EP 318: Nevada Mule Deer, Alberta Whitetail, New Mexico Elk and More!

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Hey, everybody. Jason Carter, Adam Bronson, John Peterson coming at you from Southern Utah. Has anybody got gum in today? Okay. Bronson, you smacking gum today? Because we've had some people We'll remind us that we chew a little bit too much gum, and I'm addicted to it. So, sorry, I want to say sorry. Everybody, Bronson, do you want to say sorry? Not really. If you've got a phobia, turn your volume down a little bit. But we do appreciate you listening. And today, we only got a Diet Coke and a Monster or two, and hey, maybe we'll take a drink. Here. Ooh, that gets to me. Right there. In fact, I'm going to do it, too. Oh, geez. All right. Well, anyway, it's kind of fun. You know what's super exciting is, I don't know if you got your email, Ronson. The draws are over. Oh, yeah. I got my email from Arizona. I got like 14 of them.

Okay. I'm just making sure that you're aware. Because you get family emails, and then they all get forwarded. So, you get all your women and children because you're responsible for their upkeep and feeding and nurturing. All that. And then they, so I get each of them, and then they send it again. Yeah, they just want to make sure that they're not on the hook for when you forget to update your credit card for the 14 women and children you got. That's right. That you'll end up, you know, and you don't get your tag, that you don't blame them. Or go before the Wildlife Board, how about that? What was that? You go before the Arizona Game and Fish Commission, would you like to do that? They're the most brutal commission. From what I've watched, no. They're the most brutal commission. Mr. Brodson.

Did the state do anything to prohibit you from applying correctly? No. Okay, the state. Have a seat over here, take a hundred education classes.

Game and fish. Did your program work as expected? Yes. Was Mr. Bronson at fault, as far as we can tell? Mr. Bronson, what is your contention? I just accidentally made a mistake. I think you guys should do a little better at accommodating your customers. I scrolled the mouse. Mr. Bronson, we could give two craps about your application. Go sit and have a nice day. Call us back when you take that hunter head course. I mean, jeez! Brutal! They're the worst ever. They have no feelings whatsoever. Well, and their system is, let's face it, you've got to check out for every species. We do two or three for five or six or eight family members, let alone a license application service. It's just archaic. It's a half-day project. But hey, they are turning around in 14 days. That happens to be tomorrow morning they're going to be charging cards, right?

That's right. So, this should not hit the airwaves before they've already given me my successful notice, because if there's a chance this is going to go out... Well, I don't know. What do you think, Logie Bear? What's that? Is this going to hit tonight? Oh, yeah. Whoa. Gabe Ronson, maybe we wait until tomorrow. You know me better than that. All right, well... I'm a glass half full kind of guy. If we draw a tag in Arizona, we'll be doing another podcast tomorrow. But we were also talking about the commission, and we're talking about the Game and Fish, two entities, as they've been very clear to point out in the past about the governor raffle tags, remember? Game and Fish got blown back, and they said, hey, this is the commission, not us.

And it is unique that Game and Fish answer to the commission, the commission answers to themselves, and a couple of people once in a while. Really, for the most part, they run their agenda. And we're not singling out Arizona necessarily. No. All states. Not all states. They're run by a commission, and you know, of course... What's interesting though is these people aren't like elected officials, but they're making big changes. Big, monumental changes in some states. Enough changes, I'd be nervous if I was them for my mortal welfare.

It's just because there's weirdos out there. Give me an example, Jason, of what you're referring to. I don't know. Let's be clear, not from you. No, not from me. No, not from you. There's just a lot of weird people that are so passionate. It's beyond. Yeah. And, you know, I don't know if you guys have noticed, but later in history we get, whatever, 2024, 2025, 2026, it's getting worse and worse and worse. People are ticked off. Well, COVID cooped people up, got them angry, and it just kind of carried over. Oh, droughts, lack of tags, you know, just things like that. Lack of opportunity, which it's warranted because of the overall population numbers in many instances, whatever. Depends on what we're talking about. You know, are struggling, you know, quality's struggling, and so people are ticked.

Everybody's, you know. And now, I'm trying to run cameras with buck on bucks that just have like seven-inch stumps coming out of their head. Trying to judge if they're gonna be 190 or 193. You know what I mean? I didn't see any of that this weekend. I would have liked to have seen a four-point. Hey, how about, how about, you want to talk about a pronghorn you saw? I saw a good pronghorn. Like, no joke. No joke. I was, it was a highlight of my weekend. I'm not gonna lie. Okay. Like, like, hey, when a pronghorn makes the highlight of my weekend. Well, they've been great. They've been growing since December, or January, whenever their sheath falls. December, they're out scouting. And deer and elk, you know, haven't. Elk grew a lot further along, of course, but deer need some time. We're eager to go, but man, there's just not much to show us yet. But anyway.

A good friend of mine sent a picture from a unique buck that showed a little bit more growth than anything I've seen so far. So, it's been rough. Hey, how about these new binos? We've been selling them like crazy. Oh yeah, let's do a reminder of that. It's no joke, these NL14s, they're really like a 14.4. Some companies are saying 14.7, but I want them to be a 15, and they probably identify as a 15. So, let's identify them as the next 15. We identify them as a 14 plus, and so therefore, that's what we're calling them. Okay, 14 pluses. That was the last podcast, right? We haven't had one in between this one and that, right? So, if you want to listen all about that, you missed it, go listen to it. Greatest thing since sliced bread.

Pretty awesome. Definitely, we're getting the first three pair that are coming in probably two or three weeks, right? Plus or minus. Plus or minus. Let's call it four weeks. Call it plus. But yeah. Okay, I like the plus. We've got a big waiting list, but we are assured that they're going to be able to meet that demand within reason. So, if you made the decision or about to, get a call. Call in, we'll take your card, put it down, you get them out before hunting season. So, anyway. Pretty awesome. We've got a lot of draws. A few draws left, so not a lot, a few. So, let's just say credit cards will be charged for Arizona. We're going to have sheep and deer people somewhat excited, generally come out here in a week, week and a half, for official results. And then what, Bronson? We've got Idaho. Well, tomorrow we should have, well... Go ahead.

Go ahead. What is that? Tomorrow, the 18th? We should have Wyoming deer and antelope. Same time we're expecting charges from Arizona, so hey, for me, that's a wrap for the year. It's going to be a good day. I put in for sheep in Idaho, so I'm not looking forward to it. We're excited about Iowa. That's coming out here in mid-July. And then Idaho, deer elk and antelope. Yeah, I already did sheep like you, so we're out on that one. So, we're out on that one. So, anyway, we'll be getting some calls on that one. That's about it. We'll see. Yeah, well, yeah, that's about it. So, if you're lacking on getting a tag or wanting a hunt or whatever, something world-class that's otherwise tough to find or book, you might consider our epic membership drive, our summer membership drive. John, tell us a little bit about it. This is the last for raw here.

Yeah, we're last week, this is the last week alert on this drive, and man, it's just really, really fun to draw these hunts and send people on hunts that, you know, maybe they wouldn't have the chance to go on typically, and win something that's world-class, something that we would want to do. Somebody asked me, what's the difference in your drawing? And I said, it's the quality, truly the quality of hunts that you can get. These are things that we would love to win. We would love to get this. We're one of the few that offer sweepstakes type hunts or a membership drive that will actually can call our people back after the hunt's over. Like, we're proud of it because they probably had an incredible hunt, generally. And you've heard from some of those guys that are That are willing to come on to the podcast and whatnot. And of course, we try not to, you know, call every single one.

Every single time and abuse them. Yeah. But, it is something that these are hunts that we're proud of, and giving away is pretty fun. So, John, I mean, you can get in by, if you're a brand new member, if you've never subscribed to Epic before and you subscribe, you can be into this draw. If you refer a buddy, which your buddy's a cheapskate and using your mag or whatever, fine. It's a good time to get him in. He gets a name, you get a name. Buy his membership. You can retain both entries yourself if you want to do it that way. You can. Talk to Wendy or Janet about that. You can. Yeah. And all you have to do is you choose your hunt, just so you don't get just thrown into a random hunt. You can choose whichever ticket in for whichever hunt you want, the doll, sheep, the moose, anything you choose. And we send you a ticket for that.

All right, and then you can, of course, we have ticket packages you can purchase and kind of buy your way in if you've already got your buddies in or whatnot. And remember, current members that you were in once too already when you first joined, whenever that was. So, anyway, sure appreciate your support, current members, as well as potential future members. And so, we kind of want to go over these hunts real quick and just remind everybody what they're getting in for and what the options are. Well, Bronson, you want to start us off? And I've got a little something special that's going to be up on the television. Come on. Logan's going to put it up there. Who approved? I did. So, I've collected some extra photos that you guys might not have seen in the magazine, and kind of look at while we're talking about these hunts. So, Logan will put those up on there. Cautiously.

When are you going to do that, Logan? Right now. Right now. You guys will look at them while you're talking about it. We're ready. So, of these eight hunts, six of them are for this fall. So, if you've got room in your schedule, you need more. There's six of them that are for this year. Two of them are for 2025. Maybe I'll start out just talking about a couple of those. First one is Alaska Doll Sheep Hunt in the Wrangell Mountains with Alaska Wild Wind Adventures. Cabot has an awesome area. He's an awesome pilot. Has a lot of members hunt there over the years. Just some stud, beautiful looking sheep. I mean, this is not just checking out It's in a box with a squeaker ram. It's a great area. The Wrangles, in general, and other outfitters as well, maybe have not been hit as hard with some of the winters that have had them across parts of Alaska.

Of course, we had to buy this a year or two ago, like you have to, you know, when you book a hunt yourself. This hunt is for August 21st to 30th of 2025. 10-day backpack hunt, option to add a grizzly, things like that. I mean, it was a $38,000 hunt when we bought it. It's probably, if you're to book one now, it's probably $40,000 plus. It's just the way they go. These things will be blown through 50, not very long. But, it's an awesome adventure, a 10-day hunt, backpack hunt, August of 2025. Gives you a full year to prepare in whatever way you need. Keep a calendar open, prepare physically, gather your gear up, things like that. But, as you can see, they're a bunch of awesome rams. The second one is an Alaska moose hunt in the Alaska range with Dillinger River Outfitters. This is in the last 10 days of the open season, September 10 to 20 of 2025.

We've said it before, but Devin and Wyatt have killed giant 65 inch plus bulls there in the past. It's an awesome rut hunt, great pilot, great crew there, limited harvest, you know, definitely Great chance to kill a 60 to 70 inch moose. World-class hunt, again, 40,000 plus hunt in today's prices. It's just crazy what it is, but it is what it is, so there's another hunt for 2025. What I like about him is Aaron is a great pilot himself, and so there's just, you have options. When your guy's a pilot and you're not having to call back in for air support and whatnot, you know, from a third party, it can change your hunt potentially. Similar with Cabot. I like that in an Alaska doll sheep outfitter, an outfitter that is their own pilot.

You can react quick. You don't have to wait. You're not one of three or four outfitters that a flying service is serving, and then you're at the mercy of one they can get you. You could in-reach and say, bull down, yada, yada, and maybe you're going out a little bit earlier. Or I need to get moved. We've hunted this area out in five or six days. Come get us tonight. We need to move so that we don't waste two more days, you know, trying to get moved. That's right. And how often did Devin and Wyatt, on a weekly basis, talk about that moose hunt? I mean, it's every week. You know, something comes up, and they talk about it. Them guys get on a rant, John, and they never quit. Man, it was a memorable hunt, I'll tell you that. So memorable, they're booked to go back. So, we'll see how that goes.

Alright, so now we're sitting at a muskox hunt in the Northwest Territories, fall of 24, spring of 25. So, anyway, with Canadian High Arctic Adventures in August to September 24 or March through April of 25, just a world-class hunt for something totally different, something we've never done before. Five-day hunt up there on the mainland with two remote islands in the Northwest Territories with a proven outfitter, Gary Adams. Just an incredible opportunity for a guy that's wanting to do something different. Way high success if you don't want to be in the latter part of winter next March and April. I mean, they're obviously haired up. It's a true adventure. You can see some of these pictures there. Pictures are amazing. You can go in the fall, and if you do go in the fall, you know, they're still haired up. I mean, it's not like...

I don't know how many pictures you have here, John. Did you steal some stock photos off the web? No, no. They've killed a lot. Yeah, they killed a lot. You're 100%. They're all amazing. They're great. But if you want to go in the fall, you can do that. You can perhaps combo a caribou. If you go in the fall of 2024, that's going to be up to you. Obviously, if you go next winter, you're doing muskox only, but it obviously doesn't overlap a whole lot of other hunts. If you want to go next, I call it spring, March, April, spring here up there. It still looks like winter. So, I don't know. If you're going to hunt this fall, it'd be ATV and boat for transportation. Otherwise, you're going to be snow.

Yeah, there you go. I mean, there's some here. Yeah, and look how much hair are there still. I'd be more that guy. Well, I don't know. I want to kill some deer then. But anyway, or you'd be on Snow Machine. So, 100%, it just should be an incredible opportunity. All right, now let's talk about deer. We've got Nevada. What's your prediction for Nevada deer this year? Let's digress for that. I hate to... Well, let's... This is why you get paid the big bucks, Jason. Okay, well, cycles happen at times, and you wonder why. I know drought. We know that. It's going to create cycles. Like, we can almost, when it's a very extreme drought, you can predict that cycle. Especially deer. Yeah, but then sometimes there's just cycles. You're just like, man, I actually thought it would be a better year than it turned out to be, or whatever.

But so far, things look really good. It's dried off, just like what we thought. It's been a really dry, let's call it a monsoon. We're not in the monsoon season, per se. We're right at the front of it, but it's still been very dry up to this point. Windy and dry the last 30 days, but up until then, even April, May, we were pretty wet here. Yeah. Our weather gets a lot, and we're talking southeast Nevada, I guess, to be clear about that. That's kind of where the trophy zones are. Well, I mean, that's where the biggest bucks are. That's where we are, and that's where we really concentrate. That's where we're giving away this hunt. Yeah, this hunt. So, anyway, Bronson, you and I both were in Nevada this year, this weekend, actually. So, a different country. I was, you know, partly in Utah and in Nevada, but

It was the leaders on bitter brush and the bitter brush feed and whatnot, next level, their ponds are a bit dry, you know, but the feed's incredible. So, it's actually kind of a good thing. Like, sometimes you don't want too much water when you're scouting, like it's nice. Last year, there was a lot more running water in ponds. Like, we had a bigger snow load, no question, and a lot later thaw, spring melt, if you want to call it that. So, the water stretched way into the sun. By the time you had to pull trail cameras down in July, there were washes running water from snowmounds still. Seems like you got stuck in a wash last year. And then this last weekend, you got stuck in a wash. And then you left some major divots in a wash down south, also the year prior to that. I'm sure somebody's not going to like it because there's some damage.

You never fill up the ruts. How about this? After you get unstuck, you never go fill up the ruts, do you? How about the BLM? It was in the roadway. You probably affected a desert tortoise. It was a perfect in the middle of a roadway. How could I be wrong? I don't know. You can't be, but you never know. Anyway, but hey. If you were on the Forest Circus ground, you have a problem. I was starting to, I was to the point, if my wench wasn't going to get me out, because I had no trees. Oh, it's... It's when I had giant bitter brush, cliff rose trees, that luckily, the first one... Well, you just ripped it out of the ground. Did you replace that bush? Yeah, I did pack that back in its natural state. Okay, just making sure. But the second one pulled me out, and I was never grateful. That tree's gonna have a bitter brush. Cliff Rose is gonna have a...

It'll probably have exceptional growth now. It stretched its roots a little bit. It probably stimulated growth in leaders on that. So, that one is always gonna have a fun place in my heart, I was literally going through my phone thinking, whose weekend am I going to interrupt? I told you before you left, I said, if you get stuck in a wash, you should have me on speed dial, and I'll bring a Mini-X or a skid or something. And you were like, oh yeah, yeah, whatever. Sure, it happens somehow. You get front-ended, man. You get front-ended, that front bumper gets caught in there before you pop out, and then you start digging anyway. You were really fond of diesels last week. Where are they at on the spectrum this week? They're not a hunting truck. So, you were axle-deep in the middle of the wash. Oh, I like that. Axle-deep.

Anyway, yeah, so Nevada Unit 231, we're giving this hunt away. This includes a landowner tag. Of course, we've got that tag, and then also with White Rock Outfitters, we give their hunts away Probably every other year, along with Muggy on Rim Outfitters, Grey Crow, both of which are just incredible outfits and done great and know it very well. So, you get your choice, if you win this, of archery, muzzle, or rifle season to be guided, landowner tag included, but then you can just stay. What can you ask for? Yeah, you can just stay. So, you go guided. If you don't kill what you want, then you can stay, and you can hunt literally like every day from, say, August 10th, archery starts through the end of October for rifle.

Every consecutive day. Staying near 80 days or something, right? Almost three months. You're gonna hunt a big deer, you do that. Probably not. Well, unless you're just an idiot. Well, John, I mean, you know, if you go there, and you don't wake up till 9am, and you don't stay till dark because you're scared of a couple snakes, it just is what it is, right? So, anyway. By the way, rattlers are out. Awesome. Quit talking about it. I haven't seen one yet. Just the fact you're bringing them up, I'm gonna see one next time I go out. A couple may or may not have met their maker this weekend. It was no joke. But anyway, that's a pretty, this is a pretty fun hunt to give away, just because we know it's hard to have a bad hunt when it's a decent antler growth year or decent feed year in Nevada in these particular units.

So, Unit 231. We're excited about it. Also, the Acoma Reservation elk hunt there in New Mexico. New Mexico, I don't know if it's ever quit raining. They have had like a monsoon the last month, a lot. Oh. Not statewide, but in places, it's been unbelievable. We watched it on the radar. So, last year, well, we called this guy, didn't we? A podcast ago, two or three ago. Yeah, Logan, look up what number that was. Killed like a 381 or 385 bull. And he killed the last day. Yeah. Like, come on, you know. And had lots of opportunities. If you need a big elk, look at that. That's worth going and looking at, or listening to that episode. Dry years is a little bit tougher in New Mexico as a whole, not just on the Acoma, but as a whole, this is not one of those years. So, anyway, September 30th to October 4th, and anyway, should be no joke, choose your weapon, and September 30th, October 4th, yeah.

All right, anyway, super excited about the photos. Did you come up with that? Yeah, number episode 315 was at Akoma Elkhorn store. Yeah, pretty fun. Pretty awesome. Proud to give them that hunt away. Worked with them for many years. We actually, you know, have somewhat of a partnership with them. Of course, we pay full price. So, Bronson, we pay full fare everywhere we go, everything we do. Well, we don't, yeah. No favors expected. We want to book it just as if one of you are booking it or whatever. We want to fall in line just as if we're a regular paying client. We don't want to feel like, you know, A, we don't want a cheap discount hunt for a date that's inferior dates or less than when you'd want to be there. So, want to be there when you'd want to be there if you're booking yourself and spending hard-earned money.

That's right. Yeah, we don't want you to feel like you're on a freebie hunt, because you're not. We paid full price for these. All right, well, we got, as customary, we usually have a couple of mule deer hunts, and this one is going to be Unit 61 third season rifle hunt this year, November 9th to the 15th. The Garry Brothers Outfitters, we've given their hunt away before. Longtime multi-generational family outfitter there. They have, you know, all the BLM and forest permits as well as private land access there. Just a great opportunity. Seven-day hunt, third season with landowner tag. Not much more to add than that. I mean, we like to be in Colorado most years. If we can find a tag, draw a tag, get a turn-back tag, whatever, just for the... You don't hunt Colorado until the day we die, which I don't know why, because it's sometimes so frustrating. It is. It can be. But I mean, it's hard.

But this hunt is pretty consistent. It is, and it's also, you know, we usually hunt, usually. The second or thirds or occasionally a fourth rifle. Because most of our other hunts, whether it be Utah, Nevada, are over with, and you can just show up to Colorado, hope you time the rut and weather right, and you have a great hunt. So, hopefully these dates again, November 9th to the 15th, should be awesome. Great opportunity, great hunt, great place to stay with this family operation. That unit's been consistently good since like late 90s. It's just, it's one of those that was managed before anything else was managed. That, and 21, and 10, and some of those classics from, we're talking year 2000. Yep, yep. And they have a slightly better age structure. They haven't had the peaks and valleys like maybe Gunnison has. You've seen them. They don't have winter loss. They don't, and you

don't see the tags poured to it, the tags taken away. It's just fairly steady. And one thing I like about it, too, is it's a limited draw unit for elk. So, you don't have over-the-counter elk hunters everywhere. Now, when you go to town, you're dealing with OTC elk hunters They're coming out of 70 gassing up. So, their feeling is like... But in the unit, we've both hunted before. It's noticeably different. There's not the people there that are in an OTCL unit. No, it's nice. All right, next up we've got the 2024 Alberta Trophy Whitetail Deer Hunt. This is a nine-day hunt in northern Alberta with Alberta Darkhorn, one of the absolute best there is up there. Very proven, have a long-standing reputation. I may be doing this. Look at some of these. I'm just saying, that buck right there is a dive point.

I mean, jeez. We snagged a second opening. I might take it, Bronson, if you're alright with them. I don't know, I'm just saying, I've been thinking. Do it. I think you should. But anyway, it's one of those hunts that we're pretty darn proud of. There's, I don't know how many photos, like, 100, I don't know. Anyway, all-inclusive rut hunt with a rifle in November. I don't know, it's like 9,000 square miles. I don't even know how to wrap my arms around that. But next level stuff, I hunted it last year, not with this guy, and in an area that probably wasn't quite as good as his at the moment. Just, you know, sometimes they have cycles in different areas within Alberta. It seems like we were still on Giants, and we've talked about it in prior podcasts. But absolutely, if you need a giant whitetail or a trophy whitetail hunter, this would be one to get your name in for.

I haven't ever given away a late season Canadian whitetail hunt before, but, Bronson, I mean, we've looked at the photos over the course of time with guys that we booked for and whatnot, and you always want one, but you never...it's just one of those things you just...what are the chances, you know, you're trying to have the best opportunity you can and book with somebody that's legit, and this would be the spot. Well, and it's just like hunting mule deer in November in the rut. It's like, you just got to be somewhere that has them. But when you're hunting an elite mule deer, elite whitetail, call it a 175, 80 plus, hopefully whitetail. Like, it's just, it's not going to happen every time you go, just like killing 190 mule deer is not going to happen every time you go. So, but this is definitely the zip code that can produce them. That's all you can ask for.

Again, November, what, 11 to 19? Yeah, it's a strong rut. 11th to the 19th. Should be awesome. I mean, they'll hunt there at the first of November, clear to the end of November. I was at the last part of November. If I had to do it again, we'd put it. You get your guides, you just really get rolling. Everything gets rolling the first part of November, and then by mid-hunt, everybody's in their stride. And at the end of the third hunt, you're kind of, they're trunky, you know, ready to go home. So, anyway, I just want that enthusiasm in the middle, and that's what we got. Alright, Bronson, maybe let's talk about this New Mexico animal hunt a little bit. Since your weekend was made by seeing one animal. I saw one good animal. One good animal. And it was the highlight. Yeah. I mean, well, if I'm on the other end of a shovel, I'm thinking that would have been my highlight, too. Yeah, yeah.

So, anyway. So, anyway, this is an opportunity, and it's unique that it's for two hunters. We decided, you know, this is a southern New Mexico hunt. Down there are TG's trophy hunts. Ty Gore, August 24 to 26, private land hunt, you know, low hunting pressure. Should be great feed, should be great horn growth year down there this year. This is a three-day guided hunt, private land with everything included with landowner tags for two hunters. So, if you've got a buddy, you've got a wife, you've got a husband, you've got a kid, you've got somebody you want to take down there, it's an awesome go. So, they've killed some awesome bucks. There's a number of great pitchers there that you'll see that. So, kind of unique hunt there. This is, everything is included, as is food and lodging. So, fun time, you know, end of August, you know, kicks off the hunting season.

This is a rifle hunt. Can't go wrong with that. Hunting trophy bucks, you and a partner. So, anyway. Yep, I like it. It's just an incredible opportunity. And again, down there, we're just expecting great things from all species in the state of New Mexico. Yeah, it is. I mean, I don't know where John gets all these photos, I swear. Logan, did AI drum these up for you? I can certify these are real-life photos. From this guy? Yeah. You didn't poach him from somewhere else? We didn't even AI any of it. Geez. Do you AI anything? No. Not photos. Logan, are you telling the truth? Boy Scout models. How did you get through school? Okay, well, I AI plenty of stuff. Okay, tell me about AI a little bit. What do you want to know about AI? Seriously, are these college kids using it? Is it whoever's best on AI Has the best papers? No, they can detect it pretty easily. So, honestly, unless you're putting

in more work than it's worth, you can't really get away with cheating with AI. No? Yeah, because they have detectors. I thought teachers were okay with running it. What? Some of them knew that AI is happening. So, the way I would use it is I'd use it as a check, like grammar corrector, make sure everything made sense. Make sure you're not missing anything. But, and that, they don't care. That's whatever. There's a million apps It's just a souped-up spell check from our old days. Yeah. Make sure, like, if you're doing a church talk, just make sure you didn't miss a big subject. Yeah, exactly. Or some big thing, right? Yeah, and it'll generate you a 10-page paper, and you can hand it right in to the teacher if you want. Will AI find you a girlfriend? I haven't tried that. Do you want me to try that? No, I was just wondering. Okay. He wants to be thinking, Jason, I've never thought of that.

How about Siri? Siri, find me a girlfriend. I wonder who she'd call out of my contacts. I'd like a strawberry blonde. I don't know. Hey, let's try it. Maybe not on a hot mic, but let's try it. You try it. I don't want to know who to call. No, that's when I say let's, I want him to ask his phone that. Report back? Or we'll stand around and see what it says. Problem is, Logan reports whatever he wants to report. That's right. We never get the full story. That's why if you're not standing there, you're not going to know what it really is. You stand there, and you report back.

Anyway, well that's the eight hunts. We do also, we've talked about, you know, some of the packages. If you, we have a, you know, tickets are $30, $125 for $5, $250 for $10. On that 10 ticket package, you either get your choice of a headlamp or a knife. And then we have a 500 ticket package. If you just need more tickets to spread out, there's that package on there. If you buy the $500 package for each one of those you purchase, you'll get an extra gear package ticket. So, for each $500 package you buy, you get 30 tickets, plus a knife or a headlamp, and one entry into the gear package, which is actually $15,000. It's no joke. I mean, it's a rifle. It's a bow. Rifles, bows, optics, you know, all kinds of stuff, you know, fierce mountain reaper. And if for some reason you got a felony on your record or something, Brunson, we'd throw in a bunch of muzzleloaders or something, right?

I'd swap out, what, three muzzleloaders for the Fierce Reaper. Call it a four. Dollar for dollar. Yeah. Whatever. Three or four muzzleloaders and a bow. But if you've got that problem... Right, and you're hooked up. Hey, that way everybody can participate. All right. Okay, Jason, I'm glad you're thinking of... Well, sometimes people have a record like that, and maybe it's not even warranted, or whatever. Like Donald Trump, maybe? Well, yeah, there you go. There you go. I had a good friend of mine say, he's making it fashionable. You know what? That's true. So, anyway, this isn't a good road to go down. No. But we're giving away a lot of gear. That's the point of it. You got a Fierce Mountain Reaper, you got a Hoyt RX-8 bow, Swarovski 95 objective with an ATX or STX spotting scope eyepiece, Zeiss Victory RF 10x42 range find of binos, and a tripod, Epic Ultra tripod and head.

So, that's a $15,000 package. The only way you can get a ticket in for that is buying the $500 bonus package. And anyway, so that's kind of a wrap on everything, and it's coming to an end a week from today, right? I got to throw in another plug for that tripod. Our tripod, if you don't win this, you've got to buy one. It's next level. It's no joke. This last shipment, John, didn't we throw a few centimeters on each leg just to give it just a little more oomph?

And it's still under four pounds for a stand-up tripod. And I'm so sick of trying to video animals, and they move, and I can't keep it in the frame, and it's jumping out, and it's not smooth. How does ours fix that, John? Very fluid. Ours is cherry. It's so smooth. And why is that, John? Because you were our front. Because I spent a year developing it. You were dealing with quality control in 14 layers later. Me and Adam are happy to present our new tripod. All I'm saying is, my dad has been a one tripod man, one tripod brand man his whole life. Took about five minutes with that epic tripod for a switch over. Like that. I had a good friend of mine got one for Father's Day, because his wife's awesome. She came in and snagged one for him, and he's like, anyway, I'd read you the text, but it's a little, they call it explicit. What did he say? I'll have the beat of daddy.

Another check, an amazing tripod. I'm like, hey, I get the point. I love it. Yeah, it's awesome. So, it was a positive feedback. Very positive, yeah. I mean, usually, you know, it could be negative. That's why English is hard for people. It could mean both things. But no, he just said, he said, let's see. Okay, he says, no, he actually didn't say that. He said, tripods, you know, with the B word, you know, like a female dog.

And the I-N at the end. Thanks, man. Okay. Well, it is great. And what we, the reason we did this, obviously, yeah, obviously, we're in business. We're an optics company. We're an optics dealer. We want tripods. We wanted it the way we wanted it. We wanted features. No. Tweaked the features, and I can use that word because it didn't mean what you guys think it means when I developed that name. Tweaked it. That's right. You can tweak. You tweaked the crap out of it. Yeah, we did. We went back and forth. And I used it heavily this weekend. I love it. I'm not just saying that. Did you look at that antelope? No. No. Tripodding. That thing had a cloud of dust. And that was hand-holding 12s is all I had on that one. He was not sticking around. I drove right up on him. And it was just, you know, he wasn't sticking around.

You know, if you would continue down the road in normal fashion, he would have chased your truck. Well. Guaranteed. Stupid. But anyway, he had one doe, and he led the doe. Like, he was not sticking out. The doe was 50 yards behind him running. Like, what does that tell you? He's been shot at. He tells you she's had her kid, she's dropped him, and she's out. Yeah, yeah. Anyway. You always joke about truck chasers, but whenever I have a tag in my pocket, that never happens to me. They do that when you're on, they're on one side of the fence, and they want to be on the other, and you're going the same way. They, that's what you intercept them at the road. Sometimes you feel bad for them, and then at some point you get ticked, and you're like, you know what, you deserve it. Sometimes it's a game. I'm going to put the crews at 38 mile an hour.

You're like, alright, we're going to see how good you are. How fast can these things really run? I'm going to test them. Wow, 43 minutes later, that sucker's still going. His tongue's not even hanging out. No, no. They're like, they're mounted. They're perfect. Picture perfect. They can just roll 40 mile an hour. I did see a bunch of little babies too this weekend. So, I'm running out. It was cool. Anyway. It's awesome. It's a great time of year. The tripod, real quickly, it is, for the money, this is not a low-budget tripod. A lot of tripods out there, the tripod alone costs the same as what we're selling our tripod and our head. We're selling the head and tripod for $466. Yeah. Okay? For the tripod and the head. That's right. And a plate that goes in it. That's right. And I promise you, I promise you, that is a heck of a value when you get that. There's nothing.

For the quality. This is not like a low-budget tripod. We wouldn't have made it. It's kind of pushed some competitors around a little bit price-wise, because I mean, it's really easy to charge six, seven, eight hundred dollars, if not over a grand. It's unbelievable, though. Because they can, because they could. And now, when you have a great option that's really affordable, then you're forced to look at your own pricing. Give it a shot. We got tons in stock. It's that time of year. Yeah, whether you want That one, or the lightweight one, we're talking mainly about the ultra, but if you want the light, if you're a high country mule deer hunter, or you've got a high country alpine goat, or sheep hunt, or desert sheep hunt, something you want to trim weight on, and you've got a smaller spotting scope set up all that, you might want to give the light a try as well.

So, same thing, great value on the Epic Tripod. We also give members great pricing on optics, And so, many of which guys can pay for their membership by just the savings on one. One thing. So, I'm just saying it out loud. Fine to say it out loud. Give us a holler, and we'll tell you what it is. Yeah, just give us a call if you're curious. Hey, what's the price on this? How much am I going to save? Alright, so, I guess overnight, we need to make sure that our credit cards are valid in Arizona. Okay, so anybody that's listening to that tonight, you have to like midnight. Go buy lunch on your card. Go try to buy lunch on the card right now. Make sure it goes through. You know, 10 bucks, whatever. If it goes through, you're golden, as long as you have a limit. Now, if your wife is using it in Rome, and then you end up getting an Arizona charge, and they reject it, that'd be a problem.

You know what I mean? You've got problems. Well, and... Which card? Does she have the card that you applied to? She's got whatever card she wants, and I don't know what one that is. I'll probably go look at some recent purchases. You might have some problems tomorrow. If I've got problems, she's got problems. Because Arizona better be able to charge my card. Okay, well, the other thing is, is make sure for like a sheep, what's a sheep, $1,800? Yeah, plus or minus. Okay, you better. I actually have it right here. Is it? How much is it? You're gonna make me look. $1,800, $1,500, we're slightly off. Okay, well, the $1,500 I think has already been taken, so it's about $1,800 is the number. Would you want a sheep tag, or would you want a deer tag for knowing what you applied for? What would you rather have? You could have either one. What would you rather have? Deer. Exactly. I like it.

But Arizona is the one. So, you're hoping for a $300 charge, it'll be $300 even because it's a $15 app fee. Yeah. Well, I'm just saying, if you've got, you know. And the $18 will be $18 even, too. So, you were actually right, because it's $15 is the app. I think from the past buddies, you and other people that have drawn desert sheep tags, that $18, well, it might have been less than that when you drew. I'd take that sheep tag again. I would take a sheep, though. Knowing how it ended. I mean, you're killing a 180. 184 round. Okay, so if you're doing that, you would take the sheep tag. I don't know, though, actually. I think this year is going to be next level for deer down there. I just do. So, it's hard to say, but that's not an easy choice. Where I put in for desert sheep, I have a chance to kill 175 or 80 inch rams too, so it's not like that's a slouch.

It's not like I played the odds really either. So, I'll take either, but I got room on my card for either one. Or both. 2100? I've got room. I'm leaving the room. Hey, there's credit for everyone. Okay, end of story. There's no excuse for Arizona charging your card, not being able to charge your card. Because credit card companies want to issue you credit. Right, Logan? Are you not getting hit up all the time? Oh, yeah. Letters to my house all the time. Yeah, that's right. You're in, aren't you? You didn't just do points only. Oh, no, I'm in. Okay, alright. He was pretty discriminating though, right? I was. I had a hard time with Arizona. So, do you have a tag yet? I do have a tag now. Come on. Oh, yeah. Okay. Does that count? It does. Okay. I thought it counted as a tag.

You procured a guaranteed tag of sorts. I needed it. Colorado? Yeah. Okay. I think it's awesome. Okay, I've got a little game, and we are not eligible for this drawing, right? But it's a what would you do. So, I'm gonna give you 30 entries. I want to know what your strategy is and where you would put your tickets. It is really hard, because I like names and hats. I'd be tempted to do them all on the doll sheep, but I couldn't avoid the two mule deer, as well as the elk and the Alberta whitetail. Okay. So, what does that stress me to like, what, seven per hunt? So, you're going to do two on the whitetail, five on each of the deer. Now, we're sitting at 12, And then you're going to do the remaining balance on the doll sheep. Well, I do. I would do more than two, like, I don't know, five, five, five, and ten, or something like that.

Is that up to thirty? Five, five, five, and ten. Five, five, five, and ten. How about you, Joseph? How about this, Bronson? Just buy two thirty dollar ticket packages. Well, that changes. Now throw thirty in for the sheep. Then I would do thirty on the sheep. 30 on the sheep, and then sprinkle. And then I'd probably split the other 30 between those others. Okay, okay. How much do we get? Only 30? You get 30, that's it. Okay. I don't know. I'm doing 10 on the sheep, and then splitting the others personally between the whitetail, the two mule deer, and the acumen. I like the two mule deer for sure. Probably whitetail and Alberta, because why not, right? I need a giant. I'm glad you're here with the double dropers. I can't even imagine that thing walking out. And then, the moose is legit, no question about it. 2025 give me time to really set my schedule aside.

This September kind of changed things with Justin and a few other things that my kids have got, tag-wise, and plans for, you know, whatever, their futures. So, anyway, next year would be better for me anyway, so probably do doll sheep and moose. Two elk, or excuse me, two deer and... Elk. And whitetails. And elk and a whitetail. Roughly the same. Why not throw one ticket? You gotta have your name in somewhere. Why not throw one ticket in for muskogs, one in for animal. Okay. John? Yeah, since I want a doll sheep pretty bad, I would probably do half in the doll sheep, and then I would spread out between the deer. John, you know the famous favorite saying? Those are for sale every day. Yeah, they sell sheep hunts every day. Yeah, I know. We tease John because he is going to be booking a sheep hunt. But they don't give them away.

They don't give them away. No, they don't give them away. That's a good point. I like that. Okay, Logan. What would you choose? 10 Nevada mule deer, 10 Acoma elk, 5 whitetail, 5 sheep. Okay. Nice. Geez. Yeah, pretty cool. Can't argue with that. No. And for the guys who are We're like, hey, what are good odds? I mean, that antelope's gonna be phenomenal odds, and it's a great hunt. Antelope, a late-season Canadian whitetail only appeals to trophy whitetail owners. And certain people, yeah. Like, some people, it's busy. If you're hunting your own whitetail in parts of the world, which a lot of people are, they already have one or two states, you know, for that. They have their plan. Like, you're not gonna go get them out of their favorite tree stand in mid-November. And drive to a, or fly to a northern Alberta. Or an Iowa guy, or a Missouri guy, like they're sitting in their stands.

So, that one and the antelope, which, you know, value-wise, if you want to just call them dollar-wise, they are worth the quote least. But I mean, that's not always how it works either. Muskox is going to be very tailored. Muskox is also another niche one. We thought that would be a neat addition. Those aren't in themselves totally expensive hunts. Heavily sought after. But they're also more of a niche. Like, that's just an experience hunt. Go there for the experience and see the country. If you go on March and April, you go there to live to tell about it. How do you mount a muskox? Do they just do the skull? Those aren't our problems. That's for Jeff Baird to deal with. I don't know. What do you mean? There's people that life-size those things, John. Is it? Some people have. I mean, I... They're not, John.

Because, I mean, they aren't as big as like a buffalo. Like, they're very shaggy. They're not as tall at the shoulders as you'd think either. They're narrow side to side. Anyway. That's the one, I mean, their coats are awesome, their horns are awesome. Yeah, some people just mount the whole rug and then do like a Euro or something like that on the skull. So, they're pretty cool. But hey, that's somebody else's. Teach their own on that. Yeah. All right, I'm done. I mean, are you guys done, John? Yeah. You don't have any more games, do you?

No, no more games, but... I mean, geez. Well, and just to reiterate... I need to come up with more games. Jason loves them. You can get tickets easy. Go to epicoutdoors.com. You can call us 435-263-0777. Deadline's the 24th, right? That's a week from tonight. 1159, Ron? Next Monday. You shut it off. Next Monday. End of it, right? Yep, Monday night. Monday the 24th, yeah. Okay, so get it in by then. Every single person can participate. And then, as always, we will call the winners on the podcast. Just two or three days after that. Yeah. Usually get them done.

We're done, and it's a fun podcast to have. We need time. Usually, it requires a little editing. Yeah, if you purchase tickets... Well, people swear a little. If you purchase tickets, you're gonna get an email with a photo of your tickets going, you know, before they go in the bins. Yeah, girls are good at that. Just... It solidifies everybody. Hey, your tickets were made, they're in the draw. Very transparent here, so... Yeah. Alright, everybody, good luck. Let's face it, if your goal is to kill big stuff, you need to draw quality tags. Quality tags are typically hard to draw. To increase your odds of drawing good tags, you need to apply in multiple states. That's where an Epic Outdoors membership can help. For only $150 a year, you get access to our consultants, our online tools, and to Epic-approved outfitters and members-only optics discounts.

With unlimited access to our team of consultants and access to the Epic Outdoors magazines, applying in multiple states is easy. No more worrying if you're applying for the best areas, no more applying for a unit where there has been a die-off, and no more missing opportunities where you could be in the field and not sitting at home. Go online at epicoutdoors.com or call us today at 435-263-0777 to find out how you can become a member today. Kuyu is the most uncompromising camo on the market. Their new Guide Pro Series is the toughest, most comfortable camo you will ever own. Check out their new additions and shop men and women's camo now at Kuyu.com. That's K-U-I-U dot com.

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Your time is valuable. We do the work, you draw the tags. Epic Outdoors License App. 435-263-0777. With Fierce Rifles, every detail matters. They are hands down one of the best rifle manufacturers in the industry, and they never seem to stop making new innovations. If you want to get serious about your long-range shooting, call us to talk over your options for your next fierce rifle. Epic Outdoors is an official fierce rifle dealer. Our consultants know their whole line of rifles, inside and out. 435-263-0777. Epic Optics is an authorized dealer for Swarovski, Leica, Zeiss, Vortex, Leopold, Kawa, Sig Sauer, and more.

Here at Epic Optics, we are committed to getting you the best deal for the glass that fits your needs. Go to epicoptics.com or call in to speak with our consultants who will fit you with the perfect optics for your next hunt. 435-263-0777. If you're looking for your next hunting property, look no further than St. James. St. James are the experts at all sporting properties across the West. Their team of agents will spend the time getting to know you personally and find out which property out of the hundreds they have listed is perfect for you. If you've always wanted a property where you could hunt and fish, go online to stjamessportingproperties.com or give them a call at 855-711-7577 to learn more. Red Rock Precision Rifles are at the pinnacle of custom rifles. They make no compromises in terms of quality, accuracy, and reliability.

They will build the perfect rifle for you in both feel and performance. Epic Outdoors is an official Red Rock dealer. Call us to talk over your options for your next Red Rock rifle or go to redrockprecision.com to learn more. Vortex makes optics for every occasion. Whether you're a long-range shooter dialing in that perfect shot, or an archery hunter in need of an easy-to-carry optic without sacrificing quality, Vortex has you covered. Head over to EpicOptics.com or call us to learn more about your Vortex options today at 435-263-0777. From top-of-the-line hunting blinds to game calls that can't be beat, GSM Outdoors has you covered for whatever outdoor equipment you need. For all of their products, head over to GSMOutdoors.com to learn more. Thompson Long Range has perfected the art of simple, affordable long-range shooting.

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Check out our website epicoptics.com or call us at 435-263-0777 to find out which Zeiss Optic is perfect for you. Epic Outdoors is now an official CVA muzzleloader dealer. If you're in the market for a new muzzleloader, our staff can go over the different options that you should consider. CVA muzzleloaders are the go-to muzzleloader for Epic Outdoors and crew. We've definitely got our favorite setups for Western big game hunting in stock. Call us today at 435-263-0777 to find out which CVA is perfect for your next hunt.