EP 230: Thick in Application Season

Yep, bring on an elk tag, huh? How about this weather pounding, Arizona? It was a complete yard sale in the truck. You burned your elk points after 18, 19 years last year. How does it feel to put in for deer with zero points in Utah? Anything to do with Western big game.

Welcome to the Epic Outdoors podcast, powered by Under Armour. Hey everybody, Jason Carter, Adam Bronson, coming at you from Southern Utah. Of course, we got the rest of the crew. Hey, say hi. Say hi. How are you doing? We're doing good. Good. Go ahead. Anything else, Wyatt? Okay, that's what Wyatt's got. John, do you want to say hi? I'm here in the house. Right on. Josh. Hi, Jason. Hi. How are you? Good. Chris? Good morning. How about two degrees this morning? Yeah. Was it really? Yeah, two. It's so cold. Pretty chilly. Pretty cold. My dog was cold. No. Actually, it's cold in the garage. Devin caught something, so he can't be with us today. He's self-isolating in his office right now. No, he's not. The door's open. Yeah, but. Pretty funny, though. So, about the time it's to do a podcast, he gets sick. And I had some good ideas to talk with him about, but we're going to have to wait.

All right. Well, anyway, we want to thank Under Armour. We appreciate them for sponsoring this podcast. They sponsor everything we do. Appreciate them for all their support. They've got a lot of good things going over there at UA. Hey, in fact, Wyatt, you deal with them quite on a regular basis. Yeah, yeah. We do have those 40% off codes there on our website again, so feel free to take one of those. Use them. Log on. It's 40% off. Anything on their website. Bronson, we've been kind of absent. Oh, yeah. The expo kind of took it out of us. Yeah, that's a big show for us. It's a long show. Four full days of consulting on your feet, but it's also a day set up and feels like four days to recover after you get home. Is anybody with me on that? I'm still wore out. Absent mentally, mainly, but we weren't absent in the office. Yeah. Yeah, we were sleeping deprived. There were no minutes off.

And, well, we came right back to... Josh, are you saying you're overworked? No. No. You just... I don't know if absent was the humor. It made it sound like we took a week off somewhere on a beach. We took a week off from podcasts. Yeah, that's about the only thing we were absent from. Yeah. We came back to the lion's den. John's lions, Dan, of get the magazine done by yesterday. That was what his ultimatum was, which, you know... And then he didn't even give us the full day, Bronson. He made us do it by, like, midnight the night before. Well, it's all right. But, hey, it's done. And the EMAG is live for the March magazine, which covers Colorado, Idaho, Moose, Sheep, Goat, as well as Montana, Deer, and Elk, which there's a ton of changes in Montana. And Colorado is obviously a big-packed magazine. And so, anyway, it's live.

Your paper copy should be showing up within the next couple of weeks. So, anyway. Okay. Kind of along those lines. John, you want to talk about our giveaway real quick? Oh, yeah. Well, just going back to Colorado, for what seemed like a down year, there were so many awesome books and stories in that MAG. Oh, they were intense. Well, I don't know. What'd you do? Put 20 different stories, you know, over the different states in there? Anyway. Crazy, crazy books. Just gives you hope that there's still some out there. Anyway. So, our giveaway. We've got literally... A day, maybe, or two. Yeah, a day or two. Monday the 28th. Monday's your last day. So, get your name in the hat and win one of these hunts. We've chosen the best of the best. So, if you want a sheep hunt, a moose hunt, an elk hunt, a deer hunt, or a lion hunt, we've got it for you.

So, just go to epicoutdoors.com and get your tickets. If you're not a member, a great way to get your name in the hat is to join and you get a free entry. So, either that or you can call us if you want. It's 435-263-0777. Anything you guys wanted to highlight on there? No, no. If you can either get one by buying tickets or if you're not a member and you're a podcast listener and have never joined, it might be a time to get the last, you know, five months of the year action-packed, or, you know, action-packed, info-packed magazines to help you for your applications in all the states and you'll get a free entry. Two for joining. If you want to get one in, maybe it's the time to join right now before the 28th. So, yeah. And for the guys that say, hey, I'm a current member and you're not giving me a free entry, they got one most likely when they joined and you can still get your buddy in.

Refer your buddy. Refer your buddy and you'll get an entry in there. Speaking of another great deal, you may have got this for members only. If you got a Vortex email from us this week about a package deal for 18x56 Razor UHDs or a 27-60x85 Razor HD spotting scope, we've got an awesome deal on those. If you buy either one of those, you get a carbon fiber Summit II tripod or the Ridgeview carbon fiber tripod absolutely free. In addition, if you buy the 18s, we'll throw the pro bino adapter in there as well. So, that's why supplies last. 18x56 Razor UHD or Razor 27-60x85 Razor HD spotting scope. Give us a call. Get a free tripod right now while they last. Yeah. Probably ought to hurry. We've got several of those going out the door every day. Oh, yeah. We're blowing them out. So, we had a few left after the expo and we want to make a good deal to somebody. Get them in your pocket. I like it.

I like it. Well, let's move on a little bit. You know, this weather caused everybody to apply. Why did you apply for in Utah? Yes, that's the question. No applications have been done in Utah yet for myself. You applied your wife, though. Why didn't you be on top of the file? When you were sitting there applying your wife, what stopped you from doing yours immediately after that? That was before the storms. What's funny is Wyatt's so wound up about, you know, our members getting their applications in, the license application guys, but himself, he's not even concerned. Yeah. I mean, Wyatt walks in every day with me with a look on his face and I'm just like, who now? Who do I get to help, you know, code now? I mean, he's cracking the whip. He's doing an awesome job, but he's not following his own advice. I got plenty of time to get mine in there.

Yeah, but we have to do that check afterward and I don't want to have to stay late to check your app. That's a good point. Check mine as well. That's a good point. That's right. I'd like to go home on time. I'll let you check mine. Yeah. Well, let's have it. All right. Well, you can lay off Wyatt because I haven't applied yet either. Really? No. Actually, Josh, raise your hand if you have. You were doing family apps just... Well, you... I believe you were doing family apps yesterday and not your own. I wasn't. You were doing family apps, Bronson. I just got so busy. What stopped you from doing your own? I got so busy with other customers and clients, I didn't have time to do my own. I felt that their needs needed to come before mine, so I stopped. I was waiting. Family first. The hunting environment and an office. Put family first. The hunting environment and an office.

Office hunting environment is interesting. I was waiting to see what Wyatt would do before I apply. Not sure about all the lies being told. Fibbing, fibbing. If I applied for the same unit as Wyatt with far fewer points and I actually pulled it and he didn't, I wouldn't be good. So I'm trying to avoid whatever Wyatt does, but I need to know what Wyatt does before I know what I need to do. We'll figure it out. We got time. All right. March 3rd is the deadline. I just need to know if there's one less guy trying to get that Antelope Island tag over me. That's all I need to know before I put it. There'll be a lot of people in that hat. I guarantee that. I shouldn't say this, but when it's full of water, is it really Fair Chase? When there's water around it and it's an island, is that Fair Chase? Wyatt, you're booting cock it, sir. It's dry right now. I know. So it's Fair Chase.

They call the bison out there Fair Chase free range as well. I know. BNC. Just wondering. Every once in a while, I'm wondering if that's been updated. All right. Move on. Other deadline, I guess, if you're listening to this before the 28th, the deadline in Wyoming, moose, sheep, and goat is February 28th as well. And you can start applying for bison on March 1st the next day. Kind of weird. All these staggering. Do on March 31st. Yeah. Also, March 1st, there's the last day to update your credit cards in Arizona. Yeah, we just figured that out online yesterday. Means the draw will be shortly thereafter. Probably the next morning. Yeah, the next morning they'll be charging cards. Watch them. Keep an eye on them. Update your cards, though. If your card went bad in the last month since you played in Arizona, you better update it. Because if you drew, you're not going to get a tag.

How about this weather pounding Arizona? Yeah, it did yesterday. Northern Arizona got crushed. So, yeah, bring on an elk tag, huh? Yeah, I'm excited. I'm excited. And even southern Utah. I mean, it got hit really good. We needed this. We need a lot more. But, wow, I know a lot of people that, yeah, were waiting to see what would happen. I'm one of them. All the stuff, most all of us in here are doing deer. John, you drew elk last year, so you're back in deer. Back to deer. So, I mean, we got at least eight inches in the valley. Yeah. I mean, overall. No, what? What'd you get? My house didn't get hit as hard for some reason. I love it, Wyatt. It could be snowing a full foot, and Wyatt would be like, ooh, it looks like it's just getting a little skiff out there. Got eight inches at my house. My house is like 2.3 miles from Wyatt's, and he got a skiff.

But it's weird when we had all those big rains. My house didn't get anything, and your house was flooding. There you go. Hey, by the way, Josh, didn't you look at Brian Head? That's true. That happened. That's true. What if Brian Head, which is straight above us, or what did they have? The last three days, it's like 41 inches. Whoa. Three days. Yeah. How about Duck Creek? Same thing. Yeah. Crazy. 30, 40? Yeah, it was 30-something. Wow. Well, we need it. Josh, you're running cellular camps just to check the weather. Oh, yeah. Just check the snow depths. Yep. Yeah. Is that going to be illegal for now? Yeah, I might have to pull those here shortly. No, not until July 31. July, I guess. Those are strictly for weather-related purposes. That's not for hunting. Okay. Well, I'm just wondering. Got a snow tail side up there. Yeah. It's my own snow tail.

Got a camera on a couple yard sticks on a tree. Yeah. Yeah. You got a tree with black paint there every foot, right? Yeah. How about that solar on there? Yeah. I'm still doing my coyote scouting, though. You saw that? Those two dogs on there. I didn't see that. Did you show you the picture of those two coyotes that came walking through? Uh-uh. Paired up. Paired up up there. Bunch of fawn killers. They need to be disrupted. Yeah. Go snowshoe into there, Josh, and take one of them out about right now. It's breeding season. Yeah. That male looked like a German shepherd. He was a big dog. Yeah. We're getting a lot of questions about New Mexico. I freaking love New Mexico. It's due March 16th, but there's a lot of opportunity down there. Well, what I like about it is you're never – we get more calls.

Everybody loves to use the exact number of points everywhere and get their full value out of them. If it took a partial draw with 17, and I have 17 this year, I'm thinking I have a chance. Yeah, but New Mexico is just nice that you view it every year differently. If you blow something, it wasn't great, which, Carter, you've done a lot of those on deer tags. You haven't even gone on some of them. Why do you remind me of these things? Well, I'm just saying you can play with it. Get a tag, give you an option. Waste gas. Or don't go. You saved gas. Waste gas. So I just like it from that perspective. You're never protecting anything. Fill a gap in your schedule if you've got time. You know, mine this year, my September is not going to work. I'm going to have to do more muzzleloader rifle options when it comes to elk. But, yeah, it's a good state for that.

You know, they've been okay in parts – northern part of the state on moisture from what I'm hearing. Central and southern, low. Also, kind of a cool thing is they look at all three choices on the application, so you can also apply for the best unit and also apply for one of the worst units. I mean, or a better odds unit. I wouldn't say worst, but better odds units there, too, just to have names in the hat. Draw something. Lots of opportunity down there. Actually, we've killed some of our best bulls down there in New Mexico, you know. Yep. No waiting periods, no points. Everybody's on the same playing field year after year after year. Just a great opportunity to apply and potentially draw a tag. Josh, you hunted down there last year? Yeah. Pretty awesome. Yeah. I mean, I didn't kill a bull, but I want to go back. I think it was by choice. Oh, yeah, it was. I could have killed a bull.

Yeah, I could have done that. I just saw a bull that I decided I want to kill, and five days doesn't give you a lot of time when you're trying to learn a new area and stuff. That's true. But I'd love to go back, for sure. To some extent, you know, hunting those rifle muzzleloaders out, you know, in October later for five days, you know, they don't have super high kill rates and allows you to still have a decent hunt every year without all the cream getting skimmed. So, anyway, full of optimism around here in the office right now. Well, Chris, we've already talked about your outcome, I think, down there. I don't want to relive that one for you. You were a little bit disappointed. We've talked about it a couple times. But, hey, it's over, right? And you didn't burn 20 points. So, the point is, is you learn something you may not want to do again, you know. But, hey, it's a new year.

Do something different. No waiting periods. No points. Go for it. I like it. You know, one thing that's not talked about there a lot is coos deer.

And I don't know. Maybe we don't want to talk about it. You're segwaying right into something I got to ask you about. But continue. What are your train of thought? What do you mean? Because San Carlos will never give me a tag. No. Ever. I need to go to New Mexico. No, just give me your thoughts on that. And then we'll segway into species of least concern, maybe. Of lesser interest. Because I've got a question for you when it comes to one of those. And I've got a couple questions for you. You always dodge them. I'm not dodging anything today. I'll take it on the trip. Utah apps? They're not in. Yeah. Anyway. So, yeah. The coos deer down there. Great opportunity. What I like about New Mexico, it doesn't matter if it's mule deer, elk, goose deer, whatever. They don't have what I call named animals. Like, they're not. Like, here in Utah, we have specific units that are great.

They get hit so hard. And a lot of guys know this bull, that bull, pick up sheds, whatever. New Mexico is like, who knows, man? Who knows what's alive? There's incredible animals. I mean, there was a 445-incher killed last year. Not a great year weather-wise. You're talking coos. Okay. So, check. Did I say coos? No. We were talking kind of coos, and then you said 445, and we're like. Well, I mean, I'm just talking in general. Okay. You know, for an example of incredible animals that are out there that people don't know about. Yeah. Who knows about it? But we're going to have that on a future magazine, maybe the front page, also known as the cover. Anyway, who gave him the free mind? You're not supposed to say something. Well, okay. So, talking about these. So, I guess to finish that, are you putting in for coos deer in New Mexico? Well, I already have applied for New Mexico. For coos?

As one of your choices? I might have. I like it. I might have. I like it. Because what do you got to lose? That's right. Here's my point. What do you got to lose? And there are some incredible deer opportunities. But not. I'm down there with my kid on a youth. Actually youth, but you're in with the adults on the January archery hunt in 2B, and it was incredible. It was awesome. Killed his first archery buck spot in stock. And those are memories we'll never forget. It was just awesome. And we actually seen a 200-inch around there, by the way. But anyway, having said all that, just incredible opportunities that I think everybody should be applying for in New Mexico. I mean, potentially a free tech, meaning it didn't cost you a lot of points, years of anguish. Wyatt's had a lot of stress about his Utah apps for years and years and years. I mean, no stress in New Mexico.

If you get one, you get one, right? Yeah, throw your name in. Everyone's level playing field. I love to see his wife. But anyway. Speaking of these species like coos deer, they may be forgotten. Yesterday, you were real excited about some draw results you were about to get. What were they for, Jason? Well, I got a Kalkamai email. Okay. What state of that? For Nevada? Yeah. What species results came out? Turkey? Wow. That's where we're at. Turkey results. Carter was wound up. Hey, they've got a lot of turkeys over there. I don't even think they realize how many turkeys they have. And they're really, non-residents get the shot. Hardy? Hardy birds? One non-resident permit? Big cagey desert, Tom. Yeah. I applied for one non-resident permit. Mojave green? Variety? What do they call them? Oh. No. No, the Mojave green variety is dead.

Well, I just liked it because he was, Carter, this time of year, he can get excited about anything. Well, part of me eating tags, and you brought it up and, hey, whatever, let's go there. The kill for me is getting tags. It is. I love getting tags. I love it. It's the word successful. Dude. It means something to you. Yeah. If you buy a tag, I feel like that's a kill. If you can buy a tag. It's hard in this day and age. Go try to buy your over-the-counter Idaho stuff. You were in a queue of 30,000 people. It felt like a win, and all you're trying to do is just check out with the money. Did you know? I got it. I have a general deer tag up there, remember? Yeah, I forgot about that, but yeah, you do. Yeah, and you guys were- And it's the kill. And I was 11,763rd in line. Josh was 12,000. I beat him. Yeah. Did you get one, Josh? No. Well, by choice. Yeah. I could have, but-

I snagged one and checked out and didn't dare tell you because I was going to be berated for the rest of it. I think I knew that you did, but I like having options. And you're right. You've self-admitted that. You know that that is part of the- That's the excitement for me. Yeah. The kill is the tag. No. No. I like killing big stuff, too. Yeah. But- But having options. I just like having options. Okay, now here's the options. And then I love the ones you can turn back. Yeah. I love that. I love that. What is the term you like? Plug and play. You like that? You like that? I don't like that term, but yeah. It's like a tag- It makes sense. Tag ground check? Is that what that is? Ground check and tags. Put them all out on the carpet and ground check them. Take- Let's do that. That's good. I like that. Send the ones back. Ground check and tags. Not critters. Not critters.

Although there was one I killed in Colorado. I wanted a ground check. I've done one of those, too. I've tagged every single one I've ever killed, but I'm telling you, that was a tough one. When you look at a dink with 15s at 80 yards, it's going to look bigger than it is.

All right. Well, anyway, what else? Let's move on to somebody else. No. Colorado is going to get on the front burner for a lot of us here soon. Really? Are you going to do muzzleloader again? By the way, I'll give you 500 if you do archery.

Did you read my intro article? I'll give you five pounds, boss. Did you read my intro article this year? I did. We're going to read the last. This is a teaser. We're going to read your teaser. Well, but nevertheless, I'm willing to give you 500 if you do archery. And by the way, that's long season dates. You'll have the option to come back and hunt it at the very end. He's looking for an archery tag, right? Is that what I've heard? Which one? No. September was empty? Yeah. That's what I thought. I can't do that. September's bad, remember? I can't do archery. What do you mean? Not until the 30th. You said you were coming back in time. You think I'm going to get an archery tag and hunt the last five days of deer season and end of September? Some units, that's the best because the elk hunters push deer into other areas. Wow. This is a spin I haven't heard.

Usually, we talk about hunting pre-scouted bucks. You told it to me. You told it to me. Muzzy hunters show up, too. OTC elk hunters. Yeah, wear your orange. Push deer. All right. Well, no, I'm not. My last line, I can't find it. Going back to your roots. My e-mag timed out real quick, and I don't remember all my passwords and stuff on this phone. So, no. But I did say that I thought outside the box last year. I did. And you are jumping back into the box. And I'm jumping back inside the box, and I will be there probably third season this year, and you're going to have a hard time talking me out of that. What didn't you like about outside the box? I liked it. It fit my schedule last year to an extent, but I mean, it was something different. Quaker patches bother you? No, they don't. But it just, I burned my points in Colorado the year before, so I had zero points.

Third season landowner tags, maybe a little bit harder. I had kids with some points. I thought, maybe I'll take them late. And then the dare happened, and I took it. I went early. The dare swayed me.

And you're welcome. You killed a great buck. Yeah, it's good and fun. I had a good time, but this year my schedule is completely different. And, hey, we could talk about that in a whole podcast, but really, make your schedule work. Don't sit out stuff for points only. Points only means you don't go hunting. I mean, I hate points only unless you've got a broken leg back, something else, or 14 weddings you've got to go to that year and family vacations in four different countries. Don't do points only. We've had guys with double knee surgeries. I mean, there's legit reasons to do points only. But, man, don't be too conservative in the draws. I mean, anyway, there's reasons to do it, but better be good ones. Wyatt, are you going back to 11 to 11? I will not be going back to 11 to 11.

Speaking of that, this is a question I have for you because it happened to you and it happened to Josh and his family. Well, you and Archibald, I don't know who saw the buck, but you're hunting there third season. Josh, you're hunting there third season with your kids, and you guys come across whitetail bucks. And your eyes get big, and you're like, what do we do? Can we kill that? Can we not kill that? Let's talk about that. Did you see it or was it Archibald? No, it was Archibald that saw the whitetail. I never saw the whitetail. But it's a, yeah. The thing about whitetail is you're wondering, am I illegal by shooting that whitetail? Yeah, you don't know initially, is this buck only, and you don't have the regs and the deer staring at you. Is this a new introduction? It was a complete yard sale in the truck. You had kids. And then you're wondering if you're going to.

Jack and the shells getting ready. And you're wondering if they're going to be going to jail shooting something like that. And I'm like my wife flipping through the guidebook. I'm on my phone. Yeah. Oh, yeah. This is not on the field. He literally, we'd pulled up and they were in the field, and I got looking because I saw this buck jump the fence and take off running towards. There were some two does that were out there. All of a sudden I got noticed. I was like, what? That is, that's a whitetail. What the heck? And then he hits those does, and they came straight for us. And I'm like, what do we do? And your kids are hungry to shoot a buck. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. They're going to pound something. They were needing to kill a deer. Yeah, he came, jumped the fence, pushed those two does off, and they're standing there. I'm like, what do we do? And I'm looking at the tag. It says any buck.

I just have never. Is this legal? Yeah. I've never went to Colorado with the anticipation of if I see a whitetail, can I kill him? Especially with kids. Yeah. Yeah. And if you do kill him, you're killing the breeder buck. Yeah. Well, I know Archibald says his was a good buck. He said, I would have shot the buck, but he had the same feeling of, can I do it? And by the time you're deciding and find out and pull tags out in a reg, and that buck's gone. You know, he's rutting a doe 50 miles an hour somewhere. But kind of interesting he brought it up. And every morning it was, what do you guys want to do today? Let's go back and find that whitetail buck. It turns out at the end of the day, it's legal. I was not father of the year. It's legal to kill it. Yeah. You just don't know that initially. You cost your kids a buck. I did. I'm not father of the year. Because you didn't know the regs.

Now I'm forced looking for whitetail opportunities. Now we're going to Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska. Yeah. Speaking of northern Wyoming. Panhandle of Idaho. A doe coos somewhere. I don't know. Just something to say they got a whitetail. They're holding me against it. Yeah. I want a flagger.

It is interesting. I had one of those with a mule deer once off the pavement when I'm driving to a unit the first time. We've talked about that. And I didn't know what side of the road. Was it the road or the river that was 100 yards away that was the boundary? And I didn't know. I didn't, you know. But Aaron killed the buck a few days later. That's a good one. Yeah. And I could have shot it that night, but I didn't know that. Aaron owes you one. Well, it doesn't matter. I've had my chance. Yeah. He probably doesn't owe you one. No, he doesn't. But anyway. All right. Speaking of Aaron, geez, what the heck. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's another reason I like to wait. You know, very rarely has that happened. But occasionally, he's actually drawn two expo tags in 15 years, believe it or not, which altered our plans. And this year, yeah, they do an awesome deer tag up there.

So, yeah, looking forward to hunting with him. Rifle season. So, I can't apply for any rifle hunts just out of obligation. So, you can't do September. You can't do October. Which, you're getting the picture. Well, I mean, you've talked about a lot of, you know. Well, let's talk about the two options. Well, you're going to do Montana elk, I heard you're doing. I heard you booked a hunt for Colorado elk next year. Well, I'm going to use some points there next year, but I can't do it this year. So, some outfitters that have spots or private land trespass, they're full a year or two out. And I've secured something for 2023. Yeah, I'm not ashamed of it. Okay, so go ahead. I cut you off. No. What are your plans? Well, archery or the late muzzle. That's really my only win. Archery, and I brought up archery deer, and you said you couldn't do it. But you can? You can? All right. August.

Yeah, I can do August 20th. You said Colorado. That's September 2nd to 30th. That's different. That's right. Good point, Wyatt. I got about 13 days. I was hearing a pause for a minute. I'm not taking your $500. I don't know. What did you do with the $500 last year? Lost in the gas pumps? Food storage. About a buck home. Food storage. All right. Yeah. Well, who else can we pick on, John?

John, that's a good question. You burned your elk points after 18, 19 years last year. How does it feel to put in for deer with zero points? It's a crazy, crazy feeling. It's like something I haven't thought about for 18 years. Oh, yeah. Well. And you make that decision, and as a resident, you just don't have to think about it again. I just keep putting in for elk, putting in for elk. Well, and I'm sorry. I may have assumed too much. You may have chosen antelope. Yeah, I didn't choose antelope. No? Okay.

I like antelope. No. We don't. Frozen. We don't. Well, it's just interesting. Have you applied yet? When you have to switch your mindset, and I haven't applied yet, I can't decide. Yeah. I had to do that a few years. Just keep going back and forth on, you know. Well, and it's weird to think too. You've been to the point where you're like, oh, this could be my year. This could be my year. This could be my year. And now you're just like, oh, okay. I have no hope. No, I'm just going to start clicking a button. It's like when I had my desert a few years ago. I knew, and then the next year's like, this is futile. I'm just chucking something in that's 10 bucks. It is interesting how much of this hunting is, it's a full game between, not just when you're on the hunt for five days or whatever, but it's all year round, and it's from year to year, and then your strategy changes.

It's not just what you think of as a five-day hunt. It's year round. And then you've been doing the same thing forever, and all of a sudden, you know, you're tagged out in Utah for elk, and I can't even apply for five years. So, yeah, got to change mindset. Heaven forbid when he draws his deer, the next year he has zero elk. I have no idea what he's going to do. My dad actually drew all three of his Utah deer, elk, and antelope in his elk waiting period. Jeez. Wow. Awesome. Yeah, that was a good problem. Did he have a year that he actually couldn't apply, or did he get them? It didn't work out where he had a year he didn't apply, but he had all three of them. Timed it perfectly back on elk after five years. Yep. Pretty awesome. I think you're right, John. It's all hands on deck. There's so many opportunities, tags, general, limited entry states, landowner, guided, whatever.

And, I mean, my plans change week to week, let alone year to year. You know what I mean? Yeah, and that's where I am. You're like, have you applied yet? I can't decide yet. I keep going back and forth. Yeah.

All right. Well, get them in because you don't have much time. March 3rd's coming. You can't plug and play much longer. You can withdraw an application. If we've said something during the course of this podcast that's made you scratch your head and you want to withdraw, do it. You want to get in for antelope versus deer, do it. I like to just apply, and then sometimes I like to withdraw. Yeah. Then I get to apply twice. Seriously, I'm looking forward to withdrawing my Utah app and reapplying and doing something different. It's like the same excitement. I'm in. I don't care about the minimal application fee. I like doing it. Then you have a mess of receipts, and you have to make sure you're really in. I don't even make sure. I don't even. Okay, here's a question. Nevada's not up for a month or two, but how many times in the course of Nevada do you plug and play your deer? I love Nevada.

I know. Because you've got five choices to play. Yeah. They make it so simple, too. It doesn't even charge you. Oh, no. It doesn't even charge you. I love them. What I'm tired of is the emails telling me that I've auto-opted in to get my license renewed. With 14 women and children, I've gotten emails all day, every day. Literally. Feels like. Well, anyway, let's talk about trucks for a minute. Okay. Josh, how's your truck doing?

Well. Hey. You're talking about rubbing salt in a wound. I don't know yet. I've got to go take it down to the shop here. The only snowstorm we've had that Wyatt's had one inch of snow on his driveway, and you conked out last night going home. Yeah. I was excited. I was like, I might get home kind of early. Leave at 5 o'clock. Jana was inspired to tell me to leave early. She was worried about me, and yeah, I made it halfway home. I had to turn around and come back, because I think the transmission's about ready to fall out. So, luckily, I already had another car here. I don't know how that was. Luckily, I had the little. The backup car. The green lantern here. Green Hornet. Especially known.

So, I drove the truck back here, parked it, got in the car, and headed back over the mountain. Is this the same car that John lifted up off the ground with his trailer hitch?

Go ahead. It looks good, though, by the way. It does. You know what the best part is? He put new doors on, but I kind of told him, because the car's got 200,000 miles on it. It's like a 2003. Put some glitter on it. So, there's like, you know, the paint's faded. It's a Toyota, so it's faded paint and everything. Anyway, I told him, I said, don't worry about trying to make it look fancy like a brand new car or whatever. I'm like, just throw them on. And he took, he put new doors on it, but he took like the trim. If you look at the piece of trim, like the black plastics all peeling off and faded. He took those off the old doors and put them on so they would match. So, you got new paint with old trim. Yeah. It's awesome. Sounds like a song. Anyway, do we want to expound on that story? We go blow right by. No, that was one of those.

I'd been working all night and, yeah, backed into Josh's car. I was just sitting in my computer typing away one quiet morning and nobody else was in the office. And all of a sudden, I thought, oh, it sounds like the garbage guys out there dumping the dumpster today. Because it was kind of a boom. So, that must be the dumpster sliding across the parking lot. Oh, those are flat spots appearing on my tires. No, that's my car sliding across.

I'm just kidding. It wasn't that bad. I thought I was going to, you know. Well, I come into work and, I mean, I'm looking at it going, wow. What happened here? Anyway, go ahead, John. Those hitches, the reversibles that John, it might as well be a chunk of metal, 200 pounds on the bed. Lucky you weren't in the driver's seat. Yeah.

So, anyway. So, long night. John puts it in reverse. Yeah. Doesn't look where he's going. Well. Hits the gas. All right. So, I'm going to blame it on Ram. Oh, nice. Let's zoom right out. If you start it up and you're in a hurry and you put it in reverse, the camera is black and you have, like, comes up with a, be careful. It's like 0.7 seconds, I think it's black. Be careful about your surroundings and you have to hit okay or whatever. If you wait long enough, it just comes on. Well, you know. If you rush it. If they would stop telling you to be careful, the camera would come on and you could see what's behind you. So, it distracted you. It distracted you. Yeah, yeah. I was in a hurry. These cameras have just taught us not to look behind us. Yeah. Yeah. I don't even look at my camera. I can't even. I just forget it's there.

Well, I said I push all of my buttons on my truck to quit blaring at me when anything's near me because I don't, I don't, I hate hearing them. So, I'm going to hit something someday because I have all the front rear sensors that are like anything around you you're going to hit, it's going to blare at you. I hate the noises. Yeah. So, they're all shut up. Well, I hate your backing up and sometimes for some reason my front one will go off or something, you know. So, you're like backing up looking and all of a sudden, ding, it'll start ding and you slam on the brakes thinking you're going to hit something and it's just something in the front going. So, before we leave. Yeah. Well, okay. So, Wyatt's researching vehicles with thermal. Why? Well, my wife, she's like, oh, this new vehicle, da, da, da. It's so cool. And I'm like, yeah, let's look at it. So, I looked at it.

It's a really expensive vehicle. Is she a Jeep driver anyway? She is a Jeep driver. Yeah. It's a new Jeep of some kind. The Jeep Wagoneer is what it is. Oh, yeah. They're cool. I guess it's like an updated version of the old Wagoneer. And she thinks they're just awesome. So, I was doing a little research on it. Apparently, they have thermal, you know. Do they have like glasses you got to wear or how do you see? No, it's right there on your screen. So, when you're driving down. You watch a screen instead of the road? That's how you drive? Glance at a screen like you would if it was a song or something. But it's got a built-in thermal screen. Yeah, built-in thermal screen. It says it's for detecting animals as you're driving. Hey, you're going to see a field mouse and swerve. Because it's going to look this big on you. I think it's going to be a, hey, elk. Can you control that?

You like point your car towards the field. I think it just shoots out in front of you. I didn't do too much research on it. But I just saw it there on their little screen. I can see they're going to start selling them for four-wheelers and side-by-sides now. Just to get around thermal. Incorporating thermal. Yeah. So, before we leave heckling John. Who here is scared for their life when they ride passenger in John's truck? Raise your hand. This is like Pop calling the kettle black. Yes. Exactly. What I love to do is when Adam and I go get the mail, I love to put on a seatbelt. Because I've been caught doing 60 in a 20. Yeah. It's the only way you can beat all the lights home on the way to work. It's offensive when I'm going 30 down a 30-mile-an-hour street and Carter reaches over and puts a seatbelt. It's the law. It's offensive. It's the law. No. It's offensive. Yeah.

When he gets in there, I text my wife and say, I love you, in case it's the last time I ever get to say that. Come on. How many back windows have you blown out? Come on. What? These are fair questions? I have no time to prepare. I'd have to look at my insurance statement. A few of them. All right. So here's the question. I just want us all to answer our, you know, just all to give your own answers because we've done a lot of, you know, had a lot of trucks, been in the hills a lot. So here's a guy. I've been self-employed. It's been most of the fall driving laps around the west, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Idaho. Some questions about hunting trucks since I hear you're hard on trucks and buy often. I don't know. I like to buy, remember? Tags, trucks, whatever. Tire size. Used everything from stock up to 35s. One on your preference.

Larger give you more clearance but throws shifting ratios off, decreases low-end torque, deep mud snow, decreases fuel mileage. I never think of that stuff. I just go bigger. Bigger's better. Okay. So there's one answer. I did drop down a truck when I bought it. They had it dolled up with 37s and I thought that's too much. And so I just put 35s on it. But it was awesome to be in and drive. Yeah. It was. Yeah. Yeah. But I use slightly bigger. I mean, I use like 33s on my ZR2. Yeah. Dixie Pick Funk countries love them. They're expensive tires but they last. I've run them for 10 years. Well, they used to be kind of cheap, you know. Yeah. They used to be kind of. But they were awesome. They were E-rated and awesome. Yeah. They still are. They're good. They're just not cheap anymore. But no rubber's cheap. No. All tires are expensive. Yeah. And I'm kind of that way. I use.

I'm up to 34s because I like the E-rated. And it's really hard to find 35s in E-rated. And then when you get to the 35, they end up being super wide. Yeah. And I like a little narrower. Narrower tires. Taller tires. That's what I've noticed. I was running like fishing game vehicles everywhere. Everything. I'd try and get a tall tire and as narrow as possible. It seemed like they just in the snow and the mud. Wide tire and the snow. Yeah. Those narrower tires. It just seemed a lot better. Under 35, you can get a narrow tire. Above that, it's going wide. But we also, to clarify, yeah, we got a smaller truck, my runaround truck. And then we got, you know, we all have like three quarter tons, you know, or tundras. Power wagons. So you got, most of it's like 34 to 5s on all those. And 33s are on my little truck. So number two, tire type.

I've tried a lot and seem to prefer the BF goodies, the KO2s. Do you have any preference? Jump in. I just purchased a pair of those for my boy. Did you? On his 4Runner. Yeah. Just came down. Because they were available? Sometimes with this COVID era, it's like, it's what's available. Yeah. It came down to size. And they have so many sizes available in those KO2s. It's just, you know, I was looking for a specific. I went with the 33 10.5 by 15. And anyway, I like those big, wide sidewalls. Same with the 15 brings up another point. Even on these older Tacomas, around 15s, but you can throw a 16 on. With 16, you get E-rated. 15s, you can. Yeah. Yeah. So I always went to a 16 E-rated on these little light trucks throwing 25 pounds or 20 pounds of pressure so you're not beating yourself up too much. But I hate changing tires. That's what I hate. I think you like changing tires. I hate it.

No, that's why. The worst. I will generally overpay for a better quality or one that just works for you. Seems like John was driving an orange truck over there in Nevada and blew a tire. I don't know how that happened. That wasn't me. John, go ahead. Oh, man. John's in Adam's truck for the first time in history. Yeah. Go ahead. Drove it home and all of a sudden. And the sensor was telling you that the tire pressure was low on one. Yeah. But it was the wrong one. The computer was off. So I got out and checked. So I got out. I checked the tire. Well, it said the right front was off. And you went and looked. And, oh, the right front's fine. Yeah. Got back in. Looked. Yeah. Tire's fine. Boom. Sensor told you right front. It meant rear front. Or rear left or something. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Whenever it got rotated. Rotated the tires, they didn't reset it. Calibrate off.

Anyway, we changed the tire that day, Bronson. Yeah. Yeah. I just thought I'd throw that in there. All right. Anybody else on time? You've got like a list. No, that's a mental list. I wasn't even thinking of that. But it does joke. It's good memories. That was in Nevada when it was kind of hot. Right? It was November. That was our hunt giveaway. All right. Well, anyway. It was hot and dry, but for November. Was it November? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. All right. Let's see. Any other tire type? Wyatt, what do you like? I run the Nittos there. I've had great luck with them. They, for some reason, seem to not last as long as they used to, though. That's right. I don't know what the deal is with them. Yeah. I'm getting $15,000. I'm blowing through a pair. I got those Nittos on my big truck. Are you blowing through them? Yeah. Yeah, I went through them. My big down.

For the BFGs, they quit lasting as long, maybe eight, ten years ago, rubber-wise. Yeah. And I went away from them. But I'm using them on a bigger truck. Your little Toyota for your son, it also depends on how heavy a truck you run on. Toyota, they're not going to chew through them. But my big truck, they would chew through them. $15,000, $20,000 was a lot. I think for the better snow, they've gone to a softer rubber. Yes. And to be that triple peak snow radiator or whatever. It's so they can sell you more tires. That's possible. But that's what they're saying. It grips a little better. It's all for safety. And it does. It's a softer, it molds to things and wears out faster. Right? I like those Cooper Discoverer ST Maxes. I'm using those on big trucks, little trucks and everything. I've been a huge fan. But they only had Nittos available. And I've never used them before.

And I knew you guys did. Oh, yeah. Throw them on. Yeah, $15,000. Done. I used to love Nittos. I did do the Terra Grappler. And I had the same problem. I ended up switching to Coopers. I couldn't get them. They started cupping early. And so I switched to Hercules. And I've been running them a lot. And I've had really good luck with those. No kidding. All right. I like it. Josh? I have those Coopers usually. Yeah. I have pretty good luck with them. You've got to make sure you rotate them quite often, though. Yeah. All right. Well, let's move on to suspension. I have a couple inches of lift. I go through front end parts way faster than most of my buddies. But I also spend way more time on rough two tracks. What do you guys like? Lifts or not? Oh, it's different because on my big truck that I use most of the time, I just stock. You don't need a lift. It's a ram. I don't need a lift.

It's plenty high enough. There's shocks and springs on that. 2,500. Yeah. Yeah, the power wagon comes lifted. ZR2's come lifted from the factory. I like not messing with people that are paid a lot of money to be engineers. But all of my kids' cars, anyway, all my kids are into the Overland type vehicles, the 4Runners, the Land Rovers, that type stuff. And we've got lifts on all of them. Yeah. And had good luck. Yeah. All right. Anybody else? I've always. Wyatt, you like a leveling kit. Yeah, I have leveling kits or coilovers on most of my trucks there. So just a rough country set up there. Yeah. And do you feel like it's a little stiffer out in the hills, but it's worth the tradeoff? I just feel like it's a little bit more upgraded than the standard parts. So I feel like they might be a little bit stronger or last a little bit longer than your standard.

And it allows you to run a little taller tire. Yeah. Still put chains on whatever. Yeah, get that clearance. That's the other thing. I hate putting chains on. I hate it. But I do it all the time. It better be bad before I put them on. But it changes the truck. I mean, you can go somewhere. It's usually snowing sideways and freezing cold when you're thinking about putting them on. That's the other thing I hate about it. Or you're stuck. Yeah. Up to the axles in mud. You're done. Good luck. You get a jammed link and you're late for the hunt. And miss. Tired. Sounds like you're talking for personal experience. I got used to it lately, but I'm not a fan. All right. Any other lift? I don't like changing anything from factory. But, you know, these trucks that come lifted from the factory, they're not so bad. And I like a tall truck.

I mean, some of these trucks that are giant tall, they're awesome. It's awesome to ride in. The clearance is awesome. Yeah. It's awesome. Anyway, and then I run a lot less tire pressure than I should. You know, I'm around 40, 35, 40 on big trucks and without a heavy load, you know, and then down into the 25, something like that on light trucks. But with E-rated tires and just soaks in all that whatever harshness that otherwise is put on your shocks and front end parts and things like that. Any other you guys want to jump in on? Josh is getting quiet because remember he led this off with I need a new transmission on it. That's all he is. He's not thinking about this other stuff. Josh, have you got a quote on it? No. Remember, we told you John has a good transmission guy. That's where I'm going. No kidding? You guys have already conversed about that?

Last night, of course, because I could only drive 40 because I couldn't get over 50. So, John, what's the scoop? Do you do have a good guy? Yeah. He's trying to make it the best truck he's ever had, Jason. Hey, you were a fat. The Nissan's a good truck. Oh, it is. I mean, the bad part about it, though, is. He's a sucker. I can tee it up, man. What do you mean? My first thought was I'm just going to go trade it in. But you can't replace them now. Like used vehicles are so much. I tried to look at trucks to replace that with with that truck, and they're all six grand more than what I paid for that thing. And so you can't. So now I'm stuck with do I possibly draw? What would you take for it? Is it a stick shift? No. Oh, Ashley needs a stick shift. Anybody out there with a good stick? No, but it's a perfect kid truck because it actually has roll-up windows. It doesn't have cruise control.

Only AM, FM radio. It doesn't have cruise? No. It's a must anymore, right? Yeah, it does kind of suck for you. Not for kids. Sometimes you do that, and they hit an ice patch. The guy that I bought it from was an older guy, and he wanted to actually give it to one of his grandkids, and it was turning 16, and the kid wouldn't take it because it didn't have bells and whistles. It doesn't have manual. It just has manual locks, manual windows. The kid didn't even know what this was. Nowadays, when you say roll-up-your-window, I mean, we're in brand-new trucks still telling each other to roll-up-the-window. Yeah. Oh, yeah. What are you going to say? Push the button to roll-up-the-window-up. Window up. Window up. Window down. There should be voice recognition for that. Is there trucks that have voice recognition? I wouldn't doubt it. As much as they cost, they shouldn't.

Hey, if they don't, we need a commission on that. Yeah. Window up. Window down. You know? Spotting scope height. I had to rent a car once because I had my car in the shop, and Tyler, my youngest, was like five, and he got in the car, and he was like, Dad, what's on the door? There's a handle, and you can turn it. I was like, that's how you roll up the window in the olden days. Jeez. No, it's the perfect little run-around truck. We're in the hills. Plus, my daughter's going to be turning 16, not like soon, but in a while, but I was like, hey, she's going to be driving that. We should hook her and one of my kids up. She's not old enough. She doesn't turn 21 until. Hey, Justin's 16. Okay. Don't take it personal. He's just, it's his old, this is baby girl. He's not ready for her to see anybody. Just let alone a Carter. That's true.

Put your seatbelt on always. All right. Well, anyway, that's enough. Bronson, what else we got here? Nothing. I don't have anything, so I might give a couple shout-outs to our sponsor. We already mentioned the Vortex. Appreciate them. Call us. Remember on that deal, if you're looking for 18x56 Razor EHDs or Spotting Scope Razor spotters, give us a call. And if you're wondering if that's a good deal, that's like a $400 tripod, the value on that thing. Give us a call. What do you mean if it's a good deal? We've contemplated taking it off the table. Yeah. It's a good deal. Well, we don't have many of the kits left, so first come, first serve. We're just going to leave it at that. Okay. Right on. A little shout-out to Blaine St. James. St. James Sporting Properties. Good dude. In fact, what a great buck we've got in the Colorado section. Colorado section. Yeah. Cool buck.

Anyway, done a podcast with him. He's a super good dude. Knows what he's talking about. If you're looking at buying or selling properties of any shape and size, give him a holler. 877-354-7247. Info at sjsportingproperties.com. Great guy. Great hunter. Knows what he's doing. Super, super bright guy. Can even listen to our podcast that we did recently. It's a few podcasts back. And, man, he's got a lot of enlightening information and things that he thinks about. He's an intelligent guy. So, give him a holler. Also, I want to give a shout-out to the folks at Phonescope and Pyro Putty. We appreciate their sponsorship for us as well. If it's Wyatt, this might apply to you. You recently got a new phone. How do you like it, Wyatt? How do you like that new iPhone? I hate it. I don't get it. Wyatt's been an Android Samsung-er for life pretty much, right? Yeah.

He went the full 30 days on deciding whether to trade it back in or not. What's so hard about having a back button? He hates it. Let's just throw a back button on there so you can just get out of whatever you're doing. You just flip up. It's so easy. Swipe up. Swipe left. Swipe right. It's so easy. You look at it left. Look at it right. So, Wyatt, hey, give Cheston and the guys a call or go to www.phonescope.com. You're going to need one for that iPhone. What is it? 12, 13 these days? What is it? 13, yeah. 13? All right. I'm still running an XR. I've heard they suck, Wyatt. I heard the 13 sucks. Yeah, I'd agree. Whoever said that's not a liar. It's not true. They're awesome.

And the cameras, oh, the night camera is phenomenal. Whoa. Night camera. What are you doing at night, John? What are you doing with your camera at night? I'm building a house. So, I went up to the lot to see what they're doing. And it's almost dark. And I was going to show my wife, oh, they did some backfill and stuff. So, I tap it to take a picture. And I'm like, oh, there's no way that she's going to be able to see it. And it tells you to hold still for a second. And the picture is phenomenal in the dark. Really? Yeah. Anyway, they're great. Well, okay. Well, whether you have an Android. Have you ever had an Android, John? Oh, geez. John's an Apple guy. And I'm thankful to Wyatt that I don't have to look at green text anymore. Me too. Thank you, Wyatt. That's why I did it. It's for the group message. We can airdrop. We can see bubbles when you're typing.

I mean, there's a lot of cool features. Huh? Yeah. Bells and whistles. Photos and videos aren't shrunk to nothing. Yeah. Well, Wyatt, thanks for jumping on with the team. We appreciate it. But whether you're using Android, whether you're using an iPhone, PhoneScope's got something to fit your phone and your binos or your spotting scope. So, check them out online. And while you do it, grab a couple of tins of Pyro putty for your pack to keep you alive. Or one of the lighters. Or better yet, just buy some tickets in our giveaway and get a lighter. How about that? How about that? Awesome. Appreciate PhoneScope and Pyro putty partners with us on our lighter. How about these Hoyt bows? Yeah, yeah. We've already heard, Wyatt. These new incredible bows are incredible. Right, Wyatt? Go ahead. Right, yeah. What are you hearing? I got the RX-5 this last year, and I love it.

It's the best shooting bow I've ever had. But what are we hearing about the new RX-7? I've heard the new RX-7 beats it somehow. Yeah. I don't know. I don't know how bad. Like, guys are trading them in without even decking them out, right? Right. Like, they're just like, done. I know this RX-7's next level. Yep. But anyway, hopefully we all have some tags to use the new RX-7 for. Yeah. I'm not going to get one. I mean, I'm not one of those guys that gets one every year. There are two, for me, getting it all set up is such a pain sometimes. It takes three months. Especially with COVID, you know, waiting for log jams of parts. Like, to start with a bare bow again, I don't want to do that. Yeah. I'm going to use mine for another couple years. Hoyt makes great bows. I have one. I don't want to say how old it is. But to me, I mean, like you said, you just. Oh, that's awesome.

I've been shooting that thing forever. And I guess it's now probably time to turn that into a backup bow and maybe jump up with the RX-7 and try that out. I'm excited to do that. Or the Ventums. The Ventums, their best aluminum bow they've ever made. They're awesome. I've heard a lot of guys shoot those. I actually love those, too. Anybody that's interested, go to Hoyt.com. H-O-Y-T.com. Check them out. For your local dealer. Yeah. Good point. Well, that about wraps it up for today's podcast. Yeah. We appreciate you all listening out there. We appreciate the weather, too. Wyatt, we had a lot of weather despite what you've had in your driveway. Super excited. It's changed our application strategies and we've applied like crazy, at least most of us. All right, everybody.

Have a great day. At Epic Outdoors, we help you reach your hunting dreams. Whether it's helping you to develop a long-term application strategy or finding the perfect outfitter for your next hunt. As a member of Epic Outdoors, you'll also receive the Epic Outdoors magazine and have access to the best hunting consultants in the industry, online tools, and more. To join Epic Outdoors, visit epicoutdoors.com or call 435-263-0777.

to join Epic Outdoors.com or call 435-264-0777. to join Epic Outdoors.com or call 435-264-0777.