EP 221: Back to Colorado! 3rd Season Report, 4th Season Outlook

A high-pressure, sunny bluebird weather in November with a full moon, it can make it tough. Very little activity in the day, and there was a lot of activity at night. First morning, it felt like you were at a shooting range. Anything to do with Western big game.

Welcome to the Epic Outdoors podcast, powered by Under Armour. What up, what up, what up, everybody? Jason Carter, Adam Bronson coming at you from Southern Utah here in Cedar City. A little overcast. And Bronson, by the way, I've got my... Did you mainline something this morning? I might have. Dude, I'm fired up. I don't know why. But part of it is, Rittenhouse, he freaking won. How about that? And not only that, self-defense won. That's the way I look at it. We've dealt with some attorneys, Bronson.

I'm thankful for things. This is the time we are for things. I don't want... And we had some thanks for an attorney or two. But having said all that, when we were listening, it reminded me how corrupt the system can be and how things can be misconstrued. And the three and a half days of deliberations, I was worried. I was like, are you kidding me? This was an open, closed case. And what was cool about this case, and we're only talking about it for a minute, A, because it deals with guns and self-defense, and B, because it's on our minds, because we listened to it. On the third season, Chris, I mean, it was an open case, the first one for that particular judge or whatever courtroom, that everybody could hear the facts, right? You were there, and we got to hear it on satellite. That's my favorite thing about satellite radio was this case.

But anyway, got to listen to it, and as things were presented, it was so black and white to us, and how it can be misconstrued from other perspectives was beyond me. But he did it. How about that? He did it. We did it. We're all in this together, Rittenhouse. All right. Bronson, do you have anything to say about that? No. I just wanted to say that. No, you've covered it. You don't want to get political? No, I'm fine. I just... You agree. Yeah, I agree. I just... Rubber stamp it. I hate watching the news, period. So you know way more than I do? I didn't watch it. I listened. It was long drives on the third. Long drives. Long drives. Yeah, but I listen to ESPN radio. Okay. All right. Yep. Then why two country? What about the highway? It's a little too hip. Oh. Some of it's a little too hip. All right. Huh? Y2K is like... I got in the truck and Jared had on Hair Nation. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, occasionally. But you can get in a weird funk there and like, this is... What's too hip? I didn't listen to that. Yeah. But then you get in a groove and it's like 10 songs in a row that takes you back to that junior and senior year. There you go. Yeah, that's right. That's right. All right. So anyway, we want to get back to hunting.

Anyway. We are... That's enough. That's enough political stuff, right, Chris? That's enough. I'd say it probably so. That's enough. We're leading into Thanksgiving. Third season's over. For some of you, fourth season starts in the morning. Okay. Jason. Yeah, I know, dude. Going back. Saga continues. Yeah, the saga continues. Second, third, and fourth. So two of my kids have deer tags and two of them have four season elk tags in the same unit. And I'm thinking I'm a hero for all this. But in all honesty, for some reason, the kids don't feel like they can leave school. And so I would be over there right now scouting. A little bit of work and a little bit of school. A lot of work and a little school. And you just think, am I the only one... You've paid for four tags. Am I the only one that cares about this trip? You know? Probably got an Airbnb.

Oh, the Airbnb's been vacant for a couple of extra days. Front and back. And I'm just like, ah. But anyway. All in the name of hunting and gathering this Thanksgiving season. I had one kid's like, dad, I could come with Sean or Colton if they can't come in time. And I could go hit the slopes. I guess the slopes open tomorrow. And I'm like, wait a minute. I mean, if we don't all want to go, we just won't go. No, no, no. You'll sleep in your own bed if you need to. Oh, I'm like, anyway. Well, it turns out they're excited. They just are pulled in a hundred different directions. Probably like we were when we were kids. And dads don't understand that. My dad was like, just leave school. Who cares? Just leave school. And I'm like, nowadays. And I'm doing that. I'm in that spot. Hey, kids, just leave school. No. No. I guess they can't. And I told. I made the mistake of telling Ashley.

So Ashley lives for this stuff. And we got done with second. And I'm like, you know. And I made the mistake. Jenna's in the truck. And I'm like, you know, we could tell school that Ashley has COVID. She gives her four, two weeks off. She could come on my hunt. And she lights up like the 4th of July. And she could come on my hunt. That would be an idea. Yeah. And she's like, dad, I could totally do that. I could totally get caught up on school. No problems at all. Went on and on. And dude. And Jenna looked at you like what? Jenna's like, no. Like a good mom. And I'm like, yeah, it's probably not realistic. And she's like, and then off to the side, she goes, never say those things without running by me first. In front of the kids. Like, never say those things again. Out loud. You get them too far down a road. That's right. That's right. And she's like, and then I'm the bad person.

I'm like, yeah, that wasn't fair. Ashley was all but emailing all of her teachers to tell her she's going to be gone for the next 10 days. At night, at night, when we're back at the motel, I could totally just do all my school work. I'll get everything all done anyway. Pretty soon, Jenna's homeschooling her. The problem? I don't see a problem with that, Jenna. Oh, you have a full-time job. You're a full-time mom. Oh, maybe there is a problem. Anyway. All right. So now we're headed back forth. And you know what? Quite frankly, the weather's just been the craziest thing. How many years in a row has this been, Colorado? Five? I mean, it's the longest. Call it 10. I can't remember just a wow year. And I know we were all hoping for it this year, late dates. There's been some high points, no question. But whenever you turn 60,000, 80,000 deer hunters loose, they're going to kill a few good

bugs. There's been some high points, that's for sure. But collectively, would you say it's an overwhelming, booming success? No. But people say, well, the weather, if the weather was better. Some of us think the bugs just aren't there. Some of that, I think, is my line of thoughts in some of these units. They have hunted them in the rut for two decades really hard. Yeah. And you got a lot of people. You go through an investment. You go to Colorado. You're there. You're there for a week. Some of these guys are going to crush something on the last day. Yeah. A 144 point. And I'm not... Everybody can shoot what they want to shoot. But I'm just saying, man, there's a lot of deer that just die just at the last minute. Well, and from trophy hunters, too, people like punching the tag. Yeah. And I've forgotten what it's like to punch a tag. By choice, though. Yeah. By choice. That's right. Right.

It's just... We can't complain about everything and then want everything. We're going to say that again. Can't want every equipment, every late date, rut, snow, everything else. And then want big bucks still, too. Running around everywhere, even before the hunt, during the hunt, and after the hunt. To breed everything. And to hunt for next year. They just don't make enough of them. So... Anyway. Anyway, we have had a few members, you know, already sharing a success, whether it be tagging us on social media or giving us a call. And, you know, collectively, there's been some high points. Second season felt like we've already talked about that a little bit. For the most part, Chris, we talked about your deer. We talked about Josh's deer.

Probably should have had Wyatt and Devin in here today if they could highlight their hunt. But then... But then it would be a real Debbie Downer. Well, I mean, they... Quite frankly... Chris, you were there. I was there for the majority of their hunt. Give us a quick recap. Third season. We saw loads and loads and loads of hunters. Yeah. And hunters shooting forkies and stuff. Yeah. I mean, opening day was just a wreck. Like, we saw three points and two points just getting pile-drived everywhere around us. The first morning, it felt like you were at a shooting range. Wanted to get back in your truck. Yeah. Shots, shots, shots. And we were just... Every deer, we glassed up. Going down, going down, going down. Really? Yeah. The first morning, the best one. I think that's like John, too. John's not in here, too. But he was in a completely different unit.

But he saw many bucks in his binos drop. He saw an orange warfare that makes Utah General look like a quality experience. You saw many bucks drop in your school. I recorded one. Didn't even know they were shooting and you just happened to... Well, I knew they were going to shoot. It was... You're like, all right. It was... Did you give them the kill scene? No. Charge them. It wasn't a great kill scene. I'm just going to tell you that right now. It was... A little bit rough. Yeah. We glassed up a buck that apparently they'd already hit in the back end. And I started filming and I'm like, something looks not right with this buck. And then pretty soon I see orange flashes behind it. I'm like, oh boy. They're walking right up to it? They walked right up to it and... Smashed it. Yeah. Did they grab it? Yeah. Did they smash it and then grab it? Then they grabbed it, yes.

One of the last days I was there, we were thinking, okay, weekend's over. It's midweek. People are going to be thinned out a little. We're going to hike into a spot that we think we can get away from some people. So we got up super early and drove for like an hour. And then we hiked in and we get there and set up. And just as soon as it starts getting light, we start seeing... Headlines. Orange. Orange. Orange. Hiked in. Hiked in. And there was three guys, five guys. So five and then two behind us. So there's like nine people total in this... A pretty small canyon? In one canyon. And canyon meaning not giant. This isn't a five mile long canyon you're talking about. No. It's just... It's one... It's a ravine slash canyon. One draw basically. You could all shoot the same deer that stepped out. And the same people were shooting at the same deer. And this is... I always hate orange.

But sometimes you don't feel safe without it. Yeah. Like you're sitting in your truck with the lights on and bright orange. Yeah. I'm thinking... I'm glad these guys have orange because... With the horn honking. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. And the first guy starts shooting at this four point and missed it. And then these two guys from Utah come in. They see us. And then they walk right in front of us. And anyway, so they come up hiking in. And they came in last. So everybody else is already in there in the dark. And they come in. And they see us. And then they turn right in front of us and walk down the hill right in front of us. Right in front of you? Right in front of us. Line of sight? When you say right in front, how far? 10 yards? No. They were probably 100 yards in front of us. But... But you're going to throw lead over top of them. You're going to shoot it all.

They're walking right into the canyon where all the deer are. Yeah. And they just see us and walk straight down. I'm like... If it's me, I'm going to say, all right, they're here first. Let's maybe move behind them and keep walking. Yeah. Or let's go somewhere else. But anyway. Because Wyatt, in the frustration moment, I mean, Wyatt's not here. So we'll talk about him. But when the barrage starts, it'd be fun to just empty your gun into an old... Just to turn some heads, man. Does Wyatt hold us cool or does he get mad? He seems pretty cool. He stayed cool. Yeah. But the funny thing is it seemed like they were doing that. But they weren't. They were actually shooting at the deer. So the one guy on the ridge shoots out. It misses. And then these guys turn down and go, run down there. And we hear three shots from them. And then pretty soon we see the little buck running up next to us.

And it walked probably... Was it hit? 50 yards? Unscathed. It probably walked 50 yards from us. You're in somebody's rifle scope. You're getting scared now. That's when I'm like, I'm really glad you got all this orange on Wyatt. Yeah. You didn't have any on? I didn't have a tag. Yeah. And I started thinking about it. I'm like, maybe I should... I should wear it anyway. I should wear it anyway. Even though I don't have a tag. You're a buddy with Wyatt. You're not leaving him. You're connected at the hip. Oh, yeah. He's got the orange. And you're starting to Google those bright orange coveralls. Like, hey, I'll have these drop shipped. Yeah. Right? Where's the nearest sportsman's warehouse? That's right. Cabela's in Grand Junction. I'm there. We saw some of those sitting on the lawn chair. Oh, yeah. They're posted up. Anyway, it was just kind of funny.

We watched this little four-point walk over the ridge. And luckily, no one else could see it at that point. Or they would have been shooting. Well, and we're laughing about some of these scenarios. And we've all seen. If you've hunted Colorado enough, it's going to happen. It's a lot of people get maybe caught off guard. Because they hear about Colorado deer. Well, then you get there and you realize, yeah, you might be in a unit. Even you weren't, Chris. You were in a unit with hundreds of deer tags or with Wyatt. But you might be in one with 50. Like, I took my kids to some that had, you know, 100 or less. I don't remember. No. But you've got over-the-counter elk hunters everywhere. Yeah. And so, you know they're not really competing with you. But they're in your way. And like you said, if you want to walk down a dry ridge, you're like, are they looking for elk there? Are they deer?

Am I being that guy? If I walk down there, they're probably elk hunters because they're glass and thick timber, you know, where elk are going to be. But anyway, you've got to be prepared for that in Colorado. It isn't the pure Garden of Eden mule deer mecca. There's issues to deal with. Well, and it's pretty. You've got elk hunters. You've got over-the-counter elk tags in a lot of it. And you don't know who's who. Yeah. And whether they're hunting deer or elk, sometimes it doesn't matter. It's pressure. Yeah. It's just pressure. And that's the thing I saw in my hunt was after day three, everything just turned off. Nocturnalish. Yeah. Barely. Yeah. So that happens. And it gets compounded when you have things like full moons and when you have things like high pressure, nice sunny bluebird weather the whole time. Yeah.

You don't have a reason for deer to get up and down on their feet like you do in rain showers, snow flurries coming and going. The full moon was tough. The full moon was tough. We had very little activity in the day and there was a lot of activity in there. Well, and you had sunny blue, so you get a high pressure sunny bluebird weather in November with the full moon. It can make it tough. And I think that really had something to do with it. I chose a unit with a few less tags. And so it didn't have quite like that. And there was, but there's also a lot less deer. So generally when you've got high numbers of deer, you've got high numbers of deer tags. Yeah. You know, but, and we saw some nice, well like a lot of mature bucks, meaning high percentage. If you saw four bucks in a day, three of them were mature. So high percentage, but low buck numbers did pass a nice buck. Yeah. You're crazy.

I, that's what I text you. I said, this is why I need to be there hunting with you. You did. And it's true. Yeah. You would have killed that other buck. I would, I would have been good with it. I was like, and I was good with it. I would. Yeah. Yeah. And he had, the only thing you could say with him, he's had like one slightly weak back fork and he wasn't even that weak. It's just 31 inch heavy. Yeah. And tall. And was it G two or three? I can't remember your video, but one of them was a two or three inches shorter than the other side. So what? Big open airy long beam. I mean, double Igar. Well, and at first I'm like, yeah, that's a nice buck. You know, I video him. And then I'm like, I could be done right now. Like I should shoot this buck, you know? And I'm like, Carter, you're in Colorado. You are not by yourself. I sent it to Bronson and Bronson's like, this is why I should be there.

This is why I should be with you. Cleaning up your sloppy seconds. That's right. Just kill and go. Kill and go. It about happened four or five years ago when we hunted the other unit. I would have let you shoot it. You passed your buck. I would have let you shoot it. And you took, you videoed it for 15 minutes, a 207 buck. I would have let you shoot it. Out your truck window. Well, the thing about it is though, you're just like, and I don't know. It was maybe your first or second night on the unit too. Dude. First morning. Yeah. So, but I remember I was going to come, I was finishing a sheep hunt and I was going to come as soon as I was done. I'm coming over there. You told me you're videoing this buck and then you shot it after 30 minutes. I'm like, wow. If I would have been there, I probably would have, you'd have probably said, Bronson, shoot that buck. I would have. I would have.

I would have. Remember? I was like, you never know now. What if we see it to 20? I know. And what did we do in the next four or five days? It was terrible. Yeah. It was terrible, Bronson. And what happened this year? And it's kind of the same thing. I wish I would have shot that buck. Kind of the same thing. And what if he hits the ground and he's a little bigger? Colorado bodies are just giant. He was for sure 190 plus. And he could have been scaring two with a couple basal points. And who knows? And he did have that. And I love basal points. If they get one basal point, I'm bad. That's why I can't believe he had a clear double eye guard on one side, at least, that I could see. I just, you know, but there again, you're, anyway. You're ending the hunt. And you're, well, I need a lot of consulting. Like, like you, like, just like your buck. You pounded a great buck.

But I was, I was alone too. And you're, when you got someone and I'm sending you guys pictures and you guys, and I'm like, that must be tempting. Wow. You got a lot more control than me. And I'm like, okay, I better watch this concert. I said, look at those basal points. Go back. And if he has legit basal, smashing. Well, that's the same thing. We need to consult each other once in a while. Yeah. When you're by yourself and then you've got it in your mind, you want to be stickered. You're shocked. You want, you want your dream deer every time to step out of the trees. And that's a 200 inch frame of 20 to 30 inches of trash. Okay. Wow. So how many times that happened? I mean, for you, a lot more than most, but for most people, almost never. But your video, when you start to, your video was so blurry. Oh, yeah. And when you see a few points, there could be a lot of points.

And there was a lot of points. And I think that just goes back to don't. It was on 70 power with my phone scope stretched to the max to get whatever footage. So you have digital stretching going on within a 70 power scope. With wind bounce. With wind bounce. You can actually look at 70. A lot of them, you know, it's hard to look on max power. But then, so Chris, we're hunting. Then we find a dream buck. Mm-hmm. And a guy takes a crab right, right at the water where the buck likes to freak. I have my binos up there. You can't unsee some things in life. Well, luckily, he had a long shirt on. He was standing up, and I can see bare legs. And I'm like, oh, no. And he's a big old string of toilet paper. And I'm like, that's right where the buck is. Primetime. Primetime. Right where the buck is. Yeah. Crack of daylight. Crack of daylight. Four or five vehicles were stacked up.

And we're glassing. We're up on knob. I mean, you're, anyway. Too much biscuits and gravy. It's going to be early in the morning. He drove in in the dark, and then just as soon as it's getting light, he's. And then he farmer blew before he got in the freaking samurai. Both? Both nostrils.

Dogs out. What does that most resemble, that sound? A deer snorting. A deer snorting, telling everybody to run. And Chris, how did the rest of the day go? There were like no deer out. Bronson. We went from seeing, you know, 50 deer in that area to two to four. Yeah. Total. Does and fawns included. Yep. It was the saddest thing in the world. And you know how we always say the last day's the best day? No. It was not the best day. It was not the best day. It was the worst day. Yeah. Anyway, whatever. Those are fun experiences. And can I wait to get back? I cannot wait to get back. I can't wait to get back. And there's, I don't know how many times, and we all have it as hunters, you don't know what you should have done until it's too late sometimes. Like, maybe you should have shot the first one. But you wouldn't have seen the second one either. No. Yeah. And you learn a little bit more.

But you wouldn't have seen the second one? But I would have, if I had to do it like today, I would smash and freaking grab. You would have been home by like Tuesday or Wednesday, whenever that was, right? I'd have been a hero. Right now, I'm trying to dig out of being a zero, because she's, it's the end of the hunting season. She's the best of the best. The only good thing, though, is you don't have a tag right now. It's all four of your kids. How can she be mad at you? How? You don't even have a tag. I don't think she's mad at me. Okay. Well. But she was done. She was done two weeks ago. She was done. And I don't blame her. She was done when her. I was done. Bronson? I was done. You've been done. You've had a grinder of a year. You've had a, you've had lots of grinders. You've killed a couple of very legit deer. But having said that, those came for three weeks of heck. Oh, yeah. Heck.

Well, and even my Colorado was two trips. And a rainstorm. During a nine day, during a nine day muzzleloader hunt, because I had a pending Nevada elk hunt ending. Let's just tell me how, the little bet where you got five bones for doing the muzzle, would you do it again? And was it worth it?

Absolutely. I love it. In fact, maybe I'll post that buck tomorrow. I'll let Chris do it or something like that. It was. It was good. The dare buck. We'll call him the dare buck. The dare buck. I've been waiting for that one to come out. But you experienced it. That's how bad it is, Chris. That was like September 18th or 19th. I don't know when it was. Been a grind. And it feels like I haven't breathed since till Saturday. Saturday, Sunday. And now you're breathing. Now I'm breathing. And then Thanksgiving happens. And then what? Yeah. I'm going to go crush the white tail. That's right. That's right. I like it. I'm going to go crush the white tail. Yeah. I'm jealous. Go to the, what is it, the Hawkeye State? I don't know. I'm going to go to Iowa. Got to go to Iowa. Have a good connection. Good friend. Past sheep client that lives there. Just kind of. Is Iowa Dems or Republican?

What are they? I think it's a mixture. I don't know, Carter. We need to Google that because it might. I know where I'm at. It might decide what kind of experience you're really going to have there. I'm going to be seeing hunters, staying with hunters. So that's all I care about. I wonder if they have any loaf and jug or come and go gas stations. Tell me, Colorado's very interesting that way. Have you ever seen? I mean, you eat, drink, and gas up at loaf and jug or come and go? Yeah. And who thought up those names? Oh my gosh. Let's just keep it real. Something funny. That didn't go through a round table discussion. So let's read a couple reports. So Adam, you and I have talked a lot. And Chris, you've gotten some reports as well. And I'm sure the other guys have because we do a lot of consulting and then we want to hear back, right? Like that's part of it.

Like when you consult, you're like, man, I want to hear how your aunt went. And we mentioned that on a podcast. We got inundated with reports and we love it. It's awesome. And we're not going to divulge your identity and your unit. Don't worry if you ever do that to us. We're not. Well, I don't know. Meaning we're just going to read a couple. Oh, yeah. But we're not going to divulge. No. Hidey holes, secrets, years of, you know, what it took you to find. Just fun reports. What we like hearing is we kind of say, don't give up. Hunt to the end. Grind it out. And then some guys do that and it pans out for them. It's nice to hear. Now, Jason, you ended up grinding it out to the last day. It didn't happen. But for the sake of talking, you did pass two deer over 190. And I do like. So I don't feel too bad for you. I know. I know. And these are all choices. These are all choices. Right. So.

And we. All right. So anyway. Isn't there a song called Choices? Yeah. Oh, my gosh. There is. I got choices. Yeah. No kidding? I hear voices. Let's play it. All right. Well, anyway. So first, I want to read from a guy. Just says, hey, man. Thanks for all the advice this fall. My wife and I hunted such and such. Unit third season. Tough, dry, warm hunt with sporadic signs of rut. But we grinded all seven. Ended up taking this buck toward the end. Screwed up on a quick opportunity on a 180 at last light as light was fading. Bad A country. Met a ton of cool people. Very refreshing from playing the Eastern Plains Colorado Fence Line game. I don't want to do that. Thanks again. Eastern Plains. Super awesome. Like, it's just awesome to hear back. And also feel like you're not the only one with tough, hot, dry conditions. Which, man, was it ever. Another guy. Hey, such and such unit.

Third season report. Hot, dry. Might as well have been summer. Here in such and such. I can say it. Here in Gunnison. Absolute zero snow. No rut activity. Tough hunting conditions. Heard a lot of little bucks got killed with a couple of big bucks, which there were. But I don't think it's been the slaughter everyone thought it was going to be. Love the podcast. And your guys' season updates. Good luck. Here's something. Whenever you hear the word Gunnison and it feels like summer in November, because Gunnison is known as what in Colorado? The ice box. The ice box, right? Well, the low elevation's over 7,500 feet. Okay. It's known as one of the coldest places in Colorado. It's like an ice freaking box. It is. It's why the deer are prone to winter loss. They get a bunch of snow. It doesn't leave. So when people are talking about it feels like summer in Gunnison in November, it's

not great hunting conditions. That's all you need to hear. Yeah. That's right. That's right. That's 100% right. I mean, I was there last year. You guys were in cold. It was in the second season. And it was like negative seven in the morning. Jeez. Cold. Yeah. It was. It was. Last year was earlier. Yeah. It was still cold. Testing your radiator fluid. Making sure it's got the right mixture. So you don't track the ball. It was colder last year. I'd have to start my vehicle and let it run for a long time. Yeah. I'd start my side-by-side on the trailer and let it run all the way to where you're going. It's going. It's when we bought seat heaters, Bronson. Yeah. They make them for a reason. Well, we had another guy ride in and he said, you know, he's talking about his trip. I just screenshotted the last part of it.

But he's talking about his trip and basically they had a great, phenomenal trip, saw mature bucks and they were doing it by hiking and getting away from the roads. And then I said, what else did you see? The only other buck we saw, let's see, the only other buck that we saw taken on the entire trip was this one, snapped a pick, that my brother had jumped while still hunting, didn't get a shot off the next day. Some road hunters blundered into it and took it down with six shots. This sounds like Chris. This sounds like, and John, John was hanging a headlamp in a tree to say, hey, this is where I'm at. And everybody just gravitated toward the headlamp. Stole the trip. Stole it. So he took the headlamp and said, thank you. Anyway, this is the photo in the back of their buggy. There were a lot of people we spoke to that weren't even seeing bucks at all.

The bucks we saw and that we had to hike into. Between the three of us, we saw 100 deer and 30 to 40 of those were bucks. And at least six of those were large, mature, excellent quality bucks. And so anyway, kind of a good report on an inferior unit, let's call it. And I think part of his success was hiking, getting away from the roads. Yeah. But like, I mean, that works in places. And like you described, Chris, it doesn't do you anything. It was almost worse. You overthought it. Everybody has that same thought process. There's too many people. We gotta hike. And so everybody's hiking into the same remote locations. Same three-quarter mile away off the road canyon. Yeah. Yeah. It just is what it is. Everybody's working a little bit. And that country you're in has incredible genetics. If it was left alone, I mean, good. Yeah. It's pretty sad.

I mean, they could have some of the most amazing deer. There's a lot of that in Colorado. But I mean, they have a multifaceted approach. We in Utah have our general season for the most part and some limited entry. If you had to blend those two, you're going to have the same thing in Utah. You'd have some units where we're given 1,000 tags and others that you give 10. And so that happens in Colorado. So you have some of everything. And if you really want to go to Colorado and you got zero to one point, you're at the mercy of what can I draw with zero to one point? And you're going to be in a unit with a lot of hunters and have to do with that. That's what a zero to one point unit is. But you're in Colorado. You're in Colorado and it can happen. Yeah. And we all complain about it. Chris, you brought up a really good point.

You brought up a really good point where you said, just I think about Colorado, what it was a decade ago. Like any day, any point in time in the day, you could have went and smashed a four point. Oh, yeah. And Josh, he was over there with his whole family. They couldn't find a buck to shoot for their kids, you know? And then they did. It took, but it was a grind. You know what I mean? And I think, anyway, those, but having said that, that unit's susceptible to snow. Well, and it's a zero to one point unit. I mean, it's a. Yeah. There's a reason. Over a thousand. I don't know. Oh, 1,600. Okay. I mean, unbelievable. Plus OTC elk. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Probably a few late season antelope and cow moose. Who knows? Here was just a Nevada, a random comment from Nevada. He was in Nevada, hunted some of the low country, hunted some of the burns and the higher stuff for four days.

Really wanted to shoot a buck. We ended up taking a nice 160 inch of character. It snowed on us. Dang tough hunting that unit when it's 60 degrees and sunny in late October. Anyway, say thanks to you guys listening to the Colorado podcast now. Good luck. Anyway, just awesome. Bronson, you had a bunch of, you know, just quick comments and things that, you know, reports of how guys are doing. Yeah. A lot the same. I mean, the very common theme was expectations were incredibly high this year for Colorado, as they should be. We've never seen dates as late as they were going to be for any of the rifle hunts, second, third, and fourth. I consulted a lot of people back in February, March before the deadline that be careful on the fourth season hunts because if we get snow and all that, the second and third could wipe out a lot of deer. And it doesn't look like that's happened. That's right.

And maybe if you're willing to sacrifice your Thanksgiving, which it kind of is, frankly, if you've got families and your moms and wives that expect you to be places and now you're in Colorado, it may not be all sunshine and rainbows back around your house. But it's probably going to be a few good rut hunts kicking off this week in Colorado. I think they were running good in the third season, but I think they ended up switching a lot to night activity because bluebird, sunny weather, and full moon. Full moon. And then just the pressure, the normal pressure that's there. And whenever you get, my experience too, whenever you get weather like that, and we see this on the Utah General, when it's bluebird all nine days, what do people do? They hunt the whole hunt. When it's crappy weather and slick and snotty, not only does the deer activity usually go up

a little bit at times, but some people, I ain't going out today. It just weeds some of that out. Bad weather. They hunt the first weekend, I'm not going back. It's going to be nasty. I'm not hauling my trailer back to mountain or whatever it is. So when it's bluebird nice, we're all trying to enjoy camping. It's our last camping trip for the year. And you're there for nine freaking days, sun up to sundown. And you're, you know, using the bathroom in great hunting spots every morning too. So I mean. That happens from some people. Yeah. And people love to camp on the water holes. You know what I mean? Like right on the water. Some states that's illegal, but I don't know about water. Yeah, a quarter mile from the water. But I mean, I'm just like, why? Why? Hey. Well, did tell a guy. There was a guy that emailed in and he just said, hey, you know, we sent an article and

it was Hunter legally takes an elk. So legally in an urban herd. And it, and they had a huge public outcry. Basically it looked, it appeared. It was like within 10 yards of the boundary. Like, and he smashed it and grabbed it. And the whole world's going crazy there. Is this Colorado? Yeah. Yeah. Colorado in his local little. And I said, yeah, you know, legal is legal, but it's not my style. They'd write a ticket if they could. You know, a lot of the towns get hunted across the West and it's really hard in some of these yuppie towns of Colorado. It's just, you know what I mean? Like, and so he's like, yeah, I just wish that people would be respectful and use a little caution. It's not like a giant bull. It's just, you know what I mean? It's just a dang nice bull. You know what I mean? And so I said, yeah. He says, ah, if you could mention it. And, and it's true folks.

I mean, just, you know, a little discretion. Sometimes we get carried away and when hunting's tough, if it's legal, you know, you want to smash it. And you're going to cut in front of your fellow hunter on the ridge in the daylight. Take his headlamp out of the tree. So anyway, oh, good stuff. You know, Bronson, Arizona, we should probably mention Arizona did come out with a little something, something. Yeah. Kind of weird. The email, if you apply in Arizona, you probably got the email, I think on November 19th, last Friday, they've concocted a new way to raise some money. That's basically all it is. It's kind of a new. And they admitted it. Yeah. That's basically how they called it out. A way to generate money to, you know, for some of their programs. They're going to offer two elk hunts, two mule deer hunts, and two coos deer hunts.

And most of the, I think all of them are valid in multiple units. The elk are valid in like neighboring units, like one, 27 and nine and 10. And then the mule deer, one mule deer hunt is open in unit 10, 17 A and B, 19 A and B and 20 A. Another mule deer hunt in all the, we'll call it 39 through 45, the desert units. And then a couple coos whitetail hunts in one through 29 through 26. And the other one in 21, 22, 23, 24. These are basically what, $15 entries, I think it said, Carter? Yeah, for non-residents, 13. 15 per selected hunt number. And you can apply for sex. For all six of those. So what's that, 90 bucks if you want to apply for all six of those hunts. They have very weird, unique season dates. They are all, well, not all. The elk, yeah, they all are. No, the elk and the mule deer, December 20 to February 15th. Yep, mule deer.

And then the coos deer, January 1 through February 28th. Which are rod hunts. So, yeah, and they're only drawing one tag. One in each of the codes. Yeah, they're not like you can have any hunting pressure. There's, I don't know, there could be some archers and maybe some late cow. I don't know. But these are just a way to make money. And give six people something special. World-class hunt in winter. Is this within the draw? Like, is this going to apply to your camp? Nope. The deadline to apply is all next week, right? Like the 29th through the 3rd or something like that? December 3rd. And then, yeah, so November 29 to December 3rd, you can apply. So it's only like four or five days. So this will be 21, 22 season. Like it, yeah, you draw, you're going to draw in a week, 10 days from now, you're going to do a draw. And then you go hunt in December to January. And, yeah, bonus points.

It will not hurt your points. And it doesn't affect back limits. So normally you can kill one deer in a one-year calendar year period. If you kill your coos deer on one of these in January, you still apply for deer in Arizona in June. So it's just totally in addition to anything else, no points. Just you want to apply, 15 bucks. It's online only next week, Monday through Friday, I think. Is that the 29th to 3rd? That's right, to December 3rd. And they just barely, you know, authorized this in their August meeting. And so it kind of, I mean, we're not listening to those meetings. We're actually scouting, you know. And so I'm like, what? These are not going to be good drawing odds. Just, I mean, we can draw one of anything. Yeah. It's a raffle. It's a raffle.

But it's just, if you want to throw in for a couple of those that are pulling to you, now the mule deer, there's some good opportunities. But it's not like you're hunting the kaibab or places like that. Or the strip or anything like that. But a couple of the whitetails are going to be phenomenal. The whitetails are arguably some of the best units they have. Yeah. I mean, and even the elk and, you know, probably have a lot of broken bulls. You're still going to hunt for, what, two months, Carter, roughly? Yeah, dude, you're talking December 20th to February 15th. I mean, you're two weeks from shedding. You know what I mean? So, anyway, smashing before he's dropping. Anyway, kind of cool. It's different. Cool. Worth mentioning. Just something you might consider doing. We're busy. Maybe we apply, Bronson. I don't mind. I'll apply for a couple of them. I don't mind helping fund a state.

We usually, we're dreamers, usually. I mean, we'll usually throw in for stuff like this, you know, no question. Another thing that we're starting to get a few calls on as we're getting back in the office is if you've hunted Idaho, you've probably been getting the email there, too, that their general season tags for non-resin is going to sell December 1st. And for me, I don't know. They must have hit send too many times. I got it like six times. Did you? Yeah, at least. But, you know, you have kids. I know. You know. I don't know. Anybody that's got an account there is getting an email. Well, they must have sent, it's kind of like the Utah sportsman's results. I got them like three times for all of us. I know. But they want to sell tags. And they want them all gone now. And if they're gone now, we get the revenue right now. Yeah.

And so they go on sale December 1st, which is, again, next week. Now, some of these are going to sell out that morning. And for some of the premier. Get up at midnight. You can't really call them premier, can you? Just more coveted. We'll call it that. Coveted over the counter tax. Yeah. I mean, Diamond Creek or whatever. That's right. Those like that. And then some of the deer units. But these are general season. Now, there are still some that you can buy. In fact, we bought some last year in February or March. Yeah, we bought some in February or March. Just to have a deer option. We got, Carter got us wound up one afternoon. And we went and bought a few. And then my schedule got so busy, I actually turned it back. And I just got a check back. I thought they forgot about me. No, I just got a check back. Well, and they issued, they reissued the tag there to somebody else.

You could go buy it. So anyway. They kept a good chunk of it. By the time you hear this, you need to go to Idaho's Fish and Game website. We're probably not going to be here. Well, we'll be here first of next week. But when it comes to picking a unit, you've got to decide proximity. There's no holy grail general season hunts. They just broke them up into individual units. It used to be statewide a few years ago. Yeah, and now they're just individual units with non-resident quotas. Making sure we don't get more in our fair share. That's all. So keep it. Yeah. Anyway. Do that. If you want to put a tag in your pocket for 2022 already, have at it next week. Yeah, you could win one. Here we go. Anyway, we got to mention it. Just didn't want anybody to not be on top of it. Or that we're sandbagging hoping we get them all for ourselves because that's not true. All right.

Let's give a couple quick shout outs to some of our sponsors here. And first one is going to be the Rugged Ridge Outdoor Gear. Love their bipod. Killed my buck in Idaho because of the bipod. Did not have time to set up. Bare open ridge. There's no tree. There's no nothing. I mean, I probably could have laid down prone on a pack. But man, love their bipod. They have a rear rest as well. Their Gen 2 Extreme bipod is pretty awesome. They get a bunch of different firearm products to be able to help shooting, whether it be short range, long range, whatever. Give them a call at 541-526-1820 or ruggedridgeoutdoorgear.com. Great products. Love their bipod. Another one of our sponsors is Hoyt. We've talked about this a bunch. How many of us this year got new upgrades. Most of us picked the RX-5. Maybe a couple got the Ventum. But appreciate Hoyt being a sponsor of this podcast.

Obviously, their name, their reputation is pretty much unparalleled. And great gear. Always innovative. Always looking to improve and make something better, more effective, and all that. Appreciate their partnership. Check them out at Hoyt.com for a new lineup. And it's probably going to be getting here soon where we start to be hearing something in the next for 2020 huge stuff. Which, you know, I'm not one of those guys that gets a new bow every year. But Jason and I, we both know guys that get the new one every single year. We might need to be that guy. Why not? Why? Why not? I didn't even kill something with my bow this year. I tried. I got my butt kicked. But I tried. It wasn't the bow's fault. No. Was it? Sometimes it's just the moment. It's the moment's fault. I'm blaming things on the ball. I have more bow than I have shooter.

It's kind of like when people talk about their wife and they say, hey, I outkicked my coverage. Yeah. Yeah. I did that. I have a bow that can shoot better than I can. I'll freely admit that. No. I get it. Anyway. All right. We also want to throw a shout out there to Pacwill. Super good dudes. They've got an incredible product. You can pack out some major weight. Chris is packing out people. Did you use that, Chris? People? He's packing out people, man. What do you mean? Up and over the curbs. Up and down ditches. I didn't know if you found somebody in duress in Colorado that was having chest pains and actually willed them out. No? He could. One of the kids jumped on there. Oh, you actually carried them for a while. They could. But you could haul in trail cameras like crazy. You could haul out meat. You could haul in camps. You could haul in them. Yeah. Decent tent and some gear. You know?

And they'll pull you up a hill. There's guys. And guys are taking spare batteries and don't even need it. Like, it's crazy. We have a little YouTube clip of that, don't we, Chris? Yeah, we do. On our website? I did a video on that, so you can go watch that on our YouTube channel. Yeah. But it's a pretty impressive product. I was definitely surprised when I actually took it out in the field and started using it. I was surprised, pleasantly surprised at how well it works. Yeah. It's got a twist throttle, high capacity lithium battery, adjustable handlebar, ultra traction tire, stainless steel sprocket, and a brake rotor. I mean, you need a legit brake on these things, especially when you've got a load and you're going downhill. High torque, brushless motor. I mean, those are things I don't know that much about, but they're pretty important at packwheel.com. They're not chintzy made.

That's the bottom line. They're well built. They're well orchestrated. Even Josh, he took his to New Mexico thinking, if I smash a bull, I'm going to need it. You know? Anyway. Yeah. I'm glad he didn't have... Remember we called him on the podcast? We talked him off that ledge. Well, I mean, you're back... Five or six miles. And you spoke to his inner core. You're like, do you love your dad? Anyway. How much do you love your dad, Josh? How much do you love your dad? That's a brutal question. He's there by your side, but you're about to put him through hell. That's right. So packwheel.com. Go buy yours. 801-935-4764. Mention. You heard it here on the podcast. Might even treat you a little better. Who knows? Never know. And we are going to be at the Expo. Save the date. February 10th to the 13th. We're going to be there, even if we have to wear three or four masks. You know, huntexpo.com.

Make sure you get scheduled. They're going to give away the... Five dollar tax again. I mean, you've got to have your name in the hat. This year, you've got to be in person. Last year, we had... That requirement was waived, and there was probably a big increase in applicants. And there's always a lot of applicants. And now, with this COVID environment, and who knows, maybe the odds will be a little better, Bronson. You've got to show up in person. It's going to be standing room only. It's going to be... You think people are tired of not seeing each other? Yeah. Mix and mingle is going to be off the charts. I think you're right. The desire to... Yep. To see game, we're going to have a booth full of big animals. I don't know. Anyway, we're excited to be there. Huntexpo.com. Get on there. Register. Do whatever you've got to do. Grab a motel. Motels are going to be jammed. Yeah.

February 10 to 13. We'll have a lot more details later on. We're going to have some specials on optics and different other things. And now it's maybe a few giveaway type things later as that gets closer. But we're getting excited. This is the application season. Things are ramped up. If you're not a member here at Epic Outdoors, consider becoming a member. We do cover all the Western big game states. All big game in all the Western states. You can go to epicoutdoors.com. We're 100 bucks a year. We do monthly, December through June. And bi-monthly, the remaining part of the year. And just cover all the drawing odds, kill percentages, best units, comments, and just crank it. So, anyway. And... Well, one thing I want to... Yeah, we want to shout out. The hunt giveaway. We already started a new hunt giveaway. Anyway. And that's kicked off. It's on our website.

But if you've either logged in and seen your e-mag or you've received your paper mag, which they should be showing up any day in the mail for December. Um... We've launched our winter 2020-122 membership drive. Just want to quickly go over that process for that. You get a ticket for either joining our service for... If you put it off, you've listened to the podcast forever and haven't and figured, well, I'll do that next year when the application season starts so that I start when the state issues start coming out. Well, now's the time to do that. You'll also get a ticket for our... One of the hunts of your choice if you join. Or if you refer a member that joins, you'll get a ticket in the hunt of your choice. Or you can purchase tickets if you want. You know, there's ticket packages from $25, $100, $2, $500, whatever. The hunts are... We'll just briefly go through those.

We've got Alaska Doll Sheep Hunt. That is for this year, I believe. It's August 9th, opening day, August 10th to the 18th, 2022 with Jonah's Alaskan Outfitters. Awesome hunt. Had several members go on that. We've got another one, another 2022 hunt. We bought these years in advance. There's no other way to book... How would you book a Doll Sheep and an awesome moose hunt for Alaska right now? Not with these. Not with these guys. No, not with these guys. So we've got another 10-day hunt, an Alaska moose hunt with Dillans River Outfitters, September 11 to 20, 2022, right in the rut. So... Anyway, pretty awesome. Then we also have another elk hunt on the Acoma Reservation with 2022. We have your choice of weapons, September 26th to the 30th. Fully paid for. We paid for it in full. All these... $18,000 opportunity there. Just an incredible opportunity.

We have a great relationship with the Acoma. Good people. The main guy guided our guy this last year. So anyway, and with a great report. I heard back and it was awesome. So anyway, we also have a 2022 Utah mule deer hunt, Bronson. And when this came available on this particular lease, it's the best of the best that we know of. Yeah. Or near the very top 5% here in Utah, September 1st to the 5th, with a rifle. Yep. This is on a cooperative wildlife management unit. So landowner tag, fully guided hunts included. So... Yeah. And just an unreal opportunity to kill a big old mule deer. So... And then since mule deer are... King. Hard. Hard to kill anywhere. We wanted a couple of them. And we've brought another Nevada 2022 Unit 231 mule deer hunt with Greg Krog and his crew at Mogollon Rim Outfitters. Your choice of season. The landowner tag is valid for all seasons. We already bought it.

We already bought it. And we've actually... You know, you'll book your hunt or just basically reserve your hunt with Greg seven days, whichever hunt you want. And for some reason, it doesn't work out during that. You still can keep hunting either on your own or with Greg or work that out. But anyway, this is a 2022 hunt, fully outfitted, $19,000 value on that mule deer hunt in Nevada. So... The guy that won it actually stopped in the office with his family. Greg hunted him hard. Incredible experience. He couldn't have been happier. I mean, just... I mean, he hunted some big deer. Hunted with a bow. Yeah. And chose archery. Yeah. So anyway, just awesome to have, you know, work with the best of the best and have guys win these type of experiences. We also have a lion hunt in Arizona. It'd be the winter 2022-2023. Six-day Arizona with Derringer Outfitters.

Anybody that hunts with these guys learns a ton. They're incredible. These guys will hunt dry ground in the summer in Arizona. I mean, they've got the best of the best dogs. Incredible guys. Super good people. And know what they're doing. So just ecstatic that we're giving away a hunt with those guys. Also have the Epic Optics package. A $14,500. I left for a minute. Bronson told him, hey, drum up a package for us. Hey, you leave something up to me. Made us spend an extra grand. I mean, anyway. But hey, it's the best of the best. We've had a lot of comments on this, Bronson, where people are like, there's never been an optics package like this given away ever in one person. Well, there's pieces. All right. But yeah, read it off. I mean, this is unbelievable. Dude, it's a Swarro 95-millimeter scope objective. So the new modular system.

An ATX or an STX, which would be the angled or straight eyepiece that connects to that 95. Then you've got the BTX, which is both eyes, right? Snap off the ATX or STX. Snap on the BTX. Now you've got 35 power with both eyes, like a binocular. The Leica 10x42, 3200.coms, which are arguably one of the best range-finding binos you can buy. Vortex Razor UHD 18x56, their highest power Wazoo Bino, the Razor UHD series. Yeah, awesome tripod mount of bino system there. The Zeiss V6, 3-18x50-millimeter rifle scope. We've got it on the shelf. Incredible. And the Zeiss are incredible. I've started putting them on every gun. And then we've got, we're giving away, Bronson's like, let's throw some stealth cams in there. I'm like, geez, that's enough. Anyway, 10 cameras, the G45 NG Max 2s. We've got them here in the office, and we're going to send those to you as well. So that adds up to like 14,500.

It's actually like six or seven, and you want it to round down. Well, you like, we put whole numbers on there, but it's a lot of stuff, and you're going to have, it's all something you're probably going to use. And it's not lightweight stuff, meaning this isn't just chintzy stuff that, oh, I got a bunch of, you know, stuff I'll never use. This is real world Western hunting optics and cams. Okay, we also offer for the bonus item, sometimes we do optics, sometimes we do a Nevada deer tag. We're doing a Nevada deer tag. If you have the 30-ticket option in your cart and check out, it's $500. You'll get 30 tickets, which is great value per ticket price, as well as getting an option, a ticket for the Nevada deer tag. So anyway, this is a fully transferable deer tag, generally valued at $13,000. Sometimes some are going at auction for $17,000. I mean, crazy prices.

And we just love Nevada because it allows guys to archery muzzle rifle until they kill the deer. And, you know, on a good normal moisture gear or good moisture gear, an unbelievable opportunity. And anyway, cool. You can check out more about what we just ran through there at epicoutdoors.com. But again, if you are a member, consider joining a buddy, get a ticket in or buy some tickets there. And if you're not a member and you've always used the podcast or use whatever service we have to some extent on the free end of it, maybe it's time you get the rest of it and be able to participate in discussions with us on planning and strategy, picking units that fit you best, you know, and also just using the magazine as a tool to be able to navigate the new changes. We never go to print, ever, without having the full regulations, you know, digested before we go to print.

We're not going to just rubber stamp something from the year before, send it out to you and have a new change come out that is, you know, monumental change. And, hey, they're now changing the point fee structure, whatever, something like that. We always, we pride ourselves on that. And that causes tight turnarounds. It causes a lot of stress around here at times because we're waiting, we're waiting, waiting. And, but. Bronson, we're getting older. I don't know how much longer can we handle this stress? Can we get up early in the morning like we do? I think if it was anything but hunting, I'd have thrown in the towel. That's right. But I live for this stuff and I know you do too. We've been doing it for three decades. This is all we know and we love it. We go through and we take a lot of pride in the publication and then staying on top of everything and reading everybody's comments.

And keeping track of stuff, you know what I mean? And helping guys and then hearing back. And there's just a lot that goes into, you know, working over these states and getting a feel for what's going on in the new stuff out there. So, anyway. Absolutely. We live for it. Fun time of year. It's exciting to get a new set of regs and find a change or something new or maybe not. Maybe there's not. But every once in a while there's something that just gets you wound up about it. Carter even got me to play for an orcs hunting in New Mexico last year the first time in my life. We did duel, I think. Yeah, we did. I said, well, I'm not putting in unless you're with me because if I have to go, you have to come. Okay. Yeah. I'll eat horse meat. They say it's the best thing in the world. Literally. Yeah. It's unbelievable. Yeah. Yeah. Whatever. Cool experiences out there. So, I don't know. You know.

They've got long tails. Yeah.

Anyway.

All right, everybody. Let's call it a day. Happy Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving. And we'll be here a week after. It's almost application season.