EP 97: Living the Hunting Life with Kip Fulks

If you love something, frickin' pour everything you got into it. If you don't love it, stop doing it. They're crazy big. That's what they are. That's the world's greatest elk hunting. Anything to do with Western big game.

Welcome to the Epic Outdoors podcast, powered by Under Armour. Hey everybody, Jason Carter here, coming at you from the Epic headquarters in Cedar City, Utah. Got an awesome guest on today. Kind of goes hand in hand with our title sponsor, Under Armour. We appreciate them and all their support. They've got a lot of great gear out there. Putting out new products, seems like, every day right now. Which is good, because the hunts are on and we need the gear. Appreciate them, all that they do, making great gear. And they've been an awesome sponsor of ours, supporter in about everything we do. So we're super appreciative. And anyway, we've got a great guest coming on with us. It's Kip Fulks. He was co-founder of Under Armour. Really appreciate him spending some time. Of course, he's not a busy guy right now, because I tease him about being retired. But anyway, super good friend.

And, you know, when they were getting cranking really heavy with UA Hunt, and I was in business with my dad. We met with them at SHOT Show and whatnot, and there was no question. I mean, when we dealt with Kip, he made things happen. And no excuses, and makes decisions now, and he's a deal maker. And so are we. You know, we get stuff done and work dang hard at it. And so, anyway, we jived well, and we've worked together ever since with Under Armour. So, been working with Under Armour, I don't know, it feels like 20 years, but let's call it 12 to 15. Somewhere in there I'd have to look. So, we also work with Hilleberg Tents, the Tentmaker. Hilleberg, the Tentmaker. They're awesome. They make a wide variety of tents. In fact, catalogs dang near a half inch thick. It's full option. So, anyway, we've used them very aggressively. Laid the tents straight out on tundra.

Water doesn't come up through them. Pretty impressive. Anyway, a lot of sheep hunts up there in Canada, Alaska, as well as even my desert hunt down here in the middle of the Escalante Desert. So, we've used them in all kinds of environments. We love them. They're good people, and we're really proud to be associated with them. So, go online at hilleberg.com backslash epic. So, hilleberg.com backslash epic. And you'll be able to go on there and purchase a tent. I do want to also thank another advertiser of ours, old Mark Thompson of Thompson Long Range. Incredible, accurate rifles. Out of the box Weatherby's with the Mark Thompson spin on it. And we appreciate them and their support. He needs an affordable rifle that can shoot 1,000 yards. You ought to look at him. But, anyway, give him a holler at 435-713-4248. Be Scotty or Mark. Give him a holler. Anyway, it's awesome.

Hope you enjoy this podcast. Let's get him on the phone. Well, let's see. It must be kind of nice being retired, huh?

It does feel a little good. Unfortunately, I don't know how to do that well. I know. You're not retired. That's why I was just jerking your chain here a little bit. So, what have you been doing? Well, you know, trying to hunt a little bit. I always seemed like I was short on hunts three days here, four days here. So, spending time with the family, doing a little hunting. So, just, you know, trying to relax a little bit, getting my game plan together for what I want to spend some time on. Yeah. But I got my fingers in a few things. Yeah, you always do. Basically, you were intimately involved with Under Armour and the creation of it and product development and running the place. Maybe you can, you know, kind of expound upon that a little bit and, you know, tell everybody a little bit about that. Yeah, it's a crazy story to be able to sit back and not very often do I actually talk about it.

But, you know, you rewind a little bit and 21 years at a fast growth company, it's like an American dream. I mean, it really is. And you got, you know, got to give the people there a lot of credit. I definitely did. I was there from the beginning, but we just had so many great people along the way that made it easy. But rocket ship, you know, garage to multi-billion dollar company. I did everything, you know, did all kinds of small jobs, big jobs. And there was never a job that was too dirty for me. So I did a lot of different stuff. Tend to focus on the production and product and sourcing. But later in my career, I ended up being the chief marketing officer and kind of chief product officer, which was fun. And just amazing people to work with. Cool place, as you know, because you do a lot with them. Yeah, for sure.

And when we got cranking on the Ridge Reaper TV show, a lot of that came from you and, you know, ideas that you had over the years. And you really were heavily involved in the hunting side of things. And, of course, you know, correct me if I'm wrong, but basically you started the UA Hunt side of Under Armour. Yeah, well, at first it was like we made a mock turtleneck. And then we were like, oh, we can make it in green. Or let's make it in camouflage. Yeah. And, you know, once the consumers started using it, we realized, man, we need to give them better product. You know, we were making a football shirt with mock turtleneck doing it in Realtree and Mossy Oak. Yeah. And hunters were buying it. But it was exactly the same shirt, exactly the same fabric, same cut, same pattern. And so then I went to my partner and I said, we got something here. I want to run a division.

And I want to create a division. It's never been done before at Under Armour. And I want sales. I want marketing. I want product. I want innovation. I want to run my own thing called outdoor. And we did snow sports as well, as well as hunting. And we launched the whole outdoor group. And that was a while ago. And, you know, it's done well over the years. And the Ridge Reaper stuff with you, to me, is just like the pinnacle of it. Because it was just some really great people and product. Yeah, it was awesome. I love product. Yeah, it was awesome. And that kind of, once we got cranking on Ridge Reaper 2012-ish, it just felt like, you know, everything was coming together. It was a viable part of the industry. It was a viable part of your company. And, you know, people, there was getting to be a little bit of horsepower behind it and taking it to the next level.

And I think timing in life is everything. Timing and hunting is everything, right? Timing in life, the whole industry was moving away from cotton and fabrics that didn't do anything. And we were, you know, performance-oriented. And we wanted this product that was always doing something for you. We spawned this idea. I mean, when we first started selling mock turtlenecks to some of the big retailers, they were still selling cotton camo and selling a lot of it. And we spawned this idea. Took a lot of, we took a lot of hints from the climbing industry and seeing what was going on in the climbing world. They were using performance fabrics going to the top of Everest. And all these crazy people needed life-saving fabrics down that didn't get wet and waterproof, breathable. But, gosh, man, hunting took forever to come around. But, my God, look at it now. The product is best in class.

And there's some great companies out there making unbelievable stuff. And I think Under Armour is still doing great things. Yeah. A lot of people are making good stuff now. Yeah, and so, you know, I guess, so bring us up to speed. Your affiliation with Under Armour, you're taking a little bit of a break. And maybe wanting to do some things on your own or whatever. Yeah, I mean, I think people have asked me this question, if people are listening to it and maybe wondering, like, I had a perfect job. I mean, I had the best job. And, you know, I wasn't, you know, perfect. And I probably made some mistakes along the way. And I have to own it. You know, it's hard, man. It's hard being at a fast-paced company and being publicly traded. And I think eventually I just, I like the small company mentality. And the big company wasn't for me anymore. And maybe I wasn't for them either.

And so now I'm not there anymore. I love the place. I love the people. I know they're going to do amazing things. And, you know, my partner, Kevin, is, you know, never, never say never with that guy. He's going to blow people's minds away. Yeah. So, but I'm just doing my own thing. Just take a little time. I got my fingers in a few things here. I bought a small company that does custom auto renovation. And my brother and I started a brewery. Just some things that aren't too stressful, but definitely fun for me. I'm making hunting rigs. The guys in the shop, more like, all you want to do is make a truck that can go anywhere. That's right. We do a lot ride. Big money. There's probably some big money in that, really. You think guys spend some money on their trucks, don't they? Yeah. We all, yeah. Geez. Even just regular off-the-shelf type trucks are 50, 60, 70 grand. So. It is crazy. Yeah.

I mean, I think I was looking at a statistic where they sold like 250,000 of some expensive truck. That's a lot of money. People are putting some money down for trucks. Yeah. But anyway, I'm just having fun. I'm just having fun and kind of taking my time. But what a run. 21 years. Well, and it's not, you know, you put in your dues. You've, there's not like you didn't have a little stress over there, you know.

No, I mean. Tell us about that. Tell us if you could probably do a whole lesson on stress management, you know, and how you. You know what? Yell and scream and throw shit? No, that's usually what I do. I don't want to give anybody advice. But, yeah, it's hard. You've got to work with a lot of different personalities and you've got to appreciate what everybody brings to the table. You've got to bring a team atmosphere and you've got a lot of different competing people and your job is to keep everybody on the same page. It's tough. Brutal. Not everybody wants to be on the same page. Well, and when I was there, you know, working with Ridge Reaper and come see you guys quite often, I mean, it was, there was a lot of changing of responsibilities all the time too. Like one day, one day I'm hearing that you're running the shoe division and the next day

you're the chief marketing officer and the next day, I mean, just crazy. The change all the time and keeping everybody on their toes and just changing things up all the time. You know, it's interesting. I think my dad was in the military. We were military brats. My dad was in the Marines and we bounced around a lot. And we, two years here, three years here. And we moved around mostly in the States, but we had some overseas. We lived in Bermuda. We lived in Hawaii. And change, I love it. I mean, I love it. I mean, every two years I was a new kid in school and me and my brother, that was our plan. We had to go find the toughest kid and get in a fight. And that's what we did every two years. You and Kobe. You got to set the tone. Yeah. So I like to change, but change is hard on people, you know? Yeah.

And it doesn't create a lot of continuity for an organization when you're constantly changing. Yeah. For me, I liked it, but it's not always the best. You need to get some, you got to get a rhythm to your business. You have to have a nice drum beat and people need to know what to expect so they can go do their job. Yeah. So change can be upsetting. It can be hard to deal with. Well, people like stability. They like to know when they come in, they're going to open the same door. They got their desk. It's not gone. You know? I mean, people just like stability overall. Yeah, I think the magic is how can you get growth and stability at the same time? And those are the two competing factors because usually when you're growing, you're going out and getting new consumers and you're coming up with new product ideas and you're changing the way your company looks because you want to grow.

But at the same time, you need to standardize all these processes and procedures that people know how to do their job. So not every day they're going, okay, well, I'm going to do it different than I did yesterday because that's not scalable. And we learned that real quick. When you're going from 500 million to a couple billion, none of those processes can be the same. They all change. They're not scalable. Yeah. You know? And I'm sure you guys figure that out as you guys have done a great job of growing your business. Some stuff you did at the beginning just to get it done is not really what you do when you're bigger. Right. Right. No, it doesn't definitely changes, but it's nowhere near the volume we're talking about with Under Armour. But maybe someday, huh? Maybe, maybe here in the next couple of years. I thought you guys had a billion on your platform. We're close. We're really close.

So, no. I love what you guys do. I was excited when you asked me to do this with you because, you know, I'm a huge Carter fan and a huge Epic fan and use you guys and just love hardcore hunting. I mean, that's what, you know, corporate America doesn't really reward you for being a hunting freak. Yeah. That's right. Well, I know you're nonstop on my phone asking me for more hunts, more hunts, more hunts. And dude, I don't, tell us, I guess we'll just jump into, okay, so let's just fast forward to retired life, which there's no such thing with Kip folks. And we all know that. And that's why I give you a hard time about it. But anyway, you jump in your truck and trailer, you've, you've booked hunts across the West, including Canada, Arizona. I mean, all kinds of things. You're in my hometown for half a night and I'm, and I'm in the middle of trying to, you

know, got kids going to homecoming date and this and that. I know. I didn't give you much advance notice either. But you're nonstop just crushing the place, trying to kill everything that walks. And, and I can't even keep up on keeping you in hunts. And so anyway, maybe just kind of start us off. I guess this is probably the one time in your life you haven't had to answer your phone in two in the morning and answer to all these executives. I mean, I told myself. You're usually in China. You're usually on private jets and crazy places. So anyway, it's probably been kind of fun and whatnot. Yeah, it's been amazing. And you guys did a hell of a job helping me out with a few of them. The, you know, I got the opportunity, which most guys have this vision of what they want to do with the falls coming up. You want to go hunting.

Oh, well, if I could just do what I wanted, if I could just go to each hunt with no obstructions, with not worrying about it, and just have my own gear and just hunt across the web. And that's what I would do. And I think a lot of us think about it and, you know, it's hard, maybe financially or maybe work, commitments, family. And I just told myself this year, I'm going to do it. And, you know, I took, I guess it was obviously a selfish thing to do because you're just hunting for yourself. So I said, you know what, I'm going to start the first part of the trip and I'm going to have my kids and my wife. And we did some fishing and some camping. But then they flew back from Calgary and then I just started hunting. And I went from Alberta, the north, mule deer in northern Alberta. I had a leftover bear tag.

Then I went to, drove all the way down to Utah and elk hunted and then elk hunted again in Arizona. And then I got to go back and mule deer hunt in Colorado and just booked all the hunts I wanted. And I'm just crazy about elk and mule deer. And that's really all I wanted to focus on. And I want to do a hundred percent with my bow. And thank God I killed a bear, a muley, and just an unbelievable elk in Arizona. I ended up losing an elk in Utah and I'm sick about it. But that's bow hunting. I lost a, well, anyway, I lost a deer that I wish, I sent you a picture of it. I wish, yeah, I could have some do-overs on a few things. Yeah, I knew you learned that way, right? What would you do differently? And that's what I want to do, just commit to the whole thing. So I have my own rig. I built this truck. I jacked it up, big tires, beadlocked rims, winches, air compressors, extra tools.

And then I bought this little trailer out of Utah called Borderland Trailers. It's a tiny little thing that has pop-up tent and a little pull-out kitchen. Air conditioner. And you can actually sleep inside of it, too. And, man, I just, I was just light and fast and hunting everywhere, focused on bow hunting. And you know how hard it is to bow hunt. So it was a blast. So you started, you hooked onto this trailer. So tell me, what truck did you buy?

I got, you know, I've been through about every damn truck. But I wanted the Duramax diesel. Yeah. And then I said, I'm going to, everything else I want, I'm going to put on it. And I redid the suspension. And I put a wrench on the front. And they make a little York compressor that runs off the Duramax diesel. So it actually runs off of the diesel. So you always have air. And you've got a lot of air. So you can run air tools. You can air your tires up and down. You can clean kids' toys off, blow tents out. So I just built this. And I put an extra 30-gallon tank where the spare tire goes. I pulled the spare tire out. I put a full-size spare on the bed. And then I put an extra tank in. So I got 900 miles in one trip without filling up. And an air compressor that can run an impact. And I put 9,200 miles on it in one trip.

And so you've got an air compressor that can run an impact wrench or anything. Oh, yeah. I pull my tires off in two seconds. I feel like I'm on a pit crew on the side of the road if I have to change a tire. I had to plug a guide's tire. He was laughing the amount of stuff I pulled out of my truck. And literally, I plugged his tire for him. And he blew it back up. I have an off-road airbag that you put underneath your axle and blow it up with air so you don't have to put a jack. If you're on off-road conditions, putting a jack on rocky, soft ground is dangerous. Yeah. Is it an orange? I got one. I got one of those. It's an airbag. But you've got to blow it up. Either your exhaust, you can do it with your exhaust, or an air compressor, right? Yeah, I do mine with the air compressor. The Duramax exhaust actually was too much for it. Yeah. Holy cow. So, yeah, I had a pun rake.

You know, guys love trucks, so I built the truck that got me across the west 9,200 miles. I've never had a lick of problems with it. Yeah. So, you buy a truck, you're at 70 grand, you put another 70 or 100 in it. That's what I'm hearing. No, no, no. What? That's why I bought the shop to do all the work so they didn't have to charge me. That's a good point. That's a good point. Trucks too much, let's buy the shop. So, anyway. The Borderland trailer is the fun part. That thing was worth its weight in gold, and it was probably about 25, 26K. Oh, that ain't bad. Tell us about it a little bit. No. It's like a super light package. It's got big off-road tires. It's got a good suspension on it. It's got a pentel hitch instead of a ball hitch because, you know, when you get off-road and your trailer is on a different angle than your truck, your ball can pop off real easy.

So, and it's got a little pop-up tent. It's got a little pop-up tent. And it actually has a storage unit that you could crawl in and sleep. It's got two propane tanks, a firebox on the front, and it's got solar. It's got an electric water heater and a propane water heater. And it's got 40 gallons of fresh tank in the tank on the bottom of the trailer. It even has a suction that if you go over a fresh stream, it has a filter that you can suck fresh water into the 40 gallons. Come on. I'm ready to roll, man. I'm ready for the zombies. Pop looks now. I love it. That's awesome. And so what did you put on an extra that it didn't come with? I know you told me you were going to customize it a bit. I did my first welding job because I couldn't carry enough firewood, which didn't work out west because there were so many fire bands out west this year. I didn't really burn too many fires. Yeah.

So I did that, and then we put a little AC heater unit, which worked out well in rainy conditions. When I'd get back from a hunt after rain, I'd hang my clothes up inside the little box, and I'd crank the heater on and dry all my clothes out. Yeah. Which is nice. It's awesome. I obviously wasn't in conditions where I actually needed to sleep with the heat on. A sleeping bag was plenty. I was, to God, it was hot out there this year. Yeah. So you hook on to everything. You're back in, are you going to stay in Baltimore? Are you in Baltimore? I mean, what's, and then hook on and go to. Yeah, right now I made it all the way back. I did this big triangle across North America, and then I'm back now in Baltimore. And I got a meal deer hunt with the Whitaker brothers out in eastern Colorado with my bow. They're awesome, guys. And then we got some stuff here locally.

Pennsylvania just has a new season where they have archery bear and archery deer at the same time, which is the first, last year was the first time they did that. And I got lucky enough to get a bear and a deer in the same day. But that's a fun hunt. You can sit in your tree stand, hunt a nice whitetail, and if a bear comes by, you can smoke it. That's awesome. So tell me about this deer hunt up there in Canada. You killed a freaking stud. I know we're going to talk about you. Well, you guys gave me Anthony. He did a great job. He's got a good crew. Yeah. A real good crew. So I had never done that. I mean, I know you, I called you and you said, hey, you got to go here. And so I went. And those, you know, the bean fields that go forever and the deer that just lay down and their buck, their antlers are sticking up.

And you definitely got to put some time in and glass and weed through the deer. But there's plenty of big deer out there. Plenty. And there's not that many hunters. Well, I just can't figure out how he keeps producing 195-inch, 210-inch type deer every single year. Other than maybe there's just so limited pressure. I don't know. Yeah, you know, that early archery season I don't think has as much pressure. It is huge land. I mean, we're talking, you know, a place the size of like, it's three quarters the size of Texas. I mean, it's enormous. Yeah. Alberta is a big, big area. Yeah. That southern Alberta with all those beans and crops, it's just amazing. Enough cover for the deer that I think, you know, people say there's not a lot of cover. I saw a lot of cover where they can definitely hide from you. Yeah. Smoke was hard. You know, it was hard to glass with that smoke.

A lot of fires this year. Yeah. But he does. He produces some big ones. Mine scored out at 197, kind of a weird, non-typical, and I had never shot a velvet deer before. So that was really cool. I talked to Bobby Fromm called yesterday and visited about some different hunts. And anyway, he said he was up there with you and he killed a great buck too. Oh, mine. His was a stud. Yeah. He killed a day after I had left and I drove up to northern Alberta with this bear tag with Johnny Rivets.

But he sent me a picture. He killed a slammer. I think he, you know, he was definitely patient. He was looking for a bigger deer. I think he had passed on some smaller ones. But yeah, he sent me a picture. He's a great guy. Great shop in San Diego. I want to go by and visit him. Yeah. Tell me about killing these deer. I mean, did you just bed them and stalk them when the wind came up in the middle of the day? I'm infatuated with archery mill deer. I just think it's a tough, challenging, very strategic thinking hunt. You know, there's a lot of factors in the deer. Just, you know, obviously you can get them on an early feeding pattern and they're a little bit easier. But I just never find mill deer that easy to stick an arrow in. And so, yeah, we've got a glassed an area. Pretty cool story, actually, by young guy, Dane Hillenbrand. We glassed up some good bucks.

We kind of took an inventory of them. And we've kept going back to this one non-typical thing. Hey, we need to go back and find that one. Yeah. Because we think he's the better that we've seen. But we didn't have any permission on that land. And so we had to find the landowner. And we had to go visit a few houses and talk to people. And we found a very nice old lady. She was up there in age, I think, 96. She lived in a little house. And we went and talked to her. We told her where the buck was. And she said, you know what? I think that'll be okay. No way. And we crawled for an hour and 45 minutes up a drainage and got to about 50 yards. And he had us pinned, but we had tall grass and a lot of wind. So he didn't really know we were there. And we had to wait for him to get up. And it's one of those waiting games. Yeah. And he got up and did exactly what we didn't want him to do.

He walked completely away from us. But we didn't realize at the time he just went behind a little knoll. And he was actually walking towards us. So I had stood up like we were done. Like he was walking. And I needed to run after him. Then I saw these fuzzy tips coming over the hill. And he's walking towards us. Yeah. Just getting up to feed for a minute and then come back to feed. The guide, get ready, put an arrow in. And the guide was behind me with the camera. And we took 20 steps forward and literally walked right to us. I drew. And I actually tried to draw. The guide was so close to me I had to turn around and tell him to back away from me so I could draw. Because he was over my shoulder with the camera. I turned around and I said, back up.

I drew. All I can see is ears and fuzz. I got no vitals. That beans are so tall out there that I thought when I stood up and drew that I would see vitals. I saw nothing but neck and ears. And I just pointed it down where I thought it was. And I shot at six, seven yards right through the freaking beans. Six or seven yards? Yep. No way. Come on. I didn't know it was that close. Yeah. Guy had no idea we were there. And my shot was not the greatest because I was picking my angle and I didn't realize he was quartering away so hard. And it kind of went a little high, long back into the base of his neck. And he was quartering really hard away from me. Yeah. And he fell over a rock solid, stuck another arrow in him, and we were dancing and jumping. Wow. It was a great time. That's awesome. Yeah, I want to see that footage. That's crazy. It's not Jason Carter footage, but it's pretty good. Yeah.

I'm sure it's awesome. Six or seven yards, basically a 200-incher. You know? Well, guys around here would call it 210. Yeah. So. Yeah. Well, I thought I got a lot of credit for the Fuzz. Doesn't the Fuzz make it like 240? Oh, yeah. Yeah, it does. They look huge in the velvet, don't they? They're awesome. Absolutely. But. So, I was so excited that you guys turned it on to me. You gave me Anthony. And I think Anthony has gotten some availability over the next couple years. And he's kind of grown his business and doing a good job killing big stuff. Big stuff. It's awesome. And for good price compared to, you know, deer hunts are expensive. You get a deer hunt that'll kill you, you know, 195 to 205 or something like that regularly. I mean, they're $20,000 hunts if you can find them. No, he's very reasonable when you compare it to those kind of hunts. But he can't guarantee it.

It's a lot of open land and it's a lot of land that, you know, you're going to have to go and get permission. It's, you know, they're not allowed to have money take place between the guide and the landowner. Oh, really? You can't lease property? I didn't know that. No, not in that southern Alberta. You literally have to have written and verbal permission, but it's illegal to pass money. So, you couldn't have given it. And someone don't quote me on that, but that's what I was told. Yeah. So, it's like you couldn't even have given this old gal a few bucks, really, legally. Yeah, you know what? We came back and we gave her some milk and some eggs and we stocked her fridge and we talked to her again and said thank you very much. Wow. That's crazy. That's awesome. And so, then our buddy Johnny Rivet, you go up there and make good on a bear tag?

So, in northern Alberta, like past Lesser Lake, you get two tags for spring bear. And so, I had a leftover tag. I had killed a bear in the spring and had a leftover one. And I actually had a wolf tag, too. So, yeah, I killed with Anthony in my first day out on my first stock. So, I had six days. And I drove straight up to Johnny. We're doing something wrong down here, hunting Nevada and dealing with some of these spot and stock deer. I mean, one day, let's call it half a day, really. And, you know, first try, I mean, it just makes what we're doing look stupid. You need some, you need about five and a half feet of beans to cover everything you do. Jeez. That's awesome. Yeah. All right. Well, I was lucky. And the guys in camp that stayed there, I think they, you know, like Bob, he killed on the fourth day. So, I definitely feel grateful to get a good stock in early. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

Shot a nice bear. It's a fun place up there. I don't know, I don't really like being on the ground with black bears. Matter of fact, I dislike it. I'm very uncomfortable. I put myself in that situation over the last three years because I don't like it. And I booked him out for a week every year for the next three years. Did you check? I did. I wrote him a nice big check. I said, Johnny, I love you. I hate these bears. Put me on them. I'm going to kill them all. That's hilarious. So, are you going to be on the ground or in a tree stand? No, yeah. We're kind of strictly on the ground with these things. That comes from a can. You're 20 yards from the bait and there's bears all over the place. They're like mosquitoes. You got, you know, we had sows and cubs and, you know, snapping jaws and fake bluffing each other. And you're right in the middle of it.

And matter of fact, when the big boar came in that I ended up shooting, the sow that was really kind of had an attitude kicking all the other sows off the bait, she got out of there quick. So, you know, something good's coming in. And she ran close to us. Like, we're her friends. Like, we're going to. And she knew you were there. She bolts off the bait. Yeah, they all kind of know you're there. Yeah. I think they just think you're another bear. I think they think you're a weak bear. Yeah. But they're not going to mess with you if you don't mess with them. And so she stood right next to us and I had to come full draw with her at five yards to my right. Jeez. And, you know, Johnny carries a shotgun, but I'm still asking him if he puts shells in it. Right. Because he's so cool with these bears. He's been around them a long time. Right. And I'm like, he puts the shotgun like ten yards away.

I'm like, could you keep the thing on your lap, please? That's hilarious. Can you keep it safety ready? That's right. Like, read it's best. I want to know that there's no mechanical. I got a real backup here. Holy crap.

So. I guess come to find out that whole area has now got big, big inland grizzlies. Really? Yeah. And they're debating in that area when they're going to start selling resident tags. Not for, you know, non-resident. So does Johnny see them? Like, is he seeing them up there? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Down where he's at. He's seeing them. Not on all the black bear baits, he's seeing them, but the ones a little bit south of the lake. He showed me some pictures of some monsters. Wow. And I was terrified they were going to be in there when I'm going in with a headlamp. Wow. I guess the largest inland grizzly is the Alberta grizzly. The things are, they get six, seven hundred pounds easy. Wow. And they're big and floppy looking. And the ones on trail cameras looked like a kid's cartoon. They were so big. I had no idea. Yeah. Yeah. I guess the biologist is really considering offering resident hunts. Wow.

So they got a lot of them. That's crazy. So I guess they're following the moot into the bush. So is he baiting in the fall as well as the spring then? I mean, the same tactics? Johnny pretty much focuses on spring and then for only select clients that didn't get both tags, he'll do a little bit of a fall camp. But I think he really focuses on spring bears. Yeah. But it's nice because the fall bears got more weight. They got a nice coat. Yeah. Well, that's cool. So then you clean house with Johnny and you take off and you head back to Utah or was that your next stop? It was fun because Johnny and his wife, Jen, they had to go to Utah for an elk hunt. So we actually caravaned together from northern Alberta all the way to Salt Lake City. And then they went on their hunt and I went on my hunt. And I met up with Cam and picked up my buddy Shane Dorian at the airport and Cam at the airport.

And we hunted hard for a week in Utah. Shane and Cam killed his video has been unbelievable. But he killed a nice .365 or .369 bull. And then Shane shot a stud five by five. So those guys had a great hunt. And being in camp with them is, you know, some of the killers. Killers. So how many guys were in camp? You know, we're hunting a pretty nice ranch with the Wild Country Outfitters, with Tom Land and his son Austin Land and Colton. And those guys do a great job. So, you know, they have tags that are through the Division of Wildlife. And so it's any weapon. So there is some rifle hunters on a certain part of the ranch. They kind of cut the ranch in half and put the rifle hunters over there. And then there's about four or five of us that were archery only. So we had a blast. We had a bunch of nice rifle kills that we saw come in. But I'd say the archery guys did as good as anybody.

Cam shot the biggest bull there for a while. I think the biggest bull been shot on the ranch since I shot my .275 there with my bow a few years ago. And so Cam's is the second biggest on that place. They're pretty good at that .340, .350 range. But once you get .360, .370, there's not as many. I think Brian Lineman from Cabela's a few years ago shot a .390. So they do have some big boys on there. Yeah. Well, that's awesome. I didn't know Cam's bull was, you know, ranked that high. I didn't know it was like the second largest. You killed an absolute slob. It was a giant featured on Ridge Reaper and awesome kill scene. It was pretty amazing. Yeah, good. That one was one of those long times. Not a ton of mass, but just had the length, you know. Super long. The thirds were like huge swords and, you know, length carries. Like a 60-yard kill or something. Just as you smoked him.

It was pretty awesome. Yeah, he fell in the wallow. That was good. That was a good hunt. But I got a big, wide 5x5 this year. You know, I think for all the archery hunters that are, you know, really pride themselves on waiting and being patient, I passed up a lot of animals. I wanted the right shot, and then I ended up making a bad shot. On the 5x? On the 5x, you made a bad shot? On the wide 5x5, older bull, probably 10-year-old bull, just a nice old wide, kind of heavy. And we decided we were going to shoot him, and he came in, and he kind of got hung up at like 45, 50. A lot of guys that are cow calling to, you know, a lot. I can tell you those bulls know exactly where that sound is coming from. They know the exact rock you're standing on. They've stood on that rock before. And they can hear and pinpoint location.

And when they hear a sound and see no sight, no decoy, no cow, I think they get hung up a lot. And so if you're calling, and they can't, and they can see with their eyes that there is nothing there, they get hung up. And so he did. He got hung up at about 40, couldn't see anything. We actually had a decoy in the bag. We didn't use it. And I was kicking myself for it. But he turned around to leave, and he presented a perfect quartering away shot. And so I took it. Right when he turned his head to move, I drew. And he gave, but he took one step too hard, and it was almost like a going away shot. Yeah. Tight, tight. And I wish I could have taken that back. Tracked him for a while. You know, one of those gut-wrenching things where you make the decision to back out and come back in the morning and hope you get right back on it. And we did. We got back on blood.

And once you get into that dark pine and that dry, the blood was really hard. And so we had to grit it out and try to bump him or find him or find him dead. And my God, we put some hours in, but we never found him. Yeah, that's brutal. It is brutal. Yeah. So, and then you and, like, did you and Cam head direct to Arizona from there? Well, Shane got in the car with me. Shane actually came to Arizona with us. We drove, we road tripped from Utah to Phoenix, and then we went to San Carlos. And then Cam flew in, and we picked him back up. And then we all went out to San Carlos, which is just a, it's a mystical place. That place is the world's greatest elk hunt. They charge you money for the tag. And I want people to know that because I've had all kinds of people ask me, oh, how do you get on the San Carlos? And I'm like, you write a big damn check.

A big check. It's free game. A big check. And, yeah, it's free game. Yeah, it's fair chase. And these elk are wild and crazy. They're crazy big. That's what they are. That's the world's greatest elk hunting that I've ever, I mean, I think it's pretty well known that they're the number one. I think they had a tough year with drought and the way the moisture came maybe early but not late. And so a lot of the back ends didn't have the growth. And I don't think the guide was blowing smoke up my you-know-what. He told me in a regular year my bull was a 415, 420 bull. Oh, I think so. I mean, he's 390 this year. And in Arizona, everybody knows it's really, really tough this year in Arizona growth-wise. Yeah, and I didn't know that per se going in, but it wouldn't have changed anything. It's not like they're going to give you your money back until you can come next year. Right.

So if it's a bad year, you just deal with it. But we saw hammers. We saw bigger bulls than mine, and we saw bigger bulls than cams. Wow. So there's, you know, there's some hunters out there that I think have a couple rifle tags until the end of this month, and I'm sure they'll shoot a smoker, but it's a special place. So you saw bulls over 400, you feel like? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. We, you know, just try to get them into bow range. It's tough. Yeah, just tough, tough. That's crazy. Maybe an odd year for the rut was not exactly like just, you know, when it's on, it's on. We never really had that except for maybe one morning. Yeah. So that wraps up Arizona. You guys both killed mid to upper 390s, it seems like. Yeah, Cam was, mine's like 387, and, you know, these are just rough scores. But Cam's was in that, you know, 390 zone and had a broken tine. So his was a 400-inch bull.

It had a, you know, probably an 8 or 9-inch tine that was broken. Crazy, non-typical looking thing. Yeah, it's super heavy. I think he's posted a bunch on Instagram. And even when I look at it, it looks like a modern-day dragon. Yeah. It's just. It's kind of crazy. It's crazy. Your listeners appreciate it. But when you talk to folks back east that don't do a lot of elk hunting, you try to get all excited at a cocktail party telling them what Cam shot. And they're like rolling your eyes trying to get more cheese dip. And I want to strangle them going, don't you understand? That's an enormous bull. Yeah. Let me reiterate. This was a dinosaur. It's hilarious. Well, we just try not to talk to guys back east. How about that? Yeah, that works. So let's see. I'm going to have to move my home location. So you've killed about everything. You've killed giant bulls, bears.

You've done literally as far as deer and elk, and that's what you really like. You've killed two book, meaning Boone and Crockett, net four-point mule deer that officiated at 195. I sent you the paperwork on that one. And then same thing with a book non-typical if you want to enter them. And so that's the pinnacle. I don't know very many guys that have killed a book, net, non-typical mule deer, book, net, typical mule deer. Of course, we hunted you on that typical, and it was a pretty awesome experience. I think that was even maybe your first mule deer.

Yeah, no, it wasn't my first. Oh, yeah. No, yours, the Nevada buck. The Nevada buck. The typical. Yeah. Typical. Was that? I thought, yeah, I thought you said non-typical. But, yeah, the typical, which you got, was amazing. And cool to have Jason and Garth. Your dad was there, too, so that was fun for me, not knowing you guys, just meeting you guys. And, you know, the hospitality you guys showed me and helping me learn how to hunt Nevada. I mean, that was a big learning experience. I was sicker than a dog, too, remember? Yeah, I totally remember. You were sick. It was snow. Do you remember the snow? Like, it was... And that, it's very rare to get snow in a, during a regular season in Nevada. You know, you obviously get snow in December, January, February, whatever. But it snowed the last day or two days, day and a half of your hunt, two days of your hunt. And that just, that was amazing.

It changed everything. Well, it kind of ruined that one evening because we had to go back to town because it was a whiteout. We couldn't glass anything, anything. But we knew the next morning was going to be good. Yeah. And when we went back, it was like a spotlight had been turned on. I mean, that snow just makes it unbelievable. And we ground and pounded and we found a man. He's beautiful. He's the, he's the pride and joy. You know, that typical deer to me is everything. So, he's right in prime location in my barn. There's a lot of dead animals in that barn, but he's right above the door. Yeah. No, and he should be. He's a mule deer. He should be. Yeah. So, and then you killed a, you killed a giant, non-typical northern Utah course. That's a buck that I struggled with quite a bit. And I know you relished in freaking knocking him down. And, but, but deserved it.

Well, if we played in the NHL, you would have gotten an assist on that one. Oh. And you stuck a few arrows in him. But I see is not an assist because you made him so darn crazy. Yeah. That we'd be glassing him. And then he would get up and run two miles for no reason. Because like a bee flew by him. I know. I know. I had him at 10 yards and, and, but the wind was so heavy. There was no way he, he knew I was there and I was just beyond a little rise. He just takes off, takes off running. But, I mean, all the time he did that. All the time. So, he was like that when you were hunting him. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Well, after, you know. I just thought it was because you. After, after an arrow, he was definitely changed his life a little bit. So, and he ducked. He ducked my arrow on video like he, you know. I remember. As soon as I released, he, you know, just ducked.

And it just went right under the spine. Right in the void. Nothing. Of course, when you killed him, what, three weeks later, he was healed up and fine and going to live. He had nothing. Yeah. We had hardly anything on him. It's amazing how tough these animals are. Listen to some of the other podcasts and there's definitely a common theme on just animals have a will to live. And they're just, they're just stronger. Dylan, can you imagine someone sticking an arrow through you and you getting better? No. No. It doesn't work in the world we live in. But he was a gorgeous deer. And it was fun. I don't, I'm not doing a lot of rifle hunting anymore, but that was probably my last one. And, you know, a challenging shot, you know, 550 yards across the ravine with a good, good bit of wind. And, you know, he, him not wanting to present a shot. He didn't like being out in the open.

He was kind of hung up in the bush just because he was a kind of a head case of a deer. So, you know, don't do a lot of rifle hunting anymore. But my last rifle hunt was that. It was fun. Nice, nice, you know, nice long shot. Makes you feel good, confident. Just put him down. And it's amazing, you know, a rifle put in the right location just does so much damage. It's crazy. And, yeah, he ended up for, you know, guys that are listening, he ended up like grossing 245, I think, you know, net in the mid-230s, hard horn. And so velvet-wise, he's over 250. And, yeah, having a 250 buck at 10 yards rattles a guy. So, anyway, it doesn't happen very often. He's such a stud. It was one of the biggest deer in northern Utah, especially in that area, I think, since the 1940s or 50s or something. I can't remember the statistics.

Yeah, I think the ranch history there gave us a little bit of insight that they, you know, since they had been recording bucks, I think he said like 52 or 53 that it was the biggest they have from the ranch from when they were recording. Special deer, special genetics. So, anyway, what are you doing? So, tell us about the rest of your year. And, I mean, obviously we talked about Whitaker Brothers. You got a little bit there. Yeah, that eastern Colorado is in my blood. But I love that. Just hard hunt. Just, you know, early November. Could be cold. Could be warm. Could be windy. Could be calm. You know, it's just hard. And not a lot of cover. And you have spot and stalked mule deer. And then I have a spot and stalked mule deer coming up here in a couple weeks for South Dakota, which is kind of a, I think, has been overlooked a little bit for both whitetail and muleys.

We've seen some nice big muleys last year. I didn't get a connect, but I was hunting the same ranch last year, and I'm going back. Oh, I didn't know. What's the potential there? I didn't know that. Yeah.

Pretty reasonable, too, that you can get a tag, an east and west tag, and you can get a mule deer tag. And if you tag out, you can go to the counter and buy a whitetail tag. Wow. They got some nice whitetails running the river bottoms. That's crazy. So is there 180 potential, or do you think, I mean, better? Oh, yeah. No, they're killing deer in the 200. You know, not a lot of them, but I think that 180 to 190 is definitely feasible. Wow. I will say that archery, hunting, mule deer, I have never focused on the number. Getting close to a big, mature deer, he's 160, 170, 180, 190, 200, 240. He's getting an arrow every day of the week. Yeah. 160 to 240, I'm killing him. Yep. He's old. Yeah, that's awesome. Big, haunchy shoulders and a big tummy. It looks like he's been eating Twizzlers. That's right. That's awesome. Cool. So you'll do South Dakota, the eastern plains.

That eastern plains will be cold. I remember when Kobe went out there. I think you were with Kobe. You and Kobe. But anyway, I don't know. Was it like negative? I can't remember what the wind chill was. The wind chill was crazy. Yeah. The wind can just hammer you. Yeah. And it makes shooting hard. Yeah. Because you've got to get closer. Yep. Make stock a little bit easier. But, you know, who wants to shoot with 40-mile-an-hour winds? Your arrow just does funny stuff. Yeah. So what are you, what's your future plans? Tell us a little bit about, I mean, you can't. Well, I'm going to bug you guys for canceled hunts and landowner tags. Every hour of every day, I send you an email saying, what's out there? I know. Yeah. And any time we send out an email, you're like, hey, is that sold? And I'm like, oh, yeah, it's sold.

I will tell you, guys that listen to you, man, they scoop those things up quick. I've got to be faster on the draw. Dude, they're like, within five minutes, they're sold usually. But I just, I get nervous with you. Well, I think you've killed everything. You guys a lot of. You've killed everything, and you're killing big stuff. And so I always get nervous sending you places. I just, I want them to be perfect. Yeah, no, I just like being out in the woods. But I think it's a credit for what you guys built that so many people believe, as you guys have an authority on being experts and being able to trust you. And I've been on a lot of hunts where guides or outfitters or booking agents are like, oh, this is this, and you can kill this. And, man, you go there, and it is like the exact opposite. And it's like life, you know. It's like traveling from city to city. Every city is not the same.

And every unit is not the same. And every potential is not the same. So I give you guys a lot of credit for building a name that people will scoop up hunts that quick because they know if you're recommending it. Yeah. And you're pretty honest about what the potential could be. You're not trying to oversell stuff, you know. Right, right. Well, it'll sell. The way we look at it, it's going to sell. There's just, it needs to be the right fit. You know, some guys want to make dang sure they're going to kill a giant. And we're real careful with that guy because, you know, only the certain hunts will work for him. But there's other guys that are willing to kill, you know, whatever. Or, you know, maybe a hunt fits him a little better. And so, anyway, it'll sell no matter what. You just want to make it, you want it to make it the right fit so he's a customer forever.

And, anyway, but tell us, you know, just a little bit about, you know, obviously you've got, you can, you never quit thinking. You're always, I'm just excited to see what you're going to come up with and do in the future. I know, obviously, you're developing beer and you're probably responsible for, you know, drunk drivers and everything else out there right now because you're selling so much beer. No, responsible. We only serve a little bit at a time. But, yeah, I like products. And right now I'm kind of on this mission to just see what's out there. And I'm using a lot of different brands. I'm trying new boots and packs. Really? Really? I'm just really kind of opening my eyes to what are the potential holes? What can be better? I'm trying to do it from using the product, you know.

And so, for many years I had lots of people that worked for me that were out there doing it, but not always was it me. And so, I'm out there just grinding the gear. And I see lots of holes and lots of opportunities. And, you know, I like products. So, I envision myself making some hunting and outdoor product. I just, I want it to be cool. I want it to be innovative. I want people to use it and appreciate it for the right thing. And so, I'm not going to launch anything that doesn't feel right and doesn't feel like a game changer. Yeah. Right on. But that would be my goal in the future. Right on. Tell me, let's talk about maybe just a little life advice. So, there's a lot of guys that want to make a living in the hunting industry or not. They want to make a good living and then hunt a lot, you know. And so, you've just, you've accomplished a lot.

Anybody can Google your name and figure that out. I don't want to, you know, we don't have to go in on all that. And we've talked a little bit about it at the first of the podcast. But just life advice. I mean, you've been, you know, there's times where you were on the hook for 24 hours out of the day. And, of course, didn't have a lot of family life. And I know you appreciate your family and love them and spend time with them. But just, you know, just life advice for guys that are in the middle. Like, there are age. You and I are about the same age. I mean, just, you know. Yeah, I'm getting ready to turn 46 October 13th. And, you know, 21 years at Under Armour. Maybe gives me a condensed view of the world. By no means I have all the answers. I will say that I want to learn and I want to grow. And so I'm pushing myself. And so I can only pass on stuff that I feel has worked for me.

I would never just, you know, sell people something about life that I don't really know. I don't know everything. But what I do know is you surround yourself with people that are better than you. And that's a good recipe. When people are better than you, better emotionally, better physically, better mentally, better at business. When you surround yourself with better people, the equation just seems to be weighted in your favor. If you want to surround yourself with people that are lesser than you, maybe not emotionally stable, maybe not physically the same as you, maybe they struggle in business to make the right easy decisions. Well, that track leads a different direction. And maybe you have an ego and you want to feed your ego because you don't want to be around people that are better than you. But I tend to try to challenge myself. You know, I'll use Cam Haynes as an example.

I love being around him because he's better than me every day of the week. Yeah, right. And so he's going to push me. And I recently just had a great time with Shane. He's been a hero of mine. The guy held the record for the largest wave I've ever surfed. I mean, he's a big wave surfer doing crazy things mentally and physically. So I learned a lot just from being around him. What I did learn is he's positive. He is one positive individual. He's always got something good to say, encouraging. And so maybe my life advice is just that. Just be positive and be around people that are better than you. Wow. That seems to work well for me. That's awesome. There's a lot of advice that, you know, you could take or leave. But that one seems to be pretty sticky. You know, Cameron has killed a lot of stuff. And he's been in the industry a long time. That guy's paid his dues.

He's, of course, we all know with Eastman's and, you know, integral part of their business there for a long, long time. And self-made, just killer. Just killer. That's the one thing, you know, Cameron and I, we were going on a hunt together. And I was teasing him. I'm like, it's all right. I'm okay to hunt with you, Cam. I just want the biggest animal. And he goes, that's all right. I just, he just likes, he likes the whole adventure. And he loves to kill. That guy is a killer. I think it's a process for him, right? And the process has a beginning, middle, and an end. And then the beginning is the training. The middle is the endure the hunt. And the end is make the shot perfect. Yeah. And the whole thing, he loves every piece of it. Yeah. You know, and I've learned a lot. And I want to continue to learn. I think people that stop learning or feel like maybe I'm a good hunter,

I'm a horrible hunter. Carter's seen me in the woods. I got lots to learn. And I like it that way. Because every time I go, I'm going to feel like I got a little bit better. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you're not horrible, that's for sure. But you know what's cool about Dorian? Dorian lives in a place where he's killing. He just has a lot of kills under his belt. Like, to be a good archer, you need to have a lot of experiences. It's hard to get a lot of kills. I mean, he's got all those animals up there in Hawaii going crazy. You don't need tags and just trying to kill the sheep. Pigs and muflon and axes. Yes. And he's got everything. And he's just a hunter. Like, he relishes in the hunt from what it seems. I don't know him that well. Met him up there at Deseret years ago and whatnot. But, man, he's killed a lot of stuff. Yeah.

And he, you know, it's interesting because, you know, he's, he never really had a rifle. And he's always been Bo from the beginning. And he recently has switched over some techniques and is using a different setup. And just seeing how he used, you know, his archery equipment was a little eye-opener for me. And honestly, I was, I was like, darn. That is, he's, he's good. Wow. And he's actually changed his whole setup after being a killer for so many years. So that tells you. Well, see, like, for example, just give us maybe, I don't, you don't have to give all of his secrets. Well, he's using the silverback release, you know, so he's going to kind of more of a, I guess I call it the Olympic archery guys that are, you know, using those releases that are just, to me, I don't understand how you use them for hunting. My mental capacity is not there to control my body and mind.

Well, they're super sensitive. And pull something until it releases. Yep. I have to have a trigger. Yep. But you punch a trigger. And that's what I think they're getting away from is, is. Yeah. And he's doing a great job at it. So I, I definitely want to challenge myself to maybe look at it or practice with it or at least explore it, you know? Yeah. Wow. Right on. Anything else you want to leave us with? I know there's so much we could dive in. Each one of these things that we've talked about, you could do a whole podcast on, if not a few of them. So anything else you want to leave us with? I don't know. Just people that are listening. I mean, I've just been blessed. And, you know, thanks for having me. And you guys do an amazing job. And if you love something, freaking pour everything you got into it. If you don't love it, stop doing it. That's awesome. It's good.

It's simple, but it's good advice. It's simple, but it's good. Yeah. But I love what you guys do. So I appreciate everything. Thanks. And we appreciate all your support, you know?

We met you years ago, and you were the guy that made the decisions and really moved. We moved forward in a lot of directions back when I, you know, Garth and I were in business together and did a lot of cool things. And it started our relationship. Hopefully we got some more chapters to put in the book for the future. Go on, let's get out and hunt. Send me some pictures. There's a lot more chapters. One thing I want to talk about right before we quit here. Tell me about this old Ford. I got all the time in the world. Tell me about this old Ford. I love them highboys. And, you know, obviously your shop kind of did that custom truck for you. Just tell us a little bit about it. Yeah. So, I mean, I'm a truck guy, but my truck is not only, I use it, but, you know, looking at these classic trucks has always been an interest of mine.

But, you know, who wants to deal with some of the headaches of an older truck? So, I took a, I took, you look for years. Out on the East Coast, we don't get a lot of four-door highboys, which is a Ford 250.

Mine's a 77. You see a lot of two-door single cab, but you don't see crew cabs, which, you know, in 77, the crew cab, a lot of them were out west. A lot of them were, from what I understand, were park service, ranchers, and all those trucks got shipped out west. I found one in Illinois that was kind of, needed a little bit of love, and I renovated it, turned it into a beast, put a Cummings diesel in it out of a school bus, put a front and back wenches on it, took an interior out of a 2015 King Ranch F-150. It was. So, when you get in it, it feels like a new truck. And it's, it's... Original gauges or all digital, all digital readouts in the inside or original? No, I went old school gauges, but, you know, for the purist, it does have a Cummings and the Ford guys give me a hard time about that, but I don't really care because the engine's like a tractor. It's like a workhorse. Yeah.

But it's, you know, got 37s and freaking steel wheels, and I'm going to drag elk out of the woods out of it. I don't build stuff to look at. I build stuff to use. I will say that I'm nervous about driving it in the salt out here in the winter. I'm telling you. I haven't done that yet. Back east, I've never seen anything like it. There's new vehicles that are rusted out. I've never seen rust like back east. Well, you spend a gob of money to renovate something, and the last thing you want to do, you want to go play in the snow, obviously, when it snows, but they dump so much salt here and chemicals on the road. So maybe I'll ship it out to you. You can run it around for me. But I think I'll get it on an elk hunt next year and see if I can get some blood on this baby blue paint job. It's awesome. It's a good-looking truck. And we have a cool shop. Yeah. We have a cool shop.

It's called Lucky 7. Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead with that. Yeah, it's Lucky 7 Rod Shop. We're going to change the name here in a little bit. It's going to be called Steel Farm Customs. But right now, we're in southern Pennsylvania and York County, and we do everything from hot rods to classic vehicles to 4x4s. And the guys are talented, and I fell in love with them, so I bought the shop. I love it. That's awesome. Yeah, for anybody out there, of course, most guys do have Instagram. It's Lucky 7, the number 7 rod shop. And anyway, you can go check it out. Of course, Kip's Ford's on there and a bunch of other vehicles. So anybody that has any projects, I guess you're taking on new customers, Kip? Yeah, all the time. We have an interesting build right now. I built a Scout, a 68 Scout, and I put it on top of a 2017 Nissan Titan with a Cummings engine.

So it's a brand new truck, but it looks like an old truck. So we'll do anything. Holy cow. We've got some guys in here that are magic with their hands. What was that vehicle you had? I was back at your house, and it was that... Oh, the AEV Brute, the guys out of Montana. That thing was an unbelievable 4x4. If anybody wants a Jeep, I would highly recommend go to AEV and buy one of their custom Jeeps if you can afford it. They can get pricey, but they do have some basic models, too. But Jeeps out in the woods, they go anywhere. Well, you have a water... It has a water bin, gas bins, I don't know, in the bumpers. You've got to have a snorkel for that one river crossing you do once every 60 years. You've got to have a snorkel. That's right. That's right. So, anyway. And it seemed like the bumper held water. I can't remember. Yeah, that's right.

It had expedition water, so if you were kind of overland crew or you're back country and you needed... It had 30 gallons extra water that's stored in the bumper. Yeah. Sick. You Nevada boys need some bumpers with water. Oh, yeah. Front, back, you know, where the spare tire goes, we'd have water in every one of those. So, all right. Well, it's been fun, man. I appreciate you. I appreciate your support. You've been awesome to us over the years. Can't thank you enough. And I really appreciate you having me on. We'll have you on again. Of course, we're all holding our breath, seeing what Kip Fulks is going to do in the future because you definitely turn stuff upside down. We want to be a part of that. Cool, Jason. I appreciate it. You guys at Epic do an awesome job. And I look forward to talking to you again. Okay. Sounds good, buddy. All right, Jason. Phone Scope, P-H-O-N-E-S-K-O-P-E.

They've changed the industry. We get to video stuff through our phones, through about any optic you got, binoculars, spotting scopes, even now rifle scopes with scoped vision. So, anyway, check them out. Cheston Davis, his dad, they've been doing incredible things. They're great guys and innovators. We'll be affiliated with them for years to come. We have a lot of respect and appreciation for them and their support here at Epic. Give them a holler or check them out at www.phonescope.com. P-H-O-N-E-S-K-O-P-E.com. You know, you can obviously go on there. Hashtag scoped vision is a thing now. S-K-O-P-E-D vision. V-I-S-I-O-N. So, lots of cool stuff going on. The scoped vision is kind of the new product they've got going out. You can watch yourself kill stuff. And if you're guiding people, you can tell them where they hit. And obviously, you got it recorded. So, kind of cool.

Really cool, actually. So, anyway, don't hesitate to check it out. Phonescope.com. Incredible boots. We use Kinetrek Mountain Extreme boots. Pretty regular. A lot of sheep hunts as well as some of our aggressive deer and elk. Even some of their lightweight hikers. Incredible products. We really love and appreciate Jim Wengem. Think he's doing a great job. You ought to check him out. www.kinetrek.com. K-E-N-E-T-R-E-K.com. 1-800-232-6064. Jim Wengem's his name. And does a great job there at Kinetrek. Providing people with incredible hunting boots. We'll be right back.