s, you know, that’s, that’s what we wanna give everybody that ultimately we can tell you what we think you should wear. But everybody kind of builds their own system. That’s the beauty of everything they make is you can, you can kind of, you know, with with ordering a few things, you can kind of craft how you’re, and you know what, the lives run hotter than others. Yeah, it’s true. You know, a lot of this stuff, I mean, anyway, I think it’s good to come from you where you’re, you know, and you’ve tried it and you’re, you’ve done as much hunting as you have. I think it’s really nice to itemize like the time of year and what you’re deciding to use.
00:32:53:04 –> 00:34:00:27
Maybe you can go through the base layers and the, and the mid layer tops and whatnot and give that kind of that same, that that same breakdown on early season versus mid versus late. And kind of how, how you do it real quick. I’m not saying, you know, a whole dissertation on it necessarily, but it is helpful for guys. The stuff is, you know, it it, you know, hunting budgets here tight here and there. And so they don’t wanna make a mistake on what they think they want. You know, versus you, Brendan, you’re, you’re in there, you’re, you’re, this is your everyday life is, is what Q offers. And so I think you, you know, and with the hunting you’ve done, I think it’s nice to hear, hear that from you. Like versus Eron versus Katana, you know, on down the chain. Yeah. On the, on the, on, on the upper side. And, and a lot of it depends on personal, you know, just kind of like what you normally wear and how you feel. You know, some guys run warmer, you know, I know guys that wear basically, you know, t-shirts in October. Yeah. Even when it’s super cold. So like for me, I mean, I like summertime. I’m on the upper side. I would, I would say summertime I wear the, I wear the, our, our helo line, our, our is, I mean it’s phenomenal.
00:34:00:27 –> 00:35:14:24
It’s, it’s your, your stretch sun shirt, dry, super quick. I mean I, I wear those not only in my everyday life, but, but hunting when it’s super hot, Mexico, all that kind of stuff. I, you know, if I’m sheep hunting, I like a Marino base layer. I, I wear our, our lightest Marino as a a t-shirt. And then our Pro Marino is kind of second layer. And I, you know, we make a lot of different mid layers because there’s a lot of different, everybody’s different. Yeah. Yeah, everybody’s different. I mean, I, I would say I prefer the 2 35 and the 2 75. I, I have, I’m kind of funny. I wear our 1 45 merino hoodie when I’m elk hunting most of the time. Especially if it’s hot. I prefer Marino if it’s really sunny. I think Marino absorbs. So, I mean, like, you wanna talk about, you know, this is just a theory, but I feel like Marino absorbs the sun instead of reflects it better than a synthetic. And, and you can see that when you’re g glassing people up. We, we look at our, the way our, our the way our patterns are applied to all of our stuff versus heat set. We, we have a different way that we apply it so we, we don’t burn the fabric and make it shiny, which is something we always consider. But I really like Merino.
00:35:15:07 –> 00:36:08:07
If I can wear Merino, especially, you know, in September elk hunting, I feel like I don’t get the reflection off it just kind of a personal feel. And then, you know, I go to the mid layer 2 35 and then a, the 2 75 hooded is probably one thing I wear like in my all day all the time. That’s kind of my go-to heavyweight mid layer. And you know, we make a bunch of, a bunch of different soft shells based on what you, you need. I probably, I, I’m not a big softshell guy. I wear the axis every now and again. I wear the, I like a little insulated piece. I like the, the Kenai jacket is probably my go-to on just about everything. So yeah, I mean I’m, I’m like every other customer where I, you find the stuff that you like, you order and then you could ask 10, 10 guys at 10 of us at, you know, are hunting and work at Kuku. And we, we all have a different system that we run all the time and that’s why we make all that stuff. Okay. I’m the same way. I’ve got a Peloton, a Peloton hoodie that’s with me on every hunt.
00:36:08:13 –> 00:37:11:24
We have a pile of different gear lists on, on the site of, of, and it’ll have mine or Justin’s or, or Kevin’s or like, I mean, we, we have a bunch of different gear lists on the side of like, you know, ideas of what, what we use and, and, and you can always write in and say, Hey, what, what, you know, here’s what I’m doing. What do you think about this? And you know, most of the time that email will get to me or to Kevin or to Justin or to Kevin or any of us. And, and, and we’ll answer those questions. That’s awesome. Well, Brendan, we know you’ve been, you know, heavy in the sheep world, done a done a lot of sheep hunting and, and still dealing with Rockies here and there and whatnot. Just maybe give us an overall, you know, state of the nation address on sheep hunting in general, the different species and whatnot as you see it. And then maybe, you know, some of the things that q you’s involved in. I know there’s some more projects you guys, you guys have got coming up. Yeah, it’s perfect timing on that. I actually got a, a, well, I’ll start off with the project. Obviously Conservation direct. We’re, we’re, we’re active and, and and involved in doing, you know, projects that we can have a direct impact. We, we love doing single, single projects.
00:37:11:24 –> 00:38:13:07
We can pay for the whole thing and, and, and get something really accomplished. We’re not really on the, the banquet circuit or any of that kind of stuff. We like doing projects and showing that we’re putting money towards these conservation initiatives that are gonna actually, you know, we love the sheep stuff that are gonna, that are gonna put new. And I, I got a project coming up here in the next two weeks with, with the state of Nevada. I’m gonna kind of keep it vague on that. But we have a, we have a great project coming up with state of Nevada. We’re working with Nevada Bighorns Unlimited and, and the state of Nevada. It’s going to, it’s going to be a pretty cool project to reintroduction. Awesome. Putting some sheep, you know, creating a huntable population that has, that was, that was eliminated at some point in time. So Wow. It’s a pretty exciting thing. Put a, put a pretty big chunk of money towards it and had some great partners in the, in the deal with it. And we’re pretty excited about that. And we’ll have, we’ll have a bunch more of that coming up here really in the next two, two to three weeks that, that should go down. And obviously working towards a lot of other things. I’ve always got a, a few irons in the fire.
00:38:13:07 –> 00:39:23:19
We got a guzzler coming up this spring that’s gonna be in a really cool spot that’s taken probably four years to get done. And yeah, we’re always, you know, we’ve, we’ve moved after this project we’ll have paid for directly and moved north of 200 sheep Rockies deserts, Cali, you know, in about nine different transplants with five different Western states. We paid for a hundred percent of all of it. And, you know, created, this will be four new sheep hunting populations. And now we’re gonna start reviewing some of the stuff that we’ve been able to do and the impact that’s made. Obviously you guys are, you know, right there close to you that the, we put all, we, we’ve, we’ve teamed up with Arizona and, and the, the project they did here in Montana to put all those sheep on Antelope Island. And that, that herd is absolutely flourishing. It’s coming to fruition here pretty quick. Where there’s some, there’s some big rams coming up on there. There’s, there’s a great population of sheep that have, that are growing and expanding and, you know, that’s gonna, that nursery herd is, is about to start in the next couple years here. Putting putting new populations of Hable Rockies in the state of Utah, which is super progressive, very aggressive on their, their, their management of what they’re gonna do with it.
00:39:23:19 –> 00:40:34:29
And it’s just every, every time I I I get an update on that Antelope Island project and the project in, in North Dakota, the three affiliates drive it just was super proud of what we’ve done with that. ’cause those are, those are, those are projects that have made a a a a difference and are gonna, I mean, those are gonna be tremendous populations that we’re looking at. Big auction tags and huge rams getting killed and, and people drawing it and awesome. Cheap of a lifetime kind of stuff that’s coming up. And it’s not gonna be that long away, you know, and it didn’t, didn’t take that much to do. It just took some real initiative and, and some support from, from our customers in a few states. And those are, those are just exciting projects. I mean, they have some tremendous sheep on Antelope Island right now that are gonna be, I I mean talking the, the, the, the state record in Utah is not safe. I mean, come on. This is awesome. It’s not gonna be safe like you, those genetics, Jason and I have rocky points better. Yeah, we got rocky points. This let’s make it happen. Can’t have, you can’t have enough Rockies in your life, dude. No, no, it’s hard. It’s quite, quite, quite the bottleneck. You know that well as anybody Brennan. Yeah. Yeah. There’s, so yeah, that’s, that’s exciting. I mean, keep an eye out.
00:40:34:29 –> 00:41:42:03
We’re, we’ll probably send out a post here and an email about the new conservation project and there’s a participation aspect for our customers that’s coming up. They can, they can help purchase some collars that’s, that’s coming up and we’ll, we’ll launch that here pretty quick. So yeah, pretty excited about that stuff. That’s, that’s the favorite part of my job anymore is I, I just love partnering with these states and, and, and sending them check and, and getting involved and, and, and moving some sheep and, and just, you know, it’s, it’s very satisfying to, to be doing that kind of work and, and to see the impact that it actually makes. So those, those are pretty exciting as far as the state of the state of the union on she, I can give you what I think the state of the union is. Let’s hear it. Let’s have, let’s Brendan from the first, from the first 60 seconds of the podcast. Let’s get that Brendan back. Yeah, no, I’m back. That the, the state of sheep is, it’s it’s in a funny place right now. And, and it’s, it, there’s a, there’s a lot of different factors that I, i, I see it as, and I’ll just start with like thin horns there. It’s a funny thing is like the bottleneck of covid obviously basically missing two full hunting seasons.
00:41:42:12 –> 00:42:46:17
Seasons created such a backup and such a demand on thin horns that the price has gone through the roof. And then when you combine that with the fact that Alaska’s just having a tough go, it’s not necessarily that Alaska’s sheep are going away. Winners tough. It’s not that Alaska’s never gonna be good again, but they, they, they come in cycles and we are on a down cycle. I mean there’s less, there’s, let’s call it between 800 and a thousand less doll sheep available to hunt and versus 20 years ago than there wasn’t Alaska right now. And that’s not, that’s not speculation. That’s a fact based on harvest. And so when you combine that with the fact that they’re really the places that are that, that you can, you know, go and have a great hunt, not that there isn’t some places in Alaska you can, I killed a tremendous ram in Alaska last year. Adam killed one the year before and, and, and we’ve had some tough winters. But you know, the Yukon and the NWT is basically has has right now Yeah. The focal point of where you can go hunt doll sheep. So that, that has driven the price up. I mean they have, you know, I don’t, I don’t know what you paid for your first sheep hunt.
00:42:46:17 –> 00:43:53:18
And I hate to be one of those old guys that talks about the good old days, but I, I paid 8,200 for, for shoes, 2009. Mine was 65 5,000. Yeah. Mid nineties. That was, you know, 2000, I dunno, seven. Yeah, very Oregon, we were talking, she now our, our our or between 30 and 40 to 50. That’s right. A doll sheep. Yeah, exactly. Those were stone sheet prices only five years ago. Brenon five to, so years ago that was a stone sheet price. It’s like mule, they’re in a down cycle too. And then the, the further down they are, the higher the price, the higher the demand. It’s just you. Yeah. People want what they can’t have have. Yeah. So you’re talking supply and demand is so far outta whack. And then when you combine that with covid Yep. With basically two years worth of sheep hunts that went missing. It’s just back. It’s, that’s, that’s where we end up. And I’m just saying, like I’ve been saying forever and I’m not, like not trying to say I’m, I’m, I’m a, i, I know what I’m talking about or anything like that. But if you have a dream to hunt sheep, you should book one now and figure out how to pay for it and do it a long time. I’ve literally been saying that for 10 years and doing it for 10 years.
00:43:53:24 –> 00:45:02:12
And I’ve got a sheep that I’m doing this fall that I paid 25,000 for it, now they’re 42. And I’m really glad I paid for that hunt six years ago and, and you know, put a deposit down and, and that, that’s, that’s the kind of, if you have a goal to go on one of these hunts, the one thing I could say is that if you think these prices are gonna come back, they’re not. No, they’re not. They may, they may slow slightly in terms of increase. They’ve been incredible, incredibly rapid. But nothing trucks don’t cost less than they than they do. That’s right. They never come back. Nothing. Nothing comes back. It just might Well there’s less opportunity as of right now. Yeah. And so they’re not gonna come back. There’s your occasional good deal. But even then, you know, like, I mean I’ve done, we did, I mean we probably talked on podcasts about cancellations and Yeah. Those kind of opportunities. I mean there were far more of those a long time ago. Well, there’s just rare, there are just too many don’t come mechanisms between email blasts and social media and just people being connected and past hunters. People are booked in 2027, take up a cancellation right now. They’re just, they cancellations don’t see the light of day. Oh, hardly ever. No. Nope. They don’t. That that stuff that that time has passed.
00:45:02:14 –> 00:46:13:19
So you gotta, I mean, if, if my goal was really to be, you know, let’s say I’m a young, young person who really has the goal of hunting sheep. Like I’d be, I’d be staring moving to Alaska pretty hard now. I mean, it, it, it made sense a while ago. It really makes sense now, not just for that opportunity, but others. And you know, if it’s a real priority, maybe, you know, that’s, that’s something you take a look at. But there, there’s, it’s, it’s just, I don’t think it’s gonna come back there. There is a lot more demand for it. And, and again, it’s one of those, it’s, it’s become a unique thing in the fact that it’s, it’s just something you can’t, it, it’s a bucket list item. It’s something you really can’t fake. There’s no, you know, it’s not like you can go kind of get that same experience with something else. I mean, heck, you goat hunts are twice as much as what I paid for my first dolhi hunt. I mean, that’s a goat hunts are north of 15. Oh, that’s right. Crazy. Oh yeah, 20. That’s right. Well, and the, the thing about this that we’re talking about is the sobering fact is that, you know, everything else in life costs more. Like we know inflation, everything else, but it’s, you know, whether it be, you know, wages or just disposable income, whatever, doesn’t feel like it’s kept up.
00:46:13:22 –> 00:47:20:23
So it feels like the dream of hunting sheep for most, we’ll just call ’em blue collared people. It’s outpacing the rate at which they can keep up and keep that dream realistic. A lot of money out there, you know, a lot of guys willing to spend money too. Yeah, there is to book the hunts. But I’m talking more to the, I’m calling the, oh yeah. Back when we booked our first hunts. Yeah. I mean, I, I mean, five G’s was a lot of money. I mean a lot of money. Or 10, yeah. Or 17 for my first stone. Well, I mean, it was like, I can’t believe I’m doing this now. I can’t be, I can’t, I’m so grateful I did ’em. Yeah. Just, just, you know, it’s, it’s, it’s, at the time it feels like just like every house you buy, I can’t be believe I’m, I’m doing this and somehow it usually works out and you move down the road in 5, 5, 10 years, that’s a whole nother discussion, I guess the housing market. But yeah, it just feels like, it feels like it’s, it’s all intertwined. These, you know, you see a lot more raffles or events or things like that. And that’s unfortunate, Brandon. It feels like for a lot of people, especially younger, we’ll call ’em, you know, if, if you used to be in your twenties or thirties and you saved, you could go on a doll sheet hunt.
00:47:20:28 –> 00:48:25:25
Now that feels like a lot more of a lofty goal for a lot of young people, maybe with young married or single people to, to do, to buy it off a 45 or $50,000 sheet. It’s a heavy lift. Yeah. There’s no doubt about it. There’s no, and, and like nobody has the answer for really cool stuff costs money to do, and that, that, that’s just where it’s headed. But you, you can mitigate that a little bit by, by booking it out a little. I mean, there, I mean, you can hardly find a sheep hunt at this point in time that isn’t booked out till 28. So if, if that’s in your near term goals like that, that I have, I have never looked back on a hunt that I booked a long time out. I still have, I have a stone sheep hunt that I shipped away at for a long time, and then covid hit. I mean, I’m like seven years past on this thing, and it’s all paid for and I mean, it’s the best deal in history. But, you know, it’s just one of those things when you doing that things where you, you never look back and go, I wish I wouldn’t have booked that ahead of time. And, and, and right now they’re hard to find. I mean Oh yeah. You can’t find one at full price. That’s right. No, that’s exactly right. When are you doing that 1 25? The stone?
00:48:25:26 –> 00:49:27:22
Yeah. I mean, you can only, it’s in the Yukon, so I need, I need to, I’m hunting the Yukon this fall. Oh, for your dog. That’s right. You gotta go next year and then Yeah, and then down the road and, and I’m just kind of waiting until it’s a good opportunity and that’s, that’s, you know, awesome. But the, the state of sheep is, yeah, I mean, it’s just stone sheep are extremely, extremely expensive. I don’t know that it’s even realistic and it, it, it wasn’t realistic when I got my first one, to be honest. No, it wasn’t. I won it as, you know, I want, I won it down at the expo there. Yeah. That’s how I got my first stone sheep. And I, I just tell everybody, you gotta be in every drawing you got. I mean, that’s the guys that are consistently in those drawings. Somebody gets lucky. You got that New Mexico thing this year. I’ve won Stone sheep hunt. Jason Whitman from Won the Desert Sheep Hunt at that thing last year. The guy at Montana. Wild Sheep here, Brian. So, and he won the stone sheep hunt at the, at the, at the Wild Sheep Bay. Yeah. Show, I mean, you just gotta be in everything and you’re hoping to get lucky once or twice, and That’s right. If, if a grand slams your goal, same deal.
00:49:27:25 –> 00:50:36:07
I would, I would get on the books as early as you can and you know, the, the state of stone sheep is pretty good right now. There’s a lot of great outfitters. I mean, I would say right now, the, the, there’s not really any bad outfitters or kind of state. Like it’s, there’s a lot of pretty serious guys that are, that are, that are doing a great job. Like I, there’s a lot of happy guys coming back from, from sheep hunts. Yeah. You know what? Great. There’s been some, a lot of ’em have traded hands. A lot of the old school guys, not that they weren’t great, but they just were, you know, had, whether they were burned out or had just kind of been doing the same thing. Like that kind of stuff’s all shooken out. There’s, there’s a lot of super excited, very good young, pretty ambitious outfitters, both doll, sheep, stone, sheep e everywhere. So it’s, it’s a really good time to go. Yeah. Really gonna work stunt, really gonna work these areas and have the energy to do it. Yeah, I agree. So, so Rocky’s Rockies too. Rockies are tough. Rockies are tough to come by. Really tough. You just gotta be, I, I just tell everybody the same thing. I’ve been lucky to draw you like never pick points. You gotta be in every single, if you really want to kill Iraq, you have to.
00:50:36:09 –> 00:51:52:10
We every single state, every single draw you gotta be in it. It’s kind of outta outta your control. But you’re looking at, you’re looking to get lucky one time. I mean, nobody’s killing 10 Rockies. No, I mean, you’re lucky. You’re trying to get lucky one time and, and that’s, there’s just not a lot to add about Rockies. There’s, there’s very few opportunities. You just need to be in every draw and, and, and hope that you’re gonna get lucky and play playing the long game. That’s, that’s all you can do about it. Yeah. Deserts are kind of the bright spot. You know, like deserts haven’t increased in, in price as much as anything else. I mean, desert’s a ton of opportunities. Yeah. They used to be the bottleneck 20 years ago. Yeah. Yep. They’re, they’re cheaper than Stone sheep now. And, and there’s a lot of opportunities. I I would just, you know, I mean, again, it just, it just boils down to priorities. It, it’s, it’s, it doesn’t seem like if, if sheep’s gonna be your thing, you, you’re gonna have to really put a plan together and it’s gonna have to be an opportunity. It probably involves, you know, increasing your income. Yeah. As much as, I hate to say that, but we all know that’s the case. I mean, there’s some of this stuff you’re just not gonna be able to do unless you’re, you’re able.
00:51:52:12 –> 00:52:58:25
But, you know, there’s a lot of opportunities to make more money out there too. So you, you can, you know, if you, if you put your mind to it, everybody I know that it’s seriously put their mind to it’s been able to do it. Mm yep. Harder, more creative, but Yep. There’s ways and you’re are gonna have to get lucky. There’s, there’s flat out about that. There’s gonna be some luck involved on drawing win and stuff like that. But what, what besides your Yukon doll sheet, what do you got on tap for this year? I mean, you’ll be doing your normal stuff in Montana. I’m not counting that you’ll be hunting a giant bull in a general, or I guess limited coil to draw if you get drawn there in the white tail. What else you got on, on tap? Yeah, I’m, I’m taking my, I’m taking my son. We’re going to hunt bound caribou in, in Northwest Territories. Nice. Had that kind of, for a long time. And he’s, he is the age where he’s, we’re just, I’m having just a lot of fun with my son right now. He’s just, was he 10 or 11? I can’t remember how old. He’s 11. Yeah, he’s 11 and he’s, he’s getting after it and he loves it. And yes, we’re gonna go and, and do a backpack on for mountain caribou, which is you going early August. When are you going? July? Yeah, late July.
00:52:58:25 –> 00:54:05:04
Yeah, late July. Yeah. Before school kicks off and all that. Yep, yep, yep. He’s, he is in all the sports and everything else, so it’s kind of a juggling act and summertime’s a great time to go. And then yeah, we’ve got a, a Yukon doll sheep hunt. And then, you know, I, I’m Montana’s been really good and I’m, I’m just the, I I’m, I’m gonna stay here. I mean, I love the type of bulls that I’m, I’m not seeing tons of them, but when I do run into, they’re big and I’ve just, Montana’s always been great to me. And I find myself, if I have more than one elk tag or somewhere else, I wanna be, I want to be home hunting elk here. And so that’s, that’s kind of what I’m doing. And yeah, the same old stuff. And yeah, I’ve been helping a lot of people. I mean, I, you know, if somebody draws a sheep tag, I love going, I guess I’m kind of a little bit more now to where, you know, I’m, I’m, I, I I like ac company and people and, and helping out if I can and, and you know, been shooting a lot more, been shooting a lot more ducks, which is pretty fun. Make that fun. Well, they make ’em every day. Well, that’s fun when you got kids coming up too. I mean that’s, everything’s exciting to them. Every anything issue that’s so fun.
00:54:05:04 –> 00:55:10:17
I mean it’s, I’m having a blast of my kids. It kind of reli helps you relive your own childhood when a bird was a freaking big deal. I’ve just got a lot of kids and it’s hard to keep up with ’em, you know, they all love to be out. Well, they’re all adult, they can all drive now. So they all, they don’t jackrabbits and birds don’t do it for them anymore either right now where they’re at. So yeah, I’m, I’m going on a no, I’m going on another brown bear hunt this spring with a buddy. I’m gonna go help him out on Awesome. Same deal up on the peninsula, which is gonna be pretty fun. And I love doing that every year. Like I would and, and I, I, I’ve actually said several times with people like the, the, in the big scheme of things on like adventure hunts and tremendous trophies and all that stuff, like brown bears are still our best value I think in North America. That’s my opinion. But a a giant brown bear that you, you can’t replicate that rush and that as a trophy. Those things are, I mean, they’re just unbelievable when you get one on the ground. And you know, I always tell people like, man, if if sheep’s not your absolute passion, but you want to do something that’ll make the hair stand up on the back of your neck and, and be a real adventure.
00:55:10:19 –> 00:56:09:03
Like I, I’d take a serious look at that. Pretty awesome. Well, Brendan, we sure appreciate the time today. Is there anything you wanna leave us with there with q you and all that you got going or anything like that? Sure is, you know, it’s nice for us to be affiliated with a company that’s passionate about hunting and proud of, of being in the hunting industry and whatnot. There’s a lot, of course, there’s a lot of people out there that don’t seem to like hunting per se and whatnot, but it’s, it’s nice to be affiliated with companies that are, are proud to be in this hunting space. Yeah. We, we are, I mean that’s, that’s, that’s what we do. I mean, it’s kuku ultralight hunting, it’s in our name and, and yeah, we don’t never shy away from that. No. I just say keep an eye out. I I, we got some, some info coming out about on this project with the state of Nevada. You know, the, the conservation direct stuff that we’re doing is, nobody else is doing that. I mean, we are putting our money where our, where our mouth is.
00:56:09:03 –> 00:57:07:11
We are doing some real conservation that’s gonna make a difference for, you know, we talk about these opportunities hunting sheep, you know, somebody down the road’s gonna draw a sheep tag where, where, where we have, you know, teamed up and put sheep, like there’s new huntable populations and that’s been the, the focus of, of, you know, the, both the money and the energy that we’re putting towards our conservation direct initiative. So we’re super proud of that. And yeah, just keep an eye out. We we’re gonna have a customer participation opportunity coming up here where if you wanna purchase a collar or purchase a part of a collar to be a part of, of that, and that’s, it’s a cool thing. And the fact that you buy part of that collar, your name goes on that collar and I’m gonna send you a picture with, with the sheep that it goes on and, and it’ll be on a sheep in less than a week, which is a pretty cool thing. Like it’s a direct, you’ll have a direct impact and, and in a real conservation project. So that’s, that’s kinda what’s coming up and yeah. Always you appreciate you guys. And where do you, where do you want people to, to look for that on your website? On your social media or both?
00:57:07:11 –> 00:58:06:21
Yeah, it’ll be, we’ll, we’ll be sending, we’ll be yeah, on i, on the social stuff and then we’ll be sending out an email on, on, on that as well. Awesome. And you’ll see it, it’ll be on NBU as well. Nevada Bighorns Unlimited, they’ve been great to, to work with. Yeah. That’s, that’s who will handle the money and Perfect. Yeah. How about, but yeah, we appreciate the, appreciate the partnership always with you guys and love, love chatting and appre appreciate all you guys are doing and, and man, it’s, it’s, it’s awesome to, to be affiliated with you guys and, and see the success you’re having and couldn’t barely get in your booth. I did sneak in there and steal a monster, but man, it was, it was not easy. I had to push a few people out of the way. Well, you don’t have to steal ’em. They give ’em away. That’s right. Well that’s what, yeah. All right. No, we appreciate you Brendan. Well, appreciate it Brendan. Yep. Keep it always good to catch up. So I need to still need to talk to you about a big elk somewhere. So I’ll be calling you up there in your neck of the woods. He is not gonna give you a big bolt. You’re not just gonna give you one, not gonna be in his neck of the woods. Oh, not calling you all. He can only be in one place. Okay. Yeah. Alright. Okay.
00:58:06:21 –> 00:59:18:24
Alright guys, we’ll see you later. Okay. Alright. B Brendan. Thanks man. All right. Anyway, it’s been, it’s awesome. Yeah, he’s a good dude. Anyway. Great, great company. Great. What they do, love what they stand for, love what they’re engaged in, like this conservation direct stuff. It’s really awesome. We’ve been like, think you mentioned, been recipients of that in Utah, bunch of other states as well. So we appreciate them. And q you they, they were the first for us here to pick outdoors, to step up. They were the first year one. It’s Yep. Wanna be a part of it. One advertise with you guys, super good guys. And Brendan and Jason stepped right up very first. We, we will never forget, forget. We’ll never forget it. Ever Forget it. So anyway, on the heels of that, we are giving away a stone sheep pump Brun. And we’re gonna be doing that probably Monday. The, you know, the deadline is this Thursday, so 29th of, we’re talking of February. Today’s the 27th. That’s right. If you’re listening to this podcast, you better and you haven’t bought tickets, you better jump on epic outdoors.com and do it or give us a call. 4 3 5 2 6 3 0 7 7 7. Like Jason said, $85,000 stone sheet hunt fully paid for with a top outfitter in British Columbia. All the details are there on our website. We’ve got other hunts too. Jason, you wanna run through all real quick?
00:59:18:24 –> 01:00:36:13
No, there’s, there’s a time we discuss, this is the last one for this, this drive. You know, Bronson like, so Adam and I and John look at these hunts and we pick hunts that we would personally want. And so it’s nothing but world class stuff. We’ve got a Nevada Utah elk hunt. It’s actually a landowner tag that’s on both sides of the line up there in kind of the northern part of Utah, northern part of Nevada 2025 with pilot peak ranches. Incredible opportunity. Ryan Benson smashed a, I think it was 4 19, 4 17. 4 17, 4 in the four teens. Absolute giant there on our website. Is the photo kind of an incredible opportunity up there. Just, just one of those, one of those hunts that you, you would want. This includes the landowner tag, it includes the guide service, everything like that. And so there’s nothing really more that you’re gonna need. You need to be able to get there. Your tip money, things like that. And so just, just awesome. We also have a a, a regular Nevada elk hunt in oh seven six to oh eight one with the landowner tag. That’s good for this year. 20, 24 6 days with Deadline Outfitters. We’ve had a guy smash a 370 on that particular hunt and good that way multiple times and everybody kills a great bull on that. It’s choose your season archery muzzle or rifle hunt 2024 with deadline like Jason mentioned.
01:00:36:18 –> 01:01:58:01
So then we’ve got Nevada Mule Deer, Nevada Mule Deer Hunt. We love doing this one. It’s ’cause we’re, we’re somewhat partial in Nevada. We’re really close to their, they have giant bucks on good years like this year with all the rain and weather. Unit 2 31 includes the landowner tag. This tag alone is worth the price of admission, let alone guide service from Greg Kro and his crew muggy on REM Outfitters. Incredible partnership we have with Greg. I think the world of him, he’s, he is just done a great job over there in Nevada for freaking decades. Unbelievable seven days with the Lanor tag. Choose your season and then you can keep hunting. The tag is good for all the seasons. You just keep cranking once your hunt expires if you haven’t harvested a deer with them and and keep on going. And you can literally hunt from August 10th to October 31st without a day off. You don’t want it. Yep. Don’t need a break. Pretty unbelievable. Next one we have also, this is another kind of perennial one that we’ve landed and continually book. This is early September, September one to five early season Velvet Hunt on A-C-W-M-U Cooperative Wildlife Management Unit in northern Utah with Bucks and Bulls. Outfitters a great opportunity to hunt 180, 1 90, even a 200 inch type deer guys have killed those exact type of deer every time on this hunt.
01:01:58:12 –> 01:03:06:18
High success get be the first first crack at everything with a rifle. I don’t know if there’s a rival hunt really that starts before September one. No, I don’t know can really think of. No, no. So it’s a unique opportunity. Big bucks again. So pretty awesome. Then we’ve got a co deer hunt. This would be winter 24, 25 in Sonora for two hunters. We just figure guys like to go in pairs when you’re going to Mexico or whatever. Just, we’ve done this a lot of fun. We’ve done this alone before but we thought why don’t throw a pair of them. So you know, take husband, wife or unit buddy or whoever wins this, but it’s from December 24th through January 25. Very flexible dates. You’re gonna obviously find out this the first week in March and have plenty of time to call the out outfitter book your dates. So you’re gonna have plenty of availability to work that in. So we didn’t lock that into a one week period. Nope. You’ve got the opportunity to call him book that date with the outfitter once you win the hunt. We had a guy smash an absolute giant. Oh yeah, well above B and C. Oh yeah. The actual winner. Exactly. So not just, not just a random guy. This was an actual hunt winner we gave that hunt away to. So anyway, and then we’ve got Idaho Wolf for two hunters 20 24, 20 25 winner with Heart X outfitter.
01:03:06:18 –> 01:04:11:27
Super good dudes up there. They’ve actually boasted nearly all of the clients that go on Wolf Hunt. And I say nearly because I haven’t checked on this past winter, have an opportunity to kill shot opportunities. Yeah, yeah, that’s right. Which this is no joke, you know, but a lot of people, when you have the first opportunity, I mean it’s, it’s kinda like us. We’ve done that before and when you get one of those in the scope, you’re half hesitating, can I really pull the trigger? It’s a trophy of your life. Yeah. Really it is. It it buck fever sets in immensely. I’m just gonna leave it at that. So great opportunity again for two hunters again this fall, November, 2024 through February. Again you win this hunt. Be able to set this up with Heart X. Pick the dates you want. Buck fever. So, so on mine it was the first year, my first wolf was the first year that it was open. I got buck fever when I killed it and I got buck fever checking it in the game of throne. Yes. Because you’re just scared. I thought, well, just cuffed me, take me to jail. I probably misread something. I probably don’t have a habitat stamp. I don’t know. And they patted you on the back and they fine. They’re like, huh. Yeah. Good job, I guess. Yeah, people can kill these things. Yeah. This ain’t a domestic dog.
01:04:11:27 –> 01:05:27:12
Yeah, you got a wolf here. Anyway, next, next year we did it again. So anyway, it is buck fever set in twice anyway. And then we’ve got a gear package. This is an epic gear package worth 15,500 pounds and we just keep adding more to it. But anyway, it’s got a fierce rifle, Hoyt bow and 14 other items it feels like. Yeah, lots of optics from like a zes, vortex ro, all those companies as well. And then we’ve got bonus, a bonus ticket in there for a $10,000 hunt credit to any outfitter you wanna book with. We’ll write the check. So all that’s on our website. You can read more in detail about them if you, you know, if you want, we’ve got, you know, a hundred dollars packaging buy tickets for as little as $25 you can join or refer somebody and get a ticket in that way. Or buy a ticket for as little as $25. Or you got a hundred dollars package, $200, $500 type package, whatever. And it’s all [email protected]. Or if you’re down to the wire, you might end up just calling us at the office. We’re prepared, you know, all the way through Thursday evening to be able to call after a certain time. It’s probably gonna be online only late that night. It’ll be shut off. What, John? 1159 on the 29th, if I’m not mistaken. Right. 11, 11 59. Yep. Okay. Anything else? Pretty awesome.
01:05:27:18 –> 01:06:25:29
How about, how about this new knife we got and how about the new headlamp? Yeah, those are, those are come with the $200 package. You got your pick. Which one of those, the headlamps not, it’s no joke. No, it’s not a joke. It’s a great headlamps too. I love it. And I love the red option. You know, we had to go through and anyway, when we were choosing them, request some that, of course you want a longevity bright and then the red option. So I don’t know if red helps. I I I have no idea. But I like it when I’m hiking a, a mountain in the morning. I love it. And you’re not like announcing I’m up here. Yeah. To the rest of the hunters, let alone the deer. Exactly. Right. Or elk or whatever it is. Well, mainly, I’m mainly worried about other hunters and it feels like it saves battery, but yeah, you can’t see it yourself, so I don’t, and around your camp I use that a lot. ’cause sometimes that bright just at 18 inches, you’re sick of looking at that right up front. But anyway, any, anything else we need to talk about? No, that’s it. We’ll wrap this up. I guess we’re done, dude. I guess so. We’re over it. Done epic outdoors.com. Get your name in the hat. You have to have your name in the hat if you ever wanna win anything. That’s the way it is.
01:06:26:01 –> 01:07:25:05
I wish I could throw my name in for this one because I I’ve seen other bins. I’ve been other places. There’s nothing like this. No, not at all. And so we’re gonna have winners. The next podcast we do is probably gonna be calling the winners. I would imagine. Right? I would be dare say. I don’t know. Maybe. Yeah, maybe we could, we get excited to do a podcast on, maybe we’ll do Thursday or we could, I don’t wanna be on record saying that we might have a wild hair between now and then, but the first or second podcast we do is gonna be calling these people. That’s always fun to do. So hopefully it’s one of you. Well, and you hear Brandon just preaching about getting in every draw you can Well I remember. I mean, he’s living proof that people went. Yeah. And this one we’ve got price points and you’ve won for every budget. Yeah. For 25 bucks. You can get into this. Yeah. Yeah. And then if you know, if you want, if you want want more, you can, if you wanna play it a little bit more, you sure can. Yeah. But if, if you don’t, that’s fine too. So just get in, get in no matter what. All right. Round out. Call it a day. We’re done.
01:07:27:27 –> 01:08:52:27
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