Cameron Hanes - Keep Hammering Collective - KHC 095 - A Look Back on September

Episode Date: September 30, 2024

Join us for a discussion with Cam and James G. Williams as they cover all the hunts from September and what’s in store for the upcoming Month in the Mountains Series! 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 James: https://www.instagram.com/james_g_williams/    Thank you to our sponsors: MTN OPS Supplements: https://mtnops.com/ Use code KEEPHAMMERING for 20% off and Free Shipping Sig Sauer: https://www.sigsauer.com/ use code CAM10 for 10% off optics Black Rifle Coffee: https://www.blackriflecoffee.com/ Use code KEEPHAMMERING for 20% your first order Hoyt: http://bit.ly/3Zdamyv 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 Ketone IQ: https://www.ketone.com/Cam use code CAM for 30% off your first subscription Timestamps: 0:00:00 Intro 0:06:38 San Carlos Elk Hunt 0:10:30 Colorado Mule Deer & Elk Hunt 0:26:58 Where All the Meat Goes After a Hunt 0:32:47 Ad Break 0:34:34 San Carlos Elk Hunt CONTD 0:51:58 San Carlos Language & Hunting Culture 0:55:55 Utah Elk Hunt with Joe Rogan & Adam Greentree 0:58:20 Oregon Roosevelt Elk Hunt 01:10:48 Footage from Oregon’s Hunt 01:17:53 James’ Perspective on Cam’s Hunts 01:25:34 Highlights from Month in the Mountains

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. This is a Keep Hammering Collective.

Episode 12,0006, I think we're at. What are we at? I think 12,07 here one of them. Yeah, well, it's, and 12,000 of those are with Gideon. So, yeah, this is, I mean, this is what the public demands. I mean, I didn't want to say it. All the time. All Gideon.

All the time. Only Gideon. Yeah, we're doing a spinoff Gideon show. Gideon at night. Yeah, and after dark until when Connor gets here, then it'll be back. Yeah, exactly. The Connor and Gideon show. Gid and Larry.

Yeah. So, yeah, what's, God. It's been a while. Yeah, we haven't been up to much. My God. Yeah, I'm just now basically feeling about back to 10%. I was at zero. Negative percent.

Yeah, it was we had, yeah, the month in the mountains. What did you think of it? That was your first month in the mountains. My first and last. Must be nice. Yeah. I told you that I have a bone to pick with all the haters. Yeah.

So I just wanted to start off with that in a way, it was probably one of the hardest months of my life, stress-wise, mentally-wise. And I told you also, like, after filming it all these amazing, you know, places that people would give a leg for, I still think I would take. my Montana public. Yeah. My dick pushed it and to hunt. I know. It's, uh, you know, those are hard because I used to hunt by myself a lot. And it was like, it was just different.

It felt it felt like you would, you would hear about places like where I hunted and where you film me. And you just think it, oh my God, that would be a dream come true. Um, but there's something about being on your own in public land. There's, you know, I. I mean, if you screw up, it's, you just screw up. Everybody's, bow hunters out there screw up all the time. Yeah.

If you nick a bowl, you know, hit a screw up, hit a limb and the arrow hits the, like the shin bone of an elk or the lower leg of an elk on one of these huss that we're talking about. If a drop of blood hits the ground, you're done. That's your elk. on public land by yourself. Oh, you know, oh, there's blood on one fletch. Yeah. Whatever. Bull's going to be fine.

Let's keep hunting. It's, I don't know. It's, I don't know. Public land hunting is very, very hard. You know, I mean, I killed a bull every year doing it, but I had to earn it. This is just hard in a different way. Exactly. And I don't know if you have a way to put it into words.

for me it's like it kind of like you said it doesn't matter on you know it's like public land there's almost an expectation that it's going to be hard and that there's a really good chance you'll fail with these huns it's like it's not just good enough to get a bull it's it's not you know it's got to be you know a certain age and it has to be a certain size or um you know you're expected to perform and i think especially in the conditions you're under For me, it was just like this is a, it's just a whole lot of pressure, you know. So you're operating for a month straight at such high levels. And that just becomes mentally taxing.

Yeah. And people listening to this will be, I don't know, I probably would be the same if I hadn't, if I didn't know what it felt like. Yeah. But I saw somebody made a comment on my page, which, man you can't you can't put too much into the comments but said something like if i had a hundred grand to spend on elk hunt i i guarantee they they guaranteed they'd kill a world record and i want to i wanted to say do you know how fucking dumb you sound i mean i what are you talking

about you think that's all it takes is you got money and you're going to kill world record that's what i don't i don't know if it just like goes over people's heads but you could pay a million dollars the elk doesn't give a fuck no i mean and you know we had there was a seven by seven bowl a big one on san carlos and we talked about that with with mark and uh you know he had this hunter coming in kevin who's you know been great there he's been there for years and that was the bull they you know kind of were targeted and it was i think like a 420 just a big heavy seven by seven Anyway, never found it. And he killed another, you know, another bull over 400, it's rifle hunt.

But there's no guarantees. No. This is wild elk. I mean, so that bull was hitting water and you're on the, you know, the best place in the, on the planet for big bulls. But so what? So it had been hitting water doesn't mean anything. That is gone. Yeah, exactly.

And I don't know. I guess people just don't get that. but I just wanted to say that before, you know, people get their sweaty, twitchy little fingers on the keyboards. Yeah, it's, uh, it's, it's, it's definitely different. Yeah. Stop eating sunscreen in your mom's house and go stare at the sun. Yeah.

I, I didn't even, I don't even know how to explain it. But I do know that, you know, um, a lot of people on all the hunts that I've done, this season, a lot of good hunters did not kill. Yeah. Just not guaranteed. No matter how much money you pay. So, well, I guess we could run through a little bit of an overview of each hunt. Yeah.

So let's start with San Carlos. That was where we went first. It wasn't the first kill. No. But it's the place we went first. Yeah. That one, I was a day late season, I think, started on the second. And I had that appearance with jelly roll.

He was playing a show here in Portland. Then we went to the prison. And I felt like if I was going to give up a day for something, that was a just cause. Of course, there was some drama involved with that decision, too. You know, I mean, you don't know what those inmates have done to get there. Obviously, they've screwed up. But there's different levels of screwing up, too. So there's some criticism with kind of going and doing that, but you're going to be criticized for whatever.

Anyway, he gave up a day of hunting for that. So it showed up to San Carlos on the third. And pretty hot, pretty early in the rut. And yeah, they're Big Joe covering miles. Big sexy. Big sexy covered Miles. Great guy. Love, man.

Love Big Joe. He's such a good guy. But I mean, that whole camp, really, all the way, you know, Brenda the Cook, Chris the Cook, Homer, Mark, Tim Stevens, all those guys, you know, they know big Bulls. You know, we did that podcast with them there from the out from the road. And, yeah, just an amazing hunt. But it was putting in some miles and passing on bowls I normally never would have. What did you think of that? I mean, that was wild for me because prior to that, you know, the biggest bull I had ever put my hands on was a deadhead that was 383.

So, I mean, hunting, I don't think I had ever seen anything probably bigger than 350. And that's a big bull. And that's miles off. That's a giant bowl. That's not close. Right. So, you know, watching you pass up these bulls kind of to readjust my brain, I was like, I mean, these are like, shit your pants big. Yeah.

Yeah. So that was wild for me. That was super cool, but it was also at the same time like, holy shit. I know. Yeah. Yeah, it was, it's, you know, you get used to, you start off with these different expectations. So, you know, when I first started bow hunting, any bull, right? And then it was like, man, if you could get a branch owl or bull, that's a trophy. Well, first it was like any bull is a trophy. Yeah, right. You know, a spike. You know, I don't know where my, my first spike is somewhere around here. But I still. have it. So any bull is a trophy. Then you go to branch antlerd. Then it was like I had this goal. It's got to be a five point or better. And a five point is a good bull. You know we're talking a few years old. The bull's been around a little bit. And that was hard with the bow. So you you get these

different levels, but you're never going to pass up a seven by eight, a three 70 seven by eight. And I had that one come in to the water. And I'm just like, there's a clip that I did. I put up on my phone just the other day again. But I remember I feel myself going, I hate this place. Because it's incredible. But just knowing that that's a bull of a lifetime. And if you're going to, you know, I don't know, for there,

that would be like that's on the bottom end of what they want to kill. right that's on the like past the top end of what I'm happy with so that is just a different mindset yeah it's tough yeah it was wild yeah but then we we so we spent the first three days there and then you had a deer tag in Colorado so we you know wanted to get up there to make sure we still had deer and velvet yeah I mean once those deer come out of velvet it gets it changes they get in the brush then and so I'm like well it's pretty hot here. It's early for the rut. And I thought if I want to take advantage that I had an elk tag and a deer tag. And if I want to make sure the deer and velvet, I don't know how long this

Arizona one's going to take. The season went all the way to the 18th, I think. And we're at the third. I'm supposedly supposed to be in Utah on the 16th and still had to get Colorado in there. So I'm like, I didn't know how those math was going to work. I never really think. my season through too well. I'm like, I'm like, I'll figure it out on the fly. So I'm like, I don't know what I'm going to do. I got to let me run up to Colorado, you know, a 10 hour nonstop drive is not exactly running up the road through the night through the night, no sleep.

So yeah, let me run up to Colorado and see if we can find a buck. There's this old buck, a white face buck that we figured was eight or nine years old. And I'd seen him for a couple years. and, you know, talking with Johnny Hamilton there, who he sprays that ranch that it's a huge property, but he sprays like, yeah, I mean, all those giant ranches down in Southern Colorado. He sprays the roads.

And so anyway, he keeps track of the stuff, plus he guides there. And so knew this buck had been seen, I think, a few days earlier, him and Robbie had seen it and taken some picture. So I'm like, well, let me go see if we can track that that thing down. So here we drove through the night, showed up there right at first light. And, yeah, that was a long first day. Yeah, it was a long first day. But got it done.

Yeah, that Brian Stevens, my buddy, he got him a tag there this year. Great guy. He's got a book coming out. He just, like, loves to talk bow hunting. He will like, you know, I drove all through the night or we drove. I mean, I didn't sleep at all. You slept maybe a couple minutes. I didn't even know.

But I was ready for, so did the morning hunt, didn't really come up with anything, couldn't find that buck. So I'm like, I need to take a nap. And got back, started talking to Brian about bow hunting, no nap. So there's no nap before I knew it. It's like, I got to go shoot my bow. Because when I got there that morning, I was so shaky from five-hour energies. I put the target up at like 22 yards.

My arrows were catching the edge. I'm like, I need some food or something. So, yeah, I shot my bow, shot good that afternoon and headed out for the evening hunt. And, yeah, it started off pretty slow. I mean, what did we start off doing? I mean, the evening hunt, I think we were pretty, pretty set on just getting up there, seeing if we heard anything. And then you decided eventually just to go on that walk.

Oh, yeah, yeah. So we went to the corner. It's the corner where we glassed this bull from last year. And this is, this was a giant bowl. This was my biggest last year. This is a 379 bull. And Tanner was filming that one. And we saw it from this corner high above this giant meadow.

and the bulls come out of the timber on the other side. And he had a herd down there and I went snuck down there and got him killed first day last year. And so we went there to that corner. I heard some bulls, but it was still kind of early. So I think I looked at the time and I'm like, I was like for something. And I think it was getting dark around 745. So I'm like, asked Johnny, I said, hey, could you just run me up to the top of this drainage we call us a little Martinez?

I said, could you drop me off at the top of that? And I'll just walk down. I'll take James with me. You could film and pick me up at the bottom, which is about a, it's a few miles. And pick me up at the bottom of six and then we'll have the evening hunt. So, but let me work this canyon and do some cow calling along the way. Just kind of, I just like walking getting the wind of my face and just kind of working, you know, you bugle from like the, there's some points you can bugle into these giant canyons. But the bulls don't always answer.

you know, until you get on top of them. But we dropped off in there, spooked a couple bucks right out of the bat, was wondering if that was my target buck was in there because he still hadn't seen him. But in the oak brush, I started working down through and, you know, pretty quiet. We had some clouds coming over. It's like kind of weird, just a little weather systems coming over,

just like kind of single thunder cloud sort of. And I think there was some thunder going on. There was, yeah. And so when those clouds would come over, the wind would get unsettled. You know, those, and that happens. So when the wind would kind of shift, I would just kind of wait and let it pass

and then continue on working down with the wind in our face. Got down, heard pretty good bugle sounded like, not too far away, 400 yards maybe. And then another bugle, like a little bit to the left of it, if you're looking down the draw and thought, okay, we got, you know, had to jump back and forth across the creek a little bit to figure out which way I wanted

the wind or to play into the wind. I ended up going up through the timber. I thought the dark timber would be better for sneaking in because the bottom was kind of open meadow. But up in the dark timber, there was a bunch of like limbs and little branches on the ground which two people on a quiet evening was fucking noisy. And so I'm like, God dang, I got to get out of this dark timber. And I could kind of see through the trees.

I can see a bull. And I'm like, he's about 100 yards away at this time. And I'm like, okay, that's a pretty good bull. You should try to kill him. And he went into this wallow. And the thing about this country is that there's a lot of gas wells around it. And so for a natural gas well, they got to have water. So there's water at these places.

And he had made a little wallow on the bottom of this. I think it was an old windmill or something like that. I can't remember what it was. But anyway, there was some water and he had dug out of wallow there. So we got out of the timber and then there was kind of like a cedar tree, basically, kind of thick brush. And I'm like, man, if I could just sneak up, use that as a shield, I could just sneak up to 20 yards. And you were behind me filming and then I could pop around, come to full drive, I'll pop around and just smoke them in the wall though. Sounds good, right? But as I said,

it was a quiet evening. And I started to go using that, that brush of shield. And then I was looking and I'm like, well, there's gaps in this thing. And I can see him through there. And you know how it is? When you're a long way back, it looks like the brush is solid. But if you're right up close to it, those gaps look big and you can see really well. And he was closer to the brush than I was. So I'm like, oh, shit, he could probably see me. So I kind of really slowed down. And my, My feet are still making noise in this dry grass. Well, he's laying in the wall and not bugling, not doing anything. And he's just kind of listening like they do because they'll bugle sometimes.

Then they'll listen to see if a bull's going to answer her. And so he was just kind of laying there. I think he'd bugled and just laying there listening. And I think he heard me in the grass. So he gets up and he walks around that brush to me. And then I'm busted right there in the middle. And I'd like down on my knees, pretty much blaming you for some. somehow. I don't know why. But I thought, oh, he's looking at James, even though I'm in the

wide open. I was too. I mean, but I was, I was behind you like directly in line, but I was thinking fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. Yeah, it was and I still never even really looked at his animals. I just knew that good bull. Definitely shoot him. Anyway, blew up. I was throwing us a little fit down in the meadow. He runs up. The herd kind of goes the opposite side of the drainage. He went to, his own side and so he split it from the cows. Well, he didn't really want to leave those cows because that or leave the cows because that other bull had been bugle on. So he knew there's a bull there. Anyway, so he kind of paralleled. And then I look up and I'm like, oh, God, he's still right up there. And he kind of works. And I work my way a little down. And the timber kind of opens up. And he comes

into this little opening and I have this tunnel through the trees. And I'm like, holy shit, I could get an arrow into this bull. And his shoulder. was covered up by a tree but I arranged it it was within my effective range um and dog my side in hustling because you know I'd already spooked him so it's not like he's gonna stand there forever and I just pulled back felt pretty good that was you film me shoot I put that up yeah kind of a you know it'd be cool to have that and the shot over my shoulder but we didn't have two guys um so that shot and what I'd really focus on when I'm shooting at a bull is to keep my pin there I notice when I make a bad shot or screw up,

it's because I drop my bow arm on the shot. So if I consciously think, keep my pin there, you know, which means keep my pin on them, you pick a spot, you put your pin right there, then you squeeze and you want that pin to stay there. So on that, what you filmed, it was like almost exaggerated how long I held that bow up. But because of that, I got a good arrow in them.

And I didn't, I couldn't really tell. It seemed like it took a long time to get there. And I'm like, God, did that go over them? But it sounded, I heard something. Yeah. So I, you know, still high emotion. I'm like, stand right here. You stand right here.

I'm like, stay right there. Why I'm going to get up there? I'm, you stay right where I shot. So it's like, whatever. This sounds like I'm insane, like retelling it. But in the moment, I am insane. So you stood there. I go up the hill and I'm like up to where I thought he was.

And I'm looking down. I'm like, God, dang, that's a long. You were a long way below small down there. But I'm like, it looked like this arrow could make it through here good if I made a good shot. And so I slowly like knocked an arrow and we just wanted to see what type of blood we're doing was. I eased down. I got down to this little skid road. And it looked like liver blood to me.

It looked dark. So I'm like, you know, he's digging in. And I go, okay, well, I need to give him a little time because I'm, I'm, I didn't see the arrow hit, but this blood is looking like liver to me. And, you know, he was cordering slightly. So I'm thinking, if I got liver, that should have got along on the other side. But you never know. You know, again, I didn't see a hit.

So I went down to you, told you, I said, I think I got liver. We need to back out of here super quiet. So we worked up that road, glassing down just to make sure he wasn't bedded down right there, but I didn't want to spook him at all. And we got out of there. So by this time, It was about six. And I'm like, told Johnny, I said, I need to give him a little time.

So maybe we should go look for that buck. Went up, looked for that buck, found the buck, got him killed, did a great job on the film on that. And I think he was, that was 60, was it seven or four? Yeah, 60, I think seven. Seven? Yeah. Yeah, so got him killed, great buck, white face, old buck, eight or nine is what we're figuring. And, yeah, just, yeah, so that was amazing.

What do you remember from that? I mean, I just remember like any time, I mean, this goes for all of them, but anytime like we kind of get busted or whatever, it makes me feel like when you have something really embarrassing happen when you're a kid. Yeah. Which you could just disappear. Oh, yeah. yeah it's it's a lot of pressure out there i mean i know you're feeling pressure um to not screw up basically and also to get it on film so that's a delicate balance right there because you don't want to push it too far yeah right to you don't want to sacrifice the hunt saying well i was trying to

get it on film but you don't want to look back afterwards and i want to say okay let's look at the footage like don't don't have so we had a fair amount yeah and so it's i mean it is freaking tough it is uh let's just say we're both surprised i'm still sitting here well i mean there's ups and downs with the month and the mountains for everybody yeah you were down more than you were right but i if If I'm basing it on the last one, the last one was pretty damn good. We're improving. Well, no, the first, because it started with the grizzly hunt.

Yeah. And that was actually somehow pretty good. Yeah. I think. Yeah. I mean, we looked at the footage. Yeah. I've seen worse.

Yeah. No, that's actually good. And then the last bowl was good. Yeah. So we can forget about everything in between. So if you're grading it on a curve. Yeah. Yeah.

So it's just kind of how it goes. It was, there was some, a lot of learning moments and, uh, kind of surprised I didn't have a heart attack at 26 years old. Yeah. I was,

man, I've had some tough seasons. And again, people will listen to this and be like, oh, boy, fucking, I walked 40 miles with 200 pounds on my back.

And didn't see an elk. And I'm like, Okay. You had it harder. But besides you, whoever that is that I guarantee is listening, it was a tough, it was stressful. It was stressful. Yeah. Um, yeah. So, uh, to, to, to wrap up the bull part, um, that luck, I did give it some time and that worked out good, uh, went back in there with Wes, uh, Wes, uh, uh, uh, What's his last? Yoder?

Yoder, yeah, God. I love, I love, I was somehow forget his last name, but great bow hunter, great guy. And Johnny, so we blood trailed that bull. He went about 200 yards and was dead. So that worked out perfect. Of course, meat was all good, everything great. And he was a freaking giant. Super cool bull.

I mean. Freaking giant. Yeah. This bull had been the biggest I killed. Now that bowl is. Yeah. Yeah, those extra thirds are insane. Wild.

Yeah. I've never seen anything like that. So that was really cool to see. Yeah. So I think he ended up being like an eight by seven. Yeah. Right? Yeah.

Because he's, yeah, because he's seven by seven, perfect. But he's got that little kicker on the fifth or fourth or fifth. Pretty sure. Yeah. Yeah. That was, uh, what,

he was, what's this bull? 3.79. So 10 points bigger. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Giant. Yeah. Giant Colorado Bull. Yeah. That was awesome. Yeah. Amazing. So, yeah. Pretty eventful evening. Yeah. That was insane. I'll never top an evening like that. Yeah. Yeah. What did your deer score? 185. 185. That's right.

Yeah, and people always ask about the meat. So I'll just, you know, I can address the meat on these things. For that meet, there's a guy Mitch who's always in camp, great guy. He hunts there. He was bear hunting. And man, I just love him. And he asked if I would donate the deer to, he's got a church group that has a big, big game banquet, wild game banquet. And if I'd consider, are donating the deer for their banquet at the church. And I did that last year too. And so of course I was honored to do that because, you know, as hunters, we are providers is how I look at it. And I love Mitch and everything he does. And so, yeah, I happily donated that, even though I love the deer meat and it goes to good use. So my elk is being processed right now from Colorado.

And for people that, you know, I do get criticized for, oh, you don't cut up your own meat, you know blah whatever it's like fuck I've cut up a lot of my kills what my approach on that is I like to keep the money local because these meat processors they work hard and if I can if I can you know pay them and and keep you know work local like that then I'm I'm happy to and so yeah it's like you know I got gates processing here in Cottage Grove Oregon that I always use I got in Colorado that I always used that I got fronins there in Wyoming they sent me a really nice message about the post we did with Joe there and what a difference it makes they're in Evanston Wyoming and that's where I took my Utah kill so it's like this makes a big impact for a small business like that so yeah I could get the you know freezer paper and get the whatever wrap it up cut it up did that every year because that's just what people did did but now I just have a different approach and I like to, you know, share the wealth essentially as far as

supporting these businesses. So that's what I do. And that's what I did there. Yeah, one one comment I always see too is people are like, oh, you know, you don't need to kill, you know, four bulls a year. That's that's excess. You're not eating all that meat, but you're donating, you know, you're, you're giving a lot of that meat to the guides or to Truitt or to, you know, you know, my family. Exactly. And or or you're giving it to the guys you used to work with or whatever it is. And, you know, from my perspective, it's like, you know, I think like after this year, I was like, I don't know if he'll have enough meat this year. It seems like he gave a lot of it away, you know. Yeah. And it's not just donating. Because there are people who, there are these some big money hunters that go, they don't care about the meat. And it's just like, they're like, I don't care what you do with the meat. That's 100% different than what I do. Yeah. And I'm not, people can do whatever they want. I'm not, I don't, that's not how I look at it. That's not how I, if I kill it, I take great pride and taking care of the meat and I want it for my family or who I want to give it to.

So it's not like I'm donating not. My attitude isn't like, yeah, do whatever you want with it. I don't want it, which I've heard before. So I'm very intentional about where I, you know, I gave like the Utah bull, Truitt and Alicia, my son and his wife. I gave them half the bowl last year in Utah because he's been with me for five hunts and they he eats a lot of meat he's a you know strapping young man

training him pretty damn hard eats meat all day every day and they're about out of that so now that Utah Bull just got done and he went and picked it up I think yesterday and then Ed who's guided me there for seven years great guy love that his prayers after they kill are some of the most emotional and well-intentioned prayers

I've ever heard and we have a connection. We have a bond. I love him like a brother. I give him half that kill. So you can judge that if you want. And if you do want to negatively judge me for that, I'll just say, fuck off. I don't know how someone could negatively judge you that, but they will find it. They will.

They will. They will. They will. They will. Yeah. But, uh, or some are dips. It's not everybody. Some people will get it.

Um, you know, my Oregon bull here, uh, half will go to Kevin, who's my buddy. He didn't even. get a chance to hunt with me he was in camp he was helping another hunter there this is last last night here in Oregon for those guys and i hope uh and uh macorelli i hope he gets a bull but kevin helped him so we didn't even hunt together but because kevin's a bohunting brother of mine i'm giving giving him half that bull and i'm taking half of that one um yeah so uh in arizona that's the best eating bowl that i get so i'm going to keep all that one other than sharing uh I just gave, I get massages twice a week from, from Jason gave me a massage, uh, when was it,

Friday or yesterday maybe. And I gave him a cooler floor meat. So it's just like to me hunters provide. We've always been providers in the community. Um, this meat isn't going to waste. I'm not saying I don't care what you do with it. Get rid of it. I, I, I'm bent over that bowl.

Every bull I kill. and my goal on every kill is to get the most meat, more meat than anybody, off that animal. And I don't know if I do, but that's my goal. So I mean, they said you in Utah, right, that it was the most meat they had gotten off of a quartered elk. Yeah, it was 386 pounds. That's crazy. So, yeah. Judge all you want.

I mean, yeah, the facts are there. If you want to look, they're there. So Colorado, finish that up. I think we took a day. to rest because you were had no sleep. No, I hadn't slept in a couple days. Yeah. A couple days.

So yeah, I think I, I think I said, what, we're gonna get some sleep and leave? Like, what, 10 or something? Yeah, I mean, not late or not early, yeah. Just take the day to drive. Yeah, get, get, so burnt a day driving instead driving all through the night. And we got back to Arizona.

I think enough time, did I shoot my, I think I shot my bow right before dark. Yeah, or in the headlights or something. Yeah, just to make sure I got to shoot every day when I'm hunting. And yeah. So then got to Arizona, shot your bow, went to bed and woke up. And then that morning, yeah, we got into a little action. That was the morning that we were sprinting trying to catch up.

Which one? The first morning back in San Carlos, that bull was kind of going away from us. and, you know, it sounded like it must, he must have turned every now and then. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, trying to close distance on a bull this movement up to, from the, from where they were at at night up to where they're going to bed. Yeah. It was.

That's rough. That's tough to do. And we did, you know, got to, got to the herd, got to the cows, could see the bulls black leg, scissering through the brush up there, but never could really get an opportunity to, to do anything with him. No. Yeah. But I think Joe is bugle on back there.

It's, we just could make it happen. Yeah. So finished up that morning hunt and then, you know, went back to camp and got an idea for the evening, which was. Yeah. So when we're in Colorado, they got a picture of a bull hitting water. And like I said, there's no guarantee just because they hit water a couple times that, you know, you're going to see them. But there was like this, a big, like, split fifths, giant frame bowl.

If you want to be critical of them, people would like to identify him. They say, oh, he's got kind of short thirds. But his frame was giant. And so they said this bull had been coming in water. So I'm like, okay. But anytime, you know, when that water, I mean, in the evening, when the sun goes down, the wind switches.

I mean, the sun's up high, wind's doing one thing. It drops below the ridge, like when those bulls usually come in after the sun gets off being so intense and kind of gets behind the trees. That kind of cools the area. That's going to change the wind pattern, right? So I was a little nervous about sitting on a waterhole. I hadn't have, you know, it's not, I haven't done that hardly ever, right? And so I'm like, God, I wonder, is there trees around this water? I wonder if I could get up in a tree to kind of,

help play the wind or like not have to deal with the switching wind once the sun kind of started to go down and it started to cool for the evening. So I said, let's go. Big Joe took us there early and so I could check out the waterhole and did a little scanning around. I'm like, well, God, I think I could get up that tree right there. You know, the bulls were coming off the hill to the west and coming down. And so they're coming from higher. So normally if the wind's bad and they're coming from higher, the wind's going to go right to them. Right. You know, if it's wrong.

So I'm like, I got to get way the fuck up this tree. Right. So just to kind of alleviate that being busted if the bulls are coming off that hill like that. So that was quite the endeavor to try to get. I got way up there. It was like my bow was on the ground. You had the rope from the. from the go hunt kill kit yeah from the go hunt kill kit we had a little nylon rope that came in handy a

couple times it did yeah those kill kits are sick yeah i don't know what else what else do we pull out of that uh we pulled out so we pulled out the rope we had the pen in there yeah obviously the game bags yeah um i think that's oh there was flagging in there but we didn't use it yeah um but yeah so that rope you tied a rock on the rope threw it up to me somehow i think the first time was it yeah was it the first throw. Pull my, pull my bow up. I told you,

I said, all right, go get set up. I said, you know, way, I didn't want you screwing this up,

right? So I'm like, find a place up there on the hill. I figured you'd go up high and you could see, and you could see me in the bowl or the water.

It wasn't ideal because once you went over there, we couldn't communicate. And so I'm, I didn't know what you could see. I'm like, well, I can see you.

I'm hoping you can see everything good. But it wasn't a perfect, perfect. I mean, we didn't, you know, this is a on the fly game plan. That's being nice. Yeah, it's, I'm glad you had the lens you had on. Let's just say that for that one. Yeah. The 200 millimeter lens. Yeah. So you were like 100 and some yards away. But yeah, so we were up there at about, man, three probably all set up.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. I think we got there at two. Yeah. So I felt pretty good. Had arrow knocked. I'm just standing on branches. This wasn't ideal. But I'm standing on two branches. So it's not like I had a tree stand or a platform. I'm just kind of balancing on these two branches up here. But I had my bow hanging on like a broken limb in my pack hanging right here. So I'm like, I've had to make tougher shots. This isn't ideal. But, you know, and then I like range the water there. like to the far other side. I'm like, I hope that bowl doesn't go over there because that's a poke. But right here is like I'm close to me with like 20 yards. So I'm like, well, I took that one practice shot and the arrow disappeared into the mud. So but it hit.

I took it at 46 yards. So I'm like, okay, I can make the shot from here. I always take a practice shot. I'm like 46 yards. It was pretty close to ride on. Hopefully that bull will come about that, that distance. But yeah. So what did you see that night?

I mean, we had that bull come in, that first bull, that eight by seven, which when he, so I mean, I guess what first happened was, you know, they were, they started bugling up on that hill. And then that eight by seven came down. And from my perspective, I was like, as a big bull. Giant. Giant. But again, I wasn't, it was, there was still a little question like, oh, is that, is that him? Is that 400? Or, And so he came down and you got a really cool clip of him kind of wallowing and down in the water. And I didn't know what you could film. So I came to full draw on him. Just got thought that'd be, you know, if you could see me, that'd be kind of sick. And then I just kind of let up, which there's something about putting a pin on a bowl like that and not shooting, but you're still going through the process of aiming. And just seeing that size of bull in your site housing, it's, you know, that doesn't happen every day. Yeah.

So you have to go to get in this big bull mindset. I think you need those reps like that. So I'm like, God, I could. I mean, at that time it's 39 yards drinking. Leg forward. I'm just like, oh, my God. Am I really going to pass up this freaking giant? And I'm like, what if I get back and we show this footage and there I'll be like,

that's a 420 bowl? What are you thinking? And I'm like, I fucking don't know. I don't know how I can't, I can judge like up to me. maybe 370. Yeah, right. Past that, I'm like, I have no idea. Really.

I mean, it's sore to do, but I haven't seen a ton of those, right? So I'm like, I don't know. Should I shoot them? And then I'm like, God, I don't, I mean, main beams where I don't think they're like the, you know, you want a 60 inch. I don't, it doesn't look like that. So I'm like, I guess I can't shoot it because I'm not. Because they say like for there, if, when you see a bull,

a shooter bull, it'll be like, no doubt. Yeah. Right. Yeah. And so I was questioning it. So I'm like, it's not a no doubter. It's freaking giant. Yeah.

But, you know, I mean, was it similar to that one right there? And that's $398. It was not quite that. Yeah. Right. So I'm like, okay, I guess I just won't shoot him. And so he left. I'm just like, or he kind of laid over there in the mud.

Then he kind of walked. He, oh, he went back up on the hill. Yeah. Then we heard another bull bugling coming. And I saw him back in the trees. And I was just like, holy shit. Okay. That is a, that's a different caliber bull.

And that was a split fifth bowl. And he kind of went over and kind of pushed that bull up the hill. And then he came down to the water. Then what did you see? Yeah. So he came over. There was like a little cattle. fence there or something, hopped over it. And that's when I got really good eyes on him. And I was

thinking the same thing. I was like, okay, this is the bull. So yeah, he came, he came down into the water. But unfortunately, from my sitting area. Yeah. So I didn't know. You couldn't see the water. Couldn't see the water from what I was filming. And, you know, thinking about this, when I first walked over there. Remember there was like a little spot I first looked back at you and I can't remember if I could perfectly see the water from there either. Then I came further back and and when that first bull came in actually there was there was cows that came down first, cattle cows and I and I was like okay it's not it's not great viewing from from where I'm at and I thought about moving two thoughts crossed my mind though one i didn't want to move and fuck something up

and then two there were the cattle were pretty skittish they were very skittish yeah and there were a couple maybe 45 50 yards from me and i kept poking my head around and they were just staring me down yeah so i didn't end up moving and uh obviously that was a mistake well i mean if you would have pushed the cows off and they would go thundering off hooves and that would cause the elk to come in late, that wouldn't be great either because the elk hear that. Yeah. But so long story short, the bull comes down.

You can't, while you can't see the water, you can't see the bull. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So it's, it could be better. It could be worse. It could be worse for sure. And it definitely could be better.

Yeah. But we don't strive for mediocre here. So that's unfortunate. Yeah. That's one thing in one of our, uh, um, debriefs, I said the goal is the best ever. Yeah. The best we've ever done.

And once we do the best we've ever done, the next goal is to beat that. Yeah. We're not trying to, you know, so it's not the best ever. Definitely not the best ever. So this bowl came, came. And I was like, okay, this is him. This is a 400-inch bull. I got to make this happen, right?

And he gets out there 51 yards, feeling pretty calm. I mean, yeah, I actually, like intentionally, like took some deep breath to relax. 51, downed my sight. Sun was kind of down on his backside. So for me, looking, it's a little bit kind of silhouetted, a little looking through my sight. And I'm, like, picking a spot, but I couldn't really see my arrow because he's kind of backlit. So I shoot. And he doesn't do anything.

And I'm like, did I miss? Yeah. And I didn't know because it's hard to tell. Did it hit water? Did it hit him? It didn't sound like water, but I've never shot into the water. So I don't know. And then I'm like, I don't think I missed.

It felt like I did, I did, you know, held the pin there. And then he starts to kind of like waver a little back and forth. I'm like, oh my God, he's going to go down right there. So I started, I got my camera and I filmed him. Then I'm like, he's not going down. I need to get another arrow in him. So I put my camera, my phone away real quick, quartering away pretty steep.

And I got that footage, not me shooting obviously, but him pretty steep. So I tried to sneak an arrow off his hip. And I hit him again right there. And then he turned and went a little more to the left, kind of broadside on this other side. And I shot him there again, a little high. but he had three arrows into his cavity there.

And then he ran out and I watched him bed about 100 yards. And I didn't, you know, I didn't like seeing. I don't like when an animal suffers. And so I tried to get down on that tree as fast as I could and run over there and get an air. I had one more arrow. I take four arrows. And I had three in them. And by the time I got there, he was dead.

Yeah. Yeah. You know, from my point of view, I can see both of you once he had bedded down. and, you know, it went by pretty quick. I think all three of those shots were pretty good. So they're just tough. They're big, big tough animals. It was, that was one of the more emotional kills I've had.

Yeah. Because I felt a lot of pressure to not let the tribe down, not let Homer and Tim and Mark down and everything they've built and, you know, not woundable, not. not shoot too small of a bull just to do something that the Apache tribe of San Carlos could be proud of. And so when that happened, you know, that was a lot. Yeah.

That was a lot to deal with. Yeah. I mean, and it's heavy anyways. You know, it's taking a life. I mean, for one reason or another, I cried three times this season. So, you know, maybe the haters will have. have it that this time around you know these guys I don't even know what to say but it's uh it's it's emotional it's like it's not only as you said killing an animal that which has a

heavy burden you know and I've said this before but when I was a kid I never even thought about it I'd I could kill an animal and I'd just be like you know whatever it's what we do now just is it it's there's more weight to it it's uh I don't know why um It's just different for me. So just that, the gravity of that situation, and then just like this pressure from these things, it's freaking, it's, I don't know, there was, I don't know, people can, people will have comments.

I was talking to Connor on the phone last night and, you know, just saying how it's like, you know, you have that huge release, but it doesn't last that long. You know, you turn around and then, okay, you know, now we have to do that all over again. You do that again and then again. And it's, you know, it's my dream to hunt all month and to hunt four states for bulls. It's, I've always dreamed it. But to get one bow kill is hard, really hard.

Yeah. And as you said, to do it for, consecutive times. I mean, it sounds great. It sounds great from the outside, but so much can go wrong, so many challenges with bow hunting. It's, you know,

and on these hunts, people need to realize these are, because these are landowner tags or like, you know, San Carlos is, it's a rifle is legal. Yeah. And a lot of people, majority of people,

take that choice. Yeah. And so, but I'm a bow hunter. Yeah. And if it's not going to die by a bow, I'm not killing it. And, um, bohunting is, I don't care where you're hunting or what you're, it's just, especially if you're hunting big bulls, it is very, very hard and just trying to capture that lightning in a bottle four times in one month. Yeah. And we threw in the grizzly and the mule deer in there two. Yeah. So yeah, it's, it's freaking taxing. For sure it is. Yeah. You know, I do have a little quiz for you, San Carlos. I want to know if you remember your words. For what? For good morning. Oh, shit, no. I don't. I don't. Do you have them? I have them. What is it? Joe Spee.

Jaute. Yeah. Okay. That's good morning. That's good morning. Yeah. So you could say, Joche-Saint-Kha,

which is good morning, San Carlos. Right. And then brother, which is Shukason. Shukeson. Shukeson, that's right. Yeah.

I know. It's, yeah, I mean, I, man, I love the people of San Carlos. And when I killed that bull, how many people showed up? That was so cool. I mean,

we had, you know, women and kids and guys helping and guys just hanging out talking. We did an offering. I left a piece of the hide there and a piece of meat and left an offering with a deer antler and said some words there.

So just the, I don't know, those people mean so much to me and that country means so much to me. I can't put it into words, but that was a very special evening or night, you know, that happened right at kind of getting towards last light and then by the time everybody showed up it was well after dark and broke that bull down and uh took it all you know clean that bowl up and everybody's there for the whole time and just loved it yeah that was one of my i think one of my favorite moments of the whole month was breaking that bull down with everyone there it was just pretty special

yeah the energy was great yeah it was incredible and uh yeah i you know like i said i just i never want to let the tribe down for sure. So that felt really good. And, you know, just a great bull, you know, to honor him and to have him here in my home is going to be very, very special to me. Yeah, definitely. So, you know, we finished up there. I think, did we take an extra day there too? Where did we head to after that, Utah? Utah was after that. But you came. You drove to Utah. Yeah. I drove to Denver, stayed there for two days. Yeah, with your buddy. that I flew home. What did I do?

I flew home. Oh, retuned my bow for the fucking fourth time or not that by the time and the season is over is the fourth. So yeah, I'm, I had a hard time with the stock strings this year. So I'm going to use gas bow strings as all there's to it. My bow for whatever reason. And it's not probably not the bow strings fault, but you know, you're flying to all these hans, it's different weather conditions. It's 36,000 feet in a plane.

down to 100 degrees at San Carlos. So back up to the mountains of Utah and Colorado and over here on the coast in Oregon. So it would take a pretty special string to not be influenced by all that, but I'm going to give gas both streams a try because I just, you know, I got tired of like, it seemed like my, I was getting just different flight,

you know, and my groups are opening up a little bit. And I'm like, fucking Bose, something happened here. So I'd go and retune it. Yeah, yeah. Can't be having that or if we can avoid it. It's best. It's all good. I mean, I've used stocked bow strings for years and had no issues.

And that's why I used to shoot Winters' Choice back in the day because a bow string was stretched. Stock strings were kind of garbage. You know, I think Matthews even had zebra strings. Those were pretty much garbage. And then Hoyt started doing a great job. and I had no issues until this year. So I don't know. I don't know if it was just kind of a crazy situation.

But anyway, I didn't like it. Yeah. But yeah, so then we recouped, went to Utah and met. Let's see, did you pick me up? I picked you up. At the airport? Yeah. Yeah.

How was that drive? It was good. It was actually pretty quick. I think it was seven hours from Denver. Oh, that's not bad. Not bad at all. No. And we got Truitt, met up with Matt Joe.

Yep. At the Ogden Airport, Colton. Yeah. Right? Yeah. Am I missing anything? I don't think so. I think that's it.

Didn't we get in and out? No. Did we not get in and out? I don't think we did. That's criminal. Yeah. Yeah, I got Joe and Adam and Colton and then headed to camp. Yeah, headed to camp.

And yeah, we talked about, yeah, we talked about Utah on. The last podcast. Yeah, I think that's pretty covered. Yeah. I just want to add that in the first evening we hunted, I heard more bugles than I think I heard my entire life. That place is insane. Yeah. Yeah.

And, you know, we didn't talk about this in the recap with Joe and Adam, but there is a balance, too, because you can have, it's great habitat. They've managed it incredibly. But if there's too many elk, then maybe the size of the bulls will suffer. And so it's like there's like, yeah, you can have too many predators. You can have too many elk. You can have not enough elk. You can have bad habitat. But getting that all dialed in perfect, it's a science for sure.

Yeah. They do it. They do an incredible job. But it's never ending, you know. And then you got to balance the, you know, a hard winter, heavy. rains light, light rains in the spring. It's just like there's a lot that goes into it. For sure.

They do. Like I said in that last podcast, I wish all fishing game could do as well as they do. Yeah. But, you know, fishing game has different goals oftentimes. And a lot of times it's a money-making goal. Definitely. Yeah. So I think if the viewer or the listener does want to listen to that, they should just go check

out the podcast with Joe and Adam. Yeah. Get the recap. Get the recap of all three of your guys as hunts because it's. pretty awesome. So yeah. Yeah, so we can we can skip over that and get into Oregon, which for me was my first time, you know, being around Roosevelt Elk, which is super cool. We heard less bugles than Utah. Slightly. Yeah, we heard like two. I mean, Roosevelt Bowls aren't, aren't like as vocal for

sure but we did hit in and out on the way that we did we didn't miss in and out you know we did what we screwed up though we got two double doubles and then had a hamburger and we got to camp at wrongs three burgers probably within what two hours yeah but it's three burger five patties so yeah that was that was pretty rough uh that's a lot of burger but ron and his wife kailine Hofses or I love those I love them they're like family and I've hunted that property now since 2010 it's it's like it's you know basically private timber company so yeah it's like warehouse release type thing you know logging is going on there we you know log trucks going up and down the main line there when we're hunting but it's I love the small logging community towns because

That's like where I grew up here in Marcolla. Powers reminds me of that small little high school there. They love their small town high school football. And that's, you know, that was the name of the game back when I grew up. So there's like a lot of, a lot of, I just, I mean, I got a soft spot in my heart for towns like that. And people who work in the woods and hard work in small town people is just amazing. But Ron and Kayleen, their son Ryan, their daughter wasn't there. But we got Kevin Acres, my buddy.

he takes a whole month off and hangs out there he just loves to elk hunt and uh macorelli was there hunting also and uh baba and dave that's the crew the dream team baba and dave go out they just you know go out to glass and look at elk um ron same thing kind of you know comes up with the game plan or like i'll throw something out to them and it'd be like sounds good just pretty much you know It's just whatever. And yeah, it was, it was kind of a tough year. Yeah. I mean, I obviously am not familiar with that was my first time down there.

Yeah. You'd be, you know, those ferns growing and it's kind of temperate. And for me, I mean, that's just totally different than any kind of elk hunting I've ever done. Yeah. But it was super cool. Yeah. And the country down there is just beautiful. Yeah, it's, it's, I love it.

It's a coast range. Put in some miles down there. Yeah. I can't remember. Do we get 10 miles? We had to average pretty, pretty close to it. Yeah. So getting some miles, I was, I had first night, Tanner went with us too.

He had, we went on a Sunday, I think, or no, Saturday. Saturday. So Saturday night, we got down there in time to go out hunting. And we got out there. there and Tanner spotted this bull down this unit did this perfect stock I Tanner stayed up top but got the wind of my face had a good you know almost took off before I had a landmark but then I was like shit hold on now we'll see where's this bull because these big units like you get down there you don't know where the fuck you are yeah and it looks so much different from down there's this is a giant unit but I had this this red tree down there basically I don't I don't know if it was uh something to killed it I don't know if the bear tree or whatever but Anyway, you know, bear will go and they'll eat the bark off around a tree and it kills the tree. They'll just peel the bark off to eat that pulp under there. So I'm not sure what happened.

But anyway, the tree was red and dead. And I'm like, okay, get to that tree. That bulls to the right. So it's like, I don't know, 400 yards, probably 500 yards, maybe 600. I'm not sure how far it was down there. But got wind good, me, you. Kevin was behind you and got down in there. And I get to that red tree.

I'm like looking. I'm like taking it pretty slow. It was a quiet night. Three people going through that fucking unit was I thought loud as shit. It's blaming you again. But got down there and I'm just like looking, scanning one step, scanning, scanning, we're kind of in the sun, which I hate being in the sun. And I get up there.

Then I'm like looking and I'm like, is that? That looks like, is that an elk right? You know, like 25 yards. It was the bull's butt. And then I look, I could see his ant. And I'm like, holy shit, he's right there. So he kind of, he didn't, he barked, but bark bugled. Like he didn't really know what happened.

But he did a bark and then turn it into a bugle. So then Kevin called and he comes right up. So I come to full draw. He steps out perfectly broadside. He's a nice five point. He had to herd of about four or five with him. But a nice five point herd bull, which, you know, people, who have a hundred Roosevelt would be like is that a good bull it's like yeah that's that's a good

roosevelt it's just different um for rocky yeah he'd be like a satellite bull yeah and uh but for roosevelt he was a herd bull and he stood there at about 25 yards a little under 30 yards he came to full draw and we got killer footage of him oh no i mean someone someone's probably got killer footage of him somewhere I did with my phone afterwards. But anyway, pass this bowl up because I'm like, I don't want to, that was basically the first stock of the hunt. And I'm like, this is my last outcome of the year. I love this shit.

Yeah. I don't want this to end right now. And so I didn't shoot him. And then Kevin was like, Kevin had been down there all month. And he goes, I would have shot that ball. He goes, it's been really hard this year. And he goes, you should have. shot that bowl and I'm like ah nah not on the first night he's like I'm just telling you that's

he goes that was a heavy five point and uh so anyway didn't shoot him uh kept grinding it out and I think I don't really know there was a limping six point I don't know what happened to his leg that uh you know he was a little bit bigger than that bowl but we could never make it happen on him I got within I think 55 or 50 some yards of them one morning and just, you know, wasn't meant to be. And then, let me think. Was that the best opportunity? Yeah. I mean, old Gimpy was at 52.

You know, we had the next night after, or no, it was that night after that morning. We went to the back to that same spot and had those, I think, It was three cows in like a, you know, kind of a forkhorn or, you know, raghorn. Yeah. But again, you know, it wasn't really what you were looking for or, you know, age-wise. And then, you know, we had those three cows pin us down at like 15 yards or might have been even been closer. That one that popped up was pretty close. And that was kind of, yeah, a majority of the interactions we had.

Yeah. you know that we weren't seeing a ton. And then, you know, that evening we went for that hike. Yeah. In a little bit different area. Yeah, we tried to do a big loop. It ended up going kind of brush busting for a while, sweating our asses off. Oh, my God.

Yeah, it was sweating to beat hell. And then I started, so I did this walk where I've killed a bull down there before. And so we were miles into this thing. But now it was like because it took so long to get around these, there's cows in there and trying to go down, kind of get the wind right and the cows were there. And if the cow spook, you're not getting an elk.

So I had to circle all the way back up and around, drop into this creek. And by this time now it's getting close. The sun is going down. I'm like, fuck where I wanted to get for the evening hunt. We're late now. So I'm bombing down this,

this on the other side of the ridge from where the cow the cattle were and trying to get to the bottom where we still had light to to hunt get all the way down there trying to be quiet trying to hustle all this all these things going on pissed about how long it's been taken and uh i get down there and we finally hit this old skid road at the very bottom and it heads into the meadow where i've almost shot a bear there before i killed this the bull sitting right over there it's like a it's a seven by six like a 300 inch bull and killed him there before so it's it's a good area and uh I get down and we start going pretty slow and I'm working down the skid road we got about 15 minutes of shooting light left I think I think this is getting close to like 720 and I think shooting

light was over like 740 something like that and so kind of hustling but trying to get into this meadow but Before I get to the meadow, I look and I'm just like, what the hell am I looking at there? And I look up and I can just see the backs of two elk just in the grass because the road kind of fell off. And I'm like, holy shit. I just told you, I said, there's elk right there. And they were about, at that time, about 40 yards. So I sneak up about 10 more yards and these elk are coming from the right to my left. And those two had already passed, but there's more coming.

I'm like, oh, my God, if this bull comes out or here, it's going to be third. yards. I'm just going to smoke it. But there hadn't been one bugle. No. Not one bugle. We had no inkling that there was a bull there. Nothing. Not a peep of anything. But there's these out coming through. And so I get up there and then I'm like, shit, what if he's already out here? And I'm losing light. So I try to sneak up. And then a cow kind of busts me a little bit through the trees. And I look back, because then I couldn't see where I thought the bull might come from. So I look back to you. And I'm like, can you see a bull? And you're like, no. And I'm like, okay.

So the bull's not. I thought I snuck up there, fucked up my shot, and then you had a wide open shot of the bull is what I was afraid of. And so you said no. So I get up there in between the trees. I look up, elk then kind of spook, and there is a bull out there. And I'm like, oh, my God, okay. So he's, the cows are kind of spooking.

He's kind of walking from my right to left. And I range him, 67 yards, and dial it up real quick. He keeps walking. And I'm like, God, he's standing. about the same distance so I had to hustle hustle put my pin on him everything felt good he stops and he looks the other way kind of quartering away perfect looking the opposite way I'm like oh this is a shot you dream of but I wasn't a hundred percent sure on the yard edge but I was pretty sure it's pretty close so I put my pin on him just shot and I couldn't see that arrow hit but then he went and he took off and he stopped

again and it's like he's acting like he was hurt so I shot him again and hit him with a that second and I'm like I saw the first air or I thought I hit him with the second arrow. Yeah. Is what happened because I didn't see the first arrow in them. But then I saw it at the second shot. So I'm like, I told you, I said, I was like so pissed because I'm like, I think I might have screwed out. I said, I don't know if I missed him with the first shot and then just trying to get another arrow in them made a shitty shot on the second shot because the second shot was back. And I'm like, I thought it sounded like I hit him.

So I was like, I just need to get another arrow in him. But what if I missed him? And then the only arrow I have in him is that bad shot. So I was like really, really upset. And the last thing I want to do is make a bad shot on a bowl. And heat of the moment, it was like I was beside myself. Yeah. Yeah.

You know, when you had moved up ahead of me, I was pinned down by two cows just staring right at me. And so I'm looking at you and I'm thinking, fuck. here comes another classic. The bull's going to walk out. I can't see him for mine. Walking fuck up. Yeah. That's my new name.

I think that was a quote. That was one of the quote. I said, I don't know what I said. I think he said somehow the walking fuck up pulled it. That was a compliment. Yeah. I mean.

And I'll take it. Right. That was intended to be a compliment. Yeah. So anyways, those two cows kind of eventually busted and I was just like, fuck it. So I just got up to you as fast as possible.

at this point, like as I'm getting up to you, you come to full draw. So I zoom in and I just stick the camera up and I can just see the screen. I can see the bowl and I'm like, please, please. And somehow it was one of the best fucking kill shots I've seen. I mean, because it was high speed. So the arrow comes arcing in and it hits that bull. And we didn't know we had that. So I'm like quiet going back.

just like not even knowing how to internalize what just happened or where I hit this bull backed out of there I marked where I was standing tied my sweatshirt there and I'm just like let's just you know get out of here I looked for that arrow the first arrow I looked because I thought did I miss him yeah I needed to see if there's blood on it but couldn't find the arrow over there so then it was dark and we still had like you know a mile or more to walk out and get a ride back up to my truck so we were We got down there late way after, or I mean, after dark. And we're like, you said, I don't know if I got it, but we'll get back and, you know, get it on the computer and look. So we go back and it takes a while to download that shit or upload or what fuck load it is. But so I took a shower, I think, because we were in poison oak nonstop all day. And we got the, I remember we're sitting there and, you know, you got the. the footage up, then you look up. And I'm just like, I don't want to ask because I'm like,

I could, I could have asked a thousand times in a half hour it took to get that footage ready. But so I'm just like sitting there acting like I don't care, but I'm just like all I care about is like this, I just want to look at this footage. So then you look up and you're like, dude, you smoked him. Yeah. And I was like, what? I mean, I shouldn't have been surprised, because I didn't know. Yeah. I didn't know if I were, if I even hit him on that first one.

And then so we look at the footage and you just fucking killed that footage somehow. Yeah. And that arrow like so he's he's quartering away pretty good, but then he turns and quarters away even more. That arrow hits, you know, if it was broadside, he'd be way back.

But with that angle, you want to go for this off side leg. And it was like a little bit on the back side of the offside leg, but pretty much the offside leg. So you're like, that should be through everything. And that first one smoked him and then I hit him a little bit lower

on the second shot, but still got another arrow in him. And we could see that on film too. You got that shot too. And so we're just like, okay, so a big part of this hunt or this moment for me, a decision was it was only going to get

to like high 50s that night. That's warm. So if the bull died, if that bull, that arrow went cordoned away and that bull died, you know, within it pretty quick. And then if I waited until morning, the meat would be, I would lose all the meat. So I knew the bull was going to die with that shot, whether you're going to, you know, I figured he wouldn't go far because it looked like a good angle.

And the arrow looked like it went, you know, full penetration. Yeah, yeah. So I'm like, I think this bull's dead. So I said, I think I hit it at 7.30, but just in case it was a little bit back, I'm like, let's go to 1130, you know, and we'll get this meat. I don't want to lose some meat. So, I mean, now this is like, I don't know. I mean, I don't even know how I want to say this. But yeah, here's what I'm going to say. I think the way the angle was and the way he turned. it got pretty much guts right and uh it could it had to have got his liver too but they can live for a long time on a liver guts and liver they can live for a long time so moral to the story we went back 1130 jumped him wasn't dead and i'm like i didn't sleep all that night so i'm like we're going to be back in their first light and

I don't want him to suffer, but I don't want to lose this to me. So I'm just like, I don't even know what I'm hoping for right now. Right. But I got back in there, first light, and shot him again. Yep. And finished it. And so he pretty much done was, you know, didn't move, didn't, head was up. but point is it wasn't the kill that I worked every day for it wasn't what wasn't uh you know 50 yards

and pile up which hunting sway goes sometimes i mean as bad as it sounds is as tough as that is to deal with there's it's life and death and death isn't always pretty right i don't care what what animal was speak human species animal species death is ugly sometimes times. This one, this is not how I wanted it to go, but the saving grace to it was the meat, because I had, I killed that animal the next morning. The meat was, obviously, he just died. So the meat was fine. Didn't lose any meat, which when you're getting the high 50s, if a bowl lays all night, you're pretty much losing all that meat. And that would, I would hate to kill an animal and also not get the meat. Yeah. That would be the worst case scenario.

You know, an animal suffering longer than I wanted to is not ideal about me getting the meat. So his, that sacrifice and that killed is, um, there's, there's purpose to it. Yeah. It's sustaining us. Um, so that was. Yeah. That was a rough morning. I think, you know, one of the things that I, I learned a lot this season, but one of the things I really came away with is, you know, I spent a lot of time.

with you. And I also know how hard you work. I know how much you care. This is everything to you. And you do more than anyone to prepare and best offer that animal a merciful death. And even then, it's bow hunting and things can still go wrong. And so, you know, something I'm taking away from that is, you know, prepare as much as you possibly can because there are just certain things you can't control and that's just the game. You know, it is what it is, but there's always that silver lining too that is, you know, we got, we got all the meat, you know, and it's hard. I don't think, I mean, obviously there's people out there that are just, they don't care. But, you know, everyone I know, everyone that's close to me, the killing is our least favorite part. That sucks.

It's hard, you know. Like I said, I cried three times this season. And, and, Um, it's hard to take, take an animal's life. Um, you know, I think we all have a huge respect for elk and huge respect for animals and, and that's the least favorite part. But, you know, it's the other things that, that make it so worth it. Um, and so to be able to get the meat from that elk was was awesome, you know. Yeah. I, uh, I, I remember shooting that bowl that morning and saying, I'm sorry. Yeah. Yeah.

It's hard. It's, uh, yeah. And then, uh, he passed and just sat there for, you know, I don't know, 10, 15 minutes. Yeah. And just, uh, yeah. And then broke him down. Yeah. You know, broke him down, got that meat, uh, uh, Kevin and,

Ed showed up, you know, after their morning hunt, I was still working on that bowl. Ron took, he took 73 years old to pack two out quarters down. Yeah. I mean, and he loved it. Oh, God. I tried. I was like, I'll take it down. He was like, no.

I was just working on that bowl. And he was just ready to take a load back down to the Polaris there. And, yeah, it's, I was a special morning. So, and that's kind of like. Like, you know, that's the book ends to a hunt. There's the one end is the death and the not ideal death of that situation. The other end is a camaraderie.

Yeah. And sharing in those moments with Kevin, Ed, you, Ron, Dave showed up, you know, Bubba was down at the buggy, keeping flies off the meat. So it was that, that, those moments I'll never forget. Yes, I'll never forget how I felt having to shoot that animal in the morning. I'll never forget the pain of that. But also we'll never forget the just the positive experience and the emotion and the fellowship and the brotherhood of packing that bowl out, breaking them down, getting that meat

taking care of, getting into the, you know, Ron's got to walk in cooler to shop, sitting there, drinking coffee looking at the kills from all the years previous in his shop it's like jake coming over from next door i'll never forget that too so it's like do they off do they out what was one outweigh the other no you consider both of them individually and you learn from both of them and you appreciate both of them for different reasons right um so yeah it was uh it was the cap to uh you know i don't want you know you said you cry it three times i don't want to make it seem like you're just you know this This is like a stressful. And it wasn't.

I don't give a fuck. You call me a pussy. Go for it. It was, I don't know if people. I don't care what people say online. It's a lot. It's a lot. It's a lot.

From Grizzly to four elk hunts, driving back and forth, flying everywhere. Yeah. I will say, I don't cry about anything. Yeah. I mean, you know, there's been some shit in my life that has happened that I didn't shed a tear for. So if that can shed any light on the mental status of where I was at. Yeah.

But yeah, no, I don't, I mean, people can think I'm a huge pussy. I don't really care. Yeah, I got, I got tiered up on the San Carlos Bull just because of how much pressure I felt, you know. Yeah. And that to me was a really special moment. But, you know, I remember, you know, getting there. And, you know, part of my job, too, is whether I am really bad at it sometimes or not. I just want to let moments breathe.

And it's not all about, you know, whacking haters. You know, I took a photo of you thanking that animal. And someone had the, someone commented, like, imagine posing for this photo. Yeah. That shit pisses me off. It's like. There is no posing. There is no posing.

And I, yeah, I mean, whatever. Maybe it's probably not even worth talking about, but it makes me mad. Yeah. Because to me, when I look at that photo, I see the raw emotion, you know? Well, you were there. Exactly. Yeah. And you were there.

So it's like there are people in the industry who set up shots like that. So this wasn't that. No. And it's just like, I can't, you know, I see a lot of shit set about me. You know who doesn't talk shit about me? People who've hunted with me. Exactly. So if you hunt with me, you got shit to say, that means something.

If you're just some dumb fuck out there who's got an opinion, but you've never hunted with me, what are you talking about? What would you know? So, yeah. So it's just, you know, I can't, I know there are people who maybe they look at hunting differently. Maybe hunting is more of a business to them. Maybe this and that. and that influences how people look at things. I don't know.

I can't control that. All we can control is me and how I conduct myself out there and how I carry myself on a hunt and what the standard I live up to. If you want to criticize that, of course you can. And that's the way it goes. But I remember seeing that comment on that photo and that photo was as real and raw as it gets.

I'm not staging shit like that. No, and I wouldn't either. you know, that's my work. I think that photo depicts the emotion perfectly. So it's just shitty to watch someone coming who knows nothing. Yeah. Fucking say something like that. That's all good.

That's why, you know, that's why we do this, though, is we kind of give context to it. So it's, I know we don't want to address the haters, but also I want to give context to two moments. And hopefully people can listen to this. And you can judge, but hopefully this gives you a little more insight

into kind of the complete journey of a month in the mountains. For sure. It was, there's a lot, a lot to it. Well, let's, let's end. What was your, what's your number one highlight if you had to choose one? Maybe a couple. God. You know, I'd be honest, it's, when I kill, that's just what I do.

The highlights for me are, When I see Joe succeed, Adam succeed, share those moments with True at my son, have Tanner there to spot a bowl. That's what stands out to me. I mean, I was wearing, Tanner made me necklace off of the bull I killed in San Carlos last year. And I had that ivory around my neck when I killed a couple of these bulls. And that's what stands out to me. when I kill it's pressure I put a lot of pressure myself I work really hard to do this this is my life but this is just what I do so it's like it's the other the other parts like seeing uh Joe succeed after

starting him and bow hunting in 2014 and and watching him have success and to see what that means to him and then you know I've I've had some great hunts with Adam I know how much how good of a bow hunter he is so having him just like on a high from this epic elk hunt that those are the moments that stand up to me yeah um you know seeing seeing the tribe happy with what i did that uh the prayer with ed kensy saying the prayer saying the prayer over my utah bull that um yeah bubba ron kevin being there with me in oregon that's what stands out to me. It's the people. Definitely.

Yeah. That's awesome. How about you? I would say the same thing. I would say, you know, a bunch of different people from all walks of life, all connected through, you know, the mutual love and respect for bow hunting. And that's just really cool to see no matter, you know, it doesn't have to be bow hunting. It's just cool to see people come together, no matter where they come from, what they believe.

and all share a love and respect for something and so deeply. You know, it felt like we were always surrounded by people that had that, you know, true, authentic love, which, you know, doesn't get better than that. No, and I think in regular life, that's way more rare. For sure. In hunting, it's, you know, it's rare when that's not the case. Yeah. But so that, and that's what makes it so special.

It's like the type of people that hunt and, love the mountains those are like the the type of people that this the fabric of this country is built on just hard work um just you know respectful uh just traditional americans basically definitely and so yeah it's like uh yeah it was it was you know i got 11 months until another month in the mountains Yeah, so I opened this with saying it was one of the hardest months of my life. So I'm going to close it by saying it was also one of the best. I mean, I had a blast out there. I learned a ton.

Can't wait to do it all over again. You did a great job. I mean, it's one of the hardest things to do to capture that on film and to, you know, it's such high stakes and you don't want to screw up. This was your first time filming me. Tanner had a little advantage because he's filming my whole life. Tanner's a stud on the camera though. I told him, I said, I've only gotten more and more impressed with you this whole month.

Yeah. He's a badass. Yeah, he was, I don't know if he's born to do it, but he's, you know, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, I told him, I said, you're better than you know. Yeah. And, uh, but yeah, I was glad you guys had that, that time in Oregon where he could, you know, share like his, how he approached things. Yeah. And, uh, but I think, you know, for. for you you you care that's a big thing it's like it's hard to make people good at something if

they don't care about it and so because you care and it means so much you're gonna you got some great stuff i mean your photos everybody comments on your photos your photos are world class yeah i don't know about that but they are the filming is uh it's a work in progress but you got some incredible stuff i mean the grisly the last kill we got some amazing footage so yeah it's just you know it's fucking tough yeah it is tough but that's no excuse and uh yeah shout out to tanner that that conversation we had really helped i texted him after that kill shot and just said you know a lot of his words helped me just just the confidence he had to um so that was a big help yeah well good work yeah i know it was tough yeah yeah

But you did a great job. For better for it, though. Yeah. All right. Well, this is our month in the mallons update. Stay tuned for the films. Yeah. Are they done yet?

Yeah, they're done. All right. Take care, guys. Keep hammering.