In this episode some of the Epic Crew returns from a long month of hunting elk across the West. John Petersen and Cache Lynn hunted the first two archery elk seasons in New Mexico with great success. Justin Carter, Jason’s son, hunted a Utah archery elk hunt and after 3 weeks of hunting hard, was able to make it happen on an incredible bull.
Disclaimer: this text was produced through an automated transcription service and likely contains errors. Please listen to the original audio for exact content.
00:00:00:00 –> 00:01:24:27
You’re listening to the Epic Outdoors Podcast, brought to you by the Western Hunting and Conservation Expo in Utah. Life Elevated. This is an event we don’t miss. So come and see the whole Epic Outdoors crew. February 13th through 16th 2025 in Salt Lake City, Utah. For more details, go to hunt expo.com. Hey everybody, Jason Carter. John Peterson. That’s kind of a little bit different. Normally it’s Jason Carter, Adam Bronson, of course, he’s on the road. He is been on the road since three 30 this morning, heading to the next hunt right now. This time of year it’s back to back. And we don’t have any time to stop. I don’t know, I think I’ve been working more than you guys have though. Cash. Hey, I was the lone wolf for like two and a half weeks. Okay. Before I left. Okay. But I didn’t care about them. Two and a half weeks. Really caring about this last week and a half or whatever it’s been. So anyway, it’s my turn. It’s just that time of year. Logan, nice to see you don’t know where the crap you’ve been. It’s good to be back in civilization. Somebody had the wild idea that Logan needed to learn how to video hunts and so off. He’s been screwing around. That’s right. On the company dime. Yep. Not an ounce of work. How’s it been? Good. Did you pick any pine nuts down there in New Mexico? I didn’t pick any pine nuts. Oh man.
00:01:24:27 –> 00:02:34:10
But it’s been good. Are they loaded? They’re loaded. They are. Dude, there was people picking everywhere down in New Mexico. Ar Arizona, New Mexico, everywhere. Saw your feed the family. One lady told me, one lady told me they’re going for 40 bucks a pound. Yeah, $40 a pound. I said I’m buying ’em for 20 in Utah and flipping ’em in New Mexico. Yeah, but you know what, Utah pine nuts tastes like crap compared to New Mexico especially. Especially out boss Beaver County pine nuts. They’re worth 15. Just say 15 cents cents. I think Josh would back me up on that. He’s not here, but I think he would back me up on that. Oh yeah. So anyway, been a lot going on. We’ve been grinding hard this time of year. We try to put out a podcast a week, but I don’t know. Sometimes you just, it just doesn’t happen. So anyway. Got a special guest. Justin, my son. How are you Justin? I’m doing good. Doing good? Yeah. First time we’ve let him put on a headset. We’ll probably take it off here shortly, so don’t get too comfortable. First time in the podcast room. Kind of gotta earn your way in here, right? Cash. Yeah. And I don’t know how Logan got in here. I’m still trying to figure that out, but whatever. He’s sneaky, sneaky little guy. Got juice man or juice box or whatever we call him. I crushed him.
00:02:34:10 –> 00:03:39:25
Capri Suns down in New Mexico, like three boxes. Oh yeah, he got a, he had a hard time down there too. Did Oh, did he? Oh yeah. I made sure they knew. Any, any little senior eats down there. No. Tinder in New Mexico is not, is not as good. Hey, that’s your interpretation. There’s probably people that like it. I had no luck. Cash said he wouldn’t let me bring any dates back, so No, no, no, no. Not the ones you were showing me. Yes, you’re married. You’re not supposed to look. Well, he said, what do you think this? I said Uhuh. No. And so what did you, what do you do? Do you tell ’em to swipe left or right? Oh dude, I was like X that one, X that What X means is that swipe left. Yeah. So if you swipe left, they go away forever. Yep. Yep. And right is right. Can you ever go look in, you’re deleted and bring, bring it it back. Bring it back? I don’t think so, but I’ve never tried that. Have to get a new profile. Do you have a couple of profiles? I mean, there’s like a few apps. Like this is the fun Logan. This is the workaholic. Logan Catfish, Logan, you the catfish king. The catfish king. I like it. Yeah. And here’s the ski bum. Logan. Here’s the retired Logan. Yeah, this is great.
00:03:39:25 –> 00:04:52:29
I I should be doing this Silicon Valley, Logan, you know, all these Hunter Logan. I just, some, some women like hunter’s gatherers. Yeah, you a hunter. You’ll be whatever they want you to be. I would say all the only pictures I have of myself are out hunting. So I think I’m always hunting. Logan, you’re a hunting gatherer, so if you get more desperate, you can’t go back and say, okay, I changed my mind like, man, that four is looking like a six. Now that goes on. I don’t think so. I I’ve never been that deep into a dating app, but, okay. Okay. I mean, he’s such a liar. Yeah. Oh, he’s lying every night. How many? I just see his finger. Many. Oh, oh God. Moving. And it was always swiping, right? I mean, on the scale of one to 10, anything above a two passes down there, it’s what it was looking like. I’m guessing. I don’t know what scale he was using, but all it’s got ointment and bandaids because he is got sores on his fingers from swiping callous. I’m calloused at this point. You are callous swipers multiple times. I just want to know, can you ever wear out one of these touch screens, Logan? I I have not. And what, what would you have done if there wasn’t touchscreens? You’re not swiping left. You’d have to actually go out and meet people. He, no way. He’d have to talk to them.
00:04:53:06 –> 00:05:58:12
He’d actually have to talk to ’em. Alright, so as we get started here, it’s gonna be interesting. Today it’s pretty, been pretty fun. And there’s people out there asking to get caught up. Like, Hey, catch us up on what’s going on. So we’re gonna do a little of that. I do want to throw a little shout out to the Hunt expo. We got the Western Hunting Expo and Conservation convention coming up. We’ve already reserved our motel rooms up there, John. Right? Or at least our people house. Yeah, our, our motel rooms. I love to say our people, you know what that means? My wife? Yeah. Okay. Me and Jen. But I love to say, yeah, we have our people on that. We have our people on that. And she’s like, really? I’m just a people to you. But anyway, hunt expo.com. You can go check it out. Of course, we have a full page ad in our magazine. The newest, latest, greatest October November issue just came out by the way, covering Arizona, bison, Texas Desert Sheep Alert, the Arizona and Idaho over the counter alert. Just letting everybody know that’s coming up. And then of course, a bunch of stories and all kinds of good stuff in there. And quite frankly, I don’t even know how this magazine produces itself when we’re out in the field. John, how does this happen? I’m here part of the time it gets done.
00:05:58:20 –> 00:07:07:15
Okay, well, I don’t know about that, but maybe. Anyway, hunt expo.com, you can go on there. We’re looking forward to seeing you there. It’s absolutely the best hunting show in the west. A hundred percent the best. And, and we support the sheep as well. And that’s a real finite group of people that are just addicted to sheep and they’re good people and they’re hard hunting and suckers. And so we, you know, will attend that show as well. But anyway, the hunt exposed kind of for everybody, sheep, deer, elk, everything that’s going on here in the west. February 13th to the 16th, 2025. You need to reserve your rooms. Now you get kind of a little bit of a deal if you drop the hunt that you’re with the expo and you also get a motel that’s within walking distance, usually within five minutes. So yeah, if you go to that hunt expo.com, there’s a link on there to hotels and, and whatnot. But that’s, if you’ve never been there, it’s hard to explain how, you know, hotels or the hardest thing to find if you wait until the end. So. That’s right. That’s right. And so anyway, pretty, pretty fun convention. Of course, the best of the best generally shows up as far as the trophies that were taken. And so the meat hunters, you’re probably not interested in the hunt expo.
00:07:07:19 –> 00:08:25:10
It just probably isn’t gonna interest you at all if you’re, if you’re only after meat and you don’t really care about quality, which I don’t know a single guy out there. Everybody’s, I’m a meat hunter. Everybody likes something big. Okay, I’m a meat hunter. The last day, okay, maybe the last three days, John, let’s just two and a half cash. He was hunting for meat way early in his hunt. Of course. Didn’t connect till the end. But hey, I can’t wait for this story. I just, oh, I cash, I can’t wait. John, I can’t wait for your story too. So Justin, I can’t wait for your story. And me, I, I can’t even think of a story. My, my story deals with Justin. Our, our, our hunt was, Justin’s hunt was our plan for the entire month of September. And so anyway, long, good, long season and wanted to make it count. And it was kind of a, a pre-planned deal, or I would’ve been in Alaska with the boys up there in hunting moose, which turns out I didn’t make a bad decision. You got lucky. ’cause about day 30 I’d have been phoning a friend, but no. Anyway. Can’t wait to get their story. Of course they don’t, they just conveniently left today going on their hunts and, and getting ready to do some of the things they’re doing. And they were just fine not talking about it. Yeah.
00:08:25:10 –> 00:09:35:23
They do not wanna do a podcast. So they’re doing, we’re we’re gonna drag it out a little. But, but oh, they’re, they’re doing a podcast. They don’t have choices. Sometimes we don’t have choices. Yeah. The nice thing is like, you look on Instagram and it’s like everybody’s smashing giants. Everybody’s successful all the time. Well, sometimes it’s a grind and sometimes it’s not a smash and grab. I don’t know. Well, Justin, what? So Logan, help us identify Justin. What? Gen oration, gin. What is he, when were you born? I was born in 2005. Oh, he’s a Gen Z. Gen Z He is. Oh man. Gen Z’s like 2000 to like 2009 or something like that. Oh really? Yeah. I, I can’t remember exactly, but it’s that big of a window. I don’t know. Something so to, so to the Gen Z, if it’s not on the gram, it never happened. Right? It’s true. It’s probably, and and if you’re not on the gram, you never happen. You’re not relevant. It’s relevant. Right. You’re irrelevant. We could say you’re totally irrelevant. And, and to the Gen Z, everybody’s successful but me. Yeah. Yeah. Instagram is a terrible place to be when you’re on the last couple days a year home. Oh yeah. And it’s just a grind. And you’re like, I’m the only one that’s having 95 degree weather. Yeah. And no bugling. Yeah. Seriously.
00:09:36:05 –> 00:10:54:06
I think people go out there and do this, you know, what you call stock footage, John is there like places I can go find bugling bulls on the web and steal that sound over that voiceover and I could be like that. I’m in the bulls everywhere. It’s just an amazing hunt. Right? Yeah. I don’t know. People do it, John. They gotta, oh, I’m sure I mean’s apps to, they take different years and they repost it during a hundred percent. Yeah. I’m amazing Hunter. Everybody’s struggling. I don’t know how this is happening, you know? Anyway, just saying don’t let the highlight reel on Instagram get you down. Don’t go do something drastic that you can’t repair. Whatever that is. Okay. ’cause you’re not the only one having struggles. And although there was a couple successful guys here at the table actually, and, but, but by the skin of their teeth, both y’all across the table from me, both the all offered across the table from you. I can’t wait for this. I love these stories. We’ve actually had quite a few requests for these stories on the ground Of course. ’cause everybody’s on the ground and anyway, so that’s what we’re here for. Before we get started, do we have any other updates? I know the guys are leaving. We’ve got, I can’t say exactly where because then they will fire me or fire me from our friendship, mute me or whatever.
00:10:54:27 –> 00:12:06:01
But anyway, they’re out and about multiple different states coming up and, and so anyway, we’ve got a lot on our plate as well. White tail, mule, deer, elk even. And just a lot of fun stuff coming up. So super busy. If you wanna buy optics or anything like that from us or need any help, still call in. We have people here. Okay. A couple. And they should be able to help you one way or another. Of course we’re checking our emails and, and checking in with the gals and, and the guys that are here as well in and around their hunts. So we try to position it to where there is some staff here to work with. And so anything that you need, you’re, you know, feel free to call in. I’ve been answering the phone today, darn it. And very frustrating at times. Where’s my people? But anyway, it’s, it’s just awesome. And so anyway, we wouldn’t be what we’d be and have the knowledge without actually being in the field and experiencing it and doing it somewhat regular basis, if not three to four months a year. Alright. So where, where are we gonna start with this, John? Yeah, we could, we could start John, you’re hunting. So for the people at the table, we’re gonna have only those stories.
00:12:06:07 –> 00:13:17:15
’cause we don’t wanna ruin the fun stories that we have coming up with the others and we’ve got some coming up, so that’s awesome. Some pretty good stuff, right? Awesome. Yeah. Yeah. And so Josh was just successful. It’s pretty fun. Yeah. And, and of course there was some hunts that occurred that weren’t as successful as far as harvesting animals, but were very successful in fostering relationships. ’cause I think those boys spent 20, 30 days in a 10 together. They did, yeah. Yeah. And there were things, there were, that happened. There were some adventures. So, so pretty, pretty fun. Good, good times. They were hard on some gear and Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hard on each other. Hard on each other. Yeah. So anyway, probably some good conversations, you know, when you wanna go upstream and the other guy wants to go downstream and you kind of need each other to be successful. It’s just, I’m sure there was, I just wish I would’ve been a little fly on the 10, or at least on the outside of the tent. ’cause inside is probably stinky, but, or there’s one Oreo left. Yeah. I don’t know. You hear anything on the, I dunno. Just, we know that happens. I wonder if when the Oreos got ate because there was a lack of success. Yeah. Yeah. So when do you eat the Oreo? That’s what I thought about that. That’s a good point.
00:13:18:12 –> 00:14:40:27
I mean, if it’s a, if it’s a success Oreo, I, it’s all I can do. Not to dial ’em up. I, I just want to, I got, well, I’m gonna reframe. We’ll save it for the next gonna reframe. Alright, so John, you, how did you end up with your tag? What’d you do? Yeah, so I, four years ago, drew in the outfit or draw in New Mexico, unit 15 archery. And it was, it was like my third choice. And so it wasn’t the good archery season. It was quote unquote, you know, the, the not as good archery season, the early season. And I’ve put in with an outfitter and without an outfitter. And so I try, I’ve tried several years without an outfitter and decided to go again, you know, in the outfitter draw this year. And I, and I drew again on my third choice. Why it, okay, so Wyatt’s calling me. Are you? Are you? Oh, yes. Oh, oh, we got answer. Hey. Hey. Are you at the office? Yeah, we’re in the podcast room. Oh, you’re podcasting. So Wyatt, just, what are you doing? Oh, just driving. Am I alive? I told the whole world that I couldn’t say where you were going. I don’t even know where I’m going. Okay. That’s a lie, John. Do you believe that? That’s not true. But it goes back to my philosophy, Wyatt, before pre hunt or during your hunt, you’re okay to lie. A hundred percent.
00:14:41:19 –> 00:15:49:07
A hundred percent. Somebody asked you where you’re going, where you’ve been, where are you hunting tomorrow? Where do you, you’re okay to lie across the street. Yeah. It, it’s not even lying. If you don’t say anything, you’re not liable just lying about it. You’re not liable when you go to heaven. You are not liable. I mean, if somebody’s dumb enough to ask a, a really personal question that they shouldn’t be asking and they deserve to be lied to. So. Absolutely. So I’m going to Wisconsin. So are you on the road yet, Wyatt? I I am on the road. Yeah. I like it. I’m on the road. I like it. Now are we going to another one of the adventures you just had? Or are we going to a good adventure? This is, this is more of a prec scouting trip kind kind of deal. Jan loves the prec scout. She knows exactly what, what we’re talking about. That’s, that’s why I said it right there was just make sure I got it. The pres scout. The pres scout. I like it. This is more just to, to see a unit I’ve never been on before and just know what to expect for my next trip out kind of deal. Okay. I like it. Well, we’re kind of gotta do that once in a while, and especially with a good long season or whatever. And you’re just kind of antsy, you’re ready to see some game, right?
00:15:49:18 –> 00:17:17:16
Yeah, yeah. Ready to see some game. Tell us about the lack of game and some of these other experiences. So I don’t wanna ruin it, but you’re the first guy, so you can, you could actually say whatever you want and nobody knows any of the story yet. No, I I mean the game was definitely there. It just didn’t play by the rules. Yes. Mm, yes. It’s kind of, kind of how I, I would word it more or less. I mean, I, we were in a very game rich environment Yeah. But we did not, we’re not successful in harvesting. Yes. So the family’s going hungry. Carly’s Yeah. Frustrated with her. Frustrated her hunter gatherer guy is slacking. Yeah. We, we need some meat. Was there anything on you, anything interesting that you’ve learned about your friends? Namely Devin and Josh? We spent a lot of time together. Nothing, nothing too shocking. I mean, but you guys are, Devin and I had already lived together for a long time through college, everything like that, being roommates. Yeah. I feel like, I feel like I knew a lot about him. Pollock. That was our first time spending that much time together, but really didn’t get much outta him either. Kind of verdict still out on whether you could really do college with, with Pollock. Yeah. I don’t know. Well, you know how No, we, we had a good time and I mean that’s, that’s the best part about it.
00:17:17:16 –> 00:18:34:07
We just all had all had a good time. Good, good time. Yep. Wanna be successful, but that’s kind of the way it is. But we’ll let you guys all, we’re gonna talk about it, Wyatt. We gotta talk about it on the podcast and it’ll be a good time with every, when everybody’s here. But anyway, maybe text me what you were wanting to me to look up. Okay. Yep. I can do that. We did have one question, Wyatt, if you take Oh, okay. Celebratory Oreos. Oh yeah. When do you eat ’em if you’re unsuccessful? Well, no, they probably were successful at something. We, we did have celebratory Oreos there with us and we each gotta pick a, a celebratory prize for, we killed our bulls. Devin picked Oreos. So we, we did have that there. We talked about it with like three days left when we were gonna start eating ’em. Three out of how many you just a half? I mean, we’re talking like, wasn’t it basically from start to finish? You’re talking 20, 21 days or something? I mean, yeah. I I think it ended up 21 or 22 days at a 10. Oof. In a 10. So right there at the tail end. And we never did it. We ended up donating them to the lodge. Wow. You did? Yeah. Yeah. So we ended up donating there to the lodge. Then once the lodge people started eating them, then we decided it was okay.
00:18:34:07 –> 00:19:49:23
So we had a few. Oh geez. But we, we didn’t, we didn’t crack the seal, man. Oh my gosh. That’s brutal. Well, Devin probably didn’t dare after he got ripped a little, he was like, I am not eating an Oreo mcar. He, he didn’t, no, nobody snuck in there. So That’s awesome. We, we actually came home with quite a bit of food still too, which was shocking for as much time as we spent out there. So. Well you guys took what, one of them blue bins with the yellow lid jammed? Yeah. Of the peak refuels. Yeah. So they’re actually really good mules meals. Did it turn out okay? Yeah, yeah. No, it all went slick and good. So few, their new flavors were awesome. Oh, that’s awesome. All right. All right. Kay. Sounds good. Talk soon. Alright. Sounds good. All yep. Bye. Anyway, kind of fun. Alright, so moving forward. Where are we at? So I was gonna tell about, I just got a message from Logan on my phone or he’s handed me a message. Logan, this is what Gen Zs do. Oh yeah. They don’t even talk verbally. He says text Text each other five feet. Yeah. They don’t interrupt where wt while talking. I really, I really misunderstood the note. It says, can you just cool it off a little? Oh, in the room? Yeah, like temperature wise. ’cause I have an app on my phone. I can turn on the AC John.
00:19:50:00 –> 00:21:00:29
I was like, you settle down a little bit. Yeah. What did I say? I just find it interesting that I’ve got the old manual dial thermostats and John has apps with little green things on the, it’s color screens and LEDs. And gotta make sure the old man knows how working you don’t get nice stuff on the north side. I don’t even want it actually. Gimme that dial. Hey, I turn it down. I know how to turn it down. Turn this dial right here. Oh geez. I’d like to see what Justin would do with the rotary dial phone. Oh, that would be fun. Justin, have you ever seen a rotary dial phone? Oh dude, I’ve used one. You have not? Yeah, I remember elementary school had to call home one time. I remember. Takes five minutes to dial. Only took 30 minutes. Oh yeah. Had the de lady help me, but I know how to use one now. ’cause you’ll need it someday. Alright, so John, you’re going, you’re going, you’re, you’re applying. So I’m applying in New Mexico and I decided to, in order to increase my chances of drawing, to put in the outfit or draw again this year. And so I put in with David Matthews Outfitters. And as a side note, that’s one of the things like a benefit of being an Epic outdoors member is we’ve got relationships with a whole bunch of different outfitters.
00:21:01:10 –> 00:22:22:17
And so if you want to increase your odds specifically in New Mexico, then if you’re a member, you just give us a call and we work with a ton of different outfitters. We’ll kind of find that the right one that fits, you know, your needs and, and how long you want to go for and whatnot. And then we just either give you their outfitter number and you apply with that number or you can have us do everything. So anyway, I drew, and again, it was my third choice, you know, the less least desirable archery season, which just means it’s early before the rut. And if you’re lucky, you get a little rut action, you know, on the, on the back end of it. And anyway, I drew that in, in unit 15 again. And so the good thing was four years ago when I went, it was like hotter than it had ever been in, in the history of the world according to, to everybody. And, you know, never seen a hunt that was just, that was as bad as that. And no, no bugling, you know, nothing. And it was, it was miserable. Geez. And so with that in mind, anything was better, you know? Yeah. So it went again and, and it was awesome. I don’t know if it was awesome compared to, you know, a normal elk hunt, but compared to the experience I had four years ago, it was great.
00:22:22:21 –> 00:23:40:23
So we had Yeah. You know, bus, bugle, bulls, bugling and they weren’t going wild or, or anything, but we were able to, you know Yeah. Call bulls and chase bugles and yeah. That type of thing. And it, it was great. I had a lot of water early on. So it, it, it was good. And then you got the whole experience. Yeah. Got the whole experience. And you know what, have you ever wondered what the guides do in Connor? Sit water, because I know what they do. They go to the nearest cell service and they scroll the ground. They scroll. Yeah. Wait, they put their wife on speaker phone first. They Bluetooth to the truck. The raptor, right? Yeah. They Bluetooth to the truck, they chill out, kicked the seat back a little bit. And while they scroll the gram. Yeah. No, Davy sat with me. Come on. No. Yeah, yeah. Sat in the blind with me. Why would he do that? So I, we tried. It’s it’s kind of fun actually. It was fun. I like sitting blinds. Yeah. John, John and Davey sitting a blind is not sitting a blind. What were they doing? Those two sat over there. So, oh, this is interesting. I forgot Logan was there. Oh, Logan’s. Logan’s trying to be the videography guy. Yeah. And so Logan can now tell on John Logan, tell the truth. Well, they sit in this small popup blind and there’s three of us.
00:23:40:23 –> 00:24:48:22
There’s barely room for two. So we had to build me a brush blind a little ways off. And so I’m sitting probably 20 yards to the left of these guys. And Davy gave me this pep talk before. Now you gotta be real quiet. Gotta be real still. You can’t be the reason Elk blows off the water. And Davy’s got a fully enclosed blind and you can still see him moving in it. And those two are standing, I swear they’re doing jumping jacks in that thing. And then about two hours into the second sit, I hear them laughing hysterically loud as you could be. And I’m like, come on, I’m just gonna start playing games on my phone because this is, wow. It’s not true. This is an exaggeration. Oh, that was, did you video it? ’cause if you didn’t video it, it didn’t happen. It didn’t happen. It wasn’t on the gram. It’s irrelevant. Total exaggeration. Geez. We may have chuckled a few times. What were you guys laughing about? I don’t know. You know, Dave’s got a lot of good stories. He is a good story to, all right. So I have to tell you, the, the one story that really like just blew my mind was he had a hunter one time that kept leaving where he told him to sit or where he told him to go. So he is like, Luke gonna lose him in the woods.
00:24:48:22 –> 00:25:58:28
And he lost him one night. He left him on a water and he didn’t find him again until the middle of the night. Like hours and hours later he just like left, you know? And he’s like, oh yeah, I just thought the bulls were not gonna come into the water. And so I thought they were gonna go somewhere else and you know, oh my gosh. He’s flipping out like, I’m gonna have to call the search and rescue to find this guy. And oh my gosh. Just, you know, calling bulls in and, and the guy moves. We had that happen on a videographer. Like we were, so we were doing rid tv. Yeah. I mean we had this videographer that’s like, okay, we’re going down to the truck. See the white truck right there. We’re walking down to that truck. He ended up on the opposite side. Okay. The truck was west. He went east. So, and for the record, this is not Chris. No. Right. This is somebody else, not Chris, right? No. Heck no. Chris was amazing. No. And we’re just like, what? Come on, where are you? You know what I mean? Yeah. And so we had to leave somebody there with your lights on. ’cause like, you know what happens is when you go and look for somebody is is you honk or, and you don’t want to, right. But you gotta do something. So you leave your lights on or honk.
00:25:59:04 –> 00:27:10:09
But then if you move, so they start walking towards you. Yeah. Right? Yeah. Most likely. If they can see you, you would think so. If you move now what? You get this moving target of a guy going around driving around the woods, like, so you have to leave somebody there or leave a truck there with the lights on. Yeah. And then go looking for him if you want, or something like that. That would be an option. So anyway, we’re driving back to camp and here he is, he’s hustling down the road. And we’re like, dude, what are you doing? Like, what? You could see the truck, you know what I mean? Like, whatcha doing, you know? And he’s like, and he’s, and I don’t know if he was gathering up his gear or whatever. It was just a nothing, it was a nothing. We see you at the truck. Yeah. Moment. It was a nothing. Yeah. It was no big deal. And so anyway, he’s like, wow, I just kind of, I took a wrong draw and ended up over here. Now I’m on the road. And, and then all of a sudden these guys were hooing and hollering, dude. It was the Lost Boys, you know the people out doing drug rehab? Oh yeah. Oh, wilderness. And they’re howling like Cotes and just having a gale time, you know, and he’s like, he started running, he was scared shitless. And I’m just like, what?
00:27:10:10 –> 00:28:22:22
And I mean, he was in a froth, like, I am gonna lose my mind tonight. You know? So anyway, picked him up, got him calmed down, you know, got some food and water in him. I mean it was just, oh, really? Anyway, that happens John. So, alright. Anyway, that, that one was funny. There was just lots and lots of funny stories, huh? Yeah. Great guy. Anyway, that’s funny. But yeah, into the Bulls. It was, it was great. So we were into the Bulls unit 15. Yeah. New Mexico Unit 15, first archery. Yep. Anyway, Logan was right behind me called in Davey called in what? Three 30 type bull. Anyway, passed him early on and yeah. Just kind of went like that. Nothing, nothing big. I didn’t see any giants though. Nothing. Just next level. Yeah. Yeah. We, we saw a lot of bulls, but nothing, nothing next level. But it was fun. Yeah, it was fun. It was really fun. Was there other guys in camp? No, just me and Logan. Just kind of you and Logan and, yep. Yep. That’s awesome. You took your own trailer down there. Took my own trailer. You had to feed Logan, I imagine you had to teach him how to boil water and it was rough. I mean, what would you, what would a Gen Z like what would you eat if it was your hunt? Well, there was no drive through, so I have no idea.
00:28:23:18 –> 00:29:35:15
That’s what I thought. Not a zaxby’s inside. We were set up pretty, it was pretty sweet. Yeah, no, it was, was it my, yes. My wife, she, she got these little dishes, right? Yeah. That they’re that close up. And she did free fro freezer mills for all seven days. Wow. Stacked the freezer with them. Dang. We just pulled out like we had lasagna, shepherds pie fajitas. I, I think shepherd pie is disgusting. Are you serious? It was, well it’s the potatoes, right? With all the green beans and meats and all that combined. Oh, this didn’t have this, this has like mashed potatoes and like a, a meat sauce. Yeah. Over top of it. Yeah. Meat sauce with no green beans. No green beans. Okay. Yeah. Anyway. Well, I need your recipe. Yeah. It, it was kind and pretty good. I think Jan makes good shepherds pie, but ever since I was a little kid, so kinda like beets. Anybody that eats beets, they’re disgust. You’re disgusting. Beets are disgusting. I like beets, but Yeah, my wife’s with you. She’s like, they taste like dirt. Yeah. They’re disgusting. Like I can still taste the dirt on ’em there. I can still picture myself at the dinner table. They’re not leaving the table to eat your beets. They’re, they’re disgusting. They’re disgusting. I’ll never have a beet my whole life. They’re good. So, and I don’t think I’m lacking in any kind of nutrients and, and vitamins.
00:29:35:26 –> 00:30:51:09
Monster Keeps me perfectly sound. Keeps you great. Yeah. Grounded. All right. So, so food was good. So you’re, you’re feeding Logan, keeping Logan happy. Yep. It was good. It was dang good. Huh? What’d you have for breakfast? Yeah, we car I had, I had those like breakfast shakes, protein shakes, protein shakes and stuff. But we didn’t, we didn’t really eat a lot of breakfast. I never eat breakfast. So just like lunch? Yeah. Granola bar or something. Sandwich. We had sandwiches sandwich. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. Yep. All right. Okay. So we’re, we’re past the food. We got camp set up. We’re in blind in and outta blinds. Yep. We’re calling in bulls. And it was kind of that way probably the whole week. Okay. You know, just, anyway, just you, you, you knew like, I mean, you could, there could be a giant that shows up. Yeah. You know, but you didn’t really know for sure. You know what would be coming into the whatever you’re calling Yeah. Or whatnot. So it, it was good. And just, you know, last, last evening of the hunt and I just decided I’m gonna, you’re smashing, see whatever’s coming in. Yeah. Were you in wa were you in water? Yeah. So we’re over water. Okay. I like it. Yeah. Yeah. So no giggling now we’re getting pretty serious. Yeah. No, no giggling. Everybody’s kind of over gone. No Facebook videos or co volume? No, none of that. Did that happen? No.
00:30:51:09 –> 00:31:57:17
They just watch Facebook videos. Sometimes it happens though. No. So like, I don’t, I hate how you get on your phone, you’ll turn on Instagram or something and all of a sudden blah, blah. Some reels going off and Davey had service and then I didn’t. So that kind of sucked. But anyway, he did enough that like Facebook would come up. Is he, what is he, is he, I know he was Verizon too, but I don’t know. It just, I think, and, and the interesting thing was, so then, ’cause usually I’m looking at Instagram or whatever, I couldn’t get anything to come up. And he was, he was on Facebook. I didn’t know why. But Facebook I think comes up a little bit easier when you got almost no service. Yeah. For some reason. But Instagram was an, so, anyway. Alright. You guys are serious. You’re, you’re looking at tag soup, you’re looking at tag soup. Yeah. Or, or you’re kind of sick of each other. Yeah. Getting low on food. Ready to come home. See mama. So it’s Logan’s ready to get off. Get off. I left the, the New Mexico tender. Pushed him right out of the state back into Utah. Where the harvest is. Where, where? Plentiful better I guess. Yeah. Logan, Logan had to leave halfway through the week. So I had a, my sister’s wedding was a few days before the honeymoon. Hey. And I attended. Huh?
00:31:58:01 –> 00:33:02:03
At least, at least the festivities at night. That’s right. You popped in, grabbed some food and left. That’s the perfect way to attend a wedding. Logan. I was there for like 33 minutes. 30 minutes longer than I ever stayed at anybody else’s. You post it on the gram? No, but then it didn’t happen. Yeah, I did. You admitted it. And we’re on the podcast. So anyway, and that was fun. I’m, I’m excited for them, but, alright. So I, and and we can end it there. Yeah. That I, what are you talking about? I hit a bowl and What are you talking about? That was it. You brought one home, John. Yeah. Yeah. You don’t have to tell the full truth. I killed one and it, it, it, it was the crap show. Give us, are you gonna give us the gram version? Are you gonna give us the truth? Yeah. Alright. So I did, I had to, so on the gram you recovered this beautiful. Yeah. We recovered the beautiful seven by six one shot. Yeah. Seven by six had a split front mass from Tahiti. Double tangs. Yeah. No, and I, I actually had a little bit of time to think about this. Why I spend my life trying not to look stupid. Right. Well, I don’t know. You do if you do that. Yeah. I, I don’t know what your inner workings are. I try not to, try not to look stupid.
00:33:02:08 –> 00:34:15:09
Try not to do stupid things, you know, look like an idiot all the time. We all look like idiots. And then we come in this room and turn on the mic. And every stupid thing that I’ve ever done gets like, confession. You know, you have some fun stories. I’m not, I’m not gonna lie. I I like it. I mean, anyway. All right. So last light, he came in and I, I draw, shoot. And I, I think he just turned, and anyway, hit a little bit farther back than I would’ve liked. But he was hit the femoral artery. Yeah. And he was bleeding, like, blown out. Blown out. Yeah. And Davey was like, he’s like, I don’t think you hit vitals, but you hit something and it’s significant. He’s bleeding like crazy. Like I can see pools. Yeah. So anyway, we just decided to back out and then Yeah. Recovered him the next day, recover him the next day. And he’d only gone from the last place that, that we saw him by the, by the pond. He’d only gone 30 yards. Geez. And yeah. Anyway, if you and Davey wouldn’t have been watching reels, you would’ve actually heard him fall. John. Yeah. You could’ve heard him fall, but Davey had this reels going and Facebook going. Not at this point, but yeah.
00:34:16:12 –> 00:35:18:13
I mean, it’s when you’re sitting in water and you’ve got, you know, six hours Oh, to sit when I’m in a white tilled tree stand. I mean, I, I love service. I, 20 years ago, are you gonna, do you really had to watch the squirrels? Yeah. I mean, there was nothing to do. So, you know, so anyway, went in, went in the next morning and it was awesome because it, it had rained, which I was worried about blood being washed away, but it turned out there was buckets. You can’t wash a gallons of blood away. Yeah. Buckets of blood. So it didn’t wash it away and he didn’t go very far. But it was cool and, and raining, drizzling a little bit. So there were no flies recovered. The bowl recovered. It didn’t lose any meat. It was awesome. Yeah. That’s awesome. Yep. Did you have to visit with Game and Fish? Yeah, so actually we called him the night, you know, the night before and just said, Hey, hit this bowl. Yeah. You know, and, and the game and Fish just said, you know, make sure you don’t have any weapons when you go back in. Oh, really? To get it. Yep. Oh. And so it limped away. It limped away. Yep. Or if it limps away or if it’s limping, it’s limping. Yeah. Whatever. Yeah. No weapons. And then he just said, when you find it, call me. And then, oh cool.
00:35:18:14 –> 00:36:28:09
We’ll come and, you know, validate it, it validated and all that. So it was great. Yeah. Yeah. They check its eyes for dilation or anything weird. Just make sure nobody was jenkin around with it. Like, and it was, it was hard as a board. So it was, it was just make mortis. Make mortis. Yeah. So you got some great kill photos. Oh yeah. I like it. All right. So successful Hunt’s great. Yeah, it was good. Your first archery bull. Yeah, my first archery bowl. So it was holy Pretty cow. Pretty awesome. Holy if you killed Archery Bull before this hunt. Yeah. Okay. So we have two out of three stories at the table are gonna be firsts. That’s right. I like it. Yeah. All. So cash. What’s up? I guess let’s roll right into here. All right. We’ll stay in New Mexico. We’re staying in New Mexico. Rolling into the next season. You applied? Yep. Very similar to John. I didn’t draw last year, so I was like, you know what, I’ll, I’ll do this two day deal with a, with an outfitter and we’ll, we’ll go in the guide, draw. I don’t have any other bright spots looking for a tag, so might as well give myself a chat. And you were like, Jason, how aggressive do I get? Yeah. And so we applied pretty aggressive. You know, we, we did, you know, some really good stuff. And then I drew my third choice. Yeah.
00:36:28:22 –> 00:37:52:11
So it wasn’t like obviously what I wanted exactly, but it was great. No, but that unit is produced. Yeah. And so the unit I went to, it’s produced some good Bulls. Has good bulls, has good potential, but the, the big bulls are few and far between. Come to find out kind of. Yeah. But we went down and I went with, with an outfit and man they treated me so good. I can’t thank them enough. Tim Bearclaw with Chia Guide Service or Tim Bearclaw with Chia Hunting Service. They’re awesome, awesome guys. They treated me really good. Me and Logan both took Logan down there, actually met him down there. ’cause he flew back down there from his sister’s wedding and, and got down there and we chased a, chased a big bull right around that mid three hundreds, jeez. Three 50 type bull for geez, the first five days. And he, there was a one mile by one mile chunk that we could not hunt. We tried getting permission to hunt him after he got on there and he just lived on it. Stayed in a 300 yard radius for four days. Geez. And hunted around him. Called in couple. Logan being from Beaver County couldn’t come up with some ideas. Yeah. I don’t have any Beaver County ideas. Yeah. I mean, they make bottle rockets. They do. It’s legal to use him. That’s right. You can, you can herd elk any which way you want. Okay.
00:37:52:19 –> 00:38:56:21
That did not come from me. Didn’t come from me. Keep going. C So he, he, anyway, he lived in there for the last five days, four or five days of the hunt and just tried to pull him off and he would not leave his, he had one hot cow when he went in there and he would not leave her and the elk wouldn’t leave that either. Ended up, he ended up coming off of there the last morning of the hunt before light. Like it was dark as can be. We could hear him bugling out there. We knew his bugle. We’d heard it for nine stinking days. Yeah. And sort. We’re like, man, he’s on us. Like he’s on our side, so we’re gonna have a crack. And so we start creeping out there he is about five, 600 yards and start creeping out there. Slow in the dark. And they just kept drifting and drifting and drifting. And eventually they were cooking. By the time light came, they were cooking across the flat and ended up jumping across the border and completely outta the question. So Wow. Couldn’t even, couldn’t even chase him anymore. So that’s what I was telling Justin on his, you, you almost can’t beat an elk even at walking pace. I mean Oh no, you, you can’t get in front of him. No. If you’re behind him, you’re gonna always behind behind him. Yeah.
00:38:57:07 –> 00:40:08:15
One, one grazing step for an elk is 15 running paces for human. Oh yeah. A hundred percent. It’s crazy. They cooked, I mean he had 25 cows with him then. So whatever happened, I mean he gathered up a whole bunch of cows somehow, somehow, but from surrounding eight other bulls and Yeah. Anyway, he was, he was king of the area for sure. And called in his satellite bowl. I mean, a bunch of his buddies around there and could have shot a handful of ’em, but passed him. Okay. Let’s clarify. Well, could have shot at, could have, could have shot at, could have shot at. I did. Yeah. All, I mean, full disclosure, I took a poke, I took a poke at a poke since we’re, since we’re brutally honest. And John started it off. Oh, I’m not, I’m not scared. I will tell you the good, bad and the ugly. I’m not scared. No. I mean, we have these bulls back clear in the back. We walked clear back there and they were coming off a chunk and they crossed. And this bull came in from like a mile. And had I been four feet to my right, he would’ve got shot at about 10 yards frontal. Yeah. He comes right up to the tree. I’m stuck. They’re just locked onto the D loop pok or pinned down by his cows.
00:40:08:15 –> 00:41:16:07
And he loops around and spits out there down to 60 and far enough that I needed to arrange him and arrange him. And by the time I drew back and my finger was hitting the trigger, he was whirling and geez dodged that one. And a couple days before that, there was a bull back in the same area. How many are, how many arrows did you take with you? Like what, what’s the guy do? I had, I had a full quiver and two, I came home with a full quiver and one. Okay. Or no, sorry. Sorry. That’s a lie. A full, full. I quiver a full quiver. And three, I came back with a full quiver and one. Okay, so no, you didn’t. Yeah, you, that means you recovered arrows. No, I, I lost two. You shot at two bolts. I lost two. And you killed And I killed one. So I shot three. Oh. And okay. I shot three arrows. And you came back with all but two of them. Yes. Because And then a used one. An used one. Yes, I used one. Okay. Yes. Okay. We just can’t have any lying. No, we’re leaving no gray area. No gray. So my, my lying rule applies before the hunt and during the hunt. After the hunt after it’s full disclosure. Yeah. Full disclosure. Yeah. You have to, you have to tell it all. Jesus unfor. Unfortunately. No.
00:41:16:07 –> 00:42:25:11
So then, I mean, a couple days before that, there was a bow we chased and like me and Logan were literally running for probably a mile. Wow. Straight running after these bull up. Is Logan in decent shape? No, I kept, I kept up and you made me carry the pack. Well, your pack, your pack had a bugle tube. It doesn’t, it doesn’t matter what was in the pack. It just matters that I was carrying the pack. It had a sippy cup, a caprice son, a tooth box. And now it has and a cow call. And now it has three inhalers. Oh. So we chase this herd down and oh my gosh, we covered some frigging ground. We chased him for a mile and a half. We probably ran a mile. And we caught up to him once and his cow, I mean, we were another 10 seconds we would’ve been to inside of 60. And his cows come out and we have to stop in the wide open. And he’s out there too far. And I range his cows. I’m like, well, I can shoot that far. Yeah. So he stepped out and I was, he stepped out in the front group and I was dialed to the back group. And so I was four yards off on my dial and it sailed right over his back. And it was fun. It was a great encounter, super fun.
00:42:26:02 –> 00:43:38:01
But was just one of those Hail Marys got nothing to lose. Well, tried it. It was a calculated Hell, it wasn’t really a hell, Mary, you wasn’t, you could normally make the shot just that rangefinder gets you every time. Oh yeah. I think Justin has a story about a range. So, and it just is what it is. Yeah. Adam, all of us have done it. Every single one of us. The the range is critical. Oh yeah. So I mean, once you get out to, you know, past 50 60, it is very critical. Well, you have to be precise even prior, right, Justin? Yeah. Even. Yep. It can make a difference. Geez. Not even my turn yet, man. Just, just setting you up for full disclosure. All right. So cash. Keep going. Yep. So it comes down to the last day that the big bull, he skips country. He’s outta the question. And I’m not kidding, the sun was still 10 minutes from even peaking over the rise. Yeah. And the morning was over. Wow. Everything was ing was back to the trees in bed. He was gone. Just teasing us from across the boundary. Did you the moon hit giving you grief? Yeah, we had sa moon sucked. Yeah. We had, we had that bad. And then when it’s hot and, and they’re playing all night long, they get to be beded all, all day long.
00:43:38:09 –> 00:44:39:16
But then they also get up at weird times in the middle of the day. Yeah. So usually when you’re chilling out at 11 to 2:00 PM pm they’re they, they’re up for 30 minutes. Yeah, exactly. Yep. So anyway, we leave that area, we go to a different area that we had been through and just kind of one that’s historically held a few bulls and there was a bull or early there and whatever. And we go up and we get to a turn, we’re like, well, we can go here or we can go there. And I said, well, it’s a 50 50 either way, let’s flip a coin. And we didn’t have a coin. So I flipped my phone, I said, if it’s this side, we’ll go this way, this side. We’ll go that way. Sure enough, we picked the wrong one. So we go over there, dink around for a little bit, nothing. So we’re like, well, might as well go the other way. We got time. So we pull up there and before we get outta the truck, I glass out the opposite side and right as soon as I pull up, right in the middle of your s there’s an elk’s butt. Wow. Standing, standing in front of a tree. I’m like, Hey, there’s an elk right there. Well what is it? I was like, that looks like a, looks like a bull. Big body. Turns his head. And sure enough, it’s a bull.
00:44:40:08 –> 00:45:42:17
And so he’s about 900 yards away. We’re like, well we got nothing to lose, so might as well start creeping out there and see if he wants to play. And we get out there to about 300 yards from him and start cow chirping and chirping. And finally after like 30 minutes he rips off a little bugle and we’re like, well, if he comes down we’ll try him. And he looked okay from that far. Like, well, we’ll see. And gets down to the edge of the trees before the end. Right? Like you’re, yeah. This is the last day. Yeah. So last day of hunt, nine o’clock. It’s not like this Bull’s dying. Okay. Oh yeah. Let’s just be honest. Yeah. So I’m like, if he’s a good, like if he’s a good enough bull’s bull. If he’s a bull, he’s dying. Well, it wasn’t quite to that point, it really wasn’t. I mean, I was boiling water for tag soup. I was doing that mentally, but it wasn’t to the point where I was shooting a little tiny rag. Yeah. It wasn’t, I did hold my standard. Yeah. What I, that I told you. 300 inch, six point. Yep. Toward the last, that’d probably be okay. Yep. And that’s what they told us down there. Like everyone down there is like, yeah. If a 306 point walks out, you should probably shoot it. Yeah. Even though he’s bigger. Yeah. Even though there is bigger like whatever.
00:45:42:22 –> 00:46:49:18
And so I was like, yeah, I’m gonna pull up. I tried to tell Justin we wouldn’t listen, but anyway, keep going. So anyway, we get up there and he’s ing a little bit and wants to play a little, but he’ll only come to the edge of the trees. And so we get separated from, from the collar. Me and Logan are up there and the bull comes out and he is at 95 behind the trees. And I was like, oh, he’s not gonna come any closer. He’s right on the edge of the thick. Like he’s just coming out to look and that’s it. And so he kind of has us pegged a little bit, but he is not seeing us. We’re in the shade and comes out a little further like it might happen. So I tell Logan, I’m like, Hey, you stay here. I’m gonna close this last 20 yards of the street and if I can get to there, if he steps out and gives a shot, we should have, we should have him in side range. And so by the time I get up there, he comes out and our guide Roy rips off just a little wimpy bugle. This bull comes the last 10 yards that we needed him to and steps out right there at 70. Perfectly broadside. Wow. Drawback. Let him have it. And right in the heart you couldn’t hit him better. Wow. Pretty proud of that shot. Dang.
00:46:50:24 –> 00:48:05:27
Anyway, he ran about a hundred yards and laid down and we didn’t even have to touch him to take pictures. Legs. Legs were tucked. Folded up perfect. Folded up perfect. Wow. And just after about the first 30 yards, he starts dumping big old frothy blood. Everything. We’re like, oh, he’s dead. Sure enough, walk over there. There he was. There he is. There he is. On the hall of glory. There’s nothing like an archery kill. Like Oh, so fun. It was so fun. Like the whole hunt. I got the whole experience every morning we were on bulls or in them, there was multiple mornings where all the way around us, me and Logan both were just surrounded by bugles and you’re just chasing one to another and one to another. But it was super fun. I would do it again in a heartbeat. So pretty awesome. It was fun. And ended up going with an endorsed outfitter. Yep. And just an awesome experience. Awesome. Top notch. Like hundred. Top notch. Top notch. Absolutely. How cool is that? Yep. All right. And I would say like I’ve, I’ve killed bigger bulls and it’s, it’s hard to get those experiences or those tags. It’s hard to draw. Yeah. Tags. And so, you know, drawn, miserable, drawn through an outfitter might be a good option. Yeah. And a lot of these, a lot of these outfitters have, or at least a handful of ’em, have these two day deals.
00:48:05:27 –> 00:49:03:13
And there was a, there was a couple guys from Pennsylvania there that they were on a, just a two day deal. They came in, they were guided for two days and a lot of these outfitters will let you extend a day or whatever if you want, or you can work something out. But the two day deals for someone that’s like a new state, new stuff, a little bit of local knowledge called a long ways. Oh dude. It helped. It helped. Knowledge is everything. It helped those guys so much. Yeah. Like we took ’em out, what was it, the fourth, the last day or something They were, they were, they had like two days left before they had to leave, and we kind of took ’em out almost. They didn’t have anything. We’re like, well, they’re bulls back here that I’m not gonna kill. But you guys would be stoked with Yeah, because they, they just wanted a bull. And we got him to 65 on this bull, and this is a non guided client. He was guided for two days and then the same guy. Oh. And then they hang around and you guys Yeah, they just, they were, they ended up being just accommodated for the rest of the time. Yeah, yeah. But no guide. Yeah. And so we, they were like, well, we’re not sure, like we had this bull back here or whatever.
00:49:03:15 –> 00:50:13:07
And kind of gave him some ideas and Yeah, we’re like, well, we’re going about to the same area. So if, and it was around the big bulls, like if we pull him off, like, I’m gonna kill him. Yeah. And if we pull his satellite bull off again, then smash him. Like, we’ll help you pack him. We’ll do whatever you want. Yeah. And so we got a 65 on, on his satellite bull and just didn’t quite come together with them, but it was super fun just to help them a little bit and just have, it was fun. Wow. People in camp are awesome. Everything so, so fun. Yep. All right. Justin, here we are. All right. The highlight, Justin, just to set it up a little bit, like, you know, Justin, you know, Justin’s got, he’s just graduated from high school and basically kind of got this little bit of a lull between you work guts out all summer long and then, you know, potentially going out on a, on a mission for a church and here in the short order. And so then we’re like, what are we gonna do? And he’s like, I want to hunt the month of September. Like, that’s what we’re gonna do. Yep. Archery. I wanted to hunt archery, and then after archery, I could choose what I wanted to do from there, but I for sure wanted to take the archery hunt and just focus on it and Yeah.
00:50:13:12 –> 00:51:14:28
See if we could get something special done. Yeah. And he had a few points, but it turns out he didn’t have enough to really get it. But I thought he had a real chance, but he didn’t really, he didn’t. He actually, and then the results come out and he beat the odds. Lucky. Lucky he drew Lucky Drew a random tag. Yeah. That’s total luck. I stole it. 7% chance draw. I think it was what it was, something like that. Yeah. At the point level he was at. And so it’s just like, wow, this is like kind of, you know, supposed to happen. Like this is gonna be a big deal. And so, and then my schedule, so this is Justin and I’s deal, right? And so then my schedule, I’m like, well, I’ve got this Nevada deer tag potential for a landowner tag, and then I want to go do the moose hunt with the guys. But then I’m like, no, I really need to do this hunt. And I’m like, yeah, but if all the stars align, you can do it. All right. That never happens and it never works out. Right. Pretty soon I start to get stressed with the Nevada thing. I let it go and then the moose hunt, I let it go. And I was like, no, this is gonna take a minute. We’re gonna really work on this. And it’s a long season and it might take the whole season.
00:51:14:28 –> 00:52:28:15
Maybe you do get lucky and you kill early or something, but, but this is our deal. So, so that’s what it was. This is, this is what my plan was for September. This is what Justin’s plan was. And Al also had an archery deer tag general here in Utah. Yeah. Hunted one day and hunted one day, and then goes ahead and blows his shoulder out that day. So Justin, why don’t, why don’t we start right there? Yeah. You want me to start with the the, the one day? Yeah, the one day. All, all right. So me, my brother, we all, you know, we got prec, scouted Pine Valley is what we got. We had general season Pine Valley. Okay. So on the podcast we try to not talk about units too much. So start over there. Okay. So it’s okay. You cut, cut. Logan cuts. You, you can leave that one who, who cares, but Well, but we’re gonna tell, we’re gonna teach you some things. Okay? Yeah, yeah. Alright. Okay. So me and my brother pre outed this unit in Utah, and we had, we had some half decent bucks found there was nothing super big in the unit, but we, I had an archery tag. I wasn’t looking for anything super special and I had one, one really, like one day to really hunt this unit.
00:52:28:25 –> 00:53:39:23
So we go out and we happen to come up on the group of bucks that we, that is like the biggest bucks that we found in the unit. And so my brother has can hunt. So my, I have, we both have a tag. My brother lets me stalk the deer, and so I get within 150 yards this buck. And I’m just waiting for him to stand up and it’s midday. I’m waiting for him to stand up at night. And we’re just sitting there and waiting, waiting, waiting. Sure enough, coyote comes across right in front of him. He jumps up out of his bed and he’s staring, stare down on the coyote. The coyote’s just walking past him and he kind of calms down a little bit. And I’m, I’m, I’m behind this rock pile at like 150 yards and it’s just sagebrush between me and this buck, this buck’s betted under a tree. His nose is in the wind. I can’t really come up behind him because he is gonna sniff me and it just, it’s a terrible, terrible situation. But the buck starts walking towards the rock pile. I’m sitting in, you know, he’s, he’s up, he’s up, you know, get ready, get ready. He’s running, he’s coming right towards you. And so I’m ready. I’m ready, I’m ready. I am. He’s like, you, you probably draw, you probably ought to draw back. And so I full draw.
00:53:40:03 –> 00:54:51:05
I’m sitting there 30 seconds, you know, 40 seconds. I’m not seeing anything. She’s like, I don’t know how long it can hold this full draw, but like, it’s buck better be coming. Can he move faster? Anyways, he buck never shows up. I let down, he is like, well, he’s right there, you know, we can see it all the way around you. He’s somewhere in there. He hasn’t blown yet. Okay. And so I was, he’s like, if you think you can like, you sneak over the top peek over, see what you can see. And I was like, yeah, okay. You know, we can try it. I guess that generally doesn’t work. It does not work. Cold school, you know, I would’ve lost my mind. It does not work. I would’ve, if I would’ve heard that, I’d have been like 1 0 1. Okay. Anyways, we made the mistake picking over the top of the rocks and I couldn’t see the buck. And he’s just, and he’s just not there. And I’m just waiting for him to walk out. And then he just, he just blows. I, he was in a spot I couldn’t see him. He could see me was bad. He just blew. Yeah. And, and so we’re like, well, that’s that, I guess. And so we start walking back to the truck and I always keep an arrow in my quiver.
00:54:51:05 –> 00:56:03:01
It’s the practice arrow, the coyote arrow, the, the arrow that you can dink off with and not, not feel too bad. And I was, I wasn’t very happy. I was a little, I was kind of mad about the buck and there was a little rabbit in front of me, you know, 20 yards and ranger, you know, Jack Rabbit over there. Just leave the jacks alone. As you get older, you feel bad for little critters. And I tell the boys, you’re gonna feel bad these days. You know, something’s gonna pay for my pain and suffering. There’s a heart that needs to be stalked. That’s right. Take the disease infested jack. So I he is right, 20 yards. It’s gonna be a chip shot. Easy. I, I go pull back. And as I’d been practicing over the summer, my dlo had worn a little hole and like starting to get a little smaller and smaller and smaller. And I told him, and probably ought to need to work on that one. Yeah. But but you don’t think a lot. Yeah, we don’t, I wasn’t thinking a whole lot about it. I’m not in the middle of a hunt. I don’t really, you know, I’m not really thinking about dlo. Anyways, pull back, I go to pull back on this jackrabbit halfway back. My, my D loop breaks and all the force of the bow is 60 pounds.
00:56:03:02 –> 00:57:08:16
Just yanks my shoulder out and I pops it out of joint. Yeah. Dis dislocate. I dislocate my shoulder and geez, it’s, it’s not, not new to me. I’ve, I’ve had problems with my shoulders before. So it’s like the other shoulder, we had surgery on it, other shoulder had surgery. Doc says, you’re probably gonna have surgery on this one. When do you want to do it? Popped my, popped my right, my right one out twice before we had surgery on it. It, and then my left one, I popped it out once, but it’s like an 80% chance of recovery if you don’t have surgery. And like, so like 80% you need to have surgery, 80, 20%, 20% chance of recovery. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it doesn’t hurt it if you pop it out again a second time, but after the second time, you need to get surgery after that. Yeah. And so my, my left one popped out again. And which is your bow hand? That’s my bow hand. Okay. I grip, I gripped my bow with my left one. Okay. And the, the second time I dislocated my shoulder went the hospital and they, they showed me how to pop back in by myself, ever happened again. And so I popped it back in by myself. My arrow was, my arrow was gone and I just, it just disappeared. And So you were hurting? Yeah. We had issues. You were hurt. We had issues like hurt.
00:57:09:12 –> 00:58:15:04
So now I’m sitting here going, Kay, this was my September, you know, the boys are in Alaska where I should be. Like, what are we gonna do? Is Justin really gonna be able to go? And then there’s all these weird things that come into your mind like, okay, we have this crossbow exemption. He could go to the doctor, he is gonna get a doctor’s note. He can’t shoot this bow. Yeah. I did get the doctor’s note. Doctor did sign off for me to have cross. Well, doctor’s a good friend of ours, even a client. And he’s like, Justin, what did he say? Oh, he was, he was like, you can use a crossbow. But honestly, from what we heard, well, he started saying, do you wanna turn your tag back? He’s, he’s consulting Justin about our hunting plans. And I’m like, okay, we ought to ask that first. No, not this one. Anyways. Yeah, he said he’s like crossbow. A lot of people that we have use CrossBoss actually like, don’t like ’em a whole lot compared to their regular bows. And I didn’t really wanna use one anyways. We didn’t don’t even have a crossbow. So and so, yeah, I decided to, he was like, I was like, well if I, if I can pull my bow back, like is it gonna hurt my shoulder anymore if I try to pull it back?
00:58:15:16 –> 00:59:23:25
And he just kind of told me, he is like, well, if you can kind of take it, then if you can take the pain, if you can take it then, then you’re good to go. And so I was like, all right, well we’re gonna go then. So it is just shoot another shot until we, we were shooting it out. Yeah. Because every day you’re gonna, you’re, you’re recovering, you’re repairing a little bit. At least in my mind I’m thinking that right? Yeah. Yep. And so we went off to elk hunting and we didn’t know what was gonna happen, but we went anyways. Yeah. I didn’t know if he was gonna be able to pull it back or, but you just, you don’t want try it until, until you have. So anyway, yeah. So it was aggressive. We, Justin had scouted all summer. I had scouted with him a little bit, got him started, and then I would send him pens of more waters and ’cause elk have to water, especially in this unit, like, like waters everything to elk, you know? And so just sending him pens and then he was finding waters and after work and days off every day. It’s a lot of hot days. Every day if I got off before three I’d, I’d go see what I could do out in the unit. And I, I paid off like we found, we found waters and found some big bulls.
00:59:23:25 –> 01:00:30:10
We found some, we got on some big bulls. Gave us a start. And then, so then we’re thinking we’re right at the first when they’re not rutting supposedly, then you’re gonna run blinds. Yeah. You know, and sit in blinds. And so we had some janky setups too. Oh, it was brutal. Slept the blind the first day, like day after day. Oh, it was terrible. It was terrible day after day. Hate sitting blinds. Well, and it was straight and it was straight up. Like it was this big old deep ravine. And so it’s not even close to level, like, not even close. Like we’re talking a steep ravine, right? Yeah. Like there’s this water on the side of a road that’s like, it’s steep, you know? And I’m like, you don’t have choices. Every time something would come up to this water, they would leave. Right. Because you got, you have trail camera picks back when it’s legal to run cameras Right. During the summer. And so the, you could see the consistent action of what was going on. I’m like, you don’t have a choice. You have to sleep in this blind. And so there you go. It was, it was brutal. Sat at least 10 days in blinds and it was terrible. Dead nights. I hated it. Hated. No, you did. It was bad. I did it. I did it because what if, but like passed a six pointer.
01:00:30:12 –> 01:01:39:17
I did, I did pass a six point bowl on first week, something like that. And, but I was, after I told my dad preseason, you know, three 50 plus kind of what I want, if I’m gonna, how many elk have you killed? I’ve killed one elk. But this is bothersome to a dad. And Justin’s serious about it. Like, it’s like, no, like what will that bull score? I’m like, what? Who cares? Like, guy, you’re, you’re 19. He started passing up bulls for me at the end though. So he, he got into it, gained a little passion. He’s 15 days into it. If you’re serious. I’m serious. So, yeah, Justin, until about the time you’re sitting in a blind, the bull walks up to the blind side of the Oh my gosh. So we find, we find a water. Okay. It’s not a water, it’s a, it’s a trickle. It’s not even a trickle. It’s like a damp spot. We dig out a damp spot, a a track full of water. But they were coming to it, there was a lot of moss and they were just kind of coming to it. Yeah. And so then we dug it out. Yeah. And so we dug it out, we got a little bit of water going and we set up a blind. And I sit it the first night and we set the blind midday. He sits it that night. Yes.
01:01:39:17 –> 01:02:49:05
Like, so within hours he’s in the blind. Yeah. This is how deep into the hump? I don’t know. 10 days. 10 days. Yeah. It’s something like that. And anyways, so I’m sitting, I’m sitting there, it’s getting really, it’s getting late 20 minutes before dark. And I’m out glassing. So every time he sits, I’m g glassing. I’m running glass, glass, glass, glass. Working country. As if so, so you can fit, feel guilt free, sitting in a blind. It’s like, ’cause if you’re only sitting in a blind, that’s all you’re doing. You’re hunting one tiny area. Yeah, that’s right. It’s a little bit tough, right? Yep. So I’m out and about. Yep. We had good bulls in the area before preseason, preseason, scouting. And so we knew there was something there, but I can hear, I can hear a bull coming in. They’re loud, they’re like horses. I don’t know, it’s just nothing like deer. But I can hear him coming in. He’s breaking trees and walking in towards me and I’m getting ready for him to come right in front of me. 20 yards in this, in this water. And he’s just, he just keeps coming towards me and he stops. You can’t see him though. I can’t see him. I can’t. So we keep the blind completely dark, except for one little window that I can shoot out of. And the one little window’s facing the water. And he’s just coming.
01:02:49:11 –> 01:03:55:12
He’s, I can hear him keep coming towards me and coming towards me, and he’s just stops. And I’m like, what’s he, what’s he doing? Like, you know, he’s, he’s just looking. He’s just looking. The blind don’t, don’t, you know, don’t overthink it, it’s okay. Anyways, he’s, anyways, I can hear him and he’s, pretty soon he starts walking towards me and getting closer and closer and closer. And I’m like, why is this bull not coming? I know. Why can I see, why can I not see this bull yet? Or this elk, I don’t know what it was. And I can hear him. He’s, he has to be five yards from the blind. I can hear him breathing. He’s just sitting there breathing. It was a brand new blind him. He must have just been curious about what’s going on with the blind. It was like, it was terrible. It was terrible. I was, I was shaking my head, you know, I was hoping he can’t, he can’t smell me too good, I guess. And he might walk off a little bit and come back to the water. I don’t know. And then this little squirrel behind me just starts screaming and the bull jumps and he gets nervous and he just, I swear squirrels are talking to things. Oh yeah. He’s terrible. Yeah. He gets old and he just starts walking away and he keeps walking, keeps walking. And I just can’t hear anything.
01:03:55:26 –> 01:05:11:12
And to this day, I have no idea what that was. And I’m like, I’m like, okay, unzip. He’s walking away. You unzip the ball. My mind, my mind. You reach your, you might come back tomorrow, you reach your little giraffe, head around and look out if you licked your face, it’s okay. Lucky you didn’t rake the blind. Yeah. Yeah. Alright. At least I was saying. So off we go. Things aren’t, things are, we’re getting serious. We’re starting to be getting out and about. We’re going to, we’re glassing. That’s right. That’s right. My dad’s out glassing. My, we got, we got elk groups found. Things are going well. We got one little area that seems like it’s got quite, quite a few elk in it. We, it’s, it’s pretty wide open, flat out where we found these out. But we have to go around the backside because you push ’em. Yeah. It was brutal. You push ’em to the trees coming from the front side. So we come in from the backside and let ’em come toward you. This whole thi thing about chasing behind him. Yep. You wanna be in front. Never works. No, it never works. And so anyway, we get it figured out anyways. Yeah. We get it figured out. We know there’s a bowl in this area. We’ve seen him, we don’t know exactly where they’re going into the trees after they’re, they’re out in the open.
01:05:12:00 –> 01:06:18:01
But my dad goes and sits one sits in one of the areas that they could be going in one night and he’s, I mean, we see, we see groups of elk in this area. And so we know that they’re, they’re going in there. And so the next night or whatever we, we go into this, go into the area and we’re glassing glass and glassing. It’s kind of windy. We are not seeing a whole lot. We’re seeing groups of cows not, you know, spikes. Nothing, nothing worthwhile. And then, and then the bull, I I hear a bugle and it’s windy. It’s really windy. I, if I hear a bugle, this, this bull’s, this bull’s close to me. I know, I don’t know exactly where he is, but I know he’s close. Sanders between us. Yeah. So Justin’s on a okay. On a knob. I’m on a knob, but sand between us is where they are. That’s right. And anyways, I look down the ridge that I’m sitting on and in this little saddle between my ridge and another ridge, I can see some cows coming out, out from between the saddle and it’s like 600 yards. And I’m like, well, you know, it’s probably with those cows. And so I move a little bit further up my ridge, see if I can see what’s, what’s in with the cows.
01:06:18:18 –> 01:07:34:23
And I glass ’em up and this bull’s sitting under the street, you know, just above the cows at 600 yards. And he’s, he’s looking at me. He doesn’t, but he’s with a whole bunch of cows. He is just, he’s not really nervous about anything yet or anything like that. And that’s the bull that we’re looking for. And my dad struggles a little bit getting on the bowl, but he, he manages, he he got there. He got there. Okay. Right. We’re not used to this. Nobody gives Jason crap. So tell us more. Couldn’t even see the bull. Please, please continue. I couldn’t even see the bull. He’s around into a blind draw. Anyway. He does come out where I can’t see him. We got it. We got it. Hey, we, we got it. This the last time you’re ever invited, we’re we’re there because of your dad. Okay. But anyway, go ahead. Anyways, we got a plan. I’m gonna go behind the ridge, see if I can get closer to the elk. We get closer to the elk and the cows kind of move down along the, along, along the draw. But the bull stays up high and I think he’s gonna go back through this little saddle possibly. And so I’m sitting in the saddle. I got the bottom of the saddle range, like 30 yards.
01:07:35:16 –> 01:08:52:19
And so I walk up to, you know, sneak up to the top of the ridge and I look over and sure enough I can see, I can see the little, little tree that he’s, he’s rubbing on and it’s, I range it, it’s 92 yards. The little ridge that I was on got the trees between me and him. And I walked up to the trees and I arranged the trees. He’s still raking at 40? No, it was 50 yards. I range at 50 yards and I got the arrow knocked. Everything’s pitch perfect, you know, picture perfect. It’s gonna go perfect. You know, the bull stops raking, walks out to the left side of the tree and I can just catch a glimpse of his eyes through my tree. And he just stops and stares straight at me. He, he saw something and me and this bull have a staring contest for three to five minutes, like solid three to five minutes. We did not move a muscle. And soon, pretty soon the bowl relaxes a little bit and decides he wants to know what he saw behind the tree and moves off to the left side. And I come to full draw and he walks towards me a little bit and I step out and he stops and stares at me. And I did not account for the amount of space that he covered between me and him from his tree.
01:08:53:14 –> 01:10:10:12
And I put it right on 50 squeezed. And it just went an inch over his back. Just, he jumps up, just runs yelling at the other cows. And it was just, it was just a mess barking at you. Yeah. So anyway, enough of that story that was mad because that was miserable. That was brutal. We learned a lot. Right. The value of range finding. Yeah, it was good. And you’re not calling these elk, they know all the elk in the country. There’s four. Okay. They’re like, that’s not, that’s not Charlotte’s voice. No. Right. Come on. You’re not calling ’em. And and they’re also not dead rut. Like this is just crazy stuff. So, so anyway, we end up getting on another bull. You get within 70, that one doesn’t happen. I got within 60, I arranged him at 58 and he just, he just won. We’re talking like 360. Yeah. But besides the fact Justin had set a different water and had four bulls come in. And I’m like, really? Did you even, did you, you know, oh, I’m not even interested. You know, I mean it was only 3 55. Yeah. They were rag HODs. All of them came sprinting into the water and then Yeah. Just, yeah. Anyway, so there was some success in a blind here and there. But yeah, so then we’re kind of running out of options.
01:10:10:12 –> 01:11:15:24
Like we’re like day 17, you know, and I’m like, we need to go check waters. Like we need to check tracks on waters, you know. And so we start coming up with some ponds and just start working it. And then I’m like, okay, there’s one water had a quite a few elk. We set, figured out a spot for Justin to sit. It’s like 90 degrees. And then my water only had like four or five elk it looked like. Yeah. Maybe like it was, there was nothing on your water. Yeah. And so, and so basically here, what were we talking like a, an hour into the sit I glass up this bull and I’m looking at, at him and I’m like, at this point, like it’s 3 30, 3 40 plus bull. Like we’re shooting it and I’m, and with all the heat waves and stuff, I can’t really tell, but I think he’s big, like he just feels big to me. He’s lumber, you know, giant body. And I’m like, I’ve gotta go get Justin. I freaking get off that knob and I’m doing 90 to go figure out how to get Justin. We meet up and we do 95 and this bull’s not a thousand yards from me. He’s like, miles, miles. He’s two and a half miles. Yes.
01:11:15:24 –> 01:12:09:15
Otherwise I’d have cherry video and I have decent video, but I mean it’s, you know, and so we get back on him and I’m like, Justin, a grown man and I don’t know, we should google this Logan, but a grown man I think can walk two and a half to three miles an hour in the hills, you know, straight us like a storm mine. And, and if you put the OnX pin where he was at, and you distance to you where you’re standing, you’re talking like, it looked like 2.2 miles or whatever. What does it say? Three miles per hour. Yeah. And so with pack and a bow and that, that’s a fact. Fast walk. Yeah. With a pack and a bow and everything else, you know, and weave, that’s a tall, you know, waving the wash. Yeah. So, and you don’t have a straight two and a half. You’re 2.2 or you’ve got, yeah. So anyway, you start doing the math and you’re like, it’s gonna be, he’s gonna be pushing it to get there and, and you kind of gotta do everything you can to try it. So, so I got there, I got there like an hour and 20 minutes before dark. And my dad’s like, you got two and a half mile walk to get to this bowl before you even had a chance.
01:12:09:15 –> 01:13:21:03
And it was a little bit of a stretch, but I want him to know, I want him to know this is no joke. Yeah. You know, you and you gotta hurry. And we don’t see him. I don’t see him. So we just send him up the wash, get going, and I sit down in a chair and I’ve got, I got embedded. I can see him bed when I really settle in. Yeah. And so then pretty soon Justin’s on his own. You’re cranking up that wash and at some point it’s all open, like you know Logan? Yeah, this is, yeah, it’s wide open country. Yeah. You’re squatting behind a little foot tall sagebrush and calling that cover. Yeah. We’re getting to that point. Justin’s, Justin’s, Justin’s six foot two or whatever, you know, gangly little thing up there. And anyway, so he’s all the way up there and, and behind the last tree. So we’ve taken him to the last tree. It’s all you, it’s you and the bull. It’s me and the bull. And so he’s silence and I don’t know exactly where the bull’s at at some point, you know, and so it’s just, just me and the bull. And so this bull I range, I’m at the last range just sagebrush between me and this bull. And I range the bull at 250 yards. And he’s at the bottom of this giant draw.
01:13:21:21 –> 01:14:27:22
And I’m like, there’s no possible way this is gonna come together. Like there’s no way this is gonna come together. There’s this bull is has to walk straight towards me. He’s feeding. Yeah. Calm. Maybe on to five, you know. So he’s up on his feet. Yeah, he is up on his feet walking. And at this point in the hunt, like the last five days, all we see is five fives and small sixes with cows. The big bulls are by themselves. He’s alone and he’s alone. Perfect. Yep. Yeah. It’s perfect for stalking, but it’s just like, man, what’s, what’s going on on mid-September? Why is this rut this way? But anyway, yeah, it was weird. Anyways, so the bull disappears. I have this little, I mean this little tiny wash, it’s, I don’t even know if you can call it a wash, but it’s just this divot in the earth. And I’m like, the only possible way for me to get closer to this bowl is if I try to sneak up this little wash. And so I start walking and I, I get down and I start sneaking up the wash. I don’t know exactly where the bull’s at. I just know that I can’t see him. And he’s somewhere in front of me. And he’s bugling, he’s screaming his guts out at some other bullets in canyon next to him, which I didn’t even know there was other elk.
01:14:28:01 –> 01:15:44:04
You, you assume there is ’cause I see the tracks, right? A few tracks. But, and, and I can’t hear anything but you Yeah, you’re far too far. You’re way too far. Yeah. And so, so he is screaming his guts outta this bull next to him. So I kind of got, you know, every 60 seconds, I know where he is at every time he bugles and 75 yards, you know, 50, 75 yards up this wash. I hear him bugle and he’s straight off to my right and he, he must have just disappeared and walked straight down towards me. And I’m like, well that’s, that bull’s right there. And so I peed my head up over and sure enough he’s standing there and I get a range on him, 63 yards. I dial my bow to 63 and I draw back. And the arrow that’s been in my and stand up and the arrow that’s been in my bow for the last 10 minutes, I decides to d knock itself and fall on the ground. Ooh, geez. This bull turns and looks at me. I’m, I’m sitting there with a fully drawn bow without arrow in it. Oh. And it just, oh, heartbreak. Oh yeah. Sets in. So I let down, I’m flustered. I grab the arrow, Ren knock it drawback stand back up the bolt still staring at me and I just put it on him. Wait, was the broad head loose? Not on this one. Okay.
01:15:45:28 –> 01:16:48:21
We’re getting to this. I mean, these are things that dads die. Like I’m just like, really? You see, you see him draw and then let down. You’re like, what? I don’t what’s going on? I don’t even see that. Oh, it’s so far away in the brush. You can’t see it. I know what the, the last lollipop tree and then the bull That’s, and, but I can’t see the details. And so I draw back and I try, I get it on him. I know. And as soon as I let go, I knew it was just a little bit high on his back and it just, it must had gone over him. It was getting a little dark. I didn’t know exactly flustered at this point. Yeah. It was flustered at this point. And I didn’t know exactly where the arrow went, but I, yeah, he just stands there and he, he, when I shot, he jumps, he trots a little bit and he stops and he, you know, turns back towards me. I grab another arrow, I knock it, the broad head’s loose. It was just, it was a cluster. I tightened the broad head up drawback again. And this bull’s staring at me. And I was just like, well, you know, there’s a very small chance that I’m gonna be able to get this arrow off before this bull starts running. But if I do, I want it to count.
01:16:48:27 –> 01:18:03:29
And so I take my time a little bit, make sure the bow’s level, and I just squeeze it and sure enough, I can smacks the bowl and the bulls starts trying to run, trot away. And it’s got, its limping really hard. It’s arched over and looks like he’s about to tip over a couple times. But he doesn’t. And, and he, he kind of limps into this, this little ravine. My, me and my dad both can’t lose sight of him. We don’t know where he is. And my dad’s got church the next morning at seven 30 and it’s just like, I’m on my own if I wanna recover him tomorrow. Well, okay, so the hazards of kids being on the podcast. So the truth out, I can see the bull and I can see him almost try to tip over. Yeah. Like I know the bull’s, you know, he’s hurting the bull’s body language is this, bull’s dying. Like, I mean he’s, he’s doing this routine and I mean it’s, it’s all he can do to stay on his feet and it’s 90 degrees. Like, you know what I mean? And so it’s like, I don’t even really want him spending the night, you know, warmed over. You know what I mean? It’s just like we, the ideal thing is to recover this bull. And I think there’s no question this bull’s dying. Yep. So I relocate the bull.
01:18:04:00 –> 01:19:17:17
He is right where we lost him and he lays down and I get up close to him, arrange him at 50 yards and I stick it to him. Perfect. Yeah, perfect. Right through the lungs. And he goes on death run for about a hundred yards and tips over under a tree. Justin listens to his last breath or whatever. That’s awesome. And of course it’s, you’re like, whoa, now it’s an hour later time you get everything gathered up. You get the family on their way. ’cause they want to enjoy it too with us and get everybody ironed out on exactly where we’re at and all of these things. And so anyway, and then ju Justin has to relocate his shoes and then they’re not with the pack. Gotta relocate. Relocate the pack that we didn’t mark on OnX. Yep. Got yard sale over to him. Huh? It was a freaking yard sale. Hey, it was a cluster clustered up yard sale. Whatever you gotta do. Hey, all that matters is there’s a bull on the ground. That’s right. That’s right. There’s all worth it. Who cares about the boots? They’re replaceable. That’s right. Exactly. Okay. Hey there again, dad. Everything’s replaceable to these kids. And not just any bull. Not just any bull. This is a solid mold. A gray bull. It was. We walk up to it and it’s, oh yeah. So we walk up to it and it’s just, it’s just what I thought.
01:19:18:01 –> 01:20:31:10
I mean it’s, you know, I thought he was 360 to 3 75 ish or whatever. He ends up right on the dot with the AIDS three 70. Geez. That’s awesome. Yep. Three 70. Sure. So anyway, just, and just, and just the, the whole leading up to it, the whole experience, the, the sitting water, the spot and stalking. Not dealing with people just having a rock. I mean, Justin said in the middle of the hunt, this is like real hunting, like raw, you know what I mean? Like you’re looking for track. You’re we’re looking for rubs. You’re you’re hunting cow. Hey, don’t just get lucky. You don’t just get lucky on a road hunt where you find something, jump outta the truck and swat him. No, it’s just, you’re, you’re out there creating your luck. That’s right. Nice. It was legit nice. Grinding it out. It was legit. Learned a ton, huh? So much. Yeah, it was awesome. Learned how to call learned, learn a little bit of everything. What to look, how to set blinds, I mean all the, all the stuff that, and it’s hard to get those experiences nowadays with the draw tags the way they are and you know, have those epic experiences. It’s just tough. It’s, it’s, it’s hard to make those happen. You know? I mean you can get over the counter tags but you’re just dealing with so many people. You can’t really, it’s not you and the elk. Right.
01:20:31:13 –> 01:21:37:29
It’s you and a cluster. Yep. You know, and so anyway, this is just one of those great, great opportunities. Yeah, it was awesome. Couldn’t ask for anything, anything more. For sure. It was a huge proud dad moment. Oh yeah. And maybe a slight relief. I’m thinking time mean 17 days. That makes sense. I eat quite a few tags and I’m thinking I don’t want this kid to eat a tag. Like, what are we doing? Like you, it’s a six by three. You shoot it. If it’s a six by spike, we’re dumping it like cash said we had, we had water boiling for the whole family for tag soup. Right. For attack soup. Yep. It gets down to the wire. You start looking up, you’re gonna feed the family. You’re heat it up. If you’re gonna feed the family, you’re gonna have to eat the survey packet, the tooth packet, all of it. The envelope, I mean the envelope. All of it. That’s right. The little plastic part that your address in. That’s your floss after. Like you, you’re eating it all. Absolutely. Justin. I was like, you know, if we had a little more time, you know, I’d be having you break this thing down. ’cause I mean these, this bull is a giant body, you know what I mean? And I’m like, I’m I’m an old man dad. You know, like, I mean he’s like, oh dad, I know how to do this stuff.
01:21:38:00 –> 01:23:00:07
You’re fine. Keep going. Sure enough. Anyway, it was awesome. Family shows up and just a good time. So there you have it onto the next, huh? Justin. That’s right. That’s right. So pretty awesome cash, John. Yeah. Onto it over these stories. Like we’re, we’re tired. Logan, your dad and you hunted the Kaibab. Yeah, we did good times. It was, it was a good time. Yeah. Great time. It’s a, yeah, it was a great time. It’s a tough hunt, but we made the most out of it and it’s hard to complain about being on a couple big deer. So I gave you a way point. One of ’em was spot on. I, we’ve talked about this quite a few times. You’re proud of this. I am proud of it, Logan. I’m proud of it. I’m the best desk jockey ever. I love it. ’cause you can, it’s like playing chess or whatever. You can just go, go here, go here. But anyway, but that bug gets killed. You guys find your own like a whole different area. Giant buck anyway. Yeah. We, we had a target buck. He got killed. I think part of it, my exuberance is that I told your dad to keep the tag and there’s a little pressure when you’re dealing with clients and friends, maybe even more so on friends, right? Oh, a hundred percent. You should keep that tag. Yeah. If you guys would not have found a good buck.
01:23:01:06 –> 01:24:04:29
I mean, your dad’s very brutally honest. He would just say, dude, it sucks. I I haven’t found anything. Yeah. Like he would just, and I would be like, really? I’d be crushed. Yeah. You know, so anyway. Had a good hunt overall. A hundred percent. Yeah. Yeah. It’s a good hunt. It’s tough. You get a lot of pressure ’cause there’s a higher tag numbers on that, on that hunt. But yeah, you can make a lot of good experiences. A lot of, you have a lot of good opportunities on that hunt. Yep, I like it. And that’s a cool place. Yeah, I loved it. Like it’s a cool place. Yep. Cool area. I love going down there. Well, what I love, like there’s some areas with a lot of understory here and there, but it’s a clean forest. Like I like that that forest is gorgeous. It’s just clean, great big old trees with, with no extra branches forever. Like it just beautiful, you know? No, it’s a cool place, but it’s kinda like a good dare. It’s just got some age on it. The forest has some age. It does. And then there’s some burn country too. That’s really good. And, and it’s big, it’s big country, but then there’s a lot of tags. You guys dealt with that. Yeah. Yep. Better than the Utah general though, wouldn’t you say that? Oh yeah.
01:24:05:16 –> 01:25:03:22
I mean it’s, by no means was it a bad, it was tough, but it was not a bad. But you guys had, you were on one 70 bucks pretty regular. Yeah. Yep. You see a lot of, you see a lot of those bigger class deer that on the general hunt here, you’d be pretty excited about. So it’s not like you were seeing nothing. Yeah, we just, we went down there with some expectations, kind of like Justin, we, we had tough expectations for ourselves and we passed some bucks that were great bucks, but we were looking for that next level and yeah, we, we cannot say we were disappointed because it was a tough hunt, but we had good opportunity. Did you ever figure out how to slow roll the pines? Which vehicle worked best? Slow rolling the pins. We got the Ford to work out pretty Okay. When, when you figure out how to do what a certain RPM or what? Well you just, you can’t muff ball the exhaust. No, no. You just, you told us the day before we went down to do the, when we went down for the last 10 days or whatever, however long we went down there, roll up the windows and just go slow that way they can’t hear you talking. If you got music or the AC going, they can’t hear that.
01:25:04:04 –> 01:26:32:19
So the Ford worked out okay for that, but still far and above the best one was that old tundra with the V eight. It had, it had a bearing squeak on it, so it was pretty loud. But other than that, that thing was cherry for the, for the ca ab Still rolling the pines. There you go. All right. Well, I don’t remember the window thing, but I, I, it is, I have slow rolled some pines, but I would not say I rival Wyatt. No, I wish WI wish Wyatt were here to gimme his expert class advice before I went down, but yeah. Yeah. All right. Kay. Well, sounds good. Wanna throw a little shout? Shout out there to CVA. We’re selling ’em plus advertising. The Acura, MRX, the Acura, LRX. Couple of our favorite models that they sell. I mean, we’re talking a very affordable $600 type option. So anyway, just great muzzle orders. They’re, they’re ready to throw a scope on. Also drilled and tapped and, and good for open sites as well. Love ’em. Just a great affordable option and actually very accurate. Great product. Proud to have ’em as a, an affiliate here with us here at Epic Outdoors. Also Ken Trek, little shout out to Ken Trek. Ken trek.com. K-E-N-E-T-R-E k.com 1 802 3 2 6 0 6 4. Man, we got an advertisement in here for the grizzly PAC boots. We got winter coming on. It’s not, it’ll be here fast. It’s crazy how fast things are changing.
01:26:33:03 –> 01:27:47:06
I talk about the heat, but this morning I was at 32 degrees. All the leaves are changing, it’s all even coming off the trees up on the top of the mountain. So anyway, it’s pretty fun. But Kenna Trek has everything from desert country type boots clear down to packed boots in the winter, so, you know, pretty awesome. Great people. Proud to be associated with them. Jim Winham and his awesome company. Good people and like to be associated with good people. So anyway, thanks Jim. Wish you all the success in the world and we will keep buying our boots from you, that’s for dang sure. And encourage you to do as well. St. James Sporting Properties. Blaine St. James. Super good dude, had a lot of success this year himself. So anyway, he’s been sending in some kill photos. He works on selling and buying ranches for clients and whatnot. He is a, a ranch broker, property broker. So anyway, proud to be associated with him as well. For our clientele who are hunters, obviously that’s a big deal. Knowing the ins and outs of how to get tags and as well as the quality and units and things like that, the potential in units and whatnot. Blaine knows all that. He understands all that.
01:27:48:04 –> 01:29:20:06
We’ve known him from the hunting side perspective for decades, and really, like Blaine and, and his theory and things like that, knows how to work the systems, so to speak on buying and selling, how to properly do that and save yourself the most amount of money. And also doing it in a market where it would be considered a good investment. So anyway, just a, just a really good option to at least reach out to him. Doesn’t cost you a dime unless you were to buy property or, or, or sell property. And of course, you know, some brokers gonna get paid. It might, might as well be a good dude within the industry that knows what he’s doing and has access to all kinds of properties. Blaine St. James. 8, 5, 5, 7, 1, 1, 7, 5, 7, 7. And anyway, just an awesome guy. Good times everybody. We’re gonna get Josh’s story out of him here shortly, as well as a few other fun stories every, a lot of guys are in and out of the office pretty regular. I’ve been out a lot and in a little and getting ready to go out again. And same thing with Adam and all the guys and so anyway, but if you need anything, give us a holler. We definitely are staffed, just, just kind of a skeleton type crew, but, but that’s okay. Anyway. We’re selling optics like it’s our job. If you need something, we’ve got a lot of inventory, give us a holler. 4 3, 5 2 6 3 0 7 7 7 4 3 5 2 6 3 8 0 7 7.
01:29:20:14 –> 01:30:44:11
Happy to help you on Hunts, optics or anything else. Hunting related Western big game. That’s what we do here at Epic Outdoors. Let’s face it, if your goal is to kill big stuff, you need to draw quality tags, quality tags, or typically hard to draw. To increase your odds of drawing good tags you need to apply in multiple states. That’s where an Epic Outdoors membership can help. For only 150 bucks a year, you get access to our consultants, our online tools, and to Epic approved outfitters and members only optics discounts With unlimited access to our team of consultants and access to the Epic Outdoors Magazines. Applying in multiple states is easy. No more worrying if you’re applying for the best areas. No more applying for a unit where there has been a die off and no more missing opportunities where you could be in the field and not sitting at home. Go [email protected] or call us today at (435) 263-0777 to find out how you can become a member today. Kuku is the most uncompromising camo on the market. Their new guide Pro series is the toughest, most comfortable camo you will ever own. Check out their new additions and shop men and women’s camo [email protected]. That’s u iu.com. Ken Trek makes boots for every hunt. Whether you’re hunting sheep in the high rocky altitudes or low crawling sagebrush for those desert mules, Ken Trek has you covered.
01:30:44:15 –> 01:32:09:10
Check out their World-class, mountain Extreme Line, and their brand new Bridger High [email protected]. K-E-N-E-T-R-E k.com. Applying for tags in multiple Western states can be time consuming. At Epic Outdoors, we have you covered whether you want to expand your hunting portfolio or simply ensure that you never miss a deadline again. The Epic Outdoors License application service is exactly what you need. It’s like having the best CPAs in the finance world do your taxes. Let the best hunting application gurus in the world do your TAG applications. You’ll never miss a deadline. You’ll never apply for the wrong unit and you’ll never apply for a unit that’s having a die off. Your time is valuable. We do the work. You draw the tags. Epic Outdoors license app 4 3 5 2 6 3 0 7 7 7. If you want a bow from the best manufacturer there is. Look at Hoyt Archery. With the addition of the new carbon RX eight and the aluminum Alpha x, Hoyt has reimagined what a bow can do. Hoyt bows where 70 pounds feels like 60. Call us to order yours today. 4 3 5 2 6 3 0 7 7 7 With fierce rifles. Every detail matters. They are hands down, one of the best rifle manufacturers in the industry, and they never seem to stop making new innovations. If you want to get serious about your long range shooting, call us to talk over your options for your next fierce rifle. Epic Outdoors is an official fierce Rifle dealer.
01:32:09:18 –> 01:33:34:16
Our consultants know their whole line of rifles inside and out. 4 3 5 2 6 3 0 7 7 7. Epic Optics is an authorized dealer for Swarovski, Leica, Zeiss Vortex, Leopold Kawa, SIG Sour and More. Here at Epic Optics, we are committed to getting you the best deal for the glass that fits your needs. Go to epic optics.com or call in to speak with our consultants who will fit you with the perfect optics for your next hunt. 4 3 5 2 6 3 0 7 7 7. If you are looking for your next hunting property, look no further than St. James. St. James are the experts at all sporting properties across the west. Their team of agents will spend the time getting to know you personally and find out which property out of the hundreds they have listed is perfect for you. If you’ve always wanted a property where you could hunt and fish, go online to st james sporting properties.com or give them a call at (855) 711-7577 to learn more. Red Rock Precision rifles are at the pinnacle of custom rifles. They make no compromises in terms of quality, accuracy, and reliability. They will build the perfect rifle for you in both feel and performance. Epic Outdoors is an official Red Rock dealer. Call us to talk over your options for your next Red Rock rifle or go to Red Rock precision.com to learn more. Vortex makes optics for every occasion.
01:33:34:16 –> 01:35:01:12
Whether you’re a long range shooter, dialing in that perfect shot, or an archery hunter in need of an easy to carry optic without sacrificing quality. Vortex has you covered. Head over to epic optics.com or call us to learn more about your vortex options today at 4 3 5 2 6 3 0 7 7 7. From top of the line hunting blinds to game calls that can’t be beat. GSM Outdoors has you covered for whatever outdoor equipment you need for all of their products. Head over to gsm outdoors.com to learn more. Thompson Long Range has perfected the art of simple, affordable, long range shooting. If you don’t want to calculate ballistics or adjust your turrets before making a shot, a Thompson Long Range System is for you. Simply Range. Place the hash mark for that distance on the animal and pull the trigger. They make top quality rifles and host a shooting school that will leave you confident in making shots out to a thousand yards. Visit Thompson long range.com to learn more about purchasing your next rifle or booking your next shooting school experience the crew at Epic Outdoors Trust stealth Cam Trail cameras to get us through the scouting season. Stealth Cam is the leading trail camera brand because they never stop innovating. Check out their brand new line of trail cameras, including the Revolver 360 degree [email protected]. Epic Outdoors is an official stealth cam dealer. Call us to order yours today at (435) 263-0777.
01:35:01:18 –> 01:36:27:18
Phone scope changed the game with their Digi scoping innovations and have remained the top phone to optic adapter on the market. Check out the incredible new Carbon Pro phone scope [email protected]. P-H-O-N-E-S-K-O-P e.com. Outdoor Edge is the knife that we all use here at Epic Outdoors. Whether it’s a replaceable blade or fixed blade, you will not be disappointed with your outdoor edge knife. Head over to outdoor edge.com and check out their brand new razor VX knife today. Epic Outdoors is proud to be an official Zeiss dealer and optics partner. When it comes to top tier quality. Zeiss has been a leader in the industry for generations. If you are in the market for new optics, give us a call for unbelievable deals on Zeiss products. Giving you the highest quality and durability out there without breaking the bank is what makes Zeiss so good. Check out our website, epic optics.com or call us at (435) 263-0777 to find out which Zeiss Optic is perfect for you. Epic Outdoors is now an official CVA muzzle loader dealer. If you are in the market for a new muzzle loader, our staff can go over the different options that you should consider. CVA muzzle loaders are the go-to muzzle loader. For Epic Outdoors and Crew, we’ve definitely got our favorite setups for Western big game hunting in stock. Call us today at (435) 263-0777 to find out which CVA is perfect for your next hunt.
Recent Comments