WEBVTT - Ep. 108: September Recap and Listener Q&A 0:00:12.400 --> 0:00:17.040 And we're back with another episode of Cutting the Distance podcast. Today, 0:00:17.200 --> 0:00:22.560 Jason Phelps and I reunite after long September. Short September. 0:00:22.600 --> 0:00:24.200 How how was your September? 0:00:24.680 --> 0:00:27.480 It was awesome, long the greatest month of the year. 0:00:27.520 --> 0:00:31.440 But it's always it seems like it goes by so fast. 0:00:31.440 --> 0:00:34.400 But this this year, you know, I had two different 0:00:34.479 --> 0:00:37.920 hunts and bouncing back and forth between Washington and New Mexico, 0:00:38.000 --> 0:00:42.040 and it was it was good. The elk were tough, 0:00:42.440 --> 0:00:44.839 tougher the normal. We'll get into it a little bit. 0:00:44.880 --> 0:00:46.920 I think that I don't want to be that guy 0:00:46.920 --> 0:00:49.360 with my tinfoil hat on, but I'm convinced the rut 0:00:49.440 --> 0:00:51.239 is getting later every year. And I used to be 0:00:51.240 --> 0:00:53.040 the opps. I used tell everybody like they always got 0:00:53.080 --> 0:00:55.560 to run at the same time. It's based on daylight 0:00:55.680 --> 0:00:59.600 and herd health, and like, man, something has got me 0:00:59.680 --> 0:01:00.920 convinced said it's getting later. 0:01:01.520 --> 0:01:04.039 I'm gonna write that down and bring that up again, 0:01:04.240 --> 0:01:08.880 and when prove you wrong someday. No, no, I have 0:01:08.920 --> 0:01:11.480 to agree to that with that at some point to 0:01:11.560 --> 0:01:12.120 some degree. 0:01:12.240 --> 0:01:15.120 Yeah, yeah, no, it was good. How about how about you? 0:01:15.160 --> 0:01:16.679 I know you we've talked about a little bit you 0:01:16.680 --> 0:01:18.960 started off with a bang on your son's hunt, and 0:01:19.000 --> 0:01:20.840 then you had some a little we both had a 0:01:20.880 --> 0:01:25.479 little delay there, you know, the second quarter of September, 0:01:25.800 --> 0:01:28.039 and then we we kind of grinded it out from 0:01:28.440 --> 0:01:30.360 from the fifteenth all the way through the end there. 0:01:31.120 --> 0:01:34.800 Yeah, yeah, yeah, it started off awesome, good and bad. 0:01:36.200 --> 0:01:38.880 I like to be inept in the September woods with 0:01:38.920 --> 0:01:42.480 a purpose. And when your kid shoots a bowl on 0:01:42.520 --> 0:01:45.279 the second day, and we'd anticipated a lot more hunting 0:01:45.800 --> 0:01:48.480 for the first quarter of September, then that kind of 0:01:48.520 --> 0:01:50.880 freed up some time. I was you know, I did 0:01:51.000 --> 0:01:53.440 make it out and did some scouting trips and whatnot, 0:01:54.320 --> 0:01:57.040 and it took back. Took my bare rifle for a 0:01:57.080 --> 0:02:01.640 walk a few times. But but it's not the same 0:02:01.680 --> 0:02:03.920 as having a tag in your pocket or a hunting 0:02:03.960 --> 0:02:06.000 with someone has a tag and you're you know, you're trying, 0:02:06.080 --> 0:02:07.880 you're trying hard, you're trying to call bulls and you're 0:02:07.880 --> 0:02:11.760 trying to get close and have some fun. But but 0:02:11.840 --> 0:02:13.720 then yeah, like you say, the second half of the 0:02:13.800 --> 0:02:17.440 of the season was good. You know, two weeks in 0:02:17.480 --> 0:02:19.840 a in a whole new unit to me and my 0:02:19.960 --> 0:02:24.880 pals Bradley and Cody and we and we recorded a 0:02:24.919 --> 0:02:29.280 podcast on this. I've are probably listened to it. But 0:02:29.440 --> 0:02:31.600 it started off with a bang, but then you know, 0:02:31.680 --> 0:02:35.560 it kind of part way, it kind of fizzled, start fizzling. 0:02:35.840 --> 0:02:40.440 And I feel like what you just said about the 0:02:40.520 --> 0:02:43.239 rut starting later, I feel like it started pretty early, 0:02:43.280 --> 0:02:45.680 like we we got the tail end of the of 0:02:45.720 --> 0:02:49.080 the Goodie out of the rut where we were at, 0:02:49.360 --> 0:02:53.520 and then by the last handful of days it was, 0:02:53.639 --> 0:02:55.280 you know, the last three or four days, it was 0:02:56.400 --> 0:02:59.040 felt like post rut. You know, the woods were quiet, 0:03:00.400 --> 0:03:02.960 no bulls bugling on their own. You had to try 0:03:03.000 --> 0:03:05.040 real hard and be real close to an elk to 0:03:05.080 --> 0:03:07.480 get them to bugle. You wouldn't get those ones that 0:03:07.520 --> 0:03:10.120 were half a mile away ripping bugles, you know. 0:03:10.520 --> 0:03:15.480 So huh, yeah, it was. It was interesting, you know, 0:03:15.520 --> 0:03:18.200 going from New Mexico, where I really felt the rut 0:03:18.320 --> 0:03:22.080 was late and man, even for a giant unit we 0:03:22.080 --> 0:03:26.640 were in, I have a love hate relationship with public land, 0:03:26.680 --> 0:03:28.560 Like you like to be out there doing it on 0:03:28.639 --> 0:03:30.960 public land, which is all I've really ever hunted for elk. 0:03:32.040 --> 0:03:35.160 But man, even with a giant unit and two hundred 0:03:35.160 --> 0:03:38.200 and fifty tags, plus or minus the landowner tags. There 0:03:38.200 --> 0:03:41.240 are a lot of people everywhere, you know, people driving 0:03:41.240 --> 0:03:44.520 side by sides where they shouldn't be, you know, and 0:03:44.600 --> 0:03:46.840 you would get on a bowl one morning and feel 0:03:46.880 --> 0:03:48.440 like you had it all to yourself and maybe you 0:03:48.560 --> 0:03:50.640 just discovered that bowl and you wanted to keep kind 0:03:50.640 --> 0:03:52.600 of putting pressure on them. And then the next whether 0:03:52.640 --> 0:03:54.200 it was that evening or the next morning, and all 0:03:54.240 --> 0:03:57.120 of a sudden, you have five guys around you, you know, 0:03:57.280 --> 0:03:59.480 coming in from different angles, and you're just like, gosh, dang. 0:03:59.720 --> 0:04:02.520 You know, it's part of the love hate relationship. You know, 0:04:02.560 --> 0:04:05.520 you love to challenge yourself, but gosh, sometimes I wish 0:04:05.560 --> 0:04:06.760 it was just you versus the elk and you had 0:04:06.760 --> 0:04:09.240 the whole place to yourself. But it's part of the game. 0:04:10.840 --> 0:04:13.880 And you know, we would have had in my opinion, 0:04:14.120 --> 0:04:16.680 you know, read enough situations and being able to hear 0:04:16.720 --> 0:04:18.720 it and the bulls voice kind of when they break 0:04:18.800 --> 0:04:20.080 or when they're coming in. I think we would have 0:04:20.120 --> 0:04:23.320 had some you know, more opportunities there in New Mexico, 0:04:23.960 --> 0:04:27.479 but just it's tough everywhere we went, even on my 0:04:27.560 --> 0:04:29.520 special tag. You know, I did have a couple of 0:04:29.560 --> 0:04:30.880 days where I knew I was the only one that 0:04:30.960 --> 0:04:32.040 could hunt the unit. 0:04:31.880 --> 0:04:32.040 But. 0:04:33.760 --> 0:04:38.200 All the good and easy spots are occupied, and so 0:04:38.320 --> 0:04:41.120 it's I found myself just looking at the maps and 0:04:41.120 --> 0:04:43.560 being like, man, I hate, I personally hate hiking up 0:04:43.600 --> 0:04:46.680 this trail that's twenty five hundred feet elevation, but at 0:04:46.760 --> 0:04:48.680 least I know it's me versus the elk there. And so, 0:04:49.040 --> 0:04:50.679 you know, there was a lot of that like mental 0:04:50.720 --> 0:04:53.680 game kind of coming in on my hunt. Even though 0:04:53.680 --> 0:04:56.120 it was a pretty pretty good tag, I still had 0:04:56.120 --> 0:04:59.760 to kind of, you know, work harder than I wanted 0:04:59.760 --> 0:05:01.719 to these on these public land hunts. But that's I 0:05:01.720 --> 0:05:02.720 guess why we all love them. 0:05:03.600 --> 0:05:06.279 Yeah, yeah, I kind of run in the same thing 0:05:06.680 --> 0:05:09.320 in this area we hunted. This was new new to us, 0:05:10.160 --> 0:05:15.200 completely different kind of uh landscape than what we normally hunt. 0:05:15.240 --> 0:05:17.240 You know, you have the low desert floors, you have 0:05:17.320 --> 0:05:20.920 the ten thousand foot peaks, and the elk live in 0:05:20.920 --> 0:05:24.840 that band of elevation right around that seven to nine 0:05:24.880 --> 0:05:27.800 but typically around eighty five hundred feet, so the air 0:05:27.880 --> 0:05:30.719 is then and a lot of times you know, you're 0:05:31.200 --> 0:05:33.680 you get out and if you're gonna hunt from the truck, 0:05:34.120 --> 0:05:37.279 you're gonna walk for a mile or two in an 0:05:37.360 --> 0:05:39.480 area you're not going to see an elk, or you'll 0:05:39.520 --> 0:05:43.159 see some scat from last spring, but you're not gonna 0:05:43.360 --> 0:05:44.280 encounter any elk. 0:05:44.400 --> 0:05:44.679 Low. 0:05:44.720 --> 0:05:46.640 You know, you're gonna have to hike, hike, hike, and 0:05:46.760 --> 0:05:48.280 like you say, you're gonna have to climb a couple 0:05:48.320 --> 0:05:52.960 thousand feet vertical get up there. So it's definitely different. 0:05:53.680 --> 0:05:56.560 We backpacked in, which is kind of out of character 0:05:56.640 --> 0:05:58.080 for me. You know, you know I've done it in 0:05:58.160 --> 0:06:01.080 the past, but I kind of like a nice truck 0:06:01.120 --> 0:06:03.080 camp where I can sleep on a cot because I 0:06:03.400 --> 0:06:07.440 sleep so much better. But man, we the first the 0:06:07.480 --> 0:06:10.240 first couple of nights, two or three nights we camped 0:06:10.279 --> 0:06:14.760 out backpacked in. I'm like, oh, we're going super light. 0:06:14.880 --> 0:06:18.279 The weather is supposed to be pretty good. Taking my 0:06:18.400 --> 0:06:21.680 Kafaru super tarp and a piece of tie back, we're 0:06:21.720 --> 0:06:24.240 gonna lay on that cameraman, Dusty. Now we're gonna share 0:06:25.200 --> 0:06:28.360 a shelter. Phelps. You and I have shared that same 0:06:28.400 --> 0:06:31.599 shelter one time in Colorado, so you know, it's very spacious, 0:06:31.600 --> 0:06:35.200 real roomy. You get to know each other pretty well, 0:06:36.040 --> 0:06:37.120 rubbing shoulders all night. 0:06:37.240 --> 0:06:38.839 You don't you don't both want to roll to the 0:06:38.839 --> 0:06:42.440 inside at the same time because you might become uncomfortable. 0:06:42.640 --> 0:06:47.800 Yeah, you might have a moment. Well this especially, you know, 0:06:47.880 --> 0:06:50.560 we had a hard time find somewhere flat delay, so 0:06:50.800 --> 0:06:54.080 it's like it was kind of flat. But I know 0:06:54.240 --> 0:06:56.479 every morning we'd wake up, I'd almost be right in 0:06:56.480 --> 0:06:59.159 the middle of the of the shelter and Dusty was 0:06:59.160 --> 0:07:02.240 almost hanging out the side of it, which wouldn't be 0:07:02.279 --> 0:07:05.560 a big deal normally, but we had rain storms like 0:07:05.600 --> 0:07:07.839 two nights in a row. Like it wasn't just a 0:07:07.920 --> 0:07:11.720 you know, a nice little pitter pattern. It was full 0:07:11.800 --> 0:07:16.800 on gale force winds and just rain like a mofo 0:07:17.520 --> 0:07:19.760 all night, two nights in a row. And then on 0:07:19.800 --> 0:07:23.480 the third day it rained part of the night and 0:07:23.480 --> 0:07:27.600 and most of the morning. So it was just it 0:07:27.640 --> 0:07:30.920 was it was brutal. So we stayed pretty dry inside there, 0:07:30.920 --> 0:07:34.640 except for the conversation inside there. But it made it 0:07:34.720 --> 0:07:37.440 challenging to get in and out of that little shelter 0:07:38.120 --> 0:07:42.200 and not get all muddy. And but but I will 0:07:42.240 --> 0:07:45.360 say during that time, you know, we had bad weather, 0:07:45.400 --> 0:07:47.360 but the hunt was pretty good. You know. The first 0:07:47.480 --> 0:07:50.600 day we called in a couple of bulls and and 0:07:50.640 --> 0:07:53.400 then had it was on another bowl, and then everything 0:07:53.440 --> 0:07:56.080 was going good, like, man, we're gonna probably tag out 0:07:56.120 --> 0:07:57.720 here in the first couple of days, and they'd be 0:07:57.760 --> 0:07:59.120 going home with what what are we gonna do with 0:07:59.120 --> 0:08:02.760 all this time on our hands? But then as as 0:08:04.000 --> 0:08:06.080 as the days ticked by, you know, like, oh god, 0:08:06.120 --> 0:08:08.240 we got so much time to get this done. And 0:08:08.560 --> 0:08:11.960 as you always think, you know, and then slowly the 0:08:12.360 --> 0:08:15.680 elk sightings and encounter starts slowing down, and you changed 0:08:15.720 --> 0:08:19.240 spots a couple of times, and and the first spot 0:08:19.240 --> 0:08:20.880 we were in we didn't have a lot of people there. 0:08:20.920 --> 0:08:23.360 We did encounter some towards it, you know, I think 0:08:23.400 --> 0:08:27.600 we spent five or six days in there. We didn't 0:08:27.640 --> 0:08:30.440 we've seen somebody the last couple of days. But then 0:08:30.480 --> 0:08:34.000 we relocated to a place that had more elk and 0:08:34.120 --> 0:08:37.839 it was a little easier terrain. But with easy terrain 0:08:37.920 --> 0:08:41.520 comes lots of folks and elk were easy to see, 0:08:41.640 --> 0:08:44.400 you know, they were you could see them walking across hillsides, 0:08:44.440 --> 0:08:48.400 you could phone scope them whatever I actually did just scope. 0:08:48.400 --> 0:08:51.439 I guess we were using it all in did you 0:08:51.480 --> 0:08:57.800 scope thing for our for our phone? But anyhow, you know, 0:08:58.280 --> 0:08:59.959 it was easy to see him, easy to make a plan. 0:09:00.280 --> 0:09:02.560 But then anytime you try to execute on a plan, 0:09:02.920 --> 0:09:04.920 you'd go over and where you couldn't see it, and 0:09:04.960 --> 0:09:08.240 it's like, oh, well, there's somebody else is already on them, 0:09:08.720 --> 0:09:10.600 or you would get on them and somebody else would 0:09:10.640 --> 0:09:13.080 come join you. I guess that's kind of the nature 0:09:13.080 --> 0:09:16.880 of the game public land, which I'm not really used 0:09:16.880 --> 0:09:18.840 to hunting an area with that many elk. There was 0:09:18.880 --> 0:09:21.400 a lot of elk there. I will say, I'm used 0:09:21.440 --> 0:09:24.240 at hunting areas where man, you got to scratch pretty 0:09:24.240 --> 0:09:27.240 hard to find some elk, but you don't see too 0:09:27.280 --> 0:09:30.480 many people either. So lots of elk, lots of people. 0:09:30.600 --> 0:09:34.040 So it was that kind of a place. But in 0:09:34.120 --> 0:09:36.920 the end we we came out of there. We didn't 0:09:36.960 --> 0:09:38.800 we did not none of us tagged in elk. None 0:09:38.840 --> 0:09:41.680 of us tagged one. The other guys had to go 0:09:41.720 --> 0:09:44.880 home a couple of days early. Dusty and I held 0:09:44.920 --> 0:09:48.439 on to the bitter end, and it was just by 0:09:48.480 --> 0:09:50.760 the time the last day came and went, it was 0:09:50.840 --> 0:09:52.600 just a ghost town. You know. We saw a bowl 0:09:52.640 --> 0:09:54.800 fir seeing the morning. We climbed up to where they're at, 0:09:55.800 --> 0:09:58.280 could not get on that thing, could not get him 0:09:58.280 --> 0:10:01.360 to vocalize. When we seen him at bugled at him 0:10:01.400 --> 0:10:03.079 from a distance. He just looked up and then went 0:10:03.080 --> 0:10:07.840 back to feeding, So, which was weird. You know, we 0:10:07.960 --> 0:10:11.280 never did hear a lot of bulls bugling on their own, 0:10:11.679 --> 0:10:14.000 you know, just you know how you get those bulls 0:10:14.040 --> 0:10:16.439 just kind of bugling even though just the middle of 0:10:16.440 --> 0:10:19.480 the day, just lay in their bed. Just we didn't 0:10:19.480 --> 0:10:23.800 hear any of that. And then the funny part was, Man, 0:10:23.880 --> 0:10:26.679 these things were pretty call shy, and I don't know 0:10:26.760 --> 0:10:29.720 that they thought we were hunters. Maybe they did, but 0:10:29.840 --> 0:10:32.600 I think they're call shy to each other. I think 0:10:32.640 --> 0:10:35.920 they carve out they're six to eight cows, and they're like, 0:10:36.000 --> 0:10:38.080 I'm good with my six or eight cows. I don't 0:10:38.120 --> 0:10:43.040 need thirty, and if another bowl gets close by, we're gone. 0:10:43.679 --> 0:10:46.680 We started calling to this one bull and he ran off, 0:10:46.679 --> 0:10:48.720 and we'd give him tons of space. We didn't push 0:10:48.800 --> 0:10:51.440 on him at all, and he left, kept going, kept going. 0:10:51.720 --> 0:10:54.440 Next thing, you know, we finally he goes out of 0:10:54.440 --> 0:10:57.080 ear site, so we go over there about a quarter 0:10:57.080 --> 0:10:59.480 a mile away. Next time we see him, he's crossed 0:10:59.520 --> 0:11:03.320 the other rage and running out into the desert, like 0:11:04.679 --> 0:11:09.040 he's just like changing zip codes to defend these cows. 0:11:09.040 --> 0:11:12.000 I guess he bugled the whole way. He wasn't like, 0:11:12.400 --> 0:11:16.280 you know, scared of hunters. I don't think he was 0:11:16.360 --> 0:11:18.480 just like, Nope, I don't want to fight. And that 0:11:18.600 --> 0:11:21.720 kind of seemed like when we first got there, bulls 0:11:21.720 --> 0:11:23.520 were seemed to be a little bit callable, but then 0:11:23.559 --> 0:11:26.640 it kind of turned into where man, they just they 0:11:26.679 --> 0:11:29.000 would kind of just nope, we don't want to have 0:11:29.040 --> 0:11:31.520 any confrontations. We're good. 0:11:32.600 --> 0:11:35.560 Huh. I mean, not to turn this into a Maverick 0:11:35.640 --> 0:11:37.439 versus pink, but did you at least try the pink 0:11:37.440 --> 0:11:39.320 call to see if that would have I mean, I'm 0:11:39.400 --> 0:11:42.960 assuming it would have changed all of these scenarios around 0:11:43.000 --> 0:11:43.199 for you. 0:11:43.640 --> 0:11:47.200 Well, I will say, as much as I hate to 0:11:47.280 --> 0:11:50.560 say it, my guys, you know Cody, he had a 0:11:50.559 --> 0:11:55.560 pink one. He tried, didn't hear any replies to it. Bradley, 0:11:56.000 --> 0:11:58.920 he had your your go to the Green and a 0:11:59.000 --> 0:12:01.000 pink and a maver He had a little bit. He 0:12:01.040 --> 0:12:03.920 had a hodgepodge of calls in his pouch. And you know, 0:12:04.320 --> 0:12:07.240 every time anything it wasn't a Maverick, we would get 0:12:07.280 --> 0:12:08.680 no replies, it was weird. 0:12:08.840 --> 0:12:11.240 They're probably coming in silent, it is what was going on. 0:12:11.920 --> 0:12:13.760 They weren't be going and running they were they were 0:12:13.800 --> 0:12:16.240 on their way. They couldn't catch their breath to b agle. 0:12:16.360 --> 0:12:17.600 They were running in so fast. 0:12:17.840 --> 0:12:20.320 Could have been could have been you know, you know, 0:12:20.400 --> 0:12:22.920 because they know, you know, elk know what a dominant 0:12:22.960 --> 0:12:26.040 force of Maverick is. They're like, nope, now that's way 0:12:26.080 --> 0:12:29.600 too tough for us. Oh that pink thing. I'm gonna 0:12:29.600 --> 0:12:30.240 go check that out. 0:12:30.280 --> 0:12:33.680 That it's an inviting call. It's it's a it's a herd. 0:12:33.800 --> 0:12:39.120 It's a herd call. Oh it's welcoming. Yeah. So are 0:12:39.120 --> 0:12:41.559 you a big in this open country? Are you? Are 0:12:41.600 --> 0:12:43.640 you an advocate for Hunter's Orange, so you know if 0:12:43.640 --> 0:12:45.960 somebody's over there before you your head over that way. 0:12:46.120 --> 0:12:48.559 I am one hundred percent. And this is funny that 0:12:48.920 --> 0:12:51.240 you say that I was glassing up these elk for 0:12:51.280 --> 0:12:54.560 like two miles away. I'm like, oh, yeah, I watched these, 0:12:54.840 --> 0:12:56.960 like a pretty good herd disappear into the timber. And 0:12:57.520 --> 0:13:01.000 we're watching two or three different herds here in different hillsides, 0:13:01.040 --> 0:13:03.720 and and then I see a couple of cows coming out, 0:13:03.840 --> 0:13:05.719 and then I see him walking across the hillside and 0:13:05.760 --> 0:13:07.920 they look. I'm like, oh, what the heck, there's some 0:13:08.200 --> 0:13:12.240 there's blaze orange on that hillside. And then they're gonna 0:13:12.880 --> 0:13:15.040 this guy with blaze orange, and these cows are just 0:13:15.080 --> 0:13:17.840 gonna like meet. They're like on the same contour line. 0:13:17.880 --> 0:13:20.600 I don't even think they even knew it, and they 0:13:20.640 --> 0:13:22.760 get close and pretty sen I watch them blow out 0:13:22.760 --> 0:13:24.760 of there. But but it was nice to be able 0:13:24.800 --> 0:13:26.480 to see that guy over there. It was like because 0:13:26.480 --> 0:13:28.240 I was thinking, I'm gonna go over there and climb 0:13:28.320 --> 0:13:30.400 up and try to find that herd where those two 0:13:30.440 --> 0:13:32.439 cows popped out. Oh, there's probably a big bull in there. 0:13:32.480 --> 0:13:35.200 And after I seen where that dude was, well, I 0:13:35.200 --> 0:13:38.400 guess I won't think. I'll probably not not that spot. 0:13:39.880 --> 0:13:43.679 Yeah, orange we on, Well, we'll get to it a 0:13:43.720 --> 0:13:46.319 little bit. But orange is always if you have a 0:13:46.320 --> 0:13:48.920 little chunk of it or something bright, whether it's white. 0:13:49.280 --> 0:13:51.200 When I shot my bowl, we walked around and left 0:13:51.200 --> 0:13:53.839 a guy because it was a big brush. Like around home, 0:13:53.880 --> 0:13:55.720 we have noble Christmas trees. I don't know if that 0:13:56.320 --> 0:13:58.360 resonates with all of our listeners, but we have Christmas 0:13:58.400 --> 0:14:01.839 tree is where it's like it either gets planted in 0:14:01.880 --> 0:14:04.679 Douglas fur which gets real bushy real quick, or Nobles 0:14:04.720 --> 0:14:06.600 you can see and do for about twenty years, you know, 0:14:07.160 --> 0:14:09.480 up in the higher stuff. And we shot it in 0:14:09.520 --> 0:14:12.559 a kind of an overgrown Noble patchway up high, and 0:14:12.640 --> 0:14:14.640 we left a guy, and the orange really helped us 0:14:14.679 --> 0:14:17.080 be able to like because it was so brushy, you know, 0:14:17.120 --> 0:14:19.520 in Elk's being big and tall and yellow you can see. 0:14:19.520 --> 0:14:21.520 But when we're over there in our cameo, like the 0:14:21.600 --> 0:14:24.560 orange and the bright colors definitely helped us like communicate 0:14:24.600 --> 0:14:27.240 across the canyon where you didn't have cell service or anything, 0:14:27.520 --> 0:14:29.480 you know, to communicate to get on the right spot. 0:14:29.520 --> 0:14:32.560 So it's a definitely a good little tip to have 0:14:32.640 --> 0:14:35.440 something that's bright, aside from the joke of being able 0:14:35.440 --> 0:14:37.240 to see where the hunters are gonna mess your hunt up. 0:14:38.320 --> 0:14:40.680 You know, I might if I have to have it 0:14:40.720 --> 0:14:42.520 somewhere like that there's a lot of people. Again, I 0:14:42.640 --> 0:14:44.640 just might throw on a blaze orange hat. I got 0:14:44.720 --> 0:14:47.640 that blaze orange loopholed hat I could put on, and 0:14:47.720 --> 0:14:50.360 then people would be like, oh damn it, And then 0:14:50.400 --> 0:14:53.720 I feel like they associate like ignorance or stupidity with 0:14:53.760 --> 0:14:56.400 a guy wearing an orange hat in September, so that 0:14:56.400 --> 0:14:58.200 it really keep them out. They're like, oh, that guy 0:14:58.320 --> 0:14:58.920 might shoot me. 0:14:59.440 --> 0:15:03.040 Here. Build a bunch of like scarecrows up there all 0:15:03.080 --> 0:15:04.400 over so it's like, oh, there's a guy on that 0:15:04.800 --> 0:15:05.560 with the orange hat. 0:15:06.240 --> 0:15:10.040 Just take a box. I'll have the folks that loophold 0:15:10.040 --> 0:15:12.680 send me a box of hats, orange hats. I'll just 0:15:12.720 --> 0:15:13.960 plant them all over the hillside. 0:15:14.120 --> 0:15:16.080 You could be one of those like geocash, and eventually, 0:15:16.080 --> 0:15:18.120 like after season, you can give everybody the coordinates and 0:15:18.120 --> 0:15:21.880 then go win a loopholed hat. But until then you're 0:15:21.920 --> 0:15:23.080 just holding your spot. 0:15:23.880 --> 0:15:25.760 That's a great idea, Phelps. I'm glad you brought that. 0:15:27.400 --> 0:15:30.280 We got some marketing synergy going here. A great idea. 0:15:31.320 --> 0:15:33.960 Another pro tip, which I'm going to bring up now 0:15:34.840 --> 0:15:38.320 is hiking steep, nasty trails is better in the dark. 0:15:39.040 --> 0:15:41.960 Don't do it in the daylight. I hiked the one 0:15:42.000 --> 0:15:44.040 trail in the daylight and it was the most miserable 0:15:44.040 --> 0:15:45.200 thing I ever did. But I do it in the 0:15:45.280 --> 0:15:47.800 dark and you can't see the elevation. It's just step 0:15:47.800 --> 0:15:50.040 after step. You can only see your feet. And I'm 0:15:50.200 --> 0:15:53.520 convinced that whether I'm just weak mentally or something, but 0:15:53.680 --> 0:15:56.040 not being able to see the hill I'm climbing, it 0:15:56.080 --> 0:15:57.560 didn't feel like it was anything. And then you do 0:15:57.600 --> 0:15:59.280 it in the day and you're like, this is miserable. 0:15:59.480 --> 0:16:01.600 So that's another pro tip. Do all your tough hiking 0:16:01.760 --> 0:16:02.320 in the dark. 0:16:03.000 --> 0:16:05.200 I agree. I feel like it's hard to tell your 0:16:05.200 --> 0:16:08.960 progress up the mountain and you cannot anticipate you know 0:16:09.040 --> 0:16:11.160 what's coming. You can't be like, oh God, here comes 0:16:11.160 --> 0:16:13.560 that tough section. You just have to like one foot 0:16:13.560 --> 0:16:15.640 in front of the other, and then the passing of 0:16:15.640 --> 0:16:18.160 a time is kind of for me, it's kind of 0:16:18.480 --> 0:16:20.760 it's hard to judge whenever I'm just hiking in the 0:16:20.840 --> 0:16:23.040 dark and I'm not looking at like a watcher. 0:16:23.360 --> 0:16:26.160 Yep, yep. And And to add on to my pro tip, 0:16:26.320 --> 0:16:28.800 the camera guy, so I had hunted a little bit 0:16:28.840 --> 0:16:31.160 before early September, and then I came back with a 0:16:31.160 --> 0:16:34.320 different camera guy and a different buddy that was running 0:16:34.320 --> 0:16:37.000 the camera and on switchback number two he pulled out 0:16:37.000 --> 0:16:39.160 his phone to look on X. I said, do not 0:16:39.360 --> 0:16:41.080 look at your phone. The rest is hike. This is 0:16:41.080 --> 0:16:46.440 like switchback number two out of eighteen just walk. It's deflating, 0:16:46.480 --> 0:16:48.080 you know, to see that you're only on switch back 0:16:48.120 --> 0:16:51.240 two of eighteen. So it's best just to be in 0:16:51.280 --> 0:16:53.400 the dark, one foot in front of the other, take 0:16:53.440 --> 0:16:55.360 a little break when you get tired, and we'll be 0:16:55.480 --> 0:16:57.720 up in the you know, above tree line and we'll 0:16:57.760 --> 0:17:00.240 have knocked the twenty five hundred feet off real quick quick. 0:17:00.280 --> 0:17:02.320 But those are those are my pro tips. A little 0:17:02.320 --> 0:17:04.439 out of out of context here, but I wanted to 0:17:04.440 --> 0:17:06.800 throw those in some of these areas where we were 0:17:06.800 --> 0:17:09.720 trying to get away from people, you know, seem to 0:17:09.760 --> 0:17:12.000 seem to help made things a little easier, if you know, 0:17:12.119 --> 0:17:14.840 if nothing else, just mentally getting to the areas where 0:17:14.840 --> 0:17:15.439 they elk were. 0:17:16.000 --> 0:17:19.400 Yeah, so tell us about your bowl in Washington. 0:17:19.960 --> 0:17:23.159 So we've talked about a couple times. But just for 0:17:23.200 --> 0:17:26.240 those that may not, so, I drew a hoof Frot incentive. 0:17:26.520 --> 0:17:29.200 If you haven't watched Me and Cal, we just put 0:17:29.200 --> 0:17:31.119 an episode on a me Eater over hoof Fraud. If 0:17:31.119 --> 0:17:32.920 you don't know what it is, haven't heard of it, 0:17:33.240 --> 0:17:35.840 I highly encourage you to go watch the episode Me 0:17:35.880 --> 0:17:39.359 and Cal just did on hoof Fraught, filmed in my backyard. 0:17:40.560 --> 0:17:43.520 You know, hunters and non hunters can't agree on many things, 0:17:43.720 --> 0:17:48.040 but we can all agree that hoofrat is horrible, heart wrenching, 0:17:48.640 --> 0:17:52.919 just tough to watch these elk, So go watch that. 0:17:53.040 --> 0:17:55.120 But the reason I bring that up is I killed 0:17:55.160 --> 0:17:57.760 a bowl last year with a fraud break down. 0:17:57.960 --> 0:18:00.480 Just quick, real quick? What what's hoof rod on a elk? 0:18:00.880 --> 0:18:02.760 So I'm not going to get into science because I 0:18:02.760 --> 0:18:05.480 don't know it. But basically what happens is the hoofs 0:18:05.840 --> 0:18:09.439 start the elongate and what we call elf shoe, So 0:18:09.480 --> 0:18:12.640 you'll start to get a hoof that deforms on its own. 0:18:12.920 --> 0:18:15.879 It'll elf shoe out, gets very long, skinny and brittle, 0:18:16.119 --> 0:18:18.440 and then it'll slowly start to break that hoof off 0:18:18.480 --> 0:18:21.120 and work its way up into the meat and into 0:18:21.160 --> 0:18:25.760 the bone, eventually very painful. The elk all walk with 0:18:25.800 --> 0:18:28.680 a visible limp. Some of the elk in this episode 0:18:28.760 --> 0:18:31.840 have pretty extreme cases of hoof frot and they won't 0:18:31.880 --> 0:18:35.960 even put the hoof on the ground. If you watch, 0:18:36.160 --> 0:18:39.480 it's almost like these crows and ravens know that that 0:18:39.560 --> 0:18:42.800 elk doesn't have a long time left. Like you'll watch 0:18:42.840 --> 0:18:44.520 them in the field and the crows are hanging around 0:18:44.560 --> 0:18:47.280 the ones with hoof frot. Whether it's the smell, whether 0:18:47.320 --> 0:18:50.440 it's the what it's got a pungent and for lack 0:18:50.520 --> 0:18:54.159 of any other sensory idea I can come up with, 0:18:54.280 --> 0:18:57.280 has like a human waste type stench to it, but 0:18:57.440 --> 0:19:04.280 very pungent and like very widespread smell. It's just it's devastating. 0:19:04.280 --> 0:19:05.920 You know, in some of the bulls we've killed with it, 0:19:06.280 --> 0:19:08.720 if they've got like a damaged hoof on the right 0:19:08.760 --> 0:19:11.200 side of the body, the left antler almost always grows 0:19:11.240 --> 0:19:13.360 the formed one hundred percent of the time if they're 0:19:13.359 --> 0:19:15.320 injured on there. If they've got a hoof rock on 0:19:15.359 --> 0:19:18.719 their left side, the right horn will be you know, 0:19:18.920 --> 0:19:23.080 non typical or misformed. That's kind of crowd. It's it's 0:19:23.080 --> 0:19:25.040 it's tough, and we've had it for twenty five years, 0:19:25.040 --> 0:19:27.680 and I feel like we've screamed from the mountaintops locally, 0:19:28.160 --> 0:19:31.520