Cameron Hanes - Keep Hammering Collective - KHC 112 - Jody Cyr

Episode Date: January 24, 2025

Join us for a discussion with Jody Cyr, one the best Oregon bowhunters Cam knows. Jody talks about Cam, Kevin and Jody’s “Ranch Bull” hunt, his strategies for elk 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 James: https://www.instagram.com/james_g_williams/  Thank you to our sponsors: Black Rifle Coffee: https://www.blackriflecoffee.com/ Use code KEEPHAMMERING for 20% your first order MTN OPS Supplements: https://mtnops.com/ Use code KEEPHAMMERING for 20% off and Free Shipping Grizzly Coolers: https://www.grizzlycoolers.com/ use code KEEPHAMMERING for 20% off 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 Sig Sauer: https://www.sigsauer.com/ use code CAM10 for 10% off optics Timestamps: 00:00:00 The Ranch Bull 00:05:37 Where “The Ranch Bull” Name Came From 00:07:14 Cam, Jody & Kevin’s Hunt for the Ranch Bull 00:16:50 Boone and Crockett Elk 00:19:27 How Jody & Kevin Akers Met 00:21:37 The Difference Between Average & Elite Bowhunters 00:26:49 Show Sponsors 00:28:20 Hunting the Woods is Like a Puzzle 00:31:09 Where Jody’s Success in Elk Hunting Came From 00:34:37 Bowhunting Equipment 00:36:46 Frontal Shots on Bulls 00:41:54 Elk Tags 00:43:15 Hunting Nevada, Remi Warren & Memorable Sunburns 00:46:30 Jody’s Most Memorable Hunt & Sharing Hunting with his Kids 00:50:24 Jody’s Strategy to Calling in Bulls & Preferred Calls 00:56:09 San Carlos, Lone Bulls, & Rugged Country 01:01:59 Oregon Warriors - Jody’s Coaching Job 01:10:44 Outro

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 with Jody Sear.

Hey, we did not plan on doing this. No, we didn't. Well, here we are. And for those that don't know, Jody is like one of the best bow hunters I know. Well, thank you. Small town, Oregon. Rined it out. Badass. I don't know about badass. I'm getting old game.

Wow. You've been doing it a long time. How long you've been bohunting? 35 years. Nice. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, I started in 89. You must have started right after that. Probably right in that range. I know I rifle hunted when I was 12 for a year and then have been bohunting since. All right. And out of Powers, Oregon. Powers Oregon. Yeah. You were a football star there. Played football, yep.

No, but then you wouldn't play at Southern Oregon, right? Yeah, yeah. So, I mean, had to be good. Yeah, that's fair. I mean, you know, the pool's pretty small in those kind of towns. Well, in those towns, but not at Southern Oregon. There are some studs that came through there. Yeah, there's a lot of good players.

Yeah. It's actually amazing watching it now, working in the school systems for the past, you know, 23 years. whatever it's been and coaching all that time. Kids are good now. Yeah. It's amazing. Really? Are they better than back in the day?

I think they're better athletes. I don't think they're as good. They're not tougher. What about tougher? Not even close. Yeah. Yeah, so powers. And then that's, so I've been going down there.

We shared a hunt, well, a couple hunts, but we killed the Ranch Bowl down there in 2010 together. Was that one that was? I think it was. Jeez. Yeah. Fifteen years ago. Do you remember how that all came about?

Let's see. Well, I think you told me there's this giant bull. Or you tell me your, I mean. All I know is I think you said there's this giant Roosevelt, and I think you could probably get the opportunity to hunt it. Yep. Is that what it was? That was kind of it.

And then one of the guys I knew in Powers had access to that place and was starting a guide service. Yeah. Ron? Yeah, and I don't think I was Ron's favorite person around that time because I kind of used to hunt out there. And I went to Ron and I said, hey, I could get Cam down here to hunt this bull

and it would blow your guide business up. And he was like, no. I'm like, okay, what? And he's like, no, we're not going to do any archery hunts because it was, I think it was, initially it was just going to be a rifle thing. I said, Ron, you don't get it. Yeah. I think you should have this dude down here.

And he finally came around and agreed to it. And then it was you and I and Kevin, wasn't it? Yeah. And went down and. So tell me about the ranch bowl first. Or did you know about the bull? Oh, yeah. Okay.

Yeah. That bull had been there for, oh, probably, I was probably aware of that bull for like five years before that. And how I became aware of that bull, obviously I grew up there, but there was a bunch of wild pigs running around in that sixth country. I didn't know that. And I think at that time, was I the principal there at that time? I thought so. I think I was. Yeah.

So after work, I probably spent like 50 evenings in a row trying to kill those pigs. and I spent every single day out in the woods It was before I had kids And I ended up killing a couple of them But I constantly just watched that ranch bowl Oh And I think I think the year before you killed them

I picked up his shed or either the year after I don't remember the sequence of how that went But Because Ron said you could hunt sheds there You know go pick up animals Well no Ron didn't say I could hunt Shenz there. The ranch managers said I could hunt

sheds there. Okay. Okay. And that was a little point of contention for a while. Yeah. But yeah, it all worked out. I got to spend a lot of time on that place for a lot of years. And it was mind-blowing to me to go after pigs out there. That was super cool. Oh, I bet. I didn't know if there's pigs there. I've never seen one.

I don't think there's many around anymore. I don't. The fallow deer still, like, down on that gay lord. Yep, yep. Yeah. It's like a game park down there in places. It's pretty interesting. But I, we had, we used to go to California all the time to hunt pigs because it was cheap and we could drive there and somehow they ended up in there.

Oh, got you. There's some theories on how they ended up in there. But they did. So I thought, heck, man, I'm going to hunt the heck out of these things. Yeah, you can hunt every day. They would go between dements and powers of the time. and then I think even over into the Eckley stuff that you would access their Bob bent.

And heck, I piled them up in there for a couple years. It was fun. And so you would see, so tell me how it got the name of the Ranch Bull. I think that thing just, well, I mean, it was the king of that ranch for years. Because people think, oh, Ranch Bull, like it's like on some high fence ranch or something like that. It's like, no.

Well, that's the furthest thing you could ever get from a High Fence Ranch. I don't know the exact acreage of it, 18,000 acres or something crazy. But it's just reprod and timber and super steep and super thick and you're going to work your guts out to kill bulls there. I used to try to call bulls off there all the time. Yeah. Which I was pretty successful had actually. But that bull, he was scared of nothing.

Remember the first time we heard that thing? Yeah. I know. It's almost like you want to get behind a tree and be like, protect yourself. You're scared. Yeah. Well, you got video of him in the road, didn't you? Before I killed him.

Remember when he's in that road? Yeah, yeah. And he's like a fighting bull? Oh, yeah. Yeah. He feared nothing. And the crazy thing is there were some giant bulls around. I mean, that same year, Warnock killed that great big bull on a governor's tag.

Yeah. I think those bulls were smart enough to avoid each other. But man, that ranch bull, he let nothing around him. Super smart bull. I felt like we got kind of lucky when we got him. We did, you know, so that hunt, okay, so you've got 18,000 or whatever, however many thousand acres, you're going after one animal. Not the greatest odds.

I mean, Bull can be a lot of different places, a lot of thick timber, a lot of reprod, which you can never even see in. But we sort of, I don't know if we had a system, but we were kind of eliminating places. But then I think you kind of knew where he'd like to hang out. Murphy was one of those. Murphy Canyon was one of those places. But, you know, de Mence is another property that's there that we don't have permission on. Right.

And so you might have 18,000 acres. He goes over one cattle fence. You're not hunting them. And when we were on him that day, he was literally, what, 400 yards from the line. Yeah, yeah. But I remember that was about, we had been after him for a while. I mean, maybe five days. Is that what it was?

Probably. And I remember it was the middle of the day, kind of like maybe around noon or something like that. And we were just chilling in Murphy, just kind of. kind of laying around wondering where the elk are, heard a bugle. Yep. And we're like, was that the ranch bull? Sure was. Sounded like the ranch bull because he had this like just aggressive.

Super drally. Yeah, and he was by this time, so you knew of him for years, but by this time I think we were thinking he was 12 or 13 years old. Yeah. I mean, did you ever have him aged? No. No. I remember his body was pretty giant giant yeah

yeah like there's very few elk you would ever see that are that size and I mean you've hunted Roosevelt done I've hunted them done I've probably seen two bowls in my life that are similar to and he would just thrash other bulls I've watched him in spotting scopes a hundred different times just destroying anything that came near him And what was, I knew we could kill him because he had never been hunted with a bow. Oh, okay. You know what I mean?

Yeah. They were always rifle hunting him. Yeah. He left the herd. You know, I knew if we could get after him during the rut. He was rut and he was in big trouble. Yeah. Yeah.

And it still took us. And like, if I think back to that day, God, what a, what a roller coaster. But me, you and Kevin, so I've had Kevin on here before. I listen to that. People have seen him. you know because we've been elk he's been helping ron down there guide these bow hunters now and uh so me you and him i think we had a big plan i think you were filming kevin was calling yeah and i was shooting yeah so we had this we're in this little strip of meadow timber on the edge we thought

man it'd be sick if he came out into the sun here right good video yeah and we could whack them right here kind of tight little opening but a bowl like that he's not going to be coming out in the open no so he i think he we heard him coming in and the wind was okay but he stayed hugging in that in the tree line and i could tell and i'm sure we all could tell he's not coming out correct and so i saw flashes of just hide kind of back a little bit of little holes in the pretty thick timber right there but then he stopped and there's a hole and i had hide and i'm like i think that's his shoulder right there 30-some yards and it was a ranch bull we'd been out you know so boom hit him didn't know exactly where like i said i thought i had the shoulder there and i don't know if i did

have the shoulder and made a poor shot but point is i hit high and back on that first one i believe and And so we were like not knowing, thinking he took off. And I just remember what this is like. He's like not some, depending on where the bull is, you can't hear them for a long time. Sure. So we heard them bust off and then quiet. So of course, what were we thinking? We're super pumped.

I mean, you're never pumped until you put your hands on those things. Because those, you know, big mature rose belts are not typical elk. they have a will to live that surpasses anything that I've ever hunted. And so you're always kind of nervous. I felt good because you're very effective with your bow. And you felt like it was a pretty good shot. I thought it was at that time. So we kind of all got back together and we're like, yes.

And about that time, I think. No, no, no. No, it was that came later. But first, so we're like, let's give them some time because I was hopeful. but not 100% sure. So we walked out, Ron, somehow we got a hold of Ron. He went and got us burgers. Do you remember?

So we're like, let's give it a couple hours. I think we waited until two. And so we were like, ate the burgers. And I'm like, okay, two, let's sneak up in there. And hopefully he's dead right there. And the ranch bulls like, I mean, I don't know. I've killed. How many bulls have you killed?

Oh, man. Chase asked me that the other day. Somewhere in the 40s. 40s. So it's, but to me, you can speak to it, it's never easy and it's never guaranteed. It's like, as you said, until you hold them, you don't know. But you want to be confident. Totally.

So we're like, let's get in there, find blood. And if he's right there, man, that's a great day. So we get back in there. And I think we're in that. timber and it's not not finding like a ton of blood and uh we heard a kind of a bugle and we're like looking at each other it's like I was I wasn't a ranchable was it probably like a couple hundred yards above us yeah which is what exactly where where he went went and we're like it sounded but that first one wasn't like you said when you heard the bugle you're like there's no doubt

that one didn't sound like it and we're like I know, there's no way. We thought it was probably a satellite. Right. And then he ripped off a ranch bowl bugle and we're like, oh my God, that fucker's still bugling like the ranch bull? Yes. Where did I hit him?

And we knew right there. Yeah, we knew he was alive. Do you remember? I shouldn't say the best part about this. Probably the most tense part about this because Ron was with us then. Was he? I believe so. On that trail?

I think he did come in there with us because I remember thinking, oh, geez. I don't think he was. You don't think so? No, because what I remember is there was a clip I had where the camera was set up and we had it recording. When you came back down. Came back. Yeah. But he wasn't there.

No, he wasn't there then. Oh, okay. But before that? I thought, or maybe, maybe I'm wrong. Anyway, go ahead. No, I was just going to say I remember him. him, his face just being like, are you kidding me? Oh, when you bugled?

Yeah. Yeah. And we were all like, you know, it's the highest of highs and the lowest of lows and you go there that fast. If a bull is bugling, he's okay. He's not going to be dying anytime soon. So I like, which I've said many times over my body career, unfortunately, but I think I said, let me go clean this mess up. Yep.

And I'm like, took off my boots, said, I'll be back. Yeah. And I didn't know what was going to happen. But snuck up that elk trail up. There's a skid road that came in. And then there was this old barbed wire fence up there. But I sneak up. And I don't know if he bugled again.

Maybe he did give me a look. But I knew kind of where he bugled from. And I remember seeing there's there's some cows in there. And so I'm like, God, I can't. I don't want to spook any of them. So I'm taking my time. And I get up to Skid Road up on top of the ridge. And I pop out.

And I look around like this. And I look. And there's the ranch bull. And he's looking back at me. And I'm just like, I go back. And I'm like, oh, my God. Okay. He's like 25 yards away.

Quarter and away. Full draw. Lean back out. Doosh. Right. Hit him back here. He takes off. And I hear that.

that fence like squeak and stuff so i'm like oh he hit the fence i run up there and that that arrow actually did something to him the corduering away one and then i hit him again like in the i mean it sounds terrible now but in the back leg yeah but he was like moving off through the meadow and uh i went up over the ridge and then he was down there and i think i shot him again just just to make sure and then came back and uh do you remember what i said on that video. Ranch Bulls dead kids or something. That was that was it.

And we were just like so pumped. Oh, man. So pumped. You know, and truth is, Kim, that was, uh,

you know, that was before big Roosevelt started getting killed. Yeah. I mean, it seemed like it. A 300 class Roosevelt 15 years ago was very few and far back. Yeah.

I mean, I don't think I had even seen one in that country. That's what was so cool about that bull. We were like, Yeah. Dude, this thing is huge. Well, and so just for people, for reference, everybody knows a Boone and Crocket animal is a giant animal.

Absolutely. And a Boon and Crocket. So how it works is Pope and Young for Roosevelt is down 2.35, 240, something like that. I think at that time it was 225. 225, okay. So then a Boone and Crockett, Roosevelt, which is generally for rifle hunting, a boon and crockett Roosevelt is 290. Was it at that time?

Yeah. Well, I thought it was 275. Oh. And I could be very wrong. I think it's 290. But anyway, to get something with your bow over Boone and Crocket threshold, over 290 and then to 300, that's giant. What did that finish out at? It's like 300, 3.

I think like, is it 301 or something like that? I don't remember, but it was big. Yeah, or 302 or three maybe. But yeah, for us. It was the biggest thing we'd ever seen for Roosevelt. Honestly, I had never seen one bigger at that time. I had neither. Yeah.

No, for sure. There's these guys here, the Dunsons, who used to have the world record and the number four bowl. And I remember they were, it was 316 and 312. And I had seen mounts of those up in Marcoa. And I think the 316 was a world record. The 312 was number four. And Robert Dunson killed the 316. And to me, I thought, well, that's a world record.

you're never killing one. Yeah. Probably even close, let alone, for sure, not over, but probably not even close. So to kill a 300 was like, that's knocking on the, you know, at that time, that's huge. Yeah. I mean, I felt like we were probably the greatest El Cunning crew in the world at that time. It felt like it. We were on a high.

For sure. I mean, I felt like you could have thrown us three. in anywhere. We will get some, we'll get, oh, you heard of a big bowl? Where? Let's do it. Yeah. But I still feel that way, Cam.

So do I. But we were supposed to be humble. Yeah. But no, that was, so I mean, I wanted to, I wanted to, you know, you said you're going to bring me up a boat to look at. And I'm glad you did. But I wanted to talk to you about elk hunting too because that, I think that bull and that experience definitely was, you were.

one of this most special of my life to be after such a special animal with such with people you and Kevin who have had so much success and people talk all the time about oh it was a public is a private is this how many but whatever all I say is if somebody's killed more than 20 bulls on public land and listen to whatever they say well I don't care I don't care what they say or how they did it but they know something yeah so both you and Kevin have killed more than 20 bulls on public land And I felt like us hunting together, it was so special just from Oregon, got it done so many times. Totally. I don't know.

It was special for me, for sure, just, you know, obviously hunting with you and bringing Kevin into that mix. Because Kevin and I's whole relationship was built around hunting. I mean, hell, we met in a thunderstorm on Dixie Mountain. We didn't even know each other were there. At a John Day or where? Out of John Day. up on Dixie. And I was hunting this big long ridge by myself.

And this lightning storm came in. And it scared the hell out of me, to be honest with you. It was just pounding around me. So I took my bow and went and put it under a tree off over there. And then I went and hit. I was like, that tree's never been struck by lightning. So I'll be fine there. Everyone else was torched.

So I went and got under that tree. And then that storm finally passed after about 15 minutes. And I came wandering back out to get my bow. And there's Kevin. Really? Like, that was some crazy. So we became great friends after that and had done it all over. But super good, El Conner.

Yeah, yeah. Well, so are you. Yeah. I mean, like I said, if you've killed, now you've killed 40 bulls. Somewhere in that range, yeah. That's insane, dude. Yeah. That's a lot of bull.

And now we're getting into hunting with kids. I know. Just a ball, man. Yeah. Super cool. But don't you think, like, when I always talk about, when I think a small town Oregon. And I've said it on here before and, you know, a lot of different type of people listen to this, not all small town Oregon type people, but to us, or how I grew up, you can

speak to it yourself. But the guys who killed bulls, well, I didn't know anybody who really killed a bull with a bow at that time when I came up. But if you could kill a big buck or a bull, I don't care how, you were like legend. I mean, that's who the kids wanted to do. Like, oh, did you hear this guy got this giant blacktail or this guy got killed a bowl? It's like where we grew up being an elk hunter or even if you could kill a good bull with a bow rifle, that meant something. Totally. Still does to me. It still does to me too.

But it's like, no, that meant not just something. That meant everything. Yeah. I didn't give a about anything else. No. At first, before I hunted, uh, uh, wrote or I mean elk, it was a. big black tail that was just like all I cared about giant black tail well maybe not even giant just like chasing just like a big four by they were giant tests then to us yeah and then started I killed that bull in 89

that spike bull got the tag over there and then it was just like god could you imagine if you killed a six by six bull with your bow so then that was like obsession but the the point was it's like to us in small town where we grew up that's all there was. There was nothing else. And I felt like I'm a pretty analytical person as time has gone on. And like I always think about

what separates good hunters from average hunters or, you know, weekend casual hunters. And it's a really interesting thought because I've always thought, every good hunter I know is crazy competitive. Like generally. generally a past athlete, they're just vicious in life in general.

But the biggest key that I've seen, I think, is they all grew up in that environment. They grew up killing things. They grew up watching animal behavior. You're always in the mix of it. And I don't think you learn that stuff overnight. And you might not even know you're learning it at that time, but you're taking it in. Yeah. I've hunted with million people and I'm like, why didn't you move? Yeah. And they're like, I didn't know I could. It was rubbing a tree, you know, or whatever the situation. Right. Right.

They don't understand. A million little things. Yeah. Yeah. It's, uh, and I've taken a lot of people out too and newer hunters and stuff like that. And it's just like, you forget how much you know until you take somebody who doesn't know anything. And then you're like explaining it. It's like, you can't, you can't, you can't, you know, do you hear your pants? That's one of my favorite stories of yours. You're my f*** pants doing that? Oh, well, James just heard that this, that was another cameraman. But yeah, James just heard that like first person experience in Utah this year.

Lucky you, James. Yeah. But you know what else? So you talk about all the good hunters you've met, have all been that small town, kind of maybe learned and didn't realize they're learning, just like this experience. You know what else I've because I think about this shit a lot too. And people don't talk about this or I haven't heard it. But the best hunters I know are smart.

Like and hunters usually aren't hunters and smart usually are like oil and water. It's just like, no, he's a hunter, but I thought you said he was smart. How does that? No. But like when I think of Roy, when I think of, you know, you, Kevin. It's like, or if I'm with anybody who's got it done, they are smart. Because you've got to look at the situation. You look at the factors that weigh in.

You're making decisions based on that. You're making assumptions based on that. And it all has to like work to get within Bow Range. And you're looking at the weather. You're looking at the wind. Like, you know, we had this time, you know, you're out. the winds this way, but then, you know, a dark cloud comes over. It changes a wind for a second. Or a plane comes over and you're like, I'm going to use that sound to close in on this.

So it's like all these little things that like weigh in on these decisions you're making. And you have to be, I don't know, I don't know how to explain it other than you have to, I mean, you have to be smart about what you're doing. If you're going to be consistently good. Yeah, yeah. You can get lucky. Yeah, absolutely. You can get lucky. But, and I think that kind of gets missed because hunters aren't generally thought about, you know, being intelligent.

But the guys I know, pretty good dudes. They can push it together. I've always looked at the woods, and I talk to my son about this all the time, or people you know we hunt with. The woods have just been a big giant puzzle to me my whole life. And you find pieces that go together. Now, you're never going to piece all the puzzle together. other, but you get a pretty good picture of what's going on when you've been through it so many times. And you're observant.

Yeah. Many people go into the woods for fun and maybe they're serious hunters, but they're not connecting dots. Yeah. And once you start connecting those dots, elk hunting is very easy. Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of tendencies that you can, yeah, I mean, it's just going to affect decisions you make. And then when the animal, the animals haven't really changed much. Probably at all.

They're going to be about the same forever. Correct. And so we can change. We can learn. We can adapt if you do it right. And if you want to be good. And then you max, then you take advantage of the chinks in their armor.

Absolutely. Where they make mistakes. And I've probably learned more about elk behavior, out of elk season, than even during the season. I remember I used to go spook elk just to see where they went. I knew they were going to get spooked. Yeah.

Yeah. So the sunny season came around. Right. And then I'd go wait where they're going to be spooked or whatever the case may be. Yeah. But or using different calls and people are using different sounds, different sequences, different, you know, pace and rhythms. And just always tried to really stay ahead of what people were doing.

So it worked. Yeah. Well, any animal that gets hunted gets used to being pressured from, you know, humans are pretty predictable. you know so an animal's gonna pick up on that for sure i mean i even notice that like if you're looking at a logging unit like we're here in logging country and you look at this unit everybody pulls up to this landing everybody looks at this same way but you know as well as i do there's folds in that country those bucks know where they can be seen where they can't be seen yeah so if you

walk over down a ridge where you can get a different angle on it there's might be a giant buck right there. And very rarely can you see everything. Oh yeah. From one place. Right. But people they, I mean, they won easy. Totally. So they're not walking 300 yards down a spine ridge in Repod. No. And most people can make it pretty easy with a gun, especially in that country. You can go glass up to here and take one or whatever. It looks a little different. I mean, I've always said rifle elk hunting in that country, you have about five minutes of a plan and then it all goes to hell. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You're just getting lucky. For sure. Yeah. What, uh, like, so you said, you think about what makes a good hunter, but what's, what's led to your success? Do you think just that

time in the woods and just, just being comfortable out there? I think much like you cam, I didn't give a shit about anything else for a long, long time of my life. Yeah. Um, if I was doing it, it was to get better at El County. Yeah. Plain and simple. Right. My weekends consisted of being in the woods or going and meeting up with buddies to go check out new areas. I lived it. And when you do that, you sacrifice a lot of other things in life. Yeah. But you get pretty good at Elkhund.

Yeah. I've screwed up a lot of other things, but not Elkhunding. I still look at like what I do to just chase this Elkhundi dream every year. And I'm just like, God, I'm going to probably look back and regret how much. time and money. Never. I've spent, I doesn't feel like I'm going to, but maybe.

To me, like you, I don't care about anything else though. So I don't know what I'd regret it for. No, you know, I mean, I'll never regret anything. I'll regret not going on a trip.

Yeah. And, yeah, but you, you know, life has different phases, you know, like raising kids,

that takes, ton of time. Yeah. Marriage. Just making things right. But I've never put hunting on the back burner. I think my wife could agree to that now. When it's something season, like, I don't do anything until I kill an elk.

Right. That's it. Yeah. Yeah. And I never will. I love it. Yeah, I just don't think, you know, social media is kind of weird. There's a lot of people who want to, I mean, we're so lucky.

so lucky to grow up the way we did. And maybe at the time, I always say when I was growing up, I didn't feel lucky. I was just like, whatever. It's like, but now looking back, I see all these guys who want to be elk hunters or have a dream of killing a bull or wanting these opportunities like that we've chased. And they're like starting, you know, 30 years later than we did. And I'm like, wow. And you'll never catch up. It'd be so hard to learn from ground zero right now.

You know, and I think a difference now in when we started, like, I could go back to when I started hunting elk, and I literally knew nothing. Nothing. I remember a dude in our town, probably the only archery hunter, and I idolized him. He actually gave me my first boat. See, I'm telling you. That's the kind of guys that we look up to. But I remember he came home one day, and he was my neighbor. And his kid was like a year or two older and he's like, hey, my dad shot him.

an elk today. And I walked over there in his son who had hunted with him a bunch, so I thought he knew a ton about elk hunting, grabbed the arrow and like smelled it. And he's like, that's a giant bull. I was like, holy cow, these guys are brilliant. Turns out it was a cow. But I didn't know what you I was like, holy shit. He's getting to know everything. But yeah, it's a, you can learn a lot. Yeah. I was looking at this today.

That's what it was. Yeah, one of my buddies gave me this. And so we talk about, like, we didn't know anything, but also equipment. Dude, today, I don't know, I don't know how we killed anything really, but this is exactly kind of what I shot right here, but not with the feathers. but a 2314 with the thunderhead. You see that 125 on there? I remember the thunderheads.

Yeah. And I definitely used these big arrows. Way too light. Oh, my word. I mean, that is the worst. This weighs like, it feels like it weighs 200 grains. I bet it's not 300 with the broadhead on it. It feels so light.

And this is what we used. So our bows sounded like a 22 going off. And they were louder anyway. Yeah, louder anyway. And then so they sound like a 202 going off. And then, so they sound like a 22, but also went slow as hell. So you're not even gaining anything really, but this is what we had to get it done with, which nowadays, like I shoot, I don't know what you shoot. You can tell me, but like a 491 grain arrow with, I shoot, I've been shooting grim raper.

So it's like 2.75 inches a cut, which that's a big hole to try to push through an elk. But if you shoot heavy poundage with a heavy arrow. It works, right? What are you shooting? I shoot those VAPs. They're heavy with some added weight to the front. How heavy is it total, do you know? 480, I believe.

Yeah, that hits hard. Yep, and I went to an 80-pound bow just for that because I'm always calling elk by myself. Oh, so frontals. Yeah, I wanted to make sure I can get through. Yeah, yeah. And yeah, that's, I mean, the drawback to by yourself. Those bulls are coming right to you.

Yeah. So if you can't make that frontal shot, if a light arrow might not get through there, might, but a heavy arrow has a lot better chance. Yeah. And so you probably shoot a fixed blade head then. I do. Yeah. I've shot those VPA. No welded broadhead. They're much like the Montecs were.

Yeah. But just a solid piece. And so how many bulls do you think you've killed frontal? Probably half. Really? Half of those 40. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, you know, you're not supposed to take frontals. I know. I've heard that. And can something go wrong, of course. Yeah. But I've also, you know, truth be known, the first branch antlered bull I ever killed, that was like 14. And I didn't know you're supposed to check your gear. And I didn't know you're supposed to side in broadheads.

Didn't know they would shoot differently. I just thought you screwed them on and away we go. They weighed the same. Yeah. Yeah. So I had gone out in Coquille, actually, and blew on my bugle. And I heard one, and I heard crashing coming to me. And I thought, oh, this is awesome. Well, I came to full draw, walks out about 12 yards, quartered to me. Didn't know you're not supposed to shoot that anyway. So I put it behind his shoulder and squeeze the trigger. Well, I shot about a foot left. and I hit it perfect frontal. Oh, that hardly ever works that way. And I'm not kidding you, that bull was like, bam, took about three steps, fell over dead.

Whoa. And I was like, hmm. That worked. That's not where I wanted to hit it. But I'll take it. Yeah, so I'm registered that away. And then, you know, as time went on, a lot of opportunities came of real close. And, you know, in Oregon Coast, like, yeah, I agree.

Don't take frontals at any kind. of distance really or be sure of what you're doing but the frontals I'm talking about are like six seven yards yeah and where do you aim usually I don't aim center I aim off to a side right in between the shoulder blade and the sternum kind of and treat it just like a quarter and away shot from the other side I mean you're just aim at the other side of their body is how I've always done it yeah and it's super effective yeah yeah I've you know I always I always want broadside or corner and of course, but just a couple years ago, I had one charge in on me, just like you said two yards, put it like right where you said.

And I have, I killed another one in the Eagle Cap where I went like in this hole. Yeah, right where the color changes guy. Yeah, yeah. And it's just that came out its ass from the front. And that bull didn't go anywhere. So it can work. It not only did it not good, like literally didn't go anywhere.

No. Didn't take a step. It's devastating. But also you have to know where you're holding. You have to be calm. You know, can't be punching the trigger because you're off by a couple of inches on a shot like that. Came over. No.

You're wound in that bowl. So it's not for everybody for sure. No, I don't think so. I mean, know your own limits. You know, and when you get in those situations, it's tough to keep it together. A bold screaming in. Coming in right to you? It's tough.

Yeah. Yeah. I've seen a lot of people not perform in that situation. I've always had just a simple little routine I go through in my mind. And I get nervous. What is it? I pull my hat brim down and I never look at their handers. Once I decide I'm shooting, I'm off.

I make sure I can see their eyeballs and that's it. Yeah. And that's worked for me pretty well. And then pick a spot or do you think about anything like that? You know, I would like to say. I'm better at that than I am. Because normally they're pretty close. I'm just burying that pin in the middle of them.

Now, if I'm like trying to be super accurate, yeah, like a longer shot, I'm going to pick air. Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. Many times, I mean, when you're shooting that bowl, right here. Yeah. Now, I would lose it on that bowl. A little different ballgame.

They're usually like five points. Yeah, no, I understand. Yeah, going to be. down to Arizona changes things for sure on stuff but they die the same if you hit them good they sure do yeah and and I mean from what I've seen from Rock is I don't have a ton of experience hunting them probably five or six seven trips but I I love hunting them because of the terrain first of all and then the pack out yeah they're like half the size yeah yeah those road yeah I mean that I think that ranch bowl I think we like hang

and it was 500 and some pounds. It was over 500, I remember. Yeah, that's a lot. Or was that Wartnock's Bull that won the Portland one? Like hanging meat, remember he was talking about that? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and if you get, I mean, over 400 pounds is huge. Yeah.

Of quartered meat. Oh, yeah. Giant. But 500? Yeah, it's nuts. Oh, those hams are well over 100. Yeah, yeah. And that's huge.

You hear people say, oh, I had 100 pound of hamps. No, it didn't. people say a lot of crazy stuff um yeah so how many points do you have for elk not many oh god well i got 23 oh so one of these days i'm going to actually draw a tag are you going to do it yeah no i've always drawn powers when i could oh okay yeah so you never put in for win a harn anything like that no yeah because i know kevin one time had uh was it mount emma walla oh is that what it was Him and Blake. Him and Blake.

They both killed. I think we had that article in Eastman. Yeah. Yeah. Two giant bulls. And that was even, I mean, again, going back, Kevin was a legend to me because he was killing all these giant bulls. But Kevin had figured out where to hunt and play the States game far before.

Yeah. Yeah. He was early in that. Absolutely. Yeah. And he killed some great bulls. I drew one tag in the Mount Emily in the random draw when I was teaching it. Nostuckus. So that was

20 plus years ago. And I drew it, I think, with three points. And I shot the first six point. I saw it. Yeah. That thing's giant. Yeah. Yeah. I was super excited.

Was you like 300? No, it was like 270. Whatever. Big to me. Oh, I mean, that's that ego cat bowl, it was like 275 and that was giant for me. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. It's funny how life progresses, huh?

Yeah. Yeah. No, it's all good. Well, I was telling these guys. You guys earlier about, remember when we got our ass kicked in Nevada? Yeah, I do. And then Remy's brother shot that buck out from under us. Do you know that's who that was, Remy Warren?

No way. I didn't know that. Remember that tent? Yeah. Right where we were hunting that big non-tifical. Yep. That was Remy. No way.

Yeah. Yeah. Because they were like, he said they, you know, they grew up there, like kind of hunting there. He's from Reno. Yeah. And the car we had, rental car was at the trailhead. And he said, what? And who is back here?

And then he saw my name on a bow case or something like that in the car. And he's just like, God, dang it. And then we go back and we're hunting the exact same buck. And then they killed it. Oh, man. That was a tough trip. Yeah, that was, there wasn't a ton of deer back there. Very little.

And I had to hunt in Nevada a few times at that point. And every time I had gone to Nevada, I was like, holy cow, this is like the holy grail. Yeah. And you're seeing 20, 30 bucks a day. And rubies, the rubies were loaded. Awesome. Yeah, I killed bucks there. And it's like, yeah.

What we did get was sunburned. Bad. I remember your ear and neck? I think I sent you that picture like four years ago. Somehow I came across it maybe on an old camera or something. Remember my ears got like an inch thick burned. and cracked and we're bleeding. And then the hole in the back of my hat.

It's like it all scabbed. Yeah. I'm going to put on some miles on that trip. That was horrible. Do you remember what I remember most about that trip was, first of all, I couldn't stomach another MRI. Like it made me gagged.

But your sick photo of me on that rock. That was sweet. Yeah, that was good. But you remember that little spot we found where there were thousands of arrowheads? Oh, yeah. We were looking down into that big basin, and you could tell, like, they sat there and just chipped arrowheads.

Yeah. Like broke one through it on the ground. Yeah. And there were hundreds of them. I never encountered anything like that by life. Me neither. Yeah. That was really cool. No, that was super cool country, but big.

Giant. Yeah. We saw sheep up there, didn't we? Wasn't there a bunch of sheep? Like hundreds of them. Yeah. So many sheep. I remember at one point you're like, because we've been talking, I said,

Cam, I think we hiked above all the deer. And you're like, No, I think they're on that mountain over there. And I was like, oh, God. Let's go. Yeah, it was a grind. But yeah, that was a tough year, too. That was when my dad died, I think, right before that.

Like the day before we left. Yeah, it was a rough one. It was a rough one. But that was also the year we killed the Ranch Bowl. Was it? Yeah. Okay. Yeah, same year.

Yeah, that was fun. Yeah. We made the most of it. Yeah, that was really probably one of the first, like, backpacking hunts I had going on. Oh, really? Extended. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that was, that was legit.

Now, like, what's been your best hunt lately? Oh, man, definitely my best hunt lately has been hunting with my son. Yeah. Archery hunt. Killing bulls. Killen bulls. He's already killing bulls. Dude.

Yeah, yeah. Last year he was 12 years old, shooting like. 54 pounds or something crazy. He just hadn't gone through puberty, nothing. He was just a midget. Yeah. And called him in like a nice five-point bowl. And he's like from here to your weight bench from me

so I can watch everything he does. But we were on this little break. I was trying to get this bull to come up and see me. Yeah. And well, I hung up right under him. And I watched him draw as bow calm as could be. And I was like, and I heard it hit. I said, buddy,

Was it a good shot? Because you don't know what they're 12-year-old. No, they see what they want to see. Yeah, I said, was it a good shot? And he said, Dad, there's blood all over its side. And it ran off. And I caught a little glimpse of him, and he was wobbling. I was like, ooh, I think this game over.

So we let him, I said, let's give him about an hour, bud. We'll just hang out here. And I'm never seen this in my life before. Probably 15 minutes after he shot that bull, there was a bunch of crows circling him. That fast. That fast. And I said, what do you think those are doing, dude? Yeah.

Could they see them or smell them? I would assume see them. Yeah. Yeah. But I didn't know they go off vision either. Yeah. That's fast. It was amazing.

I was like, I'm pretty sure that bull's laying there dead, bud. Why don't you hike down there and check it out? Oh, man, I got video of that kid recovering that bull. That was probably one of the coolest things I've ever seen. I bet. It was awesome. So then this year I was off hunting in Idaho. And we had a pretty big bull, 303 hanging out within the vicinity of the house.

Yeah. So we have six or seven stands hung up. And now he's 13 playing football, so his time's kind of limited. He can run home back and forth. But he called me and I know. He's like, Dad, Dad, I just shot that big bull. And I'm like, are you kidding me, dude? And I said, was it a good hit?

He said, I think I hit it perfect. And I was like, well, have you got, have you looked for it yet? No, no. Should I? And I'm like, what else you're going to do, buddy? And turns out that bull only went about 40 yards from where he hit it. Is it 303 bowl? 303.

Rosie. Oh, my God. 13 years old. I said, buddy, that's better. You're done. Bigger than anything I've ever killed in my life. You're done. Second bull.

Wow. And it's awesome because he, He's a full-blown addict. Really? That's so fun. We can cater to that addiction. Yeah. That's amazing.

I don't think there's anything. I mean, people talk about it all the time, but that is about as good as it gets. For me, it is for sure. It's really, really cool to see your kids take on your passion and then start putting their own efforts into getting better at it. Yeah. That's cool. Because, like, most kids. to get that passion going,

you got to kind of make them go. Absolutely. Most kids don't want to go and be miserable in the mountains for whatever. Get up early. So you hope that you expose them to it and then, you know,

in time, they'll develop this. They love to do it. But it's cool that your son, second year, two bowls. Two bulls. He's like, this is easy. Well, well, that had me thinking.

That's awesome for him. Yeah, shout out to him for incredible animal. But you said you called in the first bowl for him. Like what, I'm just curious, what's your key to calling in bowls? What do you think? Oh. Why are you good at it? You're going to get me going on a tangent here, Kim.

Okay. So. You just got to buy a nice dinner. I'm going to go against that whole smart theory we were talking about earlier. Okay. Because, you know, over the last couple of years, you have so many. resources on elk and calling elk and this that and the other thing and I I know a lot of the dudes super well that that talk about them are very bright people I also think people

way over complicate calling elk and particularly if you could see elk to work them that's a whole different ballgame but I've always just looked at elk calling kind of like fishing to be honest and I mean I mean, if you're fishing and you're using a rooster tail and it's not working, you're going to change it out, Panther Martin or whatever the case may be. And I've always done that. Thomas Lur. Correct. Yeah, steely, whatever the case may be.

So I always kind of start with just super mild calf, cow calls. And if I get them responding to that, that's what I stay with. If nothing bites on that, I get a little more aggressive, then continue to get a little more aggressive. Maybe throwing some raking, some rattling, some whatever the case may be. I started rattling bulls several years ago just because no one was doing it. And it works? Absolutely. Yeah.

I know I've like picked up antlers like just this year I picked up an antler and gave it to Truit. He was with you in Utah with me and I'm just like start doing this. You know, because we rig branches on trees. But if you can have an antler, now we're talking. Yeah. Because those bulls can tell the difference. I actually had a buddy boil out a shoulder blade. Okay.

And that's what he packs with him to rub trees. It's a lot lighter and smaller. And it sounds just like an antler. That bone sound. Yep. Yeah. It's, but I do think that that is also being smart.

Like you, you know, it is because you, I think we get stuck in, you know, worked one time. It's going to have to keep working, right? It's going to work every time. And that's not how it works. It's, uh, these, these animals are in different moods, different things happen, different encounters that they experience.

Maybe you got their ass kicked and everybody talks about this too. but you can't always predict the mood or what happened previously for that animal. And it's different daily. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. Yeah. I mean, it's the weather that day could be different.

Sure. And it's affecting how these animals are behaving. But yeah, I was just curious because I know you've called in a lot. And okay, so on that note, what calls do you like? What do you prefer? I use a lot of read calls. Like a brand? Do you have a favorite brand? Corey sends them all to me.

Yeah. So they're Elk 101. Right. Rocky Mountain Elk calls from what they used to be. If I'm going to use a bite and blow call, I love, this is crazy, but I love that Primo-Sypilip single. I can do so many different things with that and it really got comfortable. Actually, Born and Raised came out with the call last year.

I don't know the name of it. I have it. Now it's my favorite call. I'm no question. I like the cowgirl. It's just that same old. That's that bite and blow one. That is, yeah.

And it's just like, what it? Well, I prefer not to call. I prefer to kill them when they never know I'm even alive. Yeah. You sneak in there, get an arrow in him. And you're very good at that. Yeah, yeah. And I would prefer not to kill an elk unless it came in to the call.

Oh, you love calling him. I love calling him. Yeah. And that's, hey, whatever works. Yeah. It's just exciting. I mean, there's nothing more exciting, arguably than a bull coming in. But you also blow a lot.

setups just from vocalizing and giving your position away well and i said this the other day and i said all i know and it's not like i'm obsessed with like the biggest bull ever but i just know like if i'm going someplace very special like you know saint carlos or whatever and there is a giant bull i have a better chance of killing it without making a noise 100% that one bull yeah if i'm after one bull um I think that's probably true with any mature bull. Yeah, it's just they've seen a lot. They've heard a lot. Especially in today's day.

Yeah, yeah, definitely. So it's, I think you can, you know, I said this other day, you can definitely call in and kill bulls for sure. I mean, calling has killed so many bulls. But if you're after one, I was talking to Casey Brooks about this other day. You know, he killed that giant one. And he was in a blind for that one. But those giant old bulls, man.

You know, and what was I? Oh, no, this was with bucks. And I'm wondering if bulls are the same. But I was hunting down in Texas. And they say, like, they let those bucks get to, sorry, I got bulls on my mind, but now I'm talking bucks. But they let those bucks get to seven and a half or eight and a half years old, which is crazy.

Yeah, I mean, to me, a four-year-old is mature, right? But what happens is those animals, they rut hard, five, six, and then they get older, they don't rut. Oh, really? They just want to eat, and so they get bigger. They're not burning stuff. They're not wasting calories chasing doze around fighting bucks. And I wonder, like that bull Casey just killed, I wonder if it got to $490 because it's not rutting hard. Could be.

It's not breaking hours. It's not wasting energy chasing stuff around. Well, what's your experience? like with big bulls at the San Carlos are you seeing them are they Ruttinghard or are the big monarchs off by themselves some of the time um well like that one was by itself this year that that big one i killed um tight bull came in yet came into a cow call this bull i didn't make a noise i snuck it he's he's he's 398 and i i just was in the middle that hurt and he followed a cow by but had no idea i was there, that bowl came to a cow call by himself. So I haven't seen them. I can't speak by himself.

By himself. By himself. Yeah. Nuts. So I don't, I've seen a lot of bulls there. I haven't seen giants. And somebody will prove me wrong and that's fine. But yeah, I haven't seen the giants pushing around a big herd. But maybe it's just, I haven't seen them. I would assume that bowl in Utah was by himself. That one on that pedestal. Yeah. That other bull on the floor is by himself, the skull, that leaning up against it.

So it's like, I don't know. If I think about it now, that bowl over there under the hoistine by himself. That's crazy. Do you think the competition in those areas, is good enough to keep a bull like that from having a herd? Or being the ranch bull mentality of like, I don't care if you come around, I'll whip your ass.

I think they'll get a hot cow and take her and push her off into a hole. Breed her, go get another one. I don't think they need to be around a herd. It's interesting you say that because I've always had that theory about big Roosevelt's. Like you'll never, very rarely will you see a big. Roosevelt just running with a herd of elk. I truly believe they wait on herds of elk and the timber take what they want and then let them go. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. I haven't really thought about it until talking to you and like looking at these now, but that one giant Roosevelt too that,

you know, it's not here right now, but you wanted to look at. He was, the herd was out there and I didn't even know he was even around. He never made a noise. And I just looked over on the timber line. And I was like, oh my God. But he wasn't running. Didn't make a noise. Really? So I don't know if he was just hanging around waiting for a cow to come in. Dude, there's elk in that country that I don't think had been seen by people.

I don't think that one had. I know that one had. Because that logging country, they're going to see every bowl. And I'm going to hear about a bull like that. I bet. I bet. Yeah, 100%. A 355, 7 by 9.

How does he sneak through? Where has he been for the past seven years? Yeah. I mean, I think I was talking to a buddy who guides on the Eckley side of that. Yeah. And he said that bull had been over there. Really? That year.

Oh. So they were after him a little bit. Is that Spoon Creek? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Ross. So they had seen him.

Ross had seen him, yeah. What did he think of him? I mean, he's mind blowing. Yeah. Yeah. I don't even think people believe you when you say. you see a boy. Probably not. Oh, right. Yeah, you saw a 350. Yeah, I'm sure you did. Well, because normally, like a 290, like we said earlier, is giant. Yeah. Yeah. So you wouldn't, if anybody did say that,

you'd be like, mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, no. And, um, yeah, so I don't, I always thought like in that country, you know, that, that, uh, for the National Forest Land up there. Like into that that's, that's a big timber. Could they be up there? Could they be up there living? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And that stuff doesn't get touched. I mean, the access to some of that stuff, especially during fire season, you're not getting in there.

But it's so rugged and remote. I remember there used to be a gold miner that lived back there, and we used to ride our motorcycles way out sixes. And somehow my mom and dad knew him. And then we would hike in like three miles to his cabin. And that was some of the roughest country I've ever seen. Is that like, where's Johnson Mountain? Is that up that way? So when you turn out to sixes, if you went straight right there, that goes up on Johnson.

Okay, gotcha. But if you went out to like, I think it's like 4,200 and then turned left, that would take you up into all that fluffy, rusty beaut stuff. Oh, I see. It's like probably the headwaters of the sixes. Okay. Well. Isn't that Avery Mountain back in that country? Yeah.

I think that is. Yeah, I think so. I just remember his name. Yeah. Well, Jake killed a good buck this year. Do you see it? A crazy one. Yeah.

So where does that thing come from? I know. He was all excited. Oh, I bet. Yeah. That was pretty awesome. And somebody was telling me like, yeah, Jake, he won't kill any big ones now. He wants it for his grandkids and he'll just kill a forked or now.

And then he's like, wait, I thought, what happened to his forkedore stuff? Well, there's limits to everything, right? Yeah. You see a buck like that there. You see a six by five. It was something wild. Yeah, yeah. And not only that, there's never been that genetic around there.

Yeah. Where did that? The extra time. Where'd that thing come from? I know. Normally down there, like, you know, a good three by three, three by four, four by four. But throwing extras? Dude.

Yeah. That was mind-blowing. Yeah. Yeah. Super cool for him. Well, yeah, I didn't, I mean, we're already getting late. You got, you're on a work night. I'm retired.

I don't have to do anything. But how's the North Douglas Warriors doing a football this year? They actually, football team lost in the state championship. They did. They did. They made the championship game. Dang. And I'm coaching girls basketball still.

Okay. How are you guys? We lost in the state championship last year. And I thought this year would be an interesting year. We brought in like 10 new girls. Where did they come from? home? Just underclassmen. Oh, okay.

Yeah. Many of them were on varsity last year, just didn't get a ton of playing time. My daughter's actually a senior this year, and my stepdaughter is a sophomore, so there's a good little investment in the program, but we actually just knocked off the number one seated team in state Monday night. Really? Yeah, so we're rolling right now. I'm not sure how with this group, but we're getting her done.

Yeah. So what's your record? Right now, I think we're 13 and 3. Okay. But we lost two top five ring, three A schools. Oh. Doing pretty well. And are you guys 2A, 1A, 1A?

Okay. And you're playing 3A? Yeah, we play up. Were you competitive? Yeah, we lost by one and actually by 16. Okay. Yeah. And then what was the other loss?

Our other loss was a loss that shouldn't have been. We lost to a private school. And it was early before we kind of jailed and got things figured out. Now you're kind of clicking a little bit. I think we'd get that one back by 20 now. Yeah? I think so. Beat the number one team on Monday.

We did, yeah. At home or there? At home. Oh, nice. Was everybody fired up? Yeah, it was fun. It was fun. Was it a close game?

Five, I think we won by it. Okay. Yeah. Super low scoring game. I think it was actually like 31, 25, just a defensive battle. Were you taking the air out of the ball trying to slow it down? How come it was? slow. Well, I think...

Because, you know, sometimes, like, if the team's, the team you're playing is better, you want to limit those possessions. Absolutely. Right? So was it, or was it just... I thought both of us left quite a few points on the table. I mean, at the end of the day, it is girls' basketball. Yeah. There's going to be some things not go. But I thought both teams did a really good job of just kind of muddying up the key and forcing everything out. And then it was...

Making them earn a rebound in battle. Yeah. Yeah. So are you, uh, what type of coach are you like, You got better play defense or you're not on the court? That is what we do. Really? And we play it baseline to baseline all game. 40 minutes of hell? Yep.

Well, I don't know. Is it 40 or 32? Okay, 32 minutes of hell. We rotate, oh, nine kids or so and just keep a lot of pressure on people all game long. Yeah. You hit any threes? We do. We have a very good shooting team.

Oh, good. And that game, we only hit two, actually. Oh. But generally, we hit quite a few. Yeah. Yeah. Well, most people so. us.

Yeah. You shoot them right out of that. There you go. It doesn't take, I mean, hey, dump it into the big girl, then she kicks it out. Usually you're open. Yep. So if you move the ball. Move the ball.

Yep. Keep spacing. So are you guys going to win the state championship? No, I wouldn't go on record saying that, but I would say we could, we could beat anyone in the 1A level. Oh, for sure. Just having. Stay healthy, get a little bit lucky.

Yeah. Yeah, we're in the mix. Oh, that's awesome. For sure. That's awesome. We've been to Baker for the last five years straight. That's so fun, isn't it? It's a great environment.

Yeah, yeah. And that's kind of cool, Kim, because that's like all the small towns. I know. It's wild. You used to go over there. Yeah, well, that was like, that's probably the biggest thing I miss about, like, Tanner being in high school. Yeah. Because going to Baker was, and those kids are good.

It's a small school. It's a small school tournament, but you only need to, five players. 100%. And small schools can produce five good players. Well, you know, I was just talking to a long-time coach that's been around winning girls basketball forever. I've only been doing it for six years at North Douglas.

And I said, first of all, it's kind of amazing to me. We're competing with that level of team this year with what we brought back and have. And he said, you know, honestly, there's just not an elite team this year. And for the past six, seven, eight years, there's a lot. been that elite team that's going up and beating the three and four estate chips yeah i mean train's how to run and girls basketball that's been phenomenal and we'll go beat baker and baker will win the four a state title or be a semi-final team wow you know so some real real good small school basketball um and i feel like this year it's kind of leveled out a little bit of

okay this is what it should be well all i remember you know baker it's still at baker right yeah so like when tanner was there i remember they played powder valley maybe in the state championship but you know there's i don't know what the gym holds a couple thousand maybe yeah and then they had an overflow gym with this with the game on that monitor yeah yeah and it's like that is wild and it gets wild there it is super cool loud i don't know it's amazing mella grew up playing and in Pendleton, which is the two-way state tournament. And so we always debate which one's better. But I've always said Baker's super cool.

Well, first of all, growing up in Powers, that's the only thing I knew. So if we got to make a nine-hour drive to Baker to play basketball, that was cool. But I think they used to do a better job, but the businesses in town all adopt a team. And then you're running into other teams everywhere you go. It's just a cool environment. It's usually snowing, which it's raining here. year. Yeah. Yeah. No, we used to love making that trip over there. And I mean, Mohawk, when Tanner was there, they never won, they lost in the state championship and then got one third. And then,

I don't know what happened the other time. But you made it over there several. Yeah. Which is tough to do. Yeah. Yeah. The one year, yeah, when Cord was, I remember that year. Yeah, he was, he got heard of football and then came back for basketball. Well, they were number one all year, won like 15 in a row, and then got over there. But Powder Valley, man, they had just big six-six. I mean, I don't know where this. And then some freshman or sophomore, like, I remember back-to-back dunks, like, just stole it twice. And Powder Valley's right there.

I practice there when we go there. So it's a little hometown, gym going crazy. They bring a crowd. Yeah. Oh, it's wild. It was pretty nuts. But yeah, I mean, it's for small town, I mean, that's all the matters at that time. It's a big stage for a small town kid. Yeah.

And like, I'll just mention it real quick, but where you came from, Powers, had somehow had a girl that came out of there who was a state, all-time state leading score for a while. Ginny? Ginny Mo, yeah. Yeah. I mean, how insane. And then played, I think, in the WNBA. And you know what's cool about that. She did.

So Jenny was a year behind me in school. So I went to school with Jenny from first grade through high school. Gotcha. And she did, I think she's like six four, six five. She's big, big. They won a state title. Then she went and played for the ducks. And Ron was a coach.

Ron was the coach. I don't know if you knew that. Yeah, I did know that. Sure did. Yeah. And then she played for the ducks for four years and then went and played in the WMBA. And now you know where she is? Huh.

She owns a bakery and baker. Oh. So every year we go to Baker, we go see Jenny. Oh, do you? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Super cool. What a story, though, come from, I mean, Powers is such a small town to make it to the WNBA.

I mean, that's pretty amazing, actually. That is, I mean. And now she's probably the best baker in Oregon. Is she? That her place is unbelievable. Oh, wow. Yeah, like off the charts. Well, she's good at basketball and baking.

Yeah, she's big. That's awesome. And she's so cool. She always takes a picture with our team and still visits and just nicely. Yeah. Wow. That's cool. Yeah.

Well, Jody, thank you. I mean, I just wanted to sit and talk a little bo-hunting with you. I figured didn't even plan, I mean, didn't even plan on being here and here you are. Yeah. Talk to Bo-Hun and. Cool. It was fun. I've never done this before.

Wow. You're great. Appreciate it. Yeah. Like I said, I have a lot of respect. for you as a bow hunter. You've been, you know, got it done for decades, more than, you know, more success on almost anybody I know, public land, Oregon. And, I mean, a lot of respect. And it's just, it's, it's an honor to have you on here to talk bow hunting because we've shared

tough hunts together, shared success together, been friends for a long time. So thank you very much. Appreciate it, man. All right. Thank you. Thank you.