Cleared Hot - Powered By BRCC - Cleared Hot Episode 11 - Hunting in Alberta with John Dudley

Episode Date: September 4, 2017

A last minute trip to Alberta Canada for my first bow hunting experience with John Dudley, and a podcast before I hit the road home. We hunted hard for five days, and saw just about every animal the amazing country had to offer. It was an adventure in the outdoors, and one I will never forget. If you are new to hunting, interested in hunting, or just enjoy tom foolery, this one will be right up your alley

I'm back, everybody. Episode 11. Sorry I missed last week. I had some last minute stuff come up, and I know I said that episode number 11 was going to be a solo podcast. I'm going to roll that forward a week. That's going to be episode number 12. I got the chance. If you listen to episode number 10 was me sitting down with John Dudley and archery Jedi. Well, I got the chance to do my first bow hunting trip with him in Alberta. So instead of doing a podcast last week, I'm a was trying to be a ninja in the bushes, crawling around, trying to shoot at things with full metal jacket darts. And it was amazing. I've learned an unbelievable amount. And we sat down at the end of that trip and did a podcast,

kind of covered what had happened during the week. Yeah, man, what a mind-blowing experience. So if anybody, if you don't dig hunting or if you're not into hunting at all, maybe skip this one. If you do dig hunting or you're just getting into hunting like I am, like I've said many times my experience in the pool of the bow hunting world is incredibly thin

I have almost no time there I think I actually at this point have a total of seven days under my belt but I definitely covered some stuff that I had learned some of the expectations that I had going into it and what they ended up being in reality in real life so if you're anywhere in the same orbit that I am with your desire to get into the hunting world hopefully you can glean something from my time spent up there literally following a master around in the woods and next week we'll follow uh we'll follow this up with some questions from the internet i got probably 30 to i probably double that actually somewhere around 60 good questions

from people i'll try to dig into as many as i can but until then enjoy episode number 11 podcast from the road in alberta oh and one other thing this is the first time i've ever tried to do one outside so you might pick up a little bit of odd noise. There's some birds in the background. There's some wind, but it was too amazing of a setting to go sit indoors and do it. So I hope you enjoy. Episode number 11.

Here you go. Get the red smoke. To the smoke. I'm looking at danger close now. Oh, what a minute. Oh, we're going. It's so rude. Everyone's going to be like, this is bullshit.

We're up front. We're sitting down, finally eating some stuff that we actually just brought back from the Alberta backcountry-ish. Yeah. So apologies for here in the... Knocked a fork, dude. Yes. And this is you.

I'm literally enjoying your harvest right now. And it's ridiculous. It's good. My feet hurt. Are you complaining? No, it's just making a statement. Yeah, because you're only... You should have been here twice as long.

I wish I could. I forgive you. Yeah. For sure. Next year, right? Because this trip was just a scouting trip for future trips, so it's going to be okay. Yeah, this was your recon now, and you're like, okay. Yeah.

Yeah, so we're up in Alberta. We're pretty far north, too, right? Oh, yeah, way far north. Just south of the Peace River area. Yeah, near Valley View, I think, was probably the biggest town that you would recognize, but... Yeah, this trip actually wouldn't have been possible if we hadn't moved to Montana and been able to throw the stuff in the truck and just get in the car. That was awesome. Yeah, I think we put this...

I wouldn't call it a car, but it's a jet. I think we put this thing together, what, six days ago? Something like that, six, seven days ago, three or four days before I showed up. That's how the best hunts all happen. Yeah. What an experience, man. I'm going to have to sit down, like, when I get home and write down, like, all the stuff that I learned, so I don't forget it. In the three days I have off before.

Good luck with that. In the three days that I have off before Montana elk season opens. Because I'm coming straight from this back to Montana. and my family, my dad and my uncle actually got on the road at 4.30 this morning, starting their drive from Santa Cruz, California. Are you going to be like the veteran? You're going to be the veteran.

I am. You're like, listen. We have to hunt with the wind at our back at all times. No, tell them they have to. I'm going this way. You guys just put the wind at your back. Yeah, Dudley said low ground and go into the middle of a field and just stand there.

That's where you'll find the elk. So not true. It's going to be way different, though, because the terrain, I live by, I don't, I mean, I live in an area surrounded by mountains, but I would call the area we're going to be hunting, not mountainous. Like, there's some elevation game, but it's not, you're not talking 45 degrees. That's over off to the eastern side where we didn't get that draw. Oh. So you're playing, you're more in the plains kind of, just, you got rolling hills, maybe? Yeah, I would say rolling hills.

Yeah, I would say rolling. Contour. Yeah, probably total gain, maybe from the house we're staying at to hunt. Maybe 2,000 feet. That could really play in your favor, especially with how you're sheeting. Yeah. The terrain's way different, though. Like, it's not, you know, I've actually walked around quite a bit up at that house.

It's not like this. It's much more like, I would say, pine tree-y. Like, a pine tree stuff. Oh, yeah. Like, there's a lot of deadfall. But not this type of, I'm sure there's stuff out there with thorns because there's stuff with thorns. Oh, yeah. Everywhere.

But not like the thistle stuff. none of the fields like the canola. Yeah, none of that stuff. Well, if you take a prickly pair to the sack on the stock, believe me. It's just as worse. I think the stock might be over at that point. No. Not if there's something in front of you that you got your target on.

You'll do it. I know you will. So how long have you been coming up here? Because this place is, this is a hidden gem, for sure. Ten years? Ten years, I guess. And we're literally, we are eating our first, like, real sit-down breakfast because you have to leave in a little bit. Yeah.

And it's lunchtime. Our new homeboy from, I met him on Instagram, meat, prey, love is just an amazing cooker of wild game. So. Prey, though, right? Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And so he whipped up.

What do we have here? We've got some duck bacon. Here, I'll slide the mic over. You say it. Yes, please. Well, I made some Saskatoon berry and black bear bacon brought worst. I think I would eat anything that had the word Saskatoon attached to it. Like you could put that, just sprinkle it on top of roadkill, and I might take a bite of that bad boy.

It's amazing. They grow all around here, and I guess Taylor and his family, can I pick them? Oh, yeah. They get all right. all over anything that naturally grows. They're conservationists, man. I don't think I'd try that on, like, a wolf turd, though. It goes so well with bear meat, like, because that's what they're eating, right?

I'm a big fan of cooking wild game and stuff that it eats. Like, rabbit, you go for leeks and carrots, braze it in that. And you're self-taught, too, right? Like, you're a traditional training. Obviously, we could go farther deep into your background and tattoo stories, but... I'm a nutritionist. Yeah. A butcher, which I went to training for, and then the culinary game.

I worked in a couple pubs and stuff like that, but that's just like flipping burgers, man. So everything else is just self-taught, and I like, I wanted to start hunting so I could cook my own game meat. Like, I want to go deep as deep as I can on the food chain. What got you into the desire to have, don't get me wrong, I absolutely love where your head's at and the desire to do that, but what got you interested in harvesting the meat? meat yourself as opposed to the obviously the very conventional and very convenient way of just going to a grocery store. I just, I feel like humanity is so separated from meat that they don't appreciate where

it comes from. I think that meat is, it's awesome, but I think that the meat worship thing with the whole like barbecue world and all that kind of stuff, it's a little played out. I mean, you have big factory farming and stuff like that going on and it doesn't, it Have you ever had, like, one of those steaks as opposed to, like, a grass-fed, grass-finished steak? It's night and day. Even before you cook it, you can tell the different, that marbling and the color and all that stuff. All that kind of stuff.

The conventionally raised pasture-fed, a bucket of corn around its neck, it's not cool to see. Like, when I was going to butcher school, they made us go to the kill floor. And I was like, and witness the slaughter of animals on a mass production scale. and that's where it really clicked for me. And I... Now you're good. I'm just moving it down so it's easier. I grew up fly fishing and all that kind of stuff.

And when I married my wife, her dad is an avid hunter. He was the head of the fishing game association in Calgary for many years. And it just kind of got ingrained in me and more and more and more. And I got more passionate about food. And with that, I got more passionate about how I got my food. And I just wanted to make it... I wanted to do it myself because... I feel like, I mean, if you're going to eat something that was living, you should do it yourself.

Or at least go out of your way to get ethically raised meat. Like farmed meat. Shake your farmer's hand if you're eating farmed meat. Don't just go to the grocery store and be like, oh, the manager's special. That's the fucking rotten meat that they're trying to clear. If it's 25% off or whatever. No, it's special. It's special, all right.

Why did they make you guys go to the killing floor? Just to see if you could hack it, kind of like, and a lot of guys, if you don't end up in a boutique shop like I did, there's that route to go. What do you mean boutique butcher shop? Well, I work in a boutique butcher shop where it's really high end. Everything is naturally raised. Like, it's all pasture raised, grass fed. In Alberta, it's really rare to get 100% grass-finished beef. you can get it

but like a lot of people look at it in the case and they're like oh it's lean the fat's yellow I'm not going to buy that so they want to turn the fat white so they put it on a 3% barley ratio in the finishing feed where the rest is hay and legumes

at my shop anyway so it's still like grass finished as much as we can do it but it just turns the fat white it's unbelievable like the the difference. And, and, and that's like the kind of place I work at. It's really high end. Everything's like, we sell rabbit, we sell pheasant, we sell, um, like, sweetbreads high end shit.

Sweetbreads is brains, right? No, sweet breads is thymus gland and pancreas of the veal. And the smaller, or the larger the steer gets, the smaller the glands get. I would not eat that with Saskatoonberry. I think you've found the one thing that I want to do that with lemon and ten. You want to do that was lemon and tarragon. No, I'm going to take a hard pass on that. I will not be eating that. Oh, it's amazing. So, I mean, so audio only format.

We got to go backwards a little bit because I was talking to you yesterday about the butcher stuff because it's it, I didn't realize you went to a 10 month course to become a butcher. Was that like a full time, 10 month? Well, I was also, I was also in a band at the time and I kind of half-assed. it the whole time. And then as soon as I got, the band of the butchering. The butchering. Because it was just kind of one of those things.

Like it was like a kind of getting a trade to fall back on. I was going into broadcasting and, and I wasn't that interested in it. But it turned out to be one of the most used skills I have today. Like shopping for meat, even when I'm not, I'm now a butcher. But even then, like I can break down animals now on a mass.

tail, like that bear that you got, John's Muley. We're going to break all that down because I let's talk about that bear. Because after a few of those links, I need to know your address to come pick up that thing because that, I never had a bite a bear before in my life. That was unbelievably good. We just look at it like pork. Basically every bear recipe through history has been derived from a pork recipe. Like when you see a bear, a boy is a boar and a female is a sow. Oh. And when you look at...

Put two and two together. Pork. It's boar and a sow. The same thing. Same anatomy. Yeah. Same fat content. So you just look at it like that.

And it's just a red, it's a more red pork. And it will climb trees and eat you also. Yeah. But I don't think a pig can do that. Well, the wild ones will just stab you with their tusks. Yeah. But they don't stand up on their hind legs and make you go, oh, goddamn. It's looking at me.

So you're going to, are you, have you hunted yet? Up here this season, no. Okay. You've been hunter for a while, though, right? Yes, yes, I have. You're swapping over to bow at some point? That's the goal. That's why I'm here.

Yes. This is where Mr. Dudley steps in. Any tips, dud? What kind of tips? I'll all say, because I'm an expert now, I have four and one-half days of bow hunting under my belt, so I think I've seen it all, you know, a few times. No, you know what I would...

You've actually seen a tremendous amount. We had a crazy amount of interaction with a variety of different animals. Yeah, totally wild game. Spot and stock. is true to the, I guess, the discipline of being a bow hunter. It's as true as you could ever get. But you do have a horseshoe up your ass because we saw, first night, we saw, our first day we saw a bear, giant white tail, two moose,

and this is all just still hunting. We were still hunting for elk. Didn't hear elk, because, I mean, elk are very elusive. They cover a lot of ground, as did we have to. to get the opportunities we had. But then more bears, then you had a dang gris encounter, which was amazing to, you know,

over 40 yards from a gris. Actually stalked a gris, because at the time, we thought it might have been just a color phase bear. Yeah. And then we stalked in, and then once we stalked in and it stood up, I realized. I remember you're like, oh, that's a griz.

I think I took a few steps back right at that point. I think you said, Do we throw a rock at it? And I just looked at you and I mouth. No. Well, we wanted to get past it to go for the elk. I don't know. Yeah, we don't go past it.

I know you're used to having to just avoid hazard, like find alternate B. But alternate B was there's about 200 miles of more river bottom. We could go walk. I don't want to mess with a grizzly bear at all. Nope. Yeah. Now, we saw, yeah, we saw a crazy amount. I was thinking on the drive-backs.

I knew we were going to sit down on podcasts. I think the one thing I would say to somebody, bow-hunting, like getting new into it, is expectation management. I mean, I've been with people rifle hunting, and it's like, all right, turn the corn feeder on. Here they come. It's quick.

And the couple times that I've, actually I should say the one time I went to, you know, a high-fence deer blind down in Texas, which I know is pretty standard down in that area. A lot of the time. Yeah. in the middle of the day. It's really, you know, they try to get out there first light or before first light corn feeder comes on, shoot or don't. Yep. Go take a nap for the rest of the day, drive around,

maybe look for some hogs or some havalena, and they're back in the blind. That was the exact opposite experience of what we had up here. I mean, what's your watch say? Did you add it up? What do we do? We're like, judging by the size of the blister in the back of your heel. It's a big one. Oh, I'm not done with this yet. Yeah. He's. He's definitely not going to be done. If there's any leftover sausage links, I'm taking one. I literally just had my phone and put it somewhere. You did.

Well, I mean, I know we did 13 yesterday, 13 miles. But, I mean, to give some context to that, we've been going to bed at probably after 11 before midnight. It's been after midnight every night. Yeah. Right at midnight. Yeah. Up at 4. To between 4.30.

Breakfast. Three to four P.B. and Js in the backpack. I told you those are a staple, man. three to four bottles of water. And, I mean, the last three days, we're getting out of the vehicle, totally dark, getting set up, and had some, man, again, expectation management.

I had totally different. The one day I went out with Jordan, and he did that one bugle. And I looked over, like, there's a massive elk coming in this direction. One bugle, and that's, for Somme, moved over into the bushes, and 30 seconds later, he's busting out,

going directly at Jordan. who had the call. That's the only time that that I saw that happen on the trip. And then the other mornings are like last night, you bugle, we went to the same field where that occurred. Beugled, the cow calls, nothing. Yep. Goes town. Yeah. I mean, so. They can be 20 miles somewhere else, right? That's why we're covering so many miles to try to get that report. But, and a lot of times what, you know, I think the most valuable thing you came away with was the fact that we called a lot of bulls. Oh, yeah. But just, you. getting the understanding of how cunning they are. And, you know, you could, you could tell probably

when one would respond, I would know he was in a position that was favorable to him. And I was like, okay, this is, at this point it's a long shot. And that bull is still three, 400 yards away. Yeah. But just judging on wind direction, terrain, you know, just our ability to reposition within a short amount of time, especially when he calls back and he's closer already. We know he's committed. So, yeah, you got to, I was curious how much of what you saw, because you got to witness my stalk on my muley, which was actually three days, three days. And, you know, that was one thing. You know, if he was still sitting here is, Bo hunters, the patience is, you know, they understand that you need patience. But there's another level to that if you really want to be, I guess,

successful on a higher level because two different days I made good stocks on that Muley and got within my bow range. But one time I, the my shot opportunity to the vitals wasn't absolute. The next time I went out there in the wind was at a higher rate than what but I felt comfortable taking the same shot with. So I ended up having to, which is almost more important, reverse stock and get out away from that deer without them knowing that I was there so that I can have that opportunity again,

which is pretty much what happened. And luckily you guys were able to come and watch that go down. You were basically, you were facing us from a couple hundred yards away. The Muley was in between the two of us. I was basically right on line with you stalking. Yeah. That was awesome. But, you know, I think the patience thing, again, falls into the expectation management.

Because you could have pushed that both of those days. You could have. Oh, yeah. And then who knows what would have happened. But instead, you know, you expected that you might have to, you know, take six hours and not get anything out of it instead of, you know, trying to push something that didn't look great. Yeah, you know, we call it tactical patience in my old career. And you don't learn that until you have some experience. and you see pushing things and then it goes wrong,

and then you find yourself in a really bad situation. You have to work your way out of it again. But another lesson I definitely picked up on, because you said it a few times, was educating the animals, you know, even if... Yeah, because that's what I was getting ready to say, too, when you were talking, I was thinking, for the, you know, when you find a really good animal

or one that you're wanting to take and the position's right, and you know that you have the ability to strike there, there might just be one or two pieces of the puzzle that aren't aligned. Once you have the radar up, that's no longer an opportunity, right? So, I mean, now all the recon that you've put into identifying the target, the target's no longer there. And pressure is the name of the game, I think, with anything. If you're doing anything where you're trying to have an element of surprise,

you know, you have to, the pressure has to be so minimal that there's not, even a single hair raised. Otherwise, these things are living every day thinking they're going to get attacked by something. The instincts on the animals, I mean, it was surprising. Like, I didn't realize that the elk, their first move is to circle downwind. I mean, that's a varsity move to, if you want to sustain your life. Instead of just barrel assing right in, you know, I'm sure the ones that did that are gone. Yeah. And her, again, it and eaten, but for an animal that, I mean, I would have to assume that we have a higher cognitive level or a thought process and you know, put more thought, it makes sense.

But just to have that as your baseling instinct for survival, I mean, we had today, who knows what was behind those bushes, but if I had heard it crack one more time, I was going to draw back and just wait. Because, I mean, it had to have been just around the corner. And then yesterday, when you made that bugle and we did a quick high five and started running because there was a bull exactly where you thought. it was going to be. Yep.

And he was coming and caught the wind and, you know, bugling and closer and to the point where I'm like, I don't understand how I can't see this thing. It's so loud. Yeah. And then quiet. Wouldn't answer, backed its way out, lived to, you know, live to be a bowl another day. That was, I've seen human beings that don't have instincts like that. Let's put it like that.

Oh, yeah. Most of them don't. We rely so heavily just on what we see. And then obviously now we rely so much on probably, probably, what we could Google. You know, I think if it did come down to us having to survive, we'd be incredibly, I mean, we would be weaklings. Like, if it came down to true survival of the human race,

so many people have gone away from, like, predatory instincts, right? Just people ability, like, people's ability to walk quiet, you know, people's ability to actually be patient, watch their surroundings, understand what's going on everywhere, except just what they look at. those animals are coming in and every animal has it something that is probably more advantageous than the necks. With elk, it's certainly two nostrils the size of a coke can, you know, so they're, they're sucking in air trying to smell and then, you know, if they can't do that, their neck, you know,

their second sense is going to be, you know, sight, you know, and then obviously hearing will come in right after that. So, you know, I think we're, we're really opposite. We don't really function that. way. It would be a precipitous drop-off for a while until people started learning again. It would be, I mean, some people would be fine. And the vast majority, I think it would just be a trapdoor opening. If you actually had to provide for yourself and survive, yeah, people would be done. I remember when I taught my boy how to bow hunt, and I would always take my boy and my wife on all my hunts until here he got into sports. And I was... So by that, you mean, they were like be walking like you and I were like they're out there

100%. That's awesome. Yeah 100%. Well like I told you when I shot that mule deer we were out there and all those little like I don't know if they're gnats or what they are in the canola but it's like this little let's just say there was a lot of them. Yeah there's tons and one time I was on a stock with Sharon it was the first time her and I had ever done a muley stock. We stalked out in that canola which is a jungle you know a jungle on the ground and we crawled up to a buck and we laid there the entire day just wiping you can literally wipe your eyes enough to where they weren't in your eyes but your whole body was just moving and I mean it wasn't fun but you know she totally knew that that's what you have to do to you know for at least for this this

activity that's part of it but I remember teaching Harry how to how to stalk he was really young he was probably, I don't know, he was probably 10 or 11. And just, just because I was taught this way, just the way that I walk and the way that I choose things, like, if I break a stick, it makes my hair stand up. And I remember that after a year, two years of having Harry hunt with me, I remember once he was leading. We were stalking this, I forgot what we were stalking, but we were stalking something. He was leading. And keep in mind, he's like 11. I think he was 11. I think he was 11 and I like stepped on this little twig and snapped it and he just stops and I just see his head go awesome it just shakes his head doesn't even look back at me and I was just like oh sorry he's just too

disgusted to even look back he like I thought I thought you knew better that's something by someone I can't I mean next year my boys are hitting the Montana season with me for sure like I just put the I just wanted to put the video game down and pick up something that's more real you know and I think you learn a lot by being outdoors I mean for me like we were we were busting our ass for the last four days but I'm having the absolute time of my life I mean how much do we laugh you know oh my gosh we laughed our asses off and would look left and like oh hi animal right you think you're totally busted and look left it's like uh oh oh we should be quiet again it always happens that way as soon as you let your guard down that's when that's the one time that's what I'm you know, that's what gets tough as you're out there and you spend, you do 11 miles, you're, you only hear one, one call back in the first part of the morning. And we just kept pushing and pushing next thing you know, it's five o'clock at night. And it's like, okay, we're not going to see anything.

And it's that one time where it's the one time you, you know, set your bow down and go over without your bow in your hand that something pops out and you're looking over at your bow. I mean, so many times that that stuff happens. but I'm just happy that you're getting to feel a rush. It's a whole different. And the fact that now you're getting to consume this, I mean, your appreciation of probably what you eat and what's on your plate, even though I know that you were appreciative of things that you ate

and you ate clean before, but I think it's definitely going to go to a whole new level now. I mean, there's something, yeah, like every bite you can think back about. I mean, that was an adventure yesterday. Oh, man. I mean, yeah, that could have turned into a rodeo, you know, and it didn't, you know, and you sit back, and I'm sitting there looking at you and Jordan. I'm like, I don't know much about bears. If you guys say we need to get out of here, obviously I'm going to trip Jordan.

John, you and I are going to run. Well, there was already another bear. You made a good shot. We were actually elk hunting in the evening. stalking and and I something caught my eye and I look and here's this massive board just like waddling down this trail right at us just don't do do and I just said load up pull back basically and they came in pretty much came in eye level and I just said put it right in the center of the chest and you sent one of those blue knocks right there and that thing ran off and

we kind of gave it some time which is that's one important thing for that's a really important thing for any hunter especially bow hunter is um if you're ever in doubt you know if you don't see it go down if you don't hear it go down if you have any doubt of where you know if you couldn't see your arrow and where did i hit it just always give it time because i mean you don't know and if you if you bump it once it's you know trying to expire for the first time then you just blast them full of adrenaline and then they're going. They're up and running again. Yeah. So we gave here some time, had some coffee. We got to talk about that, but had some coffee. And then when we, by the time we went after that thing, we were following the blood and all of a sudden that big bear just stood up

right in front of me. And I was thinking, oh, no, it's not down. But it was another bear. And to paint the picture, it's not like we're walking on a trail. We were in like, shoulders. to chest high, bushes, thorny, like we're following a blood trail, and all the sudden, Godzilla stands up. And starts huffing, posturing, and we're thinking, okay, well, it's an injured bear. Maybe this shot wasn't as good as we thought. So we kind of backed up again. Meanwhile, that bear didn't really want to leave.

And at that point, I said, you know, this isn't, none of this is really making sense. Like, you know. We had a conversation, like, how many have we seen? What's going on? Yeah, what is happening? So then I just said, okay, you guys watch, I'm going to crawl through this junk and see if I can, and literally crawled in and I'll send them on top of your bear. And I didn't know if it was the one that stood up and looked at me or what, but that bear was about to eat yours. Literally followed.

Somehow that bear had picked up that blood trail and there was another bear equal and maybe even bigger. It was hard to, it was hard to tell. I mean, it was not tiny. It was seven and a half feet standing on its. back legs and it was literally over your bear that was expired on the ground and you're like why would it do that I'm me and Jordan looked at it were like uh thing needs I go into hibernation it's easy calories that thing is going to consume that blew my mind that it would that that would happen that fast because the break that we took I mean it's not like we're talking eight hours you know no

we probably took about 40 minutes yeah just to yeah just to make sure because we didn't see it go down and I mean it's the outdoors is savage you know it's totally savage food is and I was like okay he he's going to eat his buddy it's probably Bob and Frank you know like hey Bob I got to go to bed soon so I'm going to eat you yeah it's been real oh man unbelievable you know what surprised me the most I think was uh like I'm amazed at how successful you are by yourself hunting because I mean like Let's be honest, I had, you know, you up front, like totally helping me along the way, right? Like, you know, places to go, things to think about, shooting lanes, positions, all that stuff, and calling. And showing you teaching you sign, like, observation of track, the sign.

And I wasn't even looking at some of the stuff. And you know, like, you didn't see all the sign. I'm like, no, I was looking at your feet. I was falling in your trail, trying not to make any twigs go snap. Yeah, and you look up. And so, and then there was Jordan, too. who could also help, right? So I'm kind of like in the middle

delicious section of the Oreo. You know, you guys out each side. And you guys are both working. And yeah, I'm carrying my bow. But to be out there by yourself, like the one shot I did have on the elk, the speed at which it went from, we're just, you know, kind of walking along.

We're going to bugle and see what happens to in a bush coming back on draw, which with, you know, so go back to like the precision rifle stuff. Like when I would take, I would know the exact yardage every time before I took a shot

because there's no error. And I was lazy in this thing as it was coming in. And at some point, I had to put that down because I knew it was going to get to a place where, because Jordan was off.

I knew he was going to get to a place where at some point it's going to bolt. It's going to realize it's not him. So, okay, there's my last lace, try to spin my wheel really fast, draw and get set. Take the shot. I thought, I'm like,

is that thing broke? I was like, yes. Yes. And then the ninja skills. It jumps. It hits him right in the butt. But he ran off 40 yards and then stopped. So I re-knocked another one and tried to go around the side.

And every time I actually drew back a second time, and he would move. And I'd let it down. Yeah. And try to go around again. And, you know, he just. And so I started texting you. I'm like, and you're like, hey, you know, don't pressure him. So I backed off, watched where he went in.

We went and looked for him. But the speed. And so Jordan was there to help me with that. If I, like the ability to, if you're by yourself to make that call, then to find a position, then he's coming in. And you're still going to have to make more calls, I'm assuming to bring him in. So then he's looking straight at you because when I drew back, he was not looking at me. Right. He was looking to where Jordan was.

So, I mean, it went from really like, hey, we're traipsing around on this road to, oh, goddamn. It was game time and game time's done. Literally looked over and there's just this huge rack coming through. and a couple hundred yards away, and the next time I looked, he's breaking out of the, I don't know what the crop was, one of the haze or the canola,

super fast. I mean, I can only imagine, if you were first time bow hunter out there by yourself, for one to even get the bull to come with you because you're probably still learned on the calls. But that's,

I mean, you'd get tasks saturated and overwhelmed really fast, which I can only imagine just your effective range just gets microscopic. Because, I mean, that,

I felt comfortable at that range. I felt like I had a good break, and it's like, oh, come on. Well, yeah, that's the one variable that there's really no answer for is, you know, the bears that you shot, neither one of them reacted to the, you know, like the sound of the bow. Not at all. The elk actually never even knew you were there, which is normally in your favor. And the fact that it stopped, you got a good range, you pulled back, made a good shot. thing, I think because it was so focused on where the sound of the call was, I think you almost

startled it because all of a sudden it had no idea, and it's, it's in the open, it's exposed. So, I mean, his senses are high. And as soon as your bow went off, he was like almost just like flinching as if someone, you know, if you come around the corner in a closet and someone's like, hey, you know, yeah, that's pretty much what he did. And he didn't move much. That's all it needed. Well, what happens is animals, all they have to, their reaction, just like when someone, if someone comes up behind you and spooks you, you know, you pretty much shrug up, right? So with an animal, because they're on four legs, when they get spooked, they pull their legs up, so the gravity of their body drops them. So when that thing was, you know, you had a good angle, he was quarter and away. Yep.

So by the time he's naturally dropping, he just was dropping and turning. That's why it hit high right, yeah. But the good thing is, you know, Taylor saw the, which is last night why we went back to that same spot from four days ago is because Taylor saw the bull out there bugling and doing his whole thing. Luckily, luckily where your arrow hit, it just, you know, hit and it came out. Doink, bounced off. We found the arrow five feet from where it hit him. Yep. Yeah, I mean, that's.

With a couple inches of penetration. So it definitely, it was basically bounced off of probably his hip bone or something. Yeah, he's been, he's been speared a lot harder by horns than what that. Which is the best case scenario for you, you know, because I mean, that's the one thing that'll turn your gut as a bow hunter. You know, people that tell me, I've never lost an animal or I've never missed an animal. I just feel like it's because you haven't experienced it enough because there's variables that you don't have control over. There's factors. You know, if you hit, you know, if you're out there, like in that canola, there's a possibility.

I mean, one little P-Pod could have been sticking up to where it hits the back of your arrow, your arrow deflects. I mean, there's variables like that with any type of hunting or, you know, especially even you, like, shooting at certain targets at longer distances. There's variables that you, sometimes you can't factor. Oh, gust of wind and you're done. Right. So if you make a bad hit and you don't recover the animal, you know, that's the worst, that's the worst you can get for a bow hunter. It actually makes me feel sick to my stomach to watch him bleeding out of it. I was like, you know, because I actually, I would not draw back if I didn't think I could hit what I was going to shoot at.

Yeah, absolutely. I'm not interested in trying to wound anything. And to, you know, to hear that, like, whack. I mean, you definitely, I could tell it hit him. Yeah. And then see a little bit of blood coming off of his, you know, high up on his butt. It actually, it was like, I was pissed at myself. You know, like, God damn it.

Like, you know, I'm not because, I mean, the shot, I mean, I came back the next day. And I'm like, hold on. Let me just double check to make sure. my bow is fine it's stuff too yeah i'm to the point now where i don't really want to have a shoot off against you you're you're one of these uh you're gonna luke skywalker my ass one these days you're gonna come back a jett i don't know about that but i was like pissed right because i wanted i wanted to double check to make sure that and i was like okay and it just you drop two side by side yeah and it made me feel sick to my stomach that i mean it's because i know i mean i had a

good pull back it was a good release it's like what the hell happened what did i do was wrong Actually, we did have a shoot off the first day. Yeah, you beat me. But we did put a nice... Do you remember our first? Was it at 100? What was... That first one was at 60?

Oh, yeah. We literally got out of the truck, put our stuff on the tailgate, and said, all right, let's shoot from right here, because there's a target here at camp, and we range it. It was 62. We both set our sights. First two shots, you just smoked the bullseye at 1 o'clock. I shoot. Literally, my vein.

like touching your vein. So then the next one I shot first and went five o'clock on the dot and then all of a sudden you shot touch in mine. Then we shot one more time but yeah we had we shot three arrows and each one of our arrows literally is like follow the leader. Yeah. And you know different spots on the dot and then we went back to a hundred and same thing. I mean just rained them in there. Yeah. And when you're when you have confidence like that, you know, and that's we're not taking those kinds of shots out here, but like you said, I think I learned this long time ago. A really, you know, kind of a famous bow hunter made a comment one time on a TV show that always kind of stuck with me. He said, you know, your, your effective bow hunting range is probably about

half of your practice distance. You know, your effective practice distance. Yeah. So that's why I spend, you know, the reality is, especially if you're a Western hunter, 56-yard shots are probably, probably common. Your ability to make those shots dramatically changes success rate. So that's why I do a lot of practicing at longer distances just because I feel like the close stuff is just chip shot. I mean, it's, you know, it just seems... If you can bomb in it in a hundred and you get a 20-yard opportunity, like that's not, you know... Yeah. You kind of think it's something wrong here. I mean, why is the target so... Even today this morning, right? It was 34 yards where I had that, which is my bottom pin, like, very, like, comfortable.

Like, you're not, I'm not worried about that because we can go and, you know, practice a distance. I get in trouble at our homeowners association. Apparently you're not supposed to do this in front of your house, shooting into potentially your neighbor's property. I don't know what the rules are. Yeah, that's a great area. I don't think I would ever, I don't know if I would ever take a shot at that distance,

but I'm absolutely going to push the practice distance out further and further and further. Yep. To make it seem like a change. chip shot at 60. Because we had those awesome arrows at 62. That was the exact distance I shot at that ball. Yeah. Well, that is. Yeah. And surprisingly, I mean, like it literally was like 62.1. Yeah. I mean, that's why when I came back, I'm like, okay, I have to chip, make sure that I didn't, like, kick my bow or something like that. I mean, if an animal that big is dropping, it's a lot of, it's a lot of gravity. They can move fast. And they're, I mean, they move fast, but like, what

Rogan was talking about when we hunted when oh the axis yeah the axis they're almost like more like an antelope type um twitch so their ability to like dodge and duck and spin is even higher um they're even i mean it's it's it's dramatic the speed difference so i mean in those cases you just you know you have to be you're trying to be people that think that if you're just as accurate as a pie plate because that's the size of the kill zone. The problem is the kill zone isn't always stationary. Or facing you broadside. Right. So being able to hit the dead center dot of that paper plate, the paper plate is your kill radius. Yeah. So if that kill radius can move right, left, up, or down, half of the distance of that

radius, because you're hitting in the dead center of that, your success rate goes way higher, you know, because then you have the ability for that. animal to react and move or turn. And if you're always actually on target for the dead center, then you have various, you know, you've got some variance, you've got a little forgiveness. Yeah. But if you're just happy slopping them all around the rim of a paper plate, well, now you're rolling dice, and that's not the thing to do. Especially when you see a multi-hundred pound animal coming at you and just, do-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-h. Yeah, the pen's like, wow, my pin is a little less stable than it usually is,

when there's no consequences associated with the shot. Oh, yeah. Well, you, I think, I remember the first time I saw a mule deer, like, because these animals up here, there's so much grain. Like, grain is the main, you know, kind of crop. And really the oil and grain is a big commodity up here, right? So the first time I shot a mule deer, because you're looking at them in these two-mile squares

and they're sit in the middle of it, you don't really realize until you walk up to them, good grief, that thing is big. When I broke through the, what was that stuff? Canola? Yeah. Which, go for a walk and that people if you want to work out. Get a hundred-yard stretch of canola and sprint it for time. No way. Pick your knees up.

It's all I want to give you. That thing was massive. Yeah. And I'd never seen a mulee, but they play hide-and-seek like my kids do. They go into this canola and they say. sit down on their horn stick up in the air. It's like my kids hiding behind a curtain. It's like, I see your shoes. What are you doing? I know where you are. Yeah, if they feel like if they can, as long as they've got the wind at their back and they're facing the same direction, the wind's

blowing, as long as their eyeballs are covered, they feel like every, they don't realize there's like another two and a half feet that go above their forehead. Nobody can see me. But to get in there, so like, you know, to go back to that, mutually, like, we were across and your bowl decoy or your cow decoy for the moose. I'm going to have to post a picture of it. I have a hard time taking you serious when you wear that thing, but the thing obviously works like a champ because you were like nod in your head the other day

and you got the cow to eat yesterday. You're definitely the elk whisper, but I'm looking at the field across the field. At first I thought it was Taylor wearing it. And then I saw your bow and your hand. I'm like, oh, that's John with that on. but he was, I mean, you took your boots off, took your camo pants off, and had the hex, hex bottoms on, and how fast do you think you were moving as you were making your way towards that thing? Well, it was like, it was almost like, um, yoga pace. Would that make sense?

Yeah. Like, like literally you're almost holding a pose as you're, you know, bringing one foot up. as high as you can so that you can kind of wiggle it down into the canola without making... Knife blading everything over. Yeah. Mm-hmm. And then, you know, like that...

You want to talk about patience. Yeah, because I got, what was I, 15 yards from that buck? I think so when it finally stood up, yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah, and that was... The other thing, too, is I had, you know, I was... I pulled back on him a few times because I seen his head moving and I was anticipating him to stand up just because a lot of times they stand up if, you know,

if the sun's been on them too long or something like that. But in this case, the farmer that was in the full field over came in with his swathor to cut the canola down in the neighboring field. I think razor blade that's about 100 feet long. Yeah. Rolling razor blades. Yeah. So I could tell that the buck was probably going to stand up to see what was going on.

And that was perfect for me because I was able to see the buck's head turn and look towards that swathar. and I'm like, okay, he can hear it. I know he's thinking about it. And as the thing was coming closer and closer and closer, I could see his head moving around. I thought, okay, now is my chance. I pulled back and then sure enough, up comes his butt.

Which you said that always happens first, right, with the muley's butt up first? Yeah, because the way they bed, they kind of have to spring up with their back feet so that they can come up onto the front feet, just the way that they work. So, yeah, that was a textbook. look, you know, in that shot, I mean, he was done in five seconds.

I mean, I had a great view. I mean, he bounded maybe four times, but he went over that hill, right? So you probably couldn't see how far he went. Yeah. He was up, up, a little bit up, and just didn't come back up. And in the straight line. I mean, he literally continued in that straight line between you, you know, it was unbelievable. Why did you decide to do the stalk that day as opposed to the other two?

Because once I knew that day the wind was calm, remember, which is what made the stalking much harder. It was, yeah. It was gusting the previous days. Yeah. And that's one thing, I guess, for Bowhunter's listening because I'm sure some of my knock-on friends will be listening. But in my backpack, I always carry, I've got a set of volleyball knee pads, which I think you saw. I did, yeah. I unloaded my pack into your pack yesterday to pack your bear out.

but I've got volleyball knee pads and then I've got I always carry an extra pair of really thick socks and I carry knee high ones. So in that case, even though my U-A pants are, I mean, this is a quiet material, but there's a difference between how hide sounds going through brush or grain or canola versus, you know, hair or skin. So that's why I literally went down into, you know, my hex suit is like an underlayer that I wear that I really swear behind. And it's slick.

It's almost like kind of more of like long johns. It's not like a, because. It absorbs. Because hunting fabric is tech fabric. It absorbs. I think it absorbs, like if something were to swing back at you, it absorbs not only the contact, but the noise as well. It's like hitting your leg versus hitting a pant or something that flattens or something. whatever but yeah so I just pulled out the extra pair of socks took my boots off pulled those

extra socks over the socks that I had just so that I would have a little bit of a little bit extra cushioning because of those leaves were really dry that fall off the canola and everything up here has thorns yeah and then just slipped in shot them in my undies I guess so yeah when I came around the corner in I don't know how I would describe this you're like seven feet tall with your moose head or your bull your elk head on with a huge smile and a camo top and your underwear it's like that's good with just a huge smile having the time of your life man it was that was awesome to be able to watch that and again talk about patience i mean it's hard to i think it's hard to describe unless you've tried to really move that slow

and sneak up on something i mean i remember like i think we talked about this on the last podcast just sniper school in the stocks there, you're looking like that far in front of your, like you're looking where you want to go and get in a path, and then it's like, okay, how do I move in the next inch and not making noise it's going to give me away? Yeah.

Exhausting, for sure. Which is probably the most sneaky way to do it, but as you've learned, the longer you're in one position, the more opportunity you have for like win switch or wind change. So once you're within 50, you know, well, I mean, most animals, their sense of smell is well over 100 yards for sure.

But when you're within 50, any change in the wind or swirl in the wind because of the ridge or because you're an indention or anything like that and you're busted because that's everything's first sense is just they're relying on smell. They smell you, they're gone. And, you know, and that's why I've never been a big advocate of, like, scent, like, I don't know. Hiders, blockers, fill in the blank. Yeah, because, you know, it's impossible to do it when, you know, you have to have a thermocell,

or you're taking your cell phone, you know, take your cell phone out, or, you know, you're taking your bow and your bow, you know, you can't fully contain all that smell. And plus if you start sweating, doesn't it counteract that it? Yeah, and there's certain fabrics that definitely help control that, that are like micro-ancrobial. but the reality is sent free is I think that's an absolute and I'm not big on saying absolutes. So the closer you get to them, it's only a matter of time before they're going to start sensing that. So you almost have to, once you get within that window, unless you have a very, very strong wind in your face where it's blown enough to block movement and sound,

then you almost need to pick your time to strike and you either go inside. of that red zone or you get to the perimeter of what your red zone is and think okay can i make this happen right now yeah or am i rolling the dice to try to to try to make it happen right now and just being where the buck was he is in a very favorable position um for me because there was water behind them you know there was water behind that field which is kind of the only water for the area I figured if I was patient enough and waited for a hot day, I could probably see him moving towards that water, and there was a really good contour in the land.

Yeah, some great channelized area. So I just said, listen, I would rather them stay in an area that's favorable to me. And then... As opposed to pushing it and bumping them out. Yep. You know what? Surprised me this morning. Again, like one of the many things that I've learned,

when I was thinking about coming up here, I guess I was thinking that it would be ultra sneaky the whole time, right? because you have to get so close, you know, in air quotes, in comparison to, you know, ballistic or rifle hunting. But like today, as we, we had an awesome hunt this morning. We were going after elk, but the bear presented itself. So it took a shot on the bear,

had a little bit more time. So we figured we would go try to get that elk, and we literally encountered some on a road. Yep. It took off running, bombed off into the trees, came across, or I went across the road, came into the trees to an area that you knew. So we hauled into there.

even on the walking portion. And we were, I mean, I think I tripped and fell over one time. I was like, you know, we were making some noise for sure. We didn't have our ninja boots on. Yeah. But then we got into that field. And that animal that almost came around the corner was right behind us the whole time. So I was amazed.

Well, we were called. That's why I called as soon as we got out. Yeah. As soon as we entered the bush because I knew we were going to be more at a game speed. Like it wasn't stealth speed. This was game speed. I was calling as I was going almost like I was a lost elk. like I'm lost someone.

I'm coming in hot. I couldn't believe it. I mean, that when it launched off behind us, like, you've got to be kidding. That was a bull. That was a bull that came.

It was coming to that call and we were lucky at, like it thought we were coming to it and it was coming to us. Yeah. And yeah, if there wasn't those willows right there, I'm pretty sure that bull would have stepped out at three yards. I mean,

it was close. If it had taken one more step, I was going to draw back and just wait. Yeah. Until my arm gave out. but you know and I was like there's no way that that's going to happen because in my mind I'm like we were really loud coming in there because we were chasing the other bull yeah shocker for me for sure that's the one benefit to elk elk are big you know they're big heavy animal same with moose so

um I think last time I talked about in the podcast there's a difference they accept normal noise like sticks breaking or leaves especially not a couple times yeah especially when they're communicating with one another and they know they're like going together because they're trying to choose the shortest path to meet one another and they're not going to venture way off to find a game trail that they can walk quiet on or you know what I mean so they're they know that they're going to make some of that noise and they accept it and the bigger the animal the more accepting they are to natural noise like you know sticks or clunking a hoof on a thing but you know tinging and can oh you're done yeah anything that's you know anything that's non-nature related they'll

that'll be the end of that. So don't drop your Yetty? No. Doink! Yeah, never drop your Yety on hunting, which I've done. I dropped one down a tree stand one time. I took one with me, and I was drinking my coffee. And, you know, have you ever had just where you do a total fumble?

I like with something that's just really stupid. Like, why can't... Only on days that ended up. Almost every day, I'm like, I'm an idiot. Yeah, I went fumble. and dropped my Yeti. I was all, and I mean, it was like a November day, super cold, dead quiet. And I swear I could hear.

Went out for miles. Yeah. My, where my hunts 20 miles from my house, I swear Sharon could have text me and said, did you drop your Yeti cup? That Yeti saved us this week, though. We were loading that sucker up with some cafe latte. Hey. I made a rookie mistake the first day.

I'm going to admit to it. That was. We're taking a break. And John's like, hey, man, pull out that jet boil. Let's have some coffee. I was like, yeah, about that. You didn't tell me I should bring it. I have a jet boil and I have coffee.

It's back at the ranch. That was very upset with you. Because you're like, dude, I brought my jet boil and my French press. I said, dude, that's going to be so perfect. Because normally, if anything, I'd just take in hot water and just like, you know. The vias. Yeah, some vias. But man, I'm going to tell everyone two things I learned from you this week.

Don't trip over sticks. No, I learned three things. One is you changed my, you got me geeked out about a new coffee. Because I like coffee and wine or two of my things. And that AK-47 is the bomb diggedy-dy. Yep. Don't venture too far from home, though, if you take a solid cup of AK-47. I did.

Yeah. Yeah, I drywalled some poplar trees. Yeah, it kicks in, it comes in hot. There's no, no question. But no, that first or the second day, we busted out that jet boil down in that creek about noon. Such an awesome cool wind. Ground up some A.K.

And then just had some cups of really good coffee in the middle of the day. That's like all you need, man. That's perfect. And then three days in, well, the second thing I learned from you is never let you open the bag of coffee because when I went to make, we're having some silencer right now and you said, yeah, it's in the bag.

Dude, you open coffee like a three-year-old opens a box of cereal. Well, did you notice there's an arrow hole in that bag? Was that a broadhead? That's why it's in that bag, because I shot it. That's awesome. Oh, is that the one that you shot for social media? That's why it's in the gallon Ziploc bag.

I'm like, man, I could open Lucky Charms better than this when I was two. The next thing was I'm addicted now to these kill cliffs, man. They're tasty. I mean, they're not a sponsor mine, so I can say it. Because I was pretty shot. We did. Yesterday? Yeah, because we started out not thinking how far we were going to venture.

And then I just kept saying, let's just go one more. Let's go one more. And then we were parched. And you're like, have you had any killcliffs? And I'm like, no, I never have. Oh, that was the day before yesterday. That's right. Yeah.

And then now this is an awesome, because I'm pretty, I'm pretty health conscious. And I'm not a, I'm not a Red Bull guy. And like you said, I think the sucky part about that is the size of the can is what's deceiving. Everybody's first reaction is it's an energy drink. where it's the exact opposite or something. But no, this is great. You read the label. It's awesome.

And it's literally like a refreshing hydration, you know, rehydration. And, you know, you drink Gatorade. You might as well just drink Kool-Aid. It's a little salt in there, right? So that, I don't ever drink that. This is going to be a staple of mine. You know, I tell people all the time, I pack pretty minimal. You saw that.

I like to be able to run a gun. Well, you've got to be. I mean, if you load yourself down, you're going to be, you take everything you think you're going to need, you're done by the middle of the day. Yeah. You've got to be able to sacrifice or take a chance, like maybe I'm not going to need this

and be able to go all day long. I would rather take that risk myself. Yeah, this is going to be one of my staples. A Yeti with coffee, now it's going to be black rifle coffee for sure. I like that. AK-47 is going to be my staple. Three alpha brains for the three bottles of water that I normally bring.

my TPC packs and honestly one of these for like end of the day to just try to put some stuff back in there. Like when we got to the truck yesterday. Dude. And you're like, I don't know if I should sit down. I knew if I laid down, I might not get back up because that's a really valid point too. You know, I said that after the first day. I'm like, you know, all these people that talk about what they need to do to get in shape for hunting. There's a big difference between having endurance and then having the ability to pick your legs up, set them down, pick them up, you know, tread through canola.

That's resistance against you. And the resistance is always in that high knee drive. It's all blocking you from, if you don't train and get your knees above your hips in some, you mean squatting depth or the bike, I agree with you that the bike, I think, replicates that well, your hip flexors will be. destroyed. Not probably the first day. You'll probably get done with the first day and you're going to be tired, but you're going to wake up the second day, roll out of bed and fall down like a sniper shot to the chest. You're going to be done. Well, was today your fourth? Fifth day. Okay. Well, have you ever listened to what I talked about on my podcast when I said how camp normally goes for people, how they kind of party people come in? Everybody gets after it early.

They get after it. And the second day, people are hunting hard by the third day. People are sleeping in. We were coming in for lunch. Yeah, but, and then this is normally the day right now where people actually, because this morning when I got up, I thought, you know, if I didn't really care about what I'm doing this much, I would totally just say I'm going to go at 10 o'clock. Yeah. Because I felt like dog shit. I mean.

And we got in late. And we had a hard. We had, I mean, we got to talk. My shins look like I've been doing dead lifts in a, in a CrossFit place for about a month straight from how many. With a barbell of barbs on it? Yeah. I mean, we got to talk about Jordan for a second. I mean, let's start here.

It's 2017, okay? There's some amazing technology out there when it comes to equipment. And believe me, I'm a fan of a Renaissance man or like a throwback dude who wants to just take it back. But so Jordan, he came out here to be my guide, had never met him before, totally awesome guy, right? Knowledgeable. Couldn't have been a greater help. I'll stay in contact with the guy forever. We already swapped information.

Like, it's going to be awesome. And we're getting dressed to go out, you know, the first day. And you hooked me up with a ton of UA stuff. So you and I are, you know, UA billboard, basically. Yeah. And Jordan's having breakfast and he's wearing black and red, checkered flannel pants. Pajama pants and a t-shirt. And I think that he got from football camp in high school.

Yeah, totally. JV called. They want their t-shirt back. and we get ready to go and my man whips out a camouflage onesie and I mean like a baby onesie but for an adult it's like a telitubby thing

basically and he straps that solid fleece like I don't even know how to say the thickness level of it yeah it would probably stop a 22 round at 100 yards throws it on with rubber galoshes and that's what he wore for the last four days

so yesterday we're sitting at the truck I mean I'm wiped because we We did not bring enough H2O for sure. So we were calling to have people meet us and were like, listen, here's your priorities. Water. Water. And some more PBNJs. So you and I are sitting in the shade.

We were enjoying a tasty kilglyph and just draining as many waters as possible. And I look over. If a man's got shirt off, Telatubby onesie is like down around his waist. He takes off his fucking gloshes. it turns him upside down and sweat pours out of him. And he could just tell like he's just completely smoked. And I was feeling, I was like, I'm smoked. You know, that classic example, like, God damn, I put in a hard day's work today.

And you look over, like, I am such a bitch. That guy has been walking around. I mean, his internal, but I can't believe he didn't die of heat stroke. I mean, we were going through places that were not windy. The sun is beating down. Jordan actually made the comedy. He's like, John, you're the only one that's not sweating. Andy's sweating pretty good.

I'm dying. I was like, yeah. But I did. Oh, God, I'm not hurting. I can't think straight. Well, what killed me is I didn't realize. I don't think you realize either. I was like, John, turn around and look and see what he has underneath that.

And as he was pulling it off, it was his goddamn pajama pants. I realized we actually took his last water bottle. Like, now that you're saying. all this I look back and me and you just said because he only brought two and he saved his last one and we're like Jordan he still got that last water bottle because we were what two miles from the truck probably and he goes yeah and you're like break that bitch out right now we freaking toasted that water bottle like a capri sun yeah the water bottle flexed in on itself it was getting drained so looking back we could have dropped my survival straw on those boots oh my god we really had to go

they're knee-high waiters with candle wicks of pajama bottoms stuffed him my and so today like oh my god he hooked him up he's just walking around he's like oh I feel so good I said dude you need me to size those pants up so you can get those PJs underneath and he was like he kind of thought about it he's like wait a minute but you know what he never said a goddamn word you know what I And he was just out there every mile with us. I would say in the four and a half days that you and I hunted together, we probably put in between 35 to 40 miles. It has to be more than that, I would think.

Because we did 13? Yeah, yesterday. No, that was yesterday. And the day before we did 11? Yeah. Okay, so that's 24 right there. So plus or minus. I mean, definitely it's, but he never said a word.

Yeah. You know, my hand just, yeah. That's what you have to do, though. If you want to be successful, you've got to leave the truck. I mean, with this kind of hunting, the reason why we, people think that you have a horseshoe up your butt. I mean, at least my social media, people are like, holy cow, how does he see this much stuff? I did read some of those comments, yeah. I mean, we hope you enjoy it, fucker.

Oh, I wish I could come. Get your flannels on and come. You can come, but you have to wear flannels and rubber waiters. Gosh, if you A. sends his Christmas gifts like a big Ridge Reaper blanket. I'm just going to take mine to my grandma and have her whip one of those suckers up for Jordan. I just love the fact he's so

every like hey we're just going to keep going and we'll be out until dark. That's how Canadians are man. He was like yeah let's go. They get after it. Like yesterday he had two water bottles he sweat out 20 water bottles where I don't know where the sweat was coming from sawdust should have been coming out. Oh that's so funny. Oh, man. What an epic four and a half days, man. I can't wait to come back up here next year for sure.

Oh, yeah. It's already on the books. We're going to have adventures before that. For sure. There's no question about it. This was epic, man. I mean, a great intro. I couldn't have asked for a better four and a half days of,

okay, I've been shooting this in my backyard. Like, is that all there is to this? And then you get out here and you're like, hmm, damn. Yeah, and you had to learn the, like, the difficult decisions. As a hunter, you come back, you're like, okay, Chris is like, you want sausage links, you want them steaks? Like, now you're having to figure out, okay, how thick are your steaks? You want half inch?

You want three-quarter? Like, you're going through that. And then meanwhile, Taylor's coming up, he's like, what do you want to do with the hide? You want the skull boil out? You want, you know, you want a European on the scoil? You want a rug. You want to, what do you want to do? So, I mean, you're sitting there looking around like, ah.

Yeah. I just want to be able, I want to have, I mean, I want to do something with all of it because, I mean, I'll remember this for the rest of my life, you know, those experiences, and I want to be able to look at it and, you know, relive it. And you're going to change, you'll literally reshape your kids look on so many things that are big problems in the U.S. right now, especially with people's misunderstanding of the importance of hunting. Yeah. The fact that, you know, I assume those those sauce, those breakfast sausages are brought worse or whatever, he just made were ridiculous. and I'm sure you're going to go home, throw those on your Trigger, and give those the kids. So the next time someone's like, I don't know, why would you shoot a bear?

I mean, they're going to be like, it could be one of their favorite things to eat. Like, Harry would have wore those out with some pancakes if he was a kid and you just said, here's your thing. Yeah. They were amazing. You know, I can understand people saying that because I'm sure there are areas where you shouldn't shoot a bear because they need them for population control, you know, but in an area like this where we couldn't go anywhere without encountering one, and I can only imagine the farmers don't appreciate the damage that they do to their crops. Yep.

Well, they definitely don't. And I don't know if they have any natural predators other than larger bears, because they obviously eat themselves. I mean, in that environment, like, if you don't understand, if you understand the context, there's absolutely no argument against it. It's not like, oh, yeah, I'm like, oh, I'm a trophy, I shot a bear. Like, absolutely not. Like, I'm going to eat the hell out of that thing.

never said, is that a big one? Like, you never said, is that big enough? Even today, that bull that we saw, you were like, is it a legal bull to take? It had one, one half of its rack was completely broken off from fighting, and you're like, is it legal? And the other side had four points on it, so we're like, yeah, game on. I just want to fill up our freezer so we can eat ethically sourced food that I brought myself. Yeah. You know, I mean, that's, that's all I care about. The arguments against hunting, I guess for me, I mean, obviously, given my back, I grew up around guns, you know, and shooting guns and being outside. So it's a no-brainer to me. I think it's, I think a lot of it comes from people experiencing the world through an electronic device as opposed to with their own eyes out in the world. Because yeah, in that, well, you know, every picture you see on Instagram of a cuddly looking bear, which would eat your face if it was encountering you. You know, it's going to give you a skewed perspective. And then, of course, the internet is a consequence-free environment where assholes voice their opinion. So I get it. But, but.

I mean, educate yourself. Well, that's the thing. You know, most of Sharon, well, all of Sharon's family are from England. Sharon was from England, right? So they were, they, hunting wasn't allowed, like, bow hunting wasn't, it's not even legal over there. They do a little bit, they like, no bo hunting. Bird hunting.

Yeah, they do bird hunting. Yeah. Correct. But for the most part, hunting is not something that's favored by any means. But she came over at least had an open mind of, well, why is this needed? And then she started to realize how much, you know, we couldn't grow a garden. There's deer everywhere. You know, our neighbors were all hitting deer with cars.

And you just start to realize she's like, you know, this is a necessity. Yeah. And then, you know, I wouldn't, if there was a couple elk that lived in Iowa, I wouldn't want to, I would be the first one to say, we shouldn't be hunting these. Yeah. Like, you know, there's not enough here to hunt. Let them, let them grow and flourish and get to the point where the, you're helping the herd out by it. The habitat is not supporting the size of, you know, the.

the animals, you know, population. And at that point, but up into that point, I would be spending dollars to try to make sure that those animals were taken care of, which is what we do with so many different programs. And the problem is people aren't educated to see that. They don't realize that the reason these populations are where they are is because, you know, of the hunters supporting financially so much of what goes on, the DNR, the conservation. all these things are just critical to really to the whole world, not just to the hunting community.

And it's not cheap. Like I had to buy or put in for the draw for a non-resident elk tag in Montana for that we got a deer and elk tag. It's a thousand bucks. And four members of my family, myself and three others, all put in for it. So I mean, that's, and that money goes to the conservation. And the odds of all four of them. of us harvesting one of those animals, microscopic.

It'll be better after I give them the tips, right? Hunt with the wind at your back. Go to the low ground. Make noise. Stand in the field. Make noise. Do you have a onesie? Flannel underpants.

I can't give them. I've never seen anything like that in my life. But yeah, it's, yeah. People love to talk about things. They have no actual physical experience doing. It's very frustrating for me. Well, brother, you got to hit the road. Your kids start school tomorrow.

I do. I do. I do. I want to make sure you're there. man it has been awesome thank you yeah thanks for being here thanks for the invite all right until the next t-shirts oh t-shirts we're wearing them yep i'm gonna ship them tomorrow people i was the first one to get one right where i was the first one to say i'm getting that sucker i love that picture with the double bells too it's good to go yeah they're coming out another round

maybe another design it's hard to say what's going to happen maybe limited quantities yep get them while they're hot. Once they're cleared hot. Yeah, there you go. Don't let it cool off. That's it, everybody. Episode number 11. Like Dudley actually brought up

at the end of the podcast, T-shirts. I don't know who's buying them, but whoever is, thank you very much. These things are flying off of the shelf, even though I actually don't keep them on a shelf. I guess they're flying out of the cardboard box. But there's a second order coming in, and there is a new design coming in,

and maybe, or maybe not, we're working on that hat design. So that'll be here shortly as well too. You know, biggest thing, though, is thank you for the support. Buy a shirt or don't. I don't really care. What I do really care about and what I really appreciate

and what's awesome is that I get hit up almost every single day by somebody over email or just clicks the contact button and hits me up and lets me know, you know, that they got something positive from the podcast or it affected their life in a positive way. And it's really cool to hear, you know, stuff that I consider to be, I don't know. I guess sometimes it's random thoughts or it's my attempt to try to make sense of my own experiences, helping other people. So that's exactly why I started the podcast. So yeah, thank you to everybody who's listening and help me spread the word. Until next week. Later.