EP 403: Ashley Carter's 196" Utah General Mule Deer and a Close Encounter with a Mountain Lion

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Hey everybody, Jason Carter, Cash. What's up? What up, guy? It's me, you, and John. What the heck? Holding down the fort in the rain. They don't make deer in offices, you know. I know. I mean, there's deer in here, but they're not alive anymore. You know, Cash, people ask me, like, how do you kill deer? You know how you kill deer? You leave the office. That's true. You can't be in these walls. That's for sure. I'm about tired of talking to people that are killing deer. I know. I'm about ready to kill some deer. I'm ready to get out. And Ashley, Ashley, how are you today? I'm good. We've got Ashley Carter. Ashley Muley Carter. Here, put the mic up closer. People can hear you. Gotta let the people know. Sean, how are you doing? Good. Doing good. Good. Right on. So, you know, Cash, Ashley doesn't come in the office very often. No, not very often.

And what was it that she just crushed you with right off the bat? Oh, my gosh. I just, I mean, obviously we have a reason to have them here, so they have some kind of story, right? Yeah. And so I asked her, I just said, Ashley, what's the secret to killing big deer? If I'm, you know, if I'm following too many rules, you know, let me know. Yeah, like, tell me which ones to break, because I might actually be willing to break a rule. Yeah, yeah, exactly. You know, if it's, if the real secret to killing big deer is breaking rules, then I need to know, but I'm not, still not going to do it. And so you're kind of telling Ashley, like, you must have broke a rule. Yeah. Right, but you're teasing her, right? Teasing her. Well, you don't tease Ashley without having a pretty good comeback. No.

She put on a stiff boot, and she gave me one below the belt with a comment of, well, the secret is shooting straight. And I said, man. And what's that in relation to, Cash? It might have been the biggest deer of my life. Wyoming. It's salt in the wound. Yeah. The whole Wyoming saga. The whole Wyoming deal a few podcasts ago. Ashley, how did you come up with that one so fast? Are you on caffeine right now? No, but I should be.

That was brutal. Had to rub it in the wound for a minute. It hurt. It felt good, didn't it? It did. It's real good. Especially when it's accurate. It's true. And you know what? Cash can handle it, because nonstop, he's working over Logan like crazy. Oh. Logan needs it, though. You kidding me? I came in today. You seen the guy? I came in today. Yeah, exactly. I came in today. I'm like, Logan, are you hem-packed to death? Are you bleeding? Like, where are you at? Feathers-wise. He goes, I'm fine. And I go, what, you're just the double-bearded Jake? Yeah. You know? He goes, no, I'm a long beard. Oh, geez. He said, my beard's dragging the ground. I offended him the other day. Me and Wyatt were talking. We have this other mutual person we know that works with computers and everything, and his name just happens to be Logan.

So, me and Wyatt dubbed it, we're like, well, it must just be a Logan thing to do. You're just a nerd, a computer nerd, if your name's Logan. Oh, man, he got a little heated. Really? He didn't like the nerd comment? He didn't like it. So, we found out that he has way too much power with this new system. Oh. He went, and whenever I opened, I could open my new portal stuff. Yeah. And it throws flowers and says, welcome, Cash, in pink and everything. It did. Yeah, so he's got way too much power. We're going to have to cut him back. Well, I know a guy. I do, too. We'll cut him back. And if that doesn't work, we'll cut his wages. Yeah, that's true. No, it was good, though. Maybe cut some fringe benefits. Yeah, we should do that anyway, just for fun. It's pretty good. I think it's fun. We have a pretty light atmosphere, so it's kind of fun. Ashley will fit right in. Yep.

She comes in and hits Cash like that. That was kind of nice. Yeah. I needed it. You do need that a little bit. It's refreshing. You know? I don't know what it is about your age group. You got to fake it until you make it, right? It's true. Yep. I may have cried a little in the office, but I wasn't going to let her see that. No. You may have cried a little on the mountain. I probably did. Maybe. I might have. Did you have a quivery lip up there, Cash? No. I tried not to. Yeah. I had to put on a strong face. Yeah. Well, when Jenna's there, you got a balling man. It's true. Boo-hoo balling, kicking his feet in the air. Yeah, I had to be a man for a minute. Yeah. Not being wimpy. Well, pretty good stuff. We're having a good time. You know, we're right in the throes of it, coming toward the end of the second season, Colorado. I've been over there with a friend of mine. It's a lot of fun.

We're seeing a lot of bucks. A lot of small bucks. A few nice bucks. And so, anyway, I thought for some reason it was going to be a slaughter on the second. There has been quite a bit of migration throughout. I mean, Nevada, parts of Utah, Colorado, and then lip-curling bucks. Yeah. Like, the buck we hammered with my nephew, now coming on more than a week, was lip-curling. Really? With groups of does. Wow. And he left the does and took off. And to keep up with him and keep track of him, in fact, we ought to do a podcast on that, was quite a feat, really. And then he stood there at 720 yards, and we had a little stare down, and I won, and he ended up bedding, and then we won again. There you go. So, anyway, but pretty fun, pretty awesome, and I just love this time of year. It's good. It surprises me every year how fast the deer activity and behavior changes. Yeah.

Every year, I'm surprised. But I wonder, this moon, you know, I know everybody hates a full moon, because there's a lot of activity at night. But sometimes that full moon, they create a lot of activity at night, and it just creates like we're talking about. Morning is getting good. And they do want to rut. They do want to rut all night. They do want to move all night. And then there's a feel in the air. We haven't had major freezing. John, have you had to, do you even have a sprinkler system? No. Oh, yeah. Well, I've installed it. It's not running it. Oh, you're so lucky. Well, anyway, I haven't even winterized my sprinkling system yet. So, like, there's not a feel of, like, we have major freezes, but it does feel moist and cold. It does, yeah. I don't know, earlier than normal. Yeah, I think these storms, like, just these storms rolling through, it's just been wet. Yeah.

It's been warmer storms, though. Like, we've got a little snow up high, but the valleys, we haven't seen any snow really at all. I mean, Nevada, we did hunt. Huh, Ashley? We hunted in some snow. Yeah, it was awesome. Oh. All until the lines stalked you. Yeah. That was so awesome. Oh, yeah. We got another storm. I want to hear that. This is pretty awesome. You were almost catnip. Yeah, that was. Cat scratch. Cat scratch fever.

Oh, geez. That was terrible. But anyway, what were we in? Three inches of snow? Yeah. We were cutting buck tracks. Or trying, okay. Did we cut a buck track? Not one. No. No. That's, I don't know how many times you can take your kids out and not see deer and still have them want to go. So far, it's been about 432 times. Yeah. Ashley's not hit that limit yet. She's fine. She's hiking into lakes. She's doing all kinds. She shed hunts on her own. She's all kinds of stuff. Of course, Sean's out there doing it, too. And then Sean and Ashley go together. There's just a lot, a lot of activity there in the Carter household. I'm just waiting for my invite, you know? You know what? You know what? Yeah. Cash? You guys do not invite Cash. Well, come on. Swear on it. No. He's too intense with the sheds. You can't afford to. No. Kidding me? I haven't shed hunted in like three years. You know what?

Each pound of shed costs us in fuel and tires. A lot more than it's worth. And oil changes. It's all love of the game. You're making no money. That's true. So, just saying. Cash gets nothing. I don't know if we kill our big bucks, but we'd sure scare the shit out of them. Okay.

They're like $472 a pound. Yeah. The antlers are $400. In cost. Yeah. In cost. Not benefit. No. $73 maybe. $74. All right. So, good stuff. Let's see. John, do you want to throw a little shout out? Yeah. Let's give a little thanks to the people who are paying for this podcast so you can listen to it for free. That'd be epic. Yeah. We've got some sponsors. Epic Outdoors. The most freaking amazing company in the world. All right. Go ahead, John. Sorry to sell you out. Hey, we'd like to thank QU at QU.com. And they've been having some big sales lately. So, go to their website. Check that out. And another one that I'll mention right now is St. James Sporting Properties. So, if you're in the market for any land, they specialize in selling hunting and fishing properties. So, go to sjsportingproperties.com. We should have O. Check them out. We should have him on at some point. Yeah. We blame.

We should. Like, it's interesting with the market. Like, we could say, well, interest rates are high and all that. A lot of these guys have money. They don't need to borrow money to buy ranch, right? And so, sometimes interest rates affects property values, right? Right. So, your property values go down. There's less people interested, maybe. With ranches and stuff, it might be interesting on how all this is playing out. And it might be a perfect time to buy a ranch. Yeah. And if you're into selling as well, he's got a lot of knowledge and tips on how to increase the value of your property, you know, by encouraging wildlife on it. Yeah. Pretty awesome. Good people. QU again. I'm wearing QU every day. You're wearing them right now. Right now. How about that? Yeah. How about that? But anyway, yeah, it's, and the changing of the seasons, I don't know.

I love the Tiburon pant, and I like, I'll even double up and use like a Merino base layer and still wear the Tiburon pant. I don't know why, but it's like, oh, dude. You wear it late, huh? Yeah. Dude. No. Okay. Late. Let's, yeah, see into October. Late. Lately. Lately. Yeah. The last few years. But I don't know why I like them. I think you can dress up. You can layer up, layer down, whatever. I like the Katana. It's like a good middle ground. Good middle ground. For me. It's been good. It's been good. I got a whole, whole closet full of it. I need to start breaking it out. Some of the more colder weather items. What do you got, Jim? Yeah. I was just going to say, I mentioned it before, but I got their, their suitcase, their travel duffel roller and had to get the small one too. They're just awesome. You bought one and it ended up getting stolen, right? Oh, I did. Yeah.

Within your own home? Yeah. Within my own home. And the second one got stolen as well. Yeah. Yeah. Tyler took it to France and Max took one to France. And they left them there. No. And they just kept them. And they abused them. Yeah. They were like, no, I really like this. Thanks, dad. You must be a dad of 20 something year olds. Yeah. That's how I lose like half my gear. Of course, you guys don't do that, right? Never. Sean. We don't borrow stuff around my place, right?

But if I do, you better ask for it back.

It was mine to begin with. I like that. I like that. It's your fault. You didn't ask for it back. It's not that I took it. He can ask for it back at any time.

I'm not going to just bring it back. You must be related to my daughter. He's related to every 20 year old out there. 20 something year old. All right. Well, cool stuff. All right. And let's do one more. Let's do a shout out to Phone Scope. And if you need to get hooked up with Digiscoping products, they've got them all. So go to PhoneScope.com and check that out. Great guys. And yeah. OG of the industry. Yeah. OG of the industry. Yep. Kind of created the industry. Honestly. Phone Scope and Bucks. Look, it's my job. Which I guess they say it is. All right. So Ashley killed a big deer. Sean, you were right in the middle of it. You guys were hunting together by yourselves. I'm on my way home from Wyoming, of course. Yeah. You know what kind of drive that is, don't you? Too long. And I get home. I never sit in the chair. You weren't even out of your truck.

I sat in the chair for, I would say, like 11.2 minutes. And I get the call for it to be a strong back. Yep. You know? Which is kind of like, I'm ready for this. Like, Wyoming kind of cured me for that. I'm good. Oh, yeah. I'm ready for that. After hunting out. Got you in shape. You're like, Doc, ready to go. She's like, Doc, I'm going to kill a buck of chitters. Anyway.

We haven't even been up with it. Yeah. And I'm like, what? Like, what? You know? Imagine me, like, in the morning, like, wiping the sleep out of my eyes. You're like, what happened? Say it again. Like, what? And the whole time in my mind, I'm like, I know what this means. This means another night of no sleep. Yep. Not a lot of driving. So what is this buck? So anyway, Ashley, Sean. Yeah. It was a night of no sleep. And you killed it. Good job. I killed it, meaning I killed it. You did good. He packed out, like, three quarters of the deer. And we were 200 yards behind him. So you killed it. And he packed it out. And he packed it out. Yeah, pretty much. Yeah. Well, at some point, we were fighting the oak brush and all that. And finally, I just, like, took a trail and I just smoked him.

I'm going to bed one way or another. So maybe it's Jason Mule Carter. Is that right? Pack Mule Carter. Pack Mule Carter. I'll change it up here not too long. If I don't kill a deer in another seven years, I'm straight up Pack Mule Carter. All right. I'm going to hold you to it. It was crazy. He hauled out of that hole. So we're starting at the end. And it did suck, by the way. Ashley, start the story more at the beginning. I haven't heard any of it. Okay. So I'm in nursing school right now. So I can only hunt, like, limited evenings and weekends. Some weekends because I'm working too. And we've been, like, kind of hunting a couple bucks in another area. Muzzle-o-star. And Ashley's going out by herself. I mean, I'm going to cut you off a lot. You know that already, right? Yeah. So she's, like, she goes out and she's, like, jumping in the trucks, going out, trashing the trucks, coming back.

There's hair clips everywhere. All Ashley's fun stuff, makeup stuff. I mean, all the things that dads enjoy. Okay. John. I got to jump in here. Okay. Since, I mean, I know Ashley pretty well. She used to have a truck. And she sold that truck. Out of pressure from me. Yes. Out of pressure from you. But, so that means she's taking Justin's truck. No, she's taking mine. Oh. So she's taking your truck. It's sensitive, John. That's what you got. So you got to be sensitive. Why do you think I'm bringing it up? It's a nice truck. And it gets me everywhere I tell it to go. It's really great. I love it. And I do oil changes and tire rotations and all things. But in all fairness, she's going to do clinicals and travel. And I'm like, you really need a car like that. Yeah. Yeah. And just borrow the truck once in a while. And I'm thinking, and once in a while? Once in a while.

I never knew how much she went out. I'm in the market for a truck now. So anyway. It was awesome. Awesome stuff. Ashley's going out by herself, glassing, hitting it hard, right? Hitting it hard on the Utah General. Sean's helping her. Sean and Ashley are going out. Sean's going out. I mean, all of that. You know what I'm saying? While I'm in Wyoming and doing those kind of things. Yeah. And I've got dedicated. So we've like screwed around on the archery a little bit. But chance to be killing an archery deer are like zero. But muzzleloaders start. That's the same thing with me. Yeah. And then they get in on OTC elk and stuff like that. Yeah. And so, you know, you're kind of thinking, well, maybe we have a shot here. And there are not very many of them. No. You see two. There's not. You see two and you're kind of excited about it. A lot in a day. Yeah.

We thought we might have a chance and we did not.

That's okay. So then muzzleloader starts and we go back out to the same spot and it's just people everywhere. But you guys went and shot Sean. You guys went out and shot Sean's muzzleloader. Yeah. And it was dialed in. Like, I think I shot four rounds, three or four rounds at almost 100 yards and they were all within like a quarter. Yeah. It was good. Open sight. No, it was a one power. It's got one power scope. Yeah. But I pulled it and I still had the load in it from last year. Oh, boy. Oh. You are your father's son. Okay. That happened one time. I was 50 years old. So last year. Between 14 and 50 years old, it never happened before. You just don't let black powder sit in your guns. And sure enough. And they're fine, right? It's fine. Just fine. Shot great. CVA. CVA. No joke. Yep. Yeah. So Sean hooked me up with his gun. And then we were going out to the same area. Too many people.

And then one evening, I was just kind of over it. I was like, you know, we don't have to go tonight, Sean. Like, if you don't want to. And he's like, let's go try another spot. Well, this is my... I end up having a few days off during the muzzleloader. And I've got the early rifle. So I'm using it for me. Like, I'm pre-scouting for me. And I'm helping her. So I'm using a double excuse. I love that. I love this. Burning brownie points. And so I'm freaking... I'm burning spots in the morning while she's in school and stuff. And then she's ready to go in the evening. So I've already kind of decided where we're going to... She's like, I don't know if we're going. And I'm like, no, it's a good excuse. Like, I need to scout for my tag because I didn't do anything this summer either. And so we jumped in and went and just kind of... I was like, we got 100 spots we can go. We just got to pick one.

We don't have to go to the same old place that we've been going. And so anyway, we just picked a spot and went. And I'll let her tell you. Yeah. So we... There's like one spot on this whole mountain that you can actually see anything from. How I got to the end of it. And there's four guys on the end of it. Welcome to the Utah. And it's a 10 by 10 knob. Like, it's like straight up and down all around. And so you just like... Like, you got to be that guy. You walk up to him and stand next to him. Yeah. I hate that. It's like, we are being the people we hate, right? It is what it is. Like, but they had the best spot out on front. We're kind of tucked back. So we're not standing on top of them. But we're still standing right by them. Yeah. And we talked to them and they were good. They were like, if you guys find a buck you want to go kill, like, let us know. We'll help you.

And we're like, yeah, you too. Super nice guys. They were hunting a specific deer. And they asked us if we were. We're like, no, we haven't been in here yet this year. And then about... They asked you guys that. Yeah. And you guys were like, yeah, we haven't scouted this. And they didn't say necessarily that they were hunting a specific deer. But they had been on that knob a lot. So we just assumed. There was probably a buck there that they were hunting. Yeah. And we just didn't know because we hadn't been in there. I hadn't been in there since the prior year. But it turns out I don't think they had a buck necessarily. Yeah, not necessarily. Yeah. Even after when they hit you after. So, all right. Keep going. So we're glassing there for 15 minutes. And all of a sudden, Sean glasses up this deer like a mile and a half away. This is with your SIG stables. Stabilized. Oh, yeah. I love...

That's the only thing I pack anymore. I don't even take... I put them on my tripod. I do everything. I love those things. Oh, it was awesome. He throws up the scope and starts taking a video. And he's like, we probably ought to go like at least try. Like there's only an hour and a half left of daylight. And he's so far away. But we're going to go give a heck. Like we're standing on the knob with these guys. So I'm looking for a reason to leave the knob. Like I'm looking for a reason to not be standing on top of these guys. And none of them see the buck. And they don't see the buck. But I'm standing there videoing him five feet away from them. I'm like... And they had told us. They're like, if you find a buck you want to go after, you know, we'll freaking help you. Whatever. I'm like, I think we got a buck. You guys might... We might need your help. Because it's so far away.

Yeah, because when somebody says that, you're like, oh, thanks. It's just being cool. Yeah, I was like, no way I would use it. And then at some point you're like, no, you're going to help us smash a giant. Yeah, pretty soon I'm like, come over here. Look in my scope here. And he's like, oh, okay. I've got it. I was like... And I gave the guy my number. And I said, I don't know where I'm going to be when I get over there. I said, but if I can call you and you can at least see me and see the deer, maybe you can give me an idea of where I am from the deer when I get there. And he's like, oh, yeah, absolutely. The coolest guy is super nice. And we double checked with him. We're like, is this the deer you're hunting? And they were like, oh, no. No, we haven't seen that bug. We haven't seen it. Sweet. Works out. Yeah, it worked out good. So we run back to the truck, jump in,

and find a road that gets us as close as we think we can get to him. This is when dads kind of lose some sleep. Like, what did that truck go through between the knob? I wouldn't even be honest with you.

And I believe it. Yeah. I believe it. You could ask. I ain't going to tell you. It was pavement. Whatever I say. Just no. It's worse.

It did great, though. We never lost a tire. I get it. They're E-rated tires. Your driveline is still intact. A light little Chevy Colorado. It made it back to town. If it breaks in the next three months, it wasn't us. See what I mean? We're doing good. Yeah. Yeah. Keep going. Keep going. So you guys are hauling butt over there. Straight up. You know you don't have the time to make it. It's probably an hour. It's probably an hour of daylight left is really what we got. And it's a mile. And the buck was a mile and a half from where we glassed him. And so we have to take the truck around. And then from where we park, we're still like seven-tenths of a mile to the bottom. Aerial. And it's steep as a cow's pace. Oh, yeah. It's gnarly. And we parked the truck with freaking maybe 40 minutes of daylight left. Yeah. So we throw the muzzleloader in the pack and we start running. Everything.

I mean, I just took everything out of her pack and I stuffed it in mine. In the middle, everywhere. And so I've got a yard sale in my pack, but we've got the gun strapped on the outside at least. And you're running. And we're running. Literally running. And Sean's sick. And I'm like. He's been sick for a week. Yeah, I've been sick. And so I'm like. But. So Ashley, you've got the gun. Sean, you've got all the other paraphernalia. I've got everything else. Yeah. Literally. We gave her the gun and I took everything else. And we just freaking. Sean's running. You outran Ashley. Of course. Sean always outruns Ashley. Sean's a unit. Okay.

His legs just go. I don't know what to say. Ashley could go too. She just gets sliding down the steep faces. I got big white feet. Well, she has tennis shoes on. And they just. Yeah. They freaking go. And I'm scared. Like, I've got a gun on my back. You know. I don't. Don't want to ding it. It's his gun. Yeah. It's not even mine. Which she knows. If she drops that thing, it don't matter. You're just kidding. I'm only going to get cussed out for an hour and a half home. But it don't matter. Cussed out. But she's all give a **** for the next year, probably. Yeah.

Okay. So, yeah. We're running. And we're barreling through this thick oak brush. You know, because you helped us pack it out. But it was so thick. Sucked. And at times, you can just reach out and touch the side of the hill. It was that steep. Yeah. It was steep. So. It sucked. It was gnarly. It did. We just happened to pop out on a deer trail. That's like. Smoked right through there. Yeah. We come. Yeah. We just come barreling through the oak. And it's like. I mean, he did it. But it's like. You're just both arms. Swimming. Pulling stuff apart. Oh, it ripped. The Timberon pants I'm talking about. I mean. Shredded. Yeah. I mean. Oh. My pants were torn out. It was just like. But finally, we get out on the edge of it. And it's like. A beaten deer trail. Like this wide and flat on the side of the mountain. Mm-hmm. And it goes straight where we're going. And it's like. Perfect. No way.

So lucky. And we come out on the edge. And we've got a freaking 15 mile an hour headwind. Right in our face. So it's not going to blow the bullets sideways. You know what I'm saying? And it's not blowing. And not blowing scent to the deer. Yeah. We got so lucky. Ashley, is this an accurate story so far? This is accurate. This is accurate. Okay. So. It's like super steep. And there are rollers. And Sean's like. Pretty confident in. The tree he saw. When we were on the other side. So we're popping over these rollers. There's only one tree on his steep face. There's only one real group of trees. And he's feeding like. Within 10 feet of this tree. We think. So we're popping rollers. And every roller we pop over. We like. Slow down in glass. Just make sure he hasn't fed towards. Because we don't really know where he's at. And it's so steep. So. We're popping rollers. And all of a sudden.

We pop over this roller. And Sean's like. That's the tree. Like. That is the tree he was under. And he puts up his glass. And he's staring at us. From the tree. Has not moved. Like. Not gone 10 feet. In our whole. Run. Anyway. So Sean's like. Well. We're not getting any closer.

And you're not coming back tomorrow. No. I can't come back tomorrow. I've got to work tomorrow. And then I've got to study for an exam. So. It's now or never. And he's at. 277 yards. With a one power scope. You took the gun clamp. But it's dark. We got 15 minutes of light left. And I mean. I ranged. And you're looking through the toilet paper roll. The vortex. I ranged the deer at 277. And I was relieved. Like. I thought we were 350 or something. Yeah. I ranged him. And I was like. That's closer than I thought. We can do it. Like. I don't know if it's doable. It's closer than I thought. It was tough. Like. I was having a hard time finding him. Sean's like. He's right there. And I'm like. Yep. He sure is. You've been through a one power scope. Oh. It's a toilet paper roll. Yeah. I mean. And I'm. I'm like getting down. I'm like looking through it. And I'm like. I mean. I can find the deer.

But I'm like. You know exactly where he is. I know exactly where he is. And I'm like. Really hard to see. Like. I know it's the deer. Because I've been staring at it. Trying to explain it to him. It actually seemed like you prayed about this point. Oh yeah. Well. Because I feel stupid. Because I can't find this deer. And Sean's. Sean's over here. He's right there. And I'm like. Yeah. If this was your tag. He'd be dead right now.

And I'm like. He's right there. The harder Sean's. Going after you on it. It's harder and harder to find you. Oh. I'm just like. When I miss. This is going to be bad. It's not helpful to get wound up. No. I was calm about it. You can ask. I was calm. I was like. A lot calmer than he should have been. Because I would have been frustrated with me. It was ridiculous. But Sean gets me set up on the gun clamp. And I find him in the scope. And I'm like. Still like. Him hawing about like. Do I really take this shot? Like. Feels far. I've never killed a deer with a muzzle. A litter before. Meanwhile. He's just staring. Like. We're having a stare off at this point. Like. We've got the gun clamp set up. We're propped up. Shooting. Freaking. Way downhill. I'm sitting on top of a sagebrush. Like. I just sat on a sagebrush. Because. Can't see. Having a stare off with him. And I'm like. At some point.

He's going to be like. Peace. Done with you. Yeah. This isn't good. This is not good. Yeah. So. So. We're trying to decide like. With this scope. It's sighted in perfect at 100 yards. What the drop's going to be. So how far high. Do we need to aim. For it to hit him. Wind's perfect in your face. Yeah. We're lucky with the wind. So. We decide that. If we put it a foot and a half. Over his back. It's going to smack him. I mean. It was like a quick. I was just like. Looked at it. And I was like. I'd put it a foot and a half over him. Like. I don't know. But. What's a foot and a half. In a one power scope. Yeah. I have no idea. A foot and a half is just a number. To try and hope for. But it's not even. I mean. Anyway. So I put him in the scope. And I'm like. Well. I think I'm about a foot over his back. And Sean's like. Yeah. Squeeze. And let's see what happens. I take like.

Three steps off to the side. I'm like. All right. I'm not going to get smoked out. I'm going to watch this. And just see where it goes. So I put it on. Where I think. It's going to line up with his vitals. Like. Side to side wise. And about a foot and a half over his back. And I just squeeze. And it goes off. And you could hear it smacking. Just so hard. Like. And I. And I took three steps to the side. Thinking I wasn't going to get smoked out. I couldn't see a thing. 15 seconds. But I mean. You could just hear a whop. The loudest whop you've ever heard. And I was like. We hit him. I think we hit him. We freaking hit him. And he's laying in a bush. Like he. He done. Yeah. Smoke clears. And he's just freaking dead in a bush. And I'm like. Oh my God. I don't know if this is good or bad. He's not squalling. Like we hit him in the back. Could be like John Spineshot in Colorado. Yeah.

Too soon. Yeah. That was 14 years ago. That was 14 years ago. Yeah. It was just like cash. It'll never. It'll never not be too soon. I know.

So anyway. Then you reload Ash. You reload. Yeah. I'm like looking at him. And I'm like. I think he's dead. But we better reload. Because it's always when they freaking fall. That they get back up. Yeah. And so I give her my binos. And she's watching him. And I'm trying to reload. Pretty soon. She's like. He's back on his feet. He's back on his feet. And I'm like. Meanwhile. All the reloads are in the center of my pack. Because I just threw them all in. So we could run. Oh no. So I'm like. And she just starts chewing me a new one. She's like. What are you. What are you doing? Are you going to get that gun loaded? Let's go. I was like. He's walking away. And you're still. And I'm like. I mean. It's like that. She's chewing my. And I'm like. Trying to. You were patient with her. Fighting it in the scope. And she's hammering me now. And I'm like. Finally. I'm like. I'm like.

Ramming one down the barrel. Finally. And cocking it. Hand it back to her. Anyway. The buck ended up only walking like 10 feet. And then he stood there. And he's just staring at us. But. Yeah. He's staring at us. And he's a. We think he's probably 250. 260 now. He's a little bit closer. Yeah. We took a couple more steps forward. And then. I. I walked a good freaking. Five. Ten yards out of the way. So I could watch this time. Yeah. And I shoot again. And it's like. Perfect in line with his vitals. But. Five inches. In front of his chest. Mm-hmm. So. Sean gets to reload again. Because she's continuing. He's a pro. I mean. That I'm not. I'm not reloading fast enough. Why don't I have it ready? He did great. And I mean. I'm just like. As fast as I can go. I'm throwing pellets down the barrel. And we're going. Hey. He did great. And the pressure must have helped. Because he was quick.

I don't think it did. Because I cleaned out about. 50 or 60 triple seven pellets. Out of the bottom of my pack. The whole package. Helped everywhere. It was great. Anyway. Get back on the gun clamp. And throw one more in him. And he. Death runs into the bottom of this. Draw. And we think it's like. A draw. Because that's what. How all the other draws have been. That's what they look like. And the third shot. It was like. I'm 90% sure you hit him on the third shot. Like. He took a big. Like. He didn't take it like it was a hit. But he was just like. You shoot him. And he. It's just like. All of a sudden. He's jumping around. Lays down. Stands back up. And then runs into the bottom. Yeah. And out of sight. Yeah. Yeah. So we call my dad. And. He's so excited to hear that after his long drive. He gets to drive again. Well I'm like. Don't go up to him until I get there.

But I'm thinking the whole time. Like. Yeah. Go find him. They're going to easily find him. Right. But. But I mean. What if. And all the things. And we're like. We don't know how good the shots were. Like. He stood there. He acted like he was hit hard. But it was like. You guys called the guys. Oh yeah. So then I called the guys that were on the hill. So we had found the buck. I didn't end up having to call him to find him. But I called the guys after the buck ran into the bottom. And I was like. Can you guys see him? Like. We can't see him. I didn't see him come out of the bottom. And they're like. They're like. It's too dark. Like. We can't see him anymore. He said. But we saw your first shot. And you guys freaking hammered him. He's like. He's like. It hit him so freaking hard. He's like. There's no way that buck's not dead. Like. You guys. No. First he said. What? That was you?

He was like. What? That was you? And I was like. He's like. How'd you get over there? And I was like. We freaking. No. They didn't. Didn't he say. And then he. Three shots. Like. He was trying to verify that. He was. I said. I said. Yeah. The three shots. And he's like. Yeah. Three shots. Yeah. That was us. And he was like. Oh. He's like. We were thinking. I guess there was another guy. That was in the bottom of the draw. Maybe stalking him. From the bottom. But you didn't know. And we didn't even know. And he was like. Oh. I thought maybe it was that guy. I can't believe you guys got over there. And I said. I can't either. We freaking just ran. I mean. Chevy Colorado. But then he was like. He was like. Yeah. You guys freaking hammered him. He's like. There's no way. He's like. We can't see him in the bottom of the draw either. And it's too dark now. He's like.

But you guys hit him freaking hard. So then we felt pretty good about it. And then. And then we called you. And we were like. You probably ought to bring a pack and a knife. Because. We don't have them. We don't have them. We're not going back to the truck. Yeah. I'm not hiking back to the truck. I didn't bring anything. I got a phone light. I packed my phone with me. That was it.

You know John. Oh yeah. I know. Oh. It's. It's bad with me. I can forget just about anything. Some days I'm lucky to get my underwear on in the morning.

Oh boy. Anyway. I love it.

Yeah. So we wait for my dad. And he's. He comes out. And he's hiking over this face. And he didn't get so lucky with the trail. I mean. He popped out at the wrong spot. And we decided to wait. Well dude. You're dark. It's pitch dark. Yeah. It's like an hour and a half. By the time I get out there's another hour drive. And then an hour. Hour walk. I mean. Feels like you're swimming. And I'm like. Okay. Well where is he? He's down there somewhere. And it's like. Oh. Like I thought it would be more like. More topography. Like even in the headlamps. It's like. Yeah. Yeah. We've got a place to go. And we get down there. And I'm. And we can't even range back. 277 yards. So you're like. Okay. What does this look like? And. Sean's like. It feels like. In here somewhere. And we were. Circle and circle. I'm like. I know how this ends. It's 5 a.m. It'll. It will be 5 a.m. Before we find him. Well.

You know what I mean. You wouldn't believe the difference it looked from. I mean. It was so steep. We couldn't even. I didn't even realize we shot across like a hundred yard canyon. Yeah. And it was like a canyon. Like it was steep. It was steep. Way down to the bottom. Even though it was so. It wasn't very a wide canyon. But by that. Like you guys shot over this. You had to have shot over this. Yeah. And we used the range finder in the dark. And you could see just the horizon. Yeah. But then I start hitting on X of the. The group of trees that I could see the buck at. And where. And I marked where we shot from. Where you shot from. And I start doing it around. And I was like. Yeah. He is right. He's. We shot across the canyon. And so then we. So we go over there. And then. Walked around the corridor. And the bucks. You know when you walk up to something.

And you're like a foot and a half from it. Yeah. And it startles you. You know. Oh. There it is. Anyway. And he was done. And that tight little ravine just done. It did. So to back up. When you guys first glassed the deer. One. Did you know like. That's a big deer. It was like. It's a nice deer. We need to go kill it. It was a no. It was a no brainer. That it was a shooter buck. Okay. Like it was like. I didn't know exactly what it was. I didn't know exactly what it was. But I told her. I said. You're killing it. It's a mile and a half away. So I couldn't really see the cheaters. And I couldn't see the fourth point on the three point side. Yeah. And I was like. I mean. It's a legit buck. We need to. We need to kill it. Okay. And even. Even when we shot it. I called my dad. And I said. I don't know. I think it's like a 180 or something. Yeah. He said that. Which is awesome. Yeah.

And I was like. That's awesome. Great. You know. And Sean called the guys. And he's like. Well. Congratulations. On a 190s. And Sean's like. No way. And he goes. Oh yeah. I think it's 190s. Yeah. Yeah. The guy told me that. And I was like. I don't. There's just no way. Like. But. Then we pulled him up. And we were just kind of like. Holy crap. And then finally Sean hits me. And he's like. What's your gas? Like. Is that. What is it? What is it? You know. You know that moment. I'm like. Yeah. I'm like. That thing's over 190. Yeah. I guarantee you. He's low. He's. I felt like. He's low to mid 90s. Yep. Wow. And he's like. Uh-uh. And I'm like. Oh yeah. That is. He's got that feel. Beams. G4s. I mean. Yeah. He had enough of those.

Enough length on some of the points that you look for. 12 inch 4s. Or whatever. Yeah. 25 plus beams. You know what I mean. You just. Right. And eye guards. Mentally. And everything about it. And you're like. Yeah. He's got to be there. Oh yeah. Like. You know. And he was longer beam than we thought. Longer. Like. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway. Yeah. What. Where'd he end up going? One 96. One 96. Wow. Grosser. Wow. And so. Sean. How's it feel when you're supposed to be scouting for the early rifle. And your sister smashes the big buck this year. Oh. It feels great. I mean. I could care less. I was more. I was freaking happy. Yeah. I mean. The odds of turning that back up in the early rifle is just so slim. You're not going to. You got to kill it when you can kill it. You're actually not going to. Yeah. Like it's freaking. Well all the guys are on it.

At some point he gets bumped over the ridge and it's gnarly country. I mean we're the same day we're stalking him. Apparently there's guys stalking him under us. There's the same guy sitting on the hill with us. And they haven't seen him right. They still hadn't seen him until you put him on it. Yeah. They didn't seem to. But I think. I picked him up the second he stood up. Like I. I caught him under the tree standing up. Kind of meant to be kind of a thing. Like freaking. So making it over there in time. You didn't think. You told me. You said. If it wasn't. If she hadn't been able to hunt the next day we wouldn't have stalked him. We did not figure we had time. If we'd have been on the knob by ourself we wouldn't have stalked him. If I wouldn't have had other guys standing there pushing me away. Because they have the best view.

And we don't really have that great of a view from the knob. Unless we are. Unless we literally go stand in front of them 10 feet. John how would that feel? Yeah. John. Have you ever had that happen to you John? Yeah we have. I mean I'm not going to say I didn't feel like doing it to him. I didn't. It's one of those intrusive thoughts right? It was like. It was like I really want to go stand right there. This is public land. I can do what I want. But I was like. No we'll stand back here where we should be. Because they beat us out here. Yeah. It all worked out how it was supposed to. It was pretty crazy. Everything came together. First shot ended up double lunging. And we can't figure out how he stood so long. I mean he stood for five minutes. And the first shot was perfect. That's muzzleloaders for you. There's never a shock and all that. It's like a slow rock going through.

You know what I mean. 277 that thing slowed down. We lost so much speed, energy at that range. Especially I'm only shooting two pellets of triple seven. It's not even that hot of a load. It's so slow. By the time. It's a slow rock. Yeah. He's just like. Oh geez. Yeah. That's a pretty good pebble.

Was that a horse fly or a regular house fly? I think I'll lay down here for a minute. My face hit really hard. Chin hurts. And so anyway. Yeah. It was awesome. Dad came and saved the day. And helped us skin him out. Pack him out. Caved him. Caved him. Yeah. He packed like three quarters of the deer. Me and Shawnee. Chad like. At least. I mean don't let him lie to you. I took a back strap or something. That's probably it. I thought I had it all. I thought I had it all. He still whooped us back to the truck. Once in a while. You know what that dad life's like? You just at some point like. You want them to not want to arm wrestle you. Yeah. Even though they can beat you probably. Oh yeah. You're just like. I'm going to just show them a couple things. And that way they can just. Yeah. It'll keep them up. It'll hold them off for another couple years of proving that I'm weak. Yeah. You know.

I'm a weak old man. You know what I mean? See the advantage you have is instead of calves. You've got bulls below your knees. That's what Cash said. We were hiking up there in Wyoming. And he's like. How's your. How's your. How's your bulls? He's like. What? I was like. Your bulls. I pointed at him. He's like. I was like. Your calves. He's like. Oh. I was like. Those aren't calves. Those are. Those are. Those are. Those are. Bulls. Bulls. I've never heard that before. I mean. He barely could squeeze into a gator. Gators don't fit. I'm like. Do they make an extra large? Or what do they got? It was funny. Just the look on his face. Like. What did you say? Bulls? Are you that dumb?

It was kind of funny. It was fun. But no. It was the best pack out ever. It was like. Those are the moments man. They're good. Yeah. Those are the moments. And I wasn't even there. Just the dad moments of being so proud of these guys going out and doing that. Yeah. And all the things. Like the gun. The epic gun clown. You know what I'm saying? All the things. Yeah. Yeah. Of those moments that you hunt with your kids and shoot with your kids. And all of that just all comes together. You know. They had their own range finders. They have all their own equipment. They're not borrowing dad's muzzle. And you know. All those kind of things. I don't know. It's just one of those really cool moments. Like man. I'm so glad they got to enjoy it together. I wish I'd have been there. Like I get it. You got to get there before they found the deer. So that's kind of cool. I did before they found him dad.

But at the same time. Those are the really cool moments where they also get to say. We did it without dad. Like we did it. You know what I mean? I remember those times when I did it. Without my dad. And I was like man. This is pretty cool. Even though you want to experience it with family. And you want to have dad there. And you want to have all the family there helping and whatnot. There is some gratification that comes with it. We freaking. We're grown freaking adults right now. Like we did this. You know. We spotted him. We glassed him. We made decisions. We drove over there. We used Onyx to get over there on roads we hadn't been on. We didn't break a CV axle. Didn't. I mean there's probably a leak or two. We'd have kept driving either way. I know. I know they would have. I know they would have. I promise. And then. And then. You know. And then how. And then the wind.

All the things that go into getting a deer dead on the ground. In short order. You know. So. Pretty awesome. It is. Like I don't have kids yet. I'm going to have a kid on the way and everything. But I can just imagine like the dad side of it. Of being like. You want to be there and everything. But yet you're proud that. That they are able to do those things on their own. So you don't. You don't worry about them as much like. In other situations. Like it's a. It's a probably a reassuring thing as a dad. I'm sure. Or. And then on the kid side of it. It's like. Like. You feel like. You feel good. You know. Like I can do it without having my hand held. Or whatever. All of it. You know. You felt that. Oh yeah. Yeah. Like I've felt that over the years. And it's. It's a good feeling. Same thing like when your kids use chains for the first time on their own. Or they. You know.

Pull each other out with the trucks. Or whatever. Yeah. And it's just like. They. They have a problem. They figured it out. They had the equipment. Yeah. Exactly. Like those are just really cool moments as a dad. Not. I mean. Of course I want to be there. Not when they're stuck. I could give two craps about that. But all of the kills. Yeah. You want to be there. You know. So. Yeah. Anyway. It was good. Yeah. It was good. Anyway. Pretty awesome. Yeah.

Cash and John. Like. How many times have we. Dissed on Utah DWR management. And tags in general. And then the kids go out on a general. And smash a 196. I know. The worst part of this. Yeah. The worst part of this is. I have to admit that there was an old buck on a general. There was. Like. And. I said it earlier in the year. Like. There was some good bucks come off the general. There was. But we also knew this was coming with. With the winner. And a few things lined up right. And whatever. But. Yeah. I mean. And. And. Cutting. Cutting tags overall. Yeah. Even though I wish they'd cut them more. Right. It just goes to prove like. Even. Even a small cut makes a change. It makes a difference. Yeah. It makes a difference. You know. Like. It doesn't have to. It doesn't have to be cut 75 percent of them. And there's some of that gnarly country that'll hold a few bucks. Yeah. I get it.

Just overall. You know. Anyway. I was like. Oh man. Here we go. See Jason. All right. All right. All right. All right. Giant bucks out there. I also have to say I spent a lot of time out there. And. Did you get one? They're not around every corner. No. No. You did spend a lot of time. Yeah. Yeah. And we're not asking that they be around every corner. No. We're just asking that there be more than one. Right. Yeah. I mean. Around 50 percent of the corners. It was actually kind of tough. It was actually kind of a tough year. Yeah. It was tough. To be fair. Even. Yeah. Even. I didn't see a small four point. Right. You know. So. Ashley. On to story number two. So. Ashley's been going with me to Nevada. Sean here and there as well. Depending on work and whatnot. And school for Ash and all that. We're out in Nevada. I put Ashley up on a knob. And. You know. You always think as a dad like. Well.

I mean. A. Is she safe. Yeah. Can she make a bike. She knows Onyx. She has all the gear. Equipment. All of her own pack. Optics. Tripods. All that kind of stuff. And. So. Very effective. Very effective partner. And. What happened Ash? I got to see a kitty cat up close. A lion. Yeah. It was scary. So. So she's. So she's hiking along. Right. So this. You leave the truck. I drop you off. And I. And you don't. You'd forgotten a headlamp or something. I had a headlamp. A wazoo headlamp. Right. Yeah. And you were like. Oh. And so I hooked you up with the headlamp. But then you even chose a different route. With this in the back of your mind. Yeah. I start hiking up. And usually. Like he gives me a knob. And I just walk to the top of it. And then. Wait for sunlight. Straight line up and go. Yeah. And I felt so weird. It's like an hour before daylight. Yeah. I was freaked out.

But I'm not going to call him and tell him I'm scared. So. I didn't know. It just was like a feeling. You just had a weird. Yeah. Just a weird feeling. Or anything. Just a feeling. Just felt weird. And she hikes in the dark all the time. She's not scared of the dark. Like it's a foreign. Probably just a. Just. Sense. Yeah. Yeah. Sense. Yeah. So I'm like well. I'm going to go around this little draw. And I'm going to kind of hike. A little bit of a circle. Before I hike up on this knob. Just. I don't know. I just felt weird. So I did that. And I had plenty of time. Because he was. Giving him time to hike to his knob. When he got to his spot too. So. I felt like I had time. Hike up there. Get on top of my knob. It's great. It's a great glassing. Glassing knob. I could see lots of country. And I. Get out my 15s. I'm glassing all morning. And about. An hour and a half into glassing.

I just happened to look down. And I see. A tail. Drop. Like out of. From behind a tree. How far? 30 yards. Oh. It's 30 yards. And I was like. Jeez. Oh. And. I'm like watching it. And it takes a couple steps. And it's a lion. Like coming up my central. Like. Where I'd gone around. It was walking. Up. My track. Like. Where I'd walked up. And I was like. Da. I was so scared. Da. Da. Da. Da. Da. Da. Da. Da. One of those where you're like. Da. Da. Da. Da. Da. Da. Da. Da. Da. Da. And then scream. But she has a little pistol or whatever. Yeah. I've got a little Smith & Wesson 38 special. Which like. Makes me feel safe. But it's also like. It's got a two inch barrel on it. I might have to use the stinking. Yeah. Yeah. Two inch barrel is probably good from like. Two feet. Two yards. Yeah. And it kicks. It's made for dating. Yeah. Yeah. One of these. Yeah. It's not made for the hills.

It's made for dating.

Close quarters. Right Ash? That's right. Yeah. We leave them dead, dead, dead. Right? Just teasing. I'm just teasing. Just teasing. All right. Anyway. Yeah. So I get out the radio. And I'm like. Dad. Like. I've got a line. You know. And. I have a tag. Yeah. I'm like. I'm going to. I'm going to be there. I'm coming. So I'm coming. Yeah. He's coming. And I. I mean. Technically I could have shot at him. Because. Call it self defense or whatever in Nevada. But. I don't have a tag for him in Nevada. It wasn't like. And he wasn't like. Aggressive. He was just. You're just looking at. Like you're looking at him face to face. At some point. Right? Yeah. He stopped it. He walked back down the hill. And stopped it 50 yards. And stared at me for a full minute. Gee. And I'm just like. Crouched. Crouched. Yeah. So he. So he was coming up your scent trail. And turned around. Went back. And.

After I started talking. He turned around. Oh geez. He's listening to her talk. Yeah. And he's sitting there just like. He says. That's not. That's not a normal meow. What the hell is that?

Yeah. It scared me. But. Dad hiked in there. So that I didn't have to be freaked out. Hiking back out. And we. Tried to see if we could. I figured if he went up. There was two big side hills. If he went up either of those. We'd see him. And he could smoke him. But. We never saw him again. Predator called a little bit. Yeah. Predator called. But. Helped us feel better about not seeing any other deer. It's just a bummer. Yeah. You know. And now we know why we saw no buck tracks in the snow. Right. Yeah. We saw no nothing. We never saw anything. Like. You know what I mean. Yeah. We saw a couple little bucks. Yeah. That we knew about. And a few others. But we never saw a buck that we were looking for. Yeah. The crazy thing to me is. You know. Of all the years I've spent in the hills. That's never happened to me. Mm-hmm. You know. Mm-hmm. Never been that close. Never seen one that close. Yeah.

It's. Closest. Yeah. It's crazy. Closest. I've seen is like 300 yards. One's perched up on a rock. And then one. Yeah. Smashes this fawn right below me. 150 yards. I'd have to think about it. But I'm not. I had one under a tree stand that chilled out. Did you? Looking up at me and just chilled out. Yeah. And I'm like a little kid. And know nothing to protect myself. I mean nothing. I'm just a little kid. You're just a little. I'm swaying in an aspen tree. 10 years old. Yeah. Whatever. Up there in a tree stand swaying along like you do in an aspen. The human trail cam. It is. Probably not even be legal anymore. No. Put a tree stand in an aspen tree. Those things are. Those things sprout up waiting to tip over. You know. I think me and Sean just have bad luck. I mean we ran into two this year already. No way. Yeah. Both in Nevada. Wow. It's kind of been a crazy year. What was the other one?

Oh. The one. My dog treed one. Oh. That's a wild story. Well you were shut hunting. That was wild. And he's not even a lion dog. He's just like a bird dog. But he's a hunting sucker. Yeah. And he'll chase just about anything that'll run. Yeah. And he's 80 pounds. And he's like he's got yellow eyes and it is he's no joke. But I mean what's weird is we were making not 300 yards from where we treed the lion. We were making noise. We shot guns a couple of times. Yeah. They're shed hunting. They're just screwing off. Yeah. And like we start walking. We're walking back to the truck. Pretty soon my dog takes up. Boop. Boop. Boop. And I'm like I don't know what he's chasing. But I can tell he's chasing. He's chasing something. And so I go running up there. I mean he's got this cat on the top of the tree. I'm like holy crap. Let's go. I'm taking videos of him. I'm like that's my dog.

That was a proud moment. Proud dad moment. I'm like getting mad. He's climbed halfway up the tree looking at the cat. I'm like that's what's up. Well this is the first lion Kenai's ever seen. It's kind of funny because every time he comes up against a new animal, a raccoon, a badger, whatever, he's like. He stares at him for a second. He's like can I take this on? It takes you about 30 seconds to decide whether he can fight it or not. And pretty soon he'll just grab a hold of it. He ends up getting bit himself half the time.

He's a lot of fun. Oh I love that dog. That is fun. Kind of scary though because like those trees aren't that tall out there. No it was Juniper like a pinion. Yeah I mean half way up the tree. He's just the top of the ceiling. 10 feet off the ground. 10, 15 yards myself.

Whatever.

Anyway. Didn't you run him off a, you ran off a dead horse carcass right? Yeah. Yeah. Those are the ones you don't kill. Those are the ones you don't want to kill that one. Yeah I didn't have a tag at that point. I should have but I didn't. So we freaking, we had to let him walk. That's pretty cool though. My dogs are kind of the same way but they just chase it just to chase it. I don't, I don't, the one's not smart enough to tree something but he'll chase it. So I'm sure they've chased something but I don't know. They're, they're weird. But that's pretty cool. If they're weird get rid of them Cash. Oh they're not weird. They're just, I just don't know what they've chased so I, I think it's weird. I mean I've watched them chase deer and I'm like yeah you little suckers quit chasing stuff. Yeah. But. All right. Well pretty awesome. Good times. Good times. So yeah.

Just got back from Colorado helping a buddy over there. It's awesome. It's Colorado's a lot of fun. A lot of bucks. There's a reason you go to Colorado. It reminds me every single year why you go. Yep. Yeah. When you're over there it can happen. Just, just had a great time. Ended up having a side by side breakdown. His side by side fan came apart. Each little blade broke off one at a time. I mean geez. Gee man. We're 20 miles from the truck and, and hard for low. Limp it out of there. Yeah. Well luckily we made it to the top and could hit every water puddle on the way down to cool it off. Steamed us out. And anyway. Yeah. I made it, made it back. But it's just one of those things. And so anyway, um, truck bound and hiking and, and it was awesome. Just didn't, didn't see a next level deer or anything like that, but I really, it was a really good time. But any job. That's great. Yeah.

I've got a couple other things to talk about before that. I'd just like to tell everybody, mark your calendars for February 11th through the 14th, 2027. It's the hunt expo, Western hunting conservation expo. And, uh, we're going to be there. Got, uh, our, our big booth. We're going to have deals and, uh, and be there to talk to everybody. So, uh, get your hotels early. That's what, that's what the hard thing is. Like they fill up. So get your spots and, uh, go to hunt expo.com for more information on that. And I've been getting emails about it myself. Mm-hmm. You can't, uh, can't get squared away early enough. You know, sometimes you think it's a gimmick. Like get, get things going, da, da, da, da, da. No. That's true. You need to get it going. Yeah. That's the way I look at it. Yep. And I'd also like to just say we're in the last week of our fall hunt giveaway.

And, uh, so go to epicoutdoors.com and, uh, get your name in the hat. We've got some phenomenal hunts. We've got an Alaska doll sheep hunt. We've got an Alaska grizzly hunt. And we've got a Texas barbary sheep hunt. So all fully, like we paid full price for these. They're not discount hunts. Not only full price, they're kind of expensive hunts. They're expensive hunts. Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, a lot of doll sheep hunts are 40 grand and this one's 60. Yeah. It's pretty, pretty awesome. Pretty fun. Best of the best. So. All right. And, uh, the app. Oh. All that. Website. Cranking, John. Yeah. Cranking on the app and the website. We've got some really exciting things coming out. I really like all the features. We've worked, worked really hard as a team on that. Cash, you've been involved in it too. Like tweaking some things.

Like what, what the younger generation's looking for in an app and mapping and things like that. Odds. Has all the same features of our old website. And, but the app brings it on your, in your hand. Yeah. It is no joke. And it's super intuitive. Like, like even today, me and Logan were working through a few kinks of like, hey, when we select this on like the odds or whatever, you know, things that are going to help you not get confused of how the systems work and stuff. And there's, there's, there's tons of little features that, that a guy might not think about, but it's been well thought out and really well constructed. And I think there's a light version that's free. Yeah. And even that it has kind of like your own personal trophy room.

So every time I talk to somebody and we're talking about a hunt that was five years ago or, or 10 years ago, and I'm digging through my phone to try to find photos of it. Well, this gives you one place to just load every kill photo you've ever got. And you can just go there, show them, you know, when you're talking to somebody immediately. So, I mean, that's available in the free version and a couple other things. So, yeah, if you know, and you're going to want to upgrade once you get it. So that's kind of, you know, we're giving you some features, but man, lots of stuff coming on that. Pretty awesome. All right. It's a Friday. I came in and John blindsides me. Well, actually Logan did telling me that you were ready to do a podcast. Wait a minute. Wait, wait, wait. I think we had a conversation on Monday and I said, Friday might be a good day. I said Friday might be a good day.

So blindsided. But I changed my mind. You changed your mind. And you got blindsided after. I came in and I was like, oh, man. The worst part is Logan's like, hey, John's ready for a podcast whenever you are. But I'm out. I'm leaving. By the way, I've got it ready. All John has to do is hit record. And I'm going to see you guys later. I'm going to have a nice weekend up north. Yeah, yeah. That's Logan. That's Logan. Yeah. And one more reminder, we've got a lot of stuff available on the app, on our website, a lot of, we've got Fierce. We've got CVA muzzleloaders. We've got Apex Next Evolution. You can get 20% off. Go into our website. We've got Nakawa, Zeiss, TS Customs, Rofsky. Got deals on all of them. You get the, even the light membership, you can see some deals on that. Yeah, and our deals are, we have deals 24-7, quite frankly. Yeah, we do.

So anyway, we have member discounts on there. Check it out. Call in. If you need something, you need something overnighted, whatever, call us. We want to help you. We love it. We're getting a lot of reports in, a lot of photos. Hit us at photos at epicoutdoors.com with your stories, photos, things like that. And I would say even better than that now is the app. You can upload it directly from your phone. You don't have to download the photos to your computer. Send them in. You can just hit them. Boom, boom, boom. Send them in. You know what I used to think about that kind of stuff? I'd be like, these kids, John's a kid to me. These kids, they just love to use the technology, the geeky stuff, just because, you know what I mean? Yeah. But I'm actually coming around. I actually think it's pretty cool and it's pretty easy. But it's hard for an old guy to come around to all this technology.

It's true. Old dogs and new tricks, right? I'm not way old, right, Ash? Nope.

How about that? Makes me feel good. I feel like that was a paid comment. Hey, I like the truck. I do. Oh, there you go. Paid comment, for sure. One way or another. Yeah, one way or another. Gas card. I don't know. Maybe just something. Yeah. All right. Well, I hope everybody's getting ready for Colorado third season. The guys on second. I hope you finish strong. Love to hear back from you. Yeah. Hearing about all the different units right now. There's plenty of bucks left for the third. I know that. It wasn't a smash and grab for everybody on second. In fact, kind of tough considering what I thought it might be. I thought it might be a smash and grab for everybody. I was looking at the weather thinking, oh, no. This, like, third might be rough. Second's going to keep me hot. You have third. And most people have third. A lot of people have third anyway. And you're saying, oh, no.

Some of them are like, oh, I've got the second. I'm going to smash it before anybody gets here. And some of them did. Some of them killed some great bucks. Yep. But, man. And then I thought fourth. I don't know. Fourth is actually just cleaning up the very last couple of breeder bucks. You know. And I don't know. We'll see how the third shakes out. But it's pretty exciting. Also, Utah hunts are finishing up. Arizona, some of the deer hunts. We'll see how those go. They're coming up. There's just a lot going on. Late elk hunts and things like that. It's just a lot going on. A lot of fun. This is the time of year we wait for. We wait all year for this. Right, Ashley? All year. For this time. All year. Sean.

All year, buddy. All year. Sean's looking forward to shed season. Yeah. Yeah. Don't tell Cash anything, Sean. Dude, I've given up. I don't even have Cash's number. Oh, that's a good thing. For good reason. I'm keeping it from him. He's asked me multiple times, hey, can I have your number? And I'm like, no. No. He just wants to see if you're dumb enough to leave your snap locations on. Nope. I know people that are, though.

All right, everybody. Have a good weekend.

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