Speaker 1: What's up, everybody. This is Dirk Durham here. I'm filling
Speaker 1: in as a guest host for Jason Phelps on this
Speaker 1: episode of Cutting the Destance podcast. We've got world champion
Speaker 1: Colorado native Elk Hunter, Elk Collar, Jermaine Hodge, a long
Speaker 1: time friend, just a good dude and funny man. I
Speaker 1: wanted to have him on here and talk about something
Speaker 1: that's on people's mind all the time, Colorado el Cutting. Yeah,
Speaker 1: thanks Dirk for having the r. Jermain, can you tell
Speaker 1: us a little bit, a little bit about yourself, Yeah,
Speaker 1: a little bit about myself. I'm reasonably from North Carolina
Speaker 1: and uh, I didn't move out to Colorado into two
Speaker 1: thousand five. Kind of going back. I came into Army
Speaker 1: in two thousand and four and then I got the
Speaker 1: chance to make the world Class Athlete program for the Army,
Speaker 1: and um, once I did and I made the team,
Speaker 1: I got stationed out here in Colorado because once again,
Speaker 1: you know, Olympic training centers here and most of all
Speaker 1: the athletes trained here for particular sports anyways, wrestling being
Speaker 1: one of them. And then when I came out in
Speaker 1: two thousand five, UM, some of my team members were
Speaker 1: big hunters and and they kind of introduced me to
Speaker 1: elk um and I missed that first draw. And then
Speaker 1: I started hunting elk in two thousand and six. But
Speaker 1: my journey wasn't uh, it wasn't as good as you
Speaker 1: think it is. I mean, you know, you go, you
Speaker 1: go through that first season and it's it's always a struggle.
Speaker 1: But I was fortunate enough to kill my first self
Speaker 1: in two thousand and six, and I've just been uh,
Speaker 1: I've been on a rolls ever since. But self taught
Speaker 1: how to call myself and watched a bunch of videos
Speaker 1: and here we are. I'm on the phone right now
Speaker 1: with their home the Bugler. So um, I've been I've
Speaker 1: been fortunate enough to be successful and uh and and
Speaker 1: now I'm teaching what I've learned promote you know, all
Speaker 1: the years of you know, getting elkin and having encounters
Speaker 1: year and year out. So that's just a little bit
Speaker 1: about myself. I'll go into a long story, but it
Speaker 1: would be a deep point. I won't I won't side
Speaker 1: derailist too much here, but I didn't want to touch
Speaker 1: on like, Okay, you mentioned um your job a little bit.
Speaker 1: What's your job and what took you there. Um you
Speaker 1: said wrestling. Um, how did how's wrestling incorporate to the army? Yeah, so,
Speaker 1: you know, back back way before my time, they they
Speaker 1: found the value of awarding soldiers the opportunity to make
Speaker 1: world and Olympic teams, and then they found the value
Speaker 1: of kind of utilizing those soldier athletes for more of
Speaker 1: a recruit in aspect. So now that we have soldier
Speaker 1: athletes in the army, we can utilize them on the
Speaker 1: army side to bring him more UH elite soldiers and
Speaker 1: also award them the opportunity to make an Olympic team
Speaker 1: and bring home in Olympic medals. So back in two
Speaker 1: thousand and four, I got stationed in Korea, and I
Speaker 1: thought it was gonna be like into my wrestling career,
Speaker 1: but it was like kind of like a blessing in disguise.
Speaker 1: And while I was over there, I wrestled in two
Speaker 1: different tournaments and the Athletic Athletic director was like, you know,
Speaker 1: who are you? And I kind of explained to him,
Speaker 1: you know, my background and what I used to do,
Speaker 1: and um, he said, well, if you put your papers together,
Speaker 1: I'll send it up to you. That's when they used
Speaker 1: to fax everything back in the day. Now it's all
Speaker 1: computer generated. But once he did that, I got to
Speaker 1: try out for them for the World Class Athlete Program.
Speaker 1: But that's a sister program called All Army and um,
Speaker 1: so I came to the All Army route I went.
Speaker 1: I came here to Fort Carson, and my whole goals
Speaker 1: was to make this team and wrestle for this program.
Speaker 1: So anyways, I made the team. Now wrestle for the
Speaker 1: World Class Athlete program. But my primary job for the military,
Speaker 1: because you still have to have like an M O.
Speaker 1: S or uh, you have to be MS qualified. UM.
Speaker 1: So my job job for the Army is a sixty
Speaker 1: eight whiskey conduct made it on the MC certified. UM.
Speaker 1: But I've never really like done that job outside of
Speaker 1: outside of here. With the reception of like one year
Speaker 1: of like some o J T at the at the
Speaker 1: e ER working in the e R doing that that
Speaker 1: kind of stuff. But no, you know, they brought me
Speaker 1: into the program to wrestle and bring home medals and
Speaker 1: international medals and world medals, and and I was fortunate
Speaker 1: enough to to compete on the world stage a few
Speaker 1: times in and um bring home medals and stay in
Speaker 1: the program, and uh now I'm coaching. I'm at the
Speaker 1: latter part of my season and you know, my career
Speaker 1: and I'm finishing up as a coach, and uh now
Speaker 1: I got to continue to live live their dreams through
Speaker 1: me and and help those guys their goals because their
Speaker 1: goals and my goals now to as well. Man, that's awesome,
Speaker 1: that's awesome. So um, what what a blessing? You know
Speaker 1: that you're taken to Colorado and discovered elk hunting. And
Speaker 1: I've said it before, like elk hunting will change your life, right,
Speaker 1: and I'm sure you've seen some big, big swings there,
Speaker 1: Like it's such a such a cool opportunity be able
Speaker 1: to hunt elk every fall, go to the mountains. You know,
Speaker 1: everybody has all different agenda why they hunt, but it
Speaker 1: seems like it's a really good place to decompress, reset um,
Speaker 1: and enjoy get in touch with our primal selves. So um,
Speaker 1: absolutely so Colorado. You know, that's that's a real elk
Speaker 1: hunting mecca for a lot of folks. You know, whether
Speaker 1: it's residents you know they've been there their whole lives,
Speaker 1: or or new people moving there, or for nonresidents nonresident hunters.
Speaker 1: That's a super um destination because Colorado has so many
Speaker 1: elk and they have so much over the counter opportunity.
Speaker 1: A lot of people go there. Um, but I think
Speaker 1: that kind of creates some challenges, right, Um, lots of
Speaker 1: lots of tags, lots of people. Um, how how do
Speaker 1: you get away and make yourself a little different from
Speaker 1: all the other other hunters out there? It seems like
Speaker 1: a competitive place. You know, I've been to Colorado. There's
Speaker 1: a lot of people hunting, um, a lot of and
Speaker 1: it's tough. You know, what what do you do? What? What?
Speaker 1: What do you go into the woods? Within your in
Speaker 1: your mind? Um that your plan, your game plan is
Speaker 1: to to make sure you stay in elk consistently and
Speaker 1: you're not getting picked on by others. You're you know,
Speaker 1: have another hunter's disrupt your hunter vice versa. Well, you know,
Speaker 1: let's flash back a little bit now. I'll talk about like, uh,
Speaker 1: the nonresident opportunities in Colorado is like it's like no
Speaker 1: other and uh you have to kind of contribute it
Speaker 1: to the OTC portion of it. So as a nonresident,
Speaker 1: you can come over, you can plan a hunt, you
Speaker 1: can kind of pick whatever unit you wanted to go
Speaker 1: to not even apply for anything, drive out to Colorado,
Speaker 1: go to Walmart and pick up your tag. And that's
Speaker 1: a huge opportunity for non residents. So if your dream
Speaker 1: is to come out and hunt out west and chase
Speaker 1: the elk, you probably have a really good chance of
Speaker 1: doing that in Colorado by all means. But um, I
Speaker 1: will say this, since I've been you know, hunting elk
Speaker 1: and and I've been hunting olk since two thousand and
Speaker 1: six to present, I've seen the numbers to climb dramatically,
Speaker 1: whether it was OTC or whether it was draw units.
Speaker 1: And for me, I kind of keep the same game
Speaker 1: plan when I go into whatever whatever unit I plan
Speaker 1: on hunting that year, I kind of keep the same
Speaker 1: game plan and the mindset of you going to hunt
Speaker 1: the way you hunt and not the way other people
Speaker 1: are hunting. So for me, I really I don't have
Speaker 1: a problem getting away from people. Now, you'll find a
Speaker 1: few that that can go in and hike in and
Speaker 1: get into those deep dark pockets or those areas where
Speaker 1: they may have each scouted and they may they may
Speaker 1: be willing to walk in there. Um, but that's very
Speaker 1: few that might be able to do that. Um, what
Speaker 1: I do find myself doing is gravitating away from those
Speaker 1: easy to park and walk in spots. And I think
Speaker 1: that is my my quick answer to to how do
Speaker 1: I get away from them? So I'm not going to
Speaker 1: parket trail EDGs and then walk in. I want to
Speaker 1: find I'm coming right off the road. Maybe I you know,
Speaker 1: drove down this dirt road and at the very end
Speaker 1: of that dirt road is a trailhead. Instead of coming
Speaker 1: in at that trailhead, I might find myself driving down
Speaker 1: that road and then I have to bomb up this
Speaker 1: hill to get into a different area than then where
Speaker 1: they may be. UM. So I think the aspect of
Speaker 1: going places where no one really wants to go or
Speaker 1: not many want ago, and then the fact that hey,
Speaker 1: it looks like it might be elk over this way
Speaker 1: parking there, and then trying in those different areas. Uh.
Speaker 1: I find myself that I don't run into a lot
Speaker 1: of hunters into places that I've been, but I've also
Speaker 1: hunted into some OTC units where it's tough. You have
Speaker 1: thousands of hunters into these particular areas. Uh. What I
Speaker 1: try to do is, uh stay away from those trailheads
Speaker 1: and find those area is where if they were at
Speaker 1: that trailhead, where would they push these elks too? So, um,
Speaker 1: good example with you know, a good trailhead goes into
Speaker 1: a good basin. If you know you've got four or
Speaker 1: five or six hunters that are in that basin, maybe
Speaker 1: looking over two more basins to the left or right
Speaker 1: and trying those areas instead of hunting that one basin
Speaker 1: that those six or seven hunters are in. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: love that. I love that. You know, taking the the
Speaker 1: proverbial road less traveled, you know, get off, get off
Speaker 1: trail bush whack out through the brush trees, you know,
Speaker 1: go hike through the more difficult places. If it's hard
Speaker 1: for a person to get there, that will probably weed
Speaker 1: out a lot of your a lot of your other
Speaker 1: fellow hunters. Um there, maybe you know they're not good
Speaker 1: enough shape, or maybe they're not confident on their navigation
Speaker 1: abilities to go to those kind of places. So that's
Speaker 1: absolutely that's some good insight there. Um. Now with that mind,
Speaker 1: all these ol you know, some of them can probably
Speaker 1: be pushed into those spots, those little pockets, those off
Speaker 1: the you know, out of out of mind, out of
Speaker 1: out of sight, out of mind, type pockets. Um, but
Speaker 1: they've been messed with a little bit a lot of times.
Speaker 1: How how are you calling? How are you gonna? Is
Speaker 1: your calling effective? Um? To those those up have been
Speaker 1: pressured a little bit, Um, are you doing something a
Speaker 1: little different than maybe you know what's your secret here
Speaker 1: your secrets house? Yeah, so you know I can Well,
Speaker 1: let's let's start with like an O T C unit
Speaker 1: for Colorado. Um, I go through phases throughout the season
Speaker 1: of September, and uh, I'm fortunate enough to be able
Speaker 1: to take all of September off, so I can really like,
Speaker 1: like nick pick or what these are really going to
Speaker 1: respond to? So for me, you know, in an O
Speaker 1: T C unit, let's say at the very beginning, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, a nonresident, probably not all of them are
Speaker 1: gonna come out here for thirty days. They're probably gonna
Speaker 1: come out here for about ten days, maybe ten to
Speaker 1: twelve days, I don't know. But most most of all
Speaker 1: the ones that I've known and I've run into, they
Speaker 1: do about a teen day hunt and not a lot
Speaker 1: of shoes to pick. The very beginning of season. They
Speaker 1: want to come in its prime rut activity, so they
Speaker 1: usually picking that mean to end September, and so at
Speaker 1: the very beginning of September, I like to try to
Speaker 1: to stick with my guns no matter what unit I'm in, UM.
Speaker 1: But I do find it a little different when it
Speaker 1: comes to OTC units. So when I'm at the very
Speaker 1: beginning of September used to be like the end of
Speaker 1: August in the September, but now they have it in September,
Speaker 1: the very beginning of sept seasons. At in September, what
Speaker 1: I like to try to do is I'm move into
Speaker 1: those different areas that that I think or hold milk,
Speaker 1: and I use a lot more bugles than I do
Speaker 1: cow sounds. UM. Not that I'm not using cow sounds.
Speaker 1: I'm just more heavy on the bugle side of it.
Speaker 1: And if it has more to do with the phase
Speaker 1: of the r like I'm I'm introducing a bull that's
Speaker 1: at this playground and they've never heard him before, if
Speaker 1: that makes kind of sense. And then then when we
Speaker 1: get towards like that September tenth to mid September, I started,
Speaker 1: I try to mix in a combination of both of
Speaker 1: the bugles in cow sounds. So I'm I'm not so
Speaker 1: much heavy on the bugle side I'm more in the
Speaker 1: middle of using both sides of the aspect, and then
Speaker 1: towards the latter part of the season, towards the end
Speaker 1: of September, I'm heavy, heavy on cow sounds, and that's
Speaker 1: been effective for me anywhere I've been, whether it's OTC
Speaker 1: units or UM over the I mean drawing units. Now,
Speaker 1: I will say this is when you you get those
Speaker 1: O T C units and you get a lot of
Speaker 1: hunters out there, thousands and seven hundred in one particular unit,
Speaker 1: they've heard everything from dub flute to some of the
Speaker 1: best colors in the woods, and they could distinguish, believe
Speaker 1: it or not, they can distinguish a good sounding elk
Speaker 1: versus a person. And after being blown at by maybe
Speaker 1: one of those power bugle tubes or something, they've been
Speaker 1: blown that hundreds of times with this tube, and they've
Speaker 1: been fooled and they've been called in. They wise up
Speaker 1: really quick, especially throughout the month of September. So what
Speaker 1: I do find that it's more effect of that in
Speaker 1: an O T C unit. For myself, you know, I'm
Speaker 1: speaking just for myself when I when I find that
Speaker 1: seven hundred to a thousand hundreds in the unit, And
Speaker 1: I know everybody's in their calling. What I find best
Speaker 1: moving as close as possible to that that bugling bull
Speaker 1: or that herd, and I use cow sounds, quality, good
Speaker 1: cow sounds. Now from trying to kill a rag horn
Speaker 1: bull or a satellite bull, that right there is a factor.
Speaker 1: And most of the time those bulls are coming quiet.
Speaker 1: You'll hear that herd bull, he'll be chirping and going
Speaker 1: absolutely nuts. And a lot of times when you're using
Speaker 1: those cow sounds, that bull might have some satellites with them,
Speaker 1: and them satellites to come in, they're come in quiet.
Speaker 1: I might only be four dred yards from that herd,
Speaker 1: but when I use that cow sound, it'll pull a
Speaker 1: satellite bull in. And believe it or not, there's a
Speaker 1: lot of big satellites out theater. And and for a
Speaker 1: non resident that's coming from, uh, you know, a state
Speaker 1: like Colorado, that might be a really effective way to
Speaker 1: kill a bull. But um, going back to what I said,
Speaker 1: I really don't try to change anything. Whether you're over
Speaker 1: the counter unit or or a draw unit, I use it.
Speaker 1: I use my calls throughout the season of September based
Speaker 1: off right activities, so heavy on the bogle sales. At
Speaker 1: the very beginning of the season, mid mid month, I
Speaker 1: go make some both, and then towards the end of season,
Speaker 1: I use a lot of cow stems. Man, I couldn't
Speaker 1: agree more with what you said. Those are some really
Speaker 1: really good, insightful tactics, and I agree like that early
Speaker 1: season and I feel like this is something our our
Speaker 1: listeners really need to kind of key into. UM. I
Speaker 1: do a lot of seminars. You do a lot of
Speaker 1: seminars every year, and a lot of folks, you know,
Speaker 1: they're like, hey, that early season stuff, you know, should
Speaker 1: I just be blown a calcool? I feel like there's
Speaker 1: like some information or out there, or maybe they just
Speaker 1: this conception that um that the idea of like only
Speaker 1: because bulls aren't hot and and running super hard, they're
Speaker 1: not gonna want to answer a bugle or come to
Speaker 1: a bugle in that early part of step let's say
Speaker 1: the first week of September. But at that point, you
Speaker 1: know they're not you know, they can be breeding, but
Speaker 1: a lot of times they're still work they're just on
Speaker 1: the edge of that rut and they're still working out
Speaker 1: a little bit of that pecking order, and like, like
Speaker 1: what you said, They're like, hey, who's that new guy
Speaker 1: in town? You know, I've had bulls come in out
Speaker 1: of curiosity. They wouldn't they wouldn't answer a cal call early.
Speaker 1: But man, you bugle at them, they would come in
Speaker 1: and they wouldn't get super mad, they wouldn't get wound up,
Speaker 1: you know, like they do later in the month. But
Speaker 1: they would bugle steady and they would come in and
Speaker 1: it's like, hey, who is this guy? Who's this new
Speaker 1: guy over here? Hey? Jack, what who are you? And Uh,
Speaker 1: I've I've had that work time and time again, and
Speaker 1: so I feel like, you know, the idea of just
Speaker 1: going out and be like, oh yeah, early season, I
Speaker 1: should you know that September one to the the fifth
Speaker 1: or whatever, I should only blow cal calls. I just don't.
Speaker 1: For me, it's just never really worked that good. Um.
Speaker 1: I actually I get more success with bugling. So um,
Speaker 1: that's a that's a great takeaway German. Yeah, I I
Speaker 1: could argue this, you know, year and a year out
Speaker 1: you'll hear, you know, new hunters. I'd say, primarily new hunters,
Speaker 1: and they'd be like, you're bugling too much. No, there's
Speaker 1: no such thing. If there's a bull in there that
Speaker 1: wants to play, he will answer. And I find it
Speaker 1: very very intriguing that when you introducible early in the
Speaker 1: season to an area that that bull or those bulls
Speaker 1: have been hanging out, they are curious to see who
Speaker 1: the heck the new guy is. Yeah, and they and
Speaker 1: they will come in Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Hey, let me
Speaker 1: let me ask you this. So there's a lot of
Speaker 1: new hunters out there, new callers, and what's your take?
Speaker 1: Do you have to sound how authentic? Do you have
Speaker 1: to sound like an ELK? I mean, can you just
Speaker 1: get a any kind of an ELK call and go
Speaker 1: out and blow it with you know, just a little
Speaker 1: bit of you know, talent or should they sound you know,
Speaker 1: practice what they're calls and try to sound as authentic
Speaker 1: and sound as much like an ELK as possible. What
Speaker 1: do you think that makes a difference. It's absolutely huge. Days.
Speaker 1: Let's go back to like kind of where I was
Speaker 1: talking about the OTC units, the heavily hunted units. Now
Speaker 1: you can take a brand new caller that just learned
Speaker 1: how to call, and put him in an O T
Speaker 1: C unit that's heavily hunted, and yes, he somewhat sounds
Speaker 1: like an ELK and uh, and he probably gets one
Speaker 1: encounter uh throughout his season in the O t C unit.
Speaker 1: But then you take someone that is a seasoned ELK
Speaker 1: caller and he's very good and he sounds very realistic,
Speaker 1: and you put him in that O t C unit,
Speaker 1: he's gonna he or she's gonna have way more encounters
Speaker 1: than the person that just talked themselves how to call.
Speaker 1: Versus the guy that uh you know, goes out there,
Speaker 1: stops at Walmart or wherever it picks up a call,
Speaker 1: sounds somewhat like an ELK and goes out and he
Speaker 1: only gets one encounter, versus the guy that guya gao
Speaker 1: that goes out and they practice hearing you out and
Speaker 1: they sound realistic. You'll find yourself, You'll find yourself separating
Speaker 1: your yourself from from just the random hunters versus the
Speaker 1: hunters that kind of get it done year in the
Speaker 1: year out, or they find themselves in ELK all the time. No,
Speaker 1: you don't have to sound like, you know, spitting image
Speaker 1: of the giant bull in the playground, but it helps
Speaker 1: out dramatically if you do sound more realistic than your
Speaker 1: counterparts that are still hunting the same area. Um, but
Speaker 1: once again, you know, you can stop at Walmart and
Speaker 1: pick up a call, or stop at your local archery
Speaker 1: shop on the way in and practice and probably get
Speaker 1: a you know, a couple of encounters, but you separate
Speaker 1: yourself dramatically from the field where you sound more realistic.
Speaker 1: But you can obviously, I mean, I've done it at
Speaker 1: a at a young as when I started hunting elk
Speaker 1: in two thousand and six. It's not the same Germaine
Speaker 1: eyes that hunts now, right. I didn't sound like this
Speaker 1: in two thousand and six, and I still called in
Speaker 1: elk because I sounded someone like an elk. But it
Speaker 1: takes also another line of I'm going in areas where
Speaker 1: no one else is messed with two, and that kind
Speaker 1: of adds into the flavor of I don't have to
Speaker 1: sound realistic because the elka partying over here. And maybe
Speaker 1: I called off a satellite bull and and I won
Speaker 1: that way. So I think the more realistic that you
Speaker 1: do sound, you separate yourself from the field. Yeah, I agree. Um,
Speaker 1: how many times have you been out there, have been
Speaker 1: calling a bull and you got you and the bull
Speaker 1: are exchanging bugles and then all of a sudden you
Speaker 1: hear a guy up on the ridge that sounds terrible.
Speaker 1: It sounds like he's abusing a puppy or something. Just
Speaker 1: he's making these sounds are supposed to be like an elk,
Speaker 1: but maybe either not even an elk like sound, or
Speaker 1: maybe it's a semi okay bugle. I don't know how
Speaker 1: many times I've had that happen to where the elk
Speaker 1: just stops. You know, you know this is over the counter.
Speaker 1: You know, heavily hundred bull will shut up. He just topped,
Speaker 1: he just quit calling, So I'll just quit calling too,
Speaker 1: and then like maybe I'll give it thirty forty minutes
Speaker 1: after I hear the last bugle, maybe let that guy
Speaker 1: have a chance to leave, and then I'll call again. Bam,
Speaker 1: It's like game on again. So those elk, you know,
Speaker 1: I don't know. Um. I think some of our our
Speaker 1: listeners probably know. You know, elk can get pretty in
Speaker 1: tune to if you're an elk or or a hunter
Speaker 1: or not. UM. But I will say this, I think
Speaker 1: you know there's one there's one difference. You know, I
Speaker 1: said earlier. You're a world champion caller. You know you
Speaker 1: don't have to sound like a world champion caller, but
Speaker 1: you do have to sound like an elk, right, And
Speaker 1: there's a lot of weird sounding elk out there, but
Speaker 1: a lot of these calls where people aren't putting in
Speaker 1: time to learn how to use a call. You know,
Speaker 1: they sound like a guy or gal bugle. It sounds
Speaker 1: like a hunter, right, Whereas put some more time in
Speaker 1: and get some little bit of a nuance and get
Speaker 1: more of a realistic sound. It may not be perfect,
Speaker 1: it doesn't sound like somebody on the world stage, but
Speaker 1: what it does sound like is a real elk. So yeah,
Speaker 1: that's that's a great, great, great point there. All right.
Speaker 1: I think we'll switch gears here now and I want
Speaker 1: to kind of talk a little bit about ethics, right.
Speaker 1: Ethics is always a kind of a hot spot, um
Speaker 1: when we're all hunting, especially over the counter type tags.
Speaker 1: You know, Um, what are your thoughts about navigating the
Speaker 1: landscape when you're out hunting and hunters being respectful with
Speaker 1: each other? Um? For instance, you know, if you what
Speaker 1: if you read much on social media, you know, people
Speaker 1: will kind of talk about maybe an encounter they how
Speaker 1: to fellow hunter that was negative. You know, they were
Speaker 1: they were they were calling in a bowl and um,
Speaker 1: then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, some other
Speaker 1: hunter kind of slips in between them. You know, is
Speaker 1: that in your mind? Is that okay? Is that something
Speaker 1: that like we should kind of be like, well, that's
Speaker 1: that's that's fine, it's not you know, we all have
Speaker 1: the same opportunity out there or ethically, is that just
Speaker 1: like that's kind of that's kind of a no. No, guys,
Speaker 1: you know, we don't want to we don't want to
Speaker 1: do that. What what's your take on that? Well, you know,
Speaker 1: I think it's a very thin line. I don't do
Speaker 1: this particularly, um, but there's a very thin line. We
Speaker 1: also have to understand that, you know, it's public playing.
Speaker 1: This person's bought the tag. I bought the tag. Where
Speaker 1: we're you know, hunting impro uh close proximity of the
Speaker 1: same area. Maybe I got there before he did, or
Speaker 1: or he got there before I did. Um. I try
Speaker 1: to take it as as this is. If we pull
Speaker 1: up to a trailhead and I see one other vehicle there,
Speaker 1: it's a chance that that might be a hunter, not
Speaker 1: a hiker, not a Backpacker's a chance that that might
Speaker 1: be a hunter. And as I'm working my way through
Speaker 1: the you know, the terrain that I want to work
Speaker 1: or the area that I want to work, and I
Speaker 1: pick up I pick up the notion that hey, there's
Speaker 1: a there's a hunter up there on that ridge not
Speaker 1: too far from us. I usually tend to turn around
Speaker 1: and kind of go to opposite direction then where that
Speaker 1: particular hunter is. Um if he's in the direction where
Speaker 1: I'm heading, I'll try to take a uh longer path
Speaker 1: around that particular person to get where I'm going. But
Speaker 1: I also know that some of units are very small
Speaker 1: and you're gonna run into people. But I think the
Speaker 1: right answer for anybody is just showing a little bit
Speaker 1: of respect out there, because if if I end up
Speaker 1: working a bull and you hear me, when you hear
Speaker 1: that bull, it's probably a chance that you don't know
Speaker 1: it's me up there, because as we said before, I
Speaker 1: practice a sound like an elk, and there there might
Speaker 1: be a chance that he's working in not knowing at
Speaker 1: all that I'm up there, right, and then we would
Speaker 1: kind of run into each other. But most of the
Speaker 1: nine of the people that I've run into are super
Speaker 1: nice and super respectful. Man, I didn't know you was
Speaker 1: in there. Sorry, I messed up your your stuff, No
Speaker 1: big deal. You know it's it's a it's a public
Speaker 1: land and we're hunting the same areas. And and you
Speaker 1: know now that I know what he's driving, because I'm
Speaker 1: gonna asking, hey, what are you driving, so I could
Speaker 1: stay away from that area that he's working. But I
Speaker 1: think it. I think that as hunters, we owe each
Speaker 1: other the respect to kind of give each other our
Speaker 1: space because there's lots of I mean for Colorado for example,
Speaker 1: there's lots of land out here that's um that's uh,
Speaker 1: you know, over the counter land, whether it's public land, uh,
Speaker 1: whether it's b A L M and stuff that you
Speaker 1: can hunt. And I think we owe it to each
Speaker 1: other to kind of uh guard our way, to avoid
Speaker 1: each other, and believe it or not, when you do that,
Speaker 1: you find yourself called the more el kinnois. So that
Speaker 1: hunter might be bumping the elk into another ridge. You
Speaker 1: go check that other ridge, no hunters back there, and
Speaker 1: you called it the elk. So I think, as as
Speaker 1: hunt as, we owe it to each other to kind
Speaker 1: of kind of just show that respect. Yeah, I agree.
Speaker 1: I think I think sometimes people get caught up being
Speaker 1: so competitive. You know, every everybody wants to get that elk,
Speaker 1: you know, a elk or whatever they've they've they've put
Speaker 1: invested a lot of time, they've invested energy, they've invested
Speaker 1: money to get there. And I think sometimes, you know,
Speaker 1: emotions will let um. Sometimes some folks will let their
Speaker 1: emotions run wild and be like they're gonna do whatever
Speaker 1: it takes to get that bull, you know, by illegal means.
Speaker 1: But unfortunately, sometimes that could it could be a little
Speaker 1: tricky situation with another hunter. And and I always like
Speaker 1: to say, you know, let's let's follow the golden rule,
Speaker 1: you know, doing to others as they would do unto you. Right, Um,
Speaker 1: if I don't want, you know, I don't feel like
Speaker 1: I want some other hunter climbing up on me whenever
Speaker 1: I'm trying to get a bull, I'm I'm definitely not gonna,
Speaker 1: you know, intrude into somebody other's someone else's hunting. And
Speaker 1: if I were to do that, I would definitely feel
Speaker 1: bad about it. And if I saw him, I'd say, man,
Speaker 1: I'm really sorry. So but I think I agree. I
Speaker 1: think majority of the people out there are trying to
Speaker 1: do it right. They're they're trying to to um to
Speaker 1: go out and have a good time and connect and
Speaker 1: kind of get away far away from many mankind as
Speaker 1: they can. You know, I think that's what they're there for.
Speaker 1: So that's good. Um. Yeah, I quick story last year season,
Speaker 1: I was hunting particular area and I've known this area
Speaker 1: for a while and I've known that not many people
Speaker 1: go in this area. Well, as I'm hunting this area,
Speaker 1: I got a few bulls to respond, and I know
Speaker 1: legitimately that these are bulls, and I'm working on and
Speaker 1: as I'm working them, you know, they kind of got
Speaker 1: quiet on me a little bit. And I didn't understand
Speaker 1: why they got quiet because everything was perfect in for
Speaker 1: my scenario. But about twenty minutes later, as I'm trying
Speaker 1: to get these bulls to respond, I look up and
Speaker 1: I see these two hunters snooping in on me, and
Speaker 1: so I waved that. I waved at him, and the
Speaker 1: guy comes that. We kind of run into each other
Speaker 1: and I said, he said, man, you sound amazing. We
Speaker 1: we really thought that you were the bull. And I said, well, um,
Speaker 1: was a couple of bulls up here, and lo and behold,
Speaker 1: I figured out the whole picture of what was going on.
Speaker 1: The wind was great for us. The wind was horrible
Speaker 1: for them. And then when they started working into both
Speaker 1: of me and the other bulls, the wind was horrible.
Speaker 1: And that I think that that those elp smelled them.
Speaker 1: And that's the only thing I could pointed to because
Speaker 1: of where they came from and where these bulls were
Speaker 1: so um. But now that I knew that they were
Speaker 1: hunting back there in that area, I pulled out of
Speaker 1: that area. I didn't go back in that area for
Speaker 1: five or six days. I just wanted to let them
Speaker 1: have what they were gonna have in that area. And uh,
Speaker 1: I didn't come back in there until five or six
Speaker 1: days later. But come to find out, they were locals
Speaker 1: and they pretty much had that area lockdown with trail
Speaker 1: cameras and some other areas. And I thought they you know,
Speaker 1: when when we got back in there towards the end
Speaker 1: of season, I thought they were gone. And lo and
Speaker 1: behold they they they were still in there work in
Speaker 1: those same group elk Or. What I did is I
Speaker 1: ran into him again. I said, Okay, I'm not coming
Speaker 1: back here in this particular area again. What I'm gonna
Speaker 1: do is I'm gonna check the next ridge over because
Speaker 1: if they've been hunting in that area for that long.
Speaker 1: They pushed these elk to another ridge and lo and
Speaker 1: behold they did, and we found it very successful. When
Speaker 1: we went over the next ridge, we were calling in
Speaker 1: to huns of bulls and those were the same bulls
Speaker 1: that they had on those trail cameras. Man. That's all,
Speaker 1: you know, just just showing a little bit of respect.
Speaker 1: I know, if they wanted to hunt that area, then
Speaker 1: I'll let him have it, because I'll go check some
Speaker 1: other areas. Yep. That's that's the thing. You know. There's
Speaker 1: just so much, so much ground out there. You know,
Speaker 1: I think everybody, you know, there's there's room for everybody,
Speaker 1: especially if everybody just kind of goes the wrong way
Speaker 1: and and have and it just it turns out to
Speaker 1: be a better hunt man anyway. So now that's awesome. Yeah,
Speaker 1: let's talk about hunting partners a little bit. So hunting partners,
Speaker 1: a person kind of gets pretty good friends, pretty tight
Speaker 1: with hunting partner, and sometimes it can be a disaster
Speaker 1: and sometimes it can be you become brothers, right, and um,
Speaker 1: what do you think sets that apart? What? What what's
Speaker 1: been your experience to have you have a successful relationship
Speaker 1: with the hunting partner. Well, you know, I've hunted with
Speaker 1: I've been fortunate enough to hunt with lots of people
Speaker 1: throughout my elk hunting adventures, and UM, I found that,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm very selective on a personal side, I'm
Speaker 1: very selective of you know who. I try to go
Speaker 1: out to the woods, woods, and and um, and I've
Speaker 1: got to understand that my hunting style is not gonna
Speaker 1: jail with everybody, and and and they're hunting style, so um,
Speaker 1: you know I had to I had the fortunate opportunity
Speaker 1: to hunt with a good prin last year, and his
Speaker 1: hunting style was way more relaxed in mind. And I'm
Speaker 1: a go getter. I'm I'm very aggressive and and and
Speaker 1: I tried to pick the hunting partners that are gonna
Speaker 1: last a long time with me, that their style is
Speaker 1: very similar to my style. And we have some of
Speaker 1: the same goals that we want to achieve, not just
Speaker 1: coming out here to harvest and elk, but um maybe
Speaker 1: possibly checking out new areas or whatever the kids may be.
Speaker 1: But it's a lifestyle. And if my hunting partner can
Speaker 1: live that lifestyle for three, six or five like I do,
Speaker 1: we live and we wake up and we think about
Speaker 1: wake up thinking about the next adventure, and we wake
Speaker 1: up thinking about, man, I gotta get on the phone
Speaker 1: my buddy and see if he's thinking the same thing.
Speaker 1: And I was just thinking that same thing. So I think,
Speaker 1: you know, I think hunting partners are built through friendship,
Speaker 1: and when you have a good friend that hunts um,
Speaker 1: I think you will find that you guys have the
Speaker 1: same beliefs and in the same goals at the very end.
Speaker 1: So for me, I'm very selective when it comes to
Speaker 1: hunting partners. I give everybody a try, just like I'll
Speaker 1: try any kind of food, but doesn't mean I'm gonna
Speaker 1: eat that food again. I might be like, hey, that
Speaker 1: that that sabi was nasty. I'm not doing that anymore.
Speaker 1: So so I think for me it I love actually
Speaker 1: hunting with a partner because I like sharing sharing the
Speaker 1: same passion with somebody, and it it puts a really,
Speaker 1: really big smile on my face when I can call
Speaker 1: lean a for my partner and see his eyes light
Speaker 1: up like he's a kid. That's awesome to me. I'm like, dude,
Speaker 1: that was a great encounter. That was awesome. But I
Speaker 1: also hold Uh, I hold my my hunting partners that
Speaker 1: have been with me for a while, I hold him
Speaker 1: at a very high standard, and I'll let him know
Speaker 1: the heartbeat. Man you slipped? Oh man? So um, I
Speaker 1: get this question a lot of talking to people and
Speaker 1: they say, um, what if your hunting partners not working out?
Speaker 1: How do you break up? How do you let's say,
Speaker 1: you know and just say well, sometimes, you know, if
Speaker 1: it's just not driving, just you don't have to. You
Speaker 1: have to cut the court at some point. But you know,
Speaker 1: it's family. You know, it's my my brother in law,
Speaker 1: or it's my my uncle or whatever. You know. He
Speaker 1: wants to set in camp and drink beer all the time,
Speaker 1: and I want to go hike up and down the
Speaker 1: mountains and chase bugles. And you know what happens when
Speaker 1: you have you've either drifted away or you've put all
Speaker 1: some effort into, you know, getting this hunting partner, and
Speaker 1: in the end it turns out, you know, guys aren't
Speaker 1: driving real good. How would you approach like giving them
Speaker 1: the ultimatum like, hey, let's we're gonna either hunt like
Speaker 1: this or maybe we can't hunt anymore. How would you
Speaker 1: how would you do that? Well, I've run into that
Speaker 1: in my past. Um, but you can call me ruthless.
Speaker 1: I guess you can call me ruthless. I guess a
Speaker 1: lot of people do call My wife definitely calls the ruthless.
Speaker 1: You're ruthless mean and I'm like, nah, this goes the
Speaker 1: same goals as mine, and uh so I will say this.
Speaker 1: It's a very thing line. You have a family member
Speaker 1: and I've talked to somebody in the past about this.
Speaker 1: You have a family member that who wants to go
Speaker 1: hunting with you. They they they'll go hunting with you
Speaker 1: every year. And they refused to learn how to call
Speaker 1: the milk. They refused to work count, they refused you this. Well,
Speaker 1: it's okay that we go to camp and we hang out,
Speaker 1: but you know, at the very end of this, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go this way. You can go whatever way you
Speaker 1: want to. Doesn't mean I can't share a camp with you.
Speaker 1: It just means I might be hiking further than you
Speaker 1: can go and get in there a little bit different. Um,
Speaker 1: But know that there's if that's a weight that's holding
Speaker 1: you down year in and year out, and that might
Speaker 1: be the turning point of you being successful and not
Speaker 1: being successful, you have to cut those ties. You have to,
Speaker 1: and I'm a firm believer of of letting that person know, Hey, listen,
Speaker 1: this year, I'm gonna do things a little differently and
Speaker 1: then explain yourself and whether they like it or not.
Speaker 1: This man, we've been doing this for ten years. You
Speaker 1: refused to work out, you refused to learn how to call.
Speaker 1: We go out here ten years straight and we haven't
Speaker 1: killed a nail kit. Uh, there's an issue here, and
Speaker 1: I'm doing every thing in my power to be successful.
Speaker 1: So there's a real thing line there. I mean, I
Speaker 1: guess as a as a family member, you don't want
Speaker 1: to hurt their feelings. But at the same time, Um,
Speaker 1: at the very end of this, you do what's best
Speaker 1: for you in your tag. Right If if you feel
Speaker 1: like this partner is not cutting the weight and you
Speaker 1: have the tag, then you do what's best for you
Speaker 1: and your tag, and you have to put yourself above
Speaker 1: the others. It's almost a selfish thing. You almost have
Speaker 1: to be a little a little selfish when it comes
Speaker 1: to being successful out in the elk woods. Now it
Speaker 1: comes back down to where I was talking about choosing
Speaker 1: your partners and choosing them right. If you've done that
Speaker 1: at the very beginning, you wouldn't find yourself in this
Speaker 1: this this particular moment. And if you've been hunting together
Speaker 1: for a long time, then you just need to have
Speaker 1: that little talk with with your hunting partner. Hey, I
Speaker 1: need you to start getting in shape, buddy, not just
Speaker 1: for elk season, but maybe for your health, for for longevity.
Speaker 1: And then you know, those little talks resonate and and
Speaker 1: if you if you don't, if you don't open your
Speaker 1: mouth and open clothed mouth doesn't get fed, and you'll
Speaker 1: get the same results you in a year out. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I love that. I love that. I feel like, um,
Speaker 1: one successful way. Let's say you're you're you're thinking about
Speaker 1: bringing on a new hunting partner. I think communications super
Speaker 1: important in the beginning. These are my goals, This is
Speaker 1: what I want out of hunting, This is the experience.
Speaker 1: I want to see how to l hunting right, I
Speaker 1: want to do I want to do it this way.
Speaker 1: And what are your goals? You know, compare goals, compare notes,
Speaker 1: if if notes and goals and can compare if they're comparable. Um, yeah,
Speaker 1: let's let's see how this goes. And then putting in
Speaker 1: the offseason work like you said, scouting home, you know, ea,
Speaker 1: scouting working out. You know, if they're working just as
Speaker 1: hard as you in the off season to figure out
Speaker 1: elk hunting and they're trying to, um be successful, that's
Speaker 1: another good that's another good quality for a good partner, right, um,
Speaker 1: And then I love what you said about you know, Hey,
Speaker 1: you know, I'll share a camp with you. But you know,
Speaker 1: we obviously have two different kind of mindsets on on
Speaker 1: how we want to hunt together. So tell you what,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go do what I like to do. You
Speaker 1: go do what you like to do. And hey, you
Speaker 1: know what, if you get one, I'll come help you
Speaker 1: pack it out. And if I get one, well, if
Speaker 1: you want come help me pack it out or whatever.
Speaker 1: But I feel like there's there's, uh, there's a good
Speaker 1: option there for you know, not completely ending a friendship.
Speaker 1: But you know, um, because you know, there's I think
Speaker 1: there's been a lot of friendships that have been that
Speaker 1: have actually ended over over over hunting camps and and
Speaker 1: uh and some you know, maybe that's better. You know,
Speaker 1: you're you're better off that way anyway. But but yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's tough to find a good hunting partner that
Speaker 1: that you jive on all levels. Um, and I think too,
Speaker 1: it's important to find that person that that they're gonna
Speaker 1: work so just as hard in the field for you
Speaker 1: to get your tag tag filled as they want to
Speaker 1: fill their own, if not more like like I want
Speaker 1: if I go hunt with Germaine, I want Germaine to
Speaker 1: kill an elk more than I want to kill an elk.
Speaker 1: I almost feel like that's like the ultimate gift you
Speaker 1: can give someone is to call in a bull for
Speaker 1: him and help him succeed get a bull. I feel
Speaker 1: like that's like the ultimate gift to give, right, And
Speaker 1: they say giving is better than receiving. Right. But on
Speaker 1: the flip side, if I do that for you, then
Speaker 1: you're gonna see that and you're gonna want to reciprocate.
Speaker 1: You're gonna be like, man, he worked hard for me
Speaker 1: to get that. I really want to pay back that favor.
Speaker 1: And it's just it's just good business, right. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'll give you a quick story. Um, last year, before
Speaker 1: season even started, you know, I have a good, a
Speaker 1: good hunting partner of mine that we've been hunting for
Speaker 1: years together. And UM, I told him what my goals
Speaker 1: were communication part of it, and I told him, I said,
Speaker 1: I need to know that are you willing to do this,
Speaker 1: because if you're not, then I'm gonna bring in somebody
Speaker 1: else that's willing to do this. And it wasn't that
Speaker 1: I was cutting ties. I was just making sure that
Speaker 1: we were gonna be chilling the whole season because I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna have you mad at me because I'm trying
Speaker 1: to do this and you're not really trying to do that. Well,
Speaker 1: a long story short, he told me this. He said,
Speaker 1: I'm not carrying my boat until we get this goal done.
Speaker 1: And I said, okay, well I'm gonna hold you to that,
Speaker 1: you know, and he didn't once carry his I told him,
Speaker 1: I said, as soon as I'm done, I promise you
Speaker 1: I will call you in it. Because he didn't. He
Speaker 1: didn't wanted to. He wanted to shoot anything, right, He'll
Speaker 1: shoot anything as long as it was lingal He'll shoot anything.
Speaker 1: And I said, I promise you I'll returned that. And
Speaker 1: sure enough, because I say this, what this was the
Speaker 1: first year that anyone has called in an ELK for me, anyone,
Speaker 1: And that was a super a super happy moment. To
Speaker 1: see it at its at its fart as anyways, and
Speaker 1: then after we were done, we went back in and
Speaker 1: I called in a giant for him in return. So
Speaker 1: it works out just like that. But you have to
Speaker 1: communicate at the very beginning and let them know, Hey,
Speaker 1: these are the goals. Um, are you willing to do this?
Speaker 1: And and sure enough, once you find that partner, don't
Speaker 1: ever let go. Always keep that that bond, keep that
Speaker 1: bond with them. Yeah, I love it, I love it.
Speaker 1: Those are some great insights, Germaine. So what's up for?
Speaker 1: What does your schedule look like? Are you are you?
Speaker 1: Are you ell counting? Are you gonna help count this year? Oh?
Speaker 1: That's what That's not even a question, is it? Okay?
Speaker 1: So are you are you gonna um chase Elk in
Speaker 1: your homestead of Colorado? Youre gonna venture out at all? Yeah? So, um,
Speaker 1: you know, I think I got a couple of different
Speaker 1: things going on. Um first and foremost, I burned up
Speaker 1: my points last year. Uh in this particular unit that UM,
Speaker 1: I love. I love this unit a lot, and I know,
Speaker 1: you know, there's always an opportunity to kill some some
Speaker 1: very I say, big bulls for Colorado, big bulls three thirty,
Speaker 1: but there's a lot of big bulls that are well
Speaker 1: over three sixty and you know even better. So in
Speaker 1: this particular unit, I burned up my points. So this year,
Speaker 1: I'm not going to draw that unit. But there's some
Speaker 1: opportunities on the second draw in a re issue list
Speaker 1: and then put for the listeners that don't know that
Speaker 1: re issue lists is huge. There's a lot of opportunities
Speaker 1: where let's say they're down, you know, got a tag
Speaker 1: and he can't make it to Colorado, and he got
Speaker 1: a primo tag and he spent maybe you know, five
Speaker 1: points or six points on this tag. Well, they give
Speaker 1: the opportunity back to the public, right so if they
Speaker 1: go let's let's say that that in that list, if
Speaker 1: the tag is worth over five points, they go to
Speaker 1: the next in line. If they refused that tag, they
Speaker 1: go down like four or five people. If they refuse
Speaker 1: that tag, it gets put on the reissue list. And
Speaker 1: this year I've seen well over probably ten units that
Speaker 1: were on that reissue list that were well over eight
Speaker 1: to ten point tags. So there's a lot of opportunity
Speaker 1: on that re issue list. So what I'm gonna do
Speaker 1: is I'm gonna put in for my point as usual,
Speaker 1: and then I'm don't play that that second draw and
Speaker 1: that reissue list, and I'm gonna play that re issue
Speaker 1: list from the very beginning of August to the end
Speaker 1: of August. So that gives me four weeks on that
Speaker 1: reissue list, and if I can land a tag within
Speaker 1: that reissue list, then I'll hunt some of those premier units.
Speaker 1: If I can't get at tagged by the end of
Speaker 1: August or the beginning of September, then I'm gonna just
Speaker 1: go grab it over over the Counter tag and go
Speaker 1: slive one and over the County unit, which is probably
Speaker 1: not gonna be a issue anyways. Like I said, it's
Speaker 1: a lot of a lot of elk in Colorado. So um,
Speaker 1: that's gonna be my Colorado plan for sure. Um, rebuild
Speaker 1: rebuild points, play the second and reissue list, and then
Speaker 1: once I rebuild build points, then I'll have enough to
Speaker 1: draw maybe another premier unit like I did uh last year.
Speaker 1: If if by some chance I have to hunt over
Speaker 1: the Counter unit, I'll probably be somewhere to northwest Colorado.
Speaker 1: We're not sure exactly what unit, quite I have a
Speaker 1: lot of many in sight that I've heard it before
Speaker 1: or or I've had friends hunting before, so I'm probably
Speaker 1: gonna be up there in that northwest territory of Colorado.
Speaker 1: UM that that's my Colorado plan. Of course, I always
Speaker 1: put in for all the different kind of species, but
Speaker 1: we'll just concentrate on the elk. I am putting in
Speaker 1: for a go tag this year for sure, Mountain Goat,
Speaker 1: because the office is super good. I looked at this
Speaker 1: and I was like, Wow, there's a lot of people
Speaker 1: getting these tags with like three points or four points,
Speaker 1: so once you get past that three point, it's all
Speaker 1: random anyways. UM. But I am going to venture out
Speaker 1: of state this year if I can draw the tag,
Speaker 1: which we all know that it's hard to draw tags
Speaker 1: out of state UM as a non resident. So I'm
Speaker 1: going to put my name in the hat for a
Speaker 1: New Mexico tag. UM. I'm gonna try to link up
Speaker 1: with a outfit or use their code and possibly get
Speaker 1: in UH and extra ten percent is to draw that tag.
Speaker 1: But it's not gonna be my a plan by no means. UM.
Speaker 1: And then I'll continue to put in points for Montana.
Speaker 1: I'll continue to put points for um Wyoming because I'm
Speaker 1: not quite ready. I'm waiting because I just dropped my
Speaker 1: retirement paperwork, and I think it would be more feasible
Speaker 1: once I retire to tackle you know, two or three states. Um,
Speaker 1: I'll have the time to do that, versus you know,
Speaker 1: I have to stay close because if work does call,
Speaker 1: then I have to go back and check in or
Speaker 1: take care of some some stuff. It usually it's rare
Speaker 1: that it happens, but if if they did call, I
Speaker 1: would have to come back down the mountain and and
Speaker 1: take care of something if if it needs to be done.
Speaker 1: So I think once my you know, next year, when
Speaker 1: next year hits and I'm fully retired, I'll be able
Speaker 1: to tackle more than once one state. So I'm gonna
Speaker 1: just put my name in a hat for New Mexico
Speaker 1: pastrat in Colorado is my plan. And uh, if New
Speaker 1: Masico hits and I get it tagged down there, I'll
Speaker 1: play both fields right on. That sounds like a pretty
Speaker 1: good plan, pretty good plan um for me. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm still trying to figure it out. You know, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm an Idaho resident, so definitely get an Idaho tag
Speaker 1: Um looking at some new country this year? Um, so
Speaker 1: who knows I'm gonna I'm gonna cast a wide net
Speaker 1: and see what I pick up. We'll see where I'm going.
Speaker 1: I don't I don't even know yet, but I have
Speaker 1: an idea of where I'm gonna start. But but once
Speaker 1: summer hits and um, you know, I got it, had
Speaker 1: ankle surgery, So my summer I'm not gonna be able
Speaker 1: to do much at all till probably June July, for
Speaker 1: for hiking wise, So man, I got a lot of
Speaker 1: work to do in June, July and August. So but
Speaker 1: a lot of the snows and mountain snows are are
Speaker 1: not always gone in any earlier than that in Idaho anyway,
Speaker 1: So um, you can't really get into a lot of
Speaker 1: places until at the end of June. So m but
Speaker 1: definitely gonna got my my intentions on applying out of state,
Speaker 1: you know, whether building points or applying for a tag.
Speaker 1: But we'll see my option. I ain't keeping my options
Speaker 1: open still. I mean, it's still a little bit early
Speaker 1: to try to make it formulate a plan perfectly. But
Speaker 1: but we'll see how everything kind of turns out. You know,
Speaker 1: once once, once the tags start hitting the hitting the ground.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I know, I uh I knew when Idaho, uh,
Speaker 1: when they started and they opened up the tag allocation
Speaker 1: and and uh draw, and I knew it was going
Speaker 1: to be a nightmare. And then I heard later that
Speaker 1: it was just absolutely bonkers. Um, so I'm not quite
Speaker 1: ready for Idaho for that only reason. Um, I would
Speaker 1: love to get out and hunt Idaho, but we got
Speaker 1: to get a better system before I can get on.
Speaker 1: Because if I get on there and and I'm number
Speaker 1: forty thousand in line and in your chance of getting
Speaker 1: a tag or very sleem anyway, So for non resident anyway,
Speaker 1: So for for that reason only, I'm not gonna bite
Speaker 1: that apple. You know, I'll get on my soapbox a
Speaker 1: little bit on that, you know. Um God, there's gotta
Speaker 1: be a better way, because geez Louise whenever during that time.
Speaker 1: So for our listeners who don't know how the Idaho
Speaker 1: non resident um acquiring a tag for over the counter
Speaker 1: type units, It's almost like a lottery drawing, but not
Speaker 1: really right. So you log into the website before you know,
Speaker 1: fifteen minutes before ten o'clock, let's say the tag is
Speaker 1: go and sail at ten, you lug in, You get
Speaker 1: in a virtual waiting line, and it don't matter if
Speaker 1: you're the first guy there or somebody that you get
Speaker 1: this random number, so you never know if you're gonna
Speaker 1: get your tag or not. So let's say, uh, German
Speaker 1: and I both are non residents, and we want to
Speaker 1: go to Hunt, Idaho together, so we both get online
Speaker 1: at our at our homes and okay, we're get in
Speaker 1: the virtual wedding line. I'm number fifty six and your
Speaker 1: your number fifty six thousand. Chances of you and meeting
Speaker 1: l Hunt together are slim and not. I it's a
Speaker 1: flawed system. It's there's got to be a better way
Speaker 1: to do it. And I don't know, I feel like
Speaker 1: they thought it would be more user friendly, maybe a
Speaker 1: little uh more fair. I don't know what they the
Speaker 1: Idaho fishing game or thinking on it, but I'm hoping
Speaker 1: and I don't know anything, but I'm hoping they're like
Speaker 1: looking to revamp that. And you know, why can't they
Speaker 1: do it drawing? I mean, like every other state, you know,
Speaker 1: it sucks to have to draw, but it's it's proven
Speaker 1: now in the last I don't know, a couple three
Speaker 1: years now, there's a big demand for tags and it's
Speaker 1: not their system they're doing now is not get any better.
Speaker 1: So maybe they should just go to a drawing, random
Speaker 1: drawing for those nonresident tags. That way, you and I
Speaker 1: can put in a together as a party, and if
Speaker 1: one of us draw tag, we both get it and
Speaker 1: we both get to go. Because the way it is now,
Speaker 1: it's just it's very hard for friends or family members
Speaker 1: to hunt together as a non resident, right, So I
Speaker 1: totally agree with you. Like so we we kind of
Speaker 1: flashed back a little bit. I remember it was during
Speaker 1: the covid era and everybody thought that you know, for me,
Speaker 1: I had the mind frame that everybody and their mom
Speaker 1: was gonna be out here. And it came out and
Speaker 1: it was true. It was six hundred and sixty thousand applicants,
Speaker 1: six sixty for Colorado. That's incredible, so so so now
Speaker 1: imagine now imagine that if we had the Idaho system
Speaker 1: where everybody logged in at the same time and you
Speaker 1: got a random number. Now imagine six hundred and sixty
Speaker 1: thou people trying to log in under one system. It's
Speaker 1: gonna crash. It's gonna crash. It's gonna crash big time.
Speaker 1: So I think Idaho definitely for that aspect of it.
Speaker 1: Their system is way overloaded and it's outdated compared to
Speaker 1: some of the other states. Now I do agree with you.
Speaker 1: You know, you allocate so many tags. Just put it
Speaker 1: in as a draw. You don't have to be point based,
Speaker 1: but just put it in as a draw and it
Speaker 1: could be randomized and then and then you can come
Speaker 1: up with a system later on like they have now
Speaker 1: where they go in first come, first serve. These are
Speaker 1: the tags that's left over, first come, first serve kind
Speaker 1: of thing. Yeah, yeah, absolutely, because they'll they'll be tags
Speaker 1: and get turned back, you know, so like within the
Speaker 1: first period, within the first week of those tags going
Speaker 1: on sale, I don't I'm not sure if there was
Speaker 1: any ELK tags left. I know they sold really wick right,
Speaker 1: But I feel like you and this this kind of
Speaker 1: creates a panic buy in my opinion too. So people
Speaker 1: get on there and they're like, well, gee wiz, I've
Speaker 1: waited six hours in this line and the tag I
Speaker 1: wanted I can't get, so, um, well, what is what's left? Oh,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna get one of those and they'll pick a
Speaker 1: unit that's just like, well, there's a tag that I'm
Speaker 1: gonna buy. This tag so then they buy a tag
Speaker 1: that on a unit they don't know anything about. You
Speaker 1: see it on social media a lot folks are like, Hey,
Speaker 1: this is only tag I could get. I don't know
Speaker 1: anything about it. Does anybody know anything about this unit?
Speaker 1: But uh so, if they can't find out enough positives
Speaker 1: about that tag, possible, I could see them possibly turning
Speaker 1: that tag back in right, and then it goes back
Speaker 1: and then you know, people are just delayed further and
Speaker 1: further out trying to acquire that tag. But I feel like,
Speaker 1: you know, you have your lot of amounts for each unit,
Speaker 1: um let people apply for him and you can kind
Speaker 1: of bank on it and if you drive it great,
Speaker 1: If you don't, well great, you know, and then at
Speaker 1: a certain point there'll be tags to go back. Anyway,
Speaker 1: But I feel like the experience and the opportunity for
Speaker 1: people to get the tag they want would be a
Speaker 1: little better. So anyway, I don't know. I uh, I
Speaker 1: definitely like like the way you know New Mexico does
Speaker 1: their system. Yeah, it's so randomized, it's perfect. You know,
Speaker 1: I don't need no points. I have a good, good
Speaker 1: enough chance as anybody else to get this particular tag.
Speaker 1: So it's random and then then Colorado for example, you
Speaker 1: know you could as a non resident, you could have
Speaker 1: Twinkies something points trying to get a premier unit and
Speaker 1: not get it. It's crazy. So I definitely see some
Speaker 1: changes coming to Colorado. I don't I don't know that
Speaker 1: it's gonna happen anytime soon, but it's definitely some changes
Speaker 1: come to Colorado, that's for sure, and it's gonna be
Speaker 1: hard for people to adjust to that because, um, I
Speaker 1: just don't see in near future, and I don't know
Speaker 1: when the near future is it. I don't see them
Speaker 1: continuing with the over the counter tags anymore. I just
Speaker 1: see it coming, and uh, being that I'm here and
Speaker 1: you hear a lot, I could definitely see some changes coming.
Speaker 1: So that's gonna put up. That's gonna put a big
Speaker 1: gamper on a lot of people that's trying to come
Speaker 1: to Colorado because now you're gonna have to particularly pick
Speaker 1: a unit, and if you don't know anything about that unit,
Speaker 1: there's gonna be a lot of tags turned back in. Um.
Speaker 1: I see that same thing on social media, like I
Speaker 1: true this unit, it's the only tag I can get,
Speaker 1: and everybody's like turn the tag back in is a
Speaker 1: waste of time. It's pretty funny. Yeah, well man, thanks
Speaker 1: a lot for coming on the show today. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1: It's always good to catch up with you, and I
Speaker 1: always enjoy our talks and uh man, good luck this fault.
Speaker 1: Tell her listeners, Um, where can they find Jermaine Hodge? Okay, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm usually on Instagram daily and all my posts usually
Speaker 1: go from Instagram. I just tagged it right into Facebook.
Speaker 1: I'm rarely on Facebook anymore because just so much going
Speaker 1: on in Facebook it's hard for me to keep up.
Speaker 1: But you can find me at uh Jermaine Hodge Underscore
Speaker 1: Colorado on Instagram, and then you can also find my
Speaker 1: uh my little page is called Colorado High Up two Hunters.
Speaker 1: It's not much there, but you know, it's baby steps
Speaker 1: of course. And then you can always google me. I mean,
Speaker 1: searched me on Facebook as Jermaine Hodge and I'll pop up.
Speaker 1: If I don't have an ELK picture or or deer
Speaker 1: picture there, then it's not me. Hey, one more thing,
Speaker 1: you did some filming ELK filming this fall of your hunts,
Speaker 1: and those are gonna get edited up and go on
Speaker 1: your YouTube channel. What's your YouTube channel. Yeah, so it's
Speaker 1: all gonna be on the Colorado High up to two Hunters. Um,
Speaker 1: you'll see it. It looks like, uh, it's a it's
Speaker 1: a red Colorado sign with with the mountains on there. Uh,
Speaker 1: it's once again Colorado High. Two Hunters will drop a
Speaker 1: Tendai series uh throughout the hunt and then uh and
Speaker 1: then there will be a film later on produced too
Speaker 1: as well, So it'll be fun. It's it's a lot
Speaker 1: of action packed. Um. There was a lot of days
Speaker 1: that we got into olk every day. But there was
Speaker 1: a lot of days that you get bullis they were
Speaker 1: talking and then you're like, what in the heck is
Speaker 1: going on? And then they would come in silent. That
Speaker 1: was a lot of our action. And then uh, towards
Speaker 1: the latter part of the season, it just turned up.
Speaker 1: It was it was absolutely bunker. So it is definitely
Speaker 1: gonna be some good footage on there. Man. I can't
Speaker 1: wait to see it. I can't wait to see it. Well,
Speaker 1: thanks again for coming on and we'll catch you next time,
Speaker 1: all right, appreciate you. M