Cameron Hanes - Keep Hammering Collective - KHC 036 | GoHunt - Brady & Trail

Episode Date: September 4, 2023

Writer Brady Miller and “Gear Guy” Trail Kreitzer of GoHunt talk with Cam about the origins and growth of GoHunt. They talk about their favorite animals to hunt and exchange hunting stories. They also discuss, hunting films, the importance of mindset while hunting, land and resource management, the competitive nature of hunters, and much more! Follow along: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cameronrhanes Twitter: https://twitter.com/cameronhanes Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/camhanes/ Website: https://www.cameronhanes.com   GoHunt Links: https://www.instagram.com/gohunt/  https://www.gohunt.com/      Thank you to our sponsors: MUD\WTR: https://mudwtr.com/cam use code Cam for 15% off  Hoyt: http://bit.ly/3Zdamyv  Leupold: https://www.leupold.com/ Groove Life: https://www.groovelife.com Black Rifle: https://www.blackriflecoffee.com/ Use code KEEPHAMMERING for 20% your first Order Bass Pro/Cabelas: https://www.basspro.com MTN OPS Supplements: https://mtnops.com/ Use code KEEPHAMMERING for 20% off and Free Shipping Go Ruck: https://www.goruck.com use code CAM for 10% off   Timestamps: 0:00:00  Intro 0:02:36  The Hunt Industry Standard 0:05:53  Hunting Communities Can Be Protective 0:08:53  Letting Go of Being Competitive in Hunting 0:11:39  Inspiration From the Mountains 0:12:52  What Else Can Rival Hunting? 0:13:35  Thoughts on Protection of Hunting Resources 0:17:15  The Goal of Cam’s Social Media 0:19:05  Brady: Moving From the Midwest to the West 0:22:09  Cam’s Brother’s Race in Montana 0:25:09  Trail’s Story 0:30:29  Favorite Animal to Hunt 0:34:59  Utah Land Management 0:39:09  Brady’s Start in Writing for GoHunt 0:43:04  GoHunt: Where it Started to Now 0:45:36  What Makes a Good Film? 0:50:27  Chris Neville Hunt Story 0:58:06  Cam’s Feelings on Filming His Own Hunts 01:03:39  Outro  

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Use code CAM for 15% off your first order. Hoyt Archery has been my bow hunting sponsor since 2005. And personally, I really don't care what bow you shoot, what brand it is. I just hope that you have the same level of confidence in your equipment as I have in mine. Because I know if I get one opportunity with my Hoyt, it's going to pay off. Every step I take, I move my truth. Every time they tell me stop I use. Every comment hate that makes my fuel gather up my in talking.

Saying the way that I move it's so reckless. That is a part of my mind I've been blessed with. Giving my blood so I am relentless. All right, we're here with the go hunt guys, Trail and Brady. Welcome to the Keep Hammering Collective. Yeah, it's good to be here. Yeah, I mean, this is an impromptu discussion because you guys, I mean, I can't tell you how thankful I am you guys came in for my lift-front shoot event.

And, you know, you gave presentations four of them talking about earning tags, getting tags, where to hunt, how to hunt, opportunities for new bow hunters. Because a lot of the guys today were new bow hunters. So how did that go talking to everybody today? It was honestly phenomenal. Yeah? Like once you start talking to him, you see people is instantly asking questions or they're taking photos of the presentation. Once they start taking photos, like, okay, we're doing something right, even though we gave them a lot of information. and all hot and fast.

I mean, it went good. I had moments where I was like, okay, I thought I'd prepare maybe a half hour, and I thought I was going to leave Brady another half hour, and then I was like an hour and 10 minutes into it. I'm like, I'm definitely over-prepared. The first one, I think I talked to 10 or 15 minutes. Yeah. Yeah.

A lot of talking, though. It was good. Trump should have prepped his presentation a little bit more. Yeah, I did mine this morning. Yeah, I did mine this morning in the hotel. I mean, I know the subject top to bottom, but as far as, like, actually putting slides together and stuff, I did it this morning, but don't tell my boss.

But there's a lot of information, though. Like you really have to explain it. There are so many different things that involve every single state and no state's the same. Everything's so complicated. Right. And then you're trying to explain it to someone who might not ever hunt it out West before. Like there's a big, big learning curve. Definitely.

It's like I said, I think, you know, I definitely saw blank stairs, you know, today. I saw some guys that were just like, okay, this is maybe more than I can take in. But, I mean, at the end of it, kind of the take-home message is, you know, the insider tool, which, you know, we work for Go-Hunt. We have this platform called Go-Hunt Insider. which is essentially a research platform to help people draw permits or pick up a permit over the counter. And I just basically kind of told everybody, look, there's a lot of this information that you're probably not going to remember. But everything's within the platform and just, you know, bite off one piece at a time. So just start to chew out it.

You know, as the state draw deadlines come up, you know, read the application strategy articles, just kind of pick and choose and just see if it makes sense for you and then just chew on it. Yeah. They're going to leave here. They got a lot of information, not just from you guys, but from everybody. and new guys, some guys had never even shot a bow before, which I'm excited about because when I looked out to everybody, you know, you guys have been in the industry forever.

And the industry can be, I mean, it's great sometimes, sometimes it's like not great. But every person today, because they don't know that, hey, you're supposed to be like a tough, big badass hunter, you're supposed to act cool and not, you know, not think other people are cool. Don't you know that?

And they didn't know that. They're like just enjoying every moment and just learning and like, oh, this is incredible. Big smiles from everybody. How different is that? So different. It feels way different than me to me. Yeah, I mean, especially where I mean, I grew up in southern Utah and I know, I mean, a lot of it, everybody I knew hunted, you know, growing up, all my buddies hunt. That's what we talk about.

We run into each other at the gas station. Like everybody talks hunting. We're always talking hunting. We're always looking for, you know, the biggest buck, biggest bull. We're kind of having them, you know, dick measuring contest, if you will. Yeah. And there is a lot of that in hunting. And today there wasn't a lot of that at all.

It was just like sponges. I know. It was just that's kind of, you know, my focus, I'll be honest on this podcast, I haven't had hardly any hunters on. I've just had, and I don't know why. I mean, I don't know why. I'm trying to think. Why have I not had any hunters on?

It's just like, I don't know. I think because I've talked to so many guys for so long. And I mean, I'm glad you guys are here. And I wanted you guys, as soon as I knew you guys were coming, I'm like, you know what? If it can work out, I want to have them on the podcast. Because I feel like I've listened to some of the stuff you've done. I feel like you guys are fair. I don't feel like it's the dick measuring vibe.

It feels like pretty helpful, pretty genuine. And I'm like, I like, I like, like those guys. You know, and it's not, I can't, I'm not talking shit about anybody else. I don't really care, but I just don't even put energy into it anymore. And I did for a long time, you know, and you work for Eastman's, you work in the industry. It's all about big animals and this and that. And it's like, I got burn out on it. Oh, yeah. I love hunting. I love everything. It's my life. I don't like the drama part of hunting. I don't know. Yeah, I agree. There's a lot of it too. I mean, I live in the mecca of it, so I get it. Utah's full of that. Yeah, Utah's

let's be honest. Yeah, Utah's full of it, which I mean, it's okay. It is what it is, but it is refreshing to just have a group of people that are, you know, brand new into. I got a brother that's kind of an adult onset hunter. Like, you know, he's in his, what, fee might be 50 at this point, but, you know, lives in Idaho, never hunted. He hunted a little bit when we were a kid, but he's just kind of getting back into it and just kind of like helping him and watching him go through that whole process, getting him set up with gear, watching him. He drew his first Elk Tag this year, right? Nice. In Idaho. But like, it's kind of put the, you know, perspective. You're like, okay, yeah, I remember what this is all about, you know. And I still feel that same way.

I mean, every time I go out in the fall, that's like my time to just disconnect and kind of, you know, come back with some new perspective of what really, you know, I do love. Right. So I guess at the point I was starting to make is that my podcast has been, I think a lot of hunters, we preach to the choir a lot. You know, outdoor channel was, hey, it's just hunters watching other hunters. We already got those guys. So this is what I've done with lift, run, shoot, and the podcast is like, we got the hunters. I know what people like to talk about. I know all that.

I want to expose other people, other, you know, either athletes or actors or whatever to what I do. The lifestyle. Yeah. And that's what everybody today was. It's not the hardcore guys who have been doing it for 100 years, but it's guys just fired up. They see something. They follow me online or whatever. They're like, oh, I want to try this lift run shoot thing.

And I want to know more about hunting. I love that part. I love the part because I feel like as a hunting community, we get pretty protective, right? I mean, I could probably be the worst. When I hunted, you know, the wilderness, I didn't want anybody to know where I was. If I saw a boot track, I'd be like, what the fuck? Who is back here? The guys in the office don't even know where I hunt.

I literally lie all the time to people I work with and trust and talk to on a daily basis of where I go. Because you know how it goes? It takes one person where I was hunting. It wasn't like, like I said, Oregon's not great. One guy can screw up the whole, you know, if you're, you know, if you're, you're not, you you got basins on one side of the ridge, screw them all up, you know? So I would just like, I don't want to see one person. I don't want anybody to know where I'm going. And it's, so I get the protective part. I do. But at some point, we need to be able to talk about hunting

and outside and grow it. And, you know, there's a big thing like, you know, Matt Rinell is a big one on, you know, wanting to shut down social media and thinks that the growth of hunting will heard all of us and I don't feel that way. I mean, I don't feel that way. I understand, like I just said, I understand I don't want people to know where to hunt. I get it. It's a, it's a resource that we need to protect, but we also need to talk about why hunting is great and why it should be celebrated. Did you have a moment? I'm curious, did you have a moment within hunting that flipped you as far as like, I need to do more to share this thing? Like, I'm just curious. I think back like I don't know if it's age. Like I'm in my 40s at this point.

But I feel like I've had I've had moments in the woods, you know, hunting elk specifically where it's like this experience it means so much to me. And I know what it's meant to me in my life that like I would I would feel like I just want more people to experience that same feeling. Like if they can feel that feeling, you know, maybe they can find that moment for them and it'll bring some sort of like, real meaningful something to them. I don't know if it's purpose or not, but like, did you ever, you ever had a moment like that?

Like, did you have it flip for you at some point? Before I was, early on, I was very selfish. I feel like if somebody's killing something, it's like I took a personal. Like,

I wanted to kill something. You know what I mean? So it was always competition. My whole life that people have said, you're too competitive. So that was really hard to let go of that. But once I got older, as you said,

yeah, then I get to the place where, yeah i've killed a bunch of stuff it doesn't mean i don't want to kill anymore but what i enjoy almost as much as anything is taking new people hunting you know i took kevin costner's son hunting he's you know busy doing other stuff his son wanted to hunt i'm like i could go get him on a buck that was god that was great i took my my son who

normally does this his army buddy he had never killed he'd from florida he'd never killed a black tail so i took him him. Rogan, I love, you know, his first elk and his first bear was with me. And it's just like, I get as much enjoyment and sense of satisfaction from that. And it sounds cliche because people say, they say stuff like this all the time. But I do truly feel just as happy when they kill because I was there. And I can, I know what it means.

Killing, you know, killing that buck up there in the Steens in 1991, my third year of bow hunting, changed everything for me. One animal. I killed something. It gave me confidence. I was like, wow. Yeah. And so if, as you said,

if that impact can be had by somebody else, it's life changing. We should want to share that. Yeah. That's what it means to be a human and lift others up, right? Yep. I don't know. No, I agree, man.

You're spot on. I was curious because I feel the same way. I feel like I've had some moments where it just, it was so impactful. Um, you know, I did a like a 10 day solo Elkhunt in New Mexico, eritable on day 10 by myself. Didn't see a person the entire 10 days. So just completely out there on my own. I shot this bull and it was like this just overwhelming feeling of just like satisfaction. Like I'd done this thing that was just felt to me like virtually impossible.

Like I just didn't think this could ever happen and just same thing. Like sense of confidence, since a like satisfaction and just like I did this amazing thing. And yeah, I kind of came home from it being. like, man, if somebody else could feel this and like I have a certain skill set and I have like the knowledge I've been playing this game in the West as far as like applying for tags and getting tags, like if I can hand off some of that information and help somebody do something like just happen for me. Like it could impact them forever. It could be like a moment in their life that they could always draw from. So I was yeah, I was curious. We've got a lot of like emails from people saying

you've inspired me to move out West to chase dreams. Yeah. Like when people talk about that, you're just like moving. It's, it really hits you hard. Yeah. Like every day you wake up in the mountains, it's like, that sunrise you see. It's like, I want someone else to experience that. I want them to feel what I feel right now and why I'm back here. It's, it's powerful. Like it is cliche to talk about like, oh, it gives me purpose. It makes me, you know, more motivated when I come back in the real world, but it really does. Yeah. It truly does. It's like if anyone can experience it, I would love everyone to try it out. Well, and you know how lucky we are to have grown up doing this? Yeah.

You know, because you see even your brother, he started late, but there's so many people who aspire to do what we do, and we've just done it. And it's just like, you know, you can't choose where you're born or kind of what you did, but we just fell into the mountains and what we do. And now you look, like, what if you're born in West Virginia? You know what I mean? Not saying anything bad about that, but it's definitely not the West. It's definitely not chasing big, big mule deer bucks.

Big bulls, bears. I mean, it's, and so what I think about is what else can rival hunting? You know what I mean? Being in the mountains, doing something that man has done for thousands of years, and the feeling you had when you were successful, what else can rival that? I don't know. I mean, for me, I don't know. I'm sure there's athletic pursuits that people, you know, feel like they've achieved that thing.

You know, you watch Netflix, these guys that are some. summit, you know, these giant peaks and stuff. I'm sure there's some of that too. But I mean, I don't know. But for me, like, that's it. Yeah. Like, that's where I get it. You know, I don't know if, and I think part of that's just like in my upbringing, like I said,

and maybe probably a lot of it's just in your DNA and kind of who you are. But for me, I, man, it's, that's it. That's where I get it. So, I mean, you guys are in the business of sharing what we do, right? I mean, that's the whole. So what's your thoughts on people who, who don't want to share what we do, you know, who are more protective of, I guess you could say, the resource, thinking it's a limited resource in some way.

What's your thoughts on that? Honestly, you've got to keep sharing information nowadays. I think it's really for the longevity of hunting as a whole. We need more people to be passionate about it. And so, yeah, there's things that sometimes like, why do you guys give away this information? But it's like, you can talk about all information every single day. Maybe you'll inspire one or two people to go do it.

We still got to go do it and put the work in. but they're going to learn about it and they might get excited about it. They might tell their friends, their buddies. It's like, you know, I live in a state of Nevada. Like, it's hard to get an on-resident tag in Nevada. I wish you could give up more tags, but just don't have the habitat in the water to do it.

I want more people to experience it. It's like, yeah, selfishly, I'd like to go on the mountain and not see anyone, sure. Yeah. But it's like, you know, I grew up in the Midwest. Yeah. There's always my dream to come out in the mountains, and now I'm here.

Mm-hmm. It is meaningful to, like, have other people enjoy what we enjoy it at all times. And yeah, you've got to be secret about some things, but like it's a digital age. There's so much information out there. So you might as well give them the right information to be safe, successful, to enjoy it, to, you know, prosper out there rather than just saying, hey, here you go. Like, go have a hard time. Like, see if you ever do this again. Yeah.

You're going to quit and go take up golf. Right. Like, I want to go like golf when you can go hunt. Right. Yeah. I mean, I'm all in favor of bringing more people into the space. I think there's, I think there's plenty of opportunity. I also think that hunting's hard.

And I think there's probably a lot of people that are going to jump into it and maybe find out that isn't for them. Yeah. They get a chance to try it, you know, if they want to. And I think I wrote an article for Go Hunt, like when I first started working for Go Hunt, and I basically said, I think that your, you know, your views on hunting, kind of the rules and legislation, the, you know, the way that hunting and wildlife management continues to go forward. I think a lot of those decisions are going to be made by people who don't hunt. So if I can at least shed a good light on hunting,

if I can get some of those people out and give them at least a little bit of knowledge and maybe they want to go out and try it out and find out it's not for them, but they understand what it is, what hunting is. I think if I can share a positive experience, if I can shed a positive light in hunting and just the traditional hunting, I think it's a good thing because I think we need more people that are, You know, they may not hunt, but I think they have to understand the tradition. They have to understand the, you know, the North American model of conservation and what it does.

And I think that's the way forward. You know, I don't know. I mean, I grew up in Utah in the, you know, the 80s and 90s when I started hunting. Like, if you want to see hunting pressure, I'm like, you know, go back then, right? Yeah. I bought my over-the-counter tag at the local gas station. Like, a two-point was an anomaly. Like, you just didn't see deer, right?

Right. So fast forward to now, you know, it's in a good place. It's a little bit tougher to get tags. But, you know, the opportunity is still there. There's still a lot of elk on the landscape, more elk on the landscape than ever. And I think here's how I see it. I think a lot of people, I think they like the idea of being some badass bow hunter in the mountains, right? As you said, it's freaking hard. So most people might have that goal, probably get kicked in the nuts. maybe go to rifle hunting, which is fine, maybe quit hunting, but the point,

like the point with my social media and what I talk about here is just explaining hunting the right way. Because, you know, my page might reach, you know, on average, 30 million a week impressions.

30 million people get exposed to what I think about hunting and how I feel is respectful and the merciful way to do it and a good mindset. And then that message is, is curated how I want, right? And I think it's how I do it.

I try to do what's good for hunting. So 30 million people aren't going to be hunting, but they got that message. So those people, once the votes come down or once they're talking to somebody about hunting, and they say, well, I don't know. I, you know, I follow this guy on social media,

and he explained bear hunting like this and that, you know, we need to do it because of, you know, fons and calves. And that's why, that's the possible. of social media. People talk about the negatives and the hills of it. It's like, yeah, but that's with everything. But can we, let's not ignore the positives, you know, and the positives are, man, I see a lot of people talking and seeing hunting in a good light and seeing the positive attributes of it. Yeah. I mean, is that what you guys are saying? Yeah, absolutely. And I, I would love for more people to hunt.

It's like I said earlier, I just, I mean, I think it's just that I'm getting old and like more sentimental. You know, and I've got kids now that are teenagers and, you know, get to take them hunting. Like, I just see what that does for them, for me. I just see what the outdoors and hunting and just the pursuit and what it can mean for somebody. I know what it's meant for me. Yeah. So if I can provide that to somebody else and get more people involved in it, I mean, it can only be good in their life. I don't think it can be bad.

It's changed all our lives sitting here. Yeah. I mean, you moved from the Midwest. Why? To hunt? Well, college a little bit, but it was mainly hunting, yes. Yeah. But I just wanted, I just wanted to chase big mountains.

Like, I wanted that adventure. My dad used to always go out to Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, come back with stories. And he was a hunter. Hunter, yeah, photos. Like it was like, like Trill said, ingrained in your DNA. Yeah. It's just something you did. You always went to, you know, local hunting camps, sharing photos, passing around little

magazines and stuff like that. And just that pursuit of moving out west just gave me, you know, freedom of being outdoors, public land everywhere. Yeah, Minnesota's great. Great state to go fishing. You know, everyone has a boat. You can always go do fun things, but it's like you feel claustrophobic in city life. And I wanted to move to the mountains just to chase, chase dreams, chase hunting,

see what my dad experienced when he was younger. Like, and it just like literally, you know, giving up a great life in the Midwest and move out there by myself was, you know, a daunting deal. It's a big move. But like, it literally changed everything about how I lived my life. Because I knew at that moment in life, like, sure, you can say like you're meant for something. But I feel like I was meant to, you know, be in the mountains. Yeah.

Experience hard things. Like I love a good suffer fest in the mountains. It's actually rewarding. Like I said, you come back home, you feel this more refreshed. Mine's all there. And it's like, and then being out there, we're talking about like, you know, giving back. It's like, well, my family's still in the Midwest. I want to inspire some of those family, friends to come out and do that same sort of thing I'm seeing because at the end of the day, like, it's just, you just can't help but like enjoy everything I've seen.

And it's like, yeah, I've got to share it. Yeah. I do that. I think Brady and I are both a little bit socially awkward too. Like there's a... Yeah, you're also... So just the opportunity to be in the woods, you don't have to talk to anybody, like the possibility.

I mean, I like, he's a... Your backgrounds in biology, my backgrounds of biology. So, like, my favorite biologist joke is, like, how do you tell the difference between an extrovert and an introvert biologist? An extrovert biologist looks at your shoes when he's talking to you. So, yeah, it's kind of, I mean, it's kind of the thing, you know? I think that's where... I mean, I know that's where I feel most at home.

Yeah, yeah, definitely. I just don't have to talk to people and just kind of be on my own. And so did you come out for sports? Nope, just to school? Just school, yeah. Okay. Yeah, I always kind of wanted to be a fisheries biologist because if I wanted to be a big game biologist, but then I realized I have to work in the fall.

Yeah, I can't hunt. So fisheries side, I could, you know, work in the spring summer, early, you know, September, and then I could take off a ton of time and just go hunting always. So, like, it just, you know, it kind of worked out that the school was a good fishery school, but it really was really good hunting in Montana. Yeah. That's why I was a fifth year senior. I might have missed a few classes.

Yeah, I understand. You know, it didn't go because there's just you're out there. It's like, here I am, you know, a young kid and tons of opportunity, tons of things to do. A lot of good influences of people wanted to get me outside and chase their dreams with them. Yeah, Montana, you couldn't ask for a better school for a student value that wants to get outdoors. Yeah, it's a nature's playground. Everywhere you look, there's animals, there's places to do, places to see. Like it's...

Speaking of Montana, my brother just had a rough race in the crazy mountains there. He's a nasty place. He did that. I did the 100 last year. He paced me on the second half. I didn't do that great, but I, you know, got it done. He had to drop at 64, but that country is fricking rugged. His feet were a mess, apparently.

That's why he dropped. But he's a better runner than me. That country, 100 miles up there. dropped at 64 man i know i know i you know this kid from here won his name's Nate jacqua he won it you know just today but uh man that's beautiful country is have you been up there i've been the crazy squad a bit it's beautiful yeah it's beautiful but man it's rugged yeah how's he phil and you talk to him i haven't now he just dropped this morning so it's uh i don't know he's probably a little banged up and it's kind of remote out there you know have you ever

You ever dequeed on a race? You ever dropped out on a run? I was just curious. Like, what's that feel like? I'm curious because it's so, I mean, that's so much effort. Like, it's such a long way to run. Yeah. And then.

It's, I don't know. It's, I mean, it's so hard. But you get to, I know I've been in a lot of races where I want to. Yeah. And you can, you can come up with the reasons. I mean, and also. who's going to say anything? I mean, so if you drop it,

I'm not saying this is what Taylor did, but if you drop at 60, what's something going to say? Nothing. Because just like, fuck, you didn't do anything. Yeah, I ran 60 miles. You can't say shit.

But if you say, you know, yeah, my hamstring, I just, you know, couldn't go, but you just were done running and you just wanted a way out. Nobody knows if that, but you know.

So it's like, it's really hard to put, have those big dreams and goals go through, even 60 miles of pain and suffering. The mounds is hard, but the disappointment to have to drop,

God. I drive home. It's thoughts in your head. Oh, just terrible. Terrible. And he just got back from Europe. He was over there. So another big ultra is UTMB,

and it goes through three countries there. And he was on that course. So I thought he was going to be in good shape. I mean, we did an ultra here. He won. I got second. He done. like, I think 250 miles,

Milers recently did good. So I had, I actually thought he could win, you know, but these races are on that day, if your body just is like, not today. It's,

and that happens, that happens. It's just, it's tough. Yeah. You don't know. I've never ran that far, so I was just curious

what it would be like to. Terrible. Yeah, I can't imagine. It's terrible even when it goes good. Yeah, yeah. So when it goes bad,

it's really terrible. But yes, so Montana, so how did you get, you know, you grew up in Utah, but what's been your journey? You know, I have known of you. I don't know if I know the exact trajectory of what you've done. Did you never, did you ever work in New Mexico at the T.O? No. Nope. No, okay.

Nope, never did. But anyway, so tell me your story. Oh, yeah. Grew up in just a tiny town in southern Utah. So my dad was a park manager at a reservoir. So Otter Creek State Park, which is just a tiny state park. I mean, I think Anamony is probably maybe 150, 180 people. Just a tiny little town.

Our closest neighbor was a mile. So, I mean, I grew up right in the heart of some of the best, like, elk country and deer country in southern Utah. So, I mean, I have pictures of me when I was a little kid with, you know, elk feeding in the backyard, you know, me sitting on a picnic table. And, like, I remember my oldest brother, he's 12 years older than I am Todd. You know, he'd throw me on the back of a, like, an old green Kawasaki motorcycle. And I was just a little kid. He and I shared a room. And we'd take off in the winter and we'd just go cruise and just look at mule deer, you know, on the winter range.

And so, I mean, yeah, it was fun. I mean, it was a great place to grow up. We had the reservoir across the street. I mean, we ice fished and ice gated. So, yeah, my parents originally from Indiana. My dad did move out to the west because he wanted to chase hunting. So I always just liked the thought of hunting elk and deer. And so that's why they came out.

And, you know, I played sports in high school, played basketball and baseball. all. I wanted to be a dentist for some reason. Really? Yeah, I thought that would be a phenomenal occupation, you know? Yeah. I thought I'd, so I went into biology and just got to a point where I was like, you know, I don't think I can do. I don't think I can look in people's mouths every day.

I don't think that's what I want to do. There's a lot of dirty mouths out there. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, but I mean, I'd always kind of haunted, you know, I didn't take it as seriously like as I was a teenager because I was playing sports and that was kind of my focus, but always hunted with my dad. And then I got a job right out of college, kind of like when I was going to college with the Forest Service,

my dad got me a job, and I worked on this trail crew. And so I got to be outdoors every single day. And then I got a job with the wildlife biologist for the Fish Lake National Forest, and I was doing habitat projects with him, and I was doing wildlife surveys. And I was like, man, this is way better. I'm out every single day.

And just decided I didn't want to be a dentist anymore. So yeah. Yeah. So then I switched over to wildlife biology and got my degree in wildlife science. And then I kept working for the Forest Service and then eventually transitioned over and got a job with the Utah Division of Wildlife as a habitat biologist. So yeah, I did that for eight years. And we did just massive amounts of habitat restoration work. Had some really cool programs working within Utah for the benefit of, you know, mule deer and elk, a lot of big game winter range.

like pinion juniper restoration to like back into sagebrush and I did all that and in the meantime you know got married and had three kids and then uh I mean I always liked to hunt and like I was saving up when I worked for this state I was always saving up all my comp time all my you know sick leave just any annual leave days I could get to to go out and hunt and I might get one or two tags a year and I just go out and bust my ass and do as good as I could and I think I started to kill a few animals and you know, eventually start talking to Gohunt. Those guys were looking for writers.

So I started writing for them. And then they offered me a job full-time and just the ability to hunt more in the fall. How long ago is that? It's been seven years. Oh, seven years. Okay. So I was with the division for probably seven or eight years. And then, yeah, I've been with Go-Hunt for about seven years.

Okay. Yeah. That's kind of the thing, man. I just like to hunt. Yeah. The freedom and the fall, a little bit more freedom. And then I've been able to do some hunts since I've worked for a go hunt that I could have probably never put together, like on my state wages. Right.

You know, trying to make that happen. So, you know, it's been good. I just want to hunt as much as I can. And it's been a good ride. Well, it's loophole optics has been providing my binoculars and eyewear for the last few years. I like that it's an Oregon company and they make such high quality glass. I've really used. And if you can't find what you're hunting, it's going to be tough to kill. So loophole optics has really played an integral part in my success these last few years. Thank you

loophole for supporting the podcast. I think we all can agree. No one likes a plumber's crack. My suggestion, Groove Life belts and longer shirts. But not only does Groove Life have belts, they have silicone rings, watch bands, and wallets for everyday use. I've been using their belts for over a year now and I can tell you they're easy to adjust and my crack is covered. Go to groovelife.com backslash cam and use code cam for 20% off your order. One of the favorite packages that I get on a monthly basis is a Black Rifle Coffee Club exclusive coffee roast. The only way you can get it is if you subscribe to the coffee club. This month's coffee was a quote, we're not here blend and with what looks like a picture of Joe Biden on the

front. Sounds about right. Black Rifle Coffee is America's coffee. It's veteran owned and operated. They support hunting and conservation and give back immensely to the veteran community. They're offering followers of the podcast 20% off on your first purchase to the coffee club or order on their site using code keep hammering to get America's coffee today. You guys your favorite animals to hunt. You're a meal deer right? Mielder all day every day. I mean, yeah, elk are cool and all they bugle, sure. I heard that, yeah. But, like, you get up on a high point.

They're glass and for mule deer. They're more majestic. They're the fair species. More majestic? Yeah, they're way more majestic. They live where the sheep live. They live above the sheep, above the mountain goats. Hard, no.

So you're elk? I'm an elk guy. Yeah, I love to bohunt elk. Okay. I don't think it's anything better in a bowhunting an elk. I mean, they're way more dynamic. They bugle. They've got bigger antlers, bigger bodies.

They're so noisy. They're fantastic. My ones are supposed to be peaceful. It's supposed to be you and them. Yeah. What about you? Man. Break the tie.

Yeah. If I'd choose one, it'd be elk. There you go. Yeah, definitely. There's a lot of, do you see the logo right there? Do you see a giant mule here in the middle? The reason why, it was like, when I was a kid, I could, first of all, I couldn't even afford to elk hunt at first, right?

So I just hunted black tail deer around here. But, you know, everybody's dream in the little small town was like, if you could get a six point bowl you did so dude i mean i don't know anybody who'd ever kill a six point bowl but everybody had like either the belt buckle or what on the gate or whatever it was is like the silhouette of a six by six right so that was the dream is a six point bull and i think it's just left over from that yeah i mean i remember my dad drew a tag in utah in the 80s and he he killed a bull it's like a 330 bull it's a good ball great bull yeah mainframe basically a mainframe five points got a little tiny fists on both sides must be a big five

then it's a big five yeah but i remember i mean everybody coming to look at that bull the whole town i mean everybody within anywhere came to look at that bull it's like i mean that's i mean that's the story of elk and that's just in my dad's lifetime you know i mean he started hunting you know in utah and like we didn't have elk in utah really i mean there was a few units that had a few but really basically since my childhood in my lifetime essentially we've got an elk curd yeah right do you guys are you guys big score guys i mean i i know it's some stuff scores but yeah yeah i'm not hung up on the score like you know you said your dad's bowl didn't didn't sound like score mattered no no it was like it's like a six by six and before it'd be like could you hang a ring on it he would

have never known what that bull scored until like you know post 20 years or one Let us put a tape on it. We kind of figured out what score was. Right. Yeah. Okay. I mean, I'm not, you know, it's good, it's a good, I don't know, reference point, I guess. But, yeah, I always look at the animals and I don't know.

I'm not big on score. It's fun if they're, when they're dead and, you know, just something to talk about, you know. But, man, I just like a good hunt. I like the adventure side of it. I always say, like, if it's snowing, if it's nasty out, and I can just, you know, picture that moment later on in my life and, like, share that thing. I'll rather take a smaller animal because it's just that moment of time. Yeah.

Sure, a big mature old animal, it's great, but it's like a situation, it's something I can remember from it. Yeah. Yeah. All day. Well, how about, see that mulee right there? That's a pretty good buck. Yeah. I think Mike Eastman took that one. I'm pretty sure on the winter range there. It's a look of gorgeous that buck is. Yeah, it's, I mean, it's tough. Your face is so pretty. Oh, God. Their demeanor, their posture. No, I love, body size. I got a few mule deer in here. I've been looking at them. I do love them, but it's like they're not elk. They're not elk.

And that's what's crazy. I mean, that's all you need to is. I think these conversations over. They're not elk. That's it. I go back to Minnesota every summer, like Fourth of July, hanging with all my dad's friends. We all talk hunting all the time.

We all get together and have a big cook off. They're like, Brady, why haven't you hunted elk yet? That's the biggest conversation. What do you mean? You've never hunted elk? No, I've killed some bulls. Oh, okay. But like, they want me to chase elk as my number one thing.

Because that's all their dream. Everyone in the Midwest wants to come out and hunt elk. Should that tell you something? Why is that? Yeah, shouldn't that tell you something? It maybe should. I like being an outlier. I like flying on the radar a little bit.

Well, you know, that's the theme to this show is outliers. Oh. So it's usually a positive, though. Not that you're... Not a negative. Oh, there you go. I'll take that as a win. Sorry, bud.

This is the first time on Cam's show that an outlier was a bad thing. In a negative way. Yeah. So, yeah, I'm interested in the Utah habitat, Because, you know, where I hunt, I hunt a big property. And they do a lot of management. I don't know if you, have you ever been involved up there? Not northern Utah.

Yeah. Southern Utah. So my, I was in Cedar City, so we covered the entire southern end of the state and then east to west. Utah has done a really, and, you know, I would commend the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. I mean, they've really done a phenomenal job. I mean, Mother Nature's, she's the dictator. Right? And if she gives you three or four years straight at drought and then a really hard

winter, you're going to kill some deer, you're going to kill some elk, right? But as far as them being proactive about doing habitat restoration work and actually growing mealed their numbers when a lot of states are kind of continuing to decline, they've done that. And they'll continue to do it. Like you're going to see things, you know, kind of turn around for them because they've just been so proactive with habitats. that restoration.

And probably the coolest thing that they've done is they developed this, they call it a Utah Watershed Restoration Initiative. And what they've done that other states haven't is they've, and maybe some other states are working on it now, but I know for a long time they were the only state that had done it where they entered into agreements with federal entity. So the BLM, Forest Service, the state, and private. And essentially what they did is pool their resources. So pool the money.

And then they once a year would have, uh, process. So everybody would put together their projects. They would pitch them. And then you would have a committee that would rank the projects. And everybody would pool their funding and put it towards those projects. And at that point, we were working across land boundaries. So instead of doing a 500-acre project on a piece of state land, we were doing a 5,000-acre project across BLM, state. And we were running all those contracts through the state.

So we were getting bids on those contracts. We were able to get competitive. We were able to save some money, you know, put those contracts out for bid and oversee them. And I mean, it's like a regular business. It's a business. I mean, most governments don't run like a business. You know what I mean? They're not interested in making good decisions, just like, you know, keeping people, I guess, in jobs or whatever, just having a purpose, getting a paycheck.

But I like to hear that government agencies working together for the common good of the wildlife. Yeah. I mean, that's incredible. did. And I mean, for years and years, there was no, you know, no BLM anywhere in the West because of the red tape that they'd have to cut through was doing chanings. Yeah. Yeah. You just couldn't do it anymore. Right. But we were doing it. We were doing five and ten thousand acre projects. We were, you know, we were doing it every year. We were doing, you know, bull hog projects, which are these, you know, big heads that are mounted on a, on a skid steer, and they essentially masticate the tree,

chew it up, you know, we were putting seed in the ground before we did those projects. and it was primarily focused on winter range. So we're trying to remove pinion and juniper and encourage regrowth of sagebrush, bitter brush, and plants that were better feed. Better feed for deer and elk, you know. Yeah. Well, I mean, it was awesome.

It sounds like it's worth. This year, you know, I know up where I hunt, I thought they said they got, they didn't get 500 inches of snow, did they? I don't know, but they got a lot. There's a lot of snowpack. Like, you're stuff in Nevada. I think they told me 500 inches.

They may have. And the roads took a beating up there. But there's a lot of moisture. So it's a give and take. But hopefully the deer didn't get caught anywhere and died out. You know, probably be good for the elk because they do feed the elk up there. I think they actually feed them over in Wyoming on the winter range over there.

Well, they're just a heartier, bigger, better animal. Yeah. Yeah. Just healthier, better survival. More majestic. More majestic, you might say. I feel like I got thrown on the bus. Yeah. No, we're just talking about feed and winter and stuff like that. Not, no, no. If you took that personal, that's on you. It is on me. Yeah. So, um, you started writing for go hunt. What did, have you written to or?

Yeah, for, I mean, my story is kind of similar to trails in a sense, just like, I kind of did it a little bit differently because I was, you know, doing fisheries work in Montana. Yeah. And so at the time, I always knew I wanted to be in the hunting industry because I just loved to hunt. Yeah. That's why I said I was a fifth year senior. Right. So at the time, I was that person who is, you know, I loved writing, I loved science-based writing and I just wanted to share my story. So I started like writing in my tent.

You know, a little write-and-rain notebooks. Oh, yeah. Like, I would just sit there and write articles. I have a random thought in my head. I start writing down the stuff about, you know, how I appreciate. approach a hunt or whatever like that. Really? I started like pitching ideas out there everywhere.

Not making any money. No. It's tough to make money as a writer. It was hard having a, you know, a girlfriend at the time like, why are you staying up super late at night, writing all the time? I just want to chase a dream. Yeah. I wanted to go put myself forward and do that.

So I had a great job. Like I got paid to fly fish every day. That's literally what I did. Really? As a fishery work. Like we worked for the feds, the United States Geological Survey. And I didn't have to wear a uniform. It's your tax dollars at work.

Yeah, but it was more effective to flyfish than these streams because they're all steep and deep and fast. So like if you put electricity in it, it would try to shock the fish, you know, the fish would come up, but they wouldn't get shocked hard, so they would just dive right back to the bottom. So it was easier just to fly fish.

Okay. So I was in the best backpacking shape of my life, fly fished all these awesome waters all the time. Jeez. And but I always knew I wanted to chase hunting. That's my dream. And so I kept pitching everything out there. And it's kind of through social media.

Brady's also really good with the camera. Yeah, I started getting into photography. Okay. I really wanted to, like I said, showcase to my family, like crazy adventures that would go on. So I'd do all these hunts,

take photos, write about them. No one probably read them. But like to me it's like where would you put them? It was like bowhunting.com bohunging.net back in the day like they're pretty big websites back then. Yeah. I'm sure people read them. Yeah. I had some articles published in some magazine. You probably read there. Nobody read them. Yeah. But I was like if one person reads it and they take one tip from me, I take that as a win. I got all I ever loved doing. And so you know, social media started coming around. Yeah, I was kind of an early adopter on on that. So I was like, I'm going to showcase all my photos, all the crazy adventures I go on, all the suffer

profess I do and I was all of a sudden I got like a message on Instagram was like from the renzo who owns go hones yeah he's like hey we're working on this thing can't tell you what it is but it's going to be something pretty cool in the hunting industry one if you want to interview for it and I was like sure I was out skiing the next week in Montana I was less I got a phone call and it's from Las Vegas and I didn't know they're from Las Vegas I'm like I got to go up to the lodge right now and get cell phone service ASAP so I can call back I missed a phone call he calls me starts telling me about everything they're work on and I was like I'll fly you down to Vegas. I'm like I'm a small town boy like yeah literally the town I grew up in at 5,000 people yeah

so like the idea of Vegas was very very very interesting to me and I lived in Montana yeah like the most gorgeous place in the world tons of hunting opportunity I can do anything I want out's outdoor related and so I can it will fly you down flew down started talking about the whole process about everything and I was like I'm in I'm 100% sold you know at the time we weren't even a thing no one knew about what go home was going to be yet, but they told me the idea, the conception, what they want to evolve it into. It's like, yes, I want to be a part of that. I want to help people out, try to acquire tags, tell people's stories. You didn't agree that fast. You got to bargain a little bit.

I should have bargained harder. You know, it was a good deal when they said you have to move to Vegas and you did it. Yeah, I had to leave Montana. I had a great job, you know, but it was like Trill said, I was working for, I was working for the Fed. So I had to bank up all my comp time. Right. You know, battling trying to get a job every single year. But yeah, who, I mean, in working in the hunting industry, that's kind of cool. You know, I mean, it's what we love to do. So I always wanted to chase that dream. So I went back, but my two-week notice in and then moved to this big giant concrete

jump in Los Vegas. How long ago? That was right beginning of 2014. Oh, geez. Yeah. So you guys have been doing this for a while. We've been doing for quite a while. God, I didn't know that.

Yeah, 10 years. Go hunts 10 years old this year. Really? Yep. Okay. I mean, and how are you guys doing from where you started to where is still growing? Still growing? Oh, it's a crazy.

the growth curve. We're already, you know, we're four offices in. Like, we've had to upgrade four different offices now because we keep outgrowing the office space, outgrowing a warehouse space. We're selling gear. Like, it's insane. What we started and then where we're at now, like, it's totally different. I don't think the vision really was where we're at now.

Maybe it was slightly, but like just that growth growth curve and like all the ways we can help people out digitally try to acquire tags. Yeah, we started out with just the insider research platform. And then we did that. And then we were like, hey, you know what? let's think about a gear shop and let's kind of look at it as being like a real procured experience, you know, like gear that we really like and use. So we opened up the gear shop and that's kind of when I came on.

I'm kind of a gear nerd, so kind of worked into that as well. But opened up the gear shop and then we thought, you know, we have all the research. We have the gear to kind of help get you in the field. Like what's the thing that you need next to kind of get in the field, stay in the field, be able to navigate it. Well, like, maps and we're all using maps to, you know, apply and then also navigate when we're in the field. So,

uh, worked on the maps portion of it. So we have a, you know, functioning desktop maps platform with all layers and everything. And then also works on your phone. So you can, you know,

download all your land ownership layers, your hunt boundaries, your fire layers, everything that you would need. That's a game changer. Yeah, game changer. So it's kind of like a,

I mean, we like to call it an ecosystem like takes you from application from, you know, the spring when you're applying for hunts and you're kind of doing your research to, you know, the gear. We do a lot of content.

I have both work research and content. So we're doing, you know, like YouTube videos and how-toes and writing articles to kind of help you know, like tips and tricks, tactics to kind of help you be more successful. Yeah. And then the gear and then also the ability to like plan a hunt, put a hunt together and then navigate when you're in the field. So it's kind of like this entire ecosystem. Yeah, 365 day process.

Because everyone knows a hunter life cycle. If you're, once you get into it, it's a 365 endeavor. Yeah. Yeah. If you want to be successful. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so do you guys film hunts too?

Yeah. Yeah. And those are on the, do you have a YouTube channel for that? We do, what do we do? Maybe 12 last year. I don't know how many we're going to do this year. We're kind of laying out the old schedule. We're always bar, I'm always bargaining for more. Like not necessarily filmed, just more hunting in general. More hunting, yes. Yeah, more hunting. But if you want to throw a camera guy at it, it gets me out of the office to go hunting, then great. Let's do that. What makes a good film? Honestly, being real. Yeah.

It's literally letting a story develop naturally on its own. You're going to have the ups, you're going to have the downs. You're going to have that roller coaster ride. But it's like having a good camera guy is very essential as well. You've got to have a camera guy if you can keep up. He's really good at documenting. That's going to say shout out over there. That'd be nice to have one of these days.

Must be nice. Yeah. There's definitely camera guys that like, you know, might not want to go with me. anymore because they realize if Brady's going to go hunting, it's going to be something far, nasty, it's going to be cold. But that's a good movie. That's a good movie right there.

I think, I think for me, like, I've never, I've never done a hot film where, like, I went back and watched it, and it, like, completely captured. I don't know that you can, like, fully.

It's tough, right? Like, you can't show how bad a packout might have sucked. Yeah. Mm-hmm. But the ones that kind of, you know, visually, artistically kind of show and give somebody a glimpse into what that was in a genuine way is kind of what I like about a home film. What stands out to you? What film? Have you seen a film that has done that?

Or have you made one? Yeah. I mean, I did one with Chris Neville, so we did a Wyoming, Elkhunt, just a general season Elkhunt. Chris Neville worked there. It's called Out West. And Chris Neville had always wanted to come out west and hunt out. He's from Iowa. He'd done some OTC stuff, never killed a bull.

He came with me in Wyoming. It was like kind of my goal to help, you know, help him get a bull. I ended up shooting one before he did. But, that's just the breaks, right? But, yeah, I mean, we got to put in, like, you know, clips of him as a kid. Oh, tell a story. Telling a story, you know, about him and his brother. You know, and their stories of, you know, trying to hunt White Tell on their own.

And there's clips in there of him saying, you know, he's like, what, probably 12? Yeah. And he's like, hey, he's just before dark, you know, and he's like acting like he's on, you know, the outdoor channel thing. You know, and you got to see clips of him when he was a kid. And then, you know, come full circle, like you got to go on the cell cut and he killed a great six point bull. And, I mean, he hit that, he hit the bull kind of high. and we found the arrow and I looked at the arrow and there was a bunch of kind of fat towards the back end of it and I was telling him, you know, there's really only a couple points on the animal to get pretty fatty,

you know, it's typically like around their rump, you know, or maybe up under their backstraps. And we ended up blood trailing that bowl and it was pretty spotty and it was dark. And I was out ahead of him and I was blood trailing, blood trailing. And I kind of caught the, you know, the glimpse of the antlers that bulled down off my headlamp. Whoa. And he was coming up behind me, and we'd been trailing for probably an hour at that point, you know, and you know what it's like. Your confidence is a little bit.

Your confidence is starting to shake, you know? Yeah. And it just meant so much to him. Yeah. He first bullied shot, you know. And I yell, hey, Chris, you know, come over here. I think I found some blood. And he come over, head to the ground, you know, and he's looking through his headlamp,

and he's going along the ground. And I said, yeah, there's a pretty good patch right over there. And I panned across, and you can see the tines sticking up. and he just melted. I bet. Just lost it. So like when I, when I watched that one,

yeah, you know, I feel the emotion in him and, you know, it captures that experience. Yeah. That's, that's the,

that's the hard part to capture the emotion of the hunt. Because a lot of times it's, it's either manufactured emotion or reenacted and it's not, but when it's real, you can tell. And that,

you know, what we do is so powerful. And it's really hard, as you said, to get it right. But it's like on that, one you did that one he did yeah i really liked i mean i loved it i love i love i love just i like thinking i was there you know so like to me it means might mean something a little bit different but i i love

i love that moment just seeing him just melt with his first bowl you know and the the roller coaster of emotions that you feel when you hit an animal yeah it's the biggest roller coaster big old bear hug you give when you bear hug yeah it's just the vast feeling yeah yeah i i love hunt films though like i used to go i was in college i'd rent vhs You know, I'd go down a local video store and rent, you know, primos or whatever it was. Me too. Yeah, I love a good hot film.

Yeah. Did you ever watch Elk Fever? Oh, for sure. Larry D. Jones, Dwight Shoe. Yeah. I watched that so many times. Yeah. That was actually pretty good for as old as it was.

God, those guys did a good job. Yeah, that was fun. What about you? You got one that stands out? Yeah, again, it's with Chris Neville. Yeah. Shout out. He just like a big to be around.

A different hunt? He didn't kill on this one. Oh. Shot the buck out for me. I just shot the buck out for a shot the buck. But like it was that hunt again where, you know, it's, it's November in Colorado. Right. I wanted to go high.

Yeah. It's like we wanted, I wanted to backpack it. So we're going to go really high elevation. Like I always have these theories that like, you know, if the deer have every nutritional requirements that they need, they're going to be the big old mature buck. He's going to be up on top of the mountain. Right. Where's all other hunters? They're down lower on their ATB.

side by side's running around. So like we're going to go high up in the snow and start there because I, you know, I want to start at a high elevation work my way down. Yeah. So we drove our truck up in this little area. I ended up parking it. And then the just mountains just erupted on us. Like 15, 20 inches of snow that night.

Oh. And we were just going to go, you know, park the truck there and spike out and then go backpacking. So we're like, we got to get the truck off the mountain now. Like we're not maybe going to get this truck out of here until spring. Oh, God. And so we didn't hunt that whole day. We didn't hunt the next day because we kept getting the truck stuck.

we had a, I had my four-wheeler with in case we needed it. We're breaking paths with the snow trying to get the vehicle out. There are all of some of these guys on like side by sides with like full like snowmobile tracks come by. Like we're going to go out hunting. We're going to go elk hunting over here. If we come back later and you're still here, we'll try to tow you out. But we don't know what we can do for you. I'm like, yeah, my truck might stay here.

So like literally I'm redlining my truck. I have chains on everything. Just beating up everything. And my truck's totally demolished from that hunt. Looks like a, you know, an ad for a pickup truck. Right. Driving through the mountains in the snow. Finally get it out of there.

I'm like, you know, but that was horrible, but I think there's still deer up here. So we're going to relocate around. We're going to access this spot from a different area. Now it's going to involve like hiking six and a half miles in, in the snow, in the cold. Like it was freezing cold temperatures. Even with all that snow, why do you think there's still bucks up there? Just the way the terrain and topography rolled through there, like it still was a really good transition area.

Okay. But it was above 10,000 feet in November, which... And they can still get out of there okay? Yeah, like I think a lot of times bucks can, like, you know, I think it would stand a little bit more than a lot of people think they can. Yeah. Like they're still able to go up there. If the does are still there, like, obviously the doze peel off and, you know, they want to go, like, you know, chase the ladies. They're going to start peeling down.

But those are up there and they want to get away from people. So I just wanted to get away from the pressure and everything. I wanted to get away from OTCL hunters at the same time. So when we decided to back back in. And we had these other guys that drove up next to us as a little area. And we're like, we're going to go over there. They're like, yeah, we're going to go over there right now. Like, yeah, we're going to go backpack in.

Like, you guys have enough gear. We're like, yeah, we got a, you know, a teepee. We got a little woodburning stove. We're just going to melt snow the whole time. That's another thing why I like going in crazy places because there's no water at that time. Everything's frozen, but we have to melt snow every night. Every night you get back, you get through your chores.

I like that part of it. Yeah. So we backpack all the day over there. It weeds out a lot of people. Yeah. We get all the way over there because I saw a buck from that spot all the way in that distance. Like, yes, there is bucks if they're confirmed it.

Got all the way over there. And at the time, Neville had his little water bladder on the backside of his backpack. By the time we got over, that I think it was a rock solid, just completely frozen. So then that we set our teepee up, started camping, we realized there wasn't a lot of deer there. Like we were seeing, like right next to camp,

there was a little pocket of trees. Yeah. There was a bunch of like little small bucks and some doze, but not any mature animals. Like, there's still some deer here. We'll make a world with it. But every morning we'd wake up and we looked like a Michelin man. We had every layer of clothes.

We had to walk so slow. So we walked fast, we start to sweat. And then once we stopped, we start to freeze. Okay. So we were making giant bonfires the entire time, I'm trying to stay warm after we're glassing. Like every time we stop, we have to warm up. But it was all aspen trees.

Okay. Aspen trees don't burn very well. So just like every day was a struggle. We kept making these big loops all the time in the deep snow. There's no one else hunting there. But we kept seeing tracks. We kept seeing a few deer here in there. One point, we finally got on a buck.

And, you know, it's like, no, it's a good beer. You got to try to shoot it. He used to lay down on the ground, puts the barrel, there's a rifle hunt right into the snow. Yeah. So it's all down his rifle. So I'm like, he has his hands. out this whole time too. In the picture, it's like, it's negative degree temperature. Yeah, freezing.

The film's called Below Zero for a reason because it was always below zero up there. And then his hands are out, touching the barrel, trying to get it warm. And I had my rifle right next time. I could have handed it to him. I don't know. I didn't think of it. Yeah. So then he's trying to clean it out, gets it clean. We're trying to stack backbacks on top of the snow. The backfacts are pushing into the snow. Just like that constant struggle. And all of a sudden, like the deer just walks away and it gets too dark. Oh, God. And then he's sitting there. He's rolling around on the ground. His hands are completely numb. You just can't feel anything. And it's like we're just laughing finally be you know he tries to get on a buck he's never killed the mule there

before so I really wanted him to kill a buck yeah and we never glassed that spot right next to camp the little basin I was saying with those smaller bucks we never glassed in the evening so one day we're like let's just go back by camp early you know I feel like how many days were you up there might have been like five or six and uh so like let's just try it out I feel like we're kind of quitting early almost because we're going back towards camp we're never glassed in the evening get over there and it's literally like camps here 100 yards is big cliff, straight cliff all the way down, big bowl in the mound, a bunch of aspen trees. Pull up the binos right away.

It's just like this giant frame deer. And it's like, it's one of those situations. You got to almost drop your backpack, you know how to shoot a rifle, lay in your gun, do everything proper and try to take the shot. And looked at Nellin's like, I can't take the shot right now because he was very new at rifle hunting. Yeah. So like Brady needed to shoot this deer. Didn't even know how big this deer was. I saw a giant frame laid down and started getting a digoscope, you know, press the trigger.

Everything went perfectly. A deer fell down in the snow. and, you know, kind of, we knew kind of where the deer was, but kind of lost sight of them, didn't know exactly what this deer was. Again, we turned around, it's that giant bear hug. Like, all that struggle with out the whole week, you know, freezing our butts off, like, making fires all the time, melting snow. I like to say, that moment's like the only time when you ever see two dudes just completely,

you lose it. I know. You drop all inhibitions and you're just hugging like your best, I mean, just humongous bear hugs. We've been through the fire. Yeah. And we had every layer of clothes on, close. on stale but like we have enough time right now let's go you know start processing this buck yeah we loop all the way down there had a hard time trying to find the bucks now it's dark out and this is deep

snow everywhere I'm just zigzagging back and forth it's one of those situations where I was like I hope I see the deer first yeah I don't hope like no one else sees it and I can walk up to it I'm like I got got the dears laying there walk over to it I'm like oh my gosh this deer's growing it's getting bigger it's getting bigger and bigger all of a sudden I let the rack out of the snow and it's the biggest deer I've ever seen in my life. Really? Yeah, it's still his day, the biggest buck I've ever shot over 200-inch mule deer. Whoa.

Never knew it was that big, but just had the big body, had the frame. Yeah. And like all that struggle throughout the whole week. The guys thinking we were crazy for going backpacking over there, almost getting the truck buried until spring and having, you know, to share it with Neville at the same time. And even though I wanted him to kill a deer so bad. Yeah. And this was like the night before, it was second to last day of the season.

So like weeded society out. That was pretty much it. We were going to ride that high and go. And then the whole time back we're like, man, I wonder what the warm toes would feel like. I wonder what a cheeseburger would taste like right now. You start thinking about food. He started thinking about everything. We just wanted to get warm.

I bet. But it was just like that struggle, that enjoyment of sharing it with each other. And like, who filmed it? That was our old film guy, Mather. Mather McCore, yeah. Yeah, he's a super talented guy. He's actually not from the hunting industry. Yeah.

Yeah. But he has, he's really good at documentary stuff. So he likes just to, he takes, goes outside the hunt. doesn't want to put himself in it at all. And it's like to try to document it and just be away from it. And he's just really super talented. And he makes all the music himself too. Like he's a strong on a guitar,

a little piano thing. So all the music ever here in our film, but that's all him himself is making that music for it. It's awesome. He does all the editing and super talented guy. How do you feel about filming hunts? You've been doing it for a long time. Yeah.

I mean, you know, I would rather just be by myself hunting. I think we all kind of feel the same way. It's, but, you know, when you get something to show, and it can impact people. Yep.

You know, that's great too. And because you want to share, you know, what we do is so powerful. And it is, as we've talked about, it can influence your life and change it in different ways. But to be able to share that if it's done right, you know, Brandlin, I've been pretty lucky. He's a great storyteller. And so it's making something special that impacts people. It's pretty sweet. Yeah.

It's a pain in the ass. Yeah. filming but you know so there's give and take to it you ever go back and watch him and you're like man i screwed that of like why did i do that when when i should have done this because i'm watching back through my hunts it seems like i'm always analyzing the entire hunt like how did i make the right move there did i bugle when i should have did i yeah um i don't know i i yeah it just kind of is what it is you know the hunts you're always going to have those those moments you wish he would have done something different.

You know, when it works out, it just works out. But what I enjoy most is I like the old stuff with me and Roy. I like I got I got all that footage. So when I left Eastman's part of it was, you know, they bought me out and gave me all my kill, all my old footage. And we had so much with Roy. And so I have that. And it's like it now is very meaningful because, you know, he's gone.

So it's, uh, I enjoy. joy like we did on this last bear film is tying our old journey. It's kind of like what you did with Neville and his, you know, growing up because when you've been doing this for 30 years, it's, it's a story, you know? It's like, yeah, it's not just people have this maybe who aren't involved, have this notion that maybe we're just doing this just to be on TV. But when you see that, or just to make a movie, but when you see you've been doing this for 30 years, you're like, people can be like, oh, okay.

This is what this guy's about. This isn't just like to be insta-famous or whatever the hell people might think. So I just like that. As we talked about the story, I like a film that tells the story in our life's, that story. And anytime you can tie that in and make it powerful, I love it. I don't like having a cameraman with me all the time. Yeah.

Whatever. He resonates with me when you talk about having that film or that footage, Roy. It's like you would not I mean you you you don't anticipate that the worst is ever going to happen and when you're when you're going along I mean you don't ever anticipate that like you just think everybody's going to be there always you know and I mean the ability that you have you have that footage like the meaning that that holds for you now is infinitely you couldn't measure it compared to what it was then you know yeah I know so it's I think about that too I think It is kind of annoying to have a camera guy with you.

And there's a little bit of, you know, I don't necessarily love the whole, the whole side of it. But, I mean, you never know. You never know when your number's up. And like, no. I think it's the ability, I think about that, like it resonates with me. Like for my friends, my family, my kids, you know, that'll live on forever. Yeah, it's, it's, you know, his legacy is, you know, some, you know, many people have said it, but somebody dies twice, essentially.

it's when they die and then when their name spoke in the last time and so i like i like people knowing how much of an impact he had on my life and then when i watched us we used to film everything and we just had the best time and so when we'd watch the film it would just be for fun we'd just be like you know oh this is awesome big bear and it's like and now i watch it and it has a whole different feel yeah and now i watch it and it's it's it's it makes me sad Sure. And, you know, it's just like, but I have it. And it's just like, yeah, life sucks sometimes.

And that's okay. I can still see and remember how we were when we were young and how we got to where we are. And, you know, he's not here anymore, but I have that footage. And that's, you know, that's always going to be special. Yeah. And, yeah. So it's, it's changed. It's the same footage, but it just means.

something different now. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, which is something I don't, I don't think about when I'm out with a camera guy, you know. I'm not thinking about legacy when I'm filming. Me either. I'm thinking about why are you making so much noise? Yeah.

Why did you screw that up for me? Yeah, so it's not really that deep or... Or I got one for you. Why do you never have any water? Why is it that no cameraman on planet Earth can ever figure out their water situation? It's like, okay, we have to go hunting in the morning. You don't have any water? Well, guess when elk are active in the morning.

I don't want to go get water. I do your chores. I know. I know. But I mean, so aside from all that, it's like, if you think about it, how lucky are we to be able to do, you know, we love hunting. Yeah. And we're able to, I guess, make a living doing what we love. Most people, like, and I said this today and my little talk, like, what?

where I came from, the closest you'd get to a positive affirmation in like the little town I lived was like yeah, you're not the biggest fuck up I've ever seen. And I was like, thank you. Compliment? Yeah, so

when you can go from like most at the time, you know, you have some shitty job, you maybe drink some beer at night after work, you drink beer on the weekend, then you go back to your shitty job on Monday. So that's the existence of, a lot of people.

On the flip side, look what we're doing. We're talking about hunting. We're talking about what we love. Yeah, we've lost some friends and it's been hard and life sucks sometimes. But we're still here doing what we love, spending time around amazingly positive people today in an incredible environment. It's like, it's really tough to complain. Yeah. You know, I mean, I think we're blessed.

I think this is like, I mean, it just feels. feel really lucky to be sitting here even to be talking to you guys about you know go hunting about the day and about our journey coming up as hunters it's like i don't know it's um i don't want to take it for granted yeah this is likewise this is um we're in a special place yeah yeah so i i mean i i want to you know i know you guys were busy all day today i know you got to fly home tomorrow it means a lot to me that you would agree to do the podcast sit down and talk when there's plenty of other things to do, get some rest. So thank you very much.

It's, you know, it means a lot that you do this. I appreciate you guys. Likewise. I mean, I bought backcountry bill hunting. Everyone has that. I mean, I went, I went bivy hunting back then based on your recommendation, you know. So it was a cool opportunity to meet you and to come up. And I think, you know, speaking for Go hunt, you know, we're super pleased that we had the opportunity to come

I'm up and be a part of it. I mean, I hope today and all the people that we talked to, even though we went a mile a minute, I hope there was something that those guys picked up that they can use to put it towards their own adventure. I didn't hear one negative word all day from however many people were there, not one negative word about anything. So whatever you guys did, it worked. We talked a lot. That's more than I'll talk in a month. But, you know, we had a guy there from Eugene Weekly, which is like the most liberal paper in town.

Right. And he was there all day. So, you know, there was some people who had reservations about they're going to write a hit piece on hunting. Because, you know, you never know what you're going to get. This is a college town. It's, you know, not a lot of, not a lot of hunters up at the university. So he was, I just think if nothing else, he's going to feel how passionate we are. are how much we care, how important this is to our lives.

So because nobody there could take anything other than that away from it. So yeah, you can talk about hunters and why would you kill innocent animals of that. Somebody who doesn't know and they see that what we did today, it's going to be like, I don't know about hunting, but these guys are very serious and very passionate. They're into it. They're into it. So I don't know how the article is going to be, but he was there. All day, he worked out.

He shot a bow. Yeah, I saw him shoot a bow. That was really cool. Man, nobody that shoots a bow is going to walk away from that hate. He's probably hooked. I asked him. I said, I go, so is this going to be a hit piece or anything? He's like, no, no, this has been a minute.

He's going to be at the race tomorrow. He's going to run the 10K. So it's like when we can have, you know, a connection like that, you don't have to be some rough, tough, badass hunter to be welcome into our, you know, the little click that we have. it's like no it doesn't matter you're welcome here's what we do here's why we love it what do you think to me that's a big deal that's a huge win and you guys were part of that and i'm you know i'm very grateful and i'm very grateful for this time thank you very much appreciate you all right you guys

go check out go hunt and uh check out brady and trail and we'll uh we'll keep hammering here thanks cabell's and bass pro shops is a sponsor of the podcast and That's especially powerful for me because I remember when Cabellas came to town, came to Springfield, Oregon. And I actually played a role in the opening of that store. Instead of cutting the grand opening ribbon with scissors, I shot it with an arrow. And it was just a monumental thing. I mean, everybody here in town was talking about, hey, are you going to go to Cabellas?

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