EP 388: A 220" Wyoming Mule Deer Story and the Summer Hunts Giveaway Announcement

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Hey everybody, Jason Carter, Adam Brownson, John Peterson, Logie, Logie, I don't want to say your last name. Why? Bear? Logie Bear. That's why I like boar. Logie boar. Logie boar hasn't quite caught on it yet. Logie sow, maybe? I don't know. Big boar. Coming from the lead cow, that makes sense. See? Now, how did that go down? Adam proclaimed one day, he walked into the office, he proclaimed he was the lead cow in the office. I never said that. He anointed that. What self-respecting man would call him the lead cow? I don't know what kind of employee would dare. Yeah. I had to be over in the fishbowl to build up my confidence. What was it? What was it? Was it just the age? I have no idea. He went in and basically said he was the oldest guy. So you had a birthday, and then Adam said that he was a little older. I'm the oldest one in the office, so he goes to lead cow instead of herd bull.

Would it have been natural? Herd bull would be a natural. But there's some affection with herd bull. He was basically cutting on you. Exactly. I knew he'd get under his skin just a little. Anyway. Lead sow. That's right. Herd sow. Logan, you know they have raises. What's the opposite of a raise? Paid price. John, this next time, I want to sign Logan's paycheck next time. Will you sign a lead cow?

I'm going to sign it, but I'm going to tweak some things. People joke with me that I use that term, tweak, now and then, but I'm going to tweak some things on your paycheck. Jason, I may not be buying a truck anymore. No, it's fine. I'll give you the bonus on the side. Okay. Thanks. That's why he's the herd bull. Oh. Don't pit us against each other. Yeah. We're good. Let's move right along. Let's move right along. Definitely bull past our prime. We're heavy and our tying legs is short enough. A pot gutted, sway backed, and big. Big antler. Yeah. All right. That's the one you put on the scale. Let's put it that way. That is. Yeah. That's the one you're hanging raw meat. 450-pound carcass. That's right. All right. So, anyway, we're really excited. There's just a lot going on. A, we've got a summer membership drive cranking with crazy amount of hunts. We can talk about that later.

We've got a lot of deadlines coming out. We've got a few draw results. In fact, here in the next two, three weeks, we're going to have a lot of draw results. Yeah. A lot. May is a big one. Big states, too. Yeah, big states. Big, meaningful. Like states we care about. Yeah. Schedule altering type stuff. Colorado. Nevada. Utah. Yep. Yeah, Utah. Bunch of sheep states. You know, Montana. Idaho. You know, Wyoming. Yeah, the fun stuff. Just stuff you dream about. Yeah. It never pans out, but you still hope it does. Got a dream tag thing from Nevada, and I'm just thinking, aren't they all dream tags at this point? I mean, all these states have dream tags. Tell me what's not a dream. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. Anyway, a lot of fun, and there's a lot of positivity wrapped around Wyoming. We've got a good guest, fun guest, coming on with our cover story, the Wyoming 35-incher

that graced the cover of the May publication. Just an incredible story. So anyway, we have it. And we're going to get him on the phone and just talk about that, and that'll kind of tee up Wyoming Bronson. We've had a lot of things come out, such as the regulations, which come out with the tag numbers, season dates, and that final. Of course, we list the proposed in the magazine. Yep, that's right. It is. It's a great time. We hear it from outfitters, residents, Game and Fish, if you watch a lot of their proposals up there, great green light, full green light, full send deer and antelope applicants for Wyoming. We'll talk about that a little bit later, but it's exciting. And if you're not excited talking about this buck that's on the cover right now, you're not a mule deer hunt. That's a no joke deer. And we had others submit, you know, plenty of people submitting great bucks.

And there was a few. Big, big deer. Yeah. All right. So anyway, moving on, let's contact Kevin. He's on the cover, has an incredible story. It's actually like a two-year saga. And so pretty fun. He came by the Hunt Expo, visited with us at the booth, told the story. It was like, I'm not saying today's going to be an hour and a half, but it was quite a fun story. It was an hour plus story. So anyway, kind of cool. All right. Let's call him. By the way, who doesn't like a big deer story? Yeah. I can't think of anybody that doesn't like a big deer story.

It's Kevin. Hey, Jason Carter, Adam Bronson, everybody on the podcast. How are you? How you doing, Jason? How you doing, Adam and everyone else? Good. Good. But yeah, no, I appreciate you taking time to get with us on the podcast. Your story's incredible. Of course, you relayed it at the Hunt Expo. It's a great time of year. Everybody likes telling stories. And then, and your deer is incredible on top of that. And so anyway, we just thought it was fitting. We're talking about Wyoming. That magazine just came out. And of course, you're on the cover. And we just thought, man, who doesn't like a big deer story? You're a giant. That's right. Sure. Sure. So there's a lot to this story. And it's kind of fun, especially when you tagged it. You know, you end up, you harvested him and it was like a two-year saga. So there's a lot to it.

And I think just maybe start us off at the beginning and let's hear how this thing went down. Yeah, no problem. I mean, it really started back in 2020 when I had enough points. I put in, I wanted to go up there with my cousin and he couldn't make it for work. So I put in with my buddy Chuck and we both drew my first Wyoming tag, my first deer tag. And that year, but my buddy Jake was a resident hunter of Wyoming and he couldn't make it up on the opener. So he gave us a couple spots to go check out and we were hiking in the first day to go check out this spot that he'd given us. And we'd spooked a big deer and it ran around the ridge and it unfortunately went into a basin that, you know, we're on the border of G&H. And it ran into a basin that we didn't have the tag for.

But we just sat down and glassed for a second and ate some, you know, ate a snack and we glassed this huge bull up, a bull elk, at the end of the basin. And we saw him the next two or three days as we were hiking in and out of that, you know, to our other spot. And I thought, man, someday if I ever draw a Wyoming elk tag, I'm going to come hunt this basin. Well, that year I ate tag soup, didn't kill a deer, hunted hard, just couldn't make it happen. And then 2024 comes around and I hadn't enough elk points to draw the unit. I just drew it by myself and I'm not a huge elk hunter, so I was a little in over my head. But I went right up to that basin. It's the first spot I went. And sure enough, the first day, it was two days before the opener of the elk and archery. Yeah, the elk and deer archery. I was just glassing, you know, the elk start popping up.

And at the very end of the basin, it's the same cut that I saw that big bull, you know, four years prior. And I saw some antlers in the sun just hitting perfectly in that golden hour. So I zoomed in and I was like, oh, my gosh, that's a big deer. That's a big buck. And he, you know, lifted his head. And so I pulled my spotter out, got video of him. Jeez. And you don't have a deer tag, right? And I didn't have a deer tag. Yeah, you don't have a deer tag. Yeah, 2020, I didn't have the elk tag and saw a giant bull. Now I don't have the deer tag. And, yeah, and I'm seeing the big deer. So, anyway, hunted elk, I had some good opportunities. I did not end up killing an elk that year. Made a few crucial mistakes. But I continued to see that deer. And on the opener of the rifle, there was an outfitter up in there with his hunters. And I just thought, for sure, someone's going to see that deer.

And next year, you know, people will be all over them. And I didn't have enough deer points to draw the unit anyway. So I just didn't think much of it. I sent the video to a couple buddies. And a couple buddies could definitely love it.

But then going into the next year, so last year, 2025, one of my other buddies, Scott, we start kind of talking. And we're always kind of scheming what we're going to do in the fall time. And he's like, well, I've got enough. He's like, you know, we looked at the draw odds. And with it being still down because of the winter kill with, you know, hunter demand and people putting in, I think the year before, it took four points high dollar to get it. And so we're like, well, we, you know, if we average out, we think we're going to get, we have a good chance of getting it. Well, fortunately, we did. And, but again, I have no idea if the deer lived through the winter. I didn't know if there was some later Wyoming local hunt that was going on up there. So just had no idea. So last summer I headed up in early June and that canyon at the base of the canyon,

there was a, you know, there's a gate and you can't get up, but, you know, if there's still too much snow or whatever. So you're going to have to go there and couldn't see anything in June. I went back up again, the first part of July and there had been a, there had been a, what did you call it? A landslide. And so the road had to be repaired. So the gate was so close. Like an avalanche or something, maybe. Maybe. Yeah. Yeah. So I had, I hiked from the bottom of the, I didn't take a Suron or anything to go around the gate. So I hiked from the bottom of the canyon up like five miles up to the top. Yeah. And glassed for two or three days, just getting eaten alive by mosquitoes. And it was a trek going up and down. I couldn't find them. And then I went up again, the first part of August. Yeah. And I went up with a buddy and same thing for three days, we glassed him.

And then it's just kind of painstaking because you're only glassing like four or five different shoots where it kind of was his home. And we didn't see him again. So I was just like, man, maybe he's not alive. And I just finally, but we went and glassed another area on Saturday or Sunday and found some decent bucks. And I'm like, you know, that's enough deer that if, if anything, I'm going to go, I'll go hunt one of these deer. So, um, I went up, well, and then I had been invited on a Lake Powell trip and I decided not to go. I, and it would have cost me probably finding this deer. I, I, um, I decided not to go frustrated. The girl I was dating and my, my buddies were kind of frustrated, but I was like, Hey, I've, I don't know when I'm ever going to draw this tag again. And that's a buck of a lifetime for me. I'm going to, I'm going to give it a go.

So I cruise up there three days before the bow hunt and finally, finally put eyes on him. And he just would hang out by himself. He was never with any other deer. And he was in that same exact shoot. He's in the same spot that I spotted him, you know, the year before. And so I was pumped. So I just, I watched him the two or three days before the hunt. And I, I, I, I hiked back in there, set up a drop camp. I saw him about nine o'clock on the opener on the bow hunt. Um, you know, grab my stuff, kind of wait for thermals to die down. I'm not the best archery hunter, but, and I'm doing it by myself. You know, I didn't have a spot or anything, but what went up in there, I got set up, you know, waited all day. You just don't know if he's going to feed into the other shoot or come back out. Um, but a boat, a doe busted me around seven o'clock. I backed out.

And then, uh, so I, I just backed out of the area. I went home. I actually went home, did work. Uh, and did you say you were dating, you're dating a gal at this time? Yeah. You were saying, I'm just wondering like, did that ever work out? Or she's starting to realize you're addicted to big deer. She's actually, this is a warning sign and she's going to run. Like, and maybe it's ripping off a scab. Like how did, how are you guys doing? She, no, we're doing great. She's actually very, very supportive. Still dating. Still dating. Yeah. Yeah. Still dating. Yep. Yep. Wow. Yep. Got a good one there. So, um, yeah. And then, but I owe her like pal trip, she says. So I got to go. Well, I mean, that to me is a guy's trip. That's a guy's trip. No, no. Go do some bass fishing. Yeah. Do that. There's nothing like that. June and early July. Yeah. Well, geez. Yeah.

She, she sticks around after these kind of stories and, and dedication to deer and whatever else you've got going on in life. That's awesome. So anyway, that's the judge of a keeper. What do you think? Yeah. Logan, Logan's an expert. Logan, how old are you? I'm not the expert. I'm 25. And he's still single. And I am still single. So maybe you need some ideas from Calvin. Just let me know how you find one like that. And we'll be in trouble. It might take a lot of money, Logan. It might take some financial depth. I don't know. Lake Powell. Get her to Lake Powell. I've already got the boat. A boat. All right. Move it. All right. Let's hear about a big deer. Just. Okay. All right. So then I cruise back up there three days before the opener of the rifle. The rifle starts on September 15th, which was a Monday. And I cruise up on Thursday night. And I put eyes again on them.

And again, I don't know if anyone else is coming up there. There was no one up there on the bow hunt. Yeah. And the year before when I was up there, I think I said that, like, I was just blown away that no one's hunting this deer. Yeah.

Maybe somebody knew about them. And I don't know. But it did not seem like anybody knew about this deer. I don't know about you. But when I'm hunting a deer alone, I feel like I'm doing something wrong. Like, either the season's not on. Or am I in the wrong unit? Exactly. Those things cross your mind. Yeah. So I get up there and I find them Thursday night.

I find them Friday morning. I choose not. I just was not having a spotter. Yeah. And then just the wind. I just was like, do I take my chance with my bow or do I sit them out three days? I chose not to go after them on Friday. Then Saturday. Well, then Friday's when I called my buddy Chuck and said, hey, man, you know, I don't know what you got going on. He lives over in Laramie. And I sent Daniel somewhere around there. And I just said, I don't know what you have going on on Monday, but if you could pull something off to come glass for me, I'd appreciate it. Well, he literally hung up, called me back in 10 minutes and, hey, I told my boss I need Monday off. And he's like, I'm packing my stuff. I'll be there tonight. He's got women that do things and then dudes that just drop everything. Logan, you can't have time off like that. Jeez. Good to know. I won't even ask. All right.

This is awesome. So now you've got a team, basically. You need a spot a lot of times on these big deer. And the guy that I drew the tag with, he was building a house with his wife and he just had a lot of stuff going on at work. So he couldn't, he was kind of struggling trying to find time to get up there, which is fine. So Chuck comes up. I see him again Saturday. And this deer would always kind of feed at random weird times. And he would kind of just come out and go from one side of the chute and to the other. And what I found out on the bow hunt, I put in the article is that I found when I went up in there, I found it like there was a little seat coming out at the edge of the pine. So he didn't have to leave for water. I mean, he had everything he needed there. So he was just hard to time, not sure where he was going to come out in the, between the three chutes.

And then he, and then Saturday, an afternoon rainstorm comes in and I'm trying, I'm looking after, after, right when it kind of stops raining at like three or four. And by the way, there's trucks now piling into the parking lot at the trailhead. You know, there's probably six or seven trucks. I'm like, oh man, people are starting to show up for the rifle. Well, all of a sudden he comes out in the bottom, like out in the wide open, which I've never seen him out there. And he's feeding for like two hours until dark that night. And I just, you can even hear me. You knew you got problems. Yeah, I was just like, you got problems. Yeah, I was dying. And then, so Sunday morning, I see him again. I go back to camp. I get all my stuff ready. I had my camper up there kind of as my base camp. And then I would go hike into my drop camp. Yeah.

And I go back, I get all my stuff situated at the camper, exchange radios with Chuck. And then I pull up in the parking lot, the trailhead, and there's a guy that was getting all his stuff ready. And I just started chatting with him. And he was from Utah too. Really cool guy. And I said, hey, so where are you headed? And it's a big area. You can go hike north, east, south, wherever up there. And a lot of guys will hike into H or they'll hike into G, whatever. So it just, chances were low. But he's like, oh, I'm just hunting over here in this basin. And I was like, oh, man. Like, I was like, my heart kind of dropped a little bit. And I said, oh, have you been up in there? He's like, yeah, I was up in there glassing yesterday. And I just like, and then he goes, how about you? We've all been there. Yeah. And then he goes, how about you? And I said, yeah, I've been up here bow hunting.

I said, there was a deer last year I'd seen on the elk camp, but I haven't turned him up yet. You know, it's just got same like small talk. We haven't seen anything big. And I don't think you get in trouble for lying. Hunt this, man. This is what we do. It's all legal in hunting. It's a 35-incher. I don't think it matters what you say. Sure. So I hiked in, get set up. I see him that night again. Now I'm only about 1,000 yards away where my drop camp's at. And I go to bed. Well, that night, the wind, you know, and the storms come in and it was just hailing and raining all night. It was a long night. Didn't sleep very much. I don't even know if I slept at all. I'm in my paranoid state. I thought maybe I'd heard a bear growl around my tent a couple times in the middle of the night. And just, it was one of those rough nights. So I finally woke up.

I go hike into my predetermined spot that put me about 550 yards away from the chutes. And got set up. And, yeah, about a half hour or so after first light, all of a sudden I hear breathing and I turn around. And that same hunter, he'd hiked right into me. I was on the side of a pine tree. He didn't know I was there. And he looks down and I've already got my rifle set up on my, you know, the bipod and pointing that way. I've got everything ranged. And he looks at me and he looks down. He's like, oh, man. He's like, we're hunting the same deer, aren't we? And I said, yeah. And I said, when did you find him? And he said, I saw him on Saturday after that rainstorm. And I was just like, of course you did. Remember that. And, well, right then it started hailing and raining really bad. And people make fun of me, but I carry this big camel umbrella that's about four feet.

About four feet when it's. I'm telling you, after hearing this story, I'm like shopping on Amazon for umbrellas. Like, do you think about how many of those afternoon storms are in Wyoming? Like, it's like every day it feels like. You know what I mean? Well, I use it for shade, too. And if it's windy when you're glassing like a spotting scope and you got your phone scope up there, like it can block wind. It blocks rain, blocks sun. But so he was just sitting there getting hammered down on. And I just said, hey, man, if you want to come over. Come. You know, so he comes over. We're literally sitting under the umbrella together during this rainstorm for about 45 minutes. And, you know, I find out where he works, where I work. You know, we're just getting to know each other. He's a super cool guy. And he just sat there. He's like, man, I don't know what to do.

And he's like, I said, well, I get it. I was like, it's public land. I was like, I'd help you. I'd go do whatever if you stayed here and helped me with this deer. But I was like, I understand. You're talking about you'd help him on other hunts even. Like, you know. Maybe even other hunts. It's just weird. You're both there hunting one animal. And you realize as soon as the rain lets up, you're going your separate ways. You're sharing an umbrella. And these are tough conversations. Maybe even a cup of hot chocolate and a granola bar and all that. Yeah. Yeah. And, I mean, it's public land. He's a cool guy. So I just, I, anyway, it stopped raining. And we're both kind of glancing up with binos. And finally, he just said, he's like, hey, man, I hate to say this, but he's like, it's public land and that's a deer of life. I said, hey, I agree with you. I don't blame you.

I was like, I said, I'm here this whole week. And he said, I'm here this whole week. And I'm like, yeah, good luck to you. And he took off. And so he went down the ridge a little further. We're kind of parallel. Like, he dropped down, but we're kind of parallel to the shoots. And then, I told Jason this at the Huntington's home. I love this. This is crazy.

So right after he leaves, the kind of the clouds break a little bit. And all of a sudden, a big rainbow comes popping up in the sky. I mean, the most beautiful rainbow. I showed Adam the photo. You sent me a photo. And I was like, Adam, look at this rainbow. And the guys, I think I even showed John. So you start glancing right at the end of the rainbow. That's where the buck's going to appear. Well, just two dudes under an umbrella with this rainbow. And a buck of a lifetime. And a buck of a lifetime. The stakes have never been higher. We are not friends right now.

It's awesome. Hopefully, you're not losing listeners over this story. No, it's a funny story. Everybody's been there in a weird situation that you're – everybody's trying to be respectful. You're also holding cards tight. Nobody's – And it's two years in the making. Or let's call it five years in the making or whatever because of 2020. I don't know. There's a lot. It's time to – Yeah, it's letting up. And it's time to break. And game time. It's game time. And there's one buck that'll do. And to go find another one's challenging. You know? Yeah. All right. So now – So, well, I mean, the time's hard to kind of put into – I'd say within 45 minutes, maybe an hour, you know, it stayed clear. Or as far as, like, not raining, not hailing. And all of a sudden, Chuck came over the radio and he said, hey, he's moving in the shoot number one. I had him numbered. And I chose –

I chose to have number – Or shoot number two and three covered. And if he ended up in one, I had an okay angle in it. But I would run down and then I would shoot up. Well, he had the angle in the shoot number one. And I said, is he coming out left to right or right to left? And he said, left to right. And my heart just sunk because he has that angle and not me. Probably a better look than you're going to get, maybe. And so my mind – I'm, like, kind of frozen. Like, do I grab my stuff and run? Because maybe he doesn't see him yet. No. And go down below him. Like, what do I do here? And I kept glassing up. And I finally – I see his butt through, like, a clearing in the trees. And I looked down. I actually looked down. I could see the other hunter hunker down underneath a pine tree. And I saw him start getting set up. And I was just like, this is a nightmare.

Like, this is going to happen right in front of me. And I kept glassing up. And he moved more to the right. And he got in a position where I had about a 24-inch opening. And I knew it was, like, his mid-body. And it would have been quartered away from me. And I just was like, you know what? I've got an opening. I've got an angle. I was like, I'm taking a shot. And so I took the shot. And immediately after my shot rang out, he shot. I mean, it was, like, boom, boom. Kind of like that. Like, it was fast. And then he shot again in, like, the next 15 seconds. And so I'm just thinking – like, I'm thinking it's over. Three bullets, the deer's dead, probably got it. And worst-case scenario, we're going to have another conversation. Yeah. Yeah, we're going to be like – What bullet are we pulling out of this thing or whatever? Yeah. Just a nightmare situation. So then I call back to Chuck.

And I said, hey, you know, is he dead? And he's like, no. He goes, all shots, all three shots missed. And he's like – he went back left into the pines, which is now starting to come back towards my way more. And so I just was scouring the pines, you know, every little opening, every little clearing. And I finally saw his white neck and his white face. And he was, like, shaking his antlers. Like, he had still velvet hanging off. So I figured he was just, you know, shaking – or trying to get his last velvet off. And then I lost him again. And about 10 minutes later, all of a sudden I saw him. He cleared out. There was a doe. There was a lone doe at the top of chute number two in the middle chute. And so I looked up. I saw the doe. I put my vinyls back down, put them back up. And all of a sudden he cleared. And he turned and started walking up the chute. And it's pretty steep.

And I just – I'll never forget, like, seeing his dark – you know, it had been raining, so everything's kind of wet. And I'll just never forget seeing that, you know, 32-inch mainframe deer just, like, walking back up through the chute really slow. And he kind of quartered to the right. Just – it was a steep quartering way. And I just – I already knew the range. I had it written down. And I dropped down, put it on, you know, the – you know, towards the back of him with the quartering angle shot. And he just went over – you know, he reared backwards and slid down. And I lost sight of him. And – but you could hear the impact. Chuck came over the radio and was like, he's down, he's down. And the chute kind of pinched. It kind of came to a pinch point. So I kept glass in, and I couldn't see anything. And then he said he – and then Chuck came over the radio and said he reared his head.

And all of a sudden, I guess he rolled out of the bottom of the chute down into this – like, I guess you'd say the bottom into this really flat kind of bench. It was about a 15-foot little bench. And so he's like, you got to get over there and go finish him off. So I grabbed my gun, left my pack, and I just cruised over going up and down these ravines. Got over there, turned the corner, and he was dead. Like, I went up and put my – you know, the barrel in his eye. He's dead. And the emotion kicked in. And that other hunter actually had come around. He came around the corner not too long after. And, you know, he was – that was a hard thing for him, right? And he knew it. He heard the impact. And I just said, hey, man, I know that this stings. And I was like, if you want to get a couple pictures of him, I have no problem with that. And he was cool.

He ended up getting a couple pictures of me with the deer. And then he took off. And we actually stayed in touch. We got each other's phone numbers. He ended up killing a great – like, he killed a big old heavy 190 buck a couple days later at a different spot. So he still found good success on the hunt. And I actually ran in – It's unbelievable. It's unbelievable. Yeah. How many good deer are being taken up there, you know? Yeah. So anyway, that's the story. I mean, for me, it was a buck – it's a buck of a lifetime for me. I'd never broke the 200 mark. And it wasn't even as much about the score as it was. And just that kind of – that type of country is just, you know, it's hard to describe that high country Wyoming and to people that haven't been there. So, yeah, just a buck – an experience of a lifetime, a buck of a lifetime for me. I didn't care what he scored necessarily.

I was shocked. He has a lot of junk around his bases, which give him about 10 extra points that he can't – a lot of it you don't see. I love that burry bases. I love basal points. But what did he end up grossing? Well, so I've had three different people score him. We gross scored him that night on the tailgate at 219 and 7.8. And then my taxidermist scored him at 225, and another guy scored him at 222. So I just – I'll just – I kind of just say he's around that 220 mark. And is the 32-inch mainframe, is that outside spread? Because he's got a couple of cheaters. So he's 33 outside, and he was about 31 1⁄2 mainframe. There you go. So, yeah. Jeez. And heavy, beautiful, boxy, amazing deer. This doesn't have a weakness on him. I don't know what you call a weakness. No weakness.

It's funny because you sit there, and it's a buck of a lifetime, and I'm like, man, if he had matching fronts to his backs, you know, you've got to start playing this game. If he had a 40-inch frame, I would really be appreciative. Miss L.

But, yeah, it kind of kills me that I – you know, I know unless I found somebody else that had an insane amount of points to put in with, it's going to be a long while for me to draw that tag in. But that experience will, you know, live on forever for me, and then hopefully in the next three or four years, I can draw the elk tag again and maybe go get redemption with an elk and finish it off. So – I could point boost you on elk and steal a deer spot or two. I just do. I just do. That's pretty, pretty awesome. Do you know where this deer wintered or sheds or anybody reached out to you? Okay, so here's what's crazy about that. So about three weeks before the hunting expo, a guy called me that I had met probably 15 – yeah, 10 to 15 years ago that was a friend of mine, and he's a Wyoming local kid. He's a guy now. But he called me. He's like, Cavett. He's like, you know, Trevor.

He's like, we haven't talked in a long time. He's like, I know who has the sheds to your deer. And I'm like, what? But I was like – and I haven't talked to this kid, and I can't remember how long ago. And then – but he'd seen the pictures. Well, him and his buddies, they're big winter – whatchamacallit – shed hunters. They're big shed hunters. And they kind of – he'd seen pictures of my deer, but he hadn't really put the pieces together. Well, he knows the guy that had picked up one side, and then another kid had found the other side. And so right before the hunting expo, I put all the pieces together, talked to both of them. And then the one kid brought the one side of the antler. So I'm getting replicas made of as he was when I got them. I'm going to head up to Wyoming and go show the – those two guys.

And then we're going to – we've got a plan to make replicas of him on the year that I found them. Was it just the year before, the 24 set of antlers that they found? Yeah. So they have the antlers that you videoed. You videoed them on the elk hunt. Yeah. Yeah, correct. Was he – what was he roughly score-wise that year? Was he bigger or smaller, yeah. They said he roughly scored about, you know, depending on the inside spread, probably 208 the year before. He didn't have the junk on his bases. Yeah. He didn't have the – he traded a couple things. He lost an inline, but then he added some extras, you know, some other cheaters. But he definitely had more mass. He's heavier. So I don't know if he was a six-year-old deer. Yeah. But he – You didn't get a tooth cut or anything like that, aging? No, not yet. I think the taxidermist still has a tooth. Oh, you should do that.

That would be interesting. How many miles did they – how many miles did he travel to Winter Range? Did they tell you any of that? It was about 50 miles. Yeah. Wow. I'm a surprise. Isn't that awesome? I love that whole – the whole story. Dynamic in Wyoming. Usually there's a lot of stories like that. 50 to 70 miles. Yeah. They don't just go to the first safe rush of the bottom in winter. No. They keep – Yeah. Age. So, wow. Pretty awesome. Well, he's definitely – he's definitely one of the deer that made it through the Winter Kill. I mean, there was obviously deer that did. And we saw a lot of, you know, a lot of good, solid deer that – this year they're probably going to be there. And, you know, the next few years, you know, I think are going to be pretty good years there as the numbers recover, continue to recover. So, that would be my – Yeah, we think so as well. – amateur viewpoint.

No, it's awesome. Well, all right. We'll let you go. We just appreciate you coming on the podcast and telling your story. It's an incredible story. Yeah. Incredible deer. Yeah, it is. Okay. Congrats again. Thanks. Yep. Thanks, guys. And then, Logan, just know you're in your prime. It doesn't get any better than 25. I hope that. For his sake – That's what I like to hear. For his sake, we hope he does get a little bit better. I don't know. I get better every day. All I'm saying, if he's in his prime, you're going to be single for a minute. That's a bad thought. You're going to be single. The whole leap out is really coming back around. There's a Jill for every jock. Even you, Logan.

But the older you get, the Jills come with X's and kids, and the same with the G. And that's where the financial security needs to come into play. A little financial debt. I just want you to find one that's graduated doctor. Wow. Is that it? That's all I need. Easy. Good luck. Well, thanks again, guys. I appreciate it. Yeah. Thank you. We sure appreciate you. If you ever need anything, let us know, all right? Okay. Thanks, guys. Thanks for everything. You bet. Yep. See you, bye. Good stuff, man. Well, anyway, it's awesome, Bronson. The Wyoming stories like that, and then they go off and find 190 inches. Well, there's a lot. If you turn through this Wyoming section, there's a lot of great stories and photos of deer, and I guess we'll just lump in antelope and get into that discussion of how even just three years has passed since this heavy winter.

Obviously, the overall numbers of deer and numbers of older age class deer are not what they were prior, but I mean, there could be something said because numbers have been lower. There's a lot of evidence in other situations where when you get lower numbers, now there's just more to go around for those that are there, and it's just things are ripe, and good time to be there. What I love, and what you're talking about, is right on that cusp, okay, we cut the tags because we had this winter loss, but then we know we should be increasing tags, but at what rate do you increase them? And so they're still a little bit apathetic to just raise them right where they should be. Slightly, yeah. But yeah, you're maybe Colorado or Utah or other places sometimes for whatever factors. You know, maybe they had bad counts that year and did not, maybe they underestimated their

farm production based on their sample size, but maybe it was actually higher than it really was in reality, and two, three years in a row, they just don't increase tags. Or sportsman's groups are forcing them to just be a little bit conservative. Don't just crank the tags yet. And that's the case in Wyoming. You know, Region H was proposed to have a 50 tag increase this year and drop the four point or better and all that in G&H, and that didn't pass. So that's just an example of, you know, sportsmen have a say in certain cases, and everybody just wants to see, you know, recovery look a little bit different, I guess. It's different to everybody. So this is when those big deer show up. Yeah. And big antelope. Go, yeah, and antelope don't take five, six years to get primed up big. Two, three years, you're in the money. Yeah, so it's a totally different thing. Way faster for them.

And last year, a bunch of great antelopes. So I guess just moral of the story is if you don't have anything by the end of May, first of June, which is June 1 is the deadline for deer and antelope, highly recommend be applying for deer and antelope in Wyoming this year. Should be a great year. Incredibly light winter. They've had some spring storms, so it's not going to be like droughty and drought stricken. It's not a state, you know, in these high country units that you really experience much of that. And antelope, you just had high survival and another year older. People worry about the weather because we talk about it a lot, but up there, it'd be more like harsh winters. Even dry years. Yeah, it's like Colorado. Most of Colorado and the mountain units, they just don't, they're darn as drought stricken antler wise as Nevada, Arizona.

I mean, there could be a drought, but they'll still be big deer. That's your point. And I think the same thing with the antelope, we were, Sean and I went to Wyoming last year, hunted antelope, and it was awesome. We had the time of our life. I went the year before and just tons of bucks. I might've, I might've said I was maybe a year early, but I'm not really like you and Sean. I mean, we like to hunt antelope when it's fun, add it to the schedule, but I'm not, you know, I'm not going to go up there for seven or 10 days and try to scout and hunt the big, I just don't have time to do that. I go up there and we do a two or three day fun smash and grab. And that's what we did too. We smashed and grabbed. You did the same. It was, it was awesome. And I expect this year it'll be next level. It just feels super light winter. Great, great spring leading up to the, to the hunting season.

And with the antelope, at least a lot of units around the state, you'll notice we, we put the proposed numbers of deer and antelope tags that were going to be proposed back when we went to print, which was mid April that got finalized, you know, a week or 10 days after we go to print. And now if you go to the, go online to the regulations, all of their approved 2026 regulations, which have their season date and permit numbers are online for, for everything. Deer, elk, antelope doesn't, doesn't do any good to talk about cheap moose goat anymore. The deadline's passed, but, but if, but for deer and antelope, or I guess if you hear this podcast before the eighth, you can look at the elk amend deadline and go look at whatever unit you had in mind there and flip flop or do something different. But, but don't overthink it.

I think people, we, you and I've talked to guys every day on elk wanting to amend or thinking about amending. I just think they're overthinking it. They are. And so many times we've said, this is not Arizona, Nevada, or Utah. Like, and in the case of like antelope, especially like how we get a lot of calls. Where should I go? It, it, look at your point, use the minimum point search online and, and pick one or one or two units and pick one of them. You, if there's enough public land and we put the percent of public land in our magazine, you're going to have a great antelope punt. Don't overthink the antelope. Just go. Just go. And even the deer, you know, if you don't have the points to draw a general region and G or something like that, then you may have to look at something else. And, but, but on the limited entry side of things for deer, like the true limited entry

units, it's tough because everything takes a lot of points to draw. And, and I would contend the quality is not worth what the points. Top end quality in some of these general areas are as good or better. Yeah. In, in, in many cases, but they're, we're super excited about it all actually, which means you should be excited. People should be going. We're going to have big deer killed this fall. There's going to be big deer in the magazine. And if you, if you have another big, big winner, which you never know, it could be a setback. So like when a window opens, take advantage of it. It feels like this is kind of a window and you've been watching the forecast. I don't know. Let's call it the farmer's almanac. This super, it is more than that. This super El Nino that's building in Pacific. I mean, you can't get rid of it.

Once you start looking at it, your algorithm just keeps throwing crap in front of you. Thieves it to you. But I mean, they're talking about it being, you know, one of the bigger El Nino years, which ends up being a late summer fall going into next winter really is when we're going to get moisture. But I mean, it doesn't really matter if that happens or not. With Wyoming, with parts of Colorado, with parts of Idaho, when you've had three or four years post big winter and good production and good conditions, take the window when you got it. Because it can close again with another big one. You just never know. Yep. So, you know, speaking of algorithms, what do you think Loki Bear's algorithm looks like? I don't want to know. I don't want to know. Do you think it's weather or do you think it's cougars? I don't know. I do like cougar talk. Oh, jeez. All right. Moving along, Bronson.

I don't know. We also have this epic hunt giveaway, the summer membership drive. We are cranking out the hunts. So, doll sheep in the Yukon, British Columbia, super combo hunt. It is no joke. Moose, caribou, elk, goat. It's just unbelievable. That's a safari, basically. A safari. A safari. A Canadian safari. Anyway, pretty awesome. Alaska Arctic grizzly and barren ground caribou. We've got Mexico mule deer and coos deer with a good friend of ours. Outfitter down there. Totally safe. You're going to have the hunt of a lifetime. Well, on all three of those combo hunts that you mentioned, there's not trophy fees. So, you can read about all the species. You know, moose, you know, caribou, elk, mountain goat, all of those in the BC hunt, and the grizzly and caribou. There's not a trophy fee for the second one. Shoot them both. And same thing for the mule deer and coos deer.

You get to kill both of them. There's nothing like first animals, quote, paid for, next one is on you. No. They're all combo hunts. I know we haven't done three combo hunts like that ever before in the same drive. We haven't. Acoma Reservation producing giant bulls. Our hunt winners have done very well on this. Really well. They have. We've had several. I want to say 370 plus bulls, 380. Like, it's been impressive. And there's been great weather down there this year. Colorado Unit 61 third with a landowner tag. Garvey Brothers. Just a great opportunity down there. Alberta Trophy Whitetail Deer Hunt. I've done this hunt. I've been there. I did it. And our hunt winner. The past hunt winner there killed a freaking giant bull. Oh, I mean, he was on his. Anyway. He was on his phone. He was like, I don't think I got a pretty good one. They're like, what do you mean? How's it built?

And he's explaining it. And he goes, put the phone down and kill it. We know that about kill it. I mean, this is no joke, guy. Yeah. Eight inch. Ten inch. Oh, smashed a giant. You know, that's what I would be doing. Because, quite frankly, I'm not hunting my tail all the time. And so, anyway, it'd be like, I don't know. Is this a good one? I mean, it doesn't look like a 220 inch mule deer. So, just tell me. Help me out here. I remember a buck in Colorado that was over 200 that you videoed for 14 and a half minutes. Well, it was 19 and change. Maybe 21 and change. John, I put you on a buck. Well, anyway. That's kind of a sad subject. That one got away. Yeah. It wouldn't now. Not with the TS Customs. I'm just smashing them. Anyway, pretty awesome. Epic gear package. And, of course, 15 grand towards the hunt of your choice. This is, we're cranking this out.

We're going to be giving this away like June what? June 22nd is the deadline. So, within a couple days after that. And, you know, yeah. So, everything's live online. You may get a paper form in the mail, too, for you or the members of Epic Outdoors. But jump online, epicoutdoors.com. Because we've got a good relationship with TS Customs, I think we ought to be giving away, let's give away one of his guns. Let's do a little incentive right now. So, what do you think? Maybe, like, anybody that gets a ticket in, a ticket, a package of tickets, what do you think? By between now and the end of May. What do you want to say? Let's do it. 125 or higher? The 125 package or what? Let's open it up to everybody. Really? Okay. Every ticket you get, you get a chance. Every ticket? Every ticket? Wow. Does that work that way? Yeah. Is it easy? Yeah, it's easy.

You order a ticket, you get one entry for this TS Customs. Okay. All right. But if you have five, you get five. Yeah. And let's do it just in the next little bit. What do you mean? It's an incentive. Yeah, now to the end of May. All right. So, get in now. $6,250 custom rifle. Caliber your choice if you get tickets in between now and the end of May. Just for fun. This rifle's no joke. Jason, out of the box. We went to the range. Going 1,100 yards. You used this weekend. Not going to tell you what for you. Really? Not going to tell you what for you. Tell me more. No. Oh. What do you got? Just give me. Got a little something? I just need tomorrow and the next day off. Bronson? John? Where do I put my vacation request? John, usually when they send it in, don't we? Isn't there a column on the vacation request form that says reason for time on? I need some information.

I'm going to be very sick. Okay. Actually, I was a little sick this morning. Want me to tell you more about it? Yeah. Let me know. We'll bring you some chicken noodle soup. Let me know what time you want us to bring your soup at your house. Okay. You may not want to come into my house because you might get sick yourself. I'll have a DoorDash guy bring it. Okay. Okay. Okay. Got it. Got it. Got it. Anyway, hey, it's a good time of year. We've got a lot going on. We're giving away hunts. We're applying for hunts. If you need help applying, making some choices, we love to help guys. If you're looking for an outfitter, love to help you there as well. Pretty awesome. Also, I don't know. Let's throw a shout out to. Wanted to shout out to you. They've got a bunch of awesome stuff coming out. I like it. Coming up in our June-July mag, we actually included a bunch of KU products in our gear

and up section. It's going to be awesome. So if you need new gear, bags, packs, camo, jackets, they make the best of the best. They are. I have an order in right now. I had a couple of those alerts that you have set when something's out of stock in your size or whatever you want. I got notified and boom. What was it? Don't want to tell you because I don't want to sell out too fast again. What do you mean? We're trying to help our people. It's all cool. We're trying to help our people sell stuff. Well, hey, you know, I have certain tastes and other people have others. What would those tastes look like? Yeah, just normal stuff. Nothing eccentric. I'm the same way. I am the same way. In fact, what I like is when Ashley's like, hey, Dad, you know Christmas and my birthday and all the things and my Mother's Day and Valentine's Day and their requests are Q. I like it. I like it.

Give me an excuse. Give me an excuse. Absolutely. You know, you're asking for hunting attire or products? Absolutely. Well, it's just the time now. And the reason I say go now when it's in is everybody starts buying hunting clothing about, you know, July, August, September and stuff sells out what you want. So just get on it. Get online. Their roller duffel bags have created a problem in my house. Really? Everybody needs one? Yeah. I got one. It was supposed to be my Christmas present. That got stolen. Wow. By one of my kids. Welcome to the dad life. Then the other kids see it. They call that dad life. They're really cool, though. I mean, heavy duty, can take some abuse on, like, a plane and that type of stuff. And the wheels are awesome. And so, yeah, now every kid wants one. You know, that's what happens when you get older. You get some gear and you're set, but then you share.

And so whether you're Logan's age and you're still acquiring gear or whether you're old and you have the gear, you're still looking for gear. Yeah. You can never have too much. I'm a couple in. I'm the only one that doesn't have one now.

Logan, you're buying things like it's your job, Logan. Well, you know, scouting season's coming up. I got to be ready. I am getting told to be more independent as the years go by. By who? Your mom and dad? By dad. That's what we're talking about. This dad life thing. He came up to me a couple of weeks. You know, you probably got to think about running your own trail camera line. We did? Really? What he wants to do is just split it up. So we share it, but I have to buy my own cameras. And I'm like, yeah, that's probably fair. That's hilarious. Don't touch the ones that are in here, by the way. Those are going on my helmet. I have already acquired my trail cameras. All right. Well, anyway, if you want to run some cameras for me at your own expense and your own cameras, let me know. What's the reimbursement look like? Depends on the fines. Depends on the fines. If I get commission fines.

This is commission-based. We can talk. We can talk. Based off of if I kill. You're way too big. I'd never get my money back. Yeah, good call, Logan. No. If you're sent in cow elk, you might cash in. Kill a whitetail in Oklahoma. What are you talking about? I kill some things. All right. So, anyway, pretty awesome. I want to give another shout-out to Hoyt. Yeah, I like it. Hoyt Archery. You know, we had another, you know, this June-July mag that's going to be arriving within the next three to seven days, probably. Had another write-up on that, John. Spread for them. A little bit there. But we've long-standing been Hoyt shooters here. In fact, this weather's got me fired up to start shooting my bow. It's been awesome weather. Yeah. Yeah. It's just kind of weird. Spring weather. I don't know what it is. It's like, it turned out kind of hot, and we were like, oh, we're going to blow away.

It's really hot. Now, all of a sudden, it's just this cloud cover. Springy. Green everywhere. It keeps sprinkling around. It feels like a little moisture. It's like the kind of Washington or something. It just feels. Yeah. It feels good. It's prolonging the heat is what it's been doing, which is good. So, when you have no winter and snowpack to speak of, a little bit of a prolonged spring finally coming is nice. But check them out. Hoyt Archery, whether it be the Carbon RX10 or whatever it is, or the, you know, Alpha AX3. I've got one of each in their previous year models. You know, aluminum, carbon, love them both. Take them both when I leave the state, just in case the what if ever happens. I did a little write-up on those just barely. And this year, the tuning, they've come up with a new tuning system that is pretty legit. They just say, if you can turn a wrench, you can tune the bow.

And it'll do right and left and up and down easy. So, you can do your own. We just know people. I do, too. I like those people. Anyway, for those of you who want to do it yourself, you can now. Some people do, yeah. And they're great. And I know those people. And that's who I take them to. That's right. I do my job. They do their job. Make it spit darts. That's what I say. Make it spit darts. I like it. I like it. Anyway, pretty awesome. Also, a little shout-out to Phone Scope. Appreciate them. New scoping system. It's the MAG 360. It's awesome. It's a magnetic version, which has come out in other various companies as well. Phone Scope's got an incredible product here. This is one that we're all running it right now. Pretty amazing. Go to P-H-O-N-E-S-K-O-P-E.com. I'm sure appreciate them and their support over many, many years. Feels like, could I say a decade? I don't know.

Feels like a long time. Those guys are good people. And the awesome thing about that one is just that smooth motion of turning it from portrait to landscape. You can go 360 all the way around. With the others, you're stuck. And if it's slightly off, your video's skiddywampus. Yeah, skiddywampus. All right. All right. Sounds good. Anything we didn't cover? I mean, Logan, pep talk. Hey, even though you passed your peak from what we've heard today, life's still good. He said, I'm in the prime. I didn't interpret it that way. Did you, Jason? And he also doesn't know you personally. You don't have to. You can just tell. You can just tell. Well, some things you can, but others. I love the optimism and enthusiasm. I know this. But just don't sense realism. The ladies out there, you want to say there's this 50-50 thing out there that's going on. It's just not true.

What are you talking about, Jason? They want alpha males. What are you talking about 50-50? You know how there was this, do I really, I guess I can explain. I don't know what you mean by 50-50. Yeah, I don't know where you're going here. There was this time when ladies were going to be ladies and guys were going to be guys and take care of ladies and take care of the family and all that. And then there was this 50-50, I'm going to work, you can work, I'm worth as much as you. And if I'm cooking, you're cooking. And if I'm cleaning, you're cleaning. Right? If I cook, you clean up. I've noticed it feels like gals want guys to be guys and want guys to be alpha males. Logan, be an alpha male. What's above an alpha male? You tell us, Logan. What is above alpha male? I don't know.

Man, the confidence this guy has. Sooner or later, Logan, that confidence has to turn into results. So you can't be that confident and not have certain results. That's all I'm going to say. He may have results. I don't know. I just am not. He doesn't dare talking about it. Vlogging? Dating? No. Have we talked about it? I mean, he did have a pretty above alpha male moment on a weekend. What? To the Dodger game. Oh, that was pretty cool. We didn't tell about that. When I can impress Jason, that's a good one. Well, I was just like, wow. I mean, that's what we did. Yeah, I was impressed. He gets up at 3 in the morning, goes to a Dodgers game, and is home by midnight with a gal from here in Utah on a whim. Cedar to St. George to L.A. and back. Driving. Yeah, driving. 3 a.m., get there. I was like, Bronson, that's what we used to do. We used to do things like that. Not these kids.

That's a take charge. You know what I'm doing? You want me to take you to a game? I'm doing that in about three weeks, but this is how I'm doing that. So Becky and kids and maybe some of their friends are going down. They're doing Disneyland for a couple, two days or whatever. I don't have time to do the whole week. I'm driving to St. George and flying down for $194. And driving home with them. This was back when Spirit. That's what I'm doing. That's what I'm doing. That's $194. That's what dad life looks like. Well, it's $194. Yeah. This was back when Spirit. We did it back when Spirit Airlines was still in business. And it was like, Elon Musk is going to blow life into that. Yeah, I guess. It was like $100 tickets down and back. And I'm like, let's just do that. I'll even buy that. And that's why they're out of business. That's right. That's right. So anyway, but yeah, I'll be there.

Back-to-back nights. Phillies and Dodgers. They're going to win. We got outfield one night. Picked the right field because there's so many left-handed bats on the Dodgers lineup. Plus, you got Harper and Schwerber and the Phillies. They had to come home with a ball. It's showtime. I'm going to win at lunch here in a minute. Let's do it. All right. Talk to you later. 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 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. If you want a bow from the best manufacturer there is, look at Hoyt Archery. With the addition of the new Carbon RX-8 and the Aluminum Alpha-X, Hoyt has reimagined what a bow can do. Hoyt Bows. Where 70 pounds feels like 60. Call us to order yours today. 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

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