EP 229: Hunting South of the Border

And he went to Mexico. He slammed a freaking stud, right? Mexico was awesome this year, you guys. I have a saying, if the deer is freaky or he has, if he's different, he's big. Anything to do with Western big game.

Welcome to the Epic Outdoors podcast, powered by Under Armour. Hey everybody, Jason Carter, Adam Bronson, and Chris Peterson coming at you from Southern Utah. It's a windy, kind of snowy, but not really, Bronson. It's just cold. And it's really cold. Adding injury to insult, or is it insult to injury? Insult to injury. Why? It's adding all that because there's no precip, and it's just wind and cold. Crazy. Frigid. Frigid. Yep. I mean, it's still above zero. Some people think about wusses. Well, it was three at my place with a 20 mile an hour lens. Chris, where's your place? Do you have open water lines? No. They're covered? Well, I turn them on long enough to water horses, and then something.

Some of it seeps into the ground, and then... The other comes up on top, and... So, Chris gets a new place, new place for Chris, and ends up with a water break, and that sucks, huh? Yeah, main water line broken. But you've replaced a lot of it, right? Yeah. A lot of well on there and everything? Yeah, we replaced all the plumbing on the inside, and there was one stretch of pipe on the outside that was old, and when we turned the pump back on, there was too much pressure. Well, we've... I mean, do you consider yourself a No plumber, because we've got a few projects you could do at my place. Nope, I hired that job out. We've already talked about yours. What? The keyhole to turn off your sprinkler system, how it's bent in an S. Yeah, it's 20 feet under. And I gave you the idea of giving your kids a shovel in the summer job.

Yeah, you don't give kids nowadays a shovel. You go to jail for that. Anyway, there's a lot going on in the hunting world right now, everybody. Bronson, we just freaking cranked out Wyoming Elk. That's over with. However, what I love about that is you can amend till May 9th. What's the word you like to use? I don't know what. Plug and play? Yeah. You can plug and play. You can change your mind. I love that. The only thing you can't change is from regular to special or vice versa, but you can change your unit or pull out of your unit altogether. And in either case, you have to get a point in the summer anyway. Remember that. They don't give you one after the draw. You got to go buy it in the summer anyway. So, you're going to have to do that. If you can't go, your plans change, or your units change, or you get bolder, or whatever.

Whatever. Change it, mix it up, get drawn. Made me feel better. On the deadline day, I applied for something. Got to have a name in the hat. And, I don't know, I'll probably change it a few times. You can just change hats. Yeah, change hats. I like changing stuff. So, anyway, there you have it. The rest of the species, well, they're not dew yet. Yeah, they tripple in. We've got some here at the end of the month, we've got some more dew. We've got sheep, moose, goat at the end of the month, and then March end of the month, you've got bison, then you've got antelope and deer in Wyoming at the end of May. But we've got Arizona elk and antelope here on the front burner February 8th. And remember, your hunting license needs to be valid on the deadline day. So, you can get a twofer. Like a lot of my family, thankfully, theirs expired February 8th, 2022.

So, it's good now, but it's also a false twofer, because they've got to buy it for the deer and sheep later anyway. Yeah, so whatever. So, it just pushes it later. Whatever. Hey, pay later. That's what we do nowadays. We pay later. We buy now and pay later. Huh? That's right. But anyway, that's coming up. So, get those in. There is no amend process there, Bronson. Speaking of, this is what you're going to get. If you find out you put in for a cow tag in Arizona... Let's not even talk about it. Well... That's a negative. How many calls have we had this year? I've got one today, and I've had several. I know. Okay. The only thing you're going to be able to do, and if you call the Game and Fish, this is what they're going to tell you to do, is to remember you have until roughly the end of February, they set a deadline to update your card.

Generally the 25th to the 27th. To update your card, hey, we're about to run the draws. If your card's gone bad from the time when you applied to now, better update it. Well, if you messed up, you better update it. Go get the Walmart special. Go buy the $25 or whatever Visa prepaid card. It needs to be a valid card number. They're going to call you and say, hey. But it won't have a valid amount to crush an antelope or a deer tag or an elk tag for a non-resident, and you're going to get rejected, but you will still get your point. They will tell you the same thing I just told you. I know it sounds rinky-dink. That's what they're going to tell you. It is rinky-dink. They will not change it over the phone. And they is only, if you get through the 14 layers of people to the head guy. You can do whatever you want.

They will not change your cow choice. Even if the deadline's still open, they're not going to do it. I contend that's how they sell cow tags. Probably. What do you think? That's part of the plan. Remember in the summer, sometimes when we listen to the commission meeting right prior to like the elk and sheep stuff, trying to get some of their numbers, and you'll have like 20, 25 cow guys going before the commission trying to get their points back. And every one of them. Did you have point guards? No, I didn't think I needed it. I only put in for early bull hunts ever. I would always take that tag. So, I don't buy point guards. I know. I know. And then they turn to their people and say, was there a problem on our part? And they would answer, no, there's no problem on our part. 25 times. Too bad. Enjoy the cow tag. No soup for you.

Exactly. And so, what do you say? Nowadays, you'd think there'd be a simple process. It's not simple in Arizona. We love Arizona. I like the people there. Work with them well. Having said that, the process is terrible. Yeah. Luckily, there's no dough and all that to worry about. What ticks me off is you got to go through, you apply for elk, and you got to go back, all the way back through and do antelope. If you're doing points only, it would be nice just to do a smash and grab. And for six family members. Grab a tag, grab a point, check out. 12 checkouts for a family of six. And then that's me, family of six. I did it. It took all afternoon. I need to hire somebody. Do you know anybody that does apps? I need to hire somebody. I'll do it for a fee. Anyway, will you make sure they're done right?

Yep. Okay. So, having said that, that's what we're up against right now. We're cranking out elk and antelope apps in Arizona. The awesome thing is, you know, they've had some good moisture. They went in late fall, early fall, late fall, early winter, and now that's where we're at, kind of mid-winter. Waiting to see what the rest of it's going to look like. Things shaped up well. Great monsoon season later in the summer last year. Going into the fall, they did fairly well. Had a couple big storms late fall, during winter. Been okay. Much better than last year. We're greedy. We'd like a lot of snow right now. We want standing water everywhere, because we're in a drought in southern Utah, too. Yeah. Speaking of Utah, that application period opened, and for those of you that applied last year and bought a hunting license, speaking of twofers, you might check that.

Check your receipt from last year, see if you had to buy a license last year. Hunt a license only has to be valid the day you apply. Yep, unlike Arizona when it's going to be valid on deadline day, which is the 8th this year in February, Utah just has to be valid the day you check out. That's it. So, you can get a true twofer. Go check your receipts, check whenever you applied last year. If it made you buy one, better check. You could go on the online license thing and reprint. Go to the reprint, whatever. Yeah, go look it up when you go, or if you have your file saved, check it, it'll have your stamp on there. If you see you bought one on February 21st this year, you better apply by the 20th this year, and it won't make you buy another one for $72 for non-residents. How about that tip? Well, I mean, it's cool. It's not a real tip. It's been here for 20 years.

And what's interesting about Utah is you don't even have to have a valid hunting license when you're hunting. It's weird. It just has to be valid the day you apply. That's your day to purchase. It's weird. Yeah. You don't... It's open, what is that, March 3rd, I believe? March 3rd. I'm going from memory on that. But that's all species. I think it's two weeks after that for points only. All species. But it's open now. Non-residents could apply for everything. How about that? Yeah, they do. Residents, they discriminate against us. Well, I don't mind necessarily. What would our odds be if we could apply for everything? About like non-residents? Yep, that's right. So, anyway, we do have to, as residents, choose. We get deer, elk, or antelope, and then one of the once-in-a-lifetimes. I'm doing deer. Jason's doing antelope, so we're not competing for the same thing. Come on!

Oh, really? No. I just took a guess. Not the case. I'll never do antelope. They are growing on me. Really? ABS pipe. Yeah! Huh? Big ones? How about this? I even phone scoped an antelope and showed it to you. Yeah, it's big. It's big. Well, I mean, you know, right? I'd shoot it. Opening day, a minute after opening. I think it's got some basal points. Yeah, cheaters. Maybe. I don't know. Do you think, Chris? They kind of grow on a guy. Yeah.

It's just not in the state of Utah. Not in Utah, no. And it's a long drive. How about Devin, just barely bragging to us how awesome his antelope meat is? He said he's gonna burn all of his points in Wyoming just because he's gonna be out of this antelope. I says, even though it's just him and his wife, you could be out of antelope meat two people in two and a half weeks. I mean, there's not enough of it. There's 22 and a half pounds, and that's if you take all the forearm and everything, all the sinew,

Everything, huh? Bone in. Bone in. So funny. And I mean, he's like, he's not even gonna share it. You realize when you motioned about this big of a stake? I did a circle about the size of a silver dollar. And he looked at you like, that's twice of what I'm gonna bring. But that's about, by the time you hang an antelope back strap, and it gets the rind on it, and then you gotta trim all that off when you actually cut it up, it's about that big. Yeah. Just a nugget. Can we call that a nugget? Okay, well.

Or medallion. Is that what they call those? I don't know. I think they're called medallions, aren't they? That's probably what it would be. At a restaurant. In between a medallion and a nugget. Okay. It's pretty funny. The size of a McDonald's chicken nugget. Let's just, everybody knows it. He says he's gonna have more tonight. He says he's gonna have it tonight. We said, well, bring us some of this. We'd love to have it. He looked at you like you were stupid. And I'm like, he acted me like, like, well, how much are you gonna pay me? So funny. I don't know, but never tasted good. I've had a good one. I've had good ones. I've had really bad ones. But anyway, whatever. He's even talking about doe antelope. Yeah, he's like, if those does will taste like this buck, I'll kill them all.

Devin can have all the antelope. I'm cool with that. Just not the ones that look like they got ABS pipe on their head. Kind of into those. Huh? Yeah. Bronson, you too. The horns short. You started all the horns shorter than ears he can have. He can have those. You've looked at the points you've got. You've got plans. Tell us about them. I don't know that I have plans. I've got a bunch in Wyoming again and a bunch in Nevada, but Nevada's just a pipe dream. You draw when you draw. Pipe dream. ABS pipe. Yeah, exactly. But Wyoming is a little predictable, but you know, due to my schedule, my September's pretty busy this year. I don't know if I'm gonna use them up there this year or not. Unless I can find something late August or October. We'll see. But I don't need to force it. I've got a bunch of kids with points, and I can go together with them sometime.

I'm not making my plans, first and foremost, about filling my freezer with antelope meat, A. B, I'm not making my plans, first and foremost, based around antelope in general, like you, Carter. So, I'm not. I'm not, I'm not, but I'm ready to kill some stuff. Dude, I've been buying optics like it's my job. Okay. So, my guns, so a lot of my guns have the old style reticles. The old style meaning, a lot of people still use them. Old for my guns, meaning like the old Swaro BRH reticle or BRX or whatever, where basically they're just reticles and they're random and they come in at random yardages,

Right? And so, anyway, I've got a few guns like that, and then just other random stuff, and I'm like, they need to be updated. So, I've been updating with some pretty awesome stuff. To get turrets on, yeah. Turrets without lines. Yeah, and I don't mind the lines if they come in at good, even yardage. Just like Mark Thompson's systems, they're awesome. Dead on. Dead on. Dead on. Dude, you killed a gun with Mark's gun. It was on, or killed, what did it? I've killed sheep. I killed a lot. Yeah, but recently. You took it this last year. Oh, Ty killed his elk.

I'm not going to Idaho with that thing. Yeah, how far? 715. That's my point. So, I like that when there's a system set up, but just random lines where you kind of have to figure out where they come in at. It's fine. The computer will tell you where they come in at, but there's just better systems. And so, anyway, I've been updating stuff like crazy, and I'm excited, dude. I'm going to freaking lay some stuff down. Good. Speaking of optics. First pour handle that steps in front of that new setup is in trouble. Well, what were you saying about that little skinny-necked antelope to Devon? Well, I held up the size of whatever. My wrist, that's the size of a neck on a doe antelope. On a doe, if you skin it out. I think with a hide on, they're that big. It's kind of like a coyote. They're even smaller. I've never skinned one out, but I can imagine. I see the pencil-neck thing. It looks like,

what are all those African ones? Like doe and palas and all those things. They are just, it feels like if you hit that spine with a burger, it would be pretty. But very humane. Very humane. Oh yeah, and not ruin any meat, which was my point to Devin. That's what you need to do. Shoot right behind the ear, but I don't know if that, don't you have to leave evidence of sex attached to the body? Isn't that the head on a doe? I don't know. I don't know. You could leave some other parts. I'm not going to get rid of that. You do. I do. But anyway, pretty funny to visit about. But anyway, so yeah, I'm updating a lot of optics and whatnot. But anyway, that was just a tangent. I don't know why. It's just on my brain. We're talking about rangefinders. We've got some new rangefinders coming out. We're carrying some Wazoo rangefinders.

Let's face it, you know, different stuff, whether it be a gun setup that you like, or reticles, or your eyes, or just the methodology of shooting from line shooting, you know, gap shooting with lined turdiscopes, or an actual turdiscope versus reticle scope. We go through different phases. We think we've got the best ever in just, I don't know, five or ten years. We need illuminated. Why do we need illuminated? Well, because we're old. Because you're 45. You need a dot. I'm telling you, I'm into the illuminated now. Where you're hunting it. Last light, whatever that is, legal last light, and you can't hardly see in those rifles. Black crosshair. Yeah, black crosshair on a dark animal just doesn't work. I'm kind of into this illuminated thing right now. So, well. Doesn't have to be the whole crosshair, but these dots on the Z8i, the Swaroscope, they are awesome. Huge fan.

So, speaking of, you said, speaking of optics, where were you going with that? Well, the only thing I was thinking about, besides all these deadlines, New Mexico, March We're applying for that. Of course, good moisture down there, too. Oregon, May 15th. I know you're excited about that. I don't even apply there. We're really excited about the X-Bone. You do, too. No, I don't. Dude, you killed a sheep up there. Well, that was in 2008. They've got premium tags that are awesome. One in 500, 1,000. It's not worth me. I don't do sheep anymore. Yeah. It's crazy. I know. Okay. But those premium tags are unbelievable. They are incredible. Not quite enough of a carrot for me to bite off the 200 bones. No, but if you would have seen what I've seen, just, it's just something about it. Well, it's like a governor tag in each unit, August 1 to December 31.

Yeah, November 30. Yeah. Or November. Yeah. I don't know. Yeah. A long time. Unbelievable. Anyway, it just gets me excited about, all these deadlines gets me excited about February 10th to the 13th. We're going to be at the Expo. Bronson, we have been ordering inventory like, Again, it's our job. Well, we are back. That's what we're trying to say. We've missed everybody for two years. Nice to rub shoulders, visit, face-to-face talk. And we're going to be there, like I said, next week. By the time you're listening to this, it might be this week, but the 10th to the 13th. We have a big booth, the biggest booth we've ever personally had. Well, we've always had it, but we've shared it. Yeah, we've shared it, but it's all ours now. Yeah. And we've added the optics to it, which we were prepared to do last year, but of course, the in-person event got canceled.

So, we've got a lot of room. We're bringing a lot of optics there. Maybe we'll run through some of that real quick. I mean, if you've been thinking about it, we're going to have it there to be able to look at. We're going to have tripods set up. You've got quite a list there. Yeah, I do. But what I think is funny is it's about a tenth of what we really got. Yeah, it is. But these are maybe just some... But these are ones you're excited about, and I don't know why you're excited about them. I'm not really excited, but I just want to read off a few examples. We've ordered inventory like it's our job. The one thing about COVID is it's hard to get anything. It's hard to get a truck. It's hard to get anything. Hard to find toilet paper, right, Chris? Hard to find a plumber. It's hard to find plumbing parts. It's hard to find anything. I don't know why.

So, when you can, we'd latch our hooks deep into it. Sink it. And we order months and months in advance, so we've got a grundle of freaking optics, which we're proud of, Bronson. I mean, it's fun. It's fun for us to do. We get to have great pricing for our membership. It's just awesome. So... Like anything, there's going to be gaps in SKUs that we have. You know, if we don't have it, nobody has it. That's pretty much what we're going to say in this regard because... Well, I'm going to say it. There's a lot of stuff that's It's been on back order for six to twelve months, and nobody has. Probably the hardest hit are probably rifle scopes of all manufacturers, whether it be Suaro, Zeiss, Vortex, like anybody. Rifle scopes just due to the technical components and assembly in them all. If you can find a 3 to 9, buy it. Yeah, VX1. VX1, okay, keep going.

But, outside of those, and the NL Pures, and the EO Range TAs, which we had a ton of them for a while. Again, they have computer chips. And then now they've got a chip in those, and that's a backlog, just the chip in them. So, there's a few gaps like that. We are going to be bringing some 8s and hopefully 10s to the Expo. And a pair of 12 to just be able to look through. Probably not going to be able to sell anybody that one, but, so we're going to watch that one like a hawk. But we've got, you know, every objective lens for the, you know, ATX, STX series spotting scope. 65, 85, 95, and 115s. If you want to look at 115, see if that's your next purchase, next toy, we're going to have them there. Big Swarrow inventory of bino, spotting scopes, all that type of stuff. Vortex scopes, all the Razor 65s, 85s, you're going to have all those, tons of those.

Binos, Tripops from Vortex, a few different riflescopes as well. Leica got a stack of the 2800.com, 3500.com rangefinders. Those are very popular. Rangefinders are hard right now. Those are Bluetoothable, smart ones. The smart rangefinder is where we're at. Yep, that's our... We also got the new Revik BR4. We've got plenty of those, and the Revik tripods we're gonna be bringing. Zeiss binoculars, 15s, 10s, and a splattering of their different rifle scopes. So, no matter what you're looking for, stop by the Epic booth, let us give you a price on something, and we'll treat you right. And just wanted to kind of give you a heads up of the stuff we're going to be bringing. And we're going to be bringing everything we got. Nothing's staying here. Well, you know. Maybe a couple of things. A couple of skews.

We're super excited. Anyway, we also, in our booth, it's going to be 20, it's a 20 by 50 booth. We've got the biggest animals taken the last couple of years, especially mule deer. Yeah, we do. And it's going to be awesome. It's a great place to hang. A lot of room. Not going to be quite as tight as it has been in the past. And, you know, we're looking forward to seeing everybody. So, be there for four full days. Like it or not, we're there. So, super fun, super exciting. It'll be awesome. Of course, Chris, you're going to be there. That's right. What are you going to be doing? I'm gonna be in the booth. We're gonna be talking to everybody all around. We're gonna be singing at night and working at the booth in the day. Okay, okay. We might be doing that. Is that Wednesday night? Yeah, Wednesday night. What time, Chris? I think six or seven, probably. I don't know.

I think it's about six or seven, yeah. It's in the main ground ballroom at the Salt Palace, same place. Same place, yep, in the ballroom. Wednesday night. I don't know if that's the official welcome back, but I think it is. That's what they call it. Welcome back party. It'll be awesome. So, anyway, Hunt Expo, February 10th to the 13th at the Salt Palette. It's going to be awesome. You can go to HuntExpo.com. Of course, you'll want to apply for the $5 tags. That's above and beyond the regular application period and the regular application tags. So, anyway, make sure you get in for those. You need to validate those in person, so come do it. Yeah, if you buy those online right now, it saves you some time there. But unlike last year, you have to actually come this year and validate it in person, show a picture ID, and Sam here, and they'll make sure then they enter you in the draw.

That's right. So, anyway, February 10th to the 13th, huntexpo.com. All right, you know, another thing, maybe, I don't know. Bronson, they're talking about maybe revisiting the trail camera topic here in Utah. Kind of beat that one to death. We don't even really want to talk about it. I don't. But people are asking about it a little bit. If they do, we'll talk about it. That's my... I mean, they're asking about it, but until something's even... there's another hearing or vote or anything. I mean, it's kind of like speculating. I don't know. I'm so wore out of it. I honestly don't even care. Just go away. Hey, hey, it'll be nice. If they go back to where we can run them year-round or whatever, easier. Either way. Right? I don't care. Just let me go hunting. Don't take my... Just let me... Let me still go hunting.

And use anything you want, anywhere you want, whatever you want. No, but some people think you can't hunt without bait and trail cameras too, and that's not true. So, I'm just taking that stance very firmly that some people think they're taking away their rights. It's not a right. You can't shoot deer at night with the spotlight either. That's a right. Maybe it is a right. Maybe we should be able to do that. Yeah, well, it never was allowed to happen, so you never had to take it away. But if it was ever allowed to happen, some people would fight for that, I contend, as hard as they would be baiting and everything else. So, what constitutes a right versus a privilege versus a cunning tactic in your mind? Well, rights, I think, have to do with... Constitution. Yeah, a constitution or God-given, you know, rights of a person, you know, things like that, versus... Like to bear arms.

Yeah, and right to life, liberty, percent of free speech, pursuit of happiness, you know, freedom of religion, all those types of things are rights. Not hunting tactics, not just killing anything, or scouting however I want, when I want. No, not I want to use an 80% let-off versus a 50. No, that's not a right. That's a God-given right, per se. I'm just wondering. I'm just not. Playing John for a minute, because John, he comes up with some crazy stuff. But, hey, we're all hunters too at the same time, but what I really hate is hunters, we're fighting so hard against hunters right now, and then you're looking at states like Colorado, They're fighting for their freaking life when it comes to hunting mountain lions and bears against the anti-hunters that are infiltrated in that state. So, that's why I'm kind of more sick of this than anything in Utah.

Because we're hunters fighting over how to hunt. And they're dealing with wolf introduction, reintroduction. And they're worrying about wolves, and now no lions with dogs, which means you're never going to kill any lions. Right. Because unless they get hit on the highway, they're not dying. You're just saying there's big, big fights out there. Oh, yeah. And we're fighting. Just make this go. Just quit fighting. But having said that, I don't really care. The one thing that would bother me a little bit is they had a vote, and you get a few of the loud that want to revisit it, which, honestly, they've run. Oh, it went through the public process at five public meetings throughout the state.

They've already done surveys. The majority wanted to go to a Nevada-based system, so whatever. I don't know. I guess it would bother me a bit if they were kind of browbeat into re-voting and changing their votes. I just think, I don't know, you already voted, whatever. But anyway, having said that, we'll let you know what happens. And honestly, I don't care. I do not care. It doesn't change me one bit what I'm gonna do this year. I mean, personally, it'd be nice to maybe, you know, limit the technology a little bit to a degree. Can it all be perfect, and can we just revisit every aspect? Maybe we need to, but whatever. If we can't do this, let's just not do anything and call it a day and keep complaining about quality. You also can't complain about quality, everybody, and we're hearing a lot of that in Utah right now.

And a lot of people, they whine that basically, you know, trail cams aren't going to increase populations. Well, that's true. I don't think it is. I don't think it's going to increase populations. But the fight, the loud guys are really loud about the absence of quality, poor quality. You know, besides populations and numbers, quality, lack of numbers of quality of bucks. And that trail cams don't help them. If they don't help, they wouldn't help. Why are you fighting us so hard? I don't get it. All right, but anyway, so that's kind of interesting. You know, that's coming, looks like it's coming back. It's brilliant. Who knows? Anyway, also want to throw a shout out to Triple S Polaris here in Cedar City, Utah, our own hometown. Super good people. We know them personally, and by their sales, it's 435-865-0100. Got the epic edition.

Of course, we're going to have to leave this home when we go to the Expo, because we're taking our trailer. Taking the enclosed trailer, the epic trailer up there. All our optics. Yeah, well, it's also wintertime, and it's not got a cab, so I'm not going to be driving. I haven't been driving that lately. No. Yeah, but it is kind of pretty awesome. It lays some people's hair back. It just dries my head off. You step on it, that thing moves. Oh, it moves. It's pretty awesome. What a crazy machine. Anyway, 865-0100, actually, it's 435-865-0100. I forget, we're talking to non-residents a lot on this podcast. That's based in the city of Utah, but if you're within a half day, a day's drive there, and want a great deal, give Colton and the guys there a call. Check it out.

Two of our other partners are going to be at the Western Hunting Conservation Expo. Longtime supporter of ours, as well as the Western Hunting Conservation Expo is Red Rock Precision. Kurt and his crew will be there. It's very nice. Several times when I've needed them to build a new gun for me or brother or whatnot, I've made the final decision on stock, feel, style, all that right there when I can put several guns in my... Seems like maybe as soon as seven, ten days ago you ordered one. Well, I ordered the basics of it, but I'm going to finalize it at the expo when I put a couple to my shoulder, because I just, certain stock, feels, and all that, I'm like, that's the one I want. Actually, the scope that I got last time was because I saw it there. It had some locking turret, locking turret, depressing buttons on one of the scopes that I bought, and I wanted that.

So, yeah, redrockpecision.com. They'll be there at the expo as well. Kurt and the crew stop by their booth, check out their guns, get something on order, tack driving. We all have one of their guns here. We all bought one, and maybe more than one. Yeah. That maybe was for my wife, because she doesn't know if I was talking about me or someone else. Yeah, it's possible. What do you mean you didn't know that I bought 14 guns, honey? I said it on a podcast once. That's right. So, you're calling it clear. Your conscience is clear. It's on the public record. Your conscience is clear. That's right. Another one of our partners there and big-time hunter is Blaine St. James of St. James Sporting Properties. I haven't looked at the schematic yet. He's usually fairly close to us up there, but he's going to be there as well. He represents buying and selling hunting and recreational and ranch

properties all over the western U.S., you know, licensed in Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, and Wyoming. Stopped by Blaine's usually there himself, along with Duke and some of the other guys here in Utah, or else some of the folks that he brings over They're from Colorado there. Or if you can't make it there, check them out at sjsportingproperties.com. S.J. Sporting Properties, S.J. standing for St. James Sporting Properties. Yeah, anybody who wants to bend his ear a little bit, he's a trophy hunting fanatic. He knows what he's doing, knows people. He's pretty awesome. So, anyway, definitely a guy worth stopping visiting with regardless if you're interested in buying a property.

Or if you're selling something. Speaking of these publications, we do have, like I say, we talked about it earlier, February magazines at the printer, and we'll be at your doorstep any point in time. Of course, with COVID and whatnot, it's just tough. We wish it was going to be there a few days earlier than it will be, just because we're anxious ourselves.

Yeah, we are. Well, just remember the e-mag's been on there for two, three weeks already. I realize I'm still the kind of guy, I like a paper mag too, and I go to bed at night. But, you know, a lot of people say, I don't even care about the paper mag. I just view it online. Have you seen mine? Yeah. I write it all over. Yeah, it is. I write notes in it too. And just keep in mind, they're all on there two to three weeks before you're gonna get them in your hands. And if you're antsy, want to check out Utah, New Mexico, Oregon stuff that's in the past. And that February, jump online, or they will be showing up any day, I guess, in your mailbox. So, anyway. I think we should get in with a hunting story of some sort. All right. Let's do it. I don't know. I haven't got anything really in mind. What do we talk about one of Chris's bucks right here? How about this buck, Chris?

That was one. It was probably your first time to the unit in Colorado, wasn't that when you killed that buck? Yeah, that's correct. A first timer, first 200-incher, maybe. Was that your first 200? Yeah, I don't remember. That was. He's like, I don't know, looks like 33 to 5. He's got 4-inch kickers going out the sides. I mean... Got a big old hanger freaking busted off on the other side. Yeah. Dropper beams, big eye guards. I mean, it's just what you go to Colorado for. So, Chris, I know roughly where you killed that one. What I really want to know is, how far away was this other one you shot? Just that one. Which one? Which one of the other five? The one we killed this last year. Oh, so that one was 460 yards.

But how far from this other 200-inch? From this buck. As the crow flies, north, west, east, or south. I'm just teasing you. It was not real close. Okay, good. I love Chris's responses. Not real close. How about this buck? Which one's that? That one was very close. To which one? This, that one. Oh, wow. No, kid. Wow. That's a cool buck, too. He's like, I've always been asking, he's got a deformed side. Chris, you ought to show this picture on the podcast. So, the funny thing about that deer... Did he have a weird tooth or a broken foot or something? I never noticed anything, but the year before, I was hiking up the ridge that I killed him on, and I ran into that same buck, but the year before, he was swapped. Oh, the weird side was on the left. His deformed side was on the left, now it's on his right,

which is odd. But he was way smaller the year before, and I was just like, oh, that's a cool He flew a little deer, and the next year he looked pretty good. So, this big sucker, I honestly don't remember, but hey, it just popped on my head because it's sitting above my head. So, maybe we should tell the story, Chris. So, was out several, several days into the hunt. Hadn't seen anything great. Seen some good four points and good bugs, but nothing. Third season, if you remember, or second? Third season. Nothing great, and it was starting to get real cold. But just out one day and getting to that time where you're thinking the day is almost over, you're about ready to head back for the afternoon. I decided to give this hillside one last look, and I glassed it with my binoculars. And then this is way back before BTX ever existed, but I was like, I'm gonna get my spotting scope.

Because a lot of times, those deer will bed in the rocks or whatever, and they're harder to see with your binoculars. So, I got out of spot and scope, and I just slowly was just picking apart this hillside, because you're basically out of time for the morning.

All of a sudden, in my scope, I see this buck, and immediately... Is he bedded? No, he was just in the cedars on the shaded side of a hill. So, he was still up, but I just immediately knew he was a good one, so I decided to get closer. By the time I got closer, he's just cresting the ridge and going out of sight. And he turned and looked, and immediately I'm like... Did he hear you see, or just coincidentally? Probably. I'm gonna guess he did. Was you in rifle range? No. Three, four, five, six, seven, maybe. No, I bet he was eight or nine hundred. Chris, back then, 400 yards was a mile. That's what I mean, 300 yards is right. And I bet he was 800 or 900 at the time. Gotcha. I watched him walk over the ridge. He looked at me and walked over the ridge. And you're like, okay. Yeah, I said to my buddies, I said, that's a 30-incher. No question.

And so, the only thing to do basically is go up on top of the ridge and see if you can figure out where the buck went. Pick him up where he's been in the next canyon or draw. So, we hiked up this canyon and came around, and I just decided to take it real slow. I'm walking along, walking along, and I look down. Elmer Fudnett. Yep, probably 250 yards below me. There's a whole group of bucks, probably seven or eight bucks standing there. In a group? In a group. And he was in there, and so I sat down and put my gun on my pack and took my shot. Geez. That was it? Yep. So, he was alone when you saw him over the ridge, or was he with some other bucks when you first saw him? No, he had one or two with him. But then they must have met up with some more. It was a big group by the time I got on to them. Bachelor groups of bucks third season is usually never a good sign, right? Is it?

Well, I mean, it just means they're not interested in does, and I don't like that. Yeah, that's what I mean. I'm over there to hunt bucks that are interested in does. That sounds like a good technique for a tree mugglers. That country, though, they rut late. They do. It took us a minute to learn that. Yeah, I firmly believe that they rut much later. No question. Far south. I have nightmares of that buck. I don't know why, but it was so, when you shot it, and we were just salivating over this deer. I mean, it's got a floating beam, and like, we called it that broomstick on the end. Now, it doesn't look so broomsticky. I mean, you know what I mean? But we just, oh, it was just that time and era, and it was a gift. You know what I mean? We had been hunting Colorado maybe Jason, but it was also kind of in its infancy. It was kind of still new, like hunting Colorado was new.

And these are bucks that would take us three years of tracking the same buck to kill over here, and we went over there in a few days, smash as a giant. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah, this is a limited entry ponser Henry's buck in Utah. Yeah, and for all intents and purposes, Chris, you did that again this year, and yet you, But nowadays, we're like, man, you hunted hard. Yeah, I only saw one big one, and we're a little bit disgusted and discouraged that there's not more big ones, but look at what the energy we're putting over there. It's minimal compared to over here. Yeah, that's true. Minimal, right? Yeah. Disgusting. What are you going to do with this deer? Why are we not seeing him on the wall yet? Don't tell me you cut his throat. No, no. No. I'll make sure he's there. He's in the freezer. I'm just trying to decide. Oh, you're getting a new house.

So, you gotta pick your moment. He's a 200-incher, dude. I just don't have room for him right now. Knife handles? No, no. Get some repos, mate. His skull's bleached, and he's ready to go on the skull hooker. But he better, yeah, I wouldn't even have bleached that thing. That thing would be... Alright, so, let's call a good friend of ours, Adam Kearney. And this is why. People are just getting done in Mexico. And he went to Mexico. He slammed a freaking stud, right? Yeah. Well over 200 inches. And he's a freaking good storyteller. I don't know what it is about him. You can't help but smile when you talk to him. He's entertaining. Let's do it. Yeah, and I wouldn't say he's a liar, but he embellishes to the point you would almost call him a liar. Let's get him on the phone. He's fun to visit with.

Carter. Big Bok! Big Bok! What's up, boss? This is Adam, too. How you doing? Doing good. We want a big buck story from Sonora. Tell us in Spanish. Really? Yeah! Tell us a story in Spanish. Yep. How good your Spanish. All you do is that. Chris is here if we need to interpret. Chris is here. He can do it. Right? I don't care. It didn't have to be your Mexico buck, but it was kind of on our brain, because everybody's getting done, and you smashed a giant. Had a good time? Yeah, no, Mexico was awesome this year, you guys. I was really impressed. It was, I mean, we, I've never been on a hunt where We're seven, eight days straight. We saw a 200-inch deer every day. Sounds like a high fence. It was. It was awesome. Come on! It was not. Don't even go down that road. We know it's not. The nearest high fence must be hundreds of miles away. Do you know? It's not close, for sure. A long ways away.

Well, it's a personal familiarity with ranch. You've been there a bunch, Jason. Oh, I know. With Adam, I think, and other friends. Anyway. It was a crazy year, right? Just disgusting. It was unbelievable. Just the antler growth, and all the up-and-coming deer, and just all the bucks in the 180s and 190s that I haven't seen since I was a kid in Nevada. It was amazing. Adam, you talk about all these giants when you were a kid, but I just think you have a bad memory. Right. They were probably first year four points. Aren't you younger than us? I mean, I'm just gonna come and ask you. He's a baby. He's a baby. 42. No, you're not. Are you?

Yeah. Wow. You're getting old. You're getting old, Kearney. No, I am. I'm getting up there. No, he's not. He talks about stuff as a kid, and I think, I keep expecting to say, when we were kids. No, he was a kid. I wasn't. Yeah, wow. Okay, alright. My daughter's looking at cars, so I'm getting up there. Wow. Yeah. I was working a deal on a truck today. I heard it. For Ashley. But the clarification, that's twice a week for Carter, so it's not new. No, I haven't worked on a vehicle for a while. You go through trucks like most people go through. Anyway. Tell us more about Mexico. So, why did you hunt seven or eight days before you slapped the trigger on a two-hundo? Or was the deer you shot the one you really had your heart set on and wanted that one? Or did you miss one or two? Yeah, or that.

Go ahead. You got the mic. Okay, so, I've hunted with Jason a few times. He knows. I get a little excited sometimes. But I had a couple of difficulties. I could have, this was my target buck, for sure. This is the deer I went there to hunt, and I definitely stuck to that deer. A lot of guys will tell you they stuck to a deer and they shot it for their deer. That didn't happen. But I just had some issues in Mexico. The second day on the hunt, we had him batted at 400 yards, and I had some bad soup the night before, so my outfitter was turning around looking for me. It's true. It's true. I have the messages on WhatsApp to prove my story. Oh, he was texting me while you were doing it. He's got a big buck, and Kearney not here. Kearney not here. He turns around. He's telling me to shoot through WhatsApp because it translates English to Spanish, and I'm nowhere to be found.

I'm over in the bushes. They're texting each other 100 yards away. Well, hey, if you don't have a good clean-out when you're down there, something's wrong. So, it was definitely, I told a couple people, I mean, people talk about shiz in the bed. I definitely did it. Come on! Well, alright. I was sick, you guys. I was hurting that. Wow. So, that dude... You should see the emojis Mario sent me of Adam, and then all these emojis, and I'm like, oh, he's struggling. Yeah, and don't load up on Pepto's bismol either. That doesn't make sense either, because then you're hurting the other way for a couple days. Yeah, you better be cleaned out before you stop up again. Yeah, I got you. Yeah. So, no, it was something where we had the The deer, the second day of the hunt, 400 yards, I had some issues. And then, you know what? People always say, don't tell your outfit, do what the outfitter says.

And I've been on a few hunts. I've killed a couple bucks. I'm friends with Carter now, so I thought I was cool. I suggested something different. And sure enough, the buck, it hadn't done it for three days. The outfitter wanted me to sit on a certain spot and thought the buck would come in the evening. We didn't do it, and we sprinted because the deer came in. We got there with, you know, maybe 10 minutes left to light, and I couldn't get the deer in my scope. I just, I couldn't find them. It was just too dark. I could see him in my 15s, but I couldn't see him in the scope. So, that was day four. So, definitely not the outfitter's fault. He did a great job, but I just had issues for the first four or five days. You needed an illuminated. Made it a tougher hunt than it needed to be. You need an illuminated reticle.

I did. I learned a lot, though. I've never been in that type of light setting with my gun, and I hadn't practiced enough. Jason, the one thing that, over the years of hunting with you, just come in prepared, and I just wasn't prepared for that setting. And nobody's fault. I just hadn't experienced that before. Yeah. So, that was day four. To make a long story short, I had a great time in Mexico, smashed a giant. You know, he's... You're skipping the four days. You're skipping the good parts. There are four days. You got to day four, worse, five, six, seven, and eight. I'm not telling you. It's okay, go ahead. You're amongst friends here. You're amongst friends. I think it was... At least, or just tell us the time that it all came together, if you want to go fast forward to the end.

Sure. Well, I'll tell you one more little experience. I thought I had a round chamber and I didn't, and my guy went click. Oh, geez. That was day five. That was day five. How many emojis came that day? How many 200-inches can come and go? I mean... I literally shot three times at bucks over 200 inches, and my gun never fired. Yeah, some of it though was equipment failure. Yeah, one time was equipment. At least once was not having a... You get fired up on those high racks. That quote needs to be the highlight of this podcast. You do get fired up. You do. Things happen fast on that high rack. You know, you're sitting there, you're laughing, you're texting a little bit. Drinking a Pepsi. And you watched me smash one at like over 700 yards, and you tried it. Yeah. I'm just teasing. I'm just teasing.

No, no, no, no. True story. I mean, I'm telling you this. On top of those high racks, I'm good for 50 yards. 50 yards. Okay, full disclaimer though. When Carter shot, nobody moved. When I was shooting, the whole truck was taken. Okay, okay. And these guys thought I was a jerk. I'd be like, don't move, don't move. And then I'm looking through the scope, I'm like, somebody's freaking breathing. And I was ticked, remember? Yes. Dude, you can't move. And you have literally, you probably have a solid 25-30 seconds, if you're lucky, to shoot from the high rack. Otherwise, it's a done deal. They're gone. Yeah, it's a different way to hunt.

It's no joke. It's different. Yeah. Thick country, especially that country down there. You're close to the ocean. They just get, it's just thick. Things grow. Well, going back to why this was such a very good year, they had an incredible monsoon season. We talked about it earlier, and how Arizona had a great one late summer. Too late to do anything for deer and elk in most places. But Mexico, it just, those deer, they grow much later than our deer, and it was Chia Pet down there for them. It was awesome. It was amazing to see what proper nutrition and some rain did. You know, obviously, it's a ranch where, you know, the majority of it, it's private area, so people can't access it. But just the deer getting the proper feed and the rain, it was amazing. I mean, the buck I shot grew 42 inches. We have the sheds off the year before.

42? What was he? 205-ish or something? I can't remember. I'm not short-changing. I'm rounding. You use a rounding. Yep, no, 205 is close enough. 208, it's the same thing, you know? 10, I'd say 10. It's legit. Tell me about, so I haven't held it, but tell me what you're telling me, you know, compared to sheds you've held and things like that, the dense antler. Yeah, so I've never held an antler that was so heavy. Like, when I put the antlers in my hands off the buck I killed, I was just blown away. He was just so heavy, and I don't mean heavy by mass, because he was 37 and changed mass, But I'm just talking about density. Like, if you weight him on a scale and put him on a scale. It's like holding cement. It was so dense. It is. It was pure cement in my hands. Had to be going back to that nutrition, just laying it down, which goes back, we hear it a lot.

It's hard to quantify, but in some of these drought years, elk more than deer, but they'll just bust a crap all over Arizona and all that. In the dry, brutal years when there's not as much, I guess, dense bone being laid down, it's growing, but maybe it's more hollow or porous inside It's more than just dense concrete. Yeah. Wow. Yeah, even the hide was heavy. It was weird. Like, a good buddy of mine went with me, and just holding the bags of our hides, mine was much heavier than his. It was interesting. Wow. Just the buck. Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. Prime of his life. Yeah, so to redeem myself slightly, I did shoot the deer at 430 yards. It wasn't a high rack shot. He finally came into where we thought. I made the shot. It did take me the third shot to hit him. The first two, I think I hit a feeder and a water source. It was pretty dark.

So excited or what? What I like though is raw honesty. I mean, let's keep it real. Nobody's going to admit it, but we all know. We get to hear the stories, you know? Yeah. It don't matter. Don't be proud. It happens. I mean, I am not proud. I'm definitely not proud. No. Raw honesty. That's awesome. And the older I get, there's other things that happen, yeah. I have another 200-incher at the house that I'm very proud of. I worked for it. Jason could attest to this, that the ranch is a legit ranch. Like, you got to go down there and hunt. It kind of, Mexico's tough because there's so much going on down there. Nobody really wants to give you real props for killing a good buck down there, and what I've rather done... You're talking about all the high fence that nobody's talking about, or whatever.

Yeah, just genetics being released. There's just a lot going on down there, but this is a legit ranch. It's been hunted for a long time, and the guy works hard at what he's doing, and he's kicking butt. So, it was a legit hunt, and I had a really good time. Sweet. When we're coming down, going out to Dinner to the M, you remember that last time? That was awesome. It was pretty amazing. That food's awesome. We're due to come down again. And we heard some stories from you, some classics. We owned that restaurant for that night. It was, I don't know, well, maybe you're not allowed to go back since then. You probably don't. We were pretty loud that night when we were there.

But hey, the food's amazing. I've stayed there a couple times since then, and I think about that night just chilling buffet style, basically. It wasn't buffet style, but it was like, bring more, bring more, bring some of this. It was awesome. Kearney, you know, led the show. It was awesome food. We had plenty of sides and plenty of stories about the hyenas. Oh, yeah. My brother-in-laws. They're awesome, though. Best people in the world. Not gonna find better people than one. Hey, the best. Like, I seriously love those guys. They made the hunt that much better, because Carter was always cranky. What do you mean? What do you mean? You can get a little high-strung. You know what's funny? Kearney, this is just now coming out. He says, every time I hunted with you, you were ornery. Hey, Kearney, you're a Kearney, now you know what we do with everyday work. Come on!

Imagine you're gonna go hunting with a guy, and the first thing he tells you, I ain't gonna build you a fire. I did say that. Well, no, Kearney was wanting the whole experience. I'm like, I'm not here to build you a fire. I'm not doing it. We're gonna hunt 205 plus bucks, but I'm not building you a fire. Jeez! And he's still mad about it. Brodson, this was 10 years ago. I just wanted to roast some s'mores. He wanted to roast s'mores. I'm like, you better not. Go roast some s'mores. Tell me when you're ready to. I thought he would tell me a story about a big buck he killed or something. No, I'm not a storyteller. No, yeah. You get a campfire going and start reminiscing, but Carter, no. I'm not that guy. I wish I was a better storyteller. That's why I like to visit with you. You're so funny. Well, now, Kearney, you probably respected me before. I'm just putting words into your head.

Come on, now you really are. Now that you know what we deal with and work with this guy every day of our work, You've got to have immense respect for all of us. I just feel bad for Jana. We all do. We all do. Luckily, she works here, too, and we kind of help her up now. We're there for you. If you did pick me up. Hey, I'm on her every day. Tell me that. I give her some grief. Boy. He is onry, but he is the best at what he does, and I appreciate all the good stuff. I'm not either onry. I think I'm the most pleasant guy in the world. We're okay. We're okay. We won't even build a campfire for a dude on a hunting trip. He's on a hunting trip. I'm thinking, I can't even believe he asked for that. I'm gonna set the whole story straight right up. I don't even know if I, full disclosure, Bronson, I don't even know if I asked for it. I think he hit me with it before I even asked.

He seemed like the type. Little fruity. I'm like, we're not having a fire. We're not having a fire. We're not doing it. It's October in a hunting camp, for hell's sake. I mean, Carter, he's not asking you to launch the space shuttle. He put me up at the Shady and said, have a good night. He drove his own trailer every night. This is the same guy that orders trucks while I'm out glassing. I was probably out of no. That's true. Well, Carter, you've ordered trucks in lots of different settings over there. This is something different. Hey, go ahead, hike that hill. You'll know where to find me, right here with satellite radio.

Like, send me a text when you see him. Oh, that did happen. That did happen. Yeah. Well, Kearney, you're a good sport to us hijack your afternoon down there, probably working on, you know, something important. But thanks for answering the phone, not screening your calls, and telling us a little bit about Mexico. We needed to end with a good hunt story. You're gonna have some big bucks down there. You guys got rain down there. Yeah. Huh? I think so. I think we got some rain coming Nevada our way. You do? I think it's gonna be good. Getting excited again. I hope so.

Nevada's going to be a whole different state. It is. Really? Yeah, you know, people, it's the worst of the worst, and then the next year, you're like, where'd all these big deer come from? What rock did they crawl out from under? It's just crazy that way. We've had two terrible ones. We just get a little bit of rain, and things happen. Yeah, well, we're ready for it. Okay. Thanks, boss. Thanks, you guys. All right, yeah. Talk to you later. Bye. Some of that's true, some of it's not. Geez, it's a hunt camp, Carter, and he booked you. He was a client. I don't get it. I don't get it. I mean, that's kind of rough on the guy. I didn't have many repeats. I can see why. I was there to kill stuff, and I'm telling you, I'm like, no. I'm not doing a fire. I'm not doing it. Hey, the guy lives in Vegas. He wants to get out of the city and have a freaking campfire.

He hired me to hunt. That was it. Okay, but in October, the nights get shorter. You wanted to sit around the fire and enjoy it. You just said, no, I'm dropping you off at a motel, see you in the morning? Yeah, no, it wasn't even a motel. I even had to sleep in a trailer together. Oh. Yeah. We had some pretty real conversations. So, anyway, I'm wondering, Bronson, if you want to call our buddy. Why? Who? Get a Couser story out of Mexico. He freaking killed a stud. Did he? Yeah. Who are you thinking about? Because I don't know who you're talking about. I can't read your story. I can't read your writer. I don't know. Don't you think? Let's give him a holler and see what he has to say real quick.

Hello. Hey, what do you know? Nothing. Jason, what's up? It's Bronson and I on the Epic Outdoors podcast. Yeah, right. It is. Come on, man. What do you mean? We do this all the time. Cold calling. You guys are just jacking around. Cold calling. You ain't cold calling, man. Yeah, we are. I'm the last damn guy you want to cold call, trust me. Well, trust me, you've already sworn once, you keep it up, it's gonna go live to the world, because this is a hot mic. We just want a freaking big buck story out of Mexico. Yeah. Tell us about Mexico. You want a big buck story. Coos deer. You went down there with a group of buddies and hunted coos deer, and we just wondered how it was. In general, it seemed like a good deer in Mexico.

Mule deer and other parts of Sonora were awesome. Coos deer? Yeah, no, they killed, I saw, I mean, they've stacked them up, man. Everybody's been killing big deer this year. Yeah, for sure. I've seen more big coos hit the dirt in Mexico this year. Yeah. Then probably, and it, well, they got piles of rain. I mean, the rain came early. Yeah. The monsoon was big. It had early rains. So, the feed's four foot deep, and the deer look good. So. So, tell us, tell us about the deer. Yeah. Tell me about your experience this year. You go down every year, and you guys always grind out some giants, but let's talk about it. This year, we actually went early this year. We usually go late. You mean late January versus mid? Yeah, we usually go after the 17th, like around the 20th and on. Like 20th, you know that 20th to 27th is when we usually a lot of times go.

This year we went, we crossed the border the seventh, started hunting the eighth, and it was early. The first four days, five days, pretty tough. Saw some decent bucks, but no rut action. Bucks were still, I saw bucks together, no does, no sniffing, no chasing, nothing. It was pretty dead. Which got us worried because we were on a new ranch. So, you know, you always have that, oh great, what have we done? Are we on a good ranch? Is it hunted out? Is it, does it have lions? Does it, you know, you don't know. The deer even here, yeah. Yeah, but I mean, the grass is four foot deep, and we weren't seeing a pile of deer. Because, you know, the, we did have a funny moon coming in, you know, coming in, in that time. So, So, it was, I don't know. Anyway, long and short, it started, I killed a 102-inch buck,

a 100-inch buck, basically, four-by on the fourth day. Nobody out of six guys had shot a deer up to that point. Jeez. Shaped it up to be tough. Yeah, and so I thought, I said when I went down, I'm looking for a typical four-by. That's my goal this year. When you say that, you mean a three-point with an eye guard on both sides. That's what we're talking about, right?

No, I'm saying four on each side with eye guards, so a five by five. Whoa. Well, we're just, we're mule deer guys, and I didn't know if you were still in that mode or if you're in Texas white tail mode. Talking about a 10 pointer. That's right. I didn't hear the word 10 point, but I didn't know it was 10. Typical 10. Typical 10. So, you're talking the typical 10. We're Western guys. Well, you said four points, so I'm thinking, is that a three point with an eye guard? I mean, I don't know. Anyway, typical 10. We gotcha. Okay, so that was my, that was what I said. I'm gonna, that's what I'm killing. Well, I see this buck, and he actually was kind of ruddy, and he was kind of tailing a doe, and he had about another 100-inch buck with him, three by three, meaning three with eye guards, so four by four, eight point. Gotcha. And I hate eight points, by the way.

I'm not a fan of the coos deer. They all have that same look. And in Mexico, and anywhere I hunt, I have a saying, if the deer is freaky, or if he's different, he's big. When they start to get freaky, that's when they get big. So, anyway, long and short, I saw this buck. I saw, oh man, you're a four-by with eye guard, you're dying. And then right before I pulled the trigger, I thought, oh, he's a good deer, but he's not a whopper. I thought he was about 105. You know, and so I kill him, and then I get over to him, and of course, he ground shrinks a little bit, and I'm like, eh, it's a nice buck, but not what I go to Mexico for, trust me. Right. But you know Mexico, just write the check, boys. Right, you can kill another one. Yeah, so we got extra tags. I'm like, well, it looks like I'll be spending some money, I guess, because I'm good at compete.

So, we kept hunting, and one of the guys in our camp had seen a really good deer in this one spot. He had hunted him for three days, and then he came back to camp discouraged and said, anybody can go in there and hunt. So, once he said that, I said, well, I know there's a big deer over there. So, I started kind of looking for that. How did you know? Somebody's seen it? He's seen it? Oh, somebody had already seen him. Okay. I saw him the first night of the hunt just by himself. And coos deer don't leave, right? Even in the rut, it's kind of a small geographic area. You know he's there. Yes, like I tell guys that all the time. I'm like, listen, just because you didn't see him, he's there. You just didn't see him. He didn't go nowhere. Right. Grass is above his back. The coos deer are very cagey. They live, you know, the rut will make a move, though. Yeah.

But they still do, you know, stay right on top of an area. Anyway, we were all kind of looking for this big buck, and that's how you kill the big ones. Once you know he's there, you surround it and kill him. He's there, he's gonna pop out, and someone's gonna smash. Do you see the big buck that night? I leave that on the fifth morning, I leave, and I go out, because I have to make some phone calls. And I get out on this hill, and I finally get service, and I make some phone calls that day, and I come back in, and on my way back in there, I ran into two other guys in our party, And they said, hey, we're looking for that deer. And I said, oh, I am too. And I said, well, I'm going to go around to that big dirt tank, and I'm going to walk out on that point.

Because I said, I jumped a buck this morning, because what I did is I just started rimming out with my rifle, just like old school hunting, just walking these points. And those bucks were laying, you know, 80 yards under those points. Doing a deer drive. Jump shooting bucks. Yep, jump shooting bucks. Brushing bucks. But you got to be careful because, you know, I did jump my buck that I actually shot. I jumped him, but when he was running away, I put it on him and I didn't squeeze off because I was like, yeah, it looks like a good deer, but I didn't get a really good look at him and I didn't want to just shoot a dink, you know.

So, I get in there, then that night, I throw my pack on, throw my rifle in it, and I just walk 200 yards from my truck. I'm literally eating a garola bar, and I look up, and the buck I shot is just feeding on the flat with this little dink fork and horn 100 yards from me. I pull up, I see that he's a good buck. I can't tell his head's in the grass. So, I set my tripod up, and I'm just kind of studying about 150 yards, and he lifts his head, and I see trash, and I see his mass and all that. I'm like, oh yeah, you're dying. And, anyway, I threw my rifle up on top of my 15s on my tripod, and I don't know why, but he turned and he just kind of started trotting towards the canyon like he was going to go off the edge. So, as he was running, I mean, just trotting, he didn't see me. I don't know what he was doing. I think maybe there was a doe there or something.

I just shot him right in the front shoulder, and I thought I missed him because right when I shot, my 15s drop on my tripod just cleared. Like, they just fall out of sight because I just barely had a lot of them locked down. And I thought, oh, as soon as that gun went off, that gun dropped. I'll bet I undershot that buck or something, you know? Yeah. And I was kind of pissed because I was... Well, I wasn't kind of pissed. I was really pissed because I was like, I know better. I got ahead of myself. And I'm thinking, well, it was only 120 yards. I said, that bullet, even if I did, I mean, it's probably, if that trigger, you know, you don't know. So, I start to walk kind of over there, and I see his head, and he's, well, he's laying in the rocks, dying, and I don't know this, and he's looking kind of towards me, and he looks at me.

So, anyway, I shoot him, and I go running over there, and I actually run right by him, because he's on this big flat. And when I got over there, that three-point was just standing there, you know, kind of like, hey, buddy, get up, you know? Like, that's how they do sometimes. Anyway, so, I kill my buck, I pack it up, I load it in my truck. So, then I take Dawn out the next day, and we kill a 109. And then after we shot that buck, the next day I went out with James, and James is a deer-killing machine, too. I mean, so he's...we glassed this big buck up. We ended up killing a 2x4, 115. Come on! And he had a mule deer. Is that a spike with an eye guard, or is that a two-point with an eye guard when you say two? I just quit. Fork it horn, fork it horn with an eye guard. Okay, just gotta make sure. So, what is it? And then a 4x4 plus eye guard, so that's 2 plus 4 plus 2 eye guard.

Tim, 8 point. He's an 8 point. Okay, so we got a straight A. Yeah. All right, keep going. So, then the other side was a four-by, we call it a mule deer split, meaning he had a- Yeah, forks on the back. Yeah, I shot one like that this year. Yeah, forks on the back. I shot one like that. Fork on the front. Years ago. And eye guards. Yeah, that's awesome. So, it was a cool buck. And the guy dumped him at 830. Geez. And a really good shot. Same thing, Magnum gun? No, he was shooting a 6.5-1. I saw him. There you go. Still killed it. And made a great shot. I was watching him with the BTX 830. I saw the ripple on his ribcage. Just, that's all I saw. He didn't hop. He just, I saw the, you know, it just, I saw the wave hit him. A little flutter. Tipped over.

A little flutter. And then he thought he missed him, and I said, and anyway, this doe runs over there and stands 20 yards from where he's shot for 45 minutes. I go, dude, she's standing there because He's laying there in the grass dead. They do it all the time. She's ready to be bred, and he's not getting it. Yep, and especially when they're hot. When they're hot, they don't want to leave. And then all of a sudden, here come this big fork and horn, and he grabbed her and took her. And I said, let's go up there. We went up there, and there he was laying there. Wow. Yeah. You know, I mean, at the end of the day, so... Sounds fun. When we left, the ranch ended up being a very good ranch. I wish we had been there later, because I know that later, you know, some of the bigger deer come out of the woodwork, and we just, I think we missed the rut a little bit, but

anyway, it still turned out good. Sounds like it. We killed nice deer, and hopefully next year, I'll have a, you know, I'm gonna hopefully get a ranch down there this year. Tell us a little bit about driving across the border. Everybody wants to know, is it safe? How do you do it? Are you nervous? Oh my gosh. You don't want to... Dude, you definitely don't want to put this on the podcast. No, do it. People want to know. Dummy it down. Okay, so... You don't want a .22 shell in the side door panel. That's all I'm saying. No, so Mexico is... Obviously, when you go, it's all legal. I mean, you do your gun permits through the military. Beforehand, tell them basically the serial number, make and model what you're gonna be bringing. Number of carmen. Yeah, you gotta say, hey, I'm bringing... 40 rounds, whatever.

You can take 100 rounds. Doesn't mean you have to bring 100 rounds, but you can bring 100 rounds. I take... 40. I usually take 40 rounds when I go. Yeah. And everything's good. You gotta have your car insurance, you gotta make sure all your T's are crossed and your I's are dotted. I mean, your paperwork's gotta be correct. Who do you get car insurance from? Like, it's a different insurance. No, not like State Farm, right? What? You're talking to Americans? No, there's additional insurance, isn't there? No. What?

No, you get your own insurance through... Just your American stuff. Yeah, it's called...it's traveling abroad, like, Mexico insurance. You just Google it, and there's all these companies, and you plug in what your truck is, and... This is why I fly down. Mine's such a big pickup, they don't even... They won't even... Who do you use? I finally found a company to give me $10,000 liability on it this year. Okay. This is why I fly down. And... Yeah. So, anyway, you cross the border, you go, you have... One of your counterparts from Mexico meets you there, and he comes to the border. So, you check your rifles in. Your rifles go through customs, and so they're basically, they're looked at by the police and by the military. The federales, yeah. Yeah, so they look at them and they run them. They have their paperwork, then they run your passports, all of that.

Then on the way down, you stop at a military checkpoint on the other side of your border crossing. They check your paperwork, which your paperwork's already done, and then there's a card that you have to have on stateside when you come back and all of that. And you go, you hunt. If you go down a certain distance from the border, if you're there past five days, there's a car permit you have to get. So, because there, I don't know if it, it has something to do with people going down and selling vehicles in Mexico. They want the car to come back. But if you have some weird round in your door panel, heaven forbid, you got problems.

Yeah, if they search, I've never once had them go through my pickup. I mean, they'll look in all your stuff, your coolers, your action packers, or any rubber totes. They'll look in them. They'll look in your toolboxes. They look. They look in your backseat, look under your sleeve. They don't go through it, but they go through it. Yeah. You know, it's not that big of a deal. And then, on the way back, you have your deer. And so, you have your tag from your ranch. Your paperwork on your tag has to match what's on the tag in the paperwork you have. Say, hey, I went down and hunted this ranch. You have to write that down on your customs. You know, you're declaring this coming back into the States. Who your Mexican counterpart is?

At least I did. Who did you go with? Well, it depends on where you go, I think. Yes, that is true. The guy you go through, there is some part of that. That's pretty much it. You've got to have them boiled and all that, right? Bring them back. Yeah, you have to have a clean skull, no meat. Well, you can have it frozen, but they'll look at it for ticks. If they find ticks, they won't let it through. Right. Yeah. Not nervous. You're not nervous anymore. You've done it enough. No big deal. Yeah, this year got a little weird. We had a- We're trying to end this on a good note. Hey, if they get no, that's when things went south. Yeah, it was like- It didn't go straight. I'm walking low-legged. Come on. Come on. We had some stuff this time that was like, I don't know. I don't know. Didn't they hold you up for like four or five hours or something?

Yeah, it took them a long time, and they were asking us questions we've never been asked before. It was... Like what? How many Benjamins are in your pockets? No, no. When you go to Mexico, you don't carry Benjamins, dude. What do you carry? If you stash the Benjamins, you have a pocket of 20s, and you keep maybe a hundred, and you know, You keep five 20s in this pocket, five 20s in the back pocket, five... In your shoe. You might have some money on you, but you do not have big bills, because if you pull out a big bill, they're taking the big bill. Right, right. The vultures will attack. Yeah, I mean, you don't even...and I'm not saying I've never been shook down in Mexico. You have been. But I haven't been shook down in a couple years. What was the four to five hours of detaining this dude? I don't know, man, because we didn't have anyone that...well...

We did have a guy that spoke Spanish, and he would hear what they would say, and then he would tell us what was going on, but we didn't want them to know he spoke Spanish, because if they know you speak Spanish, they feel like they can negotiate something with you. And it gets a little weird, because now they think, like, if you just no comprende, then what are they going to say? You don't know what they're saying. Right, yeah. Pretty soon they get bored, move on to the next guy.

Yeah, so, no, but Mexico is, I mean, I love it. It's like the best place on earth for what you do. I love going to Mexico. I love hunting there. I think the people are great. The food's great. The hunting's good. It's a time for me to get down there and just have a good time for myself. Unwind from all your hunts. It seems like every outfitter in Arizona goes to Mexico. It's like the unwinding destination. Most people go to the beach somewhere. Yeah. And you guys don't even hunt mule deer. Like, Coos deer are a big deal. You guys are addicted to it. Yeah. I went down last year during Easter, and I looked at some mule deer places. I spent 10 days down looking, and ended up not taking anything because other outfitters that I know that were down there were in those areas, and they told me that it was too dangerous where I was at. So, I left. And that's all it took for me to hear.

Yeah. You know, so I just thought, you know, the coos deer thing, like I said, I'm not down there, you know, doing it for profit. I'm doing it for myself, but hopefully I'm going to start doing some hunts down there. Now, this ranch you were on this year, it was new to you, right? It was what? It was new to you. It was new. Yes, it was a completely new ranch. That's what's crazy, is you go down to a new ranch, you're hunting multiple 110, kill a 115, just kill another 2x4 that's 115, whatever. It's just awesome that you can go down there. And it's new to you. I'm not saying it's never been hunted, but it just feels somewhat common. Well, I've been down there enough, Jason. I can tell, once I've been there a little bit, if the ranch has been hunted, especially commercially, because... Looking at brass on the ground.

Yeah, well, that's it. You find grass, you got problems. I mean, a guy one time said, no one's ever, no one hunts this ranch. No one been here. And I, the first thing I do is I drive up a road, I see laid down grass, I see side by side tracks. I find a 270 brand new cartridge and a Costco water, I mean Kirkland water bottle laying on a point right where you'd glass, and it looked like it had been there two days. Right. Well, yeah, that kind of stuff. Yeah, that's a red flag. But, when you're hunting down there, you can see, like, nobody's been in here, nobody's been on these roads, nobody's been in this country, you're seeing lots of deer. You can pretty much tell pretty quickly. You know, this year was a little different. We thought the ranch was probably not as good as it ended up being, but we had really high winds. We had, the rut wasn't on. There was other factors.

Yeah. But I have a saying about Mexico, too. If you're a good hunter, you screw yourself. Excuse me? I'm going to tell you why, because Mexico, if it never fails, Mexico is, hey, these guys, they want hunters to come to their ranch. Sure, they do. Which I, that's, it's business for them. I get it. Yeah. The problem is, if you get a deal on a ranch, and you go there, other people may have hunted the ranch. Yeah. And they may have not killed deer. So, a couple years goes by, and no good deer get killed. And then guys that really can hunt coos deer come there, and they kill big deer. And then their eyes get big, and they go, oh, this is better. And then the next year, you go back to that ranch, and they raise your price. And the next year, you go back, and they raise. Next thing you know, they start pricing you out of it.

And then you go find a new place, and someone else goes to your old ranch, and they still don't kill anything. And I've seen it multiple times, where groups go to ranches, don't kill deer, good, good hunters go to the same ranch, kill big deer. Who's deer are not, you know, it's not a, you know, like, the Mexican guys we hunt with down there, they'll be like, hey, that group last week, or the group a year ago, they set We lived on that point 10 minutes. Every 10 minutes we moved, and you sat there for two hours. Right. There you go. You're glassing. It's a different thing. And they even tell us, they tell us, you guys are better hunters. You spend more time. You see more deer. You're more methodical about it. So, even though a ranch has been hunted, maybe a lot of times they're not really hunted.

Not honestly. Yeah, I've hunted good ranch. I mean, I've hunted ranches that were supposedly bad and killed big deer off. Yeah. All right, Guy. Well, we appreciate your time, and we, just so you know, we do do cold calls on the podcast. That's a fact. And that has happened today. And we will do it again, perhaps, and just remember that. All right, we'll see you guys.

Make sure you save me a place. We will. I'm going to be staring at you all week. You're right across the aisle. I don't think we're going anywhere. Yes, that is correct. You're right across the aisle. We're excited, but it's going to be a grind. Are you excited? It's a grind. I don't know, man. I haven't done shows for a while. Is your wife making you get a haircut? We've seen a few posts on your IG. You're coming to Utah. You need to have a haircut. No, man. I lived in Utah for some time, and I'm telling you, when I lived there in the late 90s, the mullet, never goes out of style in Utah. Never. I don't know. It never has. I mean, if you live in American Fork, and you got a mullet, you're in.

I think you've got more than a mullet. I don't know what I got, but it's pretty bad. It's for a good cause. It's for a good cause, guys. Come on. Okay. What is it? Are you going to do locks of love with it? Yeah, what's the cause? Oh, I've got all kinds of excuses. All right, all right. Okay. All right, guys. We'll see you next week. Okay. All right, buddy. Thanks. You bet. All right, see ya. All right, bye. All right, Bronson. There you have it. Kind of a, it's fun to end on a few good stories. Yeah, well, little mule deer, little coos deer, little stout to the border. It's pretty awesome. I don't know. Yeah. Kind of gets us fired up, everybody. We're super excited for this year. Last year was tough. This year's gonna be awesome. Mark our words. We're gonna see you up there at the Expo, and we can talk all about it.

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We got it.