Welcome back to another episode of cutting the Distance. Stem here with what i'd call maybe a new buddy, Tucker Stanley. He lives only about thirty minutes from me, and we kind of met what was it, Tucker in.
Twenty twenty, Yeah, twenty, I had twenty.
Yeah, your your dad was gracious enough. I wish my dad would have. He had been buying you guys points right in some of these states or or you know, and and then when you graduated, he was going to send you guys on a pretty good elkcunt, so you
had enough points to go to some good units. And you were talking to one of our good buddies, Ben Gorman, and I think he came out to my my newly built Help's Game Calls warehouse at that time, and we besd with you and Troy, and so I first kind of know, you know, got to meet you in twenty twenty,
but I had known of you before then. I won't say rivals peel on that fine art rivals, but playing in sports kind of always the Stanley names pretty pretty prominent in the Lewis County area, and kind of knew of you, and then yeah, I got to know you. And then we've kind of stayed in touch and shoot, we probably what bs once twice a week about you know, dream hunts are going on this or hey did you see how much this tag sold for? And just kind of stay in touch. So how are you doing good?
I appreciate you having me on. It's been Yeah. I started in twenty twenty with us and yeah, my dad started buying us points back see, Wyoming started their point system what seven I don't know what max points is now, probably sixteen seventeen and so sixteen years ago when we were probably eight nine years old, and we could cash them in whenever we wanted, and so I had That was when I got you know, someone knew a friend that knew a friend that knew you personally, and that's
how we kind of got started and kind of been good friends ever since.
Yeah, Yeah, we Yeah, I think we spent a half hour hour last night Texan back and forth going over you know, Alaska sheep and you know some of the gear that I think is vital and you know we're gonna get into that. You got a sheep hunt coming up, but let's kind of we always kind of jump into these. I don't know if you've listened to the podcast or not, Tucker, But we're gonna kind of start with a couple questions for you. I mean, this question and answer is brought
to you by Pendleton Whiskey. So, yeah, just I'm curious what are you doing this time of year to get ready? I know you're in good shape, you know, a pretty competitive athlete in high school. You know, still like to get after in the mountains. So not only you know, from a physical fitness you know you do, are you looking at applications kind of like what does an off season you know, look look like for you?
Well, yeah, I played college football, so you know, my physical fitness continued into my mid twenties. Now I'm thirty one, and so it was really important to me to stay in shape, you know, because you know, you work so hard to get to shape for for sports and athletics and stuff, and I just couldn't see myself losing that, you know, and just letting myself go, so to speak.
And so we're working out. For me, it's always been, you know, not not an option, and so I never really I mean I work out probably five days a week and so like as far as like the off season it doesn't My my training plan really doesn't differ, and I kind of I think just being an athlete is kind of helped with the hunting because before when I work out, it was it was to you know,
be a better football player or whatever it was. And now it's like, I got to be in shape for this hunt, and it's so like my my workout, you know, staying in shape to me is really important and it's not just hunting, but hunting just happens to be my What distracts the mental pain of working out is like, you know, like you're doing this for a hunt and it'll be easier, and uh, it used to be you know that you're doing this for football and this is what it takes and to be the best, and that
that's kind of my as as a former athlete. It's kind of my it's my new goal, you know, it's it's it's to be in better shape for hunting season. It used to be to be in better shape for a football season. So this time of the year, I you know, I'm you know, I ride the stationary bike as much as I can just for the cardio, and then I try to lift weights. I don't need to be the strongest man in the world anymore. This part
what football took. But I left weights, and you know that doesn't change whether it's season or off season for me. It's it's important for me to stay.
Yeah, so you're why I went from football to your why is now hunting? And I always joke with people, if it wasn't for hunting, I'd probably be fornared pounds. I'm not as motivated as you to work out for other things. It's like, no, if I if I'd have to climb the mountain, I'd probably just I would be that forndered pound guy. But uh yeah, I think that's
actually how our conversation started last night. You were asking me about some if I have a stair climber, and I think that kind of kicked off the cascade of we were sheep hunting and sharing sheep hunting videos by
the time we were done. But no, it's it's important, and you know, I'm I probably get a little lazy November December, early January, and then right back you know now you know, eating better, getting ready because it is it's it's a year long commitment, or if you do get the two months that I screw up every year, like it takes the other seven months to get back
to where I was. Where It's like if it was always like if I'm always looking at like I want to be better today than it was yesterday, i'd be I would be a lot better off. It's like I just kind of yo yo, or you're probably in a better you know, situation where you're just saying constant Yeah.
I kind of describe it as like a it's easier to maintain than it is to like, you know, do like a seventy five hard and you know that's brutal. You know, I see people doing it and it's impressive and and you know, I commend them for it. But for me, you know, I'm not like a strict, strict diet type of guy. I enjoy a you know, a good beer or you know, you know, a penalty and coke or whatever it is. And and I feel like if I just cut that off cold turkey, it'd be
harder for me to do. Or if I just ate salads, trying to lose weight nearly impossible. And so I just try to maintain and I kind of eat what I want.
I don't abuse it, you know, but wait, till wait till you're forty and see if you can see what you want.
Yeah, they used to say wait till you're thirty, but now I'm out thirty and now people are telling me wait till you're forty. But you know, I just kind of have and I checked, you know, I've I've always heard a quote that was what doesn't get measured doesn't get maintained. And so I try to weigh myself, you know, once a week, once every other week, and if it's not in check, then then then I crack down.
Work a little harder. Yeah, you know, you're I would say you're not in the hunting industry, right, which is pretty fair to say. But like I would say, you're one of those guys that hunts as much as the rest of us, you know that that are in And I hate the word industry, like there are people that make their living because of hunting type you know, products
or services or whatever. So what are you doing? Like what's your your you know, this time of year, we're all getting ready for putting in for draws, Like what's your approach on that side? Right now? Are you are you applying all over the country? Are you are you keeping it pretty you know, specific to certain states. How are you setting up like your future you know hunting trip, Well.
Just the way the hunting industry is, you know, I mean we're western Washington, where you know the hoof for Rock video that you guys released was pretty spot on. There's it's not like it used to be. So I
haven't hunted in Washington in years. My kind of strategy is I think eventually what this is all gonna come to is for the average Joe blow guy like me that's not in the industry, you know you have if you're like an over the town, over the counter guy, I think you're gonna have to play the state game.
And you know, you're gonna have to apply for Idaho, you have to apply for New Mexico, you have to apply for Colorado, you have to apply for Wyoming, Nevada, all of them, Arizona, and you're not gonna be able to go to your same spot that maybe you and
your family have hunted for, you know, fifteen years. I think those days are kind of coming to an end, and it's unfortunate, but you know, with the draw systems, it's hard to rely on a tag every year, and so I've kind of been relying on Idaho, and I know we're going to get into my my Idaho hunts and stuff, but for the last five years I've been relying on Idaho for deer and elk. When we met twenty twenty, I had max points. I cashed those in for Wyoming, so I kind of had to start over there.
I think I checked last night because I applied for my Wyoming stuff last night. That was I think I'm at four points again, so I don't expect to draw anything there. But what I'm kind of doing with all that is, like, you know, I have four points for Wyoming. I think you could probably get a general unit for four to seven points in that range. You aren't going to get anything, you know, any other quality units yet.
But with the point creep and all that stuff, what I'm doing is like, if there's a year where I don't get my Idaho elk tag, then because those come you know in December, you'll know, then I'm going to go, you know, cash in my four six eight points or whatever I have at that time for like Wyoming. Other than that year, I'll go to Wyoming. But I kind of just threw like my entry last night was like kind of for a hill Mary Wyoming tag that I
probably won't get. But the reason I did that was because I've already got a while or an Idaho tag, and so I have, you know, three general points or whatever for Montana. I don't have very many points for Colorado because I was so late to the game. I played football till I was like twenty four. It went over to Europe and played, so I got started real, real late. Luckily I had my dad started to love
Wyoming early. But New Mexico's random draw, you know, so I put them for that every year, you know, But that's kind of what I do is is I think you're gonna have to like play the state game and try to get Arizona this year if you don't draw Idaho or Wyoming or vice versa, and just.
Yeah, yeah and yeah, like similar to you, I've already got an Idaho archery tag. So it's like, if I want to, I can just spend my time in Idaho and it's a pretty good unit. And so I'm my strategy now across all these other states is yeah, I can draw, you know, I can draw Utah if I want, I can draw Colorado if I want yeah, you know, Nevada is all, but in any those that I've even got a chance to get to take, like, I don't want it unless it's a like, you know, top tier hunt.
And to be honest, it's even gon get harder because I'm probably going rifle because I don't want to like mess up September. Yeah, yeah, it could be better, but it's like, oh, if I get a premium rifle tag, because I'm an opportunist, I don't need to go do it with a bow or muzzle, Like I don't. Just give me a good tag, a good hunt. I'm I'm happy, but like, I don't want to mess up archery. So I'm really going to be like really kind of you know, shooting for the stars with with premium rifle tags in
all those states which have really really low odds. But like I say, it's more of just build a point and then we'll see if I don't get the Idaho or in the future if I want to cash in you know Colorado with their preference point system or you know, Utah with their modified preference point will we'll go that way.
So yeah, that's you also kind of get into like why or I mean, like New Mexico, like I put in for their one of their top units just because it's such a far drive for us, and so like you know, it's such a commitment to drive twenty four hours or twenty two hours or wherever you're going in
New Max. So you know, I probably won't draw in New Mexico, but I put in for my strategically put in for one of their better units because like, if I'm going to drive down there, I want it to be for a pretty good unit.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, And that's everybody's got their own you know, strategy. And we've talked about it a lot on here before. Like I look at Utah and Arizona. You know, I'm I'm in double digits in both of those, but it's like I probably won't draw for another ten, Like it's going to be maybe my going out party when I'm too old. The hunt, you know, some of the harder areas and then the Wyomings, Montana's, Idahos, Nevada's kind of
in that middle, it's still pretty hard to draw. Like I'm looking at those as like maybe my my in between fits between you know, an Idaho or Montana, right now where you can draw you know, fairly, fairly easily or get a tag in those places. So yeah, there's lots of lots of strategies. So you're getting in shape,
you're planning hunts. Seems to be what kind of you know, any any die hard or serious hunters kind of thinking about right now is you know those two things, you know, staying in shape and getting ready to just find your opportunity right where you're gonna go hunt where A you're gonna have to be in shape for what's that gonna
look like? And then, uh, my second question for you, and it's just this is actually out of my own curiosity because I don't know what influence So you know, we we're we use some brands, we partner with some brands, we have contracts with brands. But as a guy that hunts as much as we do outside of the industry, like what influences your gear choices? Like, you know, I've been working with Kafaru since twenty and twelve, so it's
like I use their pack. You know, we were talking last night about what you needed in a sheet pack, and I'm like, well, I wonder, I wonder, why the heck do you use that or you know, how do you guys get to those decisions? What you know is your Do you have a favorite you know, honey influencer that you listen to? Do you just ask lots of questions you try them on, like how do you get to what pack or what boots or what camo or you get to.
I always joke that if someone pays me to wear it, I'll put it on my back. But I'm not in the industry, so you know, it's it's I don't have a big social media following. I'm just a a hunter that likes the sport of it. And uh so, you know, nobody, no sponsors, it's just it's just what I want. And you know, which can probably relate to a lot of your listeners. And so like how I choose my gear
is hunting gears. She's gotten so expensive and you know it you name off, you know, all the big brands and the and the stone glaciers, the you know, like Couu, the first lights, the Sidkase, all those things. And it's almost like when you start building an outfit, you can't be the guy that's mixed and matched. And so if you if you already you know, it's like I remember when I first got you know, some expensive hunt gear that you know, you go from the you know, cheaper
Walmart stuff to like some good quality gear. When the industry really changed, you know, I don't know, it seems like it really changed like ten years ago or so.
Yeah, it seems like Sika kind of led that big, you know, because it was it was a lot of cheaper stuff and then Sick through and then first Light and qu came through, and it was like, all right, now we got all buy expensive, expensive gear. Like you can't do it in the cheap stuff anymore.
That's yeah. And it was like if you were sick, you were bawling. And and so as I like got more serious about hunting because like I said, like football, you know, it's playing the fall, and so I couldn't hunt as much as I wanted to until I was probably twenty five, and so it was like a caged animal. As soon as like I started to hunt, I just became obsessed with it. And so like my gear, you know, you start buying because it's you know, you could buy
a five hundred dollars coat no problem nowadays. And so as far as like my gear, I I I don't really have anyone that like influences me. It's more so just like building an outfit. Like if I have those pants, I'm gonna buy that coat. And as far as my pack goes, you know, I watch a lot of the YouTube stuff, you know, and and not that they influenced me, but.
Just if you see enough guys running something similar or trusting and it gives you some confidence in that, it.
Gives you confidence. But also you know, I believe that, like there is something we said about like you get what you pay for, you know, whether that's but there's some things that are just like outrageously priced that you know there's better options for it, but it's kind of like a Ford chever Dodge. You know, you have people that argue all of them, but I really don't think a guy would go wrong if you chose either one of them. And so like that's that's like like my
pack and stuff. It's like some some of the packs, they really the only difference is like the compartments that they have or something like that maybe one guy might like over the other. I think the qualities there on most of them at the upper end level. It's just like what you what what feels nice to you? And what do you pack? You know, what are you used to packing? And it doesn't have room for all your stuff? A guy is gonna like that brand, you know.
Yeah, and I've been unfortunate, you know, I loyal to
Kafario and been using them for a long time. But I've tried on you know, the Initial Ascent, the Stone Glacier, the Exo, and it's like you could probably get by on all these It's just you know, little tweaks in the suspension, different padding, different you know, pack layouts, and yeah, I think you know when you get the packs or you know, boots are a little more per like specific to the person, right, you got to find a boot that has a last that fits your foot and has
all the qualities you want for that specific hunt, you know. But I was just kind of curious, like, you know, are you are you like scanning the forums, like, you know, do you search for the certain pack you want to buy? Like are there any bad reviews? Are there any good ones?
Because I do on that on some of the hunting stuff that I might not have a connection for or a lot of knowledge, like you know, what what do people think about this or that and just kind of see like is there any major failures or people complaining about it? They like it, and then you know, go ahead and make my purchase.
If you watch like enough like that, even the hunting channels have come a long way since you know, fifteen years ago, and now like YouTube and the accessibility of people and what they're using stuff. So like for boots, you know, for example, I went into a sporting goods store here locally and I went in to buy Ken tracks, quite frankly, and that that was what everyone was wearing. There were the five hundred dollars boots and if you were a real hunter, that's it's like the sitka, you know,
it's like that's what you were wearing. And I went in there and I tried them on, and then I tried on the Crispies and I haven't I haven't gone back from Crispies since, you know, and so nobody influences me to do it. It was I tried on both boots and walked out with the Crispies and those just blew out as last year, and you know, I bought the same pair again, and so it's just kind of trial and error.
You know.
Now the problem is I have a ton of hunting gear, and you know, if if I really like a pack, I'll buy the same pack again. And you know, and then there's some there's a pack that I got that I bought, you know, and and I don't really use it that much, and so I won't buy it again. But that's just how I picked my gear. And I have a lot of hunt gear now because you buy a little bit each year. And now that I've been you know, taking it serious for six or seven years, now it starts to accumulate.
I appreciate that, Tucker. Once again, you have questions, uh for for myself or our guests, feel free to email them to us at ct D at Phelps game Calls dot com or send us a social media message and we'll do our best to get them on here. Now we're gonna jump into kind of the the meat and
potatoes of the podcast. And uh, you've mentioned, you know, he played played college football, played played overseas a little bit, and so you've only been hunting for six years, but you've got some pretty some pretty decent you know critters
in those you know years. I think that was one of the other I talked to you, and then I think was it a year or two later you killed a big Canada buck and you were trying to figure out how to get to the taxidermis who I'd recommend and hooked you up with round you and brought your
brought you to your home from the Western hunt. And so let's let's ship right into that on how you guys listening on audio can't see it, but just to the left of Tucker's head is the picture of this giant buck, a two hundred three inch Albert of meal deer. Go ahead and kind of tell the just tell the story on how that one evolved and and uh kind of you know, there's a little humor involved on a on a hunt that maybe didn't have that kind of buck, is the expectation.
Yeah, I would love to say that I've tracked it for five years and I know about it, and I had forty trail cameras up, but that wasn't the case. You know, I'm I'm okay admitting that it was. It was right guy, right spot, right time, type of deal.
But what happened with that hunt was I got a call from a local guy and they were kind of I'm not going to say scrambling, but they were looking for three archery hunters for this outfitter and it was like a private land, not high fenced, but it was like a private land outfitter that have thousands and thousands of bakers up in Alberta. And they had three archery tags. So this is twenty twenty one and I get this call and it was like, hey, you're an archery hunter.
Do you want to go to Alberta this year? And I was like, yeah, you know what, what's that consisted of? And he goes, well, here's what's going on is you got to get the COVID vaccine to go. Like that was when the borders were closed and it was vaccine mandatory and at the time, you know, I hadn't I hadn't got it. And you know that that was basically like the stipulations across the border. And so the other three hunters that usually go that take that tag, they
refuse to get the vaccine. So, you know, I started seeing pictures of these bucks. I kind of joke, but and I'm like, ahm, I get the vaccine for those and uh so I ended up getting the vaccine, and you know, I have no problem admitting that because it you know, I I think I did well with the deer that I got. I was rewarded and and so I got the vaccine and I went on the trip and it was the first hunt that I'd ever paid an outfitter for, and so to me, it was like
a big deal. And you know, it wasn't a real expensive hunt, you know for the hunting world. You know, I see you know that sheep hunt and New Mexico is sold for one point three million. I mean you're you're talking like a really really low budget hunt for the quality of animal I got. And so I committed to it, and I was like, man, I you know, I don't want to go empty handed. It kind of adds an element when you're paying for a hunt to
your standards. You know, when you go on an o TC hunt, it's it's just like you're having a good time. There's no pressure. You might get a bowl, you might not, and you know, it's it's it's more relaxed where some of these hunts it's you know, even like my sheep hunt coming up, it's like, man, I don't want to come home empty handed. You want to get the most out of it. And that's how I felt on that felt on that hunt. And it was my first like
big hunt. And anyway, basically the story was is I missed a buck, kind of a jump shot type of action. I missed him, and I was just sick to my stomach. And this isned like day three, and it was a seven day hunt, and so I remember texting my wife like, I don't know if I'm gonna get one, you know, because it's archery, it's not guaranteed, you know, there's no baiting. And here we already spent this money. And I was
starting to get kind of nervous on day four. And so day four rolls around in the evening and I'm sitting in the tree stand and like right at dark, I heard just like a screeching noise like a fence, like something was crossing the fence. And so I kind of got ready, got got one, you know, my arrow ready, And that buck, you know that that I killed, came in and I shot him twenty twenty three yards broadside. And what's funny is a local guy here that was
also there. He was one of the three tags. He he was he had shot a buck early that day, and so I remember him coming back to lunch and we're like looking at his buck and we're all like, dang.
You know.
I was thinking to myself like I would take that every you know, all day, every day. And so I head back. It got dark and I head back. I shot the buck and then you know, they picked me up and I said I got one, and they're like, is it a big one? I was like, it's about like you know, the other guys, you know, I mean, I don't know. I didn't share it too long. I was more trying to exte the shot. So he's like, all right, let's go back, we'll eat dinner, then we'll
go look for him. So we go back, eat dinner, and I wasn't even nervous. I like wasn't thinking about it at all. And you know, like they were all chirping like, oh, it sounds like Tucker got one outsize you know, of Martins, and and let's go look for him. So we all headed back out inside by sides to go grab flashlights, and we went to the spot of the kill. There's no blood. I mean, it was like
started making me nervous. And we finally find some blood and it wasn't a very long track of the buck probably went, i know, fifty sixty yards and anyway, we walked up on that and I remember the I was like, uh, he was just like, Tucker, you might want to come
take a look at this thing. And you know, when I walk over to him, because we're kind of grid searching at that point, and you know, I was like, oh man, I'm like happy with that, you know, because I'm taking into consideration like how much this cost me in the commitment, and like I'm really happy with that. You know, that's a nice buck. And then it like the longer we're there and the more like the gutting
it and throwing it in the back. It started to like think the way they were reacting because he he he likes to like kind of downplay it.
The guy does it sounds like you downplayed it to start with.
Well, I didn't. I didn't know, you know, Like I was like, oh, yeah, that's.
Well, I'm sure they thought you were messing with him, like, oh yeah, I shot one like Martins.
And then he's like, oh, I thought you said it was the same size of Martins. I was like, I, you know, I didn't.
I didn't say that much.
Two year and so the more we started like taking pictures of it, it was like, you know, this is like that's a legit fuck. And then we got it into the shop and stuff and started skinning it, and they're like that that that's like a an exceptional deer. And you know, they have thirty headmounts on their on their shop wall, and to my knowledge, it was the biggest buck that they've ever killed there. And you know, happened to be with a bow. Happened to the one
year that I went. I got asked late because the whole COVID thing, it was just kind of it just all happened.
Yeah, they happened to. You know, you happen to be in that tree stand and not in a different one. Yeah.
Yeah.
If I remember how how far away was a buck when you first spotted it, it wasn't like add Yeah.
He was probably coming in at about one hundred because I heard that fence and so I was on alert and he was probably one hundred and thirty one hundred and fifty yards and I was watching him and he, you know, he turned his head and his frame towards me. He's walking at me, and I've never killed anything that big. So it was like, you know, and also you like I said, with these these hunts, is like is it big enough for the price you're paying? That that weighs
into my mind. And so it was like, Okay, that's a shooter. And so like I got ready and I was I quit looking at the horns like I'm just trying to execute this shot. And so you know, I seen him coming and it all happened. But it's almost I'm like thankful that I didn't have time to like think about how big he was.
Did you know at the point you see him one hundred and fifty he was going to come your way? Or was there a lot of variability he could have picked a different route or was it pretty like it was coming down like a fence line tour There was there like a reason he was going to walk by you? Or did you like cause I I'm the guy that sits in the tree like, oh, I shouldn't even get my bow out because he's got one hundred and fifty yards to cover, He's probably gonna go a different way.
Like I'm the most negative guy until it happens, like I'm never gonna get a shot anyways, like it's cool to look at him.
And yeah, I mean it was a meadow, and so, you know, I had my ranges. It's hard to get ranges when it's just like a grassy patch. It's nice when you have trees that you can you can hit, you know, with your rangefinders. So you know, on day four, I'm like, you know, if he crosses through the middle,
he's going to be at seventy four. If he crosses through right here, he's going to be at you know, you know, fifty four, and you know, ideally he's fifty and in and so all those things were going through my mind. In any any you know, kind of hooked and came towards me. And that's when I knew that, like I was going to get a shot off because he was within any range that he came through at that point, he was within the range.
Yeah, gotcha, gotcha. No, it's a it was a great buck. I got the you know, I don't did I take him to Utah or just picked him up, but got them.
And I think you took him to Utah and then around.
Next year yeah or yeah or something yeah, some yeah, a giant buck, you know, two hundred three inch typical, just a just a stud of a buck. Like I said that for for six years and then you go, you know, one hundred and seventy inch Idaho white tail two years ago or last last it would have been two hunting seasons ago. But last year, twenty twenty three season, you kill one hundred and seventy inch Idaho white tail, which just you know, a great buck. How does that
hunt go for you? Like, what's your strategy on that? You know? Talking to Dirk who's my co host here, you know, mature Idaho white tails seem to be kind of making a comeback, but they're kind of on a pretty big down trend. You know, Dirk would cuss out you and call you an apple maggot and everything else. But uh no, dude, we've got to have dinner with Dirk, you know before and he likes you. But you know, it's like the white Tel's coming back. But like, what's
your approach to that white tail hunt? Like, how do you go about it? You know, without the ability to scout any of that if you what was your strategy on and going? And it sounds like your dad had a chance. This passed year on a on a good one that didn't you know, I know you mentioned you know you wish you were the trigger guy, but sometimes you gotta let the the old men, uh, you know, have a chance. But what's what's that Idaho hunt look like? How do you strategize and plan for that? Yeah?
So like the Idaho thing, what happened was a couple three years ago, we we went up we you know, the whole Idaho system. I was online trying to get a tag for for ELK. It didn't have up and I had a buddy that was like, hey, we can go to this deer unit. I was like sure, you know, and we drove around the first day, we knew some people that had local people here that were also over there, and we you know, we're just kind of getting a
little bit of intel. Not nobody's spots, but just like, you know, there's deer everywhere, but where do you guys suggest? And we're getting some pointers from people. And we drove around the first ad a lot of snow, and we never seen a single deer the first day and just driving around, you know, you know, I don't know, I didn't know how to hunt those white till I'd never killed killed one over there, and so never seen a deer. And so then we we got pictures of a buck
that was killed there and it was massive. It was that one I sent you last night. Yeah, that that one. I was like, you know, we aren't even seeing a dough you know, what what are they doing? And some they said, well, he was sitting on a trail, and I was like, sitting on a trail, like what you know? And and and so it really stuck with me because
I'm open to learning and I've never done it. And so the next day we were driving around in a new area a lot of snow, which kind of played a factor in this, and my buddy, you know, we're just driving around a logging road and he's like, oh, hold on, you know one of those deals where it was like a buck that was standing up on the hill and he ended up in a buck that day. And I was like, Ash, there must be more deer over here, because it was the first success we had had.
And so I started looking like in the timber as we were driving back with his buck in the in the bed of the truck, and I seen this this trail come off the hillside and it had you know, it was two or three feet wide with just tracks in the snow. Luckily there was snow, and I remember thinking like, I'm gonna come back in the same area tomorrow after we get this thing taking care of. So we took it back, and it happened to me that my buddy, he was like cutting his deer down the back,
you know, doing that method. Well that the skin was real like frozen, and his knife slipped and he like slit his leg open. And I had taken to the emergency room that night, so the next day he couldn't hunt with me. And so I'm like, hey, don't worry about no problem. I'll be fine, you know. And so I went out on my own and I went back to that I marked it, you know, on my on X, and I went back to that same exact trail and I walked up it and I was like, well, this
is what they said to do, you know. It was like sit on this trail. So I sat there, and luckily it didn't take very long, like thirty minutes. Here come like a little dough, you know, right over my shoulder, like fifteen yards.
So can I ask a quick question to talking, like are you in the timber or do you have some like are you above tree lining? Could you have some visibility or is it a clearcut? Are you just like in the timber on this trail.
So my first you know time up this trail, I was in the brush and I realized I didn't know that there was open timber around me. And so when I seen this dough coming over my shoulder at you know, ten yards or so, I was thinking to myself, like, you know, I can't believe this worked. You know, like there's a deer right there, and I could kill it if I wanted to. It's it's dough war buck over there.
But so, you know, luckily it came pretty QUI because wouldn't have sat there all day and just got skunked. So it was pretty thick, and I didn't see her till about ten yards, and so I sat there for a little bit longer and it wasn't another twenty minutes. Here come another deer, same trail, and so I was like, maybe I'm like sitting in the trail here, because it was the same trail, same spot ten yards away from me.
It was a little fok and horn, and I was like, I got to get out of the spot, you know. So I walked up the trail a little bit and midday noon and I walk up the trail probably sixty seven yards and it started to really open up, and I was like, this is a good spot.
You know.
It's kind of a downhill slope to a bench. And as I've kind of learned about this white tail stuff, it was deer like to travel on those benches because it's flatter and then they're looking for the saddles. I've learned a lot about it, and I've really studied it because you know, it's kind of my my hobby and my passion now. But it's kind of a good spot because it, you know, it's it's a down to a bench.
So I sit at the top of that slope and I look down at that bench and I sat there the rest of the day and I think I seen, you know, I don't know, eleven twelve deer total, and I should have got a buck. I missed the opportunity.
So I get back to where we were staying at the cabin and we're all sharing hunting stories, and the guys is like, what did you guys see, you know, and they're all like, oh, we've seen seven today, and I was I was singing myself, like, well I seen twelve, just sitting in one spot, and you know, they're like, oh, where were you at? You know, and and so I was like, well, maybe this is working. So I went back the next day and I hate to admit it, but I missed a really nice buck that year, and
it just made me so sick to my stomach. And it was like the last day, and it was a good buck. I'm not huge, but just a nice buck. And I kind of powdered over it. I drew blood, not very much though, it was just like a little sprits of blood. And anyway, I kind of powdered over it. And I was like, let's just go home because my buddy had already tagged out stabbed hisself in the leg, and we headed home. Well, it just ate at me
for the rest of the year. And so I went back this last year and I was like, I'm committing to you know, how many every days I hunt, whether it's seven or ten or whatever, I have daylight to dark under that one tree and I'm going to sit there and that's I feel, that's what it takes. And some days I see zero and some days I see twenty two. And I killed that buck on day It was funny. My dad was with me that year, and
he's not as patient as I am. He left on day probably four, but day five seven am I and my dad texted me because he was sitting laying in bed, you know, at home, and he goes anything, and I texted him back, nope, nothing, And I looked up and there's that one hundred and seventy inch buck down there on that bench, just strolling through and I and I shot him, and you know, these shots are seventy yards. That's why I was so sick.
Over that one.
I missed it. It was a layup, but that's how I killed that one. And then this year we missed an opportunity on one. But I really think it's the consistency of sitting there and not giving up on it. And you know, you could see one deer like that was that buck, that one hundred and seventy inch buck. That was the one deer I had seen in three days. My dad, he came out in the middle of the day he was leaving, and we went and drove around. We seen this really nice buck on a tailgate and
I was like, jeez, look at that buck. You know, we pulled in. We're kind of just talking to the guy and he said he just walked in the woods and rattled. And five minutes later this buck stuck his head out behind the tree. And I was thinking, like that's all it takes, you know, here I am sitting under this tree for twenty four hours, and he.
Might start some rattling, you know, in the future.
You know, I've I've rattled. It's just never it's never worked. And not to say that it won't work, but I've never successfully had one just come and do that, you know. And so I I was like, what do you think, you know, like, am I crazy for sitting on this I haven't seen the deer in two days? And he goes, you know, that spot's as good as any other. And so he's like, it's up you know, fifty to fifty probably, And so I said, well, I'm going to commit to it. And the next days when I killed that buck.
Gotcha, do you feel the days you see zero, it's just not a good day or is there a potential the wind's not Is the wind pretty good in the spot that you consider every day, or do you have to play the wind and maybe not going there a day or two, or you know, if you were in a tree stand, would you not be able to see under the trees? Like is there a you think there's
a way to make it better? You just kind of play it there every day and you know the wind's marginal, or how do you how does that work out?
I've thought a lot about this. I've thought about bringing out a blind, because I mean I've I just literally took a dirt spot under a tree and made a little seat for myself, and I've thought about like one of those like blinds work. The reason I haven't done that is because I don't have the time to go over there and set this up like three weeks early, you know, and kind of get the deer used to it. And I don't want to waste a year and put up this blind and then you know, just bring your
scent in there. Then like do you not see a deer for the first three days and it's like, well, yeah, you brought this brand new blind in that they aren't going to want to walk by. So there's probably better method to do it. If a guy had more time as far as not seeing the deer on a day to day basis. You know, part of me thinks is could be wind, but also the deer come from every angle, you know. Like I had a one horned or one antler buck come in behind me this last year, you know,
and he was ten yards behind me. He blew at me. He must have seen my shoulder or something behind the tree. But I turned around and there he was sitting at ten yards and he ran off. I couldn't get shot out of I probably would have one of the last days. But you know, they come in from every angle, and so it's hard to say the wind because if it, you know, if it's blowing one way, then they might
be coming in from that direction that day. And if it's blown the other way, they might you know, you might see more coming from that direction.
So it's not like a consistent movement. Everything comes from one direction, and you know, swipes through it. They're they're they're able to come from everywhere, and that's kind of how it works.
It's more so like that I know what trails are going to be on, you know, I don't know which way they're going to be going, but I have a good idea what trails are going to be on gotcha?
Gotcha? Yeah, the stud sounds like your dad had a chance at a good one. And you know, I've been I've only been white tillhunting Kansas, which more trees trees stand, and I haven't had to figure a lot of it out. But like, some of that stuff starts to go through my head because there'll be days where you're in the best spot on the place and you'll have lots of deer, but they're catching your wind even when you're in a
twenty foot tall tree stand. So like as I as I want to expand and learn about these white tails, it always makes me wonder, like, you know, the days you don't see anything, like are they winning you before they get there? Or is it just the day that there's not good movement, you know, and or they're not in the area. It always makes you wonder why and how come certain days you can see twenty and some days will see zero.
I have wondered that too, and I've thought about you know, what I'm doing is no different than like, you know, the Kansas type of style of hunting. You know, they're just sitting in trees, and I think their deer populations a lot more than Yeah, yeah, a lot, a lot better. But that's it's the same concept. And you know, you do you can't hunt meal deer the same hunt the same way you hunt whitetail. And and you know you got to hunt black tail different than how you hunt
you know, meal deer and white tail. And so I think the best strategy with white tail is a waiting game. They're so flighty they you know, So I sit in this open timber where I can see seventy to one hundred yards and you just catch them cruising. And you know, I've had days ri I sing twenty four and I've
had days where I see in zero. But it's it takes a lot of discipline to sit there day in, day out, and because all it takes is one And so I think that that's a good strategy if a guy has the patience.
Yeah. And one thing we haven't even touched on this conversation is my own belief is you know, we see you get to see on social media. You know, maybe thousands of people go to Idaho and shoot bucks out of clearcuts. They're killing small bucks. I honestly believe to kill the bigger bucks, like you guys are seeing or have chances at tucking in the timber and being away from you know, even though these bucks are rut, they're
not necessarily completely dumb. Yet you're gonna get your chance at your bigger bucks inside of a patch of timber or a brush that that buck just feels more comfortable being in.
Well, that's what my spot. The way I kind of feel about it is it's an all day hunt, you know. I mean, if you're hunting clearcuts, typically it's like, you know, we got to be there right at first light, we got to be there right at last light. You know.
The best chance for him to move is or come out and feed is you know, right before dark or or you know, And how I feel sitting in the timber is this is where they live their day to day life, and so you know, it kind of makes mentally, I kind of you know, trick myself into believing that it could happen at any time, and especially during the run. You know, if you get a hot dough, that buck doesn't care what time the day is. He's going to
follow her wherever she goes. And I've had deer, you know, come and you know, lay down twenty yards for me, just bed down, and that tells me that I'm in their bedroom. And you know, when you feel like you're in their bedroom, it doesn't feel necessarily like a you know, like a morning hunt or you know, like all your eggs are in the morning and then like I don't go back for lunch. I sit there all day. And the reason is is because you know, like a nice
buck comes throlling through it at noon. There's no reason, you know, it's not like they crawl into a hole. They got to be somewhere. And so I'm sitting in the timber and there's not a lot of clearcuts around there, so they got to be somewhere. And so if you just sit there and you know, I bring a little sandwich and just try to stay quiet, and you know, that's that's what I usually do. Where if you're hunting clearcuts, it's more like a morning in the night time.
And so yeah, gotcha, Well thanks for sharing kind of that that white tail tactic and you know how you approach it. So I knew who you were. We'd already talked in twenty twenty, but I get a message from Dirk and John who happened to be hunting the same unit as you and twenty twenty one or twenty two, I believe Elk and they messaged me. They're like, once again, Dirk, Hey, who's this apple maggot? Tell it? Do you know this guy is? Well, you're you also, we'll get into this
in a little bit. You you do real estate, but you also do some i'll call it driveway grading. I don't know if you want to put a different spin on it. You yeah, your re you re rehabilitate roads driveways as another business. And I believe your TRS logo was on the side of your truck or something that let they let me know. They're like, who is this? Well, first it didn't like catch on, so I Google search your name. I'm like, oh, that's Tucker. Like if you
see him, you know, flip him crap. And uh, you guys happened to be hunting the same same area in Elk. But what I want to get to on this is you've hunted it. You hunted it for a couple of years, right and then now you know I had been in the area before and and they gave you a just a recommendation. Hey, you know you were in elk. You had chances you've seen good elk, but you had had you ever put it all together yet on that hunt.
And that was pretty early I got I remember, I texted you and I said, what do you what do you know about this unit? And you're just you sent me a screen shot of your calendar which was to apply to that unit. So I knew I was on the right track. And uh, my my wife's uncle, you know, he's he's getting older now, seventy or in his sixties. Anyway, he kind of put me in that direction. He said he'd hunted twenty years ago for Spike, and so that's
kind of how I ended up there. And then when I talked to you about it, you kind of re you know, reaffirmed my questions about it. So I found myself there and just like anywhere, just going into it blind. In fact, I took I took my wife Madison the first year I went, and she she probably doesn't like to dive into the canyons as as much as I do, and so I probably didn't hunt as hard as I should have to get a ELK out of an OTC units. It's so competitive everywhere you go and I didn't. I
didn't get a bowl that year. Then the next year I actually drew. I actually drew. There's a quality rifle tag. And so I've had success in the unit, and I'm a firm believe that there's elk there. You just got to, you know, learn it and keep going back and trying new things. And and so I kind of bounce around in the unit, you know, I don't necessarily stay in one spot.
Yeah, and we we talked and then I had went and hunted it finally, and then you went back and I'm like, hey, this, you know, we this is a general area maybe not as busy, maybe as busy as where that was one thing we talked about your old spot as there was a lot of traffic around, you know, both outfitter and dioy type guys and what I. I
don't want to take any credit for this. We just kind of threw in an area and you went and checked it out and there were elk there, and then you kind of spun off of that, right, you felt some pressure. You talked to it. And this is another
great tidbit of information. I believe you talked to somebody, right, and they had made mention of a different spot, and so you kind of spun off of the area and kind of give us that little rundown on how you how you went from talking to that guy, how you kind of cased the area and kind of figured out your plans at some cameras, left and then came back. Yeah.
So I now, you know, on year five, I've been to a lot of the you know, the unit and you know, for the most part, US hunters are are good people, you know. I mean, you know, like when I left last year, I met some guys from Minnesota and and uh, you know, I was leaving empty handed, and I was like, hey, there was a bull, you know in that drainage. I couldn't get on him, but have at him, you know. And I kind of appreciate that with with US Hunters because I appreciate the same
intel myself. You know, if I was just rolling because it's a month long hunt and so if I was just rolling in on day fifteen and they're just leaving, and you know, and so I've kind of you know, I meet people. I'm a talker, I'm in sales, and uh, it kind of just led to like like a guy that was in the same situation I was where he's like, I can't hunt this year, and he was just checking cameras and and he's like, you try this spot, this spot, and this spot gave me, you know, weeks worth of intel.
And I mean I was already camped there. It wasn't like, hey, you know, head up the highway, turn this way. I mean I was already there and anyway, super great guy, and you know, I was appreciative of that. And so I got to try these different spots. And there's elk and all, there's elk all over. It's just a matter of making it come together with a bow. And I left empty handed, and I kind of I had some opportunity, but I kind of blamed it a little bit on early.
I went early in the season thinking maybe if I would go early in the season, there will be less people, less bugles. But I would almost rather have less people than than you know, more talk. I kind of figured, well, I mean there'd be days where I wouldn't even hear a bugle, and that's real tough with the bow. And so I went home and I got you know, that season opens like the thirtieth of August or whatever it is,
and you know. So here I am. I'd been there for a week, nine days or whatever it was, and I come home and it's like September seventh, you know, and here I'm sitting on this Idaho elk tag and it's set er seventh and I have, you know, twenty five more days left of the month, and it's like, gosh, I just can't sit here on this elk tags burning
a hole in my pocket. And so with my work schedule, I kind of I kind of shifted and made room for another five days and I had it over there, and I killed a bowl on day two.
Yeah, and that ended up being what a three twenty ish bowl if they were on the big side.
Yeah, he was a funky horn bowl. He had a stunted growth on his left side, but if you were to double his other side, he would have been in like a three twenty bowl.
And on that one you would in that new area went and explored, do it you you found a wallow that that they were hitting or using very regularly, And then did you set a camera on that before he left?
No, I don't have a camera on that one.
A different one, yeah, I.
Have a different, different spot that I have cameras on I don't have a ton of cameras quite frankly.
Yeah.
I put some in my white tail spot. I put more up this year. I just kind of like to, you know, I see these YouTube guys and they have history with these animals, and you know, it's like it kind of like I kind of want that and be nice to see a three fifty bowl in there and
be like, I'm after him. He's in here somewhere. But you know, being in Washington and you know, and being fifteen hours away from all this stuff, Yeah, being able to check and work, it's hard to it's hard to go over and check them and change batteries and keep up on them.
Yep, Yeah, for sure. Yeah, So that was a I mean, the moral of that story, you know, is don't be afraid to go check out new areas. You know, because this was in a completely different area, you know, maybe
an hour or two from where you were. You started hunting the area and found some success, and just by talking to you about that hunt, I think you're going to probably continue to find success in there, you know, the way you made it sound, and and you know, as many elker in there, so you'll find a spot same as similar as your white tail spot. That just kind of work. So let's get into some of the
exciting stuff, kind of what's your future plans? I know, yeah you and then we've got a mutual friend justin that we we kind of talk about our dream hunts, you know, because you guys, I would say, are real similar to me like that, you know, that Alaska thing kind of really just you know, it turns our gears and we're trying to figure out how to get up there, but everything seems to be so dang expensive, and you got to have a guide orn outfitter. You're going to Canada.
I went to Alaska. You've got your sheep hunt this year. Yep, So you're going to Canada for a doll sheep slash caribou hunt. I'm sure sheep is major priority number one, and caribou were going to play second fiddle to that. You're going up there with Lancaster, So like what else is? Like? How did you go about that? How did you? Like, you know, when I planned, I just went from one guy I knew the hunted with my outfitter bucked it,
Like how did you? I mean? Landcaster is probably a little more popular, little more well known than the outfitter I chose in Alaska. But like, how did you come to the conclusion, Like that's who you wanted to go with? Did you? Did you call everybody up? Did you what gave you the confidence to finally you spend your hard earned money with those guys?
Yeah, So how that sheep hunt even came about was back in twenty twenty one. My business started to do a lot better, and you know, I'm glued to YouTube and always watching new Hunt shows and finding new guys on there and and anyway, finally my wife was like, quit talking about it and just do it, and uh, you know, that's kind of what it came down to, was not you know, I have the ability to do it. Make it a priority and it'll happen. And so that's
what I That's what I did. And I started asking around. There's a local guy here, Kevin Klumper. He he he has been several times at Lancaster and he's the one that kind of pointed me in that direction. He's been with them numerous times and so he said he put his name on them every day of the week. And so he's an Apple Vine guy as well. So that's
that's kind of what put me in that direction. Was just a guy that you know, has been with him several times and he probably killed four doll sheep or something with him, and so that's why I went with them. And I'm pretty excited about him.
Yeah, and the are all good, so doll sheep caribou. Like what are your expectations on that? You you talked earlier and it kind of stuck in my head. You know, even on the meal deer you know, you talk about like paying for a hunt versus expectations and not that I'm I'm only ten years older than you, but like to give you some guidance, like on this one's even more. It's going to weigh more on you because of how
much more this is than the meal deer hunt. But like if I can offer any guidance, and it's hard because I'm very similar, like assume you're paying for the adventure and the doll sheep's extra, and like it was, it didn't set in and I would be I'd be lying to say I'm not a hypocrite on this, because until I got there, it was all about like I just really want to kill a ram. Yeah, I ended up killing it on day one and then I kind
of missed the struggle. So it's like and just the area you're in, So I don't know if that's going to help you. It's probably not. You're gonna be like I don't, I don't care, like I still want to, and we talked about it like that was still my ultimate goal, but like I feel like worrying about it
doesn't change the outcome, if that makes any sense. So I'm not trying to like your beer psychologist here, but it's like, you know what I mean, Like by having that worry or the stress or anxiety of it doesn't end up like killing it for you. So just enjoy everything you're doing and that's just gonna happen when it happens. If it is going to happen, it.
You know, it's I don't have unlimited money, you know, Like some of these people are buying these sheep hunts at the Sheep Foundation and you know, eighty one hundred, two hundred and fifty grand and granted they're like fifty
sixty seventy year old men. This was kind of like a you know, like make it a priority and it could happen type of deal, and so it's a big deal to me, and you know, and I plan to kind of keep making hunting a priority and go on more, but it totally weighs into the you know, like you want to get a sheep, and there's that pressure of you in whether it's a it's a good bull hunt, whether you have max points and you're burning them, and it's like, you know, like when I was on that
Wyoming hunt, it was almost like I was more worried about the score than I was the hunt of the bowl. And it takes away a little bit of the fun because you're, you know, you're you're like, I don't want to waste these max points on a three hundred inch bowl, like I should be getting the three fifty bowl. But
really what I signed up for. I didn't have a I didn't have an outfitter on that that first hunt, and I was so new to hunting, you know, because it was like the first real hunt I'd gone on since football and stuff, and I was like, all right, I'm done with football, that's cash these points. Well, I was so new to it, and you know, I got like a three hundred inch bowl. But you know, you would think a guy with max points in Wyoming should
get like a three fifty bowl. And that's what I was beating myself over.
Yeah, and so.
Like it's kind of the sheep hunt, you know, when you pay money for it, it's like you should get like a stud ram and it's not how hunting works. And that's what makes hunting so great is the you know, like when it all comes together, like my you know, my meal deer, when it all comes together, it's like you weren't expecting it. It makes it that much better. But unfortunately you're gonna have to go, you know, come home empty handed sometimes to make those those moments feel even better.
Yeah, And the other thing I realized when you get there is like these guides and outfitters can't control the weather. So you like the Alaska weather. I don't know if where you're going in Canada is any better. If it's still like we could literally be in the sun freezing to death. You know, it's clear and crisp and cold. The next second, I'm like trying to rush to get my rain gear on because the system moved in within like twenty minutes. So it's like the weather's out of
your control, you know. I don't know about how those concessions work in Alaska or in Canada, but like, I don't know if pressures maybe a little more under control
there because only certain people can hunt certain areas. But like, yeah, I know it's hard, and I'm talking out of both sides of my mouth, but like, if you can, if you can get to a place to like not put as much pressure on yourself, you're just gonna enjoy it more and you're and really all you can do is be in the best shape possible and be able to shoot your gun. That's gonna be my new.
Justin our mutual friend there, you know, he was he went a few years ago, you know, probably eight years ago or so whatever it was. But you know, he said, like when he was getting off the plane, there was a guy loading up a like a you know, Boon and Crockett ram, and so he's thinking, oh, this is a good outfitter. I'm gonna get a good ram. He said, day one, he's seen a legal ram that wasn't real big, and it was like, day one, it's legal, do you
shoot it? He passed it up and then never seen another one, and so it's like, man, do you play that game of like, I hope I'm not putting that position. Yeah, you just legal, but it's not real big, you know, and you pass it up and then you just get socked in foggy you can't control the weather, and it's like, well dang, you know, then you're telling everyone, yeah, I passed them up on day one.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, it's that's tough and and uh yeah, I wouldn't. Don't worry about that decision until you're you're there. But uh and that's where you have to trust your guide outfitter. They should give you a good guidance. They should know how many more legal ones there better ones, and and you'll make a good decision caribou, Like what else is on your your future, you know, list of what you're wanting to hunt, you know after after the sheep and the cariboo.
Yeah, I'm probably just like most other you know, regular Joe blow hunters. I mean, you have the I'd love to kill a big moose and hanging over the fireplace, you know, something like that would be awesome. I was able to go my buddy drew one of the Washington once in a lifetime tags this year for over in Spokane, and but you know, you look at those big yukon moose type of haunts, and that's always a dream of mine to kill just a whip, And I don't know,
there's something about a big brown bear, you know. And I tell myself, I'd love to do it with the bow, you know, sneak up on one on a beach and h you know, or wherever you know, in the in the thick brush. But I've joked that I don't know if I have enough money to take a bow, because your your success rate is going to go way down. However, the thrill might go way up. So I've contemplated if I did do the brown bear venture, would I take a bow and kind of try to get more of
an experience out of it? And how cool would that be to shoot a big, you know, nine foot ten foot bear with a bow or do you just take a rifle and you know, not get greedy? So yeah, I would say a moose in a in a brown bear, I really want to kill one of those.
Yeah, and you probably won't find it, I mean, the grand scheme of it. You might get an arrow in it, but you'll probably won't find an outfitter that isn't gonna put like ten bullets in it right afterwards. So yeah, I don't think they're insurance companies like the plan where they don't follow up. But I'm real similar to you, like Alaska just gets into your blood or the Northern I mean, you're going to Canada, I keep saying Alaska, but like those areas just like what they have to offer,
and just you haven't been there yet. But just like the feeling of ground being untouched, uninhabited, like uncommercialized, like our wildernesses are. You can't go up in our goat Rocks, which is close to us and not see a hundred people on the weekend. Like you can go anywhere you want Alaska, even prettier than the goat Rocks and not see anybody or nobody's been there in five or ten years. So I just I love it and it brings me back, like I'm gonna get to check Moose off this year,
I believe. And the guide talks about like we don't hardly see anybody in that area, like there's nobody hunting it, and so it's just like man, and there's just something about Alaska. It is expensive. You know, you don't have to hire a guide for this, but the logistics to where we want to hunt and get to some of these seventy inch moose is very, very difficult, and so the outfitter actually makes it cheaper than if you had
to try to coordinate. You couldn't even do it on your own without without their assistance.
That's kind of why I was like prioritize the sheep hunt. It's just like, you know, I was talking to one of those guys when I killed that Canada buck and he used to guide cheap and he was saying that, like they dropped one guy off one time, and he said, like he like started crying and what you know, he just you know, you're hundreds of miles away from anyone dropped off on a plane and just the remoteness of it,
and like after like two days he just went home. Yeah. Yeah, that kind of like made me even want to do it more. And you know, and I see these people and they they finally get enough money or whatever it is to finally go or they finally pull the trigger on it, and they're sixty and it's such a hard hunt that I committed to it at a young age
and made it my priority. Just because I wanted. I wanted some pretty extreme, you know, I want to I want steep shale hard work, you know, and I want remote you know, on that o TC Idaho hunt, how many ridges I've come up and there's a guy just on a cell phone talking to his wife because he's got a pinch of service, and it's like, in frustrates me more than that.
Yeah, yeah, now you're you're gonna love it, and you want to talk about hard work. I don't know exactly. I mean some people it's crazy, you know. I've I'm similar to you. I watched because I don't understand Sheep. I don't I haven't been around to me Deer and Elk. I don't hardly watch on YouTube anymore because I understand. But like Sheep's been this allure like and sometimes it's crazy.
You'll watch somebody shoot one like in the bottom of the valley on day one, and then you watch the the more typical you know, ten days, and so you're gonna likely have your work cut out for you know. We were joking last night, like I wish I would have known, I wouldn't have brought my trekking pol I would have brought an ice axe, because there were times where it was so steep. My trekking pole didn't do anything for me. But if I could have put an ice axe in the side of the hill, you know,
or the loose rock. No, No, Like there's an old saying, you know that I've heard saying like if you're if your sheep guy doesn't have an ice axe, then you should probably find a new sheep guy. Now I say that jokingly, but it's it's a true thing. Like my guy, you know, had an He liked the old wooden handles. He doesn't like any new aluminum because they they you know, if he needed to, he could repair it in the field. But like, no, he his hiking stick was an ice axe.
And it's it's there's a reason why you've seen all the pictures of everybody, Like, yeah, there's times where you're standing as straight up as you think you can stand in your faces that are literally ten inches that's how steep it is, and you're trying to you know, like the ice ACKs I think would have been better than my hiking pole, because you gotta imagine when it's that steep, if you have a hiking pole down the hill, like it's not touching anything.
Yeah, you know, and you know, and hand up. I've never used truck and pulls, and I see everyone uses them. But you know, like I was telling you last night, like I feel like I'm always carrying my bow or I'm carrying my rifle in one hand. And I have bought some and I'm gonna get an ice pick for my trip. But you know, it'll be a first for me for you know, just basically putting a heavy pack on and some trekking polls and just going.
Yeah, no, it's it's a it's a good piece of equipment. They're light, you know, they're they're just as thing. You're as light as trekking pole now, you know, get it walking walking stick height, you know. And it's a fun hunt. You're going to really enjoy it, you know, the way you're built, your mental toughness, You're gonna really enjoy it. And you know, I hope, hope for the best, and everything pencils out like you want. We were we're getting
pretty long here. We were going to talk on the financial and like planning these hunts, but we may save it for a second podcast down the down the road. But no, really appreciate having you, Tucker, got to know you. You know, I have no doubts in the next ten years you're going to continue to stack up, you know, big, big critters and you a lot of that's patients. And then the big thing, you know, from outside looking in is just like you're taking advantage of all the opportunities available.
You know. You you make sure you have tags, you make sure you've got the time, and then you're working your ass off on the side that you make sure the financials doesn't slow that up, you know. And yeah, and I always kind of we joke before this. You know, everybody's always like, well, how do I hunt more? How do I make it so I can hunt more? And I'm like, the best way to hunt more is like go get go, get a degree and being like a doctor and then you can hunt. Like everybody thinks you're
gonna do that through the hunting industry. And you're a great example real estate. You know, you own a couple of businesses and you you have the liberty to hunt just as much as as I do. You know, our our good buddy Justin you know, he's a he's a chiropractor, he's got the financial means to hunt just as much as I do. So there's better or more efficient ways to do it. Then, you know, trying to get lucky and strike gold within the hunting industry, and I guess
we'll maybe close all. You know that with that, like financial approach is like, man, you only live once. Figure out a way to grind do whatever you want and uh, you know kind of kind of go chase your dreams.
Yeah, I mean, like you know, this sheep hunt at thirty one years old is probably not in the Dave Ramsey baby steps and becoming a millionaire strategy. But you know what I've found with finances is is, you know, growing up, everyone tells you that, like you know, money is not everything. Money's everything, and I agree with that, but you know, like I was telling you before, it they aren't. They don't give away these sheep hunts for free. And so what I've when my you know what I've
I'm not a doctor. It's just like find a side hustle or you know, find a career that you know is you know, commission based or something like that, to where the harder you work, the more reward you can get. And that's kind of what the path that I've taken, and it's not necessarily about the money. It's more so it'll afford me to go on this sheep hunt. And I don't want to be sixty, you know, just watching these videos saying, Man, I would have loved to kill
the doll sheep one day. You know, it's like I'm just prioritizing.
It right now and.
Making it, you know, just making it work.
Yeah, that's what I've similar to you. We talked about it when you know, when we were together, that that one time. It's not about the money. It's about the freedom. Right if the money is obviously tied in, but like you live a life where your schedule can be moved around and you have the money flowing in while you're not there, you know, in some of these things. So I think it's if you focus on freedom and not the financial and and you'll be in a better spot.
I think that's the That's the best way I can explain it.
I'm lucky to like, like my wife is, she started to help out with because we have rentals now and started to kind of build that portfolio. So we invest in real estate and then I sell real estate and then you know, I have that the gravel road, you know, a hustle and and if I'm not busy, then I could go, you know, I'll find work, and you know that's that's it allows you. I could work. I could hunt all fall if I wanted to. Nobody's gonna tell me now because I work for myself. But the problem
is my incomes. It's like a balance of you know, like I went on that second trip to Idaho to you know, I wasn't planning on it, but it was like, man, I have this tag burning a hole in my pocket. I can sneak away.
You know.
My wife had everything covered with with my real estate stuff, you know, and I try to just slip out, you know, I don't I don't announce it all over and she's like, yay, I'm gonna be done for out of service for another seven days. It's like I just sneak out, try to fill my tags because I'm not in the industry. It's not you know, I don't get paid to go. It's it's it's not like part of my you know, I'm just I'm just a guy with a job, and so
I could hunt a lot. But it's kind of a balance of you know, when you're playing your you know, if you aren't, if you aren't making money, you're spending it. And that's kind of kind of Hunting.
Sounds like you need to build the portfolio of rentals so you can just you can leave and you're making money. And uh no, I know, I know you've got big plans.
If you knew the headache of rentals, you wouldn't.
I did. I had to, and I sold them.
They're they're rewarding and it's kind of like a stock. You know, you don't get rich off of them immediately. It's you know, it's it's long time.
It's a long game.
Yeah, I'm excited to come on this again. Maybe talk about that part of.
Yeah, yeah, the financial I know, Dirk just followed up. If you haven't listened to it, listened to the prior episode Dirk. Dirk met with our good buddy there and went over the financials of of hunting. So you know, go check that episode out. And Yeah, really appreciate you having you on Talker. Good luck on that sheep hunt. Maybe we'll have to have you on post sheep and care a bo hunt to see how that turns out for you.
Yeah, I actually hit me on and and I look forward to it again, all right, take care you too, m
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