Speaker 1: Welcome back to another episode of cutting the Distance. Stem
Speaker 1: here with what i'd call maybe a new buddy, Tucker Stanley.
Speaker 1: He lives only about thirty minutes from me, and we
Speaker 1: kind of met what was it, Tucker in.
Speaker 2: Twenty twenty, Yeah, twenty, I had twenty.
Speaker 1: Yeah, your your dad was gracious enough. I wish my
Speaker 1: dad would have. He had been buying you guys points
Speaker 1: right in some of these states or or you know,
Speaker 1: and and then when you graduated, he was going to
Speaker 1: send you guys on a pretty good elkcunt, so you
Speaker 1: had enough points to go to some good units. And
Speaker 1: you were talking to one of our good buddies, Ben Gorman,
Speaker 1: and I think he came out to my my newly
Speaker 1: built Help's Game Calls warehouse at that time, and we
Speaker 1: besd with you and Troy, and so I first kind
Speaker 1: of know, you know, got to meet you in twenty twenty,
Speaker 1: but I had known of you before then. I won't
Speaker 1: say rivals peel on that fine art rivals, but playing
Speaker 1: in sports kind of always the Stanley names pretty pretty
Speaker 1: prominent in the Lewis County area, and kind of knew
Speaker 1: of you, and then yeah, I got to know you.
Speaker 1: And then we've kind of stayed in touch and shoot,
Speaker 1: we probably what bs once twice a week about you know,
Speaker 1: dream hunts are going on this or hey did you
Speaker 1: see how much this tag sold for? And just kind
Speaker 1: of stay in touch. So how are you doing good?
Speaker 2: I appreciate you having me on. It's been Yeah. I
Speaker 2: started in twenty twenty with us and yeah, my dad
Speaker 2: started buying us points back see, Wyoming started their point
Speaker 2: system what seven I don't know what max points is now,
Speaker 2: probably sixteen seventeen and so sixteen years ago when we
Speaker 2: were probably eight nine years old, and we could cash
Speaker 2: them in whenever we wanted, and so I had That
Speaker 2: was when I got you know, someone knew a friend
Speaker 2: that knew a friend that knew you personally, and that's
Speaker 2: how we kind of got started and kind of been
Speaker 2: good friends ever since.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Yeah, we Yeah, I think we spent a half
Speaker 1: hour hour last night Texan back and forth going over
Speaker 1: you know, Alaska sheep and you know some of the
Speaker 1: gear that I think is vital and you know we're
Speaker 1: gonna get into that. You got a sheep hunt coming up,
Speaker 1: but let's kind of we always kind of jump into these.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you've listened to the podcast or not, Tucker,
Speaker 1: But we're gonna kind of start with a couple questions
Speaker 1: for you. I mean, this question and answer is brought
Speaker 1: to you by Pendleton Whiskey. So, yeah, just I'm curious
Speaker 1: what are you doing this time of year to get ready?
Speaker 1: I know you're in good shape, you know, a pretty
Speaker 1: competitive athlete in high school. You know, still like to
Speaker 1: get after in the mountains. So not only you know,
Speaker 1: from a physical fitness you know you do, are you
Speaker 1: looking at applications kind of like what does an off
Speaker 1: season you know, look look like for you?
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, I played college football, so you know, my
Speaker 2: physical fitness continued into my mid twenties. Now I'm thirty one,
Speaker 2: and so it was really important to me to stay
Speaker 2: in shape, you know, because you know, you work so
Speaker 2: hard to get to shape for for sports and athletics
Speaker 2: and stuff, and I just couldn't see myself losing that,
Speaker 2: you know, and just letting myself go, so to speak.
Speaker 2: And so we're working out. For me, it's always been,
Speaker 2: you know, not not an option, and so I never
Speaker 2: really I mean I work out probably five days a
Speaker 2: week and so like as far as like the off
Speaker 2: season it doesn't My my training plan really doesn't differ,
Speaker 2: and I kind of I think just being an athlete
Speaker 2: is kind of helped with the hunting because before when
Speaker 2: I work out, it was it was to you know,
Speaker 2: be a better football player or whatever it was. And
Speaker 2: now it's like, I got to be in shape for
Speaker 2: this hunt, and it's so like my my workout, you know,
Speaker 2: staying in shape to me is really important and it's
Speaker 2: not just hunting, but hunting just happens to be my
Speaker 2: What distracts the mental pain of working out is like,
Speaker 2: you know, like you're doing this for a hunt and
Speaker 2: it'll be easier, and uh, it used to be you
Speaker 2: know that you're doing this for football and this is
Speaker 2: what it takes and to be the best, and that
Speaker 2: that's kind of my as as a former athlete. It's
Speaker 2: kind of my it's my new goal, you know, it's
Speaker 2: it's it's to be in better shape for hunting season.
Speaker 2: It used to be to be in better shape for
Speaker 2: a football season. So this time of the year, I
Speaker 2: you know, I'm you know, I ride the stationary bike
Speaker 2: as much as I can just for the cardio, and
Speaker 2: then I try to lift weights. I don't need to
Speaker 2: be the strongest man in the world anymore. This part
Speaker 2: what football took. But I left weights, and you know
Speaker 2: that doesn't change whether it's season or off season for me.
Speaker 2: It's it's important for me to stay.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so you're why I went from football to your
Speaker 1: why is now hunting? And I always joke with people,
Speaker 1: if it wasn't for hunting, I'd probably be fornared pounds.
Speaker 1: I'm not as motivated as you to work out for
Speaker 1: other things. It's like, no, if I if I'd have
Speaker 1: to climb the mountain, I'd probably just I would be
Speaker 1: that forndered pound guy. But uh yeah, I think that's
Speaker 1: actually how our conversation started last night. You were asking
Speaker 1: me about some if I have a stair climber, and
Speaker 1: I think that kind of kicked off the cascade of
Speaker 1: we were sheep hunting and sharing sheep hunting videos by
Speaker 1: the time we were done. But no, it's it's important,
Speaker 1: and you know, I'm I probably get a little lazy
Speaker 1: November December, early January, and then right back you know
Speaker 1: now you know, eating better, getting ready because it is
Speaker 1: it's it's a year long commitment, or if you do
Speaker 1: get the two months that I screw up every year,
Speaker 1: like it takes the other seven months to get back
Speaker 1: to where I was. Where It's like if it was
Speaker 1: always like if I'm always looking at like I want
Speaker 1: to be better today than it was yesterday, i'd be
Speaker 1: I would be a lot better off. It's like I
Speaker 1: just kind of yo yo, or you're probably in a
Speaker 1: better you know, situation where you're just saying constant Yeah.
Speaker 2: I kind of describe it as like a it's easier
Speaker 2: to maintain than it is to like, you know, do
Speaker 2: like a seventy five hard and you know that's brutal.
Speaker 2: You know, I see people doing it and it's impressive
Speaker 2: and and you know, I commend them for it. But
Speaker 2: for me, you know, I'm not like a strict, strict
Speaker 2: diet type of guy. I enjoy a you know, a
Speaker 2: good beer or you know, you know, a penalty and
Speaker 2: coke or whatever it is. And and I feel like
Speaker 2: if I just cut that off cold turkey, it'd be
Speaker 2: harder for me to do. Or if I just ate salads,
Speaker 2: trying to lose weight nearly impossible. And so I just
Speaker 2: try to maintain and I kind of eat what I want.
Speaker 1: I don't abuse it, you know, but wait, till wait
Speaker 1: till you're forty and see if you can see what
Speaker 1: you want.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they used to say wait till you're thirty, but
Speaker 2: now I'm out thirty and now people are telling me
Speaker 2: wait till you're forty. But you know, I just kind
Speaker 2: of have and I checked, you know, I've I've always
Speaker 2: heard a quote that was what doesn't get measured doesn't
Speaker 2: get maintained. And so I try to weigh myself, you know,
Speaker 2: once a week, once every other week, and if it's
Speaker 2: not in check, then then then I crack down.
Speaker 1: Work a little harder. Yeah, you know, you're I would
Speaker 1: say you're not in the hunting industry, right, which is
Speaker 1: pretty fair to say. But like I would say, you're
Speaker 1: one of those guys that hunts as much as the
Speaker 1: rest of us, you know that that are in And
Speaker 1: I hate the word industry, like there are people that
Speaker 1: make their living because of hunting type you know, products
Speaker 1: or services or whatever. So what are you doing? Like
Speaker 1: what's your your you know, this time of year, we're
Speaker 1: all getting ready for putting in for draws, Like what's
Speaker 1: your approach on that side? Right now? Are you are
Speaker 1: you applying all over the country? Are you are you
Speaker 1: keeping it pretty you know, specific to certain states. How
Speaker 1: are you setting up like your future you know hunting trip, Well.
Speaker 2: Just the way the hunting industry is, you know, I
Speaker 2: mean we're western Washington, where you know the hoof for
Speaker 2: Rock video that you guys released was pretty spot on.
Speaker 2: There's it's not like it used to be. So I
Speaker 2: haven't hunted in Washington in years. My kind of strategy
Speaker 2: is I think eventually what this is all gonna come
Speaker 2: to is for the average Joe blow guy like me
Speaker 2: that's not in the industry, you know you have if
Speaker 2: you're like an over the town, over the counter guy,
Speaker 2: I think you're gonna have to play the state game.
Speaker 2: And you know, you're gonna have to apply for Idaho,
Speaker 2: you have to apply for New Mexico, you have to
Speaker 2: apply for Colorado, you have to apply for Wyoming, Nevada,
Speaker 2: all of them, Arizona, and you're not gonna be able
Speaker 2: to go to your same spot that maybe you and
Speaker 2: your family have hunted for, you know, fifteen years. I
Speaker 2: think those days are kind of coming to an end,
Speaker 2: and it's unfortunate, but you know, with the draw systems,
Speaker 2: it's hard to rely on a tag every year, and
Speaker 2: so I've kind of been relying on Idaho, and I
Speaker 2: know we're going to get into my my Idaho hunts
Speaker 2: and stuff, but for the last five years I've been
Speaker 2: relying on Idaho for deer and elk. When we met
Speaker 2: twenty twenty, I had max points. I cashed those in
Speaker 2: for Wyoming, so I kind of had to start over there.
Speaker 2: I think I checked last night because I applied for
Speaker 2: my Wyoming stuff last night. That was I think I'm
Speaker 2: at four points again, so I don't expect to draw
Speaker 2: anything there. But what I'm kind of doing with all
Speaker 2: that is, like, you know, I have four points for Wyoming.
Speaker 2: I think you could probably get a general unit for
Speaker 2: four to seven points in that range. You aren't going
Speaker 2: to get anything, you know, any other quality units yet.
Speaker 2: But with the point creep and all that stuff, what
Speaker 2: I'm doing is like, if there's a year where I
Speaker 2: don't get my Idaho elk tag, then because those come
Speaker 2: you know in December, you'll know, then I'm going to go,
Speaker 2: you know, cash in my four six eight points or
Speaker 2: whatever I have at that time for like Wyoming. Other
Speaker 2: than that year, I'll go to Wyoming. But I kind
Speaker 2: of just threw like my entry last night was like
Speaker 2: kind of for a hill Mary Wyoming tag that I
Speaker 2: probably won't get. But the reason I did that was
Speaker 2: because I've already got a while or an Idaho tag,
Speaker 2: and so I have, you know, three general points or
Speaker 2: whatever for Montana. I don't have very many points for
Speaker 2: Colorado because I was so late to the game. I
Speaker 2: played football till I was like twenty four. It went
Speaker 2: over to Europe and played, so I got started real,
Speaker 2: real late. Luckily I had my dad started to love
Speaker 2: Wyoming early. But New Mexico's random draw, you know, so
Speaker 2: I put them for that every year, you know, But
Speaker 2: that's kind of what I do is is I think
Speaker 2: you're gonna have to like play the state game and
Speaker 2: try to get Arizona this year if you don't draw
Speaker 2: Idaho or Wyoming or vice versa, and just.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah and yeah, like similar to you, I've already
Speaker 1: got an Idaho archery tag. So it's like, if I
Speaker 1: want to, I can just spend my time in Idaho
Speaker 1: and it's a pretty good unit. And so I'm my
Speaker 1: strategy now across all these other states is yeah, I
Speaker 1: can draw, you know, I can draw Utah if I want,
Speaker 1: I can draw Colorado if I want yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: Nevada is all, but in any those that I've even
Speaker 1: got a chance to get to take, like, I don't
Speaker 1: want it unless it's a like, you know, top tier hunt.
Speaker 1: And to be honest, it's even gon get harder because
Speaker 1: I'm probably going rifle because I don't want to like
Speaker 1: mess up September. Yeah, yeah, it could be better, but
Speaker 1: it's like, oh, if I get a premium rifle tag,
Speaker 1: because I'm an opportunist, I don't need to go do
Speaker 1: it with a bow or muzzle, Like I don't. Just
Speaker 1: give me a good tag, a good hunt. I'm I'm happy,
Speaker 1: but like, I don't want to mess up archery. So
Speaker 1: I'm really going to be like really kind of you know,
Speaker 1: shooting for the stars with with premium rifle tags in
Speaker 1: all those states which have really really low odds. But
Speaker 1: like I say, it's more of just build a point
Speaker 1: and then we'll see if I don't get the Idaho
Speaker 1: or in the future if I want to cash in
Speaker 1: you know Colorado with their preference point system or you know,
Speaker 1: Utah with their modified preference point will we'll go that way.
Speaker 2: So yeah, that's you also kind of get into like
Speaker 2: why or I mean, like New Mexico, like I put
Speaker 2: in for their one of their top units just because
Speaker 2: it's such a far drive for us, and so like
Speaker 2: you know, it's such a commitment to drive twenty four
Speaker 2: hours or twenty two hours or wherever you're going in
Speaker 2: New Max. So you know, I probably won't draw in
Speaker 2: New Mexico, but I put in for my strategically put
Speaker 2: in for one of their better units because like, if
Speaker 2: I'm going to drive down there, I want it to
Speaker 2: be for a pretty good unit.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, And that's everybody's got their own you know, strategy.
Speaker 1: And we've talked about it a lot on here before.
Speaker 1: Like I look at Utah and Arizona. You know, I'm
Speaker 1: I'm in double digits in both of those, but it's
Speaker 1: like I probably won't draw for another ten, Like it's
Speaker 1: going to be maybe my going out party when I'm
Speaker 1: too old. The hunt, you know, some of the harder
Speaker 1: areas and then the Wyomings, Montana's, Idahos, Nevada's kind of
Speaker 1: in that middle, it's still pretty hard to draw. Like
Speaker 1: I'm looking at those as like maybe my my in
Speaker 1: between fits between you know, an Idaho or Montana, right
Speaker 1: now where you can draw you know, fairly, fairly easily
Speaker 1: or get a tag in those places. So yeah, there's
Speaker 1: lots of lots of strategies. So you're getting in shape,
Speaker 1: you're planning hunts. Seems to be what kind of you know,
Speaker 1: any any die hard or serious hunters kind of thinking
Speaker 1: about right now is you know those two things, you know,
Speaker 1: staying in shape and getting ready to just find your
Speaker 1: opportunity right where you're gonna go hunt where A you're
Speaker 1: gonna have to be in shape for what's that gonna
Speaker 1: look like? And then, uh, my second question for you,
Speaker 1: and it's just this is actually out of my own
Speaker 1: curiosity because I don't know what influence So you know,
Speaker 1: we we're we use some brands, we partner with some brands,
Speaker 1: we have contracts with brands. But as a guy that
Speaker 1: hunts as much as we do outside of the industry,
Speaker 1: like what influences your gear choices? Like, you know, I've
Speaker 1: been working with Kafaru since twenty and twelve, so it's
Speaker 1: like I use their pack. You know, we were talking
Speaker 1: last night about what you needed in a sheet pack,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, well, I wonder, I wonder, why the
Speaker 1: heck do you use that or you know, how do
Speaker 1: you guys get to those decisions? What you know is
Speaker 1: your Do you have a favorite you know, honey influencer
Speaker 1: that you listen to? Do you just ask lots of
Speaker 1: questions you try them on, like how do you get
Speaker 1: to what pack or what boots or what camo or
Speaker 1: you get to.
Speaker 2: I always joke that if someone pays me to wear it,
Speaker 2: I'll put it on my back. But I'm not in
Speaker 2: the industry, so you know, it's it's I don't have
Speaker 2: a big social media following. I'm just a a hunter
Speaker 2: that likes the sport of it. And uh so, you know, nobody,
Speaker 2: no sponsors, it's just it's just what I want. And
Speaker 2: you know, which can probably relate to a lot of
Speaker 2: your listeners. And so like how I choose my gear
Speaker 2: is hunting gears. She's gotten so expensive and you know
Speaker 2: it you name off, you know, all the big brands
Speaker 2: and the and the stone glaciers, the you know, like Couu,
Speaker 2: the first lights, the Sidkase, all those things. And it's
Speaker 2: almost like when you start building an outfit, you can't
Speaker 2: be the guy that's mixed and matched. And so if
Speaker 2: you if you already you know, it's like I remember
Speaker 2: when I first got you know, some expensive hunt gear
Speaker 2: that you know, you go from the you know, cheaper
Speaker 2: Walmart stuff to like some good quality gear. When the
Speaker 2: industry really changed, you know, I don't know, it seems
Speaker 2: like it really changed like ten years ago or so.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it seems like Sika kind of led that big,
Speaker 1: you know, because it was it was a lot of
Speaker 1: cheaper stuff and then Sick through and then first Light
Speaker 1: and qu came through, and it was like, all right,
Speaker 1: now we got all buy expensive, expensive gear. Like you
Speaker 1: can't do it in the cheap stuff anymore.
Speaker 2: That's yeah. And it was like if you were sick,
Speaker 2: you were bawling. And and so as I like got
Speaker 2: more serious about hunting because like I said, like football,
Speaker 2: you know, it's playing the fall, and so I couldn't
Speaker 2: hunt as much as I wanted to until I was
Speaker 2: probably twenty five, and so it was like a caged animal.
Speaker 2: As soon as like I started to hunt, I just
Speaker 2: became obsessed with it. And so like my gear, you know,
Speaker 2: you start buying because it's you know, you could buy
Speaker 2: a five hundred dollars coat no problem nowadays. And so
Speaker 2: as far as like my gear, I I I don't
Speaker 2: really have anyone that like influences me. It's more so
Speaker 2: just like building an outfit. Like if I have those pants,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna buy that coat. And as far as my
Speaker 2: pack goes, you know, I watch a lot of the
Speaker 2: YouTube stuff, you know, and and not that they influenced me, but.
Speaker 1: Just if you see enough guys running something similar or
Speaker 1: trusting and it gives you some confidence in that, it.
Speaker 2: Gives you confidence. But also you know, I believe that,
Speaker 2: like there is something we said about like you get
Speaker 2: what you pay for, you know, whether that's but there's
Speaker 2: some things that are just like outrageously priced that you
Speaker 2: know there's better options for it, but it's kind of
Speaker 2: like a Ford chever Dodge. You know, you have people
Speaker 2: that argue all of them, but I really don't think
Speaker 2: a guy would go wrong if you chose either one
Speaker 2: of them. And so like that's that's like like my
Speaker 2: pack and stuff. It's like some some of the packs,
Speaker 2: they really the only difference is like the compartments that
Speaker 2: they have or something like that maybe one guy might
Speaker 2: like over the other. I think the qualities there on
Speaker 2: most of them at the upper end level. It's just
Speaker 2: like what you what what feels nice to you? And
Speaker 2: what do you pack? You know, what are you used
Speaker 2: to packing? And it doesn't have room for all your stuff?
Speaker 2: A guy is gonna like that brand, you know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I've been unfortunate, you know, I loyal to
Speaker 1: Kafario and been using them for a long time. But
Speaker 1: I've tried on you know, the Initial Ascent, the Stone Glacier,
Speaker 1: the Exo, and it's like you could probably get by
Speaker 1: on all these It's just you know, little tweaks in
Speaker 1: the suspension, different padding, different you know, pack layouts, and yeah,
Speaker 1: I think you know when you get the packs or
Speaker 1: you know, boots are a little more per like specific
Speaker 1: to the person, right, you got to find a boot
Speaker 1: that has a last that fits your foot and has
Speaker 1: all the qualities you want for that specific hunt, you know.
Speaker 1: But I was just kind of curious, like, you know,
Speaker 1: are you are you like scanning the forums, like, you know,
Speaker 1: do you search for the certain pack you want to buy?
Speaker 1: Like are there any bad reviews? Are there any good ones?
Speaker 1: Because I do on that on some of the hunting
Speaker 1: stuff that I might not have a connection for or
Speaker 1: a lot of knowledge, like you know, what what do
Speaker 1: people think about this or that and just kind of
Speaker 1: see like is there any major failures or people complaining
Speaker 1: about it? They like it, and then you know, go
Speaker 1: ahead and make my purchase.
Speaker 2: If you watch like enough like that, even the hunting
Speaker 2: channels have come a long way since you know, fifteen
Speaker 2: years ago, and now like YouTube and the accessibility of
Speaker 2: people and what they're using stuff. So like for boots,
Speaker 2: you know, for example, I went into a sporting goods
Speaker 2: store here locally and I went in to buy Ken tracks,
Speaker 2: quite frankly, and that that was what everyone was wearing.
Speaker 2: There were the five hundred dollars boots and if you
Speaker 2: were a real hunter, that's it's like the sitka, you know,
Speaker 2: it's like that's what you were wearing. And I went
Speaker 2: in there and I tried them on, and then I
Speaker 2: tried on the Crispies and I haven't I haven't gone
Speaker 2: back from Crispies since, you know, and so nobody influences
Speaker 2: me to do it. It was I tried on both
Speaker 2: boots and walked out with the Crispies and those just
Speaker 2: blew out as last year, and you know, I bought
Speaker 2: the same pair again, and so it's just kind of
Speaker 2: trial and error.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: Now the problem is I have a ton of hunting gear,
Speaker 2: and you know, if if I really like a pack,
Speaker 2: I'll buy the same pack again. And you know, and
Speaker 2: then there's some there's a pack that I got that
Speaker 2: I bought, you know, and and I don't really use
Speaker 2: it that much, and so I won't buy it again.
Speaker 2: But that's just how I picked my gear. And I
Speaker 2: have a lot of hunt gear now because you buy
Speaker 2: a little bit each year. And now that I've been
Speaker 2: you know, taking it serious for six or seven years,
Speaker 2: now it starts to accumulate.
Speaker 1: I appreciate that, Tucker. Once again, you have questions, uh
Speaker 1: for for myself or our guests, feel free to email
Speaker 1: them to us at ct D at Phelps game Calls
Speaker 1: dot com or send us a social media message and
Speaker 1: we'll do our best to get them on here. Now
Speaker 1: we're gonna jump into kind of the the meat and
Speaker 1: potatoes of the podcast. And uh, you've mentioned, you know,
Speaker 1: he played played college football, played played overseas a little bit,
Speaker 1: and so you've only been hunting for six years, but
Speaker 1: you've got some pretty some pretty decent you know critters
Speaker 1: in those you know years. I think that was one
Speaker 1: of the other I talked to you, and then I
Speaker 1: think was it a year or two later you killed
Speaker 1: a big Canada buck and you were trying to figure
Speaker 1: out how to get to the taxidermis who I'd recommend
Speaker 1: and hooked you up with round you and brought your
Speaker 1: brought you to your home from the Western hunt. And
Speaker 1: so let's let's ship right into that on how you
Speaker 1: guys listening on audio can't see it, but just to
Speaker 1: the left of Tucker's head is the picture of this
Speaker 1: giant buck, a two hundred three inch Albert of meal deer.
Speaker 1: Go ahead and kind of tell the just tell the
Speaker 1: story on how that one evolved and and uh kind
Speaker 1: of you know, there's a little humor involved on a
Speaker 1: on a hunt that maybe didn't have that kind of buck,
Speaker 1: is the expectation.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would love to say that I've tracked it
Speaker 2: for five years and I know about it, and I
Speaker 2: had forty trail cameras up, but that wasn't the case.
Speaker 2: You know, I'm I'm okay admitting that it was. It
Speaker 2: was right guy, right spot, right time, type of deal.
Speaker 2: But what happened with that hunt was I got a
Speaker 2: call from a local guy and they were kind of
Speaker 2: I'm not going to say scrambling, but they were looking
Speaker 2: for three archery hunters for this outfitter and it was
Speaker 2: like a private land, not high fenced, but it was
Speaker 2: like a private land outfitter that have thousands and thousands
Speaker 2: of bakers up in Alberta. And they had three archery tags.
Speaker 2: So this is twenty twenty one and I get this
Speaker 2: call and it was like, hey, you're an archery hunter.
Speaker 2: Do you want to go to Alberta this year? And
Speaker 2: I was like, yeah, you know what, what's that consisted of?
Speaker 2: And he goes, well, here's what's going on is you
Speaker 2: got to get the COVID vaccine to go. Like that
Speaker 2: was when the borders were closed and it was vaccine
Speaker 2: mandatory and at the time, you know, I hadn't I
Speaker 2: hadn't got it. And you know that that was basically
Speaker 2: like the stipulations across the border. And so the other
Speaker 2: three hunters that usually go that take that tag, they
Speaker 2: refuse to get the vaccine. So, you know, I started
Speaker 2: seeing pictures of these bucks. I kind of joke, but
Speaker 2: and I'm like, ahm, I get the vaccine for those
Speaker 2: and uh so I ended up getting the vaccine, and
Speaker 2: you know, I have no problem admitting that because it
Speaker 2: you know, I I think I did well with the
Speaker 2: deer that I got. I was rewarded and and so
Speaker 2: I got the vaccine and I went on the trip
Speaker 2: and it was the first hunt that I'd ever paid
Speaker 2: an outfitter for, and so to me, it was like
Speaker 2: a big deal. And you know, it wasn't a real
Speaker 2: expensive hunt, you know for the hunting world. You know,
Speaker 2: I see you know that sheep hunt and New Mexico
Speaker 2: is sold for one point three million. I mean you're
Speaker 2: you're talking like a really really low budget hunt for
Speaker 2: the quality of animal I got. And so I committed
Speaker 2: to it, and I was like, man, I you know,
Speaker 2: I don't want to go empty handed. It kind of
Speaker 2: adds an element when you're paying for a hunt to
Speaker 2: your standards. You know, when you go on an o
Speaker 2: TC hunt, it's it's just like you're having a good time.
Speaker 2: There's no pressure. You might get a bowl, you might not,
Speaker 2: and you know, it's it's it's more relaxed where some
Speaker 2: of these hunts it's you know, even like my sheep
Speaker 2: hunt coming up, it's like, man, I don't want to
Speaker 2: come home empty handed. You want to get the most
Speaker 2: out of it. And that's how I felt on that
Speaker 2: felt on that hunt. And it was my first like
Speaker 2: big hunt. And anyway, basically the story was is I
Speaker 2: missed a buck, kind of a jump shot type of action.
Speaker 2: I missed him, and I was just sick to my stomach.
Speaker 2: And this isned like day three, and it was a
Speaker 2: seven day hunt, and so I remember texting my wife like,
Speaker 2: I don't know if I'm gonna get one, you know,
Speaker 2: because it's archery, it's not guaranteed, you know, there's no baiting.
Speaker 2: And here we already spent this money. And I was
Speaker 2: starting to get kind of nervous on day four. And
Speaker 2: so day four rolls around in the evening and I'm
Speaker 2: sitting in the tree stand and like right at dark,
Speaker 2: I heard just like a screeching noise like a fence,
Speaker 2: like something was crossing the fence. And so I kind
Speaker 2: of got ready, got got one, you know, my arrow ready,
Speaker 2: And that buck, you know that that I killed, came
Speaker 2: in and I shot him twenty twenty three yards broadside.
Speaker 2: And what's funny is a local guy here that was
Speaker 2: also there. He was one of the three tags. He
Speaker 2: he was he had shot a buck early that day,
Speaker 2: and so I remember him coming back to lunch and
Speaker 2: we're like looking at his buck and we're all like, dang.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: I was thinking to myself like I would take that
Speaker 2: every you know, all day, every day. And so I
Speaker 2: head back. It got dark and I head back. I
Speaker 2: shot the buck and then you know, they picked me
Speaker 2: up and I said I got one, and they're like,
Speaker 2: is it a big one? I was like, it's about
Speaker 2: like you know, the other guys, you know, I mean,
Speaker 2: I don't know. I didn't share it too long. I
Speaker 2: was more trying to exte the shot. So he's like,
Speaker 2: all right, let's go back, we'll eat dinner, then we'll
Speaker 2: go look for him. So we go back, eat dinner,
Speaker 2: and I wasn't even nervous. I like wasn't thinking about
Speaker 2: it at all. And you know, like they were all
Speaker 2: chirping like, oh, it sounds like Tucker got one outsize
Speaker 2: you know, of Martins, and and let's go look for him.
Speaker 2: So we all headed back out inside by sides to
Speaker 2: go grab flashlights, and we went to the spot of
Speaker 2: the kill. There's no blood. I mean, it was like
Speaker 2: started making me nervous. And we finally find some blood
Speaker 2: and it wasn't a very long track of the buck
Speaker 2: probably went, i know, fifty sixty yards and anyway, we
Speaker 2: walked up on that and I remember the I was like, uh,
Speaker 2: he was just like, Tucker, you might want to come
Speaker 2: take a look at this thing. And you know, when
Speaker 2: I walk over to him, because we're kind of grid
Speaker 2: searching at that point, and you know, I was like,
Speaker 2: oh man, I'm like happy with that, you know, because
Speaker 2: I'm taking into consideration like how much this cost me
Speaker 2: in the commitment, and like I'm really happy with that.
Speaker 2: You know, that's a nice buck. And then it like
Speaker 2: the longer we're there and the more like the gutting
Speaker 2: it and throwing it in the back. It started to
Speaker 2: like think the way they were reacting because he he
Speaker 2: he likes to like kind of downplay it.
Speaker 1: The guy does it sounds like you downplayed it to
Speaker 1: start with.
Speaker 2: Well, I didn't. I didn't know, you know, Like I
Speaker 2: was like, oh, yeah, that's.
Speaker 1: Well, I'm sure they thought you were messing with him, like,
Speaker 1: oh yeah, I shot one like Martins.
Speaker 2: And then he's like, oh, I thought you said it
Speaker 2: was the same size of Martins. I was like, I,
Speaker 2: you know, I didn't.
Speaker 1: I didn't say that much.
Speaker 2: Two year and so the more we started like taking
Speaker 2: pictures of it, it was like, you know, this is
Speaker 2: like that's a legit fuck. And then we got it
Speaker 2: into the shop and stuff and started skinning it, and
Speaker 2: they're like that that that's like a an exceptional deer.
Speaker 2: And you know, they have thirty headmounts on their on
Speaker 2: their shop wall, and to my knowledge, it was the
Speaker 2: biggest buck that they've ever killed there. And you know,
Speaker 2: happened to be with a bow. Happened to the one
Speaker 2: year that I went. I got asked late because the
Speaker 2: whole COVID thing, it was just kind of it just
Speaker 2: all happened.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they happened to. You know, you happen to be
Speaker 1: in that tree stand and not in a different one. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: If I remember how how far away was a buck
Speaker 1: when you first spotted it, it wasn't like add Yeah.
Speaker 2: He was probably coming in at about one hundred because
Speaker 2: I heard that fence and so I was on alert
Speaker 2: and he was probably one hundred and thirty one hundred
Speaker 2: and fifty yards and I was watching him and he,
Speaker 2: you know, he turned his head and his frame towards me.
Speaker 2: He's walking at me, and I've never killed anything that big.
Speaker 2: So it was like, you know, and also you like
Speaker 2: I said, with these these hunts, is like is it
Speaker 2: big enough for the price you're paying? That that weighs
Speaker 2: into my mind. And so it was like, Okay, that's
Speaker 2: a shooter. And so like I got ready and I
Speaker 2: was I quit looking at the horns like I'm just
Speaker 2: trying to execute this shot. And so you know, I
Speaker 2: seen him coming and it all happened. But it's almost
Speaker 2: I'm like thankful that I didn't have time to like
Speaker 2: think about how big he was.
Speaker 1: Did you know at the point you see him one
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty he was going to come your way?
Speaker 1: Or was there a lot of variability he could have
Speaker 1: picked a different route or was it pretty like it
Speaker 1: was coming down like a fence line tour There was
Speaker 1: there like a reason he was going to walk by you?
Speaker 1: Or did you like cause I I'm the guy that
Speaker 1: sits in the tree like, oh, I shouldn't even get
Speaker 1: my bow out because he's got one hundred and fifty
Speaker 1: yards to cover, He's probably gonna go a different way.
Speaker 1: Like I'm the most negative guy until it happens, like
Speaker 1: I'm never gonna get a shot anyways, like it's cool
Speaker 1: to look at him.
Speaker 2: And yeah, I mean it was a meadow, and so,
Speaker 2: you know, I had my ranges. It's hard to get
Speaker 2: ranges when it's just like a grassy patch. It's nice
Speaker 2: when you have trees that you can you can hit,
Speaker 2: you know, with your rangefinders. So you know, on day four,
Speaker 2: I'm like, you know, if he crosses through the middle,
Speaker 2: he's going to be at seventy four. If he crosses
Speaker 2: through right here, he's going to be at you know,
Speaker 2: you know, fifty four, and you know, ideally he's fifty
Speaker 2: and in and so all those things were going through
Speaker 2: my mind. In any any you know, kind of hooked
Speaker 2: and came towards me. And that's when I knew that,
Speaker 2: like I was going to get a shot off because
Speaker 2: he was within any range that he came through at
Speaker 2: that point, he was within the range.
Speaker 1: Yeah, gotcha, gotcha. No, it's a it was a great buck.
Speaker 1: I got the you know, I don't did I take
Speaker 1: him to Utah or just picked him up, but got them.
Speaker 2: And I think you took him to Utah and then around.
Speaker 1: Next year yeah or yeah or something yeah, some yeah,
Speaker 1: a giant buck, you know, two hundred three inch typical,
Speaker 1: just a just a stud of a buck. Like I
Speaker 1: said that for for six years and then you go,
Speaker 1: you know, one hundred and seventy inch Idaho white tail
Speaker 1: two years ago or last last it would have been
Speaker 1: two hunting seasons ago. But last year, twenty twenty three season,
Speaker 1: you kill one hundred and seventy inch Idaho white tail,
Speaker 1: which just you know, a great buck. How does that
Speaker 1: hunt go for you? Like, what's your strategy on that?
Speaker 1: You know? Talking to Dirk who's my co host here,
Speaker 1: you know, mature Idaho white tails seem to be kind
Speaker 1: of making a comeback, but they're kind of on a
Speaker 1: pretty big down trend. You know, Dirk would cuss out
Speaker 1: you and call you an apple maggot and everything else.
Speaker 1: But uh no, dude, we've got to have dinner with Dirk,
Speaker 1: you know before and he likes you. But you know,
Speaker 1: it's like the white Tel's coming back. But like, what's
Speaker 1: your approach to that white tail hunt? Like, how do
Speaker 1: you go about it? You know, without the ability to
Speaker 1: scout any of that if you what was your strategy
Speaker 1: on and going? And it sounds like your dad had
Speaker 1: a chance. This passed year on a on a good
Speaker 1: one that didn't you know, I know you mentioned you
Speaker 1: know you wish you were the trigger guy, but sometimes
Speaker 1: you gotta let the the old men, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: have a chance. But what's what's that Idaho hunt look like?
Speaker 1: How do you strategize and plan for that? Yeah?
Speaker 2: So like the Idaho thing, what happened was a couple
Speaker 2: three years ago, we we went up we you know,
Speaker 2: the whole Idaho system. I was online trying to get
Speaker 2: a tag for for ELK. It didn't have up and
Speaker 2: I had a buddy that was like, hey, we can
Speaker 2: go to this deer unit. I was like sure, you know,
Speaker 2: and we drove around the first day, we knew some
Speaker 2: people that had local people here that were also over there,
Speaker 2: and we you know, we're just kind of getting a
Speaker 2: little bit of intel. Not nobody's spots, but just like,
Speaker 2: you know, there's deer everywhere, but where do you guys suggest?
Speaker 2: And we're getting some pointers from people. And we drove
Speaker 2: around the first ad a lot of snow, and we
Speaker 2: never seen a single deer the first day and just
Speaker 2: driving around, you know, you know, I don't know, I
Speaker 2: didn't know how to hunt those white till I'd never
Speaker 2: killed killed one over there, and so never seen a deer.
Speaker 2: And so then we we got pictures of a buck
Speaker 2: that was killed there and it was massive. It was
Speaker 2: that one I sent you last night. Yeah, that that one.
Speaker 2: I was like, you know, we aren't even seeing a
Speaker 2: dough you know, what what are they doing? And some
Speaker 2: they said, well, he was sitting on a trail, and
Speaker 2: I was like, sitting on a trail, like what you know?
Speaker 2: And and and so it really stuck with me because
Speaker 2: I'm open to learning and I've never done it. And
Speaker 2: so the next day we were driving around in a
Speaker 2: new area a lot of snow, which kind of played
Speaker 2: a factor in this, and my buddy, you know, we're
Speaker 2: just driving around a logging road and he's like, oh,
Speaker 2: hold on, you know one of those deals where it
Speaker 2: was like a buck that was standing up on the
Speaker 2: hill and he ended up in a buck that day.
Speaker 2: And I was like, Ash, there must be more deer
Speaker 2: over here, because it was the first success we had had.
Speaker 2: And so I started looking like in the timber as
Speaker 2: we were driving back with his buck in the in
Speaker 2: the bed of the truck, and I seen this this
Speaker 2: trail come off the hillside and it had you know,
Speaker 2: it was two or three feet wide with just tracks
Speaker 2: in the snow. Luckily there was snow, and I remember
Speaker 2: thinking like, I'm gonna come back in the same area
Speaker 2: tomorrow after we get this thing taking care of. So
Speaker 2: we took it back, and it happened to me that
Speaker 2: my buddy, he was like cutting his deer down the back,
Speaker 2: you know, doing that method. Well that the skin was
Speaker 2: real like frozen, and his knife slipped and he like
Speaker 2: slit his leg open. And I had taken to the
Speaker 2: emergency room that night, so the next day he couldn't
Speaker 2: hunt with me. And so I'm like, hey, don't worry
Speaker 2: about no problem. I'll be fine, you know. And so
Speaker 2: I went out on my own and I went back
Speaker 2: to that I marked it, you know, on my on X,
Speaker 2: and I went back to that same exact trail and
Speaker 2: I walked up it and I was like, well, this
Speaker 2: is what they said to do, you know. It was
Speaker 2: like sit on this trail. So I sat there, and
Speaker 2: luckily it didn't take very long, like thirty minutes. Here
Speaker 2: come like a little dough, you know, right over my shoulder,
Speaker 2: like fifteen yards.
Speaker 1: So can I ask a quick question to talking, like
Speaker 1: are you in the timber or do you have some
Speaker 1: like are you above tree lining? Could you have some
Speaker 1: visibility or is it a clearcut? Are you just like
Speaker 1: in the timber on this trail.
Speaker 2: So my first you know time up this trail, I
Speaker 2: was in the brush and I realized I didn't know
Speaker 2: that there was open timber around me. And so when
Speaker 2: I seen this dough coming over my shoulder at you know,
Speaker 2: ten yards or so, I was thinking to myself, like,
Speaker 2: you know, I can't believe this worked. You know, like
Speaker 2: there's a deer right there, and I could kill it
Speaker 2: if I wanted to. It's it's dough war buck over there.
Speaker 2: But so, you know, luckily it came pretty QUI because
Speaker 2: wouldn't have sat there all day and just got skunked.
Speaker 2: So it was pretty thick, and I didn't see her
Speaker 2: till about ten yards, and so I sat there for
Speaker 2: a little bit longer and it wasn't another twenty minutes.
Speaker 2: Here come another deer, same trail, and so I was like,
Speaker 2: maybe I'm like sitting in the trail here, because it
Speaker 2: was the same trail, same spot ten yards away from me.
Speaker 2: It was a little fok and horn, and I was like,
Speaker 2: I got to get out of the spot, you know.
Speaker 2: So I walked up the trail a little bit and
Speaker 2: midday noon and I walk up the trail probably sixty
Speaker 2: seven yards and it started to really open up, and
Speaker 2: I was like, this is a good spot.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: It's kind of a downhill slope to a bench. And
Speaker 2: as I've kind of learned about this white tail stuff,
Speaker 2: it was deer like to travel on those benches because
Speaker 2: it's flatter and then they're looking for the saddles. I've
Speaker 2: learned a lot about it, and I've really studied it
Speaker 2: because you know, it's kind of my my hobby and
Speaker 2: my passion now. But it's kind of a good spot
Speaker 2: because it, you know, it's it's a down to a bench.
Speaker 2: So I sit at the top of that slope and
Speaker 2: I look down at that bench and I sat there
Speaker 2: the rest of the day and I think I seen,
Speaker 2: you know, I don't know, eleven twelve deer total, and
Speaker 2: I should have got a buck. I missed the opportunity.
Speaker 2: So I get back to where we were staying at
Speaker 2: the cabin and we're all sharing hunting stories, and the
Speaker 2: guys is like, what did you guys see, you know,
Speaker 2: and they're all like, oh, we've seen seven today, and
Speaker 2: I was I was singing myself, like, well I seen twelve,
Speaker 2: just sitting in one spot, and you know, they're like, oh,
Speaker 2: where were you at? You know, and and so I
Speaker 2: was like, well, maybe this is working. So I went
Speaker 2: back the next day and I hate to admit it,
Speaker 2: but I missed a really nice buck that year, and
Speaker 2: it just made me so sick to my stomach. And
Speaker 2: it was like the last day, and it was a
Speaker 2: good buck. I'm not huge, but just a nice buck.
Speaker 2: And I kind of powdered over it. I drew blood,
Speaker 2: not very much though, it was just like a little
Speaker 2: sprits of blood. And anyway, I kind of powdered over it.
Speaker 2: And I was like, let's just go home because my
Speaker 2: buddy had already tagged out stabbed hisself in the leg,
Speaker 2: and we headed home. Well, it just ate at me
Speaker 2: for the rest of the year. And so I went
Speaker 2: back this last year and I was like, I'm committing
Speaker 2: to you know, how many every days I hunt, whether
Speaker 2: it's seven or ten or whatever, I have daylight to
Speaker 2: dark under that one tree and I'm going to sit
Speaker 2: there and that's I feel, that's what it takes. And
Speaker 2: some days I see zero and some days I see
Speaker 2: twenty two. And I killed that buck on day It
Speaker 2: was funny. My dad was with me that year, and
Speaker 2: he's not as patient as I am. He left on
Speaker 2: day probably four, but day five seven am I and
Speaker 2: my dad texted me because he was sitting laying in bed,
Speaker 2: you know, at home, and he goes anything, and I
Speaker 2: texted him back, nope, nothing, And I looked up and
Speaker 2: there's that one hundred and seventy inch buck down there
Speaker 2: on that bench, just strolling through and I and I
Speaker 2: shot him, and you know, these shots are seventy yards.
Speaker 2: That's why I was so sick.
Speaker 1: Over that one.
Speaker 2: I missed it. It was a layup, but that's how
Speaker 2: I killed that one. And then this year we missed
Speaker 2: an opportunity on one. But I really think it's the
Speaker 2: consistency of sitting there and not giving up on it.
Speaker 2: And you know, you could see one deer like that
Speaker 2: was that buck, that one hundred and seventy inch buck.
Speaker 2: That was the one deer I had seen in three days.
Speaker 2: My dad, he came out in the middle of the
Speaker 2: day he was leaving, and we went and drove around.
Speaker 2: We seen this really nice buck on a tailgate and
Speaker 2: I was like, jeez, look at that buck. You know,
Speaker 2: we pulled in. We're kind of just talking to the
Speaker 2: guy and he said he just walked in the woods
Speaker 2: and rattled. And five minutes later this buck stuck his
Speaker 2: head out behind the tree. And I was thinking, like
Speaker 2: that's all it takes, you know, here I am sitting
Speaker 2: under this tree for twenty four hours, and he.
Speaker 1: Might start some rattling, you know, in the future.
Speaker 2: You know, I've I've rattled. It's just never it's never worked.
Speaker 2: And not to say that it won't work, but I've
Speaker 2: never successfully had one just come and do that, you know.
Speaker 2: And so I I was like, what do you think,
Speaker 2: you know, like, am I crazy for sitting on this
Speaker 2: I haven't seen the deer in two days? And he goes,
Speaker 2: you know, that spot's as good as any other. And
Speaker 2: so he's like, it's up you know, fifty to fifty probably,
Speaker 2: And so I said, well, I'm going to commit to it.
Speaker 2: And the next days when I killed that buck.
Speaker 1: Gotcha, do you feel the days you see zero, it's
Speaker 1: just not a good day or is there a potential
Speaker 1: the wind's not Is the wind pretty good in the
Speaker 1: spot that you consider every day, or do you have
Speaker 1: to play the wind and maybe not going there a
Speaker 1: day or two, or you know, if you were in
Speaker 1: a tree stand, would you not be able to see
Speaker 1: under the trees? Like is there a you think there's
Speaker 1: a way to make it better? You just kind of
Speaker 1: play it there every day and you know the wind's marginal,
Speaker 1: or how do you how does that work out?
Speaker 2: I've thought a lot about this. I've thought about bringing
Speaker 2: out a blind, because I mean I've I just literally
Speaker 2: took a dirt spot under a tree and made a
Speaker 2: little seat for myself, and I've thought about like one
Speaker 2: of those like blinds work. The reason I haven't done
Speaker 2: that is because I don't have the time to go
Speaker 2: over there and set this up like three weeks early,
Speaker 2: you know, and kind of get the deer used to it.
Speaker 2: And I don't want to waste a year and put
Speaker 2: up this blind and then you know, just bring your
Speaker 2: scent in there. Then like do you not see a
Speaker 2: deer for the first three days and it's like, well, yeah,
Speaker 2: you brought this brand new blind in that they aren't
Speaker 2: going to want to walk by. So there's probably better
Speaker 2: method to do it. If a guy had more time
Speaker 2: as far as not seeing the deer on a day
Speaker 2: to day basis. You know, part of me thinks is
Speaker 2: could be wind, but also the deer come from every angle,
Speaker 2: you know. Like I had a one horned or one
Speaker 2: antler buck come in behind me this last year, you know,
Speaker 2: and he was ten yards behind me. He blew at me.
Speaker 2: He must have seen my shoulder or something behind the tree.
Speaker 2: But I turned around and there he was sitting at
Speaker 2: ten yards and he ran off. I couldn't get shot
Speaker 2: out of I probably would have one of the last days.
Speaker 2: But you know, they come in from every angle, and
Speaker 2: so it's hard to say the wind because if it,
Speaker 2: you know, if it's blowing one way, then they might
Speaker 2: be coming in from that direction that day. And if
Speaker 2: it's blown the other way, they might you know, you
Speaker 2: might see more coming from that direction.
Speaker 1: So it's not like a consistent movement. Everything comes from
Speaker 1: one direction, and you know, swipes through it. They're they're
Speaker 1: they're able to come from everywhere, and that's kind of
Speaker 1: how it works.
Speaker 2: It's more so like that I know what trails are
Speaker 2: going to be on, you know, I don't know which
Speaker 2: way they're going to be going, but I have a
Speaker 2: good idea what trails are going to be on gotcha?
Speaker 1: Gotcha? Yeah, the stud sounds like your dad had a
Speaker 1: chance at a good one. And you know, I've been
Speaker 1: I've only been white tillhunting Kansas, which more trees trees stand,
Speaker 1: and I haven't had to figure a lot of it out.
Speaker 1: But like, some of that stuff starts to go through
Speaker 1: my head because there'll be days where you're in the
Speaker 1: best spot on the place and you'll have lots of deer,
Speaker 1: but they're catching your wind even when you're in a
Speaker 1: twenty foot tall tree stand. So like as I as
Speaker 1: I want to expand and learn about these white tails,
Speaker 1: it always makes me wonder, like, you know, the days
Speaker 1: you don't see anything, like are they winning you before
Speaker 1: they get there? Or is it just the day that
Speaker 1: there's not good movement, you know, and or they're not
Speaker 1: in the area. It always makes you wonder why and
Speaker 1: how come certain days you can see twenty and some
Speaker 1: days will see zero.
Speaker 2: I have wondered that too, and I've thought about you know,
Speaker 2: what I'm doing is no different than like, you know,
Speaker 2: the Kansas type of style of hunting. You know, they're
Speaker 2: just sitting in trees, and I think their deer populations
Speaker 2: a lot more than Yeah, yeah, a lot, a lot better.
Speaker 2: But that's it's the same concept. And you know, you
Speaker 2: do you can't hunt meal deer the same hunt the
Speaker 2: same way you hunt whitetail. And and you know you
Speaker 2: got to hunt black tail different than how you hunt
Speaker 2: you know, meal deer and white tail. And so I
Speaker 2: think the best strategy with white tail is a waiting game.
Speaker 2: They're so flighty they you know, So I sit in
Speaker 2: this open timber where I can see seventy to one
Speaker 2: hundred yards and you just catch them cruising. And you know,
Speaker 2: I've had days ri I sing twenty four and I've
Speaker 2: had days where I see in zero. But it's it
Speaker 2: takes a lot of discipline to sit there day in,
Speaker 2: day out, and because all it takes is one And
Speaker 2: so I think that that's a good strategy if a
Speaker 2: guy has the patience.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And one thing we haven't even touched on this
Speaker 1: conversation is my own belief is you know, we see
Speaker 1: you get to see on social media. You know, maybe
Speaker 1: thousands of people go to Idaho and shoot bucks out
Speaker 1: of clearcuts. They're killing small bucks. I honestly believe to
Speaker 1: kill the bigger bucks, like you guys are seeing or
Speaker 1: have chances at tucking in the timber and being away
Speaker 1: from you know, even though these bucks are rut, they're
Speaker 1: not necessarily completely dumb. Yet you're gonna get your chance
Speaker 1: at your bigger bucks inside of a patch of timber
Speaker 1: or a brush that that buck just feels more comfortable
Speaker 1: being in.
Speaker 2: Well, that's what my spot. The way I kind of
Speaker 2: feel about it is it's an all day hunt, you know.
Speaker 2: I mean, if you're hunting clearcuts, typically it's like, you know,
Speaker 2: we got to be there right at first light, we
Speaker 2: got to be there right at last light. You know.
Speaker 2: The best chance for him to move is or come
Speaker 2: out and feed is you know, right before dark or
Speaker 2: or you know, And how I feel sitting in the
Speaker 2: timber is this is where they live their day to
Speaker 2: day life, and so you know, it kind of makes mentally,
Speaker 2: I kind of you know, trick myself into believing that
Speaker 2: it could happen at any time, and especially during the run.
Speaker 2: You know, if you get a hot dough, that buck
Speaker 2: doesn't care what time the day is. He's going to
Speaker 2: follow her wherever she goes. And I've had deer, you know,
Speaker 2: come and you know, lay down twenty yards for me,
Speaker 2: just bed down, and that tells me that I'm in
Speaker 2: their bedroom. And you know, when you feel like you're
Speaker 2: in their bedroom, it doesn't feel necessarily like a you know,
Speaker 2: like a morning hunt or you know, like all your
Speaker 2: eggs are in the morning and then like I don't
Speaker 2: go back for lunch. I sit there all day. And
Speaker 2: the reason is is because you know, like a nice
Speaker 2: buck comes throlling through it at noon. There's no reason,
Speaker 2: you know, it's not like they crawl into a hole.
Speaker 2: They got to be somewhere. And so I'm sitting in
Speaker 2: the timber and there's not a lot of clearcuts around there,
Speaker 2: so they got to be somewhere. And so if you
Speaker 2: just sit there and you know, I bring a little
Speaker 2: sandwich and just try to stay quiet, and you know,
Speaker 2: that's that's what I usually do. Where if you're hunting clearcuts,
Speaker 2: it's more like a morning in the night time.
Speaker 1: And so yeah, gotcha, Well thanks for sharing kind of
Speaker 1: that that white tail tactic and you know how you
Speaker 1: approach it. So I knew who you were. We'd already
Speaker 1: talked in twenty twenty, but I get a message from
Speaker 1: Dirk and John who happened to be hunting the same
Speaker 1: unit as you and twenty twenty one or twenty two,
Speaker 1: I believe Elk and they messaged me. They're like, once again, Dirk, Hey,
Speaker 1: who's this apple maggot? Tell it? Do you know this
Speaker 1: guy is? Well, you're you also, we'll get into this
Speaker 1: in a little bit. You you do real estate, but
Speaker 1: you also do some i'll call it driveway grading. I
Speaker 1: don't know if you want to put a different spin
Speaker 1: on it. You yeah, your re you re rehabilitate roads
Speaker 1: driveways as another business. And I believe your TRS logo
Speaker 1: was on the side of your truck or something that
Speaker 1: let they let me know. They're like, who is this? Well,
Speaker 1: first it didn't like catch on, so I Google search
Speaker 1: your name. I'm like, oh, that's Tucker. Like if you
Speaker 1: see him, you know, flip him crap. And uh, you
Speaker 1: guys happened to be hunting the same same area in Elk.
Speaker 1: But what I want to get to on this is
Speaker 1: you've hunted it. You hunted it for a couple of years,
Speaker 1: right and then now you know I had been in
Speaker 1: the area before and and they gave you a just
Speaker 1: a recommendation. Hey, you know you were in elk. You
Speaker 1: had chances you've seen good elk, but you had had
Speaker 1: you ever put it all together yet on that hunt.
Speaker 2: And that was pretty early I got I remember, I
Speaker 2: texted you and I said, what do you what do
Speaker 2: you know about this unit? And you're just you sent
Speaker 2: me a screen shot of your calendar which was to
Speaker 2: apply to that unit. So I knew I was on
Speaker 2: the right track. And uh, my my wife's uncle, you know,
Speaker 2: he's he's getting older now, seventy or in his sixties. Anyway,
Speaker 2: he kind of put me in that direction. He said
Speaker 2: he'd hunted twenty years ago for Spike, and so that's
Speaker 2: kind of how I ended up there. And then when
Speaker 2: I talked to you about it, you kind of re
Speaker 2: you know, reaffirmed my questions about it. So I found
Speaker 2: myself there and just like anywhere, just going into it blind.
Speaker 2: In fact, I took I took my wife Madison the
Speaker 2: first year I went, and she she probably doesn't like
Speaker 2: to dive into the canyons as as much as I do,
Speaker 2: and so I probably didn't hunt as hard as I
Speaker 2: should have to get a ELK out of an OTC units.
Speaker 2: It's so competitive everywhere you go and I didn't. I
Speaker 2: didn't get a bowl that year. Then the next year
Speaker 2: I actually drew. I actually drew. There's a quality rifle tag.
Speaker 2: And so I've had success in the unit, and I'm
Speaker 2: a firm believe that there's elk there. You just got to,
Speaker 2: you know, learn it and keep going back and trying
Speaker 2: new things. And and so I kind of bounce around
Speaker 2: in the unit, you know, I don't necessarily stay in
Speaker 2: one spot.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and we we talked and then I had went
Speaker 1: and hunted it finally, and then you went back and
Speaker 1: I'm like, hey, this, you know, we this is a
Speaker 1: general area maybe not as busy, maybe as busy as
Speaker 1: where that was one thing we talked about your old
Speaker 1: spot as there was a lot of traffic around, you know,
Speaker 1: both outfitter and dioy type guys and what I. I
Speaker 1: don't want to take any credit for this. We just
Speaker 1: kind of threw in an area and you went and
Speaker 1: checked it out and there were elk there, and then
Speaker 1: you kind of spun off of that, right, you felt
Speaker 1: some pressure. You talked to it. And this is another
Speaker 1: great tidbit of information. I believe you talked to somebody, right,
Speaker 1: and they had made mention of a different spot, and
Speaker 1: so you kind of spun off of the area and
Speaker 1: kind of give us that little rundown on how you
Speaker 1: how you went from talking to that guy, how you
Speaker 1: kind of cased the area and kind of figured out
Speaker 1: your plans at some cameras, left and then came back. Yeah.
Speaker 2: So I now, you know, on year five, I've been
Speaker 2: to a lot of the you know, the unit and
Speaker 2: you know, for the most part, US hunters are are
Speaker 2: good people, you know. I mean, you know, like when
Speaker 2: I left last year, I met some guys from Minnesota
Speaker 2: and and uh, you know, I was leaving empty handed,
Speaker 2: and I was like, hey, there was a bull, you
Speaker 2: know in that drainage. I couldn't get on him, but
Speaker 2: have at him, you know. And I kind of appreciate
Speaker 2: that with with US Hunters because I appreciate the same
Speaker 2: intel myself. You know, if I was just rolling because
Speaker 2: it's a month long hunt and so if I was
Speaker 2: just rolling in on day fifteen and they're just leaving,
Speaker 2: and you know, and so I've kind of you know,
Speaker 2: I meet people. I'm a talker, I'm in sales, and uh,
Speaker 2: it kind of just led to like like a guy
Speaker 2: that was in the same situation I was where he's like,
Speaker 2: I can't hunt this year, and he was just checking
Speaker 2: cameras and and he's like, you try this spot, this spot,
Speaker 2: and this spot gave me, you know, weeks worth of intel.
Speaker 2: And I mean I was already camped there. It wasn't like, hey,
Speaker 2: you know, head up the highway, turn this way. I
Speaker 2: mean I was already there and anyway, super great guy,
Speaker 2: and you know, I was appreciative of that. And so
Speaker 2: I got to try these different spots. And there's elk
Speaker 2: and all, there's elk all over. It's just a matter
Speaker 2: of making it come together with a bow. And I
Speaker 2: left empty handed, and I kind of I had some opportunity,
Speaker 2: but I kind of blamed it a little bit on early.
Speaker 2: I went early in the season thinking maybe if I
Speaker 2: would go early in the season, there will be less people,
Speaker 2: less bugles. But I would almost rather have less people
Speaker 2: than than you know, more talk. I kind of figured, well,
Speaker 2: I mean there'd be days where I wouldn't even hear
Speaker 2: a bugle, and that's real tough with the bow. And
Speaker 2: so I went home and I got you know, that
Speaker 2: season opens like the thirtieth of August or whatever it is,
Speaker 2: and you know. So here I am. I'd been there
Speaker 2: for a week, nine days or whatever it was, and
Speaker 2: I come home and it's like September seventh, you know,
Speaker 2: and here I'm sitting on this Idaho elk tag and
Speaker 2: it's set er seventh and I have, you know, twenty
Speaker 2: five more days left of the month, and it's like, gosh,
Speaker 2: I just can't sit here on this elk tags burning
Speaker 2: a hole in my pocket. And so with my work schedule,
Speaker 2: I kind of I kind of shifted and made room
Speaker 2: for another five days and I had it over there,
Speaker 2: and I killed a bowl on day two.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and that ended up being what a three twenty
Speaker 1: ish bowl if they were on the big side.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he was a funky horn bowl. He had a
Speaker 2: stunted growth on his left side, but if you were
Speaker 2: to double his other side, he would have been in
Speaker 2: like a three twenty bowl.
Speaker 1: And on that one you would in that new area
Speaker 1: went and explored, do it you you found a wallow
Speaker 1: that that they were hitting or using very regularly, And
Speaker 1: then did you set a camera on that before he left?
Speaker 2: No, I don't have a camera on that one.
Speaker 1: A different one, yeah, I.
Speaker 2: Have a different, different spot that I have cameras on
Speaker 2: I don't have a ton of cameras quite frankly.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I put some in my white tail spot. I put
Speaker 2: more up this year. I just kind of like to,
Speaker 2: you know, I see these YouTube guys and they have
Speaker 2: history with these animals, and you know, it's like it
Speaker 2: kind of like I kind of want that and be
Speaker 2: nice to see a three fifty bowl in there and
Speaker 2: be like, I'm after him. He's in here somewhere. But
Speaker 2: you know, being in Washington and you know, and being
Speaker 2: fifteen hours away from all this stuff, Yeah, being able
Speaker 2: to check and work, it's hard to it's hard to
Speaker 2: go over and check them and change batteries and keep
Speaker 2: up on them.
Speaker 1: Yep, Yeah, for sure. Yeah, So that was a I mean,
Speaker 1: the moral of that story, you know, is don't be
Speaker 1: afraid to go check out new areas. You know, because
Speaker 1: this was in a completely different area, you know, maybe
Speaker 1: an hour or two from where you were. You started
Speaker 1: hunting the area and found some success, and just by
Speaker 1: talking to you about that hunt, I think you're going
Speaker 1: to probably continue to find success in there, you know,
Speaker 1: the way you made it sound, and and you know,
Speaker 1: as many elker in there, so you'll find a spot
Speaker 1: same as similar as your white tail spot. That just
Speaker 1: kind of work. So let's get into some of the
Speaker 1: exciting stuff, kind of what's your future plans? I know,
Speaker 1: yeah you and then we've got a mutual friend justin
Speaker 1: that we we kind of talk about our dream hunts,
Speaker 1: you know, because you guys, I would say, are real
Speaker 1: similar to me like that, you know, that Alaska thing
Speaker 1: kind of really just you know, it turns our gears
Speaker 1: and we're trying to figure out how to get up there,
Speaker 1: but everything seems to be so dang expensive, and you
Speaker 1: got to have a guide orn outfitter. You're going to Canada.
Speaker 1: I went to Alaska. You've got your sheep hunt this year. Yep,
Speaker 1: So you're going to Canada for a doll sheep slash
Speaker 1: caribou hunt. I'm sure sheep is major priority number one,
Speaker 1: and caribou were going to play second fiddle to that.
Speaker 1: You're going up there with Lancaster, So like what else is? Like?
Speaker 1: How did you go about that? How did you? Like,
Speaker 1: you know, when I planned, I just went from one
Speaker 1: guy I knew the hunted with my outfitter bucked it,
Speaker 1: Like how did you? I mean? Landcaster is probably a
Speaker 1: little more popular, little more well known than the outfitter
Speaker 1: I chose in Alaska. But like, how did you come
Speaker 1: to the conclusion, Like that's who you wanted to go with?
Speaker 1: Did you? Did you call everybody up? Did you what
Speaker 1: gave you the confidence to finally you spend your hard
Speaker 1: earned money with those guys?
Speaker 2: Yeah, So how that sheep hunt even came about was
Speaker 2: back in twenty twenty one. My business started to do
Speaker 2: a lot better, and you know, I'm glued to YouTube
Speaker 2: and always watching new Hunt shows and finding new guys
Speaker 2: on there and and anyway, finally my wife was like,
Speaker 2: quit talking about it and just do it, and uh,
Speaker 2: you know, that's kind of what it came down to,
Speaker 2: was not you know, I have the ability to do it.
Speaker 2: Make it a priority and it'll happen. And so that's
Speaker 2: what I That's what I did. And I started asking around.
Speaker 2: There's a local guy here, Kevin Klumper. He he he
Speaker 2: has been several times at Lancaster and he's the one
Speaker 2: that kind of pointed me in that direction. He's been
Speaker 2: with them numerous times and so he said he put
Speaker 2: his name on them every day of the week. And
Speaker 2: so he's an Apple Vine guy as well. So that's
Speaker 2: that's kind of what put me in that direction. Was
Speaker 2: just a guy that you know, has been with him
Speaker 2: several times and he probably killed four doll sheep or
Speaker 2: something with him, and so that's why I went with them.
Speaker 2: And I'm pretty excited about him.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and the are all good, so doll sheep caribou.
Speaker 1: Like what are your expectations on that? You you talked
Speaker 1: earlier and it kind of stuck in my head. You know,
Speaker 1: even on the meal deer you know, you talk about
Speaker 1: like paying for a hunt versus expectations and not that
Speaker 1: I'm I'm only ten years older than you, but like
Speaker 1: to give you some guidance, like on this one's even more.
Speaker 1: It's going to weigh more on you because of how
Speaker 1: much more this is than the meal deer hunt. But
Speaker 1: like if I can offer any guidance, and it's hard
Speaker 1: because I'm very similar, like assume you're paying for the
Speaker 1: adventure and the doll sheep's extra, and like it was,
Speaker 1: it didn't set in and I would be I'd be
Speaker 1: lying to say I'm not a hypocrite on this, because
Speaker 1: until I got there, it was all about like I
Speaker 1: just really want to kill a ram. Yeah, I ended
Speaker 1: up killing it on day one and then I kind
Speaker 1: of missed the struggle. So it's like and just the
Speaker 1: area you're in, So I don't know if that's going
Speaker 1: to help you. It's probably not. You're gonna be like
Speaker 1: I don't, I don't care, like I still want to,
Speaker 1: and we talked about it like that was still my
Speaker 1: ultimate goal, but like I feel like worrying about it
Speaker 1: doesn't change the outcome, if that makes any sense. So
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to like your beer psychologist here, but
Speaker 1: it's like, you know what I mean, Like by having
Speaker 1: that worry or the stress or anxiety of it doesn't
Speaker 1: end up like killing it for you. So just enjoy
Speaker 1: everything you're doing and that's just gonna happen when it happens.
Speaker 1: If it is going to happen, it.
Speaker 2: You know, it's I don't have unlimited money, you know,
Speaker 2: Like some of these people are buying these sheep hunts
Speaker 2: at the Sheep Foundation and you know, eighty one hundred,
Speaker 2: two hundred and fifty grand and granted they're like fifty
Speaker 2: sixty seventy year old men. This was kind of like
Speaker 2: a you know, like make it a priority and it
Speaker 2: could happen type of deal, and so it's a big
Speaker 2: deal to me, and you know, and I plan to
Speaker 2: kind of keep making hunting a priority and go on more,
Speaker 2: but it totally weighs into the you know, like you
Speaker 2: want to get a sheep, and there's that pressure of
Speaker 2: you in whether it's a it's a good bull hunt,
Speaker 2: whether you have max points and you're burning them, and
Speaker 2: it's like, you know, like when I was on that
Speaker 2: Wyoming hunt, it was almost like I was more worried
Speaker 2: about the score than I was the hunt of the bowl.
Speaker 2: And it takes away a little bit of the fun
Speaker 2: because you're, you know, you're you're like, I don't want
Speaker 2: to waste these max points on a three hundred inch bowl,
Speaker 2: like I should be getting the three fifty bowl. But
Speaker 2: really what I signed up for. I didn't have a
Speaker 2: I didn't have an outfitter on that that first hunt,
Speaker 2: and I was so new to hunting, you know, because
Speaker 2: it was like the first real hunt I'd gone on
Speaker 2: since football and stuff, and I was like, all right,
Speaker 2: I'm done with football, that's cash these points. Well, I
Speaker 2: was so new to it, and you know, I got
Speaker 2: like a three hundred inch bowl. But you know, you
Speaker 2: would think a guy with max points in Wyoming should
Speaker 2: get like a three fifty bowl. And that's what I
Speaker 2: was beating myself over.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and so.
Speaker 2: Like it's kind of the sheep hunt, you know, when
Speaker 2: you pay money for it, it's like you should get
Speaker 2: like a stud ram and it's not how hunting works.
Speaker 2: And that's what makes hunting so great is the you know,
Speaker 2: like when it all comes together, like my you know,
Speaker 2: my meal deer, when it all comes together, it's like
Speaker 2: you weren't expecting it. It makes it that much better. But
Speaker 2: unfortunately you're gonna have to go, you know, come home
Speaker 2: empty handed sometimes to make those those moments feel even better.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And the other thing I realized when you get
Speaker 1: there is like these guides and outfitters can't control the weather.
Speaker 1: So you like the Alaska weather. I don't know if
Speaker 1: where you're going in Canada is any better. If it's
Speaker 1: still like we could literally be in the sun freezing
Speaker 1: to death. You know, it's clear and crisp and cold.
Speaker 1: The next second, I'm like trying to rush to get
Speaker 1: my rain gear on because the system moved in within
Speaker 1: like twenty minutes. So it's like the weather's out of
Speaker 1: your control, you know. I don't know about how those
Speaker 1: concessions work in Alaska or in Canada, but like, I
Speaker 1: don't know if pressures maybe a little more under control
Speaker 1: there because only certain people can hunt certain areas. But like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I know it's hard, and I'm talking out of both
Speaker 1: sides of my mouth, but like, if you can, if
Speaker 1: you can get to a place to like not put
Speaker 1: as much pressure on yourself, you're just gonna enjoy it
Speaker 1: more and you're and really all you can do is
Speaker 1: be in the best shape possible and be able to
Speaker 1: shoot your gun. That's gonna be my new.
Speaker 2: Justin our mutual friend there, you know, he was he
Speaker 2: went a few years ago, you know, probably eight years
Speaker 2: ago or so whatever it was. But you know, he said,
Speaker 2: like when he was getting off the plane, there was
Speaker 2: a guy loading up a like a you know, Boon
Speaker 2: and Crockett ram, and so he's thinking, oh, this is
Speaker 2: a good outfitter. I'm gonna get a good ram. He said,
Speaker 2: day one, he's seen a legal ram that wasn't real big,
Speaker 2: and it was like, day one, it's legal, do you
Speaker 2: shoot it? He passed it up and then never seen
Speaker 2: another one, and so it's like, man, do you play
Speaker 2: that game of like, I hope I'm not putting that position. Yeah,
Speaker 2: you just legal, but it's not real big, you know,
Speaker 2: and you pass it up and then you just get
Speaker 2: socked in foggy you can't control the weather, and it's like,
Speaker 2: well dang, you know, then you're telling everyone, yeah, I
Speaker 2: passed them up on day one.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, it's that's tough and and uh yeah,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't. Don't worry about that decision until you're you're there.
Speaker 1: But uh and that's where you have to trust your
Speaker 1: guide outfitter. They should give you a good guidance. They
Speaker 1: should know how many more legal ones there better ones,
Speaker 1: and and you'll make a good decision caribou, Like what
Speaker 1: else is on your your future, you know, list of
Speaker 1: what you're wanting to hunt, you know after after the
Speaker 1: sheep and the cariboo.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm probably just like most other you know, regular
Speaker 2: Joe blow hunters. I mean, you have the I'd love
Speaker 2: to kill a big moose and hanging over the fireplace,
Speaker 2: you know, something like that would be awesome. I was
Speaker 2: able to go my buddy drew one of the Washington
Speaker 2: once in a lifetime tags this year for over in Spokane,
Speaker 2: and but you know, you look at those big yukon
Speaker 2: moose type of haunts, and that's always a dream of
Speaker 2: mine to kill just a whip, And I don't know,
Speaker 2: there's something about a big brown bear, you know. And
Speaker 2: I tell myself, I'd love to do it with the bow,
Speaker 2: you know, sneak up on one on a beach and
Speaker 2: h you know, or wherever you know, in the in
Speaker 2: the thick brush. But I've joked that I don't know
Speaker 2: if I have enough money to take a bow, because
Speaker 2: your your success rate is going to go way down. However,
Speaker 2: the thrill might go way up. So I've contemplated if
Speaker 2: I did do the brown bear venture, would I take
Speaker 2: a bow and kind of try to get more of
Speaker 2: an experience out of it? And how cool would that
Speaker 2: be to shoot a big, you know, nine foot ten
Speaker 2: foot bear with a bow or do you just take
Speaker 2: a rifle and you know, not get greedy? So yeah,
Speaker 2: I would say a moose in a in a brown bear,
Speaker 2: I really want to kill one of those.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you probably won't find it, I mean, the
Speaker 1: grand scheme of it. You might get an arrow in it,
Speaker 1: but you'll probably won't find an outfitter that isn't gonna
Speaker 1: put like ten bullets in it right afterwards. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't think they're insurance companies like the plan where
Speaker 1: they don't follow up. But I'm real similar to you,
Speaker 1: like Alaska just gets into your blood or the Northern
Speaker 1: I mean, you're going to Canada, I keep saying Alaska,
Speaker 1: but like those areas just like what they have to offer,
Speaker 1: and just you haven't been there yet. But just like
Speaker 1: the feeling of ground being untouched, uninhabited, like uncommercialized, like
Speaker 1: our wildernesses are. You can't go up in our goat Rocks,
Speaker 1: which is close to us and not see a hundred
Speaker 1: people on the weekend. Like you can go anywhere you
Speaker 1: want Alaska, even prettier than the goat Rocks and not
Speaker 1: see anybody or nobody's been there in five or ten years.
Speaker 1: So I just I love it and it brings me back,
Speaker 1: like I'm gonna get to check Moose off this year,
Speaker 1: I believe. And the guide talks about like we don't
Speaker 1: hardly see anybody in that area, like there's nobody hunting it,
Speaker 1: and so it's just like man, and there's just something
Speaker 1: about Alaska. It is expensive. You know, you don't have
Speaker 1: to hire a guide for this, but the logistics to
Speaker 1: where we want to hunt and get to some of
Speaker 1: these seventy inch moose is very, very difficult, and so
Speaker 1: the outfitter actually makes it cheaper than if you had
Speaker 1: to try to coordinate. You couldn't even do it on
Speaker 1: your own without without their assistance.
Speaker 2: That's kind of why I was like prioritize the sheep hunt.
Speaker 2: It's just like, you know, I was talking to one
Speaker 2: of those guys when I killed that Canada buck and
Speaker 2: he used to guide cheap and he was saying that,
Speaker 2: like they dropped one guy off one time, and he said,
Speaker 2: like he like started crying and what you know, he
Speaker 2: just you know, you're hundreds of miles away from anyone
Speaker 2: dropped off on a plane and just the remoteness of it,
Speaker 2: and like after like two days he just went home. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 2: that kind of like made me even want to do
Speaker 2: it more. And you know, and I see these people
Speaker 2: and they they finally get enough money or whatever it
Speaker 2: is to finally go or they finally pull the trigger
Speaker 2: on it, and they're sixty and it's such a hard
Speaker 2: hunt that I committed to it at a young age
Speaker 2: and made it my priority. Just because I wanted. I
Speaker 2: wanted some pretty extreme, you know, I want to I
Speaker 2: want steep shale hard work, you know, and I want
Speaker 2: remote you know, on that o TC Idaho hunt, how
Speaker 2: many ridges I've come up and there's a guy just
Speaker 2: on a cell phone talking to his wife because he's
Speaker 2: got a pinch of service, and it's like, in frustrates
Speaker 2: me more than that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, now you're you're gonna love it, and you
Speaker 1: want to talk about hard work. I don't know exactly.
Speaker 1: I mean some people it's crazy, you know. I've I'm
Speaker 1: similar to you. I watched because I don't understand Sheep.
Speaker 1: I don't I haven't been around to me Deer and Elk.
Speaker 1: I don't hardly watch on YouTube anymore because I understand.
Speaker 1: But like Sheep's been this allure like and sometimes it's crazy.
Speaker 1: You'll watch somebody shoot one like in the bottom of
Speaker 1: the valley on day one, and then you watch the
Speaker 1: the more typical you know, ten days, and so you're
Speaker 1: gonna likely have your work cut out for you know.
Speaker 1: We were joking last night, like I wish I would
Speaker 1: have known, I wouldn't have brought my trekking pol I
Speaker 1: would have brought an ice axe, because there were times
Speaker 1: where it was so steep. My trekking pole didn't do
Speaker 1: anything for me. But if I could have put an
Speaker 1: ice axe in the side of the hill, you know,
Speaker 1: or the loose rock. No, No, Like there's an old saying,
Speaker 1: you know that I've heard saying like if you're if
Speaker 1: your sheep guy doesn't have an ice axe, then you
Speaker 1: should probably find a new sheep guy. Now I say
Speaker 1: that jokingly, but it's it's a true thing. Like my guy,
Speaker 1: you know, had an He liked the old wooden handles.
Speaker 1: He doesn't like any new aluminum because they they you know,
Speaker 1: if he needed to, he could repair it in the field.
Speaker 1: But like, no, he his hiking stick was an ice axe.
Speaker 1: And it's it's there's a reason why you've seen all
Speaker 1: the pictures of everybody, Like, yeah, there's times where you're
Speaker 1: standing as straight up as you think you can stand
Speaker 1: in your faces that are literally ten inches that's how
Speaker 1: steep it is, and you're trying to you know, like
Speaker 1: the ice ACKs I think would have been better than
Speaker 1: my hiking pole, because you gotta imagine when it's that steep,
Speaker 1: if you have a hiking pole down the hill, like
Speaker 1: it's not touching anything.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, and you know, and hand up. I've
Speaker 2: never used truck and pulls, and I see everyone uses them.
Speaker 2: But you know, like I was telling you last night,
Speaker 2: like I feel like I'm always carrying my bow or
Speaker 2: I'm carrying my rifle in one hand. And I have
Speaker 2: bought some and I'm gonna get an ice pick for
Speaker 2: my trip. But you know, it'll be a first for
Speaker 2: me for you know, just basically putting a heavy pack
Speaker 2: on and some trekking polls and just going.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, it's it's a it's a good piece of equipment.
Speaker 1: They're light, you know, they're they're just as thing. You're
Speaker 1: as light as trekking pole now, you know, get it
Speaker 1: walking walking stick height, you know. And it's a fun hunt.
Speaker 1: You're going to really enjoy it, you know, the way
Speaker 1: you're built, your mental toughness, You're gonna really enjoy it.
Speaker 1: And you know, I hope, hope for the best, and
Speaker 1: everything pencils out like you want. We were we're getting
Speaker 1: pretty long here. We were going to talk on the
Speaker 1: financial and like planning these hunts, but we may save
Speaker 1: it for a second podcast down the down the road.
Speaker 1: But no, really appreciate having you, Tucker, got to know you.
Speaker 1: You know, I have no doubts in the next ten
Speaker 1: years you're going to continue to stack up, you know, big,
Speaker 1: big critters and you a lot of that's patients. And
Speaker 1: then the big thing, you know, from outside looking in
Speaker 1: is just like you're taking advantage of all the opportunities available.
Speaker 1: You know. You you make sure you have tags, you
Speaker 1: make sure you've got the time, and then you're working
Speaker 1: your ass off on the side that you make sure
Speaker 1: the financials doesn't slow that up, you know. And yeah,
Speaker 1: and I always kind of we joke before this. You know,
Speaker 1: everybody's always like, well, how do I hunt more? How
Speaker 1: do I make it so I can hunt more? And
Speaker 1: I'm like, the best way to hunt more is like
Speaker 1: go get go, get a degree and being like a
Speaker 1: doctor and then you can hunt. Like everybody thinks you're
Speaker 1: gonna do that through the hunting industry. And you're a
Speaker 1: great example real estate. You know, you own a couple
Speaker 1: of businesses and you you have the liberty to hunt
Speaker 1: just as much as as I do. You know, our
Speaker 1: our good buddy Justin you know, he's a he's a chiropractor,
Speaker 1: he's got the financial means to hunt just as much
Speaker 1: as I do. So there's better or more efficient ways
Speaker 1: to do it. Then, you know, trying to get lucky
Speaker 1: and strike gold within the hunting industry, and I guess
Speaker 1: we'll maybe close all. You know that with that, like
Speaker 1: financial approach is like, man, you only live once. Figure
Speaker 1: out a way to grind do whatever you want and uh,
Speaker 1: you know kind of kind of go chase your dreams.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, like you know, this sheep hunt at
Speaker 2: thirty one years old is probably not in the Dave
Speaker 2: Ramsey baby steps and becoming a millionaire strategy. But you
Speaker 2: know what I've found with finances is is, you know,
Speaker 2: growing up, everyone tells you that, like you know, money
Speaker 2: is not everything. Money's everything, and I agree with that,
Speaker 2: but you know, like I was telling you before, it
Speaker 2: they aren't. They don't give away these sheep hunts for free.
Speaker 2: And so what I've when my you know what I've
Speaker 2: I'm not a doctor. It's just like find a side
Speaker 2: hustle or you know, find a career that you know
Speaker 2: is you know, commission based or something like that, to
Speaker 2: where the harder you work, the more reward you can get.
Speaker 2: And that's kind of what the path that I've taken,
Speaker 2: and it's not necessarily about the money. It's more so
Speaker 2: it'll afford me to go on this sheep hunt. And
Speaker 2: I don't want to be sixty, you know, just watching
Speaker 2: these videos saying, Man, I would have loved to kill
Speaker 2: the doll sheep one day. You know, it's like I'm
Speaker 2: just prioritizing.
Speaker 1: It right now and.
Speaker 2: Making it, you know, just making it work.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's what I've similar to you. We talked about
Speaker 1: it when you know, when we were together, that that
Speaker 1: one time. It's not about the money. It's about the freedom.
Speaker 1: Right if the money is obviously tied in, but like
Speaker 1: you live a life where your schedule can be moved
Speaker 1: around and you have the money flowing in while you're
Speaker 1: not there, you know, in some of these things. So
Speaker 1: I think it's if you focus on freedom and not
Speaker 1: the financial and and you'll be in a better spot.
Speaker 1: I think that's the That's the best way I can
Speaker 1: explain it.
Speaker 2: I'm lucky to like, like my wife is, she started
Speaker 2: to help out with because we have rentals now and
Speaker 2: started to kind of build that portfolio. So we invest
Speaker 2: in real estate and then I sell real estate and
Speaker 2: then you know, I have that the gravel road, you know,
Speaker 2: a hustle and and if I'm not busy, then I
Speaker 2: could go, you know, I'll find work, and you know
Speaker 2: that's that's it allows you. I could work. I could
Speaker 2: hunt all fall if I wanted to. Nobody's gonna tell
Speaker 2: me now because I work for myself. But the problem
Speaker 2: is my incomes. It's like a balance of you know,
Speaker 2: like I went on that second trip to Idaho to
Speaker 2: you know, I wasn't planning on it, but it was like, man,
Speaker 2: I have this tag burning a hole in my pocket.
Speaker 2: I can sneak away.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: My wife had everything covered with with my real estate stuff,
Speaker 2: you know, and I try to just slip out, you know,
Speaker 2: I don't I don't announce it all over and she's like, yay,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna be done for out of service for another
Speaker 2: seven days. It's like I just sneak out, try to
Speaker 2: fill my tags because I'm not in the industry. It's
Speaker 2: not you know, I don't get paid to go. It's
Speaker 2: it's it's not like part of my you know, I'm
Speaker 2: just I'm just a guy with a job, and so
Speaker 2: I could hunt a lot. But it's kind of a
Speaker 2: balance of you know, when you're playing your you know,
Speaker 2: if you aren't, if you aren't making money, you're spending it.
Speaker 2: And that's kind of kind of Hunting.
Speaker 1: Sounds like you need to build the portfolio of rentals
Speaker 1: so you can just you can leave and you're making money.
Speaker 1: And uh no, I know, I know you've got big plans.
Speaker 2: If you knew the headache of rentals, you wouldn't.
Speaker 1: I did. I had to, and I sold them.
Speaker 2: They're they're rewarding and it's kind of like a stock.
Speaker 2: You know, you don't get rich off of them immediately.
Speaker 2: It's you know, it's it's long time.
Speaker 1: It's a long game.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm excited to come on this again. Maybe talk
Speaker 2: about that part of.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, the financial I know, Dirk just followed up.
Speaker 1: If you haven't listened to it, listened to the prior
Speaker 1: episode Dirk. Dirk met with our good buddy there and
Speaker 1: went over the financials of of hunting. So you know,
Speaker 1: go check that episode out. And Yeah, really appreciate you
Speaker 1: having you on Talker. Good luck on that sheep hunt.
Speaker 1: Maybe we'll have to have you on post sheep and
Speaker 1: care a bo hunt to see how that turns out
Speaker 1: for you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I actually hit me on and and I look
Speaker 2: forward to it again, all right, take care you too,
Speaker 2: m
Speaker 1: M m