EP 261: Johns Border Patrol Battle, Getting Pumped to Apply for Hunts and The Epic Trail Cam Contest

Anything to do with Western big game.

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Hey everybody, Jason Carter, Adam Bronson, John Peterson. What's up, John? Got a lot of questions for you and your family. Coming in with some power. Got a lot of questions for you and your family coming up, so get ready. All right. Anyway, Bronson, here we are again, another podcast. This is three or four or five. I'm not even sure this week. I've lost count. This is, for the listeners, the first one they're going to hear. We've recorded a bunch, put in coffers. And it's not by our choice. We have strategic release dates with partners and maybe ProModels. I thought we owned ourselves. I'm kind of getting tired of being owned. John, how does it feel to be owned? Sometimes it's not great. Who do you feel owns you, John? The U.S. government. Okay, well, anyway. Border patrol. All right. Well, anyway, so there's a lot going on. Bronson and I and John.

John, you're cranking out, getting a lot of stuff ready for this next magazine. Here at Epic Outdoors, we do a lot. All things Western big game. We've got publications coming out like crazy, mostly statistic-driven application processes, booking hunts, landowner tags, regular hunts, guaranteed tags, non-guaranteed tags, whatever it is. And Bronson and I are dealing with questions from every corner of the freaking earth. If you can dream it, we can ice cream it. We've heard of everything. We should mention that the EMAG is live. So the EMAG is live for January. So for members. For January. January 2023. All right, John, you're done. Yeah. I could go. Well, I just feel like, so Adam and I, we've had this magazine done for a little bit, and you don't want to release it too early because the regs are just getting cranking. And then we leave for Christmas.

We're not here for a couple days around that to take the calls. But we've been here this week, but then we're not tomorrow. So you know how shopping usually ends by, let's call it midnight on the 24th, December 24th. It feels like the clearance comes out and Janice happens to say, you know what? I'm going to go down and I'm going to buy wrapping paper for the next 14 years. It's on sale. Is she? Yeah. Yeah, she did. It's on the 26th. I know a place you can get a storage unit.

Where? You got stuff you got to store. I know. For 360 days. I know, and I don't know where it's at. It's under somebody's bed, in a closet, probably in my gun room. Maybe even in my gun safe. She'll reorganize your hunting room to make room for the wrapping paper. She reorganizes my hunting stuff and I lose stuff every time. And then I find stuff. It's very interesting. So this morning I found some bases, rings, and a rail that I've been looking for. And gratefully I found them because I didn't have to re-buy them. So anyway, it's that time of year. And with that time of year, we're also seeing a lot of sales with our partners. We got Canetrek giving stuff. I mean, you can check it out on their website. Up to 50% off on stuff. They've also got kind of a used section. Very interesting. So if a guy's looking to buy Canetrek boots but maybe you don't want to pay the full going rate,

why, there's an option for you. Also, Triple S, Polaris. I love Triple S. What does Triple S mean to you? Shoot, shovel, and shut up. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so anyway, I don't know why I like it, but they're my kind of people. Anyway, $1,000 off on side-by-side, $300 off on four-wheelers. And if you tell them, Jason and Adam, John sent you, why, you'll probably get a little more off. But anyway, try Triple S, Polaris here in Cedar City, Utah. If you Google them, you can't miss them. That's where we're at. Bronson? Also got a couple others. Yeah, QU, one of our long-time original sponsors and partners, they have a holiday clearance sale up until the 31st of December as well, as well as PhoneScope. They've got a promo code on their website up until the 31st, which is the promo code is 15% off your total purchase. That code is EPIC, EPIC15.

EPIC15 gets you 15% off any purchase up until the 31st. So if you've got a new phone for Christmas, which Jason, I think, has something like that, you might need a new phone scope case for it because they all have a little bit different shape and size. So anyway. Isn't it amazing that these phones run you more than a grand? Yeah. And they force you to take out a payment program. I mean, I get so tired of it. For how long, though? Can't you jump the gun in about two months? Go in and try to pay your bill. It's the stupidest thing. After 14 hours, you finally get to the front counter. I'm just saying. Anyway, yeah, PhoneScope, they're using our name. That makes me want to send my cease and desist, but they're our partner. They're our partner, and Cheston's a good guy, so I guess we'll let it pass. Anyway, use code EPIC15 and get your percentage off. You know what?

Speaking of which, Bronson, optics. We sell optics, and it's a freaking steal right now. You can get on our website. You can call in, of course, this podcast. We're going to take the weekend off in a couple extra days. So don't be calling in. You're going to have to go to the website, and you actually have to log in. You have to be a member. So non-members listening to this podcast are not going to get special member pricing. I'm sorry. You have to have a membership already set up. But if you're looking to buy something and you didn't do it, or you didn't get what you wanted for Christmas, or you got something, somebody got it for you, and you took it back because it's not what you wanted, you really wanted something better or different, call us. Or jump online, epicoutdoors.com. Log in through your member. IDs. Log in and ID. Yeah.

And when you go then to the optics page, all the member pricing will show up because the noteworthy thing about this is many manufacturers, every year or two, they up their price of optics to their dealers, which we are. It's not us raising the prices. But when the price goes up for what we got to pay for it, obviously we got to pass that all. So yeah. That is what it is. 2023, that's happening on a few different of these manufacturers. So if you put something off and don't want to pay a little bit more for it in 2023, you can jump online before, hey, we'll jump on the bandwagon by December 31st, right? I've been thinking about buying a couple of those little items. Are you? Ah! Well. That little 17 by 40. Talk to me. By 56. By 56.

Or Devin. Devin's deals. No. We got away with Bronson bundles and now they're Devin's deals. Devin's deals. Oh boy. So yeah. Anyway, 2022 pricing expires December 31st, 2022. And then you're going to have 2023 pricing. So, and that trickles on down to our member pricing, which is an incredible deal. Basically better than anybody else out there. That's the way it is. Just saying it the way it is. John, I'm just wondering, like, if I'm a non-member. Yes. This is going to stretch you a little bit. But I think you'll know the answer. Okay. Can I join and then go back in and log in? Yes. Okay. So how do we, so how does that look? Like, I go in, join, give me a member number. When you give us, you have to give us your email address. Okay. And then you go back and you sit. That's the default username, right? Yeah. Basically. Yeah. That's your default username is your email address.

So you go back in. Let's say it's midnight. And then you say log in. And then I go do my email. And then you use your email and you can log in. Anyway. And it's self-explanatory. I can do it at 1 a.m. I don't have to call in and talk to one of the girls and have them help me get set up. You should. Are you sure? The first time, I don't remember. I'm seeing question marks. The first time. You shouldn't have to. All right. Well, anyway. If you do have problems, give us a call. If you try to join, I'll make you a deal right here. Here's the deal. Here's Jason's deal of the week. If you intend to go, if you go join Epic Outdoors from the time you hear this podcast and then go purchase optics online and it does not give you the member pricing, we'll credit you that back. Because for some reason, they don't work. I like it. It's all technology. We'll make it right. Tuesday morning.

Well, not Tuesday. I think it'll be fine. Tuesday morning. But as with everything electronic, it's not as good as Bronson and I taking it over the phone. Right? Right, Adam. We never make a mistake. Ever. I'm not as bold to say that, but I just know that if you get me on the phone, we can have a great conversation and I know what you want and I'll write it down and we'll get it done right. And I'm going to charge your card. Google. It's the way it goes. Well, all right. So we're talking about all the deals. Now let's talk about something free. Yeah. Let's talk about something free. Let's give away a bunch of cameras. Well, yeah. Hey, and why? Well, it's kind of the camera season's opening in some places. Hey, how about that? For some people. I'm putting up cameras January 1. All the white tail folks are like, what do you mean? But out here? Yeah. We got seasons for that. Opening day.

Yeah. You all are. January 1. Enjoying your fusions, getting pictures sent to your phone. We're not. It's not fair. But yeah. In the spirit of that, we thought we'd have a little bit of fun with it. Maybe give three winners prizes. But if we, let's pick like a winner's choice. Like we choose the awesomest, coolest. How would we define that? But let's just, just subject it up to us. The one thing you could do. Staff choice. The one thing you could do. Oh, this is good. I know where he's going to go. He's going to want more. Logan, you repost these, right? Yeah. The tag us. You repost them. I do. On the story. And the most hearts, right? The hearty stuff, you know? People like them, right? The heart. Yeah. And if you got the most hearts, then you win. Then you win. On our story. Right? That's the most popular, right? Okay. That's the choice of the public. That would be one winner. Okay.

Okay. Public choice gets how many free cameras? Takes out the subjectivity of us looking at them. Yeah. Well, no. And then we could do an Adam's favorite. You could lobby your friends. Or an Adam and Jason favorite. Yeah. I'm fine to do it the other way with hearts. Okay. We do the hearts. Yeah. And then how does the next guy win? A couple of randoms? Yeah. We get, let's do that winner who gets the most likes. Let's give him three cameras away. Okay. Three stealth cams. And then we have. Plus $100 shipping and handling.

No? Free. Free, free, free. Free, free. No catch. The other two that don't get the most, we'll pick randomly through, you know, random number generator or something. However many entries we have. How do we want them to tag us, Logan, in terms of just, I guess, either being a story. How do you want to be able to track it for your sake? Yeah. Good question. So when you go to post your trail camera picture, make sure that you post it on your feed. Because if we're running a story, we'll have to do them all within 24 hours to see who's going to get the most likes. So it needs to be an actual post. Yes. Don't post it on your story or else we might not be able to catch it in time. Yeah. Yeah. Especially if you're a holiday. Yeah. And then they need to tag Epic Optics. To enter yourself in the contest, tag Epic Optics or Epic Hunts, preferably both.

And then use hashtag Epic Cam Contest to get yourself entered into the giveaway. Epic Cam Contest. Hey. How do you guys like that? I like it. I kind of thought you were going to say follow Logan and follow. So if you want extra entries, follow Logan's personal Instagram. We could get you some followers. Yeah. Might as well. Some little honeys out there. Yeah. If you want extra, extra entries, I don't have a date for New Year's Eve yet. Whoa.

This is going down a road we didn't know was going. And he edits this, so he ain't going to edit it out. No. That's staying in, baby. Submit your resume. It's Jason. Jason pre-approved. Healy Carter and freaking Bronson Hunts, right? Bronson Outfitting. Okay. Well. And we'll get you a date. Adam and I, it's going to run through us, and we're going to. Okay. Let it filter out. I don't even know where the place. That scares me more. It's for New Year's Eve. Like, where's the place to be? Where would you go on a date? I don't know. Logan? Where are you going to go? I'm going snowboarding, so I don't know where. You are? I am, yeah. By yourself? By yourself? No, I've got a friend that goes up with me. There's going to be a lot of snow. We're finally getting that in Utah. Utah has the greatest snow on earth, and we're getting it right now. Oh, boy. It's good stuff.

Justin freaking blew his shoulder out. I know. He's still out. Down and out. Are we clear on that, then? So, the one that gets the most likes will win three pro cameras. I don't know which model we're giving away, Jason. Which one do we want to give away? The good one. The 32. Okay. The 32 pro. Okay. And then, so that's like two others we'll pick randomly from everybody that submits and tags us. We'll pick, so three winners, and we'll ship them out to you. No shipping and handling, just to clear up that. I just like to throw it out there. So, what's that first prize worth? Like, oh, $400. $450 something? $450 plus shipping, tax, credit card fee, license, registration, and whatever else. Okay. That's a good prize. That's a good prize. And it's got to be a trail camera picture that they post to tag us to. You can't crop it.

I mean, it can't be something that looks like you took a picture out of a great lens. It's got to have a boundary of, you know, date stamp, and you know, each stroke. It doesn't have to be a trail cam, but it's got to be a trail cam picture. That's what it's about. That's right. Don't crop it until it looks, you know, shot with a 500 millimeter zoom lens at 50 yards. It's got to have GPS coordinates as well. There's going to be some interesting photos. But the good thing is they have to submit them on their regular feed. Do they have to be of animals? Because there's some wild stuff you get that has no animals. No, but it needs to be on the regular feed, so they're not going to put anything too crazy. Regular feed and by January 6th. Next Friday. Can I enter? No. Okay. No. Just remember that you bighorn sheep.

You need to flip it up head first down into that drinker, and she was sticking up at him. That was funny. That was awesome. There's also one we got. Maybe we'll use that one. You can use that when you post it, because it was pretty cool. Yeah. There's some cool. Jason's got this. Anyway. Interesting. I've got one. I love to tease channel. It's this ram. It's got his freaking hoof right on this used back like, I owe you. I owe you. I'm like, hey, Jenna, check it out. You don't have it so bad. This ram has not been nice guaranteed. All right. Well, anyway. Good times. John, I want to talk about your family a little bit. Bronson, this is some good stuff. It's mind-blowing, and it gives us a little bit of an out. We talk hunting all day long, all night long, all day long the next day, all night the next night.

The hunting is our life, and so once in a while, it's nice to bring in the human side, real-world problems. John's been a bachelor all week. Yeah. Not by choice. Why is it Mexico? I always have problems in Mexico. I don't know. You wrecked a four-wheeler. You were dang lucky not to be in a hospital for 14 days. Not die. Anyway, so I took the family down for Christmas to Mexico, to Cancun. Anyway, we had a great time. It was all great. I was a hero. Your wife didn't have to cook for the holidays. It was awesome. I like those all-inclusive resorts. Yeah, it was phenomenal. Just eat everything. Kids, do whatever you want. It was great. Don't bugger. Just don't drink the funny drinks. The umbrellas. So for those that don't know, my wife's French. She's lived here for 10 years, and she's a citizen, all that. Citizen in a couple of places. Yes. Yeah, she has dual citizenship. France, here.

Anyway. So her mom is in the process of getting the paperwork done, so her mom can come live here as much as she wants. She's kind of getting older. Anyway, we might be taking care of her. So she's- But she's been here for how long? She's been here for a year, over a year. With a- I don't know what it takes to be a passport or visa, whatever she- Green cards, blue cards, all kinds of stuff. As soon as she gets here, then we put in the paperwork. Yeah. Immigration, to do it legally, is ridiculous. So you did it illegally? No. No, no, no. It just feels like that. No, no, no. I've done it legally. This is like the third time. By the book. By the book. Yeah. Send her to Lee's stamp on it. And it takes like two years to get the paperwork just to go through. Okay. I mean, what other business? It's not a business, John. It takes multiple years. It's not a business. Anyway.

Privatized business gets crap done. So my mother-in-law is, we're just starting to get all of her paperwork back and all of, you know, she's got like permission to work and permission to travel and permission to do everything, right? Just out of curiosity, in this year that she's been here, has she been to France and come back? So, yes. Or she has not left America? Yeah. So you can't leave unless you get what's called advance parole. Parole? Parole. Yeah. I don't like that word. Yeah. I have a feeling that she's not on the up and up. There's things you don't know about your mother-in-law, John. Advance parole? Yeah. Okay. So that's what you get. And then when you get your green card, you can come and go. Okay. But until then, for some unruined reason, they don't want you leaving the country. Which country? Ours. You have to stay. Okay. So you decide you're going to defile the rules.

So in a year, but has she left and come back in that year or not? Yes. Okay. So she got. To France. We received the notice. It's okay. You've been approved. We're mailing your card. Right? Okay. Why they need to. Anyway. So they get that. And then she also got an emergency advance parole because her daughter was having surgery. So she flew home. She flew home. She's got documents that she doesn't even need. She has documents. Right. Lots and lots of documents. She also has like part of it comes in here and part of it comes in there. So she's got a social security card. She's got a work permit card. Like they're hard cards with all of her info on it, everything. And so three in September, we got the paperwork that said, you've been approved for advance parole. You're okay to travel. The card's coming. Yeah. Between September and it's like the end of January. Right? 2023. So.

You're approved for that four month period. Yeah. To go wherever you want to go. To go wherever. Yeah. To go wherever. Unless you get COVID, you put in a prison. And they're thinking that her card should be done. You know. Coming. Her green card should be coming soon. Anyway. So she went to France back and to get in, she showed them the paper. No problems. We got back. She got back in. And anyway. So we go to Cancun. We're at the airport flying home. And the airline is like, ah, there's a problem with these paperwork. You know. And it's New Year's. Or not New Year's. It's Christmas. The day after Christmas. Holiday. Everything. Crazy. And so. They want some more of your money, John. The gate's like, ah, no, you can't go. So I've got kids that have to be home. Teenage. To school. Yeah. College. And so.

Divide and calm. Jen's like, well, I'll stay with my mom and you go home. So I've got a wife and mother-in-law stuck. In how many days has that been? In Mexico alone. Four or five days. So, yeah, that's been five days so far. With no end in sight. Yeah, with no end in sight. So then. So you've got to wait for this card to be delivered to your house. And maybe you get an airline ticket and go hand deliver them the card. I don't know. Yeah. Well, the card's lost. The other problem is with the awesome immigration session system. They can look at the computer and see everything is approved. But you don't have the card with you. But they can see. Yes. And you have the paper that said you're approved. The card is coming in the mail. And his point is, why don't you have the card? And your point is, because it never came. But it's okay. We are in limbo. And they said it was okay.

And he's like, I don't believe you. He's like, except the system's so bad, I submitted. So we waited for a month. It didn't come. You submit a request that says, hey, this is missing. And it says, we'll be back to you within two months with a response. That two months came and went, and it was before our trip. No response whatsoever. It's just crazy. And then you try to call. And since I've done it so much, they're like, I've learned a few keywords. Otherwise, you can't even get past the automated system.

What's a keyword? Call them safe words. So, yeah. I have chest pain. I mean, there's some keywords that you've taught me. Yeah, yes. That at the hospital. If you want to get right in, you just say, my heart. My heart. My heart. I'm having a little chest pain. John's got a lot of keywords that he uses. So, anyway.

So, yeah. One of them is free pass. And anyway, is one. And then you can finally, but they put you in like a line. And it'll say, you've been holding for two minutes. You know, there's five people ahead of you. You've been participating. You go down. And then they keep coming back. And it's five people, four people, three people, two people. You're the next in line. And then it goes, click, click. Oh, if you would like to continue holding, press one. You press one. You're the tenth person in line. It starts over. You go through this. And I just keep pushing. Okay, I want to keep holding. Keep holding. It goes through like seven rounds. You're on hold for an hour. Bottom line. Finally, they answer. That car didn't come. You went to Mexico. Yeah. And a certain individual worked for the United States. Yes. Immigration. Not, this is New Mexico.

Supposedly, Customs and Border Patrol tells the gate agent, nope, they don't have the card. You know, no luck. So. And you got a U.S. senator. I come home. Yeah. And I went to college with one of the Utah senators who knows, anyway, Senator Mike Lee from Utah. Hooks me up with his office. There's a specialist within that office. And she's like, okay, I'll check into the case. She calls Customs and Border Patrol. Sends us an email back. And Customs and Border Patrol told her, with all the information, we, whoever they called it wasn't us. Because, you know, your mother-in-law is totally fine. Let me get them on my cell phone right now. Yeah. Is totally fine to travel until January 19th. After which what happens, Sean? Which is where your original notification. Yeah. After which her other paperwork supposedly should be done. We'll be kidding. And then that extends it. But if.

I have a feeling we're going to be on a podcast until January 19th. Oh, my gosh. So. I just have. I have a couple of questions. Quit talking. I feel bad. I do, too. I do, too. But we got to bring in a little bit of fun. Because it's hard to talk about this hard stuff. I just want to know, like, what's the credit card limit of the card your wife has right now? It's pretty high right now. Okay. I have to switch some funds over. Okay. So. And what's the penalty of denying some charge? Okay. No. And then there's a lot of mother-in-law jokes. Dude. I'm telling you, at this point, I would pay anything. To get her back. To get her back. Yeah. Be at home alone. I'm not very good. Yeah. Just because you miss your wife. Yeah. There's a lot of dudes that would be like, mother-in-law, A. I'm doing all I can. I'm doing all I can. I'm doing it. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. My heart goes out to you.

I'm about to walk down there myself. I don't know. I'm driving up to Senator Mike Lee's office right now. I really, really like being married. Coming home and not, I mean. And everything's falling apart. Have you had a cold bowl of soup? Because a lot of dudes are like, man. It's a lot of cereal. And like Taco Bell. Cereal for lunch. The kids are like, what are we having? I don't know. What do you want now? And then like my wife's a nurse. And so like all that's taken care of. The kids are like getting rashes and saying, dad, what should I do? And I'm like, I don't know. Scratch it.

Rub some oil on it. I don't know. 1040. Here, let's go to the emergency room. Just everything runs a lot better. I can't pay the copay. Okay.

This is America. They don't deny anybody. Well. Anyway. So kind of to wrap the story up. So we have the letter. It's open. From the Senator's office. And it also says, if the airline will not let you on, we'll organize. She can go to a land border crossing and we'll escort her across. She has permission to travel and come back. They take the letter. The airline. And keep it. Well, we made several copies or I told her to. So then they get there like an hour and a half going back and forth. Them trying to like figure it out. Right. And they get customs and border patrol on the phone and they're arguing back and forth. And he's like, I don't care if they don't have a card. I don't care. So then they finally let my wife talk to him and he's the biggest jerk. And he's like, well, I see here in the computer that she's been approved and the card was mailed.

If you don't have it, that's too bad for you. Wow. Like just like screw you. And then she's got an accent. So he's like, you're not really a citizen. She's like, I am a citizen. I have a passport. And he's like. Oh, he's profiling. Oh, yeah. I mean, you know. Oh, yeah. A lot of Americans have accents now. And I'm. Anyway. I can throw one on. So it's just crazy. And then he said. Yeah. And if you try to go to a land border crossing, I'm going to put a note in here that you're not getting across. Wow. Even though you got a note from the U.S. I think I'd try it anyway. He's like, I don't care about the U.S. senator. John, we're going to have to do a rescue operation. Yeah. Yeah. For all you listeners, if you don't hear another podcast in the seven to ten days, we've gone dark.

Got a covert off. And everybody I talk to is like, just go smuggle her across. You know, nobody cares if they walk across. And I'm like. Yeah, I've got. We've had podcasts about Mexican presence. Can French people swim, John? Yeah. I don't know. Yeah, pretty good. But I mean. I've got. Shark and fest. Two tiny French women down alone in Mexico. With a black American Express card. Yeah. Right.

John, your problems are just starting, boss. I'm starting to feel worse about my problems. Oh, boy. All right. My life is good. Compared to. I'm kind of wondering what I'm eating tonight. I'm going to have to ask Jenna. Yeah. Yeah. She's not there. And you're like. I don't know. I'm just. Yeah. It's all fun and games for about three days. Just saying. I get to own myself for about three days. Yeah. And then you're like. I'm okay. She comes back. I want to be told what to do. Just tell me. Then being married is really, really awesome. I mean. Did you make your own bed? No. Oh, then. We come back. Both flights are delayed. They lost our luggage. And so. There was a guy who drove our luggage from Vegas to here, which is almost three hours. A random guy? A service. It's called Bags of Nevada. Bags of Nevada. So he called and he's like. I ran into construction, you know, in the gorge.

I'm not going to be there until 2 a.m. No. And so I'm like. He's like. Do you want your bags? I'm like. Yeah. I want my bags. What do you mean? Anyway. What do you mean? Yeah. Keep coming. Yeah. Keep coming. So anyway. I did stay at the office and worked until he got here at 2 so he wouldn't have to find my house. Don't bluff me. I didn't even know there was these services out there. Yeah. They'll ship it to your house. Yeah. But I thought that was true. I thought that was through UPS or something. I didn't know it was like a courier. It's like a courier. So for three bags, one dude had to drive from Vegas. Do you pay for that? No. No. I didn't know. No. Yeah. That's expensive. Yeah. All right. Yeah. All right. Anyway. Let's end on. Yeah. Let's talk about hunting. Let's go back to hunting. Yeah. Hey. You said. You said. Let's have some fun for a minute. It is interesting.

Talking about somebody else's problems. But geez. They're starting to get to become ours. Yeah. We're all partners in all things. Right? Yeah. Anyway. Except for this one. Most things.

Hug your kids and wives. Yeah. Geez. Have your food storage. I mean. I have to live off. Don't leave the states. Bro. Yeah. Don't leave the states. I don't know. Well. Whatever. Okay. It is. In all seriousness now. Have a happy new year. Be safe this weekend. What are they doing? Hug your women and children. What are they doing? Well. They're just. They got a hotel downtown. Yeah. Leave it alone. I mean. I'm just like. So. Yeah. They're at this all inclusive resort. John. It's beautiful out here. It's beautiful. Well. One of the cheaper hotels is still like 180 a night. You know. Is it snowing there John? Yeah. Yeah. It's cold and bitter. All right. We'll keep trying to work on this down here. Yes. It's snowing and bitter cold. I mean. It was 20 this morning. Whoa. That's terrible John. Selfless. Make sure you feed the dogs. Yeah. That's another. Wow. By the way. Oh. You got dog problems?

Oh. What? I tell you. Like. And I got to run kids. Like. It's hard. Like. Yeah. Being wifeless really sucks. Yeah. I'm feeling like we need to let you out of this podcast. So you can go get some. Get some groceries stocked up. Buy some candles and batteries and supplies. Dog food. Maybe we'll get Becky and Janet to lend a hand or something. I don't know. All right. And mentioning the dogs. All right. So I have one dog that just loves my wife. Just. She. He doesn't care. Dog's bawling all night long. About anybody else. She wants. So I go pick. I go pick it up. We had somebody take care of the dogs when we were gone. She's not with us. I go pick it. I go pick up the dogs. She's freaking out. Pretends that you're. He's super happy. He's super happy. We have a female and a male. Anyway. He's super happy. And we go home. He goes in the house. He goes to every room. Looking for her. Runs.

And then she's not there. He comes out. Looks at me like. What did you do to her? And now. He will not eat. No kidding. Unless I hand feed it to him. Come on. And he's just like. Throwing a fit. You SOB. You did something to her. Where is she buried? Yeah. I would like put food in the corner and be like. Don't eat. I don't care. Don't eat. Well. I mean. This dog. I'm in trouble if the dog dies before she gets home. I was going to say. The way. This is how the route is. Jen FaceTimes John in the morning. Said hey. FaceTime me. FaceTime me. Watching you feed the dog. I want to see him eat from your hand. Now. Is he getting nourishment? Show me George. Show me proof of life. Right? Yeah. John. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. But wow. I like. I like talking about other. I start. I like talking about other people's issues. Just because. It's making me uncomfortable though. Because we're. Yeah.

We're one border control agent away from. Yeah. From having the same problem. They always say. Be glad that you got your own problems. Right now. John. I'm just sorry. Don't switch places with me. Yeah. Anyway. No. I just want to go home. Watch football. And drink. Pop. And eat pistachios. I'm trying to feed you. So there's lots going on here at the office. Whoa. Where are you going? I don't know. I'm just. I'm nervous. I'm just thinking about all the calls we get. And some of the. We've gotten a lot of questions about Wyoming elk. A little bit on Arizona. Mostly. You know. Wyoming elk. It's a hot topic. And people are looking to book hunts. Of course. You know. Some of these states. Bronson. You can tell. You can tell. We call it forcing the draw. And you can tell. When you can get drawn. You know. For example. Preference points in Colorado. You can look at them. Say.

If I have five deer points. Here's my options. Right. Kind of plan a hunt. And we've got that going on with Montana as well. You get the. You know. The new system. You get an outfitter point. And a regular point. When you go in to apply. Maximum of three. But really. The drawing odds are pretty darn good. And dang near 100% with two. And so guys are booking hunts. Based off of that. Yeah. Especially last year. When they added that outfitter point in Montana. It. It basically meant. You can. It was 97%. Wasn't it. Yeah. 97. Big game combo. Yeah. Big game. So that. Yeah. Even going into the draw this year with zero. You can. Have two points. If you didn't. Yeah. You can get a couple of points and draw. And you. And it's very unique in the fact that you get points as you apply. And they're good for this current draw. Montana gives you two. Where normally you go in with zero.

You come out with one. Or two. Or two. You know. That would make sense. But what it's doing is making people book up way sooner. Even though the Montana deadline is not until April 1. Geez. We've got outfitters that are generally. They're booked. That's right. And so there's a lot of. Because of the predictability. So. And so the booking season. Let's call it a booking season. It's generally December through February. It's really heavy when people are trying to book hunts and get something. At least something planned. And so. There's an option. Also you can look at the points you have in Wyoming for elk. And maybe it's a general. We've got a lot of outfitters that are working on the general. If you have four points. Or five points. That might be an option for you. If you have 10 to 15 points plus. Why there's a whole new set of options. Right. And we're helping guys. Yeah. On the daily.

Yeah. And we're getting the calls too. Like we've probably talked about here. Is Wyoming going to be going to the 90-10 split for deer oak and antelope like they did on the once in a lifetime species? Well. We don't know yet. It's very possible. The task force and others. You know. Resident groups in Wyoming are pushing for that. I don't have the answer for that. But the fact that it could change. Yeah. If you're on the brink of drawing something. You know. If you read our January magazine. We say that pretty much over and over. Try to use them if you can. Within reason. You can't burn every single point in Wyoming the same year. Plus anything else you want to do in other states. But overall. Yeah. So it's elevated Wyoming. Even higher. It's always the busy one. Because it's the first thing to start talking about and applying for January 1 when it opens up. But it's even more so.

They're also talking about potentially changing the point system from preference to like a weighted point system. For example. You know. Like Nevada system. Square your points. Get X amount of names in the hat. And then you select randomly drawn. Random drawn. No preference. No 75-25% split. Now. If that passes. As it's kind of been thrown around now. Wouldn't. Take effect right away. Take effect. For like four years afterwards. To get people that were under the current system a chance to play by the current rules a little bit longer. Blah, blah, blah. But. Right. There's a lot brewing. And who knows. Maybe not done with that. Talking about that in Colorado or other places down the road. But that's. That's. Those are some of the things that we're not going to. We're going to hash out. You know. Both in the magazine. But also on an individual case by case basis. We're trying to.

Trying to get people drawn. You know. It's not just put in for the draws and see what happens. Try to go on hunts. That's right. Anyway. There's guys too looking at their points in Arizona. And if you've got 10 plus elk points or whatever. You've got some options. And now. We're not saying you've got options at some of the best units and the best seasons. But you do have options. You're starting to get options. And we have guys saying. Well. What are my options? And maybe. What is my long term plan? What states would you hold for just. The Holy Grail. Something super special. All the while. I still want to go hunting. Once or twice a year. And so we're looking at that. Those are. You know. You could potentially force a draw. In Arizona. Or even Nevada. With a. Modest. 10. Plus deer points or something. You could potentially force a draw. The odds are in your favor. When they. You know.

Like some of these. Archery units. That are not the best in the state. Or early season. Rifle deer in some places. That's right. You float it with 100 extra. Names in the hat. So to speak. With 10 points squared. You can't ever say you're guaranteed. But if you look at the law of probability. And the way it shakes out. Everybody over 9 or 10. Always draws. With that number of points. You know. That's right. Yeah. So. It doesn't mean it will happen. But you can kind of anticipate. Other than hard. Hard to draw deer and elk. Not so much. You can have 20 plus. And still. You know. You know. Not even. Not even get drawn. And guy with five draws. So that's just the luck. Or the luck of the draw. But. We deal with these scenarios every day. You know. It's what we deal with. As consultants here at Epic Outdoors. We've got a bunch of us here to. You know. Take calls. Most out of our service.

And your points in the states. So. Anyway. If you're not a member. Consider finally joining. It's that time. You know. You won't miss a state issue. Beginning with the January 1 through June. We'll cover all the states. Monthly. We'll cover two to three states each month. But we'll cover them in the order that the regulations become final. And then we can cover them. And get that stuff in the magazine. We don't cover them too far ahead of time. Just because it's convenient. And have old data. We don't have last year's stuff. And regurgitate it. We're going to have this year's information. Current stuff. Anything that's changed. Current year's dates. All of that in there. We also have our membership drive going on right now. So if you're not a member. You get an entry in for one of the hunts of your choice. Or if you are a member. And want to refer somebody that's not.

Or that always bugs you. You know. For information. And you think it's time for them to get their own. You can refer them. And have them join. Or buy a gift subscription for them. Get another name in the hat for that too. I like it. Yeah. And part of the members. There's a lot of guys that say. We give out too much information on the podcast. And I don't. I don't agree with them. If they think this is a lot. We don't even go there. Yeah. Compared to what's in the hat. If they think this is a lot. When you call us on the phone. You're going to get a lot. Yeah. And I feel like. There's quite a difference between the podcast. Versus. You know. Members that call in. And really go over their. Short term. Midterm. Long term. Strategies. And so. Also. Yet. Data is data. You know. Drawing odds. Drawing odds. And yeah. You can get drawing odds in lots of places. But. We put our spin on.

And our projections. And our comments on these units. And. And. We're out there doing it. Non-stop. I don't know. Dozens. Of hunts each year. Compounded over. 20 to 30 years. I think makes a difference. Yeah. And I think if you're not familiar with. You know. What we do. Just. Relate it to like a financial advisor. For hunting. And so you can call in. We'll go over your specific case. And. And opportunities you're missing. And what you should do with your points. And. And. What you should do on. Like Jason said. Short term. Mid. Midterm. Long term. Kind of. Your plan. I think we should get paid like financial advisors. There's. But then some of them jump out of windows. And I don't really want to do that either. So. Anyway. I don't know. That's about where we're at. Bronson. Can you think of me. White tails. I'm texting my financial planner. Don. Remind me. I didn't. I didn't. I didn't.

I didn't. I didn't. I didn't. I didn't. I didn't. I didn't. I didn't. I didn't. I didn't. I didn't. I didn't. I didn't. Seriously. I saw him at lunch yesterday. And I didn't do it. So you just remind me to text him. You can make contributions in March and April. I know. But I just wanted off my. To do this. All right. Well. Also there's white tails. We got white tail guys that are killing some big deer. And I. I don't know. Maybe it's the. The state of the mule deer that makes me think we should change over and start hunting some big whiteys. I don't know. But Bronson I'm going to book you a white tail hunt in Kansas. Well you can do anything if you want. Anything you want if you're paying for it. I think you were on board with that this morning.

I said you go first. I think it was my exact words. Go try it out. Hey. I have a hard. For the same reason. What? You've killed about two white tails in your life. And I think I've killed two. That I can recall. And I'm sure I'm right. A big one. And I don't. I don't. It's hard to break free from hunting mule deer in early November. It's really hard to say. I'm not going to go hunt a mule deer or two. Part of that is just the investment we have personally in our mule deer hunts versus a white tail. Are you going to go out and run the cameras for the white tail? Are you going to. No. We don't have the time. Watch him grow and become a man. Right. And here we get to do that. Yeah. Yeah. It's partly that. And it's partly the time. If you want to hunt the rut. You're going to hunt late October for the first couple weeks of November. Then you get. You know. When that's over.

You start getting into Thanksgiving. I mean. I've done it. I've done it in early December before. A couple different times. And it's doable. It's just. Something's got to give. To go do that. Something else is not happening back here. And I haven't made it a big priority. But we always just drill at big white tails. Just like anything big. But you want to. You want a few of them on your wall. You really do. Like with 12 inch eye guards. It's split. Yeah. Have basal points everywhere. The field there don't get that. No. They've got a 12 inch eye guard. No. They don't do that. No. No. They don't. So. Anyway. All right. Well that's about it. Do we need to go over this giveaway? We got it down. Logan. We can go over it one more time if you want. Just to get it down in your mind? Yeah. Yeah. It was pretty. It was pretty chaotic there for a second. What did we settle on? Remind us all.

So you got to post a picture from your trail cam this last season in your feed. Tag us. Epic Optics. Epic Hunts. Both. Whatever. And then use the hashtag Epic Cam Contest to make sure you get entered. We'll post it on our stories. One winner with the most likes off of our story. We'll get three trail cameras. And then we'll randomly select two other trail camera winners. How long do they have them to enter? Where do we set the deadline? What do you think? What's next Friday? January 6th? Yeah. January 6th. So from now until then. And so we wait until everything's been posted on their wall. Then you'll go through and then post them on our story. Yeah. And then the likes on our story, you're going to have to record on the 23rd hour to figure so everybody has a fair shake. Yes. That's right. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. That's a lot of work on your end. You got to come up with an easier way. Jeez.

Hey, you got job security, boss. Hey, that's what I like to hear. Anybody that's employed at Epic January through June pretty well has job security. Okay. They see blood, sweat, and tears be, you know, shit. It's the truth. You're in trenches. It's the truth. All right. Well, Bronson, do we have anything else we want to throw out? No. I think that's it. So, yeah. That's it. Send in your phone. Have a good new year. Yeah. Better than I'm going to have. John, I already know what's going to happen.

Should I say it on the air? I don't know. No. I don't know. John's going to make a fake card and fly it down there. John? John? If anybody can do it. I did think about going and escorting them across the border. But they're not on the American border. If it came illegally now, everything would be fine. If what? Say that again. If it came illegally? It came illegally. Like, there's no, you know, there's no easy way to do it legally now. Just pick an area that the Trump wall wasn't finished. Yeah. And that's, anyway. That's stupid. The containers. Yeah, but I don't know that the containers have all fully been set. Yeah. I mean, there's places. We can Google Earth that and figure out where the gaps are. Yeah. It's just ridiculous, though. Anyway. Which I'm not going to do for the record on the podcast. I'm not going to do that. Onyx. Onyx being used for the gaps in the wall. Yeah.

It'll probably give us problems later. But, anyway. That's, well. To do it all legally, it's a pain in the butt. When it's all over with, you can joke. Yeah. You know, if it's after New Year's, you can joke that you kept your wife in Mexico for two years. Yeah.

See you next year, everybody. All right.