EP 192: Big Changes in Life and Legislation

So, 60% of the non-resident general tags are going to be potentially allocated out there. It's the HB295. They're talking about eliminating baiting for wildlife and also a trail camera season. Anything to do with Western big game.

Welcome to the Epic Outdoors podcast, powered by Under Armour. Hey everybody, Jason Carter, Adam Bronson, Devin, Wyatt, how are you guys today? Doing good. Not bad. Everybody's got a big old grin on. Not as big as Chris. Oh, Chris. Let's talk about Chris. Have you had any major life changes and events recently? I suppose. Like what? I guess I proposed yesterday. I didn't think that would be. He had a hard time saying that. I got engaged. I was trying to think of something funny to say and I just, I'm like, well, I just can't think of anything. What are those, what are those, what's the thing at the wedding you flick, what is it called? Garter. Chris caught it. He laid out, boom. At yours? Snagged it at my wedding. Yeah. No kidding. You're right. Wow. I forgot about that. Did you keep it? He didn't last six months.

I saw a picture the other day of Chris just laid out, boom, and he caught it. He dove for it. Yeah, it was good. So who did you? Like an OBJ? I don't know. Odell Beckham Jr. He's laid out. Yes. It was. Yes. Okay. Dude. Well, if you're listening to the podcast, we gave Archibald and Wyatt their rash a crap last summer. Chris has been 15 years. Hasn't it? Is it my... I think so. Does it seem like that? Jason, tell me I'm wrong. I don't know what to say. Is it that... What's that? 15 years we've razzed him about. Pretty much. Being single and footloose and fancy free. Maybe 20. I don't know. It's been a long time. Well... By design though, right, Chris? I guess so. By design, it's not like you haven't had the opportunity here and there. Yeah? I was just waiting for the right opportunity. I was being a trophy hunter. It's a once in a life trophy hunter. Oh, good answer. Wow.

The brownie points are already stacking up. He's saying he's... Did you slay a booner? Huh? Yeah. World record. Oh. Wow. It's getting deep already. Oh my gosh. Well, maybe we should call this world record and see what she has to say. Let's try a cold call. I seriously got something in my eyes. He's crying. And he's crying already. He's crying too. No. It's not even Valentine's Day. No. I'm remembering yesterday. It's only my right eye. I got... I'd put sunblock on my face this morning. Oh my goodness. Huh? Sunblock. Sunblock. Sunblock. Got a good hard day in the office. February in Utah. Oh, this sunblock. It's February. There are several things that make me cry, but that podcast probably isn't one of them. Well, but I've seen people cry when they walk up to a big buck or a ram and a trophy. You said you slayed a trophy, so that can happen. All right. Slayed a trophy.

Well, let's call this trophy. Give her a call. See what she has to say. Maybe... Does she feel the same? Did she accept? I believe so. She said yes. Assuming she said yes. Did you give her an actual ring and she put it on her finger? I did. I've had it since August. Did she put it on her finger? Yeah. Okay, so then that's a yes. I put it on her finger. Okay, that's a yes. And she didn't take it off? Nope. Maybe she just wants to sell it and increase her number. Yeah, I was going to say, to the pawn shops, you got them on, you know, North... Hey, if you see this ring, let me know. No, no, no. Okay. All right. Let's give her a call. Let's call her.

Hope she answers.

Hello? Is this Miss Peterson? Soon to be. All right. Hey, we were all hopeful you'd answer today. We were like, she's not going to expect anything. She might. So, yeah, we're in a live podcast and Chris just gave us the news. I'm not at all surprised that you called. Did you say yes? He wasn't sure. He just said I put it on her finger and she didn't take it off. So, I didn't know. I said, absolutely. Never been more sure in my life. Oh.

Well, he said a few nuggets. We'll let you listen to the podcast about his version of what he bagged in terms of, you know, he related you to a Boone and Crockett trophy. So, he's laying up the brownie points. I'm the kind of girl that can appreciate that. Yeah. There you go. You picked the right one, Chris. It sounded good already. So, yeah. Good stuff. He said he got a Booner. So, Boone and Crockett. Maybe world record, actually, is what he corrected me a little bit. I'll take it. I'll take it.

Yeah. Well, anyway. So, things are well. Let's see. How many years have you guys been dating?

Oh, geez. Be honest. Be honest. Well, I don't. I mean. You know. Gosh. You know to the day. You know to the day.

It's been a while. Besides a while. It's been a minute. That's for sure. All right. Did you think it was going to happen? Were you suspicious? I figured it was coming sometime soon. But I was thinking, like, you know, we hadn't really. I didn't think he knew my ring size. Or we hadn't really talked about rings or anything. So, I thought it was probably coming up. But I definitely didn't know it was happening right now. Wow. Well, yeah. Christmas kind of came and went. That probably was a possible time. You know. Valentine's was kind of. Possible. Kind of cliche. You know what I mean? Which Christmas came and went? Well, yeah. It's been a couple of. It's been a couple of. It's been a couple of. It's the most recent one. Like a month ago. You guys have been dating a lot. You've had a lot of Valentine's and birthdays and Christmases in the past. They're coming down. All right. Good point.

We can tease now. Right? We can tease. Tease away. Tease away. Have you guys got any ideas for when and where's there yet? Or is this COVID environment still got you in a holding pattern? I think we'll probably get it done this summer. I'm not sure exactly on the details. That's awesome. Yep. Might be. With COVID still going on, it might be the only exciting thing that happens this summer. Who knows? Speaking of COVID, did you guys at least kiss after you exchanged? Gave her the ring? Through the mask. Through the mask. All right. Got to be safe. Got to be safe. I'm pretty sure no masks were on that trip. That would be correct. Yeah. So we probably ought to hear a little bit of the story. Yeah. So how did it happen? Exactly. Chris, yeah. So Chris told me that we were filming a music video. And so it was just going to be this little part of a music video.

They'd kind of been working on it for a couple hours. I was still doing homeschool with the kids and came out and they were like, okay, we just have this one little shot. And he comes riding in on his horse and gets off. Wow. And then, you know, of course. Like the knight in shining armor, you mean? Yeah. Like the knight in shining armor? Really? And then did you. Modern day fairy tale. Did he throw you back up on the horse and you both ride away? Or how did this? Huh? I told her I was going to do that. So he threw the kids up on the horse. He asked me and then he asked the kids. Oh, really? So they came with you? Yeah. The boys. What did you ask the kids if it was okay if you married their mama? Yeah. It was pretty funny. Dude, when can this be seen? Is this going to be, or is this only family video now that nobody ever sees? Oh, there's none. Nobody has family only video here.

That's right. When do we get a scene? That sounds awesome. You're all part of the family anyway. So I don't have any of the footage. My friend, I had my friend Luke come down and film it and he's got it all. Oh, geez. Well, we were watching for the post and we went and stalked you both and we couldn't figure it out. Nobody's posting anything. We're like, something bad happened. I just did. Yeah. I shuffled into Chris's office and just put my arm like, well, well, what? Are we doing okay? Did something happen? No. Yeah. Yeah. Like that? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Well, come tell everybody. It's... That's so Chris. I mean, I don't know if you expected him to come into the office with streamers and... No. Well... Well, Chris, he's going to come in and not say a word. Not say a word. I saw him out in the parking lot, walk by and hauling trash to the dumpster and I'm like,

oh, Chris has been here a while, it looks like, but wonder why he didn't come and say anything to us. I was actually going to set up the podcast stuff and then come over. Going to work. Just going to work. It's just another day at the office. Another day. Just another day. That's Chris Peterson right there. Tell us a little more about Chris, Mackenzie. I mean, there's things you know we don't, even though we've known him for 15 or 20 years. Well, I get to see a side of Chris that nobody else gets to see and I love that because he shows all the excitement and talks up a storm. Come on. Talks up a storm. But he's so quiet. I don't believe that. I'm like, Chris is not quiet. When it's the two of us, chatty as can be. He's not quiet at all. So I get all the secrets. Wow. Special. That's good. Hashtag special. My wife says that stuff about me. It's just crazy stuff.

I tease the kids and chase them around the house and break my toe and stuff like that. Just things that, she said, I wish people could see how you tease the kids. I'm sure Janice says the same to you. Anyway. But I can. No, she doesn't. Hey, she sees the soft side of Jason. There you go. There you go. That part. Yeah. But that's good to know he can chat up a storm because that's, I've never seen that. It's possible. It just doesn't happen very often. What other strengths does he have? Because we might be changing his job responsibilities. I don't know. I'm not going to tell you. I don't want to share those. Okay. Whoa. Whoa. Okay. Well, I don't want to hear those. I'm not talking about that. I'm not talking about that. Oh, my goodness. Well, we can tease a little, Chris. It's the day after.

I'm just glad Chris is the one that edits the podcast. Yeah, but don't we get final says? Yeah, and he's not editing this. Yeah, we're going to have. We might hold this one until John comes back and let John try to edit it because then we can have influence on what makes final. He'll just go in and add things after the fact. So after you're married, are you going to continue to lend him your rifle and all those kind of things? Oh, yeah. I will take it. Am I so lucky? I get to marry a guy that won't complain about my hunting. There you go. Yeah. And he can hunt as much as he wants as long as I get to come. Wow. Pretty fun. That's on the podcast. Yeah. Record it. Whatever podcast number this is is going to be in your journal. You're not going to ever want to forget this podcast. It does hold up in court, I believe, right? Yeah. These are verbal contracts that have been recorded.

That's right. Anything else that you guys would like to cover? Let's cover some other things. I'm fine with that. How about budgets? Do you have a hunting budget? No? That's up to her. These are things we need to talk about. Don't concede some of that stuff. See, here's the thing. This is why it works so well when there's two hunters because, you know, he's got to take into account, oh, you want to buy that rifle? I need one, too. A new rifle, too. Yeah. Yeah. See? So you just, it balances out. There's a whole lot less arguments. Wow. Well, I've kind of been going through lately's heads in the house kind of placement. I've been putting them in places just to reserve spots. Wyatt. So tables don't show up. All of a sudden we walk in and Wyatt's booting Crockett Mulder is gone. His snow goose was in the office for like 12 hours and then gone. You never even got the snow.

I never even knew it was there. Mackenzie brought that in to me because I'd left it out at the, what do we call it, the rat boar's hole or boar's nest. The boar's nest. Well, I didn't even know it was in your office and apparently it got kicked out of the house but then brought back in, Wyatt, the goose or what? Well, it was at the boar's nest so it had to be brought to my house. For 12 hours. Yeah. So they dropped it off here and then I took it to my house. Okay. But generally stuff comes here and then Wyatt takes it home knowing that your wife's thinking she might want that space, wherever it is. Yeah. Family room. Better here, whatever. We're still in the process of like remodeling, painting, everything like that. So as things get done, if I put that there before she can find a cabinet or a picture. Or she's not strong enough to move it. She's strong enough to move it. She would.

She's just kind of accepting right now, I believe. You guys are feeling it out on you. Who owns what in the house? She will pay movers to move it. The moose. She's got her walls that she's kind of laid claim to a little bit. Do you guys have, are these open discussions or are these just little quiet? They're pretty open discussions, but accepting, I don't know. I tell her how it's going to go, but whether she accepts that or not, it's different. But if I put something there, I think it kind of. Well. But when she goes to work, so for those of you who don't know, she works out of town. When she goes to work for a three-day stint or whatever, as long as she leaves cookies, you know you're on a good path. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. So I always get goodies before she leaves. She takes good care of it. The minute she just goes and there's no goodies.

You better have stuff moved by the time she gets there. She probably ought to move the snow goose.

Well, with Mackenzie, you and Chris, hopefully, yeah, those are easy discussions with you and the house. Like I said, you got rid of a couple of bachelors last summer with Devin and Wyatt. And now you got. I just barely got rid of that snow goose myself. Yeah. There you go. Making room for your own mounts. You just got to bring her around. Oh. All right. Well, you're going to have, let's see, horses and hunting. And what don't you guys do? Your lives are full of all kinds of fun stuff. I don't know. But if there's something we don't do, don't give us any ideas because we don't have any more room in our calendar. Yeah. All right. When are you guys going to get hitched? Summer, June, July. Summer sometime. We don't know exactly it. Okay. Well, Mackenzie, I'll just let you know this. Between us. He did mention three months. Three to six months. So. That's what I said. Three to six months.

Yeah. Yeah. Three to six. Three to six. So whatever three is, and it's three, like 31 days or 30 days. I would say 90 days. 90 to 93 days. You guys should be. Just saying. You've got to plan for us. Yeah. Summers are good. Don't get into August and bow season. That'll. Yeah. Yeah. Really busy in the office. I'm not going to make that, you know, anniversary hunting season thing. No. No. I'm not going to share that with hunting? Or the day you get home from your honeymoon is the archery hunt? No. Not good. Well, I mean, I'm pretty good with doing, you know, celebrating our anniversary while we're hunting. I just don't want to have to plan a wedding during this hunting season because that would probably have to do. That would be terrible. Smart. Good thinking. Less big deer would die and that's not good. That's not a good thing. Yeah. Well, don't do it in April or May.

We're busy around here. Okay? Got it. Got it. Okay. Well, congratulations, Mackenzie. Thanks, guys. I'm happy for you guys. We'll rest, Chris, a little bit more, but we'll let you get on with your day. Sounds good. Have a good day. Bye. We're going to try to get Chris to be chatty now that we know it's possible. Good luck. All right. Okay. Bye. All right. Bye. This poses a question. Chris. I have a lot of questions. Uh-oh. Maybe one. Chris, how did you know? There's a lot of. Oh, it wasn't like an instant thing, but it's like over time there's little things and little things and little things. Yeah. I'll tell you one of the things that happened not too long ago. My bear got an upgrade in the house. What do you mean? It was just stuck in my- Moved from the basement to the main floor? It was in my little office. Now, this is a life size, isn't it? Yeah.

It was in my office and now it's like the centerpiece of the living room. So there you go. Whoa. That is legit. You know. Oh, that's when you know. That's when I would have known. That was her idea. It wasn't mine. Oh, my gosh. I was fine with it in my office and she's like, that bear deserves to be right there and let it go. Okay. But I'm going to be the devil's advocate. Okay. Okay. Women are smart. Yeah. You're right. Okay. She knows if I do this, I'm well on my way. That's right. That's right. To getting Chris Peterson to propose to me. So now, let's take bets right now, everybody. Money on the table. How much? How long, now that they're engaged, before the bear is back in Chris's office? Well, I would say three days after marriage. As soon as it's finalized. I will put my life savings that it's not going to happen. Oh. Whoa.

He's confident. He's got the hook set deep and he's got a bear. Well, he might have signed a prenuptial and knows that he's going to keep that money no matter what. The thing is, if you walked into her house before, when she was in California, it was full amounts right in the kitchen, above the kitchen table. No way. I'd have to play that California girls song. Yeah. So you guys could have the same question, though, too. You've all been married. Yeah, but that's 25 years ago. I can't even remember. Why, yeah. I'm sorry. Sorry, Kenneth. You guys are all within the three, six to eight month period. But yes, we knew back then. I knew we knew and I know I know now. I just can't elaborate on it any more than that, right? Is that what you're thinking? Yeah, yeah. And I tease them about having a dating for quite a while. I dated Janet for two to three years. What? Oh, yeah. Off and on.

We've heard that. Off and on. That's right. Off and on. So it's good to date for quite a while. Really know what you're getting into. No surprises. Nobody likes surprises. I don't get that impression that Chris and McKenzie, there's not going to be surprises. No. Unless they're random tags. Then we'd love surprises. Okay. All right. Like a good draw. Or a good draw. A good draw. Like not one of these, ugh, really? I got my third choice. You know what I mean? Yeah. Like this year we went on a 10-day, basically a backpack hunt together. Hiked miles and miles every day. And it was brutal. Yeah. And she was a trooper. Yeah. And she would go back again tomorrow. Again. Smart women. I don't know. There's just so much you can fake. Chris, we're happy for you. Congrats again. Pretty awesome. We do want to see the video, though. It sounds like it was cool. Yeah, it was fun.

She said it was the modern day shining armor. I don't know about that. Pretty awesome. Pretty awesome. We're proud of you. Did you wear a wig like that Fabio guy when he's on the horse with the wind blowing or hair blowing in the wind? No, but I did have plenty of time to plan it out because I've had the ring for six months. He's more cowboy right off in the sunset kind of proposal. That's right. Well, it should be awesome. We want to see it. We can't wait to see it. But what else? What's new in the world? This is kind of a random podcast. That was the lead off, and that took a bunch of time. But it's February now. There's a lot going on. Arizona application deadline for elk and antelope's upon us. But it's a legislative session, and it feels like the world's being rocked right now in a few different states, doesn't it? Well, yeah. Yeah, by Democrats. That's right. Bronson, New Mexico.

Let's just talk about it. New Mexico, they're run by Democrats, which are fine. It's just a statement. I've got some friends that are Democrats, maybe even a little family here and there. But anyway, they are, and their commission is too, and they're talking about pushing through a 90-10 split, 10% go to non-residents, eliminating the guide draw. Just lots of change. Lots of change all over the place. And also potentially limiting the split on E-plus landowner tax. They're talking about that. There's some discussions. That could happen as well. Could happen, potentially. But the split is actually a proposal already. Yeah. The guide draw, they've talked about it in the past. And for everybody that says, yeah, it's about time, okay, but you've got to realize guide draw applicants are now all lumped in with the regular,

so you've gone for 16% of the tags to 10 with no reduction in applicants. They're all just on top. So it's okay. You might say, oh, great, it's about time, but your odds just got worse if you're in either draw. Yeah, I think it's SB 312, and there's quite a bit to it. And so anyway, they also talked about eliminating trapping. It's going through. It passed a preliminary vote of 7 of 2. It's unbelievable the changes that we're seeing. And so when you start to lose trapping, and I'm not a big trapper, but I don't want to lose any of the rights to be able to do it. You know, hunting's going to be next kind of thing. So it makes everybody a little bit nervous. I mentioned to a good buddy of mine that lives there, do you think there's anything we can do as far as commenting and whatnot?

And he just mentioned it sounds like they're only allowing 5 to 10 people to give public comment, you know, dealing with Zoom and COVID and whatnot. And so, you know, it's a really good way to shove bills and things through without having a lot of public comment in the name of, quote, COVID. But just hard to watch change without them just doing what they want in the name of COVID to a degree. Just parts of it, just as far as public comment. Yeah, it is. And there's other states, too, that have some things proposed. And we're not going to, you know, each state, we've said this over and over here. Every state obviously gets their right to be able to enact laws, regulations regarding resident, non-resident quotas, things like that within their state. That's understandable. We adapt. We obviously maybe have our harsh opinions on states that seem way too restrictive for non-residents.

And, you know, you'll read about that in the magazine from time to time. But another one being proposed right now is in Montana. There's a bill introduced there that could potentially allocate up to 60% of the deer elk combo tags, general stuff, to an outfitter draw. So 60% of the non-resident general tags are going to be potentially allocated to outfitters. So we're talking about eliminating outfitter tags in New Mexico. In one state. Well, another one's, you know. Taking over half and giving them to outfitters. That's right. It's the stark comparisons there. That's being run through the Montana legislature as we speak. And then just, I think, yesterday or day before, Utah. Who wants to tee that one up? I don't know. Wyatt, you got the info on that one. Utah. It's the HB 295, I believe.

And they're talking about eliminating baiting for wildlife and also a trail camera season similar to what Nevada put in effect, what, two years ago? Yeah. Yeah. So this is one of those things that kind of was ran through. So you got legislature that enacts state law. You got wildlife commissions and boards that enact rules, you know, hunting rules, regulations, and all that. And this kind of went through that regional advisory council and wildlife board slightly last year and then just got dropped like a hot potato before it really got to a vote. It never got voted on. It got dropped. It's just been heavily discussed, especially the baiting side of things, you know, within certain groups that are interest groups and different things. It's never been, you know, saved on the table. It was out for public comment last year. I don't know if it was a – it wasn't a formal vote item.

It got dropped before it ever got to that. But now it's being reintroduced, I guess, the same type of argument as a state law, House Bill 295 here in Utah, which, again, would potentially, as written now, eliminate cellular type cameras after July 1st and ultra cameras on public land after August 1st, right? Those are big changes, potentially. It's hot. These are introduced. These are hot items, too. These haven't even gone through committee yet in all these states. So, anyway, yeah, it's been quite a, you know, a topic of contention to a degree. There is a lot of baiting. Baiting is not just, you know, like a lot of people think salt. It's apples and lots of different things that deer like, anything and everything. And so, anyway, it's up for potentially making a law about it. Yeah, and I think a lot of people maybe in, like, northern Utah would say, what's the problem?

But certain areas of the state, it is a problem. And what problems are you talking about? I mean, we're talking – you're on public ground archery hunting and you're – there's – I mean, I've seen it. I've seen permanent feeders on public ground that are 10, 12 feet high. And then they've had some of this in Arizona back – Bronson, you remember – but so they had some of these automatic corn feeders on public ground and, you know, a little solar operated. Toes deer stuff. Yeah, and all of a sudden, out comes the corn. Here comes the whitetail, right? Yeah. So, anyway, I'm not saying that's good or bad, that they addressed it and eliminated it. And you can use salt, you know, in Arizona. So, anyway, just a lot of things coming down the pipe. Of course, every year there's bills introduced and then they've – a lot of times fizzle. Some of them make it through.

But some of these – yeah, sometimes they don't even leave committee and get a committee vote or don't pass when they actually go to the floor of the House or Senate. So, we're just making you aware there's some things proposed that could dramatically change hunting in some of these states the way you either acquire tags or, you know, how you can hunt after you get a tag somewhere. I will say states like New Mexico, we've watched states like New Mexico change stuff. It feels like overnight. It's not overnight. But with the stroke of a pen, they can change things. And to say, you know, they can't do that. They won't eliminate landowners. Trapping. That's not true. Trapping. They don't care. Well, when you look at it, they're – number one, most of them are probably non-hunters, obviously. Number two, some of them may be anti-hunters that are enacting it. That's right.

What's going to stop them from making these changes? And that's what we're talking about. Hey, that's why I guess I mentioned some of the, you know, the Democrat influence there. But anyway, I do want to say, you know, the game and fish, this isn't necessarily that the game and fish want this per se. There's a lot of employees within the game and fish agencies, whether we're talking Utah, New Mexico, or Montana, that aren't necessarily in favor of these changes. These are above their head. Well, yeah. I mean, and from an economic standpoint, just the elimination of non-resident hunters. You know, it's just – whether they're in the outfitter pool or the regular pool, you're going to cut, you know, a bunch. Tag numbers. The residents, they're going to look at it, 90% go to them. That's, you know, 6% more than they're used to being dealing with there.

But they've got to make up that money somewhere. Yeah. The residents, not a lot of them go guided. And so they're like, yeah, less guides to deal with, less teams out there, things like that. Yeah. Okay. There's other ramifications. Yeah. The revenue that's brought in off those non-resident applications have got to be made up somewhere. Yeah. Or that. Or the license fees. Or they go out of business. Yeah. So it's hurtful to the residents, too. If you could quantify that, it'd probably be shocking how much money that is. Well, you know, who knows? Most of all, it may be seen if they're anything done or proposed or changed with the landowner tag system. But with the stroke of a pen, you could have a bunch of landowners that are now going to take things into their own hands like they did 25 or 30 years ago in New Mexico. And they've done it.

To bring this landowner tag into place now to appease the use of mainly elk on their lands with feed and fencing and all that different stuff. I mean, they could enact something. They have no idea what kind of war they're about to wage. I mean, I'm just keeping it real. You don't know. Yeah. I guess you just don't know all the effects. The ramifications. All the little subsidiary effects that occur with change. To me, it brings up a whole other conversation of like, is this smart to leave wildlife management to people who have no clue of what wildlife management is about? No. That's because, yes, the fish and game can make rules. And they kind of have an idea of what's going on, where the money's coming in and out. And then you hand it over to legislators to make laws. Well. That's foreign. Well, yeah.

And you look at, I mean, look at every state that has a ballot initiative for eliminating all the left coast with bears, lions and bears almost in every state now. You can't even hunt them. You can't even import it. You can't even bring one into California on your wall. That you killed legally. Yeah. You can't even shoot one from Colorado and bring one in the state that didn't even kill there. I mean. I mean, that's overage. And then you get the wolves, you get the Colorado thing this year, like just the complete disregard for sound biological management of anything, whether it be predator-prey relationships or whatever. It's, you're right. You take it out of the hands of, you know, competent people within, you know, a checks and balances system within a wildlife board commission, public input, and just make it a ballot or you just make it a legislative thing. That's scary.

I think that's what's offensive, you know, when we talk about Utah, good, bad, or in between. There's some good things. Maybe more deer are going to live, right? I like to see giants. And so there's some good things that would come if that passed it. There's also some bad things, you know, people enjoy it. Being out in the hills, enjoying cameras. I love running cameras, things like that. And because I like it and somebody else doesn't, doesn't make either one of us right or wrong. And I think what's offensive is people being told what they can and can't do. And just like we're talking about bringing a dead lion into California. Why? Why? Because you don't like lions? Because what? Why? And it just, and it's so frustrating to, you know, be shackled, you know, over stuff that doesn't matter or it doesn't seem even somewhat constitutional and, you know, in a free America.

So it's just, I guess the more restrictions you have coming on you, sometimes it's good for the sport to be restricted, right? It helps the game and this and that. But when you enact or potentially enact new restrictions, everybody bristles up. We're tired of being restricted, man. I'm tired of being told I have to wear a mask or whatever, even though it may be good for me. I just don't want people shoving it down my throat. That's all. If it's based on sound management practices and research and years of studies, great. But if it's based on someone's political feelings and emotion. Or that they don't like baiting. Exactly. Or that they don't have time to run cameras or they don't want to spend money on cameras.

Okay. Or if they just don't like hunting. Period. Right. Right. So anyway, there you have it. A few little things. I don't know if we need to dive into it much more. Just basically letting everybody be aware, all of you out there have an opinion and a lot of differing opinions. And so anyway, it's just our job to let you know about them. Maybe just a little banter here and there, a little discussion items like Devin brought up. So next 30 to 60 days, we'll see if any of them actually gain traction, get it passed and enacted. And then if and when that happens, when they would take effect. So don't alter all your application plans, strategies, all that. Start boycotting quite yet. I mean, we're just letting you know these are introduced, some things introduced. And you know, something to keep an eye on if you're from those states and feel like they could impact you dramatically.

We've given you the bill numbers. You can go online, search them. Have at it. So is there anything at this point, once they're in the legislature, is there anything, if somebody feels passionate one way or another, is there something they can do at this point? They can search it out. There was a comment. There's contact and comment areas within your legislator inboxes and stuff like that. Use this through email. That's kind of the traditional means. I mean, there's no... You don't go to the Beaver Regional Advisory Council meeting in Cedar City and stand at the mic anymore. Not at this point. Not anymore, because there's no in-person stuff. But legislature, you never really did that either. You don't go up to the chamber. I mean, there's been protests and people stage out front, but I don't know if you can even do that now. You might be disbanded.

They've even posted the phone number, the guy that initiated it and whatnot. So there's ways, yeah. So anyway, you can just go do a search for the House Bill, the SB Bill in New Mexico and check it out. So anyway, that's about all. Anything else? How do we end on a really positive, awesome, upbeat note now? Instead of the don't know what you got till it's gone theme that we're back on again. You mean like maybe something to do with Ball and Chain, some kind of music? That's kind of a downer, too. That feels like putting a negative spin on things. That's a Debbie Downer. An invigorating. That's a Debbie Downer type thing, yeah. So we need a song that deals with Chris and Mackenzie, maybe. Maybe Wyatt's. The California Girls, I think that's a good one, Chris. I think you choose. This is your day. You get to choose the intro to the song when this hits.

I don't think she's okay, and I want to prep. I don't think she's really a California girl. I agree with you already. She's really come from vernal country. What was the other one we said earlier? Check yes or no. Check yes or no. Do that. She was a Utah girl that got stuck in California. That got stuck in California. She did not want to be there. Bless her heart. She lasted way longer than the rest of us could have, and she didn't kill anybody that I know of. All right. Although I think she's fully capable. But we do like to be. Not mentally, but I'm just saying she's pretty accurate. She's killed a lot of game. I mean, Chris. You're in trouble. I've had to borrow her gun from time to time. I think she could pack out a moose, too. I think she's tough. Huh? No. You got your hands full there, boss. Good luck. Good luck. Hey, here's a tip. This is a tip for you, Chris.

This is kind of your last app season where you can just, with your own two eyes, look at what you're doing and crush whatever application you want. You're going to have to have her involved next year on, and your hunts, her hunts, all that. And you always kind of are, but just apply with reckless abandon this year. I guess that's what I'm going to say. Just do what you want because it's the last time you can. That's probably a good idea.

Are you going to apply with her credit card or your credit card? With mine. Oh. Yeah, remember? We have a few more words of advice for you. Remember, what's hers is hers, and what's Chris's is hers. That's right. What's hers is, yeah, it's not yours. You're right, Bronson. It's not his. They're right. All right. Well, anyway, good luck to you. Thank you. We wish you the best. Of course, you'll be joining the ranks here, Wyatt and Devin. Wow. Devin, give us something. Something. Have you guys argued at all? No, not bad. Good. All right. We've had, like you guys talk about the mounts discussions. Yeah. Where did those go? Well, I remember the taxidermist saying, do you want to have one of these be detachable so you can get it downstairs sometime or whatever? And I was like, no. Your moose? They're never going downstairs. I got an elk upstairs.

She said, you can put whatever you want in the basement, living room, upstairs. Like, we don't need dead stuff, whatever. And you can't. She calls him Fred. Hey. He's there. Well, hey. He's there. Is he upstairs? Oh, yeah. Could you. He ain't fitting. He won't fit downstairs. Could you take it to a taxidermist? Don't admit that you could do it. Could you take it there? Never saw it off. No, no, no. Don't admit that. I'm just. Just tell her it's not possible. Yeah. I'm sorry. It's not possible. We had to tell her that as I helped move the mount into the house. Why it was a witness. We broke the news to her that it wasn't going down the stairs. I'm sorry. And then the neighbor said, oh, yeah, you could get it through a window in a window well. That's not going to happen. So your elk is grandfathered into the no animals on the upstairs. It's grandfathered. I guess.

Because it was killed prior to detachable antlers being a commonplace. Okay. Devin, well, you're a good man. Well, I thought you. And that's all the moose. The moose, is it going to have a detachable horn or antler? Sorry. Probably two of them, yeah. Well, it's a moose. You could have a mounted cow. If it's too big, she's just going to one day have a mop. The antlers are in the way. You've got a cow for two months. Now Christmas is over. I need some space. There's a bunch of belt buckles. Here you go. There's a bunch of belt buckles stacked. I took a sawzall and made them. Wow. Well. All right. It's a fun time of year. I guess we've got no more bachelors to tease on the podcast, though, really. We have to call people. It's come to an end. Yeah. But anyway. He's hitched. Fun time. And he's smiling about it. It's kind of crazy. Just got to. Yeah, I spent long enough. He's wore out.

Tired of making my own food. Tired of making the bed. A couple things get a change, right? That's right. She's a good one. Two days ago, I hung up her buck. She has a nice drop time buck, and I hung it up in her apartment at her request. I'm like, okay, we're good. We're good. All right. Well, she's okay with mounts then, and that'll be awesome. So, all right, guy. Well, we wish you the best. Thanks. Well, on a parting note, we're not going to see anybody, obviously, at the Western Hunting Conservation Expo next week. But if you're interested in applying for the tags that they normally give there, the 200 big game tags for $5 each, you can go to huntexpo.com. You can apply for those. One entry per hunt is all. You do have to have a valid Utah hunting license. The computer will prompt you right at the front.

If you don't have it, you're going to have to go back to the Utah DWR site and buy it. It's also the time you're probably considering applying for the Utah dry anyway, so you're going to need it for that. But check those out. Apply for them. They're completely in addition to any of the regular Utah tags that you can apply for. They don't, you know, you apply for those now. You'll find out if you win one before the Utah draw happens. But go to huntexpo.com. They have waived the in-person validation requirement for this year. So, go check it out and hope to get lucky. And good luck in all the draws. It's kind of a, I still think I'm batting 1,000. I still do it. Until Alaska comes back in a couple weeks? Yeah. February 19th. Yep. I'm pretty sure I'm not drawing anything there. Yeah. Bunch of home runs. Bunch of home runs. It worked out for you last year. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

I went two for two. Yeah. You're right. All right, everybody. Good luck in the draws. And until next time, we'll be just applying here at the office. So, you're right. Thank you.