EP 330: Epic Colorado Elk and Utah Deer Hunts!

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.

Hello, everybody. Welcome to the Epic Outdoors podcast. And we've got Jason in the field. So we're going to hear from him a little bit later. We've got everybody else. We've got Logan, Devin, Wyatt, Cash, and we've got a special appearance from Jana. Doesn't happen often.

We were joking that Jason's going to be nervous if he hears you on the podcast. I think you should let me call him. We'll do that. Probably won't have to edit this one. No. No. Probably won't have to edit this one. I don't know. You guys are hard to rein in. We're probably still going to have to edit. Jason might want to edit. If he finds out, I'm on it.

So we'd like to start out by giving a shout out to the Hunt Expo and give them a big thank you for being our title sponsor. The dates on that are February 13th through the 16th, 2025. And if you've never been, it's worth traveling to. It's worth flying into Salt Lake. Pretty easy airport to get to. Get a hotel. Spend a couple days. We've got hundreds of booths of outfitters, gear. We're there. We've got a really big 20 by 50 booth. It was just a rocket. It was a rocket launching. Whoa. Okay. That sounded weird. We could cut that, but that was the loudest one I've ever heard. I thought the aliens were coming, you know? Should we go check on Wendy, make sure she's okay? Jeez. I thought if someone's phone's like starting to place on that. Our neighbor makes rockets. So, wow. I don't know if you could hear that on the podcast, but. Oh, I'm sure you'll be able to hear it.

Yeah, that was a little bit crazy. Jeez. So, anyway, for the pod, for the expo, we've got just save the date on your calendar. Plan to be there. You come say hi to us. We've got some great deals going and tons and tons of booths. We've got auctions at night. We've got hunts you can bid on. There's auctions during the days. All kinds of stuff. Probably the most appealing, the 200 tags. That's what I was just going to say. Yeah, that's right. You've got 200 tags that you can apply for that are outside of the regular Utah draw, and those are $5 each. Yeah, $5 drawing, and some of those tags sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars this year. They're cheap. Jason and I were at dinner the other night, and shout out to Austin. He's a member. He came by and was showing us a picture. He killed like a mid-90s buck off a $5 tag. That was awesome. That is awesome. It was a great buck.

And in order to get into those drawings, you have to be there in person. So you can purchase online beforehand, but you've got to validate, you know, show them your driver's license and that you came. So plan to be there. Valentine's activity. Take your wife. She can take you for a day. That's her gift. And you can take her out for dinner in some fancy restaurant in the evening. That's your gift. We've got approval from a spouse that this counts as Valentine's Day. I don't know, but it's approval. That is approval. All the husbands out there just got approved. I'm just saying, if you're going to do it anyway, you better figure out how to make it enjoyable. How about Valentine's and a birthday? Does that count? You've got both in the same? Both the same day. Both the same day. Devin, you're kind of in trouble because you can't do one day at the show. You have to do three days at the show.

Yeah, that's true. It's a good time, though. You better celebrate her birthday the week before. It's a week-long thing. Yeah. If you weren't required to be there, then it would be a hard decision. That's true. She can hold it against you. That's true. That's right. That's great. All right. Did we say the dates? Yeah, we did. February 13th through the 16th. So our whole crew will be there the whole time. And good time. Don't plan on a couple hours going through it. If you only spend two hours, you're barely going to scratch the surface with how big it's gotten. So well worth spending the day or more. I'd like to also talk about an email we got that kind of highlights one of the services that we offer here. You get a membership, and, man, the magazine is only a tiny part of our membership. The being able to call in, talk to any of the guys here, any of the consultants.

Let's say you're trying to decide where to apply or figure out your points or get a plan. Like, that's a huge benefit. But another thing, we got an email from Gregory Ford, right? And he says, I'm more of a DIY research guy on the hunts. But when I received an alternate late rifle tag in Nevada this year, I decided to hop on, join up with your service. I've always listened to your podcast and always thought that the member list for the hunts was an awesome idea. I got the list, started reaching out. I spoke to a couple of awesome guys, got some good starting points, made it down last week, and had an awesome experience. Lipped over a ton of elk and killed my biggest bull to date. Just wanted to say thanks, Greg. Awesome. So, I mean. It's a great bull, too. It's gorgeous. Killed a stud. So, it's pretty awesome. So, you can do that.

If you draw, then call in, tell us you drew a unit, and we'll send you a list of other members who have hunted that. And in exchange for that, obviously, you're going to, you know, return the favor in the future. So, it's kind of a members helping members deal. I'm a real big fan of the members experience list. That's what I have to thank for success in Colorado, too. Nice. Yeah, that's good. And a lot of guys have told me, like, well, you know, am I bothering them? And I say, they've been in your exact shoes. Yeah. So, they know exactly what you're thinking, what you're going through. Like, they'll know exactly what you mean when you call them. Yeah. They've volunteered to be on this list. So, they're happy to talk to you about whatever your hunt is if they've already done it.

And a lot of times, the units are hard to draw, and it's not like these people are going back, you know, every year. And so, they'll give you information that's very useful. I've done it, and they didn't know that I was part of the FX staff, you know, just called and said, Hey, I'm John. I've got a tag, you know, here. And do you have anything you can tell me, like starting points? And I've gotten, you know, Onyx pins of waters, kill sites, everything. Like, it's pretty awesome. So, take advantage of it. Join our membership. Now is a great time to join. We've got some deals going on. And if you join right now, we've just announced our winter membership drive. And so, you'll get a free ticket into the winter membership drive. And also, we've got a Black Friday deal going on. So, some of you guys might not even know about this, Cash.

John, I want to tell the members how they get a free ticket. Oh, yeah, go ahead. There's a lot of members that are like, oh, I'm going to rejoin, but then they don't get their free ticket, and they're a little disappointed. But everybody gets a free ticket when they join for the first time. When you're a new member, you get a free ticket. And then, if you are an existing member or have been, and you refer a friend who joins, then your friend gets a free ticket, and you get a free ticket as well for having referred them. So, there's still an opportunity for existing members to get those free tickets also. Yeah, that's awesome. Okay, and then, so, like I was saying, the Black Friday deal. Everybody has a Black Friday deal. And so, this year, we decided to do something big.

So, if you spend over $3,000 on anything, could be a combination of memberships, gift memberships, optics, hunt giveaway tickets, anything you spend with us, then you get a free, epic, light tripod. So, and free shipping. And free shipping. That's pretty good. That comes with the head? Comes with the head, too. Legs and head? Legs and head. The combo. That's a $300 value or something? Yep, yep. So, you get that free. And we've had rave reviews on it. We worked on it like crazy in the design and development. And, man, couldn't be happier now after having used both of our tripods all fall. And they're just awesome. The pan head is so fluid. And so, we've just heard a lot of good comments on it. So, you'd get a really awesome tripod if you spend over $3,000. And that goes from now until December 2nd. So, buy Cyber Monday, which is December 2nd. If you buy that, then you'll get that free.

Yes. Black Friday is now like Black Friday month. Yeah. All merchandising is cashing in on Black Friday month. Yeah. First, it was a race to announce by Friday, then Thursday and Friday, then the week. Cyber Monday, Cyber all the... So, we just decided to beat everybody and announce it now. So, all right. Jana, we've invited you in to talk about one of our partners here. Yeah. And so, if you want to give us some ideas. Well, Christmas is coming up and everybody's looking for a good gift to, you know, smooth things over from being gone for the last three months from home. And so, anyway, we work with Stedman Jewelry and he does a great job of jewelry. They've been in the jewelry industry for over four generations. I think since from like 1901 or something, their family has done jewelry. So, he knows what he's doing.

And they do a lot of custom work, which at this late in the game, you may not be able to get your custom work done in time for Christmas. But he also has a wide variety of other options that are available for Christmas gifts. So, you can reach out to him and he can help you choose something nice for Christmas if you're looking for something along those lines. Also, if you do want to do custom work, he's done some for us. He actually did a replica of Jason's buck that he killed. I don't know when he killed it. 2007. Seven. Okay. I was going to say eight. But 2007 in Arizona. And we talked about it a few years ago and it was before they had all that technology where you could do the digital replica of things. And it was too much detail probably to get it done. But anyway, now that they do that, he got a copy of the digital stuff and he was able to recreate that in a jewelry form.

So, he's got just Jason now has a replica of his buck in silver, just a small one. And then Jason had him do some jewelry for me last year for Christmas, which is beautiful. It's a big deer shed and a set of earrings to kind of go along with it. And he's got those available that you could order just over the phone or whatever. Anyway, I'll give you his number. His number is 801-201-5137. And if you call that number and order, and we'll also have an ad in our upcoming magazine with some ideas, some pictures of some of the things he has available. But he does a great job and does all the custom work you can imagine. So, if there's anything you had in mind or have in mind, may not be able to get it for Christmas, but could get it for a birthday. Yeah. And I asked him specifically, can you give us some things that are in stock that you can get, you know, for Christmas.

And he gave us four or five options. I put four of them in the magazine, actually five. So, he's got, and these are affordable. So, earrings, 45 bucks, solid sterling silver. He's got muley sheds or elk shed earrings. And those are ready to go. So, you call, you can get them before Christmas. And ram horn pendants, too. And then ram horn pendants for 80 bucks. They're really cool. And then we've got two other pendants, elk and deer shed pendants. So, you put them on a necklace, 75 bucks each. So, anyway, that's really unique. Something you're not going to see, you know, everywhere. Be really good to wear to the expo with your, you know, your wife sporting some shed jewelry. And he can really do anything. He can do anything from, you know, elk ivories to diamond engagement rings. Yeah, I think the elk ivory is really a staple. Like, they do a ton of custom. They do a lot of custom work.

You give your elk ivory. So, anyway, we've had a lot of experience with him. He's a true artist on that stuff. It's awesome stuff. So, give him a call at, let's see. And this is his personal cell phone. So, you get one of the owner's personal cell phones and call him anytime. 801-201-5137. His name's Cassidy. And he's ready to go. Ready to work with you. All right. Logan, should we try to call Jason? Yeah. Let's have Jenna. Let's see if we can get him. Let's do it. Let's do it.

Adam's hunting actively right now, right? Getting ready.

Adam and Jason. Jason, I meant. Not Adam. Sorry. Jason's hunting with Justin right now. There you go. Colorado mule deer. Good. Hey. Hey, how are you? Good. How are you? Good. This is Jenna, and I've got you on the Epic Outdoors podcast. Hey, boss. Hello. For crap's sakes.

Oh, geez. We were betting on how much you'd sweat. What's Jenna said before this? We're already at like two hours and 45 minutes. She's not allowed on the podcast. I told him you might want to edit it, but then I thought, oh, he's going to be in the field for a week, and we really need to get it out. So I think we're okay. There's nothing in here that he needs to hear.

Probably ought to run it by me. You guys are going to get me fired.

Logan's worried for his job. We were just going to check in with you and see how things are going. Good. Yeah. We actually are just looking at rutting bucks right now. It's pretty legit. Big ones? I would say we've seen double what you saw for a week, John. Oh, that's awesome.

You know what's interesting about that? It's not awesome, but it's better. It is better. You know what's interesting about that? It doesn't matter how many times you hear things like that. The hunt always lasts until the last day. I don't get it.

It always goes to the very end. We are going to edit this.

No, it's good. We're crushing it. It's good, you know? You know? I don't know. It's awesome. It could use a little uptick in a quality experience. Not everything's been so great, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Well, sometimes we just get on and we talk about the successes and we don't ever talk about the bad stuff. And I'm telling you, there's a lot of really crappy hunts that we go on and don't kill anything. Oh, yeah. There's a lot of them. I think you do. Justin's do. Well, I don't know if Justin's do, but he has some pretty great stuff this year. Justin's spoiled. He's had a great year already. Yeah, he has. Yeah. He has. But anyway, what did you guys talk about? Is Devin in there? I'm sitting here. Oh, there you are. We actually just started, so. Oh, did you? Yeah. I didn't know what hunts you guys were going to go over.

Yeah, we're going to go over Devin's and Caches and a bunch of other stuff. Oh, nice. Yep. Nice. Well, yeah. No, everything's good here in Colorado. Colorado, you know, just trying to figure out where the deer are. Four season, you know, it's one thing to see their migration routes, but then where they ended up and year to year could vary a bit. And so we've put on some major miles today and now we're in them. So anyway, I thought this was an emergency. I would have screened this call. But things are looking good here. It's all good. You know, that's the thing about Colorado. You just don't know if it's second, third, or fourth, it's going to be your best hunt. And a lot of guys, you know, think that second's the best because it's really the first time that, you know, in many units that the deer see rifle hunters. And so anyway, but I don't know. I'm, this is no joke. This is pretty good.

It's, I mean, I'm just saying for, for, for being three hours into it, you know, so I'm a unit I've never been to before. So anyway, how are you guys? We're good. I see you put out, I got my little text that says Epic's doing some kind of promotional. Yeah. You know, when the couch's away, the mice will play. I'm just wondering, I'm just wondering if you can. And, uh, if we can cash the checks, you're right. And what do you got going job? Yeah. We're going to, we're going to give away free tripods, man. So. All right. So we got an Epic light tripod. What look like with $3,000 purchase or something. That's just, so if you're looking to buy optics, I guess now's the time. Now's the time baby. And we, and we've got some deals too. Like still, uh, Swarovski's got some sales going. And they extended till the end of the year.

And so like, if you're in the market and we've, we've got them in stock and we can have them to you, you know, immediately. Well, I came, Devin and I came in off a hunt and, uh, we had to kind of forge our way around all the boxes. I don't know. We've definitely got some inventory. That's for sure. So anyway, we're right on. What else? Anything else going on?

Nothing else, man. We're just doing, making. Just tell us about these bucks you're seeing. Let's get a little bit more. Wyatt's over here. Like detail here. Come on. We talking like forearm mass, like we were talking yesterday. For some reason, I didn't even think. I, for some reason I was wondering if Wyatt was even, I didn't know. I'm just forgotten about it. I should have, I should have addressed you earlier. In fact, who's in the room? Who's in the room? Well, we've got Cash, Wyatt, Devin, Logan, Jenna, and John. Jeez. Dang. All right. Well, yeah. I don't know. Wyatt, what do you need to know? Like Devin said, forearm mass. I mean, come on. Did we see any basal points? Cheaters? Droppers. Okay. So the forearm mass came from yesterday at lunch. There's a white tail that's got mass like your forearm. But not mine. Just Wyatt's forearm. Wyatt's forearm. Your forearm.

If you've ever seen my arms, they're not that big. What about 2015? Remember that? That was big Wyatt. You guys keep changing the subject. We're trying to. Oh, sorry. That's right. That was bodybuilder Wyatt. Important. Important. Wyatt, I just got one question. Were you juicing that guy? Yeah, I was just going to say. Straight up hitting the roids. I want to know the juicing Wyatt. What'd that guy look like? Roid rage, man. I had to live with him. I'm just kidding, Wyatt. Could you imagine on a cantankerous day?

So anyways. Watch out. Anything with cheaters. No, we did have. We did see a heavy buck. Heavy buck. They're straight lining. So we're seeing a lot of single tracks. It was just a dusting of snow last night. Just a dusting. And then we'll come across one single track. We've done that four or five times. And I'm like, geez. And it's been so long since we've had a real rut hunt. I don't know what to expect hardly. But anyway. Yeah. We're watching bucks just straight line without does. And then now we just. Just as I answered this phone call. We're seeing. We've got a dozen does below us. And a buck running another buck. And I don't know. It's kind of fun. You know. So fun. You know how we were talking about Devin? Like how long has it been since we've just really enjoyed like a true lip curl and freaking rut hunt. You know. Yeah. And anyway. I'm seeing it. I'm seeing what we.

What you go to third for. So. It feels like. Like maybe the last day of third season. You might get that anymore. Yeah. The pressure kind of settles. Elk hunters go home. Deer hunters go home. And it's like. You get that one day. It felt like that anyways. Kind of. Yeah. I think when you. I think when you. Yeah. I think when you hunt them. You change things a little bit. The intensity of the rut. Maybe the timing slightly. Like. We just alter that as hunters. With pressure. You know. And. Anyway. Over the course of a decade. Two decades. Whatever it is. You know. So. So anyway. That's definitely happened. But. And then you got. Location too. Within the state. So northern. Colorado. Tends. What I've seen. They were earlier than say. Swatch. Right. And. So. Anyway. Down in. All that 68 type stuff. But. Anyway. Yeah. No. It's good. I mean. Jeez guys. I'm in at three hours.

Give me another couple hours. Give me a caller back. Okay. You've got until three o'clock. I'll have four hours. I'll have a mass waiting for you. I hope so man. I'm just laying on the ground. Single bug tracks. They drive me nuts. Yeah. They drive me crazy. They drive me nuts. We saw a few when we were hunting. And it's like. I don't know. Just. I don't know what it is. Well. And we started high. Like. Like. You kind of hunt habitat. And whatnot. But. Then you. And you start high. And it wasn't even that high. It was just awesome looking stuff. And there is. It is void of wildlife. And then we're down in the desert. Driving up through. And see a couple of deer off the road. Good bucks. We saw four bucks before we've seen a doe. And so. Wow. Anyway. Anyway. Then just. You see a couple of single bucks down the desert. And you're like. Man. You just hit the gas.

You can't wait to get to the good stuff. You know. And you drive them by. All the good stuff. Really. Probably. And so. Part of that's just a little bit of a learning curve. Each unit has it. But. Are we going to talk about Wyatt's hunt? Are we going to talk about. Yeah. Devin's hunt? Yeah. You guys are going to cover everything? We're going to cover everything man. You'll have to listen when it's published. Yeah. So. Be surprised. Just don't believe everything Devin tells you.

I'm shady. Maybe we should keep Jason on the phone. And tell that story right now. Jason can participate. Yeah. I mean. We got. Yeah. Well. We got. I'll watch these rutting bucks here for a minute. Devin. What do you got for us? I was just waiting for Wyatt to tell us about his story. Is what I was doing. Oh. We might as well start off with yours. We've got a good intro there. So. Let's. Let's go with it. That's a good segue. Wyatt's just hoping time runs out. Hey. I don't have a lot to say. I could sum up my Idaho hunt in no matter of minutes. It was fun. I mean. I saw a lot of bucks. I saw a rutting activity. Just never could find that next level type deer that I really kind of hoped for. And. Wanted. Wanted to take with that tag. So I came home. Empty. Yeah. A lot of. A lot of cool experience. But a lot of time up there. Just. Just me. You got it. When you say a lot of time.

You're talking. Sleep in the back of your truck. How many days? I slept in the back of my truck. On that second run. It was 12 days. So 10 nights. That's no joke. Yeah. That's no joke. No. It's no joke. And Wyatt hits it hard. Like that's the one thing. If. I mean. When he says he. He hit it hard. He hit it hard. And I. I just. I think. You know. Part of that is just.

You're. You were. You were in an area. That. You know. You're hunting. Basically general deer. They're migrating down into a limited draw unit. But. That's just part of. Of. General deer management. They're. They're hammering some of these. These older bucks. Wyatt. How many. How many four and a half. Five and a half year old bucks. Did you see? Oh. I saw a handful. I mean. I can't really tell. I didn't ever count numbers. Kind of deal. But I. I bet I saw well over a hundred bucks. In the time I was there. Like. Wow. It was pretty. Pretty wild. It seems like you were. Higher. It felt like you were like at. Two hundred. Over the course of the 12 days. It easily could have been. I know. I know. I know. Right there. Towards the tail end. I was easily seeing 20. 20 bucks a day. Kind of deal. So. I mean. Yeah. You're probably. Like you were having fun. You're seeing enough bucks. You're like.

It could happen at any moment. Oh. It was nonstop action. I was out all day. Glassing. I mean. I was turning up deer. Either bedded. Or. Or still up. Moving. Migrating. Moving through. All day long. I mean. It was just. Nonstop. And every buck I saw. Was one closer to a big one. I kept hoping. I mean. It was just. Just a riot. I called Wyatt. I called Wyatt one day. And. He found a buck. Tell us that story. What that buck was doing. Oh. That was super cool. Yeah. That was kind of. Well. This. This is the one where. Yeah. That. Yeah. Well. Just to kind of finish that little thought process. And then I want to hear the story again. Was. I think. Let's just say you saw 150 bucks. Let's just kind of cut it in the middle. 150 bucks to. 175 bucks. And. A handful of four and a half year olds. That weren't built quite right. And. And you. Obviously. We don't know perfect age. But. But. You know.

You've seen enough bucks. What have you seen? 10,000 bucks in your life. Or whatever. Yeah. Put your hands on a lot of them. Not even sure. Yeah. You're kind of. You know. I mean. It's. You're well versed in the Milder world. So anyway. And so I think part of it. You know. You think it's a numbers game. We got to cover the numbers. And if you see a hundred deer. You ought to be able to see a good one. Doesn't. Didn't work out this particular time. But I think. Part of that is just. Is the management. I mean. A huge part of it. Right. Yeah. What we're dealing with. This day and age. Is. A lot of opportunity hunts out there. And yeah. You had great dates. And a little bit of migration. And. And so you had a. A lot better hunt. Than say a regular. October general. Season deer hunter would have. But. But at the same time. That's. That's part of it. And. Just didn't. Just didn't get lucky.

But man. There's no question. When you say you hit it hard. I believe you. Yeah. No. Like I said. It was. It was fun. I mean that hunt. I mean any second. Could have been a. Been a giant. And I just had fun. Looking over deer. And. Just being up there. Kind of deal. Just way cool country. And learning the area. Part of drawing. That's part of the. Fruits of drawing. Of applying. And drawing a tag. You drew that tag. And. You know. There was obviously. No points in Idaho. So it was kind of. Somewhat of a gift. And a stroke of luck. To get it. And then. Somewhat of a gift. And then. To go up there. And just have a world class experience. Even though you didn't find the buck. You were looking for. It's pretty. Awesome to see deer. You know. I mean. There's a lot of these hunts. John. Right. And we just don't see. A lot of deer. And we're. And. And so it's kind of nice to see deer. But.

Anyway. Tell us about this buck. And. Oh. What you learned from that. Freaking deer. I just. It's kind of a cool story. One of the last days. I was up there. Well. One of the last. Two or three days. I was up there. I would say. I had glassed up this buck. And it was at gray light. Couldn't. Couldn't really tell what it was. And. I was actually glassing back across. Like a main. Main road. So it was a. A road that actually goes over to other cities. And it must go to cabin lots. I imagine. Because there's a lot of construction vehicles. It just. Sees quite a bit of traffic. So. Still at gray light. Looking at this deer. Can't really tell what he is. He won't really pick up his head. So I'm. You know. Still glassing around a little bit. And all of a sudden. I hear a vehicle start coming up the road. And I just turn to look back. Thinking that that deer would pick up his head.

And that deer is completely gone. I have no idea. Just. In a matter of. So he was just standing there feeding. With his head down. Yeah. With his head down. Never picked up his head. So. Hear that vehicle thinking. You know. He's going to pick up his head. And look at it. Because he's only. You know. 150. 200 yards off the road. Figured he'd pick up his head. And look at it. And that'd be my chance. To see what he is. So I turn my binoculars back. And I cannot find that deer. There. Anywhere. I have no idea what he's done. Anyways. That truck goes by. I continue glassing. Glass back over there. 20 minutes later. So now the sun's starting to come up. And that deer's standing there again. With his head down. Won't really pick it up. And here comes another vehicle up the road. And as this vehicle. Is coming up the road. This deer tips over. Like a feigning goat. Like not even. Like a casual.

Lay down type deal. It wasn't like. He laid down like a feinting what? Like a feigning goat. You ever seen that? When they scare those goats. And they just. They just tip over their side. Don't even bend their knees. Okay. I haven't. But I get it. Yeah. This thing just. Just tips over flat on its side. Lays its head flat on the ground. Wow. And lets this truck go by. And then stands right back up. Wow. I mean he had his head. Right on the ground. So then I start thinking that he's injured. Or you know. You know. Got a broken leg or something. I start watching him. And he moves around just fine. He's not even an old deer. I mean not even a. You know deer I probably should have watched for this long. But he's a. You know just a little three by four type deal. But it was just cool to see him. Smart. React to. Yeah. To vehicles. And it wasn't. You know. Bed down. Head up.

Looking around kind of deal. It was head flat on the ground. Flat on the ground. Flat on the ground. As flat as you could lay. Wow. That's nuts. So it was pretty. Pretty. Pretty wild to watch that. And I actually. Drove down the road. As I was leaving that afternoon. And glassed up there. Just to. See what he'd do. And he was still laying there. Flat on his side. You could just see his one horn. Coming up out of the brush. Was the sun hitting him? The sun. It was kind of cloudy day. I've seen him do that. When they lay on their side. They look like they're dead. I've seen him do that. When the sun hits him. I think it just feels good. But like. Yeah. He looked like a horse. Laying out in the pasture. Just. Well then. That's crazy. Wasn't it like he was up and standing. And then you. And you glassed him. You're like. You kind of tested him. You're like. I'm going to drive by him.

And I'm going to stop and look up there. And you did it. And sure enough. He was doing it to you too. Yep. As I drove down. That's what I was saying. As I drove down to leave that after. You know. Later in the morning. Or whatever. I looked back up there. And he was laying there. Flat on his side too. That's crazy. I mean. I watched him do it. One time entirely. And the second time. I drove down there. And he was laying on his side. As I went down there. You just. You know. Those deer. Yeah. Yeah. Those deer are special. I mean. Those deer are special. Those little quirks. And habits. And how that deer learned that. You said that deer wasn't even that old. So you're like. How did this deer learn this? Yeah. Exactly. I mean. He's. Two. Two year old. Four point. Probably. Three by four. He's just a two year old deer. Kind of deal. It was crazy. I mean. Somebody definitely taught him that.

Yeah. Wow. That's crazy. Anything else you learned up there? You saw a ton of elk? Yeah. I saw a ton of bulls. That was fun. I saw antelope in the high country. I mean. It was. It was a game rich environment. Kind of deal. Well. This. This. So this. This is kind of funny. You guys teased the heck out of me for antelope. But then. We get a call from Wyatt. Wyatt's like. Dude. We're freaking going to archery hunt antelope up here in the high country. I'm thinking. We're going to archery hunt what?

How far of a drive is that Wyatt? It. Well. Probably seven or eight hours from Cedar probably. That's probably six or seven further than we should drive for our tree antelope hunting. But where else can you hunt antelope on an unlimited tag like that? Like a. Just give me tag every year. When Wyatt called me. He said. Stop what you're doing and write this down. That's exactly what he said. Well. Archibald has an addiction to antelope meat too. I enjoy antelope meat. He's willing to take any animals we kill. I could kill three of those a year. I don't get the antelope meat thing. Jenna. Jenna. Jenna. What do you think about antelope meat? Yeah. I don't. I like to give it away. Well. I'm right here. Yeah. You guys can hunt. Archibald is not far. Donate to Devin. My wife's got that. That down. And it. We. She likes antelope. John. Good. John. Your wife begs for. Your wife begs for ducks.

This is true. Horse meat. Who knows. Yeah. She can. Yeah. She can make anything taste good. I think so. Oh. So. Yeah. Kind of. Kind of funny. I don't know. Devin. Devin says he had an antelope steak like what? Two or three days ago. Devin? Yeah. Last week or something. It was in. I found it in my freezer. I was organizing some stuff. And I told my wife Miranda. I'm like. Look what I found. It was a two pack. Maybe we need to have. We cooked it. Like not even on a smoker. Just on like a skillet. Yeah. It's freaking amazing. Maybe we need to have Devin cook for the office. I don't think it's. I just don't believe it. Here's my theory. It's not about the cook. It has nothing to do with it. They got to die really fast. And you get them on ice. I believe. I believe that too. But what about. What about the sagebrush versus grass? You know where I killed that one in Nevada where he lived?

Oh, it was disgusting. Delicious. He was eating like dirt. You know, like there was. There was peak drought. Alkali. Yeah. Yeah. Like what was he eating? But he's tasting great. Yeah. You know, I found an antelope tag last night and I hit Devin about it. Because Devin deals with that kind of stuff for us there at Epic. But anyway, and I half expected. He asked me how much and I half expected him to say I'll take it.

A little too early to make those decisions. It's like they're fun to eat. Well, we definitely don't buy antelope meat or deer or elk or any of that because it's cheap. Because it's not cheap. Jana. That's true. You guys, why do we invite her on these podcasts again? We're supposed to encourage people to go hunting. Yes. Make memories. You guys are really good at it. I know. You all tell your wives, hey, this general tag is really cheap. It's going to fill the freezer and it usually takes three general tags to get anything in the freezer. And nobody talks about the gas bill or the $200 jacket you had to buy. We're not even. These are hug stories. We're not talking about. Or the $80 pair of gloves because you left last year's gloves on the mountain. Nobody talks about that stuff. We're not. This is not a podcast about the challenges of marriage. I'm not talking about marriage.

I'm talking about the value of the meat you guys feed your family. It is unsurpassed. The quality is unsurpassed too. Only the best. I know. It's the purest protein on planet Earth. It has extra benefits. By the time you have chewed it enough that you can swallow it, you burn up any calories that came in it. It's like diet food. And you forgot it's organic. I know. There's a hundred good things. I know. I know all of them. So moving right along.

You guys, Logan, mute her mic for a bit.

Let's see. John, I guess you weren't successful. I guess she's kind of talking to you, John. How many tags did you have this year, babe? I don't know. No. It was not enough because I'm not doing too well. I need a few more to finish up the year.

Is Justin there? Will you thank him for putting meat in the freezer? He is. He is. He's going to put some meat in the freezer. Tell him thanks for bringing me an elk. I'm watching a forearm buck right now. Is that forearm buck going to die? No. If he was watching a forearm buck, he'd be off the podcast. He would not be talking to us. I think the service is getting a little scratchy.

So let's see. Cash. Cash. Who all went to Colorado? Just raise your hand in there. Who was it? Nobody could see us raising our hands. It was Cash. That doesn't help you in any way. You called me, dude. I straight up raised my hand in a square. State your name. I think everybody in the room went to Colorado. Everybody but me and Wyatt. Did you go Wyatt? No, I did not. Wyatt didn't go.

Well, he tried.

We all tried. He wasn't for a lack of effort. He hit the reissue process pretty hard. And the other side of that is he was in Idaho. He had a great tag and sunk all his eggs up there.

All right. So let's see. I'm going to let you guys go from here. Well, you and Devin have Colorado to talk about a little bit. That's what we were trying to segue into. We were in Yuppieville.

Well, the whole state's Yuppieville, so I don't know. But we had a good time, Devin. Go ahead. I don't know what to say. It was fun. Some more deer than, you know, it felt like, I mean, same thing. Being out all day, seeing deer, like kind of anywhere you went in a way at some point or just a lone buck track just kept you going. It just gave you, it's just the same thing as Wyatt said, like, it really could have happened at any time. We saw some nice bucks, just nothing we'd want to shoot, you know. Yeah. Age class is definitely an issue, and I think we're fine in that. It doesn't matter. I was, Cash was asking me, you know, how it went. Obviously, we never even saw a shooter. So, you know, but having said that, it doesn't, that you could sum that experience up with every one of us.

It doesn't matter if, well, I mean, we've hunted from, you know, Swatch to Eagle to Rangeley to wherever John goes, over to, you know, over to Natarita to wherever, right? We've hunted Gunnison, all of these places, and it just feels like it's kind of the same thing. It's just, but you, but it's nice to have a tag. It's nice to hit. We're always, everybody, we're like everybody else. We're trying to find new units. Where's the next greatest place? You know, I'm relying on Wyatt next year for my plans. We've got a few good ones in the works. Yep. Yeah. I led him to 11 to 11, and he'll never let me live it down.

I don't know why he doesn't take a little bit of the blame himself. He's a man. He gets to choose. I did. I chose to follow your advice.

Grandpa Jason. Grandpa Jason was feeling sick that day, and it wasn't good advice. You were right there with me, so. I was. That's the one thing. I will take my own advice, and here we are with marital problems.

I don't think we have marital problems. We don't. We don't. It's good that you take Justin hunting, and he brings home meat we can eat. Yeah. I think it's really great. All right, Devin. Let's move this thing. So, sum it up. We saw a lot of deer on private, and learned new country, right? Yeah. It was fun. Yeah, it was fun. And it was a new unit to both of you, right? Yes. Yep. Neither of you had been there. No. No. No. No. Well, it's the one thing about a unit. You just don't know, you know, learning stuff like where I'm at right now. Like, we've never been here either. So, you think, do I need a four-wheeler? Do I need a side-by-side? People call us up all the time, you know, what do I need for a vehicle? Those are all challenges. You take a vehicle, you can run hard, and then, you know, a side-by-side or four-wheeler.

So, sometimes you drop yourself off and walk to a bike that you dropped off or something like that, you know, make a huge hike or whatever. So, anyway, you just never know what kind of equipment you're going to need, but what kind of weather it's going to be. Devin, you got any pointers? If you were going to go back, what would you do different? Things like that? Well, it's just always, I love the aspects of hunting a new place, because it's all, I love that. Like, you just don't know. Like, ooh, look at that knob, you know? And it's all fresh. I love that part of it. But going, if I was to go back, I mean, yeah, you would do things different. You could always say that. And I don't, some guys, they hunt the same unit every time they can draw or as often as they can, and sometimes that makes sense, you know? But I think a lot of guys will hunt the same place within the same unit. For sure.

And that's the one thing I think both you and I are similar in the fact that we'll hunt the entire unit. I have a problem. I could spend a little more time in each area, but where it was new for us, we were hitting it hard. We just hit the whole thing, you know? But anyway, I'm excited. I, for one, and I'm going to let you guys go here shortly. I'm excited for a clean slate. I'm excited to make plans for next year. I'm super stoked. It's always fun to think about each and every year and help other guys make plans and go over license application projects and planning for guys and whatnot. And so, anyway, I'm excited for a new plan. I don't know. I don't know. Everything's, what do they call that? Off the table or on the table or what do they call that? On the table. Everything. Everything's on. Is that what they call it? On the table? Yep. Everything's on the table.

Other than our tree antelope in Idaho. Taking that one off pretty quick, huh? Well. I am expecting Wyatt to go do that. He doesn't get excited about that. He's not invited anymore. We just yanked your invite.

Jeez. You know what it's like to feel like everybody wants to be invited. We just want to be able to say no, but we want to have that opportunity. It invites no longer extended.

I'd be revoked. That is off the table. I don't know, Jason. I think if we hyped even antelope, archery antelope hunting for a couple months and everybody's going, I think we could get you excited about it. I'd put money on it. It does not take much. Hey, Jason, how about the day we're cruising along? We just seen some cow elk hunters. And Jason, we go down the corner and there's four cows. Jason's like, how far are they? You know, we don't have a tag. He's like, God, I wish I had a tag right now. What? Devin, Devin, really? Well, not just a cow, but an elk tag. Like, just to pull the trigger, man. Right? Really? We're going to talk about this stuff?

Well, so what it, yeah. You're just imagining, like, if I had a cow elk tag, man, that thing would be toast. One man's trash is another man's treasure or something. I'm just like, but what happens is everybody's looking for a cow. Nobody can find them. And that's all we're seeing. It's crazy. There's cows everywhere. So we come around. They're like, man, we've literally been working this. We've been hiking in knee-deep snow. We're sitting there in knee-deep snow. We turned it with the talon. And anyway, we're sitting there talking to this guy. And we're like, he said, man, we've been really working it for cow. And we're like, man, geez. Okay. Yeah. Well, you know, well, okay. Good luck. And hey, we're out of here. You know, it wasn't what, 25, 23 minutes. And Devin and I are staring at two cows and two calves. And I'm like, I want to take out the whole herd.

And they stared at us, John. It was like 403 yards or 397 yards or something. And I was like. Usually Colorado don't do that. Like they hadn't been shot at or something. They just stood there. Yeah. And then we go down. We're going down. And they were trying a new country, which you have to go down and out. They go down and out. We see them walking up this other trail. And right above us, right above us is a whole freaking herd. How many, Devin? A dozen or more. Yeah. And we're like, geez, you know. And then I'm like. But they're like 657 yards from us. And I'm like, Devin, we should go get those guys. And I'm like, no. No, we shouldn't. Because if we do, they're going to have to use our, you know, they probably can't shoot that far. If I have to use our gun, then pretty soon here we are gutting cow elk. There we are. And we've got 2.3 days left, you know.

We tried to, we even put a mark like in the snow in case we did talk to them. Like tried to wave at them. And they were just had their heads down hiking, man. They'd already covered like a mile. I don't even know where they were going. And then how about they were like, Devin's like, hey, have you seen any bucks? He's like, oh, you should see this buck. Yes, have we seen bucks? And he grabs his phone. And I look at Jason like, this guy, this cow elk hunter has found a giant in here. Yeah. Yeah. Devin's like, what are we going to look at? I give Devin the quick elbow, you know. Like that guy's searching through his phone. You're getting excited. Oh, I was like, he was like, oh, I've seen bucks. And he's reaching through his phone. And he flips his phone around. And it's a 13 and a half inch two by two without eye guards. A slick shank forky.

And I'm like, that is a really nice one, you know. Yeah.

The nicest people ever. So we wanted to help him. You know, he was so excited to show us a buck. I'm like, we're going to see a cow for this guy. And we did. We just, you know, I can't run that far in the snow. We couldn't catch them. They're in a truck with chains. There's no way they're going back to where those other cows were. There's no way they're shooting one of the other ones. We had hikers with whatever, the local hometown hiker gals that walked their dogs coming up the trail, which could have been a, they could witness a little bloodbath. It just wasn't set up for, you know what I mean? It just wasn't set quite right. Devin, are you going to tell any other stories or can I go? I'll tell the Utah buck. No, I just mean like any year. Are you going to embarrass me or Colorado? No, no. That's about it. That was funny though, that guy.

I thought for sure he was going to, I mean, there's no doubt in my mind it was going to be a big deer. As excited as he was, you know. Yeah. It was funny. It was fun. Yeah. It was a good time. I would do, I mean, I would do it again if Janet let me. When have I ever told you no? We should talk about that. That's why I still got you, babe. Can you remember a time? I mean, you know.

Heavily brow beat. I've been heavily brow beat here and there. I think everybody in the office believes you.

I just can't believe they got you. Did they even, did they let you sit in my chair too? Geez. I'm pretty sure I'm in your chair. Yeah. All right. Well, I think it's kind of a fun time of year. Everything's closing out. Everybody's excited for the new year. And it sounds like we got Black Friday or what do they call it, John? Yeah. Cyber Monday. Black Friday. Month. Month. Yeah. All right. If you want anything. Of course, this is on top of having the best deals out there. There's nobody cheaper than us. So if you're looking for something, give us a holler. Are you guys good if I go? I want to look at this forearm buck. I think we've got something. Yep. Yep. Yep. We're good. Good luck. We're good. Wyatt. The forearm buck. Wyatt didn't. Wyatt was like, really? I thought you were going. Yeah. That's when you hit that little red button. Well, I thought about it all night.

And I'm like, man, Wyatt. He hurt me. I mean, it was. It cut. It cut a little bit. Not to lie. I was hard on one of his white tails yesterday. It was pretty funny. It was kind of like that guy that showed us the picture. But Wyatt was excited. Look at this mass. Forearm mass. Wyatt's like, it didn't look that heavy. Or something. Yeah. Wyatt just turned to me and he goes, really? You showed me 10 bucks bigger than that. And I'm like, geez, guy. I mean, this is a significant deer. I was thinking maybe BNC score wise, maybe it was what my head was on yesterday.

Wyatt's hard. Wyatt's hard on us. No question about it. And just hard to please, too. He takes a lot. So when he gets excited about archery antelope hunt, I think he saw something up there. And I'm considering it for sure. Well, your invite got revoked. So you might be up a river without a paddle. Me and Jana are going to go on our own. Antelope hunting?

Archery antelope. No. Let's go bison hunting. Bison tastes really good. Let's do bison.

All right. There you go. All right, guys. Well, thanks for calling. But we're going to keep the motor going. Okay. Good luck. Good luck. Good luck. Be safe. All right. All right. He didn't have to push the button. I just pushed it for him. I'm going to go, Wyatt, you think? Well, I think Cash. Hi. You next. Let's talk about your Colorado hunt. I want to interject before Cash tells this Colorado story. Logan just wants to save himself quickly before I throw him in the fire. I just want to interject that I'm a tough guy most of the time. Well, I happened to hit the window that wasn't part of the most. You happened, I guess. So I just wanted to interject that before the story gets told and I inevitably lose all respect in the world. But anyway, proceed, please. No, I'll just start with elevation sickness is real. And I learned that secondhand.

I did not experience it, but Logan got it in the fullest effect. It was bad. Were you puking? It was pretty bad. I thought he was. Yeah. I haven't thrown up since I was in like middle school or elementary school. So, but there was a couple of times where I was booking it off the trail. So it was because you're walking and not getting a fare or just elevation? Well, just elevation. Yeah. Just high. We got high and then we started walking. You got high. High. In elevation. And you started walking. That's not good. We got high and we were high. We were in Colorado. You got to stop by the shop. You want to rephrase that? We got up there in elevation. There you go. Okay. High in elevation. All right. We started walking and this was the second day. So opening day of the hunt and I get walking and I'm like, holy cow, I can't breathe. And then I assumed that that was the elevation.

And so I was just plugging along, you know, getting a little bit behind cash, trying to catch my breath. And then all of a sudden we start going up the steep part and I'm trying to breathe and I am nauseous and lightheaded and like can't see straight. And finally I get to the top and cash is waiting for me in the saddle. And I'm like, dude, something's wrong. We got to stop. And he's like, I look at him and he like, he visibly was not well. I felt green. He was behind me like a couple hundred yards. In my head, I was like, dude, he is struggling. I was like, why is he so slow? And he gets up there and I'm like, geez, that's why. He's like pale. Cash and I have hunted together before and he knows I'm not an out of shape guy. Like I can't run a mile with him, but I can keep up hiking. And so I'm sitting there. I'm like, dude, like you need to sit down.

I'm sitting on a rock, like just hanging out, like waiting for him. He gets up there and like does not look well. So I'm like, dude, you need to sit down or something. He's like, I might throw up. He's like, takes a drink of water. I'm like, if you're going to throw up, throw up. Like it'll probably help you feel better. I think he just got like stomach bug or something. And then I get thinking, I'm like, he's got freaking elevation sickness. Sure enough, he dry heaves a couple of times. I'm like, dude, stay here. Like do not kill yourself. We're not even hunting yet. After that, I was shaking and I couldn't stand. I tried to stand up and I couldn't. So I had to sit down. It was bad. So he takes off the trail and gets a little ways ahead of me. And I hiked about 100 yards and stopped. I hiked about 100 yards and stopped. And finally, after two hours, I made a half a mile and got up there.

And then that kind of set the tone for the trip for me. Yeah. I was honestly, when you like started to throw up, I was like, I'm going to have to pack him off the mountain. Like we're back here. We were like a mile and a half or whatever. I was like, I don't want to pack you that far. How would you do that? Would you like bungee him to a pack for him? I wouldn't do it. I'd come to get it the next day. I'm not a deer. You can leave overnight. I'm just trying to like, when you say pack someone off the mountain, like drag or like, no, no. I don't know. It was funny, but we figured out like his elevation band. Like, he was perfectly fine. If you got over that and you hiked more than half a mile, like of decently steep stuff, he was getting sick. How many days did you ever start feeling better? About the last day when, and we're getting, yeah, the last day I like was sick in the morning

because we went the night before we went down and then back up. And then that was where camp was. And then to camp, we went immediately down and then way back up to where the elk was. And that did a number on me. And so the last morning I actually sat in the side by side for a good hour and let my nauseousness settle down. And then I hiked up to where the elk was. And then at that point I was pretty good after that. Yeah. After that, you seemed fine. Yeah. But until then it was a little touch and go for a minute. Yeah. But like, I don't know, going to like the first story, I guess we'll get to like where the elk was and whatever. And, but anyway, we went out there the day before, had a full day to scout. So I ended up pulling that tag off the reissue list, which was, I'm now like one for 30 attempts. So I, I mean, got that one. I, I played it a little different strategy wise.

I already had a deer tag. And so I was like, well, I was like, I might as well get an elk tag if I can. Um, and so the very first, the very first list came out and I was like, you know what? I think everyone's going to be going for deer tags. I'm going to go for an elk tag that I've been on that I would take. And I got it and I was like, oh, that's pretty sweet. So that's a strategy people can use. Stay away from the deer tags and go for elk first and let me go for a deer tag next time. You know? And so. We'll take turns. Yeah. We'll take turns. Yeah. No. And so we, I got it off that, went out there, had a day to scout. So it kind of took us a minute to figure out where the elk were and where they weren't. We figured out a lot of places they weren't. And we figured out that there is a whole county that does not show the private land boundaries. Ooh. On Onyx. Yeah.

So that like, that's, we had a struggle. That county was like half the unit. Yeah. It was like the meat of the unit. Yeah. And we can't see the private land boundaries. So we're like hitting these ends of these roads. Like no trust. You young guys got to use maps. Yeah. And so we spent easily. We just went like wheels. For a concept. Half a day. We just went wheels on the ground and just hit sign after sign. It was like, well, we can't get in there. Can't get in there. Got to hit this trail. That trail will take you clear up. Then you have to hit the wilderness boundary and go over. And so just a lot of that was kind of the first scouting day. And we actually found like a dozen elk that we ended up line distancing. It was like 10 miles. And they were just in the sun. We could just see color. Wow. And so we were trying to get to them because it looked like, you know, right color.

It was the best, you know, best we'd seen. And so we get down there and that's when we started playing the private land boundary. Just trying to figure it out and couldn't get to them really. Unless we went and climbed like, it's like 2,500 vertical feet and like a half a mile. And then was like clear back in here. Like, yeah, we're not packing a bull out of that even if we got to them. Like that would not be fun. You lost me at 10 miles. Yeah. We glassed them from 10 miles away. Then we went over there to see how we could get to them. We probably got within five. Yeah. I mean, it was rough. 3,000 elevation foot gain. We drove over to where we could potentially get to them and it was, it wasn't worth packing a bull out of there. And so anyway, we, we toured around the unit, figured out kind of where some pockets were, where they were hanging.

And again, kind of going back to the member experience list, I called a guy that had hunted it previously. And he kind of said, you know, these few drainages we were in, we killed some bulls here and there. And so that kind of gave us an idea. And that's when we started going high and I almost killed Logan. We were actually going up into a basin. And I think, what were we, 11.5 and we were climbing to 12.5? Yeah. So it was like 12,000 feet and Logan was feeling it. That was like his boundary. It was like 11.5 to 12.5. That's way up there. Yeah. Well, when I'm thinking, I grew up in Beaver. I hunted the Beaver Mountains. I should be fine. Cash was like, the Beaver Mountains were like 9,000 feet. I was like, I can't. Well, where you were. Where you've hunted. Like the tops that you said you hadn't spent like a ton of time in were like 13. Yeah. The peaks.

And so anyway, we figured out Logan's little boundary. And eventually, we're like, that's just where the elk are. So you're just going to have to deal with it. So anyway, a few days go by. We see a handful of bulls, things like that. Nothing we were going to shoot. And the day we killed, I can't even remember what we did that morning. But anyway, it was an evening. Almost fell off a cliff that morning. Oh, yeah. That's true. You almost died there too. Yeah. We found a moose. And Logan went to go around this cliff. And the cliff gave. And he was all but off of a 50-foot cliff. I was holding on to a boulder. I went over there and was like, dude, what are you doing stepping this close to this for one? He's like, well, it sloughed off. And I'm like, there couldn't have been a lot that sloughed off. Like, legit, it could have been bad. Scared me a little bit. I was like, jeez.

I'm never going to get invited on another hunt again. I'm a liability at this point. At that point, I was like, man, he's going to break something, whatever. You're going to be packing him out one way or another. Yeah. That's what I was starting to think. And so anyway, that evening we went and I had a basin in mind that we wanted to get to. But then there was a ridge in between that we could look back across this other canyon and then hunt this basin. And so we get going up the trail. And the main trail goes the opposite way of where I wanted to go. So that was a plus. And so we get off this other trail that's not well beaten at all. It's timbered in pretty good. And we get up there and it goes around through a drainage and we run into two guys that are packing meat. And it's kind of like a storm's kind of rolling in. And like all the wind out of my sail was gone.

It was like, well, these two just came. Like there's nowhere else they were there packing meat out of other than that little basin. It's not a very big basin. And they said that they killed a bull, right? And I was like, oh, are you hunting cows or bulls? And like 90% of the people talked to her hunting cows. So I was like, oh, I just hope it's a cow. And they're like, no, yeah, it's a bull. And I was like, oh, a good bull. He's like, yeah, pretty good bull we killed. I was like, oh, great. This is awesome. And so I was like, well, I have no other plan like that we can get to in time for the evening. So like, well, we're going to go up here anyway. We'll get to that ridge and we'll look back at this face. And so we get going across the face to wrap around. And it starts storming a little bit. And so we kind of get under a tree for five minutes. And it goes by.

And I don't know, another 100 yards down the trail. We're only like 300 yards from where we saw those two guys packing meat. And Logan looks over across the county. He's like, is that elk right over there in those chutes? I was like, yeah, it is. So we glassed and there's a bull. Like, I'm going to kill that bull. Like, nice little six-point bull. It was the best bull we'd seen. And so I was like, you know what? We're going to kill that bull. And it's across this canyon like 700 yards. And so lay down. Logan sets up the camera, everything. And I shoot, drops him. He slides down. And he legitimately slid on his side, slid down the mountain and then kind of tumbled, whatever. And I hit high and maybe a touch back in full disclosure. It hit him in the spine. And he kind of tumbles down. And there's one little patch of like four pines that are there. And he never comes out of it.

And so we're like, okay, yeah, he's probably dead there or dying. So we watched that for like a half hour. And we determined, okay, yeah, we're going to go over there. But on the way over, I was like, we're just going to go as prepared as we can. And like we're going to hope for the best. And like we couldn't really review the shot very good on like the little tiny screen. And so I was like, I'm pretty sure it's, you know, he's hitting the spine. Like he might still be alive. So we got to go over. We can't let him lay overnight. And so we get over there, get close. And through the pine boughs, after we had made the climb, through the pine boughs, I can see him start to move. And so I'm like, crap, he's still alive. And we're ready to go. And so I, there's no way I can get up around fast enough. So I kind of have to shoot through the pine boughs and I can see his hair.

And I shoot and I just see what I thought was a rock just explode. And I was like, crap, I just hit rock. And he kind of gets up and drags himself off a little bit. His back, his one back leg wasn't working very good. And he gets over and around the corner and I don't get another shot. And so we start kind of tracking him and get over there and there's not much blood in the bed.

And that's when Logan had seen him go around the corner. But it's also the same way all of his cows went when we originally shot. There's nine cows and they all went the same way. And so we decide, you know, he's not going to leave, most likely not going to leave this big, thick patch of pines. And so we decide to back out. We're not going to push him any further. And what I found out was I hit, I like grazed him and there was just hair that blew everywhere. So there was like hair blown everywhere, but I just grazed him. And so I was like down in the dumps all night, didn't sleep. Next morning we get in there and Logan, I mean we get back to camp that night actually. And Logan's like, I can't even eat. Like I'm so sick, I can't even eat. Like elevation sickness. And so he doesn't eat. I don't eat much. Just sick about it.

And so we go in the next morning, we get to the trailhead, Logan stays there, which actually ended up being actually really beneficial that Logan happened to be sick and stayed at the trailhead that day. Because had we done like what we would have done if he was there, it probably wouldn't have worked out the way it did that morning. And so I walk up the trail and get up to the patch of pines and I was just going to zigzag tight until I got up to where we saw like his last tracks. And so I zigzag through really quiet, slow. That takes me probably an hour and a half to cover half of it. And I get up to where we see his tracks and I backtrack him a little bit, just trying to find a single speck of blood to make sure that that's his track and not a cow's track. And so I kind of get into where they all mix and I find the biggest track, which I'm assuming is a bull track.

And start following up for about 50, 60 yards and look over to my left and there he is like still alive and like just bedded. And so I'm like, crap, he's still alive. This sucks. And so I'm like, well, one, it's good we found him. And two, like I can kill him right here. And he kind of gets up on his front knees and I hit him right behind the shoulder and he's done after that. But that morning I did, I took a clip that'll be in the video. But I took a clip that I feel like a lot of people can relate to when you have to leave something overnight. I was not optimistic at all. Like after we reviewed the video after, I was like, that's like just his back strap. Like, I don't know, it didn't break his spine. Like there's not a ton of damage there. And so I went in like very, very low expectations of finding him dead. But I was like, if we can find him alive, it's thick.

We might not get a shot. And if he takes off, it's over. And so, but that to me, that was just like a lesson to me of like, no matter how bleak it looks, like always do your due diligence and do what you know you can. Like follow a track as far as you can. And when you get another shot, don't screw it up the second time. Kind of deal. So, but that kind of wrapped up that hunt and packed it out. And it was all good and dandy. And saw some other guys packing out a cow elk from way further than we were off an entirely different unit. Those Texas guys, those Texas guys go hard on Colorado elk. It was crazy. Yeah. They were what? Several. What did they say? They were like eight miles from just camp. Then they killed it like two or three miles from where they camped. Yeah. So they killed it. It was crazy. The day they killed it, they brought everything three or four miles to their camp. Yeah.

And then they were making one trip a day from camp to the truck to get everything back. Just hardcore. It was crazy. But they were like, they were stoked on a cow that far. I was like, man, I would never kill a cow and have to pack it that far. That's tough. That is my Colorado hunt. So even though you busted on Logan, he did spot the elk. I was worth it. I was worth it in the end. He did spot the elk. At that instance, he spotted the elk. However, however, this is where I'll take a little more credit. He spotted the six cows that were like 50 yards off from the bull. Oh, okay. The bull was way above the cows. So Logan spotted the group, but you spotted the bull. Yes. That's the only one I saw at first. I saw the bull and two cows. I was like, yeah, that's a bull. Anytime you have a cameraman that finds out before you, you better keep that camera going. I know. Thanks, Devin. Yeah.

Thanks, Devin. But to be fair. He probably doesn't even have a scope. No. I did. Oh, okay. Yeah, you did. My scope was the only one we used because I'm the only one with a mini scope and Cash got sick of packing his whatever ATX. Yeah, I didn't need the big scope for those basins. So Logan was packing everything. I'm just kidding. But yeah, the video is going to be interesting because Cash says there's a bull and all I saw was cows. He's like, there's cows. And so I immediately just start ripping gear apart, set up a camera, get a kill shot going because he said, I'm going to kill. And I get the camera, put on the elk, and I'm like, and Cash is proned out to my left. And I'm like, you can hear it on the video. I go, dude, there's not a bull there. And I'm like, what are you shooting at? And he's like, no, the bull's broadside. I can see him right here. Like he's the middle elk.

And I only thought there was the two cows and the bull. I didn't even know there was six cows. And I only thought there was six cows. And so anyway, after a few minutes, we got it all sorted out. So to Cash's credit, he is the reason that we saw a bull there. But I mean, I think all in all, we would have got to the top of the ridge and eventually glassed them up because that was literally right where we were going to be watching. They were feeding right into the open anyway. And so either way, we would have found them. But it was handy that we found them right there. And it was right after the storm broke, like they'd walked out. Awesome. It was pretty good. It was fun. Maybe we get a doctor comment on the elevation sickness. But I have had experience with it. And it's legit. I had a youth group that we were taking, you know, on a camp out. And we just decided to go hike this peak.

And we drove like a significant way up, like to 12,000 feet or something. And we started hiking. And it was like, holy crap, half of us just got intense headaches and like wanted to vomit and whatnot. And as soon as like, so half, you know, continued to the peak and half of us turned around and went down. As soon as we got below, you know, a certain elevation, everybody was fine. Yeah. But it was, it was intense. In my, first of all, I wanted to say that Cash's Colorado elk hunt is probably the hunt I've learned the most on just about hunting. We learned a ton on that hunt, I feel like. And I never hunted the high elevation before. So it was definitely a learning experience for me. Um, but as far as elevation sickness goes on my Colorado hunt for deer, like a week later, I knew I was going to be about the same elevation. So I bought boost oxygen.

It's just pressurized oxygen in a can and you just take a hit of it. And it solves most like the headache and the dizziness and the disorientation. It solves that part of elevation sickness. Nothing really gets rid of the nausea, but that boost oxygen worked really well for me in Colorado the next week. Hmm. What I, what I learned after I talked to, I have some family that's doctors and stuff and I learned after like, you don't even have to physically exert yourself to get elevation sickness. No. Like you can just go stand there and breathe it and you can get up. Yeah. Right. I had it happen last year. Like it's crazy. We, me and my brother set up camp and we were at like 11, eight, 11, seven. Yeah. We're kind of just setting up camp and sitting there. And I was like, I kind of feel like I'm in a dream. Like, like lightheaded, just lightheaded. I didn't get sick or nothing.

And then I slept and we hunted the next day and I kind of was over it. But there for a couple hours, I felt weird. So like had, like at that time, how'd you physically exerted yourself? I wonder if you were a fan of nauseous. Oh, I'm sure if we'd have drove right up the mountain after driving all day to Colorado, you drive to 12,000 feet and then get out and start walking. Yeah. You probably have a rough go. You would have. We live at almost 6,000 feet. Like if you live, if you live in the South or, you know, under 2000, well, if you live any lower elevation, a lot of guys will show up a couple days early, slowly acclimate. Yeah. I've had hunters do that, but no, they are sensitive to that. Yeah. And I mean, there's nothing worse than waiting 20 years or paying a lot of money for a hunt. You show up and you're sick the whole time. Yeah. Like that's awful. Yeah.

You can ruin a hunt pretty quick. Yeah. I think it was good for you to know too though, especially since you had that Colorado hunt the next week. Yeah. Like. I would have been toast not knowing what was going on. Yeah. Had you got over there, like, you never know what could have happened. Yeah. You know? Yep. So it's something I think, like Devin was saying, if you live in a low elevation, go to the highest elevation you can and figure out like what you need to do for yourself. Camp there for a day or two. Camp. Yeah. You know, show up early. Get there a few years early, whatever. But, yeah, it's definitely a different animal when you get above 11,000. I used to. Even 10,000. There was two or three summers I'd spend all summer working in Louisiana. I remember my GPS would say negative like two feet. Wow.

And then immediately after that, you know, we would finish our summer job or whatever and I would come back and within two days I'd be archery deer hunting at like 9,000 feet. There was a couple times I'd get headaches, but it is a real thing. Like, you're not used to that air. I grew up in the mountains, but even then, like three months in the swamp and all of a sudden you're at 9,000 feet. You're just like, you can't get enough air. Crazy. Yeah. Yeah. Cool. I think another one that I can tell about is I had my youngest son got his first deer tag. And I think just over the years as, you know, recently general tags even have been a lot hard to draw. And anyway, he ended up with his first deer tag. And just, man, I think maybe it's a sign of you getting old when, you know, that's what gets you more excited than your own stuff is, you know, being with a kid on his first hunt.

And I'm telling you, it's a religious experience for me because I pray about twice as much as I regularly do. This is just general Utah deer, right? Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, just that I won't just want him to have such a good, you know, a good time, a good experience his first time, you know, so much and ended up being a tough hunt as far as like I scouted and pre-scouted and everything that we scale a lot. And there were a lot less deer that I, that I was finding, but it was extremely hot, you know, leading up to that, that hunt in the eighties, you know, right before. And then we just got dumped on, you know, snow wise. And I thought, Oh, it's going to be awesome because we got snow and ended up just typically where we have deer that time of year, we didn't have any deer and, and he was kind of rough, but, uh, he ended up spotting deer 2000 yards straight up, like really high.

And, uh, so it was, they were 2000 yards above us and, uh, it was just getting dark. And so we decided to come back the next morning and, uh, and he spotted him again. And, uh, so we kind of made a plan and there were two options. He could take a 600 yard shot at the edge of the trees straight up, or we could kind of circle around and, and work up a ridge and, you know, get to get to like 300 yards. And so we decided to, to go the long way around, ended up being four miles, four mile hike, um, up to him. And, but I think it was worth it, you know, just to have a, uh, a shorter shot for, for his first time. And, um, man, he, I, I had him shoot that fierce carbon, uh, carbon rage. And it was awesome. He just one shot and they were in, in brush that the most tricky part of it, it was like that scrub oak. And so most of the time you could only see like top of their heads and antlers.

And, and so I was like, I don't even know if we're going to get a shot. You're waiting for him to stand up, waiting for him. No, they were standing up. The brush was just high, you know? And so we were just waiting for him to come kind of into, you know, a gap or something like that. And, uh, so he was, he was down prone, dead rest, you know, bipods. We had, uh, you know, a bag under the, under the rear of the gun. So he was, he was on it. And, uh, so it just barely came and we'd gone over and went, when you're with a first time hunter, sometimes you forget like all the easy stuff, like, you know, zooming the scope in and out and finding them. And so I've had three other kids we've gone through this with. So we practiced and practiced and practiced, you know, zooming in, zooming out. And so we'd go over when we'd see other deer earlier in the hunt, you know, even if they

were too small, I'd have him like practice that, get into position and zoom out, find the deer, then zoom in. And by the time we got on this deer, he, he had it down. And I think just cause he was older, like a lot of the other kids, it's a little bit different when they're 12 than when they're 18 and he was on it. And then we joke, he's like, it's all the fortnight practice.

These intense situations when everything's on the line, fortnight black ops. Like you said it was a waste. It wasn't a waste. He saw an opportunity to sell you on it right there. He did. So, but, but it was, it was awesome. And he, it was funny because the brush was so tall. He shot and the deer disappeared. And I'm like, I don't, I don't, I don't know for sure if you hit it or not. And he's like, I'm pretty sure I hit it, but there were three other bucks with them. And, uh, so there were four bucks total in the group and three, we watched leave and I'm like, I probably hit it, but. Thought he was pulling the old fainting goat trick. Yeah. It was the exact same though. Like we got over there and he just tipped over like boom, fell right over. Didn't move. Is that with a seven MMPRC? Yeah. Seven MMPRC that, uh, Devin sold me. So pretty fantastic gun.

And, uh, yeah, he punched it, you know, right. I mean, we'd had the anatomy talk, we'd had everything and, and he punched it just right in the shoulder. So it was pretty awesome. So, um, yeah. And, and nothing like that first time, you know, they, they kill and they're excited about it. So anyway, good, good experience. Why do you remember your first deer? I do. Yeah. Tell us a little bit about that. I've never heard anything about that. I just, you know. So we probably ought to finish some present hunt stories before we go to past hunt stories. Is there something I don't know about? No, I just have never heard. I'm like, I've never heard, I've never even heard anything about Wyatt's first deer. I haven't heard anything about anybody's first deer. So I mean, you're kind of. There's another podcast for another day. Yep. Yep. First deer story. So good experience. All right. Who's next?

I think it's Devin. Archibald's Utah. I just like yours, just a general tag. And I mean, I'll just be as honest as possible. I did not have very high hopes. I mean, we always scout hard. And it's kind of like, it's the closest to home. So you can still, you know, have a life, work, and do all that, and still hit the hills. And I think through all my cameras, scouting, glassing, I had maybe one deer I might shoot. And you know what I mean? That one target buck. And so archery, I hunted with my brother, muzzle. We were in Alaska, me and Wyatt and Josh. So that was out. And then all of a sudden, it's the early hunt. And I was with my dad, the early rifle hunt. He had a tag. And I got to tell this part of it. It's kind of funny. It's because your dad, like you've hunted with your dad. And like, he's the man, you know? Yeah, yeah. And this day, it's opening day.

And he was already kind of like, do you think there's deer down here? You know what I mean? Like, I could tell he had not high hopes. And he made a couple comments. And we start cruising. We're in my side-by-side going along. And all of a sudden, we start seeing deer. Like, quite a bit of deer. One little four-point, another little four-point. And I'm like, gee, this is pretty awesome, you know? And so he's like, hyped up, high alert. And he's got his rifle case. He's in the front seat with me. And he's turned to the side of the window. And his hands are on his lap, okay? And I'm not thinking anything, right? We're flying along. Maybe, I don't drive too fast, 13 miles an hour, maybe. But it's sandy. And like, when you hit the brakes, you stop. Yeah. And I look over, and there's about nine, ten does. And I just see antlers in the middle of them. And the sun's hitting the antlers.

And I just, I assume he sees them. They're like right there. And I hit the brakes like, here we go. And he was totally oblivious, probably just kind of like, you know how you're in a daze looking out a window? And I hit the brakes, and he goes flying. My windshield was up forward like that. Yeah. And I remember seeing out of my eye his body like over the hood. Oh! And he comes back down inside of the cab. And he just looks at me, and his eyes are like this big around. Like, what happened? I'm hurt bad, basically. He's like, my neck. I'm hurt. Like, he was just in shock, you know? And so now I'm like, well, how bad is it? Or are we going to kill this deer? Like, I don't know what to say. It was just funny. We laughed about it. He gets out, and he's like, I, you know, he's looking at the buck. And he decides to pass the deer, which was a total mistake.

Because it was the best deer we saw in, like, quite a while. Yeah. The whole rest of the hunt. But poor guy. He saw his life flash before his eyes. It was fun. It was fun hunting with my dad. So then we were hunting. I, you know, it was the later, the normal deer hunt. And me and him were together, and I was hunting. It's just fun, because it's all my brothers, my brother-in-law, my brother's friend. Like, we have a pretty big camp. And it's just, I don't think any of us, like, after three or four days of seeing does and two points, it's just like, man, this is going to be tough. Like, yeah. Yeah. And all my brothers have killed some great bucks. So it's just like, it's more of a family thing. You don't have high hopes. And I certainly didn't. But me and my brother Brandon were hunting, and I got a call from a buddy who said, hey, my friend just called me, and they saw a big deer.

Like, you have this tag, right? And I'm like, yeah. And he says, well, you should call him. And I'm like, dude, this never works out. You know, I was like, why wouldn't they kill it then? And he said, well, their sister-in-law or whatever had to go back to work. And this is like opening day. Yeah. She killed a little four-point and left. So, like, they want to see if they can find this deer. Yeah. And I was like, okay, I'll call him. The next day, I kind of let it go. The next day, I call him. And my dad's like, let's go. You know, like, I don't really know these guys very well. But we met up with Cade and his dad, and they're like, yeah, we saw him over here. And I'm thinking, I feel like I'm wasting my time a little bit. You know what I mean? Like, I hope. I hope. These kind of things never work. So, we hunted there, looking around, didn't see much. Did they get, like, a video of it?

Did you know what it looked like going into it? Of course, I asked the question. Like, they said it had one cheater. They thought it was heavy, you know, but, like, not a lot of detail. Yeah. Yeah. But, you know, whatever. It's the best option at that point. Like, it was not looking good. There was not, it was hard to find mature deer. Yeah. And, whatever. Me and my dad are just hunting. And so, the second day we were looking in that area, Katie, we were with, like, let's go up on this point. And, like, it's, like, 1030, almost 11 in the morning. He's like, you never know. You know, we go up there. And it's kind of like, you know, that late morning where you're just kind of, you're not, you know how you are at first light compared to, like, 11 in the morning. Yeah. You're kind of like, there might be something. And we're kind of standing there. And my dad's like, hey, I forgot my phone.

I'm going to camp. Like, take a picture of this, you know, over here. It looks cool. And so, I was like, well, just stand there. And I'll take your picture in it. And he's like, I don't need to be. I'm like, stand there. Let's take your picture, you know. So, we're taking photos. Just, I mean, talking kind of, like, not really loud, but just not in a deer hunting mode. And we do that. And I'm kind of standing there. And I'm looking. And I glass up just, I could tell it was a buck. And turns his head. And it's a two-point, of course, like the rest of the deer we had seen. And I'm just still kind of scanning, scanning. Kind of talking to my dad. And I'm scanning, scanning. And there's, like, this dark hole in this thick face. And I see this deer's butt. And you know, like, it's not a two-point. And I got my tens. And he, like, lifts his head. And it was just that movement.

And I just put my vinyls away. And I took off running to the side-by-side to grab my rifle and my scope. You should always have your rifle on you, right? That's what they did. Yeah. I ran fast. And when I came back, I set it up. And I looked in that scope for probably 1.2 seconds max. Like, no question, I'm killing this deer. And then I just went into kill mode. And I've told myself so many times, like, the next deer I kill, I want to, like, watch him. Study him. Take my time on the shot. You know, but I know if this deer goes any direction, 360, two steps, he's gone. Yeah. You know, and then, I mean, at least I know there's a shooter right there. But, like, you kill him when you see him. And so I was just kill mode. So is he bedded or standing? Standing, feeding. Like, has no idea we're there. But any direction, literally two steps, he's gone.

And when you say he's in a black hole, it's just thick, thick brush. Yeah, it's thick trees. And, like, he's just in a hole that I can see in below me. Yeah. And I laid down, and my legs were above my head. And I did, like, I'm like, this isn't going to work. But I'm, like, not like I was calm, but I'm just panicked because I'm, like, he is going to take two steps. Got to hurry. And be gone. And I just started. I killed him. That's about it. And me and my dad just looked at each other like, this freaking worked. It happened, you know. It was so cool. Walked down there, and he was an awesome deer. Yeah, he is awesome. Nice. I remember when I got, when I saw the text come in, when Devin, like, tells you he killed something, like, it's something. Like, it's not, like, just a buck. Like, it's going to be something. And so I'm like, oh, Dylan killed a deer. Devin killed a deer.

So I'm expecting, like, this, like, nice, pretty 180-inch deer. Like, on a general tag, like, something he's going to kill. I open it up, and I'm like, holy crap. He killed a frigging deer. And I just, the side profile is like, dang. I know, man. Dang. When I walked up to him and, like, saw his side profile, it's like, it's just awesome. Yeah. It's like what you dream about. He's a sweet deer. I was just, like, in shock. Like, that literally, I saw one other deer, and I hunted the rest of the whole one of my brothers. I saw one other deer that was maybe three years old. Wow. Jeez. It's the one and only three-year-old plus deer I saw that, you know, would even make you unzip your rifle case or whatever, get your scope out. So explain how he's built. He's 23 and a half wide, I think just under 24, so he's really narrow. I knew he was narrow. Yeah.

And I could have swore I saw some pretty decent eye guards, but when I pulled his head out of the bush, and they're almost fivers. Yeah, they're to die. And basal, like, you grab the bases, and it hurts your heads. It's a pretty awesome buck. Basal points. He's got two kickers on the left, one on the right, two basal points, and then almost five-inch eye guards. Yeah. Just deep, pretty. None of his tines are less than nine. Right? No, they were all, they were all, like, nine plus. He's, like, two and a half shy of 200, so she added up. Have we posted that on Instagram yet? He hasn't. He hasn't gotten his own post on Instagram yet. We're still working through all of our deals. If you don't follow us on Instagram, you want to see this deer, and I'm telling you want to see this deer, then give us a follow. It was cool with my dad, you know? Just. Yeah. It was awesome.

It's always special when you're with family or your dad, and, like, just, I've, you know what's funny? I told my dad the day before, I was like, man, we go hard. Like, we've been, we'd hunted for the whole early hunt, all the archery, like, all the scouting. I was like, maybe the mule deer gods will just watch us and feel so bad for us. They'll just, like, give us one. I said that the day before, like, maybe we'll just get lucky, you know? And it literally was like, like, here you go. There he is. It was just crazy how that happened. And for killing, like, a top-end buck on a general unit, that happened really fast. Like, how you killed it, you know? Yeah, like, so, like, and it's, I call them ghost bucks. Like, some of the bucks in Nevada, like, there's no trail camera pictures. Yeah. There's no video. People didn't name them.

Those are, like, they're so rare nowadays, and it's just, it's just awesome. I love that kind of stuff, you know? So, as a perspective, from the second you very first saw him to when he was dead, how long, how much time do you think he lost? Well, I ran 50 yards of the truck, grabbed the scope, rifle. The rifle was unzipped. I already knew. I already knew. I could tell. You always want to check, make sure, okay, he is alone. That's the buck before you shoot. Yeah. Minute and a half. Minute and a half. So, I mean, you take. It would have been quicker if I didn't have to move. Yeah. Once I laid down prone to shoot. So, I mean, that's. And he was 500 yards. Yeah. So, but he had no idea. He had no idea he was there. That just speaks to, like, how fast things can change when hunting. Like, you hunt all the archery, all the early, all the late, and. At least expected.

There's literally a minute and a half that is what your whole hunt is made for. And situations like that is what. It's crazy. Yeah. When it gets tough, situations like that is what keeps you going during, like, the tough, slow times where you're like, Devin had nothing going on, and then he killed a 200-inch deer. Like, just like that, it can turn around. Literally. That's crazy. That's the kind of stuff that keeps you going. Yeah. Yeah. That's pretty awesome. Pretty fun. I think that he was probably bedded early at first light or something. It was thick. And they hear traffic. And, you know, it's just like Wyatt's buck. Like, they just remain calm. They don't do anything crazy. And I know I glassed down there before my dad said, take the pictures, and I didn't see anything. You know, it's like he, I don't know. He was probably there.

But he was up feeding at 11 in the morning, him and another buck. They were about 50 yards apart. But, like, things calmed down, and he was just, yeah, it was just awesome. I think bucks kind of learn, too. Like, early morning, like, they're hearing all that traffic and stuff. Like, first light, I think some bucks learn, like, I'm better off to feed at noon than I am 730 in the morning. Especially deep in the second rifle hunt. Yeah. And that's what's hard about generals. It's like you're hunting there, and, man, like, you know there's probably a buck in this area or whatever. And then just headlights and noise and trailer slam and door slam and whatever it may be. It's just like every day it felt like something like that was happening. It's just hard. Those general hunts are tough. That was probably the luckiest one. I've been dang lucky in life. I'm very blessed. But that buck was.

That's your top lucky buck. That's pretty darn lucky, yeah. It was. Well, that's awesome. I think we'll probably wrap it up. Anybody else got any stories for this episode? I think we're done, right? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we got a ton more stories to tell in the office, but coming soon. Yeah, we got a ton more stories. And I think Adam's got the lion's share of stories, but he's not here. So we'll catch him when he comes in. But we wanted to bring you a podcast, even though it's a rough time of year for us. We're in the field a lot. So we pretty much work nine or ten months really hard to be in the field. So I thought we'd bring you one here. And I'd like to give a shout-out to Fierce Arms. That's a rifle that I'm using right now, that 7mm PRC. And, man, I couldn't be happier with it. And we've got some in stock.

If you're looking for a new rifle, then you don't have to wait, you know, ten months to get it. They're shooting lights out. And we've got some suggestions on the setup and the scopes. Really have them dialed in. So give us a call here at 435-263-0777 if you're in the market for a new rifle. And if you're in the market for some optics or whatnot. Get a free tripod while you're at it. Yeah, get a free tripod on that Black Friday deal. You get a rifle and a scope, you'll be in there. Eligible for that for sure. And our philosophy kind of is to give discounts kind of all year long. So especially, you know, if you're a member, you get a discount all the time. And so it's kind of extraordinary that we do something else that's a pretty awesome deal on top of things. So now's a great time to call and pick up a rifle, pick up, you know, optics.

Or, you know, if you're under the 3,000 mark and you want to add some hunt giveaway tickets, now's a great time to do it. We just opened that. So give us a call. And we got anything else, Logan, to shout out? We're all good. Yep. I think follow us on social media. Go to the website right now if you want to see the hunts that we've announced. We'll have a little more info on that. But great time. Get, you know, kind of pumped up for next year. Get your application strategy set in. Now's a great time to join our membership and really get your next year's applications kind of dialed in. And we can help you decide, you know, where you're going to draw, where you're not going to draw, where you need to build points, and get you set up. But until next time. 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.

K-E-N-E-T-R-E-K.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. 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. 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.