EP 155: Are Alaska and Idaho Closed to Hunting?

Alaska, limiting people going to their state. I'm going to die without that brown bear flanked state. I'm a connoisseur of fine antelope hunting. Plan as if the fall is going to be there for the taking. Anything to do with western big game.

Welcome to the Epic Outdoors podcast, powered by Under Armour. Hey everybody, Jason Carter, Adam Bronson, coming at you from southern Utah, sunny southern Utah this morning. Chris, how you doing? I'm good, you? Good, we got Chris here. Make sure we don't say things we're not supposed to, right? We appreciate you, Chris. Makes it sound good, look good, and saves face. You can't see us right now. All that. Between him and my wife, podcasts are generally acceptable for casual listening. Jason and I have decided we don't need to hire a legal team to back us up on whatever we say on a podcast. We've got Chris and Jenna. It'd be like Becky if she listened to a podcast, Bronson. And you're not, she is not letting things slide. Marginal content is otherwise hitting the floor. So anyway, we'd like to thank Under Armour. Now we're on to something other than Colorado. Please, please.

Is that where we're at? The last grinder I had. Guy was working me over about, what, unit one, second rifle versus 55 muzzle. Two whole different hunts. Super good guy. I get where he's going with it. He can hunt any weapon type. He wants to have the best opportunity. But, man, you're talking about low densities, higher densities, velvet, above timberline, below timberline. There's just lots and lots of options. That's a different, oh. Huh? That's right. You factor in two to three rifle hunts, four in some units with a high country. Archery muzzle. Some units have six deer seasons. Do you realize that? I know. How any deer live is beyond me. Huh? That's right. And one that does is pretty special. You want to keep them living again. Like if you did it, you ran that gauntlet for six hunts, man, you deserve to grow old. Let them live. Good grief. Anyway.

So I've got some deer mounts, and you do too from Colorado, and I'm starting to wonder, are they going to be special and important because maybe they're the last deer we have mounted from the state of Colorado? The way they issue tags and kill deer, huh? Tell me I'm wrong. I don't think so. Tell me I'm wrong. My prediction. I'm going out on a lens right now. Come on. Somebody in the office. Maybe two of us are going to shoot mounters this year. Antelope. No. Mount or antelope? No. I was talking deer, but hey, since you brought it up. It's on my mind. It's over. It's over. And have you pushed your chips to the center and cashed in your antelope? Oh, I'm killing it. All right. How many do you have, by the way? 18 or something. Oh, yeah. And you know why? I would have a lot more except for in the middle, I was like, I got enough to draw whenever I want. And why would I do such a thing?

I don't even want to hunt antelope. You can't. And so that's how, you know, now I'm a connoisseur of fine antelope hunting. You can't even explain how you got 18 points. I don't know how. Some of them are for the 90s. They are. They are. I'm going to be honest. That's right. So anyway, whatever. But we did come across a couple of things doing research, like some muzzleloader hunts that take five points to draw here and there. Weird things you're like. No shiz. What are you talking about? You're the one that told me. Oh, that's right. Well, the antelope. And we're like, all of a sudden we're thinking, oh, geez. And then I turn to you. Maybe you should have some points. And then I turn to you and I ask, Bronson, how many antelope points do you have? And you're like, what? What'd you say? Zero.

You're not. Sorry. I mean, you make up living. You make a living gaining and applying and gaining points. Colorado antelope is one of those gaps that have just not been on my priority list. That's just simply the way it is. So anyway, having said that, Colorado's in the rear view mirror. Yes, it is. Thankfully. Let's just finish that subject you brought up about muzzler. That's in the rut. Guys are calling them in. They're decoying them in and shooting them out of self-defense. And kind of fun, you know. Kind of got me fired up. Well, and muzzleloaders aren't the most, it's not the most friendly muzzleloader state. You've got to use full bore bullets. Loose powder. Loose powder. Open sights. So it's not, it's not a. You mean it's actually primitive weapon? Yeah, more so. Yeah. But if they're running you over, you can smoke burn them.

That just doesn't seem, in this day and age, it feels like I should be entitled to. Smoke in their eyes and they can't get away. Use what I want. That's right. I am more out of these states that are just letting people use whatever muzzleloader they want. I'm tired of it. Any power, anything, inline. Thermal imaging, you name it. I mean, just go on and on. What more can you add? Well, there's a lot of states that are going away from that. Yes. But then some states don't even want to touch it because there's 14 other things that need to be addressed, such as, you know, cell phone trail cams and baiting. And so then if you touch one of them, you've got to touch them all. What about long distance rifles? And all of which hurt game. Yeah. Right. Right. And then, then hunters, us, we'll just say people, hunters are quick to complain when

there's not quality after all the hunts are over that we're wanting to have. And we look at what we're using as equipment, as gear, as everything. And we're hard on them. That's so many guys. How many times did you have guys? Do you really think these late season dates are going to hurt deer in Colorado? And I'm thinking, well, we hunt them before the rut, during the rut, after the rut with long range rifles and we're good at it. We're good at killing stuff. Yeah. It's going to hurt them. It is. Well, let's talk about a couple of other things. Let's talk about real quick news, news of interest. Let's not say the word Colorado. Just want to make a deal. Not say the word Colorado for the rest of the next four or five podcasts. So done. Deal. So done. Not just deer. Sheep, goat, moose. Yeah, it's all. It's all done. Nannies. It's all. It's all good. Everything. Okay.

Shouldn't need to talk about it until early May when we draw sheep tags. Yeah. People looking for guides. Keep an optimist. All right. Where are we at now? No, we're just going to talk about a couple of changes that you might have heard about, maybe haven't. Idaho. In an attempt to stop non-residents to coming to Idaho for this, at least the short term, fishing, hunting, turkey, spring bear, wolves, whatever. They've suspended non-resident license sales for the time being. And clarification on that, you can still buy your non-resident hunting license. I just did it. You did. That's a fact. So Bronson's like, you know, said, hey, the odds are going to be incredible. If you bought your license already for moose, sheep, and goat, you're the only one that's going to be in. Not true. Not true. We tried it. We sacrificed your credit card. I know. I know. I'm sitting here.

Bronson's like, well, I know we can do it. It said we can do it. Okay. The news release said we could do it, but we actually have to do it to really, with confidence on the podcast, say that we did it. And you got your three-day fishing. I chose my three days. A fisherman. I'm not a fisherman. Anybody that knows me knows. I mean, I'm not a fisherman. He's a turkey. I chose like October 6th. I don't know what I'm doing. You're a turfer, not a surfer. Come on. So anyway, I went on and I bought my $154 non-resident hang license, and I'm going to apply for sheep, goat, or moose. Actually, sheep or goat. I've drawn moose. That just hit over the weekend. They had a commission meeting, I believe, and it's just to stop the movement of people coming to Idaho. They're going to lose money for it, they know, but in this COVID-19 time we're in.

Yeah, they're stopping us from hunting the wolves and bears in the spring. Yeah, we were going to go up. Yeah, we were. And so now, here we are. And I don't know, did you hear up on the news there, that tiger in the zoo that caught COVID-19? Oh yeah, he's got a dry cough and everything. Where? Where? You Google it. I'm telling you, it happened. Is this officially been Tiger King freaking crap we're talking about? No. No. No. That guy's special in and of himself. This is a different situation. A random zoo had a tiger that contracted. In the States? I've got my computer here. I'm going to pull it up. In the States? In the States. And the other tigers are now dry hacking too. And I'm just saying. New York? Come on. So you knew about it too. Yeah. So it jumped from people to cat. The Bronx Zoo. So my point is, maybe Idaho's worried about us, given their bears and wolves.

Well, they should let us to come so they'd wipe them out. Well, now. What do you mean? They don't want to wipe them out. They want to save them. Well. They want to save them. They're grizzlies and everything else. Well, anyway. So if you're getting the news release, you got the email. Don't worry. It's not going to stop your ability to apply in Idaho for moose, sheep, and goat, or later on for the deer elk and antelope. Well, I've got my hunting license number, and I did it this morning. So. So. It is noteworthy. We're getting a few calls on that. Anyway. What else? Well, the other thing, you know. Spring bear hunting and other places. And spring turkey. Like, they're getting a free pass in a lot of places. What about Alaska? In fact, let's call somebody on that. Let's call old Justin Schaefer of QU. Let's see if he answers. You think he's even awake. Come on. I don't know. It is 9 a.m.

He's, that's way beyond anybody's sacred space and time. I would think. 9 a.m. Up there? Yeah. Let's see if he even answers. You got something you're going to give him a little bit of a hard time? No. We're just going to find out what it's like. Of course, you're quarantined in Alaska all winter long anyway. It's got to be a long winter. What's up there, amigo? Good morning. Hey. Good morning. What are you doing? What's up, guys? I'm logging product quotes into a Word document. Come on. Sounds fun. We're not your boss. You can tell us the truth. We're not your boss. Exciting stuff. Well, I'm not wearing any pants if that makes you more excited. Oh. Okay. You're on the Epic Outdoors podcast. We've got a hot mic. That's about all we need to know, Justin. Hot mic. We do know. Get your table. You are quarantined in Alaska all winter long anyway without this COVID-19 stuff.

But now this is a double whammy and total spreadsheets and Word documents. That doesn't sound like. Living the dream. Doing what I do. All right. Are you glad that non-residents aren't going to be up there flooding your stairs? Crushing your bears. Just be honest with us. You're glad, aren't you? I am not because I've got non-resident clients that are supposed to come in and go brown bear hunting with me. But right now, that's not until they show up June 6th. And right now, the ban runs through May 31st. But we'll see what happens. As you guys know, this thing's changing every day. Well, that's what we want to call you. Get it from the horse's mouth. Yeah. From a source. Yeah. From a source. A source. A source. Not the source. That's right. Well, we don't want to call Alaska Game of Fish Department headquarters. We figured you'd know just as well as anybody.

Give us a little update on what they did. We have a few people concerned. Some people that have drawn tags. You know, some of the southeast Alaska bear hunters, I guess. I don't know. I guess they're not going hunting this spring. But they had the opportunity. They did have the opportunity to hunt last fall, in theory. Although most people, when they draw some of those bear tags, you can hunt the fall through the spring. And so, I guess they're just going to be out, I guess. Yeah. I'm not sure. So, the initial drama, the middle of last week, the governor held a press conference and canceled all spring bear hunting, black and brown bear for resident and non-resident through May 31st. And then the following day at his five o'clock press conference, they refined what they had done. And they said that it was closed to non-residents and open backup for residents.

But all residents within the state had to obey the current travel restrictions that are in place right now. So, basically, all residents were not allowed to travel, you know, within village to village or city to city. We have to remain, you know, within the six feet guidance that they've given. And then with the lockdown as well. So, basically, they open it up so that you can hunt your localized areas. But they don't want anybody traveling anywhere at this time. So, guys are just so happen to be lucky that they live in a good area. And other people are not so lucky. They usually travel. The not-so-lucky guys are just screwed this year. Yeah. Yeah. So, myself included, I had a peninsula. Don't you have a peninsula bear hunt? Yeah. Yeah, peninsula brown bear hunt. I was scheduled to fly into team salmon on May 7th and then to the field May 8th after

my four-year wait from taking my last bear. So, that's kind of in limbo right now with the travel restrictions. The travel restrictions were pushed through indefinitely. So, there's no date on those at the moment. But I've got, you know, a good area that we hunt that's only an hour and a half north from the house here. And we would meet all of the restrictions that are in place. That's village to village. That meets the village to village requirement. Yeah. Yeah. Of traveling within. You just fly over the village to an obscure landing strip somewhere with a 55-gallon drum or whatever fuel. Over the river and through the woods. Yeah. I've got a place that's accessible by four-wheeler that's only about an hour and a half away. And like I said, meets with all the imposed travel restrictions at the moment. Let's just be honest.

What are they going to – let's say you did go walk into a village and get a sandwich. You know, what are they going to do to you? What are they going to do to you? Let's be honest. So the fines and jail time that they've imposed for people that are, you know, going out and completely ignoring everything are pretty stiff. Last I heard – Jail and Bethel. Jail and Bethel. Jail and Bethel. Yeah. There you go. That'd be bad. They're taking it pretty strict. But, I mean, obviously, it's something that, you know, is new for everybody. So it's going to be hard to enforce. And, you know, they're just asking people to do the right thing right now. Yeah. Yeah. Just, you know, it's morally right for everybody. What did the – give me an idea of how loud was the gnashing of teeth during that 12- to 24-hour period between press conference number one and press conference number two?

And he said, okay, no, residents can still hunt. How loud was the gnashing of teeth around the streets of Alaska? It was pretty loud. From the time that they announced it, you know, my phone blew up nonstop with guys asking questions than guys venting residents and non-residents. And then, as I'm sure you guys saw, social media was in a complete uproar. You know, there were immediately petitions, you know, sign this to the governor to do that. Pretty soon everybody needed brown bear meat for subsistence eating. That was the claim, right? Yeah. Yeah. A hundred percent. I need that brown bear. I'm going to die without that brown bear flank steak. They've told me I was going to die eating it. Now I'm going to die without. Yeah, exactly. So, and then the next day when they revised the restrictions on the press conference, obviously there were a lot of residents that were pretty stoked.

That governor's going to be reelected. No. Pretty much. Yeah, we'll see what happens. So, he's got a lot on both sides. Yeah, well, we just knew we dropped in on you unannounced, but we kind of are doing that. I don't know. It's a little thing now. And we haven't had to call the same person twice yet. So, today we caught you off guard. Maybe next time you'll be screening our calls. Tell us what's new at QU. So, what's new at QU? So, well, as most people, QU is locked down. So, everybody's working from home. But our distribution center is currently still up and operating. So, if you do have any of those non-spring bear items that you need to pick up, the website's still open and we are still shipping. You guys are considered an essential business? Clothing people? Putting pants on people that don't wear pants? Not us particularly.

But I think just distribution centers as a whole are considered under that category. They're considered essential. So, I'm assuming that that's how we fall in it. But the showroom is closed. The corporate headquarters where everybody works is closed. And like I already do for QU, everybody else is working from home. Wow. Gotcha. Dang. So. Well, we may check back with you in the coming weeks and months. Hopefully, your personal hunt's able to come off still. It's not totally abandoned as well as some of the hunters you got coming in as well. It's just kind of crazy times. So, yeah, I'm hopeful. I'm not walking around frustrated and upset, you know, any more than anybody else for what's going on. Optimistic, you know, it's still, the things change an hour by hour and day by day. And, you know, my hunt's still a month away. So, I've got no complaints. I've got a job and my family's healthy.

So, more so than anything else, that's the most important right now. Well, how about, do you think that the size in animals by not being hunted this spring, you think there's a possibility of killing just a level, next level type bear down the road because of it? I don't know. I mean, for the state, you guys know the peninsula and its reputation. We kill the biggest bears in the world on the peninsula. And it's due to, you know, really good management restrictions, you know, with the every other year. Sure. Between odd numbers and even years. You know, and this gives, you know, big bears a chance to grow one more year. But I don't know if it's like, you know, you're talking an older 21 year old. What's the difference? What's the difference? 26 versus 27, you know. You know, there may be a few more bigger bear options available out there on the hunt if it doesn't go. Yeah.

Well, here's a hypothetical. And I know that I've heard a few things tossed around. Let's say it's completely done with. Well, let's just assume it is. Do you think that they're going to entertain making the spring hunt up next year, which means some of those will be both spring and fall of 21 or no? Yeah. So I don't know. There's obviously been a lot of rumors going around. I know that the board of game has met along with some of the other associations that represent the residents and the guiding industry. And they're trying to come up with a resolution, especially for the draw tag scenarios for like all the guys on Kodiak that drew those tags and are not allowed to hunt. So they're definitely trying to come up with something, what the right answer is going to be and how they're going to do it. I don't know.

I don't know if in the end it's just all going to be a wash and they're going to refund tags and tag fees or if they're going to try and make it up to those people. So it's kind of a hard one with management strategy on how they move forward with that and make it fair. Some of these game departments are running a little lean on funds anyway. You know, you could see where it could really potentially. They like those license sales and tag sales, you know. Oh, for sure. And, you know, there's a ridiculous amount of money that the non-resident draw tags bring into Kodiak, into that economy. So, you know, there's going to be a lot of people that feel it, not just the guides and outfitters, but, you know, the restaurant industry, the transporters, those hotels. You know, everybody that sees those 200 non-residents that show up for that brown bear hunt. That's $250 a night, you know. Yeah. Yeah.

Just, you know, the Walmart there, the hotel, the local sporting goods stores. There's just a lot of money that's poured into the economy outside of the actual guide or outfitter that's hosting that hunt. The sales of hip waders alone. You know what I mean? Who knows? The sales of hip waders. But, yeah, hopefully they can make it up, do something that's fair for those people that drew those, you know, once-in-a-lifetime type of tags. So, hopefully something can be made up. But I don't know personally what the right answer is or even have a good educated opinion on it. Just interesting. Yeah, it's going to be interesting to see what happens. I've even thought about if they do do that. What? What? I'm just talking out loud. It's coming to my mind as I'm saying it. So, don't get mad at me, Carter. I haven't said it yet. Let him talk. Yeah, I'm just saying. I can see the writing on his face.

He's going to come up with something. All right, go ahead. What are you going to do? There's possibly. Ptarmigans in your future. No. Grayling. What? The Ptarmigans slam? No, I'm not part of the Upland slam world. No, I'm just saying if there is some, if it's pushed to next year. You're in. You're all in. I might. Come on. That's right. You've tried a time or two. Let's call it a time and a half. Okay. But, yeah, it might be an opportunity to jump on something. Might be a cancellation. Let's hold him to it, Schaefer. Oh, I'm serious. You've heard it. I'm serious. You mean I need to cancel him in on the spare bedroom? Yeah, for sure. Bronson's going to be there. I'll be turpside. I'll entertain something. I'm entertaining things. I'm just mulling stuff over. We get excited. I mean, we can do research on barbary or antelope or anything,

and pretty soon we're the experts and we're going no matter what. That's right. You can't stop. Absolutely. Schaefer, have you got – Yeah, Wyatt's been blowing my phone up for the last couple weeks looking for a deal on a bear cancellation. Well, we've been wondering what he's doing over there. Like, you know, every once in a while I turn around and I look at him, I'm like, I wonder what Wyatt's doing in there. So we've got to keep our thumb on him, you know, probably like Bernsie keeping his thumb on you, you know what I mean? Wyatt needs adult supervision at all times. That's right. There's no doubt. No question. He's a kid, he's a hard worker, but you leave him unsupervised and there's no telling what that kid's going to do. I know. We've learned that. And now we're getting good work out of him now that we know how to manage him. Well, we all know, and this is for another podcast,

but we all know, speaking of bear hunts, we know what kids like to make noise, like to make, you know, weird noises, blow things, be obnoxious. And he likes to blow predator calls up there with no backup or guns of any kind, I've been told. I've been told that too. We're gunslingers, man. There's no fear. Just bail out of the truck with a bow and a range finder, a predator call, and we're grizzly bear hunting. Yeah. So you guys, all right. So let's just dive into that. Bronson brings up a great story. Let's just do it now. And he's not here to defend himself. It's not, but when we heard it, okay, I'm just, it's hard for me to picture. Wyatt doesn't take a lot of risk in his life. No. Very methodical. He goes. Very methodical. You know, routine and regimen. And if you disrupt that, you see that deer in the headlight look in his eyes when he comes to work,

like, I don't know, there was, you know. Yeah, that's right. There was road construction between here and the office, and he didn't know how to get to the office. So you guys are going along. Here's a bear. I'm thinking Wyatt's the last person in the world, I would think, that doesn't think about something that has gunpowder in it. You know what I mean? Yeah, he should have a gun. Was he up there hunting caribou, or were you hunting spring bear? I don't remember even when it was. Tell us the story. So we were, we had just finished up the fall caribou season, and we had the airboat loaded on the truck. Which blew up, right? It did. We had blown a brand new $12,000 engine on that hunt, and we were lucky to get it back to the boat ramp and get it loaded on the trailer, and had camp packed up, and we were feeling sorry for ourselves, and had a 24-hour drive south to Anchorage ahead of us,

and probably about four hours into the drive, right before we hit Addington Pass, within the Dalton Highway archery corridor. Luckily, it had been raining for two weeks, and the road was an absolute mess, and we were only doing about 10 miles an hour, and I look over, and here's a grizzly bear in our grizz, a couple hundred yards off the road, digging up ground squirrels next to the river, and that was probably the last time that we thought about anything, and from there, it just went straight into action mode. Straight into action. Wyatt grabs a predator to call. You grab a bow, and out the door you go. Yeah, we had his rifle and my pistol in the back seat of the truck there, and we grabbed a bow in the range finder, and the predator called. Okay, what could go wrong? We bailed out the truck. Yeah, what could go wrong with that? You leave the truck, leaving the firearms in the truck.

Yeah, nobody's had time for that. All right. So we left all that stuff behind, and we bailed off the side of the road, and we ran a couple hundred yards through the tundra up until we hit the riverbank and got to the last piece of cover, and the bear was probably 120, 130 yards away digging out a ground squirrel, and there was nothing between us and him. We were at the last bush, and Wyatt started hollering on that predator call, and as soon as he heard it, he picked his nose up and came straight to us on a string, and from there, Wyatt was running the predator call and the laser range finder and just counting down, 130, 115, 96, and about that time is when he could do the turn. Oh, my goodness. I've seen that. I'm going to give Wyatt just a little credit. I almost would guess he'd be heading for the truck, but he stuck with you. He was calling yardage. Oh, no, no.

He was attached to my hip, so he was right on my right-hand side and running the predator call with one hand and running the laser range finder with the other, and about every five or six steps that bear took, he was giving me a new range. I had an arrow knocked. Was he running? How fast was he coming? Was he charging? No, he wasn't running hard. He was just a steady walk. You know, he knew what it was, and he picked his head up, and he came straight at us, and it was a steady clip until he hit 35, 36 yards, somewhere in there, and that's when he turned from straight on to broadside trying to cut our wind, and as soon as he turned broadside, I was already at full draw, and I told Wyatt stopped him, and I think just naturally what you do when you tell a guy to stop him, he grunts like a deer, so he just lets out of bat, and as soon as he did, the bear kind of huffed and stopped,

and by that time, the arrow was already on its way. It zipped clean through him, and the bear took off about 40 yards and piled up dead, and next thing you know, it was high fives, hugs, and us yelling, and you know, it wasn't until about that time that I think either one of us even realized that we didn't have a backup. You sounded like a wounded calf moose. I was thinking about grabbing an arrow out of his quiver and just holding it. Yeah. My backup is that I knew that I was faster than Wyatt. That's all you gotta do. That's all you need. And there's no question you'd be faster than Wyatt. There's no question. Yeah, no doubt. No, he's tall and skinny, but yeah, he's got no speed. Oh! Okay, there you have it. Wyatt. Just being honest. Just being honest. That's right. So, honestly, I mean, like I said, everything happened so fast, we just kind of went into hunt kill mode

and bailed out of the truck and got to the last piece of cover, and we just super singularly focused and not even thinking about the what ifs. It was just kill the bear. Wow. You could have been in the news just as easy as with a grip and grin. Yeah. Well, we could have. Yeah. We could have, so. But no, no, when I've hunted all over the world, I've killed a bunch of bears, hardcore bow hunter, and that's one of the top five stocks, you know, that I've ever been on, just how the whole thing unfolded, who was there with me, and, you know, Wyatt was just as stoked for me as if he had killed the bear himself. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's cool. Well, for non-residents like us, we go up there and, you know, we can't just go hunt bears. We've got to either pay to go hunt or be with somebody like that, so that was a freebie. Yep. That was cool. Yeah. Awesome story. It was awesome. Yeah.

Good memories made. Is there, while we got you on, is there any kind of, you know, QU product you want to highlight or talk about that's been on your mind or anything new coming out? No. So we got some stuff, hopefully, that's going to come out this spring, nothing that I can talk about, but, you know, we're always, you know, inventing new stuff and building on what we've already got, you know, new materials, new designs, and that stuff's constantly being regenerated, and as those things come out, we'll be introducing them, so, but, yeah, nothing that I can talk about on air right now. We'll get you back on then. Yeah, the wheels are constantly turning, and so we don't sit on our, rest on our morals on what we've done in the past, so we're constantly trying to reinvent. Awesome. All right, buddy. Well, appreciate your time. Appreciate your answering. Unannounced, and, yeah, absolutely.

I appreciate you guys calling me unannounced, and, yeah, well, it's all work. I mean, you're just fielding calls. You're working from home. I mean, we're not interrupting your daily life. No, I do think it's nine, it's nine-thirty your time. You probably should put a pair of pants on. That's right. Get dressed. Hey, look, I'm in my home office. That's right. I can do what I want. Leave me alone. Exactly. Bowl of Cheerios, and sitting down at the laptop, right? That's right. That's right. I'm just glad I had Jason on my phone, and saw it, and answered it, so. That's right. We are too. Thanks for taking the call. I just assumed he was calling, asking for money again, but. Oh, come on, come on, come on. Although, keep your phone close, all right? Hey, thanks, Justin. We appreciate it. Thanks for your time. Be safe, and we'll check in soon. Yeah, call anytime. Thanks, guys. Thanks, buddy.

Bye. In case we didn't introduce him, that was Justin Schaefer, the guiding outfitter coordinator for QU. Good friend of ours, and Alaska resident. That's why we called him, picked on him. He's obviously on top of kind of what's going on up there, and just wanted to add a little bit, did that, I forgot about that bear story until it came up. That's pretty funny. That's funny. That was perfect. Wyatt, but when Wyatt told us that story, he had a little more fear. Schaefer seemed like it was all in control, just slow walk, walked up and drilled the thing. Wyatt had a little bit more, oh, yeah.

trepidation when he told us that story, like, I think he knew, I think he knew he was slower than Schaefer, and I think that's why it affected him. Schaefer's, I just shot the bear. It was not a big deal. Yeah, it's not a big deal. Yeah, kind of a crazy story. Wyatt had been texting us and said he blew up the airboat, and this and that, and of course, not him, but the airboat, which I don't know. We should get Wyatt on to tell the whole story, because I don't know what they were using the airboat for, access in some of that country, but they were way north, and so, anyway, I don't know. We ought to ask. There's a few questions. There's a few things maybe none of us will ever truly know the truth of. All right, what else? What else are we talking about, Bronson? Let's move on. So, basically, Alaska, limiting people going to their state. Never thought it would come to this.

If you ever told me that a virus would stop the world in its tracks, economically, hunting-wise, and everything else, I'd have called you a liar, and it's happening. Literally in places. So, yeah, going to be a lot of unknowns still in Alaska right now that will be worked out in the coming weeks and months, but could displace a lot of grizzly and brown bear hunters, and I don't know where they're going to go, especially some of these guys that drew tags. I don't know how you do that. Can you imagine if it was like in the fall, and you'd drawn the toke or one of the best 14c sheep tags? And you drew it random. It could still happen. Okay. I don't think so. that's what I mean. Don't think so. And all of a sudden, yeah, sorry, just here's your money back, and you beat the odds, but you're not coming hunting. There's people that are out there surmising and guessing

of what's going to happen this fall. They're glooming. And saying, yeah, there's a 10 to 15% chance this is going to be all for nothing. And this thing's changed so much. Two weeks ago, we didn't even know where we'd be today, and things have changed a ton. We're not out there going to speculate. We're applying as if we're going, and we figure we're going to go. What else can you do? That's another, you've got to be optimistic. To the extent possible. Take it serious, but plan as if the fall is going to be there for the taking. And they're going to, if for some freak reason, I call it a 3% chance that it won't. I'll say two and a half. Okay. Then they're going to make it right. They can't sell you a hunting opportunity and not allow you to have that opportunity without making it right. So don't sweat it. It'll all come around. Everything will be fine. You can apply in Idaho. So similar,

Idaho's not letting us hunt spring bear, or wolves, or come up there and enjoy fishing or anything else. It's a non-resident. And so they did stop us from doing some of those things. However, we can purchase a hunting license for the purpose of applying. I just did it this morning. What else? Where are we at? I don't know. Let's, we've been getting a few calls about, I think I knew where you're heading, but go ahead. We're going to save that big announcement for a little bit. Okay. Go ahead. Bring up something. We've had, we've had a few calls, actually a few dozen, from people with some of these tags throughout the Western states, Utah, Nevada, some of these other states that are, have tags that haven't been sold. Conservation type tags, bid tags, things like that. A lot of the banquets that those are being sold at have been canceled or postponed. We're not talking just governor tags.

We're talking even elk and deer commissioner, conservation, cougar, bear tags. I mean, it's all, you know, but in many states are all species, sheep, moose, goat, deer, elk, antelope, cougar, bear, um, bison, bison, yeah, probably didn't say that. Buffaloes. You know, they're, uh, a lot of these are starting to put them on, on websites, like online hunting auctions, dot com, or have just pushed banquet dates out till the end of May or June. If you're interested in something, we realize this, uh, a virus deal has affected a lot of people and maybe the ability to buy tags that was there, you know, because of the greatness of the economy was turning along smoothly and now it's not. But for those of you that maybe have the interest in some of those, uh, check out, um, check out, either give us a call. We can help find something for you. Uh, all the regular banquets have been, rescheduled.

And there's a lot of tags still out there. Uh, Jason, you probably could get on an antelope in a fourth state if you really wanted. Come on. All right. Where? Utah. Buy a Utah tag. No thanks. There's one that ends tomorrow night. Come on. You've been watching it. No, it's on that. That's my point. You've been watching it. No, it's in conjunction. You got it on your start. You probably got it on a bookmark. It's, it's in conjunction with a lot of others. I think it's like a box elder antelope tag. It's in, it's on one of the other foundation auctions. It's in a mix, but some other good stuff. Somebody wants a steal of a deal. Go do it. I ain't going to bid against you. There are some steals going to come out. There's no question. There's going to be things that are, you know, in these auctions, you get guys that drink a little bit or they get a little excited or whatever,

and they get wound up and, and whatnot. You don't want to be bid. I mean, we're guys, right? We don't want to be outbid even in an auction or hunting situations or the biggest, baddest truck or whatever the case is. We're slightly competitive. I'm just saying you don't have that. It eliminates that. COVID-19 has fixed that and there are going to be some deals. So anyway, onlinehuntingauctions.com is a good place to go. It seems like a lot of these, like Bronson was saying, a lot of these, um,

whatever tags, our conservation groups and different organizations are pushing their tags to this. Um, so anyway, there are, uh, sometimes, uh, um, a bidder's, what do they call it? A bidder's surplus or a bidder's, uh, um, fee for, you know, a top buyer, buyer's premium, things like that. So you might click on that. It's easy to see what the buyer's premium is. But in the cases that there are some, making do with how they can got to get rid of them at some point, they are, you know, entrusted with selling them and getting rid of the tags. And, uh, anyway, so I had a text come through right here. Oh, uh, our buddy, Sean, man heard they shut down Idaho to non-residents. Is that true? We're getting that nonstop today. Um, we're going to continue to answer those questions. It's not true. They did shut it down for the, for the moment up there in the spring, but, uh,

you can apply by hunting license for the purpose of applications, fall hunting applications. All right, Bronson, you brought it up. Where are we at? We've got it. We've made somebody's dreams come true by telling them that tags will be sold at online hunting oxygens.com. Or others. There are, there are potentially, I know some of the other groups within Utah elk foundation and Turkey and others have pushed them out to the end of May, June, July, August. Even they've rescheduled as I've seen some on their website. So, you know, people don't like to wait till August to make plans. They don't. So what do you think? An elk tag that's in August 1st? We like to print, plan and prepare, especially for trophy hunting opportunities. This is one of those things that guys like to tell their wives about, like to tell their work about, like to, yeah, like to tell their wives about. No,

they don't like it, but they need to. And, and, uh, you know, you, if spur of the moment, expensive spur of the moment, things generally don't, especially with anxiety in the air. We'll just, that's the COVID anxiety, whatever, right? Yeah. Or the COVID worry or economic anxiety or whatever, you know, that's going on right now. Let's talk about something that's exciting. Do you have anything else before we talk about? I did have a good, a couple of good friend of ours come down with Corona down the street from us. Kind of crazy. They doing all right? Yeah. Recovering? Yeah, they're recovering fine. Didn't have to go to the hospital. They're sick, but neither of them are hospitalized, right? No. Good. Well, they're getting avoided them a little bit. Yeah. It's no fun. No. But having said that, I also had a buddy of mine. His kid was down there in Argentina and he had to sneak out.

They had to sneak out. Sneak? The police came, checked on him, asked him when they were planning on leaving so they could keep tabs on him. They said the day after, longer than when they were leaving, five minutes later, the taxi shows up, they jump in, they run to a bus. Charger plane? Yeah, they did. The bus ends up dropping them off at the border. They walk across the border, jump in another bus, run to an airport that had been shut down. The chartered plane flies into the shut down airport and fly them home. How about that? Crazy. Huh? There's a lot of... How'd you like to be south of the border trying to get home? I was going to say a lot of that. There's a lot of moving parts to what you just said. A lot of moving parts. And a lot of parts that could go wrong. Oh, I know. So anyway... Stacked like cordwood. Crazy times, right? I know. Somewhere. Remember? Remember? Huh? Yes.

Remember that podcast from the old boy in Montana? Oh, Ron Jenkins. He said they were laying in a prison cell in Sonora for 30 days like cordwood. Yeah, they were stacked like cordwood. Ah, 30 days or so. How about that? Big old vat of rice. All right. So anyway, let's talk about something exciting, Bronson. We're coming out with a new division of our company here at Epic Outdoors. That's right. Tell them. Well, for a lot of years. I mean, ever since we've been doing this, right? There's some natural associations. It feels like that we as hunting consultants, obviously acquiring tags, booking outfitters, going on hunts, how to use your points. All those are the most front burner associations. But one of the other associations we get asked repetitively is on optics. Boom. Right? You've been bridling this thing. We've been trying to hold back, not tell the world we're selling optics.

We are selling optics. We are. And it's just, it's a natural for us to do. We, we talk and discuss, you know, either give our opinions on what we personally use, or if it's not something we personally use, we're, you know, we're asked still to give our opinion on it based on what we've seen our clients bring or what we read about. Cause let's face it, we can't own every single piece ourselves, but bottom line, yeah, we want to bottom line is it's a very natural association for us. So we've, we're ready. I've got product in the office. We stopped. And what I mean, red bronze and bridling is when I get the first optic that comes through the door, I want to tell the world. I want to tell the world about the exciting times. We've refrained until we have, that's right. Everything optics of all shapes, sizes, color, and crease. So anyway, we, we've, our,

our dealerships been approved in Swarovski, Zeiss, Leica, and Vortex. So anyway, anything you guys need, give us a holler. Prices aren't going to be beat. We'll be pretty honest about that. Yeah. We're, we're, we're in this to be able to take care of our, our members to the extent possible that you adhere to us. We appreciate that. We're going to have member pricing. It's going to be, you know, at least 5% cheaper than if you were not a member of Epic outdoors. That's just to simply have a, another member benefit of those that are already a supporter here and member of Epic outdoors and a free shipping on everything like that. We're not going to be beat on, on pricing. So one thing I like about our pricing, Bronson is we wanted to be just like a no dicker type policy, just bottom, bottom line. Great deals. Great deals. And don't, don't, you know,

you're going to know that when you get the pricing from us. You're going to, it's going to be apparent like, all right, yep, let's do this. These guys came to play. They're not screwing around. We don't want to be used car dealership. Don't want you to feel like you, if you go through Bronson, he gives you a better deal than me or vice versa or one of our other guys. Yeah. Based on the fact that Carter drank two monsters that day and he's in a good mood and I've having, I've had water and he's, you know, don't want you to have to weigh that out. And who's in a better mood. Get a print bill off this Corona virus where paper, there's a paper shortage, you know, and charge guy a little extra one day. That's not going to happen here at Epic outdoors. So just let you know, we do have member pricing. We have number pricing. That's all. That's it. That's all there is. And promise you,

promise you members will pay for their membership on their first order. It's just the way it's going to go. If you're looking for something this year, whether it be, you know, rifle scope, binos, spotting scope, BTX does not matter. We can help you out within those companies and give you a great deal on it. And again, everything's in, in house here. And if it's something we do need to order, we actually do that. No problem. Have shipped right to you if needs to be. And excited to announce this. And Phil, it's just going to be another way we can help serve our members without, with, with largely, but just by doing what we do almost every day, just adding now an inventory of optics here to be able to meet the needs of the members that call and want it. Much like matching guys up with strategies and units and different things. We want to sell you what works for you.

We're not out here trying to push a particular product or different things. If you want tens, ELs, Vortex, the new UHD stuff, 18 power binos, whatever, we've got it here. And there, and it may fit your, but everybody's budgets are different. Everybody's tastes are different. Yeah. You know, some people love like us. Some people love Zeiss. I mean, whatever. Swarovski. Exactly. Exactly. If you're a, you know, white tail deer hunter, you know, eight power binos, you know, you know, you want those. So it doesn't really matter. We're here. We can meet the needs of what you're looking for. Keep us in mind. We're going to have a, a page, uh, or two, or I don't know, three, four, who knows in this, uh, next, uh, edition, the May magazine that we come out with. Um, but we're ready. We're ready to take your calls on it. As soon as you hear this, give us a call. If you're looking for something,

we're, we're super excited about this. Slightly holding back so that we had product of all, like I said, of all. And, and also this, uh, don't want to seem like we're insensitive to the needs of the world right now. It's like, if you're thinking about buying something else important or paying your house payment versus buying a pair of expensive binoculars, you should, we get it. You should pay part of your house payment and the rest in optics. Huh? But, you know, so we're trying to come out with this at the same time. We realize that if you're looking or you're preparing for this year's hunts, it's going to be May before, you know what? May, June, July, scouting's heavy. It's the time. So some of these things we did order a little bit in like, uh, with like, uh, they, uh, you know, with the COVID and whatnot, they did, um, not totally shut their doors,

but basically shut down part of their operations. And so anyway, uh, with that, we'd made pretty aggressive orders and have a lot of, uh, items in stock here at Epic Outdoors. And so, you know, some of the basic stuff that we're super big fans of course, everybody needs wazoo tens around your neck, uh, as well as, you know, a huge fans of the 15s. We have Zeiss 15, Swarro 15, 18, uh, Vortex. VHD and, and Vortex and ordered good, good quantities of those. And so. Barton scopes, BTXs, rifle scopes. Yeah. Speaking of rifle scopes. Speaking of rifle scopes. So with this podcast and the announcement of the Epic Outdoors Optics Division, EpicOptics.com, we are going forward with kind of like a little combo, blowouts intro special with Zeiss. And so we've got a couple, several different packages to choose from, but this is basically going to include a rifle scope, a ring set, you know,

30 millimeter ring set to go with them. And if you, and when you buy those, you get a free pair of $500 binos, the 10 by 42 Zeiss Terra binos. So this is a Zeiss sports optics package that we're blowing out here at Epic Outdoors with this podcast. First come first serve. Bronson, take it away. A couple of the scopes that you can choose from. The V4, three to 12 by 56 with a 20 plex reticle. Again, like Jason said, these come with the Zeiss ultra light rings as well. So that scope as well as the V4, four to 16 by 44 Z MOA 2 reticle. Got those in stock. Ready to make some awesome deals on those. We'll just say it. Give them the price, the map price. And with that comes a free pair of binos. Yeah. You're looking at a thousand and 79 98 for the three to 12 by 56 scope with rings and the 10 by 42 Terra binos. The binos alone are worth $500. That's right.

So that's what we're saying is you're paying for the scope and the rings and getting a free set of $500 binos. Keep in mind these binos. I already bought a package. Okay. I got one too. Okay. I bought several. You got two or three for your kids. Well, you had guns you were building anyway. And yet, for your kids. Yes. I just put them together. Right. I just put them together and had the muzzle brake put on them, had a Timney trigger thrown on it. And then I needed to top it out with a scope. Put them, put on this particular scope. Exact. With this promo. Threw on the scopes yesterday. And Sean's been out. He's been shed hunting the crate, crate like crazy. And he says, and I says, he had a pair of Zeiss Victory HDs, a little older version. And he's like, dad, these ones, these are clear. They're unbelievable. And they're, they're super lightweight and compact. So anyway,

he's all about it. Ashley's got a set. Justin's got a set. I mean, come on. But anyway, what a great combination. If you're looking for a rifle scope, I personally, I'm kind of that four to 16. It gives you a little bit more power. We've got the three to 12s. Bronson thinking maybe there's a few muzzleloader guys out there. Or if you're not really, you know, of course they, they both come with the MOA turrets on them. So it's not like that, you know, that's standard on them. So it doesn't matter. But 56 millimeter objective on that three to 12 versus the 44 on the four to 16 power. Z MOA 2. That's that scope. The 14 by 16 by 44 going to be about 1179. So awesome deal for a scope ring set plus a free pair of binos. You know, this is a deal that we're, we took advantage of, ordered some of these first come first serve. So if you, you're interested, give us a call.

If you're looking at topping a gun combo out with the Zeiss rifle scope, give us a call. And if it's not one of these and you want to make something else work, whether it be that or another brand, keep us in mind as well. Kind of nice too. If you go out on their website, you know, rifle scopes and vinyls and different things. It's nice. There's guys that have specific tastes. I like this reticle or I like this power or whatever. Find what you like, go out, research it online, find what you like, and then call it in. And we'll quote your price on it. No problem at all. And of course we can, you know, give you our recommendation here and there. You think we're not opinionated? We'll give you our opinion, but we realized probably on rifle scopes, more than binos and spotting scopes and whatnot. Rifle scopes with all the different objective, as well as reticle combinations that you can get.

Everybody's eye and feel is different. Some want a simple, you know, 20 plex type reticle. Some want the MOA ticks, you know, some don't want the vertical post going up. So it's just all different, but keep us in mind for anything in your optics lineup for this year. This is not something we're going to dabble in. We've, we've thought about this for a while. We wouldn't be starting something like this. It was, Hey, we're just going to try this out. You know, no, our, our goal is to be able to meet the needs of our members and our clients that call and take, and take care of your needs in the optics world, so to speak. And, you know, obviously we're, we've tried a lot with everybody in the, we have in our office. We've used a lot of different optics over the years and can give a lot of very, very valuable information. If you're simply want to say, Hey, I need to get set up, you know,

out West. What do I need? We can give you our two cents on that. That's right. You know, let's be honest here. Optics. What percentage of hunting is behind those divorces, divorce rate within the hunting industry is behind purchases of optics. I don't know. I thought you're going somewhere else. Where'd you think I was going? How much of the hunt of the actual hunting time involves optics. And I was going to, I was like, Oh yeah. Glassing. 100% of your success is, 100% of your success is due to optics. Out West. It's just. But now. Okay. But you took this down a direction. I didn't know. the marital relationships struggle on the, on expensive optics. And that's why we're here. We're here to help and give you a better pricing. How about that? Okay. That's a good twist on it. Yeah. Good. We're also, anyway, and we've, we've mentioned this as well, regarding stealth cam.

I think in an earlier podcast, we've mentioned that we are also a stealth cam dealer as well. The optics and, and trail cams are things that, again, go kind of hand in hand. We get a lot of calls on what kind of trail cams that we use. And, you know, last year. Hundreds and hundreds, hundreds and hundreds of stealth. That's right. Jason, we actually got five or six models, put them in your backyard. You volunteered your backyard. Versus any of ours. I went and tested them. And, uh, settled on some. And we've, we've made orders on what we feel are some of the more universally, uh, used cameras for like Western, a big game hunting, which, uh, the 45 NG max is really hard to beat. We've got lock boxes for them. We've got them in stock. If you're having a hard time finding them, getting them, whatever, um, we've got them. And if you want to order other models that you like better or for your

specific need, keep that in mind as well. Where do you think all these parts, for a, most trail cam manufacturers come from?

Where? Where did the Chinese virus came from China? Right. And so that's why we ordered a bunch of them is like, Hey, what if we can't get them? I'm not saying there's a disruption. Maybe there's not going to be nice to have a bunch in stock, right? Got hundreds and hundreds. So anyway, taking up a lot of rooms. That's all I know. They are, but, but, but it's also like money in the bank. They're just like money in the bank. And it's when you can't have something you want to just look at the toilet paper thing. Come on. Okay. All right. And so anyway, I would say this is more important than toilet paper. Big old 250 inch deer. Come on. Yeah. Okay. Absolutely. So having said that, they didn't have toilet paper. I mean, you can wash your hand. They didn't have toilet paper three, four and 500 years ago. I mean, what? I know they didn't have, I know you could get by. Yep. So we're,

we're excited about the optics less than perfect timing. We get it. Uh, you know, everybody's dealing with Corona virus and whatnot and, and different things. But, uh, also we were down this path before that ever came up and we weren't turning back. This is the orders were all placed as months and we, and we're not complaining about it. We do it again. We're super excited about it. Um, anyway, if you need something, let us know if it's something we don't have, we can get it. No problems. Uh, we're not out there to have tons of walk-in customers. We're not out here to, you know, to compete with sports and warehouse or anybody else that's here in town. Um, we're out here to service our customers. They're at here at Epic outdoors. We're not, we don't need the revenue to keep the lights on. We're doing, it's an added, it's just an added service. That's all it is.

That's the simplest way to put, but, but, you're not going to find a better deal. We're going to say that right now. Let's be honest about that. Yeah. That, that's what we're in business to do. Give you guys a great deal. Service our members. So take it serious. Then we say, you're going to want to give us a call and price, uh, an optic if you're looking to buy some. That's right. So anyway, give us a holler. 435-263-0777. Just give a couple of shout outs real quick to a couple of our, uh, sponsors. Uh, one of them is MOA rifles. Uh, they have a lot of great products from the carbon Alpine, the carbon Sporter, uh, evolution, carbon summit, LRH, and the MOA ascent, which I actually have one of those in a six, five PRC. And, uh, they can, they can, Sheila. Did you name it Sheila? I did. She barks. She bites pretty hard. A couple of one shot kills with some sheep this year.

Don't mess with her. Um, great, great guns, great products. Bob Beck and the guys there, uh, five, four, one, five, two, six, one, eight, two, zero, or MOA rifles.com. Uh, let them know what you're, what you're trying to design, what you've got in mind as far as a Western long range hunting rifle. Do you want to throw a little shot? Shout out for Bob. He did have a cancellation on a couple of guns. One's a left-hander. That's an awesome 28 nozzler. Another one is just one like Bronson shot. Is shooting a six, five with a 20 inch barrel. I think it's five pounds, 14 ounces. Don't quote me. It's barely under six. It is. But anyway, I know he will make you a screaming deal at a five, four, one, five, two, six, 18, 20. Ask for Bob Beck. Tell him you heard it here on Epic Outdoors podcast. Well, anyway, no, we did talk about Zeiss a little bit. I want to circle back to that. We also, uh, man,

we're dealing with Swarovski, Leica Zeiss, and Vortex. Vortex has a new rifle scope out. We're super excited about that as well. Talked about that on the podcast, uh, just a week or so ago with the Paul Kendall. We're dealing with those now. Uh, got those in stock as well. The reason we brought up Zeiss was just because of this Wazoo combo. Just a deal of a deal out there. We gave some Vortex optics last week away. Although it was not announced that we were an optics dealer yet. So we'll spread the love. When we called Paul, we knew we were dealing in them, but again, we were trying to bridle ourselves because we wanted to have product in hand. Didn't want you to make a call without stuff on the shelf and it's on the shelf and it's stacking up deep. So ready to get rid of it. Give us a call. Sounds good. Here we go. Epic optics.com. 4, 3, 5, 2, 6, 3, 0, 7, 7, 7, 7, All right.

Talk to you later. Bye.