EP 49: The Hunting Life with "ShedCrazy" Ben Dettamanti

Yeah, it's been a fun journey. It's been a fun ride, for sure. He comes out, he comes out at 35 yards. This is a hilarious story. It's a random story I never thought I'd tell, really. Anything to do with Western Big Game. Welcome to the Epic Outdoors Podcast, powered by Under Armour. Hey, everybody. Do we need to do a formal? Let's do a formal. Let's do Here we go. All right, take one. We're only gonna do one take, right? Hey everybody, Jason Carter here with the Epic Outdoors podcast, as well as Adam Bronson. We got him on the horn with us right here in the office, and Chris Peterson. We're gonna let him talk a little bit today. So, besides recording and editing and putting out these podcasts in such an awesome way, he's actually gonna be able to visit with us, and we'll give him a little grief as well. So, anyway, got a special guest with us, sitting right here. In the office. It's kind of rare. We usually do these over the phone just because people are busy.

We're busy, and we like to crank these out in a timely fashion. So, you know, it's one of those things. But, Ben here, shit crazy. He's made the trip. It's a long trip it is. But anyway, we did get him here in the office. Before we get started, we want to thank Under Armour. And we don't want to thank any of your sponsors, just our sponsors.

That's what you gotta do. All right, so anyway, we want to thank Under Armour for sponsoring this podcast, as well as everything we do here at Epic Outdoors. They're a huge partner of ours. We love them. They've got a lot of products, and we all know that, of course, but they're doing some awesome things in the hunting industry. So, we appreciate them, and just a shout out to them. Let them know how much we appreciate them here in the office. So, this particular podcast, we're going to give away a pair of fat tire boots from Under Armour. So, this is how you enter. You're going to go on epicoutdoors.com, back to the end of the day. Backslash podcasts. And once you get on there, you're going to see a podcast giveaway entry form on the right-hand side of the page. There's a podcast code. Podcast code for this episode is Fattire. F-A-T-T-I-R-E.

You'll enter your name, your email, and your phone number. Hit submit, and you'll be entered in that drawing. So, anyway, we're going to give away a pair of Fattire boots. These Fattire boots, I've worn them quite a bit. They're awesome. It's like walking on pillows. Super, super comfortable. Great boot for early season hunting. I know Adam Bronson's worn them too as well and spent a lot of time in them. You know, and that's what we'll be using here in August and September especially. They're waterproof. They're very, very comfortable. Lots and lots of great reviews on them. Anyway, they're a $200 value on or you can be given a free pair by entering to win. EpicOutdoors.com backslash podcast. This is the time of year that all the different conventions are going to be taking place. People will be gathering, prepping for next year's hunts.

Here in Utah, we have the Hunt Expo. It's one of our biggest conventions of the year. It's a time where it seems like the entire state of Utah gets together, as well as surrounding states, and just visits about hunting. A lot of booths there, a lot of different tags to buy. There'll be tags to There's a bunch of different conservation tags that are available for five bucks a piece, and you can come and you got to validate them in person, and then it's a good excuse to come around and visit with everybody at the booth. Speaking of booths, we're going to be at booth number 2845. Booth number 2845, the Epic Outdoors. We're there every year. We would never miss it. It's an incredible convention. It's a place where we can visit with all of our members. And so, anyway, we're super excited. It'll be 20 by 50. It'll be a huge booth, a lot of different critters, sheds, and as well as the entire Epic crew, so Adam, Jeff, Chris, John, myself, um...

We're really looking forward to it. So, anyway, to sign up, you can go to hunnexpo.com. You can apply for your online $5 tickets as well for the different conservation tags. And then also, you know, reserve your tickets to walk the floor as well as participate in the day and evening Day and evening functions, and so it's gonna be a great time. Looking forward to seeing everybody. Anyway, February 8th to the 11th, 2018, booth number 2845. Sign up online on expo.com. Ben, thanks for coming today. Happy to be here. I was really busy. I had a lot going on today. It is December today. He just got flower beds he's trying to raid so he can do sheds for Santa.

There's no browns out there, so it's all white right now. So, he's doing these sheds for Santa, and we've all seen this on Instagram. There is no way he's taking them out of his personal stash. You don't go out in the hills, find them, and give them away. He's not doing that. He's stealing them. This is my theory. Stealing them from flower beds. He's robbing hooding sheds. Yes. Well, I only take them from really nice houses. You know, I don't want to... Figure they won't miss them. Right. Maybe they just buy their sheds from the shed buyer and put them in their yard. You're those type of people. Right, yeah. I'm just trying to spread the shed wealth a little bit. Or he's talking to little kids that aspire to be a shed hunter for life, right? Where do you look for sheds? Show me the latest sheds. Oh, I'll buy that off you. Okay, Ben, I'll give it to you for five dollars.

Try the corner of Cobble Creek Drive. That's good, yeah. You can find them. I'm a little boy, and then bring them to me, and I'll give you five bucks. Yeah, and he gives them five bucks, throws them up. He's now donating sheds for Santa. He's a hero for five bucks. And the kid has Christmas money for his siblings. You guys are shattering my whole PR image. I worked so hard to grow here. We've really got off to a good start here today. Right. So, we haven't even introduced this guy. Everybody doesn't know you. We know you, Ben. We live in the same town. But you gotta tell us a little bit about yourself. Where are you from? Usually, we'll introduce our guests, but I'm gonna let you introduce yourself. Oh, thank you. Because I don't know who you are. What an honor. Yeah, I was born and raised here in southern Utah, in the best big buck and big bull country on earth, in my opinion.

And yeah, I grew up here, a local kid, and I moved about a half hour south now so I could be closer to the Arizona Strip. That's what I tell people, is actually so my wife could have a job. Have you been on the Strip? I just want to know. Yeah, I've spent several hours out there looking for sheds and stuff. It's kind of discouraging country, but there's not enough elk out there for me, so I don't know.

Not on a poundage. Right, they don't weigh up quite as well out there. But yeah, I was raised around here in just southern Utah, just trying to find some deer and elk. It's a good spot to be. Yeah, it is. Southern Utah is awesome. We're kind of in that central location where within 12 hours you can be to Montana or New Mexico or about anywhere you want to go. I don't know why you'd want to go to California. I guess we could go that direction, but maybe for the beach or something. No thanks. Dodgers games. Anyway, we did talk to you back at the expo, did a little podcast, and as you were starting your new venture, tell us a little bit about that. Yeah, so I basically started off almost a year ago now. I've been calling it the Shed Year, just making YouTube videos about shed hunting and kind of detailing the journey of going from basically full-time 9 to 5 guy

to try to hunt for a living. So, going from being a provider to being retired. Yeah, exactly. From being a hunter-provider to being unemployed and a hunter-gatherer. To paying your bills and putting food on the table. To not anymore, yeah. To what we read about in the history books of the ancient ones that were hunters and gatherers. Right, yeah. You could say definitely. I'm definitely, I try to gather. I don't always get it done, but yeah, it's been a fun journey. It's been a fun ride for sure, and it's, I don't know, I feel like it's going to be bigger from here on out, but this last year has been definitely a learning experience. It's been a lot of fun. Yeah. We have nowhere to go but up. Right. You have nowhere to go but up. I have nowhere to go but up. Yeah, all I can do is grow from here. Awesome. So, let's see. You got a year under your belt. Pretty much, yeah. Do you

have a job? Yeah, I think my job mostly is just keeping my wife happy these days. So, So, you maintained that you're a professional shed hunter for a full year. You've done it. Yeah, I did. You've done it. You've got a year under your belt. Yep. You're still married. Most days. Okay. Wife's happy? Yeah, she is. Okay. So, for 2018, you're going to continue down the shed hunter, professional shed hunter journey. Yeah, that's the goal. I think I'm going to go at it from a little bit different approach. The first year was all trying to fund it, just picking up sheds, you know? Yeah. And then I ended up buying some antlers, selling some antlers, doing all kinds I saw that. Yeah, that's cool. Yeah, I picked up some good sponsors I've been working with, so hopefully it's just gonna actually pay me something in the coming year. All right, so on

the sponsors, I'll give you a little press here. Who are they? Throw a little shout out to them. I work with quite a few good companies. I work with Scree Camo, is one that I've been working with quite a bit for a few years, and they're kind of an up-and-coming camel company stationed out right where I live, so they're really good to work with. And then I've been working with Vortex Optics I do some stuff with mountain ops, and just when I'm trying to get my gym pump on. Yeah, looks like you're pretty buff. Yeah, dude, I've been getting swell lately. So, yeah, I work with a handful of good companies, Canvas Cutter, just some good people out there. So, a lot of times, these are sponsorships entail product, but you can't eat products. So, you're talking in 2018, we're going to build that up a little bit, where it's kind of funding the shit crazy.

Hopefully getting some checks coming in, right? Yeah, you can sell product online, I just get Mountain Ops and sell it on Craigslist. Do you? It turns into money. It's kind of like the old adage, buy low and sell high. Yeah, there you go. Or get it for free and sell high. It's smart. Yeah, I make a lot of money on garage sales and that kind of stuff. Yeah, that's right. Come to one of my yard sales. Facebook yard sales, even. Right, yeah. Yes. Well, that's awesome. And so, you were basically, you know, you got to pick up a lot of sheds to be able to provide for the family. Anders are high now. You picked a good year to do it. I will commend you that. You didn't do it when browns are five bucks a pound. No, no. It's definitely been, the price has helped out a lot, and I've been able to have a pretty good year. I think I picked up somewhere in the ballpark of 150, 160 elk sheds on the year.

Did you? Good for you, man. That helps get some of the bills paid and stuff. I'm gonna try to crack 200 for the year's over. Okay, so you got numbers like your monthly goals. Yeah. So, you got 30-something to do by in the next month. Yeah, it's a lot. So, is it November 1st? Especially because the snow is coming. It's December 1st. Yeah. How was November? Did you meet your goal? No, I didn't. I spent way too much time just doing family stuff and, you know, handling other stuff. Pumping up. I didn't pick up hardly any sheds. After Thanksgiving, you pumped up or pumped up. You were out on the hunting trail, too. Yeah, we did. Yeah, we spent a lot of time chasing deer and elk in November and October and stuff, and got to go down to Arizona with Chris.

That was awesome. We've been busy, been chasing live ones for now. So, with that, you're not just a shed hunter, you're obviously the shed hunting craze came from being a hunter. Oh yeah, 100%. You've been a hunter your whole life? Yeah, I've always been obsessed with it ever since I was a little kid. You know, every family function we've ever had was everybody talking hunting, you know. Yeah. My grandpa, uncles, everybody. So, I think my love for shed hunting mostly just came from not being able to hunt as much as I wanted to hunt. So, it was another way, yeah, to get out in the hills, find animals, see what they were doing. So, that's kind of where that even sprouted from. But, yeah, I think I met Ben like, I think it's been like nine years now or something like that. It's been a long time, but I've always known Ben loved hunting. Their whole family did.

And one of my favorite stories that I heard from his brother was the football team story. That kind of showed me, Ben loves to hunt. Oh yeah, that was definitely probably where I decided that, you know, you kind of have to turn a corner at points in life where you're like, alright, this is the way I'm going from here on out. And for me, that was in a locker room probably my sophomore year of high school. So, locker room story. Yeah, here we go. Watch out. Censor yourself. It's not like the locker rooms in the movies. It's a little more mellow than that. But what happened was, I started playing football, and I say playing football, watching football from the sidelines with the jersey. Is that what I was doing? So, they allowed you to dress down? Yeah, I wasn't much of a football player. The movie Waterboy, and you resonated with that.

Oh yeah, I definitely. I played left out, that's what I tell everybody. But yeah, I was playing football, and I was trying to be a football player, but I just kept wanting to hunt, and then I drew a Dutton rifle tag that year. And so, I told my coach, I'm gonna need a few weeks off practice. He wasn't too fond of that idea. Hey, I'm gonna be packing out quarters. I mean, I'll be tougher when I get back. Just let me go. Well, he tried to make a big point of kind of calling me out in front of everybody, in front of the whole team in the locker room. Thinking it's shaming. Oh, really? Yeah. In the locker room, just like, all right, here we go. He said, you need to choose right now what's it gonna be. It's gonna be football or hunting. I said, pfft, hunting, that's not even a choice. He was kind of quiet for a little bit, and everybody kind of gasped, and that was it.

You never put the pads on again? You retired. I finished the year sitting on the sideline, came back from elk hunting. But yeah, I never played. I don't know if I ever got in a game after that, and I said, after that, I said, screw it, I'm just gonna hunt. That became my fall hobby. I remember that did get in the way. I did play football in high school. Of course, a little town, Monticello. It's in the way of my kids. Sean's looking at deciding. Soccer. Is soccer in the fall? I don't know, Jason.

No, no, but it's not necessarily, but nowadays, you've got, you don't just have school-sanctioned sports, you've got year-round stuff with clubs and traveling teams, and you just, you know, it's basically like, what do you want to do? And I've told him, honest, I could care less. If he wants to do it, do it. But if you want to hunt, let's go. You know what I mean? By the way, I don't care, Sean, but let's go hunt. I don't care, but let me choose for you. So, anyway, no, I think school athletics and high school athletics is great for building characters, great for these kids and everything, and I support it and everything, but it's so hard to do everything in life, and so they do need to decide. Sometimes you just got to pick the thing you love the most. Yeah, for sure. I figured I had about a 1% chance of becoming a pro hunter and a 0% chance of being a pro football player.

Jeez, that's like double. Yeah, I'm chasing 100% better odds. Hey, you made it. You're a pro. I guess. Dude, professional means you feed the family with it. That's what you're doing. Well, yeah, close enough. You made it. You beat the 99%. So, shed hunting is your career. You obviously, the hunt, is that like, do you take vacation to go hunting, or do you call that your career, too? Well, I don't know. I guess it's all kind of the same thing for me, because I'm just trying to make videos about everything. So, I guess it's like a vacation, but it used to be like when I was working for a vacation. I spent all my vacation time and then some hunting. So, now I can say, okay, I'm going to take a vacation. I'm going to hang out with my family, spend some time with it. It's actually good. I actually probably get a lot more time at home than I did before. It's

all semantics, you know, with your wife. It's just semantics. I'm on vacation. I'm staying home for the week. Yeah, I'm going to stay on the couch. It's kind of backwards. No, I've got to go to work, and work is in Wyoming. This is work. Sorry. Yep, work's in Nevada. The only problem is when you're on vacation, your wife wants you to fix the rain Yeah, that's the whole thing. The best thing I ever did for my wife is find a good handyman, because that stuff's definitely getting neglected. I'm not that guy. All right, so you're hunting. Tell us, I mean, did you do more hunting this year than you've ever done before? Oh, definitely. Yeah, I had about, I think I had six or seven big game

Really? What were they? Mostly over-the-counter, tough stuff. I spent a lot of time on the open bull here in Utah with a bow, trying to get that done. I actually shot a pretty good bull. I didn't end up finding him. It was kind of a crappy deal. I put a whole video about it on YouTube. But bull's alive, though. He showed back up on my trail camera after the hunt, so I'm gonna try to shoot him next year. Yeah. Get your broadhead back. Yeah, he went right through him. It's a gear failure. Oh, it did? It went, yeah. I don't know what the deal was. I shot him at 20 yards.

You see a scar on him in the picture? You can, and it looks good. Looks like it's right dead center in his lungs. I've had that. So, I have no idea. I've had people...it happens. I know it happens. Those elk are strong, tough, freaking...you don't feel like...did you lose the blood trail after 200 yards, or do you feel like you trailed him for a mile after? No, I lost it like 150 yards. Oh, so he's dead. He's alive. He's back on my camera. Oh, I missed that. Yeah, so he went to the top of the hill right after I shot him. I shot him right before dark, 20 yards. Everything perfect. I'm like, this is your dream scenario. Smacked him, turned on my butt, I'm like, that's dead bull, we're done. And he went to the top of the hill, stood there, and at about, actually I shot at him again at about 60 yards,

but I didn't compensate for the angle, I shot under him. And then he stopped at about 100 yards at the top of the hill, just stood there, his front legs were crossed like this, you know, just had him. And he was wobbly, I thought he was going to die. So, it was dark, we pulled out, we're like, we'll just go, we'll come back. And gave him a few hours, came and found that blood pot where he was standing, There's a good pile of blood there. I'm like, oh, he's gonna be dead in the morning. So, we went, slept, came back, and we didn't find blood past that point. And we spent the whole, I spent six days doing circles and everything I could think of, and I never found where he went from that point.

Crazy. You know, we had a guy, I'm trying to remember the story, but basically, one lung, single lunged an animal like that, and the animal lived, and then they killed him, like the next year, and they gutted him, The lung that he had hit was black and shriveled, and he'd lived on one lung. That's crazy. And was healthy. Maybe you'll have a story like that. I hope so. Yeah. Wow. That's crazy. Was it a good bull? He was about a 300 bull. He was good for the general. Yeah, for the general he was a good bull. I'd have been happy with him for sure. So, after that you went general deer probably? Yeah. One of the others? Yeah, I had a muzzleloader deer tag here in Utah, and I killed a little, you know, just a good looking four point, nothing crazy.

I also hunted Idaho General, archery elk, and rifle elk, and rifle deer. So, I'd been, at that point, on the trail for, you know, a couple months without killing anything. So, first morning in Utah, yeah, I smacked down about three minutes after first light. That's fairly typical of your Utah General though. Oh, yeah, I have a... Itchy trigger? Oh, I definitely get after them quick. I think the last two deer I killed in Utah were both, I mean, maybe 10 minutes of total hunting I'm not going to be a fan over those last two years. Wow. But I was telling Chris before, I passed three bucks this year, so I was watching him through the scope. I'm like, that one's too small, that one's too small, that one's too small. Boom. That's good. That's good. So, I'm still trophy hunting. Well, ten minutes. At a higher speed. Yeah, I mean, good hunter.

And where'd you go after Utah? So, I went back up to Idaho after that. I hunted up there for deer and elk, and then I'm hopefully going to put together a few more hunts here. We tagged along on some hunts with some buddies in Colorado, and then hopefully be putting together a late archery deer tag in Arizona. And then I haven't filled either my Idaho tags. I haven't found anything that I really wanted to shoot up there. Yeah. But I might head back up there and hunt one of their general late archery. Did you? Like, who got you started up there? Like, how did you know where to go? Like, let's say a guy that's listening wants to do an over-the-counter Idaho hunt. How did you go about doing that? Well, the best way that I know about is just through social media. I just reached out to some guys that I knew that lived in that area.

And they were kind enough to show me some spots and help me kind of learn to lay the land up there. It was still, you know, I still had to kind of figure it out on my own, but I was able to see quite a few animals just through that. And it's not like you have to backpack at all. Like, there's plenty of country that's got good access in it, you know, and guys can do this on their own. Oh, 100 percent, yeah. It's kind of expensive. It's kind of a risk, you know. You're gonna spend a few hundred bucks on a tag, but it's one of those opportunity type deals. I could have killed animals on every hunt up there. I just, you know, decided to wait for something a little better. That's awesome, man. What do you like to hunt the most? Um, I'm an elk guy. Oh, yeah? Yeah, I always have had a, just, I don't know, I love elk.

And I killed, the first bull I ever killed, I killed it when I was about 14, and it was about a 340 bull, and I've just been in love with them ever since. I want to kill big deer, of course, but I think they're too smart. I don't know, dude, it's taking you 10 minutes. We could up your game, and in 20 minutes, you might double the size. That's what I need to do. I was hoping hanging out with you guys, some of that big buck killing mojo might reel off or something. No, we're gonna steer you wrong, because the competition's gonna be fierce. Oh, yeah. So... Yeah, I believe it. Anyway, and so, keep going with all this. Keep moving forward till you get to Chris's hunt. Elk, archery elk, that's what you like to mount elk.

Yeah, I'd say that's my bread and butter is elk. I'll hunt them with any weapon. I love to hunt them in the rut. I also like to hunt them late, like we did on Chris's hunt. That was a lot of fun, too. Yeah. I'll toss them up. Yeah, it was a good time. And you've killed a lot of bulls on the Utah General. Yeah. I'm always impressed with how well you do on that. It's been, I've got lucky quite a few times, and then I've had some that I'm proud of, and it's been a, it's a fun hunt. I got lucky in 2013 and killed a really good bull up there on that open unit,

I had a 350 class bull. That's awesome. That was awesome. I've just always hunted it with family and kind of taken that a little bit easier, and then over the last few years got kind of more hardcore about scouting it and finding out where the bulls are going to be and figuring out the elk. In a public land, or do you have some private, a little bit of private access? Because you're pretty connected here. Most, 99% of it's public stuff. This last year, I think there's one piece now, one little piece of private I've killed one bull on, but everything else has been all public. Wow. That's awesome. I like hunting that public up there. I like the challenge of trying to figure those elk out. There's so few of them and so many people. It's kind of a fun game. Have you ever tried baiting in Utah? Like, you know, take a haystack up there. A whole haystack. Because you can carry a hay bale.

Or we're spiraling. Yeah, my whole kind of life's a spiral. It's all right. But yeah, the baiting's getting to be kind of a popular topic around. I run into some piles of apples out in the hills and stuff. Yeah? So it's... Well, Utah, you know, there's not a lot of baiting, states that allow baiting. I think Oregon's one, Utah's one. What else? Is there any others that anybody can think of? Most of them don't. Yeah, most of them don't. And so, they're, you know, obviously killing some deer off some bait and doing good and, you know, pull some of these animals out of that thick country. But anyway, and so, you go to Chris's hunt, tough hunt. Yeah. From what I understand, pretty tough. It wasn't until I showed up. Yeah, it was. It was real, real, real tough, and then Ben showed up, and we started to figure things

out about the time Ben showed up. I'll take credit for that. Yeah. I wrote around. Well, you're an elk guru, and it's a natural, right, Chris? Yeah. Well, yeah, we had a good hunt. It was a lot of fun, and I'd love to get to know that unit a little bit better, because there's some big bulls there, but the weather made it tough, and it was a good time. And the moon, and everything else, but yeah, The last three days were actually good. We finally started seeing some bulls and figuring things out, and it just got... Ran out of days. Ran out of time. So, before we go into any crazy stories, because I just want to kind of go back to, you're doing YouTube, which is... That means basically, you know, you can make money, YouTube, in your life, your hunting adventures, all the shed adventures, anything and everything. Yeah.

And social media is what really feels like in my mind has kicked you off. I mean, the humor's... I mean, you are pretty funny. I gotta admit, you are pretty funny. You've always been the clown in the family. Oh, 100 percent, yeah. I always thrived on it in school. I was always getting kicked out of class for screwing around and stuff. So, you were in the... if we go back to Cedar High, what year to graduate?

I graduated in 2003. Most likely to be a comedian someday, that would be you. I got, well, I actually had those yearbook things, you know, and I wanted best hair because I had a killer mullet. That's the one I was gunning for, but they gave me most talkative. Talkative. It's almost a slap in the face, like this kid never shut up. Somebody's got to get the award. Yeah, whatever, I'll take it. I was just glad. That's one of those, everybody's participation award. Everybody gets labeled something. Here's a trophy. Most talkative. What are we going to put on it? Friendly, kind, cheerful.

One of the Boy Scout models, right? Yeah, I know. Run through the list. So, yeah, so what are your goals like with the, obviously, social media, like Jason said, that's where, you know, I've got to feel like I've got to know you without even knowing you better. Yeah. Which is what happens on social media. It's awesome. With that and YouTube, what are your goals through that? What do you got planned, or what do you see it going for you? Well, I hope it'll just continue to grow. You know, I think the humor has always been the thing that helped me grow the most. I was trying to do a fairly serious shed hunting thing in the beginning. You know, I started out just as an Instagram account about shed hunting, and it grew at a decent rate, but it really blew up. It was actually my wife that told me, she's like, if you don't get your personality in there, you just can be like everybody else.

So, she told me to kick it off and try to make some funny videos, and I made a couple, and they caught on. And it's been good. I'd like to see it kind of, I don't know, I'd like to show people both sides of it. You know, I think keep it light, you know, the feeling of hunting with your buddies and joking around. But I like to show people that I'm a serious hunter, too. I take it seriously. You know, I'm not notching my belt with a 200-inch buck every year, but I hunt hard, spend a lot of time at it. And I kind of want people to know that you can hunt hard and still screw around and have a good time. Yeah, because I never know how to take it. Like, you'll send me a text, and you'll be like, dude, is this a good one? And I'm thinking, okay, should I jab him a little, or does he really want to know, you know?

And that's what I've learned about you, is you are a serious hunter. You're not a serious hunter. You're a good hunter that spends a lot of time in doing it in a light-hearted fashion, you know? It's not so serious, you know what I mean? You're not always laser-focused, tunnel vision, get out of my way, and maybe it gets that way. And it's not all just a joke, either, even though you're having fun doing it. But it's one of those things that I've come to appreciate, because for so long, the hunting world has been so... Boring. Boring. Well, it's just been really cut-throat, serious, and a lot of jealousy, and people mad at each other. And all of a sudden, you have somebody that's there to bring some humor, and it kind of changes it.

It just makes fun of it all and makes a very laugh. People can laugh. You can laugh. It's okay to laugh. Well, you can tell somebody, you can talk about gym selfies or something to somebody, and they don't hate you for it. And I could say it, and they're like, he just cut me. And you cut them, and they're like, oh, Ben's such a good guy. Man. That's kind of what I try to do. I'm just grateful he liked my post, you know? And I'm like, jeez. Well, I'm not trying to be malicious. I don't have any, I don't have any angry towards anybody in this whole deal. I like to make fun of people. I mean, I got started working with mountain ops because I was making fun of them. You made fun of mountain ops. I know, when you said, oh, he said a couple of things. He said this couple of things, and I was like, oh, this could get ugly.

Yeah, there's a few of them that could have gone either way, for sure. Like, yeah, the whole mountain ops thing, I was poking fun at them, poking fun at a hunting supplement company, you know, and it was never out of anything delicious. And they contacted me, and they're like, hey, we think it's hilarious, man. Let's work together. I'm like, oh, okay. All right. Good deal. So, do you use their stuff? Yeah. Yeah, I do, actually. I'm not a lifter. That's no secret, you know. Yeah, but you're lifting, it's just not lifting weights. Yeah, sheds and stuff, and I don't mind. 10 to 14 pounds, right? Right, one at a time. Well, if I can lift those, I'm doing good. Well, I just, I don't care what I look like. It's not something that's ever bothered me, you know? And I just, I want to be able to do what I need to do in the hills, and so I like some of their energy

and focus stuff to get me up in the morning, and I like some of their, like a meal replacer. If you don't got time, you drink some of their shakes, you know? I'm not getting pumped up on their pre-workout It's not stuff that I use on a daily basis, but some of it makes sense, you know? Yeah, that's awesome. Cool. So, goals, you just want to grow it. You want to grow your following. Where are you at? YouTube followers? What's your goal for that? How are you going to attain those goals? And partly, we want to know so we can work on ours as well. Well, you guys are doing good. What you need to keep doing is posting those wolf hunts, because those things will blow up. Wolves and sheep and everything. They blow up, and that's when you and your family get death threats. Exactly. That's the most hate we've gotten is off the wolf. Yeah, pretty soon, events, putting alarm systems everywhere.

That's the way it is, for sure. The crazies come out of the woodwork on that stuff. But I'd like to just kind of continue to grow it just through collaboration. That's kind of the best thing you can do is just get together with other guys that are doing well, hunt together, and kind of share off each other's audiences. But mostly, I just want to show people what I'm doing. I hope they like it. I hope it grows organically and naturally, and if it doesn't, I can always be a janitor again. So, are you true friends with these people, or are you just friends for likes and followers? The whole thing, I don't know. It's a balance. No, I have a lot of really good buddies. Like, I've been surprised how many... The Hush guys. Yeah. Some of these guys that have got huge followings. You've got to know better.

For sure. Yeah, the Hush guys are... I can't even tell you how much those guys have done to help me out. Just come out, you know, and just been like offering help left in your eye, giving me all kinds of advice on the YouTube deal. They're great dudes. You even hunted with them a little bit this year? Yeah, I hunted a couple times with them, went to Canada this year with them, and then I also went to Colorado with them. I can't say enough good about those guys. Like, I know people have their opinions about everybody online, people they don't like, people they like, but those dudes, I started out making fun of them too. When you're as big as they are, there's going to be people with opinions. Adam and I have dealt with a lot of different criticisms over the years.

You know, killing stuff, or doing this, or doing that, and people are going to develop an opinion one way or another. You hope it's good, but it always, you know, it's not always perfect. I got the text about when you kill that giant deer. Okay, so let's, and we can talk about that. We should talk about that. Okay, we can talk about that. So, we're talking to you. That was kind of, that was before social media. That was before, that was during text, viral text. That was when viral emails and monster mewlies ruled the world. Viral text. It was when text messaging really emerged. It's almost before cell phones. Right in the beginning of when everybody had a cell phone, everybody started text messaging. And I was on a lucky roll. I'd hit a couple of years in a row where I was doing well, and people don't see behind the scenes.

Just like I don't see behind the scenes of what you've got going on. You're finding 160 sheds or whatever, your goal is 200. I should be able to do that. Well, I don't know what you're putting into that. You're scouting sheds. I mean, you know, there's a lot that goes into it. So, anyway, yeah, I guess if we got to go down that road. You really want to go down that road. It was a Brutus, a 250-inch velvet deer, and guys came out saying that I'd shot over a guy with a bow, mind you. Shot over him. I was at 75 yards. He's at 25 yards. I shoot over him to kill this deer. Luckily, you know, Chris was filming the whole thing. That's good to have. Yeah, we have proof. And it goes viral because Jason, this guy that think, you know, in the hunting industry professionally, shoots over the little guy and crushes him, you know. And it was something where it went viral, a negative viral. It

wasn't a positive viral. It was a negative thing. And I lost a lot of sleep. It was really hard to take that one on the chin, because I had hunted this deer for two years in a row, and it got a lot to me, you know. And the guys here in the office spent a lot of time helping They sent me glass for him, and they put their own time into it, too. So, it was really personal. It wasn't just like, Jason's a jerk. It was like, shut up, guys, and leave me alone. It wasn't that simple. It wasn't that simple. And then, Monster Muley's bros up, I've got to answer to Brian LaTurner in here. I can say nothing. I don't owe anybody anything. I could do that if I wanted. But I don't want to be known as that. So, I've got to answer to some people, and it was just like, man, why do I have to do this? Just show the video. Show the video, but back then we put it on DVDs.

At the time, you didn't have YouTube and you didn't have social media where you could clarify immediately. So, your text reply is not going to go viral. So, the negative goes viral, but the positive doesn't. And so, yeah, I was like, yeah, it's kind of a bummer. So, I did a little public statement, and do the best you can, and it helped a lot. But once the DVD came out and people watched it, And then I had to manually send them out to certain naysayers and be like, just watch it and call me. And you owe me a call back. And so, it was interesting. But it actually, like they say, and you'll find this out and you probably already have, but there's no such thing as bad publicity. There really isn't. No, there's not. And it did catapult, I guess, in this industry, all you've got is your name. And Adam and I know that with

Epic and the different things that we've done and his guiding business and all So, your name is everything, and so you take care of it. And that's why another reason it was so hard is you're trying to take care of your name, you're trying to build a way to provide for your family in an industry that is judging you in the court of public perception. And so, it was sensitive. And I joked with my dad back then, I was like, I wish we could do a pay to download and see the video, the kill scene. Watch Jason shoot over this guy. And hear $5. I mean, we'd have been freaking... That would have been a $100,000 idea right there. So, now being here, I want to hear... I mean, I was there, but I want to... I think you should tell the real story of how it actually went down at the end. Because it was pretty cool how we finally got our hands on that deer. Okay. All right. Just 250, right?

No, it's a good deer. Yeah, it's a giant deer, and so we did end up getting on this deer. Do you want to go down that road right now? Well, I just want you to say basically like in the end how it actually happened. Well, yeah, how it actually happened. I mean, I bumped this deer. I was in the thick trees. This deer comes up to 19 yards. He's staring at me. I'm in super thick trees. I'm holding my bow. Have you ever been on your knees where you're holding your bow three inches above the ground, and you don't dare move, and so you got to hold your bow with your arrow three inches above the ground for four minutes. Pretty soon, it starts to shake a little bit. Your arrow starts to, you know, shake against the rest. It's making a little bit of noise. He's staring at you. He stopped. He's staring at you, and it was a freaking crazy, you know, experience because I'm looking at a 250

He's a 30-inch deer at 19 yards, and I can't kill him. I can't kill him. And so, then he blows, goes out through the bottom, and goes over into some wide open country. And, of course, this is general Utah, so we got hunters everywhere. I don't know where they're all at, but they're everywhere. And then he goes out into this island of trees, just a short little island of trees. And so, I go over there and get 35, I'm out in this, beds down in this island, I assume.

You can't see him, but I assume. Never comes out, and guys are up on point, big eyes, you know, glass, and of course, Chris, and he's videoing from a distance, and then they go over in this thick group of trees, and there's some deadfall. It's like a chaining. They chain some, and there's a great big log in deadfall, and I go kind of get behind it, and I'm sitting there, and it's hot. Keep in mind, it's August. It's 90, 95 degrees that day, and he goes in there, and I sit there from 1030 or 11 in the morning.

And at some point, they're gonna get up and feed. They just do, right? Not this day. He decided to stay in those trees until 5 or 5.30 at night. I sat there with my bow, full camo, no water, no nothing, sitting there waiting for this deer to come out. And it's a small island of trees. It's probably 100 yards across. And I'm assuming, I'm hoping I'm on the right side. He could go out the other side, you know? So, I sit there, and I'm glassing the trees with my rangefinder, and I glass, I can see a piece of velvet. So, now I know, and he's in there with other bucks, but I know they're there, they're bedded, and I've kind of got him. And I could tell he's bladed out. But anyway, 5'5", 5'30", comes out, I'm freaking parched, sunburned. He comes out, he comes out at 35 yards, and I arrow the deer. So, that means the other guy was at about 10 yards? He must have been. I shot over some things.

I think it was mostly grass, maybe a piece of bitter brush, but anyway, smoked the deer. Well, I had to get another round or two and aim another arrow, but anyway, ended up getting the deer. The guys that I supposedly shot over came up, congratulated us. They had been on We had lunch and then came back out and we're glassing him. They saw him after I had initially put the arrow in him. Then, of course, I finished him. They were super good. Cousins of mine came up, Hey, dude, do you mind if we go put our hands on him with you and just see him and stuff? Everything was great. Then, that came out and it was just kind of a bummer. Yeah, just kind of an asterisk. I don't know. It seems like that stuff happens a lot on social media.

I don't know what it is, if it's jealousy. Like, I talked a little bit about on Instagram about people being detectives. Like, they'll look at a picture on social media, and then they're trying to figure out anything wrong. Yeah. Just to try to tarnish what you've done. But, haters like that, I call them haters, it's just like a cliche thing to say, but they always win the short game. You know, they're always loud in the beginning. They always have something to say in that moment. But over time, I mean, your accomplishment will stand on its own. The fact that you're able to kill a lot more big deer and stuff, it just silences all those critics. Yeah.

Yeah, but... How people... We talked about a minute ago, but with your humor, the people, we kind of know you. We know you kind of through Chris, and we kind of personally know you. So, we know when we watch your stories or posts, we know when you're joking. Yeah. There's got to be a lot of people that watch are like, that guy's a prick. You know? They don't know you. Especially with us, too, even on these podcasts. Sometimes, Jen is like, you know, people that don't know you don't understand what you're saying. I'm like, I don't know. But you get the haters jumping out at you like, you know, that was mean, rude, or you're pompous. Oh, there was guys that think you're serious. Hey, if you need some help with that, I've got to. Yeah, especially in the beginning, I know it was that way. But I think it's gotten a little easier, but I think most people get it now.

But in the beginning, and those are still my favorite comments to get when people take it completely seriously. I love that. I love that better. You got a couple you can think of? Well, I posted something the other day of an elk shed behind a tree, just blatant. I saw that. And I was like, people who suck at shed hunting probably won't be able to find the shed in this picture. But I see sheds. Everybody else sees trees. Right, everybody's like, I can see it, I see it, it's right there. That just makes me laugh. I thought it was one of those find the shed pictures. Yeah, find it. But it's engagement with your fans. Yeah. It's good. And that's engagement, it's what it's all about. Like, you know, I want people to comment, and I want people having a conversation on those posts and stuff.

But I've had people get real mad at me. Like, I did a back and forth thing with the Hush guys a while ago. Yeah. It was a bit of a long time ago. It was fun. And yeah, I just kind of said like, Oh, yeah, I'm hanging out with these guys, and then they went on their deal, and they're like, we don't know this dude. Like, he's telling everybody he's hanging out with, what's he doing? I know. And they're like, go give him some crap. And I got, man, that day I got probably 100 DMs of people being like, quit being an a-hole. You're trying to get famous off somebody else. And I loved every minute of it. I mean, laughing so hard. Well, you've done it with Cameron Haynes, too. And even Cam's now liking your stuff, commenting. Yeah, Cam, yeah, I actually talk to Cam every once in a while. He's a pretty good dude.

I made a post at the Expo last year. I met Cam, and I took a picture with him, and I put, when you finally meet your hero, congrats Cam, it must feel pretty good. And he reposted it and everything. So, most people have a really good sense of humor about it and stuff, and it just hasn't been too big of a deal. So, that's the thing about social media anymore, and Adam and I, and of course the guys here at Epic, I mean, it gives everybody a voice. Everybody can say what they're thinking, everybody can do whatever they want to do, but the good guys that have a plan and a good following and have some good content obviously rise to the top a little bit and end up getting sponsored in a few things and get a lot more doors opened. So, anything else you can tell us about what you're looking at doing in the future? Well, I just want to maintain the fact that I'm a normal dude.

Like, there's a lot of guys out there that are pro hunters that are, you know, legitimately at the gym 430 every morning, and they're spending a ton of money and doing all kinds of things that I'm not doing. Like, I'm just a normal dude who's trying to do what he wants to do. I don't try to portray that I'm like an expert at anything. Like, I like to hunt. I like to shed hunt. It's my passion for sure, but I'm gonna screw stuff up. I screw stuff up all the time. I blow deer out all the time. Like, when you're telling me that story about you killing that deer, I just think that deer would have heard me open a I'm just a little Debbie at some point in the afternoon. It would have been long gone. When I crouched down, it would have hurt my car in my cargo pocket. Well, I just thought... A carton of Little Debbie.

I probably would have avoided before I ever got to the crouch position, like, I'm not going to be crouching. Yeah. Pretty soon you're like, it's not worth it, I got to open it. Never mind. It's just a 250 buck. Right. Well, I'm just a normal dude out there. I'm kind of a clabber ass, and I trip and fall. And I just out there having fun, trying to do what I want to do for a living. And I think people get a little bothered when they see me get sponsors, or they see me working with big companies, because they're like, I'm way more legit than that, dude. It's like, yeah, you probably are. It's okay. But you're also real and authentic. That's one thing about it. And I think, you know, the example you gave about Mountain Ops, they probably saw that. It's like, they could have been pissed off, and so that jackwad or whatever, never talked to you again.

But there's other people that we all know that they think they're... I can't say that. Okay, never mind. So, we're super excited for you. We, for one, we're excited for you, and we like what you're doing. So, you mentioned Canada. Let's talk about it. How did it go? Canada was a blast. You've been there just once? Uh-huh. Yeah, that was the first time I'd ever been up there. You're gonna go back? Yeah, we're planning for this year. We got it all set up. Adam and I, this entry and exit of that country has not been our... Chris? Could you put some light on that? Chris was kicked out of the country. For a year. I didn't think we were going to go down that road. They put a mark on his record. No longer could he go into Canada. For a year. I'm free to go back in now. If Chris tries to go carrying a maple leaf flag, they won't let him in. I just figured he flirted.

I was kind of thinking he must have flirted with the wrong agent up there, or something was going... How did they kick people out in Canada? They walk you on the plane. Like, sorry sir, they apologize. Sit you down in a seat and watch you fly away. They stand at their door again on their hip and say, don't move. Literally. They don't even give you a little maples syrup for the road or anything. No maples syrup, man. No maples syrup. It seemed like they'd be so polite. I don't know. I need to try to go back now. You know what? The residents are polite. It's the government. It was not that pleasant. Go ahead, Chris. Oh, it was rough. It's kind of a random... This is a hilarious story. It's a random story I never thought I'd tell, really, but... Here we are. Basically, in 60 seconds or less, they basically, Chris shows up to accompany Jason on one of his hunts.

Yeah, gonna video one of the hunts. Not a real low-key deal. Well, it wasn't like I was... I don't know. It wasn't really... it was before I was... like we hadn't even started Epic yet. No. I was kind of just going along, but I had my camera gear, and obviously it's a lot of camera gear, and that's a red flag to them. They thought he was a Hollywood filmmaker. Yes, and you can't hire, you can't bring your own people to do a project if it's a commercial project. If somebody, if a Canadian, if you could have hired a Canadian to do that same project. Oh, okay. Or you didn't have the working visa, or whatever, other documentation. So, what's nice about that is they're protecting other Canadians to keep them in work. Sure. Like, if you're going to bring your own people that you could hire a Canadian to do, you have to hire a Canadian to do it.

And so, you're like, well, no, I know Jason. He doesn't want a guy he doesn't even know in a blind with you. He wants me in the blind because I'm going to catch the kill scene. Right. But, you know, how do you explain all that? They don't understand that. And so, they're like, oh, sir, you're here for personal reasons, and there's $20,000 of gear right here. Yeah. You're a liar. Yeah. Right? So, well, the thing was, though, like, I sent in all my information to some people who were going to take care of the paperwork. Well, I sent them all my information, and I show up at the airport and come to find out they didn't do any of it. Hmm. So, here's Chris trying to just sell a story on the fly that he's up there as, hey, this is my friend. I'm going out. And we are. And we are friends. That's what it was. Yeah.

Anyway, the guy that I happened to get lined up with, he had a kind of a chip on his shoulder that day or maybe all days. You guys didn't like the same sports team or something. No, no. He didn't like the way I was talking. Chris flirted with the co-worker and it ticked him. Yeah, I have a southern Utah accent or something, and he didn't like it. Chris is like, I'm here with my friends, and he goes, friends? You're here with your friends? So, I might as well tell him. And we knew he was going home after that. I guess I'll tell that story. That flipped the switch. So, what happened? So, I go up to the gate, and the lady told me to go in a different line from Jason and everybody that I was with. And I was like, I'm not sure if I'm supposed to go with them because I'm actually traveling with them. So, I was kind of confused as to where I was at, and I got up to the guy, and I was like,

well... Yeah, and he's like, what are you doing in Canada? And I said, well, I'm here with my friends. And I kind of pointed down, and maybe I hesitated a little bit when I said it because I thought maybe I was supposed to be with them. Anyway, he looks at me and he's like, why'd you say it like that? And I'm like, what? Why'd you say it like that? Why'd I say what? Like what? And he says, friends. Friends. You said friends. And I'm like, uh-oh. We got problems. Keep in mind, this is when Chris is young and cocky, right? Yeah. You know, Chris is bristled up, this guy's bristled up, and I'm looking down there going, Chris is going to leave the country soon. You guys just wave and keep talking. He's on the other side of the international border now, looking over the border. And I'm thinking, I don't know who Chris is. Don't even ask me. Do not

Point my direction again. I've got a video camera on my cell phone. I'm fine, Chris.

So, the guy, to me, was being a little belligerent. I was just trying to cooperate. I literally did not try to say friends in any weird way at all. He started telling me I was being passive aggressive, and I'm like, honestly, I don't even know what I did. Like, I really don't. I said friends wrong. I'm sorry. Well, and it just kind of escalated from there. I got to the point where I was just like, alright dude. Whatever. Are you mocking me? Because that's literally how I talk. He didn't like that. From there, it was just... How fast can we get this kid back to the USA? Then it was, what size of handcuffs do you want? So, when he transferred me eventually to another officer, and the other officer was like, honestly, it's really not a big deal, but that guy's pretty mad at you, and so we have to go through with this.

I bet he was French-Canadian. Probably. Yeah, so I got a one-year ban from Canada. Not only that, they walked you back on the plane, right? Well, they walked me back across the border. And said, you're not coming back. Well, they just said, for a year, like, you're done, for a year. A year, just like that. Just because of the way you say the word. Whole country. Friends. No, I don't. Yeah. Friends. Yeah. Friends. See it? That was probably just a piece of what he was feeling. I'm sure there was his mannerisms, the way he was dressed, who he flirted with. Chris is still single. I know that. That's good. Another part of that was, I feel like we were in Vancouver, and there is a lot of anti-hunting sentiment there, and I feel like that may have played a part of it as well. Yeah, it's understandable.

So, that was Chris's experience. Mine was a little longer. I spent a little more time in the country. Okay. You actually got to set foot in the bushes. Yeah, we drove, so we crossed the border driving. We just made about a 24, 26-hour drive up to northern Saskatchewan where we went, a place called Reindeer Lake, just a giant beautiful lake up there. Jumped in a Honda We went to Odyssey with some friends and made the drive. And we got there, and we were hunting with a place up there. It's called Trout Camp. They do bear hunts, and they do fishing and stuff. We got there right before dark, got up the next day, went fishing, and then they threw us in a bear stand with very little instruction. I'm a Southern Utah guy. I run into bears very rarely. And so, I didn't know what to do, but I was like, whatever. Yeah, so I'm sitting in a tree stand over bait.

I get up there, sit in my tree, and we go to pull up to the bait. There's a good bear on the bait. And I almost shoot it off the front of the boat, and my guy's like, no, no, no, no, not yet. You're like, hey, don't rock this boat. Oh, yeah, I was a full draw. I was gonna shoot it. It's 30 yards, and he's like, no! You know, that was one minute into my hunt, and so I went and got in that stand. You're just doing like you're... Dude, I get it done. I'm not... 10 minutes. There's a chance. Turn the engine on! Turn the engine on! I know we drove to Canada for this, but I'll shoot right now. But I got in my stand, and that bear came back in, And I looked at him, and knowing how little I know about black bears, I'm like, well, I guess I'm just not going to shoot this one, because he's the first one I've seen.

And so, I decided to try to be a trophy hunter, and I let him walk away. And then a sow came in, a real tall sow, and I let her walk. And then a big, tall cinnamon bear came in, and I liked him. So, I shot him. So, that was the first night we were there, killed that bear and everything. And so, I was just going to fish the rest of the week. We were up there for seven days. And so, my buddy Casey said that I should come film him on his bear hunt.

So, there's a double stand. You're like, yeah, I only charge 150 a day. Sure. I mean, whose equipment? Because that might change the price. Yeah, I know. Is it my iPhone or your iPhone? I could work for my friend, I guess. See, I cash under the table. I think I would have got... I should have filmed it with my iPhone. I think I would have got better video, because the video ended up a little shaky. I was trying to film with a DSLR. But it was kind of a same scenario. We pulled up to that bait to sit in this double stand, and there was a bear on the bait right when we got there. And, you know, the first bear I saw, It was on the bait, ran away, you know, and so I thought, this is no runaway, no big deal. So, we go to get out of the boat, and we start walking up there, and our guide's a Cree Indian.

I think they're called Cree. Anyway, and he's following behind us, and he has a rifle and stuff. I'm like, so no big deal, but that bear doesn't care that we're there. He just looks at us. Pretty soon, you hear him jacking around. Well, he had one in, for sure. And the bear kind of walks away from the bait and just sits on its haunches and looks at us. And my guide starts getting nervous, and he said, oh, that's a bad bear, that's a bad bear. And I'm like, oh, whatever, you know, we got a rifle, we'll be okay. And so, Casey decides he's gonna try to sneak over there and shoot this bear on the ground. What the boat? Yeah, because it thought it'd be a good video. It wasn't a giant bear, but he thought, you know, the hunt situation is cool. Is it a one bear limit? Yeah, it is. Yeah. So, we went over towards that bear, and it just kind of walked away from us.

And when we got over there within about 30, 40 yards of it, he decided not to shoot it. It was a little smaller than he thought it was. So, I said, well, we'll just get in the tree. And so, the guide was going to go refill the bait barrel, but he just turned around and got in the boat and left, because he didn't want to, he was scared of the bear. With the rifle. Yeah. Took the rifle. So, we had our, Casey had his bow, I had nothing. So, we climbed up these two tree stands that were in these two trees right next to each other, and we're sitting down. I'm trying to, I have the DSLR, I'm trying to get set up to video, get the camera arm on and everything. And Casey says, look, I look down, that bear is right in between our two trees. And it's looking up at me in the tree and just kind of eyeballing me.

I hadn't had any bears be aggressive or anything the day before in all my bear experience, so I wasn't nervous. This is when you wished you were a lifter guy, so you could climb higher in the tree. Yeah, I definitely was looking for a way out of there. So, it just kind of eyeballed me, and it circles around in front of the stand, so it's looking just right up my ladder at me. And I'm trying to get on it, and I start filming it there. And then, it just crouches and starts climbing up the tree that I'm in. And, uh... Come on. Slow? Fast? No, it was coming quick. And so, me and Casey both started yelling at it, and it stopped probably six feet or so below me, and then it climbed back down the tree. And then, it kind of came around behind us again and did the same thing. And we yelled at it again, and like, the whole time it's like locked eye to eye on me.

Like, you know how animals get when they're big. He's like, I want you, Big Pile. That's the guy I want. He had a big appetite that day. I don't need this big pile. You're like, I wish I had a shave today, probably. You probably thought I was a cinnamon. It was a black bear, but maybe he had a thing for cinnamon, you know. Yes! I don't know what his intentions were. I'm going to get him. I'm like, that's a good color face. That's a pretty sal up there. How do you like being a sal, bud? Whatever. Whatever works. So, the third time it came around and started climbing the tree again, we yelled at it, and it was like, it was predatory. It looked predatory to me. I mean, you've seen how animals get when they're trying to do something. Yeah. And it was coming for a third time, and I told my friend Casey to shoot that bear in not quite those words, but some similar words. Yeah, yeah.

A couple adjectives in between. Yeah, and it backed up to come a fourth time up the tree, and he shot it with his bow and killed it. Come on. Like, did he shoot it off the tree or at the base? It was actually behind my tree stand. Every time it had circled and come up the tree, and it was circling behind us again. And he turned and shot it right in between our two trees at about 10 yards or less. Killed it. And I was so shook up, man. That video's on YouTube, and I can't believe how much crap I've got over that one, because I was shaking so bad, I can't film, can't talk. I've got to go watch that. Your brothers, and everybody knows you, just mock you. Oh, yeah. Everybody's giving me crap about it, because there might have been... Well, you know, when you take the bait up the tree with you, instead of leaving the little Debbies down the barrel, what do you expect?

Well, it was funny. I got back to the lodge after that. I went down, and we were showing everybody the video and telling them the story. And my guide says, why didn't you have bear spray? I'm like, well, man, I didn't know I was supposed to. Well, where is it? Where's the bear spray? Let's have some bear spray. That would have been great. I checked on my luggage. I had nothing hazardous in my luggage. You're supposed to hand that to me when I get to camp. That's right. And there was a big shelf of it in the lodge. You're supposed to have that stuff. Oh, thanks. But it was a trip for sure. It was fun. But you're going back. Didn't deter you from wanting to head back. No. Oh, I'm going back, and I'm going to take my 45-70 this year. There we go. So, Chris loves bears, too, I guess. I mean, you're in the same boat. Like, you love elk, but where do bears fit on that?

I love bears. This is my first... I've had a few little experiences with them. I've run into them shed hunting and saw some in Idaho this year. And they're... I love them. I think they're cool. I think they're fun to hunt and neat animals. That bear I ended up killing up there went a lot bigger than we thought it was gonna go. Really? Where'd it go? It was just over 19. It was 19 and... Oh, wow. It was like almost 19 and a half. I can't remember exactly what the number was. That's a nice bear. It was a good bear, really pretty color phase. What did he square out of? We didn't measure his height or nothing, but he was tall and skinny, so a spring bear. He's kind of old and poor. What about this bear in the cave story? Chris has mentioned this to me. I'm like, alright, I'm gonna ask you. Yeah, so that one we were shed hunting in Arizona, and we were in some really ledgy country down there.

And I'd never seen bears there, never seen bear sign, didn't even cross my mind. Really desert-y country. A lot lower elevation than I'd ever picture running into him. So, I glassed, and I was just glassing his face, and I saw a cave underneath like a big boulder, just kind of an opening, and I could see where somebody had a fire in there, like it was black on the top, and I thought, oh, maybe there's some Indian stuff in there. So, I was gonna go look, see if there was some pottery or something in there, and I walked over there to it, and I got right. Which you know is illegal to tell. Oh, I wasn't gonna pick it up, of course. Okay, okay. And I wouldn't be doing that. Could've been on private, Jason. Oh, that's right. Good point. Okay. I was just gonna look at it. But I got to the opening of the cave, and I could see eyes in the back of this cave about 10-15 feet away.

And I'm like, oh, there's something in there. But I thought it was like a half-tore. I wonder if I'm on my cell phone flashlight. What if they speak English? Well, there was javelina tracks all over the entry of the cave and stuff. I thought there's probably pigs in there. And so, I pulled out my camera that I had with me, and I was going to take a picture of it. So, I took a picture, and it flashed. And I looked in the viewfinder, and I'm like, I don't look like a pig. I took the picture again and looked at it, and then I could see clear as day, like, oh, this is a black bear. How close are you? 15 feet. Do you have a bear spray? No, not that time either. And you're throwing a startling bright flash in the eye. Yeah, it was a terrible situation. And it's bobbing back and forth and looking at me, I can see its eyes going back and forth. And I ran for it, obviously. I turned

around and ran down the hill and I called my buddies on the radio and they came and checked it out with me. Still back in there? Did he leave the cave? It's kind of cool. I went back this year to We went to see if he was there again, and the cave goes back 10 or 15 feet and then turns a big corner like it's a big den back in there. When they came back over, we could see part of it. We couldn't see his face looking at us like it was. It never came out. We went across and watched to see if it would come out of there. I don't know. Forever more. Probably be there and there. Oh, yeah. Dinned up. I was looking at crawling and look this year. I don't need to know that bad. So, was that after Canada or before? That was before. That was the first like real close encounter I've had with bears because it seems like I mostly spend time in the desert

I don't run into them very much. I don't have any crazy grizzly stories. We ran into one in the desert this year. It was kind of crazy down in New Mexico. Go ahead. In New Mexico. Like which bear? You guys probably see a lot. The bear whisperer. I can't even remember which bear you're talking about. In New Mexico, just barely, we're sitting there. Jason walked up over a little ridge in the sand. We're out in the sand. Elk hunting? Basically on a sand dune, elk hunting. I didn't tell you this. So, we're out. Well, it's sand. Sand dunes. And there's trees, you know, growing up in these sand dunes. And out in the desert, and a guy, a rancher, remember the rancher, was like, yeah, there's like three bears out here. And I'm like, okay. We've hunted it before, never seen a bear track. We're driving down the road, there's freaking bear tracks. I'm like, dude, there are bears

here. And a big old bull track had crossed the road, and I'm like, oh, let's go tracking for a minute. Because, I mean, we're in the thickest crap. They're not bugling. It's a tough, tough hunt. I get out. I go over this little sand dune, which is, again, full of I go over this little sand dune, and I look up there, and there's something in a tree. Like, what, 80 yards? Yeah, it was 80 yards. I'm like, dude, I think that's a bear in the freaking tree. And I'm like, Chris, get over here, get over here, because I want him to video it, you know. And he's chilling in this tree, moving around, scratching his back. I mean, up in this tree. And I'm like, holy crap, when do you ever walk up on a bear in a tree, let alone without dogs, let alone in desert sand dune, middle of New Mexico, where you don't have to walk up.

Don't expect a bear to live. Yeah, don't even expect a bear to live. Huh, that's cool. Anyway, yeah, we went over there, he ambered out. By the time Chris got his gear that he'd taken to Canada out of the, you know, and was set up to film, the bear had kind of worked his way out of the tree and never did see us. Huh. He just kind of walked away. That's cool. I did get a little footage with my DSLR. It was good footage. From like 80 yards. Yeah, it's good footage. It's just kind of far away. Beautiful height on him. Yeah. What color was it? Was it black? Oh, it's berry cinnamon. Like red, red cinnamon. You guys would have made a good deal. You'd have been in trouble. Yeah, he'd have come for me now. We'd have been a good couple. The big sow. So, anyway, yeah, anyway, so what other... What kind of rig do you have to hunt ships?

Well, that's a funny thing. Oh, you start laughing. That's a good question. I bought a different one this week. I've got a different one all the time. I just bought a Tundra, but I've been cruising the GeoTrackers for a lot of years and the Suzuki Sidekicks just because they get killer good mileage, and I'm always trying to do everything on the cheap. Four-wheel drive, they go everywhere. I bought a little Chevy S10, and I blew it up last week. Did you? Or a couple weeks ago. So, you had clutch problems. Yeah, I was having tranny. Or no tranny? Not tranny. Not tranny. Transmission. I thought it worked in both situations

I didn't know, I mean, anybody. Not for millennials. I just want to clarify what tranny means to me. You're born after 2000. I'm from the old days. A tranny's a transmission. I didn't know there was, but, yeah. Kind of like the flip-flops and thongs. Yeah, I know. And you know what? That is actually one I struggle with. I know. I do it too. They're thongs. Yeah, I know. And Jenna looks at me and she's like, really? Those are flip-flops. Hey, go put your thongs on. Go over well. Why do you wear two of them though? That's what I want to know. Really? It's noon. Yeah. Don't you, I mean, put your thong on. Put your thong on, we're going to the beach. Well, alright, alright, alright. So, you got a tunder. A tracker, though? Yeah. Well, the S10, how'd you blow it up? Well, I always fly by the seat of my pants, like on all my vehicles. I'm always driving beaters,

just because I'm trying to save money. But yeah, that S10, I pull my hornbiter and trailer around with it. It's probably not totally made for it. It has a manual transmission, though. I'm like, that'll be okay. Yeah. But I was headed over to Colorado to hunt with the Hush boys there, and I was on I-70, I don't know, I guess I can tell all that. I had my headphones in because I was watching Netflix, and that's probably not the best part of the story. You can cut that out for safety reasons. People shouldn't do that. But all of a sudden, my RPMs went to about max red line. 70,000? Yeah, and I was on cruise control, so I turned the cruise off, popped it out of gear, and I shed a bunch of parts on the freeway. And I pulled over, and I thought, well, this trip's over, and I was debating what I was going to But I was like out there in between, oh, on I-70 between Richfield and Green River.

Yeah. In the middle of nowhere. The center feels swell. Yeah. And so, I started messing around with it. I had no first gear, no second gear, no third gear. And then I tried fourth gear, and it stalled out on me. I'm like, oh, I got fourth gear. We're money. So, I'm like, well, let's keep rolling. So, I put her in fourth gear. So, luckily, I was on a big downhill. Road to Clutch. You're heading to Colorado. You're like, I'm not turning around. I'm not going home. Just make it there. Sell it to a salvage yard over there.

I'm going to rent a Subaru. Yeah, that's how I roll, man. I figured I could sell it on Craigslist for a few hundred bucks and buy something cheap and keep going. So, I got to, I milked it all the way to Grand Junction, like that. And then I met up with my buddy Wes over there, and he let me stay at his place. And I got on Craigslist. I was on Craigslist the whole night I was going to buy a truck in Grand Junction or something. Yeah. And then I ended up finding somebody who could take a look at it, got a rental car, went the rest of the way to Colorado, then picked it up on the way home, decided not to fix it, and drove it the whole way home and forth.

And so, does the engine still work? Yeah, engine's great. Oh, okay. Yeah, it's just the transmission's gone. Not a good run around town now with the fourth gear. Yeah, no reverse. That part's hard. Probably make a good go-kart. It does. It does okay. I debated fixing it. It's only about a thousand bucks, so. Oh, okay. Should turn this into an ad if it's somebody who wants to buy a Cherry S10. So far, so good. I got it like three days ago. So, it's a- Does it need any work? I mean, it's- Oh, I'm gonna do a timing belt on it. It's due for some maintenance, but other than that, it's- It's good. It's a good truck. It's solid. Good for another couple of hertz. I'm a thousand. I hope so. Most of the Toyotas. That's the plan. That's came from in social media, right? We couldn't call that the Insta-truck. Yeah, I did. Some guy just DM'd me on Instagram about it, said he had it for sale.

After you had your debacle of the S10? Yeah, I do everything through Instagram. I just threw a story up there that said I was looking for a Tundra if somebody had one, and this kid had a good deal on one, so I bought it. And bought probably some of his shits. Or took him out of the fire department. I wish. You were somewhere in Colorado saying, hey, just stopping for lunch somewhere, and if you say where you're at, somebody would probably buy your lunch. Yeah, that's kind of what I try to do, just milk people for all they got. So, yeah, it's cool. The social media thing is cool like that. It solves a lot of problems. I'd have been screwed in Colorado with no friends without it. There's one of these other headings that Chris put down here about miracle strawberries. I love strawberries. Or toilet paper. I mean, what

are we talking about? These are miracles that happened to me in the hills. They're some of my favorite stories. The miracle strawberries. I ran out of Little Davies, and I found some We found some strawberries. You're surprisingly close. Wild strawberries. One of my favorite things to do is go to Sunday dinner at the Dedamone's. You get all kinds of stories. And these are both stories that I heard over there. So, how are you guys related? Let's see, just a little, I just want to put this family thing together. George Mumford, who I graduated with in high school, how are you guys related to George? George is my brother-in-law. He's married to my sister. He's married to your sister? Yeah. Okay. Yep. George is a freaking cool dude. Oh man, George is the best. I mean, George grew up hunting with George. He came on the scene when I was about 16.

Yeah. Took me Kyle hunting, Shad hunting, everything. Okay. George is one of the main reasons that I'm doing any of this stuff. Yeah, he's a good dude, man. He's a good dude. Is he involved in the Miracle Strawberry story? No, he wasn't there that day. It was me and my little brother Josh is who it was. Okay. And we were on the Dutton. We were scouting for Josh's elk tag, and he had that Dutton muzzleloader. Three or four years ago, probably. It would have been 2013, 2014. I remember seeing you. And we were, in our typical fashion, out of food. You know, we didn't pack well enough for the trip. We just threw the camper on Josh's trailer and hauled over there. And we walked down one of those steep canyons on the top of the Dutton, and no food, just starving. And a glass for bowls. It got to be about 11 in the morning. We're like dying down there.

Josh is standing there kind of kicking his feet, wishing we had something to eat. We had something to eat, and he looked down, and we're standing in a strawberry patch. Come on. There's like hundreds of these strawberries. Have you ever seen that over there, Adam? I am. You've spent a lot of time over there. We need to swap some notes. Yeah, I can tell you. I'd like to find that patch. Because if I find that patch, I can find a good hunting spot. No, that's better. The strawberries were better than the elk hunting that day, for sure. So, we found a whole bunch of them when we were able to make it out of their lives. We were pretty calorie depleted. We probably would have died. So, there was a load of straw. Were they red? Yeah, they were ripe and perfect and everything. It was like some Bible status stuff. Wow. A little divine intervention. It had to be. It saved our lives that day.

Are you religious? Very religious. Now that we're talking about manna? Now I am. After I found those strawberries. Well, after the bear and the cave. Yeah, I'm a religious dude. What about this toilet paper story? Is this one gonna go south? No, this is another miracle. Everybody's got toilet paper stories. This really is a good story, though. I just did not know if this was like, I ran out of toilet paper, and this is what I did. I ran out of toilet paper after eating a load of strawberries. Yeah, I did not know if they were related in any way or what. Immediately following the last one. Yeah, and then I need to go. Okay, just making sure. Well, this is what me and my buddy Troy were shed hunting, and we rode our four-wheelers. We were on our four-wheelers going down the road, and we were clear back in the middle of nowhere, like way, way back in. And we're running, and Troy's, you know,

I'm on the four-wheeler, and Troy locks it up in front of me, piles off his four-wheeler, and goes running for the trees. And he's holding his guts, and I'm like, oh, he's got a crap. So, he runs into the trees, and I'm like, you got toilet paper? And he's like, nope. And he runs into the trees. I'm like, well, okay, I guess we'll see. No, but I got socks and gloves. That's the way it is, or a shirt sleeve, right? It's the only reason to buy a pocket tee. Good point. What does anybody use that pocket for? That's it. It's just spare toilet paper. Yeah. All right, keep going. So, he ran into the trees, and I was like, well, we're up on the ridge. I'll go glass, see if I can glass up a shed while we're sitting right here. So, I sat down on the hill, and I started glassing. I'm looking around.

And I look across from me on the side hill, and there's a little flat spot, and there's something white in this flat spot. I'm like, oh, maybe it's a shed or something, you know? And I glass it, and I'm like, ah, no way. So, I get out my spotter, and I look at it, and there's a brand new roll of toilet paper sitting on the side hill on the other side. No way. Filled out of someone's pack or something? I have no idea. And it hadn't been rained on. It was still attached to the roll, everything brand new. I walked over there and picked it up. I couldn't believe it. I thought, Troy, that's probably why Troy goes to church nowadays. That was his divine story. Yours was the strawberry. So, you went and got it and brought it back to him. Yeah, I went and took it to him, and he was taken care of. Yeah, I didn't do it. Come on. He used it. He used it. He

used it. That did not happen. I promise it happened. That's Troy's testimony story. Oh, my. So, did you throw it to him, or did you walk it over to him? I threw it. I tossed it. I was trying to stay back from the chaos on that one, but it was a miracle. It's kind of like us and the Pringles yesterday. Adam and I were out in the middle of nowhere. Coming around, there's a roll of Pringles. Jason just about to run them over. He slams on the brakes and says, get out. And I'm like, we're thinking the same thing. We're hungry. Because it's like five in the evening. We're getting dark. We've run cameras since four in the morning. Three or four hours from home. Yes, yes. And not much else other than a little bit of bird food to eat. It was terrible. And so we get out there, and we're hoping it's, you know, pristine. Well, yeah, if you open it up, then you're like, oh, game on.

We're crushing those. I opened it up, and it was powder. They had been on the back of a four-wheeler for a hundred miles. On the roughest road you can imagine. If you would have tilted it up and inhaled, you would have choked for two hours. And Adam's like, you know what, we can't do it. And I go, give them to me. I give them to me. And I looked in there, and I'm like, you're right. Was it sealed still? Salt and bitter? No. But if they were whole, even unsaid, but the top lid was on and sealed. It had been opened, but it put back on. It had been shaken by a two-year-old for three days, or ridden on a back-and-forth for a week. You should have just mixed it with water and drank it. Yeah, you could have made ash cakes or something. Snorted or something. It reminds me of that time that I ate dry oatmeal packets. Oh, yeah. On the ice-cold. I mean, who does that? Okay, we're in the ice-cold.

You're out of water. You're out of water. And so, you don't want to make your oatmeal with water, because that's wastewater. So, you're going to try to eat it raw. What's going to happen? You're going to get dehydrated. Oh, okay. It's gonna pull water from your body to finish. You're gonna get locked oatmeal in your belly. So, needless to say, Chris cramped up the entire trip. No, no, no, no. It was delicious. I would do it again. Yeah, Chris, we're like, what are you doing? What are you doing? And he goes... Saving water? Yeah, yeah, I'm saving water and having breakfast. No, no. Like, no. So, we're out glassing, and I was starving, because we packed for 10 days. That's my life. So, we had crap to eat, you know. Yeah. I had oatmeal packets with apples and dried apples in it, and I was starving.

We were out there hiking, and I'm like, I just stared at that packet, and I'm like, I gotta eat something. I'm gonna try it. And so, I opened it up, and I just poured it down, and I started chewing it. I'm like, that's really not too bad. Whatever works. Adam and I were like, oh, kids. It's very similar to Canada. I don't know that kid. I've been through some of those. I drank the juice off a can of Spam before. I've done a lot of stuff like that. Sometimes you got to. We got nothing. You know, that stuff, if you pour it on a log and light it with a match, it'll start. Really? It's like lighter fluid. Seems like fat. Seems like a waste of Spam. I'm just teasing. I don't know what that's about. It probably would. It's got so much grease. You'll start a grease fire if you pour it on.

Oh, yeah. Spam's not too bad. We had kind of a... You guys keep talking about food, and we're coming on lunch. It's time. And Adam and I haven't ate breakfast this morning. We slept in a little bit. I'll skip it. So, let's see. Yeah, I had a deal in New Mexico where we got super dehydrated that was like, kind of like that, like Chris is saying. Really? Yeah, we actually, that's the closest I ever had to a Zach Griffith life flight was our little New Mexico trip. No way! Yeah, we were borderline. Borderline is spending 20 grand. I'm glad I didn't have to. I mean, that's a lot of these trucks. That's a lot of trannies. That's six of my trucks right there. Let's do the math. How many brown 10-pound elk antlers is that? That's a little. If each antler averages 6.5 pounds, I don't know what the average is. What's the average on an elk shed?

If you average 6, you're doing pretty well because you pick up so many raghorns and stuff. So, you're talking a 4-pound average? Yeah, a big bull, a big shed ought to weigh 8 to 10 pounds, you know. Dude, I found some 15-pounders. You should some raid my freaking stack. Let's go right after. Well, I mean, I might charge it. See? Oh, see? He's backpedaling now. Come raid it. I'll buy them from you if you ever want to sell them. There are some heavy ones in there. That's almost your goal. You find 179 brown elk antlers that weigh eight pounds. At 14 bucks a pound, 20,000 bucks. That's a whole year. Your goal is to make 20 grand a year. Ben. That's aiming high, but I think you can pull it out. That's where the sponsors come in. That is. What about deer sheds? All right, all right. So, here you are. You're in New Mexico. Yeah. Dehydrated.

Contemplating life life. Yeah, we got to that point. We hiked up into this spot, and it's really far away from everywhere. That's why it's a good elk shed spot. It was with a couple of buddies of mine, one from down there and one from up here. And we packed food up in there, water and everything for a couple days, but we also looked on the map and there's a couple springs up in there. And my buddy had been to them in the past and filtered water out of them and stuff. So, we figured we'd be able to get some water in there. So, we kind of under-packed on the water. So, we hiked up in and loaded up, just loaded up on horns.

We had probably 50 plus elk sheds, two and three of us. And so, we were weighed down heavy. We stayed one night in there. Coming out heavy. Yeah, and got out. We were coming down, and we were pretty much run out of water. It was in June, so it was like 90 plus degrees. Where were you exactly? You told me where to go. You ought to know. Oh, yeah. I do know where. I did. I did hook them up. Weren't we on a 10% commission? Yeah. Where's my shirt? Well, I don't know. Once I tell you the whole story, I don't think you want any part of it. Okay, keep going. Keep going. I got down this. So, we decided to go down a different canyon, because there was supposed to be a spring down there that we were going to hit for water on the way out. Yeah, it wasn't there. I guarantee you, there will be water, bottles, everything. No, we got there, and it was totally dry, of course.

And we were like, well, if we go down a little further, maybe that one will have water. So, we went clear out of our way, and every spring up there had dried up. It was just a bad water year. And so, we're looking at the map. We're like five or six miles from the truck as the crow flies. We're a long ways up in there. So, we decided we were going to have to turn and go up this big face and across and drop off to where the truck was. And we each had about one normal water bottle left. And so, we started hiking up this, and everybody started draining their water down. And we got to the top, and we all pretty much just had a little bit left. And I started, you know, to the point now I wasn't sweating or anything anymore because I was so dehydrated. Yeah, we've been there. It's terrible. I'm a big dude. I'd run out of water quick.

And we got moving across the top. We found a cow tank on the top. We're like, oh, that'll ought to have water in it. Saw it on the map. So, we hiked over there to it and got there. It was dry, too. So, by then, we're totally out of water, 90 plus degrees, and we're just dying. We're hurting all of us. And so, we found the four-wheeler trail that we'd hiked in on. We knew it was a rough, crappy one, and my buddy, Isaiah, who's a guy down there, said he thought he could make it out the four-wheeler trail and bring the Jeep back up the four-wheeler trail and pick us up. So, me and my buddy, Jared, sat down on that four-wheeler trail just to wait for him. Well, it turns out the trail was washed out in between us and him, and he couldn't get his Jeep up it. He had to kind of fill the whole thing up with rocks. It took him like five or six hours to get back to where we were.

We sat there and baked in the sun the whole time. Wow. It got to where my mouth was so dry that my tongue started to crack and split, and I couldn't get my mouth wet, couldn't get anything going. And we were just laying on the ground hurting. You know, I kept having these super vivid dreams that my wife was bringing me water bottles and stuff. It was crazy. We were in a bad way. Wow. That's a scary point. We could have a whole podcast on those. They're so miserable. That's for another one. Yeah, I don't even like talking about them, really. But, having said that, he should sue the Forest Service for not maintaining that trail. Yeah, absolutely. It definitely wasn't in a wilderness area. Yeah, it was a scary thing. He ended up getting back up to us, but I think after we started drinking water right away, and I think it took me two full days to take a little bit of water.

It's terrible. I'm kind of tired of talking about hunting. So, let's talk about, what's the craziest story you've got from social media? You know, the craziest something that's happened on social media to you. I've had this dude that he's a creeper from YouTube. He always comments way just creepy stuff. I comment a lot. Am I a creeper?

Well, I wouldn't put you in the creeper category. So, what if you like? Is there a way to like too many things? No, that's fine. This dude's not like... I just want to know about the social media etiquette. Yeah, this dude's a hater. He's always posting weird comments telling me I'm a piece of trash and all this stuff. Okay. Apparently, whatever, I'm robbing the sheds from the working man. So, then the Vivint guy came and hooked you up with some security security. He should have. I should get that Vivint sponsored. That'd be nice. But this guy, yeah, he's just a tool. Like, he's always just commenting crap and making new accounts when I block him and stuff. No way! I ran into him in Mesquite last week. Come on! Face to face. You're full of it. No. I swear. How did you know it was him?

I, cause I, well, I have a friend who's really good with computers. So, people make anonymous accounts, and then he can tell me who they are. Are you serious? So, I know who this guy is. I know where he lives. Dude, I could use this friend. What would he charge us to do a few things? He'd help you out. Okay, so keep going. Yeah, so he found out who the guy was, so he doesn't know I know who he is. But I was in Mesquite last week down there having some crab at the buffet, and he was standing outside the bathroom. Shed hunting must be really lucrative. When was the last time you had crab, Adam? I can't remember. The Virgin River is like $14.99. Okay, so, so, okay. Have you been to the Virgin River? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, but you got to drive there. All right. So, I ran into this dude, and I saw him that he recognized me, but he didn't think I knew who he was.

And so, I just walked up to him, and I said, so? You did? Uh-huh. He just caught in his face. I said, so? You did not. Yeah, and he just kind of ducked his head and walked away as fast as he could go. No way. So, how big was he? If he was giant, would you have approached him? I don't know. Probably. He wasn't that big. He had a big guy with him. Yeah. But I was ready to scrap. Were you? Because he's really ticked yourself. Yeah, and he's probably the only person who's really got under my skin. Most of these guys don't bother me, and he doesn't really bother me that much. He's just one of those dudes you want to shut his mouth up. Yeah. That was good enough. I didn't have to hit him. So, no more problems with him. No, I know. Now that he's seeing you face to face, he's like, he knows maybe he lives in Mesquite. I don't know. I know where he lives, but he...

You could crush the guy if you actually got your whole fan base to know who he is. You could hurt him. I mean, it's... That's why I've held back, honestly. And the guy's an outfitter. And that's the thing that I was like... Come on. That's the thing that I've held back on is because, really, just even the messages, the stuff he's said... Is he an outfitter where? In Nevada. So, he lives in... Yeah, so he lives in Nevada. So, I could really... I mean, I have enough on the dude. I could crush him. And that's the whole thing. He's like, do I want to go out for this guy's livelihood I'm not sure if he's an internet idiot, or do I want to just kind of drop it? So, I haven't really done too much, but if he pushes it anymore, I'll just post his cell phone number and let people talk to him if they want to talk to him. Don't bother my friend Ben. He's got enough tranny problems.

This dude could be a tranny. All right. Well, there's no, I don't know, that's the only person that's ever really got under my skin. All right. Okay, well, now I want to go back to hunting, because it's kind of a gross story. Uh, let's see. What's your dream hunt? What are you, you talked about elk, talked about bears, what are you, what's on your list? I'd really keep doing. Badger? Oh yeah, badger, you know, metal lark, something like that. I really have wanted to get into the sheep thing a little bit. I've been putting him for desert for forever, and I'd love to kill a desert. I know your grandpa runs cows out in that country. Yeah. We hunt sheep. Yep, we see him out there occasionally. He had a desert tag about four years ago or so.

And so, we kind of got a little taste of it. My dad's max points for shoot. Make it happen, man. Drop. Let's go have a party. Yeah, I would love to do that. You might even do an epic sanction free guided trip from Johnson and Shed Crazy. Let's do it. Big collaboration. That'd be fun. Collaboration with the Hush Boys. Let's do it. Bring everybody. It'd be fun. Bring them all. Yeah, I'd love to do that. But, you know, anywhere I could kill an elk over 400 is like the old. 400 out of 400. I want a 400 straight six. Yeah. I really do. It's just, but you got to stop everything. You could do everything you're doing and work on that for 20 years. Oh yeah, that's kind of the way it is. Well, if you could go back in time, get to your prior self, maybe 12, 16 months ago, what would you tell yourself?

Shed crazy, telling himself, hey, this is how you're gonna make it in the hunting world. What would you tell yourself? Oh geez, I don't know. I think I'd just say that, just kind of remind myself to keep it me, keep it original, you know, and like not let Mostly not get too caught up in what people say and other people's opinions. Just keep doing my thing. Because there's so much of that negativity online, and really, it amounts to nothing. The people that are saying that stuff, they're not accomplishing stuff. They're not following their dreams. They're just working. They're at their jobs, and they're trying to take shots at you so that they can get through their day. So, I think just ignore those people. Don't let them get in your head and just keep doing what I wanted to do in the beginning. Keep a clear vision.

Another thing I'd probably tell myself is make way more content. Just film everything. Film all the dumb little stuff. Just show the whole process a little bit better. That's one of my goals for the coming years. Well, I think people that make a living doing what you're doing, people like to follow people. And it's interesting to watch somebody else's life because we're kind of sick of our own life. You know what I mean? So, it's like, alright, I'm sick of my day-to-day grind, although it might be interesting to you. It's not interesting to me. But I am interested in shit crazy. What's he doing today? Sure. Oh, he's sleeping. Yeah, of course. I wish I was sleeping. He's awesome. He scattered a tranny in the center field. That's awesome. Good luck with that. Well, people really do go to YouTube for relationships. They want to feel like they got buddies out there.

They want to feel, and not everybody, but that's a large sector of the population that likes to be involved in what you're doing, likes to know what you're doing. So, people love the personal aspect of it, and I think that's kind of what I try to tap into, is just being a normal dude. People like to watch anything that's interesting or real. And it's different. It's real stuff. And I think you're right, going back to your not letting yourself get caught up in what people say or do. We're all multitasking in this day and age. You're at work, you're checking Instagram, you're checking your email, you're checking your text messages. You know what I mean? And then you're working a little bit, and then you go back to... And they're just saying it off the cuff. Sure. I don't mean... And 99% of them wouldn't say one thing to your face.

No. It's just this buffer that media, social media gives people. Yeah. They're just kind of... Keyboard warriors. Sure. Yeah, they feel tough. It's all good. You know, it's all good. The old Brad Paisley song, I'm lying. Yeah, so much cooler online. It is funny. So much cooler online. Oh, yeah. See, a lot of them are just trying to be funny, too.

And like, I try to look at stuff. When people say crap to me, I try to look at them like, is that legitimately funny? And if it's funny, I'll give them a pass. I don't care. Yeah. If they actually come up with something good, like, ah, you got me. Cool. Well, anything you want to tell our listeners, hunting-wise or social media-wise or anything? Well, just, you know, if you're looking to do something like this, if you guys want to do the social media thing, all you have to do is start, you know, just whatever you're doing, just start putting it out there, and it'll catch on. There's an audience for everything in the world. People are consuming everything on social media. So, I mean, it doesn't matter if you love cats. Whatever it is, there's a million other people out there who have the same interest you do, and if you can make that thing interesting, you can do whatever you want.

And I'm not going to stand here and be like, ah, you can get rich like me, because I'm not getting rich. But I do what I want every day, and that's something that a lot of people don't have the opportunity to do, and that's something that social media can do for people.

Yeah. So, you know, don't be afraid to chase it a little bit. I'm not saying quit. You know, if you're going to quit your job, you better have some preparation go into it. You better think it through, because it's not a big money game, especially not in the beginning. Yeah. So, but just, just if you want to do, if you want to do it, if you want to do your thing, if you want to follow, you know, chase your dreams, as corny as that sounds, there's ways to do it. You don't have to do something you hate every day. Well, and I think it's too, is be careful what you're dreaming, because, you know, our lives may look like a dream too, but, you know,

Where are you going with this, Carter? Well, I'm just saying, even hunting is work. Oh, absolutely. Everything is work. Nothing comes free. So... I see. That's where I was maybe hoping you're going. Yeah, yeah. And so, Adam or Chris, anybody want to chime in? Anything else as we wrap this podcast up? No, I appreciate it. Thanks for coming. It's been fun. It's always good to laugh, be lighthearted. We get that way fairly often on these podcasts, but it's very easy to do with you, and it's pretty funny to come across

I watched your stuff on Instagram because it is a lot more look at me and how about this and all that, and then you're just off the wall. It mixes it up. It's pretty awesome. It is. Appreciate it. Thank you. Yeah. All right. Well, yeah, thanks again, Ben. We appreciate you. I wish you the best. We're expecting good things for 2018, maybe 200, 300 sheds. You know, having done the math, I think you're going to need more like 400 or 500. So, anyway. Just to live. All right, well, sounds good. Anything else, Chris? I'll see you in Canada. Yeah, let's go. Nice ending. All right. Thanks, guys.