1 00:00:00,360 --> 00:00:04,040 Speaker 1: You're listening to the Sportsman's Nation podcast network, brought to 2 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:08,520 Speaker 1: you by Lacrosse Boots. Now, if you haven't heard yet, uh, 3 00:00:08,560 --> 00:00:11,119 Speaker 1: this is me telling you you need to take a 4 00:00:11,160 --> 00:00:15,680 Speaker 1: look at the new boots from Lacrosse and they fall 5 00:00:15,800 --> 00:00:20,040 Speaker 1: under the Navigator series. 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I've been using mind for a 15 00:00:52,680 --> 00:00:55,360 Speaker 1: couple of weeks now and I am very impressed with 16 00:00:55,440 --> 00:00:58,400 Speaker 1: the the fit in the field and I can't wait 17 00:00:58,440 --> 00:01:01,000 Speaker 1: to get them in the woods this hunting season and 18 00:01:01,320 --> 00:01:04,839 Speaker 1: give him a trial run. So Lacrosse Footwear dot Com 19 00:01:05,200 --> 00:01:13,640 Speaker 1: check them out. My name is Clay Nukelem and I'm 20 00:01:13,680 --> 00:01:17,480 Speaker 1: the host of the Bear Hunting Magazine podcast. I'll also 21 00:01:17,600 --> 00:01:20,600 Speaker 1: be your host into the world of hunting the icon 22 00:01:21,160 --> 00:01:26,920 Speaker 1: of North American wilderness bear. We'll talk about tactics, gear, conservation, 23 00:01:27,440 --> 00:01:29,720 Speaker 1: but we'll also bring you into some of the wildest 24 00:01:29,800 --> 00:01:38,480 Speaker 1: country on the planet Chasing the Bay. We're taking a 25 00:01:38,560 --> 00:01:41,600 Speaker 1: new turn on the Bear Hunting Magazine podcast this week 26 00:01:41,640 --> 00:01:44,679 Speaker 1: is we're talking about elk hunting. I think it'll be 27 00:01:44,720 --> 00:01:48,000 Speaker 1: relevant to you because we are not elk hunters, or 28 00:01:48,120 --> 00:01:50,320 Speaker 1: we weren't before this trip. This is our first elk hunt. 29 00:01:50,680 --> 00:01:53,240 Speaker 1: About three or four weeks ago, I decided that I'd 30 00:01:53,280 --> 00:01:56,360 Speaker 1: take my son out of school bear Nukem, that we'd 31 00:01:56,720 --> 00:01:59,480 Speaker 1: go to and over the counter unit in Colorado take 32 00:01:59,520 --> 00:02:03,280 Speaker 1: the mule go hunting. So we record this podcast on 33 00:02:03,320 --> 00:02:09,440 Speaker 1: the way home from that incredible hunt. Also already out 34 00:02:09,560 --> 00:02:12,680 Speaker 1: right now is a video about our hunt. It's called 35 00:02:12,720 --> 00:02:16,279 Speaker 1: Elk Pedition. Let's play on words for the word expedition, 36 00:02:16,360 --> 00:02:19,560 Speaker 1: because buddy, when you're hauling stock across the country and 37 00:02:19,639 --> 00:02:21,639 Speaker 1: you're going on to do it yourself hunt, it is 38 00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:25,239 Speaker 1: an expedition. And so on the Bear Hunting Magazine YouTube channel, 39 00:02:25,320 --> 00:02:27,320 Speaker 1: go check out this video. It's about six minutes long. 40 00:02:27,360 --> 00:02:29,640 Speaker 1: It's a ton of fun and you'll get to hear 41 00:02:29,720 --> 00:02:31,760 Speaker 1: us talk about it, but in six minutes you can 42 00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:35,360 Speaker 1: see it too, and you'll really have a great story, 43 00:02:35,639 --> 00:02:40,280 Speaker 1: which is a lot of fun. We are starting right 44 00:02:40,280 --> 00:02:43,320 Speaker 1: now to bait bears in Arkansas. In Oklahoma, we've been 45 00:02:43,360 --> 00:02:45,960 Speaker 1: baiting them for a few weeks, but one place in Arkansas. 46 00:02:46,240 --> 00:02:49,519 Speaker 1: I mean as we speak, I mean, my my truck 47 00:02:49,639 --> 00:02:52,080 Speaker 1: is island in the parking lot of the Bear Hunting 48 00:02:52,080 --> 00:02:56,320 Speaker 1: Magazine Global headquarters, and I am headed to bait bears 49 00:02:56,320 --> 00:02:57,920 Speaker 1: in this one place for the first time where we 50 00:02:58,040 --> 00:03:02,720 Speaker 1: pack in with mules into UH into a remote region 51 00:03:02,760 --> 00:03:06,200 Speaker 1: that you can't access by truck. So we're gonna pack 52 00:03:06,280 --> 00:03:08,959 Speaker 1: in with mules. We've got the mules loaded and we're 53 00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:13,040 Speaker 1: headed there right now. I want to draw your attention 54 00:03:13,080 --> 00:03:16,560 Speaker 1: to a product that we're gonna be using this very day, 55 00:03:16,720 --> 00:03:21,079 Speaker 1: and that is north Woods Bear Products. Hey, when you're 56 00:03:21,080 --> 00:03:23,800 Speaker 1: starting a bear bait, it doesn't make any sense to 57 00:03:23,919 --> 00:03:27,799 Speaker 1: not use this scent, this incredible stuff. My favorite stuff 58 00:03:27,880 --> 00:03:30,960 Speaker 1: is a gold Rush. But they've also got powder sense, 59 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:34,560 Speaker 1: they've got big spray bottle sense, they've got all kinds 60 00:03:34,560 --> 00:03:37,520 Speaker 1: of scent attractants. I talked to a coon hunter today 61 00:03:37,520 --> 00:03:40,680 Speaker 1: that was asking me about UH using gold rushing uh 62 00:03:40,760 --> 00:03:44,760 Speaker 1: potential coon traps to draw coon's debate sites for starting 63 00:03:44,800 --> 00:03:47,360 Speaker 1: young guards. It would do an incredible job at that. 64 00:03:47,800 --> 00:03:51,160 Speaker 1: So check out our friends at Northwood's Bear Products dot Net. 65 00:03:51,640 --> 00:03:54,080 Speaker 1: You're gonna enjoy this podcast and go check out our 66 00:03:54,240 --> 00:04:01,520 Speaker 1: video for Bear Honey Magazine YouTube channel. Today is September 67 00:04:01,880 --> 00:04:06,840 Speaker 1: the eleven, and we are on the road. We are 68 00:04:06,920 --> 00:04:12,920 Speaker 1: recording right now in my truck. We're pulling our nineteen 69 00:04:13,160 --> 00:04:19,479 Speaker 1: sixties two horse trailer that's been refurbished. We've got two 70 00:04:19,600 --> 00:04:24,640 Speaker 1: mules in the back, one exceptionally flashy mule and one 71 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:29,880 Speaker 1: really nice black mule named Ace. Flashy mules named Izzy. 72 00:04:31,120 --> 00:04:36,320 Speaker 1: And I have a very special guest on the podcast today, 73 00:04:36,720 --> 00:04:42,040 Speaker 1: my son, Bear John Newcomb. That's not my middle name. 74 00:04:43,839 --> 00:04:49,000 Speaker 1: Introduce yourself, Bear. My name is Bear. I'm thirteen and 75 00:04:49,240 --> 00:04:51,520 Speaker 1: I got out of school this week to go oh 76 00:04:51,640 --> 00:04:58,520 Speaker 1: cunning in Colorado. Right on, So tell him your full name, Bear, Jo, Bear, Josiah. 77 00:04:58,560 --> 00:05:02,240 Speaker 1: We've always called him Bear John on but yeah, so 78 00:05:04,240 --> 00:05:08,880 Speaker 1: we are. We're on the tail end of a not 79 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:12,080 Speaker 1: just a hunting trip, but we've called it an elk 80 00:05:12,920 --> 00:05:18,000 Speaker 1: how do we call it? Expedition? This isn't just an 81 00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:20,920 Speaker 1: elk cunt. This is an expedition, so we're trying to 82 00:05:21,279 --> 00:05:26,160 Speaker 1: we're trying to call it an elk expedition, and so 83 00:05:26,240 --> 00:05:30,040 Speaker 1: on this we want to describe all that we've done. 84 00:05:30,279 --> 00:05:32,440 Speaker 1: We want to tell some stories, we want to talk 85 00:05:32,480 --> 00:05:36,919 Speaker 1: about the process that guide us here, and we're just 86 00:05:36,920 --> 00:05:40,680 Speaker 1: gonna describe our hunt. Let me start by saying that 87 00:05:41,360 --> 00:05:44,480 Speaker 1: I have never hunted elk in my life, never in 88 00:05:44,480 --> 00:05:49,080 Speaker 1: my life, and I've all I've been invited on elk hunts. 89 00:05:49,800 --> 00:05:53,120 Speaker 1: I've known people that have gone, and I mean, it's 90 00:05:53,240 --> 00:05:59,039 Speaker 1: it's it's such a iconic hunt that I knew that 91 00:05:59,080 --> 00:06:00,960 Speaker 1: one day I would probably do up. But I never have, 92 00:06:01,160 --> 00:06:04,400 Speaker 1: and almost intentionally, I've stayed away from it. I've I've 93 00:06:04,480 --> 00:06:06,280 Speaker 1: kind of been a specialist in a lot of ways 94 00:06:06,320 --> 00:06:09,960 Speaker 1: in my hunting, and I've focused on certain things, never elk. 95 00:06:10,000 --> 00:06:14,720 Speaker 1: Kind of this year, Bear John, two things happened. Two things. 96 00:06:15,680 --> 00:06:18,760 Speaker 1: Number one, while we were spring bear hunting in Montana 97 00:06:19,560 --> 00:06:24,920 Speaker 1: this spring, I found an elk shed out in Montana 98 00:06:25,600 --> 00:06:30,000 Speaker 1: and I brought it home, and your mama loved that 99 00:06:30,120 --> 00:06:32,000 Speaker 1: elk shed so much that she wanted me to put 100 00:06:32,040 --> 00:06:36,680 Speaker 1: it as the core in our living room and she 101 00:06:36,800 --> 00:06:41,000 Speaker 1: said that she would like an elk head in our 102 00:06:41,040 --> 00:06:46,840 Speaker 1: living room, which is pretty significant. And uh, so that 103 00:06:46,839 --> 00:06:50,520 Speaker 1: that was one thing. The second thing that happened was 104 00:06:50,839 --> 00:06:53,719 Speaker 1: I spent some time up in bos in Montana this summer, 105 00:06:53,960 --> 00:06:57,920 Speaker 1: just a few days with my friend Kevin Harlander from 106 00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:02,400 Speaker 1: First Light and Joe Ferronado from Meat Eater, And it's 107 00:07:02,400 --> 00:07:04,840 Speaker 1: been just an evening with those guys, and they were 108 00:07:04,839 --> 00:07:09,000 Speaker 1: talking about elk hunting, and uh they both invited me 109 00:07:09,040 --> 00:07:12,440 Speaker 1: to go elk hunting with them next year. Basically, you know, 110 00:07:12,640 --> 00:07:16,600 Speaker 1: they are everybody's plans already made for this year, and 111 00:07:16,640 --> 00:07:20,600 Speaker 1: so I spoiled their plans of getting to you know, 112 00:07:20,840 --> 00:07:22,720 Speaker 1: of getting to take me on my first elk hunt 113 00:07:22,760 --> 00:07:25,360 Speaker 1: because we just said, man, you know what, We're just 114 00:07:25,360 --> 00:07:29,360 Speaker 1: gonna load up the mules. We're gonna drive to an 115 00:07:29,480 --> 00:07:33,560 Speaker 1: over the counter area of Colorado and we're gonna hunt 116 00:07:33,560 --> 00:07:36,760 Speaker 1: elk ourselves. You know, how hard can it be? Right, 117 00:07:39,720 --> 00:07:42,200 Speaker 1: I've been saying that to everybody, How hard can it be? 118 00:07:42,320 --> 00:07:44,520 Speaker 1: How hard can it be? And obviously it's a joke 119 00:07:45,080 --> 00:07:50,560 Speaker 1: because Elk County is extremely difficult. Non residents success rates 120 00:07:50,560 --> 00:07:57,200 Speaker 1: in Colorado are about ten and and we just decided 121 00:07:57,440 --> 00:08:02,040 Speaker 1: to do this about four weeks ago. So you know, honestly, 122 00:08:02,080 --> 00:08:04,640 Speaker 1: most people planning elk hunts like a year in advance. 123 00:08:05,280 --> 00:08:09,920 Speaker 1: And Man, about the tenth of August, I was like, man, 124 00:08:09,960 --> 00:08:13,680 Speaker 1: we need to go elk hunting. And so I talked 125 00:08:14,120 --> 00:08:17,040 Speaker 1: to your mama and I said, what do you think 126 00:08:17,080 --> 00:08:19,760 Speaker 1: about me taking Bear out of school for a week 127 00:08:20,280 --> 00:08:24,080 Speaker 1: and us going elk hunton and uh? And she was 128 00:08:24,160 --> 00:08:27,520 Speaker 1: off for it. And you're gonna do a presentation at 129 00:08:27,560 --> 00:08:31,600 Speaker 1: your school about what you've done. That's one of the 130 00:08:31,600 --> 00:08:35,400 Speaker 1: prerequisites for them getting excused absences. They gotta come back 131 00:08:35,440 --> 00:08:38,640 Speaker 1: and tell what kind of activity they did. And so 132 00:08:38,760 --> 00:08:43,000 Speaker 1: Bear is going to do that. But there's actually a 133 00:08:43,080 --> 00:08:46,040 Speaker 1: third reason that we went elk hunting this year is 134 00:08:46,080 --> 00:08:49,680 Speaker 1: because in the spring was the first time that I 135 00:08:49,840 --> 00:08:53,920 Speaker 1: trailered my mules long distance to hunt the west by myself. 136 00:08:54,360 --> 00:08:57,160 Speaker 1: I had I had hunted the west for Bear uh 137 00:08:57,160 --> 00:09:00,040 Speaker 1: with gym sessions once with his mules and horses, and 138 00:09:00,120 --> 00:09:03,679 Speaker 1: learned a ton from him about back country equine hunting. 139 00:09:04,520 --> 00:09:09,200 Speaker 1: On the spring, me and Colby Moorehead went and and 140 00:09:09,240 --> 00:09:12,000 Speaker 1: did it ourselves and we learned. We just learned a 141 00:09:12,040 --> 00:09:16,200 Speaker 1: ton there. It's extremely complicated to haul mules across the country. 142 00:09:16,679 --> 00:09:18,360 Speaker 1: I mean, there's just a lot of things you gotta 143 00:09:18,440 --> 00:09:23,480 Speaker 1: plan for. And aside from that, we were we we 144 00:09:23,640 --> 00:09:27,880 Speaker 1: learned how to We learned a good system for camping 145 00:09:28,360 --> 00:09:31,760 Speaker 1: and hunting off these mules, not using any pack horses 146 00:09:31,840 --> 00:09:34,240 Speaker 1: or pack mules. A lot of guys bear when they 147 00:09:34,320 --> 00:09:37,959 Speaker 1: hunt the West, they'll ride one animal and they'll use 148 00:09:38,000 --> 00:09:40,600 Speaker 1: one animal as a pack animal. But I didn't want 149 00:09:40,640 --> 00:09:42,680 Speaker 1: to do that. I wanted to stay lean and mean, 150 00:09:42,720 --> 00:09:46,760 Speaker 1: as they say. And so we pretty much have an 151 00:09:46,920 --> 00:09:52,360 Speaker 1: ultra light gear set up and we're applying that to 152 00:09:52,440 --> 00:09:55,600 Speaker 1: our mules. Because even though mules and equine animals are 153 00:09:55,679 --> 00:09:58,160 Speaker 1: super strong and carry a ton of weight, when you're 154 00:09:58,200 --> 00:10:00,559 Speaker 1: putting a rider on them and try and to pack 155 00:10:00,600 --> 00:10:03,560 Speaker 1: all your gear, you know, they can get overloaded pretty quick. 156 00:10:03,559 --> 00:10:09,680 Speaker 1: It's they're not invincible, you know. And so I've we 157 00:10:09,840 --> 00:10:11,640 Speaker 1: learned a lot. So it was like, yeah, we can, 158 00:10:11,920 --> 00:10:15,560 Speaker 1: we can go to Colorado. Colorado is closer than Montana. 159 00:10:15,640 --> 00:10:18,720 Speaker 1: Montana was a twenty four hour drive for us. Colorado 160 00:10:18,720 --> 00:10:21,520 Speaker 1: was about a fourteen hour drive. I got some intel 161 00:10:21,720 --> 00:10:24,600 Speaker 1: from a good friend of mine. You won't mind me saying, 162 00:10:24,600 --> 00:10:29,600 Speaker 1: his name Jason Bossman. Jason gave me some intel on 163 00:10:29,640 --> 00:10:33,000 Speaker 1: a region that he thought would be good for finding 164 00:10:33,040 --> 00:10:36,839 Speaker 1: some milk. So we did have that outside input because 165 00:10:36,880 --> 00:10:39,560 Speaker 1: that was my first question and probably the limiting factor 166 00:10:39,640 --> 00:10:42,280 Speaker 1: and hardest part of this hunt, Bear, was just where 167 00:10:42,280 --> 00:10:44,520 Speaker 1: do you go and if you go there, are you 168 00:10:44,520 --> 00:10:47,839 Speaker 1: gonna find elk? And so Jason was like, hey, if 169 00:10:47,840 --> 00:10:50,600 Speaker 1: you go here, he said, and you put in your 170 00:10:50,640 --> 00:10:53,560 Speaker 1: time and get back in there. You know, he gave 171 00:10:53,600 --> 00:10:57,160 Speaker 1: me a lot of great pointers. He was like, you'll 172 00:10:57,200 --> 00:11:03,560 Speaker 1: find some milk. So the objective of this hunt, though, 173 00:11:04,040 --> 00:11:07,520 Speaker 1: knowing that we were up against like some pretty serious 174 00:11:07,679 --> 00:11:12,360 Speaker 1: odds of not not killing an elk. Really we were 175 00:11:12,360 --> 00:11:16,800 Speaker 1: just trying to get our feet wet, right Bear. Um. 176 00:11:16,840 --> 00:11:21,559 Speaker 1: I wanted Bear to have in his repertoire of experiences 177 00:11:21,600 --> 00:11:24,160 Speaker 1: as a young man. I wanted him to be able 178 00:11:24,200 --> 00:11:26,319 Speaker 1: to say, yeah, we took our mules and we went 179 00:11:26,360 --> 00:11:31,000 Speaker 1: elk hunton, and I knew that after and we we 180 00:11:31,080 --> 00:11:34,520 Speaker 1: ended up hunting about five days. Okay, so it wasn't 181 00:11:34,559 --> 00:11:37,360 Speaker 1: as long as some hunts, but we hunted for five days, 182 00:11:37,920 --> 00:11:41,120 Speaker 1: and I knew that after five days in the back 183 00:11:41,160 --> 00:11:46,600 Speaker 1: country that riding mules that Bear number one would become 184 00:11:47,720 --> 00:11:51,800 Speaker 1: a really qualified equine mule man. There's a ton of 185 00:11:51,840 --> 00:11:54,600 Speaker 1: stuff that goes on about handling animals in the back country, 186 00:11:54,800 --> 00:11:57,360 Speaker 1: and you can't mess up, you know, even even down 187 00:11:57,440 --> 00:11:59,920 Speaker 1: to like tie how do you tie up your mules 188 00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:02,920 Speaker 1: at night? How do you let them feed and graze 189 00:12:03,000 --> 00:12:06,480 Speaker 1: during the day, Because if you lose your mules when 190 00:12:06,520 --> 00:12:09,319 Speaker 1: you're twelve miles back in and they will absolutely run 191 00:12:09,360 --> 00:12:12,080 Speaker 1: away from you if you let them, then you're in 192 00:12:12,120 --> 00:12:17,200 Speaker 1: big trouble. And so you know, I taught Bear about that. 193 00:12:17,559 --> 00:12:21,840 Speaker 1: We we we in in a five days span road 194 00:12:22,000 --> 00:12:24,680 Speaker 1: forty miles on these mules. Isn't that what we figured Bear? 195 00:12:26,920 --> 00:12:30,880 Speaker 1: Maybe more? Maybe more? And so I knew that after 196 00:12:31,880 --> 00:12:34,320 Speaker 1: that much time in the saddle and that kind of 197 00:12:34,360 --> 00:12:38,120 Speaker 1: difficult country, that Bear would be a muleman. I mean, 198 00:12:38,160 --> 00:12:41,560 Speaker 1: I just knew it. If he survived, did you survive? 199 00:12:44,720 --> 00:12:48,240 Speaker 1: So there was a lot of objectives. Really my only, 200 00:12:49,040 --> 00:12:52,080 Speaker 1: my only goal, which obviously I wanted to kill an elk, 201 00:12:52,200 --> 00:12:54,960 Speaker 1: But deep down I almost knew that that was an 202 00:12:55,040 --> 00:12:58,640 Speaker 1: unrealistic just absolute goal, Like I wasn't gonna say the 203 00:12:58,720 --> 00:13:02,199 Speaker 1: success of the trip sip on whether we bring home 204 00:13:02,280 --> 00:13:05,600 Speaker 1: elk meet or not. I never said that, even though 205 00:13:05,640 --> 00:13:08,960 Speaker 1: I've always got the end goal in mind and everything 206 00:13:08,960 --> 00:13:13,520 Speaker 1: that I do. But success was gonna be us being safe, 207 00:13:14,679 --> 00:13:20,719 Speaker 1: hunting hard, camping well, handling the mules well, and us 208 00:13:20,840 --> 00:13:26,520 Speaker 1: finding elk and having a good hunt and giving them heck. Okay, 209 00:13:26,760 --> 00:13:29,200 Speaker 1: giving the elk heck? Do you think we gave the 210 00:13:29,200 --> 00:13:34,240 Speaker 1: elk heck? Bear? Hey, why don't you describe the first 211 00:13:34,320 --> 00:13:37,600 Speaker 1: day of the hunt and where we went? You don't 212 00:13:37,720 --> 00:13:41,480 Speaker 1: name any names, now, but like where, like what we did, 213 00:13:41,920 --> 00:13:43,960 Speaker 1: and why don't you describe a little bit of that? Like, 214 00:13:44,040 --> 00:13:46,600 Speaker 1: So we'll start with day one. So day one, we 215 00:13:46,720 --> 00:13:50,559 Speaker 1: arrived in Colorado, what do we do? We went and 216 00:13:50,600 --> 00:13:56,160 Speaker 1: we got the overly counter elk tag, and we went 217 00:13:57,760 --> 00:14:03,160 Speaker 1: to a trailhead. Don't well, yeah, we don't want to 218 00:14:03,160 --> 00:14:06,840 Speaker 1: say the name of the trailhead. And then we rode 219 00:14:08,920 --> 00:14:14,199 Speaker 1: ten miles up the trail and then we camped in 220 00:14:14,320 --> 00:14:17,359 Speaker 1: a spot and we hunted a little bit. That afternoon 221 00:14:17,600 --> 00:14:21,560 Speaker 1: we mostly just glassed and cold a little bit. And 222 00:14:21,680 --> 00:14:26,640 Speaker 1: the next day, well, yeah, so we we went in 223 00:14:26,720 --> 00:14:29,280 Speaker 1: ten miles on the first day, and we had in 224 00:14:29,400 --> 00:14:31,880 Speaker 1: mind a lake that we were trying to get to 225 00:14:32,000 --> 00:14:35,800 Speaker 1: and We had no idea really what this country looked like. 226 00:14:35,840 --> 00:14:37,920 Speaker 1: I mean you can see it on your on X maps, 227 00:14:37,960 --> 00:14:43,600 Speaker 1: which we used, but honestly, I had no idea what 228 00:14:43,760 --> 00:14:45,520 Speaker 1: it was gonna look like. Once we got up there, 229 00:14:45,880 --> 00:14:50,920 Speaker 1: we got ten miles back in and uh and it 230 00:14:51,040 --> 00:14:55,800 Speaker 1: started to rain. Um And I learned a few things 231 00:14:55,800 --> 00:14:58,960 Speaker 1: on that first night, Bear, I learned a few things 232 00:14:58,960 --> 00:15:04,080 Speaker 1: about you know, Jim Sessions. He Jim. Let's let me 233 00:15:04,080 --> 00:15:07,440 Speaker 1: tell you something about Jim Sessions. Okay, Jim Sessions Sessions 234 00:15:07,440 --> 00:15:10,600 Speaker 1: at Husk the Mall. Jim is a veteran Western hunter. 235 00:15:11,200 --> 00:15:17,160 Speaker 1: Jim Sessions packs in on mules and horses thirty miles 236 00:15:17,440 --> 00:15:21,240 Speaker 1: into the Wyoming back country to elk hunt, to sheep hunt, 237 00:15:22,120 --> 00:15:26,080 Speaker 1: and they're going in places that there are not trails. 238 00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:30,160 Speaker 1: And he doesn't even bring as much as a GPS. 239 00:15:31,600 --> 00:15:37,040 Speaker 1: I mean, he navigates that country just like the old 240 00:15:37,080 --> 00:15:40,000 Speaker 1: timers did before there were GPS is. I think he 241 00:15:40,040 --> 00:15:44,240 Speaker 1: probably uses some paper maps. But Jim, you ask him, 242 00:15:44,240 --> 00:15:46,400 Speaker 1: why did you you know what kind of GPS you running? 243 00:15:46,400 --> 00:15:50,160 Speaker 1: And he said, I've never heard of her. That's funny, Bear, 244 00:15:51,280 --> 00:15:56,520 Speaker 1: never heard of her. I mean so, but Jim, Jim 245 00:15:56,640 --> 00:15:59,520 Speaker 1: tells me. And when he says it, you know, it's 246 00:15:59,560 --> 00:16:03,560 Speaker 1: like it's sinks in as he says, he said, Clay, 247 00:16:03,600 --> 00:16:06,480 Speaker 1: when you're thirty miles back in, and he didn't even 248 00:16:06,520 --> 00:16:09,040 Speaker 1: carry an ind reach, so there's no communication. His only 249 00:16:09,440 --> 00:16:12,160 Speaker 1: communication if something went wrong back there would just be 250 00:16:12,200 --> 00:16:14,920 Speaker 1: to have somebody right out and tell somebody once they 251 00:16:14,960 --> 00:16:16,920 Speaker 1: got a cell phone range. And he said, when you're 252 00:16:16,960 --> 00:16:19,480 Speaker 1: that far back in, he said, you really begin to 253 00:16:19,600 --> 00:16:23,160 Speaker 1: have to watch yourself. You have to pay attention to 254 00:16:23,280 --> 00:16:26,640 Speaker 1: every single thing that you do, because if you make 255 00:16:26,680 --> 00:16:29,280 Speaker 1: a mistake, and if you get hurt, or if you 256 00:16:29,760 --> 00:16:32,840 Speaker 1: lose an animal, or if you know your your your 257 00:16:32,840 --> 00:16:35,840 Speaker 1: pack animal runs off and he's got your supplies on 258 00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:39,720 Speaker 1: his back and you can't catch him, or he runs 259 00:16:39,760 --> 00:16:42,560 Speaker 1: back to the truck, or you get thrown off and 260 00:16:42,600 --> 00:16:46,800 Speaker 1: break a leg or whatever. Have you cut yourself with 261 00:16:46,840 --> 00:16:49,680 Speaker 1: a broad head, and you start, you know, in in 262 00:16:49,720 --> 00:16:54,680 Speaker 1: a bad spot. You know, he said, you're you're basically 263 00:16:54,720 --> 00:16:58,280 Speaker 1: two to three days away from help. Think about that, 264 00:16:58,880 --> 00:17:01,440 Speaker 1: because it's taking a day and a half to get 265 00:17:01,440 --> 00:17:04,920 Speaker 1: back in there, and so if you get hurt, it's 266 00:17:04,960 --> 00:17:07,639 Speaker 1: a day and a half out for somebody to tell, 267 00:17:08,280 --> 00:17:10,280 Speaker 1: you know, to recruit help. And it's a day and 268 00:17:10,320 --> 00:17:14,399 Speaker 1: a half ride back in and anyway, I was thinking 269 00:17:14,400 --> 00:17:18,000 Speaker 1: about that Bear. Well, we were back in there. Well, 270 00:17:18,160 --> 00:17:19,960 Speaker 1: the first night we were ten miles and the next 271 00:17:20,000 --> 00:17:22,719 Speaker 1: day we went another three. So at one point we 272 00:17:22,720 --> 00:17:29,520 Speaker 1: were thirteen miles in the back country. And Bear, were 273 00:17:29,640 --> 00:17:36,040 Speaker 1: you Did that make you nervous at all? Not really? Okay? 274 00:17:36,119 --> 00:17:39,560 Speaker 1: We talked about this earlier and I told him, I 275 00:17:39,600 --> 00:17:44,320 Speaker 1: said I was nervous. Uh. I think, I think when 276 00:17:44,320 --> 00:17:46,439 Speaker 1: you're that far back in you you really have to 277 00:17:46,480 --> 00:17:49,520 Speaker 1: have the fear of God in you. And uh. And 278 00:17:49,600 --> 00:17:51,960 Speaker 1: I made a few mistakes. It was the first day 279 00:17:51,960 --> 00:17:55,480 Speaker 1: at a hunt. Number one, I forgot my pistol in 280 00:17:55,480 --> 00:17:58,560 Speaker 1: the truck. That wasn't a big deal. We weren't in 281 00:17:58,600 --> 00:18:02,560 Speaker 1: grizzly country. I didn't even have bear spray, so, um, 282 00:18:02,600 --> 00:18:05,479 Speaker 1: you know, if we were in grizzly country, I probably 283 00:18:05,480 --> 00:18:07,480 Speaker 1: would have turned around and we would have come out 284 00:18:07,480 --> 00:18:10,160 Speaker 1: of there if I didn't have any kind of bear protection. 285 00:18:10,560 --> 00:18:14,879 Speaker 1: But there's no grizzlies in Colorado, So that was a 286 00:18:15,040 --> 00:18:21,280 Speaker 1: mistake number one. Mistake Number two, Bear, if you remember, Um, 287 00:18:21,320 --> 00:18:27,080 Speaker 1: about five miles in I turned around and look at 288 00:18:27,080 --> 00:18:30,760 Speaker 1: my backpack, and what did I do? You dropped your arrows. 289 00:18:31,560 --> 00:18:36,520 Speaker 1: I was scared. My arrows in my Kafaru shape charge 290 00:18:36,560 --> 00:18:39,920 Speaker 1: backpack and I didn't have them strapped in there, right. 291 00:18:40,200 --> 00:18:42,199 Speaker 1: I just thought they would ride okay the way I 292 00:18:42,240 --> 00:18:44,320 Speaker 1: had them. And I turned around and I don't have 293 00:18:44,359 --> 00:18:48,960 Speaker 1: any arrows. I'm carrying my bow in a custom bow 294 00:18:49,040 --> 00:18:52,600 Speaker 1: holder that hangs off the side of the saddle protects 295 00:18:52,600 --> 00:18:56,639 Speaker 1: the bow really well, really like the setup. And I 296 00:18:56,720 --> 00:19:00,840 Speaker 1: turned around and I don't have any arrows. And so 297 00:19:01,440 --> 00:19:03,919 Speaker 1: we turned around and start heading back down the trail 298 00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:06,639 Speaker 1: and I'm hoping that they didn't fall off, you know, 299 00:19:06,840 --> 00:19:11,080 Speaker 1: three miles back in, we backtrack a mile and pick 300 00:19:11,200 --> 00:19:14,880 Speaker 1: and finally find the arrows. That was mistake number two. 301 00:19:16,720 --> 00:19:18,240 Speaker 1: But think about it, if we had got all the 302 00:19:18,240 --> 00:19:20,439 Speaker 1: way to the top ten miles in and I realized 303 00:19:20,480 --> 00:19:24,480 Speaker 1: I didn't have any arrows. I mean, you know, little 304 00:19:24,680 --> 00:19:28,439 Speaker 1: mistakes cost you big. If you were three yards from 305 00:19:28,480 --> 00:19:30,199 Speaker 1: the truck, it wouldn't have made any difference. You just 306 00:19:30,240 --> 00:19:34,040 Speaker 1: walk back and get them. Number three, What was the 307 00:19:34,080 --> 00:19:39,440 Speaker 1: third mistake that I made? Um? You broke broke so 308 00:19:39,520 --> 00:19:45,480 Speaker 1: we uh, we were using the first light Nemo collaboration 309 00:19:45,600 --> 00:19:49,080 Speaker 1: tent called a recurve, which is an incredible little tent, 310 00:19:49,240 --> 00:19:52,440 Speaker 1: super lightweight, ultra lightweight. I think it weighs less than 311 00:19:53,160 --> 00:19:54,919 Speaker 1: I bet. I bet it weighs just a little bit 312 00:19:54,960 --> 00:19:57,360 Speaker 1: over a pound, maybe pound and a half two pounds. 313 00:19:57,800 --> 00:20:02,160 Speaker 1: Tiny tent, I mean light tent. It's a two man tent. 314 00:20:03,240 --> 00:20:06,119 Speaker 1: So all the components are ultra light and so a 315 00:20:06,119 --> 00:20:10,000 Speaker 1: couple of the rods on the tent are fiberglass and 316 00:20:10,440 --> 00:20:13,320 Speaker 1: small fiberglass, like as big around as like a match 317 00:20:13,400 --> 00:20:18,199 Speaker 1: stick almost, you know. And I stepped on one of 318 00:20:18,280 --> 00:20:22,359 Speaker 1: them while we're up there, didn't I first night broke 319 00:20:22,400 --> 00:20:26,240 Speaker 1: it snapped in half. It wasn't that big of a deal. 320 00:20:26,600 --> 00:20:29,080 Speaker 1: We were able to carve a stick out that took 321 00:20:29,119 --> 00:20:31,720 Speaker 1: the place of that tent pole. But it was a mistake. 322 00:20:32,160 --> 00:20:33,600 Speaker 1: You know. If we had been back there for a 323 00:20:33,640 --> 00:20:35,920 Speaker 1: week and that was our only tent and there came 324 00:20:35,960 --> 00:20:38,840 Speaker 1: a big windstorm or something, I mean, that would have 325 00:20:38,880 --> 00:20:41,000 Speaker 1: been the weak point of the tent. What was the 326 00:20:41,000 --> 00:20:46,320 Speaker 1: other mistake that I made back there? Both sites, man, 327 00:20:46,520 --> 00:20:49,639 Speaker 1: we had a lot of mistakes. Yeah. So this new 328 00:20:49,800 --> 00:20:53,679 Speaker 1: saddle or this new uh this new boat case that 329 00:20:53,720 --> 00:20:55,760 Speaker 1: I was using, I had never used it before. And 330 00:20:55,800 --> 00:21:00,760 Speaker 1: I was using a compound boom, and we got all 331 00:21:00,800 --> 00:21:05,679 Speaker 1: the way to the top and my sights were loose 332 00:21:05,720 --> 00:21:09,159 Speaker 1: on that bow and we were able to get it 333 00:21:09,359 --> 00:21:13,679 Speaker 1: back together and was confident in its shooting ability. But 334 00:21:15,720 --> 00:21:18,560 Speaker 1: at the time there was we were in a pretty 335 00:21:18,600 --> 00:21:22,200 Speaker 1: bad fix. So we were able to navigate through that. 336 00:21:22,280 --> 00:21:24,840 Speaker 1: But I was able to re situate the bow case 337 00:21:25,440 --> 00:21:29,119 Speaker 1: so that there wasn't any pressure on those sites any longer. 338 00:21:29,600 --> 00:21:32,960 Speaker 1: But that was a weak point in my system, okay, 339 00:21:33,640 --> 00:21:36,680 Speaker 1: And I don't have any trouble talking about the things 340 00:21:36,680 --> 00:21:40,119 Speaker 1: that we learned about bear because you know that strength 341 00:21:40,760 --> 00:21:44,840 Speaker 1: is actually found inside of humility, you know. I mean, 342 00:21:44,880 --> 00:21:46,480 Speaker 1: it'd be awesome to come out of this and say 343 00:21:46,520 --> 00:21:50,000 Speaker 1: we did everything right, but we didn't. And uh, but 344 00:21:50,720 --> 00:21:54,080 Speaker 1: you know this that a wise man learns from his 345 00:21:54,200 --> 00:21:57,680 Speaker 1: mistakes and he'll be wiser yet on the other side 346 00:21:57,680 --> 00:22:02,399 Speaker 1: of it. So we learned from that. And then the 347 00:22:02,440 --> 00:22:05,520 Speaker 1: fifth thing. This all happened on like the first date. 348 00:22:06,359 --> 00:22:09,560 Speaker 1: Do you remember what the other one was? No, I 349 00:22:09,720 --> 00:22:13,840 Speaker 1: burned a hole in my air mattress, so we we 350 00:22:13,920 --> 00:22:16,000 Speaker 1: brought an air mattress. And this was a minor thing. 351 00:22:16,040 --> 00:22:17,920 Speaker 1: But if we'd been on a seven day hunt, it 352 00:22:17,960 --> 00:22:22,879 Speaker 1: would have ended up being sort of significant. So I 353 00:22:22,920 --> 00:22:29,080 Speaker 1: have this little Cabella's blow up air mattress, and uh, 354 00:22:29,320 --> 00:22:31,159 Speaker 1: the first night, I pulled it out and we had 355 00:22:31,200 --> 00:22:33,679 Speaker 1: a little fire going. It was pretty moist. We were 356 00:22:33,680 --> 00:22:38,720 Speaker 1: able to make a fire up Worrid about eleven thousand feet. 357 00:22:38,800 --> 00:22:41,880 Speaker 1: I think we made a fire just outside of the tent, 358 00:22:42,440 --> 00:22:46,640 Speaker 1: and I flopped this air mattress out to blow it up, 359 00:22:47,119 --> 00:22:49,520 Speaker 1: and the tail of it drags through a couple of 360 00:22:49,560 --> 00:22:53,920 Speaker 1: embers and puts a hole in the stinking air mattress. 361 00:22:54,280 --> 00:23:00,000 Speaker 1: Didn't it It wouldn't hold air. So hey, those were 362 00:23:00,080 --> 00:23:03,600 Speaker 1: the mistakes that we made on the very first day 363 00:23:04,119 --> 00:23:06,040 Speaker 1: and it kind of put us on our a game 364 00:23:06,520 --> 00:23:11,920 Speaker 1: after that. And aside from all those things, these things 365 00:23:11,920 --> 00:23:15,040 Speaker 1: were pretty minor. We were able to navigate through them all. 366 00:23:15,840 --> 00:23:18,480 Speaker 1: But the rest of the trip we were very conscious 367 00:23:18,520 --> 00:23:20,560 Speaker 1: about everything that we did. We talked about it, we 368 00:23:20,640 --> 00:23:25,600 Speaker 1: talked about being being aware. So that was day one 369 00:23:25,640 --> 00:23:29,320 Speaker 1: and day two. Day two, we left from our campit 370 00:23:29,359 --> 00:23:32,800 Speaker 1: eleven thousand feet and went up to over twelve thousand feet, 371 00:23:32,800 --> 00:23:35,280 Speaker 1: which was way above the tree line and is it 372 00:23:35,480 --> 00:23:38,119 Speaker 1: was in some of the most incredible country that a 373 00:23:38,200 --> 00:23:41,880 Speaker 1: human has ever laid eyes on? Would you agree? Bear, 374 00:23:43,040 --> 00:23:46,600 Speaker 1: Tell me about it, describe it to me. Well, we 375 00:23:46,680 --> 00:23:48,360 Speaker 1: got to the top and we kind of came over 376 00:23:48,400 --> 00:23:51,199 Speaker 1: with this little peak and we looked down. There's this 377 00:23:51,359 --> 00:23:57,080 Speaker 1: big blue lake that had like fish in it, like 378 00:23:57,160 --> 00:23:59,800 Speaker 1: you could see him eating bugs off the top of 379 00:23:59,800 --> 00:24:04,680 Speaker 1: the water and they were just like it was sort 380 00:24:04,720 --> 00:24:06,760 Speaker 1: of like a prairie, but it was like really high 381 00:24:06,880 --> 00:24:10,159 Speaker 1: up because there were no trees. And then if you 382 00:24:10,240 --> 00:24:14,280 Speaker 1: looked the other way, there was like this really big 383 00:24:14,359 --> 00:24:23,119 Speaker 1: view of all the mountains. Yeah, it was incredible. I 384 00:24:23,119 --> 00:24:26,640 Speaker 1: I said that it would have shamed Rocky Mountain National Park, 385 00:24:27,240 --> 00:24:30,240 Speaker 1: which we've been to right, which is a beautiful park. 386 00:24:30,920 --> 00:24:35,360 Speaker 1: But I mean, this was some incredible country. Mhm. And 387 00:24:35,400 --> 00:24:39,399 Speaker 1: by now we're thirteen miles from the truck and our 388 00:24:39,440 --> 00:24:43,480 Speaker 1: tents broke. We don't have a pistol. You know, we've 389 00:24:43,600 --> 00:24:49,399 Speaker 1: we've we've made a few blunders. And we could have 390 00:24:49,400 --> 00:24:51,680 Speaker 1: stayed back in there and hunted if we'd have found elk. 391 00:24:52,240 --> 00:24:55,240 Speaker 1: But we went back in there and looked around, looked around, 392 00:24:55,280 --> 00:24:59,160 Speaker 1: looked around, looked around, and found no sign of elk. 393 00:24:59,600 --> 00:25:05,879 Speaker 1: Didn't And so after an assessment and and and Honestly, Bear, 394 00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:10,720 Speaker 1: I wasn't sure that I wanted to kill an elkin 395 00:25:10,800 --> 00:25:14,880 Speaker 1: back that far, even with mules, because the truth be known, 396 00:25:16,080 --> 00:25:18,479 Speaker 1: our mules are untested when it comes to elk. Now, 397 00:25:18,520 --> 00:25:22,439 Speaker 1: we know that izzie'll carry out meat and she seems 398 00:25:22,480 --> 00:25:25,760 Speaker 1: to do fine with that. Ace is untested. Ace is 399 00:25:25,840 --> 00:25:27,919 Speaker 1: sixteen years old, the southern mule that we got, but 400 00:25:28,000 --> 00:25:30,720 Speaker 1: we didn't really know what he would do with an elk. 401 00:25:30,760 --> 00:25:33,960 Speaker 1: And so you know, we get a eight hundred pound 402 00:25:34,240 --> 00:25:37,119 Speaker 1: bull elk on the ground twelve miles back in and 403 00:25:37,400 --> 00:25:39,600 Speaker 1: what if we have problems even getting it on the mule. 404 00:25:40,440 --> 00:25:43,200 Speaker 1: These were things that I was thinking about. So after 405 00:25:43,320 --> 00:25:46,680 Speaker 1: not finding any elk sign, we say, what do we say? 406 00:25:49,040 --> 00:25:52,440 Speaker 1: We said, let's get out of here, didn't we Yeah, 407 00:25:52,480 --> 00:25:55,080 Speaker 1: we just said, let's go, let's try something else. We 408 00:25:55,119 --> 00:25:57,760 Speaker 1: didn't find out. We didn't find any fresh elk sign 409 00:25:57,840 --> 00:26:00,440 Speaker 1: in the thirteen miles and never never heard of Bugle, 410 00:26:00,880 --> 00:26:05,240 Speaker 1: never heard anything. Anyway. We come out of there and uh, 411 00:26:05,440 --> 00:26:09,439 Speaker 1: we we see an outfitters camp off the trail and 412 00:26:09,480 --> 00:26:11,640 Speaker 1: we go down and we talked to the outfitter, real 413 00:26:11,720 --> 00:26:15,040 Speaker 1: nice guy. Uh. He had two clients from Texas there 414 00:26:15,080 --> 00:26:18,640 Speaker 1: with him. And we gave him our report. We told 415 00:26:18,720 --> 00:26:21,600 Speaker 1: him everything that we knew. We told him that we'd 416 00:26:21,640 --> 00:26:24,159 Speaker 1: been all the way back in there, thirteen miles we 417 00:26:24,160 --> 00:26:26,240 Speaker 1: didn't see any elk sign. We told him we were 418 00:26:26,760 --> 00:26:29,320 Speaker 1: rookie elk hunters, so not to take what we said 419 00:26:29,320 --> 00:26:32,879 Speaker 1: too serious. But we did not see any fresh elk sign. 420 00:26:33,359 --> 00:26:35,240 Speaker 1: We talked to him a little bit, and he gave 421 00:26:35,320 --> 00:26:37,480 Speaker 1: us some good intel about the region. He said that 422 00:26:37,560 --> 00:26:40,800 Speaker 1: there's pockets of these mountains, in these mountains that hold out. 423 00:26:40,840 --> 00:26:43,200 Speaker 1: Do you remember him saying that bear, because that was 424 00:26:43,240 --> 00:26:45,399 Speaker 1: a big question to me inside Elk Counties. Is you 425 00:26:45,400 --> 00:26:49,680 Speaker 1: step into the Colorado Wilderness and you know, are the 426 00:26:49,760 --> 00:26:52,480 Speaker 1: elk everywhere? I mean, are there elk on that ridge 427 00:26:52,480 --> 00:26:54,080 Speaker 1: and on that ridge and it's just a matter of 428 00:26:54,080 --> 00:26:56,520 Speaker 1: getting back in there and getting close enough to him 429 00:26:56,560 --> 00:26:59,680 Speaker 1: and calling to him. Or is that ridge and that 430 00:27:00,000 --> 00:27:03,320 Speaker 1: mountain and that slope right there totally void of elk? 431 00:27:03,640 --> 00:27:06,320 Speaker 1: I mean? Is it like fishing where you know ten 432 00:27:06,400 --> 00:27:09,119 Speaker 1: percent of the ground holds of the fish. You know, 433 00:27:09,160 --> 00:27:11,080 Speaker 1: that's what they say in fishing, is ten percent of 434 00:27:11,119 --> 00:27:15,240 Speaker 1: the water holds the fish. That makes sense. So I 435 00:27:15,720 --> 00:27:19,600 Speaker 1: honestly didn't know those answers, and so I talked to 436 00:27:19,640 --> 00:27:22,800 Speaker 1: this out, this elk guy, and uh he was a 437 00:27:22,800 --> 00:27:25,200 Speaker 1: good guy. We talked about mules. He was a mule man. 438 00:27:25,320 --> 00:27:28,239 Speaker 1: He critiqued the shoe and the front shoes on my 439 00:27:28,320 --> 00:27:32,640 Speaker 1: mule and um, anyway, told him about is he being 440 00:27:32,680 --> 00:27:35,560 Speaker 1: four year old? And he liked her. He's riding a 441 00:27:35,560 --> 00:27:38,680 Speaker 1: four year old mule too, and uh so that was 442 00:27:38,720 --> 00:27:42,360 Speaker 1: pretty cool talking to that guy. Well, we come out 443 00:27:42,359 --> 00:27:46,520 Speaker 1: of there. So by day two we have we had 444 00:27:46,640 --> 00:27:52,280 Speaker 1: ridden twenty six miles. Mhm Is that right? Yeah, because 445 00:27:52,359 --> 00:27:57,560 Speaker 1: we went thirteen Yeah, where you sore? Yes, definitely? Where 446 00:27:57,560 --> 00:28:01,520 Speaker 1: are you really sore? Ye? Well, I wouldn't have known it. 447 00:28:02,080 --> 00:28:06,399 Speaker 1: You never complained. Well, so we end up back at 448 00:28:06,440 --> 00:28:12,399 Speaker 1: the truck about mid afternoon on the second day, and 449 00:28:12,440 --> 00:28:15,800 Speaker 1: we had another area that we were gonna go try out, 450 00:28:16,600 --> 00:28:19,480 Speaker 1: and so because of the day was kind of shot 451 00:28:20,440 --> 00:28:22,880 Speaker 1: and we needed a few things, we ended up going 452 00:28:22,960 --> 00:28:25,520 Speaker 1: back into town and we actually ate dinner in town 453 00:28:26,400 --> 00:28:29,520 Speaker 1: and then we went back and slept in the truck. 454 00:28:31,000 --> 00:28:35,080 Speaker 1: On the night of day two, we slept in the truck. Okay, 455 00:28:36,480 --> 00:28:41,440 Speaker 1: you slept most of the night in a hammock, which, well, 456 00:28:41,440 --> 00:28:45,360 Speaker 1: we'll have to tell them about the bears at some point. Okay, 457 00:28:45,400 --> 00:28:48,400 Speaker 1: but bear, we had bear sleeping outside in a hammock 458 00:28:49,320 --> 00:28:51,720 Speaker 1: right by the truck. I was sleeping in the truck. Well. 459 00:28:51,760 --> 00:28:55,080 Speaker 1: The next day we packed back into another section of 460 00:28:55,200 --> 00:28:58,520 Speaker 1: ground that you know, we've never been to. Uh, we 461 00:28:58,560 --> 00:29:01,920 Speaker 1: didn't really even have in mind exactly where we wanted 462 00:29:01,960 --> 00:29:03,400 Speaker 1: to go in here. I guess I did have in 463 00:29:03,480 --> 00:29:07,240 Speaker 1: mind one little region, but I'm still trying to figure out, like, 464 00:29:07,960 --> 00:29:10,480 Speaker 1: why are the elk using certain parts of the landscape? 465 00:29:11,560 --> 00:29:18,480 Speaker 1: And thirdly, there were elk hunters behind every spruce tree? 466 00:29:18,960 --> 00:29:23,520 Speaker 1: Am I a correct? Bear? It was? It was crazy. 467 00:29:23,960 --> 00:29:26,320 Speaker 1: I mean, this is an over the counter region of Colorado, 468 00:29:26,360 --> 00:29:28,760 Speaker 1: so I mean what can you expect, But I mean 469 00:29:28,800 --> 00:29:31,200 Speaker 1: it was almost like a circus, and they were just 470 00:29:31,280 --> 00:29:34,520 Speaker 1: people camped out, just waiting to get in. And uh 471 00:29:35,880 --> 00:29:38,560 Speaker 1: that was I wouldn't say it was disheartening, but but 472 00:29:38,640 --> 00:29:42,120 Speaker 1: it was just a real thing, is that there were 473 00:29:42,200 --> 00:29:46,000 Speaker 1: hunters everywhere, and uh, we just had to deal with that. 474 00:29:46,800 --> 00:29:48,960 Speaker 1: But we were We did feel like that we were 475 00:29:49,000 --> 00:29:50,920 Speaker 1: able to get back in there further than a lot 476 00:29:50,960 --> 00:29:53,360 Speaker 1: of these guys that were on foot, which ended up 477 00:29:53,400 --> 00:30:01,720 Speaker 1: being true. Well, at on day. Let's see, the morning 478 00:30:01,720 --> 00:30:05,480 Speaker 1: of day three, we set out and we're riding and 479 00:30:05,560 --> 00:30:09,880 Speaker 1: we get back in about three and a half to 480 00:30:09,960 --> 00:30:14,000 Speaker 1: four miles from the trailhead, and we come start coming 481 00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:20,600 Speaker 1: through these big meadows at about feet okay, big meadows, 482 00:30:21,160 --> 00:30:23,880 Speaker 1: and we look on on X and sure enough, there's 483 00:30:23,920 --> 00:30:27,720 Speaker 1: some bigger meadows that are up above us that are 484 00:30:29,200 --> 00:30:31,719 Speaker 1: way off the trail that you couldn't see from the trail. 485 00:30:32,840 --> 00:30:38,280 Speaker 1: And what do we do, Bear, we go to the meadows. Yes, 486 00:30:39,000 --> 00:30:44,080 Speaker 1: we said, let's go to the meadows, right, So we 487 00:30:44,680 --> 00:30:47,440 Speaker 1: start riding up and it's pretty steep, and we get 488 00:30:47,480 --> 00:30:50,760 Speaker 1: about a half mile off the trail and we have 489 00:30:50,840 --> 00:30:55,320 Speaker 1: yet to see any fresh elk sign at all, and 490 00:30:55,400 --> 00:30:58,640 Speaker 1: so we're just still just trying to find out. We 491 00:30:58,720 --> 00:31:01,960 Speaker 1: get to the we start going up this steep section 492 00:31:02,040 --> 00:31:05,360 Speaker 1: and I see what I believe as a fairly fresh 493 00:31:05,440 --> 00:31:09,320 Speaker 1: pile of elk droppings, and I go, hey, look right there, 494 00:31:10,080 --> 00:31:13,240 Speaker 1: I think that's elk droppings. Well, we keep riding. We 495 00:31:13,280 --> 00:31:17,400 Speaker 1: go about another hundred yards up the mountain and I 496 00:31:17,640 --> 00:31:23,800 Speaker 1: see two fresh elk rubs on a tree, and that 497 00:31:23,960 --> 00:31:26,280 Speaker 1: is all I needed to see. I said, Bear, look 498 00:31:26,400 --> 00:31:29,280 Speaker 1: right there there, elk rubs. I said, those are fresh. 499 00:31:29,600 --> 00:31:31,840 Speaker 1: We've seen a fresh pile of droppings and elk. Rubs. 500 00:31:31,880 --> 00:31:36,040 Speaker 1: I said, we are in the elk officially, and what 501 00:31:36,080 --> 00:31:42,320 Speaker 1: do we do? We take the mules out of that 502 00:31:42,400 --> 00:31:45,920 Speaker 1: part and we go and we set up camp. Well, okay, 503 00:31:45,920 --> 00:31:48,960 Speaker 1: what we did was we didn't we didn't want to 504 00:31:49,040 --> 00:31:51,360 Speaker 1: bust them, right, We didn't want to just ride the 505 00:31:51,400 --> 00:31:54,280 Speaker 1: mules right up into this area we were having elk sign. 506 00:31:55,240 --> 00:31:57,480 Speaker 1: So we were like, hey, let's back out of here 507 00:31:57,520 --> 00:32:00,160 Speaker 1: and go back in on foot and see what we 508 00:32:00,200 --> 00:32:03,440 Speaker 1: can see. Right, So we backed the mules off the mountain, 509 00:32:04,320 --> 00:32:07,000 Speaker 1: we tether them up, and then me and you at 510 00:32:07,000 --> 00:32:13,840 Speaker 1: about eleven o'clock head up the mountain and we start 511 00:32:13,920 --> 00:32:18,600 Speaker 1: finding more and more elk sign every step. Would you agree? 512 00:32:19,520 --> 00:32:22,200 Speaker 1: What what kind of sign did we see? We saw 513 00:32:22,480 --> 00:32:27,920 Speaker 1: really beat down elk trails. We saw lots of elk 514 00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:34,960 Speaker 1: droppings Rubs. Yeah, um yeah, I mean we were seeing 515 00:32:35,000 --> 00:32:37,880 Speaker 1: like smoking hot elk scot. I mean stuff that was 516 00:32:37,960 --> 00:32:43,160 Speaker 1: like made that day. And I knew that that we 517 00:32:43,160 --> 00:32:49,680 Speaker 1: were in the elk. Yeah, And so the wind was right, 518 00:32:49,800 --> 00:32:52,560 Speaker 1: we knew we didn't need to pressure this spot. We 519 00:32:52,640 --> 00:32:55,480 Speaker 1: stayed in there for about an hour, and we actually 520 00:32:55,480 --> 00:32:58,160 Speaker 1: did a little bit of calling right at noon. Didn't 521 00:32:58,200 --> 00:33:02,000 Speaker 1: do anything aggressive, didn't even a bugle. All we did 522 00:33:02,080 --> 00:33:07,280 Speaker 1: with some cow calls, and uh about noon, we knew 523 00:33:07,320 --> 00:33:09,720 Speaker 1: that we weren't probably gonna just sit in there all day. 524 00:33:09,800 --> 00:33:12,120 Speaker 1: We didn't think it'd be that productive. So we backed 525 00:33:12,160 --> 00:33:14,400 Speaker 1: off the mountain and we went down to where the 526 00:33:14,440 --> 00:33:16,760 Speaker 1: mules were, which is about a quarter mile away down 527 00:33:16,760 --> 00:33:20,960 Speaker 1: the mountain, and we we set up our camp and 528 00:33:21,000 --> 00:33:26,600 Speaker 1: then at about three thirty four o'clock we went back 529 00:33:26,720 --> 00:33:30,680 Speaker 1: up the mountain to where we found the elk. Am 530 00:33:30,720 --> 00:33:34,760 Speaker 1: I right? Am I right? Or am I right? Okay, 531 00:33:34,800 --> 00:33:36,880 Speaker 1: And I'm gonna let you take it from here about 532 00:33:37,120 --> 00:33:43,640 Speaker 1: what happened, walk us through what we did, okay, and 533 00:33:43,680 --> 00:33:49,440 Speaker 1: try to be as dramatic as possible. All right. Um, 534 00:33:49,600 --> 00:33:51,760 Speaker 1: So we got up there and we saw this little 535 00:33:51,880 --> 00:33:56,280 Speaker 1: knob that was right next to the a pretty big meadow, 536 00:33:57,240 --> 00:34:00,160 Speaker 1: and it was right it was right above where and 537 00:34:00,200 --> 00:34:04,040 Speaker 1: all the elkshim. So we decided to go up to 538 00:34:04,080 --> 00:34:07,240 Speaker 1: the top of that and we were gonna just coult 539 00:34:07,280 --> 00:34:11,439 Speaker 1: call a little bit and see what we could see, 540 00:34:11,440 --> 00:34:13,920 Speaker 1: what would happen. And so we're testing the wind, the 541 00:34:13,960 --> 00:34:17,640 Speaker 1: whole time. The wind was great, it was blowing back 542 00:34:17,680 --> 00:34:21,480 Speaker 1: the way we came from. And then so we got 543 00:34:21,520 --> 00:34:26,640 Speaker 1: up there to this little clear spot and we started 544 00:34:27,000 --> 00:34:32,880 Speaker 1: cow calling and we heard something probably a hundred yards away, 545 00:34:34,320 --> 00:34:38,400 Speaker 1: like a limb crack or like somebody something stepped on 546 00:34:38,440 --> 00:34:44,319 Speaker 1: a stick and it broke, and so we set the 547 00:34:44,360 --> 00:34:47,440 Speaker 1: camera up. Both of us looked at each other like 548 00:34:47,560 --> 00:34:50,160 Speaker 1: did you hear that? And we were like, yeah, we 549 00:34:50,239 --> 00:34:56,719 Speaker 1: heard that, and so we set up the camera and 550 00:34:56,719 --> 00:35:02,480 Speaker 1: then we heard it coming in and even closer we heard. 551 00:35:02,560 --> 00:35:08,000 Speaker 1: We heard it again and then we saw it and 552 00:35:08,040 --> 00:35:12,040 Speaker 1: it was it was a bull elk. It wasn't like 553 00:35:12,080 --> 00:35:15,919 Speaker 1: a giant one, but it was. We think it might 554 00:35:15,920 --> 00:35:19,560 Speaker 1: have been legal. We couldn't tell. It was at least 555 00:35:19,560 --> 00:35:22,759 Speaker 1: at three right three, and we thought that we saw 556 00:35:22,800 --> 00:35:27,120 Speaker 1: a fourth one, but we also realized that there was 557 00:35:27,120 --> 00:35:29,640 Speaker 1: another one behind it, and so we didn't want to 558 00:35:31,239 --> 00:35:33,320 Speaker 1: so we passed up the shot on that one because 559 00:35:33,320 --> 00:35:36,080 Speaker 1: we didn't want to shoot a little one and then 560 00:35:36,480 --> 00:35:42,719 Speaker 1: see a big one coming in. Well, so we we see, 561 00:35:43,239 --> 00:35:45,920 Speaker 1: you know, we hear a pop, which wasn't unusual, but 562 00:35:45,960 --> 00:35:48,120 Speaker 1: we were like, huh, I think that, you know, it's 563 00:35:48,160 --> 00:35:50,480 Speaker 1: possible that that was an elk. All of a sudden, 564 00:35:50,480 --> 00:35:52,560 Speaker 1: we see an elk out there at fifty yards, I mean, 565 00:35:52,600 --> 00:35:55,959 Speaker 1: just coming right towards us, and I see it's a bull. 566 00:35:57,160 --> 00:36:00,960 Speaker 1: I immediately go to trying to count time, which is 567 00:36:01,200 --> 00:36:04,440 Speaker 1: very difficult in thick brush. I've learned, especially with a 568 00:36:04,520 --> 00:36:07,760 Speaker 1: marginal animal, and in Colorado, bull's gotta have four points 569 00:36:07,760 --> 00:36:10,520 Speaker 1: on one side or have a nine inch brow time. 570 00:36:11,600 --> 00:36:15,040 Speaker 1: And I mean, this thing is coming in hard, and 571 00:36:16,680 --> 00:36:19,719 Speaker 1: I see at least three on one's I see for 572 00:36:19,760 --> 00:36:22,960 Speaker 1: sure three on one side, and on his right side, 573 00:36:23,000 --> 00:36:26,280 Speaker 1: which was closest to us, I believe that I see 574 00:36:26,360 --> 00:36:31,000 Speaker 1: four points, but it wasn't I wasn't certain. And you know, 575 00:36:31,160 --> 00:36:33,400 Speaker 1: you just have to be certain, you know, you you 576 00:36:33,560 --> 00:36:37,960 Speaker 1: never pull the trigger on anything unless you're a certain. 577 00:36:38,880 --> 00:36:41,359 Speaker 1: And so I come to full draw when they're out 578 00:36:41,360 --> 00:36:44,200 Speaker 1: there at forty yards, and I mean, I'm I am ready, 579 00:36:44,239 --> 00:36:47,799 Speaker 1: and there's a big opening about probably fifteen yards in 580 00:36:47,840 --> 00:36:50,960 Speaker 1: front of me that this elk is just coming right through. 581 00:36:52,000 --> 00:36:57,759 Speaker 1: And uh when he comes through that opening, and I 582 00:36:57,840 --> 00:37:04,600 Speaker 1: still have not been able to decide if if he is, 583 00:37:04,840 --> 00:37:09,160 Speaker 1: if he's a legal bull or not. Well, he he 584 00:37:09,320 --> 00:37:11,719 Speaker 1: comes through the opening and I think I see if 585 00:37:11,880 --> 00:37:14,360 Speaker 1: I mean, we gotta look at the video, because we 586 00:37:14,360 --> 00:37:17,680 Speaker 1: did video, but I'm confidently. I mean, I was pretty 587 00:37:17,680 --> 00:37:19,640 Speaker 1: confident that it had a fourth point, but I needed 588 00:37:19,640 --> 00:37:23,400 Speaker 1: to confirm. And the bull comes into like eight yards 589 00:37:24,160 --> 00:37:27,640 Speaker 1: down the wind of us, but in thick, thick brush 590 00:37:27,680 --> 00:37:30,080 Speaker 1: and the bullet and there were two bulls and the 591 00:37:30,120 --> 00:37:33,680 Speaker 1: one behind it was for sure of three by three, 592 00:37:33,719 --> 00:37:36,759 Speaker 1: and so he was not legal. But this one that 593 00:37:36,840 --> 00:37:39,200 Speaker 1: I think is legal is at eight yards in the 594 00:37:39,239 --> 00:37:42,719 Speaker 1: brush and I'm at full draw, and he stops as 595 00:37:42,760 --> 00:37:46,200 Speaker 1: soon as he gets down wind, and I you know, 596 00:37:47,400 --> 00:37:50,200 Speaker 1: we're just at a stalemate. He's looking at us, he's 597 00:37:50,239 --> 00:37:53,680 Speaker 1: winding us, and I know that this thing is about 598 00:37:53,719 --> 00:37:56,279 Speaker 1: to explode. I mean, I was hoping he would turn 599 00:37:56,320 --> 00:38:00,160 Speaker 1: and walk out the way that he came. He didn't 600 00:38:00,160 --> 00:38:03,759 Speaker 1: do that. He busted out of there. You know, after 601 00:38:03,880 --> 00:38:07,799 Speaker 1: probably ten fifteen seconds of us just staring down each other, 602 00:38:08,320 --> 00:38:13,160 Speaker 1: he busts out of there and the deals done. And um, 603 00:38:13,960 --> 00:38:16,719 Speaker 1: you know, if it had been a bull that I 604 00:38:16,800 --> 00:38:22,600 Speaker 1: knew was a legal bull, I could have killed him 605 00:38:22,600 --> 00:38:25,839 Speaker 1: when he walked through that opening. But that opening was 606 00:38:25,880 --> 00:38:28,359 Speaker 1: the first chance that I had to see his rack 607 00:38:29,280 --> 00:38:31,840 Speaker 1: and I just needed to get a better look. So anyway, 608 00:38:32,080 --> 00:38:36,000 Speaker 1: here we are. We've found these elk. We've slipped in 609 00:38:36,040 --> 00:38:39,160 Speaker 1: on him. We made a few cow calls, and we 610 00:38:39,280 --> 00:38:43,160 Speaker 1: have stinking called in two bull elk. And I mean 611 00:38:43,280 --> 00:38:47,759 Speaker 1: we were pumped, were we not? Day three and we 612 00:38:47,920 --> 00:38:50,560 Speaker 1: just had we were at full draw. I mean we 613 00:38:50,560 --> 00:38:52,960 Speaker 1: were in the we were in the chips. We were 614 00:38:53,000 --> 00:38:58,640 Speaker 1: in the game, am I right? So that was super 615 00:38:58,680 --> 00:39:08,080 Speaker 1: exciting and not to be labor the hunt. But we 616 00:39:08,160 --> 00:39:12,040 Speaker 1: stayed on those elk for another two days and pretty 617 00:39:12,120 --> 00:39:18,600 Speaker 1: much never got on any elk again. Yeah, and that 618 00:39:18,680 --> 00:39:23,319 Speaker 1: was pretty disheartening. We Uh, right after we called those 619 00:39:23,360 --> 00:39:25,920 Speaker 1: bulls in, we ended up moving a little bit further 620 00:39:26,000 --> 00:39:28,719 Speaker 1: down the ridge and we bumped a cow and you know, 621 00:39:28,719 --> 00:39:30,719 Speaker 1: who knows if we bumped more than that that we 622 00:39:30,760 --> 00:39:36,040 Speaker 1: didn't know about. But basically, I feel like that one 623 00:39:36,200 --> 00:39:39,719 Speaker 1: encounter was our one chance at those elk. And we 624 00:39:39,800 --> 00:39:42,200 Speaker 1: hunted in there for the next two days. Never heard 625 00:39:42,239 --> 00:39:47,680 Speaker 1: a bugle, never never heard anything, never saw another elk. 626 00:39:48,200 --> 00:39:52,120 Speaker 1: I mean it was done, and uh, we didn't have 627 00:39:52,200 --> 00:39:56,320 Speaker 1: a long time to hunt. Bear was out of school. Uh, 628 00:39:56,440 --> 00:39:59,200 Speaker 1: we kind of ran out of supplies. We we we 629 00:39:59,360 --> 00:40:02,359 Speaker 1: ended up uh eating a little bit more food than 630 00:40:02,400 --> 00:40:06,399 Speaker 1: I had planned, and uh we ended up coming out 631 00:40:06,400 --> 00:40:09,960 Speaker 1: of there on on day five, and uh we covered 632 00:40:10,000 --> 00:40:12,880 Speaker 1: a lot of ground on two days. One day we 633 00:40:12,920 --> 00:40:14,960 Speaker 1: walked four and a half miles and next day we 634 00:40:15,000 --> 00:40:19,040 Speaker 1: walked about five miles. We bugled, we cal called, we 635 00:40:19,360 --> 00:40:23,600 Speaker 1: found some more areas with some pretty fresh sign but 636 00:40:23,880 --> 00:40:31,760 Speaker 1: never ever got on ELK again. Did we no? Um? 637 00:40:31,800 --> 00:40:37,320 Speaker 1: But we basically we we felt like that the trip 638 00:40:37,360 --> 00:40:40,480 Speaker 1: had been a success though, and we were happy when 639 00:40:40,480 --> 00:40:42,279 Speaker 1: we came out of there on the evening of the the 640 00:40:42,400 --> 00:40:45,919 Speaker 1: day five because we'd accomplished our goal, which our goal 641 00:40:46,080 --> 00:40:48,160 Speaker 1: was just to get our feet wet inside the elk 642 00:40:48,200 --> 00:40:51,839 Speaker 1: counting world. We I knew that the biggest hurdle would 643 00:40:51,880 --> 00:40:54,520 Speaker 1: be finding ELK. I didn't feel like Colin would be 644 00:40:54,560 --> 00:40:58,000 Speaker 1: that big of a deal bear, because you know, I 645 00:40:58,000 --> 00:41:01,000 Speaker 1: blew my first ELK call three week ago, maybe four 646 00:41:01,040 --> 00:41:06,560 Speaker 1: weeks ago, and I'm a I'm a proficient diaphragm turkey 647 00:41:06,600 --> 00:41:09,399 Speaker 1: caller and have been since I was a kid, and 648 00:41:09,480 --> 00:41:12,880 Speaker 1: so blowing on an ELK call is not much different 649 00:41:12,880 --> 00:41:16,319 Speaker 1: than blowing on a turkey call. And so I feel 650 00:41:16,400 --> 00:41:19,040 Speaker 1: like we were decent enough callers that that was not 651 00:41:19,120 --> 00:41:22,319 Speaker 1: a limiting factor at all inside the hunt, and I 652 00:41:22,400 --> 00:41:26,160 Speaker 1: felt like we were prepared for how to manage these 653 00:41:26,160 --> 00:41:29,640 Speaker 1: elk because it's so much like turkey hunting. I mean 654 00:41:30,080 --> 00:41:32,319 Speaker 1: we we were in the back country for five days 655 00:41:32,360 --> 00:41:37,640 Speaker 1: and never heard a single bugle, never heard a single bugle, 656 00:41:38,719 --> 00:41:42,160 Speaker 1: and so I knew that it wasn't gonna do us 657 00:41:42,239 --> 00:41:44,680 Speaker 1: much good to be bugling. It's just like in turkey hunting, 658 00:41:44,680 --> 00:41:47,799 Speaker 1: if the turkeys aren't goblin and not calling very much 659 00:41:47,840 --> 00:41:51,279 Speaker 1: and not responding to calls, you know, you don't call much. 660 00:41:51,520 --> 00:41:54,200 Speaker 1: You do what the turkeys are doing. And so you know, 661 00:41:54,200 --> 00:41:55,719 Speaker 1: we were trying to do what the elk we're doing, 662 00:41:55,880 --> 00:42:00,160 Speaker 1: which wasn't much, but we were were primarily you in 663 00:42:00,600 --> 00:42:05,759 Speaker 1: elk calls, I mean cal calls, and uh. Even though 664 00:42:06,200 --> 00:42:08,400 Speaker 1: the further we got into the hunt, the more and 665 00:42:08,480 --> 00:42:10,680 Speaker 1: more aggressive that we got, because we were just like, man, 666 00:42:10,719 --> 00:42:13,080 Speaker 1: we gotta we gotta crack a bugle out of an 667 00:42:13,120 --> 00:42:16,400 Speaker 1: elk so we can find them. And so we started 668 00:42:16,440 --> 00:42:20,360 Speaker 1: bugling more and more as the days progressed. We started 669 00:42:20,400 --> 00:42:24,880 Speaker 1: out very conservative and then got more liberal, and after 670 00:42:25,040 --> 00:42:28,640 Speaker 1: five days we never heard an elk bugle. So I 671 00:42:28,719 --> 00:42:33,200 Speaker 1: have still after five days of hunting, I've never in 672 00:42:33,239 --> 00:42:36,120 Speaker 1: my life heard an elk bugle, but I almost killed 673 00:42:36,120 --> 00:42:45,480 Speaker 1: an elk. Pretty wild huh. So well, Bear, what would 674 00:42:45,520 --> 00:42:47,840 Speaker 1: you say what was the most exciting part of the 675 00:42:47,920 --> 00:42:52,360 Speaker 1: hunt for you? Probably whenever we called in the bulls, 676 00:42:52,680 --> 00:42:58,239 Speaker 1: because I've never seen a bull elk that close. I've 677 00:42:58,239 --> 00:43:01,719 Speaker 1: seen like so, but they were just like in a 678 00:43:01,840 --> 00:43:05,759 Speaker 1: national park from a distance. Yeah, but that was pretty cool, 679 00:43:05,880 --> 00:43:11,279 Speaker 1: especially because we were hunting them. Yeah, it's different, isn't that. 680 00:43:11,360 --> 00:43:14,799 Speaker 1: I mean, just to see an elkina and yellowstone, you know, 681 00:43:14,840 --> 00:43:17,160 Speaker 1: I mean, that's a cool experience. But to see an 682 00:43:17,160 --> 00:43:20,480 Speaker 1: elk when you're carrying a bow wanting to pack one 683 00:43:20,520 --> 00:43:26,640 Speaker 1: out on a mule, that's exciting stuff, isn't it. Bart? What? Okay? 684 00:43:26,680 --> 00:43:28,880 Speaker 1: So what what would you say? The challenges of the 685 00:43:28,960 --> 00:43:39,040 Speaker 1: hunt were, um, probably finding the elk and then walking 686 00:43:39,160 --> 00:43:41,560 Speaker 1: so far. Yeah, we covered a lot of ground, didn't 687 00:43:41,600 --> 00:43:45,480 Speaker 1: we Yeah, up and down and and we were at 688 00:43:45,520 --> 00:43:48,040 Speaker 1: different time, you know, between ten and twelve thousand feet, 689 00:43:48,080 --> 00:43:54,319 Speaker 1: which compromises your your respiratory system as especially being from 690 00:43:54,480 --> 00:43:58,000 Speaker 1: the lowlands of Arkanas well, Arkansas highlands, but not high enough. 691 00:43:59,680 --> 00:44:07,040 Speaker 1: Bear okay, wild experiences, what was okay? So you rode 692 00:44:07,320 --> 00:44:09,720 Speaker 1: Over the course of those five days, we rode about 693 00:44:09,719 --> 00:44:13,120 Speaker 1: forty miles on the mule. I knew that you were 694 00:44:13,160 --> 00:44:15,560 Speaker 1: either gonna come out of it strong, are you gonna 695 00:44:15,600 --> 00:44:18,640 Speaker 1: come out of it broken. I believe that you came 696 00:44:18,640 --> 00:44:26,799 Speaker 1: out strong. Were there any hairy moments riding the mule? Well, 697 00:44:26,800 --> 00:44:30,000 Speaker 1: with Ace, there wasn't a whole lot. Like every now 698 00:44:30,040 --> 00:44:31,719 Speaker 1: and then there'd be like a steep part and you 699 00:44:31,760 --> 00:44:34,239 Speaker 1: would try to get off the trail and turn around 700 00:44:34,280 --> 00:44:38,120 Speaker 1: and go back to the truck, And like there was 701 00:44:38,160 --> 00:44:40,080 Speaker 1: one part where it was just like I had no 702 00:44:40,160 --> 00:44:44,960 Speaker 1: idea that you could even get in that position. He 703 00:44:45,120 --> 00:44:48,279 Speaker 1: just somehow got in it. And then I don't know 704 00:44:48,320 --> 00:44:50,080 Speaker 1: if he was gonna be able to get off right. 705 00:44:50,120 --> 00:44:53,920 Speaker 1: He kind of took a wrong turn and jumped up 706 00:44:53,960 --> 00:44:57,480 Speaker 1: on a super steep bank and kind of got kind 707 00:44:57,520 --> 00:45:00,440 Speaker 1: of got bewildered a little bit. Yeah, And what do 708 00:45:00,520 --> 00:45:02,880 Speaker 1: I tell you when when stuff like that happens? What 709 00:45:02,920 --> 00:45:05,399 Speaker 1: did I always say to you? Just hang on, just 710 00:45:05,560 --> 00:45:08,560 Speaker 1: ride it like a cowboy. I mean, that's the thing is, 711 00:45:08,640 --> 00:45:10,759 Speaker 1: you can't get scared. That mule is going to take 712 00:45:10,760 --> 00:45:14,440 Speaker 1: care of himself. And that's why we ride mules. You know, 713 00:45:15,080 --> 00:45:18,080 Speaker 1: a horse might have killed himself and flipped off the 714 00:45:18,120 --> 00:45:20,920 Speaker 1: side of the mountain. A mule is not going to 715 00:45:21,040 --> 00:45:23,400 Speaker 1: do that. As long as you stay on that mule, 716 00:45:24,080 --> 00:45:26,080 Speaker 1: you were going to be safe. That's what I tell you. 717 00:45:26,880 --> 00:45:31,000 Speaker 1: And so I mean, just ride him, Just ride him, son. 718 00:45:31,200 --> 00:45:34,800 Speaker 1: Just push your feet down the stirrups and lean back, 719 00:45:34,920 --> 00:45:40,440 Speaker 1: don't lean forward, keep your heels down and cowboy up right. 720 00:45:41,440 --> 00:45:45,000 Speaker 1: There's also another time where we were going to get 721 00:45:45,000 --> 00:45:48,200 Speaker 1: the mules some water down by the creek and there 722 00:45:48,360 --> 00:45:52,480 Speaker 1: was like this really steep rock and Ace got up 723 00:45:52,520 --> 00:45:57,839 Speaker 1: the rock pretty good, but then is he was on 724 00:45:57,880 --> 00:46:00,520 Speaker 1: the side and her feet kind of started to slip thing, 725 00:46:01,080 --> 00:46:04,279 Speaker 1: and then she like just jumped off the rock with 726 00:46:04,360 --> 00:46:07,080 Speaker 1: you on her and went like right under this tree 727 00:46:07,160 --> 00:46:14,640 Speaker 1: with a bunch of branches and it almost took you off. Yeah, 728 00:46:14,719 --> 00:46:17,839 Speaker 1: that was man. We were just having just a normal day, 729 00:46:18,320 --> 00:46:21,400 Speaker 1: normal ride in this big, wide open country. Wasn't that 730 00:46:21,560 --> 00:46:23,800 Speaker 1: big of a deal. And we came to a slick 731 00:46:23,920 --> 00:46:26,960 Speaker 1: rock and so our our mules are shot on the front. 732 00:46:27,000 --> 00:46:30,520 Speaker 1: Shot means that they have shoes on the front, okay, 733 00:46:30,840 --> 00:46:33,719 Speaker 1: and uh, Ace struggled a little bit getting up this 734 00:46:33,800 --> 00:46:35,640 Speaker 1: slick rock, but it wasn't that big of a deal. 735 00:46:36,000 --> 00:46:39,280 Speaker 1: So I just took easy, actually took easy a different way. 736 00:46:39,760 --> 00:46:41,440 Speaker 1: And she gets up on the side of the slick 737 00:46:41,520 --> 00:46:44,960 Speaker 1: rock and just starts sliding. She starts losing her feet 738 00:46:44,960 --> 00:46:49,560 Speaker 1: and so she's scrambling on the rock and she finally 739 00:46:49,760 --> 00:46:53,479 Speaker 1: slides off the rock, which you know, it's probably six 740 00:46:53,600 --> 00:46:57,880 Speaker 1: or eight feet down into a creek, and she she slides, 741 00:46:58,640 --> 00:47:00,799 Speaker 1: but then down in this creek is like thick. It 742 00:47:00,880 --> 00:47:05,000 Speaker 1: wasn't alders, but some kind of thick bramble, you know, 743 00:47:05,080 --> 00:47:08,200 Speaker 1: with branches about as big as your wrist. And I mean, 744 00:47:08,320 --> 00:47:10,680 Speaker 1: she just she kind of doesn't have anywhere to go 745 00:47:11,360 --> 00:47:15,960 Speaker 1: except right into that stuff. And so I mean just 746 00:47:16,320 --> 00:47:20,120 Speaker 1: all of a sudden, things turned south quick, and so 747 00:47:20,200 --> 00:47:24,759 Speaker 1: she to keep from falling over, jumps into those bushes, 748 00:47:25,440 --> 00:47:30,120 Speaker 1: and um, at that point, I'm like, I'm probably gonna 749 00:47:30,200 --> 00:47:32,120 Speaker 1: end up on the ground. That's what I felt like, 750 00:47:33,560 --> 00:47:36,439 Speaker 1: But I just leaned back. I mean, it probably looked 751 00:47:36,480 --> 00:47:40,319 Speaker 1: like Man from Snowy River stuff. You you've seen that movie, right, 752 00:47:40,680 --> 00:47:43,280 Speaker 1: remember when he rides that that horse down the mountain 753 00:47:43,560 --> 00:47:45,239 Speaker 1: and all those other guys are looking at him. That 754 00:47:45,280 --> 00:47:49,400 Speaker 1: was an awesome scene. I just kind of leaned back 755 00:47:49,440 --> 00:47:54,160 Speaker 1: and rode her out, and uh, man, I came out 756 00:47:54,200 --> 00:47:56,000 Speaker 1: on top of the saddle and we just I took 757 00:47:56,000 --> 00:48:00,879 Speaker 1: her right back up the same way and there we came. Yeah. Man, 758 00:48:01,680 --> 00:48:05,359 Speaker 1: that's part of the reason I, I I don't know, I 759 00:48:05,440 --> 00:48:09,959 Speaker 1: love riding mules and equine animals. It just, uh there's 760 00:48:09,960 --> 00:48:13,760 Speaker 1: some excitement in it, and uh, things can go bad quick. 761 00:48:13,920 --> 00:48:17,560 Speaker 1: But it also I think makes you stronger, makes you 762 00:48:17,600 --> 00:48:22,799 Speaker 1: more aware. Um it. Uh, you really do have to 763 00:48:22,840 --> 00:48:27,239 Speaker 1: overcome fear. Riding the equine animal is a craft. It's 764 00:48:27,239 --> 00:48:29,600 Speaker 1: not just uh it's not like riding a four wheeler, 765 00:48:30,239 --> 00:48:31,719 Speaker 1: you know. I mean even it takes some skill to 766 00:48:31,760 --> 00:48:35,680 Speaker 1: do that. But you learned to become a good writer. 767 00:48:35,840 --> 00:48:39,359 Speaker 1: You learned to stay on You learn how to handle situations. 768 00:48:39,400 --> 00:48:41,719 Speaker 1: You learned to trust that animal. And I knew that 769 00:48:41,760 --> 00:48:44,000 Speaker 1: Izzy wasn't gonna flip over. I knew that. I knew 770 00:48:44,040 --> 00:48:46,080 Speaker 1: if I could just stay on her, I'd be okay. 771 00:48:46,480 --> 00:48:49,600 Speaker 1: I knew that those limbs might break my hat off 772 00:48:49,600 --> 00:48:52,960 Speaker 1: and my glasses or you know, tear my clothes or something. 773 00:48:53,040 --> 00:48:55,040 Speaker 1: I didn't know, But it's like if I I just 774 00:48:55,080 --> 00:48:57,480 Speaker 1: got to stay on her. But anyway, we had a 775 00:48:57,520 --> 00:49:01,440 Speaker 1: few exciting moments like that across a lot of creeks 776 00:49:01,840 --> 00:49:05,920 Speaker 1: um uh, went through some thick stuff, went through some 777 00:49:06,120 --> 00:49:11,760 Speaker 1: very steep stuff, some very rugged, rocky stuff, but overall 778 00:49:12,120 --> 00:49:14,640 Speaker 1: great experience. Here's the things that I learned, Bear, and 779 00:49:14,680 --> 00:49:17,840 Speaker 1: this is what I want to do next time. I'm 780 00:49:17,920 --> 00:49:21,759 Speaker 1: gonna start putting in for draw hunts, probably in Colorado, 781 00:49:21,800 --> 00:49:25,399 Speaker 1: maybe some other places, but I would rather. We got 782 00:49:25,400 --> 00:49:27,440 Speaker 1: to get away from the people, and I think that 783 00:49:27,480 --> 00:49:30,240 Speaker 1: you do that through going on a draw hunt. Okay, 784 00:49:30,719 --> 00:49:33,680 Speaker 1: this was an over the counter unit number two. We 785 00:49:33,800 --> 00:49:38,320 Speaker 1: gotta go later in the year. I mean, hunting turkeys 786 00:49:38,440 --> 00:49:41,040 Speaker 1: is no fun. If the turkeys aren't goblin. You know 787 00:49:41,080 --> 00:49:43,439 Speaker 1: a good turkey. Enter can still kill them, but it's 788 00:49:43,480 --> 00:49:45,280 Speaker 1: just no fun. I mean, you don't you go turkey 789 00:49:45,320 --> 00:49:48,720 Speaker 1: out into here here a turkey gobble and to work him. Okay, 790 00:49:50,320 --> 00:49:53,040 Speaker 1: I'm a new elk hunter, but you go elk hunting 791 00:49:53,080 --> 00:49:55,520 Speaker 1: to hear them bogle and to work them. And it's 792 00:49:55,560 --> 00:49:57,560 Speaker 1: just no fun when you don't know where they're at. 793 00:49:57,920 --> 00:50:01,680 Speaker 1: They're not responding to calls, they're not bugling, So we 794 00:50:01,760 --> 00:50:07,240 Speaker 1: need to go later in the season when they're bugling. Um, 795 00:50:07,719 --> 00:50:09,640 Speaker 1: those are the two main things. I want to go 796 00:50:09,760 --> 00:50:12,000 Speaker 1: later and I want to get away from the people. 797 00:50:13,080 --> 00:50:17,080 Speaker 1: And uh. But that being said, I felt like it 798 00:50:17,120 --> 00:50:20,919 Speaker 1: was a massive success and that we we learned about 799 00:50:20,920 --> 00:50:24,359 Speaker 1: our gear, We enjoyed the the new first light gear 800 00:50:24,400 --> 00:50:26,959 Speaker 1: that we had. We were totally decked out in first 801 00:50:27,040 --> 00:50:29,879 Speaker 1: light stuff. Uh. You know, we used the Nemo first 802 00:50:29,960 --> 00:50:33,000 Speaker 1: Light tent. I used the Nemo sleeping bag. I was 803 00:50:33,160 --> 00:50:37,480 Speaker 1: using the thirty degree bag called the Scout. Uh. Really 804 00:50:37,560 --> 00:50:41,920 Speaker 1: like that sleeping bag, ultra lightweight, warm, a lot of 805 00:50:41,960 --> 00:50:45,960 Speaker 1: neat features. Um. I wore the Sawbuck pants for I 806 00:50:45,960 --> 00:50:48,759 Speaker 1: believe I've had these pants on for six days? Have you? 807 00:50:49,400 --> 00:50:51,840 Speaker 1: Would you agree? Bear? I put these on in the 808 00:50:51,880 --> 00:50:55,520 Speaker 1: parking lot on the first day and I'm still wearing them. 809 00:50:55,560 --> 00:51:00,160 Speaker 1: I put them on last. Let's see what Thursday last, right, 810 00:51:01,360 --> 00:51:04,400 Speaker 1: and today is out? Today is Tuesday. I don't know. 811 00:51:04,440 --> 00:51:08,120 Speaker 1: I've been wearing them for a while. And uh, I 812 00:51:08,280 --> 00:51:12,200 Speaker 1: used the clammate. I basically wore the Sawbuck pants, a 813 00:51:12,320 --> 00:51:16,960 Speaker 1: wick undershirt, long sleeve, and a clammath hoodie almost the 814 00:51:17,120 --> 00:51:22,880 Speaker 1: entire time. And uh, everything works great. I was wearing 815 00:51:23,080 --> 00:51:27,360 Speaker 1: actually borrowed Kolby's Can't Attract boots, which he had a 816 00:51:27,400 --> 00:51:30,319 Speaker 1: really nice pair of can attracts that he said I 817 00:51:30,320 --> 00:51:32,960 Speaker 1: could try out. And we wear the same size shoes. 818 00:51:33,000 --> 00:51:36,440 Speaker 1: So that's what I wore, and uh Bear was wearing 819 00:51:36,680 --> 00:51:40,640 Speaker 1: uh first light gear two. I liked it, still wearing it. 820 00:51:41,480 --> 00:51:45,640 Speaker 1: So anyway, man, anything we hadn't covered Bear that you'd 821 00:51:45,640 --> 00:51:51,400 Speaker 1: like to say? Not really nothing? You got nothing at 822 00:51:51,440 --> 00:51:57,359 Speaker 1: all for me? Sorry? Well, um man, I wanted Bear 823 00:51:57,440 --> 00:52:01,360 Speaker 1: to have in his repertoire of memories and know how 824 00:52:02,280 --> 00:52:06,640 Speaker 1: um you know, a western back country hunt and he's 825 00:52:06,640 --> 00:52:09,759 Speaker 1: got that now. And you want to go back though, right, 826 00:52:10,360 --> 00:52:14,959 Speaker 1: And what do you want to do when you go back? Um? Well, okay, yes, 827 00:52:15,320 --> 00:52:21,920 Speaker 1: but do you remember what what I'm prying. I'm prying Banjoe. 828 00:52:22,080 --> 00:52:28,080 Speaker 1: Thank Banjo. Next year when we go back, I want 829 00:52:28,120 --> 00:52:31,480 Speaker 1: to take Banjo with us. Tell him who Banjo is? 830 00:52:31,520 --> 00:52:36,440 Speaker 1: Banjo is my mule that I'm training right now. And 831 00:52:37,520 --> 00:52:40,560 Speaker 1: yeah he's not. You can't, we can't write him yet. 832 00:52:40,600 --> 00:52:44,319 Speaker 1: But he's about a year old. He's getting there. He's 833 00:52:44,360 --> 00:52:48,160 Speaker 1: getting there. So it's is he's full blood brother? Is 834 00:52:48,200 --> 00:52:55,040 Speaker 1: that right? Yeah, I'd say he's pretty flashy too. Yeah, alright, guys, Well, 835 00:52:56,920 --> 00:52:59,600 Speaker 1: so that is our That was our l khant. We're 836 00:52:59,640 --> 00:53:01,759 Speaker 1: gonna be producing a video that will be on the 837 00:53:01,760 --> 00:53:05,200 Speaker 1: Bare Hunting Magazine YouTube channel at some point. I don't 838 00:53:05,239 --> 00:53:06,919 Speaker 1: know if it will come out before this or after 839 00:53:06,960 --> 00:53:14,120 Speaker 1: this podcast. But what an incredible adventure an expedition and 840 00:53:14,280 --> 00:53:17,759 Speaker 1: what other place in the stinking world can a man 841 00:53:17,960 --> 00:53:20,360 Speaker 1: just load up his animals or just jump in a 842 00:53:20,400 --> 00:53:25,000 Speaker 1: truck and drive buying over the counter tag no need 843 00:53:25,080 --> 00:53:29,400 Speaker 1: to get permission from the king and go into true 844 00:53:30,000 --> 00:53:35,279 Speaker 1: wilderness and back country that he owns that he has 845 00:53:35,320 --> 00:53:37,520 Speaker 1: every right to be there as much as anybody else, 846 00:53:38,200 --> 00:53:42,600 Speaker 1: and go in there and hunt a majestic beast like 847 00:53:42,640 --> 00:53:47,240 Speaker 1: an elk, my o my, bring home his flesh, feed 848 00:53:47,280 --> 00:53:50,799 Speaker 1: your family for a year, put his horns above your 849 00:53:50,840 --> 00:53:56,000 Speaker 1: fireplace as a memory activator for decades and generations to come. 850 00:53:56,840 --> 00:53:59,600 Speaker 1: What other place can you do that but right here 851 00:53:59,600 --> 00:54:02,920 Speaker 1: where we live. And I think that's the biggest thing 852 00:54:02,920 --> 00:54:05,840 Speaker 1: that stood out to me is that the access that 853 00:54:05,880 --> 00:54:11,919 Speaker 1: we have to adventure as hunters is incredible, incredible, and 854 00:54:13,480 --> 00:54:17,799 Speaker 1: there's something inside of the adventure and the danger and 855 00:54:17,840 --> 00:54:21,520 Speaker 1: the drama and the craft and the skill of being 856 00:54:21,560 --> 00:54:23,799 Speaker 1: able to come out here and execute this that that 857 00:54:23,840 --> 00:54:28,440 Speaker 1: makes you something different that so many humans on the 858 00:54:28,440 --> 00:54:32,160 Speaker 1: planet don't have access to. But we're tapping into something 859 00:54:32,200 --> 00:54:35,200 Speaker 1: that is ancient and inside of our DNA from the 860 00:54:35,280 --> 00:54:39,520 Speaker 1: very beginning, you know, we were we were warriors and 861 00:54:39,640 --> 00:54:43,960 Speaker 1: hunters and gatherers and tamers of horses, long before we 862 00:54:43,960 --> 00:54:48,080 Speaker 1: were office clerks, long before we were insurance men, long 863 00:54:48,160 --> 00:54:54,120 Speaker 1: before we lived sedentary lives. We were this thing and 864 00:54:54,960 --> 00:54:59,040 Speaker 1: hunters are still that today. And I feel like that 865 00:54:59,160 --> 00:55:02,440 Speaker 1: there's a There is a spiritual component to it. There 866 00:55:02,560 --> 00:55:06,040 Speaker 1: is a natural physical challenge component to it. There's a 867 00:55:06,120 --> 00:55:10,240 Speaker 1: mental strength component to it. There's a component of coming 868 00:55:10,320 --> 00:55:14,120 Speaker 1: up against real fear and overcoming it. There's a component 869 00:55:14,200 --> 00:55:18,840 Speaker 1: of the complexities of the planning that exercise muscles that 870 00:55:18,880 --> 00:55:23,319 Speaker 1: are rarely exercised in modern life. When the things that 871 00:55:23,360 --> 00:55:28,359 Speaker 1: you do actually affect your ability to survive, you know. 872 00:55:28,480 --> 00:55:30,920 Speaker 1: I mean, when you wake up and you live in 873 00:55:30,960 --> 00:55:33,920 Speaker 1: a house and you know you forget something, you just 874 00:55:33,960 --> 00:55:35,759 Speaker 1: go to the store and buy it. When you're the 875 00:55:35,760 --> 00:55:39,080 Speaker 1: back country and you forget something, they're real consequences, And 876 00:55:39,160 --> 00:55:42,600 Speaker 1: I think that that makes us more aware, more conscious. 877 00:55:42,840 --> 00:55:44,719 Speaker 1: It makes us kind of into a different kind of 878 00:55:44,800 --> 00:55:49,920 Speaker 1: human And there's a spiritual component as well. The script 879 00:55:49,960 --> 00:55:54,680 Speaker 1: the Bible says that the the heavens declare the glory 880 00:55:54,719 --> 00:55:58,919 Speaker 1: of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork, firmament being 881 00:55:58,960 --> 00:56:02,560 Speaker 1: the earth and man. We looked at such incredible scenery. 882 00:56:02,600 --> 00:56:04,920 Speaker 1: A man would have to be a fool to not 883 00:56:05,200 --> 00:56:10,080 Speaker 1: think that this was created by design on purpose, that 884 00:56:10,360 --> 00:56:13,239 Speaker 1: the intricacies of the ecosystem bear. One night when we 885 00:56:13,239 --> 00:56:15,799 Speaker 1: were sitting over a water hole, he said that he 886 00:56:15,840 --> 00:56:19,840 Speaker 1: saw four different kinds of rodents within about thirty feet 887 00:56:19,880 --> 00:56:23,360 Speaker 1: of him, And we talked about the intricacies of the 888 00:56:23,400 --> 00:56:26,640 Speaker 1: ecosystem and how those all those little critters play a 889 00:56:26,800 --> 00:56:29,840 Speaker 1: very vital role, from the kind of seeds they gather 890 00:56:29,920 --> 00:56:33,759 Speaker 1: and store all the way back to the animals that 891 00:56:33,880 --> 00:56:39,040 Speaker 1: prey on those rodents. And we just talked about the 892 00:56:39,040 --> 00:56:43,040 Speaker 1: the intricacies of the of the natural systems and the 893 00:56:43,360 --> 00:56:50,120 Speaker 1: brilliance and majesty of it, didn't we And I think 894 00:56:50,160 --> 00:56:53,320 Speaker 1: that something really does come alive inside of a person, 895 00:56:54,000 --> 00:56:56,480 Speaker 1: and and and it's in my mind it's got to 896 00:56:56,560 --> 00:56:59,840 Speaker 1: be connected back to a creator for it really to 897 00:57:00,040 --> 00:57:03,040 Speaker 1: have effect inside your life, because you know, you could 898 00:57:03,040 --> 00:57:05,759 Speaker 1: be a hunter and have no you know, just just 899 00:57:05,840 --> 00:57:08,279 Speaker 1: going into back country doesn't change you. To me, when 900 00:57:08,280 --> 00:57:10,799 Speaker 1: you go into back country and then you connect to 901 00:57:10,840 --> 00:57:15,080 Speaker 1: the thing behind the thing, that's when you really begin 902 00:57:15,160 --> 00:57:21,360 Speaker 1: to that's when you begin to see and understand and uh, anyway, 903 00:57:21,560 --> 00:57:26,560 Speaker 1: incredible time and it's it's fun to be able to 904 00:57:26,560 --> 00:57:30,640 Speaker 1: to spend this time with your son and uh bear John, 905 00:57:31,600 --> 00:57:36,760 Speaker 1: this is just the beginning. Oh oh sorry, I have 906 00:57:36,840 --> 00:57:40,880 Speaker 1: like a little thing. Right, Hey, what do we say 907 00:57:40,880 --> 00:57:43,960 Speaker 1: when we close the podcast every week? He's Okay, now, 908 00:57:43,960 --> 00:57:45,920 Speaker 1: I'm gonna give you one shot at this. But you 909 00:57:45,960 --> 00:57:49,320 Speaker 1: gotta say it with enthusiasm. You can't just you can't 910 00:57:49,360 --> 00:57:55,640 Speaker 1: just say it. You gotta say it. Ready, go keep 911 00:57:55,720 --> 00:57:59,200 Speaker 1: the wild place as wild because that's where the bears live. 912 00:58:00,120 --> 00:58:03,520 Speaker 1: The elk Oh, we gotta tell them about the bear. 913 00:58:04,360 --> 00:58:08,240 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, oh man, fall start. When we get back 914 00:58:08,280 --> 00:58:12,840 Speaker 1: to the truck. The mule feed is scattered all over 915 00:58:12,880 --> 00:58:17,760 Speaker 1: the back of our truck and we have no idea 916 00:58:17,840 --> 00:58:23,440 Speaker 1: what's going on until further inspection reveals bear tracks all 917 00:58:23,640 --> 00:58:26,360 Speaker 1: I mean all over the back window. They were on 918 00:58:26,440 --> 00:58:30,520 Speaker 1: the top of my truck. They were there, Like, we're 919 00:58:30,560 --> 00:58:32,560 Speaker 1: driving down the interstate right now and people are looking 920 00:58:32,600 --> 00:58:34,640 Speaker 1: at us thinking that this truck was attacked by a 921 00:58:34,720 --> 00:58:38,080 Speaker 1: bear and it was. So, while we were in the 922 00:58:38,120 --> 00:58:44,200 Speaker 1: back country, the truck was molested by a bear. It was. Yeah, 923 00:58:44,640 --> 00:58:47,480 Speaker 1: we were told it was to bear cubs that their 924 00:58:47,520 --> 00:58:51,400 Speaker 1: mother had to be euthanized back during the summer, and 925 00:58:51,440 --> 00:58:54,280 Speaker 1: so these little fifty pound bear cubs are just rummaging 926 00:58:54,400 --> 00:58:59,920 Speaker 1: through this area terrorizing people, right. Yeah. So that's why 927 00:59:00,080 --> 00:59:03,680 Speaker 1: we keep the wild places wild, because that's where the 928 00:59:03,760 --> 00:59:11,840 Speaker 1: bears live and the ill. H m hm