EP 327: Three Bulls Down! Epic Archery Elk Hunting in the West

You're listening to the Epic Outdoors podcast brought to you by the Western Hunting and Conservation Expo and Utah Life Elevated. This is an event we don't miss. So come and see the whole Epic Outdoors crew February 13th through 16th, 2025 in Salt Lake City, Utah. For more details, go to HuntExpo.com.

Hey, everybody. Jason Carter, John Peterson. That's kind of a little bit different. Normally, it's Jason Carter, Adam Bronson. Of course, he's on the road. He's been on the road since 3.30 this morning, heading to the next hunt. Right now, this time of year, it's back to back. We don't have any time to stop. I don't know. I think I've been working more than you guys have, though, Cash. Hey, I was the lone wolf for like two and a half weeks before I left. Okay, but I didn't care about them two and a half weeks. I'm really caring about this last week and a half or whatever it's been. So anyway, it's just that time of year. Logan, nice to see you. Don't know where the crap you've been. It's good to be back in civilization. Somebody had the wild idea that Logan needed to learn how to video hunts, and so off he's been screwing around on the company dime. Yeah, not an ounce of work.

How's it been? Good. Did you pick any pine nuts down there in New Mexico? I didn't pick any pine nuts, but it's been good. Are they loaded? They're loaded. Dude, there was people picking everywhere. Down in New Mexico? Arizona, New Mexico, everywhere. That's how you feed the family. One lady told me they're going for $40 a pound. Yeah, $40 a pound. I said, I'm buying them for $20 in Utah and flipping them in New Mexico. Yeah, but you know what? Utah pine nuts taste like crap. Compared to New Mexico? Especially out last box. Beaver County pine nuts, they're worth $15. Just saying. $15. And I think Josh would back me up on that. He's not here, but I think he would back me up on that. Oh, yeah. So, anyway, been a lot going on. We've been grinding hard. This time of year, we try to put out a podcast a week, but I don't know. Sometimes it just doesn't happen.

So, anyway, got a special guest, Justin, my son. How are you, Justin? I'm doing good. Doing good. Yeah, first time we've let him put on a headset. We'll probably take it off here shortly, so don't get too comfortable. First time in the podcast room. Kind of got to earn your way in here, right, Cash? Yeah. And I don't know how Logan got in here. I'm still trying to figure that out, but whatever. Sneaky. Sneaky little guy. Got Juice Man, or Juice Box, or whatever we call him. I crushed some Capri Suns down in New Mexico, like three boxes. Oh, yeah. He got a hard time down there, too. Oh, did he? Oh, yeah. I made sure they knew. Any little senoritas down there? No. Tinder in New Mexico is not as good. Hey, that's your interpretation. There's probably people that like it. I had no luck. Cash said he wouldn't let me bring any dates back. No, no, no, no. Not the ones you were showing me.

Cash, you're married. You're not supposed to look. Well, he said, what do you think this? I said, uh-uh. So, what do you do? Do you tell him to swipe left or right? Oh, dude. I was like, X that one. X that one. What does the X mean? Is that swipe left? Like, no left, yeah. So, if you swipe left, they go away forever? Yep. Yeah. And right is good. Can you ever go look and you're deleted and bring them back? Bring them back? I don't think so, but I've never tried that. Yeah. I have to get a new profile. Do you have a couple of profiles? I mean, there's like a few abs. Like, this is the fun Logan. This is the workaholic Logan. Catfish Logan. The catfish king. The catfish king. I like it. And here's the ski bum Logan. Here's the retired Logan. Yeah. This is a great idea. I should be doing this. Silicon Valley Logan. You know, all these. Hunter Logan. Some women like hunters gatherers. Yeah.

You a hunter, you'll be whatever they want you to be. I would say, the only pictures I have of myself are out hunting, so I think I'm always hunting Logan. You're a hunting gatherer. So, if you get more desperate, you can't go back and say, okay, I changed my mind. That four is looking like a six now.

I don't think so. I've never been that deep into a dating app. Okay. Okay. He's such a liar. Yeah. He's lying. Every night, I just see his finger. Oh, my gosh. It's moving. And it was always swiping right. I mean, move.

On the scale of one to ten, anything above a two passes. Down there, it's what it was looking like, I'm guessing. I don't know what scale he was using, but it was off. Logan's got ointment and band-aids because he's got sores on his fingers from swiping. Calluses. I'm calloused at this point. You are. Most callous swipers. Multiple times. I just want to know, can you ever wear out one of these touchscreens, Logan? I have not. I have not. And what would you have done if there wasn't touchscreens? You're not swiping left. You'd have to actually go out and meet people. Oh, no way. He'd have to talk to them. He'd actually have to talk to them. All right. So, as we get started here, it's going to be interesting today. It's been pretty fun. And there's people out there asking to get caught up, like, hey, catch us up on what's going on. So, we're going to do a little of that.

I do want to throw a little shout out to the Hunt Expo. We've got the Western Hunting Expo and Conservation Convention coming up. We've already reserved our motel rooms up there, John. Right? Or at least our people have. Yeah, our motel rooms. I love to say our people. You know what that means? My wife. Yeah. Okay. Me and Janet. But I love to say, yeah, we have our people on that. We have our people on that. And she's like, really? I'm just a people to you? But anyway, HuntExpo.com, you can go check it out. Of course, we have a full-page ad in our magazine. The newest, latest, greatest October-November issue just came out, by the way, covering Arizona Bison, Texas Desert Sheep Alert, the Arizona and Idaho Over-the-Counter Alert, just letting everybody know that's coming up. And then, of course, a bunch of stories and all kinds of good stuff in there.

And quite frankly, I don't even know how this magazine produces itself when we're out in the field, John. How does this happen? I'm here part of the time. It gets done. Okay. Well, I don't know about that, but maybe. Anyway, HuntExpo.com, you can go on there. We're looking forward to seeing you there. It's absolutely the best hunting show in the West. 100% the best. And we support the sheep as well. And that's a real finite group of people that are just addicted to sheep. And they're good people. And they're hard hunting suckers. And so we'll attend that show as well. But anyway, the HuntExpo is kind of for everybody. Sheep, deer, elk, everything that's going on here in the West. February 13th to the 16th, 2025. You need to reserve your rooms now. You get kind of a little bit of a deal if you drop the hunt that you're with the Expo.

And you also get a motel that's within walking distance, usually within five minutes. Yeah. If you go to that HuntExpo.com, there's a link on there to hotels and whatnot. But if you've never been there, it's hard to explain. Hotels are the hardest thing to find if you wait until the end. That's right. That's right. And so anyway, pretty fun convention. Of course, the best of the best generally shows up as far as the trophies that were taken. And so the meat hunters, you're probably not interested in the HuntExpo. It just probably isn't going to interest you at all if you're only after meat and you don't really care about quality. Which I don't know a single guy out there. Everybody's like, I'm a meat hunter. Everybody likes something big. Okay? I'm a meat hunter the last day.

Okay. Maybe the last three days, John. Two and a half. Cash, he was hunting for meat way early in his hunt. Of course, didn't connect to the end. But hey, I can't wait for this story. I just, Cash, I can't wait. John, I can't wait for your story too. Justin, I can't wait for your story. And me, I'll do fine. I can't even think of a story. My story deals with Justin. Our hunt was Justin's hunt was our plan for the entire month of September. And so anyway, good long season and wanted to make it count. And it was kind of a pre-planned deal or I would have been in Alaska with the boys up there hunting moose. Which, it turns out I didn't make a bad decision. You got lucky.

Because about day 30, I'd have been phoning a friend. But no, anyway, can't wait to get their story. Of course, they just conveniently left today going on their hunts and getting ready to do some of the things they're doing. But they were just fine not talking about it. Yeah, they do not want to do a podcast. So we're going to drag it out. Oh, they're doing a podcast. They don't have choices. Sometimes we don't have choices. The nice thing is, you look on Instagram and it's like everybody's smashing giants. Everybody's successful all the time. Well, sometimes it's a grind and sometimes it's not a smash and grab. I don't know. Well, Justin, so Logan, help us identify Justin. What generation, gen what is he? When were you born? I was born in 2005. He's a Gen Z. Gen Z? He is. Oh, man. Gen Z is like 2000 to like 2009 or something like that. Oh, really? I can't remember exactly, but it's.

That big of a window? I don't know. So to the Gen Z, if it's not on the gram, it never happened, right? It's true. It's probably. And if you're not on the gram, you never happened. You're not relevant. It's irrelevant. Right? You're irrelevant. We could say you're totally irrelevant. And to the Gen Z, everybody's successful but me. Yeah. Instagram is a terrible place to be when you're on the last couple of days of your home. Oh, yeah. And it's just a grind. And you're like, I'm the only one that's having 95 degree weather. Yeah. And no bugling. Yeah, seriously. I think people go out there and do this. You know what you call stock footage, John? Is there like places I can go find bugling bulls on the web and steal that sound over, that voice over, and I could be like, I'm in the bulls everywhere. It's just an amazing hunt. Right? Yeah, I don't know. People do it, John. They got to.

Oh, I'm sure. I mean, there's apps. They take different years and they repost it. A hundred percent. Yeah. I'm an amazing hunter. Everybody's struggling. I don't know how this is happening. You know. Anyway, just saying, don't let the highlight reel on Instagram get you down. Don't go do something drastic that you can't repair. Whatever that is. Okay? Because you're not the only one having struggles. Although there was a couple successful guys here at the table, actually. But by the skin of their teeth, both y'all crossed the table from me. Both y'all crossed the table from me. I can't wait for this. I love these stories. We've actually had quite a few requests for these stories on the gram, of course, because everybody's on the gram. And anyway, so that's what we're here for. Before we get started, do we have any other updates? I know the guys are leaving.

We've got, I can't say exactly where because then they will fire me or fire me from our friendship. Or whatever. Whatever. But anyway, they're out and about. Multiple different states coming up. And so anyway, we've got a lot on our plate as well. Whitetail, mule deer, elk even. And just a lot of fun stuff coming up. So super busy. If you want to buy optics or anything like that from us or need any help, still call in. We have people here. Okay. A couple. And they should be able to help you one way or another. Of course, we're checking our emails and checking in with the gals and the guys that are here as well. In and around their hunts. So we try to position it to where there is some staff here to work with. And so anything that you need, feel free to call in. I've been answering the phone today. Darn it. And very frustrating at times. Where's my people? But anyway, it's just awesome.

And so anyway, we wouldn't be what we'd be and have the knowledge without actually being in the field and experiencing it and doing it somewhat regular basis, if not three to four months a year. All right. So where are we going to start with this? John? Yeah, we could start. John, you're hunting. So for the people at the table, we're going to have only those stories because we don't want to ruin the fun stories that we have coming up with the others. And we've got some coming up. So that's awesome. Some pretty good stuff, right? Yeah. And so Josh was just successful. It's pretty fun. And of course, there were some hunts that occurred that weren't as successful as far as harvesting animals but were very successful in fostering relationships. Because I think those boys spent 20, 30 days in town together. They did. Yeah. And there were things that happened. There were some adventures.

So pretty fun. Good times. They were hard on some gear. Yeah. Yeah. Hard on each other. Hard on each other. Yeah. So anyway, probably some good conversations. You know, when you want to go upstream and the other guy wants to go downstream and you kind of need each other to be successful, it's just – I'm sure there was – I just wish I would have been a little fly on the tent. Or at least on the outside of the tent because the inside is probably stinky. Yeah. Or there's one Oreo left. Yeah. I don't know. Did you hear anything on the – I don't know. We know that happens. I wonder when the Oreos got ate because there was a lack of success. Yeah. Yeah. So when do you eat the Oreo? That's – I thought about that. That's a good point. I mean, if it's a success Oreo, it might become a home. It's all I can do not to dial them up. I just want to dial them up. I got – I'm going to reframe.

Save it for the next one. No, no, no. All right. So, John, how did you end up with your tack? What did you do? Yeah. So I – four years ago, drew in the Outfitter Draw in New Mexico, Unit 15, archery. And it was like my third choice. And so it wasn't the good archery season. It was, quote, unquote, you know, the not as good archery season, the early season. And I've put in with an Outfitter and without an Outfitter. And so I've tried several years without an Outfitter and decided to go again, you know, in the Outfitter Draw this year. And I drew again on my third choice. Okay. So Wyatt's calling me. Are you – Oh, yes. Oh, we got to answer. Hey. Hey, are you at the office? Yeah, we're in the podcast room. Oh, you're podcasting, huh? So, Wyatt.

Just so happens. What are you doing? Oh, just driving. You're not alive? I told the whole world that I couldn't say where you were going. I don't even know where I'm going. Okay. That's a lie. John, do you believe that? That's not true. But it goes back to my philosophy, Wyatt. Pre-hunt or during your hunt, you're okay to lie. A hundred percent. A hundred percent.

Somebody asks you where you're going, where you've been. Where are you hunting tomorrow? You're okay to lie. Across the street. Yeah. It's not even lying if you don't say anything. You're not liable. You're not liable. When you go to heaven, you are not liable. I mean, if somebody's dumb enough to ask a really personal question that they shouldn't be asking, then they deserve to be lied to. Absolutely. I'm going to Wisconsin. So, are you on the road yet, Wyatt? I am on the road, yeah. I like it. I am on the road. I like it. Now, are we going to another one of the adventures you just had, or are we going to a good adventure? This is more of a pre-scouting trip kind of deal. Jenna loves the pre-scout. She knows exactly what we're talking about. That's why I said it right there, was just make sure I got it. The pre-scout. The pre-scout.

This is more just to see a unit I've never been on before and just know what to expect for my next trip I'm kind of doing. Okay. I like it. Well, we're kind of got to do that once in a while, especially with a good long season or whatever. And you're just kind of antsy. You're ready to see some game, right? Yeah. Yeah. Ready to see some game.

Tell us about the lack of game and some of these other experiences. So I don't want to ruin it, but you're the first guy. So you could actually say whatever you want and nobody knows any of the story yet. Well, I mean, the game was definitely there. It just didn't play by the rules. Yes. It's kind of how I would word it, more or less. I mean, we were in a very game-rich environment. Yeah. But we did not. We're not successful in harvesting. Yes. So the family's going hungry. Carly's frustrated with her. Frustrated. Her hunter-gatherer guy is slacking. Yeah. We need some meat.

Was there anything interesting that you've learned about your friends, namely Devin and Josh? We spent a lot of time together. Nothing too shocking. Devin and I had already lived together for a long time through college, everything like that, being roommates. Yeah. I feel like I knew a lot about him. Pollock, that was our first time spending that much time together, but really didn't get much out of him either. Kind of a verdict still out on whether you could really do college with Pollock? Yeah, I don't know.

Well, you know how... No, we had a good time. I mean, that's the best part about it. We just all had a good time. Good time. Yeah. Want to be successful, but that's kind of the way it is. But we'll let you guys all... We're going to talk about it, Wyatt. We've got to talk about it on the podcast, and it'll be a good time when everybody's here. But anyway, maybe text me what you were wanting me to look up. Okay. Yep. I can do that. We did have one question, Wyatt. If you take celebratory Oreos, when do you eat them if you're unsuccessful? Well, no, they probably were successful at something. We did have celebratory Oreos there with us, and we each got to pick a celebratory prize for when we kill our bulls. Devin picked Oreos. So we did have that there. We talked about it with like three days left when we were going to start eating them. Out of three, out of how many?

I mean, we're talking like, wasn't it basically from start to finish, you're talking 20, 21 days or something? I mean... Yeah. I think it ended up 21 or 22 days in a 10. Oof. In a 10. So right there at the tail end, and we never did it. We ended up donating them to the lodge. Wow. You did? Wow. Yeah. Yeah. So we ended up donating there to the lodge. And once the lodge people started eating them, then we decided it was okay, so we had a few. Oh, geez. But we didn't crack the seal. Man. Oh, my gosh. That's brutal. Well, Devin probably didn't dare. After he got ripped a little... He was like, I am not eating an Oreo. Come here. He did. Nobody snuck in there, so... That's awesome. We actually came home with quite a bit of food still, too, which was shocking for as much time as we spent out there, so... Well, you guys took, what, one of them blue bins with the yellow lid, jammed. Yeah.

Of the peak refuels, yeah. So they're actually really good meals. Did it turn out okay? Yeah. Yeah. No, it all went slick and good, so a few of their new flavors were awesome. Oh, that's awesome. All right. All right. Kay, sounds good. Talk soon. All right. Sounds good. All right. Yeah, bye. Anyway, kind of fun. All right. So, moving forward, where are we at? So, I was going to tell about... I just got a message from Logan on my phone. He's handed me a message. Logan, this is what Gen Z's do. Oh, yeah. They don't even talk verbally. They text from five feet. You don't interrupt Wyatt while I was talking. I really misunderstood the note. It says, can you just cool it off a little? Oh, in the room. Yeah. Like, temperature-wise, because I have an app on my phone I can turn on the AC. John, can you settle down a little bit? Yeah, what did I say?

I just find it interesting that I've got the old manual dial thermostats, and John has apps with little green things on the color screens and LEDs. Got to make sure the old man knows how to work it. You don't get nice stuff on the north side. I don't even want it, actually. You mean that dial? Hey, I turn it down. I know how to turn it down. I'm going to turn this dial right here. Oh, geez. I'd like to see what Justin would do with a rotary dial phone. Oh, that would be fun. Justin, have you ever seen a rotary dial phone? Oh, dude, I've used one. You have not? Yeah. I remember. Elementary school. Had to call home one time. I remember. Takes five minutes to dial. Only 30 minutes. Oh, yeah. Had the desk lady help me, but I know how to use one now.

Because you'll need it someday. All right. So, John, you're applying. So, I'm applying in New Mexico, and I decided, in order to increase my chances of drawing, to put in the Outfitter Draw again this year. And so, I put in with David Matthews Outfitters. And as a side note, that's one of the things, like a benefit of being an Epic Outdoors member, is we've got relationships with a whole bunch of different outfitters. And so, if you want to increase your odds, specifically in New Mexico, then if you're a member, you just give us a call. And we work with a ton of different outfitters. We'll kind of find that the right one that fits, you know, your needs and how long you want to go for and whatnot. And then we just either give you their Outfitter number, and you apply with that number, or you can have us do everything. So, anyway, I drew. And, again, it was my third choice.

You know, the least desirable archery season, which just means it's early, before the rut. And if you're lucky, you get a little rut action, you know, on the back end of it. And, anyway, I drew that in Unit 15 again. And so, the good thing was, four years ago when I went, it was, like, hotter than it had ever been in the history of the world, according to everybody. And, you know, never seen a hunt that was just as bad as that. And no bugling, you know, nothing. And it was miserable. Jeez. And so, with that in mind, anything was better, you know. Yeah. So, it went again, and it was awesome. I don't know if it was awesome compared to, you know, a normal elk hunt, but compared to the experience I had four years ago, it was great. So, we had, you know, bulls bugling. And they weren't going wild or anything, but we were able to, you know, call bulls and chase bugles and that type of thing.

And it was great. We had a lot of water early on. And so, it was good. And then. You got the whole experience. Yeah. Got the whole experience. And. You know what? Have you ever wondered what the guides do when hunters sit water? Because I know what they do. They go to the nearest cell service. And they scroll the ground. And they scroll. Yeah.

Wait. They put their wife on speakerphone. First, they Bluetooth to the truck, the Raptor. Right? Yeah. They Bluetooth to the truck. They chill out, kick the seat back a little bit while they scroll the ground. Yeah. No. Davey sat with me. Come on. No. Yeah. Yeah. Sat in the blind with me. Why would he do that? So. I don't know. We chatted. It's kind of fun, actually. I like sitting blinds. Yeah. John and Davey sitting a blind is not sitting a blind. What were they doing? Those two sat over there. Oh, this is interesting. I forgot Logan was there. Oh, Logan's trying to be the videography guy. Yeah. And so Logan can now tell on John. Logan, tell the truth. Well, they sit in this small pop-up blind and there's three of us. There's barely room for two. So we had to build me a brush blind a little ways off. And so I'm sitting probably 20 yards to the left of these guys.

And Davey gave me this pep talk before. Now, you got to be real quiet. Got to be real still. You can't be the reason. Elk blows off the water. And Davey's got a fully enclosed blind and you can still see him moving in it. And those two are standing up. I swear they're doing jumping jacks in that thing. And then about two hours into the second sit, I hear them laughing hysterically. Loud as you could be. And I'm like, I'm just going to start playing games on my phone because this is. It's not true. This is an exaggeration. Oh, that was. Did you video it? Because if you didn't video it, it didn't happen. It wasn't on the gram. It's irrelevant. Total exaggeration. We may have chuckled a few times. What are you guys laughing about? I don't know. You know, Davey's got a lot of good stories. He is a good story. All right.

So I have to tell you the one story that really like just blew my mind was he had a hunter one time that kept leaving where he told him to sit or where he told him to go. So he's like, Luke going to lose him in the woods. And he lost him one night. He left him on a water. And he didn't find him again until the middle of the night, like hours and hours later. He just like left, you know, and he's like, oh, I just thought the bulls were not going to come into the water. And so I thought they were going to go somewhere else. And, you know, he's flipping out like I'm going to have to call the search and rescue to find this guy. And just, you know, calling bulls in and the guy moves. We had that happen on a videographer like we were. So we're doing a retreat for TV. I mean, we had this videographer. It's like, okay, we're going down to the truck. See the white truck right there?

We're walking down to that truck. He ended up on the opposite side. Okay. The truck was west. He went east. And for the record, this is not Chris. No. Right. This is somebody else. Not Chris. Right. No. Heck no. Chris was amazing. No. And we're just like, what? Come on. Where are you? You know what I mean? Yeah. And so we had to leave somebody there with your lights on. Because like, you know what happens is when you go and look for somebody is you honk or and you don't want to, right? But you got to do something. So you leave your lights on or honk. But then if you move, so they start walking towards you. Yeah. Right? Most likely if they can see you. You would think. So if you move, now what? You got this moving target of a guy going around, driving around the woods. Like, so you have to leave somebody there or leave a truck there with the lights on. Yeah.

And then go looking for him if you want or something like that. That would be an option. So anyway, we're driving back to camp. And here he is. He's hustling down the road. And we're like, dude, what are you doing? Like, what? You could see the truck. You know what I mean? Like, what are you doing? You know? And he's like, and I don't know if he was gathering up his gear or whatever. It was just a nothing. It was a nothing we see you at the truck moment. It was a nothing. It was no big deal. And so anyway, he's like, wow, I just kind of took a wrong draw. And ended up over here. Now I'm on the road. And then all of a sudden, these guys were hooting and hollering. Dude, it was the lost boys. You know, the people out doing drug rehab. Oh, yeah. Oh, the wilderness. And they're howling like coyotes and just having a gale time. You know? He's like, he started running. He was scared shizless.

And I'm just like, what? And I mean, he was in a froth. Like, I am going to lose my mind tonight. You know? So anyway, picked him up. Got him calmed down. You know? Got some food and water in him. I mean, it was just, oh, really? Anyway, that happens, John. So, all right. Anyway, that one was funny. There was just lots and lots of funny stories. Yeah. Great guy. That's funny. But, yeah. Into the bulls. It was great. So, we were into the bulls. Unit 15. Yeah. Next goal. Unit 15. First archery. Yep. Anyway, Logan was right behind me. Called in. Davey called in, what, 330 type bull? And we passed him early on. And, yeah. Just kind of went like that. Nothing big. I didn't see any giants, though. Nothing just next level. Yeah. We saw a lot of bulls. But nothing next level. But it was fun. Yeah. It was really fun. Was there other guys in camp? No. Just me and Logan. Just kind of you and Logan.

Yep. That's awesome. You took your own trailer down there. Took my own trailer. You had to feed Logan. I imagine you had to teach him how to boil water. It was rough. I mean, what would you, what would a Gen Z, like, what would you eat if it was your, Well, there was no drive-thru, so I have no idea. Not a Zaxby's inside. We were set up pretty, it was pretty sweet. Yeah, no, it was. Was it? Yes. My wife, she got these little dishes, right? Yeah. That close up. And she did freezer meals for all seven days. Wow. Stacked the freezer with them. We just pulled out, like, we had lasagna, shepherd's pie, fajitas. I think shepherd's pie is disgusting. What? Are you serious? It was good. Well, it's the potatoes, right, with all the green beans and meats and all that combined? This didn't have, this has, like, mashed potatoes and, like, a meat sauce. Yeah. Over top of it.

Yeah, meat sauce with green beans. No green beans. Okay. Well, I need your recipe. Yeah, it was good. And pretty good. I think Jenna makes good shepherd's pie, but ever since I was a little kid, it's kind of like beets. Anybody that eats beets, they're disgusting. You're disgusting. Beets are disgusting. I like beets, but, yeah, my wife's with you. She's like, they taste like dirt. Yeah, they're disgusting. Like, I can still taste the dirt on them. I can still picture myself at the dinner table. You're not leaving the table to eat your beets. They're disgusting. They're disgusting. I'll never have a beet my whole life. They're good. And I don't think I'm lacking in any kind of nutrients and vitamins. Monster keeps me perfectly sound. Keeps you great, yeah. Grounded. All right, so. So food was good. So you're feeding Logan, keeping Logan happy, you know? It was good. It was dang good, huh?

What'd you have for breakfast? Yeah.

Carnation. I had those, like, breakfast shakes. Protein shakes. Protein shakes and stuff, but we didn't really eat a lot of breakfast. I never eat breakfast, so. Just, like. Lunch? Yeah, granola bar or something. Sandwich? Sandwiches. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Okay, so we're past the food. We got camp set up. We're in and out of blinds. Yeah. We're calling in bulls. And it was kind of that way probably the whole week, you know? Just, anyway. Just, you knew, like, I mean, there could be a giant that shows up. Yeah. You know, but you didn't really know for sure, you know, what would be coming into the, whatever you're calling. Yeah. Or whatnot. So it was good. And just, you know, last evening of the hunt, and I just decided, yeah, I'm going to shoot whatever's coming in. Yeah. Were you in water? Were you in water? Yeah, so we're over water. Okay. I like it. Yeah. Yeah. So, no giggling.

Now we're getting pretty serious. Yeah. No giggling. No giggling. Everybody's kind of over on. No Facebook videos, no volume, no none of that. Yeah. Did that happen? No. They just watch Facebook videos. Sometimes it happens, though. No. So, like, I hate how you get on your phone, you'll turn on Instagram or something, and all of a sudden, blah, blah. Yeah. Some reels going off. And Davey had service, and then I didn't. So that kind of sucked. But anyway. He did? Enough that, like, Facebook would come up. What is he? Was he? I don't know. He was Verizon, too. But I don't know. It just, I think. And the interesting thing was, so then, because usually I'm looking at Instagram or whatever, I couldn't get anything to come up. And he was on Facebook. I didn't know why. But Facebook, I think, comes up a little bit easier when you got almost no service. Yeah. For some reason.

But Instagram was not. So, anyway. All right. Way past that. You guys are serious. You're looking at Tag Soup. You're looking at Tag Soup. Yeah. You're kind of sick of each other. Yeah. Getting low on food. Ready to come home. See mama. Logan's ready to get off the New Mexico tender. Pushed him right out of the state. Back into Utah. Where the harvest is plentiful. Where tender's better, I guess. Yeah. Logan had to leave halfway through the week. I had a. My sister's wedding was a few days before the honeymoon. Hey, and I attended. A little more serious. At least the festivities at night. That's right. You popped in, grabbed some food, and left. That's the perfect way to attend a wedding. Logan, I was there for like 33 minutes. 30 minutes longer than I ever stay at anybody else's. Did you post it on the gram? No. But then it didn't happen? Yeah, it did. You admitted it.

And we're on the podcast. So anyway, that was fun. I'm excited for them. But all right. So, and we can end it there. Yeah. What are you talking about? I hit a bowl, and that was it. What are you talking about? That was it. You brought one home, John. Yeah, yeah. You don't have to tell the full truth. I killed one, and it was a crap show.

Are you going to give us the gram version, or are you going to give us the truth? Yeah, all right. So I did. So on the gram, you recovered this beautiful bowl. Yeah, I recovered the beautiful seven by six. One shot. Yeah, seven by six. Had a split front. Mass from Tahiti, double tings. Yeah. No, and I actually had a little bit of time to think about this. Why I spend my life trying not to look stupid, right? Well, I don't know if you do that. Yeah, I do. I don't know what your inner workings are. I try not to look stupid, try not to do stupid things, you know, look like an idiot all the time. We all look like idiots. And then we come in this room and turn on the mic, and every stupid thing that I've ever done gets like confession, you know? You have some fun stories. I'm not going to lie. I like it. I mean, anyway. All right.

So, last light, he came in, and I draw, shoot, and I think he just turned, and anyway, hit a little bit farther back than I would have liked. But he was- Hit the femoral artery. Yeah. And he was bleeding like mad. Blood out. Yeah. And Davey was like, he's, like, I don't think you hit vitals, but you hit something, and it's- Significant. He's bleeding like crazy. Like, I can see pools. No. So, anyway, we just decided to back out. Yeah, recovered him the next day. Recovered him the next day. And he'd only gone, from the last place that we saw him, by the pond, he'd only gone 30 yards. Jeez. Yeah. Anyway, went back. If you and Davey wouldn't have been watching reels, you would have actually heard him fall, John. Yeah. You could have heard him fall, but Davey had his reels going, had Facebook going. Not at this point, but yeah.

I mean, it's when you're sitting in water, and you've got, you know, six hours to sit. When I'm in a whitetail tree stand, I love service. 20 years ago, you really had to watch the squirrels. Yeah. I mean, there was nothing to do. So, anyway, went in the next morning, and it was awesome because it had rained, which I was worried about blood being washed away, but it turned out there were- You can't wash gallons of blood away. Yeah, buckets of blood that didn't wash it away. And he didn't go very far, but it was cool and raining, drizzling a little bit, so there were no flies. Recovered the bowl. Recovered it. Didn't lose any meat. It was awesome. Yeah, it was awesome. Yep. Did you have to visit with Game and Fish? Yeah. So, actually, we called him the night, you know, the night before and just said, hey, hit this bowl. Yeah.

You know, and Game and Fish just said, you know, make sure you don't have any weapons when you go back in. Oh, really? To get it. Yep. Oh. If it limped away, it limped away. Yep. Or if it limps away, or if it's limping, it's limping. Yeah. Whatever. Yeah, no weapons. And then he just said, when you find it, call me, and then we'll come and, you know. Validate it. Validate it and all that. So, it was great. Yeah. Yeah. They check its eyes for dilation or anything weird. Yeah. Make sure nobody was janking around with it. Like, and it was hard as a board, so. It was. It was just rig a mortis. Rig a mortis, yeah. So, you got some great kill photos. Oh, yeah. I like it. All right. So, successful hunts. Great. Yeah, it was good. Your first archery bowl. Yeah, my first archery bowl. So, it was pretty awesome. Have you killed an archery bowl before this hunt? Yeah. Okay.

So, we have two out of three stories at the table are going to be firsts. That's right. I like it. Yeah. All right. So, Cash. What's up? I guess let's roll right into here. All right. We'll stay in New Mexico. We're staying in New Mexico, rolling into the next archery season. You applied. You applied. Very similar to John. I didn't roll last year, so I was like, you know what? I'll do this two-day deal with an outfitter, and we'll go on the guide draw. I don't have any other bright spots looking for a tag, so might as well give myself a chance. And you were like, Jason, how aggressive do I get? Yeah. And so, we applied pretty aggressive. You know? We did, you know, some really good stuff, and then I drew my third choice. Yeah. So, it wasn't, like, obviously what I wanted exactly, but it was great. No, but that unit is produced. Yeah.

And so, the unit I went to, it's produced some good bulls, has good bulls, has good potential, but the big bulls are few and far between, come to find out, kind of. But we went down, and I went with an outfit, and man, they treated me so good. I can't thank them enough. Tim Bearclaw with Kiowa Guide Service, or Tim Bearclaw with Kiowa Hunting Service. They're awesome, awesome guys. They treated me really good, me and Logan both. Took Logan down there. I actually met him down there, because he flew back down there from his sister's wedding, and got down there, and we chased a big bull right around that mid-300s, 350-type bull for the first five days. And he, there was a one-mile-by-one-mile chunk that we could not hunt. We tried getting permission to hunt him after he got on there, and he just lived on it, stayed in a 300-yard radius for four days. Jeez. And hunted around him, called in.

Logan, being from Beaver County, he could have come up with some ideas. Yeah. I don't have any Beaver County ideas. Yeah. I mean, they make bottle rockets, and it's legal to use them. That's right. You can herd elk any which way you want. Okay. That did not come from me. Didn't come from me either. Keep going, Cash. So, anyway, he lived in there for the last five days, four or five days of the hunt, and just tried to pull him off, and he would not leave his. He had one hot cow when he went in there, and he would not leave her, and the elk wouldn't leave that either. He ended up coming off of there the last morning of the hunt before light, like it was dark as can be. We could hear him bugling out there. We knew his bugle. We'd heard it for nine stinking days. And so we're like, man, he's on us. Like, he's on our side. So we're going to have a crack. And so we start creeping out there.

He's about 500, 600 yards, and start creeping out there slow in the dark. And they just kept drifting and drifting and drifting. And eventually they were cooking. By the time light came, they were cooking across the flat and ended up jumping across the border and completely out of the question. So couldn't even chase him anymore. So I was telling Justin on his night, you almost can't beat an elk, even at walking pace. Oh, no. You can't get in front of them. If you're behind them, you're going to always be behind them. Yeah. One grazing step for an elk is 15 running paces for a human. Oh, yeah, 100%. It's crazy. They cooked. I mean, he had 25 cows with him then. So whatever happened, he gathered up a whole bunch of cows somehow, but from surrounding eight other bulls. Anyway, he was king of the area for sure and called in his satellite bull.

I mean, a bunch of his buddies around there and could have shot a handful of them, but passed them. Okay, let's clarify. Could have shot at. Could have shot at. Could have shot at. I did, yeah. I mean, full disclosure, I took a poke at a pole.

Since we're brutally honest and John started it off. Oh, I'm not scared. I will tell you the good, bad, and the ugly. I'm not scared. I'm scared. No, I mean, we had these bulls back clear in the back. We walked clear back there and they were coming off a chunk and they crossed and this bull came in from like a mile. And had I been four feet to my right, he would have got shot at about 10 yards frontal. He comes right up to the tree. I'm stuck. They're just locked onto the D loop. They're pinned down by his cows and he loops around and spits out there down to 60 and far enough that I needed to range him and ranged him. And by the time I drew back and my finger was hitting the trigger, he was whirling. Jeez. Dodged that one. And a couple days before that, there was a bull back in the same area. How many arrows did you take with you? I had a full quiver and two.

I came home with a full quiver and one. Okay. Or no, sorry. Sorry, that's a lie. I had a full quiver and three. I came back with a full quiver and one. Okay. No, you didn't. Yeah. That means you recovered arrows. No. You shot at two bulls. I lost two. And you killed. And I killed one. So I shot three. Oh, okay. I shot three arrows. And you came back with all but two of them. Yes. And then a used one. And a used one, yes. And a used one. Yes. We just can't have any lying. No. We're leaving no gray area. No gray. So my lying rule applies before the hunt and during the hunt. After the hunt. After, it's full disclosure. Yeah, full disclosure. You have to tell it all. Unfortunately. No. So then, I mean, a couple days before that, there was a bull we chased. And me and Logan were literally running for probably a mile. Wow. Straight running after these bulls. Is Logan in decent shape? No.

Oh, come on. I kept up and you made me carry the pack. Well, your pack had a bugle tube. It doesn't matter what was in the pack. It just matters that I was carrying the pack. It had a sippy cup.

A Capri Sun. A juice bar. And a cow call. And now it has three inhalers.

So we chased this herd down. And oh, my gosh. We covered some frigging ground. We chased them for a mile and a half. We probably ran a mile. And we caught up to him once. And his cow. I mean, we were another 10 seconds. We would have been inside of 60. And his cows come out. And we have to stop in the wide open. And he's out there too far. And I range his cows. I'm like, well, I can shoot that far. Yeah. So he stepped out. And I was. He stepped out in the front group. And I was dialed to the back group. And so I was four yards off on my dial. And it sailed right over his back. And it was fun. It was a great encounter. Super fun. But it was just one of those Hail Marys. He's got nothing to lose. And tried it. It was a calculated Hail. It wasn't really a Hail Mary. It wasn't. You could normally make the shot. Just that range finder gets you every time.

I think Justin has a story about a range.

So, again, it just is what it is. Yeah. Adam, all of us have done it. Every single one of us. The range is critical. Oh, yeah. So. I mean, once you get out to, you know, past 50, 60, it is very critical. Well. You have to be precise. Even prior. Right, Justin? Yeah. Even prior. Yeah. It can make a difference. It's not even my turn yet, man. Just setting you up for full disclosure. All right. So, Cash, keep going. Yeah. So, it comes down to the last day. The big bull, he skips country. He's out of the question. And I'm not kidding. The sun was still 10 minutes from even peaking over the rise. Yeah. And the morning was over. Wow. Everything was back to the trees, in bed. He was gone. Just teasing us from across the boundary. Did you have the moon hit giving you grief? Yeah. Full moon sucked. Bad. We had that.

And then when it's hot and they're playing all night long, they get to be bedded all day long. But then they also get up at weird times in the middle of the day. Yeah. So, usually when you're chilling out at 11 to 2 p.m. They're up for 30 minutes. Yeah. Exactly. Yep. So, anyway, we leave that area. We go to a different area that we had been through and just kind of one that's historically held a few bulls. And there was a bull early there, whatever. And we go up and we get to a turn. We're like, well, we can go here or we can go there. And I said, well, it's a 50-50 either way. Let's flip a coin. And we didn't have a coin, so I flipped my phone. I said, if it's this side, we'll go this way. This side, we'll go that way. Sure enough, we picked the wrong one. So, we go over there, dink around for a little bit, nothing. So, we're like, well, might as well go the other way. We got time.

So, we pull up there. And before we get out of the truck, I glass out the opposite side. And right as soon as I pull up, right in the middle of your binos, there's an elk's butt. Wow. Standing in front of the tree. I'm like, hey, there's an elk right there. What is it? I'm like, that looks like a bull. Big body. Turns its head. Sure enough, it's a bull. And so, he's about 900 yards away. They're like, well, we got nothing to lose. So, might as well start creeping out there and see if he wants to play. And we get out there to about 300 yards from him and start cow chirping and chirping. And finally, after like 30 minutes, he rips off a little bugle. And we're like, well, if he comes down, we'll try him. And he looked okay from that far. So, we're like, well, we'll see. And gets down to the edge of the tree. You're getting toward the end, right? Like you're... Yeah, this is the last day.

Yeah, so it's not... Last day of the hunt, 9 o'clock. It's not like, this bull's dying. Okay. Oh, yeah. Let's just be honest. Yeah. So, I'm like, if he's a good enough bull, if he's something that... If he's a bull, he's dying. Well, it wasn't quite to that point. It really wasn't. I mean, I was boiling water for tag soup. I was doing that mentally. But it wasn't to the point where I was shooting a little tiny rag. Yeah. It wasn't. I did hold my standard that I told you. 300-inch, six-point, toward the last day, I'd probably be okay. Yep. And that's what they told us down there. Like, everyone down there was like, yeah, if a 306-point walks out, you should probably shoot it. Yeah. Even though there's bigger. Yeah. Even though there is bigger, like, whatever. And so, I was like, yeah, I'm going to hold up for a big bull. That's right. I tried to tell Jess to me when he listened.

But anyway, keep going. So, anyway, we get up there, and he's bugling a little bit and wants to play a little. But he'll only come to the edge of the trees. And so, we get separated from the caller. Me and Logan are up there. And the bull comes out, and he's at 95 behind the trees. And I was like, oh, he's not going to come any closer. He's right on the edge of the thick. Like, he's just coming out to look, and that's it. And so, he kind of has us pegged a little bit, but he's not seeing us. We're in the shade. And comes out a little further. Like, that might happen. So, I tell Logan, I'm like, hey, you stay here. I'm going to close this last 20 yards of the street. And if I can get to there, if he steps out and gives a shot, we should have him inside range. And so, by the time I get up there, he comes out, and our guide, Roy, rips off just a little wimpy bugle.

This bull comes the last 10 yards that we needed him to. And steps out right there at 70. Perfectly broadside. Wow. Drawback. Let him have it. Right in the heart. You couldn't hit him better. Wow. Pretty proud of that shot. Dang. So, anyway, he ran about 100 yards and laid down, and we didn't even have to touch him to take pictures. Wow. Legs were tucked. Folded up. Folded up. Perfect. Wow. And just after about the first 30 yards, he starts dumping big old frothy blood, everything. We're like, oh, he's dead. Sure enough, walk over there. There he is. There he is. There's nothing like an archery kill. Oh, so fun. It was so fun. Like, the whole hunt, I got the whole experience. Every morning, we were on bulls, we're in them. There was multiple mornings where, all the way around us, me and Logan both were just surrounded by bugles, and you're just chasing one to another and one to another.

But it was super fun. I would do it again in a heartbeat. Pretty awesome. It was fun. And ended up going with an endorsed outfitter and just an awesome experience. Awesome. Top notch. Top notch. Top notch. Absolutely. How cool is that? Yep. All right. And I would say, like, I've killed bigger bulls, and it's hard to get those experiences or those tags. It's hard to draw tags. And so, you know, drawing through an outfitter might be a good option. Yeah. And a lot of these outfitters have, or at least a handful of them, have these two-day deals. And there was a couple guys from Pennsylvania there that they were on just a two-day deal. They came in. They were guided for two days. And a lot of these outfitters will let you extend a day or whatever if you want, or you can work something out.

But the two-day deals for someone that's, like, a new state, new stuff, a little bit of local knowledge goes a lot of ways. Oh, dude. Local knowledge is everything. It helped those guys so much. Yeah. Like, we took them out, what was it, the fourth to last day or something. They had, like, two days left before they had to leave. And we kind of took them out almost. They didn't have anything. We're like, well, there's bulls back here that I'm not going to kill, but you guys would be stoked with. Because they just wanted a bull. And we got him to 65 on this bull. This is a non-guided client? He was guided for two days. The same guy. Oh, and then they hang around. Yeah, they ended up being just accommodated for the rest of the time, but no guide. And so they were like, well, we're not sure. Like, we had this bull back here or whatever. And kind of gave him some ideas.

And we're like, well, we're going about to the same area. So if, and it was around the big bull. I was like, if we pull him off, like, I'm going to kill him. And if we pull his satellite bull off again, then smash him. Like, we'll help you pack him. We'll do whatever you want. And so we got a 65 on his satellite bull and just didn't quite come together with him. But it was super fun just to help them a little bit. Just have, it was fun. People in camp are awesome. Everything. So fun. Yep. All right, Justin. Here we are. All right. The highlight. Justin, just to set it up a little bit, like, you know, Justin, you know, Justin's got, he's just graduated from high school. And basically kind of got this little bit of a lull between you work your guts out all summer long. And then, you know, potentially going out on a mission for our church and here in the short order.

And so then we're like, what are we going to do? And he's like, I want to hunt the month of September. Like, that's what we're going to do. Yep. Archery. I wanted to hunt archery. And then after archery, I could choose what I want to do from there. But I for sure want to take the archery hunt and just focus on it and see if we can get something special done. Yeah. And he had a few points, but it turns out he didn't have enough to really get it. But I thought he had a real chance, but he didn't. He didn't. He actually, and then the results come out and he beat the odds. Like, he drew a random tag. That's total luck. I stole it. 7% chance draw odds. I think it was what it was. Something like that. Yeah, at the point level he was at. And so it's just like, wow, this is kind of, you know, supposed to happen. Like, this is going to be a big deal. And so, and then my schedule.

So this is Justin and I's deal, right? And so then my schedule, I'm like, well, I've got this Nevada deer tag, potential for a landowner tag. And then I want to go do the moose hunt with the guys. But then I'm like, no, I really need to do this hunt. And I'm like, yeah, but if all the stars align, you can do it all, right? And that never happens. Never works. And it never works out right. Pretty soon I start to get stressed with the Nevada thing. I let it go. And then the moose hunt, I let it go. And I was like, no, this is going to take a minute. We're going to really work on this. And it's a long season. And it might take the whole season. Maybe you do get lucky and you kill early or something. But this is our deal. So that's what it was. This is what my plan was for September. This is what Justin's plan was. And I also had an archery deer tag general here in Utah. Yeah. Hunted one day.

And hunted one day. And then goes ahead and blows his shoulder out that day. So, Justin, why don't we start right there? Yeah. You want me to start with the one day? Yeah, the one day. All right. All right. So, me and my brother, we all, you know, we got pre-scouted. Pine Valley is what we got. We had general season. Okay. So, on the podcast, we try to not talk about units too much. So, start over there. Okay. So, it's okay. You can. Logan cuts. You can leave that one. Who cares? Well. But we're going to teach you some things. Okay. Yeah. Yeah.

All right. Okay. So, me and my brother pre-shouted this unit in Utah.

And we had some half-decent bucks found. There was nothing super big in the unit. But we had an archery tag. I wasn't looking for anything super special. And I had one really, like, one day to really hunt this unit. So, we go out. And we happen to come up on the group of bucks that we, that is, like, the biggest bucks that we found in the unit. And so, my brother has, can hunt. So, my, I have, we both have a tag. My brother lets me stalk the deer. And so, I get within 150 yards of this buck. And I'm just waiting for him to stand up. It's midday. I'm waiting for him to stand up at night. And we're just sitting there and waiting, waiting, waiting. Sure enough, coyote comes across right in front of him. He jumps up out of his bed. And you stare down on the coyote. The coyote's just walking past him. And he kind of calms down a little bit. And I'm behind this rock pile at, like, 150 yards.

And it's just sagebrush between me and this buck. This buck's bedded under a tree. His nose is in the wind. I can't really come up behind him because he's going to sniff me. And it's just, it's a terrible, terrible situation. But the buck starts walking towards the rock pile I'm sitting in. You know, he's up. He's up. You know, get ready. Get ready. He's running. He's coming right towards you. And so, I'm ready. I'm ready. I'm ready. I'm, he's like, you probably, you probably ought to draw back. And so, I'm full draw. I'm sitting there 30 seconds, you know, 40 seconds. I'm not seeing anything. I don't know how long I can hold this full draw. But, like, this buck better be coming.

Can he move faster?

Anyways, Buck never shows up. I let down. He's like, well, he's right there. You know, we can see it all the way around you. He's somewhere in there. He hasn't blown yet. Okay. And so, he's like, if you think you can, like, you sneak over the top, peek over, see what you can see. And I was like, yeah, okay. You know, we can try it, I guess. That generally doesn't work. It does not work. Cold to school, you know. I would have lost my mind. It does not work. If I would have heard that, I would have been like, 101. Okay.

Anyways, we made the mistake of peeking over the top of the rocks. I couldn't see the buck. And he's just not there. And I'm just waiting for him to walk out. And then he just blows. He was in the spot. I couldn't see him. He could see me. It was bad. He just blew. And so, they're like, well, that's that, I guess. And so, we start walking back to the truck. And I always keep an arrow in my quiver. It's the practice arrow, the coyote arrow, the arrow that you can dink off with and not feel too bad. And I wasn't very happy. I was kind of mad about the buck. And there's a little rabbit in front of me, you know, 20 yards. Ranger, you know. Jackrabble. Leave the jacks alone. As you get older, you feel bad for little critters. And I tell the boys, you're going to feel bad these days. You know, something's going to pay for my pain and suffering.

There's a heart that needs to be stopped. That's right. Take the disease-infested jack. Jeez. So, he's right at 20 yards. It's going to be a chip shot. Easy. I go to pull back. And as I've been practicing over the summer, my D-loop had worn a little hole. And, like, it's starting to get a little smaller and smaller and smaller. And I told him, probably ought to need to work on that one. Yeah. But you don't think a lot. Yeah, we don't. I wasn't thinking a whole lot about it. I'm in the middle of a hunt. I don't really, you know, I'm not really thinking about D-loop. Anyways.

Pull back. I go to pull back on this jackrabbit. Halfway back, my D-loop breaks. And all the force of the bow is 60 pounds. Just yanks my shoulder out. And I dislocate my shoulder. Jeez. It's not new to me. I've had problems with my shoulders before. So, it's like. The other shoulder we had surgery on. Other shoulders had surgery on. Doc says you're probably going to have surgery on this one. When do you want to do it? Popped my right one out twice before we had surgery on it. And then my left one, I popped it out once. But it's like an 80% chance of recovery if you don't have surgery. Like 80% you need to have surgery. 20% chance of recovery. Yeah. And it doesn't hurt it if you pop it out again a second time. But after the second time, you need to get surgery after that. And so, my left one popped out again. Which is your bow hand. That's my bow hand. I gripped my bow with my left one.

Okay. And the second time I dislocated my shoulder, I went into the hospital. And they showed me how to pop back in by myself if it ever happened again. And so, I popped it back in by myself. My arrow's gone. And it just disappeared. And so, we had issues. You were hurting. We had issues. So, now I'm sitting here going, okay. This was my September. You know, the boys are in Alaska where I should be.

Like, what are we going to do? Is Justin really going to be able to go? And then there's all these weird things that come into your mind. Like, okay, we have this crossbow exemption. You can go to the doctor. He's going to get a doctor's note. He can't shoot this bow. I did get the doctor's note. The doctor did sign off for me to have a crossbow. Well, the doctor's a good friend of ours, even a client. And he's like, Justin, what did he say? Oh, he was like, you can use a crossbow. But honestly, from what we heard. Well, he started saying, do you want to turn your tag back? Like, he's consulting Justin about hunting plans. And I'm like, okay. Probably ought to ask Dad first. No, not this one. Anyways, yeah, he said he's like a crossbow. A lot of people that we have use crossbows actually, like, don't like them a whole lot compared to their regular bows.

And I didn't really want to use one anyways. We don't even have a crossbow. So, yeah, I was like, well, if I can pull my bow back, like, is it going to hurt my shoulder anymore if I try to pull it back? And he just kind of told me, he's like, well, if you can kind of take it, then you're good to go. And so I was like, all right, well, we're going to go then. So, Justin didn't shoot another shot until we were shooting an elk. Yeah. Because every day you're going to recover. You're repairing a little bit. At least in my mind, I'm thinking that. Right. Yeah. Yep. And so we went off to elk hunting. And we didn't know what was going to happen, but we went anyways. Yeah, I didn't know if he was going to be able to pull it back. But you just, you don't want to try it until you have to. So, anyway, yeah. So, it was aggressive. We just had scouted all summer.

I had scouted with him a little bit, got him started, and then I would send him pens of more waters. Because elk have to water, especially in this, you know, like, waters everything to elk, you know. And so, just sending pens, and then he was finding waters, and after work, and days off, just a lot of hot days. Every day, if I got off before three, I'd go see what I could do out in the unit. And I paid off. Like, we found waters. Found some big bulls. We got on some big bulls, gave us a start. And then, so then we're thinking, we're right at the first. When they're not rutting, supposedly, then you're going to run blinds, you know, and sit in blinds. And so, we had some janky setups, too. Oh, it was brutal. Slapping the blind the first day. Like, day after day. Oh, it was terrible. It was terrible. Day after day. I hate sitting blinds.

Well, and it was straight up, like, it was in this big old deep ravine. So, it's not even close to level. Like, not even close. Like, we're talking a steep ravine, right? Like, there's this water on the side of a road that's, like, it's steep, you know? And I'm like, you don't have choices. Every time something would come up to this water, they would leave, right? Because you have trail camera pics back when it's legal to run cameras, right? During the summer. And so, you could see the consistent action of what was going on. And I'm like, you don't have a choice. You have to sleep in this blind. And so, there you go. It was brutal. Sat at least 10 days in blinds. And it was terrible. Dead nights. I hated it. No, you didn't. It was bad. I did it. I did it because what if? But, like. Passed a six-pointer? I did pass a six-point bull on first week or something like that. But I was after.

I told my dad in preseason, you know, 350 plus is kind of what I want if I'm going to. How many elk have you killed? I've killed one elk. This is bothersome to a dad. And Justin's serious about it. Like, it's like, no. Like, what will that bull score? I'm like, who cares? I'm like, guy. You're 19. He started passing up bulls for me at the end, though. So, he got into it. Gained a little passion. He's 15 days into it. If you're serious, I'm serious. So, yeah. Justin, tell me about the time you're sitting in a blind. The bull walks up to the blind side of the door. Gosh. So, we find a water. Okay. It's not a water. It's a trickle. It's not even a trickle. It's like a damp spot. We dig out a damp spot. A track full of water. But they were coming to it. There was a lot of moss. And they were just kind of coming to it. Yeah. And so, then we dug it out. Yeah. And so, we dug it out.

We got a little bit of water going. And we set up a blind. And I sit it the first night. And we set the blind midday. He sits it that night. Yeah. So, within hours, he's in the blind. This is how deep into the hunt? I don't know. Probably 10 days. 10 days. Yeah. Okay. It's something like that. Anyways. So, I'm sitting there. It's getting late. 20 minutes before dark. And I'm out glassing. So, every time he sits, I'm glassing. I'm running glass, glass, glass, glass. Working country as if. So, you can feel guilt-free sitting in a blind. Because if you're only sitting in a blind, that's all you're doing. You're hunting one tiny area. Yeah. It's a little bit tough, right? So, I'm out and about. Yep. We had good bulls in the area before pre-season scouting. And so, we knew there was something there. But I can hear a bull coming in. They're loud. They're like horses. I don't know.

It's just nothing like deer. But I can hear him coming in. He's breaking trees and walking in towards me. And I'm getting ready for him to come right in front of me 20 yards in this water. And he just keeps coming towards me. And he stops. You can't see him, though. I can't see him. So, we keep the blind completely dark except for one little window that I can shoot out of. And the one little window is facing the water. And he's just coming. I can hear him keep coming towards me and keep coming towards me. And he just stops. I'm like, what's he doing? You know, he's just looking at the blind. He's just looking at the blind. Don't overthink it. It's okay. Anyways. Anyways. I can hear him. And pretty soon he starts walking towards me and getting closer and closer and closer. And I'm like, why is this bull not coming? Why can I not see this bull yet? Or this elk. I don't know what it was.

And I can hear him. He has to be five yards from the blind. I can hear him breathing. He's just sitting there breathing. It was a brand new blind to him. He must have just been curious about what's going on with the blind. It was like. Terrible. It was terrible. I was shaking my head, you know. I was hoping he can't smell me too good, I guess. And he might walk off a little bit and come back to the water. I don't know. And then this little squirrel behind me just starts screaming. And the bull jumps. And he gets nervous. I swear. Squirrels are talking to things. It's terrible. Yeah. He gets old. And he just starts walking away. And he keeps walking, keeps walking. And I just can't hear anything. And to this day I have no idea what that was. And I'm like. Just okay. I'm like. Really? Okay. Unzip. He's walking away. You unzip the bull. My mind. My mind. You might come back tomorrow.

You reach your little giraffe head around. And look out.

He licks your face. It's okay.

Lucky didn't rake the blind. Yeah. Yeah. All right. So off we go. Things aren't. Things are. We're getting serious. We're starting to be getting out and about. We're going to. We're glassing. That's right. That's right. My dad's out glassing. We got elk groups found. Things are going well. We got one little area that seems like it's got quite a few elk in it.

It's pretty wide open flat out where we found these elk. We have to go around the backside because you push them to the trees coming from the front side. So we come in from the backside and let them come toward you. This whole thing about chasing behind them. Yep. Never. Never works. It never works. And so anyway, we get it figured out. Anyways. Yeah. We get it figured out. We know there's a bull in this area. We've seen him.

We don't know exactly where they're going into the trees after they're out in the open. But my dad goes and sits in one of the areas that they could be going in one night. And he's. I mean, we see. We see groups of elk in this area. And so we know they're going in there. And so the next night or whatever, we go into this, go into the area and we're glassing, glassing, glassing. It's kind of windy. We're not seeing a whole lot. We're seeing groups of cows, not, you know, spikes, nothing, nothing worthwhile. And then, and then the bull, I hear a bugle and it's windy. It's really windy. If I hear a bugle, this bull, this bull's close to me. I know. I don't know exactly where he is, but I know he's close. Sanders between us. Yeah. Justin's on a knob. I'm on a knob, but Sanders between us is where they are. That's right.

And anyways, I look down the ridge that I'm sitting on and in this little saddle between my ridge and another ridge, I can see some cows coming out, out from between the saddle and it's like 600 yards. And I'm like, well, you know, it's probably with those cows. And so I move a little bit further up my ridge, see if I can see what's, what's in with the cows. And I glass him up and this bull's sitting under the street, you know, just above the cows at 600 yards. And he's, he's looking at me. He doesn't, but he's with a whole bunch of cows. He just, he's not really nervous about anything yet or anything like that. And that's the bull that we're looking for. And my dad struggles a little bit getting on the bull, but he manages. He got there. He got there. Okay. All right. We're not used to this. Nobody gives Jason crap. So tell us more. Couldn't even see the bull. Please continue.

I couldn't even see the bull. He's around into a blind draw. Anyway, he does come out where I can't see him. We got it. We got it.

Hey, we got a plan. Last time you're ever invited. We're there because of your dad.

Anyway, go ahead. Anyways, we got a plan. I'm going to go behind the ridge and see if I can get closer to the elk. We get closer to the elk and the cows kind of move down along the, along, along draw. But the bull stays up high. Okay.

And I think he's going to go back through this little saddle, possibly. And so I'm sitting in the saddle. I got the bottom of the saddle range, like 30 yards. And so I walk up to, you know, sneak up to the top of the ridge. And I look over. And sure enough, I can see the little tree that he's rubbing on. And I range it. It's 92 yards. The little ridge that I was on got the trees between me and him. And I walked up to the trees. And I range the trees. He's still raking at 40, no, it was 50 yards. I ranged at 50 yards. And I got the arrow knocked. Everything's pitch perfect, you know, picture perfect. It's going to go perfect, you know. The bull stops raking, walks out to the left side of the tree. And I can just catch a glimpse of his eyes through my tree. And he just stops and stares straight at me. He saw something. And me and this bull have a staring contest for three to five minutes.

Like a solid three to five minutes we did not move a muscle. And pretty soon the bull relaxes a little bit and decides he wants to know what he saw behind the tree. And moves off to the left side. And I come to full draw. And he walks towards me a little bit. And I step out. And he stops and stares at me. And I did not account for the amount of space that he covered between me and him from his tree. And I put it right on 50, squeezed, and it just went an inch over his back. Just he jumps up, just runs, yelling at the other cows. And it was just a mess. Barking at you. Yeah. So anyway, enough of that story. Because that was miserable.

That was brutal. We learned a lot, right? The value of range finding. Yeah. It was good. And you're not calling these elk. They know all the elk in the country. There's four. They're like, that's not Charlotte's voice. No. Like, come on. You're not calling them. And they're also not dead rut. Like, this is just crazy stuff. So anyway, we end up getting on another bull. You get within 70. That one doesn't happen. I got within 60. I ranged him at 58. And he just won. We're talking like 360s. Yeah. But besides the fact Justin had said a different water and had four bulls come in. And I'm like, really? Did you even? Did you? You know, I don't know. I'm not even interested. You know? There was only 355. There were raghorns. All of them came sprinting into the water. Yeah. Just. Yeah. Anyway, so there was some success in a blind here and there. But yeah.

So then we're kind of running out of options. Like, we're like day 17. You know? And I'm like, we need to go check waters. Like, we need to check tracks on waters. You know? And so we start coming up with some ponds and just start working it. And then I'm like, okay. There's one water. Had quite a few elk. We figured out a spot for Justin to sit. It's like 90 degrees. And then my water only had like four or five elk. It looked like. Yeah. Maybe. Like it was. There was nothing on your water. Yeah. And so. And so basically here. What were we talking? Like an hour into the sit. I glass up this bull. And I'm looking at him. And I'm like. At this point. Like, it's 330, 340 plus bull. Like, we're shooting it. And I'm. And with all the heat waves and stuff. I can't really tell. But I think he's big. Like, he just feels big to me. He's lumbery. You know. Giant body. And I'm like.

I've got to go get Justin. I freaking get off that knob. And I'm doing 90. To go figure out how to get Justin. We meet up. And we do 95. And this bull is not 1,000 yards from you. He's like miles. He's two and a half miles. Right. Otherwise, I'd have cherry video. And I have decent video. But I mean, it's. You know. And so we get back on him. And I'm like, Justin. A grown man. And I don't know. We should Google this, Logan. But a grown man, I think, can walk two and a half to three miles an hour. In the hills. You know. Straight. Like a storm line. Yeah. And if you put the onyx pin where he was at. And you. Distance to where you're standing. You're talking like. It'd look like 2.2 miles. Or whatever. What does it say? Three miles per hour. Yeah. And so with a pack and a bow. That's a fast walk. Yeah. With a pack and a bow and everything else. You know. And Justin's a tall kid. You know.

Weave in the wash. Yeah. And you don't have a straight two and a half. You're 2.2. You've got. Yeah. So anyway. You start doing the math. And you're like. It's going to be. He's going to be pushing it to get there. And you kind of got to do everything you can to try it. So. I got there. I got there like. An hour and 20 minutes before dark. And my dad's like. You got two and a half mile walk. To get to this bull. Before you even had a chance. It was a little bit of a stretch. But I want him to know. I want him to know this is no joke. Yeah. You know. You got to. You got to hurry. And we don't see him. I don't see him. So we just send him up the wash. Get going. And I sit down in a chair. And I've got. I got embedded. I can see embedded. When I really settle in. Yeah. And so then pretty soon. Justin's on his own. You're cranking up that wash. And at some point. It's all open.

Like you know Logan. Yeah. This is. Yeah. It's wide open country. Yeah. You're squatting behind a little foot tall sage brush and calling that cover. Yeah. We're getting to that point.

Justin's six foot two or whatever. You know gangly little thing up there. Anyway. So he's all the way up there. And behind the last tree. So we've taken him to the last tree. It's all you. It's you and the bull. It's me and the bull. And so he's silenced. And I don't know exactly where the bull's at at some point. You know. And so it's just me and the bull. And so this bull. I range. I'm at the last tree. It's just sage brush between me and this bull. And I range the bull at 250 yards. And he's at the bottom of this giant draw. And I'm like there's no possible way this is going to come together. Like there's no way this is going to come together. There's. This bull is. Has to walk straight towards me. He's feeding. Yeah. Calm. So he's on to five. He's up on his feet. Yeah. He's up on his feet. He's walking. Well at this point in the hunt. Like the last five days.

All we see is fives and small sixes with cows. The big bulls are by themselves. And he's alone. And he's alone. Perfect. Yep. Yeah. It's perfect for stalking. But it's just like. Man. What's going on mid-September. Why is this rut this way? But anyway. Yeah. It was weird. Anyways. So the bull disappears. I have this little. I'm in this little tiny wash. It's. I don't even know if you can call it a wash. But it's just this divot in the earth. And I'm like. The only possible way for me to get closer to this bull. Is if I try to sneak up this little wash. And so I start walking. And I get down. And I start sneaking up the wash. I don't know exactly where the bull's at. I just know that I can't see him. And he's somewhere in front of me. And he's bugling. He's screaming his guts out at some other bull that's in the canyon next to him. Which I didn't even know there was other elk.

You assume there is because I see the tracks. Right. A few tracks. And. And I can't hear anything. But you're at your car. Too far. You're way too far. Yeah. And so. So he's screaming his guts out at this bull next to him. So I kind of got. You know. Every 60 seconds. I know where he's at. Every time he bugles. And. 75 yards. You know. 50. 75 yards up this wash. I hear him bugle. And he's straight off to my right. And he. He must have just disappeared. And walked straight down towards me. And I'm like. Well. That bull's right there. And so I peeked my head up over. And sure enough. He's standing there. And I get a range on him. It's 63 yards. I dial my bow. To 63. And. I draw back. And the arrow that's been in my. And stand up. And the arrow that's been in my bow. For the last 10 minutes. I. Decides to de-knock itself. And fall on the ground. Oh. Jeez. This bull turns. And looks at me.

I'm sitting there with a. Fully drawn bow. Without an arrow in it. And. It's just. Heartbreak. Oh yeah. Sets in. So I. Let down. I'm flustered. I grab the arrow. Renock it. Draw back. Stand back up. The bull's still staring at me. And. I just put it on him. Wait. Was the broadhead loose? Not on this one. Okay.

We're getting to this. I mean. These are things that dads die. Like. I'm just like. Really? Oh. You see. You see him draw. And then let down. You're like. I don't even see that. I don't even see that. It's so far away. In the brush. You can't see it. Okay. I know what the. The last lollipop tree. And then the bull. That's. Okay. I can't see the details. And. So I draw back. And. I try. I get it on him. I know. And. As soon as I let go. I knew it was just a little bit high on his back. And it just. It must. Had gone over him. It was getting a little dark. I didn't know exactly. Flustered at this point. Yeah. I was flustered at this point. And I didn't know exactly where the arrow went. But. Yeah. He just stands there. And he. When I shot. He jumps. He trots a little bit. And he stops. And he. You know. Turns back towards me. I grab another arrow. I knock it. Broadhead's loose. It was just.

It was a cluster. I tighten the broadhead up. Draw back. Again. And. This bull's staring at me. And I was just like. Well. You know. There's a very small chance. That I'm going to be able to get this arrow off. Before this bull starts running. But if I do. I want it to count. And so. I take my time a little bit. Make sure the bow's level. And I just squeeze it. And sure enough. Smacks the bull. And. The bull. Starts trying to. Run. Trot. Away. And it's got. It's limping really hard. It's. Arched over. And it looks like he's about to tip over a couple times. But he doesn't. And. And he. He kind of. Limps into this. This little ravine. Me and my dad. Both can't lose sight of him. We don't know where he is. And. My dad's got church the next morning. At 730. And it's just like. I'm on my own. If I want to recover him tomorrow. Well. Okay. So. The hazards of kids being on the podcast. So.

That's your thing. I can see the bull. And I can see him almost try to tip over. Yeah. Like. I know. You know it's hurting. The bull's body language is. This bull's dying. Like. I mean. He's. He's doing this routine. And I mean. It's. It's all he can do to stay on his feet. And it's 90 degrees. Like. Yeah. You know what I mean. And so it's like. I don't even really want him. Spending the night. You know. Warmed over. You know what I mean. It's just like. The ideal thing is to recover this bull. And I think. There's no question. This bull's dying. Yep. So I relocate the bull. He's right where we lost him. And. He lays down. And. I get up. Close to him. Range him at 50 yards. And. I stick him to him. Perfect shot. Perfect. Right through the lungs. And he goes on a death run for about 100 yards. And tips over under a tree. And Justin listens to his last breath. Or whatever. That's awesome.

And of course. You're like. Whoa. It's an hour later. Time to get everything gathered up. You get the family on their way. Because they want to enjoy it too. With us. And. Get everybody ironed out on exactly where we're at. And all of these things. And so. Anyway. And then Justin. Has to relocate his shoes. And then they're not with the pack. Got to relocate the pack. That we didn't mark on on X. Yep. Yard sale over to him. Huh? It was a freaking yard sale. Hey. It was a clustered. Clustered up yard sale.

Whatever you got to do. Hey. All that matters is there's a bull on the ground. That's right. That's right. It's all worth it. Who cares about the boots? They're replaceable. That's right. Exactly. Okay. Hey. There again. Dad. Dad bullets. Everything's replaceable to these kids. And not just any bull. Not just any bull. No. This is a solid bull. Great bull. It was awesome bull. We walk up to it. Oh, yeah. So we walk up to it. And it's just what I thought. I mean, it's, you know. I thought he was 360 to 375-ish or whatever. He ends up right on the dot with the A's. 370. Jeez. Yeah. That's awesome. Yep. 370-incher. So anyway, just, and just, and just the whole leading up to it, the whole experience, the sitting water, the spot and stalking, not dealing with people, just having a raw, I mean, Justin said in the middle of the hunt, this is like real hunting, like raw. You know what I mean?

Like you're looking for track. We're looking for rubs. You're hunting down cows. You don't just get lucky. You don't just get lucky on a road hunt where you find something, jump out of the truck and swat him. You know, it's just. You're out there creating your luck. That's right. It was. Grinding it out. It was legit. Learned a ton. Huh. So much. Yeah. It was awesome. Learned how to call. Learned a little bit of everything. What to look. How to set blinds. I mean, all the stuff that, and it's hard to get those experiences nowadays with the draw tags the way they are and, you know, have those epic experiences. It's just tough. It's hard to make those happen. You know? I mean, you can get over-the-counter tags, but you're just dealing with so many people. You can't really. It's not you and the elk. Right. It's you and a cluster. Yep. You know?

And so, anyway, this is just one of those great opportunities. Yeah, it was awesome. Couldn't ask for anything more, for sure. It was a huge, proud dad moment. Oh, yeah. And maybe a slight relief. I mean, after 17 days, it makes sense. I eat quite a few tags, and I'm thinking, I don't want this kid to eat a tag. Like, what are we doing? It's a six-by-three. You shoot it. If it's a six-by-spike, we're dumping it. Like Cash said, we had water boiling for the whole family. For tag soup, right? For tag soup. Yeah. It gets down to the wire. You start looking at that pot. If you're going to feed the family, you're going to have to eat the survey packet, the tooth packet. All of it. The envelope. I mean. The envelope. All of it. That's right. The little plastic part that you're addressing, that's your floss after. Like, you're eating it all. Yeah. Absolutely.

Justin, I was like, you know, if we had a little more time, you know, I'd be having you break this thing down. Because, I mean, this bull is a giant body. You know what I mean? And I'm like, I'm an old man dad, you know? He's like, oh, dad, I know how to do this stuff. You're fine. Keep going.

Sure enough. Anyway, it was awesome. Family shows up. It was a good time. So, there you have it. On to the next, huh, Justin? That's right. So, pretty awesome. Cash, John? Yeah. On to it. Over these stories. Like, we're tired. Logan, your dad and you hunted the Kaibab. Yeah. We did. Good times? It was a good time. Yeah. Great time. Yeah. It was a great time. It's a tough hunt, but we made the most out of it. And it's hard to complain about being on a couple big deer. So, I gave you a waypoint. One of them was spot on. We've talked about this quite a few times. You're proud of this. I am proud of it, Logan. I'm proud of it. I'm the best desk jockey ever. I love it because it's like playing chess or whatever. You can just go, go here. Yeah. Go here. But anyway, but that buck gets killed. You guys find your own, like, a whole different area. Giant buck. Yeah. We had a target buck.

He got killed. I think part of my exuberance is that I told your dad to keep the tag. And there's a little pressure when you're dealing with clients and friends. Maybe even more so on friends, right? Oh, 100%. You should keep that tag. Yeah. If you guys would not have found a good buck, I mean, your dad's very brutally honest. He would just say, dude, it sucks. I haven't found anything. Yeah. Like, he would just, and I would be like, really? I'd be crushed. Yeah. You know? So, anyway, but had a good hunt overall? 100%. Yeah. Yeah. It's a good hunt. It's tough. You get a lot of pressure because there's higher tag numbers on that hunt. But you can make a lot of good experiences. You have a lot of good opportunities on that hunt. Yeah. I like it. And it's a cool place. Yeah. I loved it. It's a cool place. Yep. Cool area. I love going down there.

What I love, like, there's some areas with a lot of understory here and there, but it's a clean forest. Like, I like that. That forest is gorgeous. It's just clean, great big old trees with no extra branches forever. Like, it's just beautiful, you know? No, it's a cool place. Kind of like a good deer. It's just got some age on it. The forest has some age. It does. And then there's some burn country, too. It's really good. And it's big. It's a big country. But then there's a lot of tags. You guys dealt with that. Yeah. Yep. Better than the Utah General, though, wouldn't you say? Oh, yeah. I mean, it's by no means was it a bad. It was tough, but it was not a bad one. You were on 170 bucks pretty regular. Yeah. Yep. You see a lot of those bigger class deer that on the general hunt here you'd be pretty excited about. So it's not like you were seeing nothing.

We just went down there with some expectations. Kind of like Justin, we had tough expectations for ourselves. And we passed some bucks that were great bucks, but we were looking for that next level. And we cannot say we were disappointed because it was a tough hunt, but we had good opportunity. Did you ever figure out how to slow roll the pines? Which vehicle worked best slow rolling the pines? We got the Ford to work out pretty okay. When you figure out how to do... A certain RPM or what? Well, you just... You can't spool the turbo. You muffled the exhaust? No. No. No. You just... You told us the day before we went down to do the... When we went down for the last 10 days or whatever, however long we went down there, roll up the windows and just go slow. That way they can't hear you talking. If you got music or the AC going, they can't hear that.

So the Ford worked out okay for that, but still far and above the best one was that old Tundra with the V8. But it had a bearing squeak on it, so it was pretty loud. But other than that, that thing was cherry for the kayak babs, slow rolling the pines. There you go. All right. Well, I don't remember the window thing, but I... It is. I have slow rolled some pines. But I would not say I rival Wyatt. No. I wish Wyatt were here to give me his expert class advice before I went down, but... Yeah. Yeah. All right, Kay. Well, sounds good. I want to throw a little shout out there to CVA. CVA, we're selling them, plus advertising the Acura MRX, the Acura LRX, a couple of our favorite models that they sell. I mean, we're talking a very affordable $600 type option. So anyway, just great muzzleloaders. They're ready to throw a scope on. Also drilled and tapped and good for open sights as well.

Love them. Just a great affordable option and actually very accurate. Great product. Proud to have them as an affiliate here with us here at Epic Outdoors. Also, Kinetrek. Little shout out to Kinetrek. Kinetrek.com. K-E-N-E-T-R-E-K.com. 1-800-232-6064. Man, we got an advertisement in here for the grizzly pack boots. We got winter coming on. It's not, it'll be here fast. It's crazy how fast things are changing. I talk about the heat, but this morning I was at 32 degrees. All the leaves are changing. It's all, even coming off the trees up on the top of the mountain. So anyway, it's pretty fun. But Kinetrek has everything from desert country type boots, clear down to pack boots in the winter. So, you know, pretty awesome. Great people. Proud to be associated with them. Jim Wengem and his awesome company. Good people. And like to be associated with good people. So anyway, thanks Jim.

Wish you all the success in the world. And we will keep buying our boots from you. That's for dang sure. And encourage you to do as well. St. James Sporting Properties. Blaine St. James, super good dude. Had a lot of success this year himself. So anyway, he's been sending in some kill photos. Um, he works on selling and buying ranches, uh, for clients and whatnot. Is a ranch broker, property broker. So anyway, proud to be associated with him as well. Um, for our clientele who are hunters, obviously, uh, that's a big deal. Knowing the ins and outs of how to get tags and as well as the quality and units and things like that. Um, uh, the potential in units and whatnot. Blaine knows all that. He understands all that. Uh, we've known him from the hunting side and perspective for decades. And, uh, really like, uh, Blaine and, and his theory and things like that.

Knows how to, uh, work the systems, so to speak, on, uh, buying and selling. How to properly do that. And save yourself the most amount of money. And also doing it in a market where it would be considered a good investment. Um, so anyway, just a, just a really good option to at least reach out to him. Doesn't cost you a dime. Uh, unless you were to buy property or, or, or sell property. And of course, you know, some brokers are going to get paid. It might as well be a good dude within the industry that knows what he's doing and has access to all kinds of properties. Blaine St. James, 855-711-7577. And, uh, anyway, just an awesome guy. Uh, good times, everybody. We're going to get Josh's story out of him here shortly. As well as a few other fun stories. Um, a lot of guys are in and out of the office pretty regular. I've been out a lot and in a little, um, and getting ready to go out again.

And same thing with Adam and all the guys. And so anyway, but if you need anything, give us a holler. We definitely are staffed. Uh, just, just kind of a skeleton type crew, but, but that's okay. Uh, anyway, we're selling optics like it's our job. If you need something, we've got a lot of inventory. Give us a holler. 435-263-0777. 435-263-0777. Happy to help you on hunts, optics, or anything else hunting related. Western big game. That's what we do here at Epic Outdoors.

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. Kennetrek makes boots for every hunt. Whether you're hunting sheep in the high, rocky altitudes, or low-crawling sagebrush for those desert muleys, Kennetrek has you covered. Check out their world-class Mountain Extreme line and their brand new Bridger High boots at Kennetrek.com. K-E-N-E-T-R-E-K dot com. Applying for tags in multiple western states can be time-consuming. At Epic Outdoors, we have you covered. Whether you want to expand your hunting portfolio or simply ensure that you never miss a deadline again, the Epic Outdoors License Application Service is exactly what you need. It's like having the best CPAs in the finance world do your taxes.

Let the best hunting application gurus in the world do your tag applications. You'll never miss a deadline, you'll never apply for the wrong unit, and you'll never apply for a unit that's having a die-off. 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 stjamesportingproperties.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. If you don't want to calculate ballistics or adjust your turrets before making a shot, a Thompson Long Range system is for you. Simply range, place the hash mark for that distance on the animal, and pull the trigger. They make top-quality rifles and host a shooting school that will leave you confident in making shots out to 1,000 yards. Visit ThompsonLongRange.com to learn more about purchasing your next rifle or booking your next shooting school experience. The crew at Epic Outdoors trust StealthCam trail cameras to get us through the scouting season. StealthCam is the leading trail camera brand because they never stop innovating. Check out their brand new line of trail cameras,

including the Revolver 360-degree camera, at StealthCam.com. Epic Outdoors is an official StealthCam dealer. Call us to order yours today at 435-263-0777. Phonescope changed the game with their digiscoping innovations and have remained the top phone-to-optic adapter on the market. Check out the incredible new Carbon Pro Phonescope now at Phonescope.com. P-H-O-N-E-S-K-O-P-E dot com. Outdoor Edge is the knife that we all use here at Epic Outdoors. Whether it's a replaceable blade or fixed blade, you will not be disappointed with your Outdoor Edge knife. Head over to OutdoorEdge.com and check out their brand new Razer VX knife today. Epic Outdoors is proud to be an official Zeiss dealer and optics partner. When it comes to top-tier quality, Zeiss has been a leader in the industry for generations. If you're in the market for new optics, give us a call for unbelievable deals on Zeiss products.

Giving you the highest quality and durability out there without breaking the bank is what makes Zeiss so good. 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.