Ep. 63: Ryan Lampers Q&A and 2023 Season Recap of What Worked
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And we're going to go back. We're going to look at some Q&As from some of you out there. We're going to go back, look at his 23 season, kind of anything that was different, kind of what he had to do or like any little nuggets he can pull out of those hunts for us. And then dive into what worked and what didn't. And then also jump into some health and fitness topics. And then his recent wolf hunt that he was just on and then what he has coming up moving into next year.

It's always a pleasure to have you on the show, Ryan. Welcome. Thank you, Jason. Much appreciated. Excited to be back. Yeah.

Yeah, we were trying to record this yesterday and you were on a wolf hunt and kind of pushed us back. So I'm glad to be able to have you jump on and get on the podcast today. And I'm going to save some of my questions for you on the wolf hunt as we get into the podcast on some of your food choices you made on the wolf hunt, kind of your strategy to kind of double up on, you know, is it winter range deer scouting and trying to get a wolf hunt? Like kind of...

you know, making sure each trip has multiple reasons and meanings. So we'll, we'll jump into that in a little bit, but.

First, we're going to jump right into listener Q&A. Once again, if you have questions for me or my guests, please email them to us at ctd at phelpsgamecalls.com or social media messaging, emails, any of that, and we'll do our best to get them on here. So the first question comes, it was pretty much the same question from both Jonathan Uresti, hopefully I didn't butcher his name too bad, and Lucas Johnson.

What does your off season look like as far as workouts, your season prep, scouting and nutrition?

Yeah. I guess we're in off-season, right? I don't know that there's an off-season anymore. Yeah, I was going to say our off-season used to be like November to about July or August, but now it seems like we've figured out a way to fill those in. Yeah. I mean, there's a few gaps and we're in the gap right now, I'd say. Yeah, good question. I think, you know, I've been asked this a lot and I don't have really anything exciting to talk about when it comes to exercise and all that kind of thing. You know, I've got a home gym downstairs.

I try to keep up with my wife. She gets down there early every morning. This time of year when I'm not hunting, I spend a good amount of time down there. We've got a rower, all kinds of equipment that we can get after it on. But my number one, and I think it always will be, always has been,

routine is just hiking, hiking with weight. You know, where I live out here in the country, so we've got all kinds of space to just roam and we've got a little loop here. We can take it a mile and three quarters with a weighted backpack, or we can take the longer route or go up on the hill behind us and put in a good handful of miles. And, you know, that is and always will be, I think, my most effective route.

way of preparing for the next hunt, the future hunts that I have. It's just what you do in the mountains. It's the most important. And you get a lot out of hiking with weight. I think just going out and putting a ton of miles on without weight is good. But I'm just throwing anywhere from just 25 to sometimes go up to 60 pounds on the back and going for it.

And so that really helps me out. I think it keeps your core strong, just keeps those muscles tuned in. Those are the ones you really need to function well on the mountain.

So there's like no secret. You're not like getting up every morning, you know, slamming down, you know, your pre-workout, you're not working out for an hour and a half in the gym and then, you know, doing cardio. It's just, it's what you need to do to be, there's no secret workouts or you're not, you know, crossfitting every day. It's just doing the functional, what you're going to be doing in the mountains. It is, it is. Um, workouts. We do get up early and we put some time in downstairs. You know, I love the rower. Um,

We just got a cheap old rower downstairs and I like getting on that thing and just crushing it for 40 minutes.

uh, it really gets your heart rate up and it, it puts the screws to you. So I love that, but then just throwing around, you know, pushing and pulling heavy things. Um, that really helps in the off season as well. You know, I definitely don't lift like I used to, um, used to do a lot more in the gym and things like that, but I'm not a CrossFit guy. I don't, I don't have any secrets there. You know, I just try to stay in as good a shape as I can. And most of that comes from

Like we said, there's not a lot of off-season now. So we're always spending time in the mountains. We're always having weight on our backs. Now I'm cheating a little bit these days. You know, I turned 50 this year and, uh, last few years we've started using, um, pack animals a little bit more. You know, we've used things like llamas, which gets a lot of the weight off your back. Now I'm into the goats and I'm using those a ton and

Um, I'll go when I do my walks, uh, I just take the goats and they come with me and just to keep them in shape. Cause now a big part of my off season is making sure my animals are in shape to keep up with me. And so that's been a lot of fun and that's kind of a new thing that I'm doing now. But as far as nutrition, you know, it's always the same. Um, again, nothing real secret. We just try to eat clean throughout the year.

Um, you know, during the hunts, uh, outside of the hunts, my wife keeps me on track with that. Try not to pound, you know, too much sugar. We weren't out like,

100% off all sugar. We've got kids, you know, we don't, we don't do it to the extreme, but I think eating clean to the best of your abilities really helps. And it definitely keeps the inflammation down. And we've talked about inflammation almost to exhaustion these days, me and my wife, but it's important. And I feel like that's what's really helped me in these later years. I feel better now than I felt in my twenties by a mile. You know, when I go out and

do 10 days and we're crushing miles double-digit miles every day I don't come back sore anymore and that a lot of that is some of the supplements I take you know I do a lot of turmeric and CBD and stuff like that no secrets there but then I'm not pounding all this this extra sugar during the hunt so I'm trying to keep from inflaming my joints to where I just don't feel good

And then, yeah, just clean eating in the off season and things like that. So no secrets there, really. I like it. Yeah, it's a...

you know, I, I, I'm the yo-yo where I eat bad and then eat really like the extreme. Um, and, and yeah, mental clarity, like your inflammation in your knees, your joints, your hips, like everything goes away and you feel better. And then you always wonder why you, you relapse back into that, but yeah, definitely clean eating. Um, and then for me, it's, it's just as much of a mental game. Um, when you're eating clean there, there's no fog, you know, clear mind and, um,

Yeah. Yeah. You and I have talked a little bit with some of your things too. You've talked, you've probably talked on the podcast about doing carnivore every once in a while and kind of mixing it up and things like that. That's always been real interesting to me. Yeah. Yeah. And I, I, now I, I've, I've,

you know, working with your wife. She's, she's now my doctor had some, you know, I don't beat the drum. I don't think I've ever even talked on the podcast about like testosterone. Like we talked and I'm man, why the hell am I wanting to go to bed at seven 30? Like when we were running the business early on, like there were days you'd go to bed at 12 or one, just when your work was done, you were done. Right. And like, what is going on? And got with, got with Dr. Hill and

um, yeah, testosterone, like in the high two hundreds for a 40 year old guy. And it's like, what, and, uh, kind of changed my life, you know, and, and I don't know whether it's attributed to eating well, or it's probably both, you know, got on some testosterone and feel amazing. And then that helped with the inflammation in itself, like just getting the hormones balanced. And, uh, you know, and then I, I kind of, she thought I should change my diet a little bit where I was eating real heavy carnivore and, and

There, there's a lot of unknowns, right? If you're doing carnivore, like, can you have elevated triglycerides and elevated LDLs? And is it still safe? And she just got real worried because without really knowing she's like, well, maybe we should not eat so much fatty meat. And so we've, we've made some changes, but I feel amazing doing it. I just don't want to like

feel amazing, but then kick over of a heart attack because I got some numbers way out in left field. But yeah, it's that combination, uh, the last six months has been amazing. Like just getting hormones balanced back out eating, you know, and everybody says, well, what are you eating? Cause I've lost about 60 pounds in the last, uh, you know, six months. And it's just like, I think of it, there's no specific diet, just like close to the earth, right? Like if it comes out of the ground, if it lives on the ground, like it checks all the boxes and that it's just like,

clean eating. Um, I'm not afraid to have a few blueberries or strawberries here. I'm not afraid to eat sweet potatoes. Um, but like if the rice has got to go through a factory and get stripped of its husks and stuff like, and now I'm, I'm very extreme because I, I, it's easy for me to relapse and go back. And you know, if it lives on the ground, you know, a lot of deer and elk, but, um, just, I feel amazing right now. Um, well, and that's, and that's something to talk about too. Um, I didn't even think about it when you mentioned like your regimen, but

Finding a good doctor, I think, is really important, especially when you get up there in age. A lot of dudes, guys and gals, hormones are a big, big thing. A lady like my wife who

does a lot of blood work and test people's hormones and tries to regulate them and get them dialed in. It's really important. Like it's amazing how you can go from, like you said, wanting to go to bed early, just waking up without that drive, without that, just that winning drive to go. Um, you know, all, all that changes when you dial in your hormones a little bit, whether it's testosterone or estrogen for ladies.

Um, so we're very blessed to know, uh, Doc Hill because she gets us to that perfect point where you just crush it. You feel like crushing it. You wake up feeling good. Um, you got that winning hormone drive. And today it's shocking how many guys out there, um, have low test. You know, it's, it's just like unbelievable. Even guys in their twenties, you know, twenties, thirties, it's not like it used to be. Guys are just,

whatever, if it's environmental, who knows, you know, the verdict isn't in yet on what's causing this, but a lot of guys are, are suffering from lack of testing. Yeah. Yeah. My cousin, um, you know, very athletic, very active lifts weights all the time. Like he was at similar numbers to me at like mid thirties and it's just why and how come, but, uh,

Yeah, I feel great with the changes. It's all kind of dialed in. And Hillary asked you these lists of questions, like before and after kind of gauge. And I said, it was weird. You didn't realize how bad it was until you got to see the instant change.

um, on it. And, and like my, my best analogy was like before my weekend looked like, well, I might accomplish these one or two things and I want to sit and watch like hunting on YouTube or, or sit around the rest of the day. Now it's like put 20 things on my list and make sure they're checked off before the end of the day. Like this motivation, this drive that I used to always have is like back versus, you know, kind of being a lazy ass around home on the weekends. It's like, you've got this drive again to just crank, crank through and get things done. So it's,

mental as well as you know the physical um changes oh yeah i mean testosterone it's the winning hormone for us guys we need it and it needs to be at a certain level for us to just crush it in life and

You know, it's very important. So if anybody gets anything out of this podcast, it's like, man, you know, if you're feeling rotten and you're off season, you know, you're just like you said, you're just wanting to sit down into the day, just watch movies and eat junk food and not motivated to go crush it in the mornings. You know, maybe go find yourself a really good doctor who take your blood through it. Look at your panels, see what's missing.

Yep. Yep. Uh, the next question comes from my financial advisor, Jeff Bloomquist. Um, he put, what are your top three things that you attribute to your consistent success of killing more mature animals? Um, and it doesn't have to be three, just kind of what are your top approaches? Um, and, and I'm very careful, like we all do this for different, and I, and maybe I shouldn't even have to explain this, but we all, we're all out there. Like if your goal is just to put

spike in the freezer. We're not saying that's not the goal, but Ryan, any of you, any of you that do or don't know it, like it's very easy to look at what he does and realize like, all right, that, that top level animal. And that's what you're out there for. You're pursuing that challenge. And so this is geared towards when you get to the level of having all these other accomplishments or abilities below you.

Um, like when you target mature animals and I would say there's different levels to that, right. Where some guy might be like, I want a four and a half year old deer that scores this, like Ryan goes out there with an expectation or a challenge to kill, you know, a very, uh, a top five percenter, um, kind of what, what, what's your, what do you attribute that success to at that level? Yeah. Um, you know, I think.

I think it's different for everybody. I think for me, I just know that I have a drive that might be a little bit more intense than some of the folks around me. You know, some of the other folks that I've hunted with even. I don't really want to settle. And so my drive is just a competition with myself to really...

do whatever it takes, literally, however far it takes to hike, however many days it takes, that's always kind of on the table. And I try to set these hunts up for that. I always try to do 10-day trips so that I've got the time to make this thing happen. And, you know, while you're in the field, I think the willingness to put my body through whatever, go wherever,

I'm not afraid to go down to the bottom, you know, 2,500 feet down and then right back up to the top. That means I might have a slight opportunity to seal the deal on a mature animal. So I think drive is the one thing that's really hard to explain. My drive is just very intense when I'm out there. This is my favorite thing to do in life, you know, is to do this thing. And that's target mature animals out there in the mountains.

Um, and then a lot of it is also, you know, just, um, uh, all the time that you put into the, with, into the off season, you know, whether it's your map work, your e-scouting, you're dialing in the meals that you're going to take with you, the gear that you take with you, all these different things just kind of all add up to, uh, being well prepared out there. And, um, you know, in the end, you're not getting pulled out of the mountains prior to you sealing the deal.

or something trivial, you know, something. I'm also very lucky and I love to like prop my wife up as much as I can. But the reality of it is I wouldn't be able to do any of this if I didn't have an amazing wife who literally can. She's so independent if she needs to be. She can take care of anything when I'm out there. So there's really no problems that I have to deal with when I'm in the mountains.

Um, I'm not out there worried about much, you know, if there is an issue, I'm lucky if she even tells me about it on my inReach, you know, she just takes care of it. So, you know, a lot of the success comes from just having a partner that is at that level, you know, um, and then having the drive and all the preparedness around that, I think really has helped me in this, in this thing. So, so,

Let me, let me kind of see if I can get to the inside of your head. So this drive that you talk about this competition, maybe with yourself or not wanting to let yourself down. So, I mean, is there ever times during a hunt where you even have to like, come on, don't let yourself down, you know, or is it just not even a question anymore where you're just, this is what needs to be done. We're going, you don't even have that conversation with yourself anymore. Or is there some like thought, like, is that really the best play? Um, are you just like, we're going to go over there and see what happens. And, and, uh, yeah. Yeah.

How does that conversation, you know, because that's,

I think if somebody is not at your level, that's a lot of what pops up, right? There's like, well, I really don't know if climbing down in that 3000 feet really gives me a better opportunity or a chance, you know? And so you'll talk yourself out of it. Um, and I think, I don't think there's any 20 year old that is going to have that because they don't have the experiences built up, you know, as you, as you, uh, do more hunts and you have these things happen, like I can't tell you how many times, and you've had this same thing happen many, many, many times as well. It's just,

um, you keep working at it, it can happen so fast. And with elk hunting, it's, it's like to the utmost degree, it just happens in a matter of like 30 seconds. You go from this low, like, man, this is this ever really going to happen. And you're just fighting with yourself. Like, I don't know. I mean, maybe these next four days or,

It's just kind of a waste because we haven't had any luck. And then in about three minutes from that point, you just arrowed a bull and he's down. And it happens like that so often. And I think once it's happened to you a few times or a couple dozen times, you just, it's always there. You just know like success can happen at any point out there, even when it's the slowest of slow. And, you know, the weather's been junky and the bulls aren't talking and there's people everywhere, you know.

All it takes is just a few minutes and things turn on a dime. And when you've had that experience, I think that just gets ingrained into you. Like you don't get down as much because you know, like one more ridge, you know, next coulee, you can go ass across and pick up that one buck. And that's all it took. And so,

And it's hard to explain to people, but I think, you know, we've just been doing this a very long time. So I don't have the mental that I had that I have now. I didn't have that back in my 20s. You know, I was more willing to give up and just get down like this hunt is not worth it.

um being out here you know i might as well go somewhere else but now as you've got gained all this experience you just you just know it can turn on a dime so yeah that's a big part of it yeah i think one of the tough you mentioned like the slow you know the slow times and and there i think it's different like if you're on a hunt that is just on fire the whole time but just opportunities not coming like that will keep people more involved but in the end those super slow hunts that you finally find your first elk on the eighth day and you still kill it like

The result's still the same, right? We, we went there, we accomplished what we wanted to, but the hunt ahead of time was different. I think that's what, you know, what you had mentioned kind of, kind of resonates with me is that I'm still able on, you know, six or seven days. Yeah. You get down a little bit, but you keep kind of grinding and you know, that in the end, there's the possibility of this is still going to end up in the same spot of the very action packed hunt or the, you

it's the same result. And, and, um, we we've proven that we had 20 chances throughout the hunt, but none of them you were able to capitalize on where you capitalize on the one. Um, it, it, yeah, it works into your mental game. And then in future hunts, you're like, well, this I've been here before. I don't need to quit. Like we've been in this exact situation and know how it's going to play out or can play out. Yeah. Yeah. I think, and this is so cliche to say, but you know, I think if you find yourself throughout the day on a hunt, just continually saying things like,

This sucks. Man, this is never going to happen. You know, this is brutal. You're just you're you're screwing with your head. And, you know, that's one thing that I found now trying to stay positive is very important. Just knowing that it could happen and just expecting it could happen at any point.

Uh, it's all in your head, but if you do, if you are out there and you have a hunt partner, that's just so down and sour and always like looking for a reason why it sucks to be out there. And, uh, throughout the day, it's just a lot of negativity. Um, that is a surefire recipe to have a hunt fail and either pull you out of the mountains early.

Or you're just not doing what you should be doing. You know, you should be positive and you should be willing to just know that, man, it's just could be that ridge. It could be one more hole. It could be tomorrow. Weather could turn. I mean, you should be out there expecting it to happen and waking up and again, cliche, but waking up and just this is the day that it's going to happen. And with that comes success for sure.

Yeah. And, and I, we take it to the point where it's like overly positive, overly optimistic. You might not have seen a deer in your area for the last seven days, but you wake up, tell your buddy like, Hey, this is a day we kill a big, you know, we both, we double up or you kill big bucks. And it's like, it,

I don't want to say it's a little fake, but you're just like, you're, you're just reminding yourself like this is a day we're going to get up, like, you know, maybe, maybe pick everybody up and keep them going. And, um, yeah, the, the positive mental, and we've, we've talked about a ton on here is having good hunting partners where if one guy does get down, the other guy won't let him get too down and you're able to feed off of each other. And, and, um, it's, it's,

definitely worked in the past to kind of keep somebody going or not want to you know the worst thing you'd want if somebody you're trying to talk somebody to quit and they say oh let's go like it's over but if that guy is you know mentally strong at that time um it's it definitely helps i've hunted with people over the years i'm sure you have as well um that are just negative people right um they may be fun at times but they're just negative people that's the last guy i want in my hunting camp um

I just, uh, I just walk away from that. I'll always look, you know, I have, I have a very small list of guys that I hunt with today. I still love hunting by myself. I really love, enjoy hunting with my daughter, but I've got a small group that I hunt with and the guys that I hunt with now, um, you know, some of their skills are just that they never quit. They never give up. They're not ones to say, I'm, I just want to give up and go back. Let's just get out of here. These, these guys that I hunt with now, they don't do that.

they will go that extra mile and they will go wherever it takes to make success happen. So I think that's extremely important. And it's a hard thing to kind of weed out those guys that could be just too negative. But success is determined by having a really good partner sometimes. For sure.

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This is Brent Reeves from This Country Life. What makes South Dakota the greatest for pheasant hunting? With over 1.2 million pheasants harvested last year, South Dakota boasts the highest population of pheasants in the nation. In fact, you'd have to add up the total harvest from neighboring states just to get that many birds.

There's also millions of wide open acres chock full of different landscapes, meaning the hunt in one county is often completely different from just a few counties over. But what really makes South Dakota the greatest goes way beyond just hunting a colorful bird. It's the pursuit of something more like the camaraderie that awaits all kinds of hunters from all walks of life and partaking in South Dakota tradition over 100 years in the making.

It's about taking the greatest shots and watching your dog work the greatest fields in the greatest lands, carrying on the greatest heritage and making the greatest memories. So what are you waiting for? From the rush of the flush to the stories at the end of the day, experience a thrill like no other. Learn how at huntthegreatest.com. Next question comes from Bryant Sentman out of Tall Timber Productions.

Have your tactics evolved or changed over the last decade or so, Archery Elk Hunting? Have you found yourself changing the way you did it or is it still pretty consistent to how you started? You really want me to talk about this Phelps game calls? I know we're going to talk a little bit about raking and a little bit more spot and stocking, but let's hear it. Yeah, it has changed. It has changed a lot. And a lot of the change has come from

Um, where I am now versus where I used to be, you know, I, I came from your neck of the woods, you know, we were Washington guys and, uh, thick country hunting rosies and, um, in timber and it very much a calling game, you know, very much a calling game. And so I was, I was basically taught like the best way to get big bulls in was to pick fight.

you know, leaving the cow calls to the other guys and going in with just these threatening bugles and picking fights with the, with the herd bull. And I learned that in Washington, I learned it in the North country of Idaho, where it's just absolutely so thick that that's, that's the best method for, for getting these big bulls in. Um, now since then I have changed, you know, I've moved over here to Montana and even when I was still a Washingtonian, I,

I started hunting areas that were a little more open and where I was able to glass more. And, you know, these days I find myself seeking out those type places. You know, I'm not hunting a thick, thick country as much anymore. I'm looking for states. I'm looking for opportunity hunts where I can go try to glass up more bulls or even just, you know, I can still be out there and I'm, you know, I chuck a lot of location bugles out.

just to get an idea where the bulls are, find the herd, you know, find the best bull. And then I put a lot of work into glassing and trying to figure out a strategy on how I can either get in between, you know, or just figure out a way to get an arrow in that bull in more open country. So I really enjoy this time where I'm chasing, you know, herd bulls in open country. I'm not calling as much.

Um, not even close. I'm still doing a lot of location bugles just to find them because they're always, there's always pockets of timber and you know, they, they love bedding in that timber, but I don't try to work bulls in as much as I used to for sure. And I think that's been probably the biggest change for me, uh, especially with the bigger herd bulls. But I really do enjoy calling, calling elk in. It's a lot of fun. Um, but man, the spot and stop game for me right now is kind of where I'm at.

Yep. No, and I'm, I'm in the same boat where, you know, growing up hunting almost exclusively Southwest Washington, we called everything in and it seemed, I don't want to say easy, but it almost seemed easy at times you'd located and got in tight and you could eventually get him to close the distance. Um,

as times went on, um, it seems like you're trying to force a square peg and around hole at times. Now we've still got them cranked up. We've killed a lot of great bulls, but it's just not, even when we started hunting out of state and, and, you know, over the West, it seemed easier just 10 years ago. And I don't know if it's, if we're to blame pressure, the calling industry, everybody out there calling, you know, whether you got a tag or not, like I don't, uh, I'll shoulder some of it, but the elk aren't as callable as the,

They used to be, you've turned a lot of guys into pretty dang good callers. There's a lot more better, like really good callers out there in the woods these days. Um, they'll fool you for sure. There's some really good. Yeah. And as much as it hurts, I, we've turned into a little bit more of a, I, I,

10 years ago, I'd have never questioned, should I beagle right now? Or should I cow call? Or should I go silent? And now that's like my common routine. Like, do I really want to beagle here? Because it hasn't worked the last four or five times and things are privy to it and heading the other way. And like this year is the first year ever I located a bull.

went completely silent and snuck into 40 yards like as much as it hurts me to say i knew as a hunter like i've got this skill set maybe not near as good as you or barnier guys that spot and stalk all the time but it's just it's an animal that i just can't let see hear smell me right like it's a very simple equation don't let them see you hear you or smell you you're going to be all right and just put a you know put the sneak on them um put a you know put his head behind a log or a standing tree that was big enough for me to hide behind and walk into 40 yards and

it, it is getting different. I would say I'm in the same boat as much. I still try to at least force it early in a hunt. Like I'm going to call these things in. Um, but yeah,

I think it's important to have all the tools in your toolbox, right? For sure. I think, you know, you want to be really competent in your calling. You know, this year's bull just happened to be a bull that was in much more open country. Still some timber, but, you know, I got in between him and his bedding area and I was able to get an arrow in this bull. Last year, you know, I went in trying to be silent. I just wasn't able to get in to where this bull was bedded.

And, uh, and I called that bull in, you know, I, uh, I got in tight, just like the old days that worked so well. I got in tight, um, made just an absolute, uh, you know, monster threatening bugle at him. Um, and he came tearing in ready to, ready to kill me.

And that worked in that situation. So, you know, I don't want to eliminate any of the strategies. I think having them all in your toolbox is really important. And, you know, there's going to be times in the future where I calf call a bull in. That's what's going to work that day. And so I think just, you know, not putting anything aside, everything's got to be on the table. But I'm definitely trying to do less calling in a lot of the areas that I'm hunting now.

Yeah. And I think being, you know, being a skilled hunter in that situation is recognizing like what you should maybe do. Like, are they in a good stockable spot and recognizing that, like, that's more important than being a good caller and having all these tools that you're not, you're not, you know, leaning on your calling primarily. You're not just leaning on your spot and stock. Like at any time, if that situation dictates, you should be doing this or should try this.

you know, being able to do that or execute it well. Yeah, I agree with you have all those tools and don't limit yourself to one style of elk hunting. Absolutely. And, you know, I look forward to one of these years, I'm going to get back to the, to the old

old haunts that I used to hunt. And, um, I don't know about Washington, but, uh, Idaho, you know, some of the thick country and, and, uh, I guarantee there's going to be times where I want to pick a fight or at least pick a fight with the, you know, a limb and start raking. I really like raking too. I, it works so well for so many years back in the day. Um,

I don't know if it works as well now in those places in Washington where raking in a bull. I think a lot more guys are doing it, but, you know, they may be keyed into a little bit more than they used to be. But yeah, all the tools I think they're important to have and no one situation is always going to be the same. So.

Yeah. We had you on back on episode 35 where we did the spring bear episode. So this question may have the answer in there, I'm sure, but maybe you can give like a real quick cliff note version. How do you go about locating spring bears early in the season? This comes from Parker Batista. Yeah. Early season. I love that. Very, very front end because.

Uh, it's just my opinion, but I feel like that is your absolute best time to locate those polar boars. Um, I don't know what the science shows. I don't know what, what the professionals say, but it feels like, and maybe, maybe you got something to add to this, Jason, but I'm finding the biggest boars, like the biggest ones on the mountain are the first ones I see.

And after that, you know, come the mediums and then the sows and cubs are kind of the last to show. Has that been the case for you? Because it sure has for me. I always feel like that. It's always going to be one of the days in April where we just, you know, we lay eyes on that first bear. He's usually a monster. And, you know, where I like to focus my efforts is in, you know, big drainages with a lot of water.

Um, I like to be there just ahead of green up and those big boars, man, I've found in the places that I've hunted them. They just, they really, it almost is like they're on that green line where the green is just coming up sometimes even above it a little bit. Like you don't even know what they're doing up there eating.

um, you know, avalanche lilies and things like that. But yeah, I wish I had as much spring bear experience, but I've, I've hunted five times. It's all been in Washington down in the blues and we get such a late start. Um, May 15th, the year I drew it was the COVID year where they didn't even evidently, they thought we were going to get COVID out in the woods. Um, and then we didn't want to give it to the bears. So they made a start really late.

Um, and so all of our experience has been more of that mid May with still kind of fighting that snow line, you know, pretty low. At least, um, the one year we did have early, I think those bigger bores, we seen them earlier in the trips. And then as we went back trip after trip and tried to make it happen, um,

I think the bears were getting smaller. So I would agree with that. I just don't have as near as much experience like into that early April, early May timeframe where we're typically, if we're starting right off the bat, it's middle of May. And usually we elect to wait a little bit because there is so much snow or the access is so hard. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. I, I think, you know, you know, where I really like to focus my efforts for, for big boars early season. I love that April timeframe. Yeah.

And, uh, I don't want to be too late in the season. Like, uh, may is great too. And then into June, some guys love hunting the rut. I just like being on the front end, you know, just best opportunity. You don't see as many bears, but, um, I really liked that time where almost everything is brown. It's just a little bit of green, just barely starting to show up. I just, that's, that's the timeframe for me where I feel like I'm going to have my best luck at the biggest bear on the mountain. So, okay.

Gotcha. The last question, I'm not privy to it. Maybe you are. Tell us more about the trekking pole glassing method. Maybe GoHunt had just talked about it. I don't know if there's a specific method or something different than typical, but enlighten me. Yeah, I don't know either. That came from Nate Stevens. Okay. I don't know. I'm not sure what they talked about over at GoHunt. Yeah. Trekking pole glassing thing. I'm assuming it's just running your binos on top of the trekker, right?

I do that all the time. I would think. Yeah. Yeah. Or on top of your bow cam or whatever you've got, you can lean into the ground. It's a real quick way to just like get solid real fast and not have to pull the tripod out and get your binos on the tripod. So no, I use it all the time. Um,

And, uh, no, I mean, it's almost just as good as a tripod in many cases. Yeah. But does your, uh, do the peak design, uh, do the sissy sticks have a thread in the top yet? Like the old Easton trekking poles did where you can like thread them on and use it. I don't know if that's patented, but something you guys should look into for sure. They had that like five, eight stud that would like, you know, a cap that would go over your trekking pole and then you could just thread your, your, uh, hole

holder on when you didn't want to use them, that cap would come back down. Just throw that out for you guys. I didn't know if you guys did or I knew an old set of Easton's I had did have those, but it made it slick back when I had my binos hooked up and you could just thread them on real quick and then you didn't have to worry about like

holding on or you know you could if you're going to set up for a little bit longer yeah there you go yeah i'll pass that on um i don't know if you're going to answer these questions or not it was a pretty popular question but now that you're not in washington are you willing to give up your mule deer and roosevelt elk hunting spots yeah surprising how many people have reached out with that one jason uh but it was more like right after i left washington there was a lot of guys like really thinking that i would just give them the spots so um you know

My best hunting buddy who I've hunted with more than anybody, and that's Joey Pyburn. He's still over there in Washington. He knows all the spots. We used to hunt these spots together. And for years, I told him, I was like, you see, he kind of, he got into this waterfowl thing. He does a lot of fishing now. He doesn't do the big game hunting that we used to do. He's going to hate me airing this out there for him, but it's true. He needs to hunt big game more.

But I told him like, look, there's a little window here. You better keep getting after these spots. You know, we have some really good old hunts that we used to hunt. Otherwise I'm going to have to give them up. So he's got a little bit more time. If he doesn't start taking advantage of his time over there into these places where he used to, we used to kill big bucks. I might start having to give these spots up, but.

Yeah. At this point, you know, I, I have plans. Like I really will, I will come back to Washington one of these years. I want to just come back and hunt some mule deer, um, you know, in, in late October there, like we used to. And I really want to go back and see if anybody has found these areas, you know, it really, I'm really curious about that. I I've heard, um,

There's a lot more hunters over there stomping around in the mountains these days than there used to be. So, you know, it really intrigues me to see how things have changed and if there are still some big old bucks in these really secluded places. But no, selfishly, those those areas are probably going to be just for us folks that have been there before.

Yep. Yep. I don't blame you. And then somebody else wanted to know about your hair health routine on 10 day backpack trips, but I don't know. If you've seen the videos, you know, there is no routine. It's, it drives my wife crazy. Like the dreadlocks I have to rip out at the end of a trip. Uh, it just drives her crazy. My daughter's trying to get me to pack a hairbrush. It's just, it's just nonsense. Um, it embarrasses them, but it's kind of why I do it. So no, no routine, no brush.

No, I was going to say, if your daughter starts, is your daughter starts to backpack with you more and more, she'll have to pack the brush and you can just take advantage of it. She's tried to get that brush into my hair. She definitely packs her brush on the trips that we take. So, um, yeah, I just keep it out of my hair.

All right. Well, I appreciate answering all those questions, Ryan. A little longer version of our typical question and answer for our guests, but we went out specifically looking for these. Once again, you have questions for me or my guests. Please feel free to email them to us at ctd at phelpsgamecalls.com or hit us up on social media. Send us a message and we'll do our best to get those thrown in.

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Stole a little bit of my thunder there with some of their questions. We're going to talk about health and fitness, your training diet, but we really covered that. We're just going to jump into your season recap 23. I think we go all the way back. We were both on Mexico coos deer hunts. I don't think on episode 35 on the bear hunt, we even really got into that. I'm going to have you start with your coos whitetail trip, your spring bear season, and then we fast forward to it.

our old season used to be our fall seasons where you went Alaska moose, Alaska blacktail, Montana elk and deer, and just kind of give us a rundown of those six hunts. And if there was any, anything technical or tactical that you did specific to those hunts or maybe change in, uh,

um, you know, elk behavior or deer behavior moves that kind of, you, you had to adapt to and change to it. It kind of, um, maybe helped you out on those hunts. So we're going back to Mexico. Is that where we want to start? Yeah, we'll start. Yeah. We'll start in Mexico. I don't think we ever talked about that here on, on cutting the distance. Yeah. So, uh, you know, it was my first year down there, you know, crossing the border. Um, I've hunted, uh, coos on the North side of it, um, for a few years, handful of years.

and just had an absolute blast. This is the first opportunity that I've ever had to get across the border and go down and chase coos. And man, we had a blast. You know, this was a place where, you know, I didn't really know what to expect. There were four of us, myself, Brian, Brad, and Hunter went down. Man, it just felt like a wilderness where we were. It was so wild and there was just nothing around, you know, getting way back into this country that felt like just

nobody's looking at this, these places and not many people have seen it. And so, you know, came down to glassing, honestly. And for most coos deer hunters, I think they'd agree, you know, just spending time behind the glass can't be stated, you know, enough because a really good glass. I always run the higher power binos when I'm down there a little bit more power spotter when I'm down there.

Um, you gotta be so diligent with coos deer. You know, every time I end a coos deer hunt, it's, it's the same thing. I walk away thinking,

man, um, it was all about the time spent behind the glass because those little buggers just disappear on you. I mean, you could be literally staring at a, at a great buck, take your eyes out of the glass, go back and he's gone forever and just have no idea where he vanished to. But, um, I think being, being very patient is a big virtue in, in coos deer hunting. If you don't have a lot of patience, um, might be a tough, tough trip for you. So

The particular trip that I went down on, this was not a high density area. I saw very few deer, very few bucks overall, which was a little bit shocking, but it was cool anyway. We were still finding good mature bucks, just not many deer in general. Now, I don't know if it was because it was a very wet year last year. There was water everywhere. And so, you know, obviously...

Kind of makes sense that they'd be spread out a little bit more. They're not so focused on these certain drainages. I don't know. We'll see because we're going to the same place this year and we're going to check it out. But I think with Coos Deer,

I always come away with, uh, it's all about the time spent behind the glass. And if you're not a very diligent glasser, if you're not willing to just keep those things, you know, slammed onto your head, like just all day long, willing to do that, you're probably not going to see the deer. And, uh, you know, we've hunted with those guys that don't see many and they just end up letting you do all the work and, and find them. Yeah. Yeah. I'm, I'm in the same boat. Like I've,

I feel like I'm three times as good a glasser now that I've cooed deer hunted when I come back to mule deer hunt. Like this is easy now at this point because of the strategies we put together down there. You know, you're either always in your binos and I love setting up spots where if I climb up the mountain, I've got some good shooting lanes, 500, but then my glassing kind of goes across canyons, right? So I'm able to have a hunt that morning or that night, but then my glassing goes from a wolf. They're not here. Now I'm glassing for a stalk.

And I usually go from tens. I didn't bring like the twelves or fifteens or eighteens. I went from tens right into my spotter. And so my, my, uh, my glassing requires me to be in that spotting scope all day. Um, and, and just sit and walk and walk the spotter. And similar to what you said, there were times where I would spot a deer, try to like get somebody on them. So I'm looking for landmarks and trying to, and then I would look back in there. I'm like,

like, damn it, it left, but it hadn't left. I just couldn't respot the deer or just standing. Like you just couldn't pick it up or, you know, last year a buck was pushing a doe. And so then you're kind of really fastly tracking them around the clear cut. And, um,

you would lose them at times. And, and, uh, or, or what we found on that time was we'd been glass in this clear cut only 700 yards away, not too extremely far with the spotting scope. And that buck went and found all these five or six does for us on the hillside. We had never seen a deer on. And, and, uh,

It was just, it's, it's glassing at a different level, but I love it. Cause I, I, I, it makes me better glasser. It lets me know that you're looking for ears. You're looking for horns. You're looking for a leg kicked out in a bed. Like it just, it prepares you for when I come home black tail hunting or mule deer.

Um, like it's nothing for me to just sit in my spotter for an hour compared to five hours at a time down there. And yeah, it definitely makes you a better, better glasser. I mean, those little ghosts, they, they could just be standing all over hillside. And if you're not really tuned in, you'll just run your binos right over them.

Um, what I, what I find unique is, you know, they're so similar to a mule deer. Um, I hate that they're white tailed, just, but they're so similar because you know how, um, and for whatever reason, some, some of the biggest bucks that we've seen, they will statue for so long, Jason, like you can watch a buck statue up for 45 minutes and he doesn't move a muscle.

And he's just, he's just there. He's in the, in the, you know, in the oak brush or whatever. And if you're looking for movement or if you're looking for the backside of the deer, things that are obvious, you're going to go right over that buck.

So you really got to slow it down, really got to pay attention to the details of the coos deer. And they're so tiny, you know, so tiny. Yeah. Yeah. We see the same thing. Like, even though you're in the middle of the rut, like some of those bigger bucks, they just, yeah, they just sit and I'm like, why aren't you chasing? Why aren't you moving? But they'll sit there for 20, 25 minutes and just look or, you know, pay attention to what's going on on the hillside. Yeah. And when they get in those ocotillas, like some of the biggest bucks we found have just been in the ocotillas for whatever reason. They love it.

And you're just looking for something a little bit unique, you know, you know, those, everything is up, you know, vertical, and then you're just looking for an antler off to the side and, and they will just statue in that stuff. And like you said, the does, I mean, they just disappear. They lay down and.

and you're looking for ears and that's about it. Yep. Yeah. I'm excited. We're going to a new, a new ranch this year that not, we have, we were at a ranch that had maybe a higher density, it sounds like, but maybe not the upper end of bucks. So we're going to, we're going to mix it up this year and go try a little different area and see if we can't maybe find some bigger, bigger bucks. And I'm excited. It sounds like the nice thing about Mexico is private land, like compared to up here, north of the border, uh,

you know, there's always a chance somebody else has hunted it. Right. It's like, if you just have a general tag, you can go hunt somebody's private or if it's public, any like Mexico is nice because if you don't have one of the four tags, that's good for that ranch. Like nobody can deer hunt that the rest of the year. Like it's left alone and we're going to spot. I don't think it's been hunted for like six years anyways. And then, so we're going to see, we'll see what it, we'll see what it, I'm excited. It's, it's, uh, it's kind of a slower hunt. It's a great time to go down to, right. It's kind of the off season. Um,

um it's always a little bit warmer it's usually in the minus temps here in montana at that time so just a fun time to get down there um you know i never a handful of years ago i never expected that i'd ever even hunt mexico i always wanted to always thought about you know opportunity to go hunt sonora or whatever but um last year was my first opportunity to do it and i'm

I'm addicted. I absolutely love it. Yeah. A lot of fun. That's awesome. And so from Coos deer, you rolled into spring bear, which, uh, coming into this year, real low snow pack, pretty deep. Uh, how'd that, how'd that pan out for it? And did it change the hunt at all? Yeah, it was, it was a tough year, honestly, you know, the crew had a real rough go. Um, you know, on the front end, uh, you say the snow was wanky. Um, we, um,

We ended up, we struggled. Like the first bear I took, I think I was, gosh, I want to say I was like 16 days into it before I took that first bear. And I took one of the best bears I've ever taken, just an absolute stud. But I had to spend a lot of time and we had bears that we'd spot.

And they just disappear on us, you know, how it goes. And they were moving off of those South Facers so fast. They just weren't putting in the time. They weren't giving us time to get to them before they just move off. They were traveling. It was kind of just a weird year like that. I hadn't seen that for a while, but in the end, yeah, it took a couple of good bears, had a good season overall. I,

Ended up with the wolf on the first trip and a cat at the same time. So I think we talked about that. But yeah, that was a heck of a trip. It really forced us to be diligent on that one because it was a tough go. And we had to put in a lot of effort, a lot of work to fill those tags. Yeah. So now...

You get to our fall seasons. Alaska Moose was first on the docket? Actually, we went up and did a little blacktail trip up in Alaska with my daughter. Before the – Yeah, so that was an August trip. So we went up there in August and kind of a first for me, something I wanted to do. But went up there, good crew of guys, met a couple. We had met up in Fairbanks the prior year when we were at Moose Hunting.

um, Dalton and his wife, Tabitha. And, uh, we hooked up for a hunt and, uh, went out, not really knowing what to expect. Uh, just kind of located a pothole and went after it, landed on a pothole in some Alpine country in the Southeast. And, and we had a heck of a trip. My daughter absolutely loved it. You know, I prepared her for the worst, you know, weather-wise,

Um, just made sure I let her know, like, this could be a trip where we don't see the sun for a while and it's going to be slippery. It's going to be steep, you know, just, just be ready for that. And Jason, we got there and we had five straight days of sunshine and beautiful weather. It was fairly warm and we had deer on the mountain. They were shining like diamonds. They were red coated.

Um, she took, she filled both her tags. I filled both mine. We all fill our tags that we had and ended up with seven bucks and, uh, had one of the funnest trips you could possibly have. And my daughter just absolutely loved that trip. And, um, you know, it's funny. I was talking to Dalton the other day and he was like, Hey, you want to do that trip again? And, and I was like, no, I don't, I don't ever want to do that trip again because we're going to go back and it's going to be a letdown. We had the best

we could possibly have on this trip. Like it could not have gone any better. We're going to go back and we're going to be a little bummed out because the weather's going to be sour. We're not going to see the quality bucks that we saw on that trip. So I was like, you know, Dalton, that's one of those hunts that it went so well. I just, I'll go somewhere else. Leave it alone. I'm just going to leave it. Yep. Yep. I'm going to leave it. Gotcha. And I think that was a, that was a really like a quality hunt with my daughter because

Yeah, the country was steep, but we didn't have to put the miles on that absolutely just crushed her soul. And we had, you know, opportunities to get fairly close on these bucks. We went in with rifles and, you know, it was just a good opportunity for her to get behind the glass, her to pick up these bucks on her own and make good shots and have just a heck of an experience. And we got it all on that one. So, yeah. That's awesome. Yeah, she really enjoyed it.

And then came home, reloaded, went for moose. And that was a trip with, uh, Brady Miller, myself and Brian call. And we went up, this was year two in a row, a totally different location, new area. And, uh, again, we had a heck of a trip. It was a lot tougher, uh,

area than the area we'd hunted in the past, much more open. But this place was thick. We found some bulls, not many. We ended up getting a great bull. Brady took a great bull. It took us quite a bit of work to get this bull out. It was miles in. And, you know, I know the smart thing to do is not kill bull moose too far from your pickup or your boat or

Um, but we did, and we were just like, we're going to do whatever it takes to get this bull out. And we did, you know, um, we got it out of there. We had some bear issues. Unfortunately, um, our first load out was taken from us. Um, went back, uh, with, with load two and yeah, bear got on and took three of the bags and buried it. Um, as we got close back to the first drop,

We kind of hit a meadow that we had to cross through before we got to where we dropped the meat. Yeah, we had a bear that there was one piece of meat just out in the middle of this meadow. We're like, how? That didn't fall out of our pack. How did that get there? We started kind of looping around and looking. I saw this area within the meadow that was just all shredded, and he had buried all that meat in there. Yeah.

we had to make a new pickup point for the plane and all that, but it's quite an experience. Had a heck of a go. I learned a lot, you know, totally new country from where we hunted prior. So I'm already looking forward to next year. Every year I'm trying to figure out the cheapest way to do these muse hunts. And, and that's been a challenge. They're not, you know, they're, they cost you a little bit, but,

Uh, man, they are a ton of fun. A lot of work though. A lot of work. There's nothing easy about a moose hunt. So I would, I would recommend it to anybody who, uh, you know, is getting up there in, in years and thinks they're going to do it when they get, you know, into their sixties. Probably ain't going to happen. Moving moose meat is not easy. So I want to get it in while I can. My body's still able to do it.

And then you normal fall season rolls around. You've got your Montana elk and deer tags, right? Yeah. Yep. Yep. And so you come home, uh, September and roll right into your elk hunt. Right into the elk hunt. Yeah. I went and did that. Um, had a, had a ton of fun, put a lot of days into my archery, uh, elk season and found a really quality bull that I wanted. And, um,

it was 16 days that I went after this thing. And I finally sealed the deal on this just absolute heavy horn stud of an old bull that, uh, that I wanted. And, um, that trip couldn't have gone any better. I had it, it was all to myself. Jason, there was no film crew. There was no camera guys. You know, there was none of that. There was no hunting partners. It was just me. And, um,

I really enjoyed that. It was a lot of fun. That's awesome. Um, in that 16 days. So if I didn't know you like, well, what took so long or if people did, it was it, was it a balance of like getting him in the right spot or just failed attempts or just shadowing not to screw it up? Or was he moving major distance between days? Like what happened within that 16 days? So within that 16 days, like I didn't find this bull right away. Um, now this was a bull that we think we may have seen in the summer, but

uh, in some of our scouting, but we're not a hundred percent sure. You never know. Um, I think the front end of that, I wanted to just see as many bulls as I possibly could. So I was very non-willing to commit to a bull. You know, I wanted to put in a week, uh, a week's worth of glassing and just looking around and scouting, um,

because I had the time. So I didn't want, I just didn't want the hunt to end too early. And, and so, uh, a lot of that 16 days was just me trying to find the right bull in the right scenario and the right situation. And, you know, this was a, this was a battle of public and private, you know, we were, um, you'd see bulls out on private, like you always do. And, and I usually don't hunt too close to private, but, um, this time I was, and I wanted to, I wanted that challenge and

Yeah, there were some times when I finally found this bull, I was about 10 days in. And, um, and at that point, this bull was literally traveling, traveling five miles from where he would bed to where he would feed and he would run all night. And so there's this huge distance between, um, between that. And, you know, he would, some days he'd call a lot. Some days he wouldn't call hardly at all in his travel from, uh, feed area to bedding area.

And there was a lot of different, it was a maze of coolies that he would trowel. He wasn't always doing the same one twice. I find it funny when people say that, oh, he's going to go through this one spot every single time. Man, I've never found that to be the case. They always do something a little bit differently, especially when you're trying to get him with a bow.

So, you know, sometimes I just picked the wrong canyon, you know, trying to get in front of them. And I did not feel like this was a bull that I was ever going to be able to call in. It was fairly open country. He had a lot of cows with him. And the way these coolies laid out, I had a really good opportunity. If I picked the right one, that I would get a nice close shot. So I played that game over and over and over and I screwed it up more times and then I succeeded. But in the end, I finally got it right. I picked the right one.

And it was a day that he was just fired up because there was another big old stud herd bull with his cows, not too far away. It just kept him going the whole time. And, um, and I sealed the deal that day, but yeah, just a great bull stud bull. But I really wasn't willing to settle at that point. Once I found that bull, man, it was, it was like, I was going to do whatever it took to, um, to go after him. So, and in that, in that six days where you actually were hunting him, like,

Do you go at it aggressively or are you playing the long play? Like my goal is not to let him see me, not to ever bump him, not to let him smell me. Like you're staying, you're making sure that you're not going to screw it up for that time or in the future. Yeah. Um, I think I play extremely slow and extremely patient. Um, you know, I know there's times to be aggressive, but

I am very, very lucky. I know how lucky I am to have the time to spend out there. And the last thing I want to do is screw up an opportunity on a big bull or buck, whatever it is. So I play the slow game frustratingly probably to others, but I am really, really, really conservative, especially on the spot and stock stuff.

um, you know, a little bit more aggressive when it comes to calling, but when I'm just doing the spot and stock thing, I really want to make sure that I'm not blowing this bull out, really focused on keeping the wind, right. If it's 50, 50, I'm not doing it, you know, and all that changes. If my time is more limited, you know, if I only have a weekend, man, I'm going to be the most aggressive guy in the woods that day. But when you have the time and I did, um,

Man, I was taking all the precautions. So there was times where my day would be over as soon as he got to his bedding area, because this is a bull that would not make a peep. He wouldn't moan. He wouldn't do anything once he hit that bed.

Um, just wouldn't say anything. Give me no opportunities to sneak into him. And he had a huge group of cows. So there was, yeah, that was a problem as well. And he wouldn't come out of the bedding area till late. And so he was just late over the wind would be wrong. And they were practically run. They'd get up about three 30 and they would basically, I mean, they would just fly to, uh, back to that feed zone and they would go from public back onto private. Once they go onto the private, it's game over. Um,

the other direction as well. I had to wait for them to get on to the public. So it was a, yeah, it was a chess game for sure. A lot

Gotcha. And, and the other thing that probably weighs in your, your decision is that you were in a spot where there weren't people, right? If there are other people around, you may have had to been more aggressive or tried to capitalize on their screw ups or them messing things up. So that's another bonus to being able to go deeper, get into these areas. It's not comfortable to be in or survive in for, for a long time. Yeah. That's a good point. You had that luxury. Good factor. I mean, the fact that if there were people there and I felt like,

This bull is in jeopardy of getting arrowed by somebody else. Yeah, your aggression is going to go up 100%. I would have went at it a lot differently, but I had nobody in the area. There was nobody in there. And it just felt like my best opportunity is to play the slow game.

So that's what I did on that bull. And, um, could have been very different if there were, you know, another group of guys chasing that same bull, I, I probably would have been a lot more aggressive for sure. But all those factors kind of weigh in on how you approach each and every, um, you know, mature bull that you're going for. It's, it's always a little bit different, but that's why hunting unmolested animals and these, these somewhat remote places, this one, this area was pretty remote. Um,

but you know, it was only, it was only a few miles in and, um, and then it took me, you know, seven, eight miles in, but, uh, you know, it was, it was pretty remote. It just wasn't anybody there. So. Gotcha. Gotcha. And then you got to, I don't know what you did early October, but then I know you and Paley went back out for your guys's Montana deer hunt. And it was that, was there anything in between there or was it just a little bit of a rest there? She had drawn a, uh, a buck antelope tag. So we went out, we had one day to do it. We went out there, we had

We had a busy schedule. So, um, yeah, we went out there for a day, not too far from the house here and, and got her, her first buck antelope. That was a ton of fun. Um,

You know, antelope are just different, you know. It's not like the biggest challenge in the world. But when you're hunting with your kid and you get to go through all the things, you know, crawling in on a buck, trying to get as tight as you can, and just playing the patience game, playing the wind, all those things. It just ends up being one of the funnest hunts of the year, even though it just lasts in the day. And so we got her a really nice buck. And, you know, being last day, it was November, I want to say, 12th or something like that.

you know those sheets come off pretty easy at that time of uh of the year and he was already missing one of his sheets uh and then paley when we got up to it she went to move it and she grabbed that that one sheath and she tried to move it a little bit it popped right off and we got to talk about that and when they lose those things and how they regrow and all that kind of thing so fun experience and then um yeah after that we went um

you know, November, we always hunt mule deer here in our home state. And we had a great trip. You know, me and this was our maiden voyage with our new goats this year. I'd been putting a lot of time in hiking them out around the house here on trails and getting them in shape. And this was a trip that we got to take them out. I took all six. And me, Kiam, and Paley went out and had three deer tags, filled them all. Had a ton of fun. My daughter impressed me

even more than, than she did the last time, you know, she made a perfect shot on a buck that she glassed up herself and, um, and she actually passed on it because it was the first day when she first found it, which is pretty good. Uh, kind of warms your heart, you know, a 14 year old and she's passing on bucks, pretty good bucks, uh, just wanting to see what's over the next bridge, you know? So we spent the whole next day, um, out there looking at,

quite a few bucks, probably another dozen beer that day. And by the end of the day, she determined, you know what, that buck that I passed on was one that she was pretty excited about. So we went back and we relocated it, had embedded up and

I let her take bedded buck shots now. She's such a good shooter that this thing never even got up again. Two in a row for her on bedded bucks. Had a heck of a time. Again, we're very lucky on the weather this year, Jason. I don't remember a November in Montana where we were dealing with weather in the upper 40s and in the 50s. We were still getting the ruddy bucks, but man, you're expecting...

like wind. We had no wind ever. And like we had one little snowstorm come through, but for the most part, it was sunny. It was warm, unseasonably warm for November. And it was almost too easy. And we had a heck of a, heck of a fun time, but glassed up a ton of deer and, you know, just another hunt that I got to spend time with Paley and, um, just try to teach her everything that I possibly can about glassing up deer, where to look.

what to do when we see them, like asking her questions about how do you think we should approach this buck? Things like that. And it's just, it ends up being a good learning experience for them. Yeah.

Yeah, that's my, that's one of my favorite things, you know, taking my son Hunter, you know, he's 14 and, you know, like asking him like, there's a deer here. We want to go shoot that one. Like, and then you might pick the wrong route or maybe picks the right route. And then just throughout the week, he's starting to pick like better routes where I'm going to go there. So he can't see me the whole way. And then I'm like, well, how do you know you're going to be close enough? He's like, let me see your range finder, you know? And so he can like shoot the two spots. He's like, well, it's not a straight line, but it should be about here, you know, or,

He's like, well, if I had Onyx, I'd be able to just look how far that ridge is to where I think he's at. And so it's cool to see...

it start to click in his head versus just doing what dad says. He's like, all right, we're, I'm going to start figuring, I'm going to start giving you my answers and then confirm it or, or give me some other advice. And for him, you know, same with my wife, she shoots a lot of bedded bucks. Cause for me, it's absolutely easier if that thing's not moving to just get the gun, you know, dialed in, like you're, you're such a good shot. But that's one thing I found with my son, we need to work on is like target acquisition, you know, where it's like us,

We've did it so many times. Very quickly, if a deer takes off 100 yards, I'll have it in the scope very quickly and at least have a chance where...

we had a white tail zipping around like hunter couldn't get on it it's like that that's like that was a weak link in in the game where yeah maybe maybe we shouldn't be making it such a hurry but at times if it's the right animal and that's your only opportunity you need to try to capitalize but yeah yeah that's target acquisition is is our big downfall right now you do everything else right right to that time and then you can't get the gun on them when they're in the

That's tough. Yeah. That's, that's the same with Paley, you know, target acquisition, you know, you know, you and I are really good at, I mean, you could have it at 10 power and, and get your rifle, you know, immediately on that, that deer at, at whatever, a hundred yards, 200 yards. But, you know, Paley's really good about backing that thing all the way back out to four and then finding it and then just swilling it in. And she's gotten really good at that. So she's figured it out, but yeah. I love, I love how

Having that opportunity to just ask her questions like so what's your gut tell you we should do right here? Like where do you think that buck went? You know in these places that we've already been to and she's getting pretty good. We're starting to figure it out awesome

Yeah, that kind of wraps up your season. Some of the how-tos or what mattered on these specific hunts and what's next. So I know we'll, I probably won't get to see you this year at the Western Hunt because these show promoters decided to put everything on the same exact week this year. So I don't know if I drew the short straw, if it's just because I live fortunately, that's really an unfortunately on Western Washington. I'm going to get stuck at the Portland show. Dirk's going to be out there, but you'll probably be at the

at the Western hunt. And then, um, you've got some pretty exciting stuff coming up on the bear. Yeah. We're doing a little bear instructional. Yeah. It's kind of something different than, than I never wanted to do this. Let me put that out there right now. This is not my thing. I don't like it in front of people. I don't like eyeballs on me, but somehow, um, the fellas taught me into this. So we're doing a little, uh, Western bear tour, uh, involves three States. So we're doing one in Missoula.

We're doing one in Boise and we're doing one down in Salt Lake City. And these are all in the month of March. They're two day events and we're going to have a lot of fun with it. This is kind of a total immersion into bear hunting. You know, we're going to talk about everything. And, you know, for guys interested in, I don't need to go through all the details of it, but, you know, go to treelineacademy.net and you can kind of see what the Western Bear Tour encompasses. It's very detailed on everything that we're going to talk about.

Everything from just having Q&As to very, very detailed discussions on everything there. And that's going to involve me, Mark Libesey, Brian Call, and Brad Hunt. And yeah, we're going to have fun with this. It's going to be... I mean, I'm going to be nervous as heck just getting in front of that many folks talking about stuff, but...

I'm going to do it. I'm going to, I guess, get out of my comfort zone and do this thing. Yeah, that'll be fun and different. It seems like bear hunting is a topic of a lot of, you know, it's either picking up steam or, and what I am going to sign you guys up for, which you don't know, is I'm going to sign you guys up to come talk with the WDFW commissioners when you're done with your little bear tour and you can like summarize what you found about bear hunters and people wanting to get into it for them. Yeah, we should do that, right? Oh man, I want to stay away from those guys over in Washington. Yeah.

but yeah, I think, I think overall we're going to have a lot of fun with this. I think anybody who attends, they're going to get a lot out of it. We're going to have a little movie night in there too. Brian's putting together some, some films that'll be seen there and,

um, yeah, two day kind of all immersion into bear, bear things. So, yeah. And, and, uh, a guy being lucky enough to attend three of your hunt summits now, I believe maybe two. Um, if it's anything like your guys's Western hunt summits, like this thing should, you guys will knock it out of the park. It'll be well worth the time. So head over to the, what's the link again, Ryan, for people to check out and find out some more information. So if you go to treelineacademy.net, um, there's a link there that takes you to the, uh, Western bear tour page there.

So, and all there's all the information is there for it. And there's different passes that you can kind of look at as far as what you're looking for, but a lot of information. Okay.

Nice, nice. I was lucky enough. I was going to guarantee I was going to do some Idaho spring bear hunting this year, but I was lucky enough to draw one of the statewide hound hunter permits. So I'm stoked to go over there. I'll get to chase some cats early and then I might just end up running behind some dogs, you know, following the dogs around on that bear season as well. I got my like one year past the hunt.

Idaho. That's so cool. Animals behind hounds. I can't wait to hear about it. I'm excited to hear how that all goes for you. Excited, excited for that. Well, we all know how much Ryan loves to talk to people. So if you're at Western hunt, you guys can go find him probably in the peak booth. And if you don't see him around there, um, you can probably check one of the tents. He likes to hang out there and get away from people in the, in the tents and then go out, go check out his, uh, his bear summit that they're going to do in those three locations. Um,

Um, and, and if you want to learn more about deer elk, um, he's got the Western hunt summits, I believe both deer elk are mixed or archery. I don't remember how they're all broken up now. I usually just go to the elk one, but, um, yeah, there's lots of ways to get to Ryan and, uh, don't let him fool you. He, he loves to, he loves to talk to you guys just more on a one-on-one, not so much in a, in a group setting.

that's it yeah i i i can handle it it's just like a one-on-one we're talking that's why uh you know i do these summits and and they're a ton of fun but i don't like giving presentations i do like having conversations in the backdrop though but yeah western hunt expo is is kind of next and uh that's the that's the show that we're going to be doing and we always have a ton of fun down there me and my wife go down with the kids and we will be hanging at the peaks booth this year so yeah yeah

And unfortunately I will be in, no, I always have a great time at Portland as well. It's just, sometimes it kind of sucks. The Western hunt, such a good show. Um, but, but we'll, we'll have to catch you on the next Western hunt show. Hopefully the promoters get their stuff together and not over schedule on top of each other. But, uh, as always, Ryan, really appreciate having you on, um, great, great answers on all those questions. And then it's always nice to kind of relive your season. So appreciate it. And, uh, good luck on everything coming forward in 24. Yep. Thanks Jason. You as well.

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