EP 362: Wildfires Currently Affecting Western Big Game and Hunts Right Around the Corner

You're listening to the Epic Outdoors Podcast, brought to you by Fierce Firearms. Epic Outdoors choice for custom hunting rifles.

Hey everybody, Jason Carter, Adam Bronson, and a few of the other guys here. How are you doing, Cash? Good. John, you doing good? Yep. John's been scouting hard. Cash, you were scouting last night. I was. Yep. Seen anything good out there? No. Liar. Absolutely nothing. Nice pause there. We're entering the secrecy portion. Yeah. Now is why? Why are Hunter so secret about everything? I guess it's everything, right? Bronson, sports and everything. People are just careful with how they do, what they do, and the gear you use. Exactly. You've got Fantasy Football League starting up, too, and that's people holding cards close to their chest on that, probably, too. Who they're going to draft. Wyatt? Do you do that, or do you just do the Masters Fantasy stuff once a year? Yeah, I know nothing about sports. Wyatt does the automatic button, and as long as he beats Gill, he's good. Yeah, I do.

I don't even do the automatic button, Wyatt. You're better than I am. I don't do them either. The thought of it. The thought of it's good, but I'm not around enough to make all the subtle changes throughout the year when your people get hurt and you've got to re-pick. I'm just too busy doing it, so I'm not going to. Anyway. Old Archibald's a champion, though. He's won the family deal a few times. Yeah. Remember the big ring he has? Oh, yeah. It's no joke. He's no joke. Yeah. We should call him right now, except for he's probably not even coherent. He's probably under right now. I'm having a procedure.

All good. Probably can't violate any hip-a-lovers. Yeah, we're going to call it an elective procedure.

Might catch him right after, though. That's a pretty good time. I'm watching people come out with anesthesia. That would be entertaining. Yeah. He's warned everybody, including his wife. Can't be used against me in court of war or otherwise. I mean, I've always wanted bigger pecs, but, you know, Devin, he's the only one willing to do it. He's willing to go to the stretch that takes. Come on. I only thought surfer dudes in California did that. But anyway. All right. So anyway, well, this podcast is powered by Fierce. We sure appreciate them and their support. Here in our home state of Utah, Redmond, Utah, Fierce Firearms, FierceArms.com, www.FierceArms.com. Check them out. Give them a holler. Of course, we have a QR code in our magazine, full-page ad there, the latest magazine. Pretty awesome. Anyway, one of our biggest, bestest partners ever.

We're actually talking about their rifles this morning, guys. I mean, they're crazy good. I'm going to mount a scope on a Reaper today, I think. But anyway, they're awesome firearms. Yeah. It's worth mentioning, we've got a few available out, you know, that are set up, scopes ready, dialed in. Like, if you're getting last minute or whatnot before a hunt and need to save some time, we've got them set up. Just give us a call. Yeah, we've got a partnership with DJ's Gunsmithing here to do some stuff like that. I wish DJ's Gunsmithing was a viable business. All I see is outflows. Mostly on Devin's part. But I mean... Jeez. But if you need it in a pinch, yeah, we've got guns ready to go. We want to wait. Popular caliber. Guns, like Adam's talking about, guns that are shot in. I mean, we just go out, shoot them in, sell them with ammo. Or not. Whatever. Buy a gun. Set it in yourself.

Buy a bear gun. Yeah. Pretty awesome. B-A-R-E, not B-A-R. I have a lot of... That's a good point. Just sell them both. Do that, too. Might have a 7 mag that could kill a brownie. Yeah. Anyway, pretty fun stuff. If you need anything that way or need optics of any sort, rifle scopes and things like that, why we've got them. Rings and bases, great. Totally set you up. So anyway, give us a holler. We're going to talk. Josh went to a fierce event recently, and we're going to talk to him about that on a later podcast. One of the things I did want to mention that was pretty wild is they shot a mile. Over 1,700 yards. Mm-hmm. Interesting. And we're fairly accurate. That's just... I wonder if that was with the... Josh rung at first shot. First shot. At a mile? Yeah. At a mile. At a mile. With a .22 Creedmoor? What is it? I have no idea what you're shooting. I don't know what it is.

We'll find out, but... 22 long rifle? The .22 Creedmoor, the bullet... Would that bullet disintegrate before it got a mile? Oh, yeah. Just from friction in the air? No. 50-grader? No. What they do is they fall out of the air, and they bounce on the ground. It ends up looking like a pellet. Yeah. One-seven-seven pellet by the time it hits there.

That's pretty amazing. Still have lead poisoning from those. Sucking on them all day. Oh, all day long. That's where you kept them. I had another guy tell me that. He's like, dude... We did it. That's what we did is kiss. Yeah. You want it amazing. You don't want it in your pocket. That's kind of interesting. Just... There we go. Talking about one-seven-seven pellets. Just came out with their newest publication, the August-September issue. Huh? Check it out. Big old velvet muley on the cover. Utah archery buck. Getting ready, right? Yeah. For... Yeah. Season to kick off here. Utah. Yeah. Nevada starts what? In a couple days. Yeah. Archery deer. Yeah. Sure does. Tent. I mean... It does. It's tough. Tough in Nevada. Although there's still some big animals being found. Especially elk, but deer, too. Been a few good bucks.

Anyway, within this publication, we talk about all the point systems as far as the points only. Montana points only alert. Wyoming. Oregon. Of course, you guys are doing points for Oregon, right? Why? Yes. You do points for everything because you don't know when those opportunities are going to come around. Yeah, exactly. Build them up. Right? Build them up. So, anyway. Montana, July 1 to September 30. Bronson, we've talked about this in the past. July 1 to October 31 for Wyoming. Oregon. Due by November 30. Of course, most guys got it out of the way when the normal application period by May 15. So, anyway. We cover those. And also have an overview of Alaska. Just general overview. Of course, Wyatt talked a lot about opportunity tags. So, great, great section there to kind of prep a guy for what's out there for easy to get tags. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What is left?

Not as many options as there. Started off. Maybe even when Wyatt wrote the article, there's less options. Started off this turn back year. Pretty solid. Ended up knowing a couple of guys to get a few great turn back tags there in Colorado. As well as, you know, even hearing about some of the residents in Nevada getting the first come, first serve. So, we don't have much for non-residents. I mean, you see a tag. You better have a really bad injury to turn in motion about a tag. Don't just put it in your account. You'll end up with a 202 deer or something like that. You know. And you're in what? What is the thing? Week. A week jail? Tag jail for a week? Time out. Yeah. Time out for a week if you throw it in and don't check out. Yeah. Won't take your money. Won't take the Walmart credit card or whatever else. Anyway. All right. So, yeah. There's a lot of that stuff going on as well.

So, anyway. A lot of scouting. A lot of things like that. We're just cranking depending on the day. Scouting versus office work. Well, and real hunts are starting. Yeah. Like I said, here in Utah, what? 16th? Week from this Saturday. Archery deer and elk. It's almost hard to believe fall's already here. So, John, you asked earlier to give some trail camera techniques. Now that you're the trail camera guru. What did you learn didn't work? How about that? Maybe we learned much from that. I did learn that I would. So, I had a really good mix of a whole bunch of cameras and bought a whole bunch of new ones this year. But had some from past years that the better cameras take better pictures. So, spin it. Go on a nickel more and you go first class. Yes. Especially at night when deer are moving. It's like, I think it's a buck. But it's moving. You know.

And when you get newer, better cameras, you know, the new stealth cams are substantially better than some of the old stuff. Or even, not even old. I had, you know, some that I bought that are just like on the cheaper end. And they were not good. Well, yeah. You know. They really do show up at night. You notice a big difference. And then if you have a water trough that's six feet long and you can put it on a post ten feet away, you're not going to miss much. But if you have a wet spring that comes out here, you've got to put it in the head and it's shooting down 30 yards. You're going to. And a deer can water any time within there. And at night, that's one of better cameras. Better emitters. Better sensors. And we sell the cheaper ones. Yeah, we do. Because there's a demand for it. And there's times, you know, and there's other species like, I don't know, sheep.

But they water some at night, but they water more in the day. And if you're on a sheep guzzler, you literally, your guzzler, your thing is a two-foot square. That's where they're coming. And you need to be close. And you're going to be close. And you're not going to miss much there. But there's other places, the majority of natural water sources that, yeah, you've got a wet spot and it, you know, trickles down until it dries up. Or, you know, it's a pond or whatever. The other thing is the waters or the places where I had multiple cameras, I was really happy I did have multiple cameras on them. Just, it was interesting. Like those longer strings or ponds and stuff, you mean? I had, you know, one that's, you know, probably 20-foot, you know, area where water's, you know, like a spring. And I had a camera on both sides.

And there was, you know, some places where one camera got stuff, the other one didn't. And so having multiple cameras set up on the same water, in some cases, was awesome. Yeah. You know? You could never have. You could never. I was running on water. And a good friend of mine was running on the same water. And for some reason, like, his would quit taking pictures. Like, and then he'd go get them set up again. And then quit taking pictures again or just whatever. Anyway, we end the trail camera season, let's call it. And he doesn't get any of the deer that, you know what I mean? And they're bucks that we're interested. And, you know, we're kind of running together, talking, sharing pictures, all that that you do with your friends. And we just happen to both be on this one. Anyway, and it just goes to show you, like, you just. You can miss stuff. You miss stuff. And you don't know why.

And some, there's some, there's one water. I mean, it's year in and year out. I have the worst luck on. I had two cameras. One, you know, shut down and wouldn't take pics. The other one took pics nonstop for until it was totally full. Three days. Yeah, in three days. And I leave it for two weeks. And, you know, I got so frustrated. I went and set up a third camera, changed out the other two, threw them in the bed of the truck. That's it. They're going in the garbage can or, you know, as a dummy camera for somebody to steal and feel good about until they realize it doesn't even have a battery cartridge. You know what I mean? And so, anyway, just stuff like that. Just, you know, had cameras go up in flames and nothing. But the batteries are hardy. I mean, they were laying at the base of the post, but the camera was gone and all melted and just wrapped around the post, you know. Really?

Yeah. You know. But, anyway, I was just wondering, you know, we talked about some tips and tricks and, like, taking a picture, making it take pictures, watching the ratchet go up on the counter, things like that. And just wondering if you had, now that you're a very seasoned veteran, right on the heels of the season, if you have any tips and tricks from the John Peterson files. Yeah. I mean, I think. Nickelmore. Go first class. Nickelmore. And then. Checking them. Tending to them. Yes. So, and I wouldn't say, you know, and I, some places you film a lot of other people. Yeah. Checking their cameras. And some of them were, like, every other day. Guys are in there every other day? Oh, yeah. You know. Wow. Well, just because you got six or eight dudes on there. Yeah. Well, no. But, I mean, the same guy would show up and show up and show up. Oh. Okay. Maybe not that much. But a lot. But a lot.

Anyway. At least. Why was he doing that, you think? Well, maybe he was camped out there for a three-day weekend. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe. Had a significant situation. Yeah. Something. I don't know. It was just like, this dude's, like, here all the time. Yeah. But I think, you know, at least every two weeks. Yeah. That's what I would say. But, you know. That's what I like. I think if you can go every ten days. Yeah. And just change out. And you just pray. If you can't make it back for three or four weeks, you just pray. Yeah. That they're still taking pictures. And you walk up and it's heavily filled. Which is. But it still ratchets one. You're grateful. I don't know how the batteries, you know, work. I had some that were just interesting. Like, same camera. Similar number of pictures. And one, like, the batteries would run down, you know, faster in a certain spot.

I don't know, you know, why that is. Without taking loads of pictures. Yeah. Like, not getting filled up. Just as, like, similar to another camera. And I don't know if it's, you know, just the way the environment was there. Or sun. Or what. I don't know. Or wind. Or, I don't know. Anyway. Kind of interesting. So, just checking, like, sometimes you think, oh, I'm totally safe. You know. My batteries are last in three weeks. Easy. You know. But you might have a camera or two that is a little bit. So, we did, you know, I pointed you to the Amazon specials. Did you notice a difference? Battery brand. I didn't. Okay. The Amazons were good. I did on some, like, that weren't that brand. I also did a whole bunch of the Home Depot brand. Okay. And they were just generic. I did a whole bunch of the Energizer and Duracell as well. It's also a short season. So, maybe. Yeah. I remember the Whites.

Yeah. You could run for a year or two. Yeah. I remember. But substantially better than I thought I was going to do. I've got 600 batteries that are still new in the package that I thought I would use. You know. You've got plenty. Yeah. So, well, luckily they've got, like, supposedly a five-year shelf life. Well, luckily your door not. All the door locks at your house always need batteries. Partial. That's what I do. That's what I do. So, 50% I keep them around. I do. Yeah. They go in the door locks. The other thing I noticed back when you could run cameras year-round. You know, especially in places where maybe elk and on the mountain. You'd camera. You'd do the hunting. And you'd just leave them up through the rut and post-rut. And I wouldn't even go pick them up until the next year, May or June, in places.

And when you had good batteries, it was a difference on how long they went through the winter before they totally died. Some of them would be taking pictures in the spring. Because in the middle of winter when you get three feet of snow, there's, like, nothing. Nothing. And a random squirrel coming by. But with the cold, you know, right now in the dead of summer, it's all hot. Batteries, they're not getting. The only thing that's killing them is taking pictures. Yeah. That's the only thing that's draining them. But I would agree. When you're doing these shorter bursts, you don't notice that big a difference. But when you start getting colder temperatures, you used to, which really where we run cameras now, we can't run them. So it doesn't really matter. So, Cash, you know, you're kind of a veteran at running these cameras in a whole different environment than we were in this year. Right.

But, I mean, what's the go-to, what's your routine look like? And how did you do this year? Did good. I ran, like, the Amazon batteries and stuff like that in a regular camera that was only taking pictures. But in any cell, I would, my suggestion would be in any cell cam, always use a quality battery. Like, something that's transmitting. Like, those, I did notice the cheaper batteries died significantly faster than a good battery, like a Duracell or something. So, that would be my tip. Do you run solar on your transmitting? No. I didn't this year, but I am 100% doing that next year. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like, I had to replace batteries two times on the cell cams, on a couple cell cams. Two to one over a regular. Yeah, over a regular, yeah. So, you lean a little left, your big proponent of solar. Yeah. I'm just teasing. I'm just teasing. I have solar. I am left-handed that way.

I have solar, probably. And it kills it, by the way. Yeah, it does. I'm just not a huge fan of all of the entire landscape being filled with it. But anyway. Right. Yeah. Yeah, I will invest in a couple solar panels next year. You're driving a Tesla truck, Jason. Hey.

Laugh. You know we're all going to do it one of these days. I refuse. I refuse. As long as my Honda 2000 generator running in the bed of it can charge it as I drive. Then I'll be all right. There you go. Did you see the Tesla truck the other day that had solar panels on the roof? No. Keeping the batteries topped off as well. Well, we just. Here's my thought on those electric vehicles. Right? Thoughts by cash. An engine has an alternator, right? I think that it's all a sham. It's a scam. Because you should be able to. With a moving vehicle, there's got to be some kind of alternator that can charge those Teslas as they run. Like have an alternator hooked to each. Yeah. Like some kind. So we have four alternators. You could go forever. Jam in the batter. That's what a Freas does. Just keep it. Yeah. I mean, come on. Keeping it topped off while you're moving. Exactly. No big deal.

Tires are moving 75 miles an hour. Yeah. There's something that can turn and charge your vehicle. So this is like back in the day, Bronson, when we had our little bikes. Oh, yeah. And you have that little generator that runs the light. The light on the front. Yeah. That. Your rim. It would just touch the rim and they would turn it. Yes. Inside of the rim. Yeah. So interesting that Logan wants to talk about Prius. Go ahead. Oh, I'm a huge proponent. Have you ever gotten 70 miles to the gallon? You don't feel like a man until you've gotten 70 miles to the gallon. Maybe a nutrient down by Black Ridge. Okay. People do that all the time. That quote needs to live in infamy here. You don't feel like a man until you've driven something that gets 70 miles a gallon. That's right. 70 miles a gallon is hog. I will tell you this. The 3.0 Duramax in the half ton, it's no joke, 25 to 28 miles a gallon.

That's crazy. I'll bet Shane Gillis doesn't drive a Prius, Logan. I'll bet Shane Gillis doesn't look half as good as me either with his own look. I don't know. He's trying to pull it off. Uncle T. So go ahead. Go ahead with the Prius. What do you got? Where did you drive one? Alternator on every wheel? What is it? I'd never driven a Prius. I had a buddy who had one and it was a hybrid. And they would, like, as the engine was going or as you were coasting down a hill, it had an alternator in the driveline or the, I don't know where it was, but as the tires would rotate, it would charge the other half of the battery. I'm sure that my mother-in-law's car does that. My wife's car does that too. It's a hybrid. It's nice. It is awesome when you're going downhill and it'll charge the battery up. Wow. Or every time you push on the brake, it charges the battery.

So is that vehicle doing well for you? Yeah. It's good. It's Santa Fe. Hyundai Santa Fe. I wouldn't, I mean, man. I don't want to rely on so, I mean, that's the thing. I like relying on a gas station. You've got to stop for a drink anyway, right? Yeah. Stop for a drink and snack and move on. Coke and a fresh pastry? I mean, right? And those hybrids aren't plug-in. They're gas. It's just if you get a little extra turbo power or whatever out of the battery. And around 10, when you're going slower, it's almost always on battery. Okay. John, did you figure out how important good tires were this year when you were scouting? And I got my use. So we've talked about it before. And I'm now off the Nitto train. So anyway. They didn't go 100,000? They went 20,000 miles. Honestly, though, that's what I always get. In one year. I might be the only one. Huh? Do you get better than about 20,000, 25,000?

I do. Okay. Well. I'm rotating them every 5,000. Yeah. But we'll see. I switched, just went, because of the 12-ply, I went the BFG KO3s. We'll see how they do. They go more than one year and more than 20,000 miles. You got an F-rated tire on that truck? Yeah. Holy cow. That's heavy. Everything I was. When you change a bunch of flats, you're going to go over. I got Gs on a trailer. They're like G-rated. Wow. Gs. Yeah. Yeah, they're no joke. John even changed one of my tires for me. I did. Well, let's talk about that, because, again, coming from a Prius guy, there was a reason John was needed. Big Prius guy. This doesn't have a jack. Yes, it does. Let me check you. G-P it. This doesn't have a handle. Yes, it does. You changed the few of his tires. Do you know my dad? I just, I know this. The truck you had had an amazing spare. Why, Logan?

Because the guy that owned it two owners ago must have put a great one on there. No. And Jason is reaping those rewards. I put an amazing spare on there. You did. I was very grateful. John was blown away. I was very grateful. So there you are, Logan. You're out in the desert. You think you have, you start looking at your phone when you need to know how to change a tire. Right, John? Yeah. He was looking at his phone. No, he wasn't there looking for YouTube. He was gone when I got there. Logan was? Yeah. Was he walking, trying to hitchhike back to town? No, no. John was an hour away. I was a vehicle, and I dumped out and went and did three cameras. Yeah. While I was waiting. I'll be over there. The only thing I had was a handyman jack, or so I thought. And you can't change a tire on a handyman jack. I have. What do you mean? You can. You can. That's all we used to use.

It may not be suggested. I lifted up the whole back end of the truck. And the guys that drove by me were like, geez, you need a hand. And I'm like, no, I'm good. You crank on one of those nuts. I probably would run if I were John. You just don't get into my truck. Yeah, you never know when this is going to tip over and kick out. We did have. It was sandy. It was bad. And I had to reposition the jack several times. So how did you find the jack, John?

Yeah, I just put in the year and the model.

Hey, where's the jack? There's only so many places. The Elon system. Did you? Just, hey, where is it on a Tundra? Sure enough. There it was. Anyway. BF Goody's. Under the backseat. Oh, my God. There's only so many places it can be hidden. I looked under and I'm like, oh, it's a KO2. It's going to be good. So it was better than best spare I've ever seen. Get the rest of the cameras on it. So that's good stuff. All right. So moving right along. Right. You have anything more to add on that? Grateful for your elders. I'm grateful for John's chat EPT. Grateful for the elders. Yes, I am. It was interesting, though. I have never seen a tire separate like that. It wasn't punctured. Well, it bubbled. Yeah, the sidewall bubbled. It rippled like a wave all the way around. And then when we got home, we refilled it. Hell there. No puncture. Come on. Yeah, dead serious. They warrantied it.

He said it was a defective tire on the sidewall or whatever. Yeah. Brand new free tire. He said he'd never seen that before, which I don't know. Yeah, kind of interesting. I thought you aired it up. It was fine. I'm just going to use it. Like, that won't ever happen again to that tire. No. I'm like, whoa. It was a one-off deal. No, when we aired it up, it looked like a cartoon tire. It blew up on the sidewall and engulfed the wheel. Dang. I see. Kind of wild. All right. Well, let's see. Where are we at now, Bronson? I don't know. John, did you have it open to this page to maybe highlight some people? Yeah, I just wanted to highlight, get you pumped up for the hunting season. We've got a bunch of recently published hunt videos on our YouTube channel. So just go to YouTube, search Epic Outdoors. And, I mean, we've got multiple hunts from Cache. Josh, we've got a hunt.

Yeah, Gash, Devin, Josh has recent stuff. Yeah. John. Adams. Anyway, lots of deer, elk. So, yeah. We've got some pretty awesome stuff coming up from Justin and Jason. Got the one talking about all the intricacies and dietary things about why everybody in the office quit Monster. Oh, yeah. How's that been going, everybody? Yeah. I mean, I didn't authorize that because. Jake said, if you go listen to that podcast, you need to go listen to it. Because I had yet to quit. I had yet to quit. I listened to that thing and laughed because I'd already known you for two or three weeks after the podcast. Oh, yeah, exactly. You know, it's funny. So, when this came out, why we quit Monster, I'm like, this is a really bold statement. I didn't pick this. And we is not me. If you listen to the podcast, quitting Monster meant one or two a week, not two a day. Quitting? It should have said cutting down.

Or say, you know, try to cut the addiction. I'm not opposed to trimming into it. A little clickbait never hurt anybody. I was like, that's news to me. I did not agree to that. Yeah, I think it was great. If you listen to that, the funny thing is how many comments we got about how funny the episode was. I didn't think it was a funny episode. That one? Yeah. The fasting one? Yeah. I thought it was a good episode. So, really, I mean, just people were like. I don't know about funny. I just think it was interesting. He had a lot of knowledge. And I don't know, maybe it was just some of the stuff in it. But people thought it was funny. And then, yeah, afterward. Mike McLean of Apex. I thought he was a pretty knowledgeable guy. Yeah, pretty knowledgeable. The interesting thing I did, Logan and I did the five-day fast. And interestingly, like, I lost some weight and all that.

But the craziest thing was after going back on is the difference. And I noticed how, like, the inflammation, like, in my hands and feet and stuff. You noticed what? It came back? What do you mean? Well, just, I think I'm just living with it forever. And then you go a week without any. You're like, this is weird. So, you didn't have any inflammation? No, none. You almost have a hard time wanting to eat food. Or at least for me. I'm like, man, I just kind of want to eat one meal a day because I feel good in that fasted state. And then when you eat too much food, you can just feel it. Especially after you've been empty for five days. Did one of you guys have a box of saltines when you got done? I probably shotgunned a sleeve of saltines in two bites. It was fantastic. Better have some water handy. That'll choke and kill a guy. It was awesome.

Yeah, now I think I'm just going to try to figure out how to eat normal, but not normal, but tweak it so it just has less inflammation. I know some people had good luck on the carnivore diet, doing that, and doing some fasting. I don't know. I'm going to try some stuff. I can't remember who was all in there, but I know Wyatt when I was in there. We just listened a lot, didn't we, Wyatt? Yeah. We just didn't commit to no fasting. Well, you guys had some trips you were planning on. I didn't need to get run down and then take off. Do you guys want to expound on those trips, how they went? Just a brief highlight? Well, I feel a little guilty because I came in here when I came back Tuesday, back to work, and I just shaking my head about how I don't know how a trip could have gone better. And then I had to endure the stories. No, and then I had to remember. Oh, Wyatt and Devin had some stories.

And so, anyway, I guess tell the two different hunts, basically. One just pretty much, Son and I had a, you can't say it could go any better. It was a flawless, amazing trip, and you guys, you killed the animals you wanted, but it had a lot of flaws. Yeah, a lot of. A lot of other things that went on, just weather mostly. Things beyond our control. So now that Devin's not here, Wyatt, we could talk about a few things, but then we could also have Devin have the mic. We should be. Yeah, I think we wait for Devin to chat about a few of these things. The stories will just be so much better. Yeah, exactly. Devin explaining something in his way, there's only one way to put it. There's only one way. There's only one way. And there may or may not be a few texts. That can substantiate. Yeah, but I don't. Yeah, I'm not sure if they're. Podcast. Well, probably.

No, I mean, they're nothing foul at all. Just, yeah, but. Some gratitude. Some gratitude. Very personal. Was expressed. Yeah, very, very, very much so. It's awesome. So your trip, your BC sheep, we'd love to have a visit. We'll try about it, too. So I hate to say too much about it, but anyway. Yeah, maybe we'll try early next week before we get bow hunting or something like that. Same with Devin when he gets feeling better. I think he needs to be here. Okay. Keep White straight and White can keep him straight when.

Two perspectives, you know. But, yeah. It was fun. It was amazing. All right. But I don't know what else is going on. Why not? It's on the front burner, I guess. But that kind of covered it. Yeah. As far as. Getting ready for more hunts coming up. That's about the biggest thing happening here at the office, I think. Frustrating trying to deal with the lower 48. As you guys know, you can go north and have good trips. Even though it was challenging and there was some logistical issues. Mostly weather. Yeah. Weather and some, you know, things that just are out of your control. But anyway. And then down here, it's just hard. There's a lot of wildfires. Oh, yeah. A lot of dry conditions. Very competitive. Western big game is tough, you know. Scarcer resource. Yeah, a little bit. So there's still everybody after that. Yeah. You know.

So, yeah, it's going to be interesting to see some of these fires. I think I've already seen Utah and some of this big Monroe fire make some concessions or announcements, whatever, about people with tags there. But not seen that with Arizona on the Kaibab. In fact, we sought further light knowledge from them yesterday. I called down there at the office and said, hey, you know, is there going to be any. Kaibab hunts want to start three weeks, two weeks. Yeah. It's like 22nd, if I remember right. So anyway, I was like, hey, you know, what would we do with the Kaibab archery as the forest is shut down? You can't even step on. You know, and they're just so that's what point guard. Did you do point guard? Yeah, that's what point guard's for. 275 people. You know, and I don't have a Kaibab tag. I was just wondering, like, for guys that are out in the wide world that have the tag.

And you don't, you know, point guard, you kind of, like, cherish that because you get a one. One point guard per tag. Well, again, what about someone that's used that? Yes, that's my point. What if you've used your point guard two, three, four years ago, and then now you can't even go on the Kaibab? You know, that's just partly your fault. Go hunt the desert. Yeah, or go, or not, or I don't know, just pray for rain and maybe it opens up. Go hunt the Ponce border, Wyatt, the Buckskin Mountain. Yeah. Because you can hunt 12 beef. Out there in the cedars and 110 degree. Yeah, because there's so many deer down there. Yeah. I mean, it's just, anyway, so it's just interesting the difference in attitude state to state. Utah is having special meetings and working with people. Well, and we've seen that a lot of other states. Colorado, Wyoming did it last year in, what, 38, I think it was, right?

Right. They allowed people, you know, you're going to deal with some closures. We give you the option to turn it back and get your points back or roll it. I don't know. I think they just rolled them. I can't remember why. And then they actually cut the tags this year in the draw because there's going to be that many more people this year. But I don't know. It's going to be interesting. I think, I can't see, I didn't see it on the agenda for, is it tomorrow? Tomorrow. The last commission meeting. I didn't see it, but you figure that would be a. Ratify some seasons. Yeah, pretty big deal. I mean, it's probably the most sought after archery deer other than the strip tags, you know. It's a heavily. Significant, popular. It is. The Chiababas, about 75 people are affected. Yeah. Can't even set foot on it. And I don't know if the highway's open yet. Is it? Is it bad for me to say that.

Saving some deer? Yeah, you know. I knew what you would think. It's just, you know, hey, if you'll. But maybe some deer got burned up and so it's really a zero-suck. Yeah, well. Maybe. I don't know. Probably some fawns, but I mean, there's one way to look at it. If you have those 275 people, you're not going to kill hardly any deer. Or maybe the early rifles and the rifle hunts up there might be awesome. You know, what we're also seeing is you guys alerted me to the fire there in Colorado, Unit 61. I mean, just places like that that you're like, wow. Yeah. You know, as we're concentrating on the stuff that's right here next to home, there's also plenty of other things going on that are affecting people. And so, anyway, that 12A East, I mean, they stopped it. It looked like right there. Clear at the highway, though.

Yeah, but it's also like Wyatt was saying yesterday, wrapping around the 12A West side. But it burned pretty much to the desert floor in the south end of House Rock Valley. I mean, it. Right. It's torched everything. It burnt to the floor. But then I'm interested to know, like, what you guys think. We saw a few photos of wildlife out in the moonscape here in Utah. Like, A, do you think the animals get smoked and torched? B, do they walk around it and stay in the burn? Does it make hunting better for the guys that are willing to stick it out? I mean, what do you guys think, Wyatt? Maybe what do you think? I feel like it definitely opens it up. So, you know, animals are more vulnerable or glassable kind of scenario. And I think a lot of it depends on moisture after. I mean, if that stuff greens up and those deer get on feed pretty quick, I think it's still just fine.

Even the little green shoots of grass, even though they're a browser, they still love it. Yeah, but I feel like if it just stays dry like it is, they're going to have to go somewhere else for good feed or maybe find pockets within those burns that does have the feed or carry the feed. Yeah, I remember the big fire years ago there in Arizona, Unit 1, and some of that country. And the people still, they had little bits of green feed. While I was talking about standing dead timber, they felt like they were within a timbered forest. But you could see them. They kind of opened a lot. Elk especially, they go to the north slope and dark timber, and they're standing skeleton trees, and they think they're hidden just like they always have been. Yeah. And they stick out like he says, a yellow school bus. Yeah, well. If they're really bright yellow, it seems like those are the younger bulls. Right?

Doesn't it, Wyatt? That really bright white blondies? Yeah. You want a big white? They're usually, no, you want a little bit darker. A little bit dirtier looking. A little dark, yeah.

Anyway, it's kind of interesting how that works. Yeah. We definitely could use a monsoon push here. It's been delayed this year. We're kind of, we thought, mid-July. We got a little bit of flirted with it for a week or two around 4th of July and a little bit later. But then it hasn't been nothing. So we need it to kick in. All these southwestern states just to curb the fire danger, but also just, yeah, conditions in general. Just, it's sucked. These mountain ranges are dry right now. Yeah. Really dry. So we need it for sure. I do think I saw, like, weaker back ends on more bulls than normal on my truck cameras. Okay. Like really strong front ends. One thing I want to add, just my opinion, is the unit you're in is known for that. It's known for genetics. Yeah. I was like, the genetics. Giant fives and stuff. Giant front ends. Giant fives. Yeah.

Actually, in Nevada, it seems like a pretty good, solid year for elk. Yeah. I just think where you're at. So, yeah, not known for back ends that are giant. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, compared to the front ends, I'm like, holy cow, the front ends are just unreal. I mean, there's a 5x8 right here that's 434. You know what I mean? Yeah. Wow. Right where you're at. Yeah. Oh, outside of our office. You're hanging on the wall. Right here with us. Out here, I was like, what? I thought you meant from that pile of beans. I thought you meant just right north of the top. No glass of midnight. We'd have to ask Cash about that. Cash, you got anything big? I played the fifth. Any five points that run 430? Not that. No. So, yeah, but you're right. It does make you wonder. It definitely can have an effect. All right. Well, I don't know. I can't think of anything else.

Wyatt, we're expecting some decent bucks around. Maybe not in our state, but surrounding states. Of course, we've got Colorado, you know, some turnback tags. Everybody's excited about that. See if that pans out, you know, getting tags. I'd like to get a tag off that. Yeah, interesting to see what happens like in Wyoming and Idaho this year, you know, too. You know, Wyoming reeling one more year post-23 winter. So, see what that's going to look like. I think it'd be a good year to have a tag up there because from what it's looking like from a deer standpoint, southwestern states, Utah, Nevada, Arizona are going to be tough. There's a lot of people looking to get some gear right now, of course, because we're dealing with the optics. We're out glassing like crazy, videoing.

Not daily. It feels like it's a little harder to find something to video right now. But anyway, working at it. But anyway, as you're getting gear, if you're buying anything optic-wise or, say, a CVA muzzleloader or a Fierce Firearm or whatever, definitely consider us here at Epic Outdoors. We have the best pricing in the industry, hands down. When you go to our website, it's been a little bit of a struggle. Normally, you'd have to log in to your, was it Shop or Shopify? Okay, so you log in to your Shopify, but some guys are not realizing they think they're logging into Epic Outdoors and that that's our dealer pricing. It's actually, excuse me, it actually is dealer pricing of what's legal to advertise, but member discounts are much better than that. Like hundreds of dollars better than that.

And so if you're seeing a price on there that you feel like is at a common price out in the world, you're probably not logged in correctly. So you're welcome to call us. We're actually working on that. We're going to have all that squared away. But call us, and we have the industry's best pricing for members, Epic members. And so please give us a holler at 435-263-0777. Happy to visit with you. Shoot your pricing. We have most everything in stock. And so, you know, just consider that. You could obviously email us, optics at epicoutdoors.com. So optics with an S at epicoutdoors.com. If you don't want to call, sometimes it's a little bit tougher for guys to initiate a phone call, an actual physical phone call. Happy to just, you know, shoot you a price if you drop us an email. And just know that it's kind of a two-part system on our website.

We have the Epic Outdoors member website where you would get your drawing odds and all of the kind of things that you can't just get by searching the Internet. You know, it would be for members only. And then we also have the store side that you can buy at the regular advertised price that you could get it off Amazon or some other place. But there is a members portal, so to speak, through Shopify account. But having said that, email, phone, whatever, if you're seeing what you think is a common price, you're probably just not seeing the member discount price. John, do you have anything to add on that? No, I think, yeah, and I think we're going to have some upgrades and some changes and whatnot on that. So stay tuned. Stay tuned the next week or couple weeks on that. We've got really, really good pricing. Just want to make it simple for people.

The other thing is, like, if you ever have a question, just give us a call. We're here. I mean, it's kind of uncommon now, like, to not go to a website and be pushed to a chat bot, you know, that's just, you know, you're talking to a computer. What can I help you with? Yeah. And that's not the case. If you've got a question between, hey, I'm looking at the Sguaro, you know, 12 power versus 14 power, like, you can talk to a real person that will say, here's what the difference is. Is what's your specific situation? What hunts do you have coming up? And will help you actually find the perfect piece of gear for the specific use that you're going to be using it for. How much do you use? How much do you come out west? Or do you live out west? Or do you come out west once every other year? John, speaking to that, 12s versus 14, purest. Yeah. Just the first outings, well, full season.

You started off scouting with the 14s. What's your best impression on those? Yeah, I was sitting behind the 14s, let's see, yesterday morning. And they're phenomenal. And I think, I don't know, like, percentage-wise, like, hunters in general, like, how much time they spend behind glass. But I know we do, and probably western hunters, more than other people. Just, you know, put them on a tripod, sit, and look and look for hours. But the 14s, they were amazing. Second follow-up question, what did you see there? I told you we're entering the secrecy period.

You sound like cash. There's a reason, right, John? Yeah. There's reasons. There's reasons. All right. But also that our tripod, Logan, I think we've got just a few comments that have been recently submitted. Maybe read a couple of those. I want to highlight this because I'm a huge believer in this head, in our tripod head, in our tripod head. And quite frankly, I'm a huge believer in buying gear that will affect whether you see an animal or not. A lot of times Adam and I are talking to guys saying, I don't think having this little bit better rifle scope would cost you an animal. Like, there's some things like that. Like, if you were going to save a few bucks, save it here, but not here. I don't think you should save money on a tripod. However, these are cheaper than anywhere else. Yeah. It's just because we've got them manufactured for us direct.

And how about the guy that was asking me yesterday? He's a super good dude. But, like, well, how durable are they? Well, how do you quantify durability? I was like, well, I don't know. I haven't hung 15,000 pounds from it sideways. Like, I'm just, I'm trying to think. Like, I used it for an entire year. So, this is daily in the fall. You know what I'm saying? Could I extend the tripod leg and use it as a cheater bar on a handyman jack? Yeah. I mean, he's... You could if you were lifting a bike. Okay. Now, if you're lifting Logan's truck, maybe not. The Prius, no problem. The Prius, no problem. A one-ton might have a problem. So, we're just... Anyway, but having said that, they are amazing or we wouldn't use them. Like, we can... Yeah. You know what I mean? It just is whatever we want. We don't make just everything. Like, what does Epic make? Yeah. Like, what's not?

And that's the reason we did it. Yeah. To build exactly what we wanted to use. Well, what I was doing is buying... And you guys did it, too. We bought legs. And then we bought a separate head. Yeah. And it was like, got tired of it. No, here's the combo. And we love them both. And then we're taking a hacksaw to them and modifying them. And then, you know, that kind of stuff. So, it's nice to be able to... Hacksaw. No, Sawzall. Yeah. Yeah. Sawzall. To build exactly what we wanted. And Jason's... We had, like, a little field test when the Zeiss 50s came out. And Jason pulled his out. I'm telling you, it's battle-worn. What? The tripod? The tripod. Ours. No. His tripod is battle-worn. It's got some nice patina. And it still works great. It's still perfect. You're not grabbing it. You're hunting. It is perfect. We're having children doing predator control. Day and night. Day and night.

And, I mean, it's just throw it in the back of the truck. Abuse. Abuse. Yes. Like, literally, they throw it in the back of the truck. Okay. I'm not going to tell you which kid. But I go and I find tripods laying out in the sun. Dirt, dust. Laying against the side of a building. And you're just like... And it's... Baking hot. And when I was young, you were taught that, you know, dust and dirt and grime cause things to not work. And so, anyway. But, no. Ours continue to work. What do you say? It never quit working. It was still butter smooth. Works awesome. I don't know how, anyway. I guess maybe the equipment's getting better. Yeah. Logan, give us a couple of these guys. A couple of guys that bought the Ultra QR combo recently. We're pretty happy with them. Quick release is QR, right? Yeah. Yep. Quick release. The new head that you can swap out optics pretty fast on it.

Mike said, best tripod I ever used. Wade said, best tripod and head combo that I've used, no doubt. I'm very impressed with the smoothness of the head. Somebody named KRL said, awesome tripod. The Ultra QR has a super smooth pan head. It's also easy and quiet to set up and amazingly stable. I'm not sure what else you can ask for. What else could you ask for? Well, I think that quick release... Quick release was... I thought about adding $500 to the tripod because people are like, okay, so I'm spending over a grand. Well, that's probably why they're asking you how durable it is. It's cheaper. It's half the price of something else. But if I'm going to have to buy three of them and the price, I get one over here at Gomer Piles shop. Is this, you know, does this make sense? And it's just, I don't know what else to say, I guess.

I mean, I will tell you, I can't explain the abuse that some of my stuff's been through. And it is because we've got the gun clamp, the epic gun clamp, and we are predator hunting off of it. And it is being treated like predator hunting gear. Do you guys know trappers and predator hunters? Houndsmen. Houndsmen. Do you think they're easy on their gear? Well, we know a certain houseman in this town pretty well. His vehicle, his truck, man. Oh. I mean, there's nobody harder. Yeah. I would dare put it against anybody. You're welding frames and changing out engines. Tack transmissions. They've seen a thing or two, that's for sure. Yeah, exactly. One of my favorite, anyway.

You can't start a story. Josh Horrocks. Josh Horrocks and watching him go through trucks. I mean. Stepping on it. And I hate to, anybody who's been with him knows what I'm saying. He's a dear friend. He's such an amazing, awesome person. So anyway, it's kind of fun. And he would have a good laugh with it. We should call him on a podcast one of these times again. But anyway, I just remember we were trying to get up a hill. In snow, if I remember. In snow. And it was like four low or whatever. And it was, it has a governor like 6,500 RPMs. And it would hit the governor. And he just hammered down and kept it down. And so it hit the governor come down. It would go, hammered down. Never stepped off the gas. Never stepped off the gas. In four low. Yeah. Just, you know. Looking over at me. Big old smile. We were having a great time. I mean, just wow.

Extended warranties for a reason. And it was, it was, it was amazing. It paid for itself multiple times. But anyway, off we go. Are we good? Yeah. I would say on this tripod, our biggest mistake was not pricing it at double. You know what it is. It's amazing. It's amazing. If you want the max, the max combo is what? 600 bucks. It's 599. Yeah. The ultra, which is the one we came out with, which is still the same height. It's just not quite as beefy. Yeah. Was what? It's 499. About a pound. Yeah. Lighter. But more of an all around. If you, some people, some people have gone with the max. Yeah. And they figure, what's a pound of my pack? Nothing on a day pack from some people. But most of us use the ultra. And when we talk about mixing and matching the legs and heads, the one thing I have had people is want the light legs.

Adam, we would take sheep hunting or do something like that with the more, a little bit more beefy head, the head that comes on the ultra or max. Yeah. I have had guys add those two together. Do those two together. Versus the light legs, light head. Yeah. You know? And I would say. The head's, it's like, it's kind of like the action of a gunner. It's just. Yeah. That's the guts. It's the guts. That you, that you, your steadiness, your stability, your, your pan ability, whether you're, you know, depending on how you personally light the glass. The light's amazing. Just. Yeah. It's just. It's not quite. It's made for lightweight. Yeah. Just only use it on certain hunts. And I, I mean, I think, and what, what we spent the most time on development and R&D on is parts you don't see. It's on the interior making the thing as smooth as possible. And it's butter smooth right now.

So, you know, when you're, when you're looking at something, especially long distance, you get it in your spotting scope and it moves, you know, 10 yards. Like every other tripod I have jumps. And, you know, you have to relocate this animal. This one is. You know what I find is you don't know, you don't remember how much it jumps because you were so used to it back then. What I, what I was going to say is. Yes. Go look through it again. You know the head me and you use. Okay. Yeah. You know. Yeah. We should go back and try it right now. Let's call it what it is. 700 RC2. I mean, that meant. That was not a better head. We liked it. Yeah. Put them on everything. Go try that. It's probably jank. All right. All right. Well, good. If you need any gear, call us 435-263-0777. Sure. Appreciate everybody out there. Good luck on these hunts.

We're going to have more stories for you here coming up as well as our own personal here at Epic. And some of the, we'll recap on Wyatt and Devin as well as Adam and his boy. And then crank forward. Talk to some members who've been successful last year, 2024 again. That was a really popular podcast. People liked it. The Nevada elk and all that. And so I think any of the stories that we can get. Oh, that one. Yeah. And the deer. Yeah. Yeah. That was good too. I mean, you know, yes. Any of the stories. Archery deer. All of that. Yes. Well, it's just the time of year. You want to hear hunting stories. It's kind of like, yeah. Yeah. Get me amped up. Get me, you know, ready to go. That's right. Maybe have an intro song next time, next week before the bow hunts. Just a little highlight reel, huh? That's right. We'll find a good hype song. I wouldn't mind.

You know, people always say it's taboo to post stuff before you kill it. But it'd be kind of fun to put out a competition on what was scouted this week. Oh, yeah? You know, whoever in it is is brave. Give away significant prizes. Give away significant prizes. And it was stuff that was. That was still alive. That has metadata. Oh, my gosh. That has metadata. How do you prove it taken that week? Just saying. You'd have to have a pretty hefty prize. Go ahead and be silent. Your odds are going to be one in three. Get a tripod. Yes. On that note, thanks to everybody that participated in the trail camera picture contest over the summer. We got a ton of entries. We're going to be, once everybody's back in the office on Monday, we'll be picking some winners and letting you guys vote on the overall winner. So, I just want to thank everybody for entering that on Instagram.

Now, it's that next week, too, probably, huh? When we do the next podcast. Probably next podcast, we'll have all the winners slide out. Winners, and then tell you how to go vote on the winners. Winners choice one. Yep. So, make sure you're following us on Instagram. Yeah, Instagram at Epic Cons or listen to this podcast wherever you listen to podcasts. Yeah. All right. Good luck scouting this weekend, everybody.

Let's face it. If your goal is to kill big stuff, you need to draw quality tags. Quality tags are typically hard to draw. To increase your odds of drawing good tags, you need to apply in multiple states. That's where an Epic Outdoors membership can help. For only $150 a year, you get access to our consultants, our online tools, and to Epic-approved outfitters and members-only optics discounts. With unlimited access to our team of consultants and access to the Epic Outdoors magazines, applying in multiple states is easy. No more worrying if you're applying for the best areas, no more applying for a unit where there has been a die-off, and no more missing opportunities where you could be in the field and not sitting at home. Go online at epicoutdoors.com or call us today at 435-263-0777 to find out how you can become a member today. Kuyu is the most uncompromising camo on the market.

Their new Guide Pro Series is the toughest, most comfortable camo you will ever own. Check out their new additions and shop men and women's camo now at kuyu.com. That's K-U-I-U dot com. 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 Licensed 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 Licensed App. 435-263-0777

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Go to EpicOptics.com or call in to speak with our consultants who will fit you with the perfect optics for your next hunt. 435-263-0777 If you're looking for your next hunting property, look no further than St. James. St. James are the experts at all sporting properties across the West. Their team of agents will spend the time getting to know you personally and find out which property out of the hundreds they have listed is perfect for you. If you've always wanted a property where you could hunt and fish, go online to StJamesSportingProperties.com or give them a call at 855-711-7577 to learn more. 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.

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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 Muzzle Loader dealer. If you're in the market for a new muzzle loader, our staff can go over the different options that you should consider. CVA Muzzle Loaders are the go-to muzzle loader for Epic Outdoors and crew. We've definitely got our favorite setups for Western big game hunting in stock.

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