WEBVTT - Elk-pedition 0:00:00.360 --> 0:00:04.040 You're listening to the Sportsman's Nation podcast network, brought to 0:00:04.080 --> 0:00:08.520 you by Lacrosse Boots. Now, if you haven't heard yet, uh, 0:00:08.560 --> 0:00:11.119 this is me telling you you need to take a 0:00:11.160 --> 0:00:15.680 look at the new boots from Lacrosse and they fall 0:00:15.800 --> 0:00:20.040 under the Navigator series. Now, what they've done is they've 0:00:20.079 --> 0:00:23.720 taken the best parts of a rubber boot and the 0:00:23.760 --> 0:00:27.880 best parts of your traditional hiking and hunting boot, and 0:00:27.920 --> 0:00:30.680 they've mashed them together to come up with this new 0:00:30.720 --> 0:00:35.960 line of boots from Lacrosse, and that is the Navigator series. 0:00:36.040 --> 0:00:40.040 Now they have the women's wind rows, they have the 0:00:40.080 --> 0:00:43.720 men's wind rows, and then they have the atlast the 0:00:43.760 --> 0:00:47.599 Atlas series within that as well. So go to Lacrosse 0:00:47.640 --> 0:00:50.800 Footwear dot com and check out this new line of 0:00:50.800 --> 0:00:52.640 boots that they have. I've been using mind for a 0:00:52.680 --> 0:00:55.360 couple of weeks now and I am very impressed with 0:00:55.440 --> 0:00:58.400 the the fit in the field and I can't wait 0:00:58.440 --> 0:01:01.000 to get them in the woods this hunting season and 0:01:01.320 --> 0:01:04.839 give him a trial run. So Lacrosse Footwear dot Com 0:01:05.200 --> 0:01:13.640 check them out. My name is Clay Nukelem and I'm 0:01:13.680 --> 0:01:17.480 the host of the Bear Hunting Magazine podcast. I'll also 0:01:17.600 --> 0:01:20.600 be your host into the world of hunting the icon 0:01:21.160 --> 0:01:26.920 of North American wilderness bear. We'll talk about tactics, gear, conservation, 0:01:27.440 --> 0:01:29.720 but we'll also bring you into some of the wildest 0:01:29.800 --> 0:01:38.480 country on the planet Chasing the Bay. We're taking a 0:01:38.560 --> 0:01:41.600 new turn on the Bear Hunting Magazine podcast this week 0:01:41.640 --> 0:01:44.679 is we're talking about elk hunting. I think it'll be 0:01:44.720 --> 0:01:48.000 relevant to you because we are not elk hunters, or 0:01:48.120 --> 0:01:50.320 we weren't before this trip. This is our first elk hunt. 0:01:50.680 --> 0:01:53.240 About three or four weeks ago, I decided that I'd 0:01:53.280 --> 0:01:56.360 take my son out of school bear Nukem, that we'd 0:01:56.720 --> 0:01:59.480 go to and over the counter unit in Colorado take 0:01:59.520 --> 0:02:03.280 the mule go hunting. So we record this podcast on 0:02:03.320 --> 0:02:09.440 the way home from that incredible hunt. Also already out 0:02:09.560 --> 0:02:12.680 right now is a video about our hunt. It's called 0:02:12.720 --> 0:02:16.279 Elk Pedition. Let's play on words for the word expedition, 0:02:16.360 --> 0:02:19.560 because buddy, when you're hauling stock across the country and 0:02:19.639 --> 0:02:21.639 you're going on to do it yourself hunt, it is 0:02:21.680 --> 0:02:25.239 an expedition. And so on the Bear Hunting Magazine YouTube channel, 0:02:25.320 --> 0:02:27.320 go check out this video. It's about six minutes long. 0:02:27.360 --> 0:02:29.640 It's a ton of fun and you'll get to hear 0:02:29.720 --> 0:02:31.760 us talk about it, but in six minutes you can 0:02:31.800 --> 0:02:35.360 see it too, and you'll really have a great story, 0:02:35.639 --> 0:02:40.280 which is a lot of fun. We are starting right 0:02:40.280 --> 0:02:43.320 now to bait bears in Arkansas. In Oklahoma, we've been 0:02:43.360 --> 0:02:45.960 baiting them for a few weeks, but one place in Arkansas. 0:02:46.240 --> 0:02:49.519 I mean as we speak, I mean, my my truck 0:02:49.639 --> 0:02:52.080 is island in the parking lot of the Bear Hunting 0:02:52.080 --> 0:02:56.320 Magazine Global headquarters, and I am headed to bait bears 0:02:56.320 --> 0:02:57.920 in this one place for the first time where we 0:02:58.040 --> 0:03:02.720 pack in with mules into UH into a remote region 0:03:02.760 --> 0:03:06.200 that you can't access by truck. So we're gonna pack 0:03:06.280 --> 0:03:08.959 in with mules. We've got the mules loaded and we're 0:03:08.960 --> 0:03:13.040 headed there right now. I want to draw your attention 0:03:13.080 --> 0:03:16.560 to a product that we're gonna be using this very day, 0:03:16.720 --> 0:03:21.079 and that is north Woods Bear Products. Hey, when you're 0:03:21.080 --> 0:03:23.800 starting a bear bait, it doesn't make any sense to 0:03:23.919 --> 0:03:27.799 not use this scent, this incredible stuff. My favorite stuff 0:03:27.880 --> 0:03:30.960 is a gold Rush. But they've also got powder sense, 0:03:31.000 --> 0:03:34.560 they've got big spray bottle sense, they've got all kinds 0:03:34.560 --> 0:03:37.520 of scent attractants. I talked to a coon hunter today 0:03:37.520 --> 0:03:40.680 that was asking me about UH using gold rushing uh 0:03:40.760 --> 0:03:44.760 potential coon traps to draw coon's debate sites for starting 0:03:44.800 --> 0:03:47.360 young guards. It would do an incredible job at that. 0:03:47.800 --> 0:03:51.160 So check out our friends at Northwood's Bear Products dot Net. 0:03:51.640 --> 0:03:54.080 You're gonna enjoy this podcast and go check out our 0:03:54.240 --> 0:04:01.520 video for Bear Honey Magazine YouTube channel. Today is September 0:04:01.880 --> 0:04:06.840 the eleven, and we are on the road. We are 0:04:06.920 --> 0:04:12.920 recording right now in my truck. We're pulling our nineteen 0:04:13.160 --> 0:04:19.479 sixties two horse trailer that's been refurbished. We've got two 0:04:19.600 --> 0:04:24.640 mules in the back, one exceptionally flashy mule and one 0:04:25.000 --> 0:04:29.880 really nice black mule named Ace. Flashy mules named Izzy. 0:04:31.120 --> 0:04:36.320 And I have a very special guest on the podcast today, 0:04:36.720 --> 0:04:42.040 my son, Bear John Newcomb. That's not my middle name. 0:04:43.839 --> 0:04:49.000 Introduce yourself, Bear. My name is Bear. I'm thirteen and 0:04:49.240 --> 0:04:51.520 I got out of school this week to go oh 0:04:51.640 --> 0:04:58.520 cunning in Colorado. Right on, So tell him your full name, Bear, Jo, Bear, Josiah. 0:04:58.560 --> 0:05:02.240 We've always called him Bear John on but yeah, so 0:05:04.240 --> 0:05:08.880 we are. We're on the tail end of a not 0:05:09.000 --> 0:05:12.080 just a hunting trip, but we've called it an elk 0:05:12.920 --> 0:05:18.000 how do we call it? Expedition? This isn't just an 0:05:18.000 --> 0:05:20.920 elk cunt. This is an expedition, so we're trying to 0:05:21.279 --> 0:05:26.160 we're trying to call it an elk expedition, and so 0:05:26.240 --> 0:05:30.040 on this we want to describe all that we've done. 0:05:30.279 --> 0:05:32.440 We want to tell some stories, we want to talk 0:05:32.480 --> 0:05:36.919 about the process that guide us here, and we're just 0:05:36.920 --> 0:05:40.680 gonna describe our hunt. Let me start by saying that 0:05:41.360 --> 0:05:44.480 I have never hunted elk in my life, never in 0:05:44.480 --> 0:05:49.080 my life, and I've all I've been invited on elk hunts. 0:05:49.800 --> 0:05:53.120 I've known people that have gone, and I mean, it's 0:05:53.240 --> 0:05:59.039 it's it's such a iconic hunt that I knew that 0:05:59.080 --> 0:06:00.960 one day I would probably do up. But I never have, 0:06:01.160 --> 0:06:04.400 and almost intentionally, I've stayed away from it. I've I've 0:06:04.480 --> 0:06:06.280 kind of been a specialist in a lot of ways 0:06:06.320 --> 0:06:09.960 in my hunting, and I've focused on certain things, never elk. 0:06:10.000 --> 0:06:14.720 Kind of this year, Bear John, two things happened. Two things. 0:06:15.680 --> 0:06:18.760 Number one, while we were spring bear hunting in Montana 0:06:19.560 --> 0:06:24.920 this spring, I found an elk shed out in Montana 0:06:25.600 --> 0:06:30.000 and I brought it home, and your mama loved that 0:06:30.120 --> 0:06:32.000 elk shed so much that she wanted me to put 0:06:32.040 --> 0:06:36.680 it as the core in our living room and she 0:06:36.800 --> 0:06:41.000 said that she would like an elk head in our 0:06:41.040 --> 0:06:46.840 living room, which is pretty significant. And uh, so that 0:06:46.839 --> 0:06:50.520 that was one thing. The second thing that happened was 0:06:50.839 --> 0:06:53.719 I spent some time up in bos in Montana this summer, 0:06:53.960 --> 0:06:57.920 just a few days with my friend Kevin Harlander from 0:06:58.000 --> 0:07:02.400 First Light and Joe Ferronado from Meat Eater, And it's 0:07:02.400 --> 0:07:04.840 been just an evening with those guys, and they were 0:07:04.839 --> 0:07:09.000 talking about elk hunting, and uh they both invited me 0:07:09.040 --> 0:07:12.440 to go elk hunting with them next year. Basically, you know, 0:07:12.640 --> 0:07:16.600 they are everybody's plans already made for this year, and 0:07:16.640 --> 0:07:20.600 so I spoiled their plans of getting to you know, 0:07:20.840 --> 0:07:22.720 of getting to take me on my first elk hunt 0:07:22.760 --> 0:07:25.360 because we just said, man, you know what, We're just 0:07:25.360 --> 0:07:29.360 gonna load up the mules. We're gonna drive to an 0:07:29.480 --> 0:07:33.560 over the counter area of Colorado and we're gonna hunt 0:07:33.560 --> 0:07:36.760 elk ourselves. You know, how hard can it be? Right, 0:07:39.720 --> 0:07:42.200 I've been saying that to everybody, How hard can it be? 0:07:42.320 --> 0:07:44.520 How hard can it be? And obviously it's a joke 0:07:45.080 --> 0:07:50.560 because Elk County is extremely difficult. Non residents success rates 0:07:50.560 --> 0:07:57.200 in Colorado are about ten and and we just decided 0:07:57.440 --> 0:08:02.040 to do this about four weeks ago. So you know, honestly, 0:08:02.080 --> 0:08:04.640 most people planning elk hunts like a year in advance. 0:08:05.280 --> 0:08:09.920 And Man, about the tenth of August, I was like, man, 0:08:09.960 --> 0:08:13.680 we need to go elk hunting. And so I talked 0:08:14.120 --> 0:08:17.040 to your mama and I said, what do you think 0:08:17.080 --> 0:08:19.760 about me taking Bear out of school for a week 0:08:20.280 --> 0:08:24.080 and us going elk hunton and uh? And she was 0:08:24.160 --> 0:08:27.520 off for it. And you're gonna do a presentation at 0:08:27.560 --> 0:08:31.600 your school about what you've done. That's one of the 0:08:31.600 --> 0:08:35.400 prerequisites for them getting excused absences. They gotta come back 0:08:35.440 --> 0:08:38.640 and tell what kind of activity they did. And so 0:08:38.760 --> 0:08:43.000 Bear is going to do that. But there's actually a 0:08:43.080 --> 0:08:46.040 third reason that we went elk hunting this year is 0:08:46.080 --> 0:08:49.680 because in the spring was the first time that I 0:08:49.840 --> 0:08:53.920 trailered my mules long distance to hunt the west by myself. 0:08:54.360 --> 0:08:57.160 I had I had hunted the west for Bear uh 0:08:57.160 --> 0:09:00.040 with gym sessions once with his mules and horses, and 0:09:00.120 --> 0:09:03.679 learned a ton from him about back country equine hunting. 0:09:04.520 --> 0:09:09.200 On the spring, me and Colby Moorehead went and and 0:09:09.240 --> 0:09:12.000 did it ourselves and we learned. We just learned a 0:09:12.040 --> 0:09:16.200 ton there. It's extremely complicated to haul mules across the country. 0:09:16.679 --> 0:09:18.360 I mean, there's just a lot of things you gotta 0:09:18.440 --> 0:09:23.480 plan for. And aside from that, we were we we 0:09:23.640 --> 0:09:27.880 learned how to We learned a good system for camping 0:09:28.360 --> 0:09:31.760 and hunting off these mules, not using any pack horses 0:09:31.840 --> 0:09:34.240 or pack mules. A lot of guys bear when they 0:09:34.320 --> 0:09:37.959 hunt the West, they'll ride one animal and they'll use 0:09:38.000 --> 0:09:40.600 one animal as a pack animal. But I didn't want 0:09:40.640 --> 0:09:42.680 to do that. I wanted to stay lean and mean, 0:09:42.720 --> 0:09:46.760 as they say. And so we pretty much have an 0:09:46.920 --> 0:09:52.360 ultra light gear set up and we're applying that to 0:09:52.440 --> 0:09:55.600 our mules. Because even though mules and equine animals are 0:09:55.679 --> 0:09:58.160 super strong and carry a ton of weight, when you're 0:09:58.200 --> 0:10:00.559 putting a rider on them and try and to pack 0:10:00.600 --> 0:10:03.560 all your gear, you know, they can get overloaded pretty quick. 0:10:03.559 --> 0:10:09.680 It's they're not invincible, you know. And so I've we 0:10:09.840 --> 0:10:11.640 learned a lot. So it was like, yeah, we can, 0:10:11.920 --> 0:10:15.560 we can go to Colorado. Colorado is closer than Montana. 0:10:15.640 --> 0:10:18.720 Montana was a twenty four hour drive for us. Colorado 0:10:18.720 --> 0:10:21.520 was about a fourteen hour drive. I got some intel 0:10:21.720 --> 0:10:24.600 from a good friend of mine. You won't mind me saying, 0:10:24.600 --> 0:10:29.600 his name Jason Bossman. Jason gave me some intel on 0:10:29.640 --> 0:10:33.000 a region that he thought would be good for finding 0:10:33.040 --> 0:10:36.839 some milk. So we did have that outside input because 0:10:36.880 --> 0:10:39.560 that was my first question and probably the limiting factor 0:10:39.640 --> 0:10:42.280 and hardest part of this hunt, Bear, was just where 0:10:42.280 --> 0:10:44.520 do you go and if you go there, are you 0:10:44.520 --> 0:10:47.839 gonna find elk? And so Jason was like, hey, if 0:10:47.840 --> 0:10:50.600 you go here, he said, and you put in your 0:10:50.640 --> 0:10:53.560 time and get back in there. You know, he gave 0:10:53.600 --> 0:10:57.160 me a lot of great pointers. He was like, you'll 0:10:57.200 --> 0:11:03.560 find some milk. So the objective of this hunt, though, 0:11:04.040 --> 0:11:07.520 knowing that we were up against like some pretty serious 0:11:07.679 --> 0:11:12.360 odds of not not killing an elk. Really we were 0:11:12.360 --> 0:11:16.800 just trying to get our feet wet, right Bear. Um. 0:11:16.840 --> 0:11:21.559 I wanted Bear to have in his repertoire of experiences 0:11:21.600 --> 0:11:24.160 as a young man. I wanted him to be able 0:11:24.200 --> 0:11:26.319 to say, yeah, we took our mules and we went 0:11:26.360 --> 0:11:31.000 elk hunton, and I knew that after and we we 0:11:31.080 --> 0:11:34.520 ended up hunting about five days. Okay, so it wasn't 0:11:34.559 --> 0:11:37.360 as long as some hunts, but we hunted for five days, 0:11:37.920 --> 0:11:41.120 and I knew that after five days in the back 0:11:41.160 --> 0:11:46.600 country that riding mules that Bear number one would become 0:11:47.720 --> 0:11:51.800 a really qualified equine mule man. There's a ton of 0:11:51.840 --> 0:11:54.600 stuff that goes on about handling animals in the back country, 0:11:54.800 --> 0:11:57.360 and you can't mess up, you know, even even down 0:11:57.440 --> 0:11:59.920 to like tie how do you tie up your mules 0:12:00.000 --> 0:12:02.920 at night? How do you let them feed and graze 0:12:03.000 --> 0:12:06.480 during the day, Because if you lose your mules when 0:12:06.520 --> 0:12:09.319 you're twelve miles back in and they will absolutely run 0:12:09.360 --> 0:12:12.080 away from you if you let them, then you're in 0:12:12.120 --> 0:12:17.200 big trouble. And so you know, I taught Bear about that. 0:12:17.559 --> 0:12:21.840 We we we in in a five days span road 0:12:22.000 --> 0:12:24.680 forty miles on these mules. Isn't that what we figured Bear? 0:12:26.920 --> 0:12:30.880 Maybe more? Maybe more? And so I knew that after 0:12:31.880 --> 0:12:34.320 that much time in the saddle and that kind of 0:12:34.360 --> 0:12:38.120 difficult country, that Bear would be a muleman. I mean, 0:12:38.160 --> 0:12:41.560 I just knew it. If he survived, did you survive? 0:12:44.720 --> 0:12:48.240 So there was a lot of objectives. Really my only, 0:12:49.040 --> 0:12:52.080 my only goal, which obviously I wanted to kill an elk, 0:12:52.200 --> 0:12:54.960 But deep down I almost knew that that was an 0:12:55.040 --> 0:12:58.640 unrealistic just absolute goal, Like I wasn't gonna say the 0:12:58.720 --> 0:13:02.199 success of the trip sip on whether we bring home 0:13:02.280 --> 0:13:05.600 elk meet or not. I never said that, even though 0:13:05.640 --> 0:13:08.960 I've always got the end goal in mind and everything 0:13:08.960 --> 0:13:13.520 that I do. But success was gonna be us being safe, 0:13:14.679 --> 0:13:20.719 hunting hard, camping well, handling the mules well, and us 0:13:20.840 --> 0:13:26.520 finding elk and having a good hunt and giving them heck. Okay, 0:13:26.760 --> 0:13:29.200 giving the elk heck? Do you think we gave the 0:13:29.200 --> 0:13:34.240 elk heck? Bear? Hey, why don't you describe the first 0:13:34.320 --> 0:13:37.600 day of the hunt and where we went? You don't 0:13:37.720 --> 0:13:41.480 name any names, now, but like where, like what we did, 0:13:41.920 --> 0:13:43.960 and why don't you describe a little bit of that? Like, 0:13:44.040 --> 0:13:46.600 So we'll start with day one. So day one, we 0:13:46.720 --> 0:13:50.559 arrived in Colorado, what do we do? We went and 0:13:50.600 --> 0:13:56.160 we got the overly counter elk tag, and we went 0:13:57.760 --> 0:14:03.160 to a trailhead. Don't well, yeah, we don't want to 0:14:03.160 --> 0:14:06.840 say the name of the trailhead. And then we rode 0:14:08.920 --> 0:14:14.199 ten miles up the trail and then we camped in 0:14:14.320 --> 0:14:17.359 a spot and we hunted a little bit. That afternoon 0:14:17.600 --> 0:14:21.560 we mostly just glassed and cold a little bit. And 0:14:21.680 --> 0:14:26.640 the next day, well, yeah, so we we went in 0:14:26.720 --> 0:14:29.280 ten miles on the first day, and we had in 0:14:29.400 --> 0:14:31.880 mind a lake that we were trying to get to 0:14:32.000 --> 0:14:35.800 and We had no idea really what this country looked like. 0:14:35.840 --> 0:14:37.920 I mean you can see it on your on X maps, 0:14:37.960 --> 0:14:43.600 which we used, but honestly, I had no idea what 0:14:43.760 --> 0:14:45.520 it was gonna look like. Once we got up there, 0:14:45.880 --> 0:14:50.920 we got ten miles back in and uh and it 0:14:51.040 --> 0:14:55.800 started to rain. Um And I learned a few things 0:14:55.800 --> 0:14:58.960 on that first night, Bear, I learned a few things 0:14:58.960 --> 0:15:04.080 about you know, Jim Sessions. He Jim. Let's let me 0:15:04.080 --> 0:15:07.440 tell you something about Jim Sessions. Okay, Jim Sessions Sessions 0:15:07.440 --> 0:15:10.600 at Husk the Mall. Jim is a veteran Western hunter. 0:15:11.200 --> 0:15:17.160 Jim Sessions packs in on mules and horses thirty miles 0:15:17.440 --> 0:15:21.240 into the Wyoming back country to elk hunt, to sheep hunt, 0:15:22.120 --> 0:15:26.080 and they're going in places that there are not trails. 0:15:27.000 --> 0:15:30.160 And he doesn't even bring as much as a GPS. 0:15:31.600 --> 0:15:37.040 I mean, he navigates that country just like the old 0:15:37.080 --> 0:15:40.000 timers did before there were GPS is. I think he 0:15:40.040 --> 0:15:44.240 probably uses some paper maps. But Jim, you ask him, 0:15:44.240 --> 0:15:46.400 why did you you know what kind of GPS you running? 0:15:46.400 --> 0:15:50.160 And he said, I've never heard of her. That's funny, Bear, 0:15:51.280 --> 0:15:56.520 never heard of her. I mean so, but Jim, Jim 0:15:56.640 --> 0:15:59.520 tells me. And when he says it, you know, it's 0:15:59.560 --> 0:16:03.560 like it's sinks in as he says, he said, Clay, 0:16:03.600 --> 0:16:06.480 when you're thirty miles back in, and he didn't even 0:16:06.520 --> 0:16:09.040 carry an ind reach, so there's no communication. His only 0:16:09.440 --> 0:16:12.160 communication if something went wrong back there would just be 0:16:12.200 --> 0:16:14.920 to have somebody right out and tell somebody once they 0:16:14.960 --> 0:16:16.920 got a cell phone range. And he said, when you're 0:16:16.960 --> 0:16:19.480 that far back in, he said, you really begin to 0:16:19.600 --> 0:16:23.160 have to watch yourself. You have to pay attention to 0:16:23.280 --> 0:16:26.640 every single thing that you do, because if you make 0:16:26.680 --> 0:16:29.280 a mistake, and if you get hurt, or if you 0:16:29.760 --> 0:16:32.840 lose an animal, or if you know your your your 0:16:32.840 --> 0:16:35.840 pack animal runs off and he's got your supplies on 0:16:36.000 --> 0:16:39.720 his back and you can't catch him, or he runs 0:16:39.760 --> 0:16:42.560 back to the truck, or you get thrown off and 0:16:42.600 --> 0:16:46.800 break a leg or whatever. Have you cut yourself with 0:16:46.840 --> 0:16:49.680 a broad head, and you start, you know, in in 0:16:49.720 --> 0:16:54.680 a bad spot. You know, he said, you're you're basically 0:16:54.720 --> 0:16:58.280 two to three days away from help. Think about that, 0:16:58.880 --> 0:17:01.440 because it's taking a day and a half to get 0:17:01.440 --> 0:17:04.920 back in there, and so if you get hurt, it's 0:17:04.960 --> 0:17:07.639 a day and a half out for somebody to tell, 0:17:08.280 --> 0:17:10.280 you know, to recruit help. And it's a day and 0:17:10.320 --> 0:17:14.399 a half ride back in and anyway, I was thinking 0:17:14.400 --> 0:17:18.000 about that Bear. Well, we were back in there. Well, 0:17:18.160 --> 0:17:19.960 the first night we were ten miles and the next 0:17:20.000 --> 0:17:22.719 day we went another three. So at one point we 0:17:22.720 --> 0:17:29.520 were thirteen miles in the back country. And Bear, were 0:17:29.640 --> 0:17:36.040 you Did that make you nervous at all? Not really? Okay? 0:17:36.119 --> 0:17:39.560 We talked about this earlier and I told him, I 0:17:39.600 --> 0:17:44.320 said I was nervous. Uh. I think, I think when 0:17:44.320 --> 0:17:46.439 you're that far back in you you really have to 0:17:46.480 --> 0:17:49.520 have the fear of God in you. And uh. And 0:17:49.600 --> 0:17:51.960 I made a few mistakes. It was the first day 0:17:51.960 --> 0:17:55.480 at a hunt. Number one, I forgot my pistol in 0:17:55.480 --> 0:17:58.560 the truck. That wasn't a big deal. We weren't in 0:17:58.600 --> 0:18:02.560 grizzly country. I didn't even have bear spray, so, um, 0:18:02.600 --> 0:18:05.479 you know, if we were in grizzly country, I probably 0:18:05.480 --> 0:18:07.480 would have turned around and we would have come out 0:18:07.480 --> 0:18:10.160 of there if I didn't have any kind of bear protection. 0:18:10.560 --> 0:18:14.879 But there's no grizzlies in Colorado, So that was a 0:18:15.040 --> 0:18:21.280 mistake number one. Mistake Number two, Bear, if you remember, Um, 0:18:21.320 --> 0:18:27.080 about five miles in I turned around and look at 0:18:27.080 --> 0:18:30.760 my backpack, and what did I do? You dropped your arrows. 0:18:31.560 --> 0:18:36.520 I was scared. My arrows in my Kafaru shape charge 0:18:36.560 --> 0:18:39.920 backpack and I didn't have them strapped in there, right. 0:18:40.200 --> 0:18:42.199 I just thought they would ride okay the way I 0:18:42.240 --> 0:18:44.320 had them. And I turned around and I don't have 0:18:44.359 --> 0:18:48.960 any arrows. I'm carrying my bow in a custom bow 0:18:49.040 --> 0:18:52.600 holder that hangs off the side of the saddle protects 0:18:52.600 --> 0:18:56.639 the bow really well, really like the setup. And I 0:18:56.720 --> 0:19:00.840 turned around and I don't have any arrows. And so 0:19:01.440 --> 0:19:03.919 we turned around and start heading back down the trail 0:19:04.000 --> 0:19:06.639 and I'm hoping that they didn't fall off, you know, 0:19:06.840 --> 0:19:11.080 three miles back in, we backtrack a mile and pick 0:19:11.200 --> 0:19:14.880 and finally find the arrows. That was mistake number two. 0:19:16.720 --> 0:19:18.240 But think about it, if we had got all the 0:19:18.240 --> 0:19:20.439 way to the top ten miles in and I realized 0:19:20.480 --> 0:19:24.480 I didn't have any arrows. I mean, you know, little 0:19:24.680 --> 0:19:28.439 mistakes cost you big. If you were three yards from 0:19:28.480 --> 0:19:30.199 the truck, it wouldn't have made any difference. You just 0:19:30.240 --> 0:19:34.040 walk back and get them. Number three, What was the 0:19:34.080 --> 0:19:39.440 third mistake that I made? Um? You broke broke so 0:19:39.520 --> 0:19:45.480 we uh, we were using the first light Nemo collaboration 0:19:45.600 --> 0:19:49.080 tent called a recurve, which is an incredible little tent, 0:19:49.240 --> 0:19:52.440 super lightweight, ultra lightweight. I think it weighs less than 0:19:53.160 --> 0:19:54.919 I bet. I bet it weighs just a little bit 0:19:54.960 --> 0:19:57.360 over a pound, maybe pound and a half two pounds. 0:19:57.800 --> 0:20:02.160 Tiny tent, I mean light tent. It's a two man tent. 0:20:03.240 --> 0:20:06.119 So all the components are ultra light and so a 0:20:06.119 --> 0:20:10.000 couple of the rods on the tent are fiberglass and 0:20:10.440 --> 0:20:13.320 small fiberglass, like as big around as like a match 0:20:13.400 --> 0:20:18.199 stick almost, you know. And I stepped on one of 0:20:18.280 --> 0:20:22.359 them while we're up there, didn't I first night broke 0:20:22.400 --> 0:20:26.240 it snapped in half. It wasn't that big of a deal. 0:20:26.600 --> 0:20:29.080 We were able to carve a stick out that took 0:20:29.119 --> 0:20:31.720 the place of that tent pole. But it was a mistake. 0:20:32.160 --> 0:20:33.600 You know. If we had been back there for a 0:20:33.640 --> 0:20:35.920 week and that was our only tent and there came 0:20:35.960 --> 0:20:38.840 a big windstorm or something, I mean, that would have 0:20:38.880 --> 0:20:41.000 been the weak point of the tent. What was the 0:20:41.000 --> 0:20:46.320 other mistake that I made back there? Both sites, man, 0:20:46.520 --> 0:20:49.639 we had a lot of mistakes. Yeah. So this new 0:20:49.800 --> 0:20:53.679 saddle or this new uh this new boat case that 0:20:53.720 --> 0:20:55.760 I was using, I had never used it before. And 0:20:55.800 --> 0:21:00.760 I was using a compound boom, and we got all 0:21:00.800 --> 0:21:05.679 the way to the top and my sights were loose 0:21:05.720 --> 0:21:09.159 on that bow and we were able to get it 0:21:09.359 --> 0:21:13.679 back together and was confident in its shooting ability. But 0:21:15.720 --> 0:21:18.560 at the time there was we were in a pretty 0:21:18.600 --> 0:21:22.200 bad fix. So we were able to navigate through that. 0:21:22.280 --> 0:21:24.840 But I was able to re situate the bow case 0:21:25.440 --> 0:21:29.119 so that there wasn't any pressure on those sites any longer. 0:21:29.600 --> 0:21:32.960 But that was a weak point in my system, okay, 0:21:33.640 --> 0:21:36.680 And I don't have any trouble talking about the things 0:21:36.680 --> 0:21:40.119 that we learned about bear because you know that strength 0:21:40.760 --> 0:21:44.840 is actually found inside of humility, you know. I mean, 0:21:44.880 --> 0:21:46.480 it'd be awesome to come out of this and say 0:21:46.520 --> 0:21:50.000 we did everything right, but we didn't. And uh, but 0:21:50.720 --> 0:21:54.080 you know this that a wise man learns from his 0:21:54.200 --> 0:21:57.680 mistakes and he'll be wiser yet on the other side 0:21:57.680 --> 0:22:02.399 of it. So we learned from that. And then the 0:22:02.440 --> 0:22:05.520 fifth thing. This all happened on like the first date. 0:22:06.359 --> 0:22:09.560 Do you remember what the other one was? No, I 0:22:09.720 --> 0:22:13.840 burned a hole in my air mattress, so we we 0:22:13.920 --> 0:22:16.000 brought an air mattress. And this was a minor thing. 0:22:16.040 --> 0:22:17.920 But if we'd been on a seven day hunt, it 0:22:17.960 --> 0:22:22.879 would have ended up being sort of significant. So I 0:22:22.920 --> 0:22:29.080 have this little Cabella's blow up air mattress, and uh, 0:22:29.320 --> 0:22:31.159 the first night, I pulled it out and we had 0:22:31.200 --> 0:22:33.679 a little fire going. It was pretty moist. We were 0:22:33.680 --> 0:22:38.720 able to make a fire up Worrid about eleven thousand feet. 0:22:38.800 --> 0:22:41.880 I think we made a fire just outside of the tent, 0:22:42.440 --> 0:22:46.640 and I flopped this air mattress out to blow it up, 0:22:47.119 --> 0:22:49.520 and the tail of it drags through a couple of 0:22:49.560 --> 0:22:53.920 embers and puts a hole in the stinking air mattress. 0:22:54.280 --> 0:23:00.000 Didn't it It wouldn't hold air. So hey, those were 0:23:00.080 --> 0:23:03.600 the mistakes that we made on the very first day 0:23:04.119 --> 0:23:06.040 and it kind of put us on our a game 0:23:06.520 --> 0:23:11.920 after that. And aside from all those things, these things 0:23:11.920 --> 0:23:15.040 were pretty minor. We were able to navigate through them all. 0:23:15.840 --> 0:23:18.480 But the rest of the trip we were very conscious 0:23:18.520 --> 0:23:20.560 about everything that we did. We talked about it, we 0:23:20.640 --> 0:23:25.600 talked about being being aware. So that was day one 0:23:25.640 --> 0:23:29.320 and day two. Day two, we left from our campit 0:23:29.359 --> 0:23:32.800 eleven thousand feet and went up to over twelve thousand feet, 0:23:32.800 --> 0:23:35.280 which was way above the tree line and is it 0:23:35.480 --> 0:23:38.119 was in some of the most incredible country that a 0:23:38.200 --> 0:23:41.880 human has ever laid eyes on? Would you agree? Bear, 0:23:43.040 --> 0:23:46.600 Tell me about it, describe it to me. Well, we 0:23:46.680 --> 0:23:48.360 got to the top and we kind of came over 0:23:48.400 --> 0:23:51.199 with this little peak and we looked down. There's this 0:23:51.359 --> 0:23:57.080 big blue lake that had like fish in it, like 0:23:57.160 --> 0:23:59.800 you could see him eating bugs off the top of 0:23:59.800 --> 0:24:04.680 the water and they were just like it was sort 0:24:04.720 --> 0:24:06.760 of like a prairie, but it was like really high 0:24:06.880 --> 0:24:10.159 up because there were no trees. And then if you 0:24:10.240 --> 0:24:14.280 looked the other way, there was like this really big 0:24:14.359 --> 0:24:23.119 view of all the mountains. Yeah, it was incredible. I 0:24:23.119 --> 0:24:26.640 I said that it would have shamed Rocky Mountain National Park, 0:24:27.240 --> 0:24:30.240 which we've been to right, which is a beautiful park. 0:24:30.920 --> 0:24:35.360 But I mean, this was some incredible country. Mhm. And 0:24:35.400 --> 0:24:39.399 by now we're thirteen miles from the truck and our 0:24:39.440 --> 0:24:43.480 tents broke. We don't have a pistol. You know, we've 0:24:43.600 --> 0:24:49.399 we've we've made a few blunders. And we could have 0:24:49.400 --> 0:24:51.680 stayed back in there and hunted if we'd have found elk. 0:24:52.240 --> 0:24:55.240 But we went back in there and looked around, looked around, 0:24:55.280 --> 0:24:59.160 looked around, looked around, and found no sign of elk. 0:24:59.600 --> 0:25:05.879 Didn't And so after an assessment and and and Honestly, Bear, 0:25:06.720 --> 0:25:10.720 I wasn't sure that I wanted to kill an elkin 0:25:10.800 --> 0:25:14.880 back that far, even with mules, because the truth be known, 0:25:16.080 --> 0:25:18.479 our mules are untested when it comes to elk. Now, 0:25:18.520 --> 0:25:22.439 we know that izzie'll carry out meat and she seems 0:25:22.480 --> 0:25:25.760 to do fine with that. Ace is untested. Ace is 0:25:25.840 --> 0:25:27.919 sixteen years old, the southern mule that we got, but 0:25:28.000 --> 0:25:30.720 we didn't really know what he would do with an elk. 0:25:30.760 --> 0:25:33.960