September maybe over, but that doesn't mean you need to put your elk calls away just yet. They can effectively be used through October and even into November. Now, you may not want to be biggling your head off out there this time of year, but instead, let's use some subtle beagles to maybe locate some milk. Let's use those calf and cow calls to locate other cows or just put them at ease, or well, let's use a call
to stop an elk for a shot. We've developed a call kit specifically for what we use in these later elk seasons that has everything you need. The only is V two with the easy biggler for those that maybe not be able to run a diaphragm, a minix external cow call, and two amp diaphragms that are purpose built
for calf and cow sounds. But what if you just want to restock on your calls from this year, Well, right now, you can also get twenty percent off of any Phelps Game Calls order at phelpsgame Calls dot Com when you use a discount code combs that's co mbs puri as. The deal ends on October twentieth. Once again that's Combs Co mbs at Phelpsgamecalls dot Com for twenty off Annie Phelps Game Calls order. Welcome to a special
edition of Cutting the Distance Today. We're out in the Hila National Forest chasing elk the middle of September, and I've got some special guests, multiple guests. The one and only Luke Combs up, Tyler Carlson, which is Luke's bodyguard. Yes, we've got Jeremy Romero. Thanks for having me and myself here. We've been hunting. Luke was here for a little little stint in his calendar that he could run out here and hunt elk with us. We're gonna make the best of three and a half days. And we still got
a day left. But this is about our last time to record a podcast. So we're sitting here and getting after beautiful stadium.
Yet now here you great.
We got some nice some horseback right riders back here, people pushing cattle around.
The biggest downside to that was that was like our plan for tonight. Yeah, and he came rolling.
Here and we're like, man, this is gonna be great, just hunting right behind camp. And then here comes John Wayne plugging down the right through the middle of horse.
Yeah, it was good.
That was That's made me hopeful just after getting blown out by those guys this morning.
That was great.
You know, No, it's been awesome. You know, we've been hunting for two and a half days. I don't know if we've stopped laughing or telling jokes since we started, but uh uh, it's it's been a blast. We've had some great l hunts and some good stints. We had a couple of bad stints, you know, times where things
weren't working, but it's been awesome. So we're gonna jump right into Pendleton's question and answer and today rather than pulling listener questions, which you can email them to us at CTV at Phelps game Calls dot com or hit us up on social media, and me and my guests will do our best to answer your questions. These questions are gonna be brought from Luke and Tyler and they're gonna be you know, questions you guys just had throughout
the hunt. Why me and Jeremy are doing some of the stuff we're doing as we're hunting hellcare.
Yeah, I guess my my first question would have been, you know, obviously I think some of these were answered by just being out yep and hunt with you guys. I think kind of my main question would have been maybe that I don't know the answer to is like, when you have this, when you have a tag like this, you have these limited windows to hunt, how do you go about deciding.
Where your target.
Area is going to? Because this unit is massive, right, so how do you decide? How did you decide on this spot?
You know?
So I'll roll it back a little bit to more of a generalization. So when we look, you know, a thirty thousand foot view, you're looking for things, you know, terrain, you're looking for water, and New Mexico water is so critical. They don't it's not like where I'm from, where there's water everywhere. So we're looking for water sources that we think are there's gonna be water both on good good wet years and dry ears. We're looking at food, we're
looking at security. So you start to look at these areas, and you know, Jeremy's local in New Mexico, I know a lot of people, and so you do get some of that like, hey, you should go check out this area, right, And then we show up and we kind of truth we we kind of truth checked the area, you know, or their rubs are we seeing sign? Are we seeing?
And we had the ability. We were kind of you know, hunting prior to you guys shown up, But we also were scouting prior to so we we you know, when you showed up, we were kind of you know, boots on the ground running. We knew they were going to be all can hear? We knew kind of where the hot spots were, right. But yeah, sitting at your at your desk at home, you're looking for those bedding areas,
water areas, where are they going to eat? And then you try to pick out some spots that are either you know, rugged enough that you're going to get away from people, or just like little spots that people may avoid because it doesn't look that good. So we're, you know, with enough experience, we've kind of you know, found those areas.
Yeah, I mean I look for, you know, places far from the road. You know, we're twenty four miles, we're forty miles back yep, right now, did Yeah that's what I look for.
Yeah, it's just oh, we walked all this stuff in yeah this Yeah, Tyler got most of it on him. His back at once kind of packed Yeah, maybe kind of packed him out and got him in here.
And the truck that's that's just that's what's here. Yeah, we photoshopped that was all that was already here.
When we got Phelps nailed it. I mean, you're looking for, you know, a lot of the habitat that those elk need. At the end of the day, it's it's it's kind of a shot in the dark, right, I mean, we're I wish we had enough time in our schedules to spend you know, the necessary time out here to really you know, you know, pound the dirt and and get after it and try to find some good places where
the alk are going to be. But at the end of the day, it's kind of reliant upon other people like you mentioned and then Brown Truth and getting out here and trying to figure out these these places. And then even when we're here, it's you got to adapt, ye.
And one of the things about this unit that you might go to unit in Washington, Idaho, Colorado where the elk aron is dense, we're very fortunate to be in the unit that has a high density and so you know, it's fairly easy to show up and find elk in an area where there's some spots where we might not hear a behgle for a day or two and you're just hoofing and hiking. So we did have that on our side that we had a we knew the unit.
We knew the unit has a reputation for you know, having having a good density, so that kind of helped us out as well. Yeah you got one, Tyler. And it's kind of funny. We've been hunting for two and a half days, so these guys have probably used up most of our questions, but they can go back and grab grab a few more than they've had for.
Us, for sure.
I guess we were talking the other night about like the moon. So what really gets them fired up? Because you know, the first night we were in here, they were just you know, going nuts. We could hear them all over, and then obviously, uh, we were in them pretty thick, and then last night, the last two nights, we weren't really hearing them much, and then obviously we got on them. But what's really getting them active and
moving around? And how do you know, it's like all right, it's starting to turn on.
So the the night the first night you guys were here. We joke about that. We took you guys just for a hike without We knew you guys were going to hear a bigle, so we wanted you to kind of start on a low. But then like the next day, all joking aside, the next day we didn't hear We didn't. We didn't stop hearing bigles from before dark. We literally walked out of camp, hunted a bowl all morning, multiple bowls, and then got off of them, came back to camp.
Patty, Yeah, we passed.
Yeah, Luke passed on a bowl at a smaller rag horn right off the bat had the five by six at fifty and then he winded us. Just our setup wasn't right for where he is. Yeah, I just didn't have a shot from where I was, you know. And so we've had that super high day and then yesterday was a little bit more of a mix. We had some bigles, but it wasn't it didn't seem to be as crazy. So that moon phase, I've always you can only hunt the days you've got, Like, so we have
a season that's set September fifteenth to twenty fourth. You can't do anything about that moon, right, it's out of our control. But we noticed, you know, since we've been here on the fifteenth, we were leading into that full moon can be the issue. And what we will typically get then is we'll get real short spurts in the morning, like from daylight to maybe seven thirty, and then they're going to shut off.
They're just hammering.
Yeah, but you got very short window and a very short window in the evening when they leave bed and get going, and then it's kind of that middle of the days just boring as hell when it's hot all night, right, Yeah, they're they're doing their rutting at night. And then now we're kind of on the back side of the moon. We're down to what a half the moon left, and the moon timing it's up most of the day and
it's only up for a little bit at night. That so now we're going to start seeing more of that all day action because they can't necessarily do as much. They're not on their feet as much, they can't see as well. And then the other thing you got to think of is not only the moon, we're now starting to get into later into September, where these cows are now you know, going into Estrius and being ready to be bred, which will click all those bulls into you know,
running around and going crazy. So we're kind of dealing with two different you know, circumstances that kind of add into each other. Right, So we're worse you know today, tomorrow, you know, the next five days there won't be a season, but those are going to be amazing. When that moon goes away, the majority of the cows all coming at the same time, it's going to be magic here from the twenty Faire soon the season's over to the end of the.
Yeah, we've been getting a little taste of it here in the mornings. I mean yeah, this morning and yesterday evening, you know, those those elk were hammering off, right, yeah, every.
Couple Yeah, I mean yesterday even it was nuts. We saw absolute monster yesterday.
Yeah, we're going to get into that one, Like we had Luke on. It was a bummer and we're gonna get into this. But we're in some wide open ponderos and we think that's why these elk were there. But uh, we got Luke on a on an amazing bowl that we just couldn't make happen because we couldn't get any closer. So well, we're going to dive into that story here in a little bit. You got another question, Luke that we can throw into Pendleton's question and answer session.
Here, I'm trying to think here, I don't know. It's like, I feel like there's so many things that I was so curious about that I've found out, you know what I'm trying to I'm trying to rethink on on what those questions were. I feel like I just asked so many for those first couple of days, you know, like you didn't right and really come in with come in here with any expectations of what or how it was
going to go right. And I think that first evening when we didn't hear anything, You're like, man, like, what's you know?
I don't know if like this normal? Is it not normal?
Don't don't lie? You were like, you're like Jason Jeremy. I heard you tell Tyler. I think Jason Jason Jeremy sucks. Steve sold Us.
I think, yeah, like, I don't know if these guys, these guys are professionals.
These guys are pros dude.
But and I mean, it turns out your unfortunately, and turns out your I was hoping you wouldn't be actually a little bit more, uh for not being so good. But man, I just think that I just think it's everyone's going to slave me for saying it's like Turkey Hunt.
But no, it's really I love it.
It's really similar.
Man, comparisons so much.
Man, I love that you said that because we get these West West is or whatever you guys want to people want of calls, like they hate the idea that you can make the tie the similarities to Turkey and elk. But you had no preconceived notion of what this elk counting was and made that same connection.
Yeah.
The only difference is you mentioned is like, man, we've did three spirals, seven up and downs.
That's the difference.
The wind is the only thing difference, right, I think I was I was joking with these guys this morning. I've been joking with these guys the whole time, but I was joking with them. I was like, man, we ought to just stay at the truck. You know, it's like mostly because it's freezing in the morning, Like, we ought to just stay in the truck and.
See if something mosy's by.
And then the last couple of mornings we, you know, hike our ass off into somewhere, and then there's a bunch of elk few going by the freaking truck both.
So I mean, I mean that's about a twenty mile hike from your truck.
Yeah, I mean that's in and out, twenty out.
We just we just happened to be able to hear where they're out by the truck five miles again.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
No, it's I I'm never gonna live it down. That Luke is I think jokingly suggested that we stay at the truck, even though he's trying to really make me feel bad. But I think the lot of two days we've did this hike in got the wind right, doing everything we think, got the bulls big one, and somewhere throughout that morning hunt, we're like, Jeremy Luke, I think that one's right next to that one, right next to the truck.
But you can smile him.
This morning, they had just been there. By the time we got back.
We had a camera next to the truck. He'd probably have something, probably have something on it.
Yeah, but that's just the way it is, man, That's the way it goes. But I was always I was I was getting to is a whole turkey scenario. It's like I've learned that hunt turkeys over the last I don't know, seven or eight years now, is that sometimes just sitting in that spot is the answer, you know, and going well, there's now I hear this bird gobbling off this way, and you go chase it. On the time you get there, he's gone. And then other birds walked into where you were because you were sitting up
there calling. I can't tell you how many times I've done that. So just remember that, guys, you're gonna learn something. Yeah, you know, I'm your boy here.
You know, we try, we try. No, it's it's we've had a blast. I appreciate those questions from you guys. Once again, you have questions for me, my guests for Dirt Phil free meal free, feel free to email them to us at CTD at Phelps game Calls dot com, or send us a message on social media. Will do our best to get it on here. So now we're just gonna jump into a normal podcast. Questions I have for you, question you have for us? So this this area, you know, we wanted to describe the healis so people
can kind of get a sense where we're at. And this unit's so different from the northwest corner of Southeast Corner. I one thing I think we could all agree on. There's rocks everywhere. Oh man, this unit doesn't want you to ever touch dirt, so you're walking on rocks. We've got some areas where this area is was logged what forty fifty years ago Jeremy probably at least, so I would call it like commercially thinned ponderosa piones, which the elks seem to love because they know they're never going
to get killed there. And then we do have some brushy, steep, rocky canyons that have never been touched. So we're kind of these mix of rolling you know, rolling hills in some areas that drop into some steep canyons back to what we you know, the main valley floor or the high desert or whatever you guys refer where.
That rag horn came in, which is what you're talking about, like when he was coming up that that cut there or whatever that was. I feel like kind of a spot that's been kind of untouched yep.
In there. You know, there's still some cover, you know, a bunch of stuff going.
On and one of the it's made it's made it difficult. And you've seen and I mean, you know, to Luke's credit, you know, Hunter a guy that understands all these things. Like, man, we sit there and kind of scratch our head like this isn't the good These were the elk crap. But there's no good spot to set up, and so we we spend enough, you know, a bunch of time looking for setups. We you know, how are we gonna do this? And so that's kind of the area. We're in Ponderosa Pines.
We got some mixed aspens and some mixed fir trees and areas. But that that's kind of how this HeLa lays out, and.
A little bit of everything.
You get down a little lower, we got some more opinion juniper, not as much up here, but there are some. And then the elk populations, and you know, I'm gonna let the conservationists. Mister Jimmie Romero talked about the olk population.
Well, I don't want to speak for you know, the the biologists that spend the time out here, but it's one of the larger, you know, national forests out there with a I think a pretty significant population of elk. I don't know the exact number, but I imagine it's, you know, well in the thousands. I think you can kind of point your finger on a map in this in this particular area and probably find some elk, you know,
within a close proximity. It like, you know, talking about the landscape and the habitat here has a little bit of everything, right. Obviously water is somewhat scarce, but where we are it seems to be a little bit more plentiful than other places. But yeah, I mean we we have a plethora of wildlife species here, Elk. We've seen some meal deer, We've seen some turkey, you know, We've seen we've heard some wolves.
You know.
We had a pretty good song plan B for a play, you know, for a play this this afternoon, and uh, I think about two thirty this morning that was kind of shut down.
Have you guys heard like a UFO unidentified sound weird dentified sounding.
Talk about that for a quick second.
Yeah, yeah, so you know, Luke. Luke ended up going to bed that night and Tyler, myself and Jeremy decided to go out to night Bugle. I feel bad talking like that's one of my hidden secrets. We talk about it, but not a lot.
But maybe we cut it out.
No, No, I think we talked about it. There's there were others out here doing it. But you know, we we went and ate dinner. We kind of let things settle down, let everybody get back to their own camp, let the wood settle down, and we just go to spots we think there might be out and that way almost ensures every morning we're gonna be on out. Well, we were. We went down to a spot Jeremy wanted to check out that we hadn't really talked about. And was it before the wolves are after?
Is before wolves there?
Yeah? Weird wolves there?
And and then the weird sound and then we heard.
We heard the sound first the the almost extinct wolf. I heard twenty seven of those. Yeah, they call him extinct. But I'm like, well, we just happened to pick a spot and there was one hundred of them. But while we were listening to the wolves, it was right when we got out of the side, I said, yeah, yeah, yeah, before it was before the wolves actually, and.
I think we all have a very different like interpretation of it.
Right of the sound, Yeah.
It was just it was a unique sound that you wouldn't expect to hear in the forest when it was so quiet, like it was just a loud To me, it sounded kind of like a like a rumble or like a loud static on a TV, you know, almost like a.
Jet a little bit too. Yeah, I thought like that launching a rocket out of the mid It was just a big oh for probably half half a minute. Yeah, at least Luke's not buying it. But I we all heard it.
Aliens.
It's weird. Could be aliens, could be ALIENSU So, yeah, it was. We were talking. We've seen everything out here. It seems like darrel, turkeys, coyotes, wolves, squirrels. Yeah, we got almost got skunked that night.
Yeah. A lot of toads, Yeah, a lot of horny toads.
Yeah, little lizards. Those are cool. You know you pick one up? Did you pick one up?
Yeah? You tried to like get in your like under your bag.
Yeah, give me.
Uh so, what are some of the challenges that you we've encountered that you maybe didn't expect on a mill cunt.
I mean, I think the challenge I expected was walking up hills, which we encountered that a lot we've encountered.
Lots of those.
You've been getting after it, no, I mean, I don't think you've been missing a step at all.
No, Oh, it's been vera.
I mean, I just feel like I, you know, I wanted to, you know, coming out here right like I wanted to. You know, we could have easily been like, man, let's go to some jam up private spot with no hunters and no hunt pressure and you know, get one on the ground, and we could have easily done that, right, But I think that, you know, I always for this
to be. I had no plans, you know, to do I don't have really, you know, I had was gonna be doing an el hunt later in the year that ended up falling through, and then this, you know, fill in my lap when when Steve reached out about a month ago, I guess, and I was ecstatic to be able to go out here on public land and and really get after it. You know, I'm I'm in this for the experience, you know, I'm not. I'm not just
in it to get out here. And I mean, obviously the end goal is the same for everybody, right, but you just want to have that extra sense of you know, I really put the work in and and really earned this thing. And we've come really close a couple of times out here. And yes, I guess things that I wouldn't have expected. Obviously I hadn't you know, I hadn't had any experience, you know, hearing an elk bugle that you know, right next to me pretty much that was
that was pretty awesome. I was not I was not expecting it to be that awesome.
You know.
I was interested in like understanding how the calling worked, you know, because obviously I am familiar with hunting turkeys and how that calling works. But me and Jeremy were talking a little bit about a few days ago how you don't, you know, utilize in turkey hunting, you don't really utilize the male call very much at all, and there's obviously some.
People that do. I've never seen it be really effective or help.
I don't know anybody that's like, man, that's my secret is, you know, doing a gobble, you know, it just doesn't really if anything, it just maybe will elicit another gobble. But it's just it seems like here the female call is a little bit less. It seems like to be used a lot less. You know, it's almost more like a finesse move ye to get them to kind of
close that. You know, it's so crazy, Like there's been a few different scenarios where I feel like we're almost on you know, we've got one that's breaking to us, you know, and then you're obviously set up behind us and you're you're trying to figure out what this particular you know, animal wants to hear, right like, either does you do you want him to think that there's another bull that's on cows or you just being an aggressive bull that's stepping into his spots.
It's been it's been interesting. I was anxious to.
See how you how you navigated those situations, and that was that was cool to watch. So that was something that maybe I wasn't expecting to be so intricate, right Like I was expecting it to just be like, well, you just hit a you just bugle all the time, and it's the same thing all the time. It's yes, that's my what's kind of my preconceived notion of it a little bit, you know.
Where it's like you get a gobble, You're like, I'm just gonna go ninety nine percent yelps. You know that's that's really what I had to do. Where here we're trying to make a decision, you know, and a lot of times we make that decision based on his bugle, like you know, and you're starting to pick it up like, oh, that's a big one. Yeah, for sure, that's a big one,
for sure. And then we just assumed the big ones got cows right, right, and so now we're like, we're probably not going to pull him off with a cow call, right the way things are going, And so then we got to get in tight and use bagles versus like, we're gonna go after this one. We think it might be a satellite. Let's just try cow calls and see if that gets them going. Then if not, we might have to sprinkle a beagle and then see if that
gets them. So you picked up on that real real quick, and uh, you know, it's kind of the same thing that we're doing. And there's no perfect science. I don't care how many years we've been out here listening to these things. There's still a little bit of guesswork and you got to kind of you know, fact check your your guests.
But you do it and then you're like that didn't work out. Maybe I should have call called yep. Maybe I should have begled instead. I mean, you just you just got to start with something, yep.
And then some of the other challenges we've experienced public land, Like you said, we're not on some private honey hole. We are. We've had people mess us up, whether.
More than once. You guys have had people mess you up more than once. I mean we had it this morning, yep.
And see the directly indirectly last night we went back into what it's been our good night spot and we get in there a little bit to where a non motorized trail at this point, and we're like, somebody's been in here on since we were there last night.
Yeah, for sure. And then this morning, man, I feel like we I feel like everybody kind of thought that it was about to happen. I mean, we had the perfect setup, the perfect wind, the perfect scenario, and you know, we got this bullworking the ridge just above us, and he's making it. He's going in reverse to try to get down this ridge to come up to you on the opposite ridge, and then we just hear, you know, a guy playing a phone noise.
What we call those Doug flues.
We just heard this brutal, brutal bugle. It was awful. And there was.
Two guys up on that ridge, yup, pushing that elk and their wind was just going right to him and he took off.
Huh they had good.
Win for the elk. Yeah, okay, And that was like we were reading that situation. I could hear that bull. You guys were still trying to get set up. We were far enough apart, it was brushing enough, which was finally going to be a good setup. I couldn't see you guys, and that bull was kind of working down the ridge and I'm like, I got a call now, or he's going to get past us again? Call and
he's he's hot, right he was. He was bugling at cow calls, bugling at bugles, and he comes to the edge hammers at us twice and the next time we hear him going away, which to me is like that number one wasn't his natural path. He'd been coming down that ridge all morning.
He didn't see us. Hint, windows we.
Had perfect win. So I'm like, well, what we realized is we had a pretty big rock outcrop into this canyon and he couldn't come down that. So what I think he was doing he was going to go back up to get so he could get down and whoop our butt when he got in. He was going to come up and see us. And about the last bugle we heard, I'm like, oh, yeah, this is you know, talking to Tyler. Tyler kind of hides in the bushes
back by me when we're calling. And looked at Tyler and like, yeah, this is going to happen, Like the bull's going back, that's going to get him down in that drainage. And next thing you hear is one of the worst sounding cow calls. I'm like, gosh, dang, head back to I just like laid bang my head into
a rock. I'm like, are you kidding me? And so you know, and then the bold beagles off goes down ways and it's I'm not a I'm a jerk a little bit, but I don't want to be a jerk, but I want to like run my wind checker over to these guys like that was never ever gonna work
for you. Ever, we had spent what the next we got up a little earlier today, spent a little more time walking in the dark, you know, headlamps on, slowly picking our way so that the wind was going to be no matter where those elk were, we're gonna have good wind. And these guys rolling their side by side right at daylight and come down completely like these guys had to be thinking like, hey, hey, Roger, is that one hitting you in the back. Yeah, let's go with the.
Elk then, like that's how that that's how that conversation had to have went, like let's just we're gonna walk straight at this elk with the wind.
You know. But what you did, what you.
Didn't see going on was me and Romero got down there, set up, and Dave's behind us and and I'm.
He's like get you know, get ready.
We're like getting the spot and I'd put my arrow in it freaking lighted, not goes off, it's just glowing. I'm like he's like, give me that arrow takes any like puts in the grain and covering it up with dirt.
Put the next one in locked, knock lights up.
The other arrow, and we're like turning my boat and he's trying to like jam. It was a mess, dude, It was all.
Finn figured out. Yeah, I was worried about letting you to go ahead of me that far and what may may happen?
It was good though. We were in a good spot. It was we both thought it was gonna happen.
And the other thing that we were able to do this morning is we had multiple bulls going, so we always had if this doesn't work, our backup plan until we had like options B C, which kept the morning going.
I'm still, I'm still kind of I'm still.
I've run myself through a couple of times like what what happened to the one that was the one that we thought originally was the one from last night who was up that we were originally going after before we heard the one behind us when we came back to him and he was still working and he was we thought he was moving to that drainage and he stopped.
It's like, where did he go? Never answered us? Where was?
Where could he have gone?
Because that whole area they're in is just that open meadow with those big pine trees in there.
I don't want to give Luke any more ammunition us against me, but if the route he was going, I think those were those elk we smelled like thirteen feet from the truck.
No, I figured they all right?
You were setting me up. I was all right, I think that's what happened. He gave us one more buhgle went down across that cannon, went right between right by the rig somewhere. But the next I'm reading, I'm gonna, I'm getting into my bullet talk about whether Luke got an elk or not. We still got a day left, we got a night in the morning. But uh we may, like I say, Luke passed. I'm gonna, I'm gonna tell the first part story. I'm gon let you tell that
first night story. We got on a group three bowls not far from camp, kind of really slow played him that morning. A bunch of that was the one. We really did a bunch of zig zag and jumping over you know, ridge over ridge, you get that win right got up there. I thought we kind of lost them for a little bit. We smell out all of us like you smell that. Let a little locate bigogle there ninety yards in front of us, and so I backed up. You guys went forward, and right away you guys could
see the elk right below a little raghorn. He did.
He saw him up like I was just even back on to not see him.
So you guys saw those. We ended up after they made me work for it a little bit, we finally were able to call the little Raghorn into what thirty three yards and Luke had made the decision. Uh just let you know there was a bigger bowl in there. Maybe if it was the only boy, he would have been mournings, but we had a good bowl there, which you know.
Let's and it was early, dude, it was the first really first morning, so you're like, you.
Know, yeah, let's let's get this big one.
And we're here and there hammering that day, you know, like so we're like, okay, well we're in them, like we're in here, they're in here thick. So you know this isn't going to be take the first shot. Yeah, yeah, what I mean? Yeah, And so that was it worked perfect.
And just to give everybody a little bit of idea how we're calling these things. So our idea with some of this more open country is to have me set up fifty sixty seventy yards back and then these guys if the wind we talk about this all the time, the wind's hitting us maybe from the right to the left, you know, these guys will set up maybe to my left. This one we got a little bit in a straight line because we basically just had to drop where everything
really were. But our normal setup has been, all right, I'm gonna set back fifty sixty yards, you guys will go forward and then maybe out to the down wind side of me. If that elk comes in and wants to get win that way, it pulls them right into you guys. So that's kind of our setup. We get there.
We knew we can.
I can only call the ball or the bowl so far before he's gonna win, you guys. He gets the thirty three wins, and about that time, you guys bought the bigger bull coming over on the same trail exactly, and we can hear it and he's coming in just hot. We're like, oh, this is gonna work. Well, what happened is that that raghorn that winded us goes down and
then kind of curls away. He's a little spooked. Well, that bull, instead of staying on the same path that raghorn decides to chase him away from his cows and kind of takes him up there. Well, they're up on the ridge and he's still big and well, all of a sudden, that six point decides he's going to come back in and' like, all right here it goes well, the bulls coming into me calling not where your guys is set up, and he gets to what sixty.
Three sixty three yards from us in forty.
Forty forty two or something for me and the last little pile of brush you went in. He was going to pop out under fifty, but he catches you guys, your you know, your guys wind again at fifty and then kind of bolt doesn't really bolt out, just slowly walks off.
Yeah.
We we took a nap for an hour and went back at him, and we don't need to get in too much details. We kind of walk smack dab into him, did some barking back and forth. We were able to kind of slow him down and almost save it, but then he had a pesky cow that didn't really like our situation. And basically eight of us, you know, it's not just us four hunting right, We've got audio produce,
her meet eater producer, two camera guys. Uh, there's eight of us standing in the middle of open did everything we could to save it, but ultimately lost that one and then we go we come back. I'm not going to get into all that. The whole way back, we just keep running to random.
Bugles, I mean every bend in the road, and like not you were It's not like you're like I want to stop here and locate. It would just be like we'd be walking into we just hammer one hundred and fifty yards away.
Yeah.
I think the best part was was like, you know, you come off of an unsuccessful set up, share a little down right, and then a bull fires off and it's like right back, Yeah, man, your back, guys, you're ready again, let's set up and then you know it doesn't work out. So you're walking down the road a little, a little bummed, and then bull fires off. It's just like rent and repeat all morning into well into the early afternoon.
Yep. And so we we mess around with those. So we we keep telling I think the night before Luke's like, so, how's these days ago? I said, we usually back in camp by eleven ten eleven, Well after our long walkout we I got here.
It was.
Literally we're heading out at three thirty. I'm like, gees, no.
Nap, He's coming off of a flight from Kansas deer hunt where he wasn't sleeping, comes right into an now count were like, hey, we're gonna we're gonna work.
Yeah, it worked worked.
So we go right back out to a little spot we had been saving. We had got on some elk prior to Luke being here and once again had an illegal side by side mess that up. But we knew these bulls were in here. They like it. And these bulls seem to be on some sort of a cycle I haven't figured out yet, but they're kind of they're there and then they're gone. They're there until we wanted to go check that out. And I took a lot of this blame originally because I'm I'm gonna take ownership
for me not spotting a bowl. We get in there, we weren't walking more than five minutes, and we bust the ball out of his bed right and I'm blaming you guys because you guys are making fun of me for jumping over logs.
Aping the whole time.
Yeah, it looks like look at that guy in his lengthy ass giraft legs or whatever he was saying, and oh.
There's a pre really good path through the logs and he just Alps decides to just leap over all of them, you know, I mean, just yeah, power move.
Yeah it was he was trying to show.
Yeah, well we're bumping out there and we don't once again, we haven't lowked. Did we locate this? We located this ball. We get to a little rise right past that, We're like, I'm feeling a little bit stupid, like just walked by a bedded bowl. I'm gonna be able here before I screw anything else up and pull hammers right around the corner. No it's not him. Uh, we get we get kind of check the wind. We're like, oh man, this it can't work out better? Wins good. I'm gonna let you
take the story from here, though I don't want to. Jeremy.
I'll take you. I'll take I'll take it if you want.
Yeah, yeah, go ahead, Hollo.
You know, I don't let Jeremy take it because I feel like he's gonna explain it so much more eloquently.
How about we both take it?
Yeah, yeah, I go for it.
And you know, we set up we got fifty sixty yards from from Phelps and have the wind in our face and we're offset to Phelps's left, on.
A down slope, you know, yeah, already a decent little grade.
Were open, real open.
And that was the challenge, right, We already knew that we were somewhat in the open, so we had very few spots to draw if that bull didn't, in fact, which he did, come to the call. But we set up, we got comfortable, We got into a spot where we thought we had enough cover. I you know, looking back at it, I think it was the best spot we could have had it.
Yeah, it was the only spot that there was.
Yeah, it was just a handful of you know, small and mature ponderosas just a little taller than us, but you know, broke up our silhouette enough to where we can we can try to make something happen. And Phelps started hammering the calls and like clockwork, I mean, that bull just came right into it like he had it on.
Can I interject a little bit there? So we go back to like what he's feeling. And this was one of those good situations where it didn't matter if I buggled, whether I cow called, whether I raked the tree, all of them seemed to be working. So like this bulls he's interested because it didn't. It wasn't one or the other. I like, this makes my job boo easier. Aways need to you know, a call every minute or two.
Sure, sure, yeah, And so then you know we're set up. We can start seeing the bull coming down the hill. No good bull. You know we got one one look at him and you this was this was something.
Yeah.
I mean the second you step out, you're like, yeah, for sure, yeah, no question, no question asked.
Yeah.
So then it's the game of like, well when do we draw right, how how close? How far is he before we have an opportunity to to really draw back on him? And uh, I thought, I mean, I'll just you know, I'll continue to take blame for it as well. I thought, like there was a there was a clump of trees, and I thought he would come behind him, and that would be the same.
Thing, thinking the same thing. He came.
He came a completely different trajectory. He just he came toward us, which is.
Weird because you're you're straight back yards walk them to us, and we haven't made a sound.
It made a move.
The wind is still good. He comes into about thirty seven yards and he comes to the last possible little clump of trees that we could we could use to draw, and uh, you know, Luke draws and we just get busted. You know, I've never seen somebody hold a bowl that bow that long at full draw at that angle. I mean, Luke. Luke was pointing to the ground at full draw, and that bulls just kind of staring at us. He probably held it there what seemed like twenty minutes, you know,
but it was a couple of minutes. Yeah, he stayed, he stayed in that position. That bull was was locked in on us. You know, Jason just hammered the calls through everything in the kitchen sink at that bull.
I mean, so what I'm thinking at that time is Luke needs an opportunity to lift his bow and get it on target. And so I'm only forty yards away from this elk, but he can't really see me. And so I've got my stick in my hands, I'm raking the tree. I'm beagling like I just wanted his eyes, and he did for a little bits turned to me, but he still had enough eyes on you guys that you couldn't necessarily get the bow up.
Uh.
And also there was no shot anyways where he was even if the bow was up at that point used to we still needed him to come across and around because all we're looking at is those little trees. There's no windows at all to get a shot through there.
You know what I mean. It's like it was never gonna happen.
Which is crazy because from my spot, I'm trying to like figure out what I guess it is wide open, you know, shoot nothing. But so, I mean, we've been in this situation enough. The bull whirls and kind of walks off and I at some point we call a little bit more to him and he actually kind of hooks back to me again.
Well before that, you know, he he got a little spooked, and then he did the whole I'm gonna I'm gonna bail right and then you're he pivoted to try to leave, and then Jason called and the bull was able to stop, and we we had a window. It was probably the size of a basketball or something like that, that's what it seemed like. And uh, he would It was essentially broadsided, a little quartering away, but a good window. We could
have snuck one in there. And Luke tried to just kind of veered off a little bit to try to get it through there. And when he did that, the bull walked and that's when he did that little jay hook and and started coming to us. And by that time he probably gained about twenty yards. You know, once he once he kind of boogered, and that you know you're calling, brought him right back in. That's that's what
save does. And so he he came back up. There was a tree that was, you know, falling on the ground that we had rained debt at fifty yards and you know, I just kept my range finder on him and he kept walking up and Luke's just like, talk to me, Talk to me. He talking to me. So
I'm just you know, firing off ranges. And that bull stops at at fifty one yards, and you know, he was already he was already a little antsy, and I just I was a little afraid that if he kept if he kept walking, we wouldn't have had a shot. We'd be in the wide open and he potentially would have seen you and he would have been gone.
You know.
So he gets in that window and kind of stop, So I mewte at him, you know, just to keep him there a little longer. His attention kind of comes right back to us, and and lukelets one fire at fifty one yards, a great, great shot, I mean a great shot, and we hit him. We hit him high in the back, and you know, we were sitting there wondering, you know, what the heck happened? And everything felt good, the shot felt good. We had plenty of time to
take that shot. We sat down, we redrooped for about, you know, twenty thirty minutes, and then you know the stories of all these ifs ands and butts, and you know, everybody's you know, taking a little bit of blame for kind of what happened and what transpired there. But at the end of the day, I think we did everything right. Looking back at it, like I wouldn't have changed anything.
What about No, Yeah, I wouldn't have for sure.
And you know, you wonder again, like you said, you wonder the whole time, you know, start second guessing yourself, and you know, sit, would I had done this again when I had done that any different?
But there's just no other option for us to do.
And you know, obviously, you know, you go back and you look at the video, you know, and you're like the you know he dropped eight.
Inches man eight or more.
So it's like that the shot that that you know, that I decided to take was you know, if that, if that bull doesn't spook out on that on that bow, letting go man like that, that's he's down.
Dude, I'm gonna and I'm gonna rewind to two days before, you know, big country music star Luke Combs, you know, world renowned comes into camp. You're like, God, can this guy shoot a bow? You're like, well, you know, because we don't know, we don't know each other or not. And I'm like, God, this is gonna be a train wreck. Like I'm gonna call us. I don't have to call using into eleven or twelve yards for this guy is probably we might get lucky and hit it in the hoof,
you know. And so Luke gets Luke gets the camp and shoots at twenty. I'm like, huh, that must have been accident because he hit the middle of He hits the middle of target and Luke, Luke's phil on this. He's like, I want back up to thirty. So back up to thirty and I don't know if you can have more dead center and the bulls eye and I'm like, huh, either got lucky twice in a row. No, this this guy can shoot. And I'm like all right, I'm like
all right, I'm good. Look can shoot whatever he wants to shoot, because like, you know, a target of that at thirty. So I mean, I want to say, you know, you were just taking a shot at fifty because we had like you were shooting lights out. Yeah he hit that, and we looked at your pin gaps, like your bow is shooting fast, and so you're like, I don't have a fifty pin. But I'm like, you know, Elk's Elk's death.
I said, you know, just that forty at the top of fifty, like that's going to be And like I say, we you know us, we put a piece of tape on the video so we could see the drop and then you know, if you put the if you put a point on the kill spot, his back where you hit ends up in that spot. So it's like, yeah, maybe him being on alert, but it's like Elk usually don't duck the shot. And so you know, you were pretty hard on yourself. I didn't know you that well.
Then I want to give you a big hub hug reb your back, make you feel better and you know, be motivational, but it's like, hey man, we got to wipe that one clean. It wasn't your fault that bulls the other thing that I would much rather hit him in the strap knowing that boy, and I was able from my position to watch that thing walk away the whole way and he'd almost had the arrow shook by then hardly there was no blood and we we chased him the rest that night and he was he was fighting.
We would have heard him fight for two and.
A half and he was down and fighting a hour later.
Big old bull. Because we seen the bull he was fighting later that night. And if he was fighting that guy, he was still filling his oats.
So we fall does make you feel better about it, right, you know?
Yeah, way better than a gut liver low and you know, cavity, he's not going to die from this. Uh. And so that was that was night. You know, I guess it was technically our second night, first full day, and we know we've been in beagles all day. We're able to have that opportunity and just had a dang elk that wanted to he's like a white tailt drops and out, and are there any tips and tricks you've picked up that you can relate to whitetail the turkey or do
you feel like there's still some stuff? You know, if you were to come do this on your own, you would you know you'd be able.
To use or I would feel not very confident coming on my own, you know what I mean?
Like I just feel like there's so much too.
It's so much like without you guys, without y'all's knowledge of the terrain and the and the wind and you know how you want to get in and get out. And really, I think one thing that was way above my pay grade was like knowing how the winds begin to shift as this as the sun rises, and as when the cloud cover comes in, and as it runs through these different drainages and up on these different shelves and stuff. Like, Dude, I would be lost out here.
And I can't help but think this morning that that's what's happening when we're busting out by these guys, is they have the best of intentions, just like I would if I was out here by myself trying to call a bully in, And I mean I'd be that guy that you're that you're laughing at on the top of the ridge, going that just it's just like there's so many things that you take years and years and years
and years of experience to understand. And I'm lucky enough to be out here with, you know, two guys that know what the hell they're doing one hundred percent, not guys that know what they're doing fifty percent, because the fifty percent and it's still not being able to get it done. That's how hard it is, right Like, So I would you know, I mean, obviously I would encourage anybody to.
Get out here and and.
Do it if you have the opportunity. But I think, you know, having a chance to go with somebody who really knows what they're doing is a game changer, and it saves you a lot of I mean, I think the lessons that I learned in the last two three days with y'all would have potentially taken me five or six, seven or eight seasons to figure out on my own, you know what I mean, Like, I've.
You skipped so much of that. Oh why do we keep busting this powl? Man?
Like our win was good and we walked in, you know, and he's up on this thing, and then now we're up here and now he's you know, they're not. It's like you check the win when you walk in, and then you forget to check it because you're so excited about him firing off and he's right there, and then you don't even realize. I think it could be so easy to fall into bad habits like that. I think that that's where I would be. You know, I wouldn't. I would definitely not feel comfortable coming out.
We know what we're doing.
I think it was a reach, but we'll take it. I'll take that's like, I think that's the first compliment we've got in two days, but we'll take it. If that's no, And we wanted you to be included in this hut, like it wasn't us taking you honting. Sure, and so I think from you know, day one, you had more questions. You and Tyler were both like, Hey,
what happens if this happens? What happened if this happens, And then by today i'm your damn you're calling the shots like Romeo, I don't think that's what we should do. We should do you know, you're joking aside. It's kind of funny romero, Me and Luke, I do want to say this, Me and Luke can come up with the greatest plan, Like I'm bounce and ideas off of him. He's bounced ideas off of me, and we're like, hey, guys,
we're gonna do this. Remember I was like we should do the opposite of that, exactly the opposite, like none of that should be used, and we're gonna do this and we're like what.
And none of us have been right yet, no, no, no matter what.
So it's kind of kind of funny. But no, you I think, you know, seeing even the growth and in three days like hey you know this makes sense or what about this? And we're like, yeah, that makes we could do that. And there's so many decisions being made, like you know, you can make thousands of different decisions and and so you know, like hey Luke, Luke wants to do this, and we both buy in, like that could be a let's go do that. We'll try that. Besides the truck. We haven't bought into that.
If you did buy into brunch yesterday though, yeah, we're taking and eggs And.
That was a tough sell. I mean, you know, it was tough salve. But we finally got sold on it and it's worth it.
I mean, and into Luke's credit, we took the break. What'd we go out and find last night?
We went out and found a freaking hammer last night, freaking giant.
Yeah, yeah, I just we've all. You got the lay eyes on, we got the lay eyes on binoculars, but it just wasn't a good.
Spot, possible spot to get to, possible spot to make a play on, like I mean, I feel like we really did, and we brought it down to the wire just to It's one of those one of those bulls I feel like, you know where you're like you do anything just to get eyes on it.
Yeah, like you stay there all night.
You know there's no chance you're getting a shot at that time. I mean, I think after after you know once we when we first when you first saw it, when you came up and me and him were set up on that thing and we saw those cows coming across, and you know, Jeremy had called you over to come up because we were kind of the cows had kind of Pilford out and dude, I remember you glad because
I dropped my knocks like two three days ago. I'm like, I'm not even using these things, you know, I'm just taking them off to shoot every time if we get set up, so.
I didn't bring them. I remember you glassing up at this.
Thing and like you got all gaggy and weird, and I was like, oh man, what are we getting into?
You know, it was like it was wild, dude.
Yeah, And I got nervous at that point because I was the only one that seen him, Like, oh I her goes Phelps getting all excited, exaggerating, and I'm like, Jeremy, you kind of just look and you give the guy the eyes like you don't you don't want Luke to get crazy yet or get more nervous in your ideas. You're like, it's a giant. And so thankfully we made the play we needed to. We ran back up the road try to get ahead of him.
And they just they just broke off it in that meadow instead of following.
Him and his fifteen cows. So that's the other thing. Most of these bulls around here have two three cows. This guy's big enough to be running at fifteen right now. Yeah, and they're just sitting there feed and we got we got a really good. Look at him. Just a giant, I mean, just one of those amazing public lamd bulls. Yeh out here ontime?
Yeah, yeah yeah.
I was telling Luke, I said, Man, if we arrow this bull, i'mnna be real excited for you, but I'm also gonna be a little jealous.
Oh man.
That's that was it.
That was awesome man, And I'm I just I hate that that happened this morning because we went into that same area.
I had such a good plan.
And who knows if that I don't think the one we were on was that bull, but it was a big It was a big bull.
That's that's part of the fun. Like is it going to be?
Is?
Yeah?
I mean obviously they're in here, man, you know what I mean, It's like wow.
But I think a lot of people also rush into those situations, right. They see a bull of a lifetime like that, and regardless of what the wind's doing, regardless of how many cows he has, regardless of how open it is, they just they rush in, right, and they just blow their chances forever.
Tomorrow the next day that you just never have a chance.
To trust me, every bit of me wanted to do that you know, like at least see like, at least see how.
Right happens and we get close, you know, but you you.
Get into those positions, and you know, we've been fortunate enough to be in enough of them where anything we do isn't gonna work right, and so you have to make that call of backing out. You have to make that call of let's leave it for another day, you know, regroup, restrategize, plan for a different scenario. And you know, this morning scenario, whether it was or wasn't, that bull was was you know, what we planned for, what was strategized on, and it
would it would have worked out. But god, there's nothing more frustrating than than leaving a bull like that, right, Oh man.
It's like and knowing it's like, well, we can't go after him tonight, you know, yeah, already he's already spooked out and freaked out.
You know.
It's like and you know, those guys might be back in there this evening, and it's all those trucks and stuff. And then we saw more people showing up like we thought it would. We thought it would kind of cool off to take this Monday, you know, like it seems like everybody that was working on the weekend is out.
All the caloriers come up here to get the horseback in here.
It's like what the I at the county fair and the rodo what Luke said, you know earlier, he said that he wouldn't know quite what to do if he was out here. But he and I were talking earlier, and I think in the last forty eight hours he's learned quite a bit to where, you know, like that situation yesterday afternoon, I'm pretty sure he was the first one that was like, hey, there's probably nothing we can do here, right we got we got to back out.
I mean, it's just it's just impossible. I mean that.
I mean, it's like I wish everybody could see just beyond, you know, the other side of what we're seeing right here.
But it's just like.
I mean, I really think if, for you know, if we're standing here and we heard when Bugo on the top of this now while we're filming this thing, what's your best option right now? There's not really wait for him to go away and then try to get up there. Right It's like you can't you can't pull him down here because he can just see everything.
He can stand on the thing. Well, there's not any elk down there, but it sounds like there is, but there.
Is no I can see I can Yeah, it's like there's no there's no guessing on his part.
You can see Tyler back there, lurking in a tree.
Just what did you hear me say? He said? He said, he's he's never too far, never too close, never too far, and never too close. Yeah, that should be.
Your motto, dude, never too far and ever too trade market, the trade market.
Yeah. So no, we've got a day left. We're gonna do everything everything we can in our power to make this happen, all of us, everybody here on on the side. Like I said, it feels a little cooler. We got some cloud cover which was like the great day we had that, so really excited for tonight. But let's switch gears a little bit and get into Luke Comb's hunting and how it kind of ties into some of your music and you know, you're starting to get more and
more references in your song lyrics that you mentioned. It's becoming a bigger piece of your life. You're keeping a and maybe it's too personal. This can get cut out, like keeping a diary for your kids, like just a hunt journal. So what does honey mean to you? When did you start? Kind of give us a little background on that and just in general.
Yeah, I really started, I don't know, I guess probably eight years ago now and have it's been kind of just become obsessed with it, you know really, you know obviously my you know, my, what I do for a living is very uh sensory overload, you know what I mean. Like it's just a lot of one place to the next, to this place to that place, and in this car and into this place and doing interviews and doing photo shoots and shoot music videos and in the studio.
And writing songs and it never ends, you know.
So I think these trips for me, you know, hunting started out as a way to kind of it's the complete antithesis of that, right Like it does ultimately, it does culminate with some super climax, high intensity moment if everything goes right, But like the lead up, you know, it's like everything about it is very I don't know, there's a lot of calming elements too, like the whole process, right, Like you know, if like if you're pumped to go hunting,
to shoot an animal. It's like you're I mean, yeah, that's the end goal, but it's like just there would you would leave feeling empty if you showed up and then you shot an animal and that.
Was the end.
And it all ended right, like, you know, spending time outside and being with you know, like minded people, and I've also learned a tremendous amount of life lessons from being out here right.
You know.
I was talking with you earlier when we were in the tent when this was all getting set up, and talking about how, you know, the music stuff for me has always come really naturally, you know, and not that it wasn't you know, really difficult, and that it's not a lot of work, and it is all that, but it's.
Never felt like I never felt.
Like I had a lot to overcome in the sense of and I guess that I did, but it just never felt that way.
You know.
It's something that I was naturally good at, and I really always believed in myself and my ability to do that, and once I decided I was going to do that for a living, it seemed like I didn't really hit a lot of setbacks, you know, just the way my story kind of played out.
I'm very thankful for that.
I'm very lucky, but you know, I'm you know, we've talked about a little bit on this trip that I'm gonna showing a bit of a cold streak in the woods man, like.
Like the bull dropping.
And you know, I've I've had some some other hunts that just kind of everything you do everything the right way, and then it doesn't work out, you know, the way that that it's supposed to, and I mean even down to the you know, the eleventh hour. You know, like I've had stuff recently where I'm like, we're already celebrating and then it's it doesn't go away that you think
that it's going to go. And so I've learned a lot through those experiences, right that that not you know, just because you do everything you can, and you you prepare the best that you possibly can, and you do everything you feel like the right way, and you're coming on these you know, public land hunts and you know, I could probably afford to go do whatever hunt I wanted to, but I don't want to do that, you know, I want I want it to be a challenge.
I want it to be difficult. I want there to be you know, I want it to be.
You know, I don't can't say I want to go hike to the top of the Himalayan mountains, but.
You know what I mean, Like, I don't want it to be.
I don't want to just sitting in front of a you know, in front of a big pile of apples and they go, well, that's you know, this is you know, Razor Blade's going to walk out in five.
Minutes, you know what I mean, and you're gonna shoot it. It's like, I'm just not interested in that, you know.
So, But yeah, I keep that journal man, and it helps me kind of especially through this, through this kind of last year. I guess that's it's been really tough for me, at least big game wise, it's been. It's been tough for me. I've had a great Turkey season this year. I'm thankful for that.
I love that.
You know, Turkey Woods seems like the only thing that keep me coming back right now. You know, it hasn't been a lot of it hasn't hasn't been a lot of good outcomes anywhere else. And but I keep that journal really, you know, I me and my friends talk about it a lot that I go hunt with you know, Dan and Reid. They have a podcas guest meet and I've been hunting with those guys for years and they're some of my best friends.
And you know there they.
Grew up hunting and their dad hunts, and so they're like, man, I just I wish I had I wish my dad would.
Have done that, you know.
I wish I could go back and read all my dad's you know, the days that he was miserable and the days that he was you know that he got the biggest ear of his life. I wish I could have all that stuff, you know. And so my wife bought me that book a few years ago for Christmas, I think around twenty nineteen, and just this Elk Hunt's going to be the last pages of my first first
journal that will be completely filled up. So I'm excited about about starting the next one and hopefully we can get we can get something done and there'll be something good in the end of that one.
Yeah, you know, we're gonna do everything we can. Yeah, yeah, I mean we you know, got to know Luke, you know, he was a you know, a big country music singer prior to this. You know, hopefully be able to call my friend for life now after this. But one thing I've noticed about just walking around the woods, like very family oriented, Like we see like a random bone. He's like, man, like, I can't wait till my kid asked me about what that is. You know, It's like I feel like it.
You know, it's a little cliche, but it's like, man, he's here for the you know, you're doing this for the right reasons and thinking about the future and a big, big family man. And you know, the last album Father and Sons, you know, and and some of your other music you talk about hunting, you know, hunting by myself again, which maybe a little you know, metaphor about your kids grown up, but it does tie it back into hunting. Do you do you get any I'm gonna rewind a
little bit. Sure, We've we've had some conversations on these hunts that kind of lead to this. You've you mentioned that throughout your career you've been able to maintain a lot of creative that is there ever, any pressure from from any not to sing about hunting, Like is are you just you have that creative where it's like, we don't care if you talk about hunting.
I've never had anything.
You know, there's times when we've you know, there's times in the writing room where you know, we've come up and we're like, man, you know, maybe it's like you don't talk about it in this song just because it doesn't make sense, or sometimes like I think, you know, a lot of the guys that I'm friends with, you know, we all kind of hunt you know, not every guy I'm friends with, but most of the guys I'm really close with we do. So we all have that in common.
And like we've been joking this whole week about you know, oh, they're just up that draw or the gut or the cut. There's a hundred different names for like a little valley with the creek, you know what I mean. It's like and it's like some of the lingo is so specific that I feel like and when I'm writing a song, it's like I try to not say the same stuff
in the same way that everybody else does. And I'm sure people will shred me apart from saying that, and they'll find every song I've done that somebody else has said something.
But it's like when you try to reference Hunting, it it's like it is.
Even amongst country music, where it would be most prevalent, it still can be at a deep level.
It's it's still a niche thing, right, Like.
You can't talk about climbing over the saddle to get your wind, right because like nobody's gonna know what that is, what that is Like there's ten guys that are like, oh I got and like for them or right here, you know, it's like so I but I know, I've never had any pressure from anyone to say, don't do that.
I think hunting songs can be because I I I do feel like that hunting gets a bad rap from from a lot of people, and that, you know, that kind of makes me upset a little bit because it's something that I value so much, and I do think that it has, you.
Know, a lot of it gets a lot of bad press.
It has a lot of bad pr from a lot of people that maybe don't know a lot about it or a lot about a lot of things that that kind of are in that world. But I've never had anyone say don't don't sing about it or or don't you know, write about it, or don't talk about it. Yeah, And I just think, you know, I'm lucky to be in a genre that does I know, you know, me
and Steve have talked about it. He knows some people that hunt and they don't know anyone else that hunts, and they're just they feel kind of lost because they know.
I can't imagine like loving hunting and not having any hunting buddies.
That would just be like the worst, you know what I mean. It's like, right, like that's like to be like seventy five percent of going.
It's like, God, I've just been outside and you have no one to share with.
And like going to like going with people and like sitting around drinking you know, whiskey out of a freaking coffee cup. You know, it's like that's the that's the good stuff, you know what I mean. It's like that's the stuff that I feel like. Those are the stories ultimately that you know, that you end up telling, right, like you right, you hang your mount on the wall.
But I find myself, you know, telling stories about me and my something funny that happened to my buddy on that hunt, as opposed to you know, when we shot that what whatever.
You know what I mean.
It's like, so yeah, no, I've never gotten that pressure before, but I could see I'm sure that there are people who probably have to be honest, you know, I but just the way my my things kind of set up, it's like no one's ever really had you know, no one's ever really ever had that dominion to like they don't do this or don't do that, you know what I mean. But I'm sure that I'm sure that that's happened to people before.
Yeah. Yeah, it's like I said, I I you know, I kind of sit back some some hunting references are a little bit cringe, but it's like you listen, like hunting by yourself again, You're like, it's got a metaphorical meaning. It's more about watching your kids grow up, right than it is hunting. But it's like, oh, you found a cool way to mix that in.
The hunting the hunting songs, man, We've I've heard there are some really bad ones out there, dude, I mean there's some really bad ones.
And it's like it's such a razor's edge.
And I'm glad you said that again because I was trying to kind of circle back to that, and my last talking point.
Was it's not that you don't want to write about it. But you have to.
It's such a razor's edge between complete cringey garbage and like something that's well done enough, but that a lot of people can understand. Like if you did it really well, there wouldn't be a lot of people who could could you know, glob onto it and relate.
To it, because it's all so specific, it's all knowledge based, it's all you know. So it's hard. It's hard to write a good hunting song, it really is. It's very difficult.
So hunting mainly turkey, mainly white tail the last couple of years. You came out in twenty one with Steve. That was your first Western big game. You were able to take a pronghorn Wyoming.
Yep.
We also talked at red stag on in New Zealand. Yep, on stag in New Zealand. So is there was there? Is there? Like is an Eastern hunter? You know, we we all live out west, so we we live and breathe mule, deer, out blacktail. And is it like aspirational for a guy like you to come out west and some more of these species? Is just something you want to mix in? Is it like you see yourself coming out west? More to hunt.
Yeah, I mean I definitely would would would would love to do that. You know, obviously these hunts require a lot more time. You know, they're a lot more scheduled. The tagging is a nightmare, you know, getting a tag, drawing a tag, or you know, spinning a arm and a leg on a landowner tag. It's like, there's so many hurdles to hunting out here, and I think even a guy in my position who would have almost unlimited
resources to make it happen, it's still intimidating. So I can't imagine what it's like being a regular guy, you know, working a forty hour week job and trying to get one of these ones in a lifetime tags and then coming in here and spending your vacation time to come do this hunt and then walking away empty handed. Like I just can't imagine how hard that would be to do. It's definitely something that I would want to do more. But they're you know, at times, you you know, you
struggle with guilt. To me, I'm completely honest, like you struggle with some guilt of like, man, like, there's so many people that would love to be doing this hunt. It almost feels wrong that I've gotten to come in and like this is where I'm starting at, you know, like tag of a freaking lifetime, you know what I mean, to come in and have the opportunity to be out
here in the spot with you guys. And but yeah, it's something I would love to do, to do more for sure, But I do want it to not be I do want it to be special, right.
I don't want it to be like.
Man, I'm gonna just go buy a bunch of tags, and you know, I would love to, you know, I would love to because realistically, right like I'm never going to live in you know, Wyoming or you know, it's just never gonna happen for me, you know, with my job and my family and stuff. So you don't want to get too addicted to something that I'm not going to have access.
To, you know what I mean? Like that often, you know what I mean.
So I try to enjoy it while I'm out here and and you know, maximize you know, my chances to be out here and do it.
But am I ever going to be a guy that's you know, coming out hunting and out by myself? Probably not. I would love to be. I just don't know if that's realistic for me.
You know, well, I think you know, leading up to this, Jason and I we were hunting a little bit, uh, just two of us, and uh, I think it goes without saying, but I'm gonna say that anyways. Like just uh, the amount of respect that we have for you coming out grinding doing it public land, like all the variables that could go wrong, we've we've experienced, they have everything that has Yeah, I mean you're you're optimistic about it.
You know, you're you're hungry out here. You want to you know what, you want to get up and get after it. And I, I, you know, I have a lot of respect for somebody who's who's willing to go through that the highs, the lows, the in betweens and and get after public Land out because there really is nothing,
you know, more difficult than than hunting big game. I'm sure there are people are going to say that, you know, you know, doing an expedition in Antarcy or something like that, but like there, you know, it's it's it's difficult to come out here and do this. You know, it's difficult to come out here, commit the time away from your family as you were just mentioning, you know, and then have all these different possibilities that can go against you
out here on public land. You know, I think it's a great way to to to start, you know, you initiate yourself and kind of l hunting and Western big game hunting on public land. And I I'm glad you you chose to go that route.
Yeah, I'm glad to be here. Man. It's been so much fun.
Really, I you know, it's the video eventually come out, this podcast come up for the video, But I don't know if we've stopped laughing or how many how many of the how many of Luke's jokes are gonna make the cut. But when his music career is over, you guys will see him at the comedy clubs. Make you He'll be doing those tours. It's too niche. I think the humor is too niche.
I don't think We're walking down the trail and it's like I have to I have to like gathered myself. I was like remind myself that we're hunting, you know. I mean, I could be laughing all daying day. I'm just on the back.
I'm even going to get on any elk because you guys are being so loud, We're chuckling.
We're just chuckling at We're trying to drum them up, trying to drumb them up.
So and I know some of these answers, So it's I'm asking a question I know the answer to because we've talked about over the last couple of days. But you know, how I was hunting kind of changed. You know, eight years ago you made the decision I want to start hunting. You know, whether it was friends, but it was it a connection to where your food comes from? Was it a pastime you were just interested in you didn't get the chance. And then how's that kind of changed?
You know, changed you you know, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, whatever it may be.
I think I think it's a little bit of both, right, Like you know, a lot of my a lot of my buddies were doing it, and I had some I had some interest in, you know, you know God that you know, they all felt like I all felt like they knew what they were doing and stuff, and so I was like, man, I you know, I'd love to go. And you know, the first hunt I ever went on
was a turkey hunt with my buddy Ray. We went down to you Wardia where he lives and got the hunt on you know, the land he grew up hunting on and stuff, and just hearing the freaking tree gobbles in the morning and stuff, and I was like, man, that's like I could.
Get into this.
You know, Ray's dad gave me a slate call on that trip that I still got that'll still use, you know, And so yeah, I think that was that was the morning that got me hooked on it.
Right. You know, we didn't get a turkey that day or anything. I don't even know if we really.
Saw they saw one on the on the ground, right, you know, we heard a couple of goblin in the trees and stuff. But that got me the itch to want to go back and continued to continue to pursue that and I was able to get my first tear at my buddy Jonathan's house, who uh you know, produces my records with me and we write together a lot. And he loves to hunt, you know, white tail. He's a big white tail turkey, you know, just a Southeast hunter.
You know, I called him Southeast hunter turkey whitetail. Maybe be shoot a dove if you know, if they got a buddy that's got some flower field or something, you know, not somebody that you know is going to be packing an elkout and you know, out in the middle of
Alaska or something. But you know, same difference, you know, And so you know then I do love to cook too, right, So then it becomes access to, you know, things that you would never be able to get if you weren't out doing it yourself, you know, and being able to share those recipes with you know, share those meals with my parents, you know who. You know, my dad did't hunt growing up. You know, he grew up in the rust belt of Ohio, you know, so they weren't you know,
hunting or nothing. You know, dad was his dad was a truck driver, and they just didn't hunt.
Just wasn't part of growing up for them.
And to be able to eat that food with them, and you know, obviously it look forward now to you know, to bringing my kids into it is something I'm really excited about having an experience with.
And you know, it's just I'm glad I found it.
Right, It's like a you know, because music's always been you know, my number one passion, right, you know, and not that it still isn't.
But it's also my job now too, right.
So it's like you have to you have to work to have the separation between that you know, doing you know, I love for the love of the game music stuff Like when I'm in the room writing a song, you know, or when I'm on stage singing it.
Those are the times that you really love it. Everything else feels like work, right, Like nothing with hunting to me feels like work at all. Right.
It's just something I love doing and something enjoy and and it's not something that you can do anytime, which I think is what makes it special too, right, Like you can't go, well, I think.
Tomorrow I'm gonna go hunt a rut and elk.
You know. It's like just these magical little windows, you know, of the year that you have the chance to do that. That's what I love about Turkey Out so much as it's you know, you got six weeks man to get it done, you know, and if you don't, then you're not gonna get a chance to until next.
Year, you know.
So that's the thing that I think draws me back to it is, you know, these really awesome opportunities that you don't you can't just go do whenever you want. It's not like, oh, I can just go play golf tomorrow if I feel like playing golf tomorrow. You know, it's not not that way. You know, having the opportunity to you know, chase a you know, a huge white tails and Iowa or something like that that may ultimately be once in a lifetime experience for me, you know what I mean.
So, yeah, that's the thing I think makes it cool.
It makes it cool always, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I think also too for you, it can be very therapeutic from your lifestyle to being so busy and entertaining and being in front of the camera and just the crazy lifestyle that you live, to being in the blind or a tree center out in the woods with no selles service, and you know, getting to share the experience of these guys and getting to know them and lifelong friends. For sure, I think it's very therapeutic attempts.
To no doubt, no doubt it is. Yeah. Yeah, it's been.
It's been a kick, and we still got I still got a day left. So I want to let everybody know, if you don't already know, you're gonna be your touring back in Australia, New Zealand, just Australia or both Australia and New Zealand twenty twenty five. So this is probably where you're gonna sell most of your tickets to Resistance podcast, so you can thank me now or later, yeah, later, fucking out later. You have a huge following in Australia and New Zealand.
Later, We'll do it later.
Okay. I've got like probably like three or four listeners from Australia and New Zealand. That's it. That's four, three or four takes going to help you out, all right? Are you gonna and I know the answer this is already. You're gonna take time to hunt while you're down there again like you were last time.
I was, I was going to, I was really gonna do it.
We were doing everything we wanted to, you know, everything to try to make that happen, and it's just gonna be in the.
Middle of summer, you know.
And the strange thing about hunting down there is there's really not any regulations at all, so you could go hunt right It says the clear opposite of what we just talked about, Like you can't do it whenever you want but it's like it just it's just going to be one hundred degrees. The animals are all just going to be lethargic and just laid up somewhere, you know, and it's just like it's just not something that you know, you know, you want to go when the magic's happening, right,
you know what I mean? Like and so yeah, unfortunately now won't be going up to I'm sad to say that I won't be going, but you know, it would just be again one of those things like you wanted the experience to be right too. You know, it's not just about going over there and shooting something, which you could do if you want to. You know, I'm sure there's guys that do that, but it's just not for me, you know.
So it's no hunting eight eight stops, eight four stops, eight shows, eight four stops, four stops, eight shows. Yeah, yeah, cha be you have and you have a I don't know if you're if I'm supposed to Ben announce this, it's just pretty light year next year, right twenty.
Pretty light, pretty light, be pretty light somewhere in that somewhere in that neighborhood. But some but some cool shows there's some cool shows in there that we haven't announced.
All right, so scratch it, scratch it, leave it, take it off.
Say that all right.
After the podcast, Like I told you that you supposed anything you want to you guys want to close with anything. One thing I do want to say is I and this is leading into this hunt.
You know.
It's like, oh, Comb is coming on the hunt, you know, tons of pressure Me and Jerremy. I gotta get the you know, figure this out, you know. And then Luke gives me the old cliche line like don't worry. I'm just I'm just hunting, you know. We don't worry about killing anything, you know. I just want to go have fun and have a good experience. And I've seen him through all that bs you know originally, but no, it's truly like I and this is probably the least of
the accodes. He's like it's authentic though, Like once I got on you know, feet on the ground, I'm like, no, Luke's Luke's a good dude. Like he's not like looking for us to hand deliver and elk to him, Like he's truly is here for the experience. Don't get me wrong, We're trying to kill elk Sure I can see that fire in his idea. We're trying to kill. Yeah, we're trying to.
I think it's part of his reverse psychology. He's like, nah, you just want to come up with good time hang out.
He needs to kill now, and we're doing it the hard way. Like you know, Walt Tent sleeping on a cot, eating out of a camp chef store.
You know, it's like, somebody, get the thing. Dave grabbed the thing. Grab the grab the thing. You know what he's getting you know, Yeah, he's grabbing it.
Grab this is this is the biggest luxury we've had, we've.
Had on the whole trip. He's grabbing it for us right now, Cameraman, Dave Hero.
This changed it from like a two star rating to like a four star rating. Yeah, this is one we got to get from you.
Once we got adjusted to and got the he got.
The right key.
Yeah, once the height was adjusted and this is.
How Yeah, there we go. Bring it in here for the folks. Areas give it up for day.
Everybody like this, This old gal right here, I spent a lot of good time with her.
Oh Man, just digging a hole and glad he didn't get eaten by a wolf last night we.
Saw Yeah, yeah, there was a chance that that some of us were going to get attacked by wolves.
The super endangered wolves that we've seen and that we've seen heard two different every day.
Yeah.
Well, I mean, listen, you gotta you gotta hike forty you know, at least.
See them because they're so isolated.
And then you know, hike this thing back forty miles.
Yeah.
That was tough, was all.
It was a hall for sure, but it worked out. I'm glad we did it. This this thing has been.
We're gonna this around squatty.
Yeah. Yeah, this is the highlight of trip.
This is communion right here. Man.
You know, you could have put a patent on it before this this thing. This thing's been busy, dude. I mean, this thing has gotten some some miles put on it on this trip. There's no doubt.
It's like like chili cook off Fort John like level of abuse out of this thing.
It almost wasn't here, and you almost didn't bring it, almost didn't bring it.
What would we have done?
I had a dot of a ballobstruction, you know, I mean, it's just there would have been no same.
It was shoved in the truck.
I was.
I was on the side of not bringing it.
Your dad like forced you to bring it, right, Yeah, yeah, I mean you're bringing it. People are gonna want it.
Yeah we don't, we don't everybody and then somehow ended up in the truck. So I'm like, we're gonna roll with it.
And uh yeah, I mean there their mornings were lines for him to get on this thing there on this right.
Like shovel like best in the shovel, Like everybody's waiting for this in the shovel.
You know.
It's like it's like space mountain or something like everybody's wanting to get to go before we get out in the woods, you know.
In closing, anything you want to add, Luke, it's been it's been a blast. I've had an absolute great time. It's it's been awesome.
Yeah. Those are guessing b roller snapping after this and we'll be good. Yeah, I think we're good.
That's gonna be important recipe ingredient to this recipe killing health tonight. Anything you want to add, Tyler.
It's just been an awesome experience so far, getting to know you guys and watching how you guys go about things and and learning hearing you guys call and just being in them and hearing the behgles.
It's been once in a lifetime experience.
And appreciate you guys for dragging us along.
It's it's been awesome anything Jeremy, Yeah, I mean I'll just echo that.
You know.
It's a I've had some good times out in the the sticks and this is one of the top. Yeah, and so yeah, I've been having a blast.
We have to work too, Yeah, Well mission's not over, yes, you know, but we'll get there.
Yeah. And I'm going to close with Luke gaming analogy I'm gonna use from here on out, just trying to take this all in. Like growing up, I wanted to kill every elk on the mountain as fast as I could, And uh, you know now it's like I love to just sit back enjoy the opportunity. Yeah, it's like, oh, phelps everybody. And at times I feel all kinds of weight on my shoulder, like you're Jason phelps, you build elk calls, you just kill an elk on every trip
And this isn't I'm not making an excuse. I'm just trying to get to know for sure. I'm just enjoying the trip. Like I'm hear an Elk bugle every morning every day. We may not be getting on them, we may not be calling everyone in, but I'm I'm I'm just enjoying the entire experience, you know, hunting with Luke and Tyler and Jeremy and even the crew. You know, we laugh, we joke. Everybody's adding to it, and it's
just it's been a very very fun trip. But Luke boiled it all down to It's like when you're in college, you want Kirkland, I say, Kirkland. See Koklin Beer. It's the cheapest beer you can get, the beer beer. You know, you want to just drink those as fast as you can versus now fast forward fifteen years. You just want one good beer. Yeah, And so it's like i want to enjoy it, you know, And that's what I'm trying
to do here is just have a great time. Take in everything I can, you know, taking all the sights, the smells, the sounds, everything that these hunts have to give. And can't you know, couldn't be more stoked to put another day and a half in and see if we can't find the success that we all are still after for sure. Sure so appreciate having you guys on. Thanks for having to go warm up my cot. Yeah, taking that all right. Take care
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