Cameron Hanes - Keep Hammering Collective - KHC 147 - Elk Season Autopsy

Episode Date: October 1, 2025

Join us for recap of Cam’s hunting season - from a dream Oregon Wenaha hunt to his traditional yearly hunt at San Carlos. This podcast covers all the details of each hunt! Listen on: Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3XCm31n Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/3Dm6ClE Follow along: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cameronrhanes Twitter: https://twitter.com/cameronhanes Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/camhanes/ Website: https://www.cameronhanes.com Timestamps: 00:00:00 This Years Hunts & Hunting the Wenaha - Recap 00:10:33  Colorado Mule Deer Hunt 00:19:36  San Carlos Elk Hunt 00:31:56  Colorado Elk Hunt 00:37:24  The Man from Alaska: A God-Felt Meaningful Conversation 00:41:03  Utah Elk Hunt: Adam Greentree, Joe Rogan, and Evan Hafer 00:44:51  Hunting Wenaha: A Dream Hunt 01:16:02  Packing Out Cam’s Oregon Bull 01:21:07  Thrilled with the Wenaha Hunt After a 24-Year Wait 01:23:04  Feelings of an Undeserving Success in Bowhunting 01:28:08  Final Thoughts Thank you to our sponsors: Sig Sauer: https://www.sigsauer.com/ use code CAM10 for 10% off optics Hoyt: http://bit.ly/3Zdamyv use code CAM for 10% off Grizzly Coolers: https://www.grizzlycoolers.com/ use code KEEPHAMMERING for 20% off Montana Knife Company: https://www.montanaknifecompany.com/ Use code CAM for 10% off  MTN OPS Supplements: https://mtnops.com/ Use code KEEPHAMMERING for 20% off and Free Shipping Black Rifle Coffee: https://www.blackriflecoffee.com/ Use code KEEPHAMMERING for 20% your first order

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I hear them talking, saying the way that I'm moving so reckless, that is a part of my mind I've been blessed with. giving my blood so I am relentless. This is a key hammering collective. This is hunting season recap episode one. Of one. Yeah. So what is today?

Is it in September still? Yep. 29th. So we're pertinier through all of September, which is the Super Bowl for me. Pertineer. Pertineer. shit hellfire and so September is what I work 11 months for and it's about elk season and a couple maybe a deer or two in there but yeah so here we are it's we wrapped it up 2025 and now it's time to do a recap let's do it so we should uh cue everybody cue everybody in we should let the people know no laughing on this is not shit talkers yeah Okay, go ahead.

Okay. That. What the? I guess a short sold good. Yeah. Yeah, anyway, so we should let everyone know that this year, I did not go on three of the hunts, just went to Winahawk because I was training and swimming, which we'll get to later. This isn't shit talkers, though.

No, it says we'll save. Yeah, if you want to hear those stories, go check out the previous episode. But I did do research, obviously, into what we've talked about, what you've talked about, what you posted. So I got some questions. Oh, good. We'll get some things cleared up. Okay. We'll run through all four year hunts this year. Yeah, that sounds good. So number one. Yeah.

Who is? Cremarin Haynes. Yeah. Okay. So it started with you went down to Colorado. Yeah. Well, actually, it started here. We should talk about that. You went opening day here. Oh, right. Yeah. Yeah. So, okay. Here's how, here's what? What, here, God, here was my schedule. I think Colorado opened September 2nd,

Arizona for San Carlos, big bowls, opened September 3rd. I had to be in Utah for an Elkhund on the 16th. Okay. Okay. So we got from the second to the 16th, I have to kill two bulls and a buck. So that's in, what is that? Second and six, 14 days.

So two weeks. Not, not, I mean, I've definitely done that before. Definitely. Though what I didn't figure in is in between all that was driving back and forth a couple times, 10-hour drive both ways because the Bulls, San Carlos was so hot. The drought is just crazy down there this year. It's, they've never seen anything like it. It's so dry.

But point is, before that, Oregon opened on the 28th of August. So I'm like, I can't just sit at home for a couple days. What am I going to do, not hunt? So I'm like, okay, I'm going to go, bomb over to Winaha, try my best to not kill a bowl by myself. And this is a whole other thing. I don't even know if we can show the film because back in the day, so I said we were going to film this and make a film, back in the day, I had to quit hunting the wilderness in 2008

because some new law, BS, whatever license or permits, said you couldn't perform commercial activity, like filming a movie in a designated wilderness. And I used to hunt the Eagle Cap. So I'm like, well, they weren't giving them permits for it. You couldn't, there's no amount of money you could pay. So we had to basically stop hunting the wilderness. I don't know if that ever changed because I've just been,

And I'm like, okay, well, I'm not going to have somebody dictate whether I can share this or document it or do whatever. And then, you know, getting landowner tags, putting in for draw tags. It's just like I just wasn't in the wilderness for a while. I mean, I've done some grizzly hunts and brown bear hunts and things like that where it's definitely, you know, backcountry. But down here for elk, I hadn't. Um, so I don't know what the status of the filming permits is or are or if it's changed or if they just said, you know what, we're making a big deal out of that. That was stupid. Right. I know a couple years ago they passed, uh, I don't know, I guess passed, but they, they basically amended filming in national parks because they had the same, the same kind of rules. But they completely opened it up. Did they? Yeah. So I haven't heard anything about it since then, but.

That was back when I was with Eastman's, and that was all I was doing was wilderness. And that was like the business model is public land. And then I went to Rocky Mountain Elk for a while. They said, oh, you're killing too much. You're making it look too easy. I'm like, okay. So then I'm not there anymore, but anyway, it wasn't filming. So I don't know if it's changed.

And I'm to the point now where I'm like, you know, this commercial activity is like, We don't have catering in a film crew. And it's like, there's like you with a little, basically your phone. Right. Is this a commercial activity? So I'm almost now, if it still is a thing, I'm almost like, I don't give a fuck. It's not like people can, they'd make a big deal if I ever got like a ticket for no film permit and try to turn it into like, you know, a Ryan Lamper's thing. But obviously it wouldn't be.

and I'm almost like, I don't care. I'll pay a fine. I don't know. What are they going to do? They can't tell you you can't hunt. As long as the consequence wasn't coaching. I guess I got to figure out what the consequence is before I'm willing to just deal with it.

But the point is I wanted to film it or documented or whatever, whether we can show it or not or whether there's just a home movie. We'll figure that out later. So I went over there and I was trying to. not to kill on opening weekend wanted to check it out i had never been there and i knew that that was going to be my last elk hunt of the year the thought process was i'm going to go and get so dialed in on these other hunts you're going to stay home swim and get in shape for the mountains damn straight uh hopefully work on the storyline for you know this this film we want to make and um i would just go and just be i'd be on my a game by the time i got to win a hall that was my thought

So I went in on opening weekend for a couple days. And what I learned, and I think we've talked about this on maybe tanners or probably shit talkers, but I learned that it was very rugged. And where I wanted to go was going to be a big test. So I called you on the way home. And I said, you're going to get your shit ready because it's going to, this is going to be real. Yeah. And if we're doing this, you got to be ready.

So I said, take these. three weeks off from, you know, because, man, last year filming all four of them, we had some emotional roller coasters. Drama. Some might. And you were like, if anybody says this must be nice or this is just easy because you just show up. And then you were just like, you're going to have some words with them.

Because it is fucking hard. Yeah. Dude, traveling. And, okay, not, not aside from the traveling, killing. killing anything with an arrow. I don't care where it is. And just so you know, I've killed, people will say, oh, you only hunt private, this and that.

It's like, I fucking hunt everywhere. I've hunted all over the world, different countries, different states, everywhere. Australia, Africa multiple times, Alaska, a million times, Canada a million times. I kill everywhere. So guided, unguided, private, not, or public. It, whatever. I get it done everywhere. That doesn't mean that it's easy.

No. Because it was a grind last year. Yeah. And it's not like you're just going to these private places looking for any animal. Yeah. You know? And people like to say, oh, you get lead around. And I'm like, shut the fuck up.

You have no idea what you're talking about. I didn't witness any leading. I got lead around. Yeah. So point is. It's really hard. And I thought, well, it was like in a, it was, by the time we got back last year after four L cunts, it was, I mean, we needed a break. So I'm like, I don't want to go, I don't want to drag you into Winaha on a rugged, rugged,

backcountry hunt like we were last year, you know, just barely hanging on by the end. So I'm like, you just get ready. I'll go do my thing. I'll be hopefully on my A game and then we'll get to Winaha. So I tried, I went in that weekend. I saw a couple, couple good bowls. Really, it was really hard not to shoot them. But I didn't.

And it was amazing. I was by myself also because I was down on the bottom and the, the hole where I killed my bull, actually the same creek. And one reason why there's like a 360 down there. I could have killed it 20 yards. It occurred a shot, you know, and there's no guarantee on these killing things with archery. but I could have loosed an arrow at him, but I didn't even know if I was going to be able to get out of there, let alone 300 pounds of elk meat on my back.

So I was like, it wouldn't be responsible to kill this bull right here. So I didn't. I didn't have a plan for the meat, really. I was by myself packed in. And a point is, got out, called you, said, hey, this is the real deal. Let's get ready. And then I'll see when I get back.

Yep. That was it. I was opening weekend. Yeah, so he did that, and then you came back and you flew to Colorado. Yeah, I flew to Colorado Springs, got a car, got down there. What did I do? So I got everything squared away. You know, I've hunted this area for 20 years since 2005.

So I definitely know what to expect. Bobby Hill owns this this property and the same guys are always there. Johnny Hamilton's there. Wes Yoder's there. This Patty's the cook. It's all good. I love it. But there's big,

I always have a buck tag and a bull tag. And so my thought was I'll go and I'll get a buck because they're in velvet. You want to get them before they rub out. And, you know, opening weekend is about the best time to catch. you buck off guard for sure um so went down there uh opening day came i think we went out yeah we did we went out then i got there on the night before we went and looked at some bucks and uh you know just driving around uh glassing getting to to vantage points and then you know looking for deer we had a couple bucks i posted those like a number one and number two buck and they're big like one 190 yeah

I mean, studs. Freaking giant bucks. And as it turns out, I'll just say, there, okay, it wasn't the one,

the 190 kind of alluded me, but there was this heavy, heavy, probably like 185. And, yeah, I mean, the fact is,

I shot two arrows at it. Really? I did. Wow. Yeah. Both times looking, both times jukeed it. No kidding.

Yes. Wow. And I hadn't even, yeah, we hadn't even really talked about that. But I think like 50 yards. One was 46, yeah, one was 46 straight down. And this buck was eating on the, there's some acorns up there, eating on the oaks. And I came in perfect right over this ridge.

And I'm like, oh, he's freaking dead quartering away, 46. And I draw back. and I don't know if I skylined or whatever, but he looked right when I drew back and I shot. And it sounded like it hit. And Johnny was glassing from, I don't know, he's in the Sponiscope. I wanted him to film.

And he was a ways away, but, you know, I shot. And I'm like, knew I missed. And I was going to go get my arrow. I was like, wow, in the hell did I miss that buck, 46 yards. And he's like, I was, going down there. Then he came over and he's like, he goes, he goes, you hit him. He goes, I heard it hit. I'm like, didn't hit him. He's like, I heard it hit. And I'm like, oh, no, he's texting

me. And I text him back. I said, well, you're wrong. And I held up, my arrow hit this like log. And I held up this log and the arrow is sticking in it. So that's why it sounded like he hit the buck. Buck went over, bedded down again. And watched him go, perfect. spot. I get back down 50-some yards. Could have been, could have been 58 or 59. But same. Shooting down, he gets up and I'm perfect. And he same, he kept going to the right. A shot, went to the right and missed him again. I'm like, what in the frick? I haven't, you know, I don't have a missed a lot. A complete whiff. Yeah. I mean, I'd rather have that than a wound for sure. But I just didn't know what the heck was going on that buck was just he was had my number so um came and you know

whatever that was like the whole first morning i saw a clip from from johnny through the phone scope of you were kind of playing cat and mouse with the buck oh oh yeah yeah he busted yeah forgot about that one yeah different buck i think that was the same buck okay i just know i commented somehow this is still my phone oh that's right yeah you you did oh so that was the first stock of the morning And I had that buck dead. That was the same buck. I missed it twice. But before I missed it,

I got down and I was like, oh, this thing's dead as shit. Wind was good. This little tiny buck kit got in between me and the target buck. And it just, you know, I was kind of trying to stay in the shadow of the oak, but it's sort of in the sun peeking up and he saw something. Anyway, that was that footage. Yeah. So that was through the spotting scope.

And I wanted that on the kill. But anyway, so I had some operas. And I just couldn't, you know, it was just, again, I don't, I don't miss a lot. I don't completely miss hardly ever. But, uh, um, anyway, that didn't work out. So in the afternoon, I still wanted to find that the number one buck. I'd, I'd shot at the number two buck, that 185. Well, the number one buck we figured was 190, 195. Big frame, uh, cheaters. So, um, or up high on the ridge in the afternoon and I glassed down. and I see this buck and I'm like oh I'm like there's there he is that's a buck and then johnny looks

he's like no i don't think that's him and he looked very similar but he was heavier and little tighter point is perfect position so i went down and uh had a great landmark there's a log there and like this cut bank thing and and right at the top of the cut bank was a log so i'm like if i can get to that if the wind holds going up like it is he was feeding right there kind of on this little bench. And I'm like, if I can get to that log, I got him. So took a while, got down there, got to the log, slowly eased up on this, this broke, this dead tree thing. And I'm up there trying to not make any noise because it's just solid oak brush. And I just can't see anything or I can't see any animal. But I'm like, I thought he could be close. So I just eased up there as quiet as I

can. And I stand up. Then I'm up like three feet higher. That thing's, about as high as this table. And I'm standing up there and I'm like, God, where the hell is? He should be right here. Just right then this big oak brush right in front of me. Here comes that fucking giant buck walking around that oak brush at 14 yards. Oh. And I'm like, so he comes and he looks at me and I'm just standing here like this and I can't go.

Like I'm balancing on this log, first of all. I can't do like this big thing. So I'm like this. and I just pull my bow like this, which about dislocated my shoulder, but just like kind of pulled it like this. It's like, could barely get it back.

Got it back. And then went right when I got to him, just shot and just freaking smoked him. And he went 50 yards, just freaking legs going everywhere, blood going everywhere, piled up in seconds. And I get down there and he is freaking giant.

Yeah. He is, you know, he scored him at 205, which is, That's my biggest buck, that top one right there, and that's 208. He looks bigger than that. That buck is, I don't know.

He's got little extras that I think add up. But the buck I killed, giant, heavy, heavy thing. But yeah, smoked him. Then I thought, well, this would be a good one to pack out on my back. It's not a good one to pack out of my back. And so about killed myself doing that. But point is, got the buck killed. One of my best ever, made a good shot, felt good about it,

overcame the two misses, which it's about like, I mean, you can dwell on a miss. You can dwell on a screw up for sure. But we always, well, we always talk about, you know, me and the boys are like, you know, Brady and the Super Bowl against the Falcons. He threw a pick six, I think, and he's like on his hands and he's kind of dove at the guy, but he's like 10 yards away. It wasn't looking good there down like 283 or something thing. And then he was able to shake that off and come back and lead him to the greatest

Super Bowl comeback ever. So we always say, hey, Tom Brady got to shake it off. You got to, you know, can't dwell on it. Got to get it done. You know, it's like this is where you prove. you know who you are and so yeah i was able to get past those misses and then um make a good shot on that buck he's a giant and yeah that was that was incredible so out in the mountains there's no room for wheat gear when i'm packing out meat in the heat or loading up for a long range training trip

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And if you can't wait until then, Montana Knife Company gives listeners of this podcast 10% off any knife right now. Just use code cam at checkout. They keep hammering packout, my signature blade, built for the backcountry. get yours October 1st before they're gone. My thought was that I would go to San Carlos after that, try to get a bull and then come back to Colorado for a bull because the bulls weren't really going in Colorado. Do you see any or?

I think we did. Yeah, no good ones. Nothing memorable. No, no, nothing big. Nothing was bugling. It was just quite. quiet and a lot of water so all the animals are spread out. Couldn't really, yeah, they weren't really in a, and normally it's kind of dry.

And so they're going to be around water. When there's water everywhere, it makes it tough. Anyway, I bombed down, a 10-hour drive all the way to San Carlos got there. Yeah, I think you texted me. This 10-hour drive really sucks alone. Yeah, I did, because I think you drove, well, except for coming back. I drove, but you drove a lot of it. And it just, it's easier with somebody.

Easier to navigate all those McDonald's orders and in and out. In and out and red vines. So, yeah, I did the solo all the way down there, got there and heard that it was rough because it was the drought. And nobody's really seen anything. Nobody had heard of bugle. And it's like normal. That's crazy.

It's San Carlos. I mean, it's like the best ever. So we went out, and I don't think we heard of bugle. And I don't, I'm wondering if we saw an elk. Me and I have a different guide every year for whatever reason. But this year, I had Randy Hopkins, who's a stud. He's guided Kit before. He's never guided me.

but we were doing our best there both shooting good everything was good everybody was doing well homer was there talked to swung by talked to tim stevens at fishing game um yeah it was all good uh but just the bulls just were not going and uh we ended up like trying to find so they weren't in their normal areas where they we even went up to you know the dry lake area and it was just bugled like before light not one sound no kidding It was... That's wild. Dead.

And they're like, where in the hell are these bulls? And dry lake was like small. It was kind of... It's normally a big lake. It's just dry. Right. So we went lower to try to find some bowls for the second day and found some in the morning, glass them up.

And there's actually some view going there. So then we had a plan for that afternoon. They run cameras and stuff. Were they getting anything on their cameras? No. Wow, that's insane. So Big Joe's son, do you remember him? Yep.

He had cameras everywhere. I think he's helping guide this year. Mark's son, Dan, had cameras. And just no bulls. And so I think the rut, I think the cows just weren't coming in heat because it was so hot. So the rut is going to be delayed, which is not good when you got the first two weeks of September.

I had the first hunt. and then the second hunt is the last two weeks. I'm hoping it picked up by, but after I left, but when I was there, we found that pocket. I think we saw like seven or nine bowls when we went lower, and there was some bugling.

So in that afternoon, we had this big stock into this, get into this, kind of this rim and hopefully get the, the wind was going up. It was miles to get back there or to get up there. And then, you know, I had this,

this spot I wanted to get to, And I thought if we could get there and look down where we put the Bulls to bed in the morning that we're going to be able to spot him and then make a play. So me and Randy all the way, Dan was way down, miles down, but had a spotting scope. And he's just kind of watching from the distance. He ended up filming and getting me some cool footage. But we didn't have communication with him at all. So we were just kind of going blind.

But it was fun. Saw a bunch of Coosbach, saw the Rams up on the rim. It was. Yeah, the bear. The area looked just so beautiful. Yeah, it was. And that part was wet. They had water there.

So obviously that's why the animals were there. I mean, there was tons of bear. But like I said, the Rams had those bowls and lots of cruise bucks. But anyway, we're kind of waiting through all those animals got up to where I said to that spot that I wanted to get to. Then I was like, okay, perfect. We had like maybe an hour left, which is. a little bit tight. It took a little bit longer to get there.

Maybe an hour and a half left, but got up there and right where it was like you could look over and kind of finally see the lay of land and try to figure out where these bulls might have been. We saw two younger bulls on the way in. And, you know, they kind of had spooked, but they were down in there somewhere. So I get up there and this is a place where there's,

I mean, it's just amazing country and cliffs. and so I'm on the edge of this cliff and I look I just kind of look down like you do when you're mule deer hunting you're always looking straight below you because it's sick to see a big buck batted down there right

and so I look straight below me and here's this giant bull I'm like I was right above this huge or this nice big six by six and I'm like oh my God so I range range finder

says 42 yards, which straight down, normally it says 20. Right. Because it's straight down. So I'm like, if it's 42, it's got to be like 60 some. Yeah. And that is a hard, kind of a hard shot. So, so, here's another fun fact. I shot.

I missed that bowl. No. Oh, God. So my, think God, I'm Tom Brady basically with the attitude. And I can just be like, oh, yeah. Oh, you, I went up to? That's all right. Watch this one.

So I'm like, it was hard. It was just hard shooting that far straight down. So I'm like, I don't know what I did, but it went right over his back. But he didn't know what the hell happened. So I shot and he's just like, he didn't know, you know, he doesn't expect anything straight above him from six. So he didn't move or he kind of moved maybe a couple steps. And I'm like, okay, I got to buckle down.

So I pull back again. I just really, really focused. I got that pin. I'm holding, holding, holding right on his spine. Because I'm like, I'm just going to go straight through this thing. And I hit like maybe an inch or two a little bit to the left, but pretty damn straight down on him and the arrow went into his chest and I watched him take off and he you know went like 150 I could see him flashing through the trees 150 yards and then kind of heard to crash and then nothing

so I'm like good sign Randy's like where did he go where do you go do you see you know because he's like right there but over that cliff it's hard to see and uh I said yeah he's like right I said last I heard was right there so it took us a while to get down but we get down there and um Yeah, Bulls, Bulls dead. He died in probably 10 seconds. And yeah, got him killed, made a good shot. He looked healthy. So the drought, I don't know, I guess, I think down there there's a little more water.

But that was that, that was a... Had a little velvet left on his... He did, yeah. It's just like they're so far behind. Yeah. It's just so weird. It's wild. So weird that they've never, you know, they've hunted, they've been in this out-country, you know,

the Stevens brother. for their whole life and never seen a year like this. So I don't know, I don't know what that's going to mean. Yeah, that's interesting. I remember seeing the footage of you up on the cliff band and I was like, it'd be such a sick photo. Dude, it would have been such a sick video. Oh, yeah.

I mean, if I could get the elk too. Straight down. I don't know how you could. It was hard for me to shoot that way. So to film, I don't know. It would be tough. But the photos would have been incredible. Yeah.

I would have fucked up the video. So the photo would have been. Your legs would have cramped. No. So that was, that turned out good. I got that kill. And, you know, everybody was, yeah, everybody's doing good. Yeah, the camp was good other than, you know, it was just slow.

Yeah. It was just slow. But a great camp. Dan Agnew was in there. Yeah, Big Joe had another hunter, I think, a nine mile. Big sexy. Big sexy he did. And they killed a bowl with rifle.

Oh, nice. So that's good. And nice bowl too. But yeah, other than that, I mean, I know I think Eric Chester was over there. And I think he hunted every day of the season, no kill. And that's like, it's like 18 days, dude. Yeah, that's. That's not what you expect at San Carlos.

No. I mean, with a bow, you're definitely making it harder on yourself. Most people don't bow hunt. especially with how coveted those tags are you want to most people want to take a bull home most people won't stick through it with a bow the whole time or stick it out with a bow um but he did and no bull so it's kind of break sometimes so how many days total were you there for like two two yeah yeah no it just seems longer you got to load up and drive right back yeah so So killed a buck in Colorado the first day, killed on the second day in San Carlos,

then it was headed back to Colorado to try to find a bowl, which I figured that was going to take a little while, but I had some time because I didn't have to be in Utah until the 16th. So now I was a little bit ahead of schedule. I think, God, I might have got back there by, I mean, it took a couple days. I think I dicked around for a day, then another day to drive, then got there. so maybe it was like the seventh or something um about time i got back and uh yeah got back to colorado and let's see how did it go oh yeah um we had um we had yeah other hunter Robert was in camp um let me think how that went yeah okay so that's what it was Robert is pretty high strong

Big personality and thought that Johnny's so calm, cool, and collected, thought that it'd be good for Johnny and Robert to work together that I would go with Wes. Wes, I don't know if you remember him. Oh, yeah. But Wes is a stud. And we've hunted together before. And so we, I don't know, I think they were, I think,

I don't know how it was maybe Wes was guiding Robert before I got there. But anyway, we made to switch. or no, Robbie and Wes were guiding Robert and Johnny was going to take me. But we made this switch and Robbie and Johnny took Robert and Wes went with me. And then Wes took his camera and did everything, whatever. So we were out hunting pretty good, trying to find bulls, which is, it still wasn't easy. But one evening, things started to turn a little bit. and I had done this walk

got dropped off at the top and I did the walk kind of how I killed that bull right there but from down a different drainage and when I did it it looked awesome I didn't see any bowls but I saw a bear and I'm like well I got a bear tag maybe I'll try to kill a bear

but I like that walk well we went back over there because earlier in that afternoon we had heard some bugles in that area and sometimes there's some gas wells are sometimes a gas will sound like a bull bugle and so you're like sometimes it's hard to tell like you hear the high pitch from a distance anyway we thought we had some bowls so um we're heading out

there and rain's starting to spit a little thunderstorm moving in and i heard a bugle and i'm like i just heard a bugle and then we're like trying to figure out where the hell it came from and uh because it's super windy and um so i went over to the kind of the the far side of the ridge West was on the near side of the ridge and I went walking back to his site and I saw him running to the other side of the road. I'm like, why is Wes running around? And so I just go and I'm,

I didn't know what he's doing. I thought maybe he just was cold. Maybe he's had to burn some energy. Well, so I kind of head that way. Well, he circled around to where I had been. So we're running circles, basically. Anyway, I finally see. And he's like pointing that.

I'm like, oh shit. Okay. So he goes, there's a bull coming, bull coming. And I get right over the ridge. And he's like, like he's going to film. Like this bull's going to come in. And I said, no, stay with me. And so we went, went down.

I saw this bull coming up. And he's like an old gnarly bull. And I just bring Wes with me and I tell him, you know, stand right here. And here's this bull coming up. And I'm like, look and didn't know what side of the tree he's going to go on. I didn't know. I had to draw back and then try to figure out which way he was going to go. So I saw he was coming on my kind of to the right side.

So I draw back. Wes was kind of, you'll see in the film, but we actually can make a film out of this because the footage is amazing. But he was kind of stuck in the open. And the bull, I think saw him. Of course didn't see me.

Yeah. How could it see me? Anyway, I was at full draw. the bull's like for me to you. Yeah. It's close. He spooks. And I just step out of full draw and he stops for a second.

Smoke him. And he goes down and piles up on film. I saw the GoPro footage that Wes was wearing. Yeah. And it's pretty. Did you see the real footage? No. Did you post it?

No. Okay. Because I was going to say in that in the caption you said you were going to and I was kind of waiting to see it. But. Oh, it is. Oh, really? It is sick.

That's awesome. And the GoPro is. He just wears it on his chest. Those GoPro cameras. It wasn't half bad. Dude. Yeah. They're crisp nowadays.

But then he had a bigger camera. So between the two, it's incredible. But yeah, anyway, made a good shot. And that was another one at like, so, I mean, the San Carlos Bull was a little bit farther of a shot. But these two in Colorado both were like 14 yards on the buck. And then this shot was probably like, I don't know, 10 yards. I like that. Yeah.

Um, anyway, got him killed. Uh, then it was, um, it was kind of cool. There was a, a guy flew down from Wasilla to meet me that had met Roy's wife. Oh. At Walmart or somewhere. And, and Johnny said, hey, could, you know, there's this guy I want you, I want you to meet. He's, you know, whatever. He wants to fly down and, and have lunch with you, which normally I'm just like, I, I,

I don't need more shit to do during a hunt, right? I don't need to be thinking about entertaining somebody at lunch. And just like, I want to focus on the hunt, right? I want to focus on getting ready and shooting during the middle of the day if I need to, just getting in, you know, I missed a couple shots. Yeah, right. It's like, I got some shit to work on, right? I mean, I'm not like, I'm not used to, I mean, that was, what, three airballs?

I'm like, what the hell is going on? I had so much confidence, but that confidence can go quick. But when you've done it for so long, it comes back, right? Point is, though, I can't be distracted by entertaining people. But it actually, I said, you know, kind of reluctant. I'm like, okay, whatever, yeah, I guess. If he wants to fly from Alaska for a lunch to Colorado, you know, must mean something to him. And I didn't know who it was at all.

Well, turns out I killed that bull. he had showed up from Alaska and he showed up to help pack it that night in the dark. And I'm like, who the fuck this guy? No, he's the guy from Alaska. And I'll just tell you right now, it was probably one of the most impactful conversations I've ever had. Wow.

It was like such a God thing and such a faith thing. And so much, I just will never forget that talk that, that we had and uh i'm so thankful i didn't say no i'm not doing that right i'm so thankful it worked out the way it did because it'll it'll be it'll be something i'll be a night i'll never forget for not just because i killed a bull but because of you know i was able to to uh meet somebody very special and hear some incredible testimony and i'm so thankful for that even though i was so reluctant and I don't like things screwing up my hunt or distracting me ever yeah when I'm focused on that but it was for a reason and it was it was important and yeah so that's you know that

was incredible um yeah wild how you know if you didn't do it you probably wouldn't have thought twice no you know I wouldn't know what I missed yeah exactly but now I and his stories were crazy uh he's about a plane up there in Alaska has been with this badass pilot who's just yeah it's just the stories are crazy um so yeah i mean i i just can't i just can't say enough how thankful i am for that whole thing from from johnny to west to uh you know i'm always thankful for bobby for allowing me to hunt his property and um you know patty the cook um it's just and robbie i love It's just like that 20 years there and then to have, you know, another positive experience on the night of a kill. Never forget it.

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Just use code keep hammering and checkout and get America's Coffee today. And I think... You had a few days. I think I came home. I came home. Yeah, I came home because I killed that one, got that done, and I had like six days before Utah or whatever it was. And so I came home for a little reset and then went to Utah.

Utah is just, you know, I've been there for 15 years too. So it's, you know, incredible Al Cunning. The hard thing there is just finding an old bull. Right. You know, they want it to be. seven and a half eight years old for sure and it's it's hard to age elk sometimes there's a lot of bulls a lot of like three and four year old bulls and just loaded with them but hard finding an old one and i was uh a little bit yeah i mean i was kept thinking about winnaha i need to get back but this one

was adam was there green tree rogan was there and evan hafer and this was our big kind of fun hunt Like intense it's intense because it's out hunting, but it's also a lot of camaraderie and we have our own little camp and it's just it's just I look forward to it all year. So while I didn't want to miss it, I was thinking about the big hunt at the end of the season. You know, it's a once in a lifetime. It took me 24 years to draw this tag here. So I'm there the whole time they're thinking like, do I need to really kill another bull in Utah? Or should I, should I go? and take full advantage of this to win a haunt so anyway it was i mean we we had we had cable was there taking photos truitt was there uh i love sharing you know the hunt with truitt and all that um so yeah it's uh i i mean joe killed evan killed adam killed everybody killed and i took off out of there so i texted today i texted today about going back If, you know, they already have their schedule set. Right.

But and I'm like, do I, do I need, do I really need to go back? I want to. According to some people, you don't, but. Who would say that? Oh, I would. Yeah. Shit Talkers Weekly. Oh, right.

No, we can't say. Yeah. We can't say. But yeah. So, I mean, I don't know. I'm not broke up either way about it. I've had, you know, I've had a lot of success this year. but I just love if those bulls are bugling and if they're bored and and need somebody to keep them company,

I could make that trip. So anyway, were they pretty active there? They're off. They're, yeah. It's fucking nuts. It's nuts there. It's just so many, you know, it's steep, steep, steep, steep. And yeah, I mean, it's right.

You were there. Yeah. It's not flat. I mean, it's a cakewalk compared to one and a half, but... Yeah, definitely. But it's for most people, it's pretty steep country. Oh, it's not easy. I mean, none of them are easy, but for whatever reason,

people seem to think in their head that it's a flat pasture with elk in a little 10 by 10 foot cage. Yeah. And you got, see, the fourth bull from the left, that's the one you want to shoot. Just walk right up to them. Yeah. That's what they think. And our 3D scan, that scores 363. Yeah.

And this is through our R3 program. We got more hunters in here than we've ever had. And we're really building this. No, just kidding. Some people get, have big freaking boners in their butt about R3. Okay. So it came back here, but because this is the hunt I was a part of and whether or not we get to make a film out of it. This one, I wanted to.

do a little differently because I can ask questions. Okay. Some of these are, it could be tough. Okay. Or you might not want to answer them, but there's a few. Pass. Yeah. Wait, no, I ask a question first.

Then I'll pass. Okay. Question number one. What do you think of when you hear Winaha? Legendary L country. I mean, Oregon's most famous trophy unit, basically, is what Winnihan is. Everybody knows Winaha. everybody.

Here's how it works. In Oregon, your dream hunt is Winaha. Sometimes you put in so long, you build so many points, it's been 20 years and you're not drawing. So some people switch to Mount Emily or Walla Walla. They call that the, those are the big three in Oregon.

Those are the trophy units, but Winnihan is the best. Those other units do border it. Winaha is just what everybody knows. It's like, you're going to draw Winaha. everybody knows and everybody knows the bulls that live there. Okay, so you put in for 24 years?

Yeah. I mean, walk me through a little bit just kind of about when you first started putting in for it. Obviously, you said everyone knows about it, but knowing, I'm sure back then it didn't. It wasn't 24 years to draw. No. Right? You got the point creep. But when you first started putting in, I mean, when did you expect to draw?

I, dude, I do not think about that. the future. I think about like tonight and tomorrow and that's about it. So I was putting in for it, which is pretty impressive for me to play the long game on anything because I'm always like now. I want it now. Right now, what do I have to do? How much does it? Could I buy it now? Because I can make money more than I can make years of time, right? I can't make years of time, but I can replace money. So that's what I'm always like, I'll just. just do whatever it takes to take advantage of this opportunity right now. Well, with a draw and how Oregon works, you have to play the long game. So I wasn't even thinking, I wasn't even thinking

about when all at all. I thought, you know, I'm hunting, doing my, you know, the wilderness hansson or whatever. I can't even believe I put in for 24 years. I can't believe I had my shit together well enough to make that happen. I know, I know last year you had, you had made. mentioned like, oh, you know, I got a good chance of drawing this year and then you didn't. I should have. Yeah. Yeah. But when you didn't, it was just like, you know, another year that you didn't draw.

No. Even this year, my odds were 70% and I figured probably won't. Yeah. But I did. But yeah, it's a, yeah, Winaha is legendary. Yeah. Okay. So I've got more questions, but we'll scatter them throughout the story of Winaha.

So you got back. Well, first of all, you texted me and you said, coming home, leaving tomorrow. Yeah. Yeah. So the next day. Because I didn't know, you know, I didn't know my schedule. So nobody really knew.

Tanner didn't know. Wayne stayed over there for, he's been there since like the 80s waiting for me. But he, everybody was just, when are you getting back? When are you getting back? I'm like, I don't know. I don't know. I got to see how these hunts go. And so finally, I'm like, okay, I got to get, you know, this is third.

I was like, I got to go by Thursday. I got to get out of here. And I wanted to drive over there Friday, be there Friday to pack in Saturday morning. And so finally, on Thursday, I said, coming home, we're leaving in the morning. Yep. Yeah. What I thought was cool, too, is, you know, Tanner was such short notice. But even he was like, you know, everyone in his work knew you had drawn the tag.

Everyone was like super supportive of him being like, hey, I got to go. You know, I got a two hour notice. I did. At work. It was like 7.30 in the morning. And I said, I texted. I hadn't even talked to him. I said, hey, I'm leaving at 10.

I'd like you to go. And he's just like, I'm at work. Well, okay. He said, should I ask? I said, yeah. So he did. And they were like, oh, yeah, hell yeah, go. Oh, it was pretty cool.

Yeah, that's awesome. The thing about, like, his crew, they all take all September off. No, Kenny. And another, it's a great company. So you start off. This is like his second. year there, but he's got four weeks of vacation, which is, that's generally not how it works.

So he's in a great, great position to take advantage of an opportunity like that. But yeah, he was, he was all in. And in two hours, so left work, got home, got all his shit thrown together and was here on time with 10 days worth of stuff loaded up, ready to go. You know how long it takes people to get ready for a 10-day backpack hunt? a while. It took me longer than that, that's for sure. He was just, because he was so dialed in from his own wilderness hunt where he killed that

giant bull. And so he knew kind of what he needed, just had to assemble it again. And yeah, everybody's here at 10 and took off. We were out. Kind of a long drive over there, you know, it's seven and a half hours, but made the drive and pulled into camp where Wayne was at where he's been since the 80s waiting for us. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, Wayne, so he grew up hunting in the Winaha. His dad took him there when he was 12. He's 64, so long time, 50 years of knowing that country and mostly just loving it. And he said himself, he's like, he thought this was his last hurrah on these type of hunts. Because it's hard. You know, 10 days on your back is in that country, it's hard. it's hard for anyone. And he thought this is probably it.

And I don't know about that. I think he seemed like he's got a little more in him still. He's getting around pretty good. But yeah, it was cool. He'd been there. He took out Big Joe is another guy here, drew a tag. He took him out for about four days and he killed like a nice seven by six, not quite in the bottom where we were, but still very steep country.

And then he took out the kid that was camped right. that was camped by where Wayne was. And they had some opportunities. I don't think Riley ever shot, but Riley ended up killing a great kind of, this gnarly old bull also. Not with Wayne. It was when we were all together.

I think he was with his dad or somebody when he killed that, that Riley kid was. But, yeah, Wayne had been there. We were fired up. Wayne had, because he'd been hunting, he had a really good idea of where the bulls were, but still with the, as dry as it was over there.

It felt like the country was changing by the day as far as where water was. And that's going to determine where the elk are. So we had to do a little, you know, learn it on the fly also. How valuable was Wayne's knowledge, I mean, 50 years to kind of have him staying out there and ready to help in any way he could? Well, I mean, he's, he loves helping people. I mean, he's like just, he loves teaching people. He loves, yeah, just being involved and helping people succeed.

I mean, that's what he does every day at the bow rack. He helps new people succeed at shooting a bow. New archers succeed. And this is no different. He just wanted to help me succeed, do whatever he could. He's like, it's your hunt. You tell me, he goes, you tell me what you want to do. And, you know, I'm like, I'm just trying to appreciate being,

hunting with him again because it'd been probably about since I killed that big buck in like 91 since we did a backcountry hunt together been been a while and so I was just trying to really just um just honor that just our kind of our bow hunting history and how far it's taken us and then has taken us apart a little bit and then brought us back together for this hunt so I was just trying to like really just absorb that what it meant yeah this is my life yeah it's a big deal and to have him there and to be friends with him for decades and him on the bow rack and be such a pivotal figure in my life it was a it was a lot there's a lot going on but it is all meaningful what did roy think about when uh roy uh roy he hunted it before he hunted it before

was a draw. So yeah, he's used to running around that country. I don't think he ever killed a bull there. So we, I mean, we never hunted Winnihaw together. But, you know, I would go, I can't remember if I, I don't know if I killed, I can't remember when he hunted it. I remember him going with Wayne. And I remember them saying they're in the blue mountains. And I just, I wasn't, I didn't go. I wasn't with them. I don't know if I had to work or what it was or if I'd already killed a bull. But, yeah, I don't, at that time, that was before Winaha was really Winaha when Roy was there. Yeah, I mean, I couldn't help but think, you know, or listening to the kind of the stories you and Wayne were telling throughout the trip, you know, about your guys' history and Roy. And, I mean, it was super cool.

But, you know, you guys also talked about how much he loved backcountry hunts like that. Who? Roy. Oh, it's all Roy wanted to do. Yeah, this, he lived for that shit. Yeah, Roy was made for the back country, made for the mountains, and just at home every second of every hunt we were on. Yeah, you know, I couldn't.

It felt like to me here's this hunt that you'd put in for 24 years. And as someone who's trying to capture a story and soak up as much of it as possible, it just felt like, you know, all of that time really culminated into this one hunt. Yeah, I mean, whether you're thinking about it or not, like, consciously and like what it means, it's like, oh, this is so impactful because this has been, you know, two and a half decades of waiting for this opportunity. Whether you put it in those terms or not, it just subconsciously, you know how long you've been waiting for this. Whether I said, you think about it or not or whatever, I'm the one who put in my application for that tag every year. So I knew what was at stake. I knew how important it was.

And yeah, so it was just trying to take advantage of that. Yeah. So we woke up that next morning. We drove into camp and, you know, drove to the trailhead. And it was not that long of kind of walking out onto that spine where we just started going straight down. Yeah. And it was steeper than I'm not.

Yeah. It was, what's steeper in a cow's face? Yeah, steeper than a $2 chicken stuck under a coop. Steeper than a $2.00 whore. That's steep. That is steep. Yeah, no, that drops right off. Yeah. But we drop off, we hear bulls.

Then we get down there. Wayne loves calling. So we set up. And there's a bear down there. And I was like, maybe I should just kill that bear to get warmed up. Came in as like 39 yards, wanted to smoke it. But, I mean, I've been thinking about this outcome. I can't screw up the first day of my elk cut messing with a bear.

So I let it go. I really thought you were going to shoot it. And I was like thinking about the pack out and what we were going to do. Yeah. But, yeah, it was cool to, it was good footage. Yeah, that was fun. Yeah. And then afterwards, Tanner said, if you want to kill one, I'll pack it out.

And once we got over on the other side, I think that that probably changed. I mean, he still would have probably because he's a beast, but definitely turned into a bigger ordeal on the other side because that bottom was a mess. Yeah. It was a mess to get through,

to even walk through. So there's no horses getting through anywhere. No. But, but yeah. So if you want to hear all the details about me shooting the bed, I have to go to shit talk. Congress Weekly. But get down to the bottom, refill water and started up the other side,

which was hot and dry. And, you know, eventually made it to camp with some mishaps. Yeah. But we were all pretty thirsty. Yes. And low on water. Yeah. We made it up to the ridge and there's a good spot. And we had a bull bugling over there. He sounded giant, but he wasn't. Yeah. He was just pretty good. It's like a 340 bowl. Nice. bowl but he sounded like a freaking we thought it was going to be our big bowl we were after he wasn't but uh the thing i remember about that was yes being all dried out and then also waking up at 1 a.m in the morning because it's raining and we didn't put any any of our rain flies on because it was a thousand degrees and why would it be raining when it's 100 during the day one in the

morning starts raining and when you don't have rain fly on that rain just you're basically sleeping in the shower so we we scrambled up it was a like a 1 a a fire drill throw that rainfly on and uh try to get back to bed but uh yeah so that that was that night yeah but i mean before that don't want to skip over we ended up getting into a into a bowl we had a calling set up Tanner was filming um again you can go hear details on the other one but i my legs cramping. I shit the bed. I couldn't keep up. So Tanner filmed. Wayne and I ended up kind of dropping back. We got no call set up because there was a bull bugling up on the ridge. Tell me a little bit about what happened there because he came in. He came in a little bit too hot. Yeah, that

basically I screwed up on that one too. So he was coming in hot. It sounded good. I could see him. He was a shooter, definitely a big bull. Then I look back and Tanner was kind of in between, I mean, I like being in shadows or being by a tree for sure. Tanner is in between, in between two trees. And I was like, I told him, I said, this bull's come bearing down on us. I said, I don't, I don't want you in the middle. I wanted you back of that tree. I said, just get up here. So then me and him are both like behind this tree, like in this little tiny area. Here comes this bull. And then I'm like mad because I'm like, I wanted Wayne to call this bull down here, it's coming right over the top of me, which if you, if you got a bull coming in,

you don't want it coming right over the top of you. That's why we talk about directing calls to the side to try to get a triangle. So if the bull's here, you're here. You want your collar here to pull the bull here. Nobody can see this, but just envision. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Triangle. So this bowl is coming out over top. So I drew back like right behind this tree, again, not known. what side he's going on. If he came here, he's going to be like two feet away. He went here, spooked, whatever, turned into a shit show. But we didn't get him killed.

That's all I know. And he was big. And he had a drop time. And I think the footage is pretty good. At least, yeah. Him coming in. Him coming in is good. So we'll show that for sure.

But yeah, that was, that was, yeah, that was that was that kind of, with that encounter and then, you know, got rained on. Then we got up in the morning and went way out that ridge, like eight or nine more miles. You stayed at camp to kind of get your bearings straight. We went out, didn't hear shit because it's dry. We heard it kind of like maybe one bull bugle two times way at the bottom. It was windy. It was windy.

Couldn't hear anything. Checked in with Calhadee who was also out of another place. He said he froze all morning because that, that wind and couldn't hear anything. So it was just a rough morning. But by the time we got back, I think we had lunch or we ate something and then loaded up because we're still out of water. Yep.

You hadn't got water all day. We hadn't got, you know, we went all the way so far down. And I asked Wayne, I'm like, how far is this? I said, we're so far down here. I'm just going to go down and get water. And he's like, you know, that's still a long way. So I'm like, God. But we make it all the way back up.

I don't know if we ate something. I don't think we did. I don't think so. Everybody's mouths were too dry to eat it. Yeah. So we got we got packed up because we knew that there's water about two point six, seven miles away. Just under three miles. There was another spring that wasn't dried up.

There's a spring that was dried up kind of where we were. But this other one, Wayne knew he had water in it from helping Big Joe and knew there was water there. So we made it out there, got to the water, ate, drink. We were married. Everybody was pumped. Can drink, drink, drink. The mood changed a little bit once we got some water. He gets some water and fuel, dude. I think we ate two meals and is so good. Yeah. And then, yeah, so we got camp set up right there at the water, then went over the ridge to try to to see if we could hear anything down in the draw, or it's not a draw,

that's a freaking big drainage. But we heard a couple of bulls, and I saw the bull I think that I killed, was down there in the bottom. And so we had a play. And that was that, you know, getting kind of close to dark,

but we had a plan for the morning. Yeah. And went back, got some sleep, loaded up in the morning, ready to go. Yeah, woke up and there was pretty thick layer of smoke

that morning. I remember waking up in my mouth was so dry. Yeah. But, yeah. Ended up making the sunrise kind of cool, at least for video. But anyways, yeah, so we woke up and headed down that same ridge, knowing that, you know, we had time now. Yeah.

We were going to bomb off of there and do whatever we had to. Yeah. So what is your, in a situation like that where I think a lot of people would see that bowl and see what they have to go down and back up. Where is your advantage in that? Endurance. Yeah, I can just push. I don't, I don't want to say I don't get tired, but it's going to take a lot to get

me tired just because, you know, of the training. So I can, I can go after every bowl and still hunt well, I feel like, still make good decisions because a lot of people, they might try to go after every bowl. but they're taking shortcuts. They're getting lazy. They're getting fatigued and breaking sticks and kicking rocks and just, you know, where they should make a big circle to get the wind right. They're going a little shorter, a little tighter. Sometimes the wind gives them up.

I feel like I can hunt right for a long time. Yeah. And so I'm not. It wasn't even fit. I was actually getting each day that went by, I was feeling better back there and getting stronger. So by time we dropped down there, and then we saw a herd bull up way up on the other side and went up after that. I wanted to go after that one too. And so we did.

And that turned into another shit show. Did not. I mean, it is, you might say you're going to go after stuff and that's fine. You can do it. But to get into Bow Range takes some luck. That bottom that we had to go through. Yeah. Yeah, it was like playing limbo through there.

Well, Tanner started to film because he thought I shot a bull and it was busting through stuff dying. I'm like, nope, that was just me. That's how loud it was. Yeah, we crawled through there and all of a sudden the bull that we thought was kind of up above us or directly kind of sidehilled was down below us. Yeah. And I remember you looked at me and you were like, what the, oh, God. Yeah, it was, it just didn't, it just sometimes just,

you try to go because you don't know. It could, that could be the chance. But that one, nothing was well. Other than way the hell up on the ridge found water up there. Yeah. There's a little spring. That was nice. And we got a little, you know, got our mouth wet a little bit.

But other than that, I don't know what we learned on that. Not much. But we had elevation. And then we're, you know, now we're on the other side of where we can to the big drainage. And now we're like, okay, we got elevation again. and let's do some call on. We had more bulls lighting up. So with that fog in the morning or the smoke in the morning,

there was not a sound. It was dead quiet. And we're like, what, how is this? This is Winnihaw. And we were bugling over miles of country, not one,

but they woke up. So sometimes once the sun comes up, those bulls start to get going a little bit. And then by like 10 or 11, bulls were going off. Yeah. And, yeah. I love sitting there.

You know, you're high up on this side and you hear bulls bugling and you're, you know, trying to pick it out. Like, where is that coming from? And sure enough, it's coming from at the same level or even a little higher on the other side. Yeah, it's never on your side. No. It's never like 200 yards away. It's like two miles away.

I mean, there's big bowls, but in that wilderness country, they're not around every tree. Yeah. And the only time that, you know, we weren't hunting with all of our shit on our back was when you guys went out that morning. Yeah. Other than that, we had, you know, camp and... 40, 50 pounds. Yeah. Yeah.

You know, wherever we ended up choosing to camp is where it was going to be. We didn't have to go back to camp. We carried it everywhere. But yeah, so we sat there and there's some bowls going off on the other side. And, you know, you being you. Got to go. Got to go check it out. So, yeah.

on that one we got down to the bottom got water again and i just i asked wayne i said could you keep this bull engaged because we had one going off in the timber up there probably about a mile away but straight shot so that sound is going it's not like it has to go through a bunch of timber over ridges or shit like that is a straight shot so i asked wayne i said could you keep that bull engaged bugling i can circle all the way around which i said it a mile but it's thousands of feet up to get elevation on them and uh he said yeah and then i decided to switch tanner out i'd have him um instead of like like blowing your legs out on every stock i thought maybe it would be better if you guys switched because tanner can run a camera he's not as good as you but he can he can at least get it up the

hill and uh so we went we we took off you and way and wane stayed down and called and uh we got up and got in right on that bowl i had him in bow range And he just wasn't, he was a nice six point, but I just didn't, I had, I had another, like a satellite bowl bedded at 58, I think, nice six, or six by six there. But the herd bowl came over and I could have shot him too, but I just, you know, Tanner wanted me to because it was perfect.

Yeah. And I'm just like, no. So, uh, we didn't shoot. We ended up, we ate one of his peak chicken Alfredo meals with no stove, just pour a little water in there. ate it dry and crispy and cold and it was actually good. Peak cereal. Oh, it's so good.

And at this time, I wanted to get back down to you guys because we'd been gone for hours. Yeah. It takes a while. But this other bowl was going off on the next drainage over and I'm like, was wrestling with shit. That bull is begging to be killed. He was going crazy. But that's more, that's hours to get over there.

and you guys had been down there for hours so I'm like just really wrestling with you know I mean we couldn't communicate so you wouldn't know what I was doing and I tried to send you that satellite message thing but I just was like really wrestling should I go try to kill that bull or head down

and like because there was other bulls bugling down so I just decided I'm just going to drop straight down that ridge and see what these bulls are at the bottom are doing well by the time we got down a little bit there was a bull coming up the bottom towards you guys. You guys were still like probably, you know, a mile away. But he was coming and he was bugling.

So I was like hustle, hustle, hustle, running, running. I knew he was going to be passing where the bottom of that, the draw we were in. He was in the big drainage. And I said, so I needed to get there. So I go, like breaking through brush down there, trying to keep Tanner up on on me. I get down to where I can see over the bottom, like from the bank kind of. And I'm like, okay, I think I can shoot from here. And I look and I can see him coming.

It's like black horned. He's like, you know, I saw he was a big six by six. And he's just coming up the bottom. So I'm trying to have Tanner hustle up, but also be quiet. It's like, how do you do both? But that bowl was coming. I was calcowing, you, you, keeping him coming. And he kept coming.

And I ranged 32 yards to the other side, 21 yards to my side of the bottom where the creek was. And I'm like, okay, 32 at the furthest, 21 here. I, you know, put my sight on 21 for the close one, and the second pin would be on 31. I'm like, perfect. Bull comes out, breaks out at 32 and turns right to me. So I'm a full draw waiting. And he comes right to me to 20, 20 yards probably or 21, and then turns broadside. So I'm a full draw here.

Tanner's film is perfect footage. And I'm like, he doesn't hear me. And so I'm just like, shit, he's going to be gone. He's already quartering away. So I had this little window through the brush. I saw it just let it go. And that bull, the arrow hit the bull. And the bull like went 20, maybe 20 yards, but it's so thick.

I couldn't see him. So he disappeared. And it was just dead silent. And I'm just standing there and I'm going. Normally when you hit a bull good, they crash until they die. You know, it's like 20 or 30 seconds. Just sounds like a herd of elephant. and then it's quiet.

But he didn't go hardly anywhere and dead quiet. I'm like, the hell was going on. Did I, you don't know what happened. And then, and I don't know how much time he elapsed on the footage, you probably do. But, and then a big crash, and I saw him and you could tell he went down. I'm like, in Tanner's like, dad, he goes, I got it. I got it. It's epic.

And we were just super fired up. And so he's, you know, big heavy black horn six by six and made a good shot put him down a quick and uh that was my winoha bowl and tanner was all fired up he ran up to get you guys everybody came down and there we were yeah my my favorite thing obviously we weren't there for the kill but when we walked across the creek and into where the bull had died was i mean it perfect is like this dark background and everything's so thick and then just this little opening and that's where he died.

I know. And it was just like, it was meant to be. Yeah. So beautiful. It was meant to be with all that happened, even though it was three or four day hunt, it was pretty short,

just relatively speaking, for Tanner to be there, to last minute, to be able to help out filming, to go with me on that, to actually film that one with my oldest son who just killed a big bull

in the wilderness himself. And then to have you guys close enough to go get you and to have, it's just got the satellite. message. Dude. Yeah. It could not have been any better where he died, the photos, where we could break down. We camped right there. Wayne told us incredible John 316 story. It was, I mean, it could not have went better. Yeah. I just realized when Tanner came up and started to, he gave us like three bugles back to back to back. Yeah. We had just sat down. We just made it right

there across the creek. Oh, really? Yeah. So we had just gotten down when he, when he started doing that. So you guys had moved from where we left? Yeah. So we, where we, where you left us, we ended up going kind of across. Um, Wayne had thought he heard you cow call. So we're like, okay, we'll go across his drainage and see they're probably going to go check out those other bowls because it had been a couple hours. So we figured you passed on that bowl. But then I got that text and we waited for like another hour. We're like, there should be plenty of time. So that's when we, we had it done. Oh, okay. Yeah.

So how far were you from the bull at that time? I mean, we probably walked 250 yards. Oh, so you're close. Yeah, pretty close. Yeah, shit. So, but yeah, I mean, couldn't have died in a better place, at least for photos and in the video. Super cool.

Yeah. Man, it was amazing. Very thick on the video. Very thick. But that bull breaks through that, and he looks big as shit coming in. come in through all that creek bottom yeah pretty i mean on the video it's like you know when tanner showed us on the camera it was like oh you can just see them but when it's blown up on like a

big screen it's like damn you see it good yo oh okay i haven't even looked at it i've only looked at it on well on tanner's phone i should put it on my do that and that's not punched it at all that's just yeah yeah should be good yeah but then we you know celebrated and broke him down yeah and And I mean, it doesn't get any more in the bottom. That was a packout, but I wouldn't want it any other way. Wayne, I think we talked about this on maybe one of the other, we did Tanner's podcast. And then, you know, we talked about it a little bit. But Wayne, he had a horse packer set up.

And then I had also talked to Calhalla. And when I was in there by myself on the opening weekend, he said, hey, if you kill a bull in here by yourself, he goes, let me know, send me a text or something. I'll have four or five guys here within five hours to help pack. So no, it wasn't opening weekend, but I'm like, I told Wayne that. And I said, he goes, well, who do you want to get a hold of? You want to get a hold of a cow or do you want to get hold of the horsepacker? And I'm like, I think I'd rather have cow with some other badass, you know, mountain guys

and just share this pack out with them. And this is, you know, once in a lifetime. And these guys are savages. Let's get them down here. And, you know, true to form how they got up. I don't know what time. Three in the morning made it all the way there. They said they'd be there at 8 a.m.

They were down at my bull at 801. And I don't know. I mean, this is miles and miles and miles driving, rough road, packing miles. And they showed up one minute late. I don't even know how you do that. I don't either. But they couldn't be any happier to be part of that. I'm stoked.

Just, you know, just studs. Yeah. And so, yeah, it's like I'll never forget that. I'll never forget the whole, obviously the whole hunt, but that morning was a special one. You know, we had the bull broke down by that time. But man, they were down to, like, we didn't bone out the front shoulder. That morning, though, they were like so willing to, you know, we hadn't boned out the

shoulder. you know, there comes a point where, like, you know, you can work on those bowls for a long time. Sometimes it takes fresh perspective energy. They say, hey, Cal said, hey, do you want me to burn out these front shoulders? You know, it can do it. And I'm like, yeah, let's do it. And then take the bottom jaw off, which I hadn't done either. So it was nice having just fresh energy in there.

And then just packing, like, we would have to do two trips. which in that place, two trips. I mean, so that would have been a whole other day of getting your ass kicked. I probably would have expired down there. Probably would have died. But so to have, why can't I figure out Ryan's last name? I don't know if we've ever known it. We haven't, but I should have to.

Oh. I'll have to do is text Cal. It's like, is that impossible? But Cal, Eric, Keith, and Ryan. Just freaking studs. Yeah. So thankful for that. And they definitely saved my ass.

Oh, God. It was incredible. Yeah. And then, you know, of course, packed him up, packed up the base camp that Wayne was staying at and drove out, dropped the bowl off at. Was that white? Whites? Whites. Yeah.

And Gresham. Yeah. That guy was super nice, too. Oh, I know. Yeah. He's pumped to make pepperoni and sausage for me, just doing special stuff with it. but, you know, I will say a wilderness bowl, they got to work really hard to live, right?

Normally, they're not giant bodies because it's so hard back there to survive. Well, this bowl was fucking giant. Huge. So, and people, they talk all sorts of shit. I mean, I got the piece of paper here. We weighed every piece of boned out meat, 304 pounds.

So the butcher at White said that's a thousand pound animal. So a thousand pound elk on the hoof in the wilderness, that's an animal. That's the first thing I noticed when I walked up to him was like, holy shit. But then I was like, maybe it's just I haven't been around, you know, I wasn't on the other trips. I haven't seen a dead bowl this year. Yeah. But I was thinking, he was a big body.

Giant. Yeah. Yeah. He was giant old bull. Yeah. So we got tons of meat. I mean, and normally, I'm not saying anybody waste meat, but when you have to pack that far to that hole, people maybe aren't like as precise on getting that meat out of there.

But I take all the rib meat out. I take every stitch of meat off that thing and it ended up being 304 pounds. So, yeah, we're getting tenderloins, all the neck meat, all the, you know, in between the ribs, all the stomach lining me, I'd get all of it. It's like, if I kill a bull, everything's coming out. And so we did a good job with that.

Yeah. So 24 years of putting in, are you happy with the outcome? I mean, you know, the hunt couldn't have went any better other than it could have been longer. I mean, you know, I think about the experiences I had

and I'm glad I didn't get that bull killed that first morning, you know, the one that came in so fast. Because I would have really felt cheated. I still a little bit, a little bit feel cheated on, it happened. It still happened pretty quick. Yeah, we enjoy the hunt. We got everything somebody would want on a backcountry hunt.

I just would have wanted a little more. A few more bowls, a few more getting. and close some more miles maybe some a little bit more misery but when i look back on it now when you look at the photos and you and you think of the memories when you talk about the hunt like this it's like how could it be any better yeah i feel so grateful to have um well to have my my oldest son there uh you know he's away in the army for quite a while so we didn't get a chance to to do epic trips um the herd bull was there wayne indecad is you know one of the best men you'll ever meet and then to have you there to basically document the hunt with you those photos and uh we'll have

those forever that's history too and um how could it have been better yeah it's it's as good as it gets and then to have the the guys come in cal eric you know keith and and ryan have to be to to meet them and to see them work and to be like just influenced by their passion, I'll never forget that either. So yeah, it's a, I don't know. I don't know how it could have went better. Okay, this is my, this is my one tough question. And we can take it off the end of the podcast.

It might not fit in here, but I think it'll apply to the film. So obviously, Roy was who got you into bow hunting and your life is bow hunting. You are the bow hunter. It's what you've dedicated your life to. So when you have these trips and you have these experiences, knowing that Roy was the one that got you into it and obviously he passed away, is there any amount of survivors' guilt or anything like that

where you feel undeserving? I feel undeserving to be in a position I'm in. Because Roy was better, than me at everything. Everything I care about, the mountains, bow hunting, woodsmanship, confidence, he was better. So here I am having all the success, and he was better than me.

He should be, he had a lot of success, and he made a huge impact on those around him when he was here for the 49 years he was here, but I wish it wasn't over. And whatever I do, I just think he would have surpassed that. And so whatever success I have, he would have had greater success. And that's, I don't know if I feel cheated that I don't get to witness that and be part of that and share that with him. But, and I'd love to.

I'd love to share all this. I'd love to, that's what I miss the most. It's like, I'm still going to do what I do. I still am, you know, the bow hunter. but it's not the same you know it's not it's just the victories the successes just aren't quite as sweet it's just everything is a little muted since he fell and uh yeah so you know we lose people we love in life and we must go on and we must try to honor them and so that That's what I'm trying to do.

I'm trying to, he got me started in bow hunting. I'm just trying to live up to the example he set for me. Well, I think the few years I've known you, I never knew Roy, obviously, but the stories I hear, I think he'd be proud, you know, I think the foot you put forward for hunting, for bow hunting, for standing up for others, you know, we talked about this yesterday, but that to me is, is, I don't know, you know, I've been with you during Kocodona and in times where I can understand why people look at you and hold you to such a high standard. It's like, this is Superman and Kocodona. I talked about this too. There were times where I was like, this is just the raw form of who you

are as a man. And, you know, beat down, you were still one step, you know, one foot in front of the other. And I mean, I'm inspired. I've talked about that. you know there's a lot of things i wouldn't do had i not known you and the the grace you show me when i show up to a hunt and i can't continue you know um yeah i mean i think you would be proud i know it would be proud and i'm honored to know you and to get to capture those moments and spend those hunts with you and your family and way and people who are closest with you so thank you well i mean thanks that's so so well said um But just know that that's Roy.

It's not me. Yeah, I wasn't, he was a much better man that made me look at things differently and have a different perspective. So I'm just doing what I think he would do. And so when you say offering grace or if you say, you know, that's just his influence. I'm trying to be, you know, I'm not a kid. know better but but i'm flawed and um he always helped me um navigate or just be the be the man i should have been he he helped with that so you know he's been gone now for 10 years and uh it's been tough but just just trying to do what he would do and and like i said honor that legacy and uh so you you say

in those those kind words means a lot and i'm glad that you feel that way you feel that way and and just know that in some ways that's Roy's influence. Yeah. Well, that's all I had for the recap. It's a good one. Well, maybe I got one more quick little elk hunt. Yeah. Maybe we're going to have to do recap episode two.

Yeah. Maybe it's not the only episode. Well, thanks for all that. That was a good discussion. And yeah, that's an update from September, guys. Hope you enjoyed it. Keep hammering. Someone to blame.

They sent the hate. It fuels my pace. I am Roy Tuff. I am the change. The fuel in dirt. Filling like Cam Hanks. Oh, give me the mods. Nobody wants.