EP 160: The Month of Draw Results and Planning Hunts

A few opportunities for 350 plus bulls. That shows you the value of antelope, which is why I'm becoming a trophy antelope hunter. You get some good tires, you usually don't get stuck. I know Jeff's not in there, so Jeff wouldn't know, but anything to do with Western big game.

Welcome to the Epic Outdoors podcast, powered by Under Armour. Hi everybody, Jason Carter and Adam Bronson coming at you from Southern Utah. Got some overcast out there, Bronson, a little bit windy. Is it going to rain or what? No, but it's warm. Low 80s in Southern Utah. Well, we're not St. George. They're mid-90s. Oh, yeah. Vegas and this Phoenix Valley is 100 already. It's the end of April. I don't know. It's got to be green, but it might be drying out quick if it keeps this up. That's right. We just talked to Buddy Davey Matthews down there in Arizona. He says, it's early to be this warm. I don't think he knows what he's talking about. It seems like about right, doesn't it? It can hit 100 every month of the year in Arizona. That's a good point. That's a good point. I know. I know. It won't, but it feels like it.

Before we get cranking, we'd like to thank Under Armour for sponsoring this podcast. Appreciate them, their support. They've got some good things happening. They're kind of secretive about it, though. Haven't heard a ton. Stealthy release. Stealthy release coming up. That's right. So, anyway, we're kind of excited. What day is today? Is today the 30th? April 30th? It is. It's April 30th. We've got some deadlines on us. We've got Idaho sheep, goat, and moose today. Yes. Which this podcast, by the time you guys all hear it. You missed it. You missed it. Sorry. And don't get mad at us. We're just throwing it out there. It's just what's on our mind today. But if you get this today, which you'll probably hear this on a Friday, May 1st, it is Montana. Moose, sheep, goat, and bison. Bison. Yeah. Another one for you. That's right. Bam, bam.

And May 1st should be the release of Colorado Goat and Sheep Results. Which will be tomorrow. Yeah, that's right. Today, if you're listening to this, whatever. May 1st. Or yesterday, if this comes out Saturday. That's right. Regardless of that. Or if it comes out Sunday, two days ago. A lot of pressure on Chris to get this out. Big news. On one of those days we talked about it. So anyway, everybody want to remind you too, Monday is the deadline for Nevada. We're talking about May 4th. It's going to be cranking here quick. So anyway, if you need some help, that's what we do here at Epic Outdoors. $100 a year. We come out with nine issues a year. Covers all the states, applications, best units to apply for, different things, as well as not the best units. And all big game species. That's what we do here. We're lined guys up with outfitters and help them figure out an application strategy.

And we can do the same for Nevada. Yeah. We love Nevada. We're all in. But what I like about Nevada is they allow you to go in and modify, change. Alter. Alter. Amend. Withdrawal. Whatever you want to call it. Everything. Right up until the deadline. And so we normally do apply early just to cross off our list knowing that we can go change that. I wish all states would go to a, if they're online and you apply and you want to change your application up until deadline. Why not? Why couldn't you do that? Why not? Because a guy that's applying that last day, he just barely got his in. What if you just change your unit that last day? It makes no sense to me. Really love Nevada for doing that. Allows you to maybe, maybe something changed in the last month or maybe you feel a little bit more bold, I guess, in your choices. Well, it makes me less inhibited to do it early on.

A lot of times you wait because you might learn something or maybe your plans change. You draw a text somewhere. And so you don't do it really early in the application process, right? But with Nevada, you can do it the day it opens. Well, and the thing about it is we apply our family. So we got five or six of us just in our family. And if you're waiting until the last couple of days, it's just a, I don't like to do that. It's just too much. You got five choices, all the species. It's carving time out is not easy when it gets down to the wire. Yeah, that's right. Anyway, but love Nevada. Make sure you're in by the 4th. If you don't get in by May 4th, they do have an extra week until May 11th for points only applications. That's right. Awesome opportunity there. You can do group apps only for deer. And so anyway, some guys are what we call point boosting. And you can only do that for deer.

Other states is not necessarily the case, but Nevada. Group apps for deer only. You can't even do an antelope app with a group. There's even a waiting period for antelope and not a waiting period for deer. Who does that? I don't know. Who does that? I don't know. That shows you the value of antelope, which is why I'm becoming a trophy antelope hunter. You heard it first here, ladies and gentlemen. He's declared himself something that I've never heard. Trophy antelope hunter. Well, I'm going to learn how to decoy them suckers, call them in, things like that. We just cranked out a May issue of the publication. We kind of wanted to go through it. At the same time, we are working on June, pounding it out. They'll come out back to back. We should have an e-mag out. It'll be out by the weekend. These state magazines, they're important, but we can't wait a month in between these two

because you've got California and Arizona due early June. You can't wait until the first of June or so to get it out. So bam, bam, within about 10 days. And then it's not coasting, but the research and writing part of it's over for a little bit. Consulting and a lot of applying still. There's still a lot of states open. Oh, my gosh. There's a whole list of stuff. Let me just read a couple. You know what I mean? It's nuts. Okay, so Monday, May 4th, we come out with Nevada. Awesome state. We think you should be applying. May 15th, Oregon, all species. Some guys do, some guys don't. It's kind of fun. We've both drawn sheep tags there. Washington, May 18th. How about that? Yeah. Crazy. We covered that as well. We covered that in the May issue. Montana antelope. We covered that in the April issue. That's June 1. Another June 1 would be Wyoming deer and antelope. Huge advocates of that state.

That's right. May issue. It is. Yep. June 2nd, Bronson, you've been researching California pretty heavy, and we've been writing about that. That's done. June 2. That's right. June 2. Idaho elk and deer. We covered that in the May issue. June 5. You forgot antelope. Where? And I know. Oh, I know. I know. I just didn't want you to give me some. I know. Now I'm going to do anyway. I know. Anyway. This has been a theme of the year. You just need to draw some tags and we'll get off your back. I am going to smoke some antelope just so these guys, just for all of you guys out there that don't. He's going to smoke them. Understand the underlying tone of teasing going on. That's right. He's going to smoke them and then we're going to try to get the pellet grill home and smoke them for four days so you can eat them. I have guys calling me every week and they talk about truck chasers.

And that came out on a podcast, what do you think, 30 podcasts ago? That's right. And the thing is, antelope aren't the brightest critter in the world. But if they want to get on the other side of the road and you're going 50. They won't stop and let you go first. They want to beat you every time. So they chase your truck. And that's all I'm saying about antelope. Having said that, I'm going to fill the void and I'm going to smoke a bunch of them. All right. So then we've got Iowa, June 7, Arizona sheep and deer and kind of that first bison application period. Basically, it's a designated bison on Raymond or cow and yearlings. Anyway, and you can apply and get a point and that's good for the main draw, which we'll cover in the October issue. But anyway, that application period, sheep and deer is the big thing, June 9. That's a busy 38 days, 40 days. That's a busy one.

We've got the point only periods there for Wyoming and Montana, both opening July 1st. So a lot to happen. But also, we won't go through them all. But May is an awesome month for draw results. It's just chock full. We could go over that list. A different list, but that long. You're cranking that out in your soapbox. We'll have a little bit of a little whatever, a little graph in there. What to look for, what to still do and what to look forward to. But anyway. So we did have a good friend of ours looking to draw an antelope tag here in Utah wondering, you know, when his credit card would be hitting. Guys, we're just guessing around. What do you think, Bronson, May 15? Yeah. Hopefully sooner. Utah met, Wildlife Board met April 30th, approved all their permit numbers. Again, that's today. So that was today or yesterday or two days from now or four days from now or five days ago.

Depending on when Chris comes out with us. That's right. Either tomorrow or Saturday. Depending on how crazy you guys get. How much needs to be. Oh, no editing. There'll be no nothing. Sometimes Bronson swears once in a while. Very rarely. Usually it's some weird trap. It's a trap. I can too. I get trapped at times. It's a trap. Hey, so anyway, I don't know why we got off base, but we did go out and we noticed this big old flyover here in Utah. Yeah. But back to the Utah thing. We were talking about the 30th. So they set permit numbers. Okay. And then. And Nevada's meeting tomorrow. Yeah. Now they got to set them, send them to the draw company that does the draw. They got a first precursor is, yeah, they just start running credit cards if you're successful. So it gives you about a seven day job. But then you don't know. You don't know what you got, but around the 15th or so of May.

So we're kind of excited about that. Tons of draw results coming out. Lots of deadlines. Of course, all of this magazine work is basically done, Bronson. So we're going to come out with that on the EMAG. Be kind of a glimpse into California and Arizona and that'll wrap it up. So we here at Epic Outdoors produce a monthly publication December through June, bimonthly, by design for the rest of the year. That gives you nine issues a year. And we're by design in the hills doing what we're saying, practicing what we preach, drawing tags. That's right. Yep, that's right. So, but we do stagger everybody. So there's always going to be somebody here in the office to take care of you and anything that you need. That's right. That's what we, first and foremost, take care of our membership here at Epic Outdoors, a hundred bucks a year. Before we dive into this May issue, let's call somebody.

Let's see if we can get somebody. Call your brother. Do you think he's bought a truck yet? No. So to tee this up. Well, let's tee it up right. Can we do it before we call him? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Tee it up right now. He's a very thorough investigator. That's said lightly. When you want to buy a truck, tires, anything mechanical, four-wheeler, snowmobiles. It don't matter. I mean, I don't know. I'm not a motorhead. He's much more that way. He builds rear ends. He rebuilds a Bronco. Walkers. He'll know what Chevy GMC's coming out with in three to four years. He'll tell you what model they're coming with in the new 6.4 or whatever it is. We bought power wagons. And he proceeded to tell you everything your power wagon can do. Before I even knew anything about it. And the tires on your ZR2. What tires you should get on your ZR2. And the fact that they're not quite as tall as they could be.

All that. So that's him. Well, he wrapped a truck up to either 260 or 280. We'll find 260 or 280,000 on a diesel. Miles. On a Duramax. 260, 280,000. And just sold it. These are the pre-emissions diesel. Yeah, like a 2006, I think, is what it was. So it's, and you diesel guys, that's probably something, it doesn't mean anything to me. But to diesel guys, it probably is like, yeah, that's a good truck. And what it tells me is it's wore out. And I'm thinking it's wore out. Had a guy fly from Michigan out to Utah to buy it. And it was on KSL like barely. And thanking him the whole time. And I'm thinking that thing's got 200 and how many thousand miles. But the joke is now between Jason and I, because we know how thorough Aaron is, how long is it going to be? The problem is we both know it's going to be long. And so neither of us are going to take each other's money.

I said, well, maybe sheep season opens in Utah September 12th. He might have one by then. I doubt it. I think he's going to put a trailer tow package on his car, hook up to his flatbed, and tow his side by side down there. He's one of those guys. He's not going to buy one. Case in point, he's been looking for a little boat to go. How many years? Well, supposedly, me and him have these, right? And I just leave it up to him because I don't want to know all the trannies and all the different stuff. If you leave it up to him, you'll never have a boat. I know. But you're going to know. You're going to have access to the knowledge of every boat manufacturer out there and all the ins and outs. I bet I had 10 pitchers last year off of our state classified, KSL, whatever it is, just boats. And we're always number two. You can't be there fast enough on a good deal.

No, because he's scared to pull the trigger. Wants to make sure. Very deliberate in what he does. So here we go. I think he's on the road. This is totally out of the way. So this is Aaron Bronson. Let's see if he answers.

Hello. Where are you guys at? Oh, just burning up outside of Moab. Ooh, don't stop too long. Moab doesn't want people staying around. You're not supposed to stay in the camp spots. Hey, they may not let us through town. We're hoping we can sleep under as a work utility vehicle. Yeah. Well, good. Have you taken your temperature? Are you corona-free? So far. What do you guys got? I hear about eight guys in there. No, just me and Jason on the podcast. You've got a cold call today. You're the lucky one. So we're just talking today about a few topics and wondering. I know you're not driving your truck down because you're probably four months from deciding and making the right decision, praying about it, what you want. So whose truck did you borrow to go down there? Or are you in Mama's car? No. No. We're all good there. Jake's tags are Jake's driving. Oh. Oh, how convenient. How convenient.

And I'm just doing research right now as we drive down the road. Okay, let's have it. What's broke down? What's pulling what? I'm just doing some research, market research right now. I can't even imagine you doing some research. The 410 rein versus upmel. Yeah, 373s, 410s. What do you got? Where are you at? What are we looking at? Factory lockers, factory lift. You're the one that convinced me to get a power wagon, and now you won't touch them. I'm a little worried about it. I'm not worried about what I'm driving. No. The power wagon's still on the – anything's open right now. I just – What about the Chevy one-ton comes factory with a little bit of a lift on it, and they say it's just indestructible? Well, it's the GM's. It's the AT4 on the GMC, but it's a little bit of an off-road, but nothing like the power wagon. But it's a three-quarter ton. They don't make a – not a one-ton in a gas.

It's just a three-quarter. They don't make a one-ton gasser? Josh Horrocks was telling me the gasser one-tons are the only – Well, a one-ton gasser? Yeah. Well, if Horrocks has one, they probably make one. Obviously, they do. And that would go back to the old 8-1-liter big block. Like I said. Well, that ran the Allison Tranny. That 8-1, didn't it? Yeah, it does. It would have – they may have a bigger one, but the new Chevy, the 6-6-liter gas, is really good. I've driven one of them. They're really nice. What about that? They have a – 50cc Briggs & Stratton. What about that? No. Adam doesn't know what he's talking about, Aaron. No, he doesn't. He just lets me find the vehicle, and he gets it. Well, yeah. I know. It's like – And the tires. Are these gassers going to outlast the pre-emission diesel that you just got rid of? I don't think so.

That's my biggest battle, the whole diesel and gas, and you go back and forth, and it's – Yeah. It's longevity. I mean, they run like nothing else, but I don't know. We'll see what kind of deal I can get. They get stuck in the mud. That's what I don't like about diesel. They're heavy. In the front end, they bury – Mud and snow. Have you ever tried to jack a front end of one of them diesels up with a handyman jack? Oh, yeah. They do just fine. Did they – Did it about break your jaw when that thing goes to dipping? You get some good tires. You usually don't get stuck. I know Jeff's not in there, so Jeff wouldn't know, but you guys get pretty good tires. Well, we buy what you tell us to. What tires are we talking about, Aaron? What kind and why? Well, longevity. I mean, if anyone knows me, I'm cheap, so I got to buy the cheapest tires that are going to last the longest.

Not the cheapest tires. I shouldn't say that. I get good tires. The best value. But that are going to last a long time because let's face it. All of us are hunters. We have to have the biggest, baddest tire on there, but half of our miles or more are just on the highway going to the unit. That's right. So you got to have something – I got you pegged as a Dick C-Pick fun country type guy. I love those tires. They also make a trail country that are really good, and Nitto makes a Ridge Grappler, not to be confused with Ridge Reaper, but Ridge Grappler. What about the – They're really good. Are they the Ridge Grappler or what's that Grappler? I do the Terra Grappler. They have a Mud Grappler or a Terra, but no. The Ridge Grappler is really comparable to the C-Pack in the aspect it's a Mud Train on the outside and an All-Terrain on the middle. Best of both worlds. It's a hybrid.

What about if I want a Kevlar sidewall?

Wrangler has those. These guys don't have them, but they're the same ply. They just don't say Kevlar. But the longevity, we're talking 16,500 miles or something like that? No, we're talking like 50,000 on a three-quarter turn. Oh, you're talking back to the C-Packs though, right? Yes. Yeah. 50,000. You got 50,000. And I get 30, 35, which is more than I got on any tire in my whole life. Yeah. That's about what I get too. Isn't that crazy? And I'm not as – Yeah. I don't rotate them like I should. Once they start cupping, it's a slippery slope after that. So you got to be Stickler on the rotations. Did you end up selling that old classic Bronco that you were rebuilding that locker rear end on and all that? Oh, yeah. You bought a side-by-side with that thing. 15 grand. You could be riding that right now. Like you could at least have a hunting rig. Tell us about that rig. This is – okay.

That lady you bought it from, she's – I don't know how old she was. She was a widow, right? Somewhere. Yeah. And you bought it for like what? 1,200, 800? What did you buy it for? Like five up in Casper, Wyoming. Oh, man. $100. What year was it? What year was it? 75, Ford Bronco. Cherry? Yeah, it's pretty good to say. No. No, it had some work. I drove it on a trailer to get it home, but then I had to do a lot of work to it. Did a lot of work over the course of the 12, 15 years I owned it, and it was a good rig. But with the twins and the daughter, they're just – I couldn't ever go. Like our family doesn't fit in it. There's only four seatbelts. And of course – So I could never go anywhere with it. Of course, add 15 years from the time you bought it, and you put, oh, say a couple grand into it, whatever. Oh, yeah. You still sold that thing for like 15,000 bucks. Yeah. 15 years later.

Because – And Mama probably got tired of putting in the mouth guard and putting on the helmet to be able to ride in that record. They love going in it. Yeah, the real – yeah. So that's gone. The GMC Duramax is gone as of last week. But, yeah, you got a timeline? What's – Well, I mean – What's the top three options for a truck? I just want to know what Jason's – Adam's trying to decide as an outfitter if he needs to be able to outfit you with a vehicle. Can I count on you this fall for hunt? How many trucks do you have? Between the two of you, I could have a truck with your guys' trucks. Yeah. Carter's got three probably at his house that are going to sit – No, three that are empty that you could borrow. Hey, I'll put a motor in that Toyota, Carter, and I can just run in. Oh, that thing is purring. That thing is purring. He's got a motor a month ago. Yeah, that thing is purring.

He's got it finally where I'd buy it off him right now. Of course, I couldn't afford it because of what you put into that thing. I'm in it sixish. What do you got, some 32-inch Wranglers on there? No, it's a four-cylinder stick shift. No. Oh. No. Not yet. 31. Okay. So what's the top three trucks you're looking at for a – right now? Hunter, outdoor. It's got to be a three-quarter ton. We're not talking about – Yes, it's got to be a three-quarter ton. Half tons just don't hold up in the stuff that we do. It's got to be a three-quarter ton. So what are they? So you've got a Ram Power Wagon. You've got a F-250 or a GM-2500. Well, how high on the list is the F-250? I know you've got family members that are dealers, so we don't want to offend them. I don't. But let's really cut to – how high is that on the list? I've never heard you say the word F-350 or 250 in my life. 250. 250. Any F.

Never heard you say an F word in my life. It's – what did I say? It's the top three. He's being so careful because he knows the best deal he's going to get is through family. They don't afford dealership. The Power Wagon is technically a three-quarter, 2,500, but it does have really soft suspension for articulation. I hooked up to my trailer. It's soft. Squatted a little bit on your cam trailer? Yeah, with my 26-foot toy hauler, but it just – it's awesome. It's the best truck I've ever had in the hills, but I'm telling you, you know, then you feel like, well, then I put airbags on it. Even with five pounds in the airbags, you're still restricting it. I don't know. I'm just – just saying. Just saying. It is a three-quarter ton, but it ain't a heavy-duty three-quarter ton, which you might think, that Power Wagon. Oh, no. No. Yeah. Because it's got the coils in the back.

Anyway, it's all good. It's all good. Do both of yours have coils in the back? Mine does. I'm not sure about it. I don't think yours does, Adam. No. The Leaf. That's a new suspension. The Leafs are another – Adam has the six-speed auto, which is – mine's the eight-speed, and it just – it shifts a lot. The coils are great for, like I said, – Off-road, yeah. When you're empty, it's probably awesome. Unbelievable. You're not prying mine out of my cold, dead hands. I'm telling you that. Adam's is running 37s stock. Yeah. He's a little big on those. No, they're not. Stock? No, they're not. Doesn't rub at all. I could put chains on there that are two inches tall if I wanted. Kind of crazy. Anyway. All right, Will. That's crazy. And then the timeline, Aaron. I think you got some hunts around September 1st. Are you thinking like August 30th, or what are you thinking? August is the timeline.

That's why. I didn't think my truck would sell that quick, so I am in a little bit of a bind. What did you sell it for again? 16.5. Jeez. Just all highway miles. Oh, clean one owner. Clean one owner, highway miles. You're right. Guy flew across the nation. But Aaron does take- In the COVID era, he flew out. Flew. And Aaron- Yeah, guy flew out and bought it. Probably the lone man on the airplane. Anyway. Yeah. Well, you take care of your stuff. Yeah. I totally- We just wanted to give you a little gift. Yeah, we had to. What are you doing down there? You guys are hunting bears. Keep looking down there. We're going up. We're going to look for bears. It's time. It's May. So, it's time to start looking for bears. So, we're going to go see if we can find one. Dig one up. All right. Brown bears, black bears, blonde bears. Black. I sent you guys a picture the other night. You and Jake.

He probably can't hear me. Oh, I know. But be careful on them one-handers. Even if they're blonde, don't let the blondes lure in to shoot them. They're one-handers. He's not going to shoot a one-hander. They're good looking. The one-handers are great to pack out, though. They are. They are. You don't have to keep meeting Utah anyway. So, it's like- Hide to hide. Hide to hide. Hide to hide. Easy pack out. Y'all should be fun. I do not want to see- It's been a good hot week. Do not want to see a one-hander. Don't want to be hashtagging Cub down on you. You know what I mean? Cub down. Cub down. No, he won't. He'll be good. He's got the whole month. Okay. So, how much- Hey, keep your eyes peeled down in cedar, too. That's another market. Cheap a truck. I got two power wagons. There's a truck right by my house on the lot. When one comes for sale, you have about two weeks to buy it. You in?

Okay. Two weeks. Are you capable of making a decision? Here's a good point, though. Plenty of time. All right. With the big production facilities out of commission, right? There is going to be- There's a lag in trucks coming. I've heard that. If you can't- Yes, I heard that, but also, they're starting to open them up here pretty quick. So, I think it's not going to be as big a turnaround as they thought. Again, Adam, it's going to be September 2nd. I know. So, I'm hearing, yeah, the big guys down south with the great big dealerships are saying they're expecting their lots to be void of big trucks. F-250s. F-250s. Wow. By mid-July. Really? Yeah. Yeah. That could be the case. If you hear me coming down your guys' way for a family trip, you probably know that I'm going to be bringing one of your trucks back because I need one. I'm planning on it. So, just keep that in mind.

If you're like, hey, family's coming down to visit. I need a ride down to Cedar. What truck do you want to take? I'm probably bringing one of your trucks back. What truck do you need? Just come out and say it. I'd love to sell you a clean one owner. I've got one that needs to hit the road. Jason, I'm not getting any of yours. I'm not buying any of Carter's. I might look at one of Adam's because they're both new. Yeah. All right. The ZR2s aren't for sale. You're not considering a ZR2, I guess. I'm not selling any of my trucks for at least five years. So, I've got a five. Or September 1st, I don't have one. Yeah. Well, that'll be a lease option with high interest. Dad's got two trucks, too, so I could hit him up. And dads love it when their kids borrow their crap.

Exactly. Sean comes to me all the time. Hey, Dad, I'd like to take the Toyota out. And I'm thinking, oh. I don't know if this thing will come back in one piece. He'd be tickled. Just like the good old days in high school. He'd love to see it come back in pieces or not come back at all. Yeah. All right, guys. Well, good luck. Have fun. Call Adam if you get stuck. When you get a truck, you need to call back on the podcast and let us know what you got, what color, all the bells and whistles. All the ins and outs. That's right. We're talking hunting vehicles. All right. All right, Aaron. Bye. Bye. I don't know what to say. That's thorough. I mean, you've got a glimpse. That's what. Why do I need to find out what tires to use? You make one call, that's all. Kind of like these injury attorneys up in Salt Lake. One call and you just. Okay. And we hang up and we buy them, don't we?

His buddy's driving and he's researching. Everything you and I have bought in the last five years when it comes to accessories for trucks or tires. I know. We make a call and it's spot on. I know. That's the thing. Here's the thing about Aaron. We get enclosed trailers for our cyber sites. Okay. Can't just get an enclosed trailer. We got to have gas tank holders on the front for the fibers. They're amazing. They're awesome. Okay. Then he pipes it with 110 so we can hook a generator to it. Inside we have LED lights. LED lights all over. With the light switches. He's got fold down cots in his now. And then he takes his. He doesn't help ours. We have no fold down cots. His has shelving, fold down cots, everything. And this is a simple box trailer. It's a Carmack box trailer. A $5,000 trailer. Yeah. Brand new. Yep. You know? Yep. 16 footers or something. Time Aaron gets done with them.

You can eat off the floor. A family for four could live in it. That's right. That's right. That's right. Pretty awesome. All right. Bronson, let's crank through this thing. Let's do it. Should we talk about May? Yeah, let's do it. The May issue just came out. Basically, we got ours in print in our hands and super excited about it. Some of you are getting it. I've heard from a couple people. Been out on EMAD for a little while. EMAD's online. That's right. So let's maybe breeze through real fast. Iowa and Washington. Jason, you talked about these earlier. Washington deadline. We only cover the moose, sheep, and goat. That's due May 18th. Yes. And part of the reason for that is it's still $110 to apply for those three species. Each. Each. That's right. It's a little spendy. They're 20 some odd years into a point system. Squared point system. Squared.

And it's a little daunting if you think you're going to want to start. But it's moose, sheep, and goat, right? So some people, you know, it's moose, sheep, or goat tag they get their name in for. Maximum points is 27 this year going into 2020. 27 points squared. The reason we don't cover the deer and the elk, there are some good trophy draw opportunities there. But as a non-resident, you've got to first buy their general deer and elk tags. If you are going to be going to Washington anyway, if you're a neighboring state, say, Oregon, Idaho, somewhere, and you're going to be going there anyway, yeah, it makes sense then to play for the controlled hunt deer and elk. But nobody's going to spend, you know, $400 and plus on a deer and $400 and plus on an elk just to then enter the special draw for deer and elk. So we cover the moose, sheep, and goat. That's right. And we do.

And the drawing odds, like you alluded to, are just brutal. We're talking like Swakane. One in 30, 267. That's the number of applicants. It's not even talking about how many points they have. That's just raw people. They have a squared system. So you and I start in now. We've got one name in the hat. Gomer Pyle has 100 and some odd names in the hat. Times that by 3,000 Gomer Piles, the odds are long. So anyway, same thing with goat, same thing with moose. Really tough. However, if you get one of those tags, happy to help you. Got great outfitters. Guys are doing well. You've got trophy photos in there for a reason. They drew tags and killed animals. But it's not one of ours if you're on any kind of budget that we would expect that you should do. However, we drew a couple years ago. A client drew a sheep tag with five or six points. I mean, it just blew us away.

So you're saying I have a chance. Yeah, you do. So we're not trolling. I mean, with sheep especially, you just got to kind of apply and forget about it. We've said that many times before. But all that information for every sheep, moose, and goat unit in Washington is in the May issue of the magazine. It's all there again. Deadline is May 18th. The other one I want to breeze by quickly. You alluded earlier, Jason. I think the deadline is June 7th is Iowa for whitetail deer. Giant bucks. Iowa is in a great spot. But having said that, you need a place to go. It's largely private. It does have some public. Very little. But it does have some. Incredible opportunity for guys that want whitetails. We cover it. Okay. Bronson. We want to be the best consultants that we can be for Western Big Game. Why do we cover Iowa?

Well, we have enough members that are looking to apply places that apply for Iowa and gain points. And it has a point system, one of the few places out there that doesn't give you 16 tags for every single person to go kill stuff. Well, and it's also for guys that live out West and apply and hunt the West. Like Easterners, Iowa may or may not be on their list. They can hunt all the other neighboring states for whitetail. Now, us Westerners, you can hunt some whitetails in Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Montana, Wyoming. In general, they're a little bit, I guess you'd put them more on the average. Now, there's exception to that. But when you start moving further east, the states you come to most naturally are Kansas and Iowa. When you talk about some of the front lines of big, big whitetail for us guys to get to. So that's why we cover it. And they're on a draw system, quite frankly.

Here in the West, we know how to apply in draws. And so when you add a point system, that gets us even more excited. It doesn't matter where it's at. So anyway, we do cover Iowa, Kansas, things like that. But overall, not talking about Ohio, don't even have an outfitter in Ohio. Although they do kill some big bucks there too. But Iowa being on a draw system, preference point system and whatnot, we do cover it. Do have outfitters there, happy to help you. Again, May 2nd to June 7th is the application period. Generally speaking, three to four points gets you any archery tag in the state. Four points especially. And then they also have some December gun hunts as well as a late muzzle. So help guys out there all the time. Covered it. Moving on. Right? All right. So the two states that we cover in this May magazine that no question will be, you know,

on a lot of people's minds are going to be Wyoming for deer and antelope, which this year is due on June 1st. Let's break that down. We'll also talk about Idaho in a minute. But both these states are states that a lot of people use, and rightfully so, as a, I guess, a backup plan. A lot of states' results, we had New Mexico a week or so ago. May is going to crush, and early June is going to crush through, you know, a handful of states. A bunch of big deer and elk states. You've got Colorado. You've got Wyoming elk. You've got Nevada, Utah. All these are going to come out. If by the end of May you're left without anything or enough, Wyoming deer and antelope, the June 1st deadline is something that you should definitely consider. It's a state that makes you pay everything up front if you're going to apply for the tag. But if you don't and you're not going to apply, you move to the summer.

You do points only in the summer. But not a bunch of significant changes in Wyoming for this year. It's a very simple online application process. Basically, your first choice counts. If you draw a second choice, it's got to be something that was undersubscribed. If you do draw a second choice and beyond, you will maintain your points and build one. But it is a point system. 75% of the tags go to people. The most points, 25% randomly. And I guess then we maybe need to move into what should you consider in Wyoming? And I think what you were talking about is nice because you can do it later, and it gives you something to do. You can do something. We have outfitters that work on tags that you can draw every single year. There's part of those general regions that have largely made up a private. If you want to do something, call us. We can get you on a deer hunt. No problem.

It's pretty awesome. But you do need to call us prior to the application deadline. And so, anyway. Even though, yeah, a lot of deer tags can be drawn with zero points, there's not always leftovers after the draw or antelope. There are antelope hunts, mainly with heavy, heavy amounts of private land that you can draw with zero points. You're going to have to pay somebody to hunt there. But having said that, man, the spectrum's so wide when it comes to antelope and deer opportunities. Generally, our opinion is to hunt deer more often in Wyoming. Not a state that, in our opinions, even in what you would label, we would label as the best units in the state, which we break down in the magazine. It's not a state that is the best when compared to, say, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, or even Colorado. You don't just draw the best unit and go hunt 190-plus bucks from a truck driving around,

like some rut hunts in other places. Or even with a bunch of hard hunting. It doesn't matter in some cases how hard you hunt. You may not kill a 180-plus buck on that hunt. It's just that's the reality of Wyoming. Well, and you've drawn one of the best tags in the state, that 128, and experienced it, killed a great buck. But having said that, you sifted through a lot of bucks. Oh, tons. Tons. And mainly picked that unit because I was sick of just doing points only, for the most part, waiting for something to get better, ripen. Even at max points, your odds aren't great. Oh, yeah, it was like 10%. And that's a rut hunt. It's in November. I put it down. But there's a lot of other hunts that, you know, whether it's 87 or 90 or, you know, 102. All of those hunts, types of hunts, they do have 180-plus potential. There's no question. And they do kill a couple of really big deer.

For the most part, most of the limited entry units are still 160 to 180-type buck hunts. That's what they're best described as. That's right. Yep. I took my kids up there. We did a little smash and grab, knocked down a couple of great bucks for them. I had a tag. Sean had a tag. My oldest son that's at the house. Colton is not at the house at the moment. But anyway, second oldest son. He had a tag, too. He's kind of a trophy hunter. We didn't find what we wanted, and that's kind of the name of the game. You've got to expect to eat some tags. We ate those tags. And that's okay. Wyoming's kind of known for that. Even what we consider to be the best regions, such as region G&H, if guys are okay with eating tags, yeah, go up there. You might kill a monster. Some of the best bucks in the state are coming from G&H, which are general over-the-counter for residents.

Well, and yeah, you would say that. If you line up all the big deer in Wyoming every year, most of them, the majority are going to come from general season units. And people have that disconnect in their brain that 14 points, I'm burning it on a general season point or a unit. Oh, it bothers me. It bothers me. It kind of does. It's hard to mend them. But you've got to get past that. Yeah, it's just you've got to get what you feel gives you the best chance to give you what you want. Now, if you do have 13, 14 points, you've probably got enough to bring somebody else along on that by the time you boost points. And, you know, G's taking, you know, seven to eight points to draw right now, regular versus special. And H is drawing, you know, two and a half to four is what it's going to probably take. If you want a partner to go through the misery with you on one of these hunts, point boost him.

You know, if you've got the points or if you can find a buddy that's got points, point boost each other. There is no turn back opportunity. It's not like you're going to get those points back. But you can at least have a buddy to go through it with and make the most of it. And that's common. They know what's happening. They want it to happen. It's fine. It's no big deal. Find a guy with points. Same thing with antelope. You come up with units that you want to go with a buddy on. Look at that. What a great opportunity. Look at that antelope, Matt. I mean. It's big. It's a hundred. And there's a big box in every unit. I mean. The options are endless. Really, all you've got to do, and you can use our Epic Outdoors member section online to view the hunt planner, to look at the amount of public and private land. That's really what you've got to key in on.

I think we ought to talk about our hunt planner for a minute. Talk about our hunt planner. Let's do it. Well, leading into that is Wyoming Antelope. We get a lot of calls with people that want to know where they can go hunt with as few points as they have, but they need enough public land because they want to do it on their own. And in general, as you just take a swath from the western border to the eastern border, the amount of private land intensifies as you start to get about halfway through, and then the eastern half is heavy, heavy private. So naturally, unless there's areas like hunter management areas or walk-in areas or things like that, which are Which are private land access for hunters. That's right. The state sets up, enters agreements with landowners and things like that. And those fluctuate a little bit year to year, but you can view those on Wyoming Game Fish website.

If you don't have that and it's all white, it's 98% private land, it's not going to be an option. But anything for Antelope especially, Jason, anything that you start getting 45, 50% plus, and it's at least in some big chunks of public, you're going to be all right. You're going to be all right. Even our buddy Jeff. He went out there, found some of the least, the unit in the east half. It's like he almost said, I want to go to the east half and make it happen. And he did. Well, yeah, yeah. And dude, they had a great hunt. He had boys with zero to one point or two. Very minimal, right? And you want to go hunt Antelope while kids are young. They do have reduced price licenses, 120-something bucks for kids. Very cheap, right? Yeah, and then he goes out there, Brunson, and he wants to go back and do a smash and grab on the general deer. Oh, yeah. He sees a couple of good bucks.

We barely got that info out of him because he's being real secretive, not wanting us to go crush the place or talk about it on a podcast. And the reason we're talking about Jeff, who still does some special projects with us here, but he's not here today. So we can give him all the grease. We can give him all the grease. Yeah, we know he listens to these podcasts. So we'll get a call from him sometime in three to six days from now when he listens to this podcast. Oh, he already talked about the Stealth Cam podcast we just did. Camera's going both directions. Camera's going both directions. You guys are revolutionizing the world. Thanks, Jeff. We appreciate the support. So anyway, he is living proof that you can do it, self-guided, out there on the east half, and pick a unit that's got enough public. Or like you said, Brunson, one of these hunter management access type areas.

I keep wanting to say access, yes. It's not that. It's just, you know, it is that in Idaho, but it's the same type programs. Basically, the state working with landowners to allow access for you and I. And so we've made this hunt planner part of our website and part of our drawing odds for all western states, you know, not just the ones we cover in the magazine. It's all on there. That's all a free added benefit for members of our service or epic outdoors members that pay $100 a year. Get the magazine. Get the consulting. But the hunt planner, the drawing odds, everything online is all part of that. Use that tool when looking at units and public and private land breakdown. Turn on the antelope layer, crush it, pan around, you're going to see. And it'll put you at ease.

As long as you know and you see the distribution of public and private land, once again, if it's a 50-50 mix and there's big blocks of BLM and all that, you're probably going to be just fine on an antelope hunt. In our hunt planner, we cover all of the units. In the magazine, we can only cover some of the units. This sucker's 150 pages. Having said that, we cover multiple states in it. And even with the least amount of ads of any publication out there, there's no publication that has less ads than we do, you can only fit so much in there. So this hunt planner helps a ton. You can go on there, check out drawing odds. You can plug and play with private, public, all kinds of overlays. There's a lot of information on there in all the states. And so anyway, go on there, check it out, and go from there.

If you need some help, of course, we list them in the magazine, best trophy units, other good units with adequate public land. And we have outfitters for all these different units. And so anyway, plenty to go on. Yeah, one thing we actually did this year on the deer, but it's probably more sought after on the antelope, is put the percentage of public land on every unit in the magazine. And we did that for antelope, too. We did that. We did that for deer and antelope. It's there in the magazine. But if you want to view it with your own eyes and see the distribution, what we're saying is use the hunt planner. But you really can't go wrong in picking an antelope unit. It really comes down to where do you sit with your points and what does that get you? You can use the minimum point search queries on some of these states like that, too. Find out, okay, I got four points.

What does that get me? You can browse through the magazine. You can look at that. You're going to have to look at a couple of things, like we put the proposed 2020 permit numbers in there, assuming those get passed. If they're cutting tags, might have point creep happen a little bit more. If they're adding tags, maybe any kind of point creep or anything like that's not going to happen. Just naturally look at the points that you had last year to plug in with what you see on paper. A lot of people say, hey, I got four points right now. Well, you really had three last year in the draw, and this was only 10% with three points. So you got to realize you got a minus one from what your current total is to kind of plug you in to what it would have done last year. But long story short, a lot of different options, tons of public land options. Some are mixed.

And, again, we have some private land options on the eastern part of the state that you're going to have to pay for. You're going to have to hook up an outfit or things like that. We do have it. You'll notice a story in here named Keep Grinding. That was with Nick Edlund, a member of ours. Met him in the hotel there in Wyoming, and it was a grinder of a hunt. And he stuck it out to the very end. Killed a freaking great buck. Point mass like crazy. Just an awesome buck. Anyway, super good guy. It was fun to meet him and fun to watch him, basically hear him. I didn't watch him. But I heard the shots. And so, anyway, he reminded me that. Called in, gave us a story. We appreciate him and his support. So, anyway, it's just proof that they're out there. And sometimes it takes you to the very end. And did on that one. And he was rewarded with it with such a great buck. All right.

Let's keep cranking. Let's wrap up Wyoming a little bit. Some great opportunities. Deer and antelope. Best described as good opportunity. Good quality. I don't want to minimize that they don't have quality. They just maybe aren't quite as high. Or your expectations, especially for deer, should not be as lofty, even with maximum points, as they maybe can be in other states. But great hunts. Any unit can produce something special. They can. And just go more often. And that's, we're both going to maybe try to go this year. Maybe even take our kids hunting antelope. Just depends on our schedule. The last week or so of May, when we've seen how we've done or not done in the rest of the draws. That's right. Awesome state. One that we tell everybody to apply for. Get points, at least, if you have to here in the summer.

Having said that, everyone that applies can only get points by applying in the summer. Even if you applied for a unit now. You apply for a unit now, you still have to go back and buy your point this summer. Keep that in mind. Don't let it mess you up. All right. Yeah, don't forget that change, even for the elk. You applied for elk. You're going to find out in May if you drew. You still got to go buy your points for deer, elk, and antelope in the summer, even if you applied. It's a new thing. Don't fall a point behind thinking I applied. They took it from me. They're not going to take your money for a point. You got to go do it in the summer. So having said that, we appreciate all the members that send their photos in. We've got some great stories. We have some great trophy photos. You look at them and you think Wyoming's the next best state to Arizona. Pretty awesome.

Anyway, it's a great issue. Great opportunity. Great stories. Appreciate both antelope and deer. We had some great stories from Wyoming. That brings us to Idaho. Idaho, elk, deer, and antelope. Super excited about that. That's one of those states we apply for. If you do the sheep, goad, or moose, you're not eligible to apply for elk, deer, and antelope. If you want to do elk, deer, and antelope, and you can do all three, you can't do the sheep, goad, or moose. Anyway, that's their way of helping drawing odds stay relatively good. Kind of glad they do, Bronson, just for the simple fact it's becoming expensive to apply up there. It is. We've said it before. We kind of like the variety of all states. We like the fact that not every state is a true preference or a true random. A bonus. That's right. Sometimes when you're lean and your schedule, add Idaho deer, elk, and antelope.

If you didn't apply for a moose, sheep, or goat, add that last minute. We've both drawn tags up there ourselves as well as our kids, taking our kids on some of their early deer hunts. I don't know if it's your kids first, but maybe. Oh, yeah. Justin's first. Yeah. Ty killed one here, and then we went to Idaho the same year. But then my daughter drew an antelope tag. So, yeah, it's a fun opportunity state for that. But you do have to purchase a non-refundable hunting license up front. This year, that's $154.75 for adults or $31.75 for the junior men license. So, it's not cheap. You're buying it. Let's just round it to $155 right up front. And then you don't have to front the fees for deer, elk, and antelope like you do on the sheep, moose, and goat. You just simply pay a, what, $14.75? Yeah, $14.75. $15.75, yeah, for the controlled hunt application fee.

And, of course, you got that $10 depredation management access fee. Some other online convenience fees. But you get the idea. You know, for a couple hundred bucks, roughly, you're putting in for deer and elk and maybe even the antelope up there. Yeah, no point system up there in Idaho like we talked about. But, anyway, great state to apply. And, again, you have until June 5th. Similar to Wyoming. You've got nothing going on. Maybe you make Idaho a state you apply for. If you don't apply for it this year, no harm, no foul, no issues. Next year you'll be on the same playing field as if you did it this year. So that's kind of the nice thing. It's like New Mexico. You can decide. One year you don't have to do it. The next year you can. There's obviously some great animals. Man, we've got them listed here in the publication.

You know, Idaho is one of those states that are not necessarily managing for giants. But they have a few. They've got incredible genetics, especially for mule deer and elk. Some of the elk units, a lot of them, aren't managed for trophies. Some of them are. Unit 54 is the best in the state. Definitely got some incredible trophy potential. Then you've got some of those units, Bronson, down there in like 46, 41, 42. They get that migration coming in from Nevada. And they've got some nice bulls. They do. And herds of hundreds down there. Yeah. A lot of really good controlled elk hunting opportunities in Idaho. Some of the general season hunts throughout the state can be spotty. Bulls and things like that have made it a little bit more difficult. But still some good general backcountry opportunities with outfitters.

It's one of the states that you can buy general season deer and elk tags still over the counter. They do have caps and they do sell out. But, yeah, back to your point. Man, they've got a lot of opportunities. It seems like a few opportunities for 350-plus bulls, but a ton for 300 to 340s. They're just. 320-plus even. Oh, yeah. Just tons. Lots. And high success hunts. Yeah. And if you want to hunt velvet bulls, they've got a few velvet hunts. Yeah. You go pluck and play on August 1st. Who does that? That's right. Well, anyway. If you want to hunt December, go to December. And literally every time in between, they've got something to fit your schedule for deer and elk up there, you know, early season, late season, or whatever. Very similar to Wyoming in the fact that really your first choice counts. Make your first choice count.

And that's the one thing that keeps, well, another reason the drawing odds are fairly palatable is because you've got your first choice and they go to the next guy. So, anyway, make sure your first choice counts. Apply for elk. Apply for deer. Deer. There's some incredible bucks. I mean, some of these bucks that are listed in our publication, in fact, the first two on the first page, 79 are both general season bucks. We're talking over-the-counter bucks. That's right. They are awesome. I mean, look at that Christmas trees for bases on Kyle Paxman's buck. That's right. I mean, unbelievable. Mark Thompson Studd. We talked about that the other day on a podcast with him. He smoked that giant general season buck last year, too. So, anyway, it can be done. There's a lot of hunters on their general season hunts, and these guys are doing it more

and more often so that they're able to learn year to year. I went up there, got my buck kicked. I should be going back, but again, and I actually saw a couple of good bucks looking back on it, but, you know, we're talking miles and miles in the spotter, and I just thought, oh, that's going to take four days to get there. So, anyway, didn't make it happen, but at the same time could have, and it's one of those opportunities that's always been there. Don't know if it'll always be there, but guys are taking advantage of it, and they're also working hard at it. And if you work hard, it's just like our general season down here in Utah, you can make things happen. And so, anyway, great state. You could also, some guys like to feel like they're making the best use of the hunting license, non-refundable hunting license, $154 to apply.

And if you want to do that, they're doing these over-the-counter tags for either elk or deer or both, or even like an over-the-counter, you know, unlimited archery antelope or something like that, and feeling like they're getting great use of bang for the buck on that hunting license. It is something to mention, too, that 2021, so next year these hunting license fees are going to go up, as well as permit fees are going to go up. They've already been set by legislature. It's going to kick in January 1. So, if you're kicking around, whether you're applying or going to go to Idaho this year, it's going to get maybe even harder to justify next year as that hunting license goes up, what, 30-something bucks, permit numbers. If you're going to do it no matter what, like you said, lock in for a three-year. Do a three-year lock on this year's price. Go buy it. Go buy your license for three years.

You're in. But just something to be aware of. It's not super cheap to apply. Like I said, today, it'd be about $200. Next year, that's going to go up, you know, and that's $200 counting your hunting license. It's your $15. I'm rounding application fees per species plus some incidentals. I'm going to be honest with you. I applied for sheep, Bronson, and I'm not going to do the deer and elk this year. Hoping this COVID environment makes those sheep draws just even that much better. I'm in, too. Sheep. Yeah. You're in? Yeah. No, not yet. Yeah. Did you already go in? You didn't tell me that. You did that. I did that right. Come on. Literally five minutes before the podcast. Jeez. Well, we're both kind of not wanting to lend them our $2,200 for the whole month of April. Sneaking at the bedline. I applied three or four days ago.

I'm following Wyatt's principle, and that is I want mine to be on top of the pile. Top of the pile. Well, just speaking of Wyatt. Should we call Wyatt? I don't know. He's busy, though. He's managing the license application team today. They're finishing up Nevada. They got Idaho and Montana done, so we don't want to interrupt him. Maybe next week we're going to be able to probably, well, I about said something that would bind us. Don't do that. Just to do more podcasts. A couple a week. I think that's safe to say. We're cranking it out. Starting next week, I think we can. Chris bugs us. He's not bugging us, but Chris reminds us because we ask him to, and then we never show up in the podcast room because we're busy. How's that working? Well, these two magazines back-to-back within a 10-day period, it's kind of taxing. We love doing podcasts, but obviously we have clients.

The phone's ringing while we're in here, so it's all a balance of research writing, what we got on our desk, and all that. And with a few deadlines that passed and these last magazines that come out, we should be able to do, maybe start cranking out a few more, and maybe start getting in some scouting, start talking about some optics, testing some optics out, doing some optics breakdowns. Why would you talk about optics? That's what we're talking about. Oh, it's because we sell them now. That's right. All right. All right. Let's give it. Yeah, let me give another shout out to one of our sponsors, Red Rock Precision, a long-range firearms and custom ammo based here in northern Utah. Awesome guys. Kurt and his boy, Josh, make a great rifle for you. We've got them ourselves, Carter. Love them. They're flat-out killers.

Give them a call, 801-425-6574, or check them out on their website, redrockprecision.com. It's that time of year. If you're anticipating drawing a tag or something like that, you better get started. You've always been looking at a long-range, capable rifle. They've got any caliber you want. They can offer as much input as you want. But if you have input on what you want your optic to be or caliber to be, all that, that's fine. They can take that and shape that how you want. Give them a call. Great, great guys and awesome rifles. Great rifles. So, anyway, I also want to throw a little shout-out to QU, our partners over there. We appreciate them and their support. Jason Harrison at QU, Bronson, if you remember, and I know you do. No, we do. Because we talk about it often. He was our number one advertiser with Epic Outdoors. Our number one.

When we knew, well, we dealt with him from the very start when he started QU back in our former life and remained good friends. And when it was time for us to let the word out, so to speak, that we were launching Epic Outdoors and what we were doing, the first person signed up, and I want the first inside page double spread. I want it. And he didn't ask, how big do you think you're going to get? You guys really behind this? Is this your full-time job? He didn't ask you any of those questions. How many members do you have? I mean, we didn't have any. We didn't even have it started. We had zero. And appreciate the trust and faith. We've trusted and used their gear for a long time as well. We appreciate that. And now as we've moved on, work with Brandon and Justin and other guys within QU, we appreciate our relationship with them. We had Schaefer on just a few weeks ago.

If you remember that one, he didn't have pants on. He didn't have pants on. It was 9.30 Alaska time. That's right. Who does that? That's right. But we appreciate the guys at QU. Make great products for early season, late season, backpacks, all kinds of accessories, ultralight hunting gear, just awesome stuff. So check them out on their web at KUIU.com. Yeah. You can also follow them on Instagram at KUIU underscore official. KUIU underscore official. Again, great guys. You know, one of their ads here, I guess this is our April issue, talks about 10,951 five-star reviews. You know, you can't pay that many people to do reviews. You can't do it. So it's obviously good stuff. And incredible, incredible lightweight hunting gear made by hunters. That's right. That, you know, started by hunters, made by hunters. We appreciate KU. And please go out and show them some love.

The other thing we wanted to talk about was just everything we've got going. We have a member experience database here at Epic Outdoors. If you draw a tag, and this is the month, Bronson. We've got tons of tags going to be coming in. You need some help. Talk to actual people who've had boots on the ground in your hunt, in your unit, with your season, or not your season. Maybe it's just your unit. Then you want to give us a call. Get on that list. We'll get it emailed out to you. We do it the next business day, Bronson. This isn't something we're going to make you wait around for. You know, order your maps. Give some of our members a call. Now, keep in mind, we don't just give this out for guys that are looking to scout. They actually have to have drawn a tag. Be committed. We're just careful. Yeah. Careful to give out personal information. Yeah, and it's always been that way.

It's out of sensitivity to the members, because once you request the list and you get the information to call, you go on that list to talk to people the next year and beyond. And so, it's only right to have people that are actually committed and drawn the tag be the ones that are actually calling you, not people that are just considering unit X versus unit Y and, you know, who makes the best hamburger in that unit and all that. Well, there's some grinders, Bronson. I mean, there's guys out there that like to have a great job that allows them to sit on the phone for hours on end, and that could be you on the other end. So, we're careful of that. We make sure that we only do that when guys actually have a tag in their hand. And by you asking for help, you're also basically indicating you're willing to help the next guy. So, it's a great resource. Plan on doing that.

It's also the time of year that as draw results come out, maybe you're not. Maybe you draw a tag of a certain magnitude that you're like, I don't want to just leave this to chance that I'm going to just go out there on my own. I need the recommendation of an outfitter.

We've been in this business a long, long time. And the collective experience that we have with researching and writing and staying on top of what units are producing and what outfitters are producing in those units is unrivaled, unmatched. And so, give us a call if you draw something that you feel or you know or you definitely want to at least talk to somebody about making the most out of your experience. Outfitter-wise, we'll give you a recommendation. Our reputations are important to us, Jason. I mean, nothing's more important. So, we aren't going to represent somebody or somewhere that's just a name on an internet and something like that. These are people we know, we trust, we send clients to and know who's producing. And so, it's overall going to be something that, you know, we're going to feel good about. Call and get our opinion. We'll give it to you.

There is sometimes a little bit of urgency. Don't wait a month after you draw a tag. I mean, if you do because your plans change, still call us. But, man, if you draw something great, give us a call. We've got Devin and Wyatt, Jason and I, all of us here can help you get set up with an Outfitter recommendation so you can move to that next phase of booking a hunt and going down that road if that's what you decide to do. Right now, we also have our summer membership drive. Super excited about this. It's never too late to get your buddies in. If you get a buddy in, of course, you'll get a ticket for your choice of one of the hunts that we're giving away. He'll get a ticket, too, as a new member. You can also purchase tickets to get into this particular drive. We're giving away an optics package for those that spend $500 on a ticket package.

We're giving away, basically, it's a $13,000 package of optics. We're talking Swarro BTX combo with a scope, rifle scopes from Vortex rangefinder, Leica, you know, binos as well as Zeiss binos. And so, anyway, they're pretty legit. The Zeiss 15s, the Leica 10x42 UltraVid HDs, incredible glass. Swarro BTX, incredible glass. Everybody will tell you that with a 95mm modular body. And so, anyway, the Vortex Razor LHT rifle scopes. That's a hot ticket right now. They're popular. They are new, but they're hard to get all your hands on. We're making orders every day. If you want to buy optics, well, give us a holler as well. But you can win a great package of optics as well as Leica's. Deadline to do that is June 19th. So get somebody signed up. If somebody's bumming your magazine, they need their own, maybe now's the time to kick them off on their own mag and get them a membership

and, you know, get it come to their house. Make sure you mention you were the one that referred them. Also knocking out some of these Outdoor Edge knives as well. Some guys feel like they have enough. That's fine. I'll keep your knife. I got one in every door panel on my truck and every truck's Bronson. I mean, you can't have enough knives. Great replaceable blade knife, and it's got our logo on it. I love our freaking logo. I use it at the dinner table. My wife gives me the evil eye. I love cutting meat. And when I'm talking meat, I'm not talking about cutting up a deer house. I'll use those for that too. You pull it out of your front pocket at the $20 steakhouse? No. But, like, when I'm home, we pull something out of the grill. I love cutting with the ultra sharp knife. It's just I hate the sawing mechanism. Oh, yeah. I hate it. Oh, yeah.

With a dull kitchen knife when you're trying to cut your freaking piece of meat. What are you looking for? Let's call Sam Miller, my favorite friend in Arizona. See how the moisture's doing. Huh? What do you guys think? Real quick. Okay. Okay, keep in mind. We need to do a whole podcast with Sam. What reminded me about this, okay, so let me just set the stage. This is the kind of guy when he took his gal on a date and he knew she was the one for him was when she took out a pocket knife of her front pocket and cut her steak. At the restaurant. At the restaurant. Okay. Let's bring it up. Let's see what he says. I love Sam. I was wondering how that heat popped in your head. That's why. The knife cutting meat, that popped in your head. That's it. That's it. Popped into mine too. Is it? Yeah. That probably is. Jason, how you doing, sir? What are you doing, Sam?

Oh, man, just traveling and trying to not have a heat stroke. You getting hot down there? This is Adam. Oh, it's not. This is Adam Bronson. 102 right now. 102? Holy cow. 102 in Arizona. Wow. What part of Arizona are you in? Right now I'm down here in San Tan Valley, right here down in south of Phoenix there. Are you? Jeez. Yes, sir. Wow. Well, we were just going to check on the moisture down there in Arizona and how things are looking. I got Adam on the phone, and we're on the Epic Outdoors podcast, Sam.

I'll tell you right now. I can be dangerous with me. I can't.

Well, we were talking about a knife, our Epic Outdoors, Outdoor Edge knife, and you popped into our heads, Jason's head, and prompted a question. Jason, why don't you tee it up for him? I want you to, Sam, I just want to hear the story again about how you knew your wife was the one when you were dating at the dinner table and how that would relate to the Epic Knife, the Outdoor Edge knife. The Epic Knife. I think that's definitely caught my attention with it. That's for sure. I don't know if I caught any of the right words there, but yeah.

You really want to tell you the story? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. We're waiting. Yes, we do. Okay. Is she sitting right next to you right now or not? Oh, no. Okay. Probably a good thing, too. Oh, good. It'd get all hot and bothered. She likes to do it.

Okay. Well, yeah, it's 102 already, and then you ramp it up with the heart rate, and it's going to go fast. Somebody's going to the emergency room. That's right. Okay.

So, anyway, tee it up. Back in the dating days, you're dating this gal. I've never met your wife, but tell us how you knew you were going to. This lady was different. What was the moment you knew that? Oh, yeah. Well, it was our first date, actually. First date. Wow. First date. Picked her up and took her over the mountains there. Anyway, we took a nice little about hour and a half loop and then got into the steak house and sat down, and I thought, oh, this is kind of a tip. First of all, I was kind of curious what she could order. She could order just a salad only or a salad and a steak, you know what I mean? Steak and potatoes or what? Yeah. Like, just how broke are you going to be? I hope she just ate a salad either, you know what I mean? I had some substance to this dinner, and she ordered a ribeye steak and a salad and potatoes and all the fixings, and I was just cool.

So, they handed us the plate. Don't lie. They handed us the plate, and I'm telling you what, she pulled out her pocket knife. She cut her steak on her ass of woman from here. There you go. She pulls out her own pocket knife for the first date at a restaurant. And you don't know what happened from then on. Yeah. You were just, the hook was set deep. Oh, it was set and hook. Yeah. I mean, there was no catch and release on this one. Yeah. All right. I love that story. I love that story. The bar was sharp. Yeah. It was definitely a barbed hook, you know what I mean? Hey, so tell us, how are things looking? I know you're a coos deer nut, and of course, you've spent a lot of time out in the hills, elk and deer and everything down there. Sam, what's the outlook looking like? It looks like nothing but rain for the last two or three months down there. You know, actually, it's looking pretty good.

It's, it's, the desert's green right now, and it's just getting greener. And then it's going to die off here because it's getting warmer now. But it's, uh, actually, we've got some good moisture content down in the central southern Arizona is looking really good right now. Yeah. It sure looked like it. Sure looked wet. Yeah. No, it is. One night to another. Big storm. Big, big, big ones. Yeah. We got some good rains and some heavy rains and good, really good soaker rains, especially a couple months ago. We got some really good soaker rains. But, uh, in fact, uh, we were, I was just down there. I don't know. It had been a month ago, month and a half ago. And I was surprised. I mean, the growth, the grass, the plant life, it was green. We got some really, I don't know exactly how much is an interest, but we definitely had a good winter.

Well, it's going to be, we're looking forward to a great year. Are you playing for coos deer or what are you doing? Yep. Yep. I'm going to apply for, uh, yeah, June. I'll do that. My sheep. What, what, what, what unit and season are you doing deer for? Plead the fifth, Sam. Plead the fifth. That's what I do. Carter tries to get stuff out of me like that, live on a hot mic and it doesn't happen. All right. All right. I'll let you go on that. I'll let you go on that.

Not even going there. Well, good luck. We appreciate you being a good sport. Appreciate you even answering. Appreciate you taking in to take list all the listeners in on your first date experience. And, uh, that's when you know, you got a good one. I don't know. Somebody else. I don't know if it was Wyatt or somebody else told me that when you meet a good one, you'll know it. And apparently a pocket knife, that's all you needed. Oh yeah. Well, you know, yeah.

It got me going.

Well, I've been down there and hunted with Sam. I had a coos deer hunt, you know, tag down there and spent a lot of time with Sam. Of course, Sam, you know my in-laws. Jared, you guys are super tight. And so anyway, I appreciate you being a good, good people. Appreciate you being a good sport with us here today. We'll, we'll let you go and earn a buck. All right. Sounds good. You guys take care. All right. You too. We'll see you. All right. Love that guy. He's awesome. All right, Bronson. I'm tapping out. All right. That's good. All right. You good? All right, everybody. Good luck in the draws. Coming out, let us know about it. We appreciate all our supporters. If you're a hater, don't hate no more.