Cameron Hanes - Keep Hammering Collective - KHC 075 - Skinning Table Talk

Episode Date: June 2, 2024

Join us for a discussion with Cam, Jenn and John Rivet as they skin Cam’s bear and talk about bear hunting and 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 Follow John & Jenn Rivet: https://www.instagram.com/johnnyrivet/?hl=en https://www.instagram.com/jennrivet_  Thank you to our sponsors: Montana Knife Company: https://www.montanaknifecompany.com/ Use code CAM for 10% off GoHunt: https://gohunt.com/ use code CAM when you sign up for $50 towards the gear shop + 10% off the GoHunt store Sig Saur: https://www.sigsauer.com/ use code CAM for 10% off Hoyt: http://bit.ly/3Zdamyv  Grizzly Coolers: https://www.grizzlycoolers.com/ Use code KEEPHAMMERING for 20% off MTN OPS Supplements: https://mtnops.com/ Use code KEEPHAMMERING for 20% off and Free Shipping

Every step I take I move my truth. Every time they tell me stop I use. Every comment hate that makes my feel. Gather up my energy and boom. I hear them 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. Good morning.

I'm here with John and Jin Rivet of, is it, Living the Dream Productions? Yep. Or Rivet Co. Rivet Co. been coming up here since 2013 I think is when we began this journey and had a great hunt last night we had James on the camera there Jen joined us for this one special guest appearances boy we had action didn't we oh it was bears all over us all night and so this is a I don't know if it's I'll say a live podcast because we're showing the video and uh I'm gonna talk about the

tell some stories and we would report it on the skinning table here nice and cool morning it's a great night last night we got back very late down like this for a geez yeah because it was on a little bit of a slant so you're trying to feel fighting it was a really big slant when I ran the Argo and did this morning I did I never figured out where the brakes were because I was just driving it and then I was like oh shit I'm going towards the table. Well at least you had a stompher right? Yeah

So we got this big old boar Oh, that's cool Coming in pretty tender towards cam Oh so I can reach Oh you can reach Oh you can't For people problems

Oh I'm gonna be in the way of the You can change you could change the angle too eh angle too, eh? You're okay. We'll probably just keep you going. Yeah. I'll go here. So I don't know how many bear we've killed, but we're thinking it's about, since 2013. So this is the 12th year I've hunted here. I mean so at least, well that's 12, but I've killed two like this year a few times. And then we killed three in Alaska together With Roy. Yeah.

So I think we're about it, at least 17. Bear, right? Yeah. All one arrow kills. Yeah, there were. It was a pretty good run. Yeah. If it all ended now, it was good.

Yeah. I know. I was thinking the other day we're going to be 75 years old and you'll be 77 years old. Yep. And we'll be. Hey, some of us won't be that old. Hunting Bear. Jen will be young, of course.

She's always going to be young. Young. Younger than you anyways. Yep. Hopefully we're doing this then, huh John? Yeah. That'd be awesome. We've all got our Montana knives working this morning.

This is my favorite bearskinner right here. Which one is it? I don't know what they call this one. Wood handle? Yeah, I know. Oh Josh Smith makes some good knives. Thanks Josh. Company needs to put names on stuff.

Yeah. I don't always know the name. There's so many items like... We're getting older. It's hard to remember. the names of 50 different well 50 every company has like

for everything they have all their I know my speed goat yeah yeah I think everybody knows that one yeah that's what Cam's using right now Josh what is this yeah the speed goad is just a but we're also running on not exactly we didn't sleep much

last night premium sleep the last week so don't ask too many tough questions no questions no from the audience beautiful meat well we can talk about how the beat was last night it was just oh my god it's so busy like bonkers four of us sitting there on the ground eye-to-eye with the bears eye to eye there's bears in every direction from us James was on the outside so the bears were closest to him normally I'm on the outside to make sure nobody gets hurt do you see that little wet spot in his pants

and we one of the young bears charged the camera yeah And we told James, whatever happens, don't stop rolling. Yeah. Just get it on film. We're going viral, baby. Yeah, that one little one that kept getting, like, bullied? He was getting bullied, so he decided to be a bully. Yeah, so he wanted to, like, okay.

I can take these guys on. Well, he got ran off how many times by everything else that was there. He was just mad. And it's always those bears that will do that to you. Yeah, the little ones are shifty. We had that one first time that I came here. No, was that the first time? Remember that we were sitting on the ground?

Oh yeah. Yeah, the big sow. Yeah. She didn't like you. No. She wasn't so good at listening to commands. No. Like, no.

She's like, what do you mean no? I'm gonna eat you. Yeah, normally they do listen. Yeah. It's all in the delivery. And then that giant sow with the big scars all over her face, chased that one up a tree probably 60 feet. I know, oh last night, yeah.

Yeah, and she went up probably 40, 50 feet, which, well, she'd already chased him halfway up how many times. And she wasn't having it. Yeah, that little one that kind of lunged it, James, it was like out of breath the whole night. It was like coming through panting, just mad and like... So that's how a bear cools itself. Yeah.

They don't have sweat glands, so just like a dog, they got to cool their bodies. Well, that big old girl after she chased every bear off, which was what probably 10 chases, and then what, three, four up a tree? She didn't come back because she was like, oh. She went for a nap. I went for a nap. The one ear? Yeah. No, she disappeared.

She was like, I've had enough of this shit. Yeah. I'm out of here. You and your meddling kids. Yeah. When I first saw her, yeah, I thought for sure bore, but. Yeah. That was all sales last night.

All at first, yeah. But and everybody's like, oh, hunt the sows, I'm not, we don't hunt the sows, but it's like deer. Yeah. If you hunt where the do's are, and the ruts are going to come. So hunt where the sows are, the bores will come, and you did.

And you know, like when that boar shows up, when this bore showed up, a whole different demeanor. Yeah, it's like they're old, cautious, yep. The sows have been in there, very comfortable, with us by that time. Relaxed. He comes in and he's like, what the hell is going on over there? I've never seen a person before. Yeah. Those base are so far in that they see people for the first time with us. He didn't act scared. He was just like, hmm. And wouldn't I give you a broad

side? No. I think they hate showing their side. Yep. Because that's when they get hurt, you know. Yeah. Front on. They like to keep a tree too to protect themselves, hide behind. Yeah. I'd like to see him go up a tree. Yeah, he was, I think it was either the third or fourth time when I finally killed him. He came in. And he sat another bear. I needed another bear to come in as a distraction. And then that other bear was starting to come in.

He was sitting sort of broadside. Then he put his front paw up on a tree kind of leaning over. and I was like, oh, that's the window I needed. And I opened up his lungs. Doing nice little pocket in there. Yeah. And the sitting shot isn't, you know, we typically practice and envision the broadside shot.

So it's a little bit different. Do you remember that time I killed that one standing John? And it just changes everything. Yeah. And I don't know if the lungs hang different. Yeah, yeah. Bear with standing up. Yeah, it does.

Yeah, everything hangs different. Yeah. And so I was like, I, I, I only take usually broadside standing shots, all four shots, I mean not standing. And then this one last night just offered that. It's lungs. So I was like, okay, I think I can make that work. That very slight quartering away is nice because then you can really tuck it in the pocket too.

Yeah. But we had, well, over all the years, guys, they want to shoot when the bear's laying down. And I'm like, you can't shoot when it's, oh yeah, I've done it before on deer or on elk. and I'm like, this is different. They pancake. They squash everything down. So it's, you know, where you think you're going to hit a lung. You might hit an empty space.

You might hit, depending on the angle of liver or whatever. It's just not safe. Yeah. And especially on a big old boar, you want to hit it right, so it expires quickly. Yeah. Both your bears would end in seconds. Yeah. Yeah, very thankful for quick, clean kills.

Because these things, you know, you're thinking, oh, it's only 15 yards away, 20 years away, you can screw that up, you can definitely screw it up. Yeah. We've seen a lot of shots messed up. Well, when you aim at a bear, everything's just black. Yeah. So you really do have to pick a hair, pick a spot. No shoulder crease like on a deer elf to go by.

You can't go too high because you hit no man's land. Yeah. You go too low, you hit four or five inches of hair. No man's land doesn't exist. Hey? Ha ha ha ha ha ha. Come on ass. Yeah.

And if you go too far back, you hit liver. Yeah, and you know, test signs and stuff and then it's... They die quick if you hit them perfect, but it's not, man, they're tough. And this country is so, the brush is so thick. Yeah. I mean just as an animal, they're tough. Yeah. Look at their faces.

Look what they go through. That old sound... James, do you want to catch some of this, taking off this joint here? They'll see some of that on the video. that on the video how mess up. Yeah, that's on it. Okay. Where's Josh when you need them?

Yeah, there you go. You sharpen? Yeah. Yeah, because that, uh, John, John's been, well, you've both been skinned and bears forever. No, no saw needed. Take it apart at the joints. This year will be John's 37th year.

We're in 36 year of guiding. Right? Right, 36? Just means he's old. I was 18 when I got, well you gotta be 18 to have a license, so since I turned 18, got my guide's license. And now you're 25? I'll be 55 in August. 55, and you're old.

I'm catching up to you. When I see you and Joe keeping fit and everything and you're two years older than me, I'm like, there is hope, it's good. I definitely hope. You're doing great. It just takes longer to heal. Do something. How many bears you think you skinned? Oh my god. Somewhere somewhere between 1,500.

For sure. Yeah. You, not me. I haven't done that much yet. 1,500 bears. This place is so loaded with bears. And I sit at a bear stand for 60 days a year. At least. Yeah, at least. Between spring and fall.

Yeah, at least. Well, because even before, we, you know, we start guiding and stuff. We'll sit at the baits and just watch. Yeah. You know, bait a run. Sit at the last bait just to watch and see. I like to sit.

I like to sit and watch. Yeah. They're such an amazing animal. I just love the behavior and like the personalities of each bear. It's so unique. They're unique, you know. Just like, just like we are. They've got their own personalities.

Yeah. And it's not always about killing because sitting there watching the salas with a couple. Oh yes. I mean thoroughly entertaining. Yeah, definitely. But you learn a lot about their vocalizations. They're you know, because they do vocalize quite a bit. Yeah, they communicate all the time. And you have two, three little clubs that are being like shits to say the nicest. Yeah. Those ones, we saw, we went out early yesterday, me, Jen, and James, still in the bait, and saw a saw a style of three cubs, we can always count on being in the nigh. there good mom really good mom three little cute cubs and that was fun well your last day here cam you guys are taking off today yep we got it went by fast I know

five days just flew right by yeah feels like we just started yesterday yes with an average of what how many hours asleep a day I know not much when everybody comes up they're like oh I you know adrenaline and their hoo-hoo we're here for five days let's stay up till four o'clock in the morning get up at seven and and then go. Well, when you're, what are you at now, I guess with baiting and everything. How many weeks? We've baited for a month before you come. And it's morning tonight to get all these base done. Five weeks in and doing that or so. So far away. Clearing all the trails is a big work at the beginning. Trees fall all the time when you get strong winds and, well, just the trail to

18 North. That was a two-hour chainsaw job from one end to the other, Jen and I and I and I'll hold that. I can't dig on that one. I hold it at the same time. Thank you. Put a little handle? Yeah, so much work involved in baiting, that's what, I don't know, and also the wear and tear on your machines and bodies, I mean, carrying all this weight and the bait and the oats that you use, which is a great bait for bear. Do you want to flip on the same side or what?

Yeah. I know, you need a, I need a sharpen job. That's why I was saying, where's Josh right now? I'm sharp for my knives. I suck at it. I have to get better at it. I just need more practice. More practice. More practice. At sharpening, yeah. Yeah. I'm getting better at sharpening now. You take those as oysters. Mm-hmm. Maybe.

That means feel so good. Do you want to just pull... You want to pull this side and get all that side off? Okay. This is easier that way. You do all one side and then you do all the way. Or do you want to... Can you reach that far? You can push it that. that way I can hold it on this. Appreciate this way.

Yeah, yeah. Are you good? Whatever. Sometimes less knives is better for more fingers. How many baits you got going, John? Uh, right now, probably 65 baits. Little times, but we like to rotate through them, so. Right?

Like this base last night, it's secluded, there's a lot of bears. So we killed two boars on it now this year. Mm-hmm. So we're gonna keep baiting it and not hunt it. even though we could shoot another big war on it. Yeah. Just keep growing them. And that country is so far back, so wild.

That's what we were saying. It's like we don't think they've seen humans. Yeah. It's just Alberta's big, not a lot of pressure, hunting pressure that is, in an area that far back just because it's such a grind to get there. Yeah. On your trucks, on your. Yeah.

Whether it's an argo or a bug. a ranger or Polaris I mean just keeping these things running is a full-time job it seems like you I mean you rebuilt well tell tell us what you rebuilt yesterday yesterday I did those a broken shackle on one of the trailers there was a broken fender that ended up cutting into a tire was cutting the tire so we did two new tires on that one because the other one was wearing from a broken spring last week that we changed but the tire was pretty warm on the inside so new tires, new shackle bolt on the trailer.

A temporary fender? Yeah, a temporary fender. Yeah, that looks good. Jen came up with the plywood solution. The Polaris had been rebuilt about two weeks ago. And yesterday I changed. We had a broken axle from getting into one of the baits. Put a new axle, new brakes all around.

The clay just eats everything up. The clay that Alberta has. It's a little. Yeah, I like that story that time we had Luke Bryan up here. Luke Brian up here so you got a brand new yeah brand new Polaris so there's always you should buy new machine we had a brand new machine for almost a month and when I gave it back to them first of all when they gave it to him like you're sure you know we're gonna take it through yeah and they had to change everything

bushings tie rod ends brakes axles after a month after a month of work in this mud yeah well my specify clay like thick thick clay so it's all mucky and and then as it dries it turns into cement. Yeah. Like literally cement, my truck has, looks like cement all over it. Yeah, so that same machine, say down in the States, doing the normal stuff, probably would last, who knows how long, before it had to have everything replaced.

Yeah. Yeah. So it's not the farm here where it's drive? Yeah, so it's not the machine that's like, Inferior. It's the clay that's horrible. Yeah. Well, buddy ranch on in Texas.

It'll eat your brakes just from rolling in it. rolling in it. It lasts forever. Oh, with the machine down in the boxes? Yeah, yeah. But I mean a lot of them, you go beautiful little gravel roads and you don't get the rain in muck like we do here. Right. And they're not going through a muck day again. Probably not carrying the loads that we have in the back either, which probably doesn't help. Yeah, the weight. I mean they're rated for it but still. Yeah. Rated for it and going through what we go through is two different things. Yeah, that's a unique situation.

Do you want me to hold that? Oh. It's not a lot. I just on this side. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Back ham right here. Yeah.

There you go. The back ham right here. Looks good. Nice. Nice. Yeah. It's a beautiful, put this on the trigger. Oh yeah.

This is what we ate yesterday, right? Yeah. Yeah. Hold this side now. Yeah. Just lay down. And that's another thing people don't realize is, you know, bear tastes good.

Oh, so good. If I wouldn't tell people what it is when they eat it, they wouldn't, they might guess maybe, probably by texture, mooster, moose, or bison. Yeah. Yesterday, I don't even, it just tastes as good as me as I've ever eaten. How you cooked it?

That was a 12, I don't know how long you marinated, but. I have marinated for, what, two days? Two days, and then cooked for 13 hours, I think we figured. That one cooked a little bit. I cooked it a little bit faster than normal. Usually I like that 21 to 23 hours low and slow on the trigger. But I wanted it to get done. Yeah. I think people they've seen the videos out there like, you know, they people pulling tape worms out of bear or just crazy videos like that which yeah, I mean there can you know pigs, pigs can have the same type of issues. Exactly. But when you look at this meat here it looks, it looks, it looks, it's

just as good as any deer elk you're ever gonna eat. Or the arrow hole is huge. What'd you use for a brought-ha-down? That was a grim riper, carnivore. Make it all like that. Put some down quick. If you hit him right, we've got two counting coups this week, which is a powerful experience for us.

Can't, hard to explain why. But, well, I know why, because you're taking life of something. Yeah. Yeah. So it should be meaningful. But to be there when it actually dies is probably if you don't hunt there, maybe you wouldn't understand or even if you do, you might not understand. That's all right. Oh, it's not for everybody. No, definitely not for everybody. But I mean the same can go for, you know, a farmer or a rancher that, you know, let's say, raises chicken. Yeah. A lot of people like fried chicken, but. but they don't want to participate in the, you know,

the kill or the processing or anything. Yeah. Just different. But there's gotta be the ones that, there has to be the ones that were willing to kill it and there has to be the ones willing to process it. Yeah, somebody's gotta do it. Yeah.

And they're like, I can't believe you hunt. I'm like, if our ancestors never hunted, we wouldn't exist. Well, I'm like, no, there was no Costco's back then, honey. Yeah. But, you know, after you released your arrow, I see you get up, James get up, John get up, all take off. And I'm like, I'm just gonna sit here and tell.

I got you guys running by and watch our gear so the bears don't destroy that. Yeah, well, yeah, and I didn't want to run. Can was telling me yesterday when you guys were on the first bait, how he went back to the truck to get something and then he heard you screaming or something. He's like, holy shit. I know, I didn't know what was going on.

What's happening over there? Yeah. Oh, it's nothing bad or dangerous per se is that big, Sal came in and she went to take a bite of the beaver well she ripped off a big chunk of it and I was like we just sat here so I yelled at her and she dropped it got her up a tree and then I was trying to get the beaver back and she was starting to come down at me and stuff so I usually just talk to them all sweet and kind but I think she wanted the beaver more than she cared about me so yep I know I heard that I was like God thinking the worst what the heck's going on so I'm

trying to hustle Karen I think I was bringing stuff back what's because you just just don't know. I mean, normally they behave quite well, but she has three cubs up in that tree. Yeah. And they're all talking at us and... Obviously, she can be protective as good moms are. Yeah, and she wants that food. I mean, it's her food source. So I gave her half. I threw it to her, gave her half. She grabbed it and went back behind the bait about, what, 20 yards and ate it, and I hung the other piece. That was that. It just was a little bit more intense in the moment. Yeah. She's a good mom.

And normally with bears, that's one thing too. You see all these videos of people with a bear encounter and they're screaming and banging all stuff or like Most of the time Hey bear, hey bear, you're gonna get yourself eaten. Yeah, you're just aggravating that bear. You're enticing it. Yeah, calm Talking. Yeah, 99% of time it's just like hey mama, it's okay. We're not you know and it's I think it calms her down, but it calms us down. Yeah, you know comes the situation down. Yeah, you don't want people, we don't want to Excitement.

Let's push this head back on before. So he does not slide out. Yeah, we just want everybody to stay calm. It's okay. Well, then you don't get amped up, so they don't get amped up. Damage right here from the arrow. Oh yeah. You should see this here, James.

Look at this damage. That's just from an arrow. I'll say it again, the most damage and the quickest kills is a right place arrow. Yeah. It is. Because the odd person that we get with a gun, get with a gun. They're going to be very fast, yes, but you see a lot of trauma, like the shock trauma, but they tend to go a little bit further. Yeah, I mean, the arrow, obviously they're

dying, but that loud noise and the shocking of getting hit by a bullet is so much different than an arrow just zipping through, and it's quiet. So it's, I don't want to say, I mean, I can't, I don't know how to describe death, but it's more peaceful. Well, they don't know what happened. Yeah. They're just like, and you notice a lot of the time, they'll reach back and they'll want to bite where it hurt. It's because, like, did I get stuck by a stick? Yeah, they don't know.

They don't know. Yeah, another bear. And there's nothing to really connect it with. It's like, did something come after me? They don't know. Yeah. I mean, in these, in the front, the shoulders on a bear, that's almost as big as a hind quarter. Yeah.

There's so much muscle at front on bear. they dig and they're they're just developing those shoulder muscles and climbing trees how they can zip up a tree it's incredible. Yeah and they don't just go like people think oh they climb up all like we do a ladder yeah it's like they jump and they're up

like 20 feet no time in a second yeah I like to get that shoulder and then I take some neck meat with it and make nice nice piece of bounty there yeah the sausage and stuff you had made last year was So good. Very delicious.

Yeah. Actually, you want me to pull it? It's got one shoulder left, back straps. I'm going to clean this up here. John tells us a story about the Sampson the wrestling bear. When I was a young kid, like, from 15 years of age to like... Do you want to say, like, probably close to 40 years ago? I would always get a booth at the Edmonton Boat and Sportsman Show and tie flies and sell my fly.

fly that's how I started this whole thing is tying trout flies oh really okay at the show back then they had they had a bear there to wrestle with it you'd sign a waiver and you'd get in the ring with them and to fight this bear that's like six seven hundred pound giant color phase black bear yeah so and just wrestle take them more of the bigger you were and the stronger you were the more strike they'd use against you like you're both standing up holding on to each other wrestling and he could foot sweep you take your legs out from under really one of our guys that we know that's up

police officer, he was fighting him. He's a pretty tough guy. Well, the bear had pissed on the canvas and rolled him in it. So it was like intentional? Oh yeah, probably. Yeah. Oh, that's crazy. Yeah, we're no match. I mean, so that was you said big strong guys, tough guys, no match for a bear. Yeah. And that was a bear that's not living in the wild either. No, he's eating donuts. Imagine tangling with a bear that's Yeah. Surviving every day. Yeah, but what do you think you're gonna fight against this with? Yeah, exactly. And it's just amazing how they can latch on the trees and zip up. Well, you look when you take apart their paw, when you take their paw off,

how big the tendons are? Yeah. And how much they have there? It's insane. My joke used to be they're like, oh, bears are this, bears, and then I'm like, yeah, they pretty much have muscles in their shit. Yeah. Yeah, this is YouTube, we can say that, can't we? Yeah, we can. Yeah, we can.

whatever. That's not what they can edit. I think I've said that for, I don't know, probably almost 30 years. That was the first thing that blew me away, the first time I skinned the bear was how big the tendons were. Mm-hmm. Like in their forearms and stuff. Yeah. Amazing animals. Tough. And then look like we're talking about the meat a minute ago, it's like a very dark rich.

Yes. A bit more coarser grain, but a very dark rich meat. How does it cook differently? Like what's unique about bear? There's fat, like here you can see some of it, it's around it, but there's really not much fat in the meat. I don't know. I mean, I'll do up the loins and stuff and we'll grill them on the trigger and they're amazing. But when it comes to the hams, I just like the marinate them for a couple days, low smoke them for, you know, whatever it takes, 12 to 20 hours depending on.

Just so it's like pulls apart and it's nice and moist and this way when people try it, they're like, oh, it's actually. really good. I'm like, well, it's meat. It's meat, sir. Yeah. Well, because they've got a long tail, man. I keep, keep going down how long that was. I think because it's going to be a, oh my God. A bear that the meat is going to be so much different, but it's not. All right, you're doing backstraps already. Yeah. And the back straps, it's so crazy, the spine. Like on a deer or an elk, you just come straight down the spine and make a cut. Yeah. Well, on the bear, he's got another layer of bones further in, so you've got to go another notch, Yeah, a little bit different than the deer elk. Their backs are, and yeah, I don't know if it's, they need more strength in their back for all they're doing, but. Yeah, but. Yeah. They spend most of their lives in trees. Yeah. Climbing. Chasing each other up trees. Oh, I think, wow. Even if the cubs for the first year and a half of their lives, they're up and down the tree all the time to get away from other bears. Nonstop. I think probably till they're like three or four. Look how many were in the trees that were smaller? last night. Yeah, and they were... And that's just to escape and get away from danger.

Yeah, from those big boars or... That meat looks great. Yeah, it does. Beautiful. Yeah, right here I'm on the second little layer of bones on the back strap. And it's just more strength. It's got to be just a design to make them more durable for what they're doing. Yep. There's only so many knives you can have cutting before you're rolling somebody was in a finger. So you never took on Samson, John? He did have a cut, no, I didn't. I was a little young still. Yeah.

How sweet would be to have... I'd fight him now. I know, like, Caputnik has that video from when he was a kid. Yeah. I love that. Every Russian owns a grizzly bear. Seems like, made him tough. I love this bear fat, man.

Oh, yeah, so the bear fat, we actually keep him, we render it down. So, what... How useful is it? I mean, what do people use bare fat for? Well, traditionally we used to use it, I mean, obviously for cooking or baking or whatever, but they use it for kind of like a medication, if you will. They use it as a staff or their skin. Native would put it, you know, the history of the native culture would use it as digestive aid on their skin, in their hair, make saves and balms out of it.

Makes really freaking good pie dough. Mm-hmm. Or it's great for cooking with. Or fried fish in. or fried eggs. There's a back strap there. And then for us, because where we hunt and where we live and because of John's background, we will render a whole bunch of fat down and we'll take it to some of the native elders

on the local reserves and stuff close to us because traditionally they won't kill a bear. Yeah. You need it closer to. So we'll take it and render it down and bring it to them. And when you present it to them, it's like you're giving them a brick of gold. Yeah. are very thankful and because it means it's more than just oh this is cool like it's a it's meaningful it's medicinal but it's also spiritual to them yeah and they know a life was taken yeah yeah yeah

yeah people think that that's lost on us that you know hunters appreciate life and death more than most because we see it yeah you know we know how it works some people have the blinders on and they're they're they're they're buying their meat they're somebody else is doing that killing That's the best messages. Why don't you just go to the store and get your meat? Yeah. Where does that come from? Well from the store. Okay. Yeah. Our conversation is over. Does this all be tacked on the back? I'm not sure. I don't know where we are on that one. I guess it puts some... You can put that. There's some more loose meat out.

Yeah, I'm gonna roll this this way. Yeah. Then he can take off that shoulder. Yep. So let it fall. I think it is. I think, almost yet. Yeah, I think it's all deep. We can put it on the shelf below it, too can if you want. You can go it away so you can keep working. That one's heavy. Yeah, I just dropped that thing. Well, the bear the other day we got, I deboned it and got about 70 pounds of meat. Just try 70 pounds of meat off. Yeah, pretty good. I can just pull the shoulder off now. Yeah.

That's how many... I'm gonna change the business model here. It seems like like few, there's so many big bears, so many, new, so much new country that hasn't been pressured. So it's like you're gonna be able to kill bear that, it's gonna be tough to have a hunt like this for this type of animal anywhere else. So this is like the most premium black bear hunts. And like in country that, as we said, maybe the bears have never seen a human before you guys.

Yeah. And that's it's not just a regular black bear hunt. It's not like some of these hunts you go and you might, you could maybe kill two bear, they might be both five footers. Yeah, you know what I mean? This isn't bad. We've averaged seven footers with all our clients this year.

Yeah, so this isn't like, if you want a cheap, any bear hunt, probably go somewhere else. If you want, we want to let you shoot them. Incredible country, untapped country, giant old bear, that's here. And so it's gonna cost a little more. But, yeah, I mean, for me,

me, I'm like, that's a honey night dream of. Yeah. Like, like. And we wanted to be more of an experience too, where it's just, I mean, we sit with guys, we try to teach them everything we can, you know, and how to sex the bear, how to judge the bear, all that stuff because we want them to get, you know, what they come for and get the experience of seeing and learning. And it's like, that's the most, I don't know, important part of sitting on bait is you are,

You said sexy and the bear and that means, are you shooting a boar or a sow? You know, what is that bear? Yeah. Because bear don't have amours. No. It's very hard to tell sometimes the difference between a male and female. Oh, and you get a lot of people say, oh, well, it's the ears, or it's the head, or it's the paws, or it's the structure. Up here, well, as you've seen this week, we've got close to seven-foot sows that are like 400 pounds, and it's really hard until you see what they... And we want to leave those.

We want to kill the old boars like this. To do that, you have to be 20 yards sometimes with binoculars looking. Yeah. And sometimes it takes a minute. It's not like there's a red flashing sign saying boars out. No. So the goal here, big old boars, seven foot, over the top of the barrel, and that's what you guys kill.

Yeah. And I don't know where else you can go to get that type of hunting. And then in Alberta, the most beautiful province, just teeming with deer. That's why there's so many bears because there's so many deer too. And the bear just hammer the deer numbers and the moose numbers. So somebody has to kill her. Has to. And that's another reason.

We'll get back to the native population again, John's ancestors and stuff, is when you manage a bear population, you manage the moose population. Yeah. We see the numbers go up where we hunt bears. Which are locals. I mean, they appreciate it. They understand it. Not everybody agrees with killing a bear and that's fine, but...

The natives are pretty much only killing moose, right? Yeah, that's what they love. Here anyways, maybe in other provinces or other than there, they like elk or something, but here it's moose. Yeah, that's one's moose. Well, look at you, look at your family, moose. Yeah. Even my family.

And if you're not killing the bear, you're not going to have any moose. No. Yeah. Well, okay, so last week we had one of our clients sitting on a bait, and he was like, hey, he saw a moose, like, back in the brush walking through, and he says, like, there's this bear trailing it. what's going on. So he was texting us and we're like, oh, it's a cow.

She's going to be giving birth. So she's following the smell because once that calf starts to drop or drops, he now has his meal. Yeah. And that bear came in. He shot that one and it was big, seven and a half foot bear. Yeah. Yeah. And saved. And how many calves? Yeah. And how many calves for the year did he save? Yeah. Yeah. And that's, you know, when it's happening, they go, that's all they do. Right now they'll just kill caps constantly. Yeah. Yeah. Same like in the mountains, the grizzly with the elk. And I, I just saw, you know, study or saw this guy talking from Idaho talking about black bear kill James what was that how many calves there's 50 they radio or they had 50 calves they

were tracking and all but three of them were killed by black bears so it's you have to kill these black bear if you can have any ungulous out there managing ungulate you got to manage the predators too yeah oh just leave it the wildlife no no you can't you're only managing that way or you want to come on this side I'll go over here. I'll switch aside. Yeah, I mean, it just need a healthy balance. Mother Nature doesn't, is Mother Nature swings are extreme.

Yes. Man stream, that's right. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Introduce. Mother Nature, they all, eventually they all get wiped out. Yeah. And then, you know.

And then it takes time to get it going again. Introduce Wolf into an area that there's never been wool. God put man in charge of wildlife. Yeah. Taking care of it. The game doesn't know what's happening or what they are. They're just going to keep killing. And they do.

They're doing their job. That's how they survive. They've got to kill. They're not thinking about the health of the herd or the ecosystem or the carrying capacity of the land. They're just doing what they do. Yeah, they're doing what they're created to do. It takes us to, we're the stewards. Yeah, exactly. That's the word. Yeah. And, I mean, that's how we survive. It's, you know, yeah, you don't have to, but we've always survived by hunting. The anti seems to want to throw a man out of the equation. Like we're nothing. Let's just throw the man out and let the wildlife. do his thing no we're part of it just like the bear yeah yeah I mean we're more than just part of it we're supposed to be running you know yeah making conscious decisions on what works and that's what that's what hunters do and that's a good fishing game popular or a organization that's what they're doing a

good job of but on Genesis God made man and said for man to have dominion over yes that's right and yes I mean there's it's hard for me to kill animals sometimes oh yeah it's like that Death is... Yeah, we don't take pleasure and kill him at all. If you see a smiling in a picture with an animal, it's not because we're happy to kill something. No, and that's after you've come to terms with what you did and you're like, you're like, you know, respectful.

I'm always like so appreciative of an animal gave me his life so I might live. Yeah. And so that's a somber, serious moment. And then after that, then that's when they see the picture. Yeah. You know, they don't see the... The days, hours, weeks of work and effort that you get into it, though, either. And then there's a reason for it.

Yeah. For us, it's, yeah, you're getting, you know, a hide or whatever, but you're putting meat in the freezer. You're feeding your family. I mean, we donate extra meat all the time, and we send some to my mom and whoever, like whoever's the need. If you have lots, you can give lots. That's what I would say.

I always say hundreds have always been providers for the community. Yeah, that's right. And that's what we're still doing. Well, we see you take coolers and meat to, you know, your old workplace or shelter or whatever. I love it. And people love it. Most people aren't going to ever go kill a bear. No.

But if you can share delicious bear meat with them, then they have something in their head. They're like, oh, no, I've had bear meat. It's good. Or even somebody that doesn't hunt anything at all, and they're like, wow, why would this guy give this to us? They try it and they're like, okay, this is actually really, really good. good. I just like that it means something. What is what is buying a stake in the store? What does that mean? There's no meaning with it. There's no this this kill right here means a lot. It's powerful. There's a connection. There's a lot of people sharing on

this meet. Yeah. Yeah. Oh now at the our lift run shoot event. Yeah. Yeah. A month? Not even a one? I'm pumped. So we'll get done bear season. Do a quick wrap up and then we're on the drive to your place. Yeah, this is, I don't know, I always, I tell people about this hunt all the time, and it's hard, you know, people, everybody's busy, but then they see me up here and they see the experiences we're having, and there's some foam-mo going on. They're like, how the hell did I pass up that opportunity?

Yeah. Or even if they didn't have that opportunity, it's hard to not look at what we're doing and say, I think you're missing something. Yeah. This is truly living to me. This isn't like, I'm not a big hang out on the beach and eat and drink. This is what I, this is perfect for me.

This is what I think about every day. Experiences just like what we're doing right now. Well, this stuff I remember for a lifetime. Yeah. We tried the vacation, actual vacation thing for a couple days. Just in Utah. Before tack last year, I thought, yeah, we're going to go hang out, take Grandbaby to the beach, you know, just do the kind of like stuff.

and we're sitting there and we're like after sitting there for half an hour we're like is this what a vacation is? Because it was great but I was like now what do I do? I'm like I how do you sit? Don't get me wrong I enjoy it with the kids and all that when they were young and every once in a while to sit a little bit but to sit on a beach all day I can't my brain won't it's like oh I could be doing this or I could be building this that's why I told them this year says we actually probably have to go somewhere to

have a holiday but then it's like oh well they're better be hunting or fishing yet because we won't want to go. Nice loins. Yeah. Like Rhett Daniels says, loins. Who? Fisher. Fischer. Bud Fisher. Oh yeah. He plays the character of Rhett Daniels. Oh, yeah, yeah. So funny. Oh, he is. So funny. Didn't go 20. Yeah. Didn't go 20. I know. I love that. I love that guy. Yeah. I think his brother's married Terry Underwood, right? Yeah. And they all catching deer brand. Oh I know. Which came from Carrie's friends because Mike, did you catch any deer?

Oh, is that how it started? Yep. Yeah. Yeah. No, we catch fish. Where was I just at? And the guy asked me did I catch anything? I was like, no. Oh, no, he even asked. He says,

are you guys bear hunting? We're like, yeah, how's it been? Good. Have you caught anything? I said, no, but we've killed some. And he looked at me with this sour luck. I'm like, we don't do catching really. Yeah. We catch and freeze. Put it in the freezer, you need it. I'm just holding on because over there I'm just in the way. So usually it's just me and John given they're doing it. So it's like you get extra hands in there sometimes. It's just more valuable to hold than. I always need some of the whole stuff.

Oh on the bear. It's nice to have somebody pull away like that. Yeah. Look at that. And here's the difference about bear back strap all I got into my hand. You know like an ungulate where you have that solid chunk of meat, not in a bear. That's why I say they have muscles in their shit. It's because it's all intertwined with tissue and stuff. That's how strong they are. That's why they are so strong. Just woven in there. How many more weeks you guys got of hunters? Three. Season closes on the 15th. 50. So three.

Three weeks. One, two, yeah. When we get into it, it's a blur. People ask what days it is and I'm like, I think it's Tuesday, but what's the date? I don't know. I have to look at my phone because I don't. It's just, you know, Friday comes, last night, Saturday, everybody, we pack everybody up, package up all the meat, they take off, we do all the shopping, rebating, cleaning, everything you got to do for the next group. Next group comes and it's just like time flies by. See, that's why air holes are good. Handles? Yeah, they are.

Like on the hide when they're just getting the hide, it's great. Yeah, this is, you guys buying this farm, is an incentive. a game changer from living in Swan Hills before and having to drive to bear country. Yeah. Now just being out here. Oh it's amazing. Yeah. I got baits that are five minutes away. Oh there and we have deer in the backyard and lots of place to... I can pee in my yard. I figured that was coming. That's why I stopped talking. I thought, yeah, I know what you're going to say. I do that in my yard. It's just what guys do, I think.

I do that in your yard too. You know, I never see my wife and daughter out there doing it. It's just a guy thing. Look at James over there just sipping on his coffee. Fuck, must be nice. Must be nice. It must be nice. I was like a TV producer sitting there.

No, but I had a great idea. Hey, somebody should stay up all night and take pictures of the bear on the Argo with the, we were hoping that Northern Lights had come up. Yeah. And get some killer shots. Okay, I'll see you guys in the morning. Good night, James.

Good luck. It was so clear last night, though, I thought, for sure. And it got cool enough. Yeah. Oh, one of my favorite birds, you hear that? Mm-hmm. I love those birds. I grew up with them.

Our holidays when I was young, we never went cities, Disneyland. I know that stuff. We went camping. Yeah. Camping and fishing and stuff. So every morning you'd hear those. Red Wing Blackbirds singing away. It was great. Oh, I thought you were the woodpecker.

Oh. Red Wing Blackbird, chickadees. Chickadees. Chickadetes. Chick-a-ditties. I think my first experience with outdoors is, yeah, it was a bird watcher with my grandma. Really? Oh, yeah.

We'd have tea, me'd sit in here a little old house looking out the front window and watch the birds in the winter. Yeah. I'm gonna get myself a bear jacket made. I know. know I want a coat bear I want one too for like like pops orange yeah that thing's wicked I need one to tie together my with my necklace yeah we got the high oh getting pretty close yeah a little more neck meat we can grind that up yeah yeah something out of it he had one couple cuts on his face too he could close to his

eye but a perfect morning it's beautiful it's getting better just working on a bear and no Nice cool morning. No, not after we've had two weeks of rain. This little shelter we built here is game changer too from the bad weather and get some shade and it's not going to blow away like the tent of. Yeah. And like on an morning like today it's good because this wind comes through and keeps us cool and the meat cool but yeah it gets cold up here doesn't it? Yeah. Well this keeps us out of the sun direct sun right now which is great for... Give a little reference point here on this thing.

I guess for breakfast we should fry up that bear loin. Yeah. Some steak and eggs for breakfast? That would be good. Right? Yeah, that sounds awesome. It's been seasoned there aging for the last couple days. At 12 and over 6 and 1 half.

There's over 18. 18-inch bear, Popin Young. Yeah. Yep. Boar. If you shoot a good average boar here that's like four or five years old. Yeah. He's gonna make Popagnan for archery.

Yeah. When we get one of those bears that's 20, 21 inches, it's just insane. You're like, this can't be real. There's no way something can get that big. That head just takes on the next level, doesn't it? Yeah. We'll also do suit the height squares.

Yeah, you won't go to the square because we didn't cut. Oh, we left the white. Oh yeah. You're gonna lose about a foot and a half. We'll get the length at least. You'll get the length. Yeah.

Yeah, I'm gonna do a half life on this bear because it has that big white blaze on it so is so beautiful. Like the one by your stairs that comes out. That one I was telling you last last is it looks so good. Yeah, this is just a beautiful bear too with that blaze. So should we? Yeah. Butchering it this way, we don't have to get into the internals, which is nice.

No, for sure. So yeah, that's our, that's our little live podcast. Do you want to open it up and see what that? damage it did to the lungs and the heart? Once we move the hide and everything, yeah. So we don't put more blood on everything. That would be cool. We like to do, it sounds maybe gross, but not really an autopsy, but especially I like

to see where the arrow hits or how the damage is or like the one that took where we looked for it for what, three, four hours. Just to see where it hit. Did it hit a lung? Why it went so far? So this way it's a good way I can take pictures and I can show the clients, hey, this is why we want this premium shot. where we see where we shoot it at. It's always a crowd favorite.

Yeah, let's measure this high real quick, which is for the length. One too. His tail's long so we'll get good length. That's what your rug would look like. Minus is being all split there. If it was a rug, it would be split all the way to the chin. You gain a foot and a half width there. Look at the whole.

Is that right there? Yes, she. Hey? I'm going to the longest hair on the tail. Okay. Eighty-one, six, nine. Yep. Make so.

Yeah. And same when you do... And your width would be like seven and a half, so it's square seven. Yeah. Yeah. But because of that patch, we don't want to cut through it. Yeah, the mouth it won't look it. Yeah, they want to sew through the light now, so I can see the stitching through the line.

I mean, you can, but I like it when it's, in case you can see the stitches too. Yeah. Because it's more notice. But it's such a beautiful hide. This is going to make the greatest amount. Then I'll have half life at the wall and then this back half all this keep. Yeah. Gorgeous bear. I want to start making cushions and stuff like this.

And I get it and mucklucks and all that stuff. In my spare time. Yeah. Exactly. Whenever that happens. Okay. See now here, pull this out like that. Then you can see like what his length actually looks like when he walks in.

Exactly. Look down. It's a big bear. Yeah. It's a big bear right there. The hair is so thick. Like, you'll have to show that how thick this is on here. Yeah, beautiful.

Broadhead, open them out. That's a big hole. Yeah. The part that I have in trouble with is because I'm short. Mm-hmm. Short people, problems. So... This sun's bright.

Let me see where the heart is right now. Yeah, it's underneath here. Right there. Right, so here's the front shoulder. Look where the lungs are is up in this part and then the heart is kind of like almost tucked in front of that But see how close it is and you shoot here can you get this then you get into liver and stuff and then you have Yeah, not so much fun but look at these long. There you go There's that much right too little. There is some different visuals and stuff online that you can see but some are not accurate Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, some of them I'm like some of them they take like a deer or elk yeah

and just kind of do the same thing like that's not where the heart there it is. But look at how much gut there is. Yeah. There. So this long. Yep, a lot of damage. That's why he was expired in five to nine seconds.

There, that's your perfect shot. Look at this. Smoke both long. And it smoked through here too, look. Yeah, cut. They cut the big, whatever that vein stuff is called. You that feeds a heart there. Yep.

That's how you get it quick. That'll put him down. Quick ethic, and it is as ethical as you can get is to take him out like that. Oh, he was down in seconds. Yeah. We got him through the lungs and that's why he died quickly. Yeah, an undamaged heart. It's perfect.

It's pretty same size as the White Tail. Yep. My trick when I hunt White Tail, I'll show you it when we're out in the field. When we don't have any bags, I'll go like this cam. You can take the heart. Oh. In the field? There you go.

And then I throw it in the back of the truck. Well, this way it just get awful like dirt and stuff, so perfectly packaged out. Then you just got to go like that. Thanks for joining us. Let's get out this bear with John Rivet, Jen Rivet, and beautiful. Is this, it's barely northern Alberta, right? We're pretty north. Is it?

No, it's north. Oh, is it? Okay. Yeah. Central is like in the middle, but it is more. Central is like Edmonton. Oh, okay. Yeah, so Northern Alberta.

Yeah. We're flying out tonight, so perfect hunt. Killed two great bear. Killed this one last night. Best bear hunt you'll ever go on. Incredible country, incredible people, an incredible experience. Contact the rivets if you're interested in experiencing something like this.

Only if you want big bears. If you want little bears, don't come. Yeah, go somewhere else. Jen's about to open up the bear and check out the heart and lung and see what the arrow did. we'll put that on here too you two will probably cancel us for it but we'll get the autopsy done um yeah so can't recommend this hunt enough can't recommend these people enough yeah this what we live for these are experiences that make us who we are yeah keep hammering