WEBVTT - Ep. 005 0:00:01.120 --> 0:00:05.400 Hey, what's up. This is the Meat Eater podcast recording. 0:00:05.519 --> 0:00:07.720 You know, this is the first media podcast we ever 0:00:07.840 --> 0:00:12.720 recorded not on the road. We're in my office. I'm 0:00:12.760 --> 0:00:18.279 on the road, that's right. Yeah, this is the first 0:00:18.360 --> 0:00:26.360 media podcast ever recorded where where I was not I 0:00:26.440 --> 0:00:29.680 Steve Ronnella, was not on the road. I'm joined here, 0:00:30.840 --> 0:00:33.400 as is often the case by Janice Patellos, who is 0:00:33.440 --> 0:00:40.000 on the road. We're in the Pacific Northwest, Um, overlooking 0:00:40.040 --> 0:00:45.720 the beautiful Lake Washington and in a little office and 0:00:46.800 --> 0:00:49.599 fixing it due somewhat of a special episode of podcast here. 0:00:49.600 --> 0:00:52.160 Because there's this thing that happens. We get, we get 0:00:52.320 --> 0:00:55.680 like like you know, the media podcast, right. The name 0:00:55.720 --> 0:01:02.000 comes from the fact, the word media comes fact that that. Um, 0:01:02.120 --> 0:01:06.160 there's a show. I do, a television show called Meat Eater. Um, 0:01:06.319 --> 0:01:08.520 hopefully you've seen it. If you haven't seen it, hopefully 0:01:08.560 --> 0:01:10.399 go check it out. But but I'd like to think 0:01:10.400 --> 0:01:12.720 if I didn't do a television show called Meter, I 0:01:12.840 --> 0:01:15.320 maybe still have a podcast by the same title. So 0:01:15.360 --> 0:01:18.640 there's these these things that exist. Um, you know, they 0:01:18.720 --> 0:01:22.000 they they circle around each other in some way. You know, 0:01:22.160 --> 0:01:25.000 I don't know why I'm explaining that to you. But anyhow, 0:01:25.280 --> 0:01:28.640 I'm the people watch this show, the show called Meat Eater, 0:01:29.480 --> 0:01:35.880 which is arguably um the next to Apocalypse now, Godfather One, 0:01:35.959 --> 0:01:42.200 Godfather too, and Strange Brew um perhaps the best thing 0:01:42.240 --> 0:01:47.960 to ever be filmed, And people watch this program and 0:01:47.960 --> 0:01:52.240 they always right in with these like hunting questions. And 0:01:52.240 --> 0:01:54.880 what you notice over time is that people keep like 0:01:55.080 --> 0:01:57.480 people ask the same questions. So something about the show 0:01:57.880 --> 0:02:01.320 or something about the subject of I think probably the latter, 0:02:01.360 --> 0:02:05.000 Like something about the subject of hunting um brings up 0:02:05.040 --> 0:02:09.840 these perpetual questions that people always ask. And a lot 0:02:09.919 --> 0:02:12.560 of times I have what's cool about having the Honest 0:02:12.560 --> 0:02:14.640 here and the Honest as a producer on the show 0:02:14.680 --> 0:02:19.240 but also a lifelong hunter, former guide, all kinds of 0:02:19.240 --> 0:02:21.880 stuff like that. A lot of times I will defer 0:02:22.080 --> 0:02:25.560 some of these questions to your Honest because they you know, 0:02:25.639 --> 0:02:30.520 they he can speak to them with some authority. So 0:02:30.600 --> 0:02:32.480 for this episode, what I want to do is is, 0:02:33.919 --> 0:02:36.200 in some way, it's like answering questions that come in 0:02:36.240 --> 0:02:39.280 all time. But it's more than just answering questions for 0:02:39.320 --> 0:02:41.880 some particular dude out there. You know, It's not like, hey, Bob, 0:02:42.000 --> 0:02:45.799 here's the answer to your arcane esoteric question, because these 0:02:45.800 --> 0:02:48.440 are things that are just on people's mind all the 0:02:48.520 --> 0:02:50.680 time when it comes to particularly the big game hunting 0:02:52.960 --> 0:02:55.200 um in order to give a little context, and we're 0:02:55.200 --> 0:02:56.760 just gonna, I'm just gonna start rolling into these and 0:02:56.840 --> 0:03:00.360 then we're gonna do a bunch of them as much 0:03:00.400 --> 0:03:01.760 as we can in an hour. And so this is 0:03:01.800 --> 0:03:07.160 just like a like a big game hunting discussion. And 0:03:07.280 --> 0:03:09.600 one of the first questions and we get all this 0:03:09.680 --> 0:03:14.240 time is like people always right and asking what's the 0:03:14.240 --> 0:03:16.359 best bang for your buck hunt? And it's usually a 0:03:16.440 --> 0:03:22.600 dude who lives somewhere east of the Mississippi River grows up. 0:03:22.639 --> 0:03:24.680 You know, he's a hundred white tails off his life 0:03:24.720 --> 0:03:27.440 on small game off his life. He's been saving up. 0:03:27.480 --> 0:03:30.040 He doesn't have a lot of dough. He's been saving up, 0:03:30.240 --> 0:03:32.960 and he wants to figure out, like what is the 0:03:33.000 --> 0:03:36.440 big wild West hunting trip he's gonna do. What's he 0:03:36.480 --> 0:03:40.760 gonna hunt for? And where is he gonna go? And 0:03:40.840 --> 0:03:44.400 this is his big chance to you know, experience the vast, 0:03:44.440 --> 0:03:50.800 beautiful vistas of the American West. And yeah, you can 0:03:50.840 --> 0:03:54.400 feel he's don't even paying attention. He's working on a 0:03:54.440 --> 0:03:59.240 side project on his computer, um, which is the completion 0:03:59.400 --> 0:04:02.680 of Yeah, yeah, I actually I want to throw it 0:04:02.720 --> 0:04:04.520 in real quick. The reason you honest to tell us 0:04:04.600 --> 0:04:09.160 is in my office right now, as we just pulled 0:04:09.200 --> 0:04:13.320 a five day Uh, I don't wanna quite call a 0:04:13.360 --> 0:04:16.039 bender because there was besides the bottle of beer here 0:04:16.080 --> 0:04:18.919 and there. You know. It wasn't like the old stories, 0:04:19.040 --> 0:04:21.880 you know, Jack Caraway getting all hopped up on pills 0:04:21.920 --> 0:04:24.640 and you know, writing for days on a big continuous 0:04:24.640 --> 0:04:28.840 piece of butcher's paper. But we did just spend five days, 0:04:30.600 --> 0:04:36.080 you know, fourteen fifteen hours a day, um, putting the 0:04:36.120 --> 0:04:40.080 finishing touches on volume two of The Complete Guide to Hunting, 0:04:40.200 --> 0:04:45.520 Butchering and Cooking Wild Game, which will be released in 0:04:45.560 --> 0:04:50.359 the fall of two thousand fifteen. This coming fall with 0:04:50.440 --> 0:04:53.920 spiegl and Growl, the division of Random House and imprint 0:04:54.000 --> 0:04:57.440 with Random House Beautiful Books. And we've been just busting 0:04:57.520 --> 0:04:59.640 our asses on getting this thing done. That's why Yanni 0:04:59.720 --> 0:05:03.039 is here. We finally turned it in last night. So 0:05:04.040 --> 0:05:06.560 all that research and work it makes us even better 0:05:06.560 --> 0:05:08.599 boned up. But we didn't quite finish it because Yanni's 0:05:08.920 --> 0:05:11.279 messing around something over there. But yeah, so this this 0:05:11.360 --> 0:05:13.000 question is this pre new question, like if you're gonna 0:05:13.000 --> 0:05:14.599 go out, you're gonna go out west and do something 0:05:15.720 --> 0:05:17.840 you want to go do a wild West hunt. What 0:05:17.960 --> 0:05:21.320 are you gonna do? I'm gonna take the I'm gonna 0:05:21.360 --> 0:05:26.200 give the long d I'm gonna give it a long answer. 0:05:26.920 --> 0:05:29.560 We're gonna give an answer for the long thinking, detail 0:05:29.600 --> 0:05:32.880 oriented dude, and I'm gonna give an answer for the 0:05:32.960 --> 0:05:40.279 impulsive dude. The long thinking, detail oriented dude will think 0:05:40.320 --> 0:05:43.359 of a couple of species to interest him, and I 0:05:43.360 --> 0:05:45.600 would suggest, if you really don't have like a Western 0:05:45.640 --> 0:05:48.680 experience with like good availability, a good chance for success 0:05:48.720 --> 0:05:54.599 and action, um, I would think about mule dering elk. 0:05:54.960 --> 0:05:57.080 Do you disagree with that? You No, not at all. 0:05:57.880 --> 0:06:00.720 I would think about mule deering elt. I would think 0:06:00.760 --> 0:06:06.440 about the following states from the south working north. I 0:06:06.480 --> 0:06:16.839 would think about Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Idaho, Montana. 0:06:17.080 --> 0:06:20.000 It's good to mention that he's asking about affordability as 0:06:20.040 --> 0:06:23.680 well well. I would give him the long, detail oriented answer. 0:06:24.200 --> 0:06:25.480 So let me let me go on a little bit. 0:06:25.480 --> 0:06:28.080 So so I'm just named it the western states. Some 0:06:28.120 --> 0:06:29.960 states that would rule out Like, if you're a dude 0:06:30.000 --> 0:06:32.800 from the Midwest, you know, or the East or wherever, 0:06:32.839 --> 0:06:35.120 and you want to do a Western hunt, this is 0:06:35.120 --> 0:06:37.320 gonna this, this will this will piss some people off. 0:06:37.360 --> 0:06:45.039 But I wouldn't spend a ton of time looking at Washington, Oregon, California. 0:06:45.160 --> 0:06:46.279 I just want to spend a bunch of time on 0:06:46.320 --> 0:06:50.080 those states. It's long ways to go. Yeah, add to 0:06:50.120 --> 0:06:51.880 the gas bill big time. Yeah, it as to the 0:06:51.880 --> 0:06:54.760 gas build also, It's just like, uh, I spent a 0:06:54.760 --> 0:06:56.080 lot of time looking at those states for a bunch 0:06:56.080 --> 0:06:58.760 of reasons. But the long detail oriented dude, I would pick, 0:06:58.920 --> 0:07:01.280 you're gonna You're gonna pick couple of species, and I 0:07:01.320 --> 0:07:09.039 would start doing some research in publications such as Eastman's 0:07:09.160 --> 0:07:12.680 what's the Eastman's one called Eastman's Hunting Yeah, and Bow 0:07:12.760 --> 0:07:20.720 Hunting Journal, Eastman's Magazines, and Hunting Fool Magazine, and start 0:07:20.760 --> 0:07:25.920 doing some research on what are the premier low pressure 0:07:26.640 --> 0:07:29.320 mule deer and elk units in a handful of states 0:07:29.320 --> 0:07:31.720 that seem attractive to you. Like, let's say you decided 0:07:31.800 --> 0:07:33.560 I'm gonna do like you got your heart set on 0:07:33.600 --> 0:07:35.880 the Northern Rockies, so you're gonna be like you're thinking 0:07:36.360 --> 0:07:41.560 Idaho Montana. Let's just say you love the looks Idaho Montana. 0:07:41.640 --> 0:07:42.920 Never been out there, you want to go up there. 0:07:43.640 --> 0:07:46.720 Get Eastman's and get hunting fool and start reading through 0:07:46.760 --> 0:07:50.960 those publications and finding low pressure draw units in no 0:07:51.200 --> 0:07:54.920 states and then start applying for those units. Because if 0:07:54.960 --> 0:07:56.800 you know you want to go sometime in the next 0:07:56.800 --> 0:08:01.160 five six years, start applying for like the cream of 0:08:01.200 --> 0:08:03.800 the crop top pick units. And these are not secrets, 0:08:04.000 --> 0:08:07.400 you know, these are widely known things. Basically, it's the 0:08:07.440 --> 0:08:11.200 things with the minimum percent chance that you're gonna draw 0:08:11.240 --> 0:08:13.880 the tag, and start applying for those tags for five 0:08:13.960 --> 0:08:17.680 or six years, because you might just get lucky and 0:08:17.880 --> 0:08:21.280 hit some sweet unit, hit a tag for a sweet unit, 0:08:21.560 --> 0:08:23.840 and when that happens, you'll know now is my time 0:08:23.880 --> 0:08:26.200 to go, because I'm gonna have a fantastic hunt. And 0:08:26.240 --> 0:08:28.600 it also narrows down because any tag you draw like 0:08:28.680 --> 0:08:30.880 that asking me for a very specific little chunker ground, 0:08:31.240 --> 0:08:33.920 and you'll know to hammer down where you're gonna go hunt. 0:08:33.960 --> 0:08:37.080 You can start starting maps and all that. Now, if 0:08:37.080 --> 0:08:38.960 you're just a guy who's like I'm going this year, man, 0:08:39.000 --> 0:08:42.920 I don't care. I would think that the first thing 0:08:42.960 --> 0:08:49.360 you want to do is pick your species. And again 0:08:49.600 --> 0:08:53.560 one quick interjection on that note of those points and whatnot, 0:08:54.360 --> 0:08:57.880 A lot of states, Um, it doesn't really matter if 0:08:57.920 --> 0:09:02.120 you're actually already choosing the particular unit. You can just 0:09:02.280 --> 0:09:06.840 be collecting points. And that's probably the most important important 0:09:06.880 --> 0:09:08.520 thing that you need to be doing to be thinking 0:09:08.559 --> 0:09:11.240 about this grand adventure in the future, is just collecting 0:09:11.280 --> 0:09:13.200 some points. So when you do have your penny saved up, 0:09:13.200 --> 0:09:15.880 your ready to roll, you've got these great options. Yeah, 0:09:16.080 --> 0:09:17.959 I want to give a quick crash course on bonus 0:09:17.960 --> 0:09:21.240 points in big game tag draws. It's a really complicated subject. 0:09:21.280 --> 0:09:23.000 We have a ton of information about it in the 0:09:23.120 --> 0:09:26.800 complete guide book that we're working on. But the way 0:09:26.840 --> 0:09:28.319 to work is, like you put let's say you want 0:09:28.320 --> 0:09:30.079 to put in for a unit, like let's just pulling 0:09:30.120 --> 0:09:35.120 out of Like the premier multary unit in Montana is 0:09:35.240 --> 0:09:37.720 to seventy. Okay, it's in the upper bid root. If 0:09:37.720 --> 0:09:39.920 you could have any mule deer tag in Montana, you'd 0:09:39.920 --> 0:09:44.080 want unit to seventy. Now, the odds of drawing unit 0:09:44.080 --> 0:09:46.520 to seventy or single percentage points, okay, especially for a 0:09:46.559 --> 0:09:48.920 non resident, you're just not gonna do it. Montana has 0:09:48.920 --> 0:09:50.960 a bonus point system though, so every year that you 0:09:51.040 --> 0:09:55.520 put in for a tag and you don't draw, you 0:09:55.600 --> 0:10:03.080 get a point added to your name, and Montana squares. Well, 0:10:03.200 --> 0:10:04.760 let me back a minute. You get a point added 0:10:04.760 --> 0:10:07.200 to your name. That means the second year you put in, 0:10:07.240 --> 0:10:10.559 your name goes into the hat two times. But what 0:10:10.600 --> 0:10:13.880 Montana does now is they square your bonus points. So 0:10:13.960 --> 0:10:17.880 let's say you've applied two years in a row unsuccessfully 0:10:17.960 --> 0:10:20.920 for you to two seventy. The next year you apply, 0:10:21.280 --> 0:10:23.640 you have two bonus points. Your name will be going 0:10:23.679 --> 0:10:27.520 into the hat four times for your bonus points in 0:10:27.559 --> 0:10:30.600 a fifth time because you're filling out a new application. 0:10:31.400 --> 0:10:34.200 So right now, for instance, I'm sitting on you know, 0:10:34.240 --> 0:10:38.800 I think twelve bonus points for bighorn sheep in Montana, 0:10:38.920 --> 0:10:41.080 I apply for the same unit every year six eight 0:10:41.840 --> 0:10:44.080 for big horns. My name will be going into the 0:10:44.080 --> 0:10:48.840 hat this year one forty four times. I still will 0:10:48.880 --> 0:10:52.640 not draw that tag. Mule, deer and elk are different, though, 0:10:53.240 --> 0:10:56.280 because there's a lot of opportunities. So the long thinking guy, 0:10:57.160 --> 0:11:03.439 we'll start right now this moment accumulating bonus points in 0:11:03.480 --> 0:11:06.920 a handful of states. I put in for every state, 0:11:07.400 --> 0:11:09.520 but I am able, like I hunt a lot more 0:11:09.720 --> 0:11:11.360 for variety of reasons. I hunt a lot more than 0:11:11.360 --> 0:11:13.240 most people. I put in for like pretty much every 0:11:13.280 --> 0:11:17.920 Western state. But for you, pick a couple of states 0:11:17.960 --> 0:11:19.920 that you've always wanted to visit, or better yet, where 0:11:19.920 --> 0:11:24.200 you have some family or friends or some connection, some 0:11:24.200 --> 0:11:28.480 connection to resources and logistical support, and start putting in 0:11:28.760 --> 0:11:32.439 for tags every year. There's no reason not to do it. 0:11:32.440 --> 0:11:35.400 It costs a little bit of money, but just do 0:11:35.559 --> 0:11:37.880 it now. Let's say, but that's not the case, and 0:11:37.920 --> 0:11:41.640 you want to go this year or as soon as possible. 0:11:42.720 --> 0:11:48.160 Pick your species. I would suggest elker mule here, and 0:11:48.160 --> 0:11:50.880 then narrow down into what state you want to hunt. 0:11:52.280 --> 0:11:55.000 That's the first thing I would do. And I would think, 0:11:55.080 --> 0:11:59.720 like for affordable states and availability of tags, and you 0:11:59.760 --> 0:12:04.839 want to go for mule deer, elk. I'm gonna try 0:12:04.880 --> 0:12:06.360 to narrow it down a little bit and say that 0:12:06.440 --> 0:12:14.719 in Johanna's correct me on this, I would say Montana, Idaho, Colorado, Wyoming, 0:12:16.080 --> 0:12:23.600 mule deer, elk, availability of tags, good hunting potential. Yeah. 0:12:23.640 --> 0:12:27.600 The only problem with Montana is they have increased their 0:12:27.720 --> 0:12:30.480 prices a big time for the nonresident hunter. I want 0:12:30.520 --> 0:12:35.040 to say that your upwards of eight hundred dollars, even 0:12:35.040 --> 0:12:37.080 maybe being close to nine hundred. If you want to 0:12:37.080 --> 0:12:40.840 do the combo tag, you're gonna wind up being shocked 0:12:40.880 --> 0:12:43.920 at what tags are gonna cost. Another states like Colorado 0:12:43.920 --> 0:12:45.679 is a cheaper state to hunt. Yeah, right now, I 0:12:45.679 --> 0:12:47.480 think you can hunt a boil in Colorado is a 0:12:47.520 --> 0:12:52.319 nonresident for about five and that's definitely one of the 0:12:52.400 --> 0:12:54.679 cheaper states. Idaho might be a little bit less. They 0:12:54.720 --> 0:12:58.360 might be in the four's. Um. Yeah, Montana, you're up 0:12:58.360 --> 0:13:01.560 there eight somewhere. It's a lot of money. And what 0:13:01.640 --> 0:13:03.400 you gotta look at is you gotta look at how 0:13:03.440 --> 0:13:05.080 you're gonna you know, this gets into the whole their 0:13:05.080 --> 0:13:06.920 subject is when you go do this, how you're gonna 0:13:06.960 --> 0:13:10.480 save money, Like you're gonna drive camp out of your truck, 0:13:10.760 --> 0:13:13.520 public land, all that kind of stuff. But the tag, 0:13:14.160 --> 0:13:15.640 it's gonna be expensive. And there are a thing that 0:13:15.640 --> 0:13:19.120 guys run into on a promise. This is like Colorado 0:13:19.240 --> 0:13:24.520 has some over the counter ELK opportunities, right, Idaho, Montana 0:13:24.559 --> 0:13:27.760 has some over technically like they basically have some over 0:13:27.800 --> 0:13:31.920 the counter opportunities because of something I'll explain where you're 0:13:31.920 --> 0:13:34.120 you're supposed to put in for a draw every year, 0:13:34.240 --> 0:13:37.200 like you have to apply around June one or late March, 0:13:37.280 --> 0:13:40.319 and in around June one you apply for a tag 0:13:40.440 --> 0:13:44.360 for the following fall. Oftentimes there's not enough applicants to fill. 0:13:44.480 --> 0:13:47.959 You have a lot of quantity of tags, so the 0:13:48.040 --> 0:13:50.880 leftover tags are sold basically in the over the counter 0:13:50.920 --> 0:13:54.320 way until the until the quota runs out, until the 0:13:54.400 --> 0:13:57.040 number of tags for sailors sold, and it usually happens 0:13:57.080 --> 0:13:59.040 sometimes in the late summer. Sometimes it doesn't even happen 0:13:59.120 --> 0:14:02.079 until season starts. So when I say over to counter, 0:14:02.400 --> 0:14:05.000 it's not technically over to counter, but it's basically over 0:14:05.040 --> 0:14:09.120 the counter availability. Um. It takes a little bit of research. 0:14:09.280 --> 0:14:11.840 You can get to find yourself with some great tags. 0:14:11.960 --> 0:14:16.000 If you do that, you find those undersubscribe units um, 0:14:16.080 --> 0:14:17.880 and they should be that you can't buy them over 0:14:17.920 --> 0:14:19.880 the counter. So the guy that's not doing any research 0:14:20.080 --> 0:14:22.520 is not finding that tag, not getting into that unit. 0:14:22.560 --> 0:14:24.160 So with a little bit of research, you can really 0:14:24.200 --> 0:14:28.000 get yourself into some good stuff. Yeah. So, um, I'm 0:14:28.040 --> 0:14:33.880 gonna try to get even more detailed. Mule deer, I 0:14:33.880 --> 0:14:42.680 would say, uh, Idaho not but not the Panhandle for availability, 0:14:43.160 --> 0:14:46.360 inexpensive all that kind of stuff, mule, deer and idahole. 0:14:46.560 --> 0:14:50.080 Not the Panhandle. Um Colorado you gotta put in for 0:14:50.200 --> 0:14:53.280 mule your tags and some of the better units take 0:14:53.320 --> 0:14:54.960 a couple of years to draw. But Idaho you're just 0:14:54.960 --> 0:14:59.720 gonna get the tag. Montana a more expensive tag. I 0:14:59.720 --> 0:15:03.760 think about the eastern half of the state for elk 0:15:05.000 --> 0:15:14.000 um Idaho in Colorado, yeah, if you're not playing the 0:15:14.000 --> 0:15:17.480 long game, Colorado is hard to be for the uh, 0:15:17.560 --> 0:15:21.600 the short game guy, because there are lots of elk there. 0:15:21.640 --> 0:15:24.480 It's something like two and fifty elk in that state. 0:15:24.880 --> 0:15:28.240 There's two seasons that are wide open over the counter. 0:15:28.400 --> 0:15:30.120 You just show up and buy attack so you can 0:15:30.160 --> 0:15:31.840 decide the week before that you know you want to 0:15:31.840 --> 0:15:35.120 go elk hunt. There's a lot of opportunity there. Randy 0:15:35.160 --> 0:15:37.600 Newburg wrote a great article I think it appeared in 0:15:37.720 --> 0:15:41.800 Bugle magazine where he lined out how to basically go 0:15:42.000 --> 0:15:45.040 on this affordable western elk hunt in Colorado for a 0:15:45.160 --> 0:15:49.200 thousand dollars. And I think he did it leaving Wisconsin 0:15:49.560 --> 0:15:53.680 or Indiana one of those Midwestern states. Um driving out, 0:15:54.080 --> 0:15:58.000 you know, car camping. Uh, obviously you only drink water 0:15:58.160 --> 0:16:00.920 and you eat Ramen noodles. But even with a six 0:16:01.280 --> 0:16:03.680 dollar elk tag for a thousand dollars, you want elk 0:16:03.720 --> 0:16:07.160 hunting for a week. I used to do stuff. I've 0:16:07.200 --> 0:16:08.960 lost touch of it now, and sometimes I feel like 0:16:08.960 --> 0:16:12.560 I need a reality check, you know, because the way, like, 0:16:12.600 --> 0:16:14.440 you know, just the way I'm able to hunt, like 0:16:14.480 --> 0:16:16.400 doing a show and stuff. You know, you just you 0:16:16.440 --> 0:16:19.280 stop thinking about money in quite the same way. But 0:16:19.680 --> 0:16:21.280 to give you a sense, I mean the kind of 0:16:21.360 --> 0:16:26.160 hunts we used to do. I want time. Took a 0:16:26.160 --> 0:16:30.640 greyhound bus from Montana to Alabama to hunt ducks, and 0:16:30.640 --> 0:16:32.280 I broke down a shotgun and put it in a 0:16:32.320 --> 0:16:34.880 duffel bag and hit it in the duffel bag. Drove 0:16:34.960 --> 0:16:38.680 a two and a half days on a greyhound bus 0:16:38.880 --> 0:16:41.800 because I couldn't afford a plane ticket to Alabama to 0:16:42.000 --> 0:16:46.200 hunt ducks on public land, and it took me two 0:16:46.320 --> 0:16:52.240 days to get back home on the bus. So you know, 0:16:53.760 --> 0:16:56.880 I've done cheap hunts. And it's like the way to 0:16:56.920 --> 0:16:59.960 cut down your costs is is just like self denied, 0:17:00.560 --> 0:17:04.680 you know, privation. I think there's some expenses you're not 0:17:04.720 --> 0:17:06.919 gonna get around. You're not gonna go hunt without the tag, right, 0:17:06.960 --> 0:17:10.240 you gotta have the tag. That's gonna cost money. What 0:17:10.400 --> 0:17:12.800 is the negotiable stuff and the thing? And I also 0:17:12.880 --> 0:17:14.640 mentioned that I got a guy book on the head. 0:17:14.800 --> 0:17:17.320 I think I also mentioned my guy book. Is you 0:17:17.359 --> 0:17:19.560 gotta look at I'm getting into some life stuff here. 0:17:19.800 --> 0:17:21.919 You gotta look at like where where where are you 0:17:21.960 --> 0:17:24.640 spending your money in your life? I remember one time 0:17:24.680 --> 0:17:27.320 watching the guy pull up and to pull up to 0:17:27.440 --> 0:17:31.080 a trailhead in Montana and he pulls up, you know, 0:17:32.480 --> 0:17:35.679 brand spanking new pickup truck, and he pulls out a 0:17:35.880 --> 0:17:38.280 twenty dollar pair of binoculars and starts glass and for 0:17:38.359 --> 0:17:40.880 ail k out of his truck window. I remember thinking that, dude, 0:17:40.880 --> 0:17:46.840 is guy. His priorities all wrong, you know, all wrong. 0:17:47.960 --> 0:17:50.280 He might have bought that big hunting truck, but then 0:17:50.280 --> 0:17:54.239 he burned up all his money on something that was 0:17:54.280 --> 0:17:57.400 like a large measure of vanity project. So I think 0:17:57.440 --> 0:18:00.240 that it's like, I don't mean, you know, in aid 0:18:00.400 --> 0:18:04.639 privacy here, but I think, like, so often where's your 0:18:04.640 --> 0:18:06.560 money going? Like are you like what are you spending 0:18:06.560 --> 0:18:09.679 your money on? I understand the tags are expensive, but 0:18:09.720 --> 0:18:12.119 there's not a guy I know that I couldn't go 0:18:12.200 --> 0:18:15.679 into his personal financing and find the money necessary to 0:18:15.680 --> 0:18:17.880 buy a big game tag if he really cares about that. 0:18:18.200 --> 0:18:19.840 All Right, we're gonna take a quick break. We'll be 0:18:19.920 --> 0:18:25.640 right back to talking about big game tags in a minute. Yeah, 0:18:25.880 --> 0:18:28.600 I just reread the question, you know the guys. Yeah, 0:18:28.600 --> 0:18:30.080 but I'm not trying to I'm not trying to pick 0:18:30.119 --> 0:18:33.440 that dude out, No, I know, I just just want 0:18:33.680 --> 0:18:36.159 I just want to specifically answer his question, you know, 0:18:36.200 --> 0:18:39.159 before we get away from it. Oh. Um, but I 0:18:39.200 --> 0:18:42.600 agree with everything you're saying there, But he's con prohibitive 0:18:42.640 --> 0:18:44.080 for a guy with a young fa Yeah, he's got 0:18:44.080 --> 0:18:46.920 he's got a young family. And just what came to mind, 0:18:47.000 --> 0:18:49.080 because I know a lot of guys actually go hunting 0:18:49.119 --> 0:18:51.919 with young families on this particularly big game hunt is 0:18:52.040 --> 0:18:59.040 a Wyoming antelope hunt. It's a nonresident you can get 0:18:59.280 --> 0:19:02.000 and then your family. Yeah, you can't probably your family 0:19:02.000 --> 0:19:04.679 in the late summer, right analopns. You do not have 0:19:04.720 --> 0:19:06.880 to get up early in the morning. You can get up, 0:19:07.000 --> 0:19:09.240 get the family going, roll out there at ten o'clock, 0:19:09.720 --> 0:19:12.080 go hunting, leave the kids at the truck for a 0:19:12.080 --> 0:19:17.080 little bit. Whatever has to happen. Um but uh and 0:19:17.280 --> 0:19:20.200 for antelope does or even a bucking wyoming, you can 0:19:20.200 --> 0:19:22.560 probably get it done in two days, two days of hunting, 0:19:22.640 --> 0:19:25.720 and the tags are cheap. Right antalope tags in Montana, 0:19:25.920 --> 0:19:27.600 I wasn't even thinking about. But you know, I want 0:19:27.600 --> 0:19:28.800 to move back and we can't spend all our time. 0:19:28.920 --> 0:19:30.920 Now here's the second mold. Like this is one of 0:19:30.920 --> 0:19:33.000 the second most common questions that ever come in, is like, 0:19:34.080 --> 0:19:37.960 what's a good all purpose rifle, both in terms of 0:19:38.000 --> 0:19:43.760 caliber and everything else? Reasonable price, reasonable price? You know 0:19:44.560 --> 0:19:47.399 this question comes in. I swear every day and in 0:19:47.480 --> 0:19:49.040 a couple and every day a couple of times in 0:19:49.119 --> 0:19:52.080 some different way. Let's start with the caliber part, like 0:19:52.080 --> 0:19:55.840 what's a great all purpose caliber. There's a movement right 0:19:55.840 --> 0:20:02.840 now in shooting, in hunting to go with lighter calibers. 0:20:03.640 --> 0:20:10.359 This has to do with recent they're sort of ongoing 0:20:11.920 --> 0:20:18.399 technical improvements to ammunition. Ammunition is becoming more reliable, the 0:20:18.480 --> 0:20:22.080 materials work better, they're bonded in better ways. The bullets themselves. 0:20:23.080 --> 0:20:27.679 Yeah yeah, but bull yeah, I mean bullets are getting well, 0:20:27.680 --> 0:20:33.360 they're getting pushed faster, and they're performing better. They're able 0:20:33.400 --> 0:20:39.159 to withstand you know, very high flight speeds or you 0:20:39.200 --> 0:20:45.080 know feet per second, high musclevelosities. They hold together better, 0:20:46.280 --> 0:20:49.520 and this is leading to like greater efficacy on part 0:20:49.600 --> 0:20:51.560 of the bullets. So people are realizing they can get 0:20:51.600 --> 0:20:56.000 away from some of the high recoil shoulder busters and 0:20:56.040 --> 0:21:00.800 shoot these faster, flatter shooting, smaller caliber rifles with high 0:21:00.880 --> 0:21:03.960 quality bullets in them. I don't really want to get 0:21:04.640 --> 0:21:07.240 into that, but like right now, sort of the hot 0:21:07.359 --> 0:21:13.440 new caliber among long distance shooters and stuff is everybody's 0:21:13.760 --> 0:21:16.320 you know, talking about how great six point five millimeter 0:21:16.800 --> 0:21:21.040 rounds are. Right, everybody used to shoot, you know, point 0:21:21.119 --> 0:21:23.719 to eight for like seven millimeter stuff, and thirty caliber 0:21:23.800 --> 0:21:27.240 stuff was sort of always like the go to calibers 0:21:27.440 --> 0:21:31.080 for all purpose, you know, general purpose, big game rifles. 0:21:32.119 --> 0:21:34.480 People are getting away with that in some way. I'm 0:21:34.520 --> 0:21:41.000 sort of a throwback or traditionalist or something, or just 0:21:41.040 --> 0:21:42.640 a guy who likes to stick with things and I'm 0:21:42.680 --> 0:21:47.720 familiar with. But when I'm thinking about and it's like, 0:21:47.920 --> 0:21:50.479 I hate, I almost hate this conversation because it's so 0:21:50.600 --> 0:21:56.000 dependent on your your personal experiences. I often tell people 0:21:56.400 --> 0:22:01.960 if I had to have one gun, that I could 0:22:02.080 --> 0:22:03.240 for the rest of my life, and I had to 0:22:03.280 --> 0:22:04.879 pick it right now, Like what's your caliber for the 0:22:04.920 --> 0:22:08.159 rest of your life? And you hunt all your interests 0:22:08.200 --> 0:22:12.119 in all forms of big game in North America, I 0:22:12.160 --> 0:22:16.320 would pick I had to pick one rifle, I think 0:22:16.320 --> 0:22:22.400 that I would pick a seven millimeter m mag if 0:22:22.440 --> 0:22:28.000 I was ruling out. Um, if someone came down and 0:22:28.000 --> 0:22:33.280 said you can't have that one, then I would start wondering, 0:22:33.320 --> 0:22:38.360 do I want a wind mag or just a two 0:22:38.480 --> 0:22:44.080 seventy And I would start vascillating between those two. Now, 0:22:44.119 --> 0:22:46.000 there's a lot of like there's a lot of ways 0:22:46.040 --> 0:22:47.720 to achieve the same thing. Like when you say, like 0:22:47.960 --> 0:22:51.000 you know three mag, there's three Wind mag or three 0:22:51.560 --> 0:22:54.960 Chester short magnim. You can get those same muzzlevelocities and 0:22:55.000 --> 0:22:58.879 trajectories and bullet weights with other guns. But those are 0:22:58.920 --> 0:23:01.240 just ones that come to my mind. That's what you'll 0:23:01.240 --> 0:23:04.840 find a lot of in my gun cabinet is that 0:23:04.920 --> 0:23:08.000 kind of stuff. And I'm like an old timey Elmer 0:23:08.080 --> 0:23:10.400 fuddy kind of guy for thinking that way, But that's 0:23:10.400 --> 0:23:14.520 what I like. I tend to also like a rifle. UM, 0:23:14.560 --> 0:23:17.719 My goal isn't to try to get away with as 0:23:17.800 --> 0:23:19.840 much as I can get away with. Like I'm not 0:23:19.880 --> 0:23:21.920 the kind of guy who's gonna go out and hunt 0:23:22.000 --> 0:23:25.560 mule deer with a two forty three. It can be done. 0:23:26.680 --> 0:23:28.280 People do it. I remember meeting the kid. He's like, 0:23:28.320 --> 0:23:30.440 this guy, tell me, oh, yeah, my kid just killed 0:23:30.520 --> 0:23:32.560 elk with the two forty three. Later I was talking 0:23:32.560 --> 0:23:34.520 to the kid. He's like, yeah, I shot at nine times. 0:23:35.320 --> 0:23:37.040 I'm not saying he couldn't have done it cleaner, but 0:23:37.080 --> 0:23:40.399